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 4^th 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 5^th 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 10^th 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

William Groom was a Quaker, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Groom. He grew up in Byberry, Philadelphia County, with his two sisters Elizabeth and Mary. Around 1716 William married a woman named Margaret. Her last name is unknown, but she was probably not a Friend, since in 1716 Abington Meeting drew up a paper of condemnation against him.1

Around 1718, William settled in Southampton, Bucks County, where he erected a grist mill on 112 acres of land.2  It had been sold to him by Joseph Jones, in two parcels, a tract of 50 acres in 1718 and another 62 acres two years later.3 The land lay on the line of Bensalem Township.

William died in 1732,  leaving a widow and several children. Letters of administration were issued to Margaret Groom, Thomas Groom (William’s father), and Thomas Walton. The inventory of William’s estate was taken by Benjamin Scott and William Walton; it included eight acres of wheat, farm implements, livestock, clothing and other personal items. He owned a lot of tools: a whip saw, hand saw, carpenter’s tools, cooper’s tools, axes, adze and chisel, hammer and auger, mill picks, a heading knife, and scythes. He must have been a handy and versatile miller and farmer. He had the assistance of a Negro man, who died soon after William himself.4 In addition to running the mill, William also farmed. He owned several horses, eight cows, thirteen swine and ten sheep. There were seventy bushels of wheat and fourteen well worn mill bags, probably stored in the mill. The appraisers rated his estate at £162.19.2.5

The tax list for Southampton in 1742 shows the ‘widow Grooms’. This must be Margaret, since Thomas’ wife Elizabeth was dead by then. Margaret did not file her account of the estate until March 1757.6 By waiting so long to settle the account, Margaret controlled all of the funds, even as four of her surviving children grew to adulthood and married. There is a stereotype of a grasping miller who cheats his customers; Margaret seems to have been the grasping wife of the miller.7 In her account she followed the usual form, taking the appraised value of the estate and subtracting her expenses and charges to show the total available for the heirs. The more expenses she subtracted the less there would be for her children: Phebe, Thomas and William. In her account she charged for maintaining and schooling the children. The yearly profit of renting the mill and farm for 15 years was £270. During that time she finished the house and repaired the mill and dam race for a cost of £41. When the Orphans’ Court audited her account they disallowed some of the expenses for maintaining the children as well as the value of the Negro man’s service; the court ruled that his life was at her risk and would not allow it. The four children’s share of the estate was £165. She said she had already paid them £105, leaving £60 to be distributed to them.8 The court ruled that this was too little.

In 1760 her son William died, leaving a widow Rachel and four children. Rachel needed money to maintain the children and pay William’s debts. This raised an issue of dividing the mill and land among the heirs. Up until then it was owned jointly by Thomas and William, the two sons.9 The court found that the land could not be divided, and Thomas offered to buy the shares of Rachel’s children so that he could own the mill and land outright. The court valued the property at £800, out of which a yearly payment had to be made for Margaret’s dower, as long as she lived.10

Margaret died in 1773 or 1774.11 Three of her children had died ‘in their minority’—Hester, Phebe and Sarah.12 The other four were alive in 1757. The children were not Quakers and none married in a meeting. In fact Ann’s husband was descended from two Dutch families that moved down to Bucks County from Long Island.

Children of William and Margaret:

Ann, b. ab. 1718, m. 1739 Garret Vansant at Christ Church in Philadelphia13. He was the son of Jacob Vansant and Rebecca Vandegrift. A Garret Vansant, blacksmith, died in October 1779 in Southampton, Bucks County.14 It was probably the same man.15 Children: possibly Jacob and Phebe, probably others.

Thomas, b. ab. 1720, m. 1750 Lydia Goforth, daughter of John and Lydia of Red Lion Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware. They took out the marriage bond on May 1750.16 Thomas initially owned part of a saw mill and grist mill with his brother William, but after William died Thomas bought out the interest of William’s five children in the mill property and settled there in Southampton. Thomas was still alive in 1791 when his son Thomas leased a house to him after Thomas lost the mill property in a sheriff’s sale. Children: Thomas, John, William.

Mary, living in 1761, m. (?) – Halloway.17 No further information.

William, b. ab. 1725, d. 1760, m. about 1748 Rachel Walton, daughter of Joseph and Esther. After William died Rachel married Edmund Briggs, in 1761. At his death William owned part of the saw mill and grist mill with his brother Thomas. There was much litigation over the settlement of his estate and possible mismanagement by Rachel and Edmund.18 Children of William and Rachel: William (died 1773), Esther (died 1773), Thomas (married Hannah Atkinson), Mary (married Joseph Siddell), Mahlon (died without issue).19

Hester, d. young

Phebe, d. young

Sarah, d. young

Thomas Groom was a son of William and Margaret Groom of Southampton, Bucks County, where William owned a saw mill and grist mill. Thomas was born about 1720. His father William died in 1732, when Thomas was still a boy, and his grandfather Thomas Groom, for whom he was probably named, died four years later. In his will the grandfather left £20 to each of his grandsons, Thomas and William, and the carpenter’s tools “at their mother’s house”.1 Thomas and his brother William were taught to be coopers, barrel-makers.2

In the spring of 1750 Thomas was of age to marry and he did something unusual. He married a young woman from New Castle County, Delaware, over sixty miles south of Southampton. Her name was Lydia Goforth and she was the daughter of John and Lydia of Red Lion Hundred, New Castle County.3 The Groom family had no known connections to New Castle, but members of the Goforth family make occasional appearances in Bucks County records. In particular when John Goforth was accused in Bucks County Court in 1747 of getting Rebecca Kelly pregnant, William Groom was one of his sureties.4 John Goforth may have been Lydia’s brother.5 Since Lydia’s father John owned a saw mill, perhaps her brother was in Bucks County to learn the miller’s trade. (He inherited his father’s mill in 1750 when the older John died.) Both families were originally Quaker, but had fallen away from the society in the previous generation.6

The same year that Thomas married Lydia, he had some financial difficulties. He and his brother William owned jointly two tracts in Southampton, one of 50 acres and one of 62 acres, land they had inherited from their father. In September they mortgaged the 62-acre part to Paul Isaac Voto of Philadelphia. They repaid this the following year. In 1760 William died, leaving a widow Rachel and five children.7 This set off a prolonged legal process of dividing the land, a process that left Thomas with sole ownership. Thomas petitioned the Orphans Court in March 1761 to have the land valued, with its grist mill and saw mill.8 The sheriff’s jury valued the land at £800, with the obligation of paying the yearly interest on £150 to the widow Margaret, Thomas’ mother, as long as she lived, as her dower or widow’s thirds as it was called. Thomas wanted full ownership, so in March 1762 he paid £300 to Rachel and her new husband Edmund Briggs to buy out their share.9 To pay for this Thomas and Lydia mortgaged the land, and paid off the mortgage the following year.

There was no love lost between Thomas and Edmund. In 1763 Thomas complained to the court that Rachel and Edmund had gotten William’s estate into their hands, had moved to Maryland, and had left a property of William’s in Philadelphia County “much injured”.10 The court appointed Samuel Biles as a guardian for the property rights of William’s children.11 When Biles presented his account to the court, it was decided that Rachel had already taken more than her share of the estate, and the residue should be shared among his three living children.12

By 1772 Thomas and Lydia were in financial difficulties. They mortgaged the 62-acre tract and they did not repay it.13 This was the beginning of a fourteen-year period when Thomas was constantly in the courts, unable to pay his debts, with many judgments against him.14 The sheriff advertised the land for sale in the Pennsylvania Gazette from 1786 through 1788.15 Finally, to repay the mortgage, the sheriff sold the 62 acres with its mills to Henry Walmsley of Southampton.16 The remaining 50 acres was sold to Thomas’ son Thomas.17 For perhaps the final indignity Thomas and Lydia rented a house from their son Thomas, paying 10s a year rent. The lease, on 8 March 1791, was their last appearance in the records.18

Children of Thomas and Lydia:19

Thomas, b. about 1750. Married a woman named Rebecca.20 Stayed in Southampton. In 1788 he bought from the sheriff the 50-acre tract of his father. There in 1791 when he leased a house to his parents. In 1794 he sold the land to Garrett Vansant.21 Somehow Thomas retained or repurchased part of the land, since in 1823 Thomas (then of Byberry) and Rebecca his wife sold six acres of the land to Evan Groom, son of Thomas’ brother John.22 Probably the Thomas Groom in the 1810 census in Southampton, with eight people in his household, plus two free Black people.23

John, b. 1750, lived in Southampton through 1779, where he was a constable.24 married ab. 1779 his cousin Phebe Cooper, dau. of Thomas and Phebe.25 Phebe was disowned by Buckingham Monthly Meeting for marrying “with the assistance of a hireling minister” and for marrying a non-Friend.26 They moved to Upper Makefield by 1798,  and bought a lot there from John Beaumont.27 John died in 1810 in Upper Makefield.28 Four children are listed in the Orphans Court record for his estate, but five in the will of Phebe’s father Thomas Cooper in 1805. Children: Thomas, Phebe, Mary, John, probably Evan.29

William, moved to Upper Makefield, possibly d. 1836.30 He is said to have married Hannah Atkinson31. Children: Mary, William, John, Jonathan.32 William did not leave a will in Bucks County and there is no listing for his estate in the Bucks County Orphan’s Court records.33

Thomas Groom arrived in Philadelphia in late 1683. He probably shipped goods on the Comfort of Bristol, which left Bristol in May 1683 and arrived a month later.1 His brother Peter had already arrived. Their sister Mary might have come with either of them.2 Peter settled in Burlington County, New Jersey. He and Thomas remained close, and years later Thomas named some of Peter’s family in his will. When Mary Groom married John Rogers in 1685, she was living in Byberry, probably with Thomas, and Peter Groom was one of the witnesses. Mary and John Rogers “published their intentions of marriage by writing affixed on the meeting house doore according to law … 16th day of 7th mo 1685 … in their publick meeting place in the house of John Hart on Poequesy (alias Bybury Creek in the upper part of the county of Philadelphia.”3 After their marriage they lived on Crosswicks Creek, Burlington County, New Jersey, and had four children, John, Deborah, Mary and Joseph, born between 1687 and 1692. John died in 1700. Mary’s death in 1692 or 1693 was recorded by Chesterfield Meeting.

Peter Groom probably started out living in Bucks County. In May 1682 he bought 200 acres in Southampton from Thomas Fairman.4 That November he sold that tract; at the time he was still living in Bucks County.  In 1683 he rented 200 acres in Bucks County, and requested that it be joined to Thomas “Hold”.5 This is probably Thomas Howell, who shipped goods on the same ship as Peter’s brother Thomas. In 1690 Peter sold that tract of 200 acres.6 By March 1691, when Peter gave a power of attorney to his brother Thomas, he was living in Burlington County. He married twice and had children with both wives. In 1694 Peter was hauled into Burlington Court, accused of living in sin with the wife of Thomas Wright. Peter did not do his case a favor by appearing drunk in court and refusing to take off his hat.7 In his will of December 1726 Peter named his wife Elizabeth (née Wood) as well as five sons and five daughters. He died around October 1728, when the inventory was made of his estate.

The Groom family of southeastern Pennsylvania is descended from Thomas, since Peter’s descendants stayed in New Jersey. In 1683 William Penn issued a warrant to lay out 200 acres in Southampton Township, Bucks County, for Thomas Groom.8 This was the first of several pieces of land Groom would own. As one of the earliest settlers there, he is shown on Holme’s map of early landholders, with land on Poquessing Creek.9 In addition to farming, Thomas was described in a 1691 power of attorney as a carpenter.10 In 1694 Thomas bought 150 acres in Philadelphia County from Thomas Fairman adjoining Job Howell (son of Thomas Howell) and Peter Groom.11 This may have been his primary plantation.

Sometime around 1690, Thomas married Elizabeth; her last name is unknown. Thomas and Elizabeth were members of Byberry Meeting. He was active there; she was not. Along with William Walton and many others, Thomas signed a paper signifying disunity with the faction of George Keith, denouncing the spirit of separation.12 In 1707 he was appointed by Byberry Meeting as an overseer, along with William Beal. Two years later he attended the Quarterly Meeting, along with Rynear Tyson.

Thomas and Elizabeth had three children who lived to marry. Since the births of their children were not recorded at Byberry or Abington (the monthly meeting that Byberry belonged to), there may have been other children who died young. Their daughter Mary married William Cooper, son of James and Hester, but this was not her first choice. A mason named Samuel Grimsditch lodged with the Groom family for two years until his death in January 1713. He was contracted to marry Mary Groom and “intended (had not death prevented) in a short time to have made [her] his wife”. He wanted her to have his possessions. After his death Thomas Groom, William Groom (Mary’s brother), and William Marshall (the husband of Mary’s sister Elizabeth) affirmed his statements before a justice and letters were granted to Mary Groom.13

Thomas had multiple dealings with William Marshall. Although there is no record of the marriage, there is strong circumstantial evidence that William was his son-in-law, married to Thomas’ daughter Elizabeth. Thomas named her in his will as Elizabeth Marshall, although he did not give her husband’s name. In 1697 Thomas sold land to William Marshall. This was part of a tract of 350 acres in the Manor of Moreland, bought from John Holme on June 4.14 Groom promptly divided the tract into three parts, selling 100 acres to Thomas Scott and 150 acres to William Marshall, tailor of the Manor of Moreland.15 Groom sold the remaining 101 acres to Hugh Morgan, bought it back again, and finally sold it to John Wharton in 1715.16 In 1713 Thomas Groom and William Marshall bought land together, along with a man named Thomas Kemball. They went to the Commissioners of Property in Philadelphia and bought 2500 acres, a large tract, in the Great Swamp in Bucks County, near Richland. They proposed to build a grist mill on it.17 Half the money was to be paid at next summer fair, on the 16^th of May, and the remainder six months later. The Great Swamp was in the northern end of Bucks County, about twenty miles north of Byberry. In 1713 only a few settlers had moved there, but people were buying up the land on speculation. In 1707 Groom sold a tract of 550 acres in Bucks County that he had bought a few years earlier; this may have been another speculation.18 In 1716 Groom acted as an intermediary for a sale of two tracts in Philadelphia County, from Thomas Kimber to James Cooper. Kimber sold the land to Groom on March 6, and a week later Groom sold it to James Cooper, merchant of Philadelphia.19 William and Mary Groom, children of Thomas, witnessed the deed. Soon after this Mary married William Cooper, James’ son.20

In 1735 Thomas was approaching the end of his life. His son William had died before him. His wife Elizabeth was dead. He was lodging in a room in Byberry and no longer lived on his Byberry land. He had mortgaged it and later assigned it to Samuel Cooper, who paid off the mortgage. Samuel was another son of James Cooper, and the brother of William Cooper, Thomas’ son-in-law.21

Thomas wrote his will on October 1, 1736. He did not mention his wife Elizabeth or his daughter-in-law Margaret Groom, widow of William Groom. He did name both daughters, a niece, some of his grandchildren but not others, and several people named Marshall of unspecified relationship. He left a small legacy of five shillings to Mary Dunning; perhaps she was keeping house for him. The largest legacies were to his daughters, Mary Cooper and Elizabeth Marshall. Johanna Page got £5; she was a niece, the oldest daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Groom. He left £5 to Mary Halloway, who was not a known child of Peter. She was probably a granddaughter, a married child of William and Margaret, since he named the other three of their children.22 He left £20 to each of his grandsons, Thomas and William (sons of William and Margaret), and the carpenter’s tools “at their mother’s house”. He left to Ann Groom, daughter of William and Margaret, the moveable goods at Margaret’s house. He only named one of the children of Mary and William Cooper, their daughter Rebecca, leaving her the remaining moveable goods “in the room where I lodge”. The Coopers were relatively well off, with a substantial legacy from William’s father James; perhaps Thomas felt that they did not need as much from him. He left another £5 to Mary Johnson, the eldest daughter of William Marshall. This is plausibly another granddaughter, although the wording is odd, since he did not name her as a relative, for example “my granddaughter” or the “daughter of my daughter Elizabeth”. Yet the legacy of the same amount suggests that she was a granddaughter or a niece. A Mary Marshall married John Johnson in 1728 at the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.23 Was this the same Mary? Finally he left another £5 to Sarah Marshall, wife of Moses. Her relationship to Thomas is unknown. If she was a granddaughter, she would have to be an unknown daughter of William and Mary Cooper or else a daughter of Elizabeth Groom Marshall. Thomas’ daughter Elizabeth and Mary were the executors. Normally the son would be executor, but William had died four years before.

Children of Thomas and Elizabeth:24

Elizabeth, m. — Marshall. This was probably William Marshall, who is surely related to the tailor of the Manor of Moreland who bought land with Thomas in 1697 and 1713, and who attested to the will of Samuel Grimsditch in 1713. A man who bought land in 1697 could be a generation too old to marry Elizabeth, and her husband could be the son of that William. A William Marshall died in February 1764, according to the Byberry death record kept by Henry Tomlinson. However he does not fit easily into the Marshall family of Tinicum, Bucks County, which included a Moses, born about 1701, who married a woman named Sarah, possibly referred to in Thomas’ will.25

Mary, b. ab. 1695, d. 1772, m. ab. 1722 William Cooper, son of James and Hester of Philadelphia. They lived in Byberry until William’s death in 1736. Mary died in Byberry in 1772. Children: Rebecca (married William Hibbs), Thomas (married Phebe Hibbs), James (married Hannah Hibbs), Samuel (married Grace Ridge), Letitia (married Abraham States).

William, b. ab. 1698, d. 1732, m. ab. 1716 Margaret—.  Lived in Southampton, Bucks County, where he operated a grist mill. He was disowned by Abington Meeting in 1716, possibly for marrying out of unity. He died in 1732, before his father Thomas, and did not leave a will. Children: Anne (married Garrett Vansant at Christ Church in 1739), Thomas (married Lydia Goforth of New Castle County), Mary (possibly married — Halloway), William (married Rachel Walton), and three daughters who died young.

John Groom was the son of Thomas Groom and Lydia Goforth of Southampton, Bucks County.  Born about 1755, John came of age around 1775. Thomas and Lydia lost their 112 acres and mill in a sheriff’s sale in 1788, due to many debts. Their son Thomas, John’s brother, bought 50 acres of the 112-acre tract and settled there. John was taxed in Southampton in 1778 as a single man, probably living with his brother Thomas.1 Is he the John Groom who served in the militia, First Battalion, 6^th Company in Southampton Township in 1775, under the command of John Folwell?2 He was still in Southampton in 1781, taxed for no land, but two horses and two cows, still probably living with his brother. He served as constable and in 1782 was indicted for failing to execute a writ properly.

By 1784 John owned 30 acres and a house. He had married about four years earlier, to his cousin Phebe Cooper, daughter of Thomas Cooper and Phebe Groom. Phebe was a member of Buckingham Monthly Meeting along with her parents.3 But John was not a Quaker; his grandfather William had been disowned in 1716, probably for marrying out of unity. In 2^nd month 1780 the women’s meeting of Buckingham sent a committee to meet with her, and in 6^th month she came to the meeting with a paper of acknowledgment. This was not accepted, and in 8^th month they drew up a testimony against her.4

By 1800 John and Phebe had moved to Upper Makefield with their five children. Phebe died before 1803, when her father wrote his will and described her as deceased.5 John died in May 1810, when the inventory of his estate was taken.6 He owned the usual household goods and tools, but no luxuries such as a teapot or multiple feather beds. His estate was valued at about $244. Coupled with the two small pieces of land that he owned, four acres in Southampton, and five acres in Upper Makefield, John was a man of few means, and his estate was not sufficient to pay his debts. His administrator Edmund Smith had to sell the land to support the children who were underage, and in the end most of the creditors had to be content with repayment of half what they were owed.7 Two of the children were still under 21 and unmarried at this time; they were probably taken in by their three older siblings.8

Children of John and Phebe:9

Thomas, b. ab. 1781, married before 1808. Lived in Upper Makefield.10 His wife’s name is not known. Had a son Jonathan who married Rebecca Pidcock. (Davis, History of Bucks County, vol. 3,  biography of Ezekiel A. Groom)

Phebe, b. ab. 1783, m. ab. 1803 John Hagerman, son of Adrian Hagerman and Mary Dyer; children: Mary, Letitia.11 The daughter Mary married Thomas Atkinson, moved to Auglaize County, Ohio, and had sons named Evan Groom Atkinson and Amos Bennett Atkinson.

Mary, b. ab. 1790, d. 1851, m. 1810 Amos Bennett, moved to Auglaize County, Ohio, where Amos died in 1856 and Mary died in 1851.12 Probable children: Sarah, Henry, John, George.13

John. b. after 1790, alive in 1810, no further information.

Evan, b. ab. 1795, d. 1872, m. ab. 1818 Rachel Randall, daughter of George Randall and Rachel Ridge. Evan lived in Southampton, where he was a successful farmer and stone mason.14 He served in the militia and was sometimes called Captain Groom. He represented Bucks County in the State Representative Assembly in 1853 as a Democrat. He died in 1872 and left a will; Rachel died a year before him. Children: Lydia Ann, Warren, Owen, Emaline, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Evan Jerome, Franklin, Ellen.

? Elizabeth, b. 1799, married James Worthington as his second wife.15 They lived in Southampton and were there as late as 1850. In the 1850 census they lived next to Warren Groom (son of Evan Groom). Known children: John, Warren. The son John named his oldest son Evan. In 1860 Evan Worthington, age 10, was an apprentice for Evan Groom, living in Evan’s household.16 There are no records of Elizabeth as a daughter of John and Phebe, but her close association with Evan Groom suggests a relationship. Perhaps she was an adopted daughter, or illegitimate.

Evan was born on October 30, 1794, the son of John Groom and Phebe Cooper of Upper Makefield, Bucks County.1 He inherited £5 in 1805 from his grandfather Thomas Cooper, but nothing from his father, who died in debt in 1810. Evan’s mother died when he was young. He grew up with three older siblings, who probably took him in after his father’s death.2 He may have been especially close to his sister Phebe who married John Hagerman, since Mary Hagerman, Phebe’s daughter, named one of her sons Evan Groom Atkinson.

About 1818 Evan married Rachel Randall, daughter of George Randall, a shoemaker of Bensalem, and his wife Rachel Ridge. Evan and Rachel settled in Southampton, where he was a successful farmer and stone mason.3 In the census records they always had a large family, both living with them and nearby. In 1830 they had 14 people in their household. In 1850 their five youngest children were still living with them. In 1860 they were next door to their son Frank and his wife Harriet. In the 1870 census Evan, Rachel, and their daughter Rebecca shared a house with two servants, one of whom was Rachel’s older sister Grace Randall. They were next door to Emaline and Jacob Van Horn.

Evan was described as Captain Groom in the marriage notice of his daughter Emaline.4 This was not just an honorific, since he had served in the militia as a young man. “The firing of the British frigate, Leopard, on the Chesapeake, in 1807, caused an outburst of patriotism among the Bucks county militia, and steps were taken to form volunteer companies…The President called for 93,500 militia, of which Pennsylvania was to furnish 14,000…The martial spirit of the young men of Bucks County was greatly stimulated by the war with Great Britain..By 1822 there were 19 companies in the county, the greater part of them were riflemen, a popular arm in the war just closed.”5 Evan Groom was the captain of one of those companies. When Evan died, the Doylestown Democrat said of him, “Although he never set a squadron in the field, or faced the foe in grim visaged war, it was from want of opportunity not of will. He had a natural fondness for military life, and there be many of us now in middle life, who well remember as amid the exciting events of boyhood, how our Captain marched in martial pomp at the head of his large company of riflemen – a wearing of the green!… the gallant Groom and his brave boys, preceded by martial music, were the cynosures of each eye, the admiration of all hearts.”6

He worked at first as a mason, and bought his first land in 1813, a two-acre lot in Southampton on the county line.7 He enlarged his holdings with at least ten more purchases from 1826 through 1857.8 In the early deeds he still called himself a mason.9

In 1853 he had the honor of representing Bucks County in the State Representative Assembly as a Democrat. He traveled to Harrisburg when the Assembly was in session.10 The Republican Compiler, a newspaper of the time, recorded Groom as voting yea on a routine amendment to the Commonwealth Constitution, along with the rest of the House of Representatives.11

Evan made his will in 1869 and died on 11 February 1872.12 He was 78 years old.13 In his will Evan named nine of his children. He signed his will with an X. Since he had signed documents earlier, this was probably a physical disability at the time he made the will. He was living on the Attleborough Road in Southampton. This was in Bucks County, not Philadelphia, but he was buried at William Penn Cemetery in Somerton, Philadelphia County, a few miles south across the county line. His son, Evan Jerome the doctor, was one of the executors, along with a son-in-law Charles Willets. Evan bought land over a forty-year period in both Southampton and Bensalem, and evidently became quite wealthy. His estate was worth over $35,000. The inventory showed the possessions of a well-to-do farmer of the time, including livestock, grain, farm machinery, a two-horse carriage, sleigh, wagons and a sulky and nine rooms worth of household goods. In his will he requested that his executors “enclose my burial lot in the William Penn cemetery with neat iron railing and also put up head and foot stones at my grave and also have my name on the gate of said lot.”14

He left extra money to his daughter Rebecca for her “extra services”. He left his wife Rachel her choice of household goods to furnish “one room complete” and directed his executors to sell his other real estate and property and use the interest from four thousand dollars to support Rachel. Although she died before him, he did not rewrite his will after her death.

Children of Evan and Rachel:  (none named for their grandparents)

Lydia Ann, b. 1818, d. 1908, m. Benjamin Worthington, son of John and Sarah. Benjamin grew up in Byberry, and married Lydia Groom before 1839. He worked as a storekeeper, but moved around between Philadelphia County and Bucks County, from Bensalem, to Moreland, then Warrington. Benjamin died in 1876, and Lydia lived in Cheltenham, first with her daughter, later with her children Emmor and Rebecca.15 She died in Somerton and was buried at William Penn cemetery in Somerton.16 Children: Watson, Elmira, Annie Rebecca, William Emmor, Rachel.17

Warren, b. ab. 1821, d. 1898, m. Rachel Richardson, had five children, kept the Brick Hotel in Newtown.18 Rachel died in 1866 at the age of 46, of consumption. In 1870 Warren was a hotel keeper, and later a bartender.19 He died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1898, living on the Oxford Pike at Neshaminy Falls, Bucks County. He is buried at William Penn cemetery with his wife.20 Children: Owen, Evan, Elizabeth, Lafayette, Fanny.

Owen, b. 1824, d. 1898, m. Rachel –. The last name of his wife is not known; some Ancestry trees give it as Ridge.21 He worked as a hotel keeper in Somerton, later farmed in Buckingham. Later in life Owen and Rachel lived with their nephew Augustus Willett on a farm in Bensalem. He died in 1898 and is buried at William Penn cemetery. His wife died before him.22 Children: Warren, Louisa, Ellen, Franklin, Annadell, William, Benjamin, Owen.23

Emaline, b. 1825, m. Jacob Van Horn in 1848; they named two of their children Evan and Rachel. Jacob was a farmer, first in Southampton next door to Evan and Rachel, later in Warminster, Bucks County.24 Emaline died in 1907 in Abington.25 Children: Evan, Rachel, Mary.

Rebecca, b. 1828, d. 1905, did not marry; lived with relatives, first with her parents, then her nephew Augustus Willett, later her brother-in-law William Willard (probably keeping house for him after her sister died). Rebecca died in 1905 and is buried at William Penn cemetery.26

Elizabeth, b. 1831, d. 1903, m. Charles Willett in 1850 in Bensalem. Charles was a farmer in Bensalem, who served as a county commissioner and served a term in the state legislature (like his father-in-law Evan Groom). Charles died in 1875 from pneumonia.27 Elizabeth died in 1903. Their son Augustus Willett was a farmer who in 1880 was supporting his widowed mother Elizabeth, his two younger sisters, his wife, his little daughter Lillie, his uncle Owen Groom, and aunt Rebecca.28 Augustus died at age 39 of consumption.29 Children of Elizabeth and Charles: Augustus, Elizabeth, Emma.

Evan Jerome, b. 1833, d. 1921, m. Mary Louisa Carter in 1856, later married Elizabeth Anderson.30 He became a doctor and lived in Bristol, Bucks County.31 He was active in the community. In 1873 he was invited, with other leading men of the town of Bristol, to meet to form an association to promote the interests of the town, especially by attracting manufacturers to settle there. They agreed that the town needed to provide inducements such as waterworks, and needed to deal with issues such as the police, the “speed of the trains”, and the “blowing of the locomotive whistles”.32 Evan died in 1921 and was buried in Bristol Cemetery.33 Children of Evan and Mary: Rebecca, Ellen, Ellerslie, Albert, Rachel (adopted). He left a will naming his wife Elizabeth, although she died before him, his son, adopted daughter, daughter-in-law and a grandson.

Franklin H., b. 1835, m. Harriet Plumly in 1858. He was a stone mason. They lived in Southampton, where their neighbors in 1870 were also stone masons.34 Frank died in 1901; Harriet died in 1920. Child of Frank and Harriet: Elwood.

Ellen, b. ab. 1840, d. 1898, m. William Willard35. William was a sawyer. They lived in Moreland, always close to other relatives or with relatives living with them. After Ellen died, Rebecca Groom kept house for William.36 Ellen and William apparently had no children.

George Randall lived in Bensalem, Bucks County, in the late 1700s and early 1800s. He worked as a shoemaker and owned only about ten acres of land. George’s parentage is uncertain, although he probably fits into the Randall family that starts with the immigrant Nicholas Randall who owned land in Bucks County starting in 1684. The third generation after Nicholas is not well documented, and George of Bensalem could fit there.1

In April 1791 George Randall of Bensalem bought 1½ acres from Rachel Briggs, widow, adjoining Nicholas Vansant, Thomas Worthington, Abraham Larue, and other land of Rachel Briggs.2 About 1794 George married Rachel Ridge, daughter of Thomas Ridge and Rachel Duncan. There is no known church record for their marriage; they were not married in a Quaker meeting, although Rachel’s Ridge and Duncan families were originally Quaker.

In 1799 and 1800 George was taxed in Bensalem as a shoemaker.3 Bensalem was bustling at the time. There were nine carpenters, suggesting that there was work building houses. There were weavers, tailors and shoemakers, five tavern keepers and three shopkeepers.4 By 1800 George and Rachel had four daughters, and by 1810 they had five daughters and two sons.5 George and Rachel had eight known children in all, seven daughters and a son. One son was George.6 Another son must have died young.7 The daughters all married except one, and most had children. George may not have been wealthy, but he and Rachel successfully married off six daughters. They owned about ten acres in Bensalem at the time of George’s death, adjoining John Tomlinson and Nicholas Vansant. Part of this was the small lot that George bought from Rachel Briggs; the rest was his wife’s share of her father’s estate, conveyed to her in 1710.8 Since this was not sufficient for farming, he made his living as a shoemaker.

The daughters all married except one and most had children. The son George may have been feeble-minded and is not known to have married. The children seem to have been close-knit. One daughter did not marry and lived first with one sister and later with a niece and nephew. The son George was living with one of his sisters in 1850. Two of the sons-in-law served as administrators of the estates of George and Rachel, and one of them bought the land, keeping it in the family.

George died in 1836, leaving no will. His estate was not probated until April 1841, after Rachel died.9 The implication is that the family wanted to keep her in the house, and delayed probate until her death. Evan Groom, husband of Rachel Randall, one of the daughters, served as the administrator. On April 26, 1841, probably just eleven days after Rachel died, Evan came into Bucks County Orphans Court to petition for a sale of the house and lot in Bensalem owned by George, to pay George’s debts.10  Why was Evan in such a hurry to sell the land, and why were George’s debts still unsettled five years after he died? Evan was the wealthiest of the sons-in-law, with land valued at $20,000 in 1860. It is plausible that the debt was actually money he loaned to George, a debt that he did not attempt to collect until the real estate could be sold. It is hard to imagine anyone outside of the family waiting so long for a repayment.

The Orphans Court ruled that the land could be sold, and at the September term Evan reported that he gave public notice and sold the tract of 1 ½ acres in Bensalem, to John Tomlinson for $315, as John was the highest and best bidder. On September 20, the court affirmed the sale.11 On the same day, the inventory was filed, showing a meager value of $10.65, with a bed, kitchenware and other small goods.12 Three years later Evan filed the final estate account, showing real estate tax paid on the $315.13, Book 11, p. 113.]

At the same time that Evan Groom was settling the estate of George Randall, another son-in-law Hazel Scott was settling the estate of Rachel. In the April term 1842, he petitioned the Orphans Court to ratify an agreement he had made with Rachel in 1837, for him to buy a tract of 8¾ acres in Bensalem from her, for $550 and for yearly payments to her. The agreement was made in 1837, but a deed was never signed, and he wanted clear title to the land. She had signed the agreement by mark.14  In the petition to the court Hazel Scott listed her heirs: George Randall, Rachel intermarried with Evan Groom, Mary intermarried with William Tomlinson, Esther intermarried with Joseph Vansant, Elizabeth intermarried with Jesse Mood, Ann intermarried with Elexander S. Rutherford, Grace Randall, Sarah (Hazel’s wife). The account for Rachel’s estate was not filed until February 1848, by the administrator Franklin Vansant. It showed a total of $550.00, the amount that Scott had paid for the land, as her only asset. She must have lived on the yearly payments Scott made to her.

Children of George and Rachel:15

Mary, b. about 1795, m. William Tomlinson, son of John Tomlinson and Sarah Worthington, in 1824.16 They were married by the justice Benjamin Crispin. In 1850 they were living in Bensalem with their children Sarah, age 19, Mary, 17, and John Comly, 14. William was working as a mason.17 George Randall, age 42, an “idiot” was also living with them, probably a younger brother of Mary’s. They were next door to John Tomlinson, his father, and close to Vansant relatives. In 1860 W. W. Tomlinson was living in Bensalem, working as a day laborer, with daughters Sarah and Mary, but his wife was gone.18 Note that William was a mason, like his brother-in-law Hazel Scott. Children: Sarah, Mary, John C.

Grace, b. about 1797, d. 1892, did not marry, lived with relatives.  In 1860 she was living with two widowed sisters, Ann Rutherford and Elizabeth Mood, in Oakford, Southampton, adjoining Bensalem.19 In 1870 she was living with Rachel and Evan Groom, described as a servant.20 In 1880 she was living with Thomas and Rachel Yerkes; Rachel Scott Yerkes was a daughter of Sarah Scott and therefore Grace’s niece. Grace died in 1892 and was buried at William Penn Cemetery.21

Rachel, b. March 1, 1799, d. Aug 4, 1871, m. Evan Groom about 1815. He was the son of John Groom and Phoebe Cooper. Like Rachel, Evan was descended from Quaker families but was no longer a Quaker himself. They lived in Southampton and raised a family of nine children. Evan served in the militia as a young man and was elected to the state legislature to represent Bucks County.  In 1860 Evan’s farm in Southampton was valued at $20,000.22 Rachel died in 1871; Evan died in 1872; they are buried together at William Penn Cemetery.23 Children: Lydia Ann, Warren, Owen, Emaline, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Dr Evan J, Franklin, Ellen.

Elizabeth, b. 1800, d. 1892, married Jesse Mood about 1823. He was a farmer. In 1850 they were living in Southampton, next door to their nephew Warren Groom and his wife Rachel. Jesse died in 1852, and left a will.24 They apparently had no surviving children. In 1860 Elizabeth was living with her two widowed sisters, Grace and Ann, along with two children of Ann’s, Emily and George Rutherford.25 In 1860 Elizabeth and Grace were taxed for a piece of land in Southampton.26 In 1870 Elizabeth was still living with Ann, both living with William Rutherford, a stone mason (another son of Ann).27 In 1880 Elizabeth was living on the Bustleton Pike, Philadelphia County, boarding with Edward and Elizabeth Tomlinson.28 Elizabeth died in 1892 and is buried at William Penn Cemetery.29

Esther, b. 1803, d. 1886, married Joseph Vansant. They were living in Southampton in 1850 with daughters Hannah and Amanda.30 Their nephew William Rutherford, age 9, was living with them. Joseph was a farmer. They were still there from 1860 through 1880.31 In 1870 Joseph was listed as a carpenter. In 1880 they were living with Hannah and Joseph Reyser, probably a granddaughter and her husband. Joseph died in 1882 of “debility”; Esther died in January, 1886. They are buried together at William Penn Cemetery.32 Children:33 Hannah, Amanda, Silas.

Sarah, b. 1805, d. 1888, m. Hazel Scott in 1827. They were married by Isaac Hicks, Justice of the Peace. They were living in Southampton in 1850, where he was a stone mason. Scott is supposed to have done the mason work on the high school in Langhorne with his brother-in-law Evan Groom.34 In 1860 Sarah and Hazel were still in Southampton with some of their children. Hazel was listed as a farmer. Hazel died in 1869 of consumption. By then he was working as a storekeeper.35 The inventory of his estate was taken in July 1869; it showed a horse and wagon, a few household goods not taken by the widow, and other sundries. The balance of his estate was doubtful store bills (might not be recovered) of $176 and the fixtures and goods of the store of $499.36 In 1870 Sarah was living in Southampton with her son George and his wife Louisa. George was listed as a broom manufacturer; maybe he made the brooms that Hazel (and George’s cousin Benjamin Worthington) sold in their store.37 In 1880 she was still in Southampton, boarding with Rachel and Thomas Yerkes, her daughter and son-in-law.38 Her sister Grace was boarding there too. Sarah died in 1888 of pneumonia; she is buried at William Penn with Hazel.39 Children of Hazel and Sarah: Randall, Eveline, Elizabeth, Rachel, Mary Ellen, George40

George, b. about 1808, named in the list of heirs in 1842, no further record. Is he the George Randall, age 42, described as an “idiot”, living with Mary and William Tomlinson in 1850?

Ann, b. ab. 1815, m. Alexander Rutherford. Alexander was named in the list of heirs in 1842 but was probably dead by 1850. By 1860 Ann was widowed, living in Southampton with her widowed sister Elizabeth Mood. In 1870 Ann and Elizabeth were living with Ann’s son William, a stone mason.41 Ann died in 1892, at the age of 78, and was buried at William Penn Cemetery.42 Known children: William, Emily George.43

Patrick Malone was not part of the Quaker immigration of 1682 and 1683; he came late to Bucks County.1 He appears in the Pennsylvania records around 1742, when he was married in Buckingham, Bucks County.2 His wife was Hannah Beale, daughter of Alexander Beale and Sarah Bowman. Patrick and Hannah bought a farm in Buckingham in 1745 near Forest Grove. Forest Grove lay at the intersection of Lower Mountain Road and Forest Grove Road; Patrick’s farm was apparently near the intersection.3

Patrick may not have been a Quaker, although he was surrounded by them in Buckingham. He and Hannah were not married at Buckingham Meeting and the births of their children were not recorded there. Furthermore in 1768 their son John was received by request into membership with Buckingham Meeting, showing that he was not a birthright member.4 If Patrick was not a Quaker he may have immigrated for economic reasons rather than religious persecution. In 1773 Patrick and John were witnesses for the will of Elizabeth Welding; she was Hannah’s aunt.

In his will, dated 1784 and proved 1788, Patrick named his sons John and James, and his daughters Elizabeth, Mary, Hannah, Phebe, and Ann, as well as grandchildren Abner and Sarah Worthington, children of his daughter Sarah deceased. John inherited the plantation of 116 acres and was named executor.5 The others received cash legacies. His wife Hannah had died before him.

The inventory of Patrick’s estate shows a small house, with a front room, back room and “chamber”, and no mention of a barn or outbuildings.6 The front room included the hearth for cooking; the back room and chamber each had a bed. He owned only one mare and two cows, and his estate came to £49.6.8, rather meager for the time.

Children of Patrick and Hannah:

John, b. 1743, d. 18157, m. 1769 Rebecca Good at Buckingham MM. John left a will naming his John and James, daughters Hannah, Alice, Phebe and Rachel.8 Another daughter, the wife of Job Walton, predeceased her father. Rebecca was not mentioned and must have died before her husband. John left the plantation of 117 acres to his son John (the land Patrick had left to John in 1788).

Mary, b. 1745, m. 1765 William Kirk. They lived in Buckingham, where William died in 1821. In his will he named his wife Mary and children Isaac, John and Cynthia. Two others, William and Sarah, died before him.9

Hannah, b. ab. 1747, d. 1811, m. 1774 Benjamin Worthington, son of John Worthington and Mary Walmsley. They were members of Byberry Meeting and lived in Byberry, where Hannah died in 1811 and Benjamin died in 1813. He named all of his living children in his will.10 Children: Mary, Asa, John, James, Benjamin, Mahlon, Hannah, Joshua, Enos, Elizabeth, Martha.

Sarah, b. ab. 1749, d. 3^rd month 1777, m. 1774 Joseph Worthington, son of John Worthington and Mary Walmsley. Sarah was Joseph’s second wife; his first wife was Esther Carver. After Sarah died, Joseph married again, to Esther Kimble. He had children with all three of his wives. He owned much land before his death in Buckingham in 1820.

James, b. 1751, d. 1815, Mary Tomlinson. They moved from Horsham Meeting to Goshen Meeting in Chester County in 1799, and lived near West Chester.11 James left a will naming Mary, various nieces and nephews and some Tomlinson relatives. He and Mary apparently had no children.<12

Phebe, b. ab. 1755, d. 1809, m. 1773 John Tomlinson. Phebe was buried at Byberry Meeting in 1809. John died in 1824. They had a large family.

Elizabeth, m. Henry Stirk. They lived in Buckingham and may have had three children.

Ann, b. 1762, m. Samuel Reeder, Buckingham MM in 1792. They may have moved to Ohio.

Thomas Howell was an early Quaker immigrant to Bucks County who had two known children.1 He was in Pennsylvania by October 1683 when he went to Penn in Philadelphia and requested the rental of 200 acres of land. He actually went twice within two weeks and may have changed his mind about where he wanted to settle. If he arrived in late September 1683, it is possible that he is the Thomas Howell who shipped goods from Bristol on the Comfort of Bristol between 23 May and 6 June.2 People declared goods that were for resale, not personal use. This does not mean that Thomas was intending to be a merchant. Many early settlers brought small quantities of goods to sell or barter. It is clear that Thomas was not a rich man. He rented land instead of buying it, and could not pay the passage for his son.

When Thomas requested his land, he first asked for it in Providence Township, Chester County. Penn wrote a warrant directing that the land be surveyed. Two weeks later Howell went back to Penn and requested land in Philadelphia County near Poquessing Creek, and Penn wrote another warrant.3 The land was laid out in Southampton Township, Bucks County, and was shown there on the map made by Thomas Holme about 1687. Howell’s land was at the southern end of Southampton, just north of the Growdon land in Bensalem.4 At some time before 1697, Thomas gave his land to his son Job, possibly because Thomas was not longer able to farm it.5 By then Thomas owned the land and had gotten a patent for it.6

In 1686 Thomas Howell signed the wedding certificate when his daughter Hannah Howell married William Hibbs at the house of John Hart in Byberry. The record of the marriage kept at Abington Monthly Meeting showed that Hannah was Thomas’ daughter.7 Thomas was not active in Byberry Meeting, unlike his son-in-law William Hibbs. The name of his Thomas’ wife was not known and there is no record of her in Pennsylvania. She did not sign the marriage certificate when Hannah Howell married William Hibbs in 1686, suggesting that she died before then, possibly in England. Thomas died in 1702 and was buried at Byberry Meeting.8

Next generation: Job and Hannah

In 1682 Job Howell immigrated on the Friends Adventure as a servant to John Brock. They arrived in the Delaware River at the end of 7^th month 1682. To pay for his passage, Howell was to serve Brock for four years, being free in 7^th month 1686.9 In fact he was probably free before then, since in 5^th month 1684, a tract of land was surveyed for him, in Bucks County, between Arthur Cook and William Buckman.10This was northeast of his father’s tract, not the same land. In November 1697 Job sold 100 acres of his father’s tract to Hugh Ellis and another 50 acres to Francis Eileston (Elleston).11 In 11^th month 1699, William Rowles requested to buy the 200 acres “formerly laid out unto Job Howell upon rent”.12 This was Job’s own land, not the land he got from his father. Was he living on the remaining 50 acres of his father’s land?

Job Howell testified in Bucks County court in 7^th mo 1689, in a case of a colt of John Swift. Philip Conway was suspected of having something to do with shooting it, and Job testified that Conway told him he was there when it was shot.13 Philip Conway was not good company to keep. He and his brother Patrick were repeatedly in the courts for theft and were finally banished from the province.14

The 1697 deeds were Job’s last appearance in Bucks County records.15 There is no record of his death, or of marriage or children.

Hannah Hibbs married William Hibbs in 1686. He had immigrated to West Jersey in 1677 on the Kent, as a servant or apprentice. After he married Hannah they lived in Byberry, next to William and John Carver with whom Hibbs feuded over their boundary line. William and Hannah were members of Byberry Meeting, where William signed a paper with other Friends condemning the “spirit of separation” of George Keith and his followers.16 William and Hannah had eight children living at the time he made his will. The will, made in 1708, named his wife Hannah and eight children, Joseph, Jonathan, Jacob, William, Jeremiah, Sarah, Phebe and Hannah.17 He left a Negro man to his wife, and after her death to his sons Joseph and Jonathan. The plantation was shared between Hannah and the son Joseph. The other children received cash payments. William specifically allowed Hannah to raise the children at her discretion. “I leave the whole charge of bringing up my children to my dear wife she doing this according to her own discretion.” The overseers of the will were friends Daniel and William Walton; they were to assist Hannah in managing her financial affairs. Some of the children of Hannah and William married in Quaker meetings; others did not.

Even after William’s death in 1710, Hannah continued a feud he had begun with his Carver neighbors eight years before, over the precise location of the property boundary. Abington Meeting minutes reported that “Whereas there hath been a former difference between John Carver and Widdow Hibbs, about a former line between them; The meeting being willing to put an end to ye sd difference: have appointed Six friends, with two Surveyors to view ye land and ye lines and to endeavor to put an end to ye differ[ence].….”18

In 1712 Hannah married Henry English at Byberry Meeting. He was a widower, a Quaker, and a resident of Byberry.19 Henry and Hannah had no children together, and he died about 1724. He He Hannah died in 1737. In her will she named her children Sarah, Phebe, Jeremiah, Joseph and William, as well as two namesake granddaughters. She gave her sidesaddle to her grandddaughter Hannah Cooper and her “pilers” (pillows?) to her granddaughter Hannah Hibbs. She left her clothing to daughters Sarah and Phebe (the brown gown and petticoat and riding hood and bonnet), her bed and bolster and bedding to Phebe, and residue of property to sons Joseph and William and son-in-law Jonathan Cooper. She specified that her Negro servant Trail should be set free, to have his own mare and scythe and ox, and enough wool to make him a coat and waistcoat and britches.

Henry Walmsley was born in northern Lancashire, the son of Thomas Walmsley and Elizabeth Rudd, who were married there in November 1665. By 1682, when Thomas and Elizabeth immigrated to Pennsylvania, they 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 this case, the clerk wrote out one certificate for the entire group of several interrelated households. 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.1 They came on the Lamb of Liverpool. Thomas Walmsley did not declare any goods, but it is said that he intended to set up a mill. He did not live long enough to build his mill. The Lamb was infected with disease, probably smallpox or dysentery, and the Walmsley family was hard-hit, losing daughters Margaret and Rosamund and probably also Mary.2 Some of those who did survive the voyage were ill when they arrived. This was probably true of Thomas, since he died of dysentery within a month after they arrived, leaving Elizabeth with the surviving children.3

When the Lamb landed in Philadelphia in October 1682, most of the Settle group chose to stay together in Bucks County. Thomas Holme’s map of 1687 shows many of them on “Neshameneh Creek”. “Widdow Walmsly” was on the west side of the creek. Her 250 acres on the Neshaminy were patented to her in 5^th month (July) 1683. She managed the farm, probably with paid help.4 Finally in 10^th month 1684 she 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 to Elizabeth, and to her intended husband John Purslow, both of whom signed by mark, and to Nicholas Waln, who signed his name. Waln was keeping some land in trust for her sons Henry and Thomas. 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.5

John Purslow, who would become the stepfather of the Walmsley children, was an Irish Quaker who had arrived in 1677 on the Phoenix.6 He acted for the family in 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.”7  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 by then over 21. He married Mary Searle in 1699 at Abington Meeting. Her 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. In 1697 Searle bought a tract of land in Abington, jointly with the maulster John Carver, from the estate of Thomas Terwood. Searle and Carver partitioned this land in 1700, and Searle left his part to his daughter Mary in his will, along with 200 acres in Southampton and 200 acres in Horsham.8

Before Henry could marry Mary he had to satisfy the Middletown Meeting of his good standing. In 12^th month 1698 he went before them to condemn his negligence in attending meetings. The following 7^th month 1699 he and Mary announced their intention to marry. There were continuing concerns about Henry’s behavior, and the meeting appointed William Paxson and Thomas Harding to inquire. The following month Henry condemned his “remissness” and the marriage was allowed to proceed.9

They settled in Bensalem, and had a family of two sons and seven daughters.10 Both Henry and Mary lived to see all but one of them married. Although four of the daughters married sons from Quaker families like Walton and Carver, they did not all marry under auspices of a meeting and the youngest daughter, Grace, married Benjamin Herbert at Christ Church. This is somewhat surprising, since prosperous families were usually able to keep their children within the society in this early time.

Henry was still remembered several generations later. “He was above the middle size of men, and was a jovial, comical sort of person. He did not inherit much property from his father, and never became so wealthy as his brother Thomas.”11 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.12 He did not leave a will, and letters of administration were granted on his estate to his sons Frances and Thomas and son-in-law Thomas Tomlinson.13 He left a tract of 220 acres in Bensalem, and after his death the seven married daughters sold their share of the land to their brothers Frances and Thomas.14 They were all living near Bensalem at the time of the deed, except for William Carver, Elizabeth’s husband, who died earlier that year.

Children of Henry Walmsley and Mary Searle:

Joan, b. 1702, d. 1772, married Thomas Tomlinson. They lived in Bensalem, where Thomas died in 1764. In his will he named Joan, sons Thomas, Joseph, Henry, and Francis, and daughters Elizabeth and Mary.15 Joan was to have the “stone room at the west end of the dwelling house” with its furniture, while the son Thomas received the plantation and the others got cash legacies.

Elizabeth, d. 1772, m. 1719 William Carver, son of William and Mary, settled at Buckingham. William died in early 1759. Children: Joseph, William, Jacob, Elizabeth, Henry, Rebecca, Mary, Martha. Elizabeth died in Warwick Township in 1772, and in her will named all the children except Jacob, plus three Worthington grandchildren.16 She was living with her son-in-law Isaac Worthington, and mentioned that he had supported her in a “tender and affectionate manner”. He was also the executor.

Mary, b. 1704, d. 1795, m. about 1725 William Ridge, who immigrated to Pennsylvania and settled in Bensalem, Bucks County. Children: Thomas, Grace, William, Mary, Henry. William died in 1776. Mary outlived William him by twenty years, and died in 1795, age 91.17

Thomas, b. 1706, d. 1788. He married and left children.18 His wife’s name is sometimes said to be Ruth, but this may be a confusion.19 Thomas died in Southampton in August 1788, “near 80 years”.20 In his will he named a son Henry, daughter Margaret, son Ralph, daughter Mary Reed, and two granddaughters, and left land in both Southampton and Bensalem.21

Rebecca, m. 1731 Abel Walton, son of William and Sarah. They were married at Abington Meeting in 1731. They lived in Somerton, Philadelphia County, where Abel died in 1771. Rebecca administered his estate, which amounted to only £27 when the inventory was taken.22 Children: William, Mary, Abel, Henry.23

Francis, named for his grandfather, died unmarried in 1760, probably in Bensalem.

Sarah, d. 1787, m. William Kinsey. Sarah died in 10^th month 1787.24 They were living in Bristol Township in 1759, when they received a legacy from Sarah’s father Henry.25

Ann, m. John Waters, living in Bensalem in 1759. John was probably not a Friend, as they do not appear in Quaker records.

Grace, m. 1746 at Christ Church, Benjamin Herbert, living in Bensalem in 175926. Herbert was supposedly from Harford County, Maryland, and he and Grace moved there and had six children.27