John Lambert Esq. to Thomas Dennis1
I am going to backtrack a couple years from the first letter that Lambert wrote to his granddaughter Susan Hoppock in 1807.
politics
Saxtonville Tavern’s First Innkeeper
And a Farewell to Nathaniel Saxton
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
The Last Chapter of the Saxtonville Mill
After John R. Hamilton disappeared, leaving James Major, Mindert Wilson and Geo. Holcombe with the mill lot on their hands, the State Bank at New Brunswick sued either James Major or Mindert Wilson (I’m still not sure which) in chancery court for the outstanding mortgage. The court ruled in the Bank’s favor, and issued a writ of fieri facias to seize the mill lot at Saxtonville “whereon Myndert Wilson formerly resided,” along with its appurtenances (dwelling house, grist mill and saw mills), and offer them for public sale. Sheriff John Cavanagh conducted the sale on March 17, 1820. John Bray Esq. bid on behalf of the bank, and the property was conveyed to the State Bank at New Brunswick on April 1, 1820 for $4000.1
The Bull’s Island Bridge
In a recent post I mentioned that I found two items at the Hunterdon County Historical Society that explained what Nathaniel Saxton was doing during the years 1808-1815. Besides investing in Raven Rock and a couple properties in other locations, and becoming an active supporter of the Federalists, Saxton was thinking of infrastructure, in particular, construction of a bridge between Bull’s Island and Lumberville.
Saxton’s Politics
As a researcher, there’s one thing I keep learning over and over–if you go looking for an answer to a question, you might not find it, but chances are you will find answers to questions you never thought of.
That was definitely my experience today when I went to the Hunterdon Co. Historical Society, hoping to find some mention of Nathaniel Saxton in Saxtonville between 1808 and 1815, and most of all, some record of who might have been running the Saxtonville Tavern for him while he carried on his legal career in Flemington. No luck.
Citizens to the Rescue
Final episode in the four (and a half) part saga of the Covered Bridge.
Click on the topic “bridges” in the right column to see the other posts.
The Legislature’s Blessing
Once Commissioner Palmer had made his announcement, the only thing needed was an Act of the Legislature to legitimate the funding. On April 3, 1961, a bill was enacted into law permitting the State Highway Department to spend the money it needed to build the bridge.
The Covered Bridge in the Automobile Age
This is the third installment of a short history of the last covered bridge in New Jersey. The first installment is here and the second one here, and addendum here.
An unanticipated threat to the bridge arrived in the early 20th century when automobiles began to be widely used. Little damage could be done to such a solid structure by a horse and wagon. A car or truck, on the other hand, could do quite a lot.
For drivers, the biggest challenge was dealing with the single lane of traffic through the bridge. With so little sight distance, drivers found it necessary to stop and honk before entering the bridge. This practice was still being used in the mid 1950s when Helen Carl Maliszewski and Kay Sherman Larson were riding through the bridge with their parents.
West New Jersey, 1691
It has been awhile since I’ve written anything about the chronology of early West Jersey, but I’m glad I waited, for I just recently got my hands on a PhD. Dissertation by Frederick R. Black that has opened my eyes to events in the 1690s and solved some mysteries for me. It is entitled The Last Lords Proprietors of West Jersey; The West Jersey Society, 1692-1702, and is available from Rutgers Library, Special Collections, through inter-library loan. I can’t recommend it enough.
Civil War Taxes–Part Two
After discovering the Civil War tax lists available online (more about that here), I was inspired to read the legislation (The Revenue Act of 1864) and to write about the residents of Hunterdon who were listed in the tax levy of 1865. Since this is a time of remembrance of the Civil War, it seemed appropriate. The article will appear in the spring issue of “Hunterdon Historical Newsletter” published by the Hunterdon County Historical Society. Even though the editor graciously allowed me two full pages, I found myself frustrated by how much I had to leave out. Which is why blogs are so wonderful.
The Radical Daniel Coxe
After a few years spent mixing with the virtuosi in London and playing with volatile salts in his laboratory, Daniel Coxe bethought himself to get a wife. He married Rebecca Coldham, the daughter of John Coldham, Esq. of Tooting Graveney, London. I’m not kidding; Tooting Graveney, actually has its own page in Wikipedia. It is considered a suburb of London, on the south side of the Thames, and was probably quite rural in the 1670s. John Coldham was an Alderman of London and warden of the Grocers Company, from which I conclude that he was a successful merchant with political connections, an ideal father-in-law for an ambitious man.