Using the ABC method described in Using Artificial Intelligence In the Ancestor Biography Creation (ABC) Process, here is another ancestor couple biography using the Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5 AI tool.
3) The Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5 biography (lightly edited), after requesting more detailed information, is:
The Philip Row and Mary (Smith) Row Family of New Jersey
Early Life and Origins
Philip Row was born in December 1752, likely in New Jersey, though the exact location remains uncertain. His heritage was probably German, reflecting the strong German settlement patterns in colonial New Jersey. The identity of his parents has not been conclusively established, though some genealogists have suggested various connections to German immigrant families in the region.
Mary Smith entered the world in November 1750, also believed to be in New Jersey. Like Philip, she was likely of German ancestry, part of the vibrant German-speaking community that had established roots in the colony. Details about her parents and early childhood have been lost to time, leaving only her later life documented through official records.
Marriage and Building a Family
On July 9, 1772, nineteen-year-old Philip Row married twenty-one-year-old Mary Smith in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. The ceremony was performed by Reverend Frederick Dellicker, marking the beginning of a partnership that would endure through war, hardship, and the challenges of frontier life. Philip carefully recorded the details of their marriage in his German family Bible, noting both their ages at the time of their union—a document that would prove invaluable decades later.
Just over a year after their wedding, on July 19, 1773, their first child Mary arrived, beginning what would become a family of eight children. The young couple settled in New Germantown (now Oldwick) in Tewksbury Township, Hunterdon County, where they would raise their family and build their lives. The area was home to many German-speaking families, and five of the Row children were baptized at the Zion Lutheran Church in Oldwick, with their names recorded in the German style as "Rau."
The Revolutionary War Years
When the American Revolution erupted in 1775, Philip Row answered the call to defend the new nation. He served as a militia soldier in the New Jersey Line throughout the entire conflict, from its beginning to its end. His service took him away from home repeatedly, sometimes for weeks or even months at a time, leaving Mary to manage their farm and care for their growing family alone.
Philip began his service as a private in Captain Godfrey Reinhardt's company of the Hunterdon County Militia, carrying his rifle into battle. As the war progressed and Captain Reinhardt was promoted to Major, Philip rose through the ranks himself, first becoming an Ensign and later achieving the rank of Lieutenant. Mary would prepare his knapsack with provisions, fit him out with clothes and ammunition, and send him off wearing his officer's regimentals—a blue coat faced with red and bearing an epaulette on his shoulder.
The militia operated on a rotation system, with different classes called up for month-long tours of duty. When danger from the British was particularly acute, the entire militia would be mobilized. Philip's service record reads like a chronicle of New Jersey's Revolutionary experience. In July 1776, he served under Captain Reinhardt at an undisclosed location. The following month found him at Elizabethtown. In October and November 1776, he served under Lieutenant Cramer at Raritan and Elizabethtown, following General Washington's retreat through Jersey from Elizabethtown to New Brunswick during those dark days when the Continental Army seemed on the verge of collapse.
The winter of 1776-77 brought Philip to Trenton and New Brunswick, where he served under Captain Emmam during the critical period following Washington's famous Christmas crossing of the Delaware. These tours often extended beyond their expected duration—what should have been month-long assignments sometimes stretched to six weeks or more as military necessity demanded.
Philip participated in several significant engagements. He fought at the Battle of Millstone during the winter, serving with the Somerset troops under various commanders including Colonel Frelinghausen. Mary later recalled Philip pointing out to her the spot at Van Eps Mills where a battle had occurred as they rode toward New Brunswick. He served at Crane's Point near Elizabethtown in the fall, and on one memorable occasion, crossed at night from Elizabethtown to Staten Island for a raid on enemy positions. During this engagement, Philip lost his gun flint in the action and had to stop behind a corn crib to replace it and reload his rifle while the enemy closed in around him. As he rejoined his comrades and fired at the approaching enemy, their shots flew thick around him.
The Battle of Monmouth in June 1778 found Philip serving at Freehold and Englishtown, where he participated in the fighting, by then holding the rank of either Ensign or Lieutenant. He also fought at the Battle of Springfield, as well as at Short Hills and Ash Swamp. Near the end of the war, in February or March of 1780 or 1781, he was called out when the Pennsylvania troops mutinied, and the militia was mobilized to intercept them near Pluckemin.
Throughout these years of conflict, Mary managed the family farm and cared for their children, demonstrating the resilience and strength that characterized Revolutionary-era women. She would later testify that she believed Philip had faithfully performed not less than ten months of actual military service, though he was subject to militia duty throughout the entire war.
Family Life in Peacetime
Between 1773 and 1796, Philip and Mary welcomed eight children into their family, all born in Hunterdon County:
Mary Row (July 19, 1773 - May 17, 1862) married John Hubert on March 6, 1794, in Oldwick. Though they had no children, Mary lived a long life, dying at age 88 in Tewksbury.
Elisabetha Row (January 13, 1776 - May 1, 1857) married Jacob Adam Apgar before 1805. They had three children, and she spent her final years in Lebanon, Hunterdon County.
John Jacob Row (April 7, 1779 - February 2, 1837) married Elizabeth Hueven on December 13, 1803, and they had eight children together. After Elizabeth's death, he married Rebecca Vesselus on April 19, 1823, though this second marriage produced no children.
Peter Row (born about 1782, died 1816) married Catherine Case on March 12, 1808, in Oldwick. They had one child, but Peter's life was cut short when he died at age 34.
William Row (August 16, 1785) was baptized on September 7, 1785, in New Germantown. No further records of his life have been found.
Anna Row (born about 1787 - June 12, 1860) married Johannes Auble on July 15, 1804, in New Germantown. They had nine children, and Anna eventually relocated to Stillwater in Sussex County, where she died.
Phillip Johannes Row (born before October 11, 1791 - April 15, 1874) married Jane Johnson on January 26, 1815, in Somerset County. They had seven children. Phillip eventually moved westward, dying in Franklin, Indiana, at the age of 82 or 83.
Johannes Row (born about January 1795) was christened on September 4, 1796, in New Germantown. Like his brother William, no further record of his life has been discovered.
Philip kept his accounts and personal records in German, maintaining the language and customs of his heritage even as his family put down deep roots in American soil. He could not write in English, and when business required translation, he relied on neighbors like schoolmaster John Beammer who understood both languages.
Philip's Final Years and Death
On June 9, 1817, Philip Row sat down to write his will, describing himself as being "in a weak and low State of health but of sound mind and memory." He knew the uncertainty of life and wanted to ensure his family would be cared for after his death. His will directed that his personal estate be sold and enough of his real estate as well to pay all his debts. He made careful provision for Mary's support, directing that his sons Jacob and John should maintain her "in a decent and Comfortable manner during her Natural life" at equal expense, this arrangement serving in lieu of her dower rights.
To his daughters Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna, and to his son Peter (if living), he bequeathed five dollars each—token amounts suggesting these children had already received their portions. To his son Philip, he left fifty dollars. The residue of his estate, both real and personal, he divided equally between his sons Jacob and John, always subject to their responsibility to support their mother.
Philip died shortly after completing his will, before July 2, 1817, when his sons Jacob and John appeared before the Surrogate's Court in Flemington to prove the document. He was approximately 64 years old. His burial location in Hunterdon County has been lost to time.
Mary's Long Widowhood
Mary Row outlived her husband by more than a quarter century. She continued to live on the family farm in Tewksbury Township, likely residing with one of her sons' families. As she aged, her sight failed, and she became unable to distinguish one neighbor from another except by voice. Age brought physical infirmity that made travel impossible, leaving her largely confined to home.
In February 1840, at the age of 89 or 90, Mary made the arduous journey to provide testimony for a Revolutionary War pension application. Because of her blindness and infirmity, Judge Joseph Smith of Morris County came to her in Washington Township, just across the county line, rather than requiring her to travel the twenty miles to the Hunterdon County courthouse.
Mary's testimony, given under oath, provided a detailed account of Philip's Revolutionary War service—the battles he fought in, the officers he served under, the months he spent away from home. She recounted how she had prepared his knapsack and sent him off to war, how she had managed the farm and children in his absence, how he had pointed out battlefields to her in their travels together. Her memory, though frail, retained vivid details of those tumultuous years.
The pension application process proved frustratingly slow. Mary's claim was rejected or suspended for several years, caught up in bureaucratic delays. Finally, in 1849, her pension was approved at the rate of twenty dollars per annum. By a cruel irony, the certificate was dated March 1, 1849—over six years after Mary had died.
Mary Row passed away on October 9, 1843, in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, at approximately 92 years of age. Like her husband, her burial location has not been identified. She left behind two daughters and one surviving son, Phillip, who in 1850 wrote to the Pension Commissioners noting that he was "the only surviving son of Philip Row, dec'd an officer in the War of the Revolution."
Legacy
Philip and Mary Row's story embodies the experience of countless German-American families who helped build the young United States. They served their adopted country through years of Revolutionary struggle, raised a large family on the New Jersey frontier, and established roots that would spread across the growing nation. Their children and grandchildren would carry the family name and heritage into the nineteenth century and beyond, with some eventually moving westward to Indiana and other frontier territories.
Though their graves have been lost and many details of their daily lives forgotten, the official records they left behind—pension applications, church registers, probate documents, and a treasured family Bible—ensure that Philip and Mary Row's contributions to their family and their country will not be forgotten.
Links to my blog posts about using Artificial Intelligence are on my Randy's AI and Genealogy page. Links to AI information and articles about Artificial Intelligence in Genealogy by other genealogists are on my AI and Genealogy Compendium page.
Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver
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