Rebecca Venable

In October 1807, Rebecca Venable (also spelled Venible) cast her ballot in an election in Moorestown, Chester Township, New Jersey. She was one of 38 women listed as having voted to choose new representatives and public officials for Burlington County. At the time, Rebecca Venable was about 46 years old and a widow. 

Rebecca Venable was born in about 1761. The daughter of German immigrants Peter and Christiana Houseman Slim, Rebecca had five siblings: Samuel (b.1760), Christopher (b.1763), Catharine (b.1765), Miriam (b.1769), and Peter (b.1772). On May 24, 1783, Rebecca Slim married Quaker man Arthur Venable, who was disowned by the Quaker community for marrying Rebecca, a non-Quaker. Married for 10 years, Rebecca Venable became a widow when Arthur passed away in 1793. Together, Arthur and Rebecca Venable had at least two daughters, Miriam and Mary, and one son, Thomas. In 1807, Rebecca Venable voted in Moorestown along with her daughter Miriam, her son Thomas, her brother Peter Slim Jr, her brother Samuel Slim, her father Peter Slim, and her brother-in-law Emanuel Begary.

Rebecca Venable is listed as the head of her household in the United States Census for 1830 and 1840. She died on August 17, 1841 at about the age of 80. An inventory of her estate was recorded. Rebecca is buried next to her daughters Mary and Miriam in the churchyard of Trinity Episcopal Church in Moorestown. Their graves suggest that the Venable family belonged to the congregation, which formed in 1837.