Phoebe Ogden working for the Patriot cause. (AI rendered on data from Bill Truran and endorsed as historically representative)
During this prelude to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we are looking at some local people who put their possessions and lives on the line for freedom for America.
Today we recognize Phoebe Hatfield Ogden.
She was the wife of Robert Ogden II. He was known as a man who filled many important offices in the New Jersey Colony and state and church. He did so with good abilities and a character of integrity.
He and Phoebe came to Sussex County from Elizabethtown (today’s Elizabeth) to distance themselves from the British, who were just across the Hudson River in Manhattan and Staten Island. He had his crops torched and a likeness burned in effigy.
They lived in Hardyston Township. He was a leader of the then-secretive Committee of Safety for Sussex County and later a founding member of the Sparta Presbyterian Church, which at the time was in Hardyston.
Phoebe was born near where Robert was. Both families had been in Elizabethtown for generations and were civic leaders of their community.
The couple had many children, 22 it is said, with about eight being still-born. Among their children was the Aaron, a Life Guard of General Washington (like today’s Secret Service) and future governor of New Jersey. Another notable one was Mattias, who was on Benedict Arnold’s campaign to the Battle of Quebec and performed other impactful work during the war.
Beyond moving to their frontier home and farm and raising the children, Phoebe tended the gardens.
She also was one of the Ladies of Trenton, who were inspired by similar work done by Philadelphia women.
As the Revolutionary War dragged on, resources were stretched. Money was a question, with a new nation and little backing up the cash, and there was not enough money to cover the needs of the Continental Army.
The Ladies of Trenton helped promote subscriptions of money to be used for the relief and encouragement of the brave men in the Continental Army who “stimulated by example, and regardless of danger, have so repeatedly suffered, fought and bled in the cause of virtue and their oppressed country.”
With others, Phoebe solicited “well-disposed” people throughout the state who might contribute.
While the Continental Army survived harsh winters, long journeys, ragged clothes, smallpox, and other dangers, the Ladies of Trenton did great service to help provide funding to keep the soldiers in action.
This was a risky effort. Just as Robert and others in the Committee of Safety had to avoid British arrest, the Ladies of Trenton had to be careful. Imagine approaching some “well-disposed” people who were secretly British sympathizers, or Loyalists. Phoebe may have been arrested or perhaps their home burned.
Both Phoebe and Robert are buried directly behind the Sparta Presbyterian Church.
The Ladies of Trenton will be recognized by a marker, similar to the Patriots markers, that are being placed in Sussex County during this semiquincentennial year.
Bill Truran, Sussex County’s historian, may be contacted at billt1425@gmail.com He is the author of “Country Lanes: Portrait of a Century Past Featuring the Complete Works of Louis Larsen.”