Jackson Family Genealogy Table of Contents Conflicting Data Index
There are two or more accounts of Mary Fitz Randolph's marriage to James Jackson differing enough to need
examining. The 1943 record by Louise Aymar
Christian was published by the New England Historical and Genealogy
Society (NEHGS) in the New England Historical and Genealogical
Register, Vol. 97, page 334, October 1943.
A later record is found in the book "The Descendants of Edward Fitz Randolph and Elizabeth Blossom 1630 – 1950" by Louise Aymar Christian
and Howard Stelle Fitz Randolph, published in 1950. Why the
Jackson - Fitz Randolph marriage record was amended in the 1950
version is unknown but from a close examination, it appears
that the authors were trying to arrange the puzzle pieces to
accommodate other puzzling information. But since a lot of
folks are using the 1950 book as a source, this amended
information needs to be laid out for further examination. This article attempts to
examine the differences found in this record of the marriage of Mary Fitz Randolph to James Jackson, son of James Jackson
and Rebecca Hallett. The marriages are numbered with my comments inserted in color.
For the purposes of this Jackson family tree, the info
originally given in the 1943 version is accepted and quoted in
the next paragraph. #088; James JACKSON, cooper, & Michael Sweettain, yeoman,
both of the County of Monmouth... [bound to]... Jonathan Belcher, Governour... 500 pounds... 26 May 1749. ... James JACKSON... obtained
license of marriage for himself and for Mary HORSMAN of the said county, widow... [w] Mary Lane, Wm Madock.
NEHGS, October 1943, pg 334:
"Mary, b. 24 May 1710; m (1) in 1729 William Thorne, b. in Flushing, Long Island, N.Y., 7 Sept. 1684, d. in Woodbridge in 1735,
son of Joseph and Mary (Bowne) Thorne of Flushing;
m. (2) in 1736-7 James Jackson, b. in Rocky Hill, Flushing, Long Island, N.Y., 4 June 1704, d. in Woodbridge 5 Nov. 1750, son of
James and Rebecca (Hallett) Jackson;
m. (3) Jacob Fitz Randolph."
(The only problem I have with this record is that other old sources show that Mary's first husband, William Thorne, was the son of
Joseph and Martha (Bowne) Thorne of Flushing. The author corrects this in the 1950 record.)
The book "The Descendants of Edward Fitz Randolph and Elizabeth Blossom 1630 – 1950" by Louise Aymar Christian
and Howard Stelle Fitz Randolph, published in 1950, adds a lot to our knowledge of the Fitz Randolph family but introduces a
problem in the Jackson family which was not in Ms. Christian's earlier 1943 article.
First is a quote from the troubling pages 20 and 21 of the book:
"Mary Fitz Randolph, born May 24, 1710 at Woodbridge, N.J.;
(1) married first in 1728/9, William Thorne, born 5 mo. 15, 1706 at Flushing, N.Y., son of Joseph and Martha Johanna (Bowne)
Thorne. The first intentions were published in the Rahway and Plainfield Meeting in 12 mo. 1728/9; and the second intentions
1 mo. 20, 1728/9. William Thorne died in 1735, and administration on his estate was granted to Mary and her eldest brother,
Richard Fitz Randolph on May 20, 1735." The book names 5 children of this marriage. No question here.
(2) "Soon after she SEEMS TO HAVE married second, a cousin whose surname was Fitz Randolph but it has not been determined whom she
married. This MIGHT HAVE BEEN Joseph Fitz Randolph."
No proof offered for this marriage.
Nothing is said about his will or estate; not even a date of
death.
(3) "On March 16, 1744, Mary, listed as "Mary Fitzpatrick, Spinster," married for her third husband, Marmaduke Horseman, who must
have been in his eighties. His will, dated Feb. 25, 1748/9, mentions his wife Mary."
Other references to the marriage of Marmaduke
Horseman state that both he and the SPINSTER Mary FITZPATRICK are from Monmouth County, not Middlesex County. No indications that
this is widow Mary Fitz Randolph-Thorne-Fitz Randolph.
(4) "As Mary Horseman, Mary married for her fourth husband, license dated May 26, 1749, James Jackson, b June 4, 1704.
Administration on his estate was granted to his widow Mary on Nov. 6, 1750."
Now in this later record, the author
leaves out the information on James' birth and parents.
Again, this marriage takes place in Monmouth County.
"Mary is mentioned several times in wills. Her brother Hugh Fitz Randolph mentioned her in his will of 4 mo, 23 1748, her portion
to go to her children. In the will of her brother Edward is mentioned his
'nephew, Edward Thorne, son of my sister Mary Jackson'.
And the will of her father, Edward Fitz Randolph, dated Sept. 4, 1759, mentions his daughter Mary Jackson and her eight children."
I've capitalized a lot of conjecture above. Doubt about this record was first noticed when a Rahway/Woodbridge Quaker record was
found for a James 'Jacson' and wife Mary and children were found. The children were born between 1740 and 1745 and at that time,
I had not seen the 1943 record and there was no way to prove this James was the son of James Jackson and Rebecca Hallett.
There was only one other Jacson family in the whole of the
Woodbridge Monthly Meeting and that was another family headed
by William Jacson with his wife Prudence and their young
children. This suggested to me that these were brothers who had
moved to the area and had not been long established families
there. The fact that James did have a brother William only
strengthened my belief that these Jacson men were sons of James
and Rebecca.
Dr. Anthony L. Troha raised the question also saying in his research he had found that the book "The Heroes of the American
Revolution and Their Descendants - Battle of Long Island" by Henry Whittmore, The Heroes of the American Revolution Publishing
Company (1997). An article on pg 94 on James Jackson Sr. lists his children and includes the information: "James, born June 4, 1704,
married first, Sarah Thorne, second, Mary Thorne. (Note: not her maiden name Fitz Randolph or her widow name Horseman; but
instead her widow name Thorne which would agree with the 1943
NEGHS article.)
Mary Powell Bunker's 1895 book "Long Island Genealogies" page 105 says that James Jackson married Sarah Thorn,
d/o Joseph Thorne and Mary Bowne. The same book, page 221 says
that James married 1st Sarah Thorne and 2nd Mary Thorne without
giving Mary's parents. But it appears that the wives were
cousins, not sisters.
Now this 1736/7 marriage date and parental information recorded in the NEHGS
is just what we needed to confirm the young Jacson family
in Woodbridge with children
born between 1740 and 1750 were the grandchildren of James Jackson and Rebecca Hallett. The James Jackson who married 1749
in Monmouth County
was not the son of James and Rebecca (Hallett) Jackson.
Currently, it is not known that any of the many Jackson families
in Monmouth County are related to the Hempstead Jacksons.
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