Port Republic, NJ

Moss Mill Road
Port Republic, New Jersey, 1990

The residents of the Moss Mill road community had various occupations including farmer, "coalyer," millworker, and odd-jobman in the town. Between 1863 and 1865 Josiah Boling, Charles Boling, William Lee, Eli Boling, James Trusty, Alexander Smith, and Moses Miller served in the 24th and 25th Regiments of the U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War. The community they established existed from 1850 until at least 1916. There were probably twenty to twenty-five residents at various times, and as many as fifteen were buried in the cemetery on Moss Mill road. The only headstones that remain mark the graves of Charles Boling, Josiah Boling, Samuel Boling, William Lee, and Alexander Smith.
Beers Comstock Map
Port Republic and Galloway Township
New Jersey, 1872

In 1849 Henry and Grace Boling and their children Josiah, Deborah, Sarah, Charles, Rebecca, Beulah, Eli, and Mary moved to Port Republic from Woodbury, New Jersey. Henry Boling purchased a little over two acres from "Lewis Clark and wife" for the sum of $32.25 on February 11, 1857. This formed the first purchase of land in what eventually became a small African American community. In 1872, when this map was drawn, the community included six homes and an African Methodist Episcopal church.
Alexander Smith Grave
Port Republic, New Jersey, 1990

Alexander Smith was born October 9, 1833 in Weymouth, New Jersey. His father, Samuel Smith Sr. was born in 1784. He had at least two brothers, Isaac Smith and Samuel Smith, Jr. In 1859 Alexander married Deborah Boling, daughter of Henry and Grace Boling. Smith served during the Civil War in Company B, 25th Regiment of the U.S. Colored Troops. In 1872 the couple moved to Atlantic City, where their sons James and John were born. In 1909, at age seventy-five, he returned to Port Republic; he died February 23, 1910.
Charles Boling Grave
Port Republic, New Jersey, 1990

Charles Boling was born February 26, 1840, in Woodbury, New Jersey. In 1867 he married Ann Eliza Trusty, daughter of Alexander and Isabel Trusty. Between 1869 and 1876 they had five children-Walter, Henry, Samuel, Charlott, and William-none of whom survived their parents. Charles Boling served during the Civil War in Company B, 25th Regiment of the U.S. Colored Troops and died March 5, 1916, in Port Republic.
Josiah Boling Grave
Port Republic, New Jersey, 1990

Josiah Boling was born in 1834 Woodbury, New Jersey, and died May 27, 1909 in Atlantic City. At the age of sixty-three on December 30, 1897, he married forty-eight-year-old Rose Zelia Smith (Alexander Smith’s niece). The first marriage for each of them; they did not have any children. Rose Zelia Boling died in Atlantic City February 23, 1924, "apparently frozen to death.” Josiah Boling served during the Civil War in Company B, 25th Regiment of the U.S. Colored Troops and is buried in the cemetery on land once owned by his parents.
Boling Children at School
Port Republic, New Jersey, 1911

The photographs are from the collection of Doris Mollick, Port Republic, New Jersey. The girl in the lower image is identified as “Annie Boling,” standing with her class at the Port Republic School. The boy in the upper image is identified as “Johnnie Boling,” also with his class outside the Port Republic School.
M. Bowling
Port Republic, New Jersey n.d.
Photograph by R. Ashley

This portrait was given to me by George Pierce. The image belonged to his grandmother, Lily Lingelbach Pierce. "M. Bowling" may have been the wife of Samuel Boling and the mother of "Annie" and "Johnnie."