Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

Jacamiah Denton

Male Abt 1687 - Aft 1756  (~ 70 years)


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  • Name Jacamiah Denton 
    Born Abt 1687  Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died Aft 1756  of, Somerset, New Jersey, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I2940  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 27 May 2021 

    Father Samuel Denton,   b. Abt 1655, Hempstead, Queens, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. From 13 Mar 1698/1699 to 19 May 1699, Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 44 years) 
    Mother Mary,   d. Aft 28 Apr 1704 
    Married Abt 1676  of, , New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F416  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Abigail Waters,   b. Bef 1693, of Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Aft 1756, of, , New Jersey, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age > 65 years) 
    Married Abt 1712  of, , New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F1569  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • RESEARCH_NOTES:
      1. The periodical "The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record," 120[1989]:10-17, 94-97, 160-163; 121[1990]:221-225, etc., "Descendants of the Rev. Richard Denton," by Walter C. Krumm. I have divided up this article and included each generation with the individual detailed (see notes of Rev. Richard Denton for summary of all other publications and researchers prior to this publication):
      "Jacamiah4 Denton (Samuel3, Nathaniel2, Rev. Richard1) was born say 1687 in Jamaica. Like his brother Solomon, when he came of age he was to receive "a lot" from his father's will of May 1699. About 1712 he married Abigail Waters, daughter of Anthony and Elizabeth (Whitehead) Waters (Combes, p. 41); Elizabeth Whitehead was the child of Daniel and Abigail (Stevenson) Whitehead, her mother having been previously married to, and divorced from, Daniel2 Denton.
      For the first thirty years of his marriage Jacamiah's life seems to have been the usual one of a Jamaica householder (Combes identified him as a blacksmith). In 1715 he was serving as a private in Capt. Carpenter's Company of Militia along with the other male Dentons of his generation in the area (CMR 1:493). His name appeared occasionally as witness to land sales (e.g. JTR 3:177), as a functionary on the wills of relatives (e.g. WNYHS 9:42,176), and in a 1727 "action of ejection" with a co-complainant, an unidentified "Helena Denton," against one Thomas Short (In a letter dated 6 February 1937 Combes presented this datum as the result of a search of the records of the Queens County Court of Common Pleas, and suggested Helena as a possible wife.). His town responsibilities included Surveyor of Highways (JTR 3:420), Fence Viewer intermittently 1729-39 (e.g. JTR 3:411,417), and Townsman (JTR 3:414).
      By 1742 Jacamiah seems to have sustained financial reversals, for with his wife Abigail on April 9 he sold his land in Queens County to Aaron Van Noordstrandt (Queens County Deeds D:467). His brothers were all dead, none having reached the age of 40. With his household he migrated to central New Jersey, where his four sons continued the Denton family lines. Even his mother-in-law moved with him; the 25 November 1751 issue of the "The New York Gazette Revived as the Weekly Post Boy" contained this item (NJA 19:116):
      "We hear from Kingston in East New Jersey that on Sunday the 10th of this instant in the evening after having been twice published the same day Daniel Bolay aged 88 years was married there to Elizabeth Waters, aged 78 years. The first had been a widower 8 months and the other a widow 35 years. The ceremony was performed with the utmost solemnity before a very crowded audience."
      Jacamiah was twice mentioned as a debtor to the estate of Derrick Hoff, blacksmith, of (1748) Maidenhead, Hunterdon County, and (1750/1) New Brunswick, Middlesex County (NJA 3:239, 251). His last appearance on the record was in Somerset County in 1756 in the settlement of the estate of Josiah Furman (NJA 30:409); he left no will or record of death.
      Children of Jacamaiah and Abigail (Waters) Denton, all born in Jamaica (Combes, pp. 41-42, suggested seven children, but only four sons can be verified.):
      i. Samuel5, b. say 1718, d. intestate Aug. 1766 in Middlesex Co., NJ.; letters of admin. mention a wife Sarah and no children (NJA 33:114). No more is known.
      ii. Jeremiah, b. say 1726. Eardeley, p. 23, records one mention of him in Prince Town (i.e. Princeton), Somerset Co., 6 Dec. 1755. No more is known.
      iii. Anthony, b. 1733; g.s. in Cranbury Presbyterian Churchyard says d. 9 Apr. 1786 age 53 (Ruth B. Walsh, Cranbury Fast and Present, 1975, p. 552); letters of admin. were issued to widow Margaret 1 July 1786 (NJA 36:67). He m. Margaret Gilliland, bap. 31 July 1748, dau. of David and Elizabeth Gilliland (Cranbury First Presbyterian Church Records 1745-1893, p. 8); her father's will called her Margaret Denton (NJA 33:160). Anthony fathered 5 or 6 children, of whom only James is known to have left male-line descendants.
      iv. John, d. 1 Dec. 1805 Princeton, N.J., in 70th yr., so b. c.1735; m. say 1762 Mary Smith (Combes, p. 65), who shares the same gravestone. Wm. Derel Denton quotes an unidentified source that stated John worked as a bookseller but during the Revolution was authorized by the Legislature in Trenton to purchase arms and explosives for the State. John and Mary had 3 daughters and one son Samuel, who although he m. twice, produced no male offspring."

      2. Miscellaneous comments from Worldconnect accessed 14 Feb 2010: "Jacamiah was a blacksmith at Jamaica, NY and then went to New Jersey where he is mentioned at Maidenhead, Henderdon Co., 1748, Middlesex Co., 1750 and Somerset Co., 1756."

      3. Miscellaneous comments from Worldconnect accessed 14 Feb 2010, which describes the will of Samuel Denton, sibling to this individual: "Surrogate 9-42 Will of Samuel Denton of Jamaica, blacksmith, dated April 25, 1718, proved April 7, 1719. Mentions wife Martha, mother (not named), two brothers - Jacomiah and Hezekiah, also Samuel and Clement and Susannah, children of my sister Sarah Mills and Robert, John, Mary, Abraham and Ebenezer and Samuel, children of sister Clement Smith."