Bray Family of New Jersey and Ontario

I am researching the family of Thomas Bray and Elizabeth Bowlby of Warren County (formerly Sussex) New JErsey

The earliest known ancestor of the Brays of Monmouth County, New Jersey was Richard Bray who was born in England around 1636 who emigrated from England, probably about 1657.. He lived in the Province of Hampshire in New England which territory at that time included what is now Middletown, New Jersey.. Although Richard lived in what is now New Hampshire, his son, the Reverend John Bray, moved to Middletown, New Jersey and that's how the Bray's came to Monmouth County. Our great grandfather, John Bray, was the son of Thomas Bray, grandson of Reverend John Bray, and Elizabeth Bowlby.

Thomas Bray was born in 1752 in Monmouth County, New Jersey, the son of Andrew and Margaret Watson Bray, both of whom had been born in New Jersey. . In 1772, he married Elizabeth Bowlby. Thomas Bray, his father Andrew Sr, his brother John and John's son Andrew II all served in the Revolutionary War.

Thomas and Elizabeth came to Sussex County in 1780 after the birth of their third child, Annie, and settled at Frankford township, Sussex Co.(now Warren County) Their children, born between 1774 and 1797, were, Rachel ,Mahlon, Anna , Abraham, John ,, Mary , Richard, Emma Cordelia, and Jesse.

Sometime after 1800 and before 1804, Thomas and some of the family were reported as moving to Ontario, Canada, although both Thomas and Elizabeth returned to New Jersey before their deaths.
Their daughters, Rachel, Anna, and Mary, married and stayed in New Jersey. Abraham married Mary Haggerty in New Jersey in 1804 and moved to New York., Richard married Ann Tindall in New Jersey in 1802 and moved to first to Michigan and then to Logan, Ohio after 1830.
•Emma Cordelia married James Kitchen in New Jersey in 1807 and moved to Brant County Ontario. Emma died in 1874 in Ontario. 4
•Mahlon married Rachel Freeman in 1804 in Ancaster, Ontario. . Reportedly the Freeman family traveled with the Brays from New Jersey to Ontario. Mahlon and Rachel had ten children and settled in Trafalgar Township, Halton County. Mahlon died in 1848.
•Jesse married Elizabeth Bawtinheimer and had seven children. In 1841, they were living next to John and his second wife, Joanna Swayze in South Dumfries,Ontario. Jesse died in 1841.

John Bray married Joanna Kitchen, the sister of his brother-in-law, James, reportedly in New Jersey, but probably in Ontario. According to John’s statement on his petition for a land grant, he came to Ontario in 1805. Joanna may have traveled with the Kitchen family and married John around 1812. They moved to Norfolk County, possibly because John’s uncle, Thomas Bowlby, had located there as well as numerous Kitchens..
•During the War of 1812, John served in Nesbitt Collver's Company of the Norfolk County Militia
•John received a Crown Grant dated 10 April 1816 of 200 acres, part of Lots 12 and 13, Concession 1, Woodhouse Twp in Norfolk County.and sold it to Robert Nichol on May 1816. - -- John then received an assignment of a Crown Lease on Lot 12, Concession 3, Windham Twp from John Bacon, Jr. on 18 May 1816.

According to Norfolk County Genealogy Society records, John and Joanna had three children: Elizabeth, born 1812, Emeline, born 1823 in Elgin County, and John, born 1820.5 In addition, they had a fourth child, Thomas Bowlby born in 1815.

John Bray purchased 150 acres of property (southeast 1/2 of Lot 14, Concession 3), South Dumfries on May 26, 1829. Joanna probably died in Elgin County before he left but there is no record of her death.. The property that John bought was adjacent to the property owned by Joanna’s brother , Edward.Also In 1829, John married Johanna Swayze, a widow with three children. In 1830, their first child, Isreal, our grandfather, was born, followed by the twins, Joseph Corwin and Benjamin Corwin in 1832.