Mordecai Starkey - Mary Ballentine (Akerley\Ackerly) Ackerley

Name: Mordecai Starkey
Birth: 04-JUL-1756 in: New Jersey, USA
Death: 03-FEB-1849 in: Codys, Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada
Father: Nathan Starkey
Mother: Edith Wilson

Notes: There is some concern (not full dispute, but need for documentation proof) on whether or not Mordecai was s/o Nathan Starkey and Edith Wilson. For now, I'll list him as such, until disproved. Listing the proposed line of descent will at least al low that line to be consulted. Even if Mordecai doesn't belong in it, someone does. :-)

Based on the history of the 3rd Bn, NJV, the chances are fairly good that Mordecai was born in Essex or surrounding counties in New Jersey. The greatest likelihood is Essex, then followed by Bergen, and Staten Island. Essex was the primary recru iting area for the 3rd, with some "bleed over" into these other two neighboring counties.

Another concern of note. The marriage date for Mordecai and Mary Akerly so often quoted is Apr-1797, while the accepted date of birth for first-born son, Obediah, is May-1796 (11 months prior). This must be taken into consideration, though my on e thought in explanation may be they were married in a civil marriage, prior to their "church wedding" at the Gagetown Anglican Church in 1797. Just a consideration and a guess, not anything more. Another theory is that the marriage was in 1796 , which would provide "ample" time for Obediah. Yet another is these dates are accurate, and Obediah was what would have been called a "love child."

In a Mordecai Starkey petition (Queens Co), the following bits of interest:

Served as a Loyalist
Brought up a family of eleven children, with 10 (in 1838) living in the province.
He was 83 in 1838

"Certificate":

By Lt or Col Abram Buskirk, Esquire commander of the 3rd Batt'n New Jersey Volunteers

These are to certify that the bearer hereof, Mordecai Starkey, private soldier in the aforesaid regiment and in Capt. Norman McLeod's company, hath served honestly and faithfully, for the space of seven years, and is hereby discharged.

He having first received all just demands of pay, cloathing, &c, from his entering into the said regiment, to the date of his discharge, as appears by his receipt underneath.

Given under my hand and seal of the regiment at St. John River, this 10th day of October 1783

Signed William Van Allen ??? commanding 3rd Batt'n New Jersey Volunteers

further down, it was signed with Mordecai's mark "X" on 10-Oct-1783.

The "cover letter" for the petition indicates it was from Mordecai Starkey, "praying for legislator aid." sent on 18 ??? 1838 by W. Johnston, Old Soldiers ??? (?cousin?)

1837 list of "Old Soldiers" from NB:

Patrick Vail - of York Co
Mordecai Starkey - QUeens Co

The following is from The History of Queens County by E. Stone Wiggins, written in 1876. Wiggins writes of the Loyalist families that settled in Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada, after the Revolutionary War.

"Mordecai Starkey, a United Empire Loyalist, was born in New Jersey, July 4, 1857. During the Revolution he was several times taken prisoner, but always managed to gain his freedom. He came to St. John [New Brunswick][ in 1783, in which city he re mained some time as clark with a Mr. Anderson, who kept a store of dry goods, groceries and liquors, the latter an
indispensable in those days. In 1790 he moved to the Washademoak and settled on the farm now owned and occupied by his son, John A. He owned the first cattle in this neighbourhood. He went through the forest to a point above Fredericton, then St . Ann's Point, where he purchased a yoke of oxen and a cow. These he drove through the wilderness, for there were no roads in those days, to his home of the Washademoak, in some places following the shores and swimming his cattle across the stream s. He was a very honourable, industrious and pleasant man. He was a member of the Free Baptist Church, and his house was a headquarters for ministers of all denominations, the lonely missionary of the wilderness finding a home at his hospitable fi reside. He lived to be "old and full of years", dying or rather stepping out of the world, at the advanced age of ninety-two. His wife's maiden name was Mary Akerley, and their descendants are the only members of the Starkey family in Queens.

Their children were: Obadiah, who married Ann Cole; Oliver, Elizabeth Belyea; Hezekiah, never married; James, Catherine Carlyle; John A., Amelia Parker; Mordecai, Mahala Briggs; Abigail, Willet Worden; Arthur D., Mary Ann Perry; Edith, Nehemiah Ke ith; Elizabeth, Daniel Jenkins.

Hezekiah, when at the age of forty, retired to his bed in the evening, apparently in perfect health. Not awakening in the morning, they attempted to arouse him, when he was found to be in a sound slumber from which it appeared impossible to awak e him. He continued in this condition for three days, at which time he expired.

Obadiah met with a serious accident in 1856, losing his right arm in a trashing machine."

(JWH NOTE: Wiggins indicates "their descendants are the ONLY members of the Starkey family in Queens - thus indicating Mary Ann would also HAVE HAD to have been a descendant of Mordecai. If so, Obediah is the ONLY possible father, and Ann Cole , the only possible mother).

Married: 27-APR-1797 in: Gagetown Anglican, Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada

Name: Mary Ballentine (Akerley\Ackerly) Ackerley
Birth: 23-MAR-1772 in: New York, USA
Death: 22-FEB-1854 in: Hampstead, Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada
Father:
Mother:

Notes: PROBABLY born in Westhester County, NY.

(MY OPINION) Mary Akerley... we know an Obediah Akerley/Ackerley was in the same area of NB, was he old enough to have been her father? Or, might he have been a brother? The fact that her first-born son was named Obediah MAY be significant!

With that in mind:
There was an Obediah Akerley b. @1742, New Jersey, likely same who died 1825. Some records indicate he was from Westchester County, in New York, but he married Deborah Washburn, @1775, at Lackawanna, PA. Often he's recorded as born "Bef. 1755" . If, indeed, this is Obediah Akerly, who later removed to NB, I would think him worth a closer look as a potential father or at least UNCLE to Mary Akerley.

From the Ackerley Family History:

The Akerley's are originally from the northern part of England where most of them can be found in Manchester County. For those who aren't that familiar with England, Manchester is the western part of England which borders scotland. It contains suc h shipping ports as Liverpool. ( Remember The Beatles?)

Akerleys can be found in New York as early as 1663 where most of them situated in the Westchester county of New York which now contains the Bronx and Long Island.When the American Revolution struck the Akerleys as a whole found themselves fightin g on the side of the British cause. Several Akerleys distinguished themselves as true "tories" , Including Isaac and Obediah Akerley who rode with both the infamous Delancey's Brigade and the Loyal Westchester Volunteers.

Compensation claims are where we first pick up the story of David Akerley. Where Isaac and Obediah are claiming for losses suffered during war action (Obediah Claimed to have lost five horses, three killed underneath him and one burned by the rebe ls at New York), David Akerley is listed as a youth and as such could only lay claim to a bridle and saddle. Passenger lists show many Akerleys coming to New Brunswick in 1783, among them are Obediah, Oliver, Isaac (Sr & Jr), Moses, Benjamin an d David. David came in on the ship "Nicholas and James" to Nova Scotia where he soon settled in Harvey,which was part of Westmorland county in Nova Scotia.(New Brunswick wouldn't become a seperate province until 1784.) Whether David was the so n of one of these other Akerleys can't be ascertained at this time . We know he came from the same region at approximately the same time, but that is not much of a similarity as the Loyalists had all holed up in New York at the end of the war an d the treaty stated that under General Howe, all Loyalists were to leave from New York by a certain date.

If there is any relation to David it is probably Oliver who also settled in Westmorland county before moving on to Gagetown. Regardless of relatives,It is in Harvey that we find David married to an Amy and buying marshland in the vicinity of Water side in 1793.(The earliest land records available in the land records office in Moncton).He had eight children with Amy including two boys named Asael and David Jr.Asael was killed at the age of 21 by a falling tree, leaving only David Jr to carr y on the Akerley name. David Jr also remained in Waterside and had 4 girls and two boys, Asael and Winthrop.Asael worked as a house joiner in Hillsborough, but as was common then fell sick at a young age and died, leaving a young wife and
infant daughter.

From an online source, listing some of the Loyalist Akerleys (many spellings) as well as other, related Loyalist Family ancestors, the following listings of land grantees in 1785:

From Can GenWeb:

RECORDS OF CHIGNECTO by William Cochrane MILNER (1846-1939) *Chignecto Project Electronic Edition, January 1999.*

Edition used:
COLLECTIONS OF THE NOVA SCOTIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
VOLUME XV, HALIFAX, N.S., WM. MACNAB & SON, 1911

ARRIVAL OF LOYALISTS.

In 1785 the Loyalists received large grants at Cobequid (Westchester) and Ramshag (Wallace). At Cobequid 31,750 acres were distributed on the 2nd of June among 85 persons representing 246 men, women and children. The grantees were:

Stephen Seaman, Matthew Dallaway, Ezekiel Seaman, Peter Rushlin, Jesse Ogden, Thomas Wheaton, Moses Simmonds, David Pugsley, Israel Parker, John Glieson, Henry Piers, James Ackel, James Morris, Charles Jennings, Wright Weeks, William Lopree, Johna than Palmer, John Mayby, Joseph Sears, Jeremiah Seaman, John Crawford, Joseph Purdy,
David Mills, Joseph Peime, Daniel Dickerson, Shubad Lewis, Stephen Purdy, William Coon, Charles Vincent,
Jesse Schofield, Josiah Baker, James Mead, Samuel Bishop, John Williams, Samuel Wood, John Sherwood,
James Chasse, Nathaniel Hodge, John Ogden, Lieut, Samuel Embree, Zacchriah Snieder, Joshua Horton, John Wilson,
Jeremiah Rushtin, Lieut. Abraham Covert, Henry Stultz, Henry Gray, Simon Outhouse, Robert Purdy, Peter Maby,
Lieut. Gilbert Haveland, Jabez Rundle, John Rushtin, Sr.; Martin Creary, Jonathan Snider, Nathan Golding, Obadiah Simpson, Aaron Fountain, Henry Frenchard, John Baxter, Nathaniel Purdy, David Ackley, Joseph Embree, Jr.; John Hunter,
John Rimiss, James Miller, James Lounsbury, Henry Purdy, Elijah Smith, Jonathan Warden, Daniel Holmes, James Austen, John Austen, Samuel Horton, Caleb Griffin, Amos Fowler, John Myers, John Brisbane, Capt. Gideon Palmer, Nathaniel Ackley and Benja min Chamberlain.

The Ramsheg Grant of 20,300 acres was made on the 16th June, 1785, to the following 106 grantees; Isaac Ackley, jr., Alexander Piers, Joseph Earles, Joel Edget, John Hunt, Sybal Beardsley, Samuel Neills, James Totten, jr., Joseph Tidd, Samuel Hals tead, James Brisbane, Lank Steves, Capt. Gilbert Totten, Samuel Cornell, Obediah Ackerley, Nathaiel Wyatt, James Derry. Reuben Mills, Isaac Tidd, Thomas Jenkins, Oliver Smith, Capt, Frederick Williams, Zinns Golding,
Nathaniel Niles, John Edgett, Daniel Tidd, Job Bryant, Samuel Holliday, Joshua Ferris, Gilbert Purdy, John Derry,
William Williams, Samuel Holmes, Capt, Moses Knapp, Daniel Dunn, John Rushtin, jr., Lockwood Baxter, John Robblee,
John Baker, Thos. Hasteed, John Stephens, Michael Lloyd, Robert Hatch, Jonathan Fowler, Ensign Augustus Baxter,
John Brown, Jeremiah Merritt, Frederick Philips, Samuel Haveland, Jos. Piers, William Foster, Solomon Horton,
Capt. Barnes Hatfield, Daniel Totten, John Tidd, Ensign Ephraim Piers, James Totten, Isaac Ackely, jr.; William Budd,
James Totten, sr., Oliver Ackeley, Peter Winne, Angus McFen, Capt. Samuel Kipp, Samuel Williams, Gabriel Purdy,
Zekel Piers, John Angevine, John Jacobs, John Chatterton, Mencus Myers, James Tidd, Absolom Smith, Jacob Veal,
John Lusargee, Samuel Horton, Thomas Cornell, John Ganong, Frederick Baxter, James Huson, Joshua Brundige,
Moses Tidd, Ebenezer Brown, Paul Carpus Schoffield, John Totten, John Parre, John Lowe, Josiah Fowler, John Piers,
John Edmunds, Noah Webb, Andrew Fosner, John Pugsley, Jesse Schoffield, Daniel Pugsley, Nathaniel Hoeg,
James Chase, Daniel Piers, James Golding, James Knipp, Jeremiah Newman, James Tellet, Jesse Mills.

Other Spouses

-hr-

Children

SURNAMES
1/12/2007