Descendants of Founders of New Jersey

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John Ward, a turner (dish turner, his trade) was born in England and came to New England in the 1630's. He married Sarah Lyman, date and place unknown. John Ward, Turner, as he was known to differentiate between him and the other John Wards, became active in affairs of Newark where he was chosen cattle brander 1668-77, Constable 1670, Townsman 1675/6, Warner of Town Meeting 1676 and 1684,Grand Juryman 1677,and fence viewer 1678. In 1673 he and his cousin John Catlin were on a committee to agree on money to send a messenger to England and also to go to New Orange (New York City) to a part of the Neck, as cheaply as possible.

In 1679, John Ward, Turner was granted the remainder of the Elder's Lot on which one of his sons could build. He received 44 acres beyond Second River, which was bounded by property of his aunt, Widow Ward, wife of Lawrence Ward. His land is now the center of Bloomfield. It is uncertain whether he moved to this land or stayed in Newark until his death and that of his wife in 1684.

John Ward, Sergeant (or Senior) son of Richard and Joyce ___ Ward, was born in England. In a sworn affidavit in 1661 he stated his age as about 36 years which means he was born c. 1625.

John Ward, was brought to New England, after 1635, when his father died in Stretton, England. He was apparently in Wethersfield, Connecticut, in 1640 when his mother's will was probated. In 1646 he moved from Wethersfield to Branford, where he married, Sarah, last name unknown, in 1646. . Their first child was born in Branford in 1647.

On 30 October 1666, John signed the Fundamental Agreements of the new colony of Newark, New Jersey and moved there in the spring of 1667. His wife Sarah died prior to 1690, when he married second, Hannah Crane Huntington, the widow of Thomas Huntington

John's name appeared frequently in the Newark town records. He was chosen to arbitrate disputes, elected surveyor of the highways and drew several lots of land. In 1673 he was chosen one of a group to negotiate with the new Dutch rulers. That same year he was elected lieutenant of the militia. From 1676 to 1680 he was a magistrate. He was on a committee in 1679 to curtail travel to New York City on account of a smallpox epidemic in that city. Finally, in 1692 he was on a committee formed to encourage John Prudden to become the new minister. John died in Newark, New Jersey, his will dated 31 October 1694, was proved 5 December 1694.

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Thomas Warne, son of Stephen Warne of Plymouth, England, was born c. 1652. Thomas Warne was one of the twenty-four Proprietors of East Jersey, after the death of Sir George Carteret, and the sale of New Jersey by the trustees of the estate. In 1682 John Heywood, citizen and skinner of London, one of the original twelve Proprietors purchasers of the state, sold half of his share to Thomas Warne, merchant of Dublin, Ireland. Unlike many Proprietors, Thomas actually came to the new province with his father in his 31st year, in March 1683, bringing with them 11 servants.

Thomas was unmarried when he arrived in New Jersey and remained a bachelor until he was about 50 years of age. He married Mary Lord Carhart, between 1698 and 1700, she was the widow of Thomas Carhart of Woodbridge. Mary was a daughter of Robert Lord of Cambridge, Massachusetts and the grand-daughter of Thomas Lord, an original proprietor of Hartford. Mary brought with her into the marriage three sons by her former husband, who were brought up by their step-father. Mary and Thomas Warne had five sons and one daughter.

In a grant of land to the new Proprietors in 1686, Thomas received land on the south side of Mittevang Creek (Matawan Creek) containing 400 acres and called Warne's Neck, now part of Matawan Borough. He owned 1000 acres on the north side of the creek, most of it in what is now Old Bridge Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey. He is reported to have had a wigwam in that area about 1685, while he was surveying his land. He also owned land on what became the Princeton Battlefield.

Frequently mentioned in the public records of the time in Monmouth and Middlesex Counties, he attended at least 88 meetings of the Board of Proprietors between 1685 and 1705; was commissioned a Justice of the Court of Common Right, now Court of Chancery; member of the Governor's Council 1683-1699; and member of the Council for the Management of Public Affairs for the Province of East Jersey in all Debates, Consultations, Resolutions and Procedures.

Thomas Warne's will dated 1722, listed his personal estate at his plantation as 2 negro men, 2 negro boys, 1 negro woman and 2 children. He died in 1722 and was buried in the Topanemus Burying Ground at Marlboro, New Jersey, with his wife.

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Bartholomew West was probably the son of Matthew West, who first appeared in Lynn, Massachusetts as early as 1636 and removed to Newport, Rhode Island about 1646. Bartholomew married there Catharine Almy, daughter of William and Audrey (Barlow) Almy.

While living in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, Bartholomew West purchased 70 acres of land on 23 February 1661. He was one of the original purchasers from Rhode Island of land in Monmouth County, East Jersey, in 1665. He was one of the Deputies from Shrewsbury to the General Assembly of East Jersey 14 December 1667. The family lived on land on the corner opposite Christ Church in Shrewsbury.

Bartholomew West died in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, before 1675. His widow Catharine married second, Nicholas Brown, Jr.; she died in Shark River, New Jersey in 1703.

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John Winans was born in Watertown, Holland in 1640. He was the son of famous Dutch landscape painter Jan Wynants, by his first wife. After his father’s second marriage, he left home to become an apprentice to Gobelin a weaver. In 1653 he came to New Netherlands to live with a relative.

He married his first wife, Susannah Melyn in 1664 at New haven, Connecticut. She was the daughter of Cornelius Melyn, the legendary Patroon of Staten Island, New Amsterdam from 1640 to 1660. The Winans had nine children (John, Susannah, Elizabeth, Samuel, John II, Joanna, Conrad, Jacob, Isaac). His second wife was Ann Robertson, they had three children (William, Phebe, Experience).

John Winans was one of the original “80 Associates” who founded and settled Elizabethtown, New Jersey in 1664-65, after the English took the Dutch colony. He was Burgess in 1668. In 1673, when the Dutch had reclaimed the colony, he was a delegate to negotiate with the authorities for the submission of the town to the Dutch. He was well educated, as was indicated by the books that he owned and his use of a Coat-of-Arms with origins back to the 1100’s.

John Winans died in Elizabethtown, New Jersey in December 1694. The family plot is in the First Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth.

Barnabas Wines, son of Barnabas and Anne (Eddy) Wines, was baptized 15 May 1628, St. Clemens Church, Ipswich, County Suffolk, England and died in the fall of 1715 in Southold, Long Island, his will proved 29 September of that year. He married Mary, probably daughter of John Mapes, who survived him, dying 13 June 1717 at 89.

Barnabas' parents, his sister Anna and he came to Watertown, Massachusetts, where his father was made a freeman 6 May 1635. The family moved to Southold, Long Island, where, by 1659 young Barnabas is recorded as owning extensive property. In May 1659 he appeared as a witness against the Quaker, Arthur Smith, in New Haven court. He was admitted a freeman of the Connecticut Colony 12 May 1664, Southold having gone under the jurisdiction of New Haven two years before.

In 1663 he started selling off his Southold property, the last being his home lot and home after he had become one of the 80 founders of Elizabethtown, where he took "The Oath of Alleagance and Fidelity" on 19 February 1665. He was a member of the first jury drawn there in May 1671. His application for a survey for 240 acres was filed 9 May 1676, but the patent issued 22 October 1678 was for only 164 acres.

It is not known when he left Elizabethtown; we merely know that in 1683 he was assessed on Pounds 122 at Mattituck, Southold Township, Long Island. He had not disposed of his Elizabeth property, however, for on 21 April 1708 he sold, for ten shillings "together with the reall love, good will and effection I have for my daughter Sary ye wife of 1 Eliazar Luce...for the more comfortable support of them and their children" 200 acres of woodland in Elizabethtown "entered in ye sd Town Book of Records Number B p.20." Later, Barnabas's widow and his son Barnabas sold other property there.

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Joseph Woodruff was born in 1676 in Southampton, L.I. He migrated to New Jersey as a young man, leaving behind, his parents, John and Hannah Newton Woodruff and siblings, John, Samuel, Benjamin, Nathaniel, Isaac, Sarah, Hannah, Abigail and Elizabeth.

Just before 1700 Joseph Woodruff married Hannah (surname unknown) and as a newly married couple, they arrived in New Jersey and settled on 100 acres of land in Essex County, a cros Rahway river at a great bend a mile below stream from Crane’s fod” (now Cranford, three miles south of Westfield). They lived on the border of civilization … in 1665 land sold for 10 acres for a penny… wolves and Indians were in abundance… they took muskets to church (Woodruff 1908). Court records show that their land deed was called into question in 1718.

Joseph and Hannah were the parents of thirteen children. On 15 January 1742 Joseph Woodruff made his will and died 2 February of the same year. He named his wife Hannah as executor, along with son Thomas and friend, William Miller. To his widow he left "the best room in my dwelling house, one third of improvements of all my land and one third of all movable estate". All of his children were named in his will: John, Jonathan, William, Samuel, Abigail Woodruff Gold, Thomas, Hezekiah, Joseph, Nathaniel, Isaac, Benjamin, Sarah and Joanna. From the named children in the will, it is clear he and his wife named their children after the siblings of Joseph that were left behind on Long Island when they moved to New Jersey.

Joseph Woodruff and his wife Hannah are buried in Westfield, New Jersey. His tombstone reads, Departed this life 2 February Anno Domini 1741 in the 65th year of age.. Hannah Woodruff’s tombstone reads, Hannah Y wife of Joseph Woodruff Died August the 14th. Anno Domini 1742 in ye 58th year of her age.

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William Woolman was born in the British Isles c. 1625. He left Gloucester England, in the early fall of 1678 on the English ship, "Shield", with his only son, John. The ship made landfall at the mouth of the Delaware River and William made his way upstream to the Burlington settlement.

By March 1681 Woolman was settled on "Rankokus alias Northampton River" where the neighboring farms were held by Waiter Humphrey and Bernard Devonish. His son John had given his father 150 acres in Northampton in settlement of an arbitration between them. Seventy-five of these acres were left in appreciation to George Elkinton with whom William Woolman had lived during the latter years of his life.

This early settler is best remembered as the great-grandfather of the Reverend John Woolman, the famous Quaker preacher, sometimes known as the Quaker Saint of the eighteenth century, forever pleading the cause of abolition with the inherent evils of slavery and the plight of the American Indians. Reverend Woolman was born on October 19, 1720 at Rancocas, West Jersey, married on October 18, 1749 to Sarah Ellis, and died of small pox on 7 October 1772 at York, England, where he had gone to attend the quarterly meeting of the Society of Friends.

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Joshua Wright, Sr. was born in East Riding, Yorkshire, England and baptized 4 October 1633. He married Elizabeth Empson, daughter of William Empson of Gowlefield House on “ the 10 day of ye four month 1669.” The marriage was “contrary to discipline” of the Quaker faith. Joshua Wright died “ye 10th of ye 8 mo. 1695 and Elizabeth Wright died the 12th day of 1 mo. 1705/06.

In England in 1677 he acquired a one-sixth share of the Province of West Jersey. He was one of three brothers who emigrated to West Jersey from England. The family, including daughter Elizabeth and sons Robert and Joshua, left their home in Ashford-in-the-Water, Blakewell Parish, Derbyshire. They sailed from Hull ye 24 day of ye 6 mo. And came to ye fall of the Delaware River about ye 20 day of ye 10 mo. 1679. They settled on a tract of 400 acres in Nottingham Township, Burlington County (now Hamilton Township, Mercer County). Three sons were born in West Jersey: Thomas, Joseph and “Samll.” There may also have been a fourth son, Richard.

Joshua Wright was one of the five original owners of the Trenton Area. He was a member of the West Jersey General Assembly from 1683 to 1685 and was a signer of the Concessions and Agreements of Proprietors, Freeholders and Inhabitants of the Province of West Jersey in 1676. This document, executed in London and attributed to William Penn, predates the Bill of Rights by 113 years. According to former Governor Edward C. Stokes, Neither the Great Charter of Virginia nor the Mayflower Compact compare with them in liberality, tolerance and protection of individual rights.

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Robert Zane, Jr. was baptized on 29 March 1642 at the Church of St John the Baptist at Yarcombe, Devonshire, England. His family relocated to Ireland in 1656 following England’s Civil War. As did many other families of the era, they moved to Ireland where they were able to enjoy religious freedom.

In 1664 Robert married Margaret Hammond in Dublin, Ireland. Margaret was the daughter of Thomas Hammond and Grace Midlem of Yorkshire, England. She traveled with her brother James to Ireland in or about 1661 where she met Robert. Together Robert and Margaret had three children, though only one son, Nathaniel would survive. With the Restoration of the monarchy in 1661, resurgence in persecutions of Quakers developed in both England and Ireland.

The Zanes sailed for America in 1673 on the Mary of Salem, probably as the advance guard for the Irish Tenth (or one tenth of all West Jersey), also called Fenwick’s Colony of Salem, West Jersey. It is believed that Margaret died en rout to America as there is no record of her death in Ireland or after arrival in America. Zane landed at Elsinburra later traveling up to nearby Salem, West Jersey with his young son. He eventually built a house in Salem, however within a few years time, left to locate and settle land along Newton Creek, West Jersey.

In 1677 he became one of the Proprietors of West Jersey, listed as Robert Zane of Dublin, Ireland, serge maker. Two years later he married his second wife, Alice Alday, rumored to be of Native American descent. She died leaving no issue. By 1681, Robert had settled and built a home at Newton, New Jersey; in the following year, he was elected to the first Legislature of New Jersey, and re-elected in 1685.

Robert Zane died in 1694 leaving his third wife of thirteen years, Elizabeth Archer Willis (1658-1699) and three children with her in Newton, New Jersey. Descendants of those children, such as his great grandson, Isaac Zane were among the earliest settlers of the West. Isaac’s son Ebenezer Zane built his cabin where Wheeling, West Virginia now stands. Another of Roberts descendants, his son Nathaniel’s granddaughter, Ester “Hetty” Zane married Richard Collin at Christ Church in Philadelphia, merging two old New Jersey families of Zane and Collins.

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Jacob du Trieux was baptized on 2 December 1645 in New Amsterdam, New Netherlands. His grandparents, Philippe du Trieux and Jacquemine Noiret, were French Huguenots who fled to the Netherlands from France to escape religious oppression; it was there that Jacob’s father (Philippe, Jr.) was born in 1619. Philippe and Jacquemine du Trieux eventually risked their lives, crossing the Atlantic in the spring of 1624 to settle in the New World with Philippe Jr . and daughter Maria duTrieux.

Jacob du Trieux married Elizabeth Lysbeth” Post on 26 September 1674 in New Orange, New York. While many immigrants of Dutch descent were moving on to settle in or near Albany, New York at the time, Jacob and Lysbeth moved to settle in New Jersey. A deed for the purchase of land in Monmouth County, New Jersey, dated 7 March 1675, can be found in Deed Book E, page 43, in Monmouth County. At least one son, Philip, was born in 1676 in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Jacob’s son Philip remained in Monmouth County for the rest of his life, marrying Sarah LaRue there in 1703 and dying in Monmouth County on 24 November 1750. However, Jacob and Lysbeth moved on to New Castle County, Delaware in the latter part of the 17th century. It was in New Castle County, Delaware that Jacob du Trieux died on 27 December 1709. Lysbeth remained in new Castle County, Delaware until her death in 1733.

In the latter years of Jacob du Trieux’s life, the surname evolved into Truax or Truex. Thousands of descendants of Jacob du Trieux have been and still are known by the surname Truax throughout the United States. Historians might suggest that it was the life-changing decision of Jacob’s grandparents to uproot their lives to come to the shores of the New World that changed the course of history in many aspects. For example, both President Theodore Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt descend from the du Trieux family. The number of descendants from this family has grown exponentially, residing throughout the United States and around the world.