And he probably didn’t visit either. But the notion that he spent a leisurely afternoon drinking fresh water under a shady tree in the company of John Opdycke just won’t go away. It probably never will.
Families
The families who appear most often in my posts. Please use the search window for families not listed here.
In Days When The Great Fire Up The Chimney Roared
Fireplace Was the Center of Family Life and Activity;
Chimney Sweeps Common
by Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, NJ, March 20, 1930
Mr. Bush has good advice for those of us who enjoy a warm fire in winter. Note that the illustrations were not included with the original article.
“The great fire up the chimney roared.” Indeed it did, and how could it be otherwise? There was so much of greatness around that fire that it could not help either being great or roaring with its own greatness and that of its surroundings. That fire was not built on the economic Indian plan: “Injun make little fire—go close by;” but rather according to the Indian’s description of the uneconomic way of the paleface: “White man make big fire—go ‘way off.”
Passing of Old Canal Feeder Matter For Regret
Bool’s Island Formed Natural Opening for Waterway;
Early Engineers Found;
Cholera Took Heavy Toll Among Workers
Entirely Abandoned, A Sorry Spectacle
by Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, NJ,
published in the Hunterdon County Democrat, June 8, 1933
The project of connecting the Delaware River with the Raritan by means of a canal caught the imagination of engineers and business men quite early.
The Taverns of Delaware Township
Although I have not yet followed through on my intention to post my previously published cemetery articles here on my website, I am initiating yet another project—a study of the taverns of Delaware Township. The Delaware Township Historical Society is anxious to map these institutions, so it is time to begin an inventory.
Death of a “Negro Woman Servant”
The Burlington County Court Book has little to offer about Thomas Greene, but there was one incident witnessed by him that tells us a lot about life (and death) in West New Jersey in the 1680s.
The Thomas Green(e)s of West New Jersey
The original post on Thomas Greene included a story about his appearance as a witness in a disturbing court case. It came at the end of a long post, and I realized afterwards that it deserved its own space. You can read it here.
It’s been a long time since I wrote anything about the Green family. It was Samuel Green who got me started on this series of posts about early West New Jersey. Now that I’m up to 1690, it’s time to take another look at the Greens.
West New Jersey, 1690, part two
Coxe’s Letter to the West Jersey Proprietors
In 1689, affected by the uncertainty of the times, the West Jersey Proprietors wrote to Daniel Coxe that they would proclaim him governor if he would just provide his own writ of quo warranto. They “stressed the urgency of the situation” but Coxe, who also felt the uncertainty of the times, delayed his answer for several months.1
The Cemeteries of Delaware Township
It’s mid-October and my thoughts turn to cemeteries. Some time ago I published several articles on the cemeteries of Delaware Township on the “The Delaware Township Post.” I would like to publish them here on my website also, with any additions or corrections that occur to me. The following (somewhat expanded) was published on the Post on January 8, 2008.
John Reading’s Diary
This past Saturday, a group of Reading descendants, who have joined together as “The Mount Amwell Project,” gathered in Sergeantsville for one of their regular meetings. I was honored to be asked to speak to the group, and took the opportunity to try out on them a first chapter to a history of Delaware Township that focused on John Reading and his discovery of “Mount Amwell.”
West New Jersey, 1689, Part Two
The Council of Proprietors’ Other Business
During their meetings held in 1688 and 1689, the Council of Proprietors was setting up rules for how surveys would be obtained, and naming registrars for Burlington and Gloucester counties, who were Samuel Jennings and John Reading, respectively. They did not act for Salem County because it was still under John Fenwick’s control. But there were other matters to attend to.