Fourth Edition
24 February 2004
Updates of various pages through July 2005

READ FAMILY CONNECTIONS

Esther Doyle Read

Copyright 1998
Text in this site may be used with proper citations.
Photographs may be reproduced for personal use only,
permission of the collection holder is required for
inclusion in publications or for commercial use.
This site may be freely linked to.

Welcome to the Read family web site. The Reads in these pages originated in Sussex and Warren County, New Jersey and in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. They are the descendants of Joseph Read (1733-1792) and Sarah Sutton (1742/43-1792). There are many descendants included in the text who migrated to California, Colorado, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma and Washington, as well as to Canada. There are also members of the family who settled in other counties in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

I began the search for Read relatives in 1973, when my great grandfather's youngest sister, Ethel Read Mitten Evans, told me the family's oral history and gave me several photographs. Ethel is the little girl in the lower right hand corner of the photograph. The other children are (left to right, bottom row) John Clark Read, Arthur Eugene Read (my great grandfather) and (left to right top row) Sylvanis J. Read, Walter Wilson Read, and Grace Read Smith. 

In 1983, I found the graves of Joseph and Sarah Read in Union Brick Cemetery, near Blairstown, Warren County, New Jersey. Since that time I have been able to find and document many of their descendants. However, I have been unable to discover who Joseph's parents were. Sarah Sutton's ancestors are well documented-check out the Milo Sutton Home Page for more information. If you have information about Joseph's parentage, or other Read descendants, please contact me at readgen@adelphia.net.

It would have been impossible to put these pages together without the help of my husband, Timothy J. Doyle. He produced the final format for the site. I also want to thank my cousins (both near and distant), Jim Thompson, Sandy Read, Kathryn Ellis, Ken Haggerty, and Ralph Allen for sharing their data and photographs with me. I take full responsiblity for the interpretation of the data presented in these pages. Jan Reuther (Raub), Jeannette Phethean (Howell), Bob Lanterman (Lanterman) and Michael Perry (Perrys of Michigan) have offered advice and assistance on numerous occassions. Without their input this site would not be as comprehensive as I hoped it would be. Many other cousins have "dropped in" via email and offered advice and information. Rather than risking the ommission of someone's name, i will simply say thank you to each and every one of you. And finally, to my sister Martha Read and my cousins Scott Thompson and Mike Read, thanks for being such a great cheering section!

 

About this page
This is a a good starting point!

Joseph and Sarah's family page
This link takes you to the first generation of Reads. There are links to the following generations included with the page. Don't feel like browsing? Use the Surname index below.

Index of individuals (arranged by surname)
There are 936 surnames in the index, representing 4,875 individuals. These individuals are either direct descendants of Joseph Read and Sarah Sutton; or they are the spouse of those descendants (there are also a few step-children included). Keep checking back as new individuals are always being added!

 Index of individuals associated with the family (arranged by surname)
These are individuals who were neighbors, boarders and ministers of family members. Some of the people listed in this index were witnesses to deeds or probate records. In some cases they were business parteners, creditors, employers and employees. I do not have a great deal of detailed information about each individual in the associates index. However, it may help point you toward resources or geographic locations if a hard to find ancestor is in the index. Keep checking back as new individuals are always being added!

Roll of Honor
A list of Joseph and Sarah's descendants, as well as individuals who married into the family, who have served in this country's armed forces.

Ministers
A list of Joseph and Sarah's descendants, as well as individuals who married into the family, who were ministers throughout the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Unknown Reads
A list of unidentified Reads. I need your help!

 

 

Cemetery Transcriptions
Transcriptions from a limited number of cemeteries in Warren and Sussex County, New Jersey, as well as Crawford and Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Links are provided to other sites with cemetery listings from these counties.

 

 

 

Warren County Gazetteer Extracts
From the 1834 edition of Thomas Gordon's Gazetteer of the State of New Jersey

Warren County Photographs
Historic postcard views and photographs of Warren County today.

Blair Academy
This includes a short history of the Academy and a list of students who attended the academy from 1848 to 1862. The latter is from Souvenir Volume of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Blair Presbyterial Academy June 16-17, 1898, which was published by the Blairstown Press in 1898.

Robert and Bridget's Home Page
 Link to my son and daughter's home page.

The photograph to the left is of the Luzerne County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The photograph was taken by Esther Doyle Read in March 2003.

 

This page is dedicated to the memory of my Great Great Aunt Ethel, who would have gotten a kick out of seeing her picture on the Internet. And also, to the memory of my father, the Rev. Dr. Robert Leroy Read, who teased me about my interests, but drove me to every small out of the way cemetery he could find.

This web design site was produced by Timothy Doyle 5/5/98,
Questions regarding content should be directed to Esther Doyle Read