Bryan and Ann Baines lived in Wennington, a village in Lancashire just north of the Forest of Bowland.1 Wennington was too small to have its own church, and Bryan and Ann had their children christened at St. Wilfrid’s in Melling, a few miles away.2 There were four christenings recorded there, starting in 1662, with their son Gabriel. But the church records of baptism between 1650 and 1662 were lost, and at least one other child was probably christened there as well.3

Bryan and Ann were probably not Quakers, at least at first, but four of their children became Quakers and at least three of them immigrated to Pennsylvania. In 3^rd month 1694 Thomas Banes married Janet Ward at the Friends meeting house in Bentham, just two miles east of Wennington.4 His siblings Gabriel, Agnes and Deborah all signed the wedding certificate.5 Two years later Thomas and Janet arrived in Bucks County with a certificate from Wennington Meeting. Arriving in 9^th month 1696, Thomas was described as a tailor by trade, “late of Wenninton in Lancashire, but belonging to the monthly meeting at Settle.”6

In 1698 Gabriel, Deborah, and their mother Ann immigrated to Bucks County, arriving with a certificate from the monthly meeting at Settle that they presented to the meeting at Falls.7 Signed by 23 members of the meeting, the certificate included reassurance that Gabriel and Deborah were free of marriage entanglements.8

Deborah married Thomas Ashton in 1701 at Falls Meeting. Gabriel, Thomas and Janet all signed the marriage certificate.9 Oddly enough, her mother Ann did not sign, although she was still alive.10 Thomas and Deborah had two daughters, Mary and Ann, before Deborah died. They may also have had a son Isaac, who is believed to be a son of Thomas’, either by Deborah or by his second wife.11 The date of Deborah’s death is not known; it was before 1710 when Thomas remarried, to Hannah Hough.

In 1702 Gabriel and his mother Ann bought land together, paying £150 to William Duncan for 145 acres in Falls Township.12 This is Ann’s last appearance in the records. It is Gabriel’s only known land purchase. He served several times on juries and was chosen by Falls meeting in 1712 to speak with Friends who were behind in their subscriptions. In 1717 he married Elinor Botting of Middletown Meeting, and they had one son, Bryan, presumably named for Gabriel’s father. Gabriel was 55 years old when he married; Elinor must have been considerably younger.

In 1727 Gabriel wrote his will. His estate was to go to his wife Ellin and son Bryan, but if Bryan died without issue, then the estate was to in equal shares to his brother Thomas, sister Agnes Wood, and to the heirs of his sister Deborah, who died fifteen years before him. Specifically, the will named her heirs as his “cousin Ann Hillborn” and the two children of his “cousin Mary Lee”. Ann and Mary were his nieces, daughters of Deborah; it was a common locution of the time to use “cousin” instead of niece. His estate was valued at over £120, a good amount for the time. The inventory included a flock of 54 sheep, unusual for the time. Was Gabriel’s father Bryan a sheep farmer as well?

Ellin died in 1749; Bryan clearly died before her, since he was not named in her will.13  Half of her estate was to go to the monthly meeting at Falls, for the “service of truth”, and the other half was to be sent to England for the use of Shipley Meeting and for her brothers John and Thomas Botting of Gillington Parish, Sussex.

Children of Bryan and Ann14

Deborah, born about 1660, died between 1703 and 1710, married Thomas Ashton in 1701 at Falls Monthly Meeting, had daughters Mary and Ann.

Gabriel, christened 12 Oct 1662, died 1727, married Elinor Botting in 1717, had a son Bryan born in 1718.

James, christened 28 Aug 1664, died 1681.15

Thomas, christened 11 Feb 1666, died 4^th month 1743, married in 3^rd month 1694 Janet Ward at the meeting house at Bentham, Yorkshire. They immigrated in 1697, settled in Middletown, had a daughter Ann who married Daniel Doan Jr.16 Janet died in 10^th month 1732; Thomas died in 4^th month 1743. His will left his property and estate to his daughter Ann and her husband, who were also executors of the estate.17

Agnes, christened 7 Aug 1670, married a man named Wood after 1694 and before 1727. It is not known whether she immigrated to Pennsylvania. Gabriel left her a legacy in 1727 but did not say where she lived.

Thomas Ashton and his wives Deborah and Hannah

Thomas Ashton first appeared in the records in Pennsylvania when he married Deborah Baines in the summer of 1701 at Falls Monthly Meeting. Various parents have been proposed for Thomas, but none are known. There is no real evidence to link him to any other Ashton. What is known is that he was a Quaker, probably from northern England where the Ashton name was common.1

His first wife, Deborah Baines, immigrated with her brother Gabriel and mother Ann in 1698.2 They came with a certificate from Settle Monthly Meeting in Yorkshire.3 Gabriel and Deborah were children of Bryan and Ann, of Wennington, Lancashire. Deborah was probably christened about 1660 when the baptismal records of St. Wilfrid’s church are missing.4

Thomas and Deborah were married in 5^th month (July) 1701 under the auspices of Falls Monthly Meeting. Gabriel, Thomas and Jennet Baines all signed, while no Ashton signed except for Thomas himself.5 In the marriage record Thomas was described as a husbandman of Falls Township, suggesting that he did not yet own land. In 1703 he requested 100 acres from the commissioners of property. He wanted it to lie between Newtown lots and the back of the lots on the Delaware River.6 It was laid out for him, adjoining Reuben Pownall, Joseph Clows, Thomas Janney and Shadrach Walley.7 In 1708 he got a patent for the land.8

Thomas lived a quiet life in Makefield. He was a constable there for the year starting September 1710.9 He was not active in the Friends Meeting, but he was still a member as late as 1728 when he requested a certificate for himself and his family from Falls to Wrightstown, which was probably closer to their home.10

Thomas and Deborah had two daughters and possibly a son. The daughters were Mary and Ann. The possible son was Isaac. Isaac Ashton was born about 1710 and married Dorothy Carr in 1736. They named two of their children Thomas and Hannah, which could have been for his parents, making him a son of Thomas and his second wife Hannah Hough. But Thomas and Hannah recorded the birth of eight children, not including Isaac. There was sufficient time for him to be an unrecorded son of Thomas and Deborah, born sometime before her death.11

Sometime before 1710 Deborah died, leaving Thomas with two or three small children. In 1710 he remarried, again under the auspices of Falls Meeting. His second wife was Hannah Hough, daughter of John Hough and Hannah Rossell. John and Hannah had emigrated in 1683 and settled in Middletown. The following year John was reprimanded by the Falls Monthly Meeting for fighting and drinking to excess. The Houghs remained members of Falls Meeting.12

Thomas and Hannah would go on to have eight children, whose births were recorded at Falls meeting.13

In 1719 Mary, the oldest daughter of Thomas and Deborah, married Daniel Lee of Makefield. They had two children before her death in 1722 or 1723, possibly in childbirth. The next child of Thomas and Hannah was named Mary, probably to commemorate her.

In 1728 Thomas was in trouble with the monthly meeting and the Bucks County court. In June 1728 he pleaded guilty to an unknown offence and was fined. Several other men were fined at the same time; it may have been fighting or drunkenness or some other relatively minor offence.14 In 7^th month 1728, three months later, Friends were appointed to speak with him about “his behavior at Newtown Court some time past”.15 He was not asked to submit a paper of acknowledgement.

1731 was a bad year for Thomas and Hannah. Three of their children died within six weeks, probably of a contagious disease. John died in the middle of December; the baby Martha died two weeks later; William died on February 1.16 There were other deaths at Falls Meeting around that time, but no family was hit as hard as the Ashtons.17

Thomas died in 1733. The inventory of his estate showed a successful farmer, with the usual household furniture and goods, seven horses, nine cows, farm implements, and sixteen acres of wheat in the ground. The bonds, bills and book debts—amount that others owed him—came to over £75, and the total value of the estate was appraised at £207.18 In spite of this abundance, he left Hannah with all eight children unmarried, and some of them under the age of five. It must have been difficult for her. Several of the children died unmarried, and none were known to be married in a Friends meeting. The date of her death is unknown; it was apparently not recorded in Falls or Middletown Meeting.

Of the ten known children of Thomas, only three were sons, and only one of them, Thomas, lived long enough to marry.

Thomas, b. in England, d. 1733, m. 1) 1701 Deborah Bains, 2) 1710 Hannah Hough, daughter of John Hough

Children of Thomas and Deborah:19

Mary, b. 1702, d. before 1723, m. 1^st month 1719 Daniel Lee of Makefield, married at Falls MM.20 Daniel was a blacksmith. They had children Deborah and John before Mary died, possibly in childbirth.

Ann, b. 1703, m. 5^th month 1726 Thomas Hillborn, son of Thomas and Elizabeth, married at Falls MM.21 They lived in Newtown and had seven known children. Thomas Hillborn died in 1779.

Probable son of Thomas, with either Deborah or Hannah

? Isaac, d. 1750, m. 1736 Dorothy Carr, dau. of John & Mary, lived in Makefield. They were married in New Jersey but made acknowledgment to Wrightstown and continued as members there. They had eight children, naming the first two for her parents and the second two Thomas and Hannah. Isaac died in 1750 and Dorothy married John Balance.

Children of Thomas and Hannah:22

John, b. 2^nd month 1711, d. 1731, his death reported at Falls meeting.

Hannah, b. 6^th month 1716, possibly died in 1717.23

William, b. 11^th month 1718, d. 1731, his death reported at Falls meeting.

Isabel, b. 2^nd month 1721, no further records

Mary, b. 6^th month 1723, no further records

Thomas, b. 6^th month 1726, m. Mary Strickland, dau. of John. John Strickland died in 1766 and in his will named his daughter Mary Ashton; his son-in-law Thomas Ashton was an executor.24 Thomas did not leave a will in Bucks County; the date of his death is not known.

Deborah, b. 9^th month 1727, m. ? Wm Waters in 1746 at the Churchville Presbyterian Church

Martha, b. 7^th month 1730, d. 1731, her death reported at Falls meeting.