USA > New Jersey > The New Jersey coast in three centuries; history of the New Jersey coast with genealogical and historic-biographical appendix, Vol. II > Part 20
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Doctor Henry Martin Scudder, the son of the missionary, John Scud- der, still farther in the line of descent, carried the remarkable traits of this family. Its records seem to prove unanswerably the influence of heredity.
Some of the most familiar names brought to the New Jersey coast by the Scotch lowlanders, were Anderson, Brown, Baird, Clark, Craig, (John Craig, son of Archibald, married about 1748-9, Anna, daughter of Captain John Barclay), Cumming, Cook, Errickson, English, Henderson, Hankins, Johnstone, Laird, Campbell, MeKnight, Nesmith, Newel, Stevens, Wilson, Scott, etc. To-day the bearers of those names show the marked Norman-Scotch characteristics-tall, slender, muscular men, with ruddy complexions, blue eyes, brown or sandy hair, and strong, rugged features.
At the close of the seventeenth century the English and Scotch had opened the lands covered by the Nicolls Patent from Raritan Bay and River to Little Egg Harbor. The towns of Middletown, Shrewsbury, Wickatunck, Topanemus and Barnegat had been laid out, each having its blockhouse or meeting house. The settlers had become numerous, the savages had sold their lands and retreated toward the Delaware. In safety the out-plantations could be surveyed, homes built, the lands cleared and crops raised. Thirty-five years had passed since the Englishmen of Grave- send had purchased the lands from old Popomora, chief of the Navesinks. They had been years of peaceful progress. The land began to yield more than was needed at home. Middletown had her ports at Waakaack, Shoal Harbor and Portland Point. Middletown had her iron works "be- tween Burden's Brook and Jumping Brook, adjoining Joseph Grover, George Willox, the iron works, Mordecay Gibbons and Thomas Apple- gate." Shrewsbury had her ports at Passage Point and Shark River. Lewis Morris had opened his iron mines at Tinton Falls, and the pig iron was shipped from Passage Point on the Shrewsbury River. The products
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of the pine forests along the coast-tar, pitch, charcoal and lumber, were shipped from Shark River or Nollequesset.
Inland Wickatunck and Topanemus, with fertile Chingaroras, must have a nearby port or landing, therefore on June 7, 1701, a "patent was granted to John Johnstone, of Monmouth county, for a lot on Wingsunk Neck for a landing and road, between the Old Oysterbank Landing, called John Reid's, in length from low water mark of Matawan Creek to Wick- atunck, one hundred feet wide; also one hundred acres of barren land, N. Andrew Burnet, formerly Thomas Warn(e), East, Thomas Hart; to be used by grantee and the following named : John Reid, Peter Watson, Pat- rick Canaan, Walter Ker, Patrick Imlay, John Brown, John Baird, William Ridford, Alexander Napier, John Hanson ( Hampton), John Nesmith, William Naughty, Allen Callweli, John Campbell. Robert Ray, James Reid, James Melvin, William Clarke, William Ronald, William Laing, James Edward, John Hebron (Hepburne)," all of Monmouth county. On March 22d, 1701, a deed for the same tract had on the east side of and along Matawan Creek, been given to the same parties by the owners, Steven and Thomas Warne, Proprietors. By comparing the above list of names with the list of the indentured servants sent out in 1684 to Perth Amboy by the Scotch Proprietors, it will be seen that many of the latter settled in Monmouth, and the deeds transferring and locating lands show that they first settled and established the towns of Wickatunck and Topanemus, about twelve years before the new town, their port, was contemplated. In 1701 the one hundred acres upon which the town was to be built were "barren land." In remembrance of the old Scotch city, dear to some of these men, the new town was named New! Aberdeen. It has since been named. Middletown Point and Matawan.
The Middletown men were not slow to perceive the limits set to their plantations by the coming of the Scotch Proprietors into the heart of their claim. They had surveyed and apportioned all lands east of Matawan Creek and Wickatunck before that town was laid out, 1688. In 1685 they obtained a license to purchase twelve hundred acres of land at Crosswicks from the Indians. It was granted to Joseph Throckmorton, John Smith and Gerard (Garret) Wall, all of Middletown. It was divided into forty-eight shares, and taken up by John Stout, Joseph and John Throckmorton, Joseph Gro- ver, Jonathan Holmes, John Smith, James Bowne, James Ashton, Ben- jamin Borden, etc. This was called the "Crosswicks Purchase." When Robert, the son of Peter Gordon, sold the land given to him by his father, one boundary of which "ran along a row of trees above Abram' Lincon's shop," to Robert Imlay in 1753, one boundary was from line of "Ort Sut- phin to Anabaptist line." The above names of land owners under the
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"Crosswicks Purchase" were the sons of Middletown Patentees. Other children settled in Mercer county, the Stouts especially forming a settle- ment at Hopewell. The year 1688 was an eventful one for the Anabaptists of Middletown. The abdication of James II and the accession of Williamt of Orange to the throne of England gave to the persecuted sects of the kingdom and Colonies a feeling of security long unknown. The Baptist churches of England and Wales began to organize. "Upwards of One Hundred Congregations (denying Armenianism) met together in Lon- don from the Third of the Seventh Month to the Eleventh of the same, 1689," and adopted a Confession of Faith. More than a year earlier Thomas Killingworth was a witness to the will of John Martin, of Piscataway. His wife, Esther Martin, was heiress and executor, and his sons, John and Benjamin Martin, with sons-in-law, Hopewell Hull and John Langstaff, were overseers and assistants. Hopewell Hull, John Martin, John Lang- staff and John Fitzrandolph were among the earliest settlers of Piscataway in 1668. Their descendants have been well known in Monmouth county. Thomas Killingworth, "gentleman," was an ordained Baptist minister, and in 1688 visited Middletown. He regularly organized the Old Baptist church there, the oldest in the State. It was a congregation of Particular or Calvinistic Baptists. The names of the first members were Richard Stout, John Stout, James Grover, Jonathan Bowne, Obadiah Holmes, John Ruckman, John Wilson, Walter Wall, John Cox, Jonathan Holmes, George Mount, William Cheeseman, William Layton, William Compton, James Ashton, John Bowne, Thomas Whitlock and James Grover, Jr. These men, from Rhode Island and Gravesend, had come to Middletown as Calvinists, deniers of infant baptism and firm believers in liberty of con- science. They were accompanied by friends of all three shades of belief de- nominated Calvinists, Armenians and Socinians, but they all seem to have been believers in liberty of conscience and disbelievers in infant baptism. Even many of the early Quakers or Socinians of Shrewsbury held the same views of magistrates as their Baptist brethren, viz., "2. It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of a Magistrate, when called thereunto; in the Management whereof, as they ought especially to main- tain Justice and Peace, according to the wholesome laws of each Kingdom and Commonwealth: So for that end they may lawfully now under the New Testament wage War upon just and necessary Occasions. 3. Civil Magistrates being set up by God, for the ends aforesaid, Subjection in all lawful things Things commanded by them, ought to be yielded by us in the Lord, not only for Wrath but for conscience sake; and we ought to make Supplications and Prayers for Kings, and all that are in Authority, that under them we may live a quiet and peaceful Life, in all Godliness and
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Holiness." This principle of Christian citizenship taught earnestly and constantly throughout New Jersey had a decided effect upon the substan- tial building of the commonwealth. It made "Jersey Justice" famous.
Thomas Killingworth probably; ordained James Ashton, one of the Middletown men, as the first pastor of the church, for after the organiza- tion he regularly took charge of the congregation. Prior to this time John Bowne is said to have preached. He was a veteran in the cause of religious liberty. "Governor Stuyvesant having attempted to coerce the Quakers at Flushing into submission to some rather arbitrary requirements upon the subject of religion, found it expedient to arrest and transport to Holland one of their principle men, John Bowne, to be there punished for his heriti- cal opinions and practices." But the sturdy old Quaker came back tri- umphantly in the following year, as bearer of a letter of religious tolera- tion," from Amsterdam, April 16, 1663. ("The Huguenot Settlers of New York and Vicinity," by Frank W. Ballard.) The Quakers and Ana- baptists were often confused at this time when men in authority did not take time to analyze the many slight shades of difference. The cause at issue was religious toleration. Only one year after the return from Amster- dam, we find John Bowne defending himself and his company against the officers of Governor Stuyvesant on the shore of Middletown. He was also one of the defenders of the Monmouth patent. In an old Book of Sur- veys (Salem), New Jersey, Archives, Calendar New Jersey Records, is the oath of office of John Bowne and John Throckmorton as Deputies for Middletown and Shrewsbury, 1675. The same year Acts were passed "to settle the Militia, to repair the arms, for building forts, and to provide shot." John Bowne of Flushing, Long Island, Patentee of Monmouth ยท county, New Jersey, and lay preacher among the Baptists of Middletown, was decidedly a fight-if-you-must Cromwellian Baptist rather than a peace- . ful non-combatant George Fox Quaker. John Bowne died in Janu- ary, 1683.
On July 4, 1681, a memorandum is recorded giving the following military commissions for Middletown and Shrewsbury; Captain John Bowne, Lieutenant James Grover, and Ensign John Stout for Middletown; and Captain John Slocum, Lieutenant Thomas Huet, and Ensign George Hulet for Shrewsbury. Captain John Bowne was the son of John Bowne, Patentee. Both are buried in the old Presbyterian burying ground in Mid- dletown. "Captain John Bowne died March 13, 1715-16, aged 52 years." He was born in 1663-4, and was but seventeen when the commissions were granted in 1681, therefore that commission must have been granted to his father, John Bowne, the "Quaker" Patentee; preacher, etc. An agreement ciated May 27, 1684, between Lidea, widow and administratrix of John
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Bowne, deceased, late of Middletown, mentions as his children, John, Oba- diah, Deborah, Sarah and Catherine. The administratrix gave as her bonds- men her son, John Bowne, and Andrew Bowne, of New York, merchant. John Salter married a daughter of Obadiah, son of John Bowne, of Flush- ing, Patentee, and brother of Captain John Bowne, of Middletown. In 1700 Obadiah Bowne owned 1,219 acres in Monmouth county between Hop River, John Wilson, Jr., John Guisburtson, Daniel Hendrickson, Wal- ter Wright, James Dorsett, Gershom Wall and Gershom Bowne. The last will and testament of Edward Smith, of Middletown, December 24, 1685, who, with his wife in 1650 had suffered with Obadiah Holmes in New Plymouth "for continuing a meeting upon the Lord's Day from house to house," bequeathed property to John and Obadiah Bowne, sons of John Bowne, deceased, to his widow, their mother, ;to Gershom Mott, to. Stephen Arnold, his brother-in-law, and to Philip Smith, of Newport, Rhode Island, his brother. Letters of administration were issued to the latter April 8, 1686. The witnesses were Richard Stout, Sr., Andrew Bowne, James Bowne and Jonathan Huller. James Bowne, of Monmouth county, related to and contemporaneous with John Bowne, Patentee, had four sons : Andrew, merchant in New York; James, having land at Shoal Harbor and Crosswicks, William and John, coldwainer. By 1686 Andrew owned 1,920 acres on the south side of Raritan River and 1,038 acres at Chingaroras. James Bowne deeded, September 22, 1699, all of his prop- erty at Crosswicks, Shoal Harbor and Barnegat, to his brothers Andrew, William and John. James Bowne married Mary, the daughter of Rich- ard and Penelope Stout, July 16, 1700. Captain John Bowne obtained con- firmation of title to pay quit-rent for 620 acres in Monmouth county, situ- ated as follows: "viz., one hundred and forty acres adjoining his late farm, called Nichais, between Gershom Bowne, deceased, Obadiah Bowne, James and Jonathan Stout; one hundred and twenty acres adjoining Gershom Mott and James Dorsett; one hundred acres adjoining Gershom Wallen (Walling), Hartshorne, Clayton, Hutton's Brook and Jer. Bennet ; two hundred and fifty acres between Obadiah Bowne, John Bowme, formerly John Johnstone, and Gershom Bowne." Gershom Mott held his land (fifty acres) prior to 1685. His descendants multiplied and married into the Crawford, Leonard, Morford and other families well known throughout New Jersey and New York in Baptist circles. James Dorsett was the an- cestor of Hannah Dorsett, the mother of Joseph D. Bedle, of New Jersey. A patent was granted to James Dorsett for two hundred and two acres of land at Middletown. Upon that same land stands a little homestead still owned by a Dorsett, which was visited by Governor Bedle only a few years ago. He married a Miss Randolph, descended from the Fitzrandolphs, of
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Piscataway. The families above mentioned were Baptists, and when (in 1688) Thomas Killingworth organized the Baptist church of Middletown, of which the Holmdel church was a division, and about one year later or- ganized the Piscataway church, the children and grandchildren of the first settlers had multiplied and the congregations, if not the membership, were large. The second and third generations of Stouts, Grovers, Holmes, Walls, Comptons, Applegates, Ashtons, Smiths, Coxes, Mounts. Laytons, etc., were growing to manhood and its responsibilities. In a few years, needing more room, they formed settlements in other parts of the State as they had at Crosswicks.
Thomas Killingworth, in 1693, appears on the Salem records as the owner of a town lot in Salem Town. In the spring of 1690 he organized the Baptist church of Cohansey and became its regular minister. Charles Angelo, of Salem Town, husbandman, in 1696 deeded to Widow Eliza- beth Smith, of Salem county, a house and ten acres in Salem Town "for her lifetime, and after her death to Prudence, wife of Thomas Killingworth." Again, in 1702, John Vance deeded to Thomas Killingworth, both of Salem Town, a town lot of sixteen acres, some cattle and chattels, "in- cluding a painted carpet." Benedict, in his "History of the Baptists," claims the church at Cohansey had its origin in Ireland. He quotes a historical sketch, viz .: "About the year 1683 some Baptists from the county of Tipperary in Ireland settled in the neighborhood of Cohansey; particu- larly David Sheppard, Thomas Abbot, William Button, etc." In Cohansey graveyard is a stone with this inscription upon it: 'Here lies Deborah Swinney, who died April 4, 1760, aged 77 years. She was the first white female child born at Cohansey.' If we take her age out of 1760, it will appear she was born in: 1683, the time fixed by Mr. Kelsey for the settling of the place by Irish Baptists, and Swinney was an Irish name." The Rev. Robert Kelsey, born near Drummore, Ireland, in 1711, became pastor of this church in 1756. As early as 1677 a number of men from Middletown and Shrewsbury purchased town lots and lands in Cohansey and along the river. Their names were Mount, Burden, Lippincott, Anthony Page, of Middletown, Lawrence, etc. Obadiah Holmes, son of the Rev. Obadiah Holmes, of Rhode Island, after a residence in Middletown and on Staten Island, finally settled in Salem county and became identified with the Co- hansey church. The Baptists of Cohansey held intimate relation with the Welsh Baptists in Delaware and Pennsylvania on the opposite side of the river.
Cape May is both geologically and genealogically a child of the sea. The ocean drifted together and built up the land; it carried upon its
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bosom and caressed as a mother the forefathers of those who now inhabit the land. Among the records of seamen must we seek for the story of their coming.
On February 15, 1668, William Johnson, with several of his fellow townsmen of Elizabeth Town, New Jersey, and twenty-one "partners" from Barnegate to Sandy Hook obtained "Privileges, Conditions and Limi- tations for the Whale Fishery." His daughter, Hannah, married Joseph Holden, and after his death she married Henry Leonard. William Johnson died May 14, 1689. On January 29, 1697-8, his daughter, Hannah, then the wife of Henry Leonard, of Cape May, made an affidavit concerning her father's will and why it was not proven earlier. Ten years after tlie "Privileges, Conditions and Limitations" for the Whale Fishery were granted William Johnson and others, a charter ( 1678) was granted "for a Whale Fishing Company consisting of Joseph Huet, Thomas Ingram, Richard Davis, Isaac Bennet, Randall Huet, Thomas Huet, Henry Leon- ard, Samuel Leonard, John Whitlock, John Crafford, Thomas Applegate and Charles Dennis." Of these men, Randall Huet or Hewitt, Henry Leonard, John Whitlock and John Crafford, all of Middletown and Shrews- bury, became residents of Cape May, and are among the earliest recorded land holders. The descendants of Isaac Bennet also became identified with the southern counties of the coast. They, with other whalemen and seamen from New England, Long Island, Elizabeth Town, Woodbridge and Mon- mouth county, began very early to frequent the coast from Little Egg Harbor to Cape May and the Bay of the Delaware. Many probably began to settle upon lands long before they received legal grants for them. In his history of the Baptist church of Cape May, Benedict claims that "The foundation of this church was laid in the year 1675, when a company of emigrants from England arrived in the Delaware, some of whom settled at the cape. Among these were two Baptists, whose names were George. Taylor and Philip Hill. Taylor kept a meeting at his home until his death in 1701. Mr. Hill kept up the meeting until 1704, when he also died."
August 26, 1689, Daniel Coxe, M. D., of London, gave power of attorney to John Tatham and James Budd, merchants of West Jersey, as land agents for himself. The following year George Taylor, carpenter, (probably ship-carpenter) of Cape May, was substituted for James Budd. deceased. Dr. Coxe owned, by purchase from the Indians, the whole sea front from Little Egg Harbor to Cape May. The deed was dated April 30, 1688, and is recorded in the West Jersey Records, Liber B, Part I. page 202 (Calendar of New Jersey Records). "Sakamoy and other Indian Sackimackers" to Adlord Bowde, now of Burlington, merchant, on behalf
13*
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of Governor Daniel Coxe, for a tract of land from the mouth of Stephants Creek on the north side of Delaware Bay to Petequeick or Nixt Creek, west of Little Egg Harbour, down said river of Petaqueick to the most easterly point of Little Egg Harbour on the sea, then southwest along the seashore to Cape May, thence along the shore to the 'bottom' of the bay, thence to place of beginning." Lewis Townsend Stevens, in his "History of Cape May County," refers to an Indian deed as covering a smaller tract in the vicinity of Cape Island antedating by a few months, January I, 1687 (probably old style) the larger purchase for Dr. Coxe. "It was found among the papers of Jacob Spicer and is now ( 1897) in the pos- session of Charles Ludlam, Esq., of Dennisville." The grantor, Panktoc. deeded the tract to John Dennis, and the witnesses were Abiah Edwards and John Carman. A tripartite indenture between "Dr. Daniel Coxe, Gov- ernor and Chief Proprietor of West New Jersey, and other adjacent lands, and his wife, Rebecca, of the first part, Jonathan Greenwood and Peter Gugou, citizens of London, of the second part, and Sir Thomas Lane, Knight, with a large company of London merchants, of the third part, con- firming a preceding conveyance to the party of the second part, dividing the property among the parties of the third part, and conveying to the latter one-half of all the shares in West Jersey, the land being at or near Cape May and Maurice River." This placed the ownership of the lands purchased by Adlord Bowde for Dr. Coxe from the Indian chief Sakamoy in the possession of the West Jersey Society. Jeremiah Basse, merchant, of Burlington, New Jersey, became their agent.
A letter dated December 24, 1692, from London, written by Robert Hackshaw for the Committee of the West Jersey Society to Jeremiah Basse, desired "that settlements may be encouraged at Cape May." In April, 1694, is rcorded a return of a survey by George Taylor for Christopher Leaman (Leaming) of 204 acres in Cape May county "on the side of the Sound next to Benjamin Hand, and since conveyed to his son, Thomas Leaman." Also on May 2, 1693, George Taylor, carpenter, of Cape May, as agent for Dr. Coxe, sold 210 acres in Cape May to Jeremiah Basse "of Cohansey, West Jersey, who conveyed the same, for the West Jersey So- ciety, to Benjamin Godfrey of Cape May." Another deed of this year throws some light upon the settlement of Cape May. Katherine Howell, of Philadelphia, widow of Thomas Howell, sold land in Gloucester county, New Jersey, to Henry Johnson, mariner, "late of Cape May, now of Phila- delphia." He was the youngest son of William Johnson, of Elizabeth Town, New Jersey, and brother to Hannah, wife of Henry Leonard, above mentioned. Not until the year 1695 were legal titles granted to the men, al-
,
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111STORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
ready agents of Cape May, whose descendants have made the history of that county. The list taken from the Calendar of New Jersey Records, is as follows :
Deeds.
From the West Jersey Society, by Jeremiah Basse of Burlington, their agent, to:
April 19th, 1695.
I John Richardson, of Cape May, whaleman, 124 acres, Quitrent, "two fat hens or capons," "payable to the Society as Lords of Ye mannr of Cox Hall."
2 William Johnston, of Cape May, yeoman, 436 acres. Quitrent "two fat capons or hens."
3 Nathaniel Short, of Cape May, whaleman, 200 acres Quitrent "two hens or capons."
April 20, 1695.
4 Arthur Cressy of Cape May, yeoman, 350 acres Quitrent. "2fat hens or capons."
5 Cesar Hoskins ( Hodgkins) of Cape May, whaleman, 150 acres. Quit- rent "2 fat hens or capons."
6 Jonathan Osborne, of Cape May, yeoman, II0 acres Quitrent "one fat hen or capon."
7 Joseph Houlding, of Cape May, yeoman, 200 acres Quitrent. "one ear of Indian corn."
April 21st, 1695.
8 Dorothy Hewitt ( Huet) of Cape May, spinster, 340 acres,. No Quit- rent mentioned. Mortgage Apr. 23.
April 22st, 1695.
9 Cornelius Stelinger of Cape May, whaleman, 134 acres. No quitrent mentioned.
10 Henry Stites of Cape May, whaleman, 200 acres, and mortgage.
II Samuel Mathews of Cape May, whaler, 175 acres.
12 William Mason, of Cape May, yeoman, 150 acres. Quitrent "2 fat chickens."
13 Humphrey Hewes, of Cape Mhy, whaler, 206 acres. Quitrent "one ear of Indian corn."
14 Thomas Hand, of Cape May, whaleman, 400 acres. Quitrent, "two fat capons or hens."
15 Abigael Pine, of Cape May, spinster, 200 acres. Quitrent "one ear of Indian corn."
16 Elizabeth Carman, of Cape May, spinster, 300 acres; Quitrent "one ear of Indian corn."
17 Joseph Wheldon, of Cape May, yeoman, 150 acres, Quitrent "two fat capons or hens."
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY. COAST.
IS William Jacocks, of Cape May, yeoman, 340 acres, No quitrent men- tioned. A mortgage April 23d.
19 John Canson (Corson), of Cape May, yeoman, 300 acres. No quitrent mentioned.
20 Peter Canson (Corson), of Cape May, weaver, 400 acres, No quitrent mentioned.
21 John Townsend, of Cape May, carpenter, 600 acres. No quitrent men- tioned.
22 John Townsend, of Cape May, yeoman, 260 acres. No quitrent men- tioned.
23 Shamgar Hand, of Cape May, gentleman, 700 acres, and same for 15 acres. No quitrent mentioned.
24 William Whitlock, of Cape May, gentleman, 500 acres. No quitrent mentioned.
25 John Dayton, of Cape May, yeoman, 200 acres. No quitrent men- tioned.
26 Jonathan Forman, of Cape May, yeoman, 250 acres. No quitrent men- tioned.
27 John & Caleb Carman, of Cape May, whalemen, 255 acres. No quitrent mentioned.
28 Samuel Crowell, of Cape May, gentleman, 226 acres. No quitrent. mentioned.
May 30th 1695.
29 Jacob Spicer, of West Jersey, yeoman, 400 acres, at Cape May, be- tween "Wills Creek" and "Eyers Creek," fronting on the Bay. Re- turn of Survey by Joshua Barkstead, "Surveyor of Cape May," April 9th. 1696.
In June of the same year Jeremiah Basse granted power of attorney to Joshua Barkstead, of Cohansey, and John Houlden, of Cape May, as agents of the West Jersey Society in Cape May. John Houlden was prob- ably the son of Hannah Johnson, wife of Henry Leonard, by her first hus- band, Joseph Holden, who was probably a resident of Cape May before his (leath. Thomas Revell, trustee of the West Jersey Society, on November 2, 1697, granted a deed to "John Whitlock, now or late of Middletown, East Jersey, carpenter. confirming a deed to said Whitlock by John Jervis, of Cape May, for 320 acres near Cape May on the Sound, bought of George Coxe as agent of Daniel Coxe." John Jervis came from Long Island, where the Scudder, Jervis and Townsend families have intermarried.
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