Pennsylvania Female Ancestors
Biographies
Baker, Elizabeth (Nicholson) | ? -1812 PA | Founder of County, 1773
There is no proof of when Elizabeth Nicholson arrived in the Colonies, but she is known to be of English descent. She married a German immigrant, George Baker, in about 1760, likely in Philadelphia. The couple headed west in 1772-1773, to what is now Beaver County. Their destination was not considered part of Pennsylvania until 1785, which meant they could not warrant, survey, or patent the land until that time. George Baker did so as soon as possible, warranting the land on which the couple had lived on 21 Mar 1786. They called their home Bethlehem. Life on the Frontier was known to be brutal, especially for women. After a family of nearby Indians were massacred in 1774, Elizabeth, her husband, and 5 children were taken prisoner in retaliation. They were held captive near present-day Detroit until the surrender of Burgoyne in October 1777. Having been sold to the British, they were exchanged as prisoners-of-war and were allowed to make their way back to their homestead. Elizabeth's husband and eldest son enlisted in the Revolutionary army. After the war, the family resettled their land. In 1932, the lands that contained the Baker Family Cemetery were deeded to the Block House Baker Association, with the provision that the cemetery portion forever remain in memory and honor of Elizabeth and George Baker, and their heirs. Today, the site contains an official designation from the Beaver County Historical Research and Landmarks Foundation.
Elizabeth Baker Cemetry marker
Bartram, Ann (Mendenhall) | 22 Sep 1703 - 29 Jan 1789 PA | Woman of Distinction: Entrepreneur
Ann Mendellhall Bartram has been described as a stereotypical farm wife of her time and place. Born a Quaker to Benjamin and Ann (Pennell) Mendenhall, she would marry (at age 26) John Bartram as his second wife in December 1729. Because she was married to a man who became a world-renowned botanist, horticulturist, and explorer, her life has often been overlooked by scholars. Shortly after their marriage, the Bartrams moved to a piece of land west of the Schuylkill River, known as Kingsessing Township (present-day Philadelphia) and celebrated today as Historic Bartram's Garden. It was here that Ann and John created what would become a family business that would continue through three generations for over a century and designated a National Historic Landmarks in 1960. What started out as a simple interest in medicinal plants, would burgeon into John becoming celebrated as one of the "greatest botanists in the world" by contemporaries such as Carl Linnaeus. In 1743, John co-founded the American Philosophical Society with Benjamin Franklin. (He is listed on the NSCDA ROA in this capacity.) Yet, Ann did not "marry a famous man" but a simple farmer. As John studied, wrote, and frequently traveled the colonies, it was Ann who ran the farm, and kept up the correspondence and (international) seed shipments that kept the business flourishing, as evidenced through limited surviving documentation. During this time, she also raised her two step-sons and gave birth to nine more children. She entertained frequent and notable houseguests, such as close friends Benjamin and Deborah Franklin. She encouraged her children's curiosities. Son William became a noted botanist, ornithologist and artist, while granddaughter Ann (Nancy) Bartram Carr (daughter of John, Jr.) studied drawing with her uncle William and became a distinguished botanist and artist in her own right. It is a legacy which lives on through the Franklinia tree along with a wide range of flowering trees and shrubs, including rhododendron, and magnolia to the cultivation of the Venus flytrap.
Bartram's Garden Historic Site
Biddle, Mary (Scull) | 2 Aug 1709 - 9 May 1789 PA | Woman of Distinction: Map Editor
What is a woman to do after she’s given birth to her tenth child and her husband confesses he’s lost the family fortune? What if said husband sells the family’s NJ estate, and quickly loses yet more money, and ends up bed-bound for 3 years with a “lingering” disorder? And then your mother dies? These were the circumstances for Mary Scull Biddle, who, once her husband succumbed to his illness in 1756, was left to care for her large family. While the three eldest were “of age”, the six younger ones ranged in age from 20-down to 4-years-old. Two of her elder sons fought in the French and Indian War. When the younger ones were at the appropriate age, they were apprenticed, two went to sea and one to the army. As Mary’s husband left her no business to run to support her family, she apparently went to work for her father. Nicholas Scull was a mathematician and Surveyor General of Pennsylvania, who had trained under Thomas Holmes. Nicholas died in 1762, mere months before the publication of his map of Philadelphia which has been described as “the most important engraved plan of Philadelphia” since the Thomas Holme plan of 1682. Upon publication, Mary Biddle was listed on the printed map as an editor along with Matthew Clarkson. Clarkson, a member of the American Philosophical Society and later mayor of Philadelphia, kept a shop where he sold prints. A partnership between Biddle and Clarkson made great sense. While her obituary does not mention a career in editing and selling maps, it’s obvious Mary did what she needed to care for her children. Her sons were known for their bravery, holding offices in law and medicine. Nicholas became a Commodore in the Continental Navy, dying in battle aboard his ship. Edward became a member of the Continental Congress, while Charles became V.P. of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania.
Biles, Jane (Boid/Bond) Atkinson | ? - bur. 21 Dec 1709 PA | Minister, Society of Friends, c.1688-1706
Jane Boid/Bond was a resident of Yorkshire, England, when she married her first husband, Thomas Atkinson, in 1678. Both Jane and her husband Thomas were known to be ministers in the Society of Friends before they settled in the Colony of New Jersey in 1682. The Atkinsons have three known sons, Isaac b. 1678/9, William, c. 1681, and Samuel, b. 1685. In 1687, Thomas died, and one year later (11 Dec 1688), Jane married William Biles, a Friend who was also in the ministry and settled in present day Bucks County, PA. William Biles was a large landowner, Justice of the Peace, and Provincial Councilor. It was a second marriage for them both. William had seven children with his first wife Johannah Hollard. Jane and William had no further issue. Instead, Jane was called to travel in the work of her ministry. Her devotion to her ministry was noted in Meeting Minutes up through 1706.
Biles, Johannah (Hillard) | 8 Nov 1647 - bur. 4 Sep 1687 PA | Historic Founder, arrived 4 Jun 1679 (with husband and 7 children)
Johannah Hillard Biles, wife of William Biles of Dorchester, County of Dorset, England, is recorded arriving in the Delaware River aboard the "Elizabeth & Sarah" of Waymouth, on "the 4th of the 4th Mo (April), 1679. Their children listed aboard were William, George, John, Elizabeth, Johannah, Rebecca, and Mary Biles. The Biles family settled in present-day Bucks County and were members of the Falls and Middletown Monthly Meetings. William Biles became an esteemed Minister in the Society of Friends, a large landowner, and held offices such as Justice of the Peace and was a member of the Provincial Council.
Bogart , Mary (Gregg) Jamison | c.1730- 7 Mar 1785, Buckingham Twp., Bucks Co., and Philadelphia, PA | Woman of Distinction: Tavern Keeper (1754-1777), Meeting place Committee of Safety- Bucks Co.
In the history of the General Greene Inn in Buckingham Twp., Bucks County, there is a woman referenced thus:
“Jamison’s widow had married John Bogart.”
This tavern in question is said to have been opened for business by Henry Jamison in 1763. Henry Jamison refers to the “Sign of Admiral Warren” in advertising although history refers to it as “Jamison’s Inn.” It had many names through the years, Bogart’s Tavern and the General Greene Inn being two of the most well-known references. The General Greene in question utilized the tavern as his headquarters in 1776, and it was from there that he ordered sixteen Durham boats and flats sent from McConkey’s ferry. Said boats being the key part of General Washington’s ability to cross the Delaware on Christmas day. The inn, still extant but currently unoccupied, is celebrated for its Revolutionary-era connections.
But what did the “Widow Jamison” have to do with any of this?
The answer is: Everything!
Born in Bucks County, Mary Gregg was born into a group of tightly knit Scots-Irish Presbyterian immigrants who settled the area and built the Neshaminy Church. At the age of 24 she married Henry Jamison, not too long after Jamison petitioned for a license to run a “house of entertainment.” Jamison had the right connections. A man named George Hughes was denied at the same meeting, while Mary’s brother, Sheriff John Gregg, was among those who signed-off on Jamison’s request. One early-20th century historian notes that the Inn was run by Jamison’s “enterprising wife” which became a popular meeting place given its significant location between Philadelphia and New York, not far from the Delaware River. While tending the Inn, Mary gives birth to three children, Martha, John and William. Henry Jamison appears to be busy in other businesses, and when he died in 1767, shortly after their third child was born, he left no will and debt of more than £900, much of it a mortgage held by the imminent Philadelphia lawyer Benjamin Chew. In September of that year, Mary petitioned the court to sell the entire estate to settle the debts. But she had a plan. Her brother John Gregg (now living in NJ) purchased the land, and afterward transferred the title back to Mary as a femme sole. This designation allowed Mary to operate outside of British coverture laws. She continued to run the Inn for five years until she met and married her second husband, John Bogart, in November of 1772. By 1773, the tavern license was held under her husband’s name and operated as Bogart’s Tavern. In the next four years, Mary continued to run a thriving Inn while giving birth to three more daughters, Mary, Frances, and Sarah. By 1775, the Inn became the meeting place for the newly formed Bucks County Committee of Safety. Mary now has a front row seat to the burgeoning cause of Independence (recruitment, training, debates), a cause Mary and her husband very much support. In 1776, General Greene utilizes the building as his headquarters making his fateful decisions. Records indicate that some of the men might not have appreciated Mary’s voice in the room, as surely she shared her opinions. It was deemed she was too insignificant to take notice of.
Mary did not feel insignificant, as witnessed by what came next. During the fight for Independence, in April of 1777, the Bogarts sold their property to William Bennitt. The same year, Mary’s eldest daughter Martha married the Rev. Nathaniel Irwin. A fact Mary apparently does not like, as within a few years Martha is completely disowned and removed from Mary’s will. Which becomes important, because John Bogart died in 1778, leaving Mary a widow for the second time, now with 5 children ranging in age from about 2 years to 20 years old. But fear not. Mary takes the proceeds from Bogart’s Inn and boldly moves into the center of the action in Philadelphia. Before the American Revolution is done, Mary can be found as the proprietor of the Cross Keys Tavern, located at Third and Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia. The Cross Keys Tavern was in its heyday considered in the same ilk as the City Tavern and the Indian Queen Tavern. Mary had placed herself in the ultimate center of action once again. Unfortunately for Mary, her time was fleeting. Mary died in March of 1785 at age 55. Her executors advertised in Poulson’s on several occasions as they worked to settle her estate, which illustrated her success as a businesswoman. One auction announcement listed numerous articles, from feather beds, walnut tables and chairs, to several milk cows and sadly a 5-year-old enslaved boy who was to be sold at a separate private sale.
Breintnall, Esther (Parker) | c.1698 - 18 Oct 1762 PA | Woman of Distinction: Tavern Owner/Public House (The Hen and Chickens)
Esther Parker married Joseph Breintnall in Philadelphia in 1723. Both she and her sister Grace, who married Joseph’s brother David (Jr.), were third-generation American born, likely in Burlington County, New Jersey. Their paternal grandfather, Samuel Andrews was thought to be born in the Province of New York, his family being early residents through their familial relationship to Sir Edmond Andros, who under the authority of the Duke of York held positions in New England, New York, East and West Jersey (present-day New Jersey), Virginia and Maryland.
Joseph Brientnall was an interesting and influential man. He was a founder of the Junto and Library Company of Philadelphia (along with good friend Benjamin Franklin.) He was a successful merchant, amateur naturalist, and a writer. He co-authored “The Busy-Body” letters with Franklin in 1729.
The Brientinalls opened The Hen and Chickens public house in 1745. While Brientnall was serving as secretary of the Library Company, the directors met at The Hen and Chickens. Tragedy struck one year later when Joseph’s body was discovered washed up on the Delaware River, with much conjecture as to whether it was accidental or suicide. The fact was that this left Esther a widow at age 47, the mother of one son and four daughters, the youngest still in their teens. Esther would continue to run The Hen and Chickens which was often referred to as the Widow Breintnall’s, especially by the directors of the Library Company who continued to meet there on business. Franklin took over Breintnall’s job as secretary, and they voted to present £15 to Esther and granted her son George” free use of the books of the Library during his Life.”
Breintnall, Hannah (Sharp) | c.1707 - 25 Aug 1770 PA | Woman of Distinction: Proprietor Optician Shop "Sign of the Golden Spectacles"
In March of 1758, Hannah Breintall advertised in the Pennsylvania Gazette for a “variety of the finest…” eyewear available at the Sign of the Spectacles on Second Street near Black Horse Alley. She continued to import eyewear from London through the years, with another similar advertisement in 1765. How did a woman become a proprietor of eye glass imports?
At the age of 18, Hannah Sharp of Burlington Co, NJ married John Brientnall of Philadelphia. Their marriage was recorded in the records of the Rancocas and Burlington Monthly Meeting in October of 1724. Hannah was Breintnall’s second wife, his first, Susannah Shoemaker, died just four years previous leaving behind two children, a son & daughter, under the age of 5. Becoming an instant mother, Hannah would add six more daughters to the family. John was a craftsperson who worked as a joiner and Windsor chairmaker, yet he was also a part of his family’s industrious mercantile concerns. When his father David died in 1732, John advertised that the eyewear that was previously sold by shopkeeper David Brientnall would now be sold by him at the Whalebone on Chestnut Street. It makes sense that by the time Hannah became a widow in 1747, she could and would take over (or perhaps continue) the work of running an opticians shop, that included other items such as magnifying glassed and telescopes. She also benefitted from additional rental income. By 1767, her wealth was assessed at £30, which placed her among the top 10 percent of taxable income that year. Upon her death in 1770 her estate was assessed at £161 and included eyewear shop inventory as well as sundry items including thimbles and shoemakers hammers. It also included 3 years of “servant girl’s time.”
Breintnall, Jane (Blanchard) | c.1656 - 25 Aug 1725 PA | Historic Founder (arrived on "Thomas & Anne", 1683); Quaker Minister, c.1700
Jane Blanchard was born c. 1656 in England and arrived in Philadelphia aboard one of William Penn’s ships, the “Thomas & Anne” in 1683. By the end of that year, she is found in the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting records (Quarterly Meeting, 4th day, 10th month 1683) announcing her intention (the second notice) to marry David Brientnall. There is indication that their marriage was only the second one officially solemnized under the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting.
David Brientnall had arrived from London around the same time and appears to have been a man of means, ultimately owning several properties and engaged in the mercantile business. In the Annals of Philadelphia, David is mentioned for having leased one of these houses to the Governor of Barbados who came to Philadelphia to recover from health issues. The Breintnalls moved to a “less-fancy” home further down the block, which also contained their retail store. The original Brientnall house would later become the home of Anthony Benezet.
Jane became an active member of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting of Friends, having been officially accepted through a recommendation from the Monthly Meeting at Ringwood in Hampshire, England. She was spoken of in records as an “Improving woman.” By about 1700 she began a ministry, which continued until her death. Jane gave birth to at least seven children, including three sons and four daughters. One daughter died in infancy. Her children and their spouses became an integral part of Philadelphia’s burgeoning craft and mercantile economy. Her sons married women who were partners in running the family business enterprises. (See Esther Parker Breintnall and Hannah Sharp Breintnall.)
Brodwell, Mary (Freeman) | 1 Jan 1629/30 - 2 Jan 1729/30 PA | Midwife and Shop Owner
The life of Mary (Freeman) Brodwell is both common and extraordinary. Common, in that as a Quaker widow living in Philadelphia, she supported herself and her two daughters as both a midwife and shopkeeper. Extraordinary, in that after her husband died in 1673 in England, Mary made a drastic change. She left behind her 21-year-old son Isaac, and boarded the ship Unicorn, headed for Pennsylvania, with her daughters Mary (18) and Sarah (16). They arrived in Philadelphia in December of 1685. Mary Brodwell didn’t just create a new life, but a very successful life. By the time she died, her probate records indicated she had wealth to share. Her son Isaac, still in England, was remembered, along with his children. Her granddaughter Ann Paul, along with her husband Henry, were the beneficiaries of Mary’s shop goods, which were carefully inventoried at the time of her death. Her surviving daughter Sarah, her multitude of grandchildren and great-grandchildren were all left either money or household items as detailed in her will. She even left money to “ye poor people” at a Meeting House in Philadelphia. In her death notice, which was published in The Pennsylvania Gazette, she was remembered as a noted midwife who “wore well to the last” who was known to “see to read without spectacles a few months since.” The most amazing part of this notice was the claim that Mary died exactly one day after her Hundredth birthday.
Carpenter, Hannah (Hardiman) | c.1645 - 24 Jul 1728 PA | Historic Founder & Quaker Minister
Single, 38 years old, and traveling with her widowed mother, Hannah Hardiman left behind her home in Pembrokeshire, Wales to seek religious freedom. She would arrive in Philadelphia in 1683, traveling aboard the Unicorn, one of William Penn’s ships that established the colony of Pennsylvania. While in Wales she witnessed the suffering of many Friends who were imprisoned for their faith, in her new home she would become an influential elder and minister.
While not young, her arrival in Philadelphia was quickly followed by marriage. Samuel Carpenter and Hannah Hardiman declared their intentions of marriage at several public meetings of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. Elinor Painter, a friend and fellow Unicorn traveler was one of the witnesses to the solemnizing of the marriage. Hannah would give birth to six children, not all outlived infancy. Her namesake, granddaughter Hannah Carpenter, through son John, would marry Joseph Wharton in 1729. Their descendants would become some of the key Founders of the NSCDA/PA including Fanny Hollingsworth Crawford and Anne Hollingsworth Wharton.
Hannah was the author of several public epistles and upon her death a testimony of Friends of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting stated that “her excellent epistle to parents concerning the Education of children, manifests a pious regard for the youth and her anxiety for the increase and prosperity of the Church of Christ.”
Brevet Major James Edward Carpenter, another direct descendent, was one of the founders of the PA Society of the Sons of the Revolution, and while serving as a VP of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, he helped advise the founders of the (then) Pennsylvania Society of the Colonial Dames on the types of Colonial Service which made an ancestor worthy of inclusion in their new lineage society. Carpenter of course saw the value of adding Samuel Carpenter, who held the office of Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania (1694 to 1689) to the list of qualifying NSCDA Register of Ancestors. We have to wonder what he’d think of Hannah Hardiman Carpenter’s inclusion as a Historic Founder and Quaker Minister.
Hannah died at the age of 83 and was buried at the Arch Street Meeting burial ground in Philadelphia.
Clare, Esther (Peacock) | ca.1674 - 3 Oct 1742 PA | Quaker minister, by 1714
As a member of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, Esther Peacock Clare is representative of the Quakers who left England to seek religious freedom in William Penn’s colony. She married William Clare, a shoemaker, in 1703. Esther, William, and several children arrived in Philadelphia in 1714. It was at this time she started working as a minister concerned “to stir up Friends to their Duty in seeking unto & waiting upon the Lord, with Advice to Love him above all & one another freely.” She died at age 68 and was the mother of seven children.
Cloud, Elizabeth (Bayley) | bap. 19 Mar 1667- aft. 21 Dec 1717 PA | Historic Founder, Chichester, c.1683
Elizabeth Bayley Cloud is like many women of her time and place, mostly invisible beyond the few glimpses we find in relation to her father and husband. She was born into a burgeoning Quaker community in England. While her father never traveled to Pennsylvania, he was a great supporter of the vision of William Penn. He purchased 500 acres in1681, in what would later become Chester County. There is also evidence he supported the Chichester Meeting there. And perhaps indicating his intention of eventually leaving England, he also purchased a burial plot. Our first glimpse of Elizabeth is her baptismal record in England. Our second glimpse is when she and Jeremiah Cloud declare their intention of marriage at the Chichester Meeting in 1685. The only logical explanation for Elizabeth Bayley attending Chichester Meeting is if she had arrived on one of William Penn’s ships (1682/83). She would have been about15 years old and traveling with one of the other Quaker families from her home community. While men were listed on the Penn ship manifests, women were likely never mentioned at all. But of course, they were there all along! We might even speculate that Elizabeth Bayley knew the Cloud family before her arrival in the Pennsylvania Colony, as her father and future father-in-law likely crossed paths living in nearby Quaker communities. By 1685, Elizabeth, at age 18, would be free to declare her marriage intentions and start her own family. In the intervening years before her husband died in 1717, they would amass and cultivate a great deal of land and raise five sons and three daughters together. There is no doubt, whatever Penn ship carried Elizabeth to his colony, her labors helped create the world the founder envisioned.
Coates, Mary (Langdale) | 6 Jun 1713 - 23 Oct 1770 PA | Woman of Distinction - business owner, 1734-1770
Mary Langdale Coates was a typical woman of her time, yet also one who experienced the privileges of being part of Philadelphia’s tight-knit Quaker merchant community. Born in England, her parents—Josiah and Margaret Langdale—were well-known English Quaker ministers. Sometime in her teens she moved to Philadelphia, and by age 20 (1734) she married Samuel Coates (1711-1748). Samuel was a contemporary of Benjamin Franklin and one of the original shareholders in Franklin’s Library Company of Philadelphia. At the time of their marriage, Samuel was a merchant on Philadelphia’s bustling waterfront, and his account books (held at the Historical Society of PA), indicate that Mary became a partner in helping run the business the same year they were married. It is no surprise, that when her husband died in 1748, she was poised to take over the business on her own to support her four children. After his death, she advertised in the Pennsylvania Gazette to remind her husband’s debtors to settle their bills, while also adding a list of goods she would continue to sell. As a widow, her status officially became “shopkeeper” even though she’d done so since the start of her marriage. She ran the shop for another two decades. Mary’s shop account and index books (1748-1770) reside in the archive of The Library Company of Philadelphia. They show her customers included many of Philadelphia’s prominent citizens, Israel Pemberton, Sr., Philip Syng, Benjamin Franklin, Anthony Benezet, and Anthony Morris among them. She also sold to her sister-in-law Elizabeth Coates Paschall (the noted Quaker Healer and NSCDA qualifying ancestor.) These customer interactions would have kept her well-versed in the affairs of the city and colony in which she lived. Mary also relied upon the help of her late husband’s other sister, Mary Coates Reynell, who helped raise her children when Samuel died. Mary and John Reynell would take financial responsibility of the children after Mary Langdale Coates died, ensuring they were well settled. It is believed that Mary’s daughter Alice continued the family business after her death.
Cock, Margaret (Lom) | c.1626 - bur. 13 Feb 1703 PA | Historic Founder (Service also qualifies in DE)
Margaret Lom arrived in New Sweden (present day Pennsylvania) with her father, Mans Svensson Lom, mother Anna, a sister, and a brother in 1641 aboard the Charitas (a companion ship of the Kalmar Nyckel.) Mans was a tailor and former lieutenant who arrived as a freeman, but died before 1654, when his widow, Anna Petersdotter, signed the loyalty oath. Margaret’s mother married a second time, Lars Andersson Collinus, a minister’s scribe who had arrived in 1654. By that time, Margaret had six total siblings.
Also, aboard the Charitas was Peter Larsson Cock born in Stockholm in 1610. Having been sent as an imprisoned soldier (likely for some minor offense), he became the cook on the ship and adopted the surname Kock, meaning “cook” in Swedish. Peter and Margaret married in 1643 and had thirteen children, only one of which died young. They settled on two small islands at the mouth of the Schuylkill River and built a relatively prosperous plantation called Kipha. They created their lives under control of the Swedes, the Dutch, then finally the English. Before the Swedes lost control of the settlement, Governor Johan Printz accused Peter of illegally selling guns to the Indians. Despite a jury finding him innocent, Printz sentenced him to three months of hard labor. Margaret would be left to keep their farm prospering. When the Dutch fleet arrived in 1655 nothing much changed, as the Swedish settlers were allowed to keep their properties. The same held true in 1664 when the English ousted the Dutch. In 1669, when several Swedes attempted an insurrection, many of the prosperous Swedes, such as Peter and Margaret, took the side of the English. Peter continued to serve on the court of justice as a magistrate under the British, sometimes the court met at the Cock house. When the Quakers arrived in 1682/83 the Swedes acted as intermediaries with the Indians. Eventually, when William Penn decided he wanted to layout the city of Philadelphia, it was Peter Cock and the Swanson family who owned most of the land Penn’s commissioners needed to purchase. For his part Peter Cock was granted 200 acres north of the city (present day Northern Liberties), even though he and Margaret continued to live on their island.
In 1685 the Cock family were part of a sensational trial as Peter and daughter Bridget sued John Rambo for breach of promise and ruining Bridget’s reputation. Margaret’s daughters testified to a late-night escapade whereby Rambo snuck into their garret bedroom. John’s brother Andrew was married to one of Bridget’s sisters. The jury found Rambo guilty, and Peter was fined five shillings for swearing in court. After Bridget bore their child, John refused Bridget but attempted to take the child. Bridget went back to court, but a second jury ruled in favor of Rambo, as Bridget had refused to give up her baby to Rambo. In the end, John Rambo married Bridget Cock, they moved to Gloucester County, NJ and had ten more children.
When Margaret died in 1703, she had outlived her husband by about 15 years. He had left an estate valued at £200 and the plantation £250. When Margaret died her inventory still included a substantial amount of goods.
Cock, Martha (Ashman) | August 1650 - aft. 1724 PA | Historic Founder
Martha Ashman was born in New Netherlands (present-day Long Island NY) in August of 1650. Her parents, Robert and Catherine (Jeacox) Ashman relocated to Passyunk (present-day South Philadelphia) in 1666 with a group of settlers who had been granted 1000 acres from the NY Governor. This territory, originally part of New Sweden, was later a Dutch territory in 1655, and ultimately under English control starting in 1664. Martha had two other sisters, Hannah and Lydia.
At age 19, Martha married Lars “Lasse” Petersson Cock (1649-1699). Her marriage made her part of a large and prosperous Swedish family, who had settled New Sweden in 1641, including her mother-in-law Martha Lom Cock. Like his father, Lasse Cock served as a justice on the court and in the Pennsylvania legislature and was a prominent figure in early Pennsylvania records. He served as an interpreter for land sales with the Indigenous populations and in court cases involving Swedes. One of the most famous cases he interpreted was the witchcraft trial of Margaret Mattson in 1683. William Penn insured that the accused had an interpreter at hand. She was ultimately found not-guilty.
Martha and Lasse, along with her sister Lydia, continued to live in the “Wicaco Congregation” (Passyunk) area as per the 1693 “Census of Swedes on the Delaware.” At that time, they had eleven children. Lasse died in October of 1699, leaving Martha a widow at age 49. In his will, Lasse named his wife Martha and the following children Peter, John, Andreas, Catherine, Robert, Mouns, Lawrence, Gabriel, Margaret, and Deborah. Martha died sometime after 1724.
Conoway, Mary (Hollingsworth) | 25 Mar 1656 - 1746 PA | Historic Founder (Arrival 1682 Penn Ship)
Mary Hollingsworth was 26 and a new bride when she joined her husband, Thomas Conoway, her father Valentine Hollingsworth, her step-mother Ann Calvert, and several of her siblings and step-siblings aboard the ship Antelope headed for the colony of Pennsylvania. Life to that point couldn’t have been easy. Her mother (Ann Rea) died when Mary was just 15-years-old. As the oldest she would likely have taken responsibility for her siblings, especially her youngest sister Catherine, who was only 8-years-old at the time. She would quickly have to learn to live with her father’s new wife and the additional siblings that followed. While her family considered themselves British—she was second-generation born in Northern Ireland—their lives became even more complicated when her father converted to Quakerism. This decision would lead to religious persecution and the family’s decision to seek freedom in Penn’s Colony.
While the family found refuge and Mary gave birth to a quick succession of daughters, her happiness would be short lived, as within seven years Thomas Conoway died, leaving her a widow of three daughters, one a newborn. We find Mary Conoway “daughter of Valentine Hollingworth” in the records of the Chester Monthly Meeting when in 1692, Randall Marlin of Upper Providence Twp. proposes his intentions of marriage. Malin had emigrated from England in 1681 with a land grant of about 250 acres in what is present-day Delaware County (PA). He too was a Friend who had been persecuted for his religious opinions. He was also a widower, his wife Elizabeth died about 1687, with two young sons. Together Mary and Randall Malin would have two more daughters. Randal Malin became a Quaker Minister in 1712 and moved his family within the limits of the Goshen Monthly Meeting. Mary would outlive her second husband by at least 17 years, having survived through eight decades of life.
See Ann Calvert Hollingworth for further information.
Couc Montour, Isabelle/Elizabeth | 1667-1752 Pennsylvania Frontier | Interpreter/Negotiator to the PA Provincial Council (c.1727-c. 1745)
Many stories have been told about the “celebrated Madame Montour” through the centuries. Those recorded were told by men who held power, several by men who competed with her on the rough and tumble frontiers of colonial America. It is from the detailed research of scholar Alison Duncan Hirsh that we derive the best-known facts of the often-mysterious woman known as Isabelle Couc Montour. Hirsh believes some of the discrepancies surrounding Montour are a direct result of a woman who shape-shifted as she made her way in the new world, compounded by witness accounts with divergent narratives.
Born in present-day Quebec of mixed French and Algonquin ancestry, she was exposed to a multilingual society, which also included those who used Iroquoian in their fur trading partnerships. At seventeen, she was married to Joachim Germano, a man twice her age. Her public identity was that of a Christian Frenchwoman. Germano disappeared within ten years of marriage and Elizabeth Couc had taken on the pseudonym “Madame Montour.” The name “Montour” is a mystery, but appears to have come from her brother Louis Couc, who utilized the name first. It might derive from the Algonquian word manitou or “spirit.” By this point Madame Montour, now married to another Frenchman named Peirre Tichenet, is thought to have joined two of her sisters and their families in present-day Michigan (later Fort Detroit) which was a multi-ethnic community at the center of the fur trade. It is here she worked as an interpreter for the French explorer Antoine de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac from 1693 to 1697. It was rumored that she interpreted Cadillac’s most clandestine meetings, yet he later claimed her to be a degenerate and a savage. Perhaps he was a scorned lover who did not appreciate that in his absence from Fort Detroit, that Madame Montour had taken up with his acting commander Etienne de Verniard, sieur de Bourgmont, who had also sent Montour’s husband off to fight outside the fort. Bourgmont ultimately deserted his post, taking Montour, her brother Louis Couc Montour, and several soldiers with him. They retreated to an island on Lake Erie. Montour’s exile didn’t last long as by 1708 her brother Louis was working as a go-between between the Great Lakes Indians and the English in Albany. Montour’s arrival in Albany would help solidify Louis’ work, with her marriage to the Oneida war captain, Carandowana (“Robert Hunter”), which made him a literal “brother of the Iroquois.” In 1709 Louis was murdered by a French agent and “Montours Sister” stepped in, evidently the only person available who understood English and Ojibway, among other languages. She played a key role as the English worked to line up Indian allies. She appears in an account book in 1711 “Eysabelle Montour interpretress” listing payment in goods for her work from mid-July to mid-October 1711. This same expedition also supplied her with wampum beads to sew nearly six hundred belts at about one shilling each, indicating a side cottage industry among her relatives and contacts. Carandowana—out of respect for NY Governor Robert Hunter—took on his name in 1711. As a well-respected interpreter for the Governor, Madame Montour likely interpreted between the two men with the same name. After the Governor returned to Britain, Madame Montour seems to have reinvented herself as she headed to Pennsylvania as an educated woman of French parentage, who had learned Iroquoian languages upon her capture at age ten. Montour’s husband because an Iroquois representative in 1714 to the native leaders from Conestoga (present day Lancaster Co.) who presented him as the “newly Elected King” of the Shawnees. Once again Isabelle would have been key in advancing her husband’s position through her understanding of the Shawnee language. They settled near family at the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.
By July 1727, Madame Montour made her first appearance in Philadelphia as interpreter of record, translating between PA Governor Patrick Gordon and an Iroquois group in a land dispute issue. Years later Montour would recall that during her frequent visits to Philadelphia she found a warm welcome from the Quaker ladies who, “always invited her to their houses, entertained her well, and made her several presents.” Her reinvention as a “French lady” would have made this possible. During this time, her role transformed from interpreter to informant, and sometimes not always a reliable one. After 1729, Montour’s prestige fell after the death of her husband and her advancing age, as well as infighting among the indigenousness leadership. She continued to provide information and advice to men like Conrad Weister and James Logan, who respected her opinions and spoke well of her abilities.
In 1744, Montour traveled to a peace conference in Lancaster (PA), the meeting of the Iroquois and their allies of PA, MD, and VA. She continued to host extended family and various frontier travelers, including Moravian missionaries. In her eighth decade, she moved further west, perhaps joining relatives, including a son. Her death was little noticed, except by a trader named John Harris in January of 1753 who wrote, “Madame Montour is dead.”
As Hirsh notes, “Madame Montour’s life suggests we need to look more closely for the women on the early American frontiers.” While she was sometimes reported as an official participant in diplomacy, more often she was an unofficial one, interpreting and providing information privately to colonial leaders. To Hirsh, Montour offers us extended knowledge of women’s participation in the frontier economy. She lived in a multilingual, multi-ethnic, multi-religious world. Survival meant adaptation.
Croasdale, Agnes Hathomthwaite | c.1646 - bur. 20 Oct 1684 PA | Historic Founder - Arrived on "The Lamb" (22 Oct 1682)
Agnes Hathornthwaite married Thomas Croasdale 20 May 1664 at Lancaster Monthly Meeting in Lancaster, England. Their six children were born in Lancaster, England, before the entire family of eight boarded the "Welcome" with William Penn, which departed Deal, England on 31 Aug 1682, arriving in the mouth of the Delaware River on 27 Oct 1682. Nearly one-third of the ship's passengers died of smallpox during the 57-day journey. The “Welcome" is considered the first of Penn's 23 ships that crossed the Atlantic to bring the first 2000 settlers to Pennsylvania in 1682. The Croasdale family settled in present-day Bucks County and were members of the Middletown Monthly Meeting of Friends.
Deshler, Mary (LeFevre) | 24 Aug 1715-26 Feb 1774 | Healer, creator of Deshler’s Salve
Mary LeFevre was of French Huguenot descent, born in Paradise Township, Lancaster County, to Isaac LeFevre and Catherine Feree. She was also the granddaughter of the town’s founder Marie Warenbuer Feree, an original settler of present-day Lancaster County. Mary married David Deshler in 1739 in a civil ceremony administered by the Justice of the Peace. Despite her strong (French Protestant) Huguenot roots, Mary and David both converted to Quakerism and became members of the Friends Meeting House on Race Street in Philadelphia.
David was a German-born naturalized citizen, who arrived in Philadelphia in about 1730 to join his uncles Caspar Wistar and John Wister—his mother’s siblings—who were successful Philadelphia merchants. Upon arrival he worked in his uncle John’s shop selling hardware and goods imported from East India. It was here he earned the reputation as “honest David Deschler.” In 1765, David was one of the merchants tasked with organizing the “Resolution of Non-Importation Made by the Citizens of Philadelphia” in opposition of the first British Stamp Act, which was signed by many of his fellow merchants, both men and women.
Mary and David were both skilled healers who shared their knowledge with their dear neighbor Elizabeth Paschall. Mary gave Paschall the details for a cure for something called “felons” (an infected fingertip) which utilized ground earthworms. Such remedies were critical given that before the discovery of antibiotics, generalized infections could quickly turn catastrophic. Mary was renowned for her Deshler’s Salve to treat burns, wounds, and abscesses. It was made from a combination of beeswax, turpentine, resin, linseed oil and sheep or deer’s tallow. This legacy was long-lived with advertisements and references appearing well into the mid-twentieth century. The eminent Dr. Wistar recorded the Deshler’s Salve remedy in the Pharmacopeia.
Mary and David built a summer “cottage” in Germantown on the avenue in 1751-52. Twenty years later they added a 3-story, 9-room addition to the front of the house. They had six children; Ester, Isaac (died as an infant), Mary, Sarah (died young), Catherine, and Samuel (died young). Mary died at age 58 and was buried in the Friends Arch Street Meeting burial ground in Philadelphia. David lived another 18 years, and would witness much upheaval, including the occupation of their summer retreat in 1777 by the commander-in-chief of the British Army, Sir William Howe. The Battle of Germantown would be fought outside their front door. Just after his death, the Deshler home would become the temporary refuge of President George Washington during the Yellow Fever epidemic in the fall of 1793 and again in the summer of 1794, earning it the moniker of the “Germantown White House.” Today the house is administered by the U.S. National Park Service as part of Independence National Historical Park.
Dickinson, Mary | 17 Jul 1740 - 23 Jul 1803 PA | Woman of Distinction - estate owner/manager, 1766
Mary "Polly" Norris was the daughter of Sarah Logan and Isaac Norris of Philadelphia and considered one of the most amiable and desirable heiresses in the Colonies. Her maternal grandfather was James Logan of Stenton, William Penn's Provincial Secretary. Her paternal side was no less exalted, as her paternal grandfather, Isaac Norris (Sr.) was a prosperous Quaker merchant and helped establish the Colony with William Penn. All of her male family members held office in the Provincial government. At age 26, she inherited and ran her family's large estate, Fair Hill, outside Philadelphia. She was well-educated and her family library was known to be one of the largest in the Colonies with an estimated 1,500 books. Within 3 years she became the sole surviving daughter when her younger sister Sally died in 1769. Before her marriage, she held personal property between £50,000 to £80,000 (upwards of $12 million in present day value). She corresponded with many other educated women, and a number of politically engaged men, such as Patrick Henry and Benjamin Franklin. On 19 July 1770, Polly (age 30) married John Dickinson. While both were raised in the Society of Friends, they had a civil ceremony, rather than being married in Quaker Meeting due to the prohibitions on defending oneself if attacked. John Dickinson would become a Founding Father but declined to sign the Declaration of Independence (due to its indications of future violence). While Mary continued to manage their properties, Dickinson was able to help draft the Articles of Confederation, and later the Constitution of the U.S. In between, he enlisted in the Pennsylvania Militia and was later named a brigadier general in the Continental Army. Polly's shared political and social ideals with her husband was noted by John Adams, who wrote after a particular dinner that he did not appreciate Polly's forthrightness. Adams said, "if I should have had such a wife..., I should have shot myself." Their home at Fair Hill was burned to the ground by the British occupying troops during the Battle of Germantown. The library survived as it was separated from the main house. They had another house in Philadelphia as well. Polly and John had five children, but only Sally and Maria survived to adulthood. Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, originally named John & Mary College, was founded by Dr. Benjamin Rush, on land bequeathed by the Dickinsons, along with much of their library.
.jpg)
Mary Polly Norris Dickinson and Sally, CW Peale, 1772, PHM
Draper, Rachel | c.1715 - bur. 26 Apr 1794 PA | Woman of Distinction: Boardinghouse/Tavern Owner, beg. c.1767
Rachel Draper’s life is indicative of the sort of “everywoman” of the lower classes striving to build a life and survive in 18th century Philadelphia. For a woman considered part of the “working poor” of the city, Rachel is found in a useful number of records, both in city records and those of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (Quakers). Her birth year is based on the age listed the year her death was recorded at age 79 years. Her maiden name is unknown. The year Rachel married James Draper, a modest tailor, is also unknown. What is known is that in 1747 (29th day of the third month), Rachel and James wrote a letter to the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, apologizing for their “former misconduct in marrying contrary to the good order established among [F]riends…” which was read and accepted in a meeting. In 1763, James died at age 47. Because the Draper’s finances were likely very simple, Rachel was the sole executor of her husband’s estate. She is recorded as advertising in September of 1763, in the Pennsylvania Gazette, to request payment of all those indebted to her husband, so that she could pay those owed. We know that Rachel was caring for at least six children, as they are listed in 1773 Monthly Meeting records as Rachel, Sarah, Amy, Patience, Jonathan, and Thomas.
How then did the Widow Draper not just survive, but feed her family and keep a roof over their head? We know that by 1775, Rachel had lived on Chancery Lane, in the “High Street Ward” for over twenty years as it was enumerated in the Constable’s Return. That meant, when she applied for a city license to operate a small tavern (at least by 1767), it was from her home, the place her husband James had operated his tailor shop. She also took in boarders. While Rachel likely lived on the margins of economic security, she was able to help contribute to the education of her children. Daughters Amy and Patience attended the school run by Rebecca Jones (see Mary Porter Jones). Rachel’s story is not unique. She lived and worked alongside many widowed and unmarried women, who had a long tenure in the neighborhood. (See Ann Wishart). As independent women, not bound by coverture, they could make decisions for themselves, which indeed helped shape Philadelphia urban culture.
Drinker, Elizabeth (Sandwith) | 16 Feb 1735 - 25 Nov 1807 PA | Woman of Distinction: Diarist (1758-1807)
Born to William and Sarah (Jervis) Sandwith, a prosperous Quaker merchant family, both Elizabeth and her sister Mary were well-educated and attended Anthony Benezet’s Friends school. Her husband Henry was a partner in a shipping and importing firm, which took up much of his time. Elizabeth raised five children, Sarah, Ann, William, Henry, and Mary, with the help of her own sister Mary Sandwith—who never married but became an integral part of the Drinker household—as well as additional household servants. This arrangement allowed her the time for great personal recollections in her diaries, which constitute a day-by-day account of the life of a well-to-do Quaker woman living in Philadelphia during extraordinary and transitory times. Carefully preserved by her large extended family, Elizabeth’s diaries were only publicly available in excerpts, first published in 1889, by descendent Henry Drinker Biddle. They received little attention until they were “rediscovered” by a group of historians who published Drinker’s entire diary (in 3 volumes) in1991 (Northeastern University Press), resulting in renewed interest and scholarship. Her diaries became part of a larger trend in viewing “women’s writings” as key sources for context on both historical events and day-to-day life. It is often cited as a source for genealogical records for her family, friends, and well-known neighbors. The scholarly database JSTOR calls Elizabeth’s diary “...perhaps the single most significant personal record of eighteen-century life in America from a woman’s perspective...Drinker saw English colonies evolve into the American nation while Drinker herself changed from a young unmarried woman into a wife, mother, and grandmother. Her journal entries touch on every contemporary subject political, personal, and familial.” Both Elizabeth and Henry were buried in unmarked graves at Arch Street Meeting House, as per Quaker custom. In 2019, Drinker was honored with a historic marker erected by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, at the intersection of North 2nd Street and Quarry Street. The Museum of the American Revolution (in Philadelphia) features a recreation of a room of the Drinker home and a display of family objects
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
The front of Drinker's diary at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP); Elizabeth Sandwith Drinker silhouette from HSP; and an inside look at Drinker's diary at HSP.
Franklin, Deborah (Read) | c.1704 - 19 Dec 1774 PA | Woman of Distinction - Business owner/manager
Deborah Read Franklin is a quintessential example of feme sole law, which following under the British system, allowed for single/divorced/widowed women or women whose legal subordination to her husband has been invalidated by a trust, prenuptial agreement, or judicial decision. As the wife of the very busy, and often absent preeminent statesman, Benjamin Franklin, Deborah Franklin could execute contracts and handle all manner of financial matters and business enterprises, separate from her husband as a feme sole trader. Deborah's parents immigrated from Birmingham, England in 1711. Her father, John Read, was a carpenter who found quick success in the growing port town of Philadelphia. Between 1716 and 1724, Deborah's father had acquired several lots of land, including 2 houses, off present day Market Street, between Third and Fourth Street. After her husband's death, Sarah Read utilized a well-developed network of female businesswomen to maintain work and regain the properties her husband had previously mortgaged off, the property that later would become the centerpiece of Franklin Court (still extant today). After Deborah's first husband (John Rogers) abandoned her (and Philadelphia), she met a young inexperienced Ben Franklin. Franklin's common law marriage (Sep 1730) gained him not just a wife, but a mother-in-law who ran businesses. Working side-by-side (1730-48) in their print shop, stationary store, and post office, Deborah and Ben, built one of the most successful printing businesses in the Colonies. The work expanded Deborah's network and community reach, especially when Ben was named postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737. (Extant account books show many entries in Deborah's handwriting.) Franklin retired from his printing business in 1748, which allowed them both to expand into other areas of interest. In 1757, before Ben was sent to England as an agent representing the Pennsylvania Assembly, he signed power of attorney to Deborah. In his will, written at the same time, Ben's bequest far exceeded the traditional "widow's third" of the property, as he left her the bulk of the estate, especially recognizing her contribution to the family's successes. He also made all post office accounts payable to Deborah so she could keep a watchful eye in his absence. By 1769, with her husband still in England, Deborah suffered a paralytic stroke, an event that would be repeated, and ultimately be her demise just five years later. After a ten-year absence, Ben returned to Philadelphia in 1775, publicly acknowledging he no longer had a representative to take care of his business dealings. Deborah and Ben had two children: Francis Folger Franklin b. 1732, died of smallpox at age 4; daughter Sarah "Sally" Franklin was born in 1743 and married Richard Bache. Ben had an extra-marital son William Franklin b. 1730 to an unknown mother, who was also raised by Deborah. Present-day tourists enjoy visiting Deborah and Ben's grave at Christ Church Burial Ground, where they often throw "good luck" pennies on their graves in honor of Ben's motto "a penny saved is a penny earned."
.jpg)
Deborah Read Franklin
Ferree, Marie Warrenbauer| 1653-1716, Pequea Valley (Lancaster Co.), PA | Founder of Huguenot Colony in present day Paradise Twp., 1712
From part of the original 10,000 acres granted as “Land to the Palantines” aka Martin Kendig and Hans Herr in present-day Lancaster County, a 2000-acre patent was carved out for “Maria Warrenbauer, widow.” By the time the official agreement was settled, it was conferred in the name of her son Daniel Ferre and son-in-law Isaac Lefevere (perhaps in accordance of British coverture law), with Marie putting up the £150 in payment. The area, known as the Pequea Valley, is considered the homeland of the Huguenots (French Protestants) in Pennsylvania through this settlement.
Residents of Normandy, Marie Warrenbauer married Daniel Ferree in 1669. At this time, with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), French Protestants were facing great religious persecution. The Ferrees had six children: Daniel, John, Philip, Catherine, Mary, and Jane. The family was forced to abandon their home and silk manufacturing business to maintain their freedom. They escaped first to Strasbourg, France, then to Lindau, Bavaria. Daniel died in Bavaria. Marie, as a widow, often assumed her maiden name of Warrenbauer (sometimes spelled Warembur) thought to be a measure of safety. While in Germany, Marie’s oldest daughter Catherine married Isaac LeFever, whose family had faced the same religious persecution, including death. The ultimate plan was to find safety in Pennsylvania. Madame Ferree, as she is often called, set about obtaining a certificate of standing and passport for her family.
“WHEREAS, Maria, Daniel [Ferree’s] widow, and her son, Daniel, with his wife and six single children, in view of improving their condition and in furtherance of their prosperity, purpose to emigrate from Steinweiler, via Holland and England, to the Island of Pennsylvania, to reside there…” The document goes on detailing their pious behavior and honesty and that they have paid for permission to emigrate, and were free of debt. The document was approved and signed in March of 1708. They also acquired a certificate of standing and dismissal from the French Reformed Church at Pelican.
Once in London, it is said that Madame Ferree visited with William Penn in person, and that Penn introduced her to Queen Ann, who promised her aid in Marie’s pursuit to get to Pennsylvania. Within six months the Queen granted them a patent of naturalization and permission to remove to America. The Ferrees (and LeFevres) were part of a group of 54 names. They arrived first in New York, remaining for some time with a group of Huguenot friends up the Hudson River, until such time that they could make their way to their promised land patent in Pennsylvania. There are several apocryphal stories about Madame Ferree’s arrival in the Pequea Valley in 1712, describing the beauty of the land and her immediate friendship with the local Indigenous population. Whatever the truth, her descendants believe she finally found peace in the Carpenter’s Graveyard (in the aptly named town of Paradise), with her purpose of settling her family into safety now accomplished. She would live in Pennsylvania for about four years, dying at age 63. The graveyard contains a monument dedicated to the original settlers, with “Madame Marie Warenbuer” listed at the very top. Among her many descendants is Mary LeFevre Deschler.
Fraser Dunlap, Jane/Jean (Bell) | 1735 - 1815 PA | Woman of Distinction: celebrated frontierswoman and innkeeper, c.1755/58
The life of Jane/Jean Bell McClain Fraser Dunlap has been celebrated through the centuries as one of tenacity. While some of the most well-known stories about Jane may not be proved through primary documentation, they hint at the complexities, realities, and lore of frontier life in the early part of the18th century. One thing we can state clearly, Jane lived and raised her family in a perilous place, full of uncertainty and complicated Provincial politics and agendas. Widowed at age 20, she remarried and would eventually follow her second husband, John Fraser, from their home in Maryland over the border into Pennsylvania to a soldier’s encampment (Forbes’ Army). Her husband served in various capacities, including local guide and negotiator, in service to the British amid the French & Indian War (1754-1763). This encampment would become known as Fort Bedford. Popular lore of her descendants and others tells of Jane’s capture by the Miami Indians, and her valiant escape after 18-months of captivity. Like many stories of this type and time, it’s difficult to evaluate legend versus fact. Yet, there is certainly no question that the relations between the Algonquian diaspora and the ever-encroaching settlers of British North America made for a life of the unknown, including constant danger and death. Jane and John established an inn and trading post in 1758, known as Fraser Tavern, near Fort Bedford, which is known to have provided meals for the army officers. These are the simple facts of an extraordinary life of survival of a female Pennsylvania frontier settler: Married at age 16,the widow of a British officer (McClain) at age 20, remarried and reported to have been held captive by age 20, reunited with her second husband (Fraser) 18 months later, operating an inn/trading post by age23 (while her husband served in his war capacities), widowed a second time at age 38 as a mother of five children, she married quickly a third time, Captain Richard Dunlap (also a soldier), who would die in a raid in 1781, leaving her a three-time widow at age 46, with one son and five daughters. Jane Bell McClain Fraser Dunlap died at age 80 (1815) at the home of a daughter.
Jane Fraser Dunlap
Fry, Cremona “Mooney” (Satterthwaite) Morrey | c.1715-1770 Cheltenham Twp., PA | Woman of Distinction: Manumitted and became landowner of 198 acres (1745/46)
Humphrey Morrey (1650-1716) was appointed Philadelphia’s first mayor by William Penn in 1691. Like his friend Penn, he was a Quaker from England, and a wealthy merchant who ultimately served a 10-year term in office. He founded Cheltenham Township in present day Montgomery County. Humphrey Morrey was also an enslaver.
Among the slaves held by Morrey was a woman known as Mooney (more formally called Cremona). She was likely born on Morrey’s Cheltenham property, the child of enslaved parents. When Humphrey died, Cremona was just a baby, but she would have been enumerated as “property” in the Morrey estate, which was divided equally between his son Richard, and a grandson Humphrey (Richard’s nephew). By the time Cremona reached the age of 20, the Morrey family was hit by great upheaval. Grandson Humphrey died followed soon after by Richard’s son Thomas. Neither of them left children. Sometime soon after, Richard’s wife Ann also died. Richard was suddenly very alone losing his nephew, son, and wife in such quick succession. It is at this time that Richard sought solace in the young Cremona, thought to be a housemaid.
Family lore is that Richard fell in love with Cremona, and that they cohabitated in a time they could not legally marry. They were accepted as a couple within their community and had five children together between 1735 and 1745. Their children were Robert Lewis, Caesar, Elizabeth, Rachel, and Cremona, Jr.
In January of 1746, just after the birth of their youngest child, Richard Morrey went to the Philadelphia County Recorder of Deeds to declare the following:
“… know yea, that the said Richard Morrey, as well for and in consideration of the good faithful Service unto him done and performed by his now freed Negro Woman Mooney otherwise Cremona Morrey… do bargain and sale for consideration of one peppercorn… a total of 198 acres… on his land in Cheltenham….together with all and singular the buildings, improvements, ways, woods, waters, watercourses, rights, liberties, privileges, or hereditaments and appurtenances whatsoever thereunto belonging.”
The lease was noted for a period of 500 years, and structured in such a way to avoid the restrictions on ownership of property by African Americans. It was also noted in this deed that Cremona had prior purchased her freedom for £20. She now controlled the property on which she had been born enslaved. Having taken care of his mistress, Richard, now in his seventies, left the property, and moved to Philadelphia, where six months later he married a the twice-widowed Sarah Beasley Williams Allen. Richard died sometime in 1753.
For her part, Cremona did not remarry until after Richard’s death. In 1754 she married a former slave, John Fry, by which she had another son named Joseph. Cremona was thought to have been “not yet sixty” when she died sometime around 1770.
Cremona’s children flourished and built what became Guinea Town on the Cheltenham property, named because most of the 22 families living there were originally from Guinea, West Africa. Some of the original land is now part of Arcadia University. There are many well-known descendants of Cremona. Daughter Elizabeth married Cyrus Bustill, a noted African American brewer and baker and founder of the Free African Society. Through them, we find Paul Robeson, the well-known singer/actor and activist. Daughter Cremona Jr. married John Montier, through which descended Dr. William Pickens, Sr., the first field secretary of the NAACP. Today, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, you can visit two very rare portraits, by the artist Franklin R. Street, which depict Cremona’s descendants Hiram and Elizabeth Brown Montier, a free, middle-class African-American couple in 1840.
Guest, Alice (Bailys) | bap. 28 Apr 1642 - 3 Sep 1705 PA | Founder, arrived 1683; Woman of Distinction: Tavern Operator and Land Patent/Wharf Owner
Alice Guest arrived in Philadelphia in 1683—seeking the promise of religious freedom and opportunity—aboard one of William Penn’s ships. We can’t imagine Alice left behind anything other than a difficult life. Her mother died the year Alice was born. She was married by age 17 and immediately started having her own children. Her husband George had obtained a warrant from Penn to build a brickworks on the Delaware River. Soon after arrival, George died leaving Alice with at least four children, the oldest about 13 years, the youngest not yet two. She was pregnant with her last child; a daughter Phoebe would arrive a month after her father died (July 1685). Five children, no house, nor the promise of her family’s new business. Alice had to quickly shift focus. She looked to the waterfront, found a cave, and began keeping a tavern. A dedicated Friend (Quaker), Alice would put up a bond of £20 as security for good behavior on her premises in 1686, and by 1687 she received a patent confirming her ownership of the land, which was valued at £30. Within five years, Alice was able to build a conventional dwelling on the property, and she named her tavern the Crooked Billet. By 1693 her estate was valued for tax purposes at £250. Before her death in 1705, Alice had further developed her land, building a wharf which she equipped with warehouses, along with another dwelling which was accessed through “Crooked Billet Alley.” She also acquired a family house on the opposite side of Front Street. Most importantly to Alice, she ran her tavern and warehouses in full compliance of the law and tenets of her Quaker beliefs. Beyond the business she established in Philadelphia, Alice left a legacy through her children and countless grandchildren, who intermarried with the such families as Morris, Powel(l), Shoemaker, Wistar, Willing (among others), who are all considered the leading founding families of Pennsylvania. She was likely most proud of the religious principles she handed down, especially as they were embodied by her daughters. (see Elizabeth Guest Holton).
Harvey, Rebecca (Owen) Minshall | 1687 - aft. 1751 PA | Quaker minister, 1729
Rebecca Owen was part of the first generation born into the Welsh Tract of Pennsylvania. (See Gaynor Roberts for further info). Her father, Dr. Griffith Owen, was a Welsh Quaker leader, preacher, physician, Assemblyman, and member of the Provincial Council. Her family settled into an area of present-day Chester County.
In 1707, at age 20, Rebecca married Isaac Minshall, a wealthy landowner and Elder among the Quakers, who’s family established Nether Providence Quaker Meeting on their land. In 1731, at age 41, Rebecca became a widow with seven children. We can only imagine she had her hands full. Eight years later she would marry Job Harvey, a clothworker of Darby, Chester County. He was also a widower. They were together for 13 years before Job died in 1751. Rebecca’s death date is unknown, but it was sometime after her second husband.
Rebecca was recommended as a minister in 1729, and she was described in the Quaker Meeting records as “… well gifted in the Ministry and divided the Word aright, speaking plain & home to the disobedient… but tender over the Seed of God in any.” Her two-decades of ministry work and her Quaker faith would have served her well through life’s tribulations.
Henry, Ann (Wood) | 21 Jan 1734 - 8 Mar 1799 PA | Woman of Distinction, beginning 1755
In December of 2023, the Lancaster/Dauphin/York committee of the Pennsylvania Dames spearheaded the rededication of a plaque celebrating the legacy of Ann Wood Henry. This marked the 70th anniversary of when the PA Dames first celebrated her life. For many years, her life was greatly overshadowed by that of her husband, William Henry, who was known as a successful gunsmith, engineer, solider, politician, and inventor. He also served in the Continental Congress and as Treasurer for Lancaster County. While she is sometimes recognized as the first woman to hold public office in Pennsylvania--taking over her husband's job as treasurer upon his death in 1786--it is only in recent years that her full impact has been understood. She played a pivotal role as a full-partner in all her husband's endeavors, taking care of the family business during her husband's frequent absences. This also included entertaining distinguished guests such as John Hart, David Rittenhouse, and Thomas Paine, and also encouraging the up-and-coming artist, Benjamin West. The commemorative plaque is a testament to Ann Wood Henry's contributions, and also a reminder of women's contributions overall, during our Revolutionary and Early National Periods. Ann gave birth to 13 children, 6 who died in infancy. Son William Henry was an Associate Justice of the Courts in Northampton, Co., John Joseph Henry, Judge of Courts in Lancaster Co., and Benjamin West Henry followed in the footsteps of this namesake, becoming an artist of note.
Portrait of Ann Wood Henry painted in 1755. Atwater Kent Collection, Drexel University / Courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection
Hoff, Justina Margaretha (Schnertzel) | 1743 - 1806 PA | Woman of Distinction
Justina Margaretha Schnertzel was born in 1743 at Grunstadt, Germany into the clockmaking family of George Schnertzel. At the age of 18, she would marry her father’s apprentice, Johann Georg Hoff (age 36), on 26 May 1761. Growing up in a family craft business, Justina would be ready for what life had in store when she, her husband and a young daughter sailed to Pennsylvania for a new life, eventually traveling from Philadelphia to Lancaster. By the end of 1769, the Hoffs purchased a house and lot on King Street, the place they started their American clockmaking dynasty. Before the Revolution, her husband, now known as George Hoff, would assume the care of the Lancaster Court House clock (1770), and dominate the early clockmaking industry in the area. In all, Justina would give birth to fourteen children, including their first daughter who died in Germany and their third child who was born and died during the voyage to the American Colonies. Son John (b. 1776) would become a famous clockmaker in his own right, John Jacob (b. 1784) was a watchmaker, and John George (b. 1788) would also work in the trade. Their daughter Catharine Juliana (b. 1763), followed in her mother’s footsteps, by marrying one of her father’s own apprentices, Fredrick Heisely, who made a name for himself as a clockmaker, as well as a maker of Surveyor’s Instruments. Two of the Heisely sons would also become clockmakers. Scholars of the craft note Hoff’s unique “German” style of clockmaking, which was unusual by English standards. By following these maker’s traits, they have identified several men who were likely apprenticed to Hoff, beyond his own sons. Due to English Coverture Laws, proving Justina’s participation in running the family business through primary documentation is likely impossible. But a preponderance of evidence reveals Justina’s incredible impact on establishing a family business, including the fact that the business on West King Street ran continuously for more than 37 years during Justina’s lifetime, through her daughter-in-law, it lasted 69 years. Common to the time, wives would handle shopkeeping, customers, and correspondence of the family business as part of their daily household responsibilities, especially as her husband George held many leadership positions outside of the clockmaking business. After Justina’s death, George did not continue alone, but invited his son John and daughter-in-law Ann Mary Boyer to purchase the house/ship and continue the business. Examples of Hoff clocks, watches, and surveying instruments can be found in many museums and archives, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art. There would be no Hoff family clockmaking dynasty without the everyday efforts of Justina Margaretha Schnertzel Hoff, who lived her entire life in the world of clockmaking.
Hoff family extraordinary Lancaster tall case clock
Hollingsworth, Ann (Calvert) | Nov 1650 - 17 Oct 1697 PA | Historic Founder (arrival 1682 Penn Ship)
At age 22, Ann Calvert became the second wife of Valentine Hollingsworth, a man more than twenty-years older. Valentine was an Englishman born in Northern Ireland and a recent widow. His first wife (Ann Rea) died just months before, leaving two daughters and two sons behind ranging in age from 8 to 15-years-old. It was during this time that Valentine was convinced by George Fox to convert to Quakerism (c. 1669), a decision which would lead to religious persecution in Ireland and an invitation by William Penn to seek freedom in his new Pennsylvania colony.
Ten years later (1682) Ann Calvert Hollingsworth, now the mother of four additional children, left from Belfast aboard the ship Antelope, headed to the Americas. William Penn granted the Hollingworth family 986 acres near present-day Wilmington (DE), land then known as “the Three Lower Counties on the Delaware” which was owned and controlled by William Penn. Accompanying her and Valentine were step-daughter Mary Hollingsworth Conoway (age 26 with her husband Thomas Conoway), step-daughter Catherine Hollingsworth (age 19), and her 3 sons Samuel (age 9), Enoch (age 7), Valentine (age 5) and her then youngest, daughter Ann (age 1). Two more sons would be born in America, Enoch (who died before age 5) and John Valentine. Her husband Valentine became an important part of William Penn’s Provincial government, as a member of the First Assembly, a Justice of the Peace, and a signer of Penn’s Great Charter. The Hollingsworth family remained dedicated Friends, their house serving as a meeting place for religious services and ultimately donating land to create a meetinghouse and burial ground. While their land in the “lower counties” would officially become part of Delaware (circa 1776), several Hollingworth descendants became key members of the NSCDA/PA through their relationship to Valentine Hollingsworth (one of the first men added to the Register of Ancestors), including NSCDA founders Fanny Hollingsworth Arnold and Anne Hollingsworth Wharton, along with at least eight other early members.
Holton, Elizabeth (Guest) | 1675 - 10 Apr 1757 PA | Founder, arrived 1683; Quaker Elder
Because she was an esteemed Elder among the Quakers, it is within the Quaker archive of Haverford College that we find the story of Elizabeth. Born in Birmingham England in 1675, she arrived in Philadelphia with her parents George and Alice (Bailys) Guest, at the age of 6 years old. Elizabeth was the beneficiary of the sacrifice her parents made to come to Pennsylvania to find religious freedom. She was raised by her widowed entrepreneurial mother, who instilled in her the values of Quakerism. Records show she married Arthur Holton at age 20 with the “approbation of the Monthly Meeting of Friends in Philadelphia.” Their marriage record illustrates the esteem in which they were held in their community, as among those who signed as witnesses to the marriage were Samuel Carpenter and his wife Hannah (Hardiman) Carpenter (Both NSCDA/PA qualifying ancestors.) Elizabeth was known to be an example from an early age for sobriety, plain apparel, and careful conversation. She was also a diligent attendee of the Monthly Meeting. It was also noted that she carefully educated her children and grandchildren. Upon her death she was attended by many Friends and Neighbors. The last words written in her honor…“Concerning whom our Hope is that she is entered into the Rest prepared for the Righteous.”
James, Elizabeth | ? - bef. 13 Jan 1747/78 PA | Organized Montgomery Baptist Church, 20 Jun 1719
Elizabeth and her husband John James arrived in Philadelphia in 1711, along with their sons Thomas, William, Josiah, and Isaac, and daughters Sarah, Rebecca, and Mary. They settled in Montgomery Township north of Philadelphia. They had been members of the Rhydwillym (Baptist) church in Pembrokeshire, South Wales. In Montgomery Township, they joined Welsh Baptists, Sarah and John Evans. In June of 1719, as the Welsh community grew, they decided to establish the Montgomery Baptist Church, which was the fourth church built by Baptists in Pennsylvania, but the first in Montgomery County. Of the original ten church founders, two women were listed, Elizabeth James and Sarah Evans. The Montgomery Baptist Church is considered the parent of at least 5 other local Baptist Churches. The family eventually purchased land nearby in New Britain, Bucks County (1720). Elizabeth predeceased her husband. In his will, he mentions daughters Sarah Lewis, Mary James, and Rebecca Miner. He also mentions sons William, Thomas, and Isaac, all of whom stayed active in the Montgomery Baptist Church. Through their children there are a great number of descendants of Elizabeth and James.
James, Mary (Goodwin) | ? - ca. 1776 PA | Quaker minister, 1718 or 1737
Born in Cardiganshire Wales, Mary was a young teen when her family immigrated to Edgemont, Chester County in 1708. The Goodwins would have been part of a later wave of Welsh Quakers following in the footsteps of those who had established the Welsh Tract in Pennsylvania. (See Gaynor Roberts.) Her father was likely a farmer, but all four of her siblings were recognized as Quaker Ministers.
Mary married Thomas James in 1712. He was a middling yeoman of Willis Town. Mary appeared in the ministry in 1718. She was also a representative at the Quarterly Meeting. Together they had seven children. Thomas died in 1752, while Mary would live at least another 24 years reaching her eighth decade, living long enough to witness the beginning of the American Revolution.
Jones, Mary (Porter) | 1707 - Sep 1761 PA | Woman of Distinction: School Mistress (owner No. 8 Drinker's Alley)
Mary Porter was the daughter of Thomas Porter (b. 1683) and Elizabeth Westbury, who were married at Christ Church, Barbados, 29 Jan 1706. When the Porter family arrived in Philadelphia is unknown, but Mary married William Jones at Christ Church in Philadelphia on 23 Feb. 1729. As a mariner, William Jones was not home in Philadelphia often, and ultimately he was lost at sea. During her marriage and after, she kept a school for small children at No. 8, Drinker's Alley, in a home she owned. She had a son Daniel Jones (1730-1771), who later moved to Mt. Holly, New Jersey, where he was an innkeeper and warden of St. Andrews Church. Her daughter Rebecca Jones was born 8 July1739, nine years after her brother. Much of what is known about Mary Porter Jones is from an autobiography written by her daughter Rebecca. She writes that as an infant, her father was much absent, and the care of her education and that of her brother was left to her mother, who "by hard labor, keeping a school, brought us up reputably, gave us sufficient learning, and educated us in the way of the Church of England." She also noted that when her mother's health started to fail in the spring of 1761, she was left with a "large school" which was their sole means of subsistence (which was known to be a nice living). Rebecca recalled her mother had a "noble disposition" and had "many good qualities" and lived "peaceable life among her neighbors." The main squabble between mother and daughter arrived when Rebecca left her Church of England upbringing to join the Society of Friends. A change Mary Jones eventually made peace with. Rebecca carried on her mother's school after Mary died.
Keurlis, Elisabeth (Doors) | c.1647- aft. 1 Feb 1727 PA | Historic Founder, 1683
October 1683, Philadelphia: 33 individuals arrived from Krefeld, Germany aboard the ship Concord. Raised as Mennonites, many joined the Society of Friends under the influence of William Penn, who negotiated their arrival through Francis Daniel Pastorius (a Lutheran Pietist) who was hired as the agent to purchase land on behalf of the Frankfort Company. The Concord is sometimes referred to as the German Mayflower as it was the first significant number of individuals who arrived in the Colonies to create a permanent “German” Settlement aka Germantown. It also served as the original gateway for subsequent emigrants from Germany. The husbands or "heads" of these 33 individuals are often referred to as "the original thirteen." This included 9 wives (plus one unmarried woman), 9 children and two infants born at sea. They were young, tightly-connected families seeking religious refuge and new opportunities.
(See Elin Kunders (her sister), Mercken Siemens, Catherina Graeff)
"German Towne, in the County of Philadelphia" received their charter in 1691. (William Penn signed it in Aug 1689). Under the charter, the community was allowed a bailiff, a chief executive, four burgesses, and six committeemen.
Elizabeth married Peter Keurlis in May of 1675. She was in her twenties with at least two young children, when she agreed to come to America. Elizabeth and Peter would have several more children while settling Germantown. The family business they built in America was innkeeping and beer-brewing. Some claim Peter was the first beer-brewer in America. He also served as constable, and tax collector/assessor. Elizabeth and Peter both enjoyed long and prosperous lives, living into their eighth decades.
Kunders, Lijntijen | c.1650 - bef. 19 Jun 1723 PA | Historic Founder, 1683
October 1683, Philadelphia: 33 individuals arrived from Krefeld, Germany aboard the ship Concord. Raised as Mennonites, many joined the Society of Friends under the influence of William Penn, who negotiated their arrival through Francis Daniel Pastorius (a Lutheran Pietist) who was hired as the agent to purchase land on behalf of the Frankfort Company. The Concord is sometimes referred to as the German Mayflower as it was the first significant number of individuals who arrived in the Colonies to create a permanent “German” Settlement aka Germantown. It also served as the original gateway for subsequent emigrants from Germany. The husbands or "heads" of these 33 individuals are often referred to as "the original thirteen." This included 9 wives (plus one unmarried woman), 9 children and two infants born at sea. They were young, tightly-connected families, seeking religious refuge and new opportunities.
(See Elisabeth Kunders (her sister), Mercken Siemens, Catherina Graeff)
"German Towne, in the County of Philadelphia" received their charter in 1691. (William Penn signed it in Aug 1689). Under the charter, the community was allowed a bailiff, a chief executive, four burgesses, and six committeemen.
The Kunders hosted the first German Quaker Meetings at their home. In 1688, at the home of Elin and Thunes Kunders, an eloquent protest was written by a group of German Friends. Signed by Daniel Pastorius and three others, it preceded by 92 years Pennsylvania's passage of the nation's first state abolition law. Elin died before her husband. In his will, Thunes mentions children Conrad, Mathias, John, Henry Ann Steepers, Agnes Powell, and Elizabeth Jones (and her husband Griffith Jones).
Lewis, Margaret (Thomas) | 1712 - 1789 PA | Quaker minister, 1744
Born in 1712 to parents who were elders of the Radnor Monthly Meeting, Margaret was possibly of Welsh descent, as she was living in the epicenter of the Welsh Tract established in 1683. (See Gaynor Roberts.) Margaret’s father was a miller who had also served as an Assemblyman.
In 1731, at age 18, Margaret married Nathan Lewis of Newtown (Chester Co.), a prosperous yeoman. Lewis’ Welsh grandfather had organized the Newtown Quaker Meeting and had been a freeholder of a plantation in Haverford. In 1744, at age 32, Margaret was called to the Quaker ministry. This fact is remarkable with the understanding that this calling came amid bearing and rearing ten children. Meeting records mention her thus:
“Says but Little and yet is pritty well Approved of, … she behaved with Prudence & humbleness…. Not too forward neither in Conversation nor in Meetings.”
Margaret died in her 77th year just one year after her husband Nathan.
Lloyd, Mary (Jones) | c. 1640 - 1683 PA | Historic Founder (arrived on "America", 1683)
Mary Jones Lloyd’s story is one of sacrifice. And it represents many women who boarded ships for new lands and new lives promising freedom. Women who brought with them multiple young children, who were pregnant and gave birth while crossing the seas or the moment they reached America.
Mary was born in 1640, the daughter of Gilbert Jones of Welch Pool, Wales. She married in 1665, Thomas Lloyd of Friends Meeting in Shropshire Wales. Thomas had converted to the doctrine of the Quakers in about 1663, and through the following years, the couple faced considerable persecution, which greatly affected Thomas’ extensive medical practice. The promise of the new Welsh Tract in William Penn’s new colony held great hope for the Lloyds. (See Gaynor Roberts for more details.) They boarded the America in June of 1683, with their nine children, who ranged in age from 17 down to one year. A fellow passenger on the ship was Francis Daniel Pastorius, who was headed to Pennsylvania to take charge of lands for the Frankfort Co, which would usher in the German Quakers. Pastorius wrote letters describing the hardships of their journey and poor fare and also spoke highly of the Lloyd family. What may or may not have been evident at the time was that Mary was pregnant with her tenth child. We don’t know what toll the journey took on Mary’s health, but she died within months of their arrival, along with her infant. She had the dubious honor of being the first person buried in the new Friends burial ground in Philadelphia.
Her husband Thomas went on to become a quite prominent Philadelphian, remarrying in short order. While Mary had little time in her new home, she left behind her beloved children, who helped establish Pennsylvania in many important ways. Her daughter Mary Lloyd (1674-1748) married Isaac Norris (1671-1736), their son Isaac Jr. married Sarah “Sally” Logan, daughter of James Logan, William Penn’s Provincial Secretary (and owner of Stenton), and through them, Mary’s great-granddaughter was Mary “Polly” Norris Dickinson. Through her grandson Charles Norris (1712-1766), her great-granddaughter was Deborah Norris Logan, the esteemed historian and writer who, over the course of about 40 years, recorded her observations on life during the American Revolution and living at Stenton. We can’t imagine a more important legacy.
Mackenet, Sarah (Shoemaker) Pastorius | c. 1723 - Apr 1795 PM | Woman of Distinction: Tavern Owner, (Green Tree, Saddler's Arms, Widow Mackent's)
At about age of 19, Sarah Shoemaker married Daniel Pastorius (1742) bringing together two of the most esteemed Germantown family lines. Sarah’s family (see Sarah Hendricks Shoemaker) arrived in Philadelphia just a few years after Daniel’s grandfather, Francis Daniel Pastorius, helped found Philadelphia’s first German settlement. Daniel made horse saddles, so when the couple built a home and tavern, it was called the Saddle Arms Tavern or Sadler’s Arms. The building is still extant today, although utilized for a much different purpose, you can still see the initials “D. S. P” and the date “1748” carved in the stone just under the gabled roof. The initials represent Daniel and Sarah Pastorius. Daniel died in 1754, leaving Sarah with four children ranging in age from 7 to 19. Sarah continued to support her family as a tavern keeper, remarrying three years later a man named Daniel Mackenet. He died just four years into the marriage, but not before Sarah gave birth to three more children. Sarah continued to run the tavern, which was nicknamed by many “Widow Mackenet’s Tavern.”
She gained a reputation as a savvy businesswoman. For instance, she advertised in the Pennsylvania Gazette in May of 1763 that she had set up a “convenient stage wagon” which could travel to New York or other places of similar distance. In the advertisement she states that interested parties can inquire to “the owner of the Sadler’s Arms in Germantown” or apply to her son at “the sign of the George” on Second Street in Philadelphia.
By 1775 she advertised once again in the Pennsylvania Gazette, this time as Sarah Heith. She was selling a “well accustomed” tavern known as the Widow Mackenet’s or the Sadler’s Arms. She lists her well-furnished house, a stable for 40 horses, an orchard of nearly 100 trees, and an additional lot with street frontage. The same advertisement lists the simultaneous sale of another parcel of 40 acres, which includes access to a stream and orchard, along with a third parcel of 10 acres noted as well-timbered. These are listed for sale by her three Pastorius sons, Abraham, Samuel, and Daniel. The apparent reason her sons are selling their land simultaneously is so that they could go in together to purchase their mother’s Inn, which they did. In 1830, the tavern was sold to Sarah’s grandson Charles Mackenet Pastorius. At some point the name of the tavern was changed to the Green Tree Tavern and left family ownership in 1838.
The last 20 years of Sarah’s life, between when she sold the tavern and her death in 1795 are a bit of a mystery. She called herself Sarah Heith when she advertised her property for sale. There is some indication she might have married a third time to a man named Andrew Heath/Heith. But ultimately it is said she is buried in the Germantown Preparatory Meeting of Friends Cemetery between her first husband Daniel Pastorious and her second Daniel Mackenet. She was laid to rest in her 72nd year.
Marsh, Elizabeth (Allibone) | 1 Aug 1683 - prob. 1741 PA | Woman of Distinction: Premier Schoolmistress known for her pupils' extant examples of fine needlework, 1720-1740
Elizabeth was the daughter of Joseph Allibone, a carpenter, and Ann (probably Allen). In 1681 and 1683, her father was imprisoned for refusing to pay the tithe for worshipping as a Friend. She married Joseph Marsh 8 Sept 1711 in Hallow, Worcester Co., England. The births of their four children were recorded in The Worcestershire Monthly Meeting Records: Benjamin (Feb 1713), Ann (Nov 1714), Mary (Nov 1719), and Joseph (Feb 1723). At the birth of her fourth child, Elizabeth was already 40 years old and no doubt an experienced schoolmistress before the family embarked for America. Evidence of her arrival in Philadelphia can be found in a ledger owned by James Logan in December of 1723, in which she was originally named as "mistress" paid for her work teaching Logan's daughter. Scholars have studied her samplers (and their unique techniques) and those of her students as evidence of where and for whom she worked. Elizabeth's daughter Ann Marsh also became a skilled schoolmistress in needlework. By 1734, Joseph and Elizabeth Marsh acquired property on the west side of the Schuylkill River. A mortgage of November 1738 named their three living children: Benjamin, Ann, and Mary. Elizabeth died sometime between the execution of the 1738 mortgage and the payment of their loan in January 1742, when her husband and children survived her. Daughter Ann Marsh never married, but carried on her mother's legacy. One of her account books is at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and shows that during the Revolutionary Period, she was teaching the who's who of Philadelphia society. Like her mother, she had no need to advertise for students. Nothing more is known about son Benjamin. In 1744, daughter Mary married Othniel Tomlinson of Salem, NJ. In 1760, she married Aaron Ashbridge. Her only daughter, Mary Tomlinson (1747-1800), married Samuel Hibberd, and they had seven daughters. One of Ann Marshes account books has been passed down that family line.
.jpg)
Ann Marsh sampler c. 1730 under direction of her mother Elizabeth
Masters, Sybilla (Righton) | c. 1676 - 3 Sept 1720 PA | inventor: First American Colonist granted an English patent (no. 401) held under her husband's name, Thomas Masters, 25 Nov 1715
Sybilla was born to Quakers William and Sarah Righton, either in Bermuda (from which her parents emigrated), or in present day Burlington, New Jersey, on her father’s plantation called Bermuda. Before 1696, she married Thomas Masters, a prominent Quaker merchant and widower who had arrived in Philadelphia from Bermuda sometime around 1685. By 1702, the couple was living in a stately house on the Philadelphia waterfront where Sybilla raised her children, Sarah, Mary (Mercy), Thomas, and William. While her husband maintained a high-profile career holding various offices from Alderman, Mayor, and Provincial Councilor, Sybilla found time to “tinker” with several mechanical inventions. On June 24, 1712, Sybilla obtained a certificate of good standing from her Quaker meeting after she notified them of her intention to travel to London to secure two patents. She would leave her family behind, spending several years in London, before she was finally granted patent No. 401 under the Privy Seal of King George on Nov. 25, 1715. Coverture Law meant that the patents were granted under her husband’s name, but he made no secret that the inventions were of his wife’s creation. Patent No. 401 was the first patent granted to any Colonial American, and it’s sometimes been called the “first American patent medicine.” Sybilla’s invention was a means of cleaning and curing Indian corn to produce something she named “Tuscarora Rice”, otherwise known as corn meal or hominy. Sybilla had hoped it would be a useful preparation for the recovery of consumptive and sickly persons. Her husband would purchase a mill from William Penn to produce this product. Before she left London, she was granted patent No. 403, on Feb 18, 1716. The second was for a new means of working and staining straw and palmetto leaves for use in hat making. She also obtained a monopoly for the importation of palmetto leaves from the West Indies. Four years after Sybilla’s death, her husband Thomas followed, leaving their children a vast estate which included the mill, real estate in Pennsylvania and Bermuda, both indentured and enslaved servants, 31 casks of rum, and a stake in the brigantine “Dove.”
Mattson, Margaret (Erichsdotter) | c.1630 - 1693 PA | Founder, arrived New Sweden on the Eagle, 1654; Woman of Distinction: Fought oppression, exonerated of Witchcraft by William Penn, 1683.
Margaret Erichsdotter Mattson arrived in the colony of New Sweden (present-day southeastern Pennsylvania) on 22 May 1654, aboard the ship Orn (Eagle), with her husband Nils Mattson, a millwright from Finland. Her husband Nils was a reputed healer working in the Finnish tradition. But it was Margaret who would earn the reputation as the "Witch of Ridley Creek." Sometime after New Sweden became part of William Penn's new colony, Margaret's neighbors brought charges against her under the English Witchcraft Act of 1604. Specifically, charges of practicing witchcraft were brought before the Pennsylvania Provincial Council on 7 Feb 1683. Her neighbors accused her of "bewitching" their cattle, causing the cows to give little milk. On 27 Feb 1683, Margaret and a neighbor, Yeshro Hendrickson, were brought by the Attorney General before a grand jury of 21 men, who promptly indicted Margaret and sent the case to trial. William Penn, the colony's proprietor, conducted the questioning himself, and brought in an interpreter for Margaret who only spoke Finnish. The jury of 12 men returned a verdict on 27 Feb 1683, stating that Margaret was found guilty of having a reputation as a witch, but not guilty of bewitching animals. Both women were released to their husbands after they posted a bond of 50 pounds and promised six months of good behavior. A popular legend states that William Penn dismissed the charges against Margaret by affirming her legal right to fly on a broomstick, saying he knew of no legal law against it. It is said that Penn had the case tried in public so that his fellow Pennsylvanians could hear the lack of real evidence against Margaret, and also as means to illustrate that his colony was welcoming and tolerant of all religious views. Scholars believe this attitude helped Pennsylvania avoid the witch hysteria that swept through "puritanical" Salem in 1692. The handwritten court record for Margaret's 1683 witchcraft trial is held in the Pennsylvania State Archives. Nils and Margaret had a family that included a son named Anthony Nilsson. Anthony's wife was one of Margaret's accusers. Still, after Margaret died, Nils Mattson was noted in the local census as living with his son and two of his grandchildren. Before his death in 1701, he had become a charity case and was cared for by the congregants of the Wicaco church.
.jpg)
Margaret Mattson PA State archives trial notes
Morris, Elizabeth (Hudson) | 1722 - bur. 23 May 1783 PA | Quaker Minister, 1743-1783
Why would a young woman in her early twenties—born into Philadelphia’s Quaker Elite in 1722—delay courtship, marriage and children to board a ship bound for Ireland?
Elizabeth was the granddaughter of William Hudson, one of Philadelphia’s Colonial mayors, who had arrived in the city at age 21 ready to build his fortune in the tannery business, a family tradition carried from Yorkshire, England. But his drive to risk his fortunes in William Penn’s new colony was about more than money. He was also seeking religious freedom. His father William had joined the Society of Friends early on in England, which landed him in prison for nine years, after he refused to support a tax assessment on the local parish house. In Philadelphia, aside from his stint as Mayor, William would become a member of the Provincial Council, serve as an Alderman and Justice of the Orphans Court. He built his tannery on Dock Street and served as an Elder in the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. Beyond the land he owned in Newtown Twp., he also built a large well-appointed house a few blocks from his tannery. A must for a man who married into another prominent Quaker family. His wife, Mary Richardson, gave birth to fourteen children. Hudson’s children and grandchildren were the beneficiaries of his various properties and businesses, including lands he still owned in England. Her grandfather’s obituary stated that of all the things he left behind, the thing he most desired to leave was “a good name.”
This is the lesson Elizabeth carried forward. In his time her grandfather was lauded for his work in prison reform and tending to the relief of the indigent, afflicted, and fatherless, despite his practice of enslaving humans for his own use (he owned several). She had a religious calling from a young age. Even in her teens she struggled to live “for a far more noble end, to wit, to serve the Lord.” Two of Elizabeth’s close friends were Polly and Sarah Norris, granddaughters of one of Philadelphia’s wealthiest merchants and owner of the great country estate Fairhill. It is said that it was in Norris’s vast library—which contained more than one hundred scientific titles—that Elizabeth most struggled with being distracted from her religious calling, the elaborate selection of books was “Ingrossing both of Our time & thoughts…” she had to deny herself. (See Mary “Polly” Norris Dickinson.)
In her early twenties she chose the ministry. This calling required travel, and by the age of 26, she even journeyed to Ireland to spread the word of the Society of Friends. We are left of wonder what her family thought of her ministry work, especially her travel to Ireland, with their understanding that religious persecution was the reason they all lived in Pennsylvania.
It comes as no surprise that she was a sought-after bride. Upon her return from Ireland, a widower named Anthony Morris made his intentions known to Elizabeth that he wished to be a suitor for marriage. Elizabeth initially demurred as she had other plans in mind. This might be considered a dramatic decision, especially understanding that, like her, Anthony descended from Philadelphia’s elite Quaker society, which included a mayor and members of the Common Council. He was a brewer and wealthy merchant. She also had to understand that Anthony might not be in the mood to wait around given he had five children to care for, the youngest under 5 years old. The couple worked things out, no doubt with Anthony’s understanding of women in the ministry. At age 30, Elizabeth Hudson married Anthony Morris (age 50) and became a stepmother to his children. She would give birth to three sons, William and Luke reaching adulthood. She was buried in the Friends burial ground at age 61.
Morris, Susanna (Heath) | 12 Oct 1682 - 28 Apr 1755 PA | Quaker Minister, c.1711-1755
December 1728: the ship Syzargh has crashed into the rocks off the southeastern coast of Ireland. The shipwrecked survivors are clinging to the partly submerged vessel, battling not just incoming waves, but the deathly cold, frost, and snow. It would be nine hours before their rescue. The locals on shore reportedly stood watch, waiting to plunder the valuable cargo.
One survivor, Joseph Taylor, recalled the following:
“This extraordinary woman had a sense given her, that they would not be safe on the side of the vessel much longer; and although it seemed very hazardous and dangerous to move and fasten to the lower side of the vessel, she urged them all to attempt it believing it would be the means of their preservation…” She prevailed and according to a witness’s account, an oncoming wave immediately threw the vessel flat onto the side they had just evacuated. She had saved them all from drowning.
The extraordinary woman in question was Susanna Heath Morris, a forty-seven-year-old Quaker Minister traveling from Philadelphia. This shipwreck became a mere inconvenience to Susanna, as she ultimately traveled through Ireland and Holland on what would be the first of three trips abroad. She would return, traveling through England, Scotland, and Wales, and back to Ireland and Holland in 1744 and 1752. On her second trip she was accompanied by Elizabeth Hudson Morris.
Susanna was born in Staffordshire, England, the daughter of Quakers Robert and Susanna Heath, as recorded at the Monthly Meeting of Uttoxeter. In 1701, when she was a young woman of 19, she immigrated with her family to Pennsylvania, surely seeking refuge from the religious persecution in their home country. They settled near the Abington Monthly Meeting, in present-day Montgomery County. Two years later (1703) Susanna married Morris Morris, a wealthy yeoman, who held extensive lands in Richland Township. The Morris family was part of the Welsh wave of Quakers who had arrived in 1690. (See Gaynor Roberts for further info.)
Records of Susanna’s life can be found within her own diary, Meeting Minutes on both sides of the Atlantic, and Testimony (of the Monthly Meeting of Friends of Richland) given after her death. She had three sisters who were also ministers, but she was the only one who made transatlantic trips. She first appeared in the ministry in 1711 and was noted as “a prophetic minister who testified against use of tobacco, liquor, and the use of ‘you’ for the single person.”
Another important fact to note is that Susanna and Morris were the parents of 13 children. That would mean that Susanna was likely still in her childbearing years when she made her first “shipwrecked” trip to Ireland. She was 70-years-old when she made her third voyage, then a grandmother and great-grandmother. Beyond his service as an Assemblyman, her husband Morris was also a devoted Quaker. He was an Elder, a Monthly Meeting overseer, and a representative to the Yearly Meeting. The Morris family also donated the site for the Richland Meeting house. And upon his death, not long after his wife, Morris left £100 in his will to establish a Quaker school.
Susanna died at age 73, and was called “our Ancient worthy Friend” in the Testimony.
Among the many things written was this:
“Her memory still lives and yields a precious Savour to those, who are measurably Sharers of the divine Love and Life with which she in an eminent degree was endowed, and was frequently made an Instrument… by a living and powerful Ministry in which she faithfully laboured, with unwearied Diligence both at Home and abroad for the space of Forty Years…”
Op den Graeff, Catharina "Trijntje" (Jansen) | bef. 1660 - c.1710 PA | Historic Founder, 1683
October 1683, Philadelphia: 33 individuals arrived from Krefeld, Germany aboard the ship Concord. Raised as Mennonites, many joined the Society of Friends under the influence of William Penn, who negotiated their arrival through Francis Daniel Pastorius (a Lutheran Pietist) who was hired as the agent to purchase land on behalf of the Frankfort Company. The Concord is sometimes referred to as the German Mayflower as it was the first significant number of individuals who arrived in the Colonies to create a permanent “German” Settlement aka Germantown. It also served as the original gateway for subsequent emigrants from Germany. The husbands or "heads" of these 33 individuals are often referred to as "the original thirteen." This included 9 wives (plus one unmarried woman), 9 children and two infants born at sea. They were young, tightly-connected families seeking religious refuge and new opportunities.
(See Elin Kunders, Elisabeth Kerulis, Mercken Siemens)
"German Towne, in the County of Philadelphia" received their charter in 1691. (William Penn signed it in Aug 1689). Under the charter, the community was allowed a bailiff, a chief executive, four burgesses, and six committeemen.
Catharina was likely still a teen when she married Abraham op den Graeff (1679) and was the mother of two young children when they arrived in Philadelphia. Abraham was a skilled weaver, part of a family of weavers of at least two brothers who all transferred their business and skills to America, earning a reputation for their “fine German linen.
Like his fellow “original 13” Abraham served terms as burgess and assemblyman. He was also one of the four signers of the Anti-slavery petition (1688) along with Thune Kunders and Daniel Pastorius.
Painter, Ellinor (Musgrave) | ? - bur. 23 Jan 1689/90 PA | Historic Founder, arrived on the Unicorn 31 October 1683
Ellinor Musgrave, her husband George, along with their young daughter Susan, and son, George Jr., arrived in Philadelphia in 1683 aboard the Unicorn, one of William Penn’s original ships. They had only been married three years. They were part of a larger contingent of Welsh Quakers escaping religious persecution. (See Gaynor Roberts.) Records indicate that the Painters were just one of the few families thought to have sailed directly from Pembrokeshire in southwest Wales, as their ship originated from Bristol, England. They were evidently of means, as they brough with them three servants, two men, Matthew and Lewis, and a woman named Janet Humphries.
George died within four years of arrival (1687), and records indicate neither Susan nor George Jr. outlived their father. But Ellinor was now a widow with two other children, Daniel and Deborah, born in Pennsylvania, who would have been under the age of five. Sadly, they would lose their mother by the end of 1689, two young children left to carry on, cared for within the Welsh Quaker community.
Paschall, Elizabeth (Coates) | 1702 - 10 Apr 1767 PA | Healer
Elizabeth Coates was born into a prominent Philadelphia Quaker merchant family. Her father, Thomas Coates, was an early settler of Pennsylvania and prospered in shipping and as a merchant. Her two brothers and two sisters all married within the well-connected and wealthy Society of Friends, as Elizabeth herself did upon her marriage to Joseph Pachall in 1721. While running a successful shop, Joseph also served as a member of the Common Council. When Joseph died in 1742, he left 40-year old Elizabeth with his shop and three children ranging in age from 2-years to 14-years old. By all accounts Elizabeth was a successful businesswoman. In the 1756 tax list, she is categorized as belonging to the "92-95% bracket" and upon her death her estate was valued at over 5000 pounds. But it is through Elizabeth's "recipe" book that we are provided a unique window into the life of a woman adept at healing AND powerfully asserting her authority through her knowledge and skills. The recipe book, kept from the late 1740s through her death in 1768, is uniquely discursive and provides rich details in healing practices, along with the more typical ingredient lists and directions. Her writing not only attests to her own knowledge, but enlightens the vernacular of medical knowledge in mid-18th C. Philadelphia. It also reveals webs of exchanges that crossed lines of gender, class, and race, both local and transatlantic. As a full-time shopkeeper, she describes what she learned from her customers in their daily social and business interactions. She also had access to a wide range of ingredients. Her social status provided familiarity with local intellectuals, scholars, and medical doctors. Her botanical knowledge could be discussed with an expert such as John Bartram. She had a trusted relationship with trained physician John Kearsley. She was also able to check-out books from the Library Company of Philadelphia under the name of a male family member. She was well-versed in the latest medical knowledge, and while noting sources of authority, she did not passively accept their knowledge. She would also exchange recipes with local Lenape healers. Elizabeth's original recipe book is maintained in the archives of The College of Physicians in Philadelphia.
Paschall Diary from the College of Physicians and Pascall House Cedar Grove
Penn, Hannah (Callowhill) | bap. 11 Feb 1670 - 1726 PA | Manager of Proprietary Affairs for the Colony of Pennsylvania, 1712
Hannah Callowhill was the daughter of Thomas Callowhill and Anna Hollister. Her father was a successful merchant, and as the only surviving child, Hannah was taught the skills needed to run the family store and button-making company. Hannah was a member of the Society of Friends when she married Quaker William Penn on 5 March 1696. She was 25 and he was 52. His first wife, Gulielma Springett had died two years prior. Hannah was pregnant with son John when the couple sailed to "William's" colony in 1699. This journey was a "return" for William to the colony he founded in 1681. Hannah and William lived in style, both in Philadelphia and at Pennsbury Manor, their large estate up the Delaware River in Bucks County. Though the cost of living was supplemented with Callowhill money when colony funds ran tight. When William Penn suffered a stroke in 1712, Hannah began administering the affairs of Pennsylvania. When he died in 1718, Penn gave Hannah full control of the colony and his fortune. William's oldest son by his first wife, William, Jr., contested his father's will and tried to obtain control of the colony. His suit was unsuccessful, and Hannah remained in charge of the colony until her death. This position meant that Hannah Penn was the first women in U.S. history to hold formal political authority. It is said she paid off her husband's debts and kept things running smoothly, and she even settled an old land dispute with Lord Baltimore of Maryland. Hannah gave birth to nine children, four of whom lived to adulthood: John, Thomas, Margaret, and Richard. Thomas and Richard were active in the Pennsylvania colony. Hannah Penn is one of the few individuals, and the first woman, granted the status of "Honorary Citizens of the United States" which was awarded by Presidential Proclamation through an Act of Congress by Ronald Reagan on 28 November 1984. President Reagan also noted that Hannah devoted her life to the pursuit of peace and justice.
Pennell, Mary (Morgan) | c.1678 - 10 May 1764 PA | Quaker Minister
Mary Morgan was born in Radnorshire, Wales, into the Church of England. At the age of 13, she went with an elder sister to a meeting of Friends where it is said she had a great religious impression and became “convinced of the Truth.” It wasn’t until three years later in 1694, that Mary traveled to Pennsylvania to live with a Quaker family. Her sister also became a Quaker, but apparently stayed in Wales. Her sister’s son, John Griffith, the imminent Quaker minister was born in Radnorshire in 1713. Mary certainly met and spent time with her nephew as he traveled back and forth from Britain to America.
Mary married John Pennell (in 1703) at about age 24. Pennell was a middling yeoman who resided at Concord Meeting. It would be another 19 years, and presumably after she had raised her six children, that Mary became a Quaker minister. She traveled up and down the east coast and back to Britain and Ireland. While in England in 1733, she was described by another Quaker as “a notable good woman… from Pennsylvania.”
Mary and John would later relocate to East Caln township. Her death was recorded in the Woodford Monthly Meeting in 1764. Her husband died just before her. She lived a meaningful 86 years of life.
See Gaynor Roberts for further info on the Welsh Tract in Pennsylvania.)
Piper, Lucinda | Abt. 1735-c. 1805, Shippensburg, Cumberland Co., PA | Woman of Distinction: Proprietor “Widow Piper’s Tavern” aka original Cumberland County Court House (1750-1751)
In the early days of the historical marker program of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, a blue sign was dedicated (1947) at the “Old Court House” in Shippensburg, Cumberland Co, at the SW corner of King and Queen Streets. The sign text is as follows:
“Widow Piper’s Tavern, used for Cumberland County court-session, 1750-1751, until a courthouse was erected at Carlisle, the county seat. The house is now the home of the Shippensburg Civic Club.”
But who was the Widow Piper? Histories of Cumberland County often include detailed accounts of the court, its organization and members, but the widow is left unknown other than her name association.
The truth is some of what we know about Lucinda Long Piper is built on speculation. References in records mention a “Lucinda Piper, widow of Lt. Col. James Piper” in Bedford County. Bedford was created in 1771 from the western parts of Cumberland Co. We believe Lucinda was born about 1735 to James and Anne Long, possibly of Somerset Co., and that she married James Piper, a man of Irish descent who had arrived in the area with his parents as a young child. James might be the same James Piper who was noted as a surveyor and perhaps a sheriff in Bedford County. Their children of record are William, John, Robert, Margaret and Jane born between 1765 and 1776. James Piper died aboard a British Prison Ship docked in New York Harbor during the American Revolution in 1776. As a widow with young children and a newborn, running a tavern was an honest means of taking care of her family. Her mention in orphan court records in Bedford and Hopewell Townships as a “widow” could indicate family landholdings beyond Shippensburg, about 70 miles straight west.
The interesting point to note is that while “Widow Piper’s Tavern” was utilized as a Court House in the 1750s, Lucinda was not then a widow. However, she was enumerated in the 1785 Shippensburg census as the single owner of a “house and lot” and “1 horse” valued at £80 (Pennsylvania currency). Perhaps by this point, the tavern was indeed referred to as “Widow Piper’s” and recalled as such when the historical signage was erected almost two centuries later. Lucinda died sometime between 1800 to 1805.
Queen Alliquippa | c. 1680- 23 Dec 1754, Pennsylvania Frontier| Woman of Distinction: Seneca Leader & frontier ambassador (c. 1701-1754)
Queen Alliquippa was an Iroquois matriarch probably from the Seneca Nation, part of the powerful Iroquois Confederacy, which encompassed the six nations. Her father was thought to be part of the Susquehannock Nation, who signed a treaty with William Penn. Oral history implies that Queen Alliquippa attended the treaty signing as depicted in Benjamin West’s iconic 1771 painting. It was also recorded that Alliquippa and her husband traveled to New Castle (present-day Delaware) in 1701 to say farewell to Penn upon his return to England.
Queen Alliquippa lived in Conestoga (present-day Lancaster Co.) but by 1731 the family started moving westward, eventually settling near the Forks of the Ohio, adjacent to present-day McKees Rocks. There she led a group of about 30 Seneca families. Women in the Iroquois played an influential role in Indian politics, with representation on councils meant to provide advice during meetings. “Allaquippa Town” was built along the river, a perfect place to conduct and control business, as rivers provided transportation to fur traders and diplomats who would travel to nearby Logstown. Conrad Weiser was one of several men who mention meeting with Queen Aliquippa in their journals. He visited her in 1746 as the powers in Pennsylvania hoped to sign a treaty allowing English fur traders into the area. He wrote, “We dined in a Seneka town where an old Seneka woman [Alliquippa] reigns with great authority. We dined at her house and they all used us very well.” The treaty was ultimately signed.
When French captain Celeron hoped to meet with her in 1749, she left before his arrival to avoid him. He wrote, “The Iroquois inhabit this place, and it is an old woman of this nation who governs it. She regards herself as sovereign; she is entirely devoted to the English.” The building of Fort Necessity is part of the complicated history of the treatment of the Indigenous by the French and British Americans. At the age of 74, Queen Aliquippa appealed to George Washington—whom she had met through the years—for help before the battle at Fort Necessity. He wrote she, “…desir’d her Son (who is really a great Warrior) might be taken into Council, as She was declining and unfit for Business and that he should have an English Name given him.” Washington gave her son Canachquasy the name Col. Fairfax and told him it meant “first in council.” Ultimately, Washington surrendered Fort Necessity to the French, leaving the Indians unprotected. They moved further west to Aughwick. In December of 1754, an Indian agent named George Croghan, who kept a fortified post there, recorded in his journal, “Alequeapy ye old Quine is dead and left several children…”
Today her loyalty to the English is credited for helping set in motion events that facilitated the start of the French and Indian War which eventually led to English control of most of North America. The town of Aliquippa in Beaver County is named for her. She is depicted in John McNevin’s print of 1856, entitled “Washington and Gist visit Queen Aliquippa” (in the print collection of the New York Public Library) and with a “blue” historical marker erected in 2003 through the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (located in McKeesport). Another of her children is thought to be a daughter named Summer Eve Sassoonan, through which many people claim descendancy.
Rambo, Brita (Mattsdotter) | 1630 - 12 Oct 1693 PA | Historic Founder
Brita Mattsdotter was thought to have arrived in New Sweden as a servant to the commander of the Swedish fort. By April of 1647, she married Peter Gunnarson Rambo, one of the first Swedish settlers of the region, who became a prominent leader and landowner. She went to live on her husband’s farm in Kingsessing, located in present-day Philadelphia. She gave birth to eight children, 4 girls and 4 boys, all living to adulthood except one daughter who died at age eight. Brita and her family were Lutherans who supported the local Wicaco church, which is known today as Gloria Dei-Old Swedes, part of the National Park system in Philadelphia. Both Brita and Peter are believed to be buried at Gloria Dei. Peter was selected to serve as a magistrate of the local court in 1656, and would hold office for29 years, ultimately under Swedish, Dutch, and English rule. While women were not considered at the time, her husband and sons (of age) were naturalized as English citizens, so they would be recognized for owning land and serving in the Pennsylvania Assembly. Brita’s son Gunnar was on the jury of Margaret Matson’s witchcraft trial (another NSCDA Founding Female) which was overseen by William Penn. In 1693 Peter Rambo wrote his sister, back in Sweden, a letter, which is preserved in the Royal Archives in Stockholm. They had not communicated in over 50 years. At age 81, he shared details of his forty-six years of “harmony and love” with Brita and that their children were all settled “in plenty” and that from their lineage there were at that time thirty-seven souls living of his children’s children
Read, Sarah (White) | bap. 16 Dec 1675 - 7 Dec 1761 PA | Woman of Distinction: Business Owner, Apothecary
Sarah White Read is an example of a woman whose life was overshadowed by what came later, namely who her son-in-law was. But she, in her own right, has an important story to tell. Her parents were Joseph and Deborah (Cash) White of Birmingham, England. She had an elder sister Mary, baptized in May of 1674. She was baptized in December of 1675. Her marriage to John Read, a carpenter, in 1700 was solemnized at the Parish Church of Handsworth, a suburb of Birmingham. Sarah and John left England for America, arriving in Philadelphia in 1711, along with their own two daughters, Deborah and Frances. John’s skills were put to great use in a growing port town. He was soon able to acquire several lots of land, including 2 houses off Market Street, between 3rd and 4th streets. John died in 1724, and Sarah was left to carry on, a scenario that was soon complicated when her daughter Deborah was abandoned by her husband John Rogers.
Sarah was a savvy woman and hardworking. She utilized a well-developed network of female businesswomen to maintain an apothecary. Women such as Ann Wishart, the tallow chandler, and Rachel Draper, a tavern keeper, were part of the tightly-knit High Street Ward community. Sarah was one of the witnesses at Ann Wishart’s wedding. In August of 1731, the “Widow Read” advertised in The Pennsylvania Gazette that she was relocating from the upper end of the High Street to the “new printing office” near Market, where she continued to sell her well known “Ointment for the ITCH, with which she has cured abundance of People in and about this City for many YEARS past.” She was also known for her “Family Salve” for burns or scalds.
The purpose of her relocation was to move in with her daughter Deborah, who was now remarried to Benjamin Franklin. Sarah wasn’t initially keen on this marriage given the chance that Deborah’s first husband was likely still alive somewhere in the world and could show up at any time, branding Deborah an adulterer, and making the marriage illegal. There is some indication that the property that Franklin built his printing office on was actually a property that had been held by the Reads. Sarah repurchased the property, the centerpiece of what would become Franklin Court, after her husband mortgaged it off. In July of 1731, she arranged to rent one side of Franklin’s print shop for £6 a year to operate her apothecary. Deborah Read Franklin and her mother would work closely through the years. She would be a great support for her daughter in the times that Benjamin was abroad. Which was often enough.
In her 86th year, Sarah died in a tragic accident. As recorded in Isaac Norris, Jr.’s diary she “in a fit fell in the fire” and was burned to death. Poor Deborah mourned her mother with Ben overseas. He wrote his wife a very Franklin-esque condolence:
“Tis, I am sure, a Satisfaction to me, that I cannot charge myself with having ever fail’d in one Instance of Duty and Respect to her during the many Years that she call’d me Son. The Circumstances attending her Death were indeed unhappy in some Respects; but something must bring us all to our End, and few of us shall see her Length of Days.”
The fortitude of Sarah White Read was carried down through Deborah Read Franklin, to granddaughter Sarah Franklin Bache, to great-granddaughter Deborah Bache Duane to her great-great-granddaughter Elizabeth Duane Gillespie. Gillespie was a history maker in her own right, utilizing her family name for the causes she believed in, such as a woman’s right to vote. She was also one of the original founding members of the NSCDA/PA.
Richards, Jane | ? - aft. 16 Feb 1710/11 PA | Arrived on The Amity, 3 Aug 1682
Jane and her husband Joseph arrived in Pennsylvania in 1682—landing in present-day Delaware—aboard the Amity, one of William Penn’s founding ships. Joseph, a trained physician, was listed as a yeoman from Newgate, Oxfordshire. They were likely of means as they brought with them two servants, John and William Buckingham. They also brought with them 8 dozen candles, 30 parcels of glass, and a quantity of iron and nails. They purchased 500 acres at Upland Court (Chichester Twp., Chester Co.) where the couple was settled by 1685.
Their supplies surely came in handy as they set about building their homestead. William Buckingham was evidently ready to move on from whatever agreement brought him to Pennsylvania, as in 1688 he filed a suit in the Chester Court against Joseph. Their eldest son Joseph Jr., arrived a few years after his parents, having purchased his own 125 acres in Chester County. Jane died before her husband, leaving Joseph Jr. and three other children, Susanna, Nathaniel, and Ann.
Roberts, Gaynor (Roberts) | 1653 - 20 Feb 1722 PA | Historic Founder (Morning Star, 1683)
Aboard William Penn’s various 23 original ships headed to Pennsylvania, there were several groups of Welsh Quakers who had negotiated the purchase of a large area of land upon which they hoped to create a Welsh Barony. Like Quakers from other parts of Europe, they were escaping religious persecution and many of their compatriots had suffered the loss of their livelihoods. They hoped in Pennsylvania they would set up their own county with a local government that would be Welsh-speaking. Things didn’t turn out exactly as they had dreamed, as rather than contiguous plots, they were given plots across many areas. There was one area named the Welsh Tract, just west of Center City, which in present-day makes up most of Philadelphia’s Main Line, towns with curious names that derive from their Welsh beginnings; Bryn Mawr, Radnor, Bala Cynwyd, Pencoyd, and Gladwyne, to name a few.
One of the original negotiators of this Penn land grant was a Welshman named John Roberts. He traveled aboard the Morning Star, which left from Liverpool, and arrived in Philadelphia in 1683.
Also aboard was a Welshwoman named Gaynor Roberts. And while records indicate she was traveling with her brother Hugh Roberts (of Ciltagarth), and possibly her mother, Gaynor was not an appendage. In fact, she was listed as a purchaser of 156 acres of the Welsh Tract in her own right. Upon arrival, she paid duty of just over £1 for her belongings, which consisted of 2 cases, 2 chests, 1 bundle, 2 quarts of cheese and other wares.
The following year Gaynor Roberts married John Roberts (1684.) Their relationship or possible family connection prior to sailing to Pennsylvania is unknown. They settled and established what became known as the Merion Meeting. John became quite prominent in local politics, serving as Justice of the Peace and in the Provincial Assembly. Together the couple continued to accumulate land, with Gaynor’s name listed as the owner of several properties.
Gaynor died in 1722 at age 69 and John followed two years later. Their son Robert and daughter Elizabeth inherited their considerable property, along with four grandsons named in John Roberts’ will.
Robinson, Catherine (Hollingsworth) | Jul 1663 - 29 Aug 1746 PA | Historic Founder (Arrival 1682 Penn Ship)
Catherine Hollingsworth was 19 when she joined her father Valentine Hollingsworth, her step-mother Ann Calvert, and several of her siblings and step-siblings aboard the ship Antelope headed for the colony of Pennsylvania. Her memories of her mother, Ann Rea, might have faded, as Catherine (who lost her mother when she was 8-years-old) had now spent more time with her step-mother and additional siblings. Together, they were headed to William Penn’s colony which promised freedom from the religious persecution her family suffered in Norther Ireland. It would be another six years before Catherine married George Robinson. Family folklore held that while Catherine had several suitors, she only had eyes for George. George, however, was Church of England which was unacceptable to the Hollingsworths, despite their ideals of religious freedom. Their daughter would “marry in the Meeting” and that was that. George declared his intentions to join the Society of Friends, but the elders questioned if his sudden conversion meant he wasn’t really interested in being a Friend. He was asked “dost thou join the Society of Friends from conviction, or the love of [K]atherine Hollingsworth?” Their first declaration of marriage intentions were recorded in 1688 in the Kennett Monthly Meeting records in Chester Co. They would have three children, Mary, Ann and Valentine. George died at the age of 72, while Catherine lived a long life of 83 years.
See Ann Calvert Hollingworth for further information.
Roker, Mary (Keen) Crathorne | 29 Sep 1728-May 1780, Philadelphia, PA | Mustard & Chocolate Manufacturer (Globe Mills) & Purveyor of Goods
Note - granddaughter of Marie Warenbuer Feree- close friend of Elizabeth Paschall
Mary Keen was the daughter of Jonas and Sarah (Dahlbo) Keen, born in Pilesgrove Township, Salem County, NJ on September 29, 1728. She married on August 16, 1760, Jonathan Crathorne in Christ Church, Philadelphia. Crathorne, as sea captain, first arrived in Philadelphia in 1749, in command of the Snow Sea Horse, from Lisbon. Based on reports published in The Pennsylvania Gazette, Crathorne made at least four journeys back and forth, making stops in Madeira and Fayal. In 1754 he was Master of the Union which arrived from Halifax. Aboard the Union he traveled multiple years until retiring to Philadelphia. In 1759 he formed a partnership with Benjamin Jackson in a mustard and chocolate mill, known as the Globe Mill. Now married, the Crathornes established a home and shop on Letitia Court. They also sold wine, coffee, and spices. Between 1760 and 1765, utilizing Crathorne’s seafaring fortune, they enlarged the Mill and continued to add machinery “at a very Considerable Expense.” Crathorne bought out their partner Jackson in October of 1765. Upon his death in August of 1767, his estate was valued at £5000 and was granted in full to Mary. She soon relocated to a new house on the corner of Letitia Court and Market Street and advertised that she was continuing the manufacture of “the articles of mustard and chocolate.”
With Crathorne, Mary had three children, all born in Philadelphia: Joseph, (1762), Mary (1765), and Dorothy (1767). That meant when she became a widow, she had a newborn and two toddlers to care for. There is also indication that her husband’s old partner tried to claim ownership of the rights to the processing of the mustard and chocolate. A claim she would need to counter. To prevent anyone from confusing her products from those of Jackson or other competitors, she advertised with a special woodcut drawing that illustrated Crathorne products were sold with a proprietary stamp placed on every bottle of mustard and each pound of chocolate. One wonders which of these factors might have contributed to Mary’s decision to remarry in 1771, to fellow merchant, Thomas Roker of Philadelphia. Unfortunately for Mary, Thomas was a Loyalist during the American Revolution and was held for treason. We don’t know Mary’s position on Independence, but through the British law of coverture, her husband now owned everything she once did. Which would be devasting when his entire estate was confiscated in 1778 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as punishment. Mary died at age 58, perhaps of a broken heart, just two years later and was buried in the Christ Church burial ground.
Ross, Elizabeth "Betsy" (Griscom) | 1 Jan 1752 - 30 Jan 1836 PA | Woman of Distinction, Business Owner: Upholsterer and flag maker
The legend of Betsy Ross is well-established in American patriotic lore. Recent scholarship has sought to move beyond Betsy's rumored role in making the first American flag. Marla Miller, in her definitive biography of Betsy Ross, states that there is no doubt that Ross was one of Philadelphia's most important flag makers of the Revolution, and indeed the primary flag maker on the eve of the War of 1812, but her life and work represents something deeper and more important in the course of Colonial Philadelphia. As Miller states, she was an ordinary woman who went to work as a teenager and labored in the furniture trades until she retired in her seventies, the mother of seven, and the grandmother of thirty-two. Through her extensive family and business, she was connected to all the important people of her time. While her supposed encounter with George Washington (and his request for an American flag) made her famous through time, it is her own life as a craftswoman and business owner-- supporting her family through three husbands (and ultimately the American Revolution)--which stands testament to all those who labored each day to literally and figuratively build a new Nation. Today, whether flags or upholstered furniture, if a piece can be linked to the handiwork of Betsy Ross, its value is thought to be irreplaceable, and indeed many items have sold at auction for record-breaking millions of dollars. Her name now stands on its own merit. Betsy is buried on the sight of her home and workshop on Arch Street in the Old City section of Philadelphia, where each year, more than a quarter-million visitors learn the secret of cutting the five-pointed star featured on the U.S. flag.
Rufner, Barbara (Leininger) | c.1743 - bef. Sep 1824 PA | Woman of Distinction: Abducted and held captive by Indians in 1755 until her successfully planned escape 3 1/2 years later.
Likely too young to remember her arrival on the Pennsylvania frontier, Barbara, her younger sister Regina, elder brother, and parents Sebastian and Regina Leininger, settled 1745 in the area that would become known as Berks County. They were promised religious freedom and opportunity. A mere ten years later, when Barbara was about 12 years of age, she, along with her younger sister and several neighbors were captured by “Alleghany” Indians aligned with the French. This being the beginning of the French and Indian War with the British, the Swiss/German settlers were caught in the middle of a complicated network of Indigenous relationships, whose own battle for autonomy was weaponized as they were forced to take sides between the French and British. She watched as her father and brother were killed, two among the many brutal murders. Ultimately held captive for almost three and a half years, Barbara would end up in Philadelphia, where she gave a harrowing account of her initial captivity, years of forced labor among the Indigenous and French, and terrifying escape. Her oral account, along with her fellow-captive Maria Le Roy, was first printed in the German language in 1759. It served as a warning to all those who might consider taking land and settling on the Pennsylvania frontier, at least until the war was settled in 1763. In 1761, she married Peter Rufner. They would raise three children in present-day Berks County, Regina, George, and Conrad. It is difficult to imagine the trauma Barbara must have overcome to lead a quiet life as a wife and mother in the rural confines of her new homeland. Her story of bravery serves to remind us of the complicated history of frontier settlers, and those who made sacrifices based on promises of a better life.
Samson, Hannah Callendar | 1737- 9 Mar 1801, Philadelphia, PA | Woman of Distinction: Diarist (1758-1788), noted as one of the earliest and fullest documents written by an American woman.
At 21 years of age, Hannah Callendar began a journal. It was New Year’s Day 1758. In her first entry she wrote “for my own satisfaction, and to try if a retrospect of my time, may not me husband it more.” We don’t know if the practice of daily writing helped Hannah manage her time more efficiently, but we know she started writing as a single young woman and continued through her marriage, and the birth of five children, until she reached the age of fifty. While many entries contained the minutiae of the day, Hannah also revealed her inner life, illuminating her capacity for empathy and sympathy. These characteristics became prized in the middle to late years of the 18th century, when hierarchy and power started to give way to compassion and affection. An example was General George Washington being celebrated for his humility over his power. Today we also appreciate the diary for addressing topics around gender, race, religion, and consumerism. During it’s time, Hannah’s diary was not private. She shared it with good friends such as Elizabeth Sandwith Drinker and her sister Polly Sandwith. It even inspired Elizabeth to start her own diary.
Hannah Callendar was the only surviving daughter of Scots Quaker William Callendar and his wife Katherine Smith (formerly of Burlington NJ.) William was from Barbados, and engaged in the West Indian sugar trade, which also included the slave trade, for which he would later have a change of heart. Their daughter was well-educated, attending Anthony Benezet’s school along with other well-off Quaker girls. She had a passion for French studies which were enhanced under the French schoolmistress Maria Jeanne Reynier. As an avid reader, she also had access to the Library Company of Philadelphia, as both her father and husband held subscriptions. She was a highly skilled needleworker, and despite her professed Quaker “plainness” she also held a life-long interest in fine arts, which included painting, prints, sculpture, architecture, and landscaping.
Throughout her life, Hannah labored to conform. As an adult she described herself as occasionally sharp-tongued and argumentative, with “a hasty quick forward temper [that] I have to gain the mastery over.” It would be a struggle to obey the Quaker precepts when her impulses guided her to be independent, assertive, and argumentative. She also delighted in humor and mirth, illustrated in her sarcastic accounts of people and places. In 1762 she married Samuel Sansom, Jr. within the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. He was from an even wealthier Quaker mercantile family than her own. It was not thought to be a love match, but a marriage encouraged by her dying father. Their marriage was witnessed by members of the leading families, Morris, Drinker, Pemberton, including friends such as Elizabeth Drinker, Polly Sandwith, and Elizabeth Hudson Morris. Samuel and Hannah did share an interest in all things French and the fine arts, along with a burgeoning interest in the anti-slavery movement. However, we can only imagine the strain of being married to a man who enjoyed the title of “master” within his home. They had five children: William, Sarah, Joseph, Catherine, and Samuel. The household also contained several servants and nursemaids.
In her obituary published in Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser (March 10,1801) it was noted that, “She was a woman endowed with superior understanding and many talents.”
Hannah’s original diary was held in a family vault until the early-1990s, when it was donated to the American Philosophical Society. The diary is available through an edition published in 2010 by Cornell University and edited by Susan E. Klepp and Karin Wulf under the subtitle Sense and Sensibility in the Age of the American Revolution.
Seimens, Mercken Williamsen (Lucken) | 1652 - c.1715 PA | Historic Founder, 1683
October 1683, Philadelphia: 33 individuals arrived from Krefeld, Germany aboard the ship Concord. Raised as Mennonites, many joined the Society of Friends under the influence of William Penn, who negotiated their arrival through Francis Daniel Pastorius (a Lutheran Pietist) who was hired as the agent to purchase land on behalf of the Frankfort Company. The Concord is sometimes referred to as the German Mayflower as it was the first significant number of individuals who arrived in the Colonies to create a permanent “German” Settlement aka Germantown. It also served as the original gateway for subsequent emigrants from Germany. The husbands or "heads" of these 33 individuals are often referred to as "the original thirteen." This included 9 wives (plus one unmarried woman), 9 children and two infants born at sea. They were young, tightly-connected families seeking religious refuge and new opportunities.
(See Elin Kunders, Elisabeth Kerulis, Catherina Graeff)
"German Towne, in the County of Philadelphia" received their charter in 1691. (William Penn signed it in Aug 1689). Under the charter, the community was allowed a bailiff, a chief executive, four burgesses, and six committeemen.
Mercken had been married only a short time to Jan (Johan) Siemens (m. 1679) when she arrived in Philadelphia, the mother of one child. When Jan died shortly after arrival, Mercken married another “original 13” member, Willem Streypers in 1687. Streypers was also a widow, his wife Belcken Tuffers gave birth to five children.
Sharples, Edith (Yarnall) | 13 May 1743 - 18 Jan 1787 PA | Quaker Minister
Edith Yarnall was likely a second-generation Quaker American when she was born to Nathan & Rachel Yarnall, devout members of the Middletown Meeting in Chester Co. We know a lot about Edith from a written Testimony found in the minutes of the Concord Monthly Meeting, which was written upon her death:
“by her own account her mind was early in life accompanied with earnest desires after the knowledge of Truth…”
Yet apparently by age 24 she was struggling with her own “natural vivacity” and some form of “temptation” from which she was successfully delivered and rededicated to “the Lord they Redeemer.” We can only speculate on the details. But at age 26, she apparently settled down and married Joshua Sharples (1768), who like her, was a second-generation Quaker in Pennsylvania. They became part of the New-Garden Monthly Meeting. It was in her 31st year that Edith “appeared in the ministry” being “faithful to her Gift.” She was further described as a great lover of the Scriptures and well-qualified to teach them, as she was skillful in explaining “the Doctrines of the principle of Truth as held by the Friends.” She was known to travel to other Monthly and Quarterly Meetings, to the south and west, including the eastern shore of Maryland. By the time of her death at 43 years and 7 months, she was recorded as being “a minister upwards of twelve years.” Joshua Sharples outlived his wife by more than 40 years, living to almost 80 years old.
Shoemaker, Dorothy (Penrose) | c.1704 - 11 Aug 1764 PA | Woman of Distinction: Business Owner "Dorothy's Mill", 1746
Dorothy's maternal Leech grandparents arrived in Philadelphia from Glouscestershire, England in 1682, the same year William Penn established the city. Her mother was born just 3 years later in 1685. Grandfather Toby Leech was an Anglican (Church of England) and considered a "gentleman" due to his great wealth and land ownership. He was also a member of the Pennsylvania Colonial Assembly. Dorothy was the daughter of Hester Leech and Bartholomew Penrose. Dorothy Penrose married Quaker Isaac Shoemaker about 1722. Isaac inherited a three-story stone house at Shoemakertown (present-day Elkins Park) that his great-grandfather, Richard Wall, had begun in 1686. Isaac and Dorothy took occupancy in 1725, and Dorothy remained there until her death in 1764. Following her husband's death in 1741, Dorothy went into business with her sister's husband, Richard Mather and another man, John Tyson (who would also marry into the family). It was on the Shoemaker property (opposite her garden) that "Dorothy's Mill" was built in 1746, which was a corn-grist watermill. Her son John bought an interest in the mill from John Tyson in 1752. The Shoemakers were well connected in the Society of Friends and throughout the region. Isaac's cousin Benjamin Shoemaker served as mayor of Philadelphia three times and held the office of treasure until his death in 1767. Ben's son Samuel also served as mayor, but vacated the city with the British Army during the Revolution, as he was a Loyalist. He did not return to America until 1786. In Dorothy's will, she bequeaths her entire estate to her beloved children: John, Isaac, Thomas, Joseph, Esther, and Sarah. She also mentions two of her daughters-in-law and several grandchildren by name. Her grandson Isaac (son of Isaac) carried on the milling business for nearly half a century. The Shoemaker home was demolished in 1927.
Shoemaker, Sarah | ? - c.1708 PA | Historic Founder, Cheltenham Twp., 1686
Shoemakers were part of a group of tightly-knit Dutch-Germans from Kreigsheim (located on west bank of the Rhine River). They were Mennonites who joined the Quakers under the influence of William Ames. Starting in about 1657 there were a series of conflicts between these families with the church and the state when they refused to pay taxes and congregational fees. They fought for years until they finally petitioned for a passport (1685) to relocate to Pennsylvania, where William Penn promised them religious freedom.
It was under this religious persecution that Sarah Hendricks married Jorg Schumacher (aka George Shoemaker) in 1662, within the Quaker faith. It would be more than twenty years before the Shoemaker family would find their way to Philadelphia in March of 1686. Sadly, by the time of their arrival, Sarah was referred to as the Widow Shoemaker. She was accompanied by her children George, Abraham, Barbara, Isaac, Susanna, Elizabeth and Benjamin. The records don’t indicate whether George died enroute or before they set sail. This line of the Shoemaker family joined with George’s brother Peter Shoemaker, and other Friends who made the journey six months prior.
Soon after their arrival, Sarah purchased two hundred acres of land in present day Cheltenham Township, for £20 “lawful silver money.” Sarah would keep possession of her land through 1708, when she conveyed 160 acres to her son George, shortly before her death. Sarah remained a dedicated Friend having attended Cheltenham Meeting throughout her life.
Sarah’s descendants contributed significantly to the success of Pennsylvania. Her grandson Issac (through son George) was married to Dorothy Penrose Shoemaker. Her grandson Benjamin (though son Issac) married into the Coates family, his sister-in-law being Elizabeth Coates Paschall. The descendants of Benjamin and Sarah (Coates) Shoemaker would intermarry with families such as Rawle, Burge, and Carpenter, eventually leading to Cadwalader, Binney, and Biddle, some of the most esteemed names in Pennsylvania history. Perhaps Sarah would find the story of the life of her great-granddaughter and namesake, Sarah Shoemaker Pastorious Mackenet, most indicative of her own tenacity and resilience.
Steel, Rebecca (Steel) | c. 1704- bur. 29 Dec 1783 PA | Woman of Distinction: Business Owner
Rebecca Steel was born into a Philadelphia Quaker family which had immigrated from Chichester County, Sussex, England just two years before her birth. Her father, James Steel, was a housewright. He requested a certificate from the Monthly Meeting at Steyning indicating himself along with “wife and family” to remove to Pennsylvania. We do not know the name of Rebecca’s mother, but Rebecca was apparently the seventh daughter, and perhaps the only one born outside of England. She was preceded by Sarah, Martha, Mary, Elizabeth, Ann, and Ruth. The next record of her father was when he requested a certificate from the Monthly Meeting of Philadelphia in 1708 to remove to Duck Creek Meeting in present-day Delaware. And in 1711, he was asking permission to marry Martha Bowen, a widow. at the Philadelphia Meeting. Evidently, Rebecca lost her mother at an early age. Her father seemed to split his time between an office in Philadelphia and his home in the “lower counties.” He served in many capacities from Justice of the Peace, Assemblyman and Supreme Court Justice in the three lower counties (present-day Delaware), to Secretary for the Proprietors of Pennsylvania and Receiver General of quit-rents, and a boundary surveyor in Philadelphia.
Ironically, Rebecca would marry her cousin, a man with the same name as her father, who was himself a junior. Not much is known about James Steel Jr. other than his listing as a yeoman. He died in 1741. Assuming they had been married for about twenty years, we can assume Rebecca’s children were at least in their teenage years when they lost their father; they were Henry, James, Elizabeth, and Hannah. Still Rebecca had to carry on and pay the bills. We find Rebecca advertising in The Pennsylvania Gazette (Dec of 1742) to “all persons indebted to the estate of James Steel… do immediately make payment…” or they will be duly summoned to court!
In Oct of 1766, Rebecca advertised again in The Pennsylvania Gazette that she had moved from Third Street to a house on Race Street at the corner of Third Street. She states that she continues to sell dry goods, various teas, and several types of silks. She is also asking those who owe her money to make “speedy payment” otherwise she will “be put to the disagreeable necessity of suing for same.” Like other female merchants, she was working within a tight-knit community. In the account books of merchant Mary Langdale Coates in the 1740s and 1750s there are numerous payments to Rebecca Steel for cloth, a parcel of shoes, and sundry other goods “bought in partnership in vendue.” These receipts indicate these women were working together to purchase goods at a public auction. Another way women worked together was by renting rooms to each other. According to insurance records from the Philadelphia Contributionship, Rebecca was a landlord who rented exclusively to women. Perhaps her move to a new house in 1766 was a means for increased income.
On Dec. 30, 1783, Elizabeth Drinker noted in her diary that she went to the burial of Rebecca Steel, who died at about the age of 79.
Thompson, Ann (Hollingsworth) | 28 Dec 1680 - aft. 1712 PA | Historic Founder (Arrival 1682 Penn Ship)
Ann Hollingsworth might have been the youngest of all the Irish Quakers who arrived in Pennsylvania at the invitation of William Penn. When she was about two years old, her family, part of the Society of Friends, boarded the ship Antelope in Belfast, headed for religious freedom. Ann was at that point the youngest daughter of Valentine Hollingsworth and his second wife Ann Calvert, who also brought along Ann’s siblings and step-siblings. Even counting the upheaval of traveling by ship across the vast Atlantic, Ann’s life was relatively stable compared to her elder step-siblings who lost their mother and lived through religious persecution in their hometown. By age 20 she married James Thompson of Elsinburgh Twp., Salem NJ. James had a similar story to Ann’s. His family, also of English descent, left Ireland through Dublin on the ship Mary, and arrived in 1677 in West New Jersey (present-day Salem NJ), which was the first English (and Quaker) settlement in America, established by John Fenwick. James was age 9, part of a large Thomspon contingent including his parents, an uncle, and several siblings. Their marriage intentions were recorded at the Chester Meeting in Pennsylvania, but they were known to have settled near Salem. Records indicate that Ann gave birth to at least five children starting in 1702; Jane, Ann, John Elizabeth, and James. Sadly, it appears that Ann died in 1712 giving birth to James, with an indication it was only a few months after her husband James died. Records of their children illustrate they went to live in New Castle (now Delaware) with Anne’s family.
See Ann Calvert Hollingworth for further information.
unknown, Dinah | btw c.1720 & c.1730 - 21 Feb 1805 PA | Woman of Distinction - Requested and won her freedom from Hannah Emlen Logan and William Logan at Stenton, April 15, 1776.
There is much we still need to learn about Dinah. We can only speculate about who her parents were. Here is what we know: Dinah was born to enslaved African American parents. Likely the family lived in Burlington, New Jersey as property of George Emlen and his wife Mary Heath Emlen. As a young girl, Dinah was brought to Stenton (Philadelphia) as the dower property of Hannah Emlen (daughter of George & Mary), upon Hannah's marriage to William Logan in 1740. William was the son of James Logan, the Provincial Secretary to William Penn. Dinah was able to gain her freedom on 15 April 1776, after she requested it from Hannah and William Logan, as stated on her manumission papers. (The original document is held in the Quaker and Special Collections Library at Haverford College.) It was Hannah Emlen Logan's daughter-in-law, Deborah Norris Logan (wife of Dr. George Logan), who mentions Dinah in her journal: "Feby 21st at about three oclock in the afternoon our very faithful and good old Dinah breath'd her last. was Buried on the 23 in my garden. ---- She had requested during her life time to be interred at Stenton." After she was freed, she remained at Stenton. Some speculate it was because her grandson Cyrus was enslaved on the property, and she wanted to remain close. Evidence indicates that Dinah was more than a "faithful servant" as she was able to express personal autonomy, resistance and resiliency. Yet, it is through oral tradition that Dinah's story lived on in the surrounding community to the present day. It is said that Dinah, through her quick thinking, "saved" Stenton from British destruction after the Battle of Germantown in 1777. Her bravery is celebrated and remembered. (April 15th is now Dinah Day at Stenton!) We are currently following leads on grandson Cyrus, whom we believe moved to Delaware when he gained his freedom. It's through him that Dinah's family lives on, and we are hoping to verify and locate her descendants soon.
Dinah Memorial at Stenton Museum; Deborah Norris Logan's Almanac (1805) about Dinah's death and burial, HSP.
Wishart, Ann (Betson) | c.1690 - 16 Jan 1770 PA | Women of Distinction: Tallow Chandler/ Candlemaker & Merchant
Ann Betson (or Battson) was about 20-years old when she declared, at the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, along with her intended, Peter Wishart, her intentions to be married (second month, 1710). Her father, Thomas Betson/Battson, was a carpenter. We can speculate that Ann was born in Philadelphia after her family immigrated on a Penn ship. Witnesses to their marriage would include many familiar names such as Anthony Morris and Sarah Read.
Like her neighbor Rachel Draper, Ann was an integral part of the industrious High Street Ward. When Peter died in 1741, Ann was in the beginning her fifth decade of life, which included working as a candlemaker (and soap maker), calling herself a tallow chandler. While her children, Jemima (Edwards), William, Ann, and Thomas, were adults, the business was a family affair, and Ann (Sr.) was the head of the household. Their home was located on the corner of Front Street and Pewter Platter Alley, which also included their workshop and retail shop. One sign of their relative prosperity is that Ann owned an enslaved man who helped run the business. Ann’s widowed daughter Jemima, herself an entrepreneurial shopkeeper, lived just down the block. Two of Ann’s children, Ann (Jr.) and Thomas, were apprenticed to their mother as chandlers. She also apprenticed others, as recorded in the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (1750), where she agrees to take on Samuel Farmer for £5 to be paid by John Armitt. When Ann wrote her will (in July 1759), she proudly declared herself a tallow chandler. Her will was proved in February of 1770, shortly after her death at about age 80 years. Her estate was jointly administered by Ann (Jr.) and Thomas. The siblings would stay together in the family house and continue to run the chandler business as partners. Thomas, in recognition of his family’s position in the community, was elected as tax assessor of the High Street Ward in the 1770s.