Discovering David Jones
of the Monmouth County (NJ) Militia

Marie E. Velardi
Created July 12, 2009
Last update: November 28, 2009. New sources and images added

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Reuben Randlolph's Tavern, Manahawkin NJ

 

Part I - DAVID & JOSIAH JONES

One of my probable ancestors, David Jones of Stafford Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, served during the American Revolution in the 2nd Regiment, 5th Company of the Monmouth Militia under Captain Reuben Fitz Randolph (1734-1807). For brevity's sake, we'll call it "Randolph's 5th". The volunteer company was stationed at Capt. Randolph's tavern (photo above) in the village of Manahawkin, Stafford Township, at modern-day Beach Avenue and Route 9. A stockade was built in back of the tavern to hold prisoners. The company included men (and one woman) from Manahawkin and nearby villages such as Barnegat, Cranmertown, Long Beach Island, Waretown and West Creek.  Their principal duty was to "guard the shore area and to capture any British ship sailing along the coast.1  They fought on land as well as sea, as history tells.  Randolph's 5th operated from 1776 to 1783, the full duration of the Revolutionary War.

The bare facts of David Jones' militia service are recorded in Stryker's Official register of the officers and men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War 2 and Adelberg's Roster of the people of Revolutionary Monmouth County 3. His name is also listed in a brief chapter about Randolph's 5th written by New Jersey historian Edwin Salter in 1878. 4

MANNAHAWKIN IN THE REVOLUTION

Mannahawkin, during the Revolution, was noted for the patriotism of its citizens. From a manuscript originally found in Congressional Records, but now in the Library of the New Jersey Historical Society, it appears that the militia company here was called the Fifth Company of Monmouth, Reuben F. Randolph, captain, and Nathan Crane, lieutenant. Captain Randolph was originally from Middlesex county. About the time of the war, he kept the public house at Mannahawkin. His sons, Thomas and Job, were in his company. As the men of his heroic company should be preserved as far as possible, and especially by their descendants, we give a list of such as ascertained.

FIFTH COMPANY, MONMOUTH MILITIA

Reuben F. Randolph, captain; Nathan Crane, lieutenant; James Marsh, ensign.
Privates--Michael Bennett, Jeremiah Bennett, Samuel Bennett, Israel Bennington [sic, Pennington], Joseph Brown 1st, Joseph Brown 2nd, Joseph Camburn, Thomas Chamberlain, William Casselman, Luke Courtney, Seth Crane, Amos Cuffee, David Howell, David Johnson, DAVID JONES, Thomas Kelson, Philip Palmer Jr., Benjamin P. Pearson, Benjamin Paul, Enoch Read, Job Randolph, Thomas Randolph, David Smith, Joseph Soper, Reuben Soper, Zachariah Southard, Jenny Sutton [a woman], Lines Pangburn, Sylvester Tilton.

None of these books tell us how long David Jones remained active in the militia or if he ever saw combat. Most likely he was involved in one or more of the following documented exploits of the company:

The chief nemesis of Randolph's 5th was Captain John Bacon, leader of the Pine Robbers (also called the Pine Pirates or"Refugees"), a band of British Loyalist privateers and bandits who hid in the Pine Barrens forest.  They were the perpetrators of the Massacre at Barnegat (Oct 25, 1782), which enraged the populace and led to the Battle of Cedar Bridge two months later. The Pine Robbers raided and terrorized the surrounding area for years until local Revolutionaries captured and executed John Bacon on April 3, 1783. 

The details about David Jones' origins and pre-War life are pretty sketchy. Little Egg Harbor historian Leah Blackman claimed he (his son Josiah, actually) descended from an unnamed Welshman who settled in the village of Cranmertown, Stafford Township.7  David himself was born about 1755 (give or take 5 years), most likely in Stafford, one of the five children of Thomas and Rebecca Jones.

The earliest public record of David Jones is the will of his father Thomas, written on October 15, 1766.8 Thomas had been in Stafford Township since at least 1759, thereby establishing Stafford as David's likely place of birth.9   Thomas' will names sons David and John, both minors, and reveals the boys had three sisters, not named and also assumed to be minors at the time. We learn further from Thomas Jones' probate papers that his wife Rebecca (maiden name unknown) was a Quaker. Thomas did not identify himself as a Quaker in his will, however, and it's safe to assume their son David didn't share his mother's beliefs, or he wouldn't have joined the militia (Quakers are pacificts and are forbidden to engage in warfare).

Will of Thomas Jones of Stafford Township NJ
written October 15, 1766
Will of Thomas Jones of Stafford Township NJ
Click Here to Enlarge & View a Transcription

David reached adulthood around the start of the Revolutionary War.  About 1777, he married Mary Cranmer, daughter of Josiah Cranmer and Sarah Wilkinson of Cranmertown (now Staffordville), and fathered seven known children - six sons and one daughter - whose names are recorded in The descendants of William Cranmer of Elizabethtown, N.J. 10   

The italized notes are mine and may contain information not found in the Cranmer genealogy.

i.    WILLIAM JONES, married Bethia Gaskill
(Note: He was born about 1778 in NJ; married on 31 May 1800 in Monmouth Co. NJ; had 5 children; died before 1830.)

ii.    JOSIAH JONES, married Mary Pharo 
 (Note: He was born about 1781 in West Creek, Stafford Township, Monmouth Co. NJ; married about 1805; had 9-10 children; died 4 Oct 1857 in Tuckerton, Burlington Co. NJ.  More about him and his descendants  below.)

iii.    THOMAS JONES, married Achsah Cranmer
(He was born about 1783 in NJ; married about 1807; had 4 children; died before Dec 1820. His widow remmaried his brother, John Jones.)

iv.    JOHN JONES, married (a) Elizabeth Ferugson and (b) Achsah (Cranmer) Jones
(Note: He was born about 1786 in Stafford Township, Monmouth Co. NJ; married Elizabeth Ferguson on 10 July1803 in Monmouth Co. NJ; married Achsah Cranmer Jones, widow of his brother Thomas Jones (above) on 5 Dec 1820; had 7 children; died by 1860.)

v    REBECCA JONES, married Benjamin Seaman Jr.
(Note: She was born about 1789 in NJ; married about 1806; had 2 children; died in 1814 in West Creek, Stafford Township, Monmouth County NJ.)

vi.    DAVID JONES, married (a) Amelia Willetts and (b) Sarah Parker
(Note: Full name, David Littleton Jones, born about 1795 in Cranmertown, Sfafford Township, Monmouth Co.  NJ; married (1) Amelia Willets on 7 Feb 1819 in Stafford Township NJ; married (2) Sarah A. Parker on 18 March 1839 in West Creek, Stafford Township NJ; had 6 children; died 4 Aug 1860 in West Creek NJ; buried in West Creek Cemetery.)

vii.   LLOYD JONES, married Mary Ridgway
(Note: He was born about 1800 in NJ; married on 17 June 1823; had 5 children; died before Oct 1834, drowned at sea with his wife and two of their children.) 


The locale in Stafford Township where David Jones is believed to have lived was West Creek (also spelled Westcreek), a village situated in between Manahawkin and Tuckerton (see the map below), which is even today sometimes called by its original Lenape Indian name, Westecunk ("place of fat meat").  We don't know his occupation. Many of David's sons and grandsons made their living from the water, and some died in it as well.
 

   


Stomping Grounds of David Jones
Along Route 9

A modern Google map showing West Creek, New Jersey (center, green arrow), the home of David Jones. It lies between Manahawkin (north, red arrow), headquarters of Randolph's 5th Militia during the American Revolution, and Tuckerton seaport (south).

Staffordville (formerly Cranmertown), just north of West Creek, is where the unidentified Welsh progenitor of this New Jersey Jones family is said to have settled in the early 1700s. It was also the birthplace of Mary Cranmer, wife of David Jones.

Parkertown, due south of West Creek,was the site of the William Rose Tavern. It was there, on April 3, 1783, that a small band of  local Revolutionaries captured and executed the notorious "Pine Robber", Capt. John Bacon, a British Loyalist privateer who had terrorized the area for years.

Once part of Monmouth County, the area was annexed to Ocean County between 1850 and 1891.

West Creek was eventually separated from Stafford Township and now belongs to Eagleswood Township, Ocean County NJ.  Its biggest claim to fame is a boat called the Barnegat Bay Sneakbox.

 


David Jones' continued presence in Stafford Township in the 1780s and 1790s is fairly well documented by tax lists, court records, and the 1793 militia census of New Jersey (p. 437). He was remarkably the only head of household named "Jones" in the entire township in the post-war period. He was not always a model citizen, it seems. In January 1781, David was indicted for an unspecified misdemeanor. 11  In 1794, he was sued for debt by Israel Pennington, a Stafford sawmill owner and former member of Randolph's 5th militia. 12 

David Jones was not a man of means.  Although his father's will stipulated David was to inherit land upon reaching adulthood, tax lists indicate he owned no property in Stafford Township in the mid-1780s (he wasn't taxed for acres, or even a house with a small lot in 1784 and 1786), nor did he possess any taxable horses, hogs, cattle, slaves or "riding chairs" at the time. 13  Unfortunately the rest is speculation because his public records dry up before the turn of the 19th century. The 1790-1820 federal censuses of New Jersey were lost long ago, leaving a yawning information gap about the remaining decades of his life. 

Tradition has it that David died an old man in the 1830s (1836 is commonly cited in unsourced family trees), but he's conspicuously absent from the 1830 census. He wasn't enumerated as a head of household anywhere in Monmouth or adjacent Burlington County, nor was his wife Mary. None of their four living children had elderly people in their homes.14  Neither David nor his widow applied for a Revolutionary War veteran's pension under the Act of 1832, which extended benefits to militiamen.  It appears he left no will or estate to administer after his death (still looking). No one has located his burial site. 

Given such a spotty paper trail, David Jones might have easily have been forgotten, as were so many other militiamen, if not for the Jersey descendents who preserved his name and service into the 20th century. Thanks to them, Pvt. Jones was recognized as a "Patriot" by The Daughters of the Revolution (DAR). His entry appears in the 2003 Millennium edition of the DAR patriot index,15  as follows:

Jones
David, b c1755 NJ d c1830 NJ m (1) Mary X Pvt NJ

(The record translates as "David Jones, born circa 1755 in New Jersey; died circa 1830; married Mary (X=maiden name unknown); private (service rank), New Jersey." )

Using DAR's new Ancestor Search database, I found no fewer than 12 approved applications for membership under David Jones (Ancestor #A062017).   All but two were submitted by descendants of David through his second son, Josiah Jones. That the two men were father and son is proven beyond dispute in Josiah's 1857 death record. I was able to obtain a copy from the New Jersey State Archives.

Transcription of
Returns of Deaths in the Township of Egg Harbor, County of Burlington, State of New Jersey,
from the First day of July 1857 to the 30th day of June 1858.
Volume C, page 564, line 13.
No. Date of Death Name of Deceased Sex of Deceased Married or Single Age Occcupation Place of Death Place of Birth Name of Parents Cause of Death
13 Oct 4/.57 Josiah Jones Male Married 76 Laborer Tuckerton West Creek David + Mary Old Age

Death Record of Josiah Jones (original page)
Josiah Jones death record
Click Here to Enlarge

Josiah Jones married Mary Pharo, the daughter of James Pharo 3rd and Mary Devinney, about 1805. Their children are listed in The History of Little Egg Harbor township, Burlington Co. N.J.  16  and also The descendants of William Cranmer of Elizabethtown, N.J. 17

The italicized notes are mine and may contain information not found in the aforecited genealogies.

i.    JARVIS JONES, married Elizabeth Cranmer
(Note: He was born in 1807 in NJ; married on 1 Dec 1827 in Monmouth Co, NJ; had 8 children; relocated to Flushing. Queens Co. NY before 1840 and later to Newtown, now Elmhurst, Queens; died sometime after 1870, probably in Queens County. Some records confuse him with Jarvis C. Jones, 1829-1888. Known as "Captain" Jarvis Jones, he was a sailing master and boatman.)

ii.    FOUNTAIN JONES, married Sarah E. Cranmer
(Note: He was born in Oct 1809 in NJ; married on 21 Sep 1827; had 6 children; died in 1903; buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Tuckerton NJ. He was a mariner.)

iii.    REBECCA JONES, married Hugh Ireland
(Note: She was born in 1811 in NJ; married on 28 March 1835 in Burlington Co. NJ; had 10 children; died on 15 Nov 1884 in Tuckerton NJ; buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Tuckerton.)

iv.    LLOYD JONES, married (a) Elizabeth Ivins and (b) Elizabeth Andrews [sic, Sarah Elizabeth Andrews]
(Note: He was born on 2 January 1814 in West Creek, Stafford Township, Monmouth Co. NJ; married Elizabeth Ivins about 1831; married Sarah Elizabeth Andrews on 20 March 1866 in Camden NJ; had 8 children; died 11 July 1877 in Tuckerton NJ; buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Tuckerton. He was an inn-keeper.)
   Descendants in Daughters of the American Revolution:
   - Katharine Jones Carmona, DAR National #487919, joined April 1962
   - Bessie Rebecca Driscoll, DAR National #487920, joined April 1962
   - Annie Laurie Jones Luker, DAR National #487821, joined April 1962
   - Name Restricted, DAR National #75169

v.    JOSIAH JONES Jr., married Hannah Gaskill
(Note: He was born by 1815 (range: 1811-1815);  had 1 known child in 1848. )

vi.    ASA JONES, married Mary Jane Falkinburg
(Note: He was born 1817/1818 in West Creek, Stafford Township, Monmouth Co. NJ; married about 1839; had 12 children; relocated to New York City by 1870, then to Rockaway Beach, Queens Co. NY by 1880; died on 22 June 1894 in Rockaway Beach; buried in Lawrence Cemetery, Lawrence, Queens (now Nassau) Co. NY.  He was a waterman and sailor before moving to New York.)

vii.   ELLA/ELLEN JONES, married John Smith
(Note: She was born 1820/1821 in NJ; no further information.)

viii    MARTHA JONES, married Jacob Mathis
(Note: She was born about 1822 in NJ; married about 1842; had 6 children; died on 5 Oct 1873 in Tuckerton, Burlington Co. NJ; buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Tuckerton.)

ix.    JOHN JONES, married Martha Cowperthwaite
(Note: He was born 2 January 1830 in NJ; married on 18 April 1855 in Tuckerton, Burlington County NJ; had 7 children; died on 29 Sep 1877 in Tuckerton NJ, buried in Greenwood Cemeterty, Tuckerton. He was a mariner.)
   Descendants in Daughters of the American Revolution:
   - Clara Jones Morris, DAR National #486311, joined Feb 1962
   - Martha Jones Sooy, DAR National #486312, joined Feb 1962
   - Name Restricted, DAR National #542873
   - Name Restricted, DAR National #654740
   - Name Restricted, DAR National #670183
   - Name Restricted, DAR National #670184

Censuses indicate Josiah Jones had one more son, name unknown, born circa 1825, and last enumerated in the 1840 census. There's no further record of him. 18

Two of Josiah's children, Jarvis and Asa, moved from New Jersey to New York. In future, I'll follow the winding trail of Asa Jones, who led his family into Manhattan and Long Island. He was my great-great-great grandfather, and a vital link to a previously lost Revolutionary heritage.

To Be Continued


FOOTNOTES

1 Cervetto, A Brief history of Stafford Township, p [8]
2 Stryker, Official register of the officers and men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War, p. 649. This source erroneously lists  Randolph's 5th, and all its recorded members including Reuben Randolph himself, as part of the Middlesex County militia. The error may have originated in the fact that the company's first known tour of duty was outside its home turf,  in Perth Amboy, Middlesex County.  See footnote #3 below.
3 Adelberg, Roster of the people of Revolutionary Monmouth County (New Jersey), p. 156.
4 Salter, Centennial History of Ocean County, p. 23-24.  Unfortunately, the library of the New Jersey Historical Society is closed indefinitely due to the economic crisis and the Society's online index doesn't include anything resembling the "manuscript" Salter mentions.
5 Copies of the Perth Amboy pay records for Randolph's 5th militia (paid on 22 October 1766 for 35 days service) are stored at the New Jersey Archives in Trenton (Series SDEA0003, Item 1, Other Revolutionary War Lists,  p. 401-?.)   This is the most likely source of an original record (pay voucher) for David Jones, but the records aren't easily accesible.  An onsite visit to the Trenton Archives is required to look at them.
6 Cervetto, A Brief history of Stafford Township, p [8]. 
7 Blackman's overview of the Jones family focuses on David's son, Josiah, and Josiah's children, some of whom were still alive and residing in the area when she published the history in 1880. They may have served as her sources of information. The "Welshman" Blackman refers to may have been Thomas Jones of Stafford, but this is by no means certain.
8 Thomas Jones died within two weeks of writing his will. An inventory of his estate was taken on 2-8 November 1766. The will was proved at Burlington on 4 Feb 1767, and signed by his widow and executrix, Rebecca Jones "of the people known as Quakers". Copies of the original will and inventory were sent to us in 2006 by Janet A. Jones of Santa Cruz, California. who also provided transcriptions. 
9 Hutchinson. East New Jersey land records, 1757-1763..., p. 82, Thomas Jones witnessed a deed between Oliver De Lancey and Henry Cuyler Jr. of New York City and Timothy Ridgeway and Levi Cranmer of NJ, dated 26-28 September 1759.  The land was in Barnegat, Stafford Township.  Levi Cranmer, a known Stafford townsman, later witnessed Thomas Jones' will and conducted the inventory of his estate. 
10 Harris. Descendants of William Cranmer of Elizabethtown, N.J., p. 19-20 and 39-42.
11 Adelberg, Roster of the people of Revolutionary Monmouth County (New Jersey), p. 156. We don't know if he was found guilty or acquitted.  Wartime misdemeanors, which were fairly common and mostly unidentified in the extant court records. included among other things "seditious speech, illegaly traveling into enemy lines, refusing Continental currency, tax evasion, and trading with agents of the enemy." (Adelberg, p. 342).  Misdemeanors did not encompass outright disloyalty, disaffection or refusal of duty, which were much more serious charges. 
12 New Jersey State Archives. Supreme Court case files,  1704-1844. Case #29960, Monmouth, 1794, Israel Pennington v. David Jones.  It may have been a counter-suit. Jones had previously sued Pennington (Case #19832) for undetermined reasons. 
13 The Stafford tax lists of 1784 and 1786 were published in The Genealogical magazine of New Jersey, vol. 54 (1979).  I haven't yet seen the lists for 1789, 1792, 1794, 1796 and 1797, which are available on microfilm from the Family History Libarry of the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS). FHL US/CAN film #865480.
14 David Jones' four surviving children are accounted for in the 1830 censuses of Stafford Township, Monmouth County and adjacent Little Egg Harbor Township, Burlington County. Sons Josiah, John and Lloyd made their homes in Stafford. Son David Littleton Jones lived in Little Egg Harbor (probably Tuckerton village) next door to Bethia (GaJones, the widow of William Jones, David's eldest son.
15 DAR patriot index (2003), Volume II, G-O, p. 1483.
16 Blackman, History of Little Egg Harbor, p. 337 and p. 340. The list of Josiah Jones' children appear in both the "Jones" and "Pharo" sections.
17 Harris. Descendants of William Cranmer of Elizabethtown, N.J., p. 39-42.
18 Josiah Jones' "lost" son is enumerated in the census records of Stafford Township in 1830 (2 males less than 5 years old; one was John) and 1840 (male, age 15-19 y/o).  It's assumed he died young without issue.

SOURCES

Adelberg, Michael S. Roster of the people of Revolutionary Monmouth County (New Jersey). Baltimore, Md. : Clearfield, 1997.

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.

Cervetto, Jack Sr. A Brief history of Stafford Township. [Stafford, NJ?: Tercentenary Committee, 1964.]

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).

Hutchinson, Richard S. East New Jersey land reoords, 1757-1763, Books I-2 and K-2. Lewes DE: Colonial Roots, 2005.

Jones, Janet A. (a descendant of David Jones). Email correspondence dated 27 December 2006 included scanned copies of the original will of Thomas Jones and the inventory of his estate, original citation: 3197-3200 M.[onmouth]. B.[ook] 12, p 477.

National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution. Ancestor Search (Searchable Database).
URL: http://216.36.105.133/DAR_Research/search/?Tab_ID=1

National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution. DAR patriot index. Millennium Edition. Baltimore MD: Gateway Press, 2003.

"New Jersey rateables 1778-1780: Monmouth County: Stafford Township, August 1784 & August 1786." In The Genealogical magazine of New Jersey, vol. 54 (1979), p. 61.

New Jersery State Archives. Supreme Court Case Files, 1704-1844 (Searchable Database).
URL: https://wwwnet1.state.nj.us/DOS/Admin/ArchivesDBPortal/SupremeCourt.aspx

Norton, James S. New Jersey in 1793; an abstract and index to the 1793 Militia Census of the State of New Jersey. Salt Lake City, UT, 1973.

Salter, Edwin. Centennial history of Ocean County: historical reminiscences. Tom's River NJ: Printed at the Office of the New Jersey Courier, 1878, p. 23-24. 
The quoted excerpt "Mannahawkin in the Revolution" was reprinted in Salter's 1890 History of Monmouth and Ocean counties ... p. 214-215.

Stryker, William S. (New Jersey. Adjutant-General's Office.) Official register of the officers and men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War. Trenton, N.J.: Wm. T. Nicholasson & Co., Printers, 1872.


ONLINE RESOURCES

The affair at Cedar Bridge - last skirmish of the Revolutionary War. http://www.pineypower.com/cedarbridge.htm. At PineyPower

Battle at Cedar Bridge. http://www.patriotpirates.com/events/cedarbridge.htm. At Patriot Pirates.

Battle of Cedar Bridge, Manahawkin NJ - cast of historic characters. http://www.telecottage.com/staffordhist/cedarbridge_cst.html. At the website of the Stafford Township Historical Society.

Heritage Cultural Center of Stafford Township (Skirmish at Manahawkin Baptist Church). http://staffordhistory.org/cultural.html. At the website of the Stafford Township Historical Society.

Massacre at Barnegat. http://www.patriotpirates.com/events/id4.htm. At Patriot Pirates.

To those steadfast Jerseymen of Militia #5. http://home.midmaine.com/~lopez/militia5.htm. At Pineylore.


OTHER CREDITS

The photo of Capt. Reuben Fitz Randolph's Manahawkin Tavern (top of page) was swiped from Pineylore, which credits the original source of the photo as Tales of the Times, compiled by the Ocean County Principals' Council.