The most recent issue of the Hunterdon Historical Newsletter (Spring 2010), published by the Hunterdon Co. Historical Society, features a long article on the life of George Holcombe Larison, who was born in Delaware Township on January 4, 1831. The list of this man’s accomplishments is astonishingly long, one of the earliest being the establishment of a very successful peach farm at his father’s home on Route 523, across from Sunflower Studio.
Larison married Sarah Q. Fisher, daughter of Caleb Farley Fisher and Rebecca Ann Holcombe, in 1859, the year of his most successful peach crop. The next year he established his medical practice in Lambertville and wrote a pamphlet called “Diseases Prevalent in the Valley of the Delaware.” He treated nearly 100 victims of smallpox in 1863 and ‘64, and later was elected president of the N. J. Medical Society.
Dr. Larison was also a Baptist preacher who ministered in Lambertville, Solebury, Sandy Ridge and Ringoes. He got involved in politics and eventually was elected to Congress in 1878. He was one of the original founding members of the Hunterdon Co. Historical Society in 1885, which is what brought about this interesting article by Donald Cornelius. It is hard to believe that Larison was only 61 years old when he died on March 7, 1892. He led a very full life.
For anyone interested in our history, it is important to support the Hunterdon Co. Historical Society. Of the first 16 members, six came from (or were born in) Delaware Township. They were, in addition to Dr. Larison, Dr. George N. Best, Egbert T. Bush, Asher W. Carroll, Rev. C. S. Conkling (of Stockton when it was part of Delaware), E. M. Heath, and possibly Richard H. Wilson. Articles about them will be published in future issues of the HCHS newsletter.