Descendants of Founders of New Jersey

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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

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George Pack, born in England, emigrated to America in the 1650’s, probably with his parents. It is likely that he settled first in the Milford area of Connecticut. In 1665 he was among the eighty Associates, who with a patent granted by the new English Governor of New York, Governor Richard Nicolls, purchased a large track of land west of the Hudson River from the Indian Sachems of Staten Island, and then settled the first English town in eastern New Jersey. With the coming of Sir George Carteret as Proprietary Governor, it was named Elizabethtown, after the governor’s wife. He took the Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity in the town on 19 February 1665.

George and his wife Anna had six children; among them, Samuel, Hannah, Elizabeth, Abigail and Jeziah. Anna died around 1681, after her death, George moved to Rahway where he married Elizabeth Moore, the daughter of Samuel and Hannah Moore, in March 1683. They had four children: Bethiah, Thomas, Job and Benjamin. George died in Rahway on 2 October 1704. His will, the original of which is in the State House in Trenton, New Jersey, mentions his wife Elizabeth and his children.

On the 13th day of May in the year 1680, the record of the Quaker Men’s Monthly Meeting at Ugbrook, Northampton, England provided the following document to:

ye ffrds. And Brethren in New Jersey, in America, greetings. Whereas this friend John Panckhurst of Ashton having laid his intentions of transporting himself into New Jersey and desired a Certificate from this meeting. These many therefore let you understand that ye sd John Panckhurst hath lived soberly as becometh ye truth and yt he is clear from all women as to relative in marriage soe far as we understand. An that friends here have not anything against his transporting himself by reason yt we do not understand but that he hath left all things clear as to his debts: all we thought meet to signifie etc., in testimony thereunto we whose names are here written have set our hand by the direction of ye sd meeting I shall rest you ffrds and brethren.

Signed by _ Thomas Poole and eight others.

Shortly after securing this Certificate of Removal, John Pancoast left his home at Ashton, five miles from Northampton in Northamptonshire, England, and with his family of eight children ( two sons and six daughters), came into America on the ship Paradise, William Evelyn, Master, landing at Burlington on the fourth of October, 1680.

John Pancoast, as he came to be known in America, was the son of Joseph Panckhurst and the grandson of the Reverend Samuel Panckhurst of Ashton. It is believed that the Reverend Samuel Panckhurst, born in 1580, was a clergyman of the Church of England.

Within three weeks of his landing, John’s first survey was recorded for 100 acres of land in Burlington County on the north side of Assiscunk Creek against Mattacopenny Branch. Four days later, 18 October 1680, John Pancoast recorded a deed for 1/32 of a 10-90th share of the province of West Jersey.

Among the early Jersey Records, the name of John Pancoast is found in several places. As different surveys are made to him; as he signs as a Proprietor, business papers; and in the court of ear-marks for cattle made 8 August 1685, as follows: John Pancoast. Left ear slit, ye Right cur out.

John also took an active part in civil affairs of the province. He served as regulator of weights and measures in 1681 and was a Constable of Yorkshire Tenth in 1692. He served as member of the General Assembly of the Province of West New Jersey in 1685.

John Pancoast and his first wife, Elizabeth, had nine children who came to America, three sons and six daughters. However, Elizabeth died in England and John was a widower when he and eight children came over in 1680. One son, James, had preceded them, unknown to them at that time. It seems that James, who was a bound apprentice to a watchmaker in London, was kidnapped and brought to Maryland and sold by the Captain to some gentleman there. However, James worked out his time, bought a tract of land on the Potomac in 1687, acquired a nice estate, and became a leading citizen of Prince Georges County.

John Pancoast married as his second wife, Ann Snowden, the fall of 1682. Seven year later, in 1689, again a widower, he married his third wife, Jane Chapman. Jane, as the widow of Thomas Curtis, had married John Chapman, who died within a few months. When she married John Pancoast, less than five months later, they

were reproved for their haste by the Burlington Meeting of Friends. John Pancoast died in December of 1694 and his widow later married her fourth husband, Thomas Crosse.

Shortly after arriving in New Jersey, John’s daughter Ann Pancoast married Thomas Smith. Their marriage was recorded as having taken place the 14th of May 1681 and that Thomas Smith was of Cohansey in the Fenwick Colony. Thomas had bought 1000 acres from John Fenwick and located it in Shrowesburie Neck, south of the Cohansey. Of a later transaction is found this record of the land patent. Jan. 26, 1678/80 John Fenwick to Thomas Smith, late of Moseley, Parish of Chadleton, Co., of Stafford, now Shrowesburie Neck, Fenwick Colony, gentlemen, and William Johnson, for 500 acres at Shtowesburie Neck, here after to be called Moseleys Shield and Johnsons Cottage.

By 1684 Thomas Smith was a member of the General Assembly and one of the first to settle on a 16 acre town lot on Main Street, Greenwich, when it was laid out in 1681. Thomas and Ann Pancoast Smith were the progenitors of the Smith family who were early settlers of Frederick County, Virginia. It is through this line that the author of this article descends.

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Abraham Pierson was born in Yorkshire, England (christened in Guiseley Chapel, 22 September 1611), the son of Thomas and Grace Marshall Pierson. He graduated Trinity College, Cambridge in 1632 and came to America in 1639. He was in Boston and Lynn, MA in1640; Southampton, Long Island to 1647; Branford, CT to 1666; then he removed with the group led by Robert Treat to Newark, NJ where he died 9 August 1678. Around 1642, he married either Abigail Mitchell or Abigail Wheelwright (the record is not clear).

After he was ordained in Boston as a Congregational minister, he was pastor of the Southampton church, and led a group of dissidents to Branford, CT in 1647. There he learned the language of the Native Americans and prepared a catechism for them. He also united with John Davenport, founder of the New Haven colony, in opposing the union of the CT (Hartford) and New Haven colonies in 1665. He was said to be quite rigid and inflexible in his theology, and this led to the removal of the Branford congregation to Newark, NJ in 1666. He was the pastor of the First Church of Newark, where he preached for the remaining twelve years of his life.

He and Abigail had ten children. Daughter Abigail Pierson married John Davenport Jr., son of the founder of New Haven. Son Abraham Pierson also became a minister (Harvard 1668), succeeded his father as rector of the Newark church to 1692, and then returned to CT where he became the first President of Yale College. Daughter Rebecca Pieson (1654-1732) married Joseph Johnson (1651-1733) of Newark.

John Pike son of John and Dorothy (Day) Pike was baptized 8 November 1613 at Whiteparish, Wiltshire, England. His first wife was Mary, perhaps Turrill or Tarville. He married second, in Woodbridge, New Jersey 30 June 1685 Elizabeth Blossom, widow of Edward Fitz-Randolph. His will was dated 24 January 1688/9 and proved 20 January 1689/90.

John Pike probably came from England in the ship "James" to Newbury, Massachusetts in 1635 with his father. All of his children were born in Newbury to his first wife, and all of his living children, except Joseph, moved with him to New Jersey about 1665. Before moving, John Pike lived for over 30 years in or near Newbury, where he was a town officer a number of times and was representative in 1657 and 1658.

Mr. John Pike was the first name on the list of those who took the "Oath of Alegeance and Fidelitie" in Woodbridge beginning 27 February 1667-68. In 1668 the Governor granted him 380 acres of land in New Jersey. At Woodbridge, he was its first "President" in 1671, "the prominent man of the town" and for some years a magistrate. In 1675 he was appointed captain of the militia. His will mentions "late wife Mary," children John , Thomas, Ruth wife of Abr. Toppin, Joseph and Hana.

Richard Pewtinger (Piewtinger, Pettinger, Pittinger) came to New Jersey in 1666 on the ship Philip with Philip Carteret as one of eighteen young men who were servants to Philip and his brother Sir George. The History of Elizabeth, New Jersey, states Carteret’s immigrants were adistinct class, in an inferior station, with whom the original planters had little congeniality and familiarity. However, Pittenger was given land next to Philip Carteret in 1665. According to historical records, Richard was a witness to the marriage of Mrs. Margarita Stuyvesant and Hendrick Droogestradt in 1678. Margarite was the half sister of Pieter Stuyvesant, who had been the Director-General of New Amsterdam, New Netherland, under the Dutch.

In 1700, according to the Reformed Dutch Church of New Amsterdam Church records, Richard married Annetje Anthony. The Pittengers had two sons, Richard II and Johnnes/John. It is probable that there were other children.

Marriages within the Dutch community abounded for at least four generations and their histories are recorded in New Jersey and New Harlem records. Richard Pittenger would have been proud of his descendants, which have included educators, theologians, patriots and one Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.

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Robert Powell was a chandler who emigrated from Martin-le-Grand, London, England, to West Jersey in 1677 on the Kent, disembarking with his wife at the mouth of Raccon Creek. Most of Kent passengers remained for the winter in the Swedish settlement there. It is probable that Elizabeth was born at New Stockholm, the first English child born in Burlington County, New Jersey. She became known as Virginia Dare of Burlington.

Elizabeth's parents settled on a farm of 150 acres, on the north side of Assiscunck (Mill) Creek, West of Rancocus Village. Robert Powell was one of the Quakers who signed the Concessions and Agreements of the Proprietors, Freeholders and Inhabitants of the Province of West Jersey in America.

Elizabeth Powell, daughter of Robert and Prudence Powell, was born 7 August 1677 in Burlington County, New Jersey. She married first, at age 18, on 16 November 1695, James Newbold, who was baptized 20 January 1669/70 at St. Peter's Church, Sheffield, England. Elizabeth and James Newbold had one daughter, Ann, before he died in 1697, in Mansfield Township, Burlington County, West Jersey. Elizabeth married second, on 21 Octoiber 1699, at Daniel Wills' house in Northampton Township, Jacob DeCou, who was born 7 Feb 1668 in Yorkshire, England. The DeCous had a pair of twin girls, four sons and two daughters. Elizabeth died in June 1714, at age 37. Jacob DeCou died in December 1735/36, in Burlington County, New Jersey.

Benjamin Price was born 1621 in England, probably at Olney, Buckinghamshire. He married Mary Sayre, daughter of Thomas Sayre of Southampton, Long Island, New York; died at Elizabethtown, New Jersey between 30 August 1705 and 7 October 1712, the dates of his will.

The first record of Benjamin Price in this country appears to be 10 March 1639, when he was a witness to a deed for an island off the eastern end of Long Island by the agent of Lord Sterling to Lion Gardner now known as Gardiner's Island. Benjamin was employed as an overseer, or head farmer, on the island.

The Prices removed to East Hampton where in 1650 Benjamin was Town Recorder. He held that position alternately for many years, evidently having had a good education. His land allotment totaled about 40 acres, including a town lot. In 1665 Benjamin and six other residents purchased the eastern tip of Long Island, now known as Montauk, from the Indians. This area was rented by other townsmen as a pasture for their cattle.

In 1665 Benjamin joined with many other "East Enders", including his son Benjamin, Jr., in the Elizabethtown purchase where he took the oath of allegiance 19 February 1665, having agreed to the sale of his property in East Hampton. There was a total of 80 Associates in this purchase: Benjamin received 270 acres.

Many problems arose in East New Jersey between the proprietors and the inhabitants over land and quitrent arrears. On 13 May 1699 Justice Benjamin Price, along with many other townsmen, attacked the Woodbridge jail with clubs and staves, to free two prisoners who had been jailed for stirring up opposition in the towns against the revenue act of March 1699. Benjamin had seven children, and outlived his wife, and most of the Elizabethtown founders.

John Pridmore (Predmore) was born at Dorsetshire, England in 1661. When he immigrated to the New World is not known; however, he is recorded as among the first settlers of Piscataway and Woodbridge, New Jersey.

John Pridmore married Anne Higgins in 1682, at Piscataway, New Jersey. Anne Higgins was born in 1663 in Eastham, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Richard Higgins and his second wife, Mary Yates of Plymouth. Richard Higgins was a resident and pioneer settler of Plymouth and Eastham, Massachusetts, as well as a settler of Piscataway, New Jersey.

Not much is known of the Higgins-Pridmore family, except that they were land owners, operated their own farms and performed services for the community. Among their holdings was land along the Raritan River (Predmore Swamp) reported to have become the site of Rutgers College.

South of Piscataway, in the center of the colony of New Jersey, by Cranbury Creek, a mill town began to be developed along an old Indian trail much used by colonial travelers. In 1697 Cranbury Towne received its charter from the King. Responding to the needs of travelers for a place to eat and drink, get fresh horses and spend the night, John Predmore Jr ,. operated a post house as early as 1730, on the site of the present Cranbury Inn. He also ran a stage from Philadelphia to New York in the 1750’s. His house was replaced in 1780 by the Perrine House.

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Edward Fitz-Randolph was baptized 5 July 1607 at Sutton-on-Ashfleld, Nottinghamshire, England; married on 10 May 1637 Elizabeth Blossom, daughter of Elder Thomas and Ann (Heilson) Blossom, born in Leyden in 1620. Edward died between 1675 and 1676 in Piscataway, New Jersey. Elizabeth married on 30 June 1685 Captain John Pike. She died in her 93rd year and is buried beside Edward Fitz-Randolph in the west corner of St. James Churchyard in Piscataway.

Edward Fitz-Randolph and his widowed mother came to America in 1630 in the Winthrop Fleet, settling first in Situate, Massachusetts. He was yeoman and does not appear to have held any public office. He moved his family to Barnstable in 1639 where he was a juryman in 1641 and his name appears on the list of those able to bear arms in 1641.

In 1669 Edward sold his Massachusetts property and moved most of his family to Piscataway, New Jersey because New England patriotism and religion were too restrictive. After his death and about four days after her second marriage, Elizabeth deeded 300 acres of their father's land to sons Joseph, John, Thomas and Benjamin Fitz-Randolph.

John Reading was born 14 Sep.1657 in Pipe Hill, Staffordshire England, the son of John Reading and his wife Mary. He was evidently an educated wealthy Quaker and in 1677 he purchased a 1/6 share of proprietary from Edward Byllynge, who held the patent to the West Jersey territory. He married Elizabeth in England on 22 Feb.1682 and emigrated from London prior to 1684. The family established a homestead in the area that would become Gloucester County. John was a surveyor and became active in civil administration; he was elected a member of the Burlington County Assembly in 1685. When Gloucester County was formed in 1688, was chosen Clerk and Recorder of Gloucester County in 1688, an office he held until 1702.

On 6 Sep. 1688 the resident proprietors organized a Council of West Jersey Proprietors to record proprietor rights to the soil, supervise the distribution of dividends, issue warrants of survey, and have charge of un- appropriated lands, John Reading was appointed one of the five commissioners from Gloucester County and was elected Secretary, a position he held for virtually the next 28 years. John Reading was a Captain of Militia in 1695, 1702, 1713, 1714, and Lieutenant Colonel in the Hunterdon County New Jersey Militia in 1715.

In 1703, the Council of Proprietors appointed John Reading, William Biddle and John Mills to survey and purchase from the Lenape-Delaware Indians the great tract of 150,000 acres between the Raritan and Delaware Rivers. In 1709, Col. Reading relocated from Gloucester County to the part of Burlington County that later became Amwell Township, Hunterdon County. His first purchase of land there was in 1704; in a deed dated 12 Nov. 1709 he calls his home Mount Amwell in the county of Burlington. The estate was located on the Delaware River near present day Stockton.

In 1711, Governor Hunter commissioned John Reading as one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the colony. In 1713, Queen Anne confirmed Governor Hunter’s nomination of John Reading and he was sworn in as a member of the Royal Council of New Jersey on 5 Dec. 1713. Shortly after he became a member of the Royal Council a bill was presented for the organization of Hunterdon County. The minutes from the council for February 1713/14 indicate that it was John Reading, Esq. who reported the bill out of committee. It is believed that it was the work of Colonel Reading, and that he is entitled to be called the father of Hunterdon County.

John and Elizabeth had at least two children. Their son John Reading Jr. became the first native born governor of the New Jersey colony. John Reading Sr. died 30 Oct. 1717 in Amwell Township, Hunterdon Township, New Jersey at the age of 60.

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Walter Reeve was probably born between 1650 and 1657, either in England or Wales. He married first, Susanna (-) about 1670 and after her death he married Ann Howell on 11 November (December), 1682. He died between 16 May 1698 and 18 June 1698, the dates of his will.

Although records show that several Reeves migrated from Long Island and settled in West Jersey, it is believed that Walter Reeve came to Burlington County either from England or the West Indies, some time prior to 1673. He settled on 70 acres of land on the south side of the north branch of Rancocas Creek, midway between the present town of Rancocas and Mount Holly. He later acquired 350 acres by survey and 160 acres by purchase, plus the 70 acres to which he never took title. From his Rancocas property he engaged in export trade with foreign ports.

Walter Reeve followed the Church of England while most of his neighbors were Friends. This difference in religion may have contributed to some of the difficulties with his neighbors, mainly over property boundaries. In 1685 he cut logs on land that was in dispute. In 1693 he secured an attachment for a haystack, placed by others on a "peece of marrish" which he claimed.

The inventory of Reeve's estate amounted to £ 242.19 of which £ 98 was for real property which was listed as consisting of a house and plantation of 160 acres, a dwelling house by the creek side and 200 acres.

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Edward Riggs, son of Edward Riggs, may have been born in Yorkshire, England c. 1614; married 5 April 1635 Elizabeth Roosa of Boston, Massachusetts; died in Newark, New Jersey 1668.

Edward Riggs was 19 or 20 years old when he came to New England with his parents and siblings and settled with them at Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1633. He was a Sergeant in the Pequot War of 1637 then settled in Milford, Connecticut, where he remained until 1666.

Riggs was on the committee to select the site for the new settlement to be made in New Jersey. His name is included among those who signed the Fundamental Agreements of the settlers on 24 June 1667 and the first Tax Board in 1667 gave him a valuation of £3,200. When the move was made to the site at Newark, New Jersey, his wife Elizabeth Roosa Riggs was the only woman on the site during the first summer; some of their children came with them. After Edward died in 1668, his widow married Caleb Carwithe prior to 1671.

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Joseph Robins was born in 1670/71; he married Anna Pack from Elizabethtown in 1692. Robins owned land conveyed to him by his grandfather Daniel Robins in 1696, in Crosswicks, Upper Freehold in what was then Monmouth County and which is now Burlington County. Joseph’s will was dated 8 June 1709.

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Moses Rolfe was born in the Arlington section of Cambridge, Massachusetts on the 14th day of October, 1681, a son of John and Mary Scullard Rolfe. Moses married Mary Hale, a Woodbridge, New Jersey native, born November 28, 1678, daughter of Samuel and Sarah Isley Hale, on 4 June, 1702 at Woodbridge. Eleven children were born to them in Woodbridge, namely: Samuel, Elizabeth, Easter, Appiah, Richard, Nathaniel, Jonathan, Richard, Robert and Henry.

According to sources, the Rolfe family (brothers and sisters of Moses, with the exception of sister, Rebecca Rolfe Whittemore, who stayed in Massachusetts), went to New Jersey in the year, 1685. Moses’ brother, John, died intestate on 11 June 1696 and his estate papers show Moses as an heir and resident of Woodbridge, in 1696/97.

Moses was a member of the New Jersey Assembly from (1721-1727); Town Clerk of Woodbridge (1712- 1731); Freeholders Clerk, Woodbridge (1712-1731); Justice of the Peace, Woodbridge (1718); Tax Collector of the County of Middlesex (1727); and lastly, Justice of the Peace of Middlesex and Somerset Counties (1713-1721).

In 1711, in the building of the Meeting House in Woodbridge, Moses contributed to the building of this place of worship whereby he paid for some supplies and let his slave help by drawing water for the builders.

Moses Rolfe died on 1 March 1746, at the age of 64, having left a sizable estate. He owned property in New York, as well as in New Jersey.

George Ross was probably born in Scotland about 1629. Nothing is known of his early years,
but he was captured by Cromwell’s Parliamentary Army at Dunbar on 3 Sept 1650. As one of
the 1400 prisoners that survived the march to London, Ross sailed on the ship Unity with
another 150 prisoners from Gravesend on 11 Nov 1650, and it arrived in Boston in mid-
December. He was one of 36 indentured servants (5-8 year period, usually) that was sent to
the iron works in Saugus, MA. John Winthrop, Jr managed the enterprise, and later took many
of the indentured servants to New Haven, CT where George Ross later appears in town records.

On 7 Dec 1658, George Ross married Constance Little.

“Geo: Rawse & Constance Little were married by ye Governor [Francis Newman], Decembr 7.
1658"

The following year, he purchased land in New Haven, and his first son, John, was born on 23
Feb 1660. Son Daniel, born 10 Oct 1663; Daughter Elizabeth, born 16 Dec 1665. Daughter
Hannah, born 14 Aug 1668. George was appointed Corporal of the Connecticut “Trayne Band”
militia in 1667. That same year, his name appeared in a letter from Rev Thomas James to Gov
John Winthrop that identified men of puritan beliefs.

The Ross family moved to Elizabethtown in 1770 where their son, George, was born. In 1676,
George Ross was granted a land patent for 132 acres in six parcels via a Second-Lot-Right, which
was the middle tier of three. That year he also became a judge for minor court. After the
Dutch overthrew the British in New York on 2 Sept 1673, they administered a census and
requested allegiance. George Ross signed the oath of allegiance on 11 Sept 1673 along with 75
other citizens of Elizabethtown. He began inventorying estates, became a tax assessor in 1683,
and was appointed to be a judge of small causes in 1686. For the last 18 years of his life,
George Ross was a deacon at the ElizabethTown church. He died on 1 Jan 1705.

Richard Rounsavell was born on 12 Mar 1658 and christened on 22 Mar 1658, in the village of Padstow in Cornwall, England. He emigrated from England about 1680 to Stratford, in the Colony of Connecticut, where he had a half acre home-lot and other lands. He married Hannah (last name unknown) between 1688 and 1690. About 1690 the family moved to Wickapogue, Southampton, Long Island.

About 1700 the family moved from Long Island, and became among the first settlers of Hopewell Township, Burlington County (now Hunterdon County) New Jersey. The couple had three children: Martha and Richard born before 1698, probably on Long Island, and Benjamin born in 1700 in Hopewell, New Jersey. It was in New Jersey that he signed his will on 5 Feb 1703 and probated 28 April 1704.

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Thomas Scattergood was born in England, date unknown, where he married Elizabeth Jarvis, probably at Stepney Parish, London. He died between 8 and 11 November 1697, the dates of his will, at Burlington, New Jersey.

Thomas Scattergood probably arrived at Burlington, New Jersey, about 1677 with his wife and seven children. Tradition has it that the family lived for a number of years in a cave located on Craft's Creek, about one mile west of Columbus, New Jersey. This area was later included in the family plantation. This may be truth, which is stranger than fiction, or a myth which has arisen from the fact that the first mention of Thomas in the New Jersey Archives is dated 9th mo. 1685 (November), where he is cited as a neighbor bordering on land received in another man's deed. There has been speculation that some early pages of the original records have been lost and they could have mentioned a purchase by Thomas that took place much earlier.

A carpenter, Thomas and his wife Elizabeth came from the Parish of Stepney, London and were Quakers, raising their children in that faith also. He signed the testimony against George Keith which was issued by the Quakers in 1692. Little else is known concerning the Scattergood family. Sons Thomas, Joseph and Benjamin outlived their father, as did daughters Sarah, Hannah and Tomsin, but daughter Elizabeth predeceased her father, as did Thomas' wife Elizabeth, who died before his will was written. The inventory of his personal estate amounted to £125 5s 6p.

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Roelof Schenck was born in 1619 at Amersfoort, Utrecht, Holland. He emigrated to New Amsterdam with his brother, Jan, and sister, Annetje, in 1650. John Schenck, the son of Roelof Schenck and Neeltje Van Couwenhoven, was born on March 1, 1670 at Flatlands, Kings County, New York.

He married his cousin, Sarah Willemse Van Kouwenhoven on October 1, 1692. She was born on December 20/27, 1674 at Kings County, New York, She was the daughter of William Kouwenhoven and Jannetije Monfoort. John and Sarah shared the same great grandfather, Gerret Wolphertse Van Kouwenhoven, who emigrated from Holland to New Amsterdam around 1625 and was one of the head farmers for the Dutch West Indies Company.

Land deeds demonstrate that John Schenck settled in Monmouth County, New Jersey as early as March 30, 1697. On this date, he purchased land in Monmouth County from Peter Wickof. John and his wife, Sarah, had eleven children: Roelof, Sarah, Altje, Rachel, Maria, Leah, William, Jannetje, John, Antje, and Peter.

John Schenck died on January 30, 1753 and Sarah died on January 31, 1761, in Pleasant Valley, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Both John and his wife are buried at the Holmdel Cemetery in Holmdel, Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Thomas Scholey, son of John Scholey and his first wife Elizabeth Fletcher, was born at Aston cum Aughton, Yorkshire, England in 1650. Elizabeth Fletcher was a daughter of Richard and Alice (-) Fletcher. Thomas married Sarah Parker, daughter of George and Sarah ( -) Parker of Northampton Township, Burlington County, New Jersey, on 8 October 1686 at Burlington, New Jersey. Thomas died at Chesterfield, Burlington County, between 6 February and 21 April 1724, the dates of his will.

The family name was originally spelled "Scholey", but the local pronunciation was "Schooley", so the modem spelling is now "Schooley". Thomas was a signer of the "Concessions and Agreements" in London in 1676 which provided for the settlement of parts of New Jersey. As a result of religious convictions, Thomas was the first of his family to depart for America. He was one of the second group of Quakers who came as heads of families on the File-Boat "Martha" from Hull, to settle at Burlington County in West Jersey in November 1677. He was 27 years old. His brother, Robert Scholey, was next of the family to arrive, followed by their father, John, whose first wife had died. John had married his second wife, Isabel Hancock, in England, and brought her along, with their son John, Jr. and perhaps daughters. There was much confusion concerning these various branches of the Scholey family in some early records.

Thomas lived most of his life at Onea Nickon in Chesterfield Township, Burlington County with his wife Sarah, who outlived him. Their six children were baptized at the Burlington Monthly Meeting of Quakers: Samuel, John, Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary and Alice.

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Anders Sinnickson was born in Sweden c. 1651, and was among 92 Finns aboard the Mercurius, bound for the colony of New Sweden. He arrived as part of a group of five which included his father Sinnick Broer, his mother, a sister and a brother, Broer Sinnickson.

When the ship arrived in the Delaware, in March 1656, New Sweden did not exist any more. The colony had been surrendered to the Dutch the preceding September. Even worse, the Dutch commander at Fort Casimir (New Castle) forbid the ship to dock and unload its cargoes and passengers. Under directions from Governor Peter Stuyvesant, the Mercurius was ordered back to Sweden.

The potentially deadly impasse was broken by local Swedish leaders and their Indian friends. Secretly during the night, Indians "in great numbers" boarded the Mercurius and defiantly ordered the ship’s lieutenant to take the ship past the fort to Tinicum Island, where both passengers and cargo were unloaded. The Dutch did not dare to fire upon the ship with so many Indians aboard.

In 1677 Anders was residing at Feren Hook on the south side of Christina River, and by 1678 he had married Margaret Poulson. On 7 January 1678/9 he was sued for medicines supplied to his wife and child. Later in the same year he moved to Chestnut Neck in Salem County, where he was granted 260 acres north of Parting Creek. This would remain his home for the rest of his life.

After giving birth to two children (Ingrid and John), Anders' wife Margaret died. His second wife, Sarah GillJohnson, was the mother of his other five children. Anders Sinnickson wrote his will on 17 June 1696, but it was not proved until 4 April 1700. He had given two and one-half pounds for Holy Trinity Church but had probably died before 24 June 1699, when only his wife was assigned a pew in the new church. His widow, Sarah Sinnickson, was buried at the Penn's Neck church on 27 February 1719. All seven of his children married:

Ingrid Sinnickson, born c. 1678, married by 1696 Peter Bilderback and, after his death, John Hendrickson, Jr.
John Sinnickson, born c. 1682, married Ann Philpot Gilljohnson, 28 January 1725, and had three children: John, Sarah and Sinnick.
Andrew Sinnickson, born c. 1691, married Maria Weinam c. 1712.
Sinnick Sinnickson, born c. 1693, married Maria Philpot, 31 October 1717. He died in Penns Neck in 1750, survived by a son Andrew Sinnickson, who was later described by Pastor Nicholas Colin as the wealthiest Finn in West New Jersey.
Margaret Sinnickson, born c. 1695, married [1] Thomas Vickery, [2] Albert Bilderback, and [3] William Mecum.
Catharina Sinnickson, born c. 1697, married Christiern Peterson on 10 May 1716.
Dorothea Sinnickson, born c. 1699, married Oney Stanley, 27 November 1718