The Doomsday book has the earliest known reference to the name BISHOP. It is recorded as BISCOP in the county of Northamptonshire This spelling together with BISCEOP is old English. Further documentary evidence of this name up to the end of the 14th century is listed by P H Reany for other counties but no records for that period have been found for Bishop's living in Kent or Sussex. This does not mean that further evidence will not be found, but it does suggest that Devon, Cornwall, East Anglia and Northamptonshire were the counties where the surname originated.
The Robert Bishop (abt1691) family first appeared in Burlington County, New Jersey, records in 1727, when Robert Bishop married Mary Hall. Robert Bishop lived in the Lumberton/ Evesham area of Burlington County, with property on Plum Point, NJ, near the Delaware River at Rancocus Creek, as late as 1751.
Robert BISHOP, born in the late 17th century, by tradition, came from Long Island or Connecticut to West Jersey; died Dec 1, 1753, Evesham Twp, Burlington Co, NJ. His will was probated Dec 15, 1753, with wife Mary and son Robert as administrators, with Jacob Prickett and James Allen, both of Northampton Twp, as fellow bondsmen. An inventory of #288 1sh 0p is shown.
Robert BISHOP of Burlington Co, married Aug 17, 1727, to Mary Hall of Burlington Co, was probably born about 1709 if age 18 years when married. She died May 19, 1759, and her will dated Mar 25, 1759, was witnessed by Bathsheba Evans, Atlantica Stokes, and Isaac Evans. Executors were Robert BISHOP and Joseph Stokes, Jr. The inventory showed #88 3sh including bonds and book debts of #44 16sh.
"Novy-Garwood Family Record & Connections"; Frederick George Novy & Marguerite Novy Lambert;1990
Robert Bishop was probably closely related to Quaker Thomas Bishop of Northampton, Burlington Co, NJ; possibly, a brother, or the eldest of six sons (only 5 are listed in Thomas' will, and 5 in the 1709 Northampton census) of Thomas Bishop (b.1665, Bridport, Dorset, Eng. Thomas, being the son of Robert Bishop of Bridport, Dorset, Eng: IGI microfiche A0423 (England, Dorset, Bridport)n18 302. But why the eldest son would not be in the will is quite a mystery.
Early tradition says that six brothers of Quaker descent from either CT or England, settled in West Jersey from Bridgeboro to Lumberton to Vincentown. Probablility is that these 6 brothers were the sons of progenitor Thomas Bishop. Thomas has been identified in older Burlington histories as the progenitor of the Burlington Bishops.
Much of the Bishop family remained in the New Jersey, and Philadelphia, PA, area, while son Jonathan Bishop (b1739) moved his family with other Quaker famiies to Culpeper Co, VA, in 1774.
In the early 1800's, most of the Virginia Bishop's, including sons Josiah Bishop(b1764) and John Bishop(b1771), and dau Patience(b1784) moved to Logan County, OH. Some stayed in Culpeper Co, and one son, Joseph Monroe Bishop, moved to Albemarle Co, VA, where he operated a tannery on what is now property of the University of Virginia. Descendent James Wesley Bishop then settled in Nebraska from Ohio in the late 1800s.
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Bishop Families of New Jersey and New England