UNION COUNTY, NJ — The Union County seal was almost changed last week, if not for the efforts of concerned organizations and individuals in the Union County government.
“We were not told about it at first, but our understanding is that a group, Mothers Against Domestic Violence, questioned why our seal has the scene it does,” said Barbara La Mort, president of the Union Township Historical Society, in an interview with LocalSource on Monday, May 1. “And I don’t think the person addressing our group knew the history of the seal. My disappointment with this is that this had been in discussion since 2020, but we’ve only been made aware of it at Christmas 2022. Though polling was introduced in March, the existing seal wasn’t a third option.”
“When we found out about this last December, it was only by a fluke that somebody heard someone talking about it in the court house or the commissioners building, and they passed it onto us,” she added. “The Union County Historical Society also agrees with us.”
“We love our town and want to preserve its history as best we can,” said David Arminio, vice president of the Union Township Historical Society, in an interview with LocalSource on Monday, May 1. “The mission of the Historical Society is not just the preservation of the history of the American Revolution – it’s the preservation of the history of the town, from the 1620s all the way to 2023 and beyond.”
The county seal is unique in New Jersey and very likely the entire nation, as it depicts a woman being killed in the doorway of her home,” La Mort said. “If that was the entirety of the picture, then perhaps Mothers Against Domestic Violence would be justified in its opposition to this as the county seal; however, when viewed from a historical standpoint, this seal is extremely important to both the county and to the importance of women in our nation’s history.
“Our museum is on the site that’s depicted on the seal. The actual house was burned with Hannah Caldwell’s dead body in the house. One of her neighbors begged the British officers to let the husband and children have a proper funeral for her and then the neighbors brought her body to the neighbor’s house. She was in the house with two of the children and two friends. Steven Speilberg wants to make a movie out of it. There’s deep faith. There’s military battles. It’s like ‘The Patriot.’”
To better understand the significance of the scene represented in Union County’s seal, La Mort went into greater detail regarding this historical event.
“On June 7, 1780, Hannah Caldwell was sitting on her bed, nursing her baby,” she said. “Her 4-year old son kept running to the window and saying he saw soldiers coming. She asks the two women with her to get him away from the window. Finally, she gets up from the bed, hands the baby to one of them and goes to the window and, at that moment, she is shot through the window and dies.”
La Mort said some historians speculate that Caldwell was assassinated because her husband, the Rev. James Caldwell, was preaching revolution, although she feels that isn’t what happened. Some speculate it was friendly fire, but to her, that’s the least believable. Most likely, a British soldier, maybe not much older than 18, saw movement in the window and shot at it before he knew who it was.
To understand Caldwell’s death, one has to take into consideration its place in history, she explained.
“That day, June 7, 1780, the battle that was fought was called the Battle of Connecticut Farms, what Union was known as before it became Union,” La Mort said. “They were skirmishing over by Milburn and Vauxhall and Springfield. They were trying to get to Washington in Morristown. The Battle of Connecticut Farms and the Battle of Springfield were the last two major battles fought in the north.”
Caldwell’s death inspired people to join the New Jersey militia and the Continental Army, she said. Her husband rode around, telling people they killed his wife, the mother of his nine children.
“Her husband was an ordained minister and was a quartermaster in Washington’s army,” La Mort said. “He was a chaplain in the New Jersey Militia. There are legends about how, when he preached, he kept two loaded pistols in the pulpit with him. There was a price on his head, there was a price on Washington’s head and there was a price on Gov. William Livington’s head. Livingston was the first man elected governor in New Jersey.”
“Caldwell was killed 18 months later in Elizabethport in 1781 A sentry, James Morgan, shot him. There’s speculation he was going to collect the reward for bringing Caldwell to the British. So the Caldwell’s nine children were left orphans, but the family was so beloved, all the children were taken in. The 4-year-old boy, Elias Boudinot Cadwell, who was with his mother when she was shot and died, was adopted by the man he was named after, Elias Boudinot, and later became a clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court.”
As for the house itself, even after the British Redcoats burned it to the ground, its place in history was not complete.
“The members of the Connecticut Fams Presbyterian Church rebuilt it in 1789,” she said. “We think they started rebuilding it in 1782. Their church was burned, too, in the battle.”
“The Union Township Historical Society was founded to maintain the house in 1957,” La Mort continued. “They bought it from the estate at the time for $18,000. They even had a campaign in the schools called Pennies for the Parsonage. Otherwise, a lot of other people donated a lot of money.”
“We’re a nonprofit organization that exists to maintain that house,” she added. “The board is all volunteers.”
The house is now known as the Caldwell Parsonage, 909 Caldwell Ave., Union.
According to La Mort, the current seal was being used in 1932 by the county. It became official in 1933.
“We have a copy of the resolution stating why they chose this artwork,” she said.
Despite its historical value, the Union County seal recently became a point of contention when the image it portrayed was considered offensive by Mothers Against Domestic Violence. This led to the Union County Board of County Commissioners deciding to replace it by offering possible new seals for residents of Union County to choose between. Option 1 was the quadrant and option 2 was the courthouse. Keeping the original seal was not an option.
“We had over 6,600 residents vote for the seal. It’s at stand still until they go over all of the messages,” said Kelly Martins, director of communication and public information, in an interview with LocalSource on Monday, May 1. “We finished the vote last Monday, April 24, at the end of business. I don’t think there is a timeline. They just want to review all the messages before they make a decision. Everyone seems to have different opinions. The commissioners just want to do their due diligence. No decision has been made.”
The poll was open to Union County residents, she said. When the poll ended, anyone who resided out of the county and voted was not counted and separated from the tally. Only the tally of Union County residents were accepted. Each IP address and email was permitted to vote only one time.
Schools who participated in the poll were from Clark, Cranford, Elizabeth, Garwood, Hillside, Linden, New Providence, Plainfield, Rahway, Roselle, Roselle Park, Scotch Plains, Springfield, Summit, Union, Westfield and Winfield.
“We are aware of a petition that was going around by residents against the changing of the seal which has 1,951 signatures,” said Martins in an online message to LocalSource. “However, those who signed the petition are not just from Union County – they are from all of New Jersey, out of state and sometimes country. Our poll just included Union County residents.”
“I agree with the commissioners that the seal is not accurate and I don’t know if it was ever meant to be accurate,” Arminio said. “It was an artist’s rendition of an action that changed the course of the war. Hannah Caldwell was the first woman killed in battle in New Jersey. She was shot and killed by a British soldier. One of the girls who was with her testified about that.”
“One of the arguments that was used … is that the seal should be replaced because it’s not accurate, but I feel it’s artistic license, it’s a dramatic picture of what happened,” La Mort said. “The picture on the seal in the doorway of the shadow is supposed to be Elias. The artist is trying to tell the story symbolically.”
“The two women who were present, a girl named Abigail Lennington that did some housekeeping and a nurse named Catherine Benward, testified at the Essex County Courthouse at the inquest into her death.”
Caldwell’s name still figures prominently in Union.
“Hannah Caldwell was the last school built in Union; actually, it was a lab that was converted into a school,” Arminio said. “One of the former board of education members, Ray Perkins, he and his wife were walking down the street when they agreed it would make a good school. They talked to Superintendent Ted Jacobowski and they named it after Hannah Caldwell in the late ’90s.”
As for the issue of the county seal, everyone interviewed said they hoped it was resolved.
“They seem to be indicating that they could revisit this debate, but we’re just hoping they’re going to end it,” La Mort said. “The Board of Commissioners meets every other week. We thanked the commissioners on April 27 for their decision, but nobody from the other groups was there, so maybe they’re dropping it.”
“It came as somewhat of a surprise that the commissioners were thinking of changing the seal,” added Arminio. “I don’t think this is important enough that (the Union County Board of County Commissioners) should spend so much time on a seal that’s been around since 1933.”
Arminio also praised Kean University history graduate Kelly Komar for everything she did, particularly putting together change.org to try to get more support for the current seal.
“She helped quite a bit in getting the word out,” he said. “She put it on Facebook and all those sites.”
He also pointed out that even other towns were agreeing with them.
“The mayor of Elizabeth endorsed us,” Arminio said. “Westfield supported us not changing the seal. To me, the seal is significant, not just for Union but for the area.”
As for the county, it’s more of a wait-and-see attitude.
“At this time, the Union County Board of County Commissioners are taking into consideration all of the individuals who have emailed, called or attended the commissioner meetings on both sides of the topic,” Martins said. In her statement. “For the moment, we have decided to postpone changing the seal until we have further discussions on all of the feedback received.”
That response is fine with La Mort.
“We’re happy that the existing seal is not being replaced,” she said. “And we hope that continues. Maybe the matter will just fade into the sunset.”