This is the second post in a series about two of my maternal ancestors, John Smith Sr. and his son John Smith Jr. As described in the first post, John Smith Sr of Sussex County, New Jersey and New Brunswick, Canada, both men were Loyalists who served in the New Jersey Volunteers during the Revolutionary War.¹ John Sr. appears on a 1773 Oxford Township tax list.² Some of his children appear in Sussex County records after the war.³

But which two of the several soldiers named John Smith were they? Their Sussex County ties and the company they kept before, during, and after the war, including in Upper Canada, give us clues.

Where they lived: A County with a Tory Reputation

On 24 January 1777, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail from Easton, Pennsylvania, after an arduous journey across northern New Jersey. He had left Massachusetts on 9 January to rejoin the Continental Congress, then meeting in Baltimore.⁴ His inland route took him through Sussex County and across the Delaware River to Easton.⁵ He wrote:

… We have passed through the famous County of Sussex in New Jersey, where the Sussex Court House stands and where We have so often been told the Tories are so numerous and so dangerous. We met with no Molestation, nor Insult. We stopped at some of the most noted Tory Houses, and were treated every where with the Utmost Respect. Upon the strictest Inquiry I could make, I was assured that a great Majority of the Inhabitants are stanch Whiggs. Sussex they say can take Care of Sussex, and yet all agree that there are more Tories in that County [than in a]ny other. If the British Army should get into that County in sufficient Numbers to protect the Tories there is no doubt to be made they would be insolent enough and malicious and revengefull. But there is no danger at present and will be none untill that Event takes Place …⁶

Adams was not writing about Sussex from a distance. The previous day he had visited the Moravian mills at Hope, near Oxford.⁷

Adams’s visit came only three days after a young soldier recorded as “John Smith Junr.” enlisted in the Fifth Battalion of the New Jersey Volunteers, a Loyalist regiment that fought alongside British forces.⁹ I believe this was the same John Jr. who petitioned for land in Upper Canada twenty-seven years later and said that both he and his father had served in the Jersey Volunteers.¹⁰

John Smith Senior and Junior of Oxford

A notice published in the New-Jersey Gazette on 16 September 1778 reported inquisitions found on 20 June 1778 against Sussex County men accused of having “joined, aided or assisted the army of the King of Great-Britain.” The notice named sixty-three men in four township groups: sixteen late of Greenwich, twenty late of Oxford, twenty-two late of Knowlton, and five late of Mansfield Woodhouse. Among the twenty identified as late of Oxford were Peter Appleman, David Young, Reuben Green, Michael Lemon, John Smith Senior, and John Smith Junior. The same notice separately named Robert Thompson among the men described as late of Mansfield Woodhouse.¹¹

Two names in the notice connect to Eleanor, daughter of the elder John Smith. David Young, named among the Oxford men, was her first husband. Her 1797 petition confirms the marriage and describes Young’s wartime service within the British lines.¹³ Robert Thompson, named separately among the Mansfield Woodhouse men, was likely the man who became her second husband after Young’s death around 1780.¹⁴ In 1780 Eleanor served as administratrix of Young’s estate, and Robert Thompson was a bondsman for the administration; both were described as residents of Oxford Township.¹⁵ By the date of her Upper Canada petition, 3 March 1797, Eleanor was Robert Thompson’s wife.¹⁶

In a history of Sussex County published in The Wantage Recorder in 1910, Charles E. Stickney described the August 1778 court term. His account named “John Smith,” “John Smith, Jr.,” and David Young among those indicted for “joining the army of the King of Great Britain.” Robert Thompson, named in the newspaper’s inquisition notice, does not appear in Stickney’s printed indictment list.¹⁸

The original indictment has not been located. In response to an inquiry, the New Jersey State Archives reported that its staff found no 1778 indictment for John Smith in the records it holds. The Archives also explained that the Sussex County clerk did not transfer the county minute books and that the entry might remain in books still held by the county.²⁰

According to Stickney, the accused men were called three times at the August 1778 court term. They did not appear, so the court entered a default and directed officials to proceed against their property.²¹ His account agrees with the contemporary notice on the two John Smith names, though it omits the newspaper’s “Senior” designation. Together the sources place two men called John Smith Senior and Junior in the Oxford group accused of joining or aiding the King’s army. Neither source states a father-and-son relationship. The reason to consider one is the 1804 petition in which John Smith says that he and his deceased father, also named John Smith, served in the Jersey Volunteers.²² The military rolls and Oxford connections that follow test whether the petitioner and his father were the men named in Sussex.

The Army of the King of Great Britain: The New Jersey Volunteers

The Sussex notice accused men of having “joined, aided or assisted” the King’s army. Those words covered military service as well as aid to British forces. One Loyalist unit that recruited in Sussex was the New Jersey Volunteers, a provincial corps raised from American recruits and equipped by the Crown.²³

Brigadier General Cortlandt Skinner began raising the New Jersey Volunteers in late 1776. Its battalions drew recruits from different parts of New Jersey. Joseph Barton of Newton raised the regiment’s Fifth Battalion chiefly among Sussex County Loyalists beginning in late 1776. The battalion later served on Staten Island, where Barton and approximately thirty of its men were captured during an American attack on 22 August 1777.²⁴

The Fifth Battalion ceased to exist as an independent unit on 25 April 1778, when it was combined with the former First Battalion to create a reorganized First Battalion. Many of its officers and enlisted men continued in the new unit. A Sussex recruit may therefore appear on Fifth Battalion rolls before the consolidation and on First Battalion rolls afterward.²⁵

The underlying muster rolls survive among the British military records held by Library and Archives Canada. These periodic company lists record names and ranks and frequently note whether a soldier was present, sick, on guard, recruiting, deserted, dead, or “prisoner with the rebels.” They allow individual military careers—including those of several men named in the Sussex proceedings—to be followed through time and across the battalion’s reorganization.²⁶

Two John Smith Careers in the Fifth Battalion

The rolls preserve two distinct John Smith careers. One soldier is named Junior and was captured in 1777; the other continued to appear in the battalion while Junior was a prisoner. A later company roll carries both men.

The Younger Soldier

A roll of Captain Silas Hopkins’s company calls one soldier “John Smith Junr.” It records his enlistment on 20 January 1777 and marks him “absent with leave.” Christopher Insley was the company’s lieutenant. A later Benjamin Barton company roll lists Insley and a private named John Smith together.²⁷

During the Continental attack on Staten Island on 22 August 1777, Junior was captured. Benjamin Barton’s company return listed a John Smith as a prisoner five days later. A First Battalion roll of July 1779 still carried “John Smith Junior” as a prisoner, preserving the name and status after the battalion’s reorganization.²⁹

A First Battalion roll of Colonel Cortlandt Skinner’s company, covering the period through 24 August 1783, lists a John Smith among the “Prisoners with the Enemy.” The roll omits “Junior,” but an earlier First Battalion roll expressly calls its prisoner “John Smith Junior.”³²

The August 1778 court term fell between rolls that recorded Junior as a prisoner. If the captured soldier was the Oxford Junior, his captivity would explain why he did not appear when the Sussex defendants were called.³³

The regiment recorded what happened to two other men captured in the Staten Island attack: John Hasselbacher escaped in September 1777, and James Davis was exchanged. The same 7 May 1778 roll recorded both outcomes, while John Smith Junior was still listed as a prisoner in July 1779. His release has not been located.³⁴

The Second Soldier

A second John Smith enlisted on 11 June 1777.³⁵

On 27 August 1777, Lieutenant-Colonel Barton’s company return placed John Smith at entry 29, Henry Boughner at 32, and David Young at 34. Four men on the return were marked as prisoners; this John Smith was not one of them. The record thus follows the second soldier while Junior was in Continental custody. Boughner also appears as Buchner in other records.³⁶

On the muster of 3 October, he was serving in Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Barton’s company and recorded “on Guard” at Carle’s Neck. Junior had already been a prisoner for more than a month.³⁸

Captain James Shaw’s company roll of 7 May 1778 carries both men in the reorganized First Battalion. John Smith at no. 18 was “Confined in Guard House”; John Smith at no. 44 appeared among thirteen “Prisoners with Rebels.” The second entry fits Junior’s continuing captivity. The roll does not explain why the other John Smith was held in the guardhouse.³⁹

The roll was made about six weeks before the Sussex inquisitions. Fourteen of the sixty-three men in the newspaper notice appear among the sixty officers and men of Shaw’s company. The overlap includes both John Smith entries and Michael Lemon from Oxford, the Kitchen men from Greenwich, and men named in the Knowlton and Mansfield Woodhouse groups. The spellings vary across the two records.⁴¹

The second John continued on the rolls through the battalion’s reorganization. A later return recorded his desertion on 24 November 1778. No located military roll calls him Senior; his recorded duty within the British lines while Junior was held prisoner establishes that they were different soldiers.⁴²

Comparing the John Smiths in the New Jersey Volunteers

The rolls show two soldiers in Barton’s Fifth Battalion who were later carried in the reorganized First Battalion. Other battalions recorded men with the same name. Comparing their service and Sussex connections helps identify which entries best fit the Oxford Senior and Junior.

The two entries in Shaw’s company are distinguished by their simultaneous but different statuses. The examined Second and Fourth Battalion rolls supply no comparable cluster of names from the Sussex notice. Their gaps in dating and identification still matter: the comparison favors the First Battalion pair but does not independently name its second soldier as Senior.⁴⁹

Stickney also wondered whether a John Smith on an adjutant-general’s list of Continental soldiers was Senior or Junior. His question arose in 1910, and the Continental soldier’s identity remains open. Other Sussex men named John Smith will be examined in a later post.⁵⁰

The Oxford Families Around the Soldiers

The 1778 notice placed the two John Smiths in Oxford, while naming associates in Oxford, Greenwich, and Mansfield Woodhouse. Their earlier petitions, wartime rolls, estate papers, and Upper Canadian petitions show how these families remained connected before, during, and after the war. A neighbor who signed a petition with a John Smith, a relative who served in the same battalion, and a former associate who reappeared in Upper Canada each adds context to the proposed identification. An unsigned relationship in one record cannot distinguish among several men named John Smith; repeated links to relatives, comrades, and later migrants make the proposed identification more specific.

Van Nest, Hollinshead, and Their Oxford Neighbors

John Van Nest, Joseph Hollinshead, Christopher Insley, and Thomas Parry recur across prewar petitions, Fifth Battalion rolls, and later Oxford estate and land records. Their overlapping associations connect a John Smith on the petitions to people who appear in Junior’s military service and in his sister Eleanor’s household.

Christopher Insley supported Van Nest’s tavern petition in 1764. In May 1772, Van Nest witnessed Joseph and Susannah Hollinshead’s deed to Insley.⁵²

That November, a John Smith signed Aser Carter’s tavern petition with Van Nest, Hollinshead, Wheeler and Henry Kitchen, Boltis Appleman, and John McMurtrie. Wheeler and Henry were the fathers of John and Andrew Kitchen, whose names later appeared with both John Smith entries on Shaw’s roll. The Smiths were assessed in Oxford in 1773 and the Kitchens in Greenwich in 1774. The petition records an association across township lines; it does not tell us which John Smith signed.⁵³

By 1777, Insley was a lieutenant in the Fifth Battalion. A Hopkins company roll names “John Smith Junr.” among the men serving under him; a later Barton company roll names both Insley and Junior during the muster period in which Junior was captured.⁵⁴ The 1778 Sussex notice names Christopher “Inslee” among the Greenwich men and John Smith Senior and Junior among the Oxford men. The spelling differs, and the notice gives no rank, so identifying “Inslee” as Lieutenant Insley remains an inference. Junior served under an officer with documented prewar ties to Van Nest and Hollinshead; their petitions name a John Smith without specifying which one.

David Young, the first husband of the elder John Smith’s daughter Eleanor, also belonged to this wartime circle. Named with Senior and Junior among the Oxford defendants in 1778, he had enlisted in Barton’s Fifth Battalion on 20 April 1777. By January 1778 he was a second corporal; a later roll reported his desertion on 14 November 1778.⁵⁵

Young’s 1780 estate records place Eleanor and her future husband Robert Thompson in Oxford. Thomas Parry helped take the inventory. He had signed earlier petitions with a John Smith, Hollinshead, McMurtrie, and Van Nest, so the estate record connects Eleanor’s household with people already visible in the prewar Oxford petitions.⁵⁶

Parry appears again in a 1781 Oxford road return. The route ran from the plantation of Nicholas Smith past Robert Hoops and Benjamin Saxton, into the Hollinshead tract at the lot occupied by Parry, and toward the Delaware-to-Oxford-Furnace road. Nicholas Smith’s relationship, if any, to John Smith Senior and Junior has not been established.⁵⁸ On 10 February 1782, Hoops conveyed approximately thirty acres from the former Joseph Hollinshead tract to James Hyndshaw. One boundary was land “held by John Smith.” The deed places land held by a John Smith beside a parcel from the Hollinshead tract in the Oxford neighborhood described by the road return.⁵⁹

This Oxford parcel was separate from the approximately 201-acre Hollinshead property conveyed to Christopher Insley in Greenwich Township in 1772. The 1782 deed identifies the adjoining landholder only as John Smith, without a seniority label or family relationship. Which John Smith held that land remains uncertain.

Reuben Green and David Palmer

Reuben Green and David Palmer both lead back to John Green’s Oxford family. Reuben served with the second John Smith, while Palmer helped appraise John Green’s estate. Palmer’s later petition identifies Sussex County as his former home and follows his family into Upper Canada.

Reuben Green appears with the second John Smith and David Young in Barton’s company, and the 1778 notice names him with Senior and Junior among the Oxford men. He belonged to John Green’s Oxford family.⁶⁰

Palmer appears on Oxford’s 1773 tax list and helped appraise John Green’s estate in 1784. In a petition dated at Forty Mile Creek on 5 July 1795, David Palmer explicitly identified himself as a former resident and miller of Sussex County. He said that he had aided Loyalists, helped obtain recruits for the British army, and brought his wife and children to Upper Canada in 1788. His stated Sussex origin makes him a strong candidate for the David Palmer on Oxford’s 1773 tax list and in John Green’s 1784 estate records.⁶¹ Francis Goring’s journal mentions a David Palmer (Parmer) at Thirty Mile Creek in 1803 and refers to Palmer’s wife at his house.⁶²

Peter Appleman

Peter Appleman signed a 1773 Oxford tavern petition with a John Smith; the 1778 notice later named him alongside Senior and Junior among the Oxford men.⁶³

His British compensation claim states that his property was confiscated because he had joined the King’s troops in 1776. William Current and William Louder, described as former near neighbors, supported his property evidence, and Joseph Barton certified their credibility and near-neighbor status.⁶⁴

Appleman’s military unit is still uncertain. No secure entry for him has been located in the New Jersey Volunteers rolls examined for this study.⁶⁵

The Lemons and the Camps or Kemps

Michael Lemon appears with both John Smith soldiers on Shaw’s roll. A second man named Lemon, Jacob, later signed a Canadian land-petition certificate with Robert Camp or Kemp, who married the elder John Smith’s daughter Elizabeth. That combination brings the wartime company and Elizabeth’s Upper Canadian circle into the same discussion.

Michael Lemon appears on Shaw’s 7 May 1778 company return with both John Smith entries, one confined in the guardhouse and the other among the “Prisoners with Rebels.” The Sussex notice then names “Michael Lemmon” with Senior and Junior among the Oxford men. Shaw’s roll also carries Andrew Kitchen, John Clendenning, John Gorman, Thomas Richardson, and John Cummins, all named in the notice.⁶⁶

The Oxford designation in the notice and the overlap of names support identifying the soldier with the Sussex defendant. Neither document specifies the soldier’s Oxford residence or establishes a relationship between Michael and Jacob Lemon.

Robert Camp or Kemp married Elizabeth Smith, daughter of the elder John Smith. According to Robert’s 1797 petition, they arrived in Upper Canada in 1792 with two children—the earliest documented arrival there among Elizabeth’s siblings.⁶⁷ On 22 September 1796, Robert Camp, David Kamp, and Jacob Lemon signed a certificate supporting William Current’s Upper Canadian land petition. Current had also testified as a former near neighbor in Peter Appleman’s British compensation claim.⁶⁸

Swayze, Younglove, and Boughner

The Swayze, Younglove, and Boughner families connect the two John Smith careers to different parts of the same Sussex community. A John Smith signed Israel Swayze’s tavern petition; Israel’s daughter married Junior’s company commander; and Younglove and Henry Boughner served in Barton’s company with the second John. Members of these families later appear together in Upper Canadian petitions.

In May 1770, a John Smith signed Israel Swayze’s tavern-license petition alongside John McMurtrie and John Van Nest.⁶⁹ Israel died in 1774. His will named three children whose later histories are relevant here: Mary, wife of Silas Hopkins; Mehitable, wife of Peter Hopkins; and a son also named Israel.⁷⁰

Mary’s husband, Captain Silas Hopkins, commanded the Fifth Battalion company whose roll records “John Smith Junr.”⁷¹ Mary and Silas later settled in Upper Canada.⁷² After Peter’s death, Mehitable petitioned for land in Upper Canada. She stated that both she and Peter had helped Loyalists and people in British service during the war.⁷³

Israel’s son and namesake also settled in Upper Canada. A 1791 land-board record described him as a Loyalist living in Thorold Township.⁷⁴ His 1797 petition stated that he had arrived in the province in 1787.⁷⁵

Ezekiel Younglove appears in Barton’s company in early 1778 with David Young, Reuben Green, and John Smith.⁷⁶ When Younglove sought land in Upper Canada, both Israel and his cousin Isaac Swayze signed in support of his petition, along with members of the Beemer family and Henry Buchner.⁷⁷

Henry Boughner stood at entry 32 of Barton’s 27 August 1777 company return, near the second John Smith at entry 29 and David Young at entry 34.⁷⁸ Boughner or Buchner family members also appear in prewar Oxford records, accounts of help given to Loyalist partisan James Moody, and later Upper Canadian records. The older Henry in the 1773 records and a younger soldier or Canadian man with the same name cannot be assumed to be one person.⁷⁹

James Moody and the Support behind Military Service

James Moody brings the Boughner evidence back to Junior’s battalion. A January 1778 Barton-company return names Moody while it still carries John Smith Junior as a prisoner in Continental custody. Their shared appearance establishes a battalion connection; it does not record personal contact.⁸⁰

Moody had left Sussex County for the British lines with more than seventy neighbors in April 1777. He initially served in the New Jersey Volunteers without pay and returned to northern New Jersey to gather information and recruit men for the British forces.⁸¹

His Sussex operations relied on local help. In a 1795 Upper Canadian land petition, Matthias Boughner said that he had hidden Moody and his party in his house and supplied arms, ammunition, and provisions after Moody’s failed attempt to capture Governor William Livingston.⁸² A separate certificate said that Henry Buchner Senior and his family had sheltered Moody.⁸³ Nathaniel Pettit reported that Henry Boughner, Matthias Boughner, and Jacob Beam had been imprisoned, indicted, and fined for supplying and guiding him. These accounts show the local support available to British recruiters in the community from which the two John Smith soldiers are thought to have come.⁸⁴

After the War: The Smith Family in the Records

A First Battalion roll dated 1 July 1779 still listed John Smith Junior as a prisoner.⁸⁵ A Skinner-company roll covering the period through 24 August 1783 still listed the First Battalion’s prisoner John Smith, without repeating the Junior label.⁸⁶ Junior’s release date and route out of custody have not been located. The elder John’s last located military entry reports his desertion on 24 November 1778. No surviving record currently shows where he went afterward.⁸⁷

Loyalists evacuated New York in 1783 for Nova Scotia and for settlements that became New Brunswick the following year. That movement offers a possible context for the family’s later report that the elder John died in New Brunswick, but no located record establishes when or how he reached the province.⁸⁸

A 1786 claim shows how difficult it can be to follow the Sussex proceedings after the war. On 16 March, Archibald Stewart, the former sheriff of Sussex County, sought reimbursement for money he had become liable to pay on behalf of John Smith and Joseph Barton. Stewart stated that their estates had been confiscated before he could recover the debt. In proceedings dated 17 March, an Assembly committee reported that it could not find in the auditor’s books that commissioners had taken John Smith’s property.⁸⁹ The 1778 inquisition had named both Oxford John Smiths. Stewart’s claim does not establish which man was his debtor.

Records of the children show continuing ties to Sussex County. John Sr’s son David Smith married Mary Kennedy there on 21 January 1796. Their marriage entry says “both their parents being present,” but does not name the parents or establish whether David’s father was among them.⁹¹

By 1797, daughter Eleanor was in Upper Canada. Her petition identified her as David Young’s widow and Robert Thompson’s wife.⁹² Petitions submitted by or for Eleanor and her sister Elizabeth reported that their father had died in New Brunswick.⁹³ Meanwhile, another daughter, Cornelia Smith, married William Shingler in Sussex County on 22 March 1798.⁹⁴ The children’s records place members of the family on both sides of the border without tracing their father’s movements after 1778.

On 2 January 1804, the younger John petitioned for land in Upper Canada. He stated that he had served during the Revolution and that his deceased father, John Smith, had also served in the Jersey Volunteers. The petition brings the two men together again in a family record after the wartime rolls fall silent.⁹⁵

The Oxford Men and the Upper Canadian Petition

The 1778 Sussex notice names John Smith Senior and Junior among the Oxford men accused of aiding the King’s army.⁹⁷ Shaw’s roll carries two John Smiths among twelve other names that match the names in the 1778 notice; earlier and later rolls identify the captured soldier as Junior.⁹⁸ The First Battalion continued to list its prisoner John Smith on a roll ending 24 August 1783.⁹⁹

Family evidence makes the match more specific. David Young, the elder John’s son-in-law, appears with the Oxford Smiths in the Sussex notice and served in Barton’s company with the second John Smith.¹⁰⁰ In 1804, a John Smith petitioning in Upper Canada stated that he and his deceased father, also John Smith, had served in the Jersey Volunteers.¹⁰¹

The Oxford Senior and Junior are the strongest match for the two soldiers traced from the Fifth Battalion into the reorganized First. The captured Junior most likely became the Upper Canadian petitioner; the second soldier most likely was his father. The rolls do not call that second soldier Senior, and the petition does not name their battalion or companies. Their shared Oxford setting, overlapping military careers, and family connections make the identification persuasive despite those gaps.

Notes

1. John Smith, petition dated 2 January 1804, Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, vol. 453, bundle S 6, petition 63, microfilm C-2809, Library and Archives Canada; digitized petition PDF. The general Library and Archives Canada land-petitions guide is also available at land-petitions guide. ↩

2. Oxford Township tax ratables, Sussex County, July 1773, New Jersey State Archives, Tax Ratables SAS00001, Book 1801; digital copy. ↩

3. Sussex County marriage entries: David Smith and Mary Kennedy, 21 January 1796, digital image; Cornelia Smith and William Shingler, 22 March 1798, digital image. ↩

4. John Adams to Abigail Adams, 9 January 1777, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 2, June 1776–March 1778, ed. L. H. Butterfield (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963), 144–145, Massachusetts Historical Society digital edition. Adams wrote from Dedham after leaving home that morning; the editors note that Congress had reassembled in Baltimore on 20 December 1776. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, vol. 7, January 1–May 21, 1777, ed. Worthington C. Ford (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1907), 86, Library of Congress digital copy, records Adams taking his seat on 4 February 1777. ↩

5. John Adams to Abigail Adams, 24 January 1777, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 2, 148–149, Founders Online; the editors’ itinerary accompanying Adams’s 9 January letter lists Sussex Court House, Oxford Township, Oxford, Greenwich, the Delaware River, and Easton, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 2, 144–145, Massachusetts Historical Society digital edition. ↩

6. “John Adams to Abigail Adams, 24 January 1777,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-02-02-0106. Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 2, June 1776 – March 1778, ed. L. H. Butterfield (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963), p. 149. Adams wrote from Easton, Pennsylvania. The bracketed reading follows the Founders Online transcription. ↩

7. “John Adams to Abigail Adams, 24 January 1777,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-02-02-0106. Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 2, June 1776 – March 1778, ed. L. H. Butterfield (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963), p. 149. Adams wrote from Easton, Pennsylvania. The bracketed reading follows the Founders Online transcription. ↩

8. John P. Snyder, “Northern New Jersey 1775,” map included in Dennis P. Ryan, New Jersey in the American Revolution, 1763–1783: A Chronology (New Jersey Historical Commission, 1975), digitized by the New Jersey State Library; item page and digitized volume. The map is a reconstruction of Northern New Jersey in 1775, not an original contemporary 1775 map. ↩

9. John Smith Junior’s enlistment date of 20 January 1777 is taken from the undated muster roll of Captain Silas Hopkins’s company, Fifth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, entry “John Smith Junr.,” microfilm C-4217, digital image 143, digital image. John Adams described his visit to the Moravian mills on 23 January 1777 and his passage through Sussex County in his letter to Abigail Adams, 24 January 1777, Easton, Pennsylvania, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 2, p. 149; Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive, Massachusetts Historical Society; Founders Online. ↩

10. John Smith, petition dated 2 January 1804, Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, vol. 453, bundle S 6, petition 63, microfilm C-2809, Library and Archives Canada; digitized petition PDF. The general Library and Archives Canada land-petitions guide is also available at land-petitions guide. ↩

11. “Whereas Inquisitions Were Found the 20th Day of June 1778,” notice dated 5 September 1778, New-Jersey Gazette, 16 September 1778, transcript and image. The notice identifies Peter Appleman, David Young, Reuben Green, Michael Lemon, John Smith Senior, and John Smith Junior as late of Oxford and Robert Thompson as late of Mansfield Woodhouse. ↩

12. “Whereas Inquisitions Were Found the 20th Day of June 1778,” notice dated 5 September 1778, New-Jersey Gazette, 16 September 1778, transcript and image. The notice identifies Peter Appleman, David Young, Reuben Green, Michael Lemon, John Smith Senior, and John Smith Junior as late of Oxford and Robert Thompson as late of Mansfield Woodhouse. ↩

13. Eleanor Smith Young Thompson, petition dated 3 March 1797, Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, vol. 495, bundle T 2, petition 52, microfilm C-2833, Library and Archives Canada; digital image. ↩

14. “Whereas Inquisitions Were Found the 20th Day of June 1778,” New-Jersey Gazette, 16 September 1778, transcript and image; David Young estate administration, 13 September 1780, Probate Liber M, p. 88, abstracted in Calendar of New Jersey Wills, vol. 5 (1771–1780), p. 588, digital copy; Eleanor Smith Young Thompson, 1797 petition, RG 1 L 3, bundle T 2, petition 52, digital image. The identification of the 1778 Robert Thompson with Eleanor’s later husband is inferred from these records. ↩

15. David Young estate administration, 13 September 1780, Probate Liber M, p. 88, abstracted in Calendar of New Jersey Wills, vol. 5 (1771–1780), p. 588; digital copy. ↩

16. Eleanor Smith Young Thompson, petition dated 3 March 1797, Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, vol. 495, bundle T 2, petition 52, microfilm C-2833, Library and Archives Canada; digital image. ↩

17. Eleanor Smith Young Thompson, petition dated 3 March 1797, Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, vol. 495, bundle T 2, petition 52, microfilm C-2833; digital image. ↩

18. Charles E. Stickney, “Sussex County As It Was and Is: Considered in Its Entirety From Its Organization to Date,” chapter 55, “Military—Continued,” The Wantage Recorder (Sussex, New Jersey), 28 January 1910, p. 2, https://sussexcounty.historyarchives.online/viewer?i=t&d=01011909-12311910&e=John%20Smith&m=between&ord=e1&fn=the_wantage_recorder_usa_new_jersey_sussex_19100128_english_2&df=1&dt=9&cid=3517&t=51001. A later compilation reproduces the indictment list and default order at
    https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHK-93R2-JVZ5. ↩

19. Charles E. Stickney, “Sussex County As It Was and Is: Considered in Its Entirety From Its Organization to Date,” chapter 55, “Military—Continued,” The Wantage Recorder (Sussex, New Jersey), 28 January 1910, p. 2, https://sussexcounty.historyarchives.online/viewer?i=t&d=01011909-12311910&e=John%20Smith&m=between&ord=e1&fn=the_wantage_recorder_usa_new_jersey_sussex_19100128_english_2&df=1&dt=9&cid=3517&t=51001. A later compilation reproduces the indictment list and default order at
    https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHK-93R2-JVZ5. ↩

20. Catherine Medich, New Jersey State Archives, email to Tracey Marcelo, 2 September 2026, reporting that Archives staff found no 1778 indictment for John Smith and that the Sussex County clerk had not transferred the county minute books; privately held by the author. ↩

21. Stickney, “Sussex County As It Was and Is,” The Wantage Recorder, 28 January 1910, p. 2, digital image; New-Jersey Gazette, 16 September 1778, transcript and image. ↩

22. John Smith, land petition dated 2 January 1804, Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, vol. 453, bundle S 6, petition 63, microfilm C-2809, Library and Archives Canada; digitized petition. ↩

23. “Whereas Inquisitions Were Found the 20th Day of June 1778,” notice dated 5 September 1778, New-Jersey Gazette, 16 September 1778, New Jersey State Archives, https://www.njarchive.org/periodicals/NJA-P-P1125X6S/1778-09-16?view=transcript; “Glossary of Terms,” On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies, entry for “Provincial,” https://www.royalprovincial.com/etc/gloss/gloss.htm. ↩

24. Todd W. Braisted, “A History of the 5th Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers,” On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies, https://www.royalprovincial.com/military/rhist/njv/5njvhist.htm. Braisted states that Joseph Barton of Newton received a warrant from Skinner to raise a battalion among the Loyalists of Sussex County; approximately 250 officers and men had been raised by November 1776. He also describes the battalion’s Bergen County rendezvous, subsequent Staten Island service, and James Moody’s recruiting activities. ↩

25. Braisted, “A History of the 5th Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers,” https://www.royalprovincial.com/military/rhist/njv/5njvhist.htm; Todd W. Braisted, “A History of the 1st Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers,” On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies, https://www.royalprovincial.com/military/rhist/njv/1njvhist.htm. Braisted dates the consolidation to 25 April 1778 and explains that the Fifth and former First Battalions formed the reorganized First Battalion. ↩

26. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, “C” Series, RG 8-I, Loyalist Regiment Muster Rolls, New Jersey Volunteers; Finding Aid MSS1800, p. 31, https://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000002012.pdf; “British Military and Naval Records,” Library and Archives Canada, https://www.canada.ca/en/library-archives/collection/research-help/military-history/british-military-naval-records.html; microfilm C-4217, digitized by Héritage, https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c4217. The finding aid identifies New Jersey Volunteers muster rolls on reels C-4216 and C-4217; other New Jersey Volunteers rolls appear elsewhere in the series. ↩

27. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1860, p. 14, undated muster roll of Captain Silas Hopkins’s company, Fifth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Joseph Barton, entry “John Smith Junr.,” enlisted 20 January 1777 and recorded “absent with leave”; Christopher Insley listed as lieutenant, microfilm C-4217, digital image 143, digital image; later roll of Captain Benjamin Barton’s company, microfilm C-4217, digital image 169, digital image. ↩

28. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1860, p. 14, undated muster roll of Captain Silas Hopkins’s company, Fifth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Joseph Barton, entry “John Smith Junr.,” enlisted 20 January 1777 and recorded “absent with leave”; Christopher Insley listed as lieutenant, microfilm C-4217, digital image 143, digital image. ↩

29. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1852, p. 12, muster roll of Major Thomas Millidge’s company, First Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Barton, Staten Island, 1 July 1779, entry “John Smith Junior,” microfilm C-3873, digital images 779–780; first image and second image. Benjamin Barton’s company return of 27 August 1777, microfilm C-4217, digital image 169, also records John Smith as a prisoner; digital image. ↩

30. Library and Archives Canada, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1852, p. 12, Major Thomas Millidge’s company, 1 July 1779, microfilm C-3873, digital image 779. ↩

31. Library and Archives Canada, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1852, p. 12, Major Thomas Millidge’s company, 1 July 1779, microfilm C-3873, digital image 780. ↩

32. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1853, pp. 81–82, muster roll of Colonel Cortlandt Skinner’s company, First Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, covering 25 June–24 August 1783, microfilm C-3874, images 77–78; dated company roll and continuation with prisoner entries. The continuation lists “John Smith” among men labeled “Prisoners with the Enemy” without a Junior designation. The First Battalion’s Millidge roll of 1 July 1779 names its prisoner “John Smith Junior”. ↩

33. Charles E. Stickney, “Sussex County As It Was and Is,” The Wantage Recorder, 28 January 1910, p. 2, digital image; Captain James Shaw’s company roll, 7 May 1778, Library and Archives Canada, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1851, p. 58, microfilm C-3873, digital image 708; Major Thomas Millidge’s company roll, 1 July 1779, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1852, p. 12, microfilm C-3873, digital image 780. ↩

34. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1851, p. 58, muster roll of Captain James Shaw’s company, First Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, Staten Island, 7 May 1778, microfilm C-3873, digital image 708; entries 18 and 44, John Smith; digital image. ↩

35. Library and Archives Canada, RG 8, C Series, Fifth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, Barton-company muster at Carle’s Neck, 3 October 1777, microfilm C-4217, digital image 154. The roll records the second John Smith as enlisted on 11 June 1777 and “on Guard”; digital image. ↩

36. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1860, p. 23, muster roll of Lieutenant-Colonel Barton’s company, Fifth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, Captain-Lieutenant John Cougle, near the New Blazing Star, 27 August 1777, microfilm C-4217, digital image 167; entries 25 (Peter Smith), 29 (John Smith), 32 (Henry Boughner), and 34 (David Young). ↩

37. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1860, p. 23, muster roll of Lieutenant-Colonel Barton’s company, Fifth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, Captain-Lieutenant John Cougle, near the New Blazing Star, 27 August 1777, microfilm C-4217, digital image 167; entries 25 (Peter Smith), 29 (John Smith), 32 (Henry Boughner), and 34 (David Young). ↩

38. Library and Archives Canada, RG 8, C Series, Fifth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, Barton-company muster at Carle’s Neck, 3 October 1777, microfilm C-4217, digital image 154. The roll records the second John Smith as enlisted on 11 June 1777 and “on Guard”; digital image. ↩

39. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1851, p. 58, muster roll of Captain James Shaw’s company, First Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, Staten Island, 7 May 1778, microfilm C-3873, digital image 708; entries 18 and 44, John Smith; digital image. ↩

40. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1851, p. 58, muster roll of Captain James Shaw’s company, First Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, Staten Island, 7 May 1778, microfilm C-3873, digital image 708; entries 18 and 44, John Smith; digital image. ↩

41. The fourteen names, as each appears in the two records. The first is the muster roll of Captain James Shaw’s company, First Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, Staten Island, 7 May 1778, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1851, p. 58, microfilm C-3873, digital image 708, digital image; the second is the “Whereas Inquisitions Were Found the 20th Day of June 1778” notice dated 5 September 1778, New-Jersey Gazette, 16 September 1778, transcript and image. With the township group given in the notice: John Kitchen (corporal) / John Kitchen, Greenwich; Obediah Hoagland (2) / Obadiah Hoaglin, Knowlton; John Whitnackt (3) / John Whilenack, Knowlton; Andrew Kitchen (6) / Andrew Kitchen, Greenwich; Matthias Zimmerman (8) / Matthias Zimmerman, Knowlton; Andrew Shooley (13) / Andrew Schooly, Greenwich; John Clendening (15) / John Clendenan, Knowlton; John Gorman (16) / John Gormon, Mansfieldwoodhouse; John Smith (18) / John Smith senior and junior, Oxford; Thomas Richardson (25) / Thomas Richardson, Knowlton; Michael Lemon (26) / Michael Lemmon, Oxford; John Smith (44) / John Smith senior and junior, Oxford; Christopher Young (46) / Christopher Young, Knowlton; John Cummins (47) / John Cummins, Knowlton. Two entries on the roll were considered and excluded: Christian Hoffman (9), whose given name differs from the notice’s Christopher Hoofman and who is one of two Hoffmans on the roll, and William Green (23), against the notice’s Ruelin Green. The roll’s Brian Ansley is likewise not the notice’s John Ansley, and its drummer Thomas Gorman is not the John Gormon matched at entry 16. The roll is stamped “Poor Copy”; the readings above were made from the digitized image linked here. ↩

42. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1851, pp. 64–65, list of Captain James Shaw’s company, First Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, 31 August 1779, entry for John Smith recording “Deserted 24 November,” microfilm C-3873, digital images 718–719; first page and continuation showing the desertion. The continuation does not repeat the year beside the entry; 1778 is the preceding 24 November and is therefore supplied in the text. ↩

43. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1853, pp. 81–82, muster roll of Colonel Cortlandt Skinner’s company, First Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, covering 25 June–24 August 1783, microfilm C-3874, images 77–78; dated company roll and continuation with prisoner entries. The continuation lists “John Smith” among men labeled “Prisoners with the Enemy” without a Junior designation. The First Battalion’s Millidge roll of 1 July 1779 names its prisoner “John Smith Junior”. ↩

44. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1852, p. 12, muster roll of Major Thomas Millidge’s company, First Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Barton, Staten Island, 1 July 1779, entry “John Smith Junior,” microfilm C-3873, digital images 779–780; first image and second image. Benjamin Barton’s company return of 27 August 1777, microfilm C-4217, digital image 169, also records John Smith as a prisoner; digital image. Captain James Shaw’s company muster, 7 May 1778, vol. 1851, p. 58, microfilm C-3873, image 708; “Whereas Inquisitions Were Found,” New-Jersey Gazette, 16 September 1778. ↩

45. Library and Archives Canada, RG 8, C Series, Fifth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, Barton-company muster at Carle’s Neck, 3 October 1777, microfilm C-4217, digital image 154. The roll records the second John Smith as enlisted on 11 June 1777 and “on Guard”; digital image. Captain James Shaw’s company muster, 7 May 1778, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1851, p. 58, microfilm C-3873, image 708; later Shaw-company return reporting desertion on 24 November 1778, vol. 1851, pp. 64–65, images 718–719. ↩

46. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1854, p. 16, muster roll of the Second Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John Morris, 24 February 1778, microfilm C-3874, digital image 178; entry for John Smith, private, enlisted September 1777 by Major Antill and reported deserted 10 October 1777. The page lists thirty-eight men; apart from John Smith, none is named in the Sussex inquisition notice, and its only sergeant is Lewis Price; an index identification of this John Smith as a sergeant is not supported by the roll. ↩

47. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1858, Fourth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, microfilm C-4216: p. 1, image 468; pp. 41–42, images 576 and 579; and p. 52, muster roll of Captain Samuel Ryerson’s company, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Abraham Van Buskirk, 30 December 1779, image 603. A John Smith appears within the group braced as prisoners on both the 30 December 1779 return, at no. 46, and the later return at pp. 41–42, at no. 44, which is consistent with one man carried as a prisoner rather than two soldiers. The entry recording a John Smith as an active private has not been located on either of those returns. Apart from John Smith, neither return carries another name from the Sussex inquisition notice. ↩

48. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1858, Fourth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, microfilm C-4216: p. 1, image 468; pp. 41–42, images 576 and 579; and p. 52, muster roll of Captain Samuel Ryerson’s company, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Abraham Van Buskirk, 30 December 1779, image 603. A John Smith appears within the group braced as prisoners on both the 30 December 1779 return, at no. 46, and the later return at pp. 41–42, at no. 44, which is consistent with one man carried as a prisoner rather than two soldiers. The entry recording a John Smith as an active private has not been located on either of those returns. Apart from John Smith, neither return carries another name from the Sussex inquisition notice. ↩

49. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1854, p. 16, muster roll of the Second Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John Morris, 24 February 1778, microfilm C-3874, digital image 178; entry for John Smith, private, enlisted September 1777 by Major Antill and reported deserted 10 October 1777. The page lists thirty-eight men; apart from John Smith, none is named in the Sussex inquisition notice, and its only sergeant is Lewis Price; an index identification of this John Smith as a sergeant is not supported by the roll. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1858, Fourth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, microfilm C-4216: p. 1, image 468; pp. 41–42, images 576 and 579; and p. 52, muster roll of Captain Samuel Ryerson’s company, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Abraham Van Buskirk, 30 December 1779, image 603. A John Smith appears within the group braced as prisoners on both the 30 December 1779 return, at no. 46, and the later return at pp. 41–42, at no. 44, which is consistent with one man carried as a prisoner rather than two soldiers. The entry recording a John Smith as an active private has not been located on either of those returns. Apart from John Smith, neither return carries another name from the Sussex inquisition notice. ↩

50. Charles E. Stickney, “Sussex County As It Was and Is: Considered in Its Entirety From Its Organization to Date,” chapter 55, “Military—Continued,” The Wantage Recorder, 28 January 1910, p. 2, digital image. The adjutant-general list discussed in the text appears in the same chapter. The later compilation preserves the indictment and default discussion at FamilySearch and the adjutant-list discussion at FamilySearch. ↩

51. Charles E. Stickney, “Sussex County As It Was and Is: Considered in Its Entirety From Its Organization to Date,” chapter 55, “Military—Continued,” The Wantage Recorder, 28 January 1910, p. 2, digital image. The adjutant-general list discussed in the text appears in the same chapter. The later compilation preserves the indictment and default discussion at FamilySearch and the adjutant-list discussion at FamilySearch. ↩

52. John Van Nest tavern petition, 1764, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSGS-X9XM-X; John McMurtrie petition, 1769, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSGS-X9F9-9; Joseph and Susannah Hollinshead to Christopher Insley, 19 May 1772, Sussex County deed record, pp. 219–221, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSYH-XQHV-M. Petition for Aser Carter’s tavern license, November 1772, digital image; Israel Swayze tavern-license petition, May 1770, digital image. ↩

53. Petition of subscribers to the Court of Justices in Sessions, Sussex County, November term 1772, on behalf of Aser Carter, for a license to keep a house of public entertainment in the house he then occupied at Phillipsburgh; the subscribers include Joseph Hollinshead, Thomas Hanlon, John Smith, Wheeler Kitchen, Henry Kitchen, Alexander White, Boltis Appleman, John McMurtrie, and John Van Nest; digital image, FamilySearch. Greenwich Township tax ratables, Sussex County, September 1774, New Jersey General Assembly, Tax Ratables (Duplicates), 1768–1854, SAS00001, Book 1792, New Jersey State Archives; digital copy; Henry and Wheeler Kitchen were assessed in Greenwich Township, and this is the only located Greenwich list for the period. Oxford Township tax ratables, Sussex County, July 1773, New Jersey State Archives, Tax Ratables SAS00001, Book 1801, digital image, place the Smiths in Oxford. ↩

54. Library and Archives Canada, RG 8, C Series, Fifth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, Captain Silas Hopkins’s company roll, microfilm C-4217, digital image 143; Captain Benjamin Barton’s company roll for the muster period ending 24 August 1777, microfilm C-4217, digital image 169. ↩

55. Library and Archives Canada, RG 8, C Series, Fifth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers rolls documenting David Young’s enlistment on 20 April 1777, second-corporal status by 8 January 1778, and desertion on 14 November 1778. David Young estate records, Oxford Township, Sussex County, New Jersey: inventory dated 31 August 1780 and administration dated 13 September 1780, Probate Liber M, p. 88, abstracted in New Jersey Archives, first series, vol. 34, Calendar of New Jersey Wills, Administrations, Etc., vol. 5, 1771–1780, p. 588; digital copy. The entry names Eleanor Young as administratrix, Robert Thompson as fellow bondsman, and William Currant and Thomas Parry as the men who made the inventory. ↩

56. David Young estate records, inventory dated 31 August 1780 and administration dated 13 September 1780, Probate Liber M, p. 88, abstracted in New Jersey Archives, first series, vol. 34, Calendar of New Jersey Wills, Administrations, Etc., vol. 5, 1771–1780, p. 588; digital copy. John McMurtrie petition, 1769, digital image; Sussex County petition on behalf of Aser Carter, November 1772, digital image. ↩

57. David Young estate administration, 13 September 1780, Probate Liber M, p. 88, abstracted in Calendar of New Jersey Wills, vol. 5 (1771–1780), p. 588; digital copy. ↩

58. 1781 Oxford Township road return naming the Nicholas Smith plantation, Robert Hoops, Benjamin Saxton, Thomas Parry, and the Hollinshead tract; digital image. ↩

59. Robert Hoops to James Hyndshaw, 10 February 1782, conveyance of approximately thirty acres in Oxford Township from the former Joseph Hollinshead tract, with a boundary described by land “held by John Smith”; digital image. ↩

60. Library and Archives Canada, RG 8, C Series, Fifth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, Barton-company muster of March 1778; July 1773 Oxford Township tax list, New Jersey State Archives, Tax Ratables SAS00001, Book 1801, digital image; estate of John Green of Oxford, inventory dated 2 November 1784, probate abstract image, Ancestry. ↩

61. July 1773 Oxford Township tax list; estate of John Green of Oxford, inventory dated 2 November 1784, appraised by John Robeson and David Palmer; David Palmer, petition dated 5 July 1795, Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, bundle P 2, petition 5, Library and Archives Canada, describing aid to Loyalist refugees and help obtaining British recruits; transcription of Palmer’s petition and Nathaniel Pettit’s accompanying certificate (5a). ↩

62. Francis Goring, journal entry concerning David Palmer (Parmer) at Thirty Mile Creek, 1803, transcribed in Notes of Niagara (1989–1990); page number not supplied with the extract. ↩

63. William Kerr petition, May 1773, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4Y-LGXL; “Whereas Inquisitions Were Found the 20th Day of June 1778,”
    New-Jersey Gazette, 16 September 1778. The records use both Appleman and Appelman spellings. ↩

64. Peter Appleman Loyalist compensation claim, Audit Office AO 13/96, The National Archives, United Kingdom, including Appleman’s statement that his estate was confiscated because he had joined the King’s troops in 1776, affidavits of William Louder and William Current, and Joseph Barton’s certification; digitized claim image. ↩

65. Researcher’s review of the “A” section of the New Jersey Volunteers military card index and individual roll searches for the located John Smith entries across the Second, Fourth, and Fifth Battalions and the reorganized First Battalion, together with other battalion rolls examined during the comparison; no matching entry for Peter Appleman or Appelman was located as of 2 September 2026. This is a report of the records searched and the result obtained, not proof that no such record survives. ↩

66. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1851, p. 58, muster roll of Captain James Shaw’s company, First Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, Staten Island, 7 May 1778, microfilm C-3873, digital image 708, entries for Michael Lemon and the two John Smiths, digital image; “Whereas Inquisitions Were Found the 20th Day of June 1778,” notice dated 5 September 1778, New-Jersey Gazette, 16 September 1778, transcript and image. ↩

67. Robert Camp (Kemp), petition of 1797, Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, vol. 268, bundle K 3, petition 5, microfilm C-2116, Library and Archives Canada; digital image concerning the family’s 1792 arrival. The description of their arrival as the earliest documented among these siblings reflects the petitions reviewed for this study. ↩

68. Certificate dated 22 September 1796 signed by David Kamp, Jacob Lemon, and Robert Camp in support of William Current (Currant), Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, bundle C 2, petition 55e, Library and Archives Canada; transcription; Peter Appleman, Loyalist compensation claim, AO 13/96, The National Archives, United Kingdom, digitized claim. ↩

69. Petition in support of Israel Swayze’s application for a tavern license, Sussex County, New Jersey, May 1770, in Applications for tavern licenses, 1753–1860, Licenses 1770–1784; digital image, FamilySearch, image 64. Swayze signed at the head as the applicant; the subscribers include John McMurtrie, John Van Nest, and a John Smith. ↩

70. Israel Swayze of Oxford, will dated 27 August 1774 and proved 29 September 1774, New Jersey probate Liber 16, p. 414; abstract in New Jersey Archives, first series, vol. 34, Calendar of New Jersey Wills, vol. 5 (1771–1780); digital copy. The abstract spells the married daughters’ surname “Hobkins.” ↩

71. Captain Silas Hopkins’s company, Fifth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, undated muster roll, Library and Archives Canada, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1860, p. 14, microfilm C-4217, digital image 143. ↩

72. Israel Swayze of Oxford, 1774 will, Calendar of New Jersey Wills, vol. 5 (1771–1780), digital copy; “Hopkins, Caleb,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, biography, identifying Caleb’s parents as Silas Hopkins and Mary Swayze; Ontario pioneer biography of Silas Hopkins, describing Silas’s later settlement in Upper Canada. ↩

73. Mehitable (Mahitabel) Hopkins, petition received 6 August 1795, Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, bundle H 2, petition 146, and Isaac Swayze’s accompanying correction of her given name, petition 146a, Library and Archives Canada; transcription of the petition and correction. ↩

74. Land Board order concerning Israel Sweezy of Thorold, 9 February 1791, Thorold Township Papers, document 0168, describing a prior grant as a Loyalist; transcription of the township papers. ↩

75. Israel Swayze (Swayse), petition received 25 April 1797, Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, vol. 450, bundle S 3, petition 113, microfilm C-2807, Library and Archives Canada; transcription of petition and certificates. The petition states that he arrived in 1787. ↩

76. Library and Archives Canada, RG 8, C Series, Fifth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel Barton’s company return, 8 January 1778, microfilm C-4217, digital image 130. ↩

77. Lieutenant-Colonel Barton’s company returns of January and March 1778, Fifth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, Library and Archives Canada, RG 8, C Series; Ezekiel Younglove, Upper Canada Land Petition, RG 1 L 3, bundle Y 1, petition 3, digital image, signed in support by Isaac Swayze, Israel Swayze, members of the Beemer family, and Henry Buchner. The identification of Isaac and the younger Israel as cousins follows Israel Swayze of Oxford’s 1774 will, will abstract, and the parentage given for Isaac Swayze in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. ↩

78. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1860, p. 23, muster roll of Lieutenant-Colonel Barton’s company, Fifth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, Captain-Lieutenant John Cougle, near the New Blazing Star, 27 August 1777, microfilm C-4217, digital image 167; entries 25 (Peter Smith), 29 (John Smith), 32 (Henry Boughner), and 34 (David Young). ↩

79. Oxford Township tax ratables, July 1773, New Jersey State Archives, SAS00001, Book 1801, digital image (surname recorded as “Bugner”); Barton’s company roll, 27 August 1777, digital image 167; Matthias Boughner’s 1795 petition, RG 1 L 3, bundle B 1, petition 75, and Nathaniel Pettit’s 1792 certificate, bundle B 1, petition 92a, transcriptions; Henry Buchner Senior’s petition and certificates, bundle B 1, petition 121 and 121a, transcriptions. The records do not establish that every man named Henry Boughner or Buchner was the same person. ↩

80. Lieutenant-Colonel Barton’s company return, 8 January 1778, New Jersey Volunteers, Library and Archives Canada, RG 8, C Series, microfilm C-4217, digital image 130. ↩

81. Susan Burgess Shenstone, So Obstinately Loyal: James Moody, 1744–1809, Google Books digital copy; Loyalist records describing Boughner or Buchner assistance to Moody and his party; Library and Archives Canada, RG 8, C Series, Fifth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, Barton-company return of 8 January 1778, microfilm C-4217, image 130, digital image. These sources provide the names, dates, and service details cited here; the connections among the several Boughner or Buchner records remain an inference rather than a fact stated by any one source. ↩

82. Matthias Boughner (Mathias Buggener), petition dated 7 July 1795, Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, bundle B 1, petition 75, Library and Archives Canada, describing Moody’s party sheltering at his home after the failed attempt to capture Governor Livingston; transcription. ↩

83. Certificate attached to Henry Buchner Senior’s Upper Canada Land Petition, RG 1 L 3, bundle B 1, petition 121a, Library and Archives Canada; transcription. ↩

84. Nathaniel Pettit, certificate dated 10 November 1792 concerning Jacob Beam, Henry Boughner, and Matthias Boughner, appended to the Upper Canada Land Petition of Jacob Beam, RG 1 L 3, bundle B 1, petition 92a, Library and Archives Canada; transcription. ↩

85. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1852, p. 12, muster roll of Major Thomas Millidge’s company, First Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Barton, Staten Island, 1 July 1779, entry “John Smith Junior,” microfilm C-3873, digital images 779–780; first image and second image. Benjamin Barton’s company return of 27 August 1777, microfilm C-4217, digital image 169, also records John Smith as a prisoner; digital image. ↩

86. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1853, pp. 81–82, muster roll of Colonel Cortlandt Skinner’s company, First Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, covering 25 June–24 August 1783, microfilm C-3874, images 77–78; dated company roll and continuation with prisoner entries. The continuation lists “John Smith” among men labeled “Prisoners with the Enemy” without a Junior designation. The First Battalion’s Millidge roll of 1 July 1779 names its prisoner “John Smith Junior”. ↩

87. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1852, p. 12, muster roll of Major Thomas Millidge’s company, First Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Barton, Staten Island, 1 July 1779, entry “John Smith Junior,” microfilm C-3873, digital images 779–780; first image and second image. Benjamin Barton’s company return of 27 August 1777, microfilm C-4217, digital image 169, also records John Smith as a prisoner; digital image. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1851, pp. 64–65, list of Captain James Shaw’s company, First Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, 31 August 1779, entry for John Smith recording “Deserted 24 November,” microfilm C-3873, digital images 718–719; first page and continuation showing the desertion. The continuation does not repeat the year beside the entry; 1778 is the preceding 24 November and is therefore supplied in the text. ↩

88. Government of New Brunswick, “History of New Brunswick” and account of the 1783 Loyalist arrival; the father’s reported death in New Brunswick appears in the 1797 petitions of Eleanor Smith Young Thompson and Elizabeth Smith Kemp, RG 1 L 3, bundles T 2, petition 52, and K 3, petition 5. ↩

89. Archibald Stewart claim concerning debts owed by John Smith and Joseph Barton, dated 16 March 1786, New-Jersey Gazette, 15 May 1786, GenealogyBank; Assembly committee report that the auditor’s books did not show John Smith’s property taken by the commissioners, in proceedings dated 17 March 1786, New-Jersey Gazette, 22 May 1786, GenealogyBank. ↩

90. Assembly committee report in proceedings dated Friday, 17 March 1786, New-Jersey Gazette, 22 May 1786, naming Jacob Arnold and Jonathan Bowen and reporting that the auditor’s books did not show commissioners taking John Smith’s property; newspaper image at GenealogyBank. The illustration combines the printed proceedings date and the committee report from the same newspaper page. ↩

91. David Smith and Mary Kennedy, marriage entry dated 21 January 1796, Sussex County, New Jersey; digital image. The wording “both their parents being present” does not identify those parents. ↩

92. Eleanor Smith Young Thompson, petition dated 3 March 1797, Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, vol. 495, bundle T 2, petition 52, microfilm C-2833; digital image. ↩

93. Eleanor Smith Young Thompson, petition dated 3 March 1797, Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, vol. 495, bundle T 2, petition 52, microfilm C-2833; digital image; Robert Kemp, petition on behalf of Elizabeth Smith Kemp, Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, vol. 268, bundle K 3, petition 5, microfilm C-2116, digital image. ↩

94. Cornelia Smith and William Shingler, marriage entry dated 22 March 1798, Sussex County, New Jersey; digital image. ↩

95. John Smith, petition dated 2 January 1804, Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, vol. 453, bundle S 6, petition 63, microfilm C-2809, Library and Archives Canada; digitized petition PDF. The general Library and Archives Canada land-petitions guide is also available at land-petitions guide. ↩

96. John Smith, petition dated 2 January 1804, Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, vol. 453, bundle S 6, petition 63, microfilm C-2809, Library and Archives Canada; digitized petition. ↩

97. “Whereas Inquisitions Were Found the 20th Day of June 1778,” notice dated 5 September 1778, New-Jersey Gazette, 16 September 1778, transcript and image; Charles E. Stickney, “Sussex County As It Was and Is: Considered in Its Entirety From Its Organization to Date,” chapter 55, “Military—Continued,” The Wantage Recorder (Sussex, New Jersey), 28 January 1910, p. 2, https://sussexcounty.historyarchives.online/viewer?i=t&d=01011909-12311910&e=John%20Smith&m=between&ord=e1&fn=the_wantage_recorder_usa_new_jersey_sussex_19100128_english_2&df=1&dt=9&cid=3517&t=51001. ↩

98. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1851, p. 58, muster roll of Captain James Shaw’s company, First Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, Staten Island, 7 May 1778, microfilm C-3873, digital image 708, digital image; “Whereas Inquisitions Were Found the 20th Day of June 1778,” notice dated 5 September 1778, New-Jersey Gazette, 16 September 1778, transcript and image. Comparing the two records yields fourteen overlapping entries when the two John Smith entries are counted separately: John Kitchen, Obadiah Hoaglin, John Whilenack, Andrew Kitchen, Matthias Zimmerman, Andrew Schooly, John Clendenan, John Gormon, John Smith (two entries), Thomas Richardson, Michael Lemon, Christopher Young, and John Cummins. The records use variant spellings, and the comparison remains an identification of names, not proof that every military entry represents the same individual named in the notice. ↩

99. Library and Archives Canada, British Military and Naval Records, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1853, pp. 81–82, muster roll of Colonel Cortlandt Skinner’s company, First Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, covering 25 June–24 August 1783, microfilm C-3874, images 77–78; dated company roll and continuation with prisoner entries. The continuation lists “John Smith” among men labeled “Prisoners with the Enemy” without a Junior designation. The First Battalion’s Millidge roll of 1 July 1779 names its prisoner “John Smith Junior”. ↩

100. “Whereas Inquisitions Were Found the 20th Day of June 1778,” New-Jersey Gazette, 16 September 1778, transcript and image; Lieutenant-Colonel Barton’s company muster, Fifth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers, near the New Blazing Star, 27 August 1777, Library and Archives Canada, RG 8, C Series, vol. 1860, p. 23, microfilm C-4217, image 167, digital image (John Smith at entry 29 and David Young at entry 34); Eleanor Smith Young Thompson, 3 March 1797 land petition, RG 1 L 3, vol. 495, bundle T 2, petition 52, digital image. ↩

101. John Smith, petition dated 2 January 1804, Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1 L 3, vol. 453, bundle S 6, petition 63, microfilm C-2809, Library and Archives Canada; digitized petition PDF. ↩