History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 93

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 93
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 93

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369

EAST AMWELL.

was Penelope Van Princes, who not long afterwards became the wife of Richard Stout, and was the ma- ternal ancestor of the numerous Stout family of New Jersey. They became acquainted with each other in New Amsterdam, and were there married.

Not the least enrious part of this strange but au- thentie story is the fact that this couple should seek a home on the very shore where her late husband and so inany fellow-passengers had been killed by the Indians ; but so they did, soon after their marriage, and the first settlement made by the Stouts of New Jersey was at Middletown, Monmouth Co., in the vear 1648. There were at that time six white families in the settlement, including their own.

It is impossible in this brief sketch to follow all the branches of a family which has become so numerous and widely scattered. The ancestors who first settled in Hunterdon County were Jonathan and David, the former the third, and the latter the seventh, son of Richard, the first settler in Monmouth. Jonathan married a Miss Bullen and moved to Hopewell town- ship, then in Hunterdon County, about the year 1686. David settled about the same time on the opposite side of the ridge in Amwell, on the farm now owned by Abraham Runkle, where he bought about seven hundred acres of land. Nathan Stout, the subject of this sketch, was the first son of William, who was the fourth son of Nathan, Sr., who was the fifth son of John, who was the first son of James, who was the first son of David, the first settler in Amwell.

Nathan Stout was born in Amwell, Hunterdon Co., N. J., Dec. 31, 1812, and has always resided in the township, in that part now known as East Amwell, being a farmer and an honorable and exemplary citi- zen. He married Mary Ann Fisher. Their children are William F., Henry H., Simpson S., Lucretia F., and Mary Y. The first of these, William F. Stout, went to Independence, lowa, and married Martha A. Ilariman. He died in his thirty-fifth year, leaving one child, Ettic H, Stout. Henry H. Stout entered the Union army in the late war, and was killed at the battle of the Wilderness. Lucretia F. Stout died of consumption. Mary Y. Stout married Augustus Young, and has three daughters,-Lucretia F., Mar- garet, and Mary.

WILLIAM B. PRALL.

William B. Prall was born near Wertsville, Hun- terdon Co., N. J., on the estate where he now resides, April 10, 1834.

Abraham Prall, his great-great-grandfather, settled on the estate adjoining, as near as can now be ascer- tained, about the year 1730. He conveyed the prop- erty to his son, Dr. William Prall, and in 1770 bought the Prall homestead, where the descendants have ever since resided. This estate was left to Peter Prall, his

son by his first marriage, during his lifetime. Peter married Mary Quick, of Amwell, and had two chil- dren, a son and a daughter,-Abraham and Catharine. Abraham became the successor of l'eter on the home- stead. He married Sarah, daughter of Jacob Fisher, and had children,-Peter, Mary, Sarah, Ann, Cath- arine, Jacob, Eliza, Abraham, and John, the latter of whom died young; the others married and raised families.

William B Frall

Abraham, the next to the youngest, was the father of the subject of this sketch. He was born on the adjoining farm Dec. 9, 1811, and lived there till the death of his grandfather, when he settled upon the present homestead. Ile married Hannah, daughter of Matthias Bellis, of Raritan township. Her great- grandfather bought the place where she was born about 1740; it is still in possession of the Bellis family.

Abraham Prall was a prominent and enterprising farmer, and was highly esteemed by all who knew him. He died of consumption, Sept. 6, 1843. MIrs. Prall is still living, and resides with her son, Abraham J. Prall, on the adjoining farm. She was born March 23, 1813.

They had two children,-viz., William B., the sub- jeet of this notice, born April 10, 1834, and Abraham J., above mentioned, born AApril 28, 1840.

William B. Prall was brought up on the homestead, and received the rudiments of a common-school edu- cation. His father being in limited circumstances at the time of his death, William was thrown chiefly upon his own resources, and by energy, industry, and

370

HUNTERDON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

good management made his way to the prosperity and competence he now enjoys. When he was eighteen years of age the property on which he now lives was left for sale by his grandfather. His mother bought it, with the understanding that he should take it at the age of twenty-one. This was assuming a heavy responsibility, considering that the property was much depreciated in value and had no buildings of any con- sequence upon it excepting a barn. Mr. Prall, how- ever, came into possession, assuming all the indebted- ness on the place, which he had completely discharged in 1865. He has greatly enhanced the market value of the property, and las erected upon it fine, com- modious buildings. In addition to this, he has pur- chased and paid for a house and lot which he bought

of his brother, which, on the recent division of the farms, fell to his portion. These facts are mentioned in this connection to show that Mr. Prall has neither been idle nor unsuccessful since he assumed the re- sponsibilities of a business man on attaining his ma- jority. His path in life has not been altogether bright, for the shadow of sickness has fallen at times heavily upon his household.

He married, Jan. 30, 1855, Elizabeth B., daughter of Joseph G. Quick, of East Amwell. She was born March 4, 1836. They have five children, whose names and births are as follows : Abraham, born Sept. 11, 1855; Cornelia, born July 14, 1857 (died Jan. 29, 1858); Anna C., born Nov. 27, 1858; Hannah, born March 23, 1866; William B., born March 14, 1871.

DELAWARE.

GEOGRAPHICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.

THE township of Delaware lies on the west border of the county, and is bounded north and east by Raritan and East Amwell townships, south by West Amwell, southwest by the Delaware River, and north- west by Kingwood and Franklin townships. The population of the township in 1870 was 2963 ; in 1880, 3092. There were 366 farms in 1880.

Section 3 of the act of 1838 provided that the in- habitants of the township of Delaware should hold their first annual town-meeting at the inn of Henry Wagner, in the village of Sergeantsville. The bound- aries of Delaware are thus defined in the act erect- ing the township, passed Feb. 23, 1838:

" Be it enacted, That all that part of the township of Amwell, in the county of Hunterdon, which lies within the boundaries and descriptions following-to wit, Beginning in the Delaware River, in the western boundary line of the county of Hunterdon, et the division line between the towashipe of Kingwood and Amwell; thence down the said river Delaware, along said boundary line, to the month of Alexsocken Creek ; theoce up the middle of the said creek, the several courses thereof, to the middle of the Old York Road, leading from Lambertville to the vil- lage of Ringos; thence northeasterly up the middle of said road until it Intersects the road leading from Trenton to Quakertown, by the way of Riogos and Buchanan's Tavern, at the village of Ringos; thence north- wardly, following the middle of the said road leading from Trenton to Quakertowo, until it intersects the division line between the townshipe of Kingwood and Amwell; thence sonthwestwardly, following the said division line, to the place of beginning-shall be and hereby is set off from the said township of Amwell, in the county of Ilunterdon, into a separate township, to be called aod known by the name of the towaship of Delaware."*

NATURAL FEATURES.

The surface of this township, after a gradual rise from the Delaware River for about a mile and a half,

is a broad undulating table-land, with no abrupt mountain ledges or narrow valleys, but one of the most fertile farming sections in Hunterdon County. It has a diversity of soil, such as red shale, gravelly loam, sandy loam, and some clay loam, all susceptible of a high state of cultivation, to which most of the farm-land in the township has been brought by her intelligent farmers.

The township is abundantly watered by the Alex- socken Creek, which forms a part of the south bound- ary line between this township and West Amwell and the city of Lambertville, emptying into the Delaware River at the southwest corner of the township. The Horn Brook rises in School District No. 94, finding its way to the Delaware at Brookville, a small hamlet below Stockton. The Wickhecheoke rises in School District No. 93, mingling its waters with those of the Delaware at Prallsville, half a mile above Stockton. The Lackatong Creek rises in School District No. 97, and empties into the Delaware at Eagle Island, be- tween Prallsville and Raven Rock. The general direction of all these streams is southwesterly. There are a few tributaries of other streams in the east part, which flow into the township of Raritan.

EARLY SETTLEMENT AND PIONEER INCIDENTS.

The earliest date found of a purchase of land in what is now Delaware township is that of John Cal- lowes, who bought of George Hutchinson, March 17, 1695, a tract of land, a part of which is in Delaware, in the southwest corner of the township, along the river north from Alexsocken Creek. John Wey sold the same tract, May 29, 1733, to John Holcombe. This is in School District No. 98, and it is now owned in part by John V. C. Baker; John C. Holcombe also owns a portion of the original tract.

* Session Laws, 1838, pp. 132, 133. The only subsequent change in the bounds established in 1838 was in 1854, in the setting off to East Amwell of an Insignificant strip of its territory, comparatively but a few acres, being that portion of Delaware embraced in School District No. 103, which luy to the west of the Old York Road.

37L

DELAWARE.

The next lot above on the river front was purchased by William Biddle, Sept. 18, 1734, and the next, back of Biddle's, was owned by John Holcombe, and still back of Holcombe's, in what is now School District No. 96, was a lot of 300 acres, originally owned by Gershom Lambert, but now by Butterfoss, Dilts, Housel, Leonard, Melick, and others. A little farther up tho river is the old John Reading tract, which covered what is now the villages of Stockton and Prallsville. Joseph Reading located above the Wiekhecheoke Creek, opposite the upper end of Hen- drick's Island. Richard Reading, according to old maps and surveys, located along the river, between the creek and Joseph Reading's. From John Read- ing came the name of Reading's Ferry at what is now Stockton. Reading subsequently (Dec. 23, 1749) deeded to Joseph Ilowell the tract up the river from the old Ferry road (now Ferry Street, Stockton) and including Prallsville. "The 16th day of the first year of the reign of Our Sovereign Lord George the Third," Joseph Howell and his wife, Susanna, deeded to George Ely, Jr .; Ang. 11, 1792, the latter deeded to John I'rall, Jr., from whom Prallsville derived its name; in 1832, John Prall's executors deeded to Peter Miller ; April 1, 1841, Miller deeded to Thomas Holcombe; May 27, 1850, Holcombe deeded to Asher and Maurice Woolverton ; and April 1, 1851, Maurice Woolverton purchased Asher Woolverton's interest in the above tract, where he (Maurice) now resides. The Joseph Reading property spoken of as above Prallsville is now owned and occupied by Gardner Johnson.

In "Traditions of our Ancestors," published sev- , eral years ago, John W. Lequear says,-

"In the course of my duty as n surveyor, and from the estate of my esteemed relative John Waterhouse, of Rosemont, a number of old deeds havo fallen Into my hands. I have derived great pleasure in looking over them and locating the tracts as originally taken up. . . . Thomas In 1686, bought of llolmaloy 1665 acres; ho dying, It descended to hia aon William ; ho sold It, or a portion of it lying west of Itosemont, to ('harles Woolverton in 1714; he, May 18, 1719, conveyed 284 acres, con- stituting the farms of John Hartponce and William R. Allen, and six neres on the southeast corner of John Buthuan's farm. The southwest corner of the tract was In John Bending's line, near John Huffman's gato, and was sold to George Fox, who came from England. While he owned this tract a young man came over from England to George Fox's, where ho diod soon nitor his arrival, of ship-fever, and was the first por- Mon buried in Rosemont burying-ground, one-quarter of an acro being reserved after this for n graveyard. June 10, 1720, Mr. Fox conveyed this to Thomas Cauby. Aug. 19, 1736, Canby conveyed it to Henry Cont ; March 2, 1741, Mr. Cont conveyed it to Dorrick Hoagland, William Ret- tinghouse (as it was then spelled) owned the land on the east of this; he nud Derrick Hoagland altered their boundary lino to conform to its present course in the rond north of Itoarmont. MIr Hoagland conveyed this in 1750 to his son James; in 1760 he convoyed it to his brother Wil- linm. Peter Morrow had purchased ulx acres off the southwest corner of Derrick. This tract was afterwards conveyed to Asa Reed, then to Thomas Lequear, thon in part to John Waterhouse, William Bildlo soll 1160 acros to Potor Emley nbout 1732. Mr. Emley sold 600 acres to Christopher Cornelius in 1750. Mr. Cornellna sold 100 acres to Daniel Howell in 1750, near the upper boundary line of what is now Delaware township, onst of ' Duck's Flat,' a part now occupied by Thomas Rubin- son."

In 1718, Robert Elton sold to Ralph Brock, mill- wright, 800 acres of land near Rosemont. In 1710, Edward Kemp, of Bucks Co., Pa., sold Brock 200 I verton.

aeres, which he had purchased in 1709, of William Biles. Brock, in 1734, sold the whole of this 1000 aeres to William Rettinghousen. IIe, in 1742, con- veyed it to Richard Green, of Morris Co., N. J. The tract lay northeast of Rosemont. The old Ritten- house graveyard is to be seen near Lambert Hop- pock's house above Prallsville. Several of the Howell family are buried there. William Rettinghousen had four sons,-Isaac, Lot, Peter, and Moses. His daughters were Catharine, who married Richard Heath ; Abigail, married Mr. Freeman ; Anna, mar- ried Mr. Dansville; Rebecca, married Amos Bonham, from whom William Bonham, of Rosemont, was de- scended.

William Heath was an early resident of this town- ship, and owned a large tract. Richard, his young- est son, having been drafted to perform duty in the New Jersey militia during the Revolutionary war, the father, believing himself more able to bear the fatigues of the service, took his son's place. During the march of the company to headquarters a fray occurred with some Tories, and, the day being very hot, he was overcome and drank a large quantity of buttermilk and water in a farmhouse, which cooled his blood so suddenly that it caused his death in a few hours. He left a wife, Magdalen, and three sons and four daughters. The oldest son, Andrew, became heir to his father's property under the English law of primogeniture. The estate was large, and, with ex- treme liberality, he gave a farm to his brother John off the east side of his plantation, and one off the west side to his brother Richard. He kept the central portion and homestead for himself, and lived there with his mother, Magdalen, until her marriage with Uriah Bouhone, when he sold his property and re- moved to Virginia. John and Richard Heath both married and settled on the farms given them by their brother, and at their death each left a large family.

Of the daughters of William and Magdalen Heath, Mary married Samuel Wilson, and removed with him to Kentucky ; Elizabeth married Jesse Hall, and be- came the mother of Judge John HI. Hall, of Sussex County, the founder of the Sussex Register, and a prominent man of that county ; Sarah married Jacob Dilts, of Amwell, and died in July, 1831, leaving six sons and two daughters ; and Prudence married Heze- kiah Bonhone, son of Uriah, and removed to Sussex County.

March 2, 1714, Charles Wolverton* bought of Wil- liam Biddle n tract of 1665 acres. This is the earliest record we have of the Wolvertons in Hunterdon County. The location of this tract was about Rose- mont, extending almost to Prallsville on the south, and to the north and west about one and a half miles. To this point, which was then almost the western frontier, Charles Wolverton came from Long

* In some cases It is apolled Wolverton, again Wollerton, in others H'ool-

372

HUNTERDON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

Island. Just when he or his father came across the ocean is not now known. The part of England whence they originally came was Wolverhampton.

Charles Wolverton, the original settler, had six sons, -Manrice, Dennis, Charles, Jr., Gabriel, Isaac, and Joel. The order of their birth is not known. To each of them was left a farm of about 280 acres out of the original tract of 1665 acres. Dennis died Ang. 9, 1774, aged sixty-three; he was buried at Rosemont. From this point we can trace but one of the lines of descent,-that through the son Manrice. He married a Miss Baker. They had two sons and three daughters. One son died young. The other children were John, Margaret, who married Silas Wilson, Abigail, who married a Kensall, and Sophia, who married Samuel Cowdrick. The date of Maurice's death was somewhere about 1787.

John inherited his father's farm in consideration of his paying to each of his three sisters £115. This farm was situated above Rosemont, being lands now owned by E. P. Tomlinson, Andrew Sherman, and others. The old homestead stood just east of where Mr. Tomlinson now lives. He lived on this farm until 1799, when he removed to one on the Delaware, above Prallsville. He served in the war of the Rev- olution. He married Rachel Quimby. They had seven children,-Samnel, born April 22, 1779; Mary, who married Joshua Opdyke, horn Feb. 2, 1782; Sarah, who married John Stockton, born July 2, 1784; Martha, born June 31, 1787; Margaret, who married Asher Reading, born March 14, 1788 ; James, born Oct. 19, 1791 ; Anna, who married Ambrose Bar- croft, born June 22, 1794.

John Wolverton died Dec. 10, 1837, aged eighty- two. He was buried at Rosemont. His son Samuel was a cabinet-maker, and James a blacksmith. Sam- uel was twice married. His first wife was Mary Johnson. They had one child,-Asher, born Jan. 30, 1812. Mary Wolverton died March 6, 1812, aged twenty-four. Samuel married Elizabeth Wilson for his second wife. Their son, Maurice, was born Feb. 19, 1827. Elizabeth died Sept. 28, 1836, aged forty- eight. Samuel served in the militia in the war of 1812. He died Sept. 19, 1841, aged sixty-three, and only four months later, Jan. 17, 1842, his mother died, in her eighty-ninth year. Asher, Samuel's older son, married Mrs. Ann Fisher, née Gearhart. He lived on the old Wolverton farm, opposite Eagle Island, until April, 1872, when he removed to Stockton, where he now resides. Maurice, the other son of Samuel, mar- ried (1850) Caroline M., daughter of William L. Hoppock.

James, the sixth child and second son of John Wolverton, married Mary Sergeant. They had five sons and five daughters,-Sarah, wife of Elias John- son, born Dec. 2, 1818; Rachel, wife of Henry Fell, born Nov. 18, 1820; Jane, wife of George Hoppock, horn July 6, 1822; John, born Oct. 27, 1825; Mary, wife of Charles Jones, born Jan. 29, 1828; Permelia,

wife of Gardner B. Johnson, born April 29, 1833; James, born Sept. 4, 1834; Joseph, born Oct. 6, 1836 ; Charles, born Nov. 22, 1838 ; Samuel, Sept. 12, 1843.

Mary, wife of James Wolverton, died June 23, 1853, aged fifty-five, and James died March 8, 1871, aged seventy-nine. His son John studied medicine, and is one of the leading physicians of Trenton, N. J. Jo- seph studied medicine, became a surgeon in the army in the late war, and is now a druggist in Trenton. James commenced the study of medicine, and died March 3, 1861. Charles S. is a farmer on the old homestead, near Rosemont; he married Elizabeth Fell. Samuel is a dentist in Trenton ; his wife was Susan Lukens. The children of Maurice and Caro- line M. Wolverton are Elizabeth (died Sept. 13, 1854), William H., Eva, and Samuel.

The following facts concerning the Reading family -one of the first to locate in Delaware township- are communicated by P. A. Reading :

"Joseph Reading was my grandfather. He lived on a plantation of sev- eral hundred acres, about a mile southwest of what is now Rosemont which tract was originally bounded by two creeks on its east and west sides. It was entailed, and the entail ran out in his eldest son's (William) heirs. This original homestead is now owned and occupied by Gardaer Johnson. On the northeast line and county road is the family burial- ground of the later descendants of the family. The old homestead com- manded a view of the Delaware River, of the Pennsylvania shore, etc. I remember visiting it when n boy of eight to twelve years. The man- sion was reached from the county road by a drive of one-fourth of a mile, on each side of which were cherry- and other fruit-trees, planted in reg- ular order, till the mansion-house was reached, thence continuing for one-eighth of a mile to the Delaware River with a double row of multi- caulis, or silk-worm trees. The attic of the dwelling was devoted to the hatching and rearing of silk-worms, from which my Anats Mary, Amy, and their sister reeled off the silk thread and manufactured their own dresses.

" This original plantation was divided, and a portion of it is now in the occupancy of one of my grandfather'e great-grandsons, John Reading. The two estates-or 'palatines,' as they used to be called-extended froot the county road to the Delaware River, about one mile. My grandfather, Joseph, ut his death, ia 1806, willed to my father a farm of some 250 acres, directly on the bank of the Delaware River, immediately opposite what is known as ' Lower Black Ledge.' The eastera line is marked by a creek, which empties into the Delaware at what is now the head of the feeder of the Delaware and Raritan Canal ; it embraces what was at one time the most valuable shad-fishery between the head of tide-water, Trenton, and Easton. With it was connected the ferry right for the Jersey side. This ferry long since disappeared, and a bridge at Point Pleasant station has taken its place. This second Reading home was my birthplace. The old stone mansion is yet standing, about one-fourth of a mile below Point Pleasant, and half a mile above Bull's Island station ; it is owned by me, although rented out. It ie in sight from the car-windows of the Belvidere Delaware trains. I am a frequent visitor there, often taking my children and grandchildren to see my birthplace and the play-ground of my youth. I was eighty-three years old on the 11th inst. (October, 1880), and until my last sickness used to walk up to the homestead and back-eight miles-the eume duy.

" My great-grandfather, the Governor, settled desirable farma for seme of his sons near Flemington, on the Ruritan River, and two of the houses built by him I think are standing yet. The one nearest the village named was long occupied by John Reed Rending,-' Gentleman Jolin,' as he was familiarly called. These houses were built of brick iaiported from London, and constructed in the old Virginia style,-a red brick and a black one alternating."*

Among a number of old documents in the posses- sion of Cyrus Van Dolah, Jr., is a bill of Henry Van

#: Seen further account of the Reading family in the history of Raritan township, in this volume.

373

DELAWARE.

Dolah for sundry goods bonght of Lewis Moore in 1731. Another paper is an agreement to purchase the Van Dolah farm, dated May 6, 1738, witnessed by Honust Vanvorst and Christopher Search. There are also a receipt of l'apt. Derrick Hoagland, dated April 18, 1744, for £2 18., from Sarah Johnson, widow of Henry Van Dolah ; an article of agreement signed by Isaac Stelle and Hendrick Van Dolah, dated April 1, 1736; and the lease of the farm to Andrew Orison, by the widow of Henry Van Dolah, dated Dec. 5, 1743, signed by Emanuel Coryell, Sarah Van Dolah, and Andrew Orison, with John Larison and Edward Mur- phy as witnesses.

We also cite the following :

" Received, April 25, Ixox, of Henry Van Dolah, one of the executors of Garrett Von Dolalı, late of Amwell, deceased, eight dollars for making his coffin. Reed by me ISRAEL, POULSON."

" A true and perfect inventory of all and singular the goods and chat- fels, rights and credits of Garrett Van Dolah, late of Amwell, in the county of Hunterdon, and State of New Jersey, deceased, maile this 21st diny of August, 1807 :

Purse and apparel.

$38.1%

Books ...

9,00

2 pr. steolyards.

3.00

3 pair of beds, etc ..

60.00

1 lletchel

3.00

Pewter Platter and basin.

4.00

J Dressur (now owned by C. V. D., Jr.) 1.50

i Smooth ride 4

10.00

1 Clock ..

25,00

1 Negro man Jack*

20.00

1 Horse.

5,33

4 cows and 2 young cattle .. $4.00

I Spinning-wheel, owned by C. V. D., Jr .. 1.00

Hand Irons, dough trough, and brass candle stand ... 3.50

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History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 93

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