On May 29th, my son, Carl Zimmer, published a book titled She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions and Potential of Heredity. This is a book that all genealogists and geneticists will love. (I’m not biased at all!) And there is a special reason for New Jersey genealogists to love it.
In his chapter concerning Mendelian eugenics, Carl wrote about Henry Goddard of the Vineland Training School in south Jersey, and his study of one particular family that proved to him that feeble-mindedness and “moral degeneracy” were inherited. A member of that family was institutionalized at the school, which was established to care for “mentally-defective” children.
The Wolverton family of New Jersey began with Charles Wolverton and Mary Chadwick, who first settled in Burlington County in the late 1690s and came to Amwell Township as early as 1714, one of the very first families to settle in present day Hunterdon County. They quickly became one of the most prominent and widespread families in the County.
In 1922, Hunterdon historian Hiram Deats visited the Rake Cemetery. He found 44 unlettered stones and 25 lettered ones. Those 25 stones were listed in the Hunterdon Historical Newsletter (vol. 3 no. 3, p. 2) and are give here.
The first of the Lake family to arrive in America was John Lake and wife Ann Spicer, who came from Hertfordshire to Gravesend, New York. John Lake died there in 1696, wife Ann died about 1709. I have very little information about this first family. The had 8 children, as seen below, stayed mostly in New York. Son John Lake, Jr. and wife Neeltje came to New Jersey.
The Gordon family of Hunterdon County is connected back to Thomas Gordon of Scotland (1652-1722) who emigrated as one of the early proprietors to Perth Amboy, with his second wife Jannette Mudie. Of her six children, son Thomas acquired land in Amwell Township in 1722, and will be treated here as the first generation.
The first of the Godown family to appear in Hunterdon County was Jacob Godown, born about 1675. He was present in Burlington County in 1703 when he was listed in the accounts of the estate of Joseph Adams. But at the time, Hunterdon did not yet exist.
When listing members of the Fox family living in Hunterdon County, it is important to distinguish between the English Fox family and the German one. This tree will deal with both families.
It is interesting to know that relatives of the original Quaker, George Fox of England, settled in Hunterdon County. However, they were not direct descendants. The Hunterdon English Fox family came from George Fox’s brother John Fox and his wife Ann Chambers.
In 2009, I wrote several articles concerning the Rake Cemetery in Sandbrook. They were published in the Delaware Township newsletter known as the Post, which is no longer being published. There is a website for the Post where its articles are archived, but it is very hard to use, and some links just don’t work. So, I’ve decided to revise and republish those articles here.
The Sergeant family came to Delaware Township well before the Revolution. Outsiders can easily be identified by the way they pronounce the name—Sar-gent. It’s Sir-gent to those in the know. This is my second published version of the Sergeant tree, thanks to recent research into Raritan Township properties.
Johannes Rake, an immigrant from Switzerland, is thought to have arrived in Pennsylvania in 1738. He was present in Hunterdon County as early as 1761 when he witnessed the will of Jacob Houshel. Given that his first child was not born until 1768, it seems likely that Rake married his first wife in America. The birthdate for second wife Elsa seems very late, nearly two generations younger than John Rake. More information is needed.
On May 29th, my son, Carl Zimmer, published a book titled She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions and Potential of Heredity. This is a book that all genealogists and geneticists will love. (I’m not biased at all!) And there is a special reason for New Jersey genealogists to love it.
