Jonas Newton Belknap
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: 19 May 1759 - Belchertown, Hampshire Co., Ma 1 Christening: 12 Apr 1761 - Belchertown, Hampshire Co., Ma 1 Death: 16 Feb 1824 - Hart Co., Kentucky Burial: Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Samuel Belknap ( -1775) Mother: Mary Newton (1737- )
Spouses and Children
1. *Esther Parker (30 Jan 1761 - 10 Jun 1809) Marriage: 19 Jan 1783 - Belchertown, Hampshire Co., Ma 2 Children: 1. Samuel Belknap (Abt 1784-1810) 2. Elijah Belknap (1785-1874) 3. Jonas Belknap (1786-1853) 4. Elisha Belknap (1789-1839) 5. Jesse Belknap (1792-1881) 6. Susannah Belknap (1792-1856) 7. Esther Belknap (1797-1879) 8. Orrin Belknap (1799-1873) 9. Cynthia Belknap (1801-Bef 1838) 2. Rachel ( - 4 Jul 1815) Marriage: 3. Tamar Vinton (30 Jul 1766 - ) Marriage:
Notes
General:
CENSUS:
<pre>1800 Ontario Co., New York, Charlston; pg 368
Jonas Belknap 24010 -- 20010
male female
2 <10 2
4 10-15
16-25
1 26-44 1
>45 </pre>
His brother-in-law Elijah Parker lives in Bristol in Ontario Co.
<pre>1810 Ontario Co., New York, Bristol
Jonas Belknap 02001 -- 11001
male female
<10 1
2 10-15 1
16-25
26-44
1 >45 1 </pre>
He is 32 entries away from his brother-in-law Stiles Parker. There are 4 Belknaps in Honeoye in the same county including Elijah and Elisha, who are probably his sons and who are living close to Jonas's brother-in-law Abijah Wright.
<pre>1820 Hart Co., Kentucky, Munfordsville
Jonas Belnap, Sr. 010101 -- 10201; 1 in agriculture; no slaves
male female
<10 1
1 10-16
16-18
1 16-26 2
26-45
1 >45 1 </pre>
A younger Jonas Belnap and Elisha Belnap live in Woodsonville in the same county, and his brother-in-law Stiles Parker lives in Hardin Co., which adjoins Hart Co.
FATHER:
See "Historical Sketch of the Congregational Church in Belchertown, Mass." in notes under his father-in-law Elijah Parker.
SPRINGWATER, NEW YORK:
"Early History of the Town of Springwater, Livingston County, NY" by Orson Walbridge, 1887, can be seen at
http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyliving/database/springwater.htm#VII
In Chapter 7 "Hunts Hollow -- the First Settlement in the Present Town of Springwater" we find the following sketch of Jonas Belknap:
"Jonas Belknap, a soldier of the Revolution, from Massachusetts, but who had also been a resident of the valley of Wyoming, made a temporary residence in the corner of Hopewell near Canandaigua, and then came in the spring of 1795 to this hollow and took lot No. 1, the extreme south lot in the town of Pittstown, now Richmond, and Andrew Hunt, a brother to Aaron, came and went into the cabin first erected by Holdren. Belknap's house stood in the present town of Richmond, but he extended his claim southward into what is now the town of Springwater, and he made the first improvements, and may well be said to be the pioneer of the town. . . . Through the kindness of Mrs. Cynthia A. Avery, a grand-daughter of both Jonas Belknap and James Garlinghouse, of Graudville, Ohio, we have had access to the family records of Jonas Belknap, and learn that Esther Belknap was born just across the line April 1, 1797. Orin Belknap, May 29, 1799, Cynthia Belknap, July 13, 1801, and just over the line in Canadice, Samuel Holdren in 1739 [sic]. Those were the earliest births in this hollow. John Garlinghouse and his Nephew, Benjamin, afterwards settled in what is now called the "Garlinghouse Settlement." John afterwards went to Richmond, died there and Moses Briggs, the father of Caleb, Thomas, Barzlllai and John, married his widow. Belknap sold out his interests on the Richmond side of the line to Aaron Hunt, and in 1806 built a house in Springwater a few rods from the line, where the apple trees are west of the present road. Here his wife, whose maiden name was Esther Parker, died June 10, 1809, and was no doubt the first white person who died in town. She was buried in Richmond, north of the old orchard on the bottom set out by Jacob Holdren and Jennie Hunt in 1795, by the side of George Holdren who was burned to death in 1801. This was without doubt the first death In this hollow. Jonas Belknap sold out in 1813 to John Kelly, went to Kentucky, died and was buried on the bank of Green River, Feb. 16, 1824. He was a man of fair qualifications, a commissioner of schools in Pittstown in 1796, a constable and collector there, also overseer of highways and fence viewer in Middletown In 1808. His children were Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Jonas Jr., Jesse, Susannah, Esther, Orin and Cynthia. Samuel married Sarah, the youngest daughter of Aaron Hunt, and died in Hopewell in 1810. His widow married Artemus Lincoln, after whom Dr. A. L. Hunt of Springwater was named. Lincoln was his uncle by marriage. Elijah died in Indiana, Elisha, Susanna, Esther, Grin [sic] and Cynthia in Ohio, and Jonas Jr., and Jesse in Oregon."
For more information about Jonas Belknap see database robby1940 in WorldConnect or http://iagenweb.org/boards/wapello/queries/index.cgi?read=35939.
GEOGRAPHICAL CLARIFICATION:
From Wikipedia:
Richmond was part of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase. The area was first settled around 1790. The town was established in 1796 as "Pittstown," but was later renamed "Honeoye." In 1815, the name was changed to "Richmond."
Prior to 1803 Ontario Co. was MUCH larger than it is today. It attained its present boundaries about 1823.
A BELKNAP GENEALOGY:
A Belknap Genealogy by E. Clinton Belknap and published in 1974 can be seen at
https://dcms.lds.org/view/action/ieViewer.do?dps_pid=IE107289&dps_dvs=1364170806419~645&dps_pid=IE107289&change_lng=en
In a list of references after his account of Jonas Newton Belknap the author says that he has had access to the family Bible of Jonas's son Elisha, and then he gives special credit to Carroll York Belknap, of whom he says, "He is a member of the Historical Society of the town of Greenwich, Conn., as well as the New England Historical Genealogical Society. I have found especially helpful, a copy of his summary entitled, "The Parentage of Elisha Belknap", which he prepared for Carol Ann Belknap, (granddaughter of Jane E. Belknap). Carroll York Belknap is a retired market analysist of exceptional organizational ability and drive, who has, for the past 4 or 5 years, been devoting practically full time in gathering, comparing and compiling the record of Belknaps in America. Incidentally, all American Belknaps ultimately trace back to the one single progenitor, Abraham Belknap, who came from England and settled in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1637."
The following is a slightly modified version of what E. Clinton Belknap says about Jonas Newton Belknap:
Jonas Newton Belknap, veteran of the Revolutionary War, and a cooper by trade, was the oldest son of Samuel Belknap and Mary Newton. He was born in Windsor, now Ellington, Connecticut 14 May 1759.
The Samuel Belknap family had, within a couple of years following Jonas' birth, moved to what Carroll York Belknap of Riverside, Connecticut, has referred to as a "large plantation" area, known as Murrayfield, Massachusetts, which included both the settlements of Belchertown and Granby. In 1761 his parents had joined the Belchertown Congregational Church, and here Jonas was baptized 12 April of that year.
On 3 May 1775, both Jonas and his father, Samuel, enlisted at Granby, Massachusetts, for service in the Massachusetts Militia in the Revolutionary War. On 18 June of that year, Samuel died of heat prostration in the military camp at Cambridge, Massachusetts, following the Battle of Bunker Hill, which had been fought the day preceding.
Jonas, who must have falsified his age to have been accepted for enlistment, even before his 16th birthday, served out the remainder of his 8 month term following his father's death, and in January, 1776 re-enlisted for a second term in the militia. Sometime in the fall of 1776, in the state of New York, he enlisted in Washington's Continental Army, which had been authorized by the Continental Congress in 1775.
According to the affidavits in his pension file, he continued to serve to the end of the war, seeing action in the battles of:
Bunker Hill
Bemis Heights
Cober's Kiln, where he was wounded May 30, 1778
Taking of Burgoyne (Battle of Saratoga)
Taking of Cornwallis (Battle of Yorktown)
Battle of Newburgh.
He reported that he had served under Captain Keith and Colonel Jackson in the militia, and, among others, later served in the Continental Army under Captain Luke Day and Captain Coburn and under colonels Alden and John Brooks.
He was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant from the Continental Army by General Washington 10 June 1783 at Newburgh, New York. His name appeared on the list of men who were decorated by Washington at that time with a special badge of merit for faithful service. This would have been readily understood because of his long tenure of continuous service at a time when one of the greatest problems plaguing Washington's Army was short enlistments and desertions!
On 17 January 1783, prior to the termination of his military service, Jonas had married Esther Parker at the Belchertown Congregational Church while home on a 40 day military leave, and was 2 days late in returning to his unit. Their first two children were born in or near Belchertown. They joined the Belchertown Congregational Church 30 July 1785, and both children were baptized there 14 August 1785.
Shortly thereafter Jonas, his wife and their small children began a small migration westward from Massachusetts across New York state, taking them to Cherry Valley in Otsego County, where at least 2 of their children were born, and ultimately to the eastern part of Ontario County. Ontario County, in New York at that time, encompassed the entire western section of the state.
Here, in and around the Middletown area then known as Pittstown or Richmond, and Hobbs Hollow, now known as Honeoye, and Springwater in Ontario and Livingston Counties respectively, Jonas plied his trade while the couple's 9 children, 6 boys and 3 girls, grew to maturity, married, and started their own families. Here, in the area now known as Springwater, Jonas' first wife, Esther, died in 1809.
Concerning the stature of Jonas in this pioneer community, historian D. H. Waite has made the following observation: "He was a man of fair qualifications, a commissioner of schools in Pittstown in 1796, a constable and collector there, also overseer of highway and fence viewer in Middletown in 1806."
Shortly after 1815, the children of Jonas, with their families began a westward trek which would take them in what Carroll Y. Belknap called "a zig zag fashion" across much of the country, forming close knit family colonies as they went -- in adjoining Hart and Hardin Counties, Kentucky; Licking County, Ohio; Bureau County, Illinois; southern Iowa; north central Missouri; Kansas; Texas; and the west central area of Oregon.
The Jonas Belknap descendants concerned themselves primarily with agricultural endeavors, and proved to be a fairly prolific, resourceful, and hardy stock, equal to the hardships of the pioneer frontier as they pushed onward to seek and establish permanent homes.
Following the death of his first wife in 1809, Jonas married again, twice. First, to Rachel (last name not known) with whom Jonas is listed in the Bristol, Ontario County census for 1810. She died in that county July 4, 1815. Second, to Tamar Vinton, widow of Asa Newton, whom she had married 25 January 1789. Tamar was with Jonas when he filed a pension petition affidavit in Hardin County, Kentucky 11 December 1820, as was "a daughter", Diantha, age 9, whose further identity has not been established. As to whether she was a daughter of Jonas by his second wife, Rachel, or perhaps a daughter of Tamar by her former husband, now accepted as "a daughter" by Jonas, is not clear. See page 7 below for further discussion. Tamar Vinton, born 30 July 1766 at Charleston, Mass., was the daughter of Abiathar Vinton and Rachel Caswell. It may be that Tamar was also the mother of Isaac Newton, who married Jonas' daughter, Cynthia.
Jonas had moved from New York to Kentucky in late 1819 or early 1820, because he was listed in the Hart County census for that year, as were his sons, Elijah, Jonas, Jr.; his daughters, Esther and her husband, Gamaliel Garlinghouse, and Cynthia and her husband, Isaac Newton. In the adjoining county of Hardin, the 1820 census also recorded Joseph (probably the brother of Jonas N.) and his family of 5 children, as well as Jesse, son of Jonas N., whose first son, George, had been born in Hardin County in 1815.
Jonas N. Belknap died in Hart County, Kentucky 18 February 1824, and was buried on the banks of the Green River.
"At sometime before 1830", said Carroll Y. Belknap, "all of Jonas's children who were in Kentucky, moved to Licking County, Ohio. The 1830 census shows Jonas (Jr.) in Harrison Township. Elijah and Jesse were in St. Albans Township -- as also was the youngest son of Jonas Newton Belknap, Orin, who did not leave Ontario County, N. Y. till some years after 1824. Also in that Licking County area, centering around Granville, were two of Jonas's daughters: Esther and her husband, Gamaliel Garlinghouse; Cynthia and her husband Isaac Newton.
"So", said CYB, "by the time when the 1830 census was taken, all but two of the living children of Jonas Newton Belknap and Esther Parker were clustered closely in Licking County, Ohio.
"Later in the 1830's Elijah, Jonas, Jr., and Jesse went to Southeastern Iowa, forming another Belknap colony there . . .
"In the late 1840's Jesse and Jonas, Jr. led their children and grand-children from Iowa to Oregon, where they grouped together in Belknap Settlement in the Williamette Valley."
Others, including Orin, Cynthia, and Elisha became permanent residents of Licking County, Ohio, said CYB, "although in the 1850's, Orin set out to join Jesse and Jonas, Jr. in Oregon. He abandoned his efforts when his wife died on the trail in Western Iowa, and returned, with his children, to the Belknap colony in Licking County, and lived there until he died in 1871."
In 1850 the Wapello County, Iowa census recorded Elijah, son of Jonas N. Belknap, still in Wapello County, and clustered about him were many of his children and their families, including Joseph Gillett, James M., and Gamaliel. Elijah, in later years, according to his pension file, fluctuated from Wapello County, Iowa, to Licking County, Ohio, his address being shown as Wapello in 1851 and 1852, Licking in 1854 and 1855 and then back to Wapello in 1855. In 1871 his address changed to Frankfort, Clinton County, Indiana, and remained there until his death in 1874.
According to information received by E. C. Belknap 6 August 1970 from the General Services Administration, National Archives and Record Service, Jonas Belknap was "wounded in the left side in an action with the Indians, May 30, 1778 (at) Cobuskill" and not by the British as such. This record had been furnished to the National Archives from the records of the District Court of New York in a list of applicants for invalid pensions, submitted to the House of Representatives by the Secretary of War on April 25, 1794, and presented in the American State Papers, Class 9, page 92. Residence of Jonas at the time of his injury was shown as Cherry Valley, Otsego County, New York.
Carroll Y. Belknap reasons in a memorandum to E. Clinton Belknap dated September 6, 1973 that the Indians involved in the action in which Jonas was wounded would have to have been those from the Iroquois Six Nations under the Mohawk chief, Joseph Brant. He comments that "after Saratoga, presumably, the 7th Mass returned to its base at Albany. The time at which it moved to Cherry Valley is not clear from the published record, but the reason for putting troops into the area was plain.
"In 1777 and 1778 a combined force of Loyalists (colonists that had remained loyal to the British Crown) and Indians (the Iroquois Six Nations, under the Mohawk chief, Joseph Brant) was in operation in the Mohawk Valley west of Albany, with success at Oriskany and Herkimer. Under command of the British general, St. Leger, this force was supposed to come down the Mohawk to reinforce Burgoyne, but drew back to Oswego when opposed by Benedict Arnold. After Saratoga, this force remained in existence for years and was a troublesome threat -- and worse -- till finally defeated by Sullivan at Newton (now Elmira) . . .
"So in 1778, it was common sense for the 7th Mass to be in the field west of Albany and presumably it moved into Cherry Valley because of the massacre there on 11 Nov. 1778 by Loyalists under Butler and Iroquois under Brant."
CYB also points out, and this compiler agrees that the "Cobuskill" carried in the report cited above would have been a phonetic spelling of the location now carried on the map as Cobleskill, N. Y. Webster's Dictionary reminds us that "kill" used in such place names relates back to an old Dutch term "kill" meaning a stream or creek.
1 "Massachusetts Births and Christenings 1639-1915," Repository: http://www.familysearch.org.
2 Massachusetts Marriages, 1695-1910, Repository: http://www.familysearch.org.
3
E. Clinton Belknap, A Belknap Genealogy, 1974, pg 80. Repository: https://dcms.lds.org/view/action/ieViewer.do?dps_pid=IE107289&dps_dvs=1364493314345~.
Home | Table of Contents | Surnames | Name List
This website was created 3 Oct 2022 with Legacy 9.0, a division of MyHeritage.com; content copyrighted and maintained by nparker41@att.net