Pioneering Spirit
Tracing the Footsteps
of Colonist,
John Adamson
By Troy L. Adamson
2011
Dedication
This work is dedicated to my loving
father, David E. Adamson who taught me to honor the sacrifices made by our
forefathers. Their founding principles of freedom and justice paved the way for
the great democracy in which we live.
This work is also dedicated to my
great cousin, Jerry F. Adamson, the genealogist with the most extensive and
reliable database of Adamson family tree information in the world. His advice
and guidance was invaluable.
Table of Contents
Preface. 4
The Religious Society of Friends. 5
Friends Meetings. 6
New Jersey Beginnings. 7
The Arrival of Friends in the Delaware Valley. 10
The Newton Settlement 10
John Adamson’s Arrival in New Jersey. 12
The Newton Monthly Meeting of Friends. 13
Gloucester County. 14
Haddonfield. 15
Recorded Events of John Adamson’s Life in New Jersey. 16
Relocation to Springfield Township, Bucks County,
Pennsylvania. 20
Richland Township. 23
The Richland Meeting of Friends. 23
The Gwynedd Monthly Meeting of Friends. 24
Recorded Events of John Adamson’s Life in
Pennsylvania. 25
Appendix I: John Adamson in Gloucester County, New
Jersey Court Records. 28
Appendix II: Dual Dating and the Gregorian Calendar
Conversion in Great Britain and its Colonies 31
Appendix III: Maps. 35
Bibliography. 37
Preface
For years, many Adamson family researchers have referenced a small
handful of unreliable sources when recording a genealogy for New Jersey emigrant, John Adamson. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a
considerable amount of misinformation that has spread like wildfire across the
Internet; mostly propagated in haste by those who made false assumptions about
this man’s lineage without first consulting historical documentation. Much of
the errant information circulated around the Web was taken from the
illegitimate entries made in the LDS Church’s Family Search database. Many are unaware that a large percentage of
Family Search data is not submitted by genealogists and is not verified for
accuracy. Though the Mormon records may be beneficial for some family lines,
they are most definitely not a legitimate source for information on the John
Adamson line.
As a descendant of John Adamson, I felt compelled to seek out the
original documents to verify, once and for all, the historical facts concerning
my very great grandfather. I also sought to learn about the communities with
whom he interacted and the events through which he lived. Following my research
at the Camden County Historical Society Library, New Jersey, and the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College,
Pennsylvania, I found answers to questions many Adamson researchers have been
debating for decades. My goal has been to set the record straight so the
historical facts can be realized by John’s descendants. Some of my research
challenges what has been presumed by many researchers to be factual.
The Gloucester County court documents referenced in this genealogy were recorded by county clerk,
Thomas Sharp, an Irishman who was one of the earliest members of the Newton colony. Though
Thomas was an educated man, he did not always show accuracy in the way he
spelled some of the names of that era. There are many instances where he made
creative phonetic attempts to spell the names of people and places. Some people
were unable to read or write, so in many cases, Thomas spelled out names based
on the way people verbalized them. In every instance in which John Adamson was
referenced in court documents, his name was spelled, Addamson.
Most genealogists have areas of study in which they specialize. My
passion for early British and American colonial history has led me to focus on
the Late Middle Ages (1300-1500) and the Early Modern Era (1500-1800). Therefore,
my research on the Adamson family line is directed prior to the 1800s. The
focus of this summarization is on John Adamson. Additional research that traces
the Adamson families of Great Britain will be included in a forthcoming work.
When appropriate, recorded dates in this work have been converted to
coincide with the modern Gregorian calendar system. For detailed explanations
on dual dating notation, and Gregorian and Quaker calendar conversions, please
see the Appendix for the section entitled, Dual
Dating and the Gregorian Calendar Conversion in Great Britain and its Colonies.
Troy L. Adamson
The Religious Society of Friends
Emigrant
John Adamson was a member of the Religious Society of Friends, a sect of
Protestant dissenters known more commonly as Quakers. The Society was formed in
England around 1647 by founder, George Fox. Following the
English Civil War (1642-1651), the group established its base in northern England then gradually moved southward and
abroad. A sect that preached God could speak to average people through his
risen son sounded appealing to common folk who had grown disillusioned by
social upheaval and deception within the Church of England. Fox was convinced
that it was possible to have a direct relationship with Jesus Christ without
the need of a human intermediary or through reliance on outward sacraments. The
Friends’ perspective focused on hearing God and allowing His spirit to
influence free action in their hearts. They believed all people possess an Inner
Light, or Inward Light of Christ, meaning God is within everyone, guiding them
throughout their lives.
To prepare their hearts for worship
and empty their minds of earthly distractions, Friends’ meetings for worship were
conducted in silence. The congregation sat in silent waiting, where they could
pray, meditate, or “listen to the Light of God” within themselves. Vocal
ministry to the congregation arose when a member felt inwardly led to offer a
specific message, prayer, or song. They would speak only when divinely inspired
messages (the light within) were received.
Alongside the Church of the
Brethren, Amish, and Mennonites, the Religious Society of Friends practiced
pacifism. Since they believed strongly in testifying to their religious beliefs
through their actions and in the way they lived their lives, they felt violence
and participation in war was unrepresentative of Christian principles. Friends
also accepted a literal interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount, an emphasis
on simplicity of speech and dress, and a lack of creedal statements. They went
to great lengths to base their lives on the doctrines of the New Testament. The
Society was revolutionary for the times; they believed firmly in social
justice, denounced slavery and actively worked toward its abolition, and
believed in the spiritual equality of women.
In
seventeenth century Britain, Friends suffered extensive
persecution; some of whom sealed their testimony with their blood. To be a
Quaker was to accept the discrimination and suffering that came with it. Their
conscientious noncompliance and refusal to abide by the unjust rules of the
established church and government exposed them to corporal punishments, fines,
cruel beatings, imprisonment, banishment, and even death (Malham, 1860, p. 543).
Meetings for the purpose of worship were forbidden; constables stormed Friends’
meetings regularly, confiscating their goods and beating them before hauling
them off to prison. The fines imposed upon them were often unreasonable and
exorbitant, causing many lower class families to fall into destitution. Opposition
to the Church of England resulted in dire consequences. The personal property of
Friends was confiscated by the government for refusal to pay tithes and heavy
fines were imposed for nonattendance at national church service. Friends were
treated as criminals; they were publically beaten and whipped, and some were
even branded like cattle. Only spirits of faithful perseverance and an
overwhelmingly strong sense of religious duty could have endured such trials.
It was not until the accession of King James II in 1685 that Friends were
granted religious liberty.
Quaker
monthly meetings in England kept “Books of Sufferings” which
recorded the many acts of oppression against them. Notable Quaker minister
James Adamson, Jr. and his father, James Adamson, Sr., George Adamson, and Mary
Adamson were among those mentioned in the Books of Sufferings. Since the
evangelism of the Quaker faith was strongest in northern England, it is unsurprising that most Friends
who established colonies in New Jersey and Pennsylvania were from the North. Adamson
families dating back to the thirteenth century can be traced to the North of
England, some of whom became Quakers during the 1600s. During the seventeenth century,
Adamson Quakers lived in the northern England counties of Cumberland, Westmorland, Durham, Lancashire, and Yorkshire.
Figure 1: A map that illustrates
locations in England and Wales where Quakerism was present in 1654.
Since meetinghouses were not allowed
to be built in England until the 1689 Act of Toleration,
most English Quaker meetings were either held secretly in private homes or in
reconfigured second-hand structures. A national annual meeting of Friends from
different parts of Britain began in 1668, but it was not until
1673 that the London Yearly Meeting was officially established. It was at the
first yearly meeting in London on the 26th day [5] of the 3rd
month [June], 1673, where minister James Adamson, soon-to-be Pennsylvania
proprietor William Penn, eminent Scottish writer and future governor of the
East Jersey colony Robert Barclay, and several other brethren members drafted
an epistle which was distributed to the various quarterly, monthly, and worship
meetings throughout Britain (Barclay, 1841, p. 336). This epistle was
transcribed from a copy handwritten by Thomas Ellwood and compiled by Abram
Rawlinson Barclay in a volume of letters and documents from early Friends.
The Society devised an elaborate meeting
structure. At the bottom of the meeting hierarchy was the meeting for worship. Similar
to a church service but without a presiding minister, these meetings involved
silence-based worship. Worshippers sat in silence, waiting upon the Light until
moved to speak. Meetings for worship were under the care of a preparative
meeting, the next level in the meeting hierarchy. At preparative meetings, the
Society’s everyday business was conducted; it was where members brought forth
the serious problems and concerns to be addressed at the monthly meeting. The meeting
typically consisted of one or more meetings for worship, and often two or more
preparative meetings formed a monthly meeting. The initial stages of disownment
(involuntary termination of membership in a meeting) took place at preparative
meetings, but official matters relating to membership or marriages occurred at
monthly meetings. Most preparative meetings under the Philadelphia Yearly
Meeting became monthly meetings or were discontinued.
Monthly meetings were essentially
business meetings held in the spirit of worship for conducting business. They included
members in good standing who worshipped in one or more meeting places within a
geographically defined area. During the monthly meeting, marriages and removals
(document issued to persons for transferring membership from one monthly
meeting to another) were authorized, social concerns addressed, and disownments
maintained. If monthly meeting membership was spread over a large geographical area,
members were not always able to attend every business session. For some,
regular attendance involved too much travel. In some cases, representatives
were appointed by a preparative meeting to ensure that the interests of the
local group were represented. The monthly meeting reported to the quarterly
meeting.
Quarterly meetings were held four
times a year and attended by representatives from all of its member monthly
meetings in a county or region. As an intermediary between the monthly and
yearly meeting, it served as an appellate body for disciplinary matters, and
took on problems too large for local meetings to solve. The quarterly meeting
held the authority to establish or discontinue a monthly, preparative, or meeting
of worship.
The yearly meeting, highest in the
meeting hierarchy, was the ultimate source of all doctrinal determinations. It
met annually to conduct business, formulate discipline, receive reports and
concerns from its constituent meetings, review the state of the Society, and
communicate with other yearly meetings and non-Quaker organizations.
Monthly, quarterly, and yearly
meetings for business were held by men and women in separate sessions until the
late 1800s when men and women gradually began to meet in joint session. In
Quaker historical records, it is common to find independent records for Men’s
Minutes and Women’s Minutes. The term, “minutes,” refers to official records of
proceedings kept for all Quaker business meetings (preparative, monthly,
quarterly, and yearly meetings).
New Jersey Beginnings
In 1664, an English fleet under the
command of Colonel Richard Nicolls sailed into what is today New York Harbor and took control of Fort Amsterdam, the Dutch administrative
headquarters for the New Amsterdam settlement, resulting in annexation of the entire New Jersey province. Charles II gave his
brother, James, Duke of York (later King James II), the region between New England and Maryland as a proprietary colony. In turn,
the duke granted land between the Hudson and Delaware rivers to his friends, Sir George
Carteret and John, Lord Berkeley. As a result, Sir George Carteret became the
Lord Proprietor of East Jersey and John, Lord Berkeley, the Lord Proprietor of West Jersey. So, from 1674 to 1702, the Province of New Jersey was governed as two distinct parts,
the Province of East Jersey and the Province of West Jersey. In 1676, an east-west division
line was projected based on the Quintipartite Deed, a legal document executed
by William Penn, Gawen Lawrie, Nicholas Lucas, and Edward Byllynge. It was not
until the rule of Queen Anne that the two sections of the proprietary colony
were united as a royal colony on 15 April, 1702. East Jersey’s development was tied to New York, New England, and the former Dutch colony of New Netherland. The settlement of West Jersey on the Delaware River was a Quaker venture and was
associated with William Penn and others involved in the colonization of Pennsylvania (Klett, 2008, p. 3).
The two New Jersey proprietors attracted settlers to
the province by granting sections of land and through passage of the Concession and Agreement, a 1665
document that granted religious freedom to New Jersey inhabitants; in England, there was no such religious
freedom as the Church of England was the state church. The document’s objective
was to entice settlers so the two proprietors could profit by collecting quit-rents
(annual fees paid on granted lands).
In 1665, the two proprietors
appointed Philip Carteret as the first governor of New Jersey. He issued several grants of land
to landowners, and charters were given to towns. Over time, it became
increasingly difficult to collect quit-rents because many settlers refused to
pay them. Since many had received land from Richard Nicolls, Governor of New
York, they did not feel a financial obligation toward the proprietors. This
forced Lord Berkeley to sell West Jersey to English Quaker, Edward Byllynge in 1673. A former
officer in Cromwell’s army and a recent convert to the teachings of George Fox,
Byllynge belonged to a group of Quaker entrepreneurs who dreamed of
establishing a religious and economic refuge in the New World to escape growing persecution and
confiscation of their property by the Anglican Church and British government
officials.
The road to Quaker colonization took
place in West
Jersey
seven years before Pennsylvania.
Following a missionary trip through Maryland, New Jersey, and New York in 1672, George Fox reported that
the Delaware Valley offered fruitful land for the
establishment of a Quaker commonwealth. His observations inspired London
Quaker, William Penn to plan a colony on the west bank of the river on land
given to him by James, Duke of York for repayment of debts owed Penn’s father. Fox’s
discovery drew Byllynge’s interest as well, but due to excessive fines and
property confiscation levied as punishment for his membership in Quaker
meetings, Byllynge went bankrupt and could not finance a Quaker settlement.
Fellow army officer and Quaker convert, John Fenwick agreed to hold the
thousand-pound note for Byllynge. The Duke of York refused to recognize the
transaction, because Fenwick had been at the head of Cromwell’s cavalry at the
execution of the duke’s father. Fenwick further exacerbated the situation by
claiming that he had bought proprietary rights and intended to go to the Delaware Valley as governor of a new province. Out
of defiance, Fenwick founded his own colony on the Delaware River in 1675 along Salem Creek without
consulting Byllynge or the Quaker meeting. An angry Byllynge submitted the dispute
to the Quaker meeting and fellow Society members, Nicholas Lucas, Gawen Lawrie,
and William Penn agreed to serve as trustees for the Byllynge/Fenwick purchase.
Penn was especially anxious to have a secure Quaker community across the river
from his planned City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia (Dorwart, 2001, p. 16). Byllynge
allowed his trustees to sell his West Jersey properties to influential Friends.
The Society of Friends enlisted the
support of its most substantial members in Great Britain and Ireland to sponsor the settlement along the
Delaware
River. The
motivations for the settlement resulted from not only a desire to escape
religious persecution in their homeland, but for an opportunity to conduct a
holy experiment by which Quakerism could be proven to work, free from the
hampering of government regulators and church officials. Familiarity with
persecution taught the Quakers the value of personal freedom and liberty of
conscience (Jones, 1923, p. 365).
The Quaker trustees of West Jersey organized a joint stock company,
dividing the territory into one hundred proprietary shares and granting Fenwick
ten full shares. The remaining shares went to prominent Friends. In 1677, the
trustees also issued the Concessions and
Agreements of the Proprietors, Freeholders, and Inhabitants of the Province of West New Jersey in America, which guaranteed religious
toleration, the right to hold property free from feudal restrictions, trial by
jury, and representative government by elected officials. The document also
organized the property into ten equal parts (Tenths), outlined procedures to
form townships, divided up farmland, and established local courts of justice
(Dorwart, 2001, p. 17). Being largely a Quaker venture, West Jersey was a peaceful province with an
open proprietorship.
Figure 2: Map of East
and West Jersey, 1664-1702.
The first Quaker settlers of West Jersey came predominantly from England and were largely merchants and
craftsmen of modest means. Unlike East Jersey, quit-rents were not required in
the western province as land shares were divided into smaller fractions. This
provided greater opportunity for less wealthy settlers to hold stock in colony
land. The wider distribution of land rights resulted in greater competition for
sales to settlers. The average West Jersey land unit was a medium-sized farm from fifty to
three-hundred acres (Klett, 2008, p. 14). Also, indentured servants were fewer
in West
Jersey
when compared with its eastern province counterpart.
The first Friends emigration to West Jersey began in 1675 when John Fenwick and
a number of Quakers sailed from London aboard the ship, Griffin; landing at a spot he named Salem, meaning, “peace.” Known also as
Fenwick’s Colony (or, Salem Tenth), Salem became the first permanent
English-speaking settlement in the Delaware Valley.
The second Friends settlement came
about in October, 1677 when a group of two hundred and thirty Friends from London landed at Raccoon Creek aboard the
ship, Kent. Having hailed from London and Yorkshire, these Friends gave the settlement
the English town name of Burlington. The two groups remained together
on Rancocas Creek, but later settled in two different locations; the Yorkshire families settled the First Tenth
(Yorkshire Tenth) and the Londoners chose the Second Tenth (London Tenth). Burlington became the capital of West New Jersey in 1681. By 1678, nearly eight
hundred Friends had settled in the Delaware Valley, many of them persons of large
property and great influence (Jones, 1923, p. 368). The different Quaker
settlements aided each other in clearing roads. The old colonial highway,
called the “Salem Road,” was laid out by men from Salem and Burlington.
The Newton
Settlement
When John Adamson arrived in New Jersey, he settled in Newton Township, Gloucester County; a colony where a group of English
Quaker shareholders of the West Jersey proprietorship had claimed property. These shareholders
included wealthy London linen draper and merchant Robert Turner,
serge maker Robert Zane, stuff weaver Thomas Thackara, and carpenter William
Bates (Dorwart, 2001, p. 19). These Quakers had taken up temporary refuge in Dublin, Ireland to escape religious persecution in England and to make plans for the establishment
of a Quaker colony in the New World. They purchased the Third Tenth of the ten-part property
division. Having resided most recently in Dublin, the Newton Creek colonists
were dubbed, “Irish Quakers,” and the Third Tenth became known for a while as
the, “Irish Tenth.” The area of the Third Tenth comprised what is mostly
present-day Camden County, from Pennsauken Creek to Big
Timber Creek. The area called the Fourth Tenth (present-day Gloucester County) was
previously part of the former colony of New Sweden and extended from Big Timber
Creek to the northern boundary line of the Salem Tenth (Fenwick’s Colony),
which was Oldman’s Creek. In 1694, the Third and Fourth Tenths became Gloucester County.
Robert Zane, who arrived in Salem before 1679, served as an advance
agent for his shareholding partners and another group of wealthy Quakers by
locating the lands of the Third Tenth along the river. He bought a lot in Salem where he took up brief residence
until the arrival of the Dublin proprietors. On 19 September, 1681,
Thomas Sharp, nephew of merchant Anthony Sharp, and Zane’s partners Mark Newby,
Thomas Thackara, William Bates, and George Goldsmith, left Dublin Harbor on the
ship, Ye Owner’s Adventure, captained
by John Dagger, the shipmate of Captain Thomas Lurtin. Newby, Thackara, and
Bates brought their families along with them. After a two-month voyage, the
ship carrying the Dublin Friends arrived in Elsinboro, Salem County, on 19
November, 1681. In Salem, the newly arrived Friends stayed in vacant houses
through part of the winter. Some later traveled to Burlington to obtain warrants for surveying property
located on the Third Tenth. In the spring of 1682, the Friends left Salem with Robert Zane and established a
settlement on the Third Tenth, which became the town of Newton.
The settlers set up the first
Friends meeting at the house of Mark Newby. Shortly afterwards, meetings were
held conversely between the houses of Mark Newby and William Cooper; the
Coopers had settled at Pine Point some time before. For a time, the Newton colonists received provisions from Salem. In his memoirs, Thomas Sharp wrote,
“the settlement of this country was directed upon an impulse by the spirit of
God’s people, not so much for their ease and tranquility, but rather for the posterity
they should be after, and that the wilderness, being planted with a good seed,
might grow and increase to the satisfaction of the good husbandman” (Mickle,
1845, p. 49).
William Bates built a meetinghouse
for the Dublin Friends on Newton Creek. Mark Newby operated West Jersey’s first banking house from his
one-room log cabin along Newton Creek. Turner sold a tract below Newby’s to Archibald
Mickle, founder of one of the most prominent families in Gloucester County. A few years later, Turner sold
another tract along the riverfront, east of Mickle’s, to Philadelphia master carpenter John Kaighn
(Dorwart, 2001, p. 20).
Much correspondence promoting the
many advantages of West Jersey life beckoned Friends abroad to leave their homelands. Over the next
several years, an increasing number of Friends left England and Ireland to escape religious persecution and
start a new life in West Jersey. The ships that brought the many Quaker families sailed predominantly
from London, Hull, and Dublin. Some ships stopped along the way
to pick up additional passengers from ports at Leith, Dundel, Aberdeen, Aire, and Waterford. The price for voyage to West Jersey was typically £5 for adults, 50
shillings for children under twelve, and infants traveled free; the price
included food, drink, and the transport of one chest (Llewellyn, 1976, p. 32).
Just prior to the arrival of the
proprietors of the Third Tenth, Englishman William Cooper surveyed the Delaware Valley and in the spring of 1681 took up
permanent residence at the point where the Delaware River meets Deer Creek. He built his
house near the river’s edge, just below the mouth of the creek and called it
Pine Point, also known as Cooper’s Point. Additional Friends followed Cooper and
settled near his home. On the 5th [15] day of the 7th
month [September], 1681, the Burlington Monthly Meeting ordered Friends of Pine
Point to hold meetings at Richard Arnold’s house, which was located a short
distance above the mouth of Newton Creek. At the time, this was the only
meeting held between Salem and Burlington. The Pine Point Meeting was later
held at William Cooper’s house until the arrival of the Dublin Friends in 1682,
at which point the meeting rotated between the houses of Mark Newby and William
Cooper. Since the settlers at Newton became more numerous than the
scattered families around Pine Point, a meetinghouse was built in 1684 on the
middle branch of Newton Creek (Cooper, 1909, p. 12). This meetinghouse burned
in 1817.
In 1682, a wherry (an oar and sail-powered
longboat used as a ferry) was taken from Cooper’s riverfront landing to attend
meetings across the river in Shackamaxon (later the Kensington area of Philadelphia). Cooper established the riverfront
area as a ferry landing (Cooper’s Ferry) that bridged the Quaker communities of
West Jersey to those of Philadelphia.
By 1686, several emigrants had
arrived in West
Jersey and
settled about Red Bank, Woodbury, Arwames (Gloucester), Newton, and Pine Point. The occupants of
this area grew tired of traveling all the way to Salem or Burlington to transact public business, so on 26
May, 1686,
the proprietors, freeholders, and inhabitants of the Third and Fourth Tenths
met at Arwames and formed the Gloucester County government. On 1
June, 1695,
the Gloucester County Court established the town of Newton, which extended from the lowermost
branch of Cooper’s Creek to the southerly branch of Newton Creek. The townships
of Waterford and Gloucester were also established that year.
Newton was incorporated into a township of Gloucester County in 1695. On 13
February, 1828, the city of Camden was formed within the township. Newton Township and other portions of Gloucester County became part of Camden County on 13 March,
1844. On 23
February, 1865, portions of Newton were taken to create Haddon Township. Finally, on 7
March, 1871,
the remaining portion of the township became part of Haddon Township, and Newton Township was dissolved. Current
municipalities included in the area that was formerly part of Newton Township include Haddon Township, Collingswood, Audubon, Haddonfield, and Pennsauken Township.
Figure 3: 1775 map
showing the locations of Newton, Haddonfield, and Gloucestertown.
As a young man, emigrant John
Adamson set sail for the New World without the company of family. He was the first in his family
line to step foot on the shores of the Delaware River. It is thought that he was an
Englishman, possibly from the North of England. This theory is supported by two
historical realizations; Friends who migrated to West Jersey and Pennsylvania during the early 1700s were
predominantly from the northern counties of Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Nottinghamshire
(Fischer, 1989, p.438). Some also came from London, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, but the origins of the great majority
can be traced back to northern England. The North having been the Friends’
stronghold, it is understandable that the bulk of them came from around the North Midlands. The second realization involves
locations of the Adamson Quaker families. Among the regions of England, Adamsons affiliated with the
Society of Friends were most prevalent in the North. Quaker missionary, James
Adamson, Jr. hailed from the North’s Cumberland County.
John Adamson’s birth date is not
known, but based on recorded historical events, a relatively accurate estimate
of his age can be made. Since on 18/29 September, 1716, he served in the
Gloucester County Court as a member of the grand jury, he would have been at
least the age of twenty-one at that time. Under the royal Crown, English common
law applied in New Jersey which required a man to be at least
twenty-one years of age to serve on a jury. Also significant to the year 1716
was John’s marriage to Ann Skuse. Quaker society encouraged men to marry by age
twenty-five, which further reinforces the likelihood that John was between the
ages of 21-25 in 1716, meaning he would have been born between 1691-1695.
Based on his approximate age at the
time of marriage and first revelation of his presence in historical documents, it
is thought that John Adamson arrived in New Jersey about 1715. There is no
documentation in Quaker records, court documents or land records of his
presence, or any other Adamson’s presence in West Jersey prior to 20
April, 1716.
No New
Jersey deed for John Adamson exists at the libraries of the
Gloucester County Historical Society, Camden County Historical Society or at
the Gloucester County Clerk’s Office. By 2005, the East and West Jersey colonial land records held by the
proprietors were transferred to the State Archives in Trenton. The recorded Gloucester County colonial
era deeds held by the West Jersey Proprietors were complied in John David
Davis’ 2007 book, West Jersey, New Jersey
Deed Records, 1676-1721, but one for John is not listed among them. He is
also not found in the compilation of unrecorded deeds on file at the Gloucester
County Historical Society and Camden County Historical Society libraries.
Since John served in the Gloucester
County Court as a grand juryman, he would have been a freeholder; one who holds
the title to land free and clear. As in the English homeland, only freeholders
could serve on juries, hold office, or vote. Also, in 1716, John could not have
been an indentured servant. Throughout the colonies, servants were excluded
from jury service (Morris, 1946). It is not known how much land John possessed
in New
Jersey, but his motivation to later relocate to fertile farmland
in Bucks
County, Pennsylvania could suggest that his New Jersey land plot was rather small and
incapable of sustaining a large family.
The Newton
Monthly Meeting of Friends
In 1681, the Burlington Monthly
Meeting established a meeting of worship along the Delaware at Pine Point. The following year,
a short-lived monthly meeting for Pine Point and Shackamaxon was formed by the Philadelphia
Monthly Meeting. Though in 1686, the Salem Quarterly Meeting officially
established the Newton Monthly Meeting, it is believed that the Newton meeting evolved from the division
of the Pine Point and Shackamaxon meeting in 1682. By 1717, a Newton preparative meeting had been
established. During the 12th month [February], 1721/22, the Newton
Monthly Meeting removed from its site along Newton Creek to Haddonfield and its
name was changed to the Haddonfield Monthly Meeting. Both meetings were under
the guidance of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
On the 11th
[21] day of the 2nd month [April], 1682, a general meeting at Salem
ordered Friends at Arwames and Shackamaxon meet together at William Cooper’s
house at Pine Point; this joined the Friends settled on Woodbury and Cooper’s
Creek. At a yearly meeting held at Burlington, the 8th [18] day of
the 7th month [September], 1686, Friends ordered that the Salem Monthly
Meeting and Newton Monthly Meeting combine to form the Gloucester (Newton) and
Salem Quarterly Meeting to be held alternately at Gloucester (Newton) and Salem
(Settlement of meetings, 1889, p. 243). From 1695 to 1721, the Newton Monthly
Meeting was held alternately at the Newton meetinghouse and at the house of
Thomas Shackle; it was at a monthly meeting held at Thomas Shackle’s house that
John Adamson and Ann Skuse announced their intent of marriage in 1716. On the
12th month [February], 1721/22, the Newton Monthly Meeting was
transferred to the Haddonfield meetinghouse which was build on land deeded from
John Haddon.
Gloucester County
Gloucester County was the first county in America established by its inhabitants. To
conduct public business, the inhabitants of the Third and Fourth Tenths became
fed up with the long trek to the capital in Burlington, so by 1685, the
Burlington Court, which served as the government for the West Jersey province,
granted the justices and freeholders of the Third and Fourth Tenths permission
to form a county government. On 26 May, 1686, Cooper, Collins, Sharp, Bates,
and Newby, the leaders of the Third Tenth (the upper precinct) met at Arwames
(Gloucester) with representatives of the Fourth Tenth (the lower precinct), which
extended from the Gloucester River south toward Fenwick’s Salem colony, where
it was decided to hold alternate court sessions in each precinct.
The earliest Gloucester County court sessions met alternately between
Red Bank (Woodbury) on Woodbury Creek, which adjoined the lands of Constantine
Wood, Thomas Gardiner, and John Ladd, and on the north bank of the Gloucester River (Gloucestertown). The court
sessions of 1686 convened first at Henry Tredway’s tavern in Red Bank and then at
the large riverfront house of Gloucestertown brewer and ferry owner John
Reading, who also served as the first county clerk to record business. The
first court session in 1686 provided for election of justices and freeholders,
passed ordinances to register earmarks for cattle and hogs, and appointed tax
assessors and collectors. The government instructed road commissioners to make
a passable highway (the Irish Road) and construct a usable bridge over
the Gloucester River (now called Timber Creek) to
connect settlers in the lower precinct with the more influential freeholders of
the upper precinct (Dorwart, 2001, p. 21). The justices elected at the time
were Francis Collins, Thomas Thackera, and John Wood.
Following a bitter court case
between Woodbury Creek tavern owner Henry Tredway and Newton Creek founder Robert
Zane, who accused Tredway of stealing his hog earmark, Tredway lost the
privilege to hold county court sessions at his inn. Therefore, county court
sessions were no longer held in the Fourth Tenth. Gloucester remained as the county seat until a
fire destroyed the courthouse and jail in 1786, at which time the county seat
reverted back to Woodbury.
In 1687, the freeholders and
justices of Gloucestertown employed Newton Creek surveyor Thomas Sharp to
survey town plats, lay out streets, and design a central market square. This
map of the town, entitled, The Draft of
the Town of Gloucester as it was Laid Out by the Agreement of the Proprietors
in the Year 1687, is included in Sharp’s Book of Surveys on file at the New
Jersey State Archives. By 1695, Gloucester County consisted of the townships of Waterford, Greenwich, Gloucester, Gloucestertown, Newton, Deptford, and Egg Harbor; the last two of which were located
in the Fourth Tenth.
On 2 December,
1689, the
first jailhouse at Gloucester was built. It was constructed of
logs, covered with cedar shingles, and measured sixteen feet long, twelve feet
wide, and eight feet tall (Mickle, 1845, p. 37). On 1 June, 1696 it was remodeled; a larger jail,
twenty feet long and sixteen feet wide, with an accompanying courthouse, was
erected (Cooper, 1909, p. 13). This jailhouse was also made of logs and covered
in cedar shingles. On 5 October, 1708, the Gloucester County court decided upon
an addition to the jail and courthouse that would be joined to the south end of
the structure, be made of stone and brick with a stack of chimneys, and measure
twelve feet long and two stories high. To finance the improvement, the grand
jury levied a tax of one shilling upon every hundred acres of land, one
shilling for every horse and mare over three years old, six pence per head of
cattle, two pence for each sheep, three shillings for each freeman in service,
and three shillings for each negro over twelve years old. The tax was to be
brought to the house of the county treasurer and paid in silver money, corn, or
any other produce (Mickle, 1845, p. 37). The grand jury levied its own taxes
until 1694, when the assembly vested the power in the county justices. In 1713,
the power to levy taxes was passed by statute to both the justices and chosen
freeholders.
On 5 April,
1715, the
justices and freeholders decided to relocate the jail and courthouse to High
Street (later Market Street). Court sessions continued at the
old courthouse until it, along with the jail, was sold in March, 1719, to
William Harrison for eight pounds. John Adamson served his first time as a
grand jury member for a murder trial at this courthouse on 29
September, 1716.
The new jail was built from mortar
of lime and sand, measured twenty feet long, nine feet high, and two feet
thick, and the floor was constructed using the planks from the old jail. The
new structure was finished in 1719, but for reasons unknown, it was decided in
December of that year to demolish it and rebuild it again on the same
foundation (Mickle, 1845, p. 37). At this time, stocks and a whipping post were
erected near the jail. John Adamson served as a juryman at the new courthouse
twice. Apparently, the new courthouse was not very comfortable as a court
minute dated 19 December, 1721, states that the Court of Common
Pleas was adjourned to the house of Mary Spey by “reason of the cold.” The
justices commonly met at six o’clock in the morning when the temperature
was especially low (p. 38). Jurors were summoned for jury duty by the sheriff six
days before their court appearance.
The inhabitants of Gloucester County ranged from modestly wealthy Quaker
families to poor ones. Some became impoverished from the constant fines levied
upon them in England for attending Friends meetings and from
refusal to support the Anglican Church. The poorer inhabitants who settled in
the Third Tenth signed contracts of indenture with more prosperous proprietors,
who paid their passage to West Jersey in return for a term of servitude (Dorwart, 2001, p. 22).
The leading Gloucester County families sponsored indentured
servants and took care of the infirm and indigent through the Quaker meeting (p.
29). The upper class families of Newton Township included the Cooper, Mickle,
Kaighn, Clement, Gill, Haddon-Estaugh, Hopkins, Stokes, Ellis, Matlack, and Kay
families.
At the beginning of the 18th
century, most Gloucester County inhabitants journeyed on horseback.
The roads were not yet capable of accommodating wheeled carriages. It was not until
the completion of the King’s Highway (King’s Road) in the 1750s that a road was
fit for carriages. Around 1681, the General Assembly at Burlington passed an act to survey and
construct a public highway that connected the capitals of East Jersey (Perth Amboy) and West Jersey (Burlington), as well as Salem.
Gloucester County prospered into a thriving business
community. Philadelphia buyers crossed the river to buy
goods from the Cooper’s Ferry marketplace and browse livestock brought in by
area farmers. Linens, glassware, and a wide assortment of meats and produce
were aplenty. Plantation, mill, and tavern owners reaped
profits from regular clientele. Planters and mill owners floated cedar
shingles, cordwood, and agricultural products in flatboats from Roe’s Landing
(later Chew’s Landing) and other places along the branches of Timber Creek for
shipment to Philadelphia (Dorwart, 2001, p. 32).
Due to its rich meadowlands and
valuable woodlands, the region between Timber and Cooper’s Creeks attracted Philadelphia investors and real estate
entrepreneurs who sought to make the area a suburb of Philadelphia. Local proprietors advertised for
sale one-hundred-acre tracts of land complete with apple and peach orchards,
fended pastures, two-story houses with full cellars, detached kitchens with
stone fireplaces and draw wells at the door (Dorwat, 2001, p. 33). Many
properties included frame barns for hay, stables, sheds, cider mills, and milk
houses. The most sought after properties were near good landings along Timber, Newton, and Cooper’s Creeks, and bordering
the road between Cooper’s Ferry and Haddonfield.
The oldest borough in Newton was Haddonfield, which was founded
about 1702 by Elizabeth Haddon. Elizabeth was the daughter of John and Elizabeth
Haddon, Friends of London whom bought a 500 acre tract of land in West Jersey to escape religious persecution.
Having plans to settle in Newton, her parents sent persons over to
make preparations for their reception. Encountering
a delay, they allowed their daughter, at the age of twenty, to go in their
place. Elizabeth set sail from Southwark, England to the New World in 1701. Shortly after her arrival,
she made a marriage proposal to John Estaugh, a Quaker minister, and they were
married in 1702 (Mickle, 1845, p.49). In 1713, John and Elizabeth built a large
brick mansion (New Haddonfield Plantation) on present-day Wood Lane. Elizabeth was an eminent member of the
Society of Friends; she served as clerk to the Women’s Meeting for nearly fifty
years, and was known for her charity to the sick and poor.
In 1721, Elizabeth’s father gave her a deed for one acre
of land to be used for the creation of a Quaker meetinghouse and burial ground.
The meetinghouse was made of logs and stood near the intersection of
present-day Haddon Avenue and King’s Highway on land today
occupied by a firehouse. Construction of the building lasted a considerable
amount of time as the Haddonfield Monthly Meeting Minutes dated 12th
day [23] of the 9th [November] month, 1725, recorded that
Constantine Wood made payment of three pounds on behalf of Friends of Woodbury
Creek towards the finishing of the Haddonfield meetinghouse (Tvaryanas, 1993,
p. 218). The meetinghouse was used until 1760 when a larger meetinghouse made
of brick was erected upon the site of the old one. The old log meetinghouse was
relocated to the opposite side of the Ferry road and used as a horse shed for
the new one. The brick meetinghouse was demolished in 1851 and its bricks were
used to construct a wall that surrounded the adjoining burial ground. The
present-day meetinghouse was erected upon an adjoining lot of about three acres
in 1851 (The Friend, 1889).
Figure 4: Brick
meetinghouse for the Haddonfield Monthly Meeting, 1760.
20 APR 1716 – John Adamson and Ann Skuse Announced Intention of
Marriage
The earliest extant documentation
from the New
World that
references John comes from the Newton Monthly Meeting Minutes dated the 9th
day [20] of the 2nd month [April], 1716. At a monthly meeting held
at Thomas Shackle’s house, John and wife-to-be, Ann Skuse, presented their
intentions of marriage with each other. Thomas Stokes and Thomas Troth were
appointed by the meeting to make enquiries regarding the couple’s good standing
(Haddonfield Monthly Meeting Minutes: 1710-1731, p. 35). When appointed to make
enquiries regarding a couple, appointees were expected to report their findings
at the subsequent monthly meeting. To ensure couples were serious about a marriage
commitment, Quaker overseers would request couples make their intentions of
marriage known to the monthly meeting twice. At the second meeting, if a couple
still expressed a desire for marriage, it was considered an affirmed public
statement of their devotion toward each other. Also, Quaker couples could not
marry without the consent of the meeting elders. When the initial marriage
announcement was made, elders were assigned to make enquiries regarding what
Quakers called, “clearance from others” to first, ensure that the couple was in
good standing within the community, and second, that no one within the
community had good reason to speak out against the marriage.
25 MAY 1716 – John Adamson and Ann Skuse Confirmed Intention of
Marriage
At
a monthly meeting held at Newton, the 14th day [25] of
the 3rd month [May], 1716, John Adamson and Ann Skuse, the second
time, presented their intentions of marriage with each other. When enquiries
were made concerning their clearance, nothing stood against them, so the
meeting consented to their marriage. Thomas Stokes and Samuel Lippincott were
appointed by the meeting to attend their wedding (Haddonfield Monthly Meeting
Minutes: 1710-1731, p. 36). Some marriage certificates for the Newton Quakers
still exist, but apparently John and Ann’s certificate was not preserved as
there is no trace of it among the Newton meeting archives. Even though their
exact marriage date is unknown, it is known that Quaker marriages generally
took place during the meeting for worship and within two months following the
announcement of intent. Therefore, it is likely that John and Ann were wed
around the 5th month [July], 1716. There is no trace of John or
Ann’s presence in New Jersey prior to their marriage
announcement, 20 April, 1716. They were both the first
individuals present in New Jersey to carry the surnames Adamson and
Skuse.
A record of
John and Ann’s confirmed intention of marriage was also recorded in the
Haddonfield Monthly Meeting Women’s Minutes. Recorded the same day, the 14th
day [25] of the 3rd month [May], 1716, John Adamson and Ann Skuse
signified their continued intentions of marriage. When enquiries were made
concerning their clearance, nothing stood against them, so the meeting
consented to their marriage. Mary Haines and Elizabeth Braddock were appointed
by the meeting to attend their wedding. Unlike the Men’s Minutes, the Women’s
Minutes spelled Ann’s surname Skuce
instead of Skuse (Haddonfield Monthly
Meeting Women’s Minutes: 1705-1769, p. 22).
Figure 5: A Quaker
wedding
29 SEPT 1716 – John Adamson Served on the Grand
Jury at the Gloucester County Court
There are no Adamsons present in any
extant Gloucester County court documents until 18/29 Sept 1716, when John
Adamson was recorded as a member of the grand jury for a murder trial
(Gloucester County Historical Project, 1939, p. 504). John and Ann were wed
during the summer of 1716, so his jury service at the Gloucester County courthouse would have been just
months after their marriage. In each court proceeding in which John was a
juryman, his name was recorded as Addamson.
This naming convention was quite common during the Early Modern Era and is
frequently seen in countless English surnames. Some of the jurymen names listed
in the original court documents were misspelled, so in this documentation, as
many names as possible were corrected based on spellings referenced in reliable
genealogical histories.
The court case, dated 18/29 Sept
1716, is included in the third volume of the Transcriptions of the Second Court Record Book of Gloucester County,
New Jersey (Gloucester County Historical Project, 1939, p. 504). The trial
involved Samuel Harrison, who was accused of drowning Susannah Smith, and then
placing her body on the property of Sarah Mickle. The end of the document
states that the court was adjourned until 3:00PM (Gloucester County Historical
Project, 1939, p. 504). Unfortunately, since there is no further documentation
of the case, it is not known how it ended.
The following justices of the peace
were present on the bench: John Kay, John Hugg, John Mickle, Constantine Wood,
Samuel Ward, and Amos Ashead (Coroner). William Harrison (Sheriff) and Thomas
Sharp (Clerk) were the officers present. Constables representing the various Gloucester County townships were present: Joseph
Knight (Waterford Township), Joseph Hinchman (Newton Township), Ralph Sutton (Gloucester Township), Joseph Liddon (Greenwich Township, lower part). Jeremiah Addams (Egg Harbor Township) and Peter Lock (Greenwich Township, upper part) did not appear,
Michael Laikon (Deptford Township) was sick.
Members of the grand jury included:
John Ladd (Foreman), Thomas Stokes, Samuel Dennis, John Matlack, John Shivers,
John Gill, John Adamson, Alexander
Morgan, Abraham Porter, John Inskeep, Peter Long, John Jones, John Cox, Peter
Cox, Stephen Jones, Eric Wullaker, and Thomas Denny.
24 MAY 1717 – Thomas Stokes Appointed to Buy a Cow to Lend to John
Adamson
John
Adamson was among the lower class of Gloucester County. The extent of his family’s hardships
is evident in the entries recorded in the documents of the Newton Monthly
Meeting Minutes. When a Friend came upon hard times, he could often rely on the
Quaker community to provide some financial assistance.
At a monthly meeting held at Newton, the 13th
day [24] of the 3rd month [May], 1717, Thomas Stokes was appointed
to buy a cow to lend to John Adamson on behalf of the meeting (Haddonfield
Monthly Meeting Minutes: 1710-1731, p. 42).
21 JUN 1717 – Thomas Stokes Bought the Cow to
Lend to John Adamson
At a
monthly meeting held at Newton, the 10th day [21] of
the 4th month [June], 1717, as discussed in the previous month’s
meeting, Thomas Stokes bought a cow for three pounds to lend to John Adamson. The
upper meeting, Newton meeting, and meeting at Woodbury
Creek arranged to reimburse Stokes for his purchase (Haddonfield Monthly
Meeting Minutes: 1710-1731, p. 43).
6 MAR 1718 – John and Ann’s First Child, Thomas
Adamson was Born
Around ten months into their
marriage and while living in Newton Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey,
Ann gave birth to their first child, Thomas on the 23rd day [6] of
the 12th month [March], 1717/18 (Richland Monthly Meeting Births and
Deaths About 1750-1805, p. 31).
20 AUG 1719 – John and Ann’s First Daughter,
Betty Adamson was Born
While
living in Newton Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey, Ann gave birth to
their first daughter, Betty on the 9th day [20] of the 6th
month [August], 1719 (Richland Monthly Meeting Births and Deaths About
1750-1805, p. 31).
31 DEC 1720 – John Adamson Served on the Grand Jury at the Gloucester County Court
John Adamson next appeared as a
member of the grand jury on 20/31 Dec 1720 (Gloucester County Historical
Project, 1939, p. 570). In this case, John Ashbrook filed a complaint that the
taxes for his flat (the British term for an apartment or one-floor residence)
had been over-assessed that year. The court decided to reduce the assessment by
four shillings (Gloucester County Historical Project, 1939, p. 570).
The following justices of the peace were present on the bench: John Kay,
John Hugg, John Mickle, and Amos Ashead (Coroner). The officers present were
Josiah Kay (Sheriff) and Thomas Sharp (Clerk). The following constables
representing the various Gloucester County townships were present: Samuel Holmes
(Waterford Township), Arthur Powell (Newton Township), Will Clark, Jr. and
Francis Jones (Gloucester Township), Job Whitall (Deptford Township), Henda
Hendrickson (Greenwich Township, upper part), Andrew Matson (Greenwich
Township, lower part), and Thomas Green (Egg Harbor).
Members of the grand jury included:
John Gill (Foreman), Joseph Tindall, Joseph Knight, William Dennis, William
Cooper, Robert Bryan, Isaac Homer, Thomas Stowe, William Ellis, William Warner,
James Ward, John Cook, Samuel Sharp, John
Adamson, and Thomas Bright.
Like John Adamson, John Gill served
on the jury for this case as well as the 1716 murder trial. It is worth noting
that some of the grand jurors present at this court proceedings had the very
same surnames as those who served on the murder trial; all relatives of the
previous jurors. The townships were still relatively small at that time, hence
a smaller population to choose from for the jury duty selection process. In Old Gloucester County, it is not uncommon to see many of
the same men serve on juries repeatedly.
20 DEC 1721 – John and Ann’s Second Daughter, Hester Adamson
was Born
While living in Newton Township,
Gloucester County, New Jersey, Ann gave birth to their second daughter, Hester
on the 9th day [20] of the 10th month [December], 1721
(Richland Monthly Meeting Births and Deaths About 1750-1805, p. 31).
22 DEC 1721 – John Adamson Requested Financial Assistance
from the Meeting
At a
monthly meeting held at Thomas Shackle’s house, the 11th day [22] of
the 10th month [December], 1721, just three days before Christmas
and two days after Hester’s birth, Timothy Matlack, one of the overseers of the
upper meeting, requested on John Adamson’s behalf, some financial assistance
from the meeting. John Kay gave Matlack thirty shillings as a contribution toward
John Adamson’s need.
In addition
to the account recorded in the Monthly Meeting Minutes, an entry documenting
the amount of money contributed to John Adamson by John Kay was written in an
accounting register within the records book used to keep track of contributions
made by the meeting (Haddonfield Monthly Meeting Minutes: 1710-1731, p. 23).
19 JAN 1722 – Confirmation That John Kay
Contributed Money for John Adamson’s Use
At the next
monthly meeting held at Newton, the 8th day [19] of the
11th month [January], 1721/22, John Kay signified that he had handed
to Timothy Matlack thirty shillings to be paid to John Adamson (Haddonfield
Monthly Meeting Minutes: 1710-1731, p. 78).
25 MAY 1722 – John Kay Contributed Bushels of Rye to John Adamson
At a
monthly meeting held at Haddonfield, the 14th day [25] of the 3rd
month [May], 1722, John Kay contributed nine bushels of rye to John Adamson
(Haddonfield Monthly Meeting Minutes: 1710-1731, p. 82).
Notice that the location of the
monthly meeting is now Haddonfield. During the 12th month
[February], 1721/22, the Newton Monthly Meeting removed to the Haddonfield meetinghouse
and its name was changed from the Newton Monthly Meeting to the Haddonfield
Monthly Meeting. The Haddonfield meetinghouse accommodated both monthly and
quarterly meetings. Previously, monthly meetings had been held alternately at Newton and at the house of Thomas Shackle.
30 NOV 1723 - John Adamson Served on the Grand
Jury at the Gloucester County Court
John Adamson’s final time served as
a grand juror in Gloucester County was on 19/30 Nov 1723 (Gloucester
County Historical Project, 1939, p. 29). By early 1726, he and his family would
move to Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The purpose of this court session
was not addressed in the document. The case is referenced on page 29 of volume
three.
The following justices of the peace
were present on the bench: John Kay, Samuel Ward, and Thomas Spicer. Josiah Kay
(Sheriff), Amos Ashead (Coroner), and Thomas Sharp (Clerk) were the officers
present. Constables representing the various Gloucester County townships were
present: Samuel Dennis (Waterford Township), William Davis (Newton Township),
Richard Valentine and Nathan Tylee (Gloucester Township), George Ward (Deptford
Township), Thomas Holden (Greenwich Township, upper part), Andrew String
(Greenwich Township, lower part), and Samuel Hareur (Egg Harbor Township).
Members of the grand jury included: Alexander
Morgan, William Hampton, James Hinchman, Simon Breach, John Adamson, Jacob Matson, Richard Gray, Jacob Medcalf, Henry
Sparks, William Ellis, Benjamin Thackara, Thomas Stokes, Hence Steelman, Samuel
Burroughs, Daniel Hillman, John Eastlack, Nathan Champion, Jeremiah Bates, and
Isaac Jennings. Alexander Morgan was the son of Griffith Morgan, an emigrant
from Wales.
The men present at the court
proceedings provide a diverse representation of some of the most notable
families of the Gloucester community. Some were the first
settlers of Gloucester County while others mentioned were their
sons or sons-in-law. Thomas Sharp, Robert Zane, William Cooper, and John Gill
were original founders of the Newton Township. John Mickle was the son of
colonist, Archibald Mickle, who arrived at Newton from Antrim County, Ireland in 1681 (Clement, 1877, p. 141).
Benjamin Thackara was the son of Newton colonist, Thomas Thackara, a Leeds, Yorkshire, England Quaker who relocated to Dublin, Ireland for a while before settling in Newton in 1681. The first Friends’ meetinghouse
built at Newton stood upon lands conveyed by Thomas Thackara (p. 64). Both
John Whitall and John Eastlack were brothers-in-law to Benjamin Thackara.
William Ellis was the son of Simeon Ellis, a Yorkshire, England Quaker who relocated from
the Burlington settlement to Newton (p. 181). Samuel Cole emigrated
from Cole’s Hill, Hertfordshire, England (p. 201). John Matlack was the
descendent of William Matlack who arrived in Burlington from Nottinghamshire, England (p. 232). John Hugg arrived in Newton in 1683 from Wexford, Ireland (p. 284). Thomas Stokes was from Middlesex County, London, England (p. 301). John Kay, son of Jarvis
Kay, arrived in Newton from Yorkshire, England in 1684 (p. 168).
21 JAN 1726 – John Adamson Requested a
Certificate of Removal to Pennsylvania
At a
monthly meeting held at Haddonfield, the 10th day [21] of the 11th
month [January], 1725/26, on John Adamson’s behalf, Thomas Stokes requested a
certificate of removal for transfer to the Gwynedd Monthly Meeting in Pennsylvania. John and Timothy Matlack were
appointed to make enquiries regarding John Adamson’s eligibility for transfer,
and were to make their answers known at the next monthly meeting (Haddonfield
Monthly Meeting Minutes: 1710-1431, p. 111).
FEB 1726 – John and Timothy Matlack Find John Adamson to Be
Eligible for a Certificate
At a
monthly meeting held at Haddonfield, the 12th month [February],
1725/26, John and Timothy Matlack reported to the monthly meeting that
following enquiries, they decided John Adamson was eligible for a certificate
of removal, and that Joseph Cooper, Jr. should draw up his certificate
(Haddonfield Monthly Meeting Minutes: 1710-1431, p. 111).
25 MAR 1726 – Joseph Cooper, Jr. Produced a
Certificate of Removal for John Adamson
At a
monthly meeting held at Haddonfield, the 14th day [25] of the 1st
month [March], 1725/26, Joseph Cooper, Jr. produced a certificate of removal on
behalf of John Adamson which had been signed and approved (Haddonfield Monthly
Meeting Minutes: 1710-1431, p. 112).
26 APR 1726 – John and Ann’s Second Son, John Adamson was Born
While living in Newton Township,
Gloucester County, New Jersey, Ann gave birth to their second son, John on the
15th day [26] of the second month [April], 1726 (Richland Monthly
Meeting Births and Deaths About 1750-1805, p. 31).
Relocation to Springfield Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania
On 25
March, 1726,
the Haddonfield Monthly Meeting in Gloucester County, New Jersey, granted John Adamson a certificate
of removal to the Gwynedd Monthly Meeting in Pennsylvania. The Gwynedd meeting was located in
Philadelphia County (now Montgomery County) Pennsylvania, but John’s transfer implied
removal to the meeting at the “Great Swamp” settlement in the Bucks County rich lands, which was under the
auspices of the Gwynedd Monthly Meeting.
At the time, Ann was near due to
give birth to their second son, John, and relocation to Pennsylvania would have
been difficult for her, so the family remained in Newton until she was fit for
travel. When June arrived, John, Ann, and the four children crossed the Delaware River into the area known as the Great Swamp or upper rich lands of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. During the move, newborn John was
but a few weeks old. Thomas would have been age eight, Betty, six, and Hester,
four.
The
family settled onto 150 acres of farmland along the northern line of Richland
Manor in what would become Springfield Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The land was patented to John by
William Penn’s sons, John, Thomas, and Richard Penn.
Figure 6: Modern map
showing where the John Adamson family relocated. They traveled from Newton Township in Gloucester County, New Jersey to Springfield Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, near Quakertown.
The sons of William Penn inherited
from their father land in the counties of Bucks, Chester, Philadelphia, and Lancaster. The Penns encouraged rapid
settlement of the colonies and made room for the influx of European emigrants
by adding to their territory through continuous land purchases. To accommodate
as many settlers as possible, the Penns updated the surveying procedures
instituted by their father. Two categories of land were established to reflect
land settlement up to that point: improved and unimproved land. During William Penn’s proprietorship, much of
the land settlement was never recorded formally so squatting (occupying land
the squatter does not own) was common practice.
Land that had been settled under this policy was considered improved
land. All other lands vacant were
considered unimproved lands. In order to
regulate the settling of their lands and to retrieve payment from squatters who
settled before 1754, the Penns further updated the application system, which
consisted of a series of documents including application, warrant, survey, and
patent. These records documented the
name of the person applying for the land, the number of acres desired, county
and townships in which the land was located, and an actual drawing of the
boundary lines (Documentary Families Project, 2011).
In 1735, the sons of William Penn
sold around 4,000 acres of their best land in southeastern Pennsylvania by lottery. The area was over 3
miles long and 2 miles wide. 7,750 lottery tickets were issued at 40 shillings
each (1 shilling was equal to 12 pennies). 1,293 lottery tickets were marked as
award prizes of 25 to 3,000 acres. Holders of the tickets were allowed to
locate the land indicated as the prize on the lottery ticket. Eventually,
holders of lottery tickets were allowed to secure the deed to the land. These
acres became known as the Lottery Lands of Springfield Township (Springfield Township, 2004). On 5
December, 1739, the deputy surveyor returned results of the survey to the Land Office.
John Adamson received the land patent which entitled him to full ownership of
his land.
Figure 7: Location of
John Adamson’s farmland in Springfield Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
John Adamson’s tract was located at
the southernmost edge of what became Springfield Township in 1743. Just beyond his property’s
southern boundary was Richland Township, which surrounded the boroughs of
Quakertown and Richlandtown. To the northeast, ran Cooks Creek, part of the Highlands
region which winds through 3.5 million acres of forests, farmlands, and rugged
hills through southeastern Pennsylvania, and into New Jersey, New York, and
parts of Connecticut. Rocky Valley, a dyke of igneous rock created by
Triassic Period lava flows lay to the north. John’s neighbor to the west was Peter
Ashton who came from Queene County, Ireland, in 1732, bringing a certificate of
removal from Montrath Monthly Meeting. Peter and his wife Mary removed from Chester and Concord in Chester County until they finally ended up in Springfield, where they acquired 207 acres of
land. Peter’s patent was not granted until the 8th day [19] of the 2nd
month [April], 1745. John Adamson’s son, Thomas, along with neighbors George
Vanbuskirk and Ebenezer Walker, were recorded witnesses to the wills of both
Peter and Mary Ashton, written 21 September, 1758 and 6 October,
1758. In
present time, John Adamson’s tract of land is bordered by Richlandtown Pike to
the north and east, California Road to the south, and Keystone Road to the west. John’s son, Thomas
signed a petition filed in court 15 September, 1743, for organizing Springfield Township.
Since a Springfield meeting for worship had not yet
been established, John and his family attended Friends’ meetings at Quakertown,
in the heart of Richlandtown. It was not until the second month [April], 1743,
that Friends in Springfield were granted permission to hold
meetings. The meetings at Springfield were held at the houses of Joseph
Unthank and John Dennis until 1755, when Joseph Unthank removed to North Carolina. The meeting previously held at his
house was ordered to be held at Thomas Adamson's. From 1755 to 1757, Friends’
meetings were hosted alternately between the homes of Thomas Adamson and John
Dennis, and after that, at Adamson’s alone (Roberts, 1925, p. 16).
Richland Township
The area of Richland and Milford was first known as the “Great Swamp.” Shortly after 1720, it was called
“Rich lands,” for the fertility of its soil, and then eventually, “Richland.” The township was originally
established by English Friends in the early eighteenth century, but by the
1750s, German emigrants began to assimilate into the township, and eventually
became the dominant ethnic group. Richland was the only township in Bucks County laid out in lines corresponding
with the cardinal points of a compass.
Richland Township was established in 1734. Quakertown
borough occupies its center, at the juncture of roads leading to Philadelphia, Lehigh Valley, and Newtown, and is about 50 miles north of Philadelphia. The name, “Quakertown” did not officially
come about until 1801, and the first post office bearing its name opened in
1803. During America’s fight for independence, the
Liberty Bell was concealed behind Richland’s Liberty Hall, on its way to be
hidden in Allentown. John Adamson was one of thirty-five early residents near Richland to sign a petition for the
formation of the Swamp Road (later, Doylestown Road) in 1730.
Figure 8: Richland Monthly Meetinghouse renovated
in 1862 from the original 1730 meetinghouse structure.
The Richland
Meeting of Friends
In 1712, Peter Lester of Leicestershire, England, with his wife and children, John
Ball, a son-in-law of Lester’s, and other families were the first Friends to
settle in the Great Swamp area. They became members of the Gwynedd
Monthly Meeting, but since the meeting in Philadelphia County was so far away, the monthly
meeting authorized Peter to hold a meeting for worship at his house. Meetings
were held at Peter’s house until 1723, when a small, log meetinghouse was
erected at the intersection of the Road to Philadelphia and present-day Station Road; about a mile south from the site
of the present meetinghouse. The first meetinghouse was built on a triangular
lot of five acres of land donated by Everard Bolton.
On the 27th day [8] of the 4th
month [July], 1725, the Gwynedd Monthly Meeting authorized the creation of a
preparative meeting. Friends found that the land surrounding the meetinghouse
was too rocky for use as a burial ground, so by November, 1725 they began
searching for a more suitable location. Furthermore, as more and more Friends
settled in the area, it became necessary to relocate to a new, larger
meetinghouse. In 1730, a new location was found and the new meetinghouse was
built near the center of the Great Swamp settlement at Richland Centre
(Quakertown). On the 1st day [12] of the ninth month [November],
1742, the Quarterly Meeting held at Philadelphia granted the creation of the Richland
Monthly Meeting to be held the fifth day of every month. Richland, like the Gwynedd Monthly Meeting,
was under the guidance of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. The first meeting of
the Richland Monthly Meeting was held the 20th day [31] of the 11th
month [January], 1743. An addition to the meetinghouse was completed in 1749.
Further additions to the meetinghouse were made in 1762 to accommodate the
women’s meeting and a school. A wall was built around the burial ground of the
meetinghouse in 1792. Yet another addition to the meetinghouse was made in 1795
and a date stone bearing this year is still preserved in the meetinghouse. The
present stone meetinghouse was built in 1862 from the structure of the old
meetinghouse and stands on the same site. It is located at 200 South Main Street, Quakertown, Pennsylvania, 18951, at the intersection of Mill Road and South Main Street. The Friends’ cemetery is located
beside the meetinghouse.
Gwynedd Township was founded 10
March, 1697,
when Welsh Quakers, William John and Thomas Evans purchased 11,449 acres of
land from Robert Turner. The land was
given the Welsh name, “Gwynedd,” (pronounced ‘Gwyneth’) meaning “White Fields,”
because the first Welsh emigrants were from the Afon Tryweryn valley in Gwynedd County, Wales. The township was later split into
Upper and Lower
Gwynedd in
1891.
In
1699, meetings for worship were originally held in the homes of John Hugh and
John Humphrey. The first meetinghouse was built of logs in 1700 and was under
the care of the Haverford Meeting. The second meetinghouse at Gwynedd was built
in 1712 and made of stone. The Gwynedd Monthly Meeting was officially
established in 1714 out of the Haverford (later, Radnor) Monthly Meeting, and
included both the Gwynedd and Plymouth Monthly Meetings. Friends who held meetings
for worship in the Oley Valley, under the care of Gwynedd,
established the Oley Monthly Meeting (later, Exeter Monthly Meeting).
A meeting for worship was organized
under Gwynedd Monthly Meeting for the Richland Friends in 1721. During this
time, Richland Friends held meetings in their homes until 1725 when a small log
meetinghouse was built. A preparative meeting referred to as, “The Swamp,” was
established the 29th day [10] of the 4th month [July],
1725. In 1742, both the meeting for worship and preparative meetings separated
from Gwynedd Monthly Meeting and were transferred to form the Richland Monthly
Meeting. At this time, several Gwynedd
families transferred to Richland, Providence, and Exeter Monthly Meetings.
Figure 9: Aerial map
showing the location of the Richland Monthly Meetinghouse.
11 JUN 1726 – John Adamson Brought His
Certificate of Removal to Gwynedd Monthly Meeting
On the 31st
day [11] of the third month [June], 1726, John Adamson brought a certificate of
removal from the Haddonfield Monthly Meeting in New Jersey to the Gwynedd
Monthly Meeting in Pennsylvania (Roberts, 1925, p. 44). At the meeting, the certificate
was read and reviewed for his admittance into fellowship (Gwynedd Monthly
Meeting Minutes: 1714-1747, p. 88). In 1726, John purchased 150 acres of land
in Springfield Township, Bucks County, PA. His tract was located on Springfield’s south border, and extended beyond
the Richland Township line. Adjoining John’s property to
the west was Peter Ashton who arrived in Springfield from Ireland in 1732. To the north of his
property ran Cooks Creek.
6 DEC 1728 – John and Ann’s Third Daughter, Ann Adamson was
Born
While living in Springfield
Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Ann gave birth to their third daughter,
Ann on the 25th day [6] of the ninth month [December], 1728
(Richland Monthly Meeting Births and Deaths About 1750-1805, p. 31).
1730 – John was Recorded as a Resident Near the Quakertown Borough, Pennsylvania
In J.H.
Battle’s 1887 book, History of Bucks
County, Pennsylvania, John Adamson was listed as one of the people who
resided in the vicinity of the Quakertown borough in 1730. Additional residents
recorded that year were Hugh Foulke. John Lester, Arnal (Arnall) Heacock
(Hancock), John Phillips, William Morris, John Richards, William Jamison,
Edmund (Edmond) Phillips, John Ball, John Edwards, Thomas Roberts, William
Nixon, Arthur Jones, and Edward Roberts.
28 SEPT 1730 – John signed a petition for the “Swamp Road” to Be Built
Prior to organization by the court
in 1734, Richland Township had a quasi existence and was
simply known as “rich lands.” John, and thirty-four other residents in and adjacent
to what would become Richland Township, signed a petition for the “Swamp Road,” later, Doylestown Road, to be built (Roberts, 1925, p.
10). The road would extend from the new meetinghouse to the county line near
William Thomas’ house and would serve the purpose of traveling to Philadelphia via the Montgomery road. Up to the point of the road’s
construction, Richland inhabitants reached Philadelphia using the York road, which was ill-designed for
carts and loaded horses. The petition was presented to the court, 17/28
September, 1730 and was signed by Hugh Foulke, John Lester, John Adamson, Arnall Hancock, John
Phillips, George Phillips, Sr., William Morris, Johannes Landis, John Greasley,
Edward Roberts, Arthur Jones, William Nixon, John Ball, John Edwards, Thomas
Roberts, Joshua Richards, William Jamison, David Jenkins, Edmund Phillips,
George Hicks, Johannes Bleiler, Michael Everhart, Joseph Everhart, Abraham
Hill, Jacob Klein, John Jacob Klemmer, Jacob Musselman, Jacob Sutar, Peter
Cutz, Jacob Drissel, Henry Walp, Samuel Yoder, John Jacob Zeits, and Heinrich
Ditterly (Davis, 1876, p. 462).
Figure 10: Facsimile of
John Adamson’s signature from a petition presented to the Bucks County Court for the creation of the Swamp Road, 28 September, 1730.
20 NOV 1730 – John and Ann’s Fourth Daughter,
Susanna Adamson was Born
While living in Springfield
Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Ann gave birth to their fourth daughter,
Susanna on 9th day [20] of the 9th month [November], 1730
(Richland Monthly Meeting Births and Deaths About 1750-1805, p. 31).
1733 – John and Ann’s Third Son, Simon Adamson was Born
While living in Springfield
Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Ann gave birth to their third son, Simon
in 1733 (Roberts, 1925, p. 44).
6 OCT 1733 – John Adamson’s Wife Died Leaving
a Young Child to Nurse
At the
Gwynedd Monthly Meeting, the 25th day [6] of the 7th
month [October], 1733, the Gwynedd Monthly Meeting Minutes recorded that John’s
wife, Ann died, leaving a young child (presumably Simon) to nurse. Being unable
to properly care for him, the Swamp Friends requested assistance from the
meeting (Gwynedd Monthly Meeting Minutes: 1714-1747, p. 168).
10 NOV 1733 – The Meeting Agreed to Contribute
Money for John's Relief
On the 30th
day [10] of the 8th month [November], 1733, the Gwynedd Monthly
Meeting agreed to contribute forty shillings for John's relief. Each
preparative meeting would bring contributions at the next monthly meeting
(Gwynedd Monthly Meeting Minutes: 1714-1747, p. 169).
8 DEC 1733 – Money was Ordered to be Paid for Nursing John's
Child
At the
Gwynedd Monthly Meeting, the 27th day [8] of the 9th
month [December], 1733, the Gwynedd Monthly Meeting ordered that the money
brought to the meeting be paid for nursing John Adamson's child (Gwynedd
Monthly Meeting Minutes: 1714-1747, p. 171).
16 NOV 1737 – A Warrant to Have John’s Land
Tract Surveyed was Issued
On 5/16
November, 1737, John filed an application to the Land Office so a warrant could
be issued for a survey of his land.
16 DEC 1739 – John Received the Deed for His Land
On 5/16
December, 1739, the deputy surveyor returned results of the survey to the Land
Office. John received the land patent which entitled him to full ownership of
his land. Purchasing land involved locating a tract, securing a warrant for its
survey, and acquiring a patent deed (Springfield Township, 2004). Below are the warrant
register and patent details taken from the Records of the Land Office at the
Pennsylvania State Archives:
Records of the Land
Office (RG-17), Warrant Registers, 1733-1957 [series #17.88]. Pennsylvania State Archives, Bucks County Warrant Register
No. of Warrant: 11
Name of Warrantee: Adamson,
John
Description of Warrant: Survey
Quantity (acreage): 150
Date of Warrant: 5 NOV 1737
Date of Return: 5 DEC 1739
Acres Returned: 150
Name of Patentee: John Adamson
Where Recorded (patent book and page number): Vol. A, No. 10,
Page 66 (Patent Book A-10, page 66).
Where Survey is Copied (survey book and page number): Book
A59, page 297 (Survey Book A-59, page 297).
Records of the Land Office
(RG-17), Patent Indexes, 1684-1957 [series #17.147, 154 & 155]. Pennsylvania State Archives
Date of Patent: 3 DEC 1739
Page: 66
Patentee: Adamson,
John
Acres: 150
Warrantee: John Adamson
Date of Warrant: 5 NOV 1737
County: Bucks
The following excerpt from
genealogist, Sharon Cook MacInnes’ website, Ancestor
Tracks, a site dedicated to using maps to track ancestors, describes the
process of land acquisition in eighteenth century Pennsylvania:
“The process for obtaining land in Pennsylvania involved a three-part process: (1)
the prospective landowner had to file an application for land in fairly
specific terms. When the Land Office received the application, they issued a
warrant, or an order to have the desired tract surveyed. The applicant had to
pay a fee for this warrant and became known as the warrantee. The loose warrant
was copied into a ledger called a Warrant Register. (2) The next step was to
pay a fee for the survey and wait until a deputy surveyor could be assigned to
do the work. The results of the survey were returned to the Land Office with a
precise description and map of the tract, nearly always including the names of
the neighbors who owned the adjacent tracts. These loose surveys are on file at
the Pennsylvania Archives in Harrisburg and have been copied into Survey
Books. (3) The last step was to pay yet another fee to the colony or state and
receive the final title which was called a patent. This is the official deed
transferring ownership from the colony or state to the individual. He or she
now became the patentee. Again, the patents were copied into ledgers called
Patent Registers. Sometimes, many years passed between the three steps (MacInnes,
2011).”
12 MAR 1753 – John Conveyed His Land to Son,
Thomas Adamson
On the 1st day [12] of the 1st
month [March], 1753, John Adamson conveyed his 150-acre plantation to his oldest
son, Thomas who had already filed an application for a 100-acre tract of land in
Springfield Township, Bucks County. The issuance of Thomas’ land warrant on 27
[7] December/January 1751/52 was recorded at the Land Office. On 20/1
November/December, 1776, the deputy surveyor returned results of the survey for
Thomas’ property to the Land Office. It is not known where in Springfield
Thomas acquired this additional 100 acres of land, but it is thought that it
adjoined his father’s 150-acre plot. The patentee on the 100-acre plot was
David Reeser, a relative of Abraham Reeser, who owned a tract of land nearby.
Thomas and his family lived at his
father’s homestead until 12 April, 1775, when he sold the 150-acre estate
to Austrian born emigrant, Hans Peter Gruber (Gruver), Sr. (Bucks County Deed
Book Vol. 18, p. 126). Gruber was a grist and saw mill builder who arrived in Bucks County around 1743. On 14 [25] January,
1743/44, a land warrant to accept a survey (a warrant that accepts an already
existing survey on a tract land) was issued to Gruber for a 150-acre tract of
land in Bucks County. Gruber applied for a warrant on an additional 50-acre
tract of land, but ended up forfeiting it.
In 1784, Thomas and his son, John
took a certificate of removal from the Richland Monthly Meeting to the Westland
Monthly Meeting and settled on a 250-acre property adjoining Fort Swan in
Washington County (now Greene County), Pennsylvania. The land warrant for
Thomas’ Washington County property was issued on 15
December, 1784 and was returned by the surveyor on 6 November, 1789. The patentees for the property
were Thomas’ sons, John and Joseph Adamson. Below are the details taken from
the Records of the Land Office at the Pennsylvania State Archives:
Records of the Land
Office (RG-17), Warrant Registers, 1733-1957 [series #17.88]. Pennsylvania State Archives, Bucks County Warrant Register
No. of Warrant: 68
Name of Warrantee: Adamson,
Thomas
Description of Warrant: Survey
Quantity (acreage): 100
Date of Warrant: 27 DEC 1751
Date of Return: 20 NOV 1776
Acres Returned: 100.36
Name of Patentee: David Reeser
Where Recorded (patent book and page number): Vol. AA, No. 14,
Page 375 (Patent Book AA-14, page 375).
Where Survey is Copied (survey book and page number): Book
Q, page 71, Springfield (Survey Book Q, page 71 at Springfield).
Records of the Land
Office (RG-17), Warrant Registers, 1733-1957 [series #17.88]. Pennsylvania State Archives, Washington County Warrant Register
No. of Warrant: 14
Name of Warrantee: Adamson,
Thomas
Description of Warrant: Survey
Quantity (acreage): 318
Date of Warrant: 15 DEC 1784
Date of Return: 6 NOV 1789
Acres Returned: 250.123
Name of Patentee: John & Joseph Adamson
Where Recorded (patent book and page number): Vol. P, No.
18, Page 202 (Patent Book P-18, page 202).
Where Survey is Copied (survey book and page number): Book
A82, page 156 (Survey Book A-82, page 156).
1753 – John Adamson’s Death
A recorded date for John’s death and
place of burial has yet to be found, and no extant will or testament exists. Since
John conveyed his land to son, Thomas on 12 March, 1753, it is surmised that he may have
died shortly afterwards. During this time period, it was customary Quaker
practice to bury the deceased without headstones. For the Quaker way of life,
fancy headstones were too closely associated with the prideful pomp of the
vain, secular world. As meetinghouses were erected, burial grounds were laid
out beside them. In some Quaker communities, graves included primitive headstones
upon which the initials of the deceased were inscribed. Eventually, Quaker
headstones with fully inscribed names become the norm.
Quakers affiliated with a particular
meeting were buried within the burial grounds of the meetinghouse. It is
possible that John was buried in an unmarked grave within the grounds of the
Richland Monthly Meetinghouse in Quakertown.
John Adamson in Gloucester County, New Jersey Court Records
The Camden County Historical Society
library in Camden, New Jersey, contains a two-volume set of books
entitled, Transcriptions of the First
Quarter Century Documents of Old Gloucester County, New Jersey. The books
include the transcriptions of all the original legal documents of Old Gloucester County, New Jersey, 1686-1710. Transcriptions of legal
documents that fall after year 1710 are included in a three-volume set of books
entitled, Transcriptions of the Second
Court Record Book of Gloucester County, New Jersey. It is within the third
volume of this series that John Adamson is referenced as a member of the jury
in three separate court proceedings (Gloucester County Historical Project,
1939).
Among the 70,000 documents deposited
in the Gloucester County Historical Society vault, located in the New County Building in Woodbury, 322 documents with
dates that range from 1686-1710 were found. Unfortunately, several documents
did not contain dates, and those documents, some of which preceded 1711, were
not included in these volumes. The transcriptions were completed in 1939 by
members of the Gloucester County Historical Project of the Work Projects
Administration. Diligent efforts were made by the historians to produce
accurate transcriptions from the original handwritten documents (Gloucester
County Historical Project, 1939).
In reviewing these documents, there
is evidence that Thomas Sharp, Gloucester County’s clerk and recorder at that time,
occasionally misspelled the names of people referenced. Recorders wrote down
names based on the way they sounded, so it is not surprising to see a name
recorded with a phonetic spelling. Instances have been discovered where the
same individual’s surname was recorded three times with a different spelling
each time.
Jeams Ademson a.k.a. James Atkinson
A past Adamson researcher reportedly
discovered what appeared to be a “Jeams Adamson” listed as foreman of the jury
in a 1689/90 court proceeding contained within the second volume of the Transcriptions of the First Quarter Century
Documents of Old Gloucester County, New Jersey (Gloucester County
Historical Project, 1939, p. 132). If this were true, it would be evidence that
an Adamson ancestor resided in Gloucester County nearly 26 years before John
Adamson. During a visit to the Camden County Historical Society library, the
document was reexamined and important discoveries were made.
The court case dated 22/1 Jan/Feb
1689/90, involved a warrant Daniel Howell filed against Mordecai Howell of
Coopers Creek, Gloucester County (Gloucester County Historical Project, 1939,
p. 132). Upon careful analysis of the document, discrepancies missed by the
previous researcher were found. First of all, the name is actually printed as “ADEMSON,”
not ADAMSON. Secondly, it is apparent that errors were made in transcribing
names from the original document. The transcription shows the names of the
court attendees including the jurymen. Several jurymen names are listed twice
and are spelled two different ways.
The transcription contains two
columns of jurymen names. For the first five entries, the names listed in the
left column appear to be the same as those listed in the right column, only the
spelling of the names in the right column differ. I have transcribed the names
of the first five jurymen below. Notice the variation in spelling between the
two columns:
Jeams Ademson James Atkinson
Robart Zeane Robert
Zane
William Cowper William
Cooper
John Taylor John
Taylor
Samuel Colle Samuel
Coles
Based on several other court records
recorded by Thomas Sharp, the names of jurymen were recorded only once, which
beckons the question why Sharp would have recorded the names twice (and, with
two different spellings) for this particular court session. The most likely
explanation is that Sharp recorded the names only once, and the second column
actually contained the signatures of the jurymen. The creative spelling
variations were likely an error on the part of the transcriber when attempting
to interpret the spelling from the signatures.
Based on the evidence, it appears
that “Jeams Ademson” was actually James Atkinson, a case of mistaken identity.
In fact, James Atkinson’s presence is well documented in the chronicles of Newton Township. He was originally from Philadelphia, but became a resident of Newton when he married widower, Hannah
Newby in 1685 (Clement, 1877, p. 45). Hannah was the former wife of one of Newton’s original proprietors, Mark Newby.
During the early 1680s, Friends’ monthly meetings were held regularly at Mark
Newby’s house and continued to be held there for a while after his death, as
Hannah married James Atkinson in the Newby house (Clement, 1877, p. 45).
Court Record Dated 29 September, 1716
There are no Adamsons present in any
extant Gloucester County court documents until 18
Sept 1716,
when John Adamson was recorded as a member of the grand jury for a murder trial
(Gloucester County Historical Project, 1939, p. 504). John and Ann were wed
during the summer of 1716, so John’s jury duty attendance in the Gloucester County courthouse would have been just
months after their marriage. In each court proceeding in which John was a
juryman, his name was recorded as ADDAMSON. This naming convention was common
during this period and the dual “D” variation can be seen in records across England. Some of the jurymen names listed
in the transcriptions were misspelled, so in this documentation, as many names
as possible were corrected and confirmed to be accurate based on the spellings
referenced in published genealogical histories.
The court case, dated 18/29
September, 1716, is included in the third volume of the Transcriptions of the Second Court Record Book of Gloucester County,
New Jersey (Gloucester County Historical Project, 1939, p. 504). The trial
involved Samuel Harrison, who was accused of drowning Susannah Smith, and then
placing her body on the property of Sarah Mickle. The end of the document
states that the court was adjourned until 3:00PM (Gloucester County Historical
Project, 1939, p. 504). Unfortunately, since there is no further documentation
of the case, it is not known how it ended.
The following justices of the peace
were present on the bench: John Kay, John Hugg, John Mickle, Constantine Wood,
Samuel Ward, and Amos Ashead (Coroner). William Harrison (Sheriff) and Thomas
Sharp (Clerk) were the officers present. Constables representing the various Gloucester County townships were present: Joseph
Knight (Waterford Township), Joseph Hinchman (Newton Township), Ralph Sutton and John Basly (Gloucester Township), Joseph Liddon (Greenwich Township, lower part). Jeremiah Addams from Egg Harbor Township did not appear, Michael Laikon from
Deptford Township was sick, and Peter Lock from Greenwich Township (upper part) did not appear.
Members of the grand jury included:
John Ladd (Foreman), Thomas Stokes, Samuel Dennis, John Matlack, John Shivers,
John Gill, John Adamson, Alexander
Morgan, Abraham Porter, John Inskeep, Peter Long, John Jones, John Cox, Peter
Cox, Stephen Jones, Eric Mullaker, and Thomas Denny.
Court Record Dated 31 December, 1720
John Adamson next appears as a
member of the grand jury on 20/31 December, 1720 (Gloucester County Historical
Project, 1939, p. 570). In this case, John Ashbrook filed a complaint that his
flat (the British term for an apartment or one-floor residence) had been
over-assessed that year. The court decided to reduce the assessment by four
schillings (Gloucester County Historical Project, 1939, p. 570).
The following justices of the peace were present on the bench: John Kay,
John Hugg, John Mickle, and Amos Ashead (Coroner). The officers present were
Josiah Kay (Sheriff) and Thomas Sharp (Clerk). Constables representing the
various Gloucester County townships were present: Samuel Holmes by his deputy,
Abel Preston (Waterford Township), Arthur Powell (Newton Township), Will Clark,
Jr. and Francis Jones (Gloucester Township), Job Whitall (Deptford Township),
Henda Hendrickson (Greenwich Township, upper part), Andrew Matson (Greenwich
Township, lower part), and Thomas Green (Egg Harbor).
Members of the grand jury included:
John Gill (Foreman), Joseph Tindall, Joseph Knight, William Dennis, William
Cooper, Robert Bryan, Isaac Homer, Thomas Stowe, William Ellis, William Warner,
James Warde, John Cook, Samuel Sharp, John
Adamson, and Thomas Bright.
Like John Adamson, John Gill served
on the jury for this case as well as the 1716 murder trial. It is worth noting
that some of the grand jurors present in this court proceedings have the very
same surnames as those who served on the murder trial. Some were sons or
brothers of the previous jurors. The townships were still relatively small at
that time, hence a smaller population to choose from for the jury duty selection
process. In Old Gloucester County, it is not uncommon to see many of
the same men serve on juries repeatedly.
Court Record Dated 30 November, 1723
John Adamson’s final time served as
a grand juror in Gloucester County was on 19/30 November, 1723 (Gloucester
County Historical Project, 1939, p. 29). By 11 June,
1726, he
and his family would move to Springfield Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The purpose of this court session
is not addressed in the document. The case is referenced on page 29 of volume
three.
The following justices of the peace
were present on the bench: John Kay, Samuel Warde, and Thomas Spicer. Josiah
Kay (Sheriff), Amos Ashead (Coroner), and Thomas Sharp (Clerk) were the
officers present. Constables representing the various Gloucester County
townships were present: Samuel Dennis (Waterford Township), William Davis
(Newton Township), Richard Valentine and Nathan Tylee (Gloucester Township),
George Warde (Deptford Township), Thomas Holden (Greenwich Township, upper
part), Andrew String (Greenwich Township, lower part), and Samuel Hareur (Egg
Harbor Township).
Members of the grand jury included: Alexander
Morgan, William Hampton, James Hinchman, Simon Bresch, John Adamson, Jacob Matson, Richard Gray, Jacob Medcalf, Henry
Sparks, William Ellis, Benjamin Thackara, Thomas Stokes, Hence Steelman, Samuel
Burroughs, Daniel Hillman, John Eastlack, Nathan Champion, Jeremiah Bate, and
Isaac Jennings. Alexander Morgan was the son of Griffith Morgan, an emigrant
from Wales.
The men present at the previously
mentioned court proceedings provide a diverse representation of some of the
most notable families of the Newton community. Some were the first
settlers of Gloucester County while others mentioned were their
sons or sons-in-law. Thomas Sharp, Robert Zane, William Cooper, and John Gill
were original founders of the Newton Township. John Mickle was the son of
colonist, Archibald Mickle, who arrived at Newton from Antrim County, Ireland in 1681 (Clement, 1877, p. 141).
Benjamin Thackara was the son of Newton colonist, Thomas Thackara, a Leeds, Yorkshire, England Quaker who relocated to Dublin, Ireland for a while before settling in Newton in 1681. The first Friends’ meeting
house built at Newton stood upon lands conveyed by Thomas
Thackara (p. 64). Both John Whitall and John Eastlack were brothers-in-law to
Benjamin Thackara. William Ellis was the son of Simeon Ellis, a Yorkshire, England Quaker who relocated from
the Burlington settlement to Newton (p. 181). Samuel Cole emigrated
from Cole’s Hill, Hertfordshire, England (p. 201). John Matlack was the
descendent of William Matlack who arrived in Burlington from Nottinghamshire, England (p. 232). John Hugg arrived in Newton in 1683 from Wexford, Ireland (p. 284). Thomas Stokes was from Middlesex County, London, England (p. 301). John Kay, son of Jarvis
Kay, arrived in Newton from Yorkshire, England in 1684 (p. 168).
Two important realizations regarding
John Adamson can be made from the Gloucester County court records. Firstly, by 1716
John apparently owned land in Gloucester County and was at least the age of
twenty-one. Landowners had to be at least twenty-one years of age and one had
to be a land owner in order to serve on a jury (Genealogy Inc., 2009).
Secondly, since no other Adamsons were recorded in the extant court records
dating back to 1686, John appears to be the first Adamson to have settled in Gloucester County, New Jersey.
Introduction
Dual dating
is a confusing concept misunderstood by many. The Internet contains much information
about the topic, but few sources present the information properly. In fact,
there is a lot of misinformation on the Web that serves only to confuse the subject
even further. To clear up any confusion regarding the dating conventions used, I
have attempted to explain, in simple terms, the concept of dual dating as it
applies to historical documentation.
Dual dating was a means of
documenting dates using both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. In 45 BC,
Julius Caesar brought about the Julian calendar as a reform of the Roman
calendar. Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar on 24
February 1582,
but the first countries to use the new calendar did not adopt it until 15
October 1582.
Over the next several years, more and more countries converted to the Gregorian
calendar with Turkey being the last in 1926. After
continued resistance against adopting a Catholic invention, Britain finally converted to the Gregorian
calendar on 14 September 1752, so starting with this date, dual
dating no longer applied to Britain and its colonies.
From the period of 15
October 1582
(the official start of the Gregorian calendar) to 13
September 1752 (the day before the start of Britain’s use of the calendar), Britain and its colonies used a system of
dual dating to represent the dates of both calendars. It is worth noting that
historians do not generally use the Gregorian calendar when recording dates
prior to its adoption on 15 October 1582. Therefore, dual dating does not
apply before 15 October 1582.
Dual Day Dating
When dual dating, two adjustments
occur: the day of the month and the year. When the Gregorian calendar was
created in 1582, it was realized that the Julian calendar was 10 days out of
synch with the solar year. To restore proper synchronization with the seasons,
the new calendar dropped 10 days from the month of October in 1582, and to
prevent the problem of extra days from occurring again, 1 day was added to
February for every year divisible by four (leap year). Leap years add a 29th
day to February, which normally has 28 days. Every year that is exactly
divisible by four is a leap year, except for years that are exactly divisible
by one hundred. The Gregorian calendar also omits 3 leap days every 400 years.
The leap year correction meant that up until Britain adopted the Gregorian calendar on 14
September 1752, additional days had to be added to each recorded date. The proper
number of added days depended on the year. The following diagram illustrates
the number of days to be added when converting from Julian to Gregorian
calendar dates:
|
Julian Range
|
Gregorian Range
|
Difference
|
|
From 5 October 1582 to 28 February 1700
|
From 15 October 1582 to 10 March 1700
|
10
days
|
|
From 29 February 1700 to 28 February 1800
|
From 11 March 1700 to 11 March 1800
|
11
days
|
|
From 29 February 1800 to 28 February 1900
|
From 12 March 1800 to 12 March 1900
|
12
days
|
|
From 29 February 1900 to 28 February 2100
|
From 13 March 1900 to 13 March 2100
|
13
days
|
|
From 29 February 2100 to 28 February 2200
|
From 14 March 2100 to 14 March 2200
|
14
days
|
When converting from the Julian to
the Gregorian calendar, the date, 11 June 1690, would be 21 June 1690. 10 days are added because there is
a difference of 10 days for the year 1690. To properly record this date using
dual day dating, a slash is placed between the Julian and Gregorian calendar
days; 11/21 June 1690.
Dual Year Dating
The period between 1 January and 24
March, and between the years 1583 and 1752, was subject to dual year dating
because the Gregorian calendar changed the New Year from 25 March to 1 January.
To accommodate this change, dates had to reflect years in both Julian and
Gregorian terms. If a date fell between 1 January and 24 March, and between the
years 1583 and 1752, it had to be represented with dual years. To represent a
dual year, one year was added to the Julian year. For example, the date, 15
February 1701
would have been written, 15/26 February
1701/02. The years for dates that ranged from 25 March through 31 December,
and between the years 1583 and 1752, remained the same.
An excellent automated calendar
converter can be found at the following website: http://calendarhome.com/converter/
Old Style and New
Style Dates
Dates can
also be represented by adding the notation, “Old Style” (O.S.) and “New Style”
(N.S.), to historical dates for clarification of the calendar system used; Old
Style, referencing the Julian calendar and New Style, the Gregorian calendar.
So, a distinction between the two dating systems would be written: 20 January 1718 O.S. and 31 January 1719 N.S.
Sample Date
Conversions
|
Old
Style Date
|
New
Style Date
|
Dual
Date
|
|
10
January 1690 O.S.
|
20
January 1691 N.S.
|
10/20 January 1690/91
|
|
12
February 1701 O.S.
|
23
February 1702 N.S.
|
12/23 February 1701/02
|
|
15
March 1715 O.S.
|
26
March 1716 N.S.
|
15/26 March 1715/16
|
|
18
April 1723 O.S.
|
29
April 1723 N.S.
|
18/29 April 1723
|
Dual Dating in Scotland
Scotland became part of the Kingdom of Great Britain on 1 May 1707, so like the rest of Britain, the Gregorian calendar was not
used in Scotland until 14
September 1752. However, Scotland changed its New Year to 1 January
in 1600, meaning dual “year” dating was not needed for Scottish dates beginning
1 January 1600. Like Britain, dual “day” dating still applied
until 14 September 1752. The same date conversion rules
applied to Ireland as they did Britain.
English Regnal Years
Some English documents were dated
using regnal years; the period by which a ruling monarch served on the throne.
In England and its colonies, regnal years were
occasionally used as time markers. 1
Henry VII implies the first year reign of
Henry VII. Henry VII came to the throne on 22
August 1485,
so 1 Henry VII implies the period of time between 22 August 1485 and 21 August
1486.
English and early American documents
sometimes include wording such as, “the fifteenth of May, in ye fourteenth year
of His Majesty’s reign, George.” The fourteenth year references year fourteen
of King George II’s reign. Since George II came to the throne 11
June 1727,
the fourteenth year of his reign would be 1741. The same rules applied for
English regnal years; dates that fell between 5 October
1582 O.S.
and 2 September 1752 O.S. were subject to dual dating.
An easy-to-use regnal year to
calendar year automated converter can be found at the following website: http://www.genproxy.co.uk/king_queen_reign_dates_regnal.htm
The Quaker Calendar
Prior to
1752, the Religious Society of Friends, more commonly known as Quakers,
subscribed to the Julian calendar like the rest of their British counterparts
with one exception; they used numbers to denominate the names of the months and
days of the week. Sunday became the first day, Monday, the second day, etc.
After 1752, January became the first month, February, the second month, etc.
This calendar numbering system was known as the “plain calendar;” sometimes
called the “scriptural calendar.” The plain calendar was an alternative to the
“world’s calendar,” which used traditional names derived from pagan deities.
Though the plain calendar is associated with Quakers, it was actually not
developed by them, but rather from the general nonconformist movement that
swept through England during the 17th
century.
Quakers
typically wrote dates as, “12th
da 5th mo 1722.” The month was occasionally written using Roman
numerals. Since prior to 14 September 1752 the British New Year was 25 March,
March was considered the first month of the year. April was the second month,
May, the third month, and so forth. See the naming pattern in the table below.
Quaker Month
Conversion for Dates Prior to 14 Sept 1752
|
Quaker
Month
|
Converted
Month
|
|
1st month
|
March
|
|
2nd month
|
April
|
|
3rd month
|
May
|
|
4th month
|
June
|
|
5th month
|
July
|
|
6th month
|
August
|
|
7th month
|
September
|
|
8th month
|
October
|
|
9th month
|
November
|
|
10th month
|
December
|
|
11th month
|
January
|
|
12th month
|
February
|
So, a Quaker born the 12th
day, 12th month, 1656, would have been born 12/22 February, 1656/57.
Notation for Quaker dates often uses the following formats: 12/22 xii [February] 1656/57, or 12/22 12 mo. [February] 1656/57. When
converting Quaker dates, convert the month first, then convert to the Gregorian
calendar.
Sample Quaker Date Conversions
|
Quaker
Date
|
Gregorian
Conversion Date
|
|
10th day, 7th month, 1677
|
10/20 7 mo. [September] 1677
|
|
21st day, 1st month, 1702
|
21/1 1 mo. [April] 1702
|
|
5th day, 11th month, 1718
|
5/16 11 mo. [January] 1718/19
|
|
7th day, 1st month, 1733
|
7/18 1 mo. [March] 1733/34
|
Figure 11: Map of New Jersey county boundary lines in 1710.
Figure 12: Map showing the location of John
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END
History of
Internet document:
First
Publication – 8/28/2011
Updated
with minor changes - 9/28/2011
Updated
with minor changes - 5/15/2012