One of the early settlers in Amwell Township was Nicholas Sayn, who partnered with Johann Peter Sniter to purchase 1300 acres of the old Haddon Tract in 1748. The partners divided the property between them, and Nicholas settled down and raised a family and farmed his large property. But his son William did not wish to carry on the work, so Nicholas bequeathed his from to his nephew Honis.
A note on the Howell families: there were at least three separate Howell families who show up in early New Jersey records.
There is a Howell family that begins with David Howell (1657-1684) and wife Mary Herick. Their son Daniel Howell (c.1680-1732) and wife Mary Prout lived in Trenton and had nine children, none of whom seem to have established themselves in Hunterdon County, although I have not made certain of that. In any case, that family will not be included here.
Not long ago, Dennis Bertland inquired about an old house that might have been located on the William Rittenhouse tract that I recently wrote about (“The Rittenhouse Tavern.” Dennis’ inquiry can be found in the comments section.) It is located in a blank space on the Hammond Map between the Wickecheoke Creek and Shoppons Run. Who did that space belong to?
Although this article concerns two more owners of the Rittenhouse Tavern, I am going to interrupt the story to relate the history of the Rosemont Store. The reason for that is that the next tavern house owner, Lambert B. Mathews, purchased the store before he bought the house.
This is an updated version of the Reading Family Tree, which was first published in 2018. It is still incomplete, as is the nature of family trees.
This is a continuation of my history of the ownership of the Rittenhouse Tavern. The previous article covered the period of time when members of the Rittenhouse family owned the tavern. The following article looks at the subsequent history, starting with James Wolverton and Mary Ann Sergeant in 1843, George Hoppock and Jane Elizabeth Wolverton in 1868 and Lambert B. Mathews and Lizzie Nixon in 1910, and ending with Frank W. Reading and Charlotte Venable in 1922.
Johann George Hoppough and wife Anna Magdalena came from Seelbach, Germany to Hunterdon County with their six children. They settled in Lebanon Township and worshipped at the Readington Reformed Church. In 1745, “Jurey Happach” became a naturalized New Jersey citizen. The best source for information on this immigrant family is More Palatine Families by Henry Z. Jones.
Like many other family names, this one was spelled in a variety of ways: Habbaugh, Hausbach, Hopbach, Hobbach, Hoppaugh are just a few.
This is a sequel to the article by Egbert T. Bush titled “Crosskeys Tavern,” about the history of the village of Rosemont, which was published in its entirety last week. Here I will break it down to provide more information.
