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Children of Samuel Read and Mariah Freese
Notes
References
Probate Records
Surname Index

NOTES

Samuel Read was the sixth son and tenth child of the eleven children of Joseph and Sarah Read. Based on the information inscribed on his grave stone Samuel's birth date is probably 16 August 1783. He was born on his parents farm in Knowlton Township in Sussex County. Through a series of township and county divisions in the nineteenth century the Read farm became part of Blairstown Township in Warren County.

Samuel was named as a minor in his mother Sarah's will, which was written on August 1792 and proved on 1 October 1792. Sarah left him a legacy of £36 which he was to receive at the age of 21 (New Jersey State Archives, File 538S). Sarah died on 31 August 1792. Samuel's father, Joseph Read, had died a few months earlier on 18 April 1792. Samuel was left an orphan at the age of 11. He was probably raised by his older brothers and sisters. By 1792, his older brothers Isaac, James and John were married and had started families of their own. His older sisters Hannah and Phebe were also married with families of their own. In addition to the legacy left by his mother, Samuel was also entitled to one ninth of his father's estate. His father had evidently partitioned off part of the estate to his elder sons Isaac and John before his death.

Samuel and Maria Read had at least ten children: Jane, Aaron, Ann, Isaac, Sarah Maria, Hiram, Martin, Samuel, Marshall and Ira. Three of the children - Hiram, Ira, and Marshall - died under the age of five. These three children are buried in Union Brick burial ground, Blairstown Township, Warren County, New Jersey. Their stones were field checked 23 June 1983 and December 1999. They are inscribed as follows:

The New Jersey Genealogical Society recorded Union Brick grave stones in July 1962. The transcription of this list (available on-line, see Reuther n.d.) name Hiram and Marshall as children of Martin F. Read. I have identified Martin as their older brother. The Society's dates for Hiram are 6 April 1845, age 1 year, 2 months and 28 days. For Marshall, the dates are 24 August 1848, age 1 year, 11 months. I have rechecked the stones since reading the Society's transcription. The stones for Hiram and Marshall are each clearly marked: "son of Samuel & Mariah Read." In terms of their location in Union Brick Cemetery, they are buried with Samuel and Maria Read on the high point of the cemetery. Martin F. Read and his wife are buried at the base of the hill, immediately to the right of the gate to the cemetery. The stones in the plot of Samuel and Maria Read are arranged, starting at the crest of the hill and running in a line over the level portion of the hill top, as follows: Ira K. Read, Samuel Read, Maria H. Read, Hiram Read, Marshall Read, and a illegible stone (which may be the grave of Isaac F. Read, as I have never found his stone). The Society recorded Isaac F. Read's stone in 1962. He died shortly after his twenty-first birthday on 23 March 1832, age 21 years, 13 days (Reuther n.d.).

Six of Samuel and Maria's children grew to be adults. They were: Jane, Aaron, Ann, Sarah Maria, Martin, and Samuel. Jane died in 1837 (Swayze Cemetery). The other children were alive in 1855 when their father died. In his will, Samuel named Sarah Maria, Ann and the heirs of his daughter Jane as his heirs. In the will he states that his sons have already received their full share of the estate, that is Aaron, Martin F. and Samuel D. Read (Warren County Surrogate Court Records, hereinafter WCSCR, Wills Liber 3, folio 126).

Four of the children—Aaron, Martin F. and Samuel D. Read, and Sarah Durling—were listed in the 2 February 1865 settlement of the estate of their first cousin John Hetty Read (WCSCR, Orphan Court Minutes, Liber 6, folio 157). Neither Jane Drake Thompson nor Ann Davis were named in this settlement. As I have discussed in other essays concerning the grandchildren of Joseph and Sarah (Sutton) Read, the heirs of John H. Read appear to be only those first cousins who were living on 14 August 1862 when he died. Five of Samuel and Maria's children are known to have died by 1862: Hiram (died 1813), Ira (died 1830), Jane (died 1837), Ann (died 1859) and Marshall (who probably died before 1830, but who was definitely dead by 1855 when his father's will was written). The three boys died as children and did not leave any heirs (other than their siblings). Jane and Ann, however, had married and had left children. Jane's children were Hezekiah Drake (died 1831), Maria R. Drake (died 1846), William A. Thompson (died 1919) and Abigail J. Thompson (living in 1850) (Hudson Personal Communication; Ruether n.d. (Swayze Cemetery); United States Federal Census 1850:428A). Ann's children were Irene Davis Cross (died 1903), Hiram Davis (died 1876), Jerome Davis (died 1834) and Jerome B. Davis (died 1846). William Thompson, Irene Cross and Hiram Davis were all living in 1862, yet they were not listed as heirs of John H. Read. Hence, it appears that the estate only went to living cousins, and not to the heirs of deceased cousins.

Samuel and Maria's sons, Aaron, Martin, and Samuel, all had farms in Hope Township (United States Federal Census, Hope Township, Warren County, New Jersey 1850:425A, 435B, 437B; United States Federal Census Hope Township, Warren County, New Jersey 1860:7, 25, 88). Jane Read married first a local man named George W. Drake. George died early in 1830. Three years later she married the pastor of her parent's church, Elder Jonathan S. Thompson. Thompson was originally from Vermont. The couple lived in the parsonage of the Johnsonburg Christian Church in Johnsonburg, Hardwick (now Frelinghuysen) Township, Warren County. Ann Read married Mark Davis. For awhile the couple lived in Knowlton Township. By 1840, they moved to Harrison Township in Hudson County, New Jersey where they ran a hotel for drovers. Sarah Maria Read married Jonathan Durling. They resided in the vicinity of Hope until the late 1840s. They then moved across the Delaware River to Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania (Kern 1938).

Samuel Read's land transactions were complex. On 12 September 1804, Samuel and "Mary" Read of Knowlton Township, Sussex County, New Jersey signed a quit claim in favor of Isaac Read, Sr. Samuel and Mary quit claim to all their right to both the personal and real estates of Samuel's parents, Joseph and Sarah Read. Isaac paid them $883.00 in gold and silver for the quit claim. Both Samuel and Maria signed their names to the document. Isaac and Samuel's youngest brother David Read was a witness to the quit claim as was George Allen. The quit claim was filed in the county courthouse on 27 November 1804 (Sussex County Land Records, hereinafter SCLR, Book L, page 358). Index listings for Samuel indicate that he bought land from his brother Isaac in 1804 (SCLR Book L page 362), from his brother David in 1809 (SCLR Book S, page 360), and again in 1814 (SCLR Book B2, page 408). There appears to have been some sort of land transfer going on in 1813 and 1814, as Samuel also sold land to David in both those years (SCLR Book B2, page 150, 410). Samuel made a number of land purchases in 1814 and 1815. These were from Abraham Symth (SCLR Book C2, page 104), Jacob Kinney (SCLR Book D2, page 24) and Joseph Sutton (SCLR Book F2, page 2). There were more transactions in 1818 from Abraham Smith and from Samuel's brother David (SCLR Book M2, page 67 and 68). In 1824, Samuel was involved in transactions with his nephew John K. Read (SCLR Book Z2, page 224) and with William Kirkpatrick (SCLR Book A3, page 258).

Samuel Read, like his brothers, Isaac Read, Sr. and David Read, served in local administrative offices. He was elected to the town committee for Knowlton Township (then part of Sussex County) for the period 1819 through 1820. He was a Justice of the Peace for Warren County for three terms. These terms began on 16 November 1830, 16 November 1835 and 18 February 1841, respectively (Snell 1881:482, 620; note in Snell that he is listed as Samuel REED for his second term). Because he was a Justice of the Peace, Samuel could now style himself as Samuel Read, Esquire (or Esq.). Samuel also took care of family probate matters. In 1807, He was appointed guardian of his nephew, John Hetty Read (son of James Read). The court required him to post a $1,600 bond as the child's guardian (SCSCR Letters of Administration and Guardianship Liber A, folio 71). He served as the administrator of his brother John's estate in 1815 (SCSCR File 8032).

Maria Read was raised in the Presbyterian Church (NJHS 1918:189; Snell 1881:631). There is evidence that Samuel's family was Baptist. Samuel's maternal grandfather, James Sutton, was a Baptist (Chase n.d.). Samuel's sister Hannah, married the Rev. Daniel Vaughan, a Baptist minister, as her second husband. Daniel Vaughan became the minister of the Knowlton Baptist Church in 1785. The church was formed in 1754 and ceased to exist in 1800. Union Brick burial ground, where Samuel, his parents and many of his siblings and children are buried, is located on the former grounds of the Knowlton Baptist Church (Griffith 1904:90-91). During the nineteenth century, three of Samuel's nephews: Isaac Read, Jr. (son of Isaac, Sr.), Stephen Read (son of Joseph Read) and Isaac S. Read (son of David Read) were married by the Rev. Edward Barrass, who was pastor of the Montana and the Delware Baptist Churchs in Warren County (Bronwell 1947:2, 4). Samuel may have attended Knowlton Baptist Church for the first 17 years of his life. Whether he became a full member of the church, through confession of sin, acceptance of Jesus Christ as his saviour and adult baptism, is unknown.

Table 1: Household of Samuel and Maria H. Read in 1830
(1830 United States Federal Census, Knowlton Township, Warren County, New Jersey, page 378)

By 1830, Samuel and Maria's daughter Ann was married to Mark W. Davis. Their son Aaron was not living in the house. He probably was not married but was working out as a laborer. Their eldest daughter Jane was recently widowed. She had been the wife of George W. Drake, who had died in January of 1830 (Swayze Cemetery). Samuel and Maria's youngest child, Ira K. Read also died in early 1830 (in March). Two of their other sons had also died before 1830: Hiram and Marshall (Union Brick Cemetery).

When the 1840 census was enumerated, all of Samuel and Maria's children were no longer living in their household. Four of their children were dead: Isaac, Hiram, Ira and Jane. Their daughter Jane had died in 1837, shortly after giving birth to her daughter Abigail Thompson. At least five of the Read children were married. Aaron was married to Hannah Brands, Ann to Mark David, Sarah Maria to Jonathan Durling and Martin to Letitia Swisher. Ann was the only child who had married before the 1830 census. The other children were all married between 1830 and 1840. Their son Samuel may have been married to Abigail Curlis by 1840, their first child was born in 1842. By 1840, part of Knowlton Township had been separated from the township and created as the new township of Hope. Samuel and Maria's farm was within the bounds of Hope Township. While all of their children had left the nest, Samuel and Maria were still raising small children. When their daughter Jane died in 1837, she left five small children behind. Three of these were dauhters by her first husband, George W. Drake. Two were her son and daughter by Rev. Jonathan S. Thompson. Thompson left Johnsonburg in 1837 and took a church in Fall River Township, Bristol County, Massachusetts. He appears to have remarried before he left Warren County. He and his new wife were living in Massachusetts in 1840. They had Jonathan and Jane Thompson's son William with them. The younger of Jane's two children by Jonathan Thompson, Abigail J. Thompson, had remained behind in Hope. Samuel and Maria Read had Jane's four daughters living with them in 1840. The household in 1840 consisted of the following individuals:

Table 2: Household of Samuel and Maria H. Read in 1840
(1840 United States Federal Census, Hope Township, Warren County, New Jersey, page 13)

Samuel and Maria Read were listed on the 1850 Federal Census for Warren County, New Jersey as a residents of Hope Township. According to the census their real estate was valued at $1800 worth of real estate. The family was enumerated on 4 September 1850 and was the 599th dwelling and 623rd family visited by the census taker. The Read household in 1850 consisted of:

Table 3: Household of Samuel and Maria H. Read in 1850
(1850 United States Federal Census, Hope Township, Warren County, New Jersey, page 427)

All of Jane Read Drake Thompson's daughters, except Abby Thompson, had left the household. Maria Drake died 10 January 1846 at the age of 16. She was buried in Swayze Cemetery with her parents and her brother Hezekiah. The other two Drake daughters appear to have married.

Samuel Read died on 20 February 1855. He was buried in Union Brick Cemetery on Heller Hill Road, near the intersection of Heller Hill and Union Brick Roads in Blairstown Township, Warren County, NJ. His grave stone is next to that of his wife Maria and is inscribed:

At the time of his death, Samuel owned two houses, several outbuildings and a wood lot in Hope Township. He lived in one of the houses. George Hays was a tenant in the other house. According to the 1850 United States Census for Hope Township, George Hays was a shoemaker. In 1855, he was about 44 years old (1850:429B). In his will, Samuel left all of his property to Maria, for use during her lifetime. After Maria's death, the property was to be sold and the proceeds of the sale were to be divided in three equal parts between his daughters, Sarah Maria and Ann, and the heirs of his daughter Jane. He named his sons, Martin F. Read and Samuel D. Read as his executors. George Hayes (Samuel's tenant), William Prall (or Ball), and Gideon L. Howell (a fellow member of the Hope Christian Church) witnessed the will (WCSCR Wills, liber 3, folio 126).

Maria H. Freese Read appears on the 1860 United States Federal Census for Hope Township, Warren County, New Jersey She was listed as living alone. According to the census she held real estate valued at $1,000. Two of her sons, Martin and Aaron Read, lived in Hope Township (pages 7, 25, 88). Another son, Samuel Read, lived in Frelinghuysen Township. Her daughter Sarah Maria Durling lived in Easton, Pennsylvania. The year before the census was taken, Maria's daughter Ann Read Davis, died in Essex County, New Jersey.

Maria H. Read died in 1866. She was buried next to Samuel in Union Brick Cemetery. Her single stone was inscribed:

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