Beeks line: Isaac Malin 1708-1763

 It looks like not a lot of work has been done to research Isaac Malin, or at least not a lot has been published about him.  He actually started out life as Isaac Malin Jr., the son of Isaac and Elizabeth Jones Malin, but once his father died, he became Isaac Senior with his own son Isaac becoming Isaac Jr.  There were probably other Isaac Malins, too, who would have been first cousins of the Isaac I'll write about here.  So it's confusing and it's always possible that some records attached to this Isaac belong to another Isaac, and the opposite is also possible.

Isaac was born January 8, 1708 in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Of course that location brings up the question "Was he Quaker?" and the answer is a pretty definite yes.  His parents and grandparents were Quaker.  In fact, Randall Malin, his paternal grandfather, was an early immigrant to Pennsylvania (1682) and settled in what is now Delaware County, Pennsylvania, among others of the same faith.  Our Isaac was the first Malin in this direct line to have been born in the colony, as his father was born in England, just before the family immigrated.

The first record we can find of Isaac is in the will of his brother, Jacob, whose will was probated May 30, 1727.  Isaac was named as an executor of the will, which left 150 acres to Jacob's widow for support and maintenance of his children.  Two years later, Isaac married Lydia Booth, daughter of Charles and Mary Elizabeth Conway Booth, on November 17, 1729 at the Goshen Monthly Meeting.  In 1734 there is a reference in Philadelphia County to Isaac Malin Jr. having 150 acres of land.  I am not sure this is our Isaac, but it's possible that it is.  

Isaac and Lydia are reported to have had as many as fourteen children.  All are supposed to be noted in the Hopewell Meeting records, but I haven't seen the records and don't know exactly what they say.  I have names for five of their children, including Sarah.  Hopewell, of course, is not in Pennsylvania at all but is in Frederick County, Virginia (the very northern tip of Virginia).  I'm not sure when the Malins moved west, and perhaps those records would help clarify who was born at which location.  

We have enough information, though to enable us to wonder.  I found a reference to a Lidya Malin , widow with three children, in 1757 as part of a request from Hopewell Meeting for monetary relief for those who had lost their homes to the Indian enemy earlier.  While this doesn't seem to be our Lydia, it does show that the Malins were in Frederick County by that time, and probably sooner.  And it shows that along with other Quaker families in the area, they were under attack or fear of attack during the French and Indian war.  Some families undoubtedly packed up and went back east, but some stayed.  We don't know for sure what happened with Isaac and his wife.  He may have stayed and she may have gone back east. 

 As a Quaker, Isaac was unlikely to have taken up arms but he certainly could have enjoyed a front seat to history as George Washington and his troops marched with Braddock through Frederick County to their defeat.  He may even have been part of the expedition in some sort of support capacity, such as hauling supplies or building roads.  We just don't have the records yet to know for sure.  

I've not yet found land records, or a will, or any of the other documents that would help us understand Isaac's position and life in Frederick County.  We can probably assume that he farmed, and that he lived rather close to the Hopewell Meeting House, which is located about 9 miles north of Winchester in the community of Clear Brook.  Isaac died January 3, 1763 (I've not found the source for this yet) but Lydia lived until sometime between 1784 and 1794,  She had seen not only the French and Indian War, but the Revolutionary War, as the new country of the United States of America formed.

There are a lot of questions still to be answered about Isaac and his life, but we may know enough to see him in the shadows of our family forest, waiting to come forward and be acknowledged.  This is a beginning.

 Full disclosure:  Not everyone agrees with the line of descent I'm posting.  I believe it to be correct based on current but scanty evidence, geographic location, and other factors but I have no absolute proof that it's correct.  If someone can provide me with additional documents that would prove or disprove the connection, I'd be thrilled.  The question is in regard to the wife of Samuel Dunham.  Was she Hannah Ruble, the granddaughter of Isaac and Lydia Booth Malin, and daughter of David and Sarah Malin Ruble, or was she Hannah Chenoweth, parents unknown?  

The supposed line of descent is:

Isaac Malin-Lydia Booth

Sarah Malin-David Ruble

Hannah Ruble-Samuel Dunham

Jacob Dunham-Catherine Goodnight

Samuel Dunham-Eliza Matilda Reese

Margaret Catherine Dunham-Harvey Aldridge

Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks

Mary Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger

Their descendants