PART THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
ENOCH JONES
Revolutionary War Soldier
26 June 2016
There’s
always a link in a family line where a paper trail fails to establish legal
proof between a father and a son. Enoch Jones of Pencader Hundred New Castle
Delaware and Enoch Jones of Guernsey County, Ohio is that one link. Without a
DNA sample, the connection between the two men is hard to establish beyond
circumstancial evidence and a strong possibiity. The difficulties in
establishing paternity between these two men are threefold.
First Enoch Jones Senior died intestate,
without a will, naming his heirs. Second there are no deeds of gift recorded in
New Castle County connecting the pair. Third there are no census records from
that time that would place the two in close proximity. The 1790 US Census of
Delaware was destroyed and by the 1800 Census Enoch Jones Junior had left
Delaware for the Northwest Territories with his brother Malachi Jones and his
in-laws the Addy Family.
The suggestion that Enoch Senior and Enoch
Junior are father and son is found in almost every family history of especially
in the histories of the Addy Family. Every pedigree for Enoch Jones and his
brother Malachi, written by family researchers, claimed these brothers as sons
of Enoch Jones and Jane Boggs without citing evidence or sources. LDS genealogies
connect the two Enochs as father and son without offering any proof and much of
what is in their data banks is in error. Often researchers simply copy
information of others without further inquiry so this cannot be verified.
What is certain is that Enoch Jones, son of
James Jones, was married circa 1780 to Jane Boggs daughter of Rev. John Boggs
and Hannah Furniss but she is not the mother of Enoch Jr and his brother
Malachi. Enoch Jones Junior’s tombstone states he was born in 1764. Therefore Jane
Boggs could not be the mother of Enoch Jones Junior as she did not marry his
father until circa 1780. Nor does Jane Boggs name Enoch Junior and
Malachi Jones as heirs of Enoch Senior in probate records found in New Castle
County, Delaware. That is very problematic.
Enoch Jones Senior son of James Jones and
Susannah Williams was born circa 1740 in White Clay Creek Hundred, New Castle,
Delaware at his father’s plantation. He was raised in an affluence agriculture
family that used African Americans as slave labor. More than likely he was
named for Rev Enoch Morgan, his father’s uncle who died in 1740 and who was the
pastor of the Welsh Tract Baptist Church for over a decade.
However
there is no evidence that Enoch Jones himself ever joined the Baptist faith
even though his father in law Rev. John Boggs was minister of the Welsh Tract
Baptist Church at the time of Enoch’s death. Although many members of that
church have their baptisms and deaths recorded it in the church’s records, he
did not. His father at one point had been excluded from the church and that may
have affected his joining.
In 1764 at the time of Enoch Jones Jr
supposed birth date, Enoch Jones Sr would have been at least 24 years old. He
certainly could have married and fathered a son at that age. It is not
unusual for the name of a wife to be lost over time especially if she was a
first wife, died before her husband, and was not mentioned in any documents. If
neither Enoch Junior nor his 1st wife associated with the Welsh
Baptist Tract Church then there would be no record of baptisms or death for
them. It is however documented that Enoch Jones Jr had a brother named Malachi
Jones, and possibly another relative named Elias Jones who lived near one
another after moving to Ohio.
Enoch
Jones Sr, was a land owner and farmer but evidently not a successful one.
When Enoch Sr was about 35 years old, in February 1776 his 1st cousin David
Jones and his wife Ann sold to him all rights to 100 acres that he inherited
from “my grandfather David Jones”. In a later document this deed was said to
have been when county records were “taken away by the British from office of
New Castle”. David Jones re-recorded this deed 27 April 1795, after Enoch Sr.s
death in 1788 to show that Enoch’s father in law Rev. John Boggs had bought
this land from Enoch Jones prior to Jones’ death.
Enoch
Jones would have been about 36 years old when he served under Captain Thomas
Watson, who was a native of Ireland. Military records show that Enoch Jones was
a member of the Delaware Militia during the Revolutionary War. A muster roll of
Delaware’s Second Battalion, commanded by Col. Thomas Couch, a great uncle,
showed that Enoch Jones, James Jones, and Thomas Jones all served in Captain
Thomas Watson’s first company in 1776. Enoch Jones and James Jones were
brothers and mostly likely Thomas Jones was a kinsman. Enoch’s cousin Morgan
was also a private in Col. Cooch’s Second Battalion.
Col.
Thomas Cooch was the son of Col. Thomas & Sarah (Lowen) Cooch. He was born
in England circa 1715. He married Sarah Griffith the daughter of Joseph and
Jane Gryffith in New Castle County, Delaware making him the brother-in-law of
Rev. Abel Morgan, Rev. Enoch Morgan and Esther Jones wife of David Jones.
Cooch, a wealthy farmer and mill owner and helped finance the building of the
bridge that bore his name. It spanned the Christiana River.
The
British forces landed in August 1777 at Elkton a village at the northern point
of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland with the intent of capturing Philadelphia.
The British occupied Boston, New York, and Charleston and strategically the
British thought the capture of the capital of the United States would end the
war.
The
British plan was to cross through Delaware to the town of Wilmington which was
situated on the Delaware River and march 40 miles north to capture
Philadelphia. Wilmington was only 15 miles northwest of the village of Newark
where Enoch Jones senior and his relatives were located.
The
area of New Castle County in which the Joneses lived was nearly 20 miles wide
and 15 miles long. The Jones families lived in this area which was about to be
invaded by 38 year old General Charles Cornwallis’ army.
Col.
Thomas Cooch had served as a captain during the French and Indian War and,
because of his military experience, he was appointed colonel of the Lower
Regiment of New Castle County under the command of Col. Patterson's battalion.
Although his advanced age kept him from active military service, he was an
ardent supporter of the patriot cause.
In
the late summer of 1777, learning of the British advance into New Castle
County, Delaware from Elkton Maryland, Col. Cooch quickly moved his family to
safety in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
The
only Revolutionary War battle fought in Delaware was at Cooch’s Bridge near the
Welsh Tract Baptist Church in Pencader Hundred in September 1777. The Battle of
Cooch’s Bridge was the first engagement of the British campaign to capture
Philadelphia, America’s first capital. Tradition holds that the Battle of
Cooch's Bridge was the first instance of the Stars and Stripes being flown in
battle but this is speculative.
On
the morning of 3 September 1777, British and Hessian troops under the command
of Lord Cornwallis marched east from Maryland into Delaware and encountered
Americans under General William Maxwell’s command. His special corps of light
infantry located about a mile north of Aiken’s Tavern in the village of
Glasgow. The Tavern was about 4 miles south of Cooch’s Bridge.
General
George Washington’s orders to “give every possible annoyance” to the enemy, had
General Maxwell’s corps of 800 marksmen firing upon the British along the road
to Cooch’s Bridge. At the bridge the forefront of the British line, an elite
force of Hessian jägers responded to the American troops with cannon-fire and a
bayonet charge. The Americans retreated in a running fight which ended in a
final skirmish in the vicinity of the Welsh Tract Baptist Church. Affter the
battle General Maxwell’s corps retreated four miles north to rejoin the main
American army on White Clay Creek near Newark.
The
Battle of Cooch’s Bridge was minor in comparison of other battles in the
British campaign to take Philadelphia. Interestingly however Cooch’s Bridge
also had its own legend of a British soldier whose head was shot off in the
battle and who still appears there on foggy, moonless nights as a headless
apparition.
Following
the American militia retreat, Lord Charles Cornwallis set up his headquarters
in Thomas Cooch’s abandoned house, while his men encamped on the property. The
British remained in the area for five days, foraging from the surrounding farms
and setting fire to Cooch’s mill before moving on towards Brandywine Creek
about 7 miles north west of Wilmington Delaware. There at Brandywine the
Americans suffered a devastating defeat at on 11 September 1777 and the capital
at Philadelphia fell to the British. It seems likely that Enoch Jones fought at
the Battle of Brandywine as that Watson was taken prisoner there but managed to
escape from the British.
The
British occupied Wilmington Delaware as well as controlled much of New Castle
County until they vacated Philadelphia in 1778 to protect their army at New
York City from the French who joined the war. General Charles Cornwallis
surrendered to General George Washington in 1781 some four years after the
Battle of Cooch’s Bridge and as that some of Enoch’s kinsmen were at Yorktown,
Virginia, it is likely that he was there also. However the war was not
officially over until the signing of the Peace Accords in 1783.
Enoch
Jones married circa 1778 probably a few years after his first wife died. He
married Jane Boggs the teenage daughter of Rev. John Boggs. The 1800 Census of
Pencader Hundred in New Castle County, Delaware states that Jane Boggs were
between the ages of 24 and 44 or born between the years 1756 and 1776. Ten
years later the 1810 Census of Pencader Hundred New Castle County narrowed the
ranges of Jane Boggs’ age as being born between 1765 and 1784.
Enoch
and Jane’s first child Mary was born 23 March 1779 and therefore concieved in
June 1778. If Jane was born in 1765 she would have been only about 13 years old
at the time of her marriage to Enoch Senior. While that is entirely possible
more than likely she was born closer to between 1760 and 1765 assuming that her
father Rev. John Boggs birth year is 1739 as stated on his tombstone. Jane
would not have been much older than Enoch Jones Jr. with her own father being
the same age of her husband.
Enoch
Senior would have been circa 37 years old when he married his young
bride. Enoch Jones Junior would have been about 14 years old when his
father married.
Jane’s
youth at the time she married can explain two things. First why Jane married so
quickly after Enoch’s death and second why Enoch’s older children would have
struck out on their own as young men. As that Jane Boggs was only about 18
years old and would have been around the age of Enoch’s eldest son, family
tension may have, as often was the case, been a reason for these boys to leave
home. They may have not gotten along with a stepmother only a few years older
then themselves or a young bride she could have been jealous of step children
having a father’s interests over her own young children. They may even have
been pushed out by a jealous father with a teenage bride.
Enoch
Jones was 41 years old when the war ended, remarried, and returned to his farm
in New Castle County, Delaware married to Jane Boggs.
Enoch
Jones was 43 years old when his father James Jones made out a will in 1783.
Enoch’s legacy was encumbered by his father who obliged him to provide support
for his younger brother Abel and his mother. His father wrote that the gift of
property was “in lieu thereof to pay unto my son son Abel Jones, his heirs and
assigns forever the sum of one hundred pounds like currency aforesaid within
two years of my decease and also twenty bushels of wheat yearly and two hundred
and fifty weight of pork and beef yearly to be paid to my wife Susannah and one
half of my funeral expenses all which legacies the aforesaid plantation is
encumbered with until the discharge as may further appear in a certain deed of
aforesaid land by me made to my said son Enoch Jones baring date January the
twenty ninth Anno Dom 1783.” Enoch’s father’s will was not probated until 1786
and as that Enoch died two years after his father it is doubtful that he had
time pay off the terms of his father’s will.
Enoch
Senior died before 19 December 1787 intestate that is before he could draw up a
last will and testament which indicates that he died suddenly either by a
disease or accident. That he did not leave a “death bed nuncupative will” also
indicates that his death was very sudden. He died two years after his father
James and a year after his mother Susannah died.
When Enoch
Senior died in 1787, Jane was only between the ages of 22 and 27 years old and
with four young children under the age of 10 years. These four children, using
an average of 18 months to 24 months between each conception, were all born
within between 1779 and 1787.
Jane
Jones, his brother Daniel Jones, and brothers-in-law Joseph and father in law
John Boggs filed in probate court to administer Enoch’s estate and acted as
securities for which they bonded themselves for £ 500.
An
inventory of his estate was taken 31 December 1787 showing that while not
weathy he was affluent as his total personal estate was worth £337 , 26
shillings and 3 pence.
The inventory showed that he owned an
Africa American female “One Negro girl named Dorcus and her child” together
valued at £ 9. As Dorcus was referred to as a girl she was probably under
21 years of age. It can only be speculated who the father of her child was.
This is probably the same person that James Jones willed to his daughter Hannah
Shield. “To my daughter Hannah Shield I give and bequeath to heirs and assigns
forever one Negro wench Dorcus also eighty pounds in money.”
Dorcus
and her child were considered “chattel” along with Enoch Jones Sr.’s livestock,
of cattle, hogs, sheep, geese, and horses. The inventory showed that he had 14
heads of cattle a yoke of oxen worth £12, a dark brown cow, a black cow, a red
cow, a red cow with a broken horn, a red heifer [a female cow that hasn’t had a
calf], a small red heifer, a black steer [a castrated male], a red steer, and a
brindle steer and three one year old calves worth approximately £ 48.
Additionally
he had 17 large and small hogs, 20 sheep, and 7 geese worth approximately £
20. He owned four horses, a sorrel [reddish brown color] mare worth £6, a
young sorrel mare worth £ 10 [valued higher than Dorcas and her child], a colt
worth £ 5, and a brown mare worth £ 6. Along with the horses he owned an old
saddle and bridle worth 10 shillings and a woman’s saddle and bridle worth 15
shillings. There was 20 shillings to a pound and 12 pences [penny] to a
shilling.
Enoch’s
household goods were primarily kitchen and bedroom furniture and Items. He
owned three beds one which was probably Dorcas’. For bedroom furnishing, in one
room he owned one bed, a bed stead, its furniture worth £ 6 and 5 shillings and
a “case of drawers” worth £2 and 5 shillings. In another room he had a bed,
bedstead, and furniture worth £ 8. A third “small bed” andbedstead was worth £
3 and 4 shillings.
Other
furniture items were a chest worth 2 shillings and 6 pence, 2 tables and a
stand worth £ 1 and 10 shillings, an “old looking glass and glass frame” worth
15 shillings, a dresser worth 6 shillings and 7 pence, 1 large pine table and 9
old rush bottom chairs worth £ 1- 4 shillings and 6 pence and sundry other
kitchen furniture worth £ 1 11 shillings and 6 pence.
Kitchen
items such as serving dishes and cook ware were considerable which indicated
that he kept a well stock larder. Among kitchen ware were baskets, tea ware
[tea cups, plates, plates, and bowls] worth 7 shillings and 6 pence, sundry
earthenware [pottery] worth 7 shillings and 6 pence, a tea kettle and a frying
pan, worth 10 shillings and 6 pence, 10 pewter plates, 3 pewter dishes and a
pewter basin worth 20 shillings and 6 pence, knives and forks worth 4
shillings, a coffee pot, a quart mug, spoons, collander, and a mortar [for
grinding herbs and spices] worth 7 shillings 3 pence, 2 pots worth 11
shillings and 3 pence, a grid iron worth 6 shillings and 7 pence, a griddle, a
half bushel basket, and an ax [chopping ax] all worth about 9 shillings 9 and 9
pence. He owned 2 candlesticks worth 1 shilling and a box of lumber which were
long sticks for lighting things worth 1 shilling.
He
had £7 12 shillings and 6 pence worth of "sundry wearing apparel",
including sundry Negro clothes worth £ 1 and 8 shillings and sundry bed clothes
15 shillings. He also had 9 sheets, table clothes, towels and pillow cases
worth £ 3 16 shillings and 3 pence.
The
household had yards of fabric and yarn as people sewed their own clothes
mainly. His inventory showed that he had on hand 7 ½ yards of cloth, 24 dozen
skeins of flax yarn, 1 dozen spools of thread, 5 pounds of coverlet yarn, 5
hanks of tow yarn, 9 yards of tow linsey cloth. He had a pair of cards for
separating wool fiber so it could be spun.
His
farm equipment consisted two ox yokes, a ox cart, a
sled, an old plough, a new plough, 7 barrels, a dung fork, a spade, a
grubbing hoe, an old shear, a hand saw, a chisel, a drawing knife, an axe,
,irons, a harrow [breaks up clumps], swingle trees [A
swingletree is a wooden bar used to balance the pull of a draught animal when
pulling a vehicle], clevises [a u shape fastener], , maul and wedges, 2 hoes, a
grindstone, 2 pair of chains, a cutting box, a scythe and a cradle.
Produce on hand were 18 pounds of tallow [for candle making], a
quanity of beef, 1259 pounds of pork, 3 stacks of hay, corn fodder, 202 ½
bushels of Indian corn, 24 bushels of potatoes, 192 ½ bushels of wheat, sundry
lumber, barley and salt. Produce in the field were 11 ¾ acres of wheat and
barley, 17 acres of “old field of wheat”, and 2 acres of Rye.
A
description of Enoch Senior’s estate taken 20 January 1788 showed his farm that
was pretty ran down perhaps due to poor health issues. Probate records showed
that he owned a 210 acre farm that was worth about £50 per annum in rent. On
the property a log dwelling house was “much out of repair”, a kitchen “not even
tenantable”, two small stables “in bad condition”, a corn crib, a barn “not
capable of being repaired” and a few apple trees. The fence was reported as
“generally good.”
Enoch’s
widow Jane Boggs, acting as administrator of his Estate, names only four heirs,
her own minor children Mary Jones, Susannah Jones, Hannah Jones and James
Jones. None of which accounts for certain family histories naming Enoch Jones
Junior and Malachi Jones as being also the children of Enoch Jones Senior.
They definitely could not have been the children of Jane Boggs but they
could have been the children of a first wife considering the 20 years age
difference between Jane and Enoch.
The
probate court of Newcastle County, Delaware appointed Enoch’s brother Daniel
Jones guardian of his nieces Mary and Susannah Jones “minor orphan children of
Enoch Jones deceased”. His brother in law Joseph Boggs was appointed guardian
of Hannah Jones and James Jones “minor orphan children of Enoch Jones
deceased.” The orphans’ grandfather Rev. John Boggs acted as surety for Jane
Jones, Daniel Jones, and Joseph Boggs who were responsible for distributing £
279 from the estate.
These
four minor children, Hannah Jones, James Jones, Mary Jones, and Susannah Jones
are the only documented children of Enoch Jones Jr. for which there is a paper
trail.
The court
allowed the guardians of Enoch’s minor children to protect the children’s
interest by making the following improvements; “erect a new log barn, plant 70
apple trees” and repair the “kitchen and stables for tenants.”
A
deed dated 13 October 1787 showed Enoch Jones of Pencader, husbandman [farmer]
and wife Jane confirmed to Rev. John Boggs, Clerk [cleric] 100 acres bounding
land of Philip Redman and Joseph Griffith, land granted to David Jones
containing 260 acres. This deed was not recorded until 12 February 1789 after
his death. A plat map of the property shows that Enoch Jones Seniors lands were
bounded on the south by John Boggs Senior, his father in law and pastor of the
Welsh Baptist Church and on the north, Philip Redman. In 1789 Jane as a widow
later married John Redman most likely a kinsman of Philip. Enoch Jones’ lands
were also bounded by his brother in law Joseph Griffith. While Jane was married
to Enoch Jones for about 8 years, she was married to John Redmond for 22 years
and had another family by him.
After
filing to be the administrator of his estate, in a probate record dated 6
October 1789, Jane Boggs Jones is listed as the wife of John Redman who were
responsible for disposing of £ 271 to Enoch Jones’ creditors
A
deed record from New Castle County dated 28 March 1796 showed that Enoch Jones’
lands may have straddled the boundary between White Clay Creek Hundred and
Pencader Hundred. A deed between James W Mecham and Joseph Burnes regarding
lands at Christiana Bridge showed the acreage was bordered by the following
neighbors, John Bailey, Doctor Samuel Platt, Samuel Cochran, David Nivins,
Joseph Ogle, Enoch Jones Deceased, John Griffith, James Gallagher, and William
Armstrong.
The
1790 census for Delaware was lost however the 1800 Census of Pencader Hundred
in New Castle County, Delaware, taken 12 years after the death of Enoch Jones,
gives hints to the birth year of Jane Boggs. It states the ages of John Redman
and Jane Boggs were between 44 and 24 years or born between the years 1756 and
1776. Even if she was born in 1756 which she probably wasn’t she would have
been only 8 years old when Enoch Jones Jr was born.
In this
household of John Redman there are 3 boys under the age of 10 years, born
between 1790 and 1800, who had to be the sons of John Redman. One daughter was
under 10 also. One youth was listed as between 15 years and 10, born 1785 to
1790. This boy had to have been James Jones born between 1785 and 1787.
There
are three females between the ages of 10 and 17 born 1785 through 1790, and 1
female between 25 and 16 years born 1784 to 1775. This daughter was probably
Mary Jones and the other two are Susannah and Hannah. The other female between
1785 and 1790 was probable the first child of Jane and John.
Ten
years later the 1810 Census of Pencader Hundred New Castle County narrows the
ranges of Jane and John Redman ages being born between 1765 and 1784. Compared
with 1800 record they were born between 1765 and 1775. If she was a widow with
four children and remarried in 1789 certainly 1765 is the more logical date of
her birth making Enoch Jones nearly 25 years older than she.
Only
two children, born between 1800 and 1795, were also listed in the household of
John Redman which were by Jane’s children by her second marriage. John Redman
was still alive in 1817 when tax records showed him living on 106 acre farm
with the improvements of a log house and barn in White Clay Creek Hundred but
he is not found in the 1820 Census of Delaware. Certainly Jane died between
1811 and 1820 and John Redman between 1817 and 1820.
Even
though Enoch Jones and his brother Malachi were not listed as heirs by Jane
Boggs, that does not rule out the possibility of their paternity being that of
Enoch Sr.. It simply may mean that they were not children of Jane Boggs. There
is the real possibility that Enoch Jones Senior marrying twice although
there is no hard evidence for this assumption.In 1811 the Estate of Enoch Jones
was settle more than 24 years after his death. In 1811 both Enoch Jones
Junior and his brother Malachi were married and living in Guernsey County,
Ohio. They left Delaware circa 1793 and may have never kept in contact with
their young step mother who had remarried and controlled the estate of their
father.
At
the time of Enoch Sr.’s death his only surviving children, by a first wife,
were Enoch Jones Junior 23 years old, and Malachi Jones 21 years old.
They would not have had any need for a guardian and most likely were not living
within the household of Enoch Sr at the time of his death.
LDS
records of sealing of children to parents listed the following children as
being the offspring of Enoch Sr and his wife Jane Boggs. Hannah Jones born 1763
and died in 1779, James Jones, born in 1763 in Wales and died in 1783 in
Kentucky, Malachi John Jones born in 1764 and died in 1827, Susan Jones born in
1764 and died in 1848 in Wayne, Illinois, Enoch Jones born in 1766 and died on
10 May 1844, Mary Jones born on 28 Mar 1777 and died in 1844, Susan Jones
born in 1781 and died in 1852, Eleanor Ellen Jones born about 1783 in Kent
County, Delaware and died in 1791 in Kent, Delaware, and Abel Jones born on 14
Apr 1779 and died on 3 Dec 1844.
These
LDS files are unreliable and obviously confused with an Enoch Jones who lived
in Kent County, Delaware about the same time as Enoch Jones of New Castle
County. Abel Jones and Eleanor Jones are diffinately children of Enoch Jones of
Kent County. LDS records indicate that Enoch of New Castle had two sons named
James and two daughters named Hannah. Some research claim a James Jones born
1763 New Castle County, Delaware died 1783 age 20 as a son of Enoch Jones while
it is documented that he had a son born of Jane Boggs born between 1780 and
1787 named James who was a minor heir. It is not beyond the realm of
possibility that perhaps this second James was born after the death of the 1st
James and Enoch wanted a son named for his father.
If
a James Jones was born in 1763 then Enoch Sr. would have been married mostly
likely in 1762. The name of his wife is unknown but perhaps Hannah as that
Enoch Sr. was said to have a daughter named Hannah born in 1768 but died in
1779 at the age of 11. It is documented that one of the heirs of Enoch by
Jane Boggs was a daughter named Hannah born between 1780 and 1787. It is
possible that these two daughters were named for a first wife. As that there’s
no proof for the first James and Hannah Jones perhaps researched misidentified
them with the 2nd James and Hannah children of Jane.
Elias
Jones who is listed as a next neighbor of Malachi Jones in Coshocton County,
Ohio in 1820 may be related to Enoch Jones but this is speculative.
The 1820 census listed Elias as being between 26 and 44 years old. That
range means he could have been born between 1776 and 1796. The 1830 census
stated that he was between 40 and 50 or born between 1780 and 1790. The 1840
census placed his birth also between 1780 and 1790.
There’s
another possibility that Elias Jones was the son of the brother James
Jones who died in 1780. What ever his exact relation to Enoch Sr
was, Elias is enumerated as the next household to Malachi Jones in 1820
and 1830. He may have moved to Peoria County, Illinois where the descendants
of Enoch Sr are located in 1840. If Elias was born as early as 1776
he would have been a minor heir of Enoch Sr. but he is not listed as such. And
it he was born as late as 1790 he was too old to be a child of Enoch Jr or
Malachi who also named a son Elias.
Enoch
Jones "Jr" born 1764, according to his tombstone, had a brother
Malachi Jones born circa 1766. They both married daughters of William Addy.
Other than family tradition and family researchers suggestion there are no
documents that prove beyond a doubt that they are sons of Enoch Sr.
THE BOGGS FAMILY
The Boggs
families come to America as Scot-Irish Presbyterians and settle in Newcastle
County Delaware and later Chester County Pennsylvania. Jane Bogg’s father Rev.
John Boggs’ birth year according to his tombstone was 1739 however some
histories of the Welsh Tract Baptists ministers state he was born in 1714 which
may just be a typographical error and they meant 1741. This is an important
distinction as to the timing of Jane’s birth and her subsequence marriage to
Enoch Jones Senior.
Rev.
John Boggs does not appear in Pencader Hundred records until 1771 when he,
having converted to Baptists, was accepted into the Welsh Tract Baptist Church.
“Novem: the third, 1771 then was David Miles and Levy Dungan taken into
communion, at ye same was John Boggs baptized and received into full communion.
At the same time was Joseph Griffith restored.” Rev. John Bogg was about 32
years old at the time and Jane his daughter was still a child.
John’s
wife Hannah Furniss Bogg was admitted into the Welsh Tract Baptist Church on 23
May 1772. “ye seventh day of ye yearly meeting began, then was Hannah Boggs ye
wife of John Boggs baptised and received into communion.”
As that
John Boggs was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, the date of 1739 that is on
his tombstone appears to be correct. Revolutionary War records show that John
Boggs was captain of a militia company in the 2nd Battalion of Delaware
commanded by Colonel Thomas Coochs as of 14 October 1777.
Nine
years later their son Joseph Boggs was baptized. “June ye 4th, 1786 then was
Joseph Boggs and Abigal Morton and a young girl called Anne Hamilton received
into full communion — by baptism.”
There
is no evidence that neither Jane nor Enoch Jones were ever baptized into full membership
of the Welsh Tract Baptists. There is no evidence that she joined after
marrying John Redman in 1789 either.
Jane’s
father Rev. John Boggs was born in East Nottingham, Chester County,
Pennsylvania and was brought up as a Scottish Presbyterian. After becoming a
Baptist in 1771 he later was ordained a Baptist Minister on 5 December 1781. He
then was chosen pastor of the Welsh Baptist Church, which office he held for 20
years until he died in 1802 of a paralytic stroke.
His
grave marker is inscribed: “In memory of Revd. John Boggs (minister of the
Church of Christ at the Welch Tract, and faith preacher of the gospel for 23
years), who departed this life December 9th 1802, in the 63rd year of his age.
"But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which
are asleep, that ye sorrow not, evan as others which no hope. For if we believe
that Jesus died and rose again, even so they also which sleep in Jesus will God
bring with him. is Thess, 4th Chap, 13th & 14th ver.”
JEHU JONES
This would
be the place to put forth an alternative paternity for Enoch Jones Junior and
Malachi and that is a farmer named Jehu John [Jones]. It is known that Enoch
Junior named a son Jehu Paten Jones and often family names are passed from
generation to generation. It was more common in the past for people to name
their children after relatives than presently.
This Jehu
John was a near neighbor of Enoch Jones Senior as shown in land records of
Delaware and certainly would have been aware of one another. However, as with
Enoch Jones Senior, only conjecture and circumstantial evidence connects Enoch
and Malachi with Jehu John.
A
land transaction dated 31 August 1781 showed Jehu John [Jones] witnessing a
deed between Thomas Ogle and Joseph Ogle for land locate in White Clay Creek
Hundred near the Christiana Bridge on the road to Newark. Another deed dated 28
March 1796 between James McMecham of White Clay Creek Hundred and Joseph Burns
of Mill Creek Hundred for land near Christiana Bridge on south side of the road
to Newark. This tract of land was bounded by John Bailey, Doctor Samuel Platt,
Samuel Cochran, David Nivins, Joseph Ogle, Enoch Jones deceased, John Griffith,
James Griffith, James Gallagher and William Armstrong. Although Enoch was dead
his farm was next to Joseph Ogle.
Joseph
Ogle was the grandson of Thomas Ogle who 28 July 1739 procured seven
hundred and ninety acres on the northwest side of Christiana Creek. On October
18, 1739, he took out a warrant for a tract of land containing seven hundred
and forty acres, west of the land above mentioned, and extending nearly as far
west as Newark. Thomas Ogle made his will January 26, 1768, and died in 1773,
leaving heirs, Robert, Joseph, James, Howard, Benjamin, and Mary wife of Dr. William
McMecham.
Dr.
McMechem resided at Christiana Bridge, and was a member of the White Clay Creek
Presbyterian Church as was Hugh Clark the maternal grandfather of Enoch and
Malachi Jones’ wives. A deed dated 29 May 1788 states that Jehu John of Pencader
Hundred sold 46 acres to David McMechem of Baltimore [ son of William McMechem]
for £ 150 lands “devised from his father” [Thomas John].
Jehu
John’s father Thomas John on 10 November 1729 bought 1,156 acres from John
Watkins in New Castle County, Delaware. Later a deed dated 5 November 1773 and
recorded 29 May 1779 stated that Jehu Jones, John John, Henry John, Benjamin
John, were “sons of the late Thomas John and Susannah his wife”.
A
marriage recorded in Immanuel Church in New Castle Town show that Thomas John
also of the Welsh Tract” married Susannah Welch on 27 January “1714 [1715].
They were married by an Anglican service. Thomas John was an Anglican and not a
Baptist as that as of 10 January 1728 records show that he had a pew in
Immanuel Church.
Susannah
wife of Thomas John was the daughter of John Welsh. On 15 October 1701 William
Penn granted 30,000 acres in the lower three counties of Pennsylvania Colony
that became known as the Welsh Tract. This tract was from “behind the town of
New Castle westward, extending northward and southward, beginning to the
westward seven miles from the said town of New Castle, and extending upward and
downward as there shall be found room by regular strait lines as near as may
be." Soon after the survey was completed, John Welch selected 1091 acres
within the Welsh tract.
John
Welsh died about 1739 and his heirs were three daughters Susannah John, Rebecca
Janvier ,and Frances Alrick [probably wife of Lieut-Samuel Alricks of New
Castle Hundred]. His estate was divided among these three daughters. John
Welch’s estate was not settled until May Term 1758 in the Court of Common
Pleas. In a partition deed dated 16 May 1758 to “equally divide the estate of
John Welch 1 Sept 1739”, Jehu’s aunt Rebecca Janvier “of New Castle” was
referred to as a widow, and he was referred to as being “of Christiana Town in
White Clay Creek Hundred” and as executor of Susannah John’s estate. A sister
Susannah John wife was married to John Ward by this date.
Susannah
Welsh Jones had died prior to 1756 as had Thomas John as that their son Jehu
John was his mother’s sole administrator. If Thomas John had been alive, he
would have been the administrator of his wife’s estate.
Jehu
John may have been the eldest son to have been his mother’s administrator. As
that his parents were married in 1715 it would be a fair assumption that he was
born between 1715 and 1720. That would explain his absence from the
Revolutionary War records.
In a deed
dated 20 October 1749 Jehu John was mentioned as “of Christiana Town White Clay
Creek Hundred” so he most certainly born before 1755.
However,
that would also make him nearly 50 years old if he was the father of Enoch and
Malachi and extremely old in the 1800 census of New Castle County. That census
stated that he was over 45 years old whih would have him born before 1755. As
that was the oldest category for seniors he could have been much older than
that.
Three
males were between the age of 10 and 25 were also listed in his household. They
would have been born between 1775 and 1790.
Additionally
he would have had to have been at least 21 to have sold property of his
deceased mother to Derrick Williams property on 17 November 1756. Lieut Derrick
Williams was an officer in 1756 and lived in Apoquinimink Hundred, New Castle
County, Delaware.
Some
thirty years later on 16 May 1788 Jehu John and Ann [Nancy] his wife, Benjamin
John, Thomas John and wife Catherine, Joseph Ward and William Ward sold to
Derrick Williams 312 acres in Appoquinimink Hundred from lands of Thomas John
deceased lands purchased from John Steel 30 December 1741.
This
deed informs that Thomas John was alive at the end of 1741 and had bought land
in Appoquinimink Hundred. The 1788 deed mentions a Thomas John who is not
mentioned 15 years earlier in the 1773 deed. Also the earlier deed mentions a
Henry John who is not mentioned in the latter deed.
Joseph
and William Ward are probably heirs of Susannah Ward, Jehu’s sister. A deed
dated 20 August 1789 stated that Jehu John was “surviving administrator of John
Ward of New Castle County deceased died intestate leaving 200 acres of land in
Apoquinimink Hundred. Widow Susannah Ward deceased.”
On
13 February 1789 Jehu John of Pencader and wife Nancy sold to Andrew Fisher 300
acres of land formerly owned by Thomas John for £ 525. Seven years later a deed
dated 20 May 1796 showed that a parcel of land was bounded by neigbors James
Boulden, Isaac Lewis, Jehu “Johns”, Andrew Fisher, William Williams, Levi
Boulden. The year previously Jehu’s wife was listed as Ann and in 1789 she is
called Nancy. Nancy was a derivative of the name Ann.
Presumed
children of Enoch Jones and an unknown wife
1. James
Jones born 1763 New Castle County, Delaware died 1783 age 20
2. Enoch
Jones "Jr" born 1764 New Castle County, Delaware and died 10
May 1844 Illinois, He married circa 1794 Nancy Addy daughter of William Addy
and Eleanor Clarke
3. Malachi
John Jones, born circa 1766 New Castle County, Delaware, died 1820 in Oxford, Coshocton
County, Ohio Martha Addy 25 Aug 1789 in Wilmington, New Castle, Delaware4
4. Hannah
Jones was born in 1768. She died in 1779.
Children
of Enoch Jones and Jane Boggs
1. Mary
Jones was born 23 March 1779 near Newark, New Castle, Delaware, and died 2 July
1844. Her uncle Daniel Jones was appointed her guardian May 1788 She married
Rev. John Davis of the 7th Day Baptist Church
2.
Susannah Jones born circa 1781 New Castle County, Delaware. Her uncle Daniel
Jones was appointed guardian May 1788 Died: 1854 (at age 60 years old) She
married Rev. Thomas Griffith Jones a native of Wales and moved to Ohio in 1805.
Lived in Wayne County, Ohio.
3. Hannah
Jones born circa 1784 New Castle County, Delaware. Her uncle Joseph Boggs was
appointed guardian May 1788 died after 1850. She married Mr. Allen.
4. James
Jones born circa 1786 New Castle County, Delaware. His uncle Joseph Boggs was
appointed guardian May 1788 James was married twice.
His 1st wife was Sarah Rogers. After Sarah died James married the widow of Sam
Bennett, Jane Griffith. Jane was also a 2d cousin of James. James had a total
of 11 children. He was a farmer in Pencader Hundred of New Castle County.
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