An Old Letter Resolves a Persistent Confusion

The following is a letter I found in the archives at the Salem County Historical Society.

 
THE PARENTAGE OF HANNAH HILDEBRAND DAVIS
(Transcribed from a 4-page article written by Catherine Soleman Chandler written in October 1983, published in THE REPORT, Ohio Genealogical Society, Fall 1985. The article was in possession of the Salem County Historical Society Library.)
For many years it has been believed that Hannah HILDEBRAND, wife of Isaac DAVIS, ca. 1753-1814, of Salem County, New Jersey, Frederick County, Virginia, and Columbiana County, Ohio, was the daughter of John and Barbata HILDEBRAND. This was the conclusion of Jennie DAVIS OLIVER, 1869-1934, and of a well-known genealogist, now deceased, of Salt Lake City. The will of John HILDEBRAND, made 1802, probated 1806 in Mansfield Township of Sussex County, New Jersey, appeared to confirm this, although it did not give the married name of Hannah or his other daughters.
However, in November 1982 several family letters, written more than one hundred years ago, came into my possession. They shed an entirely new light on the subject of Hannah's parentage.
I first heard about the letters in July 1960, when the late Ruth OLIVER OTTO, daughter of the above Jennie, wrote that they had belonged to her mother, who had given them to a niece. She said nothing about the contents except that one letter, written by Elisabeth DAVIS CRAIG, mentioned the name PIERCE or PIERSON. Since surnames of two wives were missing in the DAVIS and BASSETT families, this seemed a possibility worth investigating.
Then followed the first of numerous attempts to see the letter, or a copy of it, which continued intermittently for the next twenty-two years, bringing only occasional empty promises. Suddenly, last November twelve letters were given to me after the death of their owner. Persistence became nuisance value and paid off, for the letters contain invaluable family information. Why Jennie DAVIS OLIVER ignored it is beyond understanding.
Elisabeth DAVIS CRAIG, 1785-1870, daughter of Isaac and Hannah HILDEBRAND DAVIS, wrote on 22 February 1868 to a niece (name not given, but believed to be Ruth DAVIS PECK, since other letters were written to her). She said that her mother, Hannah HILDEBRAND, was one of three daughters of George HILDEBRAND. The other two were Eleanor, who married a man named KENT, and Mary Ann, who died many years earlier, leaving an only child a few days old. Her husband's name was not mentioned.
Old notes in my file revealed that one George HILDEBRAND of Salem County, New Jersey, died in 1766 without making a will. The State Library of New Jersey has since supplied a photocopy of a document that is dated 13 Sept. 1766, appointing Elinor, widow of George HILDEBRAND, late of Mannington Township, Salem County, as administrator, and stating that he was "of the people called Quakers." Signing with Elinor were David CRAWLEY and Isaac HILDEBRAND. One of the witnesses was Elisha BASSETT, Junior, who also made the inventory. Isaac HILDEBRAND was probably a relative of George. Our DAVIS and BASSETT families were Quakers. There was a DAVIS-CRAWLEY marriage a generation earlier. Elisha BASSETT, Junior, was a brother of Elizabeth BASSETT DAVIS, mother of Isaac DAVIS. With all living in Salem County, this is far more logical than a connection with HILDEBRANDs of northern New Jersey. (NJ Archives 33:190, 1167Q, Lib. 12:317)
In January 1983 a search began in Chicago's Newberry Library and yielded positive results within the first hour. Elinor HILDEBRAND was married to Erasmus KENT on 23 April 1770. Mary Ann HILDEBRAND of Mannington Township and John JENNINGS of Salem were married 28 August 1782. Both of these took place in Salem Meeting House. Rebeckah JENNINGS, daughter of John and Mary Ann, was born 23 July 1783. Mary Ann JENNINGS, wife of John, died on 29 July 1783, aged 31 years 2 months (making her birth ca. May 1752). John JENNINGS of Salem County married Mary RYLEY at Salem Meeting House on 12 October 1785. (Hinshaw-Encyclopedia of Am. Quaker Genealogy II 78, 81, 32; H.S. Craig-Salem Genealogical Data 132, 142, 207, taken from NJ Archives)
On 4 July 1868 Elizabeth DAVIS CRAIG wrote from Fredericksburg, Wayne County, Ohio, (where she was visiting daughter Elisabeth MARTIN), "My mother told me several times that her mother lived in England. Her husband took sick and died and she thought she would go back amongst her friends below Philadelphia. She came with her two little boys Davis and Jonathan. Her husband's name was PIERCE or PIERSON." Elisabeth added that her grandmother left England very soon after her husband's death, without waiting for an estate settlement. She and her two young sons came on a small ship that carried very few passengers. It must have been a harrowing voyage, out of sight of land for six or eight weeks and the captain almost constantly drunk.
Later Eleanor was notified of an inheritance from her husband, but did not return to England to receive it. When David and Jonathan became of age they set sail to claim the "estate" for the family. They were never heard from again. Their half-sisters believed they were lost at sea. Perhaps they were; perhaps not. Viewing the matter from the distance of two and a quarter centuries, one wonders if they collected the inheritance and decided to drop out of sight. We will never know.
There were five letters written by Elisabeth DAVIS CRAIG to her niece, who had obviously asked questions about the family background. It is not clear whether Widow Elinor PIERCE/PIERSON was English or an American returning to Pennsylvania. Elisabeth did not know where her grandmother lived in England or how soon after coming to America she had married George HILDEBRAND.
Marriage records have been searched, but as yet none has been found for George HILDEBRAND and Widow Elinor PIERCE/PIERSON. Did they marry in New Jersey or Pennsylvania? She may not have been a Quaker. The fact that their daughter Mary Ann was received on request into Salem Monthly Meeting on 4.29.1782 would seem to indicate that she was not. (Hinshaw II 78).
The name of George HILDEBRAND appears occasionally in the NJ Archives, the first time in 1744, but we do not know if this is the same individual. Additional research is necessary.
The spelling of Eleanor is used in the old letters. All records show Elinor, and that is the way the widow of George HILDEBRAND signed her name. Both spellings have been used here, depending on whether they came from official records of the letters. Spelling makes little difference.
A statement in one of Elisabeth DAVIS CRAIG's letters seemed puzzling at first reading. "Eleanor KENT was sister-in-law to my mother." Further consideration makes it perfectly clear and correct. Isaac DAVIS had a younger sister, Eleanor, who married Edmund KENT, son of Eleanor HILDEBRAND and Erasmus KENT. She was indeed Hannah's sister-in-law and also her niece.
Elisabeth mentioned a "silver pin cushion band and chane (chain)," the band engraved E, which belonged to the first Eleanor, then to Eleanor HILDEBRAND KENT and finally to Hannah's youngest daughter, Eleanor DAVIS BLANCHER.
The old letters, verified by both New Jersey and Quaker records, leave no doubt that Hannah HILDEBRAND DAVIS was the daughter of George HILDEBRAND and his wife Elinor.
In one of her letters Elisabeth wrote that Aunt Eleanor Kent and husband had gone further West about the same time that her own parents had moved with their children "to eastern Virginia." Hannah and Isaac DAVIS were received into Hopewell Friends Meeting in Frederick County, Virginia, in 1794. Isaac was soon dismissed because "he hath been active in military services." Just where and in what capacity he served in the Revolutionary War we do not know, for there were several men of that name. He was reinstated and both he and Hannah were given certificates to Salem Monthly Meeting in Columbiana County, Ohio, on 9.6.1807. (Hopewell Friends History 431, 44,; Hinshaw IV 698, VI 382). They settled in West Township of Columbiana County on a tract of land confirmed to Isaac DAVIS of Frederick County, Virginia, by President Thomas Jefferson on 1 October 1806 – Section 28, township 16, Range 5. (Columbiana County Deeds 24:709). Isaac and Hannah were charter members of New Garden Monthly Meeting in Hanover Township, Columbiana County. His name appears frequently in the New Garden minutes, which have been carefully examined.
We have never found an official record of their marriage. It occurred about 1780 and therefore may not have been in a Quaker Meeting House, for Isaac was out of favor because of his Revolutionary War activities.
Children of Isaac and Hannah HILDEBRAND DAVIS, born in Pilesgrove Township, Salem County, New Jersey:

1. Mary DAVIS, 23 April 1781 – 12 August 1850, married Thomas EMMONS
2. Isaac DAVIS, 20 February 1783 – 20 May 1847, married Edith RICHARDS
3. Elisabeth DAVIS, 26 February 1785 – 8 August 1870, married Isaac CRAIG
4. Eleanor DAVIS, born 1787, married Gilbert BLANCHER
5. David DAVIS, 1 August 1789 – 27 August 1836, married Rachel JOHN

 
Since this paper concerns the many descendants of Isaac and Hannah HILDEBRAND DAVIS, it should be noted that some of the old letters told of the supposed existence of a sizable DAVIS fortune held in a bank in Wales (spelled Wails in one letter). The same Ruth DAVIS PECK was again making inquiries, this time of her father's cousin, Ruth DAVIS CASSEDAY.
The latter replied on 15 April 1870 from Philadelphia. "Thee wished to know the names of thy grandfather's brothers. My father was one. His name was Elisha, the other was Thomas. There was two others, John and Charles, but they died young and left no children. John one of the brothers that settled in West Jersey had one son Thomas, he was my grandfather and thy great-grandfather." She explained about the brothers. "John and David built each of them a brick house and put the names of themselves and their wifes and the date of the year in the end of the house with blue brick. I cannot say what the other brothers name was. I have been told it was Mordekia and he… left no children." Actually that brother was Malachi and there is record of his will, the land he owned and the fact that he owned and operated a ferry in Salem County. She did not mention the fourth and oldest brother, Isaac, who preceded his parents and brothers to West Jersey. She continued, "John's wife's name was Eleanor. John and brother David were sons of John DAVIS from the principality of Wales and their mother's name was Dorothea a descendant of a good family in old England."