Zebulon Montgomery Pike (1779-1813), for whom Pike’s Peak is named, was born in Somerset County, New Jersey but his family has roots in Woodbridge. Zebulon was the third great grandson of John Pike (1613-1690) and Mary Turvell (1616-1685) who were first settlers of Woodbridge. John Pike is listed eighth in the first associates of Woodbridge coming with the first group of settlers in 1665.
John Pike, born in Whiteparish, Wiltshire, England, came to New England with his father John Pike; sisters Ann, Dorothy, and Israel; and brother Robert. His mother Dorothy Day had died in England several years before the family migrated. John married Mary Turvell about 1638; she was the daughter of Thomas Turvell and Dorothy Rogers. John and Mary had eight children born in Newbury. Five of the children (Hannah, Mary, Ruth, John, and Thomas) made the trip to Woodbridge with their parents. Two of the children had died in childhood and the oldest son, Joseph, remained in Massachusetts.
The line of descent to Zebulon Montgomery Pike goes through the second oldest surviving son of John Pike and Mary Truvell. John Pike (1650-1714) married Sarah Stout (d. 1714). They had 11 children all born in Woodbridge. Their ninth child Zebulon (1693-1763) married Jennet (believe to be Foreman, d. 1769). Zebulon and Jennet had sons John and James. The son James (1721-1761) married Mary Harriot (1725-1757) and they had five children. At this time, the family was still in Woodbridge, and most of the children of James and Mary remained in Woodbridge. Their daughter Jennet married Philip Gage who was a loyalist in the Revolutionary War while apparently Jennet was not. She is remembered for raising the “Stars and Stripes” soon after the end of the war in celebration of the victory. . . .but that is a story for another time.
Son Zebulon (1751-1834), the father of Zebulon Montgomery, appears to have had the wanderlust first relocating to nearby Somerset County. He married Isabella Brown (1753-1809). They had their children in New Jersey and Zebulon served as a Colonel in the Revolutionary War. Following the war, Zebulon remained in the military and traveled to a number of frontier military posts with his family in tow. They had a large family of ten children. Zebulon and Isabella ultimately settled in Indiana.
Son Zebulon Montgomery became a cadet at age 15 serving with his father. The younger Zebulon was sent on exploratory expeditions including to the southwest. It was these explorations that led to Pike’s Peak to being named for him (although obviously he did not discover it). Zebulon Montgomery Pike rose to the rank of Brigadier General. He was killed in the war of 1812 in a battle at Upper York, Canada on 27 April 1813. His younger brother George Washington Pike died in 1812 in West Point, New York.
Zebulon Montgomery Pike married Clara Harlow Brown who was from Kentucky although they married in Ohio. Of their several children only daughter Clara survived infancy and she was the only child living at the time of her father’s death. Clarissa married John Cleves Symmes Harrison the oldest son of President William Henry Harrison.
Click here for the family group sheet of John Pike and Mary Turvell: http://sites.rootsmagic.com/WoodbridgeNewJersey/family.php?f=436
Click here for the family group sheet of James Pike and Mary Harriot: http://sites.rootsmagic.com/WoodbridgeNewJersey/family.php?f=491
Sources:
Early New England Families Study Project: John Pike. Available through American Ancestors (NEHGS)
Monnette, Orra Eugene. (1930). First Settlers of Ye Plantations of Piscataway and Woodbridge Olde East New Jersey 1664-1714. Los Angeles, CA: Leroy Carman Press.
U. S. National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962.
Troeger, Virginia B., & McEwan, Robert James. (2002). Woodbridge: New Jersey’s Oldest Township. Arcadia Publishing.