\n<\/strong>Name \u201a\u00c4\u00faGrover\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 Never Stuck<\/strong><\/h3>\n
by Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, N.J<\/em> While the mother countries and their colonies were scouring rifles and picking flints in preparation for that spectacular game in the Noble Sport of kings, known to us as the French and Indian War, humble workers whose names are all forgotten were quietly engaged in shaping stones, pouring mortar and cutting \u201a\u00c4\u00faB. 1754\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 into the date stone for a gristmill six miles west of Flemington.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Note, 1\/18\/2022: While reviewing this article, I decided it would be better to move my comments into the text rather than keep them as footnotes, partly because I had a few disagreements with Mr. Bush. However, I cannot beat him for colorful language.<\/p>\n Four years later the mansion house bearing a date stone \u201a\u00c4\u00faB. 1758\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 was erected. Some say the builder\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s name was Opdyke but that lacks confirmation. The stone does not bear out that statement. But by whosoever built, it was a good job then, and still gives promise of standing for another hundred years.<\/p>\n The remodeled mill is idle now, but is still proudly holding up the \u201a\u00c4\u00faB. 1754\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 stone and one under it saying, \u201a\u00c4\u00faRebuilt 1876\u00ac\u2020 J.A.C.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9\u00ac\u2020 At the time of the remodeling, John A. Carrell built the adjoining sawmill which still appears to be waiting for any business that may come along. At that time, Carrell put in steam and prepared to operate both mills by either steam or water as conditions might demand.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The mill has an earlier datestone that Mr. Bush apparently missed. The date reads 1735. Opdycke is most likely the one who expanded the mill in 1754, but the original builder may have been his brother-in-law Benjamin Severns. Both men mortgaged land in this vicinity in 1737.<\/p>\n Long Called Headquarters<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Both of these old buildings have naturally become of much historic interest, especially the mansion house because of the persisting claim that Washington made it his headquarters for a few days during the Revolution. Snell\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s History records this as a fact; and the long standing of the name Head-quarters, dating so far back that people must have known the propriety of the name when given, furnishes strong evidence that the claim is well founded. 1<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Much as the old residents of Headquarters would like to believe it, Washington probably did not stay at the Mansion House because in 1776 and ’77 it was occupied by Benjamin Tyson, a Tory sympathizer. Opdycke\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s house and farm was across the road to the south, and the White Hall tavern was across the road to the southwest. This large inn, no longer standing, is reputed to have been the recruiting center (or \u201a\u00c4\u00f2headquarters\u201a\u00c4\u00f4) for the Amwell militia.<\/p>\n So far, all efforts to find who were the first millers and who the first merchants here have been in vain. The Opdykes were here very early, and after them the Covenhovens. But there were very evidently others between.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n John Opdycke probably owned the property from about 1735 until sometime before 1765 when it was advertised as the property of Joseph Howell. Howell was the son of Daniel Howell, who ran the ferry and tavern at Howell\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s Ferry (Stockton). The mill property was sold at a sheriff\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s sale in 1765 to Benjamin Tyson. After Tyson, it was owned by George Holcombe, who also had to sell to cover his debts.<\/p>\n We find that in 1822 Samuel Holcombe conveyed two tracts of land to John Covenhoven and Elias H. Covenhoven, the large tract \u201a\u00c4\u00faBeginning at a corner in the road from the new meeting house to Howell\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s Ferry;\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 that is, from the German Baptist Church to Stockton. This tract had been conveyed to Holcombe by John Dennis in 1803, and the small tract had been conveyed to him by John Severns in 1795.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The German Baptist Church, one of the earliest in present-day Hunterdon, is located at the intersection of Sand Brook Headquarters Road and Lambert Road.\u00ac\u2020The mill lot of 119 acres bordered the Alexauken Creek and was not located in Headquarters.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n It was George Holcombe who bought the mill property from Thomas Opdycke in 1793, and sold it (in a sheriff\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s sale, Charles Stewart Smith acting as assignee) to the Covenhoven brothers in 1828\u00ac\u2020as a tract of 189.88 acres, for which he was paid $7500.3<\/a><\/sup> The property was described as abutting \u201a\u00c4\u00fathe road near the stone house called the WHITE HALL late George Holcombs\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 as Mr. Bush describes next:<\/p>\n We also find that Gabriel Hoff, Sheriff, conveyed six lots to John Covenhoven and Elias H. Covenhoven in 1825, all in this vicinity. We find further that Charles Smith, 1828, conveyed to John Conover and Elias H. Conover, 181 acres of land, the first of its twenty-seven courses \u201a\u00c4\u00faBeginning at a stone in the junction of the road near the stone house called White Hall,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 one of its twenty-seven corners being \u201a\u00c4\u00fanear the distillery.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9<\/p>\n A later deed covering a part of the last mentioned says: \u201a\u00c4\u00faBeginning at a stone in the junction of the road near the store house called \u201a\u00c4\u00faWhite Hall.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 That seemed at first to answer a perplexing question. But the word \u201a\u00c4\u00fastore\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 may easily be an error, and perhaps should be \u201a\u00c4\u00fastone,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 as in the early description. This old White Hall, a large stone building, stood on the west corner lot in front of the present store property, on land now owned by Mattie H. Eppele. It stood, until torn away a few years ago, a striking relic of by-gone days, seemingly reluctant to leave the hamlet of which it had seen so much. Many questions were asked concerning what it had been\u201a\u00c4\u00eea dwelling house, of course, but hadn\u201a\u00c4\u00f4t it been used for something besides? One deed appeared to give an answer, but now we shall have to keep on guessing, as is often the way when we are overwhelmed with surplus information.4<\/a><\/sup> as highest bidder for $7,800, a tract of 189.88 acres in the Township of Delaware bordering [27 courses] the junction of the road near the Stone House called the White Hall, Isaac Poulson, Daniel Brewer, the great road, land late Peter Rockafellow, Richard Shepherd, the Mill Lot, a point near the distillery; excepting thereout 28 acres cold to John Green, 20 acres sold to Wm McManners and 7 acres sold to Asa Parks.]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Here is a detail from the Beers Atlas showing the layout of buildings in the village of Headquarters in 1873:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mansion House a Store<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The part of the mansion house facing the road was long used as a store, but whether from the beginning is not known. The Covenhovens so used it until 1860, when this property and several others with it was sold by Robert Thatcher, Sheriff, to John A. Carrell. Since that time, it has not been used for that purpose. Carrell built a stone storehouse north of the mansion in 1888, in which business was carried on for several years. The building is now used as a shed or storage house.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Mr. Bush neglects to point out that John Conover (Covenhoven) died in 1854 and his brother attempted to run the store business on his own but was overwhelmed by debts incurred by his brother. The creditors took him took court, Sheriff Thatcher seized the property in 1861, and disposed of it at apublic sale. Elias Conover retired to Lambertville where he died in 1871.<\/p>\n After the death of John A. Carrell, his son Joseph bought the property and carried on business as miller, sawyer and farmer. He still owns considerable land, the mills and the historic old house, of which he and his wife now grown old and feeble, have long been the sole occupants.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n John A. Carrell died on October 31, 1895, at the age of 85. His son Joseph had taken over the mill and store long before that. In his will, dated August 13, 1889, John A. Carrell ordered his executors to sell all his real estate for the benefit of his heirs. He named son David Carrell and John A. Bullock his executors, and the will was recorded on Nov. 30, 1895, after which the executors did as instructed. The only deed by them to Joseph Carrell was made on March 4, 1897, when the mill lot of 31.24 acres was conveyed, bordering the road from Head Quarters to Sergeantsville and the road from Headquarters to Ringoes.5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n Mr. Bush neglected to mention that Joseph Carrell (1844-1930), the sixth of John A. and Amy Myers Carrell\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s eleven children, married on Dec. 25, 1872, Mary Eliza Ruple (1854-1935) of Kingwood Township. She was the daughter of Adam Ruple and Anna Katherine Geist. They had a daughter Sarah (1874-1910) who married Rutan Heath of Headquarters.<\/p>\n John A. Carrell was a successful farmer, owning much property and understanding how to make the business pay. In his later years he was noted for raising champion hogs. Those far-famed animals were the crowning glory of his agricultural achievements. His sons John and Joseph kept up the Carrell reputation for fine hogs long after the father\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s death.<\/p>\n Three Big Steers<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n This son John owned and occupied a farm cornering down into Headquarters on the west side of the road, and was widely known for raising fine steers. Three of these are well remembered and much talked of to this day. And they were certainly worth remembering. It was a pleasure to see the big fellows grazing so contentedly about the premises, growing bigger and fatter all the time. To many flattering offers John turned a deaf ear. The steers were enjoying themselves; so was John, and he could not let them go. One died and he sold one at last. Then one remained, the last of the trio\u00ac\u2020 and very close to the heart of his owner. Fabulous offers were said to have been made for him. But however plenty big offers might be, big steers were scarce. Anyhow, that fellow was too fine to be chopped up by unsympathetic butchers, and to have his bones ignominiously thrown to the dogs. At last an offer came that appealed to John\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s sense of propriety. He sold the big fellow at eight years of age, together with his little mother when she was sixteen, to William Griffith of Three Bridges, who exhibited them widely at various fairs as \u201a\u00c4\u00faUno and his mother.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9<\/p>\n The lonely bachelor John Carrell is gone. There are no big steers to be seen there now. The farm was sold to Jacob K. Wilson, then keeper of the tavern at Sergeantsville. The barn burned down and the crumbling stone house on the opposite side of the road from the mansion has been torn away.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As Mr. Bush wrote, John Carrell was a lonely bachelor. He died unmarried in 1910 at the age of 70. That \u201a\u00c4\u00facrumbling stone house\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 he referred to was the White Hall tavern.<\/p>\n Covenhovens Become Conovers<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The good old Dutch name Covenhoven has been gradually changed into Conover. The Covenhovens are said to have owned practically all of Headquarters, including lands abutting on both sides of the road northward to the road leading from \u201a\u00c4\u00fathe new meeting house to Sergeantsville,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 and the records bear out the claim.\u00ac\u2020About the only exception to their holdings is the now famous poultry farm of Mrs. Frank J. Eppele, which was sold by Charles Poulson, executor of Daniel Poulson, to George O. Poulson, March 19, 1899, and by George O. Poulson to his daughter Mattie H. Eppele, Dec. 23, 1908.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The \u201a\u00c4\u00f4new meeting house\u201a\u00c4\u00f4 was the German Baptist Church located on Sergeantsville-Headquarters Road, just north of Headquarters.<\/p>\n The farm was purchased by Daniel Poulson\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s father, Rev. Israel Poulson from Ann Farley, widow of Caleb Farley, in 1814, which Farley probably bought from Thomas Opdycke about 1789, although no deed was recorded.<\/p>\n The Covenhovens appear to have been very active business men. They were millers, merchants, farmers and distillers; enough, one would think, to keep them busy. Yet for a time it was a matter for wonder that we found neither record nor tradition showing that a tavern was ever located here. 6<\/a><\/sup>\u00ac\u2020But, after closer inspection, one does not feel like being too hard on that apparent lack of business acumen on the part of these old-timers. The Covenhovens did at least in part atone for the lack of a tavern by carrying on an active distillery about three hundred yards east of the mansion house, to which fact the walls of the building still bear mute testimony. It may be that the output of this popular factory for making \u201a\u00c4\u00faJersey Lightning,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 duly taken with its other activities, kept both the spirit and the spirits of the hamlet up to the required standard of the times.<\/p>\n Neither Covenhovens nor Conovers are to be found in or about Headquarters now. Two of the Covenhoven descendants who were boys in that hamlet, William Conover and Charles Conover, brothers, were for a long time clerks in the store of Carver and Williams, merchants, who were located in the Oddfellows\u201a\u00c4\u00f4 building at Lambertville. Later on they took over the store and carried on business under the firm name of Conover and Conover. Both are now deceased.<\/p>\n Some of the Storekeepers<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The present store property was sold by the Covenhovens to Joseph Housel to whom it was only a residence. Joseph Carrell bought it of the Housel estate in 1872, and rented it to Theodore Denson, who used part of the house as a shoemaker shop. Carrell later enlarged the part used as a shop and changed it into a storehouse. The store has since been kept by Rutan Heath, James Buchanan, William H. Brewer, A. J. Dalrymple and for the past seventeen years by Bert B. German, who purchased the property of Carrell in 1929. 7<\/a><\/sup> During the first administration of Grover Cleveland, a post office was established here, with Theodore Denson as first postmaster. The name was changed to \u201a\u00c4\u00faGrover,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 for what reason is not apparent, but the post office remained Grover until 1905, when it was discontinued because of the establishment of R.F.D. No.1 from Stockton, with Erastus C. Rockafellow as the first rural carrier. 8<\/a><\/sup>\u00ac\u2020The name of the post office was never taken seriously as the name of the hamlet.\u00ac\u2020 The long-established name and sentimental reasons combined to keep it Headquarters, no matter what the Department at Washington said about it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As for Theodore Denson, I am sorry to say that in this case, Mr. Bush was mistaken. The postmaster for Headquarters was Joseph Denson, not Theodore. On Dec. 28, 1887, the Hunterdon Republican announced: \u201a\u00c4\u00faA new post office has been established at Headquarters, in Delaware Tp. and Joseph Denson was appointed Postmaster. The new office is called Grover.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 Grover Cleveland had first been elected president in 1884, so he was still in his first term when the post office was named. (He served for two terms, from 1885 to 1897.)<\/p>\n Joseph Denson (1812-1892) came to Delaware Township from Pennsylvania. He married Jerusha Ann Brewer in 1840, and had a son named Theodore H. Denson, born 1842, who may be the person Bush was referring to. However, he died a young man, in 1868, only 26 years old.<\/p>\n
\nHunterdon County Democrat, November 7, 1929<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Beers-Serg-Hdqrtrs-copy-535x258.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/OpdyckeHouse-1024x515.jpg\" "\\"OpdyckeHouse\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/GermansStore1-1024x731.jpg\" "\\"GermansStore\\"")
<\/a> Mr. & Mrs. Bert German’s Store, from Paul Kurzenberger’s collection[\/caption]<\/p>\n