Ten names on an estate petition.

In September 1855, the Burlington County Orphans' Court considered a petition by James Chumard, one of the children of a father who had died without a will. The elder James had left land and buildings, and ten children were entitled to shares in what remained.

The petition did not set out to tell their stories. It was made to settle a legal matter. Yet it names women whose later surnames would otherwise make them difficult to find, sons recorded in different households, and two younger daughters who had not reached adulthood.

A family named together

The following people are listed in the two original copies of the 1855 petition as the children of James Chumard Sr.. The order is that of the manuscript, not their birth order.

• James Chumard, the petitioner
• Samuel Chumard
• Susan, wife of John Boy (surname reading uncertain)
• Mary Jane, wife of Michael McLaughlin
• Cornelia, wife of Charles Smith
• John Chumard
• Frances, wife of John Freely (surname reading uncertain)
• Elizabeth Chumard, still a minor
• Anna Chumard, still a minor
• William Chumard, probably the ancestor in Evelyn's family line

The record gives each child a one-tenth interest in James's estate. It identifies Elizabeth and Anna as minors. It also names the four husbands above. It does not say where every heir lived, when the couples married, or which children—if any—they later raised.

The household before the petition

One generation earlier, an original church register recorded the marriage of James Chumard and Maria Sapp on February 20, 1814. The 1850 federal census then shows a James and Maria Chumard household in Burlington, New Jersey. James, a farmer, was recorded with real estate valued at about $6,000. Elizabeth, Samuel and William were among the people living there.

The two records place Maria within James's family. They do not prove she was the biological mother of all ten named heirs. That distinction matters particularly because several birth dates inherited from later genealogies are uncertain.

The William who links the generations

One of the 1855 heirs was William Chumard. The census household, the court's naming of James as father, and the inherited family tree together suggest he was the William Chumard whose daughter Mary Margaret “Maggie” became the mother of Hannah Wainwright Kennedy, Evelyn's mother.

It is a strong working identification, but not a settled one. The age of William in the 1850 census differs from the inherited birth year. We can show the connection as probable while continuing to seek a record naming this William's parents directly.

The land, and what followed

In September 1855, a commissioner reported that dividing James's land into ten separate shares of equal value would materially diminish the property. The court therefore directed that the property be sold publicly. We have not yet authenticated a final sale return or a distribution account, and cannot say that each child received land or money.

The lasting value of these papers to the family is not the price of the land. It is the evidence of the people. Susan and Frances can be approached again through their spouses' difficult-to-read names. Mary Jane and Cornelia have possible marriage records to seek. The petition gives those investigations a place to begin without inventing what happened next.