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===Early history=== [[File:Stelton Baptist Church cemetery, Edison, NJ - area view.jpg|thumb|left|[[Stelton Baptist Church, Edison|Stelton Baptist Church and Cemetery]], the second oldest Baptist Church in New Jersey and the tenth oldest in the [[United States]].<ref name=history>{{cite book |last=Jorgensen |first=Charles W. |title=History of the Stelton Baptist Church |year=1964 |publisher=Stelton Baptist Church }}</ref><ref name=middlesex>{{cite book |last=Wall|first=John P. |title=History of Middlesex County, New Jersey |year=1921| url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmiddles01pick}}</ref><ref name=plaque>{{cite web |url=http://www.edisonnj.org/historic/plaques/histplaq2.asp |title=Stelton Baptist Church |access-date=2007-08-26 |quote=The Stelton Baptist Church is the second oldest Baptist Church in New Jersey and the 10th oldest in the nation. Stelton Baptist Church was formed in the spring of 1689, and among its original members was the Stelle family, after whom the Stelton section of Edison is named. Through 1875, however, the church was known as the First Baptist Church of Piscataway. Present-day congregants celebrated the tercentennial of their church in a year-long celebration in 1989. The land now occupied by the church and burial ground at Stelton was purchased in April 1731, and a house of worship erected there in 1748. This building was taken down and rebuilt in 1825, but was destroyed by fire January 1, 1851. The building which took its place, also burned in 1924, and the present church was erected in 1925. In 1870 the incorporation of parts of Piscataway and Woodbridge Townships to form Raritan Township, placed the church in the latter municipality, which became Edison. |publisher=Edison, New Jersey |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070823115555/http://www.edisonnj.org/historic/plaques/histplaq2.asp <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-08-23}}</ref>]] The earliest residents of the area were the [[Raritan people]] of the [[Lenape]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], who lived in the area and travelled through it to the shore. In 1646, Chief Matouchin led a group of 1,200 warriors.<ref>[http://www.metuchen-edisonhistsoc.org/resources/HISTORY+OF+METUCHEN+Transcript+2012.pdf ''History of Metuchen''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730230841/http://www.metuchen-edisonhistsoc.org/resources/HISTORY+OF+METUCHEN+Transcript+2012.pdf |date=July 30, 2020 }}, [[Federal Writers' Project]] of the [[Works Project Administration]], 1941. Accessed December 3, 2019. "The local natives were doubtless a group of the Raritans who belonged to the Unami tribe. Philhower, an expert on New Jersey's Indians, describes them as 'a quickwitted, modest, fine looking people, black-haired and of a dark copper color' who spoke the Lenape dialect. In 1646 the tribe consisted of 1200 warriors and twenty chiefs, among whom tradition has it was Matouchin, chief of the Indians in this section."</ref> Edison Township, which was formed from sections of Piscataway and Woodbridge townships, was settled (by Europeans) in the 17th century. The earliest village was [[Piscatawaytown, New Jersey|Piscatawaytown]], which is centered around St. James Church and the Piscatawaytown Common, near the intersection of Plainfield and Woodbridge Avenues in South Edison.<ref>Staff. [https://www1.gmnews.com/2011/10/12/artifacts-found-during-search-of-edisons-piscatawaytown/ "Artifacts found during search of Edison's Piscatawaytown"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023145554/https://www1.gmnews.com/2011/10/12/artifacts-found-during-search-of-edisons-piscatawaytown/ |date=October 23, 2019 }}, ''Edison Sentinel'', October 12, 2011. Accessed September 17, 2017. "Three artifacts discovered in the township's oldest neighborhood are believed to date back to the Colonial era. ... Piscatawatown and the Commons were founded in 1666 as the original settlement of Piscataway. The Commons is still public land and is one of the few remaining commons areas in the state. The location was part of Piscataway Township until 1870, when it became part of Raritan Township. In 1954, the area became part of Edison."</ref> The [[Laing House of Plainfield Plantation]] (listed on the National Register in 1988), the [[Benjamin Shotwell House]] (listed 1987) and the [[Homestead Farm at Oak Ridge]] (liste 1995), are buildings from the colonial era included in [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Middlesex County, New Jersey|National Register of Historic Places listings in Middlesex County]].<ref>[https://www.nj.gov/dep/hpo/1identify/nrsr_lists/Middlesex.pdf New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places in Middlesex County] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107045405/http://www.nj.gov/dep/hpo/1identify/nrsr_lists/middlesex.pdf |date=November 7, 2014 }}, [[New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection]] Historic Preservation Office, updated September 18, 2019. Accessed December 4, 2019.</ref> The community was previously known as "Raritan Township", not to be confused with the current-day [[Raritan Township, New Jersey|Raritan Township]] in [[Hunterdon County, New Jersey|Hunterdon County]].<ref name=Story/>
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