Manuscript Group 1009, Manning Family (Woodbridge Township, NJ), Papers, 1713 – 1864 (Bulk dates: 1760 – 1819)
Archives Documents, Manuscripts, Maps, & Photographs
Manuscript Group 1009, Manning Family (Woodbridge Township, NJ)
Papers, 1713 – 1864 (Bulk dates: 1760 – 1819), 0.25 linear feet / 1 small manuscript box
Call Number: MG 1009
Chiefly indentures, survey maps, and other land records of Jeremiah Manning (1736-1767) and William F. Manning (ca. 1769-1850) of Woodbridge Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey. Includes documents relating to the Heard and Fitz Randolph families.
James Manning (1700-1767), the son of Christiana Lang and James Manning of Piscataway, New Jersey, married Grace Fitz-Randolph (b. 1713), with whom he had six children. Their son, James Manning (1738-1791) was born on October 22, 1738 in Piscataway, New Jersey. After graduating from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1762, he was ordained as an evangelist in 1763. Once he was ordained, he traveled the colonies preaching at churches and promoting education. Heavily influenced by the Great Awakening and the preacher Roger Williams, James recognized the necessity of combining higher education and faith. His travels brought him to Rhode Island and, in 1764, he founded Rhode Island College (now Brown University) as a Baptist school of higher learning. James married Margaret Stites in 1763; they had no children. James Manning died in Providence, Rhode Island on July 29, 1791.
Jeremiah Manning (1736-1803), another son of Grace and James Manning, was born on May 25, 1736. He married Ursula Drake in September of 1758 with whom he had a daughter, Ursula. On March 26, 1764, he married his second wife, Rachel (Ford) Fitz Randolph (1733-1799), the widow of Jeremiah Fitz Randolph (1728/9-1759). Rachel and Jeremiah Manning had two sons: James and William Ford (ca. 1769-1850). After Rachel’s death, Manning married his third wife, Mary (Fitz Randolph-Jackson) Ford (b. 1749), on July 21, 1799. This was also her third marriage. Jeremiah Manning died on June 10, 1803.
Sources:
Christian, Louise Aymar and Howard Stelle Fitz Randolph. The Descendants of Edward Fitz Randolph and Elizabeth Blossom, 1630-1950, published in 1950.
Folsom, Joseph Fulford, et al. Cyclopedia of New Jersey Biography (New York: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1923).
McLachan, James. Princetonians: 1748-1768, A Biographical Dictionary (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1976).
Nelson, William, ed. The New Jersey Coast in Three Centuries: History of the New Jersey Coast with Genealogical and Historical-Biographical Appendix (New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1902).
The source of these papers is unknown.
The Manning Family Papers consist of the land deeds, survey maps, and legal and financial documents of the Manning family of Woodbridge, New Jersey. These items date from 1713-1864, and have bulk dates of 1760-1819.
The majority of the documents in this collection consist of indentures regarding land transactions in Woodbridge, New Jersey by various members of the Manning family, particularly Jeremiah, James, James, Jr., William, and William F. Manning. The indentures have been divided into the sub-series Manning Family and Non-Manning Family and then arranged chronologically.
The collection also contains a smaller number of survey maps, legal documents, and financial documents, which are arranged chronologically within each grouping. These series include legal decisions, sworn statements, wills, bonds, promissory notes, receipts, and accounts. There is also one folder of Middlesex County local government documents, which includes decisions by the Freeholders of Woodbridge and by the inhabitants of Bonham Town, and a clerk’s note.
| Folder | Description | Dates |
| Indentures | ||
| 1 | Manning Family indentures | |
| – Jeremiah and Ruth Randolph to Jeremiah Manning | 1760 | |
| – James Manning to Jeremiah Manning | 1761 | |
| – Joseph Oliver to James Manning | 1768 | |
| – Bowley Arnold to Jeremiah Manning | 1768 | |
| – John Willson, Jr. (sic) to Jeremiah Manning | 1771 | |
| – Jacob Shotwell to Jeremiah Manning | 1772 | |
| – Peter Vroom and John Demott to Jeremiah Manning, with sworn statement of Phineas Manning | 1774,
1805 |
|
| – James Manning to James Manning, Jr. | 1778 | |
| – Jeremiah Manning to Andrew Bunner (?) | 1788 | |
| 2 | – Jeremiah Manning to William Manning, Jr. | 1792 |
| – James Manning to William Manning | 1792 | |
| – Joseph and Sarah Bonington to William F. Manning | 1800 | |
| – Phinias and John Manning to William Bullis | 1801 | |
| – Benjamin and Jemime Foord (sic) to William F. Manning | 1807 | |
| Non-Manning Family indentures: | ||
| 3 | – John March to Henry Brotherton | 1713/14 |
| – Freeholders of the Commons of Woodbridge to Robert Lueas | 1732 | |
| – Ann (Brotherton) Wren and John Brotherton, executors of Henry Brotherson, to Samuel Allen | 1733 | |
| – Charles Foord (sic) to William Foord (sic) | 1734 | |
| 4 | – Jonathan Kinsey to David Compton | 1736 |
| – Thomas Betts to James Jonstone | 1742 | |
| – Jonathan Hazard to William and Samuel Ford | 1743 | |
| – Samuel Fitz Randolph, Jr. to David Compton | 1744 | |
| – Samuel Fitz Randolph, Jr. to Charles Foord (sic) | 1748 | |
| 5 | – Peter Kleinhoff to Samuel Dunham and John Olliphant | 1761 |
| – Malachi Fitzrandolph to David Compton | 1761 | |
| – Daniel Allward to Gabriel Compton | 1767 | |
| – Robert Martin to Gabriel Compton | 1773 | |
| – John and James Heard to Nathaniel Heard | 1793 | |
| – Martha Tappen to Smith Harriet | 1806 | |
| Land Survey Maps | ||
| 6 | Plan of land sold J. Gleason | n.d. |
| Plan of woodland by Gleasons | n.d. | |
| Plan of land T. Larned bought of James Brown | n.d. | |
| Plan of land sold David Wilson | n.d. | |
| Untitled – shows land of Matthew F. and Joseph Russell | 1803 (?) | |
| Untitled – shows Turnpike Road and Summer Street | n.d. | |
| Legal Documents | ||
| 7 | Court decision regarding the will of Jeremiah Fitz Randolph | ca. 1760s |
| Sworn statement of Phineas Manning (located in folder 1 – Indentures) | 1805 | |
| Copy of the division ordered by the Orphan’s Court of the real property of Jeremiah Manning | 1807 | |
| Agreement between Mary Heard and Henry Campbell and Crowell Moore | 1814 | |
| Sworn statement of Robert Ross | 1819 | |
| Copy of the will of John Palmer | 1860 | |
| Financial Documents | ||
| 8 | Promissory note to the Trustees of the “Publick Schoolland of the Township of Woodbridge” from Jeremiah and James Manning, Jr. | 1783 |
| Receipt of the estate of John Kent signed by Elizabeth Pray | 1788 | |
| Bill for surveying Thompson’s farm | 1796 | |
| Promissory note to Richard Merril from Jeremiah Manning | 1802 | |
| Receipt for money from Benony (?) Frazier signed by Jeremiah Manning | 1803 | |
| Receipt from the estate of Jeremiah Manning signed by William Foord (sic). Jr. | 1803 | |
| Receipt from the estate of Jeremiah Manning signed by Benjamin Drake | 1804 | |
| Bond: Smith Herriot to Martha Tappen | 1806 | |
| Receipt for money from Phineas Manning signed by David La Tourrette | 1809 | |
| Accounts from the estate of James Manning regarding tax on Ohio lands | 1809-1816 | |
| Account of the estate of James Manning with William F. Manning | 1813-1815 | |
| Local Government Documents: Towns in Middlesex County | ||
| 9 | Decision of the Freeholders of Woodbridge in favor of Robert Lueas (see also Indentures, folder 3) | 1729/30 |
| Decision of the inhabitants of Bonham Town to sell the old schoolhouse and build a new one | 1819 | |
| Clerk’s note to advertise for a town meeting | 1864 | |
Processed Stephen Sullivan, January 2000 as part of the “Farm to City” project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
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