[Image source: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23642910/janet-rhea#view-photo=137139257]
One of the most important early Scottish ancestors of the Kinzie-Gordon clan was Janet Hampton Rhea (1668-1761), Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Low’s great-great-great-great grandmother. Janet was part of the wave of Quakers who fled Scotland for the Americas in pursuit of religious freedom.
Born in East Lothian, near Edinburgh, fifteen-year-old Janet Hampton immigrated with her family to Monmouth County, New Jersey. She soon met and married another Scottish Quaker immigrant, Robert Rhea, who hailed from West Lothian, on the other side of Edinburgh. Together they became influential members of colonial Monmouth County.
Described by contemporaries as “a woman of dominating spirit,” Janet never lost her thick Scottish lilt, nor her independent nature. Despite fleeing Scotland due to religious persecution by British authorities, Janet and Robert both converted to the Anglican faith as followers of controversial, renegade Anglican missionary George Keith.
After Robert’s death, however, Janet converted to the Presbyterian faith practiced by the majority of Scottish immigrants in colonial New Jersey. She is even credited with influencing the exact placement of Old Tennent Church, a central hub for the local community. Surviving to an incredible 93 years old, even Janet’s numerous great-grandchilden remembered her well. She was, in many ways, matriarch for the entire community.
Signs of Janet’s influence still abound throughout Monmouth County, including the existence of Janet Rhea Road, named in her honor. So the next time you are passing through New Jersey, listen closely and you might still hear the “dominating spirit” of Janet Hampton Rhea whispering an old Scottish ballad in the thick lilt of her homeland.
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