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Villages
and Hamlets.
–WINDSOR is a hamlet on the Amboy Division of the Pennsylvania
Railroad, in the northeast part of the township, and was formerly known
as Centreville. Its population is about one hundred and fifty.
The first merchant there was Samuel Embley;
Miss T. Voorhees was the next. Barclay Perrine was an early merchant.
Israel Baldwin began trading there in 1862, and has continued to the
present. John B. Perrine opened a store in 1865, and traded there a
number of years. Bowne & Malsbury began business a year or two later,
but did not long continue it. George R. Robbins was a merchant there
a year or two. Elias T. Dancer traded from 1873 to some time in the
following year. About this time a store was opened by John N. Carhart,
who closed it a year or two afterwards. About 1874, Everett & Co.
opened a store, but were succeeded in a year or two by Lane & Co.,
who are yet in business. The store occupied by Israel Baldwin was erected
by William T. Mills in 1848.
The first blacksmith at Windsor was George A.
Cole, who built a shop there in 1845. He has had several successors.
The present "smithy" is operated by Daniel Kavanaugh.
In 1845, Henry Vandewater opened a wheelwright-shop.
He had successors, the last of whom was John McDonald.
The Windsor Hotel was built in 1832 by William
McKnight, and Samuel Embley was its first occupant. It has several times
changed owners and landlords, and is now the property of Samuel Eldridge,
and kept by Charles Tindall.
The post-office was established about 1846,
with Barclay Perrine as postmaster. Edward Van Hise has been postmaster
since 1861.
Windsor now contains one church, a grist-mill,
a harness-shop, a blacksmith-shop, two stores, and a hotel and a number
of dwellings.
NEWTOWN STATION. - This hamlet contains one
store, a wheelwright-shop, a blacksmith-shop, a hotel, a chapel, a hay-pressing
establishment, and about one hundred inhabitants. It is a station on
the Amboy Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, on the road from Bordentown
to Hightstown, and the Allentown road, and is located near the western
boundary of the township. It is known also as Robbinsville, the name
of the post-office, given in honor of Hon. G. R. Robbins. Years ago
the locality was sometimes referred to as "Hungry Hill," from
the fact that it is on elevated ground, which was then the abiding-place
of some people who were unable to provide to persons traveling through
there such necessary articles of food as were sometimes required. The
present name was given it in 1844, at a meeting of the inhabitants held
for the purpose of taking measures to forever separate the hamlet and
its old uncomplimentary appellation.
The first merchant in the place was I. C. Voorhees,
who began business in 1840. Several years later he was succeeded by
Richard Waddy, and he, three or four years later, by R. Yard & Brother.
At the expiration of a year the firm was changed to Yard & Applegate.
J. C. & Joseph Yard succeeded Yard & Applegate, and were succeeded
by J. W. Yard about 1868. E. B. Yard has occupied the store since 1872.
The post-office was established about 1850.
I. Clark Voorhees was the first postmaster. His successors have been
Richard Waddy, George H. Yard, John C. Yard, Joseph W. Yard, and E.
B. Yard, the present incumbent, commissioned in 1877.
In 1843, Benjamin Reed opened the first wheelwright-shop.
The first and present blacksmiths are J. S. Yard & Son, who are
also the present wheelwrights.
The first hotel was the "Cross-Keys House."
It was an old house half a century ago, and the names of the builder
and early occupants are not now known. The last to do the honors of
the establishment was Elijah Davis. This old inn was torn down about
a dozen years ago. The Railroad House was erected by William Tindall
in 1844, and was first kept by G. W. Davison, who occupied it three
years. The present owner and occupant is E. A. Tindall.
Pomyea & Brother set up a hay-press at Newtown
in 1879, and have been succeeded in business by Pomyea & Mount.
SHARON is a hamlet on the York road, partly
in Washington and partly in Monmouth County, containing about twenty
dwellings, a blacksmith's shop, a wheelwright's shop, two stores, and
a church. Formerly several manufacturing enterprises of more or less
importance were located there.
Abner Hall, who kept a store on the Mercer County
side of the road as early as 1812, was the pioneer merchant. Several
different persons, the names of most of whom cannot now be recalled,
have traded there since. Two stores are now kept, one of them by James
M. Danar, the other by Lucy Decline.
The first blacksmith at Sharon was as early
as 1800. The present blacksmith-shop is owned by J. D. Hall, and occupied
by George Gill.
An early wheelwright was William Pullen. H.
F. Parent now carries on a wheelwright's business in a shop rented of
J. D. Hall.
NEW CANTON. - This is a hamlet at the southern
extremity of the township, partially on the south side of the York road,
and in Monmouth County. It was formerly known by the uneuphonious name
of Cabbagetown, and consists of eight dwellings.
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