Updated December 26, 2006
After leaving Freehold, William went back to West Jersey. We don't know the exact sequence of events, but he ultimately purchased three different parcels of land near Kingwoord in Amwell Township, Hunterdon County. The largest of these (449 acres) was about a mile from the Delaware River and just a few miles north of what is now the town of Stockton. In the 1730s, Hunterdon County was in the early stages of white settlement, the area having been purchased from the Leni Lenape Indians only in the 1703-1710 period. The initial settlers came from farther south in West Jersey (Burlington County and the area around what is now Trenton), from Pennsylvania (across the Delaware River) and from East Jersey. Quakers made up the bulk from the first two migrations; Dutch, English, Scots, Scots-Irish, and Germans from the latter. These groups initially settled in distinct areas, but increasing disputes over property ownership and the wave of religious fervor known as the Great Awakening gradually brought them together into a larger community.
Disputes between the proprietors of New Jersey and yeoman farmers dominated local politics during the first half of the eighteenth century. The former had title to much of the colony through grants from the British crown--most of which were given in the 1660s by Charles II. These grants were not well managed, often conflicting with each other. Descendents of the original proprietors expected annual quitrents to be paid to them by the farmers living on their land. However, many of these farmers had settled without permission of the proprietors and had no intention of paying them rent. In addition, many groups of settlers had purchased land directly from local Indian tribes and felt they had clear title in their own right. In the 1730s and 1740s there were increasing incidents of violence as agents of the proprietors contended with local farmers over occupancy and rent payments. As far as we know, William managed to avoid direct confrontation in these conflicts, but it would have made his life much more interesting just being in proximity to them.
The Great Awakening arose in this environment and was both fed by it and contributed to it. Because the proprietors were predominantly Anglican and the farmers predominantly members of dissenting Protestant sects, their conflicts over property naturally evolved into conflicts over political philosophy and religion. The anxiety caused by the uncertainty of their land claims made them more susceptible to the messages of the itinerant preachers who traveled through the colony during this time. The religious message of salvation through personal submission to God reinforced their resistance to the secular authority of the crown and its "illegitimate" church.
Economic differences coalesced with religious differences and generated two distinct ideologies that competed for power in the decades leading up to the Revolution. As a part of this ideological development many of the settlers forged both religious and political ties in their efforts to resist the pressure they were getting from the Anglican authorities. The late 1740s saw them acting in concert across county lines in ways that began to look like a rebel government. The Presbyterian Church also drew many people to it because its style of church government better facilitated cooperation beyond the congregational level. Minor differences over doctrive were overlooked in the desire of building a stronger resistance to royal authority.
Actually the Revolution might have started in New Jersey in the 1750s but for a change of governorship, in which the new incumbant began looking for ways to compromise rather than exacerbate the conflict. Jonathan Belcher, a New Englander by birth and a man who was sympathetic to the cause of the settlers, found ways to bring some of their leaders into his administration and gave their grievances a fairer hearing in colonial courts. Much of the energy of the "insurgency" faded in the first few years of his rule.
The Great Awakening probably did impact William directly. George Whitfield made trips through New Jersey in 1739 and 1740. One of his stops (on April 25, 1740) was in Amwell Township, where he preached to several thousand people. The chances of William being in the crowd are very good.
Sometime in the early 1740s, William married Jane Warford, born about 1727. Her mother's family (the Stouts of Monmouth County) had been in the colonies since the mid 1600s and were quite well established in Monmouth County (Freehold). Her grandparents were among the founding members of the first Baptist church there. Her ancestors were from England, some having spent time in the West Indies (Barbados), some in New York (then New Amsterdam).
Jane's father, John Warford (also English), came from rather humble beginnings in Eastchester, New York, having lost his father as a boy and been raised somewhat reluctantly by his mother's family. He received no inheritance and had to start out his adult life with essentially nothing. That he and Elizabeth Stout married, then, is an interesting tale. It came about, apparently, because she had had a child out of wedlock at age fourteen by one James Hyde. She was, therefore, what we might call "damaged goods." The Stouts were more accepting of poor John Warford under these circumstances and they allowed the marriage to go forward. After several years of living under their watchful eyes in Freehold, the couple moved to Hunterdon County. At his death in 1769, John Warford owned a 165 acre farm in Kingwood Township overlooking the Delaware River, a mile or two from William Allen's farm. Jane's older brother Job ran a tavern at Coryell's Ferry (now Lambertsville) from about 1748 until his death in 1757. Though the Warford's had lived in Freehold, it is unlikely that William knew them there. The date is uncertain, but my guess is that they had already moved to Kingwood by the time William came to Freehold. He would have met them when he came to Amwell Township in the late 1730s. (That both moved from Freehold to Hunterdon County is a coincidence, but not a remarkable one. Many families made the same move in the 1720s and 1730s.)
While in Amwell, William and Jane had eight children. The various reports of their birth years (even birth order) are inconsistent, but the following is my best guess:
Some sources report that Joseph was born in Virginia; some say New Jersey. This confusion comes, I think, from the circumstances of their move south, which is covered in the next section.
Other than producing children, we know little of William activities during the next twenty-five years, except that he did very well economically. While there he owned three different pieces of property--of 90, 180, and 450 acres. The latter he appears to have developed into an impressive farm. He put it up for auction in 1771 and announced the event in The Philadelphia Gazette. The description is quite glowing:
"TO be SOLD by way of public vendue, on Tues, day the 16th of April next, and an indisputable title given, a plantation, commanding a fine prospect, and pleasantly situated, containing 460 acres of land. be it more or less, lying in the township of Amwell, county of Hunderdon, and western division of New Jersey; 260 acres of which is woodland, and chiefly well timbered, the remainder excellent for all sorts of grain, agreeable to the climate, with a large complement of meadow. which produces yearly a competible part of good timothy and English grass. The whole well watered, and enclosed with good fence. The said tract may be conveniently divided into 2 separate lots, as may best suit the purchaser, or purchasers; as the buildings thereon are commodiously adapted to each, consisting of one stone dwelling-house 2 stories high, with a cellar under the whole, and a good log kitchen, also, a good stone barn, compleatly finished, viz. 30 by 48 feet; the other being a snug frame building, not quite half a mile from the aforesaid mansion house. As also, good orchards of excellent fruit, both for quantity and quality, at each of said buildings, too tedious to be enumerated here. The whole being contiguous to sundry places of worship, and excellent fisheries, the river Delaware being within a mile of the premises. As also grist and merchants mills, and compleat stores, where the best price is given for country produce: there runs adjoining a large run of fresh water where the curious or ingenious may improve thereon. The whole of the aforesaid will be warranted and defended by the Subscriber hereof. For further particulars, inquire of the subscriber, living on the premises. who will give proper attendance on the day of Sale, when the conditions will be made known. WILLIAM ALLEN
N. B. The chief motive which induces the Subscriber to make sale of the aforesaid, is owing to a considerable purchase of lands that he made in Virginia government, which requires his commanding eye towards the improvement of the same."
The only way he could have generated this much improvement and also saved money for the Virginia investment would have been by selling his excess production over the years. In New Jersey at this time, the main exports were wheat and timber. These would have been shipped to cities such as Philadelphia and New York, as well as been sent overseas to England. The produce from the orchards would have been sold more locally, but still generated extra cash. His description of the local area--the number of churches and mills available along with the quality of the produce markets--suggest that things had come a long way very quickly during his time there.
The existence of the second house raises the question of why it was built. The answer probably lies in the fact that his older sons would have been in their mid to late twenties by the time the property was sold and one of them, at least, might have wanted his own place to live. (Again, see the next section for more on this.)
One last point: The phrases "indisputable title
given" and "will be warranted and defended"
in the advertisement suggest that buyers would still have been sensitive
to the possibility of challenges to their ownership, even in 1771. Indeed,
the ongoing controversies over land titles were not totally settled in New
Jersey until well into the nineteenth century. I detect a certain amount
of pride in William's wording that he is able to give these assurances to
prospective buyers.
For better or worse, the farm did not sell that year. He had mortgaged it to a Capt. John Anderson (of Freehold) in 1769 and remortgaged it to a Nathan Beakes (of Hunterdon County) in 1774. We don't know, at this point, when he finally disposed of it.
Other things we know about his time in Amwell:
During the 1760 to 1775 period, William Allen shifted his operations from New Jersey to Loudoun County, Virginia. This was not a straight-line move though. The record of deeds from the two locales and the Virginia tax rolls, especially, give a very confusing picture of this time. It's hard to say exactly when he "moved." See the next section for details."