New Jersey biographical and genealogical notes from the volumes of the New Jersey archives : with additions and supplements, Part 7

Author: Nelson, William, 1847-1914; New Jersey Historical Society
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Newark, N.J. : Published by the society
Number of Pages: 240


USA > New Jersey > New Jersey biographical and genealogical notes from the volumes of the New Jersey archives : with additions and supplements > Part 7


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).


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47


BORDEN


the Provincial Congress. Early in 1776 he was commissioned Colonel of the First Regiment of Burlington County militia, but he resigned, Sept. 28, 1776, when he was appointed Quartermaster, for which posi- tion his business experience and abilities rendered him peculiarly well qualified. He was appointed Judge of the Common Pleas, Sept. 11, 1776, and again Sept. 25. 1781. He was one of the promoters of the epi- sode made famous by Francis Hopkinson in his poem on the "Battle of the Kegs," when it was designed to blow up the British vessels in the Delaware near Bordentown by a rude sort of torpedoes made of kegs filled with powder, which were sent floating down the river short- ly before daylight on Jan. 7, 1778, and were expected to explode on coming in contact with the war vessels, having certain mechanical attachments to ensure such result. Unfortunately for the success of the enterprise, the vessels were hauled into their docks the night be- fore the kegs were set loose. The British soon after raided Borden- town, and Judge Borden's handsome residence was laid waste by fire. May 10, 1778. He was liberally educated, had a fine presence, and was highly influential in the community. In 1762-3 he ran a line of stage- boats between Bordentown and Philadelphia. It may be noted here that in some works it is stated that Joseph Borden m. in 1750 Eliza- beth, daughter of Marmaduke Watson, a widow. But the will of Elizabeth Borden, wid. of Joseph Borden, dated September 15, 1798, proved November 5, 1807, names her dau. Ann Hopkinson and her three daus .: Elizabeth, "dau. of my brother Isaac Rogers, lately de- ceased," and grandson, Joseph Hopkinson .- Hist. Burlington and Mer- cer Counties, 467 ;; N. J. Archives, XII., 442; XVI., 89; XVII., 137, 455; XXIV., 89, 210, 651-5, 683; XXV., 103; N. Y. Publie Library Bulletin, I., 104; Gordon's Hist. N. J., 140; Penn. Mag. of Hist. and Biog., IX., 435. Issue:


i. Mary5. b. July 21, 1744; m. Thomas Mckean, of New- castle, Del., marriage license dated July 21, 1763; d. March 12, 1773, in her 29th year. Thomas Mckean was one of the Delaware Signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was elected Governor of Penn- sylvania in 1799, 1802 and 1805, serving nine stormy years. He d. June 24, 1817, aged 83 yrs., 2 mos. and 25 days.


ii. Ann5, b. Jan. 24, 1745-6; d. June 9, 1746.


iii. Ann5 ("Nancy"), b. May 9, 1747; married Francis Hop- kinson (afterwards one of the Signers of the Declara- tion of Independence), Sept. 1, 1768. For the an- nouncement of the marriage, in the flowery language of the day, see N. J. Archires, X., 427, note and hereinafter, in the sketch of Francis Hopkinson.


iv. Amey5, b. Oct. 30, 1749; bap. in Christ church, Shrews- bury, April 8, 1750. "at the age of 5 months," says the record; d. Aug. 31, 1751.


v. Letitia5, b. July 29, 1751; d. June 30. 1753.


vi. Joseph5, born June 23, 1755. He was an ardent patriot during the Revolution, being Captain of a troop of light-horse, which he raised in Burlington county. He was wounded at the battle of Germantown, In 1777. but although his injury inconvenienced him the rest of his life, he repeatedly volunteered for active ser- vice when he felt he could be of use to the cause. He was a United States loan officer, and was appointed one of the commissioners to sell lands confiscated to the State for treason. He married, Nov. 26. 1778.


48


BOTT: BOUDINOT : BRADFORD


Mary. daughter of Langhorne Biles, of Bucks county, Pa. He died Oct. 16, 1788, leaving one child, Elizabeth Borden, who married Azariah Hunt, of Hopewell, N. J. Mr. Borden was appointed by the Legislature a Con- tinental Loan Officer for New Jersey, Feb. 7, 1777; and a Judge and Justice of the Peace for Burlington county. Sept. 28, 1781.


Many of the dates given above are from a Borden Family Record, entered in a Concordance of the Holy Scriptures, the property (1901) of Benjamin Borden, and printed in 1706. For these dates the writer is indebted to John P. Hutchinson, Esq., of Bordentown. The Rev. William White Hance, of Palenville, N. Y., has also revised and cor- rected the proofs of the above sketch of the Borden family, and has furnished many data.


IVILLIAM BOTT.


In an advertisement of "Newark races," to be run October 29, 1771. it was announced that the horses were "to be shewn and entered the day before running, with William Bott," from which it may be in- ferred that he then kept a public house at or near Newark .- N. J. Ar- hires, 27: 62S. William Livingston wrote from Elizabethtown to the Provincial Congress, July 8, 1776: "If you have not appointed an Adjutant General 1 should beg leave to recommend to the choice of the Congress Mr. Willian Bott of Springfield as a Person who would exe- cute that office as well as anyone I can think of, he has been in the Navy understands the Business and is extremely active & punctual." The Congress replied July 12, 1776: "You have enclosed a commission for Mr. Bott as Adjutant General."-Originals, in Nelson MSS. He continued in office until June 4, 1793, when he resigned .- Records, Ad- jutant General's Office. No will of William Bott has been found on record in New Jersey, nor any letters of administration upon his estate. It is not unlikely that he removed from the State about the time of his resignation, perhaps with the settlers then flocking to the "Genessee country" in Central New York, or to Ohio.


ELIAS BOUDINOT.


Elias Boudinot, a prominent merchant at Princeton, born Aug. 3, 1706, died July 4, 1770. He married, in Antigua, Catherine Williams, daughter of a Welsh planter. The house occupied by him in 1756 was advertised at the time to be sold by the Rev. Aaron Burr. He was Post- master at Princeton in 1757. He removed from Princeton in 1760, or later, to Elizabethtown, where he and his wife are both buried. Of his sisters, Mary Boudinot married John Chetwood, of Elizabethtown, afterwards a Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey; Jane Boudi- not married the Rev. Thomas Bradbury Chandler; Suzanne married Pierre Vergereau, of New York, one of whose daughters, Suzanne, born Dec. 21, 1743, married the Rev. William Tennent, Jr., of Charleston, S. C. Elias Boudinot was the father of Elias, member of Congress, etc .; of Elisha, Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and of other well- known children.


WILLIAM BRADFORD.


William Bradford, a grandson of William Bradford, the celebrated printer of Philadelphia, and son of Colonel William Bradford of the Revolutionary Army, was born in Philadelphia, September 14, 1755. He


iv


49


BRAISIER : BREYANT


graduated at Princeton in 1772, and remained a year, studying theology with Dr. Witherspoon. On returning to his home, he read law in the office of Edward Shippen; but the Revolution commencing, he joined the army, and rose to the rank of Colonel, which he was compelled to resign in April, 1779, on account of ill health. Returning to the study of law, he was admitted to the Bar in the same year, and settled in Yorktown, Pennsylvania. His marked ability soon at- tracted attention, and in 1780, when but twenty-three years of age, he was appoir ted Attorney-General of the State. He held this position for eleven years, when, on the 22d of August, 1791, he was elevated to the Supreme Bench of Pennsylvania. This office he filled until 1794, when he was appointed by Washington Attorney-General of the United States, in which office he remained until his death, which oc- curred August 23, 1795. at Rose Hill, near Philadelphia. Judge Brad- ford married in 1782 Susanne Vergereau, daughter of Elias Boudinot; she was b. Dec. 21, 1764; d. Nov. 30, 1854. Both are buried in St. Mary's churchyard, Burlington.


FRANCIS BRAISIER.


Francis Braisier was probably a merchant at the Upper Landing on the Raritan, near New Brunswick. He was a vestryman of St. Peter's Church, Perth Amboy, in 1744-5 .- Whitehead's Perth Amboy, 239. He was authorized to receive subscriptions for Nevill's Laws, Vol. I., In 1750, and was one of the distributors of the volume when printed, in 1752 .- N. J. Arehires, XII., 589; XIX., 10, 28. In 1759 he was one of the managers of a lottery for the benefit of Christ Church, New Bruns- wick. He married Elizabeth Beekman (born Aug. 30, 1725), daughter of Marten Beekman and Elizabeth Waldron. She survived him, dying Nov. 9, 1810, and was buried in Christ Church yard, New Brunswick. The will of Francis Brasier, of Somerset county, dated June 15, 1781, was proved May 10, 1784, at New Brunswick. He devises to wife Elizabeth "my farm where I now live called New Aperfield." He names sisters -- Mary Brasier, Sarah Hay and Frances Legrange; nephew Mead Brasier; niece Mary Hay; friend Henry Beekman; Francis Brasier Beekman son of Henry Beekman. Executors-wife Elizabeth, Rev. Abraham Beach, Samuel Beekman. Witnesses-Henry Beekman, William Vanduyn, John Bice .- N. J. Wills, Liber No. 26, p. 537.


CORNELIS BREY ANT.


Cornelis Breyant appears to have been of Bergen before 1680, and in 1687, of Hackensack, or within the parish of the Hackensack Dutch church. Children:


i. Pieter, m. Hendriktie Arents. Child: Lysbeth, bap. in the Hackensack church, 1686.


ii. Antie, m. Nicasius Kip; received into the Hackensack church upon confession of faith, Sept. 22, 1694, with her husband. She m. 2d, Oct. 10, 1715, Isaack Van Gijsse, widr. of Hillegond Kuyper, both being resi- dents of the parish of Hackensack. Children (all by her first husband): 1. Isack, bap. 1697; 2. Cornelis, bap. Jan. 1, 1700: 3. Jacob, bap. Dec. 14, 1702; 4. Annatie, bap. Jan. 3, 1706; 5. Catrina, bap. Sept. 12, 1708; 6. Elizabeth, bap. March 11, 1711.


iii. Geertruy; received into the Hackensack church on


50


BREYANT


confession of faith, Sept. 22, 1694; Geertruyt Brey- handt, y. d. m. Oct. 26, 1695, in the Hackensack church, Roelof Bongaert, y. m., he from Vlacke Besch (Flatbush). and she from Bergen. He m. 2d. Elisabethi Bertholf, wid. of Jan Terhune, Aug. 23, 1718, in the Hackensack church. Children: 1. Hen- drickie, bap. Sept. 29. 1700; 2. Marretie, bap. same day; 3. Jan. bap. January 21, 1705.


2. iv. Cornelis.


v. Elisabet Breyandt, y. d., b. Ackinsack, m. April 12, 1707, at Hackensack, Egbert Ackerman, y. m., b. at Bergen in East N. Jersey; both were living in the Hackensack church parish at the time of their mar- riage. Children: 1. Louwerens, bap. January 18, 1708; 2. Petrus, bap. Dec. 7, 1709; 3. Geertie, bap. Feb. 15, 1712; 4. Geertie, bap. May 2, 1714; 5. Louwerens, bap. Aug. 15, 1716; 6. Hendriktie, bap. Sept. 29, 1717; 7. Annatie, bap. Aug. 14, 1720; 8. Louwerens, bap. March 3, 1723; 9. Cornelis, bap. April 17, 1726; 10. Cornelia, bap. April 4, 1731.


2. Cornelis Cornelis Breyandt was received into the Hackensack church upon confession of faith, July 10, 1698; Cornelis Breyhandt, y. m., m. in the same church;, Dec. 7, 1700, Margrita Simese Van Winckel, wid. of Marte Winne; both were b. at Bergen. (Maerten Winne. m. b. at Albany, m. Margrita Simese Van Winckel, y. d. b. at Asemes, Oct. 30, 1697, in the Hackensack church. Peter Winne, com- missary or magistrate of Bethlehem, Albany county, N. Y., b. at Ghent, Flanders, made a will July 6, 1684, in which he names wife Jannetie Adams, o. in the city of Leuwaerden, Friesland, and son Marten, one of thirteen children .- Albany County Wills, Liber I., f. 44.) Cornelis Breyandt was a witness at the baptism in the Hackensack church, Jan. 23, 1715, which is the last mention of him in the Hack- ensack records. He appears to have removed about this time to the neighborhood of Elizabethtown, where he made his will, in which he is described as yeoman, Oct. 2, 1720, proved Dec. 19, 1720. He gives to wife Margarett "that part of my new dwelling place in Springfield lying on the south side of the road," for life, with remainder to his two youngest sons, Simon and Andris; to son Johannis, his riding horse, etc .; to dau. Hannah, negro Harry when he is 21; to son-in- law (stepson) Peter Winne, son of my wife Margarett, and son Johannis, "my land in Springfield on the north side of the road and all buildings thereon." Executors-wife and John Kewman (Coey- man), of Newark, and John Blanchard, junior, of Elizabeth Town. Witnesses-John Blanchard, Cornelis Vanderoif, Peter Rutan .- Liber 4 of Wills, f. 196. Margaret, wid. of Cornelis Bryant, of Elizabeth Town, Essex county, made her will Nov. 8, 1729, and it was proved a few weeks later, or January 13, 1729-30. She gives to son Peter Wenem 20 shillings; to her three sons Johannis Simeon and Ansri Bryant, "all those two tracts of land bought of John Blanchard, junior," to be equally divided between them; to dau. Hannah, wife of Cornelius Westerveld, 5 shillings; to granddau. Elizabeth Carl. dau. of Jonah Carle and my dear dau. Hendriekie, £20 when 18 or married; to dau. Rachel Bryant, £46 when 18 or married. Executors-Johan- nis Kewman, of Newark, and Egbert Ackerman, of Bergen county Witnesses-Benjamon Bonnel, Henery Demoney, Rachel Kewman .- Liber B of Wills, f. 148. Issue:


51


BREYANT : BROUGHTON : BROWN : BRYANT FAMILY


i. Annetie. bap. June 28, 1702; m. Cornelis Westervelt, y. m., Sept. 14, 1723, in the Hackensack church; both are said in the record to have been b. at Ackinsack, where Westervelt was living, while she is described as living at New Britain, a region lying west of Elizabethtown. Child :- Cornelis, bap. Sept. 27. 1724, and perhaps others.


ii. Johannis, bap. Aug. 27, 1704.


iii. Hendriktie, bap. April 24, 1709; m. John Carl (?Earl).


iv. Simeon. bap. April 22, 1711.


Andries bap. January 3, 1714.


vi. Rachel, (Or was this a granddaughter?)


JOHN BROUGHTON.


John Broughton lived in the town of Raritan, Somerset county, about twelve miles from New Brunswick. He was manager of the New Brunswick lottery in 1748. He advertised in 1752 and again in 1758 for a schoolmaster for his neighborhood .- N. J. Archives, XII., 472, 518; XIX., 344, 524. John Broughton, of Raritan, Somerset county, merchant, conveyed to Jonathan Runyan, of Cranberry, Middlesex county, mason, hy deed dated Nov. 16, 1761, for the consideration of 800 (pounds), a tract of forty-one acres on the north side of Raritan river, being the west half of one-fifth of one-fourth of a certain lot which formerly belonged to James Graham, bounded on the upper side by land late of Andries Coieman and on the lower side by lot now or late of Cornelius Middah .- N. J. Deeds, I 2, p. 435.


REV. ISAAC BROWN.


The Rev. Isaac Brown was a descendant of John Brown, one of the Arst settlers of Newark in 1666. He graduated at Yale College in 1729, and in 1733 was appointed rector of the Episcopal Church at Setauket, town of Brookhaven, L. I., where he remained for fourteen years, ac- quiring the reputation of being "a man of talents and education." In 1747 he became rector of Trinity Church, Newark. He practiced med- Icine in Newark, and when he sent his bills to members of his congre- gation for medical advice, some of them thought it should have been included in his spiritual ministrations, and there was some friction in consequence. At the beginning of the Revolution he was an outspoken Loyalist, and in consequence of his zeal was confined in the Morris County jail early in 1777, only to be released in order that he and his family might be sent to the enemy In New York. In 1784 he went to Annapolis, Nova Scotia, where he died in 1787. Mr. Brown had a daugh- ter who married Isaac Ogden, a prominent Newark lawyer, a Loyalist in the Revolution: she died March 15, 1772, aged 26 years.


BRYANT FAMILY.


1Nothing has been found throwing light on the ancestry or place of origin of Capt. William Bryant. The fact that two of his children were named Joshua and Ebenezer suggests the possibility that he was akin to the Bryants of Huntington, Suffolk county, Long Island, where Bry- ants of those names were to be found. Family tradition says he had a brother in London, from which an English nativity might be inferred. He was b. in 1688 or 1689, but the earliest mention that has been found of him in the records is on April 4, 1729, when he witnessed the will


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BRYANT FAMILY


of Ann Johnston, of New York, widow. Eleven days later-April 15, 1729-he was enrolled as a freeman of New York. On Nov. 30, 1739, Lieut. Gov. Colden, of New York, wrote that Capt. Bryant was soon to sail for England with old guns, etc .; he was "commander of a con- stant trading vessel to London," at that time. He seems to have been held in high esteem in New York and London, for we find him repeat- edly appointed administrator, in London, on the estates of deceased sailors, as attorney for their "relicts" residing in New York, between 1743 and 1749. "Capt. William Bryant, mariner. of New York," was named as one of the executors of the will of Edith Feavor, of New York, spinster, April 29, 1747. William Bryant was appointed, June 30, 1749, administrator upon the estate of his son, John Bryant, deceased, but it is not clear that this was the Captain. So, too, it may have been another William Bryant, and not the Captain, who was appointed ad- ministrator on the estate of his brother, Dennis Bryant, of New York, Aug. 30, 1753. Bishop Spangenburg, the famous Moravian missionary, came to America from London with Capt. Bryant, in 1751. In Novem- ber, 1752, John Penn, grandson of William Penn, came from London to New York in the ship Joseph, commanded by Capt. Bryant. A ship- ment of arms was dispatched from New York for London, by the same vessel, William Bryant, master, in March, 1754. Part of the time he was a merchant as well as a mariner .- Early Long Island Wills, 215; N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., 1885, 215; Ib., 1895, 5, 223, 265, 485; Ib., 1896, 229, 431; N. Y. Gen. and Biog. Rec., 10:97; 34:289, 290; 35:122; 36:25; N. Y. Col. Docs., 6: 151, 158; N. J. Archives, 19: 201, 202, 206; N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2: 614; Pa. Mag., 21: 338; 22: 78. Just when Captain Bryant took up his residence at Perth Amboy has not been ascertained, but he was living there early in 1761, when George Willocks Leslie, of Reading Town, Somerset county, gentleman, and his wife, Mary, executed a deed to William Bryant, of Perth Amboy, Middlesex county, merchant, on April 2, 1761, which deed, for the consideration of £300, conveyed "all that certain dwelling house and lott of land Scituate, in the City of Perth Amboy. Beginning at the southwest corner of land lately conveyed by said Leslie to John Wattson, said corner is two chains and thirty-seven links from Market Street, and on the east side of Water Street, thence along Water Street south twenty-six degrees and fifteen minutes west two chains and sixty-three links: thence at right Angles with said Water Street to Low Water Mark; thence along Low Water Mark to the southeast corner of John Watson's said Lot; thence along Wattson's line to the Beginning. Bounded on the east by the Sound; on the north by the said Watson's Lott; and on the west by Water Street; it being two chains and sixty-three links in front along Water Street; and in length (both sides at Right Angles with Water Street) to low water Mark, together with all fences," etc. This deed was witnessed by P. Kearny, Ravaud Kearny and Alexander Wattson. -- V. J. Deeds, 12, p. 439. He and his wife Eleanor conveyed this prop- erty by the same description, to Alexander Watson, of Perth Amboy, gent., by deed dated May 30, 1768. In this deed Bryant is. described as "of Westfield, Essex county, gent." Witnesses-Sophia Water- house, Jona. Deare .-- E. J. Deeds, Liber E2, f. 218. It was probably with a view to removing to Elizabethtown that he advertised in The New York Journal of August 20, 1767, the sale at public vendue, at Perth Amboy, on September 3 following, of ."A Convenient Brick House, with 8 Fire-Flaces, very pleasantly situated on the Bank. (with a good Water Lot) a Stable and Barn, and a large Garden, which contains a Variety of the best Fruits: Likewise sundry house- hold Furniture," etc .- N. J. Archives. 25: 435. This advertisement gives a very good idea of the comfortable sort of residence the


53


BRYANT FAMILY


old Captain must have enjoyed in Perth Amboy. He was prob- ably residing with his daughter. Mrs. William Peartree Smith. when he made his will, October 21, 1769, in which he is described sa "William Bryant, of the Borough of Elizabeth, Essex county, mariner," and as being "weak." This will was proved July 9, 1772, and letters testamentary were granted thereon July 29, 1772. In this instrument he gives to his wife Eleanor, after the payment of his debts, all the rest of his estate for her life, the same to be at her dis- posal; if she should die intestate, then the same to go to his daughter, Elizabeth Woodruff, to whom he also gives 20s .; to each of his five other surviving children he gives 5s. Executrix-wife Eleanor. Wit- nesses-Nathaniel Baker, John Scudder, Jr., David Baker .- N. J. Wills, Liber K, 466. Although he was living at Elizabeth in 1769, he was buried in St. Peter's churchyard, Perth Amboy, where the inscription on his tombstone relates about all that we know of his career: "Sacred to the Memory of William Bryant, who, in 55 Voyages, in the Merchant Service, between the Ports of New York and London, approved himself a faithful and fortunate Commander. Of Integrity and Benevolence to Man he lived a Singular Example. Of Piety and Resignation to God he died an Amiable Pattern 14 July, A. C. 1772, ætatis 83." The upper part of the headstone was broken off by a cannon ball from a British armed vessel, during the Revolution. Below the inscription is this somewhat abbreviated Latin sentence, showing that the stone was doubtless erected by Dr. William Bryant, the Captain's son: "Sax. inornat. pat. sui. dignum. memoriæ. sacrum. fil. amor. posuit." His widow d. in February, 1776, at Perth Amboy, and probably was buried beside her husband .- Whitehead's Perth Amboy, 145; Alden's Epitaphs, 1044. Issue (bap. in the First Presbyterian church, New York) :


2.


i. Mary, bap. October 14, 1722.


ii. Martha, b. January 24 and bap. January 31, 1725-6; m. the Rev. Lorens Thorstansen Nyberg, a Lutheran clergy- man, who came from Sweden to take charge of the Swedish Lutheran church at Lancaster, Fa., in 1744. About a year later he joined the Moravians. His con- duct seems to have caused much comment and dis- turhance, and a few years later he went to England. He is said to have been "historiographer to the King of Sweden; she d. a widow, at Fulneck, a Moravian establishment near Leeds, England. Their portraits are in this country."-N. Y. Gen. and Biog. Record, 10: 96. Martha Nyberg, of Fulneck, Parish of Calverly, Yorkshire, Great Britain, widow, "before my mar- riage called Martha Bryant, one of the four sisters of William Bryant, late of the City of New York in North America, deceased, and a devisee in his last will and testament," executed June 24, 1799, a power of attorney to William Peartree Smith, of Newark, N. J. (her nephew), empowering him to sell one un- divided fourth part of land in Trenton and elsewhere in North America, relating to the estate of said William Bryant, deceased .- N. J. Decds, AT, f. 519.


111. Rebecca, b. Feb. 18 and bap. Feb. 26, 1728-9; m. Capt. Le Chevalier Dean, who, in 1750, lived in Wall street, New York, but subsequently settled in Charleston, S. C .- N. Y. Gen. and Biog. Record, 10: 96. Children: 1. A. son;


2. Mary; 3. William


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BRYANT FAMILY


3. iv. William, b. Jan. 3 and bap. Jan. 11. 1730-31.


4. V. Joshua, b. Feb. 7 and bap. Feb. 15, 1732.


vi. Elizabeth, b. Sept. 4 and bap. Sept. 10, 1734; m. (as his 2d wife) the Rev. Benjamin Woodruff, pastor of the Pres- byterian church at Westfield, in the spring of 1763; he d. April 3, 1803, aged 70 yrs .; she d. in N. Y., March 17, 1805. Children: 1. William Bryant, bap. March 21, 1764; 2. Elizabeth, bap. July 17, 1766; 2. Bryant, bap. Nov. 4, 1767; 4. Charlotte Bryant, bap. Sept. 3, 1769; 5. WVil- liam, bap. Sept. 15, 1771 .- Hatfield's Hist. Elizabeth, 5$3.


vil. Ebenezer, b. July 15 and bap. July 23, 1736; admitted to the N. J. Bar, March 25, 1758; d. 1761. He not un- likely studied law with his brother-in-law, William Peartree Smith, who was executor of his estate. He died before he was twenty-five. The will of Ebenezer Bryant, of Elizabethtown, attorney at law, being "sick and weak" at the time, dated July 10, 1760, was proved Feb. 5, 1761. He gives to wife Elizabeth the money arising from some sales, etc .; to Trustees of the Presbyterian church of Elizabethtown, £50 for the use of Church; to the College of New Jersey, £50 for the purchase of apparatus for experiments in philosophy-or physics, as we would say today; to brother Joshua, "a debt of £30 he owes me is to be canceled." Executor-"my brother in law William Peartree Smith." Witnesses-Andrew Whitehead, William Bryant, Elizabeth Bryant .- N. J. Wills, Liber G, f. 450. And see N. J. Archives, 20: 571, for adver- tisement by the executor.


2. Mary2 (William1) Bryant, bap. October 14, 1722; she went to Eng- land with her father, when quite young, and enjoyed the friendship and counsels of the famous Rev. Isaac Watts. She m. William Pear- tree Smith, May 12, 1745. He was then of New York, the "heir to an ample fortune, and devoted himself to no particular calling," though he studied law with an eminent attorney. He was a trustee of the College of New Jersey, 1746-1793. He was associated with William Livingston in the patriotic movements of his time. Removing to Eliz- abethtown, he was appointed Mayor of that borough. He took an active part in the Revolution, serving on the Committee of Safety. He d. at Newark, Nov. 20, 1801, aet. 78; his wid. d. there Aug. 16, 1811, in her 92d year, says her tombstone. Issue:




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