Slayback-Reed Homestead

Slayback Residence in 2018.

Historical Overview

Pictured above is 540-542 Village Road West in the historic West Windsor community of Dutch Neck. Perhaps dating to the 1750s/60s,[1] it’s one of West Windsor's very oldest structures and also a member of the "100 Club".

The house is believed to have been constructed in multiple sections over time (as suggested by irregular window placement and two front doors) and may have housed multiple families at some point. We don't know for certain who constructed it, but a good candidate is David Slayback, its first known owner. David - originally named "Tewald Schlabbach" - was reputedly born in 1720 in Alsace, France, to Johannes Schlabbach and his wife, Maria Elizabeth. Alsace was in chronic territorial and religious dispute, and the Schlabbachs - said to be Protestant and of German descent - were perhaps the victims of land grabs and religious persecution in a predominantly Catholic nation. Thus, in 1733, they booked passage on the Irish ship "Mary" (sometimes called the "Pink Mary") and sailed for America, arriving in Philadelphia that September 29. The ship's manifest also mentions David's siblings: John Henry, Heinrich (Henry), and Dorothea.[2]

The Schlabbachs are believed to have first settled in Trenton, perhaps around which time Tewald changed his name to "David Slayback." He married Anne Huff in 1746 and was naturalized in 1761. He and Anne had several children, including John David, David, Abel, Solomon, Eve, William, Jesse, Anne, and Jesse (born after the former Jesse died in childhood).[3]

It's unknown when David and his family moved to Windsor Township. However, tax rolls from June 1778 list him as living here on a 200-acre plantation.[4] In 1782, he submitted a damage claim to the colonial government, asserting that on December 28, 1776, during the Revolutionary War, Hessian troops had stolen two "yearling heifers or [oxen]" collectively worth 11 pounds. This was presumably on this same farm. It's unknown if he was ever compensated.[5]

David died in 1791. Among other items, his will allowed his wife permanent residency in his "mansion house" and bequeathed his farmstead to two of his sons, Abel and Jesse.[6] It seems that the two split the property into two (approximately) 100-acre tracts, with Abel receiving the southern half, including the house,[7] and Jesse receiving the northern half.[8] It is Abel's portion that this article explores.

Abel was West Windsor’s very first Tax Collector and Overseer of the Poor when the town formed in 1797. He was later an Overseer of the Highways and a Commissioner for Laying Roads.[9] Regrettably, despite the work he did for the Township, he was also a slaveowner. At least one "abandonment" from 1806 shows him ceding control of a baby girl named Fanny to West Windsor Township.[10]

In 1818 (by which time he had moved to Butler Township in Ohio) he sold the southeastern corner of his property to the Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church[11] which, two years prior, had constructed their current house of worship on it at 154 South Mill Road.[12] This plot was just a tiny portion at the southeastern corner of Abel's entire 100-acre property, most of which (including the house pictured here) had been sold, in 1811, to John G. Bergen.[13]

Dutch Neck, 1849. Note "W. Updike."

Painting of Slayback Residence in 1950s or 1960s. Courtesy of Kay and Clifford Reed.

After John died c. 1812, his heirs (William Nutt, Ellenor Bergen, and Rutes Bergen) inherited it and sold it to Joseph Nutt in 1818.[14] From there, it passed through the following families until William Updike's acquisition of the property:

• 1825-1828: Joseph Hill, Executor of the Estate of Joseph Nutt.[15],[16]
• 1828-1829: William Welling.[17]
• 1829-1830: Thomas & Margaret Capner.[18]
• Joseph Hill & Wife (1830-1840).[19]
• Edward Dolton & Wife (1840-1843).[20]
• William Updike (1843-1882).[21]

The Updikes, too, had lived in the West Windsor area since the mid-1700s.[22] Through the 1860s-70s, William Updike was a Township Committee member, Poundkeeper, Judge of Elections, and Commissioner of Taxation Appeal.[23] Upon his death in c. 1882, his son, Levi, inherited the property and, in 1912, sold it to Sarah E. and David D. Bergen and Carrie S. Cook.[24] They, in turn, owned the property until 1939, when it was acquired by Lester W. and Evalinda M. Reed.[25]​ The Reed family has owned the property ever since.

​In the 1980s, amid West Windsor’s rapid suburban growth, the LeParc II development was constructed on the Reed farm. Virtually all of the farmland is gone at the time of this writing (2024). However, the house - originally located approximately where 1 Rosewood Court now exists - was saved by moving it about 100 yards south to its current location at 540-542 Village Road West.[26],[27]​ There it sits, next to Reed Drive North and Reed Drive South (themselves named after the Reed family), an icon to centuries of West Windsor history.

Go to Dutch Neck

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Bibliography

1. ​“West Windsor Tax Assessor Address List, 2019.” West Windsor, 2019. List of all residences in West Windsor with dates of construction, according to tax assessor. Sent to the Historical Society by Lorraine Jones and Dawn Moretti. For this specific citation, look at 542 Village Road West.
2. ​“David SLAYBACK (1720-1791) to Anna (‘Annie’) E. SLAYBACK (1846-1917).” P D Family Tree. Accessed February 12, 2024. https://sites.rootsweb.com/~pdfamilytree/slaline01.htm. 
3. Ibid.
4. ​“Windsor Township Tax Ratables, June 1778.” Windsor, 1778. Lists families that lived in Windsor Township in June of 1778. Digital copy donated to the Historical Society of West Windsor from the the New Jersey State Archives; listed in their archives as being in Book 1073, Box 50, Item 4, GMNJ 51:124-133, Reel 13. Also located in the Historical Society of West Windsor's West Windsor History Museum digital archives.
5. Slayback, David. “Revolutionary War Damage Claim - David Slayback.” Windsor Township, Middlesex County, New JErsey, October 15, 1782. Claim for compensation for 11 pounds to compensate for Hessian troops stealing 2 "yearling heifers or ox" on December 28, 1776.
6. Slayback, David. “Will of David Slayback.” Windsor Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey, March 20, 1791. Located in the New Jersey State Archives. Will written March 20, 1791. Executors: "friends Jonathan Combs and sons, John and Able Slayback." Witnesses: Rutas Covenhoven, George G. Bergen, John G. Bergen. Proved May 17, 1791 (Lib. 32, p. 437). Inventory made MAy 4, 1791 by Coert Voorhees and John G. Bergen (File 7891-7895L).
7. Slayback, Abel, Bergen, John G. Ms. Deed. New Jersey State Archives, 1811. Found in New Jersey State Archives Manuscript Room - Middlesex County Deeds - Middlesex County Deed Book 9 Page 211.
8. Covenhoven, Lamatie, Covenhoven, Rutes, Post, Tunis. Ms. Deed. New Jersey State Archives, 1805. Found in New Jersey State Archives Manuscript Room - Middlesex County Deeds - Middlesex County Deed Book 6 Page 254.
9.  “West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
10. Slaback, Abel, and Francis Labaw. “Abandonment of Fanny.” West Windsor, NJ, February 22, 1806. Letter from Abel Slayback to Francis Labaw, Clark of the Township of West Windsor, abandoning Abel's possession of a young baby girl slave named "Fanny." A physical copy of this letter is in the Archives of West Windsor Township at its Municipal Building (271 Clarksville Road).​
    
11. Slayback, Abel, Trustees of the Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church. Ms. Deed. New Jersey State Archives, 1818. Found in New Jersey State Archives Manuscript Room - Middlesex County Deeds - Middlesex County Deed Book 15 Page 290.
12. Sesquicentennial History: 1816-1966. West Windsor, New Jersey: First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck, 1966.
13. Slayback, Abel, Bergen, John G. Ms. Deed. New Jersey State Archives, 1811. Found in New Jersey State Archives Manuscript Room - Middlesex County Deeds - Middlesex County Deed Book 9 Page 211.
14. Nutt, William, Bergen, Ellenor, Bergen, Rutes, Nutt, Joseph. Ms. Deed. New Jersey State Archives, 1818. Found in New Jersey State Archives Manuscript Room - Middlesex County Deeds - Middlesex County Deed Book 13 Page 175.
15. Hamilton Square Baptist Church. (n.d.). Hamilton Square Baptist Church graveyard. Hamilton, New Jersey. Hamilton Square Baptist Church graveyard gravestones, which often list birth dates, death dates, and ages of those buried there - including those of many of West Windsor's oldest families, and including the individual(s) relevant to this citation.
16. Hill, Joseph, Welling, William. Ms. Deed. New Jersey State Archives, 1828. Found in New Jersey State Archives Manuscript Room - Middlesex County Deeds - Middlesex County Deed Book 26 Page 480.
17. Ibid.
18. Capner, Thomas Jr., Capner, Margaret, Welling, William. Ms. Deed. New Jersey State Archives, 1829. Found in New Jersey State Archives Manuscript Room - Middlesex County Deeds - Middlesex County Deed Book 26 Page 482.
19. Capner, Thomas Jr., Capner, Hill, Joseph. Ms. Deed. New Jersey State Archives, 1830. Found in New Jersey State Archives Manuscript Room - Middlesex County Deeds - Middlesex County Deed Book 26 Page 483.
20. Dolton, Edward, Hill, Joseph. Ms. Deed. New Jersey State Archives, 1840. Found in the Mercer County Clerk's Office - Mercer County Deeds - Mercer County Deed Book B Page 398.
21. Hill, Joseph, Updike, William. Ms. Deed. New Jersey State Archives, 1843. Found in the Mercer County Clerk's Office - Mercer County Deeds - Mercer County Deed Book G Page 17.
22. Lee, Francis Bazley. Genealogical and Personal Memorial of Mercer County, New Jersey. Lewis Publishing Company, 1907.
23. “West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
24. Bergen, David D., Bergen, Sarah E., Cook, Carrie S., Reed, Evalinda M., Reed, Lester W. Ms. Deed. New Jersey State Archives, 1939. Found in the Mercer County Clerk's Office - Mercer County Deeds - Mercer County Deed Book 784 Page 180.
25. ​Ibid.
26.  “West Windsor Aerial Photography Composite Map, 1985.” Map. Historical Society of West Windsor - Map Archives. West Windsor, NJ, 1985
27.  “West Windsor Aerial Photography Composite Map, 1990” Map. Historical Society of West Windsor - Map Archives. West Windsor, NJ, 1990​