Fisher Tenant House, Nov. 13, 2012, photographed by Renee Kiriluk-Hill
photograph found on NJ.com, taken by Renée Kiriluk-Hill for the Hunterdon County Democrat http://connect.nj.com/user/rbhill/photos.html
On November 13, 2012, the home of Brian McVey and his 11-year-old son Calvin was destroyed by fire. Not only did they lose all their possessions, they also lost their dog, who for reasons unknown ran back into the house while the McVeys were escaping. The community is coming together to help the McVeys get back on their feet. Gift cards to places like Target, Walmart, Lowes, etc. can be delivered to the Delaware Township school, in an envelope marked for Eileen Ventimiglia and Sue Whitlock.
In this week’s edition of the Hunterdon County Democrat, the regular feature “Old Ink” had an interesting item:
1887
PRESIDENTIAL–The house owned by Mr. George Hoppock at Rosemont is now undergoing an overhauling. This is an old relic, built in 1754. The rafters were raised on the day of Braddock’s defeat. It was long known as Rittenhouse’s tavern. It is reported that Gen. Washington took dinner in the house during the period of the Revolutionary War.
In this article, Mr. Bush begins with a discussion of the Caleb Farley farm in Headquarters, but strays from the subject of his headline to also discuss a farm just west of Sergeantsville, once owned by the Larew family.
In writing about Nathaniel Saxton in my series on Raven Rock, I learned about his investments outside of that village. One of his earliest deeds involved the sale in 1807 of 47.27 acres to Ann Anderson for $422.69.1 This property in today’s Stockton village has an interesting story, one which shows how vulnerable 18th and early 19th century people were to the miserable consequences of debt.
Ancient “Plantation” Has One of the County’s Oldest Dwellings Workman Leveled Stones
by Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, NJ published in the Hunterdon Co. Democrat, June 4, 1931
The following is a transcript of the article written by Egbert T. Bush. My comments and annotations are in the footnotes. Unlike the articles by J. M. Hoppock in the Democrat-Advertiser, there were no pictures published along with the Bush articles in the Hunterdon Co. Democrat. So I have taken the liberty of adding my own.
The Saxtonville Tavern started business with the Delaware & Raritan Canal, declined after construction of the Belvidere-Delaware Railroad, and closed not long after the Civil War. For the tavern’s first chapter see this post.
Here is Egbert T. Bush’s description of the Saxtonville Tavern:
“This community was well supplied with taverns in the old days and somewhat later. Far up in old Saxtonville stands an interesting tavern house, with its four stone chimneys and low stone walls. It seems to be at least 150 years old, but has no date stone to prove its age. The builder is unknown, as are also the early keepers. It was no doubt built expressly for that purpose, everything about it seeming to spell tavern. This was evidently included among the Nathaniel Saxton properties. Bryan Rogan is known to have kept the old tavern 75 years ago. After him came one—Kiley, and then Austin Bray. Thomas McAlone bought the property later. It is now owned and occupied by his son Wallace W., teacher of the Sergeant’s School. No tavern has been kept here for about 60 years past.”1
This article (here somewhat updated) was originally written in 1995 for the Township Committee, back when it was trying to decide what to do with the old farmhouse. Sarah Dilts had left the farm she inherited to the township and it had been turned into a true community park. But the house was a dilemma. How to use it and maintain it? At one point the township committee considered moving the police department there. But that was not feasible, and eventually the house and other structures were taken down. Here is how it looked before that happened.
This post is a follow-up to the previous one about the Bray family of Delaware Township, Andrew Bray and Sarah Rittenhouse. That post includes copies of the portraits of Andrew and Sarah Bray by William Bonnell.
In response to the previous post, Buzz Woods sent me a link to Emma Ten Broeck Runk’s massive genealogy of the Barcroft family, available on Google Books (here’s the link).
I have no idea how I missed this resource. Like most 19th century/early 20th century genealogists, she did not worry too much about citing sources, but considering the thousands of names and dates she provided, I hardly see how she could. This is just to say, it is a wonderful resource, but must be taken with a grain of salt.
