Joseph was born about 1687, the son of William Hibbs and Hannah Howell. He grew up in Byberry, where his parents were members of Byberry meeting. His father died in 1709, and left the family plantation to Joseph. He received half at first, and the other half when he turned twenty-one.
He was disowned by Abington Meeting on 4th month 1716, at the same time that his brother Jonathan was disowned.1 This is probably for marrying out of unity. The name of his wife is not known; it is often given as Rachel Waring. There is no local Waring family, and her background is unknown.
At some point Joseph moved north to Buckingham, Bucks County. In 5th month 1734 he brought a paper to Abington Meeting expressing sorrow for his outgoing and asking to be reunited with Friends. This was accepted, and a paper sent to Wrightstown, his local meeting for worship.2
The consensus on the web is that Joseph and Rachel had at least thirteen children, over a period of over 25 years. This is possible, but there is no primary evidence for this list. There are no Quaker records of the births of the children, and Joseph did not leave a will. The probable children are: Catherine, William, Sarah, Rachel, Joseph, Hannah, Jacob, Phebe, John, Benjamin, Samuel, and possibly Isaac and Abraham.3 If in fact these children are all Rachel’s, then she must have lived well into the 1730s.4 She died before 1749, when Joseph proposed to marry again. In 10th month 1749 Joseph Hibbs and Catherine Love declared their intentions of marriage at Buckingham Monthly Meeting.5 They were approved and married, but a few years later it was reported that she had been pregnant before they were married. Catherine was the widow of Andrew Love, a weaver who died in Plumstead Township. She and Andrew had five surviving children, as she stated in an Orphan’s Court record, when she and Joseph charged Andrew’s estate for their upkeep, and for two of them, the funeral expenses.6 Andrew had been a member of Plumstead Meeting, and had been in trouble with them in 1747 for drinking to excess, and “other scandalous actions when in drink”.7
Joseph and Catherine lived in Buckingham, where they took out a mortgage in 1760 and where he was taxed in 1761.8 They moved to Plumstead, where Joseph died in March 1762. Bond for administration of his estate was issued to Catherine and to Isaac Kirk and James Spicer. An inventory was made, showing typical farm implements and animals, for a total of £178.3.0.9 The date of her death is not known.10
- Abington Monthly Meeting, Minutes 1682-1746, image 47, online on Ancestry, US Quaker Meeting Records 1681-1935, Montgomery County. All the Quaker records in the account are available on Ancestry. ↩
- Abington Monthly Meeting, Minutes 1682-1746, image 97. It is interesting that he took the paper to Abington instead of Buckingham Monthly Meeting, which included Wrightstown. Perhaps it was because he was a member of Byberry Meeting when he was disowned for marrying out of unity. The timing is also interesting. Did he wait until his first wife died? ↩
- The problem with the standard list is that Joseph’s wife, either Rachel or someone else, would be having children over a 26-year period, which is not probable. ↩
- Martha Grundy gives the date of death as 1740, but admits that there is poor evidence for this family. Her web site is online as of March 2019 at https://sites.rootsweb.com/~paxson/balderston/Hibbs.html. ↩
- Buckingham Monthly Meeting, Minutes 1722-1763, image 94. ↩
- Bucks County Orphan’s Court Record, file #173. They asked in 1753 for the account to be approved. ↩
- Buckingham Monthly Meeting, Minutes 1722-1763, image 113-14. ↩
- Bucks County deeds, Book 10, p. 139; Bucks County Tax Lists 1693-1778, Buckingham 1761. ↩
- Bucks County Probate file #1117. Why were none of his sons administrators with Catherine? ↩
- It is given as 1761 on many web trees. Since she administered Joseph’s estate in 1762, this is obviously incorrect. ↩