History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 194

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1170

USA > New Jersey > Somerset County > History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 194
USA > New Jersey > Hunterdon County > History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 194

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Rev. Garret C. Schenck was called as the first pas- tor. He settled in 1835, and remained only two years. He was born at Mattawan, N. J., Sept. 14, 1806, was graduated from Rutgers College in 1828, and from the New Brunswick Seminary in 1832. He was pre- viously settled at Walpack, and subsequently at Pompton Plains. He is now living at Marlboro', N. J.

Rev. William Demarest succeeded him in 1838, and remained two years.t The church of Clover Hill now became Presbyterian, and continued so for twenty-two years .¿. In 1862 it returned to the Dutch denomination, and in 1863 called Rev. William B. Voorhees. He was born at Readington, N. J., in 1835, was graduated at Rutgers College in 1860, and from the New Brunswick Seminary in 1863. He con- tinued pastor at Clover Hill till 1871, when he ac- cepted a call at Blawenburg. He was succeeded in 1871, by Rev. Matthew N. Oliver, who was graduated at Union College in 1857, and from the New Bruns- wick Seminary in 1871, and is the present pastor. The church now reports 75 families and 148 members, with 75 children in the Sabbath-school.

Branchville .- This church was formed out of fami- lies from the churches of Readington and Neshanic, with a few from those in Somerville. It grew out of the necessity of public worship in this growing vil- lage, and was organized May 2, 1850, by a committee from the Classis of Raritan, consisting of Dr. Mes- sler, Rev. J. R. Campbell, Rev. Goyn Talmage, and G. J. Van Neste. The first Consistory were John Van Dyke, Cornelius Bergen, Garret Beekman, and Henry P. Stryker, elders, and Lucas H. Hoagland, Gilbert

* See blographical notico at closo of this township bietory.

+ For a sketch of him see Rof. Ch. of Bound Brook.

# See Presbyterian churches.

793

HILLSBOROUGH.

S. Amerman, John Vosseller, and John Veghte, deacons.

Preparations to ereet a suitable house of worship were immediately begun, and the corner-stone was laid amid a large concourse of people. Addresses were delivered by Rev. Messrs. Chambers, Campbell, Talmage, and Messler. The church was dedicated in 1850, after a sermon by Rev. Dr. Messler, and on the next day the candidate, Henry Dater, was ordained and installed as pastor. He remained at Branchville from 1850 to 1853, when he removed to Hyde Park, N. Y. He was succeeded in 1854 by Rev. William Pitcher, who continued for twenty-five years, when he resigned, from ill health. Rev. William E. Davis was then called, was installed at Branchville in 1880, and is the present pastor.

There is also a small Methodist Church at Roek Mills which has been in existence for nearly forty years, but the particulars of its history have not been obtained. Near by, and at the very southwestern corner of the township, there is an African Methodist Church which has existed for ten or fifteen years.

THE MOUNTAIN MISSION*

is an enterprise of recent origin, having for its ob- jeet the evangelization of the districts of Sourland Mountain hitherto unreached by religious organiza- tions. These neglected portions were more or less bordered by Reformed and Presbyterian Churches, which felt reproached at the long-continued destitu- tion prevailing in such close proximity to them. They therefore formed an association for the support of a mountain mission. The following delegates con- vened near the close of the autumn of 1876 in the Reformed church of Neshanie for the purpose of con- summating the association : Rev. George S. Mott, D.D. (appointed chairman) and Elder S. B. Stothoff, of the Presbyterian Church of Flemington; Rev. John Gardner and Elder D. Stryker, of the Reformed Church of Harlingen; Rev. Charles S. Converse and Elder John W. Bellis, of the Presbyterian Church at Larison Corners; Rev. John Hart and Elder Peter P. Dilts, of the Reformed Church of Neshanie ; Rev. W. B. Voorhees and Elder P. I. Stryker, from the Reformed Church of Blawenburg; Rev. M. N. Oli- ver and Elder Levi Reed, from the Reformed Church of Clover IIill; Rev. J. S. Beckman (who acted as clerk) and Elder Abram J. Prall, from the Presby- terian Church at Reaville; Elder Burniston, from the Reformed Church of South Branch; Rev. John Smock, from the Reformed Church of Readington ; Rev. Ilerman C. Berg, from the Reformed Church of Rocky Hill; Rev. J. H. Hewit, from the Presbyterian Church at Ringos.

The association, thus formed, proceeded at once to the execution of its mission. A chapel was erected at a suitable place on the mountain, and a missionary em-

ployed to conduct religious services, organize Sabbath- schools, visit families, pray with the sick, bury the dead, and labor for souls. The following is excerpted from the report of the missionary for the year 1879, made to the association at their annual meeting :

" Rogular religious services have been held in chapel twice a Sabbath | during the year; attendance good; ten have been received Into the mem- borship of the church on confession ; baptized sixteen, of whom five were adults ; have officiated al three funerals end slx marriages. The mem- borship of the church is 31. About 40 children are enrolled in the Sab- bath-school, the regular attendance of which is about 30. Two of the Sabbath-school scholars have unitod with the church; the remaining eight, who became church-members, were beads of fumilles, Io family visitation, am well received. There aro belweon 30 end 40 families thal make the chapel their religious home. Thoro aro about 200 families on both sides of the mountain."

The following churches have contributed for the benefit of the mission the past year : the Reformed Churches of Neshanie, Blawenburg, Clover Hill, Sec- ond Somerville, Millstone, East Millstone, Harlingen, South Branch, and the Presbyterian Churches of Rin- gos, Larison, Flemington, Mount Airy, Lambertville, and Reaville. Personal contributions have also been made by Paul Tulane, of Princeton, Hon. F. T. Frelinghuysen, of Newark, Mr. Caleb S. Green, of Trenton, Mr. Harvey Fisk, of New York, and Mr. Henry HI. Palmer, of New Brunswick.

The missionary in the employ of the association is Rev. F. A. Farrow. The officers are Rev. John Gard- ner, President ; Rev. M. N. Oliver, Secretary ; John B. Hopewell, Treasurer. The executive committee consists of the following ministers : Voorhees, Con- verse, Hart, Oliver, and Dr. Mott, with an elder from each of their churches.

Hillsborough township has also been the birth- place of not a few clergymen. The following is a list of them :

John M. Van Harlingen, John Van Liew, Isaac N. Wyckoff, Honry V. Wyckoff, Garret I. Garretson, Jecoh T. B. Beekman, Peter. J. Quick, John J. Quick, N. Du Bois Williamson, John A. Staats, Paul Duryea Van Cleef, Elbert S. Porter, James E. Bornart, Goorge J. Van Neste, James B. Wil- son, Petor Q. Wilson, Frederick F. Wilson, John Van Neste Schenck, John Garretson, Cornelius P. Ditmars, Bergen Brokaw Staats, Charles W. Iliggins.t

CEMETERIES.

Only one Indian burial-ground can now be identi- fied in Hillsborough. It is on the south side of the Raritan, opposite the house of Ilageman Garretson. Almost all the old families at first had burial-plots of their own, or sometimes several would combine, as was the case with the Harlingen company who settled in 1710. The church land given by Peter Sonmans, where the first Harlingen church stood, was also used as a cemetery, and is probably the oldest in the town- ship. It is just on the border of Hillsborough, near Van Aken Station, on the Philadelphia Railroad. A graveyard exists also by the Millstone church, and no doubt began to be used with the building of the first church, in 1766. The oldest stone that can now he found dates back to 1774, and commemorates a Peter

t For further particulars seo Corwin's " Manual," third od., 1879.

* ny Rov. M. N. Gliver, of Clover Hill.

794

SOMERSET COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

Stryker, who died Dec. 18, 1774, in the seventieth year of his age. Several of the Frelinghuysens are buried here, but there is a Frelinghuysen yard about two miles north of Millstone, near Weston, sur- rounded by a brick wall. Here lie the remains of Gen. Frederick Frelinghuysen, who died in 1804. There are two cemeteries on the banks of the Rari- tan, near the beginning of the South Branch, re- spectively on the places of Vredenberg and Stryker. A graveyard also exists on the Amwell road, a little west of Flaggtown. A Staats graveyard exists on the farm of Peter P. Staats, and near by another, belong- ing to the Ditmars family, on the farm of Peter S. Ditmars. There is an old yard near Blackwell's, on the farm of James Henry Hageman, and another on the farm of Peter I. Nevius, in the southeast corner of the township ; this was originally started by Cor- nelius Cornell, who settled there in 1714. A single stone of a former yard belonging to Brokaw yet stands, opposite the entrance of Isaac V. Brower's place, which these Brokaws formerly owned. Many other private yards no doubt exist.

The articles of incorporation of the "Neshanic Cemetery Association" were filed in the county clerk's office April 28, 1880. The officers for 1880 were: Pres- ident, A. A. Cortelyou; Vice-President, Israel H. Hill; Treasurer, Gilbert Lane; Secretary, M. W. Scully.

SOCIETIES.

The only institution other than those of a religious character in this township is "The Hillsborough Mutual Fire Assurance Association," chartered by the Legislature in 1844. Its first corporators were William Blackwell, Abr. A. Beekman, John M. Wyckoff, Rynier S. Merrill, Dennis Van Liew, Jr., Lawrence V. D. Davis, Henry Brokaw, John H. Wilson. Supplementary acts have been passed in 1853, 1854, 1858, and 1867.

INDUSTRIES.

Agriculture is the principal business of the town- ship, which contains 389 farms and no incorporated towns. Formerly there was considerable distilling carried on, but now very little. Nicholas Du Bois, Esq., had a still-house near Flaggtown for the making of cider and whisky. It was there in 1788, and probably before the Revolution, and was taken down about 1820. A Mr. Everett also owned a still about a mile west of Flaggtown, built about 1802; he died about 1820. Abr. Ditmars also owned a still in the same vicinity; it was built about 1812, and continued till about 1830. Abr. Spader built a still about 1806, near the union of the North and South Branches of the Raritan; it was taken down about 1845. A Mr. Diltz has a still in Hillsborough, near Posttown. Nicholas Bainbridge had a still at Hills- borough (formerly Cross-Roads) ; it was built about 1820, and continued some forty years. Henry Pow- elson succeeded him on the place, and subsequently

Abram Davis. There was formerly a still at Nesh- anic, owned by a Mr. Low. There was also a still at Branchville, built about 1850, and owned by a Mr. Amerman, in which whisky was made; it was taken down about two years ago.

One of the first flouring-mills in Hillsborough was on Royce's Brook, near Mr. Gabriel's. A mill was early located on Peace Brook, a little west of the present village of Millstone; the remains of the dam are yet to be seen. What is now known as Black- well's Mill was first erected in 1746, probably by Peter Schenck, who died Jan. 27, 1780. Archibald Mercer was the next proprietor, from 1780-1806, when the mill was burned ; subsequently rebuilt, and owned by an uncle of William Blackwell ; the nephew soon became the proprietor. He held it until 1864, when his son John became the proprietor, and held it until 1871. A Mr. Van Zandt, of Blawenburg, then bought it, and a few years later John Oakey, who is the present proprietor.

In the western parts of the township mills were erected at a very early date. Isaac Van Doren (born 1744) owned and operated one on the Neshanic River long before the Revolution. Joseph, his brother, operated a mill on the South Branch at an early period, and there was also one located at what is now called Neshanic Station perhaps as early as the mid- dle of the last century.

Higgins & Brother have a grist-mill on the South Branch, in the extreme northwest corner of the town- ship. Jacob West is the proprietor of a grist-mill on Neshanic River, near the Amwell road; this was previously owned by John L. Oakey. Andrew Lane is proprietor of a grist-mill on the South Branch, at Neshanic Station ; this was formerly known as Corle's mill. There is also a grist-mill at Branchville, and two south of Millstone. There was also once a tan- nery at Neshanic.

In 1834 there were in Hillsborough township nine stores, one tannery, onc pottery, one flouring-mill, six grist-mills, one oil-mill, ten schools, with 256 scholars, and a population of 2863. It now (1881) contains about the same number of stores, four grist-mills, two saw-mills, fourteen schools, with 941 children, and a population of 3569.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

EDWARD TANJORE CORWIN, D.D.#

Rev. Dr. Corwin, pastor of the Reformed Church at Millstone, N. J., was born in New York City, July 12, 1834. On his father's side he is descended from the Puritan stock of Massachusetts; on his mother's side from the Dutch and French. The ancestor of the family, Matthias Corwin, took part in the settling of Ipswich in 1630, and of the New Haven colony in

* By Rev. J. B. Thompson.

9774

E. T. CORWIN, D.D

795

HILLSBOROUGH.

1638. Ile subsequently removed with that part of gone critically and carefully through many books of the colony which located at Southold, L. I., where the Bible, embodying the results of his studies in the family remained almost unbroken for a century | elaborate paraphrases. These studies furnish him the and a quarter, until scattered by the Revolutionary chief material for his sermons, which are expository and scriptural, and eminently instructive rather than showy or rhetorical. war. Several branches of it, especially those who signed the petition to support the Continental Con- gress, were forced or found it expedient to leave their homes. They crossed Long Island Sound to Con- nectieut, and, passing over the country to Fishkill and Newburgh, settled in Orange Co., N. Y. Here a large portion of them have remained to the present time. Almost every State of the Union, however, now has representatives of this family. (See " Cor- win Genealogy," New York, 1872.)

James Corwin, one of those who fled to Orange County, subsequently sold his farm on Long Island, taking Continental money in exchange, and lost all. Ilis grandson, Edward C. Corwin (born 1807 at Mid- dletown, N. Y., died 1856 in Jersey City, N. J.), was the father of the subject of this sketch.

In childhood, Dr. Corwin attended the public schools in the city of New York, which were then in a most flourishing state. From these he passed, at the age of fourteen and a half years (1849), into the new college organized by the Legislature of the State of New York, and now known as the College of the City of New York, and was graduated in 1853, with the first class which that institution sent forth. He theu entered the theological seminary of the Re- formed (Dutch) Church at New Brunswick, and was duly graduated and licensed to preach the gospel in 1856. He remained, after licensure, one year longer in New Brunswick for the purpose of prosecuting further the study of the Oriental languages, espe- cially Arabic. Having received and accepted a call to the church of Paramus, N. J., he was installed as pastor in that field Sept. 22, 1857. His farewell ser- mon there was delivered Nov. 29, 1863, having re- ceived and accepted a call to the church of Millstone, N. J., in which he was installed December 29th of the same year.

Early in his college course he mastered Pitman's system of phonography, and he has used it all his life. He writes and reads it with great fluency. This knowledge has enabled him greatly to abridge the time usually occupied by clergymen in writing ser- mons. It is not too much to say that without this art he could not have collected the vast amount of his- torical datu which has accumulated in his hands, und which he has digested and given in his different works to the public. For seventeen years he preached from phonographic manuscript. Since 1873, however, he hus used no manuscript whatever, his theory being that the best preparation for preaching is to under- stand thoroughly the text and the context. While fond of history and antiquities, his favorite pursuit has been the exegetical study of the word of God. With a taste for language, and a fair knowlege of the Hebrew and of the New Testament Greek, he has ! nelius, Isaac, John, and Maria.

From 1869 for ten years he had in his family, or under his care, several of the Japanese youth sent by their government to this country to learn the secret of the prosperity of Western institutions. These are now in important positions in their native land. Several of them, sooner or later, before leaving America became professors of the Christian religion. He was married, July 25, 1861, to Mary Esther Kipp, of Geneva, N. Y. Dr. Corwin is recognized as the historiographer of the Church. For his publications see " Authors of Somerset County," in another por- tion of this work.

ABRAHAM VAN NUYS.

Abraham Van Nuys, of Hillsborough township, is a great-grandson of Isaac, who with his three brothers left Long Island to seek other homes and carve out

Abraham VandSays

fortunes for themselves. One brother, John, sottled near New Brunswick, Isaac and Jacobus settled in Hillsborough township, and Cornelius settled in Princeton, N. J. Isaac located his farm near Mill- stone in the early part of the eighteenth century, and there reared a family of children,-viz., Jacobus, Cor-

796

SOMERSET COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

His grandfather, John, born in 1720, married Mar- tha Van Arsdale, who bore him children as follows,- viz., Isaac, John, Jacobus, Cornelius, Jane, wife of Peter Bergen, Catherine, wife of Bergen Covert, and Maria, wife of William Terhune. The grandfather died at the beginning of the Revolutionary war.

His father, Jacobus, born on April 16, 1753, mar- ried Catherine, daughter of Hiram Ditmars, who bore him children as follows: John, born Nov. 30, 1781; Peter, born Dec. 20, 1785; Abraham, born July 15, 1791; Cornelius, born May 23, 1793 ; and James, born Aug. 29, 1799. All are deceased except the subject of this sketch. Jacobus Van Nuys was a soldier in the Revolutionary war.

Abraham Van Nuys spent most of his minority on the farm of his father. At the age of eighteen years he went with his brother Peter to learn shoemaking at Flaggtown. He was drafted to serve in the war of 1812, and served under Capt. Jacob Ten Eyck, and was most of the time of his five months' service at Highlands, off Sandy Hook, Col. Abrams command- ing.

He married, Feb. 9, 1815, Mary, daughter of John and Ann (Voorhees) Powelson. She was born April 17, 1791, and bore him children as follows: James, born March 28, 1818, a farmer, married, Jan. 2, 1840, Rebecca Maria, daughter of Elias Van Fleet (they have one son, Abraham, and one daughter, Maria, wife of Charles M. Young) ; Maria, born Jan. 13, 1822, wife of John H. Brokaw ; Peter Nevius, horn July 5, 1828, married, May 22, 1850, Margaret Ann, daughter of Isaac Van Cleef. Returning from the war, "Squire Van Nuys," as he is familiarly known, worked at his trade until about 1827, when he purchased fifty acres of land where his son Peter now resides, to which he afterwards added thirty acres, and here he resides, in 1880, having led an active and industrious life, and now passing into his ninetieth year of age, and re- taining all the faculties of both body and mind. He was an active man in the old State militia, and as early as 1822 raised a company of fifty men, whom he commanded as captain. He was connected with military organizations for a period of thirty years. His first vote was cast for President Madison, as a Federalist, and he has since been an unswerving member of the Whig and Republican parties. For twenty years he has officiated as justice of the pcace in his township, and a noticeable fact in this connec- tion is that no appeal was ever made from his decision. His counsel has been regarded by his townsmen as safe in all cases, and many are the cases that came before him while acting as justice that were settled through his advice without entering upon continued litigation. He was freeholder for some seven years, and has held minor offices, always acting with that integrity which characterized him in his own business affairs. He has been a promoter of all worthy local interests. Since 1817 he has been a member of the Harlingen Dutch Reformed Church, and has officiated

as deacon and elder. His wife, a zealous and devoted Christian woman, became a member of the same church at the same time, and remained constant in her profession to the end of her life. She died Feb. 20,1868.

The Van Nuys family are of Dutch origin, and the progenitor of the family here settled on Long Island, from Holland, at an early day.

PETER G. QUICK.

Peter G. Quick, born in the town of Hillsborough, Somerset Co., N. J., Sept. 15, 1788, is a descendant in the third generation from Joachim Quick, whose father came from Long Island and was one of the early settlers of the township, where many members of the family have since resided. Peter G. Quick's father was Garret, second son of Joachim Quick, and one in a family of four sons and one daughter men- tioned in the sketch of Peter P. Quick found in this work. Garret Quick was born Feb. 2, 1761, and mar- ried, for his first wife, Catherine, daughter of Henry Stryker, of Montgomery township. She was born Feb. 3, 1764, and died Oct. 7, 1807. He died in the sixty- first year of his age. There children were Joachim, Henry, Catherine, Peter G., Lucretia, Garret, Cath- erine second, wife of Peter Van Nuys, Garret second, Joseph, who resides in Michigan ; Aletta, wife of Alexander Brokaw ; James, who resides in Michigan ; and Ann, wife of Joseph Stephens, Michigan. Six of these children are living, the youngest being over seventy years of age.

After the death of his first wife Garret Quick was twice married, but had no children born of either union. He was a farmer through life, was patriotic, and fought as a soldier under Washington at the battle of Monmouth, during the war for independ- ence, and during that engagement saw three horses shot from under the great general and Father of our Country.

Peter G. Quick, now in the ninety-second year of his age, is able at this writing to give the facts and most of the dates for this sketch. He recollects when at the age of six years, of his father taking him to see the battle-field of Monmouth, and at the age of twelve, upon the death of Gen. Washington, in com- mon with all, he wore crape on his arm for thirty days.

Five years after the treaty of peace was signed whereby Great Britain acknowledged the independ- ence of the United States, Peter G. Quick was born, on the old homestead of his forefathers. He has lived to watch the rapid growth and prosperity of the young republic ripen into a vast nation of thirty-nine States, containing a population of fifty millions of people, to see steam-power utilized in rapid transit on both sea and land, and the thoughts of man tra- verse with lightning speed continent and occan alike. The reaper, the mower, the revolving rake for facil-

Peter & Quick

797

HILLSBOROUGHI.

itating the labers of the farmer, the knitting-, sewing-, and weaving-machines, and inventions in machinery numbered by the hundreds, have all found a place during the life of this aged patriarch, which reaches back to within twelve years of the Declaration of In- dependence. His early education was obtained at the Raritan River school, where he attended for three summers and three winters, and which was distant from his home three miles. He remained at home engaged in farm-work until he was twenty-seven years of age, when, in 1816, he purchased a farm about one mile northwest from Millstone, upon which he resided until 1860, and then retired from the more active duties of life. His first vote was cast for the fourth President of the United States, as a member of the old Federal party. He has followed the same line of politics through life, and has been an unswerving supporter of the Whig and subsequently of the Rc- publican party. Mr. Quick has led a quiet and unos- tentations life, and never sought political preferment, although he has been selected to hold some minor offices. He has ever been known as a man of good judgment, fidelity in every undertaking, and pos- sessed of sterling integrity. He was often selected as a guardian and administrator-was for twenty years in one case, and twenty-seven years in another case administrator-of estates, and for twenty years he acted as guardian over his brother's children. In the performance of all these duties his integrity and honor remained unimpeached.

He has always been a prometer of good in society, and since 1810, a period of seventy years, he has been a supporter of church interests. In 1866 he became a member of the Dutch Reformed Church at Mill- stone, and remains constant in his profession. His wife was Catherine, a daughter of Isaac Van Nuys, of Hillsborough township, whom he married in 1809. She was born in 1785, and died in 1862. She was a woman of purity of life, as shown in her every-day work. She was known for her kind heart and many acts of charity, her even temperament and womanly virtues.

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History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 194

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1170

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1170