John Carr was a Quaker who lived in lower Bucks County and died there in 1731. Nothing is known of his origins or those of his wife Mary. John and Mary were probably born between 1690 and 1695, either in England or Pennsylvania.1

John Carr lived in Middletown and his affairs were under the care of Falls Monthly Meeting.2 He died in 1731. Letters of administration were granted to his widow Mary and to Joseph Wildman. Mary signed by mark. The usual inventory was taken of the estate. It included four horses, two cows and their calves, “nine piggs running at large” and a servant man. Although the list of household furniture and goods seems sparse, the estate was valued at £95, a good sum for the time. However, he had debts as the meeting discovered when Mary remarried. Two years later the marriage of John Clows and Mary Carr was accomplished at Falls Monthly Meeting.34 As the minutes state “Care was to be taken that what belongs to Mary’s children by her former husband was secured. However, after his debts were paid there was nothing for them.”5 Who were these children? Looking at the Quaker marriage records for Falls and Wrightstown, we find two daughters, who can be tentatively placed as children of John and Mary, and one known to be their child.6 There may have been others who did not live to marry.

John Clows, who became the stepfather of the Carr daughters, came from good Quaker families. He was the son of Joseph Clows and Elizabeth Pownall, whose families came over from Cheshire in the great migration of the 1682 and 1683. John and his brothers Thomas and George all lived in Makefield. Since John’s brothers were carpenters, perhaps he was too.  John and Mary Clows had a daughter Meribah born in 1733.7

In 1735, the meeting at Falls reported that “It is evident that Mary the wife of John Clows hath been disorderly in her conversation in several respects.” We don’t know what she had done. There is no record of her death.

Probable children of John and Mary:

Dorothy, b. ab. 1715, m. 1) 1737 Isaac Ashton, son of Thomas & Hannah, 2) by 1756 m. John Ballance. Had 9 children with Isaac and a son Joseph with John.

Martha Carr, b. ab. 1720, m. 1746 Joseph Buckman at Falls MM. He was from Wrightstown Mtg.8

Sarah, b. ab. 1725, m. 1749 John Lee, son of Daniel & Mary. Had children Mary, John, Deborah, Daniel and Meribah.

Child of Mary and John Clows: (surname Clows)

Meribah, b. 7^th mo 1733, alive in 1755 when she got a certificate to Philadelphia9

Next generation:

Dorothy Carr married twice. Her first marriage, to Isaac Ashton, was contrary to rules, as reported at Wrightstown Monthly Meeting in 1^st month 1737, since they were married with a license from New Jersey. They were apparently not disowned.10 Dorothy and Isaac named their first two children Mary and John (for her parents) and the next two Hannah and Thomas (possibly for his parents). The others were Elizabeth, Ann, Martha, Lydia and Susanna.11 According to one site, with no evidence, Isaac died on 22 September 1751. In 1753 Dorothy was living in Lower Makefield and taxed there as “Doratha” Ashton. By 1756 she was married to John Ballance.12 In the birth record of their son Joseph she was listed as the daughter of John Carr.13

Her sister Martha married Joseph Buckman. He requested a certificate from Wrightstown in 8^th mo 1746 to proceed in marriage with her, since she was a member of Falls Meeting. Joseph was born in 1723, to a solid Quaker family. (His grandfather William had come on the Welcome with William Penn.) Joseph died in 1798. His will named eight children, but there was no mention of Martha. She must have died before him.14 The children were Joseph, Esther, Mary, Agnes, Letitia, Sarah, Elizabeth and Asenath. All seven of the daughters were married by then.

Sarah, probably the youngest of the sisters, married John Lee. She was a member of Falls Meeting, when in 1749 he got a certificate from Wrightstown to proceed in marriage with her. They had five known children, before moving to Radnor in 1755.15 John died before 11^th month 1766 when the children were granted a certificate to return to Wrightstown.16 Since there is no mention of Sarah in the minutes, the implication is that she was dead as well. The children were Daniel, Deborah, Meribah, Mary and John.

 

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