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More than 1,000 members of Nunn families living in the United States, Ontario and Western Canada are linked to descendants of Thomas and Elizabeth Nunn who settled at Schooley's Mountain, New Jersey around 1750.

Among several New Jersey Nunns who came to Canada, this research originally focused on Joshua Edward Nunn, a grandson of Thomas Nunn Sr. of Schooley's Mountain, Hunterdon, New Jersey. Joshua's father, Thomas Nunn Jr. "went to Canada" after the American Revolutionary War and died in 1788 in New Brunswick. (See "Outline of the New Jersey Nunn family" below)

Already living in Canada, Joshua inherited and sold his grandfather's original New Jersey property that he received after his own father's death, before moving to the Niagara Peninsula (Upper Canada-Ontario) in 1797 with his stepfather, William Dunmead, and other family members (Joshua's land petition can be found below).

In 1797, Joshua received a 200-acre land grant in Pelham Township. His brothers Benjamin and Samuel, as well as his stepfather, William Dunmead applied for and received land petitions at the same time.

Nine years later, in 1806, Joshua married Elizabeth "Betsy" Cline, who was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, just across the Delaware River from Joshua's native Hunterdon County, NJ. They married in Lincoln County, Upper Canada, where Elizabeth's father Peter had moved his own family as well.

Joshua, his brother Benjamin and father-in-law Peter Cline and many other friends and relatives fought in the War of 1812, on the Canadian side in the Lincoln militia. (See muster roll below)

Shortly after the War of 1812, Joshua and Elizabeth moved further west from the Niagara Peninsula and settled on a 200-acre land grant from Col. Thomas Talbot in Middleton Township, Norfolk County. More than 150 years later, our own family lived just several miles south of their original Middleton homestead. Across the road from Joshua and Elizabeth's original farm is the Jackson Cemetery, where members from five generations of this family are buried.

Joshua and Elizabeth remained close to his brother Benjamin (m. Elizabeth Fretz) and his extended family, particularly those who also moved West from Lincoln County after the War of 1812.

Family outlines found here are based on various sources, including original research since the mid-1970s of census, land, church, archival, government, newspapers, and other records, plus help from many relatives in the United States and Canada.

A wealth of information on Joshua's uncle, Benjamin Nunn (who married Ann Carpenter), also is available in the St. Catharines Public Library, where several Nunn genealogies have been placed. Much other information is also available on the Internet.

Links appear below to several web sites of particular interest: Sandy Cline's wealth of information on the Nunns and Clines; a site by Larry Stitt that lists a range of Nunn family wills, obituaries, stories and other documents; wonderful lists of Nunn family members from New Jersey created by Jim Markle and Pamela Lee Sliker Miller; plus Jim Markle's Rootsweb site that covers many descendants of the Thomas Nunn family of New Jersey.

A Rootsweb site (7,000+ individuals) including the 1,200 or so names listed here is also online and easily searchable by surname. It covers many more families, including other close relatives from the Schott, Maxwell, Taylor, Smith families, and more.

Thanks to many other researchers who have examined these Nunn family roots in Canada and the U.S. over the decades, in particular: Cora Beach, Winifred Edith Labian (Nunn), Marilyn Rowe, Sandy Cline, Larry Stitt, Christopher Thompson, Gary and Linda Nunn, Laura Nunn, Berneice Walston, Don Anger, Lois Nunn-Romo, Shirley Wardle, Mary Taylor-Smith, Pamela Lee Sliker Miller, Helen Bingleman, Bob Thompson, Helen Nunn-Tillotson, Edie Retell, Robert and Yvonne Nunn, Holly Nunn-Killop, plus many, many more who have volunteered inform
Joshua Nunn and Elizabeth Cline of PA/New Jersey/Canada
Updated October 10, 2008

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Thomas L Nunn
tnunn@sympatico.ca


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Family Photos

  • Joshua Nunn's land petition, April 28, 1797 (230 KB)
    Joshua Nunn's April 28, 1797 land petition names his stepfather as William Dunmead, a known New Jersey loyalist during the American Revolution. Dunmead also filed a land petition the same day in Newark, which was capital of Upper Canada until 1797 and is now Niagara-on-the-Lake. Benjamin and Samuel Nunn also filed petitions in Newark at the same time.
  • Benjamin Nunn (son of Joshua) 1855 (91 KB)
    Benjamin Nunn appears third from right, standing with local township council, outside the Middleton Township Hall after it was built in 1855
  • Robert Joshua Nunn (51 KB)
    Robert Joshua Nunn, eldest son of Benjamin and grandson of Joshua Edward Nunn
  • Map of Bucks County, PA and Hunterdon County, NJ (43 KB)
    Bucks County, Pennsylvania, birthplace of Elizabeth "Betsy" Cline, plus Hunterdon County, birthplace of Joshua Edward Nunn in 1766. Joshua and Elizabeth married in 1806, in Lincoln County, Upper Canada.
  • Ida Nunn and daughter Marion (141 KB)
    Photo provided by family and taken August 31, 1910
  • Benjamin Narsis Nunn and Iva Lilly (Nunn) (34 KB)
    Benjamin Narsis Nunn, grandson of Joshua, with his niece Iva Lilly (Nunn), provided by Edie Retell
  • Benjamin Casper Nunn family 1910 (66 KB)
    Back Row; Curtis Benjamin, Elburn Russel, Ernest Clifford, Harvey Wright, John Wlliam Nunn. Front Row; Raymond Gillett, Benjamin Casper,Harold Frank, Ida Wright, Floyd Armstrong Nunn. Taken July 3, 1910
  • Nunn family reunion photo - Rochester Michigan (37 KB)
    For many years, members of the Nunn families from Ontario and the U.S. held large family reunions in Tillsonburg, Ontario and Rochester, Michigan. This photo shows some of the family of Benjamin Nunn (grandson of Joshua)
  • Olive Nunn and Frederick Cline (34 KB)
    Olive Nunn married Frederick Cline, a brother to Elizabeth Cline - wife of her uncle Joshua Edward Nunn.
  • Peter Nunn (son of Joshua) + wife Mariah Freeland (42 KB)
    Joshua's son Peter with his second wife, Mariah Freeland.
  • Jonathan Edward Nunn (22 KB)
    Photo provided by family members
  • A painting of Schooley's Mountain by David Johnson (117 KB)
    David Johnson painted Schooley's Mountain, where Thomas Nunn originally settled around 1750.
  • Four generations of Peter Nunn's family (46 KB)
    Photo shows wife Mariah (Freeland) on left, her daughter Elizabeth, granddaughter Louise Gertrude (Forbes) Avey & great grandaughter Jessie Gertrude Avey taken about 1899.
  • James Harvey Nunn, wife Jennie Beatrice (Ponting) (42 KB)
    Shows James Harvey Nunn, wife Jennie and son Robert.
  • An outline of the New Jersey Nunn family (77 KB)
    Theodore Chamber's book published in 1895 outlines the original Nunn family that settled at Schooley's Mountain, New Jersey, with a reference to Joshua's father who "went to Canada". His book also notes that rights to the property were vested in Thomas Jr., whose son Joshua sold the land.
  • Muster Roll for the 4th Lincoln Regiment (251 KB)
    Lists Joshua, brother Benjamin and others under the command of Lieut-Col. Robert Nelles. Scroll to the far right of the page to see their names.
 

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