Ancestors 188 – 189

His parents
Married c. 1775
Her parents

5GGF Teunis Gulick


NJ -> OH -> IN

5GGM Maria van Voorhees-Gulick-Redinbaugh
Ancestor 188 (10111100)
10/19/1755 - 10/1798
Ancestor 189 (10111101)
1/03/1755 - 1840

Teunis and Maria were married in Neshanic, Somerset County, NJ, most likely in the early-1770s. Their known children were Samuel (c. 1775), Maria “Polly”, Annatie “Hannah”, Abraham, Catherine “Tryntie”, Neeltje “Nellie”, Isaac , and Bridget (1795).

Teunis is a confirmed soldier of the American Revolution. He was a private under Capt. Peter Vroom in Col. Abraham Quick’s battalion, Somerset County (NJ) militia. 1

A family headed by “Tunnis Hullock” is listed in the 1790 US census in Washington Township, Fayette County, PA 2 (about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh). The makeup of the family is two males over age 16 (arguably Teunis and Samuel), two males under 16 (arguably Abraham and newborn Isaac, who was probably born there) and five females (arguably Maria and the four oldest daughters).

Around 1800, there was a steady flow of migration from New Jersey and other northeastern states westward to the “Northwest Territory”. In fact, the federal government offered land grants to revolutionary war veterans, mostly in present-day Ohio. Families would have to cross the Appalachians in Pennsylvania. Then in Pittsburgh they would get on the Ohio River, which would take them directly to Cincinnati, OH; Lexington, KY; and the southern border of IN.

Teunis died in middle age, around 1800. The surviving family continued westward to Indiana. Maria was remarried, to a Samuel Redinbaugh, by the 1820s. A Gulick history tells us:

“Samuel was given guardianship of Isaac and his sister, Nellie in Hamilton County 1 in 1804.  Apparently shortly after that, Samuel moved on to Greene County, Indiana, and was there in 1806.  I do not know if he took Isaac with him at that time or not.  In the early 1820’s Samuel and Isaac were around the southeastern Indiana area, as were their mother and stepfather [Samuel Redinbaugh].” 3

Family trees are inconsistent about the place and time of Teunis’ and Maria’s deaths. Most family trees say that Teunis died in “Oct., 1798, Hamilton County, OH,” but I have not been able to trace the source of this information. Hamilton County is the Cincinnati area; it borders Dearborn County, IN. If this information is correct, it seems that there is only one cemetery old enough for him. Cincinnati’s “Pioneer Memorial Cemetery” is described as the oldest in Hamilton County, with its oldest grave inscribed 1797.

Other trees (such as Geni) give a death place of Bartholomew County, IN. “A Power of Attorney shows Teunis was deceased in 1804.” 4 but I have no further information about this document.

A Tunis Gulick of Middlesex County, NJ wrote a will in 1832, 5 and that will was proven 12/19/1838. 6. This document is often quoted by family trees, but it appears to be a case of mistaken identity with another man by the same name. “Teunis” and “Gulick” were both common names in New Jersey at that time, and they had many variants. Furthermore, we have seen that Maria was already remarried by the 1820s. The decedent of the NJ will left some property to a daughter named Susan. Most Gulick family trees do not show a daughter named Susan. Some actually do, but I have to wonder if they just took that name from this will.

Maria’s death is consistently listed as Jefferson County, IN, but with dates ranging from 1823 to 1840. I have again never seen any documentation of her death. The 1820 census of Jefferson County, IN lists the families of Samuel Hulick (her son) and Samuel Redinbaugh (her husband) on adjacent lines; women are not named. 7

Neither Teunis nor Maria is on FindAGrave. Teunis has a nephew, Abner, buried in Highland County, OH. 8

Unanswered Questions

  • Did the federal government give Teunis a Northwest Territory land grant?
  • Is it possible to identify where Teunis and / or Maria are buried?

  1. https://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/search_adb/default.cfm?action=full&p_id=A201625 ↩
  2. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYYJ-S672?i=1&cc=1803959 ↩
  3. Letter from Joyce Hagerty reprinted in The Gulick Book, 1st Quarter 1990 ↩
  4. Paul Gulick, The Gulick Book, 1st Quarter 1989 newsletter. I wonder if this is the document that gave Samuel guardianship over Isaac. ↩
  5. New Jersey Probate Records, 1678 – 1980, Middlesex County, Wills 1824 – 1846 Vol. C – D, Image 497, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L933-P6XT?i=496&wc=MQTC-82Q%3A338013401%2C341238801&cc=2018330 (accessed and saved 2/21/20). ↩
  6. Middlesex County, NJ estate # 8167, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-893Q-2X3F?i=284&wc=MQTD-R29%3A338013401%2C341807601&cc=2018330 (accessed and saved 2/21/20) ↩
  7. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YYR-9ZV?view=index ↩
  8. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112800620/abner-w-gulick ↩