Of all the one-room schools in Delaware Township, none seems to have inspired more devoted attachment than the Van Dolah School. The number of graduates was large, and many of them were highly accomplished in later life. It was probably one of the best photographed schools in the county. I have included many of them here.
Marfy Goodspeed
Posts by Marfy Goodspeed:
Asa Romine and Sarah Fulper
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:
Some Controversial Baptist Ministers
My original intention was to publish an article by Jonathan M. Hoppock on the history of the Baptist Church in Locktown. And that is what I will do here, but after reading his article, I discovered that some of the ministers he listed had troubled careers, and that, of course, makes them interesting. But first, here is Mr. Hoppock’s history of the Church.
Query: Rosemont Methodist Church
I got a letter today from Joan Verity of Frenchtown who wondered about the history of the Methodist Church in Rosemont. It was built in 1860, but only lasted about 20 years.
Charles Cane purchased the building in 1948 and renovated it to serve as housing for his employees. Phil Cane still has a news article about the work that was done, and the bell that once hung in the church steeple can now be seen in the Cane Farm parking lot.
The Sergeantsville Inn
The original version of this post, published on March 14, 2015, has been significantly revised because of new information I have received. Most of these revisions concern Jonas Thatcher, Jr. Consider this Chapter One of the History of the Sergeantsville Inn.
Query: Trout Farm?
Lora Olsen, clerk of West Amwell Township, got in touch with me recently to see if I knew where this farm was located. She had some reason to think it might have been the farm once owned by George Trout. The Trout family lived on the farm just south of the tract of land owned first by the Robins, and later by the Buchanan family. I wrote about the location of that farm here.
How Locktown Got Its Name
Back in February, I published an article on the cemetery connected with the Locktown Baptist church. Previously I have written about the Baptist congregation here as well as the Locktown Christian Church and its Cemetery. It seems appropriate now to include Mr. Bush’s own history of this neighborhood, which was published in the Hunterdon Democrat, on May 22, 1930. Along with the churches, Mr. Bush discusses the school house, the distillery and the Locktown Hotel, which began its life as a humble tavern, and also some of the old families, like the Chamberlins, Heaths, Lairs, Rittenhouses, Smiths and Suttons. Photographs in this article were provided by Paul Kurzenberger.
Johnson, Lair, Snyder
Query from Janice Earliene Carr, March 3, 2015:
My husband is descended from the SNYDER FAMILY of Hunterdon, County, N.J., which I will get to later!
My husband James William Carr of Washington, D.C.,
his father is James Entwisle Carr of same; his Mother, Olive Ida SNYDER of Ridgewood, N.J.. (dau. Of Gardiner JOHNSON SNYDER & Elizabeth “Lizzie” Amy LAIR; – dau. Of John LAIR & Mary HANN, which both died young
The Supreme School
Having published Mr. Bush’s article, “The ‘Oregon’ and Other Schools,” and then a follow-up on Duck’s Flat, I thought I was done with this neighborhood for now. But I recently found another article by Mr. Bush continuing the story of Ducks’ Flat school. This article has allowed me to identify the mystery school I referred to previously, located down the road from the Ducks’ Flat school that Mr. Bush was familiar with. But I’ll wait until Mr. Bush has concluded before explaining.
Articles by J. M. Hoppock
Jonathan M. Hoppock, known as ‘Jonty,’ was born Sep. 20, 1838 to Henry J. Hoppock and Lydia Wolverton. The family lived on a farm near Sand Brook in Delaware Township. Hoppock became a school teacher and developed a love of local history. Late in his life, the Democrat-Advertiser published articles he submitted about the places he knew best, nearly all of them in Delaware Township.