Samuel Falkinburg I pg. 1

Samuel Falkinburg (a.k.a. Samuel Falkinberg)

Working on the records for Samuel Falkinburg reminds me of the investigations of Police Lieutenant Columbo. For those not old enough to remember this police-genre television show which debuted in the 1970s, Columbo (Peter Falk) wore a rumpled raincoat, and had an unkempt look about him. Columbo interviewed many witnesses of a crime; each person had a different story of the events, leaving the television viewer totally stumped as to what had really happened. At the end of the show, Columbo took each of these seemingly unrelated threads and wove a story of whole cloth. 'Wow, how did he do figure that out?' The crime unraveled, Columbo shuffled off in an almost bumbling manner to tackle his next assignment. In order to understand the story of Samuel Falkinburg I, we really need a Lieutenant Columbo. In these pages I will do my best to present the evidence and put together a story that seems reasonable.

Samuel Falkinburg, second son of John and Mary was born 28 SEP 1764. We know from the records of John Falkinburg that Samuel went to Rye Township, Pennsylvania with his father where on 6 DEC 1785 he witnessed the agreement to purchase two mills from David English.{SF1.1} We also know that shortly after moving to Pennsylvania, John died and Mary declined to act as executrix of her husband's will. Samuel who was in New Jersey was represented by William Richardson, a Pennsylvania attorney. {SF1.2}

It is unlikely that Samuel lived with his parents in Rye Township. He was twenty-two years of age when his father made his purchases in Rye Township. Samuel is most frequently cited as marrying Alice Mathis (b. 1752) daughter of Nehemiah Mathis and Elizabeth Cranmer {SF1.3}. If the dates of birth for Samuel and Alice are correct, then Alice was twelve years older than Samuel. Most frequently, all nine children of Samuel Falkinburg are attributed to his union with Alice. As we will see later, this is almost certainly not the case. In fact it appears that the only child of the union between Samuel and Alice was a son, Samuel 2, born between 1781 and 1788. {SF1.4} If true, Samuel 2 was born about the time of John and Mary's move to Pennsylvania. It is likely that Samuel 1 remained in New Jersey with his new family. Unfortunately, I have not found any historical records to confirm this fact.

There are two other facts that add a level of confusion to the story. David Absalom found Quaker records which show that Alice died unwed. She is listed in the Friends Burying Ground by her maiden name Alice Mathis; no date is recorded {SF1.5}. The second fact uncovered by Absalom is a Quaker record that indicates that Samuel was disowned by the Society of Friends on 13 SEP 1786. {SF1.6} No reason is given for this action. What did it mean for a Quaker to be disowned, and what were the reasons for such action? Without getting deeply in Quaker theology, simply stated:

"The chief consequence of disownment for the disowned person was that he or she no longer had a right to attend business meetings; for the Society it was that they no longer had an obligation to oversee his behavior. ... There was no shunning involved in disownment; familial and secular relationships continued as before... In this respect there is a notable contrast with the discipline of some Anabaptist groups, in which the community has to struggle with the question of how much familiarity between a member and an ex-member is permitted ...without compromising their testimony..." {SF1.7}

The same article cites statistics for disownment

"Any behavior thought inappropriate for a Quaker could become a matter of discipline; whether the process led to disownment depended less on the seriousness of the offense than on whether the offender made an adequate acknowledgment. (With serious offenses or public scandal, however, there is some indication that meetings were stricter about what sort of acknowledgment would satisfy them.) Marrying out was the commonest cause for disownment not because Friends thought it the worst deviation, but because it was the most frequent."

The cited article presents data regarding disciplinary cases in Pennsylvania Monthly Meetings from 1682 to 1776. The data lists 44 categories, of which the top twenty are listed here. I have used the data presented in the article to compute the percent of disciplinary cases for each offense.

Reason for Disownment	%
Marrying contrary to discipline	36.10%
Fornication with fiance(e)	8.31%
Other fornication	8.21%
Drunkenness	5.97%
Inattendance	5.63%
Debt	5.04%
Showing contempt for the Society's authority over one's conduct	5.03%
Loose conduct	3.12%
Assault	2.58%
Profanity	2.55%
Marrying too close a relative	2.11%
Quarreling	1.41%
Entertainments	1.14%
Neglecting family responsibilities	1.13%
Fraud	1.10%
Disapproved company	0.97%
Attending irregular marriage	0.95%
Gambling	0.82%
Military activity	0.81%
Business ethics	0.72%

Some other offenses (not necessarily less egregious, but less frequently cited are: disobeying parents, lying, dress and speech, dispensing liquor, printing, destroying property,and misuse of the First Day of the week. It should be noted that while Military activity accounted for less than 1% in this list, the dates 1682 to 1776 did not include the majority of the American Revolution. We know that the conflict between Quaker ideals of the peaceable community and the thirst for independence from England was one of the major causes of decline in the number of Quakers and their influence.

Notes
{SF1.1}	Reference witness purchase of mills
{SF1.2}	Administrator of his father's estate
{SF1.3}	Alice was the granddaughter of "The Great" John Mathis (b. 1690 in England or Wales).
{SF1.4}	Families of Burlington County: Samuel Falkinburg
{SF1.5}	Friends Cemetery - Tuckerton, N.J. (Transcribed from Leah Blackman's History of Little Egg Harbor
{SF1.6}	Samuel disownment
{SF1.7}	Duskey, Jenny, Larry Kuenning, Charlotte Kuenning, Licia Kuenning; Our Understanding of Disownment As Historically Practiced in the Society of Friends
References