PETER4 SMITH AND REBECCA NICHOLS
Peter4 SMITH, known in the records as Peter Jr. to distinguish him from his father, was born in 1710, probably in Hempstead, and died January 16, 1771, in New Jersey. On February 4, 1732, he married, in St. George’s Church in Hempstead, Rebecca NICHOLS who was born October 9, 1707 and died November 4, 1788, at the home of her son, Dr. Peter SMITH, in Chatham, NJ a daughter of Isaac NICHOLS of Milford, Conn.
Both Peter and his wife are buried in the cemetery in Hanover, NJ sometimes called Green’s Meeting House Cemetery and their inscriptions read as follows: “In Memory of Peter Smith who Departed this Life January 16, 1771, In the 61 Year of his Age,” and “In Memory of Rebecca, Wife of Peter Smith, who Departed this life November 4, 1788, aged 81 Years & 25 days.” (William Ogden Wheeler, Inscrs. In Whippany and Hanover, NJ 1894, p. 78).
Peter
SMITH Jr., as stated before, was a founder of St. George’s Episcopal Church in
Hempstead and continued to be a member at least until January 26, 1736, when his
two oldest sons were baptized there, but there is no record of the baptisms of
later children in this church. At the time of the birth of their third child,
Hezekiah SMITH on April 21, 1737, the family resided, according to the
latter’s diary, “near the Great Pond about two miles from the west end of
the great plains.”
The
Great Pond is now Lake Success and it is believed that this property was west of
the present Lakeville Road. It
contained about 150 acres and had formerly
belonged to Peter STRINGHAM from whom it had been conveyed it to their son Peter
Jr., on May 16, 1738; part of the land lay in Hempstead and part in Flushing,
and it may be for this reason that in a record of December 1738, he is called
“Peter Smith Jr., of Flushing.”
On August 27, 1740, William NICHOLS, his wife’s brother, sold to Peter Jr., his entire estate, real and personal, before going to war. William’s military career ended abruptly when he was killed at Castagena in South America while in the service of the British Army, and on March 1, 1743, administration on his estate was granted to Peter Jr. (Frederic C. TORREY, Ancestors and Descendants of Humphrey NICOLS, 1917, p. 11) On April 17, 1744, Peter Jr., purchased a farm in Jamaica from Benjamin WIGGINS and he was living on Long Island as late as 1752. On May 4th of that year an earmark was entered for Benjamin HEGEMAN of Flushing that was formerly the mark of Peter SMITH: “A Swallow fork of the oft Ear & three nicks under the near ear” (Hemp. Town recs. V.4, p. 421) The inference is that Peter was arranging to move to New Jersey at that time and the next we hear of him is when he is burying, at Hanover, NJ his daughter Catherine who died April 21, 1754.
His
Hanover farm was described as follows in the ‘New York Journal or General
Advertiser’ of April 20, 1769: “A tract containing 360 acres of excellent
land, well wooded and watered…it lies in the County of Morris, Township of
Hanover, on the Neck bounded on Passick river…it lies 13 miles from Newark, 18
miles from Elizabeth Town and within half a mile of Mr. Green’s meeting
house…”(NJA:26:416-17). In more recent times it was owned by Carnot and
William MEEKER and still later, it has been known as the LORRE Farm.
Link
to scanned images from Records of the Towns of North and South Hempstead,
Long Island, N.Y., Vol. III, ed. Benjamin D. Hicks, Long Island Farmer Print,
Jamaica, NY, 1898.
CHILDREN
OF PETER AND REBECCA NICHOLS:
Jacamiah
born September 12, 1732
Uriah
born December 28, 1734;
Hezekiah5
born April 21, 1737
Ruben A. GUILD in Chaplain Smith and His Times
(1885), says that she was born August 24, 1742. She married Epaphras “Happy”
Cook, Revolutionary War Soldier, born January 18, 1738; died April 13, 1809,
aged 71 years, 2 months and 25 days. Both buried in the Baptist Cemetery in
Northfield, NJ (GSNJ:17:57). They resided on a farm between Livingston and
Hanover, NJ, but later moved to New York City where they lived in Wooster
Street. They had one daughter:
(a)
Rebecca
Cook born September 13, 1763; died October 1, 1852. On January 3, 1782, she
married Moses ELY born November 18, 1756, at Livingston, NJ, on Orange Mountain;
died July 14, 1838, a son of William and Elizabeth (PERKINS) ELY. Both are
buried in the Ely Cemetery in Livingston. They had nine children:
(aa)
Elizabeth Ely born August 28, 1783; married (1st) George RING
and (2nd), Rev. John WATSON.
(bb)
Abraham Halsey Ely born May 18, 1787; married Emma SAMO
(cc)
Moses Ely born February 21, 1790; married Eliza COLEMAN.
(dd)
Benjamin Ely born December 3, 1792; married (1st), Eliza BELL
and (2nd) Mrs. Martha (ALLEN) HIGGINS.
(ee)
Epaphras Cook Ely born April 15, 1795; married Julia Ann KITCHELL of
Hanover, NJ.
(ff)
Sarah Ely born November 24, 1797; married Abraham HALSEY
(gg)
Smith Ely born May 22, 1800; married Abigail BARTLETT
(hh)
John Ely born February 20, 1803; died January 21, 1894, unmarried.
(ii)
Anna Maria Ely born April 8, 1805; married Joseph KITCHELL of Hanover,
NJ. (Ely Anc. 1902,pp.119-20)
Mary born December 18, 1745; married Samuel ALLISON, a son of John and
Silence (HALL) ALLISON. Silence was the daughter of Daniel HALL and Thankful
LYMAN (hence, the first name of Lyman so common in Morris County), both Old
Established New Haven Families. A cousin, Lyman HALL, signed the Declaration of
Independence and became the first governor of Georgia in the new Republic.
Silence had a brother, Preserved, and an Uncle Wait and an Aunt Experience.
Samuel was a farmer and lived near Chatham, NJ. His farm lay on the Morris
Turnpike in Millburn Township and now forms a part of the property of the Canoe
Brook Country Club. His residence stood near the main entrance of the Club about
one
(a) Sarah Allison born September 3, 1776; died March
31, 1833. On July 5, 1802,
She married as his first wife, James VANDERPOEL born
September 10, 1776;
Died December 26, 1842, a son of James VANDERPOEL and
his wife, Mrs. Mary (RYAN) BAKER. Mr. VANDERPOEL was a prominent citizen of
Newark, NJ, a member of the Board of Freeholders there, and a promoter of the
Morris and Essex Railroad. He married (2nd) Charlotte BROUWER.
The children of James and Sarah VANDERPOEL were:
(aa) William Vanderpoel born September 25, 1805;
married Sarah Ann BROUSWER.
(bb) Mary Vanderpoel born September 25, 1805; married
Oliver J. HAYES.
(cc) Beach Vanderpoel born October 25, 1806; married
Susan Chambers FISHER
(dd) John Ellison Vanderpoel born August 9, 1807;
died June 3, 1842, unmarried.
(ee) Robert Vanderpoel born and died December 23,
1811.
(ff) Henry Vanderpoel born February 27, 1814; died
August 16, 1815.
(gg) James Vanderpoel born June 24, 1816; died April
16, 1842, prob. Unmarried.
(hh) Sarah Catharine Vanderpoel born September 3,
1818: died January 3, 1824.
(Vanderpoel Gen. 1912, pp. 183 & 223-27)
Peter5 born February 13, 1748
Catharine born February 11, 1751; died April 21, 1754, and is buried at
Hanover Cemetery.
ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION
CHILDREN
OF MARY SMITH AND SAMUEL ALLISON compiled by Ruth
DESCENDANTS OF URIAH SMITH compiled by Kathleen Pantano [email protected]
For more information about COOK and ALLISON contact Wilson Brown, email: [email protected]
6 Apr 2000