{"id":545,"date":"2010-08-22T12:04:14","date_gmt":"2010-08-22T16:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/?p=545"},"modified":"2024-11-19T13:07:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T18:07:29","slug":"j-m-hoppock-the-old-opdyke-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/j-m-hoppock-the-old-opdyke-house\/","title":{"rendered":"J. M. Hoppock: The Old Opdyke House"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Jonathan M. Hoppock<\/em>
\npublished July 27, 1905 in the Democrat-Advertiser<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The John Opdycke House in 1905<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

On the farm at present belonging to the heirs of Samuel Higgins, deceased, near Head Quarters (Grover), stands this solidly built old stone mansion which was erected about the year 1744 by John Opdyke. Well-authenticated tradition bearing upon its history strengthens the belief that it was built prior to that year. It is one of the many old stone dwellings common to this section a hundred and fifty or more years ago.\u00a0 It shows but little effect of the ravages of time, for scarcely is there a mark of Time\u2019s decaying finger upon it. Barring accidents it will doubtless be in a good habitable condition another hundred years. 1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

In referring to the \u201cHistory of the Opdyke Family,\u201d written by Charles Wilson Opdyke, son of George Opdyke, who was Mayor of New York during the great riot in that city in 1863, it is shown that John Opdyke, the builder, came from the staunch old Holland stock, his great grandfather being born in that country in 1620, came to America in 1653 and settled at Albany, N.Y.\u00a0 His grandfather, Johannes Opdyke, was a planter at Dutch Kills, Long Island, and at Maiden Head and Hopewell, New Jersey. He died at the latter place in 1729. His father, Albert Opdyke, was also a planter at Hopewell at the time of his death in 1752. John was born at the last named place in 1710; married Margaret Green, and shortly afterward settled in old Amwell, now Delaware township; was a farmer, miller, merchant and justice of the peace. The county records mention him as a voter in 1738, freeholder in 1750, justice in 1755, and 1757 to 1768. It is said that two stately parchments, under royal seals, \u201cTo our trusty and beloved John Opdyke,\u201d and his oaths of allegiance to George the Third, in 1755, and of his non-belief in Papacy in taking office, are still to be found among the archives in the County Clerk\u2019s office at Flemington. 2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Besides building the house shown in the above cut, he erected the original mills at Head Quarters (now Grover); built the large and handsome stone mansion now owned (and recently remodeled) by Joseph Carrell; historic old \u201cWhite Hall,\u201d and many other buildings still standing at the same place. He is also reputed to have been immensely wealthy, and tradition is that he measured his dollars by the half-bushel, but taking that statement with a grain of allowance, he certainly was a man of much means\u2014as wealth at that day was estimated. 3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

For his three sons he erected the stone houses and mills known as \u201cRunk\u2019s\u201d at Idell, (formerly Milltown); \u201cSergeant\u2019s,\u201d near Sergeantsville, and \u201cRittenhouse\u2019s,\u201d near Locktown, all of which are still standing. 4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

During the encampment of the Continental Army at Head Quarters in 1777, [John Opdycke] was engaged in store-keeping at that place. Being a staunch patriot, he rendered much aid to the cause for which George Washington fought. It is related that a grand-daughter of his, who was at that time living with him, and aged about 8 years, dying in 1864 at the age of 94, distinctly remembered many incidents connected with the encampment, and in after years was fond of relating them. She remembered seeing General Washington seated with her grandfather under a shed before a stone pork house in her grandfather\u2019s yard;\u00a0 remembered Washington giving her a penny for carrying him a drink of water from the spring, after her grandfather had treated to spirits. 5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

The grand-daughter referred to, in after years, married Daniel Carrell, and at his death she became the wife of Elisha Warford. Both of these husbands were at one time well-known citizens of this county. 6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

John Opdyke\u2019s three sons were in the Jersey militia, and two of them were in the battle of Princeton. The family at home heard the roar of the cannon during the engagement, twenty miles away. The American cause looked so gloomy, and the Jerseymen were so despondent that Mr. Opdyke had gone down to the army to learn the true state of affairs. The old man came galloping back on his old gray horse, swinging his hat and shouting:\u00a0 \u201cThe enemies are running!\u00a0 Victory is ours, we shall gain our freedom;\u00a0 cheer up!\u201d 7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

His remains are interred in the old Opdyke burying ground on the farm upon which the old mansion stands. At the head of the grave a plain marble slab is marked, \u201cJohn Opdyke, Sen., died August 10, 1777, aged 68 years.\u201d
\nJ. M. Hoppock<\/p>\n

Correction: I had mistakenly claimed that Hoppock’s articles were published in the Hunterdon County Democrat. In fact, they were published in the Democrat-Advertiser, which was bought out by the Democrat in 1929. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Jonathan M. Hoppock published July 27, 1905 in the Democrat-Advertiser<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,59,227,255],"tags":[21,75,9,28],"class_list":["post-545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-delaware-township","category-headquarters","category-jm-hoppock","category-opdycke-families","tag-early-settlers","tag-houses","tag-mills","tag-the-revolution","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545"}],"version-history":[{"count":41,"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10170,"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545\/revisions\/10170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}