Cain speaks as part of Historical Society of Hamm. series
Page 4 • Wednesday, April 17, 2019 • The Hammonton Gazette
HSH, from Page 1
revolutionary War—and geneal-
ogy, the latter of which was intro-
duced to him about 25 years ago
when he was informed of his
fourth-great grandfather’s military
service.
“i ran into a cousin, believe it or
not, who had some documentation
about my fourth great-grandfather
from the New Jersey Department
of Defense. it told of his service in
the revolutionary War,” Cain
said.
the discovery sparked Cain’s
fascination with studying his fam-
ily history and genealogy, so
much so that he created and pre-
sented a family tree that traced his
ancestry back to 1740.
Cain’s thorough and researched
presentation highlighted the nu-
merous generations of his ances-
tors, many of which still have
deep roots in Hammonton, includ-
ing that of his great-uncle and for-
mer Hammonton Police Chief
John rubba, of whom Cain said
he has several fond memories.
“He was chief when i was a kid,
and the police station actually
used to be on our block there on
Bellevue avenue. and friday
nights, after the acme went in
back in the early ‘50s, traffic got
really heavy right in that area. So,
he’d be out where the light is now
at third Street and Bellevue, di-
recting traffic out there at night on
friday nights,” Cain said.
Cain’s research led to several
revelations about his family his-
tory; among the most surprising
were the DNa results he received
from the genealogy program he
used.
“You can see there’s some
Viking, there’s some Normand,
english ... Not one single drop of
italian, and i thought i was italian
until i was 12 and moved away,”
Cain said.
regardless of his italian her-
itage, or lack thereof, Cain’s back-
story is similar to that of many
Hammontonians: he has familial
ties to many local families, includ-
ing the Crowleys, fords, Mc-
Cormicks and several others.
Cain also traced his lineage far
beyond the limits of Hammonton.
He discovered the Crowley
branch of his family tree, which
emigrated from Cork, ireland, be-
ginning with Samuel Crowley,
who settled in Philadelphia before
making his way to a village near
the Mullica river that is now
known as Crowley’s Landing.
there is a glass factory at Crow-
ley’s Landing, which is where
Cain said Crowley teamed up with
a man named John Mason and
made the first mason jars.
also among the Crowley por-
tion of Cain’s family is the late
Green Bank native Kathleen (born
Betty Jane) Crowley, who won the
Miss New Jersey pageant in 1949
before becoming a tV and film
actress during the ’50s and ‘60s.
Cain also spoke about some of
his unique ancestors from the
Mulliner family, which included
his fifth great-grandfather Moses
Mulliner, who was paid to take the
place of a solider in the Continen-
tal army during the revolutionary
War. Moses Mulliner’s brother
Joseph—albeit for a less noble
reason—was also one of Cain’s
most notable ancestors.
“Now Moses though, he’s not
the famous Mulliner; he’s just a
good guy that fought for the coun-
try. But his brother Joe—if you
can read the tombstone—it said he
was hanged in 1781. He was
called what they call a tory Out-
law, and there’s a thousand stories
about Uncle Joe, and nobody’s re-
ally 100 percent sure: Was he
working for the British? Or was
he just bad guy outlaw who
robbed people in the Pine Bar-
rens?” Cain said.
the discoveries Cain made dur-
ing his research allowed him to
track more than 200 years of his
storied family history. although it
took countless hours to complete
his family tree project, Cain said
it was well-worth the time be-
cause he knows his present-day
family members will keep the
story going for future generations.
“i hope you’ll think about doing
a little on your family tree because
no matter what, years to come,
somebody’s going to really appre-
ciate knowing their family history
… Just to create something with
as much family history as you
know is worth passing on,” Cain
said.
THG/Stephen Pistone. To purchase photos in
The Gazette, call (609) 704-1940.
HSH member Earl Cain (left) was the
guest speaker during the society’s
community program at the Ham-
monton Canoe Club on April 4. Cain
is pictured with past HSH president
William Parkhurst.