Jedediah Allen

Jedediah Allen, the Quaker, was the son of Ralph Allen and Esther Swift Allen. He was born 3 January 1646 at Sandwich, Barnstable County, Mass. His father and many uncles, and his grandmother Esther Swift, all were early followers of the Quakers. He was about 13 years old at the time of the persecution of the Sandwich, Massachusetts Quakers. Many were fined and/or imprisoned for their beliefs. Many of the family and other Friends of the Quaker sect included the Allens, Swifts, Howlands, Newlands, Tiltons, and others many of whom were connected by marriage to the Allens.

The county history, "This Old Monmouth of Ours" of Monmouth County, New Jersey states that Jedediah Allen had three wives: 1. Unknown. 2. Mrs. Hannah Carpenter Ellet, daughter of Preston Carpenter. 3. Elizabeth Howland. It is believed she was the mother of at least 10 of the 13 children of Jedediah Allen. It is not known when she died; sometime after 1689. They were married in 1668.

The children of Jedediah and Elizabeth Howland:

1. Experience Allen born 30 August 1669 at Sandwich; died ca.1704. Married Benjamin Field ca 1692.

2. Ephraim Allen, born 30 December 1670, Sandwich. died ca. 1727. Married Miss West, daughter of William West; No. 2, Hannah Johnson Holden Leonard; No.3 Elizabeth Maddocks Denn Powell. He died 1727.

3. Eliashib Allen, born 17 October 1672 Sandwich. Conveyed land to his brother, Nathan Allen, at Burlington, New Jersey in 1711. No further record.

4. Nathan Allen born 2 February 1673, Sandwich, died ca. 1738/39. Wife: Margery Brunet; No. 2 Martha Newbury Davenport, widow of Francis Davenport; No. 3 Miss Debowe. He died ca 1738/39. He was the founder of Allentown, Pennsylvania.

5. Juda Allen, born 17 October 1775, Sandwich; died 1731; wife Deborah Adams.

6. Esther Allen, born 26 March 1677, Sandwich; married James Adams 1695.

7. Ralph Allen, born 7 January 1678/79 Sandwich; died 1718; wife Margaret Dunn 1707.

8. Henry Allen, born 24 March 1679/80, Sandwich; died 1748; wife Hannah Crolies 1702. She died before 1715; No. 2 Abigail Adams, daughter of John and Elizabeth Adams, who was born 1682, and died 1759. Member of Burlington Friends Monthly Meeting.

9. Mary Allen, born 15 November 1681, Sandwich; 1st husband Daniel Wells. #2 Thomas Smith. See Smith line.

10. Patience Allen, born 8 May 1683, Sandwich died 1748. Married Samuel Tilton 1705.

(Note: these ten children were all listed in the Sandwich, Massachusetts records before they moved from Plymouth colony in New England in the Quaker records of the Sandwich monthly meeting.)

Jedediah Allen moved his large family to Monmouth County, New Jersey about 1683.

...Job Almy of...Portsmouth...for...forty five pounds Currant mony of New England…paid by Jedediah Allin of…Sandwich in the Collony of New-Plymouth…doe…sell…share of land…in the Towneship of Shrosebury in the Government of East Gersey (Excepting Only in this…sale a house lott…neer the Meeting house in…Shrosebury and a parcell of medows formerly sold by John Chamnies) The great lott alredy devided…adjoyninge to the land belonging to the Children of the deceassed Bartholmew West…with all…medows…Premisses…are cleer…from all..Incumberances…Especially from any thing acted Concerning the premisses by my brother Christopher Almy--…Eight day of November…One Thowsand six hundred Eighty three: [signed] Job Almy [and] Mary Almy. Wit. John Sanford [and] Mary Sanford [and] Eliphall Sanford. Job Almy…with his wife Mary…did acknowlidge thir…28th of January 1683. John Albro Assisstant [Rhode Island Land Evidences, v. 1, 1648-1696, Abstracts, Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence, RI, 1921, published p. 174, abstract 261].

Their arrival in New Jersey was recorded in the Shrewsbury Monthly Meeting as " having been transported to this place." the above named children were also listed in the Allen family bible, with the following three children added later:

11, Meribah Allen born 12 November 1686 Shrewsbury, N. J.; married William Thorne 1708.

12. David Allen (twin) b. 16 October 1689 Shrewsbury, died 1735; wife Mary Powell 1711; #2 Hannah Champneys.

13. Jonathan Allen (twin) b. 16 October 1689 Shrewsbury died 1748; married Mary Corlies. 1715-16.

When Jedediah Allen moved his large family to New Jersey ca. 1683, they became known as the "Neversink" Allens. Neversink was actually the Nevisink highland on the Atlantic coast, in the township of Middleton, in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The area along the coast is 300' to 400' feet in altitude, covered with trees, and a well-known landmark for sailors. The Nevisink river flows between the towns of Middleton and Shrewsbury, in a northeasterly direction, and ends with a wide estuary in Sandy Hook Bay. (Fisher's Statistical Gazatteer of the United States, published in 1853.)

Jedediah Allen purchased lands there, and was considered quite well-to-do. He was influential in public as well as private life. He was a member of the New Jersey assembly 1686 to 1703. He was deputy to the general assembly of New Jersey in 1692. And, member of the first "joint assembly" of East and West Jersey in 1703. And, a justice of the court for many years. As a member of the Friends Society (Quakers) he made many tours off the colonies from New Jersey to Massachusetts, as minister of that faith. He represented the Shrewsbury Monthly Meeting at the Philadelphia Annual Meeting of 1685.

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/b/a/r/Thomas-Barclay/WEB...

Ralph Allen and Esther Swift Allen. He was born 3 January 1646 at Sandwich, Barnstable County, Mass.

D. January 12, 1720.  

TWO DIFFERENT JEDEDIAH ALLENS!!!!

By 1668, Jedediah m. Elizabeth Howland, dau. of Henry Howland and his wife Mary, b. circa 1650 at Duxbury, Mass. She was one of the executors of her husband's estate and was living at Shrewsbury on Feb. 8, 1711/12, the date she attested to the inventory of Jedediah's estate (not formally recorded in the New Jersey probate records until 1759.)

[more detail later]

In Mar. 1695, Jedediah Allen, Peter Tilton and Remembrance Lippincott were grantees of one acre at Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, New Jersey:

• to ye use benifitt & behoof of ye poor people belonging to ye Religious Socity of ye people of God called quakers forever and for a place to erect a meeting house and make a burying place." (Mon. Deeds, D:95).

The Shrewsbury Friend's present-day Meeting House and burial ground remain essentially at the same parcel of land recited in the 1695 deed. Jedediah Allen d. testate Jan. 12, 1711/12 at Shrewsbury and is undoubtedly interred in an unmarked grave at that Friend's burying ground.

Jedediah and Elizabeth had thirteen known children, the eldest 10 born at Sandwich, the rest at Shrewsbury: [*1]

• i. Experience Allen; b. 30 6m [Aug.] 1669; m. Benjamin Field.

• ii. Ephraim Allen; b. 20 10m [Dec.] 1670; m. [---], Elizabeth (Maddocks) (Denn) Powell, and Hannah (Johnson) (Holden) Leonard.

• iii. Eliashib Allen; b. 17 8m [Oct.] 1672; d. after 1711; miscalled "Elizabeth" in some records. No record of wife or children.

• iv. Nathan Allen; b. 2 12m [Feb.] 1673/74; m. Margery Burnet and Martha (Newberry) Davenport.

• v. Judah Allen; b. 17 8m [Oct.] 1675; m. Deborah Adams.

• vi. Esther Allen; b. 26 1m [Mar.] 1677; m. James Adams.

• vii. Ralph Allen; b. 7 11m [Jan.] 1678/79; m. Margaret Denn(e).

• viii. Henry Allen; b. 24 1m [Mar.] 1679/80; m. Hannah Corlies and Abigail Adams.

• ix. Mary Allen; b. 15 9m [Nov.] 1681; m. Daniel Wells.

• x. Patience Allen; b. 8 3m [May] 1683; m. Samuel Tilton.

• xi. Meribah Allen; b. 12 9m [Nov.] 1686; m. William Thorn.

• xii. Jonathan Allen, twin; b. 16 Oct. 1689; m. Mary Corlies.

• xiii. David Allen, twin; b. 16 Oct. 1689; m. Mary Powell and Hannah Champnes or Chambless.

[*1] The six oldest children are recorded in the Sandwich Friends records at Sandwich Mass. On Nov. 8, 1683 Job Almy of Portsmouth, RI sold to Jedediah Allen of Sandwich, Mass., a share of land at the township of Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, in the then constituted Province of East Jersey. This is followed in early 1686 in the East Jersey Deeds (Lib. A:305) with a "Record of the births of the [ten] children of Jedediah Allen and wife Elizabeth, born at Sandweth, Plymouth Colony, New England" with minor variation in dates from the prior Sandwich Friends record.

The dates used in this memorial are from the aforesaid East Jersey record, which presumably reflect dates specifically rendered by Jedediah for purposes of legal recordation. The dates are in the characteristic numerical-only format used by Quakers. However, the children were all born under the pre-1752 old Julian calendar. First child Experience was born in the 6th month of 1669, in which the 1st month of the then English calendar was March, and Mar. 25th was the first day of the new year. Thus she was born in the 6th month then known as August in the Julian calendar, not the 6th month now known as June in the modern Gregorian calendar. The children's record of births in the East Jersey records is followed on Oct. 28, 1687 by Jedediah receiving a patent deed for 410 acres at Monmouth County "part as headland for himself, wife and ten children, and part as to an old settler or patentee." In the interim, dau. Meribah was born at Shrewsbury in late 1686.

Edited 7/17/2015 Inscription: As a Quaker, he has no known gravestone or other form of marker

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jul 14 2017, 0:36:33 UTC

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• Residence: Circa 1660 - Shrewsbury, Monmouth, New Jersey, United States
  • Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Feb 15 2021, 19:52:03 UTC