While Mahlon Stacy was enjoying the fruitful new land he and his fellow Quakers had settled in, a time bomb was ticking, set off by a poorly spelled letter written in Sept. 1679 by the Attorney General in England, Sir John Werden,1, which concluded with this: Quaere?
Sorry for the delay. Got waylaid by a virus.
I was thinking about that cold winter when the ‘Shield’ arrived in the Delaware River and the passengers walked to land over ice, and then, thinking about how Mahlon Stacy wrote about the bountiful life in the Yorkshire Tenth. It was a little surprising that he did not mention the chilly weather. Of course, Stacy intended his letter to be reread to English Quakers who were debating whether or not to make the trip to America, so he put the best face of things.
The history of the newly created Province of West New Jersey shaped the history of the creation of Hunterdon County.
I have continued to struggle with the problem of finding the origins of Samuel Green, surveyor of West New Jersey, without much success. For one thing, records are limited. There are many deeds and surveys recorded for properties in West New Jersey, but other than the 1/32nd share mentioned before that Richard Green purchased and then sold to Anna Salter, there is nothing much to go on.
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.
Despite the scandal involving Malakiah Bonham and Mary Fox, Malakiah Bonham still had good relations with the Fox family.
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.
1. Amos Bonham (1752-1817)
2. Dinah Bonham (1756-1810)
3. Mary Bonham (c.1758-c.1838)
4. Hannah Bonham (c.1760-aft 1790)
5. Zedekiah Bonham (1762-1835)
