Introduction
Abraham Browning was a prominent attorney in Camden who rose to the post of New Jersey Attorney General during his career. Born near Camden on July 26, 1808, he entered the New Jersey Bar in September of 1834. In 1843 he served with John W. Mickle as delegates to the New Jersey Constitutional Convention. He was named Attorney General in January of 1845, and served until 1850. In these times he was a principal in the Market Street ferry.
For $5,185 Robert K. Matlack and Abraham Browning bought a tract of 1,037 acres located in Gloucester and Cumberland Counties at a public sale on May 29, 1858. In 1860, Thomas Wilson purchased a large tract of land for $10,000 from Matlack and Browning. The Pennsylvania, Reading, and Seashore Railroad extending from Camden to Millville, branched off to connect with the seashore resorts. In 1863 this point was called Newfield, and Newfield became a borough in 1924.
He was a Democrat, and was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention from New Jersey in 1864. He also was a founder and the first president of the Camden County Bar Association.
Alfred M. Heston, in his two-volume work, Jersey Waggon Jaunts, published in 1926 (Camden, NJ, Atlantic County Historical Society, 1926), twice credits Abraham Browning of Camden with coining the name at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia on New Jersey Day, August 24, 1876. On page 310 of volume 2 he writes: “In his address Mr. Browning compared New Jersey to an immense barrel, filled with good things to eat and open at both ends, with Pennsylvanians grabbing from one end and the New Yorkers from the other. He called New Jersey the Garden State, and the name has clung to it ever since.” The problem with this is that the image of a barrel tapped at both ends dates back at least to Benjamin Franklin, so this statement crediting Browning with naming the Garden State can not be taken at face value.
Abraham Browning made his home at 127 Market Street. Among his neighbors were William Calhoun, Sheriff of Camden County in the late 1870s and early 1880s, Charles Kalt, and prominent attorneys James B. Dayton and Peter L. Voorhees. Abraham Browning passed away in Camden on August 22, 1889. The Abraham Browning Council No. 122 of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, a fraternal organization that was active in Camden from the late 19th through the mid-20th centuries, was named in his honor when it was incorporated in 1898.
Abraham Browning is not to be confused with Capt. Abraham M. Browning (1843–1880), who owned a farm called Cherry Hill Farm in what is now Cherry Hill, New Jersey, on the site of the present-day Cherry Hill Mall and Loews Theater complex.
The Market Street Ferry
The Market Street Ferry in the days of Abraham Browning.
Biography
The History of Camden County New Jersey — George Reeser Prowell, 1886
Abraham Browning was born July 26, 1808, on his father's farm, in the vicinity of Camden. The family to which he belongs is one of the oldest in the State of New Jersey. The American founder, George Browning, came immediately from Holland, although of ancient English lineage, about the year 1735, and settled near Pea Shore. George Browning's son Abraham followed in his father's footsteps and became a farmer. He married Beulah Genge, who, like himself, was a native of New Jersey, but whose parents were English, arriving in America from London about the year 1760. From this marriage sprang the subject of this sketch and a numerous progeny. Abraham obtained his earliest education at the country schools in the neighborhood of his home. Possessed of a large capacity for acquiring knowledge, and gifted with a studious temperament, he made most effective use of all
his opportunities, and laid a solid foundation, broad and deep, for the superstructure of after-years. After an elementary course
thus satisfactorily pursued, he was placed at the academy at Woodbury. From this he was transferred to the popular school of John Gummere, in Burlington. The enlarged advantages here offered Abraham Browning were industriously improved, and he obtained a good English and a limited classical education.
He became a student in the law-office of Hon. Samuel L. Southard, at Trenton, in 1830. At the expiration of a year passed in preliminary study he entered the Law School of Yale College, and, after remaining two years, he entered the office of the well-known Philadelphia lawyer, Charles Chauncey. He was admitted to the bar in September, 1834, and immediately thereafter began to practice his profession in Camden, where he has ever since resided, laboring in his chosen career. He early became noted for the care and ability with which the business intrusted to his care was managed, and, as a natural consequence, he made steady and rapid progress through the ranks. With clear perception, a well-trained and well-
stored mind, to which constant study was ever bringing valuable contributions, indomitable industry and never-tiring investigation of detail, he obtained so thorough a mastery over his cases as to be almost invincible when he advised contest. Nowhere in the ranks of the profession could a harder student have been found; not one among the aspirants to similar fame devoted more faithful and painstaking labor to his client's interests than he has done. His aid has been sought in many important issues beyond the borders of New Jersey, and his reputation is national. As a constitutional lawyer he has been a recognized authority, and his opinion on points of constitutional issue carries great weight. In railroad cases, also, he has been regarded as especially strong, and
he has been engaged in many important cases, involving difficult and delicate points of railroad law. His famous contest with Hon. Theodore Cuyler, the Pennsylvania Railroad case, in 1871, will long be remembered by members of the profession for the profound legal learning, easy mastery over the mazy difficulties of a peculiarly intricate
St. Paul's Episcopal Church Officers
Philadelphia Inquirer —
In St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Camden, the following officers were elected: Wardens—Abraham Browning, Marmaduke B. Taylor. Vestrymen—Maurice Browning, William H. Lafferty, Samuel H. Grey, Edward R. Shubrick, Jesse W. Starr, Joseph Fearon, William J. Sewell, H. Genet Taylor, James H. Carpenter, Henry C. Alexander, Robert F. S. Heath, Wilson H. Jenkins, Nathan F. Cowan, Harry Humphreys, E. H. King. Deputies to Diocesan Convention—Abraham Browning, Marmaduke B. Taylor, Edward R. Shubrick. Alternate Deputies to Convention—H. Genet Taylor, Robert F. S. Heath, Henry C. Alexander. Lay Delegate to Burlington Convocation—Joseph Fearon.
Camden Fire Department Started in 1810 As Bucket Brigade Comprising Leading Citizens
Camden Courier-Post —
When Camden City Council established a paid fire department in 1869 it purchased steam engines, hook and ladder trucks and a hose carriage, a photo of which appears above.
Camden’s Fire Department has grown from a bucket brigade in 1810 to the present motorized equipment of 25 pieces of modern apparatus.
Prior to 1810 bucket brigades were formed to combat fires. And with the advent of the first hand pumper in 1810, the bucket brigade still carried water from wells to be pumped on fires.
The advancement of fire fighting in the early days of the colonies was slow. For nearly 125 years nothing was done even to introduce the Roman method of spraying a fire with bellows.
The first hand-pumper was purchased in 1810 by the Perseverance Fire Company, which was organized on March 15 of that year. The company was composed of leading citizens. The pumper was manufactured by “Pat” Lyons, of Philadelphia.
Placed in a frame building at Front street above Market, now the site of an RCA building, it later was moved to a frame house on Second street adjoining the State Bank.
Women Helped Men
The bucket brigade continued after the introduction of the hand-pumper. Civic-minded citizen dug wells at convenient places on main thoroughfares to supply water for fire-fighting. An alarm of fire called both men and women to duty. Every citizen was compelled to respond to the alarm. They formed lines to and from the pumper and the nearest well. Buckets of water were passed from the well to one person and another until it had run the gauntlet of a human chain to the pumper. Another line carried the buckets back to the well for replenishment of the supply.
Every householder was expected to have sufficient buckets handy for fire-fighting. Children frequently joined their parents on the fire lines. The equipment of the pumper included a hand-pumper, already known as an “engine,” and a cart to carry buckets. The apparatus was hand-drawn.
Wells and pumps also were deemed essential as fire fighting equipment by city council. The council encouraged the digging of wells. As proof thereof Joseph Kaighn dug a well in 1834 on Kaighn avenue and was reimbursed for part of the costs. George Genge dug one on Market street and the bill was paid by the city. Abraham Browning enlarged a well near Front and Market streets and was allowed part of the costs.
Divided Into Five Districts
In 1834 the city was divided into three fire districts, Cooper and Line streets being the dividing lines. But there was no organized fire department until several years later. It was not until the establishment of the first water works in 1848 that any steps were taken to increase materially the efficiency of the fire fighting equipment. Until the water works were established strong men mounted the hand pumps, pushed the levers down and pulled them up. Usually eight men operated the pumps, four on each side of the apparatus.
It was not until 1851 that city council appointed a committee to exercise supervision over fire apparatus, which had grown to six by that time.
Although formed in 1810 the Perseverance Company was not incorporated until March 15, 1832. The charter was for 20 years. The names appearing on the charter were among the foremost citizens of that period. They included Nathan Davis, Gideon V. Stivers, Jeremiah H. Sloan, John Lawrence, Samuel D. Wessels, Isaac Cole, Ledden Davis, John Browning, Joab Scull, Richard W. Howell, Auley McAlla, Dr. Thomas Lee, William H. Ogden, Richard H. Fetters and Abraham Browning.
The charter was renewed in 1852 with the following incorporators: James C. Morgan, William E. Gilmore, Samuel Hanna, William Hanna, Lewis P. Thompson, Joseph D. Howell, Pancoast Roberts, Alfred Hugg, Amos Stiles, Jr., Samuel Cooper, Nathan Davis, Jr., Samuel Ashurst, Andrew Zimmerman, David Sheppard, John W. Carter, Henry Kesler, John Warner, John Ross, Charles A. Garret and Thomas Sulger.
War Broke Up Company
The company prospered until the outbreak of the Civil War, when a majority of the able-bodied men enlisted in a company of volunteers commanded by Capt. Richrd [sic] A. Lee.
Another fire engine of the hand pumper type was purchased in 1830 for the Perseverance company by a committee including Browning, McAlia and Howell. It was purchased from the Fairmount Company, Philadelphia. The committee presented a bill for $50 to city council for the pumper on August 27, 1830. It was five feet high and eight men could hardly get gold [sic] of the levers.
It was called the “Fairmount.” It was purchased by the Weccacoe Fire Company in 1848. Then it passed to the reorganized Fairmount Company in 1851. It was eventually stored away after long usage. It was purchased by Robert S. Bender in 1864 for $20. He sold it to a Woodbury company for $50. Shortly afterward it was destroyed by fire.
Historians give conflicting accounts of the purchase of the “Fairmount.” Pennypacker not only says the city purchased it in 1830, but in his account of the organization of the Fairmount Fire Company, on October 7, 1830, he says the Fairmount Company purchased the apparatus from the Fairmount Fire Company, Philadelphia. It is evident that this company had the use of the apparatus because the fire fighters changed the name of the company to “Niagara” when the name was changed on the sides of the old pumper. It is also evident that it was city property, as the same historian says it was loaned to the Weccacoe company for a few months after that company organized in 1848.
(Tomorrow’s installment will tell of the formation of the first famous Weccacoe Company.)