SURVEYORS ASSOCIATION OF WEST JERSEY

Contiributed By Bob Heggan Jr.

FORMATION OF THE ASSOCIATION

December 15th, 1863

By invitation extended to a few practical surveyors of the Counties of Burlington and Camden, a meeting was held at Mount Holly, New Jersey, on Tuesday, the 15th of December, 1863, at which time William H. Braddock, William Parry, Franklin W. Earl, James Lippincott, William Dyer and Henry J. Irick, of Burlington County and John Clement, of Camden County were present.

It being suggested that a society of practical surveyors be established, William Parry was appointed chairman, and Henry J. Irick, secretary.

After the interchange of opinions, it was resolved, that this meeting be adjourn to meet at English’s Hotel in Camden City, on Saturday, the second day of January; A.D. 1964, at ten o’clock., A.M., and that Franklin W. Earl, James Lippincott and John Clement to be a committee to report a Constitution and By-Laws for such society, to be submitted to said adjourned meeting.

Resolved, that an invitation be forwarded to the several practical surveyors of West New Jersey to attend the same.

January 2d, 1864

Pursuant to a general invitation to the practical surveyors of West New Jersey, to meet at the time and place in said noticed specified, William R. Braddock, Franklin W. Earl, William Parry, James Lippincott, Samuel S. Downs, William Dyer and Clayton Lippincott, of Burlington County, Jacob Rowand, John J. Sickler, Ezra Stokes, and John Clement, of Camden County, John H. Doughty, of Atlantic County, George R. Morrison and Ambrose Whitaker, of Salem County, Belford M. Bonham and Belford E. Davis, of Cumberland County, met at the West Jersey Hotel, Camden City, New Jersey.

The meeting was organized by the selection of William Parry, as chairman, and John Clement, secretary.

The committee appointed at the previous meeting, reported a Constitution and By-Laws, which after some amendments and additions, were adopted, and a Society established with the title of “THE ASSOCIATION OF PRACTICAL SURVEYORS OF WEST NEW JERSEY.”

PREAMBLE

Viewing the surveying, laying out and dividing of land, settlement of boundaries and monuments, and the conveying, transferring and assigning of real estate in a proper and legal manner, as giving stability and value to property, in the doing of which practical surveyors largely participate; and, believing that a means of discussion and interchange of opinions among this class of men would lead to good results; we, the undersigned, do hereby form and establish a society, to be called “The Association of Practical Surveyors of West New Jersey.”

That the objects and purposes of this Association are to discuss all matters pertaining to practical surveying and conveyancing; to exchange and compare sentiments and opinions that may advance and develop the science, and adopt such measures, rules and regulations as will secure these advantages to the Association.

The preceding were excerpts from a book entitled Proceeding, Constitution and By-Laws. List of Members & c., of the Surveyors’ Association of West New Jersey, printed in 1880.

William Parry, Our First President
Honorable William Parry, of Cinnaminson, N.J., civil engineer, surveyor, conveyancer, master in the Court of Chancery, and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Burlington County, was born, October 9, 1817, near Moorestown, Burlington County, and was a son of John R. Parry and Letitia P. Smith, his wife, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania, but removed to New Jersey in 1816, and settled on the farm where their son resided.
From 1850 to 1870, he was a practical civil engineer, surveyor, and conveyancer, and during that period, he located and superintended the construction or improvement of over thirty different turnpike roads. Whilst engaged in surveying several large tracts of land in the interior of the State, one of which contained forty thousand and another fifty thousand acres, which without convenient means of reaching market was of but little value, he became fully impressed with the importance of railroads in this State, which contained two million acres of unimproved land. By writing and speaking in their favor and against the policy of maintaining the exclusive privileges of the "joint companies", which prohibited the construction and use of any railroad in this State without their consent, or to compete with them in business, he contributed largely to effect a change in public sentiment. He was elected a member of the Legislature in 1854, and re-elected the two following years. During the time he was in that body, he served on many important committees, and was Speaker of the House of Assembly during the session of 1855. He took an active part in the "railroad war" against the "monopoly" and was in favor of granting railroads wherever needed to develop the resources of the State and to bring thousands of acres of land naturally fertile, though uncultivated, within reach of markets. The whole subject of exclusive or monopoly privileges in railroading was so thoroughly agitated and discussed that a law was passed fixing the time when the exclusive or monopoly privileges of the joint companies should cease, determine, and end. - "That after the first day of January, 1869, it should be lawful without the consent of the Delaware and Raritan Canal and Camden and Amboy Railroad and Transportation Companies, (Called the joint companies) to construct any railroad or railroads in this State, or to compete in business with the railroads of said joint companies." From that time, all legal restraints against building railroads in New Jersey had been removed, and in 1873, a general railroad law was passed, and the people left at liberty and encouraged to build railroads wherever the public good required.
Being a member of the Whig party, whilst in existence, he was chosen president of the first Republican Convention which assembled in the State. It was held in Newark, April, 1856, to organize the Republican Party, at which convention resolutions were passed taking strong grounds against the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and to resist the aggressive spirit of Slavery, and to accept the issue thus forced upon the free States, regarding the momentous issue at the then approaching election to be whether slavery or freedom should be national, and in favor of admitting Kansas as a free State. He was identified with the interests of the county and State, and was foremost in all matters that pertain to the welfare of the public. He contributed more largely than any other person towards erecting and maintaining the public free school in the district, where more than one hundred scholars were regularly taught free of charge.
He held many honorable positions in the State. He was the International Judge from New Jersey in the Department of Pomology at the late Centennial Exposition held in Philadephia. He was a member of the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture; was one of the managers o f the New Jersey State Geological Survey; was president of the West Jersey Surveyors' Association; was president of the State Board of Visitors to Rutgers Scientific College for the benefit of agriculture and mechanic arts; was president of the Westfield and Camden Turnpike Company; was president of the Rake Pond Cranberry Company; is vice-president of the American Pomological Society; was a member of the Horticultural Societies of both New Jersey and Pennsylvania , and an honorary member of the Pennsylvania Historical Society; as well as, a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and Master in the Court of Chancery. He was highly respected and esteemed by the community where he resided, and in fact, by all those who had the pleasure of his acquaintance.