This is the third in a series of 5 or 6 articles on the Fox family of Rosemont and Kingwood.
1. The Quaker George Fox; and a postscript
2. George Fox of Hunterdon County
Continuing with George Fox (c.1700-1754) of Amwell and Kingwood.
Before Fox sold the 284 acres northwest of Rosemont, he had a visitor from England who died of ship’s fever, according to a story told by John Lequear.1 He was buried in the southeast corner of this tract of land, and after the burial, a quarter acre was set aside for future burials. That quarter acre has since become the Rosemont Cemetery, the largest cemetery in Delaware Township. People from both Kingwood and Amwell (Delaware) Townships are buried there.
I assume that Lequear was relating a local tradition. However, there were members of the Fox family buried in the Rosemont cemetery. Undoubtedly the earliest stones are long gone. These remain:
Dinah Fox, 1818 age 60
Elwood [Edward?] Fox, 1816 age 64
George Fox, 1815 age 62
This last George Fox was the grandson of George Fox and Mary (Wolverton?); Edward was his son, and Dinah was Edward’s wife.
In the late 1720s, George Fox was called on to make inventories for local estates: 1727, for Richard Caine dec’d of Amwell; 1728, for John Cumfort dec’d of Amwell; 1729, for Alexander Day dec’d. He made this last one with Charles Wolverton, the son of Charles Wolverton and Mary Chadwick. In 1732 he witnessed the will of Samuel Allen along with John Carr, Samuel Green and Charles Wolverton. In 1742, he and Henry Kitchen made the inventory of Stephen Pitcock. I believe, and have no proof of it, that it was the younger George Fox, the one born in 1700, who was making these inventories.
Exactly where George and Mary (Wolverton) Fox lived I cannot say for sure. I believe that his father probably lived on the property northeast of Rosemont, it being the property purchased from Charles Wolverton in 1719, and that the son lived there too for perhaps 10 years before moving to Kingwood. It is notable that all of the people whose wills he witnessed or whose estates he inventoried lived in Amwell. [Note: For a description of how Amwell Township was divided into three townships in 1838, please click on the topic “1838” in the right-hand column, or visit the Index of Articles page.]
George and Mary Fox had 8 children in all:
- Anchor Fox, c.1727-29.
- George Fox, either 1729 or 1734
- Absalom Fox, c.1734
- Gabriel Fox, 1736
- Ambrose Fox, c.1737
- Mary Fox, c.1738
- Amos Fox, 7 Sep 1739
- a daughter, c.1741
The father, George Fox (b.1700) was a yeoman farmer and, according to his will of 1754, a mill owner . Whether or not Fox sold his Amwell tract in 1727 or later than 1733, he probably did it before purchasing a tract of land in Kingwood. On May 14, 1746, he bought 300 acres from Mary Olive Stanbury. According to John Lequear, the property lay to the east and north of the old Kingwood hotel on Route 519.2 It appears that George Fox sold off part of his 300 acres as soon as he had purchased it. According to Lequear, he sold off 76 acres to Joshua Waterhouse in 1746; Snell wrote that the property was “about a mile east of Kingwood tavern.”3
(For a larger view, just click on the map. When you’re done, click on your browser’s previous-window button.)
The Farnhams state that the mill belonging to George Fox was located near Milltown in Kingwood,4 and that a new mill was built upstream by Samuel Runk in 1796. Since the tract of land that Fox purchased from Mrs. Stanbury was located east of Route 519, and Milltown is west and south of this land, we must assume that Fox had acquired additional land without recording the deed.
The will of George Fox, yeoman of Kingwood, will be discussed in the next post.
Doug Humes
January 10, 2010 @ 10:16 am
Hi Marfy,
I was in Hunterdon County yesterday, exploring with my children. My Hall ancestors lived there from about 1740 – 1820 or so, before spreading out and heading west. According to a WPA inventory, in the 1930's there was a Hall Cemetery in the county in
East Amwell Twp. Have you ever come across that? And I saw from your recent article a portion of an early map showing landowners – can you point me in the direction of that type of map from the 18th century in Hunterdon – Kingwood area – that might show the Hall farm at the time? Thansk for any pointers you can give me.
Doug Humes
Marfy Goodspeed
January 10, 2010 @ 11:42 am
Dear Doug,
I cannot shed any light on the location of the Hall Cemetery in East Amwell. That is intriguing since most of the Hunterdon Halls are associated with Kingwood. I am assuming you descend from Theodore Hall and Gertrude Gordon. Is that correct?
I suggest you contact the Hunterdon Co. Historical Society to see if they have information on this cemetery.
As for the map you refer to, there are no 18th century maps with names of residents shown, other than maps made during the Revolution that focused on routes taken by the Continental Army, and they focused mostly on the Mercer County area.
Perhaps you are referring to the map made by D. Stanton Hammond in 1963. He tried to map all the original property owners in Hunterdon County. I checked the index for the name of Hall; the only location on the maps was a large tract near Branchburg, owned by Thomas Hall who died in Somerset County in 1729. Not much help, I'm afraid.
Doug Humes
June 4, 2010 @ 11:38 pm
Hi Marfy,
Long time between messages … you had said " I am assuming you descend from Theodore Hall and Gertrude Gordon. Is that correct?" Yep – that;s the line. Do you have anything in hand concerning them? I have their marriage date and place, names of children, his death – he drowned while crossing the Delaware, his estate inventory, I think that Gertrude remarried (not near my notes) and I think I have her will or estate inventory. But I don't have any indication of where their home or farm was. I have his ancestors – but don't have anything on Gertrude's family. If you have any other info handy, I would be thrilled to have it. Thanks for your other tips … I need to spend more time in Hunterdon and with its resources.
Marfy Goodspeed
June 5, 2010 @ 8:22 am
Dear Doug, I can't give you a short answer. Although I do not have info on the parents of Theodore Hall, there is plenty to say about Gertrude's second husband. She had six children by him. I'll try to write up a post about this family for you–in a few days. Thanks for getting in touch.
Mary Fox and Malakiah Bonham — GOODSPEED HISTORIES
August 9, 2010 @ 4:21 am
[…] 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 […]
Michael Thomas Fox
February 13, 2011 @ 1:28 pm
awesome!
Gary M Fox
March 7, 2011 @ 5:46 am
I have enjoyed your story about the foxes,I am a Descendant to this family and still learning anymore story’s would be great!
Thanks,
Gary M Fox
son of
John Gary Fox
son of
John Henry Fox
son of
John Mcfrank Fox
son of
John Milton Fox
son of
Morris Fox
son of
David Fox
son of
Absalom Fox
son of
George Fox(1700)
son of
George W Fox
son of
John Fox
son of
Christopher Fox (9th great grandfather )
Michael Thomas Fox
March 18, 2011 @ 3:00 am
Hey Gary! I’m from the same George Fox 1700 NJ Absaloms brother “Amos Fox” on down to me.. Amos moved to VA. That path went to MO then to OK then to Los Angeles 1960.
Connie Fox Smith
February 21, 2016 @ 8:57 pm
Hi Gary and Michael…..I too am a descendant of George Fox
Connie Fox Smith
daughter of
George Edward Fox Jr.
son of
George Edward Fox Sr.
son of
David Spencer Fox
son of
David Fox
son of
David Fox Sr.
son of
Absalom Fox
son of
George Fox 1700
son of
George W. Fox
son of
John Fox
son of
Christopher Fox
I live in Southwestern Ohio….where Christian (Absalom’s wife) and some of their children came to Ohio in 1798. Absalom died in Washington County PA in 1797 and was buried in Lone Pine PA. Christian died in 1821 and is buried in Springboro OH.
I am a descendent of the Mayflower through Absalom and Christian Bonham Fox.
Karin Culter
December 12, 2011 @ 2:37 pm
Hi,
I am researching my Cooper family from Hunterdon, NJ. My 5great grandfather was Gabriel Cooper b.1765 Hunterdon, NJ. I don’t know who his parents were. He married Elizabeth Happock b. 20 Sept. 1770 NJ. They moved to Upper Augusta, Northumberland, PA..I descend from their son John Cooper who was born in NJ 19 June 1807. I have all of the dates, but I was wondering about actual birth/baptism records. Have you heard of this family and where might I obtain some more information about them? Thanks!!
Amy Caccavale
October 2, 2020 @ 11:01 am
There is a Hall Cemetery located in Neshanic Station, and it’s quite old. It is in the middle of a former industrial site, and reportedly contains 500 graves, only 97 are marked. It’s on Find A Grave. Lots of Halls are interred there.
Marfy Goodspeed
October 2, 2020 @ 12:31 pm
You’re right. I just checked it out and there are lots of 18th century Halls there.
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2262078/memorial-search?firstname=&middlename=&lastname=hall&cemeteryName=Hall+Cemetery&birthyear=&birthyearfilter=&deathyear=&deathyearfilter=&memorialid=&mcid=&linkedToName=&datefilter=&orderby=&partialLastName=true&page=1#sr-27080096