Brokaw-Hyland Farmhouse
Historical Overview
A 2-story, 5-bay house with detached garage stands at 105 Southfield Road, directly across the road from Zaitz Park. This - the Chamberlin-Priory farmhouse - is a member of West Windsor's "100 Club" and possibly one of the town's oldest residences.
It's unknown when the house was built. While tax records state a construction date of 1930,[1] this is almost certainly incorrect and instead probably indicates the date of a major renovation. Instead, a 1988 survey posited that the house was perhaps constructed in the first quarter of the 1800s,[2]while the Township's Conservation Plan element of its Master Plan suggests construction as far back as 1758.[3] Given its unknown date of origin, it's also uncertain who built the house. However, what is known is that, starting in 1741, this land was part of a much-larger property owned by Cornelius Voorhies, which also contained the nearby Schenck Farmstead/West Windsor History Museum.[4] It eventually passed to Koert Voorhies Jr.[5] - a Revolutionary War veteran. Koert served as a Private in the Middlesex County militia from 1775 to the "end of the war" under various captains, and in the Battles of Trenton, Princeton, and Springfield, as well as the "revolt of Pennsylvania Line Troops, January 1781."[6] He was also one of West Windsor's early Commissioners of Taxation Appeal and Overseers of the Highways[7] and one of the original congregants of the First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck when it formed in 1816.[8] |
In 1782 - still amid the war - Koert and his wife, Mary, sold his 150-acre farm to Samuel Bayles Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth, for 700 pounds.[9] Five years later, it passed to John Bergen[10] - who may have also been another Revolutionary War veteran,[11] and who, in turn, willed this "plantation" to his son, Jacob Bergen, upon his death in 1808.[12] Two years later, Jacob and his wife, Syche, sold the farm to Christian VanHortwick.[13] From there, it passed through several more owners over the decades:
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In 1895, Albert Chamberlin purchased the property - still 150 acres - for $4,400.[32] He and his son-in-law, Ezekiel Barclay, founded the fertilizer manufacturer and farm produce dealer, Chamberlin & Barclay.[33] Albert held his 150-acre property for the next thirty-nine years, until his death in 1934,[35] after which it passed to his two daughters: Elizabeth ("Lizzie") Chamberlin Barclay and Myrta Chamberlin Priory.[36],[37] Lizzie was a former Vice President of the Middlesex County Welfare Board and a graduate of the Peddie Institute in Hightstown.[38] Meanwhile, Myrta - who obtained full ownership of the property in 1952[39] - presumably held it for many more years (possibly until shortly before her death in 1989).[40]
The property has passed through a variety of owners since Myrta's ownership. Yet despite changes in occupants, it has remained a contributing element to West Windsor's historical character. |
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