Person:Ebenezer Mott (1)

Ebenezer MOTT was born about 1714. He died in 1770 in NORTHAMPTON, BURLINGTON, NJ. He died before 3 Aug 1770 in Northampton Township, Burlington, New Jersey. He was Quaker Life Long in Burlington Co. New Jersey. Ebenezer was recieved in the Little Egg Harbor Quaker Meeting on May 10 1746. In 1746 Ebenezer and his wife Sarah were given certificates in the Burlington, New Jersey Meeting and lived in Mount Holly, New Jersey. (note: Little Egg Harbor is now called Tuckerton) The will of Ebenezer Mott, yeoman, of Northampton township, Burlington county, New Jersey, was dated August 11, 1770, and proved December 3, 1770, indicating that he died between those two dates. The will provided that his son Ebenezer Jr. was to have five pounds, his wife Sarah the use of his home, land and personal estate until her death, when the household goods would be divided among the six daughters, and the rest of the real and personal property would then go to his son John. John was doubtless the eldest son, as he inherited practically the entire estate, in accord with English law and custom.

The six daughters of Ebenezer Mott were named in the will: Sarah Downs, Barsheba Jones, Martha Fenimore, Abigal Rodes, Ruth Barnes and Huldah Mott. John Woolman, the famous Quaker writer, was one of the witnesses to this will.

Ebenezer Mott is reported to have been a staunch Quaker, and one of the first permanent settlers at Barnegat, New Jersey, in or about 1745.(*) Bamegat is located on the Atlantic coast, between Monmouth and Little Egg Harbour. The minutes of the Little Egg Harbour Monthly Meeting contain the following entry, showing that Ebenezer and his wife came from Rhode Island: "At a Monthly Meeting of friends ye 10th day of ye 8th mo 1745 Ebenezer Mott and his wife produced each of them certificate from South Kingstone in Rhode Island." In 1746 Ebener and his wife Sarah moved to the neighborhood of Mount Holly; they were received on 7 mo. 1, 1746 by the Burlington meeting on a certificate dated 5 mo. 10, 1746, from the meeting at Little Egg Harbour. In 1750 Ebenezer Mott was a witness to the will of Samuel Gaskill Jr., but there is no other record of him until his death twenty years later.

The children of Ebenezer began getting in trouble with the Burlington meeting soon after their arrival in its district. Abigail Mott was disowned (reason not given) on 4 mo. 5, 1756. Ebenezer Jr. was disowned on 4 mo. 4, 1763 for engaging in military service, John was disowned for marrying out of unity 2 mo. 7, 1774, and on 6 mo. 6, 1774 the minutes show that Ruth Barnes, formerly Mott was disowned for marrying contrary to discipline, and Huldah Gaskill, formerly Mott, was disowned for marrying out of unity.

Disownments for marriage out of unity or contrary to discipline were very frequent, and it was not unusual for them to occur several years after the marriage had taken place. Ruth Barnes had been married for at least four years when disowned, for she was married when her father's will was made in 1770 and was not disowned until 1774. Huldah was not married in 1770, but it cannot be determined how long she had been married when the meeting disowned her, as there is no record of her marriage. The disownment of Ruth and Huldah on the same day leaves no doubt that they were sisters, as the meeting frequently took action against several members of the same family on the same day. Furthermore the family of Ebenezer is the only Mott family mentioned in the Burlington min??fes of this period.

(*)Salter "Early Settlers of Ocean and Monmouin Counties" Parents: Edward MOTT and Penelope NILES. Parents: Edward MOTT and Penelope NILES. He was married to Sarah COLLINS in 1745 in New Jersey. Children were: Abigail MOTT , John MOTT, Sarah MOTT , Barsheba MOTT, Ruth MOTT , Huldah MOTT, Ebenezer MOTT, Martha MOTT.

=========

Evidently a strong Quaker, his origins are unknown, although there is much speculation. He was probably born about 1700, perhaps in Rhode Island, but the first reference to him is in 1744 in Kingstown. Evidently married earlier than that to perhaps Elizabeth Southwick, he remarried when she died ca 1742. Moving with his wife, daughter and baby son John to Egg Harbor, New Jersey he moved on within the year to Mt. Holly near Burlington, New Jersey, where the rest of his family was born. There he evidently became a Quaker elder and no doubt was a friend of John Woolman, the great Quaker preacher of the 18th century, who witnessed his will in 1770, several years before Woolman himself died in England.