Andrew Dalrymple

THE DALRYMPLES OF MORRIS COUNTY, NEW JERSEY

The following information is from SOME DESCENDANTS OF ANDREW DALRYMPLE FROM MORRIS COUNTY, NEW JERSEY written by Althea F. Courtot of Roselle, New Jersey, August 1983. This document is the basis for the majority of information in the Dalrymples of Morris County, NJ database.

INTRODUCTION
According to the oral traditions of the Morris County Dalrymple descendants which has passed from one generation to the next, Andrew Dalrymple, the progenitor of this family, together with two brothers, came here from Dunamoy in Scotland (Dunamoy is actually located in Northern Ireland - see note below). One brother is said to have gone "south", the other "west", with Andrew settling in Morris County where he purchased 1,000 acres in Center Grove, extending to Walnut Grove (now Mt. Freedom). A thorough search of the earliest Morris County records failed to locate any record whatever of Andrew's ever having resided in Morris County, nor do extant deeds or records verify the acquisition of acreage by him.

The earliest Dalrymple name found in the Morris County records was Joseph 2, the youngest of Andrew's four children. Joseph was born in 1714 according to the bible record, and in a published account, which may or may not be accurate, it states that he was living in the Dover area as early as 1739. The earliest verifiable date is 1745, the year of his marriage to Jane Boyle when he was 31 years old. The family bible (or just the records) in Joseph's possession would have been given to him as the youngest son, as was, and still is, traditional. The four birth entries are: John born October 10, 1706 at 10:00 p.m.; M Call (sic) born January 3, 1708 at 3:00 a.m.; Mari born April 6, 1711 between 6:00 - 7:00 a.m. and Joseph, born October 29, 1714 at 3:00 p.m. It is interesting to note that whoever meticulously recorded the exact time of birth of each of Andrew's children did not record the name of his wife nor their marriage date, nor do the records contain a death date for each of Joseph's parents. It can be speculated that Andrew and his wife did not leave their homeland or another American colony to live in Morris County, and that when Joseph left home his parents were still living and consequently their death dates would not be in the bible records, nor were they entered later. The extant family bible, now in the possession of Everett Dalrymple of Randolph, Morris County, was published in 1822 by Daniel D. Smith, Greenwich Street, New York City, and therefore is not the bible which contained the records of Andrew's children unless they were entered at a later time. Also, according to family tradition, the name of Andrew's wife was Janet Kirk or Kirkbride but this remains unverified. Among Joseph's fourteen children, one daughter is named Jane, probably for her mother Jane Boyle Dalrymple, bur none named Janet; none of Joseph's children named a daughter Janet for the maternal grandmother, contrary to the prevailing custom of the time. Two of Joseph's children are named Mary and John, perhaps for his sister and brother but there was no child named M Call (perhaps McCall) or any name similar to it. An examination of the writing style in that period failed to suggest another given name.
The place Dunamoy* could be Donoughmore, North Ireland, since there was a great influx of Scotch Irish settlers into the American colonies during this period. Joseph married Jane Boyle of Irish descent and there are a few early Dalrymple intermarriages with these of Irish extraction and of Protestant persuasion. Solomon Boyle, Joseph's father-in-law, lived in the area known as Irish Long Mill so Joseph apparently lived in or near the Irish community.

It was published in The First Century of Hunterdon County, George E. Mott, 1878, and in Traditions of Hunterdon, John Lequear, 1957, that Jesse Dalrymple, born in 1756, Amwell Township, Hunterdon County, was a descendant of a younger son of the 3rd Earl of Stair. It was assumed that Jesse selected his land on advice of James Alexander, agent of Sir John Dalrymple who purchased much acreage in East Jersey for speculation. Actually, Jesse was the son of James Dalrymple, the progenitor of the Hunterdon County family who in 1747 was residing in Amwell Township. Jesse acquired his land from the West Jersey Society Tract in Alexandria Township, between 1766 and 1792. After extensive research, no connection has been found between the Hunterdon and Morris County families, nor have their ancestors yet been determined in other American colonies, Scotland or North Ireland. The genealogy of the Hunterdon County Dalrymple family can be found in my 1978 manuscript, filed in the N. J. State Historical Society in Newark, and the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City.

In reply to several inquiries, the Scots Ancestry Research Society of Edinburgh has written that the 3rd Earl of Stair died unmarried; John the 2nd Earl died without issue, and William and George, the two sons of John the 1st Earl, do not appear to have had any American connections, nor did their research reveal any members of this family having settled in the American colonies. Several Dalrymple researchers with whom I have corresponded have informed me they have searched the lineage of the Earls of Stair in Scots peerage, and could find no legitimate Dalrymple male who could have been the ancestor of either Andrew of Morris County or James of Hunterdon County.
This manuscript has been compiled for the benefit of the members of the Morris County Dalrymple family, and additions and corrections would be most welcome.