Lizzie was a fictional character whose last name was borrowed from one of Hamilton Square's more notable and historic family surnames. I created Lizzie to bring life to the sometimes droll and boring bits and pieced of local history. The concept of creating fictional characters and placing them into actual historic events proved to be successful. During my many years of writing local history, I have created Lawson Tattle, a Trenton newspaper "stringer," Phoebe Howe, an old time resident of Pennington, the Martin family, and others whose names elude me. I drew the pen and ink rendering of the Hooper-Chamberlin-McCabe general store back in the early 1980's when I had younger eyes. It was here where Lizzie waited on her mostly rural Hamilton Square neighbors. I will once again return to the fascinating concept of fictional characters in upcoming Trenton Times "Sentimental Journey" columns, and will post some of my past "Mercer Messenger" fictional character-true incidents articles. Stay tuned; in the meantime, journey back to the Hamilton Square of yesteryear.
Mack said...- Hi Tom:)There was a McCabe Alley across from us on Liberty Street in the Burg between Liberty Deli and Dinger Brothers Iron Works. I wonder if its name is connected to this Hamilton family:)
Tom Glover said...- HI MACK:I REALLY CAN'T SAY WHETHER THERE IS A HAMILTON SQUARE CONNECTION. THERE ARE STILL MCCABES IN THE AREA AND IT IS POSSIBLE.TOM
