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.
For some time, I have been writing articles about the early taverns in Hunterdon County, knowing how important they were to both travelers on Hunterdon’s earliest roads and the communities that built up around them. One of the taverns on my to-do list was Larason’s Tavern on the Old York Road north of Ringoes. Fortunately, Dave Harding, administrator of the Hunterdon County Historical Society, did the job for me. His history of the tavern appeared in the most recent issue of the Hunterdon Historical Record (vol. 59, no.1), the Historical Society’s regular newsletter.
With Dave’s permission, I am reprinting the article here along with some footnotes and additional information at the end. This has been a real treat for us both.
Part Two of my history of the Pittstown Inn ended with the death of Moore Furman in 1808. Part three will describe the Inn’s 19th century owners and its innkeepers—quite often not the same people.
This is an article by Egbert T. Bush about the village of Cherryville in Franklin Township, Hunterdon County. It serves as a follow-up to my article on the earliest owners of the Cherryville Tavern, back when the village was known as Anderson Town, after the early tavern owner, James Anderson.
Cherryville, Once Called Dogtown,
Has Long History
Nobody Knows When the Old “Dogtown Tavern” Was Built
Some Neighborhood History1
by Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, N.J.
Hunterdon Co. Democrat, December 19, 1929
Thomas and Samuel McPherson seem to have arrived in Hunterdon County at about the same time, in the mid 18th century. It is quite likely they were related, but I found no proof, and am therefore playing it safe and publishing their trees separately here. Thomas’ family comes after Samuel’s.
This tree has been compiled to accompany my article on the Anderson tavern at Cherryville (“James Anderson’s Tavern”). It seems to have more holes than my usual trees. I had hoped to publish another Anderson Tree in conjunction with this one, for an entirely different Anderson family—the one connected with John Anderson, who ran a tavern near Ringoes (“Anderson’s Tavern”). But that one has even more holes in it and is not ready for publication.
This article will be followed by one written by Egbert T. Bush titled “Cherryville, Once Called Dogtown, Has Long History.” He knew the Cherryville Tavern was an old tavern, but could only get back as far as Reuben McPherson, who owned it from 1827 until his death in 1831.
This article by Egbert T. Bush describes a particular neighborhood, not far northwest of Flemington, at the intersection of today’s Thatcher’s Hill Road and Sand Hill Road.
In preparing to publish Mr. Bush’s article on the Klinesville neighborhood, I found so many interesting people and places that it became too difficult to add all my comments as asides to the Bush article. So, I’ve collected some of them in a separate article. They are listed here in the order in which Mr. Bush mentioned them in Klinesville Once Had A Tavern.
