USA > New Jersey > New Jersey biographical and genealogical notes from the volumes of the New Jersey archives : with additions and supplements > Part 27
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THOMAS SPICER.
Thomas Spicer was a son of Samuel Spicer and Esther, daughter of John and Mary Tilton, of Gravesend, L. I. Samuel Spicer removed from Gravesend in 1686 to Gloucester, near Cooper's creek, opposite the present city of Camden, N. J. Thomas Spicer, his son, was born prior to 1686. He lived on his father's homestead, on Cooper's creek, to which he added large tracts, occupying his time in business affairs. He mar- ried Abigail, daughter of Francis and Sarah Davenport, who in 1691 came from Willington, Derbyshire, England, and settled in Burlington county. The will of Thomas Spicer is dated January 4, 1759, and was probated November 7, 1759. He left children:
i. Thomas, married October 1, 1744. Rebecca, daughter of Humphrey and Jane Day; his will is dated May 4, 1760, and was probated October, 1760.
ii. Jacob, married Mary Lippincott; died October 31, 1779, without issue.
iii. Samuel. born October 29, 1720; married 1st. Nov. 16, 1743, Abigail Willard; she died April 24, 1752, he married 2d, Sarah Potter, of Shrews- bury; he died in 1777.
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BENJAMIN STELLE.
Benjamin Stelle was a son of the Rev. Isaac Stelle, pastor of the Baptist church at Piscataway, New Jersey. Through the influence of President Manning, of Brown University, he went to Providence, Rhode Island, after leaving college, and established a Latin school. Here he met with encouraging success, giving great satisfaction to his patrons, and being highly esteemed throughout the community. In 1774 Mr. Stelle was admitted to a Master's degree at Rhode Island College.
PONTIUS STELLE.
Pontius Stelle was a son of Gabriel Stelle, a prominent citizen of Perth Amboy, and was the grandson of Poncet Stelle, who is styled in the records of the French Huguenot church of New York, "sieur des Loriers," and is sometimes referred to as "dit desloriers," whence it is inferred that he was from the little village of Lorieres, near Limoge, in the southwest of France. Elizabeth, the first wife of Gabriel Stelle, died July 29, 1723, aged 38 years, 2 mos., 1 day. She and her infant son Benjamin (died November 14, 1719, in his third year) are buried in Christ church burying ground, Shrewsbury. She was the mother of Pontius Stelle. The latter was a member of the Assem- bly from Perth Amboy, 1745-49. He is mentioned as of Amboy in 1740. In 1747 he was appointed one of the commissioners to disburse the funds for the expedition against Canada. Administration on the es- tate of Pontius Stelle was granted, November 12, 1770, to Benjamin Biles.
JOHN STOCKTON.
John Stockton was the fourth son of Richard Stockton, the first settler of that family at Princeton, and received by his father's will five hundred acres of land, "part of his dwelling plantation," known as "Morven." He was appointed a Judge of the Somerset County Common Pleas, March 28, 1749, and was probably reappointed in 1754. He was a warm friend of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), and is understood to have been largely instrumental in securing the removal of the College from Newark to Princeton. While it was still at Newark, he was appointed one of the committee to re- ceive subscriptions in its behalf, in January, 1748-9. In 1754 he had for sale tickets in the Connecticut lottery for the benefit of the College. When the corner stone of Nassau Hall was laid, at Princeton, in Sep- tember, 1754, he was one of the gentlemen who officiated at that im- portant function. He was a Trustee of the College, 1748-58. He died at Princeton, on Saturday, May 20, 1758. His will, dated May 9, 175S, was probated June 9, 1758. He does not mention his wife, she having pro- bably predeceased him, but names children: 1. John; 2. Richard (the Signer of the Declaration of Independence), 3. Phillip (a well-known clergyman); 4. Hannah; 5. Susanna; 6. Rebecca; 7. Abagail. In Hage- man's "Princeton and its Institutions" it is stated that he also had Samuel Witham, who was entrusted with many important positions.
The New York Mercury of June 5, 1758, publishes the following obituary notice of John Stockton:
"Prince-Town, (in New-Jersey) May 23. Saturday fast, after a painful Illness, departed this Life, John Stockton, Esq; of this Place, in the 57th year of his Age. As his Life has been so generally useful, his Death apparently diffuses an universal Sorrow. For about twenty-five years past, he has, with great Acceptance, executed the Office of a Magistrate, and about half the 'Time, that of a Judge of the Court of
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Common Pleas: His Judiciousness, Moderation, and Integrity, in his various Decisions as a Magistrate, rendered him peculiarly dear to the Place and Country in which he lived; where his Merit acquired him a great Influence. As his Situation in Life made it unnecessary for him to regard lucrative Motives, in the Discharge of his public Offices, so his unaffected and steady Piety to God, and universal benevolence to Mankind made him indefatigable in his Endeavours to compose Differences, promote Peace and Harmony, suppress Immorality, and encourage Virtue and true Religion. In the social Duties of Life, he distinguished himself as a tender Husband, an affectionate Father, a kind Master, and a faithful Friend: His last Sickness he supported with great Patience and Composure, and received the Evidences of his approaching Dissolution, with that Magnanimity which true Re- ligion inspires. It pleased God to give him strong Confidence in the Truth of the Gospel, and the Merits of his Lord and Saviour; and when he found his 'Flesh and his Heart to fail,' he doubted not, and has left his Acquaintances not the least Room to doubt, but that 'God was the Strength of his Heart and his Portion for crer.' "
RICHARD STOCKTON.
Richard Stockton was descended from an English family of Stockton, in Durham, on the river Tees, England. The first of the family to im- migrate to America, Richard Stockton, settled at Flushing. L. I., whence he removed to Burlington county, N. J., where he bought 2.000 acres, March 10, 1692. He died in 1707, leaving children Richard, John, Job, Abigail (Ridgeway), Sarah (Jones), Mary, Hannah and Elizabeth. His son Richard removed from Flushing to Piscataway, and thence (in 1696) to Princeton, buying 400 acres, and in 1701 bought of William Penn 4,450 acres more, in and about the present Princeton. He died in 1709, leaving six sons-Richard, Samuel, Joseph, Robert, John, Thomas. His estate being divided soon after, the homestead, now known as "Mor- ven," fell to John, who became an influential man in the community. He was a Judge of the Somerset Common Pleas, and was a warm friend of Princeton College .- Princeton and its Institutions, by John F. Hageman, I., 33-9. Richard Stockton, son of John, was born at Prince · ton, October 1, 1730, was one of the first class graduates from the Col .. lege of New Jersey, in 1748, studied law under David Ogden, was licensed in 1754 as an attorney, in 1758 as a counsellor, and in 1764 as sergeant, his practice meantime becoming co-extensive with the Prov- ince, and even reaching beyond its limits .- Ib., 78; Provincial Courts of New Jersey, by Richard S. Field, 192; Life of Com. Robert F. Stockton, 9-10; Sketch of Life of Richard Stockton, by William A. Whitehead, N. J. Hist Soc. Proc., January, 1877; Rules of Supreme Court, N. J., 1885, Ap- pendix, by G. D. W. Vrooni, 54, 59. In 1764, writing to his former law student, Joseph Read, he suggested as the readiest solution of the troubles between England and her Colonies the election of some bright Americans to Parliament (Reed's Reed, I., 30); but a year later, during the controversy over the Stamp Act, he took the positive ground that Parliament had no authority over the American Colonists; so rapidly did public sentiment develop in those times .- N. J. Hist. Proc., 149. In 1766 he went to England, where he spent a year, mingling in the high- est circles, and had much to do with persuading Dr. Witherspoon to accept the Presidency of Princeton College .- Hist. of College of N. J., by John MacLean, I., 297, 385; Provincial Courts, 192-6. Appointed to the Council in 1768 (see ante, page 59), on the recommendation of Governor Franklin, he stood so well with the Governor that six years later he was commissioned one of the Justices of the Supreme Court, as above, to succeed Judge Reed, removed to the West Indies. The affairs of his
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country were evidently on his heart and mind during these trouble- some times, and under date of December 12, 1774, he drafted and sent to Lord Dartmouth "An Expedient for the Settlement of the American Disputes, humbly submitted to the consideration of his Majesty's Min- isters," in which he suggested substantially a plan of self-government for America, independent of Parliament, without renouncing allegiance to the Crown .- Historical Magazine, November, 1868, 228. He retained his position in the Council until the end of royal government in New Jersey, and attended the meetings of that body as late as November 24, 1775 .- Minutes Provincial Congress, etc .. 323. He was elected to the Continental Congress, June 22, 1776 .-- Ib., 473. Six days later the New Jersey delegates took their seats in Congress, in time to hear the clos- ing debate on the Declaration of Independenc, and Mr. Stockton is said to have made a "short but energetic speech" in favor of the measure .- Works of John Adams, III., 53-8; Field's Provincial Courts, 197. While he was still attending to his duties in Congress, a large number of his friends and admirers at home favored him for Governor, and on the first ballot in the Legislature (August 30, 1776) the votes were equally divided between him and William Livingston, who was chosen the next day .- Minutes Joint Meeting, passim; Sedgwick's Livingston, 205-6. Gordon alleges this whimsical reason for the preference: "Mr. Stockton having just at the moment (of the ballot) refused to furnish his team of horses for the service of the public, and the Legislature coming to the knowledge of it, the choice of Mr. Livingston took place immediately." -History of Revolution, ed. 1789, II., 108. The true reason doubtless was that it was thought best to have a man of some military instincts in the Governor's chair, and Livingston was then in camp. Be that as it may, the Legislature the same day (August 31) elected Mr. Stockton to be the first Chief Justice of the new State, but he declined, prefer- ring just then the more active career of a Congressman .- Minutes Joint Meeting, passim; Sedgwick's Livingston. 206. On September 25, 1776. Congress appointed him on a committee of two to visit the Northern army, and he set out immediately. He was greatly affected at the un- fortunate condition of the patriot soldiers. Writing from Saratoga, October 28, to Abraham Clark, he says the New Jersey soldiers were "marching with cheerfulness, but great part of the men barefooted and barelegged. My heart melts with compassion for my brave country- men who are thus venturing their lives in the public service, and yet are so distressed. There is not a single shoe nor stocking to be had in this part of the world, or I would ride a hundred miles through the woods and purchase them with my own money."-American Archires, 5th Series, II., 561, 1256, 1274. He left Albany on his homeward journey November 21. Two days later he was appointed by Congress on a com- mittee "with full power to devise and execute measures for effectually re-enforcing Gen. Washington, and obstructing the progress of Gen- Howe's army."-Ib., III., 784, 828. During the ensuing week he was ap- pointed on other committees, but it is doubtful if he ever resumed his seat in Congress after setting out from Albany, for by the time he could reach Princeton the British were marching triumphantly through New Jersey, and he was compelled to seek shelter for his family with a friend, John Covenhoven, in Monmouth county. There he was surprised and captured by a party of Tories, who shamefully treated him, and dragged him by night to Perth Amboy, where he was temporarily con- fined in the jail in bitterly cold weather, until he could be removed safely to New York, where he was locked up in a foul prison, and treated with such indignity that Congress was impelled (January 3, 1777) to for- mally remonstrate against his treatment, and took measures to secure
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his exchange. When released his health was hopelessly shattered, and he was an invalid until relieved by death, February 28, 1781, at Prince- ton. The date of his arrest is generally given as November 30, 1776, being the very day on which the New Jersey Legislature re-elected him to Congress for another year. He resigned February 10, 1777 .- Hageman, ut supra, I., 86; Provincial Courts. 198-9; Lossing's Field Book of the Rev- olution, ed. 1789, II .. 175; Raum's Hist. N. J., I., 423; Whitehead, ut supra; Whitchead's Perth Amboy, 254; Gordon's N. J., 324. Mr. Stockton married Annis Boudinot, daughter of Elias Boudinot, of Elizabethtown, and sister of Elias Boudinot, LL. D., President of Congress, 1782-3, and first President of the American Bible Society. Dr. Boudinot married (1762) Mr. Stockton's sister .- Hatfield's Elizabethtown, 588-9; Helen Boudinot Stryker, in Penn. Hist. Mag., III., 191. Mrs. Stockton frequently wrote verses for the periodicals of the day, and one of her compositions, ad- dressed to Washington, on the surrender of Cornwallis, elicited from him a most gallant and courtly acknowledgment .- Mag. American Hist., V., 118; VII., 66. Mr. Stockton left children: Richard (the "Duke"). Lucius Horatio, Julia (married Dr. Benjamin Rush), Susan (married Alexander Cuthbert), Mary (married the Rev. Dr. Andrew Hunter), Abby (married Robert Field) .- Provincial Courts, 199. The fullest and most accurate sketch of the family, and especially of the Signer, is given by John F. Hageman, Esq., in his admirable and deeply interest- ing history of "Princeton and Its Institutions," I., 86-SS .- N. J. Archives, X., 427-430.
RICHARD V. STOCKTON.
Richard V. Stockton, known as "Stockton the Land Pilot," was Major of the Sixth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers (Loyalists). He was surprised, with sixty-three privates of his battalion, and taken prisoner. February 18th. 1777, by Colonel John Neilson, of New Bruns- wick, and was sent in irons to Philadelphia. by order of General Put- nam. To this course General Washington objected. he considering that Major Stockton should be treated as a prisoner of war and not as a felon. He was tried by court-martial at Philadelphia, August 15th. 1780, for the murder of Derrick Amberman, of Long Island, found guilty and sentenced to death. The sentence was not carried out. He accompanied the Tory refugees to teh province of New Brunswick. Four sons and a daughter accompanied him in exile .- Sabine's Loyalists, II., pp. 334, 335; New Jersey Volunteers (Loyalists), by W. S. Stryker, 34. Richard V. Stockton was probably the son of Samuel Stockton (son of Richard Stockton, 2d. the first of the family to settle at Princeton, 1696, who died in 1709), born 1694-1695, died 1739. Major Stockton
married a daughter of Joseph Hatfield. of Elizabeth, N. J .- Ancestry of the Children of Jas. William White, M. D., by William Francis Cregar, 1888, p. 108; Hatfield's Elizabeth, p. 462; Hageman's History of Princeton, I., pp. 38, 39. Richard Stockton. of Somerset county, was advertised August 24th, 1779, as "a fugitive now with the enemy."-probably the same person.
SAMUEL WITHAM STOCKTON.
Samuel Witham Stockton was a brother of the elder Richard Stock- ton. In 1774 he went to Europe as Secretary of the American Commis- sion to the Courts of Austria and Prussia. While abroad he negotiated a treaty with Holland. He returned to New Jersey in 1779. where he held various public offices. In 1794 he was Secretary of State of New Jersey. Mr. Stockton lost his life by being thrown from a carriage in the streets of Trenton, June 27th, 1795.
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CHRISTIAN STREYDT.
Christian Streydt and Ursula, his wife, came to America from Ger- many before 1720. Christian Streight. who graduated from the Phila- delphia College in 1768, was pastor of the Lutheran churches at Faston, Pa., 1769-1779, and Greenwich, N. J., 1773-1777.
CHRISTIAN STRUYT.
Christian Struyt and Maria Etsels (or Orseltie) doubtless lived in the Saddle River Valley, in the northwestern part of Bergen county, probably in the vicinity of Masonicus, where there was a Lutheran church established in the middle of the eighteenth century. They had children, baptized in the Hackensack Reformed Dutch church: 1. Margrita, Nov. 14, 1714; 2. Anne Catherine, b. at Ramapough, July 13, 1717; 3. Elisabeth, b. at Ramapough, Feb., 1718; 4. Johan Leonhard, b. July 28, 1720. The last-named was doubtless the Leonard Streit who signed a call to the Rev. John Albert Weygand to become rector of Zion Lutheran church at New Germantown, and who, in 1758, was one of the managers of the lottery for the benefit of the newly erected St. Paul's Lutheran church at Pluckamin. In 1756 he lived on the property owned in 1880 by Jacob V. D. Powelson. He sold, May 29, 1766, a tract of 260 acres to Jacob Van Derveer. In the petition, 1767, of the rector, wardens and vestrymen of Zion and St. Paul churches for a charter, his name appears. He was still living in Bedminster town- ship, Somerset County, in 1774.
MATTHEW TAYLOR.
Matthew Taylor, said to have been a distant connection of Sli George Carteret, came to New Jersey to speculate in lands, and dying In New York in 1687 without issue devised his lands to his brother Ed. ward, then living in London. The latter came to America in 1692, and bought an additional tract of about 1,000 acres at Garret's Hill, Middle- town, and settled on it. He died in 1710, leaving four sons and one daughter. George, one of his sons, resided at Garret's Hill, and died there, leaving three sons-George, Edward and John .- Hist. Monmouth Co., by Franklin Ellis, Philadelphia, 1885, 524. The John Taylor just men- tioned, son of George, son of Richard, was born in 1716, and was known as 'Squire John. He lived at Upper Freehold. There was a John Tay- lor High Sheriff of Monmouth County in 1753, doubtless the same man, although the writer just quoted says the Sheriff was the son of Ed- ward, and nephew of 'Squire John, which is obviously improbable. In 1754 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Assembly .- N. J. Archives, XIX., 382. Being a man of large wealth, and presumably of influence in the community, he was selected by Lord Howe, when he came to America to offer terms to those in arms, to be "His Majesty's Lord High Commissioner of New Jersey." This arrayed his patriotic neigh- bors against him, and he was compelled to join his British friends in New York, while his property was applied to the uses of the Continen- tal forces. His lands in Monmouth County were advertised to be sold In 1779. After the war he returned to New Jersey. He died at Perth Amboy, aged 82 years. His daughter Mary married Dr. Absalom Bain- bridge, and two of her sons distinguished themselves in the War of 1812, in the United States Navy-Commodore William Bainbridge, and Post-Captain Joseph Bainbridge. The early education of the future Commodore was superintended by his maternal grandfather, John Taylor .- Old Times in Old Mommouth, 48; Life of Commodore Bainbridge, 3.
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REV. WILLIAM TENNENT.
William Tennent was born at Antrim, in the North of Ireland, June 3. 1705, the son of the Rev. William Tennent, who married, May 15, 1702, a daughter of the Rev. Gilbert Kennedy. The Rev. William Tennent came to America in September, 1716, with his wife, four sons and a daughter. He was the founder of the famous "Log College," that celebrated training school for Presbyterian ministers, among whom his own four sons were justly distinguished. He died May 6. 1746.
William Tennent, 2d, is most widely known from the story that has been told of his falling into a trance for three days, during which time "he felt himself wafted along under the guidance of a superior being, till at a distance he beheld an unutterable glory; he saw an innumer- able host of happy beings, and heard their songs of praise with rap- ture. He thought, 'Well, blessed be God, I am safe at last, notwith- standing all my fears.' He was about to join the happy company, when someone came to him and said, 'You must go back.' It was like a sword through his heart; with the shock he awoke." Having stud- ied divinity with his brother Gilbert, he was ordained October 25, 1733. He married the widow of John Noble, of New York. He took a deep interest in the mission of David and John Brainerd among the Indians of New Jersey. A notorious horse thief, Tom Bell, having imperson- ated the Rev. John Rowland, and in that guise ridden off with a fine animal, Mr. Rowland was indicted for the theft, in 1741. Mr. Tennent and two of his elders testified on the trial that at the time of the theft they were in company with Mr. Rowland in Maryland, one hun- dred miles or more from the scene of Tom Bell's exploit. Rowland was thereupon acquitted, but by a curious perversion of justice Ten- nent was indicted for perjury. The story handed down by tradition is that on the day appointed for trial a man and a woman arrived from Maryland, having been miraculously warned in a dream that they must come to Trenton to avert impending danger to Mr. Tennent; they knew that his account was true. Thereupon the prosecution was abandoned. These extraordinary occurrences were narrated in a manuscript addressed to Elias Boudinot, LL. D., by Dr. Thomas Hen- derson, a physician of Freehold, who was not born until more than ten years after the time laid for the trance, and a year or two after the horse-stealing episode. He received the stories from his father. an elder in Mr. Tennent's church, who died in 1771. Dr. Henderson's MS. is in the library of the N. J. Historical Society. It was communi- cated by Dr. Boudinot to the Evangelieal Intelligencer, and published in 1806, under the title "Memoirs of the Rev. William Tennent, late pas- tor of the Presbyterian Church at Freehold, New-Jersey," and thence transferred to book form, running through numerous editions. Many publishers subjoined the attractive addendum to the title: "In which is contained, among other interesting particulars, An Account of his being THREE DAYS in a TRANCE, and apparently lifeless." An edition printed at Salem, Mass., in 1814, is a very small 12mo, 3x5 inches, pp. 129. A Wilmington edition, 1819, contains 72 pp., in much smaller type, and is 31/2x51/2 inches. In a paper read before the N. J. Historical Soci-
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ety, September 11, 1851, the late Judge Richard S. Field gave some interesting details regarding the defence of Mr. Tennent on the indict- ment for perjury, in 1742, and expressed the belief that the two mirac- ulous witnesses had been hunted up and brought forward through the well-directed intelligence and energy of his counsel, three of the ablesť lawyers in the country .- N. J. Hist. Soc. Proc., VI., 30. Mr. Tennent's manner "was remarkably impressive, and his sermons, though seldom polished, were generally delivered with indescribable power; what he said seldom failed to instruct and please. He was remarkable for a pointed attention to the particular circumstances of the afflicted in body and mind. Eminent as a peacemaker, all were charmed with his converse. His hospitality and domestic enjoyments were pro- verbial. More than six feet high, of a spare, thin visage, erect car- rlage, with bright, piercing eyes, his countenance was grave and sol- emn, yet at all times cheerful. He lived above the world, with such clear views of heavenly things as seemed to give him a foretaste of them."-Memoir. He died March 8. 1777.
REV. WILLIAM MACKAY TENNENT.
William Mackay Tennant was a son of Rev. Charles Tennent, of Delaware, and a nephew of William and Gilbert Tennent. He was ordained, June 17, 1772, as pastor of the Congregational Church in Greenfield, Conn. In December, 1781, he resigned his charge and ac- cepted a call to the Presbyterian Church at Abington, Pennsylvania, where he continued till his death, December, 1810. Dr. Tennent mar- ried a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Rodgers, of New York. In 1797 he was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church.
EPHRAIM TERRILL.
Ephraim Terrill was born in 1714; he was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1768; Deputy Mayor of Elizabethtown in 1774; took a pro- nounced stand in favor of the Colonies at the beginning of the Revolu- tion; died Aug. 13, 1786, in his 73d year. He was a son of Ephraim Ter- rill, who died June 18, 1761, in his 72d year. Thomas Terrill, a black- smith, who in 1675 had a considerable estate in Southold, L. I., bought of William Cramer, Aug. 19, 1096, a plot of land in Elizabethtown, and soon after removed thither. He died in 1725. He was the ancestor of the Terrill family of that town .- Hutfield's Elizabeth, 272, 285, 410; Tomb- stone Inscriptions, Elizabeth. 318-319; V. J. Archires, XVII., 503.
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