John Shinn Sr. (1631 - 1712)

Born 20 Nov 1631 in Soham, Cambridgeshire, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Jane (Garwood) Shinn — married about 1655 in Freckenham, Suffolk, England

Descendants

Died 17 Apr 1712 at age 80 in Springfield, Burlington County, Province of New Jersey

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Project: Quakers

Biography

Origins

John Shinn Sr. migrated from England to English Colonies.

I know we've all asked ourselves that. John Shinn is most likely your most illusive Ancestor as far as his origins are concerned. There are no solid birth records for him in England. Some say he was born in Freckenham Soham England because they assume Clement Sheene was his father, via the knowledge given from the book "History of the Shinn Family in Europe & America".^[1] This is the most plausable explanation for his parentage.

Some say he was born in Soham Cambridgeshire England, and still others call Albury Hertfordshire England his birthplace. His children were born all over England including Sutton Cambridgeshire England, which is close to Soham where his wife was born.

For this genealogist I followed the family. Clement Shinn (also spelled Shinne and Shine) was indeed born in Freckenham. He however moved to Wicken, Cambridgeshire, England where his marriage was recorded in 1622. All of his children therefore were born in Cambridgeshire England. This is the what the records show. However, for all we really know he could have been born in London where he was jailed, or in Ireland.

Whether he was born in England or Ireland, Freckenham or Soham is left to History. We'll never know unless some day some relatives finds his name written in some dusty old book. We do know that his DNA points to Ireland and that he was living in England.

John Shinn Sr is also progenitor of almost every Shinn in America. written by teresa shinn obst

Early Life

17th Century Farmhouse.

We know nothing concrete of the Childhood of John Shinn Sr. Assuming he is the son of Clement Sheene of Freckenham, he was living in the rural farming community of Cambridgeshire and it is likely that he was a farm worker from a young age.

Occupation

17th Century WheelWright.

John Shinn was educated, as he could read and write. He was a Wheelwright by trade.

Environment

Cambridge Castle, 17th Century.

When John was in England, the Puritans were heading to America. Shakespeare was rising in popularity. There were printed versions of the Bible and the first English Dictionary. England was plunged into Civil War. The King was Charles 1. And London was growing. Which is just where our John Shinn Sr is seen for the first time in any historical record.

Religion

George Fox.

We know John Shinn Sr is found living all around England. The Quaker Preacher George Fox started preaching publicly around 1647. We can't be sure when John Shinn Sr became a follower but it was most likely before 1662. Could it be that he traveled with him as early as a teenager?

John Shinn Jailed, London 1662 (age 31)

Family Life

John Shinn Sr married Jane "Jean" Garwood in 1650 in London or Ipswich, or Soham England. We know they had a total of 9 children in Cambridgeshire, England before they left for America. Many years were spent there, approximately 25. I imagine John Shinn must have worked as a wheelwright, was a practicing Quaker and obviously saved money to come to America.

Immigration

In March of 1677 John Shinn and his family were among the 230 Quaker Passengers that left England with George Fox on the Ship Kent. I think the names and ages of the family would have been (est): John Shinn Sr 46 & Wife Jane Garwood 41. Children: John Jr (18), George (17), Mary (16), Thomas (12), Sarah (9), Esther (7), Francis (4), Martha (2), James (1)

New Jersey

Burlington Monthly Meetings were established in "West Jersey", with its first held 15 Fifth Month 1678. Meetings for worship had begun the previous year. Meetings were first held in tents made for the purpose out of the sails of the Kent.

Historic Burlington Monthly Meeting House.

The Burlington County, New Jersey Assessment List of 1684 shows John Shinn owned 400 acres.^[2]

Will

The will of John Shinn was dated "14th of the 11th month, 1711 (Jan., 1712), and was probated 30th of 12th month, 1711 (Feb., 1712). (Wills of New Jersey, Liber 1, p. 337.) The exact date of his death is not recorded, but it must have occurred between the dates aforesaid. The following is a copy of his will and of the inventory of his personal estate:

Will of John Shinn.

In his will, John Shinn names his living children and two grandchildren. Named are Thomas and Sarah (Shinn) Atkinson, Richard and Mary (Shinn) Fennimore, John and James Shinn, Joshua and Martha (Shinn) Owen, Mary Crosby , granddaughter, (an idiot) and Thomas Shinn, grandson. It has been assumed from this that other grandchildren had predeceased John, which is not necessarily so as obviously he names only two grandchildren.

Last Will of John Shinn: "The fourteenth day of the Eleventh Month Called January Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and eleven, I John Shinn Senior of ye Township of Springfield and county of Burlington In the province of West New Jersey (being sick and weak of body) but of sound disposing minde and memory praised be God doe make and ordain this my last Will and Testament in Writting in manner and forme following ___ first and principally of all I Give and Recommend my Soul and Spirit into the hands of Almighty God that gave and my body to the Earth to be buried In a Christian like & desent manner att the discretion of my Executors hereafter named And as touching the disposition of all such temporal Estate as it hath pleased Almighty God to bestow up mee I give and dispose thereof as followeth first I will that my Just Debts and funerall shall be paid and Discharged ___ Item I give to my son Thomas Atkeson and Sarah his wife and their Heirs for Ever one hundred pounds of good silver Money att nine Sbillings and two pense pr ounce upon these Conditions as followeth that is to say that the Sayed Thomas Atkeson Shall give good lawfull and Sufficient Security unto Richard Fenimore and Mary his Wife and there Heirs &c. forever of and from all manner of Charges burthens or Incombers whatsoever In Relation toward the Caire and Mentainance both for victals and Clothes and al other necessaryes for my grand child Mary Crosby being an Idiott and not capeble to take care of herself so long as she shall live which sd sort of an Agreement I made with my daughter Mary before she was Married for me to take the sayed Care of sayed Idiott Child in order thereunto I had my Daughter Mary's plantation Conveyed to mee for Sixty five pounds and Twenty five pounds more I Received in Money and bills for goods sould a?? a Vandue of my Daughter which made up the Sum of ninty pounds and ten pound more I gave out of my one Estate for to make up the sum of one hundred pounds as afore sayed. All the Rest of my Estate both Reale and personall I give to Jane my Dear and well beloved Wife duering her natural life and no longer and after her decease I give and bequeath as followeth Item I give to my Son John Shinn twenty pounds which he hath in his hand already upon bond to pay interest Item I give to my son James Shinn twenty pounds in Moneys which he hath in his hands already upon bond Item I give to my Son in law Joshua Owein and Martha his Wife twenty pound Item I give to my Son in law Thomas Atkeson and Sarah his Wife twenty pounds as al the littel House that I have built upon his land as also one bedd and al the furniture belonging to itt that is to bee under Shed as aforesayed after the decease of My Wife I give to my Son in law Richard Fenimore and Mary his Wife two shillings in moneys my sayed Daughter Mary being before this time advanced by mee Item I give to my grandson Thomas Shinn my boulting Mills and fifty pounds in Moneys and all the Rest and Remainder of my Estate both Reale and Personall that In left after the decease of my Wife She haveing a good Comfortable liveing out of the Same Wil??est She liveth and al our debt and funerall Charges is defrayed I give unto my two Sons John Shinn and James Shinn Equally to be divided between them and also to nominate and appoint my two sons John and James Shinn as aforeanyed to be my onely and Sole Executors of this my last Will and Testament Ratifying this and onely this to be my last Will and Testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal ye day and year above sayed. John Shinn L. S."

Inventory

Inventory of John Sinn's Estate: "A True Inventory of the goods Chattels and Personall Estate of John Shinn of ye Township of Springfield and County of Burlington and Province of West New Jersey yeoman viewed taken and apraised this thirteenth day of the twelfth month called february Anno domi one thousand and a Eleven-Twelve by us whose names are hereunto subscribed.

Vis_____ lb. s. d. Imp to his purse and Apparrel 16 10 0 to Moneys upon bonds 132 00 0 to Lonings 003 0 0 to one bed & furniture 14 0 0 to another bed and beding with bedstead 10 0 0 to pewtor 00 10 0 to one Iron Cettol a brass Cettol with a Scillit 02 10 0 to one fryin pan with Sum other Iron 00 16 0 to one Shovell and tongs and Tramels and grid Iron 05 0 0 and other od things to one Chest and Desk 00 6 0 to one Chest 00 18 0 to Sum ould tubs 00 06 0 to one box Iron and money Skails 00 6 0 to one glass and Hone 00 18 0 to one Chear 00 06 0 to four ould Chairs 00 06 0 to Trencher and dishiss 00 05 0 to one brass Cettel with ould Iron 00 15 0 to one ould Char and three Iron wedges 00 12 0 to one ould Cart 1 6 0 More money upon bond 105 0 0 Richard Ridgway Matthew Champion. Burlington the 20th feb 1711

I John Shinn doe sollemnly declare in the presence of Almighty God the witness of the truth of what I say that the within writing Containes the full and Just inventory of all and singuler the Goods Chattles and Credits of John Shinn deceased soe far as came to my view possession or knowledge or to the view possession or knowledge of any other person for my use. John Shinn, Burlington 20th Feb 1711

A baptismal registration was found in the Cambridgeshire Parish Records indexed at both FamilySearch and FindMyPast. The registration indicates that a John Shinn, son of Clement and Grace Shinn was baptised in Soham, Cambridge, England, on 20 Nov 1631.^[3]

On September 18th, 1680, John Shinn, Senior, bought of William Emley, one of the commissioners, 1-15 of one of the one hundred shares of West Jersey. This is evidenced (1) by a deed, dated July 17, 1697, wherein John Shinn, of Springfield Township, Burlington County, wheelwright, conveys to his son, James Shinn, 120 acres,(The land conveyed was bounded W. by John Day; E. by John Butcher; S. by a branch of Birch Creek; N. by John Shinn. N. J. A., Vol. XXI, p. 506. A survey of land on Oct. 23, 1680, on Assincunk Creek at Mattacopenny describes the land as adjoining John Shinn. Revel's Book of Assincunk describes it as adjoining Samuel Jennings and John Shinn, Ibid. Also N. J. A., Vol. XXI. p. 347. This enhances the probability of John Shinn being in New Jersey prior to the year 1680) being part of the 1-15 of the propriety bought of William Emley, September 18, 1680; Liber AAA, f. 368, N. J. Deeds; (2) by a deed, dated July 15th, 1711, from John Shinn, of same township, to John Shinn, Junior, of the same place, conveying the remainder of the 1-15 of a share, bought as aforesaid; Liber AAA, f. 368 lf. At a meeting of proprietors and freeholders in the First Tenth on the 24th of June, 1684, assessors were chosen to value and list lands. These assessors were directed not only to receive the assessment, but "for ye giving in each persons quantity of land in ye said Tente(h), both of undivided and certain tracts." From the list prepared by said assessors, and headed "The Names of ye Proprietors and Freeholders, and ye Number of Acres They Possess," we gather that John Shinn had that year in the First Tenth "Undivided 300 acres. Located 100 acres." The list shows eighty-nine freeholders. Samuel Barker is the only one that shows 1,000 acres; twelve others show from 450 to 650; eight own 400 acres; the remainder had from 50 to 350. John Shinn at that early day stood among the well-to-do men of Burlington County.^[2]

Salter in his History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties says that Clement Shinn and Eliza, his wife, had warrant for 160 acres of land in Shrewsbury in 1676, and that George Shinn in the same year had a warrant for 60 acres. There is no record of its survey, and the next reference to Clement Shinn is that of the text. After this the name Clement disappears from all records, whether of church or state, until the third generation, when it reappears in the line of John, Senior. The name "Eliza Shinn" appears in no place save in the text of Salter. From what has already been written concerning the English branch, it is probable that this "Clement Sheen" was the brother of "John Sheen," and that "George Shinn" was either his brother or son. We have seen that the Frecken ham Registers record the birth of "Clement Sheen, son of John Sheen, baptized Nov. 24th, 1593." The age of Clement in 1680 would be eighty-seven, which makes it probable that he was the grandfather of John, and the father of the Clement of the text. When it is remembered that his name appears nowhere else in Burlington records; that it appears then as a freeholder merely; that John was then a father of a large family of children, several of whom were of marriageable age, the deduction is logical that this Clement was about his age; that he bought lands in England in 1676, but did not go to them; that he actually came to America when John and his family emigrated; and that he died at Burlington in the year 1680, or shortly afterwards. This makes the pedigree of John Shinn of Burlington, N. J., root back to Francis Sheene of Freckenham Parish, England, born 1520.

The spelling of the name "Sheen" connects the family with the English. In England and New Jersey the spelling crystallized into its present form about 1700. Since that time it has been uniformly spelled "Shinn" in England and America.

On September 36, 1680, a survey was made for John Shinn of 200 acres on Assincunk Creek, adjoining Eleazer Fenton. (Revel's "Book of Surveys," p. 7.) Again, on February 1, 1681, another survey was made for him of 100 acres on the Brook of Assincunk, adjoining his own land and that of Thomas Budd. Daniel Leeds was the surveyor. (Revel's "Book of Surveys," p. 18.) On September 22, 1682, another survey was made for him of 120 acres between John Butcher, Eleazer Fenton and the West Branch of Assincunk Creek. (Revel's Surveys, p. 34.) On September 6, 1686, Eleazor Fenton sold John Shinn 1-16 of a share of the original 100 shares of West New Jersey, a wharf lot in the town of Burlington and a house lot on Romb Street, in the same town. (Liber B, Part I, p. 247, Deeds of W. J.) Counting a share at 32,000 acres, as is done by Hon. John Clement, for thirty years a Judge of the Court of Error and Appeal of New Jersey (Surveyors' Association. West New Jersey, p. 123 (1880)) this transaction gave John Shinn the right to locate 2,000 acres of land.

Judge Clement contributed an article to the Pennsylvania Magazine of Biography and History, (P. M. B. and H., Vol. 7, p. 335) from which the following document is extracted:

"On 'th of ye twelfth month 16(8)7. The Deputy Governor and Commissioners being then met at ye house of (Henry) Grubb in Burlington, proposed to Governor Coxe's Agent to join ye proprietors (and) Commissioners in making as large a purchase from ye Indian natives (as can be) had on behalf of ye governor and proprietors of this province."

It was also proposed by the Governor's Agent "that a general warrant be granted to ye Deputy Governor and Commissioners for ye surveying of ye (said) lands belonging to ye first settlements for twelve proprieties." Warrant was issued calling all the proprietors together in order that "their minds may be further known" concerning the legality of the measure and their agreement thereto.

On the 13th of ye 12th month, 1687, the proprietors concluded and agreed as follows: "That the proprietors find the proposals of the Governor contrary to ye former rules and methods for taking up land." Yet, being desirous to accommodate the Governor and the families from England who had given information of an intention to remove to this province, and the expectation of a great advantage accrning to the province by reason of "peopling the same,"agreed that the Governor "may take up ye shares belonging to him for ye (first) divident of twelve priprieties" and authorize the court to issue a warrant to the General Surveyor to survey and lay out the same.

"Ye agreement aforesaid subscribed by ye proprietors underwritten."

Andrew Robinson, Thomas Gardner, John Dayes, William Royden, William Cooper, Thomas Farnsworth, William Bates, John Reading, Joshua Humphries, John Hugg, Bernard Devonish, John Pancoast, Elias Ffar, James Atkinson,

Percival Toole, John Kay, William Albertson, Nathaniel Cripps, Thomas Barton, John Shinn, Isaac Marriot, Thomas Sharp, Freedom Lippencott, William Beard, Thomas Thackara, Thomas Matthews, Anthony Elton.

The proprietors had issued a long advertisement for distribution in England and Europe, which "after dwelling on the salubrity of the climate, the good temper of the Indians, and the manner and costs of setting out from England, closed with the following advice to the prospective immigrants: 'All persons inclining unto these parts must know that in their settlement there they will find their exercises. They must labor before they reap; and, until their plantations be cleared, they must expect the mosquitoes, flies, gnats and such like, may in hot and fair weather give them some disturbance, where people provide not against them.' The mosquitoes seem to have been early recognized as among the most active of the inhabitants of the new country." The above extract is taken from "The Story of an Old Farm," by Andrew D. Mellick, Jr., a charming book from the writer's standpoint, and full of interesting matter concerning the first century of New Jersey's existence.

On December 14, 1687, John Shinn, of Springfield Lodge, deeded John Crosby, of the same place, millwright, husband of Mary, daughter of said Shinn, one-half of a three-hundred-acre lot on Birch Creek. (W. J. R., Liber B, Pt. 1, pp. 167-443.) This deed fixes the name of one daughter.

On April 10, 1693, John Shinn deeded to his son-in-law, Thomas Atkinson, and his daughter, Sarah, one hundred and ninety-five acres of land. (W. J. Rec., Liber B, Pt. 2, p. 582.)

On May 25, 1687, John Shinn, Sr., and twenty-three others, proprietors of several undivided shares of land in West Jersey, conveyed to Thomas Budd 15,000 acres, to be bought from the Indians; grantee to pay the debts of the province according to act of General Assembly for 1687. (W. J. R., Liber B, ff. 150-231.)

On August 8th, 1686, John Skein, of Peachfield, N. J., sold John Shinn, Sr., 100 acres in the First or Yorkshire Tenth to be located. (W. J. R., Liber B, f. 196.)

On February 12, 1688-9, John Shinn and other proprietors consent to the agreement made by Dr. Daniel Coxe with East Jersey concerning the partition line. (W. J. R., Liber B. f. 233.)

On July 17, 1697, John Shinn, wheelwright, deeded to his son, James Shinn, 120 acres on Birch Creek. (W. J. R., Liber B, f. 619.) In 1707 John Shinn, with divers others of the proprietors and purchasers of West Jersey, sent a remonstrance to Edward Viscount Cornbury, Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of New York and New Jersey, and asked for the removal of certain prohibitions, in words as follows:

Petition from Proprietors and Purchasers of West Jersey to Lord Cornbury: (From original in Alexander West Jersey Papers, p. 149.) To Edward Viscount Cornbury Captain Generale and Governour in Chief in and Over the Province of New Jersey, New York and All the Territories and Tracts of Land Depending Thereon in America and Vice Admirall of the Same, &c.: THE HUMBLE PETITION of divers of the proprietors and purchasers of the western division of New Jersey in all humility sheweth.

That whereas we are fully Informed that the Councill of Proprietors for the western division have received a Prohibition from the Lord Cornbury in Councill held at Amboy the fourteenth day of November Anno Dom: 1706 for granting any warrants for laying out lands &c by reason whereof no warrants can be obtained for that end, to the great prejudice of such as have (as they Conceive) a good and lawful right to take up their Just proportions of land In the division aforesaid haveing as good an undevided right as ony else can pretend to and have also bought the same of the Indians for a very valuable consideration.

WHEREFORE we humbly pray that such prohibition and Impediments may be removed and we evidencing our rights to such person or persons as the Proprietors have appointed to Inspect the same may be admitted thereto and we shall as in duty bound forever pray.

Thomas Brian, Willm. Stevenson, Daniel Wills, John Gosling, John Sharpe, Richard Haines, William Heulings, Henry Ballinger, Henry Burr, Samuel Lippincott, Junr. Richard Fenimore. Will Petty, Jr. Edward Elkton, Joshua Humphries,

Thomas Eves, Thomas Stoker, John Haines, Williams Evens, Benjamin Moore, Steven Wilson, John Horten, Thomas Wilkins, William Horton. John Jones (his mark), John Stokes, John Woolman, John Clarke, Joseph Kirkbride,

Wm. Biles, John Swift, Roger Parke, Samll. Ferris, Nath. Pope, John Day (his mark), John Abbat, Matthew Watson, John Shinn, Thomas Peacher, Nathan Allen, Edward Rockhill, John Bacon. (N. J. Archives, Vol. III, p. 164.)

On July 15, 1711, John Shinn, of Springfield, wheelwright, deeds John Shinn, Jr., one-seventh of a share of a propriety. (W. J. R., Liber AAA, f. 368.) In the will of John Shinn, Sr., hereafter to be noted, this John, Jr., is identified as a son of John, Sr. On February 2, 1699-1700, Robert Dimsdale, of Bishops Starford, County of Hertford, England, gave a power of attorney to Francis Davenport, John Shinn and John Scott as land agents. (W. J. R., Liber B, Pt. 2, f. 669.) These records disclose the fact that John Shinn, Sr., between the years 1680, when he first appeared, and 1712, when he died, had been the owner of several thousand acres of land, the largest part of which he gave his children--Mary, Sarah, Thomas, James and John, Jr. The greatest quantity conveyed at any one time was that of July 15, 1711, to John, Jr., of one-seventh of a share, and raises the probability that John,

Robert Dimsdale and John Shinn were from the same county in England and by a singular coincidence were confined together in the same jail at Hertfordshire. After John Shinn had located in New Jersey Dimsdale removed thither and purchased a large tract of land on what was afterwards called Dimsdale Run, a small stream that flows into the Rancocas at Lumbertown. He was twice married, once in England, and again in New Jersey to Sarah, the daughter of Francis and Mary Collins. He died in England in 1718 and was buried in the church at Theydon Garnon, in Essex. Through his descendants by the first wife the name became illustrious. His great-grandson was created Baron of the Russian Empire in 1769.

Jr., was the oldest son. There were other children, as we shall see, who, so far as the records show, received no land from their father. The modern ideas of equity in the division of estates did not find favor with fathers of that time. Primogeniture was in high repute with all land owners, and the oldest son, without superior merit, enjoyed the greater estate, while the younger children, especially the females, were considerd lucky if they were remembered at all. John Shinn may have given his other children--George, Francis, Martha and Esther--land, or money wherewith to purchase it, for the boys Francis and George had estates and died before their father. And while the will of John Shinn, Sr., made John, Jr., and James his general residuary legatees, share and share alike, it is still true that John Shinn, Jr., received the greatest quantity of land, and, so far as the records show, the other children were satisfied with the parental distribution.

Burlington County at this period (1680-1712) embraced not only its present area, but a large part of Hunterdon County and Nottingham Township, in Mercer County. It is a difficult matter to trace the boundaries of the townships of the county as they existed then, but it is certain that they were larger than they are at present. Springfield Township, in which the greater part of John Shinn's possessions were located, was settled before 1680, and within three years of the settlement at Burlington. The land along the Assincunk was very fertile, and abounded from the very first in superior meadows. (Barber and Howe's Historical Collection of New Jersey, p. 120) The region abounds in marl and the farms of the township to this day are large, well adapted to the culture of grain and grass, and show substantial dwellings and barns. The immediate neighbors of John Shinn were men of wealth and of great political and religious influence. Some of these were Samuel Jennings, Eleazer Fenton, Thomas Budd, Robert Stacy and John Butcher. Having traced his land transactions historically, with their accompanying evidences of prosperity, good judgment and thrift, let us turn our attention to his standing and connection with the church. (In Vol. XX, N. J. A., as a note to Thomas Shinn is appended a long and well written article concerning the land transactions of John Shinn. It was written after the one presented in this chapter and by a different hand.) John Shinn was a member of Burlington Monthly Meeting of Friends. As we have already seen, John Shinn signed a memorial addressed to the London Yearly Meeting on the 7th day of the 12th month (Feb. 7, 1681), 1680. This establishes his connection with the Friends and raises a strong probability that he was a Friend in England, and brought his certificate of clearness with him.

The minutes of the Burlington Meeting, aside from the signature adduced, do not show any great activity on the part of our subject until 1684, when his name appears with frequency for a period of more than twenty-five years. In 1683 it was resolved by the meeting to build a meeting house, and to that end it borrowed money of some of the wealthier members and began the work.

On the 5th of the 11th month, 1684, (Wherever dates are adduced they refer to Minutes of Burlington M. M. Meeting unless otherwise explained) the minutes show that the meeting engaged to "pay the under money lent out of the first money received to buy boards for the meeting house." John Shinn subscribed and paid 5 shillings.

On the 5th of the 2d month, 1686 (April 6), John Shinn, Jr., and Ellen Stacy proposed, in open meeting, their intention to marry. On the 5th of the 3d month they appeared the second time, when they were left at liberty to proceed. On the 4th of the 8th month, 1686, and again on the 8th of the 9th month, John Crosby and Mary Shinn, daughter of John Shinn, appeared before the meeting and announced their intention to marry. On the 2d of the 11th month, 1687, John Shinn, Sr., and nine others were appointed on a committee "to visit a meeting in Pennsylvania, exhibit a complaint against a member of that meeting, and endeavor to bring about a reconciliation."

On the 6th of the 12th month, 1687, and again on the 5th of the 1st month, 1687-8, "Thomas Shinn, son of John Shinn, and Sarah Shawthorne proposed their intentions of marriage." On the 6th of the 12th month, 1687, John Shinn and John Day were appointed to notify Daniel Leeds to bring in his paper to the Burlington Meeting before sending it to Philadelphia. Daniel Leeds had issued an almanac, which was the first publication ever made in New Jersey or Pennsylvania. Its title page ran thus: "An Almanac for the year of the Christian Account, 1687, particularly respecting the meridian and latitude of Burlington, but may indifferently serve for all places adjacent. By Daniel Leeds, Student in

The rules of the Friends required the young people who proposed marriage to appear publicly in meeting and make the announcement. The meeting then appointed a committee to see whether the contracting parties were free from all engagements, and that the parents consented. After one month the parties reappeared and made a second announcement, when, if the committee reported them "clear," they were permitted to consummate their intentions. This was generally done within a few days at the house of the father of the bride, and with a ceremony which will be more fally set out hereafter. To be married by a minister or by a civil officer was cause for "disownment," or excommunication. Agriculture. Printed and sold by William Bradford near Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, Pro Anno, 1687." This publication gave offense to the Friends on account of some of its "superfluities," and he was forced to make amends. The following paper shows the hold which the church had gained over the intellect of the man:

"To ye Men's Monthly Meeting at Burlington: Dear Friends: Wheras, I do understand yt something in my Almanac hath given offonse to ffriends of truth--Therefore I did look uppon myself as bound for satisfaction and vindication of ye blessed to condemn them as wrong and proceeding from a ground yt was out of truth. I being at a loss as to my incondition at ye time of writing thereof, during which loss I have been apt to let in hard thoughts and to pass a forward judgement of some proceedings of ye men's meetings, which I also do condemn, warning all others to have a care of letting in anything against ye good practices of ye Church of Christ in Men and Women's Meeting. Read in ye 5th of ye 12th, month 1687.--Daniel Leeds."

When any of the modern Shinns finds himself wishing for "the good old times," let him read this inquisition of 1687. Daniel Leeds may have printed the signs of the zodiac; he may have called the planets after the fashion of the learned by names which commemorate heathen gods: he may have advertised patent medicines, for proprietary remedies were even at that day a source of revenue for money-making quacks; he may have criticised the slow-going pace of the Men's Meeting at Burlington--all sins of enormous degree--but he was at the head of a new enterprise; was forcing thought into the sphere of routine, and did not deserve the censure he received. Thomas I. Wharton, of Philadelphia, has called him "The first author in Pennsylvania or New Jersey in order of time," and all first authors have to stem tides of great opposition. The Quaker opposition in 1687 seemed to appall him, and to bring him closer to the peculiar style of the society. But continued opposition drove both Leeds and Bradford to New York, where Leeds issued a virulent manifesto against Quakerism.

As to the position of John Shinn in the matter, there is no recorded testimony. He executed the duty put upon him by the Society of Friends, and doubtless looked upon Leeds as a refractory member. The families of John Shinn and Daniel Leeds were intimate, and John Shinn, Jr., and Leeds married sisters, the daughters of Robert Stacy. This unfortunate occurrence drove a good man out of the church and a budding printing enterprise out of the colony.

On the 5th of the 9th month, 1688, John Shinn was sent as a delegate to the Quarterly Meeting; also placed on a committee to inquire into the clearness of a couple proposing marriage, and also to investigate an instrument of writing by which a part of a widow's estate was conferred upon her children. At the next meeting he was appointed to investigate a scandal, upon which he made report at the next meeting that he "found nothing of validity." On the 4th of the 12th month, 1688, he was again sent to Quarterly Meeting, and on the 2d of the 10th month, 1689, was appointed, with another Friend, to speak to a member "concerning his marriage contrary to the mind of Friends, both to the respect of the untimeliness of it, and also, to the order and manner of it." In December, 1690, the meeting considered the loss of James Silver by fire, and resolved to relieve him by subscriptions from several Preparative Meetings of the neighborhood. John Shinn, of Birch Creek, was requested "to promote the said subscriptions at their monthly meeting and to the respective meetings thereto belonging." Although Burlington Monthly Meeting was the earliest, it was not the only meeting of Friends in Burlington County. For convenience preparative meetings were held in many parts of the county.("One or more meetings for worship constitute a Preparative Meeting. One or more Preparative Meetings constitute a Monthly Meeting. Several Monthly Meetings constitute a Quarterly Meeting. Several Quarterly Meetings constitute a Yearly Meeting."--Edwin Salter) One of these meetings was held at John Shinn's house, Springfield Lodge, Springfield Township, for many years, and resulted in the building of a meeting house in that township in 1698-9.

On the 2d of the 12th month, 1690, the following minute was made: "This day there was moved in our meeting the case of the Widow Beard, and Friends ordered John Shinn to view 'Ye Plantation and Concessions,' and give an account of it to her husband's brother in England." When one at the present day reads the Concessions and Agreements he is somewhat bewildered with its scope and method of treatment. The strength and vigor of John Shinn's mind may be inferred logically from his appointment upon this committee; and these minutes, kept in the woods of New Jersey by the Friends, show a plan of government and a system of execution of governmental affairs that would do credit to any modern community.

On the 5th of the 4th month, 1691, and again on the 6th of the 5th month, George Shinn and Mary Thompson announced their intentions of marriage. At the November meeting, 1691, the books printed by William Bradford, the pioneer printer of New York and New Jersey, upon the order of the yearly meeting, were received, and six of them delivered to John Shinn, with instructions to bring their value to the next meeting. In February, 1691, he and three others were appointed to settle a controversy between two Friends; also appointed to attend the Quarterly Meeting, and, with three others, to inspect the new meeting house to see "whether it be built according to contract." Thus was John Shinn connected with the first meeting house of the Friends in the city of Burlington; (1) A lender of the under money; (2) A contributor to its payment; (3) A committee to receive and inspect it at its completion. Many books and articles have been written in honor of his friends and neighbors, commemorating their political and religious deeds, with scant reference to the Boanerges of private life, who seemed to be ubiquitous when a man of judgment was needed, and invisible when the flim-flam of trumpets was sounded and glory awarded.

In 1692 he was continued on a committee to settle for the building, and also on another committee to investigate charges against a Friend.

In the 6th of the 1st month, 1692-3 (March 6, 1693), and on the 7th of the 6th month, 1693, Thomas Shinn and Mary Stockton announced their intentions of marriage. Mary Stockton was the daughter of Richard Stockton, (A more extended notice of the Stockton family will be given in connection with the sketch of Thomas Shinn, the founder of the Southern line) the founder of the Stockton house in New Jersey, and one of the wealthy men of the province. He was a slaveholder, as was Thomas Shinn.

During the same year John Shinn was sent three times to Quarterly Meeting. In 1695 it was determined to build another meeting house at Upper Springfield, in Springfield Township, and John Shinn and another were appointed to take subscriptions therefor. He and another Friend were also "appointed to take care that the order of the Yearly Meeting be looked after." Mr. Richard Cadbury, of Philadelphia, informs me that this was an appointment as "Overseer of Springfield Meeting." This was held at "Springfield Lodge," the house of John Shinn, as these minutes will hereafter disclose. On the 8th of the 12th month, 1695, he was sent again to Quarterly Meeting. In September, 1696, he and another were appointed to inquire about the distress of a Friend who had addressed the meeting by letter; œ5 having been raised in the meantime, its disposition was left to John Shinn and another. On the 3d of the 1st month, 1696-7, Joshua Owen and Martha Shinn, daughter of John Shinn, proposed their intentions of marriage, and were "set at liberty to proceed." On the same day a committee was appointed "to give Restore Lippincott and his wife and John Shinn and his wife a visit and speak to them and their son and daughter concerning their marriage, there being an account given to this meeting of their intending to publish their intentions and not take notice of this meeting." At the next meeting the committee reported "that the young people were willing to come to the meeting, provided they might have the consent of their parents." After consideration "their parents agreed to it." Then James Shinn and Abigail Lippincott declared their intentions the first time, and on May 3, 1697, the second time, and were "left at liberty to proceed."

On the same day John Shinn was sent to Quarterly Meeting, and two months later was placed on a committee to raise money for the meeting. One month later a report was given to the meeting that George Deacon disbursed fifteen shillings, John Shinn seven and sixpence, and John Wills seven and sixpence for a book to be used by the meeting. The next month John Shinn was placed upon a committee to raise money to relieve a Friend who had suffered loss by fire. On the 4th of the 2d month, 1698, John Shinn and others were appointed to collect money to buy posts and rails to fence the meeting house ground, and seven months later he was made one of the trustees to hold the title for the new meeting house at Springfield. At the September meeting, 1698, he and eighteen others sign a long paper testifying against a Friend, and declaring him out of fellowship. The following minute was written on October 3d, 1698: "Whereas John Woolston, Sr., being taken out of the body, who was appointed to look after the keeping of the good order advised in the yearly meeting paper; Therefore this meeting hath appointed John Day to be assistant to John Shinn, Senior, in that place." A short time after this John Shinn and John Day were "appointed to visit the Widow Parker and her sons for their not coming to meeting." They were also directed to demand the return of œ5 loaned to a Friend by the meeting. On the 2d of the 11th month, 1698, the committee made report that it had performed its duty, and John Shinn, Sr., then brought in his account against Springfield Meeting House, showing a balance due him of œ7, 4 sh., 5 pence. The contractor for the building of the Springfield Meeting House was made to realize the value of promptness by the following order, passed by the meeting on the 8th of the 3d month, 1699: "John Shinn and John Day were appointed to see that the builder finish Springfield Meeting House by the next three weeks' meeting, or else get some other workman." This order had its effect, for on the 5th of the 4th month, 1699, John Shinn and John Day reported "Springfield Meeting House is done." (Located near Mattacopany Bridge. Now called Copanny)

The minutes then say: "The removing of the Springfield Meeting from John Shinn's to the New Meeting House was on the 24th of the 3d month (May 24), 1699." For years the modest house of John Shinn had been the home of the church, and at this place had gathered such men as Thomas Jennings, the Quaker Governor of the province; Richard Ridgway, Thomas Olive, Daniel Wills, James Newbold and others of the infant colony to worship the Lord. Here had been solemnized many of the early marriages, prominent among which was that of Matthew Champion, in 1693. It was this house of John Shinn that was described in deeds of that period as "Springfield Lodge," in memory of the old lodges in England so recently abandoned and so well loved. The records of that day show John Shinn as a witness to scores of marriages, and his venerable presence at such affairs was a sure guaranty of its correctness.

In the probate records from 1686 to 1710 John Shinn's name stands prominent either as executor or administrator. It may be taken as a sure test of high integrity when an individual, through a long course of years, is repeatedly chosen to act in these fiduciary relations. And, judged by this test, John Shinn was above all reproach. Not only was he the executor or bondsman for the executor of his sons George and Thomas and of his son-in-law, John Crosby, who died possessed of fair estates, but he was successively chosen to manage the estates of those not of kin, and was repeatedly bondsman for others chosen in the same capacity. The largest estate of the period seems to have been that of Thomas Olive, of Willingboro, and upon the executor's bond, in clear relief, stands the name of John Shinn.

For twelve years after the removal into the new meeting house in Springfield Township, up to the day of his death, in 1711, John Shinn was retained as overseer, and at every meeting was appointed upon some committee connected with the affairs of the church. His wife, Jane, seems to have been a godly woman, specially fitted for the work of the church. Wherever her husband appeared, there was she, and her influence for truth and righteousness was as widely extended as that of her husband.

On the 7th of the 2d month (April), 1712, John Day, the co-worker with John Shinn for twenty years, arose in Springfield Meeting and announced the death of John Shinn, and asked that another Friend be chosen to act as overseer.

Thomas Olive established a water mill on Rancocas Creek in 1680. Mahlon Stacy about the same time built one at Trenton. (Friend's in Burlington, p. 12.) The following from the Penn. Gazette, No. 1418, A. D. 1756, very probably refers to the identical bolting mill which John Shinn devised in his will: "To be sold--seven eighths of a good grist mill with two pair stones, two boulting mills for country work, by Thomas Atkinson, Miller in Mt. Holly. Also, the whole of a good large convenient merchant's boulting house with two good boulting mills which go by water. Likewise a quarter of a saw mill with two saws, both situated in Mt. Holly aforesaid, on a very constant and plentiful stream of water and attended with a very good business." This Thomas Atkinson was a grandson of John Shinn, Sr., and the increase in plant indicates thrift and good management on the part of the children and grandchildren. But these qualities rarely remain in a family more than three generations, and therefore the mills, as well as the lands of John Shinn, his children and grandchildren, with a few exceptions, have passed into other hands, leaving but a memory, which at times seems but the filmy fabric of a passing dream. Every writer of early Jersey affairs credits the erection of the first bolting mill in Burlington County to Thomas Olive.1 However that may be, it is certain, from the provisions of the foregoing will, that John Shinn was the owner of a bolting mill at the date of his death, 1711, and that he bequeathed it to his grandson, Thomas Shinn. When this mill was erected it is not known, but it was in existence in 1711, and was probably erected about the beginning of the century. John Shinn is frequently described in legal documents as a wheelwright, his sonin-law, John Crosby, as a millwright, and his son-in-law, Thomas Atkeson, was at that time an owner of a part of the mill at Bridgton, while his grandson, Thomas Atkeson, owned five-eighths of the same mill (Judge John Clement, in "The Atkinsons in New Jersey").

From all these facts, it is probable that the bolting mill described in the will, and which passed by devise to Thomas Shinn, was the same mill in which Thomas Atkinson, father and son, afterwards held an interest. Hon. Thomas B. Jobes, of New Egypt, N. J., before his death, wrote these words: "I think it certain that John Shinn, Sr., with others, erected the dam on the North Branch of the Rancocas at Bridgton, N. J. (Mt. Holly). A sawmill for lumber was necessary as soon as sawed lumber was used instead of logs. The 'boulting flour' mill at Bridgton receives water through a flume which again discharges itself into the main tideway of the stream. My opinion is that John Shinn, Sr., took the flour and manufacturing privileges as his share of of the water power. I also remember another old mill, the Brandywine, which was either owned or operated by the Shinns. That many of the Shinns of early times were millers is beyond all question. The Evesham Shinns were noted millers." (Private letter, 1892.) Hon. John Clement, in the book already referred to, has this to say about the mill at Bridgton: "In 1701 Samuel Jennings, as attorney for John Ridges, sold the land fronting on Rancocas Creek to Joshua Southwick and Edward Gaskill, who built a dam across the creek and erected a grist or corn mill there. He (Edward Gaskill) sold two-eighths to Ebenezer Laige in 1737, who added a bolting mill, the first, excepting Thomas Olive's mill, at Burlington, in this part of the country."

The latter part of this statement is an error, for John Shinn devised a bolting mill in esse in 1711, and certainly earlier. Judge Jobe's hypothesis seems to be the better one, viz.: "As the burden of making a flume and of erecting mills, saw and bolting, was too great at that time for one man to assume, several men united their capital to accomplish the end. In the division John Shinn took the boulting mill as his share."

We may never be able to arrive at the exact truth, but it still remains that John Shinn, Sr., owned a bolting mill in 1711, and the probability is that it was located at Bridgton.

Thus the patriarch of the Shinns in America connects himself with the earliest manufacturing interest of New Jersey, by which we are enabled to see him as many-sided in the constituent elements, industry, thought and enterprise.

Such was the life of John Shinn, the progenitor of nearly every Shinn in the United States. An Englishman born; reared within the fold of the Established Church; a follower of George Fox from choice; persecuted and imprisoned in Hertfordshire; an emigrant with a large family from the home of his birth; one of the first settlers of Nova C‘sarea in America; a freeholder and a proprietor; a man of affairs, chiefly within the Society of Friends; a man of thrift; a man of probity and honor, a man trusted and esteemed by all who knew him, a prince of peacemakers. There is no reason for a pride in ancestry unless that ancestry be worthy of all commendation, and the descendants have the virtues of the ancestry. John Shinn exemplified to the highest degree the remark of Rev. Sydney Smith: "Quakers, it must be allowed, are a very charitable and humane people. They are always ready with their money, and, what is of far more importance, with their time and attention for every variety of human misfortune."

John Shinn did his part. He left the family name untarnished and gave his family place among the best of his time. He died a worker, with his armor girded about him. Have his descendants improved the talent he left them? Have they equaled him in character and vigorous life? If so, there is reason for the pride of birth, and genealogy ceases to be a vain chimera. If not, the voice of the dead speake from the tomb and charges us to imitate and surpass before we claim the glory of the line.

1. Francis Sheene of Freckenham Parish, England, 1520-1525. 2. Clement Sheene. b. 1593; m. Grace ______. 3. John Shinn. b. 1632; m. Jane ______.

John Shinn, of "Springfield Lodge," son of Clement and Grace Shinn, of Freckenham, was born in 1632. He was a member of the Religious Society of Friends, and in consequence suffered for conscience sake. In 1662 he was in Hertfordshire, viz.: "At the Quarter Sessions on the I2th of the nth Month, 1662, John Shinn of Albury and Jeremiah Deane of Hartford were committed to prison on a process against them for absence from their Parish Church and for not paying the Court fees." 2 John Shinn settled in Burlington County, New Jersey, between 1678 and 1680, with "Clement Sheen, evidently his brother. John Shinn was one of the signers of a letter sent by the Monthly Meeting of Friends in Burlington to the London Yearly Meeting, Twelfth month 7, 1680. On September 18, 1680, John Shinn bought from William Emley, the one-sixteenth of one hundred shares of the entire Province of West New Jersey, and he appears as one of the Proprietors of West Jersey, June 24, 1684. A survey of two hundred acres of his land was made, on the Assincunk creek, September 26, 1680, and another survey of one hundred acres, February i, 1681. John Shinn signed an agreement made between the Proprietors of West Jersey, Twelfth month 13, 1687. He was described as of "Springfield Lodge" in a deed of December 14, 1687. 3 John Shinn signed the petition from the Proprietors of West Jersey, to Lord Cornbury, (after) November 14, I7o6. 4 He represented Burlington Monthly Meeting in the Quarterly Meeting in 1688 and later. One of the preparative meeting was held in his house, "Springfield Lodge, in Springfield township, for many years and until a meeting house was built in that township in 1698-9. His death was announced by John Day, in Springfield Meeting, Second month 7, 1712. The will of John Shinn, made January 14, 1711-12, was proved February 12, I7II-I2.^[4]

Notes

IMMIGRANT FROM HERTFORDSHIRE ENGLAND IN 1679. SETTLED IN SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP NEAR JACKSONVILLE (ELIZABETH/NEWARK NJ AREA). JOHN SHINN WAS A WHEELWRIGHT. HIS PROPERTY WAS KNOWN AS SPRINGFIELD LODGE (PLANTATION). JOHN SHINN BOUGHT ACREAGE AS FOLLOWS:

200 ACRES SEP 30 1680

100 ACRES FEB 1682

120 ACRES LATER 1682

------------------------

420 ACRES TOTAL

WHEN JOHN SHINNS WILL WAS EXECUTED HE LEFT HIS ESTATE DIVIDED AS FOLLOWS:

PROPERTY (LAND) TO HIS WIFE UNTIL HER DEATH THEN PASSED TO SONS

JAMES/JOHN

BOULTING MILL IN MT HOLLY TO HIS GRANDSON THOMAS

Sources

1. ↑ Shinn, Josiah Hazen. The History of the Shinn Family in Europe and America. ([Chicago] Genealogical and Historical Pub. Co, 1903) Archive.org Pages 29-.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol XV. ([Philadelphia] Historical Society of Pennsylvania) Archive.org Vol. 15, p. 347.
3. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J3XM-678 : 11 February 2018, John Shinne, 20 Nov 1631, accessed 4 March 2018); citing SOHAM,CAMBRIDGE,ENGLAND, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 908,805. AND Baptisms (PR). England. Soham, Cambridgeshire. 20 November 1631. SHINN, John. findmypast : accessed 4 March 2018.
4. ↑ Ogden, Mary Depue. Memorial Cyclopedia of New Jersey Vol 4. (Newark, N.J., Memorial History Co.) Archive.org Vol 4, Page 170.

• New Jersey Historical Society. Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey; Calendar of New Jersey Wills]. Vol. I. (Paterson, N. J.: Press Print. and Pub., 1901) Archive.org 417-418.

• The Simmons /Spillers / Shinn / Hogue Families of Texas: Information about John Shinn.

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/109135546

This biography was auto-generated by a GEDCOM import. Sheene or Shinn-1 was created by Karen Lindberg through the import of Scholcoff ged.ged on Jan 2, 2014.