Descendants of Founders of New Jersey

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David Ackerman was born at Geffen, Holland in September 1653, and baptized 5 October 1653. He married Hillegont Verplanck, born October 1648 and baptized 1 November at New Amsterdam. David died at Hackensack, New Jersey, between 2 October 1710 and 4 June 1724.

David was the fourth child of David and Lysbeth Bellier Ackerman. The family, which included five other children besides David, left Amsterdam 2 September 1662, on the ship Vos. The Dutch West India Company ledger of the trip is still preserved at the New York State Archives in Albany. David, the father, probably died on the voyage, but Lysbeth managed to keep her family together, settling at New Amsterdam. At her second marriage in 1668 she moved to Harlem.

David Jr. married by license dated 13 March 1680, at New York Hillegont Verplanck who was born in 1648 at New Amsterdam. She was the daughter of Abraham Isaacsen Verplanck and Maria Vinge. At one time David owned the property at No. 1 Broadway, New York City. He paid quit rents for three years, from 1680 to 1683 on 540 acres of land in Essex County, New Jersey, now part of Bergen County, then moved his family in 1685 to Hackensack.

With his wife Hillegont, David was one of the organizers of the Reformed Dutch Church at Hackensack in 1686. His initials are carved in the outside wall of the Church Tower. He was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1699. His will, dated 2 October 1710, and proved 4 October 1724, mentions three children who lived to adulthood, and his wife, who outlived her husband.

Abraham Ackerman was born at Berlicum, Holland on 3 May 1656/59. He married Aeltie Van Laer, daughter of Adrian Van Laer and Abigael Ver Planken, at Flatbush, Long Island, NY on 28 May 1683. Their marriage was recorded at both the New York and Bergen Reformed Dutch Churches. Her father came from Amsterdam with his servant in the ship “Gilded Beaver” in May 1658. Aeltie was born on 14 May 1663, and baptized at Kingston, NY on 26 Apr 1666. Abraham and Aeltie Ackerman had fourteen children; the first two born in New York, and the rest at Bergen, NJ.

Abraham was the seventh, and youngest, child of David and Lysbeth Bellier Ackerman. The family left Amsterdam on 2 Sept 1662 on the ship De Vos (“The Fox”), arriving in New Amsterdam on 14 Nov 1662 after a stormy voyage. The Dutch West India Company ledger of the trip is still preserved at the New York State Archives in Albany. David, the father, probably died on the voyage, but Lysbeth managed to keep her family together, settling at New Amsterdam. At her second marriage in 1668 to Kier Wolthers, she moved to his farm at Harlem, just north of New York City. Abraham, then nearly twelve, was old enough to help with work on the farm.

From the deed dated 10 Mar 1689 from John Berry to Louwerense Ackerman, brother of Abraham, we learn that Abraham owned a tract of land south of that conveyed to Louwerense, reaching from the Hackensack River to the Saddle River. This location comprises the whole of what is now known as Woodridge and Hasbrouck Heights, NJ.

Abraham Ackerman was received into the Dutch Reformed Church at Hackensack, NJ on 3 Oct 1696. His wife Aeltie Van Laer was received on 3 Jan 1697. Among the founders of this Church were his two brothers, David and Louwerense, and their wives. This Church was also known as the Church on the Green. The date of Abraham’s death is unrecorded. Both he and his wife Aeltie were present at the baptism of a grandchild in 1723. There is a fieldstone marker for his grave at the west side of the Reformed Dutch Church at Hackensack, NJ.E1

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Thomas Alger's birth date and place are unknown. He married Susanna (-) her last name unknown. He died at Woodbridge, New Jersey, between 4 January and 14 January 1687/8, the dates of his will.

Very little is known concerning the life of Thomas Alger. His name was recorded variously, as "Auger" or "Awger". When the family arrived in this country is not now known, but he was among the first settlers of Woodbridge where he received a house lot of 12 acres, 120 acres of upland and 35 acres of meadows on 18 March 1669/70.

Thomas and Susanna had at least two sons and two daughters, namely Thomas, Jr., William, Susannah, and Mary (or Marie), probably all born before the family arrived at Woodbridge, but that has not been determined. Thomas' wife Susanna outlived him and was Executrix of his will which mentions his property as a plantation, a home lot in Woodbridge, and a share in the mill by John Dennis as well as his family as consisting of son William, daughter Mary Gilman, grandchild John, son of John Allen of Woodbridg". The inventory of his estate includes £ 30 for Thomas’ share of the grist mill.

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John Allen’s birth place and exact date of birth are unknown. The first mention of John Allen is in 1644, where in the allotment of town lots in Rehoboth, Plymouth Colony, he was given, lot no. 42. He then appears in the records at Barnstable, Cape Cod in 1650 and also at Newport, Rhode Island in the same year. He was a Quaker

John married Elizabeth Bacon on 11 October 1650, at a Friend’s Ceremony. They had the following issue:
Elizabeth Allen born 1651, married Nathaniel Tompkins
Mary Allen born 1653, married Rowland Robinson
John Allen born 1654
Mercy Allen born 1656
Priscilla Allen born 1659
Samuel Allen born 1661

John Allen was not among the original patentees in the 8 April 1665 grant by Governor Nichols known as the Monmouth Patent. However, he contributed monetarily to the purchase and his name appears among purchasers of land in Monmouth County, New Jersey in 1667.

John Allen, a “cooper of Middlesex County,” died 4 Jan 1702/3, at the home of his son-in-law, Rowland Robinson in Kingstown, Rhode Island.

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Bartholomew Applegate was the eldest son of Thomas Applegate and Elizabeth Morgan, members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony as early as 1635. The family included three other children: John, Helena, and Thomas. The family moved first from Massachusetts to New Amsterdam, second to Flushing, and third to Gravesend, Long Island.

In 1650 Bartholomew married Hannah Annet je Patrick. He was a land owner in Gravesend. On 8 March 1674 he and his brother Thomas Applegate, with Richard Sadler were granted permission to purchase lands from the Indians, near the Navesink, in East Jersey. Bartholomew was not present at the drawing of lots in the new purchase, but was represented by John Rawles. One of the conditions of the purchase was that settlements be made within two years or the land would be forfeited. In 1674, Bartholomew with his family left Gravesend; moving either to Monmouth County, New Jersey or more likely to New England to live. In 1685/86 his rights to 200 acres of land at the Fall of the New Shrewsbury, New Jersey were vested with Col. Lewis Morris.

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Obadiah Ayers, son of John and Hannah Ayers, was born probably in Salisbury, Massachusetts in 1636; died in Woodbridge, New Jersey in 1694. He married Hannah Pike, a daughter of Captain John Pike on 19 March 1661 at Haverhill, Massachusetts. She died 30 May 1689, in Woodbridge.

With his father-in-law, John Pike, and seven associates, a tract of land was purchased in New Jersey where they founded a settlement that became Woodbridge, between 1665 and 1667.

Obadiah is named many times in deeds of the area in those early years. His will of 17 November 1694 left his real and personal estate to his sons Samuel, John, Joseph and Obadiah, and to his daughter Mary. Letters testament were issued to the witnesses, Ephraim, Andrew and John Pike, all relatives of the deceased wife of Obadiah, and were affixed to the original will.

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Guiliam Bertholf, the sixth child of Cryn Bertholf and Sara Guiliamse Van Coperen, was baptized in Sluis, Holland on 02 Feb 1656. It is thought he was born no more than a week or two before his baptism, as this was the practice in Holland at the time. He married Martyntje Hendrickse Vermeulen, daughter of William Vermeulen and Martyntje Weymoers, in Sluis on 15 Apr 1676. At least their first three children were born in Sluis, with the third child, Elizabeth, being baptized there on 26 Sep 1673. Guiliam Bertholf and his family immigrated to America sometime after Elizabeth’s baptism. We know from records of the old Reformed Church of Bergen, NJ the following entry of members received: “October 6, 1684—Guillaume Bertholf and his wife Martyntje Hendrics, with certificate from Dutch Flandres—Sluis in Flandres.”

Guiliam Bertholf studied theology in Middletown, Holland. He came to America “to instruct Holland colonists in the Bible and the catechism.” Reverend David Cole, in his History of the Reformed Church of Tappan, NY, observes “He was a man of profound spirituality, warm heart, great capacity for teaching, and of an order that day known as ‘Voorlesers’ and ‘Krankbesoekers’ (public readers and comforters of the sick).” In 1693 the two Reformed Churches in Hackensack and Aquackanonck (Passaic) joined together to send Guiliam Bertholf back to Holland, to the Classis of Middelburg to become ordained as their pastor. This mission was completed on 16 Sep 1693. He returned to New Jersey, and began his ministry on 24 Feb 1694.

For the next thirty years, Domine Bertholf served his ministry of the Hackensack and Aquackanonck Churches. For the first fifteen years of that ministry, he also was responsible for establishing all new Reformed Churches in New Jersey, as well as those in New York, such as Tarrytown and Port Richmond. Remarkably, Reverend Cole states, “The Tappan and Hackensack books from 1694 to 1724, as kept by Domine Bertholf or under his supervision, are exceedingly valuable as covering almost every Rockland County marriage or baptism that occurred”.

The Bertholfs had eight children, whose names were Sara, Maria, Elizabeth, Hendrick, Quirinus (Cryn), Martays, Anna and Jacobus. There is some historical conjecture they may have had as many as thirteen children, but no supporting records have been found.

The last recorded event in Guiliam and Martyntje Bertholf’s lives was the signing of a deed on 16 Feb 1726. It is thought they both died sometime later that year. Reverend Cole says, “There is a tradition that his remains were buried under the pulpit of the Hackensack Church”.

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William Biddle, the second son of an illiterate farmer in rural England, was sent to London as an apprentice to learn to be a shoe maker. He found himself in the midst of a group of people who were among the earliest Quakers in London. He soon became a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and he experienced the persecution of the Anglican government, serving time in jail for standing firm on his beliefs. He married Sarah Kempe, and they began to raise their family in London as a part of the growing Quaker movement there.

The Quakers kept meticulous records in London and in West New Jersey where William and Sarah eventually settled in 1681. The couple was part of the group in England who planned to settle a new territory in America, with a new constitution that would give them the ability to own land, to form a government and practice their religion all without fear of arrest or injury. For years members of this Quaker group emigrated from London to Burlington, in West Jersey.

William and Sarah were members of the group and along with their young family emigrated to Burlington. From the very beginning of his life in America, William played a leadership role in the government, the court system, in the matters concerning the settling of land and in his Quaker religion. The records for each of these areas confirm the important contributions that William and Sarah made to their new country.

The couple had two children: William who married Lydia Wardell and Sarah who married Clement Plumstead of Philadelphia. Lydia was a descendant of Eliakim Wardell and Lydia Perkins who both fled Massachusetts having been persecuted because they were Quakers. Lydia had been whipped over a dozen times. They settled in Shrewsbury, New Jersey and established the first meeting house by Quakers from Massachusetts in 1666. The Wardell family that remained in MA was physically harmed and Eliakim's Uncle Samuel was hung. William Biddle's second child Sarah married Clement Plumstead who became Mayor of Philadelphia. Among the guests at their wedding was William Penn Jr , , who grew up right across the river from William Biddle's Mount Hope Estate.

William Biddle & Sarah Kempe's grandchildren were William, Elizabeth, Sarah, Penelope, Lydia, Joseph and John. William and John Biddle removed to Philadelphia in the 1720s. Their brother Joseph Biddle remained in Burlington County and his son Arney settled in Salem County, New Jersey where many of his descendants reside today.

John Bishop, Sr. was born in England c. 1621 and married Rebecca Kent Scullard in New England about 1647. He died between 19 September and 27 November 1684, the dates of his will.

John Bishop was probably both a ship's carpenter and a house carpenter. He was evidently in New England before 1643 as he knew of the building of the ship "Adventure" which sailed from Boston for Glasgow at that time. John probably was one of the crew and was back in London in April 1645 where he testified in court concerning the journeys of this ship. He was then 24 years of age.

Returned to New England in 1647 he married Rebecca Kent Scullard, daughter of Richard and widow of Samuel with whom she had at least four daughters. John and Rebecca lived at Newbury, Mass. for several years where their eight children were born 1648-1660. John was a Selectman at Newbury in 1655. The family removed to Nantucket about 1663 and John purchased land there in 1664 from the Indian Sachem. Later that year he joined others to become an Associate in the Woodbridge Patent.

John built a corn mill in the Rahway section of the Patent and was quite a respected man of the area, mentioned in many Woodbridge and vicinity records. He was the first representative to the Assembly in 1668 and was one of Governor Carteret's Council in 1672.

When John's will was written 19 September 1684 - probated 27 November 1684, it did not include his wife; she probably died earlier. Two of the eight children predeceased their father: daughter Elizabeth who died in infancy and son David. Six other children outlived their father: Jonathan, John, Noah, Rebecca, Joanna and Ann, known also as Hannah.

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Thomas Bloomfield, Sr. was born in Woodbridge, England in 1617. He was a carpenter and served in Oliver Cromwell's army before joining his family in the Boston area. He came to Woodbridge, New Jersey, from Newburyport, Massachusetts, with his wife Mary (-) where he died in 1684, his will of 10 June 1684 proved 5 March 1685/6.

Thomas Bloomfield, Sr. received a patent from Governor Carteret for about 326 acres in and around Woodbridge on 20 December 1669 and was made a Freeholder there in 1670. He was elected a representative from Woodbridge to the General Assembly at Elizabethtown in 1675. He was an Assistant Judge of Woodbridge Corporation Court 1679-1680; Coroner, Middlesex County 1682-1683.

Robert Bond was born in Kent County, England in 1596; came to New England about 1639, and died at Newark, New Jersey in April 1677 leaving a will. Bond was a Puritan who probably settled first at Lynn, Massachusetts. He was an educated man, although his occupation was blacksmith. By 1642 he had a daughter Mary by his first wife, whose full name is not now known and there were at least three more children by that marriage.

About 1643 Robert moved his family to Southampton, Long Island, where he was appointed by the General Court of Connecticut to ask each family the amount they would give to scholars at Cambridge College in Massachusetts. Because of a split on this church matter, Robert was one of the 9 men who began the new town of East Hampton, purchasing 31,000 acres from the Indians in 1648. Robert was elected one of four men to run the affairs of the town and was one of the first three judges of the town's General Court. He was also appointed "Magistrate for East Hampton" by the general assembly at Hartford, under whose protection East Hampton was at this time, and represented the town in the General Assembly of the colony at Hartford in 1660, 1661.

In 1665 Bond and his son Joseph became part of the group who purchased the land known as Elizabethtown and signed the oath of allegiance there on 19 February 1665. He was appointed in1667/8 to Gov. Carteret's Council and an assistant to the Justices. In 1668 he helped define the boundary between Elizabethtown and Newark and was a member of the first General Assembly of New Jersey at Elizabethtown that same year.

Robert Bond married in 1672 for his second wife, at Newark, Mary Calkins, daughter of Hugh Calkins and widow of Hugh Roberts. He is many times mentioned in the Newark records, now being a resident of that place and holding various positions in the town government. He died there in April of 1677, his second wife surviving him until 1700. There was at least one child by his wife Mary Calkins Roberts Bond.

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Nathaniel Bonnell (Bunnell, Bonnell, Bonnel) was born in New Haven Connecticut in 1636 to parents William Bunnell and Ann Wilmont. He married Susanna Whitehead, daughter of Issac Whitehead and Mary Brown, on 3 Jan 1665 (probably in New Haven).

In September 1664 the Duke of York sent a fleet to drive the Dutch from New Amsterdam. This was accomplished without a shot, and Colonel Nicolls became the first English Governor of the area. A small group of Associates from “overcrowded” New England petitioned the new English governor for the right to purchase a large parcel of land west of the Hudson River between the Raritan and Passaic Rivers, and to settle a “plantation” at Achter Kol. Permission was received on the 18 October. A delegation of the Associates met with the Indian Sachems on Staten Island and concluded the negotiations on 28 October. In November 1664 a few of the new owners sailed across the Achter Kol, up the Elizabeth River about two miles, past vast salt hay meadows, to the end of the navigable waters where there were falls, an ideal place for mills and a settlement. So was founded the first settlement in what was now New Jersey. On 1 December Governor Nicolls registered the deed and set forth the “Conditions for New Planters.”

In August 1665 Governor Carteret, whose brother had been granted the land of all East Jersey, arrived from England. He issued a proclamation promising land to the settlers. After Carteret’s arrival the settlement was renamed Elizabethtown, after the wife of the Governor; and Carteret made the settlement the first capital of New Jersey.

Among the eighty Elizabethtown Associates in the purchase were Nathaniel Bonnell and Issac Whitehead (father of Susanna). They signed the “Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity” as inhabitants of Elizabethtown on 19 February 1665. Nathaniel was granted a farm of sixteen acres and a six-acre town-house lot in an area with others who had come from Connecticut. Before 1682 he had built a house, which is still standing (1045 East Jersey Street; headquarters of New Jersey Society of Sons of the Revolution), in Elizabeth. In 1692 and 1696 he was a member of the General Assembly of New Jersey from Elizabeth.

The Bonnells had seven children: Nathaniel II abt. 1670, Isaac l 1673, Samuel 1675, Lydia l 1677, Jane l 1680, Benjamin 1682, and m 1685. Nathaniel died in 1711. After his death Susanna moved, probably to the family farm, in the area of Elizabethtown called Connecticut Farms (now Union). In 1730, the followers in the area had tired of traveling four or five miles to the church at Elizabethtown, and built the Connecticut Farms Presbyterian Church. Susanna Bonnell died 13 Feb. 1733, and was the second person buried in the cemetery at the new church.

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The Borden (or Burden) name first appears in the fourteenth century Chancery Proceedings of County Kent, England. Richard Borden was baptized at Headcorn, Kent, England on 22 February 1595/6 and married Joane Fowie at Headcorn on 28 September 1625. Joane was the daughter of Richard Fowie of Frittenden and Headcorn. In 1637/8 Richard Borden and family emigrated to New England and eventually settled in Portsmouth, R.I.

Richard Borden became a freeman on 16 March 1640/1 and held many public offices in Portsmouth including: treasurer 1654, 1655; commissioner 1654, 1656, 1657; member of a committee to treat with the Dutch, 18 May 1653; and deputy from Portsmouth to the Rhode Island General Assembly 1667, 1670. The Bordens had twelve children; the first five were born in England while the remaining seven were born in Portsmouth, R.I.

In 1665 residents of Gravesend, Long Island along with a group of residents from Rhode Island provided funds to purchase lands in Monmouth County, New Jersey from the Indians. Richard Borden was one of these "first purchasers". He died in Portsmouth, R.I. on 25 May 1671 and was buried in the Quaker burial ground of the Society of Friends in Portsmouth.

He never lived in New Jersey, but in his will he left his land in New Jersey to his son Francis Borden, who moved to Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, in 1677 and died there in 1703. Another son, Benjamin Borden had also moved to New Jersey by 1670, when he married Abigail Grover at Shrewsbury. They raised a large family and Benjamin left a large estate at his death about 1728.

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James Bowne, eldest son of William and Ann (-) Bowne, was baptized at Salem, Massachusetts on 25 August 1636 and died at Middletown, New Jersey, February 1695. He married on 26 December 1665 Mary Stout, daughter of Richard and Penelope (Van Princis) Stout at Gravesend, Long Island, New York. There were five known sons.

On 14 December 1667 James Bowne was residing at Portland Point, New Jersey. Elected a Deputy to represent Middletown in the General Assembly of New Jersey at Elizabethtown, in 1668 he was made County Clerk; chosen one of the Overseers of Middletown 1669 and 1671, he was also appointed a Deputy to the General Court held at Portland Point in May 1669 and July 1670. In 1671 Bowne was an Indian interpreter at the purchase of Navasink land; in 1675 was elected Magistrate of a monthly Court of Small Causes. He was elected a Deputy to the Council at Woodbridge in 1676 and in 1677 to the Council at Elizabethtown. While he was Town Clerk, 1677 to 1680, he was chosen Deputy to the General Assembly in 1679.

Bowne was one of the Founders of the Baptist Church of Middletown, the first church of that denomination in the colony. When he died his estate consisted of 500 acres granted to him as one of the original Monmouth Patentees, his total holdings being 1520 acres. The inventory of the estate consisted largely of cattle, horses and pigs.

In 1623 Cornelius Mey of Hoorn, Holland built a trading post called Fort Nassau on the Delaware River. The Swedes also established settlements along the Delaware River. Peter Ridder, a Dutchman working for the Swedes, negotiated with the Indians for the entire side of the Delaware River from Raccoon Creek to Cape May. In 1643 Johan Printz became governor of New Sweden.

In 1646 Governor Stuyvesant sent 320 troops from New Amsterdam to Fort Nassau to re-establish Dutch control of the area. Alexander Boyer, a freeman, also called Sander Boyer, arrived with the troops and served as the Dutch quartermaster at Fort Nassau (Gloucester, NJ) from 1646 until the capture of Fort Casimir (New Castle, Delaware).

On Trinity Sunday, 21 May 1654 the Swedes conquered Fort Casimir and renamed it Fort Trinity. They also acquired a new group of settlers, predominately Dutch but also including a number of Swedish families. In May 1654, Governor Rising reported that Sander Boyer was considered a "malicious and hateful man," but, since he had a Swedish wife, he was allowed to stay at Fort Trinity. (in Craig citing Rising's Journal, 161, 167.). On June 9th 1654 Sander Boyer signed a Swedish loyalty oath on Tinicum Island. He made purchases from the company store from 6 July 1654 to 10 November 1654 and sold his tobacco crop to the store on 18 May 1655. (In Craig citing Jungh, 81;Von Elswick, 134.)

In 1655, the Dutch reclaim the area from the Swedes. Sander Boyer returned to Manhattan where his two sons, Samuel and Peter, were baptized on 1 December 1655. (citing Baptisms, New York Dutch Church, 40). However, by the end of that month he had returned to Fort Casimir, where he remained. Governor Stuyvesant granted him a lot near the fort in 1656. He was still living 18 February 1661, when he sought restitution of land sold to Jacob Alrichs, deceased, which had not been paid for. (citing several References: in Gehring and in the NYHM: Register of Solomon Lachaire, 11, 26-27)

Boyer was survived by one known son, Jan (John) Boyer, and one known daughter, Joseyn. (in Craig citing NCR, 1:247, 398, 480, 2:71.)

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John Brockett was born in England, probably before 1620. He was educated and likely to have been of yeoman stock. He sailed from London on the Hector, arriving at Boston on 26 June 1637. The following spring he and others settled in Quinnipiac in Connecticut, renaming it New Haven by 1640. John probably married in New Haven ca. 1642/3. The name of his wife is unknown. According to his Will, John had the following children: John, Silence, Samuel, Jabez, Benjamin, and Mary.

John Brockett was prominent in the public affairs of New Haven, especially in the capacity of surveyor. He was frequently employed in laying out lands about the town. He was probably induced to accompany his neighbors to the new town of Elizabeth in the Province of East Jersey in order to aid them in laying out their lands. After several of the planters had urged the Governor, Sir Philip Carteret, to have the exact bounds of their several possessions defined, the Governor, on 19 December 1667, deputized Brockett "to lay out, survey, and bound the said bounds of Elizabeth Towne the planting feilds [sic] towne lotts and to lay out every particular man's proportion according to his allottments and the directions' of the Governor; for the avoiding of all controversies and disputes hereafter concerning the same, having had certain notice of the good experience, knowledge, skill, and faithfulness of John Brackett [sic] in the surveying and laying out of land.” These surveys have since been superseded by later surveys and hence have not been preserved.

When the First General Assembly of East Jersey convened in Elizabethtown and was constituted on 26 May 1668, the town chose Brockett as one of the two men to represent it in the House of Burgesses.

For his services the town of Elizabeth made an allotment of land to him. In 1670 the Connecticut General Assembly incorporated the village of Wallingford. That same year Brockett sold his land in Elizabeth to relocate to this new village to help manage the affairs of the settlement. Brockett died in Wallingford on 12 March 1689/90. The value of his estate was appraised at £372.

Captain Timothy Brooks Sr. was born at Concord, Massachusetts in 1634. He was the son of Henry Brooks and the first of his two wives, name unknown. Henry Brooks, a farmer and clothier, was born in England about 1592 and migrated to Massachusetts as part of the Great Migration in the early 1630’s.

Timothy Brooks Sr., moved with his parents to Woburn, Massachusetts about 1648-1649 where he married Mary Russell on 2 December 1659. About 1670, Timothy and Mary moved to Billerica, Massachusetts with their two sons, Timothy Jr. and John . While living in Billerica and later Swansea, they had an additional eight children- all girls. Swansea had been created under the protection of the court of New Plymouth for the purpose of founding a colony for a band of exiled Welsh Baptists who had come to Massachusetts from Swansea, South Wales in 1649. Here they built one of the first Baptist churches in America followed shortly after by the founding of a second church at Rehoboth. Following Mary’s death in 1680, Timothy married Mehitable Mowry, widow of Eldad Kinsley, in Swansea, Massachusetts later that year. Timothy and Mehitable had one son, Josiah, born 26 August 1681.

Timothy Brooks Sr. was one of the respected citizens of Swansea during his ten years of residence. In 1689, shortly before migrating to New Jersey, he was elected a representative and on 20 May 1690, he was commissioned a Captain of Militia.

About 1687, a little colony of Baptists migrated from Swansea, Massachusetts to New Jersey, settling along the river called by Indians “The Cohanso.” The Cohansey River Settlement (as named by the white settlers) was near the old town of Greenwich that lies near the mouth of the Cohansey River in present-day Cumberland (then Salem) County, New Jersey. During the summer of 1690, an additional group of Welsh Baptists (mostly Seventh-Day worshippers) from Swansea, Massachusetts came to the Cohansey Settlement. Among these were Timothy Brooks Sr., Timothy Brooks Jr., the Bowens, Barretts, and Swinneys. These families moved further inland and settled at Bowentown, Barrett’s Run, and Shiloh.

Timothy Brooks died at Cohansey in Salem County, New Jersey in 1712. His will was proved on 7 October 1712 and mentions his wife Mehitable, sons Timothy Jr. and Josiah, and daughters (unnamed).

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George Brown was born in Scotland, son of Rev. Richard Brown. He married Annabel Gordon Knox on 13 February 1693 at Woodbridge, New Jersey and died there c. 1717/8.

George Brown and Annabel Gordon were part of a group of Scottish Presbyterians who had been imprisoned because of the fight for religious liberty. George Scot, at one time a fellow prisoner, had the idea to transport about one hundred and five of these prisoners to New Jersey after reading a pamphlet published in Edinburgh which contained an attractive description of "The Province of East New Jersey.". He received permission for a voyage and the prisoners in the tollbooth of Leith, including George and Annabel, left there on 5 September 1685. Annabel left a protest of banishment upon removal from Scotland. Many died on this extremely tragic journey, but the survivors arrived during the late fall of 1685. George settled at Woodbridge, near Perth Amboy.

On 13 February 1693 George Brown married Annabel Gordon Knox. She had first married William Knox and was described as "widow" at the second marriage. George and Annabel raised a family of five sons: James, Thomas, William, Grier and Andrew, and one daughter, Christian.

Described as a "tailor" in early records, Brown perhaps had learned that skill in Scotland. He was quite active at the Presbyterian Church of Woodbridge and continued purchasing a number of lots in and around Woodbridge. When he died intestate c. 1717/8, administration of his estate was granted to his widow, Annabel. He was survived by his six children. George and Annabel were buried in the cemetery of the First Presbyterian Church of Woodbridge.

In summer of 1677, two hundred and thirty English Quakers sailed from London aboard the ship Kent and arrived on Chygoes Island on the east bank of the Delaware River, about fifty miles north of Salem. Their settlement was named Burlington. Over the next four years five or six additional ships followed bringing fourteen hundred or more people to Burlington and other new towns in West Jersey. Many of the immigrants were Friends, as is attested by the freeholder census of 1699 which showed more than a third of landholders in the province of West Jersey were Quakers. The highest percentage of Friends was in Burlington County.

Among the passengers of the Kent were William Clayton and a very young man named James Brown. Records of the first minutes of Burlington Monthly Meeting state that “the said friends in those upper parts have found it needful according to our practice in the place wee came from to settle Monthly Meetings for the well ordering of the Affairs of ye Church it was agreed that accordingly it should be done and accordingly it was done the 15th of ye 5th mo 1678.”

The following year, the marriage confirmation of James Brown and Honour Clayton appear in the minutes of the Burlington, New Jersey Monthly Meeting: 1679, 6, 8 James Brown of Markors Hook, m Honor Clayton, Burlington, Burlington MM, New Jersey. Honour, the daughter of William Clayton and Prudence Lanckford, was born 29 January, 1662, in Sussex, England and probably died in Chester County Pennsylvania after her husband’s will was written in 1715/6.

James Brown, the son of Richard Brown, an English Quaker, was born 27 March, 1656 in Puddington, Northamptonshire, England and died 1st February, 1715/6 in Nottingham Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. He sat on the first jury under British rule on 13 September, 1681, and, later sat on a jury with his brother William on 1st July, 1684. William was later arrival to New Jersey. Although James became a resident of Marcus Hook before his marriage, he remained in contact with other Quakers of Burlington, New Jersey. In his will, James refers to himself as ‘Yoman.’

Obadiah Bruen was the fourth child of John Bruen and his beautiful wife, Anne Fox. Obadiah was born in Bruen-Stapleford, Cheshire, England, and was baptized on 25 December 1606 in St. Andrews Church, Tarvin, Cheshire, England. Bruen’s ancestry can be traced to Charlemagne.

On 7 March 1632, Obadiah married Sarah Seeley in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The couple immigrated about 1640 with their children (three additional children were born in Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts). He was a Freeman in Gloucester in 1642 and made a selectman and representative from 1647 to 1651.

Obadiah moved to Pequot (now New London), Connecticut where in 1653 he was the town recorder. In 1660 and again 1663-1666 he was appointed Deputy Judge. In 1660 he was empowered by the General Court to administer oaths. His name is frequently mentioned in public records and he filled many positions of public trust. Obadiah was one of nineteen men to petition King Charles II for the Charter of Connecticut and one of the grantees to that instrument on 20 April 1662. The General Court appointed him one of the commissioners to settle the differences between the settlers and the Niantic Indians.

Obadiah became very dissatisfied with the state of affairs in Connecticut and with others signed the “Fundamental Agreements” and moved to Newark, New Jersey with their families in 1666-67. At this point in his life he was approaching “old age” and the move was difficult for him make, not to mention leaving all he had accomplished to start anew in a new wilderness.

Obadiah came with the Milford group, which included John Baldwin Jr ,. who had married his daughter Hannah ; altogether, 63 men are listed as the first settlers of Newark, New Jersey. While the Hackensack Indians made the agreement to sell the lands to the settlers in May 1666, the bill of sale was not signed until 11 July 1667. On that day the prepared document, which confirmed and enlarged on the May 1666 agreement, was read to the assembled tribal elders, explained to them by a Dutch interpreter, was signed first (their marks) by Wapamuk and others, for the Indians and then by Obadiah Bruen, Michael Tomkins, Samuel Kitchell, John Brown and Robert Denison, in that order, for the town, and "with the consent and advice of Philip Carteret, Governor of the Province of New Jersey." The lengthy bill of sale described the lands and defined the boundaries which included most of the present day Essex County and part of Union County and stated the Indian hunting and fishing rights, the settler's rights, etc. The bill of sale provided that the Indians would receive, in consideration for the sale of the lands: fifty double-hands of powder, one hundred bars of lead, twenty axes, ten guns, twenty pistols, twenty coats, ten kettles, ten swords, four blankets, four barrels of beer, ten pairs of breeches, fifty knives, twenty hoes, 850 fathom of wampum, two "Ankers" of liquor and three trooper’s coats.

In a town meeting, 20 June 1667, highways were agreed upon, land was divided by lot beginning at Obadiah’s home lot at the river spot; he was also required to maintain the second gate next to the great river. In the division of lands Obadiah drew lot no. 21, which became his home lot, located on Market Street. He is considered one of the five most important men in the new Newark settlement. The families were very close knit and their children married among themselves.

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Jan Cornelis Buys (alias Damen) was born about 1629 in Bunick, The Netherlands, based on the fact that on 27 August, 1667 he signed a formal statement indicating that he was 38 years old. He emigrated to the New Netherlands in 1648. He was the son of Cornelis Buys and Hendrickje Jans Damen, the sister of the vast landholder Jan Jansen Damen, a member of The Twelve and The Eight. He did not have any children of his own and adopted his nephew Jan Cornelis Buys, leaving him a bequest in his will. The extensive farm of Jan Jansen Damen was outside the fort wall of Wall Street and included the property on which The World Trade Center was built. An interesting article on this subject appeared in The New York Times after the destruction of The World Trade Center. Jan Jansen Damen along with two others was responsible for convincing Director Kieft to commence the devastating Indian War of the 1640’s.

Jan Cornelis Buys married as his first wife Eybe Lubberts, daughter of Gysbert Lubbertsen. The date of baptism of their first child was 3 November 1652 in the Brooklyn Dutch Church. Eybe Lubberts died prior to 24 August, 1663 at which time Jan married his second wife Femmetje Jans. On 24 April 1668, Jan Cornelis Buys declared in Flatbush that he had five living children by the deceased Eybe Lubberts over whom Jan Vanderbilt and another were declared guardians. Jan Vanderbilt was the progenitor of the Vanderbilt dynasty in America.

On 4 December, 1654, Jan Cornelis Buys was granted a patent for 25 morgens of land on Bergen Neck in what is today the Greenville section of Jersey City. It was near the property of his father-in- law Gysbert Lubbertsen. Jan Cornelis Buys and his mother-in-law survived the Indian uprising of 1655, in which Guysbert was killed, and departed from the west side of the Hudson, never to return to either Bergen Neck or Bergen.

On 1 May 1656, Jan Cornelis and his mother in law Divertje made a petition to open a tavern east of the Hudson. Jan Cornelis Buys resided in the Wallabout and was a member of the Dutch Church of Brooklyn in 1677. He was on the assessment rolls of Brooklyn for 1675, 1676, and 1683. He obtained a patent in 1662 from Gov. Stuyvesant for 28 morgens of land in Flatbush. His third wife was Willemetie Thyssen.

Matthew Camfield, son of Gregorie Camfield and Joan of Harlestone, was baptized 27 February 1604 in St. Andrew's Church, Marlton, Northampton, England. He married before 1643, in Connecticut, Sarah Treat, daughter of Richard and Alice Galliard Treat, who were also the parents of Governor Robert Treat. Matthew died in Newark, New Jersey; his will was proved there 11 June 1673.

Matthew Camfield was traditionally in Plymouth, Massachusetts by 1637 and in New Haven, Connecticut by 1639, where he was a member of the church in 1642 and signed the Oath of Fidelity 1 July, 1644. A year later Matthew was chosen at the General Court in New Haven to collect corn and/or wampum for Yale College.

Camfield removed to Norwalk in 1652 where in 1666 he joined the first group that moved from Connecticut to establish their colony at Newark, New Jersey. In Newark he held many positions: in 1667 he and six others were appointed to adjust land values; as an agent of Newark on 20 May 1668 he signed the agreement that settled the location and division line between Newark and Elizabethtown; he was chosen Deputy to assist the Magistrate in the town courts and was on a committee to examine the accounts of the Town Treasurer.

On 24 May 1669 Matthew and four other were chosen townsmen and he was one of three chosen magistrates; on 2 January 1670 he was chosen Deputy to assist the Magistrates.

Matthew Camfield's home lot in Newark was on the northwest corner of Washington and Market Streets. His will of 19 March 1672/3, proved 11 June 1673, is on file in Trenton, New Jersey.

John and Florence (Fordham) Carman arrived in Boston on the ship Lyon in1632. Their son Caleb was born 1 March 1639. John Caleb, with other associates, purchased a large tract of land on Long Island from the Indians, under a patent granted by the Governor of New Amsterdam, Wilhelm Kieft, 16 November 1644. The Carman family moved to the purchase, which became known as Hempstead.

Sometime prior to 1680, Caleb Carman and his eldest sons were among a group of Long Island whale men who shifted their operations to Delaware Bay and lived at what was known as Town Bank, during the whaling season. However, by 1685, the family permanently relocated to West Jersey, since in that year Caleb Carman was commissioned Justice of the Peace for Cape May County, New Jersey.

The Burlington County, West Jersey Court Records of 4 September 1685, include an indictment against a man for stealing a whale, which by rights the judge ruled belonged to Caleb and John Carman. In 1688, Caleb Carman was indicted taking, breaking up and disposing of a whale on the shore. The whale was purported to have yielded eleven barrels of oil. Carman argued that under license from the Governor all drift whales that came ashore belonged to him. The jury found Carman not guilty.

On 25 March 1688, the governor of the West Jersey gave a seven year lease to Caleb Carman for 1200 acres of land along Cold Spring Creek, near Cape May, with the right to purchase any of the land for five pounds per 100 acres for 400 acres and ten pounds per acre for the other 700 acres. At the time of his death in 1693, Caleb Carman owned over 1000 acres in Cape May County. He left his entire estate to his wife Elizabeth (Seaman) Carman, with the mention of his sons John and Caleb, Jr. The sons each purchased 250 acres from the estate, as did son-in-law Jonathan Forman; Elizabeth retained 300 acres. Elizabeth later gave 100 acres to her son Jonathan and bequeathed 100 acres to her son Daniel. Elizabeth died some six years after Caleb, but before September 1699.

Robert Carr, son of Benjamin and Martha Hardington Carr was born c. 1614, probably in the British Isles; died probably in Newport, Rhode Island between 20 April and 4 October 1681, the dates of his will. He married, but the name of his wife, the date and place are unknown. Mrs. Carr died after 20 April 1681, when she was mentioned in her husband's will.

Robert Carr "taylor", aged twenty-one, and his brother Caleb Carr, aged eleven, embarked in the ship Elizabeth and Ann in 1635 in London for New England. Caleb Carr later became a Governor of Rhode Island. Robert was admitted an inhabitant of Portsmouth on 21 February 1639, and was made a freeman of Newport 16 March 1641. Newport became his permanent home where he engaged in trade and thrived, as is attested to by his will which disposed of considerable property. He embraced the religion of the Society of Friends probably about the time of the visit of George Fox to Rhode Island.

Carr's activities included involvement in the purchase of the island of Conanicut (Jamestown) from the Indians, and he became a non-resident shareholder of the Monmouth Patent in New Jersey, the grant by Governor Nicolls on which the patentees and their associates commenced their settlements immediately at Middletown and Shrewsbury before the fall of 1665. The tract of land which was Robert Carr's he sold to Giles Slocum by deeds dated in 1676.

The will of Robert Carr was dated 20 April 1681, he "being bound on a voyage to New York and New Jersey and aged sixty-seven." Having sold his land in New Jersey he devised only his lands in Rhode Island to his children and provided for "my loving wife."

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John Chamberlin was born in Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, East Jersey on or about 1687. The Quaker records give his birth date as occurring on the 17th day, but the month and year have been completely worn away with the passage of time. John was the son of Henry Chamberlin and Ann West. He married Rebecca Morris, daughter of Col. Lewis Morris and Elizabeth Almy of Passage Point, Monmouth County, on or about 1711 in Monmouth County.

On 1 April 1709, John Chamberlin, calling himself a singleman, son and heir of Henry Chamberlin, late of Shrewsbury, deceased, sold 50 acres of land of which he stated: The same was conveyed to me in the right of my father Henry Chamberlin, deceased, by a papent bearing the date 1 May 1697. The 50 acres of land was sold to Thomas Layton for 50 pounds silver, for “this fifty acres of meadow in Freehold.” This 50 acres of land was part of the Passaquenecqua lands that had been jointly purchased by his father and his uncle William Chamberlin. From 1733 to 1737, he paid interest upon a mortgage on the remaining portion of this land, which was bounded east by the sea and west by the land of Henry Chamberlin, his cousin and son of his uncle William Chamberlin.

John Chamberlin was a member of the Grand Jury, 1711-1720 and 1735; Constable in 1716; and Surveyor of Highways in 1729. On 14 September 1714, he was mortgager to John Bowne, merchant. On 28 May 1717, his nephew Henry, petitioned the court to appoint him as his guardian, and on 8 July 1717, letters of guardianship were issued to him.

The records of Christ’s Church at Shrewsbury gives 2 Sep 1739 as John Chamberlin’s date of death. He was interned near his house at Deal. On 27 Nov 1739, letters of administration were granted to his widow Rebecca; her brother John Morris was appointed her bondsman.On 21 May 1743, his widow Rebecca, together with their son John and his wife Hannah, sold 360 acres of land to Henry Green. This land was described as being located from Whales Pond northward to a line above the site of the famous hotel known as Howlands and from the sea to Deal and Long Branch Turnpike. Of this tract three square rods were reserved for the Chamberlin burial plot.

Rebecca Chamberlin was listed in an account, dated 12 June 1751, in the settlement of the estate of George Williams of Shrewsbury. In the same list are named Louis Chamberlin, her son, and William Chamberlin (her nephew), along with many other names.

Richard Clark was born in England c. 1613; died between1 April 1687, the date he made his will, and 9 April when the inventory of his estate was taken in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. He married Elizabeth (-), date and place unknown. She died intestate in 1724 in Elizabethtown, administration granted to the eldest son, Richard, on 16 February 1724/5.

Richard Clark was at Southampton, Long Island, New York, in 1650, served in the Indian War of 1657 and was in Southold, Long Island in 1661, where he was a whale striker, boat carpenter, ship builder and planter in 1667.

On 22 March 1741 his eldest son, Richard ., stated in Elizabethtown that he was "aged about four score years (80) ... that he was brought to Elizabeth Town by his father, named Richard Clarke, when he was between sixteen and seventeen years of age." This statement placed the Clark family in the Town by 1677. When James Hinds purchased some upland on 1 July 1677 he named Clark's land as a boundary, as also did Jonas Wood in 1679. Richard had purchased land also from Caleb Carwithey at Luke Watson's Point in 1678; it was named as a boundary in a deed of William Oliver of Elizabethtown to John Decent on 12 February 1683/4.

When the lists of Elizabethtown Associates were re-entered in the new Town Book by order of the 1699 Town Meeting, Richard Clark was listed among them and again in the Town Book of 7 June 1735, Richard Clark, Sr., deceased, was recorded as an Associate, and thus had been entitled to a second lot right.

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The immigrant William Clayton was baptized 9 December, 1632 at Boxgrove Parish, Sussex, England. His parents married thirteen months earlier on 30 October, 1631. William’s four known siblings by his mother, Joan Smith Clayton (buried 27 April, 1644) were also baptized at Boxgrove Parish.

After the English Civil War of 1642-1649, the Clayton family became religious dissenters as early converts to the Quaker faith, sometime around 1655, becoming members of the Lewes and Chichester Monthly Meeting. William came to New Jersey with other Quakers aboard the Kent, arriving first in New York on 4 August, 1677, later setting sail for the mouth of the Delaware River.

The colonists established a settlement on the east bank of the river in what became New Beverly, Bridlington, and finally Burlington, New Jersey. William Clayton’s family did not travel with him on the Kent, but arrived later. The record of the Burlington Monthly Meeting states “The certificate of the first recorded marriage in the eight month, 6, 1678 was signed by Wm. Clayton, Sr.,…Wm. Clayon, Jun and Prudence Clayton.”

William Clayton was selected by William Markham, Proprietor of the Colony of West Jersey, to serve on a Council of nine men dedicated to the preparation of the ‘Holy Experiment of Government.’ Acting as Colony Legislature, the Court, held at Burlington, had jurisdiction over legal matters, functioning as the court of appeals for Salem and other towns in West Jersey after 1683.

William Clayton continued his career in the state of Pennsylvania after purchasing land near Marcus Hook from Hans Oelsons in March 1678/9 and moved there from Burlington, New Jersey. He was therefore available when the Council seated in Chester (Upland) County, Pennsylvania began working on a Charter in the fall of 1681.

On 11 September, 1681 William Clayton presided over the first court under the proprietary government at Upland, Chester County, Pennsylvania. He became one of the first two Judges for the City of Philadelphia and was a member of William Penn’s council from 1683-85. In 1684 and 1685 he served as Acting Governor of Pennsylvania before his death in 1689 at Chicester, Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Robert Clements, Jr. was born in England about 1634, and came with his parents to Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1642; here he married Elizabeth Fawne on 8 Dec 1652. Elizabeth, probably born in New England, was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Fawne, who came to New England before 13 January 1637.

He was the first cooper in Haverhill. In1658 he went back Ireland at the desire of his brother, John, who wished him to come over with his family to act as a guide to John's wife and daughters. Probate papers of John's estate tell of the voyage, the capture by the Spaniards, the going to Ireland and the return to New England. The settling of John’s estate also shows the strong affection and sense of justice among the brothers and sisters, for they all wished John's estate to be given to Robert to recompense him for his losses caused by compliance with John's request. After his return to New England, Robert continued to live at Haverhill for the rest of his long life.

While there are no records of Robert Clements, Jr. living in New Jersey, deeds document that he purchased 93 acres in Woodbridge, on April 5, 1679, which he conveyed to his son Jonathan. In a deed dated 13 August 1694, Jonathan Clement and wife Elizabeth of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, sold a 12 acre houselot and other property in Woodbridge.

Robert Clements probably died in Haverhill, Mass., in 1714. He left no will, having given his property to his children during his lifetime, and no administration is of record. His widow died in Haverhill 27 May 1715.

Samuel Clift, a clothier, was born about 1625. His first wife, and mother of his seven children, was Elizabeth Shortwood of the hamlet of Horsely, England. She was buried 11 September 1666. The Quaker Nailsworth England Meeting recorded a second marriage of Samuel to Joan Batterby of Hampton Roade on 4 February 1667.

English laws against Quakers were suspended in 1672, but they continued to receive many indignities and insults. In 1673 Lord John Carteret sold West Jersey to William Penn and eleven other Quakers. Penn and other Quaker leaders urged people of their faith to sail to America where they could settle and find religious freedom. Among those who answered the call was Samuel, his second wife Joane Betterby, and two of his children, Joseph and Hannah , and his son-in-law Joseph English Jr., who sailed from England aboard the Kent in the summer of 1677, arriving in New Castle, Delaware, 16 August 1677. A large contingent of these passengers proceeded up the Delaware to the site of Burlington.

The Commissioners for William Penn and the rest of the Proprietors employed Richard Nobel to survey the spot of the settlement of Burlington and to divide the property among the group known as the “London Proprietors.” Samuel Clift, his wife and son accompanied one of the Proprietors to the site and were present when the ten land allotments were drawn in 1677. He presented the certificate from Nailsworth to the new Society of Friends at Burlington 16 August 1677.

Samuel Clift obtained from Sir Edmond Andros, Provincial Governor of New York, a grant of 262 acres for a plantation across the river from Burlington, the site of Bristol in Pennsylvania. Samuel established the ferry service between the Pennsylvania and New Jersey settlements and built an inn in Bristol to service the ferry business. In 1682 Samuel deeded his land and ferry to his son-in-law Joseph English Jr ; he died in April 1683.

Thomas Clifton was the son of Richard Clifton or Clyfton of Nottinghamshire, England. He appears to have been a relation of the Separatist minister of Scooby, the Rev. Richard Clifton. Thomas first married Ann Stokes at Granby, Nottingham, England.

The exact dates of his arrival in Massachusetts or when he became a widower are not known. The earliest mention of Thomas Clifton in the Massachusetts Bay Colony records was an entry on 18 January 1640, as follows: Mr. James Parker is allowed to marry Thomas Clifton and Marie Butterworth (the widow of Henry Butterworth) within a month. He was made a freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 2 June 1641. Rev. Parker sold Thomas a house and lands in Weymouth 26 November 1644; he also was granted eight additional acres.

Thomas Clifton was an original settler of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, where he became a Quaker At town meeting 30 June 1644, Thomas drew lot 48, and in subsequent years added to his holdings by drawing two more lots. He and his daughter Hope were severely persecuted for their faith. The family moved to Rhode Island, where entries in the records of the Newport Friends meeting refer to the Clifton family and their daughters, Hope, Mary and Patience . He was a deputy in the Rhode Island colonial assembly, 1675. Thomas apparently moved again, this time to the Plymouth Colony; where he was made freeman on 7 June 1648.

In 1664, with the exodus of the Dutch, several men petitioned the new English Governor, for permission to negotiate with the Indians for lands surrounding the Navesink, west of the Hudson River. The Sachem Popomora agreed to terms and he and his brother went to New York to acknowledge the deed before Governor Nichols, 7 April 1665. Two other deeds followed and were recorded and on 8 April 1665. The Monmouth Patent required that the patentees and their associates, their heirs or assigns must within 3 years, settle there one hundred families at the least.

While living in Rhode Island he bought a share of land in Monmouth, New Jersey. He was among a number of purchasers “who had been victims of persecution for their religious faith; some had felt the cruel lash, some had been imprisoned and others had been compelled to pay heavy fines, others had had near relations suffer thus. Among those who had suffered were…Thomas Clifton and daughter Hope…. (Edward Salter, 1890:11).”

On 14 April 1675, Clifton deeded his land in Shrewsbury, Monmouth, New Jersey to John Hance. It is not clear whether Thomas Clifton ever occupied his New Jersey land; however on 9 July 1681 he was again at Newport, RI, where he drowned.

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Francis Collins, a Quaker, son of Edward and Mary (-) Collins, was born 6 January 1635 in Wolvercote, Oxfordshire, England. He married first, Sarah Mayham, daughter of Richard and Margaret (Lane) Mayham of Ratcliffe on 2, 1st month, 1663 at Bull, and Mouth Meeting. Sarah died at the family home, "Mountwell" in Haddonfield, West Jersey. Francis married second, on 4, 2nd month, 1687 Mary (Budd) Gosling at Burlington Monthly Meeting. She was born 1665, daughter of Rev. Thomas and Joanna (Knight) Budd, and was the widow of Dr. John Gosling, physician of Burlington. Francis Collins died just after his 85th birthday, his will of 20 April 1720 proved 6 February 1721.

Francis Collins spent his early youth in the parish of Wolvercote, where his father apprenticed him to a bricklayer. Francis later moved to Ratcliffecross, where he first married. After suffering religious intolerance in England, he and his family moved to New Jersey. They arrived at Burlington, probably on the second voyage of the "Shield". In 1682 he surveyed 500 acres in Newton Township, Gloucester County and 450 acres upon which the town of Haddonfield now stands. He built his home, named it "Mountwell" and joined the Friends' Newton Monthly Meeting.

Collins' career of public service began in 1682 with his appointment as a Justice of the County. He was named to Gov. Samuel Jennings' Council and returned as a Member of the Legislative Assembly representing the interest of Gloucester. At this session he was appointed one of the Commissioners for Dividing and Regulating Land and was one of the Committee to Adjust Difficulties between Proprietors and Edward Byllyng. At the 1684 Legislative Assembly he was made one of the Judges of the Several Courts of New Jersey, continuing as Justice until 1689. He was a signer of the "Concessions and Agreements" and served for many years as a member of the West Jersey Assembly.

His reputation as a builder and bricklayer well known, in 1682 Francis was engaged as a contractor of the First Meeting House in Burlington. He received Pounds 200 and 1,000 acres, part located "above the falls" (Trenton), as a gratuity from the Legislature for building a Market House and Court House at Burlington.

WILLIAM COMPTON was in Gravesend, L. I., in 1656, (vide, ante, PART TWO, p. 162, and in Monmouth Co., a First Settler, 1667, (idem, p. 172.)

He was called "planter," and as early as 1669 his name appears in the deed records relating to Woodbridge. (Arch., Vol. XXI, pp. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15.)

The following entry of 1675, "Here begins the Rights of Land due according to the Concessions." (N. J. Arch., Vol. XXI, p. 18.)

"William Compton and wife."

This wife was Mary Wilmot, (1635-1713) (Nat. Soc. Daus. Amer. Col., Vol. I, p. 316) whom he m. in 1666. The dates of WILLIAM COMPTON, 1631-1709(?).

According to the Vital Records of Woodbridge, William Compton, Senior, died there, Friday night, Sept. 21, 1694. His estate and will are disclosed by the following:

"1694 Oct. 2. Testimony of Edward Watson and Richard Smith and wife, Ellener, Concerning the intentions expressed by William Compton of Woodbridge, who died Friday night, Sept. 21, 1694. Mentions a wife, sons--Jonathan, John, William, David.

1694, Oct. 2. Letters testimonial with the will of William Compton annexed, issued to his widow Mary and to Jonathan Compton." (Arch, Vol. XXI, pp. 215.)

1694 Oct. 1. Inventory of the estate; made by John Langstaff and Jabish Hendrick." (Arch., Vol. XXIII, p. 104.)

From other deed and will records, the following children [of William ll] are certainly identified.

I. Mary, born, the first white child in Woodbridge, Nov. 1667-8, who married, Jan. 1, 1695-6, Caleb Campbell. (Vide, ante, this PART, p. 515.) (Also, PART THREE, p. 373.)
II. John, born Jan. 2, 1669.
III. Sarah, born July 25, 1670; d. Sept. 16, 1670.
IV. David, born, July 21 (26) 1671.
V. Sarah, born, June 1, 1673; m. Dec. 9, 1697, John Drake of Piscataway.
VI. Jonathan, born Dec. 18, 1674. The foregoing from the Woodbridge Vital Records.
VII. William, Junior, b. (???).
VIII. Cornelius, b. (???).
IX. Richard, b. (???).

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The Conger (Belconger/ Koniger) family came from Alsace, a French province at the time of the massacre of St. Bartholomew in1572, to Holland. The family then moved to England, where the name became anglicized into Conger. Later the family then emigrated to America.

John Conger participated in the first distribution of land at Woodbridge, in East Jersey. His patent to 170 acres of land was dated 18 November 1669. The land had access to the Rahway River, which at the time was navigable to any vessel then in use.

In Woodbridge he held the office of constable and he was one of the commissioners appointed by the government to prosecute thieves who were cutting timber from the common ground.

John Conger’s first wife Mary Kelly, by whom he had eight children, died about 1685. He then married Sarah Cawood, who was born about 1665 in Woodbridge, the daughter of Thomas Cawood and Rebecca Potter,

John Conger and his second wife joined the Presbyterian Church at Woodbridge 12 May 1709. His will was dated 11 Jan.1710 and was probated 7 Oct.1712.

Henry Cook was one of two children of Anthony and Jane (Crawford) Cook. His exact date and place of birth are not known, but he was baptized on 12 April 1671 in the Reformed Dutch Church in New York City. His father died in 1671 and his mother was remarried on 7 December 1672 in Kingston, NY, to William Fisher. Henry married Wyntje (Winifred) Franse Klauw sometime prior to 1695. Baptismal records for two of their children appear in the records of the Dutch Church in Kingston, NY, for the years 1695 and 1696.

The first record of Henry Cook in New Jersey is a deed dated 17 February 1701/2 for his purchase of 100 acres located in the Province of West Jersey from Francis Collings of the Town and County of Burlington, NJ.

Henry served on the grand jury at the Quarter Session Court of Burlington County in 1704, 1706, and 1709, and was chosen Constable for Mansfield Township in 1708. The Cook family settled in Maidenhead Township in the portion of Burlington County which became Hunterdon County in 1714. He was selected as surveyor of highways for Maidenhead in 1721.

Henry’s will is dated 15 November 1723 and was proved 20 January 1724, indicating that he died shortly after the will was written. His will names wife Winifred, one adult and one minor sons, three married daughters and three unmarried daughters. Winifred and his adult son, William , were appointed as executors and both of them signed only with a mark (X). The inventory of his estate was valued at £172 6s 6p.

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