Janet and Robert Wolfe Genealogy --- Go to Genealogy Page for Abiah Brown --- Go to Genealogy Page for Margaret Sharp

Notes for Abiah Brown and Margaret Sharp

1743 Abiah Brown, son of Preserve Brown Jr and Mary (nee French) Brown, was born on 28 of month 9. [1] [2]

1756 John Jones Jr. and Mary Brown, daughter of Preserve Brown and Mary (French), were married on 12th of 8th month, at Chesterfield. Witnessed by Abia Brown, and others. [3]

1756 Joseph Schooley and Sarah Brown, daughter of Preserve Brown, were married on 11th, 11th month, at the Chesterfield Quaker Monthly Meeting. Witnessed by Abia Brown and others. [4] [5] [6]

1759 The will of Preserve Brown, dated June 13, 1759, named his wife Mary and children Abia, Richard, William, Mary Jones, and Sarah Schooley. Proved Dec. 11, 1760. [7]

1761 Abiah Brown was granted a certificate from Chesterfield, to the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. Dated 3 of month 12. [8] [9] [10] [11]

1762 On 26 of month 2, the Philadelphia meeting accepted a certificate dated 3 December 1761 for Abiah Brown. [12]

1765 Abia Brown of Burlington and Margaret Sharp of Salem were married on March 12. [13] [14]

1766 Abiah Brown and Joseph Clayton advertised for the return of a Mulettoe servant man runaway from Brown's Mills of Nottingham Twp, Burlington County, West New Jersey, with a 3 pound reward. [15]

1767 Abia Brown, Joseph Schooley's brother-in-law, advertised in the Pennsylvania Gazette to sell 100 acres with a mill along the river from Trenton to Crosswicks. Interested parties were to apply to Joseph Schooley, living near the same premises. The advertisement, dated March 19, stated [16] [17]:

To be sold by purchaser. A valuable grist mill, with two pairs of stones, and a turning lathe, hoisting all by water, with a good two story dwelling house, 4 rooms on a floor, a cellar under the whole with two kitchens and a well of good water at the door; a good barn, stables, store-house at the same, sufficient to contain 300 barrels of flour, where a shallop may load at the door, that can carry 200 barrels of flour; also a small dwelling house for the miller, and springhouse, and cooper's shop, with about 100 acres of land, one half of the same meadow and the remainder fit for plough and in fence, it is pleasantly situated on the great road that leads from Trenton to Crosswicks and Allen-town, and on the road that leads from Princeton to the above landing, on a constant stream of water, the whole in good repair, and in a public place for the business of keeping store, where there may be plenty of wheat had, it being two miles from Crosswicks, six from Trenton, twelve from Princeton, six from Allentown, and three from Bordentown. Any person inclining to purchase the same may apply to Joseph Scholey, living near the said premises, or subscriber living in Sharp's Iron Works, in Sussex County, New Jersey N.B. There is a good young bearing apple orchard on the premises. The title is indisputable.

1767 The grist mill, six miles from Trenton, was advertised to be sold by Abia Brown at public vendue. Apply to Joseph Schooley. Dated September 21. [18]

1768 Abiah Brown inherited from his father an extensive mill property in Nottingham Twp, Burlington County, New Jersey, which he sold in 1768 to Robert Lewis of Philadelphia for 1,000 pounds. In this deed of transfer, he was referred to as "Ironmaster". [19]

1770 Abia Brown and Joseph Sharpe advertised the sale of a substantial iron works in Sussex County, New Jersey. Dated February 15. [20] [21]

1771 Abia Brown offered for sale a one-third interest in the Sharpsburg Furnace, consisting of three fires. Abia, son of Preserve Brown, was the son-in-law of Joseph Sharp, having married the latter's daughter Margaret on March 12, 1765. He was at that time of Salem, but the next year he was operating a sawmill in Burlington County [22]

1772 Abia Brown was appointed as a justice of the peace in Sussex County in 1772 by the New Jersey governor [23] and was a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1774. [24]

1774 Abia Brown was named to a committee in Sussex County to "render true and faithful allegiance to George the Third" ... "to be taxed only by our own consent" ... "not to use any articles imported from Great Britain or the East Indies" ... "to represent this province in a general congress of deputies" Dated July 16. [25] [26] [27] [28]

1774 Abia Brown met with others at New Brunswick to appoint representatives to a General Congress. Dated July 23. [29]

1774 At a meeting of deputies in New Brunswick, Abia Brown was selected as a delegate representing New Jersey, for the General Congress. Dated September 5. [30]

1775 Abia Brown and Joseph Sharpe advertised the sale of an iron works. Dated January 26. [31] [32] [33]:

To be leased. For a term of years, and entered on this spring, on a reasonable rent, the iron-works, known by the name of Sharpsborough Iron-works, situated in the county of Sussex, and province of East New-Jersey, on a stream, called the Walkill. The works consists of a furnace, with castings, bridge-houses, and all other houses necessary ; one forge near said furnace, and a saw-mill ; the forge has three fires, and two hammers; one other forge about a mile from the furnace, consisting of two fires and one hammer, with a good stone coalhouse, dwelling-house, and other houses necessary. Also the halfpart of a valuable grist-mill, with one pair of stones, over-shot, on a never-failing stream of water, and just new repaired. Likewise between four and five thousand acres of land, on which are five good farms improved, with one hundred acres of good English meadow, in good fence ; it produces hay sufficient to keep all the teams necessary for the use of the works and farms. There are on said tracts, within two miles of the furnace, 300 acres of good ash swamp; there is also on the premises a sufficient quantity of timber, within 3 miles of the furnace, to supply the works for a number of years longer than the above lease, and an inexhaustible fund of excellent iron-ore (easily raised) within a mile of the furnace. The whole is situated in a plentiful part of the country for produce, and a good part for trade. Any person inclining to rent the above may know the terms by applying to Joseph Sharp, living in Salem county, West-Jersey, or the subscriber, living on the premises. January 26, 1775- Abia Brown. N. B.—The above Works have been erected six years.

1775 In October, Abia Brown of Sussex was a deputy at the Provincial Congress of New Jersey held at Trenton. [34] [35]

1776 In January, Abijah Brown of Sussex County was a deputy at the Provincial Congress of New Jersey held at New Brunswick. [36]

1776 In May, Sussex County, New Jersey, was represented in the new Republican Assembly of New Jersey, by Casper Shafer, Abia Brown, and Thomas Peterson [37] [38]. Abia Brown and others opposed the deportation of Governor Franklin at the Assembly [39]

1777 "The [iron] works were operated during the Revolution, making war materials, and at the fifth meeting of the first session of the Legislature in 1777, on petition of Abia Brown, 'Partner and Conductor' of the Sharpsborough Works, twelve men were exempted from military duty so long as they were employed in the said works." [40]

1780 Isaac Sharp, of Manington, Salem County, dated his will on May 29. Wife, Mary, the profits of my real and personal estate till my children come of age. Daughter, Meriam, the plantation in the upper part of the Neck, joining lands of Davis Bassett and James Woodnut, except 10 acres of woodland on the upper part, which I give to my son, instead of 10 acres on Manington, opposite to Preston Carpenter's old landing. If my said daughter die, then I give the said plantation to my sister's son. Sharp Brown. My only son, Isaac, all my plantation where I live, except the 10 acres of meadow; also my share of the ironworks and lands thereto belonging, which my father gave me by deed dated Sept. 1st, 1770; also 30 acres on Pompton Mountain, called the Mineland; but, if he die under age, then the plantation I give to my sister's son, Joseph Brown. If my son and daughter both die, then the Propriety Rights to go to my sister's daughters, Mary, Rebecca and Margaret Brown. Executors—wife, Mary, and my cousin, Anthony Sharp, and they are to fulfil the will of my father, Joseph Sharp, deceased, in paying Vs part of the expence yearly for the support of my afflicted sister, Mary Sharp, during her life. Witnesses—Thomas Allen, William Hammitt, Josiah Miller. Proved Oct. 12, 1780. [41]

1808 Sharp Brown [signed by his mark], of Nottingham, Burlington County, laborer; dated his will on February 29. Whereas Isaac Sharp, late of Manington in Salem County, by will dated May 29, 1780 gave to his daughter Miriam, a plantation in Hains Neck (Salem County); also 10 acres of meadow and in case of her death, to his sister's son, Sharp Brown; also said Isaac gave to his son, 30 acres on Pompton Mountain, called the Mine land; but in case of his death under age, the same together with the cedar swamp in Pittsgrove to aforesaid Sharp Brown and to his brother, Joseph Brown; and whereas said Miriam Sharp and Isaac Sharp both died before full age and said Joseph Brown is also dead, I am undoubted heir to aforesaid lands. Therefore I give the said lands to Joseph Schooley (son of James, of Nottingham); also my personal estate on condition that he pay to Abia Thorne (son of Isaac, of Burlington County), $400. Executor - friend, James Hughes. Witnesses - Lewis Evans, Samuel Evans, James Ewing, Esq. Proved Nov. 5, 1811. [42]

A biosketch of Abiah Brown reported [43]:

Abia Brown, son of Preserve Brown, was the son-in-law of Joseph Sharp, having married the latter's daughter Margaret on March 12, 1765. He was at that time of Salem, but the next year he was operating a sawmill in Burlington County known as Brown's Mills, and the following year settled at Sharpsborough Iron Works. He was a staunch patriot and was one of the first members of the Committee of Correspondence for Sussex County, and a member of the General Assembly from that county in 1776-1777. In these meetings he was associated with Hugh Hughes of Chelsea and Greenwich Forges, Mark Thompson (ifs the latter works and Archibald Stewart, mentioned under the Union Iron Works.

A biosketch of daughter Mary (Brown) Austin reports about Abia Brown [44]:

The writer of the letter given below, Mary, widow of Moses, and mother of Stephen F. Austin, had a remarkable life and was descended from remarkable people. She was born January 1,1768, at Sharpsborough Upper Forge (one of the iron mines of her grandfather Sharp) in the mountains of New Jersey; married (September 28, 1785, in Christ Church, Philadelphia—where her grandmother and great-grandmother had been married before Her) Moses Austin, of Durham, Connecticut, and went with him to Richmond, Virginia, thence to the lead mines in the wilderness of Wythe county, and finally, in 1798, to Missouri, where she lived until her death—January 8, 1824—with the exception of about eighteen months spent among her relatives in the East while her daughter was in school in New York. The letters she wrote her husband during this time are most interesting.

The father of Mary Austin, Abia Brown, was a prominent man in his community, being justice of the peace of Sussex county (an office at that time—1772—corresponding in dignity with justice of the supreme court now); member of the council of safety during the war; deputy from Sussex in attendance at the Provincial Congress at Trenton (October, 1775); and deputy in attendance at the Provincial Congress at New Brunswick (January-March, 1776). He died in 1785 when only forty-two. His wife, Margaret, was the daughter of Mary Coleman and Joseph Sharp; thus uniting in her veins the blood of those two prime movers of the Quaker migration to America, Anthony Sharp and Robert Turner, both prosperous English merchants of Dublin, Ireland, and, next to William Penn, the richest and most prominent men who helped to found the colonies of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Of them Judge Clement says, in his History of the Settlement of Newton (New Jersey), "Anthony Sharp and Robert Turner, both Quakers, and both men of fortune. were the guides in this, and not only gave their advice as to the details of the movement, but also covered the doubtful points by contributions of their means." They both suffered persecution and imprisonment in England and Ireland for conscience's sake; and great pecuniary loss through unjust fines and through destruction of property by mobs.

Research Notes:

Birthdates of children are from Texas Society Daughters of the American Revolution Roster Book 2-D-H and 1-A-C.

It is difficult to distinguish between this Abiah Brown and his nephew Abiah, son of brother William, in some records.


Footnotes:

[1] Chesterfield Monthly Meeting, Burlington, New Jersey, Marriages, Births, Deaths, and Marriage Intentions (from the Minutes), Certificates of Removal 1684-1847 (NJ/B2F:L), [AncestryImage], [AncestryRecord].

[2] Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Untitled: Chesterfield Births and Deaths, 35, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].

[3] Chesterfield Monthly Meeting, Burlington, New Jersey, Births and Deaths, 1675-1750, Vol. K, Marriages, 1684-1724, 82, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].

[4] Chesterfield Monthly Meeting, Burlington, New Jersey, Births and Deaths, 1675-1750, Vol. K, Marriages, 1684-1724, 82A, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].

[5] Charlotte D. Meldrum, Early Church Records of Burlington County, New Jersey, Vol. 2 (1995), 8.

[6] William Nelson, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 22. (Marriage Records, 1665-1800) (1900), 667, [HathiTrust], [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive].

[7] A. Van Doren Honeyman, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 32. (Wills and Administrations 3, 1751-1760) (1924), 44, citing will 10-209, [InternetArchive].

[8] Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Record of Certificates, 1756-1783; Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Minutes, 128, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].

[9] Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Record of Certificates, 1756-1783; Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Minutes, 133, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].

[10] Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Original Certificates, 1760-1762; Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Minutes, 1455, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].

[11] Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Chesterfield Monthly Meeting, Book of Records, 1756-1786, 117, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].

[12] Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, Minutes, 1757-1762, 11, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].

[13] William Nelson, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 22. (Marriage Records, 1665-1800) (1900), 34, [HathiTrust], [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive].

[14] Charles Shimer Boyer, Early forges & furnaces in New Jersey (1931), 193, footnote 3, [HathiTrust], [GoogleBooks].

[15] William Nelson, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 25. (Newspapers 6, 1766-1767) (1903), 2, of 2-3, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive].

[16] William Nelson, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 25. (Newspapers 6, 1766-1767) (1903), 320, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive].

[17] William Nelson, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 25. (Newspapers 6, 1766-1767) (1903), 444, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive].

[18] Francis Bazley Lee, ed., Genealogical and Personal Memorial of Mercer County, New Jersey, Vol. 1 (1907), 27, [HathiTrust], [GoogleBooks].

[19] Howard Barclay French, Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas French, Volume 1 (1909), 208, [HathiTrust].

[20] William Nelson, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 27. (Newspapers 8, 1770-1771) (1905), 48, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive], [HathiTrust].

[21] William Nelson, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 27. (Newspapers 8, 1770-1771) (1905), 101-103, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive], [HathiTrust].

[22] Charles Shimer Boyer, Early forges & furnaces in New Jersey (1931), 193, footnote 3, [HathiTrust], [GoogleBooks].

[23] Frederick W. Ricord, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jerssy. Archives Vol. 18. (Governors 6, 1769-1775) (1893), 294, [GoogleBooks], [HathiTrust], [InternetArchive].

[24] James B. Schooley. Trails of Our Fathers, revised (1988), 222, undocumented, [GoogleBooks].

[25] Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey [1775-1776](Trenton: 1879), 19, [InternetArchive].

[26] James P. Snell, History of Sussex and Warren Counties, New Jersey (1881), 50, of 49-50, left column, item 7, [InternetArchive].

[27] A. Van Doren Honeyman, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 31. (Newspapers 11, 1775) (1923), 429, [GoogleBooks].

[28] Benjamin Bailey Edsall, Joseph Farrand Tuttle, The First Sussex Centennary [sic] Containing the Addresses of Benj. B. Edsall, Esq., and Rev. J. F. Tuttle (Newark: 1853), 52, [GoogleBooks].

[29] James P. Snell, History of Sussex and Warren Counties, New Jersey (1881), 50, [InternetArchive].

[30] Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey [1775-1776](Trenton: 1879), 31, [InternetArchive].

[31] A. Van Doren Honeyman, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 31. (Newspapers 11, 1775) (1923), 512, [GoogleBooks].

[32] William Nelson and A. Van Doren Honeyman, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 29. (Newspapers 10, 1773-1774) (1917), 512, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive], [HathiTrust].

[33] William Nelson and A. Van Doren Honeyman, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 29. (Newspapers 10, 1773-1774) (1917), 520, provides another description of the ironworks, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive], [HathiTrust].

[34] Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey [1775-1776](Trenton: 1879), 197, 199, [InternetArchive].

[35] Thomas Francis Gordon, The History of New Jersey from its Discovery by Europeans (1834), 339, [HathiTrust], [GoogleBooks].

[36] Minutes of the Provincial Congress and the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey [1775-1776](Trenton: 1879), 325, [InternetArchive].

[37] Benjamin Bailey Edsall, Joseph Farrand Tuttle, The First Sussex Centennary [sic] Containing the Addresses of Benj. B. Edsall, Esq., and Rev. J. F. Tuttle (Newark: 1853), 26, bottom of page, [GoogleBooks].

[38] Benjamin Bailey Edsall, Joseph Farrand Tuttle, The First Sussex Centennary [sic] Containing the Addresses of Benj. B. Edsall, Esq., and Rev. J. F. Tuttle (Newark: 1853), 99, [GoogleBooks].

[39] Charles Shimer Boyer, Early forges & furnaces in New Jersey (1931), 84, [HathiTrust], [GoogleBooks].

[40] Charles Shimer Boyer, Early forges & furnaces in New Jersey (1931), 194, [HathiTrust], [GoogleBooks].

[41] A. Van Doren Honeyman, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 34. (Wills and Administrations 5, 1771-1780) (1931), 454, citing Lib. 23, p. 382, [InternetArchive].

[42] Elmer T. Hutchinson, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 41. (Calendar of New Jersey Wills 12, 1810-1813) (1949), 52, citing File 12493 C, [GoogleBooks].

[43] Charles Shimer Boyer, Early forges & furnaces in New Jersey (1931), 193, footnote 3, [HathiTrust], [GoogleBooks].

[44] "A letter from Mary [Mrs. Moses] Austin." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 10 (1906), 343, [GoogleBooks], [HathiTrust].