Born in North Oxford Massachusetts on Christmas Day 1821 Clara Barton arrived into a large family of teachers and educators. The youngest of five children Clara learned early the importance of education, caring and self reliance. She was 10 years younger then her youngest sibling, 3 out of 4 of her brother and sisters were teachers. When her brother David …

Francis Hopkinson, member of the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence lived in this town. His beautiful home is still standing, a treasure on the National Register of Historic Places. It was used as British headquarters when the town was occupied during the Revolutionary War. Francis’ son Joseph, author of our first national anthem, Hail Columbia, resided …

In 1717 Joseph Borden settled here, bought up a substantial part of the land and changed the town’s name to Borden’s Towne. By 1740, he started a packet line from Philadelphia to Bordentown. Travelers would stop and rest in Borden’s Towne and then board the Borden Stage for Perth Amboy where they would make their ferry boat connections to New …

A woman ahead of her time Patience Lovell Wright was born on Long Island in 1725. She moved to Bordentown at age 4 with her family. At 23 Patience married an elderly Quaker Farmer Joseph Wright. They lived at 100 Farnsworth Ave. in Bordentown City. Together they had five children; the last Sarah was born after Joseph’s death. At the …

Stephen Sayre was born in Long Island, graduated from Princeton University and served as a captain of militia in the last of the French and Indian Wars. At about thirty years of age, Sayre visited England and was part of the thousand-strong American community living in London during the outbreak of the War of Independence. He was chosen High Sheriff …

Thomas Paine was an English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary. He authored the two most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution and inspired the patriots in 1776 to declare independence from Great Britain. His ideas reflected Enlightenment-era ideals of transnational human rights. Historian Saul K. Padover described him as “a corsetmaker by trade, a …