The Rosemont Store and Tavern house

Although this article concerns two more owners of the Rittenhouse Tavern, I am going to interrupt the story to relate the history of the Rosemont Store. The reason for that is that the next tavern house owner, Lambert B. Mathews, purchased the store before he bought the house.

The Rosemont Store, located across the road from the old tavern house, has had a challenging history, having had a very high turnover rate, and today it is a store no longer, just as the tavern house is no longer a tavern. As to the identity of the first storekeeper, my best guess is that it was the son-in-law of James P. Wolverton.

Charles P. & Mary Jones

On March 24, 1872, executors of the estate of James Woolverton dec’d (his sons John, Joseph W., and Samuel) conveyed a lot of 2.06 acres to James’ daughter Mary S. Woolverton, wife of Charles P. Jones.¹ The lot was located on the road from Stockton to Baptisttown (Route 519) at the junction of the road from Sergeantsville. It was valued at $3,600, which suggests that it was a functioning store by that time. Unfortunately, the Cornell Map of 1851 only shows a building on that corner, without identifying its owner or resident.

It is possible that Wolverton sold the lot to Israel C. Connor of Delaware Township. A deed of conveyance was made on June 10, 1815 between the two for a lot of 8,046 feet in Rosemont, bordering Route 519 and a 40-ft street to be thrown open for public use. It also bordered John Waterhouse, Sr. and James Woolverton, and was 6 inches from the cellar wall of a dwelling house.² What is curious is that so little is known of this Israel Conner, who died in Trenton on December 21, 1890, age 62. He does not show up in census records or the Gazette or Republican, and there was no deed recorded for his sale of this lot. Perhaps this Israel Conner was the first storekeeper. He certainly got off to an inauspicious start.

It seems likely that Charles Jones was the Rosemont storekeeper by 1870, because the census of that year identified him as a storekeeper of Delaware Township. That was only about four years after Jones had married James Wolverton’s daughter.³ I am somewhat puzzled by Mary Woolverton. She was born on January 29, 1828, which means she was about 39 years old when her first child, Martha (Mattie) Jones was born. Seems very late to start a family. I may be missing some important information here.

The map from the Beers Atlas of 1873 shows “C. Jones” at the Rosemont corner, and during the ten years that Charles and Mary Jones lived there, Charles was known as the storekeeper of Rosemont. But he owned other property at that time, as you can see on the map. “C. Jones” appears four houses south of the store lot, at the point where the road turns sharply west before turning south again.

After ten years, the Jones family moved to Bordentown. The family was living there on March 24, 1882 when they sold the store lot to Joseph G. Moore of Headquarters. The price had dropped significantly, to $1500.⁴ The family did not entirely lose touch with Mary’s relatives, however. In September 1889, the family made the trip from Bordentown to Rosemont to visit relatives in the area.⁵ Charles P. Jones died in 1893, age 69, and wife Mary died in 1923, age 94. They were both buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Trenton.

Joseph G. and Anna Moore

Joseph G. Moore (1845-1916) was the son of William Moore and Mary Dalrymple of the Headquarters-Sandbrook area, where the German Moore family originated. (See The Moore Family Tree.) In 1868, or thereabouts, he married Anna Green (1857-1928), daughter of Charles Green and Rebecca Ann Smith. In the 1870 census, Joseph Moore was 24 years old, married to Anna, and working as a “huckster,” while living in his parents’ household. Ten years later, in 1880, he was a Delaware Township grocer, living with wife Anna, but no children.

On Oct. 20, 1881, the Republican announced that

“Joseph G. Moore has bought the store property in Rosemont that formerly belonged to Mr. C. Jones, and expects to take possession in the Spring. He has already commenced improvements by removing an old building back from the road.”

A few months later, another curious item turned up in the Hunterdon Republican, “New from the Rosemont area”:

Jan 26, 1882: “Samuel Hartpence of Rosemont, will retire from the mercantile business on the first of April and Joseph G. Moore of Headquarters, will be his successor.”

It is possible to infer from this that Samuel Hartpence had been running the store owned by Mary and Charles Jones. Later on there will be another example of the store business itself being considered a separate entity from the real estate.

Samuel Hartpence (1806-1903), son of John Hartpence and Clarissa Lequear, grew up on what is known today as the Cane Farm, and was married to Rachel M. Cullen. He was also the undertaker for the Rosemont area, and preferred that line of work to storekeeping. In fact, by 1898, he had buried an estimated 1500 people.⁶

Despite his ambitions, Joseph G. Moore was not successful in Rosemont, and five years later he sold out.

Winfield Scott Black

On March 30, 1886, Joseph G. Moore and wife Anna of Delaware Twp. conveyed to Winfield S. Black of Solebury Twp. for $2400, “all that certain lot of land with store and other buildings erected thereon in the Village of Rosemont,” bordered by Samuel Hartpence.⁷

Winfield S. Black was born in Solebury Township on September 6, 1860. He took up storekeeping in Solebury by the time he was 20 years old, although he told the 1880 census taker that he was 23 that year. Shortly afterwards, he married Hannah Hunsicker of Solebury, the daughter of Rev. Francis Shoemaker Hunsicker (according to an Ancestry family tree). So Winfield Black’s purchase of the store at Rosemont was made by a man who intended to run a store successfully. This notion is reinforced by the fact that by 1900 he was storekeeping in the town of Clinton, so it was clearly a life-long avocation. But he could not make a success of the Rosemont store, so in 1888, only two years after purchasing it, he sold the property to Albert Bisbing.⁸ And he passed along a mortgage of $1400.

Albert H. and Harriet Bisbing

Albert H. Bisbing is an interesting character. He was born in April 1842 in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He probably served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and not long afterward, married his wife Harriet. I have not found him in the 1870 census, but in 1880, he and Harriet were living in Evanston, Wyoming with their two children, Harry, born about 1872 and Annie born about 1875, who had both been born in Pennsylvania. Albert was working as a laborer.

Apparently living in the west did not suit the Bisbings and they returned to the east, where Albert tried his hand at storekeeping in Rosemont. When he purchased the store lot, he was a resident of Philadelphia. The price was $3,000 plus that mortgage of $1400. Apparently there were problems, because on September 7, 1888, Albert & Harriet Bisbing sold the store lot to Winfield Baker of Camden for $3,000, and on the same day, Baker sold the lot to Harriet Bisbing herself, for the same $3,000. But no mention was made of the $1400-mortgage.⁹

This refinancing did not help. Two years later, on April 1, 1890, Harriet Bisbing and her husband sold the store to Hiram Danley of Frenchtown for a mere $100.¹⁰

Harriet Bisbing must have died soon afterwards. Albert H. Bisbing was a widower in 1900, living at the Central Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Jefferson, Ohio, where he died in 1914, age 71.

Hiram Danley and son Edward M. Danley

Hiram Danley is another interesting character. But first of all, a word about his father, John Danley. According to Egbert T. Bush, John Danley was involved in managing the mill at Prallsville during the cholera epidemic. Bush wrote:

“The father of Hiram Danley, late of Flemington, is not sleeping here. He had a home of his own and a family to care for. But the sufferings of these workers called aloud and he came to their assistance. He contracted the disease and died, a hero all unsung.”

I pondered that statement in Milling Industry at Prallsville. It could be the same John Danley as the father of Hiram, but I cannot say for sure. I searched the current newspapers and deeds, but found nothing for John Danley.

But it is clear that John Danley had died before 1860, because his widow was living in Frenchtown that year. And in 1870, she had moved to Philadelphia with her adult children, including Hiram Danley, age 22. No occupations were given in that census. And even more perplexing—Hiram’s wife Sarah was not included in the household. Hiram Danley married Sarah Niece, daughter of George Niece and Dinah Kugler, on July 21, 1866.¹¹

Ten years later, though, Hiram Danley and wife Sarah were living in Franconia, Montgomery Co., Pennsylvania, with their son Edward, born in 1867. The fact that Hiram, Sarah and Edward cannot be found in the 1870 census makes me suspect the connection with John and Elizabeth Danley. And to confuse the issue even more, on March 10, 1868, Hiram Danley bought himself a lot on Fourth St. in Frenchtown from Leah and John W. Savidge. He remained there until he moved to Rosemont in 1890. In 1874, Hiram Danley ran for town council in Frenchtown but did not win the seat. In 1888, the Hunterdon Republican reported that one Howard Whitecraft of Frenchtown, employed by Hiram Danley on his farm in Tinicum Township, Bucks County, was seriously injured by a fodder cutter, losing three fingers.

Even though Danley owned property in Pennsylvania, he was always identified as “of Frenchtown,” including on April 1, 1890, when he bought the store lot in Rosemont from the Bisbings. The property was sold subject to a mortgage of $1400 held by Mary Moon, to be assumed by Danley. It is hard to believe that the Bisbings sold the store lot for a mere $100, but that must have been because of the mortgage, and probably because Danley was a hard bargainer.

In November of 1890 the Republican reported that Danley was “making improvements to his store property, by adding a two-story extension to the east end, sixteen by thirty-two feet.” This explains the appearance of the property today.

This photograph may have been taken after Danley had completed his “improvements.”

The next year, on April 22, 1891, the Republican announced that Danley of Rosemont had shipped 30 head of calves to the New York market, and that the previous March he had shipped over $500 worth of “dressed calves.” That appears to have been Danley’s major line of business. In November, the Republican called Danley a “dealer in pork, calves, and poultry.” He also owned “a nice pair of blacks,” i.e., horses. It seems most unlikely that Danley kept all this livestock on the small store lot in the center of Rosemont village. He must have been renting some acreage.

Hiram and Sarah Danley had one child, Edward Niece Danley, born January 9, 1867. Around 1887, Edward married Elizabeth Carrell Moore, daughter of Gideon C. Moore and Amy Carrell. Sometime around 1895, or perhaps earlier, Hiram Danley turned over the store operation to his son Edward, and moved to Flemington where he carried on his business of selling pork, calves and poultry.

Meanwhile, at the store a near disaster took place, as reported in the Republican on Februay 26, 1896:

The store and dwelling house of Edward N. Danley at Rosemont, came near being destroyed by fire last Sunday by an overheated stove. Mr. O. P. Opdycke, a clerk in the store was going to his room when he saw smoke and alerted the family who immediately helped him extinguish the flames.

Edward Danley followed the path of his many predecessors, and quit storekeeping after only a short time. In 1897 he moved to Flemington, to a house on Bloomfield Ave., belonging to Charles F. Felmly and Alexander B. Allen. On September 22, 1897, the Republican reported that “Edward N. Danley of Rosemont, sold his mercantile business to Gerald King of Michigan.” In the same issue there was this from Brief News from Rosemont Vicinity:

Edward N. Danley, our merchant having sold out to Gerald King of Michigan, will take up his residence in Flemington. Mr. & Mrs. Danley gave a farewell treat of lunch, lemonade and cigars to a house full of customers and friends last Saturday.

Gerald E. King

You just never know what’s going to turn up when researching a property in Hunterdon County, and Gerald King is a perfect example of something unexpected.

Gerald King was born about 1866 in Buckinghamshire, England to Ernest and Phebe King. He was the youngest of four children. Shortly after his birth, the family emigrated to New Jersey, because a census record states that King was naturalized the year he was born. The family was living in Trenton by 1869 when Gerald’s mother Phebe King bought two lots of land in Kingwood Township, near Featherbed Lane.

Phebe King and her four children (including Gerald, age 5) were living there in 1870, along with John Lair, age 22, who worked the farm. But Phebe’s husband Ernest (age 44) and his son Frederick (age 20) were living in Trenton, where Ernest King was employed as a reporter and Frederick as a pressman. In 1874, Phebe King & husband Ernest, then living in Trenton, conveyed the Kingwood Township property to their son Frederick for $6,000.¹² But Frederick Milton King did not remain long there, if he ever visited at all. Five years later, he was living in Middletown, Connecticut when he married Helen Smith of Trenton in the Trenton Presbyterian Church. I lose track of him after that.¹³

In 1880, the King family, minus Frederick, was counted on the Kingwood farm. That year, Ernest King was working as an editor, but not at any of the current Hunterdon papers that I am aware of. They were also living there in 1882, when Phoebe King bought an additional four acres adjoining the property she had bought from William and Henry Case.¹⁴ But shortly afterward, the whole family moved to Middletown, Connecticut, because in 1884, Phoebe and husband Ernest King, residents of Middletown, sold the Kingwood property to William S. Hewitt.¹⁵

By 1884, Gerald King was 18 years old. But he must have remembered a young woman from his days in Hunterdon. Her name was Kate G. Williamson, daughter of Joseph Williamson and Mary Gordon. On September 19, 1888, Gerald King of Middletown, Connecticut and Kate G. Williamson of Sergeantsville were married by Rev. Perry Bascom. They set up housekeeping in Middletown where their first two children were born, Ernest Harold King and Joseph W. King. But sometime between 1893 and 1896 they moved to Michigan where their next two children, Geraldine and Aubrey were born.

Gerald King must have had fond memories of Hunterdon County, because he changed his mind about Michigan and took up storekeeping in Rosemont in 1897. Soon after purchasing the store business, Gerald King of Michigan “our new merchant,” threw a party for “friends and customers,” who appreciated the “generous supply of cake, lemonade and cigars.”¹⁶ But the comestibles did not do King much good. Two years later he was gone, and in 1900 was back in Michigan with his family, living in Richmond, Osceola Co., Michigan, where Gerald worked as a publisher.¹⁷

Phoebe Norris King died in 1891 and Ernest King died in 1900. Both were buried in the Indian Hill Cemetery in Middletown, Connecticut. By 1910, Gerald and Kate King had moved back to Middletown where they spent the rest of their lives. Gerald King was editor of the daily paper there. Kate G. Williamson King died in 1925 and Gerald King in 1955, age 90.

Back to Hiram Danley

When Gerald King left for Michigan, Hiram Danley must have decided it was time to unload the Rosemont store. On March 28, 1899, Hiram & Sarah E. Danley of Flemington sold to Lambert B. Mathews of Delaware Township the store lot for $2500, which Danley had bought from Harriet and Albert Bisbing for a mere $100.¹⁸

Danley appears to have taken some of those profits and used them to build himself a barn and packing house on property he had purchased in Flemington from William Burk. This “new building” was located opposite Lake’s hotel.¹⁹ In May, Danley used more of the profits to build himself a new house, a two-story brick building, also on the Burk property. The Republican reported that Danley would move the current frame dwelling house to the rear of the lot, and the new structure would have “living apartments and a store room on the first floor and a large flat on the second.” Those extra living quarters may have been used by Hiram’s son Edward and his family, as they were counted in the Hiram Danley household in the 1900 census.

Later, in October, Danley benefitted from having a new sidewalk and curb laid in front of his property. I could not tell if this was done by Danley himself or if this was a public service by the Borough of Flemington. But all these improvements did not do much good for Hiram Danley. As so often happens, he was not allowed much time to enjoy them. He died in 1903 when he was only 58 years old.

Lambert B. Mathews

When Lambert B. Mathews bought the Rosemont store, he was about 41 years old. He was the first really successful storekeeper in Rosemont. He owned the store lot for the rest of his life. It was not sold to Willis H. Carver until 1923.²⁰ The best any previous owner could do was 14 years by Charles Jones. By 1910, Mathews had paid off his mortgage, and his widowed mother Rebecca Mathews had moved in with him and his wife Mary.

There is a question in my mind about when Gerald King left and Mathews took over, because when Mathews bought the store lot in 1899, he was “of Delaware Township,” whereas he had previously been living in Franklin Township. So King had probably left before March 1899.

Lambert B. Mathews was born in September, 1857 to William R. Mathews and Rebecca H. Myers of Franklin Township, Hunterdon County. (The name was sometimes spelled Mathis or Mathes.) His grandparents were Isaiah Matthews and Ann Buchanan on his father’s side, but I have not been able to identify his mother’s family, or find their marriage record.

It is hard to say why his parents named their first child Lambert, as there are no immediate relations with that name—unless it is a clue to his mother Rebecca’s family. But I have found no record of a Rebecca Lambert born in June 1833, which is when Lambert’s mother was born.²¹

William and Rebecca Mathews spent their lives on their farm in Franklin Township. In 1860 the couple and their 2-year-old son Lambert were living with William’s brother Samuel B. Mathews, age 44 and wife Mary, and their six children. But shortly afterwards, Mathews acquired a farm of 60 acres from Henry S. Trimmer on the road from Quakertown to Baptisttown.²²

Lambert was still at his parents’ house in 1880. He was 22 years old working on his father’s Franklin Township farm. On September 26, 1883, he married Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Nixon, a school teacher of Franklin Township, and daughter of John F. Nixon and Mary Waldron. She was born in May 1862. Their only child, Rufus Bloys Mathews (which is probably also his father’ middle name) was born on August 2, 1888.²³

In 1892, Lambert B. Mathews tried to run his own farm, after purchasing a property near Allens Corner in Franklin Township from the estate of Joseph Myers.²⁴ (For some reason I cannot explain, the family appeared in the NJ State Census for 1895 living in Alexandria Township rather than in Franklin. That may have been an error.) It appears that Lambert B. Mathews decided that farming was not for him, and that he should give store-keeping a try.

As mentioned above, on March 28, 1899, Mathews purchased the store lot in Rosemont from Hiram Danley. This was somewhat daring, given the store’s unpromising history.

The year after that purchase, Mathews was counted in the 1900 census for Delaware Township, age 42, born September 1857, a grocery salesman who owned a mortgaged house. His wife Mary E. Mathews was 38 (born May 1862) and their son Rufus was 11 years old, attending school. (He was probably walking along Route 604 to get to the old Reading School, an old one-room schoolhouse that is now being restored.)

1910, the Store and the Tavern House

1910 is the year when the history of the store and tavern house come together, for it was on March 31, 1910 that Lambert purchased the home of George Hoppock from his heirs.²⁵ Hoppock had died on February 5, 1905, three years after the death of his wife, but his children seemed to prefer holding on to the property for five more years. No doubt Mathews, who must have been living on one of the upper floors of the store, had his eye on the house, and may have had to pressure the Hoppock heirs into selling it to him. He paid $3500 for it. The lot was described as situated on “the public road from Lambertville to Baptistown, at the junction of the road from Sergeantsville (at Rosemont),” which was the same description in the deed from the Wolverton estate to George Hoppock back in 1868.

The census for Delaware Township in 1910 was taken on April 26 and 27. The deed for the tavern lot was dated March 31st, so Mathews had possession of the tavern lot when the census was taken. He was listed as 52 years old, a merchant of a general store, who owned his house mortgage-free. I suspect Mathews was able to purchase the old tavern house with profits from his store. Living with him was his wife of 26 years, Mary E. Mathews, age 46. She had only one child, who was still alive, but not living with her. Also in the household was Lambert Mathews’ mother Rebecca who was 76 and a widow. At the time, all three of Rebecca Mathews’ children were still alive. She died in 1914 and was buried next to her husband in the Cherryville Cemetery.

As for the Mathews’ son Rufus B. Mathews, he and wife Mabel had moved temporarily to Phillipstown in Putnam County, NY for they were counted in that location in 1910, along with their son Edward, age 1. But they soon returned to Rosemont, as shown in the NJ State Census of 1915. That year, Lambert B. Matthews was 58 (born September 1857) and Mary Mathews was 53 (born May 1862). Lambert was a farmer who owned his house mortgage free. Interesting that he was no long identified as a storekeeper.

Son Rufus B. Mathews was listed next to his parents in a separate household, renting his home, living with wife Mabell. It is hard to say who was living where. Lambert and Mary Mathews could have been living in the Hoppock house and their son Rufus in the store house across the road. Or vice versa

Lambert B. Mathews died young. Like Hiram Danley, he was only 58 when he died in 1916. He was buried with his parents in the Cherryville Cemetery. After the death of her husband, Lambert’s widow Mary Elizabeth remained in Rosemont, living on her own, until the 1920s, when she bought a house on North Main Street in Flemington. She remained there until her death on March 25, 1937. She was buried in Cherryville, next to her husband.

Rufus Mathews took over the property after his father died. The draft registration form that he filled out on June 15, 1917 stated that he resided in Rosemont, NJ, was born August 2, 1888 in Quakertown, NJ., occupation farmer. He was married with children under 12, was of medium height, medium build, with grey eyes and brown hair. But Rufus Mathews left Rosemont soon afterwards. The census of 1920 listed him and his family as residents of Flemington, where he remained the rest of his life until retirement age when he moved to Florida and died there in 1963.

As for the old tavern house, Mary Mathews and her son Rufus, as heirs to the property of Lambert B. Mathews, sold the lot to Frank W. Reading in 1922.²⁶ And the store lot was sold to Willis H. Carver, probably about the same time.²⁷

I have not consulted these deeds to get exact dates and other information. The store remained in the hands of Willis Carver for many years, and I am certain there are still folks around who remember his store. It seems that he was succeeded by someone named Place, for the photograph above identifies the store as his. It must have been taken before World War II because the roads are still unpaved.

Frank W. Reading

I will finish this short history of the tavern lot in Rosemont with Frank W. Reading, a descendant of the original European owner of over a thousand acres surrounding Rosemont on the south. This seems most fitting. Frank Reading would be included in my version of The Reading Family Tree if it extended to the eighth generation, but it only goes up (or down) to five.

Franklin Wilson Reading was born on August 27, 1886 to William Henry Reading and Emma Lorenia Wilson. He was the grandson of William Reading and Mahala Rittenhouse. On his grandfather’s side his ancestry went from Elisha Emley Reading (1776-1821), to William Reading (1754-1788), to Joseph Reading, Esq. (1728-1806), to Gov. John Reading (1686-1767) and finally to John Reading, Sr. (1657-1717). On his grandmother Mahala Rittenhouse’s side, his great grandparents were Jonathan Rittenhouse (1770-1846) and Delilah Bray (1777-1857, daughter of Gen. Daniel Bray), Benj. Wm. Rittenhouse (1746-1821), William Rittenhouse, Jr. (1720-1799) and William Rittenhouse, Sr. (1696-1767). Pretty impressive.

Frank Reading’s father died in 1892 when he was only nine years old. His mother, Emma Lorenia Wilson Reading moved in with her parents, John G. Wilson and Drusilla Quick.²⁸ The census of 1900 shows Emma L. Q. [sic] Reading age 44 living with her parents John G. And Drusilla Wilson, and her son Frank, age 16, at school.²⁹

On October 6, 1909 Frank Reading, age 23, married Charlotte G. Venable (born Oct. 10, 1883 to Frank Woolman Venable and Sarah Shaw Barcroft). They had no children.³⁰

In 1910, when Frank Reading was 26 and wife Lotty was 24, the Readings were living on their own farm. Living with them was grandfather John Wilson age 85, who had his own income, and grandmother Luella (Drusilla) age 83. John and Drusilla had been married for 60 years, and all five of their children were still alive. Their daughters Mary and Sarah, ages 56 and 53, were also in the household, both single. It sounds as if Frank and Lotty Reading had taken over the household of John G. Wilson, but I still don’t know where that was. In any case, John G. Wilson died not long afterward, and was buried in the Rosemont Cemetery.³¹ Frank W. Reading made some real estate purchases in 1910. He bought land from Joseph G. Bowne, dec’d, Elisha W. Fisher, Asa Romine dec’d, and Harry Neafie. He sold property to Charles A. Smith. I have not reviewed these deeds.]

By 1920, Frank and Lotty Reading were living in Rosemont. They did not purchase the tavern house until 1922, so they must have been renting a place, perhaps on one of the upper levels of the Rosemont store. The 1920 census tells us that Frank was 35 years old that year, farming and renting his home. Charlotte G. Reading was 36. There was no one else in the household. Frank’s mother Emma Reading was living elsewhere because she did not die until 1933, but I have not located where she was living from 1921 until her death.

As mentioned before, Frank W. Reading bought the tavern house in 1922. Egbert T. Bush has written that it was Frank Reading who “adopted the name ‘Crosskeys Farm’ as the appropriate historic designation of this pleasant home.” Frank and Lotty probably remained there for the rest of their lives. Frank died in Rosemont in 1967, age 80. Lotty Reading died in 1961 age 77. Both are buried in the Rosemont Cemetery.

This is where I will end the story of the old Rittenhouse tavern, as well as the store. I know there is much more to say about both properties, and readers are most welcome to add what they know to the comments section below.

Footnotes: