Thomas Mildenhall and Joan Stroud were married in August 1649 in the Anglican parish church in Aldbourne, Wiltshire.1 He was the son of Thomas and Ann of Ramsbury; she was the daughter of Anthony and Margery of Baydon.2 The parishes of Ramsbury, Aldbourne, Baydon and Chilton Foliatt nestle together in the boundary between eastern Wiltshire and neighboring Berkshire. Ramsbury parish extends from the valley of the Kennet up to the steep hills of the Marlborough Downs. Within it lie the villages relevant to the Mildenhalls: Ramsbury, Aldbourne, Mildenhall, Marridge Hill, and Baydon, where Joan’s family lived.3

Thomas’ family lived for generations on Marridge Hill, high on the Downs.4 “The ancestors of Thomas Mildenhall of Marridge Hill (many also named Thomas) were yeoman farmers, that is, persons who held their land freehold from the Manorial lord. … In April of 1567 Lord Pembroke commanded a survey of all his estates including the Manor of Ramsbury, providing a rare record of the names of villagers and where they lived. The name “Myldenhall” appears in the 1567 Pembroke survey.”5 Aldbourne was the nearest village to Marridge Hill, and a weekly market was held there.

After Thomas and Joan were married, they settled on Marridge Hill and started their family.6 In the 1650s their lives changed as they became members of the Society of Friends. The Quaker movement spread early into their part of Wilshire, as the nearby village of Marlborough lay on the main road from London to Bristol. The closest Monthly Meeting to Marridge Hill was in Lambourn Woodland, just across the Berkshire border, and that is where the births of their five youngest children are recorded.7 George Fox, a founder of the Quaker movement, held a meeting in 1673 at Lambourne Woods. The MiIldenhalls were probably there.8

In 1681 William Penn opened up his colony of Pennsylvania for settlement, advertising the fertility of the land, ample natural resources, and freedom of religion.9 Three children of Thomas and Joan decided to go, sailing within a year or two, and two others followed in 1685. The three who sailed earlier were John, Mary and Benjamin. They probably traveled in one of the 23 ships that sailed in 1682, since John ”Mynall” was recorded as a juror in Chester County Court in April 1683. The three settled in Concord Township, where they bought land, using money inherited from their father.

Their father Thomas died in 1682 and left a will.10 He described himself as a yeoman of Maridge, and left the land to his oldest son Thomas. He left a cottage and gardens and five acres of land in Maridge to his son John, plus another tract at “great Rachlett coppice”, “towards his better preferment in marriage and for his marriage portion”. John was to pay £40 to his brother Benjamin. A tract of 30 acres in Chilton Folliott was left to Stephen, another son. The daughters Mary, Margery and Joan got cash legacies. Mary got £4, while the others got a token amount, as they were already married and had presumably receive a portion at the time.11 Joan was the executor and her brother Benjamin Stoud was an overseer of the estate.

In 1685, more of the siblings immigrated. Margery had married Thomas Martin in 1675 under the care of Reading and Marlboro Monthly Meeting.12 Thomas Martin had been imprisoned for practicing his Quaker beliefs. On April 1, 1682 he was arrested by the tithingman of Great Bedwyn and brought before Justice Hungerford, who sent him to prison. At the next Sessions, Martin was indicted for “three weeks absence from the National Worship”. He refused to post bail and was recommitted to prison.”13 At some point he was released and in December 1685 the Martins arrived in Philadelphia on the Unicorn, sailing out of Bristol. Margary’s younger brother Moses sailed with them and bought land in Pennsylvania, but did not stay. He went back to England in 1687, selling his Pennsylvania land to his brothers and sister.

The others stayed in Pennsylvania, prospered and had large families.

Children of Thomas and Joan:14

Margery, b. Dec 1655, d. 1742, m. 1675 Thomas Martin.15 They immigrated in 1685 on the Unicorn with their children and settled in Concord on 100 acres bought from her brother John.16 At some point they moved to Middletown Township, and were taxed there in 1693. Thomas and Margery later turned away from the Quaker society and were baptized in 1697 in Ridley Creek, some of the earliest known Baptists in the colony.17 He died in 1714. Children: Mary, Sarah, Hannah, Rachel, George, Moses, Elinor, Margery.18

Joan, b. ab. 1657, married Dr. John Spier in 1681 at Lambourne Woods Meeting. In their marriage record he was described as a “medicus of chirugus alias physitian” and was the son of John, an apothecary.19 John and Joan stayed in England, where he died in 1703; she died before 1731. Children: Joan, Hannah, James.

Thomas, b. ab. 1657, d. 1729 in Marridge, married a woman named Israel, left children Thomas, Nicholas, Stephen, Joan, Isabel, Israel20. He did not become a Quaker.21

John, b. 8^th month 1659, immigrated probably in late 1682. He married in 1685 at Darby Meeting Elizabeth Maris, daughter of George and Alice.22 John bought 300 acres in Concord in 1683, and later bought more land from John Harding and Philip Roman, whom he knew from Wiltshire, since they lived nearby.23 He was active in the meeting in Concord, which was often held at his house. In 1697 for 5 shillings he donated land for the meetinghouse and burying ground for the Meeting. He died in 1743 and did not leave a will. Elizabeth died long before him, in 1691. Children: George, John, Aaron.

Benjamin, b. 2^nd month 1662, immigrated probably in late 1682, married in 1689 Ann Pennell, daughter of Robert and Hannah. He was a wheelwright, and later a wealthy land-owner, with eventual holdings of over 1500 acres. On the tax records he was usually the second-wealthiest man in Concord township after his brother-in-law Nathaniel Newlin.24 Benjamin was active in Concord Meeting, where he became an elder, and served as delegate to Quarterly and Yearly meetings. He served one term in the Provincial Assembly but was not active there.25 He wrote his will in 1736, and died in 1739. The inventory of his estate yielded a value of £760. Thomas Chalkley, the Quaker traveling minister, attended Benjamin’s funeral and wrote that “This Friend was a worthy elder and a serviceable man in our Society, and one of the early settlers in Pennsylvania; a man given to hospitality, and a good example to his family.”26  Ann also wrote a will, proved in 1749. Children: Ann, Benjamin, Joseph, Moses, Hannah, Samuel, Rebecca, Ann, Nathan, Robert. The daughter Ann married the celebrated botanist John Bartram.

Stephen, b. 6^th month 1664, became a Quaker, married a woman named Mary, stayed in Wiltshire where he died in 1721.27

Moses, b. 9^th month 1666, d. 1738. Moses immigrated in 1685 on the Unicorn with his sister Margery and her husband Thomas. He had bought rights to 500 acres before leaving England. But by 7^th month 1687 he was back in England. He planned to buy 250 acres from the Hitchcock family of Marlborough, but changed his mind, as “his mother would not let him goe back, and besides he sedd he should not give soe much for it”.28 In 1688 Moses sold his 500 acres to his brothers and sisters in Pennsylvania and settled on Marridge Hill where he married in 1690 Elizabeth Bacon, daughter of John.29 She died in 1737; he died the next year, leaving a will. Children: John, Thomas, Stephen, Mary, Sarah, Joseph, Elizabeth, Hannah, Moses.

Mary, d. 1728, m. 1685 Nathaniel Newlin, son of Nicholas and Elizabeth, at Concord Meeting.30 They became the wealthiest family in Concord township, owning much land, a grist mill, and a dry goods store. Nathaniel served in the Provincial Assembly, as a Justice, and was a Commissioner of Property. Mary died in late 1728, and Nathaniel married again, to Mary Fincher. They were only married for a few months before his death in early 1729. Surprisingly, for such a wealthy man, he left no will. His inventory lists pages of personal property and inventory from the dry goods store: surgical instruments, books on law and divinity and medicine, luxury items like ivory-handled knives and forks, many yards of varied fabric types, thread, buttons, nails, glass bottles, nutmeg, gallons of molasses, and over 6000 acres of land.31 Children of Mary and Nathaniel: Jemima, Elizabeth, Nicholas, Nathaniel, John, Keziah, and Mary.

Aaron, b. 7^th month 1669, died young