HunterdonCounty was originally part of Burlington County, West Jersey. It was set off from Burlington County on March 11, 1714. It included Amwell, Hopewell, and Maidenhead Townships.
Lawrenceville, Mercer County, New Jersey was founded as Maidenhead in 1697, as part of Burlington County in the colony of West Jersey. In 1714, the village became a part of Hunterdon County.
Estate inventories give us a glance into the home life of Colonial Americans through their possesions.
Justice Hezekiah Bonham was born about 1670 in Barnstable, Barnstable County, Massachusetts. His parents were Nicholas Bonham and Hannah Fuller.
When Hezekiah was 14 years old in 1684, his father, Nicholas, died and he inherited "all ye rest of my land lying within ye township of Piscataway."
He received his patent for land on May 1, 1697 and in 1698/99 he purchased land in Maidenhead (now Lawrenceville, Mercer County, New Jersey) and moved there soon after.
His first wife, Mary Dunn Bonham, died on November 7, 1699. After Mary died, Hezekiah remarried. His second wife's name is disputed by scholars. It could have been Ann Hunt, Mary Hune, or Mary Bishop. His wives and children are discussed in the section on the Hezekiah Bonham Family.
Old Style Calendar
Before 1752 the year began on Lady Day, March 25th,. Dates between January 1st and March 24th were at the end of the year. Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) are used to indicate whether the year has been adjusted. Often both dates are used.
Barnstable, Massachusetts was settled in 1639 when Parson Joseph Hull came to Cape Cod with and his congregation from Weymouth. A little later in the year, the Reverend John Lothrop brought his Congregationalists. They incorporated as the Town of Barnstable.
New Jersey's first permanent European settlement was in 1660.
There is a lone sign in front of the middle school the letters tilting this way and that as if someone had put them up in the dark: A colonial hamlet which is so named because of dissension as to whether Saturday or Sunday is the Sabbath. You'd think a community with one of the more memorable names in New Jersey history would deserve better. The school and a nearby park, both named after it, offer no hint. But the name lives on: Quibbletown. . ."Baptist residents in 1707 began to disagree on whether the Sabbath should be observed on Saturday or Sunday, and the controversy lasted a century," according to the WPA Guide to 1930s New Jersey. "American (Revolutionary War) soldiers, camped here to watch the enemy, wrote of the place as 'Squabbletown.' ' Which is an even better name than Quibbletown. The dispute was between Edmund Dunham and his brother-inlaw, Hezekiah Bonham, pioneers from the Piscataqua River in New Hampshire who moved here in the 1660s and named their settlement New Piscataqua.
According to Walter C. Meuly in the "History of Piscataway Township: 1666-1976," the story goes that Bonham was working on a Sunday, infuriating Dunham, one of six brethren to form the local Baptist Church. Their argument divided the congregation; around 1707... (from The Central New Jersey Home News, November 28, 1993, Page 18)
Seventh Day Seventh Day Baptist Traces Its Origin in Piscataway; Soon Will Mark Centennial No history of the Plainfield Seventh Day Baptist Church of Christ, however brief, could omit reference to the Piscataway Seventh Day Baptist Church at New Market, which was constituted in the year 1705. A "sketch of the origin and progress" of the latter church, written some years ago, reads as follows: "The First-Day Baptist Church of Piscataway . was organized in 1689, and had its existence only about 12 years when one of its members, Hezekiah Bonham, having lost confidence in the sacred character of Sunday as a Sabbath, com-nenced working on that day. "Edmund Dunham, a deacon in the same church, discovering his brother engaged in servile .
labor, reproved him. Mr. Bonham promptly challenged the ' deacon to prove from the Scriptures that Sunday was the Sabbath. : , Mr. Dunham, taken somewhat by surprise, and i.ot' having any suitable proof; in mind, 'commenced, searching" the Scriptures diligently for the proof which; he : supposed could easily be found.
"To his great surprise he was unable to find the object of his search, and appealed to his brethren and spiritual advisers for assistance. Finding n j help from any source, and having taken the word of God as his rule of faith and practice, he was compelled" to admit defeat and accept the views and practices of the brother, whom he had reproved." ' Continuous History The investigation continued and became quite general in the church until several members withdrew and bejan to meet for worship on the seventh day, and in 1705 they organized themselves and united in church covenant under the name of the Piscataway Seventh Day Baptist Church. This church has a continuous history to the present time. Its present pastor is the Rev. Neal D.
New Jersey Colonial Records Volume 21
October 9,1697
Deed.
Hezekiah Bonham of Piscataway and wife Marie
to Edward Jones of Woodbridge, weaver,
for two lots in Piscataway, one bounded
E. by John Smallie,
S. W. George Drake,
N. a small brook,
S. Daniel Lippentoune,
S. E. George Jewell;
the other, 30 acres, being the remainder of the land, held by Bonham in right of Daniel Lippentoune and bo't of Zerah Higgens,
N. Nicholas Bonham
S. E. George Jewell,
S. W. the remaining part of the land,
N. W. a brook.
Coverlets (Coverlid) are woven or quilted bed covers, used as the topmost covering on a bed.
from New Jersey Colonial Records Volume 2
October 27, 1698 Deed.
Hezekiah Bonham of Piscataway and wife Mary
to Edward Slater of the same place, for a lot there, bo't of Susannah, widow of Thomas Farnsworth,
S. Samuel Dotey,
other sides unsurveyed.
from The Story of an old farm, or, Life in New Jersey in the Eghteenth century by Andrew D. Mellic.
The first congregation of Seventh-day Baptists in New Jersey had its origin in this township, in the following manner: In the year 1700, Edmund Dunham, a Baptist exhorter and the owner of one hundred and ten acres of the town lands, felt called upon to admonish Hezekiah Bonham for working on Sunday; whereupon Bonham defied him to prove divine authority for keeping holy the first day of the week. Dunham, after investigation, failed to do so to his own satisfaction, consequently he himself renounced the observance of the first day. In the year 1705 he formed a congregation of Seventh-Day Baptists. . .
