Postscript to “Asa Romine’s Beloved Farm“
Some time ago I got a copy of an article in the Democrat-Advertiser of 1902. Actually, copies of several articles, but I neglected to file them in any useful way. Today, I stumbled across this particular article and immediately regretted not having it at hand when writing about Asa and Sarah Romine. It is a celebration of their long married life, probably written by Jonathan M. Hoppock. Here it is:
The subjects of this sketch celebrated their sixty-first wedding anniversary on September 18th last. Mrs. Romine was formerly Miss Sarah Fulper, daughter of Peter Fulper, of the Sand Brook vicinity, and was born on November 13, 1815, making her nearly 87 years of age. Mr. Romine is a son of the late Furman Romine, and was born on his father’s farm, near Stockton, on July 6, 1820.
“They were married by the Rev. Jacob Kirkpatrick, at the parsonage in Ringoes, on Sept. 14th, 1841. After living near Stockton for several years they bought a farm near Sergeantsville, where they resided constantly until a few years ago when they made their home with their only daughter, Mrs. Rusling Hoppock, at Mount Pleasant. They have two grand-children and four great-grandchildren.
“Mrs. Romine still has the perfect use of all her faculties, and retains to an unusual degree the memory of numerous events of her childhood and later years. She has a number of gold and silver coins, among which is a ten dollar gold piece dated 1799. She is a remarkable woman for activity and brightness of mind. It is very interesting to hear her recount incidents of the long ago, and it would seem that no early impression has yet faded from her mind. She also has a fund of quiet humor and ready wit, and no doubt these elements contribute in great measure to the sunshine of her old age.
“Mr. Romine is a thorough-going and intelligent farmer, and has seen but few days when he did not make a full hand in the field or elsewhere on the farm. At the age of 75 years Mr. Romine put in a full day with a cradle in the harvest field. He cast his first ballot in 1841 for the Democratic ticket, and still sticks to Jeffersonian Democracy. He is an active, pleasant-mannered old gentleman, uniformly good-natured, and always sociable and talkative.
“It is a couple whose lives have been well lived, the one sharing with the other the trials and crosses which all mankind must bear.”
I am delighted to have this glimpse into the personalities of Mr. and Mrs. Romine, but am now frustrated by the thought that Sarah Fulper Romine has taken all those wonderful memories with her to the grave.
Dave Steward
March 23, 2015 @ 2:00 pm
And we are greatly privileged to have an active extremely literate historian online who, “retains [and recreates] to an unusual degree the memory of numerous events.”
Cynthia Victor
March 27, 2015 @ 12:35 pm
Thank you so much for your historic articles! My ancestors were among the first settlers (Schomp, Apgar, Van Fleet, Hoagland, Shurts, Robins, Lake, Thatchers and many others) of Hunterdon, Somerset and Monmouth counties. Since I do not live in the area it is difficult to get access to some of the historic information needed for genealogy research. I have gleaned so much information from your articles and am so appreciative for this information. It would be lovely if every county had someone, like you, with the interest in and ability to publish such information!