Eldridge Family of New Jersey

Philip Stoy's son James Stoy married Margaret Clutch about 1816, probably in Gloucester County. Margaret's father was Isaiah Clutch and his father was James McClutch/McClutche of Burlington County. James McClutch had married Amy Eldridge in June 1742 but James was a Quaker and the Quaker records show that James was declared out of unity because of marrying Amy (reason not given - perhaps Amy was a lapsed Quaker). In any case, by 1750 Amy was received into the Burlington Monthly Meeting.

Amy is my 4th great-grandmother. Her father was Obadiah Eldridge, born perhaps in the 1690s and died after making his will 13 Apr 1761 and before the will was proven 23 May 1762. Obadiah died in Springfield Township, Burlington County, and was likely a resident of Springfield Township as early as 1720 when he sold a lot to Nicholas Martinuse, yeoman of Burlington.

Research into Obadiah's parents and ancestors is not complete and is complicated by two problems. First, there were quite a number of men named Obadiah Eldridge from the 1600s to the late 1700s in the same region of West Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Second, I can find no authoritative family tree, and existing digital family trees have these men totally confused and cannot be trusted. In any case, sources for these trees are few and far between and new research is needed.


Maps

There are several historic maps of the West Jersey region that help identify places and landmarks that appear in deeds and other records. In addition, since the Eldridge family was Quaker, at least in the early years, a map of the early Quaker Meeting Houses is included below:


The Delaware River was navigable up to the Falls of the Delaware at what became Trenton. This 1696 map shows the Falls, the road from the Falls to New York, Burlington and the Northampton River (now the Rancocas River).









This 1776 map of the Trenton area, showing Revolutionary War positions, also notes the Falls above Trenton, as well as Burlington and the Rancocas River. The approximate location of the eventual Hopewell Township (which encompassed Thomas Hutchinson's land on the Delaware - he was a Quaker and large landowner) is noted.









This 1824 map of New Jersey and northeastern Delaware shows several Friends Meeting Houses of the 1600s and 1700s that played some role in the Eldridge research. Most, but not all, had nearby burial grounds.









A 1770 map of the Province of New Jersey in the area of Trenton and Burlington. Shows the Falls on the Delaware, location of several townships where Eldridge family resided as well as the Quaker Meetings of Burlington and Chesterfield.