Joseph Van Meter (abt. 1722 - abt. 1790)

Born about 1722 in New Jersey

Ancestors

Husband of Hannah (Vail) Van Meter — married 28 Apr 1745 in Pittsgrove, Salem County, New Jersey

Husband of Hannah (Beryman) Vanmeter — married 31 Oct 1760 in Salem County, New Jersey

Descendants

Died about 21 May 1790 at about age 68 in Salem, New Jersey, United States

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Biography

Joseph Van Meter, son of Hendrick and an unknown first wife, was born perhaps around 1722 in New Jersey.^[1][2]

Joseph married Hannah Vail in 1745 at the Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church.^[3] They baptized three children there -- Elizabeth, Henry, and Sarah -- on 16 July 1749,^[4] so we may expect they had the usual spacing of perhaps two years between them. If listed in birth order, then we have:

• Elizabeth b. ca. 1746
• Henry b. ca. 1747
• Sarah b. ca. 1749

These were followed by the baptism^[4]

• Isaac bap. 22 April 1750
• Josesph b. betw. 1753 and 1757 (tax lists)

Joseph married second Hannah Beryman on 31 October 1760.^[5] It appears that Joseph put his sons in birth order in his will, and likely also his daughters. It is then difficult to determine which Hannah was the mother of certain children.

Children of Joseph and either Hannah Vail or Hannah Berryman:

• Abraham, John

Probable children of Joseph and Hannah Berryman:

• Thomas B. b. ca. 1764
• Samuel b. 7 September 1767
• Mary (probably twin) b. 17 July 1769
• Rebecca (probably twin) b. 17 July 1769

It seems then that there was a large gap before sons Joel and William were born -- Joel being born reportedly in 1778 and William seemingly last. It could be then that Joseph had married a third time and that Joel and William's mother is unknown.

Joseph was one of the elders of the Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church in 1762 chosen to work on methods to raise the minister's salary^[6]

We expect the above is the same Joseph who passed away in 1790 in Salem County, New Jersey, leaving a will written May 21 and proved December 11 of that same year (inventory was made June 28)^[7]. It names

• daughter Elizabeth Greenman
• sons Henry, Isaac, Joseph, Abraham, John, and Samuel
• daughter Mary Van Meter
• daughter Rebecca Van Meter
• youngest sons Joel and William

Executors were sons John and Samuel. Witnesses were Benjamin Weatherington, James Davis, and John Nelson. Inventory was made by William Alderman and William Murphy.

Service during the American Revolution

Private Joseph Van Meter served with 2nd Battalion (Eastern), Salem County Militia, New Jersey Militia during the American Revolution.

Joseph Van Meter is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A118508.

Van Meter was a private in the New Jersey Militia during the American Revolution. The DAR lists his Service Description: 1) Capts Jacob Dubois Du Bois-37, Cornelius Nieukirk. 2) Salem Co Militia.^[8]

Research Notes

Craig indicates that Joseph married Rebecca Walters on 9 Jan 1781^[9]. The discussion below indicates an unknown third wife which could be Rebecca! Richard Flanagin, 7/24/2022.

Birth

Many online sources give a birth date of 1728, probably because this is one year after Henry's first known marriage to Sarah DuBois. However, Joseph was admitted to communion at the Pilesgrove Church on 2 April 1743,^[10] and he married in 1745, making it very probably he was born several years earlier. The birth date 1722 is a guess assuming he had just reached his majority when he was admitted to the church. (It was uncommon in early Colonial America for minors to be admitted to the church, and the most common age of admittance was one's early 20s.)

Children

All of the children above are named in Joseph's will, except for Thomas. Thomas is only known through a family bible record, which does not name his father. The analysis that places Thomas as a probable son of Joseph is on Thomas's page. However, the name "Thomas" is found only in the bible, and no record has been found anywhere else of a Thomas Van Meter near Pittsgrove, New Jersey before Joseph's grandson Thomas was born around 1799.

A 1999 post to a genealogy.com forum names several additional children.^[11] No source is given, nor is even the name of the contributor known for sure (a response to the post mentions Vicki Smithson). Caution should be used, and there are a few possible mistakes and a lot of glaring omissions. However, it has a lot of correct information as well, some of which is hard won through careful research. The post includes additional unique information of such precision that it seems it could have come from private records, like a family bible. This is particularly true on the line of Joseph's son Abraham, detailing his descendants for several more generations, so it is possible that some private record was passed through this line.

Before the details, an observation: Abraham is the eldest child given an exact birthdate, For the earlier children it appears a guess of the birth order was made, and then crude estimates for birth years given by assuming at least one year between each birth.

Mistakes include:

• estimating Joseph's birth year as 1728, so assuming he was a son of Sarah Elwell
• (possible) stating that Joseph served in the Revolutionary War. He would have been very old, and it seems much more likely that it was his son Joseph he served
• putting Nehemiah Van Meter's birthplace as Iowa in 1810. Was not officially settled until a couple of decades later. This probably came from the 1850 census in Iowa, where the state of birth for Nehemiah could be read as "IA", although other entries on the same page clearly write out Iowa when that is meant.
• possibly an incorrect birth date for Mary -- she is said to be born 7 July 1768. This is very close to Samuel's 7 September 1767, so it is unlikely both of these are correct.

Omissions include:

• no marriage or death information for any children other than Abraham, Samuel, and Joel
• two missing children for Joel

Correct information corroborated from other sources includes:

• reasonable estimates of birthdates for the children with Joseph's second (and possibly third) wife
• a family history of twinning -- as seemingly Rebecca and Mary were twins, as discussed above.

Seemingly unique and non-public information from the post includes:

• exact death date for Joseph of 12 November 1790
• naming Nehemiah Vail as the father of Joseph's first wife
• naming additional children Jacob, Rachel, Hannah, Benjamin, and Jeremiah
• providing exact birth dates for Josephs children Abraham, Mary, Rebecca, and Jeremiah
• indicating twins in the family -- although these were said to be Jeremiah and Hannah.

Sources

1. ↑ Frank Bevc - Puritans, Patriots and Pioneers. An Elwell Family History. 2016. page 235
2. ↑ "Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:346G-BC1 : accessed 2018-01-11), entry for Joseph /Van Meter/.
3. ↑ Turner, page 86
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Turner, page 84
5. ↑ Documents Relating Colonial History New Jersey: Vol. 36, Page 415
6. ↑ History of the First Congressional District, Volume 1, pages 37-38
7. ↑ Documents Relating Colonial History New Jersey: Vol. 36, Page 241
8. ↑ Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed April 19, 2020), "Record of Van Meter, Joseph", Ancestor # A118508.
9. ↑ H. Stanley Craig, Salem County Genealogical Data, Vol 1, first print apx 1930, reprinted 1980, p 269.
10. ↑ Turner, page 72
11. ↑ "Re: Thomas and Van Meter, Salem County NJ", post to forum on genealogy.com on 8 March 1999, author was possibly Vicki Smithson

• Joseph Brown Turner, "Vital Records of the Pittsgrove, N.J., Presbyterian Church, 1740-1768," Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society (1901-1930) 9 no. 2 (June 1917), pages 65-94.

• Biographical, Genealogical, and Descriptive History of the First Congressional District of the State of New Jersey, two volumes, Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, 1900.

• Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey (The Daily Journal Establishment, Newark, New Jersey, 1880-1949)