William Elston (abt. 1720 - 1789)

Born about 1720 in Woodbridge, Middlesex, New Jersey

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 18 Jun 1789 at about age 69 in Scotch Plains, Union, New Jersey

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Stu Elston [send private message] and Jenea Heilaman [send private message]

Biography

William Elston was born about 1720, the son of Samuel Elston and a mother possibly named Sarah. See the discussion of William's mother's identity in the research note included with Samuel's profile.

As is the case for most and likely all of the Elston family who are first recorded (1680) on Staten Island, NY, and then as very early (1680's) settlers of Woodbridge, NJ, very few birth records are known to exist prior to the middle of the 18th century and most family relationships have been pieced together from wills and land records.^[1]

It is thought that William moved with his father and most of the rest of that family to Sussex County, NJ and that his two known children, William and David, migrated south from New Jersey following the American Revolution, with William having settled in Smith County, TN. after spending time in Rowan County, NC, while David moved to Wilkes County, NC for about seven years before moving his family to Bourbon County, KY.

He was possibly the William Elston who died in Scotch Plains, NJ, 18 Jun 1789, and who was buried at First Presbyterian Churchyard, Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey,^[2] although this might be impossible to prove.

Research Note

It appears from this profile's original data (date of birth and date and place of death) and the sole assigned child (David) that this profile represents the person identified as William Elston, profile 39 in The Elston Family in America.^[1]

The original profile had as a sole source a Find-A-Grave memorial^[2] and the only specified data fields were the name, Samuel William Elston, other last name, birth date, birth place, death date, death place, sex at birth, and one child, David Elston, Sr. No parentage for William was assigned in the original profile and has been taken here from the work of Elston.^[1]

The biography in the Find-A-Grave memorial has conflicting parentage and other vital information. It begins with a paraphrase of Elston's work from The Elston Family in America, namely that William is said there to be the "ancestor of the Southern branch of the family, covered in the Elston chapter of Notable Southern Families by Zella Armstrong^[3]. This chapter was apparently written by Elston Luttrell. The introductory paragraphs probably contain much truth, but it seems to the present writer [James Strode Elston] that he condenses the first two known generations of Elstons in this country and part of the third into one. He says that 'The first emigrants of the name coming to America were three brothers who came from Cardeganshire (Wales) to New York in about 1760. It is thought that one of the three settled in New York and spelled his name Alston instead of Elston, and from him is descended the very numerous and important family bearing that name to the present day. The third emigrant brother was named William Elston. He settled in New Jersey at or near Elizabeth and reared a family there.' " ^[1]

In the research that led to publication of The Elston Family in America, J. S. Elston found no evidence of a connection to Wales, and numerous clusters of Elstons in the Devon, Nottinghamshire, and Lancashire regions.

Other than the above-cited Find a Grave Memorial, there is no evidence that this person's name was other than William Elston, without a middle name. According to Elston,^[4] this William had a brother, Samuel; if so, it would be unlikely that either would be named either Samuel William or William Samuel. In addition, middle names were quite uncommon in the early 1700's.

Children attributed to William Elston, profile 39 in The Elston Family in America:^[1] William, b. abt. 1738, appearing there as profile 100^[5] and David, b. abt. 1740, appearing as profile 101.^[6] In the latter profile (101) the author cites Notable Southern Families,^[3] which work assigned David a date of birth as "about 1745", but Elston goes on to say, "As he had a son b. in 1759, I would prefer to guess 1740." That son was Benjamin, b. 25 Dec 1759, according to a Revolutionary War pension claim.^[7]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} James Strode Elston, The Elston Family in America. (Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle Publishing Co., Inc., 1942), Entry #39 for William Elston, pp. 63-64; available online at the HathiTrust Digital Library: http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/4484786.html
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/88418844/samuel-william-alston: accessed 17 December 2023), memorial page for Samuel William “Elston” Alston (1719–18 Jun 1789), Find a Grave Memorial ID 88418844, citing First Presbyterian Churchyard, Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey, USA; Maintained by Chester Bunkowfst (contributor 47720822).
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Armstrong, Zella. Notable Southern Families, Vol. 3. Chattanooga, TN: The Lookout Publishing Co., 1926, pp. 45-68; available at Family Search.org, url https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/513443, downloaded 29Jul2022.
4. ↑ Elston, The Elston Family in America, p. 50.
5. ↑ Elston, The Elston Family in America, pp. 80-82.
6. ↑ Elston, The Elston Family in America, pp. 82-86.
7. ↑ Elston, The Elston Family in America, p. 118, in entry 226 for Benjamin Elston.

Acknowledgments

• Thank you to Jenea Mascho for creating WikiTree profile Elston-146 through the import of Exporting Exporting Mascho.ged on Apr 11, 2013.

Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Jenea and others.