I was going to publish here an article I wrote about the Headquarters mill that first appeared on The Delaware Township Post in 2006. But like many writers, I can never leave well enough alone. Since Samuel Green figures in the history of the village of Headquarters, if not the mill itself, it seems appropriate to focus on the earliest history of the mill.
Reading
There is probably no family more important to the early history of Hunterdon County. John Reading Sr. and wife Elizabeth settled here about 1704-08. Their son, John Reading, Jr., served as acting Governor in 1757.
Coxe’s Landholdings, 1688
At the end of the last post, I said I would leave the subject of Coxe’s West Jersey landholdings to discuss his other plans for the colony. Spoke too soon. Here is some more on the subject:
West New Jersey in 1687, Part Two
West New Jersey In Debt
The West Jersey Assembly met in May of 1687. The minutes of their meeting are not included in Leaming and Spicer’s Grants and Concessions, so for many years, people thought they had not met at all. We know of two matters undertaken by the Assembly in 1687. The first was the problem of the Province’s debt. Despite the fact that taxes had been levied, they could not be collected. Much of this was due to the scarcity of coin, which had to come from abroad. By May of 1687 the debt had risen to £1,250.