David Southard was born near Manahawkin, New Jersey, supposedly in 1722. He was married twice; his second wife, Mary Southard, was born in 1785 according to the published genealogy, Southard Family of South Jersey. This would make him 63 years older than his wife, which is highly improbable. David is supposed to have died in Winslow, Camden County, NJ, on 23 May 1859, which would make him 137 years old, equally unlikely. Because of these discrepancies it seems that the date of his birth must be set a bit later than the published genealogies would have us believe. According to a genealogy from 1896, containing information written down by William Franklin Southard that he states he obtained from his mother, Harriet Miller Southard, the family of David's wife once owned nearly all of the land in Manahawkin until they were swindled out of it by a rum dealer named Ben Olyphant.

David Southard and his family lived in or near Batsto, NJ for much of the nineteenth century. The family does appear on the federal census for 1830, and the names and ages of the children are in agreement with Southard Family and other private genealogies I have consulted.

The children of David Southard were:

1. Joseph P. Southard, born on 22 Feb 1793
2. Silas Southard, born in 1804
3. James Southard, born in 1811.
4. David Southard, born abt 1814.
5. Nathan Southard, born in 1821.
6. Mary E. Southard, born in 1832.
7. Charles Smith Southard, born in 1809 at Batsto. Clicking on his name will lead you to more information about his branch of the family.
8. Amos Southard? according to William Southard, writing in 1896, he was David's son but I have not found him in any other sources yet. He was married to Mary Cramer of Manahawkin and had:
   • David Southard, who I have listed above as his brother until I prove he is really Amos's son. Or until I just straighten out this whole darn mess. I'm working on it.
   • Job Southard, who died single.
   • Alfred Southard, who married three times. His first wife was Mary Kilpatrick, with whom he had:
     • Catherine Southard
     • Althea Southard
     • another daughter, name unknown
     Alfred's second wife's name is not known, but by her he had a son and a daughter. Likewise, the identity of his third wife is unknown, but he had one daughter with her.

DAVID SOUTHARD II
David Southard, son of David and Mary, was born about 1814, and died sometime in the 1890s. According to Hattie Miller Southard in 1896 (according to notes written down by her son at the time), David was not the son of David but rather the son of Amos Southard and Mary Cranmer, of Manahawkin. Amos was in turn the son of David. I have not been able to confirm this one way or the other.

According to the Federal Census for 1860, he was 44 years old at that time, placing his birth around 1816. According to his headstone, he died at age 78, so he would have died ca. 1894. He gave his occupation as that of a team driver in 1860; in 1870 his occupation was listed merely as a laborer. He married Mary Ford, the daughter of Benjamin Ford and Elizabeth Murfey; Benjamin Ford was in turn the son of Thomas Ford and Mary Drummond. Mary Ford had been born on 11 Dec 1822; she died on 16 April 1863. She would thus be about eight years younger than her husband.

David and Mary Southard were the parents of at least eleven children. They were:

1. Josephine Southard, born 1858. She is supposed to have been born at Batsto, and died there as well on 8 May 1877; I am still searching for a record to confirm this
2. Martha Southard, born 1860. She died fifteen months later.
3. Martha Southard, born ca. 1865. She married John Wobbar Maxwell, son of Otto and Hannah (nee Gaunt) and had Henry Maxwell and Annie Maxwell.
4. Edna Southard (some records call her Emma), born in 1864 and only lived six months.
5. Benjamin Southard, born in 1855. His tombstone in Pleasant Mills Cemetery gives his age as 24 when he died; thus he died about 1879.
6. Lois Souise Southard. She was born in 1856 and married a Joseph H. Garton, who was born in England and later served as the Justice of the Peace in Hammonton, Burlington Co., NJ, which is not far from Batsto. He is supposed to have died in Green Bank on 17 Apr 1933. They were the parents of the following children:
   1. Katherine Alma Garton, who married Harry A. Ford, son of William Magee Ford and Margaret Melinda Ford.
   2. Josephine Garton, born 16 Jan 1881 and died 20 Oct 1945 in Atlantic City. She married Leon Koster.
7. Elizabeth Jane Southard , born in 1840 at Batsto and died on 28 Feb 1924 at Nesco, NJ. Click on her name to find out more.
8. Mary L. Southard, who married Wesley Shields. Wesley appears on the Federal Census for Washington Township in 1860 and 1870. He is probably the brother of Lewis and George Shields. There is a Wesley Shields buried with his wife, Mary, in the Pleasant Mills Cemetery. Click on Wesley's name above to find out more about this branch of the family.
9. Amos Southard. According to Southard Family of South Jersey, he was born in 1846. His entry on the 1880 census gives his age as 33, so this is probably correct. He was married to Ellen Flood, who was born about 1849 in Ireland, according to the 1880 census. They had a number of children as well, and you can view them by clicking on Amos's name.
10. Lucy Ann Southard, born in 1848 and married to John L. Jervis (1838-1915), son of Samuel and Sarah Jervis. They were the parents of :
    1. Samuel Jervis
    2. Ida May Jervis, who married a William R. Southard whose relation to the rest of the Southard clan remains a mystery.
    3. Alice Jervis
    4. Elsie Jervis
11. Sarah Southard, born in 1850 and married to Louis Shields. He is probably the Lewis Shields mentioned above as being the brother of Wesley, who married her sister, Mary. They were the parents of Davis Shields.

Amos Southard and Apalina Southard, described above as the parents of David, may have also been the parents of Charity Southard. She was born in 1781 somewhere in Ocean County, NJ; in 1802 she married Brazilla (Barzillai?) Willets. � They lived for a time in Little Egg Harbor (or at least in the Quaker Monthly Meeting geographical area with that name), which is near to Manahawkin.� In 1805, they "removed" to the Quaker Monthly Meeting of Farmington, New York (a frontier town in central NY state). Their descendants ended up in Western New York, eventually Buffalo and Erie. For more info on this branch, contact Kathy, who was kind enough to provide this info and who is researching that branch of the family. We are especially interested in confirming one way or another that she was David's brother.

In addition to this prominent family of Batsto, I have also collected a few other stray references to other Southards in New Jersey and you can find them Here.

This page was last updated on Feb 15th, 2002