The History of the Shinn Family in Europe and America

by Josiah H. Shinn, A. M.

2. GEORGE SHINN (2).--JOHN (1).

 Where or when George was born we cannot say with greater certainty than that the event occurred in England prior to 1669. In Old Burlington Meeting House he passed meeting the second time on the 5th of the 6th month, 1691, and shortly afterwards was married to Mary Thompson, daughter of John Thompson, at the house of his father, John Shinn:

 John Thompson was a frecholder and a man of public affairs. In the troubled administration of Lord Cornbury as Governor of New Jersey, John Thompson was chosen by Burlington County as one of its Assemblymen, and sat in the famous assembly of 1707. He was one of the proprietors and a signer of the "Concessions," N. J. A., Vol. I, p. 268; member of the General Assembly, 1698, N. J. A., Vol. II, p. 148; also member of the Colonial Council, 1701. Ibid, Vol. II., p. 381.

 Mary, his daughter, was soon bereft of her husband, for on March 2nd, 1694, a will dated January 27th, 1694, was probated in Burlington County, which bore witness to the fact that George Shinn had died. The following is a copy of the will:

WILL OF GEORGE SHINN, SON OF JOHN SHINN.

     I, George Shinn being weak of body but of good and sound memory praised be God do make and ordaine this my last will and testament in manner following.
     First I committ my Soul unto Almighty God and my body to be buried at the discretion of Mary my loveing wife whom I make my Executrix of this my last will and Testament.
      Secondly I give to Mary my Loveing wife Al my whole estate both real and personall fully and wholly at her own disposal upon condition that she shall discharge all my just debts and funerall charges and bring up my children & doe (as obovesaid) hereby make & ordaine her my sole executrix of this my last will & testament revoaking al other wills heretofore made in witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seall this 27th of the 11th month cal'd Januaru 1694.
      Signed and sealed in the presence of us.                                                        George Shinn (Seal)

Mary Shinn qualified as executrix and gave bond on March 2, 1694, with John Shinn, Sr., and Daniel Leeds as bondsmen. (Unrecorded Wills, Trenton, N. J.)

 The inventory of his personal property was £124.4.3.

 The names of his children are not given in the will, but they have been ascertained as follows. From a minute book of marriages solemnized in open court at Burlington, on file in the office of the Secretary of State at Trenton, it appears that Mary Shinn was married to Daniel Wills in 1695.(This marriage was solemnized by Edward Hunloke and witnessed by James and John Wills, John Shinn, Thomas Atkinson and Mary (Stockton) Shinn) That this was the widow of George Shinn is established as follows: In the year 1709 a census by households was taken in Northampton Township, Burlington County, and one of the tabulations is as follows:

Daniel Wills, age .....................50
Mary Wills ..............................40
Elizabeth Wills .........................17   daughter by former marriage.
Daniel Wills  ............................17    son by former marriage.
James Wills .............................15    son by former marriage.
Joseph Wills ............................11    son of Daniel and Mary.
Ann Wills ................................. 9    daughter of Daniel and Mary.
Margaret Wills ......................... 7    daughter of Daniel and Mary.
Hannah Wills .............................5    daughter of Daniel and Mary.
John Wills ............................... --    son of Daniel and Mary.
Levi Shinn.................................16   son of former marriage.
Martha Shinn.............................14   daughter of former marriage.
Mary Shinn ...............................12  daughter of former marriage.
 

There are some apparent discrepancies, but they may all be reconciled by assuming 1709 to be an error in transcription. If the year 1707 be assumed every difficulty disappears. However that may be, the fact that Levi, Martha and Mary Shinn are enumerated immediately after the family of Daniel and Mary Wills seems to prove conclusively that the children of George and Mary (Thompson) Shinn were Levi, Martha and Mary. Daniel Wills, the second husband of Mary Thompson Shinn, was the son of Daniel Wills, one of the most prominent men of early Burlington County. The elder Daniel Wills was one of the proprietors, and one of the Commissioners sent from England to divide the lands. He came with a large family and many indentured servants, who afterwards became leading citizens in the Colony. As Commissioner, he with his fellow Commissioners purchased the Indian rights from the Rancocas to Timber Creek, laid it out in parcels suitable for purchasers, and administered the government of the Colony according to the Concessions and Agreements. As a Commissioner of the London Company he with three men located the London Tenth at Arwaumus, where Gloucester now stands. He was afterwards chosen a member of the Governor's Council, which position he dignified and adorned. He himself took up large quantities of land in Northampton Township, which was so named in honor of Northampton, England, from which Daniel Wills had emigrated. In 1681 he was Surveyor General of the Province. In 1698 he went to the Barbados upon business, where he died, leaving a will. The children named therein were James, Daniel, John, Mary, and Ann. Daniel married (1) Margaret Newbold, in 1686, by whom he had three children, Elizabeth, Daniel and James. Married (2) Mary (Thompson) Shinn in 1695, by whom there were five children, Joseph, Ann, Margaret, Hannah and John. Daniel, Jr., continued to reside on the paternal acres until his death. His descendants to the seventh generation still reside upon the original homestead of Daniel Wills, Sr.

The children of George Shinn married as follows:
Levi Shinn, b. 1692; m. Ann, youngest daughter of Daniel Wills, Senior, b. 1677. (Asa Matlacks Memoranda.)
Martha Shinn married Daniel Gaskill, 1735. Bur. M. M. Record.
Mary Shinn married Samuel, son of Thomas and Mary (Roberts) Eves, 1721. (Asa Matlacks Memoranda. Burlington Monthly Meeting Record.)

Thus happened one of the curious phases of matrimony; the mother, Mary, married Daniel, the son of Daniel, Sr., the son, Levi, married the daughter, Ann, of Daniel, Sr. Levi thus became a brother-in-law to his mother; Mary became mother-in-law to her sister-in-law; Daniel became father-in-law to his sister and grandfather to her children. There are many other curious combinations which are left to the ingenuity of the reader to solve during his leisure hours.

 CHILDREN OF GEORGE AND MARY SHINN.

 34: (1) Levi Shinn, who married Ann Wills, 1720.
 35. (2) Martha Shinn, who married Daniel Gaskell, 1735.
 36. (3) Mary Shinn, who married Samuel Eves, 9/6/1721.