Talk:Joseph Hewes

Latest comment: 2 years ago by Bob1743

I've been rewriting the page on Joseph Hewes. A few other people are monitoring the page and have made helpful corrections. I'm not satisfied with what I have posted so far. Its simply not up to wikipedia standards. So please everyone, please jump in and improve the page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bob1743 (talkcontribs) 16:37, 28 March 2022 (UTC)Reply


I'm new to Wikipedia so please excuse me if posting here violates protocol. I am assuming that I click on the publish button below. If I screwed this up I'm sure someone will let me know. My intuition just doesn't seem to work here though. I'm assuming this is the place for discussions of this sort.

There are two mistakes I'd like to correct in the article on Joseph Hewes but I hesitate because the false information is so embedded in the literature. In fact I've got that false date on my website because I didn't find the historical records until after I posted that date.

1. The birthdate is utterly wrong assuming the primary evidence is accurate. --Hewes's family were Quakers. I'm not going to copy the birthrecord here but here's a link to the record on my website http://testfamilygenealogy.net

The relevant line reads:

"Joseph son of said Aaron & Providence was born the 28th of 4th mo 1730."

Prior to 1752 in the British colonies March was the 1st month of the year. Google it if you think I might be wrong. So Joseph Hewes was born on 28 June 1730 -- but that's still the Julian calendar so that dates requires qualification. It must be labeled OS for old style or Julian. I believe that all dates should be adjusted to the modern calendar (NS or Gregorian calendar). That requires adding 11 days to the date. Thus by today's dating standards Joseph Hewes was born on 9 July 1730.

Secondly, Joseph Hewes parents on both the Worth and the Hewes sides never lived in Connecticut as the article asserts. That's in accordance with much of the literature. The primary evidence in the Quaker records is clear that the Hewes had lived in New Jersey/Delaware or Pennsylvania since about 1675.

We know that the Worth family was living in New Jersey as early as 1695. We have the family record indicating that all of Providence Worth's siblings were born when the family belonged to the Chesterfield MM in New Jersey. The first child was born in Piscattaway NJ in 1695. Around 1700 they moved to Stonybrook N.J. Here's a link to the record -- it's hard to read so scroll down for a transcription. http://testfamilygenealogy.net/

I'll make these edits but I'm afraid that I'll get lots of objections unless I document them very carefully. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bob1743 (talkcontribs) 04:16, 10 November 2018 (UTC)Reply