It is already January 26, in this 350th year of the existence of New Jersey. I think it is time to publish a short history of New Jersey, the sort of preamble I generally use for my house histories. It glides breezily over some very complicated proceedings, but sometimes a shorthand version is useful. (This little essay is not meant for those who make a study of New Jersey’s convoluted history.)
So—without more ado—How New Jersey Began.
Whilst paging through the abstracts of the Hunterdon Republican by Bill Hartman, I came across this wonderful bit of news from the February 18, 1869 issue:
Recently I had the pleasure of visiting the old John Anderson tavern on Route 31 south of Ringoes. The building is inconspicuous with its tall evergreen hedge along the road, but inside one can see it was once a fine 18th century building.
by Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, N.J.
Hunterdon County Democrat, August 21, 1930
Note: In the summer of 1930, the former students of Harmony School in Raritan Township held a reunion. It was a great success and was written about at length in the Hunterdon Democrat. The school was located on Route 579, north of Harmony School Road, at the junction of 579 and Stone Signpost Road, and had been in existence since at least 1810, and probably earlier.
The second in the series Hunterdon’s First Settlers
Technically, I should not include Richard Bull in the series “First Settlers of Hunterdon County,” since he never actually lived in Hunterdon, but he certainly qualifies as one of the first landowners. And he surveyed many of the first proprietary tracts here and even further north in Warren and Sussex Counties.
Richard Bull was a land owner in Hunterdon County, well before the county was created. Surprisingly, by the 20th century, even an accomplished student of Hunterdon history like Egbert T. Bush did not know exactly who he was. Bush wrote:1
“. . . “Bool’s Island” {was} the name of a famous long and narrow island opposite {Raven Rock}, which is said to have taken name from one Bool, who owned the island and much land ashore.”
One of the most notable people in the neighborhood of Locktown in Hunterdon County was Daniel Rittenhouse. His life makes an interesting story, which we know something of thanks to the collection known as The Rittenhouse Papers, on file at the Hunterdon County Historical Society.
Alcohol consumption in the 19th century is always an interesting subject because of how much alcohol was consumed back then. It is one of the ways we measure how much things have changed. We are far more aware now of the dangers of addiction, but in the 1820’s, the county coroner could tell you it was sometimes fatal. Here is the sad story of John Rake, a member of that same family I have written about in other posts.
When I first began my blog in 2009, I thought I would use it as a way to discover more about the life of my ancestor Samuel Green. So I began hunting for traces of him in the earliest days of the Province of West New Jersey. But the history of that place became so interesting in itself, that I began to follow its development year by year, thinking that eventually I would get to 1695 when Samuel Green first shows up. (For an index of stories on West New Jersey, go to my About page.)
A follow-up to Egbert T. Bush’s article, “Boarshead Tavern One of the Earliest to be Established”
In 1896, Egbert T. Bush presented a paper to the Hunterdon County Historical Society titled “Croton and Vicinity.”1 As part of his survey, Mr. Bush gave a brief history of the Boarshead Tavern.
I sometimes lose track of the information I have collected in my researches. Today I stumbled across these photographs I took of Delilah Buchanan’s 1829 tavern license application, on file at the Hunterdon County Archives. Delilah Buchanan got a lot of my attention while researching Buchanan’s Tavern. (The series of articles can be found by clicking on the topic in the right-hand column.)
