Continuing on along the old turnpike from
EUzabethtown, we come to Rahway, known to
early history as Spank Town. Here a battle
was fought during the Revolution — a battle only
two hours long, but worth remembering as the
last engagement of the Americans with the
enemy when the latter was driven out of New
Jersey, with the exception of Amboy and New



Marsh's Sa-wr-mill 169

Brunswick, after their defeat at Trenton and
Princeton in 1777.
Rahway's first saw-mill was built on the south
side of the river in 1683, just above the railroad
bridge of modem years. The following document
records its establishment :

"A meeting of ye Inhabitants of Elizabeth-
town, June ye 25, 1683: Voted that John Marsh
have Liberty and Consent from ye towne soe far
as they are concerned to gett timber to saw at
his Saw-mill upon Land not Surveyed, lying upon
Rawhay River or ye branches or elsewheare, so
far as he shall have occasion to fetch timber
for ye above mill.
"And the said John Marsh doth pledge him-
self to ye inhabitants of ye towne to saw for them
Logs if they bring them to ye mill, one-half of ye
boards or timber for sawing the other, that is so
much as is for their particular use. "

David Oliver was one of the early landowners
at Rahway, and his son, David Oliver, 2d, be-
came a notorious Tory and refugee, and his
name is connected with the annals of the town.
