James RUSLING ¹

   User ID: P00050029.

  General Notes:

This James Rusling was born in Hull, England (or Kingston-upon-Hull, as written over there), July 26, 1762. Hull is on the Humber, east coast of England, in Yorkshire adjoining Lincolnshire, and has long been the third seaport of Great Britain-after London and Liverpool. For centuries it has traded with all parts of the world, and sent vessels regularly to New York and elsewhere in America. Just across the Humber, opposite to Hull, lies Lincolnshire, its business and travel tending naturally to Hull. Here James Rusling was born in 1762, and was the second son of Robert and Christiana Rusling, pious members of the Baptist church there. Their entire family was as follows: William, James, Robert, Thomas, George, Ann, and Hannah.

At the age of eleven or thereabouts, he was apprenticed as clerk to William Robinson, a shop-keeper, or village store-keeper, at Winteringham, a little village in Lincolnshire, about ten miles south of Hull. When about eighteen years of age he became converted through the instrumentality of his uncle George Rusling (a local Methodist preacher, I think), and soon afterwards united with the Wesleyan or Methodist church there. About two and one-half miles south of Winteringham, in same county, lies Winterton, then also a small village, but now a town of 1500 inhabitants or so. Here lived a family of Fowlers, and in the course of his business he became acquainted with them, and, May 15, 1787, married Mary, daughter of Joseph Fowler there, as appears by the records of the parish church at said Winterton, England. He was then twenty-five years of age. Whether he had continued all the previous years (eleven to twenty-five) at Winteringham, I cannot say.

James Rusling was still in business at Scunthorpe in June, 1787, as appears by a bill of goods to him for £6.17.8, from Turner, Hawley & Co., of Kilnhurst, also in my possession, found among my father's old papers aforesaid. The bill would indicate a general variety country store. But I do not think he continued there long. It was a larger and better place for business than Winteringham; but, being ambitious and enterprising, he soon removed to Hull,1 and continued in business there until 1795. What business he pursued there I do not know; but it is certain he prospered in it, for in 1795 he had accumulated enough to remove to New York, and take his family with him, and establish himself in business there, and my father and uncles used always to say that he brought several thousand dollars with him. There is a tradition in the family that, not long before his leaving England, he had been to London with an uncle George to purchase goods, and on their return they were pursued by a “press-gang”-a common thing there then to impress men for the navy. Being a fine rider and well-mounted-accustomed to horses-he leaped his horse over a hedge and a ditch, and so escaped. But George Rusling, being a poor rider and not accustomed to horses-of a sedentary and religious turn of mind-was captured and made to serve several years on a British man-of-war. My father used often to tell this, and also my great-uncle (Thomas V. Fowler, born in England), and so there ought to be some grains of truth in it. His father-in-law and family objected to his emigrating to America. There were only sailing-vessels in those days, and America seemed a distant part of the globe then. But he was of democratic principles and tired of monarchical government, and so 1Since writing the above, I have discovered accidentally that he probably remained at Scunthorpe until 1790. His son James was born at Scunthorpe 1789 and William at Hull 1791 and between these dates he likely removed to Hull.

He resolved to go to a free country, where he and his children would have “a fair start and an equal chance in the race of life,” as Abraham Lincoln once said. From old letters in the family it seems he was then known and following arrived at New York, after a voyage of nearly three months.

He did not remain idle long, but early engaged in business- as appears by a letter dated November 21, 1796, addressed to him at, “Byard Street, Bowery, New York,” by his brother-in-law, William Fowler. This was near the “Bull's Head” inn or tavern there. But it also appears that he had already “made a purchase of land” (October 12, 1796), but did not remove there until 1797 or later.2 This was at or near Newburgh, Morris County, New Jersey, near Beattystown, New Jersey, about two and one-half miles southwest of Hackettstown, New Jersey, and was called the “ Beswick Tract,” in whole or part. There were a number of English families already there-the Egberts, Upjohns, Kimbles, Rowlands, Downs, etc.,-and the place was known as “the English Settlement.”

This land consisted of several hundred acres, embracing the Musconetcong Valley and a part of Schooley's Mountain (if not the famous Mineral Springs there), and he thought himself a rich landed proprietor-if not immediately, yet sure to become so, as he unquestionably would. But after residing there a year or two his title was attacked, and long litigation ensued (as often happened then), and he came out of the lawsuit with only one hundred acres left, on the northerly side of Schooley's Mountain, with a humble log-house upon it, and the rest of his fortune spent in costs, counsel fees, etc. Meanwhile the man he had purchased of had disappeared, with the money paid him, and so James Rusling was thus reduced from comparative affluence, acquired by himself, to comparative poverty again. The above facts were often told me by my father, and when a lad, in driving with him from our home at Washington, New Jersey, to Hackettstown and return, on visits to relatives there, he used to point out the said “Rusling Farm” and the old log-house where he lived when a boy.

Here James Rusling lived for several years, with a growing family of sons and daughters about him. They farmed the farm as best they could, and for a further livelihood he went first to teaching school in the neighborhood, and afterwards (following his old commercial instinct) to clerking in the store of John Bird and Elisha Bird at Newburgh, or Beattystown, near by. Here presently he went into business for himself, and after a while started two other stores also-one at Andersontown, some six miles west, and another at Washington, about nine miles west. He put one of his sons (James) in charge at Andersontown, and another (Gershom, my father) in charge at Washington. But the firm name of all three stores was "James Rusling & Sons." In August, 1822, or thereabouts he was visited by Thomas V. Fowler, a younger brother of his wife (then living in New York), who then wrote to "Mr. Jos. Fowler, Winterton, near Brigg, Lincolnshire, England," as follows:

Things are much improved with them (James Rusling and family) since I was there before. He has built a new house and store, with a barn, etc., and has a delightful garden, in which he takes great pleasure. .... The Muskinakunk, a fine, clear, rapid stream, runs close to the foot of the garden, and the Schooley Mountains (at the foot of which lies the Farm) rise majestically beyond, and above the ancient forest stretches away to the Southwest far as the eye can reach, broken into fine masses close up to the head of the valley, with the Ackawooctey Mountain, at the foot of which and surrounded by other hills is a clear circular lake of uncommon beauty. The famous Mineral Spring is not half an hour's walk from my brother's, and is at this season of the year the resort of fashionable visitors from New York and Philadelphia, which makes it very pleasant, as they often call at brother's store in their rambles around the country. King Joseph Bonaparte was there the week before I went.

He thus prospered again somewhat, accumulating $10,000 or $12,000 probably, and died August 11, 1826, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and was buried in the graveyard of the Methodist Episcopal church at Washington, Warren County, New Jersey. But in 1892 when that part of the graveyard was needed for a new parsonage, his remains and gravestone were removed by my brother William Henry and myself to Asbury, New Jersey, and placed by the side of my father, mother, and others of our own family there, in the " Rusling Plot," in the graveyard of the Methodist Episcopal church there.

James Rusling was evidently a man of good English education. His early letters and book-accounts show that he wrote well and grammatically, and spelled correctly as a rule, which is more than most men in his station did in his day. He had the gift of speech and used it on public occasions, though troubled somewhat with stammering, a defect he transmitted to at least two generations of his descendants.

He was a keen business man, and possessed much shrewdness and force of character, as evidenced by the recovery of his fortunes. He was once nominated for the Assembly, but defeated, because a foreigner and "bloody Englishman," as my father used to tell. He was a devout Methodist the most of his days, and became a tower of strength to Methodism in all that part of New Jersey, in the years when it most needed him there. His house at Newburgh early became a "preaching place" for Methodist preachers, in the days when they had no churches, and his son Gershom (my father) used often to relate how he had seen Rev. David Bartine (father of Rev. D. W. Bar-tine, D.D.) stand in the doorway of his father's house and preach, while the mob outside would hurl stones and brickbats at him. These would graze the aged minister's head, but never hit him, and the old hero would preach right on, indifferent to such bigotry and violence. He (J. R.) was choir leader in the Methodist Society at Hackettstown, New Jersey, 1805 (as appears by a list of his class in my possession), and subsequently became recording steward of Asbury Circuit, when it embraced all Northern New Jersey and parts of New York and Pennsylvania, and continued to be until his decease, and was then succeeded by his son Gershom (my father) for many years.

As I have said, he was of Baptist origin, but early became a "Freethinker," and continued of that mind until mature manhood or so. About that time one Joseph Dawson, a Methodist local preacher, lived at Winterton, and felt it his duty frequently to exhort and preach there and in that neighborhood, which was only about fifteen miles from Epworth, the home of the Wesleys. This did not please the mob there, and accordingly they pelted him with dead cats and rotten eggs, and often broke up his meetings altogether. He was a pious and inoffensive old man, and such treatment roused the ire of James Rusling and a little band of "Freethinkers," consisting of himself, Joseph Fowler, George Ramsey, Daniel Spilman, and others. Like true Englishmen, they believed in free speech as well as free thought, and accordingly they organized themselves into a body-guard for old Mr. Dawson, and, arming themselves with "hedge-stakes," stood guard at his meetings, and escorted him to and from his home. And ultimately they became so much impressed with his spirit and doctrines that they all became converted and joined the Methodist Church themselves. ¹

  Noted events in his life were:

• Emigration: NYC, 1795.

• Alt. Burial: he was later moved to: Asbury, New Jersey, USA.

James married Mary FOWLER, daughter of Joseph FOWLER and Mary TOMLINSON, on 15 May 1787 in Winterton, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom. (Mary FOWLER was born on 23 Nov 1766 in Winterton, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom, died on 25 Jul 1809 in Newburgh, Morris County, New Jersey, USA and was buried in Hackettstown, Warren County, New Jersey, USA.)

James next married Hannah Rose FRAZER on 2 Apr 1810. (Hannah Rose FRAZER was born on 11 Jan 1775 in Schooley's Mountain, NJ, died on 14 Nov 1848 in Hope, NJ and was buried in Asbury Methodist Episcopal Cemetery.)