John Adam BELCHER

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Son of Adam Belcher

Notes:

Name:
It is said that John A. Belcher worked on his father's farm up to early manhood. We judge that this must have included the period up to the nineteenth anniversary of his birth, in 1800, about which time he married Bridget (Fitz-Gerald) Cooney-Yeomans and then went to live on the Cold Spring Farm near Ringwood, where their five children were born. We are told that he was an employee of the Sterling Iron Works in various capacities for about twenty yers, after which he devoted his energies to his farm in Eagle Valley. He was born in 1780 and was married in 1800, and lived in Ringwood until the winter of 1811/2, at which time he moved to Sterling. Here Bridget died, and two years later he married Mary Whritenour, widow of William Tidaback. Their son John was born there in 1819. About two yers later he bought from William and Isaac Townsend 200 acres of land in Eagle Valley. Beginning in 1818, he spent the remainder of his life as a farmer. With these facts in mind, it appears that he could not have worked twenty years for the Sterling Iron Works; but it all the statistics we are presenting are as near the truth as the above statement of his activities, we will have good reason to congratulate ourselves.

Less than a year after the birth of Margaret, her youngest child, Bridget died, as above stated. the infant was taken and cared for by its paternal grandmother, and the bereaved husband engaged Mrs. Mary (Whritenour) Tidaback to keep house for his large family, which included six children. As Mrs. Tidaback had three children of her own that she took with her, she undertook a heavy responsibility; but she acquainted herself so well that the young widower asked her to marry him in 1814, and she gave her consent.

Family/Spouse: Bridget FITZ-GERALD. Bridget (daughter of William FITZ-GERALD and Hannah DRISCOLL) was born in 1777 in Dutch Hollow, Orange Co., New York; died in 1812. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Mary WHRITENOUR on 7 Nov 1814 in New Hempstead (Ramapo), New York. Mary was born on 6 Jun 1789; died on 25 Jan 1873. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Name:
Adam Belcher, born June 30, 1756; died May 30, 1819; married (1) Elizabeth Bennett; (2) Sarah Bennett. The date of neither marriage is known, the year given in each case being the preceding the birth of the first child. Adam's second wife was a sister of his first wife. It is presumed there was a divorce, since it is known that Elizabeth married again, that her husband's surname was Davey, and that her daughter Elizabeth, who became Mrs. George Patterson, was always known to us as "Aunt Betsey Patterson." Through his wives, Adam Belcher was indirectly connected with the Townsend family of Chester and Southfields, their sister Mary having become, on Apr. 18, 1776, wife of Henry Townsend VI, born Oyster Bay, New York, Feb 9, 1752. The father of these Bennett girls is said to have been a mine superintendent at Sterling, and one of his descendants states that Henry Townsend VI was disinherited for marrying the daughter of a mine worker. Of Adam Belcher's family of eleven children, the first of whom, the son of Elizabeth, was grandfather of the authors of this work, none ever uttered a word of criticism of their father, ho was a good husband and kind to his children. It is not known why he separated from his first wife. It is evident, however, that whatever their difference was, no shadow remained on the character of either, and both were afterwards happily married.

At the outbreak of the Revolution, Adam Belcher signed the Associator's Pledge, placing himself definitely on the side of those who resisted the aggressions of the British.

His father, John Belcher, is described as "a forgeman of New Cornwall," and at his death Adam was appointed administrator of the estate, which he probably inherited, as he continued to conduct the business which his father had established at what is now known as Southfields, but was then called Chesekook or Cheesecocks, in Orange County, New York. In 1802 this name was changed to Southfield, the final letter"s" not having been added.

Adam married Elizabeth BENNETT in 1780. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]