The families who appear most often in my posts. Please use the search window for families not listed here.
In 1922, Hunterdon historian Hiram Deats visited the Rake Cemetery. He found 44 unlettered stones and 25 lettered ones. Those 25 stones were listed in the Hunterdon Historical Newsletter (vol. 3 no. 3, p. 2) and are give here.
The first of the Lake family to arrive in America was John Lake and wife Ann Spicer, who came from Hertfordshire to Gravesend, New York. John Lake died there in 1696, wife Ann died about 1709. I have very little information about this first family. The had 8 children, as seen below, stayed mostly in New York. Son John Lake, Jr. and wife Neeltje came to New Jersey.
The Gordon family of Hunterdon County is connected back to Thomas Gordon of Scotland (1652-1722) who emigrated as one of the early proprietors to Perth Amboy, with his second wife Jannette Mudie. Of her six children, son Thomas acquired land in Amwell Township in 1722, and will be treated here as the first generation.
The first of the Godown family to appear in Hunterdon County was Jacob Godown, born about 1675. He was present in Burlington County in 1703 when he was listed in the accounts of the estate of Joseph Adams. But at the time, Hunterdon did not yet exist.
When listing members of the Fox family living in Hunterdon County, it is important to distinguish between the English Fox family and the German one. This tree will deal with both families.
It is interesting to know that relatives of the original Quaker, George Fox of England, settled in Hunterdon County. However, they were not direct descendants. The Hunterdon English Fox family came from George Fox’s brother John Fox and his wife Ann Chambers.
In 2009, I wrote several articles concerning the Rake Cemetery in Sandbrook. They were published in the Delaware Township newsletter known as the Post, which is no longer being published. There is a website for the Post where its articles are archived, but it is very hard to use, and some links just don’t work. So, I’ve decided to revise and republish those articles here.
The Sergeant family came to Delaware Township well before the Revolution. Outsiders can easily be identified by the way they pronounce the name—Sar-gent. It’s Sir-gent to those in the know. This is my second published version of the Sergeant tree, thanks to recent research into Raritan Township properties.
Johannes Rake, an immigrant from Switzerland, is thought to have arrived in Pennsylvania in 1738. He was present in Hunterdon County as early as 1761 when he witnessed the will of Jacob Houshel. Given that his first child was not born until 1768, it seems likely that Rake married his first wife in America. The birthdate for second wife Elsa seems very late, nearly two generations younger than John Rake. More information is needed.
The following article by Egbert T. Bush describes an old farm with a distillery located near Sandbrook. The village of Sandbrook is located in what was once the Haddon Proprietary Tract. Just east of the Haddon Tract was the Cook Proprietary Tract, and that is where the distillery farm was located.
Jonas Sutton, the first of that surname to settle in Amwell Township, was married twice. His first wife’s name is not known, but she had five children. His second wife, Elizabeth Runyon, appears to have been related to the Runyon family of Franklin Township. They came to Hunterdon from Piscataway at an early date. Elizabeth also had five children, making ten in all. Because my focus is on Hunterdon County, I am missing information on many of the Suttons who lived elsewhere. Feel free to contribute information, or suggest corrections, in the comments section.