USA > New Jersey > Hunterdon County > The first century of Hunterdon County, state of New Jersey > Part 2
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1 On White House, see an article by Rev. William Bailey, in " Our Home," a magazine published in Somerville, N. J., in 1873.
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tenants on long leases. The greater part of these were bought in, fifty years ago. This is now a Lutheran Society, but the probability is that a religious organization of the Church of England preceded this, and at an early date, probably under Lord Cornbury. For in 1749 an instrument conveys seven acres of ground, and the church building then erected, to the Trustees of the Lutheran Society for a period of one hundred and three years. But the Germans who came in before the Revolution predominated. Among these were Jacob Kline, Mellick, one of whose sons went to New York, became a merchant and was the first President of the Chemical Bank ; Honeyman, John Bergen, George Wilcox, Adam Ten Eyck who owned a large tract in the southern part of the township.1 Frederic Bartles was another, who was in the cavalry of Frederic the Great. He was captured by the French, but escaped to Amsterdam. Thence he made his way to London. He came over to Philadelphia and then to New Germantown. He was the grand- father of Charles Bartles, Esq., of Flemington.
North of the village, a large tract was owned by James Parker of Amboy, one of the proprietors of East Jersey. The land on which the Presbyterian Church at Fairmount stands, was given by him before 1760, at which date a church edifice was on the ground. The place was originally called Parkersville. It is probable that the first settlers came about 1740. For Michael Schlatter speaks of preaching in the church of Fox Hill in 1747. The hill was then called Foxenburg, from a man by the name of Fox, who was a very enterprising farmer, and introduced a new and superior kind of wheat. People came from a great distance to buy this wheat for seed. In 1768 the churches of Fox Hill and German Valley, with those of Rockaway and Alexandria, were united under one charge. In 1782 Casper Wack was settled over Lebanon, German Valley, Fox Hill and Ringos.ª
1 An Article in "Our Home," New Germantown, March, 1873.
2 History of Presbyterian Church, Fairmount, by Rev. Wm. O. Ruston, 1876.
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As far as can be ascertained, after the occupation of the land on the eastern and western borders of the county, very soon land was taken up along the great Indian paths already described, especially on the Old York road. From parchment deeds now in possession of Mr. A. S. Laning of Pennington, it appears that in the year 1702, Benjamin Field, one of the proprietors living in Burlington, agreed to sell to Nathan Allen, of Allentown, 1,650 acres, com- prising the land in and around Ringos. Field seems to have died suddenly before this was consummated, making his wife, Experience, his sole executrix, by a will dated 13th May, 1702. She conveyed this tract to Allen, by deed dated May 29th, 1702. This, which seems to have been before the purchase from the Indians by the Council, was probably allotted to Field's estate at the time of the dividend in 1703. By a deed bearing date 6th December, 1721, Allen conveyed to Rudolph Harley, of Somerset county, for £75 New York money, 176 acres. The deed conveys all the minerals, mines, fishing, hunting and woods on the tract. Harley removed from Somerset and settled here. On August 25th, 1726, he sold 25 acres of his tract to Theophilus Ketcham, innholder, for £15 English.1 May 22d, 1720, Allen conveyed 150 acres to Philip Peter. This whole tract of Allen's in a few years was divided into small portions. For, by a release executed June 26th, 1758, the fol- lowing persons are enumerated as being possessed of parts of the original tract. Ichabod Leigh, 118 acres, Henry Landis, 80, Wm Schenck, 280, Jacob Sutphin, 150, Tunis Hoppock, 100, Jacob Moore, 138, Obadiah Howsell, 8, Justus Ransel, 30, Rudolph Har- ley, 142, John Howsell, 3, Gershom Mott, 2, Philip Ringo, 40 James Baird, 18, Anna Lequear, 80, George Thompson, 100, Jeremiah Trout, 3, - Barrack, 100, George Trout. 17, John Hoagland, 200, Derrick Hoagland, 180, John Williamson, 180. In 1724 Francis Moore, of Amwell, bought 100 acres from Allen, which afterward he conveyed to John Dagworthy, of Trenton. Dagworthy
1 To me the evidence favors the supposition that he kept the first tavern, and not Ringo, as has generally been held.
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sold, on August 6th, 1736, to Philip Ringo, innholder, five acres for £30. On this plot the present tavern stands. On April 18th. 1744, he let him have eight acres more for £50 of the Province, Tradition declares that a log cabin was kept here, which became a famous stopping place known as Ringo's Old Tavern. The son and the grandson, John, continued the business until his death in 1781, when the property was purchased by Joseph Robeson. For many years Ringos was the most important village in the whole Amwell valley. A store was kept here to which the Indians resorted from as far as Somerville. Here public meetings were held to petition the king for the removal of grievances. Later on, celebrations for
the whole county centered at this point. It was also a place of con- siderable trade. Henry Landis who came in 1737, carried on the saddlery business, in which he secured a reputation that extended from Trenton to Sussex. In the prosecution of this business he made money, and became owner of several hundred acres of land. In the old stone house which he built and which is now standing, it is said that Lafayette was confined by sickness for more than a week; and that he was attended by Dr. Gershom Craven, who practiced more than forty years in that part of the county.
Land was loosely surveyed. John Dagworthy, of Trenton, so states one of the deeds already referred to, bought 100 acres. He sold several portions of it, and then suspected that his original purchase was larger than was stated ; so he obtained from the Coun- cil of the Proprietors of West Jersey a warrant of resurvey, which was done by order of the Surveyor-General, dated Nov. 10th, 1753. It was found to contain seventeen acres overplus. To secure him- self he purchased the right to this overplus, as unappropriated lands, from John Reading.
So early as 1725 an Episcopal church was in existence at Ringos. It was built of logs, and was located just beyond the railroad station. It was organized under a charter from the crown, by a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Several of these were established about this time
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in the Province, under the auspices of Queen Anne, who instructed Lord Cornbury to see that new churches were erected as need required.1 Boss settled east of Ringos, and Howsel west by 1725, Schenck in 1726. Other settlers were Jacob Fisher, Lummix, who donated the burial ground to the Episcopal Church, Stevenson, Suy- dam, Dilts, Shepherd, Larison, Wurts. Peter Young settled at Wurtsville in 1726.
The colony of Germans who passed over the York Road in 1707 was the beginning of a large and continued migration. Some settled at Mt. Airy and around Ringos, others near Round Valley, some at length pressed over to Stillwater and Newton in Sussex county. By the year 1747 a German Reformed congregation was worship- ping in a log church which stood in the old grave yard at Larison's Corner, a mile from Ringos. The first pastor was John Conrad Wurts, who for ten years, until 1751, had charge of that and the churches of Lebanon, German Valley and Fox Hill. He was probably the ancester of Alexander Wurts, Esq., of Flemington One of the first and prominent men connected with that church was Adam Bellis, who came from Holland about 1740, and bought 250 acres two miles south of Flemington, next to the Kuhls. This was a part of the old Stevenson tract of 1,400 acres. His descend- ants are yet numerous in and around Flemington. The mill which stands on the stream, near Copper Hill, was built at an early date by Cornelius Stout. The second mill was built in 1812.
At Flemington the tracts of three proprietors touched. Penn had one of 5,000 acres, and Daniel Coxe one of 4,170, which were surveyed by John Reading in 1712. The dividing line ran from east to west, by the lamp post in front of the Presbyterian church. A high stone just over the brook east of the South Branch Railroad is where this line touched the stream. South of this line belonged to Penn ; north of it to Coxe. Coxe's was commonly called the Mt. Carmel tract, and the high hill on the top of which is Cherry-
1 Smith's N. J., pp. 252-3.
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ville still bears the name of Coxe's Hill. On March 24th, 1712, Joseph Kirkbride bought a quarter section or 1,250 acres from John Budd, son and heir of Thomas Budd of Philadelphia, which was taken up as Budd's dividend of one quarter of a propriety, which he purchased of Edward Byllinge, March, 1676. On the same date (1712). Kirkbride also bought 1,250 acres adjacent to this, belonging to Wm. Biddle of Mt. Hope, Burlington county, which was his dividend of a part of a propriety purchased of Byllinge in January, 1676. These two tracts, together 2,500 acres, lay next to Penn's, and extended west and northwest along John Reading's and Ed- ward Rockhill's lines ; eastward and north eastward to the South Branch and, on the southerly side, John Kays had a tract bordering on Kirkbride's, and reaching to the Stevenson tract and John Woll- man's. November 12th, 1737, this tract was sold to Benjamin Stout for £90. Stout seems already to have occupied 893 acres of this tract. His deed speaks of the tract bordering at oue part on unappropriated land.1 From other old deeds it appears that settlers did not occupy land in Flemington earlier than 1731.2 In that year Coxe sold to Wm. Johnson 210 acres. He came from Ireland. His son Samuel was a distinguished teacher and mathematician. His son, Thomas Potts, was an eloquent and learned lawyer of New Jersey. He married a daughter of Robert Stockton. His portrait may now be seen over the judge's chair in the court room at Flem- ington. Other settlers, in and around the village, were Johannes Bursenbergh, Philip Kase, Robert Burgess, Wm. Norcross, Johr Hairling, Geo. Alexander, Joseph Smith, James Farrar, Thos. Hunt, Dr. George Creed. Of Dr. Creed nothing is known except that he was practicing at Flemington in 1765. The early settlers were German, Irish and English. In 1756 Samuel Fleming pur- chased land. The old house where he lived and which was the first built in the village is yet standing. Samuel Southard owned
1 In 1736 a tavern was built at Cherryville, which last year yielded to the elements and fell.
2 The above facts are taken from old deeds held by Aaron Griggs.
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and occupied it while he resided in Flemington, where he began the practice of law in 1814, at which time he was an active member of the Presbyterian congregation. He was the first President of the Hunterdon County Bible Society. Fleming kept a tavern in this house, and as other houses were built the settlement which grew up was called Flemings-so it is named on the old maps-and finally, Flemington.1
Fleming brought with him from Ireland a boy, Thomas Lowry, who afterwards married his daughter Esther. Lowry became the most prominent man of the village, and acquired much property. He was one of the founders of the Baptist Church in 1765. which was the first Baptist Church in Amwell township. He was a shrewd, sagacious man, who generally succeeded in his under- takings. He was a member from Hunterdon of the Provincial Congress in 1775. After the war, for several years, he was a member of the Legislature. He bought about 1.000 acres of land, taking in nearly all the beautiful and fertile plain where Frenchtown is situated. He purchased a tract of the same extent at Milford. This was probably before the revolution. The Frenchtown tract he sold to Provost for £8,000. Lowry then commenced the improve- ment of the Milford property, and put up the old red mill and the saw mill at the river. These were completed by 1800. The place was first called Lowrytown. Before the bridge was built across the Delaware there was a ferry above the mill, and hence the name Mill-ford. Lowry was the founder of Frenchtown, where he built a house and mill, and resided until his death in 1809. He was buried in the graveyard of the Kingwood Presbyterian Church. One of his daughters married Dr. Wm. McGill, a prominent physi- cian in that part of the county. Lowry and his wife were very active patriots during the revolution. At the first call he enlisted in the army, being appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Third Regi-
1 For further information about the settlement and history of Flemington, see Discourse by Rev. G. S. Mott, 1876.
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ment in Hunterdon County, June, 1776, of which he afterward be- came Colonel.
The territory extending from Three Bridges, on the south branch, along the Old York Road to Ringos, was settled at an early day ; for in 1738 the Presbyterian Church of First Amwell, near Reaville, is found upon the records of the Presbytery of New Brunswick. Some circumstances lead to the supposition that a congregation existed by 1730. Whitefield preached there in 1739, and says in his diary, "Some thousands of people had gathered here by noon, expecting me." This was the only Presbyterian church in the Amwell Valley, from the branch to the Delaware. In 1753 a parsonage was purchased, and the following names appear on the subscription list : John Smith, Jacob Sutphin, Benja- min Howell, John Steel, Jacob Mattison, Eliab Byram (the pastor), Garret Schenck, Abraham Prall, Peter Prall, Daniel Larew, Thomas Hardin, Benjamin Johnson, David Barham, John Reading (Gov.), John Reading, Jr., Jacob Gray, Daniel Reading, Martin Ryerson (great-grandfather of the late Hon. Martin Ryerson of Newton, N. J.), Daniel Griggs, George Reading, James Stout, Richard Philips, John Anderson, William Anderson, Samuel Carman, Samuel Furman, Thomas Hunt, Jonathan Hill, Samuel Fleming, Richard Reading, Joseph Reading, Samuel Hill, Derrick Sutphen, John Cox, John Francis, William Davison, John Wood, Henry Dildine, Nathaniel Bogert, Abram Larew.
In the year 1754, the population had so increased, that Presby- tery was petitioned, "by the people bordering on the Delaware, to give them the privilege of building a meeting-house of their own." This was granted, and the church at Mt. Airy was erected. The frame of this remained until 1874, when a new building was put up.
In 1732 John Emanuel Coryell came to Lambertville. The family left France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and settled near Plainfield. John purchased a tract of two hundred acres. In this was the ferry lot, for which he obtained a patent, January 7th, 1733. In this patent the ferry is mentioned as
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formerly known as Coat's Ferry. It was more generally called Wells' Ferry, down to the year 1770. It was so named because it was leased to John Wells in 1719. Whether he and Coryell were rival ferrymen, or had a joint interest, is not known. Wells bought a tract of one hundred acres in 1734, on the Pennsylvania side, near the ferry ; and from him the rapids below Lambertville obtain their name, " Wells' Falls." Four brothers, Lambert, came to New Jersey between 1735 and 1746. Two of these, Gershom and John, settled about three miles from Lambertville, having bought tracts of land near each other. John a son of Gershom, born 1846, became a prominent man. He was intelligent, sagacious and energetic. For many years he was a member of the State Council. From 1795 to 1800 he was Vice-President of the Council. From 1800 to 1802 he was President. In 1802 and 1803, he was acting Governor of New Jersey. From 1805 to 1809 he was a member of the House of Representatives of the United States. From 1709 to 1715 he represented this State in the United States Senate. From him the town took its name. His cousin Gershom, a son of John, was an active patriot. He sent two substitutes to the Revo- lutionary army. He aided the American troops in crossing the river at Lambertville; and when the army laid at Morristown he had barrels made and carried them thither.1
At an early day, Allen and Turner, of Philadelphia, bought from the proprietors ten thousand acres north and west of Clinton. The tract extended from VanSyckle's to German Valley, including High Bridge and Clarkesville. Furnaces were in operation at Exton's, near the High Bridge; these were the most extensive Another was west of VanSyckle's. The Cokesburg furnace was built in 1754, as appears by a stone upon the wall of a part of the old building at that place. There was also the Hackelbarney Forge near the falls of Lamington. These mines were discovered very
1 For these facts I am indebted to Dr. Studdiford of Lambertville, who permitted me to peruse his History of Lambertville, now in manuscript, but to be published. It will be a valuable local history.
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early in the last century. This led to the settlement of this remote part of the country, and probably secured for it gentlemen like Johnston, Stewart and Grandin, whose families became noted for education, refinement and that generous and charming hospitality which wealth and culture can furnish. Their mansions still tell of the grandeur of the past. These mines also determined the character of a large class of settlers, who were hands employed about the furnaces and forges, many of whom, as their names indicate, were Welsh, Germans and Irish. In 1762 Col. Hackett was the superintendent and Mr. Taylor, bookkeeper. In 1775 the superintendent died, and Mr. Taylor was appointed in his place. He remained all through the Revolution. At this furnace balls were cast for the use of the army. Some of the old moulds have been dug up within a few years. After the war the large tract was sold, probably as confiscated property,1 and Mr. Taylor was selected as one of the commissioners to divide the land. He was allowed the privilege of selecting such a portion as he desired to buy. He chose that around the forge. The surveyor asked him if he should include the mines. Mr. Taylor replied he did not care whether he had them. They were, however, included in the survey, and the price paid was £800 for three hundred and sixty-six acres.2 This shows that little value was attached to the mines. They were not worked again until the Central Railroad enabled the owners to secure coal at a reasonable price.
Having taken this general survey of the settlement of the county, we must now turn to other portions of its history. In March, 1713, all the territory of West Jersey, north of the Assan- pink, was erected into the county of Hunterdon. This was granted at the request of the inhabitants, who stated in their petition, that " their frequent attending the several Courts of Bur. lington, being at a very great distance from their habitations, has
1 See subsequent page.
" For further; Hunterdon Republic, January 20th, 1870.
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been inconvenient and troublesome, as well as chargeable to the inhabitants of the said upper parts of the said division." And yet it seems that most of the business continued to be done at Burling- ton. So late as 1726, Trenton, which was the County seat, "had hardly more than one house." In 1748 it had only a hundred.1 The county was named in honor of Brigadier-General Hunter, who at that time was Governor General of the Provinces of New York and New Jersey, to which he was appointed, June 14th, 1710. Gordon in his history of New Jersey, says he " Was a native of Scotland, and when a boy, was put an apprentice to an apothecary. But he deserted his master and entered the army ; and being a man of wit and personal beauty, acquired the affections of Lady Hay, whom he afterwards married. He had been nominated in the year 1707 Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, under George, Earl of Orkney ; but having been captured by the French, in his voyage to that colony, was carried into France. He was unquestionably a man of merit, since he enjoyed the intimacy of Swift, Addison and others, distinguished for sense and learning. He mingled freely with the world, and was somewhat tainted by its follies ; had engaging manners, blended, perhaps, not unhappily for his success in the Province, with a dash of original vulgarity. His administration, of ten years' duration, was one of almost unbroken harmony." He was the most popular Governor the Crown had appointed, and hence the respect shown him, in calling by his name the only county formed during his administration. By 1722 the county had grown to five townships, of which only one, Amwell, was north of the Sourland range and within the present bounds of the county. In 1726 the population was 3,236.
The Indians who inhabited this State when it was discovered, belonged to the Delawares, who were a part of the great Leni Lenape family, whose different branches roamed the country east of the Alleghenies. They occupied the territory which extended from the Hudson River to and beyond the Potomac. These Delawares
1 Gordon's Gazetteer of New Jersey, 253.
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had divided themselves into three tribes, two of these calling them- selves Menamis and Unalachtgo, or the Turtle and the Turkey, had settled on those lands which lay between the coast and the moun- tains. The third tribe, the Wolf, or, as they called themselves, the Minsi, or Monseys, possessed the mountains and the land beyond. They extended their settlements from the Minisink, a place where they held their councils, to the Hudson on the east, and beyond the Susquehanna on the south-west. They were a very war-like race, as their name indicated. Their southern boundary, in this direction, was that range of hills which stretches along the upper line of Hunterdon and the branches of the Raritan. Thus the coast-tribes and the mountaineers came together in this county. Many families of these chose to live by themselves, fixing their abode in villages, and taking a name from their location. Each of these had a chief, who, however, was in a measure subordinate to a head chief.1 A family was situated on the Neshanic, called the Neshanic Indians. There was another settlement a mile from Flemington, on a brook called the Minisi. One was near the Branch at Three Bridges. There they had a burying ground. Another, one and a half miles south- west from Ringos, along a creek on Jacob Thatcher's farm. Traces of their village can yet be seen there. Yet another was near Mt. Airy station on the Alexsocken. There was quite a large settle- ment of them at Rocktown. Indeed, the Amwell Valley was populated with them. As already stated, in 1703 the proprietors purchased of Heinhammoo, a large tract of land in Hunterdon, lying west of the south branch, and they also bought the title to all other lands of the Indians who were supposed to have any right to them. These seem to have been contented, and lived in their villages on the mostly friendly terms with the whites. But the game diminished as the country was settled, so that the Indians were constrained to resort to trade, in order to procure the neces- saries of life. They made wooden ladles, bowls, trays, etc., which
1 Heckewelder's Indian Nations. Memoirs of Historical Society of Penn- sylvania, vol. 12 pp. 48-52.
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they exchanged for butter, milk, chickens and meat. They soon acquired a fondness for intoxicating liquors, and, when under their influence, would quarrel and fight in a terrible manner. This became so great an evil, that the Legislature in 1757, laid a penalty upon persons selling strong drink to the Indians, so as to intoxicate them, and declaring all Indian sales and pawns for drink void.
The defeat of General Braddock in the Summer of 1775, produced great consternation throughout all the colonies, and led to disastrous consequences. A hatred of the whites had for years been growing in the hearts of the Indians, who saw themselves becoming more and more helpless, under the steadily increasing encroachments of the settlers. The wrongs which were inflicted upon them, by designing men, aggravated their dislike. So that it was an easy matter for the French, and the Indians already leagued with them in hostilities, to persuade those tribes which had remained nominally at peace with the inhabitants, to join them in a general uprising and onslaught upon the settlers. The Shawnees and Delawares were drawn into this defection also ; bands of Indians joined them, many going from the Pines to the Blue Ridge, under this impulse. Numbers who had roamed around the country, much like the tramps of to-day, went off to join the Indian troops and never returned. The people of this section and to the north, were greatly alarmed at this state of things.
The first inroads of the savages were down the Susquehanna through Berks and Northampton Counties, across the Delaware into New Jersey. Some of the scalping parties penetrated within thirty miles of Philadelphia. A letter from Easton, dated December 25th, 1755, states that the "country all above this town for fifty miles is mostly evacuated and ruined.
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