West New Jersey, 1689 – Part One

By in Reading, West New Jersey Tags: , ,

I read recently that whatever is on your mind when you’re falling asleep or washing the dishes or taking a walk is probably what is most important to you, and until you resolve whatever you are pondering, you can’t focus well on anything else. My particular distraction was moving my history office from Washington, DC to Sergeantsville, NJ. I simply could not think of anything else until the move was made. Now that I’ve arrived and unpacked, and have only some filing to do, my thoughts are returning to West New Jersey.

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Tyson’s Mill at Headquarters

By in Amwell Township, Delaware Township, Headquarters, Howell, Opdycke, Reading Tags: , , ,

Modified from part of an article first published in The Delaware Township Post, July 21, 2006, as “A History of Headquarters Mill.”

John Opdycke sold Headquarters Mill to Joseph Howell in 1763, at the end of the French and Indian War. This was probably a shrewd decision on Opdycke’s part, since demand for flour would certainly drop off with the end of the war.

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Who Saw George Washington?

By in Carrell, Delaware Township, Headquarters, Opdycke Tags:

The question of whether Washington actually visited Headquarters has bedeviled local historians for decades. The source of the controversy was Fanny Carrell, who was interviewed by Charles W. Opdycke, for his well-known Opdyke Genealogy sometime around 1880 [pg 218-19]. Frances ‘Fanny’ Opdycke was the wife of James Carrell, and he was the grandson of Elizabeth Opdycke Arnwine, daughter of old John Opdycke Esq.

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“Headquarters” Has Two Buildings of Historic Interest

By in Carrell, Delaware Township, E. T. Bush, Headquarters, Opdycke Tags: , ,

Mill and Mansion Built at Time of French and Indian War
Name “Grover” Never Stuck

by Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, N.J
Hunterdon County Democrat, November 7, 1929

While the mother countries and their colonies were scouring rifles and picking flints in preparation for that spectacular game in the Noble Sport of kings, known to us as the French and Indian War, humble workers whose names are all forgotten were quietly engaged in shaping stones, pouring mortar and cutting “B. 1754” into the date stone for a gristmill six miles west of Flemington.

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Opdycke’s Mill, Headquarters, NJ

By in Amwell Township, Bull, Delaware Township, Green, Headquarters, Opdycke, Reading Tags: , , , ,

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.

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The Missing Records

By in Gloucester County, West New Jersey Tags: , ,

This is what I wrote in a previous post (dated July 14, 2010).

It is not clear whether any records were actually turned over, or if they were, what happened to them. While the directive of the Dominion of New England was in effect, New Jerseyans may have tried to avoid compliance. What I do not know is whether John Skene was ordered to deliver the papers to Boston himself or just hold onto them.

At the time of writing, I had not yet visited the State Archives and taken a close look at the Minutes of the Council of West Jersey Proprietors. Those minutes did shed some light on this problem of record-keeping, but first I want to say a few words about my visit to the Archives.

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