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This person is dead.
February 10, 2006
Dear Children,Tonight I want to tell you about our forefather,
Adam Demouth
1735 - 1790When Frederick Demouth died his son Adam seems to have taken over the estate. Frederick's will indicated his two sons, Adam and Conrood, were to get equal amounts of property. Adam, right away, and Conrood was to come into his share when he married. The will was "proved" in 1766. A will is "proved" when it is submitted to an official who determines the will to be valid and issues a decree appointing an executor to administer the estate, all the stuff, left by the person who died. Frederick's will was proved 8 September 1766, when Adam was about 30 years old. But it may be that Adam inherited the bulk of the estate as I can find no further record of Conrood. Adam's two sisters each inherited two lots at NewFoundland, one of which had on it the famous stone house.
Adam married Charlotte Husk in 1755. He and Charlotte had only two children, Jacob and Anna. Jacob was born in 1755, I don't know when Anna was born. By the time Frederick died and Adam inherited his wealth, Adam was married and had at least one and probably two children.
Alex Fowler's Demouth Report tells us that Adam Demouth was one of the three wealthiest men in Pequannock Township in 1778. The Pequannock, New Jersey tax list of 1778-1780 gives us an idea of Adam's wealth. Here's what it says:
"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)"
The way I read this is the first set of things, up to the word exempt, is Adam's taxable property. For some unknown reason, unknown to us anyway, he didn't have to pay tax on the second set of things. So if you subtract the second set from the first set you'll find what he did have to pay tax on. It comes out to 4 horses, 8 horned cattle, 11 hogs, and one slave. Notice how they list the slaves right in there with the hogs and cattle.Are you surprised to know one of our ancestors owned slaves? Slavery never was as common in the north as it was in the south. However, it did exist in all the colonies before the Revolutionary War. John Hancock and Benjamin Franklin owned slaves. William Penn, the great Quaker, owned slaves. People found ways to use the Bible to justify slavery and they wrote laws to protect it. And in New Jersey there was a higher proportion of slaves to the rest of the population, and slavery lasted longer than in other northern states. The rhetoric in the run-up to the Revolution helped to put an end to northern slavery. Many thinking people were sensitive to the paradox of "all men are created equal," and of claiming the natural human right of freedom for themselves while denying it for African people. People in the south were aware of these paradoxes also, but their economy was much more dependent on slavery so they found lots of ways to make excuses for slavery that didn't work in the north. In New Jersey slavery was officially abolished in 1804. Unofficially it continued until the end of the Civil War in 1865. But in 1766 when Adam inherited his father's slaves, slavery was still officially legal in New Jersey.
We really don't know much more than this about Adam. There is a document, dated 10 April 1790, releasing his estate to his two children, Jacob, and Anna who had married Adam Miller. They had worked out an agreement between themselves and Jacob ended up paying Anna 5 shillings to make it even. Jacob became the owner of the 512 acre homestead farm. I wonder what Anna got. Anyway, so Adam must have died shortly before 10 April 1790.
Adam is our Demouth ancestor who enjoyed the fruits of the efforts of father and grandfather to establish the wealthy estate. Adam was a good manager because he was able to pass the wealth on to his son and daughter. He was born in the colony of New Jersey, a subject of the English king. He died a citizen of the state of New Jersey in the United States of America. And like many of his neighbors, he was a slave owner.
Here's how we're related to Adam Demouth. Adam married Charlotte Husk and had Jacob Demouth. Jacob married Deborah and had John Demouth. John married Mariah Levi and had another Jacob Demouth. That Jacob Demouth married Cordelia Martindale and had Samuel Demouth. Sam married Elzora Pierce and had Thelma Demouth. Thelma married Forrest Zimmerman and had Dianne Zimmerman. Dianne married Paul Stevens and had Dawne Stevens. Dawne married Jason Pamplin and had . . . Sarah, Hannah, Timmy and Becky! So Hooray for Adam Demouth. We needed him even if he did own slaves. I hope he treated them well.
Love,
Granny
Two items from Morris Co book of Deeds -
1) A Judgement against Jirah Demouth (1853) refers to land transferred to Jirah by Frederick and his wife in 1853.
2) A transaction of land in 1836 from Frederick & Susanna Demouth to Jirah DemouthMorris County Wills D//457 8JUL 1834 - Proved 10 MAY 1836
names wife Susan, sons Jirah and Decatur, daughters Elizabeth and Susan, witnesses Thomas Demouth and John DeMouth.Frederick- Frederick, born about 1787, married Susan or Susannah Crane and they had seven children; Jirah, Phebe, Susan, Elizabeth, Decatur, Joseph, and Jacob. In the Wells "Demouth History" she says that Frederick and Susannah and family first lived at Somerset and later in the stone house by the Clinton Reservoir. Frederick died in 1836 in his late 40's, leaving his wife with young children still at home. Susannah died in 1863. They are both buried in the Demouth Cemetery in Rockaway Valley, New Jersey. Their eldest son Jirah lived in the old stone house, he married Malinda Kayhart and they had eight children born in the old stone house. The youngest was just two when mother Malinda died, and then Jirah died five years later. Jirah's granddaughter, Suzanne Denman, wrote a poem about the old stone house. Look for it after her name or in the story about the first Jacob Demouth. Many of Jirah and Malinda's descendants lived in Iowa.
Also buried at the Demouth Cemetery are John J. Crane and his wife Margaret and son Daniel W.
This person is dead.
This person is dead.
This person is dead.
1840 Census:
1 male under age of 5
1 " 5 - 10
1 male 20 - 30
1 male 70 - 80
1 female under 5
1 female 20 - 30
There is a record of Charlotte's marriage to Garritt Vanderhoof. I could find no further records.
1840 Census:
1 male under age 5
1 " 5 - 10
1 male 20 - 30
1 female under 5
1 " 5 - 10
1 " 30 - 40
Per Ancestry Message Board "Kayhart, Demouth" 22 Mar 1999, This Richard is the son ofFrederick Kayhart and _________ Vanderhoof.1850 Census - Richard does not appear on the 1850 census with his family.
1850 Census shows Elizabeth with 6 children, no husband. Youngest, Edward, is 3 yrs old.
Elizabeth married Richard Kayhart in 1824 and they had six children. Sons Hiram and Charles both fought for the union in the Civil War. Other children were Wilbur, Emaline, Margaret, and Edward.
Richard is probably a brother to Malinda Kayhart who married Elizabeth's brother Frederick.
James married Elizabeth Lozaw in 1825 and they had nine children, two girls and seven boys, three of whom, Thomas, William, and Jesse, died in the Civil War. James didn't have to endure that grief because he had already died in 1859. Son Thomas died in a military hospital in Washington D.C. leaving a wife and three children. Son William died at an army camp near Newport News, Virginia. He was not married. Son Jesse died by drowning when his outfit crossed the Cumberland River in Kentucky. Son Cyrus was also in the Civil War. He must have been injured in some way because he filed for a pension as an invalid. He appears, unmarried, in the 1870 census, and working as a stone cutter, so he must not have been injured too badly. Son Elijah married Margaret Morgan. Many of his descendants lived in New York. Son Lewis, his wife Mary, and only son, Lewis Jr., never learned to read or to write.They lived in Warwick, New York. Daughter Elizabeth married John A. Hopkins. Daughter Jane Demouth married Alfred Miller. The 7th son was James.
1870 census shows Elizabeth age 70 living with sons Cyrus and James and 7 yr old Martha Demouth, probable granddaughter to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth had four sons in the Civil War. Three of them, Thomas, William, and Jesse, perished in the war during the year of 1863. The fourth, Cyrus, received a disability discharge.
1860 census:
Elizabeth Demouth age 60 Widow
Thomas " 35 Collier
Cyrus " 33 "
William " 21 Laborer
Jesse " 18 "
James " 15 "
Harriet Stage 12
1850 Census his age is 21. He is living with family of Peter Davenport.
1860 Census - his age is 33. He is living with his mother and brothers and working as a miner.
1870 Census, Boonton, NJ - He is a stone cutter living withElizabeth 70, James 25, and Martha 7. (Lonnie)
3 Sep 1862 he enlisted with the Union Army in New Jersey. He was a private in the 27th New Jersey Infantry. His widow filed for a pension, but no name is given in the record. (Ancestry Civil War Records.)
2 Mar 1863 - disability discharge
Civil War - Co. L 27th Regiment New Jersey Volunteers. Died at camp near Newport News. (Lonnie)
The 'D' is per Civil War Pension records, in which he named his mother as the beneficiary.
Jesse was a private in Company L of the 27th New Jersey Volunteers Infantry. He drowned while crossing the Cumberland River in Kentucky.
Jacob, born in 1801, married Sarah Miller. Jacob worked as a boatman. He and Sarah had 7 children, 3 sons, 4 daughters. Their son Frederick married Mary Ellen Van Hooten and died in the Civil War and is buried at Cold Harbor National Cemetery in Virginia. Son Nathan married Mary Ann Post and became a blacksmith. Daughter Sarah married Charles Jenkins. The other children of Jacob and Mary Ann were Charlotte, Mary, and Edward.
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.Adam was born about 1789. He fought in the War of 1812. He served in the 2nd Regiment of New Jersey Militia known as Seward's Militia, from September 1814 to December 1814. Between information from the census of 1830 and the census of 1840, I have figured he had at least 7 children, but in those censuses only numbers were listed, not names. 1850 was the first census to list all family members by name. In the 1850 census, Adam is working as a laborer, his wife has died, and he and his 14 year old daughter Catherine are living with Adam and Anna Jacobus. Could they be his in-laws? very possibly but we don't know. Catherine grew up and married first John Riker in 1852 and then David Greenswike in 1862. With John Riker she had at least two children, Phebe and Mary Ann.
Frederick Demouth, 1697-1766, mentions lands at New Foundland in his will. He left to his "Daughters, Elizabeth and Catharine, 4 lots at New Foundland." J. Percy Crayon in "Rockaway Records of Morris County, N.J. Families," 1902 says, "Mr. Thomas Demouth . . . lived and owned lands where the Clinton Reservoir now is." I believe that is where New Foundland is. Thomas was a great grandson of the aforementioned Frederick.
Thomas married the third Levi sibling, Betsy Levi. Thomas and Betsy ended up with father Jacob's homestead farm and lived there at least through 1880. They had eight children, Abner, Electa, Wesley, Thomas Jr., Hiram, Harrison, Elizabeth, and Minerva. Sons Wesley and Harrison fought in the Civil War. Harrison died of disease at Ship Point, Virginia. He received a commendation for distinguished service and his mother received a pension because of his service. His name is inscribed on the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at Eastside Park in Paterson, New Jersey. Abner married Catherine Jane Stillwell and they had six children. Electa married Peter D. Vreeland and they stayed in West Milford, NJ, (at least through 1880) and had six children. Wesley married Susannah Sigler and they had two daughters. Thomas Jr. died a few months short of his 20th birthday. Hiram married a girl with last name of Stagg. He appears on the census with Mom and Dad in 1860, 1870, and 1880. Elizabeth married Patrick Burns. Minerva, the youngest, was still living with her parents in 1870 but not in 1880.
Died of disease Company I, 7th Infantry Regiment New Jersey on 01 May 1862 in Ship Point, VA. He was noted for Distinguished Service.
Civil War - his mother received a Pension from his service. (Civil War Pension record per Ancestry.com)
Harrison's name is inscribed on the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at Eastside Park, Paterson, New Jersey.