Charity, ca. 1685-1730, Long Island to Hunterdon, NJ
From various on-line sources, I have found a Charity Furman, daughter of John and Margaret (Lynch) Furman, fist of the Newtown, Jamaica or Hempstead area of western Long Island (present day Queens, NYC), with even a suggestion that she moved to New Jersey (the area of Hunterdon County) like many other Furmans did.I have not found any indications of her spouse, however, and I would like to present a THEORY to see if anyone can help me.I think she might have married a Thomas Burroughs/Burrows.
Thomas Burroughs (or Burrows) was born about 1676 on Long Island (the area of Newtown, Jamaica or Hempstead) to Edward and Mary (Higby) Burroughs.By 1705 he was married and would eventually have seven (7) known children, Charity, Thomas, Edward, John, Stephen, Eden and Hannah, all born between about 1704 and 1720.Sometime between 1712 and 1722, Thomas moved his family to western New Jersey, to the area of Maidenhead (that would later become Hopewell) in the part of Burlington County that became Hunterdon County in 1714.There, Thomas’s wife, the mother of his children, died, before 1733.In 1733, Thomas obtained a license to marry Mercy (Furman) Moore, the widow of Gershom Moore, and she is mentioned (along with her son Gershom, from her first marriage) in Thomas’s will, probated in 1764.The issue I am exploring is the name of the first wife, the mother of Thomas’s children.
I have not (yet) found any tombstone, cemetery record, vital record, Bible record, marriage record, deeds, etc. that explicitly state even the first name of the first Mrs. Thomas (let alone her maiden name), but I am hopeful that further search of primary sources might produce results.In the meantime, in an effort to focus future research, I have developed a theory to predict what will eventually be found about this woman.
Using clues from the names of her daughters, her granddaughters, and even the few known nieces and nephews, I am predicting that her name will be either Charity or Hannah.Furthermore, knowing that she and Thomas were (more likely than not) married on Long Island (in the area of Jamaica, present day Queens, New York City), I have looked at the surnames of families living in that area circa 1702.Knowing that migratory groups often included family groupings, I have also concentrated on those families where one or more members migrated from Long Island to Hunterdon County, NJ.Finally, being aware of certain patterns (e.g., siblings in one family marrying siblings in another family, or widowers marrying relatives of the late wife, etc.), I am predicting that Thomas might have married a Charity Furman, daughter of John and Margaret (Lynch) Furman of Long Island (and so, granddaughter of Josias and Alice (Beers?) Furman and of Gabriel and Margaret (MNU) Lynch).In looking at various researchers’ submissions to the Latter Day Saints, to this genforum website, and to rootsweb, and also doing a google search on the internet to find homepages relating to genealogy, I have not found any marriage for this Charity Furman.Furthermore, the information I have found seems to be only estimates (no hard data) of her date of birth (as well as the dates of her siblings), and thus is subject to question.I believe that Charity Furman was born between 1678 and 1687.This estimate fits well into the range of births for her siblings and only requires some re-ordering within the family.This Charity Furman was the first cousin of the Mercy Furman who married first, Gershom Moore, and second, Thomas Burroughs/Burrows.Thus, as a widower, Thomas would have married his late wife’s first cousin.
This prediction is supported by geographic proximity of the families, and by likely social intercourse.I believe that, before 1705, when Thomas would have been courting, his late uncle, Jeremiah Burroughs (who drowned in 1698 in middle age), had been married for close to two decades (i.e., most of Thomas’s life) to Martha Furman, the aunt of both Charity and Mercy Furman (i.e., Martha was daughter of Josias and Alice Furman, and sister to both John Furman (Charity’s father) and to Josias (“junior”) and Sarah (Strickland) Furman (Mercy’s parents).Martha herself had been first married to Jacob Reeder, and as a widow, had married Jeremiah Burroughs.Thus, Thomas, through his aunt, might have been introduced to her nieces (there are always matchmakers among us).
I have many other bits and pieces of circumstantial evidence which can support this THEORY, and would be willing to share with anyone who is interested in solving this ancestral problem.Anyone working on the Burroughs/Burrows family of that time, or on the Furman family of that time, please contact me, either by posting a reply here, or by writing me directly via e-mail at [email protected]
More Replies:
-
Re: Charity, ca. 1685-1730, Long Island to Hunterdon, NJ
Duane Boggs 8/14/06