FATHER

John Bainbridge

MOTHER

Sarah Clows

WIFE

Abigail White

CHILDREN

1.. Peter  Bainbridge  b. 20/Mar/1720-21

2. John Bainbridge b. 22/Jun/1723

3. Sarah Bainbridge b. 1726

4. Edmund Bainbridge b. 08/Feb/1728

5. Absalom Bainbridge b. 03/Feb/1740-41

6. Abigail Bainbridge b. 12 Dec 1742

Ancestry of William Seaman Bainbridge  by Louis Effingham De Forest, 1950
Most of the references to Edmund in the records relate to the serious difficulties in which he placed himself in 1747 because of his fears that the proprietors were going to take away some of his land. On April 7, 1747, he wrote a private letter to Nathaniel Camp of Newark about this threat and the measures being taken to prevent it. "If I lost my Estate," he wrote, "and could not live in fassion, should chuse an unknown land." The letter got into unknown hands and was forwarded to Chief Justice Morris of New Jersey, Edmund being referred to as "one of the Newark Committee" on the land question. With other "disaffected" he signed a congratulatory address to Governor Belcher in 1747, apparently in the hope of receiving assistance from the Executive. His son, John, was active with him in is protests and early in 1747, probably in May, father and son were leaders of a mob of rioters which broke open the jail at Somerset and rescued some men charged with high treason. John was caught and placed in jail at Perth Amboy being "indicted for a Riot in Somerset County and presented at Hunterdon County Sessions." On July 17, 1747, Edmund led a mob, variously estimated as between seventy and two hundred persons, to the Perth Amboy Jail and rescued his son. The Sheriff had a writ for Edmund on a charge of high treason and arrested him but he was taken out of the hands of the law and the rescuing party got away. A spectator wrote to Chief Justice Morris that "Bainbridge the Father and his Son had (afterwards) the Impudence Attended by a few more to ride through the town". Serious charges were prepared against Edmund Bainbridge reading: "Indicted for a Riot in Somerset County, Recorded for a Riot in Middlesex County, Indicted for High Treason in Middlesex County, and presented for a Riot at Hunterdon County Session of the Peace". However, he seems to have escaped punishment and on August 18, 1748, he and his son John took oaths and gave bond, taking "the Benefit of the late Act of Grace; Entitled, An Act to Pardon the Person guilty of the Insurrections, Riots, and disorders raised and Committed in this Province".
The plantation owned by Edmund, or at least part of his property, was situated on Stony Brook, East Jersey.
 

WILL DATED JULY 17, 1763.  BAINBRIDGE, EDMUND, THE ELDER, OF MAIDENHEAD, HUNTERDON COUNTY, N.J.; WILL OF:  I DESIRE MY GRAVE TO BE BESIDE THOSE OF MY CHILDREN AND I ORDER A TOMB TO BE ERECTED, AND, AT THE DEATH OF MY WIFE, I ORDER ONE FOR HER.

WIFE, ABIGAIL  15 POUNDS YEARLY, AND SHE TO BOARD WITH MY SON ABSALOM.   SON, JOHN 100 POUNDS.  SON PETER 100 POUNDS. SON, EDMUND  100 POUNDS.  DAUGHTER ABIGAIL, 50 POUNDS.  GRANDDAUGHTERS, SARAH AND CATHERINE HALL, DAUGHTER, SARAH, 60 POUNDS.  GRANDCHILDREN -- FRANCIS, SARAH AND CATHERINE HALL.  TO MY GRANDSON, EDMUND, THE SON OF JOHN; EDMUND, THE SON OF PETER; AND EDMUND, THE SON OF EDMUND, 10 POUNDS EACH.  SON, ABSALOM, REST OF GOODS, AND MY LANDS, WHEN 21; BUT IF HE DIE, THEN HIS SHARE TO GO TO MY CHILDREN -- JOHN, PETER, EDMUND, ABIGAIL, AND SARAH.  EXECUTORS -- MY WIFE AND SON, ABSALOM.  WITNESSES--JOSEPH HIGBEE, ABRAHAM HUNT, JOSEPH REED, JR. PROVED APRIL 16, 1770.  LIBER 14, PAGE #293.