As described in the Chapter 6 Author's introduction, Charles R. Stark (hereafter referred to as CRS) presented a genealogical order of the descendants of Aaron (3rd) that may erroneously have included some of the grandchildren of Aaron (3rd) and Margaret Wells as their children. To repeat from Chapter 6, the children CRS listed (with questionable ones in italics) were:¹

1. Aaron, born about 1709 and died January 21, 1772, who married Elizabeth Young

2. John Stark, born about 1730, died 1825, who married Mary Dilla (died in 1825)

3. Amos, born before 1729, died 1767, who married first, Unknown, and married second, Mrs. Hannah (Goble) Tompkins (born in 1729, died February 7, 1799)

4. Isaac, who married Elizabeth Reed.

5. Mary, who married a Soloman/Salmon

6. Margaret, died October 1, 1820, at the age of 80 years, who married Peter Solomon/Salmon (born November 25, 1740, died February 19, 1825 at age of 84 years, 2 months, 25 days)

7. Hannah, who married Abraham Fulcher

Mary Stark and Hannah Stark may well have been children of Aaron Stark (3rd) but because CRS is the only source of this information this cannot be stated with certainty. For the purposes of this discussion they will be presented as daughters of Aaron Stark (3rd).

The purpose of this article will be to examine several genealogical discrepancies in the CRS publication involving the other children. The following section will argue that some of these children should be regarded as questionable ones of Aaron Stark (3rd).

[Table of Contents] [Chapter 6: Aaron Stark (3rd) & Margaret Wells] [Top of Page]

That Aaron Stark [the fourth] was the son of Aaron Stark [the third] is not disputed, and neither are the dates of his birth and death.² Because CRS reported Margaret Stark “died October 1, 1820 at the age of 80 years” she may have been born in 1740.¹ If Aaron [the fourth] was the oldest child and Margaret Stark was the youngest, then CRS is showing that Margaret Wells gave birth to children over a span of about 32 years. But if Margaret Wells was born in 1682, as reported by some researchers, she would have been fifty-eight years old in 1740 – well past the age for giving birth to children. This year of birth for Margaret Wells may not be correct, however; if we suppose she was sixteen years of age in 1707, the latest year in which she could have married Aaron [the third], then she would have been only 49 years of age in 1740 – not an impossible age to give birth to a child but less likely than if she had been even younger. If Margaret Wells was older than sixteen in 1707, then giving birth to a child in 1740 becomes ever more unlikely for each year added beyond the age of sixteen in 1707.

On the basis of this analysis, the probability that Margaret Wells was the mother of Margaret Stark becomes less likely. Aaron Stark [the third] may have married a second woman, for the last living record for Margaret Wells was in 1725, but if there was a second marriage no record of it has been found.³ Based on the above rationale, one must conclude that Margaret Wells most likely did not give birth to a daughter in 1740, which in turn suggests that Margaret Stark was most likely the daughter of Aaron Stark [the fourth].

[Table of Contents] [Chapter 6: Aaron Stark (3rd) & Margaret Wells] [Top of Page]

The day or year of birth of Amos Stark is not known with certainty. He married Hannah (Goble) Tompkins after April 1, 1761, most likely in Morris County, New Jersey. This was Hannah's second marriage. She was first married to Reverend

Ichabod Tompkins on Dec. 24, 1746. Reverend Tompkins died on January 3, 1761, and on April 1 of that same year Hannah gave birth to Ichabod Tompkins (Junior).⁴ Hannah most likely married Amos Stark after the birth of Ichabod (Junior) and before January 1767.

Amos Stark prepared and signed his Last Will and Testament on August 26, 1767, in Morristown, New Jersey. On September 18, 1767, the Will was proved, suggesting Amos was deceased before that date. The Will named the living children of Amos, but they were probably not children of Hannah. The following is an abstract of this Will:⁵

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were children from an earlier marriage and not children of Hannah. Hannah, reported to be the wife of Amos, was pregnant with a child, most likely a son named Amos Stark (Junior), who was born on October 31, 1767. Amos (Senior) named his brother, Aaron Stark [the fourth], as one of the executors of the Will. Were Hannah Stark and Hannah (Goble) Tompkins the same person?

The following from the publication entitled “Rockaway Records of Morris County, New Jersey Families” certainly suggests that Hannah (Goble) Tompkins married Amos Stark:⁴

"Ichabod TOMPKINS was the second minister of the Baptist Church at Morristown, from Nov. 6, 1759, to Jan. 3, 1761, at which date he died. He was succeeded by the Rev. John WALTON, June 17, 1767. He [Ichabod Tompkins] married Hannah GOBLE Dec. 24, 1746. She married (2) Amos Stark, and died Feb. 7, 1797, aged 70 years.”

Can a time frame be determined for the birth of Amos Stark? His son named Isaac Stark is known with certainty to have been born between 1756 and 1760. The 1800 census reported Isaac was in the twenty-six through forty-four age group, which suggests that he was born after 1755. The Will reports Isaac was living in 1767, so he was most certainly born before August of 1767. However, the Revolutionary War pension application of Henry Clark reports Isaac Stark was among a group of men who enlisted for three years at Mendham in January 1776. In order to enlist, Isaac would have to have been sixteen years of age or older, which suggests that he was born no later than 1760. If these reports are correct, then Isaac was born between 1755 and 1760 and was not a son of Hannah (Goble) Tompkins. Abraham Stark was most likely older, for he was reported as forty-five or older in the 1800 census. No further records have been found for Jacob Stark, most likely the youngest of the children. Suppose Abraham was born in 1755. Could the latest year of birth of Amos be determined?

If Amos was twenty-one when Abraham was born, he would have been born in 1734 and could have been a son of either Aaron Stark [the third] or Aaron Stark [the fourth]. Hannah’s year of birth, according to the Rockaway Records, was 1727. When Amos Stark married Hannah (Goble) Tompkins, he had three children, perhaps all of them underage when the Will was made; Hannah brought eight Tompkins children to the marriage.⁴ Hannah was forty years of age when she gave birth to Amos Stark (Junior) on October 31, 1767. If Hannah was looking after the interest of her children, I believe she most likely married a man of means, probably one who was well established in the community – that is, someone as old as or older than herself. Therefore, Amos was probably born before 1727.

If the birth of Amos (Senior) occurred between 1710 and 1727, then his parents were most likely Aaron Stark [the third] and Margaret Wells, as reported in the CRS text. Aaron Stark [the fourth] most likely did have a son named Amos, listed in the CRS text as the Colonel Amos Stark born on March 23, 1751. Circumstances of the marriage to Hannah (Goble) Tompkins suggest that Amos Stark (Senior) was most likely born no later than 1727.

On page 15 of the CRS publication, Amos Stark [ID#39] was reported to have been the son of Aaron Stark and Margaret Wells. CRS further states:⁶

1. Amos [ID#39] was born before 1729 and died in 1767

2. Amos [ID#39] was married first to an unknown wife and second to Mrs. Hannah (Goble) Tompkins (born in 1729 and died February 7, 1799)

3. Children of Amos and Hannah were Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Amos; this last child born on October 31, 1767

4. CRS added these comments: "He is reported to have lived at one time at the head of Seneca Lake. He was twice married, his second wife being the widow Tompkins whose maiden name was Goble." So far so good, until CRS wrote Amos may have lived near Seneca Lake, New York. From the above analysis, Amos Stark who married Hannah Goble could not have lived at the head of Seneca Lake. “

CRS has misstated the children of Amos [ID#39] and Hannah, for the above analysis has demonstrated that Amos Stark (Junior) was most likely their only child. The other three were children of the first wife of Amos Stark (Senior).

On page 15 of the CRS publication, Aaron Stark [ID#37] was reported to have had a son named Amos [ID#99]. On page 26, the following was said about Amos Stark [ID#99]:⁶

1. There was no birth are death information for Amos [ID#99]

2. Amos [ID#99] married Hannah Goble (born in 1729, and died February 7, 1799)

3. Children were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

4. CRS added these comments: “Amos Stark [Amos2 Stark] was a resident of Morristown, N. J. His will, dated Aug. 6, was probated Sept. 18, 1767, in that town.”

Undoubtedly, Amos [ID#39] and Amos [ID#99] were the same person. According to the above analysis, Amos Stark [ID#39] was genealogically correct, but he most certainly did not live at the head of Seneca Lake, New York. Replacing the comments on page 15 with those on page 26 would be appropriate, for we can say with certainty he lived and died in Morristown, New Jersey. Aaron Stark [ID#37] did have a son named Amos, most likely the Colonel Amos Stark [ID#284] reported on page 26.

Amos Stark (Senior) married second, Hannah (Goble) Tompkins, and was most likely the son of Aaron Stark [the third] and Margaret Wells. He was probably born between the years 1710 and 1727. From his marriage to his unknown first wife, he had sons named Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – their order of birth most likely the same as their order in the Will. He married Hannah (Goble) Tompkins after April 1761 and they had one son, named Amos Stark (Junior), who was born on October 31, 1767. Hannah died on February 7, 1797, as reported in the New Jersey Bills of Mortality.

[Table of Contents] [Chapter 6: Aaron Stark (3rd) & Margaret Wells] [Top of Page]

The Isaac Stark who married Elizabeth Reed was most likely born in New Jersey between 1756 and 1760. He was the son of Amos Stark (Senior) and his first wife, her name unknown. A Revolutionary War Veteran, Isaac enlisted for three years in January 1776 in Captain Noadiah Wade’s company, where he served with Corporal Jonathan Stark. Before 1785, he most likely married Elizabeth Reed in Morris County, New Jersey.

Their first child, Alexander, was born between 1785 and 1790. After the birth of their son, George, in New Jersey in 1795, but before the 1800 census year, the family moved to Sempronius, Cayuga County, New York, which had been formed from Onondaga County on March 8, 1799. In 1809, Isaac was the first settler to arrive at a place called Harpenden’s Corners, which later became the village of Dundee; it was located in Seneca County, which had been formed from part of Cayuga County in 1804.

Isaac was reported on the 1810 census to be living in Junius, Seneca County, New York; he owned a farm of 200 acres south of Seneca Street. He was so little impressed with the value of his land that he offered his entire tract to John Woodruff for one span of gray horses, which was declined. Isaac was reported still living in Junius, Seneca County, in 1820 and died at that place in 1824.

Isaac and Elizabeth had children as follows: Alexander Stark, born between 1785 and 1790; Maria Stark, born between 1790 and 1800, Catherine Stark, born between 1790 and 1800; George Stark, born in New Jersey in 1795; Eliza Stark, born between 1795 and 1800; Reed Stark, born in 1802; Isaac Stark (Junior), born in 1803; and Amy Stark, born in 1811. This is the correct genealogy for the Isaac Stark (Senior) who married Elizabeth Reed. However, the CRS publication shows that this Isaac Stark was the son of Aaron Stark [the third] and Margaret Wells.

On page 8, CRS states that Isaac Stark [ID#40] was the son of Aaron Stark [ID#8] and his spouse, Margaret Wells. If Isaac Stark [ID#40] was the son of this couple, he would have most likely been born no later than 1736, which conflicts with the above-stated birth of Isaac between 1756 and 1760. Could Aaron [ID#8] and Margaret have had a son named Isaac born between 1710 and 1736?

There is no evidence of such a birth in the New London County, Connecticut, records, and neither is there such a date of birth in the New Jersey records. The earliest known reference to the name Isaac Stark in Morris County, New Jersey, comes in the Will of Amos Stark (Senior), probated on September 18, 1767, which states that Isaac Stark was his son.⁵ The Isaac Stark mentioned in this Will was most likely Isaac Stark [ID#40] –  misplaced in the genealogical order in the CRS text. Isaac Stark [ID#40] should have been shown as a son of Amos Stark [ID#39].

There is more information to support this correction: CRS states on page 15 that Amos Stark [ID#39] had a son named Isaac Stark [ID#110]. The entries for Isaac Stark [ID#110] on page 27 state that he was born in 1803 and had a son named Aaron Stark [ID#301] born in February 1834. As has been demonstrated earlier, the Will of Amos Stark [ID#39] was probated in September 1767, and we should assume that he was deceased before the year 1803. Therefore, the placement of Isaac Stark [ID#110] in the genealogical order is questionable and the entries on pages 8, 15, and 27 for the name Isaac Stark must be examined for inaccuracies.

On pages 15 and 16, CRS states that Isaac Stark [ID#40] married Elizabeth Reed. They had children as follows: Alexander [ID#113]; George [ID#114]; Reed [ID#115]; Aaron [ID#116] born May 5, 1804; Maria [ID#117]; Catherine [ID#118]; Eliza [ID#119]; and Amy [ID#120]. On page 28, CRS has the following entries:

1. Alexander [ID#113], who had a son named Charles

2. Reed [ID#115], who had children named Isaac [ID#308]; Horace, [ID#309]; and George [ID#310]

3. Aaron [ID#116], was born May 5, 1804, and died in January 1864; he married Mary Hunt, and their children were J. H. Stark [ID#311], born on February 19, 1830, and William Stark [ID#312], born on February 18, 1834 (CRS had these additional comments for Aaron; “Aaron Stark married Mary Hunt, who was born in Junius, N. Y., June 13, 1805. He died in January, 1864, and is buried at Oxford, Erie County, Ohio.”)

If Isaac was a son of Aaron Stark [ID#8] and Margaret Wells, and assuming he was born before 1736, he would have been quite old to have had a son named Aaron born in 1804 – assuming he was this Isaac [ID#40]. Was there an Aaron Stark born in 1804 who married Mary Hunt? Research has confirmed the CRS data presented for Aaron Stark [ID#116] is accurate and additional research has suggested links to Isaac Stark and Elizabeth Reed.⁷ After the above two references to Isaac Stark in Morris County, New Jersey, the name disappears from the records in that place.

Although not conclusive and based only on the above analysis, the argument is persuasive that Isaac Stark [ID#40] reported in the CRS text was not a son of Aaron Stark and Margaret Wells. Isaac Stark [ID#40] was most likely the same Isaac Stark mentioned in the September 18, 1767, Will of Amos Stark (Senior) – misplaced in the genealogical order in the CRS publication. Furthermore, Isaac Stark [ID#110] was either misplaced or did not exist.

[Table of Contents] [Chapter 6: Aaron Stark (3rd) & Margaret Wells] [Top of Page]

On page 15, CRS shows that John Stark [ID#38] was the son of Aaron Stark [ID#8] and Margaret Wells. On page 15, CRS has the following entries:

1. John Stark [ID#38], who was born about 1730 and died in 1825

2. John Stark {ID#38], who married Mary Dilla (who died in 1825)

3. John and Mary had children as follows: Reuben Stark [ID#102]; John Stark [ID#103]; Aaron Stark [ID#104]; Susan Stark [ID#105], who married Matthew Luce; Mary Stark [ID#106], who married Robert Carlisle; Sarah Stark [ID#107], who married John Carr; and Anna Stark [ID#108], who married Isaac LeFavre (CRS had these additional Comments for John Stark: “John was a Revolutionary soldier and rose to the rank of colonel. He married mary Dilla, a woman noted for her great resolution and strength of will. He is supposed to have lived near the head of Seneca Lake, N. Y.”)

According to the family research of Rodney Fair, the family bible of John and Mary Stark records that John was born on April 1, 1733, and died on May 10, 1822. Mary Dilla was born on November 27, 1740, and died in 1825. They were married in May 1765, most likely in Morris County, New Jersey.⁸

Lieutenant Colonel John Stark did not live at the head of Seneca Lake as reported in the CRS publication. He is well documented as having been a resident of Morris County, New Jersey, from the time of the Revolutionary War to the time of his death on May 10, 1822.⁹ Therefore, CRS’s comments suggest that there is another mistake in the publication. Assuming the day of birth reported in the Rodney Fair Stark Family research is correct, John Stark could have been a son of either Aaron Stark [the third] or Aaron Stark [the fourth]. In view of the fact that 1733 would have been a borderline year for Margaret Wells to have given birth to a child, the John Stark who married Mary Dilla should be considered a son of Aaron Stark [the fourth].

[Table of Contents] [Chapter 6: Aaron Stark (3rd) & Margaret Wells] [Top of Page]

In this publication, Aaron Stark [the fourth] and Amos Stark (Senior) will be presented as sons of Aaron Stark [the third] and Margaret Wells. Mary Stark and Hannah Stark will be shown as daughters of Aaron Stark [the third]. Margaret Stark and Lieutenant Colonel John Stark will be presented as the daughter and son of Aaron Stark [the fourth], although there is a possibility John could have been a son of Aaron Stark [the third]. Isaac Stark will be presented as a son of Amos Stark (Senior).

 [Table of Contents] [Chapter 6: Aaron Stark (3rd) & Margaret Wells] [Top of Page]

1. Charles R. Stark, “The Aaron Stark Family, Seven Generations of the Descendants of Aaron Stark of Groton, Connecticut.” (Wright and Potter, Boston, Massachusetts; 1927). Page 2 identifies the children of Aaron Stark (Junior) – reported in this publication as Aaron [ID#2]. Page 8 identifies Aaron Stark [the third] as Aaron Stark [ID#8]. CRS reports the children were: Aaron [ID#37]; John [ID#38]; Amos [ID#39]; Isaac [ID#40]; Mary [ID#41]; Margaret [ID#42]; and Hannah [ID#43]. Pages 15 and 16 report the additional detail on births, marriages, and dates of death of these children. Return to Text

2. Letter dated August 17, 1970 to T. (Thomas) G. Allen from Rev. Clement Bloomfield, O. S. D., St. Mary’s Abbey, Morristown, New Jersey. Rev. Bloomfield describes a visit to Flanders, attempting to locate the Stark family burial ground. As his guide, he refers to an earlier cemetery survey by Russell Rankin in 1927. According to Rev. Bloomfield, this survey was filed in the New Jersey Special Collections of the Genealogical Society of New Jersey at Rutgers Library. Of importance to this discussion was a stone with “A. S.” and the inscription “In memory of Cap’t Aaron Starke who died Jan. 21st 1772 in the 64th year of his age.” Captain Aaron Stark was the son of Aaron Stark [the third] and Margaret and is referred to in this publication as Aaron Stark [the fourth]. If Aaron [the fourth]’s age when he died was correctly stated on his tombstone, then he was born before January 21, 1772, indicating Aaron [the third] and Margaret were married as late as early 1707. Return to Text

3. Groton, New London County, Connecticut; Second Book of Records. Church of Latter-day Saints of Jesus Christ Family History Library Film #4294, Book 2, pages 173 and 174. Return to Text

4. J. Percy Crayon, “Rockaway Records of Morris County, N. J. Families.” Rockaway, N.J., Rockaway Publishing Co., 1902. Return to Text

5. Morris County, New Jersey, Wills and Administrations, Libra (Book) 1, page 159. Return to Text

6. Charles R. Stark, “The Aaron Stark Family, Seven Generations.” Pages 15 and 26. Return to Text

7. 1850 Census, Groton, Erie County, Ohio; National Archives Roll M432_676, page 371; Enumerated November 28, 1850. Return to Text

8. Rodney Fair, Stark Family Research. E-mail address: <rmfair@msn.com>. Return to Text
9. “History of Morris County, New Jersey with Illustrations, and Biographical Sketches of Prominent Citizens and Pioneers, 1739-1882.” New York: W.W. Munsell & CO., 1882. Return to Text

[Table of Contents] [Chapter 6: Aaron Stark (3rd) & Margaret Wells] [Top of Page]