178 EARLY BISTORT OF CAPK MAY COUNTY. 



shallop and went by water, gathered a considerable estate, but more 

 knowledge than money. The 12th day of October, 1714, married 

 Lydia Shaw, widow of William Shaw,* and daughter of John Par- 

 sons. By her he had four children, Aaron, Jeremiah, Matthias, and 

 Elizabeth. He was first a justice of the peace at Cape May. In 

 1723 he was made Clerk of Cape May ; and in October, 1727, he 

 was chosen assemblyman, and served in that post till July, 1744. 

 He was universally confessed to have had a superior knowledge ; he 

 amassed large possessions, and did more for his children than any 

 Cape May man has ever done. He left a clear estate, and was 

 buried in the church-yard in Philadelphia. At Salem and Alloway's 

 Creek he became acquainted with Sarah Hall, an aged Quaker lady, 

 mother of Clement Hall. She herself was an eminent lawyer for 

 those times, and had a large collection of books, and very rich, and 

 took delight in my father on account of his sprightly wit and 

 genius, and his uncommon fondness for the law, which he read in 

 her library, though a boy, and very small of his age (for he was a 

 little man), and could not write ; for the Presbyterians of New 

 England had taken no other care of his education than to send Mm 

 to meeting." 



Aaron Leaming, the author of the foregoing manuscript relating 

 to his father and grandfather, was one of the most prominent and 

 influential men the county ever produced. The family lost nothing 

 in caste through him. He was a heavy land operator, and a member 

 of the Legislature for thirty years. From the manuscript he left 

 behind him, which is quite voluminous, it would appear he was a 

 man of great industry and much natural good sense, well educated 

 for the times, and withal a little tinged with aristocracy; a trait of 

 character not unexceptionable under the royal prerogative. No 

 man ever received greater honors from the county, and none, per- 

 haps, better deserved them. The Legislature selected him, and 

 Jacob Spicer second of our county, to compile the laws of the State, 



* William Shaw died in the epidemic of 1713. 



