This is the next article in my series on the history of the Pauch farm in Delaware Township. In the previous\u00ac\u2020post,^{1<\/a><\/sup>\u00ac\u2020Charles Sergeant had sold the old Richard Green farm to John R. Opdycke in 1805, and moved to the farm owned by Opdycke\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s father, Samuel Opdycke. John Opdycke had no need for the Green farm. He had married in 1803 and was living in Kingwood on land that came from his wife\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s family. Why did Opdycke make this swap? I suspect he wanted to close out his father\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s estate, and this was one way to do it. Or, perhaps Sergeant knew how eager Opdycke was to settle matters and proposed a swap instead of an outright purchase.<\/p>\n}

There is a third possibility\u201a\u00c4\u00eethe swap may have been a way for Charles Sergeant to transfer ownership of the Green farm to his younger brother Joseph Sergeant. On April 29, 1806, when they were living in Kingwood, John R. Opdycke and wife Rebecca sold part of the Green farm (130.25 acres) to Joseph Sergeant for $4,600.2<\/a><\/sup> Although Joseph Sergeant made the payment, I suspect his brother Charles had a hand in it. Just a year before, on January 13, 1805, Joseph Sergeant married Jane Quick, daughter of Tunis Quick (1731-1811) and Catharine Phillips (1732-1824). The farm may have been something of a wedding present. Joseph and Jane married late; they were both around 35 years old. Their first child (William Q. Sergeant) was born on October 28, 1805, and their youngest (John P. Sergeant) was born in 1813, which means that all the children were born and raised on the Pauch farm.<\/p>\n

Before his marriage, Joseph Sergeant had gone into partnership with his brother John Sergeant. They ran the blacksmith shop in Sergeantsville that had been owned by their father Joseph Sr.3<\/a><\/sup> In 1800, the brothers John and Joseph bought a small piece of land (38 perches) from Thomas and Catherine Lake that enlarged the lot.4<\/a><\/sup> There was another lot that Charles Sergeant had probably acquired from Gabriel Covenhoven lying west of Sergeantsville, where the school is now located. It was 30 acres, which Charles Sergeant sold to John and Joseph in 1794, and to which they added 16 perches of land bought from Jonas Thatcher in 1802.5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

In the 1803 tax ratables, the brothers were taxed as merchants owning 31 acres 3 horses and 3 cows. Soon afterwards, John and Joseph Sergeant branched out by purchasing a 145-acre farm on Strimples Mill Road for $2000 or $13.80 per acre, a very good price. It had been the property of the Kyple family. The same year, their brother Loman Sergeant bought an adjacent farm where he practiced blacksmithing.<\/p>\n

In 1804, John and Joseph Sergeant got a tavern license, stating that there was a necessity for a tavern in the house where they lived.6<\/a><\/sup> The records do not give the location of their house & tavern. The need for one is surprising, since their lot in Sergeantsville was very close to the tavern run by Agesilaus Gordon (which today is the township municipal building). Gordon himself applied for a license in 1804, but in September of that year he sold the property to Godfrey Rockafellar. Rockafellar did not get a license until 1805. Perhaps the Sergeant brothers were filling a gap, since a tavern at a crossroads was an essential institution in those days.<\/p>\n

On January 29, 1806, the Sergeant brothers sold their farm on Strimples Mill Road to John Wolverton, for a modest profit. (Loman Sergeant remained on his property until 1827.) Four months later, on April 29, 1806, Joseph Sergeant bought the Green farm from John Opdycke. He did this on his own\u201a\u00c4\u00eenot with his brother John.7<\/a><\/sup> On the same day that Opdycke sold the 130.25 acres to Joseph Sergeant, he also sold a woodlot bordering Joseph Sergeant\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s farm to William Dilts.8<\/a><\/sup> This was from the remainder of the farm that Opdycke had kept.<\/p>\n

Slave Ownership<\/h3>\n

In 1807, Jane Sergeant\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s father Tunis Quick wrote his will, leaving her \u00ac\u00a3300, the same amount as was left to Jane\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s sister Mary. This legacy would not come to her until 1811 when her father died. Tunis Quick\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s will also included \u201a\u00c4\u00faa negro woman named Sarah,\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 who was left to his wife. This Sarah, owned by Tunis Quick Sr., had a daughter Ann born on August 31, 1808.9<\/a><\/sup> Joseph Sergeant also owned a slave named Hannah who gave birth to a daughter named Juda on December 24, 1809.10<\/a><\/sup> On December 18, 1811, a slave belonging to Catharine Quick, widow of Tunis, gave birth to a daughter Harriott Elizabeth.11<\/a><\/sup> None of these slaves or their daughters appeared on the list of manumissions. If it weren\u201a\u00c4\u00f4t for these births, we would not know that the Quicks and Sergeants owned slaves. The State of New Jersey passed its law abolishing slavery in 1804. It required that female slaves could not be freed until they reached the age of 21, so a record of births was necessary.<\/p>\n

Falling Into Debt<\/h3>\n

Joseph Sergeant was not as good with money as his brother Charles was. In 1808 he and wife Jane were obliged to get a mortgage from Jane\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s brother, Titus Quick.12<\/a><\/sup><\/i> This mortgage is of especial interest because the description begins near \u201a\u00c4\u00fathe dwelling house, corner to Ezra Brown.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 Brown\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s lot was just north of the driveway entrance to the Pauch property. The Pauch house is just south of the dividing line. This clearly establishes that the house was standing in 1808, although we have already determined it must have been built about 20 years earlier. Ezra Brown was married to Elizabeth Severns, great granddaughter of Samuel Green Sr.<\/p>\n

Joseph Sergeant was probably hurt by the economy created by the War of 1812. On October 1, 1814, he was obliged to get another mortgage on the 130 acres and 8 perches whereon he lived. He got one from John Holcombe of Amwell for $500, but even though she was still alive, Joseph\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s wife Jane was not named as a mortgagor.13<\/a><\/sup> The mortgage was not cancelled until 1825.<\/p>\n

The next year, on June 17, 1815, Joseph Sergeant mortgaged 131 acres for $1,569.44 to his neighbor Joseph Howell.14<\/a><\/sup> The mortgage did not give metes and bounds, but stated that the bordering owners were Daniel Rockafellar, Gershom Lambert, Ezra Brown, Henry “Vandoler,” Charles Sergeant and Gershom Larason. Like John Opdycke, Charles Sergeant had held onto part of the old Green farm. The mortgage was cancelled on October 6, 1828.<\/p>\n

I suspect that Joseph Sergeant could not keep up with his mortgage payments. After thirteen years, Joseph and Jane Sergeant conveyed the farm of 130 acres and 8 perches located on the road from Flemington to Howell\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s Ferry back to Charles Sergeant for $5,000. The sale took place on June 1, 1818.\u00ac\u2020Charles Sergeant paid about $39 per acre.15<\/a><\/sup> It was certainly an act of generosity on the part of Charles Sergeant, who had no need for the property. I suspect that while the farm\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s ownership was transferred to Charles Sergeant, his brother Joseph and his family continued to reside there, at least for a time.<\/p>\n

Joseph and Jane Sergeant After 1818<\/h3>\n

By 1823, Joseph Sergeant had found a new home in Raritan Township. He bought a farm of 65.73 acres in the neighborhood of Copper Hill from Peter Taylor, which had belonged to Ezekiel Anderson. This is where Joseph and Jane Sergeant lived for the rest of their lives.16<\/a><\/sup> But they continued to mortgage their property. First they mortgaged the Anderson-Taylor farm to Peter Taylor. Then, with brother John, Joseph mortgaged their Sergeantsville property to David Johnes in 1824, and again in 1826. And in 1828, Joseph mortgaged the Anderson-Taylor farm again, this time to John Barber, executor of the estate of David Johnes.17<\/a><\/sup> Not surprisingly, Joseph Sergeant was sued for debt. His creditor was Gershom Lambert who took him to court in 1828 for a debt of $283.74.<\/p>\n

Perhaps to satisfy this debt, on April 8, 1828, Joseph Sergeant and wife Jane sold to Joseph\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s brother John Sergeant for $866.67 their one-half share in the three lots in Sergeantsville they had acquired in 1794 and 1802. If that was the purpose, it did not succeed. In May 1828, the Court of Common Pleas seized Joseph Sergeant\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s goods and chattels, including 4 horses, 7 head of cattle, 10 hogs, 5 sheep, 1 farm \u201a\u00c4\u00f2waggon\u201a\u00c4\u00f4 & harness, 6 beds & bedding, and 2 tables, and offered them for public sale.\u00ac\u2020Unless someone came to his rescue and bought these goods on his behalf, his house and farm must have been pretty bare after the sale.<\/p>\n

Death of Joseph Sergeant Sr.<\/h3>\n

Sometime before 1828, a Joseph Sergeant died.18<\/a><\/sup> It was not Jane Sergeant\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s husband and Charles Sergeant\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s brother. It had to be the father of Joseph, John, Loman and Charles who died, but he did not leave an estate.19<\/a><\/sup>\u00ac\u2020The only record of his death we have appears in May 1828, when some of the heirs of Joseph Sergeant petitioned the Court of Common Pleas for a division of his real estate, which consisted of \u201a\u00c4\u00faall that tract of land situate in the village of Sergeantsville, in the township of Amwell, in the county of Hunterdon, adjoining lands of Neal Hart, Thomas Godown and others, containing one acre, (as is said).\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 The heirs were the children of Mary Sergeant and Cornelius Lake, who lived across the road (Rte 604) from the blacksmith shop. Mary was the sister of Charles, Loman, John and Joseph Sergeant.20<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

The lot in question was the old blacksmith lot in Sergeantsville. Here is another description of the lot for sale in the Hunterdon Gazette, Aug 13, 1828:<\/p>\n

\u201a\u00c4\u00faAll that lot of land whereon John Sargent has long resided, consisting of one acre of land, be the same more or less, adjoining lands of Neal Hart, Jonas Thatcher & others. There is on said premises a large two story dwelling House, a good stone Blacksmith\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s shop, &c.; there is on said lot a spring of good water near the shop door, and as the property has long been occupied as by a blacksmith, is considered one of the best stands for that business.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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