John Adamson 
In Gloucester County, New Jersey
Court Records
January 2010 (by Troy L. Adamson)
(A works in Progress)

(click on the title to view document)

The Camden County Historical Society library in Camden, New Jersey, contains a two-volume set of books entitled, Transcriptions of the First Quarter Century Documents of Old Gloucester County, New Jersey. The books include the transcriptions of all the original legal documents of Old Gloucester County, New Jersey, 1686-1710. Transcriptions of legal documents that fall after year 1710 are included in a three-volume set of books entitled, Transcriptions of the Second Court Record Book of Gloucester County, New Jersey. It is within the third volume of this series that John Adamson is referenced as a member of the jury in three separate court proceedings (Gloucester County Historical Project, 1939).

Among the 70,000 documents deposited in the Gloucester County Historical Society vault, located in the New County Building in Woodbury, 322 documents with dates that range from 1686-1710 were found. Unfortunately, several documents did not contain dates, and those documents, some of which preceded 1711, were not included in these volumes. The transcriptions were done in 1939 by members of the Gloucester County Historical Project of the Work Projects Administration. Diligent efforts were made by the historians to produce accurate transcriptions from the original handwritten documents (Gloucester County Historical Project, 1939).

In reviewing these documents, there is evidence that the court recorders frequently misspelled the names of people referenced. Court recorders wrote down names based on the way they sounded, so it is not surprising to see a name recorded with a phonetic spelling. Instances have been discovered where the same individual’s surname was recorded three times with a different spelling each time.

Jeams Ademson a.k.a. James Atkinson

A past Adamson researcher reportedly discovered what appeared to be a “Jeams Adamson” listed as foreman of the jury in a 1689 court proceeding contained within the second volume of the Transcriptions of the First Quarter Century Documents of Old Gloucester County, New Jersey (Gloucester County Historical Project, 1939, p. 132). If this were true, it would be evidence that an Adamson ancestor resided in Gloucester County nearly 26 years before John Adamson. During a visit to the Camden County Historical Society library, the document was reexamined and important discoveries were made.

The court case dated 22 Jan 1689/90, involved a warrant Daniel Howell filed against Mordecai Howell of Coopers Creek, Gloucester County (Gloucester County Historical Project, 1939, p. 132). Upon careful analysis of the document, discrepancies missed by the previous researcher were found. First of all, the name is actually printed as “ADEMSON,” not ADAMSON. Secondly, it is apparent that two different court recorders recorded the names of the court attendees, as some of the same jurymen are listed twice with their names spelled two different ways. The document contains two columns of jurymen names, each column seemingly written down by two different court recorders. For the first five entries, the names listed in the left column appear to be the same as those listed in the right column, only the spelling of the names in the right column differ. I have transcribed the names of the first five jurymen below. Notice the variation in spelling between the two columns:

Jeams Ademson James Atkinson

Robart Zeane Robert Zane

William Cowper William Cooper

John Taylor John Taylor

Samuel Colle Samuel Coles

As seen above, the court recorder who recorded the names in the left column was not as proficient at spelling as the recorder who recorded the names in the right column. Also, notice how the left column names were spelled more phonetically. Based on this evidence, it appears that “Jeams Ademson” was actually James Atkinson, a case of mistaken identity. In fact, James Atkinson’s presence is well documented in the chronicles of the Newton Township. He was originally from Philadelphia, but became a resident of the Newton Township when he married widower, Hannah Newbie in 1685 (Clement, 1877, p. 45). Hannah was the former wife of one of Newton’s original proprietors, Mark Newbie. During the early 1680s, Friends’ monthly meetings were held regularly at Mark Newbie’s house and continued to be held there for a while after his death, as Hannah married James Atkinson in the Newbie house (Clement, 1877, p. 45).

Court Record Dated 18 Sept 1716

There are no Adamsons present in any extant Gloucester County court documents until 18 Sept 1716, when John Adamson was recorded as a member of the grand jury for a murder trial (Gloucester County Historical Project, 1939, p. 504). John and Ann were wed 14 Mar 1716, so John’s jury duty attendance in the Gloucester County courthouse would have been just months after their marriage. In each court proceeding in which John was a juryman, his name was recorded as ADDAMSON. This naming convention was quite common during the colonial era and is frequently seen in countless surnames that use the letters, T, D, or F. Some of the jurymen names listed in the original court documents were misspelled, so in this documentation, as many names as possible were corrected and confirmed to be accurate based on the spellings referenced in published genealogical histories.

The court case, dated 18 Sept 1716, is included in the third volume of the Transcriptions of the Second Court Record Book of Gloucester County, New Jersey (Gloucester County Historical Project, 1939, p. 504). The trial involved Samuel Harrison, who was accused of drowning Susannah Smith, and then placing her body on the property of Sarah Mickle. The end of the document states that the court was adjourned until 3:00PM (Gloucester County Historical Project, 1939, p. 504). Unfortunately, since there is no further documentation of the case, there is no way to determine how it ended.

The following justices of the peace were present on the bench: John Kay, John Hugg, John Mickle, Constantine Wood, Samuel Ward, and Amos Ashead (Coroner). William Harrison (Sheriff) and Thomas Sharp (Clerk) were the officers present. Constables representing the various Gloucester County townships were present: Joseph Knight (Waterford Township), Joseph Hinchman (Newton Township), Ralph Sutton and John Basly (Gloucester Township), Joseph Liddon (Greenwich Township, lower part). Jeremiah Addams from Egg Harbor Township did not appear, Michael Laikon from Debtford Township was sick, and Peter Lock from Greenwich Township (upper part) did not appear.

Members of the grand jury included: John Ladd (Foreman), Thomas Stokes, Samuel Dennis, John Matlack, John Shivers, John Gill, John Adamson, Alexander Morgan, Abraham Porter, John Inskeep, Peter Long, John Jones, John Cox, Peter Cox, Stephen Jones, Eric Mullaker, and Thomas Denny.

Court Record Dated 20 Dec 1720

John Adamson next appears as a member of the grand jury on 20 Dec 1720 (Gloucester County Historical Project, 1939, p. 570). In this case, John Ashbrook filed a complaint that his flat (the British term for an apartment or one-floor residence) had been over-assessed that year. The court decided to reduce the assessment by four schillings (Gloucester County Historical Project, 1939, p. 570).

The following justices of the peace were present on the bench: John Kay, John Hugg, John Mickle, and Amos Ashead (Coroner). The officers present were Josiah Kay (Sheriff) and Thomas Sharp (Clerk). Constables representing the various Gloucester County townships were present: Samuel Holmes by his deputy, Abel Preston (Waterford Township), Arthur Powell (Newton Township), Will Clark, Jr. and Francis Jones (Gloucester Township), Job Whitall (Debtford Township), Henda Hendrickson (Greenwich Township, upper part), Andrew Matson (Greenwich Township, lower part), and Thomas Green (Egg Harbor).

Members of the grand jury included: John Gill (Foreman), Joseph Tindall, Joseph Knight, William Dennis, William Cooper, Robert Bryan, Isaac Homer, Thomas Stowe, William Ellis, William Warner, James Warde, John Cook, Samuel Sharp, John Adamson, and Thomas Bright.

Like John Adamson, John Gill served on the jury for this case as well as the 1716 murder trial. It is worth noting that some of the grand jurors present in this court proceedings have the very same surnames as those who served on the murder trial. Some were sons or brothers of the previous jurors. The townships were still relatively small at that time, hence a smaller population to choose from for the jury duty selection process. In Old Gloucester County, it is not uncommon to see many of the same men serve on juries repeatedly.

Court Record Dated 19 Nov 1723

John Adamson’s final time served as a grand juror in Gloucester County was on 19 Nov 1723 (Gloucester County Historical Project, 1939, p. 29). By 31 May 1726, he and his family would move to Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The purpose of this court cession is not addressed in the document. The case is referenced on page 29 of volume three.

The following justices of the peace were present on the bench: John Kay, Samuel Warde, and Thomas Spicer. Josiah Kay (Sheriff), Amos Ashead (Coroner), and Thomas Sharp (Clerk) were the officers present. Constables representing the various Gloucester County townships were present: Samuel Dennis (Waterford Township), William Davis (Newton Township), Richard Valentine and Nathan Tylee (Gloucester Township), George Warde (Debtford Township), Thomas Holden (Greenwich Township, upper part), Andrew String (Greenwich Township, lower part), and Samuel Hareur (Egg Harbor Township).

Members of the grand jury included: Alexander Morgan, William Hampton, James Hinchman, Simon Bresch, John Adamson, Jacob Matson, Richard Gray, Jacob Medcalf, Henry Sparks, William Ellis, Benjamin Thackara, Thomas Stokes, Hence Steelman, Samuel Burroughs, Daniel Hillman, John Eastlack, Nathan Champion, Jeremiah Bate, and Isaac Jennings. Alexander Morgan was the son of Griffith Morgan, an emigrant from Wales.

The men present at the previously mentioned court proceedings provide a diverse representation of some of the most notable families of the Newton community. Some were the first settlers of Gloucester County while others mentioned were their sons or sons-in-law. Thomas Sharp, Robert Zane, William Cooper, and John Gill were original founders of the Newton Township. John Mickle was the son of colonist, Archibald Mickle, who arrived at Newton from Antrim County, Ireland in 1681 (Clement, 1877, p. 141). Benjamin Thackara was the son of Newton colonist, Thomas Thackara, a Leeds, Yorkshire, England Quaker who relocated to Dublin, Ireland for a while before settling in Newton in 1681. The first Friends’ meeting house built at Newton stood upon lands conveyed by Thomas Thackara (p. 64). Both John Whitall and John Eastlack were brothers-in-law to Benjamin Thackara. William Ellis was the son of Simeon Ellis, a Yorkshire, England Quaker who relocated from the Burlington settlement to Newton (p. 181). Samuel Cole emigrated from Cole’s Hill, Hertfordshire, England (p. 201). John Matlack was the descendent of William Matlack who arrived in Burlington from Nottinghamshire, England (p. 232). John Hugg arrived in Newton in 1683 from Wexford, Ireland (p. 284). Thomas Stokes was from Middlesex County, London, England (p. 301). John Kay, son of Garvis Kay, arrived in Newton from Yorkshire, England in 1684 (p. 168).

Two important realizations regarding John Adamson can be made from the Gloucester County court records. Firstly, by 1716 John apparently owned land in Gloucester County and was at least the age of twenty-one. Landowners had to be at least twenty-one years of age and one had to be a land owner in order to serve on a jury (Genealogy Inc., 2009). Secondly, since no other Adamsons were recorded in the extant court records dating back to 1686, John appears to be the first Adamson to have settled in Gloucester County, New Jersey.

References

Clement, John. (1877). Sketches of the first emigrant settlers in Newton Township, Old Gloucester County, West New Jersey. Camden, NJ: Sinnickson Chew.

Gloucester County Historical Project. (1939). Transcriptions of the First Quarter Century Documents of Old Gloucester County, New Jersey, Volume II. Newark, NJ: Work Projects Administration.

Gloucester County Historical Project. (1939). Transcriptions of the Second Court Record Book of Gloucester County, New Jersey, Volume III. Newark, NJ: Work Projects Administration.

Genealogy Inc. (2009). Research in court records: Ages of legal action. Retrieved December 20, 2009, from http://www.familyhistory101.com/research-court/index.html#ages

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