In January I was invited to Charlie and Marlene Donnell’s 50th anniversary, they now live in Virginia, on the Easter Shore. Charlie grew up on Church Street across the street from me, he had TV before us, so every night at 5:00 pm it was “Howdy Doody Time”,(until we out grew that) but I had to be home at 5:30 pm, because that’s what time Dad got home for supper. His anniversary was like a gathering of old friends, those that did not attend had a medical excuse. It was so worth the trip.
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Last night I had a visit from Carol Heaton Brown and her husband Dave, they were up from South Carolina to visit family and have read my site and we keep in touch; they put me on the visit list. Carol is my age and grew up on Main Street, just across from and down the hill from the Fire House; Dave lived on the same side of Main Street as the Fire House, the last house, next to the Mercer Textile Mill. We spent the entire night talking about old times and of course we said what everyone has said that experienced growing up in Groveville has said “It was a great place to grow up, everyone’s parent looked out for you, and if you did something wrong, your parents knew about it before you got home.
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Carol brought me a folder full of pictures, which I promised to scan and send back to her. This is an example of the love people have for Groveville, like Carol, they have a little piece of Groveville in the photos they and their families have saved over the years and everyone is proud of them and want to pass them on to others. We could have talked for hours, and we did. Most all of my future photos are from Carol.
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It is so great when any of us get together, it’s like family. For years people of our age group held a reunion, no set time, it could happen anytime, someone would get the idea we need a reunion and it would start, but now most of us are retired and moved to faraway places and can’t make it back for a reunion, but they sure were fun, the last few were held at the Crosswicks Fire House.
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I have been told that many people have found a connection with old friends and family through my site and that makes it all worth it.
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I have heard from Groveville people from California, Oregon, Washington State, Florida, Maine, Michigan and other states, I even have received emails about my site from someone serving on a ship in the Gulf, he did say he could not say which Gulf, I could understand that, I don’t need to know.
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It’s amazing how many people I have know just in my lifetime that have grown up in Groveville and moved away, but still have held their memories of his little town with streets that go nowhere, so dear to their hearts. By that I mean if you are in Yardville and going to Crosswicks, Allentown, Robbinsville or Bordentown, there is no need to pass through Groveville, the only people that come to Groveville either live here or are lost. The people that have lived here, even for a short time kept its memory dear.
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Groveville’s cemetery is filled with the names of those that came here, found work, raised their families here and never left, those are the ones that made this little town memorable. I have asked people why their family came to Groveville, what drew them here, these are the newer families of Groveville, those whose family came within the last on hundred years, almost every one that knew their family history told me they came here because the word was out there were jobs in Groveville.
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The Textile and thread mills were the big draw, from the maintenance job that kept the mill clean and running, to the man with the chemical background to perfect dyes and every job in between. There was the Company Store, a Barber Shop, Bakery, Shoe Repair, and the General Store on the corner; we had our own Post Office, School, and later our Fire Company. There were two Borden companies, Borden’s Mincemeat and Borden Cut Glass Company. There was also the McEmoyle Basket Company, manufacturers of canvas products, they invented and produced the canvas wheeled baskets you see in the Post Offices and in Hospitals for linens.
In the early days there were, just over the Yardville border on Church Street, a Grist Mill and a Sawmill.
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Later many Groveville men worked at the Chandler Palruba Oil Cloth Factory in Yardville, some even ventured as far away as the other side of Hamilton Township to the DeLaval Plant.
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Every time I see a Revolving Door, I think that was invented by Mr. VanKannel of Groveville
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What really brought people here was the little town with the very busy Mills.
Front Row Left to Right – Don Snyder - Ray M. Bell - Frank Ferris - John “Johnny” Engle - Albert J. “AJ” Simpson - Charles Thompson - Peter “Pete” Mickschutz - Unknown
