Friday, March 1, 2019

John Predmore: The First Predmores in the New World


JOHN PRIDMORE (PREDMORE) (1661-1702)

John Pridmore (Predmore) was born at Dorsetshire, England in 1661. When he immigrated to the New World is not known; however, he is recorded as among the first settlers of Piscataway and Woodbridge, New Jersey.

John Pridmore married Anne Higgins in 1682, at Piscataway, New Jersey. Anne Higgins was born in 1663 in Eastham, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Richard Higgins and his second wife, Mary Yates of Plymouth. Richard Higgins was a resident and pioneer settler of Plymouth and Eastham, Massachusetts, as well as a settler of Piscataway, New Jersey.

Not much is known of the Higgins–Pridmore family, except that they were land owners, operated their own farms and performed services for the community. Among their holdings was land along the Raritan River (Predmore Swamp) reported to have become the site of Rutgers College. South of Piscataway, in the center of the colony of New Jersey, by Cranbury Creek, a mill town began to be developed along an old Indian trail much used by colonial travelers. In 1697 Cranbury Towne received its charter from the King.

Responding to the needs of travelers for a place to eat and drink, get fresh horses and spend the night, John Predmore Jr ,. operated a post house as early as 1730, on the site of the present Cranbury Inn. He also ran a stage from Philadelphia to New York in the 1750’s. His house was replaced in 1780 by the Perrine House.

Daniel Byram Bush #345

References: Manuscript Collection, NJ Genealogy Vol. VII, No 4913-5541, Dec 19, 1914 & Dec 16, 1916. New Jersey Historical Society.

First Settlers of Piscataway and Woodbridge, New Jersey, New Jersey Genealogy Vol. No 5115,

Stryker Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War, New Jersey Historical Society.

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