Grovers Mill: The Wiley-Sanders Farm

The Wiley-Sanders house and barn, Dec. 2018. From Paul Ligeti.

Historical Overview

This property - containing a long, 7-bay clapboard house, barns, and other outbuildings at 249 Cranbury Road - is a contributing element of the historic West Windsor community of Grovers Mill and also a member of West Windsor's "100 Club".  Town records suggest the house may date to around the year 1800.[1],[2]

This was once part of a much-larger tract bought by Benjamin Atchley in 1748, which encompassed most of the Grovers Mill area. This 500-acre property was bounded by the Millstone River to the north, Princeton-Hightstown Road to the south, present-day Rabbit Hill Road to the east, and present-day North Mill Road to the west.[3] After his death circa 1794, his estate was split into several dozen properties, with his daughter, Hannah, inheriting this one.[4] Provided that the house was indeed constructed in 1800, this makes her its first owner. 

​​In 1824, Hannah sold this property - then around nineteen acres with a house, per the deed - to William Wiley,[5] a local farmer.[6] William - a West Windsor "Overseer of the Highways" (1837-38, 1839-47) and Commissioner of Taxation Appeal (1840-46)[7] was likely the owner until his death in 1879,[8] whereupon his son, Symmes, inherited the property.[9]

Closeup of 1849 Mercer County map. Note "W. Wiley."

Symmes himself was also active in West Windsor, as a Constable (1876-77) and Poundkeeper (1876-78).[10] He died in 1918,[11] at which point the property was likely again bequeathed, to his son, William.[12]

​In 1928, over a century of Wiley family ownership came to a close when William Sanders - an auto mechanic - and his wife, Mary, purchased the property.[13],[14] The house remained in Sanders family hands for the next 51 years, when William's grandson - Robert C. Sanders Jr. - sold the property.[15] 

Following the Sanders were other owners. The current owners (at the time of this writing in 2023) have long operated an automobile mechanic service on this property for many years, in the tradition of William Sanders before them.[16] And like the Wileys even further in the past, they maintain a house, surrounded by outbuildings and farmland, that harken to the property's generations-old agricultural roots.

Sanders truck loaded with crops. Note that "Cranbury" was the postal route name at the time but the property was and is indeed in West Windsor Township.

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Bibliography

1. “Section IX – Conservation Plan Element – West Windsor Master Plan.” West Windsor Township, 2002.
2. “West Windsor Township Natural Resource Inventory.” West Windsor Township, NJ: Historical Society of West Windsor's archives at the West Windsor History Museum, 1978. Updated in 1991
3. Atchley, Benjamin, Atchley, Joshua, Henderson, Jonathan. “Indenture.” Windsor, 1748. Deed from Jonathan Henderson to Benjamin and Joshua Atchley for property encompassing 249 Cranbury Road (Joshua would later sell this land to Benjamin entirely). Located in the New Jersey State Archives, East Jersey Deeds, G-3 Folio 347.
4. Morris, M. (1805). Map of Benjamin Atchley estate, 1794 (1805 Reproduction). Historical Society of West Windsor Archives at the West Windsor History Museum. map, West Windsor, New Jersey. 
5. Atchley, Hannah, Wiley, William. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1824. Deed from Hannah Atchley to William Wiley for property encompassing 249 Cranbury Road. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 16 Page 803.
6. United States Census, 1850 - West Windsor Township.” West Windsor Township, 1850.
7. “West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
8. “Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church Graveyard.” West Windsor, New Jersey, n.d. About 1,200 internments with gravestones memorializing families dating back to the mid-1700s.
9. “Automobile Driving and Trolley Map of Mercer County, New Jersey, 1905 : from the Latest Geological and Actual Surveys.” Map. Princeton UniveArsity Library - Digital Maps & Geospatial Data. https://maps.princeton.edu/catalog/princeton-5q47rr19d, 
   n.d. Accessed May 19, 2022.
10. “West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
11. Wiley, Symmes H., Wiley, William. “Will of Symms H. Wiley” May 8, 1863. New Jersey, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1739-1991 - Volume 3 (1915-1920) - Page 319. Found online at https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/8796/images/005663013_00198?pId=294779
12. Sanders, Mary, Sanders, William C., Wiley, William. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1928. Deed from William Wiley to William C. Sanders and Mary W. Sanders for property encompassing 249 Cranbury Road. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Mercer County Deed Book 639 Page 114.
13. Ibid.
14. United States Census, 1920 - West Windsor Township.” West Windsor Township, 1920.
15. Barry, Barbara S., Barry, Thomas P., Sanders, Alice T., Sanders, Robert C. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1979. Deed from Robert C. Sanders and Alice T. Sanders to Barbara S. Barry and Thomas P. Barry for property encompassing 249 Cranbury Road. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Mercer County Deed Book 2111 Page 84.
16. Personal observations of the author of this article (Paul Ligeti).