Thomas Walmsley was born in the rolling hills of the Ribble Valley in northern Lancashire, not far from the edge of the Yorkshire Dales.1 His family lived near Waddington, a town between Slaidburn and Clitheroe, and probably attended the church there when he was little. Nearby Clitheroe is a larger town, with a landmark castle, one of the last places to surrender during the Civil War. From the top of Clitheroe Castle one can see Pendle Hill, famous in Quaker history. It was at the top of this hill that George Fox, founder of the Friends, had a vision of the work ahead for him and his fellow Quaker missionaries. He wrote in 1652, “As we travelled, we came near a very great hill, called Pendle Hill, and I was moved of the Lord to go up to the top of it; which I did with difficulty, it was so very steep and high. When I was come to the top, I saw the sea bordering upon Lancashire. From the top of this hill the Lord let me see in what places he had a great people to be gathered.”

The valley that Fox looked down on was fertile ground for the Quakers. Within the next generation it would be filled with Friends, some suffering fines and imprisonment for their beliefs. In 1654 Cuthbert Hayhurst and Thomas Wigglesworth were arrested for “breakinge of the peace up on the lords day in the church of Slaidburn.” In 1671, Hayhurst was “convicted for beinge at a Conventickle or an unlawfull meeteinge and assemblie at the house of Thomas Wiglesworth of Skelshay.”2 In 1682 when the opportunity came to move to the new province of Pennsylvania, many of the Friends of Clitheroe and Waddington and Slaidburn chose to leave the valley.

Thomas was married by then. His wife Elizabeth Rudd was from a Slaidburn family, part of the local Quaker community that worshiped at Bolland meeting. In November 1665 Thomas and Elizabeth were married at the house of her cousin Jane Waln in Slaine Merrow, Yorkshire. By 1682, when they made the decision to leave Lancashire for Pennsylvania, Thomas and Elizabeth had six children. As was the Quaker custom they asked their monthly meeting at Settle for a certificate to take with them, showing that they were members in good standing. This was normally written by the clerk of the meeting for an individual or one family, but in the case of Thomas Walmsley and his kin, the clerk wrote out one certificate for the entire group of over thirty adults and children. This Settle certificate, as it is known, is unusual, and was given because the group intended to travel together and because they were tightly connected by marriage. Two of Elizabeth’s cousins, Dorothy and Mary Rudd, had married the Hayhurst brothers, William and Cuthbert. The Hayhursts had a sister Alice, married to Thomas Wigglesworth. Nicholas Waln was a nephew of the Hayhursts. Thomas Stackhouse was married to Margery Hayhurst and Bridget Croasdale married John Cowgill.

This clan of Lancashire Friends may have chartered their own boat, the Lamb of Liverpool. The Lamb loaded goods from Liverpool. It was a long trek of sixty miles southwest, through the valley of the Ribble to Liverpool’s fine harbor on the Mersey. They took their household goods—bedding, clothes, kitchen ware, tools—and some of them took goods to sell, which had to be declared to the customs men. Thomas Wigglesworth brought gunpowder, lead and brass. James Dilworth, not on the Settle certificate but sailing on the Lamb with them, brought 150 pounds of woolen cloth, hats, shoes and cheese. Thomas Clayton brought boxes and crates of linen, hats, rugs (coverings) for beds, tobacco pipes, calico and neck cloths. Cuthbert Hayhurst brought the most. He declared cargo of 35 dozen woolen stockings, five dozen hats, 35 pots, 462 cheeses, 40 grindle stones and five millstones. He must have either conveyed this on ox carts to Liverpool or bought the goods there.3 Thomas Walmsley did not declare any goods, but it is said that he intended to set up a mill, possibly using some of Cuthbert’s stones.

In any case Thomas did not live long enough to build his mill. The Lamb was infected with disease, probably smallpox or dysentery, and had a difficult journey. Disease spread easily in close quarters on a ship. Most of the adults and children survived, but the Walmsley family was hard-hit, losing daughters Margaret and Rosamund and probably also Mary. Some of those who did survive the voyage were ill when they arrived. This was probably the case with Thomas, since he died of dysentery within two months after they arrived.

When the Lamb landed in Philadelphia in October 1682, the immigrants would have urgent priorities: to unload their goods, to find temporary housing, and to have their land surveyed. Some of them bought their land before emigrating, but it still needed to be laid out. Most of the Settle group chose to stay together in Bucks County. Thomas Holme’s map shows many of them on “Neshameneh Creek” between 1685 and 1687. On the east side of the creek were “Widdow Crosdal”, Robert Heaton (also on the Lamb), Thomas Stackhouse, Thomas Stackhouse Senior, James Delworth, “Widdow Hurst”, and Nicholas Walne. “Widdow Walmsly” was on the west side of the creek, with more land of Nicholas Waln. Other settlers lived around them: Robert Holdgate, Alexander Giles, “Widdow Bond”, and Richard Thatcher.

Four of the Settle certificate women lost their husbands within months of their arrival. Thomas Walmsley died of dysentery, leaving Elizabeth with the surviving children.4 Thomas Wigglesworth wrote his will in the first month and died that winter, leaving his widow Alice but no children. The Hayhurst brothers (the name was pronounced as one syllable) chose a bad place to settle along the creek and died soon after, leaving Cuthbert’s widow Mary and her six children. As Penn wrote in 1684, “Poor Cut Hurst and Brother deceast soon after arrivall, fixing on a low marshy place (tho a dry banck was not a Stone’s cast from ym) for ye rivers sake: they had ye Ague and feaver but no Sickening in any other settlements.”5 Thomas Croasdale died the following May. Margery Stackhouse, wife of Thomas, died in 1683, leaving them childless. Nicholas Waln, who was literate, well-off, and of mature age, became the unofficial leader of the Settle group. He took in an apprentice, witnessed wills, and acted as trustee for property.

After Thomas Walmsley died in 10^th month 1682, Elizabeth was responsible for the family and the estate. Her 250 acres on the Neshaminy were patented to her in 5^th month (July) 1683. She managed the farm, probably with paid help. In early 1684 Middletown Monthly Meeting ordered David Davis to pay 8 shillings to the widow Womesley for damage done to her sow.6  (The meeting had received several complaints about Davis’ dog and Henry Paxson and James Dilworth were assigned to speak to him about it.) At about the same time Alexander Giles complained to the meeting that Elizabeth owed him two bushels of meal.

Finally in 10^th month 1684 Elizabeth probated Thomas’ estate, two years after his death, mostly to ensure the property rights of her children as she prepared to marry again. Letters of administration were granted by the registrar Phineas Pemberton to Elizabeth, and to her intended husband John Purslow, both of whom signed by mark, and to Nicholas Waln, who signed his name.7 An inventory of Elizabeth’s property, taken then, included a horse, two heifers, a sow and pigs and some household goods. The total value, not including the land, was £27 10s. This was less than the other Settle people who died early. Thomas Croasdale left property worth over £47; Thomas Wigglesworth’s estate was £99; Cuthbert Hayhurst left £112; Agnes Croasdale in 1685 left £106.8 Elizabeth was able to raise the three surviving children to adulthood with a smaller estate than her neighbors, perhaps because of her marriage to Purslow. Nicholas Waln was keeping some land in trust for the two sons. In 1686 he conveyed the land to them and brought the releases into court, to be held by Ezra Croasdale in trust until the sons were grown.9

John Purslow, who would become the stepfather of the Walmsley children, was an Irish Quaker who had arrived in 1677 on the Phoenix. When he testified in the Bucks County court in 1689 he gave his age at about sixty years, making him born about 1630.10 He acted for the family in March 1690 when he petitioned the Orphan’s Court on behalf of his stepson Henry, who was in the service of Nicholas Waln, “against the will of the relations.”  Normally this kind of dispute was settled quietly in the Monthly Meeting. Henry was about nineteen years old then, so it must have been a very long apprenticeship. By 1693, Henry paid his own taxes in Middletown, showing that he was now over 21, while John Pursley still paid for a Walmsley child, probably Thomas, since he owned land which could be taxed and he was not quite of age.

Children of Thomas Walmsley and Elizabeth Rudd: (all born in England)

Margaret, b. 1666, believed to have died at sea in 1682, since there are no further records for her.

Mary, b. 1669, possibly died at sea, since there are no further records for her.11

Henry, b. 1671, d. 1759, married Mary Searle in 1699 at Abington Meeting. Mary’s father Frances Searle was a butcher who accumulated over 1,000 acres of land by the time he died in 1722 and left a solid legacy to his daughter Mary. Henry and Mary settled in Bensalem, and had a family of two sons and seven daughters. They lived to see all but one of them married, some outside of Quaker meetings. Mary died in 1747, the year after the youngest child was married. Henry lived on to 1759, and was named in Henry Tomlinson’s list of “aged persons” as 88 years old. Children: Mary, Thomas, Francis, Elizabeth, Joan, Rebecca, Sarah, Ann, Grace.

Thomas, b. 1673 or 1674, d. 1754, m. Mary Paxson in 1698 at Middletown Meeting. They moved to Byberry, where Thomas was a farmer and dealer in horses. He was not active in the meeting or in government. By the time he died Thomas owned a large tract in Byberry, 200 acres in Middletown, land in Buckingham, another 60 acres in Byberry, and a farm in Moreland. Mary was subject to seizures. Her great-grandson John Comly remembered a story about her. “Mary had fits, many years before she died, took all her senses away, once fell in the fire, had to mind her carefully as a child.  After a while she would come to…”12 They had nine children who all lived to adulthood and married. Children of Thomas and Mary: Elizabeth, Mary, Thomas, William, Agnes, Abigail, Phebe, Esther, Martha.

Elizabeth, b. 1676, d. 1760, m. William Homer in 1700 at Middletown Meeting. They settled in Byberry and had at least thee children. William died rather young in 1715; Elizabeth lived on to 1760, surviving her husband by over 45 years.13 Children: Rebecca, William, another child mentioned but not named in William’s will. The younger William married twice, both times to women named Mary Walton. His wives were first cousins.14 His sister Rebecca also married a Walton.

Rosamund, b. 1679, believed to have died at sea in 1682, since there are no further records for her.