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.
Bray
BRAY. This prolific family is most widely known for the exploits of Gen. Daniel Bray during the American Revolution. The family began with Rev. Jonathan Bray of England, who settled in Monmouth County. His descendants settled in different parts of Hunterdon County in the mid-18th century, some in Lebanon Township and others in Kingwood.
Bray Family Tree
Thanks to the efforts of Gen. Daniel Bray of Kingwood Township to collect the boats that Washington needed to get his army across the Delaware River before the British caught up with them, the surname Bray has a certain caché in Hunterdon County. But the family traces back much further, to a Rev. Jonathan Bray of Middletown, Monmouth County, who arrived from England in 1686.
Who Collected the Boats?
Who really found the Delaware River boats in December 1776? the boats that Gen. Washington was supposed to rely on to carry his army across the river on Christmas Eve? For a long time I was certain it was David Johnes of Amwell, working with Daniel Bray and Jacob Gearhart. Now I’m not so sure. In fact, I now have serious doubts.
The Consequences of a Scam
Taylor and Bray, continued.
This is the third in a series of articles about the founding of the town of Clinton in 1828. The two men who made this happen, Archibald S. Taylor and John W. Bray, Jr., came to grief in a fairly short time. The Town succeeded, but the founders failed miserably, and their original friendship turned into a deep hostility. This article focuses on what happened to them after Bray’s misdeeds were discovered.1
The Locktown Baptist Cemetery
There has been a Baptist Church in Locktown since the early 19th century, and a cemetery associated with it. The church and the cemetery were located on land belonging to Daniel Rittenhouse, whose home was a short distance west of Locktown on the Kingwood-Locktown Road. Most of the names in this cemetery are of families that lived nearby in Kingwood and Delaware Townships, many of them descendants of original German immigrants. Many of the original stones are now missing, even ones that were inventoried in the 1940s. Old cemeteries are hard to preserve.
The “Oregon” School and Other Schools
Ducks’ Flat School, Crossroads School and Their Teachers
Testing a Greeny’s Nerve
by Egbert T. Bush, Stockton. N. J.
published in the Hunterdon Co. Democrat, December 18, 1930
This article by Mr. Bush is a perfect complement to a recent blog post, “Amos Romine’s Beloved Farm.” It is one of my favorite Bush articles. Because there is so much to say about the people he mentions, I will refrain from interrupting him and leave my comments for the end.
A Scandal in Baptistown
“Repeated Rascalities” Create
Embarrassment for a New Church
A continuation of the Kingwood Baptist division of 1839
The Missionary Baptists of Kingwood got off to a very rough start. After a promising beginning, they turned their backs on the pastor who led them through the creation a new church, and chose instead a newcomer who proved to be a scoundrel. (You can see the first installment of this story here.)
Baptists Divided, or
Who Put the Lock in Locktown?
The Kingwood Baptist Church and the Second Great Awakening
This article is based on an article published many years ago in “Friends Report,” the newsletter of the Friends of the Locktown Stone Church. I have added information and made some major corrections.
The Swamp Meeting House
In the village of Locktown, in Delaware Township, there is a handsome stone church constructed in 1819 in the federal style.
Saxtonville Tavern’s Last Chapter
The Saxtonville Tavern started business with the Delaware & Raritan Canal, declined after construction of the Belvidere-Delaware Railroad, and closed not long after the Civil War. For the tavern’s first chapter see this post.
The Bray Inheritance
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.
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