Chatham Township, NJ: Secrets from the Past: The Rise and Demise of America's Fourteenth Colony

The history of this unique endeavor is written by an eye witness to the "rise and demise" of America's Fourteenth Colony. The story is the result of the author retrieving original documents to verify the people and events of an odyssey that spanned five decades. The story is collaborated by the survivors and the beneficiaries of an experiment, for a better way of life, by a group of predominately Eastern European and Russian Jews with their political "shades of red" philosophy settling into what was a predominately "conservative" Chatham Township, a rural community in Central New Jersey. It is a story of objection, rejection, suspicion, ridicule and ultimately, assimilation and acceptance. The story has been influenced and colored by the author's personal observations and personal experiences while growing up in the Colony. Bert Abbazia was a "Colony Boy".

Bert Abbazia was born the second son of Oreste and Frieda Somer Abbazia, original Colony members on August 14th, 1927. He is the "product" of what in 1927 was considered a mixed marriage. His father had been a practicing Catholic in his formative years while his mother was an agnostic Romanian Jew. He enjoyed a happy, carefree childhood growing up surrounded by nature's gifts at 252 Lafayette Avenue in the Colony section of Chatham Township. Bert earned eleven varsity letters and received All State recognition for Soccer and Basketball while at Chatham High School. Upon his graduation he enlisted in the US Navy at age seventeen and served on the USS Houston during World War ll. August 14th became a significant day in the author's life. Not only was August 14th his birth date, it was the day Japan surrendered in 1945 and the day Bert was honorably discharged in 1946. Within two weeks after his discharge he enrolled at Seton Hall College. The year, 1949, saw Bert start Done-Well Cleaners, graduate Seton Hall University and marry his high school sweetheart. He and his wife Theresa are the proud parents of three daughters, six grandchildren and six great grandchildren. With each passing year he had the realization that "the environment and the circumstances" surrounding his upbringing were unique. "Here is a story that was waiting to be told and I had to tell it"