TALES OF OUR FOREFATHERS AND BIOGRAPIDCAL ANNALS OF FAIILIES ALLIED TO THOSE OF McPIKE, GUEST AND DUMONT. COMPILED FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES. EDITED BY EUGENE F. MCPIKE. ALBANY, N. Y.: JOltL MUNSltLL'S SONS, PUBLISHERS. 18g8. CONTENTS. PAGE TALES OF OUR FOREFATHERS: The Capture of Lieutenant-Colonel Sim­ coe, Commander of the Queen's Rangers; An Incident of the American Revolution, 9 Henry Guest, American Patriot, New Brunswick, N. J. 20 Meeting Between Henry Laurens and Captain Moses Guest, Charleston, South Carolina 27 Dr. Edmund Halley 29 The McPike Family; Genealogy 34 The Guest Family; Genealogy 40 The Dumont Family; Genealogy 43 The Maternal Ancestry of Peter Dumont, of Vevay, Indiana 72 Notes on the Frelinghuysen and Vroom Families, of New Jersey 78 BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF FAMILIES ALLIED: Colonel John Dumont, by Hon. 0. H. Smith 81 Mrs. Julia L. Dumont, by Rev. Thomas Eddy 82 6 BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF FAMILIES ALLIED­ Con#nued. PAGB. Mrs. Julia L. Dumont, as a Teacher, by Dr. Edward Eggleston 88 General Ebenezer Dumont 95 Captain Robert Anderson 103 Hon. W. T. Bland 104 Hon. A. C. Ellis 108 Hon. Wade H. Ellis 109 Capt. Moses Guest . l IO Hon. .John L. Ketcham I II Hon. Robert N. Lamb IIS Hon. Henry Guest M'Pike 121 Judge John M'Pike . 129 Samuel Merrill, Esq. (Sr.) 131 Colonel Samuel Merrill, M. A. • 134 Judge Isaac Naylor • 135 Rev. A. J. Reynolds 136 Rev. C. G. Reynolds 137 Rev. W. H. Reynolds • 137 APPENDICES AND ADDENDA : Will of Dr. Edmund Halley 139 Dr. Halley's Coat Armorial • 141 Notes on Mc Pike Family 141 Notes on Guest Family 144 Notes on Dumont Family • 145 Dumont Genealogy; continued . 160 Miscellaneous • 172 Index • 1 75 PREFACE. This little volume was designed, primarily, for circula­ tion among those personally interested in its contents. The critic who finds his search for faults abundantly rewarded, is reminded that, as Dr. Benjamin Franklin once remarked:" We do not dress for a private company as for a public ball." In preparing the " Tales " and " Biographical Annals," the editor has endeavored to find the best and most reliable material available. Part of that which is herein­ after presented has previously been printed elsewhere, and specific references to the original publications are given in the proper places. For the incompleteness of the several genealogies as regards later generations, the editor's excuse must be that those from whom he had hoped to obtain information either did not see their way clear to furnish it or were inaccessible- letters sent to their last known addresses being returned or remaining unanswered. The compiler of any genealogy will appre­ ciate the difficulties usually met with in this particular. Considerable correspondence has been necessary, par­ ticularly in connection with the genealogical items, and this affords an opportunity to make general acknowledg­ ment of indebtedness to the following, among others, who [7]"'. 8 have courteously rendered valuable assistance in this direction: J. B. Dumont, Esq., Plainfield, N. J.; E. R. Detraz, Esq., Vevay, Indiana; Rev. Andrew J. Reynolds, Norwood, Cincinnati, Ohio, and his son, Rev. Walter H. Reynolds, Chicago, Ill.; Hon. Robert N. Lamb, Indian­ apolis, Ind.; Mrs. J.M. Moores, Indianapoiis; Mrs. V. L. Hay, Crawfordsville, Ind.; Mrs. E. S. L. Thompson, Muncie, Ind.; Mrs. M. J. Morerod, Vevay, Ind.; Mrs. C. W. Moores, San Francisco, California; Mrs. A. C. Ellis, Covington, Kentucky; Mrs. Jennie Long, Bunker Hill, Illinois; Rev. John Dumont Reid, Greenfield, Mass.; Eugene A. Dumont, Esq., Chicago, Ill., and C. W. Deshler, Esq., Postmaster, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Without their kind cooperation this work could hardly have been issued in its present form. The editor will be pleased to receive additional geneal­ ogical data pertaining to the Halley, M'Pike, Guest and Dumont families, with a view to subsequent publication. THE EDITOR. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, June, I898. TALES OF OUR FOREFATHERS. The Capture of Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe, Com­ mander of the Queen's Rangers. An Ineident of the Ameriean Revolution. It has been aptly said that during the reign of Charles II, of England, " Science suddenly became the fashion of the day." A future reviewer of our own times will have ample reason to make the same remark in regard to history. The enthusiasm incident to the creation of the Royal Society had undoubtedly much to do with the remarkable achievements of Newton, Flamsteed, Halley and their contemporaries. So, too, in this day, public favor has unquestionably conduced to the publication of the great variety of historical material now at our command. Shall we not hope that the analogy will eventually be carried a step further, and that the impetus which has been given will result in the continuance of the good work? History, like science, is an inexhaustible mine. This seems espe­ cially true of the annals of America. The fact that the majority of historical sketches recently published in this country relates almost exclusively to the civil war does not indicate that the material regarding the American Revolution has either been exhausted or become uninter­ esting. Such is not the case, and, indeed, the rapid [9] IQ growth of the several patriotic-hereditary societies of the War of Independence furnishes strong evidence to the contrary. In the words of another,* which, although written nearly four sco!e years ago, are still true as when first penned: "History presents no struggle for liberty which has in it more of the moral sublime than that of the American Revolution. It has been, of late years, too much forgotten in the sharp contentions of party; and he who endeavors to withdraw the public mind from these debasing conflicts, and to fix it on the grandeur of that epoch, which, magnificent in itself, begins now to wear the solemn livery of antiquity, as it is viewed through the deepening twilight of almost half a century, certainly per­ forms a meritorious service, and can scarely need a justi­ fication." One of the most pleasing features of the situ­ ation is the demand for information from original sources; reports by eye-witnesses and interviews with " survivors " or their immediate descendants. This promises well for the greater accuracy of future histories, if such be possible. Among the authorities frequently cited by Irving, Lossing and others is Simcoe's "Military Journal" which was originally published by its author in London in 1787 for private distribution among his friends. The work was reprinted in New York in 1844, and to this edition was added a memoir of the author. As the title-page informs us, the book is " A History of the Operations of a Parti­ san Corps called the Queen's Rangers. Comman<led by Lieut.-Col. J. G. Simcoe. During the War of the American Revolution." The rapid movements and intrepid daring * Silliman's Tour from Hartford to Quebec. 1820. II of the Rangers caused them to be a source of constant terror to the patriots and the capture of their leader, October 26th, 1779, by Captain Moses Guest, of New Brunswick, Middlesex county, New Jersey, was an event of sufficient importance to be permanently recorded in the annals of our country. The incident has, however, been almost entirely overlooked by historians. The many sons of New Jersey scattered throughout our land, not less in the west than elsewhere, point with (we will hope) excus­ able pride to the important part taken by their ancestors in that great contest from which sprung a nation soon afterwards to become one of the greatest powers on earth. Scarcely a place on the route of the British forces through New Jersey can be found that was not the scene of some hazardous exploit which has passed into history. Of the patriotic citizens of the State, none were more loyal to Freedom's cause than those of Middlesex county. A life­ long resident of the city of New Brunswick, in an exceed­ ingly interesting and valuable article published some twenty-four years ago,* says that of one thousand per­ sons in New Jersey who were disaffected. made to furnish bonds and take the "oath of allegfance" to the Revolu­ tionary authorities, only twenty-six were inhabitants of Middlesex county, and this in spite of the fact that the British army was quartered there for a period of almost seven months. Althomrh Simcoe's Rangers were com- *This refers to "A Glimpse of 'Seventv-six'" which will be found in Harper's Mag-azine for July. 1874. The author. Mr. Chas. D. Deshler, who is now Postmaster of New Brunswick. was born within the first quarter of this century. and was personally acquainted with many of the survivors of the Revolution. I2 posed largely of Jersey " refugees," and he kept a book containing " the names of every soldier in his corps, the counties in which they were born and where they had lived, so that he was seldom at a loss for guides," he was obliged to say to Sir Henry Clinton when the latter was about to march through the State of New Jersey, imme­ diately before the battle of Monmouth and was in need of guides, that " he had none who knew any of the roads to New Brunswick" showing conclusively that Middlesex county was not represented in his corps. Simcoe, in his "Journal" (which, by the way, is written in the third per­ son throughout) relates at some length the details of the expedition which resulted in his capture. While copies of his book are scarce, it can, doubtless, be found by the cities. The purposes of this sketch will be, perhaps, best fulfilled by using other authorities.