Captain John (Jan) Outwater (1746 – 1823) American Revolutionary War Militia Commander, One of America’s First Civil Court Judges and New Jersey State Legislators

Revolutionary War Weekend Encampment 2020

Outwater’s Milita recruitment

de Vergule Bever – A Story of the Outwaters of America and New Amsterdam

Captain John Outwater (SAR Patriot No. P-263970) and his Bergen Co., New Jersey Militia mustered in early 1777. His soldiers were mainly local farmers who lacked any formal professional military training. However, they performed together quite well indeed in discharging his primary orders from General George Washington to disrupt British supply caravans and patrols traveling along the Hackensack River with guerrilla warfare tactics . So much so that today their exploits are reenacted annually by the Outwater Militia Society of Bergen County, New Jersey.

After the war Jan became one of America’s first trial court judges. He was also one of New Jersey’s first legislators. In that capacity, he’s remembered as introducing America’s first women’s suffrage legislation.

Many of his cousins served with distinction as Continental Army soldiers. For instance, Princeton College graduate Dr Thomas Outwater (1731 – 1804) was a noted battlefield surgeon who served as a Reformed Dutch Church minister after the war.

Entitled de Vergulde Bever , The Patricians blog article I wrote provides additional information about the original Outwater’s North American history.

Frans Jacobson van Oudewater (1635 – 1665) is the eponymous primogenitor of the Outwaters of North America. Edwin Outwater III and Gregory M. Outwater, two of his descendants, served on the board of trustees of The Holland Society of New York .

The following information was researched and authored by Robert J. Shanahan, Jr, Esq., founder of the Outwater’s Militia Society:

Outwater’s Company of Bergen County Militia was created “when the Hessians were taken at Trenton, a spirit of resistance seemed to revive amongst the peoples, a Company was then formed at Hackensack out of the inhabitants who remained true to Whig principles …. the company chose the Officers of John Outwater … Captain, Adam Boyd Lieut, Abraham Allen Ensign.” (From the Pension Application of David Bogert). During the course of the American War for Independence, Outwater’s Company was one of many Bergen Militia Companies that patrolled the “Neutral Ground,” attempted to prevent Loyalist Raids and trading with New York City, gathered intelligence, performed guard duty of prisoners and involved in numerous military actions in Bergen County.

In December 1780, the NJ State legislature commissioned the company Outwater’s Company, New Jersey State Troops, seen as a cut above ordinary militia, due to longer military service and more intensive military duties. Following the War, Captain John Outwater was an early leader in NJ and the formation of Bergen County under the new form of government. Outwater, would be elected to the NJ State Assembly. As a New Jersey Assemblyman it was said he co-sponsored an amendment to the 1797 election law which continued the right of women to vote in state and municipal elections.

The last election won by Outwater for the Assembly was in 1815. Other post war offices held by Outwater were:
– Bergen County Freeholder (1786); Bergen County Justice (1791-1794)
– Council Member, Village of Hackensack (1796-1807)
– Justice of the Court of Common Pleas (1800).

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Captain John (Jan) Outwater
Birth 17 SEPTEMBER 1746 in Moonachie, Bergen, New Jersey, USA
Death 18 MAY 1823 in Moonachie, Bergen, New Jersey, USA

Ancestry.com citation/Lineages

5th great-grandfather COLLINS

FamilySearch

Frans Jacobsen van Oudewater
BIRTH 1635 in Oudewater, Oudewater, Utrecht, Netherlands
DEATH 1665 in Bergen County, NJ

8th great-grandfather COLLINS

SOURCES

Captain John Outwater Wiki 

Outwater Militia Website 

CAPTAIN JOHN OUTWATER AND HIS MILITIA:
BERGEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 1776-1781 

Find-a-Grave 

Capt John Outwater’s Facebook page 

Digest And Revision Of Stryker’s Officers And Men Of New Jersey In The Revolutionary War

Official register of the officers and men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War

The Patricians, A Genealogical Study – Ebook Editions US$7.95

Author at Harrod’s Deli – London

Steven Wood Collins (1952 – ) Antiquarian, Genealogist, Novelist