History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 196

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 196
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 196

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. Bergen built his residence in 1551, which, with its sur- rounding-, presented n striking contrast with the wilderness home and the log cabin of hi- grandfather, the first Erttler uf the family here, showing industry, judicious management, and thrift through a period of nearly a century sod a balf.

Mr. Bergen died Nov. 14, Issu, aged eighty-eight years, one month, and fourteen days.

Peter Colon Ansel Ale

HENRY VAN ARSDALE, grandfather of Peter C., was born in Hillsborough township, resided near Somerville, and sold his property during the Revolutionary war, tak- ing his pay in Continental money, which becoming value- less reduced him to poverty. He was a soldier in that war, and belonged to the old Federalist party. He died about 1817, aged eighty-eight. His wife, Sarah Dumont, died at the age of eighty-three. His father, Christopher, born April 20, 1760, married Sarah, daughter of Peter A. Dumont, of Hillsborough. She was born March 24, 1764, and died in 1844. He was an officer and served some three years in the Revolutionary war; was in the battle of Weston, and after the close of the war received a pension. He was a linen-weaver by trade, but followed farming in Hillsborough during the latter part of his life. He was a member of and officiated as deacon and elder in the Somerville Dutch Reformed Church. He died in 1840. Their children were Sarah (deceased), wife of James I. Voorhees ; Henry (deceased) ; Peter C. ; Ann (deeeased), wife of John Opie ; Catherine, wife of Jacob Quick ; Aletta, wife of James Ross, residing in Jerseyville, Ills.

Peter C. Van Arsdale was born Nov. 4, 1794. He learned weaving with his father, and followed it, in connection with farming, until 1878. At the age of fourteen he went into the busy world for himself, and began life by working at his trade most of the year, only working on the farm during the busy season. In 1817 he settled on the farm where he now resides, containing fifty-four acres, which was a part of his father-in-law's old homestead. Until 1871 he did most of his own

work and carried on his own farm. He has been a member of the Dutch Reformed Church at North Branch since 1854. In politics he was originally a Whig, and is now a Republican. His brother Henry was a soldier in the war of 1812, and served at Sandy Hook.

His first wife was Maria, daughter of Tunis Van Millsworth, of Hillsborough, whom he married Dec. 30, 1815, and who bore him children as follows: Re- becca, wife of Abraham Burnhart; Henry; Sarah, wife of Tunis Deats ; Jane, wife of J. Brown, deceased, but present wife of James Longstreet; and Tunis. She was born Dec. 5, 1798, and died Nov. 1, 1827. His second wife was Nancy, daughter of James Opie, whom he married Oct. 15, 1828. She was born Jan. 23, 1792, and died in 1846, leaving children,-Catherine Maria, wife of Henry Brokaw; Wilhelmina, wife of John Carcuff; Aletta Ann, wife of Isaac S. Lewis; Eliza- beth, widow of the late Abraham Q. Covert; and Chris- topher.

Mr. Van Arsdale is now nearly eighty-six years of age, and is able from memory alone to dictate the facts for this sketch. He has lived to watch the growth and prosperity of his offspring, and has at this writing eleven children, forty-eight grandchildren, and thirteen great-grandehildren. He is a man of strong constitution and rugged frame, and in his advanced age enjoys in a remarkable degree the vigor of younger manhood ; being a man of plain habits and unostentatious ways, he has lived a quiet and worthy life, and will leave to his offspring the rich legacy of a pure and noble ex- ample.

John Everit

BENAIAH EVERETT, father of John, was born April 23, 1786, died Nov. 29, 1863. Married Ann, daughter of Philip and Ann (Peterson) Van Arsdale, born Oct. 3, 1786, died Nov. 29, 1863. The children of this union were Sarah Ann, born Sept. 2, 1814 (wife of John Van der Veer); John, born May 11, 1818; and Philip Van Arsdale. Benaiah Everett was a farmer, and lived a quiet and unostentatious life. He was a Democrat, but took no very active part in politics. He was a man of correct habits, perseverance, and resolution.

His grandfather, Nicholas Everett, also lived at Neshanie, and died about 1822, at an advanced age. llis children were Ezekiel, John, Eliza (who married Peter Ditmars, and resided in New York State), and Benaiah.

John Everett, eldest son of Benaiah, received limited opportunities for obtaining an education from books, and without pecuniary assistance in early manhood has worked his own way to his present position of opulence. For several years after reaching his majority he served with his father for wages. On Feb. 13, 18-15, he married Margaret, daughter of Albert P. and Helena (Longstreet) Voorhees, of Hillsborough town-

ship. She was born Sept. 14, 1822, is one of fourteen children,-nine girls, five boys,-and a sister of Peter A. Voorhees, of Franklin town- ship, whose ancestry is traeed to the progenitor of the family in this country. The children of this union are Benaiah, Julia, Albert Voorhees, Anna (wife of Augustus Higgins), Matilda Van Nuys (wife of John Opie), and Mary Emma (wife of Isaac Stryker).

Mr. Everett resided near Neshanic for some eighteen years following his marriage, and then settled on the old Voorhees homestead where his wife was born. This property he purchased in 1863, containing two hundred and one acres, and it is one of the most desirable and best im- proved farms in Somerset County. Mr. Everett is a member of the Democratic party, but gives little attention to politics. He is ranked among the substantial agrienlturists of his township, and by economy and judicious management has accumulated a fine property.

The Everetts are of English descent, and the Van Arsdales of Dutch origin, and his grand- father, Nicholas Everett, is supposed to have been the first settler of the family in Somerset County.

A. L. Hoagland

HERMANUS, great-grandfather of the above, -supposed to be the first settler of this branch of the family in Hillsborough,-was born Feb. 18, 1681, and married Adreat Stotchuff, who was born Jan. 11, 1688, and died Aug. 18, 1761. He died Nov. 8, 1771, leaving the following children : Hermanus, born Jan. 1, 1725; Stinche V., born Dec. 22, 1734; and Imeas, born April 24, 1753.

Lucas, grandfather of our subjeet, died May 22, 1821. Married Mary Bunn, who was born March 15, 1755, and died Aug. 14, 1835. He owned some two hundred acres of land where Abraham L. now resides, and also two hundred aeres in the township of Branchburg. Lucas L., next to the youngest child of Lucas and Mary Hoagland, was born March 22, 1792, and died Feb. 17, 1846. His wife was Elizabeth Peterson, whom he married April 11, 1816. The children of this union are Elizabeth, wife of John Dayley, born March 5, 1821; Mary, wife of Gershom Hall, born Feb. 8, 1823; } A., who was born Nov. 26, 1855.

Peter P., died young ; and Abraham L., born March 20, 1827.

Abraham L. Hoagland resides on the old homestead, and is a farmer by occupation. He received a liberal education during his minority, and is well read in the current topics of the day. Following in the same line of politics as his an- cestors, he is a Republican, but not a seeker after place. Three generations of this family have been connected with the same Church of which he is a member, and of which he has been deacon, and is at present acting elder. He is a man free from ostentation, preferring the quiet avocation of the agriculturist to the bickerings of politics, yet he is unswerving in his political predilections, and interested in all measures that in any way affect the prosperity of the people. He married, Dec. 14, 1854, Sarah Maria, daughter of Henry H. and Mag- dalen (Staats) Brokaw. She was born June 26, 1832. Their only son and child is Peter

Fotor, De Haugland

801

HILLSBOROUGHI.

ANDREW LANE.

Judith Van Fleet, who bore him the following chil- dren : Gilbert, Andrew, John C., Cornelius C., Mrs. Stephen Ten Eyck, Mrs. Jacob Van Doren, Betsey, wife of John Brokaw. He was by trade a blacksmith, and carried on that business at Readington, where also he was a farmer.

the mill property and store. Here he has resided Cornelius C. Lane, grandfather of Andrew, married , since, and has been engaged in carrying on a gen- eral merchandise business, flouring-mill, saw-mill, plaster- and phosphate-mill. Mr. Lane received no pecuniary assistance in starting out in life for himself, but by economy, enterprise, and judicions manage- ment he has secured a fine property. He is safely classed among the most active and thrifty business men of his township and Somerset County. In poli- tics he is a Democrat, but has never been a seeker after place. He is a member of the Reformed Church at Neshanie. He married, Feb. 17, 1858, Margarette, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Hoffman) Wyckoff, of Lebanon, N. J., who was born March 8, 1840. Their children are Martin W., Mary Ann, and Lizzie.

Andrew Panes

John C. Lane, father of our subject, born in 1807, married, in 1828, Mary Ann, daughter of Andrew Hageman, of Readington. She was born in 1806. He has followed agricultural pursuits during his life in his native township, and has ever been interested in all worthy local objeets. Ile is a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, and has served as deacon and elder. In polities he is a Democrat, but his father was a member of the old Whig party. His children are Cornelius, born in 1829, died in 1868; Andrew; Martha Ann, wife of Stephen Weaver, of South Branch ; John (deceased); Sarah Jane; Mary Elizabeth, widow of the late Levi Fleming ; James, Phebe, and Gilbert.

Andrew, eldest living son of John C. Lane, was born in Readington, Dee. 5, 1831. His boyhood was spent on his father's farm. At the age of seventeen he began to learn the carpenter's trade, and at the age of twenty-one started business for himself, and during the following five years built some of the most substantial residences in Readington. He followed farming for seven years, and in 1864 purchased a farm in Clinton township, which he carried on for five years, when he came to Neshanic ( 1870), where he purchased!

PETER Q. HOAGLAND.

Peter Q. Hoagland, son of John A. and Jane (Voorhees) Hoagland, was born in the township of Readington, Oct. 20, 1826. The Hoaglands were carly settlers on the farm where Peter Q. now resides, the land being owned by his great-grandfather, which- being inherited by his sons, Peter receiving seventy- seven aeres, and Albert, grandfather of our subject, and brother of Peter, sixty-six acres-has remained in the family since its first purchase, and is now owned by Peter Q. Hoagland. His grandfather, Albert, married Mary A. Kingland, who was born Sept. 18, 1762, and died on the homestead in March, 1852.

Albert Hoagland was born Oct. 7, 1762, and died March 24, 1822. After his death, Mrs. Hoagland carried on the farm and kept possession of it during the remainder of her life, when it was purchased by its present occupant, and now contains one hundred and eighty acres. John A. Hoagland, father of Peter Q., was born Feb. 18, 1793, married Feb. 20, 1820, and died April 3, 1868. His first wife, Jane Voorhees, born Aug. 27, 1800, died July 22, 1837, leaving chil- dren,-viz., Catherine, born April 23, 1821, died at the age of thirteen; Peter Quick; Sarah, born Aug. 11, 1831, wife of Henry O. Van Doren; Jane, born April 22, 1834, wife of Lawrence Johnson. His second wife was Catherine Miner, whom he married Nov. 14, 1839. She died Aug. 15, 1846.

Jolin A. Hoagland began life as a farmer at Rocky Hill, and subsequently followed that ocenpation on the old homestead. He was in the war of 1812, and served at Sandy Hook. He was also connected for many years with the old State militia. He was a member of the Whig party, and afterwards of the Republican party. For many years both he and his wife were members of the Dutch Reformed Church at Neshanic. He was industrious, energetic, and judi- cious in his business affairs, a man of exemplary habits, and esteemed by all who knew him.

Peter Q. Hoagland received only the advantages of the common school for any education. At the age of sixteen he began to learn the carpenter's trade, which

802

SOMERSET COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

business he followed for thirty years. He married, Dec. 25, 1850, Rachel Ann, daughter of George and Gertrude (Stryker) Corwin, of Hillsborough. She was born Dec. 25, 1832. Their children are John B., Ger- trude Stryker, Ann Elizabeth, Peter, and George Cor- win. Upon his marriage he settled in Franklin township, where he remained only two years, and pur- chased the old homestead, upon which he has since resided. He built his present elegant and commodi- ous farm residence himself in 1868, and the improve- ments about his premises indicate the management of a careful and intelligent farmer. Two railroads cross his farm,-South Branch and the Eastern and Amboy Railroads. He worked at his trade more or less until 1878, since when he has given his time exclu- sively to his farm. Mr. Hoagland is a Republican in politics, and follows the same line as his ancestors before him. He has been little connected with public office, and has only served in a public capacity as commissioner of appeal and as surveyor of the Hills- borough Fire Insurance Company.

Mr. Hoagland is a liberal supporter of church and school interests, and a promoter of all worthy local enterprises. His wife is a member of the church.

ABRAHAM VAN DOREN STAATS.

Abraham Van Doren Staats, son of John P. and Joanna M. (Van Doren) Staats, was born at Millstone, N. J., July 4, 1836. He received a good common- school education, and through life was fond of read- ing and study. At the age of twenty he united with the Reformed Church at Millstone, and subsequently officiated as deacon. He was a young man of correct habits, and in all the relations of life fulfilled the full duties of the citizen. He was decided and positive in his opinions, and possessed force and energy to accomplish whatever he undertook. After he began

business for himself liis short life was spent as a farmer iu his native township. In 1874, finding his health failing, he visited South Carolina, where he

a. v. D. Stauts

spent the winter, and returned apparently invigo- rated, but his disease relaxed only to obtain a surer footing, and he died May 22, 1875. His wife, Matilda, is a daughter of Rynier S. and Jane (Wilson) Merrell, of Hillsborough township. She was born April 20, 1838, and has three children,-Maria Louisa, William, and John P.

FRANKLIN.

GEOGRAPHICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.

THIS town forms the southeast corner of Somerset County. It is of a triangular shape, and is bounded as follows: Northeast by the Raritan River, which separates it from the town of Piscataway, in Middlesex County, and One Mile Run, which separates it from the city of New Brunswick; southeast by North Brunswick and South Brunswick townships, both in Middlesex County ; west by the Millstone River,

which separates it from the townships of Hillsborough and Montgomery. On the northwest the Raritan washes the township for about two miles, separating it from Bridgewater, and the southwestern corner of the township is also separated by Millstone River from Princeton township, in Mercer County. The town- ship contains 322 farms, and its superficial area is 31,610 acres, or 49.39 square miles. Its population, as given in the census of 1880, is 3819.

The surface is level or gently undulating, except where Ten-Mile Run Mountain reaches an elevation

* By Rev. E. T. Corwin, D.D.

803

FRANKLIN.

of 355 feet and stretches aeross the southern point of the township, which is here about three miles wide.

The streams lying wholly in its limits are all small. The northeastern part is drained by a series of gullies running northeast towards the Raritan. The other streams of the township, which are quite numerous, flow westerly into the Millstone River. Of these, Six-Mile Run is the chief; it is fed by numerous rivulets between Voorhees Station and Franklin Park. Ten-Mile Run rises in the mountain of that name, and by a northeasterly course of two miles, and a northwesterly course of three, falls into the Millstone below Griggstown. The Millstone washes the western border of this town for about fifteen miles by the course of the river. Its sources are in Millstone township, Monmouth Co., and its length is about thirty-five miles.

LAND TITLES AND SETTLEMENTS.

Of the twenty-four proprietors, Robert West, Thomas Willox," and Edward Byllinge had dividends of land set off to them in the bounds of the present township of Franklin. It was under these that this town began to be settled. The southwestern part was thrown into West Jersey by Lawrence's line of 1743. Some of the early titles are therefore to be sought at Burlington, as well as at Amboy, New Brunswick, and Somerville. The year before the proprietors be- gan to operate, John Inians & Co. purchased of the Indians, for the benefit of Lady Elizabeth Carteret, " the present lady-proprietrix of the province," a tract of land called Ahandlerhamock by the Indians. It lay upon the south side of the Raritan, and extended from Bound Brook to Lawrence's Brook, and took in about one-third of Franklin township.

Nov. 10, 1681, John Inians, t one of this company, and a merchant of New York, purchased a portion of this tract containing 1280 acres, bounded on the northeast by the Raritan River, on the west by An- drew Bowne, southeast and southwest by land not yet surveyed. The Raritan lots immediately north of Inians' patent contained each 500 acres. Each had nearly half a mile of river-front, and extended back about two miles. In 1681 they were owned by Andrew Bowne, Richard Jones, George Foreman, Joseph Snelling, Andrew Gibbs, Gershom Brown, Jeremiah Tuthill, Joseph Benbrigge, Thomas Matthew, and Ed- ward Gibbon; but in four years, showing the rapid changes or the speculation in land, these had all changed owners .;

The last one of these lots, having its face on the Raritan immediately below Bound Brook, and with

the adjoining plot in the south, belonged to William Doekwra. Behind these, facing the Millstone, were two lots reaching some distance above Weston, the lower, containing 800 acres, belonging to George Willocks, and the upper, containing 500, belonging to William Doekwra. These three lots of Doekwra and the one of Willocks represent that part of Franklin which was set off to Somerset County in 1688.

It becomes not a little difficult, if not impossible, to harmonize the subsequent sales in the centre of Franklin township and those on the east side of the Millstone. Indian and proprietary deeds came in conflict, and the same land was sold by different par- ties. Sept. 1, 1694, the proprietors sold to Daniel Cox, of London, one of their fellow-proprietors, the great quadrangular plot lying east of the Middlebush road, stretching from the Raritan lots to beyond Ten-Mile Run, and extending some distance into the present Middlesex County.&. It appears from this deed that, previous to 1694, Daniel Cox had bought a large plot between the Middlebush road and the Millstone River, but we have not met with the record of it. But soon after we find all the land between the Mid- dlebush road on the east, the Amwell road as it lies near Middlebush church, and the extension of the course of that piece of road to the present farm of Mr. Cropsey on the north and the Millstone River on the west, deeded in two large plots to John Harrison and George Willocks, and the still larger plot which was deeded to Daniel Cox, as above described, now deeded to Harrison and Willocks also. The first traet extended from the present farm of G. W. Cropsey almost to Griggstown, and back to the Middlebush road; the second extended from a little north of Griggstown to a point opposite Rocky Hill, and cast to a line protracted on the course of the Middlebush road ; while the third embraced the rest of Franklin township except the Raritan lots, and extended some distance into Middlesex County. These three tracts are described in Amboy Records, Lib. G, p. 314, etc.

In 1701 a Dutch company from Long Island bought from John Harrison a tract of 10,000 acres in the heart of Franklin township. The company consisted of Peter Cortelyou, Stotfel Probasco, Theodore Pol- hemus, Hendrick Lott, Hendrick Hendricks, Jacques Cortelyou, Denis Tunis, and Cornelius Wyckoff. The plot extended from the Raritan lots on the north to a line running east and west near Six-Mile Run, and from the Millstone River on the west to the Indian path on the east. It was divided into eight parts and numbered, commeneing at the rear of the Raritan lots. No. I was on the north side of the Amwell road; No. 2, where the village of Middlebush is; No. 5, where Jacob Wyckoff lives; No. S, where Peter Stothoff, Moore Baker, and 1. Staats Nevius reside. The lines run from the Indian path in a westerly di- rection ncross to the Millstone River, making eight

· Also spellod Willocks.

+ John Ininna, of Haritan River, was appointed a member of Governor Hamilton's Conucil on Sepl. 14, 1692. Nothing is known of his place of resklonco or bis history, but that he was a very extensive purchaser of lands and a man of great wealth for the times are inferred from his largo transactions found on the records of proprietors at Amboy and volumes of dleoda at Tronton. Ills Inrgo plot was subsequently purchased by Philip French.

$ Seo Roed's map of 1685.

¿ Perth Amboy Records, Lib. E, p. 365.

804

SOMERSET COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

divisions. A line was also run from the rear of the Raritan lots in a southerly course to the distance of eight miles, ending on Rocky Hill in the neighborhood of Upper Ten-Mile Run. This was called the " Middle Line," and on it was laid the road from the present Middlebush church to the Griggstown road, which passes by Garret Nevius. This last-mentioned line divided the tract into sixteen parts, and was settled upon principally by the purchasers or their descend- ants.

In 1723, Christian Van Doren bought a plot con- taining 359 acres north of the Middlebnsh church. This tract is now divided into seven farms.

Some time before 1754, John Hoagland had bought 176 acres on the east side of the Millstone River, as in that year he bought another plot, at the southeast corner of the first plot, containing 40 acres, of John Lott, of Long Island; he paid for this £200. On the south of John Hoagland's land, in 1791, were lands of John and Cornelius Wyckoff; while east of the 40-acre plot was land of John Wyckoff; on the north was land of John Van Liew; and next, to the river, land of John Bennett.

In 1791 the executors of John Hoagland-Wil- liam and John Hoagland, of Somerset, and Garret Terhune, of Middlesex-sold both these plots to Tunis Hoagland. The widow of John was Matje Hoagland, who gave a quit-claim on her husband's estate March 9, 1791. Tunis paid £1370 14s. for the two plots, containing 216 acres.

EARLY SETTLERS, PIONEER FAMILIES, ETC.

These early patentees or land-owners did not by any means always settle on the tracts which they pur- chased. Some of them were never in America. The following family histories are herewith appended, and show the settlement and development of the actual population. They are largely condensed from the family histories collected by the late Hon. Ralph Voorhees, of Middlebush, and published in "Our Home" in 1873, and in the New Brunswick Fredonian in 1874-78:

On both sides of the Indian path settlements must have commenced as early as 1703, when John Van Houten, Tunis Quick, and Dollies Hage- man, of Ten-Mile Run, Frederick Van Liew, Jacob and Abm. Bennet, and others of Three-Mile Run, signed a suhecriptieu for the purpose of calling n minister from Holland to supply the congregation of Three- Mile Rna.

In 1701, John Harrison and George Willocks owned a tract, which had been purchased from the Indiana, commencing at or near Rocky Hill, at the Millstone River, running sast-southeast 2 miles; then easterly 37's miles to n point opposite the hones of the late Samuel Steward ; then northwesterly to the Raritan lote, und following in their rear to the Mill- etone River, and from thence np said river to place of beginving, contain- ing 17,800 acres. The 5-mile line commencing at Steward's and running to the rear of the river-lete fe the one of which our parents used to speak Bo frequently half a century since as causing much violent contentlon nnd litigation. It was settled by & jury summoned for that purpose, and was therenfter called the Jury-Line.

John Harrison was an early settler at Rocky Hill, and in 1717 built the first mill on the Millstone in that pince. It stoed on the east side of the river, near the present ene en the opposite elde. It is supposed that he resided where the old Berrian house etande, in which Gon, Washing- ton wrote his Farewell Address. IFarrisen came from Long Island, and

was noted for his enterprise and activity ; he held numerous and import- ant offices, and was captain and commissary ef a company of troops sent in 1709 by the provincial government to defend our northern borders from the encroachments of the French. He owned & lot nt Somerset Court-house in 1723, when at Six-Mile Run, and died at Amboy in the same year.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 196

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