William Albertus was the first settler of Italian heritage in Lawrence, according to Township Historian Robert Immordino.
By:Lea Kahn Staff Writer
William Albertus was honored with two proclamations in recognition of his birthday Friday night one proclamation issued by Township Council and another one issued by the Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
Unfortunately, Mr. Albertus was not on hand to receive the proclamations. The late Mr. Albertus, who was honored as the first Italian-American to settle in Lawrence, has been dead for more than 250 years.
But that didn’t stop Township Historian Robert Immordino from organizing a birthday party to celebrate Mr. Albertus’ birth on March 31, 1652, which was attended by about 30 people some of Italian ancestry.
John Pecci, who lives in the White Pines Apartments, said he attended the party in the lower level conference room at the Municipal Building because he is "extremely interested" in the heritage of Italian-Americans.
Mr. Pecci, who has lived in Lawrence for about 30 years, said he belongs to several Italian-oriented organizations, including the Sons of Italy and the Mercer County Italian American Federation.
"We all like to identify with a famous person," Mr. Pecci said. "It’s more of a pride in William Albertus’ accomplishments (as the first Italian-American in Lawrence). I guess it all goes back to discrimination. We Italian-Americans have had our share of discrimination. We want to talk about his achievements."
Those achievements include Mr. Albertus’ purchase of 500 acres of land back in 1701 in Maidenhead Township as Lawrence was known from its incorporation in 1697 until its name was changed in 1816.
Mr. Albertus was the sixth of seven children born to an Italian father and a Dutch mother in what was known as Newtown, N.Y., which is today’s Brooklyn, Mr. Immordino said.
When Mr. Albertus bought land in Lawrence in 1701, he became the first Italian-American to settle in the township. He bought the land, located along Stony Brook near the present day Educational Testing Service, from Ralph Hunt, a former neighbor from Newtown who moved to Maidenhead.
In 1707, Mr. Albertus bought a smaller tract of land in nearby Amwell Township and moved to that community. He was elected constable in Amwell Township in 1722, earning him the distinction of being the earliest if the not the first Italian-American to hold public office in New Jersey, Mr. Immordino said.
Mr. Albertus lived to be around 80 years old, Mr. Immordino said. He left no other records, and very little is known of what happened to his family or their descendants, the township historian added.
Mayor Powers presented Township Council’s proclamation to Mr. Immordino, adding that he made it a point in his inaugural remarks on New Year’s Day to mention the rich ethnic heritage in Lawrence. The history of Italian-Americans in Lawrence and in the United States pre-dates the wave of immigration in the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries, he said.
Mr. Colavita, who also presented a proclamation to Mr. Immordino on behalf of the county freeholder board, greeted the audience in Italian. He said he had just returned from a visit to Italy earlier in the week, where he had visited daughter Courtney Colavita at her home in Milan.
Mr. Colavita related to the audience that his family has lived in the Eldridge Park section of Lawrence for 101 years. He said the Colavita family’s home on Manitee Avenue, with its chickens, geese, goats and fruit trees, resembles the family’s ancestral home in San’ Elia. The small village is near Naples, in the Molise region of southern Italy.
Freeholders Lucy Walter and Anthony Carabelli, and Maurice Perilli, executive vice president and chairman of the board of director of Roma Bank and the first Italian-American mayor of Hamilton Township, also attended Mr. Albertus’ birthday party.

