Amwell Township – GOODSPEED HISTORIES

Col. David Bishop

January 13, 2018 By Marfy Goodspeed in Amwell Township, Hunterdon County, Ringoes 1 Comment Tags: architecture, Going, houses, stores, The Revolution

For anyone traveling north on Route 579 from the village of Ringoes in East Amwell, Hunterdon County, there is a landmark that will surely catch your eye, standing opposite the old Bel-Del railroad station. It is a three-story house that was once a showplace but has been deteriorating for at least 25 years. People like me who have been watching it all this time marvel that it is still standing.

Pysong & Peartree

December 1, 2017 By Marfy Goodspeed in Amwell Township, Delaware Township 1 Comment Tags: early settlers, Haddon Tract, houses, roads, The Revolution

This is part two of a series on some of the properties created in the Haddon Tract of Amwell Township, Hunterdon County.

Jacob Peter Sniter and Nicholas Sayn jointly purchased 1300 acres in Amwell Township from Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh in 1748. The two men sold off several lots and then divided the land remaining between them. Part One dealt with Nicholas Sayn/Sine, who acquired the southern half. This article deals with Jacob Peter Sniter who got the northern half.

Haddon Tract, part one

November 11, 2017 By Marfy Goodspeed in Amwell Township, Hunterdon County, Rounsavell, Sine, West New Jersey 5 Comments Tags: early settlers, Haddon Tract, land titles, maps, proprietors

I have recently finished reading a book titled Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh, 1680-1762, Building the Quaker Community of Haddonfield, New Jersey, 1701-1762, by Jeffery M. Dorwart and Elizabeth A. Lyons.

It is an excellent book, and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the life of one of West New Jersey’s early settlers—a young woman who came to the Province on her own in 1701.

Return to Old Amwell

November 18, 2016 By Marfy Goodspeed in Amwell Township, Hunterdon County 4 Comments

In my last post, I described a genealogical journey following my ancestors from my home in New Jersey through New York State into Michigan where I was born. That was the route taken by my grandfather’s ancestors. On the return trip home, I followed part of the journey taken by my grandmother’s ancestors.

“Michigan Fever”

November 7, 2016 By Marfy Goodspeed in Amwell Township, Green, Howell, Hunterdon County 7 Comments Tags: early settlers

A Genealogical Journey

Many descendants of the early settlers of old Amwell Township in Hunterdon County remained in Amwell. But many others chose to move on, always looking for new land to start afresh. Such is the case with my ancestors, who made the journey from Amwell to northwest New Jersey, then on into New York State, ending up in Michigan. Both grandparents on my father’s side came from families who made that journey, the Goodspeeds through New York State, and the Rankins through Ohio.

The Gershom Lambert Farm

October 21, 2016 By Marfy Goodspeed in Amwell Township, Barber, Delaware Township, Hunterdon County, Lambert 1 Comment Tags: early settlers, John Lambert, land titles

Because there has been some confusion about exactly where Sen. John Lambert lived, I have spent the past two articles determining that his farm was located on Seabrook Road and not on Lambertville-Headquarters Road, as some have thought. The confusion was caused by the fact that both farms were owned at one time by men named John Lambert and Gershom Lambert.

Two Lambert Farms

September 25, 2016 By Marfy Goodspeed in Amwell Township, Barber, Delaware Township, Hunterdon County, Lambert 3 Comments Tags: early settlers, ferries, houses, John Lambert, land titles, portraits, proprietors

There are two farms in southern Delaware Township that are particularly interesting. They were part of the old Dimsdale proprietary tract north of Lambertville until 1750, when John Lambert, a recent immigrant from Connecticut, purchased it.

The Amwell Church of the Brethren

March 18, 2016 By Marfy Goodspeed in Amwell Township, Delaware Township, Hunterdon County 11 Comments Tags: churches, religion

There is a small church in Delaware Township with a very long history. It is known as the Amwell Church of the Brethren, sometimes called the Dunkard Church for its practice of adult baptism. It seems to be a sort of outlier, quite different from the major religious groups who first appeared in Hunterdon County. Those were Quaker, Baptist, Presbyterian, Anglican (Episcopalian), Lutheran, Methodist, German Calvinist, and Dutch Reformed. They all had congregations throughout the county and hundreds of worshippers. But the Brethren church didn’t even have a church building until 1811, and never grew to any great size, despite two spin-off churches. And yet, it has endured for 283 years. Although that is a long time, there are eight church in Hunterdon County that were founded before 1733. They are:

A 1777 Campground

February 26, 2016 By Marfy Goodspeed in Amwell Township, Delaware Township, Historians Revisited, Holcombe, J. M. Hoppock, Sandbrook No Comments Tags: The Revolution

Camp Ground of the Glorious Old Continental Army in 1777
by Jonathan M. Hoppock
originally published in the Democrat-Advertiser, Oct. 10, 1901

From the photograph and from Hoppock’s description, it appears that this “campground” was located along Route 523 near Sand Brook.

The German Baptist Church in Amwell

February 19, 2016 By Marfy Goodspeed in Amwell Township, Delaware Township, E. T. Bush, Families, Historians Revisited, J. M. Hoppock, Moore, Sandbrook 6 Comments Tags: cemeteries, churches, religion

Here are two versions of the history of the Amwell Church of the Brethren in Hunterdon County. The first was written by Jonathan M. Hoppock and published in the Democrat-Advertiser on October 17, 1901. Short and sweet. The second one, a little bit longer, was written by Egbert T. Bush and published in the Hunterdon County Democrat on March 26, 1931. Mr. Bush’s ‘history’ is truncated, and as he put it— “it is not the intent to give here anything more than the merest sketch of church history, an indispensable part in any sketch of the community.” He was always more interested in the members of a community than institutional histories, and so he spends more time on those who were buried in the three cemeteries associated with the church members.