poles covered with bark, or in caves protected with logs in the steep
banks of the creeks. Many of them lived in the villages of the Indians.
The Indians supplied them all with corn and venison, and without this
Indian help, they would have run serious risk of starving, for they were
not accustomed to hunting. They had also to thank the Indians for having
in past ages removed so much of the heavy forest growth from the wide
strip of land along the river that it was easy to start cultivation.

These Quaker settlers made a point of dealing very justly with the
Indians and the two races lived side by side for several generations.
There is an instance recorded of the Indians attending with much
solemnity the funeral of a prominent Quaker woman, Esther Spicer, for
whom they had acquired great respect. The funeral was held at night,
and the Indians in canoes, the white men in boats, passed down Cooper's
Creek and along the river to Newton Creek where the graveyard was,
lighting the darkness with innumerable torches, a strange scene to think
of now as having been once enacted in front of the bustling cities of
Camden and Philadelphia. Some of the young settlers took Indian wives,
and that strain of native blood is said to show itself in the features
of several families to this day.

Many letters of these settlers have been preserved, all expressing the
greatest enthusiasm for the new country, for the splendid river better
than the Thames, the good climate, and their improved health, the
immense relief to be away from the constant dread of fines and
punishment, the chance to rise in the world, with large rewards for
industry. They note the immense quantities of game, the Indians bringing
in fat bucks every day, the venison better than in England, the streams
full of fish, the abundance of wild fruits, cranberries, hurtleberries,
the rapid increase of cattle, and the good soil. A few details
concerning some of the interesting characters among these early colonial
Quakers have been rescued from oblivion. There is, for instance, the
pleasing picture of a young man and his sister, convinced Quakers,
coming out together and pioneering in their log cabin until each found a
partner for life. There was John Haddon, from whom Haddonfield is named,
who bought a large tract of land but remained in England, while his
daughter Elizabeth came out alone to look after it. A strong, decisive
character she was, and women of that sort have alwa