One of my early genealogical finds was the marriage of my maternal 4th great-grandparents Eleanor Johnson and Samuel Cliver in Burlington County in 1812. Subsequently, I found Eleanor’s death certificate. Her father’s name was listed as Daniel Johnson of Monmouth County. I have searched and searched unsuccessfully for information on said Daniel Johnson. Well, today after watching an episode of “Who Do You Think You Are?” I logged on to Ancestry.com and typed in Samuel Cliver. One of the records that came up was from the Monmouth County Orphans Court. So I check that out and what I found as they say changed everything! It says that Ellenor Cliver is one of the heirs to the estate of her father “Samuel” Johnson! So I then went to public trees on Ancestry and found a tree that had Samuel and his wife Anney Anaca Brower and their seven children! The tree takes the line back several more generations to Kings New York in the 1600’s. The families were early Dutch settlers.
Kathy then went to another database on Ancestry and found that Samuel had a Revolutionary War pension record! She then went to another website Footnote.com where she found the scanned pension file. We read some of it quickly and it lists which divisions he was in and when!
So I’ve now I got some dead people to research in Trenton. Samuel died in 1848 so his death record may be there. Also I can research several of Ellenor’s brothers and sisters. Briefly I looked up some information on sister Phebe who married an Isaac Asay. It appears that she died somewhere between 1860 and 1870 – so her death certificate should be available, too! Anyway it looks that when I take a trip to Trenton to look up some things for my wife I may have some researching to do, too!