Our parents belonged to this church, and had this memorial placed here for us. We fought in the War of 1812 and lost our lives for our country. Had we known there’d be a football team would carry the Rutgers’ name, we might not have worried so much about taking off. Pray for THE KNIGHTS this season, and you’re praying for us. Gotta get some extra points in… but of course, it only seems like a minute or so since we let go of the ball. Not a big deal at all. Let’s GO RUTGERS!!! Oh, and by the way, Rutgers was c renamed Rutgers College in 1825 after a relative of ours from New York, Colonel Henry Rutgers. He was a Revolutionary War hero and son of colonists from the Netherlands. New York was originally “New Amsterdam,” which is Dutch of course.
So just a little history on how Rutgers from New York end up in Trent’s Town. The folks who moved over to New York and Philadelphia in the 1600’s spread out all across New Jersey — great farm lands after we bought all the hunting lands from the Indians. They seemed happy enough to move across the river into Pennsylvania… They didn’t farm like us with oxen, so they were heavy-duty gardeners, fishers and hunters. In those days there seemed to be plenty of land. They just didn’t expect us Europeans to be so industrious. Boy, I’ll tell you my grandfather and father made a ton of money selling timber to England for their ships. They were just then taking over the whole world—sailed them ships around the Horn to India and colonizing Australia. It was some good times for anyone who could swing and axe and build a mill and saw timber!! That’s how our folks got so well-to-do.
My brother and me were born right before this country beCAME a country.. and we were plenty proud. Both of us joined the navy to see the world. Unfortunately, we never made it back to Trenton. Hope you can enjoy the town for us, anyway.!