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action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/goodspeedhist/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114This is a sequel to the article by Egbert T. Bush titled \u201a\u00c4\u00faCrosskeys Tavern<\/a>,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 about the history of the village of Rosemont, which was published in its entirety last week. Here I will break it down to provide more information.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bush began with a history of the tavern lot.<\/p>\n The farm on the corner on which the old \u201a\u00c4\u00faCrosskeys Tavern\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 still stands . . . appears to have been held in the Rittenhouse family for almost a century, beginning with William in 1719. According to tradition, this stone house was built by him, but the date stone says \u201a\u00c4\u00faF R 1754.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The tavern\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s history, as Mr. Bush wrote, begins with the first of the Rittenhouse family to settle in Hunterdon County. William Rittenhouse, born 1696, came to the county from New Germantown, Pennsylvania, where he was raised by his parents Garret or Gerard Rettinghousen and Mary Shoemaker or Margeret Revacomb.<\/p>\n Why did Rittenhouse leave New Germantown to go live in the wilderness of southwest Amwell Township, NJ? It must have had something to do with the woman he married. Her name was Catharine Howell (c.1700-1778), and she was the daughter of Daniel Howell and Hannah Lakin of Pennsylvania. Her brother, Daniel Howell ii, married Mary Reading, daughter of John and Elizabeth Reading and set up the first ferry over the Delaware River at Stockton. For many years thereafter, Stockton and Prallsville were known as Howell\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s Ferry.<\/p>\n William and Catharine Howell Rittenhouse married about 1719 and had thirteen children, which is pretty remarkable when one considers there was nothing in the way of healthcare available at the time. The family had very few neighbors, so Catharine had to rely on the help of her few nearby female relatives. She must have been a very healthy woman, because she was the progenitor of one of the largest of the early Hunterdon families, as can be seen in the Rittenhouse Family Tree<\/a>.<\/p>\n Probably about the time of his marriage, William Rittenhouse acquired a large tract of land on the eastern half of the Rosemont intersection, bordering the much larger tract of land owned by John Reading, which was known as Mount Amwell. The properties can be seen on a map drawn by D. Stanton Hammond of the proprietary tracts in Hunterdon County.<\/p>\n Because of the family connection with John Reading, it seems likely that Reading conveyed part of his property to William Rittenhouse, although no deed was recorded. One reason for thinking this is that the Rittenhouse property was bordered on the east, the west and the south by land of John Reading. As shown on the detail of Hammond Map F, the southern border of the Rittenhouse tract appears to run along Shoppons Run (the creek that branches off from the Wickecheoke).1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n <\/a>There is evidence that the Rittenhouses were living near Route 519 as early as 1729, for the survey made for that road, which was recorded November 21, 1729, listed William Rittenhouse as one of the bordering property owners.2<\/a><\/sup> He built a house for himself on land south of the village and east of Route 519, and carved his and Catherine\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s initials into the chimney\u201a\u00c4\u00ee\u201a\u00c4\u00faW C R.\u201a\u00c4\u00f93<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n Five years later, on November 6, 1734, Rittenhouse acquired the warrant for a survey of 1,000 acres in the Lotting Purchase, the boundary of which can be seen in the Hammond map. William Rittenhouse\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s Rosemont farm was south of the Lotting Purchase line, which is another reason for thinking that he acquired that land from John Reading. His survey for land north of the Purchase line was not recorded until 1749 and involved a large tract of land near Locktown.<\/p>\n None of this accounts for the tavern lot which is located north of the Lotting Purchase line and north of Route 604. Hammond\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s map seems to show that the tavern lot was part of the original Wolverton tract. The map also indicates that some of that property was acquired by John Bainbridge, who recorded a mortgage in 1786 for 79 acres.4<\/a><\/sup> But that is too late for the tavern lot which was occupied by Isaac Rittenhouse as early as 1754. My only guess is that either William Rittenhouse bought some property from Charles Wolverton and did not record the deed or that Hammond got the Lotting Purchase line wrong (which I doubt).<\/p>\n On August 27, 1761, when he was 65 years old, William Rittenhouse of Amwell wrote his will. By that time, all his surviving children were married and with families of their own. Rittenhouse had a large amount of real estate to dispose of, but apparently had already given much of it to his sons. He bequeathed the farms where they lived to his sons William, Peter, and Moses, plus his own homestead farm to son Lot. To his son Isaac, he only left 5 shillings. It is generally assumed that such a small bequest indicates that provision had already made for the recipient of this nominal sum. This makes sense, as son Isaac had already built himself the tavern house in 1754.<\/p>\n William Rittenhouse, Sr. died on March 8, 1767, and his will was recorded on April 13, 1767. Sons Peter and William were the executors. His widow Catharine survived until 1778, dying at the age of 78. The couple is buried in the Rittenhouse cemetery on a bluff above Prallsville, at one time the property of Catharine\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s parents. (See Rittenhouse Cemetery, part two<\/a> for images of their gravestones.)<\/p>\n Isaac Rittenhouse was the seventh child and the sixth son of William and Catherine Rittenhouse. He was born on July 13, 1726.5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n It is thought that Isaac Rittenhouse had a first wife whose name is unknown. I do not know what evidence there is of that. Sometime not long before 1758, Isaac Rittenhouse married Susannah Baker, born in 1732 to Samuel Baker and an unknown wife.6<\/a><\/sup> The Bakers lived in Hopewell Township before moving to Kingwood Township, where Susannah probably came of age.<\/p>\n Susannah\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s sisters (she had no brothers) married into other well-known families in the area. Sister Margery married Morris Wolverton about 1754, Elizabeth married Levi Ketchum, Abigail married someone from the Barnes family, Rachel married Thomas Stevenson in 1761, and Zeruviah\/Sophie married George Opdycke, Sr. about 1767.<\/p>\n Samuel Baker, who was born September 15, 1704, died on July 15, 1802, obviously a very old man, and was buried in the Rosemont Cemetery. His unknown wife must have died sometime after 1740, but her gravestone has not been found. Following in her mother-in-law\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s path, Susannah Rittenhouse gave birth to ten children, from 1758 to 1778.<\/p>\nWilliam Rittenhouse, Sr. & Catherine Howell<\/h3>\n
Isaac Rittenhouse & Susannah Baker<\/h3>\n
Construction of the Tavern<\/h4>\n