Research Notes:
1679 Richard Ridgway, a tailor, and Elizabeth Ridgway, and with sons Thomas and Richard, of Welford, in the county of Bark [Berkshire?] arrived at Burlington in September, on the ship "Jacob and Mary". They settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania that year. [1] [2]
1680 Mary Scholey married John Rogers at the home of Thomas Lambert, Nottingham on August 31. Witnessed by Robert Scholey Junior, Mahlon Stacy, Robert Murfin, John Lambert, Thomas Lambert, William Wood, Willi Billes, Richard Ridgway, Joshua Wright, Peter Frettwell, John Murfine, Katharine Beard, Jo Cooke, and Ann Stancie. [3]
1680 Richard Ridgway petitioned to prevent the sale of liquor to Indians.
1690 The family move to New Jersey between Princeton and Lawrenceville.
1695 Richard Ridgeway was listed among the residents of Nottingham Twp, Burlington County. Dated 1 month [March], day 25. [4]
1698 The family purchased a large farm near Jacksonville in Springfield Twp from John Hollingshead.
The genealogy of the family of Richard Ridgway and his two wives, Elizabeth Chamberlyn and Abigail Stockton, has been researched extensively. [5] [6] [7] [8]
A biosketch [9] reports:
None of the early settlers of Pennsylvania and New Jersey was more successful and influential than Richard Ridgway. Descended from notable English ancestry, he arrived at Burlington in September, 1679. With a number of his fellow homeseekers he crossed the Delaware, purchased land and founded a settlement known for many years thereafter as Crewcorne, and which was the site of the present town of Mollis villa, Bucks Co., Pa. As elsewhere noted, these pioneers in the wilderness were early beset with a special annoyance and peril, in consequence of the sale of liquor to the Indians. A petition addressed to Governor Andros, of New York, April ye 12th, 1680, by the inhabitants of Crewcorne, quaintly describes existing conditions:
"To ye Worthy Governor of New Yorke.
"Whereas, wee ye Inhabitants of ye new Seated Towne near ye falls of Dellaware (called Crewcorne) ftndeing ourselves aggrieved by ye Indians when drunk, informeth, that wee be and have been in great,danger of our Lives, of our houses burning, of our goods stealing and of our Wives and Children affrighting. Insomuch that wee are afeard to go about our Lawful affairs, least when we come home we finda ym and our concerns damnified. These things considered, wee doe humbly & jointly desire that ye selling of brandy and strong liquors to ye Indians may be wholly suppressed, when if done wee hope wee shall live peaceably. Willi. Biles, Rich. Ridgway, Samuel ffeild, John Akarman, Robt. Lucas, Robt. Scholey, Tho. Scholey, Darius brinson, William Cooper, George Browne."Richard Ridgway prospered at Crewcorne, bat he was a man of large views and purposes. He bought additional tracts of desirable land in Pennsylvania, and in the fall of 1690 bought, of Gov. Daniel Coxe, of West Jersey, 600 acres in the upper part of Burlington County, near Stony Brook, along the East Jersey line, locating there with his family for a time. Later he sold this property, and in the spring of 1697 purchased of John Hollinshead 600 acres at Mattacopeny, Burlington Co. A few months later he bought of Jane Ogburn 90 acres in the same section, transferring this property, with 100 acres additional, to his son Thomas, two years thereafter. Still other land purchases and sales by Richard Ridgway are recorded about 1700. He also became a land owner in East Jersey and for a time resided at the ancient settlement of Piscataway, now in the upper part of Middlesex County, one of his grantee's being the original Richard Stockton, father of his second wife, Abigail Stockton, and founder of the Stockton family in New Jersey. He returned to Burlington County and settled finally in Springfield township, where he became active in public affairs, serving as one of the county judges at different periods between 1700 and 1720. He died in 1722, leaving an estate of considerable size. His will, dated September 21, 1722, proved April S, 1723, appointed wife Abigail executrix, with sons Thomas and Job and son-in-law Henry Clothier as assistants. Inventory showed personal property to the value of £207 lis. His widow survived him about three years. Her will was proved December 19, 1726; inventory of personal estate amounted to £141 15s.
Richard Ridgway was twice married, first to Elisabeth Chamberlayne, of Wiltshire, England, with whom he came to America. She died at Crewcorne, March 31, 1692. He married second, February 1, 1693/4, Abigail Stockton. By his first marriage he had seven children, vis., Thomas', Richard, Elizabeth, William, Sarah, Josiah and Joseph. There were seven children also by the second marriage, namely, Job, Mary, Jane, Abigail, John, Joseph and Sarah. Four children died in infancy—William, both Sarahs, and the first Joseph. The eldest son, Thomas, born in England in 1677, died 1724/5, in early life located in the Egg Harbor section and became the progenitor of a large branch of the family. Richard Ridgway, Jr., born at Crewcorne 1680, died 1718/9, located in Springfield township, Burlington County, and his descendants, likewise those of his brothers and sisters, have been numerous and prosperous. Sarah (Ridgway) Morgan, daughter of Joseph Ridgway of Springfield township, was a great, great granddaughter of Thomas (Trench and Richard Ridgway, progenitors.
[1] "Marriages at Chesterfield, New Jersey, 1685-1730," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 9 (1885), 347-352, at 225, [GoogleBooks].
[2] Harold Fisher Wilson, The Jersey Shore: a social and economic history of the counties of Atlantic, Cape May, Monmouth, and Ocean, Vol. 1-3 (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co, 1953),480, Vol. 3.
[3] Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Burlington Monthly Meeting, Minutes, 1677-1777 (includes many different types of records), [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].
[4] Trenton Historical Society, Nottingham Township, New Jersey Minute Book 1692-1710; 1752-1772 (1940), 3, [World_Cat], [GoogleBooks], [FHLFilmCatalog].
[5] John W. Jordan, Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography, Vol. 13 (New York: Lewis Publishing, 1921), 27, [GoogleBooks], [HathiTrust].
[6] John W. Jordan, Colonial Families of Philadelphia, Vol. 1 (New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1911), 887, [HathiTrust], [InternetArchive].
[7] George DeCou, Burlington: A Provincial Capital (1945), 205, [GoogleBooks].
[8] George C. Ridgway, Descent of the Ridgway-Ridgeway family in England and America (1875), 58, [HathiTrust].
[9] Howard Barclay French, Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas French, Volume 1 (1909), 449, [HathiTrust].