The Family of

Benjamin Griggs and Margrietje Janse

Introduction

There has been very little organized documentation of the family and descendants of Benjamin Griggs and Margrietje Janse of Griggstown, Somerset County, NJ. This Benjamin Griggs was a descendant of John Griggs who had a land transaction in Gravesend, Kings County, NY as early as 1659. Although Walter S. Griggs in his book Genealogy of The Griggs Family was very helpful, he only dealt slightly with the descendants of this Benjamin and Margrietje. Therefore, it is the purpose of this project to review the primary evidence available on this family and attempt to more thoroughly document them and their descendants.

Benjamin and Margrietje had nine children. It is not presently known where all of the children settled, however, the following are the ones we do know about: John Griggs, the eldest son, settled in Toms River, Monmouth County, NJ, Samuel Griggs settled in New Brunswick, Middlesex County, NJ, Barrent Griggs and Benjamin Griggs settled in Cranbury, Middlesex County, NJ, and Reuben Griggs, a physician, settled in Kingston, Somerset County, NJ. It is unclear at this point where the other children settled, however we do know that at least two, and possibly three, of their daughters baptized some of their children in Somerset County, NJ.

I encourage anyone who reviews this file and who has an interest in this family to please email me at the address listed below with any corrections and/or additions. I would like to thank the following researchers for their sharing of information on this line: Pamela J. Sears, Alice Ferguson, Annie Peterson Johnson, Dorothy Koenig, Edward Griggs and Kimberly Grove Jones. Their contributions are greatly appreciated.