USA > New Jersey > Salem County > Salem > History and genealogy of Fenwick's colony > Part 2
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John Adams married Fenwick's oldest daughter Elizabeth whilst in England. They had three children born in that con- try, Elizabeth, Fenwick and Mary Adams. Soon after their arrival in this country he built a house on Ivy Point, near the one that Fenwick built, both of which were located a few rods west of Market street, on a rising ground near where Thomas T. Hilliard's lime kiln is built. They were standing there abont fifty years ago, and there John Adams and his wife Elizabeth ended their days, which event took place prior to 1700. Fen- wick Adams, their son, married and settled on his parent's prop- erty in Penn's Neck. William Adams was his grandson and he
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had one grand-daughter whose name was Susannah, and she mar- ried a man by the name of Townsend, a native of Cape May county. They had two daughters, Susannah and Sarah. Sus- annah married Thomas Hartly, of Elsinborough, who lived and owned where William Morrison lives at the present time .- Thomas and his wife had four children named Elizabeth, born in the year 1765; Susannah, born 1772; Sarah, born 1774; and Thomas, born 1775. Sarah Townsend married William Nicholson, of Mannington, in 1773. They had seven children -Rachel, Milicent, Samuel, William, Daniel and Ann. The two first mentioned died young. William married Elizabeth Thompson, daughter of Joshua Thompson, of Alloways creek. Daniel married Mary Chambers. Sarah had two husbands, the first Chambless Allen, the second Amos Peasley. Ann married George M. Ward.
The first wife of the late Benjamin Griscom, of Salem, was Susan Adams, a direct descendant of Fenwick Adams. Benja- min and his wife Susan had five children, named Sarah, Andrew, Benjamin, John and Mary. Edward Champney and Priscilla his wife had two children born in England, John and Mary Champneys, also a son born in this county, Edward Champney, Jr. I am inclined to think that John Champney married and died a young man. Edward Champney, Jr., as late as 1720, sold large tracts of land (being part of the 2,000 acre allotment that his grandfather, John Fenwick, deeded to his father and mother) to Abel Nicholson and others. The Tylers became the possessors of a large part of the said allotment, either by marriage or purchase. Samuel Hedge 2d was the son of Samuel Hedge, a merchant and citizen in London. To be a citizen at that period required a person of wealth and influence to have the privilege of voting for members of Parliament. It was the opinion of some persons that there was an attachment formed between Samuel Hedge 2d and Anne, the daughter of John Fenwick, whilst living in their native land. Perhaps on that account he was willing to leave his father's home where wealth and comforts abounded, to seek his fortune and happiness in the wilds of America. By so doing he verified the lines of the poet when he said : "Love is mightier than all." They were married at New Salem, in the spring of 1676, and soon after- wards went and lived in Upper Mannington on a tract of land containing 2,000 acres that Fenwick deeded them in the 11th mo. of the same year. It was called the Hedgefield tract. Samuel and his wife remained there until 1685; he being one of his father-in-law's executors, and having been appointed by
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Fenwick to carry out his plans in laying out streets in Salem and Cohansey. He built a brick house on Bradway street, where they resided until their death. The old mansion was removed a few years ago by the late Win. F. Miller, and he built one of more modern architecture on the site of the old one. The property is now owned and occupied by M. P. Grey.
Samuel Hedge and his wife Anne, died sometime between the year 1694 and 1697, leaving one son, Samuel Hedge 3d, and he married Rebecca Pyle. They had four children- Samuel F. Hedge 4th, John Hedge, who died a minor, William Hedge, who died 1729, leaving his estate to his mother, and Nathan Hedge, who died Sth mo., 1735. The latter, by his will, bequeathed to his mother, (whom he also made his execu- trix) the greater part of his estate. Her name at the time was Rebecca Cox. Samuel Hedge 3d died 3d of the 11th mo., 1709. His widow Rebecca Hedge, married Daniel Cox, of Burlington, 1712. Samuel F. Hedge 4th, went to Greenwich to reside, and went into partnership in the mercantile business with Nicholas Gibbon. Sometime after the death of Nicholas Gibbon, Samuel married his widow, whose maiden name was Anne Grant, the daughter of Alexander Grant. She had three children by her first Imsband, Nicholas, Grant and Jane Gibbon. Samuel F. Hedge 4th, and his wife, Anne, had two children, Samnel Hedge 5th, and one daughter, Rebecca Hedge. She was born 1st of the 2d mo., 1728, and her brother Samuel in 1726. In 1728 Sanmel F. Hedge deeded one acre of ground on the south side of Market street to the Episcopal church. In 1733 he died, having made his will in 1732, leaving his wife, Anne Hedge, executrix. He devised to his widow a lot of eight acres in Salem, located on the south side of Market street ; also sixteen acres of woodland adjoining the first mentioned lot. The wood- land was bounded on the south by Nathan Hedge's land. He also bequeathed to her a lot of meadow on Fenwick creek, of four acres, together with one thousand acres of Fenwick's Grove out of 1,900 acres surveyed to him. The whole tract originally contained 15,000 and was located in Upper Mannington, run- ning from Mannington creek to Salem creek. It included the lands owned by the Bassett family at the present time, and extended to Salem creek, and was bounded on the south by the Hedgefield tract. In 1735 Benjamin Acton, a practical sur- veyor at that time, was employed to survey and set off the one thousand acres to the widow. The balance of the 1,900 acres he devised to his son Sanmel Hedge 5th. After the death of Anne Hedge, the widow of Sanmel Hedge, she left the property
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in Salem that she received from her second husband, to Grant Gibbon and Jane Gibbon, the children by her first husband Nicholas Gibbon. Robert Johnson, Sr., married Jane, and she was the mother of Robert G. Johnson. Abont the year 1758 there was a division of the town lots on the south side of Mar- ket street, between Samnel Hedge 5th and Robert Johnson, Sr.
Rebecca Hedge, Samuel F. Hedge's danghter, married Giles Smith. He was born the 18th of 2d mo., 1719, and was the son of Samuel Smith, of Mannington, who lived on and owned the southern portion of Hedgefield. Giles and his wife Rebecca had one son whose name was Christopher Smith. Christopher married Rebecca Hancok in 1675. They had five children- Rebecca was born in 1766, Elizabeth was born 1768, John Smith was born 1770; he married the daughter of Benjamin Smith, and left one son whose name was Samuel. Susanna Smith was born 1771; she married Job Ware of Alloways Creek, and left no children. Esther Smith was born 1774, and married Robert Moore of Easton, Maryland. Samuel Hedge 5th married Han- nah Woodnutt of Mannington, daughter of Joseph and Rachel Woodnntt. She was born in 1729. Samuel and his wife Rachel resided in Salem in the old family mansion on Bradway street. They had three children-Rebecca, born 20th of 1st mo., 1751, Joseph W. Hedge, born 1756, and Samuel Hedge 6th, born 1758. In 1770, Rebecca Hedge, daughter of Samuel and Rachel Hedge, married Thomas Thompson, of Salem. He was born in 1745, and was the son of Thomas Thompson, and grandson of Andrew Thompson of Elsinborough. Joseph W. Hedge and his brother Samnel Hedge, Jr., died in 1790, at the family mansion in Salem, within a short time of each other, with an epidemic fever that was prevailing at that time. Neither of them was ever married, and consequently their large real estate was heired by their sister, Rebecca Thompson. Thomas Thompson and his wife Rebecca had seven children. Their names were Ann, Hannah, Hedge, Mary, Rebecca, Jane, and Rachel. They lived and owned where the First Baptist church now stands, and they lived together happily nearly sixty years. Thomas died in his eighty-second year. His widow survived tive or six years after his death, and was in her eighty-first year at the time of her death. Neither of them were members of the Society of Friends but professors, and regularly attended all of their meetings of divine worship. They were buried in the Friends' burying-ground at Salem, with their ancestors. Fenwick Archer, their grandson, as soon as the Society permitted it, much to his credit, had their graves done up, and his great
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uneles' graves, Joseph and Samuel Hedge, and his great-grand- mother's, Hannah W. Hedge, and a small monument with their names and ages ent upon them placed at the head of each.
Ann Thompson, daughter of Thomas and Rebecca Thompson, married John Firth. They had four children-Elizabeth, Thomas, John and Samuel Firth.
Hannah Thompson's first husband was John Anderson. They had one daughter, Rebecca Anderson. Hannah's second hus- band was Leonard Sayres, a native of Cumberland county, but at that time his home was in Cincinnati, Ohio. Hedge Thomp- son, Thomas' son, married Mary Ann Parrott, daughter of Richard Parrott. Hedge and Mary Ann, his wife, had five children-Richard P., Thomas, Joseph H., Rebecca and Mary. Richard P. married Maria Hancock; Thomas married William Johnson's daughter; Dr. Joseph H. married Rebecca Kelly, and Mary married Samnel Starr, an Episcopal minister. Rebecca, youngest daughter of Thomas and Rebecca, married John Holme of Elsinborough. She left one daughter, Rebecca Holme, who married George W. Garrison. Jane Thompson married John Smith, of Mannington, son of Hill Smith. Their children were Ann, Hill, and Thomas T. Smith. Ann married George W. Garrison, being his second wife, and Thomas T. married Elizabeth Hancock, daughter of Joseph Hancock.
Rachel Thompson the youngest daughter of Thomas and Rebecca Thompson, married Dr. Benjamin Archer ; they had one son, Fenwick Archer. Mary Thompson, third daughter of Thomas and Rebecca Thompson, died single.
Within a few years there has been different opinions respect- ing the property in the town of Salem, held by the county. Some persons have contended the land was given for a particu- lar purpose, while others thought it was given to the county without reservation, and held that the representatives of the people of the county had a right to sell or rent any part of the ground, as they should think would be for the interest of the county. Samuel Hedge was left to carry out the wishes and designs in the town of Salem, and also in the town of Cohansey, of his father-in-law, John Fenwick. After the death of Fen- wiek all the land on the south side of Bridge street, now Mar- ket street, extending from Broadway to Fenwick creek, Samuel Hedge and his wife, Anne, became the owners. The following is an order I find in Richard Tindall's book of surveys, eigh- teenth page. A warrant given 7th of 11th mo., 1688.
"A warrant to Richard Tindall, Surveyor-general for the county of Salem, and to John Woolidge, his deputy, to lay out
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one acre of land in Salem town, given by John Fenwick to erect a Court House and Prison."
Agreeable to the words of the warrant, it was certainly given for a particular use-to erect a Court House and Prison on- and if the inhabitants of the county should in some future time remove the said buildings from the said ground, it is reasonable to suppose that the property would revert back to the heirs of the donor.
Erick Yearness and Henry Neilson arrived in this country as early as 1640, and located themselves at the first fast land above the mouth of what is now known as Salem creek. They, like their neighbors the Swedes, believing the Indians to be the rightful owners of the soil, purchased a large tract of land of the Indian chiefs and gave it the name of Finn's town point. When John Fenwick arrived in this county, in 1695, he claimed the lands that the Finns and Swedes were located upon. They submitted to his authority, and in the year 1676 Richard Han- cock, Fenwick's surveyor, laid off one thousand acres of said land and marsh for Erick Yearness, also a tract of the same size for Henry Neilson, and gave them a proprietary deed for the same. In the year 1688, by the request of Stephen Year- ness, son of Erick, James Nevell gave Richard Tindall an order to re-survey the said tract at Finn's town point, and if there should not be the full quantity to report to him at his office in Salem within three months from date that the order was given. I have no records to follow the family of Erick Yearness fur- ther than his son, Stephen Yearness. Tradition informs us that Edmund Gibbon married a young woman, owner of a large tract of land at Finn's point, who was a lineal descendant of Stephen Yearness. I believe Edmund and wife left four chil- dren ; three sons and one daughter.
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ACTON FAMILY.
Benjamin Acton, according to the records, was one of the prominent young men in the settlement of Fenwick Colony. There is no record in what year he arrived at New Salem; circumstances make it probable he came to America in company with Christopher White, Henry Jennings, William Hancock and their families and servants, together with a number of other emigrants. They embarked in the ship Kent, from London, Gregory being master, and landed at New Salem 23d of sixth month, 1677. Soon after that time Benjamin is mentioned in public affairs of the Colony. Doubtless he had a good education; was a land surveyor by trade, and also a tanner and currier. IIe purchased a lot of sixteen acres of John Fenwick, on Fenwick street, now called East Broadway; on that lot he built and made it his home, and carried on the tanning business during the remainder of his life. His worth and ability was early appreciated by the Society of Friends, of which he was a consistent member. As early as 1682 he and another Friend were appointed to repair and build an addition to the house that the Society purchased of Samnel and Ann Nicholson, so that the said house should be large enough in which to hold a Yearly Meeting. When the town of New Salem was incorporated in 1695, Benjamin Acton was chosen recorder. In laying ont a publie highway, in 1705, from Salem to Maurice River, he was one of the commissioners and surveyors; also, in 1709, to lay ont a publie highway from Salem by the way of John Hancock's new bridge to the town of Greenwich. John Mason and Bar- tholomew Wyatt, Sr., were the other two commissioners. There was another ancient highway laid out in 1706. It commenced at the upper end of what is known as Yorke street at this time. through Elsinboro, crossed Ambelbury Swamp, continued on near where the present road is to the brick mansion belonging to the late Redroe Morris, and Benjamin Acton, Walter Heighstin and John Mason were the commissioners. According to the records, Benjamin was principally employed by private landholders to do their surveying. Richard Tindall being surveyor general, and
BENJAMIN ACTON. Born 1814.
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John Woolidge, of Salem, his deputy, they did all the surveying for the proprietor while he lived; after his death they were em- ployed by the executors of Fenwick, and subsequently by James Nevell, William Penn's agent. After the death of Nevell and Richard Tindall, James Logan, the faithful friend of William Penn, became the principal agent of Penn's heirs, and he employed Benjamin Acton and Thomas Miles, of Penn's Neck, to do the surveying for the heirs of Penn in Salem tenth. Benjamin Acton received an order from James Logan, of Pennsylvania (it being near the close of a long and useful life), to re-survey one thousand acres of land, lying on the south side of Gravelly run, it being one of the branches of Stoe creek, where the present village of Jericho is. The order was given by the urgent request of Samnel Decming, of Maryland, who had previously sold the said land to John Brick. Benjamin Acton made his return on the 13th of 9th month, 1729. He stated in his report that the said land was now re-surveyed, with the assistance of John Brick and his two sons; that it proved more chargeable than he expected. Signed by me, Benjamin Acton, surveyor of Fenwick Colony and Salem Tenth. He married about 1688 or '9. The following are the names of his children : Elizabeth, the daughter of Benjamin and Christianna Acton, was born at Salem, 26th of 12th month, 1690; Mary, born 17th of 10th month, 1692; Benjamim Acton, Jr., the 19th of Sth month, 1695; Lydia, 24th of 11th month, 1697; Joshua, 9th of 7th month, 1700. Benjamin, in his old age, built himself a brick dwelling house on his lot on Fenwick street in 1727, which is still standing; its roof is what is called hip, resembling very much the French or Mansard roof, which is common in this generation. The ancient dwelling is owned at this time by Joseph Test. Benjamin Acton, Jr., in 1729, built himself a much larger dwelling than that of his father's on the same lot of ground. The said house was remodeled by the late George Rumsey, but the ancient walls remain. This property, in the last generation, was owned by the Gibbs family. Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Benjamin and Christianna Acton, born 26th of 12th month, 1690, married Francis Reynolds, 10th month, 1712. Mary Acton, their second daughter, born 17th of 10th month, 1692, married William Willis, in 1715. Benjamin Acton, Jr., married Elizabeth Hill, the widow of Thomas Hill, in 1727. Iler daughter, Sarah Hill, by her first husband, married John Smith, of Amblebury, the grandson of the emigrant. John and his wife had two sons-Richard Smith, born 10th of 11th month, 1743, married Rachel Dennis, of Bacon's Neck, in 1762; they
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ACTON FAMILY.
had several daughters. Hill Smith, the second son, born 15th of 4th month, 1745, married Ann Nicholson, daughter of John Nicholson. They lived most of their time in Mannington, on the Tide Mill farm, devised to her by her uncle, James Mason. They had two sons-Hill and John Smith. The latter married Eliza, daughter of Israel Brown. John Smith married Jane, the daughter of Thomas and Rebecca Hedge Thompson, of Salem. Sarah Hill Smith's second husband was Aaron Bradway, of Elsinboro; she was his second wife. (Aaron was the grand- son of Edward Bradway, the emigrant.) Aaron and his wife had one son, Thomas Hill Bradway; he inherited the sixteen acre lot at the foot of Broadway street, Salem, which was purchased by Edward Bradway of John Fenwick, in England, 1674. Thomas H. Bradway repaired the old brick mansion built by his ancestor, Edward Bradway, in 1691; the building had long been neglected, there being no windows or doors remaining. At the beginning of the present century it was further fitted up, and a piazza made in front of it by John S. Wood, the son-in-law of Thomas HI. Bradway.
Benjamin Acton, Jr. and his wife Elizabeth Hill lived in the large brick mansion built in 1729, which is still standing. He was tanner by trade, and occupied the yard that was devised to him by his father. Benjamin had five children, as follows : John, born 31st of 8th month, 1728; Joseph, born 30th of 9th month., 1730; Benjamin, born 15th of 9th month, 1733; he died in infancy; the second Benjamin, born 28th of 12th month, 1735 ; and Samuel, born 31st of 6th month, 1738. It is probable that some of the children died young. John Acton, the eldest son, succeeded his father in the tanning business, and married about the year 1752 or '53. There is no account to show that John and his wife had more than one child-Clement Acton. John Acton's second wife was Mary Oakford, of Alloways Creek, the grand-daughter of Charles Oakford, and sister of Aaron Oakford, of Darby, Pa. John and his wife, Mary Oakford 'Acton, had several children, as follows : Samuel, John, (who afterwards became a sea captain, and traded from Philadelphia to West Indies; he never married) ; Elizabeth, (who married John Hancock, their descendants being quite numerous in Alloways Creek township at this time); Barbara, (who married Ephraim, the son of Jesse Carll; their family genealogy has been written) ; Susan, (who married Samuel Hall, of Delaware) ; and Joseph Acton.
Clement Hall, the second son of Judge William Hall, who emigrated to New Jersey in 1677, was born at Salem, 30th of
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ACTON FAMILY.
6th month, 1706. He inherited part of the sixteen acre lot pur- chased by William Hall, lying between Samuel Nicholson's lot and Edward Bradway's. Clement Hall died comparatively a young man. He and his wife, Sarah Hall, had two children, Ann and William. Ann married John Mason, of Elsinborough, the son of Thomas and grand-son of John Mason, the emigrant. John and his wife Ann had one daughter, Sarah H. Mason, born 1763. She married Elgar Brown, by whom she had four children, Ann, Elisha, Israel and John M. Brown. Sarah, the widow of Clement Hall, built a large brick dwelling, which is now owned by Morris Hall, who resides there. Sarah kept a store in the dwelling for many years. Her son, William Hall, married Hannah Brinton, of Chester county, Pa., a sister of Caleb Brinton. The Brinton family is one of the oldest in Chester county, and at one time was considered the largest landholders in that section of Pennsylvania.
William Hall located on quite an extensive traet of land in the State of Delaware, near St. Georges Creek, New Castle county, and there he lived. IIe and his wife, Hannah B. Hall, had four children, Mary, Hannah, Clement and Sarah Hall. Hannah married Clement Acton, of Salem, son of John Aeton. Clement Hall, their son, married Ann Darrah, who was a widow at the time of their marriage. Her first husband's name was Darrah, a cousin. Clement Hall lived but a short time after their marriage, leaving no children. His widow afterwards married Col. Edward Hall, of Mannington, she being several years his junior ; she had no children by any three of her husbands. She was the daughter of Lydia Darrah, of Philadelphia, of Revolutionary memory.
The youngest daughter of William and Hannah Brinton Hall was Sarah Hall, born 6th of 12th month, 1768, married Samnel, the eldest son of John and Mary Oakford Acton, born 10th of 11th month, 1764. William Hall married his second wife, and by her he had one son, Samuel Hall, who, when he grew to manhood, came to Salem county and subsequently married Susan, the youngest daughter of John and Mary O. Acton ; they had several children. Clement and Hannah H. Acton had two children, Benjamin and Hannah. Clement's second wife was Hannah, the daughter of James M. and Margaret Wood- mutt, of Mannington, born 16th of 1st month, 1780. By that union there were two children, Margaret and Clement Acton. Benjamin, the eldest son of Clement Acton, married Sarah Wyatt, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth W. Miller, of Man- nington. They had ten children : Richard Miller Acton, born
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ACTON FAMILY.
4th of 2d month, 1810; Clement Acton, born Sth of 1st month, 1813 ; he died young ; Benjamin Aeton, born in the 9th month, 1814; Hannah T. Acton, born 10th of 2d month, 1816; Eliza- beth Acton, born 28th of 10th month, 1818; Charlotte Acton, born 9th of 7th month, 1821; Casper Wistar Acton, born 18th of 10th month, 1823; Letitia Acton, born 17th of 7th month, 1825, Sarah Wyatt Acton, born 3d of 9th month, 1827 ; Cath- erine, born 22d of 5th month, 1829.
Hannah HI., the daughter of Clement Acton, was twice mar- ried ; her first husband was John, the son of Job and Grace Thompson Ware, of Alloways Creek. They had three chil- dren, Clement A., William and Catharine Ware. Her second husband was Dr. Charles Swing, by whom she had five children. Charles, the present member of the Legislature from the upper district, John, Hannah, Abigail and Margaret Swing. Marga- ret, the daughter of Clement and Hannah Woodnntt Acton, married Dr. John Griscom, a resident of Philadelphia. He was the son of William and Ann Stewart Griscom, of Salem, and grand-son of William and Rachel Denn Griscom. The latter was the son of Andrew and Susannah Griscom, born the 10th of 11th month, 1747. There was an error made, when I wrote the Davis family. It was Tobias Griscom, instead of Andrew, the father of Andrew and William Griscom, the latter married Sarah Davis, the eldest daughter of David Davis, and was born in Salem county 30th of 1st month, 1715. Soon after their marriage they moved to the neighborhood of Haddon- field. Tobias, I am inclined to believe, was the son of Andrew Griscom, the emigrant. Dr. John and his wife Margaret Acton Griscom have two sons and one daughter; Clement is the old- est son. Clement Acton, the son of Clement and Hannah W. Acton, left Salem many years ago and went to Cincinnati, Ohio, he and his cousin, Thomas Woodnutt, carried on the mercantile business in that city at the old stand of their uncle, William Woodnutt, for a number of years.
Richard Miller Acton, the eldest son of Benjamin and Sarah Wyatt Acton, born 4th of 2d month, 1810, was apprenticed to learn the currier business in Wilmington, Delaware. He subse- quently carried on the business in Salem for several years. He has been entrusted to do considerable public business to general satisfaction. At one time he was much interested in the public. schools in the city of Salem, and represented his county in the Senate of New Jersey. He has recently been appointed one of the Trustees of the State Normal School. He married Hannalı, the daughter of Thomas and Hannah II. Mason, for-
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