John Olney (1725 - aft. 1788)

Born 13 Jul 1725 in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island

Ancestors

Husband of Catherine (Jencks) Olney — married about 1750 in Rhode Island

Descendants

Died after 27 Jun 1788 after age 62 in Nova Scotia [uncertain]

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This profile is part of the Olney Name Study.

Biography

John was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on 13 July 1725, the son of William Olney and Alice Dexter. He is said to have married Catherine Jenks about 1750 in Providence, but no record of their marriage has been found. They apparently had their first few children in Providence before moving to Sackville, Nova Scotia (now New Brunswick) about 1759.

John and numerous other Olneys were granted land in Sackville around 1768. It appears that the man identified as John "Senior" in Sackville may have been this John's uncle. That would make this John "Junior."

The Sackville township book includes a listing of names and dates of birth for eight children of John. This list was evidently made long after the fact - all of the entries are in the same hand, and other families have birth dates as late as 1822 listed. The source and purpose of the list is unclear, but the data is sufficiently voluminous and detailed that it can probably be considered reliable in the general sense.

It is difficult to trace John's later life due to the presence in Sackville of multiple men with the same name. However, on 27 June 1788, a man named John Olney sold land in Sackville to Zelotes Olney, known to be a son of this John Olney. If we assume this transaction to have occurred between father and son, then John must have died sometime after that date.

Sources

• Arnold, James N. Vital record of Rhode Island, 1636-1850. First series: births, marriages, and deaths. A family register for the people. Providence, Rhode Island : Narragansett Historical, 1891-1912. Vol. 2, p. 235 (Births - Providence). Record 1-41: birth of John Olney to William and Alice Olney, 13 Jul 1725.

• Nova Scotia, Crown Land Grant Registers, Book 6, 1763-1768, pp. 748-750, FamilySearch Image: 3Q9M-CSVF-CQCL-J; consulted as "Nova Scotia Crown land grant registers, 1732-1901; indexes, 1707-1999," browsable images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/1039117 : accessed 16 April 2023).

• Nova Scotia, "Census Returns, 1767-1787," database with images, Nova Scotia Archives (https://archives.novascotia.ca/census/RG1v443/ : accessed 16 April 2023), John Olney, 1770, Sackville, Westmorland, New Brunswick.

• Sackville Township : Local records, 1748-1883. Library and Archives Canada Microfilm roll C-3201. MG 9, A 12-6. "The Names & Births of John Olney Family" [sic].

• Westmorland County, New Brunswick, deeds. Book A-1, p. 204. John Olney to Zelotes Olney, 27 June 1788.

• Olney, James H. A Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas Olney, an Original Proprietor of Providence, R. I., who Came from England in 1635. Providence: E. L. Freeman & Son, 1889. John is number 84 in the book.