The Astle-Alpaugh Family Showcase is maintained by The Astle-Alpaugh Family Foundation and works in conjunction with local museums, historical groups and local private collectors to provide images and descriptions of items of visual and cultural interest to the public at large in the hope that it will provide an appetite to enjoy America’s history and learn some of the country’s lost historical secrets and lifestyles.
Local History Video Series |
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John W. Kuhl, Civil War Collector, Historian, Author
John W. Kuhl authored “Hunterdon County in the Civil War, The Times, The Men, Their Stories”. He is a longtime researcher on New Jersey’s participation in the Civil War, Three Bridges history, and Hunterdon family genealogy, and is a sought-after lecturer on those topics. READ MORE… |
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Tunis Augustus MacDonough Craven Commander, USS Tecumseh, Civil War [Commander Craven] never made it past that rank but certainly would have had he not been killed in the battle of Mobile Bay under extraordinary circumstances that should have gotten him a Medal of Honor. He was born on 11 January 1813 to Tunis Craven and Hanna Tingey at the Portsmouth, NH Shipyard where his father was stationed as a navy purser and storekeeper. READ MORE… |
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Paul Kuhl, 1st Sergeant, Co A, 15th NJ, Civil War he excerpt below is from John Kuhl’s 2013 book, Hunterdon County in the Civil War: The Times, The Men, Their Stories. Full source information can be found at the bottom of the page.Paul had been born in Copper Hill [New Jersey] on 26 November 1842 to Leonard P. Kuhl and Dorothy Sutphin. The Kuhl family had come from Germany to Hunterdon County in the 1720s and farmed there ever since. READ MORE… |
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Stephen M. Domovich, WWII Veteran
The Astle-Alpaugh Family Foundation is committed to the preservation of our local and national heritage. The Foundation works closely with local citizens, historians, collectors, and museums to preserve their stories so that we can all make connections with our shared history. READ MORE… |
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J. Richard Pierce, Collector, U.S. Parade Flags
J. Richard Pierce is a historian and flag collector and the author of The Stars and Stripes: Fabric of the American Spirit (2005). READ MORE… |
Rare Clocks Series |
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Ansonia Tin Can Swinger This clock is a type of Swinging Arm – or “Swinger” – clock that was sold during the mid- to late 1880s. This was the same period during which the Bobbing Doll (Ansonia Jumper Clock), model was manufactured. This particular clock is called a “Tin Can Swinger” because the upper portion containing the movement and paper dial resembles a tin can turned on its side. READ MORE… |
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Ansonia “Huntress Ball Swing” Clock This is an Ansonia “Huntress Ball Swing” clock, an American swing clock first produced by this company at the turn of the twentieth century. Although this style of clock first appeared in their catalogs in 1901, this particular clock is dated 1895, making it quite possibly one of the first ever produced by Ansonia. It belongs to the family style known as “Mystery Clocks”. The power and general function of both the clock motion and the hand movement appear to an observer to be mysterious – a bit of an optical illusion. READ MORE… |
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Silas B. Terry Steeple Clock This steeple clock was constructed in 1834 by Silas B. Terry of the noted Terry Clock Company of Connecticut. It has an oversized balance wheel with an enlarged rack lever style escapement. The thirty-hour time and strike movement is powered by two mainspring driven wooden fuzees. The brass plates of the movement are in one-piece strap style. The banded mahogany steeple-design case is in the “sharp Gothic” style. It features a full-length door with a reverse painted glass panel in the bottom portion of the door. |