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     Sam Osborn died; Died at 2 years old of acidosis.¹

     John PARKE, Jr. died in the 'Grant's Hill' Massacre of September 14, 1758
John PARKE, Jr. [1706-1758] died in the 'Grant's Hill' Massacre of September 14, 1758 on the north shore of the Allegheny River at the spot known as the Forks of the Ohio, where the Allegheny intersects the Monongahela to form the mighty Ohio River.

Here in 1758 sat the French military base of Fort Duquesne. And, here on the evening of September 14, during the French & Indian War, savages with faces painted screamed full force, taunting their enemies. Enemies they were about to torture to death.

Flash back to a few days earlier at the British base camp at Loyalhanna Creek, 60 miles east of the Forks. (This camp would soon be renamed Fort Ligonier.) Here amidst the bustle of a powerful army, a very sensible British officer named Col. Henry Bouquet was having a private conversation with Major James Grant of the Highland Regiment. Grant was convincing Bouquet to release 800 troops for a reconnaissance-in-force on Fort Duquesne. Why level-headed Bouquet agreed to this raid no one quite knows. Up to this point, he had steered the army of his superior, Gen. John Forbes, with consummate skill, leaving nothing to chance. They had cut a road west across Pennsylvania clear from Philadelphia, and it seemed inevitable that they would soon lay careful siege to Fort Duquesne without a risky recon mission.

But Bouquet did approve Grant's plan, and the Major set out for the Forks with a combined force of Highlanders and colonials from Virginia and Pennsylvania, and reached it undetected on the evening of September 13, 1758. Grant was a veteran Scottish officer and should have commanded better that night. Grant issued a series of confusing orders, argued with his officers, and soon called attention to his troops before they could be placed. What followed was a wild melee in the forested heights above Fort Duquesne. It would be known to history as "Grant's Defeat," one of the bloodiest victories ever won by Native American forces in North America. Hundreds of Highlanders, Virginians, and Pennsylvanians died that day as French-allied tribes spilled out of Fort Duquesne and swept over their British foes.

Grant was captured in the battle, along with other senior officers. The dead on the field were looted and scalped, and some common soldiers--those not seen as prisoners of value to be traded later--were marched back to the fort, and then taken across to the north shore of the Allegheny (just as they had been after Braddock's Defeat, as witnessed by British prisoner James Smith).

Prisoners were taken across the Allegheny River to Smoky Island, where executions took place. That's how this little island got its name, because of the burnings at the stake. It was one of two islands opposite Fort Duquesne, and since they were easily defended in case of attack, this is where the Indians camped while they conducted business at the fort. Here, after Grant's Defeat, the Indians began the process of marking captured soldiers for death. They had already made Grant's men run the gauntlet over by the fort. Now they burned several at the stake.
Until, that is, an unexpected turn of events:

One Highland soldier from the 77th Regiment by the name of Allen McPherson saw several of his comrades tortured to death, and he decided that just wasn't for him. He appealed to the Indians' superstitious nature, telling them that he knew how to make a magic ointment that would prohibit the Indians from cutting off his head. The Indians wanted him to prove this, so they let him go into the woods under guard to gather ingredients for his ointment. He made the concoction, slathered it on his neck and put his head on a log. He dared the biggest, strongest warrior with the sharpest tomahawk to try to kill him. An Indian obliged, and as the head of Allen McPherson rolled on the ground, the Indians were amazed that McPherson had been so ingenious in escaping torture and burning at the stake; so amazed in fact that they spared the rest of the Highland soldiers from the burning stakes and simply beheaded them one by one.
As history tells us, the French withdrew from the Forks of the Ohio two months later and destroyed Fort Duquesne rather than let it fall into the hands of Forbes' army. But that isn't the end of this grisly chapter in the history of the Forks of the Ohio.

When Gen. Forbes and Col. Bouquet arrived with their forces on the 25th of November, Fort Duquesne was a smoking ruin. The following incident, among others which occurred on the day of the taking possession of this place by General Forbes, was related on the authority of a Captain commanding a company of provincials on that day: "Upon their arrival at Fort Duquesne, they entered upon an Indian race path, upon each side of which a number of stakes, with the bark peeled off, were stuck into the earth, and upon each stake was fixed the head and kilt of a Highlander who had been killed or taken prisoner, at Grant's defeat. "The Provincials, being front, obtained the first view of these horrible spectacles, which it may readily be believed, excited no very kindly feelings in their breasts. They passed along, however, without any manifestation of their violent wrath. But as soon as the Highlanders came in sight of the remains of their countrymen, a slight buzz was heard in their ranks, which rapidly swelled and grew louder and louder. Exasperated not only with the barbarous outrages upon the persons of their unfortunate fellow-soldiers who had fallen only a few days before, but maddened by the insult which was conveyed by the exhibition of their kilts, and which they well understood, as they had long been nicknamed the "petticoat warriors" by the Indians, their wrath knew no bounds. "Directly a rapid and violent tramping was heard, and immediately the whole corps of the Highlanders, with their muskets abandoned, and broad swords drawn, rushed by the provincials, foaming with rage, swearing vengeance and extermination upon the French troops who had permitted such outrages. But the French had fled, and the wrath of the exasperated Highlanders at the escape of the French subsided into a sullen and relentless desire for vengeance." Major Grant's piper
In 1758 General John Forbes assembled nearly 10,000 men for his campaign to capture Fort Duquesne. His approach would be slow and methodical. Fort Littleton, Fort Louden, Fort Bedford, Fort Ligonier, and a dozen smaller posts marked the advance of his army. By September, the army was massed at Fort Ligonier, only 30 miles from The Point and Fort Duquesne. In keeping with his methodical strategy, he decided to send a scouting party to Fort Duquesne. This seemingly sound military decision would lead to one of the bloodiest chapters in The Point's history.

Major James Grant of the 77th Highland Regiment was chosen to lead the scouting expedition. Under his command were 300 of his own 77th Highlanders, 100 of the 60th Royal American Regiment, 150 Virginia Provincials, 100 Maryland Provincials and 100 Pennsylvania Provincials along with an unspecified number of Native American scouts. On September 9, Major Grant and his little army left the protection of Fort Ligonier and begun the march west. The plan was simple and had every chance of success, but the forks of The Ohio had a way of turning things around.

On September 13, Grant was prepared to spring his trap. The Major positioned his main body of troops on the trail in an area his scouts assured him was no more than ten miles from Fort Duquesne. From this staging area 200 men were sent under the command of Major Lewis of the Virginia Regiment to lay in ambush five miles from the fort. At this point, Grant sent Ensign Chew, also of the Virginia Regiment, with 20 men to scout around the fort in an attempt to draw some of the French and Indians into Lewis' waiting ambush. But, Lewis returned the next day to inform Major Grant that they were in fact more than 15 miles from Fort Duquesne.

Infuriated , Grant moved his force forward finally coming within sight of the French fort. He laid his ambush and under the cover of darkness sent the Virginians ahead again. The unsuccessful Virginians straggled back to the hill at the break of dawn, many of them lost in the woods. To make matters worse, a detachment left a few miles behind to guard the supplies, had become concerned and started moving forward. Major Grant was outraged thathe no longer had the element of surprise. His plan began to crumble more with each passing moment. His troops were scattered and lost. Confusion ruled the day.

In order to regroup his scattered troops, Grant ordered the pipes played from atop a nearby hill. As the Scottish pipes echoed down the Ohio Valley for the first time, Grant's men reorganized. The Major wondered why in spite of all that had transpired, the French and Indians had not reacted. Not a sound was heard from the fort. In a fit of unexplained zealousness, he formed his own Highlanders into position and marched straight on to the open plain in front of Fort Duquesne. This calm before the storm is the moment depicted in Robert Griffing's "Major Grant's Piper."

Suddenly like an angry nest of hornets, The Point swarmed with French and Indians. An estimated force of 800 French and Indians threw themselves at the approaching Highlanders. The fight that Grant had planned so carefully had now begun. The native warriors advanced up the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers and cut off any chance for Grant's troops to retreat. Within 30 minutes, Grant's men were surrounded and giving way. Panic gripped the men as Indians poured a murderous fire on them from the cover of the forest. In a letter about the battle to Colonel Forbes, Grant wrote, "Orders were to no purpose. Fear had then got the better of every other passion and I hope I shall never see again such panic amongst the troops."

By 11:00 Major Grant and his remaining 12 men found themselves completely surrounded. With the dignity of a Highland gentleman, Grant surrendered. Over 300 of the original 750 men were killed, wounded, or missing. The remaining stragglers returned to Fort Ligonier beaten and exhausted. Major Grant and many of his officers would spend the next year in a Quebec prison. In November of the same year, General Forbes would successfully reclaim The Point for England. Yet, for the memory of the Highlanders still mingling with the fall from Braddock's defeat, it was a hard won victory. The Fall of Fort Duquesne
The Fall of Fort Duquesne http://www.akvalley.com/history/forts/duquesne/duquesne.shtml The command of the expedition against Duquesne was given to Brig. Gen. John Forbes. His force amounted to about seven thousand men, consisting of twelve hundred Highlanders, three hundred and fifty Royal Americans, two thousand seven hundred Provincials from Pennsylvania, one hundred from Delaware (then called the Lower Counties), one thousand six hundred from Virginia, two hundred and fifty from Maryland, one hundred and fifty from North Carolina, and about one thousand wagoners and laborers. The twelve hundred Highlanders were divided into four companies, and the three hundred and fifty Royal Americans into four companies also. It had been determined, after some dissent among the officers against the protestations of the Virginians, that the route of the expedition from Philadelphia should be through Pennsylvania; but the final decision as to this route was not reached until the advance of the army had arrived at Raystown, (Bedford) ; and it was finally so determined on the earnest representations and requests of Colonel Bouquet, who was satisfied from a military point of view, of the expediency of this route; in which view he was encouraged by the Pennsylvanians. The Virginians wanted the expedition to go out by way of the Braddock road. Forbes could not keep up with the army on account of his illness. The advance under Bouquet was making its way over the Laurel Hill when Forbes was between Carlisle and Shippensburg. When the Loyalhanna, at the western base of the Laurel Hill, was reached, a fortified camp was formed and a fort was erected called Fort Ligonier. The position was secured by strong works of ample extent. Instead of marching like Braddock, at one stretch to Fort Duquesne, burdened with a long and cumbrous baggage-train, it was the plan of Forbes to push on by slow stages, establishing fortified magazines as he went, and at last, when within easy distance of the fort, to advance upon it with all his force. It was, therefore, his purpose to gather all the army about this point at the Loyalhanna preparatory to making another step forward. Before the arrival of Forbes at the Loyalhanna, Bouquet had sent out Major Grant, of the Highland regiment, with thirty-seven officers, and eight hundred and five privates, to reconnoitre the fort and adjacent country. His instructions were to approach not too near the Fort, and in no event to take the risk of an attack. Grant camped the first day on the banks of the Nine Mile Run, ten miles west of the camp on the Loyalhanna ; the second day he proceeded further, and on the third, to within twelve or thirteen miles of the Fort. Although the French and Indians were constantly watching the movements of the army, yet Grant succeeded in coming within sight of the Fort, after marching near fifty miles without being discovered. The detachment halted here until three o'clock in the afternoon. The troops then quietly marched to a point about two miles from the Fort, where they left their baggage under charge of Captain Bullitt, two subalterns, and fifty men. It was already dark, and late in the night, Major Grant appeared with his troops at the brow of the fatal hill which still bears his name, between the two rivers, about a quarter of a mile from the fort. From the apparent stillness of the enemy's quarters, and from not having met with either French or Indians on the march, Major Grant supposed that the forces in the fort must be comparatively small, and at once determined to make an attack. Two officers and fifty men were accordingly directed to approach the fort and fall upon the French and Indians that might be lying out, if not in too great number. They saw none nor were they challenged by the sentinels. As they returned they set fire to a large storehouse, but the fire was discovered and extinguished. At break of day Major Lewis was sent with two hundred men, principally American regulars and Virginian volunteers, to take post about half a mile back, and lie in ambush in the road on which they had left their baggage, under the pretension of fears that the enemy would make a bold attempt to capture it. But the secret was-that Major Grant who was jealous of Major Lewis, wished to have the glory of capturing an enemy who had so signally repulsed General Braddock, with his thousands. Four hundred men were posted along the hill facing the fort, to cover the retreat of Captain McDonald's company, who marched with drums beating toward the enemy, in order to draw a party out of the fort; as Major Grant believed that there were not two hundred men including Indians in the garrison. As soon as the garrison were aroused from their slumbers by the music of the invaders, both French and Indians sallied out in great numbers to the attack. Their whole force immediately separated into three divisions. The first two were sent directly under cover of the banks of the river to surround the main body under Major Grant; the third was delayed awhile to give the others time, and then displayed themselves before the fort, as if exhibiting their whole strength. The attack then commenced, and Captain McDonald was immediately obliged to fall back upon the main body, and Major Grant received and returned a most destructive tire. At this moment he suddenly found himself flanked on all sides by the detachments from the banks of the river. The struggle became desperate. The Provincial troops concealing themselves behind trees made a good defense, but the Highlanders who stood exposed to the enemy's fire without cover, fell in great numbers, and at last gave way and fled. The Provincials, not being supported and being overpowered by numbers were compelled to follow. Major Grant retreating to the baggage where Captain Bulitt was posted with his forty Virginians, again endeavored to rally the flying soldiers. He entreated them in the most pathetic manner to stand by him, but in vain, as the enemy was close at their heels. As soon as the enemy came up, Captain Bullitt attacked them with great fury for awhile, but not being supported and most of his men killed, he was obliged to give way. The resistance shown by this little company served to check the pursuers, and gave an opportunity to many retreating to make their escape. Major Grant and Captain Bulitt were the last to desert the field. They separated, and Major Grant was taken prisoner. In this conflict, which took place on the 14th of September, 1758, two hundred and seventy were killed, forty-two wounded and several taken prisoners. It was, says Washington, in a letter to the Governor of Virginia, "A very illconcerted, or a very ill-executed plan, perhaps both; but it seems to be generally acknowledged, that Major Grant execeeded his orders and that no disposition was made for engaging." The French had always depended on the aid of the Indians to hold this place. But it was the custom of the Indians, after a battle, whether successful or not, to go home. Colonel James Smith, at that time a prisoner who had been adopted into one of their tribes, in his very valuable narrative, says, that after the defeat of Grant, the Indians held a council, but were divided in their opinions. Some said that General Forbes would now turn back, and go home the way that he came, as Dunbar had done when Braddock was defeated-others supposed that he would come on. The French urged the Indians to stay and see the event; but as it was hard for the Indians to be absent from their squaws and children at this season of the year, a great many returned home to their hunting. After this, the remainder of the Indians, some French regulars, and a great number of Canadians, marched off in quest of General Forbes. They met his army near Fort Ligonier, and attacked them, but were frustrated in their designs. They said that Forbes' men were beginning to learn the art of war and that there were a great number of American riflemen along with the red coats who scattered out, took trees, and were good marksmen; therefore they found they could not accomplish their designs, and were obliged to retreat. When they returned from the battle to Fort Duquesne, the Indians concluded they would go to their hunting. The French endeavored to persuade them to stay and try another battle. The Indians said if it was only the red coats they had to do with, they could soon subdue them, but they could not withstand Ashalecoa, or the Great Knife, which was the name they gave the Virginians. These things, however were unknown to the English. The whole army of Forbes having at length arrived at the Loyalhanna, went into quarters, and as the season was now advancing rapidly it was the intention to remain there during the winter. The fate of Braddock was ever before the eyes of Forbes and his men; and it was distinctly within the remembrance of some, chief among whom was Washington. The knowledge of the actual condition of affairs having reached Forbes, he concluded, late as it was, to advance. On the 13th of November, Colonel Armstrong with one thousand men was sent forward to assist Colonel Washington in opening the road. On the 17th General Forbes followed. He had no opposition in his march, although as the weather was extremely disagreeable, being rainy and chilly, and the road having to be cut as the army proceeded, his progress was necessarily slow. The wagons and all the artillery, except a few light pieces, were left behind. The force consisted of two thousand five hundred picked men who marched without tents or baggage, and burdened only with knapsacks and blankets. In addition to them were the force of Pioneers, and the wagoners and provincials engaged on the roads. Friendly Indians were kept out as scouts, and the greatest vigilance was exercised to avoid surprise. Washington and Colonel Armstrong had opened a way by cutting a road to within a day's march of the fort. On the evening of the 24th, the detachment encamped among the hills of Turtle Creek. That night they were informed by one of the Indian scouts, that he had discovered a cloud of smoke above the fort, and soon after another came with certain intelligence that it was burnt and abandoned by the enemy. A troop of horse was sent forward immediately to extinguish the burning. At midnight the men on guard heard a dull and heavy sound booming over the western woods. In the morning the march was resumed, the strong advance guard leading the way. Forbes came next carried in his litter and the troops followed in three parallel columns, the Highlanders in the center under Montgomery, their Colonel, and the Royal Americans and Provincials on the right and left, under Bouquet and Washington. Thus, guided by the tap of the drum, at the head of each column, they moved slowly through the forest, over damp, fallen leaves, crisp with frost, beneath an endless entanglement of bare gray twigs, that sighed and moaned in the bleak November wind. It was dusk when they emerged upon the open plain and saw Fort Duquesne before them, with the background of wintry hills beyond the Monongehela and Allegheny. The following incident, among others which occurred on the day of the taking possession of this place by General Forbes, was related on the authority of a Captain commanding a company of provincials on that day: "Upon their arrival at Fort Duquesne, they entered upon an Indian race path, upon each side of which a number of stakes, with the bark peeled off, were stuck into the earth, and upon each stake was fixed the head and kilt of a Highlander who had been killed or taken prisoner, at Grant's defeat. "The Provincials, being front, obtained the first view of these horrible spectacles, which it may readily be believed, excited no very kindly feelings in their breasts. They passed along, however, without any manifestation of their violent wrath. But as soon as the Highlanders came in sight of the remains of their countrymen, a slight buzz was heard in their ranks, which rapidly swelled and grew louder and louder. Exasperated not only with the barbarous outrages upon the persons of their unfortunate fellow-soldiers who had fallen only a few days before, but maddened by the insult which was conveyed by the exhibition of their kilts, and which they well understood, as they had long been nicknamed the "petticoat warriors" by the Indians, their wrath knew no bounds. "Directly a rapid and violent tramping was heard, and immediately the whole corps of the Highlanders, with their muskets abandoned, and broad swords drawn, rushed by the provincials, foaming with rage, swearing vengeance and extermination upon the French troops who had permitted such outrages. But the French had fled, and the wrath of the exasperated Highlanders at the escape of the French subsided into a sullen and relentless desire for vengeance." In 1758, three years after Braddock's defeat, General John Forbes embarked on a second campaign to capture Ft. Duquesne from the French. Upon reaching Ft Ligonier in September, Forbes decided to send ahead a scouting expedition under the command of Major James Grant, 77th Highland Regiment. Grant hoped to draw the French out of Ft. Duquesne into an ambush, employing the element of surprise. However, in deploying for the operation, Grant's forces became confused, disoriented and lost to the point where Grant ordered the pipes played from atop a nearby hill in order to regroup his scattered troops. This calm before the ensuing storm is the moment depicted in Robert Griffing's Major Grant's Piper. After regrouping his forces, the frustrated Grant marched them straight onto the open plain in front of Ft Duquesne. There, a force of 800 French and Indians, who were by now well aware of Grant's presence, sprung their own ambush. Within a short time, close to half of Grant's 750 men were killed, wounded or missing. The remaining stragglers returned to Ft. Ligonier, beaten and exhausted. Grant himself was captured and would spend the next year in a Quebec prison. . The Story of Smoky Island
14 Sep 1758 , Fort Duquesne - Pennsylvania
http://www.paladincom.com/smokyisland.shtml



Flash back to a few days earlier at the British base camp at Loyalhanna Creek, 60 miles east of the Forks. (This camp would soon be renamed Fort Ligonier.) Here amidst the bustle of a powerful army, a very sensible British officer named Col. Henry Bouquet was having a private conversation with Major James Grant of the Highland Regiment. Grant was convincing Bouquet to release 800 troops for a reconnaissance-in-force on Fort Duquesne. Why level-headed Bouquet agreed to this raid no one quite knows. Up to this point, he had steered the army of his superior, Gen. John Forbes, with consummate skill, leaving nothing to chance. They had cut a road west across Pennsylvania clear from Philadelphia, and it seemed inevitable that they would soon lay careful siege to Fort Duquesne without a risky recon mission.

But Bouquet did approve Grant's plan, and the Major set out for the Forks with a combined force of Highlanders and colonials from Virginia and Pennsylvania, and reached it undetected on the evening of September 13, 1758. Grant was a veteran Scottish officer and should have commanded better that night. As depicted in the Paladin production, George Washington's First War, Grant issued a series of confusing orders, argued with his officers, and soon called attention to his troops before they could be placed. What followed was a wild melee in the forested heights above Fort Duquesne. It would be known to history as "Grant's Defeat," one of the bloodiest victories ever won by Native American forces in North America. Hundreds of Highlanders, Virginians, and Pennsylvanians died that day as French-allied tribes spilled out of Fort Duquesne and swept over their British foes.

Grant was captured in the battle, along with other senior officers. The dead on the field were looted and scalped, and some common soldiers--those not seen as prisoners of value to be traded later--were marched back to the fort, and then taken across to the north shore of the Allegheny (just as they had been after Braddock's Defeat, as witnessed by British prisoner James Smith). Here historian Ed Gaudelli, a Pittsburgh-based authority on Grant's Defeat, picked up the story during on-camera interviews for George Washington's First War:

Prisoners were taken across the Allegheny River to Smoky Island, where executions took place. That's how this little island got its name, because of the burnings at the stake. It was one of two islands opposite Fort Duquesne, and since they were easily defended in case of attack, this is where the Indians camped while they conducted business at the fort. Here, after Grant's Defeat, the Indians began the process of marking captured soldiers for death. They had already made Grant's men run the gauntlet over by the fort. Now they burned several at the stake.
Until, that is, an unexpected turn of events:

One Highland soldier from the 77th Regiment by the name of Allen McPherson saw several of his comrades tortured to death, and he decided that just wasn't for him. He appealed to the Indians' superstitious nature, telling them that he knew how to make a magic ointment that would prohibit the Indians from cutting off his head. The Indians wanted him to prove this, so they let him go into the woods under guard to gather ingredients for his ointment. He made the concoction, slathered it on his neck and put his head on a log. He dared the biggest, strongest warrior with the sharpest tomahawk to try to kill him. An Indian obliged, and as the head of Allen McPherson rolled on the ground, the Indians were amazed that McPherson had been so ingenious in escaping torture and burning at the stake; so amazed in fact that they spared the rest of the Highland soldiers who had been marked for execution.
As history tells us, the French withdrew from the Forks of the Ohio two months later and destroyed Fort Duquesne rather than let it fall into the hands of Forbes' army. But that isn't the end of this grisly chapter in the history of the Forks of the Ohio. As Gaudelli described:

When Gen. Forbes and Col. Bouquet arrived with their forces on the 25th of November, Fort Duquesne was a smoking ruin. As they approached the entrance to the fort, along the path that the Indians used to make their captives run the gauntlet, they saw saw several wooden spikes on either side of the path. On each spike was mounted the head of a Highland soldier with their kilts tied mockingly underneath.
In the nineteenth century, the islands were dredged to make way for commercial river navigation, and 150 years later, Heinz Field was erected on the spot where Indian villages once stood. So the next time you see Heinz Field on television with its cheering Steelers fans waving terrible towels and performing other rituals, remember the darker rituals performed there in earlier times, and remember also the brave souls of Grant's doomed army who met their fate on the bank of the Allegheny on September 14, 1758. The Virginia Regiment was formed in 1754 by Virginia 's Governor Robert Dinwiddie,


The Virginia Regiment was formed in 1754 by Virginia 's Governor Robert Dinwiddie, initially as an all volunteer militia corps, and he sent George Washington, the future first president of the United States of America, to assume command upon the death of Colonel Joshua Fry. Washington, who had previously been a Lieutenant Colonel of the Virginia militia, received a promotion to Colonel when he assumed command. When Virginia ordered the creation of multiple Virginia Regiments in 1775, they were all placed under the Virginia Line.

Most recruits were characterized by George Washington as "loose, Idle Persons... quite destitute of House, and Home." Hampered by frequent desertions because of poor supplies, extremely low pay and hazardous duty, Virginia regiment recruiters went to Pennsylvania and Maryland for men. Washington also said of them, " and not a few... have Scarce a Coat, or Waistcoat, to their Backs". Later drafts pulled only those who could not provide a substitute or pay the 10 pound exemption fee, ensuring that the only Virginia's poor would be drafted. White males between 16 and 50 were permitted to serve, although the Regiment's size rolls report men as young as 15 and as old as 60 in the ranks, along with references to a small number of drafts with partial African and native American ancestry.

The Virginia Regiment is noteworthy in the colonies because it was the first all-colonial professional military force.[citation needed] Although colonials had served in the British Army, and militias were common, the regiment was the only to drill regularly and wear a standard uniform.





Note: The following appears in the

Laws of Virginia Sept. —Frederick Co., 32 George II [1758]

John Parke, and Isaac Thomas £ . 2 each, £ , s, d,

= 4 £ [probably payment for services.]


Was this Jr. (1705-1758) who died that month, or Sr. (1676-1757), or John III (1735-1816) ? Fort Pitt story
The Story of Fort Pitt In 1758, this point of land which had been the cause of the loss of many lives and of much treasure, fell into the hands of the English; and again the cross of St. George flew over the spot where the fleur-de-lis of St. Louis had floated for four tempestuous years. General Forbes in reporting to Governor Denny immediately after his taking possession, says: "As the conquest of this country is of the greatest consequence to the adjacent provinces, by securing the Indians our friends for their own advantage, I have therefore sent for their head people to come to me, when I think, in few words and a few days to make everything easy." The chief reason why the French abandoned Fort Duquesne, was because their Indian allies who had been instrumental in defeating Braddock in 1755 removed from the area. By the time the army of General Forbes had reached within striking distance all of the Indian allies had deserted Fort Duquesne. "I shall be obliged to leave about two hundred men of your provincial troops to join a proportion of Virginians and Marylanders, in order to protect this country during winter, by which time I hope the provinces will be sensible of the great benefit of this new acquisition, as to enable me to fix this noble, fine country to all perpetuity under the dominion of Great Britain. "I beg the barracks may be put in good repair and proper lodging for the officers, and that you will send me with the greatest dispatch, your opinion how I am to dispose of the rest of your provincial troops; for the ease and convenience of the provinces and inhabitants. You must also remember. that Col. Montgomery's battalion of one thousand three hundred men and four companies of Royal Americans, are, after so long and tedious campaign, to be taken care of in some winter quarters." The name for the fortification which it was intended to build after the place was secured, had been determined upon before that event occurred. With one accord the name of Fort Pitt was applied to the intended fort. Pittsburgh, as the name of the place, appeared the next day after its occupancy. On November the 26th, Forbes in reporting the capture of the place to Lieutenant-Gov. Denny, in the letter which we have already quoted, dated it from Fort Duquesne, "or now Pitts-Bourgh." Gen. Forbes immediately began the erection of a new fort near the site of the old one. The work was proceeded in with all possible activity. It was getting late in the season. The enemy had withdrawn, it is true, but their whereabouts were not definitely known. Most of them had gone up the river to Fort Machault; some of them had gathered at the stronghold at Loggstown, down the Ohio. The post was watched by spies and Indians, and thus the situation was not one of absolute confidence or security. The character of the structure and the location of the new fort were probably determined upon before Forbes left on his return for Philadelphia, which he did on the 3d of December. The work was located on the bank of the Monongahela at the south end of what, later, was West street in the city of Pittsburgh, and between West street and Liberty, within two hundred yards of Fort Duquesne. It has been described as "a small square stockade, with bastions." It was intended only for temporary use, and for the present accommodation of a garrison of two hundred men. With this number, when it was completed, Col. Hugh Mercer, was placed in command; and the army marched back to the settlements. The fort, so called, was completed probably about the first of January, 1759. Col. Mercer, under date of January 8, 1759, reported the garrison to consist then of about two hundred and eighty men, and that the "works" were capable of some defense, though huddled up in a very hasty manner, the weather being extremely severe. On March the 17th, 1759, the garrison is reported as follows: Royal artillery, eight; Royal Americans, twenty; Highlanders, eighty; Virginia regiment, ninety-nine; First Batt'n Penna., one hundred and thirty-six; Second Batt'n Penna., eighty-five. This structure, as stated, was intended for temporary use only. The one to succeed it was intended to be an imposing fortress and such as would last for all time. Work was expected to be begun upon it within the coming year. General Forbes having died, March 13th, 1759, shortly after his return to Philadelphia, was succeeded by General John Stanwix as commander of His Majesty's regular troops, and those to be raised by the Provinces, for the Southern Department. The announcement of the appointment of Stanwix and of the death of Forbes, was made by Gen. Amherst, Commander-in-Chief, on the 15th of March, 1759. During the early summer of 1759, the greatest apprehension was felt on account of the project which the French had in view, of descending from Fort Machault for an attack on Fort Pitt. A large force was collected there, which, if circumstances had not intervened to divert their operations, would probably have been adequate to capture the place. But the urgent necessity of the French at Niagara, which place was invested by the English, compelled them to abandon their project. Around the garrison at this time many Indians had collected who were now the dependents of the English, being brought thither upon invitations to attend conferences and councils, of which there had been several since the English occupancy of the place. The treaty of July, 1759, was attended by great numbers. These had to be fed, nor did they show indication of departing so long as there was a sufficiency of provisions. General Stanwix arrived at Pittsburgh, late in August, 1759, with materials, skilled workmen and laborers, for the purpose, and on the 3d day of September, the work of building a formidable fortification commenced, in obedience to the orders of William Pitt, Secretary of State. Gen. Stanwix remained at Fort Pitt until the spring of 1760. In the fall of 1759 was held a conference with the Indians which was most satisfactory in its results. It was the policy of the English Government, in which it was seconded by the Provinces of Pennsylvania and Virginia, that the officers of the army as well as the authorities of the Provinces should use every effort to conciliate the Indians and keep them on good terms. Accordingly, Colonel Bouquet, representing Forbes, with Col. Armstrong and several officers, George Croghan, Deputy agent to Sir Wm. Johnson, with Henry Montour, as interpreter met with the chiefs of the Delaware Indians, at Pittsburgh, on December 4th, 1758, after their occupancy of the post. At this meeting the Indians were assured of the peaceful intentions of the King of England and his people toward them. Although Fort Pitt was occupied in 1760, it was not finished until the summer of 1761 under Col. Bouquet. It occupied all the ground between the rivers. Its stone bomb-proof magazine was removed when the Penna. Railway Company built its freight depot in 1852. "The work," says Neville B. Craig, "Was five sided, though not all equal, as Washington erroneously stated in his journal in 1770. The earth around the proposed work was dug and thrown up so as to enclose the selected position with a rampart of earth. On the two sides facing the country, this rampart was supported by what military men call a revetment-a brick work, nearly perpendicular supporting the rampart on the outside, and thus presenting an obstacle to the enemy not easily overcome. On the other three sides, the earth.in the rampart had no support, and, of course, it presented a more inclined surface to the enemy-one which could be readily ascended. To remedy, in some degree, this defect in the work, a line of pickets was fixed on the outside of the foot of the slope of the rampart. Around the whole work was a wide ditch which would, of course, be filled with water when the river was at a moderate stage. In summer, however, when the river was low the ditch was dry and perfectly smooth, so that the officers and men had a ball-alley in the ditch, and against the revetments. "The redoubt, which still remains near the point, the last relic of British labor at this place, was not erected until 1764. The other redoubt, which stood at the mouth of Redoubt Alley, was erected by Col. Wm. Grant; and our recollection is, that the year mentioned on the stone tablet was 1765, but we are not positive on that point." Gen. Stanwix remained at Pittsburgh until March 21st, 1760. From a communication dated from the fort at Pittsburgh, on that date, and printed in the Penna. Gazette as a part of the current news, the following information is obtained: "When Gen. Stanwix left Fort Pitt there were present as a garrison seven hundred, namely, one hundred and fifty Virginians, one hundred and fifty Pennsylvanians and four hundred of the First Battalion of Royal Americans." The war between England and France having terminated to the advantage of the English by the surrender of Montreal, the last post held by the French, on 8th of September, 1759, the English in the fall of 1759 and in 1760 took possession of the surrendered posts. The town of Pittsburgh began, in all probability, with the occupancy of the place by the English in the fall of 1758. That is to say that from the first there was, near the fort, a collection of rude cabins occupied by traders, purveyors of the army and settlers. The name of the town, we have seen, was contemporary with the name of the fort. The mention made of the town by Col. James Burd in his Journal is probably the first authentic mention with regard to its inhabitants, available. John Parke II was 1754 Clothing

Initially, the Virginia Regiment wore their civilian clothing, but as Washington wrote to Governor Dinwiddie on March 9, 1754:

"We daily Experience the great necessity for cloathing the Men, as we find the generallity of those who are to be Enlisted, are of those loose, Idle Persons that are quite destitute of House, and Home, and I may truely say many of them Cloaths; which last, renders them very incapable of the necessary Service, as they must unavoidably be expos'd to incliment weather in their Marches &c and can expect no other, than to encounter almost every difficulty that's incident to a Soldiers Life."

At the urging of his men, Washington recommended that Dinwiddie procure coats for the regiment, suggesting a "Coat of the Coursest red which may be had in these parts..." to be payed for by stoppages from the men's pay. Washington suggested red to impress Native Tribes as "red with them is compard to Blood and is look'd upon as the distinguishing marks of Warriours and great Men- The shabby and ragged appearance the French common Soldiers make affords great matter for ridicule amongst the Indians." The ever thrifty Dinwiddie agreed, but in a letter dated March 15th, 1754 cautioned that "I am persuaded You have not Time to get them made, unless to be sent after You. In that Case, Care sh’d be taken of buying the Cloth at the Cheapest rate." Dinwiddie wrote Governor Sharpe of Maryland on March 28 that " In order to have them in an Uniform, they allow a deduct'n from their pay to purchase a Coat and Breeches of red Cloth." Deserter descriptions from the Maryland Gazette of April 18, 1754(VI), dated April 12, two men had "Thunder and Lightening (I) Jackets, one had red, and the other Leather breeches." Three others had "red Coats" and leather breeches Finally, another man was described in "a red Coat turn'd up with blue". This is the only instance that blue facings or trim are ever mentioned in any of the correspondence concerning the 1754 uniforms, and may indicate that more than one pattern of coat was in use. The regiment took the field without uniforms, and they were sent out sporadically by John Carlyle of Alexandria. The unit was certainly not completely uniformed by the time of the engagement with Jumonville's party or during the battle at Fort Necessity as evidenced by the following letters from Carlyle just prior to those actions on July 3:


ALEXANDRIA June 17 1754.

Your people you may Ashure them from Me, Shall be paid to the last Farthing, in A few days. I have A Messinger atWilliamsburg for Money, Which Shall Immediately Send or bring up to Wills Creek, & have Sent up per Mr Gists. What Shirts we have ready, & Shous & are Getting Red Coats made for All that has not got for the 25c Given by the Country By the order of the Governour, as the Intention of the Gift, to put them all In one Dress if possible...Their 20 cheqd Shirts which may Let those have thats In the Greatest Want, & Shall send 500 more soon the other things belongs to the Country


ALEXANDRIA June 28 1754

I have 300 Shirts 500 pr. Stockings & 100 pr. Shoes & abt Fifty Red Coats Coming up In the Next Wagons for Such of the men as have not Supplyd themselves'

Yr Very Affectionet H Sert.

JOHN CARLYLE

Estimates of the Regiment's size at this point are around 250-300 (II) men, and at best (as indicated by Carlyle’s June 28 letter) fifty still had not received their coats, Indicating a sizable portion of the unit was still in the attire they enlisted in. No further information as to style or appearance of the coat is known from period correspondence. Many artists and historians have speculated that the coat was likely a very plain single breasted madder red coat based upon Dinwiddie's insistence that they be purchased at the "Cheapest rate" as well as contemporary Militia and Invalid regiment uniforms from Britain. Noted (but by no means infallible) artist Don Troiani depicts just such a coat in his depiction of the regiment in his book Soldiers in America. Archeology may also give us a clue into the uniform, as three plain brass buttons were recovered during digs at Fort Necessity. Two buttons are _ "diameter and one is a convex 1" brass button, cast with an integral shank (III). Even those men with coats may not have worn them during the engagement at Fort Necessity. Adam Stephen's autobiography (IV) mentions him donning his "Flaming suit of laced regimentals" in order to be identified as an Officer to the French soldiers who had begun looting his baggage. If the officers present were not properly attired during the battle it is certainly appropriate to believe that neither were the enlisted men.


Primary Impression March 1755-December 1762



In December 1754, Governor Dinwiddie writes that he had locally procured "cheap blue Clothing" for the regiment's new recruits, and was importing "1000 Suits of Clothes" from England, which were to arrive by March (1755), when the uniform coat changed to blue faced red regimental coats, with blue breeches. Although no clothing specific deserter descriptions from the Regiment exist from the Braddock campaign (Spring-July 1755) deserters of the North Carolina forces are listed on June 12 1755 in "regimentals, which is blue coats, with red lapels, and blue breeches." (Pennsylvania Gazette). This is significant in that on May 5th, 1755, Governor Dinwiddie writes to governor Dobbs of North Carolina that North Carolina troops that marched to Virginia without being supplied were" supplied...with powder and Shott, and w't Cloth'g he (Dobbs) may want he will be supplied at Alexa's, from the Cloth'g I had from Engl." (the previously mentioned 1000 suites of clothes) for the Braddock expedition, so the deserter descriptions for North Carolina troops tells us how the Virginians were attired. A 1772 post war portrait of Washington in a Virginia officer's uniform survives, and soldier's coats would have basically been of similar appearance, although without the lace embellishments and would have been made of cheaper cloth, as well as having brighter colors (time has faded the portrait). From deserter descriptions we know that new recruits and veterans who had worn out issue clothes frequently wore civilian clothes and men from the same detachments frequently had on a mix of regimentals and civilian attire. A more extensive discussion of uniforms is available here.

Non Issue Clothing in the Virginia Regiment 1754-1762

Deserter descriptions from the Virginia Gazette (available online) point to a commonly work laborer's outfit of blue coats, cotton waistcoats and leather breeches among the men of the regiment when they lacked issued garments. Statistically, we find that if a regimental coat was not being worn, blue would have been the most common coat or jacket color. Jackets and vests were most commonly described as cotton and shirts are most commonly described as white or checked. Non Issue Breeches were most frequently described as Leather, with linen coming in the next often. Stockings were most frequently described as blue (some worsted some not) and light (most likely off white unbleached) being the next most popular. White stockings were being issued to the unit as well as some checked shirting, so these items may have indeed have been issued as part of a regimental suit.


" Indian Dress" for the Forbes Campaign 1758
"My Men are very bare of Cloaths (Regimentals I mean), and I have no prospect of a Supply; this want, so far from my regretting during this Campaigne, that were I left to pursue my own Inclinations I wou'd not only order the Men to adopt the Indian dress, but cause the Officers to do it also, and be the first to set the example myself. Nothing but the uncertainty of its taking with the General causes me to hesitate a moment at leaving my Regimentals at this place, and proceeding as light as any Indian in the Woods. 'Tis an unbecoming dress, I confess, for an officer; but convenience rather than shew, I think shou'd be consulted. The reduction of Bat Horses alone, is sufficient to recommend it; for nothing is more certain than that less baggage will be requir'd, and that the Publick will be benifitted in proportion."

Washington to Col. Bouquet; Camp near Fort Cumberland, July 3, 1758.


Washington proposed that they send out their men in the warm months in "undress" of shirts, breechclouts and Indian leggings; this was a stopgap measure to save what regimental clothing was left against the onset of winter. It seems that some companies from both Virginia units (Washington's 1st and Byrd's 2nd Virginia Regiments) were in Indian dress and some in worn regimentals for the Forbes campaign:


Forbes to Bouquet June 27:

"I have been long in your opinion of equiping numbers of our men like the savages and I fancy col: Byrd of Virginia has most of his best people equipt in that manner, I could not so well send orders to others to do the same as they had gott provinciall cloathing, but I was resolved upon getting some of the best people in every corps to go out a scouting in that stile fro as you justly observe, the shadow may be taken for reality, and i must confess in this country, wee must comply and learn the art of Warr, from Ennemy Indians or anything else who have seen the country and Warr carried on in itt..."

As early as August 10 1758 Bouquet writes GW that he has sent for the Royal American's coats then in storage because he fears the campaign will drag on into winter.

Obviously, some of the men in Virginia's Provincial service were attired in a variety of clothes in 1758 as attested to by the following:

August 3, 1758

The Pennsylvania Gazette

"Deserted on the 9th of July, from Capt. John Posey Company, of the 2d Virginia Regiment, at Camp near Fort Cumberland, Robert Gordan, born in Pennsylvania, five Feet six Inches high, brown Complexion, grey Eyes, well set, and had on when he went away, a light coloured Cloth Waistcoat, and check Trowsers; he took with him, a Pistol, and Camp Kettle. Whoever secures the said Gordan, shall have TEN PISTOLES Reward, paid by WILLIAM BYRD, Colonel of the second Virginia Regiment." [a pistole was a coin of the time]


Some documentation on the type of Indian Dress does survive in the following quotes:

Washington to D. Franks May 1 1758

"As much green Half-thick's as will make indian-leggings for 1000 men, if green can not be had get white; if there is not enough of that get any color..."


Washington to Lewis May 24 1758

"I expect 1,000 pair of Indian Leggings every hour from Philadelphia. I also expect to get Spatterdashes made for the whole (Note: GW must have meant the 1st Va) Regiment..."


Washington to Adam Stephen, July 16, 1758

The Quarter Master brings you all the stuff he has for Breech Clouts: if the quantity falls short you must purchase more, and charge the Publick with the cost (if he has not oppertunity of doing it himself while there).


The Virginia Light Horse Troop

In addition to the four Virginia Provincial infantry companies and the two road building companies of “Hatchet men or carpenters”, General Braddock also established a thirty four man company (including non commissioned officers) of “Horse Rangers” under Captain Robert Stewart which came to be known as the Virginia Light Horse (Braddock Orderly Book entries February 28, 1755). Braddock's orders signified that “Every officer Sergeant, corporal and private to be armed with a short carbine, case of pistols and a cuttng Sword.” (Braddock Orderly Book entries February 28, 1755). However, proper cavalry equipage was lacking, forcing Braddock to improvise and order“Capt Stewart is to Apply Immediately to Sr Peter Halkett for 34 Hangers for his men which They are to take with Them.” (Halkett Orderly Book entry April 8, 1755 page 117 Braddock Road Chronicles).


Both of Braddock's Irish infantry units (Sir Peter Halkett's 44th Foot and Colonel Dunbar's 48th Foot) had been authorized to augment their numbers to seven hundred men per regiment, and had recently received an additional 860 'Swords with Scabbards and Brass Hilts...” from ordnance stores. The two Irish regiments had also recently been ordered to store their hangers, belts and pouches and were to field with cartouch boxes in order to lighten their load for the upcoming campaign under Braddock. From the encampment near Alexandria, Virginia, Sir Peter Halkett sent off a letter to Quarter Master General Sir John St. Clair in Winchester Virginia noting“That troop has only got swords, let me know how they are to be provided with other arms and accoutrements fit for a troop, here and at Alexandria there is no leather proper to make bucketts of...” (dated April 16, 1755).

St. Clair answered this query with a post script to his reply the next day, adding “I beg you would get your armourers to cut a sufficient quantity of Virginia arms for the horse Rangers...” (St. Clair to Halkett April 17, 1755).

Discipline amongst the troop was not always strictly maintained. In a letter To Governor Robert Dinwiddie (Winchester, October 11, 1755) Colonel George Washington wrote that “3 drunken Soldiers of the Light-Horse, carousing, firing their Pistols, and uttering the most unheard-of Imprecations” caused a panic among the local populace who mistook them for an Indian raiding party. Despite the occasional drunken “carousing” the Light Horse troop must have been quite useful, but shortages in men caused the troop to be used as garrison troops. In a letter from George Washington to Dinwiddie (Winchester, August 4, 1756.) Colonel Washington noted that “Captain Stewart's troop has for these twelve months past, and must still continue to do duty on foot.”

The troop was raised again in order to assist the Forbes expedition from men in what was now the 1st Virginia Regiment (a second regiment of Virginia Provincials had been authorized for the campaign). On May 24, 1758 Colonel Washington wrote LIEUTENANT COLONEL ADAM STEPHEN who was then at Fort Loudoun,

“You are to get 40 men from the Second Regiment, to supply the places of the like number to be taken out of the First, to assist in forming a Troop of Light Horse: And, to prevent, the evil consequences of forcing men out of one Regiment into the other; you are, with Colo. Mercer (who will assist you in the undertaking) to use your best endeavours to persuade the number of men wanted, to offer themselves voluntarily.”
Stuart and his troop served through the campaign with distinction, Colonel Washington himself wrote of Stewart that “ His Military knowledge is Second to none in our Service and his assiduity I can greatly confide in. I can't use the freedom of mentioning it to the General, nor shou'd I .” Washington to MAJOR FRANCIS HALKETT Fort Cumberland, July 21, 1758 (Washington papers). Ashalecoa, or the Great Knife
It is said that, "when they returned from the battle of Fort Duquesne, the Indians concluded they would go to their hunting. The French endeavored to persuade them to stay and try another battle. The Indians said if it was only the red coats they had to do with, they could soon subdue them, but they could not withstand Ashalecoa, or the Great Knife, which was the name they gave the Virginians". Fort Duquesne (originally called Fort Du Quesne)
Fort Duquesne (originally called Fort Du Quesne, and pronounced "du-kane") was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in what is now downtown Pittsburgh in the state of Pennsylvania.

It was destroyed in the Fall of 1758 by the retreating French and replaced a short while later with Fort Pitt by the British and the are called 'Pitt's Burgh' for the fort; over two centuries later, the site formerly occupied by Fort Duquesne is now Point State Park.

Fort Duquesne, built at a point where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers come together to form the Ohio River, was long seen as important for controlling the Ohio Country[1], both for settlement and for trade. Englishman William Trent had established a highly successful trading post at the forks as early as the 1740s, to do business with a number of nearby American Indian villages. Both the French and the British were keen to gain advantage in the area. As the area was within the drainage basin of the Mississippi River, the French claimed it as theirs. Many of the charters of the British colonies on the east coast of North America granted land indefinitely to the west, setting the scene for conflict.
In the early 1750s, the French commenced construction of a line of forts, starting with Fort Presque Isle on Lake Erie near present-day Erie, Pennsylvania, followed by Fort Le Boeuf, about 15 miles inland near present-day Waterford, and Fort Machault, on the Allegheny River in Venango County in present-day Franklin.

Lieutenant Governor of the Virginia Colony, Robert Dinwiddie, saw this as threatening to the extensive claims to land in the area by Virginians (including himself). In late autumn 1753, Dinwiddie dispatched a young envoy named George Washington to the area to deliver a letter to the French commander, asking them to leave, and to assess French strength and intentions. Washington reached Fort Le Boeuf in December and was politely rebuffed by the French.

Fort's construction and replacement
Following Washington's return to Virginia in January 1754, Dinwiddie sent Virginians to build Fort Prince George at the forks. Work began on the fort on February 17. By April 18, a much larger French force arrived at the forks, forcing the small British garrison there to surrender. The French knocked down the tiny British fort and built Fort Duquesne, named in honor of Marquis Duquesne, the governor-general of New France.

Even though location at the Forks of the Ohio looked strong on paper, controlling the confluence of three rivers, reality was rather different. The site was low and swampy, and prone to flooding. In addition, the position was dominated by nearby highlands, which would allow an enemy to bombard the fort with ease. The French commander, Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecœur, was preparing to abandon the fort in the face of Braddock's advance in 1755, and was only saved when the advancing British force was annihilated (see below). When the Forbes expedition approached in 1758, the French were not as lucky.

Washington, who had been promoted to Lt. Colonel of the newly created Virginia Regiment, left on April 2 as part of a small force with the dual purpose of constructing a road and defending the fort upon their arrival. Washington was at Wills Creek in south central Pennsylvania when he received news of the surrender of Fort Prince George. On May 25, Washington assumed command of the expedition upon the death of Colonel Joshua Fry. Two days later, Washington encountered a French scouting party near a place now known as Jumonville Glen (several miles east of present-day Uniontown). Washington attacked the French, some of whom escaped, and then ordered construction of Fort Necessity at a large clearing known as the Great Meadows. On July 3, the counterattacking French forced Washington to surrender Fort Necessity but allowed Washington and his men to return home without their armaments.

The French held Fort Duquesne during the French and Indian War, and it became one of the focal points for that war because of its strategic location. The French held the fort successfully early in the war, turning back the expedition led by General Edward Braddock. George Washington served as one of General Braddock's aides. A smaller attack by James Grant in September 1758 was repulsed with heavy losses. Two months later, on November 25, the Forbes Expedition under General John Forbes captured the site after the French destroyed Fort Duquesne the day before. The British built a much larger fort on the site, and named it Fort Pitt.

---From Wikipedia. He was born circa 1703 at Hopewell, Burlington County, New Jersey, USA.² He married Mary Davis circa 1730 at Hunterdon County, New Jersey, USA.^1,2 John Parke II was Battle of Fort Duquesne

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Duquesne

The Battle of Fort Duquesne was a British assault on the eponymous French fort (later the site of Pittsburgh) that was repulsed with heavy losses on 14 September 1758, during the French and Indian War.

The attack on Fort Duquesne was part of a large-scale British expedition with 6,000 troops led by General John Forbes to drive the French out of the contested Ohio Country (the upper Ohio River Valley) and clear the way for an invasion of Canada. Forbes ordered Major James Grant of the 1st Highland Regiment to reconnoiter the area with 850 men. When Grant proceeded to attack the French position, his force was out maneuvered, surrounded, and largely destroyed by the French and their native allies led by François-Marie Le Marchand de Lignery. Major Grant was taken prisoner and the British survivors retreated fitfully to Fort Ligonier.

After repulsing this advance party the French, deserted by some of their native allies and vastly outnumbered by the approaching Forbes, blew up their magazines and burnt Fort Duquesne. In November the French withdrew from the Ohio Valley and British colonists erected Fort Pitt on the site. in September 1758.³ He died on 14 September 1758 at Hampshire County, Virginia, USA.²

     Her married name was Parke.¹ Mary Davis was born circa 1708 at New Jersey, USA.² She married John Parke II, son of John Parke I, circa 1730 at Hunterdon County, New Jersey, USA.^1,2 Mary Davis died in 1771 at Virginia, USA.²

     (an unknown value.)² (an unknown value.)³ In the book "Washington's Spies: The story of America's First Spy Ring" by Alexander Rose, a John Parke is part of the ring. John Parke, son of Roger, married Sarah, daughter of the first Andrew Smith, who bought land in Hopewell in 1688, and his deed is the first recorded document bearing the name of "Hopewell." The Parke family and Andrew Smith, Senior, were also Quakers, but there being no church of their faith nearer than Stony Brook, near Princeton, they all contributed toward the support of the Presbyterian church at Pennington. John Parke was one of the first constables of Hopewell Township in 1705, and served as juror in 1706. In 1721 he served on the Grand Jury with his brother, Roger Parke, Jr., James Stout of Amwell, and David and Freegift Stout of Hopewell.

from http://minerdescent.com/2010/05/19/roger-parkes-sr/

About 1700/01, a fateful marriage occurred when John Parke married Thomas Smith’s sister Sarah. (These two brothers-in-law, Smith and Parke, later acted together in open rebellion during “The Coxe Affair”, fled together, and both families would be early pioneers of Jersey Settlement.) In 1701 Dr. Daniel Coxe, as physician to the Royal Household, learned that New York (and New Jersey) was about to become a Royal Colony — and that the West Jersey Society had not registered his transfer of the Hopewell tract to them. Using this inside information, in 1702 Dr. Coxe gave Hopewell to his son: “Dr. Daniel Coxe of London Doctor in Phisiq” (conveyed his… tracts and proprietary rights to) “Daniel Coxe of London, Gentleman Son and heir apparent of the said Daniell Coxe Doctor in Phisiq.”

From Origins of the Jersey Settlement of Rowan County, North Carolina: First Families of Jersey Settlement. By Ethel Stroupe 1996. (Reprinted by permission of the author from vol. 11, no. 1, February 1996, Rowan County Register, PO Box 1948, Salisbury, NC 28145))

Thomas Smith and John Parke did not wait for High Sheriff Bennet Bard to pursue nor for Governor Cosby to declare them outlaws. Before dawn, they had crossed the Delaware river, and were safely beyond the reach of New Jersey's royal officials. Two years after receiving eviction notices, some in Hopewell who had not paid for their land a second time nor paid "rent" on their own homes, fled to avoid being thrown into Debtor's Prison and having their personal property seized.

John is believed to have died in 1757 at about the same time as his sons, John Jr and George.” This was “during the French & Indian War that ravaged the pioneer western settlements. Some say he was killed by Indians and his body propped up on a post for all to see.

He was certainly deceased before 1762 when his grandson, John son of John Jr. tried unsuccessfully to inherit the 400 acre grant of John Park Sr. assigned to his son George.”

Sources

History of the Parks Family of Old Frederick County and Eastern Hampshire County. Wilmer L. Kerns. West Virginia Advocate, 1990 - 18 pages
Links

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/m/c/b/Grant-mcbride-B-Mcbride/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0116.html
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/WVHAMPSH/2003-07/1059247165
Capon Bridge, West Virginia - West Virginia's oldest county. John Parke I married Sarah Smith, daughter of Andrew Smith and Sarah Foster.¹ John Parke I was born in 1677 at Hexham, Northumberland County, England.⁴ He married Sarah Smith, daughter of Andrew Smith and Sarah Foster, in 1699 at Hopewell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, USA.^4,5 John Parke I was christened on 28 February 1703 at Burlington County, New Jersey, America.⁵ He died circa 1757 at Hampshire County, Virginia, USA.⁴ NOTE: From Susan J. Balde Gall, Winston-Salem, NC at galls@juno.com
"Sarah died probably about 1759 in Hampshire Co. after John Parke I was killed at age 80 in 1757 by indians, beheaded and his head set against a post "as a warning" by the indians - perhaps even Chief Killbuck himself during his rampage through West Virginia during the French & Indian Wars."
No sign of her is found in Calverley Parish records; perhaps she was born in Hull. (Note: Killbuck played a role in the Rev. War.)

     Her married name was Parke.¹ Sarah Smith married John Parke I, son of Dr. Roger Parke.¹ Sarah Smith was born on 28 November 1675 at Yorkshire County, England.² She married John Parke I, son of Dr. Roger Parke, in 1699 at Hopewell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, USA.^2,3 Sarah Smith died after 1700 at Hampshire County, Virginia, USA.²

     The Merrell Family | The Moore Odyssey--Index



Origins of the Jersey Settlement of Rowan County, North Carolina

First Families of Jersey Settlement
By Ethel Stroupe 1996
(Reprinted by permission of the author from vol. 11, no. 1, February 1996, Rowan County Register, PO Box 1948, Salisbury, NC 28145))

New Jersey historians wrote of Hopewell and Carolina historians wrote of Jersey Settlement. Nobody wrote about how, when and why North Carolina's Jersey Settlement grew out of (and interacted with) its parent community, Hopewell, New Jersey, nor why so many of old Hopewell's solid citizens fled to North Carolina. To satisfy her curiosity, the author mined facts with the help of librarians, genealogical societies in both places, and other descendants. Eventually, a story emerged of the Settlement's origins: it was older than expected, and its first settlers were Hopewell citizens who migrated after being swindled by Proprietors and royal Governors, especially Dr. Daniel Coxe and his son Col. Daniel Coxe, two powerful and greedily villainous Proprietors, in "The Coxe Affair." What these Jersey men endured in Hopewell directly affected the Yadkin's Revolutionary generation, explaining why Jersey Settlement had reacted so violently against N.C.'s corrupt Gov. William Tryon's sticky-fingered royal officials, John Frohock, Rowan Court Clerk and Edmund Fanning, King's Attorney, whose thievery and injustices caused the 1771 Regulator War (considered by historians the first true battle of the American Revolution), and caused Charles Lord Cornwallis to call central North Carolina "a hornet's nest of rebellion."

The earliest families of Jersey Settlement came from Hopewell Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, where some had been members of Pennington's Presbyterian Church, and others were Quakers and Baptists who baptized their children in St. Mary's Episcopal church for practical, political reasons. The earliest families identified in Jersey Settlement c1745 were those of Jonathan Hunt, Thomas and Rebecca (Anderson) Smith, Robert Heaton, and John Titus. (Hunt and Titus were married to Smith's nieces.) Others from Hopewell, e.g., Cornelius Anderson, came in this first party or soon followed. They were founding this settlement so that they (and groups that followed) could recoup losses suffered when New Jersey's Supreme Court invalidated deeds to thousands of acres in Hopewell, land their fathers had purchased as wilderness. To understand this amazing story of invalidated land titles, one must "begin at the beginning" with the founding of West Jersey's Hopewell Township, followed by a slow build up to the surprising events that preceded this migration.

Hopewell's first inhabitants were Lenapes, an Algonquin tribe who welcomed Europeans because they needed protection from other Indians. Their Hopewell villages were Wissamonson (Woodbridge) and Minnepenasson (Stoutsburg). New Jersey's first Europeans were Swedes and Dutch from New York and Pennsylvania. In 1655 Peter Stuyvesant brought it under Dutch control with landowners called Proprietors, but the Dutch governed inhabitants. In March, 1664 England's King Charles II -- who did not own New Netherlands -- gave it to his brother, James, Duke of York, and sent a fleet that easily seized it. The Duke of York then gave half of New Jersey to George, Lord Carteret, including the right to govern inhabitants on lands held. Thereafter, any wealthy man could be a Proprietor and govern residents, a land power system predestined for abuse of power for personal gain and disputes over land ownership. The colony developed as a Proprietary System, like a corporation, and London speculators dealt in "percentages of Proprietary Shares." In 1664, the British seized New Jersey, but, to avoid the expense of Indian wars, decreed that land be purchased before settlement, buying West Jersey for wampum, trinkets, a few bolts of cloth and two kettles. The Lenapes lived among Europeans on Stony Brook from the 1680's to c1725, then moved west, declaring: "Not a drop of our blood have you shed in battle---not an acre of our land have you taken without our consent."

In 1673 Lord Berkeley sold his shares to John Fenwicke and Edward Byllynge who planned a Quaker Refuge like Pennsylvania. In July 1676 the "Province Line" divided East and West Jersey, giving control to the Quakers who owned five-eighths. William Penn drafted a constitution. In 1677 ships brought 230 Quakers from Yorkshire and London who founded a settlement at Burlington. In late summer 1677, the Flie-Boate Martha of Burlington, Yorkshire, sailed from Hull bringing 114 passengers, including two heads of families, Thomas Schooley and Thomas Hooten (a.k.a. Houghton), future residents of Hopewell. New arrival Tom Hooten wrote to his wife in Burlington, Yorkshire:

New Jersey, 29th 8th month, 1677 (29 Oct 1677) My dear, I am ... at the town called Burlington where our land is ... ordered to be a town for the ten Yorkshire and ten London Proprietors .... I am to be at Thomas Olive's house till I can provide better for myself I intend to build a house and get some corn into the ground ... and I know not how to write concerning they coming or not coming hither; the place I like very well, and I believe that we may live here very well ... thou may take thy opportunity of coming this summer. Thomas Hooton (From Samuel Smith, History of New Jersey, pp. 102-105)

On the "10th of the 8th month" (10 October 1678) the ship Shield, Daniel Towes, Captain, was the first to sail this far up the Delaware river. After mooring to a tree, passengers landed on the Jersey side, including George Parks [immigrant George Parks was perhaps brother to Hopewell's Quaker Roger Parke, and perhaps related the later George Parks who arrived c1760 in Jersey Settlement], Peter and John Fretwell, Thomas Revell and wife, Robert Schooley, wife and children, and Thomas Potts, wife and children. ["Burlington Baptist Church was constituted in 1689 with eleven members. Thomas Potts (Sr., a tanner, & lot wife Mary; 2nd wife Anne) and a few others had been Baptists in England, and others converted after their arrival in America. It appears that some may have been Quakers who were influenced to become Baptists." Norman Maring, The Baptists of New Jersey, Washington, D.C. (1944) edited by H. Clay Reed & George W. Miller, using notes from Burlington Court Minutes. 1722 Hopewell Tax List: Thomas Potts].

Thomas Revell, "Gentleman", a first Justice of the Peace, was appointed by a group of Proprietors as "Agent for the Honorable West Jersey Society in England" to survey and sell land and issue deeds. On September 8, 1680, he made his first entry in Liber A, Revels's Book of Surveys. Early Trenton was called "At the ffalls of Dellaware," early Hopewell "Above the ffalls of Dellaware." On June 4,1680 "John Hooten, Andrew Smith, Englishmen, (were among) ye ffreeholders & Inhabittants within ye Court at Burlington. " In November 1680, a Delaware river survey for John Hooten on NW side of Crosswick's Creek (near Trenton). On January 20, 1681, Revel surveyed for Peter Fretwell "above the ffals of Dellaware" (Hopewell), and 200 acres for Andrew Smith "at the ffalls (Trenton)." Burlington County was divided into "Tenths". 1682 officers: Thomas Revel, Provincial Clerk-Recorder; Daniel Leeds, Surveyor; Robert Schooley & John Pancoast, Constables, Yorkshire Tenth; Thomas Sharp, Constable, Third Tenth. In 1685 a large share-holder, Dr. Daniel Coxe , "Ciregeon (surgeon) of London and Doctor in phisick," entered the New Jersey action without leaving London. His political power was from being physician to the royal court, while his great wealth enabled him to buy extensive land shares. A ruthless, "bottom-line" speculator, Dr. Coxe aimed to maximize his power and profits by any conceivable method.

He began a series of acquisitions and manipulations, writing the Council of Proprietors: "It would be for your good --- to contrive any method thereby the government might legally ... be involved with the Proprietors." By 1685, as largest share-holder, he declared, "The government of West Jersey is legally in me as full as Pennsylvania is in Penn ... I therefore assume the title of Governor, and lay claim to the powers and authority therein annexed..." For several years he governed from London. The first white man in Hopewell was Jonathan Stout who in 1685 explored the wilderness from his parent's home in Middletown, lived several years at Wissamonson with the Indians, then returned home. On March 30, 1688, Adlord Bowle, agent for "Daniell Coxe, Esqr., Governor & Cheife Proprietor" of West Jersey, met with eleven Indian Chiefs who sold their rights to a huge tract of land that included Hopewell, Ewing and north Trenton for hatchets, knives, needles, tobacco, rum, beer, kettles, 30 guns, shot and lead. With land sales now legal, Dr. Coxe directed his agents to subdivide and sell to settlers. In May 1688 Andrew Smith, Sr., "yeoman," bought 200 acres, but not from Coxe's agents, from Cornelius Empson of Pa., "in what is called Hopewell," a tract later occupied by his son Thomas Smith (a pioneer of Jersey Settlement).

In 1688 the Council of Proprietors accepted the plan of Dr. Coxe, an Anglican, to disenfranchise the Quakers whose rights came from a deceased Proprietor: "All the deeds granted Edward Byllinge ... shall be adjudged and esteemed insufficient for the commission to grant warrants upon." The Council left land records in the hands of Thomas Revel. (At this point, Coxe and Revel were not at odds.) On December 4, 1689, Hopewell was surveyed for Dr. Daniel Coxe who bought it estimated as "28,000 acres of wilderness inhabited by wild beasts and Indians." Then, apparently temporarily short of cash, in 1691 he sold part of his holdings:

For a valuable consideration Dr. Daniel Coxe of London, Esquire, Governor and Cheife Proprietor of the Province of West Jersey transfers the right of government and some of his land holdings in the Colony--- (to a company of businessmen)... the West Jersey Society of England.

This first agreement excepted the Hopewell tract, but between 1692 and 1694 Coxe made a second agreement transferring it to the West Jersey Society -- which failed to execute a deed. The Society and Agent Revel continued selling land and developing the area. The West Jersey Society distributed fliers on the north-east seaboard advertising "Fertile Land for Sale Cheap," offering to residents in New England and in older New Jersey communities cheap land "lying above ye ffals of ye Delaware" (Hopewell) with inducements to buy farms by cash or mortgages. In 1690 Roger Parke, an English immigrant, lived in a Quaker settlement on Crosswick's Creek, but he traveled so often to Wissamonson to study medicine under old Indian squaws and medicine men that his path was called "Roger's Road." About 1700 he moved his family to Hopewell as its first white settlers. Surveys preceded settlement, and Hopewell's first farm was surveyed on February 27, 1696 by Revell for Thomas Tindall, but not occupied until c1706 by his son-in-law John Pullen [John Pullen (Poillion, Bullen), of Huguenot ancestry, first occupant of Tindall's 1696 farm: Hunter & Porter, Hopewell, A Historical Geography, p. 105].

Some of Roger Parke's Quaker neighbors from Crosswick's settled south of him in Hopewell. [Land records: 1686: Jonathan Eldridge; 1688: Dr. John Houghton of Gloucester, 1693: John Wilsford; 1694: Widow Mary Stanisland; 1695: John Bryerley, Capt. Moses Petit & Benjamin Clark. A 1696 survey showed that Parke's Stony Brook tract adjoined land owned by John Moore, George Hutchinson, Sam Bunting and Marmaduke Houseman. Surveys, 1696: Edward Hunt 200 acres in the Society's 30,000 acre tract; 1697: Andrew Smith for Thomas Smith, next to Roger Parke 1698: John Gilbert, weaver, James Melvin near Thomas Stevenson, Nathaniel Pope, Edward Burroughs and George Woolsey].

In 1697 Thomas Revell sold 1,050 acres (in the center of the township) to Johannes Opdyke, a Penny Town (Pennington) area soon settled by inter-related Presbyterian families from Newton (Elmhurst), Queens, Long Island. In January 1675/7 the will of Ralph Hunt, Sr. was proved at Newton. In 1698 his sons, Ralph, Jr., Samuel, daughter Ann and husband Theophilus Phillips, and daughter-in-law Johanna (widow of John Hunt) had deeds in Maidenhead (Lawrence), N.J., where they joined the Presbyterian Church. [John & Joanna (Wilson?) Hunt had a son John Hunt born c1690 at Newtown, L.I., who m. Feb 8, 1714 Margaret Moore in Newtown's Presby. Ch; she was perhaps d/o Gersham. Moore, and descended from Presbyterian Rev. John Moore. John Hall, D.D., History of the Presbyterian Church of Trenton, N.J].

That same year, Jonathan, Samuel and Elnathan Davis were members of Burlington's Presbyterian Church. [On January 21, 1698/9, a deed from Jonathan Davis "husband man" was transferred to his brother Samuel Davis "weave', both of Maidenhead, 20 acres at the head of his preceding 100 acres north of town, adj. on the west by Elnathan Davis. New Jersey Records, Liber B, H:656].

The February 1699 Burlington County Court received a "Petition of some inhabitants above the ffalls for a new township to be called Hopewell, as also a new road and boundaries of Said town..." The Township's location was described c1770:

Hopewell is situated 40 miles S.W. of Philadelphia, bounded on the East by the Province line, West by the Delaware River, on the North by Amwell Twp., and on the South by Assunpink Creek, and included the Indian village of Wissamensen at the head of Stony Brook, some miles north of the falls of the Delaware. [Morgan Edwards, A.M., Baptist Minister; fellow of Rhode Island College 1770-1792, Materials Toward a History of the Baptists (first pub. 1790)]

About 1700/01, a fateful marriage occurred when John Parke married Thomas Smith's sister Sarah. (These two brothers-in-law, Smith and Parke, later acted together in open rebellion during "The Coxe Affair", fled together, and both families would be early pioneers of Jersey Settlement.) In 1701 Dr. Daniel Coxe, as physician to the Royal Household, learned that New York (and New Jersey) was about to become a Royal Colony --- and that the West Jersey Society had not registered his transfer of the Hopewell tract to them. Using this inside information, in 1702 Dr. Coxe gave Hopewell to his son: "Dr. Daniel Coxe of London Doctor in Phisiq" (conveyed his... tracts and proprietary rights to) "Daniel Coxe of London, Gentleman Son and heir apparent of the said Daniell Coxe Doctor in Phisiq."

Many new settlers came to Hopewell between 1686 and 1710. [Hopewell area land records: 1696: Richard Stockton, Thomas Hutchinson, Joseph Worth & Thomas Warne on Stony Brook. 1697: William Wood. 1699: Joshua Ely. 1700: John Hutchinson of Hutchinsons Manor sold land in Hopewell to Samuel Wright of Nottingham Twp., Burlington Co., lying between Matthew Grange, Caleb Wheatley & Henry Scott; Vincent ffountaine of Staten Island, N.Y., yeoman. 1701: Benjamin ffield, Joseph Sackett (yeoman, Newtown, L.I.) between Christopher Wetherill & Thos. Hutchinson, William Clark (near Thomas Lambert.) 1702: Richard Burt of Newtown, Long Island. 1703: John Fidler, William Hixon, George Willis, John Routlege of Abbington Twp., Philadelphia Co., Pa., Joshua Anderson & Robert Pearson].

Robert and Elizabeth Blackwell joined his friend Richard Titus from Newton, L.I., settling on adjoining farms near the junction of Stony Brook and Honey Brook. [Robert Blackwell, "of English origin, was the progenitor of this family. In 1676 he was a merchant in Elizabethton, New Jersey, who lived on Blackwell's Island in the East River where he died in 1717. His eldest son, Robert Blackwell, Jr., married Elizabeth Combes, d/o Francis Combes of Newtown, Long Island, and moved to Hopewell, N.J. Alice Blackwell Lewis, Hopewell Valley Heritage (Hopewell Museum, 1973), p-134].

In 1702 the political event that Dr. Coxe anticipated occurred: the Jersey Proprietors relinquished their rights of government to the Crown, Queen Amne was on the throne, Dr. Coxe was her private physician --- and the new Governor coming from London was the Queen's first cousin, Dr. Coxe's good friend, Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury -- accompanied to America by Dr. Coxe's son, Col. Daniel Coxe. Together they composed the Cornbury Ring, which quickly became infamous for abusing government authority for personal profit. Both the Ring and the Proprietors fought to control land sales because whoever did also controlled the government -- and had a handsome income. As governor, Lord Cornbury changed the political climate, being allied with the Coxes against the West Jersey Society over ownership of large tracts of land, one of which included Hopewell Township. In 1706, Lord Cornbury and his Council (the upper House of Legislature, of which Col. Daniel Coxe was a member) launched an attack on the proprietary faction, challenging their authority over the land system. They also alleged that the West Jersey Society lacked any title, that being Col. Coxe's position, taking advantage of the Society's failure to register his transfer (for a consideration) to them of the Hopewell tract c1692/3.

Like so many of the early British governors in the colonies, Lord Cornbury, of New York and New Jersey, was notorious for his greed and incompetence. But Cornbury had an added claim to fame. (Lord Cornbury's) great insanity was dressing himself as a woman. Lord Orford says that when Governor in America (Cornbury) opened the Assembly dressed in that fashion. When some of those about him remonstrated, his reply was, "You are very stupid not to see the propriety of it. In this place and particularly on this occasion, I represent a woman (Queen Anne) and ought in all respects to represent her as faithfully as I can." Mr. William says his father has told him that he had done business with him (Lord Cornbury) in woman's clothes. He used to sit at the open window so dressed, to the great amusement of the neighbors. He employed always the most fashionable milliner, shoemaker, stay maker, etc. Mr. Williams has seen a picture of him at Herbert Packington's in Worcester, in a gown, stays, tucker, long ruffles, cap, etc. He was a large man, wore a hoop and a headdress, and with a fan in his hand was seen frequently at night upon the ramparts…. [Richard Zachs, History Laid Bare, (Harper Collins, 1994), p 209].

This first cousin to Queen Anne, Governor of New York and New Jersey from 1702 to 1708, had his portrait painted wearing a ball gown and five o'clock shadow. (It now hangs in the New York Historical Society). [Newsweek magazine, issue of May 23, 1994; also Richard Zacks, History Laid Bare, citing Diaries of Sylvester Douglas, Lord Glenbervie, (Harper Collins, 1994) pp. 209-210].

With New York a Royal Colony, the Anglican church became (as in England) entwined with all aspects of the civil government, with authority over many aspects of daily life, e. g., the only legal marriages were performed by Anglican ministers, with children from marriages performed by other clergymen considered illegitimate. An Episcopal priest was sent to Burlington County to establish- "Hopewell Chappel Church" (St. Mary 's Episcopal, Ewing.) A year before the cornerstone was laid (March 25, 1703) some Hopewell residents who were Quakers and Baptists rushed down to Ewing to have their adult children baptized as Anglicans to protect their inheritance rights. Baptized February 28,1702 by Rev. Mr. John Talbot:

John and Roger Parke, ye children of Rogr. Parke.

Thomas, Andrew, Elizabeth, Mary and Hannah Smith, the children of Andrew Smith.

William Scholey (son) of Robt. Scholey. [Stillwell, Historical Miscellany, Vol. 1152-53, Register of St. Mary's Episcopal Parish, Ewing, N.J. Also baptized at St. Mary's in March 1714: Richard Allison].

By now, settlers had cleared land, built cabins and barns, widened paths, and established a ferry to connect with the Philadelphia road where many went to shop or to church so that the Jersey wilderness was becoming a productive, English style, rural community of isolated farms joined by lanes and a few wagon roads. In 1707 Col. Coxe acted to reclaim the Hopewell tract he had conveyed to the West Jersey Society by persuading the Cornbury Ring to make a new survey of the Hopewell tract in his name. Then, in 1708 the Coxes had a major setback: the Crown removed Lord Cornbury as Governor because of the turmoil caused by his obvious corruption. The new Governor supported the Proprietors, Col. Coxe was removed from Council and Assembly, and soon found the political climate so hostile that he returned to England. With him in disfavor, the West Jersey Society maintained its claim to the Hopewell tract without dispute. About 1708, the area around Penny Town received an influx of Presbyterians from Newton [1708 Deeds: Thomas Runyan; Richard Motfs 1,350 acre Penny Town tract war, subdivided and sold to Nathaniel Moore, John Mott, John Cornwall (Cornell) and Thomas Reed], including twenty-one year old Nathaniel Moore, recently married to Joanna Prudden (b. December 16, 1692), and Elnathan Baldwin who was married to Joanna's sister, Keziah Prudden [Daughters of Presbyterian Rev. John Prudden of Newark, a 1688 graduate of Harvard].

Within a two mile radius of the Moores settled others who were probably from Newton [others from Newton to Pennington c1708-10: John Muirheid, George Woolsey, John Welling, John Titus, Thomas Burroughs, William Cornell, John Carpenter, John Ketcham, Edward & Ralph Hunt, Robert Lanning, John Larison, Abraham Temple, and five brothers: Edward, Nathaniel, Joseph, Ralph & John Hart].

This great influx from Long Island led to the organization of a church, and in 1709 a call was sent to Philadelphia for a Presbyterian minister to serve "the people of Maidenhead and Hopewell." None being available, they continued to be served by the church in Philadelphia. In 1713 Hopewell Township was removed from old Burlington County, and became part of newly formed Hunterdon County. In 1714 John Reading and William Greene were first assessors. Deeds were issued c1709/10 for other parts of Hopewell Township. In its north area, Baptists and Quakers from Burlington had farms around Stoutsburg and Columbia (a village today called "Hopewell"). The Hunts were on Long Island on June 4,1714 when John, Sr. (b. c1658, son of Ralph of Newton) bought 500 acres in Hopewell, bounded E by Stony Brook, N by Samuel Davis, W by Capt. Hannel and S by Johannes Lawrenson. On March 7, 1715, John Hunt and wife Joanna of Newton, sold 100 acres in Newton. (Joanna Hunt, widow, joined Pennington Presbyterian Church August 31, 1733.) Johanna Hunt's son, John, Jr. (b. c1690 in Newton) married at Newton February 8, 1714 Margaret Moore, probably daughter of Gersham Moore. John and Margaret Hunt's son, Jonathan (October 17, 1717 - September 5, 1782) married c1737 Mary, daughter of Andrew and Sarah (Stout) Smith, Jr. (This is the same Jonathan Hunt who become a founder of Jersey Settlement, one of the most prominent men in the area, and a Colonel in the Rowan Militia). Thomas Reed of Hopewell was probably brother to John Reed (b. May 3, 1677, Long Island) who moved to New Jersey c1697.

In the 1640's, several Reed brothers from England settled on farms at Newton, L.I. where they had large families. In 1656 Thomas Reed was in Middleburg, N.J. when he built a house for the Episcopal minister. Thomas Reed and John Reed lived in Hopewell Twp. between Marshalls Comer and Woodsville and were members of Penningtoes Presbyterian Church. John & Sarah (Smith) Reed are buried in the Hunt graveyard. (Ralph Ege, Pioneers of Old Hopewell, p. 66.) The Burlington and Ewing Reeds descend from William E. Reed (1689-1762), wife Elizabeth Smith. This progenitor of the Reeds of Ewing and Lawrence came c1700 from Long Island, and purchased a farm in west Lawrence. In 1706, while Ewing was still part of old Hopewell Twp., he built a substantial house on Ewingville Rd. & Spruce St. (now a museum), and is buried in Ewing churchyard. (Ibid Lewis, p. 283).

In 1709 four Houghton (Hooten) deeds: John Jr., Joseph, Richard & Thomas; also deeds for Joshua Ward, Samuel Allen, Robert Tindall, Robert Stockton and Joseph Hixson. (TheTindalls, Hixons and Houghtons settled in the NE (predominantly Baptist and Quaker) part of the township). Several prominent English families settled on Stony Brook c1719, making it likely they arrived together: the Houghtons, Robert Stockton, William Olden, Benjamin Clark and Joseph Worth. Genealogical Society of New Jersey, History ofHunterdon Co., N.J., p. 50.

A different (and apparently unrelated) Reed family moved from New Jersey to Jersey Settlement: Eldad, Medad, Moses and John Reed, sons[ of John and Hannah (Davis) Reed. [Bible records of Eldad Reed, Jr. b 1767 Jersey Settlement, grandson of John and Hannah (Davis) Reed whom he said "emigrated from New Jersey to Carolina about 1755."]

Hannah Davis (b. c1715) who named a son Eldad in 1738, was probably daughter of Eldad Davis. These Davis - Reeds were Baptists and perhaps related to the Jonathan Davis who in 1708 came to Burlington's Court seeking to be qualified as a Baptist preacher according to the Act of Toleration, asking permission to preach in a house, which was how the Hopewell Baptists met at this time. In 1722 Eldad Davis and Jonathan Davis were on the Hopewell Twp. Tax List. Hannah Davis married John Reed (born c1710) perhaps son of the John Reed who was a bachelor in 1699 when he bought a 200 acre farm on Burlington road from the estate of Hester Watts who was almost certainly kin to Rev. John Watts (wife Sarah Eaton) who served the Baptists in Pennepek, Pa. and Hopewell, N.J. until he died of smallpox in 1703. With marriages performed by Baptist and Quaker clergy still not legal whenever the government favored Royalists, parents with nonconformist tenets continued having their offspring baptized as Anglicans to insure their inheritance rights. William and Grace Merrell, Jr., (Baptists from Warwickshire) came to Northfield, Staten Island, then moved to Middletown, N.J., and c1710/11 came to Hopewell with three sons, Benjamin, Joseph and William III (who m. 1729 Penelope Stout). [December 2, 1716 a cattle ear mark " formerly William Merrell's" was registered to "James Hubbard of Middletown." Stillwell, II, cited by Wm. E. Merrell, PhD; ibid Ege, p 204].

The Merrells bought farms near the Stouts in NE Hopewell's Baptist neighborhood. The era being Royalist, baptized May 11, 1712 at St. Mary's Episcopal: Margaret daughter of William Merrail); George son of John Park. [Stillwell, Historical Miscellany, Vol. 1152-53, Register of St. Mary's Episcopal Parish, Ewing] In 1715, Enoch Armitage, an immigrant from Kirkburton Parish, Lydgate, West Riding, Yorkshire, wrote home saying that he had "settled on Stoney Brook about sixe miles from, Princeton ... near a small town called Pennington." In 1715 Dr. Coxe and Thomas Revel both died. Thomas Revel's Book of Deeds passed to son and heir, Col. Daniel Coxe. The West Jersey Society assigned a new agent to make sales, collect mortgage payments, and keep land records. In 1719 Trenton Township was formed from old south Hopewell. By now, the political climate having swung far enough back to the Royalists for Col. Daniel Coxe to return from his self-imposed exile in England, a wealthy and powerfully connected man who built a mansion in Trenton. [Richard Hunter & Richard Porter, Hopewell: A Historical Geography, p. 28]. When a 1720's land boom increased profits, he tried to reclaim ownership of huge tracts, including Hopewell. In this period, both Coxe and the West Jersey Society sold land in the township.

In 1720 the Presbyterians built a stone school at Pennington. On December 29, 1720, Robert Heaton (who in old age pioneered to Swearing Creek) was a Hopewell tailor when he proved Andrew Heath's will. In 1721 the Township had enough freemen to begin its first Book of Records, listing Cornelius Anderson's mill on Jacob's Creek (his namesake kinsman was a Jersey Settlement pioneer). The 1722 Hopewell Tax List listed Robert Eaton as keeper of a general store near the "Old Quaker Church" on Stony Brook just west of Princeton. In 1722 a Hunterdon County Tax Roll was made for five Townships, including Hopewell, and nearby areas such as Ewing, Lawrence and Trenton. About 1723 the Presbyterians build a cedar-shingled meetinghouse near their school at Pennington crossroads. In 1725 Enoch Armitage, now a successful blacksmith, ruling elder and lay minister at Pennington's Presbyterian church, wrote home to Yorkshire:

The produce we raise is Wheat and Rhye, Oats, Indian Corn & Flax ... some Hemp ... Tobacco only for our own use. The land nigh the brook affords as good Meadow I think as ever I saw in England .... we can mow twice a year without tillage and have good crops ... there is a Mill built on the next Plantation, and we are going to build a Chapell about a mile off….

In 1731, calamity befell these honest and hard working settlers when "Col. Coxe and other heirs of the late Dr. Coxe" declared that most of Hopewell belonged to them, a claim without an honest basis, e.g., improper surveys or failure to pay -- but the West Jersey Society lacked a court record proving Dr. Coxe's transfer to them. His heir, Col. Coxe, had enough political clout to induce Hunterdon's Supreme Court to order High Sheriff Bennett Bard to serve perhaps a hundred or more Hopewell residents with Writs ordering them to "Pay" for their land a second time or "Quit." Those who failed to repurchase their own farms then received "Writs of Ejectment" which called them "Tenants" and "Tresspassers" on Coxe's land! On April 22, 1731, in an impressive show of unity, fifty of the earliest settlers of Hopewell entered into a written agreement and solemn compact to stand by each other and test the validity of Col. Coxe's claim. They hired an attorney, Mr. Kinsey, and filed a counter suit naming CoL Daniel Coxe as sole defendant. The Township had more people, but some were not affected, having purchased from Coxe. Others considered it useless to fight a man as powerful as Col. Coxe , so did not join in the law suit. The August 1732 term of the New Jersey Supreme Court issued Writs of Trespass & Ejectment against each settler who had not repurchased. The fifty men who sued were identified from their individual records [Virginia Everitt, Clerk of the Hunterdon County Court, Flemington, New Jersey, citing C.H. Records, Vol. H:46. Research of Gloria Padach]:
The Coxe Trials, 1733, Fifty Men's Compact Bartholomew Anderson

Elnathan Baldwin

Robt. Blackwell

John Blair

Nehemiah Bonham

Wm. Cornell

William Crickfield

Thom. Curtis

Benjamin Drake

Thomas Evans

John Everitt

John Fidler

John Field

Jonathan Furmar

Daniel Gano

Francis Gano

John Hendrickson

Isaac Herrin

Tom Hinder

John Hixon

John Houghton

Jos. Houghton

Tom Houghton

John Hunt

Ralph Hunt
     Jacob Knowles

David Larue

James Melvin

Benjamin Merrell

John Merrill

Andrew Mershon

Nathaniel Moore

Henry Oxley

Andrew Parke

John Parke, Jr.

Joseph Parke

Roger Parke, Sr.

Roger Parke, Jr.

John Parks

Joseph Price

John Reed

Thomas Reed

Ralph Smith

Richard Smith

Thomas Smith

Jonathan Stout

Joseph Stout

Ephraim Titus

John Titus

George Woolsey

Hopewell was not the only tract affected. A group of citizens in Gloucester County hired a lawyer, Mr. Evans, and also filed a counter-suit. Unaffected communities were distressed that the Royal government abetted deed revocations, anxieties that encouraged later migrations from Hunterdon, Gloucester and Essex Counties. Still, the most violent reaction came in Hopewell where citizens actively resented the political maneuverings behind Col. Coxe's claims to ownership. After a long and tedious trail at Burlington by Judge Hooper and a panel of twelve Quaker jurors, the verdict was against the West Jersey Society and the Fifty Mens Compact. Mr. Kinsey then appealed to New Jersey's leading judicial officer, Chancellor William Cosby, who in December 1734 issued a judgment upholding the decision against the Society and Compact. Unfortunately, Mr. Cosby's ruling was based less on the legal strength of Col. Coxe's claim than on personal hatred of his arch-enemy, Lewis Morris, who after the death of Thomas Revel became primary Agent of the West Jersey Society. No higher appeal was possible because Col. Coxe was Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, a post he held till his death five years later. The settlers had three choices: pay, remove, or resist. Historian Ralph Ege (born in Hopewell in 1837) wrote about the great dilemma:

This verdict caused the most distressing state of affairs in this township that was ever experienced in any community. Some moved away immediately, but the majority stayed, at least initially, and assumed the financial burden. Cattle and personal possessions were sold, and a great struggle began which impoverished many families for years to come. Then came the great excitement incident to ejecting the settlers from the farms which they, or their fathers had purchased, and on which they had built dwellings, barns and fences. Their lands had cost them only fifty cents per acre, it is true, but they had purchased them in good faith and spent the best years of their lives in clearing them. Many had mortgaged them to pay for the expense of improvement consequently not being able to incur the additional expense, they were compelled to leave their homes and seek new homes elsewhere, risking for the second, and for some of them the third time, the perils of the wilderness.

Many, including most of the Parke family, refused to pay for the same lands twice and left the area in the early stages of a great out-migration, generally moving westward where new lands were being opened on the Virginia frontier. Some who were unable or unwilling to repurchase, stubbornly refused to vacate their homes -- and were charged rent as "Tenants" -- rent they could or would not pay, and rent defaults created still more debts. The various resistance efforts would fill the colony's court dockets for years to come. Two of the dispossessed, Thomas Smith and John Parke, were brothers-in-law and community leaders, aged 58 and 60, perhaps able to repurchase had they wished, but they (and others) were so angry they no longer wished to live where the government was so corrupt that its Assembly and Supreme Court had aided and abetted Col. Coxe in what they considered to be a monstrous land swindle against honest citizens whose families were the earliest settlers of the Township. Not only did Smith and Parke refuse to pay for their land a second time, they refused to vacate until forcibly evicted by Sheriff Bennett Bard -- who then rented their homesteads to two yeoman named O'Guillon and Collier. This so enraged Smith and Parke that in July 1735 they took their revenge, in the traditional manner of the citizens of Old England who over the centuries had developed ways to express contempt whenever there was no legal recourse: a dishonest official was "Hanged in Effigy," and a man whose actions the community considered despicable was "Tarred and Feathered."

Since the perpetrators of this "land grab," Col. Daniel Coxe, Judge Hooper, Sheriff Bard, Gov. William Cosby and lawyer Murray, were out of their victims reach, Thomas Smith and John Parke made a different plan -- but before taking action, sent their families to safety, probably across the river to Bucks County, Pa. In the dead of a July night, Smith and Parke and ten or more friends, slipped into the woods behind the homes where they had grown up, prepared a vat of melted tar and a barrel of chicken and turkey feathers, then broke into their former homes and took a "Tar and Feather" revenge on the interlopers who occupied them! These acts were considerably more than mere personal revenge: "Tar and Feathers" showed utter contempt for Coxe's dishonest officials. Tar was almost impossible to remove, so it publicly shamed the two who sought to gain from injustice, while burning their former homes and barns reduced profits to Col. Coxe. Their rebellion finished, Smith and Parke escaped across the Delaware, and their "ten or more friends" went back to their Hopewell homes, perhaps to toast the night's lively events in good English ale. Public sympathy was surely with these rebels because, in spite of great desperation in the community for money and common knowledge of the identities of the dozen or more perpetrators, nobody ever came forward to claim the large reward. These rebellious acts generated the expected response from the royal officials they had very deliberately insulted. At the August 1735 term of Hunterdon County's Superior Court, Mr. Murray, Attorney for the Coxe heirs, reported:

Several persons of Hopewell had, in a riotous and outrageous and violent manner, and by night assaulted ye persons who by virtue of his Majesties' writ, were by the Sheriff of Hunterdon County put into possession of the several houses and plantations of the persons named in the complaint.

A proclamation by WILLIAM COSBY, Captain General and Governour in Chief of the Provinces of New-Jersey, New York and Territories thereon Depending, in America….&c., was published in The American Weekly Mercury, Aug. 21- 28,1735:

Whereas I have received information upon Oath that one Duncan O'Guillon and one John Collier were, on the second day of July past, severally put into the Possession of Dwelling houses and Plantations lately in the Possession of John Parks and Thomas Smith, late of Hopewell in the County of Hunterdon, by Daniel Coxe, Esqr., who then had possession of the said dwelling Houses and Plantations, delivered unto him by Bennet Bard Esq., High Sheriff of the said Count of Huntington by Virtue of a Writ of Possession to the Sheriff, directed and issueing out of the Supream [sic] Court of this Province of New Jersey. And that in the night between the Thursday and Friday following, divers Persons unknown, to the number of Twelve or more, being all disguised, having their Faces besmear'd with Blacking and armed with Clubs and Sticks in their Hands Did in an Insolent, Violent and Riotous Manner break into and enter the respective Dwelling Houses and did Assault, Beat and Wound the said Duncan OGuillon and John Collier and other Persons then in the said several Dwelling Houses; and then did with Force & Arms violently move and turn out of possession, Cursing, Swearing and threatening in the most outrageous manner, that they would Kill and Murder the said Daniel Coxe, Esq. in Defiance of all Law and Government. To the End thereof that the said audacious Offenders may be brought to condign Punishment. I Have thought fit by and with the Advice of his Majesty's Council, to issue this Proclamation, hereby promising his Majesty's most Gracious Pardon, to any one of the said Offenders who shall discover one or more of their Accomplices so that he or they may be brought to condign Punishment. And as a further Encouragement to and all of the said Offenders any one who shall discover one or more of their Accomplices ... so that he or they may be brought to condign Punishment one who shall detect so unparallel'd and insolent an Outrage, I do hereby promise to Pay to the Discovered the Sum of Thirty Pounds Proclamation Money within one Month after any or either of the said Offenders shall by his Means by convicted of the said Offence. Given under my Hand and Seal at Arms, at Perth - Amboy, the Twenty Second day of August, in the Ninth Year of his Majesty's Reign. Annoque Domini, 1735. By his Excellency's Command, Lawr. Smyth, D. Secr. W. Cosby GOD SAVE THE KING

Smith and Parke did not wait for High Sheriff Bennet Bard to pursue nor for Governor Cosby to declare them outlaws. Before dawn, they had crossed the Delaware river, and were safely beyond the reach of New Jersey's royal officials. Two years after receiving eviction notices, some in Hopewell who had not paid for their land a second time nor paid "rent" on their own homes, fled to avoid being thrown into Debtor's Prison and having their personal property seized.

ESCAPED FOR DEBT: Thomas Palmer, William Hixon, James Tatham, Benjamin Merrill, John Palmer, Ralph Parke, Jr., James Gould, Joseph Parke, Albert Opdyke, Hezekiah Bonham, Thomas Mayberry. [Virginia Everitt, Clerk of the Hunterdon County Court, Flemington, New Jersey].

In 1738 Sheriff Bard was ordered to take George Woolsey into custody to insure his court appearance. In the next few years, some stayed in Hopewell, but others followed Smith and Parke west after selling their improvements to newcomers from Long Island and elsewhere for barely enough to make a new start. Between 1731 and 1760 about half of the families of Hopewell's "Fifty Men's Compact" moved where land was cheaper and the government more trustworthy. A popular destination was the upper Shenandoah Valley where the first settlement was started in 1730 when guide Morgan Bryan led a group of Quakers walking from Pennsylvania to the upper Potomac. He settled his own family on Opequon Creek, an area that in 1738 become Frederick County, Virginia. About 1732 another guide, Jost Hite, opened the first wagon road as far as Winchester, settling his group of Pennsylvania Germans on a different stretch of Opequon Creek. Comparison of records for early settlers in the upper Valley shows many with surnames identical to those in New Jersey's "Coxe Affair" including the two opportunistic yeoman, Duncan O'Quillon and John Collier, who after being beaten, tarred and feathered, realized they were not welcome in Hopewell. The greatest concentration of New Jersey migrants was along Back Creek (the next creek west of Opequon) in a small, mountain community where a peak was fortuitously named by its early settlers "Jersey Mountain." Since Thomas Smith (and probably his brother-in-law John Parke) had fled from Hopewell in 1735 without benefit of land sales, carrying only their personal possessions, it's unlikely either was able to buy land on arrival in the Shenandoah Valley.

Unfortunately, the same high elevation and steep slopes that made this mountain area a safe haven for refugees beyond the reach of royal law, also made farming difficult, beyond a mere subsistence level. After living several years in these beautiful mountains, many ambitious men began looking elsewhere. Furthermore, the upper Valley was no longer a safe haven. Indian raids and war threats necessitated the construction of frontier forts and the conscription of militia. Parke and Smith were now elderly, their kinsmen middle aged, and, in view of their New Jersey experiences, they were not interested in a new migration that made them "squatters," their reasons for another move being to find a peaceful area with fertile soil, moderate climate, good government and secure land titles. By May 1741, Bladen County issued deeds on the Great Peedee (Yadkin). It was no accident that the Hopewell group chose its north bank to found their "Jersey Settlement," an area described as: "Ten square miles of the best wheat land in the south, located in (modern) Davidson County, near Linwood. It was composed of many people from New Jersey who had sent an agent there to locate and enter the best land still open to settlement." [John Preston Arthur, A History of Watauga County, N. C., (1915) p.88].

A great attraction for these victims of political corruption was that in 1745 North Carolina was exceptionally well governed. Gov. Gabriel Johnston was an honest, capable Scottish physician and professor who on arrival found the colony in pitiable condition, and tried earnestly to better its welfare. "Under (Johnston's) prudent administration, the province increased in population, wealth and happiness."' [C. L. Hunter, Sketches of Western North Carolina, (1877), p. 7].

About 1745, the New Jersey group (perhaps a dozen or more families) left Back Creek in a wagon train bound for the Yadkin. Based on events after arrival, their leaders were probably Jonathan Hunt and Thomas Smith, but they were almost surely guided by the famous "Waggoneer" and explorer, Morgan Bryan who guided other groups to this general area, and in 1748 brought his own family from the Opequon to form Morgan's Settlement on the south bank of Deep Creek, four miles above the "Shallow Ford" of the Yadkin. [Robert W. Ramsey, Carolina Cradle, Settlement of the Northwest Carolina Frontier, 1747-1762; (U.N.C. Press, 1964; 4th printing 1987), p. 31].

So began the River Settlements, best reached from the north via an old Indian warpath, widened and renamed The Yading Path. About 1745/6 Thomas Smith received land on Swearing Creek, but his Bladen deed is missing (as are many others.) At age 71, on September 29, 1748, Smith was at Newburn with men from other western communities, petitioning the North Carolina Assembly to form Anson County, because they had to travel over a hundred miles to Bladen court house. The next day, September 30, 1748, he was appointed Justice of the Peace for Bladen, [William L. Saunders, editor, N. C. Colonial Records, Vol IV: 189, 889] --and under Colonial N.C. law, only landowners could be Justices of the Peace.

On November 5, 1748, a survey was made on Swearing Creek for Robert Heaton adjoining Thomas Smith; chain bearers: John Titus and Jonathan Hunt. These men are the first four landowners identified in Jersey Settlement. More than four men were needed in a frontier settlement, so it's likely others came in this first group, young men from Back Creek (not necessarily Hopewell) who were unable to buy land at first, but, being needed, lived with friends or kinsmen. Perhaps some did buy land on arrival, their Bladen deeds missing, like Smith's. John Titus, Jr. (1748 Swearing Creek chain bearer for Heaton), after losing his Hopewell land, joined his wife's uncle, Thomas Smith, on Back Creek before moving with him to the Yadkin. [John Titus, Jr. b. c1715 Hopewell, m. there c1740 Anna Smith (b. 28 Jan 1716) d/o Andrew & Sarah (Stout) Smith, Jr. In 1752, John & Sarah Titus were still in Jersey Settlement, but they returned to Hopewell where she d. 25 Aug 1777. However, other members of the Titus family later came to Jersey Settlement. (Research of Gloria Padach); Peggy Shomo Joyner, Northern Neck Warrants, 11:139]

On April 14, 1753, a 584 acre survey for Richard Lane," on "branches of Swaring Creek", adjoining McCullouch's Line, Thomas Smith and Robert Heaton. Wits: Jas. Carter, & Wm. Bishop. [Richard Lane was probably from the Hopewell family of Baptists descended from early immigrant Geisbert Laenen (Gilbert Lane) from north Belgium, then part of Netherlands. In 1719 Mathias Lane died leaving his property in Stoutsburg, Hopewell Twp., to his widow Anna. Obid, Lewis, p. 191; Margaret M. Hofmann, The Granville District of North Carolina 1748-1763, #4673].

Robert Heaton of Hopewell was on Back Creek till, the summer of 1748 when he came to Swearing Creek. "Thomas Potts probably lived on Potts Creek." [James S. Brawley, The Rowan Story. In addition, Thomas Potts was perhaps a descendant of English immigrant Thomas Potts who arrived at Burlington, N.J. in 1678 on the ship Shield with his wife Mary and children, a Baptist on arrival, a 1689 member of Burhngton Baptist Church. Ibid, Baptists of New Jersey. In 1722, Thomas Potts was on Hopewell's Tax List].

Thomas Evans was a very early settler at Rowan's Trading Ford. Robert Ramsey thought he might be Thomas Evans of Maryland [Robert Ramsey, Carolina Cradle, (U.N.C. Press, 4th printing, 1987), p. 110].. However, on July 4, 1738 at St. Mary's, Ewing, the marriage of Tho's Evans & Diana Cassel. In 1753, 348 persons signed a new petition, this one being to separate from Anson County, resulting in the formation of Rowan, of which Henry Reeves wrote:

At the time of the formation of Rowan County in 1753, two of the Yadkin settlers, Col. George Smith and Jonathan Hunt, were important enough that the Assembly would not approve the bill for the formation of Rowan County until the names of George Smith Col., and Jonathan Hunt, Capt. were re-inserted. Their names had been in the original bill for formation, but had been deleted and other names substituted by his Majesty’s Council. Early Jersey Church served Episcopalians, Baptists and Presbyterians, with later sermons, marriages and baptisms performed by visiting preachers, including Moravians, and catechism lessons by Lutheran Rev. David Henkel. [George Smith (1713-cl.799) s/o Andrew, Jr., brother-in-law to Jonathan Hunt; Smith Bible; Rep. James Whitaker (1779-1871) of Cherokee Co., N.C., My Memoirs, private publication].


Comparison of Settlements Hopewell, New Jersey
Fifty Men's Pact 1734      Jersey Settlement
Rowan Co., NC
Anderson, Bartholomew      Anderson, Cornelius (nephew)
1749 J. P., Anson Co.
Baldwin, Elnathan      Baldwin, John & Wm.
1753 Rowan deeds.
Blair, John      Blair, John, d. 1746
Mulberry Run, Frederick, Va
leaving orphan John. Blair, John (Jr.)
1765 Rowan sale
Drake, Benj.      Drake, Benj.
1753 Rowan deed, stockmark.
Evans, Thomas      Evans, Thomas
1747 Rowan Trading Ford
Everitt, John      Everitt, John
1778 Rowan poll
Gano, Daniel & Francis      Gano, Rev. John
(s/o Daniel), 1770 deed.
Hendrickson, John      Hendrickson, John
1786 Rowan witness
Houghton, John      Houghton, Henry
1753 Rowan deed
Hunt, John      Hunt, Jonathan
s/o John, 1748 chain bearer
Hunt, Ralph      Hunt, Wm. & Thos.
1759 Rowan Tax List
Mayberry, Thomas      Mabery, Francis
1768 Rowan Tax List
Mr. Mayberry, 1771 Regulator
Merrill, Benjamin

Merrill, John
     Benjamin Merrill
(son of Wm., Jr.
nephew of older Benj. & John)
1771 Regulator
Moore, Nathaniel      Moore, Nathaniel
1778 Rowan Tax List
Palmer, John      Palmer, J.
1755 Rowan deed witness
Palmer, Thos.      Palmer, Francis
1753 Rowan deed.
Parke, Andrew      P----, John
1759 Rowan Tax List
Parke, John      Parke, George & Noah
1759 Rowan Tax
Parke, Joseph      Parke, Joseph
s/o Hugh, 1781 Rowan will.
Parke, Roger      
Smith, Ralph      Smith, Ralph
1761 Rowan
Smith, Richard      Smith, Richard
1763 Rowan deed
Smith, Thomas      Smith, Thomas
1748 deed
Stout, Joseph      Stout, William
b. ca 1790
Stout, Jonathan
1822 Rowan
Titus, John      Titus, John
1748 chain bearer.

Note: Identical names in two locations do not prove they are the same individuals. Thomas Evans of the Fifty Mens' Compact, may be same man as (or father of) Thomas Evans of Rowan's Trading Ford. ["14th of 4th month 1713, a baptism at Hopewell, Susanna, daughter Thowas Evans." Ibid, Register of First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia which also served Hopewell].

John Parke (who fled Hopewell with Thomas Smith) is believed to be the John Park who died in the upper Valley, and perhaps father of George Parks who had deeds on Back Creek and Rowan. April 13, 1751, Thomas Sharp to George Parks 143 acres on Back Creek, Frederick Co., Va. Dec. 20, 1760, "George Park of Roann County, N.C." 143 acres on Back Creek to Thomas Sharp of Frederick Co. [Peggy Shomo Joyner, Northern Neck Warrants, 11:139].

Thomas Smith who rebelled so strongly in Hopewell that he became fugitive, died at his home on Swearing Creek. His widow, Rebecca, many years his junior, lived to see more wagon trains arrive, some with neighbors and kin from Hopewell, including the Baptist Stouts, Eatons and Merrells. She was there c1752 when a huge wagon train brought several hundred people, including most of the congregation of Scotch Plains Baptist Church from Essex County, New Jersey, and undoubtedly heard sermons in 1755 by that church's visiting minister, "Rev. (Benjamin) Miller-(who) spent several weeks at the Jersey Church for the colony was made up of many persons from his neighborhood.-"' [Rev. Morgan Edwards, Materials Towards a History of the Baptists, II:106].

In 1755, a wagon train arrived with Quakers from Pennsylvania, followed in the 1760's by many Germans from Pennsylvania and west Maryland. As a widow, Rebecca (Anderson) Smith, lived with a married daughter, dying at age 86, August 13, 1785, and was buried at Eaton's Baptist Church. The first pioneers kept in touch with New Jersey, e.g., death in Rowan was entered in a Hopewell Bible, and they invited others from Hopewell and Back Creek to join them in the beautiful valley of the Yadkin, an invitation many accepted. Some who had not sued in the Fifty Mens' Compact lost their land, and came to rebuild their fortunes. At least 22 of the 50 families who lost both lawsuit and land in the infamous "Coxe Affair " eventually moved to Jersey Settlement.

END NOTES

Morgan Edwards, A.M., Fellow Rhode Island College 1770-1792, (His private publication, 1790). Rev. Edwards extant diaries edited by Eve B. Weeks & Mary B. Warren, Materials Towards a History of the Baptists, (Heritage Papers, 1984).

Ralph Ege, Pioneers of Old Hopewell, (Hopewell Museum, 1908, rpt 1963).

Richard W. Hunter & Richard L. Porter, Hopewell. A Historical Geography, (N. J. Historical Commission, 1990).

Alice Blackwell Lewis, Hopewell Valley Heritage, (Hopewell Museum, 1973).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ms. Ethel Stroupe, a native of Asheville, N.C., is a Certified Social Worker, retired from administration, living in Laguna Niguel, California. She did her first genealogy at Biltmore College as a Biology 101 assignment on genetics taught by her cousin, Professor William E. Merrill, then studied history at the U.'s of Rome, Florence, Ohio State, Pitt, and Cal. Berkeley. Her Jersey Settlement families are Childers, Davis, Fouts, Garren, Harper, Rent, Reed and Whitaker.

She gratefully acknowledges the help of Gloria Padach, especially for sharing documents from the New Jersey Archives and Hunterdon courthouse, and advises all who want to know more about Hopewell families buy the excellent books by Ralph Ege and Alice Blackwell Lewis which are crammed with family and historical information, and are available most reasonably by writing to Hopewell Museum, Beverly A. Weide, Curator, 28 East Broad Street, Hopewell, N.J. 08525.

History of the Jersey Settlement
(From History of Wautauga County. Chapter VIII)

First Light on the Jersey Settlement.-From a sketch of the Greene Family of Watauga, by the late Rev. G. W. Greene, Baptist missionary to China, we learn that "about the middle of the eighteenth century a colony moved from New Jersey and settled in Rowan County, North Carolina. This "Jersey Settlement" is now a part of Davidson County, and lies near the Yadkin River, opposite Salisbury . . . H. E. McCullough, of England, had secured grants to large tracts in North Carolina, tract No. 9 containing 12500 acres, including much of the land of the Jersey Settlement. Jeremiah Greene bought 541 acres of this tract. This land is described as lying "on the waters of Atkin or Pee Dee," on Pott's Creek. This creek passes near the village of Linwood, within a mile of the Jersey church, and empties into the Yadkin, not far away. This land was bought in 1762. Some years later, when this tract of land was divided between his two sons, Richard and Isaac, the new deeds were not registered, but the names of the new owners were written on the margin of the page where the old deed was registered. The Yadkin becomes the Pee Dee in South Carolina. In his "Rhymes of Southern Rivers" M. V. Moore says that Yadkin is not an Indian name, but a corruption of Atkin or Adkin. If Atkin's initials were P. D., then P. D. Atkin might very easily have become P. D. Yatkin, just as "don't you know" becomes "doncher know." Henry Eustace McCullough was doubtless the "H. E. McCullough, of England," referred to by Mr. Greene, was the agent of the province of North Carolina in December and was commended for good conduct (Col. Rec., Vol. IX, P. 206), and he surrendered land in Mecklenberg, claimed by John Campbell, Esq., of England, without authority as Campbell claimed, although there was a direction in the minutes of the council journals that the attorney-general directing McCulloh was to surrender it." (Id. P. 790.) It seems that land in large tracts had been granted to certain persons of influence on condition that they be settled within certain dates, for G. A. Selwyn, of England, appointed H. E. McCulloh to surrender any part of three tracts of 100000 acres each, which had been granted to him upon the above conditions. (Id. Vol. VI, pp. go6-7.) This was in November, 1763, only a year after Jeremiah Greene bought his 541 acres from H. E. McCullough. This would seem to account for the reference by Bishop Spangenberg to the 400 families from the North which had just arrived in 1752, and for the fact that most of the land east of Rowan County had been already taken up at that time. (Id. Vol. IV, p. 1312.)

Meager Facts Concerning-This settlement consisted of about ten square miles of the best wheat land in the South, and was located in Davidson County, near Linwood. It was composed of many people from New Jersey who had sent an agent there to locate and enter the best land still open to settlement. According to Rev. C. B. Williams in his "History of the Baptists in North Carolina" (p. 16), "The exact year in which the Jersey Settlement was made on the Yadkin is not known. It is probable that this settlement left New Jersey and arrived on the Yadkin between 1747 and 1755. Benjamin Miller preached there as early as 1755, and the facts indicate that there were already Baptists on the Yadkin when Benjamin Miller visited the settlement. The Philadelphia Association has in its records of 1755 the following reference: "Appointed that one minister from the Jerseys and one from Pennsylvania visit North Carolina." But Miller appears to have gone to the "Jersey Settlement still earlier than 1755 - - - (p.17). Another preacher who visited the Jersey Settlement was John Gano. He had been converted just before this time, and was directed by Benjamin Miller, pastor of Scotch Plains Church, New Jersey, to take the New Testament as his guide on baptism. He became a Baptist, and, learning of Carolina from Miller, decided to visit the Jersey Settlement on his way to South Carolina. This he seems to have done in 1756. During his stay at the settlement he tells us in his autobiography that "a Baptist Church was constituted and additions made to it." He left the colony early in the year 1759, and so the church must have been organized between 1756 and 1758. There is a tradition that while there Gano, married a Bryan or a Morgan, one of the antecedents of the Bryan family of Boone.

SONS OF DEWITT COLONY TEXAS
© 1997-2003, Wallace L. McKeehan, All Rights Reserved.³ Roger, a neighbor [1677 immigrant]Andrew SMITH, and several others joined the Church of England in Burlington.
"In 1702 we find find that there bad been a break with the Quakers as Roger, a neighbor [1677 immigrant]Andrew SMITH, and several others joined the Church of England in Burlington. This coincided with the arrival of the Rev George KEITH, sent over by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Through him grew what became known as the Keithian Movement in New Jersey. It should be noted that in New England there were Puritans and Separatists (from the Church of England) and Quakers in Philadelphia and west Jersey. While to the south, the Church of England was the crown-designated only church. (Keith's break with the Quakers is another subject to pursue.)⁴" Birth Records - Years of Research
June 1648 , Priory Church of Cartmnel, England
CeciliaParke14 - 4/11/2007Some errors in dates f?or Roger Parke. Roger? born about June 1648,? Frith, Lancashire o.,? England. He became a? Quaker before leaving? England in June 1682. ? Roger's birth/christning re?cord found in Priory C?hurch of Cartmnel. Fa?mily names are also sh?own, birth, death, et?c. Roger went into Cu?mberland Co., and then? into Northumberland Co?unty where he married ?Ann Pattison, daughter? of John and Margaret ? Pattison. They were ?married April 1676, in? Hexham, Northumberlan?d Co., England. They? sold their property i?n 1682 and left for Am?erica in June 1682. T?hey first settled in ?Crosswicks, near Trent?on, NJ and then moved ?to Hopewell, Hunterrdo?n Co., NJ. Nothing mro?e is known of Ann Pati?son. Roger died abo?ut 1739 in Hopewell. H?e has many descendants? . DNA has been used.?

CeciliaParke14 - 4/11/2007
Have noticed some erro?rs. The research on R?oger Parke was done by? me and I published a? boolk "Roger Par?ke, Immigrant 1648-New? Jersey" in 2000?. It has a copyright.? Errors: Roger Par?ke born about June 164?8, according to Parish? records of Cartmel ? Priory Church. He ?became a Quaker and ma?rreid Ann Patison in 1?676, Hexham, Northumbe?rland Co., England. H?e came to New Jersey,? USA in 1682 wth daug?her, Ann and son, John?. He lived in Crosswi?cks, NJ, and later in? Hopewell, NJ. He die?d about 1737 according? to Town Records.?⁴ Miner Descent Tracing each branch back to their arrival in America
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? Roger Parke JrJean Perlier III ?
Dr. Roger Parke Sr.
Posted on May 19, 2010 by markeminer
Roger PARKE Sr. (1648 – 1738) was Alex’s 9th Great Grandfather; one of 1,024 in this generation of the Miller line., He was the first white settler in Hopewell, New Jersey, the township where Washington crossed the Delaware.


Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, 1851

Roger Parke Sr. ws born in 1648 in Hexham, Northumberland, England. He was baptized at Cartmel Priory Church, Lancashire, England on 25 Jun 1648, along with brothers, George, Thomas, James and sister, Ann. His parents were Allan PARKE (1606 – 1667) and Elizabeth [__?__] of Cartmel Parish, Lancashire, England. His grandfather was Sir John Parke (b. 1575). He married Ann PATTISON in 10 Apr 1676, in Taylorbourne, Allendale, Northumberland, England (Quaker Records – Marriage license: recorded in the Holme Monthly Meetings, Book 355, page 268 and filed in the Cumbria Records Office).


Roger was baptized in Cartmel Priory Cumbria (formerly in Lancashire). . Because his family were Quakers and his siblings were all baptized at the same time it is likely this was done as a political requirement.

No passenger list has ever been found for a Roger Parke or for the Patisons, who also made the voyage to Crosswicks, Burlingon Co., New Jersey in 1682. However, it is possible that they arrived on the ship “Greyhound” which went aground in the Delaware River in the fall of 1682, and was reported to have carried over 350 passengers. Alternatively, Doctor Parke, came in “The Shield” in 1678, and was among the first European emigrants to be landed at Burlington, as no vessel had previously ventured so far up the Delaware.

In 1690 he lived in a Quaker settlement on Crosswick’s Creek near Trenton, but he traveled so often to Wissamonson [Woodbridge near Elizabeth, a 44 mile trek to the northeast] to study medicine under old Indian squaws and medicine men that his path was called “Roger’s Road.” About 1700 he moved his family to Hopewell as its first white settlers. By the way, Washington crossed the Delaware Roger died in 1731, in Hopewell Township, Hunterdon County [now Mercer County], NJ.


Census Bureau map of Hopewell Township, Mercer County, NJ

In the late 1600’s two families came into New Jersey, with names so nearly alike, that some researchers have combined them as one family. Ours is Roger Parke, of Hexham, County of Northumberland, England. The second is Roger Parkes with an “S” who was born 1638 in Carlisle, Cumbria, England, and died Jun 1690 in Hopewell, Hunterdon, NJ.

Ann Patison was born 1658 in Allendale, Northumberland, England. Her parents were John PATISON and Margaret [__?__]. Ann died in 1731, Hopewell Township, Hunterdon County. NJ

Due to a scandal known as “the Coxe Affair” ownership of the Parke’s homestead and many other pioneer families was invalidated. Many of Roger and Ann’s descendants, including their son, John Parke, migrated from Hopewell, NJ to Frederick Co., VA later Hampshire Co., WV and to the Jersey Settlement in Rowan County, North Carolina.

In 1691, Dr. Daniel Coxe, purportedly sold a vast 30,000-acre tract in western New Jersey to a new group of Proprietors called the West Jersey Society, who heavily promoted it to settlers in Long Island and New England. Although Dr. Coxe never left England, he served nominally as Governor of New Jersey by purchase of land, and bought other large tracts of land throughout America.


Dr. Daniel Coxe

But in 1731, Dr. Coxe’s son Col. Daniel Coxe suddenly showed up, claiming that he possessed superior title via a superseding deed that his father had recorded years earlier. To the dismay of the settlers, the courts agreed with Col. Coxe’s claim. Hundreds of families were forced to repurchase their own property from Col. Coxe or be forcibly evicted. The ensuing scandal was one of many injustices that inflamed American anger against the British during the years leading up the Revolutionary War. There were lawsuits; there were riots; Col. Coxe was burned in efigy; but to no avail.

As a result, many Hopewell residents left New Jersey, either unable to pay Col. Coxe or disgusted with the colony’s rampant political corruption. One group of Hopewell expatriates settled on the Yadkin River in what was then Rowan County, NC. This community, the Jersey Settlement, continued to attract new settlers from the Hopewell area for several decades.

Roger managed to keep his home and a small acreage, but practically all the rest of the family had to search for a new home.””Some of them went north into northern West Jersey, but others went into Pennsylvania and Virginia. Other names appearing on the ejection suit include his son John Parke Sr and grandsons John Parke Jr, Joseph Park and Andrew Park. John Sr & Jr and Andrew were in Hampshire County Virginia by 1750.

Children of Roger and Ann: Baptism dates are not a good proxy for birth in the Parke family. The Parkes were Quakers and they baptized their children in the Anglican Church due to political necessity.

Name     Born     Married     Departed
1.     John Parke     1674, Northumberland Co., England
.
baptized as an Anglican (See Story)
28 Feb 1703 St.Mary’s Church, Burlington, NJ     Sarah Smith
1699
Crosswicks Creek, Hopewell Township, Hunterdon, NJ     1757, Hampshire Co., VA (now WV)
2.     Anne Parke     1676
Northumberland Co., England     William Morrell
1697
Monmouth, New Jersey.     ca. 1728
3.     Roger PARKE Jr.     1683 Burlington County NJ.     [__?__] Probably not Susannah ROBINSON
1698
Crosswicks Creek New Jersey
.
Hannah [_?_]
Before 1704     1755
Hunterdon County, NJ.

Hopewell Township, Mercer County, New Jersey

10 Oct 1687 – On the “10th of the 8th month” the ship Shield, Daniel Towes, Captain, was the first to sail this far up the Delaware river. After mooring to a tree, passengers landed on the Jersey side, including George Parks [perhaps Roger’s brother] George must have died soon after arriving since he disappears from all records but we do not have any proof of their kinship.

The next confirmation on Roger Parke’s arrival in America is found in the “Letter of Removal”, given to him before he left Enland for West Jersey. The date on the Certificate was June 11, 1682, which indicated that he probably left England on the next available ship. His deed was dated 24th or 25th of May, 1682, so he had purchased the 200 acres from Edward Bylinge, while still in England.

Another record was found in the “Account Book of William Penn, Quaker,” in 1685, indicating that he had paid Roger Parke, 9 pounds …shillings, to “cure” a negro. Source: PA. Mag. of History & Biography, Vol. 35, 1911, p. 201. This seems to substantiate why he was called “doctor”. A road to Trenton was named “Rogers Road” because Roger was said to have traveled it so much. He possibly had many friends and perhaps relatives still around the Trenton area where he had lived before.

Roger Parke, who was popularly known among the pioneers as “Old Doctor Parks,” studied the Indian practice of medicine with the old squaws and medicine men, and the early settlers came to him
for many miles around, his treatment being much the same as that practiced by Dr. Jacob Tidd in later years, who, it is said had many of the recipes of Doctor Parke.

The first white man in Hopewell was Jonathan Stout who in 1685 explored the wilderness from his parent’s home in Middletown, lived several years at Wissamonson with the Indians, then returned home.

On March 30, 1688, Adlord Bowle, agent for “Daniell Coxe, Esqr., Governor & Cheife Proprietor” of West Jersey, met with eleven Indian Chiefs who sold their rights to a huge tract of land that included Hopewell, Ewing and north Trenton for hatchets, knives, needles, tobacco, rum, beer, kettles, 30 guns, shot and lead. With land sales now legal, Dr. Coxe directed his agents to subdivide and sell to settlers.

This first agreement excepted the Hopewell tract, but between 1692 and 1694 Coxe made a second agreement transferring it to the West Jersey Society — which failed to execute a deed. The Society and Agent Revel continued selling land and developing the area. The West Jersey Society distributed fliers on the north-east seaboard advertising “Fertile Land for Sale Cheap,” offering to residents in New England and in older New Jersey communities cheap land “lying above ye ffals of ye Delaware” (Hopewell) with inducements to buy farms by cash or mortgages.

1690 – Roger Parke, an English immigrant, lived in a Quaker settlement on Crosswick’s Creek, but he traveled so often to Wissamonson to study medicine under old Indian squaws and medicine men that his path was called “Roger’s Road.” About 1700 he moved his family to Hopewell as its first white settlers.

1684 – John Patison and son-in-law Roger Parke are listed as plantation land holders in or near Trenton, New Jersey

1696 – Moved to Hopewell, New Jersey about 16 miles North East of Trenton.

Apr 1697 – Roger Parke of “Cross wicks Creek, formerly of Nottingham, England,” purchased 400 acres of land of Thomas Revel, agent for the New Jersey Society. The survey is described by Mr. Revel as beginning at a white oak tree on the north side of Stony Brook at Wissamenson. and at the same time another tract of 100 acres adjoining Thomas Tindal, for his daughter, Annie Parke. In 1905 this tract included the D. P. Voorhees farm, the railroad quarry farm, and also Amos Sked’s, C. E. Voorhees’, the Samuel Ege farm, and portions of W. W. Kirkendall’s, W. C. Velit’s and E. S. Titus’.

In 1698 he was a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas.

He became Episcopal in 1700, and Baptist in 1703/04. Roger, his neighbor and future brother-in-law Andrew Smith, and several others joined the Church of England in Burlington. This may have been due to political reasons as church membership was often a requirement to own property/

21 Aug 1703 – A Commission of the Peace for the County of Burlington was issued and Roger Parke (among others) was appointed to the office of justices of the peace.

About 1700/01, a fateful marriage occurred when John Parke married Thomas Smith’s sister Sarah. (These two brothers-in-law, Smith and Parke, later acted together in open rebellion during “The Coxe Affair”, fled together, and both families would be early pioneers of Jersey Settlement.) In 1701 Dr. Daniel Coxe, as physician to the Royal Household, learned that New York (and New Jersey) was about to become a Royal Colony — and that the West Jersey Society had not registered his transfer of the Hopewell tract to them. Using this inside information, in 1702 Dr. Coxe gave Hopewell to his son: “Dr. Daniel Coxe of London Doctor in Phisiq” (conveyed his… tracts and proprietary rights to) “Daniel Coxe of London, Gentleman Son and heir apparent of the said Daniell Coxe Doctor in Phisiq.”

In 1702 the political event that Dr. Coxe anticipated occurred: the Jersey Proprietors relinquished their rights of government to the Crown, Queen Amne was on the throne, Dr. Coxe was her private physician — and the new Governor coming from London was the Queen’s first cousin, Dr. Coxe’s good friend, Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury — accompanied to America by Dr. Coxe’s son, Col. Daniel Coxe. Together they composed the Cornbury Ring, which quickly became infamous for abusing government authority for personal profit. Both the Ring and the Proprietors fought to control land sales because whoever did also controlled the government — and had a handsome income. As governor, Lord Cornbury changed the political climate, being allied with the Coxes against the West Jersey Society over ownership of large tracts of land, one of which included Hopewell Township. In 1706, Lord Cornbury and his Council (the upper House of Legislature, of which Col. Daniel Coxe was a member) launched an attack on the proprietary faction, challenging their authority over the land system. They also alleged that the West Jersey Society lacked any title, that being Col. Coxe’s position, taking advantage of the Society’s failure to register his transfer (for a consideration) to them of the Hopewell tract c1692/3.

With New York a Royal Colony, the Anglican church became (as in England) entwined with all aspects of the civil government, with authority over many aspects of daily life, e. g., the only legal marriages were performed by Anglican ministers, with children from marriages performed by other clergymen considered illegitimate. An Episcopal priest was sent to Burlington County to establish- “Hopewell Chappel Church” (St. Mary ‘s Episcopal, Ewing.) A year before the cornerstone was laid (March 25, 1703) some Hopewell residents who were Quakers and Baptists rushed down to Ewing to have their adult children baptized as Anglicans to protect their inheritance rights. Baptized February 28,1702 by Rev. Mr. John Talbot:

John and Roger Parke, ye children of Rogr. Parke.

A band of Lenni Lenape Indians occupied the vacant tract next to Anne Parke’s land and their wagons could be seen for many years but they were on friendly terms with the Parke family. Eventually they left never to return. Anne and her husband lived on the 100 acre farm her father purchased for her in 1698.

Taken from the Hopewell Herald, Wed April 12, 1905
Pioneers of Hopewell by Ralph Ege

In several of our previous articles, reference has been made to Doctor Roger Parke, who so far as known was he first white settler within the present limits of Hopewell township.

There is a singular fascination about every scrap of tradition concerning this old pioneer, who settled on the farm now occupied by Mr. C.F. Voorhees, two miles west of Hopewell borough, his farm two hundred years ago including several of those now adjoining Mr. Voorhees.

It is an old tradition that when he first settled there, the Red men of the forest still had their wigwams, and held their Powwows, on the banks of Stony Brook at that point; and that the dusky maidens admired their beauty as reflected in the crystal waters of the stream. While the young braves reclined on its green banks, under the grand old trees which were still standing within the memory of the writer, and in his boyhood it was one of the traditions of the place that old Indian medicine men had taught Doctor Parke their mysterious arts of healing, and that the herbs and plants which flourished in such great variety all about the place, had, many of them, been planted by him and their leaves, blossoms, barks and roots, used in his practice.

Occasional reference to Doctor Parke, made by the old people of the neighborhood, awakened an intense desire to know more of this traditional old doctor, of whom the “oldest inhabitant” seemed to know so little, and who had his residence there, years before the birth of the writer’s great, great grandfather.

To my youthful imagination, the man who had the courage to live among a barbarous and savage race, whose cruelty and treachery were proverbial, was an immortal hero, and deserved a more imposing monument than the rough sandstone in the old family graveyard, which bore the simple and very vague inscription, “R.P, 1755.

On of my earliest recollections was of the old garden, which occupied a part of the same spot as the present, a considerable space of which was, at that ???? devoted to beds of herbs, both annual and perennial, some of which bore large showy flowers, while others were very insignificant, proving that they had been planted for use, rather than beauty.

The dilapidated old fences were overgrown with a thicket of vines and shrubbery, which also had their uses in the old doctor’s time; but in the writer’s boyhood, was a favorite summer resort for the robins and catbirds, whose happy voices blended very harmoniously in the early morning, but created a frightful discord later in the day, as they spitefully snarled and scolded over the right of possession to the old garden.

Some of the herbs in this garden were not native to this locality, but had been brought from other states and transplanted, on account of their valuable medicinal properties and the old Larison family., who were descended from Dr. Parke, and succeeded him on the homestead were familiar with their uses, and had carefully guarded them while they remained on the farm.

A few years after the old farm came in to the possession of the father of the writer the old house which had sheltered Doctor Parke and at least three generations of his descendants in the Parke-Larison line, was taken down, and a new house erected near the site.

The old garden was not spared in the march of improvement, for while it was in keeping with the old house and its surroundings it was strangely out of harmony with the new order of things, and was “Cleared Out.”

While some of the herbs were transplanted to the new garden, most of them which were called by the old people, “old Doctor Parke’s Yarbs” were consigned to the brush pile, but not to oblivion, as many of the same varieties are still found on the shelves of every up-to-date drug store in the country.

After the lapse of two centuries a few still survive on the farm, to recall the memory of the famous old doctor, who had here stewed and brewed the bitter concoctions, which won for him the distinction of being the pioneer physician of old Hopewell.

So far as known he was the only physician in this region for many years, and rode on horseback over these hills and mountains, when very few houses stood between the Delaware and the Millstone, and all the country to the north was still the home of the Lenni??????

On these long lonely rides his saddlebags were well supplied with an assortment of remedies for both external and internal treatments.

It was not a prescription age, and as no drug store existed nearer than New York or Philadelphia, he carried an apothecary shop with him.

He had his care-cloth, salves, ointments, washes (or liniments). Plasters and poultices for external application; and besides these, his pills and powders, which were used on all occasions.

These latter, the old doctors called their “pukes and purges,” but in the more polite usage of our times, would be termed emetics and cathartics.

His constant companions were the lancer and horn cup for bleeding and cupping, which were considered indispensable to the outfit of every doctor and chirugeon of “ye olden time.”

It is not known whether Dr. Parke had received any medical education before emigrating to this country, (this is doubtful because it is said he emigrated as a teenager, he may had been an apprentice, not from JJ.) but the fact that his name is not found in any of the biographies of early physicians in this state, is no proof. It is a well known fact that some of the pioneer physicians, who had a very extensive practice before the revolution, and served as surgeons in the army for a time, are not mentioned in any of the histories hereto fore published. His home was a mecca for the afflicted, who made long pilgrimages to be treated for cancers, ulcers, cataract, rheumatism and other diseases, not too severe to admit of the patient making the journey on foot or on horseback, as we must not lose sight of the fact that in Dr. Parke’s day there were no wagon roads.

One of popular modes of treatment practiced by the Indian “medicine men” , and doubtless by Dr. Parke also was the “sweating and plunging” remedy, which was invariably resorted to in obstinate cases, which refused to yield to ordinary treatment.

It was heroic treatment and in some instances, where the patient was low in vitality or the diagnosis of the “medicine man” was at fault, it was attended with lethal results. Yet it was said that they performed some wonderful cures, which seemed little less than miraculous.

The mode of treatment was to heat a large stone red hot, and then cover it with a heavy tent of skins, tightly sewed together (such as were used by them in winter) then place the patient inside in a perfectly nude condition. The stone was then frequently wet with water until it caused the perspiration to “stand out like beads”, and in this condition the patient would be hurried to the near-by brook and plunged in, only for a moment, when he was taken back in the tent or hut, and covered with skins or blankets, until the perspiration was more profuse than before, if possible.

That Dr. Parke was a man of considerable prominence two hundred years ago, is obvious from the fact that soon after the year 1700, the old “Indian path to Wissomency,” (as it was called in the earliest deeds) began to be designated in the deeds from Trenton to Stony Brook as “Rogers Road.”

The origin of the name was a puzzle to the writer, until in an old book of court records in Flemington, he found the record of the original survey of the road from Ringoes to Marshall’s Corner, dated March 30, 1722. We will republish the last course given in said survey, retaining the capitalization and spelling. “Thence along a line of Marked trees as aforesaid to a Hickory tree standing near Samuel furmans Corner, by the side of Roger Parks his road.”

“Furman’s Corner” is now known as Marshall’s Corner, and this settled the vexed question as to who the road had been named for, and now the question arose, why should it have been named for Roger Parke ? There seems to be but one plausible solution, and that is, that he was the pioneer who opened up this road to the white settlers and caused the name to be changed from the “path” of the red man, to the “road” of the pioneer.

Roger Parke resided near “Crosswicks* Creek,” a few miles east of Trenton in 1690, and about that time commenced his study of the Indian practice of medicine with the Indians at Wissamenson. To
do this, he probably made frequent pilgrimages over this path until it began to be known as “Rogers Road. ‘

A few years later when Doctor Parke made his home at Wissamenson, many of his Quaker neighbors of Cross wicks and the “Falls” (now Trenton) doubtless followed him for treatment, as they had been associated with him in the Friends meeting at Crosswicks and Chesterfield, before he settled” away up in the woods,” on the banks of Stony Brook. It is a well known custom of the Friends to which they still religiously adhere, to call people by their Christian names, consequently it was not “Mr. Parkes road,” but in speaking of it they would say, “this is Roger’s road,” or “the road to Roger’s.”

Doctor Parke was an influential member of the Society of Friends, and may have been a relative of the noted author and zealous Quaker preacher, Jas. Parke, who was born on the border of Wales in 1636, and was cotemporary with George Fox, the distinguished founder of the Society. The following record copied by the writer from an old record book of the “Friends meeting,” is in proof of his prominence in the church.

“2d 8th mo. 1684. Thos. Gilderthorpe, Roger Parke and Robert Wilson agreed that a week day meeting be held at the ffalls upon a fifth day of every week, (except that week the monthly meeting is at Francis Davenports) one day at Mahlon Stacy’s, one day at Thomas Lamberts and one day at Thos. Sykes.”

Pioneers of Old Hopewell – Number 32

In Liber B., Part i, Book of Deeds, on file in the office of the Secretary of State at Trenton, is found the record of a deed dated May 24-25, 1682, from Edward Bylinge to ” Roger Parke of Hexham, county of Northumberland, England, yeoman,” for 200 acres of land, to be laid out in “West Jersey.* ‘ On Nov 11, 1686, ” Roger Parke, late of Hexham, now of Crosswicks Creek,” sold the above tract to John Watkins, of Middlehook.

In 1875, the writer found in the possession of Misses Susan and Sarah Sexton, who were descendants of Doctor Parke, the original parchment deed from Anthony Woodhouse to Roger Parke of Crosswicks, dated the thirteenth day of the eleventh month, called January (old style) 1685, for “one two thirtieth of a Proprietary in the first ten Proprietaries, the consideration being the sum of six pounds, sixteen shillings, current money of said Province. If this deed is still in possession of either of the above named sisters, it is the oldest known document of the kind in existence. The writer had a synopsis of this deed published in the Trenton State Gazette, in July, 1875.

In 1687, Roger Parke owned 200 acres near Crosswicks Creek, and served on the grand jury from that locality in 1688, and again in 1690, and was foreman of the grand jury in 1692, and in 1698 was one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas.

In Reveirs Book of Surveys, Liber A., Page 14, “Reversed side,” is found a record of the original survey of the Parke tract on Stony Brook, at Hopewell. It is dated April, 1697, and commences as follows, “Surveyed then for Roger Parke 400 acres on the north side of Stony Brook at Wissamenson.” This survey began at a white oak tree at the bend of the brook, a half mile north of the ford (now Moore’s mill at Glen Moore), from thence it ran west through the swamp, to a point north of the present location of the iron bridge, near C. E. Voorhees*. From this point the brook had a well defined channel, which was followed “up ye several courses thereof” to an elm tree standing on the north side of the brook above the slate quarry, on the farm of W. W. Kirkendall. Thence north to a point near the late residence ofWm. S. Stout, deceased, thence east to the northeast corner of the farm now owned by Amos Sked, thence south following his line and that of the E. S. Wells farm (formerly Samuel Ege’s) to the Stony Brook road near the old baryta mines, and thence to the place of beginning, * ‘containing 400 acres, besides allowance for ways.”

In May, 1697, Roger Parke had 100 acres surveyed for his daughter, Anne Parke, adjoining his tract on the east, which is fully described with a history of its subsequent owners, in number 17, and several of the succeeding articles of this series. On June 12, 1698, Roger Parke received his deed, and on August 9, 1698, Anne Parke hers, for the above tracts, and by subsequent and more accurate surveys, they were found to contain about 650 acres. On June 16; 1699, “John Parke of Parkesberry,” in the County of Burlington, purchased of Thomas Revell, agent for the West Jersey Society, 300 acres adjoining his father on the north. If his tract exceeded the number of acres specified in his deed as much in proportion as the tracts surveyed for his father and sister, the Parke family had fully 1000 acres lying in one body, between Stony Brook and the mountain (or “Rocks,” as the mountain was then known) bounded on the east by the road leading from the Stony Brook road at the mines, by way of Mr. Montag’s north to the old 30,000 acre line, near the southern boundary of the farm now owned by Zephaniah Hixson, and thence west to the road leading from Stony Brook to Runyan’s saw mill.

This north line of the 30,000 acre tract of Col. Daniel Coxe was subsequently changed, and all the deeds conformed to it, calling it Doctor Coxes’ s “true line,” and on and near this line was located the old driftway known for many years as the old “Bungtown road” leading to Coryell’s ferry — now Lambertville — which was in use until the old turnpike was opened up in 1820-21.

After the Parke family had located their lands, their next thought was to provide homes for their families, and in this it was the custom for the pioneers to assist each other. It seldom required more than two or three days to get a log cabin enclosed. As there were no saw mills, they selected a straight grained red, or black oak tree, from which they split boards and plank for roof, door and floor. The hinges and latches were all made of wood and the doors pinned together with wooden pins, not a handful of nails being used in building a house in those days. The windows were made of oiled paper or deer skin, dressed thin enough to admit the light. The fire-places were without jambs and stretched all the way across one side of the cabin and were made deep enough so that large logs could be piled in, and the family could all be accommodated with a seat at the fire.

Having built their houses and made a table, a bedstead and some benches for each, the pioneers next turned their attention to clearing a field large enough to raise some buckwheat, beans and potatoes. The largest trees were left standing and girdled by cutting a deep notch all around them, which stopped the flow of sap and killed them the first year, after which crops could be raised without the trouble and expense of removing them. Where the trees were very large and scattering the land could soon be made tillable in this manner, as there were no small trees or bushes near them, and in clearing the land of the smaller trees, they were cut down, dragged together and burned.

A portion of this land was devoted to raising flax, which the pioneer would need for garments by the time it could be grown and manufactured, as it all had to be spun, woven and made up on the farm. No wool could be produced by the pioneers for many years after their settlement, on account of the depredations of wolves, which were very numerous and troublesome. Wool for underwear, stockings and blankets Was brought on horseback from the older settled portion of the country, where wolves were less numerous or had been exterminated. The outer garments of the pioneer were principally from the flax grown on his farm, first spun and then dyed, with the barks of the trees grown on the farm, to any color desired, after which it was woven and made up by the mother and daughters of the household.

Next to flax, the most important crop the first year was buckwheat, as it could be quickly and easily grown and served as a substitute for bread, as well as feed for the few animals kept on the farm. The pioneer scratched over the ground the best he could with a knotty log, and harrowed in his buckwheat with a heavy brush, as the wooden tooth harrow could not be used until the roots and stumps had decayed.

His buckwheat was cut with the sickle as scythes were not in use until 1750, and when it was ready to thresh, a piece of ground was cleared off, a post placed in the centre, around which a team of horses were driven, until the ground was tramped very solid, when the grain was thrown on and repeatedly shaken up until the horses had threshed it. Fanning mills were not in use until about 1750 and the grain and chaff were heaped up and left until there was a good stiff beeeze, when it would be tossed up until cleaned, when it would be put in a bin built of rails and thatched over with straw. Here it would be left until needed, when it would be ready to be crushed with the ‘ ‘plumper* ‘ as described in Number 22, or loaded on the backs of his horses, and a trip made to mill, which in the case of the Parkes, was through the forest to the log mill of Mahlon Stacy, which stood on the bank of the Assanpink where it is now crossed by Broad Street, Trenton.

To scores of others, “going to mill” involved a journey of from fifty to one hundred miles or more and then the grain was only ground, not bolted, and the good wife was obliged to bolt it through a cloth of homespun before it was ready for the griddle. The first mills were erected on the small streams, on which dams could be built with small expense, and they were a great curiosity, being constructed by the pioneer. The wheels were all of wood, pinned together with wooden pins and some of these mills ground only five to ten bushels per day and were often unable to run on account of ice in winter and droughts in summer.

Very little corn was planted the first few years, as it could not be cultivated with the wooden plows then in use, on account of the stumps and roots, and cultivation with the hoe was very tedious and laborious work. Very little grain was grown for market for many years after the first settlement of the country, as the demand was very limited, the price very low and transporting it to a navigable stream, on the backs of pack horses, attended with great difficulty.

In later years, when corn became one of the staple products it was often all shelled by hand, before the big fireplace in the kitchen on the long winter evenings, with no other light than that from the blazing logs. The contrivance used for shelling was not patented and consisted of a wash tub (with the long handled frying pan run through the handles of the tub and held firmly in place with corn cobs. Two good men, one on each side of this “machine,” would keep a third man hustling to carry the corn in from the crib as fast as they could shell it. Thousands of bushels of corn were shelled in this manner, not only by the pioneers, but by the three or four generations succeeding them, for one hundred and forty years after the settlement of the country.

Within the writer’s memory a favorite method was to run the bayonet of an old musket through the top of a box, and it seems almost incredible that they were used in this manner until the middle of the steel bayonet was nearly or quite worn away in the service. The scriptural injunction of ancient times “beat your swords into plow shares and your spears into pruning hooks,” was exemplified in the peaceful triumph of the bayonet of modern times. Corn was also shelled off with horses or flails, within the memory of the writer, before the pigeon hole shelters came into general use or the larger shellers were invented.

The scriptural injunction to “beat the swords into plowshares” was not obeyed literally by our forefathers of colonial days, as their plows were very rude affairs constructed wholly of wood, the mold board being cut from a tough cross-grained white oak knot and often not a pound of iron used in its construction. In later years a small plate of iron was nailed to the point, to be used especially in stony land.

It must be remembered that no farmer at that time sowed a pint of grass seed, and never plowed a field that was in sod, consequently the wooden plows served a fair purpose to stir up the loose soil. The first wrought iron plow share was introduced in 1776, and long after that time the mold boards were plated with strips of iron, made from old horse shoes, hammered out very thin and nailed on. The proper shape for the mold board of a plow was suggested by Thomas Jefferson and the first cast iron plows were invented by a New Jersey farmer named Newbold, but their use did not become general until about the beginning of the last century on account of a prejudice existing against them.

Harvesting until after the revolution, was all done with the sickle, and when the grain cradle came in use farmers were as much delighted, as their grandchildren were with the self binding harvester.

At the time of Doctor Parke’s settlement on Stony Brook fruit growing was not yet in its infancy. Improved varieties of peaches, plums, pears and grapes were unknown, the only supply of grapes being those found growing wild in the woods and along fences and waste lands. Vegetables were abundant, but not in as great variety as at present. Tomatoes, sweet corn, lettuce, egg plant and celery were unknown, which in our day are considered almost inpensable. Farmers’ tables were bountifully supplied with ham, bacon and smoked meats, but fresh meats were rarely seen except during the winter season. Game was plentiful but the industrious farmer who had his farm to clear spent very little time in the chase.

While the Indians remained they were very serviceable in supplying the settlers with game, fish, skins and furs, which they disposed of in exchange for salt, tobacco, gunpowder and other articles, which all the first settlers kept on hand for barter. The skins and furs which were purchased for a trifle, often bringing them quite a revenue in the markets of New York or Philadelphia, a small bundle of furs that they could carry on horseback often bringing more ready cash than a crop of corn.

The first wagons of the settlers were constructed wholly of wood. The wheels were made with very heavy rims, all pinned together with wooden pins, the wooden tires being fastened on in the same manner. To build a wagon of the rudest description required time and skill, and as sleds were very simple in their construction, they were used extensively about the farm in summer as well as winter, as they were loaded lightly and the hauls were short. All the crops were either hauled together on the sled or carried. They were made entirely of wood, not a pound of iron being used, the shoes being pinned on with wooden pins and as they were made from hickory saplings split in half, they were hard and smooth and a considerable load could be hauled on the bare ground.

Surrounded as we are with the comforts, luxuries and conveniences of our twentieth century civilization, it is difficult to realize anything of the severe hardships and privations our colonial ancestors endured to establish a home in a wilderness, which they by their fortitude and indomitable courage, conquered, and left as a precious legacy to their descendants, who now occupy this beautiful valley.

Origins of the Jersey Settlement of Rowan County, North Carolina First Families of Jersey Settlement By Ethel Stroup

New Jersey historians wrote of Hopewell and Carolina historians wrote of Jersey Settlement. Nobody wrote about how, when and why North Carolina’s Jersey Settlement grew out of (and interacted with) its parent community, Hopewell, New Jersey, nor why so many of old Hopewell’s solid citizens fled to North Carolina. To satisfy her curiosity, the author mined facts with the help of librarians, genealogical societies in both places, and other descendants. Eventually, a story emerged of the Settlement’s origins: it was older than expected, and its first settlers were Hopewell citizens who migrated after being swindled by Proprietors and royal Governors, especially Dr. Daniel Coxe and his son Col. Daniel Coxe, two powerful and greedily villainous Proprietors, in “The Coxe Affair.”


Dr. Daniel Coxe

What these Jersey men endured in Hopewell directly affected the Yadkin’s Revolutionary generation, explaining why Jersey Settlement had reacted so violently against N.C.’s corrupt Gov. William Tryon’s sticky-fingered royal officials, John Frohock, Rowan Court Clerk and Edmund Fanning, King’s Attorney, whose thievery and injustices caused the 1771 Regulator War (considered by historians the first true battle of the American Revolution), and caused Charles Lord Cornwallis to call central North Carolina “a hornet’s nest of rebellion.”

[The most heavily affected areas were said to be that of Rowan, Anson, Orange, Granville, and Cumberland counties. It was a struggle between mostly lower class citizens, who made up the majority of the population of North Carolina, and the wealthy ruling class, who comprised about 5% of the population, yet maintained almost total control of the government. The primary aim of the Regulators was to form an honest government and reduce taxation. The wealthy businessmen/ politicians that ruled North Carolina at this point, saw this as a grave threat to their power. Ultimately they brought in militia to crush the rebellion, and then hanged their leaders. ]

The earliest families of Jersey Settlement came from Hopewell Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, where some had been members of Pennington’s Presbyterian Church, and others were Quakers and Baptists who baptized their children in St. Mary’s Episcopal Church for practical, political reasons. The earliest families identified in Jersey Settlement c.1745 were those of Jonathan Hunt, Thomas and Rebecca (Anderson) Smith, Robert Heaton, and John Titus. Others from Hopewell, e.g., Cornelius Anderson, came in this first party or soon followed. They were founding this settlement so that they, and groups that followed, could recoup losses suffered when New Jersey’s Supreme Court invalidated deeds to thousands of acres in Hopewell, land their fathers had purchased as wilderness. To understand this amazing story of invalidated land titles, one must “begin at the beginning” with the founding of West Jersey’s Hopewell Township, followed by a slow build up to the surprising events that preceded this migration.

Hopewell’s first inhabitants were Lenapes, an Algonquin tribe who welcomed Europeans because they needed protection from other Indians. Their Hopewell villages were Wissamonson [Woodbridge] and Minnepenasson [Stoutsburg]. New Jersey’s first Europeans were Swedes and Dutch from New York and Pennsylvania.

In 1655 Peter Stuyvesant brought it under Dutch control with landowners called Proprietors, but the Dutch governed inhabitants. In March, 1664 England’s King Charles II — who did not own New Netherlands — gave it to his brother, James, Duke of York, and sent a fleet that easily seized it. The Duke of York then gave half of New Jersey to George, Lord Carteret, including the right to govern inhabitants on lands held. Thereafter, any wealthy man could be a Proprietor and govern residents, a land power system predestined for abuse of power for personal gain and disputes over land ownership. The colony developed as a Proprietary System, like a corporation, and London speculators dealt in “percentages of Proprietary Shares.”

In 1664, the British seized New Jersey, but, to avoid the expense of Indian wars, decreed that land be purchased before settlement, buying West Jersey for wampum, trinkets, a few bolts of cloth and two kettles. The Lenapes lived among Europeans on Stony Brook from the 1680’s to 1725, then moved west, declaring: “Not a drop of our blood have you shed in battle—not an acre of our land have you taken without our consent.”

In 1673 Lord Berkeley sold his shares to John Fenwicke and Edward Byllynge who planned a Quaker Refuge like Pennsylvania. In July 1676 the “Province Line” divided East and West Jersey, giving control to the Quakers who owned five-eighths. William Penn drafted a constitution. In 1677 ships brought 230 Quakers from Yorkshire and London who founded a settlement at Burlington. In late summer 1677, the Flie-Boate Martha of Burlington, Yorkshire, sailed from Hull bringing 114 passengers, including two heads of families, Thomas Schooley and Thomas Hooten, future residents of Hopewell.

On the “10th of the 8th month” (10 October 1678) the ship Shield, Daniel Towes, Captain, was the first to sail this far up the Delaware river. After mooring to a tree, passengers landed on the Jersey side, including George Parks [immigrant George Parks was perhaps brother to Hopewell’s Quaker Roger Parke, and perhaps related the later George Parks who arrived c1760 in Jersey Settlement], Peter and John Fretwell, Thomas Revell and wife, Robert Schooley, wife and children, and Thomas Potts, wife and children. “Burlington Baptist Church was constituted in 1689 with eleven members. Thomas Potts (Sr., a tanner, & lot wife Mary; 2nd wife Anne) and a few others had been Baptists in England, and others converted after their arrival in America. It appears that some may have been Quakers who were influenced to become Baptists.”

Thomas Revell, “Gentleman”, a first Justice of the Peace, was appointed by a group of Proprietors as “Agent for the Honorable West Jersey Society in England” to survey and sell land and issue deeds. In November 1680, a Delaware river survey for John Hooten on NW side of Crosswick’s Creek (near Trenton). On January 20, 1681, Revel surveyed for Peter Fretwell “above the ffals of Dellaware” (Hopewell), and 200 acres for Andrew Smith “at the ffalls (Trenton).” Burlington County was divided into “Tenths”. 1682 officers: Thomas Revel, Provincial Clerk-Recorder; Daniel Leeds, Surveyor; Robert Schooley & John Pancoast, Constables, Yorkshire Tenth; Thomas Sharp, Constable, Third Tenth.

In 1685 a large shareholder, Dr. Daniel Coxe , “Ciregeon (surgeon) of London and Doctor in phisick,” entered the New Jersey action without leaving London. His political power was from being physician to the royal court, while his great wealth enabled him to buy extensive land shares. A ruthless, “bottom-line” speculator, Dr. Coxe aimed to maximize his power and profits by any conceivable method. He began a series of acquisitions and manipulations, writing the Council of Proprietors: “It would be for your good — to contrive any method thereby the government might legally … be involved with the Proprietors.”


Gov. Daniel Coxe’s 30,000-acre (1707) Hopewell Patent – The map is dated 1706. That seems a bit early for me since so little is shown of the area north of Trenton. The map seems to date to about 1690. Whatever the date, it is interesting for the way it shows the location of Dr. Daniel Coxe’s holdings in West Jersey. The map shows a large designated for Doctor Coxe south of Trenton, along the River. It also includes a large tract with the jagged boundary immediately recognizable as the northern boundary of Hopewell Township. The tract runs south to the “Road from York to Delaware Falls,” from the Delaware River to the Millstone River. This tract is indicated on the Hammond Map as “Gov. Daniel Coxe’s 30,000-acre

By 1685, as largest share-holder, he declared, “The government of West Jersey is legally in me as full as Pennsylvania is in Penn … I therefore assume the title of Governor, and lay claim to the powers and authority therein annexed…” For several years he governed from London.

The first white man in Hopewell was Jonathan Stout who in 1685 explored the wilderness from his parent’s home in Middletown, lived several years at Wissamonson with the Indians, then returned home.

On March 30, 1688, Adlord Bowle, agent for “Daniell Coxe, Esqr., Governor & Cheife Proprietor” of West Jersey, met with eleven Indian Chiefs who sold their rights to a huge tract of land that included Hopewell, Ewing and north Trenton for hatchets, knives, needles, tobacco, rum, beer, kettles, 30 guns, shot and lead. With land sales now legal, Dr. Coxe directed his agents to subdivide and sell to settlers. In May 1688 Andrew Smith, Sr., “yeoman,” bought 200 acres, but not from Coxe’s agents, but from Cornelius Empson of Pa., “in what is called Hopewell,” a tract later occupied by his son Thomas Smith (a pioneer of Jersey Settlement).

In 1688 the Council of Proprietors accepted the plan of Dr. Coxe, an Anglican, to disenfranchise the Quakers whose rights came from a deceased Proprietor: “All the deeds granted Edward Byllinge … shall be adjudged and esteemed insufficient for the commission to grant warrants upon.” The Council left land records in the hands of Thomas Revel. (At this point, Coxe and Revel were not at odds.)

On December 4, 1689, Hopewell was surveyed for Dr. Daniel Coxe who bought it estimated as “28,000 acres of wilderness inhabited by wild beasts and Indians.” Then, apparently temporarily short of cash, in 1691 he sold part of his holdings: For a valuable consideration Dr. Daniel Coxe of London, Esquire, Governor and Cheife Proprietor of the Province of West Jersey transfers the right of government and some of his land holdings in the Colony— (to a company of businessmen)… the West Jersey Society of England. This first agreement excepted the Hopewell tract, but between 1692 and 1694 Coxe made a second agreement transferring it to the West Jersey Society — which failed to execute a deed. The Society and Agent Revel continued selling land and developing the area. The West Jersey Society distributed fliers on the north-east seaboard advertising “Fertile Land for Sale Cheap,” offering to residents in New England and in older New Jersey communities cheap land “lying above ye ffals of ye Delaware” (Hopewell) with inducements to buy farms by cash or mortgages.

In 1690 Roger Parke, an English immigrant, lived in a Quaker settlement on Crosswick’s Creek, but he traveled so often to Wissamonson to study medicine under old Indian squaws and medicine men that his path was called “Roger’s Road.” About 1700 he moved his family to Hopewell as its first white settlers.

Surveys preceded settlement, and Hopewell’s first farm was surveyed on February 27, 1696 by Revell for Thomas Tindall, but not occupied until c. 1706 by his so[n-in-law John Pullen, of Huguenot ancestry.

Some of Roger Parke’s Quaker neighbors from Crosswick’s settled south of him in Hopewell. [Land records: 1686: Jonathan Eldridge; 1688: Dr. John Houghton of Gloucester, 1693: John Wilsford; 1694: Widow Mary Stanisland; 1695: John Bryerley, Capt. Moses Petit & Benjamin Clark. A 1696 survey showed that Parke’s Stony Brook tract adjoined land owned by John Moore, George Hutchinson, Sam Bunting and Marmaduke Houseman. Surveys, 1696: Edward Hunt 200 acres in the Society’s 30,000 acre tract; 1697: Andrew Smith for Thomas Smith, next to Roger Parke 1698: John Gilbert, weaver, James Melvin near Thomas Stevenson, Nathaniel Pope, Edward Burroughs and George Woolsey].

The February 1699 Burlington County Court received a “Petition of some inhabitants above the ffalls for a new township to be called Hopewell, as also a new road and boundaries of Said town…” The Township’s location was described c. 1770: Hopewell is situated 40 miles S.W. of Philadelphia, bounded on the East by the Province line, West by the Delaware River, on the North by Amwell Twp., and on the South by Assunpink Creek, and included the Indian village of Wissamensen at the head of Stony Brook, some miles north of the falls of the Delaware.


Location of Disputed Property in 18th Century New Jersey

About 1700/01, a fateful marriage occurred when John Parke [Roger’s son] married Thomas Smith’s sister Sarah. (These two brothers-in-law, Smith and Parke, later acted together in open rebellion during “The Coxe Affair”, fled together, and both families would be early pioneers of Jersey Settlement.)

In 1701 Dr. Daniel Coxe, as physician to the Royal Household, learned that New York (and New Jersey) was about to become a Royal Colony — and that the West Jersey Society had not registered his transfer of the Hopewell tract to them. Using this inside information, in 1702 Dr. Coxe gave Hopewell to his son: “Dr. Daniel Coxe of London Doctor in Phisiq” (conveyed his… tracts and proprietary rights to) “Daniel Coxe of London, Gentleman Son and heir apparent of the said Daniell Coxe Doctor in Phisics.

Many new settlers came to Hopewell between 1686 and 1710.

In 1702 the political event that Dr. Coxe anticipated occurred: the Jersey Proprietors relinquished their rights of government to the Crown, Queen Anne was on the throne, Dr. Coxe was her private physician — and the new Governor coming from London was the Queen’s first cousin, Dr. Coxe’s good friend, Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury — accompanied to America by Dr. Coxe’s son, Col. Daniel Coxe. Together they composed the Cornbury Ring, which quickly became infamous for abusing government authority for personal profit. Both the Ring and the Proprietors fought to control land sales because whoever did also controlled the government — and had a handsome income. As governor, Lord Cornbury changed the political climate, being allied with the Coxes against the West Jersey Society over ownership of large tracts of land, one of which included Hopewell Township.

In 1706, Lord Cornbury and his Council (the upper House of Legislature, of which Col. Daniel Coxe was a member) launched an attack on the proprietary faction, challenging their authority over the land system. They also alleged that the West Jersey Society lacked any title, that being Col. Coxe’s position, taking advantage of the Society’s failure to register his transfer (for a consideration) to them of the Hopewell tract c. 1692/3.

Like so many of the early British governors in the colonies, Lord Cornbury, of New York and New Jersey, was notorious for his greed and incompetence. But Cornbury had an added claim to fame. (Lord Cornbury’s) great insanity was dressing himself as a woman. Lord Orford says that when Governor in America (Cornbury) opened the Assembly dressed in that fashion. When some of those about him remonstrated, his reply was, “You are very stupid not to see the propriety of it. In this place and particularly on this occasion, I represent a woman (Queen Anne) and ought in all respects to represent her as faithfully as I can.” Mr. William says his father has told him that he had done business with him (Lord Cornbury) in woman’s clothes. He used to sit at the open window so dressed, to the great amusement of the neighbors. He employed always the most fashionable milliner, shoemaker, stay maker, etc. Mr. Williams has seen a picture of him at Herbert Packington’s in Worcester, in a gown, stays, tucker, long ruffles, cap, etc. He was a large man, wore a hoop and a headdress, and with a fan in his hand was seen frequently at night upon the ramparts…. [Richard Zachs, History Laid Bare, (Harper Collins, 1994), p 209].

This first cousin to Queen Anne, Governor of New York and New Jersey from 1702 to 1708, had his portrait painted wearing a ball gown and five o’clock shadow. (It now hangs in the New York Historical Society). Newsweek magazine, issue of May 23, 1994;


Lord Cornbury – was Governor of New York and New Jersey between 1701 and 1708, and is perhaps best known for the claims of him cross-dressing while in office.

With New York a Royal Colony, the Anglican church became (as in England) entwined with all aspects of the civil government, with authority over many aspects of daily life, e. g., the only legal marriages were performed by Anglican ministers, with children from marriages performed by other clergymen considered illegitimate. An Episcopal priest was sent to Burlington County to establish- “Hopewell Chappel Church” (St. Mary ‘s Episcopal, Ewing.) A year before the cornerstone was laid (March 25, 1703) some Hopewell residents who were Quakers and Baptists rushed down to Ewing to have their adult children baptized as Anglicans to protect their inheritance rights.

Baptized February 28, 1702 by Rev. Mr. John Talbot: John and Roger Parke, ye children of Rogr. Parke.Thomas, Andrew, Elizabeth, Mary and Hannah Smith, the children of Andrew Smith. William Scholey (son) of Robt. Scholey. By now, settlers had cleared land, built cabins and barns, widened paths, and established a ferry to connect with the Philadelphia road where many went to shop or to church so that the Jersey wilderness was becoming a productive, English style, rural community of isolated farms joined by lanes and a few wagon roads. In 1707 Col. Coxe acted to reclaim the Hopewell tract he had conveyed to the West Jersey Society by persuading the Cornbury Ring to make a new survey of the Hopewell tract in his name. Then, in 1708 the Coxes had a major setback: the Crown removed Lord Cornbury as Governor because of the turmoil caused by his obvious corruption.

The new Governor supported the Proprietors, Col. Coxe was removed from Council and Assembly, and soon found the political climate so hostile that he returned to England. With him in disfavor, the West Jersey Society maintained its claim to the Hopewell tract without dispute. About 1708, the area around Penny Town received an influx of Presbyterians from Newton

In 1713 Hopewell Township was removed from old Burlington County, and became part of newly formed Hunterdon County. In 1714 John Reading and William Greene were first assessors. Deeds were issued c1709/10 for other parts of Hopewell Township. In its north area, Baptists and Quakers from Burlington had farms around Stoutsburg and Columbia (a village today called “Hopewell“).

With marriages performed by Baptist and Quaker clergy still not legal whenever the government favored Royalists, parents with nonconformist tenets continued having their offspring baptized as Anglicans to insure their inheritance rights. For example The era being Royalist, baptized May 11, 1712 at St. Mary’s Episcopal: Margaret daughter of William Merrail); George son of John Park.

In 1715 Dr. Coxe and Thomas Revel both died. Thomas Revel’s Book of Deeds passed to son and heir, Col. Daniel Coxe. The West Jersey Society assigned a new agent to make sales, collect mortgage payments, and keep land records. In 1719 Trenton Township was formed from old south Hopewell. By now, the political climate having swung far enough back to the Royalists for Col. Daniel Coxe to return from his self imposed exile in England, a wealthy and powerfully connected man who built a mansion in Trenton.

When a 1720’s land boom increased profits, he tried to reclaim ownership of huge tracts, including Hopewell. In this period, both Coxe and the West Jersey Society sold land in the township. In 1720 the Presbyterians built a stone school at Pennington. In 1721 the Township had enough freemen to begin its first Book of Records, listing Cornelius Anderson’s mill on Jacob’s Creek .

The 1722 Hopewell Tax List listed Robert Eaton as keeper of a general store near the “Old Quaker Church” on Stony Brook just west of Princeton. In 1722 a Hunterdon County Tax Roll was made for five Townships, including Hopewell, and nearby areas such as Ewing, Lawrence and Trenton.

About 1723 the Presbyterians build a cedar shingled meetinghouse near their school at Pennington crossroads. In 1725 Enoch Armitage, now a successful blacksmith, ruling elder and lay minister at Pennington’s Presbyterian church, wrote home to Yorkshire: The produce we raise is Wheat and Rhye, Oats, Indian Corn & Flax … some Hemp … Tobacco only for our own use. The land nigh the brook affords as good Meadow I think as ever I saw in England …. we can mow twice a year without tillage and have good crops … there is a Mill built on the next Plantation, and we are going to build a Chapell about a mile off….

In 1731, calamity befell these honest and hard working settlers when “Col. Coxe and other heirs of the late Dr. Coxe” declared that most of Hopewell belonged to them, a claim without an honest basis, e.g., improper surveys or failure to pay — but the West Jersey Society lacked a court record proving Dr. Coxe’s transfer to them. His heir, Col. Coxe, had enough political clout to induce Hunterdon’s Supreme Court to order High Sheriff Bennett Bard to serve perhaps a hundred or more Hopewell residents with Writs ordering them to “Pay” for their land a second time or “Quit.” Those who failed to repurchase their own farms then received “Writs of Ejectment” which called them “Tenants” and “Tresspassers” on Coxe’s land!

On April 22, 1731, in an impressive show of unity, fifty of the earliest settlers of Hopewell entered into a written agreement and solemn compact to stand by each other and test the validity of Col. Coxe’s claim. They hired an attorney, Mr. Kinsey, and filed a counter suit naming Col. Daniel Coxe as sole defendant. The Township had more people, but some were not affected, having purchased from Coxe. Others considered it useless to fight a man as powerful as Col. Coxe , so did not join in the law suit.

The August 1732 term of the New Jersey Supreme Court issued Writs of Trespass & Ejectment against each settler who had not repurchased. The fifty men who sued were identified from their individual records The Coxe Trials, 1733, Fifty Men’s Compact Bartholomew Anderson Elnathan Baldwin Robt. Blackwell John Blair Nehemiah Bonham Wm. Cornell William Crickfield Thom. Curtis Benjamin Drake Thomas Evans John Everitt John Fidler John Field Jonathan Furmar Daniel Gano Francis Gano John Hendrickson Isaac Herrin Tom Hinder John Hixon John Houghton Jos. Houghton Tom Houghton John Hunt Ralph Hunt Jacob Knowles David Larue James Melvin Benjamin Merrell John Merrill Andrew Mershon Nathaniel Moore Henry Oxley Andrew Parke, John Parke, Jr. Joseph Parke Roger PARKE, Sr. Roger PARKE, Jr. John Parks Joseph Price John Reed Thomas Reed Ralph Smith Richard Smith Thomas Smith Jonathan Stout Joseph Stout Ephraim Titus John Titus George Woolsey

Hopewell was not the only tract affected. A group of citizens in Gloucester County hired a lawyer, Mr. Evans, and also filed a counter-suit. Unaffected communities were distressed that the Royal government abetted deed revocations, anxieties that encouraged later migrations from Hunterdon, Gloucester and Essex Counties.

Still, the most violent reaction came in Hopewell where citizens actively resented the political maneuverings behind Col. Coxe’s claims to ownership. After a long and tedious trial at Burlington by Judge Hooper and a panel of twelve Quaker jurors, the verdict was against the West Jersey Society and the Fifty Mens Compact.

Mr. Kinsey then appealed to New Jersey’s leading judicial officer, Chancellor William Cosby, who in December 1734 issued a judgment upholding the decision against the Society and Compact. Unfortunately, Mr. Cosby’s ruling was based less on the legal strength of Col. Coxe’s claim than on personal hatred of his arch-enemy, Lewis Morris, who after the death of Thomas Revel became primary Agent of the West Jersey Society.

No higher appeal was possible because Col. Coxe was Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, a post he held till his death five years later.

The settlers had three choices: pay, remove, or resist. Historian Ralph Ege (born in Hopewell in 1837) wrote about the great dilemma: This verdict caused the most distressing state of affairs in this township that was ever experienced in any community. Some moved away immediately, but the majority stayed, at least initially, and assumed the financial burden. Cattle and personal possessions were sold, and a great struggle began which impoverished many families for years to come.

Then came the great excitement incident to ejecting the settlers from the farms which they, or their fathers had purchased, and on which they had built dwellings, barns and fences. Their lands had cost them only fifty cents per acre, it is true, but they had purchased them in good faith and spent the best years of their lives in clearing them. Many had mortgaged them to pay for the expense of improvement consequently not being able to incur the additional expense, they were compelled to leave their homes and seek new homes elsewhere, risking for the second, and for some of them the third time, the perils of the wilderness. Many, including most of the Parke family, refused to pay for the same lands twice and left the area in the early stages of a great out-migration, generally moving westward where new lands were being opened on the Virginia frontier. Some who were unable or unwilling to repurchase, stubbornly refused to vacate their homes — and were charged rent as “Tenants” — rent they could or would not pay, and rent defaults created still more debts.

The various resistance efforts would fill the colony’s court dockets for years to come.

At the August 1735 term of Hunterdon County’s Superior Court, Mr. Murray, Attorney for the Coxe heirs, reported: Several persons of Hopewell had, in a riotous and outrageous and violent manner, and by night assaulted ye persons who by virtue of his Majesties’ writ, were by the Sheriff of Hunterdon County put into possession of the several houses and plantations of the persons named in the complaint.

In 1738 Sheriff Bard was ordered to take George Woolsey into custody to insure his court appearance. In the next few years, some stayed in Hopewell, but others followed Smith and Parke west after selling their improvements to newcomers from Long Island and elsewhere for barely enough to make a new start.

Between 1731 and 1760 about half of the families of Hopewell’s “Fifty Men’s Compact” moved where land was cheaper and the government more trustworthy. A popular destination was the upper Shenandoah Valley where the first settlement was started in 1730 when guide Morgan Bryan led a group of Quakers walking from Pennsylvania to the upper Potomac. He settled his own family on Opequon Creek, an area that in 1738 become Frederick County, Virginia.



About 1732 another guide, Jost Hite, opened the first wagon road as far as Winchester, settling his group of Pennsylvania Germans on a different stretch of Opequon Creek. Comparison of records for early settlers in the upper Valley shows many with surnames identical to those in New Jersey’s “Coxe Affair” including the two opportunistic yeoman, Duncan O’Quillon and John Collier, who after being beaten, tarred and feathered, realized they were not welcome in Hopewell. The greatest concentration of New Jersey migrants was along Back Creek (the next creek west of Opequon) in a small, mountain community where a peak was fortuitously named by its early settlers “Jersey Mountain.”

By May 1741, Bladen County issued deeds on the Great Peedee (Yadkin). It was no accident that the Hopewell group chose its north bank to found their “Jersey Settlement,” an area described as: “Ten square miles of the best wheat land in the south, located in (modern) Davidson County, near Linwood. It was composed of many people from New Jersey who had sent an agent there to locate and enter the best land still open to settlement.”

A great attraction for these victims of political corruption was that in 1745 North Carolina was exceptionally well governed. Gov. Gabriel Johnston was an honest, capable Scottish physician and professor who on arrival found the colony in pitiable condition, and tried earnestly to better its welfare. About 1745, the New Jersey group (perhaps a dozen or more families) left Back Creek in a wagon train bound for the Yadkin.

Based on events after arrival, their leaders were probably Jonathan Hunt and Thomas Smith, but they were almost surely guided by the famous “Waggoneer” and explorer, Morgan Bryan who guided other groups to this general area, and in 1748 brought his own family from the Opequon to form Morgan’s Settlement on the south bank of Deep Creek, four miles above the “Shallow Ford” of the Yadkin.

So began the River Settlements, best reached from the north via an old Indian warpath, widened and renamed The Yading Path. About 1745/6 Thomas Smith received land on Swearing Creek, but his Bladen deed is missing. At age 71, on September 29, 1748, Smith was at Newburn with men from other western communities, petitioning the North Carolina Assembly to form Anson County, because they had to travel over a hundred miles to Bladen court house. The next day, September 30, 1748, he was appointed Justice of the Peace for Bladen, –and under Colonial N.C. law, only landowners could be Justices of the Peace.

On November 5, 1748, a survey was made on Swearing Creek for Robert Heaton adjoining Thomas Smith; chain bearers: John Titus and Jonathan Hunt. These men are the first four landowners identified in Jersey Settlement. More than four men were needed in a frontier settlement, so it’s likely others came in this first group, young men from Back Creek (not necessarily Hopewell) who were unable to buy land at first, but, being needed, lived with friends or kinsmen. Perhaps some did buy land on arrival, their Bladen deeds missing, like Smith’s. John Titus, Jr. (1748 Swearing Creek chain bearer for Heaton), after losing his Hopewell land, joined his wife’s uncle, Thomas Smith, on Back Creek before moving with him to the Yadkin.


Rowan County NC

In 1753, 348 persons signed a new petition, this one being to separate from Anson County, resulting in the formation of Rowan, of which Henry Reeves wrote: At the time of the formation of Rowan County in 1753, two of the Yadkin settlers, Col. George Smith and Jonathan Hunt, were important enough that the Assembly would not approve the bill for the formation of Rowan County until the names of George Smith Col., and Jonathan Hunt, Capt. were re-inserted. Their names had been in the original bill for formation, but had been deleted and other names substituted by his Majesty’s Council. Early Jersey Church served Episcopalians, Baptists and Presbyterians, with later sermons, marriages and baptisms performed by visiting preachers, including Moravians, and catechism lessons by Lutheran Rev. David Henkel.


Rowan Map – The Jersey Settlement was around presentLinwood, which is south of Lexington and north of Salisbury, near theYadkin river and it’s tributaries of Potts Creek, Swearing Creek, BeaverCreek, and others.

Comparison of Settlements Hopewell, New Jersey Fifty Men’s Pact 1734 Jersey Settlement Rowan Co., NC Anderson, Bartholomew Anderson, Cornelius (nephew) 1749 J. P., Anson Co. Baldwin, Elnathan Baldwin, John & Wm. 1753 Rowan deeds. Blair, John Blair, John, d. 1746 Mulberry Run, Frederick, Va leaving orphan John. Blair, John (Jr.) 1765 Rowan sale Drake, Benj. Drake, Benj. 1753 Rowan deed, stockmark. Evans, Thomas Evans, Thomas 1747 Rowan Trading Ford Everitt, John Everitt, John 1778 Rowan poll Gano, Daniel & Francis Gano, Rev. John (s/o Daniel), 1770 deed. Hendrickson, John Hendrickson, John 1786 Rowan witness Houghton, John Houghton, Henry 1753 Rowan deed Hunt, John Hunt, Jonathan s/o John, 1748 chain bearer Hunt, Ralph Hunt, Wm. & Thos. 1759 Rowan Tax List Mayberry, Thomas Mabery, Francis 1768 Rowan Tax List Mr. Mayberry, 1771 Regulator Merrill, Benjamin Merrill, John Benjamin Merrill (son of Wm., Jr. nephew of older Benj. & John) 1771 Regulator Moore, Nathaniel Moore, Nathaniel 1778 Rowan Tax List Palmer, Joh[n Palmer, J. 1755 Rowan deed witness Palmer, Thos. Palmer, Francis Parke [1753 Rowan deed] , Andrew P—-, John Parke [1759 Rowan Tax List] , John Parke, George & Noah Parke [1759 Rowan Tax], Joseph Parke, Joseph Parke ,[ s/o Hugh, 1781 Rowan will.] Roger Smith, Ralph Smith, Ralph 1761 Rowan Smith, Richard Smith, Richard 1763 Rowan deed Smith, Thomas Smith, Thomas 1748 deed Stout, Joseph Stout, William b. ca 1790 Stout, Jonathan 1822 Rowan Titus, John Titus, John 1748 chain bearer. Note: Identical names in two locations do not prove they are the same individuals. Thomas Evans of the Fifty Mens’ Compact, may be same man as (or father of) Thomas Evans of Rowan’s Trading Ford.

Thomas Smith who rebelled so strongly in Hopewell that he became fugitive, died at his home on Swearing Creek. His widow, Rebecca, many years his junior, lived to see more wagon trains arrive, some with neighbors and kin from Hopewell, including the Baptist Stouts, Eatons and Merrells. She was there c1752 when a huge wagon train brought several hundred people, including most of the congregation of Scotch Plains Baptist Church from Essex County, New Jersey.

In 1755, a wagon train arrived with Quakers from Pennsylvania, followed in the 1760’s by many Germans from Pennsylvania and west Maryland. As a widow, Rebecca (Anderson) Smith, lived with a married daughter, dying at age 86, August 13, 1785, and was buried at Eaton’s Baptist Church. The first pioneers kept in touch with New Jersey, e.g., death in Rowan was entered in a Hopewell Bible, and they invited others from Hopewell and Back Creek to join them in the beautiful valley of the Yadkin, an invitation many accepted. Some who had not sued in the Fifty Mens’ Compact lost their land, and came to rebuild their fortunes. At least 22 of the 50 families who lost both lawsuit and land in the infamous “Coxe Affair ” eventually moved to Jersey Settlement.

Children

1. John Parke

John’s first wife Sarah Smith was born 28 Nov 1675 in Burton Bank, Monk Bretton, West Riding, Yorkshire, England. Her parents were Andrew Smith (1650 – 1704) and Sarah Foster (1653 – 1689). She may have been the daughter of Andrew’s second wife Olive Pitt who was the mother of all Andrew’s other children. Sarah died before Nov 1756 in Hampshire Co., Virginia Colony [estab. 1754]

Andrew Smith is listed in 1688, the year in which he first bought land in Huntingdon as “a professional surveyor” He had undoubtedly surveyed the large Parke tract of land at Hopewell, which is said to have been given that name by Andrew.

The Parke family and Andrew Smith, Senior, were both Quakers, but there being no church of their faith nearer than Stony Brook, near Princeton, they all contributed toward the support of the Presbyterian church at Pennington. John Parke was one of the first constables of Hopewell Township in 1705, and served as juror in 1706. In 1721 he served on the Grand Jury with his brother, Roger Parke, Jr., James Stout of Amwell, and David and Freegift Stout of Hopewell.

In 1733, John and his brothers-in-law Thomas Smith acted together in open rebellion during “The Coxe Affair”, fled together, and both families would be early pioneers of Jersey Settlement in Rowan County, North Carolina.

John is believed to have died in 1757 at about the same time as his sons, John Jr and George.” This was “during the French & Indian War that ravaged the pioneer western settlements. Some say he was killed by Indians and his body propped up on a post for all to see. He was certainly deceased before 1762 when his grandson, John son of John Jr. tried unsuccessfully to inherit the 400 acre grant of John Park Sr. assigned to his son George.”

1733 – John Park Sr & Jr appear on the list of 50 names of settlers there who were protesting the election notices served on them by Daniel Cox, who had been granted 30,000 acres in that area. After more than 30 years spent improving their land and building homes, they were forcibly ejected and their land resold by Daniel Cox.

John and his brother-in-law Thomas Smith were community leaders, aged 58 and 60, perhaps able to repurchase had they wished, but they (and others) were so angry they no longer wished to live where the government was so corrupt that its Assembly and Supreme Court had aided and abetted Col. Coxe in what they considered to be a monstrous land swindle against honest citizens whose families were the earliest settlers of the Township.

Not only did Parke and Smith refuse to pay for their land a second time, they refused to vacate until forcibly evicted by Sheriff Bennett Bard — who then rented their homesteads to two yeoman named O’Guillon and Collier. This so enraged Parke and Smith that in July 1735 they took their revenge, in the traditional manner of the citizens of Old England who over the centuries had developed ways to express contempt whenever there was no legal recourse: a dishonest official was “Hanged in Effigy,” and a man whose actions the community considered despicable was “Tarred and Feathered.”

Since the perpetrators of this “land grab,” Col. Daniel Coxe, Judge Hooper, Sheriff Bard, Gov. William Cosby and lawyer Murray, were out of their victims reach, Thomas Smith and John Parke made a different plan — but before taking action, sent their families to safety, probably across the river to Bucks County, Pa. In the dead of a July night, Smith and Parke and ten or more friends, slipped into the woods behind the homes where they had grown up, prepared a vat of melted tar and a barrel of chicken and turkey feathers, then broke into their former homes and took a “Tar and Feather” revenge on the interlopers who occupied them!

These acts were considerably more than mere personal revenge: “Tar and Feathers” showed utter contempt for Coxe’s dishonest officials. Tar was almost impossible to remove, so it publicly shamed the two who sought to gain from injustice, while burning their former homes and barns reduced profits to Col. Coxe. Their rebellion finished, Parke and Smith escaped across the Delaware, and their “ten or more friends” went back to their Hopewell homes, perhaps to toast the night’s lively events in good English ale. Public sympathy was surely with these rebels because, in spite of great desperation in the community for money and common knowledge of the identities of the dozen or more perpetrators, nobody ever came forward to claim the large reward. These rebellious acts generated the expected response from the royal officials they had very deliberately insulted.


William Crosby (1690–1736) served as the British royal governor of New York from 1732 to 1736. During his short term as governor, Cosby was portrayed as one of the most oppressive royal placeholders in British Colonial America.

A proclamation by William Crosby, Captain General and Governour in Chief of the Provinces of New-Jersey, New York and Territories thereon Depending, in America….&c., was published in The American Weekly Mercury, Aug. 21- 28,1735:

Whereas I have received information upon Oath that one Duncan O’Guillon and one John Collier were, on the second day of July past, severally put into the Possession of Dwelling houses and Plantations lately in the Possession of John Parks and Thomas Smith, late of Hopewell in the County of Hunterdon, by Daniel Coxe, Esqr., who then had possession of the said dwelling Houses and Plantations, delivered unto him by Bennet Bard Esq., High Sheriff of the said Court of Huntington by Virtue of a Writ of Possession to the Sheriff, directed and issueing out of the Supream [sic] Court of this Province of New Jersey.

And that in the night between the Thursday and Friday following, divers Persons unknown, to the number of Twelve or more, being all disguised, having their Faces besmear’d with Blacking and armed with Clubs and Sticks in their Hands Did in an Insolent, Violent and Riotous Manner break into and enter the respective Dwelling Houses and did Assault, Beat and Wound the said Duncan OGuillon and John Collier and other Persons then in the said several Dwelling Houses; and then did with Force & Arms violently move and turn out of possession, Cursing, Swearing and threatening in the most outrageous manner, that they would Kill and Murder the said Daniel Coxe, Esq. in Defiance of all Law and Government.

To the End thereof that the said audacious Offenders may be brought to condign Punishment. I Have thought fit by and with the Advice of his Majesty’s Council, to issue this Proclamation, hereby promising his Majesty’s most Gracious Pardon, to any one of the said Offenders who shall discover one or more of their Accomplices so that he or they may be brought to condign Punishment.

And as a further Encouragement to and all of the said Offenders any one who shall discover one or more of their Accomplices … so that he or they may be brought to condign Punishment one who shall detect so unparallel’d and insolent an Outrage, I do hereby promise to Pay to the Discovered the Sum of Thirty Pounds Proclamation Money within one Month after any or either of the said Offenders shall by his Means by convicted of the said Offence.

Given under my Hand and Seal at Arms, at Perth – Amboy, the Twenty Second day of August, in the Ninth Year of his Majesty’s Reign. Annoque Domini, 1735. By his Excellency’s Command, Lawr. Smyth, D. Secr. W. Cosby GOD SAVE THE KING

Smith and Parke did not wait for High Sheriff Bennet Bard to pursue nor for Governor Cosby to declare them outlaws. Before dawn, they had crossed the Delaware river, and were safely beyond the reach of New Jersey’s royal officials. Two years after receiving eviction notices, some in Hopewell who had not paid for their land a second time nor paid “rent” on their own homes, fled to avoid being thrown into Debtor’s Prison and having their personal property seized.

ESCAPED FOR DEBT: Thomas Palmer, William Hixon, James Tatham, Benjamin Merrill, John Palmer, Ralph Parke, Jr., James Gould, Joseph Parke, Albert Opdyke, Hezekiah Bonham, Thomas Mayberry.

John fled Hopewell NJ in 1735 after the “Coxe incident” along with his brother-in-law Thomas Smith and Bartholemew Anderson to Frederick Co. VA which later became Hampshire Co. VA then WV. His family went with him including his son John Parke II – it was the children of John II including George Parke who were the Parkes who wound up in the Jersey Settlement in Rowan Co. (now Davidson Co. ) NC about 1757 and later.

Since John Parke and Thomas Smith had fled from Hopewell in 1735 without benefit of land sales, carrying only their personal possessions, it’s unlikely either was able to buy land on arrival in the Shenandoah Valley. Unfortunately, the same high elevation and steep slopes that made this mountain area a safe haven for refugees beyond the reach of royal law, also made farming difficult, beyond a mere subsistence level. After living several years in these beautiful mountains, many ambitious men began looking elsewhere. Furthermore, the upper Valley was no longer a safe haven. Indian raids and war threats necessitated the construction of frontier forts and the conscription of militia. Parke and Smith were now elderly, their kinsmen middle aged, and, in view of their New Jersey experiences, they were not interested in a new migration that made them “squatters,” their reasons for another move being to find a peaceful area with fertile soil, moderate climate, good government and secure land titles.

John Parke (who fled Hopewell with Thomas Smith) is believed to be the John Park who died in the upper Valley and father of George Parks who had deeds on Back Creek and Rowan. April 13, 1751, Thomas Sharp to George Parks 143 acres on Back Creek, Frederick Co., Va. Dec. 20, 1760, “George Park of Rowan County, N.C.” 143 acres on Back Creek to Thomas Sharp of Frederick Co.

John’s son Andrew Parke b 11 Nov 1709 Hopewell,NJ; d 15 Apr 1750 Hampshire Co.,VA; m Rachel Moseley b.

John’s son John Park, Jr. was born 11 Feb 1711 in Hopewell Twp, Burlington Co., New Jersey Colony. John Jr died 14 Sep 1758 in the Battle of Fort Duquesne. Fort Duquesne, Alle-Kiski Valley, Pennsylvania Province. Also called Grant’s Hill. The next year, near the Ohio Valley ruins of Ft. Duquesne, Fort Pitt was built, named for the supportive Prime Minister William Pitt, and the nearby settlement was named ‘Pittsburg’.

2. Anne Parke

Anne’s husband William Morrell was born in 1686 in Middletown, New Jersey. William’s brother Joseph married Anne’s niece Anne (See Roger PARKE Jr’s page) Their parents were William Merrill (1650 – 1723) and Grace Stout. After Ann died around 1728, he married in 1729 in Hopewell to Penelope Stout (1700 – 1776). She was the grand-daughter of Richard Stout and Penelope Van Princes. Her first marriage was to Thomas Jewell, who died in 1727. William died 25 Jun 1739 in Hopewell after being struck by lightning at Sheriff Hunlake’s door at Burlington.

William Merrill, Jr. was by trade a cooper. He and Anne settled on the tract purchased for her by her father in 1697. In 1722 he paid taxes for 130 acres, and in the survey of the road from Stoutsburg to Marshall’s Corner in 1723, the line passes his farm before it reaches Stony Brook.

A small band of the Lenni Lenape, occupied the 100 acre tract Roger it at intervals and whenever it suited their convenience to do so, for several years after the Parke family occupied the tracts on the west and north. Their wigwams occupied the vacant land not included in the Annie Parke purchase, and they lived on the most friendly terms with the Parke family.

William died intestate (as he was not expecting to be hit be lightning) His wife Penelope was apparently not thrilled with the financial state of his affairs. She refused to administer his will, stating:

” I am informed by my brother Benj’n Stout that you desire me to take an inventory of ye estate of Will’m Merrill deceased – which I do refuse to do or concern myself about that Estate which will only be a profitless trouble for me which I am not able to undergo…”.

She married for the third time to Isaac Herrin, who left her a three-time widow in 1756. She lived on in Hopewell until she died at age 74 on July 11, 1776.


Court Minutes — William Merrill Struck by Lightning

Anne and William had four children named William Merrill (1700), Ann Merrill (1707), Margaret (1711) and Rachel (1715). Ann married David Stout and Rachel married John Stout.

William and Penelope had five children: William (1729), Benjamin (1730), Thomas (1732), Penelope Rachel (1734), and Ann (1735). William and Benjamin would relocate to North Carolina as part of the land controversy explained above, while the other children remained in New Jersey.

3. Roger PARKE Jr. (See his page)

Sources:

http://www.parke.org/

http://www.barney.org/family/wga44.html#I7897

http://www.parkfamilyreunion.net/RogerParke.htm

http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/mckstmerjersey.htm

http://birkey.org/wc01/wc01_428.html

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/j/e/f/Charlotte-W-Jeffers/GENE23-0001.html

http://thomaspaulmerrill.com/Benweb/Hopewell.htm

http://griffin-lanning.com/lanning/Lanning8.pdf Origins of the Jersey Settlement of Rowan County, North CarolinaFirst Families of Jersey Settlement By Ethel Stroupe

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/8920724/person/-875117959/media/4?pgnum=1&pg=0&pgpl=pid%7cpgNum

http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/mckstmerjersey.htm 1996 (Reprinted by permission of the author from vol. 11, no. 1, February 1996, Rowan County Register, PO Box 1948, Salisbury, NC 28145))Ms. Ethel Stroupe,

http://birkey.org/wc01/wc01_326.html

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/m/c/b/Grant-mcbride-B-Mcbride/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0143.html

http://www.geni.com/people/Dr-Roger-Parke/6000000004853218687

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? Roger Parke JrJean Perlier III ?
13 Responses to Dr. Roger Parke Sr.
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Susan Avery says:
June 16, 2011 at 9:28 pm
Hi, I’m the lineage leader for the Dr. Roger Parke line for the Parke Society and I just wanted to let you know that Roger Parke Jr. did NOT marry Susannah Robinson. The name of his wife is unknown. Some mistaken information having to do with a will of a Thomas Robinson got this started but it has absolutely no basis in truth whatsoever, having been researched extensively by many Parke family researchers. It has also been speculated that his wife was Jane Stout but this also is just speculation – so his wife’s name is unknown.
Roger Parke Sr.’s son John Parke (not Parks) is my ancestor and he did not have a servant John Fidler – his father-in-law, my ancestor Andrew Smith, father of his wife Sarah Smith had a servant named John Fidler who was mentioned in his (Andrew’s) will. The information about John Parke Sr.’s will is totally eroneous – he had no will, and no children named Thomas or Elizabeth…. I have no idea where this came from, but everything in that paragraph about John Parks is incorrect – you have mixed up the will of his father-in-law who also had other children besides his son Thomas Smith and daughter Elizabeth Smith.
There was a George Parke who came over to the West Jersey proprietor’s land about the same time that Roger arrived (no ship record of Roger’s arrival) but there is no proof that they were brothers – I think it is very probable and that George must have died soon after arriving since he disappears from all records but we do not have any proof of their kinship.
John Parke Sr. had one wife – Sarah Smith – and was not married to Sarah Foster. It is speculated (speculation only no proof) that Sarah Smith’s mother was Sarah Foster, a first wife of Andrew Smith – but there is no proof of that and she may have been the daughter of Olive Pitt who was the mother of all the other Smith children born to Andrew Smith.
My ancestor, George Parke, came to Rowan Co., to the Jersey Settlement area from Hampshire Co., VA/later WV was the son of John Parke Jr., son of John Parke Sr. who fled Hopewell after the Coxe incident. – he did indeed sell his land in Hampshire Co., to Thomas Sharp (George was already in Rowan Co. at the time).
You have a great deal of good historical information in your article here – it is unfortunate to have the misinformation about the Parkes included in it. I hope somehow the corrections can be made and the inaccuracies not be perpetuated. Thanks – Susan Avery, Winston-Salem, NC
Reply
markeminer says:
June 17, 2011 at 10:28 am
Susan,

Thanks for taking the time to write, I have made the corrections you suggest. The story of the Parkes has been one of the most confusing to interpret in my family tree. Perhaps because people have invented facts where there should be blanks and because there may have been a second Roger Parkes with an “S” in the area who was born 1638 in Carlisle, Cumbria, England, and died Jun 1690 in Hopewell, Hunterdon, NJ.

I like to included romantic stories, but try to label the questionable ones. I wonder if Roger Sr really “traveled so often to Wissamonson to study medicine under old Indian squaws and medicine men that his path was called “Roger’s Road.” Supposedly, a record was found in the “Account Book of William Penn, Quaker,” in 1685, indicating that he had paid Roger Parke, 9 pounds …shillings, to “cure” a negro.

I also like the stories about the family’s battles against Dr Cox and the evil cross-dressing Lord Cornbury

Again, Thanks again for taking the time to help,
Mark
Reply
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Gary Parks says:
August 1, 2015 at 3:14 pm
Mark,
I’m Gary Parks a member of the Parke Society, a colleague of Susan Avery whom you have communicated with, but of a different line than hers. My specialty however is early NJ area Park/e/s lineages so the early Dr. Roger Parke line up to his second great grandson Johnathan Parks is of interest to me. I am impressed by the detail and presentation you display, much of it I have seen and some that I have not. I take a more I’m from Missouri show me attitude then most and follow the detail of the evidence but never dig in on a position by chance that new evidence should present, and one never knows when that might be or where it might come from. Although I have not had time to yet certify Jonathan Parks back to grandfather Jonah Parke I feel fairly confident that is an accurate paper trail. However Jonah Parke being definitely of the Roger Parke line I am not totally convinced of as the evidence I have seen so far is circumstantial in my mind. Although until something concrete comes along should it ever, I am presently glad to accept the official Parke Society lineage trail from Jonah back to Dr. Roger Parke. I have a mind to print all your Parke data from your website and am glad you present sources at the bottom of each descendant section. I am a little disappointed however you did not footnote each separate item for source throughout each descendant section. I would love quickly to be able to know the source of each detailed item. I doubt you have the time or desire to redo it that way but it would be wonderful if someday you did. I’m not to demanding am I. Insert smiley face:-) I might just print it all anyway as is and wade through it all some day. Seriously though, incredible job!
Gary
Reply
markeminer says:
August 1, 2015 at 3:59 pm
Gary,

The Parkes have been fairly difficult to piece together, so I agree there is a bit of conjecture, but the picture fits together for me. I like genealogy for the stories, and the Parkes have plenty of good ones.

Cheers,

Mark
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Build a website with WordPress.com.⁵ Dr. Roger Parke was born on 25 June 1648 at Broughton, Furness (Cartmel), Lancashire County, England.^6,4 He married Anne Patison on 10 April 1676 at Allendaile, Northumberland County, England.^1,6 Dr. Roger Parke (d. 1755, age 91) is believed to be the first settler within the present limits of Hopewell Township, in West Jersey. It is related that Parke lived with the Indians and studied their medicine.
There is a deed in the office of the Secretary of State at Trenton dated 24 May 1682 to Roger Parke of Hexam County, Northumberland, England, yeoman, for 200 acres in West Jersey. A yeoman was a freeborn common man of respectable class.
John Parke, son of Roger Parke, married Sarah, daughter of the first Andrew Smith, who bought land in Hopewell in 1688. This deed is the first recorded instrument bearing the name of Hopewell. (NJ)
Above see: "Pioneers of Old Hopewell. Pages 200-203. Dr. Roger Parke lived in 1684 at Burlington County, New Jersey, America; New Jersey, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1643-1890
Name:     Roger Parke
State:     NJ
County:     Burlington County
Township:     Assessment List
Year:     1684
Page:     347
Database:     NJ Early Census Index.⁴ He died circa 1739 at Hopewell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, USA.⁶

     Her married name was Parke.¹ Anne Patison was born circa 1656 at England.² She married Dr. Roger Parke, son of Allan Parke and Elizabeth (?), on 10 April 1676 at Allendaile, Northumberland County, England.^1,2

     Andrew Smith married Sarah Foster. Andrew Smith was born in 1645 at Farsley, West Riding, Yorkshire County, England.¹ He died in 1704.¹

     Sarah Foster married Andrew Smith. Sarah Foster died at England.¹ Her married name was Smith.¹ She was born at England.¹

     Allan Parke was born on 15 December 1606 at Richmond, Broughton, Furness, Lancashire County, England; Birth of Roger Parke

Roger Parke was the third of possibly eight children born to Sir Allan Parke of Frith (15 Dec 1606-11 Aug 1667) and his wife, Elizabeth (born c.1643) in Cartmel, England of northern Lancashire County in 1648^{44 Cecilia Kasberg-Parke (Field Research Manuscript) “Calendar of Wills, film #0098580, Arch Deaconry of Richmond, Consistory Court of Richmond”, 1999, Inv. 128.}. According to field research conducted in England in the Summer of 1999 by Roger Parke descendant, Parke Society member and lineage leader, Cecilia Kasberg-Parke of Spring Hill, FL; records found in the Parish Church of Cartmel, Vol. I and Vol II at the Records Office in Kendal, Cumbria, indicate Allan’s parents are Sir John Parke, Jr. of Holker in Lancashire County (born c.1575) and Jane Parke (died 18 Jan 1645)—my 10^th Great Grandparents. Documents contained in this same office as reviewed by Cecilia Kasberg-Parke, show that Roger Parke’s Great Grandparents are probably Sir John Parke of Allithwait (c.1530-1606) and Ellen Parke (died c.1580). John and Ellen would be my 11^th Great Grandparents; they were married on 14 June 1559.

Roger Parke was christened on 25 June 1648 in Cartmel Priory Church, a beautiful castle-like structure with historical roots in Medieval Europe, having been founded by William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke in 1188. Amazingly, Cartmel Priory Church, including the adjoining cemetery, is still an active Catholic Parish today, over 800 years after its founding! According to Cecilia Kasberg-Parke, the name “Cartmel” comes from Scandinavia translated to mean “Sand Bank by rocky ground”. She describes the geographical location of this ancient parish as “stretching from half-way up the east side of Windermere along the side of the River Leven and around the sea coast to Winster and then along the border of Westmoreland (County)”. Historically, the Scots had invaded Cartmel and surrounding areas in the early 14^th century, areas which were also characterized by migration and trading activity from Northern Ireland and nearby regions. The portion of Lancashire County that Cartmel Priory Church is situated on later became part of Cumberland County.^1,3 He married Elizabeth (?) in 1636 at Lancashire County, England.¹ Allan Parke died on 11 August 1667 at Frith (No. Holker area), Cartmel, Lancashire County, England, at age 60.¹

     Elizabeth (?) was born circa 1610 at Lancashire County, England.¹ She married Allan Parke, son of Sir John Parke Jr, in 1636 at Lancashire County, England.¹ As of 1636,her married name was Parke.¹ Elizabeth (?) died circa 1669 at Lancashire County, England.¹

     Sir John Parke Jr lived at Holker, Lancashire County; Birth of Roger Parke

Roger Parke was the third of possibly eight children born to Sir Allan Parke of Frith (15 Dec 1606-11 Aug 1667) and his wife, Elizabeth (born c.1643) in Cartmel, England of northern Lancashire County in 1648^{44 Cecilia Kasberg-Parke (Field Research Manuscript) “Calendar of Wills, film #0098580, Arch Deaconry of Richmond, Consistory Court of Richmond”, 1999, Inv. 128.}. According to field research conducted in England in the Summer of 1999 by Roger Parke descendant, Parke Society member and lineage leader, Cecilia Kasberg-Parke of Spring Hill, FL; records found in the Parish Church of Cartmel, Vol. I and Vol II at the Records Office in Kendal, Cumbria, indicate Allan’s parents are Sir John Parke, Jr. of Holker in Lancashire County (born c.1575) and Jane Parke (died 18 Jan 1645)—my 10^th Great Grandparents. Documents contained in this same office as reviewed by Cecilia Kasberg-Parke, show that Roger Parke’s Great Grandparents are probably Sir John Parke of Allithwait (c.1530-1606) and Ellen Parke (died c.1580). John and Ellen would be my 11^th Great Grandparents; they were married on 14 June 1559.

Roger Parke was christened on 25 June 1648 in Cartmel Priory Church, a beautiful castle-like structure with historical roots in Medieval Europe, having been founded by William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke in 1188. Amazingly, Cartmel Priory Church, including the adjoining cemetery, is still an active Catholic Parish today, over 800 years after its founding! According to Cecilia Kasberg-Parke, the name “Cartmel” comes from Scandinavia translated to mean “Sand Bank by rocky ground”. She describes the geographical location of this ancient parish as “stretching from half-way up the east side of Windermere along the side of the River Leven and around the sea coast to Winster and then along the border of Westmoreland (County)”. Historically, the Scots had invaded Cartmel and surrounding areas in the early 14^th century, areas which were also characterized by migration and trading activity from Northern Ireland and nearby regions. The portion of Lancashire County that Cartmel Priory Church is situated on later became part of Cumberland County.² He was born on 15 August 1574 at Holker Cartmel, Lancashire, England.^1,3 He married Jane Brownrigge on 1 November 1595 at Lancashire, England.^2,3 Sir John Parke Jr died on 6 March 1675 at age 100.³

     Her married name was Parke.¹ Jane Brownrigge married Sir John Parke Jr, son of Sir John Parke and Ellen (?), on 1 November 1595 at Lancashire, England.^1,2 Jane Brownrigge died on 18 January 1645.¹

     Sir John Parke was born in 1538 at Broughton, Yorkshire, England.^1,2 He married Ellen (?) on 14 June 1559.¹ Sir John Parke died on 1 July 1606 at Allithwait, Lancashire, England.^1,2

     Ellen (?) married Sir John Parke on 14 June 1559.¹ As of 14 June 1559,her married name was Parke.¹ Ellen (?) died circa 1580.¹

     James Craig was born at Ohio, USA.³ He was born circa 1799 at Pennsylvania, USA.⁴ He was born circa 1800 at Pennsylvania, USA.⁵ He married Elizabeth Burris on 5 January 1837 at Belmont County, Ohio, USA; Is Elizabeth Burris James' second wife? Elizabeth in 1850 census is 40 years old & Wm, the oldest son of James is 24, but only record in Belmont Co OH marriages shows Eliz Burris & James Craig married in 1937. Or was she common law until they married?²

     Milton H. Walters was born circa 1849 at Ohio, USA.¹

     James Frost was Westmoreland County militia unit to resolve boundary dispute with Virginia. Per Bill Neely. He was born circa 1755 at Harford County, Maryland, USA; Possibly born Ann Arundel or Baltimore Counties, MD.¹ He married Phoebe Green, daughter of John Green and Mary Jackson Jr, circa 1776; Rumor of m in Cecil Co, MD.¹ James Frost left a will on 12 September 1833 at Fayette County, Pennsylvania, USA; Will of James Frost

In the name of God Amen I James Frost of Menallen Township, Fayette " County, and state of Pennsylvania, being sick and weak in body but of sound mind memory and understanding(praised be God for it) and considering the certainty of death and the uncertainty of the time thereof, and to the end I may be the better prepared to leave the world, whenever it shall pleas God to call me hence do therefore make and declare this my last will and Testament in manner following that is to say first and principally I command my soul into the hands of Almighty God my creator, hoping for free pardon and remission of all my sin. My body I commit to the earth at the discretion of my Executors herein after named viz: I will that all my just debts as shall be by me owing at my death together with my funeral expenses and all charges touching the proving of or otherwise concerning this my will shall in the first place out of my personal estate and effects be fully paid and satisfied for which purpose my Executors shall as soon as convenient after my death sell all and singular of my personal Estate except such articles as is hereafter bequeathed to my wife 1st. I give and bequeath to my loving wife Miriam out of my personal property as follows, viz: One Feather bed and sufficient bedding for one bed and one half of all the remaining blankets and sheets, together with two coverlids and all the bed quilts by her made. One Bureau, one side saddle one cow, four sheap, and as much of the cubord ware and pot metal as she may claim, and also the yearly sum of ten dollars during her natural life for the payment of which anual sum provission is herein after made, and as it respects my real estate it is my will that it be divide~ in the following manner, viz. Beginning at the Rose bars (so cald)on the North side of the sd place, and runing a ________ straight line nearly South to the lower corner of the northern field on the oil mill Tract after which devision I give and bequeath to my Sons Jesse and Regin all my real estate consisting of the farm, on which I now reside, to have and to hold the same forever to be divided agreeable to the above mentioned line, the western side of Sd line I give to Jesse and the eastern part to Regin to have and to hold the same with the previleges forever. for the securement of which my Executors hereinafter named is directed and empowered to convey the same as above divided as effectually as I could do if living, they the said Jesse. Regin Frost (my sons)first paying all debts not paid by the proceeds of my personal effects together with all legacies above made or hereinafter made in this my last will and testament which legacies shall be fully paid in three years after my death except the widows share, which shall be a lean so long as she lives. 3rd. I give and bequeath to my son William Frost one dollar. 4th I give and bequeath to my daughter Mary or her heirs one dollar. 5th I give and bequeath to my son Josiah or his heirs one dollar, 6th I give and bequeath to my son John or his heirs one dollar. 7th I give and bequeath to my Son James Fifty dollars, 8 I give and bequeath to my Son Jacob Fifty dollars, 9th I give and bequeath to my son Ellis, One hundred dollars, 10th I give and bequeath to my daughter Margaret (wife of John Bucus) fifty dollars. 11th, I give and bequeath to my daughter Hannah (w1fe of Robert Bucus) fifty dollars, 12th I give and bequeath to my daughter Nancy (widow of my son John) fifty dollars for the payment of the above recited bequests my Executor hereinafter is instructed to pay or cause to be paid agreeable to the provision above made in three years after my death, I make and declare this my last will and testament, hereby revoking and making void all wills by me at anyt1me heretofore made, and I make and ordain Robert Boyd and Zadok Jackson Executors of this my last w1ll and Testament. In W1tness Whereof I the Sd James Frost to this my last will and testament containing one sheet have set my hand and seal declaring it to be my last will and testament dated the Twelfth day of September On thousand Eight hundred and thirty three,1833.
Signed Sealed and acknowledged by the Testator in the presence, of the subscribers as his last will & Testament. James (His X Mark)Frost seal
John Hibbs Fayette County, S.S. On the 16th day of September A.D. 1834.
Elijah Beal Reg. Seal

personally appeared before me John Keffer Register to the probate of Wills & granting letters of administration in & for said county, John Hibbs & Elijah Beal the subscribing witnesses to the foregoing Instrument of writing purporting to be the last will & Testament of James Frost. late of Menallen Township Fayette County decdand on their oaths and solemn affirmation did respectively declare that they heard the Testator when of right mind acknowledge the same as and for his last will & Testament, that they know of no undue influence used or later will made by said decdto their knowledge or belief & that they subscribed the same as witnesses in the presence of the Testator & in the presence of each other. In testimony Whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal of the Registers office at UnionTown the same day & year.
John Keffer, Register
Memo. That letters of administration with the will annexed were granted to Regin Frost on the 20th day of September A.D. 1834 (he being duly qualifed according to law) The Executors Robert Boyd and Zadok Jackson Executor. named in the above will just filed their written renunciation dated the 16th day of September A.D. 1834. See Bond Book No. 2,pages 18 & 19.
Tax 50                               J. Keffer, Reg.
fam 300
$380 paid
Com.                Registered & Compared the 16th day of September 1834

[Transcribed and Typed by: Brendy L. Fetters 21 Oct 1986 ].² He died before 16 September 1834 at Menallen Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, USA; Will filed 16 Sep 1834.¹ He was buried circa 16 September 1834 at Menallen Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, USA; Possibly farm of W. R. Moore or Hopewell Cemetery.¹

     Her married name was Frost. Phoebe Green married James Frost, son of William Frost, circa 1776; Rumor of m in Cecil Co, MD.² Phoebe Green died before 1810.²

     John Green lived before 1758 at Bucks County, Pennsylvania, America.¹ He married Mary Jackson Jr on 4 March 1758 at Burlington, Burlington County, New Jersey, USA.^2,1,3 John Green left a will in 1778; Old Yoho County wills in Washington County Register of Wills, but estate inventories in Recorder of deeds office there.² He died before November 1778 at Yohogania County, Virginia, USA; Yoho County included what was later Fayette County, Pennsylvania where James Frost and Mary Green were in 1800.²

     Stephen Pancoast and Mary Haines lived c 1824-c1873 at Adams Township, Jamestown, Monroe County, Ohio, USA; Pancoast book says 1850 census shows Stephen's nephew Rezin Vanlaw lived with the family and worked as a clerk in Stephen's store.³ Stephen Pancoast was Pancoast book says Stephen was a merchant. at Adams Township, Jamestown, Belmont County, Ohio, USA.³ He was born on 6 October 1811.¹ He married Mary Haines on 26 December 1832.¹ One of sponsors for building the Sunfish Railroad in Belmont County. The road planned to follow Sunfish Creek. The money was subscribed and some of ROW purchased, but the railroad never built.³ Served as executor of estate of George Sindledecker.³ Stephen Pancoast died on 28 January 1873 at age 61.³ He was buried circa 31 January 1873 at Old Cameron Cemetery, Woodsfield, Belmont County, Ohio, USA.³

     Marriage did not comply with rules of the Society of Friends and the Plainfield Meeting took note of the fact on 24 June 1824.¹ Sarah Evers and John PANCOAST were Farmed in Union Twp. at Union Township, Belmont County, Ohio, USA.¹ Sarah Evers was born in 1798 at Virginia, USA.¹ As of before 24 June 1824,her married name was PANCOAST.¹ She married John PANCOAST, son of Joseph PANCOAST and Sarah PHILLIPS, before 24 June 1824.^1,2 Sarah Evers died on 9 November 1883 at Belmont County, Ohio, USA.¹ She was buried circa 12 November 1883 at Lloydsville, Belmont County, Ohio, USA.¹

     Joseph Pancoast was born on 3 March 1831.¹