![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/IMG_3610.jpg\" "\\"Holcombe-Riverview")
<\/a>This cemetery is on the west side of Route 29 near Lambertville, just north of Rte 202. There is no written history of the cemetery, but it was started by the Holcombe family in either 1873 or 1893. The cemetery is generally considered a Lambertville cemetery, even though it is within Delaware Township\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s borders. This is why I am not as informed about the people buried here as I am with other township burial grounds.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Sutterly, who kept track of the records for many years, told me there were also people buried in an area between the canal and the river. These may have been canal workers who died of cholera in 1832, or perhaps the earliest members of the Holcombe family. I looked at the 1802 tax ratables for Amwell Township and found that none of the Holcombes taxed were slave owners. However, in 1803, George Holcombe owned a slave. There were 19 Holcombe families taxed in Amwell in 1830\u201a\u00c4\u00eeonly one, Emley Holcombe, owned a slave. This does not absolutely eliminate the possibility of slaves being buried between the canal and the river, but I think it makes it unlikely.<\/p>\n
John Holcombe and his wife Elizabeth Woolrich bought land here in 1705 and 1709, and are considered by some as the earliest settlers in Delaware Township, although others might argue that John Reading and his family got here first. The Holcombes and Readings probably came about the same time. John and Elizabeth Holcombe were Quakers who went to meeting in Buckingham, PA. This was before there were ferries or bridges over the river at Lambertville or parts north. Family history says they would ride their horses across the river, although probably not during the spring freshets.<\/p>\n
Many familiar names can be found in this cemetery, like Naylors, Holcombes, Slacks, Hunts, and others. Someone has taken the trouble to make in inventory of graves and recorded 941 names on the website Find-a-Grave, which you can see here<\/a>.<\/p>\n I\u201a\u00c4\u00f4ve made a list of some of the oldest Delaware Twp. people buried here and arbitrarily chosen the latest birth date as 1835, based on gravestone birth dates; some stones are lacking birthdates. Maiden names are given in parentheses. Because the cemetery is on the edge of Delaware Township, most of the graves belong to people who lived in Lambertville and West Amwell. I\u201a\u00c4\u00f4ve had trouble coming up with good information on these people, and welcome any help that readers can provide. Besides census records, I have also checked the names in the 1865 tax assessment lists.<\/p>\n John C. Holcombe, born 1793 to Richard Holcombe and Elizabeth Closson, and Solomon Holcombe, born 1813 to Robert Holcombe and Elizabeth Pidcock, are both buried here. They were second cousins.<\/p>\n John C. Holcombe married Rebecca Fisher on March 1, 1817. She was born August 4, 1794 and died Nov. 10, 1873. She was the daughter of Jacob Fisher and Ann Wilson. In 1825, John C. Holcombe\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s mother Elizabeth died in Solebury, PA. His father Richard died in 1824, but I do not know where. In the 1865 IRS Assessments, John C. Holcombe was taxed 15\u00ac\u00a2 on $3 of income and $1 on a one-horse carriage.<\/p>\n C. W. Larison wrote that John first lived on the farm in Delaware Twp. later owned by B. Anderson Holcombe, but I do not know how (or if) they were related. John C. was an overseer of roads in Delaware in 1840. He removed to his father-in-law Jacob Fisher’s farm on York Road for 5 years; then to Lambertville for 3 years; finally to the farm in Delaware Twp. where he died. Larison wrote: “Like all Holcombes he liked a good horse, a good dinner and good company.”\u00ac\u2020 He died very prosperous. I do not know why his wife Rebecca Fisher (1794-1873) was not buried with him.<\/p>\n Edwin was the son of John C. and Rebecca Holcombe. Eleanor, wife of Edwin, was the daughter of Henry Moore. This family appeared in the 1850 census with children Solomon 12, Rebecca 6, and Eleanor\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s sister Margaret 19. In the 1880 census, Edwin and family were living with Edwin\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s father, John C., who was 86 and blind, as well as Edwin and Eleanor (Ellen)\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s daughter Rebecca and her husband J. B. Mathews. In 1865, E. B. Holcombe of Lambertville was taxed $1 on a one-horse carriage and $2 on a two-horse carriage.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Solomon Holcombe born Mar 19, 1813 to Robert Holcombe and Elizabeth Pidcock. He was counted as a farmer, age 37, in the 1850 Delaware Twp. census. His mother-in-law Nancy Holcombe, age 60 was living with him and his two children, Thomas 15 and Emma 7. No wife was counted with him, but his first wife was Miranda Holcombe, daughter of Thomas and Nancy Holcombe. She died on Feb. 24, 1843, age 24 and must be buried somewhere else. Solomon married second, on July 4, 1850, Beulah Labaw, who was counted with Solomon in the 1860 census for Delaware Twp. She was 37 that year, while Solomon was 47. In 1865, Solomon Holcombe Jr. of Lambertville paid $24.10 taxes on $482 of income and $2 on a carriage. Solomon Holcombe [Sr.] was taxed $85.36 on income of $1707.50 with $14.80 tax withheld; he also paid $25 for a retail liquor license; and $2 on a carriage.<\/p>\n Martha was a sister of Solomon Holcombe. She was counted in the 1850 census, living with her brother George N. Holcombe. She never married. She wrote her will in June 1873.<\/p>\n I am listing John and Sarah Dean, and their son William, not because they lived in Delaware Township, but because they may be related to James Dean of Delaware Township, who was born about 1815 and died after 1889. He married Elizabeth Barcroft of Kingwood and lived just south of Rosemont on the old Rittenhouse farm. I do not know who the parents of James Dean were. John and Sarah are the right age to qualify, and William the right age to be his brother. In 1865, James Dean was taxed $10.05 on $207 of income and $2 on a 2-horse carriage, but there was no assessment in Hunterdon for John or William Dean.<\/p>\n In 1850, John Dean, schoolteacher, born in Pennsylvania, age 58, was counted in the Hopewell census with wife Sarah 56, children Harvey 21, Phebe 15 and mother Rachel 81. She was Rachel Gill, and John\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s father was Joseph Dean. He was also in Hopewell for the 1840 census. Joseph and Rachel Dean had several sons, but I have not been able to identify their children or grandchildren, and thus cannot yet link James Dean with the Bucks County Deans. James Dean married Elizabeth Barcroft in 1844, but does not appear in the census for 1840 in Delaware Twp., or anywhere else that I can find. Eli Cooley discusses some members of the Dean family in his book Old Hunterdon, but does not connect them with Delaware\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s James Dean.<\/p>\n Since the cemetery is thought to have been established in 1873 or later, it seems odd that John Dean would be buried here if he died in 1859. Perhaps he was moved to this cemetery when his wife Sarah died in 1879.<\/p>\nThe Holcombe Family<\/h3>\n
JOHN C. HOLCOMBE, born June 9, 1793, died July 23, 1882<\/span><\/h4>\n
EDWIN HOLCOMBE, July 5, 1820 – Aug 3, 1881<\/span>
\n ELEANOR HOLCOMBE, Dec 16, 1823 – Mar 3,1898<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/a>SOLOMON HOLCOMBE, [b.1813] died Jan 4, 1879<\/span>
\n BEULAH HOLCOMBE, Jan 15, 1823 – Oct 24, 1880<\/span><\/h4>\nMARTHA HOLCOMBE 1803 – Apr 5, 1880<\/span><\/h4>\n
The Dean Family<\/h3>\n
JOHN DEAN, born Oct. 25, 1791, died Dec. 7, 1859<\/span>
\n SARAH (Dougherty) DEAN, born Dec. 4, 1792, died April 8, 1879<\/span>
\n WILLIAM DEAN, Sep. 30, 1813 – Jun 7, 1881<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/a>