Editing Hackettstown, New Jersey (section)

=== Founding ===
William Johnson (1817–1891) was a prime contributor to the incorporation of the town in 1853. He and his brother George (1815–1889) were successful merchants in the town beginning in 1839 when they began operating the W.L. & G.W Johnson dry good store. The two men were very active in community affairs. George was a member of First Presbyterian Church, a director of the Hackettstown National Bank, and a member of the Hackettstown Water Board. Both men were involved in the establishment of the Union Cemetery.<ref>Historic Main Street, Hackettstown, New Jersey, Frank, Leonard and Raymond Lemasters, Harmony Press, Inc, Easton, Pennsylvania, 2006, pp. 77-78</ref>

Hackettstown was named after Samuel Hackett, an early settler and large landowner.<ref>via the ''Trenton Monitor''. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nnJFAAAAIBAJ&sjid=lLwMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5796,3182401&dq=hackettstown+samuel-hackett&hl=en "Origin of Geographical Names in New Jersey"], ''Camden Democrat'', August 12, 1865. Accessed July 6, 2012. "Hackettstown – After Samuel Hackett, an early settler."</ref><ref>[[Henry Gannett|Gannett, Henry]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9V1IAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA146 ''The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States''], p. 146. [[United States Government Printing Office]], 1905. Accessed March 17, 2015.</ref> Hackett is said to have "contributed liberally to the liquid refreshments on the christening of a new hotel, in order to secure the name which, before this, had been Helms' Mills or Musconetcong."<ref>''Northwestern New Jersey–-A History of Somerset, Morris, Hunterdon, Warren, and Sussex Counties'', Vol. 2. (A. Van Doren Honeyman, ed. in chief, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., New York, 1927) p. 689.</ref><ref>Hutchinson, Viola L. [http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/356/nj_place_names_origin.pdf#page=15 ''The Origin of New Jersey Place Names''], New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed August 31, 2015.</ref>