Imagine Delaware Township being served by eleven different post offices, nearly all of them located within the township boundaries. This was necessary in the days before “Rural Free Delivery.” Getting one’s mail involved traveling to the nearest village, and in the process getting up to date on local news from others who were also collecting their mail, and visiting stores and taverns while they were at it. It sounds rather appealing, as long as the weather is nice.
In this article, I have listed the post offices first in chronological order and then alphabetically with their postmasters. I am tempted to add more biographical details, but that would turn this post into a book. Stockton has been included only for the time that it was a part of Delaware Township. It did not become an independent borough until 1898.
This post is a follow-up to the previous one about the Bray family of Delaware Township, Andrew Bray and Sarah Rittenhouse. That post includes copies of the portraits of Andrew and Sarah Bray by William Bonnell.
by Jonathan M. Hoppock published in The Democrat Advertiser, January 25, 1906
This article was written by J. M. Hoppock. I have added corrections and additions in footnotes. Mr. Hoppock’s very specific description of this building, which was demolished long ago, is invaluable to students of the township’s history and early architecture.
Mr. Bush Traces Ownership of Place Long Owned by Bray Descendants The Bray Family Portraits
by Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, N.J. published by the Hunterdon Co. Democrat, April 19, 1934
The following article was written by Mr. Bush about a farm many people think of as the Chet Huntley farm or the Douglas Knight farm. I have added footnotes to flesh out the story.
Egbert T. Bush, for More Than 40 Years a Schoolmaster, Dies
Hunterdon County Democrat, November 25, 1937
This obituary was (almost certainly) written by D. Howard Moreau, one-time owner of the Hunterdon County Democrat, and long-time friend and admirer of Egbert T Bush.
This is another long post; it is the rest of a talk I gave in 1997 on Delaware Township villages (part one can be read here). Part two focuses on the villages in the 19th and early 20th centuries. There is far more to say about them, which I will attempt to do in future posts. Currently I have been researching the history of Raven Rock, which you can read about here and here.
In March and May, 1808, Nathaniel Saxton and George Holcombe bought the two moieties or half shares in the 10-acre mill lot and the 30-acre lot that consisted of the southern half of Bull’s Island. Previous articles about the mill property can be read here and here.
This article by Egbert T. Bush describes an old sawmill on the Wickecheoke located on a perilous little road, known appropriately as Old Mill Road in Delaware Township.
