By 1808, Richard Read married Rebecca Howell, the daughter of Levi Howell and Mary Green. She was born in either 1790 or 1791 (Howell and Phethean 2000:6,15; Union Brick Cemetery), possibly in Knowlton Township, Sussex (now Warren) County, New Jersey. Rebecca's first cousin, Garret Howell, married Richard's first cousin, (29) Mary Ogden³ (Hannah Read², Joseph¹). Richard and Rebecca were the parents of at least twelve children: Isaac, Levi, Mary, Richard, Samuel, Sarah, Levinah, Azubah, Ira, Rebecca, Delilah and Jonah. Mary and Delilah died as young children. Delilah, who was born 1835, probably died between 1835 and 1840 as there are no female children listed on the 1840 census in Richard's household who were under the age of five. Neither Mary or Delilah are named in the settlement of their father's estate. The other ten children are named in the settlement in 1868 and 1871 (Warren County Land Records, hereinafter WCLR Deed Book 70, page 629; WCSCR, Recipts & Discharges Book 4, pages 248, 376). On 9 January 1868, Isaac and Mary Read of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania signed off on their share of the estate in favor of Isaac's brothers and sisters:

In return for Isaac and Mary's release, the siblings agreed:

Samuel Read was the oldest son living in New Jersey at the time of Richard's death. He was appointed as Administrator of the estate. The estate paid each of the ten children $502.47. There were two disbursements of funds made. The first, for $211.02 per heir, occurred between August 1868 and May 1869. The second disbursement occurred between March and April 1871 and was for $291.95 per heir. The list of heirs paid by Samuel included:

it is probable that Richard and Rebecca Read resided in Hardwick Township for the duration of their married life. On 23 November 1816, Richard's father Isaac Read, Sr. deeded land to each of his three sons (Richard, Joseph and Isaac, Jr.). The deed to Richard stated that Richard was a resident of Hardwick Township. The land which Isaac Sr. deeded to Richard was located in Hardwick Township and contained " One hundred and nineteen Acres and three tenths of an acre" (Sussex County Land Records, hereinafter SCLR, Book G2, pages 481-483). The deed does not back reference earlier owners, hence it is unclear how long Isaac, Sr. had held the tract he deeded to Richard. However, Richard and Rebecca had probably been living on this land since the time of their marriage. The deeds issued to Joseph and Issac, Jr. were also in the areas where they are known to have lived most of their adult lives. Joseph's land (SCLR Book G2, pages 485-486) was located in that part of Hardwick Township which later became part of Green Township in Sussex County (where Joseph resided in 1830 (1830 United States Federal Census, Green Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, page 189)). Isaac, Jr.'s land (SCLR, Book G2, pages 483-484) was located in that part of Knowlton Township that later became part of Hope Township. Isaac, Jr.'s house still stands just outside the village of Hope. He was residing on the property in 1830 (1830 United States Federal Census, Knowlton Township, page 379).

Richard and Rebecca probably resided on the same farm in Hardwick (now Frelinghuysen) Township until their deaths in the 1860s. In 1830, the census places them in Hardwick Township, Warren County, New Jersey. Their household consisted of 10 individuals. The offical birth date of the census, as used to construct table 1, was 1 June 1830. The census was suppose to record the indidviduals age on that date.

Table 1: Household of Richard and Rebecca Read in 1830
1830 United States Federal Census
Hardwick Township, Warren County, New Jersey, page 447

Census Individual	Census Age As of 1 June 1830	Probable Individual	Birth Date
one male	40 to 49 (1780-1789)	Richard Read, Sr.	22 November 1783
one female	30 to 39 (1790-1799)	Rebecca Howell Read	1791
one male	15 to 19 (1811-1815)	Levi Hervey Read	17 November 1810
one male	15 to 19 (1811-1815)	Richard H. Read	14 June 1814
one male	10 to 14 (1816-1820)	Samuel H. Read	22 November 1816
one female	10 to 14 (1816-1820)	Sarah Ann Read	4 February 1819
one female	5 to 9 (1821-1825)	Levina Jane Read	30 November 1821
one female	5 to 9 (1821-1825)	Azubah Read	12 March 1824
one male	4 and under (1826-1830)	Ira K. Read	14 December 1828
one female	4 and under (1826-1830)	Rebecca Maria Read	8 June 1830

The 1830 census indicates that Richard's younger brother Isaac Read, Jr. was a slave owner. Richard and Rebecca did not hold slaves. Isaac's slave was a young girl under the age of 10. Evidently Isaac's wife Mary felt that

Richard and Rebecca's son Isaac had a farm in Oxford Township. There were three individuals in his household in 1830:

Table 2: Household of Isaac and Mary Read in 1830
1830 United States Federal Census
Oxford Township, Warren County, New Jersey, page 358

Census Individual	Census Age	Probable Individual	Birth Date
one male	20 to 29 years (1800 to 1809)	Isaac Read, IV	30 September 1808
one female	15 to 19 years (1811-1815)	Mary Allen Read	1812
one male	10 to 14 years (1816-1820)	Unknown	.

Isaac and Mary probably hired a young teenage boy to help Isaac on the farm. As he and Mary had children, particularly sons, to help on the farm, Isaac would need a hired man less and less.

Until 1837, Richard and Rebecca Read's life in Warren County was probably not all that different than that of their parents and grandparents. They had a large family of 12 children, born over a 28 year period. Richard was born into a family of at least 10 children and his father, Isaac Read, Sr., was one of 11 chlidren. They lived on a farm like their parents and grandparents. They could look forward to growing old on their farm, surrounded by their children and grandchildren, as had their parents and grandparents. Then in 1837, their lives took a dramatic turn. Their son Levi, and possibly another son, Richard, migrated to Michigan. In that same year, Richard's nephews - Abraham and Isaac Middlesworth - also settled in Michigan (Bureau of Land Management, hereinafter BLM, Patents #22347, #22348, #24977, #24978, #24979; Chambers 1892:559). These cousins were part of a great westward movement of Americans across the continent. In 1828, A Boston newspaper remarked:

Certainly, other members of the Read and Howell clan had migrated west, as had other neighbors and friends. When Richard and Rebecca were small children, John Shaver left Sussex County with members of his family and settled in the Niagara region of Canada (Lytle and Lytle n.d.). At about the same time, Richard's aunt, Sarah Read Manning, migrated to Ulysses, Seneca (now Tompkins) County, New York, with her husband Ephraim (Stewart 1998). Around the time Richard and Rebecca were married, another of Richard's aunts, Phebe Read Kirkpatrick, migrated to Guernsey County, Ohio with her husband, Andrew, and their children. Some of Andrew's brothers may have gone with them (Armstrong 1979). Three years before the War of 1812 began, Richard and Rebecca's cousins, Garret and Mary (Ogden) Howell, settled in Ontario, Canada (Howell and Phethean 2000:27). Then in the 1820s, Richard's widowed aunt Hannah Read Ogden Vaughn and most of her children and step-children migrated to Tompkins County, New York. These migrations involved whole family groups, several generations of Shavers, Mannings, Kirkpatricks, Howells, Ogdens and Vaughns. However, 1837 was different for Richard and Rebecca, it marked the beginning of vast changes in the structure of their immediate family.

Between 1837 and 1858, four of Richard and Rebecca's six sons left New Jersey and headed west. In addition, between 1838 and 1844, Richard's sister, Sarah Read Middlesworth, her husband, children and grandchildren all migrated to Michigan, where they joined her two sons Abraham and Isaac (BLM, Patents #28163). By 1860, Richard and Rebecca were left on their farm with their youngest son, Jonah, who was a bachlor (1860 United States Federal Census, Frelinghuysen Township, Warren County, New Jersey). Their daughters, Sarah and Azubah were also single. Only three of their children were married and living nearby in 1860: Samuel, Lavinia Hibler and Rebecca West. Samuel is known to have had three children, one who was still-born (Phethean 2001). Lavina was married to William C. Hibler, as his second wife. Although she had a number of step-children, Lavinia does not appear to have had children of her own. Rebecca was married to John West and lived in Frelinghuysen Township. By 1860, they had four children. Over a quarter of a century, the familiar world of close knit families living generation upon generation on the same land was wiped from Richard and Rebecca's cultural landscape. Their sons were scattered, two of their daughters were single and one daughter was raising the children of another woman. Only Samuel and Rebecca were living near to their parents, raising their own families.

In order to understand the shift in family structure in the mid-ninteenth century, it is useful to look at the strcture of Richard and Rebecca's family at the beginning of the year 1837. Their oldest child, Isaac, was 28 yesars old. He had been married for almost seven years and had three children. His wife, Mary, would have her fourth child later in the year. Isaac and Mary Read were living in Oxford Township in Warren County. Richard and Rebecca were able to see their son and their grandchildren on a regular basis. The next two children were Levi (who had just turned 26) and Richard (who had just turned 22). Neither son was married. They were probably working on a farm as laborers, possibly their father's or their brother Isaac's. The wages they earned would have been their stake to purchase their own farms and start their own families. Early in 1837, there were at least seven children living in Richard and Rebecca's house. They were Samuel (age 20), Sarah (who was almost 18), Levinah (age 15), Azubah (who was almost 13), Ira (age 8) Rebecca (age 6) and the new baby, Jonah. Their daughter Delilah may have still been alive, if so, she was almost 2 years old. Richard and Rebecca's three grandchildren (by Isaac, IV) were close in age to their three youngest children. Eliza Read was about 5 years old, Sarah Read was 2 years old and Johnson was less that a month old. This was typical of many American famillies at that time, overlapping generations.

Although Levi and Richard, Jr. were in Michigan, there were still four sons and four daughters at home. Then, between 1837 and 1840, Richard and Rebecca's eldest child, Isaac, left New Jersey. Richard purchased a 103 acre tract of land in Northmoreland Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The parcel eventually became part of Franklin Township, Luzerne County while the rest of Northmoreland township became part of Wyoming County (Luzerne County Land Records, hereinafter LCLR, Book 35, page 432). Richard turned the property over to Isaac, but he did not deed the property over to Issac. Isaac did not get full title to the property until after his father died in 1867 (WCLR Deed Book 70, page 629). Isaac settled his family on the Pennsyvlania farm. The family was living there when the 1840 census was enumerated (1840 United States Federal Census, Northmoreland Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, page 210). There were regular stages and good roads between Warren and Luzerne Counties. The mails were regular. Eventually, there would be regular train service between the two counties. However, when Isaac and his family went to Luzerne County it was not a location from which one traveled back home on the weekends.

In 1840, Richard was still living in Hardwick Township. The Census lists 9 individuals in his household, as follows:

Table 3: Household of Richard and Rebecca Read in 1840
1840 United States Federal Census
Hardwick Township, Warren County, New Jersey, page 381

Census Individual	Census Age As of 1 June 1840	Probable Individual	Birth Date
one male	50 to 59 (1780-1789)	Richard Read, Sr.	22 November 1783
one female	50 to 59 (1780-1789)	Rebecca Howell Read	1791
one male	20 to 29 (1811-1820)	Samuel H. Read	22 November 1816
one female	20 to 29 (1811-1820)	Sarah Ann Read	4 February 1819
one female	15 to 19 (1821-1825)	Levina Jane Read	30 November 1821
one female	10 to 14 years (1826-1830)	Azubah Read	12 March 1824
one male	10 to 14 years (1826-1830)	Ira K. Read	14 December 1828
one female	10 to 14 years (1826-1830)	Rebecca Maria Read	8 June 1830
one male	under 5 years (1836-1840)	Jonah H. Read	5 July 1836

Delilah, who was born in 1835, is missing from the list. It is probable that she was dead by 1840. Isaac, Richard and Levi are also missing from the list of children. By 1840, Isaac was living in Pennsylvania and Richard and Levi were living in Michigan. According to the census, 4 of the members of the household members were involved in agriculture. These four were probably Richard, Samuel, and Ira and possibly one of the girls. None of the children living in the household in 1840 left New Jersey before the next census in 1850.

Richard Read is listed on the 1850 Federal Census for Warren County, New Jersey as a resident of Frelinghuysen Township. On 7 March 1848, the New Jersey State legislature passed an act which established Frelinghuysen Township. It encompassed "all that part of the township of Hardwick lying south of the Paulin's Kill" (Snell 1881:687). Richard Read appears on the 1830 and the 1840 United States Federal Census in Hardwick Township. It is doubtful that he had moved to a new farm in 1850. Instead, the Frelinghuysen location indicates that his farm was located in that part of Hardwick Township which was set up as Frelinghuysen Township in 1848. According to the 1850 United States Federal Census, Richard Read possessed real estate valued at $4,600. Richard's household was the 99^th dwelling and 110^th family visited by the census taker. The Read household in 1850 consisted of:

Table 4: Household of Richard and Rebecca Read in 1850
1850 United States Federal Census
Frelinghuysen Township, Warren County, New Jersey, page 483

The census gives the name of the youngest son of Richard and Rebecaa as "Jonas." This spelling would occur on other legal documents through time. However, the youngest son's name was Jonah Howell Read. He was named after his uncle Jonah Howell. The 1850 census also contains the first in a series of reporting discrepencies in the ages of three of the daughters, specifically Sarah, Lavina and Azubah. These discrepencies occurred over the course of at least three census years: 1850, 1870 and 1880. Table 5 shows the reported age of the three woman, as well as their actual age for each of the three census years. The 1850 census consistently gives the girls's ages as five years less than their actual ages. In 1870, Sarah and Azubah shared a home in Newton, New Jersey. The census gives their ages as approximately ten years less than their actual age. Lavina was married and lived with her husband in his household. Her age as reported is accurate. By 1880, all three women were once again again sharing a home (in Newton). Sarah's census age is correct. Lavina's age is actually six years younger than her actual age. Azubah's censu age shows the greatest variance, 17 years less than her actual age. The question is whether the women were unsure of their ages, or if they were lieing to the census taker (who was a member of their community). In the second case their actual ages would not be disclosed to the community at large. Literacy data for the three census years indicate that the three women could read and write. Someone in the family was keeping track of birth dates, as is evident from the work of Kern (1938). It is highly probable that the women knew how old they were. It seems more likely that they were falsely reporting their ages. Neither Sarah nor Azubah ever married. They ran their own tailoring business in Newton, New Jersey, the Sussex County seat. Perhaps, as single women in the nineteenth century—an era which accorded women little social status—they needed to reflect an image as being much younger women. Lavina, as a married woman, enjoyed the social standing of her husband. She became a widow in 1877 and moved in with her single sisters. While married she reported her actual age, as a widow she reported a younger age.

Table 5: Comparison of Reported Census Ages for Sarah, Levina and Azubah Read

The 1850 census also allows us to track the locations of the Read children who had left the home since the 1840 census was taken. Richard and Rebecca's son Samuel H. Read appears in the 1850 census as a resident of the household of (46) Hannah Read Coursen³ (John Read², Joseph Read¹), who was his father's first cousin. Hannah's husband, Jacob L. Coursen, had died of consumption on 13 March 1848. Hannah and her children lived in Frelinghuysen Township. Samuel may have been running the farm for her. Hannah Coursen's household was the 111^th dwelling visited and the 123^rd household visited. She owned real estate valued as $5,460. Samuel Read and his cousin, Andrew Coursen were listed as laborers on the census. The members of the Coursen household in 1850 were:

Table 6: Household of Hannah Read Coursen in 1850
1850 United States Federal Census
Frelinghuysen Township, Warren County, New Jersey, page 484

Between 1850 and 1860, Samuel, Lavina, Ira and Rebecca were all married. Samuel married Hannah Schmuck and settled in Independence Township, Warren County. Lavina married William C. Hibler as his second wife. The Hibler farm was located in Frelinghuysen Township. Ira farmed in Warren County until about 1858. He moved his wife, Elizabeth (nee Howell), and two daughters, Sarah and Anna, to Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. He took up a farm in Dallas Township, a few miles from his brother Isaac. Rebecca married John West, who lived near her parents. By 1860, Richard and Rebecca's household had shrunk to three people. Although Sarah and Azubah were not married, they too had moved out of the house and set up housekeeping elsewhere. On the 1860 Census, Richard was listed as a farmer living in Frelinghuysen Township. He held real estate valued at $7,800 and a personal estate valued at $1,000. His son, Jonah, was listed in the census as a farmer with no real or personal estate.

Table 7: Household of Richard and Rebecca Read in 1860
1860 United States Federal Census
Frelinghuysen Township, Warren County, New Jersey

Rebecca Read died 18 June 1861 at the age of 71. Four of her ten adult children were still living in Warren County, New Jersey: Samuel, Lavina, Rebecca and Jonah. Azubah and Sarah were probably living in Newton in Sussex County, New Jersey. Four of her sons had left the state. Levi and Richard, Jr. were in Michigan. Isaac and Ira were in Pennsylvania. After Rebecca's death, Jonah appears to have stayed on with his father, helping on the farm. Seven months after his mother's death, Jonah married his second cousin, Margaret Eliza Read⁴. She was the daughter of Samuel Cooke Read³ and Mary Ann Wolverton. Her grandfather was Aaron Read², the youngest brother of Jonah's grandfather, Isaac Read, Sr.². Jonah was 25 years old, his bride was about 18 years old. The marriage was cut short by Margaret's death on 25 May 1864, less than a month after the birth of their first child, Alvin Richard Read on 28 April 1864 (Newberry c.1934). Alvin was raised by his maternal grandparents, Samuel and Mary Ann Read for the first 10 years of his life. Jonah appears to have stayed at his childhood home, caring for his elderly father, Richard Read. Approximately two years after Margaret Eliza'a death, Jonah married Christean G. (Last Name Unknown). She may have helped Jonah care for Richard in the last days of his life.

Richard Read died on 31 March 1867. He died intestate (without a will). An inventory of his estate was made 24 April 1867 by his eldest son, Samuel H. Read (administrator of the estate) and Jesse Adams and C.O. Harris. The personal estate was valued at $1,982.16 (WCSCR Inventories Book 9, pages 312-314). His son Samuel was appointed administrator of the estate. Jonah and Christean stayed in Warren County until at least the end of 1868. He was living in Warren County on Christmas Eve 1868, when the first payment was made from his father's estate. However, he appears to have left New Jersey for Hanover Township in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania by 12 March 1869. He directed the court to pay his remaining portion of the estate to his brother Samuel (Newberry c. 1934; WCSCR Recipts and Discharges Book 4, page 376). It is possible that Jonah borrowed money for a new home in Pennsylvania from his brother Samuel. By directing his final share to Samuel he may have been paying off the debt.

Ten of Richard and Rebecca's children grew to become adults. Five of their six sons migrated to the new western lands: Isaac and Ira to the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania, Levi and Richard to Michigan), and Jonah to several destinations: the Wyoming Valley, Ohio, Kansas and Colorado. Their daughter Lavina Hibler left Warren County in 1877, and settled in Sussex County with her unmarried sisters Sarah and Azubah. The later two had lived in Sussex County since at least 1860. Only two of the children remained in Warren County, their son Samuel and their daughter Rebecca West.

Richard and Rebecca are buried in Union Brick Cemetery, Blairstown Township, Warren County, New Jersey. They are buried next to Richard's parents, Isaac, Sr. and Mary Read. Richard's tomb stone is inscribed:

None of Richard and Rebecca's children or grandchildren are buried in the cemetery. Their daughter-in-law, Margaret Eliza Read, is buried nearby with her parents and grandparents.

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