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Archiver > QUAKER-ROOTS > 2001-08 > 0997467664


From: "Amy Crump" <>
Subject: Re: [Q-R] Thomas Brown who married Ruth Large
Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2001 14:22:16 -0400
References: <7d.192c4b38.28a56639@aol.com>


Thank you, Herbert, for your response. I had seen information concerning
the tax roles and guessed that was a different family. Of course, the
question remains how did he acquire 1000 acres...even though it was in part
wilderness, in such a short time. We'll just have keep on looking. I live
in VA, and found his will and at least one land record, but now I need to
get to Richmond and check their land grant records.
Amy
----- Original Message -----
From: <>
To: <>
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2001 12:30 PM
Subject: [Q-R] Thomas Brown who married Ruth Large


> To the Quaker-Roots List,
>
> This is in reply to the e-mail of Amy Crump dated 08/06/2001 who is
> researching Thomas Brown who married Ruth Large at Buckingham MM in Bucks
> County, PA August 3, 1723. There seems to be good indication that Thomas
> Brown was indentured prior to his marriage. He was received into
membership
> in Buckingham having produced a recommendation in writing from under his
> master & mistress's hands of his faithful servitude.------ Amy's question
is
> this: Do any of the researchers in this family have any information that
> Thomas Brown's family was in this country before 1680? Amy has cousins
who
> are publishing this fact, but so far, she sees no evidence to support
this.
> Has she missed something?
>
> Through my Mendenhall ancestry, I seem to be a descendant of Thomas
Brown
> and Ruth Large. Their youngest son, Joseph Brown married a young widow,
Ann
> (Jones) Morgan. Their daughter, Ruth Brown, married John Mendenhall, son
of
> Richard Mendenhall and Jane Thornbury.
>
> When I lived in the Philadelphia area and had access to the large
Quaker
> libraries, I did some searching for the parentage of Thomas Brown, but I
> reached no satisfactory conclusion. Now that I am away from these source
> references, I must rely primarily on the internet for information. I have
> searched the Quaker-Roots archives and some Large Family websites, but I
> still have not reached clarity. I can only offer certain observations
which
> might be helpful.
>
> Nearly twenty-five years ago I began an intermittent correspondence
with
> another Mendenhall descendant, Opal Lousin of the vicinity of Northbrook,
> Illiniois concerning this matter. She has sent me copies of a number of
> wills, including that of Joseph Large, Jr., father of Ruth Large, --- of
> William Dungan, probably father of Deborah, Ruth Large's mother, --- also
of
> Thomas Brown, husband of Ruth Large. She has also sent me a copy of
"Bucks
> County Tax Records, 1693-1778", compiled by Terry A. McNealy and Frances
Wise
> Waite for the Bucks County Genealogical Society, 1983.------ I am not sure
> whether Opal Lousin is now living. She would be quite elderly, but was
> carrying on genealogical correspondence a year or two ago.
>
> There seems to have been a Thomas Brown and a Thomas Brown, Jr. who
are
> listed in the Buckingham Twp., Bucks County tax records of 1722 and also
in
> the Plumstead Twp., Bucks County tax records of 1731. It seems likely to
me
> that these men were not closely related to Thomas Brown the indentured
> servant. Probably their descendants lived in the Plumstead Twp. for
several
> generations.
>
> It might be well to sketch the settlement of the area, particularly
the
> Quaker settlement. ---- When a party of Quaker leaders, including George
> Fox, travelled from the Quaker community on the Chesapeake Bay up to Long
> Island and Rhode Island ca. 1672-1673, they travelled through the Delaware
> Valley area and George Fox noted that it was only sparsely inhabited by
> Indians and a few Finns. On their return trip toward the Chesapeake, they
> passed through the new Friends settlement at Shrewsbury, New Jersey, some
of
> the settlers having moved down from Long Island.----- The first Quaker
> settlement in southern New Jersey began in 1675, with Salem Meeting dating
> from 1676. Other settlers came in 1677, with Burlington Meeting dating
from
> 1678. It appears that there was some settlement of Quakers on the
> Pennsylvania side of the Delaware from 16j78 to 1780, before William Penn
> became Proprietor of Pennsylvania in early 1681. Robert Wade, a Quaker,
> settled at Upland near present-day Chester, PA in 1676. There was
probably a
> Quaker settlement at Falsington, in present-day Bucks County, Pa. by 1679,
> although Falls Monthly Meeting dates from 1683. Beginning in the autumn
of
> 1682, when William Penn came to Pennsylvania on the ship "Welcome",
> settlement from the British Isles increased rapidly.
>
> Other Friends Meetings in Bucks County, PA have their origins with
Falls
> Monthly Meeting at Falsington. Buckingham Monthly Meeting dates from
1720,
> although there were surely Friends living in the locality before that
time.
>
> If the Thomas Brown who married Ruth Large began his American
> experience as an indentured servant, he seems to have accomplished a great
> deal in his short life in order to become a large land-holder in Virginia
by
> the time of his death in late 1749. Perhaps he was assisted by his
> father-in-law, Joseph Large, Jr. However, the Large family had evidently
not
> been strangers to poverty.-------
> There is a story that Joseph Large, Sr. and his wife, Elizabeth, and their
> fifteen children came to Falsington in the early 1680's after suffering
> hardships in Amesbury, Massachusetts, in Long Island, and perhaps New
Jersey.
> At Falsington, someone left a fund for the care of the poor. The fund
was
> under the administration of the influential Quaker, Phineas Pemberton.
When
> Joseph Large, Sr. petitioned for aid, the haughty Phineas is said to have
> ridiculed him.
>
> This is about all that I can say concerning this matter. Perhaps,
as
> we examine all of the details available to us relating to the life and
times
> of this Thomas Brown, his parentage and background will become more
evident
> to us.
>
> - Herbert Standing.
>
>
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