elcome to Goodspeed Histories, a website for Hunterdon County history, early West Jersey history, and the history of my home town, Delaware Township.
After an absence of some years, I have returned to study an interesting area of the old Village of Flemington--the property bordering Main Street on the west side, running from the Courthouse on the south to the Post Office on the north.
These articles come under the heading of The County House, an old hotel located in the middle of this block on Main Street, that in the process of researching, turned out to be a Revolutionary War-era tavern. See County House Series.
As my research continues, I am discovering more and more surprising things about the County Seat of Hunterdon.
There are many more articles to read here. Check out Recent Posts and Index to Articles.
—Marfy Goodspeed
Part Six ended with an Epilogue describing the last years of people involved in the election of Jacob Anderson as Hunterdon County Sheriff in 1794 and his legal troubles in 1795: John Anderson and William Lowrey; also Anderson’s successor as sheriff, Elias Phillips.
The Epilogue did not include the two most important people in that story, Lucius W. Stockton and Jacob Anderson himself. Part Seven is reserved for them.
Part Five concluded with the election of October 1794 when Jacob Anderson was chosen as Sheriff, despite being attacked by his opponent William Lowrey. In addition to maligning Anderson, William Lowrey had actually taken him to court, claiming he was not a qualified freeholder. The court affirmed Anderson’s standing, but the case is especially interesting because of the people who backed Lowrey’s claim and because opposition to Anderson was rooted in political differences.
When researching history, I find that you can start off with a plan, but before long one thing will lead to another, or even several ‘anothers,’ that are completely unexpected. Which makes it challenging to stay on course. That was definitely the case while I was preparing this chapter.