USA > New Jersey > New Jersey biographical and genealogical notes from the volumes of the New Jersey archives : with additions and supplements > Part 13
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ii. Willem, bap. Sept. 26, 1731. He was a potter, in New York. He and his brother John were witnesses to the will of John Remmi, of New York, "Pot Baker," Jan. 26, 1762. He was admitted to the burgher right o fthe city Sept. 1, 1770. He subsequently removed to Middle Brook, New Jersey, perhaps because his sympathies were with the Americans, rather than with the British, who were then in possession of New York city. He d. at Middle Brook, in 1779. William
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Crolius, formerly of the City of New York, but now of Middle Brook, Somerset County, New Jersey, be- ing "infirm," made his will January 26, 1778, which was proved January 22, 1779. He mentions no wife nor children. He devises to his nephew John, son of his brother John, the rest of the term of the lease of those four lots situate in the out-ward of the City of New York, leased of George Janeway, with dwelling houses, shops, etc., and all his tools, etc., of the potter's business; to his brothers, John, Peter and George, the proceeds of sale of his other house and ground in New York City, near the Moravian Meet- ing House, in Fare street, and his lot and house in Middle Brook, New Jersey, and the rest of his estate. With a proper recognition of the pending struggle of The American people to secure their own freedom, he provided that his slaves Tom and wife Venus and their children should be freed. He appoints as execu- tors his friend George Janeway, and his brothers John and Peter. Witnesses-Robert Manely, Benja- min Harris, jun., and William Wilcocks .- Liber No. 21 of N. J. Wills, f. 53.
iii.
Maria.
iv. Petrus, bap Feb. 11, 1736; m. by license, Feb. 11, 1736, Mary Chambers. In the record of the baptisms of their children, however, her name is given as Lack, Ïoch, or Lock. She was, perhaps, a widow when he married her. Peter Crolius, cordwainer, was granted the burgher right, Oct. 1, 1765. Children: 1. Willem, pap. Nov. 27, 1763 (the child's paternal grandparents both witnessed the baptism); 2. Elizabeth, bap. April 28, 1765; 3. Veronica, bap. June 22, 1766; 4. Mary, bap. Nov. 13, 1768; 5. Elizabet, bap. Oct. 7, 1770; 6. Peter, bap. Nov. 8, 1772; d. in inf .; 7. Pieter, bap. Oct. 30, 1774. Peter Crolius, son of Willem, and father of these children, joined the Reformed Dutch Church of New Brunswick, by certificate, in 1778.
v. Jurrie, bap. March 5, 1738; m. Catharina Coelbach, in 1763 or earlier. This is doubtless ; the brother 'George" mentioned in the will of William Crolius. As a matter of fact, "Jurrie" (pronounced Yury) is a contraction of Juriaan, the Dutch for Uriah. The Dutch equivalent of George is Joris, pronounced Yoris.
REV. ALEXANDER CUMMING.
Alexander Cumming was born at Freehold, N. J., in 1726, son of Rob- ert Cumming, an immigrant from Montrose, Scotland, who was an Eider and Trustee in the old Presbyterian church in that vicinity, later known as the Old Tennent Church. He was educated under his mater- nal uncle, Samuel Blair, and studied theology with his pastor, William Tennent. He was licensed in 1746 or 1747, and spent some time in Au- gusta county, Va. He married Eunice, daughter of Col. Thomas Polk, of North Carolina. He was collegiate pastor with the Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton, of the Presbyterian church in New York, 1750-1753, after which he remained without a charge, partly on account of ill health, until 1761, when he was called to Old South, Boston, where he remained until his death, August 23. 1763 .- Webster's Hist. Pres. Church, 614.
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JOHN NOBLE CUMMING.
John Noble Cumming was born about 1752, son of Robert Cumming and Mary Noble. Robert Cumming was born in 1701 or 1702, in Mont- rose, Scotland, and came to this country at the age of eighteen years. He was the son of John Cumming, a lawyer of reputation. Robert lived in Newark about two years, and then removed to Freehold, Mon- mouth county, where in later years he held the office of High Sheriff. He married, first, Mary, daughter of Lawrence Van Hook, of Freehold; second, in 1746, Mary, daughter of John Noble (a merchant of Bristol, England, nephew of Sir John Stokes, of Stokes' Castle, Bristol), who came to New York about 1717, and married Catharine, daughter of Captain John Van Brugh. (Mrs. Catharine Van Brugh Noble marrled, second, the Reverend William Tennent, of Freehold, and died at Pitts- grove, N. J., in her eighty-second year.) Robert Cumming had chil- dren: By his first wife: (1) Alexander, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, in New York, and afterwards of the Old South Church, in Boston, where he died in 1763, (2) Lawrence, who lived and died in Freehold; (3) Mary, who, in October, 1758, married the Reverend Alex- ander Macwhorter, who had studied for the ministry at Freehold, and was afterwards pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Newark, 1759. 1807. By his second wife: (4) Catharine, married the Reverend Philip Stockton, a native of Princeton, who settled in Sussex county; (5) Ann, married the Reverend William Schenck, of Huntington, L. I .; (6) John Noble; (7) Margaret, who died, aged 40 years, unmarried. Robert Cumming died at Freehold, April 15th, 1769, in his sixty · eighth year .- Alden's Epitaphs, 1039; N. Y. Gen. and Biog. Record. John Noble Cumming was graduated from Princeton in 1774 .- Princeton General Catalogue. He was commissioned First Lieutenant in Captain Howell's Company, Second Battalion, First Establishment, November 29th, 1775; First Lieutenant, Captain Lawrie's Company, Second Battalion, Sec- ond Establishment, November 29th, 1776; Captain, Second Battalion, Second Establishment, to date November 30th, 1776; Captain, Second Regiment, Major, First Regiment, to date April 16th, 1780; Lieutenant- Colonel, Second Regiment, December 29th, 1781; Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant, Third Regiment, February 11th, 1783, and was discharged at the close of the war .- Stryker's Revolutionary Roster, p. 66. Soon after the war he appears to have settled in Newark, where, in 1787, he be- longed to Newark Lodge, No. 2, of Free Masons. He had previously been a member of Lodge No. 19, Pennsylvania registry, probably at Freehold. In 1786 he was elected Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge, which usually met at Trenton. He declined a re-election in 1791, owing to the inconvenience of getting there from Newark .- Hough's Free- masonry in New Jersey. In Newark he married Sarah, daughter of Jus - tice Joseph Hedden, Jr., a prominent citizen, who was carried off by the British on the night of January 25th, 1780, and suffered such hard- ship in the New York sugar-house that he died from his ill-treatment September 27th, 1780. Cumming was a man of great business activity, and found plenty of enterprises to engage his attention. In 1793-4 he successfully executed a contract for the construction of the first race- ways in Paterson, for conducting the water-power from above the Pas- saic Falls to the mills below. For many years his principal business was the management of extensive stage-lines and the carrying of the United States mails, between New York and Philadelphia, in connec- tion with which he owned several wayside taverns along the route. He was elected one of the Trustees of the First Presbyterian Church, in
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DE WITTE
Newark, in 1798, the pastor being his brother-in-law, but as he lived in the upper part of the town-corner of Broad and Lombardy streets-he took an active part in the organization of the Second Presbyterian Church, in 1809, being not only one of the first Trustees, but a generous contributor toward the erection of its house of worship. His son, the Rev. Hooper Cumming, was the first pastor of the church, 1811-15. Among the notices of Colonel Cumming in the official records of New- ark, we find him elected Surveyor of the Highways, in 1787; Overseer of the Highways, in 1788; Appeal Commissioner, in 1790 and 1791; Vice- President of the Newark Fire Association at its organization, in 1797. He was deeply interested in the Newark Academy, and in 1793 was one of the managers of the lottery raised for the completion of the build- ing. In 1795 he was elected a member of the first Board of Trustees, and served in that capacity for fifteen or twenty years, if not longer. He was one of the incorporators of the Newark Aqueduct Company, chartered in 1800, and was Vice-President and afterwards President of the company for a long time. In the act incorporating the Newark Banking and Insurance Company-Newark's first financial institution. and the first bank incorporated in New Jersey-in 1804 he was named as one of the commissioners to receive subscriptions to the stock, and he was one of the directors of the bank for many years-probably until his death. In 1811 he was a director of the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures (at Paterson), of the Passaic and Hackensack Bridge Company, of the Steam Boat Ferry Company of New Jersey and New York, director of the Newark Turnpike Company (maintaining the road from Newark to Paulus Hook), and was connected with vari- ous other corporations of like character. In later years he was a Gen- eral of Militia. He was Vice-President of the New Jersey Society of the Cincinnati from 1808 until his death. While at work about his farm on an intensely hot day, he was overcome by the heat, and died July 6th, 1821 .- 2 V. J. Archives, I., 346.
REV. JOHN DAVENPORT.
John Davenport was a son of the Rev. James Davenport, of South- old, Long Island. He was graduated from Princeton College in the class of 1769. He was ordained by the Presbytery of Suffolk, June 4, 1775, and served the Congregation in Southold, Long Island, for two years. On the 12th of August, 1795, he was settled at Deerfield, New Jersey, but resigned in 1805, on account of failing health. He died July 13, 1821.
RICHARD DEVENS.
Richard Devens was born at Charlestown, October 23, 1749. At his graduation at Princeton. in 1767, he stood at the head of his class. For three years he was engaged in teaching in various schools in New York and New Jersey. In 1770 he was appointed tutor in the College, where he remained until 1774, when, in consequence of too close and intense application to his studies he became insane, and, so far as known, he never recovered his reason.
REV. PETER DE WITT.
Peter Dewitt studied theology under the Rev. Dr. John H. Living- ston, and was licensed as a preacher by the General Meeting of Ministers and Elders of the Reformed Dutch Church, in 1778. From 1787 to 1798 he was pastor of the Reformed Dutch churches of Rhine- beck, Rhinebeck Flats and Upper Red Hook, New York, and from
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1799 to 1809 he was pastor of the churches of Ponds and Wyckoff, Bergen county, New Jersey. He died in 1809.
REV. SAMUEL EAKIN.
Samuel Eakin was graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1763, and received the degree of A. M. in 1766. He studied for the ministry and was ordained by the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, in 1770. From 1773 until his death, in 1784, he was settled at Penn's Neck Presbyterian church in West Jersey, but rendered himself so obnoxious to the Tories by his zeal in the cause of American liberty that he was sometimes obliged to withdraw. He was the idol of the soldiers. Wherever there was a military training, or an order issued for the soldiers to march, he was, if in his power, always there to address them, and by his eloquence would excite their emotions of patriotism to the highest pitch. It is related of him that he was so warm a Whig that he never entered the pulpit without imploring the Lord "to teach our people to fight and give them courage and perse- verance to overcome their enemies." Mr. Eakin was an extraordinary man, and, next to Mr. Whitefield, esteemed the most eloquent preacher who had ever been in the country. See Johnson's History of Salem, 97-98.
EASTBURN FAMILY.
The grandparents of Robert Eastburn, who were Friends, came from England to America in 1714, and probably had several children, as numerous Eastburns appear in the records of Friends' Meetings in and about Philadelphia in the early part of the eighteenth century. Among the children was Robert Eastburn, who was b. in England in 1710. He was m. in 1733 to Agnes Jones, of Germantown, in Friends" Meeting. to which he and his wife belonged. He continued with Friends until on one occasion he heard the celebrated George White- field preach, when he became one of his followers. Mr. Whitefield used to call him his "first fruit in America." A congregation was formed-the Second Presbyterian, of Philadelphia-which called the Rev. Gilbert Tennent, of New Brunswick, to be their pastor, and Mr. Eastburn was chosen one of the first deacons. With about thirty tradesmen he marched north in the spring of 1756, toward Oswego, but when the party arrived at Captain Williams' Fort, near Oswego, on March 26, 1756, they were surprised by a party of Indians. and the next day Eastburn was captured by them, and carried a prisoner to Canada, suffering incredible hardships on the way. He was detained a prisoner by the Indians and by the French until July 23, 1757, when he was permitted to sail from Quebec to England, and securing pas- sage thence to the Colories arrived October 26, 1757, at Philadelphia. (In his account of his capture he gives the date of his arrival at New York as Nov. 21. and at Philadelphia as November 26. But his arrival at New York was chronicled in the New York and Philadelphia newspapers of October 24-28, 1757. See N. J. Archires, 20:144.) "The faithful Narrative of the many dangers and sufferings, as well as wonderful deliverance, of Robert Eastburn during his captivity among the Indians." printed at Philadelphia, by William Dunlap, 1758, is one of the rarest accounts of Indian captivities, and owing to its interest- ing character, has been reprinted several times. He d. Jan. 22, 1778; his wife d. Sept. 27, 1784. Issue:
i. Sarah, b. 1735; d. 1818.
ii. Hannah, d. 1773.
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iii. Thomas, prob. m. Rachel Lupton, Dec. 1, 1783.
2. iv. Robert. b. 12-3; 2. alig
V. John, d. 1806. Children: Sarah Eastburn and Maria Wells.
3. vi. Joseph, b. Aug. 11, 1748, in Philadelphia.
2. Robert? (Robert1) Eastburn located at New Brunswick before the Revolution, and seems to have been a prominent merchant there. His will made August 10, 1815, when he was "sick and weak," was proved August 29, 1815. The numerous bequests indicate that he owned a considerable estate. He refers to his wife as deceased, and gives legacies to his children as follows: Robert Eastburn, $250; Thomas Eastburn, $775; Joseph Eastburn, $500; Mary Ann, a certain interest yearly during life, the principal to be divided among her children at her death; Abigail Boyer, $104 per year, "if she does not live with her husband, James Boyer"; grandson Robert Boyer, $100. Other legacies were left to Mary Taylor, $50, "for her care during the sickness of Robert Boyer, my grandson"; to Elizabeth Smith, $450, "the faithful nurse of my wife and myself"; William Jobs (son of William Jobs, of South Amboy), $25; to brother John's widow, $100; brother Joseph Eastburn to have the care of about $100 "to hand out as needed"; Susannah Hunt, daughter of Samuel Noe, of New York, $100, "she being a goodly woman, indisposed and poor in estate"; to Elizabeth Evans, $50. He directs that his house on Dennis street shall be rented or sold; to John Vial, $75, to be paid in small sums; to the Humane Society of New Brunswick, the interest of $300; towards building a Friends' Meeting House in New Brunswick, $200; to the City of Phila- delphia and to the City of New York, each $200, to be used in provid-
ing a school for the education of white and colored children alike; to the New Jersey Bible Society, $50, to be paid John Neilson, Esquire, for the use of the Society; to Joseph Clark of Philadelphia, and Dr. Conover C. Blatchley of New York, each $50, to purchase religious tracts and circulate them; to charities in New Brunswick, $50. Ex- ecutors-my friends, William P. Deare and Dr. Augustus R. Taylor. Witnesses-Jona. C. Ackerman, Robert Dennis, J. W. Scott. In a codicil dated August 17, 1815, he gives $75 to the corporation for the relief of poor children in the City of New Brunswick; and $25 in addition to his previous legacy to William Jobs, son of William Jobs of South Amboy. The estate was appraised August 25, 1815, by Dower D. Williamson and Asa Runyon. The inventory mentions cash de- livered to Executors by T. Eastburn, on sale of oil, $26.31. Among the debtors are William Jobs, on bond; David Allison, due bill for books; note due from John Metcalt, insolvent; note due from John K. Joline; due bill from Lewis Dunn; debt due from Jeremiah Parsell, 5th mo. 3, 1815; Michael Pool, Feb. 11, 1806; Gideon Voorhees (Insolvent), 1807; Garret Nefie, 1808; Jacob Probasco, 1810; Moses Jones; John Dill, 6th mo. 27, 1814. It also mentions household goods, wine, contents of shop, etc., etc. Issue:
i. Robert. m. 7
; ch., Joseph.
ii. Thomas. 1
iii. Mary Ann, m. William Jones, Dec. 30, 1800.
iv. Abigail, m. James Boyer; ch., Robert.
3. Joseph, b. August 11, 1748; he followed his father to northern New York in 1756, and was taken prisoner at the capture of Fort Oswego, by the French and Indians. He had the good fortune to re- join his father while a prisoner in Canada, and they remained together
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thereafter during their captivity. On returning to Philadelphia he re- sumed his trade as a cabinet-maker; he m. Agnes Owen of that city, June 12, 1771, in the Second Presbyterian Church of that city; she d. June 21, 1811, aged 66 years. He performed two or three tours of duty in the Revolutionary War, and was at the Battle of Princeton, Janu- ary 3, 1777. At an early age his attention was turned towards religious subjects, and he was very anxious to go into the ministry, but owing to his lack of education was. refused a license by the Presbytery. However, he was encouraged to take charge of prayer meetings in the Second Presbyterian Church, and proved so acceptable a speaker, that in 1805 he was granted a qualified license. He preached at New Brunswick frequently, between 1812 and 1815, on which occasions he was a guest of his brother at that place. Toward the close of 1819, he began to preach regularly to the mariners of Philadelphia, and a church was erected for such meetings, in which he officiated until his death, January 30, 1828. He had one son, Thomas, b. about 1772 or 1773. Contrary to the wishes of his parents, he entered upon a sea- faring life and became commander of a merchant vessel. Losing his little property by the failure of a mercantile house, by which he was employed, he sailed from the West Indies as a passenger, for Phila- delphia, and on the voyage was instantly killed, his head being taken off by a cannon ball, fired from a French man-of-war; he was com- paratively young at the time of his tragic death. Having no children, Joseph, in his will, distributed his property among his nephews and nieces and various charitable objects, especially the Mariners' Church, over which he had presided for nine years before his death.
EATON FAMILY.
Thomas Eaton was doubtless a grandson of Thomas Eaton, 1st. who came to America from Goodhurst, Kent, England, and landed in Rhode Island, where lie married a widow, Jerusha Wing. About 1670 he located in Monmouth County, N. J., where he built a grist inill on one of the headwaters of South Shrewsbury, in the present village of Eatontown, four miles west of Long Branch. He died November 26. 1688, leaving his mill property to his widow in trust for their unborn child. John Eaton, his son, was born March 26, 1689. He married Jo- anna, daughter of Joseph Wardell, who lived at the present Monmouth Beach. He was elected to the Assembly in 1727, and was re-elected in 1730, 173S, 1740, 1743, 1744, 1745, 1746, 1749, serving continuously for twenty years. He sold the mill property April 26, 1716, to Gabriel Stelle. He died April 1, 1750. In his will. dated Dec. 2, 1745, proved May 11, 1750, he gives to his son Thomas £600 in money, also his "big Bible big Dicksonary Nelsons Justice and my Sord and Pistils." To his son Joseph his "small gun, small Dicksonary Church history and Conductter generall [Conductor Generalis] and ten shillings in money." -E. J. Wills, E, 4$5. His widow made her will May 25, 1769; it was proved January 15, 1770 .- Ib., K, 163. She d. January 1, 1770. Joseph Wardell, of Shrewsbury, in his will, dated May 5, 1733. proved May 30. 1735, speaks of his daughter, Joanna Eaton. John Eaton's children were:
1. Thomas, who lived on the paternal acres. In 1749 he was a mer- chant in New York. He was baptized in the Old Tennent Church, Monmouth County, in Old Shrewsbury, on profession of faith, August 20, 1749. In 1754 he advertised for sale a lot of thirteen and a quarter acres, about a quarter of a mile from the centre of the township of Shrewsbury. A Thomas Eaton, perhaps his son, was living at Eliza- bethtown, where his first wife died, and several of his children, 1774-1795.
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EATON FAMILY : EATON
2. Joseph, a physician, who died April 5, 1761, in his 44th year. The will of Joseph Eaton, of Shrewsbury, "Surgion," dated March 30, 1756, proved May 6, 1751, names his wife Lucy, and sons John and Thomas. Testator "would have them educated by the direction of my brother Thomas Eaton and taught merchants accounts and would have them brought up to College if their part of the personal estate or income or lands should be sufficient but not to encumber said lands with any debts."-E. J. Wills, G, 445.
3. Valeria, married Dr. Joseph Le Conte, of Middletown Point. She and her husband joined the Old Tennent Church, May 4, 1744. He subscribed £10, March 16, 1749-50, towards the erection of the present meeting-house. He died January 29, 1768, in his 66th year, and is buried in the Presbyterian cemetery, near Matawan. His widow died in 1788, and is buried at Orange, where she had made her home for several years with her daughter Margaretta, the second wife of the Rev. Jedidiah Chapman, pastor of the Presbyterian Church at that place.
4. Sarah, married Richard Tole, in Christ church, Shrewsbury, June 25, 1761.
5. Lydia, m. John Wanton, of Rhode Island, Aug. 12, 1750.
6. Joanna, married, October 15, 1750, the Rev. Elihu Spencer, a Pres- byterian clergyman, who was temporarily supplying Shrewsbury and Middletown. She died at Trenton, November 1, 1791, aged 63 years. He died at Trenton also, December 27, 1784, in his 64th year.
7. Elizabeth. She and her sister Joanna, both being "Young women grown," were "baptized on profession of their own Faith," August 5, 1750, in the Old Tennent church. She m. Thomas Richardson, April 4, 1755.
8. Margaret, married John Berrien, marriage license August 16, 1759. Child-Mary, who. m. Dr. Thomas West Montgomery .- Hist. Monmouth County, 876; N. J. Historical Society Proc., V., 36; N. J. Archives, XIX., 437; Hall's Pres. Church in Trenton, 288; Wickes's Hist. Medical Men of N. J., 242, 310; Wickes's History of the Oranges, 198; Hist. of Old Tennent Church, Freehold, 1897, 122; Inscriptions in First Pres. Church Yard, Elizabeth, 106.
REV. ISAAC EATON.
The Rev. Isaac Eaton was a son of the Rev. Joseph Eaton, minister of the Baptist society at Montgomery, Pa. (about 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia), 1722-1744, and then of the New Britain church, which split from the former in 1744, until his death. Joseph was b. Aug. 25, 1679, in Radnor, Wales, and came to America about 1686. His second wife, Uria Humphreys, was the mother of Isaac Eaton. Joseph at- tended monthly at Hopewell, during fifteen years of his ministry at Montgomery and New Britain. He d. April 1, 1749, and was buried at New Britain.
Isaac Eaton, son of the Rev. Joseph Eaton and Uria Humphreys, was b. 1726, and studied divinity at Southampton, Bucks county, Pa., with the Rev. Oliver Hart, who was destined to be one of his successors at Hopewell. Mr. Eaton came to this church in April, 1748, and was or- dained its pastor on Nov. 29 of that year. He remained in that charge for twenty-four years. The Rev. Dr. Samuel Jones, of Pennepek, Pa., who preached the funeral sermon, said: "The natural endowments of his mind; the improvement of these by the accomplishments of litera- ture; his early and genuine piety; his abilities as a divine and as a preacher; his extensive knowledge of men and books; his catholicism, &c., would afford ample scope to flourish in a funeral oration." Mr. Eaton opened a school at Hopewell in 1756, for the education of youths
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EATON : ELLIS FAMILY
for the ministry, he being the first among the American Baptists to establish such a school. Many of his students became eminent in the ministry, and many more in other walks in life. The school was closed in 1767. Mr. Eaton m. Rebecca Stout. by whom he had many children, some of whom d. young or unm. Joseph, David and Pamela grew up and married. Mr. Eaton also practiced physic, and was very helpful to the poor. He d. at Hopewell, July 4, 1772, and was buried in the meeting house. At the head of his grave, near the base of the pulpit, the congregation set up a marble slab, suitably inscribed, with the verse appended:
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