The Heath family turns up fairly often in my articles without ever getting the attention it is due. They were ‘fruitful and multiplied’ and owned quite a lot of land in various parts of the county.1
land titles
The Old Lequear Farm
By Marfy Goodspeed in Bellis, Lequear, Raritan Township 2 Comments Tags: early settlers, land titles, maps, railroads
As I wrote in my previous post, the farm just east of the Swallow farm was owned by John Lequear in the 18th century. I was delighted to discover the location of his home farm.
From Sand Brook to Raritan Township
By Marfy Goodspeed in Delaware Township, Featured, Higgins, Raritan Township, Swallow, Thatcher, Trout 3 Comments Tags: Buchanan's Tavern, early settlers, land titles, maps, proprietors, railroads, roads
Route Not Taken, part 7
In this episode of the saga of the unbuilt rail line we travel from Sand Brook into Raritan Township, on our way to Walnut Brook. Here is a detail of the railroad survey map.
Baptistown, part one
By Marfy Goodspeed in E. T. Bush, Heath, Historians Revisited, Kingwood Township, Trimmer 3 Comments Tags: alcohol, churches, early settlers, land titles, maps, stores, taverns
Recently there has been much discussion on the Facebook page “Historical Kingwood Township” about the history of Baptistown. So, it seems appropriate now to publish this article by Egbert T. Bush with his memories of the ancient village.
Surprising Connections
By Marfy Goodspeed in Delaware Township 2 Comments Tags: houses, land titles
This is a short article, intended as a postscript to “Route Not Taken, Part Four.” It concerns surprising connections between the landowners I researched, starting with Elizabeth Abbott. It also carries on the theme of married women who buy real estate.
Route Not Taken, part two
By Marfy Goodspeed in Delaware Township, Dilts, Higgins, Johnson, Lawshe 5 Comments Tags: land titles, railroads
This is part two of the history of the landowners living along the proposed railroad route that was surveyed for the Delaware Flemington Railroad Company in 1873 and was intended to run from Prallsville to Flemington. (And here is part one.)
The Deremer-Wilson Farm
By Marfy Goodspeed in Delaware Township, Deremer, Sandy Ridge, Wilson No Comments Tags: architecture, Daniel Coxe, early settlers, houses, land titles, maps, portraits, proprietors
or Dilts Farm Revisited, part two
Part one focused on the family of Judson Rittenhouse and Martha Bodine, who lived on the farm now known as the Sarah Dilts Farm Park in Delaware Township for most of their lives. The farm was purchased by Judson’s father, Wilson Bray Rittenhouse, in 1844. This article will first describe Wilson and his family, and then will trace the history of this property back to the first European owner.
Shrinking Township, part 2
By Marfy Goodspeed in Delaware Township, East Amwell, Hunterdon County No Comments Tags: early legislation, land titles, local government, politics, roads
In my previous post (A Shrinking Township, part one), I wrote about a petition in 1896 to take a large chunk out of Delaware Township and give it to East Amwell Township. That petition was signed by two East Amwell residents, William H. Manners and Simpson Sked Stout. This post will describe these two, as well as the journey the bill took through the legislature, and the property owners who were affected by it.
The Haines Farm
By Marfy Goodspeed in Delaware Township, E. T. Bush, East Amwell, Haines, Historians Revisited, Moore No Comments Tags: early settlers, land titles
This post returns to an article by Egbert T. Bush titled “Old Farms in Old Hunterdon,” published in 1931. I published large parts of this article before, in “The Moore Family,” in 2016. As the introduction to that article mentioned, two families were discussed in Bush’s article, the Moores and the Haines. Having discussed the Moore family at length, it is time to focus on the Haines family and their farm on the east side of Haines Road in East Amwell. This will conclude my study of some (but not all) of the farms located in the original proprietary tract of John Dennis.
Owners of the Hart-Taylor Cemetery
By Marfy Goodspeed in Delaware Township, Fisher, Headquarters, Moore 2 Comments Tags: early settlers, land titles, proprietors
There are two ways of writing about a cemetery. One is to portray the people buried there, which I attempted to do in my previous article. The other is to relate how the cemetery came to be—in other words, the history of the property where the cemetery is located. It usually makes sense to focus on the place since many of its early owners were buried in the cemetery. At first I thought that in this case, none of them were. But, research has changed my mind.