One of my 7th Great Grandmothers was born this week, 335 years ago. Philoreta Slater was born Feb. 23, 1690, in Piscataway NJ, to Edward and Elizabeth (Bonham) Slater. She was actually the second daughter with that name. Edward and Elizabeth had a daughter in 1685 and named her Philoreta. Sadly, she and another baby died in 1687. Our Philoreta was the next child born to the couple. I did find some interesting writings about Philoreta’s father Edward, who got in repeated trouble with the law for speaking out against the British, about 100 years before the Revolutionary War. I’ll save the details for his own story some day.
Philoreta spent her entire life in or near Piscataway. At the time of her birth, the town was only 24 years old (Her future Grandfather-in-law was one of the town founders, in 1666). At the age of 17, she married Benjamin Martin. He was five years older than her. Benjamin and Philoreta had 7 proven children. Five of them are found in the town’s birth registry transcription, and two others are found named in Benjamin’s 1755 will. The will also mentions their “homefarm on the Mill Brook in Woodbridge.” The town of Woodbridge is just a short distance from Piscataway.
Benjamin passed away in 1756/7, and Philoreta is named in the will. After that, I haven’t been able to locate any record of her. Online, the majority of family trees say she either died in 1757 (I think those people think her husband’s will is actually hers?)... or 1787 (I have yet to figure out how anyone came up with that year).
We may not know that many details of Philoreta’s life, but the important thing is that she is remembered.
Note: This relationship is up through our Rosan family line.
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