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BENJAMIN SCHOONOVER (by 1741 IN NJ - 1813, Ulysses Town, NY) AND MARGARET SCHOONOVER, HIS WIFE (ca.1735 IN NJ - bef. May 1812, probably Walpack, Sussex Co, NJ), OF WALPACK TWP., SUSSEX CO., NJ, AND LOWER SMITHFIELD, NORTHAMPTON CO., PA
Based on research by the poster and Ms. Marsha E. Smith.
PART 2
A 1785 itemized assessment found Benjamin Schonover with 100 acres assessed at £1, 2 horses and 3 cattle, on which he owed £1.4.0 tax. Dolphus Schonover owed £2.13.7 on 200 acres assessed at £2.4, 4 horses and 4 cattle. Peter Schonover owed £0.18.2 on 55 acres assessed at £4.5, 4 horses and 4 cattle, while James owed £1.15.3 on 185 acres assessed at £1.4, 5 horses and 4 cattle. Platt Smith owed £0.1.0 on his cow, having no land or horse to assess. John Smith owed £5.8.4 on 230 acres assessed at £5, 6 horses and 9 cattle. Benajah Monday's assessment was not copied.
An itemized assessment for 1786 states Benjamin Scoonhoven was assessed on 112 acres, 2 horned chattles, 4 horses and was assessed £0.9.11. Dolphus was assessed £0.13.7 on 220 acres, 4 horned chattles, 3 horses. Peter was assessed £0.7.11 on 55 acres, 4 horned chattles, 4 horses. James Scoonhoven was assessed £0.16.4 on 188 acres, 6 horned chattles and 4 horses. Platt Smith was not listed, but John Smith was assessed £1.7.0 on 250 acres, 5 horned chattles and 6 horses. John Smith and Benjamin and James Scoonhoven were called "Esq." in this roll, but the significance of this is uncertain. The listing for Benajah Monday was not copied.
For 1788 Benjamin Scoonhoven was assessed on £5.12.2, Dolphus was taxed on £11.11.9, Peter owed tax on £3.18.4 and James on £8.19.9. Platt Smith was not assessed. John Smith was assessed on £11.11.9, and Benajah Monday was assessed on £1.17.6 valuation.
A 21 Feb. 1788 Federal ? detailed tax assessment showed Benj. Shonoven with 112 acres, 2 horses and 4 cattle, owing £0.14.5. Dolves Schoonhover was assessed £0.19.6 on 220 acres, 3 horses and 4 cows. Platt Smith was taxed on his ‘joiner' occupation and on a cow, owing £0.2.3. John Smith had 300 acres, 6 horses, 8 cattle and was assessed £1.19.7. Beniah Monday's tax was £0.7.8 on an assessment not copied. Casper Vanauken was assessed £0.3.0 on his horse and two cows.; Jacob Vanauken had a ferry, 130 acres, a horse and 4 cows and owed tax of £0.12.7. Just for comparison, Jacob Stroud, the former Militia Colonel for the County, was assessed on 1400 acres, 14 horses and 21 cattle, owing £5.16.0.
Platt Smith's household is listed next to that of Benjamin Schoonover in the 1790 US Census for Lower Smithfield Twp. [1790 US Census, PA, printed version p. 174, manuscript p. 240]. Platt's family included a male over 16, 2 males under 16 and 4 females. His first name is written and indexed as ‘Plato'. Benjamin Schoonover's household included a male over 16, a male under 16 and one female. Their immediate neighbors were James Dingman and Jacob Vantelbergh on one side, and Joseph ‘Muntanney' and Jean Vandamark on the other.
Joseph Montanye was not assessed in 1788 or 1790 in Lower Smithfield. In the 1790 assessment, Benjamin Schoonhover was charged £0.4.9, Dolves was assessed £0.6.6, Platt Smith was not assessed, and John Smith was charged £0.14.0 plus £0.3.0 for other land. Beniah Monday was not listed in 1790 or in later 1790s assessments.
Benjamin Schoonover and Platt Smith were both among the myriad persons who bought warrants for 400 acres of land in old Northampton Co. Their warrants for survey were dated 26 Feb. 1793 [PA Archives 3rd Ser. XXVI:181], Platt's no. 676 and Benjamin's no. 679. From the surveys we couldn't tell where the actual land was, but it seemed to be in a swampy area--possibly in the NW part of today's Lehigh County. Platt's was surveyed 24 Oct 1794, and Benjamin's the next day [Penna. Archives Land Office C-191:185,203]. The patents for these tracts were issued 27 Oct. 1794 to one Robert Wescott who acquired a great deal of the land from the warrants of this era [Benjamin's as ‘Salem', P-22:301; Platt's as ‘Smithfield', P-24:14, among Penna. Archives Land Office records of patents]. We did not locate sale deeds for the grant land; a common practice of the time was to write the assignment on the back of the warrant for survey.
For 1793 the assessments were hard to read; that for Benjamin Schoonhover was illegible. Dolves was taxed £0.14.? Platt Smith was charged £0.0.9. John Smith was assessed £0.7.? and this is the last year he was assessed in Lower Smithfield. Joseph Montonia was assessed £0.4.4.
For 1796 Benjamin Schoonhoven was assessed on 118 acres, 2 horses, 6 cows and possibly on a tavern. Rodolphus was not listed for this year or thereafter. The only John Smith listed was one who had only a cow to tax. Platt Smith was assessed on his occupation ‘carpenter', and there are no listings for his having horses or cows.
Benjamin Schoonover (Schoonhoven) and Margaret his wife in 1796 sold their 118 acres on the waters of Bushkill, Lower Smithfield Twp., then in Northampton Co. PA [Northampton Co. Deeds C2:186-188], located NE of present-day Stroudsburg. In June 1797 Benjamin and Margrit Schoonover, then of Walpack Tp, Sussex Co. (now Warren Co.), NJ agreed to purchase some 200 acres on the Delaware River in Walpack, opposite Lower Smithfield Twp. [Sussex Co. NJ Deeds S:155-157].
The 1797 and 1799 Lower Smithfield assessments list no Schoonovers, no Platt Smith and no Joseph Montonia / Montanye.
In May 1812 Benjamin Schoonover with no wife mentioned sold the 1797 purchase [Sussex Co. Deeds Z:205-206]. Since Margaret did not relinquish or separately sell her interest in this land, it appears that she was dead by this time. US Census enumerations for New Jersey for 1800 and 1810 do not survive, so further information on when Margaret was still living is not available from those sources.
Several children of Platt Smith and Johannah (Schoonover) were baptized, their records entered in those of the Smithfield Reformed Dutch Church, located at the former village of Shawnee, PA, in the old Lower Smithfield (then in Northampton Co. PA). Some give Johannah's maiden name as "Schoonhover". [NYG&BR 57 (1926): 148, 150, 151 and NY Geneal. & Biographical Society Collections VII: 105, 106, 107].
One other document names Platt and Johannah as husband and wife. In a Tioga Co., NY deed of 23 Feb 1804, Platt Smith and Johannah, his wife, then of Onondaga Co., NY, sell land on the Susquehannah River in Owego Town. The Smiths acknowledged the deed from Seneca Co., NY, on 1 Sept. 1805; Seneca Co. had been erected in 1804 from Cayuga Co., and Cayuga had been taken from Onondaga Co. in 1799 [Tioga Co., NY Deeds 6:460-462]. We did not locate a conveyance by which they bought this land.
The date of Platt and Johannah's purchase of the Tioga Co., NY land is unknown. But on 8 May 1798, Platt agreed to buy 50 acres of the North half of Lot 99, Ovid Town, then in Onondaga Co., NY. The land was designated this way from the original Military Tract surveys for Bounty Land owed to Revolutionary War soldiers. On the same day, his probable brother, Obadiah Smith, agreed to buy 50 acres of the South half of Lot 99, Ovid Town, from the same man; both Smiths were then already of Ovid Town [Onondaga Co., NY Deeds G:218]. Platt and Obadiah are each enumerated as head of household in Ovid Town, Cayuga Co. in the 1800 Census enumeration, but the bottom of the page with most of the tallies for their households has been cut off [pp. 552-553]. Immediate neighbors included Kings and Woodworths whose family members would later intermarry with the Smiths' descendants.
A "Return of Electors in the Town of Ovid, County of Cayuga" for 1801 listed both Platt Smith and Obadiah Smith as electors possessed of freeholds of the value of £100 or more ["Census of Ovid in 1801," The Independent, Ovid, NY, 11 Aug 1880]. The editor explains that the town of Ovid was established in March 1794, including the original Military Townships of Ovid and Hector, comprising what is now the Towns of Ovid, Covert, Lodi and Hector.
No single document names all of Platt and Johannah's children. The will of Benjamin Schoonover of Ulysses Town, proved in Seneca Co., NY 18 May 1813 [dated 7 May 1813; Seneca Co., NY Wills A2:2 and Surrogate Court File #2380] names "Hanah my daughter" and bequests to three of her children -- Joshua Smith, Elijah Smith and Peggy Smith -- as well as bequests to others. Baptisms of five were recorded in the Lower Smithfield Reformed Church records -- Joshua, Peggy, Mary, Johannah and Elijah Smith. Platt Smith conveyed his own land in Lots 98 and 99, Ovid Town (now in Covert Town) to children Alvah, Lovina, Benjamin, Robert P. and Keziah (giving her husband's name) [Seneca Co., NY Deeds F:88-89, R:22-23, R:337-338, V:214-215, V:215-216, V:216-217]. No estate probate record for Platt Smith is known; his acknowledgment of the last group of deeds, in Feb. 1830, is the last record we have of him. Alvah Smith's heirs-at-law were all nieces and nephews, proven to be children of his siblings Joshua, Peggie, Hannah, Keziah and Robert P. Smith [Tompkins Co. Surrogate Court, "S" Administrations Files, June Term, 1873]. Testimony in the estate probate record of Platt & Johannah's son Benjamin, of Tioga Town, Tioga Co., NY, stated that he, Benjamin, was the eldest child and gave relationships for some of his siblings, nieces and nephews [Tioga Co., NY Surrogate Court Wills E:367-406]. These estate files contain numerous affidavits by relatives and by others (who may have yet-undocumented blood ties).
In December 1812 Platt Smith and Joshua Smith [his son], both then of Ovid Town, agreed to purchase the land in Lot 23, Ulysses Town, that was disposed of in the will of Benjamin Schoonover [Seneca Co., NY Deeds G:499-500]. It is possible that Benjamin Schoonover supplied the money for the purchase. This Joshua Smith is probably the one who on 15 May 1812 signed a receipt for payment of a judgment in his favor in the docket book of Nathaniel VanAuken, Justice of the Peace, then of Walpack Town, Sussex Co, NJ; one Benjamin Schoonover had been a witness in his favor in the hearing resulting in the judgment [NJ Archives, Oversize File #41; case Joshua Smith vs. Cornelius VanHorn, p. 61].
We do not know for certain when Benjamin Schoonover left Walpack. He may have moved with Platt and Johannah first to Tioga Co., NY, but returned for the above-mentioned hearing and to sell his land. If this is what happened, it is possible that Margaret died in NY rather than in Walpack Twp.
This Joshua Smith was bequeathed 100 acres of Lot 23, Ulysses Town, in the Will of Benjamin Schoonover, and by May 1813, the date of the will, already lived there. He is called "Joshua 1st" to distinguish him from his brother-in-law, Joshua Smith "2d" [who married Peggie, daughter of Platt and Johanna (Schoonover) Smith] both (then of Ulysses Town) together with Platt Smith of Ovid Town were appointed Executors and Trustees of Benjamin Schoonover's Will.
Details on the life-paths of descendants of Platt and Johanna (Schoonover) Smith are omitted here, but some information is available on request.
Good hunting,
Jade, a descendant of yet another Joshua Smith
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