Hunterdon County 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.
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.
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 bedcovers, 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.
Learn more about the Dunham family.
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. . .
