It has been quite some time since I worked on the Donnington family and hoped that, in the intervening years, new records had been found to tell more of their life stories.

Alas, that was not to be. Furthermore, it is possible that Thankful might have been a second wife, given the gaps in birth years between his three eldest children and a child “to be born” named in his will.

There are but two entries for the Donnington [Dorrington] surname in the New Jersey Calendar of Wills, 30:147, both pertaining to Thomas Donnington:

The second entry is an abstract of the will of Thomas Donnington of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, written on 3 June 1731 and proved two years later on 12 June 1733.

In it, we learn that Thomas was a mariner and his wife’s name, at least in 1733, was Thankful. Her maiden name is unknown, nor is the date of their marriage.

Thomas named three children – Eleanor, wife of John Woodruff, Abigail and John with an EXPECTED child.

If Eleanor was 21 when she married (typical of the time period), she probably married shortly before her father wrote his will, perhaps c1730, and would then have been born c1709. She is likely the oldest child.

Next, by examining the first entry in the New Jersey Calendar of Wills, note that John Dorrington, son of Thomas, deceased, was about 15 years old on 1 February 1738. That puts his birth year as roughly 1713.

Abigail, named before John in the will, might be the second child born to Thomas.

With his fourth child expected in 1731, that leaves a wide gap between the births of his children, suggesting perhaps a second marriage.

There is one Thomas Donnington found in the later 1700s living in Morris County, New Jersey, which borders Essex County. It is possible that this Thomas is the 1731 expected child of the deceased Thomas mentioned in his will. It seems especially likely given the rarity of the Donnington surname.

Notice, too, that Thomas was expecting a child with Thankful. Given the gaps in birth years with Eleanor, Abigail and John, it seems possible that Thankful might have been a second wife.

Children:

1. Eleanor, born c1709; perhaps died c1769, although the Find-a-Grave photo linked to her is not her gravestone; married John Woodruff, c1730
2. Abigail, born c1711; died after 1731 when her father wrote his will. No further record.
3. John, born c1713; died after 1784. He signed one Essex County petition in 1760. There is a second petition dated 25 November 1784 signed y the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethtown, which was burned during the late war.
4. Child, born late 1731. No further record.

John Donnington Jr. left an 1803 will in Essex County, New Jersey:

This John married Esther Chandler, born 1760; died 1785. John Jr. was probably born near 1760 or slightly earlier and was a young man when he died. He may well have been the son of John, born c1713.

John married (2) Jane Arven, 6 March 1802, Essex County, New Jersey.

There is little else known about Thomas Donnington’s family. However, my husband’s line is through Eleanor who married John Woodruff, so all is good for me!

One of my husband’s only non-Southern and non-German ancestral lines is his Woodruff family that began in New Jersey and then headed south long before the American Revolution.

John Woodruff married Eleanor Donnington sometime before 3 June 1731, when her father, Thomas Donnington, wrote his will. The original isn’t available to read, but it has been abstracted in the Calendar of New Jersey Wills.

Source: Google Books

Thomas Donnington is first identified as a mariner. He named wife Thankful and then the following children: Abigail, John and one unborn. Lastly, he named daughter Elinor, wife of John Woodruffe.

His executors were Charles Townley and Nathaniel Mitchell. Witnesses were John Chandler, Stephen Crane and Absolem Ladner.

Thomas left both real and personal estate. His will was proved two years after he wrote it on 12 June 1733.

New Jersey isn’t the easiest of places to do genealogical research. The land deed index for Essex County doesn’t include any Donningtons before 1802.

I haven’t found any church records of baptisms for any Donningtons and tax records begin too late.

I found one mention of John Donnington in a 1738 court minute record, which is helpful:

John is called the orphan of Thomas Donnington, deceased, on 1 February 1738, when he was about 15 years old. That would put his birth roughly around 1722, if he hadn’t yet had his birthday that year.

Further, John Megie (McGhie?) was named as his guardian. A preliminary seach of this man has found a couple of mentions in town service, but no family information.

John Donnington lived to adulthood, as he was mentioned in the will of Moses Chandler on 4 September 1762 when Moses described his land as “my house and land, formerly purchased by uncle. . .John Chandler of (from?) John Donnington. . .

Abigail is mentioned only once in any record I’ve found and that is her father’s will. She is named before John, so we can likely assume she is at least two years older than he is, so born no later than 1720.

Elinor was already married by 3 June 1731. John Woodruff is thought to have been born about 1700-1704. Elinor was probably born in close to the same time frame. If she had married, say, a day before her father wrote his will and married at the young age of 16, her birth year would have been about 1705.

I’ve not found any record of Thomas Donnington’s unborn child surviving. He/she might have, I just haven’t found anything to confirm his/her birth and life.

I found just one other mention of Thomas Donnington in New Jersey records. On 7 February 1722/23, he was one of the witnesses to the will of John Crane of Elizabeth. The other two were Daniel Crane and Jeremiah Craine.

Was Thomas related to the Crane family in some way? I don’t know.

I suspect that Thomas Donnington might have married at least twice, given the gaps in the birth years of his children.

We have:

1. Elinor, born no later than 1705 if married in 1731 at age 16.

2. Abigail, born no later than 1720

3. John, born about 1722

4. Child, born about 1731

Most online information names Thankful as the mother of Elinor/Eleanor and I’ve seen at least three surnames credited to Thankful. Not wanting to perpetuate wishful thinking, I am not going to repeat them here.

At a minimum, we have a gap of 17 years between the births of Elinor and John, perhaps more. Either Thankful gave birth to many children over many years who didn’t survive or Thomas had at least one previous wife.

Readers, do you have any suggestions for further research? Better yet, are you a Donnington descendant who owns the family Bible? (I can only wish!)