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75 Imlaystown Road Ely-Norton Farm This farm is named for John Ely (1707-1795), who settled here in 1728, and Richard Norton (d. 1855), who settled here in 1831. The farm is best known, however, for its most famous visitor, Clara Barton (1821-1912). Clara had met Richard and Ellen Wyckoff Norton's children, Charles and Mary, while they studied at a Universalist school in New York. She lived here with the Norton family from October, 1851, to May, 1852. In a letter to her nephew, Clara recalled her first afternoon at the Norton's' "large, well-cultivated" farm. After a "good dinner," she joined Charles and Mary for "a stroll in the woods in search of chestnuts, gum berries, and persimmons, and found plenty of them." She also described the Norton's' "prettily furnished" sitting room with its "good piano" and "large window looking into the garden." Clara clearly liked the Norton's, later calling them "a sterling family . good as gold and true as the sun." Clara decided to begin teaching at the Cedarville School, a one room private school on Cedarville Road (see1875 Map of East Windsor Township). Each of the thirty-nine students paid Clara tuition, $2.00 for each eleven week quarter session. Clara found her students to he "quiet and obedient," arriving with "good honest cheerful faces every morning." The students later remembered Clara for both her interest in their progress and her informal methods. Despite a scarlet fever epidemic in 1851, Clara's class grew to sixty students. In late May, 1852, Clara left the Norton's to open a school in Bordentown, New Jersey. Mary and Charles moved to Hightstown after their father died in 1855. Mary become friends with another famous American, Horace Greeley (1811-1872), during one of his visits to Hightstown. Greeley later addressed his "Letters to a Ladyfriend" to Mary. Unitarian Universalist Association: a Christian religious denomination characterized by tolerance of religious beliefs and the absence of doctrine. Universalists believe salvation is granted to the entire human race.
Mary Norton (1835-1899) poses with her brothers for this family portrait (c. 1880). Sitting in the front are Charles (left) and James. Behind them stand Wyckoff (left), William (center) and Joshua (Hightstown-East Windsor Historical Society).
When she took a job with the Patent Office in Washington, D.C. in 1854, Clara Barton (above) became the only American woman working in the federal government in the mid-nineteenth century. Clara left Washington after the Civil War began in 1861 to nurse wounded soldiers at the front. The soldiers began calling her the "Angel of the Battlefield" for here selfless service and patient care. Throughout the war, she continued to write Mary Norton, who sent Clara boxes of food and clothing for the troops. After the war ended in 1865, Clara spent several years in the South searching for missing Union soldiers. She then traveled through Europe helping the new International Red Cross. Clara visited Mary again in 1878. When Clara began organizing the American Red Cross in 1881, Mary was one of its four charter members (Hightstown-East Windsor Historical Society).
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Windsor Perrineville Road John Ely (1707-1795) established this cemetery on part of the 1300 acre farm he bought In 1728 (see Ely-Norton Farm). In these days before public cemeteries, many farmers set aside a small plot of land for family burials. The first burial here may have been for one of John's twelve children, Phebe, who died in infancy. The earliest marked grave is that of John's wife, Phebe Allison Ely (1712-1756), who died one month after giving birth to their son George. In his will, John asked to be buried at the crest of the cemetery, which marks the divide in the watershed between the waters of the Delaware and Raritan rivers. Legend has it that John's stone was placed so that if a raindrop fell at the mid-point of the top surface, half would flow to each river. After John's death, his son Isaac took
ownership of the farm and cemetery. When Isaac died in 1831, Richard Norton
purchased the farm (see Ely-Norton Farm), and Allison Ely, jr. inherited the
half-acre "Ely Burying-Ground." In 1845, Allison died, leaving a $100.00 trust
fund for the maintenance of the cemetery. Richard Norton, Joseph J. Ely, and
'William Norton then formed the "East Windsor Cemetery Company," which has since
maintained the cemetery.
During the nineteenth century, many Arnericans begin marking graves with decorative statues such as this angel atop the Eilers family plot.
This stone marks the grave of Patience Track (1787-1879), the first black township resident interred in this cemetery. Having spent her life as a servant in the John V. Ely family, Patience asked to he buried with them.
1156 York
Road
1156 York Road Hulit-Blasig Farm During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Hulit family owned this farm and built this large frame farmhouse. The Blasigs have extensively rehabilitated the house and barns. They have also entered the farm in New Jersey's farmland preservation program.
866 York Road Lemuel Black House During the 1700's, this land formed part of the York Road property that Philadelphia merchant John Shield owned and rented to tenant farmers (see New Hightstown). After the Shield family sold the property, it passed into the hands of Noah and Sarah Cain. The Cain's rented the property to Isaac Pullen (1805-1867), a cooper, soon after he married Jane Hulit (1806-1883) in 1827. As one of his friends noted, Isaac's love of plants was the "key and centre of his history." Around 1830, Isaac decided to open the first nursery in the township here. Local farmers soon relied on Isaac for both supplies and advice. Although Isaac could not eat fruit because of a digestive disorder, he developed a number of new varieties of fruit trees which became popular with local farmers. As Isaac's nursery grew, he became an important figure in the township. lie served on the Township Committee and then in the state legislature. The front section of this house (above), probably dates from 1849 when Isaac bought the property from Sarah Cain. The cross gable, or peak, in the roof line at the front of the house, was a popular feature of the Gothic style that dominated American architecture from 1840 to 1870. After Charles and Mary A. Pullen Black bought the house in 1878 (see Black-Locke House), they added the front porch, as well as the Victorian trim around the windows and the scroll sawn brackets under the eaves. Their son Lemuel grew up in this house and lived here with his wife Catherine Van Nest after Charles' death. Lemuel, who won several state prizes for his apples and tomatoes, served as a township committeeman and then as mayor. When Lemuel retired in 1957, the Conover family bought the property and used it as grazing land for their growing herd of Guernsey cows (see Conover's Dairy). Thomas J. and Cynthia S. Malsbury bought the house in 1977 and extensively rehabilitated it to restore it to its Victorian splendor. William and Sandy Kendall have continued the rehabilitation since they bought the house in 1986. Back to table of contents Next Section © Copyright
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