Gloucester-Atlantic County NJ Archives History .....Inn And Tavern Licenses 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 2, 2008, 12:10 pm

Inn and Tavern Licenses*
* By FRANK H. STEWAKT.

    In the ancient records of Gloucester County frequent mention is made of
road-side taverns. The license applications showing the signatures of hundreds
of the best known men of their times were examined, and I copied the application
of the Queen of all, Ann Risley, whose tavern was known far and wide for its
generous and gracious hospitality. The fish, clams, oysters and crabs of Little
Egg Harbour Bay and its tributaries, not to say anything of the sugar, molasses
and rum from the West Indies made the tavern of Ann Risley known all over the
province. Ann was just as famous in 1770 as the multi-millionaire hotel owners
of Atlantic City are to-day, and it would be a safe bet to make that her meals
were just as good. Some one should erect a monument on the site of Ann Risley's
tavern. Year after year her license was renewed. On April 10, 1770, Edward Bowen
and David Scull were her bondsmen for twenty pounds each, and her application
for this year is copied in full.

    To the Honourable Bench of the Justices Assembled at Gloucester. Most
Honourable Bench

    The humble petition of Ann Risley, Widow of Great Egg Harbour Township,
Gloucester County in the Province of West New Jersey Humbly sheweth that your
petitioner having kept tavern near Abesekom Bridge in the said township for
several years past hath thought proper to acquaint your honours that she hath
built her an house with stabling and other conveniences for the entertainment of
travellers thereby doth humbly entreat your Honours to grant her a license to
continue the same, it being a suitable stage, there being no other within ten
miles and in vindication of the truth of this likewise of her character several
of the principal inhabitants of said province have thought proper to set their
hands hereunto. Your Honours taking the same into consideration will oblige your
petitioner to ever pray.                   ANN RISLEY

ROBERT MORSS                JOHN INGERSOL
OBADIAH REID                JOHN LEEDS
JOHN SOMERS                 FELIX LEEDS
FREDERICK STEELMAN          HENRY SMITH
JOHN KAID or REID ?         DANIEL LEEDS
GEORGE PAYNE                NEHEMIAH LEEDS
JOSEPH COVENOVER            RICHARD COLLINS
BENJAMIN BRUSH              JOHN SOMERS
BURNET RICHARDS             JOHN COVENOVER, JUN'R
RICHARD WESTCOT             RICHARD SOMERS
ABNER DOUGHTY               MICAJAH SMITH
LEVI GENSLY?                DANIEL SMITH
THOMAS CHAMBERLAIN          HUGH MCCOLLOM


    James Steelman also kept a place of entertainment in his house in the lower
end of Gloucester Co. (now Atlantic) for several years. His application for a
license for the year 1770 was signed by

RECOMPENSE SCULL            ELISHA SMITH
FREDERICK STEELMAN          NEHEMIAH LEEDS
JOSEPH INGERSOL             CHRISTOPHER LUCAS
RICHARD SOMERS              DANIEL LAKE

    Archibald Moffett, later a Captain of Militia during the Revolution, and the
owner of a fleet of boats carrying merchandise from Carpenter's Landing to
Philadelphia, via Mantua Creek, and at his death the most extensive land owner
in Gloucester County and the ancestor of over five hundred living descendants,
including a couple  of our own members, kept a licensed tavern at his house in
Greenwich Township. His 1770 license application is signed by

SAMUEL SHIVERS              JOHN WEST?
MICHAELL FISHER, JUN'R      Jo HUGG 
JOHN BARNES                 WILLIAM TOMLIN 
RESTORE ESTLACK             S. BLACKWOOD 

    During the War of 1812, when 82 years old, his house was used as a
recruiting station by the U. S.

    His bond dated June 19, 1770, is signed by Daniel Cozens and Jo Hugg.

    Mary Hutchinson was also granted a license to keep a tavern at the house
where she lived in Woolwich township. Her application was signed by
     
JOHN MAYHEW                 ABRAHAM NELSON
WILLIAM MORGAN              BODO OTTO
STANFORD MAYHEW             MATTHEW NIEWKIRK
JACOB ELWELL                ISAAC FLANNINGHAM
DAVID DUBOIS                ISAAC ALBERTSON
MICHAEL RICHMAN             S. BLACKWOOD

    Her bondsmen were James Budd and Thomas West.

    Joseph Tatem was also an Inn keeper, and he was granted a license for his
house in Deptford Township in 1767. Those who signed his application were:

JAMES WARD                  SAMUEL FLANNINGHAM
JOHN SPARKS*                JOSEPH WARD
ISAAC BALLENGER             BENJAMAN RAMBO
WILLIAM HARRISON            LUKE GIBSON
CALEB BEEKHAM               ABRAHAM CHATTIN?
SAMUEL PERCE                SIMON SPARKS
JAMES BROWN                 JOHN DUELL
WILLIAM FLANNINGHAM         JONATHON MORGAN**

 * Ancestor of Chairman of our Membership Committee.
 ** Ancestor of our Historian.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

NOTES ON
Old Gloucester County
NEW JERSEY

HISTORICAL RECORDS PUBLISHED BY
THE NEW JERSEY SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA

VOLUME I

   Compiled and Edited by
FRANK H. STEWART
HISTORIAN OF THE SOCIETY
1917

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