"The Whitall Family and the Battle of Red Bank" Topic

"James W. Whitall (1717-1808) was a prominent Quaker businessman and farmer in the southern region of New Jersey. In 1739 he married Ann Cooper (1716-1797), a devout, no-nonsense Quaker, and together they built a house situated on a farm consisting of over four hundred acres of land along the Delaware River in Red Bank, New Jersey. Completed in 1748, the house offered a commanding view of the southern Philadelphia skyline, and it was from this house that James operated his many enterprises, which included farming his lands and orchards, raising livestock, and running a ferry service that transported people and goods between New Jersey and Philadelphia. Their house was always filled with people, from their nine children (six sons and three daughters[1]), and as many as thirteen indentured servants.[2]

The lifestyle of the wife of a successful entrepreneur was somewhat troubling to Ann Cooper Whitall, as she wrote in her journals of her difficulties in raising a proper Quaker family. Several disheartening entries discussed her fear of death, how she dreaded the future, and how she was saddened that her boys chose to play ball, skate, and go fishing on "First Day" (Sunday) rather than attend Quaker Meetings.[3] Yet her duty as wife and mother carried her beyond her sadness, as she grew into the steadfast matriarch of the Whitall family. When she completed the last of her three journals in 1762, she wrote no more…"
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