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Reuben Levy Bishop (1805-1856) was my fourth great grandfather. He died in Morris County, New Jersey. I have not uncovered his parents yet.

There was another man living in Morris County also named Reuben Bishop. His records, alongside my known Reuben, were discussed in this article. (The first name is usually written as Ruben, Reuben, or Rueben.)

Modern technology has brought us Full Text Search of records. In the past, the creation of an index of a record set might only include the name of the subject of the record. Full Text Search enables a search of any word in the document.

Here's how this menu option appears at Family Search.

Drop down menu of Full Text Search at FamilySearch

There is an exception for the results. If a record set is blocked from home viewing, it is not included in the Full Text Search if performed at home.

New Jersey Probate Records is a collection at Family Search. Each county maintains its own probate records. New Jersey currently has 21 counties. Only 20 are offered in this record set. Morris County is missing.

Probate records for New Jersey at FamilySearch
Morris County was removed from this collection

I've been told that Morris County probate records, although digitized by Family Search, cannot be viewed from home because of contractual restrictions. I visited the Morris County Surrogate's Office last year to locate a will from 1782 that was not filmed. Nobody could locate the films from this time period. I asked to speak with someone who could address the issue with access through Family Search. I was told, "We want people to visit us and view the films here." (I found the skipped will at the New Jersey State Archives.)

Me at the Morris County Surrogate's Office
September 11, 2025

You can perform a Full Text Search on restricted records from a Family Search Center. There may be differences in access to records between a Center and an Affiliate Library. I am geographically near both types of facilities, but their hours are limited.

While logged into a Family Search Center computer, I searched for Reuben Bishop in Morris County. He witnessed three wills:
-John Woodruff in 1816
-Joseph Wheaton in 1824
-Josiah Goff in 1826

Reuben Bishop's signature witnessing
the mark of John Woodruff
Township of Chatham 1816

Reuben Bishop's signature witnessing
the signature of Joseph Wheaton
Township of Chatham 1824

Reuben Bishop's signature witnessing
the signature of Josiah Goff
Township of Chatham 1822

Note: these are poor quality images because these are restricted records, meaning you cannot download them. Compare these to the images of Reuben's will below, which were printed from microfilm at the Morris County Surrogate's Office years ago.

I looked into these three people. They appear to have been neighbors of Reuben in Chatham.

The Reuben who signed these documents was not my Reuben. My Reuben was born in 1805, so he was too young to begin signing in 1816. The signer was the other Reuben.

This other Reuben signed his own will on January 30, 1829. The will was proved September 21, 1829, indicating that he likely died in September 1829.

Signature of Reuben Bishop on his own will
January 30, 1929
Witnesses: William Sayre, H L Burnet, and H V ???

The family mentioned in this 1829 will were Reuben's brothers: Calvin, Luther, Miles, and Abner. No wife and no children were mentioned.

Family mentioned by Dr Bishop in his will:
brothers Calvin, Luther, Miles, and Abner

These names are not rare, but they are more unusual, especially as a group of five Bishop brothers.

A Google search produced an unsourced document purporting to be an index of death notices in Morris County newspapers.

Name indexes for Morris County newspapers are floating around the internet

The Jerseyman was digitized and is available at GenealogyBank (pay site). But the issues from September and October 1829 are missing.

Dates of The Jerseyman newspaper
available at GenealogyBank

The pertinent information from this index:

Reuben Bishop was a doctor of Bottle Hill. He died September 11, 1829 at the age of 58 [say born in the year 1771]. He was from Woodbury, CT [Connecticut].

Bottle Hill was the name of the area renamed Madison in the 1830s. Madison was a village within Chatham Township. This tracks because Reuben Bishop appeared on the tax ratables for Chatham in 1814.

1814 Tax Ratables, Chatham, Morris County, New Jersey
Reuben Bishop was taxed for a horse.

The other location mentioned in the newspaper index is Woodbury, Connecticut. Dr Reuben Bishop has a memorial page at Find A Grave for South Cemetery in Woodbury.

Memorial page for Dr Reuben Bishop died 1829
South Cemetery
Woodbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut

The gravestone transcription:

In memory of

Doct. Reuben Bishop

who died

Sept 11, 1829

in his 53 year.

A respectable physician & an honorable man.

The etching at the top of the stone appears to be a weeping willow over an urn.

A book about the descendants of John Bishop, a founder of Guilford, Connecticut, was published in 1951.¹ Dr Reuben does not seem to appear in this book, but a cluster named Miles, Calvin, and Luther does appear- and they lived in Woodbury.

A book that possibly pertains to Dr Reuben Bishop's family

In this book, we see three of the names mentioned in Reuben's will from 1829: Miles, Calvin, and Luther. Miles was the father and Calvin and Luther were sons of Miles. Below is this family arrangement linked to their memorial pages on Find A Grave. They were buried in Woodbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut.

Miles Bishop (1739-1815) and Sarah Chapman (1737-1822) had two sons:

-Calvin Bishop (1761-1834)

-Luther Bishop (1763-1850)

It is possible that Dr Reuben Bishop, born circa 1771, was also a child of this couple. He and the other two brothers, Miles and Abner, are not mentioned in this book.

Was Dr Reuben Bishop, originally from Connecticut, related to my fourth great grandfather Reuben Levy Bishop? Why did Dr Bishop move to Morris County, New Jersey?

More research is needed.

1. Cone, William Whitney, and George Allen Root, comps., Record of the Descendants of John Bishop, One of the Founders of Guilford, Connecticut in 1639 (Nyack, N.Y.: John Guy Bishop, 1951), 22; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62282/records/4372365112 : accessed April 10, 2026).

Name Change: Bostedo to Bishop

My fourth great grandfather, Reuben Levy Bishop (1805-1856) remains a tail end in my tree. I explored possible connections to other Bishops of Morris County, New Jersey, such as William Bishop (1768-1844), with origins in Connecticut.

In a work by J Percy Crayon about Morris County families,¹ I found mention of a Bishop originally being Bostedo. A change in name could cause a tail in a tree until the older versions are uncovered.

Crayon's book about families in Morris County, New Jersey.
" . . . Bostedo, or Bishop as the name was changed . . . "

I found some documentation on this name change. Please note that changing one's name was not a formal process in this time period. We are not looking for a court proceeding or newspaper announcement of the name change.

Gideon Bostedo and Mary Beach married in Pequannock, Morris County on August 2, 1803.

Marriage record of Gideon Bostedo and Mary Beach
in Morris County, New Jersey.
August 2, 1803.
Viewable at Family Search from home. Film 4541274.

Research note: Marriages were recorded at the state level in New Jersey beginning in the year 1848. Prior to this, individual counties recorded the marriages. Indexes are found throughout Ancestry but the images are on Family Search.

Gideon and Mary had a son, Abner Bostedo, around 1817. Abner married Lavinia Landers (1816-1895) and they had children. Abner was a Civil War veteran who served in Company L, 27th Infantry. He died in 1890. His military service is reflected on his stone in the Bostedo Family Cemetery in Marcella, Rockaway Township, Morris County. (He is the only person listed in this vanished burial ground on Find A Grave.)

Abner's parents on his death certificate were Gideon V Bostedo and Mary Bostedo. Burial was at Greenville. This was the name of an area, more noted on a mine, near Marcella.

Death certificate of Abner Bostveda September 25, 1890.
Rockaway, Morris County, New Jersey.
Viewable in-person from microfilm at the New Jersey State Archives.

Then we have the person mentioned in Crayon's book, Charles Bishop (1804-1881). He married Mary Kimble (1811-1888) and they had many children. Mary's mother was Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1789-1861). (How she connects to my Vanderhoof line is unknown at this juncture.)

Charles' death certificate lists his parents as George Bishop and Mary Beach.

Death certificate of Charles Bishop July 7, 1881.
West Milford, Passaic County, New Jersey.
Viewable in-person from microfilm at the New Jersey State Archives.

Why did Charles change his surname from Bostedo to Bishop? The informant of this death certificate knew Charles' father as George, not Gideon? Why did Charles change his surname but Abner did not?

Is my fourth great grandfather, Reuben Levy Bishop, from this Bostedo family? I do not know at this time. A name change could explain why Reuben appears from seemingly nowhere.

More research is needed.

1. J. Percy Crayon, Rockaway Records of Morris County, N. J., Families (Rockaway, New Jersey: Rockaway Publishing Co., 1902), digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/rockawayrecordso00cray : accessed 8 April 2026).

Kip's Castle and Another Bishop

Kip's Castle is a large mansion lying in Verona and Montclair in Essex County, New Jersey. It is remarkable because it was built in the style of a Norman castle, atop First Mountain, with spectacular views of the New York City skyline. The mansion is 9,000 square feet and sits atop eleven acres of land.

I visited in December of 2024. My pictures will not do this marvel justice, so here is a video from YouTube.

Before the castle became part of the Essex County Park System, various people and businesses occupied the structure.

The original occupants were Frederic Ellsworth Kip (1862-1938) and his wife, Charlotte Bishop Williams (1864-1926). They were married in New York City in 1884. They had one son, Ruloff Frederic Kip (1887-1953). 

Marriage record page 1
Frederick Ellsworth Kip and Charlotte Bishop Williams
married October 15, 1884 in Manhattan, New York

Marriage record page 2
Frederick Ellsworth Kip and Charlotte Bishop Williams
married October 15, 1884 in Manhattan, New York

Historic vital records for New York City are available online.

By 1910, the family had moved into their new castle, as reflected in the 1910 census, at Crestmount Road in Montclair (now Crestmont Road in Verona). With Frederic and Charlotte was their son, Ruloff, age 22, and Charlotte's maternal aunt, Julia Bishop Ford (1837-1921). Four servants also were listed in this household.

In the 1915 state census, this home was listed at a different address, 66 Highland Avenue. This is still the same structure. Entrances are on Crestmont Road and Highland Avenue.

The property of Kip's Castle touches two streets-
Crestmont Road in Verona and Highland Avenue in Montclair.
This is a modern-day map.

Charlotte's middle name, Bishop, caught my attention. I figured this could be a surname, and since I have Bishop ancestors, I delved into Charlotte's ancestry.

The parents of Charlotte Bishop Williams were Charlotte Louisa Ford (1841-1897) and William White Williams (1838-1893). Charlotte and her parents are buried in Cedar Lawn Cemetery in Paterson, Passaic County, New Jersey.

Charlotte's maternal grandmother was a Bishop- Mary Polly (1807-1867), married to Alfred Ford (1805-1866). They were buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Morristown.

In August 2024 I visited Evergreen Cemetery to visit the resting place of my fourth great grandfather, Reuben Bishop (1805-1856). Transcriptions of stones are available at the Morristown and Morris Township Library. The cemetery, however, will not provide information.

Mary Polly Bishop was a daughter of Susannah Scofield (1773-1852) and William Bishop (1768-1844). This couple and some of their children were buried at First Presbyterian Churchyard, Morristown. They were from Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut and moved to Morristown, New Jersey probably in the 1820s.

Bishop family plot
First Presbyterian Churchyard
Morristown, Morris County, New Jersey
Photographed October 20, 2016 by J Lutter

Am I related to William Bishop and Susan Scofield? I do not know yet. I have not found a connection, other than residence in Morristown. 

The Unknown Origins of Ruben Bishop 1805-1856

Who are the parents of Reuben Levy Bishop, my fourth great grandfather? He died in Morristown, Morris County, New Jersey in 1856, age 52.

In the prior post I demonstrated why the father of Reuben is likely not Stratton Bishop (1760-1823) of Bridgeton in Cumberland County, New Jersey.

Reuben Bishop married Susan C Bell in the 1830s. Her parents were John Bell and Jane Bockoven- according to her 1881 marriage record to Edward deGroot.

From this union five children have been identified:

1. Mary Jane Bishop, born about 1836, died in 1910. Married Edward Skinner in 1854.

2. Emma Louisa Bishop, born about 1839, died in 1888. Married Silas Totten in 1856.

3. Julia Bishop, born about 1841, died in 1902. Married George Joseph Ward and William Condon.

4. William Reuben Bishop (my third great grandfather), born about 1842, died in 1915. Married Susan Jane Marsh.

5. George F Bishop, born in 1848, died 1919. Married Mary E Frances Garrabrant.

In the 1840 census, "Rheubin" Bishop was enumerated in Morris Township, Morris County, New Jersey. Two adults, one male and one female, resided with two female children under age 5. These were probably Mary Jane, born around 1836, and Emma Louisa, born around 1839. 

1840 United States Federal Census
Morris Township, Morris County, New Jersey

In 1850, Reuben Bishop was enumerated in Morris Township with his wife, Susan Bell, and all five of their children.

Reuben Bishop, age 8, is William Reuben Bishop

Register of Marriages and Deaths, Morris County, New Jersey, 1848-1867.
Volume Z.

When Reuben Bishop died in 1856, New Jersey was not issuing individual certificates. A record of his death was entered as a single line in a ledger book. (This ledger book, Volume Z, appears at Ancestry in the collection titled New Jersey, U.S., Death Index, 1848-1878, 1901-2017.) His occupation was listed as Hostler. This was someone who either tended to horses or transported cargo.

His birthplace could hold the best clue. Reuben was born in "one of the Eastern States." Hmm. So not New Jersey? We will return to this.

Places of burial are not listed on this page in the death ledger. A cemetery is also omitted from the death notice in the local paper. A possible match is in Evergreen Cemetery in Morristown, Morris County, New Jersey.

findagrave.com/memorial/173374681/

The date of death is off by one day. Curiously, the burial date was years later in 1873.

I called and visited Evergreen Cemetery. The records, if any exist, cannot be shown to me. The staff did kindly bring me to this site in Section O. There is no marker for Rueben Bishop.

Site of burial of "Rueben" Bishop in 1873, next to Jane Totten.
Evergreen Cemetery, Morristown, Morris County, New Jersey.
The grounds are beautifully maintained with historical and military sections throughout.
The records, however, are not available to the public.

I wrote to the creator and manager of this memorial on Find A Grave, but have yet to receive responses. How did this person access this record? Where was Reuben from 1856, when he died, until 1873, when he was buried at this location? (I submitted updates to other memorials managed by this person. The changes were made on September 14, 2024. Thus, someone is monitoring the account.)

Materials for Evergreen Cemetery are available for in-person use at the Morristown and Morris Township Library in the Caroline Rose Foster North Jersey History and Genealogy Center. Among the items are maps, section maps, transcriptions of gravestones, and published books.

Section map of Evergreen Cemetery, Morristown, New Jersey
available at the Morristown and Morris Township Library

Section O map, Evergreen Cemetery, Morristown, New Jersey.
Ruben Bishop owned plot 53.

What is lacking in these materials are records of burials. They might only be at Evergreen Cemetery, which forbids access. Because Rueben Bishop has no stone, he does not appear in the transcriptions of stones.

I need to know where he was originally buried. This could reveal family connections. Why was he moved to (or within) Evergreen Cemetery in 1876?

Two other Bishops, William and Reuben, lived in Morris County.

1- William Bishop (1768-1844) and his wife, Susan Scofield (1773-1852), were buried at First Presbyterian Churchyard in Morristown. They were from Connecticut.

Bishop family grave at First Presbyterian Churchyard,
Morristown, Morris County, New Jersey.

William Bishop and Susannah Scofield married March 31, 1796
in Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut.
Transcription.
Collection at Ancestry

Was my Reuben from Connecticut also? Is this why his death record listed his birth as "one of the Eastern States?"

My Reuben named a son William.

2- An earlier Reuben Bishop of Morris County.

In 1829 Reuben Bishop sold property in Chatham to Vincent Boisaubin and Dr Henry Prentiss Green.

Reuben Bishop appeared on an 1814 tax list in Chatham. He owned one horse.

3- Levi Bishop and family were enumerated in the 1855 New Jersey State census in Chatham. Only heads of household are named. In this residence were an adult male and female, two female children, and two male children.

I wonder if this is my Reuben Levy Bishop listed by his middle name.

Next research strategies:

---Continue searching for records in Morris County and neighboring counties in New Jersey.

---Research these Bishop families in Connecticut.

---Mine the DNA matches

Stratton Bishop, father of Reuben, died 1823

Reuben Levy Bishop was my fourth great grandfather. He died in Morristown, Morris County, New Jersey in 1856 at the age of 52.

I have found no documentation about his possible parents.

A father of Reuben Bishop is suggested at Ancestry: Stratton Bishop, who lived in Bridgeton, Cumberland County, New Jersey from about 1760 until 1823, when his will was proven.

Possible ancestors appear in yellow boxes in family trees at Ancestry.

In Stratton's will, he left a life estate to his wife, Lydia. He left land in Bridgeton to his two daughters, Ruth, wife of Samuel Souders, and Lorana (1781-1863), wife of Hosea Nichols (1780-1849).

He also left land to the son of his son Reuben, "if he returns from Europe," and the two sons of his other son, John. The first names of these grandsons were not provided in Stratton's will.

Viewable at FamilySearch.org

I do not think that Reuben, the son of Stratton Bishop, is the same person as my fourth great grandfather, Reuben Levy Bishop.

My Reuben was born around 1804/1805. He was likely not old enough to have a son in 1823.

I have not been able to trace the sons of Stratton Bishop, but his daughters appeared in other records, from which we can glean their birth years. Lorana and Ruth were born in the 1780s. We do not know if Stratton's sons were from a subsequent marriage, but they were both old enough to have their own children when Stratton wrote his will. This makes it unlikely that Stratton's sons Reuben and John were born past 1800.

Stratton and Lydia have memorial pages on Find A Grave
at the First Baptist Church Cemetery in Bridgeton, Cumberland County, New Jersey.

Typed transcripts of Cohansey Baptist Church are viewable on Ancestry. Stratton Bishop died March 14, 1823. Lydia, his wife, died a few months later in October, thus ending her life estate and freeing the land to transfer to the grandsons- subject to the ten year time limit extended to Reuben's unnamed son to return from Europe and assert his claim.

"I give and bequeath the said house and lot of land above described at the decease of my wife in the manner following viz to the son of Reuben Bishop my oldest son the back half part of said lot provided he shall within ten years from the death of my said wife come to this country he being at this time in Europe and take possession of the same but if he shall neglect so to take possession of the said premises then it is my will and I do order that the beforementioned back half part of said lot shall go to the sons of my son John Bishop to be equally divided between them share and share alike."

Three of Stratton's grandsons, John, Henry, and Stratton Bishop, inherited the property. A guardian, Daniel M Woodruff, was appointed in 1831 after an action was brought by their uncle, Hosea Nichols. They were under the age of fourteen.

In a deed dated June 5, 1832, their guardian, Daniel M Woodruff, sold the property to Hosea Nichols. It is not clarified if they are sons of Reuben, John, or both. These are probably children of John, not Reuben because of the exception noted in the wording: "subject however to the lawful claim of --- Bishop, if any he has of in or to the same . . ." Most unfortunately this other grandson is not named. It would seem that this grandson of Stratton Bishop either remained in Europe during the ten years following Lydia's death, or he was unaware that he needed to reach out to the Orphan's Court in Cumberland County, New Jersey.

The land conveyed in 1832 is the same piece of land described in Stratton Bishop's will in 1823. There was no division to convey the "back half part" to Reuben's son, residing in Europe.

Sketch of Stratton Bishop's land described in wills and deeds.
1 chain = 100 links = 66 feet

On the west side of Cohansey Creek and bounded as followeth:

Beginning on the south side of main street at the North west corner of Philip Souders lot
thence bounding on the same South twenty degrees west five chains to a corner
thence bounding on George Burgins lot North sixty nine degrees and fifty minutes west fifty seven links to a corner
thence north twenty degrees east four chains and sixty two links to a corner
thence south sixty nine degrees and fifty minutes east seven links to a corner
thence north twenty degrees east thirty eight links to main street aforesaid
thence bounding thereon south sixty nine degrees and fifty minutes east fifty links to the place of beginning containing forty four perches and seventeen hundredths of a square perch of land.

I have not found records on my Reuben Levy Bishop that indicate any ties to Europe. Aside from the name Reuben, the only other similarity is that Reuben Levy Bishop's son, George (1848-1919), named a daughter Lorena (1880-1973).

Thus I do not see, at this point, that Reuben Levy Bishop of Morris County is the same Reuben Bishop, son of Stratton Bishop, of Cumberland County.

The hunt for the parents of Reuben Levy Bishop continues.

Locating the Death Certificate of Jennie Bishop in 1957

My great great grandmother, Minnie Caroline Bishop (1866-1910), had a sister named Jennie Maud Bishop (1878-1957). They were buried in the same plot and share a gravestone at Evergreen Cemetery in Hillside, Union County, New Jersey. (The cemetery stretches across the Township of Hillside and the City of Elizabeth. This grave lies in Hillside.)

Gravestone at Evergreen Cemetery in Hillside, New Jersey.
Children of William Reuben Bishop and Susan Jane Marsh.
Transcription:
William F. January 19, 1973 - March 20, 1895.
Mabel E. September 3, 1868 - April 17, 1907.
Minnie E. Wife of Charles E Cook. February 19, 1866 - March 25, 1910.
Jennie Maud. 1878 - 1957.

Evergreen Cemetery's records are available for viewing.

Picture of plot listing at Evergreen Cemetery owned by William R Bishop.
William F Bishop, age 22, buried March 24, 1895.
Mabel E Bishop, age 37, buried April 21, 1907.
Minnie Caroline Cook [nee Bishop], age 44, buried March 28, 1910.
William Bishop, age 72, buried April 29, 1915.
Susan Jane Bishop [nee Marsh], age 83, buried January 21, 1932.
Eugene T Bishop, age 60, buried May 4, 1936.
Miss Jennie M Bishop, age 74, buried July 5, 1957.
Lafon Allen Foster, age 57, buried March 7, 1964.
Bessie Foster [nee Gulick], age 54, buried March 7, 1964.
Bessie Gulick [nee Bishop], age 85, buried June 9, 1972.

When the 1957 death certificates became available at the New Jersey State Archives, I looked for Jennie Maud Bishop's record. She was buried in July 5, 1957. The index for death records has an entry for Jennie J Bishop, died in August of 1957. Close and worth a look. (Note: if you cannot travel to the Archives, you can request a copy from the Department of Health, but the cause of death will be blocked. Although the Archives holds the record, it is not authorize to release it via mail because it is too recent.)

New Jersey index of deaths
Available online at Ancestry.com or NewJerseyDeathIndex.com

Good that I did look at this death certificate. This is not my Jennie. This is the record for Jennie Josephine Bishop, born Tier, wife of John Michael Bishop. She was born in Jersey City in 1884. She died in Long Branch on August 4, 1957 and was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington.

Death certificate of Jennie Josephine Bishop.
Born June 15, 1884 in Jersey City.
Died August 4, 1957 in Long Branch, Monmouth County, New Jersey.

I remembered how I recently found a death record in Florida for a great great great grandmother. I checked Florida's death index. A possible match for Jennie appeared.

Online Florida death index at Ancestry.com

The turnaround time for a record request is only a few weeks and the cost is a mere $5. (Go Florida!)

This is the death record for my great great grandaunt, Jennie Bishop. She died on July 2, 1957, age 74, in Daytona Beach, Volusia County, Florida. She had uterine cancer.

Death certificate of Jennie Maud Bishop.
Born October 25, 1882 in Newark, New Jersey.
Died July 2, 1957 in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Although Jennie's death certificate has her date of birth as 1882, this cannot be. Jennie was enumerated in the 1880 census as age 2.

1880 federal census. 29 Cross Street, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.
Wm R Bishop, age 37; locomotive engineer.
Susan, wife, age 32.
Minnie, daughter, age 14.
Mabel, daughter, age 11.
Emma, daughter, age 9.
Willie, son, age 7.
Eugene, son, age 5.
Jennie, daughter, age 2.
Georgie, daughter, age 8 months.

Jennie's sister, my great great grandmother Minnie, also died of uterine cancer, but at an earlier age. Jennie was the informant on that record.

Death certificate of Minnie Caroline Cook, born Bishop.
Born February 19, 1866 in Newark.
Died March 25, 1910 at 224 North 3rd Street, Newark.

Why did Jennie move to Florida? Was she staying with any family? I have not found a marriage record for her.