Breena Clarke's Blog: A Few Whiles - Posts Tagged "russell-s-knob"
ANGELS MAKE THEIR HOPE HERE
This is the history of the origin of the people of Russell's Knob as recounted for several generations by the descendents of the founders of the settlement. The earliest written accounts of the history of Russell's Knob are found in the bibles, journals, diaries, business records and wills of the Smoot, Wilhelm, Beaulieu and Van Waganen families as archived by Sarah Jane Smoot.
Four sisters, four young girls - were part of the good-will gesture of a minor head man of the Lenape in the area above the Falls. He gave his daughters to British soldiers who wanted women and hadn’t thought to bring any along — as if they hadn’t meant to stay. The girls were treated like wives, settled near each other and were pleased with their father’s arrangements. Each had children, each had a clever brother, and when the war between patriots and loyalists broke out, these four grandmothers were given title to the lands of their husbands while the war raged in a bold strategy to preserve the lands for His Majesty. At the urging of their clever brother, the four grandmothers signed loyalty oaths to the Patriot cause as soon as their husbands were called up to the service of the war, and thus were not killed or burned out during raids by Patriots. The four grandmothers and their brother kept title to all of the lands that had formerly belonged to His Majesty, and through legal machinations after the war, become recognized by the Government of the State of New Jersey as the legal owners of the lands.
Russell’s Knob then is Grandmother’s town. The oldest inhabitants did, in fact, call it Grandmother's town. But it came to be called Russell’s Knob in the late 18th century when all of the settlers accepted the idea first proposed by Russell Sitton, grandson of one of the Grandmothers, that upon these lands no slave catcher, no slave trader, no bounty hunter or profiteer could pursue a bond person and that no one who reached the town would be forced to return to slavery. Russell Sitton’s band vowed to defend themselves against outside threat and, after several burn-outs, hid themselves and fortified with weapons.
Four sisters, four young girls - were part of the good-will gesture of a minor head man of the Lenape in the area above the Falls. He gave his daughters to British soldiers who wanted women and hadn’t thought to bring any along — as if they hadn’t meant to stay. The girls were treated like wives, settled near each other and were pleased with their father’s arrangements. Each had children, each had a clever brother, and when the war between patriots and loyalists broke out, these four grandmothers were given title to the lands of their husbands while the war raged in a bold strategy to preserve the lands for His Majesty. At the urging of their clever brother, the four grandmothers signed loyalty oaths to the Patriot cause as soon as their husbands were called up to the service of the war, and thus were not killed or burned out during raids by Patriots. The four grandmothers and their brother kept title to all of the lands that had formerly belonged to His Majesty, and through legal machinations after the war, become recognized by the Government of the State of New Jersey as the legal owners of the lands.
Russell’s Knob then is Grandmother’s town. The oldest inhabitants did, in fact, call it Grandmother's town. But it came to be called Russell’s Knob in the late 18th century when all of the settlers accepted the idea first proposed by Russell Sitton, grandson of one of the Grandmothers, that upon these lands no slave catcher, no slave trader, no bounty hunter or profiteer could pursue a bond person and that no one who reached the town would be forced to return to slavery. Russell Sitton’s band vowed to defend themselves against outside threat and, after several burn-outs, hid themselves and fortified with weapons.
A Few Whiles
I knew a boy once who thought that, if there was one while, i.e. a unit – a while of time, then surely there were two whiles and three and so on to several. So, often he would say that he’d be back in
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