26th Reunion, August 20, 1938

 Jonathan & Ankey Pidcock Graves Marker. Jonathan’s biography

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Left to Right: Harriet Pidcock, ?, George M. Pidcock, Ethel Moore, Hazel Burns, Ed Moore, Closson Bright, Ellen Johnson, ?,?,?, Gladys Pidcock
Children: Virginia Burns, Edna May Moore

The twenty-fifth annual reunion held August 20, l938, proved to be a memorable occasion. For it was that year that President Edwin Moore of Trenton, New Jersey, invited family members to participate in the unveiling of the bronze tablet at the grave of Jonathan Pidcock who was buried on Bowman’s Hill.

George M. Pidcock, Honorary President and founder of the Pidcock Family Association, made the presentation. He said in part:

“Back in the sixties and seventies, my grandmother, Mary Godown Pidcock, widow of a grandson and namesake of that Jonathan Pidcock, who lies buried here, used to point to this hill and tell me that this spot contained the graves of Jonathan Pidcock, his wife Ankey, and other Pidcocks. Later, my father, Peter Studdiford Pidcock, used to bring his children here and repeat the story. At that time the graves were well defined. I would remind you that when Jonathan Pidcock was buried early in l8l2, Mary Godown Pidcock was a woman some twenty-eight years of age and doubtless attended his funeral, and that my own father, born a few years later, could remember the time when these graves were as fresh as those among our own immediate families.

Jonathan Pidcock, born 1729, lived in Lambertville, and built the Prime Hope Mills, continuing the milling tradition of the Pidcock family in America, which began with John Pidcock. When the Revolutionary War came, he was already well along in middle age. Nevertheless, we find him enlisted in John Phillips’ Company a long with his sone Charles. As the years passed Jonathan Pidcock prospered and when his end came his estate amounted to $15,804.43 a considerable amount in that early day. Dr. Flood, we have placed this tablet, not becuase we look upon Jonathan Pidcock as a great man. We would have him remembered as a hardy, substantial citizen, loyal to his country and raising his family, in the fear of God.”

Dr. Flood, we have placed this tablet not because we look upon Jonathan Pidcock as a great man. We would have him remembered as a hardy, substantial citizen, loyal to his country, and raising his family, as facts bear out, in the fear of God.

To you, Dr. Flood, as the representative of the Washington Crossing Park Commission, we present this tablet in the hope that it will be an addition to the historical interest of the Park.

The tablet which bore the inscription “Here lie buried Jonathan and his wife Ankey and other members of the Pidcock Family” , was unveiled by Edna May Moore, daughter of the President, Edwin Moore of Trenton, New Jersey, and Ralph Pidcock, son of Edwin Pidcock of Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Flood accepted the tablet on behalf of the Washington Crossing Park Commission and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He stated that he was pleased to have the graves of pioneers and patriots who aided in the building up of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania marked in such an appropriate manner. He then presented George M. Pidcock, founder of the association, with two gifts; a briar pipe and a sterling silver bowl with an inscription which read, “In devoted service on this, the twenty-fifth anniversary (l9l3-l938) of the founding of the Pidcock Family Reunion and the establishing of the Association.”

– Taken from “Weekly Review” White House Station, NJ August 23, 1938 and Sunday “Trenton Times” Aug. 21, 1938

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