My grandfather was the namesake of his grandfather, George Hewes, who was the 6th generation of the Hewes family in America. The records of our family history show that the Hewes family originally came from Wales but, as of 1500, had settled in Somerset in southwest England.
William Thomas Hewes was first in the American line of my grandfather’s family.William Thomas Hewes was born on March 1, 1623 in St. Paul’s, Shadwell, Middlesex, in the east end of London. He and his wife, Deborah (Pedrick), left from London, England probably with John Fenwick in 1675.
King Charles II owed William Penn £16,000, money which Penn’s late father, Admiral Sir Penn, had lent him. Seeking a haven in the New World for persecuted Friends, a religious group similar to the Quakers, Penn asked the King to grant him land in the territory between Lord Baltimore’s province of Maryland and the Duke of York’s province of New York. In 1681, William Penn received a charter from King Charles II declaring him absolute owner of the land that is now Pennsylvania. As such, he had the authority to dispose of the land with little restriction.
William and Deborah Hewes received a land patent dated 24 March 1674: “John Fenwick to William Hewes of Parish St. Paul’s, Shadwell, County of Middlesex, England a cooper and wife Deborah, 500 acres in New Jersey”.
It is likely that William and Deborah embarked with John Fenwick and his family on the ship Griffin, accompanied by several other members of the Friends religious group to take possession of the land assigned him. They landed at a “pleasant rich spot” on the river Delaware later named Salem.
The Griffin, under Captain Robert Griffith, is the first well-documented ship to arrive on the New Jersey shore with colonists from England. It carried John Fenwick and the settlers who had purchased land from him to settle in New Jersey.
The ship loaded at London from June 16, 1675 to July 20. On October 3 (Gregorian or Modern Calendar) it anchored near the mouth of Assamhocking river in Delaware Bay and then ascended the river, landing on October 5, at the present site of the city of Salem on the south side of the river.
The record of the Hewes family relates that William Thomas Hewes settled at Chichester, PA in 1678-79. This name was given to Marcus Hook April 20, 1682, and the name was subsequently applied to the townships styled Upper and Lower Chichester, both now in Delaware Co. He and his wife Deborah were active members of the Chichester Quaker Meeting (also known as the Society of Friends) there when it was established. (Their descendants are listed in Gilbert Cope’s ancestral Charts, pp. 79 & 229. These descendants settled near Chichester, PA and in the vacinity of Pedricktown NJ across the Delaware River.)
William and Deborah moved to Ouldman’s Creek, Salem Co., N.J., where William died in 1698. His only child appears to have been William Hewes, Jr., who succeeded his father on Ouldman’s creek, and in 1689, was married to Sarah Bezer, a daughter of Edward Bezer. The junior Hewes, like his father, was a member of the Society of Friends.
The family lineage is as follows:
William Thomas Hewes, 1 Mar 1623-1698 & Deborah (Pedrick)
William Hewes ll 1661-5-16-1733 & Sarah Bezer (DOM 1689)
William Hewes lll 1691 – 1746 & Mary Withers (DOM 12-11-1713)
Samuel Hewes l 1718 – 3-17-1784 & Eliabeth Rain (marriage 1751)
Samuel Hewes ll 12-28-1772 – 1-5-1821 & Rebecca Black (11-6-1776), (DOM 10-19-1801)
George Hewes 1-27-1812 & Sara Ann Avis (DOM 2-14-1833)
Matthias Avis Hewes (DOB 12-1-1836) & Minerva Dunlap Cavender (DOM 10-16-1862)
George Cavender Hewes, (DOB 8-1-1863) Sr. & Annie Butcher (DOM 12-3-1896)