Descendants of Founders of New Jersey

Thomas Harding was born in Benningham, Glouchester, England circa 1635 and was baptized Feb. 21, 1636 at St. Nicholas, Anglican Church, Gloucester, England. His parents are believed to have been Thomas and Agnes North Harding, who were married April 29, 1629. Thomas Harding married Eleanor Bagwell at a Church of England church in the City of London, All Hallows-on-the-wall (London Wall) February 26, 1662. Eleanor died July 10, 1692 and Thomas married Elizabeth Nichols July 3, 1693, who preceded him in death in New Jersey. Thomas Harding’s will acknowledges Mary, daughter with Eleanor , and two additional daughters Hope and Rebecca understood as daughters he had with Elizabeth.

Thomas Harding, a box maker in London, purchased 1/32nd share in William Penn’s Colony of West Jersey from Daniel Wills of Northampton who had bought the shares directly from William Penn Jan 23, 1677.

On March 3, 1677 Thomas signed “The Concessions and Agreements of the Proprietors, Freeholders and Inhabitants of the Province of West Jersey in America” prior to departing England. Thomas and Eleanor sailed on the Kent with their daughter Mary Harding, betrothed to Henry Ballenger (who came to America on the return voyage of the Kent). Sailing with the Hardings on the Kent, were Master Gregory Harlow and approximately 230 other Quakers including William Penn.

Thomas Harding of Wollingborough in the County of Burlington and Province of New Jersey, passed away on Feb 8, 1707, and is buried at the Rancocas Quaker Burying Ground in Burlington County, New Jersey.

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Richard Hartshorne was born in Hathern, Leicestershire, England, on 24 October, 1641, son of Hugh and Kathrine ( - ) Hartshorne. He married Margaret Carr, daughter of Monmouth patentee Robert Carr, in Newport, Rhode Island, on 27 April 1670, and died in Middletown, New Jersey in 1722.

Hartshorne immigrated September 1669, acquired land on the Navesink at Waycake, near The Highlands, and on The Hook. He built a home at Portland Point. Records show he owned other lands in Middletown, at Manasquan, at the head of Barnegat Bay, both sides of the Manasquan River, and both sides of the King's Highway in Middletown, over 2,000 acres in all.

A devout Quaker, Richard was a personal friend of George Fox and entertained him at Shrewsbury, as described later by Fox in his journals. He was asked by William Penn and others to survey for Quaker settlements along the Delaware in 1676.

A member of the Provincial Assembly for 20 years, Speaker 1686-93 and 1696-98, he served as Deputy 1688, 1692 and 1693. He was also Town Clerk, Sheriff, Commissioner of Highways, Judge of Court of Sessions, Member of Governors Council and Practitioner before the Courts, Constable of Middletown, Clerk of the Court of Small Causes, and one of the Judges of the Court of Common Right at Perth Amboy.

Said to have been "a man of good reputation and benevolent disposition", he was a steadying and conciliatory influence during the years of constant upheaval between the settlers and Proprietors, as an influential spokesman for the conservative wing of the Anti-Proprietary group, and later in disagreements with the Royal Governor, Lord Cornbury.

In 1722, in his eighty-first year, Not owing 5 shillings to any man or woman, Richard Hartshorne was buried next to his wife in the Hartshorne Burying Ground, on the north side of the highway in Middletown Village.

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Matthias Hatfield probably came to this country from Holland in 1660 with Cornelius Melyn, formerly the Patroon of Staten Island, and settled in New Haven, CT. Matthias took the Oath of Fidelity in New Haven on May 1, 1660. He was a weaver by trade. He married Maria Melyn Paradys, the daughter of Cornelius Melyn, on August 25, 1664, in New Haven.

Matthias Hatfield and his wife Maria were among the first settlers of Elizabethtown, New Jersey. He took the Oath of Allegiance with sixty-four others on February 19th, 1665. Matthias was one of the original Associates of Elizabethtown. He was a boatman, as well as a weaver, and was a man of considerable means. He was allotted large acreage, and purchased 208 additional acres in Elizabethtown. He purchased a house from Abraham Lubberson on December 5, 1673, located on the lower part of Pearl Street, at its junction with Hatfield Street, and the house was extant into the 20th century.

The First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethtown was erected on a portion of Matthias Hatfield’s land, as evidenced by a deed made in 1677. He gave the land to the town for a church and a burial place.

Matthias attended The Dutch Reformed Church, now St. John’s Church, and was probably buried in the rear of that church when he died in December, 1687. His will was dated April 19, 1684, and was proved on December 13, 1687.

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John Havens, son of William and Dionis (-) Havens, may have been born in Aberystwith, Cardinganshire, Wales before his parents were in Portsmouth, Rhode Island in 1639. John married 1) Ann (-); married 2) Hannah or Anna Stannard, who survived him. She is recorded in John's will of 14 March 1686/7, proved 22 November 1687 as Anna, and as Hannah Havens, widow, on the Inventory of his estate made 10 December 1687.

The Havens family originally may have been Antinomians in Rhode Island, followers of Ann Hutchinson. In New Jersey they lived among the 1665 settlers in Shrewsbury who came from Rhode Island.

On 27 February 1667/8 an Oath of Allegiance was administered to all the inhabitants of Navesink, New Jersey, of whom one was John Havens, son of William of Portsmouth, whose grant of land is set down as 120 acres.

In John's will he devised land in Sessoconneta, and Little Silver, New Jersey.

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Richard Higgins was among the original settlers of Piscataway and Woodbridge, New Jersey. His name is among 54 individual in a Dutch document dated 28 July 1673, “sworn” names of “piscattoway” and “woodbridge.” The original settlers of Piscataway and Woodbridge were recruited from three main lines of immigration, namely a) direct from England; b) Piscataqua Country, New Hampshire, Dover, Portsmouth, Hampshire or c) Massachusetts, Haverhill, Newbury, Ipswich, etc. and a few from the Plymouth Colony.

Richard Higgins married his first wife, Lydia Chandler, in Plymouth, 11 December 1634, they had two sons Jonathan and Benjamin . Lydia died in 1640, shortly after the birth of Benjamin. His second wife was Mary Yates, with whom he had a daughter Mary and a son Eliakim . Richard died in Piscataway, after 20 November 1674.

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Obadiah Holmes was born near Manchester, England in 1606/7 and baptized at Didsbury 18 March 1609/10. He married Katharine Hyde at the Collegiate Church of Manchester, England, 20 November 1630. He died 15 October 1682 in Newport, Rhode Island, and is buried in the Holmes Burying Ground in Middletown, Rhode Island.

Obadiah Holmes with his wife Katharine and son Jonathan arrived in Boston in 1638 bringing with them tradition says, the first tall case clock ever brought to America. He soon went to Salem, Massachusetts where he and two others established a glass works, probably the first in this country. He removed to Rehoboth in 1646 and to Newport (now Middletown) Rhode Island in 1650 where he resided for the rest of his life. In 1651 he went to Lynn, Massachusetts, to visit former neighbors and because he held services which were not in accord with the established church there he was sentenced on 31 July 1651 to thirty lashes from a three cord whip. The sentence was carried out and the scars remained for the rest of his life. In Newport he was the second minister of the First Baptist Church in America, and he held this pastorate until his death.

In 1657 Obadiah Holmes became interested in the colonization of New Jersey, due in part to the marriage of his daughter to John Bowne, one of the prime movers in its settlement. He subscribed to the purchase of lands there and with eleven others were Monmouth Patentee named in the original Nicholls patent for settling of lands in Monmouth and Middlesex counties, 8 April 1665. The town book of Old Middletown in its first entry dated 30 December 1667 shows that the house lots laid out in Middletown were 36 in number; Obadiah Holmes was assigned lot #20. In 1667 his name appears with that of his eldest son, Jonathan, among the organizers of the First Baptist Church at Middletown, New Jersey.

Although Rev. Obadiah did not move away from Middletown, Rhode Island, two of his sons, Obadiah, who became the High Sheriff of Monmouth County in 1699 and Jonathan did take up residence, Obadiah permanently, and Jonathan temporarily.

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Thomas Howell was born about 1635 in Harleston, Stafford, England and died October 1687 in Cooper’s Creek, Waterford Twp., Gloucester, New Jersey. He married Katherine , last name unknown, in 1659 in Harleston, Stafford, England. She was born in 1640 in Farnsworth, Warwick, England.

Thomas Howell was one of the pioneers in the settlement of West Jersey. On 31 August and 1 September 1677, Benjamin Bartlett conveyed to Howell by deeds a one-eighth of one-hundredth part or share of West New Jersey. In 1682 he came with his sons Daniel and Mordecai to settle on 650 acres on the north side of Cooper’s Creek, Gloucester, New Jersey. He died in October 1687 in Gloucester, NJ. His will indicated that he did not know if his wife was alive or dead; ”but who if she comes, is to have the use of the household goods during her life.” Katherine did come after his death and settled in Philadelphia PA; she died there 4 October 1695.

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Henry Jaques was born in England, possibly in Wiltshire, about 1618. He came to New England in 1640, settling in Newbury, Massachusetts. He married in Newbury on 8 October 1648 to Ann Knight, who was baptized in Romsey, Hampshire, England on 5 May 1631, and was the daughter of Richard Knight and AgnesError! Bookmark not defined._____. The family of Richard Knight emigrated in 1635 on the James, which sailed from Southampton for New York. They settled in Newbury, Massachusetts.

Richard Knight prepared his will on 17 August 1681. He wrote, Concerning my son-in-law Henry Jaques and Ann his wife, when they were married, I gave them thirty acres of upland and meadow and now I give unto him three pounds to be paid within three years after my decease and likewise, I give unto Ann his wife, five pounds to be paid within five years after my decease or before if my executors can well do it. Richard Knight died on 4 August 1683.

Henry Jaques was a carpenter employed in 1661 to build the new meetinghouse in Newbury, Massachusetts. On 16 May 1669, he was listed as a Freeman of the Colony of Massachusetts.

In 1667, Jaques was an associate of Daniel Pierce in the grant of Woodbridge, New Jersey. He is listed in the records of Woodbridege with his son Henry Jr. as the owner of 368 acres.

He died in Newbury, Massachuesetts, on 24 February 1687, aged 69. His wife Ann died 22 February 1704. In his will, Henry gave his wife one half of his dwelling house, one half the great cellar, and one third part of his orchard with ten rods of suitable ground for a garden to be kept sufficiently fenced. He also provided firewood for her and two cows out of his stock, which she was to have until her demise. He also gave her a horse and man to carry her to meetings or otherwise as she should have occasion, along with six pounds annually, with one half of all his household goods for her natural life and ten pounds to be disposed among her children as she saw cause. He named his son Daniel Jaques, and his daughters: Mary the wife of Richard Brown; daughter Hannah , the wife of Ephraim Plummer; daughter Sarah , the wife of John Hale; daughter Elizabeth; daughter Abigail. Also named was his grandson Henry, the son of his son Henry Jaques deceased. Henry Jaques referred to his estate lying in Woodbridge Town in the Province of East New Jersey, and that it was his will that it should be divided among the three sons of his son Henry Jaques, late of Woodbridge Town. He also named his grandson Richard, a son of his son Richard Jaques (deceased); and appointed his son Stephen Jaques to be his true and lawful heir and bequeathed unto him the greater portion of his estate. Henry Jaques also stated that it was his will that whereas Jasper his Indian hath been a good servant to him that it was his will that he serve well and faithfully six years after his decease and then he should have his freedom being by his executor set at liberty and he did hereby will and appoint him to do so.

The children of Henry and Ann (Knight) Jaques, all born in Newbury are as follows:

Henry, b. 30 Jul 1649, m_______, moved to Woodbridge, NJ; d. there before his father, leaving three sons. Henry Jr. married Hannah, (probably the daughter of John Freeman.) and settled in Woodbridge in 1665, where he and his father received a patent of 368 acres from the proprietors. He died in 1679. His children were:

Henry Jacques who died in 1750;
John Jacques was born in 1674;
Hannah Jacques, born in 1675,
Jonathan Jacques born in 1679
Mary Jacques, b. 12 Nov 1651; d. 13 Oct 1653
Mary Jacques, b 28 Oct 1653; m 7 May 1674, Richard Brown of Newbury; he d. 12 Oct 1716
Hannah Jacques, b ___, m. 15 Jan 1680 Ephraim Plummer of Newbury; he d. in 1715
Richard Jacques, b. in 1658; m. 18 Jan 1682, Ruth Plummer, daughter of Samuel Plummer of Newbury, by whom he had a posthumous son Richard; d. 28 May 1683
Stephen Jacques, b. 9 Sep 1661, m. 13 May 1648, Deborah Plummer, daughter of Samuel Plummer of Newbury, by whom he had several children
Sarah Jacques, b. 20 Mar 1664; m. 10 Oct 1683, John Hale, who d. 4 Mar 1726
Daniel Jacques, b. 20 Feb 1667, m. 20 Mar 1693, Mary Williams of Newbury, by whom he had children; she died, and he then married Susanna _____
Elizabeth Jacques; m. Richard Knight of Newbury
Ruth Jacques, b. 14 Apr 1672; m. 29 Nov 1692, Stephen Emery of Newbury; Ruth d. 9 Jan 1764; Stephen d. 1 Feb 1747 Abigail Jacques, b. 11 Mar 1674; m. Benjamin Knight of Newbury; he died in 1737.

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Jeffery Jones' birth date, place and parentage are unknown, as is also true of his wife who survived him. Jones died at Elizabethtown, Essex County, New Jersey, his will dated 2 December, proved 31 December 1717.

Jeffery Jones is first recorded at Southold, L.I. in 1664. He sold his house and lot there and became one of the 80 Associates of the Elizabethtown Patent of 1666 and received a lot of 180 acres on the west side of the Rahway River south of Crane's Brook. His land is mentioned as a boundary in many deeds of the period.

On 15 February 1668 Jones was one of 25 who were granted a "charter for the Whale fishery" for three years. He was one of the agents who established the boundary line with Newark on 20 May 1668.

On 14 May 1695 an action of Trespass and Ejectment was brought against Jones by the Proprietors in the name of James Fullerton, because of Jones' refusal to take out a Patent from the Proprietors and to pay them quit rents. He appealed to the King in Council where it was lost on a plea of possession for twenty years. This case set a precedent for all future cases of this nature and was referred to as late as 1749.

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Isaac Kingsland, born at London, England in 1648, came to America in 1673. He married Elizabeth (-) about 1678, and died in New Barbadoes in 1698.

Isaac was appointed High Sheriff of Bergen County at a meeting of the New Jersey Governor's Council on 14 March 1682/3 and eight days later he was appointed to the same office for Essex County. On 26 November 1684 New Jersey Governor Gawen Lawrie made him a member of his council and he continued to serve in this office under Governors Campbell and Hamilton.

At a meeting of the Board of Proprietors held on 14 May 1686 Isaac petitioned for head land for himself, his wife, one child, four white servants and eight negro slaves. The Board did not grant head land, but did award him 500 acres of land on the Passaic River. By a deed dated 26 March 1671 William Sanford purchased 15,300 acres of land in trust for Nathaniel Kingsland of Barbadoes, located between the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers which ran from a line opposite Newark to present day Rutherford. Nathaniel transferred one third of this land to William Sanford on 1 June 1671 and retained the remainder. By his will proved 1 April 1687 Nathaniel gave his nephew, Isaac Kingsland, one third of the remainder, about 3,400 acres.

On 11 December 1686 Isaac was commissioned Captain for a company of foot soldiers made up of citizens from Acquackanock and New Barbadoes, and on 27 May 1687 he was appointed a justice in the Court of Common Right. By his will dated 1 January 1697/8, proved 4 March 1697/8, Isaac left one third of his real estate to his eldest son, Edmund, the remainder to his other children. When each daughter married, she received a lot and the materials to build a house; his wife received the income from the estate during her life. His personal estate, valued at £220 9 sh. included negro slaves, farm animals, farm equipment, clothing and household goods.

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Francis Linle (Linsley/Lindley) was born in England, date and location unknown. He and his brother John emigrated from England and settled in the New Haven Colony about 1640. The names of John and Francis Linle appear in the New Haven records in 1645. In 1646, Francis Linle was appointed to keep the herds of cows and heifers in Branford.

Francis Linle married Susanna Cullpeper in 1655, in Branford, and their children Deborah , Ruth , Ebenezer and John were born there. Sons Benjamin , Joseph and Jonathan were born in Newark, New Jersey, after 1666.

Francis Linle moved with the first Puritan settlers to Newark, which was settled in 1666. His name appears among the forty additional settlers who signed the Fundamental Agreements in 1667. The Agreement stated provide for the maintenance of the purity of Religion professed in the Congregational Churches. At a town meeting in 1667, Francis Linle drew home lot number 44 on Market Street (opposite where the court house stood in 1924).

The original patent received by Francis Linle from the Proprietors of the Province of East New Jersey for his land in 1697, is in the possession of the New Jersey Historical Society’s Lindsley collection. This is the oldest document of its kind pertaining to this family known to be in existence in America and it is the first time the surname is spelled Lindsley.

Before his death in Newark in 1704, he gave land to his sons Benjamin, Ebenezer, Joseph and Jonathan. The deed to his son Ebenezer, in the possession of the New Jersey Historical Society, is probably the only extant document signed by Francis.

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John Littell first appears on the record in 1668 when he purchased property in Elizabethtown, in the four-year-old British colony of New Jersey. Hatfield's History of Elizabeth mentions him several times. In 1673 he was among the majority of New Jersey freeholders who swore allegiance to the Dutch during their short-lived re-conquest of New Jersey and New York. By 1676 he owned 180 acres in Elizabethtown.

John was generally referred to as Little, but his probate record has him as Littell and Little. Descendants used the two spellings interchangeably into the nineteenth century.

John’s origins are unknown. Family histories have surmised that he was the son of George Little of Newbury, MA. George Little's genealogy lists a son John, but he died in 1672 while our John lived until 1713. George did settle briefly in New Jersey, 1669-70, but he soon returned to Newbury.

This may have been the John Little who was an indentured servant to Mayflower passenger Isaac Allerton (Little of course was not himself on the Mayflower). Allerton died in 1659 and sale of the remaining service of John Little was recorded by the estate in New Haven in 1660. The time of service is not stated. John Little/Littell of Elizabethtown employed an indentured servant himself, and in 1680 raised a hue and cry when he ran away.

Family sources state that John’s first wife was Dorothy ----, and that they had one son, Samuel, born in 1674. Dorothy presumably died before 1680, when John married Mary White, in Elizabethtown. She was born about 1660, daughter of Robert and Agatha White, died in Elizabethtown, 1715. John and Mary had seven children (Robert, Anthony, Jonathan, John, Martha, Comfort and Constance).

John Littell died in 1713. His will (of Elizabeth Town, Essex Co.) was probated on 8 April.

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Henry Lyon and his two brothers, Thomas and Richard Lyon of Perthshire, Scotland were in Oliver Cromwell’s army, a part of the guard who witnessed the execution of King Charles I. Fleeing to America immediately thereafter, in 1648, Henry Lyon settled in the New Haven Colony, at Milford, Connecticut.

He married Elizabeth Bateman, daughter of William Bateman of Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1652. They resided with the her parents in Fairfield until 1654, when William Bateman sold Henry Lyon the house and lot. Henry was executor of his father-in-law’s will dated 24, 1656 and received half of his estate.

Henry, Elizabeth and children moved to Newark, New Jersey in 1666, where Henry was a founder with the Milford colonists. They re-located to Elizabethtown, New Jersey, in 1673 where they became large land owners. The Lyons had eight children, Thomas Lyon, Mary Lyon, Samuel Lyon, Joseph Lyon, Nathaniel Lyon, John Lyon, Benjamin Lyon and Ebenezer Lyon.

Henry held various posts during his life in New Jersey, among them was the first Treasurer and first Keeper of the Ordinary of Newark, a member of the General Assembly of New Jersey at Elizabethtown in 1675, Justice of the Peace in 1681, Judge of the Small Causes in 1681, member of the Governor’s Council in 1681, Commissioner in 1682, and many other positions until the end of his life.

Elizabeth died before 1689, after which Henry married Mary____. He returned to Newark in 1696 and remained there until his death in 1703.

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Samuel Marsh was born in England c. 1620; died in Rahway, New Jersey about 1683 when he made his will.

Samuel Marsh was in New Haven Colony by 1646, where in April he was a member of the New Haven Militia and was made a Freeman on 2 May 1647. With his wife and seven children Samuel removed to Elizabethtown, New Jersey and his son Samuel, Jr., became one of the original 80 Associates in that venture, or is so recorded. On 16 February 1665 Samuel, Sr. took the Oath of Allegiance to King Charles II, and acquired several pieces of land for various uses.

Marsh became active in the disturbances in Elizabethtown during the long controversy with Governor Carteret over land boundaries and titles. In 1671 Samuel was indicted with several others for the destruction of Richard Mitchell's fence which impinged on someone else's land. The trial was a mockery and the defendants although technically fined, paid no fines.

A re-recording of the official inhabitants in Elizabeth Town was done and both Samuel Marsh, Sr. and Jr. appeared on that list dated 11 September 1673. On 14 May 1675/6 a general survey of lands was completed and Samuel Marsh, Sr. received his patent for 180 acres, and his son Samuel, Jr. also received his patent for 180 acres.

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William Matlack was born in Cropwell Village, near Nottinghamshire in 1648. He came to America aboard the ship Kent under an agreement with Daniel Willis to serve as a carpenter for four years, settling in the area that is now Burlington, New Jersey. As a carpenter he worked on the first houses built in Burlington as well as the first corn mill in West Jersey. His leisure time was spent among the natives, watching their peculiarities and striving to win their good will.

In 1682 he married Mary Hancock who had emigrated from Warwickshire, England with her brother the previous year. They settled on a 100 acre track of land in Chester Township, Burlington County. Known as head lands this was the quantity of land that each male person coming as a servant was entitled under the regulations established by the proprietors. . John Roberts and Timothy Hancock also obtained property in the area. When the three located the land along a creek they called it Penisaukin (now Pennsauken), giving the stream the same name as that by which the Indians called their adjoining village.

Many of the young men who came as servants and received their 100 acres were persons of education and became prominent citizens in the colony, as was the case with William Matlack. In 1701 he purchased about 1000 acres situated in Waterford and Gloucester townships on both sides of Cooper’s Creek. He continued to purchase land throughout his life, transferring much of it to his sons.

The progenitor of the New Jersey branch of the Meeker family was William Meeker, who came from Leamington, Warwickshire, England about 1635 to the Massachusetts Bay, and thence removed to New Haven colony, of which he was one of the founders. While residing there he married Sarah Preston, a native of Yorkshire, England.

In the spring of 1665, with his family and others of New Haven colony (whom tradition says he brought in his own sloop), he landed on the site that became known as Elizabethtown Point, New Jersey, and was enrolled with his eldest son, Joseph Meeker, among the original “Elizabethtown Associates,” who had acquired title by purchase of the Indians, and by grant from Governor Nichols, for the ground, a portion of which now comprises the entire county of Union.

Sir Philip Carteret was appointed governor of New Jersey by the Duke of York, who had been granted the entire territory by the King. The Duke of York and subsequently Carteret, did not at first recognize the Elizabethtown grant from Governor Nichols. The Associates believed this to be invasions of their New Jersey purchase rights, which culminated in dissatisfaction, a revolt on their part, and eventually the flight of Governor Carteret.

Chosen by the Associates, and holding a commission from Governor Carteret as constable of the town, William Meeker became an active adherent of Captain James Carteret, who succeeded the absent governor. Later this was considered an offence and in 1675 he was adjudged to loose his estate. The people of Elizabethtown and Newark, appreciating his fidelity to their interests, presented him with a tract of land at Lyons Farm, where the family homestead was erected by his son. William Meeker died in 1690. The children of William and Sarah (Preston) Meeker were: Joseph , Benjamin , Sarah , Mary and John .

Jean Pierre Mellot (Marlatt, Melot, Merlet, Marlet) was the son of Gideon Merlet, a French Huguenot, and Margaret Martin. He emigrated to New Netherlands on the ship Purmerland Church, with his parents and three minor siblings, in October 1662. The family first settled on Staten Island and later moved to Perth Amboy, New Jersey. On 12 April 1693, John Peterson Melot, listed as a blacksmith from Perth Amboy, purchased 180 acres in Piscataway. On 27 October of 1693 he leased a farm on the Bound Brook to Henry Pontony (alias Lafortune).

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Samuel Moore was born c. 1630 at Malden, County Essex, England; died at Woodbridge, New Jersey on 27 May 1688. He married first, 3 May 1653 at Newbury, Massachusetts, Hannah Plummer, daughter of Francis Plummer. She died 8 December 1654. He married second, 12 December 1656 at Newbury, Mary Ilsley, daughter of William and Barbara (Stevens) Ilsley of Newbury who died after 3 June 1678 at Woodbridge. He married third, 23 December 1678 Anne Jaques, widow of Henry Jaques, Jr., of Woodbridge.

Samuel Moore was a resident of Newbury, Massachusetts, before 1653. About 1666 he removed to Woodbridge, New Jersey, where he filed in Piscataway Township surveys for a number of tracts of land. He was assigned a patent for 70 acres on 27 December 1667 and about 1670 received a patent for 356 acres.

Moore served as Town Clerk for 19 years, was sent as Deputy to the General Assembly and returned to that office five times. In 1668 he was chosen a delegate to the first Legislature held in the Province of New Jersey at Elizabeth Town; in 1669 was an aide to the Surveyor General and was also appointed Constable. Between 1670 and 1687 Moore was overseer of the highways, rate-maker and gatherer and assistant justice of the Township Court; President of the Township Court in 1672 and 1674; Marshall of the Province of East Jersey under Governor Carteret 1672-3 and was also Treasurer of the Province. In 1683 he was appointed the first High Sheriff of Middlesex County, at that time a position of great dignity and responsibility.

The inventory of 7 June 1688 gave Samuel Moore's personal estate as £132.16.11 and included 1 negro boy of 15 and two negro girls. Thomas Gordon, administrator, leased to Richard Dole and Samuel Moore, Jr., on 22 April 1690, one grist mill, mill house and bakery in Woodbridge belonging to Samuel Moore, deceased.

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On 25 October 1676, 3840 acres were conveyed to Col. Lewis Morris of Barbados and his associates in the Iron Works at Navesinck, between the Swimming River and Falls River, the whole to be called Tinton Manor. Additional property was conveyed in 1681, to Col. Morris of Tinton Manor, for Ramsant’s Point, originally owned by Christopher Almy. Col Morris conveyed to Lewis, son of Thomas Morris, on 15 April 1698, 330 acres called Passage Point or Navamson Neck. Col Morris was member of the Meetings of Shrewsbury and New York Province.

In his will dated Feb 12, 1690, Col. named his wife Mary as executrix and his vice nephew Lewis, son of his deceased brother Richard Morris, as his principal heir. In a document dated Dec 10, 1702, other tracts of land in Monmouth County were conveyed to Richard Morris, heir at law of Col. Lewis Morris, in consideration of his services with the Ministers of State in England.

Lewis Morris died in 1696. A letter of administration was granted on April 1, 1696, on the estate to his wife Elizabeth Almy Morris.

Thomas Morris, a Puritan, was born in England, time and place still undiscovered. He married Elizabeth ( - ), but time and place are not known, but it probably was in Massachusetts about 1639. He died at Morris Cove in New Haven, Connecticut, 21 July 1673 and his wife died there in 1681.

Thomas Morris is believed to have arrived in Boston 26 June 1637 then settled by 1640 in New Haven, Connecticut. A Puritan, he was deeply religious, a friend of Robert Treat and the other men who decided to build their ideal Puritan settlement in New Jersey. He was a shipwright, wheelwright and carpenter, and it is traditional that the group sailed to New Jersey in a ship built and owned by Thomas Morris.

In 1667 Morris subscribed to the Fundamental Agreements entered into by the group planning Newark. In the first division of land there, he received Lot #31 for which he was assessed £ 385. This lot lay between Broad and Washington Streets in Newark, and is now bisected by New Street, lying on the upland area of the city. There is no evidence that Morris ever improved this land or built on it. He had been a pioneer in at least two other areas in New England and developed a fine and profitable shipbuilding business in New Haven. His family was grown up and setting up for themselves.

Thomas Morris' name is found in 1670-71 among those who were to receive a lot in the second division of salt meadow in Newark. This is the last time his name appeared in the town records. Thomas was too old to want to live once more through the rigors of pioneering; he had a comfortable home and a good business in Connecticut. He had sons who could inherit the Newark land, so when he made his will 1 July 1672 in New Haven, he gave his estate to his daughters and his one living son, John. John removed to Newark where he died in 1675, but John's son, John, lived on in Newark and died there in 1749 at the age of 83.

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Samuel Nicholson was born in Wiseton [alt sp, Wyston, Weston], Nottinghamshire, England about 1634. He married Ann[e] Abel in England around 1658; they had six children all born in England; Parabol Rachel [1659], Moses [1661], Elizabeth [1664], Samuel [1666], Joseph [1669], and Abel [1672]. [Shourds]

Samuel was a yeoman farmer and prominent member of the community. He and his family were members of The Religious Society of Friends [Quakers]. On August 7, 1675 [Julian calendar June 28, 1675] Samuel, along with 31 others joined John Fenwick’s scheme to establish a colony in West Jersey, North America and signed an agreement entitled, The Fundamental Articles for the Government of the Colony [known as Fenwick’s Colony or Salem Colony].

Soon afterwards Samuel, Ann, and their 5 children [Moses had died in 1663], along with 42 other settlers sailed from England on board the ship, Griffin, under ship’s master Captain Robert Griffith. Arriving along the Delaware River shore in West Jersey on September 23, 1675, the following day the colonists sailed up the Assamhocking [now Salem] River and named their landing spot, New Salem.

Samuel Nicholson had previously purchased the rights to 2,000 acres of land in the new settlement, suggesting he was a prominent person among the group. After arriving in New Salem “…he proceeded to survey outside the town limits of Salem, and south of it, his tract of 2,000 acres, obtaining full title and possession in the tenth month of 1675….” [Flegel] According to chronicler, John Clement, …”next after the patroon [John Fenwick], Samuel Nicholson was, perhaps the wealthiest man in the colony at that time, as he appears to have made several large surveys of land in the county, and also several purchases of real estate.”

In June, 1676, Samuel Nicholson signed the Agreement of Settlement and Division of Lands with the chief purchasers of the Fenwick’s Colony, which, in part, laid out the Town of New Salem into 16 acre lots. Samuel purchased a 16 acre town lot on Wharf St. [now Broadway] and built a house of hewn logs. The first Monthly Meeting of The Society of Friends was held in this house and subsequent meetings were held there periodically up to 1681. When the need for a dedicated Meeting House became apparent, Samuel and Ann Nicholson deeded the house and 16 acre lot to the ‘Salem Monthly Meeting’ for a Meeting House and burial ground [this is the land around the Salem Oak]. As a result, the first in-town house of Samuel and Ann Nicholson became the first Meeting House of The Society of Friends in West Jersey. [Flegel] [Salem county Archives & Records].

Samuel and his family resided on their large tract of land in an area that became known as Elsinborough [Elsinboro]. Samuel also served as the first Justice of the Peace in the colony. Before his death in1685, he divided his estate among his wife, Ann, eldest son, Samuel, and youngest son, Abel. Upon her death in 1693, Ann left her estate to her three granddaughters, Rachel, Mary, and Elizabeth Abbott and her sons, Samuel, Joseph and Abel. (September 2015 was the 340th Anniversary of the Samuel Nicholson family arrival in New Jersey.)

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The Ogdens were from the corner of central England where West Riding Yorkshire and Lancaster meet, an area dominated by the mores of Bronte fame, structures of cut stone, and quarries (including one that still bears the Ogden name). John Ogden, was born 19 Sept. 1609, on 8 May 1637, he married Jane Bond. The family, with three young sons, along with John’s younger brother Richard and his family sailed to New England in 1640. By 1641 they were settled in the English colony of Stamford, CT., with a cousin, another John Ogden. Undoubtedly John and Richard Ogden were skilled stone masons, since in 1642 the governor of New Amsterdam contracted with the brothers to build a Dutch Style church within the fort, for the fee of 2500 guilders in cash, beaver or other merchandise, with a bonus of 100 guilders if the work was done in a workmanlike manner. Dutch trouble with the Indians delayed completion till 1645.

However, in 1644, John Ogden and associates secured from the Dutch a patent to the Great Plains of Hempstead on Long Island, with the promise to settle 100 families within five years. In 1647 John Ogden received permission from the English Southampton, Long Island, authorities to plant a colony of six families at Northampton; in 1649 he moved his family to the Eastern End of Long Island. They stayed in the area for 24 years, with John Ogden expanding his land holdings, being granted the privilege of taking whales along the coast, and becoming prominent in the public affairs of Southampton.

In 1664 the English drove out the Dutch, and within weeks John Ogden and associates petitioned and were granted permission to settle a plantation and purchase from the Indians all the lands between the Raritan River and Passaic River, west of the Hudson River (in New Jersey). The Elizabethtown Associates paid the Indians twenty fathom of trading cloth, two made coats, two guns, two kettles, ten bars of lead, twenty handfuls of powder, and after one year four hundred fathom of white wampum, for what would become Elizabethtown, Woodbridge, Rahway, Piscataway, and Newark. John Ogden and his three adult sons took the oath of allegiance to King Charles II on Feb 19, 1665, in Elizabethtown. They were each among the eighty original land-owning Associates of Elizabethtown.

Lords Berkeley and Carteret were given authority over the province of New Jersey; and in July 1665 appointed Philip Carteret the first governor. He determined to locate himself with the Ogden Company and make their plantation the seat of his government. The Governor appointed John Ogden Justice of the Peace: Whereas, I have conceived a good Opinion of the ability, prudence and integrity, of you John Ogden Gentleman, in the management of public affairs…appoint John OgdenJustice of the Peace... full power and authority to execute all such laws…

The settlers of Elizabethtown were of Puritan background. Since a church and minister were required under the land patent, John Ogden and his sons built what was the first English speaking church in New Jersey. In 1668, Carteret called for the freeholders in each of the several towns of the province to make choice of two of their number to meet in General Assembly of New Jersey, at Elizabethtown. John Ogden was elected and attended this first New Jersey legislature, held in the church he had built.

John Ogden and his sons had interests in addition to farming. Soon after their arrival they built a mill and dam across the creek on their property, which in addition to meeting the family’s needs, was also a source of income. John Ogden also extended his whaling rights from Rhode Island to Barnegat Inlet.

In 1673 the Dutch reclaimed New Amsterdam and New Jersey. The independent and practical settlers of Elizabeth Town, discontented with the English rule, were not unhappy to see the return of the Dutch. John Ogden successfully led deputies from Elizabeth Town, Newark, Woodbridge, Piscataway, Middletown, and Shrewsbury, to petition the Dutch to grant them all their former privileges. On 1 Sept. 1673, the Dutch made John Ogden schout or sheriff of the six towns and on Sept. 13, 1673 the men of the towns took the oath of allegiance to the Dutch. However, peace between England and Holland was restored in 1674, and England regained the Dutch territories.

John Ogden died in 1682, at the age of 73. His will left all of his estate to my dear and beloved wife and so hath been for above forty years. Jane Ogden died circa 1691.
The Ogdens had six children (also founders of New Jersey):
John Ogden, Jr., b. England, 3 Mar 1638; d. 24 Nov 1702; m. Elizabeth Plum
David Ogden, b. England, 11 Jan 1639; d. c Feb 1692; m. Elizabeth (Swaine) Ward
Jonathan Ogden, b. England, 11 Jan. 1639; d. 3 Jan 1732; m. Rebecca (Wood)
Joseph Ogden, b. America, 9 Nov 1642 d. before 15 Jan 1690; m. Sarah Whitehead
Benjamin Ogden, b. America, c.1654; d. 20 Nov 1722; m. Hannah Woodruff
Mary Ogden, b. America, ___; d. __; m. John Woodruff