The early pioneers, such as John Roberts, William Matlack, Timothy Hancock, Thomas Hooton, and John Borton, settled their lands and built their homes close to the creeks and water ways. This was how you traveled at first. Their predessessors, the Indians had their towns and settlements in likewise fashion.
The early names of Chester Township were the Indian village of "Pennsauken" (spelled many different ways over the years), and "Cropwell" after William Matlack's hometown of Cropwell Bishop, Nottinghamshire, England.
An early Meeting of the local Society of Friends, as well as an early graveyard was at Timothy Hancock's plantation on the North branch of the Pennsauken Creek, later the land of Jeremiah Matlack. When the King's Highway passed through Chester Township it went through what would become Moorestown built on the ridge.
The Rodman Brothers first owned this land. James Adams bought land from Dr. John Rodman and along this new stretch of road through some cleared woodland in 1700 a small group of Friends including Sarah Roberts, widow of John Roberts purchased the lot for the "Adams Meeting House," later Moorestown Friends Meeting.
Thomas Moore married James and Esther Adams' daughter Elizabeth, and bought land nearby and opened a tavern. The Adams Meeting House and the lots sold by Thomas Moore and others was the beginning of Moorestown. Until suburbanization Moorestown was the only principal village of Chester Township which was farms.
-Dennis Weaver
Moorestown was named in honor of Thomas Moore who was our first tavern keeper as well as our first realtor. Very little is known of this enterprising man except that he married Elizabeth, daughter of James and Esther Adams and that he died in 1760 and was supposed to have been buried in the Friends’ Graveyard in Moorestown. He was undoubtedly a Friend as James and Esther Adams were prominent members and in those days it was a disownable offense to marry “out of Meeting” and consequently very rarely occurred. As far as I can learn Thomas Moore has no descendants now living in the neighborhood of Moorestown. In 1732 he purchased 33 acres on the northern side of King’s Highway (now Main Street) extending from the Friends’ Burying Ground at Chester Avenue to Locust Street and northward to the middle of Second Street. This tract was subdivided and sold for private homes or business sites. His historic Inn stood directly on King’s Highway at or very near the northwest corner of Main and Union Streets. According to tradition it was a small and unpretentious building. Ellwood Hollingshead informed me that his father tore down the building that stood on this corner at the time that the present building the home of the late Uriah and Mary Borton was erected and that it was then said to be the building in which the Moore family lived and kept tavern. Some very ancient coins were found in a crack back of the mantelpiece which proved that the building was very old.
In 1700 the first Friends’ Meeting House was erected at the northwest corner of Main Street and Chester Avenue which indicated that the village of Chester was then established and was recognized as the future centre of' the business and intellectual activities of the neighborhood. The village at that time probably consisted of a few farm houses and homes along the Highway from Stanwick Avenue to Locust Street.