Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey, Volume III, Part 52

Author: Lee, Francis Bazley, 1869- ed
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, N.Y. : Lewis Historical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 650

USA > New Jersey > Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey, Volume III > Part 52

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(III) George Boyd, second son of George and Mary M. (Knoop) Ulmer, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 6, 1829, died in December, 1903. He received a good early education. His father died when he was twelve years of age, and he at once began work in a printing office, where he continued until he had thoroughly acquired the art and mystery of printing. For thirty-two years he was superintendent of one printing establishment, that of Henry B. Ashmead, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From the age of twelve until 1901, two years previous to his death, he was actively and continuously in the printing busi- ness, a period of sixty years. The last two years of his life he lived retired. He was a member of the Episcopal church, and an ad- herent of Republican principles. His fraternal membership was with the United Order of American Mechanics. He married (first) Mary Stine, of Philadelphia, born in 1803, died in 1869. Children : I. Mary A., married Henry W. Boureau, a broker of Philadelphia ; children : Harry, Bessie and Ethel Boureau ; the family reside in Moorestown, New Jersey. 2. George B. Jr., see forward. Mr. Ulmer married (second) Amelia Millbourne, of Frankfort, Pennsylvania. She survives her husband.

(IV) George Boyd Jr., only son of George Boyd (I) and Mary (Stine) Ulmer, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 25, 1854 (or 1857). He was educated in the schools of his native city, and later apprenticed to the printing business in the firm of Henry B. Ash- mead, where for seven years he served under the instruction of his father. Subsequently he went to the eastern shore of Maryland, where he engaged in farming, continuing for three years, after which he returned to Philadelphia and his trade. For five years he was superin- tendent of the National Publishing Company of Philadelphia ; for the following seven years was superintendent of the Sunshine Publish- ing Company of Philadelphia; the following six years was superintendent of the Alfred M. Slocum Company, and since 1907 has held the same position with the Chilton Printing Com- pany, the latter two being also of Philadelphia. Mr. Ulmer removed from Merchantville to Moorestown in 1892, and for the past twenty- five years has been a daily commuter on the Pennsylvania railroad. Mr. Ulmer married.

November, 1877, Mary Elizabeth Reid, daugh- ter of John and Josephine Reid, of Philadel- phia. Children: I. John Reid, born May 2, 1878, in Caroline county, Maryland ; married, May 27, 1908, Alice, daughter of Samuel B. Lippincott, of Moorestown, New Jersey. 2. George Boyd, Jr., born December 28, 1879, in Caroline county, Maryland ; he is cashier and bookkeeper for the Capwell Horse Shoe Nail Company of Philadelphia ; married Nannie C., daughter of Caleb and Henrietta Wright, of Moorestown. 3. Henry B., born September 18, 1881, in Caroline county, Maryland; re- sides at home with his parents. 4. David Hed- ding Bartina, born December II, 1885, at Merchantville, New Jersey ; he entered Jeffer- son Medical College, Philadelphia, 1905, and was graduated therefrom in 1909 with the de- gree of M. D .; he is now taking a two years' hospital course.

Henry Simpson, of Sussex SIMPSON county, the earliest ancestor of this family of whom we have any definite information, was born and died in Newton, New Jersey. He was a car- riage maker there, held several of the local offices, and was prominent and influential in the community. He married Nancy F., daugh- ter of James Huston, a former judge of the county courts, and a member of one of the prominent families of Sussex county. Among their children was Captain James H., referred to below.

(II) Captain James H., son of Henry and Nancy F. (Huston) Simpson, was born in Newton, New Jersey, November 29, 1833, and lived in Dover, Morris county, New Jersey. He died April 23, 1910. After receiving his education in the Newton public schools he en- gaged for several years in mercantile business in Newton, New Jersey, and about 1867-68 re- moved to Dover, where he was most prosperous and successful until his retirement in 1904. At the outbreak of the civil war Mr. Simpson recruited Company I, and was made captain, in the Fifteenth Regiment New Jersey Volun- teers. He fought in every battle from that of Mine Run, which occurred just previous to the battle of the Wilderness, until the sur- render, but was never wounded. Mr. Simp- son, while not a member of any church, was a generous supporter of all, and frequently attended the Presbyterian church. February 20, 1860, he married Asenath A. Lance, daugh- ter of Jacob and Emily Pellitt Lance. Chil- dren: I. Edward S., died in infancy. 2.

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Charles C., died aged twenty-four ; married a Miss Yawger. 3. Frederick 1., married Ger- trude Sickles. 4. Emma L., married Charles A. Allen ; children : Emily S. and Charles A. 5. James H., married Jessie Richards. 6. Asenath Ann, married Fred I. Cox ; children : Asenath Simpson Cox and James H. Simpson Cox. 7. Bessie Richards, married Horace Lindsley, M. D. ; one child, James H. Simpson Lindsley. 8. Clarence H., unmarried.

The progenitor of the Thomp- THOMPSON son family, of which Charles Dederer Thompson, a promi-

nent member of the legal fraternity of Jersey City, New Jersey, is a representative member, was Aaron Thompson, who with his younger brothers, Moses and Hur, emigrated from Scot- land to America in 1686. Hur, the youngest, settled in New England, and Aaron and Moses in Elizabethport, New Jersey, and their de- scendants are found at Connecticut Farms ( Union), Battle Hill ( Madison) and Mend- ham, New Jersey.

(II) Joseph, youngest son of Aaron Thomp- son, removed from Connecticut Farms to Mend- ham in 1739. He was a man of prominence in the community, exerting his influence for good on all occasions. He died in July, 1749, and his wife Lydia died March 24, 1749, the same year, five of their nine children died of a pre- vailing epidemic called long fever.

(III) David, youngest child of Joseph and Lydia Thompson, was born October 4, 1737. died December 28, 1824. He was a man of great energy and strong force of character. During the revolutionary war he commanded a company of minute-men, and at the time the American army was encamped at Morristown, when despair of success and extreme poverty weighed heavily upon the forces, his house became the welcome home of multitudes of famishing soldiers, and his hospitality was limited only by his means of supply. He was familiarly known as "Captain" and as often as "Judge," obtaining his latter title from having served on the bench of the court of common pleas. He was one of the founders of the Presbyterian church at Mendham, and served in the capacity of elder during the greater part of his life. Being well versed in Bible truths. his desires were never gratified until all who came in contact with him had received whole- some impressions of a better life from his teachings. He was always the favored guest among both old and young : his retentive mem- ory, quaint sayings, ready wit, often accom-

panied with sarcasm, made his companionship agreeable, and his narratives and stories of "Olden Times" instructive. He possessed a keen perception and a bright intellect, coupled with faculties of a high order, and was a close student of the best authors and of the current topics of his time, and his chief aim in life was to give his children the best opportunities then offered for an education. He married (first) Rachel Bonnel, born October 15, 1737, died March 27, 1766, who bore him two sons and two daughters. He married ( second ) August II, 1766, Hannah Cary, born April 26, 1747, died November 19, 1831, who bore him six sons and five daughters. One of his sons was David Thompson Jr., graduate of Princeton College, class of 1804. He was surrogate of Morris county. New Jersey, for many years, and was prominent and influential in local and national politics, retaining the speakership in the lower branch of the New Jersey legislature for ten years. He was a friend of Samuel L. Southard, and while that gentleman held high places in the state and nation Mr. Thompson's counsel was often sought. He died in 1831, aged forty-nine.

(IV) Stephen, son of David Thompson, was born January 16, 1775, in Mendham, on the old homestead purchased by his grandfather, Joseph Thompson, in 1740, and died in June, 1858. He succeeded to the home property on his father's decease and resided upon it dur- ing his lifetime. He led the quiet life of a farmer, and being a man of good character and integrity was esteemed and honored by all with whom he was brought in contact. Although not an aspirant for public office, he was chosen by his fellow citizens for legislative honors and served one term, performing the duties thereof in an efficient and capable manner. He was a devoted Christian, serving for many years as elder in the same church in which his father worshipped, and reared his children under the strictest discipline of the old Puritan style. He married, August 12, 1802, Susanna, born May 15, 1776, died in 1841, daughter of George and Mary ( Boyd) Harris, and granddaughter of William Harris, who came from Ireland in 1742, settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and belonged to the family who founded Harris- burg, Pennsylvania. Children : George ; Nancy ; Robert, resided on the old homestead in Mend- ham; Alexander, died in 1834, aged nineteen, in Charleston, South Carolina; David, see for- ward.

(V) David (2), son of Stephen and Susanna (Harris) Thompson, was born in Mendham,

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New Jersey, October 26, 1808, and died No- vember 5, 1888. At an early age he evinced rare ability as a student, and at the age of eleven was found reading Virgil. He was prepared for college under the tutorship of the late Samuel H. Cox, then a clergyman of the Presbyterian church at Mendham and Bloom- field, New Jersey, and entered the junior class at Princeton in 1823, at the age of fifteen, from which he was graduated with the usual honors in 1825. Among his noted classmates were William L. Dayton and A. O. Zabriskie. For four years following his graduation he was a classical teacher in the academy at Mendham. In 1830 he entered the law office of Jacob W. Miller, of Morristown, New Jersey, where he 'remained one year, after which he removed to Newton, New Jersey, and for two years was a student in the office of the late Judge Thomas C. Ryerson. He was admitted to the bar as an attorney at the November term, 1833, and as a counselor at the November term in 1836. In the winter of 1833 he established a law office in Newton, and remained in continuous prac- tice until 1888, a period of fifty-five years, a fact worthy of note. He was successful in his profession ; he was a man of strong convic- tions, and being a fluent and forcible as well as logical speaker, rose rapidly in the estimation of his clientage. In November, 1838, he was appointed surrogate of Sussex county and held the office for five years. Outside of the duties of his profession, he was interested in the vari- ous worthy local enterprises of the village and county of his adoption, and in an unostenta- tious way he sought to fill all obligations in- cumbent upon him as a citizen. In 1844 he was elected a director of the Sussex Bank in Newton, later was made vice-president, and upon the resignation of David Ryerson was elected president of the bank, now the Sussex National Bank, which responsible position he held until his death. He was formerly a Whig in politics, but upon the organization of the Republican party transferred his allegiance thereto. He never sought public office, pre- ferring to devote his entire time to his pro- fession and business pursuits. He was a mem- ber of the Presbyterian church of Newton, giving his support to the work connected there- with ; and his entire career, as a citizen, lawyer and business man, was such as to win for him the confidence and esteem of his fellow townsmen.

He married, November II, 1835, Susanna, born November 10, 1815, died May 28, 1879, daughter of Joseph and Susanna ( Anthony )

Dederer. She was a woman of real moral worth and excellence. Children : I. Alexander, died at age of eight years. 2. Juliana, wife of David R. Hull, of Newton, who died August, 1885. 3. Susanna Dederer; never married ; lived all her life in Newton, and was teacher of the infant class of the Presbyterian church there for over fifty years until her death, March 21, 1908. 4. William Armstrong, civil engi- neer ; graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Insti- tute, Troy, New York, class of 1868. 5. Charles Dederer, see forward.

(VI) Charles Dederer, son of David (2) and Susanna (Dederer) Thompson, was born in Newton, Sussex county, New Jersey, June 28, 1853. He was graduated from Princeton College in. 1874, and then attended Columbia Law School while it was under the direction of the noted Dr. Theodore W. Dwight. He then read law under the preceptorship of his father at Newton, and was admitted to the New Jer- sey bar as an attorney in June, 1877, and as a counselor in June 7, 1880. He immediately established himself in the practice of his pro- fession at Newton. In January, 1886, he re- moved his law office to Jersey City, and later formed a partnership with Colonel Asa W. Dickinson, under the firm name of Dickinson & Thompson. Mr. John S. McMaster was ad- mitted to the firm in 1892, and this association was continued until Mr. Dickinson's death in 1899. From 1899 to 1903, Mr. Thompson's firm was composed of himself and Mr. Frank H. Hall, under the firm name of Thompson & Hall, and from 1903 to 1906 he was a member of the firm of Bedle, Edwards & Thompson, composed of William D. Edwards, Joseph D. Bedle Jr. and himself. Since 1903 he has been practicing alone. During the years 1894-5, while a resident of Montclair, New Jersey, he served as a member of the town council, and in the latter year was appointed as a member where he served on the board of health of Montclair, and in these capacities, as in all others, he exhibited sound judgment and pro- nounced public spirit.

Mr. Thompson was married, October 6, 1880, to Anna Ryerson McMurtry, born June 22, 1854, died May 18, 1904, daughter of Will- iam and Katherine R. McMurtry, of Newton, and has three sons: Charles D., Laurance Mills and Julian Francis. In April, 1906, he married (second) Laura A. M. Eaton, of Montclair, New Jersey, daughter of George H. and Mary B. Mills, of Montclair, and formerly of Newton.

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The name of Hedden, Hod- HEDDEN den and Hoddon, is of ancient origin, and has many corrup- tions, such as Headen Hedde, Hedin, Headden and Heady. This name is distinctly English, though we find the name in Scotland, Ireland and Wales. That they fought in the crusades is evinced by the crescent on the armorial bear- ings. The coat-of-arms is described as follows : Quarterly first and fourth, ar. a saltire en- graved sable. Second, ar. a saltire engraved between four roses, gules. Third, or, a bend chequy ar. and sable. In the centre over the quarterings is a crescent ar. The crest: An eagle erased or. Motto: "Suffer." An en- graving in colors of these arms, executed by the house of Tiffany & Company, of New York City, is now in possession of Mrs. Julia (Hedden) Worthington, of New York City.

(I) The first of this family came from Eng- land, and the first we find was a Jared, or Gerard Hadden, born about 1608, recorded by Savage, and mentioned as coming probably in the fleet with Winthrop, for he is among the first hundred men of the Boston church ad- mitted prior to any second arrival of freemen, May 14, 1634. He first settled at Cambridge, 1632, and was there made a freeman. He own- ed a .house and three acres extending from Sparks street to Garden street in 1635. He was a tailor and planter, also a proprietor of Salisbury, Massachusetts, in 1640, and received land in the first division, and was among others who removed to the west side of the Powow in 1644. He was a commoner and taxed in 1650. He was one of the first settlers in Amesbury, 1654-55, where he received land in 1654-64. He received a seat in the meetinghouse, 1667, but was a member later of the Salisbury church, 1677-87. He received "children's land" in Amesbury for his daughter in 1659, and a "township" for one daughter in 1660. He was a selectman in 1680. He died at Amesbury, 1689, and his will was dated January 20, 1686-7, and proved March 20, 1689-90. His daughters, Mary and Sarah, and their children, are men- tioned, also Elizabeth Huntington and Ensign John Weed, of Amesbury. His wife Margaret died March 20, 1672-73. There was a George Hadden, of Cambridge, or at least of Harvard College, in 1647; a Catherine, witness to will of Thomas Bittlestone, and a Ferman Hadden, of Charlestown, who may have been children of Jared Hadden.

(II) It is safe to assume that a few of the Haddens, like many of the New England set- tlers, emigrated to Connecticut and eventually

into New Jersey, as did Edward Hedden. While there is no documentary proof that Ed- ward Hedden, born 1666, was the son of Jared Hedden, we do know that he married Jane Jones, a Welch girl, though no record of their marriage can be found at Newark or else- where. There was a family of Edward Jones which came in the fleet with Winthrop at the same time that Jared Hadden is recorded, which is mentioned as a coincident that a mar- riage should result between the near succeed- ing generations of Jared Hadden and Edward Jones. There is every evidence that Edward and Jane Hedden settled at the "Mountain," now in the vicinity of South Orange, where they received grants, as their sons John, Jo- seph, Eleazer and Oliver all owned tracts at the "Mountain." Jane Hedden, born 1668, was a member of the First Church, Presby- terian, at Newark prior to the formation of the "Mountain Society," and she is interred in the burial-ground of the church on Broad street, having died February 23, 1773, at the advanced age of one hundred and five years, and is said to have been the oldest person that ever died in Newark up to that time and possi- bly since then. Her gravestone was removed from the old Presbyterian cemetery at New- ark when Broad street was widened, and is now in possession of Mr. Harry Hedden, a fourth great-grandson. Children of Edward and Jane Hedden : John (q. v.) ; Joseph, men- tioned below ; Eleazer (q. v.) ; Oliver ; Dianna, born 1708, died October 27, 1728; Rebecca, unmarried.

Many of the early records that would throw much light on the Newark ancestors have been destroyed, but according to the best authority Edward and Jane Hedden owned lands in Newark, and their sons were possessors of these tracts later known as the Hedden tracts at South Orange at the "Mountain," near Lud- dington brook and Rahway river, where Ed- ward and Jane lived and died. The Heddens of New Jersey were noted for their courage and firmness during the trying times of the revolution, many of them taking an active part in the scenes enacted in and around Essex county.

(III) Joseph, son of Edward and Jane (Jones) Hedden, was born at Newark, New Jersey, 1702, and died in that part of Newark now Orange, November 3, 1798, aged ninety- six. He settled at the mountain, now South Orange, and owned lands with his brother, John Hedden. December 25, 1732, John and Joseph Hedden, both of Newark, county of

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Essex, eastern division of New Jersey, yeo- man, sell to Samuel Freeman for £36 a certain tract of land at the Mountain bounded west by the highway, &c., running to the top of the mountain and north along the mountain, &c., containing some twenty acres ; Oliver and Elea- zer Hedden, witnesses. In 1739 Joseph Hed- den for fII sells to Hugh Roberts tract of land lying and being at a place commonly call- ed Mikel Thompson's land, beginning west side of Elizabethtown river, "at the south corner of my land beginning at a gumb tree, thence running north sixty degrees, &c., where- of ye said Joseph Hedden have unto set my hand and assigned my seal this 6th day of De- cember, 1739, in the twelfth year of ye Rayne of our Sovereign Lord George the second by the grace of God and Grate Britten, France and Ireland," &c., &c. (Under same date) Hugh Roberts in exchange quitclaimed to Jo- seph Hedden, yeoman, of Newark, certain tracts of meadow near George's pond of five and a half acres, being part of my lower meadow at the Newark end, bounded by Jobe Brown, Thomas Ball and Tichenor's meadow. Joseph Hedden was surveyor of highways in 1746-47-48. On the death of Joseph Hedden the Centinal of Freedom of Newark, Novem- ber, 1798, said: "This venerable citizen has from his youth sustained the character of an honest and upright man and was much lament- ed by those who were acquainted with him. He had thirteen children, one hundred and seventy-six grandchildren and three great- grandchildren." It is a no less curious than amusing fact that this "father of a host" im- mediately upon arising every morning and be- fore 'dressing took a generous draught of pure Jersey distilled liquor. He died at the age of ninety-six years, and was wont to speak with pride of the fact that he had eight sons who served their country during the revolution. "Shaw's History," p. 38. He is buried beside his wife Rebecca, in the old First Presbyterian burial-ground at Orange, both having been members in full communion of the "Mountain Society" prior to 1756.

He married (first) Rebecca Dod, born 1703, died May 14, 1745, daughter of Samuel Dod, son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Riggs) Dod, son of Stephen Dod, of Guilford, Connecticut (see Dod). He married (second) Rebecca, daugh- ter of Matthew and Ruth ( Wheeler ) Williams, or Orange. Children: I. Ebenezer, highway surveyor, 1745-46; married; children: Oba- diah, Jedediah, Sarah, Joanna, Phebe. 2. David, married Esther , born 1755, died Au-

gust 8, 1789. 3. Elijah, married Margaret, widow of Dr. Daniel Farrand. 4. Job. 5. Simon, a man of great strength and ignorant of fear, served for three months in whaleboat service during the revolution. 6. Martha, mar- ried Joel Coleman. 7. Phebe, married

Saffron. 8. Rebecca, born 1751, died Decem- ber 16, 1841 ; married Daniel Ball. 9. Eliza- beth, married - Roberts. 10. Joseph, Jr., born 1738, died September 27, 1780; married (first) Abigail , born 1724, died Janu- ary 25, 1760; (second) Sarah Canfield; chil- dren : William, Moses, Israel, James, Isaac, Sarah (married John N. Cummings). II. Jonathan, mentioned below. 12. Sarah. I3. Joanna.

(IV) Jonathan, son of Joseph Hedden, was born in that part of Newark. now South Orange, New Jersey, 1733, died in the vicinity of the present Burnet street, East Orange, De- cember 25, 1795, and is buried in the old First Presbyterian burial-ground, Main and Scot- land streets, Orange. He early learned the trade of tailor, which he followed for many years in connection with the operation of his farm. He married Phoebe Canfield, whose father said he would not will her anything on account of her marrying Jonathan, but poor Jonathan did so well in his business that her father forgave her. They saved some money and bought from the Harrisons the property through which Burnet street now runs. Here his son Abiel brought his wife, and they had sons and daughters born here, where Abiel died. Caleb, another son, settled on Whiskey Lane, where he died in 1841. Joseph Hedden Jr., brother of Jonathan Hedden, often came to see him. He was a marked patriot, and the British determined to strike him down. On the night of January 25, 1779, Joseph said, "I'll go up to Jonathan's, where I'll be safe," but General Cummings, who married Joseph's daughter Sarah, said "No. I'll put a guard around the house," which stood just south of Bridge street on Broad street, Newark. While he was confined in bed by illness during the plundering and persecution of the British, there being an insufficient guard around the house, he was forcibly taken from his bed in his night clothes, marched to Paulus Hook and thence across the ice to New York. and thrown into the old sugar house prison, where he was kept for a considerable time. This exposure caused his limbs to mortify. resulting in his death. He was a merchant of prominence at Newark, a justice and commis- sioner for the county of Essex for signing and

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inventoring the estate and effects of persons gone over to the enemy, which required a man of great nerve, which position cost him his life. Jonathan Hedden and his brothers all served their country during the revolution. In a deed dated April 6, 1781, for a stream privilege for use of the grist mill of Captain Thomas Will- iams, Day and Washington streets, Orange, given by Daniel Williams (brother of Thomas ), Thomas paid the said Daniel five shillings for use of said privilege. Jonathan Hedden and Lydia Williams, witnesses. Jonathan Hedden was one of the incorporators of the Second Presbyterian Church of Newark ( Brick Church of Orange) after the revolution. He became one of the seven trustees and was duly quali- fied before Judge Peck at the parsonage house, September 22, 1776, each trustee taking the oath of allegiance to his country. Jonathan Hedden was elected president of this board in the autumn of the same year and held the office for many years. He married Phebe, daughter of Joseph and Phebe (Freeman) Canfield. Children : Caleb (q. v.), born 1761; Daniel ; Abial, born July 11, 1767; Jotham, born about 1769; Mary, married Joseph Peck; Rebecca, married Matthias Baldwin; Deborah, married Ebenezer Rawson.

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Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey, Volume III, Part 52

Author: Lee, Francis Bazley, 1869- ed Publication date: 1910 Publisher: New York, N.Y. : Lewis Historical Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 650

Author: Lee, Francis Bazley, 1869- ed
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, N.Y. : Lewis Historical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 650