Beeks line: David Jones 1653-1707, Immigrant

It's possible that I should be writing about Samuel Jones, who may or may not be David's father, and who may or may not have emigrated from Wales to Pennsylvania.  However, I can find a bit of documentation for David and I find nothing for Samuel, so at this point we'll write what we can about David. 

David was born in 1653 in either Pembrokeshire or Carmarthenshire, Wales.  We know nothing at all of his early life until he shows up in 1682 in Langamin, Carmarthen(shire) Wales, marrying Susanna Howell at the Monthly Meeting of Pembroke.  This gives us our first clue-he was a Quaker, and so that may explain some of why he can't be found earlier.  Quakers left few footprints, unless they were jailed for their faith.  So far, records haven't been found that would indicate this.  So he probably lived a very quiet life, and either paid his taxes when due, as some Quakers did, or possibly owed no taxes. He married Susanna Howell, whose parents are believed to be Morgan Howell and Elizabeth Adams, on April 6, 1682.  There are 22 names signed as witnesses on the marriage record, including Saara Jones, who may be a relative, and three people with the last name of Howell. 

Soon after their marriage, David and Susanna came to America, arriving in Pennsylvania in 1682, so probably part of the William Penn group.  Here they found frontier territory to settle, and it appears that they settled in what became Chester County, in what was later termed the "Welsh Tracts".  He and Susanna had at least three children-Susanna, Elizabeth, and Alice.  That is all we know of him until his death 04 Eleventh, 1707 (Quaker usage), or January 4, 1707, as we would know it.  This is noted in the Chester Monthly meeting, and his religion is indicated as "Orthodox" which doesn't seem to have much meaning as applied to this time period in history. 

It appears that his wife Susanna died within just a couple of months of David's death.  Was there an epidemic, or were these two fifty somethings just worn out?  I've seen no hints that there were problems with the native Americans, as the early Quakers did all in their power to treat them peacefully. 

Of course there is so much more we'd like to know.  David undoubtedly did some farming, but was this his principal occupation?  Was he a fur trader, or a merchant of some kind?  With no known sons, it would have been hard to expand his landholdings, if he even owned land.  Did his daughters work for others in order to help support the family, or was David doing well enough by the time they were born that they didn't need to do that?  I'd like to know what land he held, if any, and of course I'd love to know about his life in Wales, and his family further back. 

The line of descent is:

David Jones-Susanna Howell
Elizabeth Jones-Isaac Malin
Isaac Malin-Lydia Booth
Sarah Malin-David Ruble
Hannah Ruble-Samuel Dunham
Jacob Dunham-Catherine Goodnight
Samuel G Dunham-Eliza Reese
Margaret Catherine Dunham-Harvey Aldridge
Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Their descendants

Beeks line: Isaac Malin 1681-1750

A few months ago, I wrote about Randall Malin, Isaac's father.  Since Isaac was born about a year before his family came to America, technically Isaac was also an immigrant, although not "The" immigrant.  It seems that little is known of his life, but here's what I've been able to find out.

Isaac was the son of Randall and Elizabeth Malin and was born in 1681 in Chester, or possibly Cheshire, England.  He had at least two siblings, Jacob and Malin.  This was a Quaker family who responded to William Penn's invitation to come to Pennsylvania, and Randall was one of the first 400 to buy land here.  A year later, the family came to the New World, with Isaac just a "babe in arms."
There is an alternative record of birth, in the Quaker records on Ancestry.com, that show very early births in Pennsylvania, dating from 1681.  Isaac's name is recorded there, so it is possible that he was actually born shortly after the family's arrival here. It's unclear whether the records are intended to show just births that happened in Pennsylvania, or whether this was a summary of children of each of the early Quakers.  So he was born either in England or in Pennsylvania, I guess.

Isaac grew up on his father's farm on Ridley Creek in Upper Providence Township, in what is now Delaware County, near the town, now borough,  of Media.  It is described as being 15 miles west of Philadelphia, but those are probably current day boundaries, so it would have been further to Philadelphia "back in the day." 

On January 1, 1702/03 married Elizabeth Jones, daughter of David and Susanna Howell Jones.  Shortly after this, Randall signed a deed of gift of 150 acres to his son Isaac, part of the family farm. When Randall died, he left Isaac his woolen weaving clothes (cloths?) so it is possible that Randall and then Isaac had been weavers, at least during the winter months.  Isaac and Elizabeth had 7 children together, but sadly, Elizabeth died in 1717, not long after the birth of the seventh child, Randall.  (An earlier son, Randall, had lived only about 23 months). 

Isaac must have mourned deeply, as it appears that he waited almost 10 years to remarry. His second wife was Jane Roberts Pugh, a widow with children of her own.  Isaac and Jane had about 15 years together, but no children were born to them.  Isaac died August 10, 1743 at Malin Hill, Chester, Pennsylvania, still a Quaker and part of Goshen Monthly Meeting.  Since the death location appears to be different from the location in Delaware County, it would be interesting to know whether Isaac had purchased new land there, or whether he was living with a child at this time of his death.

There is more to this story, but for now it is not available.  Still, we remember Isaac as a man of faith, who worked hard to support his family.  He must have wondered at the stories he heard as a small child, about life in England, and then compared them to life on the frontier in Pennsylvania.  And he must have been amazed at the changes in Philadelphia, from a small village to a town growing into a city, at the time of his death.

The line of descent is:

Isaac Malin-Elizabeth Jones
Isaac Malin-Lydia Booth
Sarah Malin-David Ruble
Hannah Ruble-Samuel Dunham
Jacob Dunham-Catherine Goodnight
Samuel Dunham-Eliza Reese
Margaret Catherine Dunham-Harvey Aldridge
Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Their descendants 

Allen line: Short notes about Thomas Stump, Immigrant.

I'm writing this post in the hopes that someone knows something more about this immigrant ancestor.  He is a bit unusual in the Allen line since the only records I can find about him are from Maryland.  There aren't a lot of Maryland ancestors in the Allen line.

We don't know when he was born, although almost every tree I can find on line says he was born in 1690, and possibly in Germany.  That would again be unusual, for not many Germans settled in Prince Georges County in the early 18th century.  Of course, saying something would be unusual doesn't prove it's not true, because our family, and our country, are made up of "unusual" people. 

There are very few facts we can pull out about our ancestor Thomas.  His wife's name (at his death) was Eliza or Elizabeth, and they had three sons, Thomas, John, and William, born roughly from 1715 to 1721.  Thomas is named on a list of taxables in 1719, in the Rock Creek Hundred of Prince Georges County.  We also find William McCoy on this list, and John Jackson.  The Rock Creek Hundred, per "The Ten Mile Country and Its Pioneer Families" would have been part of Rock Creek Parish, and located in or very near the present city of Washington, D.C.

According to the Maryland Calendar of Wills, volume 6, his will was written April 29 1723 and probated May 10, 1723, leaving to his 3 sons, Thomas, John and William and their heirs, 200 acres "Stump's Valles in the freshes of Potomoac River, equally.  Wife Eliz. executrix, and testators were John Flint,Ninian Tannchill, and Robt. Payne or Paine. 

Then, in Settlers of Maryland 1701-1730- we find Thomas Stump, presumably the son of this Thomas Stump, listed as owning 200 acres called Stump's Valley as of May 20, 1725. This is confusing because son Thomas would have been only about 10 years old.  Perhaps the land was being registered for the first time under the deceased Thomas's name, since many times having the land surveyed and a deed made was not the first thing on a settler's mind. 

I find a lot of trees out there giving Thomas a death date in 1730, so there is confusion about his death date as well.  Perhaps there were later probate proceedings, or possibly guardianship papers, which generated this date.  I'd like to know the source for the 1730 date, which so far I have been unable to find. 

Of course I'd like to know almost everything about Thomas.  Was he truly born about 1690, and was he from Germany?  If so, how and why did he come to Maryland?  If he wasn't from Germany, where was he from?  Who was his wife, and what is her story?  There are surely more records to be mined that have presently gone unnoticed, and I'd love to find them and see what else can be learned about Thomas Stump.His story is just too much of a blank.

I'd love to hear from others who are interested in this man.  Where else can we look for records?

The line of descent is:

Thomas Stump-Elizabeth
Thomas Stump-Jane Booth
Elizabeth Stump-Henry Jackson
Alexis Jackson-Catherine Moore
Eleanor Jackson-Vincent McCoy
Nancy McCoy-George Allen
Edward Allen-Edith Knott
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendents

Beeks line: Thomas Conway abt 1654-1689 Irish Quaker Immigrant

We don't know a lot specifically about Thomas Conway.  One paragraph would probably suffice to fill in the known details of his life.  He was born about 1654 to Thomas Conaway and Mariah Tanney in Lisburn, County Armagh, Ireland.  The parents apparently aren't proven but they are believed to be his parents.  He married Mary Hollingsworth, daughter of Valentine Hollingsworth and Ann Ree (last name uncertain) in 1682 in Segoe, Armagh, Ireland, in the Quaker religion.  Two months later, the young Conways emigrated with Mary's father to what became the Brandywine Hundred, in northern Delaware.  (At the time, it was considered part of Pennsylvania.) The couple had three daughters, Mary, Ann, and Sarah, before Thomas died in 1689.  I've found three different death dates for him but all at least agree that he died in 1689.

That is all that I can learn about Thomas, other than a list of witnesses at his wedding.  We don't know whether he was the first Quaker in the family, but it appears his parents didn't attend the wedding.  We don't know when his parents died, or how far the wedding was from the family home, if there was one.

We do know that the Hollingsworth and Conway families emigrated for more than economic reasons.  Yes, the promise of cheap land in William Penn's tract was enticing, but most Irish Quakers emigrated because they were being persecuted, thrown into jail and their land or/and belongings confiscated.  Ireland was no place to try to raise a Quaker family.  We also know that life in the New World was not easy.  Starvation was a possibility and malnutrition a probability, which led to any of numerous diseases and conditions.  We don't know why Thomas died but there is no record of an Indian attack that would account for his death in 1689, so it was either an accident or illness.  He was only about 35 years old when he died. 

His widow, Mary, later married Randall Malin and they had three children.  Mary is said to have died in 1746, when she was about ninety years old. 

The line of descent is:

Thomas Conway-Mary Hollingsworth
Mary Conway-Charles Booth
Lydia Booth-Isaac Malin
Sarah Malin-David Ruble
Hannah Ruble-Samuel Dunham
Jacob Dunham-Catherine Goodnight
Samuel Dunham-Eliza Reese
Margaret Catherine Dunham-Harvey Aldridge
Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Their descendents

Beeks line: Charles Booth c 1682-1714

This will be another short post, because I can find very little information about Charles. He may or may not be the original immigrant. Possibly he came to the New World with his parents, or was born shortly after arrival here.  We don't know who his parents were.  I have a possible, undocumented name of William for his father but am unable to locate any further information.  It is quite possible that this was a Quaker family, but records haven't been located to prove that, either.

The first thing we really know about Charles is that he was indentured to Richard Woodworth as a mason, for 5 years, on April 1, 1695.  Boys were generally indentured at the age of 12 or 13, so this gives an approximate age for Charles. He could have been older, and may have been indentured to pay for his passage to the New World, but the length of the indentureship tends to lean toward the younger age.  The Woodworth family was Quaker, and was from Acton Parish, Cheshire England. This area should be searched for any possible relationship between the Woodworth and Booth families in England. Ten years later, when Charles had served his indentureship and presumably begun to save some money, he married Mary Elizabeth Conaway or Conway, per the Chester Monthly Meeting Minutes.  This was a Quaker marriage, so it would have been a very simple event, probably occurring after a regular meeting.

We don't know very much about the rest of Charles' life, either.  His four children were born in Chester County, and there is a possibility that a fifth child may have been born in Maryland, but this is unconfirmed. His four known children were Elizabeth, Mary, Lydia, and Jonathan. The possible fifth child is Thomas.  He doesn't really "fit" the information we have since Charles married and died in Chester County, Pa, but I wanted to list Thomas as a possibility.  Perhaps the information that he was born in Maryland is not correct, or perhaps this is a case of wandering state boundaries.  We can believe that he was a respected man in his community for we find his name on a list of constables in 1708 and 1709. On both lists, he is reported as being in Upper Providence, Chester County, Pa.

Charles died about January 12, 1714 (possibly 1713) in Upper Providence, Chester County, Pa.  Mary remarried in 1720 and may have died about 1746.  

I know there are other families who are looking for more information about Charles so perhaps someday more information will be available. For now, this is what I have so I'm adding it to the Beeks line information, meager as it is.  I will add more information as I find it.  I'm hoping there is more information in Quaker records and perhaps in Cheshire County, England. 

The line of descent is:

Charles Booth-Mary Elizabeth Conway
Lydia Booth-Isaac Malin
Sarah Malin-David Ruble
Hannah Ruble-Samuel Dunham
Jacob Dunham-Catherine Goodnight
Samuel G Dunham-Eliza Reese
Margaret Catherine Dunham-Harvey Aldridge
Gretta Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Their descendents

Beeks line: Valentine Hollingsworth, Immigrant 1632-1710

The Beeks family has a lot of interesting branches to the tree.  I've found Dutch and Welsh and French lines, some of them going much further back than the Beeks line which is currently stopped at Christopher Beeks, born in 1756 in England.  Valentine Hollingsworth is an example of a branch that was in Ireland for a couple of generations, (prior to that, England, it appears) before coming to the New World and settling in what became Delaware.  Besides being the immigrant of the family, and having an Irish connection, he was also a Quaker.  He is an interesting person to have as an ancestor!

Valentine was born to Henry Hollingsworth and Katheran (possibly Cornish, still unproven) on June 15, 1632 in Belleniskcrannel, Parish of Legoe, County Armagh, Ireland.  Henry was born in 1598 in Hollingsworth Hall Manor, Cheshire, England and died in Ireland. It is believed that he was likely forced to move to Ireland in the attempt to take Catholic lands in Ireland and make them Protestant.   (Most of the settlers had little experience in the kinds of agriculture used in northern Ireland, and were not happy to be in Ireland, anyway.  It was a rough time in history for these folks.)

At some point the Hollingsworth family became Quakers, which meant an even more difficult life, as Quakers were persecuted, jailed, beaten, had their property confiscated, and suffered other indignities due to their religious beliefs and refusal to attend church services held by the Church of England. Valentine married twice, first to Ann Rea (our ancestor) and then to Ann Calvert.  Both marriages took place in Ireland.  Four children were born to the first marriage, and perhaps as many as seven to the second marriage.  It appears that Valentine was more prosperous than some of his other neighbors, as he was able to buy land outright in Ireland.  He may have purchased the land before he became a Quaker, as purchases after becoming known as a Quaker would have been difficult.

By 1682, Valentine and his second wife, with 8 children, had decided to come to America. They were probably encouraged to do so by William Penn or his associates, as he signed the document known as the "Great Charter."  Valentine and his family settled on Shellpot Creek in the Brandywine Hundred, in what is now New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the First Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania, and also a justice of the peace. 

It is difficult for us to realize the challenges that the early settlers had in beginning their new life in the New World.  Since most if not all of the children came with him, many with their own families, each of the children also faced the same challenges, and so many of them lived within relatively short distances of the others. Still, each family had to clear their own land, look to their own protection from Indians and from wild animals, plant and harvest their crops, spin and weave their own cloth, have food available all year round, and provide for other needs of the family.  It would have been a sacrifice for Valentine to also serve on the Assembly and as a justice of the peace, but it shows his character that he was willing to do this.

Valentine's wife Ann had died in Ireland in 1671 and his second wife died in Delaware in 1697.  Valentine is believed to have died in 1710 and was buried in the Friends Cemetery, Newark, New Castle County, Delaware.  This was land that Valentine had donated years earlier, to be a burial ground for the Quaker people. As such, it was a very simple cemetery, and he would likely not be pleased that there is now a substantial monument to him there, but his descendents can be grateful for it.  It can be viewed on Find A Grave.

The line of descent is:

Valentine Hollingsworth-Ann Rea
Mary Hollingsworth-Thomas Conway
Mary Conway-Charles Booth
Lydia Booth-Isaac Malin
Sarah Malin-David Ruble
Hannah Ruble-Samuel Dunham
Jacob Dunham-Catherine Goodnight
Samuel Goodnight Dunham-Eliza Reese
Margaret Dunham-Harvey Aldridge
Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Harshbarger children, grand children, and great grandchildren