Andrew and Sarah Bray\u2019s first child, Sylvanus Jackson Bray, was born on October 27, 1815, only four months after his parents\u2019 wedding. The choice of name shows that the Brays were duly impressed by the victory of Gen. Andrew Jackson over the British at New Orleans. It would be interesting to know whether Andrew Bray sympathized with the Federalists who had opposed the war but then got swept up in the euphoria of Jackson\u2019s victory. Sadly, Sylvanus Jackson Bray did not live beyond his 11th birthday; he died on February 16, 1827.<\/p>\n
Daniel Bray died in 1819 at the age of 67. He had written his will in 1813, in which he ordered lands to be sold and the profits divided among his children, including son Andrew. By this time, Andrew Bray was probably living on the extensive property owned by his father-in-law, Elisha Rittenhouse.2<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The Rittenhouse lands originally ran along the Wickecheoke from Locktown down to Old Mill Road. In 1801, Elisha Rittenhouse exchanged that property for a large farm owned by Thomas Opdycke, which was located on Upper Creek Road south of Old Mill Road. That farm was described by Egbert T. Bush in his article\u00a0The Anderson Bray Farm.<\/a><\/p>\n After Thomas Opdycke died in 1805, Elisha Rittenhouse was named one of the Commissioners to divide his real estate to satisfy his creditors. But Rittenhouse was one of those creditors, and he wanted his old family farm and mill back. (Mr. Bush also wrote about this property, calling it\u00a0Holcombe’s Mill<\/a>.) Since Rittenhouse could not bid on the property, being a commissioner, he arranged for\u00a0his son-in-law Andrew to bid when it was put up for public auction in March 1818; then on August 20, 1818, Andrew conveyed it back to his father-in-law. Sounds a little shady, but this was quite common at the time. In most cases, the two sales took place within a few days, but in this case there was a gap of five months, suggesting that Andrew Bray might have tried his hand at milling, and decided against it.\u00a0This second sale took place a month before the birth of Andrew and Sarah\u2019s twin sons, Daniel and Elisha R. Bray, born on September 5, 1818.<\/p>\n Once Elisha Rittenhouse had taken possession of his father’s old farm and mill, he probably began construction of the handsome stone house that stands on the north side of Old Mill Road. It was built in the federal style, and must have been admired by his fellow congregants of the Baptist church, for Elisha Rittenhouse was chosen to supervise construction of a new church at Locktown in 1819. Many of the architectural details of the church are similar to those in the house on Old Mill Road.<\/p>\n On February 28, 1821, Andrew and Sarah Bray had a daughter Matilda. She died at the age of 12 on May 30, 1833, probably from scarlet fever, a common killer of adolescents in the early 19th century.<\/p>\n In 1825, Andrew Bray was 35 years old, Sarah was 28, and John Quincy Adams had just been sworn in as president. It was then that Andrew and Sarah decided to have their portraits painted by Hunterdon County\u2019s only accomplished portrait painter, William Bonnell of Clinton. This idea may have come from Andrew’s mother Elizabeth Woolverton Bray, who also had her portrait painted by Bonnell.<\/p>\n I particularly like these portraits for the way they show how Hunterdon County people looked during this time in history, particularly those who were prosperous enough to hire a portrait painter. The fashions they wore did not change much between 1825 and 1838, when Delaware Township was created.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n The portraits could be found hanging on the walls of the Bray home for many decades, until 1969, when they were sold at public auction, following the death of Sarah Bray Pyatt. The purchasers were Mr. and Mrs. Terry Eld of Milford, NJ. According to a news story about the sale, Eld claimed to be a descendant of Gen. Daniel Bray\u2019s brother Andrew. But Gen. Bray did not have a brother named Andrew. Mr. Eld may have been thinking of the Andrew Bray who was\u00a0 born in England in 1713, died in Lebanon Township in 1789, and was a fervent patriot during the Revolution. Presumably the portraits are still owned by members of the Eld family. The portrait of Andrew Bray’s mother can be seen at the Hunterdon County Historical Society.<\/p>\n A year after the portraits were painted, Andrew and Sarah Bray had their fifth and last child, Anderson Bray, born on December 5, 1826.<\/p>\n On October 7, 1829, Andrew Bray sold a half-acre lot out of his plantation to his father-in-law. It is not at all clear why Elisha Rittenhouse wanted to acquire the lot, but a later deed of 1837 explains what Andrew Bray\u2019s interest in it was. That later deed, in which Elisha Rittenhouse sold the half-acre plus a lot of 34 acres to John T. Risler, his son-in-law, states that the \u201clog schoolhouse\u201d on the half-acre lot was to be excepted from the sale to Risler, \u201cwith the Exception of the said Andrew Bray shall hereafter insist that a school be occasionally kept in said log schoolhouse for the instruction of his own children and others of the neighborhood,\u201d and that Elisha Rittenhouse would be given notice \u201ca reasonable time before the said school is to be opened.\u201d\u00a0In 1829, when Andrew Bray sold this lot, his twins Daniel and Elisha were 11 years old, and Matilda was 8. Anderson was only 3, so he probably did not begin attending the school until about 1834.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/OldChurch2.png\" "\\"Locktown")
<\/a>The Portraits<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/BrayAndrew-752x1024.jpg\" "\\"Andrew")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/BraySarR-781x1024.jpg\" "\\"Sarah"){kind=spacer}
<\/a>A School for the Rittenhouse Neighborhood<\/h3>\n