Our Line of Descent from
Henry Jacobs Falkinburg
of
Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey
and elsewhere

By Marie E. Velardi
Last update: August 9, 2010

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"A very real personality, but so obscured by time as to seem almost legendary..."

Henry Jacobs Falkinburg, an immigrant from northern European province of Holstein, was a man of many languages and cultures. In the latter decades of the 1600s, he was known as the foremost Indian interpreter, trader and real estate broker (to borrow a modern job title) along the Delaware River. Ever resourceful and adaptable, he successfully integrated himself into the lives of the stalwart Delaware Swedes and Finns he lived among as a young man, the proud Leni Lenape Indians whose language he mastered, and the enterprising English Quakers of southern New Jersey with whom he united in marriage and creed later in life. 

His names, which are as diverse as the cultures and languages he learned, were variously recorded in treaties, deeds and other historical documents as Hendrik Jacobs, Jacob Hendriks,  Henry Jackson, Henric Jacobson Falconbre, Henry Jacobs Falconbridge, Heinrich Jacobs Falkenburg, and other permutations. To confound matters more, the descendants of his first son, Henry, who migrated to the South, assumed surnames such as Falconbury, Faulkenbury and Fortenberry, while the descendants of his second son, Jacob, have generally preferred Falkenberg, Falkenburg, Falkinberg, Falkinburg and similar spellings. I have used "Falkinburg" in this document, not because it's more correct than the others, but because it was the spelling used by our nearest ancestor of this clan.

In 1698, Henry became the first European settler of Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, at which place he proceeded to build his "mansion" in a dug-out cave near the shore. His second marriage to a Quaker woman named Mary established the foundation of a new community of the Religious Society of Friends, a (then) radical "alternative Christian" faith whose tenets were to dominate the township's way of life until the American Revolution. Our Falkinburg/Jones branch, outlined below, lived in the area for 170 years before moving to New York City and the Rockaways.
 

For more information about the long history of the Falkinburg family in America, consult the selected resources listed here at the bottom of the page.

 

GENERATION

    DIRECT LINE ANCESTOR      SPOUSE
 
11   Henry Jacobs FALKINBURG
  • BIRTH: By 1650 in the Duchy of Holstein, which was ruled by Denmark around the time of  his birth.
  • IMMIGRATION:  Arrived in Delaware by 1671. He may have come as early as 1663-1664, when Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch Governor of New Amsterdam, began actively encouraging Swedes, Finns and perhaps other northern European farmers to immigrate to Delaware. 
  • MARRIAGES: (1) to an unnamed daughter of Sinnick Broer of Deer Point, Delaware by 1672;  (2) to Mary <Unknown>, a Quaker from Swedesboro, New Jersey, about 1700/1701 in Little Egg Harbor.
  • ISSUE:  2 known children - With his first wife, a son Henry (an adult by 1710), who migrated to Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas. With Mary, his second, wife, a son Jacob (see below), who remained in Little Egg Harbor.
  • OCCUPATION: Indian trader and interpreter; inn-keeper; probably also a farmer.
  • RESIDENCE: He was living with  Swedish and Finnish settlers at Deer Point, New Castle, Delaware by May 1671. Located at Lazy Point (opposite present-day Burlington NJ) by 1676/1677. Granted a 200-acre tract of land at the Rancoucus Creek near Burlington in 1681 in recognition of his services as interpreter. His residence was recorded as Matinicunk Island, Delaware River (vicinity of Burlington) in an Indian deed of 1697. He acquired 800 acres at Little Egg Harbor by 1698, becoming the first European settler of that township.  His home plot was  called Down Shore.
  • DEATH: After 1 June 1710, the date he wrote his will. (Est. 1712 in Little Egg Harbor.)  Buried in the Friends Cemetery (Quaker Burial Ground), Tuckerton, New Jersey. **

Henry Falkinburg's conversion to Quakerism is not recorded. As late as 1688-89, he was listed as a member of the Swedish (Lutheran) Church at Wicaco (now Philadelphia).He must have joined their number before his second marriage to the Quaker woman, Mary circa 1700, or she would have been expelled from the Society of Friends for marrying an outsider.

** The date of Henry death remains a mystery, but I'm inclined to accept the estimate of 1710-1712. For unknown  reasons, his will was not probated until 16 June 1743, which has led to its date being cited as 1740 instead of 1710 (in the Calendar of New Jersey Wills, among various other sources)..  The 1710 date is  corroborated by the fact that his son Jacob, born in 1702, was specified in the will as being a minor. See Craig's 1671 Census of the Delaware, p. 72, footnote 245. 
 

 

 + Mary <Unknown>
  • BIRTH: Date unknown, most likely by 1680. According to Blackman, she was a resident of the Quaker settlement at Swedesboro (Gloucester County), New Jersey before her marriage.
  • DEATH: Unknown. She was still alive in 1715 when she was active as a Quaker leader of Little Egg Harbor. Buried in the Friends Cemetery (Quaker Burial Ground), Tuckerton, New Jersey.

She became known as Mary Jacobs.

 
   

                 
 
2   Jacob Henry FALKINBURG
 (a.k.a. Henry Jacobs Falkinburg II)
  • BIRTH: 14 January 1702 in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey.  He was the first child of European ancestry born in the township.
  • MARRIAGE: In 1731 to Penelope Stout.
  • ISSUE: 6 children - Henry, John (see below), Jacob, David, Hannah and Mary Falkinburg.
  • OCCUPATION: ??
  • RESIDENCE: He lived on Falkinburg Island (later called Willis Island) in the township of Little Egg Harbor.
  • DEATH: Early 1780s, According to Blackman he died around the close of the Revolutionary War. Buried in the Friends Cemetery, Tuckerton, New Jersey.

He and his wife Penelope were Quakers.

 

 + Penelope STOUT
  • BIRTH: About 1710 in Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Daughter of David Stout and Rebeccah Ashton.
  • DEATH: Blackman claimed she died at age 102, i.e., circa 1812. Buried in the Friends Cemetery, Tuckerton, New Jersey.

 
   

                
 
3   John FALKINBURG
  • BIRTH: 9 November 1739, presumably in  Little Egg Harbor.
  • MARRIAGE: To Mary Somers between 1 December 1760 and 5 January 1761.
  • ISSUE: 9 children -- Edmund, Samuel (see below), John, Joseph, Hannah, Tabitha (Talitha?), Susannah, Judith and Somers Falkinburg.
  • OCCUPATION: Farmer, land owner, mill owner and operator
  • RESIDENCE: On  1 January, 1775, his father conveyed to him 150 acres of farmland and two meadows at Little Egg Harbor, which included the original Down Shore homestead built by his grandfather.  John owned property in Burlington and in Gloucester County as well. In 1785 he sold his estate and moved to Rye Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, where he operated a saw and grist mill, and farmed 385 acres of land..
  • DEATH: In Cumberland County, Pennsylvania before 13 February 1786, the date letters of administration were assigned to his son Samuel.

John and his wife Mary where Quakers. 
 

 + Mary SOMERS
  • BIRTH: 28 December 1742 in Great Egg Harbor, Gloucester County, New Jersey.  Daughter of Edmund Somers Sr. and Mary Steelman.
    MARRIAGES: Her second husband was Roger Brown of Buffalo Creek, Pennsylvania, married  in 1787.
  • DEATH: 9 August 1825 in New Jersey. Buried in Union Cemetery, South Dennis, Cape May County, New Jersey.

Mary was disowned by the Society of Friends due to her second marriage to Roger Brown, a non-Quaker.
   

              
 
4   Samuel FALKINBURG
  • BIRTH: 28 September 1764, presumably in  Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey.
  • MARRIAGE: To Penelope Buffin, daughter of Richard Buffin and Hannah Falkinburg (his aunt) before 1800. No record exists of an earlier marriage to Alice Mathis, the mother of his oldest son, Samuel..
  • ISSUE: At least 9 children. With Alice Mathis, a son Samuel (see below).  With his wife Penelope he had Richard, Joseph, Mary, Avesta, Mandany/Manday, Abigail, Alzina and Harriet Falkinburg.  Possibly two more sons who died young.
  • OCCUPATION: Farmer.
  • RESIDENCE: It's believed he remained in New Jersey when his parents relocated to Pennsylvania in 1785. He moved to Scipio, Cayuga County, New York before 1800, and by 1810 to Romulus (now Varick), Seneca County, New York.
  • DEATH: 9 February 1839. Buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Varick, Seneca County, New York.  A ohoto of his grave is at Don Falkenburg's website.

He was disowned by the Society of Friends on 13 September 1786 for unspecified reasons. (Fathering a child out of wedlock being one, but not necessarily the only possible cause).  Our Falkinburg line is severed from the Quaker religion starting with Samuel's expulsion.

 + Alice MATHIS (not married?)
  • BIRTH: About 1752, probably in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey. Daughter of Nehemiah Mathis and Elizabeth Cranmer
  • DEATH: Unknown date before 1800. Buried in the Friends Cemetery, Tuckerton, New Jersey.

According to Quaker records discovered by Falkinburg researcher, David Absalom, Alice died unwed.

 
   

                 
 
5   Capt. Samuel FALKINBURG
  • BIRTH: Between 1781 and 1788 in New Jersey.
  • MARRIAGES: (1) To "Massey" Cranmer on 1 January 1807 in Monmouth County, New Jersey;  (2) to Hannah <Unknown>, widow of Jacob Traux, on 13 June 1834 in Tuckerton, New Jersey.
  • ISSUE: 16 children. With his first wife Mary Ann, he had: Samuel C.,  Hezekiah, Timothy W., Josiah, George, Mary Jane (see below), John, Charles A., Fountain I (died young?); Nelson, Lemuel, and an unnamed daughter who died in infancy. With is second wife Hannah, he had: Fountain II, Hannah, Ellen and Elizabeth.. 
  • OCCUPATION: Sea captain.
  • RESIDENCE: In 1880, Blackman wrote he was the only one of the ancient Falkinburgs to remain in Little Egg Harbor, and "there is none of the Falkinburg posterity left in Egg Harbor, except [his] descendants."   Apart from his marriage in Monmouth County NJ in 1807, little is actually known of Samuel's life until 1830, when he was enumerated in the census as the head of a 13-person household in Little Egg Harbor.
  • DEATH: Before 1850. His second wife Hannah was listed as head of household in the 1850 census of Egg Harbor, New Jersey.

Six of his eleven sons. Samuel, Lemuel, George, John, Charles and Fountain II, were lost at sea.

 + Mary Ann ("Massey") CRANMER
  • BIRTH: Between 1781 and 1790 in Cranmertown, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Daughter of Josiah Cranmer.
  • DEATH: Between 1830 and 1834, most likely in Little Egg Harbor.
NN  

                 
 
6   Mary Jane FALKINBURG
  • BIRTH: About 1821 in New Jersey, probably in Little Egg Harbor. 
    (Her daughter Julia stated in more than one record that MJ was born in Ohio, but throughout her lifetime her birthplace was recorded as New Jersey, both in her own census records and those of her other children.) 
  • MARRIAGE: About 1839 to Asa Jones.
  • ISSUE: 12 children -- Charles A., Mary Elizabeth, Timothy F., Albert, Samuel, Julia R., Asa Jr., Adelaide, Marion, George Nelson., Walter and William Jones.
  • RESIDENCE: Inhabitants of Little Egg Harbor in the 1830-1860 censuses. Mary Jane, her husband Asa and most of their children relocated from LEH to Manhattan circa 1870.  She remained in the City after her husband went to Rockaway Beach in Queens County.  She lived at East 29th Street in  1880. Her final residence was 672 Second Ave (around East 36th St.), the home of her daughter, Julia R. (Jones) Sinsabaugh.
  • DEATH: 14 December 1899 in Manhattan.  Buried in Trinity Church Yard, Hewlett, Long Island, New York.  Photo of her grave.

She was also known as "Jane."
 

 + Asa JONES
  • BIRTH: 1818/1819 in Westcreek, Stafford township, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Son of Josiah Jones and Mary Pharo.
  • OCCUPATION: A "waterman" and sailor. In 1880, a general laborer.
  • DEATH: 22 June 1894 in Rockaway Beach, Queens County, New York. Buried in Lawrence Cemetery, Lawrence,  Long Island, New York. 

According to Blackman, the Jones family originated in Wales. We'll take a closer look at them later.
   

                 
 
7   Samuel JONES
  • BIRTH: 7 March 1849 in Little Egg Harbor, Burlington (now Ocean) County, New Jersey.
  • MARRIAGE: To Catharine A. Bedell on 22 September 1873 in Lawrence, Long Island, New York. The couple separated permanently in 1884.  Married Sarah/ Sadie  <Unknown> about 1893.
  • ISSUE: Julia Adelaide (see below) and Robert Ellsworth Jones.
  • OCCUPATION:: Queens County Deputy Sheriff and constable at  Rockaway Beach, Queens County, New York.  Later became a boat pilot.
  • RESIDENCE: Born and raised in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey; relocated to Manhattan by age 21 (circa 1870) ; a resident of Westville, Queens County (now Inwood, Nassau County), New York by September 1873, the date of his marriage. Moved to Rockaway Beach in early 1877.  Moved to the Bushwick section of Brooklyn by 1898.   Home address at death was 193 So. Third St., Brooklyn. 
  • DEATH: 17 August 1907 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. Buried in Lawrence Cemetery, Lawrence,  Long Island, New York. 
     
Middle initial varies.. Recorded as "T" or "F" in his birth record, but it appears as "A" in his 1873 marriage record and several later documents.

 + Catharine A. ("Kate") BEDELL
  • BIRTH: 2 May 1856 in Near Rockaway, Queens County, New York.  Daughter of Benjamin P. Bedell and Cornelia Foster.
  • MARRIAGES. Permanently separated from Samuel Jones in 1884. Her second husband was Rowland J. Seaman, married in November 1896 in Jersey City, New Jersey.
  • DEATH: 29 March 1935 in Rockaway Beach, Queens County, New York. Buried in Trinity Church Yard, Hewlett, Long Island, New York.
   

                 
 
8   Julia Adelaide JONES
  • BIRTH: May 1874 in Westville, Queens County (now Inwood, Nassau County), New York.
  • MARRIAGE: To Charles T. Pinkham about 1890.
  • ISSUE: One son, Rowland Seaman Pinkham (see below).
  • RESIDENCE: She was two years old when her family moved to Rockaway Beach, where she lived until she was married.  As a married woman, she lived in Brooklyn until shortly before her death.  He residence at death  is given as Far Rockaway, Queens County, New York..
  • DEATH: 29 September 1898, age 24, at her mother's home in Rockaway Beach, Queens County, New York. Buried in Trinity Church Yard, Hewlett, Long Island, New York.

 

 + Charles T. PINKHAM
  • BIRTH: 14 May 1864 in Bangor, Penobscot County, Maine.  Son of Jordan Pinkham and Harriett Gordon.
  • MARRIAGES: His second wife was Catherine Ader .
  • OCCUPATION: Electrical contractor. (self-employed)
  • RESIDENCE:  Moved to Los Angeles about 1912.
  • DEATH: 20 September 1946 in Los Angeles California. Buried in the Colonnade Mausoleum at Hollywood Memorial Park ("Hollywood Forever" cemetery).

 
   

                 
 
9   .Rowland Seaman PINKHAM (a.k.a. Rowland SEAMAN)
  • BIRTH: 22 June 1892 in Ozone Park, Jamaica, Queens County, New York. Baptized 1 January 1899 at the First Congregational Church, Rockaway Beach, Queens County, New York.
  • MARRIAGES: (1) To Irene Langridge, daughter of William Langridge and Hannah Selig, on 18 April 1913, in Brooklyn; (2) to Elsie R. Bedell on 28 October 1925 in Rockaway Beach.
  • ISSUE: 5 children with his second wife Elsie -- Richard Charles, Vivian Marie (see below), Robert Ellsworth, Elsie R., and Harold Seaman.
  • OCCUPATION: Electrician (self-employed).
  • MILITARY: Army Aero-Squadron in France  during World War I (corporal); National Guard (sargeant) ; civilian service  at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and U.S. Coast Guard facility at Sands Point, Long Island during World War II.
  • RESIDENCES: Manhattan, Rockaway Beach and Far Rockaway, New York..
  • DEATH: 27 December 1973 in Far Rockaway, Queens County, New York. Buried in Long Island National Cemetery, Farmingdale, Suffolk County, New York.
 + Elsie Ritter BEDELL
  • BIRTH:  3 April 1906 in Rockaway Beach, Queens County, New York.. Baptized on 17 June 1906 in Matteawan (now Beacon), Dutchess County, New York. Daughter of Charles Benjamin Bedell and Agnes May Smith.
  • DEATH: 6 December 1995 in Far Rockaway, Queens County, New York. Buried in Long Island National Cemetery, Farmingdale, Suffolk County, New York.

 
   

                 
 
10

 

 

   Vivian Marie SEAMAN, born 1928.
7th great granddaughter of Henry Jacobs Falkinburg.		 + Nicholas Carmen VELARDI, 1925-1994

 

Sources and resources include:

  1. Beck, Henry Charlton. New Jersey Genesis: history of the Mullica River. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1983
    Partial text at Google Books:
    http://books.google.com/books?id=5o4X4JVDaTkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=mullica+river&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0
     
  2. Blackman, Leah. The History of Little Egg Harbor township, Burlington Co. N.J. Published as an appendix to Proceedings, constitution, by-laws, list of members, &c., of the Surveyors' association of west New Jersey...  Camden, N.J. : S. Chew, printer, 1880, p.[171]-420, [427]-468.
     
  3. Burlington County (New Jersey) Library System. The Historic County of Burlington: Memorable Were the Names.
    http://www.burlco.lib.nj.us/county/history/memorable.html
     
  4. Craig, Peter Stebbins. 1671 Census of the Delaware. Genealogical Society of Philadelphia, 1999.
    Text at Google Books:
    http://books.google.com/books?id=rBWeSQ02u4YC&printsec=frontcover&dq=1671+Census+of+the+Delaware
    (Includes profiles of Henry Jacobs Falkinburg, p. 71-72, and his father-in-law Sinnick Broer, p. 42)
     
  5. Craig, Peter Stebbins. Sinnick Broer the Finn and his Sinex, Sinnickson & Falkenberg Descendants. Originally published in Swedish Colonial News, Vol. 2. No. 7 (Fall 2002).
    Republished online at http://www.colonialswedes.org/Forefathers/Broer.html
     
  6. Decker, Martha. Gene Shed genealogy of Henry Falkinburg.
     http://deckernet.com/Genealogy/DeckerGenealogy/10989.htm
     
  7. The Falkenberg Story.
    http://www.fortunecity.com/millenium/savannah/252/falkenberg.htm
     
  8. Falkenburg, Don. Falkenburg Genealogy.
    http://home.comcast.net/~drfalken/index.html
    (His site includes unpublished papers of Falkinburg researcher, David B. Absalom.)
     
  9. Fortenberry, Randall. Fortenberry DNA project.
    http://www.familytreedna.com/public/fortenberrydna/default.aspx
     
  10. Harris, Jean Shropshire and Murray Thomas Harris. The descendants of William Cranmer of Elizabethtown, NJ. Woodbury, N.J. : Gloucester County Historical Society, 1997. (2001 printing).
    (Includes ancestors and descendants of Mary Ann Cranmer, wife of Capt. Samuel Falkinburg.)
     
  11. Little Egg Harbor (New Jersey) Township. History - Little Egg Harbor Township.
    http://www.leht.com/about/history.php
     
  12. Lynnsmall9194. Descendants of Henry Jacobs Falkinburg.
    http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/%7Efamtrees/FALKINBURG/Falkinburg%20Home.html


 

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