This past fall, an application was prepared to create a Sandy Ridge Historic District in Delaware Township. This area is full of interesting properties, with the old Sandy Ridge Baptist Church standing at its center.
The Vandolah’s were Dutch. Their name was often spelled Van Dolah, but Vandolah seems to have been used the most. The family showed up early in Hunterdon County, but their exact origins are not known. Hubert G. Schmidt, in his book Rural Hunterdon (pp. 31-32), wrote of the many Dutch families who came to Hunterdon in the early 18th century:
Like the Hunt and Vandolah families, the Butterfoss family was one of the earliest to settle in Hunterdon County. But where they came from or exactly when I cannot say. Butterfoss suggests a German name, but I have found nothing to confirm that. I hope there are some Butterfoss descendants out there who can help out.
The Hunt Family was well-known in Hunterdon County from its earliest years, both in the county as it is known today, and in the part of it that was divided off to become Mercer County. For proof of that, just check out the index for Dr. Eli F. Cooley’s Genealogy of Early Settlers in Trenton and Ewing “Old Hunterdon County” New Jersey. You will find Hunt names filling two pages there.
After November’s big snowstorm, when so many people trying to drive home found themselves in crashes or stuck in a ditch, I began to wonder what sort of trouble people got into back in the last half of the 19th century. Luckily for me, I had Bill Hartman’s abstract of the Hunterdon Republican, 1856-1900, to turn to. With his abstracts collected into one pdf file, it was easy to search on a word like “accidents.” I found quite a few of them.
This is a continuation of the history of the farm once owned by Richard Reading, then later by John Woolverton and wife Rachel Quinby. After John Wolverton’s death, it came to his son Samuel.
My previous three articles concerned the history of the old Howell House on Worman Road, on the periphery of the Rosemont neighborhood. Today I move over to the southwest quadrant of the village, back to the part of Mount Amwell that John Reading kept for himself.
The first members of the Quinby family to settle in Hunterdon County were Ephraim Quinby and his brother Isaiah.
I have little information on Ephraim Quinby’s family. He went into debt, and his children seem to have left Hunterdon County. His brother Isaiah remained and was farm more successful.
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