Jane (Henry) Churchill (abt. 1774 - abt. 1808)

Born about 1774 in Bedminster, Hunterdon, New Jersey

Ancestors

Wife of Armistead Churchill II — married about 1799 in Bedminster, Hunterdon, New Jersey

Wife of Peyton Short — married about 1802 in Kentucky

Descendants

Died about 3 May 1808 at about age 34 in Lexington, Fayette, Kentucky

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Biography

Jane Henry married (1) Armistead Churchill. Armistead traveled to Ohio with the intention of living there but died there in 1795. His estate was administered to in Somerset County, New Jersey September 14, 1795.

Mr. Churchill was from a prominent Winchester, Virginia family. He and Jane had two daughters, Mary Henry Churchill, who married Charles Wilkins Short (her step-brother) and Jane, unmarried. Jane later married (2) Major Peyton Short (who had been been previously married to Polly Symmes, daughter of Col. John Cleves Symmes.) Polly bore him three children: John Cleves Short, Charles Wilkins Short (who married his step-sister, Mary Henry Churchill), and Anna Short. Jane bore him: Jane Short, Elizabeth Skipwith Short; Sally Short and William Peyton Short.

Major short had a large estate in Kentucky with 50 or more slaves. The estate was known as "Greenfields." The family has interesting letters telling of their journey across the mountains in 1802 and of the life in Kentucky. Altogether, Jane said she had a family of sixty including servants to look after. When her mother came, she brought with her six grandchildren.

The Major had a brother William who was said to have been a distinguished diplomat. He was secretary to Thomas Jefferson while abroad, Charge d'affaires at The Hague, and Minister at Madrid. And while there, the King of Spain gave him a miniature, set with precious stones which is still in possession of his descendants. The present family of Skipwiths in England are descended from a member of the American family. Major Short's mother, Elizabeth Skipwith was descended from Sir Peyton Skipwith. Charles Wilkins Short was a distinguished doctor in Louisville, Kentucky. His herbarium is in the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.

Sources

Douglas M. Henry; Somerset County, New Jersey, Historical Quarterly, 1912; p. 112; and the "Henry Genealogy" by William Henry Eldridge, Press of T. R. Marvin and Son, Boston, Massachusetts, 1915. A copy of the latter can be found in the library of the Southwest Texas State Teacher's College, San Marcos, Texas.