Research Notes:
Some of these notes might refer to father William Schooley or to William, husband of Elizabeth French. Please help, if you can.
"The Hard Winter of 1739-40.—One hundred and fifty years ago this township was a frontier; to which the populous city or well furnished mart was as inaccessible as either now is to the most isolated settlers of any of our new States. In 1713 Joseph Kirkbride bought of the proprietors of East Jersey a large part of what is now the township of Randolph. Shortly afterward William Schooley moved from Schooley's Mountain and bought of Kirkbride several hundred acres, including what is now Mill Brook. Mr. Schooley was a pioneer and endured all the hardships which commonly attend the first settlers. He was accustomed to trade with the Indians, and during one severe winter he was known to go more than once a distance of thirty miles through the snow to an Indian settlement to obtain corn, which he brought home in a bag on his shoulders, making his way over the snow by means of snowshoes, which were common at that time." [1]
1740 William Schooley, son of William Schooley, moved from Schooley's Mountain to Randolph Twp and purchased 600 acres at Mill Brook from Joseph Kirkbride. His son, Robert Schooley [relationship unclear] built a grist mill there. [2]
1768 Robert Schooley, perhaps a son of this William, sold one fire in the Quaker Iron Works Forge at Dover, New Jersey, to Joseph Jackson. [3] [4]
[1] Edmund Drake Halsey, 1739 History of Morris County, New Jersey (1882), 303, left column, [InternetArchive].
[2] Edmund Drake Halsey, 1739 History of Morris County, New Jersey (1882), 291, right column, [InternetArchive].
[3] Edmund Drake Halsey, 1739 History of Morris County, New Jersey (1882), 40, right column, [InternetArchive].
[4] Edmund Drake Halsey, 1739 History of Morris County, New Jersey (1882), 45, right column, [InternetArchive].