Cornelius Lezenby and Eliza Wilson, Immigrants
and some of their Ancestors
and Descendants

SAMUEL W.² LEZENBY (Cornelius¹) was born at Manchester, Lancashire, England, about 1839-40 a son of Cornelius Lezenby and his wife Eliza Wilson.^[1] He died at Camden, Camden County, New Jersey, on 11 June 1872.^[2] He married at Camden County, on 4 December 1865 ANNA LETITIA DODD.^[3] She was born at Camden on 24 August 1845, a daughter of Richard and Alice Dodd.^[4] She died at Camden on 28 February 1926.^[5] Anna married as her second husband about 1872-3 JOSIAH HACKNEY. He was born at New Jersey about November 1829,^[6] and was still living at the time of the 1920 Census. He had previously married, as his first wife, at Gloucester, Camden County, on 15 November 1855, CATHERINE E. PRATT,^[7] who was born at New Jersey about 1835-6, and died at Gloucester County, New Jersey, on 22 March 1871.^[8]

The 1850 and 1860 censuses gave Samuel Lezenby an age which indicated a birth between 1 June 1839 and 31 May 1840. However, he does not appear in the British Census, taken on 6 June 1841, and his parents were not married until 22 August of that year.

Samuel would have been about six yers old when he came to America with his parents and three younger siblings. The family lived first at Norristown, Pennsylvania, but by 1851, when Samuel was about ten or eleven, they moved to Camden, New Jersey. Samuel was the oldest of ten children, all of whom lived to adulthood. The last was born when Samuel was about 20.

Samuel's father, Cornelius, was a master blacksmith, and by 1860 Samuel was an apprenticed blacksmith.^[9]

Samuel fought in the Civil War, and saw frequent action with the Army of the Potomac. He enlisted for three years on 23 May 1861, and was placed in Company E of the First Regiment of New Jersey Infantry. Because we know what regiment he was in, and where that regiment fought, we can identify with all probability where and when he saw action.

• His regiment fought in the First Battle of Bull Run, 25 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., on 21 July, 1861, which marked the Union's first attempt to begin an advance on Richmond, and which ended in a Rebel rout.
• In the Spring of 1862 the Union Army began an advance on Richmond from the east. Samuel's regiment saw action at West Point, Virginia, 7 May, Gaines Farm, 27 June,  Charles City Cross Roads, 30 June, and Malvern Hill, 1July. Although only sixteen miles from Richmond, Union forces withdrew.
• In the Northern Virginia Campaign of 1862, Union forces attempted to push south but failed. Samuel's regiment saw action at Manassas, 27 August, and Chantilly, 1 September.
• When the rebel Army attempted to invade the north in 1862, the First New Jersey fought in a skirmish at Crampton's Pass, on 14 September,  and at the major Union victory at Antietam on 17 September. Samuel Lezenby was promoted to Corporal on 1 November 1862.
• Samuel's regiment participated in the ill-fated Battle of Fredericksburg 13-14 December, 1862. He was promoted to Sergeant on 1 March 1863.
• During the Chancellorsville Campaign in the summer of 1863, another attempt by the Union Army to advance to the south, Samuel's regiment fought again at Fredericksburg, 3 May, and Salem Heights, 3 and 4 May.
• When the rebel Army again invaded the North, in the summer of 1863, Samuel's regiment fought at Gettysburg, 2 and 3 July and in pursuit of the retreating rebel forces at Fairfield, Pennsylvania, 5 July, Williamsport, Maryland, 6 July, and Funktown, Maryland, 12 July.
• In two campaigns to advance to the south, that were stopped by rebel forces, Samuel fought at Rappahannock Station, 12 October, and again 7 November, and  Mine Run, 30 November.
• Ulysses S. Grant took over the direction of forces in the East, and commenced the Overland Campaign in May of 1864. In spite of heavy casualties, the Union Army advanced steadily toward Richmond. New Jersey first Regiment saw action at  Wilderness, 5-7 May, Spottsylvania, 8-10 May, Spottsylvania Court House, 12 to 16 May, North and South Anna River, 24 May; Hanover Court House, 29 May, Tolopotomy Creek, 30-31 May, and Cold Harbor, 1-3 June.

Samuel's short life lasted only seven years beyond the close of the war. He was married in 1865; their only child was born in 1867. Samuel Lezenby was not reported in the 1870 Census; his wife and son were living with her parents at Camden.^[11] He applied for a military pension as an invalid on 6 May 1871, and died in 1872.^[12]

Widow Anna (Dodd) Lezenby and widower Josiah Hackney were married about 1872-3, one year after her husband's death and two years after his wife's death. The blended family consisted of Josiah Hackney, 43, Anna, 28, Martha Hackney, 13, Alice Hackney, 11, Mary Hackney, 8, Richard Lezenby, 5, and Katie Hackney, 4. The family was reported at Willingborough, Burlington County, New Jersey, in the 1880 Census,^[13] and at Delran, Burlington County, in the 1900, 1910 and 1920 censuses.^[14] Josiah Hackney was described as a farmer in 1880, a harness maker in 1900 and 1910, and without occupation in 1920. I have no further record of Josiah Hackney beyond the 1920 census, when he was 91 years old;^[11] Anna applied for a widow's pension on the basis of her first husband's military service, on 26 October 1920. She died in 1926 and is buried at Bridgeboro Methodist Cemetery, Bridgeboro, Burlington County.^[15]

Samuel Lezenby and his wife Anna Dodd had the following child:

1. RICHARD STEWART³ LEZENBY b. at Camden County on October 1867.

Josiah Hackney and his first wife Catherine E. Pratt had the following children:^[16]

1. MARTHA P. HACKNEY b. at Gloucester on 21 October 1959.^[17]
2. ALICE HACKNEY b. at New Jersey about 1861-2.
3. MARY HACKNEY b. at New Jersey about 1864-5; d. at New Jersey on 24 May 1876.^[18]
4. KATIE P. HACKNEY b. at New Jersey about 1868-9; m. at Camden on 28 November 1887 WILLIAM L. WIGHT, b. about 1866-7.^[19]

¹Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population, Norristown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, roll 800, p. 274B-275A, household 623, Cornelius Lezenby family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 4 December 2014); NARA Microfilm Publication M432; Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
²United States Veterans Administration, "Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900, compiled 1949 - 1949, documenting the period 1861 - 1942," digital images of index cards, Fold3 (fold3.com : accessed 13 July 2018), New Jersey, Samuel W. Lezenby; National Archives and Records Administration
³Craig H. Stanley, "Camden County New Jersey Marriages," Merchantville, New Jersey: Stanley Craig Pub., 1932; database, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 22 November 2008), Lezenby-Dodd, 1865.
⁴Bridgeboro Methodist Cemetery, Bridgeboro, Burlington County, New Jersey, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : database 29 May 2018), Anna Letitia Dodd Hackney; Created by: Dave B.
⁵Ibid.
⁶Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population, Delran, Burlington County, New Jersey, enumeration district (ED) 17, roll 956, p. 1B, household 18, Josiah Hackney family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 9 September 2015); NARA microfilm group T623; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
⁷"New Jersey, Marriages, 1678-1985," index, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 9 September 2015), Hackney-Pratt, 1855.
⁸New Jersey Department of State, Division of Archives and Record Management, Trenton, New Jersey "New Jersey Deaths and Burials, 1670-1988," index, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 9 September 2015), Catherine L. Hackney, 1871.
⁹Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population, Camden, Camden County, New Jersey, roll 686, p. 556-7, household 490, Cornelius Lezenby family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 1 December 2014); NARA microfilm publication M653; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
¹⁰William S. Stryker, Record of Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Civil War, 1861 - 1865 (Trenton, N. J.: John L. Murphy, 1876, New Jersey State Library, http://slic.njstatelib.org), 82.
¹¹Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, population, Camden, Camden County, New Jersey, roll 856, p. :364A, household 350, Alice Dodd family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 1 December 2014); NARA microfilm publication M593, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
¹²"Organization Index to Pension Files," New Jersey, Samuel W. Lezenby.
¹³Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population, Willingborough, Burlington County, New Jersey, enumeration district (ED) 36, roll 773, p. 581C, household 30, Josiah Hackney family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 30 November 2014); NARA microfilm publication T9; Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
¹⁴1900 Census, Population, Delran, Burlington County, New Jersey, ED 17, roll 956, p. 1B, household 18, Josiah Hackney family. Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910, population, Delran, Burlington County, New Jersey, enumeration district (ED) 60, p. 4B, household 95, Josiah Hackney family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 12 March 2018); NARA group T624, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920, population, Delran, Burlington County, New Jersey, enumeration district (ED) 80, roll 1020, p. 7A, household 156, Josuah Hackney family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 9 September 2015); NARA microfilm record group T625, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
¹⁵Bridgeboro Methodist Cemetery, Anna Letitia Dodd Hackney; Created by: Dave B.
¹⁶1870 Census, Population, Gloucester, Camden County, New Jersey, roll 855, p. 156A, household 116, Josiah Hackney family.
¹⁷"New Jersey, Births and Christenings, 1660-1980," index, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 9 September 2015), Martha B. Hackney, 1859.
¹⁸New Jersey Department of State, Division of Archives and Record Management, "New Jersey Deaths and Burials, 1670-1988," Family Search, Mary H.. Hackney, 1876.
¹⁹New Jersey State Archives Trenton, New Jersey, "New Jersey, Marriage Records, 1670-1965," database, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 29 May 2018), Wright-Hackney, 1887.

Bridgeboro Methodist Cemetery, Bridgeboro, Burlington County, New Jersey. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2018.

New Jersey Department of State, Division of Archives and Record Management, Trenton, New Jersey. "New Jersey Deaths and Burials, 1670-1988." Index. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2015.

________, Trenton, New Jersey. "New Jersey, Marriage Records, 1670-1965." Database. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2018.

"New Jersey, Births and Christenings, 1660-1980." Index. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2015.

"New Jersey, Marriages, 1678-1985." Index. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2015.

Stanley, Craig H. "Camden County New Jersey Marriages." Merchantville, New Jersey: Stanley Craig Pub., 1932; database. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2008.

Stryker, William S. Record of Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Civil War, 1861 - 1865. Trenton, N. J.: John L. Murphy, 1876, New Jersey State Library, http://slic.njstatelib.org.

United States Department of the Census. Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2014.

________. Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2014.

________. Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2014.

________. Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2014.

________. Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2015.

________. Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2018.

________. Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2015.

United States Veterans Administration, "Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900, compiled 1949 - 1949, documenting the period 1861 - 1942." Digital images of index cards. Fold3. fold3.com : 2018.