Between Sergeantsville & Sand Brook

part seven, Route Not Taken

The train continues on its way to Sand Brook. Having passed through the southern side of the Village of Sergeantsville, it now proceeds through the properties of James Carrell, Othniel Fauss, William Aller, Acker Moore and Mrs. Sergeant.

The rail line was designed in 1873 to run from Prallsville to Flemington, but it never got built. (See Route Not Taken parts 1 & 2 for the reasons why.) The company did manage to hire a surveyor to lay out the route, and his map can now be found at the H. C. Historical Society. Here is a detail from that map showing James Carrell and “O. Fauss.” The Fauss farm was located on Sand Brook Headquarters Road, just north of the farm of John A. Carrell.

James Carrell & Frances Opdycke

James Carrell (1812-1874) and John Arnwine Carrell (1810-1895) were brothers, the sons of Daniel Carrell and Elizabeth Arnwine. Daniel Carrell died intestate in 1817, age 52, leaving his five children to sort out who would get his property. Perhaps to avoid controversy, Carrell’s widow Elizabeth petitioned to have Cornelius Lake of Sergeantsville, who was in no way related to the family, act as Administrator of Daniel Carrell’s estate. Unlike most cases where the executors or administrators sell off parts or all of the property in public sales, there were no deeds recorded for Daniel Carrell, deceased.

John Arnwine Carrell (c.1810-1895), the eldest son, had already inherited a farm from his grandmother, Elizabeth Opdycke Arnwine, in 1837. It was located further along on Lambert Road (at Block 25 lot 13) and is today known as the Kurzenberger farm.

His brother James Carrell (1812-1874) married in 1836 Frances Opdycke (1813-1896), daughter of George Opdycke and Mary Stout of Kingwood. George Opdycke was the second cousin of James Carrell’s mother Elizabeth Arnwine Carrell.

James and Fannie, as she was known, had three children:  Mary Elizabeth (1837-1870, married to Peter M. Swope);  Margaret Jane (1839-after 1910, married to Hugh A. Frazer);  and Julia Ann (1847-after 1910, married George M. Coryell). (For more on this family, see The Carrell Family Tree.)

James got ownership of his farm on the outskirts of Sergeantsville by buying out his siblings’ shares of their father’s estate. He is shown on the survey map as owning property along the railroad route, but the Beers Atlas seems to have missed him, showing only  his brother, “J. A. Carrell.”

However, he certainly was there. The census of 1870 states that Carrell, then age 55, had property worth $11,000. Living with him were wife Fannie 47, daughter Elizabeth Swope 31 and her son Elmer age 8. (The 1870 census did not identify widows, but the Democrat reported that ‚ÄúMiss Lizzie, eldest daughter of Mr. James Carrell, Esq.‚Äù of Sergeantsville was married to ‚ÄúMr. P. M. Srope of Point Pleasant, Pa.‚Äù by Rev. B. Carrell of Lambertville on March 13, 1861.)¹ Lizzie Carrell Swope died one month after the census was taken. Perhaps she had left her husband to recover from illness in her parents‚Äô home. Listed next to James Carrell‚Äôs family was George D. Coryell 25, working on the farm, and wife Julia [Carrell], and their son Ingham 10 months old.

Shortly after the railroad survey map was drawn and the Beers Atlas compiled, James Carrell died in June 1874, age 61. His wife Fannie survived him until her death in December 1896, at age 83. It is supposed that James and Fannie were buried in the Rosemont cemetery, but their graves have not been found.

From the intersection of Lambert Road with the Headquarters Sergeantsville Road (Route 604), the rail line was drawn to aim for the area of Sand Brook. There seems to have been a considerable distance between land of James Carrell and that of the next owner, “O. Fauss,” suggesting that their farms were quite large.

But before discussing Othniel Fauss, we should examine another farm that extended east from Route 523, bordering the Carrell farm on the north.

Cornelius and Asher Williamson

Cornelius Williamson was listed as a landowner along the railroad route. But the Beers Atlas only names “A. Williamson,” i.e., Asher Williamson, who was not on the list of landowners. And neither of them were shown on the surveyor’s map. However, they owned a large farm along County Route 523 north of Sergeantsville, abutting land of James Carrell, Enoch Hoffman and William Aller.

I have a certain amount of regret that Williamsons showed up in the railroad company records, because sorting them out has long been a great challenge, and you can ask any descendant of the Amwell Williamsons about their struggles with this family.²

Williamson Relationships

Cornelius was a very popular name in the Williamson family. I have 16 Cornelius Williamsons, born between 1672 and 1860. This particular Cornelius Williamson (1806-1890) of Sand Brook was the son of Cornelius Williamson, Sr. and Sarah Hoppock, and grandson of Cornelius and Bernice Williamson. In 1837, he married Mary Hoppock (1806-1887), daughter of Jacob Hoppock and Bernice Williamson. Bernice Williamson Hoppock was also the aunt of her son-in-law Cornelius, making Cornelius and Mary first cousins.

I should note that Cornelius was also a popular name in the Hoppock family. Williamson descendants have researched this family extensively, and their research has enabled me to realize how close the connection was between Williamsons and Hoppocks. (Because it is so easy to get confused about this family, I am publishing a partial Williamson Family Tree to go along with the Hoppock Tree already published.)

Cornelius Williamson (1735-1807) married an unknown Bernice about 1765. Their son Cornelius, Jr. (1771-1835) married Sarah Hoppock (1779-1813), daughter of Peter Hoppough & Catharine Dalrymple. Their son was the Cornelius Williamson iii married to Mary Hoppock (1806-1887), daughter of Jacob Hoppock and Bernice Williamson.

Bernice Williamson (1775-1868), daughter of the above Cornelius and Bernice, married Jacob Hoppock (1775-1866), son of Tunis & Elizabeth Hoppock. Their daughter Mary married her first cousin Cornelius Williamson, iii. The relationship between Sarah Hoppock Williamson and Jacob Hoppock was more respectable—they were only first cousins once removed.

Cornelius and Mary Hoppock Williamson had a son Asher Voorhees Williamson (1841-1926) who married in 1869 Anna Jane Hummer (1842-1929), daughter of Elisha B. Hummer and Catherine Rockafellar. Asher and Anna had a son, Barton Hummer Williamson (1875-1956) who took over the farm from his father by 1910, and remained there until moving to South Bend, Indiana after WWII.

As for the chain of title for this property, the most interesting document related to this property is a survey map drawn in 1810 by Thomas Gordon, showing a tract of 194 acres which was conveyed in 1771 by William Williamson to Cornelius Williamson. Route 523 runs diagonally from the southwest corner to the northeast corner of the tract.

Of course, the survey does not tell us which William and which Cornelius, but I suspect they were brothers and sons of William Williamson and Patience Hull. The property probably was not inherited, but rather purchased from Peter Hoppock, who inherited a large tract of land from his father Jost Hoppough in 1765.

Unfortunately, William Williamson never recorded a deed for purchase of the 194 acres that might have recited when and from whom he bought the property.

At some point, the farm came into the possession of Asher Williamson, who was the brother of the Cornelius Williamson married to Sarah Hoppock. Asher died unmarried in 1860 and left his farm to his nephew Cornelius Williamson and to Cornelius’ son Asher V. Williamson.

There is a great deal more to say about the Williamson family and its tenure in this location, but I must move on.

Othniel R. Fauss & Elizabeth R. Moore

Othniel Rounsavel Fauss (1839-after 1915) was the son of John Rounsavel Fauss and Jane Lake of Sand Brook. About 1864 he married Elizabeth Roser Moore (1843-after 1905), daughter of Deacon William H. Moore and Martha Wolverton, also of Sand Brook. The couple had six children, but only three survived to adulthood, and daughter Laura died before turning 29. Daughter Rachel S. Fauss (1867-1937) never married. Son John F. Fauss (1872-1940)

There is a family tree on Ancestry.com for Othniel Fauss and wife Elizabeth, but that Elizabeth is identified as Elizabeth R. Closson (1844-?), without proof of any kind, no marriage record, and parents unidentified. I am far more certain of Elizabeth Moore because the will of Deacon William H. Moore, written on December 29, 1865, explicitly names his daughter “Elizabeth Fauss wife of Arthur Fauss,” Arthur being a corruption of Othniel.

Othniel was a name that often got misspelled, for example, ‘Athaniel.’ It was a biblical name for a man of courage and judgment. I am aware of four Othniels in the 18^th century and four more in the early to mid-19^th century in Hunterdon County. Both Othniel and his father John used the initial R in their names. It is most likely it stood for Rounsavel, since the mother of John R. Fauss was Sarah Rounsavell (1784-1850). His father was John Fauss (1782-1825) who owned properties in several locations in Delaware Township.

Othniel Fauss bought his farm in 1867 from Enoch and Ann Hoffman, Ann being Ann Fauss (c.1808-1885), daughter of Samuel Fauss and Mary Moore. This made Ann and Othniel first cousins, once removed. Why didn’t Othniel Fauss get his property directly from Samuel Fauss? The next section on Enoch Hoffman will explain.

Othniel and Elizabeth Fauss lived long lives. They were both counted in the NJ State Census of 1915, age 75 and 71 respectively. Elizabeth’s birth date was given as June 1843, which is the same date she provided in the 1900 census.

Othniel Fauss is said to have died in 1945, when he was 105. Seems unlikely, but I have not located an obituary and do not know where he was buried.

Enoch Hoffman & Ann Fauss

Like the Williamsons, Enoch Hoffman did not appear on the railroad survey map. And on the Beers Atlas, his name was spelled Huffman, although other sources used the spelling Hoffman. This is very common for everyone in this family and makes research just a bit more challenging.

As mentioned above, Othniel Fauss bought the southern or eastern half of the farm of Samuel Fauss from Enoch Hoffman in 1867. As the Beers Atlas of 1873 shows, Hoffmans remained on the other half of the farm for several years. The Hoffmans’ half was further back from the road, which is why I am surprised that they did not appear on the surveyor’s map.

The farm that Hoffman sold to Othniel Fauss was 50.2 acres bordering John A. Carrell and land of Asher Williamson, dec‚Äôd, for which Fauss paid $4,000.³ This was the southern or eastern half of an original tract of 108 acres previously owned by Samuel Fauss (1777-1831), son of Rev. Jacob Fauss and Margaret Space, brother of John R. Fauss, and uncle of Othniel Fauss.

Rev. Jacob Fauss wrote his will on Sept. 29, 1805, leaving his homestead plantation to son Samuel (1777-1831), who married Mary Moore, 1779-1871) in 1801. When Rev. Fauss wrote his will, Samuel & Mary had only two children, but by the time Samuel Fauss died in 1831 he had nine children, all minors. He neglected to write a will, so the property was divided equally into nine shares. One of the heirs, George Fauss, sold his 1/9^th share to Andrew Bray, who had gone to court to get Samuel Fauss’ real estate sold at public sale and the proceeds divided among the heirs at law.

The Orphans Court so ordered and named Commissioners James J. Fisher, William Bishop & William Sergeant to hold the sale. The 108 acres were sold to Enoch Hoffman on April 2, 1839, who bid $37.05 per acre, for a total of $4,100.40.⁴ Thus, it is ‚ÄúE. Huffman‚Äù who appears on the 1851 Cornell Map, instead of a member of the Fauss family.

On the other hand, Enoch Hoffman was married to Ann Fauss (c.1808-1885), a marriage that took place on February 14, 1829. In the announcement in the Hunterdon Gazette, Ann was identified as the daughter of Samuel Fauss. Therefore, the property did in fact stay in the family. Enoch and Ann had four or five children.⁵

Enoch Hoffman (1807-1889) was the son of Isaac Huffman and Susanna Bodine. His siblings married into neighborhood families (Samuel to Amy Fulper Rake; Mary to John Green, Sr., and Paul Kuhl Hoffman to Rhoda Poulson).

In 1882, when Hoffman was 74 and ready to give up farming, he and Ann, then living in Chambersburg near Trenton, sold the farm of 60 acres to Henry Fauss for $3,600.⁶¬†Surprisingly, the buyer was Henry R. Fauss (1824-1893), uncle of Othniel Fauss.⁷ He died still in possession of the farm, in 1893, so presumably the property was inherited by widow Amy Fauss (1833-1898) and son Rensalear H. Fauss (1855-1918).

William Aller & Catharine Haines

William Aller (1812-1894), son of Peter Aller & Amy Wolverton, married in 1841, Catherine Haines (c.1817-1885), daughter of Isaac Haines & Mary Trimmer. They had two children: John Trimmer Aller (c.1842-1915) who married Jane Sutton; and an infant who died in 1845. (See The Haines Family, The Haines Farm and Haines Farm, part two. See also The Aller Family.)

As we can see from the Cramer survey, Aller was an active farmer, producing milk, calves, poultry and pork. The Agricultural Schedule for the 1850 Delaware Twp. census confirms that, showing William Aller with 35 improved acres, a farm value of $3000, farm implements worth $175, 2 horses, 4 milk cows, 2 oxen, 3 other cattle, 6 sheep, 4 swine, livestock worth $395, 120 bu. of wheat, 200 bu. of Indian corn, 20 lb of wool, 25 lb of Irish potatoes, 100 bu. of buckwheat, 200 lb of butter, 20 tons of hay, 8 bu. of clover seed, and 2 bu. other grass seed. The value of animals slaughtered was $70. By 1873, according to Cramer’s survey, Aller had enlarged his farm to 60 acres. We must take into account that the Cramer Survey of 1873 and the Agricultural Schedule of 1850 did not test for exactly the same things (peach trees were not yet a big thing in 1850), but still it is noteworthy that William Aller, age 61 in 1873, still had cows, poultry and hogs, but was no longer growing much in the way of produce.

Although he was a farmer all his life, Aller served on petit juries, and in 1866 was elected to the Delaware Township Committee. In 1879 he was the “chosen freeholder” from Delaware Township.

But where was William Aller living? The 1851 and 1873 maps seem to show him on Block 25 Lot 8, south of Sand Brook Village, but well back from the Sand Brook Headquarters Road. Aller acquired his land there on February 21, 1859 when he purchased two lots from Jonathan & Adaline Rake of Lambertville for $4,000.⁸ One lot was 37 & ¬æ acres and 20 perches bordering land that used to be owned by Jacob Fox; the other was 30 acres, more or less, bordering land formerly John Lake‚Äôs. This lot had belonged to Jacob Fox, and was sold by his son Isaac Fox and his widow Eve to Asa Moore in 1828.⁹ Jacob Fox died in 1795, after which his widow Eve Sine (1764-1831) married second Thomas Godown, who died in 1841, outliving Eve by ten years.

Here is the railroad route and the location of the houses belonging to William Aller, Acker Moore and Mrs. Sergant.

This seems to conflict with the Cornell Map of 1851, which seemed to show Aller located north of Acker Moore, and the Beers Atlas which shows Aller and Moore sharing the same lane off of Sand Brook Headquarters Road. For another view of this arrangement of houses, here is a detail from the 1906 topographical map of Hunterdon County.

Jacob Fox had acquired this property from his father John Fox in 1793, and John Fox had bought from John Lake in 1767.¹⁰ This property had a long history. John Lake (1728-1809, husband of Sarah Ann Robins) seems to have gotten his property from his father Thomas Lake (c.1690-1765) who bought land from Adam Aller, no doubt an ancestor of the William Aller being discussed here.

William Aller and wife Catharine remained on their Sand Brook farm for the rest of their lives. Catherine died in 1885, age 68. The next year, William Aller sold his farm to Charles E. Stephens for $4500.¹¹ Following the sale, Aller may well have moved in with his son John Trimmer Aller and daughter-in-law Sarah Case until his own death in 1894. But without a census record for 1890, that is only speculation. The Allers‚Äô burial place is also not known.

Acker Moore & Phebe Miller

The survey map above identifies the farm bordering William Aller on the north as belonging to Acker Moore. Acker Moore (1803-1882) was the son of Jonathan Moore and Sarah Hoppock. He married in 1833 Phebe Miller (1805-1897), daughter of Charles & Mary D. Miller. Two of their children married Hoppocks: John Miller Moore (1835-1889) married Permelia Hoppock (1835-1877), daughter of Joseph and Lareine Hoppock; and Mary Moore (c.1841- ?) married Rensalear Hoppock (1835-1864), son of Amos Hoppock and Elizabeth Dalrymple.

The earliest land record I have for Acker Moore is in 1830, when he was named as bordering a lot located somewhat south of Sand Brook. It was sold to William Sergeant by Cornelius & Rachel Hoppock that year and had originally been the farm of John Rake. This puts Moore in the same location shown in the railroad survey map, and the same location on the 1851 Cornell map.

But no deed was recorded to show when Acker Moore bought that property, or from who. The answer lies with his mother Sarah Hoppock Moore, sister of the Cornelius Hoppock who sold land to William Sergeant.

Sarah’s father was John Hoppock (1726-1816), brother of the Peter Hoppock who owned a very large tract of land along the east side of Ferry Road. John’s property was in several locations, including a farm along Sand Brook Headquarters Road. He died intestate in 1816. Thomas Gordon and John R. Hoppock were named to administer his estate, and in 1818, they sold seven parcels of his land for the benefit of his heirs, five of them being 2 or 3-acre woodlots. The two largest plots were 75 acres sold to John Hoppock at $29.05/acre, and 52 acres sold to Sarah Hoppock for $34/acre, suggesting that this latter farm had a house on it, or else the quality of the land was better.

Here I run into a little problem: Sarah Hoppock married Jonathan Moore in 1797, and he was still alive in 1818 when Sarah bought the property. Why wasn‚Äôt she called Sarah Moore? Also, there is nothing in the Deed Index for Jonathan Moore as grantee.¹²

On November 28, 1840, Jonathan Moore wrote his will naming “son Acker who now resides with me” and bequeathing him his desk and large bible. To wife Sarah he left a cow, a bureau, a trunk, an arm chair, and bed & bedding. The residue of his estate was to be sold and divided equally between his five children or their heirs (daughter Mary Dilts had died already). Executors were son Acker and neighbor William Sergeant. Jonathan Moore died one month later at age 68. It seems that he owned only personal property, not real estate.

Acker Moore continued to live on the farm with his own family and his mother Sarah, who retained ownership of the property. She was 60 years old in the 1850 census. But before then, on May 26, 1846, Sarah Moore, ‚Äúwidow of Jonathan,‚Äù sold the farm to Acker Moore for $400. Actually, what she conveyed was ‚Äúher half moiety‚Äù in a 2-acre woodlot and a farm of 52.64 acres, which she had purchased from the estate of John Hoppock dec‚Äôd on April 1, 1819.¹³ I found that puzzling; the owner of the other moiety was not named‚Äîit could have been Acker himself. The 52.64 acres bordered Wm Sergeant, Asher Williamson, Henry Trimmer and Henry Lawshe, and appears from that description to be located where ‚ÄúA. Moore” was shown on the railroad map. The Philadelphia Map of 1860 shows the same names in the same locations: W. Aller, A. Moore and W. Sergeant where Mrs. Sergeant is shown on the railroad survey.

I must confess that searching deeds to get the history of Acker Moore’s farm led me into a realm of confusion, because of the two “A. Moore”s shown on the 1851 Cornell Map, living very close to each other, on each side of the Sand Brook Headquarters Road. Yet in 1860, there is only one “A. Moore,” the one along the railroad’s path. In 1873, what had been shown as “A. Moore” in the 1851 map, on the east side of the Sand Brook Headquarters Road is “W. Sergeant est.”

That other ‚ÄúA. Moore‚Äù was Asa Moore, who oddly enough was no relation to Acker Moore, but who bought three lots of land south of Sand Brook in 1828. He bought the lots from the heirs of Jacob Fox, i.e., his widow, Eve Sine Godown, and son, Isaac Fox. The three lots consisted of 40 acres on the west side of Route 523, a lot of 37.75 acres and a lot of 30 acres whose boundaries fit the property at Block 25 lot 8, which was the property just north of Enoch Hoffman and Othniel Fauss.¹⁴

However, the 52.64 acres that Acker Moore purchased from his mother in 1846 when plotted out matches the farm of “Mrs. Sergant” on the west. (For more about Acker Moore, visit “An Old Account Book” by Egbert T. Bush.)

Elizabeth Trimmer (“Mrs. Sergant”)

The Mrs. Sergeant referred to was Elizabeth Trimmer (1799-1882), widow of William Sergeant, who died in 1865, at the age of 71, according to his obituary in the Hunterdon Democrat.

William Sergeant (1794-1865) was the son of Charles Sergeant (1760-1833) and Mary Lake (1773-1851). Mary was the daughter of John Lake and Sarah Ann Robins, who lived on one of the lots that later came to be owned by Acker Moore, showing that Mary Lake had a strong connection to this neighborhood.

Her connection was so strong that when Mary Lake wrote her will on April 4, 1843, she bequeathed to her son William Sergeant ‚Äúthe farm I live on adjoining Enoch Hoffman, Israel Poulson and Elizabeth Holcombe‚Äù of 100 acres, being the same farm whereon my father John Lake died possessed. She also bequeathed her personal estate to son William, excepting her wearing apparel, which she left to her niece Jane Fauss, wife of John.¹⁵ Her farm was located on the east side of Sand Brook Headquarters Road. The Cornell Map of 1851 shows ‚ÄúW. Sergeant‚Äù there.

As Mary Lake’s will suggests, she and Charles Sergeant never married. Sergeant’s official wife was Sarah Green (1766-1835), which means Sarah was still very much alive when Mary’s son William was born in 1794. How much of a scandal this was is hard to say. Mary was very clear about who she was when she wrote her will; and who her son was.

Despite his beginnings, William Sergeant managed to do quite well for himself. He married Elizabeth Trimmer in 1827, the daughter of John G. Trimmer and Mary Opdycke. As early as 1819, when he was 24 years old, he bought the rights of John Lake, Jr. in the estate of Sergeant’s grandfather John Lake, being property bordering Isaac Fox. In 1826, he bought the rights of some other of John Lake’s heirs: Jacob Godown and wife Sarah Lake, and Azubah Lake, wife of John Buchanan.

On August 14, 1830, William Sergeant purchased from Cornelius & Rachel Hoppock of Kingwood Township, for $900, a tract of 32 acres bordering Acker Moore, a lot sold to Asher Williamson, the Rake Grave Yard, lands of Philip Rake, other land of William Sergeant‚Äôs, and Asa Moore.¹⁶ This property had been purchased by Cornelius Hoppock in 1815 from the executors of John Rake, deceased. Rake had owned the lot well before the Revolution. (For more on William and Elizabeth Sergeant, see The Rake Cemetery.)

In 1838, William Sergeant was elected to the township committee of the newly created Delaware Township. The next year he was chosen to be Assessor and one of the Overseers of the Poor. In 1841, he was named executor of the estate of Jonathan Moore, along with Moore’s son Acker Moore. In 1842, he was elected president of the Delaware Vigilante Society and continued in that position up until the end of his life. In the 1840s he was regularly chosen to be a Judge of Election for Delaware Township.

In 1856, William Sergeant ran for the NJ General Assembly as a Democrat and was elected. He was re-elected in 1857. He stepped back from politics after that, although in 1860, he and Edward M. Heath represented Delaware Township at the Democratic Convention held in Trenton.

As mentioned above, William Sergeant died at the age of 71 on August 4, 1865. An obituary for him was printed in the Trenton True American and reprinted in the Hunterdon Gazette.

The subject of the above notice was one of those sterling, upright men who do honor to their kind. Mr. Sergeant was a farmer of Hunterdon county, and by dint of industry and integrity obtained the confidence and respect of his neighbors. As a member of the Legislature he was consistent with the political principles he sustained all his life, and diligently attended to the interests of his constituents. His death, although at such an advanced age, has occasioned much sorrow amongst a large circle of friends.

1865 was a terrible year for this family. The following November, William and Elizabeth’s only child, John T. Sergeant, died at the age of 37, leaving a widow Mary Jane age 35 and three children.

On July 28, 1870, Elizabeth Sergeant wrote her will. She left to her ‚Äúbeloved grandchildren,” William T., Ann Elizabeth and Emma Sergeant, the lot I now live on adjoining Acker Moore, John White [?] and others,‚Äù plus the residue of the estate. And she named neighbor Acker Moore her executor along with William R. Risler. The will was not recorded until 1882.

The census of Delaware Township for 1870 showed Elizabeth Sergeant, age 70, owning property worth $14,500. This may explain why her home was generally identified as “the Sergeant Manor House.” She was living with her daughter-in-law Mary J. Sergeant, age 39, and her grandchildren, William 18, Ann E. 14, and Emma 11. They were listed next to household of William Aller.

In 1880 Elizabeth Sergeant, age 80, was boarding with her daughter-in-law Mary Jane and her second husband James Goodfellow, a Civil War veteran, as well as their stepdaughters, Lizzie Sergeant 24 and  Emma Sergeant 21. It seems most likely that the family was residing on the Sergeant farm.

After Elizabeth’s death in 1882, her grandson, William T. Sergeant, bought out the shares of his sisters in the Sergeant farm, and remained there with wife Mary Manning and daughter Jennie May until his death in 1918.

The Series:

In the interests of making it easier to find related articles, I have listed here all the articles published so far in this particular series on the Delaware Flemington Railroad Company.

1. “The Railroad That Wasn’t Built,” 8/31/2019. Egbert T. Bush’s article “The Delaware & Flemington Rail Road Company.”
2. “Kessler & Company,” 9/21/2019. History of the original investors in the company and what happened to them after it failed.
3. “The Route Not Taken, part one,” 11/30/2019. Description of the Route as surveyed to run from Prallsville northeast across land of Kessler, Joseph Hunt, Edward & Mary Housel, Wm & Catherine Warman, Thomas & Mary Larison, Amos & Caroline Fisher, Wm F. & Eliza Bowen, Wm & Margaret Rake.
4. “The Route Not Taken, part two,” 12/21/2019. Description of the Route as surveyed to run from land of Wm Rake northeast across land of Elias & Sarah Johnson, Henry & Sarah McManners, Jonathan & Elizabeth Dilts, Robert & Rebecca Abbott, the Lawshe tannery lot, Jacob & Harriet Lawshe, Cornelius & Elizabeth Higgins, Asher & Mary Ann Johnson.
5. “The Route Not Taken, part three,” 1/14/2020. Description of the Route as surveyed to run from land of Asher Johnson northeast across land of Isaiah H. & Mary Moore, John H. & Catherine Gordon, Charles & Rebecca Green, the village of Sergeantsville.
6. “The Route Not Taken, part four,” 1/25/2020. Description of the Route as surveyed to run from the east end of Sergeantsville northeast across land of Robert & Rebecca Abbott, Ely & Ann Hoppock, Ozias & Margaret Parks, Dr. Justus & Lydia Lessey, Michael & Mary Sophia Cole; also an article on the failed railroad by Clint Wilson.
7. “The Route Not Taken, part five,” 3/21/2020. Description of the Route as surveyed to run from Lambert Road to the south end of Sand Brook.

The next instalment will focus on the village of Sand Brook. The rail route was designed to barrel right through the village on its way to Raritan Township, between the properties of Hiram Moore, the miller of Sand Brook, and his neighbor George N. Holcombe.

Footnotes: