With Christmas break coming, I will be extremely busy sending off my novel to literary agents, working for newspapers, moving some things into my new house, and celebrating the season in general. However, I would still like to post occasionally. I have really had a great time creating this blog and I have met a lot of interesting people because of it. So while my posts may be somewhat  more sporadic, keep checking in once in a while.

Additionally, here are some of my favorite posts:

Nana’s Memories (Similar Posts to Come)

I have several posts on Washington Township, including information on the Washington Township Curse, New Jersey’s Smallest Graveyard, the Old Stone Village, and Grenloch Terrace.

The Barrington Bank Robbery during the Great Depression

The Glassboro Heritage Glass Museum (which is only a couple of minutes away from Rowan University’s campus)

I hope my blog has been enjoyed because I have enjoyed writing it. Remember to check in every once in a while and thanks for reading.

I recently surveyed 17 students at Rowan University. Almost all of them were in their early 20s. Though most of them were journalism majors, like myself, every single one said that the study of history is very important. (Additionally, I would expect them to say that history is important being that journalists often write about important current events that will go down in history.) However, only four of them said they would ever consider joining a historical society. Out of those four people, one of them expressed interest in joining an Irish heritage historical society because that was that student’s own heritage. Another student was a history minor. The other two just mentioned that they enjoy the subject.

So what’s keeping the other 13 students from ever joining a historical society despite everyone recognizing history’s importance. Four of those surveyed mentioned that they don’t have the time. Seven actually said that history doesn’t interest them enough. Out of those seven people, one student mentioned “plus I’m not 72 years old.”

Councilman Walter Bryson, the liaison to the historical society for Monroe Township, said that they have directed some specific efforts at getting more young people interested and involved. “We promote the society in the local schools and offer tours of our old school and Ireland House.”

I spoke with Diana Pierce in the fall about the Heritage Glass Museum. She is not only a volunteer docent at the Glass Museum and longtime Glassboro resident, but a member of the Greater Glassboro Group and has been working recently with a group restoring the Glassboro train station.

Pierce expressed that a lack of volunteerism seems to be a problem for many historical societies. “Generally, I think that we just live in a time when people are, whether it’s real or whether it’s imagined, so overtaxed with the business of their lives,” she said, addressing the issue of people being too busy to join a historical group.

She also blamed trends and the media to a certain degree. “It’s very hard for [people] to take the time, let alone make the time, to volunteer on a regular basis with something that’s not highly publicized. It’s not highly praised by the media. It’s not fashionable right now.”

Additionally, it’s not as easy to become attached to a local community and learn to love it’s history as it once was. “We’re a much more transient society than we were,” she said. She said that young adults are choosing to live in different towns from where they grew up. “The people that are involved in the Glass Museum, very few of them, if any, are people who lived elsewhere.” Additionally, people that spent their whole lives in one town often retire to another, and are thus not around to volunteer. Pierce’s mother and step-dad were one couple that moved from Glassboro to Florida. “They moved south because it was a more hospitable place to retire,” she said.

Pierce also addressed the issue of not having as many young people interested in historical societies and groups. She explained that in the past if a student was doing a paper about his or her town’s history, that student would go out into the town and probably stop at a place like the Heritage Glass Museum. Now the Internet puts everything right inside the home and the student doesn’t need to leave at all. “I don’t know if we’re becoming more or less isolated as a society,” she said, acknowledging that we can travel more and have greater access to things than people did before.

Pierce is 48 years old–very atypical for the age of the volunteers at the Glass Museum. “There’s only like three other people I know that are involved in the glass museum that are even close to my age that I know of.”

Pierce did say that she wasn’t worried about the immediate future of the Glass Museum. “I think the Glass Museum…has a better future than a lot of places because the core group that’s involved is extremely dedicated.” However, she did say that she was concerned about the long term future of the museum if younger volunteers do not join. “In 20 years, if they don’t have young blood… I will be 68. I’ll probably have to move south too.”

Despite these potential problems, Pierce believes that volunteering at a historical group is well worth the effort. “I always leave feeling better than when I went in [the museum].”

Throughout the course of my blog, I have talked to people from several different historical societies. I have spoken with people from general historical societies for a town, such as Washington Township, and people from specialized historical societies, such as the Glassboro Heritage Glass Museum. Most of the people I talked to seemed to express a common problem–new members aren’t joining.

Come back to my blog just a couple of days from now to find out what this means for the future of the local historical societies, and why the young adults I surveyed aren’t joining them.

Upcoming Monroe Township Historical Society Meeting: December 4 at 7:30 PM

Location: Ireland House on Main Street in Williamstown

Officers: Susanne McKee-President, Bob Ormsby-Trustee, Jackie Flint-Curator, Joe Gionti-Vice President and Historian

Monroe Township Stories: “Blue Hole Attraction,” Glass Factory Tunnels, Train Wreck, Native American Encampments

Post About Monroe Township Coming Soon!

I had a hard time breaking one of the cardinal rules for all newspaper reporters: NEVER EVER interview a family member or close friend. However, I couldn’t be happier that I went against that rule for this blog entry. I interviewed my Nana, Barbara Eigenbrood (my mom’s mom). She just turned 70 recently, and she has so many neat memories of events and a way of life that doesn’t exist anymore.

I never think of my Nana as old–she goes on more camping trips and adventures than anyone I know. Still, I think that’s one of the reasons why her stories are so amazing…her memories really aren’t from all that long ago. She is a lifelong resident of New Jersey. She lived in Hartford in the beginning of her life, and then her family moved to Masonville, more commonly referred to today as Mount Laurel. She currently lives a couple of houses away from her childhood house. I’m going to break up her memories into small stories in a series of posts. She gave me too much great information to include all at once, and I’m not about to leave any of it out!

World War II

“When I was small during the war, they used to give out stamps…for gas, for sugar….You had to use those stamps in order to get the sugar or the gas. You were only allowed to get as much as the stamps had,” she first recalled. My Nana was only a child during World War II, but she has vivid memories of some of the things that occurred during this time.

“Any of the canned goods, after you emptied the can, you would wash the can and cut the bottom out…and then you would have to smash them flat. And of course we loved doing that!” “We” referred to my Nana and her two younger brothers. “And then you saved all the cans and they collected them. They recycled it into something for the war.”

“Then there was always a great fear of someone attacking our country.” She spoke about the black-outs. “They would blow the siren and when you heard that you would have to pull all the shades down and turn your lights out.” Her father and my Pop’s father were both air raid wardens during this time. “It was just walking around the neighborhood,” my Nana explained. The job of the air raid wardens was to make sure all of the neighborhood lights were off. “I guess they were afraid of enemy aircraft flying over because the siren would go off and it was scary.” She mentioned that a small candle might be okay to light, but that’s it.

My Nana said the attitude about war then was different than it is now. “People seemed more patriotic. People volunteered to go. It was like you wanted to go and fight for your country and there were a lot of ads on the radio to get people to sign up for the service and at that time it was only guys….The girls were the secretaries and nurses.” She continued, “When they needed more and more men then they started the draft. Everybody was upset about it because so many people were being killed…but still there was more patriotism shown than there is now.”

During this time, my Nana lived where Burlington County College is now located. “In the back was an Italian family that owned all those fields and they farmed and they had a bunch of vineyards….The Italian family used to have us to dinner a lot and helped us.”

During the war, my Nana’s father worked at a metal works in Riverside. “It was a nasty job. It was really hot and it was dangerous.”

They moved to Masonville a year before the war ended. The house in Masonville is the house where I remember visiting my great-grandparents.

“I thought you lived in Mount Laurel?” I asked.

“It’s still called Masonville, but Mount Laurel has kind of taken over the area….All these little towns used to be their own little towns.”

“When we got the word on the radio that the war was over…the man got a big truck,” she continued, talking about a neighbor a couple of houses away. ” He took all of the neighborhood kids around the town, “riding and screaming and blowing horns and making noise, celebrating the end of the war….We also threw tomatoes. I don’t know why we did that, but that’s what we did,” she said as she laughed a little at the odd memory.

***The picture above was taken at my Nana’s 70th Birthday Party. From left to right: Megan Rozinski (my cousin), 18, Barbara Eigenbrood (my Nana), 70, Alicia Jones (my sister), 18, Ellen Jones (me), 20.

The book had the home defense survey of adult males from 1917-1918.

“The incorporation of Barrington occurred the same time as the United States entered World War I, the Spring of 1917,” this section began. It continued, “Many communities felt the need to protect themselves from plots to overthrow the government. The munitions plant at Eddystone, Pennsylvania was blown up killing and injuring hundreds. The Frankford Arsenal had an explosion. Although these may not have been the work of saboteurs, many Americans were worried about such activities. Public Safety Committees were appointed in each state with sub-committees in each municipality. Home Guards were organized in the spring of 1917, subject to the call of the mayor of each community.”

The following are some pieces of information I pulled out from the adult male census that followed as a result of these events. I thought a few of them were interesting examples of what was important in that day. I am taking the following from the book, though many, many names are obviously excluded, and they are not in any particular order here. They are merely numbered to make the beginning and end of each entry clearer.

1. NAME: ADAMS, Frank

AGE – BORN: 41 – Harrisonville, NJ

OCCUPATION: Timekeeper

FATHER – BORN: Mahlon – Trenton, NJ

MOTHER – BORN: Martha – Woodstown, NJ

REMARKS: Private, NJ Volunteers, Spanish-American War

2. NAME: CULBERTSON, George W. Jr.

AGE – BORN: 27 – Philadelphia, Pa.

OCCUPATION: Printer

FATHER – BORN: George – Philadelphia, Pa.

MOTHER- BORN: Mary McKegge – Philadelphia, Pa.

REMARKS: Has motorcycle

3. NAME: FAHRBACK, Charles

AGE – BORN: 50- Philadelphia, Pa.

OCCUPATION: Carpenter

FATHER – BORN: John – Germany

MOTHER – BORN: Anna – Germany

REMARKS: Olive & Baptiste Aves. Speaks German. FATHER was vet of Civil War

4. NAME: GILLMAN, Sam

AGE – BORN: 53 – Fulstock, Russia

OCCUPATION: Foreman

FATHER – BORN: Harry – Bulstock Russia

MOTHER – BORN: Ida – Bulstock, Russia

REMARKS: Spoke Jewish, Polish, German & Russian

5. NAME: HUDSON, Benjamin

AGE – BORN: 45 – Yorkshire County, Bengley, England

OCCUPATION: Blacksmith

FATHER – BORN: Charles – England

MOTHER – BORN: Mary Ann – England

REMARKS: Naturalized 21st Jan. 1901. Owned automobile

6. NAME: JOHNSON, Fleming L.

AGE – BORN: 34 – York Pa.

OCCUPATION: Supervising Clerk

FATHER – BORN: Fleming L. – York Pa.

MOTHER – BORN: Annie E. – York Pa.

REMARKS: Kingston Avenue – Can operate telegraph

7. NAME: MAURER, Alexander

AGE – BORN: 36 – Philadelphia, Pa.

OCCUPATION: Painter

FATHER – BORN: Harry – Philadelphia, Pa.

MOTHER – BORN: Kathryn – Philadelphia, Pa.

REMARKS: Reading Avenue. Seaman experience

8. NAME: SMITH, Guy S.

AGE – BORN: 29 – Philadelphia, Pa.

OCCUPATION: In the Army

FATHER – BORN: James S. – Willimantic, Conn.

MOTHER – BORN: Nettie D. – Brewsters, New York

REMARKS: Cabinet Maker

9. NAME: WATSON, E. M.

AGE – BORN: 39 – Muncie, IN.

OCCUPATION: Office Mgr.

FATHER – BORN: Frank W. – Muncie, IN.

MOTHER – BORN: Cordelia – Muncie, IN.

REMARKS: Can operate auto

I was going through a children’s book, Our Community – Washington Township by Joan Michael, the head of the Washington Township Historical Society. I came across an interesting chapter about a Turnersville legend based off of true events. Here is what it says:

“In the 1890s, the community had a peddler named Sammy. He sold shoe laces, socks, buttons, and other little things to families.”

At this time, Washington Township was mostly farms and Sammy would travel to each one selling his items, the book explains.

“One day he visited the Prosser family at their sawmill at Turnersville. The family was at church when Sammy came to their house. The only one at home was a man who worked for the Prosser family. When the family came home, they did not know Sammy was there. Their helper was not there. The helper never returned to work at the sawmill. He started to sell buttons and shoe laces just like Sammy. No one ever found Sammy. Winter came and ice formed on the lake by the mill. When spring came, the ice melted and Sammy’s body was found.”

The Prosser’s family helper admitted that he killed Sammy, taking his easier job as opposed to working at the sawmill. The unnamed family helper was the only person hung for killing someone in Washington Township, the book further explains.

Now for the curse: “The lake at the mill suddenly dried up. Grandmothers who had known Sammy said that the lake was cursed because a man was killed there.”

The book’s explanation: “There was really a storm that broke the dam and let the lake wash away. Now the Atlantic City Expressway goes over the land where the old mill and lake used to be. You can still find the old road that used to go to the sawmill and the Prosser’s house.” Note: This book was written in 1986, so I’m not sure if the road can still be seen. I do, however, travel on the Atlantic City Expressway frequently and will try to check it out.

One more note: The picture above is actually from an area in Williamstown. I couldn’t get a picture of the dried up lake since, as is stated above, the closest I could come to that is a picture of the Atlantic City Expressway. The picture is just for illustrative purposes.

The graveyard, containing only six headstones, used to be by Bunker Hill Presbyterian Church. The historic church is now part of Old Stone Village. The congregation moved to a newer building on Greentree Road, though they still hold services in the old church once a year.

The graveyard now stands where the old church originally stood, at the intersection of Hurffville Crosskeys Road and Greentree Road. The graves of the former Washington Township farmers stand by some tomato plants and a house.