Of Essex County, New Jersey By: Warren Skidmore Scidmore descendants (from the upstate New York family) who subscribe to "Footprints" may be interested in some hitherto unpublished notes on two of their New Jersey great-uncles. I have previously dealt with with their brother John Scidmore, Jr., {RIN-342} who was born on 29 June 1716 at Fresh Pond, Huntington, L.I., and died on 7 December 1784 at Saratoga Springs. Nothing is known for certain about John Scidmore's personal politics in the American Revolution, but we do know beyond any doubt that he fathered four sons of a proper Whiggish reputation who served in the Saratoga (then Albany) County Militia during the war. Alas, the Revolution divided families in much the same way that the Civil War did later in the border states. All of John Scidmore's brothers were Tories. His youngest brother Zophar Scidmore (1744-1822) remained at Smithtown, L.I., and refused to sign the Association Oath to support the Continental Congress in May 1775. It is amusing to see that his granddaughter Estelle Emma (Scidmore) Doremus (1830-1905) was an early and enthusiastic member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, claiming (in error) the service record of the Saratoga County Zophar Scidmore for her grandfather. She was for many years Regent of the New York Chapter, and looks properly elegant in turn of the century pictures decked out in sash and supplemental bars. It was abuses such as this that drove the Daughters to now demand absolute proof of both service (and descent) from prospective members. His brother Samuel Scidmore had been born by 1730 at Huntington, Suffolk County, Long Island, the son of John and Susanna (Smith) Scidmore, Sr., and was killed at the Battle of Eutaw Springs, South Carolina, on 13 September 1781. He married Naomi ____ (who was living his widow in 1791 when she was a sponsor at the baptism of her grandson Samuel Skidmore who was born on 6 January 1791, and (widowed a second time) as late as 1814. On 21 March 1745/6 John Scidmore, Jr., of Huntington, Long Island, yeoman, sold to Samuel Scidmore 2 3/4 acres of land "west of the highway from Fresh Pond Landing" for £29. The price suggests the land was improved by a substantial house or had some other attractive attribute. No deed has been found from Samuel Scidmore selling this tract, but he did at some undetermined date and moved to New Jersey. In their father's will dated 24 June 1758 both John and Samuel Scidmore are cut off with a token 10sh each. Both had removed from Long Island some years earlier, and John, Jr., was presently in Dutchess County, New York, while Samuel was at Second River (now Belleville) in Essex County, New Jersey. [Samuel Scidmore's son John was born no later than 1760, and at Belleville according to the records of the Acquackanock Reformed Church of Passaic which shared a minister with the Reformed Church of Second River.] Samuel Scidmore was a sponsor at the baptism of Samuel Spier (Speer), a grandson (born 22 July 1772), according to the register of the Acquackanock Reformed Church. He was a householder with one cow at what is now Belleville (then a part of Newark Township) according to the tax list of Essex County taken in February 1780. He was a Loyalist like his brothers and was serving in Major Thomas Bowden's company of the Second Brigade of Brigadier-General Oliver Delancey's Brigade at Savannah, Georgia, but is noticed on a bimonthly muster taken on 28 November 1779 as being "absent in New York." He and his brother Smith Skidmore were transferred immediately afterwards to Captain Robert Drummond's company of the Third Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers where his brother Smith was already a Sergeant. Captain Drummond lived at the time at Acquackanock (now Passaic) in Essex County, New Jersey, and had recruited volunteers throughout the county,. Samuel and Smith Skidmore were both present at musters taken of the company between 24 February and 24 June 1781 in the Ninety-six District of South Carolina. Samuel Skidmore was killed after the Battle of Eutaw Springs in what is now Berkeley County, South Carolina, on 8 September 1781. The 2000 experienced British and Loyalist troops there were under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Stewart, and encamped near Nelson's Ferry on the Santee River. Stewart's forces included Lieutenant Colonel John Harris Cruger's New York and New Jersey Volunteers. After a spirited battle the British troops began to reform, and Cruger's men found refuge in the thick walls of a two-storied brick mansion with a pallisaded garden from where they poured a deadly fire on the rebel Americans. The American forces (under Nathanael Greene) pursued the enemy into the British camp which was filled with supplies of food and drink. The Americans (as hungry as they were thirsty) pillaged the camp and swilled down the British rum they found there, and their line soon deteriorated into an undisciplined mob. Stewart was able to reform, recapture two British guns, and win the day. The British army was mauled, however, and Samuel Skidmore was among the severely wounded who died a few days later. No probate has been found for him, but we do find that his widow Naomi married Elias Baldwin as his second (or later) wife on 14 April 1800 in Essex County. The widow of Elias Baldwin (her Christian name is not stated) was taxed in Newark Township in 1814. Samuel Scidmore was survived by at least four children:
ii. Naomi. She married Reynier Speer by 1772. He was living in 1830 in Acquackanock Township, Essex County, New Jersey. iii. Sarah. She married John Cossart (Cusaart) by 1777. iv. John, born by 1760. He married (1) Catherine, a daughter of Herman and Janet (Van Eydesteyn) DeGraw, on 12 July 1783, and (2) Leah, apparently the only child of Cornelius and Leah (Cadmus) Helms (who survived him). John Scidmore had issue by both his wives and had died just previous to 10 October 1821 when an inventory was taken of his estate in Saddle River Township, Bergen County, New Jersey. Smith Scidmore, an elder brother of Samuel, has been until now completely unknown. He made no impression on the records on Long Island and clearly went out to New Jersey as a young man. He served as a Sergeant in Captain Robert Drummond's company of the Third Battalion of New Jersey Loyalist Volunteers, and he and Samuel Scidmore are both found in the service of the King at Savannah, Georgia, on a muster roll set down on 29 November 1779. The British kept better records of their troops than did the Americans, and the Scidmores are found on bimonthly musters taken in February, April and June of 1781 in the Ninety-six District of South Carolina, and in April and June of 1782 in Major Drummond's company at Charleston, South Carolina. Sergeant Smith Skidmore is noticed in the December 1782 muster, and is last found on 23 February 1783 with Major Robert Drummond at Dutch Kiln, Long Island, apparently awaiting evacuation. Drummond sailed away with the British army and died on 31 January 1789 at London, England. Alas, some further news of Smith Scidmore remains to be discovered. He apparently did not return to New Jersey, nor is he found among the Loyalists who settled in Canada. So far as is known he never married or left any posterity. The discovery of Smith Scidmore is important as it tends to substantiate the family name of his mother Susanna. Her name has always been accepted as Smith since she was remembered by Mrs. Doremus and other early members of the Smithtown family, although she can not be fitted into the "Bull" Smith family of that place. John Scidmore, Jr., apparently lived briefly in New Jersey, since his son Zophar (the true Revolutionary soldier) in his pension application states that he was born in that state before his family moved to Dutchess and then Saratoga County in New York. No mention has been found of John Scidmore at Belleville (or elsewhere in New Jersey) but this place may be taken as his likely abode pending some other better evidence.
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