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Collaborative Draft: Buijs-576 vs. Boice-754

Contents

What is the evidence for and against William Boice of Egg Harbor being Willem (Buijs) Boice (1744-abt.1813) born to Mattthew and Catharine Lassing Boice in Dutchess County, New York?

This page has been created to hold sources and untangle possibly multiple men named William Boice (with name variations).

At this point, the work below leaves out the DAR database entry completely. If someone can acquire a copy of Boice's DAR file, we could evaluate their proprietary sources but otherwise there is no need at this time.

Profiles that are currently conflated as well as contemporaries also named William Boice

William Bujs/Buys of Dutchess County, New York

Below are sources exclusively for Willem Bujs/Buys of Dutchess County.

Church Records

  • Baptism
  • 1744. Sun. 1 p. Trin. in the Highland, after service in the chapel at Pieter Lassing’s. Willem, b. 14 Feb., of Mattheus Buijs and Catharina. G: Pieter Janssen Lassing and Gertruijd Wiker Lassing.[1][2]

https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/online-records/collection/nygb-record (Note print pages are by volume, digital pages are by issue)

The first Article starts on page 92[DP30] of issue 2, Volume 97 April 1966 Titled BAPTISMS IN THE LUTHERAN CHURCH, NEW YORK CITY, FROM 1725 https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/online-records/nygb-record/566-486/30

Willem is on page 138[DP14] of issue 3, Volume 99 July 1968 https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/online-records/nygb-record/566-497/14 [year 1744 starts with the previous entry #13] 14. Willem, b. 14 Feb., of Mattheus Buijs and Catharina. G:Pieter Janssen Lassing and Gertruijd Wiker Lassing.[the “G:” is shorthand for “Witnesses”]

The second Article is on page 147[DP4] of issue 3, Volume 129 July 1998 Titled PIETER PIETERSE LASSEN OF DUTCHESS COUNTY AND HIS DESCENDANTS https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/online-records/nygb-record/566-647/4

Willem is on page 291[DP53] of issue 4, Volume 130 October 1999 https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/online-records/nygb-record/566-653/53 iv. Willem, b. 14 Feb., bap. Sunday 1 p. Trinity 1744 “in the Highland, after service in the cha el at Pieter Lassing’s,” sp. Pieter Janssen Lassing and Gertruijd Wiker Jersey; m. Priscilla Price, daughter of Levi Price.[721] Children:[722] Peter, William,John, Hannah, Meriche, Kate, Sarah

What Happened to Willem Bujs after 1744

If he moved to NJ, there is a gap in the timeline between his baptism in 1744 and his marriage around 1764 in New Jersey. What sources are there for him and his family in this period in New York? Did he really move all by himself?

William Boice/Buice/Bice/Boies of Great Egg Harbor, New Jersey

Below are sources exclusively for William in New Jersey.

Name Variations in New Jersey Records

Boice

  • 1776 his neighbor's mortgage
  • Gloucester County militia
  • 1807 GEH Meeting Minutes
  • 1807-1813: Great Egg Harbor Meeting record of his death/burial
  • 23 Jun 1866, his son John' Boice's death record calls his parents "William and Persilla Boice"[3]

Bice

  • 1781 ratable

Boies(?)

  • 1786 petition

Buice

  • 1813, his will, but also the spelling "Bice" is used for his son

Marriage and Children

William married Priscilla Price sometime before 1764, when their eldest son was born. Her father John Price's 1767 will doesn't provide her surname but does mention daughter Precilly who was married and already had her share.

Children of William and Priscilla Boice, probably born in Gloucester County, New Jersey

  1. Peter Bice (oldest son, other children in will order) 1764-1849 married Rachel Frambes
  2. John Boice 1774-1865 married Sarah Champion
  3. William Boice married Leah Steelman died before 1813, father of Margaret and Leah (both under 18 in 1813)
  4. Hannah Boice married Jack Reeves
  5. Maricha Boice married David Smith
  6. Catharine Boice married Hezediah Sampson (had children living in 1813)
  7. Sarah H. (Boice) Lake married 1. Joshua Adams and 2. Nicodemus Lake

Revolutionary Era

William Boice served in the Gloucester County Militia.[4] This record is based on files held by the New Jersey State Archives. You can order Boice's file from the NJSA here: https://wwwdnet-dos.nj.gov/DOS_ArchivesDBPortal/index.aspx.

William Bice of Egg Harbor Township is named on a 1781 tax list in Gloucester County, which provided material support to the Revolution.[5]

Land Records

25 Mar 1776: Wiliam Boice of Absecon Creek, Great Egg Harbor Township named as a neighbor of Nathaniel Sipple on his mortgage application, which specifies in passing an earlier land sale of 15 acres to William Boice.[6]

Other Records

William Boies (?) of Gloucester County was named on a petition to the legislature dated 12 May 1786 requesting a new county be formed from townships in eastern Gloucester County.[7]

Quaker Records

William Boice was a member of the Great Egg Harbor Meeting, which recorded the dates of his birth and death on a page titled "Births & Burials". He was born 8d 2m 1743 and died 24 8m 1813. The minute book notes below his date of death that he "Became a Member of Egg harbour particular Meet by request."[8]

record of William Boice by GEH Meeting Births and Burials book (New Jersey, United States)
record of William Boice by GEH Meeting Births and Burials book (New Jersey, United States)

Looking at the GEH minutes, we find exactly who transcribed William's DOB and DOD in 1807 when the meeting began recording that information.

  • "Egg Harbor Monthly Meeting held at Galloway the 2d day of the 2d Mo. 1807. Samuel Leeds Jun. is appointed to keep a regular record of Births & Burials of Friends within the compass of this Meeting."

Shortly after this, the following appears in the minutes,

  • "Egg Harbor Monthly Meeting held the 4th day of the 5th Month 1807; it being believed that some addition to the Select Meeting would be useful & this subject being opened in this Meeting, The following Committee viz. Mark Scull, Samuel Leeds & William Boice, are appointed to think of a suiteable Friend for that Station and report to next or a futer Meeting."[9]

Death and Legacy

William Buice of Great Egg Harbor Township, Gloucester County left a will dated 24 Jul 1813. He named his wife Priscilla and children. Witnesses were William Reed, Michael Frambus, William Brown. Inventory 31 Jul 1813 by John Sharp and William Reed. Proved 12 Aug 1813.[10]

A copy of his will was also transcribed in the Gloucester County will books.[11] Both the abstract and this version of his will spell his surname Buice.

Children named in will

  • Peter Bice (oldest son, named executor)
  • "Ihon" [John]
  • William (deceased), father of Margaret and Leah (both under 18)
  • Hannah Reeves
  • Maricha Smith
  • Catharine Sampson (whose children inherited)
  • Sarah Lake

Research Notes

Motive

  • What reason would a New Netherland descendant from Dutchess County have to leave his family and community to relocate to the Jersey Shore?
  • Were there friends and family waiting for him in Gloucester County?
  • Any other reason to take the hard way and strike out friendless on your own? Did he commit a crime in Dutchess County or something?
  • To meet and marry his wife Priscilla Price before 1764 (when he would have been 21), that means he left his parents by his late teens. How did he meet his wife? Was she born a Quaker and brought him into the faith or did they both join as adults? Was he a member yet when he joined the militia?

Other Boices in New Jersey: Candidates if William Is Not Their Son

  • Did he have any community or family that moved with him?
  • Nobody by this surname in Gloucester County before William that I have yet found.
  • Marriage bonds for Boices in Middlesex County were issued 1744-1767[12] Are any of those on WT yet?
  • Searching will abstracts for similar names before 1776, none by this name or similar besides Quaker Boices in Burlington County with no children who named no other Boices in their will. Still looking.
  • There is a John Boice who Philadelphia MM says died 17d 7m 1747.[13]
  • Citing only an SAR application and FamilySearch, his son-in-law Joshua Adams said to be a son of someone named Sarah (Boice) Adams (1737-) with no relatives, but this has to be a mistake, his mother was surely Margaret Garwood like his siblings.

First Records in New Jersey

  • Some time before 25 March 1776, William Boice purchased 15 acres of land on Absecon Creek, Egg Harbor Township from Nathaniel Sipple This Sipple-to-Boice land sale record could be under a different name or in a different database. It could also not be extant. Still looking.
  • Circa 1776-1783: served at some point in Gloucester County Miliitia
  • Are there any New Jersey records for William Boice before 1776? He would have been 33 at the time, so plenty of time as a legal adult to be on paper.
  • Eldest son was born in 1764.
  • Birth date recorded by the Great Egg Harbor Meeting was 2d 2m 1743. This does not exactly match the birth date in the baptismal record for Willem Buys/Bujs. Did he give the Quakers the wrong DOB when he enrolled as a member?
  • One of his children was named Catharine, could this be for his mother Catherine Lassing?
  • The current Buijs-576 biography mentions Chester County militia service. Why would a Gloucester County militia man join a group in Chester County, Pennsylvania? His service record at NJSA will possibly have dates he was mustered in the militia (some files do) to prove/disprove any claims he was in both units (seems unlikely, will research though).

The claim that he was born in Holland in 1755

Anything on the DAR website needs careful review (as they themselves state). Anna M. (Risley) Scull, who submitted the original DAR application (which claimed three New Jersey men, not just William) stated, "William Boice served as private in Gloucester County, New Jersey militia. He came from Holland in 1755, died in Gloucester County, New Jersey."[14]

That scenario is implausible. This concept of him immigrating from Holland in 1755 is already suspect. It contradicts the Quaker record of his birth in 1754, unless he came in infancy from Holland in 1755? How often was that migration pattern still happening in 1755? If he was truly born in Holland in 1754, he would have come with parents, but if so who were they? And none of them joined a Dutch church?

The first land record for any Boice (or variant) is William, named on his neighbor's 1776 mortgage.

Conclusion: He did not immigrate in 1755 to New Jersey from Holland.

Sources

  1. ↑ "Baptisms, Lutheran Church, New York City, 1744," The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 99 (1968), page 138.
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ Death of son John Boice: "New Jersey, U.S., Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1711-1878"
    New Jersey State Archives; Trenton, NJ, USA; New Jersey Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1711-1878
    Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 62483 #105028888 (accessed 24 August 2026)
    William Boice in death record for son John Boice 29 Dec 1866, husband of Percilla Boice, in Atlantic, New Jersey, USA.
  4. ↑ Stryker, William Scudder. Official Register of The Officers and Men of New Jersey in The Revolutionary War (Trenton, NJ, 1872) Page 512 .
  5. ↑ 1781 Census: "New Jersey, U.S., Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1643-1890"
    Original data: Jackson, Ronald V., Accelerated Indexing Systems, comp.. New Jersey Census, 1643-1890. Compiled and digitized by Mr. Jackson and AIS from microfilmed schedules of the U.S. Federal Decennial Census, territorial/state censuses, and/or census substitutes; Page: 002
    Ancestry Record 3562 #18509738 (accessed 24 August 2026)
    William Bice in Gloucester County, NJ.
  6. ↑ New Jersey State Archives. Early Land Records, 1650-1900s (database). https://wwwnet-dos.state.nj.us/DOS_ArchivesDBPortal/EarlyLandRecords.aspx Citing Gloucester Co 1776 Mortgage Register : Folio 2 (CGLLO001)
  7. ↑ 'Census Substitute: "U.S., Census Reconstructed Records, 1660-1820"
    Document: Record Group: Legislature; Series: Petitions and Other Papers relating to County Courthouses and the Establishment of Counties, 1760-1858 [New Jersey State Archives]; Call Number: Box 1, Folder 8; Page Number: 3; Family Number: 10
    Ancestry Record 2234 #89915 (accessed 24 August 2026)
    William Boies? in Gloucester County, New Jersey.
  8. ↑ Death: "U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935"
    Haverford College; Haverford, Pennsylvania
    Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 2189 #1100295400 (accessed 24 August 2026)
    William Boice death 24 Aug 1813 (born 8 Apr 1743) in Atlantic, New Jersey.
  9. ↑ Church Records: "U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935"
    Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
    Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 2189 #2188517 (accessed 27 August 2026)
    Name: William Boice; Event Type: Miscellaneous; Residence Date: 4 May 1807; Residence Date on Image: 4 1807 Fifth; Residence Place: Atlantic, New Jersey; Monthly Meeting: Great Egg Harbor Monthly Meeting; Yearly Meeting: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting; Meeting State: New Jersey; Meeting County: Atlantic.
  10. ↑ Elmer T. Hutchinson (ed.), Calendar of New Jersey Wills, Administrations, Etc. Volume XII, 1810-1813, Documents Relating to the Colonial, Revolutionary, and Post-Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey (Trenton, NJ: Archives of the State of New Jersey, 1949), volume 41, page 54
  11. ↑ Will: "New Jersey, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1739-1991"
    Will Books; Author: New Jersey. Surrogate's Court (Gloucester County)
    Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 8796 #286522 (accessed 24 August 2026)
    Will of William Buice of Gloucester, New Jersey, granted probate on 24 Jul 1813.
  12. ↑ https://wwwdnet-dos.nj.gov/DOS_ArchivesDBPortal/ColonialMarriages.aspx
  13. ↑ <ref> '''Burial''': "U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935"<br/> Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, Pennsylvania<br/> {{Ancestry Sharing|66668238|7b22746f6b656e223a22476a7a33425972465067646266416e44475a7373716846615a73426c707463504a4149556966594c464b593d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d}} - {{Ancestry Record|2189|99883027}} (accessed 27 August 2026)<br/> John Boice burial (died in about 1747) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. </li> <li id="_note-11">[[#_ref-11|↑]] '''Marriage''': "U.S., Family History Books"<br/> Lineage Book, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution-V 114 (1915); Author: Daughters of the American Revolution<br/> {{Ancestry Sharing|66559010|7b22746f6b656e223a224769465852413043527278514c7966536a634b64466a3138433155754d656559385179366e5531523632673d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d}} - {{Ancestry Record|62282|4506241471}} (accessed 24 August 2026)<br/> William Boice marriage to Priscilla Price in 1762. </li></ol></ref>

Collaboration on Collaborative Draft: Buijs-576 vs. Boice-754

Memories of Collaborative Draft: Buijs-576 vs. Boice-754

Comments on Collaborative Draft: Buijs-576 vs. Boice-754: 14


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Charles Kerr Jr. (new)
With the birth location of ‘’Holland” in Boice-754 discounted, the children should be moved back to where they had been for a decade under Buijs-576 until someone moved them on August 7 2026, breaking descendants trees and DNA functions. The Status flags for paternal & maternal relations of William to “uncertain”, with a note in Bio.

posted by Charles Kerr Jr.
edited by Charles Kerr Jr.

Charles Kerr Jr. (new)
In the 1700s, the form of Dutch inheritance was a hybrid system that blended English primogeniture inheritance and Dutch partible inheritance:
  • the entirety of the real estate (land) passed to the eldest son keeping the family farm intact while
  • providing the tools, skills and capital necessary for younger sons to buy land elsewhere and establish themselves.
  • Movable goods were provided to daughters that they could take to their spouse’s lands.

The preparation of your second or third son of some means in New Netherlands in the mid 1700s To prepare your son for success in 1700s New Netherlands (which by this time is under British rule but retains its distinct Dutch culture, language, and legal traditions), he must master specific survival, social, and economic skills.

Core Survival Skills

  • Basic Literacy: Read the Dutch Statenvertaling Bible.
  • Basic Arithmetic: Calculate crop yields and currency conversions.
  • Firearm Mastery: Maintain a flintlock musket for hunting.
  • Basic Carpentry: Build furniture and repair wooden structures.
  • Food Preservation: Master salting meat and smoking fish.

Economic and Trade Skills

  • Language Fluency: Speak fluent Dutch and English for trade.
  • Apprenticeship: Complete training in blacksmithing, coopering, or carpentry.
  • Fur Trading: Know how to appraise beaver pelts.*
  • Agricultural Literacy: Recognize fertile soil types by wild growth.
  • Navigation: Learn to navigate the Hudson River via sloop.

Social and Cultural Navigation

  • Church Membership: Secure a letter of reference from the Dutch Reformed Church.
  • Legal Knowledge: Understand the transition from Roman-Dutch law to English common law.
  • Community Ties: Build a strong local network for mutual aid (burenplicht).**
  • Financial Strategy: Secure a modest loan or inheritance portion (legitieme portie).

*not that useful below the Hudson.

**Bringing a set of Dress Clothes, attending a local church and marrying a local girl was a good start

Although not listed in traditional list soft tanning (brain tanning vs the much more involved and longer process of bark tanning used for belts and boots, and also stone identification / basic stone forge, fireplace & chimney construction vs advanced masonry brick laying or tile work, would have been good to already know.

Although for most of this family equestrian skills were present, a modest Dutch style boat would have been more useful than a series of horses or mules to migrate to Egg Harbor or get around there. It was also an area that used Dutch style Flat Bottomed boats with adjustable (up/down) rear side boards that replaced the keel for deep water. Very useful for freight and fishing, and later during the revolution was a great advantage due to being able to go far up river compared to any pursuing British boats.

Crabbing, Clamming and Salt Water Fishing probably weren’t learned prior to Egg Harbor.

posted by Charles Kerr Jr.
edited by Charles Kerr Jr.

Charles Kerr Jr. (new)
This family was divided during the war, the eldest who got the land were mostly Loyalists, the younger Patriots. And in the elder branches even more so. They were in Calvary units both Loyalist and Patriot. There were no such units in the militia near our William, no surprise then that he was in the infantry.

The eldest got land, but the younger males left with cash to buy land AND skills and tools to support themselves.

posted by Charles Kerr Jr.
edited by Charles Kerr Jr.

Charles Kerr Jr. (new)
Witness to his will Michael Frambus Was Michael Frambes Not On WikiTree, but is on FamilySearch (with 8 sources), his parents were not English but Dutch.

Michael Frambes K8ZN-82C Birth: 15 NOV 1775, Egg Harbor Township, Atlantic, New Jersey, United States Death: 28 OCT 1853, Egg Harbor Township, Atlantic, New Jersey, United States Brother to Rachel (Frambes) Boice (Frambes-59) his daughter-in-law, both children of John Peter Frambes (Frambes-17) and siblings of 2 older brothers who fought with William in the Revolution Note Rachel is listed on one of the bios for Peter that also should be merged (Boice-640 & Boice-757) and should be listed under Children’s spouses above. If William & Priscilla married about 1763 and 4 years later her father’s will says that she already got her share, then the money for him to buy some property could very well could have come from his father-in-law.

posted by Charles Kerr Jr.
edited by Charles Kerr Jr.

H Husted (new)
I added Rachel above. Showing he interacted with at least one other New Netherland family sways me back to "maybe". I'm still not sure why he'd come down here in the first place. I'm going to look for those other Boices I saw in NJ maybe they're distant cousins, that might have been the link.

posted by H Husted

Charles Kerr Jr. (new)
The Dutch from Long Island were heavily among the founders of Egg Harbor. Other Egg harbor NJ family contemporaries of New Netherlands ancestry in my tree -

The Dutch from Long Island for 80 years came to Egg Harbor, by the time William did and was an area well known to them in Long Island. Sculls a few generations before Able, were from New Netherlands (Long Island) Daughter -in-law Rachel Frambes’ brother-in-law was a first cousin to Abel Scull, (and 5 other ways)| Petrus Couwenhoven came from Long Island in the 1600’s and several of his descendants married Sculls, Frambes, and Boices. Champions a few generations before Sarah were from New Netherlands (Long Island)

Egg Harbor was discovered by the Dutch and named by them. The earliest settlers were Dutch, followed by a lot of English Quakers.

posted by Charles Kerr Jr.
edited by Charles Kerr Jr.

H Husted (new)
Dutchess County is not on Long Island. And he would have been underage when he moved down here and married the second he was legally old enough at 21. Maybe he was apprenticed to some distant family friend or relative. It's just a very unusual migration for pre-Revolutionary NJ, although it *could* happen, culturally teenagers from New York didn't just show up in NJ records, we didn't have that kind of social mobility without kin or other ties to support you in a strange state.

posted by H Husted

Charles Kerr Jr. (new)
I know well that Dutchess County is not on Long Island

I brought up Long Island since it was the most frequent place people from New Netherlands made the leap to Egg Harbor from and he did have kin there (second and third cousins) Oosterooms.

The other place is Bergen County NJ, his paternal grandfather, his father and half his father’s siblings were from there. His father’s brother Daniel (Buys-89) died in Bergen County. Also his paternal grandmother (a Brouwer) had kin there so I would also check there.

posted by Charles Kerr Jr.
edited by Charles Kerr Jr.

Charles Kerr Jr. (new)
also note that Land in Egg Harbor cost 1/8 the price of land in Poughkeepsie

posted by Charles Kerr Jr.

H Husted (new)
good point. Did his parents or grandparents have money to give him?

posted by H Husted

Charles Kerr Jr. (new)
As far as moving from NY to NJ, it is worth noting that Buijs-576 double first cousin (fathers were brothers and mothers were sisters) was William (Buis-150) who ended up in South Carolina and fought on the American side as well went further and in the same compass direction.
Comparison chart Image 1

posted by Charles Kerr Jr.
edited by Charles Kerr Jr.

Charles Kerr Jr. (new)
also William very likely won’t show up in any records between 1744 and 1763, his father didn’t die until 1790, so not being listed in a will during that period not surprising, his own marriage and births of children are also after that. He is not listed as having property so not being paying direct taxes would be normal. Probably was provided a place to sleep by an employer or rented a room, so not a head of household any type. A tiny chance of having served in the latter part of the French and Indian War (1754–1763).

posted by Charles Kerr Jr.

H Husted (new)
Did his father leave a will? Only a burial record is on his profile. Did his father have any land records naming his children (any of them?)

posted by H Husted

Charles Kerr Jr. (new)
Have corrected POD on Buijs-576 to Great Egg Harbor Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States

It still needs checking, but elements of the Chester County (Pennsylvania) militia did serve and campaign in New Jersey during the Revolutionary War to support General George Washington's operations alongside the Continental Army. So William could have been attached to them without ever leaving NJ.

I would not make this correction right now, but IF William was born in “Holland” his FNB & LNB would have been the Dutch “Willem Buijs” Side note in 1650 William would most likely just spoke Dutch, by 1750 he would most likely be bilingual Dutch/English and money to buy land would haveb gone much further in Egg Harbor than in Poughkeepsie.

posted by Charles Kerr Jr.
edited by Charles Kerr Jr.