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Notes for Simpson

Research Notes:

1802 Methodist Rev. Francis Asbury recorded in his journal, about May 18, that he had visited Sylvester Hutchinson at Milford, New Jersey. "Whilst at Milford, I read the inscription on the gravestone of Ann Hutchinson, her maiden name was Simpson; she was born upon Long Island, and married in the county of Middlesex, state of New Jersey. ... About [age] eighty, she in a great degree, lost her sight; about ninety, it returned; ... I have seen her, and conversed with her: at this advanced age she did not appear to be weary of the world." [1]

1730 The will of Richard Newberry, carpenter, of Philadelphia, was dated May 19, 1730 and was on proved June 13, 1730. The will named wife Dorothy; brother John; and cousins William and Jacob Newberry, Rebecca and Mary Newberry, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Mercy Newberry. The executors were Dorothy Newberry, Patrick Imlay, and Jacob Newberry. [2]

1730 Richard Newberry was buried on June 6, 1730 at Christ Church, Philadelphia. [3]

1731 The Will of Dorothy Newberry, widow of Richard Newberry, carpenter, of the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was dated April 7, 1731/2, and was proved on June 1, 1731. The will named sisters: Catherine Stout, Anne Hutchinson; brothers: William and Peter Simpson; cousins: John and Haskar Newberry; friends: Jenkin Jones, Jane Pearce; nurse: Alice Haig; brother-in-law: William Hutchinson; executrix: Anne Hutchinson; trustee: Jenkin Jones; witnesses: John Kearsley, Jno. Cadwalder. [4] [5] Dorothy Newberry was buried on April 9, 1731 in Philadelphia. [6]

The "Mosher & Hutchinson Family Connection" website reports that William Hutcheson married Ann Simpson about 1719 in New Jersey, daughter of Arthur Simpson. She was born March 17, 1698/99 in Rhode Island.

1830-44 William Simpson was a jeweler in Philadelphia. [7]

Catherine Stout could be Catherine Simpson [8]:

Samuel Stout, youngest son of Jonathan the pioneer of northern Hopewell, was born in 1709, and in 1729 married Catharine Simpson, the widow of his first cousin, James Stout, of Amwell. They had one son, Samuel, born in 1730. (The published history of the family gives the date of his birth as 1732, but the inscription on his tomb in the old cemetery near the Baptist church gives the date of his death as September 24, 1803, and his age 73, which is undoubtedly correct.)

Catharine Simpson married James Stout, son of David, in 1712, in Monmouth County, and they soon after removed to Amwell Township, Hunterdon County, and settled on a tract of 700 acres near the present location of Wertsville, about five miles north of our Borough. By this marriage they had a family of six sons and one daughter, the oldest born in 1713, and the youngest in 1725. We are unable to give the date of the death of James Stout, but the "Stout History," written by his grandson, Captain Nathan, gives his age as thirty-six, and in all probability his death occurred about 1726.

Neither history nor tradition has left us any further account of Catharine Simpson who was thus bereaved and left with this interesting family to rear and educate, but judging her by the characteristic traits of her family, she was above the average in intelligence and ability, and was equal to the emergency. At all events the bewitching charms of this fascinating widow of Amwell, proved absolutely irresistible to the Hopewell Samuel, or he would not have volunteered at the age of twenty to take her brood of six Stout stalwart sons under his sheltering wing.

1712 Catherine Simpson and James Stout were married in New Jersey. [9]

1729 Catherine Simpson-Stout and James Stout were married. [10]

1749 Catherine Simpson Stout died on December 8, 1749, and was buried in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. [11]

1727 James Stout dated his will on April 25 in Amwell Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Named wife Catherine and sons John, James, Joseph, David, Jacob and Jonathan. Uncle James Aston, uncle John Aston, and cousin Joseph Stout were named as potential executors. Proved April 26, 1731. Inventory by John Garrison. [12]

AGBI records for Catherine Simpson. [13]

James Stout, son of David Stout and Rebecca Ashton, born Middletown, Monmouth Co., N.J., married. 1712, Catherine Simson (Simpson), and moved to Amwell in Hunterdon Co., N.J. [14]

Nathan Stout in his "History of the Stout Family" gives Rachel Cotter as wife of James Drake, son of Nathan Drake and Rebecca Stout. Rebecca was daughter of James Stout and Catherine Simpson, all of Hopewell, N.J. [15]

Several researchers name Arthur Simpson (1670 in Ireland - January 17, 1749 in Middletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey) and Mary Ester Tilton (1675-1704), married 1688 in Freehold, Monmouth County, New Jersey, as the parents of this family.

Apparently, there was a different Arthur Simpson, of Scotland, who lived in Perth Amboy and died there in 1702:

A historical sketch of the Scottish settlers in Freehold named Arthur Simpson. [16]

… they scattered their settlements all over central East Jersey from the Blew Hills in the north to Taponemus in the south. The latter place initially was nothing more than a cluster of small farms adjoining the properties of fractioners John Johnstone and George Keith, and, a decade after the settlement began, Taponemus was still the only Scottish settlement in Monmouth County.

The Keithian schism provided the impetus for the first spurt in Freehold's growth. Most of the Taponemus settlers belonged to the Society of Friends, and the local meeting there joined Keith in his separation. Soon thereafter, Scottish Friends from other townships began to move to the Freehold settlements; by 1695, two additional Scottish Friends had taken up lands at Taponemus and six other settlers had joined together to establish the new Wickatunk settlement nearby. Soon they were joined by non-Quaker countrymen also, and by 1700 about thirty-five Scottish families owned farms in the Freehold settlements, and others worked as laborers on those farms. That represented the largest concentration of Scottish families in the colony. For the remainder of the colonial period, Freehold would remain East Jersey's predominant Scottish settlement and would attract branches of almost every large Scottish family in the province.

The Freehold settlers moved quickly to forge links to their Scottish countrymen in other parts of East Jersey. In the year 1700, a group of thirty-one Monmouth County residents, including twenty-nine Scots, began buying up lands along the Matawan Creek on the route from Taponemus to Matawan Point, which lay across the bay from Perth Town. Their intentions became clear from their actions the following year; the same group, minus the two English purchasers, patented additional lands for a roadway from Freehold to Matawan and a landing on Matawan Point, which would serve as a loading dock for the Perth Town ferry. The very same day that those Scots acquired title to their land, Scotsman Arthur Simpson, a resident of the capital, leased the ferry for a term of fifteen years. Freehold's whole trading network was now in Scottish hands.

Arthur Simpson lived in Perth Amboy:

1684 Arthur Simpson was an indentured servant imported to East New Jersey by George Willocks. David Dobson, The Original Scots Colonists of Early America (1998), 156. [17] [18] [19]

1686 Arthur Simpson received ferry rights from Neversink for 15 years. [20]

1692 Arthur Simpson was listed in First Settlers of Ye Plantations of Piscataway and Woodbridge, Olde East New Jersey, 1664-1714. [21]

Documents related to Arthur Simpson, of Perth Amboy, were summarized by Helen Augusta Simpson, Early records of Simpson families in Scotland, North Ireland, and eastern United States (J.B. Lippincott Co., 1927), 102
However, the 1702 will of Arthur Simpson does not correspond to Arthur Simpson (died 1749 in Monmouth County) and does not name the family shown here. [22] [23]

Arthur Simpson first appears as servant to George Willoks, late of Scotland, together with Alexander Buchane, 1684, and develops into a land-owner; d. 1703; as shown by entries (selected items from the book, which shows more entries):

1690 May 1st. Patent to George Willoks in right of himself and two servants, viz., Arthur Sympson and Alexander Buchanan.

1698 June 16. Patent to Arthur Simson of Perth Amboy, yeoman, for a lot there, 9 by 1 ch., e. Margratt Thompson, etc. - Aurthor Simson. N. Dock Street.

1700-1 Mch. 25. Lease: The Proprieters to Arthur Simson of Perth Amboy, of the ferry over Raritan Rivere at said Perth Amboy, for 15 yrs.

1702-3. Will of Arthur Simson of Perth Amboy; to wife Margaret; to wife's daughters; Katherine, wife of John Matthews; Jean, wife of John Brown, and grandson Arthur Brown; Hannah wife of - Hume. Wife sole executrix; proved Mch. 27, 1703.


Footnotes:

[1] Francis Asbur, The Journal of the Rev. Francis Asbury, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Vol. 3 (1821), 63, [GoogleBooks].

[2] USGenWeb Archives, Philadelphia Pennsylvania Will E-132, [USGenWeb].

[3] Charles R. Hildeburn, ed., Records of Christ Church, Philadelphia, Burials 1709-1760 The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 5 (1881), at 464, [HathiTrust].

[4] USGenWeb Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Will E-163, [USGenWeb].

[5] Richard Hutchinson's website for Hutchinson Genealogy. (No longer available online. http://www.richardshutchinson.com/WilliamAnnHutchinson.htm).

[6] Charles R. Hildeburn, ed., Records of Christ Church, Philadelphia, Burials 1709-1760 The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 5 (1881), at 464, [HathiTrust].

[7] U.S., Craftperson Files, 1600-1995, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].

[8] Ralph Ege, Pioneers of Old Hopewell: With Sketches of Her Revolutionary Heroes (Hopewell, N.J., Race & Savidge, 1908), 63, [HathiTrust], [GoogleBooks].

[9] U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, [AncestryRecord].

[10] Yates Publishing, U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, [AncestryRecord].

[11] Find A Grave Memorial 5816201, [FindAGrave].

[12] 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), 462, [GoogleBooks], [HathiTrust].

[13] American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI), [AncestryRecord].

[14] AGBI Boston Transcript 21 Jan 1932, 2973, [URL].

[15] AGBI Boston Transcript 1 Jul 1932, 3816, [URL].

[16] Ned C. Landsman, Scotland and Its First American Colony, 1683-1765 (2014), 175, [URL].

[17] U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s, [AncestryRecord].

[18] Google Books snippet, [URL].

[19] William Nelson, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 21. (Patents and Deeds, 1664-1703) (1899), 73, [HathiTrust], [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive].

[20] Maxine N. Lurie and Joanne R. Walroth, ed., The Minutes of the Board of Proprietors of the Eastern Division of New Jersey from 1685 to 1705, Vol. 1 (Newark, New Jersey: New Jersey Historical Society, 1985), 10, [HathiTrust].

[21] Google Books snippet, [URL].

[22] Family History copy of book, [URL].

[23] Google Books snippet, [URL].