Janet and Robert Wolfe Genealogy --- Go to Genealogy Page for Caleb Shreve --- Go to Genealogy Page for Sarah Areson

Notes for Caleb Shreve and Sarah Areson

"The Magazine of American History, by J. A. Stevens, December, 1878, describes a journey in 1788 of Col. Israel Shreve, and occupying twenty-five days in wagons, from New Jersey to the Monongehala River, Pennsylvania, where he settled and hired farms from Gen. Geo. Washington. I think the following facts were derived from this magazine, viz. : That Caleb Shreve came from near London. England. Bought land at Shrewsbury in 1676. Settled in Mansfield township. New Jersey, 1699. Died 1741. It he died in 1741, at ninety years of age, he would have been born in 1651, and bought the land when twenty-five years old. But as the Shreve adults appear to have generally died between fifty and sixty years old, and as the name Caleb was repeated for several generations, it would appear that probably Caleb's father or uncle of the same name bought the land." [1]

Caleb Shreve moved from Plymouth, Massachusetts to Rhode Island.

1680 Caleb Shreve married Sarah, daughter of Dirick Areson of Flushing, Long Island, New York.

"Caleb Shreve came from Rhode Island, or Nantucket, where he had followed the whaling business, and settled in 1699 at Mount Pleasant, Mansfield township, Burlington county, New Jersey, three miles from the Black Horse and six miles from Bordentown. He married Sarah, daughter of Diedrick, or Derick, Areson, of Amsterdam, Holland. They had a son, born June 9th, 1706, Benjamin Shreve, who probably died about 1751. Caleb Shreve came originally from near London, England. He bought land at Shrewsbury 1676. He died in 1741." [2]

1685 Caleb Shreve moved to Shrewsbury, East New Jersey.

1690 Caleb Shreve [Shreive], perhaps this one or his son, served on the grand jury in Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, New Jersey. [3]

1692 Caleb Shreve yeoman of Shrewsbury Monmouth East New Jersey and his wife Sarah sold land, purchased from Indian Pessaquenocqua, to John Lippincott Jr. Adjacent to land of George Parker and John Clayton. [4]

1699 Caleb Shreve purchased 300 acres from Richard French in Mt Pleasant, Mansfield, Burlington County, West New Jersey.

1735 Caleb Shreve of Mansfield, Burlington County, dated his will on 5 April. Named wife Sarah, sons: Benjamin, Thomas, Joshua, Caleb, Jonathan, and David. Daughters: Mary Gibbs, Sarah Ogburn. Son-in-law Benjamin Scattergood. Grand-daughter Sarah, daughter of son Joshua. [5] "By (the original) Caleb Shreve's will, dated April 5, 1735, it appears that he had then living his wife Sarah and sons Thomas, Joshua, Joseph, Caleb, Jonathan and David. These sons being spendthrifts and having spent farms, of which he had given each one, were cut off by the will. Benjamin, the remaining son, had two-thirds of real estate and two-thirds of personal; the widow had one-third of each real and personal, and the best room in the house while unmarried. If she married, was to have no part in the real estate. Also two daughters. Mary Gibbs and Sarah Ogburn, for whom no provision appears to have been made." [6]

1740 Caleb Shreve's will was proved 18 February 1740. [7]

Research Notes:

A biosketch reports [8]:

Benjamin D Shreve, having an office at 106 Market Street, is one of the oldest representatives of the legal fraternity in Camden. He is a native of Medford, Burlington County, born August 15, 1835, and a son of Caleb and Mary C. (Davis) Shreve. The history of the Shreve family in New Jersey dates back to Benjamin, the great-great-grandfather of Benjamin D. That ancestor came to New Jersey from Rhode Island, and settled at Shrewsbury in 1680. Caleb, his son, and Benjamin, his grandson, were both large land-owners. The son was a member of the First Colonial Congress, which met at Trenton. In 1742 one of the descendants went to Burlington County, and built the house in which Caleb and Benjamin, respectively the father and grandfather of Benjamin D., were both born. It is still standing, and the property is owned by one of the family. The grandfather died aged eighty-one years. Caleb Shreve, the eldest of his parents' nine children, lived on the farm in his younger days. Subsequently he opened a store in Medford, N.J., conducted it successfully for many years, and then retired on a competence. He was sixty-one years old when he died. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary C. Davis, was born in Camden County, daughter of David Davis, a farmer by vocation. Mr. Davis, who was a farmer, resided in Camden County all his life, and died well advanced in years. Mrs. Caleb Shreve was a grand-daughter of Blank Coles, one of ninety men who owned the whole of the southern part of the State of New Jersey, each of whom held a deed for a ninetieth part. Mrs. Shreve lived to be sixty-three years of age. Both she and her husband were connected with the Society of Friends. Four children were born to them, the two now living being Caleb D. and Benjamin D., both successfully engaged in the practice of law.

A biosketch [9] reports:

The Shreve family were among the earliest settlers of New England, Caleb, the progenitor, being recorded as a resident of Plymouth, Mass., in 1641. Two of his sons, Caleb and John, located in Rhode Island, the former, in 1680, marrying Sarah, daughter of Dirick Areson, of Flushing, L. I. Soon after he removed to Shrewsbury, East Jersey, in the vicinity of which he remained from 1685 until 1699, when he purchased a large tract of over 300 acres from Richard French, Mt. Pleasant, Mansfield Township, Burlington County, West Jersey. This notable homestead has remained in the possession of successive generations of the family until this day.

Caleb Shreve had seven sons and three daughters. At his death, in 1740, sixty years after his marriage, his wife was still hving. His will bequeathed to her one third of his personal property and a life interest in his real estate. In a note "inferted before signing of ye same," he requested that his wife, at her death, leave her personal property to Benjamin, the youngest son, to whom was left the entire estate, after his mother's death, except certain small legacies to his brothers, Thomas, Joshua, Joseph, Caleb, Jonathan and David, five shillings each; the same to his daughters, Mary (Shreve) Gibbs and Sarah (Shreve) Ogburn; five shillings to his son-in-law, Benj. Scatter good, and some personal property to Sarah Shreve, daughter of his son Joshua. It is supposed that the older sons were provided for in his life time. The daughter who was the wife of Benj. Scattergood evidently was deceased.


Footnotes:

[1] L. P. Allen, The Genealogy and History of the Shreve Family from 1641 (1901), 391, [GoogleBooks], [HathiTrust], [InternetArchive].

[2] L. P. Allen, The Genealogy and History of the Shreve Family from 1641 (1901), 391, [GoogleBooks], [HathiTrust], [InternetArchive].

[3] Richard S. Hutchinson, Monmouth County New Jersey, Deeds Books A, B, C and D (2000), 64.

[4] Richard S. Hutchinson, Monmouth County New Jersey, Deeds Books A, B, C and D (2000), 106.

[5] A. Van Doren Honeyman, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 30. (Wills and Administrations 2, 1730-1750) (1918), 432, [GoogleBooks], [HathiTrust].

[6] L. P. Allen, The Genealogy and History of the Shreve Family from 1641 (1901), 391, [GoogleBooks], [HathiTrust], [InternetArchive].

[7] A. Van Doren Honeyman, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 30. (Wills and Administrations 2, 1730-1750) (1918), 432, [GoogleBooks], [HathiTrust].

[8] Biographical review Volume XIX, containing life sketches of leading citizens of Burlington and Camden counties, New Jersey (Boston 1897), 87, [InternetArchive].

[9] Howard Barclay French, Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas French, Volume 1 (1909), 223, [HathiTrust].