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.
Families
The families listed here are the ones whose names appear most often in my posts. The website has many other names of Hunterdon and old Burlington County families. Please use the search window to find what you are looking for.
Sutton Family Tree
Descendants of Jonas Sutton (1721-1797)
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.
The Taylor Families
The following family trees for the Taylor families concerns the Taylors who settled near Mount Airy, the Taylors who settled on the Cook Tract in Amwell/Delaware Township, a short distance west of the village of Sand Brook, and the Taylor family of Bethlehem Township who were associated with the Taylor Iron Works.
Surnames of spouses are highlighted in green if they also have a published family tree on this website.
The Bonham Family
Hezekiah Bonham, born 1667 to Nicholas Bonham and Hannah Fuller of Barnstable, Mass., moved to Maidenhead Township in New Jersey when it was still a part of Hunterdon County. Some of his descendants settled in Kingwood Township, others in Clinton Township, others in Amwell Township. Hezekiah died in Maidenhead in 1739 at the age of 71. One of the distinctive things about this family is the naming pattern—it’s very biblical.
The Green Family Tree
plus Kemp, Bull and Wright
Samuel Green, an English immigrant and a surveyor in Gloucester county, was married three times. His first wife, Margaret Kemp died before Green moved to Amwell Township in Hunterdon County. His second wife Sarah Bull was a member of the Bull family of Gloucester County. She died before Green moved to Sussex (Warren) County. His third wife, Hannah Wright, was the daughter of a Dutch couple who moved to Amwell Township from Bergen County.
The Cook Proprietary Tract
The Hammond Maps of Hunterdon County proprietary tracts are a wonderful resource for county historians. Many of the property owners shown on these maps drawn by D. Stanton Hammond in 1963 were the first Europeans to claim title to this part of the state of New Jersey. What happened to those properties in succeeding years has always fascinated me and provided wonderful material for my articles.
The Sine Farm
For the final installment of my study of the Haddon Tract,1 I am turning to the remainder of the property that was left to Nicholas Sine. As a reminder, Nicholas Signe/Sayn/Sine was a partner with another German immigrant, Jacob Sniter, in the 1748 purchase of 1300 acres of the Haddon Tract, a 2,000-acre plot that was surveyed for John Haddon in 1711. Daniel Robins had purchased the other 700 acres.
Hoppock Farm Over 600 Acres
Not long ago I published some articles about properties located in what was once known as The Haddon Tract (The Haddon Tract, part one). Today’s article by Egbert T. Bush concerns a very large farm located in that tract that I have not yet written about. It was sold by Jacob Sniter and Nicholas Sayn to John Peter Foxe of Amwell, who subsequently sold it to Jost Hoppock in 1749.
Tavernkeeper of Skunktown
Most of you, my dear readers, know that the famous Rockafellar family had its roots in Amwell Township, Hunterdon County. And we’re all familiar with one particular descendant of this German immigrant family, a man who prospered hugely from the opportunities afforded him in America—the famous John D. Rockafellar. Another descendant, although not a direct ancestor of John D., became the tavernkeeper at Skunktown (now known as Sergeantsville), and I am much more interested in him.
Cornelius H. Barber
Sometimes in my researches on Hunterdon people of the past, odd things turn up. Something very odd turned up when I came across Cornelius H. Barber, who lived from 1804 to 1884. I had been asked about the Prall tanyard, which was located a short distance south of Sergeantsville in the early 1800s, and discovered that Barber had briefly been an owner.
So let me tell you a little about Cornelius Hoppock Barber before describing the odd thing I found.