Ancestor Birthday - June 20th - Martha FitzRandolph 1758 - 1837

Martha FitzRandolph was my 4th great-grandmother, born 20 Jun 1758, the daughter of Reuben and Elizabeth (Moores) FitzRandolph, in Woodbridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey. My website includes very little information about her.

By looking at other trees and a few available online documents I have come to the following conclusions. Sometime around 1777 Martha married Elias Marsh, the eldest son of Joseph Marsh in New Jersey. It appears they had 7 children and the family moved to Columbiana County, Ohio by 1806, when Elias was received on certificate at the Quaker Salem Monthly Meeting.

They were still living in Columbiana County in 1820 when Elias died. Martha and her son Elias were appointed as adminstrators of the estate. They signed the bond 14 Dec 1820. I believe that Elias did not have a will since they were adminstrators, not executors.

Eventually Martha went to Butler County Ohio where she lived with her daughter, Mary Webster. Martha died 7 Nov 1837 in Monroe Township, Butler County and was buried in Spring Hill Cemetery.

Tomorrow I'll give some of my conclusions about Martha and Elias' children. .

Ancestor Birthday - March 31st - Elizabeth Moores 1734 - 1817

On February 3rd I wrote about Reuben FitzRandolph, who was the husband of Elizabeth Moores. They are my 5th great-grandparents. Neither of them have much information on their person pages on my website.

Looking further at Elizabeth I can see things that made me happy and sad about her. I was happy when a fellow researcher provided me with copies from the family history, Ancestors and Descendants of Lewis Ross Freeman with related families by Patty Barthell Myers. I was glad because it included Elizabeth with 3 generations of her Moores ancestors.

But I was sad when I read about her life. At first it wasn't sad. Elizabeth was born 31 Mar 1734 to John and Mary (Brittain) Moores in Woodbridge, New Jersey. On her 20th birthday in 1754 she married Reuben FitzRandolph. Here is a timeline for about the next 15 years for her children.

• 1754 John is born
• 1757 Frances is born
• 1758 Martha is born
• 1760 Frances died
• 1761 Mary is born
• 1763 Mary died
• 1764 Reuben is born
• 1765 John died
• 1766 Elizabeth is born
• 1767 Elizabeth died

So in that length of time, six children had been born and four died, so Elizabeth had only two surviving children.

It was probably after the beginning of the Revolutionary War that her one surviving daughter Martha, my 4th great-grandmother, married Elias Marsh around 1777. I have not found any more information about her son Reuben, other than he was apparently still alive when his father died in 1784. Elizabeth, Martha and Reuben shared the inheritance. I have not seen any record that Elizabeth remarried.

The family history states that Elizabeth died 17 Mar 1817 at New Garden, Ohio. This was just 2 weeks short of her 83rd birthday. She probably was with her daughter and family who had moved to Ohio in 1806 and eventually were members of the Quaker New Garden Monthly Meeting in Columbiana County, Ohio. So maybe the latter years of Elizabeth's life were not so unhappy.

Ancestor Birthday - February 3rd - Reuben Fitzrandolph 1733/34-1784

Reuben Fitzrandolph, my 5th great-grandfather, is one of those ancestors on my website with just the barest amount of information; birth, death, marriage and names of children. Most of this information comes from a family history: The Descendants of Edward Fitz Randolph and Elizabeth Blossom 1630-1950, by Louise Aymar Christian and Howard Stelle Fitz Randolph, published in 1950.

He was born at Blazing Star in Middlesex County, New Jersey, on 3 Feb 1733/34, the son of Jacob Fitzrandolph. Jacob apparently married a cousin Mary, but that seems to be after the birth of Reuben. Reuben married Elizabeth Moores at Woodbridge 31 Mar 1754. They had six children, four of whom died while young. Reuben's will named a wife Elizabeth, a son Reuben and a daughter Martha who had married Elias Marsh. Martha is my 4th great-grandmother. Apparently he wrote his will on 6 Aug 1784, before his death on 18 Aug 1784. The will was proved 7 May 1785.

He had died before the first U.S. census in 1790, but that didn't make much difference because the 1790 census for New Jersey no longer exists.

By looking at the dates you can see that Reuben lived during the time of the Revolutionary War. In the past, as least two women have joined the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) as his descendants. Both claimed he was captain of the 2nd regiment, one saying in Monmouth County N.J. and the other Middlesex County N.J. The family history I've used gives no comment about any military service for him. So I need to do more research about this.

An interesting fact about Reuben is related in the family history. He "was the founder of the Blazing Star ferry from Rahway Neck, N.J., to Staten Island, N.Y." His will indicates he was then living on Staten Island. The location on Staten Island formerly called Blazing Star is now known as Rossville. So far, he is my only ancestor who established a ferry line.