Hankins-Hall Farmstead

Hankins-Hall house, garage, and barn (L to R), Sept. 2019.

Historical Overview

Around 120 acres of farmland sprawls off of Village Road East and South Lane, near the eastern edge of West Windsor Township. In the center of this land are an old farmhouse, a garage, and a gambrel-roof wooden barn. This is the Hankins-Hall farmstead - a member of West Windsor's "100 Club."

The house likely dates to between 1860 and 1875; the barn may be of a similar age.​[1],[2] The house was probably built by Zachariah Hankins, who purchased about 81 acres here from John Barclay Perrine for $3,000.[3] The 1870 census shows him living here with his wife (Abagail), children (Barzillai and Helena), and a farm laborer named Joseph Smith.[4] Zachariah died in 1900,[5] after which the property perhaps passed to Abagail, and then a number of years later to Barzillai,[6] who kept the farm until his death in 1938.[7] It was presumably at this point that Barzillai's daughter, Elizabeth, acquired the property.[8] She probably lived here with her husband, William Blackwell, and possibly their children.[9]

In 1956, the property passed out of Hankins hands, after 90 years of family ownership, when Elizabeth sold the tract to Joseph and Edith Hall.[10] The couple owned and operated Hall's Service Station in the "Princeton Junction" section of town.[11],[12] Joe also ran the Windsor Septic Company and the J. W. Hall Bus Company. Additionally, he served in the United States Navy for many years, notably fighting in the World War II Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Phillipines as part of the larger Pacific Campaign.[13]

In 2002, the property passed to another generation of Halls. Seventeen years later, West Windsor Township seized virtually all of the farmland via eminent domain to preserve it as agricultural land and prevent its development into a sea of housing units.[14] Still, at the time of this writing (November 2024), the old house, barn, and garage themselves still remain in Hall family hands, as they have been for nearly the past seventy years.

Size of Hankins-Hall farm in mid-1800s.

Part of the Hankins-Hall farm, Sept. 2023, viewed from Village Road East.

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Bibliography

1. Lake, D J, and S N Beers. Map of the Vicinity of Philadelphia and Trenton from Actual Surveys By D.J. Lake and S. N. Beers. Assisted by F. Beers, L. B. Lake and D. G. Beers. Philadelphia, PA: C.K. Stone and A. Pomeroy, 1860. https://dspace.njstatelib.org/xmlui/handle/10929/34112?show=fullf
2. ​“West Windsor Township.” Map. 1875 Historical Atlas of Mercer County, New Jersey - Map of West Windsor. Philadelphia, PA: Everts & Stuart, 1875. https://www.loc.gov/item/2010587333/.
3. Hankins, Zachariah, Perrine, John Barclay. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1866. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 64, Page 182.
4. ​United States Census, 1870 - West Windsor Township.” West Windsor Township, 1870.
5. Jacobstown Baptist Church. (n.d.). Jacobstown Baptist Church graveyard. Jacobstown, Burlington County, New Jersey. Jacobstown Baptist Church graveyard gravestones, one of which is for Zachariah Hankins.
6. Fryer, H L. “Tax Maps of West Windsor Township.” Map. Trenton, New Jersey: H. L. Fryer, C.S., 1938. Revised by C. S. Sincerbeaux, 1938.
   
7. "Obituary - Barzillai K. Hankins Dies at Dutch Neck." Trenton Evening Times. April 9, 1938.
8. Ibid.
9. "Mrs. Elizabeth Blackwell." The Trentonian. August 14, 1965.
10. Blackwell, Elizabeth Elberta, Hall, Joseph. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1956. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 1366, Page 125.
11. "Edith M. Hall, 67." The Trentonian. July 18, 1991.
12. "Joseph W. Hall." The Times (Trenton). January 15, 2019.
    
13. Ibid.
14. Reading, Catherine, Hall, W., West Windsor Township. "Deed." West Windsor, 2019. Located in the Mercer County Clerk's Office, Mercer County Deed Book 6380, Page 240.​