Kitchell Family

NJGenWeb ~ Morris County, New Jersey

Kitchell Family

Biographical and Genealogical History of Morris County New Jersey. Illustrated. Vol. II., Lewis Publishing Company, New York and Chicago, 1899.

Two decades had not passed after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock when the Kitchell family was founded in America, by Robert Kitchell, who was born in England in 1604. He married Margaret, daughter of Rev. Edward Sheaffer, of Cranbrook, Kent county, England, and on the 29th of April, 1639, they sailed for America with a company of Puritan refugees, on the first vessel that anchored in the harbor of Quinnepiac, now New Haven, Connecticut. They soon afterward settled at Guilford, on the border of the sound, and Robert Kitchell became a man of considerable prominence in the colony.

His son Samuel, who was born in England in 1633, was twice married. He first wedded Elizabeth Wakeman, of Connecticut; and afterward married Grace, daughter of Rev. Abraham Pierson, a leader in the Newark, New Jersey, settlement in 1666. By his first wife, Samuel Kitchell had six children: Sarah, Elizabeth, Abigail, Samuel, Mary and Susannah; and by his second wife he had two children: Abraham and Grace. The father of this family died in 1690.

Abraham Kitchell, the son of the second marriage and the next in line of this family, had seven children as follows: Samuel, Joseph, John, David, Grace, Mary and Abigail. Abraham Kitchell moved from Newark in the early part of 1700 and in 1724 purchased one thousand and seventy-five acres from Rebecca Wheeler and lived with his family at Hanover Neck. Abraham Kitchell's son Joseph was the father of the Hon. Aaron Kitchell, who was the most noted member of the Kitchell family. He was born June 25, 17544, and married Phebe Farrand, who was born in 1743 and died March 12, 1807. He was one of the most conspicuous figures in the history of Morris county. For several years after the Revolutionary war he served as a member of the state legislature of New Jersey. From 1799 until 1807 he was a member of the lower house of congress and from 1807 until 1811 was a United States senator.

His brilliant mental attainments, his character, worth and his sound judgment on matters of governmental policy, made him a leading figure in the council chambers of the nation, and his individuality was strongly impressed on the national legislation. His children were: Joseph H., Edward L., Ambrose Ely and George R. His known justice and impartiality in all public matters led him to be frequently chosen to serve on the grand jury, and for many years he acceptably filled the office of freeholder. He was a elder in the Presbyterian church, at Hanover, in which church his father had also killed the same office. He died January 11, 1893, leaving two sons, Joseph H. and George R., to survive him.

George R. Kitchell, who came into possession of the old homestead upon the death of his father, married Sarah C. Squier, a daughter of John Squier, who belonged to one of the old families of Essex county, New Jersey. They have one child, J. Henry Kitchell, who together with his father, is engaged in the successfully carrying on the old farm, having it stocked with Holstein-Friesan cattle, whose milk is sent every day to the city.

The family still have the old sheepskin deed given to Abraham Kitchell by Rebecca Wheeler, which shows the property to have been in the possession of the Kitchell family one hundred and seventy-four years, and J. Henry Kitchell to be of the seventh generation who has lived on the farm.

Transcribed by Christopher Cresta