Where have I been? Catching up on my research. It’s amazing how much more you can learn when you think you’ve already got a subject covered.
I’ve got lots of good stuff in the pipeline, but some polishing is still needed. In the meantime, I want to acknowledge some help I got from Mary Jackes, who sent me part of a book written by Watson Kirkconnell called “Climbing the Green Tree and some other Branches,” a regrettable title.
Among the first settlers of Hunterdon County, in “the Western Province of New Jersey” were Samuel Green and his family. Samuel Green was my ancestor, so of course I am interested in his history. The bonus for me is that his history gives me a way to learn about the earliest days of settlement here.
Mary Fox, born about 1738 in Kingwood Twp., was the second daughter and sixth child of George Fox (iii) and his wife Mary. Her older sister was Anchor Fox who married Uriah Bonham. We know very little about Mary, except that when she was about 18 years old, in 1756, she got into trouble. Sad to say, this story is more about the man who got her into trouble than it is about Mary. Historical records are woefully silent when it comes to women.
The trouble with writing about families is that the stories get more complicated as you move through the generations. Here is a brief summary of the children of Uriah Bonham and Anchor Fox.
This post will continue the saga of the Fox family in Hunterdon. This time the subject is the first child and first daughter of George (iii) and Mary Fox. Her name was Anchor, and she was born about 1728, probably in Kingwood Township.
Whilst researching in the County Archives for a future post on another subject, I came across a fascinating court paper [#21152] pertaining to this George Fox.
Following the death of George Fox in June of 1754, his executors were obliged, as was usually the case, to deal with debts related to the estate. Judging by the number of documents filed with the Court of Common Pleas of Hunterdon County, the executors must have worked nearly full-time on this job.
On July 6th, I posted an article on the will of George Fox (iii) written in 1754. I used that will to describe some of what I knew about his widow and children and what happened to them after he died. But there was a lot I didn’t know, and I discovered some of it recently when visiting the County Archives at the Records Center in the County Complex on Route 12. What I found was a considerable amount of litigation over debts owed by the George Fox who died in 1754, and debts owed to him.
While my computer was in the shop (I do not recommend spilling a glass of water on your keyboard), Kay Larson pointed out an egregious error in this article (she was the one who thought Edward was precocious). Now that I have my computer back, I can finally make the correction.