USA > New Jersey > New Jersey biographical and genealogical notes from the volumes of the New Jersey archives : with additions and supplements > Part 22
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Jersey, and to take his parole and security," whereupon the Provincial Congress "Ordered, That Mr. Lefferty do sign his parole as settled by Congress. and give security in the sum of one thousand Pounds, to depart hence to the house of the widow Lefferty, in the Township of Bedminster, Somerset County, and there to remain, or within a circle of four miles thereof, until he have leave to the contrary." After the war it would seem that he was still a Justice of the Peace as late as 1786, about which time he probably died, as in 1787 his property, 174 acres, is assessed to Mrs. Lefferty, the tax being $4, 15s., Sd. About 1800 the property passed into the hands of John Davenport, who came from Connecticut, and built a tannery on the place. The Lefferty house was torn down in 1879. The name is written Lafferty, Lefferty and Leferty in the records .- Hist. Hunterdon and Somerset Counties, 703, 711, 713; "Our Home, ' Somerville, 1873, 481-6, Minutes of Provincial Con- gress, 1775-1776, 518; Records of Wills and of Marriages, in Secretary of State's Office, at Trenton.
THOMAS LEONARD.
Thomas Leonard was a prominent citizen of Freehold, residing on Lahaway creek, near its junction with Crosswicks creek, on the place where his father, Capt. John Leonard, was murdered by Wequalia, an Indian, in 1727. Thomas was a Loyalist during the Revolution, and so early as April 3, 1775, the Committee of Inspection for the Township of Freehold decided that he had "in a number of instances been guilty of a breach of the Continental Association, and that, pursuant to the tenour of said Association, every friend of true freedom ought imme- diately to break off all connexion and dealings with him, the said Leonard, and treat him as a foe to the rights of British America." He narrowly escaped arrest once by disguising himself as a negro, and so passed out from his home forever. He was a Major in the First Bat- talion of New Jersey Loyalists in 1778. He went to New York, and after the war removed with his family to St. John, New Brunswick, where he was granted Lot No. 1 in Parr Town (afterwards incor- porated in St. John), in 1783. His property in Monmouth County was confiscated, and in 1779 was sold to Gen. David Forman, of Revolu- tionary fame.
COLONEL WILLIAM SMITH LIVINGSTON.
William Smith Livingston, a son of Robert James Livingston, was commissioned Major of Lasher's Regiment, New York Militia, July, 1776; Aide-de-camp to Gen. Greene, 12th August, 1776, to 14th Janu- ary, 1777; Lieutenant Colonel of Webb's Additional Continental Regi- ment, 1st January, 1777; retired 10th October, 1778 .- Heitman's Register. He then studied law and was admitted an attorney of the Supreme Court of New Jersey at the April Term, 1780. Afterwards he practised law in the City of New York.
ISAAC and THOMAS LONGWORTH.
Isaac Longworth was a son of Thomas Longworth, of Newark, who died September 4th, 1748, aged 56 years. Isaac was probably born about 1730. He advertised for sale the property of Col. Josiah Ogden, de- ceased, in Newark, in 1763 and 1764. He was elected one of the chosen freeholders for Newark in 1765. 1766, 1769 (election contested, but de- cided in his favor by the Court of Quarter Sessions) and 1774; town
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clerk in 1772 (and surveyor of the highways), 1773, 1774, 1775 ("and to be exempt from working on the highway for his service") and 1776. He was county collector, 1772-1776. He married, first. Sarah , who died January 19th, 1754, aged 23 years; second, Cather- ine, daughter of Col. Josiah Ogden, and widow of David Ogden. Es- quire (who died January 28th, 1750, aged 40 years), marriage license dated February 19th, 1761. Isaac Longworth was appointed a mem- ber of the Committee of Correspondence of Newark, May 4th, 1775. He soon after went over to the enemy, and in June, 1777, his wife was sent from Newark to join him. Steps were taken for the con- fiscation of his property in due course. He was advertised. Decem- ber Sth, 1778, as "a fugitive now with the enemy;" an inquisition was returned against him, January 19th, 1779, and he was again ad- vertised as "a fugitive now with the enemy," April 29th, 1779, and April 26th, 1784. The board of justices and freeholders of the county informed the Legislature, December 20th, 1780, that Longworth, who was one of the commissioners of the loan office for Essex county, had taken with him the books and papers and some of the money entrusted to his care, by which means he had forfeited his bond. He was one of the fifty-five civilian Loyalists who, in July, 1783, petitioned for lands in Nova Scotia, as consideration of their services to the King. He appears to have returned to Newark after the war, where he made his will, in 1790, in which he names his wife Catherine and grandson David Johnson. His brother, Thomas Longworth, a leading member of Trin- ity Church, Newark, was also advertised as "a fugitive now with the enemy," at the same time as Isaac, and his wife. Mary Bruen, and was deported from Newark in June, 1777. He returned to Newark after the war, and died July 23d, 1790, aged 72 years. He was the father of David Longworth, who published the first New York directory, in 1780. and was the grandfather of Nicholas Longworth, one of Cincinnati's prominent citizens for many years .- Collections N. J. Hist. Soc., VI., and Supplement, passim; 1 N. J. Archives, XXII; Minutes Provincial Congress; Revolutionary Correspondence N. J. Excentire Sabine's Loyalists, II., 546 .- N. J. Archives, 2d Series, page 419.
REV. JAMES LYON.
James Lyon was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New Brunswick in 1762, and was ordained by the same body, December 5, 1764, to go to Nova Scotia, where he labored in the ministry for sev- eral years. In 1771 he removed to Machias, Me., preaching there under great difficulties, especially during the Revolution. He supplied the pulpit of Newtown, L. I., for two or three years until the spring of 1785. He died October 12, 1794. He is said to have been of Irish birth. In the New American Magazine (published at Woodbridge, N. J.), for Septem- ber, 1759, appears an original ode, "Louisburg Taken," introduced by a note, signed "Al - - - - s" (i. e., Alumnus), in which the writer asks his readers to "impute any impropriety in the Performance, or Incorrect . ness in Measure, to the Unskilfulness of a Lyre, touch'd by unexperi . enced Youth." The ode is two pages in length, and is signed "Nasso- vian," with the date, "E. Jersey, Aug. 1, 1759." It is probably from the pen of Mr Lyon.
CAPTAIN JOSEPH LYON.
Joseph Lyon was a descendant of Henry Lyon, one of the first set- tlers of Newark, in 1667, but who was of Elizabethtown in 1673. Capt. Joseph Lyon was an Elder in the Presbyterian Church at Elizabeth- town as early as 1759. He died at Lyons Farms, August 26, 1772, in his
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61st year. His son, Joseph Lyon, born 1741, and who graduated at Princeton in 1763, was an Elder in the same church for thirty-five years before his death, which occurred May 14, 1821.
· JOHN MOELICH.
Johannes Moelich (Melick, Mellick) was born Feb. 26, 1702, at Bendorf on the Rhine, Germany, son of Johan Wilhelm Moelich and Anna Cath- arine, his wife. He married Maria Cathrina (born Jan. 8, 1698, daugh- ter of Burgomaster Gottfried) Kirberger, at Bendorf, Nov. 1, 1723. He emigrated with his wife, his four children born at Bendorf, and his youngest brother, Johan Gottfried, and arrived at Philadelphia May 29, 1735, in the ship "Mercury." In December, 1747, he bought a tract of 409 acres in Greenwich township, now in Warren county. In 1750 he was living on a farm of 400 acres in Readington township, Hunter- don county, where he established a tannery. He bought from George Leslie, in November, 1751, a tract of 367 acres in Bedminster township, on the road now running from Pluckamin to Peapack. Here he built a substantial stone house, which he occupied thereafter, and also es- tablished an extensive tannery and bark mill, which continued in suc- cessful operation for more than a century. He was an officer and active in the affairs of Zion Lutheran church at New Germantown for sev- eral years before his death, but when St. Paul's church was projected at Pluckamin, in 1756, he gave £1, 15s. towards its erection, and on his death, Nov. 16, 1763, he was buried in the new churchyard at that place. He had children: 1. Georg Wilhelm, b. Aug. 12, 1724; d. Aug. 20, 1724; 2. Aaron (bap. Ehrenreich), b. Oct. 17, 1725; d. at Bedminster, April 7, 1809; 3. Veronica Gerdrutta, bap. Nov. 21, 1727; m. Johan Jacob Klein; d. Oct. 9, 1801; 4. Andrew, bap. Dec. 17, 1729; d. June 29, 1820, near Phil- lipsburg, N. J .; 5. Georg Anthon, bap. April 6, 1732; d. June 25, 1732; 6. Marie Cathrine, b. Dec. 5, 1733; m. Simon Ludewig Himroth, who came to America in 1752, settling at Bedminster, but in 1772 removed to Milton, Penn .; 7. Philip, b. Oct. 9, 1736; settled near Pluckamin; 8. Peter, b. Dec. 5, 1739. From Aaron (3) are descended the Mellicks of Plainfield .- The Story of an Old Farm, by Andrew D. Mellick, jun., 1889, 631; Hist. Hunterdon and Somerset Countics, 716.
GENERAL WILLIAM MAXWELL.
William Maxwell was a native of Greenwich township, Sussex county. At a meeting of the people of that county, July 16th, 1774, he was ap- pointed on a committee to co-operate with the other counties, and sub- sequently was elected a Deputy to the Provincial Congress which met at Trenton in May, June and August, 1775 .- Minutes of Provincial Con- gress. 19, 160, 184. On October 28th, 1775, the Provincial Congress rec- ommended him for appointment as Colonel of the Western Battalion of New Jersey. and on November 7th the Continental Congress ap- pointed him, accordingly, Colonel of the Second Battalion, First Es- tablishment .- 1b., 245; Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolution- ary Army, by William S. Stryker. 12, 16. The Continental Congress appointed him, October 23d, 1776, Brigadier-General, and placed under him the four battalions raised on the Second Establishment, called "Maxwell's Brigade."-Stryker, ut supra. 41-2. On May 11th. 1779, Maxwell's Brigade was ordered to the Susquehanna, on Sullivan's ex- pedition. He resigned July 25th. 1780. "He commanded the Jersey line, during his entire term of service, as a general officer, and took an active part in every battle in which his brigade distinguished itself." -Stryker, ut supra, 64. "He served in the French War of 1755 as an officer of Provincial troops: was with Braddock when that officer was
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MAXWELL
defeated, and fought under Wolfe at the taking of Quebec. He was afterwards attached to the Commissary Department, and was posted at Mackinaw, holding the rank of Colonel. As soon as he heard that the Colonies which bordered on the Atlantic had resolved to resist the Crown to the death rather than be enslaved, he resigned his commis- sion in the British army, marched on foot to Trenton, and tendered his services to the Provincial Congress, then in session. They were accepted and a Colonel's commission bestowed upon him, with others, to raise a battalion to march for Quebec. He succeeded in enlisting a fine body of men, and was engaged in recruiting when the meeting of the Sussex County Committee of Safety was held, August 10th and 11th. 1775, of which he was chosen Chairman. He took up his line of march, according to orders, but the defeat of Montgomery occurred before he could possibly reach Quebec, and nothing remained but to return to headquarters. He was soon after raised to the rank of Brigadier- General, and served with distinction in the battles of Germantown, Monmouth, Brandywine, Springfield, Wyoming and elsewhere. His personal frankness and the absence of all haughtiness in his manners made him a great favorite with the soldiers; but his merits, as is too often the case, excited envy; some of the officers who boasted a more aristocratic lineage than he could claim showed much jealousy of his advancement, and (in 1480), when one of this class succeeded in ob- taining promotion over his head, he resigned his commission. He en- joyed to the last the special regard of Gen. Washington, who visited him. Gen. Maxwell's house took fire just after the close of the Revo- lution and all his valuable papers and correspondence were destroyed." -The First Sussex Centenary, Newark, 1853, p. 60. An eloquent inscrip- tion, written by his friend and compatriot, Gov. Richard Howell, is placed over his remains, in the graveyard of the First Presbyterian Church of Greenwich township, setting forth that he was the oldest son of John and Anne Maxwell, and that he died November 4th, 1796, in the 63d year of his age (he never married) :
In The Revolutionary War Which Established The Independence
of the UNITED STATES, He took an early, an active part; A DISTINGUISHED MILITARY PARTISAN,
He arose, through different grades of the American Army, to the rank of Brigadier-General; A GENUINE PATRIOT, He was a warm and decided friend To the Constitution and Government of his Country;
In private life he was equally devoted to its service, and to the good of the community of which he was a member,
An honorable and charitable man, A warm and affectionate friend,
A zealous advocate of the institutions and An active promoter of the interests of the Christian Religion.
-Ib., 60, note.
After the foregoing was put in type, the following additional par - ticulars were furnished the writer by George Maxwell Robeson, ex- Attorney General of New Jersey and ex-Secretary of the Navy, since deceased:
General William Maxwell was born near Newtown Stewart, in county Tyrone, Ireland. He was of Scotch-Irish descent and was the son of John and Anne Maxwell. He came to this country with his
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MAXWELL: McCAIN (MCKEAN) FAMILY
father when nearly a man grown. His father settled at Greenwich, in the then county of Sussex, now Warren county.
William entered the Provincial army as an officer. He was at the taking of Quebec by Wolfe, and was one of Washington's Provincials in the Braddock Expedition against Fort Duquesne, and he was at the defeat of that unfortunate General. For his military services at that period he received from the British crown a grant of land near where Tarrytown is now located. The papers with regard to this grant were, however, lost in the burning of his house just before the close of the Revolutionary War.
At the time of the breaking out of the Revolution he was in the Provincial army, holding the rank of Colonel, and was stationed at Mackinaw. Upon receiving news of the first hostilities, he resigned his commission and started for home on horseback. His horse dropped dead in New York State somewhere near the New Jersey line, but he pushed on on foot until he reached Sussex county, where he immedi- ately began to raise troops for the patriot cause.
No portrait of General Maxwell is known to exist, but according to family tradition he was a tall, stalwart man, with large bones. He had a florid complexion, large grey eyes, and his hair was dark brown, almost black-iron grey during the Revolutionary War. His manner was bluff but hearty, and, from his Scotch descent and accent, his soldiers called him "Scotch Willie."
His father lived in Greenwich with his wife, a young son, Robert, and two daughters. On one occasion the house was raided by a party of Tories. They ransacked the house, beat the old gentleman, and gave Robert a violent blow on the head, which injured him severely. The wife and daughters were forced to flee to the woods for safety. General Maxwell, as soon as he was able, got leave of absence from the army and, with a party of soldiers, pursued the Tories. He cap- tured them and hanged them promptly, it is said, without judge or jury.
His brother John, who was next to him in age, was a Lieutenant in the First Jersey Establishment and afterwards a Captain in the ser- vice. He served at one time on General Maxwell's staff with the rank of Major. It is related that he one day rode into camp at Morristown with a full company of one hundred stalwart soldiers from Sussex, to the surprise and delight of Washington.
Captain John Maxwell's eldest son was George Clifford Maxwell. Jefferson's United States District Attorney, and member of Congress from New Jersey in 1811-13, elected as a Democrat. He married Miss Rachel Bryant and they had two children:
i. A son, John Paterson Bryant Maxwell, who was a member of Congress from New Jersey from 1836 to 1840, and died at Belvidere. November 14th, 1845.
ii. A daughter, Anna Maria, who married William P. Robeson, of Oxford Furnace, and their eldest son is the George Maxwell Robeson from whom the above information was derived, who was also a mem- ber of Congress from New Jersey from 1878 to 1892.
Captain John Maxwell had also a younger son, William, and two daughters.
McCAIN (McKEAN) FAMILY.
Susan McCain (probably widow of William McKean), of New Lon- don, Chester County, Penn., in her will, dated December 28, 1730, de- vised her lands to two sons-William McCain and Thomas McCain. William, her oldest son, was born in Ireland in 1707. He kept a tavern
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McCAIN (MCKEAN) FAMILY : MCEOWEN
in what is now known as Chatham, New London, until 1741, when he removed to Londongrove, an adjoining township, where he kept tav- ern, and in 1745 removed to Londonderry, where he followed the same business. He married, 1st, Letitia Finney, who died in 1742; 2d, Anne Logan, widow of James Logan, who had preceded him as tavern keeper at Londonderry; she died in 1751. He died November 18, 1769. He left issue (among others) by his first wife:
. Robert. born July 13, 1732. He studied medicine, and was mission- ary at New Brunswick for several years, and at Perth Amboy, from February, 1763. until his death, October 17, 1767.
ii. Thomas, born March 19, 1734, in New London, Penn. After receiv- ing a preparatory education under the Rev. Francis Allison, D. D., he entered the office of a relative, David Finney, at Newcastle, Del., as a law student, and was admitted to the bar in 1754 (before he was twenty-one), so superior was his reputation as a student. In 1756 he was appointed prosecutor of the pleas in Sussex County, Del. He was admitted to the bar of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, April 17, 175S. He then went to England, and entered the Middle Temple, May 9, 1758, to pursue his law studies. June 20, 1765, he was licensed to practice in the New Jersey Courts. He was a member of the Legislature from Newcastle, 1762-1779; was a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress of 1765, and was elected to the Continental Congress in 1774, and served in that body several years, being one of the Signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and President in 1781. He was Chief Justice of Pennsylva- nia, 1777-1799. In 1799 he was elected Governor of Pennsylvania, by the Republicans, and immediately began a wholesale system of removals of his politcal opponents from office. He was re-elected in 1802 and 1805, serving nine years of most turbulent experience as Governor. He mar- ried, 1st, July 21, 1763, Mary Borden, oldest child of Col. Joseph Borden, of Bordentown, N. J .; she died March 12, 1773, in her 29th year. He married, 2d, September 3, 1774, Sarah Armitage, of Newcastle. He died June 24, 1817. His widow died May 6, 1820 .- McKean Genealogy, by Rob- erdeau Buchanan, Lancaster, Pa., 1890; Lives of the Governors of Penn- sylvania, by William C. Armor, Philadelphia, 1873, 289, 307.
DANIEL McEOWEN.
Daniel McEowen came to this country from Argyleshire, Scotland, with his brothers Duncan and Alexander, and his sister Mary, in the spring of 1736, in the same ship with Alexander Kirkpatrick and his family. The Kirkpatricks located at Mine Brook, Somerset county, and the McEowens not far away, in Bedminster township, in the same county. The latter were accompanied by their mother, and perhaps by their father, and were all young, Mary being only eight years of age. Daniel married Ann Graham, of Somerset county, Dec. 4, 1744. He subscribed £1, 16s. in 1756 towards the erection of St. Paul's Lutheran Church at Pluckemin. No record has been found of his appointment as Judge or Justice of the Peace. His will, dated May S, 1762, was proved June 15, 1762. In it he refers to his "honored mother Ann McEoen," and to his six children-Hugh, George, Daniel, Alexander, William and Mary. It was witnessed by Peter Penier, George Remer and John Castner, jun. His brother Duncan married Jennet, daughter of Alexander Kirkpatrick. His sister Mary, born in Argyleshire. Sco+ - land, Aug. 1, 1728, married David, son of Alexander Kirkpatrick, March 31, 1748; she died at Mine Brook, Nov. 2, 1795; her husband died March 19, 1814. One of their children was Andrew Kirkpatrick, born Feb. 17, 1756, who was Chief Justice of New Jersey, 1803-1824. William McEowen, son of Daniel, was a merchant at Pluckemin during the Revolution, and bought flour for the American army. He died at Pluckemin, March 10, 1817, aged sixty-one years.
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REV. ROBERT MCKEAN.
The Rev. Robert Mckean was b. July 13, 1732, the son of William McCain and Letitia Finney, his wife. William McCain was b. in Ire- land in 1707, and coming to America in early life with his mother, Susan McCain, settled with her at Chatham, New London, Chester county, Penn., where he kept tavern until 1741, thereafter for four years at Londongrove, and later at Londonderry, in the same region. He d. Nov. 18, 1769.
Robert Mckean (as he wrote his name) studied for the ministry. probably under the Rev. Francis Allison. D. D., and having been or- dained in England, in 1757 was appointed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts to be a missionery of the Church of England, at New Brunswick, his labors, however, often extending so far afield as Piscataway, Spotswood, Woodbridge, and more distant settlements in Central New Jersey. On taking charge of his mission he wrote home to the Society, January 8, 1758, that he "arrived at New Brunswick on the 16th of Dec., and was kindly re- ceived by his congregation, and had officiated regularly to them from that time." Writing again from New Brunswick, Feb. 5, 1758, to the Rev. Dr. Peter Bearcroft, Secretary of the Society, he says: "Since my arrival here I have wrote to you by two different Conveyances, one by the Pacquet, and another by means of a friend via Ireland. In them I have troubled you with a particular account of my Voyage and other proper occurrences, as also the kind reception I have met with and the happy prospect I have as yet in my mission." Young as he was, his indefatigable zeal and marked ability were speedily recog- nized. The College in Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsyl- vania) conferred upon him the honorary degree of A. M., in 1760. When Gov. Thomas Boone arrived in New Jersey, in July, 1760, the clergy of the Church of England waited upon him with an address, presented by a committee of three, of whom Mr. Mckean was one. He served on a similar committee to address Gov. Josiah Hardy in November, 1761. He was regular and faithful in his attendance upon the convention of clergy which met in Philadelphia, April 30-May 5, 1760, to discuss the affairs of the church in Pennsylvania and the Lower Counties; he and Mr. Samuel Cook, "two of the Society's worthy Missionaries of New Jersey, [attending] with the kind inten- tion of giving their best advice and assistance in promoting the de- signs of the Convention." When the pulpit of St. Peter's church at Perth Amboy became vacant, in 1761, the people of that congregation "had so much their hearts set on Mr. Mckean" that they were "ut- terly averse" to the Society's selection, and were correspondingly glad when the appointee declined to leave Litchfield, Conn., and in the course of a year Mr. Mckean was transferred to Perth Amboy, where he arrived in February, 1763, with a notification of his appoint- ment as Missionary, his services being restricted to that parish ex- clusively, at the request of the vestry. In 1764 Woodbridge was placed in his care, he visiting it once every three weeks. In these charges he labored with indefatigable zeal and assiduity, and manifestly had the confidence of the older clergy. His own experience of the hard- ship laid upon young Americans who were obliged to go to England for ordination made him an ardent and perhaps intemperate advocate of the plan of appointing American Bishops-a cause so ably urged by Dr. Chandler. Mr. Mckean studied medicine, and was a successful practitioner in that profession, and so much esteemed among his fel- low medical men that he was one of the seventeen who organized the New Jersey Medical Society, in July, 1766, and was elected its first
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MCKEAN: MERSELLIS: MILLER
President. His parishioners did not object to his practicing, but they -at least some of them-did find fault when he sent in his bills. He also seems to have taught school at Perth Amboy.
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