Cousins 4 US

The History of the Shinn Family in Europe and America

by Josiah H. Shinn, A. M.

1. JOHN SHINN AND EARLY NEW JERSEY.

 In the spring of 1677 two hundred and thirty Quakers left London on the ship Kent for West Jersey. Half of these were from London and the other half from Yorkshire. Smith, in his "History of Nova Caesarea; or, New Jersey," gives a partial list of these emigrants, but the name of John Shinn does not appear therein. He also says that these chose as a landing place the spot where Burlington now stands, and there began a settlement, which they named New Beverley; this was afterwards changed to Bridlington, after a town in Yorkshire, from whence many of the settlers came, and subsequently to Burlington. Smith also gives partial lists of emigrants who followed these in the year 1678, and in a general way names others who came between 1678 and 1680. In this general list will be found the name of John Shinn. In the old records of Burlington now in the office of the Secretary of State at Trenton, showing the freeholders for the year 1680, the names of "John Sheen" and "Clement Sheen" appear. The same records show that in the same year John Sheen was a grand juror.

 From the record of the Men's Monthly Meeting of Friends at Burlington it appears that on the 7th day of the 12th month (February), 1680, the Friends addressed a letter to the London yearly meeting, which Bowden transcribes in his history, ( History of Friends in America) with the remark that this was the earliest communication received by the London yearly meeting from any meeting in America.

 As a matter of religious interest, the letter, as it appears upon the Burlington M. M. Records, now deposited in the fireproof safe of the Friends at Philadelphia, Pa., is given in full:

 "Dear Friends and Brethren whom God hath honored with his heavenly Presence and crowned with Life and Dominion as some of us have been Eye witnesses (and in our measures partakers with you) in these solemn Annual Assemblies in ye Remembrance of which our hearts and souls are consolated and do bow before ye Lord with Reverent acknowledgments to him to whom it belongs forever.

 "And dear friends being fully satisfied of your Love, care and zeall for ye Lord and his Truth and your Travill and desire for ye promotion of it: hath given us encouragement to address ourselves to you and Request your assistance in these following particulars being sensible of ye need of itt and believing yt itt will conduce to ye hounour of God and benefit of his people for ye Lord having by an overruling Providence cast our lots in this remote pt of ye world, our care and desire is yt he may be hounoured in us and through us, and his Dear truth which we profess may be had in good Repute and Esteem by those yt are yet Strangers to itt.

 "Dear friends our first Request to you is yt in your severall countyes & meetings out of which any may transport themselves into this place, yt you will be pleased to take care yt we may have Certifycates concerning them for here are severall honest Innocent People yt brought no Certifycates with them from ye Respective Monthly Meetings not foreseeing ye Service of ym and so never Desired any which for ye future of such defect do Entreat you yt are sensiable of ye need of Certifycates to put ym in mind of ym for in some Caces where Certifycates are Required & yt have none itt ocations a great and tedious delay before they can be had from England besides ye Hazzard of Letters Miscarying which is not Necessary to ye Parties immediately & no wayes gratefull to Us yet in some cases necessity urgeth it or we must Act very Unsafely and pticularly in cases of Marriage in which we are often Concerned so if ye parties yt come are single and Marriageable att their Coming away we Desire to be Certifyed of their clearness or unclearness from other pties & what else you think meet for us to Know, and if they have parents whether they will commit ym to the Care of Friends in Generall in ye matter or appoint ant pticular whome they can trust & if any do incline to come that pfess truth & yet walk disorderly & so become dishounourable to Truth and ye pfession they have made of it we do desire to be Certyfied of ym & it by some other hand (as there is frequent opportunities from London of doing itt) for we are sensiable yt here are severall yt left no good Savour in yr native Land from whence they came & it may be probable yt more of yt Kind may come thinking to be Absconded in ys obscure place. But blessed be ye Lord he hath a pple here whom he hath provoked to a Zealous affection for ye Glory of his name & are desirous yt ye hidden things of Easau may be brought to Light & in it be condemned for wch cause we thus Request your assistance as an advantage & Furtherance to yt Work for though some have not thought it necessary either to bring Certificates themselves or Require any Concearning others we are not of yt mind and do leave itt to ye wise in heart to Judge whence it doth proceed for though we Desire this as an additional help to us, yet not as some have surmised yt we wholly build upon it without exercising our own immediate sence as God shall Guide us some we know yt have been other wise deserving but have Unadvisedly denied this Impartial right of a certificate & very hardly could obtain it, merely through ye dislike of some to ye undertakings in their coming hether which we believe to be an injury & though we would not any should reject any sound advice or council in ye matter yet we do believe yt all ye faithful oughtto be Left to God's Direction in ye matter most certainly knowing by ye Shurest Evedence yt God hath a hand in ye Removall of some into this Place wch we desire yt all yt are inclined to come heither who know God may be carefull to know before they attempt itt at least their Tryals become unsuportable unto them but if this they know they need not fear for ye Lord is known by Sea & Land ye Shield & Strength of ym ht fear him.

 "And Dear Friends one thing more we think needfull to Intimate to you to warn and advise all yt come pfessing truth yt they be carefull & Circumspect in their passage for itt is well known to some of you yt such as are imployed in sea affairs are commonly men of ye Vilest sort & many of ym use Great Diligence to betray ye Simple ones which if they can do they triumph in itt & spread it from nation to nation to defame truth theirfore Let all be warned of it especially Young Women that they behave themselves modestly & chastly yt they may not be corrupted in mind & so drawn to gratify ye wanton Luxurious inclination of any for many temptations may be met with some Times through short or Straight allowance for ye Enlargement of wch some have complyed wth that w??h hath Dishounoured God & grieved his people & though we Know yt true friends are never enabled ym to submit to any unrighteousness to gratify so mean an End yet all ye Professors of Truth are not of yt Growth & for their sakes it is intended yt all may be preserved & grow in truths Dominion.

 "So Dear Friends this wth what further you may apprehend may tend to truths pmotion in this Place we desire your assistance which will be very kindly and gladly Received by us who are Desirous of an Amicable Correspondency with you and do claim a part wth you in yt holy Body & Eternall Union which ye bond of Life is ye Strength of in wch God preserve you & us who are your ffds & Brethren. 

Thomas Budd,
Willm Peachee,
Wm Brightwen,
Tho. Gardiner,
Robt Stacy,
John Hollingshead,
Robt Powell,
Jno Burton,
Saml Jennings, .

Jno. Woolston,
Daniel Leeds,
John Butcher,
Henry Grubb,
Wm. Butcher,
Seth Smith,
Walter Pumphrey,
Tho. Ellis,
James Saterthwate

"Several friends not being present at ye sd meeting have since as a testimony of yr Unity with ye thing subscribed their names.

Mahlon Stacy, 
Thos. Lambert, 
Jno. Kinsey, 
Samll. Cleft, 
Willm. Cooper, 
Jno. Shin, 
Willm. Biles, 
Thos. Harding, 
Willm. Hulings, 

Richard Arnold, 
Jno. Woolman, 
Jno. Stacy, 
Abra. Hulings, 
Peter Fretwell, 
Thos. Eves, 
Jon. Payne,
Jon. Crippe.

"From our mens monthly meeting in Burlington in West Jersey ye 7th of ye 12th Month 1680.

 "To our dear Friends and Bretheren of ye Yearly Meeting of London."

In this transcription, and upon the books of the Burlington meeting, among other names may be found that of John Shin. From these authentic facts it is certain that John Shinn was in New Jersey in 1680, and probably in 1678; it is also certain that he was a freeholder and a member of the Society of Friends. It is also certain, as will appear hereafter, that he was the head of the family, and brought that family with him to America.

 In order to a clearer understanding of much that will be adduced hereafter, to show the general character of John Shinn and the esteem accorded to him and his children by the earliest settlers of New Jersey, it will be necessary to give a sketch of the reasons leading up to the settlement and a brief synopsis of the laws governing it.

 In 1664 Charles II granted to his brother, James, Duke of York, by royal charter, a part of the territory wrested from the Dutch. On June 23d of the same year the Duke conveyed a portion of this territory to John Lord Berkeley, Baron of Stratton, and Sir George Carteret of Satrum, in the County of Devon. This instrument was the first one to define the boundaries of New Jersey, and gave it the name "Nova Cesarea, or New Jersey."

 These two proprietors at once drew up a constitution for the colony, which gave equal privileges and liberty of conscience to all. This instrument was called "The Concessions and Agreements of the Lords, Proprietors of the Province of New C‘sarea, or New Jersey, to and with All and Every of the New Adventurers, and All Such as Settle or Plant There," and continued in force until the division of the province, in 1676. It appointed Philip Carteret Governor, and authorized the freemen of the province to choose representatives annually from among themselves, who, in conjunction with the Governor and Council, were to form the General Assembly for the enactment of laws. To hasten the growth of the province, lands were given under certain easy conditions to all who should transport themselves thither. In 1674 Lord Berkeley, being well advanced in years, gave notice that he would sell his share of the propriety.

The persecution of Quakers marked the reign of Charles II, and many of their evangelists had been driven to America. Two of these preachers--William Edmunson and George Fox--had passed through New Jersey, whose soil was said to be good, and, taken altogether, "A most brave country." It would be a useless repetition of well-known facts to narrate the suffering of the Quakers during this period. Church and State united to make them miserable, indeed. But there appear to have been causes for suffering other than those of polities or religion. Miss Amelia Mott Gummere ( Friends in Burlington, 1884, page 6) says: "If we consider the destruction of life occasioned by the terrible plague of 1665, when 1,177 persons, out of London meeting alone, were buried in Bunhill Fields; ( "Bunhill" is a corruption of Bonehill. A. J. C. Hare's Walks in London) the destruction of property belonging to the survivors by the fire which swept over the city in the following year, together with the persecution so rigorously pursued during the troublous periods of the protectorship and restoration, we cannot wonder at the desire of Friends to escape and seek liberty of conscience in a free land." It was not long after Lord Berkeley's announcement of his determination to sell that a sale was made of his half of the province to two Quakers--John Fenwick and Edward Byllinge. In 1675 Fenwick, with a number of settlers, established the town of Salem. Fenwick and Byllinge divided their half of the province, which came to be called West Jersey, into 100 parts, of which Fenwick received ten, (These 100 parts came to be called "proprieties." These by a subsequent agreement were divided into ten parts, designated as "Tenths." Fenwick's share was called "Fenwick's Tenth.")

 and Byllinge the remainder. Fenwick's settlement was upon his tenth. Byllinge met with a ??crics of reverses and assigned his property to William Penn, Gawen Lawrie and Nicholas Lucas, all Quakers, for the benefit of his creditors. These trustees sold a number of shares of the undivided half of New Jersey to different purchasers, who thereby became proprietors in common with them. These proprictors, on the 3d day of March, 1676, agreed upon a form of government comprising many of the provisions of the instrument formed by Berkeley and Carteret, and called it "The Concessions and Agreements of the Proprietors, Frecholders and Inhabitants of the Province of West Jersey, in America." (Gordon's History N. J., Smith's History N. J., N. J. A., Barber and Howe's Historical Collections, New Jersey) This instrument created, among other things, a set of commissioners, ten in number, to be elected from their own number by ballot annually on the 25th of March, whose duty it was to "govern and order the affairs of the province for the good and welfare of the said people," according to the concessions, and until a general free assembly should be elected. By this agreement each tenth of the original one hundred proprietors was entitled to one commissioner, and the inhabitants of each tenth were the electors upon whom was cast the election of these commissioners.

 These Concessions and Agreements were signed by one hundred and fifty-one persons, many of whom moved to New Jersey and became prominent in the affairs of the infant settlement. Although the name of John Shinn does not appear in the list, yet, as he became one of the proprietaries in a very few years, and lived among these men until his death, we extract the names of such as had to do with the habitat in which John Shinn was afterwards found.

EXTRACT FROM LIST OF SIGNERS TO CONCESSIONS AND AGREEMENTS.

On the 1st day of July, 1676, a division of the province was made by a deed between George Carteret, one of the parties, and the trustees of Byllinge, the other. Carteret took all east of a line from the east side of Little Egg Harbor, straight north, through the country, to the utmost branch of the Delaware River, and called it "East New Jersey." The rest of it, along the Delaware, fell to Penn and his associates, under the title "West New Jersey," and was to be divided into one hundred parts. Fenwick had already located his tenth in the southern part of West New Jersey. Purchasers were numerous, and in a short time two companies--the first made up of some Friends in Yorkshire and the other of some Friends in London--contracted for shares and received their patents. In 1677 the proprietors sent commissioners to purchase the land from the Indians, to inspect the titles of claimants and to lay off the lands. The commissioners (Gordon's History of New Jersey, page 39, Smith's History of New Jersey, page 92.) representing the Yorkshire proprietors were Robert Stacy, Joseph Helmsley and William Emley. Representing the London proprietors were Thomas Olive, Daniel Wills, John Penford, Benjamin Scott, John Kinsley, Richard Guy and Thomas Foulke. These commissioners, with the exception of Richard Guy, who was already in New Jersey, formed a part of the passenger list on the ship Kent, which sailed for New Jersey in 1677, as has been stated. After their landing at what was afterwards called Burlington, the commissioners negotiated three purchases from the Indians, viz., (1) from Timber Lake to Rankokas Creek, (2) from Oldman's Creek to Timber Creek, (3) from Rankokas Creek to Assunpink. From this territory so purchased the Yorkshire commissioners chose from the Falls of the Delaware down, which was called the First Tenth. The London commissioners chose at Arwaunus (in and near Gloucester), and called it the Second Tenth. Both sets of men, however, united in settling Burlington, a surveyed street being made the dividing line. With this explanatory matter concerning the general history of New Jersey, we pass to the particular history of John Shinn, Senior, the head of the family in America.

 Burlington Records, on file at Trenton, N. J., show "John Sheen and Clement Sheen" in a list of freeholders for Burlington in the year 1680. They also show "John Sheen" as grand juror in the same year.