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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 6114Recently there has been much discussion on the Facebook page \u201a\u00c4\u00faHistorical Kingwood Township\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 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.<\/p>\n
Note the spelling of the town\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s name: In the headline it\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s Baptistown, the way it is spelled today. But throughout Mr. Bush\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s article, the spelling is in the old style: Baptisttown. In fact, the earliest spelling was always \u201a\u00c4\u00faBaptist Town.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 You can see how the name got shortened for convenience.<\/p>\n
Mr. Bush names a lot of people in connection with the early history of the town\u201a\u00c4\u00eemore people than I can provide information about. I have picked just a few to highlight, but here is still so much to add, I have put my comments at the end of this article.<\/p>\n
\nBaptistown One of Hunterdon\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s Oldest Villages<\/h2>\n
But Time Has Dealt More Kindly With It Than With Others
\nNever Boasted of a Mill<\/h4>\nBy Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, N. J.,
\nPublished in the Hunterdon Co. Democrat, February 26, 1931,<\/em>
\nand republished March 12, 1931 with corrections<\/em><\/p>\nThis is one of the oldest villages in the County, but when the first people came here cannot be positively stated. It is known that several families were here by or soon after 1720. The earliest reliable history seems to cluster around the \u201a\u00c4\u00faOld School Baptist Church,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9\u00ac\u2020as now known; then the \u201a\u00c4\u00faBaptist Church of Kingwood,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9\u00ac\u2020and thus officially known after the schismatical sundering of its membership into two factions. Among the early Baptists gathered around the old church are found the Rittenhouses, the Robersons, the Taylors, the Rislers and many more.<\/p>\n
It is said that a small church was built here in 1741 by people of this particular faith, previous to which services had been held in the affiliated homes for twenty years.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n
In 1745 the church organization was regularly formed, and in 1750 a new house was built near the old one, which had become insufficient for the accommodation of the many Baptist families of the community. This new church was built, we are told, on an acre of ground given by George Burkett. But just where either stood is now largely a matter of conjecture. People who trust to memory insist that it was on or near the site of the most recent church of that denomination here. The writer finds reason to suspect that the first site was nearly opposite the present Baptist Church in the village, but his surmises are scouted by those probably better informed.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n
The house which we old people remember so well, stood on a lot below the road to Frenchtown [present-day Route 12], on land conveyed by John Taylor\u00ac\u2020in 1847. This lot contained only about 1-10th<\/sup> of an acre, with the house facing the \u201a\u00c4\u00faKing\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s Highway\u00ac\u2020through Baptistown,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 about 100 feet below the comer. Here services were held for many years from as long ago as almost anybody can remember. Hence possibly the impression that it was the original site. The house is still used as a dwelling.<\/p>\n
The old church had met a serious loss in membership in 1819, when the church was built at Locktown, taking off many of its leading members. But perhaps its serious losses arose from a manifest division of sentiment or opinion.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n
A New House of Worship<\/strong><\/p>\n
June 13, 1830, John Metler\u00ac\u2020and wife and Samuel Slater\u00ac\u2020and wife conveyed to the Trustees of the \u201a\u00c4\u00faMissionary Particular Baptist Church of Kingwood\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 a lot, \u201a\u00c4\u00faBeginning at a stone in the great road in the village of Baptist Town,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 and running thence east one chain and 78 links to Francis Tomlinson\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s\u00ac\u2020land, thence south one chain and 60 links, thence west one chain and 68 links, thence north one chain and 60 links to the place of beginning. This board of trustees was composed of the following well-known men of the day: James Pyatt,\u00ac\u2020Joseph West,\u00ac\u2020Mordecai Roberts,\u00ac\u2020William Lair,\u00ac\u2020Daniel Pearson,\u00ac\u2020Daniel Sebold\u00ac\u2020and Edward Mason.<\/p>\n
While the new house was under construction, services were held at the home of Moses Burd. The house was completed and dedicated in the autumn of the same year. The first pastor was Elder James Wigg; Joseph West and Mordecai Roberts were the first deacons. This still flourishing church has seen the older institution die out of the village, though doubtless much of its stern spirit still prevails.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n
Only One Tavern<\/strong><\/p>\n
There are records of only one tavern in this village, and these records are neither full nor satisfactory. We find that the town meeting of Kingwood Township was held at the house of Jonas Thatcher, \u201a\u00c4\u00fainn-keeper at Baptistown,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 April 12, 1816, but do not find reference to the tavern earlier, nor do we find that Jonas was the owner of the property.5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n
The solid old stone house is still standing and is promising to stand for another century. Among the subsequent keepers of the tavern, some as owners and others as renters, are found the following: Amos Sine,\u00ac\u2020Frederick Berdine,\u00ac\u2020Peter Skillman,\u00ac\u2020Daniel Snyder,\u00ac\u2020Larison Stryker,\u00ac\u2020Jonathan Britton,\u00ac\u2020John V. Thatcher,\u00ac\u2020Samuel Slater, John W. Metler,\u00ac\u2020Joseph Moore,\u00ac\u2020John Menaugh,\u00ac\u2020Anderson Horner,\u00ac\u2020William Eick,\u00ac\u2020Godfrey Hawk,\u00ac\u2020Peter Taylor,\u00ac\u2020Jacob C. Hawk,\u00ac\u2020Charles Echlin,\u00ac\u2020George M. Schomp,\u00ac\u2020Jacob P. D. Abbott,\u00ac\u2020Anson M. Baldwin,\u00ac\u2020Stewart Kitchen\u00ac\u2020and William Holjes.<\/p>\n
No Booze for the Poor<\/strong><\/p>\n
Kitchen was among the later keepers. It is said of him that he conspicuously displayed the following notice: \u201a\u00c4\u00faIf your family needs the money for bread, don\u201a\u00c4\u00f4t spend it here.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 Strangely altruistic, did you say? Possibly so; but, in his wish not to take money from the needy, Kitchen was not alone among keepers of the old days. Old people remember other keepers who equally scrupulous, though not manifesting the quality in this spectacular and memorable manner.<\/p>\n
The ownership of the old tavern may be imperfectly traced back from Anson W. Baldwin, whose brother John W. conveyed it to him in 1869. Thatcher Trimmer, Jr. conveyed it to John W. Baldwin in 1868, it having been conveyed to Trimmer by Jacob C. Hawk in 1865. In 1856 Anderson Horner conveyed it to Godfrey Hawk, whose administrator, Francis Tomlinson, conveyed it to Horner in 1847. Prior to that, the ownership seems to be tangled by breaks in the records.6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n
We find, however, that during the occupancy (and evident ownership) of Samuel Slater,\u00ac\u2020the \u201a\u00c4\u00faKingwood Vigilant Society\u201a\u00c4\u00f9\u00ac\u2020was organized at his house January 17, 1835. This society functioned as a protection against horse-thieves, for 36 years, with an average membership of about 50. The members, then feeling that it had outlived its usefulness, divided the funds among themselves and disbanded, as they had a perfect right to do, though several similar organizations in the county are still holding together, not so much for protection against thieves, as for keeping up the old-time fellowship and the old spirit of unselfish service to the community.<\/p>\n
\u201a\u00c4\u00faBaptisttown Cavalry<\/strong>\u201a\u00c4\u00f9<\/p>\n
July 23, 1859, the \u201a\u00c4\u00faBaptisttown Cavalry\u201a\u00c4\u00f9\u00ac\u2020was organized here, with William Eick\u00ac\u2020as Captain. He was later the owner of the showy \u201a\u00c4\u00faCaptain Eick\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 farm, later owned by Dr. Harris,\u00ac\u2020one mile west of Croton. Moses K. Everitt\u00ac\u2020was Orderly Sergeant of the Company. He was State Senator from 1889 to 1891, and later Warden at Morris Plains\u00ac\u2020to the time of his death.<\/p>\n
After the death of Anson W. Baldwin\u00ac\u2020in 1894, John C. Arnwine, his executor, conveyed the old tavern to John P. Batt,\u00ac\u2020who conveyed it to Adelbert Lee\u00ac\u2020in 1898. Lee conveyed it during the same year to Sarah A. Jones,\u00ac\u2020and she to Anthony Hurschel\u00ac\u2020in 1899. Hurschel conveyed it to Edward Kiley\u00ac\u2020in 1901, and Kiley soon after conveyed it to John C. Arnwine,\u00ac\u2020who used it as a dwelling until his death in 1930.<\/p>\n