Spinning Family. Humphrey Spinning came to NJ from New Haven, CT, where he had married Abigail Hubbard of Guilford on 14 Oct 1657. He was an original settler at Elizabethtown, and took the oath of fidelity there on Feb. 19, 1665. He died in September 1689, leaving an estate of £223.8.0 [E. F. Hatfield, History of Elizabeth, 1868]. I do not have the names of his children, nor can I say exactly how any later Spinning was descended from him.

MISC. UNPLACED SPINNINGS. Data from various sources: 1st Presbyterian Ch. of Elizabeth Sexton’s Book 1766-1799; gravestones at 1st Presb. Ch. as numbered and transcribed by Wheeler & Halsey in 1892; wills and other Surrogate Court records as indicated; and unverified IGI entries. Note how many of the Sexton’s Book burial records were not represented by extant stones in 1892: a great many graves in this churchyard either went unmarked from the beginning or had their stones destroyed later. Many early stones near the church were probably destroyed with the building when it was burned by British soldiers during the Revolution, or during its later reconstruction. (This church was such a breeding ground for Patriot sentiment during the war that its pastor, James Caldwell, and his wife, were shot in cold blood by British soldiers on separate occasions. The Sexton’s Book records both murders: hers on 8/28/1779, his on 11/24/1781. Both had been unarmed. Imagine the feelings this must have aroused in the town!)

“Sister of Capt Isaac Spinning,” bur. 11/1/1795 [PCSB]. May be one of the daughters of Daniel Spinning 1749-1811; see below.

“Daughter of Benjamin Spinning,” bur. 7/2/1786 [PCSB]

“Child of Benjamin Spinning Jr.,” bur. 9/2/1790 [PCSB]

Benjamin Spinning, d. 3/11/1802 in 56th yr. of his age [gs 1149] (b. 1746/1747)

Edward Spinning, bur. 4/24/1791 [PCSB]

John “Spinnage”, d. 9/15/1817 in 67th yr. [gs 1150] (b. 1750/1751); m. Mary ______, b. abt. 1747, d. 3/24/1824 [gs 1151]

[probable placement, based on gs]: Isaac “Spinnage,” b. 11/3/1786, d. 11/25/1803 ae. 17 yrs 22 days [gs 1150]

[probable placement, based on gs]: Mary “Spinnage,” d. 3/6/1785 [gs 1150]

Matthias Spinning, nothing further known.

“Child of Matthias Spinning,” bur. 9/18/1777 [PCSB]

“Child of Matthias Spinning,” bur. 4/26/1782 [PCSB]

Benjamin Spinning, d. 1731/32 [surrogate’s record of will], m. Margaret _____ [will]

° Will of Benjamin Spinning of Eliz., 12/14/1731, proved 2/28/1731-2. Children Benjamin, John and Humphrey, all under age; daughter Sarah Wheaton. Wife Margaret, exr. with Andrew Joline.

Sarah Spinning, m. _____ Wheaton [will of her father]

Benjamin Spinning, b. after 12/14/1710, possibly the Benjamin bur. 4/26/1792 [PCSB; gs not found]. If so, he m. _______, who was bur. as “Widow of Benjn. Spinning dec.” on Feb 2_, 1794 (date is partly obliterated on my photocopy). But see also another Benjamin Spinning (1746/7-1802) elsewhere in this file. Perhaps the latter was the former’s son?

John Spinning, b. after 12/14/1710 and before 12/14/1731 [will of his father].

Humphrey Spinning, b. after 12/14/1710 and before 12/14/1731 [will of his father]. Perhaps the same man as “Umphrey” Spinning, bur. 3/8/1788 [PCSB; gs not found]

John Spinning 1700-3/10/1778 [gs 1515] m. 1728 Constant Little 1706-1757 [gs 1516].

° His will — dated 2/4/1776, but not proved until 12/21/1793 — named a granddaughter Sarah as “wife of Benjamin Mulford.” He presumably meant the son of Lewis 4, since the only contemporaneous Benjamin I know of (a son of Jeremiah 4) was reportedly married to an Anna ____ when son Daniel was born to them on 25 Jun 1778 [IGI, but the source of this entry begs to be checked: Jeremiah Mulford’s will named his grandson Daniel, son of Benjamin, in February 1776 — two years before the IGI entry says Daniel was born to Benjamin and Anna.] On the other hand, one of the two Benjamin Mulfords who appeared on the January 1779 ratables list of Elizabethtown (in the Town ward; the other was in the Springfield ward) was listed as single — and that was after the birth of Daniel to Benjamin and Anna, and after the will of John Spinning said a Benjamin was married to Sarah! Had the single man’s wife died between Feb. 1776 and Jan. 1779? Curiouser and curiouser…

° A “wife of Benjamin Mulford” was buried 7/18/1781 [PCSB]. It is possible that this was the granddaughter mentioned in John Spinning’s will. She might have been the other Benjamin Mulford’s wife, but that seems much less likely, since not one descendant of Jeremiah Mulford is known to have been buried in the First Presbyterian Churchyard, and Lewis’s son Benjamin was buried there.

° This outline shows the known (to me) children and grandchildren of John Spinning. None of the three known Sarahs (Elizabeth Spinning Watkins’s daughter, b. 1772; Jonathan's daughter, b. 1767, or Daniel’s daughter, b. 1776) could have been married to Benjamin Mulford by 1776, but all were living then, so there is practically no chance that the Sarah we’re looking for was born to any of these three parents. That leaves Phebe Spinning Stites, Ebenezer Spinning and John Spinning — the oldest of whom was only 40 in 1776 — as possible parents of Benjamin Mulford’s wife Sarah. One of them may have had a daughter named Sarah, as yet unknown to me. Or else Sarah, wife of Benjamin Mulford, was the daughter of a deceased child of John Spinning — most likely a daughter — who was not named in John’s will and therefore does not appear at all below. Given the ages of John’s known children and the reported (in the IGI) lists of their own children, it doesn’t look as if any of them could have had a heretofore unknown daughter Sarah who was old enough to be married in 1776.

Frances Spinning b. 4/16/1730, d. 7/5/1787 [gs 1519] m. 1761 Joseph Watkins, b. Eliz. 1728 [IGI]

Joseph Watkins b. 6/3/1761 Eliz. [IGI] (twin?); must have d. young

Hezekiah Watkins b. 1761 Eliz. [IGI] (twin?)

Joseph Watkins b. 1763 Eliz. [IGI]

Jonathan Watkins b. 1765 Eliz. [IGI]; must have d. young

James Watkins b. 6/20/1768 Eliz. [IGI]

Elizabeth Watkins b. 1770 Eliz. [IGI]

Sarah Watkins b. 9/20/1772 Eliz. [IGI]

Jonathan Watkins b. 1774 Eliz. [IGI]

Jonathan Spinning b. 1732, d. before 2/4/1776 [per will of his father; no burial listed in PCSB; no gravestone found], m. Westfield PC 7/17/1766 Elizabeth Miller [IGI]; have no info about her. They may have lived in Westfield rather than Elizabethtown, and been buried there.

Sarah Spinning b. 1767 Eliz. [IGI]

Phoebe Spinning b. 1769 Eliz. [IGI]

Phebe Spinning b. 1736[IGI], bur.11/22/1822 [gs 1518] m. 6/7/1761 [IGI] William Stites 1734-1/24/1781 [PCSB; gs 1517]. PCSB notes cause of his death as “mortification of arm”.

Phebe Spinning Stites bap. 5/2/1762 SJC

William Stites bap. 2/26/1764 SJC

John Stites bap. 1/19/1767 SJC

Daniel Stites bap. 3/15/1772 SJC

Ebenezer Spinning b. 1738[IGI], bur. 4/15/1771 [PCSB; gs not found], or 12/25/1780 [PCSB; gs not found] or 4/7/1785 [PCSB; gs not found] m. 1762 Ann _____ [IGI], bur. 10/16/1776 [PCSB; gs not found], or 1/19/1778 [PCSB; gs not found].

° There are Sexton's Book burial entries for three different Ebenezer Spinnings and two for “wife of Ebenezer Spinning”. I do not know which burial notations represent this Ebenezer and his wife. Wheeler & Halsey found no stones bearing their names in the Presbyterian churchyard.

Abner Spinning b. 1764 Eliz. [IGI]; d. 4/15/1770? [PCSB]

Mary Spinning b. 1767 Eliz. [IGI]

Anna Spinning b. 1772 Eliz. [IGI

Jonathan Spinning b. 3/3/1776 Eliz. [IGI]

John Spinning b. 1740[IGI], bur. 3/12/1776 or 9/25/1799? [PCSB; gs not found] m. 1769 Hannah Trembly ?–? [IGI]

° Death/burial dates are given for two John Spinnings in the Presbyterian Sexton’s Book. In 1892, W&H found no John Spinning gravestone bearing a date close to either of them. I do not know which one is this John, but since no children's births are known to have occurred after 1775, I'm inclined to suspect the earlier one. It came barely a month after his father’s will was drawn up. I don’t know enough about the Spinning family to know where a John Spinning who died in 1799 might have fit into it.

Constant Spinning b. 1770 Eliz. [IGI]

Phoebe Spinning b. 10/20/1773 Eliz. [IGI]

Hannah Spinning b. 1775 Eliz. [IGI]

“Child of John Spinning,” possibly one of the above, bur. 3/17/1785 [PCSB; gs not found]

Daniel Spinning 4/22/1749-11/3/1811 [gs 1509] m. (1) 1771 Mindwell (Williams?) 1750-9/26/1783 [gs 1511; burial not listed in PCSB]; Daniel m. (2) 1784 Mary ______ 12/29/1754?-3/9/1802 [gs 1510].

• If Mindwell was a Williams, she may have been d/o Ebenezer 1724-60 [gs 1404], s/o Benjamin Williams ?–1730, who mentioned Ebenezer as a son in his will. Ebenezer's dau. Mindwell was chr. at SJC with five brothers and sisters on 9/30/1761, after their father's death.

Benjamin Spinning b. 1772 Eliz. [IGI]

Sarah Spinning b. 11/13/1774 Eliz. [IGI]; d. 2/18/1775, aged 2 months 29 days, and was buried the next day. [PCSB; gs 1512]