Even as a young lad attending the two room school house in the town of Avalon, where I was born and raised, I was interested in the history of Southern New Jersey.  I especially recall reading, and several times rereading, The Fish Hawk’s Nest by Stephen W. Meader, a story about old Cape May County and smugglers.  My love of history continued in college, and I graduated from Rutgers University with an AB in that discipline.  Soon afterward I earned a Masters degree from Trenton State College (now the College of New Jersey).

 

I am retired from The College of New Jersey (formerly Trenton State College) where I held positions in the Registrar’s office, summer session office, Provost’s office, and Human Resources.  I also taught as an adjunct instructor in the college’s General Education Department.

 

Upon graduation from the Rutgers Army ROTC program I received my commission. After attending Officers Basic Training at Fort Sill, I went on to serve in the New Jersey National Guard with the 6th Battalion, 112th Field Artillery, 50th Armored Division.  The battalion fielded the MGR-1 Honest John Rocket.

 

I am married to my lovely wife of 56 years, Judy.  I am the proud father of two adult children, and the adoring grandfather of three grandkids.

 

During the Bicentennial of the American Revolution I was a founding member of a reenactment group called the Egg Harbor Guard.  From the Ten Crucial Days to the Battle of Yorktown, the group participated up and down the East Coast in numerous living history events.

 

As an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church, my faith is an important sustainer in my “voyage” of life.

 

In 1979 and again in 1981 I wrote articles for "South Jersey Living" the Sunday magazine supplement to the Atlantic City Press.  The subject for both of these was privateering.  This was the beginning of my quest to discover the facts behind the legends and myths concerning South Jersey’s role in the American Revolution.  I not only wanted to find details of the events, but also the story of the people behind them.  As a result the book contains hundreds of names of individuals who lived through the American Revolution.  For almost forty years I collected any fact I could discover.  Fascinated by these facts, I decided to turn my collection into a factual history of the Privateers and Pine-Robbers: Coastal New Jersey During the American Revolution.