Richard Walton was born in 1723, the son of Joseph Walton and Esther Carver of Byberry. His father died when Richard was an infant. The next year his mother Esther married Daniel Knight, whose first wife Elizabeth Walker was dead. Daniel and Elizabeth had three children together, one of whom died young. He married Esther in 1728, blending their two families and adding six more children together.1 Richard grew up as one of ten children in the family.

Richard married in 1753 Abigail, daughter of Thomas Walmsley. She was the widow of  Isaac Comly and eight years older than her husband. Isaac, one of nine children of Henry Comly and Agnes Heaton, worked as a blacksmith.2 He and Abigail were married in 1738 and lived in Somerton for ten years before he died, leaving Abigail with children Agnes and Isaac.3 She supposedly took her children and lived with her father for five years until she married again.4

Richard and Abigail were married at Trinity Oxford Church, for which they were reprimanded by the Abington Meeting and which they acknowledged.5  They continued to be Friends, and the births of two of their children were recorded in the Abington Meeting records. They lived in Byberry.  In 1775 Richard bought 128 acres on Byberry Creek from Benjamin Gilbert on which Gilbert had built a grist mill.6 In his will he left this to his son Joseph and son-in-law Ephraim Howell.

He died 10th month 6th, 1776, probably in the epidemic of camp fever which killed many people in Byberry that year.7 In his will he named his wife, children Joseph and Esther, and a grandson Richard Howell. The executors were son Joseph and “son-in-law” Isaac Comly (actually a stepson).8

Children of Abigail and Isaac (surname Comly):9

Agnes, b. 2^nd month 1738, d. 1821, m. 1) 1759 John Duncan, son of William Duncan and Rachel Carver, married 2) 1793 Andrew Singley. Agnes and John were married on 12^th month 1759 at Abington.10 Agnes and John had five daughters born between 1760 and 1767.11John died in October, 1772. Administration on his estate was granted to Richard Walton (Agnes’ father), William Duncan (John’s brother), Thomas Ridge (John’s brother-in-law) and Daniel Walton.12 Agnes married again, in 1793, to Andrew Singley Jr. of White Sheet Bay on the Delaware River. She died in 1821.13

Isaac, b. 1743, d. 1822, m. 1771 Asenath Hampton, daughter of John and Ann Hampton of Wrightstown. They settled in Byberry, raised a large family, and gained “considerable property”.14 Asenath became a respected elder of Byberry Meeting. She died in 1826. Children: Martha, John, Joseph, Isaac, Ezra, Ethan, Jason. The sons Joseph, John and Isaac were all interested in local history and much of the material in Martindale’s History of Byberry and Moreland came from Isaac’s notes.15

Children of Richard and Abigail:16

Joseph, b. 1754, d. 1821, m. 1780 Deborah Lee, daughter of John and Sarah.17 They lived in Byberry but later moved to Buckingham, Bucks County.18 They had eight or nine children. Children: Sarah, Abigail, Deborah, Asenath, Agnes, Ann, John, Robert, possibly Bernard. Five of the children married into the Worthington family.

Benjamin, twin to Joseph, died in infancy.19

Esther,  b. 8^th month 1755, d. 1813, married Ephraim Howell in 1775 at Byberry Meeting. He was from Falls Meeting. The next year Ephraim inherited a grist mill from Esther’s father Richard. Children: Richard, Joseph, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Abigail, Mary, Ephraim, Deborah.20