Teammates,
Here is the next increment, consisting of two documents.
The first is an excerpt from the New Jersey Calendar of Wills book. This page shows that Samuel Bonnell submitted an inventory of the estate of Owen Sullivan on 8 January 1759. I suspect that the same Samuel Bonnell (either senior or junior) was the one who took this inventory, was named constable of Windsor in 1762, and was the Juror on the court case in 1764. I say this because all of these activities seem to require being known and of good standing to the court. During my next trip to New Jersey, it would probably be worthwhile to get a copy of this inventory in hopes of comparing signatures.
The first is an excerpt from the New Jersey Calendar of Wills book. This page shows that Samuel Bonnell submitted an inventory of the estate of Owen Sullivan on 8 January 1759. I suspect that the same Samuel Bonnell (either senior or junior) was the one who took this inventory, was named constable of Windsor in 1762, and was the Juror on the court case in 1764. I say this because all of these activities seem to require being known and of good standing to the court. During my next trip to New Jersey, it would probably be worthwhile to get a copy of this inventory in hopes of comparing signatures.
The second document is a microfilm excerpt for a court case between Peter Rossell and Charles Rossell. This is the document that opened the trail to everything else we have found. This court case was lengthy, but the microfilm image was poor, so I only made a copy of these two pages. Unfortunately, this writ, while readable, did not turn out to be the most important document in the file for our purposes. It is on other pages that mention was made of Peter Rossell being from New Windsor. The dates on this file are confusing. The first page lists the year as 1753. The "year of our reign" in the writ, however, calculates to 1756. Finally, the case is cataloged in the indexes as 1758-1759. During my next trip, I'll have to pull the original copy from the stacks so that we can have better images and the complete document to work with. Note that this debt case is for a much more considerable sum (200 pounds) than anything we have seen from Jacob Wright or the Bonnells. All indications are that the Rossells were the more affluent of the households.
I know all of this can be hard to follow, so I've entered all the documents we have into a spreadsheet, color coded by individual but grouped by location. I'll continue to add to it as we go along, and please let me know if I've missed anything.
John Bunnell
Here is the next increment, consisting of two documents.
The first is an excerpt from the New Jersey Calendar of Wills book. This page shows that Samuel Bonnell submitted an inventory of the estate of Owen Sullivan on 8 January 1759. I suspect that the same Samuel Bonnell (either senior or junior) was the one who took this inventory, was named constable of Windsor in 1762, and was the Juror on the court case in 1764. I say this because all of these activities seem to require being known and of good standing to the court. During my next trip to New Jersey, it would probably be worthwhile to get a copy of this inventory in hopes of comparing signatures.
The first is an excerpt from the New Jersey Calendar of Wills book. This page shows that Samuel Bonnell submitted an inventory of the estate of Owen Sullivan on 8 January 1759. I suspect that the same Samuel Bonnell (either senior or junior) was the one who took this inventory, was named constable of Windsor in 1762, and was the Juror on the court case in 1764. I say this because all of these activities seem to require being known and of good standing to the court. During my next trip to New Jersey, it would probably be worthwhile to get a copy of this inventory in hopes of comparing signatures.
The second document is a microfilm excerpt for a court case between Peter Rossell and Charles Rossell. This is the document that opened the trail to everything else we have found. This court case was lengthy, but the microfilm image was poor, so I only made a copy of these two pages. Unfortunately, this writ, while readable, did not turn out to be the most important document in the file for our purposes. It is on other pages that mention was made of Peter Rossell being from New Windsor. The dates on this file are confusing. The first page lists the year as 1753. The "year of our reign" in the writ, however, calculates to 1756. Finally, the case is cataloged in the indexes as 1758-1759. During my next trip, I'll have to pull the original copy from the stacks so that we can have better images and the complete document to work with. Note that this debt case is for a much more considerable sum (200 pounds) than anything we have seen from Jacob Wright or the Bonnells. All indications are that the Rossells were the more affluent of the households.
I know all of this can be hard to follow, so I've entered all the documents we have into a spreadsheet, color coded by individual but grouped by location. I'll continue to add to it as we go along, and please let me know if I've missed anything.
John Bunnell
__________________________________________________________________________________
Transcription of New Jersey Superior Court Case #32913 (1753-1759): Rossell, Peter v. Rossell, Charles
Mid’x Common Pleas
Peter Rossell } _____
v } _____
Chalres Rossell } £200
November Term 1753
Plea debt
Cepi Corpus
Ben Biles Sh.
New Jersey fs. George the second by the grace of God of Great Britain France & Ireland King Defender of the Faith &c to our Sheriff of our County of Hunterdon Greeting We Command you As before We Commanded you that you take Charles Rossell if he may be found within Your Bailiwick & him safely keep so that you may have his Body before us at our City of Burlington on the first Tuesday in November next to answer Peter Rossell of a Plea of Tresspass and also to the Bill of him the said Peter against the said Charles for Two hundred Pounds Proclamation money upon his Assumption According to the Custom of our Court before us then & there to be Exhibited and have you then & there this Writt Witness Robert Hursten Morris Esq’r Chief Justice of our City of Perth Amboy the Nineteenth day of August in the Twenty ninth Year of our Reign
Read Att’y Read
The spreadsheet is a very helpful approach for summarizing all of these references. I know you have some earlier documents yet to be added which should lead back to Samuel Bunnell in Woodbridge. The documentation for the references in Woodbridge in 1707, 1710, and 1715 are secondary documents - transcriptions rather than originals, but probably should be added. The 1707 one needs to be investigated further since the two transcriptions differ. While it is probably the birth record for Samuel, Jr., one transcription lists it under the heading of marriage records. The 1720 record of Samuel as a witness to the will of John Bishop in Woodbridge is from the New Jersey Calendar of Wills. I suggest that you add Woodbridge, NJ as a separate location in the spreadsheet with those four references to Samuel Bunnell (Sr.) The 1732 debt suit that you have briefly mentioned lists him in Somerset County - which could mean that he was still in Woodbridge - or elsewhere in Somerset at that time.
ReplyDeleteAlthough we have no references to Samuel Bonnell in Hunterdon County, NJ so far, I suspect that he may have also lived in Hopewell Township for a time. That's the most likely place that he would have first become acquainted with the Rossells and Grays. Also, the two suits regarding debts to Hezekiah and Zachariah Stout point there since they were residents of Hopewell. Perhaps some of the earlier documents that you haven't yet got down to in your stack will add some insight regarding his earlier location(s). Somerset County, New Windsor in Middlesex, and Hopewell in Hunterdon all adjoined near Princeton at that time.
George Farris
Thanks for the spread sheet. It helps sort it out.
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