from Marfy Goodspeed - 19 Dec 2014 Isaac Servis The Servis family is hard to research, as they were somewhat lax about recording marriages, deeds and wills, but I believe this Isaac was the son of George Servis of New Market or Linvale (c.1750-1816), and was born about 1785, one of six children. George Servis wrote his will on August 8, 1814 ordering that his moveable estate be divided among the children, including daughter Mary Case. She was also given use of the home farm for one year, until it was sold. Executors were sons Jacob and Isaac. I am not certain who the husband of Mary Servis Case was, but about 1800, Isaac Servis married Catharine Case, probably the daughter of Jacob Case (c.1740-c.1774) and Catharine Housel. It is quite possible that Mary Servis married Catharine's brother Jacob Case Jr., but I have no proof of that. In 1806, Tunis Case, eldest son and heir of Jacob Case, sold part of the Case plantation to the other heirs of Jacob Case for $1,000 ($16/acre). They were named in that deed as William and Peter Case of Virginia; Jacob Case, Martin Case, Isaac Servis and William Hann of Amwell. The property was on Route 604, east of Rosemont. The next year, Isaac Servis bought out the other heirs for $1,284, and in 1809 he sold the 62.5 acres to Asher Reading for $1370.1 Isaac and Catharine Servis had at least four children. I got their names from the will that Isaac Servis wrote in 1845. (There was no month or day specified in the will.) They had a son Tunis (1791-1857) and three daughters: Sarah (c.1794-aft 1870), Elizabeth (c.1798-1830), and Mary (c.1810-bef.1865). At some point, Isaac Servis' wife Catharine died, and he married second a woman named Ann, whom he named in his will. She may have been related to Isaac Horne (born about 1765-70).2 One reason for thinking so is that Isaac Servis had dealings with Isaac Horne who lived nearby on Ferry Road, and this Isaac may well have had a sister named Ann. Unfortunately, Isaac Horne, who must have died in the late 18th or early 20th centuries, is not listed in the Index of Hunterdon estates. In 1813, Isaac Servis was running a tavern near Ringoes. This comes from a deed for a sheriff's sale for a bordering property.3 Isaac Servis obtained tavern licenses in 1812 and 1813, but the record does not say exactly where his tavern was.4 I suspect it was at Larison's Corner (corner of Route 202 and Route 179) near Ringoes, for in 1811, Isaac Servis bought three small lots in that location from Edmund and Elizabeth Burk of Trenton for $2900.5 On May 1, 1815, Isaac Servis, who was about 45 years old, bought a farm of 120 acres on the Locktown-Sergeantsville Road.6 The seller was John Heath Sr. and the price was $3600. Based on a sampling of 1815 deeds, the cost of $30 per acre is a low price, suggesting there was not yet a house on the property. At the time, only the youngest daughter was still living at home. Daughter Sarah was married to Benjamin Horn of Ferry Road on Sept. 29, 1810, by Justice of the Peace Peter Risler, Esq.. Daughter Mary was married to John Woodruff on Sept. 17, 1814 by Rev. Kirkpatrick. Son Tunis was married to Elizabeth Horn, daughter of Isaac Horn, on March 2, 1811, also by Peter Risler. The youngest, daughter Elizabeth married Asa Jones on Feb. 15, 1817.7 It looks like Tunis Servis may have married the niece of his step-mother. Isaac Servis remained on the farm until his death in 1846. He wrote his will in 1845, leaving specific bequests. To his beloved wife Ann he left: 1 highpost bedstead, bed, bedding & curtains, 1 common bedstead bed & bedding, 1 truckle bed & bedding, 1 Beaureau [sic], 1 Chest, 1 Walnut table, set Queens Ware, 2 teapots, sugar bowl & Cream cup, 6 tea cups, saucers, 5 Soup plates, 6 table plates, 1 Glass Pitcher, half dozen knives & forks, 1 Iron kettle, 1 water pail, 2 flower pots, 1 Looking Glass, 6 tablespoons, 6 dinner plates, 2 sauce dishes, Rocking Chair, 4 bed quilts, 2 coverlits, 3 blankets, 3 sheets, 4 pair pillow cases. And also $100 which together with the above named articles I give her in lieu of dower. Isaac Servis' inventory totaled only $701.13. The value of many of the items left to his wife was not very high, and the flower pots and rocking chair were not mentioned. The children named in his will were son Tunis, who got $350, daughter Mary, wife of John Woodruff, who got $300, daughter Sarah, wife of Benjamin Bailey, also $300, and deceased daughter Elizabeth, whose husband was Sheriff Asa Jones; her children got her share of $300. Egbert T. Bush wrote that about 1825, Asa Jones acquired a store lot in Croton that had once been owned by Isaac Servis, but Servis did not sell it directly to Jones.8 Grandchildren named in the will of Isaac Servis were John Johnes (son of Sheriff Asa Jones and Elizabeth Servis), Catharine Besson (wife of Joseph Besson, daughter of Asa & Elizabeth Jones), Austin Servis (son of Tunis Servis & Elizabeth Horn), Caroline Maxwell (widow of Charles Maxwell, daughter of Tunis & Elizabeth Servis), and Richard Servis (son of Tunis & Elizabeth Servis). The list is surprising because Isaac Servis had at least twenty grandchildren. Why he selected only five to mention in his will must say something about their importance to him. Isaac Servis named his friend and neighbor, Daniel J. Moore, as the sole executor. Moore lived a short distance east of Isaac Servis, on a farm set well back from Ferry Road. On August 1, 1847, following instructions in the will, Moore sold the Servis farm of 125 acres to Asa Romine.9 Sources - 1. H.C. Deeds, Book 13, p. 189 and Book 15 pp. 564, 566. 2. Neither of these marriages was listed in Deats' Hunterdon County Marriages. 3. H. C. Deed Book 21 p. 442. 4. Court of Common Pleas, Minute Book 19 pp. 166, 262. 5. H. C. Deeds, Book 18 p. 343. 6. H. C Deed Book 24 p. 137. 7. Mary W. Servis, daughter of Tunis Servis and Elizabeth Horn, married Rev. Joshua Primmer in 1837. I wrote about them in "From Primmer to Pauch." 8. In 1814 Isaac Servis sold property to Joseph Kugler, and in 1822 to Henry Runyon, but I have not looked up those deeds. 9. Deed Book 88 p. 41.