The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
Jacob Bockoven (Backoffen) was born 24 August 1738 in Bischwiller, Bas Rhin, France to Johann Peter and Maria Elisabetha (Gsell).
He married Elizabeth Whitenack in September or October 1765 and their marriage was blessed with Anna, Jacob, Easter (Esther?), George, and Elizabeth.
Jacob was appointed Captain of a militia company raised 1776 in Wantage Township. Jacob’s Company was part of Second Regiment, New Jersey Troops, Regiment of Artillery, Sussex County. Jacob’s brother George served as a Private in Jacob’s Company and married Elizabeth’s sister.
There appears to be no definitive record of his age or birthdate in American records. The situation is summarized in Genealogies of New Jersey Families, vol. II, 813-814 (1996), compiled from the Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey:
"In the course of applying for a pension as the widow of a Revolutionary War soldier, Elizabeth Bockoven made a sworn statement 22 December 1837 in Delaware County, Ohio, in which she was described as being of Berlin Township in that County, aged 92 years. She stated that she was the widow of Captain Jacob Bockoven who served in the New Jersey militia during the Revolution. He was appointed captain of a company raised in his neighborhood at Wantage, Sussex County, in 1776. She was married to him in September or October 1765. He died 19 March 1819.
"Elizabeth's two sons were called on for statements in her behalf in the course of which they made some valuable genealogical comments.
"Jacob Bockoven of Knox County, Ohio made a deposition 12 December 1837 in Delaware County in which he was described as being a son of Captain Jacob Bockoven formerly of the New Jersey militia and Elizabeth his wife. He made the following statements. “I was born in Morris County, New Jersey, 6 February 1768. My father in March 1774 moved to Wantage Township, Sussex County, where he resided during the Revolutionary War and until his death 19 March 1819 and was then said to be 84 years of age and was born according to the best information I have in 1735. My father was maried [sic] to my mother Elizabeth in September or October 1765 in Morris County. My mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Whitenac [and she] was born at her father's residence, Blickard Whitenac, in Morris County in the year 1746 and is now 91 or 92 years of age. I often heard when I was a boy that they were married by Doct. Kennedy a Presbyterian clergyman. My mother was the youngest of her family and now the only survivor.... I removed from New Jersey to Knox County where I now reside about six years since.”
"On the same date, 12 December 1837, George Bockoven made the following statement under oath. 'I am a son of Elizabeth Bockoven and of Captain Jacob Bockoven. I was born June 26, 1774. I have no record, and now of none, of the age or marriage of my father and mother. They had but five children a record of their several ages hereto attached taken from a leaf of my family Bible which was copied from an old book which entry was made by my father, and copied on the attached leaf about twenty-five or thirty years since. Since my father's death my mother has always resided with me. In 1823 my mother removed from New Jersey with me to where I now reside in Delaware County.' [Revolutionary War pension application, W4131] Number 3808 of the GSNJ Family Records Collection.
From the above, it seems clear that the family did not possess a definite record of Jacob's birth, unlike the family of his brother George, which noted his exact date (though that is apparently his date of baptism) and that he was born in Alsace. They also expressed uncertainty about his age. Hence, we give somewhat less weight to another tradition that says Jacob was born in Leiden. Rather, the supposed Dutch origin seems more likely the result of the "Hollandization" of the surname Bachoffen to Bockoven. The similarity of Bockoven to other surnames occuring in Morris County, such as Covenhoven, would have led to the supposition of Dutch origins.
He passed this life on 19 March 1819 and is buried in Wantage Township, Somerset County, New Jersey.
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