BLACKSMITH; IRISH IMMIGRANT OF FRENCH HUGUENOT DESCENT
Biography by Tom Brocher, Updated 20 August 2022.
Richard was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth NUZUM, natives of Ireland.
Richard was born in Co. Wexford, Ireland on 22 November 1734; died at Colfax, Marion Co., Virginia on 22 July 1822; was buried there [Joseph Dickinson Bible; Quaker Records, Exeter Family Records, Berks Co., Pennsylvania].
As a young man, Richard removed from Ireland to Nether Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, with his parents in 1752. Quaker and census records, tax lists, probate records, and family histories help us track his frequent moves prior to 1800 between Berks, Chester, and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania.
Marriage and Family Life in Pennsylvania
Richard married Hannah WORRALL at Delaware, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania in 1760 (Quaker Yearly Meeting Records, Philadelphia).
Richard was not a Quaker when married, for Hannah was complained of for marrying a person of another society. Then, 25 September 1761, acknowledgement received from Hannah, and she is disowned "for marrying one of another society."
"Richard's marriage to Hannah united him with two great Quaker families (Taylor and Worrall), which had received their lands directly from William Penn's proprietors," from Almead's History of Delaware County (Pennsylvania).
In November 1762, Richard witnessed a will for Richard Briggs, cordtwiner, at Upper Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania.
Hannah's brother, Peter, of Ridley, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, bequeathed part of his estate to her and her siblings in a will dated July 10, 1767. Proved on August 5, 1767.
Farmer at Robeson, Berks County, Pennsylvania by 1768
In 1768, Richard, blacksmith, appears on the tax rolls for Robeson, Berks Co., Pennsylvania, having 30 acres of cleared land, 70 acres of uncleared land, 9 acres of corn, 2 horses, and 2 sheep, paying a tax of 5 pound sterling [Pennsylvania Tax and Exoneration, 1768-1801].
According to the Genealogy of the Sharpless Family in America: Descended from John and Jane Sharples, settlers near Chester, Pennsylvania, 1682, page 368, 1882, Richard Nuzum and his family settled in or near Robeson, Berks Co., Pennsylvania for several years at about this time (1768-1789), moving to Delaware Co., Pennsylvania in 1790.
In the Chester Monthly Meeting in 1776, Hannah, formerly Worral, daughter of John, late of Middletown, deceased, wishes to condemn marrying out of unity to this meeting. There is a letter from the Robeson Monthly Meeting as to her good conduct; then on January 27, 1777 she is granted a certificate to Exeter Monthly Meeting. At Exeter Monthly Meeting on April 30, 1777, Hannah is reinstated on certificate from the Chester Monthly Meeting, dated February 24, 1777.
Becomes a Quaker in 1777
Only on 25 September 1777, seventeen years after his marriage, did Richard, wife and children, John, Elizabeth, James, Hannah, William, George, and Sarah, all except his son Thomas and family, who were Episcopalians, became Quakers by their request.
Their daughter, Elizabeth married Joseph Dickinson at the Robeson Monthly Meeting on May 10, 1782.
Monthly Meetings attended by the Nuzums were at Exeter, Chester, and Robeson; the family transferring back and forth for reasons not apparent to us today. With the exception of his daughter Elizabeth, all Richard's children were dismissed (some several times) for acting not according to discipline or for marrying one of another society. Also, his son John was dismissed for becoming a member of a company of militia just after the Revolution. For many years Quaker marriages were not legal, and the children were not considered to be legitimate, which condition was later remedied. But due to this, it is little wonder that the young people chose to be married out of Meeting, by a minister, so as to have a legal marriage and so legitimate children. This would be especially true of the Nuzums, being new in Quaker ways, and with their independent ideas [Charles E. Haggerty, The Nuzum Family History Revised, David G. Nuzum, Publisher, Keyser, West Virginia, p. xxiii, 1983].
Richard is mentioned in his father's will, dated on 7 April 1789 at Nether Providence. But soon the family moved their Quaker membership to Chester, Pennsylvania; on 28 June 1790, Richard, wife Hannah, and children Sarah and Phoebe received on certificate from Robeson Monthly Meeting, dated 25 May 1790.
Richard and his family were enumerated at Lower Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, in the 1790 US Census. His household at the time contained 5 persons.
Richard became an important person among the Quakers, and 30 May 1791 was appointed overseer at Chester; that being equivalent to deacon, etc., in other churches. He kept this position until 30 April 1798, and then in April 1799 was appointed to the committee to care for black people.
Move to Nether Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania in 1791
Richard inherited the majority of his father's estate and farm in Nether Providence in 1791. It seems likely that he moved his family to Nether Providence at that time.
The enumeration of Richard, blacksmith, at Nether Providence in 1793, helps to fix his location there at that time [Pennsylvania Septennial Census, 1779-1863].
Richard is on the 1798 tax roll for Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, for a 2-story log house measuring 20' by 25' with 9 rooms and 70 candlelights [United States Direct Tax of 1792: Tax Lists for the State of Pennsylvania. Delaware Co.]. This house was likely the one at Nether Providence that he and Hannah sold a few years later.
Richard and his family were enumerated at Delaware Co., Pennsylvania in the 1800 U.S. Census [10201-02001-00], again, likely at Nether Providence.
Move to "Nuzum's Mill", Virginia about 1800
About 1799, Richard fearing lack of fuel for his smith because of deforestation due to the rapid growth in population in eastern Pennsylvania, sent several of his sons to Virginia to select a well-forested section on which they might settle. These sons selected a site on the Tygart's Valley River, near what is now Hammond, Marion Co., West Virginia, through which ran several runs and creeks, and covered with useful timber of many kinds. Richard obtained a grant for 1000 acres of this virgin forest land, about 1 ¼ square miles. This area was first called "Nuzum's Mill" for the gristmill that Richard and his sons built there in 1802 and 1803. Richard is thought to have died and been buried a short distance up the river from the mill at Colfax.
When Richard and his family arrived at their new home, it was certainly an unsettled country. However, it was not an unpopulated country. Numerous Native American tribes lived throughout the upper Ohio Valley in western Virginia, including the Shawnee, Mingo, Wyandot, and Lenape/Delaware tribes [Pricketts Fort Memorial Foundation website]. Today we recognize and acknowledge that these tribes were the original guardians and stewards of the land and wildlife of this region for many generations prior to the arrival of European/American settlers.
Being an unsettled place in their eyes, however, the Nuzum family built their homes, cleared away the forest so as to plant their crops, built mills to grind their grain for food and to saw trees for lumber; and made various spinning and weaving machines in order to make their clothing. Son John built the grist mill for which the town of Nuzum's Mill was named, son William built the wood-framed water powered saw mill [Hardesty, West Virginia Counties, Vol. 2, pages 76-77].
Richard and his family started their move in 1800. Redstone, now Brownsville, Pennsylvania, was the site of the Quaker Monthly Meeting for Virginia; so on 29 September 1800 Richard and wife Hannah were granted certificate to the Redstone Monthly Meeting on 6 March 1801, Richard NEWZUM received on certificate from Chester Monthly Meeting.
Their move was completed by 1802, when by a deed dated 1 May 1802, Richard NUZUM and wife, of Tygart's Valley, Monongalia Co., Virginia, transferred ownership of their farm at Nether Providence, Pennsylvania for $1,498.
Richard paid taxes in Monongalia Co., Virginia in 1801-1802 and 1804-1805 [Monongalia County, (West) Virginia: Records of the District, Superior, and County Courts, Vol. 1: 1776-1799, compiled by Melba Pender Zinn, Heritage Books, Inc.; Monongalia County, (West) Virginia: Records of the District, Superior, and County Courts, Vol. 2: 1800-1803, compiled by Melba Pender Zinn, Heritage Books, Inc.].
Apparently, all of Richard's children and their families moved to "Nuzum's Mills" with him, with the exception of his daughter Elizabeth, who had married Joseph DICKINSON and settled in Harrison Co. thirty miles away. However, a year or so later, his son Thomas and Thomas's family returned to Philadelphia.
Somehow, Richard conveyed to each grandson named Richard 50 acres of the original 1000 acre grant.
Between 1800 and 1815 the Hartleys, Watsons, and the Vincents arrived in this region.
In 1814, Richard conveyed and dedicated several acres of his grant for use as a graveyard, with the understanding that no one should ever be refused burial in it. Later a church building was erected on this site, and as of 1950 was still used by the Dunkards. Many Nuzums of the early generations were buried in this graveyard.
Richard continued to draw the 60 guineas a year on the lease in Ireland until the War of 1812 shut it off. In 1815 Gardiner LEONARD, his Irish son-in-law, went to Ireland to try to renew rentals; but upon his return he reported to his father-in-law that the contract had expired by limitation, according to the law of Great Britain, which report was accepted.
Richard and his family were enumerated at "Nuzum's Mills" (East District, Monongalia Co., Virginia) in the 1820 U.S. Census [p. 78].
Slaveowners
One tragic aspect of the Nuzum family move to Virginia, a slave state, is that some Nuzum family members became slave owners. We currently have no knowledge of whether Richard himself was a slave owner, but at least two of Richard's sons, James and George, were slave owners. We currently do not know whether any other of Richard's children owned slaves.
At this time it is difficult to understand why the Nuzum family, which was persecuted in France for being Protestants, and who adopted the Pacifism of the Quakers in Pennsylvania, should resort to using slave labor in Virginia.
Richard and Hannah had nine known children:
Children (born at Nether Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania [Charles E. Haggerty, The Nuzum Family History Revised, David G. Nuzum, Publisher, Keyser, West Virginia, p. 3-5, 1983]); surname Nuzum:
1. John, born on 4 May 1761.
2. Elizabeth, born on 18 Feb. 1763 at Chester.
3. Thomas, born on 8 Mar. 1765.
4. James, born on 10 Oct. 1767 in Upper Providence.
5. Hannah, born circa 1770 [Quaker Records dated 25 Sept. 1777].
6. William, born on 9 Jan. 1772.
7. George, born on 7 Feb. 1774.
8. Sarah, born on 1 June 1777.
9. Phoebe, born on 17 Nov. 1779; she married her first cousin John Kirk.
Biography by Tom Brocher, last updated on 28 August 2022.
Biography by Tom Brocher, Updated 20 August 2022.
Richard was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth NUZUM, natives of Ireland.
Richard was born in Co. Wexford, Ireland on 22 November 1734; died at Colfax, Marion Co., Virginia on 22 July 1822; was buried there [Joseph Dickinson Bible; Quaker Records, Exeter Family Records, Berks Co., Pennsylvania].
As a young man, Richard removed from Ireland to Nether Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, with his parents in 1752. Quaker and census records, tax lists, probate records, and family histories help us track his frequent moves prior to 1800 between Berks, Chester, and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania.
Marriage and Family Life in Pennsylvania
Richard married Hannah WORRALL at Delaware, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania in 1760 (Quaker Yearly Meeting Records, Philadelphia).
Richard was not a Quaker when married, for Hannah was complained of for marrying a person of another society. Then, 25 September 1761, acknowledgement received from Hannah, and she is disowned "for marrying one of another society."
"Richard's marriage to Hannah united him with two great Quaker families (Taylor and Worrall), which had received their lands directly from William Penn's proprietors," from Almead's History of Delaware County (Pennsylvania).
In November 1762, Richard witnessed a will for Richard Briggs, cordtwiner, at Upper Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania.
Hannah's brother, Peter, of Ridley, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, bequeathed part of his estate to her and her siblings in a will dated July 10, 1767. Proved on August 5, 1767.
Farmer at Robeson, Berks County, Pennsylvania by 1768
In 1768, Richard, blacksmith, appears on the tax rolls for Robeson, Berks Co., Pennsylvania, having 30 acres of cleared land, 70 acres of uncleared land, 9 acres of corn, 2 horses, and 2 sheep, paying a tax of 5 pound sterling [Pennsylvania Tax and Exoneration, 1768-1801].
According to the Genealogy of the Sharpless Family in America: Descended from John and Jane Sharples, settlers near Chester, Pennsylvania, 1682, page 368, 1882, Richard Nuzum and his family settled in or near Robeson, Berks Co., Pennsylvania for several years at about this time (1768-1789), moving to Delaware Co., Pennsylvania in 1790.
In the Chester Monthly Meeting in 1776, Hannah, formerly Worral, daughter of John, late of Middletown, deceased, wishes to condemn marrying out of unity to this meeting. There is a letter from the Robeson Monthly Meeting as to her good conduct; then on January 27, 1777 she is granted a certificate to Exeter Monthly Meeting. At Exeter Monthly Meeting on April 30, 1777, Hannah is reinstated on certificate from the Chester Monthly Meeting, dated February 24, 1777.
Becomes a Quaker in 1777
Only on 25 September 1777, seventeen years after his marriage, did Richard, wife and children, John, Elizabeth, James, Hannah, William, George, and Sarah, all except his son Thomas and family, who were Episcopalians, became Quakers by their request.
Their daughter, Elizabeth married Joseph Dickinson at the Robeson Monthly Meeting on May 10, 1782.
Monthly Meetings attended by the Nuzums were at Exeter, Chester, and Robeson; the family transferring back and forth for reasons not apparent to us today. With the exception of his daughter Elizabeth, all Richard's children were dismissed (some several times) for acting not according to discipline or for marrying one of another society. Also, his son John was dismissed for becoming a member of a company of militia just after the Revolution. For many years Quaker marriages were not legal, and the children were not considered to be legitimate, which condition was later remedied. But due to this, it is little wonder that the young people chose to be married out of Meeting, by a minister, so as to have a legal marriage and so legitimate children. This would be especially true of the Nuzums, being new in Quaker ways, and with their independent ideas [Charles E. Haggerty, The Nuzum Family History Revised, David G. Nuzum, Publisher, Keyser, West Virginia, p. xxiii, 1983].
Richard is mentioned in his father's will, dated on 7 April 1789 at Nether Providence. But soon the family moved their Quaker membership to Chester, Pennsylvania; on 28 June 1790, Richard, wife Hannah, and children Sarah and Phoebe received on certificate from Robeson Monthly Meeting, dated 25 May 1790.
Richard and his family were enumerated at Lower Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, in the 1790 US Census. His household at the time contained 5 persons.
Richard became an important person among the Quakers, and 30 May 1791 was appointed overseer at Chester; that being equivalent to deacon, etc., in other churches. He kept this position until 30 April 1798, and then in April 1799 was appointed to the committee to care for black people.
Move to Nether Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania in 1791
Richard inherited the majority of his father's estate and farm in Nether Providence in 1791. It seems likely that he moved his family to Nether Providence at that time.
The enumeration of Richard, blacksmith, at Nether Providence in 1793, helps to fix his location there at that time [Pennsylvania Septennial Census, 1779-1863].
Richard is on the 1798 tax roll for Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, for a 2-story log house measuring 20' by 25' with 9 rooms and 70 candlelights [United States Direct Tax of 1792: Tax Lists for the State of Pennsylvania. Delaware Co.]. This house was likely the one at Nether Providence that he and Hannah sold a few years later.
Richard and his family were enumerated at Delaware Co., Pennsylvania in the 1800 U.S. Census [10201-02001-00], again, likely at Nether Providence.
Move to "Nuzum's Mill", Virginia about 1800
About 1799, Richard fearing lack of fuel for his smith because of deforestation due to the rapid growth in population in eastern Pennsylvania, sent several of his sons to Virginia to select a well-forested section on which they might settle. These sons selected a site on the Tygart's Valley River, near what is now Hammond, Marion Co., West Virginia, through which ran several runs and creeks, and covered with useful timber of many kinds. Richard obtained a grant for 1000 acres of this virgin forest land, about 1 ¼ square miles. This area was first called "Nuzum's Mill" for the gristmill that Richard and his sons built there in 1802 and 1803. Richard is thought to have died and been buried a short distance up the river from the mill at Colfax.
When Richard and his family arrived at their new home, it was certainly an unsettled country. However, it was not an unpopulated country. Numerous Native American tribes lived throughout the upper Ohio Valley in western Virginia, including the Shawnee, Mingo, Wyandot, and Lenape/Delaware tribes [Pricketts Fort Memorial Foundation website]. Today we recognize and acknowledge that these tribes were the original guardians and stewards of the land and wildlife of this region for many generations prior to the arrival of European/American settlers.
Being an unsettled place in their eyes, however, the Nuzum family built their homes, cleared away the forest so as to plant their crops, built mills to grind their grain for food and to saw trees for lumber; and made various spinning and weaving machines in order to make their clothing. Son John built the grist mill for which the town of Nuzum's Mill was named, son William built the wood-framed water powered saw mill [Hardesty, West Virginia Counties, Vol. 2, pages 76-77].
Richard and his family started their move in 1800. Redstone, now Brownsville, Pennsylvania, was the site of the Quaker Monthly Meeting for Virginia; so on 29 September 1800 Richard and wife Hannah were granted certificate to the Redstone Monthly Meeting on 6 March 1801, Richard NEWZUM received on certificate from Chester Monthly Meeting.
Their move was completed by 1802, when by a deed dated 1 May 1802, Richard NUZUM and wife, of Tygart's Valley, Monongalia Co., Virginia, transferred ownership of their farm at Nether Providence, Pennsylvania for $1,498.
Richard paid taxes in Monongalia Co., Virginia in 1801-1802 and 1804-1805 [Monongalia County, (West) Virginia: Records of the District, Superior, and County Courts, Vol. 1: 1776-1799, compiled by Melba Pender Zinn, Heritage Books, Inc.; Monongalia County, (West) Virginia: Records of the District, Superior, and County Courts, Vol. 2: 1800-1803, compiled by Melba Pender Zinn, Heritage Books, Inc.].
Apparently, all of Richard's children and their families moved to "Nuzum's Mills" with him, with the exception of his daughter Elizabeth, who had married Joseph DICKINSON and settled in Harrison Co. thirty miles away. However, a year or so later, his son Thomas and Thomas's family returned to Philadelphia.
Somehow, Richard conveyed to each grandson named Richard 50 acres of the original 1000 acre grant.
Between 1800 and 1815 the Hartleys, Watsons, and the Vincents arrived in this region.
In 1814, Richard conveyed and dedicated several acres of his grant for use as a graveyard, with the understanding that no one should ever be refused burial in it. Later a church building was erected on this site, and as of 1950 was still used by the Dunkards. Many Nuzums of the early generations were buried in this graveyard.
Richard continued to draw the 60 guineas a year on the lease in Ireland until the War of 1812 shut it off. In 1815 Gardiner LEONARD, his Irish son-in-law, went to Ireland to try to renew rentals; but upon his return he reported to his father-in-law that the contract had expired by limitation, according to the law of Great Britain, which report was accepted.
Richard and his family were enumerated at "Nuzum's Mills" (East District, Monongalia Co., Virginia) in the 1820 U.S. Census [p. 78].
Slaveowners
One tragic aspect of the Nuzum family move to Virginia, a slave state, is that some Nuzum family members became slave owners. We currently have no knowledge of whether Richard himself was a slave owner, but at least two of Richard's sons, James and George, were slave owners. We currently do not know whether any other of Richard's children owned slaves.
At this time it is difficult to understand why the Nuzum family, which was persecuted in France for being Protestants, and who adopted the Pacifism of the Quakers in Pennsylvania, should resort to using slave labor in Virginia.
Richard and Hannah had nine known children:
Children (born at Nether Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania [Charles E. Haggerty, The Nuzum Family History Revised, David G. Nuzum, Publisher, Keyser, West Virginia, p. 3-5, 1983]); surname Nuzum:
1. John, born on 4 May 1761.
2. Elizabeth, born on 18 Feb. 1763 at Chester.
3. Thomas, born on 8 Mar. 1765.
4. James, born on 10 Oct. 1767 in Upper Providence.
5. Hannah, born circa 1770 [Quaker Records dated 25 Sept. 1777].
6. William, born on 9 Jan. 1772.
7. George, born on 7 Feb. 1774.
8. Sarah, born on 1 June 1777.
9. Phoebe, born on 17 Nov. 1779; she married her first cousin John Kirk.
Biography by Tom Brocher, last updated on 28 August 2022.
BLACKSMITH; IRISH IMMIGRANT OF FRENCH HUGUENOT DESCENT
Biography by Tom Brocher, Updated 20 August 2022.
Richard was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth NUZUM, natives of Ireland.
Richard was born in Co. Wexford, Ireland on 22 November 1734; died at Colfax, Marion Co., Virginia on 22 July 1822; was buried there [Joseph Dickinson Bible; Quaker Records, Exeter Family Records, Berks Co., Pennsylvania].
As a young man, Richard removed from Ireland to Nether Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, with his parents in 1752. Quaker and census records, tax lists, probate records, and family histories help us track his frequent moves prior to 1800 between Berks, Chester, and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania.
Marriage and Family Life in Pennsylvania
Richard married Hannah WORRALL at Delaware, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania in 1760 (Quaker Yearly Meeting Records, Philadelphia).
Richard was not a Quaker when married, for Hannah was complained of for marrying a person of another society. Then, 25 September 1761, acknowledgement received from Hannah, and she is disowned "for marrying one of another society."
"Richard's marriage to Hannah united him with two great Quaker families (Taylor and Worrall), which had received their lands directly from William Penn's proprietors," from Almead's History of Delaware County (Pennsylvania).
In November 1762, Richard witnessed a will for Richard Briggs, cordtwiner, at Upper Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania.
Hannah's brother, Peter, of Ridley, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, bequeathed part of his estate to her and her siblings in a will dated July 10, 1767. Proved on August 5, 1767.
Farmer at Robeson, Berks County, Pennsylvania by 1768
In 1768, Richard, blacksmith, appears on the tax rolls for Robeson, Berks Co., Pennsylvania, having 30 acres of cleared land, 70 acres of uncleared land, 9 acres of corn, 2 horses, and 2 sheep, paying a tax of 5 pound sterling [Pennsylvania Tax and Exoneration, 1768-1801].
According to the Genealogy of the Sharpless Family in America: Descended from John and Jane Sharples, settlers near Chester, Pennsylvania, 1682, page 368, 1882, Richard Nuzum and his family settled in or near Robeson, Berks Co., Pennsylvania for several years at about this time (1768-1789), moving to Delaware Co., Pennsylvania in 1790.
In the Chester Monthly Meeting in 1776, Hannah, formerly Worral, daughter of John, late of Middletown, deceased, wishes to condemn marrying out of unity to this meeting. There is a letter from the Robeson Monthly Meeting as to her good conduct; then on January 27, 1777 she is granted a certificate to Exeter Monthly Meeting. At Exeter Monthly Meeting on April 30, 1777, Hannah is reinstated on certificate from the Chester Monthly Meeting, dated February 24, 1777.
Becomes a Quaker in 1777
Only on 25 September 1777, seventeen years after his marriage, did Richard, wife and children, John, Elizabeth, James, Hannah, William, George, and Sarah, all except his son Thomas and family, who were Episcopalians, became Quakers by their request.
Their daughter, Elizabeth married Joseph Dickinson at the Robeson Monthly Meeting on May 10, 1782.
Monthly Meetings attended by the Nuzums were at Exeter, Chester, and Robeson; the family transferring back and forth for reasons not apparent to us today. With the exception of his daughter Elizabeth, all Richard's children were dismissed (some several times) for acting not according to discipline or for marrying one of another society. Also, his son John was dismissed for becoming a member of a company of militia just after the Revolution. For many years Quaker marriages were not legal, and the children were not considered to be legitimate, which condition was later remedied. But due to this, it is little wonder that the young people chose to be married out of Meeting, by a minister, so as to have a legal marriage and so legitimate children. This would be especially true of the Nuzums, being new in Quaker ways, and with their independent ideas [Charles E. Haggerty, The Nuzum Family History Revised, David G. Nuzum, Publisher, Keyser, West Virginia, p. xxiii, 1983].
Richard is mentioned in his father's will, dated on 7 April 1789 at Nether Providence. But soon the family moved their Quaker membership to Chester, Pennsylvania; on 28 June 1790, Richard, wife Hannah, and children Sarah and Phoebe received on certificate from Robeson Monthly Meeting, dated 25 May 1790.
Richard and his family were enumerated at Lower Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, in the 1790 US Census. His household at the time contained 5 persons.
Richard became an important person among the Quakers, and 30 May 1791 was appointed overseer at Chester; that being equivalent to deacon, etc., in other churches. He kept this position until 30 April 1798, and then in April 1799 was appointed to the committee to care for black people.
Move to Nether Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania in 1791
Richard inherited the majority of his father's estate and farm in Nether Providence in 1791. It seems likely that he moved his family to Nether Providence at that time.
The enumeration of Richard, blacksmith, at Nether Providence in 1793, helps to fix his location there at that time [Pennsylvania Septennial Census, 1779-1863].
Richard is on the 1798 tax roll for Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, for a 2-story log house measuring 20' by 25' with 9 rooms and 70 candlelights [United States Direct Tax of 1792: Tax Lists for the State of Pennsylvania. Delaware Co.]. This house was likely the one at Nether Providence that he and Hannah sold a few years later.
Richard and his family were enumerated at Delaware Co., Pennsylvania in the 1800 U.S. Census [10201-02001-00], again, likely at Nether Providence.
Move to "Nuzum's Mill", Virginia about 1800
About 1799, Richard fearing lack of fuel for his smith because of deforestation due to the rapid growth in population in eastern Pennsylvania, sent several of his sons to Virginia to select a well-forested section on which they might settle. These sons selected a site on the Tygart's Valley River, near what is now Hammond, Marion Co., West Virginia, through which ran several runs and creeks, and covered with useful timber of many kinds. Richard obtained a grant for 1000 acres of this virgin forest land, about 1 ¼ square miles. This area was first called "Nuzum's Mill" for the gristmill that Richard and his sons built there in 1802 and 1803. Richard is thought to have died and been buried a short distance up the river from the mill at Colfax.
When Richard and his family arrived at their new home, it was certainly an unsettled country. However, it was not an unpopulated country. Numerous Native American tribes lived throughout the upper Ohio Valley in western Virginia, including the Shawnee, Mingo, Wyandot, and Lenape/Delaware tribes [Pricketts Fort Memorial Foundation website]. Today we recognize and acknowledge that these tribes were the original guardians and stewards of the land and wildlife of this region for many generations prior to the arrival of European/American settlers.
Being an unsettled place in their eyes, however, the Nuzum family built their homes, cleared away the forest so as to plant their crops, built mills to grind their grain for food and to saw trees for lumber; and made various spinning and weaving machines in order to make their clothing. Son John built the grist mill for which the town of Nuzum's Mill was named, son William built the wood-framed water powered saw mill [Hardesty, West Virginia Counties, Vol. 2, pages 76-77].
Richard and his family started their move in 1800. Redstone, now Brownsville, Pennsylvania, was the site of the Quaker Monthly Meeting for Virginia; so on 29 September 1800 Richard and wife Hannah were granted certificate to the Redstone Monthly Meeting on 6 March 1801, Richard NEWZUM received on certificate from Chester Monthly Meeting.
Their move was completed by 1802, when by a deed dated 1 May 1802, Richard NUZUM and wife, of Tygart's Valley, Monongalia Co., Virginia, transferred ownership of their farm at Nether Providence, Pennsylvania for $1,498.
Richard paid taxes in Monongalia Co., Virginia in 1801-1802 and 1804-1805 [Monongalia County, (West) Virginia: Records of the District, Superior, and County Courts, Vol. 1: 1776-1799, compiled by Melba Pender Zinn, Heritage Books, Inc.; Monongalia County, (West) Virginia: Records of the District, Superior, and County Courts, Vol. 2: 1800-1803, compiled by Melba Pender Zinn, Heritage Books, Inc.].
Apparently, all of Richard's children and their families moved to "Nuzum's Mills" with him, with the exception of his daughter Elizabeth, who had married Joseph DICKINSON and settled in Harrison Co. thirty miles away. However, a year or so later, his son Thomas and Thomas's family returned to Philadelphia.
Somehow, Richard conveyed to each grandson named Richard 50 acres of the original 1000 acre grant.
Between 1800 and 1815 the Hartleys, Watsons, and the Vincents arrived in this region.
In 1814, Richard conveyed and dedicated several acres of his grant for use as a graveyard, with the understanding that no one should ever be refused burial in it. Later a church building was erected on this site, and as of 1950 was still used by the Dunkards. Many Nuzums of the early generations were buried in this graveyard.
Richard continued to draw the 60 guineas a year on the lease in Ireland until the War of 1812 shut it off. In 1815 Gardiner LEONARD, his Irish son-in-law, went to Ireland to try to renew rentals; but upon his return he reported to his father-in-law that the contract had expired by limitation, according to the law of Great Britain, which report was accepted.
Richard and his family were enumerated at "Nuzum's Mills" (East District, Monongalia Co., Virginia) in the 1820 U.S. Census [p. 78].
Slaveowners
One tragic aspect of the Nuzum family move to Virginia, a slave state, is that some Nuzum family members became slave owners. We currently have no knowledge of whether Richard himself was a slave owner, but at least two of Richard's sons, James and George, were slave owners. We currently do not know whether any other of Richard's children owned slaves.
At this time it is difficult to understand why the Nuzum family, which was persecuted in France for being Protestants, and who adopted the Pacifism of the Quakers in Pennsylvania, should resort to using slave labor in Virginia.
Richard and Hannah had nine known children:
Children (born at Nether Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania [Charles E. Haggerty, The Nuzum Family History Revised, David G. Nuzum, Publisher, Keyser, West Virginia, p. 3-5, 1983]); surname Nuzum:
1. John, born on 4 May 1761.
2. Elizabeth, born on 18 Feb. 1763 at Chester.
3. Thomas, born on 8 Mar. 1765.
4. James, born on 10 Oct. 1767 in Upper Providence.
5. Hannah, born circa 1770 [Quaker Records dated 25 Sept. 1777].
6. William, born on 9 Jan. 1772.
7. George, born on 7 Feb. 1774.
8. Sarah, born on 1 June 1777.
9. Phoebe, born on 17 Nov. 1779; she married her first cousin John Kirk.
Biography by Tom Brocher, last updated on 28 August 2022.
Biography by Tom Brocher, Updated 20 August 2022.
Richard was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth NUZUM, natives of Ireland.
Richard was born in Co. Wexford, Ireland on 22 November 1734; died at Colfax, Marion Co., Virginia on 22 July 1822; was buried there [Joseph Dickinson Bible; Quaker Records, Exeter Family Records, Berks Co., Pennsylvania].
As a young man, Richard removed from Ireland to Nether Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, with his parents in 1752. Quaker and census records, tax lists, probate records, and family histories help us track his frequent moves prior to 1800 between Berks, Chester, and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania.
Marriage and Family Life in Pennsylvania
Richard married Hannah WORRALL at Delaware, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania in 1760 (Quaker Yearly Meeting Records, Philadelphia).
Richard was not a Quaker when married, for Hannah was complained of for marrying a person of another society. Then, 25 September 1761, acknowledgement received from Hannah, and she is disowned "for marrying one of another society."
"Richard's marriage to Hannah united him with two great Quaker families (Taylor and Worrall), which had received their lands directly from William Penn's proprietors," from Almead's History of Delaware County (Pennsylvania).
In November 1762, Richard witnessed a will for Richard Briggs, cordtwiner, at Upper Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania.
Hannah's brother, Peter, of Ridley, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, bequeathed part of his estate to her and her siblings in a will dated July 10, 1767. Proved on August 5, 1767.
Farmer at Robeson, Berks County, Pennsylvania by 1768
In 1768, Richard, blacksmith, appears on the tax rolls for Robeson, Berks Co., Pennsylvania, having 30 acres of cleared land, 70 acres of uncleared land, 9 acres of corn, 2 horses, and 2 sheep, paying a tax of 5 pound sterling [Pennsylvania Tax and Exoneration, 1768-1801].
According to the Genealogy of the Sharpless Family in America: Descended from John and Jane Sharples, settlers near Chester, Pennsylvania, 1682, page 368, 1882, Richard Nuzum and his family settled in or near Robeson, Berks Co., Pennsylvania for several years at about this time (1768-1789), moving to Delaware Co., Pennsylvania in 1790.
In the Chester Monthly Meeting in 1776, Hannah, formerly Worral, daughter of John, late of Middletown, deceased, wishes to condemn marrying out of unity to this meeting. There is a letter from the Robeson Monthly Meeting as to her good conduct; then on January 27, 1777 she is granted a certificate to Exeter Monthly Meeting. At Exeter Monthly Meeting on April 30, 1777, Hannah is reinstated on certificate from the Chester Monthly Meeting, dated February 24, 1777.
Becomes a Quaker in 1777
Only on 25 September 1777, seventeen years after his marriage, did Richard, wife and children, John, Elizabeth, James, Hannah, William, George, and Sarah, all except his son Thomas and family, who were Episcopalians, became Quakers by their request.
Their daughter, Elizabeth married Joseph Dickinson at the Robeson Monthly Meeting on May 10, 1782.
Monthly Meetings attended by the Nuzums were at Exeter, Chester, and Robeson; the family transferring back and forth for reasons not apparent to us today. With the exception of his daughter Elizabeth, all Richard's children were dismissed (some several times) for acting not according to discipline or for marrying one of another society. Also, his son John was dismissed for becoming a member of a company of militia just after the Revolution. For many years Quaker marriages were not legal, and the children were not considered to be legitimate, which condition was later remedied. But due to this, it is little wonder that the young people chose to be married out of Meeting, by a minister, so as to have a legal marriage and so legitimate children. This would be especially true of the Nuzums, being new in Quaker ways, and with their independent ideas [Charles E. Haggerty, The Nuzum Family History Revised, David G. Nuzum, Publisher, Keyser, West Virginia, p. xxiii, 1983].
Richard is mentioned in his father's will, dated on 7 April 1789 at Nether Providence. But soon the family moved their Quaker membership to Chester, Pennsylvania; on 28 June 1790, Richard, wife Hannah, and children Sarah and Phoebe received on certificate from Robeson Monthly Meeting, dated 25 May 1790.
Richard and his family were enumerated at Lower Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, in the 1790 US Census. His household at the time contained 5 persons.
Richard became an important person among the Quakers, and 30 May 1791 was appointed overseer at Chester; that being equivalent to deacon, etc., in other churches. He kept this position until 30 April 1798, and then in April 1799 was appointed to the committee to care for black people.
Move to Nether Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania in 1791
Richard inherited the majority of his father's estate and farm in Nether Providence in 1791. It seems likely that he moved his family to Nether Providence at that time.
The enumeration of Richard, blacksmith, at Nether Providence in 1793, helps to fix his location there at that time [Pennsylvania Septennial Census, 1779-1863].
Richard is on the 1798 tax roll for Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, for a 2-story log house measuring 20' by 25' with 9 rooms and 70 candlelights [United States Direct Tax of 1792: Tax Lists for the State of Pennsylvania. Delaware Co.]. This house was likely the one at Nether Providence that he and Hannah sold a few years later.
Richard and his family were enumerated at Delaware Co., Pennsylvania in the 1800 U.S. Census [10201-02001-00], again, likely at Nether Providence.
Move to "Nuzum's Mill", Virginia about 1800
About 1799, Richard fearing lack of fuel for his smith because of deforestation due to the rapid growth in population in eastern Pennsylvania, sent several of his sons to Virginia to select a well-forested section on which they might settle. These sons selected a site on the Tygart's Valley River, near what is now Hammond, Marion Co., West Virginia, through which ran several runs and creeks, and covered with useful timber of many kinds. Richard obtained a grant for 1000 acres of this virgin forest land, about 1 ¼ square miles. This area was first called "Nuzum's Mill" for the gristmill that Richard and his sons built there in 1802 and 1803. Richard is thought to have died and been buried a short distance up the river from the mill at Colfax.
When Richard and his family arrived at their new home, it was certainly an unsettled country. However, it was not an unpopulated country. Numerous Native American tribes lived throughout the upper Ohio Valley in western Virginia, including the Shawnee, Mingo, Wyandot, and Lenape/Delaware tribes [Pricketts Fort Memorial Foundation website]. Today we recognize and acknowledge that these tribes were the original guardians and stewards of the land and wildlife of this region for many generations prior to the arrival of European/American settlers.
Being an unsettled place in their eyes, however, the Nuzum family built their homes, cleared away the forest so as to plant their crops, built mills to grind their grain for food and to saw trees for lumber; and made various spinning and weaving machines in order to make their clothing. Son John built the grist mill for which the town of Nuzum's Mill was named, son William built the wood-framed water powered saw mill [Hardesty, West Virginia Counties, Vol. 2, pages 76-77].
Richard and his family started their move in 1800. Redstone, now Brownsville, Pennsylvania, was the site of the Quaker Monthly Meeting for Virginia; so on 29 September 1800 Richard and wife Hannah were granted certificate to the Redstone Monthly Meeting on 6 March 1801, Richard NEWZUM received on certificate from Chester Monthly Meeting.
Their move was completed by 1802, when by a deed dated 1 May 1802, Richard NUZUM and wife, of Tygart's Valley, Monongalia Co., Virginia, transferred ownership of their farm at Nether Providence, Pennsylvania for $1,498.
Richard paid taxes in Monongalia Co., Virginia in 1801-1802 and 1804-1805 [Monongalia County, (West) Virginia: Records of the District, Superior, and County Courts, Vol. 1: 1776-1799, compiled by Melba Pender Zinn, Heritage Books, Inc.; Monongalia County, (West) Virginia: Records of the District, Superior, and County Courts, Vol. 2: 1800-1803, compiled by Melba Pender Zinn, Heritage Books, Inc.].
Apparently, all of Richard's children and their families moved to "Nuzum's Mills" with him, with the exception of his daughter Elizabeth, who had married Joseph DICKINSON and settled in Harrison Co. thirty miles away. However, a year or so later, his son Thomas and Thomas's family returned to Philadelphia.
Somehow, Richard conveyed to each grandson named Richard 50 acres of the original 1000 acre grant.
Between 1800 and 1815 the Hartleys, Watsons, and the Vincents arrived in this region.
In 1814, Richard conveyed and dedicated several acres of his grant for use as a graveyard, with the understanding that no one should ever be refused burial in it. Later a church building was erected on this site, and as of 1950 was still used by the Dunkards. Many Nuzums of the early generations were buried in this graveyard.
Richard continued to draw the 60 guineas a year on the lease in Ireland until the War of 1812 shut it off. In 1815 Gardiner LEONARD, his Irish son-in-law, went to Ireland to try to renew rentals; but upon his return he reported to his father-in-law that the contract had expired by limitation, according to the law of Great Britain, which report was accepted.
Richard and his family were enumerated at "Nuzum's Mills" (East District, Monongalia Co., Virginia) in the 1820 U.S. Census [p. 78].
Slaveowners
One tragic aspect of the Nuzum family move to Virginia, a slave state, is that some Nuzum family members became slave owners. We currently have no knowledge of whether Richard himself was a slave owner, but at least two of Richard's sons, James and George, were slave owners. We currently do not know whether any other of Richard's children owned slaves.
At this time it is difficult to understand why the Nuzum family, which was persecuted in France for being Protestants, and who adopted the Pacifism of the Quakers in Pennsylvania, should resort to using slave labor in Virginia.
Richard and Hannah had nine known children:
Children (born at Nether Providence, Delaware Co., Pennsylvania [Charles E. Haggerty, The Nuzum Family History Revised, David G. Nuzum, Publisher, Keyser, West Virginia, p. 3-5, 1983]); surname Nuzum:
1. John, born on 4 May 1761.
2. Elizabeth, born on 18 Feb. 1763 at Chester.
3. Thomas, born on 8 Mar. 1765.
4. James, born on 10 Oct. 1767 in Upper Providence.
5. Hannah, born circa 1770 [Quaker Records dated 25 Sept. 1777].
6. William, born on 9 Jan. 1772.
7. George, born on 7 Feb. 1774.
8. Sarah, born on 1 June 1777.
9. Phoebe, born on 17 Nov. 1779; she married her first cousin John Kirk.
Biography by Tom Brocher, last updated on 28 August 2022.
