• Cornell-Baptisttown copy

    Baptistown, part one

    The history of the village of Baptistown goes back to the early 1700s. E. T. Bush knew much of it.

  • Surprising Connections

    This is a short article, intended as a postscript to “Route Not Taken, Part Four.” It concerns surprising connections between the landowners I researched, starting with Elizabeth Abbott. It also carries on the theme of married women who buy real estate.

  • Beers-Abbott

    Route Not Taken, 4

    So much interesting history and genealogy connected with the families along the railroad route!

  • Maresca1 copy

    Route Not Taken, 3

    This is part three of my series on the proposed rail line to run from Prallsville to Flemington in 1873.

  • tannery house copy

    Route Not Taken, part two

    Proceeding northwest along the unbuilt rail line, we find Johnsons, Higgins, Lawshes, and Henry R. McManness.

  • RR Prallsville

    The Route Not Taken, part one

    A map of Landowners the proposed railroad route in 1873, plus a close look at some of them.

  • Kessler Suicide

    Kessler & Co.

    Some Directors of the Delaware Flemington Railroad Co. were badly hurt by its failure.

  • Locomotive 1873a copy

    The Railroad That Wasn’t Built

    It was to run from Prallsville to Flemington but the railroad boom had come to an end.

Goodspeed Welcome to Goodspeed Histories, a website for Hunterdon County history, early West Jersey history, and the history of my home town, Delaware Township. I began the website in 2009 as a way to discover the history of my ancestor Samuel Green, one of the early settlers in West New Jersey. In the process I became fascinated with the political history of that place, which led to many posts on the West Jersey Proprietors. I hope to do more. When my home town celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2013, I had to pay attention to all the stories that can be told about it, and the same thing happened the next year when Hunterdon County celebrated its 300th anniversary. There is so much more to write about all these places, so much more to learn. In the process, I hope to encourage readers who know even more about these places and the people who have lived here to share their knowledge with me here on Goodspeed Histories.

—Marfy Goodspeed

Regarding the Top Menu

“About” provides some background on the website and the kind of articles to be found here.

“List of Posts” used to be called “My Latest Posts.” It is actually a chronological list of all the articles published, starting with the most recent. Which is why I changed the name.

“Families.” Clicking on this will bring you to a page that lists some of the most frequently discussed families. Clicking on a family name will give you a page listing all the articles linked to that particular family. This year I will be adding an extra article to these family pages–a family tree. Readers are encouraged to make additions and corrections in the comments section of the family tree pages.

“Localities.” Like Families, certain locations get studied more than others, and this link will also take you to a listing of those places, and clicking each name will take you to a page of articles where those places are discussed.

“Index of Articles.” The above “List of Posts” is not helpful if you want to see a list of articles on various subjects. The Index is arranged to show articles about West New Jersey, Hunterdon County, Delaware Township, and articles by local historians.

The GH Newsletter

I send out an email newsletter with information about my most recent article and other history and research items every other week. If you would like to receive these notices from Goodspeed Histories, click on the link at the top (or bottom) of the page.