Goodspeed Histories: Last of 2018, into 2019
Today I am publishing the first part of an article on Sandy Ridge by Egbert T. Bush. He actually lived there, so he knew what he was writing about. The only problem is that he seemed to think his readers did too. Well, the readers of 1930 undoubtedly did, but not those of today. Hence all my annotations.
Old Headstones and Headlines
Because Mr. Bush named so many names, I have had to whip up a couple more family trees and update one that’s already published. This last one is the Wolverton Family Tree. I had avoided extending the tree to the 6th generation because there are just too many Wolvertons, but this week I had to bite the bullet and add it because people in that generation show up in the Sandy Ridge article.
In addition I’ve published a Larison tree and a Dilts tree. Actually, two Dilts trees—one for most of the Dilts family in Hunterdon, and another for William Dilts of Sandy Ridge (https://goodspeedhistories.us
Last Newsletter for 2018
I share the common lament: Where has the year gone?
I published 34 articles this year, which is about par for the course, now that I publish every other week. But this does not include the family trees that were also published along with the regular articles.
I realized this year that early Hunterdon families are so interrelated that it takes a scorecard of some kind to keep track of them. It’s too bad I didn’t think of that back in 2009 when I started this blog, because now I need to go back and take another look at those earlier articles and publish trees for those families, like the Barbers, Buchanans, Brays, Holcombes, etc. etc. A look at the Families page (https://goodspeedhistories.us
Another realization is that since I’ve been publishing since 2009, I am adding links to previous articles far more frequently than before, and run the risk of forgetting what I’ve already written about. Total to date since the blog began is 447 posts.
Looking forward to 2019
As for what to write about next year, some of my articles in the past have focused on particular people, but most of them on particular places, and those places were mostly in Delaware Township. I could continue publishing articles about my hometown, and certainly will. But I’d also like to include other places in Hunterdon County. (Kingwood and Franklin, I’ve got my eye on you.)
There will certainly be more articles from Egbert T. Bush and from Jonathan M. Hoppock. I have not come close to exhausting the articles Mr. Bush published in the 1930s, and they are all worth republishing.
The theme for “Hunterdon 300” in 2019 is going to be Hunterdon’s Villages and Hamlets. Now there’s a subject that’s fun to write about. I have written in the past about “What It Takes To Raise A Village,” here (https://goodspeedhistories.us
Many thanks to all of you who have subscribed to this newsletter and shown an interest in my work. It does keep me going. Despite my misgivings about the coming year, I wish you a very happy 2019!
Marfy