Editing Flemington, New Jersey (section)

===18th century===
Before European settlement, the land that comprises Flemington, as was all of Hunterdon County, was the territory of the [[Lenape|Lenni Lenape]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. In 1712, as part of a land parcel of {{convert|9,170|acre|km2}}, the Flemington area was acquired by [[William Penn]] and [[Daniel Coxe]].

The surrounding fertile farmland dictated that the beginnings of Flemington were agricultural. Early German and English settlers engaged in industries dependent on farm products. As time passed poultry and dairy farms superseded crops in agricultural importance. An example of early settlement families was Johann David and Anna Maria Ephland, who emigrated in 1709 from Germany through London to New York and settled on his {{convert|147.5|acre|km2|adj=on}} farm in 1717. They raised their seven children, and two from his previous marriage, on the farm that now makes up the core of Flemington.

On December 14, 1776, during the [[American Revolutionary War]], a party of British dragoons led by Cornet [[Francis Geary (British Army officer)|Francis Geary]] raided a store owned by Thomas Lowrey near the Presbyterian Church in Flemington to seize a supply of guns. On their return to [[Pennington, New Jersey|Pennington]], local militia led by Captain [[John Schenck]] ambushed them and killed their commander. This skirmish is now known as the [[Ambush of Geary]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mott |first1=George Scudder |title=History of the Presbyterian Church in Flemington, New Jersey |date=1894 |pages=14–17 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofpresbyt00mott/page/16 |oclc=1046526468}}</ref>

In 1785, Flemington was chosen as the County Seat of Hunterdon. Fire destroyed the old courthouse in 1826 and the City of [[Lambertville, New Jersey|Lambertville]] made an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to have the seat relocated there. Flemington remained the County Seat and the Courthouse which stands today on Main Street was built.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}