USA > New Jersey > Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey, Volume II > Part 3
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1825, and his remains were interred in the Dutch Reformed burial ground in Houston street, New York, and fifty years afterward, when the bodies there were removed his re- mains, with those of his son George C., were carefully gathered up and reinterred in the plot of another son, Rev. John Moffat Howe, M. D., in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York, Major Howe was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and at his death the membership passed to his eldest son, George C. Howe, whose son, George Bezaleel Howe, died without male issue, surviving him, and membership passed to his cousin, Dr. John Morgan Howe, of New- York, son of Rev. John Moffat Howe, who is the present repre- sentative of the family in the society.
(VI) Rev. John Moffat Howe, M. D., fourth child and second son of Major Beza- leel Howe, by his second wife, was born at 12 Rose street, New York, January 23, 1806. His school days began when he was about four years old and continued eight or nine years, when his father's straitened circum- stances obliged him to seek a self-supporting career. At the age of seventeen he entered the employ of a merchant tailor in Maiden Lane, and at the same time attended night school. Later he and Obadiah Peck estab- lished a tailoring business, and young Howe applied himself so sedulously to his work that his health failed, and after three years the partnership was dissolved. Later, in 1826, he established himself as a dentist in New York. He took into his office and under his instruction (dental schools being then un- known) many who rose to the front rank of the profession, among them two of his own sons : John Morgan Howe and Charles Mor- timer Howe. As to himself, he worked out his own professional education, his only ad- vantages being the few volumes on dentistry then in existence, such articles as appeared in medical and other journals, and his own per- sistent practical effort. To this period of his life belongs his service in the New York militia, which was then compulsory. After service in the ranks he was commissioned lieu- tenant in the Two Hundred and Thirty-fifth Regiment, May 17, 1828, and September 21, 1830, was appointed quartermaster. In 1833, while visiting near Oswego, New York, Dr. Howe was licensed an exhorter in the Metho- dist Episcopal church, and March 9, 1836, in the Greene Street Church, he was made a licensed preacher. From this time his labors as a local minister were constant. He was
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ordained deacon May 19, 1839, by Bishop Elijah Hedding, and elder by Bishop Thomas A. Morris, in the Seventh Street Church, New York City, May 21, 1843. From the latter date began his long career of activity under the old "circuit system," now all but entirely disappeared. At first he occupied pulpits in the city or adjacent suburbs, often, when no vehicle was readily procurable, walking con- siderable distances to meet his appointments. In 1835 he supplied the pastorate at Astoria, Long Island, and June 6, 1837, was appointed chaplain of the New York Hospital. About a year after assuming the duties of the latter position, his health failed to such a degree that his physicians advised a voyage to Europe, as the only hope for saving his life, and he sailed for England, June 7, 1838, spending several months there, and also visiting France, eventually returning in greatly improved con- dition.
About 1848 Dr. Howe took up his residence in Orange, New Jersey, making daily trips to New York for business. In 1853 he made his final change of residence to Acquackanonk (now Passaic), New Jersey, where the re- mainder of his life was passed, and from this time he became especially identified with the interests of the city. As it grew, he opened streets and ways, and erected houses. He took a profound interest in educational affairs. He founded, in 1859, the private school known as Howe's Academy, which he conducted until 1868. On March 28, 1865, he was appointed by the governor of New Jersey to the position of trustee of the State Normal School, which he held to nearly the end of his life, having among his official associates as pioneers of the state school system, Charles Elmer, Elias Cook, Dr. Maclean, Rev. William H. Steele, and ex-Chancellor Williamson. Dr. Howe died December 5, 1885, from a stroke of paralysis, after a few days' suffering, and his remains were laid to rest in Cedar Lawn Cem- etery, on the banks of Dundee Lake, between Passaic and Paterson, in a plot selected by himself. He left behind him the record of a man of exceptional ability in his chosen pro- fession, as one of the most prominent local preachers of his day, and as one of the dis- tinguished band who founded the free public school system of New Jersey.
He married, October 31, 1838, Mary, born August 10, 1817, died October 15, 1841, daughter of Rev. Thomas and Mary W. (Morgan) Mason. Children: I. Frances Ramadge, born August 10, 1839, married, Sep-
tember 18, 1859, Rev. John Andrew Munroe, of Annapolis, Maryland, son of Rev. Jonathan and Matilda (Keiser) Munroe ; seven children, of whom five are now living. 2. Mary Mason, died in infancy. Dr. Howe married (second) Ann W., born in Philadelphia, March 18, 1815, youngest daughter of John and Elizabeth (Chambers) Morgan. Mrs. Howe died Oc- tober 19, 1844, in giving birth to a son, John Morgan Howe, who married, October 17, 1866, Emma, daughter of David and Emma Eliza (Blois) Roe; five children. Dr. Howe married (third) May 7, 1846, Emeline, young- est daughter of Barzillai and Susan (Bar- nard) Jenkins. Children: I. George Row- land, see forward. 2. Edwin Jenkins, born July 2, 1849, died March 14, 1905; married, November 18, 1875, Sarah Louise, daughter of Henry and Sarah Simmons, of Passaic. He was a prominent physician in Newark. 3. Charles Mortimer, born May 1, 1851, married, October 12, 1876, Margaret Ida, daughter of Caleb Augustus and Sarah Hall (Withington) Canfield; child, Ella Louise, married Ansel Bartlet, son of Thomas and Mary A. (Gurney) Maxim, who died April 24, 1886, to whom she bore a daughter, and she later married Professor Byron D. Halsted, and died leaving a daughter by him. 4. Emeline Jenkins, born June 1, 1856, married on same day, twenty years later, David, son of Rev. John and Maria (Harper) Carlisle; four chil- dren. 5. Susan Elenora, born October 15 or 18, 1858, married, January 7, 1883, Byron David, son of David and Mary (Mechem) Halsted; two children.
(VII) George Rowland, eldest son of Rev. John Moffat and Emeline (Jenkins) Howe, was born in New York City, October 21, 1847, and was baptized there by Rev. Dr. Nathan Bangs. His preparatory education was mostly by private tutors and in select schools. He entered the University of the City of New York, class of 1868, but left in his sophomore year and accepted a position with Carter, Hale & Company, manufacturing jewelers, Newark, New Jersey. In 1876 changes were made and Mr. Howe was admitted as a partner, the new firm name being Carter, Hawkins & Sloan, and after several changes became, in 1902, Carter, Howe & Company. Since 1881 Mr. Howe has been manager of the manufacturing department. While his business qualities have long been recognized by his associates and the business public, Mr. Howe is well known by his connection with the religious interests of Newark and East Orange. He has been iden-
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tified with the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation of Newark for more than twenty-seven years, serving upon its board of managers, later as president, and as a trustee. He has always been deeply interested in beautifying city and suburban surroundings, especially those of his chosen home in East Orange, and on January 1, 1901, he was elected president of the Municipal Art League of that town. For five years he was a member of the East Orange school board; is a member of the board of trustees of the Newark Technical School, and by appointment of Governor Fort is a member of the preliminary commission on industrial education. He is one of the di- rectors of the Howard Savings Institution. He is deeply interested in historical subjects, and is a member of the board of managers of the Washington's Headquarters Association, at Morristown, and a trustee of the New Jer- sey Historical Society. He is an elder in the Mann Avenue Presbyterian Church of East Orange. He is a member of the Essex Club, and the Lawyers' Club of New York, and in politics is a Republican.
Mr. Howe married, January 11, 1879, Louisa Anna, youngest daughter of Paris and Jane (Eno) Barber. She is a descendant from Thomas Barber, who emigrated from England to Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1635, and in 1637 settled in Windsor, Con- necticut, the line of descent being Samuel (2), David (3), David (4), David (5), Aaron (6), Jedediah (7), who was the father of Paris Bar- ber. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Howe : I. George Rowland Jr., who died in infancy. 2. Her- bert Barber, born in Newark, October 25, 1882, attended preparatory school, Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Massachusetts, and graduated from Williams College in 1905. 3. Ruth Eno, born April 22, 1886, is a graduate of the Dana School, Morristown, New Jersey.
SHINN The name is evidently Anglo- Saxon and not Celtic. In Frisia, Batavia, Holland and Bohemia the name is found "Schyn" or "Shyn." One of the earliest historians of the Moravians was Herman "Schyn," "Shyn" or "Schynn." His work was published in 1728 and he was a resi- dent of Holland. The variation of spellings is the result of the effort of different trans- cribers to reproduce in writing or type the sound of the name as it comes to the ear. Before the time of the historian, Herman Shinn, the name is found among the knights of Bohemia engaged in the Hussar Wars and
is written "Schynn." The ancient respecta- bility of Shinn as a surname is established by that well-founded English authority, the land- mark of genealogical and antiquarian lore, the venerable and invulnerable Domesday Book of England. The parish registers of England give abundant examples of the name in its various spellings, all coming to or approach- ing the pronunciation of the letters as arranged in "Shin" and broadened into "Sheene." The recorded wills in England have the name Shene, Sheen; Shinn; and Shinne.
In Smith's History of Nova Caesarea, New Jersey, is found a partial list of immigrants, who in the spring of 1672 left England in the ship "Kent" for West Jersey. There were two hundred and thirty Quakers who left London on this ship about equally divided be- tween the two strongholds of the people of that, faith, London and Yorkshire, and who landed at the present site of Burlington and began a settlement they called New Brierly, changing the name to Bridlington after a town in Yorkshire, from whence many of the set- tlers had come, but it subsequently became known as Burlington. As the name of John Shinn does not appear on this list, he may have been with one of the ship loads that followed between 1678 and 1680, as in a general list without designating the ship, the name of John Shinn does not appear.
(I) John, the son of Clement and Grace Sheene, and grandson of Francis Sheene, of Freckenham Parish, Herfordshire, England, was born in that shire in 1623. He was brought up in the established Church, but became a follower of George Fox in spite of the strong religious influence of his family and his religious sponsors. For this heresy he was persecuted and imprisoned in the Hert- fordshire jail, and before 1678 he left his home, taking with him his family, consisting of his wife and nine children, and took pas- sage in one of the numerous ships at that time departing with full passenger lists of dissat- isfied families of the Society of Friends, and sought a haven of peace in the promised land of Nova Caesarea or New Jersey in America. He seems to have had a full knowledge of the endeavors of the London Meeting of Friends to obtain strong men to direct this movement, and as soon as he reached Burlington in West Jersey he was made a freeholder and the com- missioners at once made him a member of the grand jury, their highest tribunal. The earl- iest communication received by the London
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Yearly Meeting from the Friends in Burling- ton, West Jersey, was dated the seventh day of the twelfth month 1680," and John Shinn was a member of the Men's Monthly Meeting and subscribed his name with sixteen others as being absent at the time the report was drawn up, but wished to approve of the same before it was sent to the London Yearly Meet- ing. Thus we are able to say that John Shinn was in West Jersey as early as 1680 and prob- ably as early as 1678 and that he was a free- holder and a member of the Society of Friends. We also find him to be the head of a family, who came with him to America. On Septem- ber 18, 1680, he purchased of William Emley, one of the commissioners sent out to overlook the affairs of the colonists until they could form a government by the people themselves, one-fifteenth of one of the one hundred shares of West Jersey, and by a deed dated July 17, 1697, John Shinn, of Springfield township, Burlington county, wheelwright, conveys to his son, James Shinn, one hundred and twenty acres, being part of the one-fifteenth of the property bought of William Emley, Septem- ber 18, 1680, and by deed dated July 15, 17II, John Shinn conveys to John Shinn Junior, the remainder of the one-fifteenth of a share bought as aforesaid. He was thus a landed proprietor and we find him joining with other proprietors arranging for the survey, purchase and sale of the lands as purchased from the Indians and in one or more of the recorded deeds he is distinguished as John Shinn, of Springfield Lodge. In the prospectus sent to England by these proprietors inviting immi- gration, they not only dwell on the salubrity of the climate and the good temper of the Indians, with general directions as to manner and cost of migration, but they frankly speak of the ills they will meet with these words : "All persons inclined unto these parts must know that in their settlement there they will find their exercises. They must labor before they reap ; and until their plantation be cleared, they must expect the mosquitoes, flies, gnats and such like, may in hot and fair weather give the same disturbances, when people pro- vide not against them."
John Shinn was one of the landed pro- prietors of the township, and a man respected and esteemed. He was a member of the board of proprietors, who purchased, surveyed and distributed the lands among the members of the Society of Friends, who followed him to America. He owned part of the first mill site and was proprietor of the first saw and
grist mill in the township and probably the first manufacturer of bolted flour in Burling- ton. He owned and carried on a bolting mill at Bridgeton in 171I. He took an active part in the formation of the government of the township under the Democratic rule, as ob- tained among the Society of Friends in all their conduct with their fellowmen. His will was dated January 14, 1712, and was probated Feb- ruary 30, 1712, and his death occurred be- tween these dates, but the exact date is not preserved. At the time of his death he was an overseer of the Burlington Meeting and had been prominent in the erection of the Octagon Meeting House, which existed and was in use . 1683-1787, and in which his eldest child, John, announced on April 6, 1686, in open meeting, his intention to marry Ellen Stacy and Ellen likewise in the same manner announced in open meeting her intention to marry John Shinn, Junior. This intention was repeated in the same manner May 5, 1686, when they were granted by the meeting liberty to marry. The nine children of John and Jane Shinn were all born in England, as follows: I. John, married (first) Ellen Stacy, the third month and third day, 1686, and (second) Mary -, on the seventh month and eleventh day, 1707. 2. George, married Mary Thompson, fifth month, sixth day, 1691. 3. Mary, married (first) John Crosby, ninth month, eighth day, 1686, and (second) Richard Fennimore, 1691. 4. James (q. v.). 5. Thomas, married (first) Sarah Shawthorne, fifth month, first day, 1687, and (second) Mary Stockton, first month, sixth day, 1692-93. 6. Sarah, born 1669; mar- ried Thomas Atkinson. 7. Esther, never mar- ried. 8. Francis, never married. 9. Martha, married (first) Jo hua Owner, first month, third day, 1696-97; (second) Restore Lippin- cott (2), in 1729.
(II) James, probably the youngest child of John and Jane Shinn, was born in England, and came with his parents and his eight brothers and sisters to America and they all settled in Burlington, West Jersey, before 1780. His sister, Martha, accompanied by Joshua Owen had appeared in meeting on March 3, 1697, to make their second intentions of mar- riage and at this meeting it became noised around that James Shinn and Abigail Lippin- cott had declared their intentions of marriage without coming before the meeting. This rumor led to the appointment of a committee to speak to the parents of the two delinquents as well as to the delinquents themselves and ascertain why the rules of the meeting had
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not been observed. The committee reported on April 5, 1697, to a meeting that crowded the Octagon Meeting House to the doors, anxious to learn the result. The report was that the young people could not obtain their parents consent to marriage and that therefore they could not pass meeting. Thereupon, John Shinn and Restore Lippincott walked out of the Meeting and began to discuss the matter, while standing under a stately beech tree on the lawn of the Burlington Meeting House. Their wives, Jane and Hannah, soon joined them and the paternal consent was given to the marriage of James and Abigail and the party returned to the Meeting House and the intention of the marriage duly announced by both James and Abigail, before the assembled multitude, accompanied by applause from a large number of young people in attendance. One month later, on their second declaration, they were given liberty to marry and the cere- mony of marriage was recited by the two at the home of Restore and Hannah Lippincott in the presence of a large assemblage of invited guests, the first people of the township. John Shinn shortly after deeded to his son, James, one hundred and twenty-one acres of land in what is now Nottingham township and the happy couple began house-keeping. James added to his estate the same year by the pur- chase from John Butcher, and in 1705 he be- came the sole legatee of the estate of his brother, Francis. In 1709 he purchased land of John Garwood, and in May, 1712, his father-in-law conveyed to him two hundred and twenty- three acres of land in Nottingham township. This with his large accessions by purchase in both New Hanover township, Burlington county, and in Ocean county made him one of the largest land owners in West New Jersey. He died without a will as did many of the members of the Society of Friends from prin- ciple, and the genealogist is, therefore, deprived of that fruitful service of data as to his chil- dren.
Abigail Lippincott was by birth and wealth an attractive personality of the time. Her father, Restore Lippincott, was the third son of Richard, the immigrant, who came from Devonshire, England, and his ancestors are easily traced to the Domesday Book, compiled in the days of William the Conqueror. Rich- ard Lippincott landed in Boston, Massachu- setts Bay Colony, and lived in Dorchester, where he was made a freeman in 1640. He returned soon after to England, the Puritans making it none too agreeable for the Quakers
in Boston, and he became the largest share- holder in the Company of Friends that colon- ized the lands on the Shrewsbury river in West New Jersey, and was an active and influential officer of the colony. His son, Restore Lippin- cott, was born in England, in 1653, and re- moved to Shrewsbury, West New Jersey, with his father in 1669. In 1674 he married Han- nah Shattock, a native of Boston, and they made their home in Northampton township, Burlington county, New Jersey, where his wealth and character gave him great influence. He was a member of the governor's council of West Jersey in 1703-05. 5. The children of Restore and Hannah (Shattock) Lippincott were : Samuel, Abigail (q. v.), Hannah, Hope, Rebecca, James; Elizabeth, who married George, son of John Shinn (2) ; James and Rachel.
James Shinn was a member of the Society of Friends in good standing, and in Queen Anne's war the Burlington Monthly Meeting of April II, 1704, attested that he belonged to the Society of Friends and could not con- scientiously bear arms. The list of names thus sent out to all captains and other military officers included the names of George Shinn, of Springfield, and James Shinn, of Northamp- ton. He gave large tracts of land to his chil- dren and they in turn became possessed of the ambition to become like their father large land- holders. He died in his own home, New Han- over township (Wrightstown), where he had lived for many years, "at a ripe old age," in 1751. The children of James and Abigail (Lippincott ) Shinn were: I. Hannah, who married John Atkinson, 9-21, 1716. 2. Hope, who married Michael Atkinson 4-23, 1720. 3. Francis, born 8-25, 1706; married Elizabeth Atkinson, 8-13, 1729. 4. Joseph, who married Mary Budd, 1726. 5. James, who married, in 1739, Hannah Shinn (cousins). 6. Solomon (q. v.). . 7. Clement, who married Abigail Webb, "out of meeting." The following three were also probably their children: 8. Abigail, who married Henry Rieve, in 1728. 9. Sus- anah, who married Bartholomew West, 1727; lived in Monmouth county, New Jersey, where he had a large family and three of his sons were soldiers in the American revolution. IO. Marcy or Mercy, who died young.
(III) Solomon, fourth son and sixth child of James and Abigail (Lippincott) Shinn, was born in Springfield township, Burlington county, New Jersey, and was married in Spring- field Meeting House on 1-17, 1739, to Mary, daughter of Thomas and granddaughter of
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John Antrim. He was a farmer in New Han- over township for many years. He inherited lands in that township as well as in New Egypt, Monmouth county, and was a large purchasers of lands in Evesham and other parts of Burlington county. His wife, Mary, died after bearing him nine children, and he mar- ried as his second wife Mrs. Mary Bishop, a widow with several children, in 1782, and he died intestate in 1785. The names and dates of births of his children were inscribed in the back of the marriage certificate given by the Meeting at the time of his marriage to Mary Antrim and the additional data is the work of the genealogist from the minutes of the various meetings. The children of Solomon and Mary (Antrim) Shinn were born on the dates given as follows: I. Thomas, September 17, 1740; he married (first) Sarah Vinacomb, in 1764, and (second) Merebah Warren, in 1812. 2. Asa (q. v.). 3. James, January 23, 1744 ; married Lavinia Haines, in 1768. 4. Sarah, June 10, 1747 ; married Nathaniel Pope, in 1769. 5. Unity, February 9, 1749-50; mar- ried Joseph Pancoast, in 1767. 6. Caleb, May 3, 1752; married Mary Lucas, in 1771. 7. Mary, November 14, 1754, who died young. 8. Mary, August 29, 1756. 9. Abigail, April 9, 1759; married David Johnson, November 30, 1779.
(IV) Asa, second son and child of Solomon and Mary ( Antrim) Shinn, was born Novem- ber 27, 1742. He was a devout member of the Society of Friends by birthright and living, was made an overseer of the Burlington Meet- ing in 1791 and an elder in 1792. No charge of any kind was ever printed against him and his record is that of a blameless life. The date of his death does not appear on any record of the society and is not preserved by the family. He was married by Friend's Cere- mony, after due publication of intention in open meeting, in 1769, to Sarah, daughter of Samuel and Sarah Black Gauntt, and grand- daughter of Zebulon and Sophia (Shourds) Gauntt and of William and Sara (Rockhill) Black. The dignified overseer reported to Burlington Meeting that the marriage was conducted in an orderly manner "except an appearance of too great lightness on the part of some young people." His widow, Sarah, left a will which named Asa, son of Israel; two granddaughters, Sarah H. and Anna, daughters of Israel; two grandsons, Joseph and Solomon, sons of Solomon ; granddaugh- ter, Mary, daughter of Solomon ; four grand- children, Stacy, Ann, Rebecca and Eliza, chil-
dren of son, Joshua; daughter, Sarah; sons, William, Samuel, Isaac and Asa, as legatees. The children of Asa and Sarah (Gauntt) Shinn were born as follows: I. Hannah, Jan- uary 12, 1770; married Samuel Croft, May 5, 1803. 2. Israel, January 25, 1772; married Ann Curtis. 3. William (q. v.). 4. Isaac, No- vember 2, 1775 ; married Frances Van, in 1827. 5. Samuel, October 10, 1777; married Frances (Van) Shinn, in 1840. 6. Solomon, Septem- ber 8, 1779; married Mercy Lamb, July 15, 1805. 7. Joshua, April 4, 1781 ; married Ann Gaskell, November 17, 1803. 8. Asa, April 2, 1783 ; married (first) Hannah Gauntt, in 1828, and (second) Elizabeth Blackwood, February 26, 1833. 9. Sarah, October 30, 1784; died unmarried, February 12, 1826. 10. Joseph, March 30, 1786; died unmarried. II. Anne, February 17, 1789; married Stacy Haines, July 14, 1813.
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