USA > New Jersey > Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey, Volume II > Part 25
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Mr. Osmond married, November 14, 1876, Josephine B., daughter of Charles and Sarah Ann (Bowker) Shreve, of Barnsboro, New Jersey. Children: 1. Carrie, born December 26, 1877; married Corbit Strickland Hoffman, of Clarksboro, New Jersey, a lieutenant in the regular United States army, First Infantry, at present stationed at Vancouver Barracks, state of Washington; they have one son, Corbit Hoffman. 2. Sarah Shreve. 3. Charles Shreve, twin of Sarah, born June 24, 1874, at Borden- town, New Jersey; he was educated in the public schools of Bordentown and Pearce's Business College, Philadelphia, and finishing at the Bordentown Military Institute; he
studied architecture, and for seven years was with Furnace Evans & Company, of Philadel- phia; in 1905 he entered the service of the International Mercantile Marine Company as passenger agent at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a connection that is yet unbroken; he has at- tained high rank in the Masonic order in his native city ; he is worshipful master of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 28, Free and Accepted Masons ; past high priest of Mt. Moriah Chap- ter, No. 26, Royal Arch Masons, and past eminent commander of Ivanhoe Commandery, No. 26, Knights Templar ; he is a noble of the Crescent Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine ; he is a member of Yepew Boat Club and Citi- zen Hook and Ladder Company; in political belief he is a Republican. Charles S. Osmond married, October 4, 1907, Aimee Evans, daugh- ter of James and Elizabeth Robinson, of Bel- fast, Ireland; now resident of Trenton, New Jersey.
COMFORT Like many others of the old pioneers to the new world in search of a place where they could worship God according to their own ideas in peace, the founder of the Comfort family had to seek it in more than one place. Consequently pilgrim, as he is sometimes called, would seem to be rather his proper title than pioneer.
(I) John Comfort, the first of the name about which anything is known, came over to the new world and for a while lived in Flushing, Long Island, but having either be- fore or after his arrival in America adopted the tenets of George Fox and his disciples, he found himself so out of sympathy with his surroundings that he removed to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1719, and the following year married there Mary, daughter of Stephen and Sarah ( Baker) Wilson. Her mother, who had married Stephen Wilson, in 1692, was the daughter of Henry and Margaret Baker, who had come from Derby, county Lancaster, Eng- land, to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, bringing a certificate from the Hardshaw meeting in 1684. The two children of John and Mary (Wilson) Comfort were : 1. Stephen, referred to below. 2. Robert.
(II) Stephen, son of John and Mary ( Wil- son) Comfort, was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, February 26, 1721 ; died Decem- ber II, 1800. He married, in 1744, Mercy, born December 28, 1724, daughter of Jeremiah Croasdale and Grace, daughter of Robert Heaton and Grace, daughter of Thomas and
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Grace Pearson. Jeremiah Croasdale was the son of Ezra and Ann (Peacock) Croasdale. The children of Stephen and Mercy (Croas- dale) Comfort were: 1. John, born October 5, 1745; married, 1771, Mary, daughter of John Woolman, and died in February, 1820. 2. Ezra, referred to below. 3. Jeremiah, born August 26, 1750, of whom it is related that having passed the meeting for marriage he had a "concern on his mind" which prevented him from proceeding, and his presentiment was shortly afterwards verified by his death. 4. Stephen, Jr., born February 26, 1753 ; married, 1776, Sarah Stephenson. 5. Grace, August 5, 1755 ; married Jonathan Stackhouse. 6. Mercy, born September 28, 1757 ; married, 1787, Aaron Philips. 7. Moses, born April 4, 1760; died April, 1838; married, 1782, Elizabeth Mitchell. 8. Robert, born December 24, 1763 ; died June 12, 1851 ; lived in Knox county, Ohio, and married, 1786, Mary Parry. 9. Hannah, born July 10, 1765.
(III) Ezra, second child and son of Stephen and Mercy (Croasdale) Comfort, was born October 8, 1747; died January 15, 1820. He married, in 1776, Alice Fell. One of their children relates in regard to this marriage that "the pig would have been killed for the wed- ding only that it got out the night before and ran away." Alice (Fell) Comfort died No- vember 6, 1840. The children of Ezra and Alice ( Fell) Comfort were: I. and 2. Eliza- beth and Mercy, twins, born November 12, 1772. 3. Grace, March 2, 1774. 4. John, Sep- tember 17, 1775. 5. Ezra, Jr., referred to below. 6. Alice, February 23, 1779.
(IV) Ezra (2), fifth child and second son of Ezra (I) and Alice (Fell) Comfort, was born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, April 18, 1777 ; died August 29, 1847. He was a farmer, a speaker in Friends' meeting and very active in everything pertaining to the society. He married, at Quakertown, Penn- sylvania, Margaret Shoemaker, who died March 31, 1873, at the age of ninety-one years. Their children were: 1. Sarah, died April 1, 1884, aged eighty-three years ; married Hughes Bell, of Haddonfield, New Jersey. 2. Jane, died March 17, 1873, aged sixty-eight years ; married Charles Lippincott. 3. Ann, married Isaac Jones. 4. John S. 5. Alice, married George Haverstick. 6. Jeremiah, died June 27, 1887, aged seventy-one years. 7. David, referred to below. 8. Margaret, died Septem- ber 8, 18-, aged forty-one years; married Henry Warrington. 9. Grace, married Charles Williams.
(V) David, the seventh child and third son of Ezra (2) and Margaret (Shoemaker) Com- fort, was born at Norristown, Pennsylvania, May 24, 1818; died November 12, 1899. He was educated at the Westtown boarding school in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and for a tinie engaged in farming in Norristown, later coming to Moorestown, New Jersey, where he bought a farm and continued his occupation until late in life. He was a Republican, and a member of the Orthodox Friends, being one of the overseers and sitting at the head of the meeting for nearly twenty years. He married Sarah Ann, born August 14, 1822, died July, 1888, daughter of John and Ann (Hall) Bacon, of Greenwich, New Jersey. Their children were : 1. John, who is in business at Columbus, Burlington county ; a director in the Union Bank and Trust Company, of Mt. Holly; he married (first) Sarah A. Leech, who bore him one child, Mary R., who married Charles Cars- lake, and has three children : William, Edward and Sarah; he married (second) Annie C. Wright, and (third) Elizabeth Lippincott. 2. Maurice Bacon, referred to below. 3. Anna M., married Howard G. Taylor, a farmer of Riverton, New Jersey, and secretary of the Horticultural Society, and has two children : Howard G. and Alice C.
(VI) Maurice Bacon, second child and son of David and Sarah Ann (Bacon) Comfort, was born at Moorestown, March II, 1854, and is now living in the place of his birth. He was educated in the Moorestown schools and West- town boarding school, Chester county, Penn- sylvania, and has ever since followed farming, having a large stock farm outside of the town where he makes a specialty of boarding horses for city persons and others. He has served as member of Burlington county committee, and of the Chester township committee. He has also served as a delegate to many state and county conventions. In March, 1898, he was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt as postmaster of Moorestown, and he has devoted all his time since then to this position which he still holds. He is an Orthodox Friend. He married (first) Caroline Hartman, daughter of Edward Randolph Maule, of Moorestown, who died July 28, 1899, leaving him with one child, Edward Maule, referred to below. May, 1908, he married (second) Catharine, daugh- ter of Isaac and Catharine T. Shotwell, of Philadelphia.
(VII) Edward Maule, only child of Maurice Bacon and Caroline Hartman (Maule) Com- fort, was born in Moorestown, July 1, 1888.
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He was educated at the Moorestown school and graduated from the Westtown boarding school, Chester county, Pennsylvania. He is now in the dry goods house of Watson & Com- pany, of Philadelphia, and lives with his father in Moorestown.
MEGARGEE The branch of the Megargee family that settled in New Jersey descends from the Pennsylvania family of that name. It is not possible to say just when the family first set- tled in Pennsylvania. The records, however, show that they were farmers and land owners near Philadelphia prior to the year 1800. While it is not possible to clearly show the connection, it is strongly believed that the New Jersey branch is of the same lineal descent as Jacob Megargee, and the Philadelphia family descending from him.
(I) George Megargee, who died March 3, 1835; married, at Abington, Pennsylvania, Sarah Myers, born May 17, 1785, died Octo- ber 17, 1866. She was a daughter of Philip and Mary (Kaheen) Myers, who were mar- ried, November 19, 1778. Children of George and Sarah (Myers) Megargee: I. Deborah, born May 4, 1805; died April 30, 1854; she married Hiram Rice. 2. George D., October 19, 1806. 3. Kizia, April 30, 1809 ; died Octo- ber 6, 1826. 4. Myers, February 3, 1811 ; died April 14, 1836. 5. Albanus, July 9, 1814. 6. Jane, April 3, 1817; died July 31, 1818. 7. John T., June 24, 1820; died November 25, 1823. 8. Amanda, August 19, 1823 ; died Oc- tober 2, 1866. 9. James White, see forward.
(II) James White, youngest son and child of George and Sarah (Myers) Megargee, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 20, 1829; died August 18, 1900. His father died when he was but five years of age, and he was taken into the home of Charles Haines, who resided on a farm near Riverside, New Jersey. He was educated in the town schools, and reared to the life of a farmer, which occu- pation he followed all his life. He became a land owner and cultivated his own farm. In his later days he was a member of the house- hold of his son, George Elwood Megargee, then residing on a farm, near Moorestown, New Jersey. James W. Megargee was a Dem- ocrat and held fraternal affiliations with the I. O. O. F. He married at Moorestown, New Jersey, October 24, 1851, Sarah W., daughter of Elwood and Mary (Wright) Borton, and granddaughter of Abram Borton. Nine chil- dren were born to James W. and Sarah W. ii-9
( Borton) Megargee: I. George Elwood, see forward. 2. Flora Virginia, born June 2, 1855 ; died August 1, 1855. 3. Anna Mary, January 10, 1858. 4. Margaretta S., November 22, 1859; died October 14, 1881. 5. Edward Royal, March 10, 1865, married Mary Horner. 6. James Harrison, February 14, 1867 ; died Sep- tember 24, 1908; he married Margaret Carter, of Camden, New Jersey, and has Helen and Sarah. 7. Elizabeth Borton, May 27, 1868; married John M. Stow, and has Margaretta and George Clifford Stow. 8. William Clif- ford, January 14, 1875; died February 19, 1893. 9. Ella Borton, January 18, 1876 ; mar- ried Leroy Pickersgill, D. D. S., of Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania.
(III) George Elwood, eldest son and child of James White and Sarah W. (Borton) Me- gargee, was born near Moorestown, New Jersey. He was educated under private tuition and at Farnum Preparatory School, Beverly, New Jersey. He decided upon the profession of teaching as his life work and after fitting himself for the work he began teaching in the district schools. He is a well known and valued instructor who has earned the promotions that have come to him through his earnest and de- voted efforts to better school conditions and raise the standard of excellence in the schools for whose welfare he was responsible. For eleven years he was a teacher in the Friends' high school, of Moorestown, going from there to assume the duties of principal of the Moores- town public school. He later was made super- vising principal in charge of all the schools of Chester township. For sixteen years he has held this important post and they have been years fruitful of good to the pupils and pat- rons of the schools. Professor Megargee had also served the town as a member of the board of education of Cinnaminson township. This has not been through the favor of either poli- tical party as he is extremely independent in politics. He is a member and vestryman of the Moorestown Protestant Episcopal church. He holds fraternal fellowship in the I. O. O. F. He resides on a fine farm outside of Moores- town and in his "off duty" hours there indulges in his inherited love of the soil. Professor Megargee is unmarried.
This name has been common in REEDER New Jersey since the beginning of the eighteenth century, and the members of the family have been promi- nent in all public affairs. Four brothers, Jacob, John, Jeremiah and Joseph Reeder, appear on
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the patent of the town of Newton, Long Island, in 1686, and the history of that town states they came from England direct to this place, although there is a tradition that a John Reeder, who lived in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1650, afterwards removed to Newton. Many of the family removed from Newton to Ewing, New Jersey, in 1710, and since that time the name has been frequently met with in that state.
(I) Thomas H. Reeder was born May 15, 1790; died September 15, 1857. He was a carpenter and bridge builder, and worked chiefly in the vicinity of Lambertville, New Jersey. Mr. Reeder married (first) Anna, born January 9, 1794, died May 25, 1838, daughter of William and Sarah Wilson; Will- iam Wilson was born March 15, 1756, died October 13, 1812; Thomas H. and Anna Reeder had seven children: I. William W., born September 25, 1815. 2. Charles, August 2, 1817. 3. Thomas H., Jr., August 18, 1819. 4. John, January 27, 1822. 5. Joseph, March 24, 1823. 6. Sarah Ann, October 9, 1825. 7. Elizabeth, January 31, 1830. He married (sec- ond) Rosanna Smith, by whom he had two children : 8. John Wesley, October 28, 1847; lives at Jenkintown, near Philadelphia. 9. Ed- ward B., February 16, 1852; resides in Phila- delphia.
(II) Joseph, son of Thomas H. and Anna (Wilson) Reeder, was born March 24, 1823, at Lambertville, New Jersey; died January 14, 1886. When a boy he engaged to work for twenty-four dollars a year, and went to school winters only. Later he removed to Trenton, New Jersey, where he learned marble cutting. He had charge of a business in New York, established himself in business in Flem- ington, New Jersey, and also engaged in busi- ness in the same line on his own account in Mt. Holly, New Jersey. Later he removed to Duck Island, where he began raising tobacco. He was a pioneer in the sand business, at White Hill engaged in procuring sand for building purposes, and later had dredges on the river for raising sand ; he continued this lucra- tive business until his death, a period of many years. He was president of a dredging com- pany at the time of his death, and had also been for some time superintendent for the Knickerbocker Ice Company. Mr. Reeder was a Republican in his views, but took no very active part in political affairs, and in his relig- ious opinions was very liberal. He was a member of the American Mechanics. He mar- ried Catherine, daughter of Truman and Lucy Sweet, of Trenton, New Jersey, and they had
nine children, the first two of whom died in infancy. Those who arrived to years of maturity were: I. Josephine, married James Harris. 2. Lucy Ann, married Samuel H. Russell. 3. Horace Greeley, referred to below. 4. Clara E., married Harry Carter, of Newark, New Jersey. 5. Alice, married Theodore Car- ter. 6. Lillie, married William H. West, of Newark. 7. Thomas A., steamboat captain : resides at White Hill, New Jersey.
(III) Horace Greeley, son of Joseph and Catherine (Sweet) Reeder, was born October 31, 1853, at Mount Holly, New Jersey. He was educated in the public schools of Fieldsboro and at Haas School, now the site of the mili- tary school. When a young man he learned the trade of machinist with Thompson & Mott, at White Hill, serving three years, and then entered the employ of the Knickerbocker Ice Company, locating machines and filling ice plants. In 1881 he was employed by the dredg- ing company with which his father was con- nected, and by his diligence and zeal worked his way up until he was the owner ; he is now manager, superintendent and director of the Delaware River Sand Dredging Company, in which he owns most of the stock. He is also the owner of boats by which sand is trans- ported to Philadelphia for building purposes. He often receives commissions from the United States government for dredging, planting buoys, etc. Mr. Reeder is thorough master of all the details of the business in which he is engaged, and has made a thorough study of the machinery and methods of dredging. In 1886 he invented a labor saving device to use on dredges, namely : a dredge machine distrib- utor, and was the first to use a belt instead of cogs on the machine. As a member of the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association, whose offices are in the Crozer building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and whose object is the develop- ment of Interior Waterways along the Atlantic Coast, Mr. Reeder was one of a party of seven appointed in May, 1909, to inspect the Dela- ware and Raritan Canal ; the other members of the party were Messrs. Moore, Atkin, Wanger, Donnelly and Burk. The purpose of the trip was to obtain information at first hand, and by observation, of present canal conditions, as well as to obtain photographs illustrating the general subject. No great use is made of the Delaware and Raritan Canal at present for two reasons, first because the canal, built more than seventy years ago, is too small to permit of economical shipments in the present day, and second because its management for the
Amaca & Reader
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last thirty years has been directed towards a diversion of the canal business to the parallel and competing railroads. Mr. Reeder takes a keen interest in public affairs and improve- ments, and is a Republican in his political views. He has served ten years as a member of the school board, and is a member of the township committee. He is a member of Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 28, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; Mount Moriah Chapter, No. 20, Royal Arch Masons, of Bordentown ; Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association, and the Yapiwi Aquatic Boat Club. He is liberal in religious views. He resides at Bordentown.
Mr. Reeder married, in 1876, Alice H., daughter of John and Maria (Vail) Harned, of Yardville, New Jersey. She is a Friend in religion and belongs to the meeting at Cross- wicks, New Jersey. Children: I. Horace Greeley, Jr., born October 24, 1876; died at the age of ten years. 2. Walter Lewis, born September 16, 1879; after preliminary edu- cation attended high school and business col- lege, and then took a course at the Scranton School of Correspondence ; at the age of nine- teen he took charge of work on dredging ma- chines, and is now connected with dredging and tug boats, being secretary and treasurer of the Delaware River Sand Dredging Com- pany. 3. Ralph Howard, born May 3, 1883; attended high school and business college ; em- ployed by the New York Shipbuilding Com- pany, and now has charge of one of the dredges on the river. 4. Joseph R., born October 7, 1880; is attending Drexel Institute, Philadel- phia. 5. Grace Ingersoll, born January 23, 1888; resides at home. 6. John Harned, born January 23, 1891; is now attending Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Walter Lewis and Ralph Howard are members of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Royal Arch Chapter, and Shrine.
The name of Lippincott LIPPINCOTT is one of the oldest of the English surnames of local origin, having been traced back to the "Love- cote" of the Domesday Book of William the Conqueror, compiled in 1080. The place still bears its ancient name and is an estate lying near Hinghampton, Devonshire, England. Its earliest known derivative occurs in the name of Roger de Lovecote, who is recorded in the rolls of the king's court of the time of King John, 1195. In 1274, in the reign of Edward I, the names of Jordanus de Loginggetot and Robertus de Lyvenscot and Thomas de Luf-
kote appear in the Hundred Rolls; while the manor of Luffincott, now in the parish of that name, on the west border of Devonshire, and twenty miles distant from Lovecote, and an estate comprising nearly one thousand acres, was in 1243 the property of Robert de Lughen- cot, and remained in his family until 1415, the property being also described in 1346 as "per- taining to Robert de Lyvenscot." Another branch of the family resided at Webworthy, pronounced "Wibbery," in northwestern Devon, where they held extensive estates for three hundred and fifty years. The name in this case is spelt Luppingcott and Luppin- cott. Of this line the last was Henry Luppin- cott, who lived at Barcelona, Spain, and died in 1779. A branch of this family removed from Webworthy to Sidbury in East Devon about the middle of the sixteenth century, and from them was descended Henry Lippincott, who became a distinguished merchant of Bris- tol, was made a baronet in 1778 by King George III, and through his son Sir Robert Gann Lippincott, baronet, became the ancestor of Robert Cann Lippincott and his sons Robert C. Cann Lippincott and Henry Cann Lippincott, whose descendants are probably the only liv- ing male representatives of this ancient branch of the family in England. The residence of this branch of the family is at Overcourt, near Bristol.
That the Lippincotts of England held a good position in the world is evidenced by the nu- merous coats-of-arms granted to them, no less than eight coats appearing to have been be- stowed upon gentlemen of the name, some of them almost if not quite as early as 1420, in which year. John Lippingcott, of Wibbery, is found bearing his, from which by modification several of the later coats seem to be derived. Another arms, which diverges widely from the rest, and was most probably granted as early as the Crusades to one whose name was spelt Luffyngcotte, is thus described: "A black eagle, sprinkled with drops of blood and dis- played upon a shield of silver." In still an- other branch of the Devonshire Lippincotts the name appears to have gone through the transformations of Leppingote, Leppingcotte, Leppyncott, and Lippincott, and according to the latest authorities it is from this branch that the American Lippingcotts are descended although the earlier authorities favor one of the other lines.
(I) Richard Lippincott, the founder of the family in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, although belonging to a branch of the family
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of his contemporaries and fellow-believers of too mild and peaceable a disposition to be either happy or contented amidst the con- ditions that prevailed in England during the latter years of the reign of Charles I, in con- sequence associated himself at an early date with the settlers of the colony of Massachu- setts Bay, and taking up his residence at Dor- chester he became a member of the church there, and April 1, 1640, was chosen to one of the town offices, being made freeman by the court of Boston, May 13, 1640. Here his eldest son was born and was baptized Sep- tember, 1641. A few years later, however, he removed to Boston where his second son and eldest daughter were born and their bap- tisms entered on the records of the First Church at Boston ; in the entry of the son the father being noted as "a member of the church at Dorchester." This baptism was Novem- ber 10, 1644. Even New England Puritanism, however, was of too militant a character for Richard Lippincott, and he began to differ more and more from his brethren of the church in regard to some of their religious doctrines, and so tenacious of his opinions was he that on July 6, 1651, he was formally ex- communicated. About a year later, in 1652, Richard Lippincott returned to England in the hope that under the Commonwealth he might find a greater degree of religious liberty than was obtainable among his fellow-colonists in Massachusetts. That to some extent at least his hopes were gratified seems evident from the name of his third son, Restore or Re- stored, who was born at Plymouth, England, in the following year, 1652, as there can be no doubt that he received his name in commemo- ration of his father's restoration to his native land and to the communion of more congenial spirits. Just what Richard Lippincott's relig- ious views at this time were can only be a matter of conjecture, but they evidently har- monized more or less with those of George Fox and his adherents as shortly after his re- turn to England he became a member of the Society of Friends, and soon after his pro- fession of faith became a partaker with his fellow believers in their sufferings for their principles and in the persecutions to which they were subjected. In February, 1655, while he was residing at Plymouth, Devon- shire, the mayor of that town caused his arrest and imprisonment in the town jail near the castle of Exeter, his offense being it would appear that he had made the assertion that "Christ was the word of God and the Scrip-
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