part nine of The Route Not Taken
In this episode of the saga of the unbuilt rail line we travel from Sand Brook into Raritan Township, on our way to Walnut Brook. Here is a detail of the railroad survey map.
First Generation:(1) Johannes Swallow Sr. (c.1680 – 1749) & Agnes
I know little about this original Johannes and Agnes Swallow. With a name like Johannes, we can presume they were either German or Dutch. There is a record of March 25, 1737 when Johannes Swallow mortgaged 180 acres on “the road leading to Rarington,” which could be almost anywhere.1 A complicating factor is that his son Johannes Swallow, Jr. died the same year he did. Both men wrote wills a short time apart, Johannes Sr. on December 27, 1748 and Johannes Jr. on December 30th. Both were yeomen of Amwell.
part eight of The Route Not Taken
Proceeding along the proposed railroad route, we come to the village of Sandbrook. If the rail line had been laid out as planned it might have changed the village significantly.
