Watson of Nottinghamshire and of Burlington County, West Jersey

agREMO. NMOMMECIPMNW Maq9M§ NNEMO Fa' The Pennsylvania s93 a GENEALOGICAL gi Magazine aQI Mr6iMF6M2MFaMai6V6MgM MMW3gMM63Z4 Watson of Nottinghamshire and of Burlington County, West Jersey LEWIS D. COOK, F.G.S.P., F.A.S.G. and HANNAH BENNER ROACH, F.G.S.P., F.A.S.G. K IRKLINGTON in Nottinghamshire, England, is a small village about fifteen miles northeast of Nottingham, and lies on the banks of a tributary of the River Trent. According to the register of its parish church, St. Swithin's, one RICHARD WATSON and MARGARET TINGLE were married on 20 January 1634/5. Nothing further is known of them except that they had, with possible other issue, a son, WILLIAM WATSON.' "Will: Watson, the sun of Richard Watson and Margaret his wife was borne at Kirklington in the county of Nottingham in ould England 30 day 9" mth" and was "Baptised in the year 1639," according to the parish register as noted by Watson himself in a small commonplace book he started to keep years later.' He obviously received some education as a youth. Then, at the age of twenty-two, as "Will: Watson, yeoman of Kirklington," he obtained W. P. W. Philimore and T. M. Blagg, eds., Nottinghamshire Parish Registers: Marriages [1572-1137] (London, 1913), XVIII, 55. There are a number of Tingle marriag in the register of St. Swithin's for the pertinent period, but no Watson entries of interest. Probably this was Margaret Tingle's parish church, rather than Watson's. The register, for St. Michael's church at Farnsfield does have Watson marriages and would appear to have been the family's parish church. No baptismal records for either, church have been published. Friends' records for Farnsfield of a later period note that a John Watson, son of Richard Ur.) d. 28 120n (Feb.) 1673/4, at Farnsfield. This small 3Yr by We inch parchment-bound booklet, was deposited in the Historical Society of 1876 by a now unknown donor. Part of its contents were published in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biografsby (PMHB), VI (1882), 122. The entries bosh, book are not Pennsylvania (HSP) in in chronological order, but scattered through the volume. Interspersed are much later entries made by William Watson's descendants. 3 4 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine on 30 January 1662/3, a license for marriage with ANNE REDOING of Selston in the western part of the county. Richard Watson, presumably Will's father, was bondsman for performance of the marriage. By 1667, when their first known son was born, the couple were living in "ffarnsfeild," as Will wrote it, a somewhat larger town about three miles west of Kirklington not far from the main road to Nottingham. Here, by 1673, a daughter and two more sons were born, and here, during these years, Will and Ann joined the Religious Society of Friends. Entries in his commonplace book give glimpses of his life in the community: 1673: The rent that Will: Hardy is to pay to William Watson for one Aker in the lether pit feild 4 shillings at Lamas & hould 6 years. In the Combs fellel too buts & in the broome feud too buts to be paid as a fore said for both places 3 shillings 6 pence. Robert Hardy for too Akers three roods the yearly rent II shillings & to pay at the same time & entered at the same time & hould six years. Robert Mason is to pay for too lands at the watter gap at the same time 3 - 6 Anthony Smith one Aker in the Combs feud the yearly rent 3 shillings. One Aker in the lether pit feild 4 shillings. 3 roods in the broome feild 3 shillings — due at lady day 1675 for y° year past. 1674: Oweing from Richard Birket of Knapthorp for shepe due the sum of 3 - 3 - 4. from his brother for 5 shepe or his brothers master 1 -15 - 0. 4 Such husbandry was perhaps disrupted by the death of Anne (Redding) Watson on 14 6rn (August) 1674, and by her burial in Friends' burying ground at Farnsfield.' Issue of 'William Watson by his 1st wife Anne Redding: WILLIAM WATSON "sun of William Watson & Ann his wife was borne at ffarnsfeild its ould England 1667 & was buryed at faledelphia [blank] of the 9lh oath [November] 1684." ELIZABETH WATSON "borne at ffarnsfeild in England 1668 & died at ffarnsfeild in the town. of Nottingham & in the County of Burlington in West Jersey the 12 day of the 2 m5h [April] 1688," I. iii. ISAAC WATSON "borne at ffarnsefeild in ould Engld 15 day 6 mth [August] 1670," of whom further. 9 T. M. Blagg, ed., Abstracts of Nottinghamshire Marriage Licenses [Britbh Record Society: The Index Library] (London, 1930), I, 2l5. Baptismal registers for St. Helen's church at Selma, nine miles soutl, west of Mansfield, have not been published. o These entries are on pages 55 and 80 of the commonplace book. Lamas day was Michaelmas, 29 September; Lady day, now Annunciation day, 25 March. 0 Digest of Registers of the Quarterly Meeting of Friends of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, Collections of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania (GOP). The births of these children are as given in the commonplace book. The transcript of Chesterfield, N. J., Monthly Meeting records at GOP differs in some entries: RisklMgton is given therein as the place of birth of the eldest child Wain, o Watson of Nottinghamshire 5 2. t.11. JOHN WATSON 'borne at Efarnsfeild ss ould England" 30 "9 mth [November] 1672," of whom further. In 1675, the year after his wife's death, one Elizabeth Watson, perhaps a cousin hired to care for the children, the eldest of whom was only eight years old, received 2' 0' Cla in wages from William Watson, according to his common place book. Matthew Heag's wages were 3 1' that year, and Robert Broune and William Hardy were also in Watson's employ.' He also noted that he had "owing to Margaret Haukin of Kirklington eight score pounds and may be paid by proportions as it can be raised at the halfe years ends and the rent is dew on or upon the 2 day of the month calld august 4 pounds and the other halfe yeares rent is due upon the 2 day of the month called february both in the year 1675." Following this entry he later noted "all paid by me Will: Watson." Then on 12 6m (August) he wrote that "William Whitaker began to worke his wages to be too shillings a weeke & meate & drinke for long as I need. Rich: ffos: [ter?] began the same day." Later he added: "Paide to Will: Whitaker for fore weeks all that is due & his wages here after is to be eighteen pence a week — being nine of 7 month [September]," 9 The first page of the commonplace book lists Watson's debts due in 1676: owing to Hugh Harding forty pounds due the 24 of 8 month. owing to Mary Watson three score pounds due and owing to George smith eight pounds due in May. all paid by me W:W. owing to Elizabeth Watson ten pounds reconed the 25 of the first month 1676 owing to Elizabeth Watson thirty four shillings rezoned in the fourth month 1676. An even larger debt was incurred that same year because of his membership in the Society of Friends. "For a Meeting at Farnsfield the Constable took from William Watson household goods, corn and cattle worth £60." " Thus with property confiscated and debts to be paid, perhaps Will Watson decided it was cheaper to marry than pay a housekeeper, for by 1677 he had taken a second wife, ELIZABETH, to whom a son was born in the spring of 1678. Little more than a year later Elizabeth Watson, second wife of William, died on 15 4m (June) 1679, The commonplace book leaves blank the day of the month; it is supplied from the Digested Register mted In Note 5. 0 Commonplace book, 65. /bid., 1, 6. 05 0o 1670, Watson had had goods worth £19 taken from him by the constable for attending illegal meetings. Joseph Besse, A Collection of the Sufferings of the Peoffle railed Quakers.... (London, 17531, I, 556, 557. 6 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine and was buried, like her predecessor, in Farnsfield Friends ground. Her little son died three months later." Issue of William Watson by his 2nd wife Elizabeth: v. JOSEPH WATSON, born 24 3m (May) 1678; died 11 7m (September) 1679; buried at Farnsfield Friends ground. Two weeks after his wife's death, William Watson noted in his commonplace book that he had "Agreed with William Clifton to watch both day & night for one year 28 of 4" month [June] & hath had 6 ° & is to have 6° more at the end." Later he noted that he had "paid to Will: Clifton halfe his wages for watch & ward for the yeare 1679 — beginning 14 day 5 month [July] ending 14" Pth 1680." Other entries show that Clifton continued to stand watch and ward and was paid by Watson up to 14 July 1681. This year may have been the year of his father Richard's death, for on 2 March "in the thirty-third year of the Reign of King Charles the Second," the family holdings were divided between William Watson of Farnsfield and his mother Margaret, widow of Kirklington, John and Richard Watson and Hugh Harding, all yeomen of Famsfield. Under this division £70 was paid by John Watson, £100 by Richard Watson, and £39 by Hugh Harding to William Watson and his mother Margaret, subject to a yearly chief rent of 15s. 9d. Of this William was liable for 9s. 7d. for two messuages and certain of the lands. By 1684, three years later, William's mother Margaret may also have died, for this was the year he determined to emigrate to the New World." The commonplace book gives no clue to Watson's decision to leave "ould England" for America, nor does the certificate of removal which he obtained from the Monthly Meeting of Friends at Farnsfield: William Watson's Certifycate To all ffriends in Pensilvania New Jersey or elsewhere. Whereas Will Watson of ffarnesfield in y° County of Nottingham doth intend if y° Lord permit to transport himself into those parts above mentioned being one belonging to ye service of ye Meeting and a man of good conversation son fare as we know and one that we have unity with, being a widdower haveing ffour children and free from any engagement to any woman whatever, ffrom our Mo. meeting at ffamesfield the 21 of y° fth mo 1684. [signed] Richard 15 There is no evidence beyond the commonplace book that Watson'. second wife was surnamed Watson. Her burial record merely calls her 'wife of William Watson" in the fhgested Register, cited in Nom S. Standing "watch and ward" was done by the Constable. Commonplace book, 81. For the division of she family property, see the photostat copy of the deed, framed and hanging in the Isaac Watson house in Trenton. This is a fascinat'uag document, and should be literally transcribed. Watson of Nottinghamshire 7 Bateman / John Oldham / Geo Smith / Math Brackney / John Abbot / W. Blanch / John [blank] In addition to this certificate, Watson also had a letter of attorney to carry to the New World. This instrument, dated 19 July 1684, just two days prior to the date of the Friends' certificate, Watson had received from Thomas Grace, a tailor of Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. It seems that Grace had purchased in January, 1677/8 from Mahlon Stacy of Yorkshire (one of the West Jersey Yorkshire Proprietors) "a one thirtieth parte of a seven nintieth parte of a Proprietie" to be laid out in West Jersey. The letter of attorney, addressed to one Thomas Lambert, originally also from Yorkshire, who had also purchased a fractional share of a Propriety from Stacy and had emigrated in 1677 to West Jersey, empowered Lambert to sell Grace's share to Watson, and put him in actual possession of the land." No mention of this letter of attorney appears in Watson's commonplace book, but he did enter a laconic record of his journey: Left ffarnsfeild my dwelling in the County of Nottingham in ould England the 29 day of the 5 month [July] 1684. Lodged at Sauley 15 mile. 30 day paned by Ashby 8 [miles] & by Tamworte, & Loged at Brimigiro, 14 miles. 31 day at Bugile, 10 mile. tooke water there called Sivern and Lodged on the water l[st] day of 6 mth [August]. lodged on the water 2 [ncl] at upton by Sivern. 3[rd] day past by Gloster and lodged on the water all night. 4[th] day Lodged on the water at holemouth 7 miles from Brisson S [th] day 6 mth unloaded and Lodged in the Citty several weeks. 15 The next day he began to assemble supplies to take with him, buying two pots and three "lessor" pans. Other purchases included 20 yards of serge, a cask of "flower," 4 panes of glass, "4 casements at 226 a peeese," butter, "spoones," "hony," nuts, "sinemon," cheese, white ginger, and, more prosaically, "gimlets, 3 sorts, Aules & aul blad." The merchants from whom he made purchases were carefully noted: "edward Tilley in mary port street," "James Bigs in Crismas street," "Daniel Harding in wine street," John Biggen in Ballance street, "Borgases in Nicolas street," "Jasper Box in marsh street." In addition to Entered in Chaterfield (Burlington Co., N.J.) Monthly Meeting Book I, Certificates, 3, examined on microfilm at Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore College. Recited in Vest Jersey Deeds, Litter 8-2, 391: 21 April 16135, Thomas Lambert to William Watson, seem copy supplied by N. J. State Library, Trenton. 55 Commonplace book, 12. The entry of this journey is of considerable interest since it demonstrates one method of travel of the early emigrants. Leaving Farnsfield the Watsons travelled, probably by cart and horseback, southwest through Nottingham to Sawley, about eight miles further on, then through Ashbyde-la-Zouch and Tamworth in Staffordshire to Birmingham, thence southwest by west to Bewdly (Bugile) on the Severn in Worcestershire. Here they took to the water md sailed south down the winding Severn past Gloucester. They reached Bristol just eight days after starting their journey, 8 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine these, there was John Jones, mercer, who, with his brother Michael Jones, a grocer, had purchased jointly 1000 acres of land to be laid out in Pennsylvania from William Penn in September, 1681. When the brothers Jones learned that Watson was sailing for Pennsylvania, and had cash in hand, they may have suggested he buy some or all of their original purchase, explaining the privileges attendant thereon as a first purchaser from Penn. It is also pt)ssible they recommended that Watson take passage on the Bristol Merchant, William Smith, master, then loading for Philadelphia at Bristol, it being a vessel on which they had previously shipped goods and on which they were consigning more on its forthcoming voyage. If so, Watson was prompt in following some of their advice, for he entered in his commonplace book that on 9 August he settled for his passage to America: "paid to William Smith, Ship master 27' 0' 0' for passage mony for Six passages, and to Samuell Lewiss for one passage 4' 10° 0'." Presumably these seven passengers included Watson himself, his three sons and daughter, and two of his "cuntrymen" — William Blanch and John Abbot — who came as his servants. Why one passage was paid to Lewis remains unexplained." By 13 August the goods Watson had purchased and intended for resale in the new world had cleared customs and were loaded on board the Bristol Merchant. These included: 14 cwt. wrought iron; 17 cwt, wrought pewter; 3 doz, woolen stockings; 55 lbs. woolen gloves; 19 lbs. cordage; 12 yds. sack cloth; 2 doz. felt hats; 9 lbs. haberdashery; 32 lbs. brass manufactured; 1 small saddle; 7 lbs. gunpowder; 1/4 cwt. lead shot; 4 cwt. cheese; 18 lbs. leather manufactured; 1 gallon aquavite; 7 lbs. serges; 1 firkin beer; 5 lbs. hair stuffs; Y4 chest window glass; 2/2 cwt. nails; 14 bushels malt; 1 firkin butter; 8 parcels several sorts of ware, value £6 Sr. 4d. Duty 19s. 9d." Other goods intended by others for resale in the province continued to be stowed aboard the Bristol Merchant until 25 August, but Watson added nothing to his total. Then, having finally decided to take up the Jones's offer just before the vessel sailed — perhaps as insurance in case he didn't like West Jersey — Watson received deeds of lease and release from John and Michael Jones dated 28 and 29 August 1684, conveYing to him 500 acres of their 1000 acres, to be laid out in Pennsylvania." 1 0 Commonplace book, 8, 12. The Bristol Merchant on the Erse ship to arrive at Philadelphia with Quaker emigrants in 1683. See Marion Balderston, "Pennsylvania's 1683 Ships and Some of Their Passengers," The Pennsylvania Genealog;cal Magazine (PGM), 2OUV (19651, 71. 27 Bristol Port Book E 190/1147/1, Public Record Office, London, England, examined by Maxon Bab demon. No duo was paid on goods intended for private consumption. 18 See recital in Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd Seri., XLX, 305, and Philadelphia Deed Book F-10, 78• 05 September 1722, Isaac Watson to Robert Jones. Watson of Nottinghamshire 9 The Joneses had paid £20 for their land, but what Watson paid for half their acreage remains unknown, and again he made no entry in his commonplace book of this purchase. His account of his travels continues: Came in the Ship called Brista[II] merchant William Smith Cheefe commander. very well Accornodated. Arived Safe to ffiladefia neare eight weeks, rented a part of a house there 4 weeks. My son William Watson died 8c was buried there. The exact date of arrival in the Delaware of the Bristol Merchant is not known, but it was prior to 4 9m (November) . On that date Samuel Lewis to whom Watson had given money for one passage, and who had also loaded goods on the Merchant, and George Pierce, who had purchased the other 500 acres from the Jones brothers, presented their certificates of removal to the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting.' Since Watson stated that he had remained in Philadelphia for four weeks, presumably it was during this November that he and George Pierce received warrants for the surveying of their Pennsylvania land. Their 1000 acres was laid out up in the back country in the "New Bristol Township" adjoining John Jennet's land and the Governor's Manor of Gilberts. The Front and High Street lots appurtenant to the original purchase of the Joneses they were told were allotted to the Schuylkill side of the Center Square. But since this location was so far removed from the still infant town steadings, neither Watson nor Pierce bothered to have them surveyed." Meanwhile Watson appears to have known that there were a number of settlers from old Nottingham who were living across the Delaware in West Jersey. These immigrants had arrived in the Delaware late in 1678 on the Shield from Hull, and taken up land near but below the Falls of the river. By 1680 the area was already known as Nottingham." Undoubtedly Watson believed that he would feel at home among .0 Albert Cook Myers, Quaker Arrivals at Philadelphia, 1682-1750 (Baltimore, 1917), 8, 9. Pierce's certificate from the meeting at Frenshay, Gloucestershire, was dated 7 5m(July) 1684. His purchase from the Joneses is recited in Warrants and Surveys of the Province of Pennsylvania, N. 5. Samuel Lewis had a joint certificate with William Garret, John Smith and Robert Gide, dated at Harby Meeting, Leicestershire. 80 The resurvey of 07amon's country land md the survey of the liberty land are in Warrants and veys, IV, 5, Sur- 105. However, the 1000-acre tram of 'Watson md Pierce is shown under Pierces name only on a version of Thomas Holmes land b shown on John Reed's 1684" is cited in map of ye Improved Part of Pensilvania (c. map of the City and Liberties. Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd Series, X1X, 305. 1690). The liberty That these lands were first hid out "in 2 . These early Nottingham Township settlers included Thomas Lambert, whose wife Elizabeth Hooton, Jr., was from Skegbyt Robert Murfin from Haines Greave and his wife Ann Lee from Worksop, and James Pluto of Great Drayton and his wife Ann Murfin of Haines Grave. The repeatedly publis' hed claim that Nottingham was so-named by Isaac Watson, son of William, is demonstrably incorrect, the term "Nottingham near the Falls of Delaware" is to be found in a deed dated 12 March 1679/80, from Robert Stacy to Thomas Lambert. See "Calendar of Records • ..," New Jersey Archives (NJA), let Series, XXI, 439. 10 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine these countrymen, and so decided to make West Jersey his permanent home. He wrote in his commonplace book that after the death of his son William in Philadelphia (unrecorded in the meeting records of that place) : Thence I William Watson St my 2 sons Isaac and John Watson & my daughter Elizabeth Watson & William Blanch and John Abot my cuntrymen that came as my servants sattled a plantation and called the place ffernsfeild in the township of Nottingham in the County of Borlingtun in the province of West Jersey. This entry obviously was made some time after the plantation was established, for it was not until 21 April 1685, five months after his arrival, that he obtained from Thomas Lambert, after paying £8 165., the one thirtieth part of Grace's share in the province.' Precisely when the land under this right was surveyed is not known, but it was laid out on the east bank of Doctor's Creek, a branch of Crosswicks Creek, probably some time in 1685. Three years later on 9 urn (January) 1687/8, Watson enlarged this holding. From John Scholey, late of Aughton in the parish of Aston in Yorkshire, he bought for £20 Scholey's plantation where he lived "lying upon ye Creek called Doctors Creek adjoyning to the Lands of ye ad William Watson." Containing "by estimation" 100 acres more or less, the sale included the houses, barns and other buildings, as well as all fencings and ditchings." These two tracts appear to have formed the nucleus of Farnsfield. In his commonplace book Watson described the route to it: "from ffilidelfia to Borlington twenty miles up daliwere River — from Borlington up the River to Crossicks creek eight miles — up Crosiks Creeke to Robert Morfins landing," thence "to the land betwixt Tho: Tindall John Scoley & Thomas Lambart wheat the river parts Thomas Gilbathorpe from us, being George Hutchinsons land." " This is the last entry Watson made in his little book, but from other sources can be gleaned glimpses of his varied activities in his new surroundings. There was no Friends Meeting in Nottingham, but one had been established in Chesterfield Township early in October, 1684, shortly The purchase, by lease and release dated 20, 21 Aprli 1605, from Lambert, attorney to Thomas Grace, I, recorded in West Jeney Deeds, Liber B-2, 391, aeros copy from N. J. State Library, Trenton. BB /bid., 8-2, 392: 9 1Im (January) 1657/8, John Seholey to William Watson. The recorded deed unfortunately gives no metes or bounds. 2 . Commonplace book, 122. Doctors Creek runs irno Crosswicks Creek about midway between the Renn.sylvania Railroad Bridge and U.S. Route 130. The Nottingham area extended from Crosswicks Creek, the division line between Nottingham and Chesmrfield Townships, north to the Assunpink and east to she Division Line between Were and East Jersey. Nottingham Township no longer exists — the area is now included in Hamilton Township, Mercer County. Obviously Farnsfield in West Jersey, was not the site of the Isaac Watson house, now withirl the bounds of Trenton, as presumed in the brief of title to that house, prepared for the Hamilton Township Historical Society by the late Mr. J. N. Welsh. Watson of Nottinghamshire 11 before Watson had arrived in the Delaware. Friends living in both Nottingham and Chesterfield attended this meeting, usually held in the house of Francis Davenport "neare Crosswicks Creek" or at Thomas Lambert's near the falls of Delaware. By 1687 Watson was an active member of Chesterfield Meeting; that year on 5 3m (May) he was one of the six Friends appointed to attend Quarterly Meeting at Burlington. Five months later on 6 8m (October) he announced at Chesterfield Meeting that he intended taking to wife BIUDGET BINGHAM, a widow of Burlington, having three days before announced his intentions at Burlington Meeting. Though he "produced several certificates, yet for good order's sake," Chesterfield directed Francis Davenport and Robert Murfin "to make Inquiry concerning his clearness and give an account to the next Monthly Meeting." " He was given liberty to proceed in marriage the following 3 9m (November) by Chesterfield: Friends "finding nothing but that he is cleare from all other women, he is left to proseed as he in God's wisdom shall see meete." Four days later at Burlington he and she were given liberty to marry; the ceremony took place subsequent to the end of that month when, on 30 November 1687, as Bridget Bingham, widow, she assigned her right to her son James Bingham in 200 acres she had purchased from Benjamin Scott in 1684." Bridget Bingham, born in or before 1650, had married her first husband before 1668 when their son James Bingham was born. She was fined for attending an illegal Friends Meeting "at or near Thaxted, Essex" in 1670, but there is no record of her husband having been a Friend. He had apparently died before 1681 when she, with her son and three daughters, emigrated to Burlington with Benjamin Scott, also of Essex, and his family." 25 Watson was no! one of the founders of Chesterfield Meeting, as claimed in Joseph S. Middleton, "Friends and their Meeting House at Crosswicks, New Jersey," PMHB, XXVII (1903), 341. The original minute book of the meeting is at Philadelphia Friends Library, 3rd and Arch Sts., and a microfilm copy of it is at Swarthmore Friends Library. A typed and indexed transcript has been consulted for this study. The first okne Watson's name appears, except at the end of the "Preface," is on page 12 of the typescript, his declaration of intentions on page 13. In February 1687/8, Watson was among those appointed by the meeting to "inspect boo and to record and write over in a Register Book Berths, Aga, Marriages and Burials what were convenient ...." It may be it was at this time that S)7atson signed the "Preface' . to the Minutes when the new book was opened, leading to the erroneous conclusion of Mr. Middleton. Ibid., 14. 2 0William W. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1938), II, 270; NIA, XXI, 404, 442, cited in Note 21. James Bingham removed to Philadelphia by 1705, and died there testate 20 December 1714, aged 46 700., per his gravestone in Christ Churchyard. PMHB, V (1881), 237. In William Of, Sawtelle, "William Bingham of Philadelphia and his Maine Lands," Publications of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania (PGSP), IX (1926), 212, it was claimed that Bridget Bingham was the second wife of John Bingham, citixen and goldsmith of London, who purchased 1000 acres of John Fenwick in 1671 and removed to Wess Jersey, and that she was the daughter of Benjamin Scott. There 12 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine In 1688 Watson was the assessor for collecting funds in the township to build a bridge across Crosswicks Creek. This was the same year his daughter Elizabeth died at the age of twenty, and the year the 100-acre plantation of John Scholey was formally conveyed to him. A year later on 20 February 1688/9, Watson, now described as being "of ffarnsfield in ye sd Province," bought from George Hutcheson, a distiller of Burlington, for £12 an undivided two-thirtieth part of a propriety. Under this right he had land surveyed along the division line between East and West Jersey on both sides of the Assunpink Creek." That same year on 27 April 1689, Watson was called upon to assist in making an inventory of the estate of John Homer, and then on 4 November 1690, to help with the inventory of the estate of James Pharo of Drayton House. Five months later on 20 April 1691, Watson invested in more land, acquiring from James Johnston of Monmouth County 250 acres in Monmouth, described as on the "Creek called Assunpink" which bounded the tract on the north." Later that same year, on 26 October 1691, when Percival Towle of Burlington had his will drawn, Bridget, William's wife, was one of the witnesses to Towle's signature. The will was proved the following 12 December; by its provision, Watson himself, along with Francis Davenport, Thomas Gilberthorpe, George Hutcheson, Thomas Gardiner and John Day — among the most substantial men in the area — was appointed a trustee of Towle's house, bakehouse and lands on Burlington Island and in the town bounds. They were empowered to sell the properties, after the death of Towle's widow Thomasin, for the benefit of the Quarterly Meeting of Friends in Burlington County." William's eldest son 1. Isaac was married in the early part of 1692, and although the marriage was without the consent of Friends, William is no evidence that John Bingham ever emigrated as claimed therein, and it is demonstrably proven that she was not the daughter of BenjattIM Scott. That daughter's marriage on 1 September 1700, to Edward Lucas of Falls Township, Bucks Co., was witnessed by William Watson and his wife Bridget, among others, and was recorded at Chesterfield. The error in identification of Bridget Bingham has been perpetuated to the present, its latest appearance being in Robert C. Alberts, The Golden Voyage . . .. (Boston, 1969), 10. now, Jersey Deeds, Liber B-2, 390: return of survey is in West Jersey Proprietors Records, Book M.I. 98, (microfilm at NSF), resurvey for William Watson, grandson of the ein'.grant. Burlington Court Boole • • • 1680-1709 (Washington, D.C., 1944), 91. 09 NJ/f, 1s0 Series, XXIII, 238, 363. In May 1691, Watson appears also to have applied for and was granted a 30-foot lot in Philadelphia at the south end of town. No record of its survey has been found, however, and its subsequent history is not known. Presusnably Watson either disposed of the lot without recording the transaction, or abandoned it. Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd Seim, XIX, 68, 69. NJ/f, 1s0 Series, XXI, 187. 30 For an abstract of Towle's will, see NM, 1s8 Series, XXIII, 468; for disposition of some of his land, ibid., XXI, 510, 522. 13 Watson of Nottinghamshire himself appears to have remained in good standing with the Meeting. He was appointed by Chesterfield Friends to the Quarterly Meeting, and as one of the "public friends" in Burlington County who frowned on George Keith's publicly expressed doctrinal views, he signed the declaration against Keith on 20 4m ( June) 1692." He was constable for Nottingham Township in 1693, and the next year presented Robert Pearson "whom he had hyred" to succeed him. That spring he helped with the inventory of the estate of Robert Murfin, his old neighbor, and was a legatee under the will of the widow Thomasin Towle which was proved 7 December 1695.' Late in 1694 young Isaac Watson "of ffarnsfield, Burlington County, planter," had acquired from George Hutcheson the right to 200 acres of land to be surveyed out of the shares of Thomas Hutcheson and Mahlon Stacy. The location of this land, laid out on the upland fronting the Delaware above the mouth of Crosswicks Creek, appears to have inspired William Watson's purchase on 1 June 1697, of the Pharos' plantation known as Drayton House. That tract, apparently adjacent to Isaac's land, included a reputed 250 acres for which Watson paid £181. Since the Pharo property included "Houses Barns Beas[t]houses Gardens Orchards" and so on, it is possible young Isaac and his wife and small children left Farnsfield and made their home at Drayton House until such time as he felt he could erect a home on his own land." At the end of that same year of 1697, William and his sons Isaac and John were among those at town meeting who signed the agreement that a fine of three shillings per day should be levied on all persons in the township who "shall neglect to do his due and proportionable service at all publique and comon days work for the Reparation of Bridges and high wayes." During the next two years Watson was involved in the settling of the estate of Percival Towle. Then on 27 March 1699, he sold his plantation on Doctors Creek, now reputed to contain 400 acres "more or less," for £180 current silver money of the province. The purchaser was Thomas Stevenson of Newtown in Queens County on Long Island. A month later William made over to his son 2. John . 1688-1748 (Philadelphia, 1917), I, 221. 31 Charles P. Keith. Chronicles of Pennsylvani 01 Burlington Court Book, 159, cited in Note 28. N J A, 1st Series, XXIII, 334. Widow Towle's will /bid., 469. was dated 28 September 1695. 10 i Wauon's purchase is abstracted in NJA, 1st Series, XXI, 233. No contemporary survey of the property has been found, and its location is deduced from later records. William Watson's purchase of Drayton limne is recorded in West Jersey Deeds, Lib,, bf, 151' Gervas Pharo to Will am Watson, xerox copy from N.J. State Library, Trenton. Although it includes a recital of title, no metes and bounds are given, and no survey for it has been found. ■ 14 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine the 250-acre tract on the Assunpink Creek in Monmouth County." Watson now began to think about his Pennsylvania land, particularly the Liberty Land appurtenant to his purchase from the Joneses which apparently he had never had laid out. He and George Pierce, now resident in Thornbury, Chester County, obtained a joint warrant on 15 6m (August) 1700 for the survey of their 20 acres. The land was surveyed on the east bank of the Schuylkill River on 2 8m (October) of that year and entered of record a month later on 19 9m (November) 1700. Then in May, 1702, Watson applied to the Pennsylvania Commissioners of Property for a resurvey of the land in New Bristol Township "laid out in 1684," in order to obtain a patent for it. But before it was issued, Bridget Bingham, William's wife, died and on 3 4m (June) 1702, was "buried in the burying place in Nottingham." " The resurvey warrant was issued a week after Bridget's burial, but Watson did not have it surveyed until February, 1703. And it was not until a year after that, when he agreed to pay £3 16s. for the overplus which the resurvey revealed, that he was granted a patent for the tract." By this time Watson was well on in years, but still moderately active. In November 1706, when Thomas Gilberthorpe was chosen as constable for Nottingham, "y° Court saw not cause to qualify him, but Chose Wm. Watson in his place." The following March Watson, aged about 68, was fined ten shillings, however, for not appearing in court, and in September was "fyried 40° for not chuseing of a fitt man for Constable" for the ensuing year and for not appearing in court again. This is the last mention of Watson in the township records. However, on the last day of the 9m (November) 1709, Watson conveyed to his son 1. Isaac for 400 ounces of current silver money of the province, his plantation of 150 acres "on Delaware River and between the plantation of John Rogers and the plantation where Isaac now dwells," as well as all his 5,4 "Nottingham Town Book," Proceedings of the Neu , Jersey Historical Society, 58 (1940), 26-27. Watson's deed to Thomas Stevenson, recorded in West Jersey Deeds, Tiber B-2, 659, nat,, the sale from Thomas Lambert in 1685, and locates the property on the north side of the creek, with Thomas Tindall on the west. It is thus demonstrated that Farnsfield was on Doctors Creek and not part of the Pharo plantation, as claimed 15y Mr. Welsh in his brief of title, cited ho Note 24. For abstract of Watson's sale to his son John, and a conSrming deed by John Johnston, brother of James, now deceased, executed to 'William Watson on 4 May 1699, see NJA, 1s0 Seri., XXI, 531, 30685 See Note 20 for the survey and resurveys. Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd Series, XIX, 305, Bridget's burial is entered in Ch.terfield Meeting Births and Deaths, 1675-1750, 27. .st Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd Seri., X1X, 410. The resurvey showed that the tract included 558 acres; the patent was dated 2 May 1704, recorded in Patent Book An, 672. In 1703 Watson was rated on only 150 acres 0 Nottmgham Townshm, but whether this was for the entire Drayton plantation, originally estimated to be 250 acres "more or less," or Watson had made over 100 acr,o to his son Isaac is not clear, no surveys having been located. See "Nottingham Town Book," 31, cited in Note 54. Watson of Nottinghamshire 15 558 acres in Philadelphia County." William's younger son 2. John had died some time between 1701 and 1704 while on a visit or voyage to Antigua so that Isaac now was William's sole heir. The conveyance appears to have been made to escape the charges of processing his estate through the courts. Occasionally over the years (1689, 1692, 1696, 1697, 1700, 1704, 1709) William Watson had signed marriage certificates as a witness to the marriages of neighbors or their children. The last such to which he affixed his signature was on 21 4m (June) 1711, when Thomas Hunloke married Sarah Bunting at Chesterfield Meeting." The precise date of Watson's death, or the place of his burial are not found in the Chesterfield Meeting records, and there is no probate record. 1. ISAAC WATSON, born 15 August 1670, son of William and Ann (Redding) Watson of Farnsfield, County of Nottingham, England, was fourteen when he came with his father, brothers William and John, and sister Elizabeth to their new home in Nottingham Township, Burlington County, West Jersey. The first record of him as an adult comes from the minutes of Chesterfield Monthly Meeting for 1 12m (February) 1691/2, six months after he had come of age, and concerned his marriage to JOANNA FOULKE: ffriends Understanding that Isaac Watson and Johanna Foulke hath Put up a paper at the falles declareing their intentions to marry, With out the advice or Consent of ffriends, this meeteing appoints Thomas Lambert and John Wilsford to Speak with them about it and Return theist answer the Next Meeting.. Women Friends were equally concerned, and at their meeting in February "ordered for Elizabeth Lambert and Ann W'attson to speak to Joanna ffoulkes belonging to this meeting concerning her proceeding upon the account of marriage contrary to the manner and method practtised amongst friends of truth." Their minutes note that the March meeting was "prevented by unusall floods." But on 7 2m (April) 1692, the minutes recorded that "Ann Wattson brought in the answer of Joannah f oulkes as followetly y' they did not apprehend but yt they 57 /bid., 35; Burlington Court Book, 319, 321, 325. West Jersey Deeds, Liber E, 32, [30] November 1709, William Watson to Isaac Watson, N.J. State Library, Trenton. William made his mark, an indication that he was now in feeble health. 55 Transcript of Chesterfield Monthly Meeting Marriages, 1684-1781, 24 in GSP. 50 Chesterfield Monthly Meeting Mm's Minutes, 1684-1738, 33, 34, microfilm at Swarthmore Friends Library. Joanna Foulke eras the daughter of Thomas Foulke (1624-1714) and his wife Mary (1629ass) of Chesterfield, from Derbyshire in old England. A record of some of their descendants h in PMHB, XI (1887), 207. 16 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine had their parents Consent other wayes they had not proceeded or joyned together in marriage." " At the same time men's minutes reported that the friends that was Appointed to speake with Isaac Watson and Johanna foulke Conserning their Publishing their intentions of marriage withoute friend advice or Consaute and Rejecting friends Council, Declare y' they did acording to friends Appontement Speake to Isaac Watson and Johannah foulke who yeilded to Answer friends desire neither denyed to do it But Since have Proceeded in their Marriage wilfully and Stubornely Doing the Same Contrary to the Advice and Consent of their Parants and friends — it is the Sense of this meeteing that all who prof esse the truth with us and would be owned by us to be of us ought before they Sett up their Papper acording to the Law of the Province to Publish their intentions to friends at their monthly meeteing 8z have their advice, and if aney that Profess the truth as Abovesd Cue Stubornely on as the fore Mentioned Couple have done wee must for the Truth Sake Say wee have not Eunity with them in their So doing yet wee desire the Lord if it be his will, to opne their Eyes to see their out Goeings and Repent. Although the birth of their first child William, was entered in the registers of Chesterfield Meeting, none of the births of their subsequent children are so noted therein. As has been noted, some two years after their marriage, on 20 December 1694 George Hutcheson sold to Isaac Watson of "ffarnsfield, planter," 200 acres to be surveyed out of the shares of Thomas Hutcheson and Mahlon Stacy. In April, 1695, 40 acres "at the back end of John Scholey next to William Watson" were surveyed for Isaac. Two years later in 1697 John Johnston of Monmouth County conveyed to Isaac of Nottingham Township "a lot on Doctor's Creek [east of the division line] along the old path from Shrewsberie." This was perhaps the SO acres in Monmouth County confirmed to Isaac on 29 September 1697, by John Johnston, brother and heir of James Johnston, being "a mile above the bridge on Doctor's Creek along the old path to Shrewsberry." " In 1698 Isaac was chosen constable for Nottingham for the ensuing year, but did not appear and was fined twenty shillings. Not until the end of 1704 was he again chosen constable for the ensuing year, and was 40 c.h.terfield Monthly Meeting Women's Minuses, 1688-1739, 47, 48. Ann Watson appears to have been the wife of Matthew Watson, of Ch.terfield, who had emigrated from Scarborough, Yorkshire, in old England; of no known relmionship to the Watsons of Farnsfield. The 1692 flood was long remembered by those who had built upon the low lands near the Falls of the Delaware against the advice of the local Indians. That year, when the snows melted above the Falls, as uncommon overflow of the river" came upon than so unexpectedly that many found their houses surrounded with water which rose till it reached the upper stories of some of dleir homes. Cattle were drowned, beds, kettles and furniture were swept downstream when the rude hous. collapsed. See Samuel Smith, The History of the Colony of Now, (Reprint, Spartansburg, S.C., 1966), 208. Canaria, or New Jersey at Abstracts of these transactions are in NJA, lot Seri., XXI, 590, 254; original surveys have not been 'ward. Watson of Nottinghamshire 17 also an overseer of the highways with Thomas Gilberthorpe. In 1706 he served in the latter capacity again, but with John Nevens." Meanwhile his brother 2. John Watson had died, apparently out of the province, for on 15 August 1702, Isaac sold to Johanna Murfen, spinster of Nottingham Township, daughter of the deceased Robert, "Y2 of Y2 of a share of West Jersey, except 5000 acres, as sold by Joseph Kirkbride to John Watson, dec'd, brother of said Isaac, 15 May 1701." Neither Isaac nor his father had taken out letters of administration on John's estate, nor was anything done in the matter until 1 June 1704, two years later, when Isaac posted bond as administrator, with Emmanuel Smith and Isaac De Cow as fellow bondsmen." Perhaps this dilatoriness had something to do with Joseph Kirkbride's complaint to Chesterfield meeting on 6 December 1705, that there was "a difference betwixt him and Isaac Watson," and desired the assistance of the meeting in resolving it. The meeting advised them "to make choice of four friends to heare their complaints and allegations," and they chose Samuel Bunting, Francis Davenport, John Abbott who had been free since 1689, had married and was now a landowner, and Thomas Lambert, son of the man who had sold William Watson land, to "inspect into the said difference and to end the same." The arbitrators were successful, for at the next monthly meeting they reported the difference had been settled." Rated on 440 acres in Nottingham in 1703, Isaac's holdings were augmented by his inheritance of his brother John's lands after 1704, and the 1709 sale to him by his father of the Drayton House-Pharo plantation. But in 1708, a year before his father made over to him that property, Isaac erected a substantial stone house overlooking the meadows along the river "on the bluff between White Horse and Trenton." It still stands, restored and maintained by the New Jersey State Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution." Built with 15-inch thick walls from cellar to steeply pitched roof, pent eaves along the north and south facades protect the first floor win...Nottingham Town Book," 28, 34, 35, cited in Note 34; Burlington Court Book, 212. 48 The land sold Johanna Murfen is reported to have been in Chesterfield Township. For abstract of the sale see NJA, 1st Series, XXI, 453. For administration on John Watson's estate, see ibid., XXIII, 495. °Chesterfield Monthly Meeting Men's Minutes, 1684-1738, entry under date of 3 January 1705/6. °See Note 37 for the 1709 sale. The land on which the 1708 house stands was part of 400 acres which Martin Scott bad sold to John Watson, Isaac's brother, 12 May 1699, as recited in the resurvey of 18 July 1735, for Isaac Watson, son of I. Isaac. See West Jersey Proprietors Records, Book M-2, 185, NSF. Cf. the illustrated brochure, The Isaac Watson House Built in 1708, published by the State Society and available at the Watson House, 151 Westcott Street, Trenton, N.J., 08618, for $2.00. Unfortunately It contains some inaccurate statements taken from early undocumented 6[42.eigi. 18 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine dows of diamond-paned, leaded sash. Above the pent eave on the south front over the entrance door, Isaac inserted a date stone on which he had cut the year: 1708. Under that appears the letter "W" over the letters "I" and "I" for Isaac and Joanna. The first floor Isaac divided into two rooms, the kitchen and the room called "y° House Chamber" in his inventory. Upstairs were two small chambers and a third larger one. The garret was left undivided, and after his children were grown was used for storage. Here Isaac and Joanna lived for the rest of their lives, and here the rest of their children were born. By 1716 their eldest son William had come of age, and their eldest daughter 3. Joanna, who had married Thomas Tindall, Jr., was already widowed, but had presented them with their first grandchild. The following year their own last child, 7. John Watson, Jr., was born — a belated addition to their family. In 1721 on 11 October, Isaac invested in one more piece of property — a one-quarter acre lot in Trenton on the High Street, which he purchased of William Trent. This he improved with buildings, perhaps intending it for one of his daughters, for another, 4. Mary, married Joseph Peace a year or so later. The following year he finally disposed of the Philadelphia County land which his father had made over to him in 1709. On 18 September 1722, he sold to Robert Jones of North Wales the 558 acres in New Bristol Township for £125." Although Isaac was only in his mid-fifties, by 1726 his health appears to have deteriorated, for when he had his will drawn on 30 2m (April) of that year, he was "Weakly in Body."" After the ordering of the payment of his funeral charges and debts, he listed the bequests he intended for his wife and children. The first of these was to his eldest son William, who was to have Isaac's right to 650 acres in "y' Lotting Purchas," held jointly with John Chapman, and 270 acres of land "Lying on Boath Side the Creeke caled Assenpinke and along the Line Commonly Caled the Line of Pertission" between West and East Jersey. (This last tract was the one which Isaac's father William had purchased of George Hutcheson in 1689.) William was also to have Isaac's Negro boy called Jem, one bed and furniture, two horses or mares and one cow. Isaac next provided for his "Beloved Wife Johannah Watson." She was to have one half of his plantation where he then dwelt containing 'SW,,, Jersey Deeds, Ma E, 89, William Trent to Isaac Watson; Philadelphia Deed Book F.10, 78, Isaac Watson to Robert Jones. 4, West Jersey Will 1597-C, recorded in Liber 2,44s. Written in a minute, cramped hand, the original will is extremely hard to read. The following extracts have been made from a zero: copy furnished by the State Library 88 Trenton. Watson of Nottinghamshire 19 "ye Land formerly belonging to George Hutchinson" which Isaac had acquired in 1694, "and one Peise of Land and Meadow lying upon the River Delaware and Bounded by y' Creeke Comonly Called the Muckey Meadow Creeke from the mouth thereof to the line that Parts the before mentioned Tract of Land formerly Jervis Pharows, of which ye last mentioned tract was a part, to gether with the halfe of the buildings Orchards Meadows Pasture Corn Land and Improvements." His wife was also to have his "Best Bed and ye Usuall Furniture," £50 lawful money of America, and his Negro woman "Caled Hannah" in full for her dowry. The other half of the plantation where Isaac lived he gave to his son Isaac, Jr., but if Johanna died or married again, Isaac was to have the entire property. He was also to have his Negro boy Dick. To his youngest son John Watson he bequeathed the plantation and buildings "purchased by my father of Jervis Pharow except y' Parte Lying betwixt the Creeke Caled the Muckey Meadow Creeke and the River Delaware." If John died without lawful heirs the said plantation was to be equally divided between Isaac's other children. John was to be paid £50 when he came of age, and was to be "Brought up and Educated to Reade and Write." Having taken care of his wife and his sons, Isaac next turned his attention to his daughters. His daughter Elizabeth Watson was to have the lot in Trenton which he had purchased of William Trent in October, 1721, "with the Housing and Improvem" thereupon," and his Negro girl called Dinah. To his daughter Sarah Watson he gave a tract of land lying on Doctors Creek "betwixt the Land of Isaac Still and Richard Hasfield" in East Jersey. To his daughter "Deborow" Watson he gave the land in Nottingham Township "surveyed for forty acres," joining the "lands of Nathaniel Steevenson" — presumably that which had been surveyed in 1695 "at the back end of John Scholeys." She was also to have ten pounds when she reached the age of eighteen, and was to be taught to read and write. His daughter Naomi Watson was to have "all y' Lot of Land Buildings and Improvern" Lying in Chesterfield Township Neer Joseph Burdens" which Isaac had purchased of his brother John Watson's estate. She was to have twenty pounds when she was eighteen, and was also to be taught to read and write. His daughter Mary "Peas," to whom he probably had already given a dowry on her marriage, was to have his Negro girl "Caled Pegg" in full for her share of his estate, and his granddaughter Sarah Peace was to have a cow. The rest of his personal estate not specifically devised was to be divided 20 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine equally between five of his daughters: Joanna Tindall, Elizabeth, Sarah, "Deborow" and Naomi Watson. Joanna's dividend was to be paid within one year of his decease, and Elizabeth's and Sarah's in two years after his decease. If any of them died before they came of full age, the land devised to them was to be divided between the surviving girls. He appointed his wife and son Isaac executrix and executor of his will; if any difficulty appeared among the family, he recommended that they "Crave y° advice of friends of the Monthly Meeting in Chesterfield and take their advice allong." Thomas Lambert, who wrote the will, Heath Horner and William Barracliff witnessed Isaac's signature. Isaac lived for another year, but was deceased by 22 7m (September) 1727, when Thomas Lambert, John Tantum, William Murfin and Samuel Willson inventoried his estate prior to offering the will for probate. Inventory of ye Goods Chattels and Credits belonging to Isaac Watson of Nottingham in ye County of Burlington and Western Divission of New Jersey deceased taken and Apprised ye 22 ye 7 mo 1727: To Purse and Apparell 3 Beds and Sundry Goods in ye Same Roome In ye Closett Pewter and other Goods to ye Value of In ye House Chamber to ye Best bed & furniture Sundry other Goods to ye Vallue of Next Chamber Two Beds Window Curtains &c two Small Chambers Sundry Goods to ye Vallue of In ye Garret — About 40 bush. Wheat and Sundry other Goods In ye House — Sundry Goods Vallue In ye Seine—Sundry Goods In ye Kitchin — To Sundry of Brass and Iron and tools, of several sorts One White Serv't Man had about 3 Ys years to serve A Negro Woman Caled Hannah A Negro Boy Called Jem A Negro Boy Caled Dicke A Negro Guirll Caled Pegg A Negro Guirll Caled Dinah Credits to an obligation Condition & Interest Due from Tho. Pryar of Philladelphie as per ace Signed by him In y. Yard to Cattle Sheep and Swine To Horses Mares and Coults all To about 9 acres Indian Corn on ye Ground . . To Several Parsells of hay and Corn in the Barn To Waggen & Cart harrow Gears Plowes bridles and Plankes To Sum Log Spads and other tooles £30 34 7-11-0 20 34-15-0 22-10-0 12- 9-0 23- 0-0 8- 0-0 13-16-9 19- 6-9 12 50 50 45 30 25 21- 9-0 104- 8-6 96-11-0 97 0-0 8- 0-0 34-10-0 23-15-0 0- 4-0 The foregoing Inventory ammounting to Eight Hundred Pound Sixteen Shillings and Eight Pence taken and apprised ye day abovsd Watson of Nottinghamshire 21 Armed with this inventory "Joanna" Watson " and Isaac Watson, "being of the People call'd Quakers," appeared at Burlington before Samuel Bustill, Deputy Surrogate and Register, offered it and the will for probate on 10 November 1727, and were duly affirmed as joint executors. Joanna Watson survived her husband many years, living on at the home farm with such of her children as remained unmarried. She was alive on 31 December 1749, when her son Isaac's will was offered for probate, she having been named an executrix of the document. But the date of her subsequent death is not of record, nor is it known where she or her husband were buried. Issue of 1. Isaac Watson and his wife Joanna Foulke:" i. WILLIAM WATSON, "sonne of Isack & Johanna Watson was borne r 13th Day of r I1 moneth [January] 1693/4," according to the register of Chesterfield Monthly Meeting. Although the eldest son, he did not inherit the home farm, having been willed his father's right in the "Lotting Purchase" and 270 acres on the Assunpink along the division line between East and West Jersey. The fact that he was given a bed and furniture and two horses and a cow seems to indicate he preferred not to live at home; so far as is known he never married. Two years after his father died he had a resurvey made on 1 May 1729, of the Assunpink tract which had been surveyed to his grandfather, the emigrant William Watson. The resurvey was entered of record in the West Jersey Proprietors' office in Burlington on 22 May 1730; 50 its subsequent history has not been searched for this account. When he had his will drawn on 27 March 1761, he was of Nottingham Township, and possessed of land "up at Passiak in the mountains" where perhaps his father's right had been surveyed. This he devised to the four unnamed sons of his brother 7. John Watson. A table, chest of drawers and other furniture he bequeathed to his brother John's two daughters, again without naming them. John was appointed his executor. William was deceased by 17 April 1762, when an inventory, totalling £344 Is. 7d., of his estate was made by William Bunting and Joseph De Cow. The will was proved 28 June 1762, and an account rendered by 7. John Watson as executor on 8 September 1765."3. 4. ii. JOANNA WATSON, presumed to be the eldest daughter of Isaac Watson, d. after 1749, of whom further. a MARY WATSON, presumed to be the second daughter of Isaac Watson, d. before 11 May 1747, of whom further. 98 Unlike some of her contemporaries, Joanna Watson could write, and so spelled her name. It is also interesting souse, that both she and her son considered themselves to be birthught Friends, yet except for her first child, no other issue was noted is, Friends' meeting records. 8 . There are no birth dates for six of their nine children. 5. Wen Jeruy Proprietors Records, Book M-1, 98, resurvey for William Watson. " See abstract in NM, la Series, XXX, -168, 22 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine iv. ISAAC WATSON, the second son of 1. Isaac Watson, inherited his father's home plantation on which stood the stone house. In 1732, when he had the property resurveyed, it was found that the "ancient stakes & Bounds thereof" included 605 acres, an overplus of 200 acres more than the original 400 acres which 1. Isaac had inherited from his brother 2. John Watson. At the same time under the same warrant he had surveyed a small island fronting his plantation. In February, 1732/3, Isaac witnessed the will of his neighbor Thomas Lambert, son of the man who had conveyed the first ground to the emigrant William Watson. "About 1737," when Friends in Trenton acquired a lot for a meeting house, Isaac was one of the trustees. In April, 1744, he was named by his brother-in-law Joseph Peace an executor of his will." Five years later on 17 November 1749, when he was 'weak in body" he had his own will drawn. To his "loving Brother" 7. John Watson he devised all the land to which he had any light in Nottingham Township, as well as the island in the Delaware "commonly called Wood Island" which had been surveyed to him back in 1732. His sister Elizabeth was to have £50 and the use of the room in his dwelling "commonly called her Room," so long as she remained unmarried. She was also to have the right to keep a horse or mare on the plantation. His sisters Joanna, Sarah and Naomi were each to have £20. To his nephews, Joseph and Isaac Peace, he gave a piece of land "bounded on Sandpink Creek and on the lower Street in Trenton" formerly belonging to their deceased father. To each of the meeting houses in Trenton and at Crosswicks he left £10.. To his niece Deborah, daughter of Elias Ring, deceased, he gave a lot in Trenton "bounded lay Joseph Clayton and John Ozburn." His personal estate was to be sold, and af ter the legacies noted in the will were paid, the balance was to be given to his "Loving Mother Johannah Watson." She and his brother 7. John he named executors. Within two weeks he was dead, for on 1 December 1749, Joanna and John Watson promised by affirmation to have an inventory made of his estate. Anthony Woodward and William Murfin completed it on 9 December, finding a total of £578 10s. worth of goods. These included purse and apparel valued at £50, bills, bonds and book debts at £107 5s., cattle, horses, sheep and hogs at £112 18s., and wheat, rye, hay and corn "in the barn & out & Sundry Uttensialls for Farming" at £136 14s. "Sundrys" in the kitchen and hall came to £17 19s., in "the Parler Sc Uper Room where y. fire Place is" to £57 18s., beds and furniture "in 2 Room" to £19 Os., and in the garret to £26 lie. The Negro Dick he had inherited from his father was now valued at £50. The will and inventory were entered for probate the last day of December 1749. 54 .2 The warrant was dated 8 November 1732, the survey for the plantatton was confirmed 18 July 1735, and for the island 20 August 1740. West Jersey Proprietors Records, Book M-2, 185, M-1, 115. dgLambert's will was proved 12 June 1733; for abstract am NIA, 1st Series, XXX, 289. For Peace's will, proved 10 June 1744, see ibid., XXX, 372. The Trenton Meeting House on not completed until 1739. See A History of Trenton, 1679-1929 (Princeton, N.J., 1929) I, 387, 392. 84 West Jersey Will 5495-C, recorded in Libor 6. 277; xerox copy of the original papers furnished by the State Library at Trento, Watson of Nottinghamshire 23 v. ELIZABETH WATSON, probably the third daughter of Isaac Watson, appears to have been of full age when her father died in 1727, since he left her the lot in Trenton which he had purchased from William Trent in 1721, with the houseing and improvements he had erected thereon, as well as his Negro girl Dinah. In 1741 Mary Satterthwaite, widow of Chesterfield, in her will directed that her daughter Ann be placed with Elizabeth Watson to be trained as a "tayloris," the only known clue as to Elizabeth's occupation." She was left L og by her brother Isaac in 1749; he also provided in his will that she was to have the privilege of "her room" in his dwelling so long as she remained unmarried, and was to have a mare or horse to be kept free on the plantation. No record of a marriage for her has been found, and she was not mentioned in the will of her brother William in 1761. 5. vi. SARAH WATSON, b. 7 September 1705, of whom further. 6. vii. DEBORAH WATSON, b. after 1708, of whom further. viii. NAOMI WATSON was born after 1708, since she was not yet eighteen when her father drew his will. He left her £20 when she became eighteen, and the balance of the Chesterfield land he had inherited from his brother John. She m. before 1740, JOHN ALLEN, JR., son of John Allen, Esq., and his wife Hannah Revell, of Burhngton. A sadler by trade, on 17 May 1750, he was commissioned Sheriff of Hunterdon Co., and was a vestryman of St. Michael's Church in Trenton from 1754 to 1763. He appears to have encountered financial difficulties and in 1764 his house and lot and 52 acres of meadow and orchard were sold at public sale at the suit of Richard Gibb, Samuel Kemble, John Leslee and others. The same year he and Naomi sold property in Burlington which had belonged to his father. He is presumed to be the John Allen, Esq., bur. at St. Michael's 17 August 1769. Naomi died after 1764, but where is not known. Issue: 1. JOHN ALLEN, a loyalist, removed to Nova Scotia. 2. ISAAC ALLEN, b. ca. 1742; d. at Kingsclear, New Brunswick, 12 October 1806, in his 65th yr.; m. at Christ Church, Philadelphia, 20 December 1769, SARAH CAMPBELL, daughter of Thomas Campbell, b. 29 January 1749, bapt. at Christ Church, 12 June 1750. Isaac was also a loyalist, and removed with his family to Canada. 3. WILLIAM ALLEN. 4. HANNAH ALLEN, bapt. at St. Michael's, 7 November 1773; d. Fredericton, N. B., 5 November 1835. 5. ELIZABETH ALLEN, hops. at St. Michael's with her sister Hannah, 7 November 1773.5.' 7. Ix. JOHN WATSON, b. ca. 1717, youngest son of Isaac Watson, of whom further. 2. JOHN WATSON, youngest son of the emigrant William Watson, was born 30 November 1672, in Farnsfield, Nottinghamshire, old England. He was twelve years old when he emigrated to America with his father, elder brothers and sister and their servants John Abbott and 55 For abstract of will of Mary Satterthwaite, see NjA, 1s0 Series, XXX, 414. See Charles Carroll Gardner, "Genealogical Dictionary of New Jersey," Genealogical Nagaaine of New jersey, (GAINJ), XVIII (1943), 26, for the account of this family based on information supplied Mr. Gardner by Isaac Allen's grandson, Sir John Campbell Allen, Chief Justice of New Brunswick; A History of Trenton..., I, 320; NM, 1st Series, XXIV, 324. There are no estate proceedings for John Allen since he apparently owned no land at the time of his death. 24 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine William Blanch. They were both wheelwrights, and when their time was up with William Watson, they acquired from George Hutcheson the right to 100 acres to be taken up in the Indian purchase." Blanch did not long remain in the province, but when John Abbott married Anne Mauleverer, daughter of Edmund and Anne Mauleverer, at the house of her stepfather Matthew Watson on 26 3m (May) 1696, (according to the records of Chesterfield Meeting), John Watson was among the witnesses to the ceremony. On 23 10m (December) 1697, John and his brother 1. Isaac and father William were among those residents in the township who signed the agreement to levy a fine of three shillings on those failing to do their proportionable public service on roads and bridges in Nottingham." In April 1699, John's father William made over to John 250 acres on the Assunpink Creek in Monmouth County which William had purchased of James Johnston. On 12 May 1699, a month later, John sold that land to Thomas Stevenson of Newtown, Queens County, Long Island, to whom William Watson had sold the Farnsfield plantation on Doctors Creek. The same day John bought from Martin Scott — who had acquired it from George Hutcheson in 1695 — 400 acres fronting the Delaware." On 8 May 1700, john Watson served on the traverse jury at Burlington. A year later on 15 May 1701, he bought from Joseph Kirkbride of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, one half of a half share of a propriety in West Jersey." For a now unknown reason, later that year he decided to journey to the West Indies or perhaps to revisit England, but only got as far as Antigua. There he was taken ill, and at the home of one Richard Sones in St. John's Town, he had his will drawn. In it he divided his real and personal estate between his father William and brother "Isaack" Watson, Sarah, daughter of Mahlon Stacy, and Gervas Hall who had accompanied him on the trip, naming his brother Isaac Watson sole executor. It was witnessed by his host, Richard Sones, Edward Kemble, and Gervas Hall." The precise date of his death is not known, but it was prior to 14 August 1702, when his brother Isaac sold NJA, In Series, XXI, 473. " See Note 34. " For the abstract of the Stevenson sale, see NJA, 1st Seri., )0(I, 530. The abstract of the Scott sale in ibid., 520, describes the 400 acres as being above the falls of the Delaware, but the resurvey of 1735 for his nephew Isaac ma10. it clear this was not so. See Notes 28 nod 45. Bo Burlington COY 14 Book, 233. Kirkbride had purchased a half sIvre from Michael Russell of London the y.r before when Kirkbride was in London. NJA, Ist Series, XXI, 530, 140. "Ibid., XXIII, 495. Watson of Nottinghamshire 25 part of the Kirkbride land to Johanna Murfen." However, Isaac did not offer the will for probate until two years later. On 1 June 1704, he entered bond for the administration of the estate, with Emmanuel Smith and Isaac De Cow as fellow bondsmen. John Abbott and William Emley completed the inventory of the estate, amounting to £90 12s. 6d. on 9 June, and on 14 June 1704, the will was proved "by the testimony of Gervas Hall who saw the testator sign the will at the house of Richard Sones in St. John's Town, Island of Antigua." 3. JOANNA WATSON, presumed eldest daughter of 1. Isaac Watson and his wife Joanna Foulke, may have been born about 1696. If so, she would have been about eighteen when she married THOMAS TINDALL, JR., of Nottingham Township, possibly late in 1714. As the eldest son of Thomas "Tyndal" and his wife Isabel of Nottingham Township, he, with his seven brothers and sisters had been baptized 7 October 1704, by the Church of England missionary to the newly chartered congregation first called St. Ann's, later St. Mary's, at Burlington. The elder Thomas had been one of the supporters of George Keith at the Yearly Meeting of Friends in Burlington in September 1692, and was among the first to bring his children to baptism after the Anglican Church was organized in Burlington.' The elder Thomas died in the fall of 1714, naming his wife and son Thomas, Jr., executors of his will. But less than a year later on 6 April 1715, Thomas, Jr. wrote his own will. In it he named his "beloved Mother" Isabel executrix, his wife Joanna, his sister Mary, wife of Joseph Pullen, sister Isabel Van Roman, and brothers William, Robert, Joseph and Isaac Tindall, and left a legacy to Robert Chapman. Witnesses were Jacob Baillergeau, Edmund Beakes and William Emley. He died immediately afterward, for the will was proved on 11 April 1715, only five days later. At the time of his death, it appears that his wife Joanna had just become pregnant, for she was delivered of a posthumous son early in 1716. Where Joanna lived after her husband's death is not known. She received no outright legacy from her father 1. Isaac under his will, only a one-fifth share of the residuary estate. When her son reached the age of fourteen in 1730, he asked the Burlington Court to appoint his mother 'D See Note 43. ID Keith, Chronicles, I, 228, cited in No 31. "Register of St. Mary's Church, Burlington, N.J.,” POSE, II, 241-242, cited 111 Note 27. Thomas Tindall may have come from Yorkshire about 16843 on 24 August of that year he bought from Cornelius Empson of Booth, Yorkshire, one-tsventy-fourth of a propriety. N/A, 1s0 Series, XXI, 443 26 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine his guardian." When her mother-in-law Isabel Tindall died in 1733, in her will she failed to mention her grandson Thomas Tindall, but did name other grandchildren." On 9 February 1736/7, one JoHN HOLDER of Burlington, millwright, and Joanna Tindall, widow, of the same place, received a license to marry." In 1749, Joanna was remembered by her brother Isaac Watson in his will, at which time she was merely called "Johanna," his sister, when he left her £20 to be paid within three years of his decease "if requested." John Holder "of Trenton Township, Hunterdon County," was deceased by 3 June 1757, when John Marsellis entered bond as administrator of the deceased who died intestate." The presumption is that Joanna had died before that date; she was not mentioned in the 1761 will of her brother William. Issue of 3. Joanna Watson by her 1st husband Thomas Tindall: THOMAS TINDALL, b. ca. 1716, since he was aged fourteen when in Burlington Court on 13 April 1730, he asked that his mother Joanna be appointed his guardian. No further positive information about him has been located, but he may have been the Thomas Tindall of Trenton, millwright, who on 13 April 1750, was surety for the bond which John Allen, Jr., husband of Joanna's sister Naomi, gave as administrator of the unadministered estate of Joseph Peace, deceased, husband of Thomas's aunt 4. Mary (Watson) Peace, who was also dead. He may also have been the Thomas Tindall who witnessed the will of Martin Scott, weaver, of Nottingham, in November 1773. No further likely records have been found." 4. MARY WATSON, presumed second daughter of I. Isaac Watson and his wife Joanna Foulke, may have been born about 1698. She was married about 1723 to JOSEPH PEACE, a miller of Trenton, who had been commissioned Coroner of Hunterclon County on 29 April 1723. Later that year, in August, acting as agent for Peter Pumme, Peace advertised for sale Pumme's two dwelling houses and one acre in Trenton 69 For abstract of Tindall's will and the petition see ibid., XXIII, 465. °° At the time of Isabel Tindall', death she was living in Windsor, Middlesex Co., near the Assunpink where her husband had property. Ibid., XXX, 345. 66 GMNJ, XVII (1942), 41, cited in Noce 56. For abstract of Holder's administration, see NJA, 1st Seri., XXXII, 1604 for Marsellis's will, ibid.. XXXV, 264. He was probably a son-in-law of John Holder, as in his will he named a son John Holder Marsellis. 68 For abstract of the Peace estate proceedings see ibid., XXX, 372; for the Scott abstract, ibid., XXXIV, 449. Thomas Tindall, uncle William Tindall had a son Thomas, b. M 1732, who appears of record doing the last half of the eighteenth century. but he was always associated in one way or another with William's family in Middlesex or Hunterdon County- Watson of Nottinghamshire 27 "near Mr. Trent's Mill." By April 1728, he and his wife Mary Watson were in Bristol across the Delaware, from which place he advertised that his father-in-law Isaac Watson's former servant man had run away from his new master, Joseph Brittain of Crosswicks. In Septemba- of that same year he purchased for £305 an undivided fourth part of two messuages in Bristol, "four water grist mills or corn mills under one roof," one saw mill and one fulling mill at a sheriff's sale. The following spring with John Sotcher and Joseph Kirkbride, they took a mort gage on 100 acres of Thomas Jones' plantation in Lower Makefield." The Peaces were back in Trenton by 1731 when "Joseph Peace of Trenton, miller," bought from the executors of George Clough, for £60 a lot in the "Burrough of Bristol" near the mill formerly of Samuel Carpenter and fronting on the north "the Street before the Mill dam." Three years later Joseph Peace was back in politics in West Jersey, commissioned 26 September 1734, a justice of the peace for Hunterdon County, and was added to a similar earlier commission for Burlington County. In 1738, with John Kinsey, the Philadelphia lawyer, he acted as executor of the estate of John Porterfield of Trenton, and later that year witnessed the will of George Snow, innkeeper of Nottingham." In the summer of 1739, he advertised he had to let "on first November next, Grist Mills at Trenton with two small Tenements adjoyning, now in the tenure of Joseph Peace." He was elected Hunterdon County's representative to the General Assembly in 1740, and served through 1742." In the spring of 1744 on 28 April, apparently in declining health, his will was drawn. In it he named his wife Mary and brother-in-law Isaac Watson executors, and directed Isaac to sell his real estate. The proceeds were to be divided into eight parts: two parts each to his wife and eldest son Joseph, and one part each to his eldest daughter Sarah, second son Isaac, and younger daughters Joanna and Deborah Peace. Less than two months later he was dead, for the will was proved 10 June 1744." O "Abstracts of New Jersey Commissions ... ," PGSP, VIII (1923), 147; American Weekly Mercury, 8 August 1723, 25 April 1725. Bucks Co. Deed Book 6, 131: 20 September 1728, Thornas Biles to Joseph Peace; ibid., 5, 303: Mortgage, 10 March 1728/9, Thomas Jones et al. to Joseph Peace et aI. " Ibid., 6, 130: 24,21 June 1731, Joseph Shaw et at. to Joseph Peue. PGSP• IX (1925), 114. For abstracts of the wills of Porterfield and Snow, see NJA, 1st Series, XXX, 383, 446. 7 .PennsyIvania Gazette, 2 August 1739. This year Peace also bought another house and lot in Bristol for £1001 see Bucks Co. Deed Book 6, 364: 1 October 1739, John Hall to Joseph Peace. Pot his service in the Assembly, see "Journal of the Governor and Council, 1738-1748," NJA, 1st Series, XV, 133-257. ii Abstract of his will is in ibid., XXX, 372. The disposition of his red estate has not been searched for oho 28 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine In the Pennsylvania Gazette for 24 March 1744/5, the following advertisement appeared: To be Sold or Lett, A Stone house in Trenton that Joseph Peace lived in, with good large stores under the said house, and an acre of land, it being situated near the mill, makes it very convenient for a store or shopkeeper. Any person inclining to purchase or rent said house and lot may apply to Thomas Potts in Mansfield, Burlington county, or to David Wright of Hanover, in said county, or John Allen, jun., of Trenton. This property may have been purchased by Mary's brother Isaac, since he left property in Trenton to his Peace nephews which had belonged to their father. On 11 September 1746, the widow Mary Peace, and WELL:Am YARD of Trenton obtained a license to marry. However, this second marriage for Mary was of short duration. Nine months later on 11 May 1747, her second husband gave bond as administrator on the estate of "Mary Yard, late Mary Peace, of Hunterdon County." Joseph Yard and Andrew Reed of Trenton were the sureties." Issue of 4. Mary Watson by her 1st husband Joseph Peace: i. SARAH PEACE, b. ca. 1724; d. 21 8m (October) 1810, ae. 86 in Philadelphia; m. by New Jersey license dated 5 September 1745, VOICALL VoisaLL) CHUBB, merchant of Philadelphia, who was in business in 1742 "at Reese Meredith's on Carpenters Wharf." " Voicall Chubb d. 8 July 1748, as noted in Philadelphia Monthly Meeting records; his widow continued to live in Philadelphia and in 1753 was in the house of Margaret Clymer, corner of Front and Mulberry, when it was surveyed for insurance purposes. Two years later she and Joseph Saunders, administrators of her husband's estate, petitioned the Philadelphia orphans court for examiners of their accounting, and to appoint Reese Meredith guardian of her only surviving child.. By 1758 she was in Trenton where in the spring she conveyed to trustees a tract of ground belonging to her father in Trenton at the west end of Front Street on which barracks were to be built under an act of the New Jersey Assembly. In October of the same year she gave bond as administratrix of the remaining unadministered estate of her father Joseph Peace. At some future date she returned to Philadelphia and in 1790 was living alone in the Northern Liberties?. Issue: 1. RICHARD CHUBB, b. xxn, 462; XXX, 555, 24 Sarah's death is noted in the tranuribed rmords of Northern District Momhly Meeting is, GSP; her marriage is in GMNJ, XX (1945), 94, and NJA, 1s0 Series, XXII, 509. Pennsylvania Gazette, 3 June 1742. 2 0 Philadelphia Contributionship Surveys, #169, #170. Records of the Orphans Court of Philadelphia, 1716-1755, #256, 359-360, in GSP. The accounting showed that Chubb had had business dealings with Daniel Smith of Bermuda, George Rock of Maryland and others, and had g share in "an adventure to Antigua, consigned to John Jourdm," and an "adventure to William Meredith of Virginia." 70 Edward R. walker, "The Old Barracks, Trenton, N.J.," PMI113, XXXVI (1912), 192. Heads of Familia at the First Count . ..1790. Pennsylvania (Washington, D.C., 191781, ROL Watson of Nottinghamshire 29 1746; d. "lately in the Pennsylvania Hospital" in Philadelphia, where he had lived for nearly 20 years, according to Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser of 21 July 1796. At the Philadelphia Orphans Court session of March 1755, he was aged 9 years when Reese Meredith was appointed his guardian. On 30 12m (December) 1768, he was received on request into membership in the Philadelphia Meeting. He obtained a warrant for 300 acres in Northumberland County on 21 November 1772, and another for the same amount in Bedford County on 3 August 1773. The next year he was rated as a single man in Dock Ward." 2. Wpm. CHUBB, b. ca. 1748; d. 24 10m (December) 1750, as noted in Philadelphia Monthly Meeting records. is. JOSEPH PEACE, b. perhaps ca. 1726, was living in 1744 when he was named in his father's will, and in 1749 when he was also named in the will of his uncle Isaac Watson. On 10 February 1758, he was named in an accounting of his father's estate as having been boarded and schooled, with his brother Isaac, by Joseph Woodward. No further record. JOANNA PEACE, b. ca. 1728; d. in Philadelphia 30 October 1 8 1 6, see. "near 89;" bur. Philadelphia Friends burying ground; m. at Christ Church, Philadelphia, 31 August 1754, JOHN AUSTIN who may have been the son of Edward and Elenor Austin and was bapt. at Christ Church 30 July 1732, aged 11 days. One John Austin in 1749 signed a paper for the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting acknowledging his breach of discipline in marriage; again in 1755 a John Austin was noted in the Meeting records as having "lately married to a Person not of our Society," but it is not known if either of these men was the husband of Joanna Peace. No record of his death has been found, but Joanna was listed in Philadelphia City Directories from 1797 to 1817 as shopkeeper and widow, living at 18 and 48 Vine Street. No further record. iv. DEBORAH PEACE, b. perhaps ca. 1730, was named in the 1744 will of her father, and was present at the marriage in Bucks County at Falls Meeting House on 23 I 1m (November) 1756, of Thomas Barnes, Jr., and Hannah Sykes. She also 'witnessed the bond which her eldest sister Sarah (Peace) Chubb gave on 9 October 1758, on the unadministered estate of their father Joseph Peace. No further record. v. ISAAC PEACE, b. ca. 1739; d. 25 December 1818, "in his 80th year, at his residence in Bristol, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a native of Trenton, N.J., and formerly a highly respected merchant" of Charleston, South Carolina.Ia. He had removed to Charleston by 1769, but it was in Barbados, British West Indies, that he m. on 31 June 1770, ELIZABETH GIBSON, a The newspaper account of Richard Chubb's death gave his age incorrectly as 48 years, and that he died "suddenly by eating a large quantity of cherries." Whether he was an inmate, or an attendant at the hospital is not known. Hinshaw, II, 346, cited in Note 26. Pennsylvania Archives, 3rd Series, XXV, 94, 476; ibid., XIV, 244"The death notice of Isaac Peace was published in The City Gazette of Charlston 6 January 1819, and was repneted ha the South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine (SCHGM), XLV (1944), 193, and also in Poulson's American Daily Advertiser of 28 December 1818. This corrects the erroneous statement in Henry G. Ashmead, History of Delaware County (Philadelphia, 1884), 699, whereM it is stated in rs account of his grandson, Dr. Edward Peace, that Isaac emigrated from England to Barbadosl 30 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine mernber of the Society of Friends, who d. in Charleston 30 November 1800. The 1790 Census of St. Phillips and St. Michael's Parish, Charleston District, South Carolina, listed Isaac as head of a family which included, beside himself, one male under 16, 4 females, and 9 slaves. 79 On 20 March 1807, Isaac Peace "now of the City of Burlington," purchased for $3000 a messuage and lot in the Borough of Bristol at the corner of Cedar and Mill Street, fronting the Mill Creek. He was living here when his will was drawn 4 August 1812. In it he left property to his daughter Mary Hazard, wife of Rowland Hazard, son Joseph Peace, and daughter Rebecca, wife of Dr. Nathan William Cole, and to his sister Joanna Austin. 1-lis three children were named executors. The will was proved in Philadelphia 23 January 1819." Surviving issue. 1. JOSEPH PEACE, b. in Barbados, 1 May 1771; d. testate in Philadelphia 31 March 1826; bur. Friends burying ground; m. in Charleston 5 July 1796, ANNE MARIA Rumxxxx, dau. of William Rudhall and his wife Mary Miller Meyer; d. testate in Warrenton, Va., 27 November 1858, while visiting a daughter. He was an attorney, removing to Philadelphia about the same time as his father, but had purchased property on South Sixth Street near Walnut in 1804..• 2. MARY PEACE, d. 28 June 1852, in Peacedale, R.I.; m. ca. December 1793, ROWLAND HAZARD, b. 4 4m (April) 1763, son of Thomas Hazard and his wife Elizabeth Robinson of Kingston, R.I.; d. Pleasant Valley, N.Y., 1 July 1835. They were living in Burlington in 1807, and later removed to Bristol for a time." 3. REBECCA PEACE, b. Charleston 22 August 1781; d. Burlington 13 August 1851; m. at St. Mary's Church, Burlington, 25 March 1807, NATHAN WILLIAM COLE, M.D., b. 14 December 1771; d. 18 July 1848, both bur. St. Mary's Churchyard, Burlington." ...Isaac's marriage is given in Ashrnead, 699, cited above. His wife's death is reported in The City Gazette of Charleston, 1 December 1800, reprinted in SCHGM, XXVI (1925), 232. "Charleston Merchants in the Negro Slave Trade," ibid., I.XV (1964), 209, lism Isaac as having paid duty of £912 10s. on two cargoes of slaves between 1769 - 1773. 50 Bucks Co. Deed Book 37, 257: 20 March 1807, Joseph Stackhouse to Isaac Peace. Philadelphia Will Book 6, 628, #00,1819. 81 Joseph Peace's birth is in Ashmead, 699, cited above. His marriage Is in A. S. Salley, Jr., Marnage Notices in the South Carolina Gazette, 1732-1801 (Albany, N.Y., 1902), 93, but of. the entry in the transcript of the Registers of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia in GSP, where his childrens' births are entered, and SCHGM, XXXIII (1932), 34. His will is recorded in Philadelphia Will Book 8, 572, #67:1826, his wife's in Will Book 41, 106, #415: 1858. The date of his death is given as 30 March 1826 "in his 55th year," ;t1 Pon/sons American Daily Advertiser of 3 April 1826, but of. data in the brief of title to his city property is GSP, Gen Z-XXVII, 121.145, where ha widow's death and the births of their children are also given. For his city property see Philadelphia Deed Book EF-I8, 336: 24 December 1804, Robert Annesley to Joseph P.cc. le MO he purchased a dwelling 2nd 6 acres fronting the Delaware in Bristol, for which see Bucks Co. Deed Book 39, 389: 31 August 1810, John Baldwin to Joseph Peace, 2nd GSP, Gen Z-XXX, 200 for its partition among his children. ...See Caroline E. Robinson, Hazard Family of Rhode Island (Boston, 1895), 77, for thk family (#363) and their descendants. ...For their dates see "Graveshanm in St. Mary's Churchyard, Burlington," in John E. Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany (New York, 1903), II, 146, and PGSP, II, 289, cited in Note 61- Watson of Nottinghamshire 31 5. SARAH WATSON, born 7 September 1705, daughter of 1. Isaac Watson and his wife Joanna Foulke, was not married when her father's will was drawn, but in it was given a tract of land on the creek — probably the Assunpink — "betwixt the Land of Isaac Still and the Land of Rich Hasfield in the Eastern Devission." By New Jersey license dated 10 June 1732, she was married to THOMAS BARNES, JR., born 26 March 1699, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Barnes of Trenton. The elder Barnes appears to have kept an inn in Nottingham Township for a time, but when he died in 1740 he was of Trenton, and willed to his son Thomas one-half of a house and lot "formerly of Jeptha Smith in Trenton," the other half going to his younger son John." On 6 April 1741, Thomas Barnes, Jr. helped to inventory the estate of his deceased brother-in-law Elias Ring of Hopewell Township, the husband of Sarah's sister 6. Deborah Watson. Four years later on 12 May 1745, with her sister 3. Mary Peace, he was a creditor of the estate of Jane Atlee, widow of William Atlee of Trenton." In 1756 he was present at the marriage of his son Thomas, now called "Junior," at Falls Meeting House in Bucks County, along with his own sister Rachel (Barnes) Hooton and her husband Thomas, and his relatives by marriage: Sarah Chubb, Joanna Austin and Deborah Peace. Two years later, as Thomas Barnes, Sr., he was named one of the executors by his brother-in-law, Thomas Hooton, in his will." At some time during the next twenty years Sarah and Thomas Barnes removed to Falls Township across the river in Bucks County. He was rated in that township in 1776 on 192 acres, 4 horses, 13 cattle and 28 sheep." He styled himself a yeoman of Falls Township when he had Burhngton Book of Marriage Bonds, 1727-1734, 220, New Jersey State Library, Trenton; see also GMNJ, XVI (1941), 20, See the administration of Andrew Moore of Burgngton ho NIA, 1st Series, XXX, 342, and abstract of Thomas Barnes will in ibid., 37. 80 Abstract of Elias Ririg's will is in ibid., 400; estate of Jane Ade, in ibid., 26. 001, the Vineland Historical Magazine (VHM), X.111 (1928), 78, is a full transcript of the marriage certificate of Thomas Barnes, Jr., including the witness,, who signed it. Abstract of Hooton's will, dated 27 May 1757, and proved 14 March 1758, 1 ho NIA, 1st Series, XXXII, of 87 Pennsylvania Provincial Tax, Bucks County, Hu 2.1A, GSR There are no deeds on record indicating the elder Barnes purchased land in Bucks County, but in 1755, his son Thomas appears to have bought 87 acres in Falls Township. Possibly the purchase money came from the father, with the understanding he might live there as long as he pleased. The purchase on 4 March 1755, Samuel Burgess to Thomas Barnes, is recited in Bucks Co. Deed Book 28, 3560 16 March 1796, Thomas Barnes to William Jackson, Esq. The elder Barnes probably was he who, wah his younger brother John, was among those who signed a petition in 1757 for the erection of barracks in Trenton. PM110, XXXVI, 189, cited M Note 76. it iS also claimed that Thomas Barn., Sr., son of Thomas and Elabeth Barnes, was a vestryman of St. Michael's Church in Trenton from 1763 to 1774, and that he was a druggist. See Hamilton Schuyler, A History of 51 . Mfrho ,,, N.J., 1926), 881 the claim n unsupported by evidence. 32 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine his will drawn on 16 December 1778, was rated there in 1779 on 110 acres, 7 horses and 18 cattle, and in 1781 on 130 acres, 7 horses and 9 cattle. The next year they had returned to Trenton, apparently, for the tax assessor rated "Thomas Barnes' estate" in Falls Township as including 350 acres, 8 horses and 8 cattle. He died "ye 9 month, e h, called September" 1783, aged "eighty-four years, five months, eleven days," and was "Buried in ye friends burying ground."" His will, written back in 1778, was proved in Burlington 31 October 1783. In it he directed that all his estate was to go to his wife Sarah and daughters Mary and Sarah so long as his wife lived. After her death his sons John and Isaac were to have the money due from John Rogers for a plantation Thomas had sold him. His son Thomas Barnes, Jr., was to have £20, and a bond of £100, which stood against his son Isaac Barnes and Joseph Smith of St. Croix, was to be given up to said son Isaac. He was also to have a meadow on the Maidenhead road "about a half mile from Trenton." The house in Trenton "where I formerly lived" — that is, before he had moved to Falls Township — was to go to his sons John and Isaac after the death of his two daughters. To Thomas, Jr.'s three sons, Thomas, Samuel and Isaac Barnes, he left £10 each. The rest of the estate was to go to his own daughters whom he named co-executors with his wife and two sons John and Isaac." His widow 5. Sarah (Watson) Barnes survived him less than a year, dying "2nd month 27" called February, 1784. Aged seventy-eight years, seven months, twenty days. Buried in ye friends burying ground." Issue of 5. Sarah Watson by her husband Thomas Barnes: i. THOMAS BARNES, JR., b. c.o. 1733; d. 5m (May) 1806, ae. 73 yrs.; m. at Falls Meeting, Bucks Co., 23 1 lm (November) 1756, HANNAH SYKES, b. ca. 1738, dau. of Samuel Sykes of Falls Twp.; d. intestate 19 lm (January) 1814, ae. 76 yrs.'. In addition to the 87 acres bought in his name from Samuel Burgess in Falls Twp., noted above, on 20 December, 1763, he bought a plantation and 100 acres in Falls from Joseph Hough, which 88 Peroxsylvonia Archives, 3rd Seri., XITI, 19,126,279. His birth and death, and the death of his wife are from the Bible record transcribed in VHM, VIII (1923), 115, which alm gives the record of his father's children. 88 An abstract of his will is in NIA, XXXV, 33; it is recorded in Lib,, 29, 553, New Jersey State Library, Trenton. 80 Their deaths are recorded in Falls Monthly Meeting records, as per transcripts in GOP. Photostatic copies of Falls Minutes also in GOP, show that Thomas, Jr. was granted a certificate to Chmerfield Meeting "in the Jerseys" on 3 On (April) 1754, and was received back from Chesterfield 7 4m 1756, just six months before he announced his intentions of marriage. He represented Falls Preparative Meeting at Falls Monthly Meeting from 2 10m (October) 1771, through I 11, (November) 1775, and was on the committee appointed to see to the enlarging of the meeting boost,,, Falls and Middletown in 1788. A tran script of their marriage record is in VIM. XIII, 78, cited in Note 86. Watson of Nottinghamshire 33 he sold to Samuel Brown for £720 in 1781. In 1786 he was one of the trustees of the half-acre lot in Falls Township intended for a school and meeting house to be known as the Union Meeting.. Known issue, named in their grandfather's will: 1. THOMAS BARNES, b. 16 6m (June) 1763; d. 19 8m (August) 1823, in 61st yr.; m at the Bank Meeting in Philadelphia 16 5m 1786, LYDIA TOMKINS, b. 5 lm (January) 1766; d. 2 3m (March) 1837 in 72nd yr.. 2. SAMUEL BARNES received a certificate of removal from Falls Meeting dated 6 9m (September) 1786, directed to Northern District Monthly Meeting in Philadelphia. No further record. 3. ISAAC BARNES, JR., On certificate from Falls to Philadelphia Meeting, dated 7 3m (March) 1787, was placed apprentice to Joseph Budd, hatter; m. MARY HENRY, who d. testate in Trenton 18 July 1801, ae. 21 yrs. 3 mos. 1d; bur. in Sr. Michael's churchyard, Trenton. He may have d. testate in Trenton in 1848. 00 ii. MARY BARNES, b. Ca. 1738, witnessed in 1758 the bond Sarah Chubb gave on the unadministered estate of Joseph Peace, and on 20 January 1780, witnessed the marriage in Falls Township of her brother Isaac Barnes and Martha Brown. She and her sister Sarah Barnes advertised in the New Jersey Gazette of Trenton on 1 August 1781, that they had "at the house of Thomas Barnn nearly opposite the Printing Office in Trenton" drugs and medicines "which they will sell at Philadelphia prices, for ready money." They also had for sale "painted silks and gauzes, china, sewing silks, thread, needles, orris of different kinds, brass furniture for carriages, and sundry other articles." She was an executor of the will, dated 29 March and proved 27 April 1807, of her aunt by marriage, Mary Barnes, widow of John Barnes, a Loyalist in the Revolution who had died of wounds in 1777. She may be the Mary Barnes who d. testate in 1822.. iii. SARAH BARNES, b. perhaps ca. 1737, like her sister Mary, was at the marriage of her brother Isaac and Martha Brown on 20 January 1780, and joined with her sister in advertising shop goods the following year. She may have been the Sarah Barnes who was among the witnesses at the marriage of her nephew Thomas Barnes, Jr. and Lydia Tomkins in 17869. No further record. iv. JOHN BARNES, JR., b. perhaps ca. 1739, witnessed the will of his uncle by marriage, Thomas Hooton, in 1757, and was at the marriage in 1780 of his 9 I13,1elt: Co. Deed Book 20, 70: I 4m (Apri)) 1781, Thomas Barnes, Jr. to Samuel Brown. He reuived cost 5s. for the 87 acres sold in 1796 to William Jackson, cited in Note 87. 98 Their dates and issue are given in the second Bible record published in VIM, VIII, 115. The Digest of the Northern District Monthly Meeting Marriage Records in GSP shows that his parents, either his grandmother or Ms aunt, Sarah Barnes, hIs brothers Samuel and Isaac Barnes, Jr., and a Joseph Barnes who has not been identified, were witnesses. 93 For the abstract of the will of Mary (Henry) Barnes, see 1ST) A, 1st Series, X}CKIX, 29. Isaac Barnes' will is Mercer Co. will 440-K, New Jersey State Library; it has not been examined for this mord. 93 The advertisement is reprinted in NJA, god Series, V, 229. An abstract of the will of Mary Barnes, widow of John is in ibid., 1st Ser;es, XL, 22. The 5122 will of Mary Barnes, Hunterdon Co. will 3172-3, has not been examined for this record. 98 nay is an 1836 inventory filed for a Sarah Barnes (Hunterdon Co. File 42874), not examined for this record. Sarah would have been nearly 150 years old, and not likely to have an estate at that advanced 91:9, 34 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine brother Isaac Barnes and Martha Brown. He may have been the John Barnes who d. intestate in 1794.. 0 v. ISAAC BARNES, b. perhaps ca. 1741; m. when he was "of Trenton," 20 January 1780, MARTHA BROWN, b. 19 1m (December) 1753, dau. of George Brown and Elizabeth Field of Falls Meeting. Martha Barnes, formerly Brown, was disowned by Falls Meeting the following summer for marriage with one not in unity with Friends.. Between 1785 and 1800 he inventoried three estates of Trenton decedants; witnessed two wills; was a fellow bondsman for the administrators of two Trenton estates, and was the administrator of one estate.. Neither the date of his or of his wife's death has been found. 6. DEBORAH WATSON, daughter of 1. Isaac Watson and his wife Joanna Foulke, was born after 1708, since she was not yet eighteen when her father's will was drawn in 1726. In it he left her the land in Not. tingham Township "surveyed for 40 acres" — probably that which had been surveyed for him back in 1695. She married, probably after 1730, ELIAS RING, presumed youngest son of Nathaniel Ring of Bradford Township, Chester County, and his wife Elizabeth. The father had died in 1713, and his widow had subsequently married George Strode. Elias, born perhaps about 1708, was rated as a single man in Bradford Township in 1729 and 1730 only, and is presumed to have removed to West Jersey." After marriage, Elias and Deborah Ring settled in Hopewell Township, Hunterdon County, where he died in the spring of 1741. In his will, written 15 February 1740/1 when he was "Very Sick & Weak in body," he left to his "beloved Wife y` Rail & personal Estate Eather to Sell or to Keep it in her own hands," but she was to bring up the children out of the estate, "the Boy Untell he is to y' Age of twenty one years & y5 Girl untell She Comes toy' Age of Eighteen Years." Nathaniel, his son, was then to receive £60, and his daughter Deborah £40. If they ■ 96 For abstract of Thomas Hoaton's will see NIA, 1st Set es, XXX1I , 163. The 1794 int.tate record, Hunterdon Co. File 1622.1, has not been examined for this record. 9 ° Their marriage, which followed Friends' form, was recorded in Bucks Co. Dud Book 29, 180, and included the signatures of the witnesses, as mentioned in the foregoing text. bier disownment can be followed in the copi. of Falls Monthly Meeting Minutes from 3 frn (May) through 6 9m (September) 1780, cited in Note 90. See also the will of George Brown, in which his daughter Martha Barites is named, in Books Co. Will Book 4, 327. See NJA, lss Serks, XXXV, XXXVL XXXVIII, bush's for these. After 1800 he may also have acted in similar capacities, but the advent of his nephew Isaac Barnes, Jr., in Trenton, mak,, positive identification difficult, and has not been pursued for this record. 053 Smith Futhey and Gilbert Cope, History of Chester County . . . . (Philadelphia, 1881), 712 gives a brief sketch of she Ring family. Transcripts of Chester Co. tax lists in GSP show Elias in Brad. ford Township. Watson of Nottinghamshire 35 died under age the residue of the estate was to go to his wife, whom he named sole executor."' He was deceased by 6 April 1741, when Thomas Barnes, Deborah's brother-in-law, who had witnessed the will, Reuben Armitage, and John Hart, Jr., inventoried his goods and chattels. Bonds and bills outstanding due the estate came to £167, cash and plate £17. "Wheat in the Mill," valued at £30, may have indicated he was a miller by trade, and he had a Negro slave valued at £35. Household goods included beds and furniture, sheets and napkins, linen, a chest of drawers and press, looking glass, another chest, six chairs and oval table, a table settle, pewter plates and dishes, ironware, earthen and china ware, the inevitable spinning wheels, a side saddle for Deborah, but no horse, a cow, seven hogs, and sundry kinds of poultry. There was also "Salt in Vessels," beef and bacon, and "Melasses in Cask." The total value was £371 The next day, 7 April 1741, Thomas Barnes and Joseph Overton travelled to Trenton to attest Elias Ring's signature to the will, Overton by affirmation, but Thomas Barnes by swearing. On the thirteenth, John Allen, husband of Deborah's sister Naomi, as the third witness, appeared at Trenton and swore to the signature, but it was not until 27 April that Deborah Ring appeared before the surrogate at Burlington, and there affirmed that she would "well and truly perform" the duties of executrix. No further record of Deborah Ring has been found. She may have married again, but probably was deceased by 1749. In that year, when her brother Isaac drew his will, he left to "Deborah the Daughter of Elias Ring, Deed" a lot in Trenton. If she died "before she comes to Age," then "her Two Sisters in Law [step-sisters?] enjoy it, Martha SE Mary." "' Since Isaac Watson left money to his sisters Joanna, Sarah and Naomi, and did not mention Deborah, the presumption is that she was deceased. Issue of 6. Deborah Watson by her husband Elias Ring: i. NATHANIEL RING, named in his father's will, but not in that of his Uncle Isaac Watson, and was probably deceased by 1749. DEBORAH RING, named in her father's will, in 1749 was left a lot in Trenton "bounded by Joseph Clayton & John Ozburn" by her Uncle Isaac Watson. No further record. no Xerox copy of will and 'Inventory of Elias Ring, Hunterdon Co. File 1514, furnished by New Jersey State library, Trenton; abstract in NJA, 1st Series, XXX, 400M For Isaac Watson's will see Note 54. 36 The Pennsylvania GenealOgical Magazine 7. JOHN- WATSON, born about 1717, the youngest son of 1. Isaac Watson and his wife Joanna Foulke, was under age when his father died in 1727, leaving him in his will the Drayton House-Pharo plantation which Isaac had acquired from his father William in 1709.'° His mother Joanna was still living at the home farm with her son 1. Isaac, when John came of full age about 1738, and he may have moved to the Drayton House farm when he married shortly thereafter. His wife's name is not known; she is not named in any conveyance he recorded, and presumably was deceased by 1764, the date of his first recorded sale."' On the death of his brother Isaac Watson in 1749, John inherited all Isaac's land in Nottingham; he and his mother Joanna, "being of the people called Quakers," acted as co-executors of Isaac's will."' Now the owner of considerable property, in 1754 he and his neighbor Elijah Bond had "a parcel of land or flatts" along the Delaware fronting their plantations resurveyed. The tract actually was an island containing 90 acres. That same year, and again in 1756, 1757 and 1759 John served as collector for Nottingham Township."' In 1761 he bought for E104 from Benjamin Biles "of Trenton Township, Hunterdon County," 52 acres adjoining his own property on the northeast. The next year he was executor of his brother William's will."' In the course of settling that estate, he apparently found the little commonplace book his grandfather William had begun a century before, and decided to use the blank pages for memoranda relating to William's estate. The first entry he made in the book was dated 22 December 1764. He noted that he had left in the hands of Joseph De Cow, to whom his brother apparently had been indebted, receipts from Isaac Quigley, Benjamin Thorn, Doctor Norton, Moore Furman and William Beaks. On 26 December he left with Dr. Moore Furman additional accounts, including those of Thomas Williams, of Elizabeth Coleman "& Her Daughter Jane," Terence Quigley, William Yard, and of his own son "John 100 5 Note 37. 503 Burlington Co. Deed Book AE, 543: 10 June 1764, Indenture between John Watson .2 4. and heirs of Richard Salter, in N.J. State Library. John's wife's name might have been Abigail: her only daughter was so-named, and he had at least one granddaughter, Abigail Cobb, who bore the name. i45 Note 54. 100 John's mother Joanna may have died during Me 1750's, and he may have returned to the stone house built by his father. West Jersey Proprietors Records, Soak 5-6, 207, surveyed 11 January and inspected and approved the following 9 April 1754. "Nottingham Town Book," 38, 44, 124, 131, c;ted in Note 34. 106 Rmlington Co. Dad Book AS, 65: 11 August 1761, Benjamin Bib,, to John Watson, in N.J. State Livery. See Note fl for William Watson's .All. Watson of Nottinghamshire 37 Watson Jun' for three & Six pence." At the same time he noted that he paid Joseph Read "for Coppy of an Inventory of Wm. Watsons Taken Dec. 21 1762." On 9 January 1765, "Jn° Watson paid Thomas More two shillings & Six pence towards the Support of the Quaker Meeting in trenton;" this was the same meeting to which his brother Isaac had left 0 in his will. Seven months later on 31 August, he made a final entry in the commonplace book, noting that he had "then Seal' the account of William Watson with Jos. De Cow" and that "there Remains Due to the Deceased on Ballance 33£ 6 - 11." In the spring of 1767 he sold to his eldest son 8. John Watson, Jr., for 00 all his right in the "Fishing Island" and flats which he had taken up with Elijah Bond, and in the following years had several additional parcels of flats and meadows surveyed."' Rated in 1773 on 500 acres and 22 cattle, the next year he began disposing of his land to his two eldest sons, both of whom were married. In June he conveyed to his son John "for love and affection" 230 acres of "Upland" in Nottingham, and a small island on the west side of the mouth of Watson's Creek, "formerly called Wood Island, now known as Watson's island." The following August he added a tract of meadow to his gift. This parcel down on the flats began "at Watson's Creek at the upper end of the English meadow and extended northeast along the Hedge which crosses the upper end of said meadow," thence southeast to "Muckey Meadow Creek," from thence down to the Delaware River to the mouth of Watson's Creek, and then up the creek to the point of beginning.' The next day he deeded to his son William, also for "love and affection," 254 acres of upland, southeast of and adjoining that deeded to John, Jr. Having transferred these tracts to his eldest sons, he appears to have moved from his father's dwelling, presumably the stone house built by 1. Isaac in 1708, to another house on his land and made his home with his younger sons Joseph and Isaac Watson. Then in July, 1775, perhaps to assure them he would also provide for them while he was still of sound mind and memory, he had his will drawn."' 102 Burlington Co. Deed Book AP, 156: 3 April 1767, John Watson to John Watson, Jr., N.J. State Library. W. Jersey Proprieton Records, Book P, 140, 72 acres surveyed 5 5m 1773; ibid., Q, 15, 34 acres surveyed 3 October 1774; ibid., Q, 16, 42 acres surveyed 8 October 1774. GMNJ, XXXVII (1962), 76. Burlington Co. Deed Book AS, 68: 21 June 1774, John Watson to John Watson, Jr., and AS, 714 10 August 1774, John Watson to John Watson, Jr., N.J. State Unary. 105 Mt. Holly Deed Book G, 172: 11 August 1774: John Watson to William Watson. The conveyances to John and William Watson included the original Scott plantation sold to their great-uncle John in 1699, and which 7. John Watson had inherited from his brother Isaac on the latter's death. See the resurvey in West Jersey Propneton Records, Book M-2, 185, cited in Note 45, Burlington Co. Will 10841-C, dated 8 July 1775, recorded in Law, 35, 410. 38 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine To John he left the plantation where he had "lately lived, adjoyning Watson's Creek and the plantation of Samuel Meredith, Esq.," except for "that part disposed of to son Joseph." In consideration of this bequest, John was to pay his brother Isaac £200 at the rate of £10 per year. To Joseph he gave the plantation where he now lived, "lying below the Great Road from Trenton to Crosswicks" (Broad Street), and was bounded on the south and west by John's land, north by William's land, and east by other land of Joseph, "being a part of the land known by the name of Rye Nole or Wheat Nole." Joseph was also to have 70 acres which John had lately had surveyed, and all his moveable estate. In addition, Joseph was to pay to his sister Naomi Lobb £50 at the rate of £5 a year. Naomi was to have 50 acres he had purchased from Benjamin Biles back in 1761, it being the land where she and her husband were then living. After her decease, the land was to be sold and the proceeds divided among her children. He appointed his sons John and Joseph his executors. Although John had sold about 500 acres to his sons, he still had 270 acres on which he was rated in 1779, and in 1780 was rated on 200 acres." That year his son John Jr., noted in the commonplace book that "My father John Watson died April the 9th 1780 Aged 63 years." His will, however, was not offered for probate until 19 February 1782, apparently because of difficulty in settling the estate in the troubled times. Issue of 7. John Watson: m 8. i. JOHN WATSON, JR., b. ca. 1740, of whom further. WILLIAM WATSON m. perhaps about 1771, SARAH OALDON at Sr. Michael's Church, Trenton."° He is first noted in the commonplace book when his brother 8. John wrote on 27 December 1769, that William had agreed to winter two calves for Samuel Henry. In March 1771, his brother noted that William was innoculated for smallpox, and then on the following 26 October, that he and William had agreed henceforth to find all necessaries for themselves. On 4 November of the same year John noted that Patience Davis had left off working for him and gone to work for William; obviously the two men were now maintaining separate households. William was rated as a householder with no land in 1774, but on 11 August of that year his father deeded to him 254 acres, as noted above, and in 1779 and 1780 he was rated on 250 acres, two horses, 3 cattle and a hog... 8 Sometime during the 1780's (he was not rated in Nottingham in 1795) William ." Original assessment lists, N.J. State Unary, Trenton, examined on Elm. The order of their births is uncertain for lack of birds dates. 132 History of St. Michael's Church, 387, cited in Note 87. The exact date of the marriage is not given. U. GMAT), XXXVII, 76, and original Len in the N.J. State Library, Trenton. Watson of Nottinghamshire 39 and his wife Sarah removed to Bucks County, and as residents there on 22 February 1800, conveyed the 254 acres his father had given him to John Abbott for £1750. No further record has been searched for him for this account. "' 9. iii. NAOMI WATSON, probably the eldest daughter of 7. John Watson, of whom further. iv. ABIGAIL WATSON, presumed younger daughter of 7. John Watson, was a legatee under the 1761 will of her uncle William Watson, though not named, and presumably received a share of the furniture he had devised to his brother's daughters. She was first noted in the commonplace book on 8 December 1770, when her brother 8. John wrote that she had "come home from Trenton to go to Trade." Four days later on 10 December he noted that she went to Bordentown "to trade to Mr. Stevenson." Seven months later on 16 August 1771, he wrote that she "went to Darby from Mr. Stevensons." As she was not mentioned in her father's will in 1775, she was probably deceased. v. ISAAC WATSON, with his elder brother William was innoculated for the smallpox 16 March 1771, as noted in the commonplace book by 8. John. He next noted that Isaac, in May, 1771, paid Buckley and Chambers 10 shillings for "mending the sails" of the family's wood barge, and later that month, with Richard Job, took 10 cord of wood to town. He was not rated in 1774, but was rated as a single man in 1779 in Nottingham. His father left him £200 to be paid by his brother 8. Jo1m at the rate of £10 a year, but Isaac was not rated in 1780, and no further record of laim has been found. vi. JOSEPH WATSON, with whom his father lived in the closing years of his life, was not rated in Nottingham in 1774, but was fisted as a single man in 1779 and 1780. On his father's death that year he inherited the plantation adjoining his brother William's where he and his father had been living, and all the moveables of his father's estate. That same year, his brother 8. John noted in the commonplace book that he and his brothers William and Joseph had agreed regarding the expenses of "puting Down a New pair of flood Gates in Muckey Meadow Creek & Making up all the Banks compleat to prevent the Tide over flowing their meadow;" Joseph was to pay one quarter of the cost, William one-sixth and John seven-twelfths. Joseph m. before 1789, MARY, whose surname has not been found. On 1 April of that year he and she conveyed to Samuel Abbott for £2000 current gold and silver money, 194 acres adjoining his brother William's property to the southeast, and extending to Muckey Meadow Creek. Na further certain record."' 8. JOHN WATSON, JR., born about 1740, was the eldest child of it Mt. Holly Deed Book 0,259. In this deed William's residence is gives only as Bucks County, with no township indicated. its Hs. Holly Dmd Book X, 592. The deed gives no recital of tide, but its location is evident from the metes and bounds of 7. John's deed in 1774 to his SOU William. Later tax lists show a Joseph '371mon rated in Nottingham in 1795 on 247 acres; in 1796, rated ma house and lot in Treason, 2nd in 1797 as being between the ages of Is and 45. These records, however, may refer to the son of 8. John. 40 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine 7. John Watson, Sr. He first appears of record in 1767 when he bought from his father for £10, the latter's rights in the "Fishing Island" which 7. John had taken up with Elijah Bond. Sometime prior to this he had married one RUTH whose surname has not been found; three days after 8. John's purchase from his father, John Jr. and "Ruth his wife" conveyed the rights to Samuel Meredith for £85."6 Some time after this sale, 8. John appropriated the little commonplace book in which he began to enter miscellaneous records. His first entries began late in 1769: in early December, for instance, he noted that he took four and a half pounds of wool and yarn to the Widow Fenimore to spin and knit. Later that month he paid Mary Ellet £8 6s. 6d. in full for his father's note for £7, dated 7 May 1767. Two days later he went to Burlington to the West Jersey Proprietors' office to search for a survey for John and Thomas Wood, "dated before 1680," and for a deed from them to George Hutcheson between 1680 and 1685. Early in 1770 he noted that Mary Davis and then Hannah Craven worked for him for brief periods, and that he hired Richard Job to work for a month for thirty shillings. On 2 May he "took to line my father's Coat Body Sleeves and all," and would use three and a half yards of material for it. On 14 May he bought for £80 a wood boat, called Endeavour, from Peter Lawrence; it needed repairs and that summer a barrel of tar, fifteen pounds of "Spanish Brown" and thirty pounds of oakum were purchased. During this period he employed at various times Jacob Link, Moses Wood, Daniel Marrin and Andrew Oliver. At the end of August Mary Wilgoes, whom he had hired for a month, got sick and went home, and on the following 3 September Ruth Biles came to work. In November Mary Rutherford sent her mare to winter on the Watson pasture until 1 May, paying fifty shillings for the privilege. That month he laid out a garden 142 by 233 links, and paid the Negroes Toby and Nero fifteen shillings for cutting wood. While there is no evidence in the commonplace book, or elsewhere, for that matter, the inference seems to be that his first wife Ruth died about this time, for on 23 April 1771, he obtained a license to marry RUTH BILES who had worked for him the previous fall. Born about 1747, her parentage is not known, but it is possible that she was related in some degree to the children of the John Biles who had married in 1707 Mary Lambert.' 110 S. Note 107 end Burlington Co. Deed Book Al', 157: 6 April 1767, John Watson, Jr. and Ruth ho wife to SAnuel Meredith, N.J. State Ithrary. III John Biles and Mary Lambert had a daughter Roth, b. in 1712, and sons Samuel, Thomas, John and Lambert Si!,,, according to the records of Falls Monthly Meeting in Bucks County. The Ruth who m. 0 John Vinson was probably thy same person who had some to work for him the year before, Watson of Nottinghamshire 41 After their marriage, 8. John noted in the commonplace book that Rachel Quigley, who had been working for him, went home, and that Mary Scott came to take her place. In August Rachel Biles (a sister of his wife?) came to spin, and in the fall he hired Sarah Nolan to work at three shillings and sixpence per week. Later Patience Davis came to work for four shillings a week. Up to this time his brother William appears to have been living with them, but on 26 October 1771, they agreed to separate and Patience Davis left to work for William. She was replaced by Rachel Biles, the spinster. In December, with the frost, he noted that he "hang'd 19 pieces of Beef to Smoak for Self, 15 Gammons" — the lower end of a side of bacon —"9 Midlings, 11 shoulders and 7 jaws." The next year, 1772, in March he noted that Thomas Thompson had a bushel of rye "on my fathers account," and that at the end of the month he paid William Woodward £49 17s. in full for his father's bond and all accounts. In May he sent his brother Isaac Watson and Richard Job to town with ten cords of wood, cut during the winter, floated downriver on the wood boat. In September he had of his father eight and a half bushels of seed wheat for his fall planting. In March 1773, he invested in surveying instruments which cost him £18 6s., and Bisha Biles came to work for him as his wife Ruth was expecting her second child. Bisha stayed until October, and was followed in December by Sarah Clarke whose wages were three shillings a week. In 1774 he smoked meat in February, this time 19 gammons, 8 shoulders, 6 midlings and 33 pieces of beef. In March Patience Davis came back to work for three months at 45 shillings. As John's wife was again expecting a child, she was kept on until September. In April John Jones was hired for £14 to work for six months, and the wood boat was sold to George Parmer for £30, to be paid at the rate of £3 a month. On 1 June, 8. John Watson noted that he "Rec'd my first newspaper"! Later this year his father made over to him 34 acres and the right to 64 acres of unappropriated land." 8 Although the next few years were stirring and troubled ones, there is no hint of them in the commonplace book. The only entry for 1775 was made in August when John noted that his brother William borrowed 160 rails "of me," and in 1776 the only entry concerned a cow which he wintered for a neighbor. He made no entries in the book in 1777, the year the British ad118 S,, Note Ill, and Burlington Co. Deed Book AS, 73, 3 October 1774, John Watson to John Watson, Jr., NJ. State Libnry. 42 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine vanced upon Philadelphia, and George Washington led his army across New Jersey to confront them. From other sources, however, it is clear that the Ngatsons were not immune to the vagaries of war. In November 1777, when the British gained control of the lower Delaware following the fall of Ft. Mifflin and had occupied Philadelphia, a portion of the Pennsylvania State Fleet managed to escape upriver. Thirteen galleys, twelve armed boats, a brig, two sloops, a schooner, two flats with stores and several other support vessels took refuge in the various creeks emptying into the Delaware on both sides of the river. Some made their way into Crosswicks Creek and a number of the galleys and the sloop Charlotte "lay at Watson's Creek" for the winter. During those months "for want of a timely supply of wood" the galley men "were under the necessity of Burning a Considerable Quantity of Fence" to the value of £31, which belonged to 8. John Watson.'" Then in April 1778, orders came to the Pennsylvania Navy Board, which had wintered at Trenton, to dismantle the galleys, shallops and brig, sink them, bury the shot and dismiss such of the crews as had not deserted during the previous months. Less than a month later, just before the British evacuated Philadelphia, the enemy sent an armed brig and a schooner, with light infantry in armed boats, to seek out such vessels as might be found and destroy them. Two frigates and a number of vessels in Crosswicks Creek were set afire, and the next day the armed boats "went up to Watson's Creek, where the rebel gallies were found with their masts only above water. Here the boats were saluted with a number of cannon-shot" — apparently some of the guns from the dismantled vessels had been positioned along the river — "which did no damage" to the British boats."' The British failed to locate all vessels, apparently, for on 11 July 1778, Captain John Clunn, at Lamberton, advertised he had for sale "the sloop Charlotte, as she now lays in 'Watson's Creek. She is sharp built and an exceeding fast sailor," he noted. None of these exciting events are noted in the commonplace book, and there is no indication in it that 8. John or his brothers took any active part in the war."' 110 See his letter to George Bryan, President of the Supreme Executive Council, dated 30 September 1778, In Pennsylvania Archives [1st Series], 'VI, 769. For the movernmts of the Fleet see ibid., 2nd Series, I, 235. 12 0 5ee the account of this sortie in the Pennsylvania Ledger, 13 May 1778, reprinted in NJA, 2nd Series, II, 217. m Ibid., 301, reprinted from the Neu, Jersey Gazette, If July 1778. The footnote to this reprint identifies Watson's Creek as "a small etrearn below Trenton, emptying into the Orion,.,." Today it appears to have been diverted to Crosswicks Creek by the filling up of the Watson? meadow land for the railroad bed. Published New Jersey militia records include a John and a William Watson of Burlington County as privates, but for want of muster rolls or returns, they cannot be identified definitely. See William G. Stryker, Official Register of the Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War (Trenton, 1872), 814. Watson of Nottinghamshire 43 8. John Watson resumed his entries in April 1778, when he noted that he had hired William Ball "to teach my children in the home for one year at £20." By now his children numbered three: John (b. 1772), Joseph (b. 1773) and Mary (b. 1776), but only the two eldest would have been subject to Ball's instructions. Succeeding entries indicate he was following his usual routine. Each year he took tow to spin to various neighbors: Joanna Jones, Joseph Reed's wife, Mercy Lamb, Betsy Quigley and Mary Sproul. Each time his wife was about to produce another child, he hired help for her, usually Sally Wood. In between times Ruth Watson had other temporary help, such as Theodosia Quigley who worked for two months, then in January 1779 "went home to go to school a month and return again." In 1781 there was Bisha Biles, in 1782 Ann Tindall, in 1783 Polly Welsh who only stayed three days, and whose place was taken by Peggy Parent, in 1784 Sarah Guinip, Elizabeth Skirm and Elizabeth Murray. To help him with his farm chores in 1782 he hired Josiah Dye for a year at £26 in hard money, Josiah to have his washing and mending done for him. Dye was often sick, however, and John carefully noted the days he missed work. Occasionally he had borrowed seed from his father 7. John Watson and meat from his brothers, though he continued each year to hang meat "to smoak" for himself.m From time to time he made payments on notes his father had given to Nathan Beakes, Jr., and each year took neighbors' cattle to winter. In 1781 he had made a deal with Ely Anderson to plant his "back field" with corn in the spring, and sow it with rye in the fall, Anderson to deliver to him 80 bushels of corn and 60 bushels of rye for the rent of the field. The next year he offered to sell his "Lot of meadow land, generally known by the name of Wood's Island, containing about six acres mowable, of the best kind of grass," as well as 20 or 30 acres "of outland, flatts &c adjoining," and 40 acres of woodland "three miles distant from Trenton, and two and a half from a good landing in Watson's Creek." us Apparently no buyers offered, for the following year he noted in his little book that on 19 May 1783, he had let Wood's Island to Abraham Wogiam for £20 if he paid it in one month, otherwise the rent would be £25 if "not paid by October first." That year he also agreed with Benjamin Loyd to till his "orchard field." Early in 1785, 8. John himself was laid up for a week with "ye ague .22 In 1779 he was rated on 300 um; 2 horses, 12 cattle and 1 sheep; iss 1780 on 260 ures, 1 horse and only 5 eatde. Original assessment lists, N.J. State library, Trenton, examined on film. 128 New Jersey Gazette, 16 January 1782, reprintedI,, NJA, nod Series, V, 361. p0NLl5 ,' Xi% V 1-47 1114,11'1,, DISPOSITION OF THE WATSON PROPERTIES 17sq- 1800 NOTTINGF1AM Tw 1301,1N or o 1.3 NEW JvP.ssy WArsonS Coos `t9 10 SCALE 20 CHAINS Watson of Nottinghamshire 45 &c;" later that year he entered the melancholy news that "Ruth Watson my Wife died September the 9 th 1785 Aged about 38 years in child bed. Child died four days later, last one last October about the same age, both daughters. Last one Son [died] In July 1783 about five weeks old— the Last three Children Not Nam'd, had in all 10 children, 4 Sons and 6 daughters." Left with six living children, the youngest four years old and the eldest thirteen, 8. John's need for a mother for them is evident. For his third wife he chose a fourteen-year-old girl, ABISHA, born 29 December 1772, whose surname has not been found.'' By her, between 1787 and 1794, he fathered four more children! During these years, while the entries in the commonplace book were less frequent, the old pattern of life continued. There was still tow to be spun, meat to smoke, and cattle to be wintered. He furnished shingles, boards and nails for Henry Pyke and James Bowen to repair the houses in which they lived in Trenton. In 1788 he boarded James Welsh for twentyfive days from 24 April to 19 May, when "school commenced," and Welsh left. In 1791 he hired "Judiah" Allen for a year, but he only stayed three months, so in the spring of 1794 he hired James Nolan. Now in his mid-fifties, 8. John decided toward the end of the year to sell the plantation "whereon the said John Watson now dwells ... in the Township of Nottingham." The buyer was Nathan Combes of Nottingham, the price £3800 "current lawful money of the Said State in Gold and Silver coin." For this Combes acquired title to 376/2 acres, an "Island lying at the Mouth of Watsons Creek ... generally known by the name of Woods Island" containing seven or eight acres, "about twenty-six acres of Shoals and Flatts adjoining said Island to the Southward and Westward," and all the buildings and improvements appurtenant. Thus the 1708 stone house, built by his great-grandfather 1. Isaac Watson, passed out of the family's hands.m No mention of the sale appears in the commonplace book, and where 8. John Watson and his family lived afterwards is not known. He still continued to farm, however, for in March 1795, he noted that he "took meat to [his brother] William Watsons Smoak house" which he left m Obviously she could not have been the Bisha Biles who worked for him for seven months ha 1773, but the similarity of names suggests she might have been • Biles and a relative in soon, degree of lus second wife and the various Biles women who had worked for him over the years. ", Mt. Holly Deed Book D, 170: 14 November 1794, John Watson and Bisha ho wife to Nathan Combo. The evidence of this sale is at variance with the StateirlerM in Helen A. West, A History of Hamilton Tountship, Mercer Co., 15.1. (1954), 13, and in the booklet The Isaac Watson House, cited ha Note 45, both of which claim that 8. John's son Joseph Watson was the last of the family to five in the house. If Joseph did live there, it must have been as a tenant. 46 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine "under the care of John Sutherly." The next month he took 25 bushels of rye and 25 bushels of buckwheat to Lamberton which he "deposited in the Granary in the Garret of Thos. Douglas's house now in the possession of Jno. O'Connor." In August he took their old brown horse from Mr. Combes' to pasture at William Pearson's. That summer he had his will drawn. In it he devised to his "loving wife Bisha Watson" £500 in specie. Of this £100 was to be paid within three months of his decease, the balance to remain at interest or to be paid within two years of his death, at her option. She was also to have his best bed and bedding and the balance of his household goods except for the beds each of his five daughters was to have. The residue of his personal estate was to be divided equally between all his surviving children: John, Joseph, Mary, Samuel, Ann, Naomi, Ruth, Henry, George and Elizabeth. Since John and Joseph had already received £100 each, that was to be considered part of their share. His younger sons were to be put to trades when they arrived at a proper age, "a particular regard to be had to the life and moral conduct of the persons they are put to." The younger girls were to remain with their mother "if her situation in life will admit of their being brought up in a reputable manner until they are of age." Otherwise they were to be put out "to reputable places where they may be kept industriously imployed in some business suitable for women." His three eldest children, John, Joseph and Mary, were to receive their shares as soon as a sufficient sum could be collected for that purpose. He nominated his wife, eldest son John Watson "at present at Norfolk, Virginia," and his friend Robert Wright of Nottingham or the survivor or survivors of them, as executors of his estate.'" Since he disposed of no real estate in his will, it is evident he was renting. From the commonplace book it is also evident he continued to farm in a small way, assisted by various hired men."' There was Samuel Davis, hired in 1796 at £35 for a year, who "got sick of a pleurisy and measles." Clement Richardson, hired in 1797 at £40 for a year, absconded "in the night with all his clothes" inside of four months. Abandoning the idea of hiring for a year, the next two, James Reilly and Thomas Pitt, came for only a month. Then at the end of 1797 he had David Hibbes on trial for a month, and then hired him in 1798 for a year at £33. .6B.o. Co. Will Book 6, 263, dated 16 July 1791. The will was witnessed by Thos. Ashmoor, William Douglass and Peter Hunt. 551 15 1795 one John Watson was rated on one house and lot in Nottingham Township, and had a horse and a cow. Original =urns, N.J. State Library, Trenton. If this was 8. John, the now was perhaps the one he noted in Febnaary 1796, which he took "to Mr. Combes keep the rest of the winter:. Watson of Nottinghamshire 47 The year before his death, 8. John noted that he was "called on by Peter Van Buren as witness to his measuring 23 bushels of rye which he had bought of Mr. Clymer." Twice more that fall he saw Van Buren measure rye bought of Mr. Clymer, and in February 1800, "hung meat to smoak at Mr. Van Burens." Presumably James Yates, hired for a month the previous October, or Joseph Terry "son of Clement," also hired for a month, had helped John butcher it and prepare it for "smoaking." It was meat he never got to eat, however, for six weeks later on 20 March 1800, 8. John Watson died. Who made that entry in the commonplace book is uncertain. Perhaps it was his wife Abisha, who offered his will for probate in Bucks County on 31 March 1800.'2' How long she survived him is not known. Issue of 8. John Watson by his 2nd wife Ruth Biles: i. JOHN WATSON, b. 17 January 1772; d. at Norfolk, Va., 29 August 1795, "of yellow fever." JOSEPH WATSON, b. 17 May 1773; d. 12 April 1837; m. before 1795, SUSANNA WEST, b. 1 March 1779; d. May 1851, daughter of William West and his wife Anna Stout. They were living in Nottingham Township in 1830 when the census takers listed his family as including 1 male, aged 50-60 (himself); 1 female, aged 50-60 (his wife); 1 male, aged 10-15; 1 female, aged 10-15; and 1 female, aged 5-10. After Joseph's death, Susanna, while a ruident of Bordentown, N.J., m. 2nd, 11 February 1838, DAVID SILVER. of W. Windsor Township, Middlesex Co., N.J., the Rev. John C. Harrison, pastor of the Bordentown Baptist Church officiating. David Silver d. testate in 1849 in Mercer Co..° Issue, 1. Rum WarsoN, b. 6 November 1795. 2. JoHN WATSON, b. 1 July 1797; d. 4 November 1855; tn. 16 May 1822, MARTHA SOUTH, b. 13 July 1803; d. 28 January 1892, daughter of Ezekiel South of Long Island, N.Y... John Watson was listed in the 1830 Census of Nottingham Township as head of a family which included himself, aged 30-40; his wife, aged 20 - 30, and two males and one female, each under 5 years. 3. ANNA WATSON, b. 1 June 1800. 4. MARGARET WATSON, b. 24 July 1802. 5. `1.711.,mam WATsow, b. 22 January 1804. 6. SAMUEL WATSON, b. 5 February 1806. 7. NAOMI WATSON, b. 23 April 1808. 8. MARX WATSON, b. 17 May 1810. 9. SUSANNA WATSON, b. 10 August 1812. 10. JOSEPH WATSON, b. 30 January 1815. 11. ELIZABETH WAT528 Why this will we probated in Bucks County and not in New Jersey remains unexplained. It is also curious that the recorded will state that Bisha Wsum and John Watson "executors named in the within will," were granted letters testamentary, since John Watson, the son, had bees dead since 1795. nO Except where otherwise noted, the dates for all of 8. John's children are Irons the commonplace book. .0 Data on Joseph Watson's wife and children come f ram E. M. Woodward and John F. Hageman, History of Burlington and Mercer Counties... (Philadelphia, 1883), 797. Burlington Co. Clerk's Marriage Records, Mt. Holly, N.J. Will of David Silver, Mercer Co. Will 546-K. 100 John Watson's family record is in the Bible presented to the Isaac Watson House by Mrs. J. B. Rue of Holmdel, N.J. See the transcript of it which follows the prom, a«ount of the Watson family. 48 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine SON, b. 11 May 1817. 12. HENRY WATSON, b. 17 April 1819. 13. Mort WATSON, b. 6 November 1821. iii. MARY 'WATSON, b. 15 August 1774; d. 15 November 1775, ae. 1 yr., 3 mm. iv. MARY WATSON (2nd) b. 25 March 1776; living in 1795 when her father wrote his will. She may have been the Mary Watson of Nottingham Township who was m. to JOHN WELSH by the Rev. Mr. Armstrong 30 October 1803.1. v. SAMUEL WATSON, b. 16 May 1778; named in his father's 179$ will. vi. ANN 'WATSON, b. 5 February 1780; d. 19 May 1802. Her father had noted in the commonplace book on 29 May 1798, that he had arranged with Sarah White to teach Ann "the mamma making business for one quarter of a year for $1 a week." On 25 September of the same year he noted he had made a new bargain with Sarah White: Ann was to stay a year, for which he would pay Sarah White £20 in specie. No further record. vii. NAOMI WATSON, b. 21 October 1781. She may have m. 7 March 1812, SAMUEL PITMAN, the Rev. Joseph Totten, Methodist minister, officiating. 133 'Via. A son, b. and d. ca. July 1783. ix. A daughter, b. and d. October 1784. x. A daughter, b. 9 September, d. 13 September 1785. Issue of 8. John Watson by his 3rd wife Abisha: xi. RUTH 'WATSON, b. 18 September 1787; m. 19 February 1806, 104 WATSON FURMAN who d. 13 September 1815. Issue: 1. ANNA MARIA FURMAN, b. 28 November 1806. 2. ELIZA ANN FURMAN, b. 23 September 1808. 3. JOHN WATSON FURMAN, b. and d. 1810, Or. 2 weeks. 4. MARY FURMAN, b. 5 November 1812; d. 28 April 1839; m. Joxtv C. WATERS of Chester Co., Pa., b. ca. 1814; d. 22 May 1846, in his 33rd year. Both bur. at Great Valley Baptist Churchyard, Chester Co., with gravestones. xii. HENRY WATSON, b. 17 July 1789, presumably was he who witnessed the will of Rebecca Biles of Lamberton, dated 28 July 1814, and proved 4 August 1815. 1" xiii. GEORGE WATSON, b. 23 December 1791; d. 28 May 1827 in his 36th yr., in Trenton; m. in September 1815, MARY LABAU, daughter of Francis Labau, Esq. She and Francis S. Labau, as administrators of his estate, were granted letters 5 June 1827. The inventory, dated 30 May 1827, valued "Purse & Apparel" at $10, bonds and notes at $1910.24, and household goods at $433.80, for a total of $2354.05. 106 182 Trenton Federalist, 21 November 1801. 133 Tbe True American, 23 March 1812; Burlington Co. Clerk, Marriage Records. Both parties were of Burlington County, 184 Trenton Federalist, 24 February 1806. She was of Nottingham Township. Their children are noted in the commonplace book. In Abstract of wit of Rebecca Ribs in NJA, ist Series, ME, 17. 106 True American, IS September 1815, the marriage performed "Wednesday eveaing last" by the Elev. Mr. Boswell (pastor of the Trenton-Lamberton Baptist Ch.); ibid., 26 May 1827; Hunterdon Co. Will 35911. 49 Watson of Nottinghamshire :iv. ELIZABETH WATSON, b. 9 September 1794. No further record. 9. NAOMI WATSON, probably the eldest daughter of 7. John Watson, and sister of 8. John Watson, was unmarried when she became a beneficiary under the 1761 will of her uncle William Watson. Some time between September 1769, and June 1770, however, she married, as his second wife, ABRAHAM LOBI3, born 28 12m (February) 1732/3, son of Benjamin and Mary (Hibberd) Lobb of Upper Darby, Chester County. Abraham had married first, Dinah Thomas on 9 I lm (November) 1757, under the auspices of Goshen Monthly Meeting in Chester County, but she had died the following September, a month after the birth of a daughter Dinah on 31 8m (August) 1758."' Abraham Lobb was a miller by trade and moved about the countryside from mill to mill. In the fall of 1761, he and his "little daughter Dinah" were granted a certificate by Darby Meeting to Gwynedd Meeting in Philadelphia County; they remained there until the fall of 1765, when he obtained a certificate to Chesterfield Meeting in West Jersey. In 1769 he was described as a miller of Trenton."' Although he received a certificate from Chesterfield Meeting to Darby Meeting in the spring of 1772, he was living in Nottingham Township in 1775 when Naomi's father 7. Joint Watson had his will drawn, and had been rated there the year before as a householder in Nottingham."' He was back in Darby in August 1776, when he received a new certificate to Chesterfield, but returned it in May 1777, "not having delivered it." Probably he was prevented from using it by the passage of the Pennsylvania Militia Act of March 1777, under which he was drafted in Captain Boas Mathews' 3rd Company of Colonel Caleb Davis's Third Battalion of Chester County Militia. In subsequent years he was rated in Upper Darby Township (1779, 1780, 1781) on a horse and cow, but no land."° In the fall of 1781 he asked Darby Meeting to receive into membership his children: Rebecca, Ann, Mary, Asher, Abigail and William 1,1 See Note 51 for William Wanon's will. Unless otherwise noted, all thtt. for Abraham Lobb and Isis children are from the transcripts of records of Darby Monthly Meeting GSP. See also the Gilbert Cope Collection, Vol. COOS, 70, 72, in GSP for data on the Cobb 000 See the tramcnpts of Gwynedd Monthly Meeting Minutes in GSP; also the Cope Collection, cited above, for deeds dated 11 September 1769, Heirs of Benjuoin Cobb to Adam Holman, in which Abraham blab is described as "miller of Trenton," no wife mentioned, and deed dated 28 June 1770, Hein of Benjamin Cobb or Benjamin Cobb, Jr., in which Abraham and his "wife Naomi" were included among the grantors. 130 See Note 109 for 7. John 'Watson's will; GMNJ, XXXVII, 79 14° Pel$117y114911k Archives, 3rd Series, VI, 173, 2nd Series, XCV, 8f, sod Series, XII, 120, 359, 181, 642. In 1779 and 1780 his name was incorrectly given in the tax lists as Log. 50 T he Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Lobb, and they were duly accepted. There is no mention of his wife in the meeting records, but she undoubtedly accompanied the family on its move to Pennsylvania. Abraham died intestate in Darby on 27 lm (January) 1784; letters of administration on his estate were granted to his brother Isaac Lobb 1 September 1784. His widow 9. Naomi (Watson) Lobb is reported to have died in 1793, after which the 50 acres she had been left by her father were sold to Robert Wright for £200."' Issue of 9. Naomi 'Watson by her husband Abraham Lobb: i. REBECCA LOBB, admitted to membership in Darby Monthly Meeting, on application of her father, on 4 10m (December) 1781. On 24 5m (May) 1783, she received a certificate to Goshen Monthly Meeting which she produced there 8 8m (August) 1783. Goshen granted her a certificate to Chester Meeting on 9 9m (September) 1791, but she returned it the following December, and on 6 1m (January) 1792, received at her request one to Darby Meeting: 42 No further record. ANN LOBB was received into membership by Darby Meeting at the same time as her sister Rebecca in 1781. On 28 2m (February) 1782, at the request of her father Abraham, she and her sister Mary were granted certificates to Goshen, which were received by that meeting 5 4m (April) 1782. Goshen granted her a certificate back to Darby on 10 12m (December) 1790. No further record. iii. MARY LOBE was received into membership by Darby Meeting at the same time as her sisters, and with Ann was received at Goshen in April 1782. She remained under the care of Goshen Meeting until 5 12m (December) 1794, when she received a certificate to Philadelphia. This certificate was returned to Goshen 11 I lm (November) 1796, with the notation she had removed from Philadelphia. By 7 7m (July) 1797, she was reported at Goshen as having been married "by a hireling minister" to one JANUARY, and was disowned by Goshen a month later as "Mary Lobb, now January." No further record. iv. ASHER LOBE, received into membership by Darby Meeting at the same time as his sisters, d. testate 2 6m (June) 1837, 142 as a member of Darby Meeting; 191 Since Abraham's eldest daughter Dinah was a birthright member of Darby Meeting, she was not included in the request for membership. For the estate of Abraham Lobb sm Choter Co. Administration Book B, 316. According to the late Mr. Welsh's brief of title of the Isaac Watson house, the sale of Naomi's 50 acres is recorded in Mt. Holly Deed Book M, 281. The purchaser, Richard Wright, was one of the executors named in the wE of Naomi', brother 8. John Watson. The published calendared index of Burlington Co., N.J. wills Ens "Lob, Abraham 11505C. B. 33, p. 54. int. 1793." But the abstract in NJA, In Series, XXXVII, 235, gives this as the estate of Abraham Lot. Letters of administration were granted 25 October 1793 to William Pearson, with Robert Pearson as fellowbondsman. It is suggested that this estate actually referred to Naomi's property, but was in her husband's name, inaccurately transcribed in the abstract a Lot; the original papers have not been examined, however, for this record. 199 All references to Goshen Monthly Meeting see from the transcript of the minutes of the Men's and Women's Meetings in GSP. 550 For she will of Asher Lobb, in which he names his surviving chddren and grandchildren, see Delaware Co. Will Book C, 402. Watson of Nottinghamshire 51 m. out of meeting (for which he made acknowledgment 27 2m (February) 1806), CATHERINE CORMICK (CosNon), b. ca. 1778; d. 18 12m (December) 1857, at. 79 yrs., daughter of Abraham and Dinah (Abraham) Carnog of Radnor Township, Delaware County. Her parents were members of the Great Valley Baptist Church, but she appears to have been accepted by Friends, after her husband's acknowledgment, since her children are entered in the registers of Darby Monthly Meeting. Issue: 1. MARIA D. Loss, b. 24 10m (October) 1805; d. bef. 25 February 1837; m. out of meeting, for which she made acknowledgment at Darby 25 8m (October) 1830, Wirmam HAY)... 2. WILLIAM C. LOBE, b. 3 2m (February) 1807; d. in Clifton, Delaware Co. in March, 1882; m. ELIZABETH LEVIS, daughter of John Levis.'" 3. ETHELBERT ABRAHAM LOBE, b. 6 1 lm (November) 1808; living in 1840 when his brother David wrote his will. 4. SARAH ANN LOEB, b. 4 3m (March) 1810; d. 14 lm (January) 1832. 5. MORAmo W. Loss, b. 16 6m (June) 1812; living in 1840. 6. Naomi W. LOBE, b. 20 6m (June) 1814; unmarried in 1840. 7. Davit, C. LOEB, b. 28 2m (February) 1816; d. testate unmarried 20 10m (October) 1840, at. 24 yrs.." v. ABIGAIL LOBB, received into membership at Darby at the some time as her sisters and brothers; m. under auspices of the meeting 13 3m (March) 1800, JOSEPH PYLE, son of Benjamin and Sarah Pyle of Ridley, Delaware County. After their marriage, Abigail transferred her membership to Chester Monthly Meeting,In which recorded the births of their children. Issue: 1. Naomi PYLE, b. 24 Urn (November) 1800. 2. MARTHA PYLE, b. 7 3m (March) 1802. 3. WILLIAM PYLE, b. 25 12m (December) 1803. 4. Jokisr PYLE, b. 28 9m (September) 1805; d. 9 10m (October) 1805. 5. SARAH PYLE, b. 25 10m (October) 1806. 6. ANDERSON Pvis, b. 25 10m (October) 1810. 7. GARDIN1ER PYLE, b. 5 6m (June) 1814. vi. WILLIAM LOBB was received into membership in 1781 at Darby at the same time as his brothers and sisters. He was granted a certificate to Burlington Meeting 3 3m (March) 1803, which was received there 6 6m (June) 1803. On 5 9m (September) of that year Burlington granted him a certificate to Falls Monthly Meeting, Bucks County, in which it was stated he was clear of marriage engagements.'" It was received at Falls a month later, but no further record of him has been found. The foregoing account makes no pretensions to being a definitive record of the descendants of William Watson of Nottinghamshire, England, and of Nottingham Township, Burlington County, New Jersey. 544 He is named in the will of his father-in-law, Asher Lobb, but not his wife. HS Gilbert Cope and Henry G. Ashmead, Genealogical and Pertonal Mnnoirs of Chester and Delaware Counties, Pa. (New York, 1904), II, 414, in whisk the statement that Asher Lobb "was born in Scotland. is corrected in this present account. 116 The will of David C Lobb is recorded in Delaware County, Pa., Will Book D, 497. 547 See memo**. of Chester Monthly Meeting in GSP. H. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia..., II, 239, cited in Note 26, and Falls Monthly Meeting Minutes in GSP. $2 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine It has, however, endeavored to correct previously published undocumented accounts of the origin of the family and its connection with the surviving 1708 Isaac Watson house, preserved through the splendid efforts of the State Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution of New Jersey. Perhaps through this present account further information on the family may be forthcoming. THE HOLY BIBLE / containing / The Old and New Testaments / Translated / Out of the Original Tongues / and with / the Former Translations Diligently / Compared and Revised / Philadelphia / Ed. Barrington and Geo. D. Haswell 293 Market Street / Stereotyped by L. Johnston 1 Family Record. John Watson and Martha his Wife Was Married May the 16th 1822. Births John 'Watson Was Born July the 14th 1797 Martha Watson Was Born July the 13th 1803 Cornelia Naomi Watson Daughter of John Watson and Martha his Wife Was Born October the 24 5h 1823 William Watson Son of John Watson and Martha his Wife Was Born November the 26. 182$ George Watson Son of John Watson and Martha his Wife was Born June the 18th 1827 Benjamin South Watson Sort of John Watson and Martha his Wife Was Born April the 1. 1829. Died Dec. 11 1878 John Watson Son of John Watson and Martha his Wife Was Born October the 26. 1831. Died July 26 1880 Mary Elizabeth Watson Daughter of John Watson and Martha his Wife Was Born July the 9 th 1835 Joseph Watson Son of John Watson and Martha his Wife Was Born March the 20th 1837 Henry Watson Son of John Watson and Martha his Wife Was Born January the 5" 1839 Julia Ann Watson Daughter of John Watson and Martha his Wife Was Born September the 13th 1840 This undated Bible was presented to the 1708 Isaac Watson Howe by Mrs. Jacob B. Rue of Holmdel, N.J., who obtained it from a Me. luster, a resident near the house. Inscnhed on the flyleaf are the names of its early owners: Mrs. John Wasson/ Susanna C. Skillman / Family Bible inherited from her Mother Martha Watson. 11, record is between the Old and the New Testaments. The original marriage certificate is filed in the Mk and states that "Mr. Jobs Watson of Nottingham md Miss Martha South of same- were married at Nottingham on Thursday, If May 1822, by the Rev. William Boswell. He was pastor of the Trenton-Larolierton, N.J. Baptist Church. The marriage was announced in the Trenton Federalist of 20 May, and in the Troy Americas of It May 1822. Watson of Nottinghamshire 53 Susanna Carolina Watson* Daughter of John Watson and Martha his Wife Was Born December the 20th 1843 Samuel Watson Son of John Watson and Martha his Wife Was Born April the 11th 1846 Deaths William Watson Son of John Watson and Martha his Wife Died November the 26'h 1828 On the Some Day of his Birth Julia Amu Watson Daughter of John Watson and Martha his Wife Died August the 22 1841 Samuel Watson Son of John Watson and Martha his Wife Died August the 12th 1847 John Watson departed this life Nov 4th 1855 Cornelia Namm Hartman. Daughter of John and Martha Watson Died Nov. 14th 1890 age 67 years and 21 Days at Bordentown at 2.55 o'clock Martha Watson 6 widow of John Watson died January 28th 1892 Susanna C. Watson so. 3 July MI, Sidney Skillman, b. 19 March 1859; d. 25 April 1876, son of Thomas Skillman, M.D., of Three Mile Run, near Brunswick, N.J. Issue: I. Olive Clifton Skillman, b. 1867. 2. Sidney Skillman, b. ISO, =cording to the account of the family in Mr New York Geo.looks) cod Biographical Record, 39 (1908), 89. But according to the Bordentown Cemetery Association, there is a monument in the Cemetery inscnbed: Sidney Skillman 1839-1876 / Susanna C. Skillman 1843'915 /Olive C. Skillman 1867-1925/Sidney Skillman 1869-1941 /Emma Hughes Skillman 1868-1959. Was she mother child, with the death year incorrectly transcrilxd? Her death certificate from the N.J. State Department of Health, Trenton, includes the following information: age 66 years; hotnewife, widow; born in Brooklyn, N.Y.; resident of New Jersey 60 years; died at Church St., Bordernown; died of internal obstruction; Dr. Shale, physician in attendance; buried in Bordentown Cemetery. 0Th, monument in the Bordentown Cemetery includes, in addition to the Skillman inscriptions, the following: John Watson 1797-18SS / Martha Watson 1803-1892/George Watson 1827 1910 /Margaret Watson 1826-19021W. T. Sonitekalb 1885-1904 /M. A. Sonnekalb 1848-1906/Mary South 1783-1858. Information Wanted Mr. John E. Evans, 6416 Forest Haven Drive, Riverdale, Ga., 30274, is seeking any information On JABEZ EVANS, recorded in Pennsylvania colonial records 7 August 1713. A Jabez Evans received a land grant in South Carolina in 1784. He has brothers John and William Evans.