Before 1685 a man named John Clarke emigrated to Pennsylvania or West Jersey, bringing four servants with him: Bernard Littlejohn, Mary Chapman, Christian Chapman (sister to Mary), and William Beale.1 Clarke bought 300 acres on Pennsaukin Creek in West Jersey, but apparently did not stay there. In May 1685 he was living in Pennsylvania when he made his will, and in July of that year he died. The terms of the will were unusual. He left his estate to Littlejohn and the Chapmans, to be divided among them. Littlejohn also got Clarke’s clothes and working tools, and stones, and the “indenture and time of service of William Beale”. Clarke was a mason, and Beale was an indentured servant, learning to be a mason.2 When Beale’s time of service was done Littlejohn was to give him twenty shillings, and a hammer, trowel and pick. By leaving his time to Littlejohn, Clarke provided Littlejohn with valuable labor, while also giving Beale a place to live until he came of age. They probably lived somewhere near Philadelphia, since in October 1685 Littlejohn got a certificate of clearness to marry from the monthly meeting there. It was granted the following month, and he married Mary Chapman.3 William probably lived with Bertrand and Mary Littlejohn for three years, either in New Jersey or in Pennsylvania, until 1688 when he bought his own land.4

Who was William Beale, the apprentice mason? He was probably the son of William and Elinor Beale, members of Ross Monthly Meeting in Herefordshire. William Senior was a cordwainer who had been fined and persecuted for his Quaker faith. William and Elinor were married at Ross meeting in 1664. They had three sons: Alexander, William and John.5 There are no further records of Alexander and John, and William was believed to have come with John Clarke as an apprentice.

William Beale bought land three times in his life: once when he was starting out on his own, ten years later when his family was growing, and much later when he wanted a parcel to leave to his sons. The first land that he bought was near Poquessing Creek, a small piece of Joseph Growden’s great manor of Bensalem. Growden had come over from Cornwall about 1683 with a lot of money and great plans. He had purchased 5000 acres of land, to be laid out in Pennsylvania, and his father Lawrence had bought another 5000 acres. Growden’s plan was to establish a manor, where his servants worked the land and where anybody who bought part of his land owed him yearly rent and a day’s work in the time of harvest.6

On the 10^th day of the 12^th month [February] 1688 a group of men gathered together to transact land business, probably at Joseph Growden’s mansion. On that day Growden sold land to Stephen Nowell, a mason, Abel Hinkston, William Beale, also a mason, Thomas Fox and Joseph Wilford, both shipwrights. Nicholas Hickst and Thomas Fox witnessed most of the transactions, except the one to Fox himself. While they were there Beale authorized Nowell to be his attorney to receive the deed when it was acknowledged in court the following month, signing a paper to that effect. Beale paid £16 for his 102 acres, lying on Potquessink Creek and adjoining the land that Abel Hinkston bought the same day. He also had to pay to Growden the yearly ground rent of two English shillings and “one day’s work in time of harvest forever”. Beale signed with his initials; he had not learned to write.7

About 1690 William married a woman named Elizabeth, probably at Byberry Meeting.8 There is no marriage record for them. Byberry Friends did not keep their own records until later, and Abington Monthly Meeting records do not include a marriage for William and Elizabeth, or the birth of their children.9 Elizabeth was undoubtedly a Friend, possibly the daughter of a local family, although many single women Friends came on their own, sometimes as indentured servants to pay their way. Since William and Elizabeth are apparently not mentioned in the wills of other local families, it is possible that they were on their own, with no family support.

Bensalem had no Quaker meeting of its own. The Friends of Bensalem would have met with Friends in Byberry, on the other side of Poquessing Creek. At first Byberry Friends met in private houses, especially those of Giles Knight and John Hart. In 1694 Henry English gave an acre of land for a meeting house and burying place. A log building was erected there, which served for 20 years until a two-story stone building was erected in 1714. It had a fireplace at one end, hinged windows that could be opened, and separate seating for men and women on either side.10 For William Beale and his family it was a three-mile trip to the Meeting. As good Friends they would know that route well. They had six known children. Alexander was the oldest, named first in William’s will, followed later by John. If William was in fact from the family of Ross, then these sons may have been named for William’s brothers.

The big news in Bensalem in 1692 must have been exciting even to the sober Quakers. An unknown man was found murdered by the mouth of Neshaminy Creek in May. Suspicion fell on Derrick Jonson, a Swede, when blood was found on his bed and wall, appearing about the time that the stranger was murdered. Derrick and his wife Britta and sister Eliza were indicted by the grand jury, but the court put the trial off for the winter, evidently hoping that evidence would appear to exonerate him, but it did not, and he was hanged for the murder the next summer.11

In 12^th month 1698/9 (February 1699) William bought another 202 acres from Joseph Growden. This was also on the Poquessing and adjoined Abel Hinkston’s land. Growden reserved two acres near one side for a mill “when he shall think fit to build on thereon”, along with ingress, egress and regress. The Poquessing was a fast-running stream, and many mills were eventually built along it.

William was a respected Friend. In 1694 he was appointed a representative from Abington Monthly Meeting to the Quarterly Meeting in Philadelphia.  This was an honor for someone so young, and suggests that he was trustworthy, since he would be representing the entire meeting. He was appointed again in 1709. In 1700 Byberry Meeting chose William Beale and Thomas Groom as overseers for the following year. This was another honor. The overseers were responsible for the welfare of the members, especially the youth, the poor, and those who might be straying in their conduct. Along with the elders, the overseers were the leaders of the meeting. Of the six children of William and Elizabeth who lived to adulthood, at least five of them married under the auspices of a Friends meeting. William and Elizabeth were successful as Quaker parents in keeping their children from leaving the faith.

William was also mentioned in civic records. In 1703 he was appointed with Joseph Growden, Frances Searle, Thomas Knight and others, to lay out a road to Albersons Mill. This was a typical obligation for landowners who lived in the neighborhood and had a stake in the location of the roads. In the middle of June 1714 he was chosen to review the layout of a road from Newtown to Dunks Ferry.12

In 1713 William bought his final piece of land, probably to leave to his sons. It was in Buckingham, far from his Bensalem land.13 This was a tract of 550 acres, bought from Thomas Stevenson.

In January 1715, William was 47 years old. His six children were in their teens or early twenties. None of them were yet married. His life came to an abrupt end, as he made his will on January 1, and died within five days.14 He left the Buckingham land to be split between his sons John and Alexander, with 225 acres to each. He left his daughter Ann £10 and a black mare. The residue of the estate, including the personal property and the Bensalem land, was left to Elizabeth with no restrictions. He trusted her to manage the affairs and made her the sole executrix. When she died it was to be shared among their four daughters. One of the witnesses was William’s old neighbor Abel Hinkston.15

His inventory shows the standard possessions of a farmer in these early decades of the 1700s. The house had four beds (everybody doubled up), earthen and woodenware, cooking gear, chairs and a table, a dough trough and money scales, glass bottles, barrels and tubs. They had no chests, side tables, no extra items in the kitchen or dining room. A few tools were mentioned: axes, pitchfork and dung fork, grubbing hoes, two spinning wheels, old iron, a plow and plow irons, a cart. The livestock included 17 cows, 14 sheep, 8 horses and a colt, and 15 swine. There were stored 75 bushels of wheat and 25 of barley. The family owned two Bibles. It was a respectable living, with no luxuries. There is some indication of excess production for the Philadelphia market, particularly the number of cows, but there is no mention of dairy equipment. With a value of over £150, it was a solid estate for the time.

In 1717 the widowed Elizabeth bought land from Henry and Mary Walmsley, 16.5 acres in Bensalem, probably adjoining her existing land. (She later sold that same parcel to her son John.)16] In 1721 she subscribed to a collection for the poor of Byberry, along with her son John and many other members of Byberry Friends.17 She outlived William by forty years. In 1751 she was living in Warminster, possibly with one of her children. She died in early 1754, probably well into her eighties.18 Her estate was administrated by her son-in-law Eli Welding, husband of her daughter Elizabeth.

Children of William and Elizabeth:19

Alexander, b. ab. 1690, d. 1754, m. 1) 1716 at Wrightstown Sarah Bowman, dau. of John and Francis, 2) 1723 at Falls, Sarah Town, 3) 1737 Hannah Rogers, 4) 1746 Esther Butterworth

Ann, b. ab. 1694, d. 1747, m. 1717 John Watson, son of Thomas and Elinor, at Abington MM20

Elizabeth, b. ab. 1695, d. 1773, m. 1721 Eli Welding, with a certificate from Abington MM

John, b. ab. 1696, d. 1762, m. 1729 Martha Carter, daughter of John and Grace21, prob at Abington MM

Rebecca, b. ab. 1698, m. 1733 Samuel Richey at Christ Church22

Martha, b. ab. 1700, d. 1786, m. 1729 John Taylor at Abington MM

Most of these siblings married into local Quaker families.

Alexander was probably the oldest, and the first to marry. He first married Sarah Bowman at Wrightstown Meeting. They became members of Buckingham Monthly Meeting. The births of their children were not recorded, but only two survived to adulthood, Hannah and William.23 Sarah died about 1722, leaving Alexander with small children to raise. In early 1722/3 he married Sarah Town, a member of Falls Meeting. They had at least two children, but she died before 1737 when he asked  Buckingham for a certificate to Burlington, West Jersey, to marry the widow Hannah Rogers. He married her, probably without permission since he made acknowledgement to the meeting for his misconduct.24 The following year he came before the meeting again to acknowledge fornication with Hannah before marriage. Around 1742 he and Hannah moved to Burlington, New Jersey, where she died. Alexander was to marry one more time. In 1746 he married Esther Butterworth.25 He died in Gloucester County, New Jersey, in 1754.26

Ann made the most advantageous match when she married John Watson in 1717 at Abington Meeting.27 He was not trained in a medical school, but he read several books about surgery and “physic” and became the local doctor in Buckingham. He set broken bones, cured disorders in general, and prescribed a spicy medicine of his own invention called Watson’s Black Drops.28 Ann and John had three children before her death in 1747, Thomas, Joseph and Elizabeth. John died in October 1760, leaving a very large estate and a will written on one enormous piece of parchment.29 Ann and John lived a comfortable life for the time. Their house was full of material goods:  maps of Asia and Africa and Europe and America, a tea table with porcelain tea cups and silver tea spoons, the imported china known as “Delf ware”, a looking glass, hat box, case of drawers, clock, brass candlesticks, abundant furniture, stacks of linen. The house had a cheese room with cheese, a coffee mill and other goods. Around the farm John had many tools, two hives of bees, a wolf trap. As a country doctor he needed to travel to his patients, so he had a chair and chair horse to pull it. This was a light-weight riding cart with two large wheels, pulled by a single horse, and with a folding top to protect the rider from the elements.30 Their house had a parlor, front room, back room, a front and back room upstairs, a garret, cellar, kitchen, a room over the kitchen, cheese room, and an addition in back called a “linto”. Outside there was an outhouse (probably a storage building, not a privy), chair house, cart house and barn. These were surrounded by an orchard, fields and meadow. The house and land was to go to son Thomas, but John’s widow Sarah, whom he married after Ann died, got the privilege of living in three of the rooms until her death, the usual provision for meat and drink and firewood and a riding creature and an annual cash payment.31 The estate was valued at over £1200.32

Elizabeth Beale married Eli Welding. Eli was a blacksmith who had emigrated from Wales with his brother Jacob, also a blacksmith. Jacob stayed in New Castle County, while Eli married Elizabeth and settled in Buckingham, where he bought land from Humphrey Morrey and Alexander Beale. The area where he lived was probably named for him, the village of Weldon. Eli and Elizabeth were married under the auspices of Abington Meeting and had three children. He died in 1771; she died two years later.

John Beale lived next to his brother Alexander on his share of the land inherited from their father.

In about 1729 John Beal married Martha Carter.33 In 1732 they got a certificate from Abington to Buckingham Meeting. They settled down in Buckingham and raised their family, with two children surviving to adulthood. In 1754, after their mother died, John and Alexander agreed to partition their remaining inheritance.34 John died in Dec 1761.35 His will was unusual in two ways. Instead of the usual provision for his wife to have the use of a room or two in the house, he provided Martha with the use of a small log house on the south east corner of his land, along with the profits, probably in case she should choose to rent it out. In addition, he left land to his daughter Phebe, with the provision that she supply firewood and a cow and an annuity for Martha. This was a typical provision for a son, but rare for a daughter. The son John got the remainder of the land and was also expected to keep a horse and firewood for Martha. The will also stipulated that “my cousen Jonathan Beal” should be under the care of John’s sisters Elizabeth Welding and Rebekah Richey, to be bound out for a trade and to be educated. At the time “cousin” could mean nephew, and it is not clear who this is. Martha outlived John by twenty-four years and died in 1786.

Rebecca Beal was the only one to not marry as a Quaker. In 1729 she and Joseph Gilbert Jr. were brought before the Bucks County court and convicted of fornication. This offense was discovered in the usual way when Rebecca became pregnant. Joseph denied the charge, but was convicted on her word, and was fined for the cost of prosecution and the cost of nursing the child. Joseph died before 12^th month (February) 1730/31, when Abington Meeting took up the case. The meeting felt a “tender regard” for Joseph, who was no longer around to speak for himself. They wanted Rebecca to “take the shame and blame on her self as far as she was guilty and leave his name out of her condemnation”. She refused, and they drew up a paper against her, disowning her, “until it may please God to bring her to a sight and sence of her out going. That she may be received again is the sincere desire and prayer of this meeting.” Rebecca apparently did not take any action that would satisfy the meeting, since she and Samuel Richey were married in 1733 at Christ Church. They must have stayed in Bucks County since she was charged with the care of Jonathan Beal along with her sister Elizabeth Welding in 1761.

Martha Beal, probably the youngest child of William and Elizabeth, married John Taylor at Abington Meeting in 1729. They lived in Buckingham, where Martha died in 1786. She left a will, naming her daughter Phebe Tucker and son John.36 The inventory of her estate showed the furniture for one room, plus cookware, a horse and a cow. She must have been living with one of her children.