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Archiver > NJHUNTER > 2003-02 > 1045105451


From: "Pamelyn P. Bush" <>
Subject: Re: [NJHUNTER] Baptist Churches in Hunterdon Co.
Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 22:04:26 -0500
References: <03021213031100.01327@linux>


Mike,
Rev. Benjamin Miller was minister of the Scotch Plains Baptist Church
from February 13, 1748 until his death on November 14, 1781, 33 1/2 years
later. He is not related to the Millers from Elizabethtown being born in
Piscataway in 1715. The early records of the Scotch Plains Baptist Church
were lost except for 3 years of church minutes from 1758 to 1761 which were
found by a Plainfield genealogist O. B. Leonard who published genealogies
(ca, 1880-1910) on the Runyon, Dunn, and other early settlers of the
Piscataway area. The people who started the Scotch Plains church were
formerly associated with the Piscataway Baptist church. I have never heard
of a branch of this church in Hunterdon County. Scotch Plains in 1750 was
part of the Elizabethtown township of old Essex County, and is now in Union
County.
These marriages are printed in the Archives of the State of New Jersey,
First Series, Vol. XXII: Marriage Records, 1665-1800, pp. 647-649. These are
the Colonial Marriages compiled from various sources by William Nelson and
published in 1909. There are no parents listed, just the names of the two
parties, and the date of the marriage. Darby and Stansbury are both Scotch
Plains surnames, but Wolverton is not. There are no Wolvertons and no
Ephraim Darby buried in the Scotch Plains Baptist Churchyard with recorded
tombstones. Unlike today, ministers always performed marriages in the home
during the 1700s and 1800s, never in church, although sometimes in the
church parsonage. If one minister was not available, another one of the same
denomination would be available for weddings and funerals, but the record
remained with the officiating minister. So Rev. Miller might have officiated
at a marriage to parties who were not members of his church, but of another
Baptist church or even of another denomination. On the other hand, Darby is
definitely a Scotch Plains surname. Scotch Plains borders Plainfield on the
west, Piscataway on the south, and Rahway on the southeast. And a large
group of Scotch Plains residents migrated to Washington Co, PA before the
Revolutionary War.
I'm sure this doesn't help you much but I lived 1 mile from the Scotch
Plains border for 30 years so know a bit about its history.
Pam Bush
PS I believe those colonial marriages of NJ were posted online starting
about 1999 or 2000, alphabetically arranged by surname, not by marriage
date.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Miller" <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 2:03 PM
Subject: [NJHUNTER] Baptist Churches in Hunterdon Co.


> "33. John3 WOLVERTON (882) (Thomas2, Charles1) was born circa 1740. He
> married Abigail Darby (899), daughter of Ephraim Darby (2305) and Unknown
> (--?--) (2306), on 19 February 1759 at Married by a Rev. Benjamin Miller
> (records of Scotch Plains Baptist ChurchEssex County, N.J.), Scotch Plains
> Bapt. Ch Hunterdon Co., New Jersey/Hunterdon Co., NJ.2 He married
Elizabeth
> (--?--)-Fletcher (4910) before 1776. He died circa 1806 at Maybe- Mercer
Co.,
> Ohio."
>
> I found this listing on the web but have a question about the attribution
to a
>
> "Scotch Plains Bapt. Ch Hunterdon Co., New Jersey/Hunterdon Co., NJ."
>
> Was there a branch of the Scotch Plains Baptist church in Hunterdon Co.?
Are
> there any resources about the membership of any Baptist Church in
Hunterdon
> County in the 1700's time frame?
>
> I have a link between the Peter Miller listed in the 1823 Agness Miller
POA
> (She died intestate in 1822 in Hunterdon Co.) listed in Phyllis B.
> D'Autrechy, "Some Records of Old Hunterdon County, 1701-1838." Trenton,
NJ:
> Trenton Printing Company. p 33. and the Millers in the Plainfield/Rahway
> area.
>
> Tacy Miller (who is the wife of the Peter Miller mentioned in the POA) and
a
> Mary Stanbery were issued a certificate of removal from the
Plainfield/Rahway
> Monthly Meeting in NJ in April, 21, 1790 minutes for them to go to the
> Westland MM in SW PA. This certificate was received there in August 1790.
>
> Peter Miller was not received into the Society of Friends until 1792 so
maybe
> the family were Baptist before then and this might provide a clue
concerning
> Agness Miller of Hunterdon.
>
> Thanks, Mike Miller
>
>
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