To any interested Woolsey researcher: WOOLSEYS SHOW UP IN THE DARNDEST PLACES. Who would have "thunk it"? Woolseys in New Jersey since abt 1700? The Woolseys in New Jersey fall into four distinct categories. More of that later. I am just now completing entry of the New Jersey Census Records for 1830 (earliest) through 1870 for Woolseys. This has taken almost a week to gather the information and then to type it in. The hardest part is trying to connect each individual to a specific family. I do a lot of searching on the computer through my data base for that. We have seven heads of families in New Jersey in 1830. 1. East Windsor Twp, Middlesex Co, NJ. Gilbert & Simeon Woolsey. They have no marks after their names so they are hard to determine. 2. Trenton City, Hunterdon Co., NJ. Cato Woolsey (no marks), George and Ephraim Woolsey. (They are the only ones I have been able to positively identify in 1830.) 3. Sandyston Twp, Sussex Co., NJ. Joseph Woolsey and Stephen Woolsey. In 1840 we have nine heads of families in four counties. As mentioned above the Woolseys fall into four categories: 1. Those descended from George (the Immigrant) and Rebecca (Cornell) Woolsey through their son George II & Hannah Van Zandt, whose son George III (md Hannah Smith) migrated to NJ bet 1700-1712. 2. Those descended from George (the Immigrant) and Rebecca (Cornell) Woolsey through their son Thomas Woolsey and Ruth Bayles, whose son William md Dorcas Williamson, whose son William Woolse md Sarah Lewis and whose son William Woolsey md Abigail Northrup and whose son William Woolsey md Lucinda Lewis. This William Woolsey and Lucinda Lewis and a large family, all born in and around Ulster, New York, and several of the boys migrated to New Jersey, where they were Ferry boat Masters, captains of sloops, and one was Superintendent of NJ Ferries and another was "Superintendent" but I don't know of what. 3. Miscellaneous Woolseys who were born in NY, NJ, CT, England, Ireland and a few other places. 4. A distinct group of Woolseys of Afro-American heritage. We have record of them being in NJ quite early. One woman, Hagar Woolsey, is 100 years old in 1860, born 1760 in NJ. The Woolseys who descend from GeorgeIII owned slaves in the 1700's in NJ. That may be where some got their names. Ephraim Woolsey (md Nancy [Ann] Johnson) (s/o Jeremiah & Mary Hart, s/o George Woolsey & Hannah Smith) left a will in which he directed his two sons, Ephraim and George, to use some of the assests of the estate to "provide for Fortune and Jane, two aged persons of colour, who are in my family". Is it possible that Fortune and Jane, thus fondly cared for by their former master, were the progenitors of the Black Woolsey families? Just speculation, at this point, but, interesting. Sincerely, Wilford W. Whitaker