The year that Hunterdon County was separated from the townships now in Mercer County (i.e., Hopewell, Maidenhead, Trenton). Also the year that Amwell Township was divided into Delaware and Amwell (east & west) townships, and Lambertville was separated from Amwell.
For three years John P. Rittenhouse owned my small farm in Delaware Township, although he never lived there. As I started to research his life I discovered that, among other things, he was a Hunterdon Co. Sheriff, managed a restaurant at the Union Hotel, and then ran the hotel in Ringoes. He had an interesting life.
In 1859 he sold my farm to Edmund Perry, a successful politician, but a failure as an investor. I published the beginning of Rittenhouse’s story in the previous post, ending with a situation in which Rittenhouse, acting as deputy sheriff, had to take possession of the very farm he had previously sold to his political ally, Edmund Perry, and sell it to the highest bidder. Awkward.
TAKE NOTICE ! THAT the Township Committee of the townships of Amwell, Delaware and Raritan, will meet at John W. Larason’s on Monday the 2d day of April next, to settle with the several township officers. – All persons in said townships having damage done to their Sheep by dogs, are requested to present their bills to said committee on the day above named before 1 o’clock P. M. If there is not a sufficiency of Dog Tax to discharge said bills, there will be a dividend struck at that time, and those not presented will be disbarred from a benefit of the same. – By order of Town Committee. {signed} J. Gary, Clk. March 14, 1838, the HunterdonGazette.
We do not have detailed minutes of that first meeting at Henry Wagner’s “house,” on April 9, 1838. The Hunterdon Gazette merely published the names of those elected to office, and three items of business: roads, keeping the poor, and a dog tax.
In my previous post on Delaware Township’s first meeting. I gave brief biographies of the Township Committee members, but neglected the rest. So, here are some of the other officeholders. (I will save Overseers of Roads for another post.) Many of these biographies are incomplete, either because records are poor, or because I have not spent enough time researching them.
This is a revised version of an article first published April 2, 2008
on the website “The Delaware Township Post”
In light of the politics involved in the division of old Amwell Township and the local distress it caused, Delaware Township did not have a very auspicious beginning. But once the furor died down, local residents got to work and did what was necessary to set up a new township government.
This next chapter in the creation of Delaware and Raritan Townships involves a lot of politicking, a lot of ‘inside baseball.’ But it is the story behind the story, and should not remain hidden. I’ve leavened the article with some passing references to mad dogs, passenger pigeons and Lincoln’s first speech. The previous episodes in this saga can be found here: Part One and Part Two.
This year residents of Delaware Township in Hunterdon County celebrate the 175 years since the township was created. Five years ago, in celebration of its 170th anniversary, I published a series of articles on the website “The Delaware Township Post.” It seems appropriate to republish those articles this year on my own website, slightly edited. Here is part two:
This year residents of Delaware Township in Hunterdon County celebrate the 175 years since the township was created. The story of how this came about is a surprising one, and a little disheartening.
