Research Notes:
1802 Methodist Rev. Francis Asbury recorded in his journal, about May 18, that he had visited Sylvester Hutchinson at Milford, New Jersey. "Whilst at Milford, I read the inscription on the gravestone of Ann Hutchinson, her maiden name was Simpson; she was born upon Long Island, and married in the county of Middlesex, state of New Jersey. ... About [age] eighty, she in a great degree, lost her sight; about ninety, it returned; ... I have seen her, and conversed with her: at this advanced age she did not appear to be weary of the world." [1]
Several researchers name Arthur Simpson (1670 in Ireland - January 17, 1749 in Middletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey) and Mary Ester Tilton (1675-1704), married 1688 in Freehold, Monmouth County, New Jersey, as the parents of this family.
Apparently, there was a different Arthur Simpson, of Scotland, who lived in Perth Amboy and died there in 1702:
A historical sketch of the Scottish settlers in Freehold named Arthur Simpson. [2]
… they scattered their settlements all over central East Jersey from the Blew Hills in the north to Taponemus in the south. The latter place initially was nothing more than a cluster of small farms adjoining the properties of fractioners John Johnstone and George Keith, and, a decade after the settlement began, Taponemus was still the only Scottish settlement in Monmouth County.
The Keithian schism provided the impetus for the first spurt in Freehold's growth. Most of the Taponemus settlers belonged to the Society of Friends, and the local meeting there joined Keith in his separation. Soon thereafter, Scottish Friends from other townships began to move to the Freehold settlements; by 1695, two additional Scottish Friends had taken up lands at Taponemus and six other settlers had joined together to establish the new Wickatunk settlement nearby. Soon they were joined by non-Quaker countrymen also, and by 1700 about thirty-five Scottish families owned farms in the Freehold settlements, and others worked as laborers on those farms. That represented the largest concentration of Scottish families in the colony. For the remainder of the colonial period, Freehold would remain East Jersey's predominant Scottish settlement and would attract branches of almost every large Scottish family in the province.
The Freehold settlers moved quickly to forge links to their Scottish countrymen in other parts of East Jersey. In the year 1700, a group of thirty-one Monmouth County residents, including twenty-nine Scots, began buying up lands along the Matawan Creek on the route from Taponemus to Matawan Point, which lay across the bay from Perth Town. Their intentions became clear from their actions the following year; the same group, minus the two English purchasers, patented additional lands for a roadway from Freehold to Matawan and a landing on Matawan Point, which would serve as a loading dock for the Perth Town ferry. The very same day that those Scots acquired title to their land, Scotsman Arthur Simpson, a resident of the capital, leased the ferry for a term of fifteen years. Freehold's whole trading network was now in Scottish hands.
Arthur Simpson lived in Perth Amboy:
1684 Arthur Simpson was an indentured servant imported to East New Jersey by George Willocks. David Dobson, The Original Scots Colonists of Early America (1998), 156. [3] [4] [5]
1686 Arthur Simpson received ferry rights from Neversink for 15 years. [6]
1692 Arthur Simpson was listed in First Settlers of Ye Plantations of Piscataway and Woodbridge, Olde East New Jersey, 1664-1714. [7]
Documents related to Arthur Simpson, of Perth Amboy, were summarized by Helen Augusta Simpson, Early records of Simpson families in Scotland, North Ireland, and eastern United States (J.B. Lippincott Co., 1927), 102
However, the 1702 will of Arthur Simpson does not correspond to Arthur Simpson (died 1749 in Monmouth County) and does not name the family shown here. [8] [9]Arthur Simpson first appears as servant to George Willoks, late of Scotland, together with Alexander Buchane, 1684, and develops into a land-owner; d. 1703; as shown by entries (selected items from the book, which shows more entries):
1690 May 1st. Patent to George Willoks in right of himself and two servants, viz., Arthur Sympson and Alexander Buchanan.
1698 June 16. Patent to Arthur Simson of Perth Amboy, yeoman, for a lot there, 9 by 1 ch., e. Margratt Thompson, etc. - Aurthor Simson. N. Dock Street.
1700-1 Mch. 25. Lease: The Proprieters to Arthur Simson of Perth Amboy, of the ferry over Raritan Rivere at said Perth Amboy, for 15 yrs.
1702-3. Will of Arthur Simson of Perth Amboy; to wife Margaret; to wife's daughters; Katherine, wife of John Matthews; Jean, wife of John Brown, and grandson Arthur Brown; Hannah wife of - Hume. Wife sole executrix; proved Mch. 27, 1703.
[1] Francis Asbur, The Journal of the Rev. Francis Asbury, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Vol. 3 (1821), 63, [GoogleBooks].
[2] Ned C. Landsman, Scotland and Its First American Colony, 1683-1765 (2014), 175, [URL].
[3] U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s, [AncestryRecord].
[4] Google Books snippet, [URL].
[5] William Nelson, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Archives Vol. 21. (Patents and Deeds, 1664-1703) (1899), 73, [HathiTrust], [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive].
[6] Maxine N. Lurie and Joanne R. Walroth, ed., The Minutes of the Board of Proprietors of the Eastern Division of New Jersey from 1685 to 1705, Vol. 1 (Newark, New Jersey: New Jersey Historical Society, 1985), 10, [HathiTrust].
[7] Google Books snippet, [URL].
[8] Family History copy of book, [URL].
[9] Google Books snippet, [URL].