HOPEWELL
VALLEY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Answering the Call The Story of Joab Houghton
Jack Davis 2009
"The Shot Heard Around the World" was fired in Massachusetts on April 15, 1775 by
rebellious New England farmers. The American colonies had been chafing under British
authority since the 1760’s. The news that this discontent had turned to open rebellion,
at least in Massachusetts, was carried swiftly through the colonies by messengers on
horseback. When the news reached Hopewell, we are told that 50-year-old Joab
Houghton stood atop the horse mounting block outside the Baptist Church and called
for volunteer soldiers to join the fight against the British. He is supposed to have said
"Men of New Jersey, the red coats are murdering our brethren of New England!—Who
follows me to Boston?" The response: “every man of that audience stepped out into line,
and answered, "I!". (1)
Joab Houghton, a farmer on 125 acres, had resided in Hopewell since his birth in about
1725. In 1771, Joab and twelve of his Hopewell neighbors had signed a petition that
showed the growing distrust that they and many other New Jerseyans felt toward the
Redcoats. Their petition to the New Jersey legislature argued against the idea of
maintaining British troops in the county (probably in the barracks at Trenton). The first of five points in the petition asked: “Whether to have the King’s troops station’d among us in Time of Peace is Constitutional and Agreeable to our Rights and Priviledges?” (2)
By June of 1776, Joab Houghton was elected Captain of one of three Hopewell Valley companies in the First Regiment of the Hunterdon County Militia. The men in his company had signed up for the "5 month service", which would begin in July and end in November. In July, fifty-six men under Houghton received a 3 pound bounty for volunteering to serve. (3)
The American Army had succeeded in ejecting the British from Boston in March, 1776. In late June a large British fleet had arrived in New York harbor
and was now threatening New York City. General Washington aimed to defend the city. In early July 1776, while the Declaration of Independence was being ratified and signed, Captain Houghton's company began its march to New York to join in the city’s defense.
On August 27, Houghton’s company fought in the Battle of Long Island, where the
American army suffered a devastating defeat. Significant numbers of American soldiers
were killed and captured, though most were able to escape. James Merrill of Hopewell
was among those killed as a result of wounds suffered in the battle. The records of the
Baptist Church state that he was “slain in ye field of Battle contending for our just Rights”.
Captain Houghton’s men were evacuated to Manhattan Island with most of the American
army, and for several weeks they worked on the fortifications at Fort Washington, at the
northern end of the island. (4)
On October 28, Houghton’s men fought the Battle of White Plains, in the Bronx. The
battle was considered rather inconclusive. The company appears to have remained in
that vicinity after the fighting. On November 14, the British conquered Fort Washington,
capturing nearly 3,000 men inside, and forcing the Americans to finally abandon New
York. Washington’s devastated army, including the men from Hopewell, began a long
retreat through New Jersey, pursued by British forces. The five month tour of Houghton's
company ended on November 30, during the retreat. Most of his men were eager to
return home to their families and their farms. Along with much of the New Jersey militia
whose terms were expiring, many went home. Within two weeks, central New Jersey
would be teeming with British and Hessian forces.(5)
On December 2, the remnants of the American army arrived in Trenton. Washington called for the army to cross over to Pennsylvania. The crossing of men and equipment continued until December 8. The British and Hessians were arriving at the Delaware as the last of the Americans escaped to Pennsylvania. Joab Houghton’s lieutenant, Ralph Guild, was in charge of Houghton’s company on the Pennsylvania side. At the lower ferry in Trenton, they helped to ferry the army over, while apparently Houghton himself was on duty in Hopewell. (6)
Colonel Houghton’s home in Hopewell was mentioned as a rendezvous point for troops at this time. Enemy soldiers in small groups, bent on plunder and worse, were roving the area. At one point, he along with several men, interrupted a party of Hessians engaged in plundering a house in the vicinity of Moore’s Mill. Houghton’s group captured 13 Hessians who had left their arms outside and were imbibing Metheglin in the cellar. They conveyed the prisoners to an American detachment in Lambertville.(7)
The Battles of Trenton and Princeton ended the British occupation of central New Jersey. Lieutenant Guild’s men, still stationed on the Pennsylvania side at Howell’s Ferry (Yardley) after the battle at Trenton, assisted in transporting the captured Hessians across the river on their journey to Philadelphia. (8)
In spring of 1777, Joab Houghton was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the Hunterdon County militia, while Ralph Guild became the Captain of Houghton’s old company. For most of the rest of the war, the focus of battle shifted away from New Jersey. However, northern New Jersey was constantly under threat from the British forces on Staten Island. Captain Guild’s company was frequently engaged in one month tours in Elizabethtown to help prevent British incursions and repel plundering parties. In 1780, they were at the Battles of Springfield and Connecticut Farms. The other important action in New Jersey, the Battle of Monmouth in 1778, saw Guild’s troops providing support on the outer flanks of the Continental Army during the fighting. (9)
As a senior officer, Joab Houghton served on military juries involving such matters as
loyalist inquisitions and courts martial, undoubtedly in addition to various other strategic
councils. At war’s end in 1783, Lt. Col. Houghton would have been a highly respected
figure. (10)
In 1785, 1786, and 1787, the citizens of Hunterdon County sent Joab Houghton to the
New Jersey Assembly as one of the county’s three representatives. This is the body
where his old neighbor, John Hart, had served at the beginning of the war. As an
assemblyman, Lt. Col. Houghton certainly must have spoken out forcefully on issues
that affected his fellow veterans. In later years, the Colonel’s house was a favorite
place for the old veterans to gather around the fireplace telling stories of their military
adventures. Joab Houghton died in 1799, leaving behind his widow Catherine (Runyon)
Houghton, several children including Aaron and William, who had served under him,
and the grateful people of his community. (11)
ENDNOTES
(1) The Life of Spencer Houghton Cone - A Baptist Preacher In America. NEW YORK:
Livermore & Rudd, 1856
(2) New Jersey Archives, Colonial Records, 10:273
(3) Compiled RevWar Service Records NJ State Archives “Joab Houghton”
(4) Hopewell Town Records, p. 140; also RevWar Pension Application for
John James, (S5603)
(5) RevWar Pension Application for John James (S5603)
(6) Dwyer, William M., The Day Is Ours; also RevWar pension application of Benjamin
Morrell (S2871)
(7) A History of East Amwell 1700-1800, p. 180; also Barber & Howe, Historical Collections
of the State of New Jersey, 1846, p. 262 and Ege, Pioneers of Old Hopewell, p. 18
(8) RevWar Pension application of Gideon Lyon (R6555)
(9) Compiled RevWar service records at NJ state archives; also RevWar pension app of
Henry Simmons (S4838)
(10) D’Autrechy, Phyllis, Hunterdon County Records 1701-1838, pp. 261, 265; also NJA
newspaper extracts
(11) Ege, Ralph, Pioneers of Old Hopewell, p. 20
Join, or Die, The Pennsylvania Gazette, 1754, Benjamin Franklin, Library Company of Philadelphia
Lord Stirling at the Battle of Long Island ,1859
Courtesy New York Public Library
The Joab Houghton monument in Hopewell's Old School Baptist cemetery was dedicated July 4,1896. The stone atop the monument (shown here) was in front of the church at the time Joab Houghton stood on it to make his stirring speech. photo by Jack Davis
Articles on Hopewell Valley History
This section includes articles that originally appeared in our newsletter. Our publication, now in its 36th year, is printed four times a year and mailed to our members. We hope you'll enjoy these stories and consider becoming a HVHS member today. Help support our ongoing efforts to keep local history alive.
1) Answering the Call - The Story of Joab Houghton Jack Davis 2009
2) Hopewell Valley's Lost Railroad - The Saga of the Mercer & Somerset Jack Koeppel 2007
3 Early Harbourton 1768 - 1837 David Blackwell 2007
For more great local history checkout this link to Howell Living History Farm's - Stories of Pleasant Valley.
Hopewell Valley's Lost Railroad The Saga of the Mercer & Somerset RR
Jack Koeppel 2007
The first railroad charter in the United States was issued on February 6, 1815 to the New Jersey Railroad Company. But no rail line was ever built by this company due to a lack of investors. One of the earliest railroads to actually be built in America, and the first in New Jersey, was the Camden and Amboy Rail Road, chartered on February 4, 1830. This charter enabled the C&A RR to hold the monopoly on building railroads across New Jersey, connecting the lucrative trade centers of New York and Philadelphia, until January 1, 1869.
When plans for a second railroad were announed, a court battle ensued to block construction that would last for many years. In an effort to maintain its claim and to physically block construction, the Camden & Amboy, now operating as the United Companies Pennsylvania Railroad, received a charter in New Jersey for the Mercer and Somerset Railway on March 17, 1870. Construction on the “Mercer & Somerset Branch” of its “Belvedere Line” began in 1871 across Hopewell Township. It was completed in 1873 and was in full operation by 1874. The company’s annual report stated that "The road extends from Somerset Junction, on the line of the Belvedere Delaware Railroad, to East Millstone, the terminus of the Millstone and New Brunswick Railroad, and is 22 1/2 miles in length."
A study of an 1875 map of Pennington (right), published
in the Everts & Stewart's Atlas Map of Mercer County,
New Jersey, shows quite a bit of activity around the Mercer
& Somerset operations just west of town. A siding is shown
leading to a “hay press”, and another to an "engine house”.
Nearby a coal and lumberyard can be seen and a large
area for “stock penns” (sic) is marked. The year 1875 saw
the railroad’s only recorded profit of $637.16.
Meanwhile the battle to stop construction of a second rail
line across the state was finally lost in court on April 2,
1873. The Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad was
incorporated on May 12, 1874 in New Jersey to build a
railroad from the Delaware River to the Central Railroad
of New Jersey in Bound Brook. Shortly after construction
commenced trouble began brewing over a planned frog
crossing near the “village of Hopewell”. In railroad
parlance, a frog is a device used where the tracks of
two railroads intersect. In a plan to make the laying of
the frog impossible a Mercer & Somerset locomotive was
kept at the spot, with its "boilers fired twenty-four hours a day". With the approach of their scheduled train, the standing locomotive would pull back onto a siding a short distance away to let the passing train by. It would roll back onto the spot at the earliest possible moment.
Then one cold and blustery January night in 1876, as the blocking locomotive pulled away to let its own company’s train pass, a large team of men, 200 strong, suddenly rushed from the woods and began building barricades across the tracks. Another group chained the blocking locomotive, poised on its siding, to the rails. News of this dramatic event was sent via telegraph to the superintendent of the line in Jersey City. He instantly directed the Mercer & Somerset’s largest engine, #336, waiting at Millstone, to race to the scene. With the boiler fires stoked, the engineer thundered through the night, racing toward Hopewell at full steam. By now a crowd of over 500 locals had gathered at the site, and the roar of the approaching train could be heard as it barreled down the valley. The long blasts of the mighty locomotive's whistle echoed off the mountainside.
The enormous engine bore down on the meager wooden barricade placed in its path at full speed. With his whistles blowing and smoke blasting from the engine’s immense stack, the massive locomotive crashed through the hastily built wall, sending wood and debris flying in all directions. The locomotive immediately derailed, violently landing in the soft earth just beyond. But before the blocking engine could be released from its bonds, an army of Delaware & Bound Brook workmen, who had been quietly hiding in the woods nearby, raced to the spot and quickly built the offending frog, thus allowing one railroad company to cross the track of another. With tempers at the breaking point, and angry men on both sides gathering on that dark and foreboding January night, the local sheriff called on the Governor to quell the situation. The National Guard was called out, but reason took the upper hand, and the men decided to return to their families. And so ended the "Frog War" of Hopewell Valley.
The moment this was done, the Mercer & Somerset Railroad became useless. It had been built by the Pennsylvania Railroad for the sole purpose of blocking the completion of the Delaware & Bound Brook Railroad. The installation of the frog meant that the battle was finally lost. With debts mounting and income non-existent, the line quickly went bankrupt and by 1879 it was no longer operating. The Mercer & Somerset Railroad was sold at a foreclosure sale in Trenton for $50,000 on November 28, 1880. The purchaser was the Pennsylvania Railroad, who also held the defaulted mortgage. The rails were removed in 1880.
The battle over the monopoly that had begun with the very first railroad in New Jersey ended right here in Hopewell Valley. While many heated debates and much political wrangling took place in far away board rooms and courthouses, the battle ended right here on that cold dark January night in 1876. The so called "Frog War", would be remembered by locals for many years to come. And what a story it was!
Some remnants of the old railroad remain today,
scattered across the landscape of Hopewell Valley –
narrow mounds of raised earth, old stone trestles
hidden in fields, and along roadways. A few standing
structures do remain – evocative reminders of the
Valley’s rich past and its part in railroad history.
Jack Koeppel
Hopewell Township
Detail from Combination Atlas Map of Mercer County, Everts & Stewart,1875
This map shows the M&S RR begining at Somerset Junction (present day Jacobs Creek Rd & Rt. 29) and crossing Hopewell Township in a north-easterly direction. It skirted Pennington and Marshalls Corner, but went right through the village of Hopewell. Its right-of-way is today's
Model Avenue.
The Daily Graphic, New York, Monday January 10, 1876 courtesy New York Public Library
Early Harbourton 1768 - 1837
David Blackwell 2007
Harbourton began with the best of resources—a fork in the road! Historians of Native Americans believe that Rt. 579 was an ancient pathway in the forest before the Europeans began to use it in their settlement of the country into family farms. Pushing ever farther into the forest with supplies gathered at the “falls” or Trent’s town, and returning there with grain to be ground into flour, the enterprising colonial farmers were soon adding to the road system and taking annual turns as “overseers of roads” to maintain them for the growing traffic. In 1729, Abraham LaRue whose land lay on the south side of the future village of Harbourton, served as the overseer for upper “river road”. This was the colonial name of Rt. 579 since there was no road closer to the river. As early as 1740, the Mt. Airy Road was also in service, coming into the north-south road at a ridge line in the Sourland Mountain chain.
It should be noted that the three approaches are all uphill, making
this a logical resting place for two centuries of hardworking horses.
It was here at this intersection that John Harbourt (probably Herbert)
acquired three lots from John Cornell, and built the beautiful stone
building we know today as the Harbourton Store. In the gable end
he took care to memorialize his accomplishment by leaving the date
—1768—and his initials —JH.
In 1777, John Harbourt, “school master” and wife Mary gave a
mortgage on their three lots, perhaps to get funds for additional
construction or to weather the economic storms of the War for
Independence. The mortgage deed gives metes and bounds for
two one acre lots that face each other across the road (Rt. 579),
and a third lot down the road leading to the “Elsockin” Meeting
House. This document confirms Harbourt as a teacher, and the
position of the lot on the south side of the road notes the
presence of the adjacent school where the church is now. We
don’t know how long he continued in teaching or business,
or even when he died.
The next events in the development of the village involve John
McKinstry. He was married in 1775, and served under Capt.
Henry Phillips of Pleasant Valley in the War for Independence.
In 1778 he was taxed for a 1 3/4 acre lot, which from his 1782
mortgage we know to be the “barn lot” next to Harbourt’s store
building lot on the north side of the road. In 1780 McKinstry was
taxed for an additional acre, which was Harbourt’s former lot on
the south side of the road, and then called the “red
house lot”.
At the May term of the Court of Quarter Sessions in 1785, McKinstry applied to the justices for permission to operate a “Publick House”, being “much Called on by Travelers”. This was apparently the beginning of the tavern business in Harbourton. He provided 20 signatures of his neighbors, including Henry Phillips, his former Captain, to attest to his good character. He applied annually in the years through 1789, and was succeeded by John Jones and John Roberts thereafter until at least 1797, as shown by the applications for license. In 1802, Sarah McKinstry sold the tavern to Daniel Rafferty. Apparently her husband had died, and she had leased the tavern for several years. In 1803, the county Sheriff sold the tavern and its barn lot across the road, from the estate of Daniel Rafferty, deceased, to John P. Gallagher of Philadelphia, the chief creditor.
The year 1803 brought a major event in the history of Harbourton: the arrival of the Baptists. Members of the Baptist faith had come to Hopewell Valley in the earliest years of settlement. They had established a congregation and in 1747 built a church in the northeastern section of the township (today's Hopewell Borough). By 1803, a segment of the membership lived a great distance to the west, and they determined to establish the Second Baptist Church of Hopewell at Harbourton. Twenty four people made a respectful application to the parent church, and they were dismissed from their membership with good wishes.
A copy of the Minutes of the Second Baptist Church at
“Herberton” are in the Hopewell Valley Historical Society's
archives. They span from the first “Church Covenant”
subscribed to by 29 members on August 13, 1803, through
to the final entry selling the building and the cemetery
to the Harbourton Cemetery Association in 1932. Apparently
the new congregation took over the existing school building
on Adam Ege’s land, immediately adjacent to the tavern.
On December 1, 1805, following Ege’s death, the congregation
purchased the lot and building from George Ege, the heir. Now,
on each Sabbath day, the wagons and gigs of the adult
congregants arrived, carrying along with them the older
children who were approaching the day of declaring their
faith and requesting baptism. By 1806, the membership
had risen to 54.
Meanwhile, changes were occurring elsewhere in Harbourton.
It appears that Joseph Burroughs had operated the store on
Harbourt’s site since the early 1790’s. In 1792 he was present
to vouch for the good character of tavern applicant John Jones,
and signed several taverns application thereafter. On June 9,
1812, Joseph Burroughs sold three lots, including the “store lot”,
to Benjamin Hoff. Benjamin Hoff sold the store lots the following
June to Joseph Hoff, Jr. of Trenton Township, and the second
Hoff sold the same store properties the following year, on March
8, 1814, to Henry Rosco, a teacher and merchant from Pennington. Another lot had been sold by the Eges in Harbourton before the Baptists made their purchase in 1805. "Black Tom" was listed as the purchaser of the south corner lot at Mt. Airy Road. He may have been a general laborer, or conducted a trade. In November of 1804, the church met and agreed that "black Thomas" would “take charge of the meeting house, to make fires in the stove, to sweep and keep the house decent”, for the sum of six dollars for the year. In 1816, a “Thomas Wilson, free negro” was still on the site.
Following the death of tavern keeper Daniel Rafferty, his creditor sold the tavern and barn lots to investors Stephen Blackwell and Moses Quick in 1804. Quick was a leading member of the church. In 1806 these two sold to James Hill, also a leading member of the church. Hill retained the property until 1813. Isaac Williamson was the next owner and probably the operator as well. In 1816, Williamson purchased a small lot south and east of the church lot and cemetery. The congregation had engaged him for the care of the church.
The tavern business passed to Isaac’s son Ira Williamson, and in 1836, the assignees of Ira, George W. Smith and William Rosco, son of the store owner, sold the barn lot indirectly to Henry Rosco. Jacob Hoff was briefly the tavern keeper, and was followed by Samuel C. Cornell, who soon gave it up, according to local historian Alice B. Lewis. The house currently on this site is at least as old as this last date.
With the death of Henry Rosco in 1837, his son William Rosco continued as the village merchant and owner of the two north side lots. The church had flourished at first, but struggled through the 1820’s under “the pressure of the times”. It appears they had purchased a house and lot from William Houghton for a parsonage. Elder Hastings was engaged from 1816 through 1821 for $150 per year, firewood, and the use of the parsonage lot. In 1821, the subscriptions for his salary fell behind -- and he left. Pastoral services were inconsistent for a decade thereafter. In 1829, Brother Samuel Hill, who had been so active in the tasks of church governance, was nevertheless censured for “Conduct unbecoming a professor of Religion”. It seems he had been seen frequently driving his team on Sabbath days. In 1834, Gordon’s Gazeteer was published and described “Herberton” as containing:
“some half dozen dwellings, a Baptist church, store, and tavern.
The country around it is hilly, with soil of red shale, well cultivated.”
Even in this brief description the village and countryside were connected. What the description can’t convey is the human tapestry of the first fifty years of this crossroads village.
David Blackwell
below - Harbourton Cemetery 2007 photo by David Blackwell
Detail from Otley & Kiely's Map of Mercer County, 1849
Second Baptist Church of Hopewell, Harbourton, NJ ca. 1890
