USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. III > Part 34
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Samuel Jones, son of Rev. Thomas, was brought to Pennsylvania by his parents when he was two years old. His father was a man of wealth, and able to give him the best advantages for education which the country could furnish. Accord- ingly, Samuel entered the College of Philadelphia (now University of Pennsyl- vania), where he received degree of A. B., May 18, 1762. He took his A. M. degree three years later, and in 1788 the University conferred on him degree of D. D. Immediately after graduation he devoted himself to the work of the min- istry, and January 2, 1765, was ordained at College Hall, at the instance of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia, of which he was a member, and became pastor of the churches of Southampton and Pennepack. In 1770 he resigned the care of the Southampton Church, and devoted himself entirely to that of Penne- pack, also called Lower Dublin Baptist Church, from the township in which it was situated. Of this latter church he was pastor upwards of fifty-one years. During a great part of this period he conducted a private theological seminary. As a teacher, as well as a pastor, he was much distinguished, and was remarkably considerate and judicious in his treatment of young men preparing for the minis- try of the Gospel; and not a few who have been useful, and some who have been eminent, in the ministry were educated under his care.
In the autumn of 1763, Mr. Jones repaired, by request, to Newport, Rhode Island, and new-modelled a rough draft of a charter of incorporation for a pro- posed college there, which, soon after, was granted by the legislature, and the college founded as the College of Rhode Island, with Rev. Samuel Jones as one of the incorporators. Its first location was at Warren, Rhode Island, 1764, but in 1780 it was moved to Providence; in 1804 the name was changed to Brown University. Rev. Samuel Jones declined the presidency of this institution when offered to him on the death of its first president, James Manning, 1791. In 1769 the College of Rhode Island conferred on him the degree of A. M. gratiae causa, and in 1786, the degree of S. T. D.
During the Revolution, Rev. Samuel Jones was Chaplain of Second Regiment of Foot, Lieut. Col. Isaac Hughes commanding, Philadelphia County Battalion of the "Flying Camp," 1776.
During the whole period of his connection with the Philadelphia Baptist As- sociation, Dr. Jones was one of its most useful members. He was ten times its moderator between 1797 and 1814, and eleven times selected to deliver the annual sermon at the Association's opening session. One of these was the centennial anniversary sermon in 1807, which was published under the title of "A Century Sermon," the same year. He was at one time appointed to frame a system of discipline, which was published as "A Treatise on Church Discipline," 1797; at another, to compile a book of hymns ; and again to draw up a map representing
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the various associations. He sometimes wrote the circular letter to the churches, and in the deliberations of the association he would often bring light out of the thickest darkness, and order out of the wildest confusion. His services were almost always put in requisition at the constitution of churches and the ordina- tion of ministers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Besides the two publications mentioned above, Dr. Jones published a sermon entitled, "The Doctrine of the Covenant," preached at Pennepack, 1783, and also some minor discourses.
Rev. Samuel Jones married, November 10, 1764, Sylvia Spicer (died July 23, 1802, aged sixty-six years), of Cape May county, New Jersey. They had five children, four of whom died young, three dying in August, 1778, two of these Thomas, aged thirteen, and Samuel, aged ten, being buried together; the only one reaching maturity was Sarah, who married (first) Robert Henderson, (sec- ond) Rev. Theophilus Harris, above. A sermon on the life and character of Rev. Dr. Jones was preached in Philadelphia by Rev. Dr. Staughton, May, 1814, three months after his death.
Sylvia Spicer came of one of the oldest and most distinguished families of Cape May county. Thomas Spicer, a New England Puritan, had a son, Samuel Spicer (born before 1640, died 1692), of Gravesend, Long Island, who married Esther Tilton (died 1703), and had a son, Jacob Spicer (born on Long Island, January 20, 1668), who removed to Cape May county, New Jersey, about 1691, among the earliest settlers there. He was one of the most prominent men in the county and a large landowner in it. He appears to have been connected with the militia, as he was called Col. Jacob Spicer. He was a member of the New Jer- sey Assembly, 1709-23, inclusive. He died in Cape May county, April 17, 1741, and was buried on what was afterwards the Vincent Miller homestead, in Cold Spring; the following inscription was on his tombstone :
"In memory of Colonel Jacob Spicer Died April 17, 1741, aged 73 years. Death, thou hast conquered me, I, by thy darts am slain ; But Christ shall conquer thee, And I shall rise again."
He married, March 6, 1715, Sarah -, (supposed widow of Ezekiel Eld- redge, Sheriff of Cape May county, 1697, and member of Assembly, 1708-09), born 1677, and died July 25, 1742 ; her tombstone is the oldest in the Cold Spring Church Cemetery. They had a son :
Jacob Spicer (2), born May, 1716, died September 17, 1765. He was the wealthiest man in Cape May county, and an extensive landowner there. A member of Assembly from 1744 until his death, except one year, and was on many important committees of the same during his incumbency. On Saturday, February 2, 1750, Robert Laurence, of Monmouth county, William Cooks, of Burlington county, William Hancock, of Salem county, Jacob Spicer, of Cape May county, Hendrick Fisher, of Somerset county, John Wetherill, of Middle- sex county, and Aaron Leaming, of Cape May county, gentlemen, were appoint- ed a commitee of the Legislature to inspect the laws, records and other funda- mental constitutions relating to the first settlement of New Jersey. The event- ual result of this action was the publication by Jacob Spicer (2), and his col-
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league from Cape May county, Aaron Leaming (2), of their now well-known grants, concessions and original constitutions of the Province of New Jersey, which was printed in Philadelphia by William Bradford, 1758. It has been re- printed in Philadelphia, 1881.
About 1755, Jacob Spicer was made sole commissioner for West Jersey to supply the forces under Col. Peter Schuyler. In 1758 he was appointed one of the commissioners to settle Indian claims and attended the conference at Easton, Pa., beginning October 8, of that year.
Jacob Spicer (2), married (first) Judith, (born 1714, died September 7, 1747), daughter of Humphrey Hughes, Sheriff of Cape May county, 1711, and member of Assembly, 1723-33; of a family quite prominent in the social life of the coun- ty and whose members held many local offices. He married (second), 1751, De- borah Hand, widow of Christopher Leaming. Jacob Leaming (2), left four children : Sarah, Sylvia, Judith and Jacob (3) ; Sylvia Spicer, born January 23, 1736, by his first wife (as probably all Jacob Spicer's (2) children were), was wife of Rev. Samuel Jones.
William Henry and Adelaide Catherine (Bussier ) Henderson had issue:
Mary Henderson, b. 1862; d. inf .;
William Henry Henderson, Jr., b. Oct. 3, 1866; member of Pennsylvania Society, Sons of Revolution, to which he was admitted May II, 1891, as descendant of Capt. Nicholas Diehl and of Chaplain Samuel Jones. He is president of Mutual Law and Claim Co .. and lives with his mother at 1331 N. Broad st., Phila .;
George Henderson, b. June 20, 1868; of whom presently ;
Louise Henderson, b. Feb. 1, 1870; m. Rev. Walter B. Shumway, now pastor of the First Baptist Church of Swampscott, Mass., where they live. He was son of Lowell Shum- way, by his first wife. Lowell Shumway's second wife was Anna Harris Bussier, sister of Louise Henderson's mother. Rev. W. B. and Louise Henderson Shumway have two daus., Catherine and Margaret ;
Gertrude Wilstach Henderson, b. Aug. 3, 1878; m. William Montgomery Horner, who d. 1901. He was for a time a student in college department and then in law department, Univ. of Pa., from the latter of which he was graduated about 1900, with degree of LL. B. He was son of Samuel Horner, Jr., proprietor of large carpet and lace mills in northeastern section of Phila., which he sold out nearly twenty years ago to the Bromleys, a family extensively engaged in these industries in the same section. He introduced Nottingham lace into America. He lives at 1324 N. Broad st., Phila. Since becoming a widow, Mrs. Gertrude W. Henderson Horner, with her two children, Roland Henderson and Albert Wilstach, has gone to live with her mother, 1331 N. Broad st., Phila., where she now resides ( 1907).
George Henderson, born June 20, 1868, son of William Henry and Adelaide Catherine (Bussier) Henderson, entered the class of '89, college department, University of Pennsylvania, as a freshman, 1885. He was founder and editor- in-chief of the college magazine, "The Red and Blue." He received degree of Ph. B., June, 1889, and afterwards entered the class of '96, law department, University of Pennsylvania; was graduated with degree of LL. B., June, 1896, and admitted to Philadelphia Bar the same month. He was an organizer of the American Society for the Extension of University Teaching, and was sent to England by the society in the summer of 1890, to study the movement there; he was the society's first general secretary, 1890-92. He was also secretary of the Lecture Association, University of Pennsylvania, 1890-92, and director of the University Extensive Division of the University of Chicago, 1892-94. He was an organizer of the Free Library of Philadelphia, and its secretary, 1890-92. From 1899 to date (1907), he has been a member of the executive committee of the Public Education Association, and took an active part in preparing and
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getting through the act for the reorganization of the public school system of Philadelphia which was passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature, 1905. He is also a member of the American Economic Association. From 1899 to date (1907) he has been a director of the Mercantile Library of Philadelphia. George Henderson is a life member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and Feb- ruary 18, 1907, was admitted a member of Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Union League and Penn Clubs of Philadelphia, and the Germantown and Philadelphia Cricket Clubs.
George Henderson married, October 14, 1891, Mary Bertha, daughter of James Latta and Mary Irwin (Hodgson) Stewart. In 1894 they were living at 1910 South Rittenhouse square, 1906, at 6622 Green street, Germantown, Phila- delphia, and since May, 1907, have had a country residence at Paoli, Chester county, Pennsylvania. Her father, James Latta Stewart (he sometimes spelled it Stuart), was son of Thomas Stewart, who came to Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, from Ireland, and was captain in Pennsylvania troops, War of 1812. The latter's wife, Tabitha Wallace, was great-granddaughter of John Wallace and Elizabeth, his wife, John Parke and Elizabeth, his wife, and Thomas Hope and Mary (Heslip), his wife, all early settlers of Chester county, where they founded well-known families, the Wallaces and Parkes coming from Ireland. James Latta Stewart married Mary Irwin Hodgson (born April 23, 1845), May 8, 1866; she married (second) Dr. Erwin Agnew, a relative of the eminent sur- geon, D. Hayes Agnew, M. D., of Philadelphia, whose wife, Margaret Irwin, was her mother's sister, Mary Irwin being daughter of Alexander Hodgson (born 1814, died September 21, 1898), and Mary Irwin (born April 28, 1817, died March 17, 1882), his wife. Her father, Alexander Hodgson, was descend- ant from Robert Hodgson (1), born 1626, died May 10, 1696, who came to America, 1657, and first lived in New York, where he was persecuted for his Quakerism, and soon moved to Portsmouth, Rhode Island, where he was ad- mitted a Freeman, 1673. On April 4, 1676, the General Assembly appointed him one of the commissioners to procure and order the managing of boats for the defense of the colony, and on the same day was named as one of sixteen "of the most judicious inhabitants," whose company and council were decided by the Assembly at its next sitting. On April II, same year, he was appointed a commissioner to take charge of "the several watches and wards of this Island." He was a deputy from Portsmouth to General Assembly that met at Newport, May 4, 1686. His will was dated April 22, 1696, and proved May 19, 1696; an abstract of it is given in Austin's "Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island." Robert Hodgson ( 1) married, August 3, 1665, Rachel Shotten (died after 1696), only child of Samson and Alice Shotten, of Portsmouth and Warwick, Rhode Island. On October 1, 1638, "Sampson Shotton" was one of those admitted to be inhabitants of the island called Aquidneck, and who afterwards organized the town of Portsmouth. In 1642 he became a founder of the new town of Warwick, and thereafter resided there. At Portsmouth, August 1, 1667, "Upon motion of Robert Hodgson, husband of Rachel, only child of Samson Shotten, of Portsmouth, some years since deceased, in regard to lands of Shotten, the Town Council examined and made diligent search and found Shotten had not made any will, but died intestate, and find Rachel sole heir to deceased, and ad- ministration was given Robert Hodgson and his wife, Rachel therefor."
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Robert and Rachel (Shotten) Hodgson had issue:
Mary Hodgson, b. Aug. 6, 1666; m. .Cook;
Alice Hodgson, b. April, 1668; d. Aug. 28, 1711; m. (first), May 18, 1699, Phineas Pem- berton, "the Father of Bucks County," Pa., being his second wife, and having no issue by him. She was then of Burlington, West Jersey. She m. (second), 1704, Thomas Bradford (also his second wife), by whom she had issue;
Robert Hodgson (2), m., 1697, Sarah, b. Dec. 29, 1680, dau. of Matthew and Sarah (Clayton) Borden, of Portsmouth, R. I., and granddaughter of Richard Borden, of Portsmouth, assistant, 1653-54, and general treasurer, 1654-55, of colony of R. I .; founder of Borden family of New England and N. J. Richard Borden bought land in latter province from the Indians, about 1667, and some of his descendants founded Bordentown there, and intermarried with Hopkinson and Kirkbride families, whose history appears in these volumes. Robert Hodgson (1) probably went to Burlington co., N. J., with his sisters, about the same time as his wife's nephew, Joseph Borden, progenitor of the Bordentown family. Robert Hodgson moved to Chester co., Pa. Abel Hodgson, son of Phineas, and grandson of Robert, m. Margaret, dau. of James and Jean Friar, of Chester co., and had a son, another Robert (d. Jan. 3, 1846), who m., Jan., 1793, Sarah, dau. of Amos and Sarah (Sharpe) Alexander, of a family quite prominent in Cecil co., Md., and. Mecklenburg co., N. C. This Robert and Sarah (Alexander) Hodgson were parents of Alexander Hodgson, above.
Mary Irwin, wife of Alexander Hodgson, and grandmother of Mary Bertha Stewart (Mrs. George Henderson), was daughter of Samuel Irwin (born Octo- ber 3, 1799, died May 17, 1842), by his wife, Mary Moore (born October 1, 1781, died August 20, 1851) ; Samuel Irwin being son of Isaac Irwin, of Chester coun- ty, by his wife, Margaret Creighton. Mary, wife of Samuel Irwin, was daugh- ter of Andrew Moore, of Chester county, by his wife, Ruth, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Whitson) Birdsall, of Hunterdon county, New Jersey. The Moore family was one of high standing in Chester county, and its genealogy has been published. James Moore, father of Andrew, married Ann, daughter of Jeremiah and Rebecca (Jackson) Starr, descended from Capt. Starr, of the Par- liamentary Army during the Civil War in England ( 1642-1660), and from Isaac Jackson from Ballytore, Ireland, both early settlers in Chester county, Pennsyl- vania.
George and Mary B. (Stewart) Henderson had issue:
Dorothy E. Henderson, b. Sept. 16, 1892;
George Henderson, Jr., b. Jan. 28, 1894; now a student at Protestant Episcopal Academy in Phila., and an active investigator of family history, from whose notes much of the above information on families, allied with the Hendersons, has been taken;
Mary Henderson, b. Aug. 6, 1896.
PRICE
COLONEL WILLIAM GRAY PRICE JR., of the Third Regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania, and a member of the Armory Board of Pennsylvania, since its organization in 1905, was born in the city of Chester, Pennsylvania, March 23, 1869, and comes of English, Welsh and Dutch ancestry. His paternal ancestors were among the early English settlers in what is now the State of Delaware. ,
Colonel Price is a lineal descendant of Peter Alricks, a nephew of Jacob Alricks, who was selected as director and commissary general of a colony sent out by the burgomasters of Amsterdam to form a settlement on the Delaware, in the ter- ritory transferred to them by the Dutch West India Company, in pay- ment of a debt, of which territory Fort Cassimer, on the site of New Castle, Delaware, was the virtual centre, and accompanied his uncle to the Del- aware as an official of the colony. This colony of about one hundred and sixty persons, principally inhabitants of Gulick, Holland, under Jacob Alricks as direc- tor and commissary general, and Captain Martin Kryger with a company of about fifty soldiers, embarked from Amsterdam, December 21, 1656, in the ships "Prince Maurice," "Bear," "Gilded Beaver" and "Flower of Gelder." Director General Alricks, with his wife and the one hundred and sixty-eight colonists, embarked on the "Prince Maurice," which was to lead the fleet, as admiral, but the vessel became separated from the balance of the fleet in a storm on December 28, 1756, and continued the journey alone, sighting land south of Cape Romaine, on the coast of South Carolina, February 17, 1657. They proceeded northward with the intention of reporting to Director General Stuy- vesant at New Amsterdam, but were wrecked through the ignorance and per- versity of the skipper off Long Island, sixty miles from Manhattan, March 9, 1657. Communicating with some Indians whom they sent as a messenger to Stuyvesant at Manhattan, the latter sent a sloop which conveyed them to Man- hattan on March 19, about which time the other vessels of the fleet also arrived at Manhattan.
On April 12, 1657, at Fort Amsterdam, Peter Stuyvesant, on behalf of the States General of the United Netherlands and the directors of the Dutch West India Company, transferred to Jacob Alricks as "Director and Commissary-Gen- eral of the Colony of Burgomasters and Governors of the City of Amsterdam, on the South River of New Netherland," Fort Casimer and the territory from Christiana to Bombay Hook, and so far landward as the boundaries of Minqua- kill, agreeable to the first bill of sale and title deed from the Indians dated July 19, 1651.
On April 16, 1657, Alricks set sail for New Amstel (now New Castle) in the "Gilded Beaver," with one hundred and twenty-five of the colonists and such goods as had been saved from the wreck of the "Prince Maurice," and arrived there April 25, and received from Director Jaquet, the representative of the States General, the keys of the fort and possession of the territory. On May I, Captain Kryder and his company of soldiers, who had traveled overland, arrived and
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garrisoned Fort Casimer. The inhabitants of the colony, as Alricks found it, consisted of a few soldiers and some twenty families, of whom but six were Hollanders, the balance being Swedes. Director Alricks proceeded with the determination toward the development of the colony and territory, and by August 6, 1659, 110 houses had been built and lots set apart to each colonist. Other col- onists arrived later, increasing the colony to some five hundred souls, but being poorly supplied with provisions, the colony suffered from sickness and priva- tions, and a number deserted to the English colonies of Maryland and Vir- ginia. Under these trying difficulties augmented by jealousies and contentions among the minor officials, Director Alricks succumbed to the great mental and physical strain, and died December 30, 1659, and was buried in the yard of the old Dreyers Church, near Odessa, Delaware. His wife had died about a year earlier. They left no children.
Alricks was a Hollander, from the province of Groningen, a man of education and fine business abilities, keenly alive to the interest of his employers, as evi- denced by his letters to the Burgomasters and Governors of Amsterdam. Had he been properly supported the history of the Dutch Colony on the South River might have been differently written. All efforts of his successor, D'Hiniyossa, to induce the schepens to attest that Alricks had governed badly, failed, though they lost their official positions for refusing to so assert. Nothing definite is known of the ancestry of Director Alricks. Associated with him in the govern- ment of the colony were his brother's son, Peter Alricks, and Cornelius Van Gezel, a nephew of his wife, to whom he devised a portion of his estate.
Peter Alricks, nephew of Director Jacob Alricks, and lineal ancestor of the subject of this sketch, is supposed to have accompanied his uncle to the Delaware. but the date of his arrival is uncertain. His marriage record shows that he came from Nyerck, in the province of Groningen, but the date of his arrival is uncertain. He was in the public service of the Colony on the Delaware under his uncle, and lost his position by the enmity of D'Hiniyossa, though he was soon induced by the latter to "re-enter" the service and "go again to the Horekill as Commandant in the Spring," as shown by a letter dated January 25, 1660. In this service, though referred to as "commandant," he held the rank of ensign. O'Callaghan, who was employed by the State of New York to translate such Holland documents as referred to the early settlement of the Dutch in this coun- try, states in his "Registry of New Netherland" that Peter Alricks was commis- sary at New Amstel in 1656-57, which would place the date of his arrival earlier than that of his uncle by a year or more.
From 1660 he was a much trusted official under D'Hiniyossa, who entrusted him with important missions to the Indians and the colonies in Maryland, and granted him the exclusive privilege of trading on both sides of the Delaware from "Bompier Hook to Cape. Hinlopen," protecting him in this privilege by posting on the church deed at New Amstel a notice that all others were prohibited from such trading on penalty of having their goods confiscated. Peter Alricks built a small ketch or trading vessel in which he transported goods to New Amstel from the Horekill, where he had an important trading post with the Indians. He returned to Holland with D'Hiniyossa in 1663, and returning, arrived at New Amstel, December 2, 1663, accompanied by a large number of colonists, and bringing as supercargo a large quantity of blankets and other goods for his trade
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with the Indians, in which he had interested the burgomasters, who had appointed him superintendent of the trade. At the same time, December, 1663, he was appointed with Israel Helme, Peter Rambo, and Peter Cocks, as magistrate and commissioner of the Amsterdam Colony, which office he held until the termina- tion of Dutch rule on the Delaware. His trading operations proved profitable, and by 1664 he had acquired considerable land between Christiana Creek and the Delaware, and on Pagan's Creek at Horekill, and was on the highway to pros- perity when the English under Captain Robert Carr swooped down upon the Dutch settlement and, capturing it, appropriated to themselves the lands and other property of the Dutch and Swede settlers. ,
Peter Alricks proceeded to New York and there made his submission to the British Crown in October, 1664, and there remained until November, 1665, when Governor Nicolls granted him "free leave and liberty to trade and trafficke, eith- er by himselfe or his deputies, with the Indians or any others, in and about Hoarekills, in Delaware Bay, for Skins, Peltry, and what other commodities those parts shall afford," and requiring all persons "to forbear giving him or his deputies and unlawful hindrance or molestation," and he returned to his old trading post. He eventually reclaimed from the English usurper, Ensign Stock, his confiscated lands on Christiana Creek. By patent dated February 15, 1667, Governor Nichols granted him two islands in the Delaware, southwest of Mattineconck Island, with liberty of erecting a mill on a small creek running a mile inland, in what is now Bucks county, one of the islands being part of the mailand forming part of the meadows below Bristol, and the other, though still an island, has become almost a part of the mainland. It is marked on Denker's map of 1679 as Peter Alrick's Island. He held these islands until November II, 1682, when he conveyed them to Samuel Borden.
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