Ong’s Hat
Compiled by Teresa
Martin Klaiber February 2020
While living
in New Jersey, we learned a lot about the state’s history. The boys learned to
fish in the creek near our home in Marlton, and learned to swim in Medford’s
lakes which look much like tinted tea caused by the cedar trees, filtered and
fresh. We visited Rancocas Nature Center,
near Willingboro and took drives in the Pine Barrens. Displaced Kentuckians and Ohio buckeyes, we
enjoyed meeting those in southern New Jersey who proclaimed they were “Pineys.”
One of my
favorite past times with my hubby and sons, was a Sunday drive seeing all the unusual
village and town names. Near the Rancocas Nature Center is Timbuctoo, in
Burlington County, which was founded by former slaves in 1826. The Battle of Pine Swamp took place there
when residents took up arms to protect an escaped slave from a slave catcher as
late as 1860.
We visited
Ship Bottom, Egg Harbor (said named because hungry Dutch sailors found sea gull
eggs to sustain them), and Ong’s Hat. By
the time we visited Ong’s Hat in the 1970’s, only a sign proclaimed the name with a hand painted
Top Hat. A simple road sign along Ong’s Hat Road, in Pemberton Township, proclaimed
what once was an active area. Blink
twice and you drive past it. This is one
of several deserted villages in the Pine Barrens.
Lore has many
versions of how Ong’s Hat got the name. It was said to be a stagecoach stop on
the route from Philadelphia. Jacob Ong
got angry, being a bit tipsy, and tossed his black silk top hat (WPA Guide
to NJ 1930’s calls it a chimney pot hat[i])
which landed high in a tree, when a young lady refused to dance with him.
The hat remained in a large tree for years
and when someone rode by would exclaim “there’s Ong’s Hat.” An article in the New York Times in
1968 states that the family lived at Little Egg Harbor and transported grain,
building a hut, naming it Ong’s Hut
which later corrupted to Ong’s Hat. I
like the first version. It was later known as a great place for bootleggers
during the 1930’s[ii].
I was able to
locate a Revolutionary map in 1778 that marks the location as simply “Ong’s.” A Gazetteer of the State of New Jersey
by Thomas Gordon in 1834 names it “Ong’s Hat” describing it as a hamlet ten
miles south east of Mount Holly.
By the time we
discovered Ong’s Hat, I was well on my trail as a family researcher and knew
that a tiny bit of Ong dna flowed through my veins. Jacob Ong Jr. is this compiler’s 7th
great grandfather. He was named for his father Jacob Ong Sr.
The Ong’s
were of Quaker faith. Founder George Fox
believed that they should not indulge in art, dancing, playing cards or
gambling. If they “kicked up their
heels” one would be duly reprimanded and recorded in the Quaker minutes. Jacob Ong Sr. does not appear to have been chastised,
while residing in Mansfield Township in August 1698, when riding his horse at a
gallop during the fair between the “Market house and the water side. He was, however, arrested but the charges were
dropped when no one appeared in court to prosecute him.[iii] The next
year (2.1699) Jacob and Elizabeth Ong’s first son Isaac was born. Mayhap he was celebrating the news that he
was going to be a father?
Within two
years after this galloping incident Jacob Sr. purchased 100 acres in Northampton
township. The land appears to include
the area described as Ong’s Hat.
Pemberton Township was formed in 1846 from a portion of Northampton
along with New Hanover township. Quaker
records show that Jacob and Elizabeth named their 2nd son Jacob when
he was born the 3rd day of the 3rd month in 1703.
Jacob Ong Jr.
thus grew up in the Pine Barrens with Quaker monthly meetings at Little Egg
Harbor 29.6 miles from Ong’s. Jacob Ong
Jr.’s marriage to Mary Spragg is recorded in the Little Egg Harbor Monthly
Meeting 12 December 1723 and reported to the Philadelphia Yearly for their
minutes as well. Jacob Jr. was 20 years
of age when he pledged his troth. Did he
impress the ladies? Was he spurned, swaggering about in his chimney pot style
hat, prior to Mary Spragg taking his hand?
Must every folk lore be debunked by serious researchers? I think not because they add a human touch
and charm to tales of our ancestors.
Genealogy can be so cut and dry with cited references on a chart that
does not express the personality of those that went before us. Let’s
ride our horses, with the breeze kissing us in the face, kick up our heels,
toss our hats to the sky and dance like there is no tomorrow.
[i]
Chimney Pot hat is more descriptive of Quaker’s hats
[ii]
Beck, Henry. Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey. 1936.
[iii]
Honeyman, Abraham Van Doren. New Jersey Law Journal Vol. 15. 1892. Plainfield
NJ, NJ Law Journal Publishing Company
