Richard Buffington (1654-1748) was the immigrant ancestor of all persons with the Buffington surname who lived at any time in the Lykens Valley. He arrived in American about 1676 and first resided at Fenwick’s Colony, located at Salem, Salem County, New Jersey.
At Salem there was a giant oak tree with a plaque telling the story of the tree. The plaque is still there, but the tree is not.
FRIENDS BURIAL GROUND
A. D. 1676
THIS OAK TREE, A SURVIVOR OF THE ORIGINAL FOREST WAS STANDING HERE WHEN SALEM WAS FOUNDED BY JOHN FENWICK IN 1675. IT IS EIGHTY-EIGHT FEET HIGH AND ITS FOLIAGE COVERS ONE-QUARTER OF AN ACRE.
THIS TABLET WAS ERECTED ON OCTOBER 10TH 1925 BY THE NEW JERSEY SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA ON THE QUARTER MILLENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF SALEM
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On July 4, 2019, the Philadelphia Inquirer published an “obituary” for the tree which was written by Jessica Waddington, a member of the Friends Meeting of Salem. A few selected paragraphs are presented below:
On Thursday, June 6 at around 6:00 in the evening, the stately Salem Oak lay down, after standing tall for an estimated 600 years. She was at home, in the Salem Friends Burial Ground on Broadway, in the small historic town of Salem, New Jersey….
The Salem Oak is believed to have been part of the original forest that covered Salem County before Salem was established in 1675 by an English Quaker named John Fenwick. Legend states that Fenwick signed a treaty with the local Lenni Lenape under the shade of the Oak’s wide-reaching branches. This was one of the few treaties with Native Americans that has never been broken, and the Quakers of Salem continue to have a strong relationship with the Lenni Lenape. Fenwick would later build a homestead not far from the mighty tree….
The Salem Oak’s life span was double the 300-year average of most white oaks. In that time, she witnessed the clearing of her forest home and many other events that history has forgotten. She saw Lenni Lenape, early Quakers, European settlers, free African Americans, and their descendants, grow, build, and gather around her. She watched as Revolutionary War soldiers marched through her peaceful town…
Not long after Richard Buffington arrived at Salem, he became one of 151 signatories to the Concessions and Agreements of the Proprietors, Freeholders and Inhabitants of the Province of West New Jersey in America. The document is considered to be the first self-governing document agreed to and signed by English settlers at any place in the Americas.
The document was signed by Buffington on or around March 3, 1676 (old style), and a very short time after that, he left the colony and headed across the Delaware River to an area of Pennsylvania formerly part of the Swedish colony of Uppland/Upland, near what is now Chester, Pennsylvania. At Upland, Richard Buffington raised a large family whose descendants spread throughout the country. Descendants of Richard’s son Thomas Buffington, Benjamin Buffington (1730-1814) and his son George Buffington (1759-1830) were the first to settle in the Lykens Valley after serving in the Revolutionary War.
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Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.
[Indians]