USA > New Jersey > New Jersey biographical and genealogical notes from the volumes of the New Jersey archives : with additions and supplements > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
vi. John, b. Feb. 24, 1754; m. Mary (b. October -, 1739), dau. of George Eyre, of Burlington, and had children: 1. Sarah, b. March 14, 1772; and two others.
vii. Jane, b. Nov. 6, 1755; d. Feb. 19, 1770.
viii. Archibald, b. Oct. 25, 1758.
ix. Charles, ban. March 17, 1765.
70
CHAMBERS : CLUNN
ALEXANDER CHAMBERS.
John Chambers came from Antrim (famous for its round tower, one of the finest specimens of those ancient and mysterious structures), in the North of Ireland, about 1730, and settled in Trenton, where he died September 19, 1747, aged 70 years. He had two sons-David and Alexander-and five daughters. Alexander was born in Ireland in 1716. He lived at the corner of State and Willow streets, where his father had built a mud house, which he replaced by one of brick, and carried on the trade of turning, and making spinning-wheels and chairs. He was one of the managers of a lottery in 1753, for the purpose of raising funds to build a schoolhouse, to be "30 feet long, 20 feet wide and one story high, and built on the South-east corner of the [Presbyterian] Meeting-house yard" in Trenton. He was elected a director of this school in 1765. It was the forerunner of the Trenton Academy, founded in 1781. He was one of the trustees named In the charter of the Pres- byterian Church of Trenton, Sept. 8, 1756, and continued in that office until his death, September 16, 1798, and the records show that he at- tended every meeting during the whole forty-two years. He was treasurer of the Board of Trustees, 1766-1796, and President from May 5, 1783, until his death. In the Trenton city charter of November 13, 1792, Alexander Chambers was named as one of the first two Alder- men of the city. He married Rose Crage, who was born 1720 at Ballintober ("town of the wells"), near Monaghan, Ireland; she died in Trenton, Nov. 23, 1780. Their children were: 1. John, born March 3, 1741; married Elizabeth Story, of Cranbury; he died in Trenton, Nov. 13, 1813. 2. David, a Colonel in the Revolution; marrled Ruth, daugh- ter of Daniel Clark; he d. in 1842, aged 94; she d. in 1813, aged 58, having had nine children. 3. James. 4. Alexander, was one of the guides at the battle of Trenton; he was a prominent merchant in Trenton many years; he died in 1824. 5. Rose. 6. Margaret. 7. Eliza- beth. 8. Mary .- Hall's Hist. Pres. Church in Trenton, 121, 158; Cooley's Genealogy; N. J. Archives, XIX., 245; Joyce's Irish Gazetteer, First Series. 4th ed., 451.
CAPTAIN JOHN CLUNN.
Captain John Clunn, a mariner, lived "below Trenton Landing, in Lamberton, now a part of the city of Trenton, in a house occupied ten or fifteen years ago by James Wooley." -- Stryker's "Trenton One Hun- dred Years Ago." The will of John Clunn, senior, of Lamberton, Not- tingham township. Burlington county, dated June 21, 1794, proved May 18, 1799, devises to wife Elizabeth, "the house and lot where I live during her life;" and names children-John, Amey, Margret and Eliza- beth; also mentions house and lot occupied by David Snowden, and house and lot occupied by Hambleton Thompson; it also directs that the testator is to be "buricd in the grounds of the (St. Michael's) Episcopal Church in Trenton." Executors-Wife and son John. Wit- nesses-David Snowden, James Mathis, junior, and Joseph Clunn .- Liber 38 of Wills, in the Secretary of State's Office at Trenton, p. 328. The widow of John Clunn, probably the mother of the Captain, died in August, 1781, aged 83 years, and was buried the same evening in St. Michael's churchyard .- N. J. Gazette, August, 1781. The minutes of St. Michael's church record the election of John Clunn as a vestry- man on Saturday, April 2, 1785; again on April 29, 1786, and on Easter Monday in 1787, 1788, 1789 and 1790. Several Clunn tombstones are in St. Michael's churchyard, Trenton, as follows: John Clunn, Sr., d. November 27, 1798, in the 59th year of his age. Elizabeth Clunn, prob-
CLUNN: COCHRAN: COLLIN
ably his wife, d. Dec. 5, 1823, aged 84 years. Margaret, dau. of John and Elizabeth Clunn, d. - 12, 1815. In the First Presbyterian church- yard, Trenton, is the tombstone of Amey Clunn, d. Dec. 12, -, aged 76 years.
DR. JOHN COCHRAN.
John Cochran, son of James Cochran, a native of the North of Ire- tand, was born in Chester county, Pa., September 1st, 1730, studied medicine with Dr. Thompson, of Lancaster, and served in the war of 1758 (between England and France) as Surgeon's Mate in the hospital department. At the close of the war he settled in Albany, N. Y., where he married Gertrude, sister of General Schuyler. He soon after removed to New Brunswick, N. J., where he acquired a great reputa- tion. He was one of the founders of the New Jersey Medical Society, in 1766, and in 1769 was elected President. He was driven from his home by the British, who burned his house. He volunteered for hos- pital service, and on the strong recommendation of Washington to Congress, was, April 10th, 1777, commissioned Physician and Surgeon- General in the Middle Department, and in 1781 was commissioned Director-General of the Hospitals of the United States, being at- tached to headquarters, on Washington's staff. At the close of the war Washington gave him his headquarters furniture. He removed to New York, where he resumed his practice, until President Washington, re- taining "a cheerful recollection of his past services," appointed him Commissioner of Loans for the State of New York, an office he re- tained until disabled by a stroke of paralysis, when he resigned and removed to Schenectady, N. Y., where he died, April 6th, 1807. Wash- ington and Lafayette addressed him familiarly as "Dear Doctor Bones." -- Wickes, 204-10; Sparks's Washington, VII., 192; Irring's Washington, III., 477; American Historical Record, III., 173, 289 (with portrait); 2 N. J. Archives, I., 147-8.
REV. NICHOLAS COLLIN.
The Rev. Nicholas Collin, of Upsal, Sweden, Theologiae Studiosus. was appointed by the Swedish Consistory, Curate to the Swedish church, May 19, 1769, and was sent to America by the Swedish gov- ernment, in 1770. In an account of the Swedish missions, entered by himself in the record of the ancient church at Swedesboro (formerly Racoon), New Jersey, he relates that he arrived here May 12, 1770, as minister extraordinary, and officiated throughout the mission, but es- pecially at Racoon and Penn's Neck, until the departure of Mr. Wic- sell, in the autumn of 1773. In 1775 Mr. Collin was Dean of the Swedish parishes in America. By letters to the Archbishop and Con- sistory of Upsal, dated July 8, 1778, he urgently solicited his recall. He had then officiated for about eight years in the mission, and was consequently entitled to preferment at home. Moreover, the disordered state of affairs here owing to the war, made it seem imperative that he should leave, and he threatened to return home in the following spring, without waiting for a recall. (During the year 1777 he was regarded by the Americans as a spy, and was threatened with death. -- Penn. Mag., 15:482. And for his account of events in 1778, see Fenn. Mag., 11:218). Finally, the King of Sweden, on November 22, 1782, granted his recall. By this time, however, affairs had improved, with the end of the war, and he concluded to remain a short time. He was rector of the churches named from 1773 until July, 1788, and for seven years provost of the mission .- Annals of the Swedes on the Delaware, by
COLLIN
the Rev. Jehu Curtis Clay, D. D., second edition, Philadelphia, 1858, pp. 122-125. His narrative, as entered in the Swedesboro Church records, December 10, 1791, is published in full in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 16: 349-358. "The Parish of Racoon," says the Rev. Israel Acrelius, writing in 1758, "lies upon the east side of the river Delaware, in the Province of New Jersey . . . Under the name of Racoon is understood the Swedish church and parish, which, extending the width of three Swedish miles, may be called the only one in the Province, with the exception of Pennsneck. Racoon is also the name of the navigable stream which empties into the Delaware, and upon which the church stands. The name comes from the river which the Indians called Memitraco and Naraticon; but the Swedes in former times, Araratcung, Ratcung, and now finally, Racoon; in Swedish orthography. Racuun."-Acrelius, Hist. New Sweden, 314. The site was bought for a church there, by deed dated Septem- ber 1. 1703, and a church erected in 1704 .- Ib., 318. "The congregation of Pennsneck is in the Province of West New Jersey, in the Govern - ment of Burlington, Salem county, in the Townships of Upper and Lower Pennsneck, Pilesgrove and Mannington, on the east side of the Delaware, and along its strand." A site for a church was secured from Jean Jaquett, who gave two acres of land for the purpose, by deed dated January S, 1715, in the middle of the Neck, on the high- way. "The building of the church was immediately commenced, but it was not completed until March 31, 1717, when it was consecrated and called St. George's church. It is twenty-four feet square, built of logs, and weatherboarded."-Acrelius, op. cit., 322-323. On August 10, 1785, Mr. Collin was appointed by the King of Sweden rector of Wicacoa and the churches in connection therewith. "The parish of Wicacoa," writes Acrelius, in 1758, "is in the Province of Fennsyl- vania, and its members live partly in the city of Philadelphia, and partly in various surrounding districts-Wicacoa, Moyamenzing, Pas- sayungh, a district along the Schuylkill. Kingsesa, Bond's Island, and Pennypack. in Philadelphia county: Kalkonhook, Amasland, and Mat- zong in Chester county." A site was given for a church in 1697, and the church erected, being dedicated July 2, 1700, as "Gloria Dei."-Hist. New Sircden, 202-207. During the ensuing vacancy at Racoon and Penn's Neck, Mr. Collin says: "I gave the congregations every atten- tion consistent with my distant situation and multiplicity of business. At Swedesboro I performed divine service every third Sunday during the summer and autumn of 1786, and at larger intervals the two fol- lowing years. I likewise visited some worthy members in their sick- ress, and preached some funeral sermons. Besides, I made frequent journeys for settling the business of the new church. Penn's Neck could not possibly obtain the same share of service, yet I officiated a few times at that church, and also preached occasionally at houses on afternoons, after finishing the service at Racoon." In the meantime he sought to secure a settled minister to fill the vacancy. Ultimately (in 1790) the Rev. John Croes was engaged by the vestry, and con- tinued to serve the church for many years. The church now ceased to be a mission, dependent on the bounty of the Swedish King, and be- came affiliated with the Episcopal church in America. Subsequently Mr. Croes was elected the first Bishop of New Jersey .- Clay's "Annals," 129-130. "At the time Dr. Collin received his appointment as rector of these churches (at Wicaco, etc.) the Swedes began to feel the neces- sity, from the little knowledge of the Swedish language remaining
73
COLLIN: COOK FAMILY
among them, of having clergymen set over them, who had received their education in this country," and accordingly the vestry of the Wicaco church directed the wardens to notify the Archbishop of Upsal: "As the Rev. Mr. Collin has expressed a desire of returning to his native country shortly; whenever his majesty of Sweden shall think it proper to grant his recall, the mission to these congregations will undoubtedly cease." The relation which was then expected to be so brief, extended over nearly half a century. Dr. Collin "presided over these churches for a period of forty-five years: in which time he mar- ried 3375 couple, averaging about eighty-four couple a year. Dr. Collin, during the whole period of his ministry, was held in high es- teem by his congregations. He possessed considerable learning, par- ticularly in an acquaintance with languages. . He was a mem- ber, and for some time one of the vice presidents, of the American Philosophical Society, and was also one of the founders of the 'Society for the commemoration of the landing of William Penn.'"-Clay's "Annals," as cited, pp. 126-127. In 1799 Dr. Collin translated a consid- erable portion of Acrelius's "History of the Swedes on the Delaware," for the use of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller, of Princeton, who was then engaged in preparing his "Church History." Dr. Miller appears to have turned this translation over to the American Philosophical So- ciety, by whom it was transferred to the New York Historical Society "organized in 1804), which published the same in its Collections, New Series, 1841. Vol. I., pp. 401-448. Dr. Collin's unabated interest in the Swedesboro church, nearly twenty years after leaving it, is shown in an impassioned letter he wrote, April 30, 1804, to Dr. James Stratton, near Swedesboro, protesting against the proposed sale of a tract of land which had been devised to the old church .- Penn. Mag., 14:211. Dr. Collin died at Wicaco, October 7, 1831, in his 87th year. His por- trait, from a drawing evidently made in his extreme old age, by R. G. Morton, and engraved on stone by Neusam, is prefixed to Clay's "Annals." quoted above, 1st ed., 1835. and is inserted in the 2d ed. opposite p. 118. His wife, Hannah, died of yellow fever, in Phila- delphia, Sept. 29, 1797, aged 48 years, two months, and is buried in the old Gloria Dei churchyard, in South Second Street.
COOK FAMILY.
The name Ellis Cook appears in the records of Morris county at a very early date. Mary, wife of Ellis Cooke (so the name is spelled on her tombstone in the Hanover graveyard), died April 19, 1754, aged thirty-eight years. Ellis Cook Esq'r "departed this life April 7th, 1797 In the 66th Year of his Age." Margret Griswould, wife of "Coll. Ellis Cooke," died March 15, 1777, aged forty-one years and three months. A tombstone was erected in the same graveyard in 1860, by their de- scendants, to the memory of "Ellis Cook, a Captain in the Revolution- ary Army who died A. D. 1832, and of Isabella Cook, his wife who died A. D. 1825." According to local tradition, Ellis Cook was the "original blacksmith" of Whippanong township, whose shop occupied the site of the old Academy. In 1772, Ellis Cook kept a tavern in Hanover. The fcregoing are evidently of three generations. During the Revolutionary period, Ellis Cook was very prominent in public affairs. He was elected a member of the Committee of Observation of Morris county, January 9, 1775, and on May 1 he was elected one of the delegates for said county, they being vested with power of legislation, and to raise men, money and arms for the common defense. He served as a member of the Provincial Congress in May, June, August and October, from Mor-
74
COOK FAMILY
ris county, and was a member of the Committee of Safety which sat at New Brunswick from January 10 to March 2, 1776. At a meeting of the Committee of Safety on January 13, 1776, the Committee of Morris county applied to have Ellis Cook commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eastern Regiment of Militia in that county, and a commission was ordered to be issued to him accordingly. The Provincial Congress, which sat at New Brunswick in February and March of the same year, ordered that £1. 6s. 8d. be paid to Ellis Cook, Esquire, in full of his account for removing the records in the Surveyor-General's office at Perth Amboy to New Brunswick. He was a member of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey which met at Burlington June 10, 1776, and which adopted the Constitution of New Jersey, July 2, 1776. On July 18, 1776, he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the battalion to be raised in Morris county. He was elected a member of the Assembly for Mor - ris county in the years 1776, 1777, 1779, 1781-1792, and was appointed one of the Judges of the Morris county courts, 1793-1795.
The will of Ellis Cook, of Hanover, Morris county, yeoman, dated March 11, 1756, was proved Aug. 31, 1756. He devises to William and Ellis, his two eldest sons, "all my whole estate, Plantation and mov- able estate," to be equally shared; to his sons Jonathan, Epaphras and John, £10 each when 21. Executors-sons William and Ellis. Wit- nesses-Jonathan Squire, Thomas Bigelow and William Dixon .- N. J. Wills, Liber F., f. 404. No inventory is on file or of record at Trenton. It will be observed that he makes no mention of wife. Her tombstone in the Presbyterian churchyard at Hanover says: "Here lieth ye Body of Mary wife of Ellis Cooke Dec'd April ye 19 1754 Aged 38 Years." This Ellis Cook, b. 1703, was a son of Abiel3 Abiel2 Ellis1, of Southampton, L. I. His mother was Martha Cooper. He m. Mary, dau. of John Williams. He removed about 1744-5, with his father- in-law, from Southampton to Hanover, Morris county. He seems to have had brothers Abiel, Samuel, Lemuel, Zebulon, Matthew, Abra- ham. He is said to have been killed at Fort Oswego, 1756. Issue:
i. William, b. 1734; m. Sarah Cocker, June 5, 1755. He was the father of Captain Ellis Cook, mentioned above, who d. in 1832. William Cook (was he the same, or of a later generation) m. Margaret Cooper, Feb. 12, 1778.
2.
ii. Ellis.
iii. Jonathan, m. Margaret Tappan, Nov. 30, 1757.
iv. Epaphras, m. Sarah Smith, Oct. 4, 1762. Epaphras Cook and Charlotte his wife were received into the Presbyterian church at Morristown, from the Han- over church, July 25, 1822, and were dismissed May 4, 1829, to New York. He was doubtless of a later generation.
v. John, m. Sarah Parrott. John Cook, of Pequannock, m. Jane Peer, of the same place, Oct. 14, 1772. Was this the son of Ellis?
2. Ellis2 Ellis1 Cook, D. 1732, m. Margaret Griswould Cocker, (b. Dec. 15, 1735), July 12, 1753; d April 7, 1797, in the 66th year of his age, according to his tombstone at Hanover; she d. March 15, 1777, aged 41 years and 3 months. Her tombstone sets forth that
Here lies one bereav'd of Life,
A Tender Mother and a Loving wife;
Kind to Relations & a faithful friend
Happy in her beginning, no doubt so in her end.
The very useful and distinguished career of Col. Cook has been nar- rater above. He m. 2d, Lucy (Fly) Perkins, who was received into
75
COOK FAMILY
membership in the Hanover church, Jan 12, 1791. His will, dated April 6, 1797, sets forth that he was at the time "infirm in body," which might be inferred from the fact that the instrument was proved on the 25th of the same month. In his will he provides that his wife Lucy should "furnish my son George Whitfield with clothing, &c., from her right of dower." He devises to son Jabez a tract of land "opposite my dwelling house, bounded by Mathew Kitchel, Samuel Merry, Passaick river and road, except a meadow; also my tract in Essex county joining Aaron Beach, Isaac Winans and others." Sons Zebulon, James and Ambrose "to share equally all the rest of my real estate, in Morris and Essex counties." To daughters Margaret Kitchel, Matilda Plumb and Rulatte Gregory, £10 each. "My son Ambrose to take mny son George Whitfield and bring him up and in- struct him in the Practice of Physic, and Ambrose to be paid £ 25 annually until George Whitfield is 21." Executors-Aaron Kitchell, Prudden Alling, James Cook. Witnesses-(Dr.) John Darcy, William Cook, Epaphrus Cook The "Inventory of Coll. Ellis Cook Esqr," April 12, 1797, footed up £602. 14, 4, as appraised by Enoch Beach and David Bedford .- N. J Wills, Liber No. 37, p. 228. Issue:
i. Jabez.
ii. Zebulon, b. March 22, 1755; m. Mary Jones, Feb. 15, 1775; d. Dec. 12, 1810; she was b. May 20, 1758; d. April 14, 1830.
iii. James, b. Mar 25, 1760; m. 1st, Elizabeth P. Condit, Nov. 25, 1751; 2d, Ruth Pierson, Aug. 3, 1786; he d. March 20, 1336: he lived at Succasunna.
iv. Ambrose. "Doctor Ambrose Cook and Miss Sally P. Wheeler" were married June 27, 1794. He d. in Mon- mouth county.
v. Margaret, m. William Kitchell, of Hanover.
vi. Matilda, m. David Plumb, Feb. 27, 1794. He was of Newark.
vii. Rulatte (called Lotta), m. William O. Gregory, Sept. 1792; he was of Newburgh, N. Y.
viii. Elizabeth, d. Sept. 30, 1780, aged 1 yr. 4 mos. 2 days. ix. George Whitfield, bap. 1790 or 1791. In accordance with the terms of his father's will he was brought up a physician, and practiced in Hudson, N. Y.
Another Ellis Cook, of Bottle Hill (now Madison), m. Sarah Wort- man, Sept. 28, 1789. He was of Hanover when he made his will, April 7, 1801, which was proved Aug. 5, 1807. In this instrument he gives to wife Sarah £60 in lieu of dower; to daughter Keziah Morris £70, New York money; to daughter Mary Miller, wife of John Miller, £70; to daughter Sarah Ward, wife of Israel Ward, £70; to grandson Ellis Morris, £30, when twenty -one years of age; to grandson Ellis Thomp- son, £30; to "grandson Benjamin Cook, son of my son Benjamin, in fee, all houses, lands and tenements in Morris County, if he shall live to twenty-one years, otherwise to be divided among surviving grand- children allowing two shares of the whole to the daughters or daughter of my son Benjamin Cook, deceased, and the remainder in equal shares among the children of my three daughters Keziah Morris, Mary Miller and Sarah Ward, share and share alike;" to "daughter-in-law, Sarah Cook, widow of my son Benjamin Cook, deceased, all the use of the real estate herein devised to her son Benjamin Cook, and to bring up the children of my said son Benjamin, deceased, during her widowhood; in case of her marriage, his executors to take charge of
76
COOK FAMILY : COOKE
the same;" residue of estate to be divided among surviving children as they shall arrive at the age of twenty-one years. Executors-Sons- in-law Luke Miller, John Morris and Israel Ward. Witnesses-John Donington, Jonathan Richards and John Blanchard. A codicil, dated August 5, 1807, gives to wife Sarah £100 additional. Witnesses- Archibald Sayre, John Blanchard .-- Morris County Wills, Liber A, p. 236. According to the late Prof. George H. Cook, State Geologist of New Jersey, this Ellis Cook, of Bottle Hill, was a son of John Cook, of Southampton, and was So years old at the time of his death. He had a brother Obadiah, of Halseytown, Morris county, whose brother- in-law, Joel Halsey, was named as his executor in 1765.
All these Cooks were descendants of Ellis Cook, m. Martha, dau. of John Cooper, who was one of the "undertakers" or settlers of Southampton, L. I., 1640; d. 1679 at Southampton. Issue:
John, Ellis, Martha, Elizabeth. Mary, Abiel.
Abiel had children: Josiah, Frances, Abiel 2d.
Abiel 2d d. 1740 at Southampton, having had children: Abiel 3d; Samuel, d. at Shrewsbury, N. J., 1745: Ellis, b. 1703, d. 1756, who settled in Hanover, Morris county, as above stated; Phebe, Susannah, m. Barton, and lived with nephew Abiel in N. J .; Matthew, d. in N. J .; Zebulon, settled at Freehold, N. J .; Lemuel, Abigail, Anna. Abiel 3d m. Leonard; he located in Monmouth county in 1720. Children: Abiel 4th: Sarah, m. Aaron Mattison, April, 1745; Nathaniel, m. Robins; Frances, m. Samuel Mount, 1755;
Susannah, m. Imlay; Mary, m. Jonathan Lippincott, 1757; Phebe, m. Peter Dewitt, 1757; Abigail, m. -- Strickland.
Abiel 4th, b. Nov. 15, 1723; m. Mary, dau of Samuel Thompson, June, 1765; d. Jan. 24, 1797. Children: Sarah, William, . Susannah, Samuel, Elizabeth, Nathaniel, Hannah. b. 1775, m. the Rev. Joseph Stephens, pastor of the Baptist church at Freehold, 1789-1793, d. 1817 ..
REV. SAMUEL COOKE.
The Rev. Samuel Cooke, a graduate of Caius College, Cambridge, was appointed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts to succeed the Rev. 'Thomas Thompson as missionary to the Episcopal churches in Monmouth county, and arrived there in September, 1751. He attended a Convention of the Episcopal clergy of Pennsylvania in 1760, and was recognized as an influential member of his denomination in New Jersey. He continued in charge of the Epis- copal churches in Shrewsbury, Freehold and Middletown until the Rev- olution. He sailed with the Rev. Myles Cooper and the Rev. T. B. Chandler, on May 24, 1775, for Bristol, England. On his return he took up his residence in New York, where he became a deputy chaplain to. the Guards. In 1785 he settled at Frederickton, New Brunswick, as the first Rector of the church at that place. In 1791 he was Commis- sary to the Bishop of Nova Scotia. He was drowned in crossing the river St. John, in a birch bark canoe, in 1795. His wife was Graham, daughter of Michael Kearny, of Ferth Amboy; she d. at Shrewsbury, Sept. 23, 1771. His son perished with him. Lydia, his fifth daughter, died at Frederickton in 1846, aged 76; Isabella, bap. July 19, 1767, and the last survivor of the family, died at the same city in 1848. She was the widow of Col. Harris William Hales.
72
COTTNAM
ABRAHAM COTTNAM.
Abraham Cottnam was licensed as an attorney and counsellor-at- law of New Jersey at the November Term, 1746, of the Supreme Court. He married a daughter of Joseph Warrell, Attorney-General of the Province, 1733-1754. and in 1751 was deputed by him to prosecute the pleas of the Crown in Middlesex county. He married, second, by license dated June 11th, 1764, Elizabeth Ann Pearce. She was a daugh- ter of Edward Pearce and Catharine, his wife, widow of Robert Talbot, and daughter of Jeremiah Basse, one of the last Governors of West Jersey. His residence was probably the place known as Doud's Dale, or "Downdale, near 'Trenton, on the Hopewell road," on the Penning- ton road, near Calhoun street, in the northern part of Trenton. By deed dated Nov. 6, 1766, Cottnam bought of Dr. Thomas Cadwalader, of Philadelphia, and wife Hannah, a tract of thirty-eight acres at Maidenhead, on the south side of Shabbacunk creek .- Liber Y of Decds. in office of Secretary of State, fol. 270. In the latter part of his life he removed to what is now the northwest corner of Warren and Bank streets, Trenton, this property becoming, after his death, the inn of Rensselaer Williams. His sons continued in the house at "Doud's Dale," and purchased it from the executors, by deed dated April 20, 1779 .- Liber AL of Deeds, f. 423. His will, dated December 16, 1775, proved February 12, 1776, appoints his wife Eliza Ann, the Honble Dan- iel Coxe, Esqre, his son-in-law Robert Hoops, and his son George Cott- nam, executors, with Wm Pidgeon as advisor. His eldest son, Warrell Cottnam, is bequeathed £30, to be laid out for him by the executors, in "fitting him to go to sea or for any other rational purpose," at the discretion of the executors; "but I beg and entreat my other children, if in their power, that they will not see him want the common neces- sarles of life, but never to be security for him for any sum of money nor trust him with more money at a time, than will be sufficient for immediate subsistence." The will also mentions daughter Martha, wife of Robert Hoops, and niece Charity Lee. His son George receives "his mother's family pedigree roll by his mother's side being of the Bradshaw family." The wife is given all the books "that belonged to her mother, Mrs. Catherine Peirce," whose heiress-at-law she was. The will also devises the homestead, a meadow-lot of five acres, bought of Samuel Tucker at Sheriff's sale, and other land held on a long lease under a ground-rent of £3 per acre; also bequeaths personal estate: negro slaves, law books (at the house and also in the hands of Isaac Allen and Dr. John Coxe, claimed under will of Joseph War- rell, senior), pictures ("of my brother and of the Warrell family"), china, a gold watch, and a silver coffee pot. Witnesses-Wm. Pid- geon, Benj. Smith and R. L. Hooper .- W. J. Wills, Lib. 17, fol. 295. Abraham Cottnam had two sons, Warrell and George. It is to be inferred from his father's will that the older son was irregular in his habits. The younger was licensed as an attorney, May, 1780. A com- pany of Hessian soldiers was quartered in the house of Warrell Cott- nam previous to their capture by Washington on December 26, 1776. The two sons occupied the paternal residence until 1779, when they sold it to Captain (afterwards Chief Justice) David Brearley .- Vroom's Supreme Court Rules; N. J. Archives, VII., 613; Ibid., XX., 248; Ibid., XXII., 76; Ibid., Second Series, I., 59, 79, 178, 382; Hall's Hist. Pres. Church in Trenton, 238; Stryker's Trenton One Hundred Years Ago, 6; Stryker's Battles of Trenton and Princeton, 119.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.