Baptistown One of Hunterdon\u2019s Oldest Villages<\/h2>\nBut Time Has Dealt More Kindly With It Than With Others
\nNever Boasted of a Mill<\/h4>\n
\nNever Boasted of a Mill<\/h4>\n
By Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, N. J., This 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 \u201cOld School Baptist Church,\u201d\u00a0as now known; then the \u201cBaptist Church of Kingwood,\u201d\u00a0and 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\u00a0in 1847. This lot contained only about 1-10th<\/sup> of an acre, with the house facing the \u201cKing\u2019s Highway\u00a0through Baptistown,\u201d 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\u00a0and wife and Samuel Slater\u00a0and wife conveyed to the Trustees of the \u201cMissionary Particular Baptist Church of Kingwood\u201d a lot, \u201cBeginning at a stone in the great road in the village of Baptist Town,\u201d and running thence east one chain and 78 links to Francis Tomlinson\u2019s\u00a0land, 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,\u00a0Joseph West,\u00a0Mordecai Roberts,\u00a0William Lair,\u00a0Daniel Pearson,\u00a0Daniel Sebold\u00a0and 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, \u201cinn-keeper at Baptistown,\u201d 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,\u00a0Frederick Berdine,\u00a0Peter Skillman,\u00a0Daniel Snyder,\u00a0Larison Stryker,\u00a0Jonathan Britton,\u00a0John V. Thatcher,\u00a0Samuel Slater, John W. Metler,\u00a0Joseph Moore,\u00a0John Menaugh,\u00a0Anderson Horner,\u00a0William Eick,\u00a0Godfrey Hawk,\u00a0Peter Taylor,\u00a0Jacob C. Hawk,\u00a0Charles Echlin,\u00a0George M. Schomp,\u00a0Jacob P. D. Abbott,\u00a0Anson M. Baldwin,\u00a0Stewart Kitchen\u00a0and 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: \u201cIf your family needs the money for bread, don\u2019t spend it here.\u201d 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,\u00a0the \u201cKingwood Vigilant Society\u201d\u00a0was 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 \u201cBaptisttown Cavalry<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n July 23, 1859, the \u201cBaptisttown Cavalry\u201d\u00a0was organized here, with William Eick\u00a0as Captain. He was later the owner of the showy \u201cCaptain Eick\u201d farm, later owned by Dr. Harris,\u00a0one mile west of Croton. Moses K. Everitt\u00a0was Orderly Sergeant of the Company. He was State Senator from 1889 to 1891, and later Warden at Morris Plains\u00a0to the time of his death.<\/p>\n After the death of Anson W. Baldwin\u00a0in 1894, John C. Arnwine, his executor, conveyed the old tavern to John P. Batt,\u00a0who conveyed it to Adelbert Lee\u00a0in 1898. Lee conveyed it during the same year to Sarah A. Jones,\u00a0and she to Anthony Hurschel\u00a0in 1899. Hurschel conveyed it to Edward Kiley\u00a0in 1901, and Kiley soon after conveyed it to John C. Arnwine,\u00a0who used it as a dwelling until his death in 1930.<\/p>\n We find Wilson Bray,\u00a0son of Gen. Daniel Bray,\u00a0among the early merchants here. He was evidently not among the earliest, but these seem to have been lost in the mists of time. Bray was postmaster during the tenure of President Jackson\u00a0(1829 to 1837) and Sheriff in 1831-2. It appears that his was the corner stone, conveyed by Andrew Roberson\u00a0to Abel Webster\u00a0in 1858; by Webster to Opdyke Arnwine in 1866; and by Opdyke Arnwine\u00a0to his son, John C. Arnwine in 1873. Here John C. continued to do business during the remainder of his life. He was post-master here, but resigned to enter the Assembly of New Jersey in 1885, where he served for three years. In the early 90\u2019s [1890s] the old building burned down, and was immediately replaced by a much more commodious storehouse, now owned by William Arnwine,\u00a0the only child of John C. Arnwine,\u00a0who had beaten all the records by doing business there for 57 years.<\/p>\n Among several other keepers of this old stand are found the names of William Rittenhouse,\u00a0Anderson Horner,\u00a0once owner of the tavern, and George W. Mason,\u00a0later a merchant in Stockton. George Opdyke\u00a0began his career as clerk in a store here. He soon outgrew the store and the town, became a prosperous merchant in New York, amassed a snug fortune, served as Mayor of the city during the trying days of the Civil War, and died in that city, leaving behind him an enviable record of business integrity and civic duties fearlessly performed.<\/p>\n David Pittenger\u00a0was a merchant here in the median days. Just when he first opened the store is unknown. We find him mentioned as in possession of a store here in 1847. In 1854 Samuel Slater conveyed to David Pittenger for $1,050, a lot \u201cBeing in Baptisttown and Beginning at a stone corner in the great road between the two churches; thence south eighty-nine degrees west eleven chains and forty links to a corner of Andrew Roberson\u00a0in John Taylor\u2019s\u00a0line; thence . . . . to a stone in the great road opposite the new church, Excepting the ground lying in the grave yard.\u201d This locating of a \u201ccorner in the road between the two churches,\u201d strengthens the supposition that the really old church was located here, near the grave yard, instead of on the site of the last old School Church. March 12, 1851, Samuel H. Britton\u00a0conveyed to Pittenger a lot here which had been conveyed to Britton by Jacob Moore\u00a0in 1843. This, or more likely the one above mentioned, was evidently the later Pittenger store lot, which lay above the old grave yard. Here in an old shackly building, he kept his store for many years.<\/p>\n After him in the same house came Stacy\u00a0and Jonathan Sutton,\u00a0brothers, who did business there until the house burned down over 40 years ago. This same firm later kept a store in a new house built by Paul C. Larue\u00a0on the corner between the road to Frenchtown and the Old School Baptist Church\u00a0lot. This store building was soon made into a dwelling, and was occupied by the builder during the rest of his life, which ended in 1926. The Sutton Brothers\u00a0also kept a store down the road to Kingwood, where Frank L. Trout\u00a0is now located.<\/p>\n Wheelwright and Blacksmith<\/strong><\/p>\n James P. Gary, whose wife [Elizabeth] was a sister to the late Elias L. Dalrymple, bought of William Heath, April 2, 1858, a tract of land here \u201cBeginning at a corner in the road leading through Baptisttown; thence with the line of Godfrey Hawk\u2019s tavern lot and along the south end of the Tavern\u00a0house, containing 50 and \u00bd acres, . . . . Being the same tract that was conveyed to William Heath\u00a0by William Lair., Nov. 13, 1847.\u201d<\/p>\n Here James P. Gary\u00a0carried on wheelwrighting together with farming for about 50 years, his death occurring in 1912. His shop was a short distance below the tavern. A blacksmith shop, occupied by John Butler, stood nearby. Butler went into the Civil War, and Andrew Sutton, brother to the merchants, carried on the blacksmithing in Butler\u2019s place. Later smiths there were Nathan Dalrymple\u00a0and Augustus Green. Strange to say, there is now a newly-opened blacksmith shop farther down the King\u2019s Highway, below the old creamery building.<\/p>\n Paul C. Larue was a prosperous farmer elsewhere in Kingwood before coming to Baptistown. Memory says he was a son of Gordon Larue, who lived near the Franklin school, and brother to Elisha, the blacksmith, and Uriah, the surveyor. April 2, 1888, Mathias C. Apgar\u00a0conveyed to Paul C. Larue\u00a0the old John Taylor\u00a0farm containing 88.92 acres, including the corner on which Larue erected the storehouse soon after. The deed describes the eighth course as ending at a corner in the King\u2019s Highway opposite the Frenchtown road, and the ninth as running down the Highway one chain and ninety links \u201cto a corner of the Old School Baptist\u00a0Meeting House lot,\u201d and tells of touching lands of Dr. Leavitt\u00a0and the \u201cschool house lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Physician of Baptistown<\/strong><\/p>\n It does not appear that any physician settled here in the early days. Dr. Leavitt came here in 1855, and remained during the remainder of his life. Other doctors remembered as stationed here are Dr. M. K. Reading, Dr. Leidy\u00a0and Dr. Grim.<\/p>\n During the days of creamery excitement in this county, there was a creamery\u00a0established in an old dwelling on the south corner at the junction, of the one at \u201cOak Summit,\u201d near the Stone Church a mile northward.<\/p>\n Having no water power, Baptisttown had no old mill turned by some great, splashing wheel; and fortunately, the citizens were never lured into building the later kind, to absorb capital and be now standing as a painful reminder of past prosperity. Changing conditions seem to have dealt more kindly with good old Baptisttown than with most other villages. The surrounding country is still prosperous, and the village, in spite of many changes, appears more attractive than ever before.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I will not add anything more to Mr. Bush\u2019s history of the Baptist churches in this village, having provided links above to my articles about the sister church in Locktown.<\/p>\n Mr. Bush\u2019s next subject was the history of the Baptistown tavern or hotel, which I found very interesting.<\/p>\n The earliest record that Mr. Bush had of a tavernkeeper in Baptistown was in 1816, with Jonas Thatcher. It seems likely that this was Jonas Thatcher, Jr. (1791-1852), son of Jonas Thatcher, Sr. & Sarah Lake, who married Nancy Lake (1792-1835) in 1811. Nancy was the daughter of Cornelius Lake and Mary Sergeant of Sergeantsville. It surprised me a little to realize that this Jonas Thatcher, who inherited part of his father\u2019s estate in Amwell in 1808, would take up tavern keeping in Kingwood.<\/p>\n According to Hiram Deats, Thatcher was \u201can Everittstown mechanic and in 1816, Innkeeper at Baptisttown.\u201d I do not know where Mr. Deats got that information. Thatcher was both a farmer and a storekeeper in Delaware Township (before it separated from Amwell). He was also postmaster at Sergeantsville, the first one there, in 1827.<\/p>\n Jonas and Nancy Thatcher moved from Amwell\/Delaware Township to Alexandria Township by 1832, perhaps returning to a place Thatcher had previously lived in. Nancy died in February 1835, and Jonas married second Elizabeth Fox (1807-1851), in November 1835.\u00a0 (I have not identified her parents, but she was probably related to Isaac Fox (c.1792-1843) of Sand Brook who took up residence in Alexandria Twp. not long before 1830.<\/p>\n Licensing taverns was a practice that started in the 18th<\/sup> century. Once Hunterdon County took over record keeping from Trenton, its Common Pleas Court took over the job of licensing tavern and hotels. One reason for licensing them was concern about promoting drunken behavior. Counties wanted to limit the number of taverns to the appropriate number required for travelers, who always needed stops along the way. This continued up through 1830, as this item from the Hunterdon Gazette of April 7, 1830 shows:<\/p>\n \u201cINNS AND TAVERNS. As the term of our Court is near at hand, at which most of the Tavern Licenses in the county will be renewed, we deem it proper to call public attention to the subject. Much of the intemperance to be found in Hunterdon county, is attributable to the needless multiplication of Taverns in every part of the county, where they are not required for the accommodation of travelers, nor for the convenience of transacting public business.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Some years ago, I was exploring the interesting records hiding in the minutes of the Court of Common Pleas, to be found at the Search Room in the County Clerk\u2019s Office. That was the court that granted hotel and tavern licenses, so I spent some time jotting down the names of the earliest tavern keepers, starting with 1794.<\/p>\n Johnson\u2019s Tavern was the earliest known taverns in Kingwood Township, originating in a log house a few miles south of Baptistown and Barbertown, on Route 519.<\/p>\n According to Egbert T. Bush\u2019s article, \u201cKingwood Tavern, Substantial Relic of a Bygone Day,\u201d7<\/a><\/sup> Johnson bought the property in 1793 from Joseph Hart et ux . . . , it being originally part of a tract of land owned by Daniel Howell, bought from Christopher Cornelius, and then sold in 1754 to Francis Tomlinson. It had been owned by John Johnson\u2019s father-in-law, William Hart, who operated the tavern during the Revolution. Tradition says that Martha Washington stopped by, presumably sometime during the 1770s, for a breakfast and a break from her travels at this ancient establishment. It was probably the biggest competitor to the tavern in Baptistown. John Johnson got a tavern license in 1796 and every year thereafter up through 1811.<\/p>\n According to the license application, the other Kingwood Township tavern keepers from 1794 through 1811 were:\u00a0 Daniel Abbott, William Abbott, James Anderson, Philip C. Anderson, Wm Britton, Philip Case, Jesse Chamberlin, John Cowdrick, Archibald Davison, Neal Hart, Gabriel Hoff, Mary Hoff, Gershom Hull, Wm Large, David McPherson, Christopher Probasco, Evan Ryan, Peter Stryker, Aaron Thatcher.<\/p>\n That is as far as I got, because I decided to skip ahead to the year 1840. That year the tavernkeeper in Baptistown was John W. Mettler, while John Romine ran the Kingwood\/Johnson tavern. Edard Hunt was in Mount Pleasant, Asher Johnson was at Centre Bridge (Stockton), Larason Stryker at Pittstown, and Henry W. Johnson and Charles Voorhis were in Milford.<\/p>\n Of all the early tavern owners, the one who interested me the most was William Brittain. He was listed as getting a license for a tavern in Kingwood as early as 1810. I was able to verify that Britton\u2019s tavern was in Baptistown by a deed of 1814, in which Joseph and Hannah Parke of \u201cBaptist Town\u201d sold a house lot of 1.17 acres in the village bordered by \u201cWilliam Britton\u2019s Tavern House.\u201d<\/p>\n Can we go back any earlier? Yes we can. William Britton of Alexandria, recorded the deed in which he bought the tavern lot from William & Elizabeth Halliday of Kingwood Township on January 13, 1809, for \u00a3450. What he purchased was \u201call that certain Messuage, tenement, lott or parcel of land\u201d of 2.5 acres in Kingwood, bordering land formerly Aaron Vansyckle and land formerly Henry Snyder.8<\/a><\/sup> The recital in this deed stated that it was the same lot that Halliday bought from Jonathan and Jean Davis of Kingwood Township on March 4, 1802.<\/p>\n Thankfully, that deed was also recorded, and it is this deed that got me all the back to the first European landowner, William Biddle. I will now go back to 1711 and move forwards in time to the Hallidays.<\/p>\n William Biddle, one of the early proprietors of the Province of West New Jersey, had several very large tracts of land surveyed for him, based on the shares he bought in the Province. One of them was a tract of 1350 acres in the Lotting Purchase. This makes sense, since he, along with John Reading and John Wills, negotiated the purchase with the local Lenape in 1703.9<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n On Dec. 21, 1734, Biddle sold that property to James Whitehead; August 22, 1735, Whitehead sold it to Samuel Johnson; Dec. 30, 1751, Johnson sold it to Joseph Tilton. These four early owners were all absentees, who invested in land in this mostly uninhabited Province, and profited from its sale. Unfortunately, the deed recital did not state what they each paid for it.<\/p>\n On Feb. 26, 1753, Tilton sold some or all of the 1350 acres to Aaron Vanseyoar, or a name that looks vaguely like that. (The clerk\u2019s handwriting was not all that clear.) \u00a0In any case, on Sep. 10, 1762, Vanseyor divided out a lot of 2.5 acres, which he sold to John Taylor, Sr. Taylor, on March 15, 1779, sold that lot to Nathaniel Thatcher of Kingwood, and finally, on Dec. 27, 1786, Thatcher sold the same lot to Jonathan Davis for $220.<\/p>\n
\nPublished in the Hunterdon Co. Democrat, February 26, 1931,<\/em>
\nand republished March 12, 1931 with corrections<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Cornell-Baptisttown-copy-535x338.jpg\")
<\/a>Merchants of Baptisttown<\/h4>\n
My Comments<\/h2>\n
The Churches<\/h4>\n
The Tavern<\/h3>\n
Tavern Licenses<\/h4>\n
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<\/a>Chain of Title for Baptistown Tavern<\/h4>\n
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