PETER SMITH AND REBECCA NICHOLS
Peter4 SMITH, known in the records as Peter Jr. to distinguish him from his father, was born in 1710, probably in Hempstead, and died January 16, 1771, in New Jersey. On February 4, 1732, he married, in St. George’s Church in Hempstead, Rebecca NICHOLS who was born October 9, 1707 and died November 4, 1788, at the home of her son, Dr. Peter SMITH, in Chatham, NJ a daughter of Isaac NICHOLS of Milford, Conn.
Both Peter and his wife are buried in the cemetery in Hanover, NJ sometimes called Green’s Meeting House Cemetery and their inscriptions read as follows: “In Memory of Peter Smith who Departed this Life January 16, 1771, In the 61 Year of his Age,” and “In Memory of Rebecca, Wife of Peter Smith, who Departed this life November 4, 1788, aged 81 Years & 25 days.” (William Ogden Wheeler, Inscrs. In Whippany and Hanover, NJ 1894, p. 78).
Peter SMITH Jr., as stated before, was a founder of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Hempstead and continued to be a member at least until January 26, 1736, when his two oldest sons were baptized there, but there is no record of the baptisms of later children in this church. At the time of the birth of their third child, Hezekiah SMITH on April 21, 1737, the family resided, according to the latter’s diary, “near the Great Pond about two miles from the west end of the great plains.”
The Great Pond is now Lake Success and it is believed that this property was west of the present Lakeville Road. It
contained about 150 acres and had formerly belonged to Peter STRINGHAM from whom it had been conveyed it to their son Peter Jr., on May 16, 1738; part of the land lay in Hempstead and part in Flushing, and it may be for this reason that in a record of December 1738, he is called “Peter Smith Jr., of Flushing.”
On August 27, 1740, William NICHOLS, his wife’s brother, sold to Peter Jr., his entire estate, real and personal, before going to war. William’s military career ended abruptly when he was killed at Castagena in South America while in the service of the British Army, and on March 1, 1743, administration on his estate was granted to Peter Jr. (Frederic C. TORREY, Ancestors and Descendants of Humphrey NICOLS, 1917, p. 11) On April 17, 1744, Peter Jr., purchased a farm in Jamaica from Benjamin WIGGINS and he was living on Long Island as late as 1752. On May 4th of that year an earmark was entered for Benjamin HEGEMAN of Flushing that was formerly the mark of Peter SMITH: “A Swallow fork of the oft Ear & three nicks under the near ear” (Hemp. Town recs. V.4, p. 421) The inference is that Peter was arranging to move to New Jersey at that time and the next we hear of him is when he is burying, at Hanover, NJ his daughter Catherine who died April 21, 1754.
His Hanover farm was described as follows in the ‘New York Journal or General Advertiser’ of April 20, 1769: “A tract containing 360 acres of excellent land, well wooded and watered…it lies in the County of Morris, Township of Hanover, on the Neck bounded on Passick river…it lies 13 miles from Newark, 18 miles from Elizabeth Town and within half a mile of Mr. Green’s meeting house…”(NJA:26:416-17). In more recent times it was owned by Carnot and William MEEKER and still later, it has been known as the LORRE Farm.
CHILDREN OF PETER AND REBECCA NICHOLS:
1. Jacamiah born September 12, 1732
2. Uriah born December 28, 1734
3. Hezekiah5 born April 21, 1737
4. Obediah5 born November 9, 1739
5. Sarah born October 12, 1741; died July 20, 1812, aged 70 years, 9 months and 8 days
http://mv.ancestry.com/viewer/bf84f0d2-2e45-454d-8880-2a981bcac12a/9328738/-413849000
