Lime and Trees and Other Things

By in Croton, E. T. Bush, Historians Tags: ,

First Trip to Delaware River Kilns an Experience for a Boy

Spoke Making a Lost Trade

by Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, N. J.
published in the Hunterdon Co. Democrat, April 21, 1932

Bewick OakIn recognition of the belated arrival of spring, I offer Mr. Bush’s tale of how farmers got lime for their fields in the mid 19th-century. And among those “Other Things,” Mr. Bush describes the business of spoke making.

As our forests were cut off and the stumps rotted away, the land was found to be or soon to become more or less sour. The sorrels began to grow plentifully, especially the tall, reddish brown one that we called “horse sorrel.” That was later known as a sure indication that the land needed lime, tho in the earlier stages little was known about sour land or the indications, or even about lime as a sweetener. Such knowledge, like almost every other kind, grew gradually with experience and observation, until science took hold of such matters and showed us to be sometimes on the right track without knowing exactly why.

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Query: Union Cemeteries

By in Uncategorized Tags: ,

Some time ago, I received a query from Alice Groner, regarding the name Union, as applied to cemeteries. Here is what she wrote:

Why were so many cemeteries named Union Cemetery years before the Civil War?  . . . I have continued my search as well and discovered that Union Twp. in Hunterdon County was named after Union Furnace which made, among other things, cannon balls for the Revolutionary War. And a lot of the Union Cemeteries in NJ were established before/long before the Civil War. The Union Cemetery, which kicked off the discussion with my friend, is located near Finesville (on the Warren County side of the Musconetcong River), and it is so old that few tombstones are readable. I’m, also, wondering if the usual rather small cemeteries of our early churches filled up and, therefore, folks decided to have a cemetery uniting those of all/most faiths.

“…so many questions…so little time.”

A Google search on the word Union in the Revolutionary War will get you some articles on the many flags that were flown during that time, one in particular (from Taunton, Massachusetts) with the words: “Liberty and Union.” So the word was on people’s minds when they thought about uniting the colonies. The goal of creating “a more perfect union” was used in the preamble to the Constitution.

Perhaps some of you can come up with a better answer for Alice. It’s an intriguing question.

The Van Dolah School

By in Barber, Dalrymple, Delaware Twp, Families, Lair, Lambert, Larison, Rockafellar, Sandy Ridge, Trout, Wolverton Tags:

Of all the one-room schools in Delaware Township, none seems to have inspired more devoted attachment than the Van Dolah School. The number of graduates was large, and many of them were highly accomplished in later life. It was probably one of the best photographed schools in the county. I have included many of them here.

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