My last article was the first of the series I hope to write about Flemington’s 19th century buildings with arches on their rooflines. That last article featured the Clock Tower building at the corner of Main Street and Bloomfield Avenue, built in 1874 by George A. Rea. Now let’s stroll south along Main Street to visit the next building in this series.
I am going to step away briefly from the life of John C. Hopewell to shed some light on a political movement that Hopewell and many other Flemington notables got caught up in.
My previous article (Hunterdon’s Militia) included mention of the Locktown Volunteers and their Captain, John Bellis, who happened to be “an ardent Republican” in a neighborhood of equally ardent Democrats or Copperheads.1 How Bellis managed to get along with his neighbors is an interesting question.
Hunterdon County, like all the other counties in New Jersey, had a state militia system in place since before the Revolution. Gen. Washington relied on these volunteers as he fought the British in New Jersey, and they did their part during the War of 1812. But after that, there was little need for them—not until the mid 1850s, when they began to reorganize.
part 12 of The Route Not Taken
My last post (A Rockafellar Homestead Divided) concerned the farm of Jacob B. Rockafellar who died without a will in 1813. His farm was divided into 28 lots in 1820 and distributed among the heirs. A division map was drawn that showed the bordering owner on the north to be our old friend, Elijah Carman.
This is a partial Bellis Family Tree, designed to show the ancestors of David Bellis, owner of John Lequear’s farm in Raritan Township, as described in “The Old Lequear Farm.” I had attempted to design a tree that covered all the descendants of Andreas and Maria Bellis, but that proved impossible based on the information I have found so far. So I decided to publish this partial tree and perhaps get to the rest of the family as more information comes my way. Apologies to those whose relatives are missing.
Last week’s post concerned the farms owned by David Bellis on Hampton Corner Road in Raritan Township. One of them was originally the parsonage farm for the German Reformed Church in Ringoes. Around the corner was a farm known as “Township Farm” on the maps, and the subject of today’s article.
As I wrote in my previous post, the farm just east of the Swallow farm was owned by John Lequear in the 18th century. I was delighted to discover the location of his home farm.
