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This is the
1872
visit to this page,
last updated
Friday, 22-Sep-2000 20:13:48 MDT |
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The History of the Shinn Family in Europe and America by Josiah H. Shinn, A. M. |
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7. SARAH SHINN (2).--JOHN (1). Sarah was born in England in the year 1669, if the date of the census of Northampton Township be taken at the
date of its purport, 1709, for in that enumeration she is recorded is being forty years of age. If, as is probable, the census was taken in 1707, then she was born in 1667. There is no record of her marriage, but in a
conveyance of John Shinn, Sr., on the 10th day of April, 1693, he gives his son-in-law, Thomas Atkinson, and his wife, Sarah, one hundred and ninety-five acres of land in Burlington County. (W. J. Deeds. Liber B f,
532.) In the will of John Shinn, Sr. (1711) Thomas Atkinson is again named as son-in-law. It may have been that Sarah remained in England a number of years after the emigration of her father and was there married to
Thomas Atkinson, (This hypothesis cannot hold, for that Thomas, Sarah and Martha Shinn sign a certificate for Thomas and Sarah Hood 7/10/1689. B. M. R., Liber I.)
or the marriage may have been performed by a Justice of the Peace, the record of which is lost. If the latter hypothesis be true, the Friends would have reprimanded them, and the records of the society would disclose
the fact. But no such reprimand is to be found and the inference is that the marriage occurred in England. Their oldest child, Jane, was 14 years of age at the date of the Northampton Census. This would place the
marriage in 1693, at about the time John Shinn gave them the land hereinbefore mentioned. The father of Thomas Atkinson is not disclosed by the |
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records, but the Northampton Census places the age of the son at 46, so that he was born between 1661 and 1663. One William Atkinson located lands in 1683 in Burlington
County on Birch Creek, in the neighborhood of John Shinn, and in 1686 married Elizabeth Curtis. In all probability this William Atkinson was a brother of Thomas, and were both from Lancashire, England. Hon.
John Clement in "The Atkinsons of New Jersey" seems to believe that William Atkinson came from London or Yorkshire. In Besse's Sufferings of Friends it is recorded that on 11/24/1660, at
Swartmore, Lancashire, William Atkinson was put in Lancashire gaol for religious dereliction. And that on 3/23/1660, at Newton Cartmell, Lancashire, Thomas Atkinson was arrested and sent to Lancashire gaol
for the same reason. And on the same day at the same place Margaret Atkinson was arrested and sent to prison for reproving a priest. This Margaret Atkinson seems to have been a woman of rare intelligence and
dauntless courage, for her arrests and incarcerations, although numerous, did not lessen her ardor nor bring her to silence. She was a Quaker of Quakers, and her stripes were many and severe. The towns named
above are not far from Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, where John Shinn and his ancestors and relations |
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The Atkinsons are a Scotch family, but they have long had a residence in England. in a parish of Berkshire on a plate in the chancel is the usual "Hic jacet," followed by the name
and title, "William Atkinson, Professor of Divinity in the Chapel of Windsor Castle." He was not a good man, apparently, for in Latin he commands all passersby "Orate pro anima
Will Atkinson" ("Pray for the soul of William Atkinson"). |
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had lived from time immemorial. The Lancaster Atkinsons had been residents of Lancashire for centuries, and men of that name had estates, and positions of honor and trust during all
that time. Among the rectors of the established church in Norfolk, Cambridge, Hertford and Lancaster Counties during the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th centuries the name frequently occurs. Thomas and William Atkinson, of
Burlington County, were doubtless sons of either Thomas or William Atkinson, who were imprisoned in 1660. The young men were Friends and came to America to escape the persecution which had come to the family in their
old home. Certain it is that the young men were in America and that Thomas married Sarah Shinn. Thomas took little interest in public affairs and was not prominent in religious matters. Business engrossed his entire
attention and gave him a fortune. His trade was that of a bricklayer and stonemason, and his handiwork created a demand for his services. He was enabled to buy large tracts of land, mills and slaves. He lived in
Burlington in 1695, but the latter years of his life were passed at Mt. Holly, or Bridgton, as it was then called. His son, Thomas, lived at the latter place and was a man of affairs. The Friends had a meeting house at
this place, of which Judge Clement ("The Atkinsons of New Jersey" is brimful of human interest and bears the earmarks of that indefatigable worker, John Clement.)
says: "To this log building the Friends in that section came for religious |
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Some amusing things occurred at this meeting house. The minutes show that at one time Thomas Atkinson took off his hat at a religious meeting which he attended, as a gentleman should; Restore
Lippincott accused him of violating usage; Thomas, like Peter of old, entered a denial. Restore, preflguring modern, hard-headed Congressmen, demanded an investigation. A committee was appointed
and reported that Restore Lippincott had not told a falsehood. Thomas Atkinson kept his hat on after that, as a good Quaker should, and Restore Lippincott grunted his satisfaction. The
Northampton Census of 1709 gives the family of Thomas and Sarah (Shinn) Atkinson and their ages as follows:
Thomas Atkinson............... 46
Sarah Atkinson.................. 40
Jean Atkinson.................... 14
Martha Atkinson................ 13
Francis Atkinson................ 11
John Atkinson.................... 10
Thomas Atkinson................. 8
Mary Atkinson..................... 6
Christiana Atkinson.............. 3 |
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worship twice in each week. Here the philanthropist, John Woolman, worshiped regularly, and here his voice was first raised in opposition to slavery--then so general among those of his own
belief and practice. In this primitive building often sat Robert Dimsdale, Francis Collins, Benjamin Bryant, Edward Gaskill and Jonathan Southwick. Here also came Thomas Atkinson,2 father and son, with their
families and others of the name, and sometimes their slaves as coachmen and attendants." Mr. Clement might have enumerated many other prominent men who attended this church, among whom was Thomas Shinn,
one of its elders, and afterwards Judge of the Quarterly Sessions and for many years a member of the General Assembly. It is also true that the preaching of Woolman at this church divided families and
started anew the migration to other fields. Samuel Shinn, brother of Thomas Shinn, accompanied by many other slaveholders, took their slaves and went to North Carolina. The children of Thomas Shinn, who
inherited slaves, were at last driven by the public sentiment of their brethren into slave holding states to the South. Thomas Atkinson, Sr., died in Northampton Township in 1739, being about
seventy-eight years of age. His wife, Sarah, survived him for many years. The will of Thomas Atkinson3 names all of the following as his children, save Mary and Martha: 37. (1) Jean or Jane, b.
1694, married Benjamin Jones, Jr. 1727.
38. (2) Martha, b. 1695.
39. (3) Francis, b. 1696.
40. (4) John, b. 1698, married Mary Smith. 1717.
41. (5) Thomas, b. 1700, married Hannah.
42. (6) Mary, b. 1702, married Caleb Shreve, Jr. 1718.
43. (7) Sarah, b. 1704, married _____ Harris.
44. (8) Christiana, b. 1706, married ______ Wilson. |
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