I first came upon the Housel family while researching early families and their properties in old Amwell Township. Later on, I found Ann Housel, wife of Flemington banker John C. Hopewell (see “One Man Makes a Difference.”) The family is a very old one in Hunterdon County.
My previous article discussed the evolution of political parties in the early 1850s, both nationally and in Hunterdon County. The Democratic party was still going strong, while the Whig party was fading away and two new parties had come on the scene: the Republican party and the American party, better known as the Know Nothings.
I am going to step away briefly from the life of John C. Hopewell to shed some light on a political movement that Hopewell and many other Flemington notables got caught up in.