Sandy Ridge Church

This past fall, an application was prepared to create a Sandy Ridge Historic District in Delaware Township. This area is full of interesting properties, with the old Sandy Ridge Baptist Church standing at its center.

The application for district status is presently under consideration by the State Preservation Office.¹ It seems appropriate while we wait for the decision to take a look at a couple articles about the place written by our early 20^th-century historians, Jonathan M. Hoppock and Egbert T. Bush.

Let’s start with “The Sandy Ridge Church” by Jonathan M. Hoppock, published in 1905.² The second article, by Egbert T. Bush, will come along later.

Mr. Hoppock’s article contains a long list of names of people associated with the church: the first members of the congregation, the pastors from 1818 up to 1905, superintendents of the Sunday School, etc. I was a little surprised to see that nearly all of the people mentioned were men, when we all know that church congregations depend heavily on the work of women. But this was 1905, and attitudes about who got credit for what were different then.

As for the long list of names, no doubt readers of 1905 found it interesting, knowing many of those mentioned personally. That is obviously no longer the case. But I felt I should publish the article in its entirety, since descendants of these people may find it helpful. Some of the more prominent pastors deserve some extra attention, which I have provided along with other annotations.

The Sandy Ridge Church

By Jonathan M. Hoppock
Democrat-Advertiser, August 10, 1905

On [a] beautifully elevated spot along the roadside leading from Grover to Stockton stands this handsome edifice known as the Sandy Ridge Baptist Church, of Sandy Ridge, N.J.

Grover was the name used for the village of Headquarters at the turn of the century. It was the name given to the Post Office there on Dec. 14, 1887 in honor of President Grover Cleveland. The post office was discontinued in 1905, the year that Hoppock’s article was published.³ The road referred to is the Sandy Ridge Road, intersecting with the Lambertville Headquarters Road on the north and Route 523 on the south.

However, back in 1828, when Thomas Gordon published his map of Hunterdon County, the road only went as far as the church before turning south-east and following the route of present day Sandy Ridge-Mt. Airy Road. The capital B designates the Baptist Church.

Returning to Mr. Hoppock’s article:

From the Sandy Ridge Record, by Rev. E. C. Romine, and other reliable sources,⁴ the following facts relative to its history have been taken:

The first house of worship erected on these grounds was opened for services on the third Lord’s day in January, 1817. Previous to this time Rev. Bartolette, the Flemington pastor, had been preaching regularly in private houses for five years. At the dedication the speakers were Rev. Bartolette and Rev. Alexander Hastings.

The present edifice (here shown) was erected in 1866, during the pastorate of Rev. Samuel Sproul.

The photograph below is not the one included with Mr. Hoppock’s article when it was published. This photograph appears to be earlier than the one used in 1905 (and I like it better).

Rev. Charles Bartolette, founder and first pastor of the original church, was baptized Sept. 22, 1804, at Lower Dublin, Philadelphia, Pa., by the noted Rev. Samuel Jones who was present at his ordination in Flemington, May 11, 1812. Rev. Jones was pastor of one church fifty-one years. He was a student of the Hopewell Academy—the germ of Brown University. Rev. Bartolette was born 1794; died 1852.

Rev. Charles Bartolette

Mr. Hoppock is mistaken. Rev. Bartolette was born in 1785, in Germantown, PA. He was baptized at the age of 19, indicating that this was his own personal choice rather than something done to him by his parents. He married Martha Rush, also of Germantown, on February 22, 1808, when he was 23.⁵

According to Snell’s History of Hunterdon County,⁶ Bartolette “accepted a call from the Baptist Church of Amwell, now Flemington” on February 1, 1812. The author of the chapter on Delaware Township in Snell’s History wrote that Rev. Bartolette

“ . . . devoted a part of his time to Sandy Ridge, continuing to do so under adverse circumstances, riding from seven to nine miles and preaching from house to house, in the summer season on Sabbath afternoons, and in winter on week-days.”

On April 28, 1813, Rev. Bartolette purchased a tract of 55.14 acres in Kingwood Township from John and Rachel Woolverton for $1,450. It was previously the farm of Samuel and Susannah Runyan, bordering Asher Stevenson, John McPherson, and George Scott.⁷ This suggests to me that it was located north of Croton and south of Quakertown.

The next year he bought another property, this time of 31.63 acres in Amwell Township on Route 579 ( “the Road from Ringo’s Old Tavern to Buchanan’s Tavern”) from William and Jane Merrill for $3,050.⁸ This would have been somewhere between Ringoes and the intersection with Route 523.

These land purchases raise the question of how Bartolette, being only a newly ordained minister, could afford such expensive properties. One answer is that in the early 1800s, very few churches in Hunterdon County had “parsonage houses” to offer their ministers. So, despite the poor salary most ministers received, they were obliged to find their own housing. But in the case of Rev. Bartolette, for the rest of his life, he bought and sold quite a lot of property—not the behavior one expects from a modest pastor.⁹

Rev. Bartolette divided his pastorate between Sandy Ridge and Flemington for 20 years, but in 1832, resigned from the Sandy Ridge Church to give all his efforts to the Flemington church. He resigned from that church in 1846, having baptized over 400 people during his time there.

In the 1840s, Rev. Bartolette contributed information to Barber & Howe’s Historical Collections of the State of New Jersey (p. 253), in which he described the early days of both the Flemington and Sandy Ridge Baptist Churches:

“The number of communicants at this time, and for several years [at the Flemington Baptist Church], was about 70 ; but after this they began to increase, and in 1817, built the meeting-house on Sandy Ridge, of stone, 30 feet by 40, two stories. In 1818, they set off 14 members, who were constituted into a regular Baptist church. This was the second in Amwell.”

This pretty closely agrees with the version by Jonathan M. Hoppock, who wrote:

On Saturday, October 24, 1818, the church was organized with 19 members: Samuel Hunt, Mary Larue, Mathew Covenhoven, Esther Butterfauss, Rebecca Ent, Catharine Dilts, Phoeba Johnson, Anna Reeder, Mary Hunt, Isaac Wolverton, John Hunt, Esther Hunt, Nehemiah Hunt, Elizabeth Hunt, William Mitchel, Mary Ringos. John Smith, Sen., Rebecca Larue and Hannah Rittenhouse.

The next day, October 25th, Samuel Hunt and Joseph Brittain were elected deacons. Pastor Bartolette closed his labors in 1832 to give all his time to Flemington.

The second pastor, Rev. Jos. Wright was a good man. He served the church some ten years, baptizing about eighty- six persons. Part of the time he taught the Van Dolah and Sergeant’s schools. He died at the age of 84 years.

Elder Joseph Wright

Joseph Wright was born in 1795 in Lower Dublin, Bucks County to John and Elizabeth Webster Wright. About 1819 he married a woman named Mary by whom he had two daughters, Hetty Ann and Mary G. Wright.

In November 1831, Elder Wright was called to minister to the Baptist Church at Lambertville. He had previously been pastor of the First Baptist Church of Butternuts, Otsego Co., NY, so he was probably glad to return to the vicinity of his birth. As it turned out, it was not a compatible fit. The Lambertville Church had previously been ministered by a devotee of the Old School Baptist tradition. When Elder Wright began advocating for Sunday-schools, foreign missions, and ministerial education, the congregation turned against him. He “withdrew” in 1832, in time to take on the ministry of the Sandy Ridge church.

Mary Wright died on October 8, 1834, age 37, and was buried in the Sandy Ridge Cemetery. Rev. Wright’s second wife was Esther or Hester Butterfoss, daughter of Daniel and Esther Ent Butterfoss. (See The Butterfoss Family Tree.) This was not long after he began his ministry at the Sandy Ridge Church. During those years, I found no evidence of his ownership of property, so presumably he was someone’s tenant, perhaps the Butterfoss family, whose home was very near to the church.

Wright left Sandy Ridge in the early 1840s. I was surprised that Mr. Hoppock neglected to mention that Rev. Wright left to pastor to a new Baptist congregation formed in Stockton, and took several of the Sandy Ridge congregants with him. Even so, upon his death in 1880, Rev. Wright was buried in the Sandy Ridge Cemetery.

Back to Hoppock’s article:

In 1843, Rev. George Young, a very able man, who was pastor three times, began his labors. The same year thirty were baptized. Rev. J. E. Rue followed in 1847 and closed in 1850. During his time the parsonage was erected. He [Rev. Rue] was one of the founders of Peddie Institute. He was born in 1817 and died 1867; buried at Scotch Plains.

According to Snell (p.379), six acres were purchased by the church during Rue’s pastorate, “adjoining the church property, on which the present parsonage house was built.” In fact, a lot of six acres was conveyed on December 13, 1848 by John P. and Esther Hunt to the Trustees of the Sandy Ridge Baptist Church for $240.¹⁰ The lot bordered the public road from Sandy Ridge to Head Quarters, land of Silas Hoffman, Tobias Shadinger and Andrew Wolverton. There was no recital, but clearly this was part of a large tract of land that John Hunt inherited from his father Samuel Hunt (1755-1825), who was one of the original trustees of the Sandy Ridge Baptist Church. (See The Hunt Family Tree.)

The fifth pastor, Rev. J. James Baker, began in 1850 and labored with much success for four years. There were 34 baptisms in one year. He was ordained Nov. 19, 1842, in Philadelphia; died at Plainfield, N.J., Nov. 2, 1888, aged 77 years.

Then comes Rev. Jacob Timberman for about three years. A relative of the family informs us that he, his wife and all their children are now dead.

Venerated, beloved, and remembered by many was the seventh pastor, Rev. Samuel Sproul, deceased. He served nine years from 1858. The well-known and successful physician, Dr. O. H. Sproul of Flemington is his son.

Rev. Samuel Sproul

Rev. Sproul was born in Monmouth County in 1812. He married his wife Abigail Holmes there in 1835, and they had three children, Dr. Obadiah Herbert Sproul being the middle child, born in 1844. Census records for this family are not very helpful. I could not find Rev. Sproul in the 1840 census, but he was counted in 1850 living in Bordentown and practicing as a Baptist minister. No doubt there is a record somewhere of his ordination. The NJ State Census shows he was present in Delaware Township by 1865.

In fact, in 1862, Rev. Sproul was named a member of the Finance Committee for a group of citizens concerned about the Civil War.¹¹ In 1863, a memorial service was held for G. L. Robertson, who had been killed in a battle near Richmond, and had ordered in his will that Rev. Sproul preach the funeral sermon.

Mr. Hoppock wrote that Rev. Sproul became pastor of the Sandy Ridge Church in 1858. Rev. Sproul’s obituary says he pastored there for ten years, and then for five years at Baptistown. The census for 1870 shows him living in Kingwood Twp., profession “Minister, N.S.B.,” meaning New School Baptist. So, Rev. Sproul was in sympathy with the beliefs of Elder Joseph Wright. Given the timing, it appears that Rev. Sproul was still pastor at Sandy Ridge when the new church was built.

A review of items in the Hunterdon Republican shows that Rev. Sproul performed occasional marriages during the years 1860 through 1875. Far fewer than the many performed by Rev. Bartolette. One of the most notable ones was performed on October 28, 1871, at the Parsonage at Baptistown, when Ella S. Wilson, daughter of Samuel Wilson, married Edgar [sic] T. Bush. Actually, that was Egbert T. Bush, the local historian whose article on Sandy Ridge will be published here soon.

Speaking of parsonages, Rev. Sproul, like most ministers, did not own real estate. There is only one deed for him in the Hunterdon Deed Index, and that is a deed of assignment, dated November 19, 1873. Sproul assigned all his goods and chattels over to John W. Lequear to sell and to distribute the proceeds to his creditors. As part of the deed, Sproul was obliged to inventory his assets and list his creditors. The Inventory, which Sproul himself compiled and valued, shed light on the very modest life that ministers led in the 19^th century: Household Goods & Furniture $150; Library $50; 1 horse $100; 1 cow $40; 1 Hog $8; 1 Buggy Carriage $100; 1 Jenny Lind do $20; set of harness $12; 2 Horse Tras[?] $1.50; strap of Bells $1.25; 1 wheel Barrow $2; 2 Forks $1.25; 2 shovels & 1 spade $1.50; Garden Rake, 2 Hoes, Potato Digger $1.00; Hay Cutter $5; 1 Sleigh $10; also a Judgment against Jonathan B. Sproul [his son] $620; for a total of $1123.00.

His creditors were Francis B. Sebold $350; Hannah Melick $100; John Heoff ? $50; Mrs. Johnson $200; Perseverance Lodge Milford half of $100; Dr. J. S. Hunt (Easton, Pa) $150; Coole & Co., NY $150; S. B. Hudnit Estate $100; John Ramsey $150; Joseph Dalrymple $150. Total of $1500.

Mr. Lequear probably managed to get things resolved for Rev. Sproul in 1874. On January 14, 1875, the Hunterdon Republican announced that “Rev. Samuel Sproul, pastor of the Kingwood Baptist Church, has accepted a call to the Schooley’s Mountain Baptist Church.” After that, he moved to Mt. Olive, in Morris County where he died on July 26, 1880. He was buried at the cemetery at his birthplace, Keyport, Monmouth County. His wife Abigail died May 9, 1885 and was buried next to him.

Mr. Hoppock continues:

Next Rev. Benjamin R. Black, who remained three years, doing faithful service. Rev. Black was ordained in 1873. Rev. A. W. Peck served about one year. He is now dead. Rev. M. B. Lanning began April 1st, 1881, and labored faithfully for over four years. He went to California, where he is said to be living. The eleventh pastor, Rev. A. Cauldwell, kindly remembered, served two years, until 1888. He died in 1895.

Rev. George H. Larison, M.D., was the next pastor. Dr. Larison was always a true friend of missions and revivals. He died in Lambertville, March 7th, 1892, and left the world better by his living.

On the first day of May, 1897, Rev. William G. Robinson began his zealous labors, which closed September 28, 1902. He is now a successful pastor in Newfield, this State. The present genial and beloved pastor, Rev. Williams, is a worthy successor to the noble men he follows.

The first trustees: John Hunt, Joseph Brittain, John Covenhoven, John Smith, Samuel Hunt, William Mitchel and Samuel Rittenhouse.

Clerks: Garret Wilson, Jonas Lake, Samuel R. Hunt, George W. Sharp, George H. Larison, Cornelius L. Hunt, Charles B. Higgins, James M. Cox and Lewis C. Paxson.

The first record of a Sunday School gives the date 1843. Among the superintendents have been George W. Sharp, Charles Stillwell, C. B. Higgins and Wilson Hunt. Jas. M. Cox, the present superintendent, has acted in that capacity since 1860. He is first cousin to S. S. Cox, deceased, of Congressional fame.

The following were licensed by this church to preach: Charles E. Wilson, William E. Lock, William V. Wilson, A. Ammerman and Edward C. Romine.

The following have been deacons Samuel Hunt, William Mitchel, Garret Wilson, Jonas Lake, Tobias Shadinger, Dilts Larue, Acker Moore, C. Q. Higgins, Jas. Romine, Benjamin Larison, Newton B. Rittenhouse, Samuel R. Bodine, Dr. Wm. E. Cornog and James M. Cox.

The Cemetery

In the large and beautiful cemetery adjoining the church, awaiting the time when the “general roll” will be called, rest the remains of numbers who —in their day and generation—nobly and well did their part in life, before the grim destroyer of all things earthly called them hence, many of them life-long members of the church they dearly loved. The first three pastors of the church—Rev’s. Bartolette, Wright and Young—sleep in this cemetery. Here also are the graves of Rev’s. Morgan Cox and Andrew Larison, besides those of ex-Sheriff John P. Rittenhouse, Benjamin Larison and other men of prominence. In a single row, side by side, lie the remains of twenty-four members of the Hunt family, whose ages range from infancy to extreme old age.

In his article, “Headstones and Headlines,” Egbert T. Bush listed some of the Hunt family, beginning with Nehemiah, who died in 1823 at the early age of 41. His father Samuel died in 1825, age 71, and his son John died in 1860, age 73.¹²

It surprises me that Hoppock made no mention of Rev. Cox until this point. Morgan Rhees Cox was born 1798 to Gen. James Cox and Ann Borden Potts of Upper Freehold, NJ. In 1822, Cox married Mary Bray Rittenhouse, daughter of Jonathan Rittenhouse and Delilah Bray, and granddaughter of Gen. Daniel Bray and Mary Wolverton.

In 1825, Rev. Cox was licensed by the Baptist congregation at Locktown to preach the Baptist religion at Mt. Bethel, Pennsylvania, across the Delaware River from Portland, NJ.¹³ According to his gravestone, he was ordained in 1826.

I have not been able to find much about Cox after 1826. In 1840 he was living in Bernards Twp., Somerset County. In 1850, he had moved to Upper Cape May where he was identified as a 51-year-old clergyman, living with wife Mary 51, daughters Anne 28 and Mary E. 15, and son James M. Cox age 9.¹⁴ In 1860, Rev. Cox was living in South Brunswick, NJ. Which goes to show how peripatetic ministers were.

On March 3^rd of 1860, Rev. Cox purchased five small lots from John G. and Elizabeth Fisher of Readington Township.¹⁵ His house lot was located at the bend in the Rittenhouse Road, as you can see in the detail from the Beers Atlas. Rittenhouse Road did not become a public road until 1866, after a petition dated September 4, 1866 was submitted to the freeholders, signed by Rev. Morgan Cox among others, asking for the road to be made public. (For more about this, see Rittenhouse Road.)

Rev. Cox’s home in Delaware Township was his last one. By 1870, he was 72 years old, listed as a farmer in the census for that year, living with wife Mary 71, daughter Mary 35 and son James 29. In 1880 he was in the same place, but now recognized as a “retired minister.” He died on January 9, 1881, and, as Mr. Hoppock mentioned, was buried in the Sandy Ridge Cemetery next to his wife Mary Bray Rittenhouse, who died on July 13, 1880.

Mr. Hoppock next provides some early history of Sandy Ridge:

The following well-authenticated facts relative to the history of the Sandy Ridge Church, and the early settlement of the surrounding country—were kindly furnished by Mr. Cyrus Van Dolah, the present owner of the well-known old Van Dolah homestead that has been continuously owned by some member of the Van Dolah family since 1738, and who have occupied it since 1725.

He was the son of Cyrus Van Dolah, Sr. (1806-1891, see The Vandolah Family Tree), and assisted Laura Groff with her article on the Van Dolah School. Even though Cyrus Van Dolah was an admired historian of the area, I must take issue with the notion of “well-authenticated facts,” which I will dispute in my footnotes.

According to early history, William Biddle purchased 5,000 acres of land of Sir George Cartaret.¹⁶ Biddle employed two noted English surveyors by the names of Bool to divide it.¹⁷ They began at Sandy Ridge, going a southeasterly course, dividing the lands now owned by Cyrus Van Dolah and William Hilliard, Joseph D. Case and Thomas Seabrook, extending down in Mercer county.¹⁸

After that Sandy Ridge was called “Bool’s Corner,” in honor of these two noted surveyors, whose ability, it is said, ranked with Mason and Dixon, who established the celebrated slave line in 1763-7.

Among those who first purchased land were the Dimsdales, Marcelisons, Van Voorsts (this name is claimed by some to be Voorhees), Van Dolahs, Butterfauss’s, Whypers, Greens, Hagamans and Van Horns.

Here is a detail from the Hammond Map, showing the Sandy Ridge area and land remaining to William Biddle It also shows that Richard Bull kept a large portion of the tract for himself, covering the northern part of Sandy Ridge.

Deer are said to have abounded in the forests in those early days. The black squirrel, the cat head and the moffet were plentiful. The latter would run up and jump from tree to tree, but would never run down. Whenever they wanted to descend to the ground they would run to the end of a branch, roll themselves up into a ball and drop to the earth.

The internet has finally let me down. I found nothing there to enlighten me about cat heads and moffets. Ben Zimmer found indications that a cat head was a large fish, but nothing on moffets. It sounds like they were similar to squirrels.

The first church was established in 1817, then named Sandy Ridge, and rebuilt in 1866. The land was given by Daniel Butterfauss, upon which the old church and that portion of the cemetery known as the “old part” are situated. The “tie grounds,” was purchased of the Van Dolahs. The masons were David Morgan and Ezekiel Everitt. They also built the old Van Dolah school house about one-half mile south of the church.

The expression “tie grounds” had me stumped. Robert K. Hornby speculated that it was related to “Tigh” land, which in medieval times was a fenced enclosure next to a house. That seems consistent with the idea that the church bought an adjacent lot. Unfortunately, there is no deed recorded from the Vandolah family to the Baptist trustees, so I cannot say where this was located. I assume that it was not the six acres that were purchased from the Hunts in 1848, unless Mr. Hoppock was mistaken about who sold the lot.

The first person to be buried in the cemetery was Rebecca Doyle, who lived with relatives on the farm now owned by J. D. Case. In those days sextons in the country were unknown, it being the custom for neighbors to lend a helping hand in digging graves. Her grave was dug by Garret Van Dolah, and while at work the late Benjamin Bodine, the grandfather of Deacon Samuel R. Bodine, who resides on the farm which his grandfather occupied, came along and inquired whose grave was being dug. On being informed, he replied: “I want it said that I helped to dig the first grave in this yard,” and kindly lent a helping hand. Her tombstone bears the following inscription:

In Memory of
Rebecca Doyle
who departed this life
April 24th, 1819, aged 62 years.
See, travelers, as you pass by,
As you are now so once was I;
As I am now so you must be;
Prepare for death, and follow me.

There are other bodies buried in this yard of persons who died previous to the above date, but they were removed from other places and brought here for interment. The parsonage was built in 1849. It is situated about one-half mile east of the church. Just west of the parsonage barn there used to be a graveyard, but Who is buried there? Echo answers, Who? The last person who knew anything concerning this ancient yard was the late Cornelius Bodine, recently deceased at the age of 80 years. He informed the writer that when a boy he remembered a graveyard being there, but was unable to tell who[se] remains were there buried.

J. M. Hoppock

Fortunately for researchers today, it is possible to get a pretty complete listing of the burials in the Sandy Ridge Cemetery by visiting the website, Find-a-Grave, where 1,621 graves are listed. Things have changed a lot since 1905 when Mr. Hoppock was writing. He had no access to all the resources we rely on now, but he did have personal contact with the people he wrote about, or their children, which is an advantage that is easy to underestimate.

Footnotes: