Township Council re-enacts 1816 town meeting.
By: Lea Kahn
Pam Mount spent the first several minutes of her second term as mayor looking ahead to 2005. Then she asked the audience at the annual reorganization meeting Saturday to look back way back.
Mayor Mount asked the standing-room-only crowd to go back 189 years to be exact, as she sought to recreate the Jan. 6, 1816 town meeting that discussed renaming of Maidenhead Township, as Lawrence was originally known.
"Let’s pretend it’s Jan. 6, 1816," she said. "Lawrence is called Maidenhead and some people do not like that idea. I understand Rev. Brown would like to speak (to the Town Committee)."
The Rev. Isaac V. Brown portrayed by Township Historian Richard Graja said that as pastor of the Maidenhead Presbyterian Church and founder of the Maidenhead Academy, he would like to change the name of the town "as a matter of decency and modesty."
The Rev. Brown presented a petition bearing 90 signatures, urging the governing body to change the name of the township.
Mayor Mount opened the town meeting to the audience, seeking suggestions for a new name for Maidenhead Township. The suggestions ranged from Phillipstown to Brearleyville to Hartville.
Jim Washburn, who teaches at The Lawrenceville School formerly called Maidenhead Academy suggested naming the town for the Phillips family, who were among the early settlers. The family donated land for the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, and members of the Phillips family also were leaders in the farming community.
Former Township Councilwoman Mary Tanner called on the governing body to rename the town Brearleyville, in honor of the Brearley family also among the earliest settlers of the township.
Ms. Tanner also pointed out that David Brearley signed the U.S. Constitution and his brother, Joseph Brearley, was an aide to Gen. George Washington. Joseph Brearley took part in a failed attempt to conquer Canada.
Lawrence Intermediate School fifth-graders Taylor Metelus, Abel McDaniel and Nigel Peron students in Jane Fetter’s class came up with their own ideas.
Taylor suggested naming the township Hartville, in honor of John Hart, a local farmer who signed the Declaration of Independence and also served in the state Assembly.
Abel said the township should be renamed in honor of Dolley Madison, wife of U.S. President James Madison, while Nigel called on the township to be named Washingtonville for President George Washington and his wife, Martha Washington.
Lawrence Historical Society president Janet Bickal, paraphrasing Abigail Adams wife of U.S. President John Adams urged the Town Committee to "remember the ladies" and name the town Mollyville, in honor of Revolutionary War heroine Molly Pitcher.
Maidenhead Township should be renamed Tatamy Township, said Rider University history professor William Guthrie.
Moses Tatamy was a Lenni Lenape Indian who lived in Maidenhead Township in the mid-18th-century, Mr. Guthrie said. Moses Tatamy was an interpreter who worked to smooth out relations between the Indians and the settlers, he said.
Handtown was the suggestion of William Agress, who portrays Col. Edward Hand in the annual re-enactment of the Revolutionary War hero’s military skirmishes that delayed the British as they marched through Maidenhead Township on their way to Trenton in January 1777.
Former Chief of Police Nicholas Loveless said the township should be renamed Mercer, in memory of Gen. Hugh Mercer, who was killed at the Battle of Princeton. Gen. Mercer gave up a successful practice as a physician to join the Continental Army, Mr. Loveless said.
It was left to former Township Historian Robert Immordino to suggest changing the name of Maidenhead Township to Lawrence Township, honoring U.S. Navy Capt. James Lawrence. A hero of the War of 1812, he was killed in action. He gave the U.S. Navy its motto "Don’t give up the ship."
Mayor Mount said she appreciated the names that were suggested, adding, "I have a funny feeling that towns will be named after all those people, sometime in the future."
While the proposal to change the name of the township was voted down by the residents who attended the town meeting in January 1816, the Rev. Brown did not give up. He went to the state Legislature and convinced the lawmakers to approve a bill that would change the name of Maidenhead Township to Lawrence Township.
"And so it is, we are now Lawrence Township," Mayor Mount said.

