Category: 52 Ancestors 2019

I’ll never read Arthur Miller the same way again

Thinking to explore newly available records about the Prince family, I set about building out the family and antecedents of Jonathan Prince. I came across numerous references and documents and then was stunned to read that Jonathan’s great-great grandmother was one of the accused in the Salem witch trials of 1692!

Robert Prince was an early settler of the Massachusetts Bay colony, and owned land in Salem Village (Danvers, MA today). When he died in 1674 his children were all under age but his will mentions sons James and Joseph and daughter Elizabeth as well as his wife Sarah (ne. Warren). Sarah could not manage the farm on her own and so she purchased the contract for a “redemptioner” named Alexander Osburn (or Osburne) to help her work the farm. Unfortunately for her, she eventually married him. Apparently, it was not a happy marriage and later accounts paint a dismal picture of both physical and mental abuse. Sarah Osburn became depressed and took to her bed. She was accused by the young women of Salem as a witch and was brought before the court and questioned. Although she denied the testimony against her, she was jailed and transported to Boston where she died two months later.

salem-witch-crop

Anyone wanting to read more can visit this online exhibit which reviews the available records of the witch trials http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/category/uph1wit.html.

Robert’s sons James and Joseph were able to reclaim their inheritance and prospered in Salem. James married a Sarah Rea and they had six children, of whom their fifth child was David Prince. David and wife Phebe Fuller (b. 1706) moved from Salem Village to Sutton where they raised five children.  David died very early at the age of 35 years and guardianship records for sons Stephen and John show them placed with James Prince and John Fuller respectively.

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Stephen Prince married Abigail Perkins (1736-1820) and they raised thirteen children in Sutton as it transitioned from a British colony to a town in America. Stephen appears to have fought for the colonies during the American Revolution but print resources are jumbled and further research is necessary to build out his service. At some point in the late 1780’s the family removed to the town of Oxford. Numerous printed sources state that Stephen died in either 1780 or 1800 but he appears in the 1810 census with his sons Stephen Jr. and David. Jonathan had already removed to Sturbridge. There are also several mix ups concerning Stephen Sr’s wife Abigail Perkins and Stephen Jr’s wife Abigail Pratt.

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1810 US Census Oxford, Worcester, Massachusetts

Jonathan Prince, born in Sutton, moved with the family to Oxford where he married Patty Vinton. Shortly before the 1809 birth of his daughter Juley, the family relocated to Sturbridge and from there to Orwell, Pennsylvania.

Prince branch image

Patty Vinton

Seven generations back on my father’s side gets to Jonathan Prince, the fellow who left Dudley, Massachusetts after 1809 to settle in Orwell, Pennsylvania. Jonathan married Patty Vinton and they had nine children that I know of, all born in Dudley. When I first started researching this line years ago, not much was available online for Dudley in the 1700’s. Now there is and this is what I learned by going back over my notes and looking for more clues.

Jonathan Prince (1769-1830) married Patty Vinton on 29 February 1792. Patty was the first child of John Vinton and Dorothy Holmes Vinton, born 17 October 1770. I tracked down the marriage record in the Dudley township records and it sent me down a rabbit hole: the record clearly states Mrs. Dorothy Holmes. So what was her maiden name?

Dudley township records 1769_crop

Long story short, Dorothy was 22 years old when she married and I believe that would have allowed her to be called Mistress Holmes, an old maid at the age of 22!

John and Dorothy Holmes Vinton had seven children:

  • Patty Vinton (1770-1831)
  • Lyman Vinton (1772-1841)
  • Joshua Vinton (1774-1842)
  • Phebe Vinton (1775-1775)
  • Huldah Vinton (1777-1778)
  • Huldah Vinton (1779-1835)
  • Susanna Vinton (1787-1851)

This allowed me to track back even further on several lines! Dorothy Holmes Vinton was the daughter of Ebenezer Holmes and Phebe Abbott. She was born 21 Apr 1745 in Woodstock (a town that ends up in Connecticut but at this point is still considered Massachusetts).

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Jeffrey’s 1755 Map of Massachusetts

John Vinton was the son of Joseph Vinton (1714-1795) and Hannah Baldwin Vinton (1715-1835). Interesting side note: Joseph Vinton was the son of John Vinton, Esq., making him Hannah’s step brother. I will get that generation sorted out later!

Joshua Opdyke

The nineteenth century is my comfort zone. I can read the handwriting. I know the records one can use to track people in places from state to state. The colonial period, not so much. I end up using a lot of printed materials as the original records are not always available in digital form. And I like manuscripts. I like originals. I don’t always trust the extent of the transcriptions. Also the place names changed as the American colonies became states with counties and townships. It makes the whole search more complicated but it can also be fun. You discover new types of documents, you have to analyse data differently. 

Take Joshua Opdyke, for instance. He was the father of Catherine Opdyke, who married Aaron Van Syckel (1764-1838). He was born about 1713 and died in 1789, just as America was becoming, well, America. He was a farmer in Kingwood township in what is now Hunterdon County, New Jersey. What can I learn about his life, his family and his impact on his community?

Stone House of Joshua Opdyke_crop

Joshua Opdyke was the second son of Albert Opdyke. He married Ann Green (1717-) of Hunterdon in 1738. Between 1743 and 1774 he amassed considerable land holdings in and around Hunterdon County, in addition to the 298 acres he acquired from his wife’s father. The year he died, at the age of 76, he was a delegate to the Baptist Convention in Philadelphia. Apparently his father Albert Opdyke (1685-1752) broke with family tradition and became a Baptist. 

Joshua and Ann Opdyke have a number of children:

  • Richard Opdyke (1740-1825)
  • Luther Opdyke (1750-1838)
  • Sarah Opdyke (175?-?)
  • Elizabeth Opdyke (175?-?)
  • Margaret Opdyke (175?-?)
  • Frances Opdyke (1757-1809)
  • Hannah Opdyke (1760-1821)
  • Catherine Opdyke (1762-1851)

Much of this information I found in published books such as The Op Dyck Genealogy by Charles Wilson Opdyke and the Genealogical and Family History of Central New York by William R. Cutter. And some of the information in one source conflicted with information in another. Was Joshua the son or grandson of Albert? Was Joshua born in New York like his father or in Hunterdon County. My heart yearns for bible records, correspondence, and really anything with his signature or written in his hand. Yes, I know the assumption of literacy in the 18th century is dicey but still. The closest I have come is his will record.
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I did find church records of a Baptist church in Bethlehem, near Kingwood. They mention Joshua as someone trusted enough to write letters of dismissal and to represent the community in various ways. But his relationship with the church was apparently contentious, as I find him being censured in 1772 for criticizing the preacher and, being unrepentant, he was excluded from the meeting. He was reinstated in 1787 but his death is noted two years later on 28 February 1789.

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Honoring those who have served

I am honored to be related to these men and women. Some gave their lives in service, some returned home to struggle with wounds acquired during service.  All were forever changed by their service. Thank you.

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Barclay Gibbs Jones (1925-1997)

American Revolution

  • Jonathan Buttles, Connecticut; Capt. in the 18th Regiment CT Militia
  • Cornelius Carhart, Major 2nd Hunterdon Regt. and Captain, 3rd Hunterdon Regt. New Jersey
  • Moses Cowdrey, Connecticut; Private in the Old Continental Army
  • George Emlen, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Samuel Howell, (1722-1805), member of the Committee of Safety
  • Samuel Howell, (1748-1802), served as General Washington’s bodyguard and also as a private in the First Troop of cavalry
  • Samuel Leigh, Capt. John Hunt’s Co., 1st Regiment, Hunterdon Co., NJ militia
  • Richard Mount, Monmouth County, New Jersey
  • William Mount, private, Capt. Nixon’s Company of Horse
  • Isaac Roach, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States; commissioned by Benjamin Franklin
  • Hartman M Vreeland, New Jersey

War of 1812

  • Isaac Roach, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States; POW in Quebec, described by Henry Clay in speech on the new army bill in 1813 

Civil War

  • Samuel Foster Buttles was a member of the One Hundred and Forty-first Regiment, and received a gun-shot wound in the back, at the battle of Gettysburg, which finally caused his death in 1884.
  • Theron L.Cowdrey, 25th Regiment Connecticut Infantry, Co. E, served as a private
  • Charles J.Eastabrook, Pennsylvania; enlisted 28 May 1865, served as Com’s Sergt of 141st Pennsylvania Volunteers, wounded
  • Erasmus Percival Hine, Bradford, Pennsylvania. Served in 141 Regiment Co. D Pennsylvania Volunteers
  • Benjamin Jones, Private, Co. C, 10 New Jersey Volunteers
  • Benjamin Walter Jones, Civil War Union Army Officer. He served in the Civil War as Captain and commander of Company I, 1st New Jersey Volunteer Cavalry, being mustered in on August 29, 1861. On September 20, 1862, he was discharged due to disability.
  • Ivins Davis Jones, Became a Captain of Company C of the First New Jersey Volunteer Infantry and later as a Major in the 1st NJ Vol. Cavalry. Also enlisted in 1st Potomac Home Brigade Cavalry Cole’s Brigade, Co M
  • Anthony Jones Morris, Private, 1st Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers
  • Hiram Mount, New Jersey, United States; commissioned 1st lieutenant Co. C, 29th NJ Volunteers and mustered out in 1863
  • George Mortimer Prince, enrolled in Co. G, 5th regiment of NY Cavalry, medical discharge
  • James L.Prince, drafted at age 25 on Sept. 26, 1864, for 1 yr.; and mustered at Troy, Pennsylvania. He was assigned to Company A, 97th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and was discharged by General Order on June 28, 1865. dis. June 28, ’65.
  • Stephen Vreeland Van Ripen, enlisted in the 126th New York Infantry Co. J, taken prisoner at battle Sep 1862, paroled and discharged on medical disability.
  • John Vought, served in Company B of the 76th Pennsylvania Infantry
  • Nicholas D. Vreeland, served in the NJ Infantry, 22nd Regiment, Co. A

Spanish American War

  • George V Buttles, Spanish American War, Company M

Mexican Expedition

  • Harold Doremus Tompkins

World War I

  • Oscar Ayres
  • Francis Mumford Gibbs
  • William S.Hancock
  • Walter B.Holton
  • Elizabeth Brightly Jones
  • Clarence Kinsley
  • Harold A.Leigh
  • George Dewey Lewis
  • Milton Pierson Lewis, WWI veteran – cpl US Army Co H 114th Infantry 29 Division
  • Samuel Lewis
  • Robert Martin, Served in the Navy during WWI, quartermaster
  • Burns Wilson Mount joined Ohio National Co F 3rd Infantry, Co F 166 AEF
  • George Raymond Prince, served in the Navy
  • Philip Hine Prince, registered as a Pvt. in the Engineers, 2 Jun 1918, assigned to Co. B, 548th Engineers, promoted to sergeant 1 Oct. 1918, released 29 Jul 1919
  • Harold E Stackhouse, Mercer County, New Jersey
  • William Johnson Taylor
  • Henry Wolcott Toll
  • Harold Doremus Tompkins, served in the signal corps of the New Jersey National Guard in France; served as a lieutenant with the American Expeditionary Forces
  • Carl W. Vietor, Served in the Motor Transport Corps
  • Harold Van Pelt Vreeland, Served in the Medical Corps, July 1, 1918 to April 1919
  • Horace Wills, Lieutenant

World War II

  • Stanley Bernard Bean, Fort Dix, Burlington, New Jersey, United States
  • Quentin Clayton
  • Drayton Cochran served from July 1941 to March 1946 in the Atlantic Theatre; commanding officer of USS PC-486 in the invasion of Amchitka, and commanding officer of USS Keith (DE-241) and USS Robert I. Paine (DE-578) in the Atlantic. He left the service as a lieutenant commander.
  • Earl Goodman, Navy 1943-1946
  • Barclay Gibbs Jones, drafted and served in Company E 379th Infantry 95th Division, POW
  • Elwood Oscar Jones, served aboard the USS Essex; served in the Navy
  • Clarence Paul Kinsley, battle medic
  • Wilbur Sherman served in Europe
  • Robert Stanton, served in the South Pacific; flight engineer flew with the Navy
  • William Dorus Stubenbord, served in the Navy’s Medical Corps, retiring as a captain
  • Gertrude Vreeland Tompkins, WASP, died in service

Korean War

  • Samuel Emlen Howell Jones

General Service

  • Myron Percival Brown, Corporal, United States Air Service
  • Barclay G. Jones IV

 

Alma Gage and the Gage connection

The Gage connection is through the Buttles line and the generation is three “greats” back. I have a lot of photographs of this generation, cabinet card and carte de visite photographs that were apparently shared with family like trading cards. Sometimes the annotations on the back lead to clues about marriages and other name changes. Sometimes they just leave me wondering.

My three times great grandmother Elizabeth Alma Buttles shared part of her name with her niece by her brother Harlow J. Buttles,  Alma Dolly Buttles was born 18 March 1866, most likely in Bradford County.  She married Charles H. Gage on 6 September 1893. He listed his occupation at the time of his marriage as farmer but I found evidence through newspaper notices that he and Alma may have moved down to Camden for a short period around 1900.  By 1905 the family is living in Broome County, NY, a stone’s throw away from Bradford County, PA. Charles and Alma Gage had three children but only one grew to adulthood: Harriet Gage (1894), Mary Eugenia Gage (1896-1941) and Karl Gage (1899-1900).

This photograph intrigues me for many reasons: who is Mary Fisher, who took the photograph and what are they sitting on?

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Hiram Mount and Margaret Allen

The-Story-of-New-Jerseys-Civil-Boundaries-1608-1968-Snyder-NJSL-B7651969_0034_cropDo you have a county boundary nemesis? I do, in the form of New Jersey. I have yet to come up with a one stop way to figure out where the Windsor townships are in any given year. Legally, I know that Windsor Township split into East and West Windsor on 9 February 1797 while these were in Middlesex County. The townships were incorporated in 1798 and their boundaries changed when Hightstown borough formed in 1853 and Washington Township formed in 1860.

Cartographically, the townships do not appear on Tanner’s 1836 state map of New Jersey, the one which shows Hunterdon, Middlesex, and Burlington Counties coming to a mash up right at Trenton.  The 1845 state map shows the formation of Mercer County and shows Hightstown but now the mash up is complicated by the borders of Monmouth and Middlesex county changing to accommodate Mercer. And a call out to other New Jersey genealogists produced the suggestion from fellow researchers of John F. Snyder’s The Story of New Jersey’s Civil Boundaries 1608-1968. What a wonderful resource. Here is a chronology for East Windsor township:

  • 1797 Formed from Windsor twp. in Middlesex Co.
  • 1798 Incorporated.
  • 1838 Most set off to Mercer Co.; part to South Amboy twp., Middlesex Co.
  • 1853 Part to Hightstown bor. within twp.
  • 1857 Boundary with Hightstown bor. changed.
  • 1860 Part to Washington twp.
  • 1894? Hightstown bor. set off from twp.
  • 1913 Part to Hightstown bor.
  • 1915 Part to Hightstown bor.
  • 1927 Part to Hightstown bor.

When researching the early 19th century generation of the Mount family it pays to search in Monmouth, Mercer and Middlesex counties. I have already tracked my mother’s line back to my great-great-grandmother Mary Jane Mount, and I have written about Thomas Hiram Mount and his wife Catherine Fisher Mount. I wanted to flesh out some of the details of his parents, Hiram Mount (1786-1847) and Margaret Allen Mount (1790-1865). There are numerous Mounts in the area and figuring out which is which is proving complicated.

Hiram Mount was born on 10 August 1786 but where is proving difficult. The early census in New Jersey are missing or incomplete. The 1830 Census (Upper Freehold, Monmouth, NJ) is the first in which Hiram Mount appears and the household has the appropriate 5 people in the right gender/age groups. At some point before 1808 he married Margaret Allen, daughter of Thomas Allen and Mary Forman Allen. I have not yet found a marriage record for them. But in the one tax list I can find online, Iram (Hiram) Mount is paying taxes on two horses and two cattle and the column for “Single male with horse” is blank.

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Hiram and Margaret had four children that I know of:

  • William Mount (1808-1817)
  • Thomas Hiram Mount (1812-1876)
  • Rebecca Ely Mount (1814-1892)
  • William H. Mount (1818-1877)

Mount_Hiram_Will_1847_p01_cropThe three living children are mentioned in Hiram’s Monmouth County 1845 will and there is a clue there about how this Monmouth County family came to be in Mercer County. Hiram divides his land holdings between his two sons, mentioning that he leaves Thomas the “plantation or farm” in which he currently lives. I matched that with a house history I uncovered in doing Thomas H. Mount’s essay and Voila!

Thomas H. Mount moved onto this site soon after his father Hiram (d. 1847) bought it in 1834.

Upper Freehold is less than 10 miles from Hightstown, which was probably one of the closest towns of any size at this point in history. Once again #52ancestors challenges me to add up all the facts and write them down.

Moses Cowdrey and family

I have already written about the Buttles line of the family that made the move from Connecticut to Pennsylvania but as I mentioned there, Jarvis Buttles returned to Connecticut for his bride Alma Cowdrey. I’ve been working on this line lately and thought I would put it out into the genealogical stratosphere in the hopes that someone knows more than I do. The Cowdrey line is complicated due to the wild spelling changes that occurred during the 19th century as various branches of the family chose “their” spelling: Cowdrey, Cowdery, Cowdry.

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Alma Cowdrey was the fifth child of Moses Cowdrey (1773-1858) and Zeruiah Phelps Cowdrey (1776-1861). The Cowdrey’s were settled in the north west corner of Hartland Township in Hartford County, Connecticut. Many of Alma’s siblings scattered across the midwest but a few stayed in Hartford and surrounding counties. Here is a breakdown of what I know of each:

  • Lester Cowdrey (1798-1813): lived just long enough to merit a death notice in the Hartford Courier.
  • Lucy Cowdrey (1800-1862): twin to Lydia, she married Samuel Gates and had four children: Infant (1819), Orson Cowles Gates (1820-1885), Unwin Cooper Gates (1824-1859) and Jemuel Clinton Gates (1829-1915). They appear to have stayed in Hartford. Samuel is involved in the settlement of Phelps Cowdrey’s estate.
  • Lydia Cowdrey (1800-): twin to Lucy, she married Lemuel Foster (born in Barkhamsted, Connecticut in 1799, graduated Yale Seminary in 1831). In 1832 Foster was commissioned by the American Home Missionary Society to Illinois, arriving in Jacksonville, Illinois on October 10, 1832.  A journal (kept first by him, then by her) describes their home missionary experiences in Illinois during the mid 19th century.
  • Phelps Cowdrey (1803-1811): died young.
  • Alma Cowdrey (1805-1843): married Jarvis Buttles and moved to Bradford County, Pennsylvania. Interesting that the 1850 Census for Moses and Zeruiah includes Julina Buttles, daughter of Alma and Jarvis. She died young and I am not sure if she had been sent east for medical treatment.
  • Jerusha Cowdrey (1809-1838): married Samuel Jones Hayes in McLean County, Illinois. They both died very young with no issue.
  • Phelps Cowdrey (1811-1853): married Emily Holcomb and had four daughters: Zeruiah Miriam, Lydia Foster, Emily Jerusha and Alma E.Cowdrey. He died insolvent and without a will, a fact gleaned from his estate record and the notices appearing in the Connecticut Courant August 1853.
  • Lester Cowdrey (1814-1899): married Emeline Emmons, remained in Hartland his entire life. They had one daughter Sarah Jane Cowdrey Bushnell (1844-1918).
  • Julina Cowdrey (1816-1899): married Milo Hart (1811-1895) and settle on a farm in Watertown, Connecticut. They have six children:  Melissa Hart, Lucius Hart, Rachel Janet Hart, Adaline Hart, Owen Hart, and Foster Hart.
  • Melissa Cowdrey (1817-1885): born when her mother was 43! Married Lucius L. Loomis and moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where they had three children: Gertrude Loomis, Lysander Loomis and Luella Loomis.

This family scattered all over the place and I would imagine that they kept in touch by mail. However, I don’t have much beyond the record of marriages and deaths that Alma C. Buttles passed on to her children. If anyone has insights, please share.

Adventure comes in many forms

This week in #52ancestors the theme is Adventure and I decided to write about the farthest flung family on my tree: the Negus family.  The Negus line hangs off the Van Syckel line in Hunterdon County, New Jersey as one of Aaron Van Syckel’s grandchildren (by Daniel (1790-1861)) Isabella Van Syckel married James Engle Negus of Philadelphia.

Negus_James_Engle_theft_Arkansas_Washington_Telegraph_Wed__Jun_21__1854_James Engle Negus (1809-1884) starts out in Philadelphia where he is a wealthy merchant and chief weight clerk at the U. S. Mint in Philadelphia. However, in June of 1854, Negus is exposed for short weighting gold at the Mint. He made immediate restitution (for tens of thousands of dollars, if the newspapers are to be believed) and flees with his family to England. He later returns to the US and settles with his mother Susan, his wife Isabella and daughter Susan Engle in Somerset County, New Jersey where he owned a great deal of farmland. This may explain why I cannot find the family in the 1860 Census, and then find them in Franklin township, Somerset, NJ in 1870. James apparently saw the error of his ways, as he becomes a successful gentleman farmer in Franklin. His mother dies there, as do Isabella and Susan.

James Engle Negus and Isabella Van Syckel Negus have four children: Robert Patterson Negus (1838-1884), Susan Engle Negus (1840-1915), James Engle Negus (1842-1903) and William Shippen Negus (1844-1914).  William S. Negus appears to have been in finance. James E. Negus served with distinction in the Civil War and settled in Greenville, Mississippi where he was a banker. Susan Engle Negus never married but was active in many women’s organizations including the DAR. Robert Patterson Negus is the traveler and the one who caught my eye when the topic of adventure came up.

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A group of Masons in front of the Oxford Hotel, Sydney, Australia. Robert P. Negus is in front with his right hand over his heart.

Robert Patterson Negus (1838-1884) was born and raised in Philadelphia. I have seen mention of his education in Europe as an engineer. He may have gotten the travel bug as the family flitted about England and Wales. He was in New Zealand in 1863 when he married Mary Ann Hargrave (1838-1881), daughter of Captain William Hargrave of Sandridge. They had seven children:

  • Mary Ann Isabella Negus (1864-1950) married David James Bardwell Smith
  • Susan Engle Emiline Negus (1866)
  • Charlotte Ernestine Negus (1868-1949) married Edward V. French
  • William James Hargrave Negus (1871) 
  • Selinda Parry Negus (1872-1959) married twice
  • Horatio Van Syckel Negus (1874-1966)
  • Virginia Louise Negus (1876-1956)

However, neither Robert nor Mary Ann Negus would live to see their 45th birthday. Mary Ann died in 1881 and Robert died 2 October 1884. This tragedy meant that four of the seven children needed a new home. Mary Ann Isabella Negus, while the eldest, could not take on the raising of her siblings. She married shortly after her father’s death, and was possibly courting David Smith when all this was going on. Courtship of a young woman is one thing, taking on a ready made family quite another. In any case, the four younger siblings are sent back to America to live with their grandmother Isabella VS Negus and aunt Susan Engle Negus.

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Interesting side note: the guardianship proceedings distinguish between Charlotte who is over 14 and the three children under 14. Each is noted as having about $500 to their name. James Engle Negus seems to have helped manage some of these proceedings but by my reckoning he is settled in Mississippi at this time with a wife and three children. However, William Shippen Negus appears to have settled in Bound Brook and so he may also have been involved in retrieving the children. Possibly their adventure was travelling by steamer across the world without an adult!

This line represents a fascinating side trip and I want to thank cousin Melanie Ealey for bringing it to my attention. Her email to me was exactly what I was hoping would happen when I started this blog!

The Elliott family connection

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Helen Elliott (1902-1962)

I haven’t posted any photographs recently, so here goes! This weeks’ #52ancestors #52familyphotographs brings a breakthrough on the Wells family line. My great grandmother was a Wells from Burlington County, New Jersey.  However, her father’s sister Mary married a Lippincott and they settled in Cumberland County.

I had not ever been able to make the connection between the Mamie who wrote notes on the backs of these adorable postcards and my tree. Today I decided to conquer this line of the Wells family and low and behold, Henry and Mary Wells Lippincott had two daughters, Mamie and Abbie.

Mamie (or Margaret, she went as both) married Harry Bishop Elliott in 1901 and they had two children: Helen Elliott (1902-1962) and Walter Scott Elliott (1914-1999). I hope the Elliott family descendants find these images as interesting as I did. I love the look on Walter’s face, as I have similar pictures of my father with that “butter would not melt in his mouth” look.

Walter Scott Elliott (1914-1999) Card A front
Walter Scott Elliott Card A back
Walter Scott Elliott (1914-1999) Card B front
Walter Scott Elliott (1914-1999) Card B back
Walter Scott Elliott (1914-1999) Card C front
Walter Scott Elliott (1914-1999) Card C back
Walter Scott Elliott (1914-1999) Card D front
Walter Scott Elliott (1914-1999) Card D back

 

Johannis Van Ryper becomes John Van Riper

I find it amusing that my genealogical Waterloo falls to a man who actually died near Waterloo (New York, that is). I have been working on building out my direct lines and making sure I had surnames for wives and other housekeeping. My Van Ripen/VanRiper line switches spelling mid 19th Century and I am not sure if this is universal to the Dutch or if something else was going on. I need to read more general history of the Dutch settlements in New Jersey. But I digress, let’s get back to John Van Riper.

The Van Riper clan landed in New Jersey very early (still working on that). John Van Riper is born into an established farming family. In the records of the Dutch Reformed Church, his name varies from Johannis Van Ryper to Jon Van Ripen with everything in between. And with a name like John…

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John Van Riper was born on 30 August 1766 and was baptized on 21 September 1766 in the church at Acquackanonk (now Passaic). On 11 March 1798 he married Geertje Doremus at Acquackanonk. Interesting side note: Geertje can Anglicize to Gertrude or Charity or Gitty and this Geertje did all at different times in her life.

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Johannis and Geertje had many children and I am still working on the definitive list. This is what I have so far:

  • Antje Van Riper (1799-?) Not sure if she survives infancy, but I have a birth/baptism record. Is this the Anne who married Garret A Van Riper who is mentioned in John Van Riper’s will?
  • Peter Van Riper (1801-1881) Moves to Seneca County, NY and is mentioned in John’s will
  • Peggy Van Riper (1802-) Is this the Margaret mentioned in John’s will as Margaret Vreeland, widow of Michael Vreeland?
  • Elizabeth Van Riper (1803-1889) married Nicholas Vreeland (1789-1873) This is my great grandmother, married Nicholas Vreeland.
    VanRiper_Elizabeth_birth_Persepeney_Book68_P287_crop
  • John G Van Riper (1805-?) No birth/baptism but John’s will is full of this man and his son Henry Doremus Van Riper and his wife Sarah
  • Mary Ann/Polly Van Riper (1810-1890) no birth/baptism record but mentioned in John’s will
  • Emeline Van Riper (1812-1890) no birth/baptism record but mentioned in John’s will
  • Simeon Van Riper (1816-1910) birth/baptism record, not mentioned in will, lived in Iowa and died in California
  • Garret Van Wiper (1819-?) birth/baptism record, mentioned in John’s will (NOT Garret A Van Riper), does this Garret go off to Michigan?
  • Henry Van Riper (? – ?) no birth or baptism but appears in John’s will as “son”

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This one is truly a work in progress. I have scrolled through the Dutch Reformed church records online in Ancestry and have pieced together some of the children.  Other online family trees give me lots of names but no records to back them up. Due to some of the naming conventions, I do not want to make any assumptions about exact parentage, and so I have checked records for Acquackanonk, Passaic, Persepeney (now Montville).

I did get parent’s names to pencil into the tree but way more research needs done before I declare that information. Thanks to #52ancestors I am adding names to the tree and records to my files!