USA > New Jersey > Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey, Volume II > Part 40
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This branch of the Adams fam-
ADAMS ily in America was founded by Jacob Adams, who emigrated to America about the middle of the eighteenth century. He was an early settler in Beverly township, Burlington county, New Jersey, and became possessed of farming land in that township, where the ruins of his log house may be seen on the Marter farm near Beverly. He had issue: John, William, Jacob, Isaac, Nancy (Mrs. John W. Fenimore), Deborah (Mrs. John Cannon), Amelia (Mrs. Hendrick Van Brunt).
(II) John, son of Jacob Adams, the founder, was born December 15, 1784, and died December 16, 1859. He was a carpenter and builder. He erected many buildings in the vicinity, and was a successful contractor. He married Nancy
(III) Jacob C., son of John and Nancy Adams, was born in Beverly township, New Jersey, in the year 1827, and died in 1875. He was educated in the public schools, and followed farming all his life. He had a brick- yard on his farm and made bricks for build- ing purpose. This became an important item of his business and is still carried on by his
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descendants. He was a member of the Re- publican party, and served as overseer of high- ways and on the township committee. He was an Odd Fellow, belonging to Beverly Lodge No. 22. His religious faith was Presbyterian, of which church he was an exemplary mem- ber. Jacob C. Adams married Mary Ann Wil- son, who bore him three children: 1. Henry Clay ( see forward ). 2. Samuel. 3. Cornelia (Mrs. Joseph Gabriel, of Philadelphia).
(IV) Henry Clay, first born child of Jacob C. and Mary A. (Wilson) Adams, was born on the homestead farm in Beverly township, Burlington county, New Jersey. This is now Edgewater Park. He was educated at Cooperstown ( New Jersey). He inherited the farm from his father, making the third genera- tion to own and conduct the property. He con- tinues the manufacture of brick, and in ad- dition operates a coal and wood yard in Edge- water Park. His specialty in agriculture is gardening for the Philadelphia market. Mr. Adams is a Republican, and is on the town- ship committee. He is a member of the Pa- trons of Husbandry, Roncocas Grange; Bev- erly Lodge No. 95, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Burlington Lodge, No. 996.
Henry C. Adams married, in 1874, Levinia, daughter of William R. Christie, of Salem, New Jersey. Children : I. Harry J., born 1875 ; is interested with his father in both the farm and the coal yard at Edgewater Park; mar- ried Bertha V., daughter of James and Annie C. (Johnson) Pennington, of Roncocas, New Jersey ; they have a son, Henry P. Adams. 2. Herbert L., born 1877; also with his father in business ; married Isabelle, daughter of Rob- ert Williams, of Trenton, New Jersey ; they have Raymond and Joseph G. Adams. 3 Elizabeth D., born 1880; married Hugh B. Miller, a contractor and builder of Edgewater Park; they have Lavinia Helen, Warren Adams and Hugh Burton Miller. 4. D. Lind- say, born 1895. Two children died in infancy -George and Earl.
Captain Elton Allen Smith is a SMITH descendant on both paternal and maternal sides from a long line of sturdy New England ancestors. They were among the founders of the Nation and passed through all the hardships and privations inci- dent to the pioneer life, defending themselves against the Indians and wild beasts of the forests which then infested the country. They participated in all the early wars, were con-
spicuous for the services in the French and Indian, revolutionary, and the war of 1812. The hardships they passed through in that rugged climate bred in their descendants a hardiness and fertility of body and brain which has enabled them to carry on successfully many varied interests at the same time, and become leaders in the business circles all over the Continent. Elton A. Smith is a worthy descendant of his ancestors. He takes a per- sonal supervision of all the details of all his varied interests in manufacturing, transporta- tion and agriculture.
Elton A. Smith was born in Woodstock, Vermont, March 23, 1848, where he was reared until about fourteen years of age, when the family moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, and in 1866 came to Smithville, New Jersey, soon after going to sea, spending five years on the ocean, finally locating in Savannah, Geor- gia, and in the years following engaged in many enterprises, following many lines of bus- iness endeavor for a period of twenty-five years. His New England ancestry has furn- ished him with a business acumen and energy that carried him successfully through the diffi- cult problems that confront the progressive, daring business man, and he gained a com- fortable competence, as well as becoming a seasoned, practical man of affairs. Mr. Smith is emphatically a self-made man, and he can look back upon the twenty-five years spent wrestling single handed with the world, with all the satisfaction of a victor. His residence in the south terminated upon the death of his father in 1887, when he came north and settled in Smithville, New Jersey, assuming control of the H. B. Smith Machine Company, estab- lished by H. B. Smith in 1847, and since 1865 located at Smithville, New Jersey. This plant manufactures wood working machinery of every description, and employs from three hundred to five hundred operatives, covers, with its extensive factories and grounds in- cluding the village owned by the company, about one hundred acres. The company has branches for the sale of their product in all the principal cities of this country and nu- merous sales agencies in the different parts of the world. They are among the oldest and largest manufacturers of wood working ma- chinery in existence to-dav. Elton A. Smith is president and principal owner of the busi- ness. He is known as one of the leading busi- ness men of New Jersey. The fortune he has accumulated has been fairly won, as it has been fairly used, for the comfort and happi-
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ness of his family and the good of his fellow- men. He has large farming, real estate and other interests outside of this business, and maintains a handsome summer home in his native state, Vermont. He has fraternal rela- tions with the Masonic order, holding all the degrees up to and including that of Knight Templar, and is a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is an Odd Fellow and an Elk.
He married Marie O'Byrne, of Savannah, Georgia, and has children: Regis, E. Allen, Hilda, Erle, Verona, Elizabeth and Lois. His sons are associated with their father in busi- ness.
KING The family of King at present under consideration belongs to the emigration of the early nineteenth century which brought to this country so many of the best of England's middle class manu- facturing and industrial element.
(I) Ray King, founder of the family, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, was a silversmith by trade and came to this country in the early part of the nineteenth century, bringing his wife Anna (Wilson) King, and they had children: William, Joseph R., re- ferred to below, Abigail, Eleanor.
(II) Joseph Ray, son of Ray and Anna (Wilson) King, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, about 1803, died in Burlington, New Jersey, in 1845. He was highly edu- cated, was quite a linguist and followed his father's trade of silversmith. He was a mem- ber of the Society of Friends. He married Mary Gaskill, daughter of Caleb and Elizabeth (Williams) Gaskill, of Burlington, whose father was a large real estate owner, being possessed of much land where some of the best residences of Burlington now stand, and besides this having large lumber interests. The children of Joseph Ray and Mary (Gas- kill) King were: Anna Wilson, Elizabeth, re- ferred to below, William Gaskill and George Gaskill, twins.
(III) Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Ray and Mary (Gaskill) King, was born in Bur- lington, New Jersey, educated at select schools, at the boarding school at Wilmington and at the Westtown Friends' school. In 1876 she married Nicholas Buzby, born in Haddonfield, New Jersey, in 1840, died in 1900, the son of Abel and Rachel Buzby. His father, Abel Buzby, was a school teacher ; he lived in Philadelphia most of his life and his children were: Susanna, deceased; William Paul, a contractor in Philadelphia ; Nicholas,
mentioned above ; Ellen. Nicholas Buzby was in the banking business in Philadelphia for the greater part of his life, being for thirty years with the Northern Liberties Bank of that city, and at the time of his death being that insti- tution's head bookkeeper. For the last twenty-six years of his life he had made his home in Burlington. He was an elder in the Presbyterian church, also trustee and treas- urer, a teacher in the Sunday school and ac- tively identified with everything pertaining to the church and its interests. He was not in- terested in politics. He was a Mason in Phila- delphia and is a thirty-second degree Mason. Nicholas and Elizabeth (King) Buzby had only one daughter, who died in infancy.
DONOVAN The members of this fam- ily have not been residents of this country much more than half a century, but in every place they have lived they have been respected and de- sirable citizens, and have contributed to the progress and improvement of the community.
(I) James Donovan was born in Ireland, and lived there until about 1850, when he came to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he re- mained until his death. He married Cather- ine Hayes, born in Ireland, died in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. Their children were : John, deceased ; Mary ; Julia ; Joanna ; Patrick, died in Ireland ; Timothy ; Daniel.
(II) Daniel, fourth son of James and Catherine (Hayes) Donovan, was born in 1829, in county Cork, Ireland, and there learned the trade of shoemaker. He emi- grated to America, landing in New York, July 3, 1849, and later settled in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, where he first worked at his trade and later became proprietor of a shoe store, which he owned and conducted for many years. On his retirement from active busi- ness he removed to Riverside, New Jersey, where he now resides with his son, Timothy Jeremiah, also his wife. He married Cather- ine Conway, born in 1829, in county Claire, Ireland, and their children were : 1. James. 2. John, living with Timothy J., at Riverside. 3. Timothy Jeremiah. 4. Belle, resides in Phila- delphia. 5. Jennie, deceased. 6. Nellie, re- sides at West Philadelphia. 7. Kate, living at Hartford, Connecticut. 8. Lizzie, living in Philadelphia. 9. Annie, deceased. 10. Dan- iel, living at West Philadelphia. II. Frank, living at Philadelphia. 12. Willie, lives with Timothy J., at Riverside, New Jersey.
(III) Timothy Jeremiah, third son of Dan-
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iel and Catherine ( Conway) Donovan, was born November 1, 1856, at Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, where he received his educa- tion and later worked at manufacture of sheet iron, learning the trade. At the age of twenty he spent a year in the west, spending most of the time in Minnesota and Texas; he then re- moved to Philadelphia and in 1880 embarked in the hotel business, which he conducted for eight years, and then removed to Riverside, New Jersey, where in 1890 he opened the Avenue House, which is still conducted by him, and is the best hotel in the vicinity. Mr. Donovan is a Democrat in political views. He is a member of the advisory board of River- side, was one of the organizers in 1903, and is now one of the board of directors of the River- side National Bank. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and belongs to the Riverside Fire Company.
Mr. Donovan married (first) in 1880, Eliz- abeth, daughter of Patrick McGrath, of Phila- delphia, and they had one daughter, Mabel Ella, who married John Michterlin, of Phila- delphia, and has two children, Vincin and Ethena. Mrs. Donovan died in June, 1898. Mr. Donovan married (second) in 1899, Re. becca M., daughter of Jacob Kerines, of De- lanco, New Jersey, and they had one son, Al- bert Jenning, born June 14, 1900, died August, I903.
Lord John Middleton MIDDLETON married at St. Andrews, Helborn, December 16, 1666, Martha Carew.
(II) John (2), son of Lord John (I) and Martha (Carew) Middleton, was born in Eng- land in 1686, died at Crosswicks, Chesterfield township, Burlington county, New Jersey, in 1741. He settled on a farm in Crosswicks which his wife had inherited, and there spent his life, living quietly and orderly as did be- come a devout member of the Society of Friends. He married, January 14, 1710, Esther Gilberthrope, who was born in the Province of West Jersey, December, 1684, and died at Crosswicks in 1759, daughter of Thomas and Esther Gilberthrope, Friends, who came to this country from England. This John Middleton has a son Thomas and other sons, one of whom was the father of Jacob Middleton, of Crosswicks, the earliest ancestor of the family under consideration here of whom we have any reliable record or informa .. tion.
(IV) Jacob Middleton, grandson of John
of Crosswicks, and great-grandson of Lord John of Helborn, England, was born at Cross- wicks, New Jersey, in 1751, died May 6, 1818. He married and had son Jacob.
(V) Jacob (2), son of Jacob (I) Middle - ton, was born at Crosswicks, New Jersey, Au- gust 6, 1788, died February 5, 1878. He was a brick mason by trade and a farmer by prin- cipal occupation. He married Sibylia West, born January 14, 1791, died May 7, 1879. Children : Hannah, born 1815, died 1856; Al- bert, February 25, 1817, see post ; George W., died young.
(VI) Albert, son of Jacob (2) and Sibylia (West) Middleton, was born February 25, 1817, died December 7, 1905. He was a car- penter and joiner by trade and followed that occupation during the early part of his busi- ness life. Subsequently he was appointed ticket agent at Hainesport for the Pennsylva- nia Railroad Company and filled that position for twenty years, until he retired from active pursuits, several years previous to his death. He was first a Whig and later a Republican, and served as a member of the board of free- holders and as member of the township com- mittee. He also was a member of the So- ciety of Friends. In January, 1845, Mr. Mid- dleton married Ann S. Middleton, born 1822 died December, 1890, daughter of Allen Mid- dleton. Children: Emma E., born October, 1845, married Robert Love, of Philadelphia ; Walter Jeanes, see post.
(VII) Walter Jeanes, son of Albert and Ann S. (Middleton) Middleton, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 17, 1848, and was a child three years old when his par- ents removed from that village to Hainesport, New Jersey. His young life was spent in the latter town, and there he was given a good common school education. In 1871 he opened a general merchandise store in Hainesport and for the next thirty years was prominently iden- tified with the business life and history of the place, for he was a capable and prosperous business man and enjoyed a wide acquaintance in the region. Mr. Middleton retired from active pursuits in 1900, although he still retains considerable property interests which require his attention; he is also a director of the Hainesport Mining and Transportation Com- pany. He is a Republican in political prefer- ence and for many years was a well known figure in public affairs in the township. He served ten years as postmaster of Hainesport and also served as school director. Like his ancestors before him, Mr. Middleton is a mem-
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ber of the Socitey of Friends. In 1878 he married Anna M., daughter of Benjamin Jr. and Sarah (West) Thorn, of Crosswicks. Mr. and Mrs. Middleton have one son, Howard T., born in Hainsport, November. 19, 1879. He was educated in the town schools, the high school at Moorestown, and at a business col- lege in Philadelphia. He is now an employee in the general offices of the Pennsylvania Rail- road Company in Philadelphia.
Benjamin Thorn Jr. was born at Crosswicks, January 18, 1810, died in June, 1890. He was a carpenter by trade and after his removal to Hainesport was captain of the steamer "Bar- clay," plying between Hainesport and the city of Philadelphia. He was a substantial and well-informed man, an old line Whig and later a Republican, and an elder of the Society of Friends.
He married, in 1832, Sarah West, born Sep- tember 7, 1813, daughter of Thomas West. Their children were George W., of Moores- town, New Jersey; Sarah, married Josiah D. Pancoast; Anna M., married Walter Jeanes Middleton ; Lucy R., married (first) George Taylor, (second) James Thornton ; Ellen H. married William Bartram; Albert M., a ma- chinist at Frankfort; Caroline R., married Charles Ballinger, a farmer of Lumberton, New Jersey. Benjamin Thorn Jr. was a son of Benjamin Thorn, who was born at Cross- wicks in January, 1763, died June 13, 1848. He was a storekeeper at Crosswicks. He mar- ried Lucy Taylor, born 1768, died November 18, 1842. Their children were Thomas B. and Benjamin, twins, born January 18. 1810.
LEWIS Hon. Griffith Walker Lewis, of Burlington, New Jersey, de- scends on his maternal side from an old Burlington county family, the Kimbles. The founder of the Lewis family in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from whom the Burling- ton county family descends, emigrated from Wales and had a son Ephraim, who was a volunteer in the war of 1812, serving in the Pennsylvania line. The first of this family to come to Burlington, New Jersey, was Grif- fith Walker Lewis, father of Hon. Griffith Walker Lewis, whose name appears at the head of this record.
(I) Griffith Walker Lewis Sr. was born in Hatboro, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 1837, died in Burlington, New Jersey, February, 1901. He received a good common school education, and was reared on the farm where his early years were spent in helping to culti-
vate the same. Leaving the farm he went to Philadelphia, where he obtained work in a shoe factory. He became familiar with the methods employed in the manufacture of shoes as well as an expert workman. He re- moved from Philadelphia to Burlington, New Jersey, where he started business on his own account, engaging in the manufacture of shoes. He prospered in his business and was constantly obliged to increase his investment and extend his lines until 1892 when he built the present factory at Burlington. Here he was the active, energetic, modern business man until his death in 1901. Mr. Lewis was inter- ested in other business enterprises and in the financial institution of Burlington in an official capacity and as an investor. He was a di- rector of the Mechanics' National Bank, vice- president of the Electric Light and Power Company, and held numerous positions of honor and trust. He was a member of the Masonic order, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. He married (first) Annie Maria Kimble, born in 1837, who bore him three children: Robert, who died at the age of six; Griffith Walker, see forward; one who died in infancy. He married (second) Ellen F. Doolin, by whom there was no issue.
Annie Maria (Kimble) Lewis was a daugh- ter of John, born 1808, and Rhoda (Smith) Kimble, born 1805, and a granddaughter of Tuly Kimble, born 1782, and Lucretia ( White) Kimble, born 1785. Her mother, Rhoda (Smith) Kimble, was born near London, Eng- land, and was one of fourteen children that crossed the ocean to America with her parents. One child was born in America, John Kimble, father of Mrs. Lewis. Tuly Kimble, her grandfather, and Joseph Kimble, her great- grandfather, were all Burlington county farm- ers and land owners. Joseph Kimble was a large owner of land in the county, and at one time owned slaves who were employed in cul- tivating the soil. Tuly Kimble had another son Job and a daughter Nancy, who married a Mr. Fort. The Kimbles also intermarried with the Stokes family of New Jersey, of which Ex-Governor Stokes is a member. The children of John and Rhoda (Smith) Kimble are: Sarah Morris, born in 1832; Susan Mar- tin, 1833; Daniel, 1835; Annie Maria, 1837; Charles Wesley, 1839; Frank Marrel, 1843; all of these children were born in Burlington, New Jersey.
(II) Griffith Walker (2), only surviving son of Griffith Walker (1) and Annie Maria (Kimble) Lewis, was born in Burlington, New
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Jersey, July 1, 1862. He was educated in the country schools near Jacksonville, Burlington county, New Jersey, and at the Burlington Military College. After leaving school he entered his father's factory and thoroughly mastered the detail of each department of shoe manufacturing. After becoming familiar with the factory work, Mr. Lewis spent several years on the road, selling the goods made at the factory. Previous to his father's death he was in charge of the business, and at that time assumed full control, which he still re- tains. In addition to conducting his shoe fac- tory, Mr. Lewis has large real estate interests both in and outside the city. He is actively interested in the financial and other business institutions of Burlington. He was vice- president of the Electric Light and Power Company, succeeding his father in that office, and is now president of the company. He is vice-president of the Mt. Holly Fair Associa- tion, director of the Public Library Associa- tion, director in the City of Burlington Build- ing and Loan Association, one of the incorpo- rators and a director of the Burlington Loan and Trust Company. For eight years he was identified with the Mechanics' National Bank of Burlington as director and vice-president. In 1908 he was elected president of that in- stitution and is now holding that important position. In politics Mr. Lewis is a Repub- lican and his political career has been as active and successful as his business life has been. For six years he has been a member of the city council, serving for two years as chair- man of the finance committee and for one year as president of the council. He is a member of the Burlington county Republican executive committee and has an influential voice in the councils of his party. In 1906 Mr. Lewis was the successful candidate of his party for the house of representatives of New Jersey, and was elected his own successor in 1907-08. At the 1909 session he was floor leader of the majority and chairman of the judiciary com- mittee. In the Masonic fraternity Mr. Lewis has attained high degree. He is past master of Burlington Lodge, No. 32, Free and Ac- cepted Masons ; a Royal Arch Mason of Bou- dinot Chapter, No. 3; a Knight Templar of Helena Commandery, No. 3; a Shriner of Lulu Temple, Philadelphia, and a thirty-sec- ond degree Mason of Camden Consistory of the Scottish Rite. He is an Odd Fellow of Phoenix Lodge, No. 92; a Knight of Pythias of Hope Lodge, No. 73, and past exalted ruler of Mt. Holly Lodge of Elks, No. 848. In re-
ligious preference Mr. Lewis is Presbyterian.
Mr. Lewis married, June 27, 1893, Mary R. Fenton, of Jacksonville, Burlington county, New Jersey, daughter of William Watson and Rhoda (Falkinburg) Fenton. Children: I. Howard Fenton, born in Burlington, New Jersey, April 1, 1894, passed through the pub . lic schools of Burlington, Haines Preparatory School and is now a student at the Trenton State Normal. 2. Helen Burr, born Octo- ber, 1898.
under variously spelled sur- FRENCH names the French family ap- peared in England soon after the Norman conquest. The first of the line recorded was with William the Conqueror at the battle of Hastings, October 14, 1066, and the Yorkshire records of the twelfth cen- tury frequently show the name. Others located in the beginning chiefly in the south- eastern counties, but later they appeared in the west and in the north as far as Scotland. They also settled at a very early date in Ireland, and one branch of the family trace their de- scent directly from Rollo, Duke of Normandy. In England, before the close of the thirteenth century, the French family had become ex- tensive, prosperous and influential. In York the name was spelled Francais, in Berks Ffrensh, in Middlesex Frenssh, in Somerset Frensce, in Surrey Frensche, in Northampton Francais and Fraunceys, and in Wiltshire French. In the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- turies it is generally found in Northampton in the form ffrench, the form adopted by the an- cestors of the line at present under consid- eration.
(I) Thomas ffrench, father of the pro- genitor of the New Jersey branch of the French family, like his ancestors for many generations, lived at Nether Heyford, where he was known as an influential and useful citizen. His home, Nether Heyford, was a parish in the hundred of Newbottle Grove, county Northampton, seven miles south by west from the city of Northampton, England. The parish is a very ancient one, and the parish church, dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul, was erected in the early part of the thirteenth century. From 1558, when the registers begin, down to 1680, when the emi- grant left his English home, there are over sixty references to the French family, all evi- dently referring to the same line. Thomas ffrench was twice married. By his first wife, Sara, he had: I. Patience, born 1637. 2.
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