The Leeds Family of New Jersey:Information about Deborah Smith
Deborah Smith (b. Abt. 1685, d. Dec 1748)
Notes for Deborah Smith:One family treemaker listed as religion for Deborah Smith Leeds as "pagan".There was a legend that she was a witch. But it is my understanding (from Cynthia Lamb's novel "Brigid's Charge", that often healers or herbalists were labeled that.She was also a Quaker.
This same treemaker listed as the 13th child of Japheth and Deborah "The Jersey Devil". that gave me a chuckle. Of course, most authors and ancestor seekers have the general consensus that Japheth and Deborah spawned the Jersey Devil and they already had 12 children so it's not an idle claim.
Strong possibility that the parents of Deborah were Thomas Smith and Ann Pancoast(both b abt 1660 and from Yorkshire Eng) of Cohansey, Salem, NJ.They are listed as the parent's of a Deborah Smith b. 9/23/1687 in the Family Data Collection. And there is an underage Deborah Smith in Thomas Will dated 1692 (Deborah b abt 1684, she would be 8):
Page: 432
Name: Thomas Smith
Date: 22 Nov 1692
Location: Chohansey, Salem Co.
will of. Wife ---. Children--Sollomon, Seth, Jerimyah and DEBORAH, all under age. Real and personal estate. Executors--Samuel Hedge and Marke Reeve. Witnesses--Jonathan Walling and Wm. Johnson. Recorded June 25, 1694.
1692 Dec. 2. Inventory of the personal estate, £49.12; made by Wm. Johnson and James Peirce.
1693 Dec. 4. "These are to Certifie yt it is agreed vpon by & between Ann Smith & Thomas Yard before their Marryage, That ye sd Ann Smith shall & may have libberty to give vnto her two sones Seth & Jerimiah each of them one yearling heifer at any time after they attaine to the age of twelve years. 'As witnesses my hand.' Thomas Yard."
Salem Wills, A, p. 117
Page: 429
Name: Jonathan Smith
Date: 02 Apr 1726
Location: Alloways Creek, Salem Co.
yeoman; will of. Wife Mary. Children--Jonathan, Jeames, Isaac, Elizabeth, Condon, Eadeth, Martha, DEBURAH. Farm on north side of Alloways Creek of 100 acres, formerly John Worlidge's, another farm of 100 a. on the King's road. Personal estate. Executors--the wife with sons Jonathan and Jeames. Witnesses--Jno. Pledger, Sam'l Smith, David Smith. Proved May 7, 1726.
Lib. 2, p. 355
1726 May 7. Inventory of the personal estate, £140.2; made by Samuel Fog and Stephen Symmons. Attested by Mary Smith as executrix of his will, all Quakers.
Then there is a John Smith who married Elizabeth Ball in 1685, the year of Deborah's birth.
There is also the possibility that she came over from England already bound to marry Japeth Leeds as indicated in Brigid's Charge by Cynthia Lamb. There is a Deborah Smith listed in Passenger and Immigration lists for the year 1702, two years before the date of birth of her first child.
In Genealogical and memorial history of the State of New Jersey says that Deborah is supposed to be the daughter of Daniel Smith, of Burlington. Then again The Atlantic County Historical Society Yearbook Vol. 12, #4, Oct. 1995, in an article by Carrie Gilbert Leeds, states that she may have been the daughter of Robert Smith who died 1705, intestate. In The Atlantic Co. Historical Soc Year Book Vol. 6 #4, Oct 1971 Olive Conover Rundstrom says that in some records she is called a daughter of Daniel Smith of Burlington.She can't be the daughter of Daniel Smith who married Mary Murfin (who supposedly drowned when watering her horse and most family trees credited her as being because the dates just don't fit.Daniel and Mary were married in 1695 and Deborah had to have been born around 10 years before that, which would make her only 9 years old at the birth of her first child.Then in "Inscriptions from Gravestones of St. John's Cemetery, Yonkers, NY" copied in 1921 and verfied and published in 1925 states that in grave site #1646 Barzillai Leeds, d 5/20/1875 age 53, 8 mos, 16ds (b Leed's Point, Atlantic City, NJ on 8/12/1821, s/o of Barzillai Leeds, gr. son of Samuel Leeds and Lovica Barber, gr. gr. son of Japheth Leeds & Rebecca, dau of Henry Woodward, gr. gr. gr. son of Japheth Leeds and DEBORAH, DAU OF DANIEL SMITH, gr. gr. gr. gr. son of Daniel Leeds & Dorothy Young, gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. son of Thomas Leeds."The Compendium of American Genealogy" says her father was probably Daniel.
Samuel Bevis of Philadelphia collected the following info in 1881: Richard Smith was baptized 5/18/1593 in Bramham, Yorkshire, Eng. Buried there 11/19/1647.His son Richard was baptized 10/15/1626, was a physician and became a preacher among Friends.He married Ann Yates at York, Eng. 2/25/1653 and lived near Bramham.Of their twelve children, five sons, viz: John, Daniel, Joseph, Emanuel and Richard, and one daughter, DEBORAH, emigrated in or about the year 1677.John died at sea, all the rest settled at Burlington.One other son, Samuel, came from Eng in 1690, settling first in Bucks Co., Pa, but later removed to Burlington. This is my personal favorite as being the Deborah that married Japheth, even tho it would put her birthdate several years before the estimated date generally used by other genealogists and older than Japheth.Most of her brothers served in the Assembly with Daniel Leeds, Japheth's father (Samuel died 1718 still an assembly member for Burlington; Daniel Smith served many years as an Assembly member dieing in 1742. His wife was Mary Murtin or Murfin, the one who drowned watering her horse; Richard Smith was 12 years one of the Council dieing in 1750.)
Hopefully the correct parentage will come to light by some other diligent genealogist.
Page: 295
Name: Deborah Leeds
Date: 15 Dec 1748
Location: Great Eggharbour, Gloucester Co.
widow. Administration of estate granted to John Leeds and Japhet Leeds. Abild Leeds, yeoman, fellow bondsman. All of Great Eggharbour.
Lib. 6, p. 330; Lib. 7, p. 96.
More About Deborah Smith:
Discussed at Quaker Mtg: 07 May 1740, Great Eggharbor Quaker Mtg: To deal with Deborah Leeds for selling dring.
More About Deborah Smith and Japhet(h) Leeds:
Marriage: 1704, NJ.
Children of Deborah Smith and Japhet(h) Leeds are:
- Mary Leeds, b. 1704, Great Egg Harbor, NJ, d. 1768, Great Egg Harbor, NJ.
- +Robert Leeds, b. 1706, Galloway Twp., Atlantic Co. NJ133, d. 13 Feb 1759, Gloucester NJ.
- +John Leeds, b. Abt. 1708, Burlington Co. NJ, d. 16 Sep 1785, Galloway Twp. Gloucester, NJ.
- +Japhet(h) Jr. Leeds, b. 18 Mar 1710, Leeds Point, NJ, d. 12 Apr 1781, Great Egg Harbor, Gloucester Co., NJ.
- Nehemiah Leeds, b. 12 Jan 1712, Burlington Co. NJ, d. Abt. Dec 1773, Great Egg Harbor, Gloucester NJ.
- James Leeds, b. 1714, Leeds Point, NJ, d. Abt. 1754, Leeds Point, NJ.
- +Daniel Leeds, b. 1716, Burlington Co. NJ, d. 30 Jan 1765, Gloucester Co., NJ.
- Deborah Leeds, b. 1720, Leeds Point, NJ, d. Abt. 1774, Atlantic Co., NJ.
- Dorothy Leeds, b. 1722, Leeds Point, NJ, d. date unknown.
- Ann Leeds, b. 1724, Leeds Point, NJ, d. date unknown, NJ.
- +Hannah Leeds, b. 18 Feb 1726, Leeds Point, NJ, d. 24 Nov 1762, Gloucester Co., NJ.
- Sarah Leeds, b. 1713, d. 1818, NJ.