Isaac Doty’s Story Continues

When last I wrote about 4^th Great Grandfather Isaac Doty, he was a husband, father, farmer and property owner in Minisink, Orange County, New York.

In 1801 Grandfather was a member of the Free & Accepted Masons Farmer’s Lodge No. 14 of Wantage, New Jersey.[1] Wantage, Sussex County, New Jersey was home to Isaac Doty’s parents, Benjamin and Mary Doty. I’m certain Isaac lived in Minisink, New York but kept this Sussex County association. Wantage is near the NY/NJ state line bordering the Town of Minisink.

  

"Landscape with farm" - oil painting on canvas by Théodore Fourmois

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

In Orange County Isaac and Elizabeth welcomed Isaac Jr. to the family circa 1802.[2]

Isaac’s father, 5^th Great Grandfather Benjamin Doty, died close to November 1802 in Sussex County, New Jersey. Benjamin didn’t prepare a will. Isaac and his mother, Mary Doty, petitioned Surrogate Court to be appointed administrators for his estate. The Sussex County Court granted letters of administration to them Nov. 18, 1802.[3]

In 1803 Great Grandfather was among the charter members of a Free Masons Masonic Lodge in Orange County, New York. The Olive Branch Lodge No. 102 was established in Minisink Dec. 20, 1803 in Brother Israel Lee’s home.  Isaac was a Tyler, an officer of the Lodge.[4] The Tyler guarded the door from ‘unqualified, malicious or simply curious people’. According to Wikipedia, a Tyler is the name of the office of outer guard of a Masonic Lodge. The Olive Branch Lodge later held their meetings in Westtown at the academy building on the upper floor.

I mentioned earlier Isaac and his mother acted as administrators for his father’s estate in Wantage, New Jersey. They needed to file an application to sell Benjamin’s land (August 21, 1804) because Grandfather Benjamin’s personal estate didn’t fully pay his debts and expenses.[5] At a special meeting in Sussex Orphan’s Court Oct. 25, 1804, a decree was granted permitting Isaac and his mother to sell Benjamin’s land in Wantage.[6] The lot contained about seventy or eighty acres and adjoined the lands of James Decker and Jeremy Rogers. Perhaps Sussex County land deeds will offer more details about the property and sale.

Back in Orange County, two daughters joined the family. Betsey was born about 1805 and Huldah made her appearance in 1807.

I have more to share but will save it for another day.

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[1] The New Jersey Genesis, Volume 13, Number 3, April 1966 Issue, Contributed by Howard E. Case

[2] The Doty-Doten Family in America compiled by Ethan Allen Doty, page 359

[3] New Jersey Abstracts of Wills, Volume 39, page 136

[4] Craft Masonry in Orange and Rockland Counties, New York Compiled by R.’.W.’. Gary L. Heinmiller, Director, Onondaga & Oswego Masonic Districts Historical Societies (OMDHS) September 2010, online http://www.omdhs.syracusemasons.com/sites/default/files/history/Craft%20Masonry%20in%20Orange%20and%20Rockland%20Counties.pdf

[5] Sussex County, New Jersey Minute Book Vol. A-1, page 32

[6] Sussex County, New Jersey Minute Book Vol. A-1, page 45