Individual Details

Will

Jean Mohler publishes on her web site at:
http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/m/o/h/Jean-E-Mohler/GENE10-0007.html
The transcription of John's Will as follows:
From "Our Bowlby Kin Vol. 1" by June Barekman: WILL OF JOHN BOWLBY, SENIOR
"In the name of God Amen: I, John Bowlby Senior of the County of Sussex and Township of Mansfeldwood Hous and State of New Jersey being weak in body but of sound mind and memory, thanks be to God therefore I do make, ordain, publish, and put in writing this my last will and testament in the following manner.
And first of all I recommend my soul to God who gave it and my body to the earth to be buried in a christianlike and decent manner at the discretion of my executors herein after named and as for such worldly goods as it hath pleased God to bless me with in this life I give and bequeath in the following manner.
And first I will that all my just debts and funeral charges be paid and satisfied.
Also I give and bequeath onto my beloved wife Mary Bowlby all and singular my personal estate during her natural life and it is my will that my wife shall not want to home.
She will and I also will and order that six acres of land adjoining Samuel Johnston; be divided into 12 equal parts to be divided amongst my granddaughters by lot.
My son Samuel, daughter Mary Bowlby half an acre also his daughter Hannah Bowlby half an acre also his daughter Sarah Bowlby half an acre and also his daughter Ann Bowlby half an acre also I order that my son John Bowlby's daughter Mary half an acre and I also order that my son Thomas Bowlby's daughter Olive Bowlby half an acre;
I also will and order that my daughter Hanah Palmer, son Philip Palmer one half acre and I also order her daughter Mary Daley one half acre and also her daughter Sarah Palmer one half acre and also her daughter Sarah Colemans daughter Mary Coleman one half an acre and also my daughter Sarah Palmer's daughter Sarah Palmer one half an acre.
I also will and order that all the remainder part of my land and property rights undisposed_________ I order to be divided into three equal parts and I give and bequeath onto my beloved son Samuel Bowlby one equal third I have of said lands.
I bequeath to my beloved ___________ (entire line obliterated) and I also will and order that the other third part be equally divided between my two grandsons John and James Bowlby sons of my beloved son John Bowlby and I also give and bequeath onto my nephew Edward Bowlby son of my brother Jordan Bowlby the sum of five shillings;
Also I constitute and appoint my beloved wife Mary Bowlby my Executrix and I also constitute and appoint my trusty and well beloved friend Joseph Laning my Executor of this my last will and testament hereby revoking and annulling all wills by me heretofor made _________ and confirming this and no other to be my last will and Testament hereof I have set my hand and seal this 7th day of December in the Year of Our Lord 1779."
(Signed) John Bowlby

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered,
By the Hand of John Bowlby,
In the Presence of us.
Edward Laning
Isaac Laning
Altiye? Laning
He died in testate between 7 December 1779 and 31 December 1782 Imlaydale, Mansfield Woodhouse Township, Sussex County, New Jersey. He came with his father to Burlington NJ, in 1727.

In Traditions of Hunterdon, pg. 85 THE BOWLBYS OF HAMPTON (copied by Florence Bowlby, transcribed by Cynthia Katzman Bowlby)
The land from Asburry to Hampton Junction and extending over the Musconetonz into Warren County, a tract of 5,088 acres was purchased by John Bowlby from the first proprietors about the year 1740. John Bowlby came from England and selected this spot as favorable for a mill site.
His house stood near where Peter Cramer now lives. It was once considered as the grandest house in the settlement. It consisted of logs hewn on two sides and notched at the ends; was 1 1/2 stories high and had two large rooms below stairs, while the other houses had only one. It was the first house built here.

John Bowlby was quite young when he came to this country. His 2 brothers, Thomas and Richard, and their sisters came with them. Joseph Bowlby, now 83 years old, living at New Hampton, can remember when there was nothing but log houses in the whole valley.
When John Bowlby was running the boundaries of his land, Col. Daniel Coxes was also laying out a tract to the east of him. There seems to have been some strife between them as to who should get his survey extended on record first, and at the same time, get as much of the creek as possible.
Coxes became alarmed, mounted his horse and rode towards Burlington as fast as he could, while Bowlby ran his lines so far as to take up the whole stream, keeping Coxe out of every foot of it. He then mounted a horse and followed Coxe, who rode one horse to death, and borrowed another, and thus reached Burlington first. But Bowlby, "kept him out of the creek" and that was all he desired, for he now had the mill site, and the most valuable portion of the land. Before the mill was built, Bowlby went to Pittstown to mill, a distance of 10 miles, through the wilderness, following an Indian path. Sometimes he had to wait his turn, and would not get back for 2-3 days.

p. 86 THE BOWLBY LAND DEALS.
John Bowlby had 3 sons, Samuel who lived at the homestead, and owned the mill; John who took a part of the land that lay in Warren County, and Thomas or "Esq Tom" as he was called, by virtue of his office, who lived on the side of the stream, where Jacob Skinner now lives.
John Bowlby sold many hundreds of acres for 2s, 6d per acre, because he did not want to pay tax on it. Parties now living tell about the time they could have bought land from Bowlby for 50 cents an acre. John M. BOWLBY Sr. and Mary LANING were married before 1735. There is some question about who John Bowlby b. 1703 married. According to Raymond Edwin Bowlby's book:
John (7) married before 1735, the estimated birth of his eldest son. John's will states that his wife's name was Mary, but family historians disagree upon her maiden name. Some believed her name was Mary Laning, while others believed she was Mary, the daughter of Josiah Mercer of Burlington of whose will Thomas Bowlby (6), John's father, became executor in 1727. After carefully studying John's will, Harriet Stryker-Rodda, a leading expert on early New Jersey genealogical history today, wrote her opinion in a letter of 10 Nov. 1981, that the wife of John was Mary Laning: 'That will proves without a doubt his relationship and family name of his wife Mary, for the executors were wife Mary and friend Joseph Laning, witnesses Edward Laning, Isaac Laning and Altiye Laning. A wife's interests in an estate in such a rural area as Mansfield-Woodhouse were normally protected by having her relatives party to its settlement if any were living nearby."

Further information was offered by Allen Hudgens in an email 9/99
"I have to agree with your info that Mary Laning was the wife of John Bowlby. On Broderbund Pub. Company's cd disk, "Selected
U.S./International Marriage Records 1340-1980", they used records from Yates Pub. Co. of Stevensville, Montana and it shows the following info from a 2 page pedigree chart from Yate's source number 23965.002: John Bowlby born 1703 in England married Mary Laning in New Jersey in 1734."

Perhaps he married first Mary Mercer, then Mary Laning. Anyone able to add their source information to the discussion is encouraged to do so.