Jacob Ong

Jacob Ong was born ca. 1672 in ? and died after 1735, probably in Pennsylvania. (ALT date: after 1743, Burlington, N.J.)

Married:

1. ca. 1715, Burlington, N.J. to Elizabeth ___

Children of Jacob Ong and Elizabeth:

1. Jacob Ong ( b. 1702)
2. Jeremiah
3. Isaac, m. Bersheba Burshall, February 1725, d. 1728 in Northampton, N.J.
4. Mary, m. Thomas Ridgway, Jr., 1723 (only member of family to stay in Egg Harbor area; five children)
5. Phoebe, m. James Laing, July 23, 1731
6. Sarah, m. Nicholas Dillaplain
7. Mabel, m. Henry Shoemaker
8. Christian (female; married non-Quaker)
9. Esther, b. 1719; m. Joseph Duckworth June 1, 1737; d. aft. 1769 in Cumberland, North Carolina

Notes

• from http://vault.hanover.edu/~smith/o4.html

"It is believed that Jacob Ong came to Egg Harbor with the Andrews families; he was a brother in law of Edward Andrews. Jacob Ong and his wife Elizabeth were Elders in the Friends Meeting of Egg Harbor."
"Jacob Ong appears to have been a man of considerable note in the settlement. He also appears to have had a passion for emigrating from place to place. In the year 1725 he left Egg Harbor, and went to reside in Pennsylvania. In the year 1728 he returned to Egg Harbor, where he stayed about seven years, when a desire for a change of residence having seized him, he in the year 1735 bade Egg Harbor a final farewell, and established himself in Pennsylvania, where it is probable that he died, as this is the last recorded account of Jacob Ong. "
It is probable that Jacob Ong owned and lived on some one of the old time farms of Little Egg Harbor and by his moving about from place to place it is likely he was a mechanic and went to different places to work at his trade." [The term "mechanic" here refers to any of the various crafts--blacksmith, cooper, carpenter, tanner, etc.--which a new settlement might perticularly demand, and the New Jersey Quakers were known for these skills, so the suggestion is reasonable.]

The Mystery of Ong's Hat

• from The Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey Posted: 3/30/10

The Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey has a plethora of deserted villages, most of them long abandoned. The most infamous is Ong's Hat, located in present day Burlington County. It was a lively town that served as a social center for the surrounding area. It was known for it's availability of large quantities of alcohol.
The true origin of this town's name is up to speculation, but a well-known folk story centers around a man-named Jacob Ong. Ong was a regular at the local dances, wooing women with his suave attire, especially his silk hat.
One night, a jealous lover stopped on Ong's hat and in frustration, Ong tossed it into the air, where it caught on a high branch of a pine tree. The hat remained on the branch for many years, serving as a landmark for the small village.
In the 1980's, it was speculated that a facility manned by renegade Princeton professors conducted quantum physics experiments, that, according to conspiracy theories, resulted in the discovery of a new theory for dimensional travel. An urban legend surfaced that a gateway to another dimension existed in Ong's Hat. It is believed that the original story was created by a group of teens to stir up trouble.
Whether Ong's Hat is truly named after the destruction of a silk hat or hides a gateway to another dimension, it will always be another southern New Jersey town with a strange name.

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(III) Jacob, son of Isaac and Mary (Underwood) Ong, was a farmer of Mansfield township, Burlington county. New Jersey. He married, and his children were: Jacob, mentioned below; Isaac; Phoebe, married, July 22, 1731, James Laing, of Middletown ; and Esther, married, in 1737, Joseph Duckworth, of Burlington county. New Jersey.
http://ia331410.us.a rchive.org/2/items/encyclopediaofpe07jord/encyclopediaofpe07jord.pdf

Weblinks

• http://vault.hanover.edu/~smith/o4.html