Ashwell Quakers and America
Does anyone have information about Ashwell Friends in 1682? Edward Jefferson and John Day left Ashwell for America with Wm Penn in the summer of 1682 with a minute from Ashwell Meeting. Edward died during the voyage and his wife, Mercy, arrived in the new world a widow. She met Thomas Phillips as he was “meeting Penn’s ships in the Delaware” in Sept. 1682. Mercy was arriving on The Samuel. They m., later, in Newport, Rhode Island on Feb. 26, 1684. So, I know Mercy came from Ashwell, but I don’t know where Thomas came from. I would love to be able to connect this Thomas Phillips with my ancestor, Thomas Phillips, also a Quaker, who died in Solebury, Bucks Co., Pa. in 1748, not far from Philadelphia.
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John Day was my 10th great grandfather that migrated from Beer Crocombe, Taunton Dean, Somerset, England to America 1682. His family were Quakers that migrated from Warrington, NewberryTown, York Co, Penn to NC then to Wrightsboro, Ga. His son, John Day II was the first presidential Judge of York Co, Penn.
Hello Doyle….I think we may have communicated b4….I have a lithograph map Phila and environs showing Tom and Mercy’s adjoining props….may or may not be the same as what you have…so, I’d enjoy seeing what you have. I also know that Tom acted as attorney for Mercy in her dispute at the dock, getting her stuff off The Samuel. He sold a lot for her in Phila, on the south side of Chestnut between 1st and 2nd for 50 pounds. They went to RI (maybe she had family there) and were m under the care of Friends in Newport, Feb 26, 1684. I believe they returned to Phila after the birth and death of dau, Elizabeth, and lived in Bucks Co…Bucksingham and perhaps Solebury. It is my belief, only, that their son, Thomas, is my ancestor who died in Solebury in 1748. He had m. Rebecca Norton Kitchen, an orphan (tho niece of Olive Hunt Wells, wife of John Wells of New Hope, Hope Mills, Correls Ferry along the Delaware River. I believe one of the Friends at Ashwell was William Norton…..don’t know if there’s a relationship, but in such a small, sparsely populated community of Friends, it’s possible. I can’t say Tom and Mercy are my ancestors, but the names, the timing and the place all conspire to make it so. If anyone else would like to jump in and comment, feel free!
rhpslp@gmail.com
In 1687 Thomas Phillips and Mercy Jefferson had adjacent farms on the ownership map of Philadelphia County, PA. I too hope for a connection to this Thomas. My ancestor Gabriel Philipps (later Philips and Phillips) is documented at marriage in 1758. If you wish i can send you the image of the ownership map showing Phillips-Jefferson.
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