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The Burlington Waterlots

April 17, 2011 By Marfy Goodspeed in Burlington County, Sources, West New Jersey Tags: houses, land titles, surveying

The latest issue of the Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey is out (vol. 86, no. 1), and the first article, “Burlington Waterlots Surveyed,” is just amazing. C. Miller Biddle, a descendant of the original Biddle family, has written a detailed description of the ownership of the water lots in the town of Burlington when they were first laid out.

He has also given us succeeding owners, sometimes into the early 19th century. He begins with the London side of town, west of High Street, and I gather he will eventually treat the Yorkshire side as well. Dr. Biddle’s research is truly impressive, and I expect these articles will be the last word on the subject, so be sure to look out for future installments.

Green Sergeant’s Covered Bridge

April 14, 2011 By Marfy Goodspeed in Delaware Twp, Holcombe, Opdycke, Sergeant Tags: bridges, early settlers, mills

Fifty years ago, on September 15, 1961, the “reconstructed” covered bridge was dedicated. An alert reporter at the Star Ledger, Mike Frassinelli, reminded me of this fact, and that inspired me to reprint an article I wrote for “The Bridge,” the newsletter for Delaware Township, back in 2001, and also in the Hunterdon Historical Newsletter, Fall 2003 issue.

The Stories Told In Bygone Days

April 2, 2011 By Marfy Goodspeed in E. T. Bush Tags: flora and fauna, old ways

Passenger Pigeons Once Were Slaughtered By Millions
The Species Is Now Extinct

by Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, NJ
as published in the Hunterdon County Democrat, April 17, 1930

For the stories of the wildwood
Of the mountain and the plain
(Any stories heard in childhood)
Are the stories that remain.

Yes, the stories that were told us seventy years ago still come up in quiet hours to rouse the drowsy mind and stir the sluggish blood. Some scattering ones that do not seem to fit well in any particular place may recall fond memories in older people; and may be of more or less interest now and then to one of the younger generation, not for themselves but as inklings of the older times. Present conditions are not calculated to make them as vivid as when memory recorded them so long ago; yet perhaps enough may be depicted, even by a limping pen, to give a fair idea of things then made so clear, often quite thrilling and always interesting.

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