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
Showing posts with label Conway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conway. Show all posts
Friday, May 8, 2015
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
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
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
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
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
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
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