Jonathan Dunham House,Woodbridge, New Jersey
[endif]--Several of our ancestors played a role in the early settlement of Woodbridge. Most of these families relocated from Newbury and other Massachusetts colonies to New Jersey, and some such as the Bloodgoods came to New Netherland and then on to the Woodbridge area. Most of the ancestors from the Netherlands settled in Bergen and other areas of New Jersey after being for some time in the area that is now New York.
Woodbridge Township is the oldest township in New Jersey. It was settled in 1664 and was granted a charter on June 1, 1669 by King Charles of England. The town was named for Reverend John Woodbridge who came with a group of settlers from Newbury.
It is in New Jersey that there is the first intermarrying of our English and Dutch ancestors. One of these marriages was Gach Bloodgood (1731-1775) and Hannah Tappan (1732-1780), our 5th great grandparents. Gach Bloodgood was the great grandson of the first Bloodgood immigrant from Gouda, Holland and Hannah Tappan was the great granddaughter of Abraham Toppan from Calbridge, England.
Another marriage merger was Nathan Harned (1731-1778) and Elizabeth van Court (1735-1778). Elizabeth was the daughter of one of our “late” arriving ancestors Elias van Court (1691-1750). Elias’s family likely originated in France, but he was born on the Isle of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. It is thought that his parents, who were Huguenots, fled to Guernsey from France due to religious persecution. It is not certain when Elias first came to America but he was in New Jersey by 1714. Nathan Harned was the great grandson of Edward Harnett of Kent, England. Edward Harnett settled first in Salem in 1637 but later relocated to Long Island.
Among the residents of Woodbridge were some of our Quaker ancestors such as Isaac Harned, Thomas Gach, and William Bloodgood and Mary Gach. Among the very first settlers were Jonathan Singletary Dunham and Mary Bloomfield who came from Salisbury in 1665 along with Mary’s parents Thomas Bloomfield and Mary Withers. The house that Jonathan Dunham built in 1671 is still standing and is pictured above.
Sources:
http://www.twp.woodbridge.nj.us/313/A-Brief-History-of-Woodbridge-Township
Dally, Joseph W. (1873). Woodbridge and vicinity: The story of a New Jersey township. New Brunswick, NJ: A. E. Gordon.
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