A remarkable group of eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century birth records has survived. Attributed to the “New Jersey Artist,” the twenty records were created for fourteen prosperous families of English descent living in Burlington County, New Jersey. Beginning in 1677, Burlington County was settled by members of the Society of Friends. In 1745 they comprised 50 percent of the county’s population––more than in any other county in the state.1 Of the families whose birth records are attributed to the artist, eight were members of the Society of Friends, four families show no evidence of ever being Friends,2 and it is unclear if the remaining two families were members of the Society, since only one member of each couple was raised as a Friend.3 The birth records show a beautiful and colorful world, full of fantasy and leisure, far from the stereotypical image of Friends dressed in somber colors toiling on their farms, as shown in such paintings as The Residence of David Twining by the painter and Society of Friends minister, Edward Hicks (1780–1849).
