MY CHAMBERS ANCESTRY
Due to the destruction and burning of church and civil records during the Revolution, little information has been found concerning James Chambers, yeoman and land owner of New Windsor, N.J. In 1734 he was Overseer of Highways. (Monnette:545). He was closely allied with his family in Allentown and conducted busines transactions there and in Trenton. (NJA 30:100,175). His will, dated 16 Dec. 1741 was proved 1 Dec. 1748. (NJA 30:89). Apparently a man of considerable wealth, he bequeathed an estate of "land, buildings, and rentals" to his wife, Phebe, and six children whom he named. His brothers, Robert and Joseph, were executors; Sarah, Mary and Francis Chambers signed as witnesses. Phebe died before the will was proved and the land was sold as per instructions, the money divided among their children. Phebe is the only one of the Chambers ancestors whose identity as not been solved.
AHIJAH CHAMBERS (abt 1750 - 1801)
The name AHIJAH occurs many times in the Chambers genealogy. In the records and locally it has been incorrectly recorded ABIJAH which is in error. The signature on his will, dated 1801, on the Muster Roll of the NJV and on the tombstone of his son in St. Andrew's Churchyard at Grimsby, Ont., is Ahijah.
With both parents dead and the homestead in New Windsor sold, Ahijah Chambers joined the migration of settlers into newly opened West Jersey. He married, about 1750, Elizabeth, daughter of Jonathan Doty of Succasunna, Morris Co., N.J. Before 1753 he established his homestead in nearby Byram Twp., Sussex Co. This area, which had been pioneered more than a century earlier and then abandoned, was a howling wilderness. Wild game abounded, buffalo, deer, squirrels, bear, as well as rattlesnakes and copperheads, wolves, and savage Indians who hated the white man for taking his land and spreading disease among their people. He built a shed to shelter his livestock before building his own log house with a fireplace at each end and oiled paper windows. As a farmer, his chief interest was in raising cattle and farming, growing wheat and corn, hemp for rope and flax for cloth. The wants of the early settlers were simple: wooden bowls and pewter utensils, hand-turned tools, plows and farm equipment. Ahijah prospered and raised a faily of twelve children.
However, the Loyalist activities of his family resulted in its devastation. His three oldest sons enlisted 1 March 1777 in the N.J. Volunteers; the others who were under age harassed the enemy and participated in the Battle of Stillwater. James, who served seven years with the NJV at their station on Staten Island, N.J., was evacuated in 1783 to New Brunswick, Canada. Ahijah was taken prisoner in the Battle of Eutah Springs, South Carolina, in September 1780. Three years later he was released. Jonathan died 2 February 1780 of an illness reported four times in the Muster Roll of the NJV. Although James and Ahijam returned to their home, it was impossible to resume their pre-war existence because of their venomous Continental neighbours. In 1787 they were given six months to leave the state or be hanged as traitors. The soldiers and many Loyalist families who had opposed Washington's army as it fought to reach Morristown decided that, since they must abandon their homes and their lands, they would go together in one large group with sufficient strength to resist attacks by wild animals or Indians. Of Ahijah's seven sons, five went into exile, leaving the two youngest who had been too young for the war.
In 1798, Ahijah Chambers was Overseer of the Poor in Newton Twp., N.J. (Snell:464). When he died in 1801, leaving a will dated 18 Feb. 1801 and proved 11 Aug. 1801, he named his wife, Elizabeth, [Elizabeth 4, Jonathan 3, Samuel 2, Edward Doty] and twelve children.
ISAAC CHAMBERS
ROBERT CHAMBERS 16 May 1801 - 9 Sept 1876)
Robert Chambers, yeoman and gunsmith, was born in Grimsby and died at his homestead in Wainfleet. In spite of his youth, Robert at thirteen was a veteran of the War of 1812. When the decisive Battle of Stamford began on 11th July 1914 and the fleeing Americans over-ran the Chambers farm in Stamford, Robert and his brother Isaac, age 14, participated beside the Lincoln Militia. Tradition is that the children of Stamford joined battle, throwing rocks at the retreating soldiers and otherwise impeding their escape.
From his father he inherited Lot 23 BF and Concession 1 except for the South 50 acres and homestead bequeathed to James. On 14th August 1823, James and Robert together sold Lot 23 BF and Concession 1, 140 acres, which is now a Conservation Area at Fifty Point. The Queen Elizabeth Highway cuts through the South part of Lot 23, Concession 1.
Robert Chambers, described in the document as "yeoman of Upper Canada", on 24 May 1825 bought from his mother, Sarah McCollum, for 250 pounds, a farm she had purchased in 1816 near Beckett's Bridge. (Land Div. Welland Co., Welland, Ont. Courthouse). It comprised Lot 21, Concession VI and Lot 22, Concession VII, 200 acres. When his log house burned down, he bought another farm one and one half miles down Chippawa Creek, living there until a new house was built on the homestead. The smaller farm he bequeathed to his eldest son, Reuben, who willed it to his five children. It was sold by his great granddaughters in 1966. The homestead was divided in his will: to son Robert the East half 100 acres; to Wilson the West half 100 acres, which still remains in the family, being occupied by his grandson, Keith Chambers. The old farmhouse is filled with relics of pioneer days which were collected by Wilson and Keith.
When Robert Chambers died 9th September 1876, he was buried in the family Burying Ground near his house on the high bank of Chippawa Creek. In 1853 Canada passed a law requiring that all burials must be made in authorized cemeteries. The tombstones of Robert, Agnes, and Baby Henry were removed to Beckett's Graveyard in Ridgeville, now known as Hillside Cemetery. However, Robert still sleeps in an unmarked grave in a shady grove on his farm, a site fast becoming a jungle.
He married Agnes (14 June 1810 - 16 Feb. 1864), daughter of George Robinson, b. 1790, and his wife Elizabeth, b. 6 Dec. 1787, who was the daughter of Joseph Barnon and Ruth Laverick.
Children:
1. Sarah Chambers (1831 - 1906) m. William Wilson, buried Hillside Cemetery.
Children:
SARAH JANE CHAMBERS
AGNES WILSON
Do you link to this family? If so, please e-mail me at
robbins@niagara.com