This site represents my efforts over the past year to gather as much information as possible on the early history of the Thorpes of Woodbridge, New Jersey.  The research began as a passing interest in a few of my husband's ancestors and quickly grew into an obsession regarding the New Jersey Thorpes.  As far as I know, no one has ever compiled as much information as you will find here on the history of the Woodbridge Thorpes in New Jersey from the 1600's to the late 1800's, prior to their migrations to Pennslyvania and Ohio in the 1790's.

The lineage begins with Thomas Thorpe (1631) of  "Ipswich" (Massachusetts? England? The sources don't say) who married Rebecca Milward at Boston in 1656.  The couple relocated to Brookhaven, Long Island, where they remained for over twenty years and where all their children were born.  By the 1680's, they again relocated to Woodbridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey, where they lived out the remainder of their lives. 

Their descendants continued to reside in Woodbridge and Perth Amboy, New Jersey,  for over 200 years. In addition, they are clearly the ancestors of other Thorpes from neighboring Monmouth and Union Counties, New Jersey.  The connection between this lineage and Thorpes from Morris & Somerset Counties is less clear, though, and will hopefully be clarified through the results of the DNA Project.

I will be adding descendant files to this site in the future as soon as they are completed.  These branches of the tree are simply too large to include in the original Thomas Thorpe file and deserve a separate file of their own.  These include the descendants of Reuben Thorpe (b. 1755, Woodbridge, NJ, d. 1848 Fayette County, PA), Benjamin Thorpe (1759, Woodbridge, NJ, d. 1837 Green County, PA), Keziah Thorpe (1706, Woodbridge, NJ, m. Job Conger).   I will also be adding photographs and scanned documents of wills and estate files to this research.  I appreciate your patience as I put these files together.

I know there still remains a lot of research to be done, many blank spaces to be filled in.  I have done the best I could gathering sources and making sense of the somewhat jumbled information these sources have provided.  I am hoping this site may allow some researchers to fill in pieces of the puzzles for their own Thorpe ancestors. 

Please feel free to contact me at ellenlevy66@yahoo.com if you have any questions or comments you'd like to share with me.  I am particularly interested in hearing from those who believe their own Thorpe ancestor may belong to this lineage, as well as descendants of other New Jersey Thorpe lineages.  I have found many variations of this surname in my research, including Tharp, Thorp, Tarp and occasionally Sharp. 

I continue to look for descendants of the "Dutch" Thorpes (Cornelius, John and Timothy Thorp, born early 1700's, of New York City) whom I believe are closely related to the Woodbridge line.  These Thorpes married into the Uit Den Bogart, Heermans (Heremans), and Spekse families of the Dutch Reformed Church of New York City.  If you believe you are a descendant of these families, I'd love to hear from you!

Finally, I'd like to thank all those who have supported me in this endeveaor and provided much of the material contained in my Thorpe file.  In particular, I'd like to thank researchers Tami Gaugler and Teena Troock.  I have tried to give credit where credit is due throughout these file.  Many of my sources of information are accessible through your local LDS Family History Center.  Much gratitude also goes to two sources: Naomi Tharp Spinner's "From New Jersey to Pennsylvania to Ohio and Beyond: Our Tharp Ancestors," and Charles Gardiner's original notes on early New Jersey ancestors, called "New Jersey Families 1600-1900," housed in the Rutger's University Library.

Please note that I have tried to exclude any living persons from this file to protect their privacy.  I also have not included descendants born after 1910, since there is a possibility that they still may be living.

To access the Thorpe file, click on the link, "Woodbridge Thorpes," below.  To access information on Rebecca Milward's ancestors, including information on the related families Pierce, Goodale, Beachena, Tappan, click on the link, "Milward Ancestors," below.  To access information on descendants of David Thorpe (d. 1836, m. Charlotte Arnold), including Brinley and Ogden descendants, click on the link, "David Thorpe," below.  Extensive information on the branch of Abner Thorpe (1731, m. Eunice Brown) is included in the larger Woodbridge Thorpe file.