1Joseph L. Barber - 1827, in "Biographical History of Clark and Jackson Counties Wisconsin" posted on Ancestry.com Message Board by Pat. "Submitter: Pat
Subject: Joseph L. Barber - 1827
Message: From the Biographical History of Clark and Jackson Counties, Wisconsin
Joseph L. Barber, of section 10, range 2, Weston Township, Clark County, was born in Essex County, New Jersey, October 10, 1827, the son of John S. and Abigail (Kinneman) Barber, both natives of New Jersey; the former was a shoemaker by trade. They were the parents of eleven children, six of whom still survive. Our subject's grandfather, John S. Barber, was a Hessian, and came to this country to fight against the Americans in the Revolutionary War, but deserted by jumping off a man-of-war, swam to the shore and joined Washington's army, in which he was an officer until the close of the war. His wife cooked many meals for Washington, as the great General made his headquarters at their house while he was in winter quarters near Morristown, New Jersey. She drew a large pension, and died about thirty-five years ago, at the age of ninety-seven years.
The subject of this sketch learned the ship-carpenter's trade, at the age of twenty-two years. He went to Chemung County, New York, where his brothes and sisters still reside. One brother (Abbott) is a wealthy man and a Knight of the Red Cross Mason. Mr. Barber came to Calumet County, Wisconsin, in 1851, where he bought land, but afterward returned to the East, and worked at his trade until 1854. In that year he came again to this State and settled on a farm, which was covered with heavy timber. He was a soldier in the late war, in Company D, Sixteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, serving one year, and participated in the battles of Savannah, Fort McAllister and others. His hearing was affected in the army, as was also his heart and lungs, and on account of the two latter, draws a small pension. Mr. Barber came to this county in 1884, settling on his present farm of eighty acres, forty of which is cleared.
He was married in New Jersey, in July, 1847, to Frances Elizabeth Demouth, a native of New Jersey and daughter of John and Maria (Levi) Demouth. Mr. and Mrs. Barber have had eleven children, seven of whom still survive, namely: Hannah, Samantha, Theodore, Joseph, Frank, Lillie and Albert. Hannah married George Smith of Boyd, Chippewa County, Wisconsin, and they have two children-George and Mary. Hannah has a high school education, and has taught seven years. Samanth married Sanford Chase of Jefferson County, New York and they have four children: Joseph S., Edward A., Frances C. and John L. Theodore is principal of the Alma Center School of Jackson County; was married to Flora Mc Carty and has one child-Joseph. Joseph married Sina Fadner, lives in Eau Claire, and has two children-Carl F. and an infant girl. Frank is principal of the Melrose High School, Jackson County, and is a graduate of the Neillsville High School, in both English and German. Lillie is a teacher also. Albert married Alamanz Demouth, resides in Hayton, Calumet County, Wisconsin, and has three children-George A., Lillian and Eva. Mr. Barber is a Mason socially, and politically a Republican. He has held the offices of Supervisor, Assessor, Constable, and Clerk of School Board. Mrs. Barber is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.".
1Joseph L. Barber - 1827, in "Biographical History of Clark and Jackson Counties Wisconsin" posted on Ancestry.com Message Board by Pat. "Submitter: Pat
Subject: Joseph L. Barber - 1827
Message: From the Biographical History of Clark and Jackson Counties, Wisconsin
Joseph L. Barber, of section 10, range 2, Weston Township, Clark County, was born in Essex County, New Jersey, October 10, 1827, the son of John S. and Abigail (Kinneman) Barber, both natives of New Jersey; the former was a shoemaker by trade. They were the parents of eleven children, six of whom still survive. Our subject's grandfather, John S. Barber, was a Hessian, and came to this country to fight against the Americans in the Revolutionary War, but deserted by jumping off a man-of-war, swam to the shore and joined Washington's army, in which he was an officer until the close of the war. His wife cooked many meals for Washington, as the great General made his headquarters at their house while he was in winter quarters near Morristown, New Jersey. She drew a large pension, and died about thirty-five years ago, at the age of ninety-seven years.
The subject of this sketch learned the ship-carpenter's trade, at the age of twenty-two years. He went to Chemung County, New York, where his brothes and sisters still reside. One brother (Abbott) is a wealthy man and a Knight of the Red Cross Mason. Mr. Barber came to Calumet County, Wisconsin, in 1851, where he bought land, but afterward returned to the East, and worked at his trade until 1854. In that year he came again to this State and settled on a farm, which was covered with heavy timber. He was a soldier in the late war, in Company D, Sixteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, serving one year, and participated in the battles of Savannah, Fort McAllister and others. His hearing was affected in the army, as was also his heart and lungs, and on account of the two latter, draws a small pension. Mr. Barber came to this county in 1884, settling on his present farm of eighty acres, forty of which is cleared.
He was married in New Jersey, in July, 1847, to Frances Elizabeth Demouth, a native of New Jersey and daughter of John and Maria (Levi) Demouth. Mr. and Mrs. Barber have had eleven children, seven of whom still survive, namely: Hannah, Samantha, Theodore, Joseph, Frank, Lillie and Albert. Hannah married George Smith of Boyd, Chippewa County, Wisconsin, and they have two children-George and Mary. Hannah has a high school education, and has taught seven years. Samanth married Sanford Chase of Jefferson County, New York and they have four children: Joseph S., Edward A., Frances C. and John L. Theodore is principal of the Alma Center School of Jackson County; was married to Flora Mc Carty and has one child-Joseph. Joseph married Sina Fadner, lives in Eau Claire, and has two children-Carl F. and an infant girl. Frank is principal of the Melrose High School, Jackson County, and is a graduate of the Neillsville High School, in both English and German. Lillie is a teacher also. Albert married Alamanz Demouth, resides in Hayton, Calumet County, Wisconsin, and has three children-George A., Lillian and Eva. Mr. Barber is a Mason socially, and politically a Republican. He has held the offices of Supervisor, Assessor, Constable, and Clerk of School Board. Mrs. Barber is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.".
1Ancestry.com, p. .
2Ancestry.com, Family treee of Owner: SRIancestry1 .
1Census, Federal 1910, Manhattan Ward 4, Riley, Kansas. "Name: May W Sommer
[May W Sonson]
Age in 1910: 49
Birth Year: abt 1861
Birthplace: Wisconsin
Home in 1910: Manhattan Ward 4, Riley, Kansas
Race: White
Gender: Female
Relation to Head of House: Wife
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: Fredrick Sommer
Father's Birthplace: New York
Mother's Birthplace: New Jersey
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Fredrick Sommer 70
May W Sommer 49
John L Sommer 21
Norman Sommer 17
Frank W Sommer 15
Ruth Sommer 14
Fred Sommer 10
Mildred H Sommer 8."2Ancestry.com, Family tree of Owner: SRIancestry1 .
3Ancestry.com, Family treee of Owner: SRIancestry1 .
4Ancestry.com, Family treee of Owner: SRIancestry1 .
1Census, Federal 1910, Manhattan Ward 4, Riley, Kansas. "Name: John L Sommer
[John L Sonson]
Age in 1910: 21
Birth Year: abt 1889
Birthplace: Kansas
Home in 1910: Manhattan Ward 4, Riley, Kansas
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Son
Marital Status: Single
Father's Name: Fredrick Sommer
Father's Birthplace: Switzerland
Mother's name: May W Sommer
Mother's Birthplace: Wisconsin
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Fredrick Sommer 70
May W Sommer 49
John L Sommer 21
Norman Sommer 17
Frank W Sommer 15
Ruth Sommer 14
Fred Sommer 10
Mildred H Sommer 8."2Ancestry.com, Family treee of Owner: SRIancestry1 .
1Census, Federal 1910, Manhattan Ward 4, Riley, Kansas. "Name: Norman Sommer
[Norman Sonson]
Age in 1910: 17
Birth Year: abt 1893
Birthplace: Kansas
Home in 1910: Manhattan Ward 4, Riley, Kansas
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Son
Marital Status: Single
Father's Name: Fredrick Sommer
Father's Birthplace: Switzerland
Mother's name: May W Sommer
Mother's Birthplace: Wisconsin
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Fredrick Sommer 70
May W Sommer 49
John L Sommer 21
Norman Sommer 17
Frank W Sommer 15
Ruth Sommer 14
Fred Sommer 10
Mildred H Sommer 8."2Ancestry.com, Family treee of Owner: SRIancestry1 .
1Census, Federal 1910, Manhattan Ward 4, Riley, Kansas. "Name: Frank W Sommer
[Frank W Sonson]
Age in 1910: 15
Birth Year: abt 1895
Birthplace: Kansas
Home in 1910: Manhattan Ward 4, Riley, Kansas
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Son
Marital Status: Single
Father's Name: Fredrick Sommer
Father's Birthplace: Switzerland
Mother's name: May W Sommer
Mother's Birthplace: Wisconsin
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Fredrick Sommer 70
May W Sommer 49
John L Sommer 21
Norman Sommer 17
Frank W Sommer 15
Ruth Sommer 14
Fred Sommer 10
Mildred H Sommer 8."2Ancestry.com, Family treee of Owner: SRIancestry1 .
1Census, Federal 1910, Manhattan Ward 4, Riley, Kansas. "Name: Ruth Sommer
[Ruth Sonson]
Age in 1910: 14
Birth Year: abt 1896
Birthplace: Kansas
Home in 1910: Manhattan Ward 4, Riley, Kansas
Race: White
Gender: Female
Relation to Head of House: Daughter
Marital Status: Single
Father's Name: Fredrick Sommer
Father's Birthplace: Switzerland
Mother's name: May W Sommer
Mother's Birthplace: Wisconsin
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Fredrick Sommer 70
May W Sommer 49
John L Sommer 21
Norman Sommer 17
Frank W Sommer 15
Ruth Sommer 14
Fred Sommer 10
Mildred H Sommer 8."2Ancestry.com, Family treee of Owner: SRIancestry1 .
1Census, Federal 1910, Manhattan Ward 4, Riley, Kansas. "Name: Fred Sommer
[Fred Sonson]
Age in 1910: 10
Birth Year: abt 1900
Birthplace: Kansas
Home in 1910: Manhattan Ward 4, Riley, Kansas
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Son
Marital Status: Single
Father's Name: Fredrick Sommer
Father's Birthplace: Switzerland
Mother's name: May W Sommer
Mother's Birthplace: Wisconsin
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Fredrick Sommer 70
May W Sommer 49
John L Sommer 21
Norman Sommer 17
Frank W Sommer 15
Ruth Sommer 14
Fred Sommer 10
Mildred H Sommer 8."2Ancestry.com, Family treee of Owner: SRIancestry1 .
1Bybee, Marsha
, internet. 2Pequannock Tax List #3 1778-1780, Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey Whole Number 169. "1778-80 tax list - Adam Dmott -460(improved acres) worth 3000 #s, 102(unimproved acres) worth 200#s, 12 (horses), 20 (horned cattle), 15 (hogs), 3(slaves), 222(Pounds out at interest), Exempt ("Demout 562(acres), 8(horses), 12(horned cattle), 4(hogs), 2(slaves),.".
3Fowler, Alex. D., Boonton, NJ, Demouth Report, Copy in Personal Files of Dianne Z. Stevens. This report was written in response to a letter from Mrs. Charles Webber of 10 Aug 1949. Mrs. Webber apparently hired Mr. Fowler to do genealogical research for her. In 2003 when I (Dianne Stevens) hired Linnea Foster to investigate the Levi connection, Linnea said that Mr. Foster was very highly regarded in New Jersey for his genealogy work. "All the references to Adam (3) have been posthumous ones: in MC Deeds E?90, dated April 10, 1790, "...Adam Miller and and Anna his wife, late Anna Demouth of Pequannock Township of the first part and Jacob Demouth of the second part...whereas Adam Demouth deceased...died intestate and at the same time was seized of considerable estate both real and personal in the County of Morris and elsewhere and whereas the same descended to his two children Jacob Demouth and Anna Demouth now Anna Miller..." This was a quit-claim deed releasing to Jacob 512 acres of the homestead farm of Adam Demouth, his father. Other deeds bearing out the above genealogical data were recorded in Morris County in 1797 (c.f. MC Deeds C/289; D/362; D/364)."
4Douglas Harper, Slavery in the North, http://www.slavenorth.com/, internet.
5Rootsweb, http://www.rootsweb.com, Demouth message Board, Janet Bornhoeft, 5 Mar 2001. "The following is from Rootsweb "Demouth" Message Board:
East Proprietors, NJ Survey Book
Author: Janet Bornhoeft Date: 5 Mar 2001 12:00 PM GMT
Surnames: DeMouth, DeModt, Hartshome, Lemuel Cobb, Berry, Decker
Hi- At the New Jersey Archives, Trenton, I found some survey deeds involving DeMouths of Morris Co, NJ. 1. Lemuel Cobb surveyed for himself a tract between Stony Brook and Bloomingdale, Pequannack beginning at a tract returned to Hendry DeModt, Henry Berry, and Jacob Berry on 8 Nov 1762. Also a tract by/in "Bruen's Meadow Lot returned to George Ryerson 27 March 1754. This survey was witnessed and dated 5 Oct 1804. 2. Lemuel Cobb surveyed for the heirs or assigns of Hugh Hartshome at the request of Frederick DeMouth all that tract adjoining the farm of Adam DeMouth in Pequanack, Morris Co which was surveyed 12 May, 1715 for Gov William Penn. Also a tract situate on NE side of the Green Pond, Pequannack returned 14 September, 1751. The heirs of Hugh Hartshone/Hartshome claim right to these through a certificate of Mislocation to them at the request of Frederick Demouth dated 26 December 1761. This was witnessed 27 Nov. 1786. My Deckers in 1793 onward had land next to DeMouths. Can anyone connect the above early DeMouths/DeModts to the other names mentioned and then to the Deckers? Thanks for any help. Janet Bornhoeft."6Demouth Papers received from researcher Linnea B. Foster, December 2003, Morris County Deed E 90, New Jersey Archives, Trenton, N.J., 10 Apr 1797. "This deed appears to be a settlement of property between Jacob Demouth and Anna Miller, formerly Anna Demouth, "the two children of Adam Demouth, deceased, who died intestate, 'seized of a considerable estate both real and personal in the County of Morris and elsewhere'(Sussex County)."."
7Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, FamilySearch.com.
8Demouth Papers received from researcher Linnea B. Foster, December 2003, Morris County Deed E 90, New Jersey Archive, 10 Apr 1797.
9Ancestry.com, U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Recordss from selected states, 1660-1926. "Name: Adam Tiemouth
Event Type: Marriage
Gender: Male
Spouse: Charlotte Hosk
Spouse Gender: Female
Marriage Date: 19 May 1755
Marriage Place: Acquackanonk, Passaic, New Jersey, USA." The original record on Ancestry looks like: "M. at Kwachau living at Rocke-rack
(Charlotte) born on the Eylekill living on the Sixteen Agate Val." Writing is hard to decipher.
1Bybee, Marsha
, internet. 2Ancestry.com, U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Recordss from selected states, 1660-1926. "Name: Adam Tiemouth
Event Type: Marriage
Gender: Male
Spouse: Charlotte Hosk
Spouse Gender: Female
Marriage Date: 19 May 1755
Marriage Place: Acquackanonk, Passaic, New Jersey, USA." The original record on Ancestry looks like: "M. at Kwachau living at Rocke-rack
(Charlotte) born on the Eylekill living on the Sixteen Agate Val." Writing is hard to decipher.
1Fowler, Alex. D., Boonton, NJ, Demouth Report, Copy in Personal Files of Dianne Z. Stevens. This report was written in response to a letter from Mrs. Charles Webber of 10 Aug 1949. Mrs. Webber apparently hired Mr. Fowler to do genealogical research for her. In 2003 when I (Dianne Stevens) hired Linnea Foster to investigate the Levi connection, Linnea said that Mr. Foster was very highly regarded in New Jersey for his genealogy work.
2Morris Co. Hall of Records - Deeds.
3May Sommers, May Sommers personal family history of the DeMouths, Written for her children in 1936, unpublished, Personal files of Dianne Z. Stevens, 1301 Reetz Road, Madison, WI 53711. "Demouth Family History
dated June 1936
This history is of my Mother's ancestors, and my father's what little is known of them.
This story begins many years before the Revolutionary War. It follows down through the years the history of my people, covering a period of about two-hundred years of time.
William Levi was born in Germany in 1737. At the age of thirty he was sold to the English army to fight against the colonists during the Revolutionary War. These Germans were Hessians. William being one of them. They were lured on board the battle-ships to see the interior. Then the gangplanks were lifted and the ships sailed away. William Levi hated the English and got out of fighting every apportunity. He would play off sick at their military drills, etc. One cold night when snow was on the ground he took off his shoes and tied them on his feet, heels front and toes of the shoes facing backwards so the British would think he had gone in the opposite direction! In a short time he safely reached the American lines. Levi was a miller and was following his trade when carried off to America.
After the Revolutionary War ended, he went back to his trade and married a girl by the name of Abigail Mudge who was of English descent. Abigail's grandparents came over to this country on the Mayflower, not sure, and brought with them a pewter platter which they gave to Abigail. This platter many years after was melted and molded into spoons, one of which the writer posesses.
Abigail's second husband was Mr. Lamb, by whom she had two children. He was killed in the Revolutionary War fighting against the English.
There was an incident happened along about this time, no date to make sure when it happened, which shows are folks were in poverty. One dark night a wagon drove up which was loaded with barrels of flour being taken to the British soldiers. One barrel had rolled off and the head broken in. The driver went to the house where some of my folks lived and told them about the broken barrel and said he would give it to them, half or more was still in the barrel and clean. He would give them this barrel if they would remove every trace of the flour that was scattered, in other words, cover his trail. They studied a little. It was abetting and helping an enemy but their family was hungry and no harm could come of it probably, and they accepted the barrel of flour and covered the flour in the road with dust. It was the Colonists that must not know that the British were near. Such is war.
Abigail now a widow marries William Levi the Hessian who was brought to this country on a British warship. We have no proof of this marriage but we have proof of the 1740 marriage first one. This week came the following from Sharon, Conn. The town clerk sends a notice of David Skinner's marriage to Abigail Mudg in 1740. Also D. Skinner died August 12, 1740, her husband.
K. B. Hotaling, Town Clerk
The above item is all the proof we have of the authenticity of our history, all else has been carried down by word of mouth and may be correct and may not be.
Where was Abigail Mudg between 1740 first marriage and 1797 when my grandmother Mariah was born, supposed to be Abigail's child by William Levi. I think a generation was skipped right here. We know the date of 1740 must be trueit coming out of a book of vital statistics. We know 1797 must be correct for my grandmother remembers things she saw in 1800, she was three years old then.
Abigail's name was first Mudg then Skinner, she then married and changed name to Lamb, then married William Levi. Eight children were born to them as follows: William, Oliver, John, Phoeba, Mariah, Betsy, Frances and Elizabeth, twins who died in infancy. William Levi and Abigail his wife spent most of their lives near Sharon, Connecticut.
We drop all these children but Mariah my grandmother. She was born in 1797. She learned to write on birchbark by the light of a fireplace. She learned to spin wool on a tall spinning wheel, being very young and small, her father had to make her a bench on which she would walk back and forth as she spun.
We will now turn to my mother's father's people. Many years before the Revolutionary War, there were a Mr. and Mrs. Demouth who came from Holland and settled in New Jersey. To them was born in1770 a son Jacob.
They owned 300 acres of landabout twenty miles fron New York City. They had but one child, Jacob, who at his parents death inherited everything they left, three hundred acres of land with a beautiful stone mansion on it, archards, flowergardens, etc. We have no record of Jacob's wife.
One or both of them did not seem to know how to handle an estate as in course of time all was lost. Jacob had a conscience and it would not let him keep those thirty slaves, so in 1810 he freed them. That of course was a loss of much money. That and other things caused the estate to be sold piece by piece until finally the family got in hard straits.
It was in the great mansion Jacob and his wife's children were born nine of them who were: Frederick, Adam, James, John, Thomas, Jacob, Mary, Betsy, and Charlotte. Jacob Demouth, the father of these nine children was a prominent public man. He was Justice of the Peace of Pequat Township, Morris County, New Jersey for thirty years. He belonged to the Methodist church. But we must now follow one of these children down the line, one of them is related to us, it is John. John Demouth was my grandfather.
At the age of twenty-four he became acquainted with Mariah Levi. She had come from Connecticut to New Jersey to keep house for her brother. At the age of twenty-three she and John Demouth were married (my grandparents). The wedding was in the year 1818. The first two years of their married life were spent in Connecticut, after which they returned to New Jersey. John was a farmer. To this union six children were born: Samuel, Chalon, James, Jacob, Frances and Semantha, my mother the youngest of the family.
John and Mariah raised their family in New Jersey then migrated to Wisconsin in 1848. Semantha was twelve years old when her parents moved to Wisconsin. It was in Wisconsin John Demouth was killed by a tree falling on him that he had just chopped down. His grand-daughter May was about one year old in 1861. . . .
A cousin, Frank Barber, was visiting in New Jersey and saw the place where his mother and mine (sisters) had lived. Demouth was their maiden name now changed to Frances Barber and Semantha Webster. Cousin Frank also saw the place where the old mill had been when slaves worked in it. That was before Jacob Demouth freed his slaves.".4Census, Federal - 1830 - Morris Co., NJ, Pequanac Twsp. 1830 Census list members of Frederick Demouth household as follows:
1 male age 5 - 10 (probably Decatur)
1 " 15 - 20 (Jirah)
1 male 30 - 40 (Frederick)
1 female under 5 (Phoebe or Susan)
1 " 5 - 10 (Elizabeth)
1 female 15 - 20Phoebe or Susan)
1 " 30 - 40 (wife Susan Crane).5Bybee, Marsha
, internet. 6Lawrence Rheinhold. <9660 Flair Dr., Suite 438, El Monte, CA>.
7Lois Wells Wilson, edited by Warren E. Wilson, 1989, Family History of the Ancestors of Lois Eleanor Wells, Personal files of Dianne Z. Stevens, 1301 Reetz Road, Madison, WI 53711. "Early records, and the De Mouths themselves, frequently spelled the name differently, so it was necessary to search for information on these ancestors under such spellings as De Muth, Demont, De Mont, Dumont, Demit, Demet, Demott, De Mott, De Met, Demun, Demund, Demut, De Mutt, Dumon, Dumond, Dumot, Du Mott, Du Mond, De Muthe, and De Mouth. In France the name was often written "de Mathe", as is shown in more than one transaction we found. In "Notorial Records from 1603 to 1665" Pierre Sanxy is listed as attorney for Joachim and Clorinde de Mathe, his wife. (Our branch of the family always pronounced the name to rhyme with "Vermouth" regardless of how it was spelled.)
The earliest De Muths came over before the Huguenot troubles in France, colonized the Bergen, N.J. area and had large landholdings dating from 1624 in and near Boonton, N.J. The De Mott Hill and Cemetery there still exist. They say that Abner De Mouth lived like a feudal lord; he had 7000 acres of land, had his own brewery and his own blacksmith shop, all on his own place.
Our direct ancestral De Mouths were Huguenots, natives of France who fled from there at the time of Louis XIV when he revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685. (The Edict had been promulgated by Henry IV in 1598 and had given the Huguenots almost a hundred years of peace.) The Revocation created a period called the "Reign of Terror" by those who endured the persecution, who had all their property confiscated, who were forbidden to worship as Protestants and whose lives were threatened if they failed to conform or tried to escape. Their ministers were nearly all executed. Fortunate escapees fled to Germany and Holland.
Three De Mott brothers and other members of their family escaped from Brittany and fled to Holland. They waited there ten years for any of their retainers who might wish to accompany them to the New World and who might find ways to escape from France to join them. One of the brothers received a large land grant from Holland to property up beyond Boonton in New Jersey. In 1709 these three families came to America. Some settled in the Boonton area where earlier De Mouths had colonized; the little towns and hills and cemeteries thereabouts still bear the family name. Others settled down in Somerset and they gradually spread out all over Rockaway Valley.
Many early family records have now been lost but history records that two of these brothers, Jacob and Frederick De Mouth, from 1709 to 1730 recorded legal papers and deeds to property at New Foundland in Rockaway Township and elsewhere in Rockaway Valley. The records. refer to them as "Jacob and Frederick De Mouth, first settlers of Rockaway Valley". These records spell their names variously as De Mathe, De Mott, De Mouth, De Muthe or De Muth. In 1730 Jacob built a sturdy house of stone for his family not far from New Foundland near the site of the old Clinton Reservoir. His grandson, also named Jacob, is the first of our De Mouth ancestors in America for whom we have exact and complete dates: he was born in 1763 and died March 22, 1835.
The old stone house was occupied for a time by a De Mouth daughter whose husband, Peter Snyder, built an addition to the house and a new entry way. Above the door he set a triangular stone with the Mysterious-looking inscription P.X.S. 1773. It was occupied by our direct ancestors for five generations. The last to live there before it was destroyed was Margaret De Mouth who married Theodore Denman in 1854. Her daughter, Suzanne Denman, as a very young woman, went to visit the site and got the above information from the man who occupied the next farm, Thomas De Mouth. . . Suzanne (Suzanne Denman Vincett, who first researched genealogical data for this book and who collected most of the data).". ""Frederick and Susannah and their seven children lived first in Somerset and later in the old stone house on Beacon Hill by the Clinton Reservoir. Frederick gave land for a cemetery, which was called the Demouth Cemetery, at the foot of Demouth Hill. Many of the Demouths are buried there as were Frederick and Susannah. Frederick served and was killed in the War of 1812. Susannah survived him for many years, dying on April 28, 1863."." He couldn't have died in the War of 1812 if the birthdates of his children are anywhere near right!
Information on the Demouth Cemetery in NJ indicates he died in 1836.8Lonnie DeMouth McManus . In an Email received 13 Jan 2006. Lonnie writes about this source: "Just to let you know I can't confirm that everything in that history is true
since I did not put it together-Pete Hraber sent it to me.". The 1787 date is based on information that Frederick was 49 when he died on 26 Apr 1836.9Fowler, Alex. D., Boonton, NJ, Demouth Report, 28 Sep 1949. "Tombstone inscription
Frederick Demouth, d. Apr. 26, 1836, in 46th year."10Lonnie DeMouth McManus .
1Bybee, Marsha
, internet. 2Census, Federal - 1840 - Morris Co., NJ, Pequannock. "Lists Oliver Levi family with one male between 50 and 60, and one female between 40 and 50. Oliver is living next door to Isaac "Birgie", probable son-in-law.".
3Fowler, Alex. D., Boonton, NJ, Demouth Report, Copy in Personal Files of Dianne Z. Stevens. This report was written in response to a letter from Mrs. Charles Webber of 10 Aug 1949. Mrs. Webber apparently hired Mr. Fowler to do genealogical research for her. In 2003 when I (Dianne Stevens) hired Linnea Foster to investigate the Levi connection, Linnea said that Mr. Foster was very highly regarded in New Jersey for his genealogy work.
4Bybee, Marsha
. 5Fowler, Alex. D., Boonton, NJ, Demouth Report.
6Rootsweb, http://www.rootsweb.com, Morris Co., NJ Genweb; Demouth Cemetery.
1Bybee, Marsha
, internet. 2Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co, NJ, Pequannock Twsp - District # 15.
3Fowler, Alex. D., Boonton, NJ, Demouth Report, Copy in Personal Files of Dianne Z. Stevens. This report was written in response to a letter from Mrs. Charles Webber of 10 Aug 1949. Mrs. Webber apparently hired Mr. Fowler to do genealogical research for her. In 2003 when I (Dianne Stevens) hired Linnea Foster to investigate the Levi connection, Linnea said that Mr. Foster was very highly regarded in New Jersey for his genealogy work.
4Fowler, Alex. D., Boonton, NJ, Demouth Report.
5Lonnie DeMouth McManus Papers Received 23 Jan 2006, Listing of Demouth Cemetery.
6Fowler, Alex. D., Boonton, NJ, Demouth Report.
1Lois Wells Wilson, edited by Warren E. Wilson, 1989, Family History of the Ancestors of Lois Eleanor Wells, Personal files of Dianne Z. Stevens, 1301 Reetz Road, Madison, WI 53711. "Early records, and the De Mouths themselves, frequently spelled the name differently, so it was necessary to search for information on these ancestors under such spellings as De Muth, Demont, De Mont, Dumont, Demit, Demet, Demott, De Mott, De Met, Demun, Demund, Demut, De Mutt, Dumon, Dumond, Dumot, Du Mott, Du Mond, De Muthe, and De Mouth. In France the name was often written "de Mathe", as is shown in more than one transaction we found. In "Notorial Records from 1603 to 1665" Pierre Sanxy is listed as attorney for Joachim and Clorinde de Mathe, his wife. (Our branch of the family always pronounced the name to rhyme with "Vermouth" regardless of how it was spelled.)
The earliest De Muths came over before the Huguenot troubles in France, colonized the Bergen, N.J. area and had large landholdings dating from 1624 in and near Boonton, N.J. The De Mott Hill and Cemetery there still exist. They say that Abner De Mouth lived like a feudal lord; he had 7000 acres of land, had his own brewery and his own blacksmith shop, all on his own place.
Our direct ancestral De Mouths were Huguenots, natives of France who fled from there at the time of Louis XIV when he revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685. (The Edict had been promulgated by Henry IV in 1598 and had given the Huguenots almost a hundred years of peace.) The Revocation created a period called the "Reign of Terror" by those who endured the persecution, who had all their property confiscated, who were forbidden to worship as Protestants and whose lives were threatened if they failed to conform or tried to escape. Their ministers were nearly all executed. Fortunate escapees fled to Germany and Holland.
Three De Mott brothers and other members of their family escaped from Brittany and fled to Holland. They waited there ten years for any of their retainers who might wish to accompany them to the New World and who might find ways to escape from France to join them. One of the brothers received a large land grant from Holland to property up beyond Boonton in New Jersey. In 1709 these three families came to America. Some settled in the Boonton area where earlier De Mouths had colonized; the little towns and hills and cemeteries thereabouts still bear the family name. Others settled down in Somerset and they gradually spread out all over Rockaway Valley.
Many early family records have now been lost but history records that two of these brothers, Jacob and Frederick De Mouth, from 1709 to 1730 recorded legal papers and deeds to property at New Foundland in Rockaway Township and elsewhere in Rockaway Valley. The records. refer to them as "Jacob and Frederick De Mouth, first settlers of Rockaway Valley". These records spell their names variously as De Mathe, De Mott, De Mouth, De Muthe or De Muth. In 1730 Jacob built a sturdy house of stone for his family not far from New Foundland near the site of the old Clinton Reservoir. His grandson, also named Jacob, is the first of our De Mouth ancestors in America for whom we have exact and complete dates: he was born in 1763 and died March 22, 1835.
The old stone house was occupied for a time by a De Mouth daughter whose husband, Peter Snyder, built an addition to the house and a new entry way. Above the door he set a triangular stone with the Mysterious-looking inscription P.X.S. 1773. It was occupied by our direct ancestors for five generations. The last to live there before it was destroyed was Margaret De Mouth who married Theodore Denman in 1854. Her daughter, Suzanne Denman, as a very young woman, went to visit the site and got the above information from the man who occupied the next farm, Thomas De Mouth. . . Suzanne (Suzanne Denman Vincett, who first researched genealogical data for this book and who collected most of the data).". Contained in the papers received from Lonnie McManus on 23 Jan 2006.
1Lois Wells Wilson, edited by Warren E. Wilson, 1989, Family History of the Ancestors of Lois Eleanor Wells, Personal files of Dianne Z. Stevens, 1301 Reetz Road, Madison, WI 53711. "Early records, and the De Mouths themselves, frequently spelled the name differently, so it was necessary to search for information on these ancestors under such spellings as De Muth, Demont, De Mont, Dumont, Demit, Demet, Demott, De Mott, De Met, Demun, Demund, Demut, De Mutt, Dumon, Dumond, Dumot, Du Mott, Du Mond, De Muthe, and De Mouth. In France the name was often written "de Mathe", as is shown in more than one transaction we found. In "Notorial Records from 1603 to 1665" Pierre Sanxy is listed as attorney for Joachim and Clorinde de Mathe, his wife. (Our branch of the family always pronounced the name to rhyme with "Vermouth" regardless of how it was spelled.)
The earliest De Muths came over before the Huguenot troubles in France, colonized the Bergen, N.J. area and had large landholdings dating from 1624 in and near Boonton, N.J. The De Mott Hill and Cemetery there still exist. They say that Abner De Mouth lived like a feudal lord; he had 7000 acres of land, had his own brewery and his own blacksmith shop, all on his own place.
Our direct ancestral De Mouths were Huguenots, natives of France who fled from there at the time of Louis XIV when he revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685. (The Edict had been promulgated by Henry IV in 1598 and had given the Huguenots almost a hundred years of peace.) The Revocation created a period called the "Reign of Terror" by those who endured the persecution, who had all their property confiscated, who were forbidden to worship as Protestants and whose lives were threatened if they failed to conform or tried to escape. Their ministers were nearly all executed. Fortunate escapees fled to Germany and Holland.
Three De Mott brothers and other members of their family escaped from Brittany and fled to Holland. They waited there ten years for any of their retainers who might wish to accompany them to the New World and who might find ways to escape from France to join them. One of the brothers received a large land grant from Holland to property up beyond Boonton in New Jersey. In 1709 these three families came to America. Some settled in the Boonton area where earlier De Mouths had colonized; the little towns and hills and cemeteries thereabouts still bear the family name. Others settled down in Somerset and they gradually spread out all over Rockaway Valley.
Many early family records have now been lost but history records that two of these brothers, Jacob and Frederick De Mouth, from 1709 to 1730 recorded legal papers and deeds to property at New Foundland in Rockaway Township and elsewhere in Rockaway Valley. The records. refer to them as "Jacob and Frederick De Mouth, first settlers of Rockaway Valley". These records spell their names variously as De Mathe, De Mott, De Mouth, De Muthe or De Muth. In 1730 Jacob built a sturdy house of stone for his family not far from New Foundland near the site of the old Clinton Reservoir. His grandson, also named Jacob, is the first of our De Mouth ancestors in America for whom we have exact and complete dates: he was born in 1763 and died March 22, 1835.
The old stone house was occupied for a time by a De Mouth daughter whose husband, Peter Snyder, built an addition to the house and a new entry way. Above the door he set a triangular stone with the Mysterious-looking inscription P.X.S. 1773. It was occupied by our direct ancestors for five generations. The last to live there before it was destroyed was Margaret De Mouth who married Theodore Denman in 1854. Her daughter, Suzanne Denman, as a very young woman, went to visit the site and got the above information from the man who occupied the next farm, Thomas De Mouth. . . Suzanne (Suzanne Denman Vincett, who first researched genealogical data for this book and who collected most of the data).". Contained in the papers received from Lonnie McManus on 23 Jan 2006.
1New Jersey Marriage Records.
2Census, Federal - 1840 - Morris Co., NJ, Pequannock. "Lists Oliver Levi family with one male between 50 and 60, and one female between 40 and 50. Oliver is living next door to Isaac "Birgie", probable son-in-law.".
3Ancestry.com, Pine Brook Methodist Church Records. "Record of Baptisms
Record of Probationers
March 21, 1852
Garret vanderhoof
Residence-Rockaway Valley
Group leader - John Becker."4Ancestry.com, Catalogue: Bergen County Historical Society 1914. "Old Deeds
Deed, 1792 Garret Vanderhoof
(Above four presented to Mrs. C. I. Withington 1909."5New Jersey Marriage Records.
1May Sommers, May Sommers personal family history of the DeMouths, Written for her children in 1936, unpublished, Personal files of Dianne Z. Stevens, 1301 Reetz Road, Madison, WI 53711. "Demouth Family History
dated June 1936
This history is of my Mother's ancestors, and my father's what little is known of them.
This story begins many years before the Revolutionary War. It follows down through the years the history of my people, covering a period of about two-hundred years of time.
William Levi was born in Germany in 1737. At the age of thirty he was sold to the English army to fight against the colonists during the Revolutionary War. These Germans were Hessians. William being one of them. They were lured on board the battle-ships to see the interior. Then the gangplanks were lifted and the ships sailed away. William Levi hated the English and got out of fighting every apportunity. He would play off sick at their military drills, etc. One cold night when snow was on the ground he took off his shoes and tied them on his feet, heels front and toes of the shoes facing backwards so the British would think he had gone in the opposite direction! In a short time he safely reached the American lines. Levi was a miller and was following his trade when carried off to America.
After the Revolutionary War ended, he went back to his trade and married a girl by the name of Abigail Mudge who was of English descent. Abigail's grandparents came over to this country on the Mayflower, not sure, and brought with them a pewter platter which they gave to Abigail. This platter many years after was melted and molded into spoons, one of which the writer posesses.
Abigail's second husband was Mr. Lamb, by whom she had two children. He was killed in the Revolutionary War fighting against the English.
There was an incident happened along about this time, no date to make sure when it happened, which shows are folks were in poverty. One dark night a wagon drove up which was loaded with barrels of flour being taken to the British soldiers. One barrel had rolled off and the head broken in. The driver went to the house where some of my folks lived and told them about the broken barrel and said he would give it to them, half or more was still in the barrel and clean. He would give them this barrel if they would remove every trace of the flour that was scattered, in other words, cover his trail. They studied a little. It was abetting and helping an enemy but their family was hungry and no harm could come of it probably, and they accepted the barrel of flour and covered the flour in the road with dust. It was the Colonists that must not know that the British were near. Such is war.
Abigail now a widow marries William Levi the Hessian who was brought to this country on a British warship. We have no proof of this marriage but we have proof of the 1740 marriage first one. This week came the following from Sharon, Conn. The town clerk sends a notice of David Skinner's marriage to Abigail Mudg in 1740. Also D. Skinner died August 12, 1740, her husband.
K. B. Hotaling, Town Clerk
The above item is all the proof we have of the authenticity of our history, all else has been carried down by word of mouth and may be correct and may not be.
Where was Abigail Mudg between 1740 first marriage and 1797 when my grandmother Mariah was born, supposed to be Abigail's child by William Levi. I think a generation was skipped right here. We know the date of 1740 must be trueit coming out of a book of vital statistics. We know 1797 must be correct for my grandmother remembers things she saw in 1800, she was three years old then.
Abigail's name was first Mudg then Skinner, she then married and changed name to Lamb, then married William Levi. Eight children were born to them as follows: William, Oliver, John, Phoeba, Mariah, Betsy, Frances and Elizabeth, twins who died in infancy. William Levi and Abigail his wife spent most of their lives near Sharon, Connecticut.
We drop all these children but Mariah my grandmother. She was born in 1797. She learned to write on birchbark by the light of a fireplace. She learned to spin wool on a tall spinning wheel, being very young and small, her father had to make her a bench on which she would walk back and forth as she spun.
We will now turn to my mother's father's people. Many years before the Revolutionary War, there were a Mr. and Mrs. Demouth who came from Holland and settled in New Jersey. To them was born in1770 a son Jacob.
They owned 300 acres of landabout twenty miles fron New York City. They had but one child, Jacob, who at his parents death inherited everything they left, three hundred acres of land with a beautiful stone mansion on it, archards, flowergardens, etc. We have no record of Jacob's wife.
One or both of them did not seem to know how to handle an estate as in course of time all was lost. Jacob had a conscience and it would not let him keep those thirty slaves, so in 1810 he freed them. That of course was a loss of much money. That and other things caused the estate to be sold piece by piece until finally the family got in hard straits.
It was in the great mansion Jacob and his wife's children were born nine of them who were: Frederick, Adam, James, John, Thomas, Jacob, Mary, Betsy, and Charlotte. Jacob Demouth, the father of these nine children was a prominent public man. He was Justice of the Peace of Pequat Township, Morris County, New Jersey for thirty years. He belonged to the Methodist church. But we must now follow one of these children down the line, one of them is related to us, it is John. John Demouth was my grandfather.
At the age of twenty-four he became acquainted with Mariah Levi. She had come from Connecticut to New Jersey to keep house for her brother. At the age of twenty-three she and John Demouth were married (my grandparents). The wedding was in the year 1818. The first two years of their married life were spent in Connecticut, after which they returned to New Jersey. John was a farmer. To this union six children were born: Samuel, Chalon, James, Jacob, Frances and Semantha, my mother the youngest of the family.
John and Mariah raised their family in New Jersey then migrated to Wisconsin in 1848. Semantha was twelve years old when her parents moved to Wisconsin. It was in Wisconsin John Demouth was killed by a tree falling on him that he had just chopped down. His grand-daughter May was about one year old in 1861. . . .
A cousin, Frank Barber, was visiting in New Jersey and saw the place where his mother and mine (sisters) had lived. Demouth was their maiden name now changed to Frances Barber and Semantha Webster. Cousin Frank also saw the place where the old mill had been when slaves worked in it. That was before Jacob Demouth freed his slaves.".2Fowler, Alex. D., Boonton, NJ, Demouth Report, Copy in Personal Files of Dianne Z. Stevens. This report was written in response to a letter from Mrs. Charles Webber of 10 Aug 1949. Mrs. Webber apparently hired Mr. Fowler to do genealogical research for her. In 2003 when I (Dianne Stevens) hired Linnea Foster to investigate the Levi connection, Linnea said that Mr. Foster was very highly regarded in New Jersey for his genealogy work.
3Lonnie DeMouth McManus . In an Email received 13 Jan 2006. Lonnie writes about this source: "Just to let you know I can't confirm that everything in that history is true
since I did not put it together-Pete Hraber sent it to me.".4New Jersey Marriage Records.
1Fowler, Alex. D., Boonton, NJ, Demouth Report, Copy in Personal Files of Dianne Z. Stevens. This report was written in response to a letter from Mrs. Charles Webber of 10 Aug 1949. Mrs. Webber apparently hired Mr. Fowler to do genealogical research for her. In 2003 when I (Dianne Stevens) hired Linnea Foster to investigate the Levi connection, Linnea said that Mr. Foster was very highly regarded in New Jersey for his genealogy work.
2Census, Federal - 1840 - Morris Co., NJ, Pequannock. "Lists Oliver Levi family with one male between 50 and 60, and one female between 40 and 50. Oliver is living next door to Isaac "Birgie", probable son-in-law.".
3Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co, NJ, Pequannock Twsp - District # 15, p. 50 of 99, 5 Sep 1850.
4New Jersey Marriage Records.
5A Celebration of Legend, Fact and Spirit 1785 - 1985, Rockaway Valley United Methodist Church; 1985, p. 13. ""Jacob's daughter, Elizabeth, was married by David Best in 1824."."
1May Sommers, May Sommers personal family history of the DeMouths, Written for her children in 1936, unpublished, Personal files of Dianne Z. Stevens, 1301 Reetz Road, Madison, WI 53711. "Demouth Family History
dated June 1936
This history is of my Mother's ancestors, and my father's what little is known of them.
This story begins many years before the Revolutionary War. It follows down through the years the history of my people, covering a period of about two-hundred years of time.
William Levi was born in Germany in 1737. At the age of thirty he was sold to the English army to fight against the colonists during the Revolutionary War. These Germans were Hessians. William being one of them. They were lured on board the battle-ships to see the interior. Then the gangplanks were lifted and the ships sailed away. William Levi hated the English and got out of fighting every apportunity. He would play off sick at their military drills, etc. One cold night when snow was on the ground he took off his shoes and tied them on his feet, heels front and toes of the shoes facing backwards so the British would think he had gone in the opposite direction! In a short time he safely reached the American lines. Levi was a miller and was following his trade when carried off to America.
After the Revolutionary War ended, he went back to his trade and married a girl by the name of Abigail Mudge who was of English descent. Abigail's grandparents came over to this country on the Mayflower, not sure, and brought with them a pewter platter which they gave to Abigail. This platter many years after was melted and molded into spoons, one of which the writer posesses.
Abigail's second husband was Mr. Lamb, by whom she had two children. He was killed in the Revolutionary War fighting against the English.
There was an incident happened along about this time, no date to make sure when it happened, which shows are folks were in poverty. One dark night a wagon drove up which was loaded with barrels of flour being taken to the British soldiers. One barrel had rolled off and the head broken in. The driver went to the house where some of my folks lived and told them about the broken barrel and said he would give it to them, half or more was still in the barrel and clean. He would give them this barrel if they would remove every trace of the flour that was scattered, in other words, cover his trail. They studied a little. It was abetting and helping an enemy but their family was hungry and no harm could come of it probably, and they accepted the barrel of flour and covered the flour in the road with dust. It was the Colonists that must not know that the British were near. Such is war.
Abigail now a widow marries William Levi the Hessian who was brought to this country on a British warship. We have no proof of this marriage but we have proof of the 1740 marriage first one. This week came the following from Sharon, Conn. The town clerk sends a notice of David Skinner's marriage to Abigail Mudg in 1740. Also D. Skinner died August 12, 1740, her husband.
K. B. Hotaling, Town Clerk
The above item is all the proof we have of the authenticity of our history, all else has been carried down by word of mouth and may be correct and may not be.
Where was Abigail Mudg between 1740 first marriage and 1797 when my grandmother Mariah was born, supposed to be Abigail's child by William Levi. I think a generation was skipped right here. We know the date of 1740 must be trueit coming out of a book of vital statistics. We know 1797 must be correct for my grandmother remembers things she saw in 1800, she was three years old then.
Abigail's name was first Mudg then Skinner, she then married and changed name to Lamb, then married William Levi. Eight children were born to them as follows: William, Oliver, John, Phoeba, Mariah, Betsy, Frances and Elizabeth, twins who died in infancy. William Levi and Abigail his wife spent most of their lives near Sharon, Connecticut.
We drop all these children but Mariah my grandmother. She was born in 1797. She learned to write on birchbark by the light of a fireplace. She learned to spin wool on a tall spinning wheel, being very young and small, her father had to make her a bench on which she would walk back and forth as she spun.
We will now turn to my mother's father's people. Many years before the Revolutionary War, there were a Mr. and Mrs. Demouth who came from Holland and settled in New Jersey. To them was born in1770 a son Jacob.
They owned 300 acres of landabout twenty miles fron New York City. They had but one child, Jacob, who at his parents death inherited everything they left, three hundred acres of land with a beautiful stone mansion on it, archards, flowergardens, etc. We have no record of Jacob's wife.
One or both of them did not seem to know how to handle an estate as in course of time all was lost. Jacob had a conscience and it would not let him keep those thirty slaves, so in 1810 he freed them. That of course was a loss of much money. That and other things caused the estate to be sold piece by piece until finally the family got in hard straits.
It was in the great mansion Jacob and his wife's children were born nine of them who were: Frederick, Adam, James, John, Thomas, Jacob, Mary, Betsy, and Charlotte. Jacob Demouth, the father of these nine children was a prominent public man. He was Justice of the Peace of Pequat Township, Morris County, New Jersey for thirty years. He belonged to the Methodist church. But we must now follow one of these children down the line, one of them is related to us, it is John. John Demouth was my grandfather.
At the age of twenty-four he became acquainted with Mariah Levi. She had come from Connecticut to New Jersey to keep house for her brother. At the age of twenty-three she and John Demouth were married (my grandparents). The wedding was in the year 1818. The first two years of their married life were spent in Connecticut, after which they returned to New Jersey. John was a farmer. To this union six children were born: Samuel, Chalon, James, Jacob, Frances and Semantha, my mother the youngest of the family.
John and Mariah raised their family in New Jersey then migrated to Wisconsin in 1848. Semantha was twelve years old when her parents moved to Wisconsin. It was in Wisconsin John Demouth was killed by a tree falling on him that he had just chopped down. His grand-daughter May was about one year old in 1861. . . .
A cousin, Frank Barber, was visiting in New Jersey and saw the place where his mother and mine (sisters) had lived. Demouth was their maiden name now changed to Frances Barber and Semantha Webster. Cousin Frank also saw the place where the old mill had been when slaves worked in it. That was before Jacob Demouth freed his slaves.".2Fowler, Alex. D., Boonton, NJ, Demouth Report, Copy in Personal Files of Dianne Z. Stevens. This report was written in response to a letter from Mrs. Charles Webber of 10 Aug 1949. Mrs. Webber apparently hired Mr. Fowler to do genealogical research for her. In 2003 when I (Dianne Stevens) hired Linnea Foster to investigate the Levi connection, Linnea said that Mr. Foster was very highly regarded in New Jersey for his genealogy work.
3Census, Federal - 1870 - Morris Co., NJ, Montville, Ancestry p. 26 of 36, 23 Jul 1870.
4Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co, NJ, Pequannock Twsp - District # 15, p. 50 of 99, 5 Sep 1850. Elizabeth's husband is not present in this census.
5Lonnie DeMouth McManus . In an Email received 13 Jan 2006. Lonnie writes about this source: "Just to let you know I can't confirm that everything in that history is true
since I did not put it together-Pete Hraber sent it to me.".6New Jersey Marriage Records.
7A Celebration of Legend, Fact and Spirit 1785 - 1985, Rockaway Valley United Methodist Church; 1985, p. 13. ""Jacob's daughter, Elizabeth, was married by David Best in 1824."."
1Coffman/Barnett/Gervasi/Batterson and Moore, Ancestry.com.
2Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co, NJ, Pequannock Twsp - District # 15, p. 50 of 99, 5 Sep 1850.
1Coffman/Barnett/Gervasi/Batterson and Moore, Ancestry.com.
2Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co, NJ, Pequannock Twsp - District # 15, p. 50 of 99.
1Census, Federal - 1830 - Morris Co., NJ, Pequanac Twsp, roll m19-82; p. 141. 1830 Census lists:
2 males under 5,
1 male 30 - 40,
1 female 5 - 10,
1 female 20 - 30.2May Sommers, May Sommers personal family history of the DeMouths, Written for her children in 1936, unpublished, Personal files of Dianne Z. Stevens, 1301 Reetz Road, Madison, WI 53711. "Demouth Family History
dated June 1936
This history is of my Mother's ancestors, and my father's what little is known of them.
This story begins many years before the Revolutionary War. It follows down through the years the history of my people, covering a period of about two-hundred years of time.
William Levi was born in Germany in 1737. At the age of thirty he was sold to the English army to fight against the colonists during the Revolutionary War. These Germans were Hessians. William being one of them. They were lured on board the battle-ships to see the interior. Then the gangplanks were lifted and the ships sailed away. William Levi hated the English and got out of fighting every apportunity. He would play off sick at their military drills, etc. One cold night when snow was on the ground he took off his shoes and tied them on his feet, heels front and toes of the shoes facing backwards so the British would think he had gone in the opposite direction! In a short time he safely reached the American lines. Levi was a miller and was following his trade when carried off to America.
After the Revolutionary War ended, he went back to his trade and married a girl by the name of Abigail Mudge who was of English descent. Abigail's grandparents came over to this country on the Mayflower, not sure, and brought with them a pewter platter which they gave to Abigail. This platter many years after was melted and molded into spoons, one of which the writer posesses.
Abigail's second husband was Mr. Lamb, by whom she had two children. He was killed in the Revolutionary War fighting against the English.
There was an incident happened along about this time, no date to make sure when it happened, which shows are folks were in poverty. One dark night a wagon drove up which was loaded with barrels of flour being taken to the British soldiers. One barrel had rolled off and the head broken in. The driver went to the house where some of my folks lived and told them about the broken barrel and said he would give it to them, half or more was still in the barrel and clean. He would give them this barrel if they would remove every trace of the flour that was scattered, in other words, cover his trail. They studied a little. It was abetting and helping an enemy but their family was hungry and no harm could come of it probably, and they accepted the barrel of flour and covered the flour in the road with dust. It was the Colonists that must not know that the British were near. Such is war.
Abigail now a widow marries William Levi the Hessian who was brought to this country on a British warship. We have no proof of this marriage but we have proof of the 1740 marriage first one. This week came the following from Sharon, Conn. The town clerk sends a notice of David Skinner's marriage to Abigail Mudg in 1740. Also D. Skinner died August 12, 1740, her husband.
K. B. Hotaling, Town Clerk
The above item is all the proof we have of the authenticity of our history, all else has been carried down by word of mouth and may be correct and may not be.
Where was Abigail Mudg between 1740 first marriage and 1797 when my grandmother Mariah was born, supposed to be Abigail's child by William Levi. I think a generation was skipped right here. We know the date of 1740 must be trueit coming out of a book of vital statistics. We know 1797 must be correct for my grandmother remembers things she saw in 1800, she was three years old then.
Abigail's name was first Mudg then Skinner, she then married and changed name to Lamb, then married William Levi. Eight children were born to them as follows: William, Oliver, John, Phoeba, Mariah, Betsy, Frances and Elizabeth, twins who died in infancy. William Levi and Abigail his wife spent most of their lives near Sharon, Connecticut.
We drop all these children but Mariah my grandmother. She was born in 1797. She learned to write on birchbark by the light of a fireplace. She learned to spin wool on a tall spinning wheel, being very young and small, her father had to make her a bench on which she would walk back and forth as she spun.
We will now turn to my mother's father's people. Many years before the Revolutionary War, there were a Mr. and Mrs. Demouth who came from Holland and settled in New Jersey. To them was born in1770 a son Jacob.
They owned 300 acres of landabout twenty miles fron New York City. They had but one child, Jacob, who at his parents death inherited everything they left, three hundred acres of land with a beautiful stone mansion on it, archards, flowergardens, etc. We have no record of Jacob's wife.
One or both of them did not seem to know how to handle an estate as in course of time all was lost. Jacob had a conscience and it would not let him keep those thirty slaves, so in 1810 he freed them. That of course was a loss of much money. That and other things caused the estate to be sold piece by piece until finally the family got in hard straits.
It was in the great mansion Jacob and his wife's children were born nine of them who were: Frederick, Adam, James, John, Thomas, Jacob, Mary, Betsy, and Charlotte. Jacob Demouth, the father of these nine children was a prominent public man. He was Justice of the Peace of Pequat Township, Morris County, New Jersey for thirty years. He belonged to the Methodist church. But we must now follow one of these children down the line, one of them is related to us, it is John. John Demouth was my grandfather.
At the age of twenty-four he became acquainted with Mariah Levi. She had come from Connecticut to New Jersey to keep house for her brother. At the age of twenty-three she and John Demouth were married (my grandparents). The wedding was in the year 1818. The first two years of their married life were spent in Connecticut, after which they returned to New Jersey. John was a farmer. To this union six children were born: Samuel, Chalon, James, Jacob, Frances and Semantha, my mother the youngest of the family.
John and Mariah raised their family in New Jersey then migrated to Wisconsin in 1848. Semantha was twelve years old when her parents moved to Wisconsin. It was in Wisconsin John Demouth was killed by a tree falling on him that he had just chopped down. His grand-daughter May was about one year old in 1861. . . .
A cousin, Frank Barber, was visiting in New Jersey and saw the place where his mother and mine (sisters) had lived. Demouth was their maiden name now changed to Frances Barber and Semantha Webster. Cousin Frank also saw the place where the old mill had been when slaves worked in it. That was before Jacob Demouth freed his slaves.".3Census, Federal - 1840 - Morris Co., NJ, Pequannock. "Lists Oliver Levi family with one male between 50 and 60, and one female between 40 and 50. Oliver is living next door to Isaac "Birgie", probable son-in-law.". 1840 Census: 1 male under age of 5
2 " 10 - 15
1 male 15 - 20
1 male 40 - 50
1 female under 5
1 " 5 - 10
1 " 40 - 50.4Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co., NJ, Rockaway Twsp., Ancestry p.55.
Listed with James and Elizabeth Demouth and 6 children is John Losaw age 43, also born in NJ
James' occupation is listed as laborer.5Fowler, Alex. D., Boonton, NJ, Demouth Report, Copy in Personal Files of Dianne Z. Stevens. This report was written in response to a letter from Mrs. Charles Webber of 10 Aug 1949. Mrs. Webber apparently hired Mr. Fowler to do genealogical research for her. In 2003 when I (Dianne Stevens) hired Linnea Foster to investigate the Levi connection, Linnea said that Mr. Foster was very highly regarded in New Jersey for his genealogy work.
6Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co., NJ, Rockaway Twsp.
7Census, Federal - 1860 - Morris Co, NJ, Rockaway, p. 468; Ancestry p. 58.
8Ancestry.com, One World Tree.
9Ancestry.com, One World Tree.
1Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co., NJ, Rockaway Twsp.
2Census, Federal - 1860 - Morris Co, NJ, Rockaway, p. 468 - Ancestry p. 58.
3Census, Federal - 1870 - Morris Co., New Jersey, Boonton Twsp., Ancestry p. 56 of 87.
4Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co., NJ, Rockaway Twsp.
5Ancestry.com, One World Tree.
6Ancestry.com, One World Tree.
1Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co., NJ, Rockaway Twsp.
2Census, Federal - 1860 - Morris Co., NJ, Rockaway, p. 468 - Ancestry p. 58.
3Census, Federal - 1870 - Morris Co., New Jersey, Boonton Twsp., Ancestry p. 56 of 87.
4Ancestry.com, One World Tree.
5Lonnie DeMouth McManus . In an Email received 13 Jan 2006. Lonnie writes about this source: "Just to let you know I can't confirm that everything in that history is true
since I did not put it together-Pete Hraber sent it to me.". received 13 Jan 2006.
1Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co., NJ, Rockaway Twsp.
2Census, Federal - 1860 - Morris Co, NJ, Rockaway, p. 468 - Ancestry p. 58.
3Civil War Pension Index, Ancestry.com.
4Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co., NJ, Rockaway Twsp.
5Lonnie DeMouth McManus . In an Email received 13 Jan 2006. Lonnie writes about this source: "Just to let you know I can't confirm that everything in that history is true
since I did not put it together-Pete Hraber sent it to me.". received 13 Jan 2006.6Lonnie DeMouth McManus Papers Received 23 Jan 2006, Listing of Rockaway Valley Cemetery.
1Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co., NJ, Rockaway Twsp.
2Census, Federal - 1860 - Morris Co, NJ, Rockaway, p. 468 - Ancestry p. 58.
3Civil War Soldiers, American, Ancestry.com, 2354401.
4Ancestry.com, Cumberland River Disaster. "Jesse Demouth enrolled as a private on September 3, 1862 and was mustered in on September 22, 1862 in Company L, 27th Regiment for a period of nine months. "Rockaway lost many of its finest young men in the War of the Rebellion but no tragedy was more deeply felt than that disaster that befell 19 members of Company L., 27th Regiment, N.J. Volunteers, who were drowned while crossing the Cumberland River, in Kentucky, on May 5, 1863."
According to Lt. Henry Lumsden who was an eyewitness, the following disaster story is told:
"The 27th New Jersey Volunteers, 103rd Ohio and 2nd East Tennessee left their camp at Stanford as the infantry part of a column pursuing the rebel, General Morgan. After driving him out of Kentucky, they were returning to Somerset to be near their supplies, when they came to the Cumberland. When the 27th reached the river they found two ropes across, fastened about 100 feet apart to two trees on the South bank, crossing and fastened to one tree on the North bank. The artillery was crossing by the lower rope and the infantry by the upper one on flat boats manned by a detail from the 12th Illinois Regiment. As the boat containing our men was crossing and had reached the middle of the stream, the men lost their hold on the rope and the boat drifted down the stream. Reaching the lower rope the men manfully endeavored to throw it over their heads, but the current, swelled by recent rains, was swift and their effort was unsuccessful. The rope caught and in an instant the boat was upset and 60 men were struggling together in the water. Most of them had their rifles, blankets and equipment strapped to their shoulders, which prevented them from making the effort they otherwise might have made to escape. 32 of the number were drowned. Some of the bodies were recovered and buried by their comrades, but others were never found."
Of the 32 who were lost, 19 were from Rockaway Township, New Jersey. Jesse Demouth was one of those men who drowned on May 5, 1863 in the Cumberland River, Kentucky in the line of duty. Some of the men were buried along the banks of the river where there is a marker. Jesse may be buried there."5Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co., NJ, Rockaway Twsp.
6Lonnie DeMouth McManus Papers Received 23 Jan 2006, Listing of Rockaway Valley Cemetery.
1Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co., NJ, Rockaway Twsp.
2Census, Federal - 1860 - Morris Co, NJ, Rockaway.
3Census, Federal - 1870 - Morris Co., New Jersey, Boonton Twsp., Ancestry p. 56 of 87.
4Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co., NJ, Rockaway Twsp.
5Lonnie DeMouth McManus . In an Email received 13 Jan 2006. Lonnie writes about this source: "Just to let you know I can't confirm that everything in that history is true
since I did not put it together-Pete Hraber sent it to me.". received 13 Jan 2006.6Lonnie DeMouth McManus .
1May Sommers, May Sommers personal family history of the DeMouths, Written for her children in 1936, unpublished, Personal files of Dianne Z. Stevens, 1301 Reetz Road, Madison, WI 53711. "Demouth Family History
dated June 1936
This history is of my Mother's ancestors, and my father's what little is known of them.
This story begins many years before the Revolutionary War. It follows down through the years the history of my people, covering a period of about two-hundred years of time.
William Levi was born in Germany in 1737. At the age of thirty he was sold to the English army to fight against the colonists during the Revolutionary War. These Germans were Hessians. William being one of them. They were lured on board the battle-ships to see the interior. Then the gangplanks were lifted and the ships sailed away. William Levi hated the English and got out of fighting every apportunity. He would play off sick at their military drills, etc. One cold night when snow was on the ground he took off his shoes and tied them on his feet, heels front and toes of the shoes facing backwards so the British would think he had gone in the opposite direction! In a short time he safely reached the American lines. Levi was a miller and was following his trade when carried off to America.
After the Revolutionary War ended, he went back to his trade and married a girl by the name of Abigail Mudge who was of English descent. Abigail's grandparents came over to this country on the Mayflower, not sure, and brought with them a pewter platter which they gave to Abigail. This platter many years after was melted and molded into spoons, one of which the writer posesses.
Abigail's second husband was Mr. Lamb, by whom she had two children. He was killed in the Revolutionary War fighting against the English.
There was an incident happened along about this time, no date to make sure when it happened, which shows are folks were in poverty. One dark night a wagon drove up which was loaded with barrels of flour being taken to the British soldiers. One barrel had rolled off and the head broken in. The driver went to the house where some of my folks lived and told them about the broken barrel and said he would give it to them, half or more was still in the barrel and clean. He would give them this barrel if they would remove every trace of the flour that was scattered, in other words, cover his trail. They studied a little. It was abetting and helping an enemy but their family was hungry and no harm could come of it probably, and they accepted the barrel of flour and covered the flour in the road with dust. It was the Colonists that must not know that the British were near. Such is war.
Abigail now a widow marries William Levi the Hessian who was brought to this country on a British warship. We have no proof of this marriage but we have proof of the 1740 marriage first one. This week came the following from Sharon, Conn. The town clerk sends a notice of David Skinner's marriage to Abigail Mudg in 1740. Also D. Skinner died August 12, 1740, her husband.
K. B. Hotaling, Town Clerk
The above item is all the proof we have of the authenticity of our history, all else has been carried down by word of mouth and may be correct and may not be.
Where was Abigail Mudg between 1740 first marriage and 1797 when my grandmother Mariah was born, supposed to be Abigail's child by William Levi. I think a generation was skipped right here. We know the date of 1740 must be trueit coming out of a book of vital statistics. We know 1797 must be correct for my grandmother remembers things she saw in 1800, she was three years old then.
Abigail's name was first Mudg then Skinner, she then married and changed name to Lamb, then married William Levi. Eight children were born to them as follows: William, Oliver, John, Phoeba, Mariah, Betsy, Frances and Elizabeth, twins who died in infancy. William Levi and Abigail his wife spent most of their lives near Sharon, Connecticut.
We drop all these children but Mariah my grandmother. She was born in 1797. She learned to write on birchbark by the light of a fireplace. She learned to spin wool on a tall spinning wheel, being very young and small, her father had to make her a bench on which she would walk back and forth as she spun.
We will now turn to my mother's father's people. Many years before the Revolutionary War, there were a Mr. and Mrs. Demouth who came from Holland and settled in New Jersey. To them was born in1770 a son Jacob.
They owned 300 acres of landabout twenty miles fron New York City. They had but one child, Jacob, who at his parents death inherited everything they left, three hundred acres of land with a beautiful stone mansion on it, archards, flowergardens, etc. We have no record of Jacob's wife.
One or both of them did not seem to know how to handle an estate as in course of time all was lost. Jacob had a conscience and it would not let him keep those thirty slaves, so in 1810 he freed them. That of course was a loss of much money. That and other things caused the estate to be sold piece by piece until finally the family got in hard straits.
It was in the great mansion Jacob and his wife's children were born nine of them who were: Frederick, Adam, James, John, Thomas, Jacob, Mary, Betsy, and Charlotte. Jacob Demouth, the father of these nine children was a prominent public man. He was Justice of the Peace of Pequat Township, Morris County, New Jersey for thirty years. He belonged to the Methodist church. But we must now follow one of these children down the line, one of them is related to us, it is John. John Demouth was my grandfather.
At the age of twenty-four he became acquainted with Mariah Levi. She had come from Connecticut to New Jersey to keep house for her brother. At the age of twenty-three she and John Demouth were married (my grandparents). The wedding was in the year 1818. The first two years of their married life were spent in Connecticut, after which they returned to New Jersey. John was a farmer. To this union six children were born: Samuel, Chalon, James, Jacob, Frances and Semantha, my mother the youngest of the family.
John and Mariah raised their family in New Jersey then migrated to Wisconsin in 1848. Semantha was twelve years old when her parents moved to Wisconsin. It was in Wisconsin John Demouth was killed by a tree falling on him that he had just chopped down. His grand-daughter May was about one year old in 1861. . . .
A cousin, Frank Barber, was visiting in New Jersey and saw the place where his mother and mine (sisters) had lived. Demouth was their maiden name now changed to Frances Barber and Semantha Webster. Cousin Frank also saw the place where the old mill had been when slaves worked in it. That was before Jacob Demouth freed his slaves.".2Census, Federal - 1840 - Morris Co., NJ, Pequannock, p. 287. "Lists Oliver Levi family with one male between 50 and 60, and one female between 40 and 50. Oliver is living next door to Isaac "Birgie", probable son-in-law.". 1840 Census lists these household members:
1 male under 5
1 " 10 - 15
1 " 30 - 40
1 Female Under 5
1 " 5 - 10
1 " 30 - 40
Number of persons employed in navigation of canals, lakes, rivers - 1.3Fowler, Alex. D., Boonton, NJ, Demouth Report, Copy in Personal Files of Dianne Z. Stevens. This report was written in response to a letter from Mrs. Charles Webber of 10 Aug 1949. Mrs. Webber apparently hired Mr. Fowler to do genealogical research for her. In 2003 when I (Dianne Stevens) hired Linnea Foster to investigate the Levi connection, Linnea said that Mr. Foster was very highly regarded in New Jersey for his genealogy work.
4Census, Federal - 1850 - Passaic, New Jersey, Aquackanonk, Ancestry p. 51 of 76, 20 Sep 1850. 1850 Census - Jacob gives "boatman" for his occupation.
5Lonnie DeMouth McManus . In an Email received 13 Jan 2006. Lonnie writes about this source: "Just to let you know I can't confirm that everything in that history is true
since I did not put it together-Pete Hraber sent it to me.".6Lonnie DeMouth McManus . received 13 Jan 2006.
1Lonnie DeMouth McManus . In an Email received 13 Jan 2006. Lonnie writes about this source: "Just to let you know I can't confirm that everything in that history is true
since I did not put it together-Pete Hraber sent it to me.". received 13 Jan 2006.2Census, Federal - 1850 - Passaic, New Jersey, Aquackanonk, Ancestry p. 51 of 76.
3Census, Federal - 1850 - Passaic, New Jersey, Aquackanonk, Ancestry p. 51 of 76.
4Lonnie DeMouth McManus . received 13 Jan 2006.
1Census, Federal - 1850 - Passaic, New Jersey, Aquackanonk, Ancestry p. 51 of 76.
1Census, Federal - 1850 - Passaic, New Jersey, Aquackanonk, Ancestry p. 51 of 76.
1Lonnie DeMouth McManus . In an Email received 13 Jan 2006. Lonnie writes about this source: "Just to let you know I can't confirm that everything in that history is true
since I did not put it together-Pete Hraber sent it to me.".2Census, Federal - 1850 - Passaic, New Jersey, Aquackanonk, Ancestry p. 51 of 76.
1Lonnie DeMouth McManus . In an Email received 13 Jan 2006. Lonnie writes about this source: "Just to let you know I can't confirm that everything in that history is true
since I did not put it together-Pete Hraber sent it to me.".2Census, Federal - 1850 - Passaic, New Jersey, Aquackanonk, Ancestry p. 52 of 76.
1Census, Federal - 1830 - Morris Co., NJ, Pequanac Twsp, roll m19-82; p. 141. 1830 census lists the following household members:
1 male under 5,
1 male 15-20,
1 female under 5,
1 female 5 - 10,
1 female 15 - 20,
1 female 40 - 50.2May Sommers, May Sommers personal family history of the DeMouths, Written for her children in 1936, unpublished, Personal files of Dianne Z. Stevens, 1301 Reetz Road, Madison, WI 53711. "Demouth Family History
dated June 1936
This history is of my Mother's ancestors, and my father's what little is known of them.
This story begins many years before the Revolutionary War. It follows down through the years the history of my people, covering a period of about two-hundred years of time.
William Levi was born in Germany in 1737. At the age of thirty he was sold to the English army to fight against the colonists during the Revolutionary War. These Germans were Hessians. William being one of them. They were lured on board the battle-ships to see the interior. Then the gangplanks were lifted and the ships sailed away. William Levi hated the English and got out of fighting every apportunity. He would play off sick at their military drills, etc. One cold night when snow was on the ground he took off his shoes and tied them on his feet, heels front and toes of the shoes facing backwards so the British would think he had gone in the opposite direction! In a short time he safely reached the American lines. Levi was a miller and was following his trade when carried off to America.
After the Revolutionary War ended, he went back to his trade and married a girl by the name of Abigail Mudge who was of English descent. Abigail's grandparents came over to this country on the Mayflower, not sure, and brought with them a pewter platter which they gave to Abigail. This platter many years after was melted and molded into spoons, one of which the writer posesses.
Abigail's second husband was Mr. Lamb, by whom she had two children. He was killed in the Revolutionary War fighting against the English.
There was an incident happened along about this time, no date to make sure when it happened, which shows are folks were in poverty. One dark night a wagon drove up which was loaded with barrels of flour being taken to the British soldiers. One barrel had rolled off and the head broken in. The driver went to the house where some of my folks lived and told them about the broken barrel and said he would give it to them, half or more was still in the barrel and clean. He would give them this barrel if they would remove every trace of the flour that was scattered, in other words, cover his trail. They studied a little. It was abetting and helping an enemy but their family was hungry and no harm could come of it probably, and they accepted the barrel of flour and covered the flour in the road with dust. It was the Colonists that must not know that the British were near. Such is war.
Abigail now a widow marries William Levi the Hessian who was brought to this country on a British warship. We have no proof of this marriage but we have proof of the 1740 marriage first one. This week came the following from Sharon, Conn. The town clerk sends a notice of David Skinner's marriage to Abigail Mudg in 1740. Also D. Skinner died August 12, 1740, her husband.
K. B. Hotaling, Town Clerk
The above item is all the proof we have of the authenticity of our history, all else has been carried down by word of mouth and may be correct and may not be.
Where was Abigail Mudg between 1740 first marriage and 1797 when my grandmother Mariah was born, supposed to be Abigail's child by William Levi. I think a generation was skipped right here. We know the date of 1740 must be trueit coming out of a book of vital statistics. We know 1797 must be correct for my grandmother remembers things she saw in 1800, she was three years old then.
Abigail's name was first Mudg then Skinner, she then married and changed name to Lamb, then married William Levi. Eight children were born to them as follows: William, Oliver, John, Phoeba, Mariah, Betsy, Frances and Elizabeth, twins who died in infancy. William Levi and Abigail his wife spent most of their lives near Sharon, Connecticut.
We drop all these children but Mariah my grandmother. She was born in 1797. She learned to write on birchbark by the light of a fireplace. She learned to spin wool on a tall spinning wheel, being very young and small, her father had to make her a bench on which she would walk back and forth as she spun.
We will now turn to my mother's father's people. Many years before the Revolutionary War, there were a Mr. and Mrs. Demouth who came from Holland and settled in New Jersey. To them was born in1770 a son Jacob.
They owned 300 acres of landabout twenty miles fron New York City. They had but one child, Jacob, who at his parents death inherited everything they left, three hundred acres of land with a beautiful stone mansion on it, archards, flowergardens, etc. We have no record of Jacob's wife.
One or both of them did not seem to know how to handle an estate as in course of time all was lost. Jacob had a conscience and it would not let him keep those thirty slaves, so in 1810 he freed them. That of course was a loss of much money. That and other things caused the estate to be sold piece by piece until finally the family got in hard straits.
It was in the great mansion Jacob and his wife's children were born nine of them who were: Frederick, Adam, James, John, Thomas, Jacob, Mary, Betsy, and Charlotte. Jacob Demouth, the father of these nine children was a prominent public man. He was Justice of the Peace of Pequat Township, Morris County, New Jersey for thirty years. He belonged to the Methodist church. But we must now follow one of these children down the line, one of them is related to us, it is John. John Demouth was my grandfather.
At the age of twenty-four he became acquainted with Mariah Levi. She had come from Connecticut to New Jersey to keep house for her brother. At the age of twenty-three she and John Demouth were married (my grandparents). The wedding was in the year 1818. The first two years of their married life were spent in Connecticut, after which they returned to New Jersey. John was a farmer. To this union six children were born: Samuel, Chalon, James, Jacob, Frances and Semantha, my mother the youngest of the family.
John and Mariah raised their family in New Jersey then migrated to Wisconsin in 1848. Semantha was twelve years old when her parents moved to Wisconsin. It was in Wisconsin John Demouth was killed by a tree falling on him that he had just chopped down. His grand-daughter May was about one year old in 1861. . . .
A cousin, Frank Barber, was visiting in New Jersey and saw the place where his mother and mine (sisters) had lived. Demouth was their maiden name now changed to Frances Barber and Semantha Webster. Cousin Frank also saw the place where the old mill had been when slaves worked in it. That was before Jacob Demouth freed his slaves.".3Census, Federal - 1840 - Morris Co., NJ, Pequannock. "Lists Oliver Levi family with one male between 50 and 60, and one female between 40 and 50. Oliver is living next door to Isaac "Birgie", probable son-in-law.". 1840 Census:
1 male under age of 5
1 " 5 - 10
1 " 50 - 60
1 female under 5
1 " 40 - 50.4Fowler, Alex. D., Boonton, NJ, Demouth Report, Copy in Personal Files of Dianne Z. Stevens. This report was written in response to a letter from Mrs. Charles Webber of 10 Aug 1949. Mrs. Webber apparently hired Mr. Fowler to do genealogical research for her. In 2003 when I (Dianne Stevens) hired Linnea Foster to investigate the Levi connection, Linnea said that Mr. Foster was very highly regarded in New Jersey for his genealogy work.
5Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co, NJ, Pequannock Twsp - District # 15, Ancesrty p. 7 of 99. 1850 Census - Morris Co., NJ, Pequannac - p. 7(Ancestry image)
AdamDemouth AGE 61, A LABORER, is listed living with the family of Adam and Anna Jacobus.
It looks like there is a Catherine DeMouth, age 14, also listed. She could be the female under 5 listed above.6War of 1812 Service Record, roll box 56; roll exct 602, Ancestry.com. "Name: ADAM DEMOUTH
Company: 2 REG'T (SEWARD'S) NEW JERSEY MILITIA.
Rank - Induction: PRIVATE- 5 Sep 1814
Rank - Discharge: PRIVATE - 4 Dec 1814
Roll Box: 56
Roll Exct: 602."7American Genealogical and Biographical Index, vol 42; p.323, Ancestry.com. "Name: Adam DEMOUTH
Birth Date: 179?
Birthplace: New Jersey,
Volume: 42
Page Number: 323
Biographical Info: War 1812
Reference: Records of the officers and men of NJ. In wars 1791-1815. Trenton, NJ. 1909. (369p.):76."8Census, Federal - 1850 - Morris Co, NJ, Pequannock Twsp - District # 15, Ancestry p. 7 of 99.
9Joyce Ellen Hosking, Facebook message of 7 Jan 2013. "Catherine Demouth's father was Adam Demouth (1789-1859)."
1Ancestry.com, Adkins Family Tree. "From Demouth Bible
adkins91 added this to Elizabeth on 8 Feb 2012
From Joyce... Catherine Demouth's mother's name in family Bible is Elizabeth."2Census, Federal - 1840 - Morris Co., NJ, Pequannock. Lists 1 female 40 - 49.