On Discovering Deborah Scudder Hart

Deborah Scudder Hart is my 7th great grandmother.  She was married to John Hart who signed the Declaration of Independence.  While researching that family line, I've noticed that quite a few folks on Ancestry, FamilySearch and even FindaGrave have her grandmother listed as her mother.  Not much is known about her mother but I'll be using this blog as a way to help muddle through setting the line to rights.

On many sites, you'll find that Hannah Reeder is listed as Deborah's mother.  Here is how I know that cannot be:

While looking through
The Scudder family of Trenton
Newark, N.J.?: Somerset Press, 1948

I discovered this excerpt:

And here we have his family:

So, he does have a son named Richard II who was born in 1696.  Deborah was born in 1722.  If the elder Scudder fathered her, he would have been 51 years of age whereas the younger Scudder would have been 26.  Of course, both ages are possibilities but Hannah Reeder, the elder Scudder's wife would have been 51 as well and that alone is enough for me to rule out the elder Hannah and Richard as parents.

Now, add in the elder Scudder's will.  He mentions Deborah Hart as his granddaughter.  Now, just to make it confusing, John and Deborah Hart did have a daughter named Deborah.  That Deborah was born in 1765.  Since the will was dated 1754, that rules out the younger Deborah.

I came across the following information on Ancestry's forum and this seems quite a bit more accurate:

We are left concluding that Richard Betts Scudder and Hannah Reeder Scudder are indeed Deborah Scudder Hart's grandparents.  Her parents are the Richard Betts Scudder II and Hannah Stilwell (or Stillwell) and that is what I am hoping to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.