William Alberson of Castledermot

If you haven't visited this profile recently, read this It was posted Thursday, October 3rd, 2019.

IMPORTANT : Relationships are now locked. Read below and in DISCUSSIONS. Reason being, most early suggested pedigrees are incorrect and, to protect the integrity of the tree from improper merges, locking relationships is wise. Contact the curator if needed.

William Alberson was not a Dutchman with a New Netherland background, He arrived from Ireland between 1681-1682 and is almost certainly of English origin.

Will. and Jane Alberson were part of the Dublin Ireland Quaker Mtg. but lived in or near ("Castledermond" Meeting , aka Castledermot & New Garden) Location: see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castledermot . There are several dates where they appear in Mtg. notes for Castledermot, Mountmellick, and Dublin. As these are original documents, we now know that neither William nor his wife were Dutch. These were a Quaker couple, albeit with tarnished pasts in Ireland and the Isle of Man before coming to the Province of West Jersey. Look to his timeline for sourcing.

Beware false pedigrees of ancient times. Evidently, incorrect guessing was done and carried down through the years.

Pedigree

The following reference is partially suspect as to complete accuracy when it comes to the subject of this profile:
~• Keep in mind: William Alberson never had his named spelled Albertson in Quaker Meeting documents, •~

"William-1 Albertson, founder of the New Jersey family of Albertsons, resigned his commission as soldier, {unstated posting in the military} having become converted to the religion of Friends (this possibly refers to his conversion in England or Ireland), and May 2, 1682, located a large tract of land in Newton township, Gloucester County, N. J., lying between the south and middle branches of Newton creek. The house he built stood by the middle branch of said creek and nearly fronting the little settlement called Newton by those first settlers. William, as was before stated, was a Friend, being one of the first trustees of the Newton Meeting, established 1681. This trust was continued until 1708, when younger men were needed to continue the same, to wit: March 7, 1708 Benjamin Thackara and William Cooper, of Gloucester County, N. J., and William Albertson, the elder, late of Newton, in Gloucester County, N. J., but now of Byberry, Bucks County, Pa., as Trustees of Friends Meeting at Newton, conveyed said property to Thomas Sharp, John Kaighn {~• Willam Albertson's son-in-law} , and Joseph Cooper, as trustees, etc. (Sharps Book, page 30, Surveyor General's Office, Burlington, N. J.) A man of estate and ability in the community, William was returned in 1685 as a member of the Colonial Legislature, and also held other minor county and township offices. December 16, 1688, he located a tract of land in Gloucester Township, on a branch of Timber creek, called Otter branch. This property he bequeathed by will, 1709, to his son Josiah, June 1, 1698. William (1) conveyed his land in Newton township to his son William, and soon after this removed to Byberry, on Poquessink creek, Bucks County, Pa. Here he purchased large properties, consisting of mills and lands, some of which formerly belonged to Walter Forrest {~•his dau. Ann's husband}. In 1692 he purchased of Andrew Robeson a tract in Gloucester County. He died in Poquessink in 1709, leaving a will, proved January 17, 1709, in which he mentions his wife Hannah {~• who later remarried William Stockdale }, seven children, and his son-in-law, Jervis Stoddale .

William married (2nd) Hannah Druit {~• or Druett}, daughter of Morgan Druit. After William's death Hannah remarried and transferred her certificate from Abington to Philadelphia meeting in 1729.

For the tract in PA bought by William see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bates_(Quaker)#Irish_Tenth & http://pagenweb.org/~bucks/battle/chapter_xiii.htm

and search on "Forrest"

~• another version of William's whereabouts "From "Sketches of the First Emigrant Settlers, Newton Twp." by John Clement (1877) pp. 101-108; Phila Liber M 75; Magazine of American Genealogy, 1929: "On May 2, 1682, William Albertson located a tract of land in Newton township, between the south and the middle branch of the creek that bears that name, and settled thereon.4-5 (Today the site is in Camden, near the Walt Whitman bridge, just across the creek from Gloucester City) The house which he built--no doubt, a small one--stood by the middle branch, and nearly fronting the little settlement called Newton; but in a few years it entirely disappeared. He was a married man with a family when he came there {but no wife has ever been named}; shortly after he removed to Byberry, Pennsylvania, and gave the possession of the estate to his son William. This occurred before 1692, for, in that year, he purchased a tract of land in the town bounds of Gloucester, the deed for which names him as then a resident of the place above mentioned."

see maps: http://jerseyman-historynowandthen.blogspot.com/2010/09/huggharriso...

trying to unravel William's alleged military career:

"Peter Stuyvesant led a Dutch force which retook (Fort Nassau at the mouth of Timber Creek)on September 11, 1655, renaming it New Amstel (in Dutch Nieuw Amstel). Subsequently, Fort Christina also fell on September 15 and all New Sweden came under the control of the Dutch. John Paul Jacquet was immediately appointed Governor, making New Amstel the capital of the Dutch-controlled colony." <~• William would have been 20 years old at that time. Could he have already been in the military and serving Stuyvesant, thereby gaining a familiarity with Timber Creek beyond the walls of Fort Nassau, a familiarity that led to his purchase in 1682? <(I doubt it : MMvB curator)

"In 1623, the Dutch landed at Gloucester Point. They built a fort and a trading post here to trade for furs from the Indians. They dealt with the Armewamexes whose main village was situated along the banks of Little Timber Creek, about where the present Gloucester City High School now sits. They also traded with the other nearby villages. These were the Amakaraonck Tribe who lived near what is now Collingswood {note: This Collingswood is the very neighborhood of where the 250 acre Albertson property was located} and the Moerankonck Tribe who lived near the site of what is now the Deptford Mall. All of these tribes lived very close to at least one major waterway. The many rivers and creeks provided an easy means of transportation.

"The Dutch bought land on both banks of the Delaware River. One section of two leagues just above Fort Nassau and a second tract of 5 1/2 leagues along the river with convenient kills (streams), woods, and fine land were purchased on the east bank. The Dutch paid 50, 60, or 70 guilders and 50, 60, or 70 ells of Osnaburgh black linen that sold for 15, 16, 18, or 20 stivers. Since the Indians could not write words, they signed their names with symbols.These can be found on land deeds still in existence.

"In 1677, the Quaker settlers in this area bought all the land from Sassackon, the Indian name for Timber Creek, to Rancocas Creek. ~• http://www.gcpl.us/Chapter%20One%20Text.htm

possible Irish origins

As William married the widow of William Stockdale, perhaps all had been Quakers together in Ireland prior to coming to West Jersey?

"From Scotland, William Stockdale moved on to County Tyrone in Ireland and was affiliated with the Grange Friends Meeting and with
Charlemont Meeting. His book, " The Great Cry of Oppression ", published in 1683, details the sufferings of Friends at the hands of the Irish government officials."

Remember several other things:

1. Albertson was primarily known as Alberson...
2. Will. Albertson's children did not have Dutch given names (huge early clue)
   1. William Alberson 1st wife was named Jane Preston and appears so in documents of Quaker Mtg. in West Jersey.
3. the "tenth" of West Jersey was the "Irish Tenth"
4. An Irishman named Godfrey Canterell, who never came to the Americas was an original share holder & assigned this share to a Will Alberson (note spelling) thus Alberson/Albertson had an Irish background too... and took charge of the share before departing Ireland.
5. the discursive and entertaining account in Clement (1877) is nothing other than that. William is not shown in that account to be a son of any prior parents. The tone of Clement, to my mind is rather snide, in his characterization of the Dutch. I might add: Historically, Clement uses the wrong spelling of ALBERSON.
6. It seems clear that William remained in Newton township through the death of Jane, his first wife in the 1690s. After remarriage he left for Byberry.
7. access to Quaker records through findmypast dot com reveal new details on Jane.

sources

• Genealogies of New Jersey Families: Families A-Z, pre-American notes on old New Netherland families; by Joseph R. Klett; Genealogical Publishing Com, 1996 - Reference - 1156 pages: see page 105 et. seq.
  • (includes ref. to sale of Godfrey Canterell of Rosenalis, County Queens to Alberson (may 22nd, 1682)
• http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~billie0w/books/quakers/appendix.htm
• Friends in Warwickshire
• Post, Albertson, and Hicks: Family Letters, edited by Margery Post Abbott. Portland, OR: Margery Post Abbott, 2009-2010. The bulk of these letters span the century from about 1840-1940, with a few dating back to the late 1700s. This set is a compilation of letters, almost all by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). The story they tell gives a glimpse into the anti-slavery and women's rights movements of the mid-nineteeth century. 18 Pryce, Elaine. "'Negative to a Marked Degree or an Intense and Glowing Faith?': Rufus Jones and Quaker Quietism," Common Knowledge, 16.3 (2010), 518-531. "A contribution to the sixth installment of the Common Knowledge symposium "Apology for Quietism," this article focuses on the early-twentieth-century Quaker historian and philosopher of mysticism, Rufus Jones, who treated Quietism as in polar opposition to the work of Quakerism "here in this world." Consequently, he placed Quietism within a negatively-constructed framework of belief, identifying much of its influence in Quaker history on the spiritual teachings of the Miguel de Molinos, Madame Guyon, and François Fénelon. This article examines Jones's premise that Quietism was "no more than a noble mood, too rare and abstract to be translated into real human life." It contends that Jones's aversion to Quietist influences in Quaker history had more to do with his own personal ambivalences, his response to the violence of World War I, his modernizing agenda, and his distorted understanding of Quietist spirituality than with anything inherent to Quietism itself."
• Sutton's Creek Monthly Meeting. — To White Water, (1812-31): Nixon, Newby, Cox, Henby, Draper, Bogue, Guier, Haskett, Chappel; to Lick Creek (18 14): Newby, Evans, Draper, Bogue, Willard, White, Lacy, Haskett, Chawner; to Blue River (1815-31): Newby, Cox, Hollowell, Albertson, White, Moore, Charles, Hollowell, Cosand; to others (1820): Charles, Fletcher, Draper, Chappel, Nichol- son, Albertson, Haskett, Wilson, Nixon, Henby. (from: "Southern Quakers and slavery : a study in institutional history"
• https://universalistfriends.org/library/militant-seedbeds-of-early-...

Spurious Pedigree

Bean's History of Montgomery County (PA) reads as follows:
"JACOB MORTON ALBERTSON. -The well known and worthy citizen of Norristown whose name forms the caption of these few paragraphs is of Holland Dutch descent, and of a family which has been represented in America for nearly two and a half centuries his remote ancestors having come to New Amsterdam now New York, in the "good ship 'Fox'" On the 16th day of the Ninth Month, 1640." {incorrect !}
the account is seen also in
The Daily Union History of Atlantic City and County, New Jersey: by John F. Hall (1900)