Benjamin Mendenhall and Ann Pennell

Benjamin Mendenhall was born in 1662 in Ramsbury, Wiltshire, the son of Thomas Mildenhall and Joan Stroud of Marridge Hill.1 Thomas and Joan became Quakers in the late 1650s and four of their children, including Benjamin, immigrated to Pennsylvania and changed the spelling of the family name to Mendenhall. Benjamin probably came in late 1682, since his brother John was called to serve on a jury in Chester County Court in April 1683. They had both received a legacy from their father Thomas, who died in 1682 while they were still in England. Thomas left two tracts of land around Marridge Hill to John, who was supposed to pay £40 to Benjamin as his portion, suggesting that the tracts were valued at around £80. By selling that land and buying land in Chester County, both Benjamin and John ended up with extensive land holdings. “It is no surprise that the most valuable landholdings [in Concord] were in the hands of three families, the Newlins, Pyles, and Mendenhalls…While the Newlin and Mendenhall families had acquired some wealth in England and Ireland, thus arriving in Pennsylvania with capital to invest, the other families [Hannum, Palmer, Pierce, Marshall…] rose to prominence from more humble beginnings.”2

Benjamin eventually owned over 1500 acres and on the tax records was usually the second-wealthiest man in Concord township after his brother-in-law Nathaniel Newlin.3 He had trained as a wheelwright, and this skill probably contributed to his success. In 1711 he bought a one-seventh share of a corn mill from Nicholas and Abigail Pyle.4

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.5

In 2nd month 1689 he married Ann Pennell, daughter of Robert and Hannah Pennell of Middletown township.6 In 1713 he and Ann built a house on their 250-acre home tract in Concord. The house was extensively rebuilt in the 1800s but still contains a date stone in the gable. Years later their daughter Ann Bartram told the story that when her parents were having their house built, she used to carry dinner to the workmen so they wouldn’t lose time going for it.7

As their children grew to the age of marriage, Benjamin and Ann needed to provide for them. One record of this arrangement has been preserved, a letter from them to Owen and Mary Roberts, parents of Lydia Robert.

“Our son Benjamin has made us acquainted that he has a kindness for your daughter Lydia and desired our consent thereon, and we … having given our consent that he may proceed orderly, that is to have your consent and proceed without it…as touching his place that we have given him for to settle on, we shall say but little at present, Ellis Lewis knows as well or our minds and can give as full account of it as we can…”8

Benjamin wrote his will in 1736, and died probably in early 1740.9 In his will he left one-third of his estate to his wife Ann, along with comfortable furniture for one room. He named his five living children, leaving cash to his sons Benjamin and Joseph, his farming implements to his son Robert, cash to daughters Hannah Marshall and Ann Bartram. He gave bequests to his grandchildren, with an additional sum for his grandson Caleb, son of Moses deceased.

The inventory of his estate yielded the impressive 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.”10  Ann also wrote a will, proved in 1749.11 She left cash legacies to her children Robert, Hannah, Ann, as well as the surviving spouses of Benjamin, Samuel and Joseph, plus many of her grandchildren.

Children:12

Ann, b. 3rd month 1690, died in infancy

Benjamin, b. 3rd month 1691, d. 1743 in North Carolina while on a religious visit there, married Lydia Roberts in 1717 at Gwynedd Meeting. There is a charming letter from Benjamin Jr to Lydia expressing his “kind and true respects of Love”, written in 6th month 1716.13 They lived in a stone house in Concord. Children: Joshua, Samuel, Martha, Hannah, Lydia, Mary.14 After Benjamin died, while on a religious visit to North Carolina, Lydia married William Hannum. Benjamin Mendenhall was named on a list of “Eminent Friends”, along with his brother Moses.15

Joseph, b. 3rd month 1692, d. 7th or 8th month 1748, married in 1718 Ruth Gilpin at Concord meeting.16 They settled in Kennet township, Chester County on a large tract of land purchased by his father in 1703.  Joseph donated land for Kennett Meeting House. His will was probated in Chester Co, PA 18 Oct 1748.17 It provided for Ruth, left land to the five sons and cash to the daughters. Children: Isaac, Joseph, Benjamin, Hannah, Ann, Stephen, Jesse. The inventory of the estate came to the large total of £915.

Moses, b. 2nd month 1694, d. 1731 in Concord, married 1719 Alice Bowater Pyle at Concord Meeting. She was the daughter of John and Francis Bowater, and the widow of Jacob Pyle. They settled in Kennet, where Moses was an active member of the meeting and a recommended minister. He also served as clerk of the meeting. He wrote his will in November 1731, leaving his land to his two sons to be divided between them. He left cash to his daughters and the remainder to Alice. She was bring up the children “and teach them to read and write legiably”. The son Moses was to be apprenticed for a trade when he turned fifteen. Children: Caleb, Moses, Alice, Phebe.

Hannah, b. 6th month 1696, m. in 1718 Thomas Marshall, son of John and Sarah of Darby, at Concord Meeting.18 Thomas died in 1740, leaving a will naming Hannah, seven children, and an unborn child. In 12th month 1741/42 Hannah married Peter Grubb, son of John and Francis.19 Hannah died in 1770. She left a will, naming six children. Children: Benjamin, John, Ann, Martha, Hannah, Mary.

Samuel, d. 1st month 1698, died before 1740, married a woman named Esther.20 No known children.

Rebecca, d. 10th month 1699, d. 1727, married Thomas Gilpin, son of Joseph, in 1726 at Concord Meeting.21 No children have been found for them.

Ann, b. 7th month 1703, d. 1789, married the celebrated botanist John Bartram, lived in Darby, Philadelphia County. She was his second wife, his first wife Mary Maris having died in 1727, leaving him with sons Richard and Isaac. John Bartram traveled extensively, as far as Florida, collecting plant samples for his own garden and for his correspondents in London. He was a friend of Benjamin Franklin and other notables. His sons John and William continued in his footsteps as botanists. He died in 1777.22 Children of John and Ann: James, Moses, Elizabeth, Mary, William, Elizabeth, Ann, John, Benjamin.

Nathan, b. 8th month 1705, died young

Robert, b. 7th month 1713, d. sixth month 1785 in Concord. He married Phebe Taylor in 1734 at Birmingham Meeting. She died in May 1761 and the next year he married Elizabeth Hatton, widow of John Hatton, at Concord Meeting.23 In 1777 he married again, to Esther Temple, widow of William Temple. Robert was a justice on the court of Common Pleas and owned a saw mill. When he was thrown from his riding chair by a runaway horse on the road to Concord Meeting, he was badly hurt but not killed instantly. He was concerned that he had not signed his will. He sent home for it but it could not be found. Several witnesses had to attest to its validity before it could be proved, especially since the son Philip filed a caveat against it, probably disappointed in his legacy of only 50 acres.24 The inventory of the estate came to £1320. He named thirteen children in the will, plus one (Moses) deceased. Children with Phebe: Philip, Ann, Rebecca, Moses, Nathaniel, John, Stephen, Joseph, Robert. Children with Elizabeth: Elizabeth, William, Adam, Phebe.25

  1. Sometimes the family name in England is written as Minall, sometimes as Mildenhall. The American branch called themselves Mendenhall. (Ken Mendenhall, “From Marridge Hill to Concord Township”, Mendenhall Matters Newsletter, 2010, vol. 17(3), online at mendenhall.org) The Mendenhall family has been thoroughly researched. Henry Beeson published his book, The Mendenhalls, in 1969. An older work by William Mendenhall et al, History, correspondence and pedigrees of the Mendenhalls…, published in 1912, has been largely superceded by more recent research. Gilbert Cope, the eminent Chester County genealogist, gathered materials on the family, some available at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The best source for new discoveries is the newsletter of the Mendenhall Family Association, online at mendenhall.org. The Association has published work by careful researchers who use original sources, including Peter Mendenhall, Dan McEver, Herbert Standing, and Ken Mendenhall. In particular, see the excellent summaries by Ken Mendenhall in issues 3(4) and again in 2010 in volume 17(3). These are the text of speeches given by Ken Mendenhall at Mendenhall family reunions, so they are lacking references.
  2. Robert Case, Prosperity and Progress: Concord Township PA 1683-1983, vol. 1, 1983, p. 139.
  3. Case, 1983, includes many references to Benjamin.
  4. Chester County deeds, Book C, pp. 143-150.
  5. Horle, Craig & Wokeck, Marianne, editors, Lawmaking and Legislators in PA, volume 1, 1682-1709, 1991.
  6. Concord Monthly Meeting minutes, Historical Society of Penna, pp. 244-45.
  7. Early Church Records of Delaware County, p. 232, Concord Meeting annotated records.
  8. Quoted in William Mendenhall et al, History and pedigrees of the Mendenhalls, 1912.
  9. No death record has been found for him. His will was proved in April 1740, and the inventory was taken then, which would normally happen a few days after the death. (Chester County estate, 1740, #703)
  10. Thomas Chalkley’s Journal, p. 392, cited in Russell Newlin Abel, Mendenhall-Newlin Alliance, 1989, p. 110. The Journal was originally published around 1751 and has gone through many editions.
  11. Chester County wills, Book C, p. 149.
  12. John Launey, First Families of Chester County, 2008; notebooks of Gilbert Cope at the Historical Society of Penna; Concord Meeting Records, p. 245.
  13. Russell Newlin Abel, Mendenhall-Newlin Alliance, 1989, p. 104.
  14. Mendenhall-Newlin Alliance, p. 104. Some sources add Rachel and Benjamin, but they do not appear in their father’s will, written in early 1743. Benjamin’s will provided for Lydia, two sons and four daughters. (Chester County estates, 1743, #857, Chester County Archive.
  15. Anna Watring & F. Edward Wright, Early Church Records of Bucks County, vol. 2, p. 177.
  16. Cope notebook on the Mendenhall family.
  17. Chester County wills, Book C, p. 67.
  18. Gwen Bjorkman, Quaker Marriage Certificates Concord Meeting, 1991.
  19. John Launey, First Families of Chester County, 2008.
  20. No record of their marriage has been found, and Gilbert Cope said that Samuel died unmarried, but an Esther was named in the 1749 will of Ann Mendenhall as “wife of son Samuel”. Samuel was not in his father’s will.
  21. Bjorkman.
  22. Bartram’s life appears in many secondary sources. His Wikipedia entry has a charming illustration of Bartram by Howard Pyle.
  23. Mendenhall-Newlin Alliance.
  24. Chester County estates, Mendenhall-Newlin Alliance.
  25. The dates of birth for all the children are given in Robert’s profile in the database of the Mendenhall Family Association at mendenhall.org.

Thomas Mildenhall and Joan Stroud

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. 8th 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. 2nd 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. 6th month 1664, became a Quaker, married a woman named Mary, stayed in Wiltshire where he died in 1721.27

Moses, b. 9th 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 7th 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. 7th month 1669, died young

  1. Thomas’ family name comes in many variations. The family took its name from the village of Mildenhall, a few miles away from Aldbourne, pronounced as “Minall” by the inhabitants. Sometimes the family name is written as Minall, sometimes as Mildenhall. The American branch called themselves Mendenhall. (Ken Mendenhall, “From Marridge Hill to Concord Township”, Mendenhall Matters Newsletter, 2010, vol. 17(3), online at mendenhall.org)
    In the marriage record his name is Thomas “Minehall”. (Gary Allen Singleton, post on the discussion tab of the Geni.org page for Thomas Mendenhall I, 1580-1637)
  2. The Mendenhall family has been thoroughly researched. Henry Beeson published his book, The Mendenhalls, in 1969. An older work by William Mendenhall et al, History, correspondence and pedigrees of the Mendenhalls…, published in 1912, has little on the English Mildenhalls. Gilbert Cope, the eminent Chester County genealogist, gathered materials on the family, some available at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The best source for new discoveries is the newsletter of the Mendenhall Family Association, online at mendenhall.org. The Association has published work by careful researchers who use original sources, including Peter Mendenhall, Dan McEver, Herbert Standing, and Ken Mendenhall. In particular, see the excellent summaries by Ken Mendenhall in issues 3(4) and again in 2010 in volume 17(3). These are the text of speeches given by Ken Mendenhall at Mendenhall family reunions, so they are lacking references.
  3. Ken Mendenhall, 2010.
  4. Through a combination of DNA testing and genealogical research, the Mildenhall line has been traced back to the 1200s. This research appears solid on the whole, but there are gaps in the evidence. See Peter Mendenhall, “Our Journey to Mildenhall”, Mendenhall Matters Newsletter, 22(2) and Allen Singleton, “Results of the Mendenhall YDNA group”, Mendenhall Matters Newsletter, 19(3).
  5. Ken Mendenhall, 2010.
  6. The name Marridge has nothing to do with marriage. The “ridge” part refers to the setting, the highest point in the parish of Ramsbury. (Ken Mendenhall, 2010)
  7. Herbert Standing, “The Mendenhall Family”, Mendenhall Matters Newsletter, 2000, 7(2)
  8. Standing, 2000.
  9. For more on Penn’s grant, see my blog at Takingthelongview.org, especially posts on August 20, 2015, also August 26, 2015 and September 2, 1015.
  10. The page for him on Geni.com, as Thomas Mendenhall, III, under the tab for Sources.
  11. Allen Singleton, “Who we left behind”, Mendenhall Matters Newsletter, 2015, 20(2).
  12. Standing, 2000.
  13. Joseph Besse, Sufferings of the People Called Quakers, vol. 2.
  14. Dates of birth from Standing, 2000.
  15. Ancestry, England and Wales Quaker Birth Marriage Death Register 1578-1837, Berkshire, Piece 1269, Reading and Warborough Monthly Meeting, image 17. This is also the source for the marriages of Joan to John Spier, and Moses to Elizabeth Bacon.
  16. Robert P. Case, Concord Township, vol. 1, 1983. This is an excellent township history, thorough and detailed, with family profiles, economic data, inventories and wills, house pictures and floor plans. It is a model for this kind of local history.
  17. Case, 1983. Before that Thomas had been an active member of Chester Meeting, signing testimony against selling rum to the Indians and serving as one of the trustees for the purchase of land for the meeting house in 6th month 1688.
  18. Children from the entry for Margery Mildenhall in the Mendenhall Family Association database.
  19. Piece 1269, Reading and Warborough Monthly Meeting, image 19.
  20. Allen Singleton, “Who we left behind”, Mendenhall Family Association Newsletter, 2015, 20(2). Israel signed the marriage certificate of Joan and John Spier in 5th month 1681 at Lambourne Woods Meeting, just after her husband Thomas. It was also signed by Joan’s father Thomas, mother Joan and their seven living children. (Piece 1269, Reading & Warborough Monthly Meeting, Image 19)
  21. In the database of Mendenhall Family Association as Thomas IV Mildenhall.
  22. Case, 1983. As Case put it, this marriage “cemented ties between two prominent families in early Chester County”. (p. 22)
  23. His profile in the Mendenhall Family Association database, where he is listed as John Mendenhall.
  24. Case, 1983, includes many references to Benjamin.
  25. Horle, Craig & Wokeck, Marianne, editors, Lawmaking and Legislators in PA, volume 1, 1682-1709, 1991.
  26. Thomas Chalkley’s Journal, p. 392, cited in Russell Newlin Abel, Mendenhall-Newlin Alliance, 1989, p. 110. The Journal was originally published around 1751 and has gone through many editions.
  27. The Mendenhall Family Association database has little material on this family. Gilbert Cope, in his notebook on the Mendenhall Family at Historical Society of Pennsylvania, includes a record from Reading and Warboro Monthly Meeting of a Stinn(?) Mindinal buried 10-8-1690. Surely the name is Stephen. Who is this?
  28. Notebooks of Gilbert Cope, Mendenhall Family, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Call number Gen Co 9:56.
  29. Piece 1269, Reading & Warborough Monthly Meeting, Images 21-22.
  30. The Mendenhall Family Association database entry for her gives an exact birthdate of 25 May 1670, and a marriage date of April 1685. It is highly unlikely that she was married at 15. Her birth record has not been found in Piece 1269, Reading & Warborough Monthly Meeting, image 30 through 32, where some of her siblings are found.
  31. Case, 1983. The inventory and account are at Chester County Archives, 1729, #352. The will in 1732 is that of his son Nathaniel.

John Bowater and Frances Corbett

John Bowater was born in 1660 in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, the son of John and Ann.1 The older John was a nail-maker who had become a Quaker before then; in 1660 he was put into prison for refusing to take an oath. The son John would inherit his father’s Quaker beliefs and his occupation of nail-making. Bromsgrove was a center for this, close to mills on the River Stour where iron bars were slit into thinner pieces, ready to be hammered out into nails.2

When John was 17, his father left for a voyage to America, to travel around the colonies and preach as a Quaker minister. John was the eldest son and must have been the chief wage-earner in his father’s absence. His father returned in 1678, only to lose his wife Ann, the mother of John and his younger brothers. She died in 1679, according to the records of Warwick North Monthly Meeting.3 It would be six years before the father remarried.

The younger John married Frances Corbett in 2nd month (April) 1683 in Chadwick, Worcestershire. She was the daughter of William Corbett of Sedgley, Staffordshire. John’s father John would normally sign the marriage certificate right after the newly-married couple, but at this time the father was probably still in jail for refusing to pay tithes. John and Frances had a daughter Elizabeth born in 11th month (January) 1683/84, just nine months after their marriage. She died a few months later.

John and Frances emigrated in 1684 and settled in Thornbury township, Chester County. They first presented their certificates to Philadelphia Meeting on 9th month 1684. In May 1688 they joined Chester meeting, along with their two young daughters. They went on to add three more daughters.

John bought 50 acres in 1685, which he later sold. In 1697 he bought 250 acres and in 1700 another 150 acres. Meetings were sometimes held at their house until a new meetinghouse was built in 1700 on adjoining land of Joshua Hastings; this became Middletown Meeting.

In 1705 John wrote his will; it was proved in November 1705.4 It named Frances and their five daughters. After John’s death Frances sold 400 acres, probably the two combined tracts, to George Smedley. Then she bought a tract of 115 acres in 1708 and kept it until 1713.5 When she died she was living in Concord, probably with a daughter. She made her own will, an unusual act for the time, naming all five daughters.6 She died in 1720.

Children of John and Frances:7

Mary, b. 12 mo 1685, d. before 1745, married about 1713 Stephen Ailes.8 In 3rd month 1714 Mary submitted a paper of condemation to the monthly meeting of Chichester and Concord, acknowledging her fault in being with child before marriage and claiming that her mother was “wholly ignorant how it was with me”.9 They lived in Londongrove, Chester County. Stephen left a will, written in November 1755 and proved in June 1758.10 Mary was not named in his will, and must have died before it was written, but the date of her death was apparently not recorded by London Grove Meeting. Both of Stephen’s sons had died before him, and he left the plantation of 200 acres to his grandson William. His daughter-in-law Ann, widow of his son Stephen, was to stay on the plantation to support the grandchildren. The inventory of his estate showed a modest list of furniture, livestock and household goods, with a total value of £86. Children: Hannah, William, Stephen, Mary.

William, b. 11th mo 1686, no further record, probably died before May 1688.

Elizabeth, b. 11th mo 1688 (probably 1688/89), d. 1742, married William Pusey at Middletown Meeting on 5th 9th month 1707.11 William was a miller, probably the nephew of the miller Caleb Pusey, who was prominent in the Quaker meeting and in the government.12 Elizabeth and William lived in West Marlborough, where Elizabeth died in 1742, leaving a will, naming sons John, William, Joshua, daughters Elizabeth, Jane, Mary, Hannah.13

Anne, b. 6th mo 1690, d. bef. Aug 1745, married 1712 William Chandler at Christ Church, son of George and Jane14. William was a shoemaker. They lived in Londongrove, where William wrote his will in 1745. He named his children John, Ann, Thomas, Moses, Mary, William.15 William died the next year. The inventory of his estate included shoemaker’s tools, 37 pounds of leather, plus the house and 100 acres in Londongrove.

Alice, b. 12th mo 1692/3, d. before Nov 1731, married Jacob Pyle in 1713 at Concord Meeting; he died in 1717. He left a will, naming his sons James and Samuel. Alice was the administrator.16 Alice married Moses Mendenhall in 1719 at Concord Meeting. They settled in Kennett, on Brandywine Creek. Moses was a recommended minister, clerk of the meeting, and considered an eminent Friend.17 He died in 1731 and was buried at Kennett burying ground. Children of Jacob and Alice: Samuel, James. Children of Moses and Alice: Alice, Caleb, Phebe, Moses.

Phebe, b. 2nd mo 1697, d. about 1739, m. 1717 Shadrach Scarlett at Concord Meeting.18 They moved to New Garden Meeting, Chester County. He was a prosperous farmer. The inventory of his estate, taken in April 1739, included ten cattle, six horses, 33 sheep and lambs, six swine, plentiful farm tools and household goods.19 1739.] He owned 303 bushels of wheat in the house and mill, probably the grist mill of which he owned half a share. The total value, not including his land, was over £355. Besides the 150 acres in Londongrove where they lived, he also owned 175 acres in Lancaster County. Children: Ann, Nathaniel, Alice, Phebe, Samuel, Shadrach. Phebe probably died before him, since administration on his estate was granted to the son Nathaniel, instead of to her.

  1. John Bowater is often confused with his father John the Quaker minister. They died within a year of each other: the father in London, the son in Westtown, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The father did not immigrate.
  2. “Nail-making in Bromsgrove”, online at bromsgrovenailmaking.wixsite.com, accessed April 2019.
  3. Stewart Baldwin, “John1 and Thomas1 Bowater and their sister Mary1 (Bowater) Wright”, p. 41, in The American Genealogist, 2000, vol. 75(1), pp. 37-46 and 75(2), pp. 117-123, is the most reliable source for the Quaker Bowater family.
  4. Chester County wills, Book C, p. 10.
  5. Chester County deeds, Book B, p. 205; Book C, p. 436.
  6. Chester County Archives, estate file #123; Chester County wills, Book A1, p. 110.
  7. The births were recorded by Chester Meeting.
  8. They were almost certainly married in a Quaker meeting, but no record has been found.
  9. Concord Meeting Minutes, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 402.
  10. Ancestry, Chester County, Estate Papers 1714-1838, Wills 1659-1790, Images 418-423.
  11. Ancestry, US Quaker Meeting Records, Chester, Chester Monthly Meeting, Certificate of Marriage Records, Image 15. Their certificate was signed by Caleb Pusey, Caleb Pusey Jr, Frances Bowater, Mary Wright (Elizabeth’s aunt), Mary Bowater (her sister), Thomas Bowater (her uncle) and Frances Bowater (her aunt, wife of Thomas). They had declared their intentions the first time, on 7th month 1707 (Chester MM, 1707-1728, image 5) The marriage was reported orderly in 9th month.
  12. Caleb Pusey was an associate of Penn and a leader in Quaker affairs. See the WikiTree entry for William Pusey; also Williamson, “Caleb Pusey and his house”, Bulletin Friends Historical Association, 12(2), 1932, on JSTOR; also Wikipedia entry for Caleb Pusey House. The house is supposedly the second oldest English house still standing in Pennsylvania, where Pusey built a mill on Chester Creek in partnership with Penn and Samuel Carpenter.
  13. Chester Co Estate Papers 753-884, 1700-1810 on Ancestry, image 305. A daughter Lydia died before her mother.
  14. Chandler Families, at: http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mygermanfamilies/Chandler.html
  15. Pennsylvania Wills and Probate Records 1683-1993, on Ancestry, Chester County, Estate Papers no. 885-1015, 1700-1810, Images 844-49. It was written in 6th month 1745 and proved 12th month 1746.
  16. Chester County, Estate Papers 1-115, 17109-1810, images 379-387. The witnesses were Shadrach Scarlet (by mark) and Frances Bowater, probably his mother-in-law, although John’s brother Thomas was also married to a woman named Frances at this time (Baldwin, 2000, p. 120)
  17. Records of Kennett Meeting; list of eminent Friends in the records of Bucks County (Anna Watring & F. Edward Wright, Early Church Records of Bucks County, vol. 2, p. 177)
  18. The marriage certificate does not appear in the records of Chester Monthly Meeting.
  19. Chester County, Estate Papers No. 625-752, 1700-1810, images 195-204. There was an inventory, account, and administration papers, but no will. The papers were granted on 26 March 1739, and the inventory was taken on 20th 2nd month [April

John Bowater, Quaker minister

John Bowater was baptized on 25 April 1630 in Bromsgrove, the son of William Bowater, a nail-maker there.1 Bromsgrove was in Worcester, south of Birmingham. Originally a center for cloth manufacture, it was also known for nail-making. It was close to the River Severn, for transport, and close to the River Stour, which was dotted with slitting mills, a water mill for making bars of iron into rods.”2 “Nailmakers would purchase their iron from the nailmasters and sell their nails to nailmasters at set prices, effectively at a piece-rate. The basic technique of nail production did not change much, involving in essence heating iron rods, making a point, half cutting the nail off, fully cutting it and hammering a head. Simple nails might take a few blows and take a matter of seconds to make, while complex nails could involve twelve to twenty blows.”3 Nailmaking was a family occupation. The nailers lived in tiny cottages, with a shed attached for doing the work. They were at the mercy of the nailmasters for their income, and were generally poor. When John’s father William died in 1647, he left his son John a “paier of Bellowes in my shope with all my workinge tooles beelonginge to my trade.”4 Since William owned his own shop, he was a step above the poorest of the nail makers.

John became a Quaker before 1660, when he was put into prison for refusing to take an oath.5 In the town of Worcester the magistrates summoned many known Quakers and required them to swear an oath. Forty-seven of them refused and were sent to prison, including John.6

John traveled to America as a Quaker minister in 1677 and 1678. He visited New England, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia, preaching in places along the ways, and wrote a book about his experience, published after his death, called Christian Epistles Travels and Suffering of that Ancient Servant of Christ, John Boweter.7 After his return to England, he was put in Worcester Gaol for failing to pay tithes. He was later transferred to Fleet Prison in London.8

John’s first wife, Ann, died in 1679, leaving him with three grown sons, John, Thomas and William.9

After his release from Fleet Prison, he married Mary Maunder of London under the jurisdiction of Devonshire House Monthly Meeting.10 They had children, Jonathan and Mary. They may have remained in London, since the death of their son Jonathan was recorded there as well as their own deaths. It is not recorded how John made his living in London. Quakers did not pay their ministers, looking down on “hireling priests”. John died in 11th month (January) 1704/05 and was buried at Friends Burying Ground near White Chapel. Mary died the next month, from a fever. They were living on Westbury Street, Spittlefields, now known as Quaker Street.11

Children of John and Ann:

John, bapt. 8 August 1652, d. summer 1705. Like his father and grandfather before him, he was a nail-maker. He married in 1683 Frances Corbett, daughter of William Corbett of Sedgley, Staffordshire, also a nail-maker.12 They were married at Chadwick Monthly Meeting, Worcester.13 The next year they immigrated to Pennsylvania and presented a certificate to Philadelphia Meeting. They moved to Chester County, where John was an active member. They had seven children, all born in Pennsylvania except the first. John left a will naming Frances and five living daughters. Frances lived until 1721. She also left a will. Children: Anne (died young), Mary, William, Elizabeth, Anne, Alice, Phebe.

Thomas, born February 1654/55, died after November 1734, m. Sarah Edge in 1686. Thomas immigrated in September 1683 on the Bristol Comfort as an indentured servant to Frances Fincher from Worcester. After his indenture was over he married Sarah Edge, and after her death married in 1702 Frances Barnard, widow of Richard Barnard.14 Thomas and Frances lived at first in Concord, Chester County, later moved to New Garden Meeting, then to Haverford.15 The dates of their deaths were not recorded, but Thomas was still alive in 1734 when he signed a marriage certificate. Children (with Sarah): Sarah, Thomas.

William, d. 13 Oct 1697 in England, m. (?) Sarah.16 He signed the wedding certificate of John and Frances as a close relative, so he was probably a brother of John and Thomas. He stayed around Bromsgrove, and his death was recorded at Warwick North Meeting.17 Children: John Samuel.

Children of John and Mary:

Jonathan, b. July 1687, d. 1688, age  7 months.

Mary, b. Feb 1688/89, d. before March 1734 in Virginia, m. James Wright.18 Mary immigrated in 1705, just after the death of her parents. She was just sixteen. She married James a few years later. James and Mary lived in Nottingham, Chester County, then moved to Monocacy, Frederick County, Maryland, where they were members of Hopewell Meeting.19 Around 1735 they moved to Orange County, Virginia, where in 1755, when the French incited the Indians of the Shendanoah region, James and Mary were “driven from their habitation” and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting took up a collection for them.20 James died in 1760, leaving a will naming his wife and children.21 In an unusual clause, James added that “I would have no appraisement upon my goods.”22 Mary died in 1764, and named the same children. Children: Mary, Hannah, Martha, Elizabeth, John, James, Thomas, Isaac, Ann, Sarah, Lydia.23

  1. John Bowater the Quaker minister is often confused with his son John, also a Quaker. They died within a year of each other: the father in London, the son in Westtown, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The father did not immigrate. (See the discussion at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bowater-5, accessed April 2019.)
  2. “Nail-making in Bromsgrove”, online at bromsgrovenailmaking.wixsite.com, accessed April 2019.
  3. “Bromsgrove”, Wikipedia, citing Bygone Bromsgrove.
  4. Stewart Baldwin, “John1 and Thomas1 Bowater and their sister Mary1 (Bowater) Wright”, p. 41, in The American Genealogist, 2000, vol. 75(1), pp. 37-46 and 75(2), pp. 117-123. This is the most reliable source for the Quaker Bowater family.
  5. Baldwin.
  6. Roger Heacock, The ancestors of Charles Clement Heacock, 1851-1914, online at www.kennyheacock.com/writings/ccheacock.doc. This genealogy, better written than many, includes other Chester County families such as Pyle, Sharpless, Pennock and Mendenhall. It does, however, confuse John Bowater the preacher with his son John. (Heacock, p. 78)
  7. Heacock, Baldwin, 2000. Note that the name can be found as Bowyter, Boweter, Boeter, Bowitter, Bowetter, etc. Baldwin says the name must have been pronounced as Bow’-e-ter, not Bo’-water.
  8. Baldwin, 2000, p. 45, citing Joseph Besse, Sufferings of the People Called Quakers, 1753, vol. 2, p. 76.
  9. Baldwin, 2000. He lists William as possible, based on William’s signing of the marriage certificate of John (the son) in 1683, but I find this evidence persuasive enough to list him as a child. Ann’s last name is unknown. When the son John was baptized in 1652, John and Ann were living in Catshill, a hamlet two miles north of Bromsgrove. (The parish record of baptism, cited in Baldwin)
  10. Baldwin, 2000, p. 45.
  11. History of Spitalfields, online at: http://www.spitalfieldsforum.org.uk/history, accessed April 2019. The origin of the name is not clear.
  12. Baldwin, 2000, p. 117.
  13. Chadwick was eleven miles southwest of Bromsgrove, a comfortable ride on horseback. Sedgley was further north; how did John meet Frances?
  14. Baldwin, 2000, p. 120. A Findagrave entry for Frances Lambe Barnard Bowater claims that Frances did not marry Thomas, based on an erroneous date of death for him. He was still alive in 1720 when they received a certificate for New Garden Meeting.
  15. Some sources confuse New Garden Meeting, Chester County, with New Garden Meeting, North Carolina. There is no evidence that they ever moved out of Pennsylvania.
  16. There is no birth record for him that would show conclusively that he was a son of John and Ann. However he signed the marriage certificate of John Bowater and Frances Corbett in 1683 as a close relative, right after Thomas Bowater, John’s known brother. Baldwin lists him as a probable child of John and Ann, and there is no other known William in the family who would be at the wedding. (Baldwin, 2000, p. 46)
  17. Baldwin, 2000, p. 46. Warwickshire is just east of Worcestershire. The range covered by Warwick North Monthly Meeting would include Bromsgrove. See the detail map at: https://theironroom.wordpress.com/2014/08/25/a-lesson-in-good-record-keeping-from-the-quakers/.
  18. Some researchers claim that James Wright married Mary Davis. This error apparently started with Walter Farmer’s 1987 book In America Since 1607. He gave a date for Mary’s birth that does not match the birth date for her in Hopewell Meeting Records. (See the WikiTree page for Mary (Bowater) Wright (1789-1764)). The marriage to Mary Bowater has been proven by Stewart Baldwin using evidence from English and American Quaker records, especially the witnesses who signed as close family at the marriages of the children of James and Mary. (Stewart Baldwin, “Quaker Marriage Certificates: Using Witness Lists in Genealogical Research”, TAG, vol. 72, 1997, pp. 225-43. A researcher who argues for Mary Davis as the wife of James Wright published her argument on the Findagrave entry for Stephen Ailes. She correctly noted that there were two men named John Bowater, father and son, but confused the Mary Bowater born to each of them. She produces as evidence the 1726 will of John Beals, which named a kinswoman Mary Davis of Philadelphia, but by 1726 James Wright had been married for almost twenty years. His wife would not have been named by anyone with her maiden name. She also failed to grasp Quaker marriage culture, arguing that James Wright would attended some Bowater marriages as a traveling minister, which was not typical for the time. (Findagrave ID# 116561689 for Stephen Ailes). See the marriage certificates for Hannah Wright and Mary Wright, daughters of James and Mary, on Ancestry, New Garden Monthly Meeting, Marriage Records 1704-1765, Image 57 and image 65, where the witnesses included many Bowaters and no Davis. The Findagrave entry for Mary Bowater Wright (ID# 32113214) gives the correct parentage for Mary, provides the text of her will, and lists her ten children. Other careful researchers such as Martha Grundy support the Bowater identification. Grundy provides details of the lives of James and Mary in their Quaker community. (her website at: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~paxson/griffith/Wright.html, accessed April 2019)
  19. Baldwin, 2000, p. 121.
  20. Grundy web page on James Wright.
  21. His will was written in 1751, proved in Frederick County, Virginia in 1760.
  22. Without an inventory his executors would not have to produce a balanced account of their credit and debits.
  23. The daughter Martha married John Mendenhall Jr and was noted as an “able minister of the Gospel”. (Grundy)