Califon

From pages 174 and 175 of Lequear's "Traditions of Hunterdon"

"James Parker owned land at California <now Califon>, as well as several thousand acres at Potterstown. The first mill built at California was a small affair erected by one Sheiler several years before the Revolution, which was burned. Aaron Sutton came here about the time of the war and erected a frame mill, which, after standing a few years, was torn down and one of stone built in its stead.

"Mr. Sutton, like many other ambitious men, determined to drive a heavy business. He soon became celebrated in his locality, for his enterprise, and large business transactions. He was, at first, encouraged in his movements by Mr. Parker, who backed him up with money. If a piece of land was to be sold, at a price higher than the prudent farmers dare go, Sutton was told that he could stand it, and in he went---deep in speculation and deeper in debt. He built a splendid mansion, now standing, but somewhat the worse for wear, costing more than five thousand dollars, a heavy sum for a house in the wilderness, in those days, and then expended a like sum to furnish it. The result was total failure, and the man who had launched out in such magnificent style found himself and his family beggars. Then there was no houses in what is now the village of California.

"Cokesbury was settled by a German population, the first land owners being the Apgars, Cramers, and Hoffmans, whose descendants live on farms where their ancestors were content to cultivate the little patches of land that had been cleared by the Indians and probably had worked for centuries...."

"There was a small hut kept as a tavern on the site of the present Cokesbury tavern, about as soon as any settlers came to this place, which was about 1740. About the commencement of the present century only four houses stood near the limits of the villiage: The old Hoffman homestead, the tavern, kept by Conrad Apgar, and the house at the end of the mountain, where James Farley lived. There was another old house, the ruins of which are still to be seen, surrounded by some Lombardy poplars, about a hundred yards from the tavern, but this was, even in the olden time, uninhabited save by owls, bats, ghosts and other such unprofitable and transient occupants."

Originally published 1869-70.