A Fraktur Birth Certificate of Abraham Jones, Attributed to "The New Jersey Artist," Burlington County, New Jersey, 1753

Skinner Inc., Boston, Massachusetts, 2008;

Susan Widder, Milford, Ohio, April 14, 2009.

Leslie and Peter Warwick, "The Birth Records of Burlington County, New Jersey," Antiques & Replica Handbags Magazine, Spring 2010, vol. X, Issue 2, pp. 176-85;

Leslie and Peter Warwick, Love At First Sight: Discovering Stories About Folk Art & Antiques Collected by Two Generations & Three Families, (New Jersey: 2022), pp. 210-2, fig. 373.

Abraham Jones was the oldest child of Samuel Jones and Abigail Rogers of Burlington County, New Jersey. Abraham married Elizabeth Bolton in 1773 and they had one child, Elizabeth, who married William Shinn, related to Caleb AL Shinn, see lot 53. Abraham’s father and mother were founding members of the Baptist Church of Pemberton, which is exceptional given that the majority of birth records by the 'New Jersey artist' were made for Quaker families with this record for Abraham, a Baptist, being one of two rare exceptions. Abraham’s father served in the New Jersey Regiment in the Revolution which may allude to the procession of soldiers in Abraham’s birth record, a practice that Quakers would not have taken part of.

Of the twenty birth records attributed to the “New Jersey Artist” The Warwicks discovered differences in the border decoration, allowing them to divide the works into three time periods. The first group, consisting of five birth records including this one, made before the Revolution, contained elaborate borders, while the second group, seven birth records made during the Revolution, had very plain borders, while the third group, eight birth records made after the Revolution, returned to having elaborate borders. The works ceased production altogether in July 1804, after a ban was placed on birth records made by the 'New Jersey Artist' upon the review of the governing committee of the Westtown School, the secondary school for Quakers in Pennsylvania, who felt the images on the records were contrary to Quaker simplicity. The only post-1804 record by the 'New Jersey Artist' found was for a non-Quaker child dated 1806.