I am not ready to write at length about Gen. Daniel Bray. But in order to write about his son Andrew, something must be said of the father.<\/p>\n

Gen. Daniel Bray<\/h3>\n

Daniel Bray is one of the most famous residents of Hunterdon County, thanks to his participation in the marvelous escape of 1776, when Washington succeeded in getting what remained of his army across the Delaware River, and preventing the British army, hot on his heels, from following him into Pennsylvania. Daniel Bray was in charge of collecting the boats that were used to transport Washington\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s army, and then of hiding them from the British.<\/p>\n

After the war, Daniel Bray, like Cincinnatus, went back to being a Hunterdon County farmer, on his homestead farm in Kingwood Township. He and his wife Mary Wolverton already had four children by the end of the war. Afterwards they had ten more, Andrew Bray being the 7th out of 14 children. Only ten of the Bray children reached adulthood.<\/p>\n

The Early Life of Andrew Bray<\/h3>\n

I have no evidence for this, but it is safe to assume that Andrew spent his youth working on his father\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s farm, and attending the Baptist church, whose services alternated between Baptistown and Locktown. It was probably at church that Andrew met his future wife, Sarah, the daughter of Elisha Rittenhouse and Isabel Miller. Sarah was the fourth child of ten born to Elisha and Isabel Rittenhouse. She was born on May 14, 1796, when her parents were living on the mill property on Old Mill Road. Andrew and Sarah were married in the Baptist church on June 15, 1815, when Andrew was 25 and Sarah was 19.<\/p>\n

The fact that Andrew and Sarah married after the end of the War of 1812 made me wonder whether Andrew Bray was a participant in that war, carrying on his father\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s military legacy. But he is not listed in Stryker\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s\u00ac\u2020Records of Officers and\u00ac\u2020Men of New Jersey in the Wars, 1791-1815<\/em>, and there is no record that he applied for a pension. In fact, as far as I can tell, none of his brothers participated either. Perhaps the family was less than supportive of this controversial war.^{1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n}

Andrew and Sarah Bray\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s first child, Sylvanus Jackson Bray, was born on October 27, 1815, only four months after his parents\u201a\u00c4\u00f4 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\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s 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>\u00ac\u2020The 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\u00ac\u2020The 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\u00ac\u2020Holcombe’s Mill<\/a>.) Since Rittenhouse could not bid on the property, being a commissioner, he arranged for\u00ac\u2020his 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.\u00ac\u2020This second sale took place a month before the birth of Andrew and Sarah\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s 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

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