Pennsylvania Female Ancestors
Biographies
(047) | Baker, Elizabeth (Nicholson) | ? -1812 PA | Founder of County, 1773
There is no proof of when Elizabeth Nicholson arrived in the Colonies, but she is known to be of English descent. She married a German immigrant, George Baker, in about 1760, likely in Philadelphia. The couple headed west in 1772-1773, to what is now Beaver County. Their destination was not considered part of Pennsylvania until 1785, which meant they could not warrant, survey, or patent the land until that time. George Baker did so as soon as possible, warranting the land on which the couple had lived on 21 Mar 1786. They called their home Bethlehem. Life on the Frontier was known to be brutal, especially for women. After a family of nearby Indians were massacred in 1774, Elizabeth, her husband, and 5 children were taken prisoner in retaliation. They were held captive near present-day Detroit until the surrender of Burgoyne in October 1777. Having been sold to the British, they were exchanged as prisoners-of-war and were allowed to make their way back to their homestead. Elizabeth's husband and eldest son enlisted in the Revolutionary army. After the war, the family resettled their land. In 1932, the lands that contained the Baker Family Cemetery were deeded to the Block House Baker Association, with the provision that the cemetery portion forever remain in memory and honor of Elizabeth and George Baker, and their heirs. Today, the site contains an official designation from the Beaver County Historical Research and Landmarks Foundation.
Elizabeth Baker Cemetry marker
(067) | Bartram, Ann (Mendenhall) | 22 Sep 1703 - 29 Jan 1789 PA | Woman of Distinction: Entrepreneur
Ann Mendellhall Bartram has been described as a stereotypical farm wife of her time and place. Born a Quaker to Benjamin and Ann (Pennell) Mendenhall, she would marry (at age 26) John Bartram as his second wife in December 1729. Because she was married to a man who became a world-renowned botanist, horticulturist, and explorer, her life has often been overlooked by scholars. Shortly after their marriage, the Bartrams moved to a piece of land west of the Schuylkill River, known as Kingsessing Township (present-day Philadelphia) and celebrated today as Historic Bartram's Garden. It was here that Ann and John created what would become a family business that would continue through three generations for over a century and designated a National Historic Landmarks in 1960. What started out as a simple interest in medicinal plants, would burgeon into John becoming celebrated as one of the "greatest botanists in the world" by contemporaries such as Carl Linnaeus. In 1743, John co-founded the American Philosophical Society with Benjamin Franklin. (He is listed on the NSCDA ROA in this capacity.) Yet, Ann did not "marry a famous man" but a simple farmer. As John studied, wrote, and frequently traveled the colonies, it was Ann who ran the farm, and kept up the correspondence and (international) seed shipments that kept the business flourishing, as evidenced through limited surviving documentation. During this time, she also raised her two step-sons and gave birth to nine more children. She entertained frequent and notable houseguests, such as close friends Benjamin and Deborah Franklin. She encouraged her children's curiosities. Son William became a noted botanist, ornithologist and artist, while granddaughter Ann (Nancy) Bartram Carr (daughter of John, Jr.) studied drawing with her uncle William and became a distinguished botanist and artist in her own right. It is a legacy which lives on through the Franklinia tree along with a wide range of flowering trees and shrubs, including rhododendron, and magnolia to the cultivation of the Venus flytrap.
Bartram's Garden Historic Site
(117) | Biddle, Mary (Scull) | 2 Aug 1709 - 9 May 1789 PA | Woman of Distinction: Map Editor
What is a woman to do after she’s given birth to her tenth child and her husband confesses he’s lost the family fortune? What if said husband sells the family’s NJ estate, and quickly loses yet more money, and ends up bed-bound for 3 years with a “lingering” disorder? And then your mother dies? These were the circumstances for Mary Scull Biddle, who, once her husband succumbed to his illness in 1756, was left to care for her large family. While the three eldest were “of age”, the six younger ones ranged in age from 20-down to 4-years-old. Two of her elder sons fought in the French and Indian War. When the younger ones were at the appropriate age, they were apprenticed, two went to sea and one to the army. As Mary’s husband left her no business to run to support her family, she apparently went to work for her father. Nicholas Scull was a mathematician and Surveyor General of Pennsylvania, who had trained under Thomas Holmes. Nicholas died in 1762, mere months before the publication of his map of Philadelphia which has been described as “the most important engraved plan of Philadelphia” since the Thomas Holme plan of 1682. Upon publication, Mary Biddle was listed on the printed map as an editor along with Matthew Clarkson. Clarkson, a member of the American Philosophical Society and later mayor of Philadelphia, kept a shop where he sold prints. A partnership between Biddle and Clarkson made great sense. While her obituary does not mention a career in editing and selling maps, it’s obvious Mary did what she needed to care for her children. Her sons were known for their bravery, holding offices in law and medicine. Nicholas became a Commodore in the Continental Navy, dying in battle aboard his ship. Edward became a member of the Continental Congress, while Charles became V.P. of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania.
(056) | Biles, Jane (Boid/Bond) Atkinson | ? - bur. 21 Dec 1709 PA | Minister, Society of Friends, c.1688-1706
Jane Boid/Bond was a resident of Yorkshire, England, when she married her first husband, Thomas Atkinson, in 1678. Both Jane and her husband Thomas were known to be ministers in the Society of Friends before they settled in the Colony of New Jersey in 1682. The Atkinsons have three known sons, Isaac b. 1678/9, William, c. 1681, and Samuel, b. 1685. In 1687, Thomas died, and one year later (11 Dec 1688), Jane married William Biles, a Friend who was also in the ministry and settled in present day Bucks County, PA. William Biles was a large landowner, Justice of the Peace, and Provincial Councilor. It was a second marriage for them both. William had seven children with his first wife Johannah Hollard. Jane and William had no further issue. Instead, Jane was called to travel in the work of her ministry. Her devotion to her ministry was noted in Meeting Minutes up through 1706.
(055) | Biles, Johannah (Hillard) | 8 Nov 1647 - bur. 4 Sep 1687 PA | Historic Founder, arrived 4 Jun 1679 (with husband and 7 children)
Johannah Hillard Biles, wife of William Biles of Dorchester, County of Dorset, England, is recorded arriving in the Delaware River aboard the "Elizabeth & Sarah" of Waymouth, on "the 4th of the 4th Mo (April), 1679. Their children listed aboard were William, George, John, Elizabeth, Johannah, Rebecca, and Mary Biles. The Biles family settled in present-day Bucks County and were members of the Falls and Middletown Monthly Meetings. William Biles became an esteemed Minister in the Society of Friends, a large landowner, and held offices such as Justice of the Peace and was a member of the Provincial Council.
(199) | Breintnall, Esther (Parker) | c.1698 - 18 Oct 1762 PA | Woman of Distinction: Tavern Owner/Public House (The Hen and Chickens)
(198) | Breintnall, Hannah (Sharp) | c.1707 - 25 Aug 1770 PA | Woman of Distinction: Proprietor Optician Shop "Sign of the Golden Spectacles"
(200) | Breintnall, Jane (Blanchard) | c.1656 - 25 Aug 1725 PA | Historic Founder (arrived on "Thomas & Anne", 1683); Quaker Minister, c.1700
(114) | Brodwell, Mary (Freeman) | 1 Jan 1629/30 - 2 Jan 1729/30 PA | Midwife and Shop Owner
The life of Mary (Freeman) Brodwell is both common and extraordinary. Common, in that as a Quaker widow living in Philadelphia, she supported herself and her two daughters as both a midwife and shopkeeper. Extraordinary, in that after her husband died in 1673 in England, Mary made a drastic change. She left behind her 21-year-old son Isaac, and boarded the ship Unicorn, headed for Pennsylvania, with her daughters Mary (18) and Sarah (16). They arrived in Philadelphia in December of 1685. Mary Brodwell didn’t just create a new life, but a very successful life. By the time she died, her probate records indicated she had wealth to share. Her son Isaac, still in England, was remembered, along with his children. Her granddaughter Ann Paul, along with her husband Henry, were the beneficiaries of Mary’s shop goods, which were carefully inventoried at the time of her death. Her surviving daughter Sarah, her multitude of grandchildren and great-grandchildren were all left either money or household items as detailed in her will. She even left money to “ye poor people” at a Meeting House in Philadelphia. In her death notice, which was published in The Pennsylvania Gazette, she was remembered as a noted midwife who “wore well to the last” who was known to “see to read without spectacles a few months since.” The most amazing part of this notice was the claim that Mary died exactly one day after her Hundredth birthday.
(146) | Carpenter, Hannah (Hardiman) | c.1645 - 24 Jul 1728 PA | Historic Founder & Quaker Minister
(126) | Clare, Esther (Peacock) | ca.1674 - 3 Oct 1742 PA | Quaker minister, by 1714
(110) | Cloud, Elizabeth (Bayley) | bap. 19 Mar 1667- aft. 21 Dec 1717 PA | Historic Founder, Chichester, c.1683
Elizabeth Bayley Cloud is like many women of her time and place, mostly invisible beyond the few glimpses we find in relation to her father and husband. She was born into a burgeoning Quaker community in England. While her father never traveled to Pennsylvania, he was a great supporter of the vision of William Penn. He purchased 500 acres in1681, in what would later become Chester County. There is also evidence he supported the Chichester Meeting there. And perhaps indicating his intention of eventually leaving England, he also purchased a burial plot. Our first glimpse of Elizabeth is her baptismal record in England. Our second glimpse is when she and Jeremiah Cloud declare their intention of marriage at the Chichester Meeting in 1685. The only logical explanation for Elizabeth Bayley attending Chichester Meeting is if she had arrived on one of William Penn’s ships (1682/83). She would have been about15 years old and traveling with one of the other Quaker families from her home community. While men were listed on the Penn ship manifests, women were likely never mentioned at all. But of course, they were there all along! We might even speculate that Elizabeth Bayley knew the Cloud family before her arrival in the Pennsylvania Colony, as her father and future father-in-law likely crossed paths living in nearby Quaker communities. By 1685, Elizabeth, at age 18, would be free to declare her marriage intentions and start her own family. In the intervening years before her husband died in 1717, they would amass and cultivate a great deal of land and raise five sons and three daughters together. There is no doubt, whatever Penn ship carried Elizabeth to his colony, her labors helped create the world the founder envisioned.
(083) | Coates, Mary (Langdale) | 6 Jun 1713 - 23 Oct 1770 PA | Woman of Distinction - business owner, 1734-1770
Mary Langdale Coates was a typical woman of her time, yet also one who experienced the privileges of being part of Philadelphia’s tight-knit Quaker merchant community. Born in England, her parents—Josiah and Margaret Langdale—were well-known English Quaker ministers. Sometime in her teens she moved to Philadelphia, and by age 20 (1734) she married Samuel Coates (1711-1748). Samuel was a contemporary of Benjamin Franklin and one of the original shareholders in Franklin’s Library Company of Philadelphia. At the time of their marriage, Samuel was a merchant on Philadelphia’s bustling waterfront, and his account books (held at the Historical Society of PA), indicate that Mary became a partner in helping run the business the same year they were married. It is no surprise, that when her husband died in 1748, she was poised to take over the business on her own to support her four children. After his death, she advertised in the Pennsylvania Gazette to remind her husband’s debtors to settle their bills, while also adding a list of goods she would continue to sell. As a widow, her status officially became “shopkeeper” even though she’d done so since the start of her marriage. She ran the shop for another two decades. Mary’s shop account and index books (1748-1770) reside in the archive of The Library Company of Philadelphia. They show her customers included many of Philadelphia’s prominent citizens, Israel Pemberton, Sr., Philip Syng, Benjamin Franklin, Anthony Benezet, and Anthony Morris among them. She also sold to her sister-in-law Elizabeth Coates Paschall (the noted Quaker Healer and NSCDA qualifying ancestor.) These customer interactions would have kept her well-versed in the affairs of the city and colony in which she lived. Mary also relied upon the help of her late husband’s other sister, Mary Coates Reynell, who helped raise her children when Samuel died. Mary and John Reynell would take financial responsibility of the children after Mary Langdale Coates died, ensuring they were well settled. It is believed that Mary’s daughter Alice continued the family business after her death.
(076) | Cock, Margaret (Lorn) | c.1626 - bur. 13 Feb 1703 PA | Historic Founder (Service also qualifies in DE)
(078) | Cock, Martha (Ashman) | August 1650 - aft. 1724 PA | Historic Founder
(080) | Conaway, Mary (Hollingsworth) | 25 Mar 1656 - 1746 PA | Historic Founder (Arrival 1682 Penn Ship)
(046) | Croasdale, Agnes Hathomthwaite | c.1646 - bur. 20 Oct 1684 PA | Historic Founder - Arrived on "The Lamb" (22 Oct 1682)
Agnes Hathornthwaite married Thomas Croasdale 20 May 1664 at Lancaster Monthly Meeting in Lancaster, England. Their six children were born in Lancaster, England, before the entire family of eight boarded the "Welcome" with William Penn, which departed Deal, England on 31 Aug 1682, arriving in the mouth of the Delaware River on 27 Oct 1682. Nearly one-third of the ship's passengers died of smallpox during the 57-day journey. The “Welcome" is considered the first of Penn's 23 ships that crossed the Atlantic to bring the first 2000 settlers to Pennsylvania in 1682. The Croasdale family settled in present-day Bucks County and were members of the Middletown Monthly Meeting of Friends.
(049) | Dickinson, Mary | 17 Jul 1740 - 23 Jul 1803 PA | Woman of Distinction - estate owner/manager, 1766
Mary "Polly" Norris was the daughter of Sarah Logan and Isaac Norris of Philadelphia and considered one of the most amiable and desirable heiresses in the Colonies. Her maternal grandfather was James Logan of Stenton, William Penn's Provincial Secretary. Her paternal side was no less exalted, as her paternal grandfather, Isaac Norris (Sr.) was a prosperous Quaker merchant and helped establish the Colony with William Penn. All of her male family members held office in the Provincial government. At age 26, she inherited and ran her family's large estate, Fair Hill, outside Philadelphia. She was well-educated and her family library was known to be one of the largest in the Colonies with an estimated 1,500 books. Within 3 years she became the sole surviving daughter when her younger sister Sally died in 1769. Before her marriage, she held personal property between £50,000 to £80,000 (upwards of $12 million in present day value). She corresponded with many other educated women, and a number of politically engaged men, such as Patrick Henry and Benjamin Franklin. On 19 July 1770, Polly (age 30) married John Dickinson. While both were raised in the Society of Friends, they had a civil ceremony, rather than being married in Quaker Meeting due to the prohibitions on defending oneself if attacked. John Dickinson would become a Founding Father but declined to sign the Declaration of Independence (due to its indications of future violence). While Mary continued to manage their properties, Dickinson was able to help draft the Articles of Confederation, and later the Constitution of the U.S. In between, he enlisted in the Pennsylvania Militia and was later named a brigadier general in the Continental Army. Polly's shared political and social ideals with her husband was noted by John Adams, who wrote after a particular dinner that he did not appreciate Polly's forthrightness. Adams said, "if I should have had such a wife..., I should have shot myself." Their home at Fair Hill was burned to the ground by the British occupying troops during the Battle of Germantown. The library survived as it was separated from the main house. They had another house in Philadelphia as well. Polly and John had five children, but only Sally and Maria survived to adulthood. Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, originally named John & Mary College, was founded by Dr. Benjamin Rush, on land bequeathed by the Dickinsons, along with much of their library.
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Mary Polly Norris Dickinson and Sally, CW Peale, 1772, PHM
(195) | Draper, Rachel | c.1715 - bur. 26 Apr 1794 PA | Woman of Distinction: Boardinghouse/Tavern Owner, beg. c.1767
(070) | Drinker, Elizabeth (Sandwith) | 16 Feb 1735 - 25 Nov 1807 PA | Woman of Distinction: Diarist (1758-1807)
Born to William and Sarah (Jervis) Sandwith, a prosperous Quaker merchant family, both Elizabeth and her sister Mary were well-educated and attended Anthony Benezet’s Friends school. Her husband Henry was a partner in a shipping and importing firm, which took up much of his time. Elizabeth raised five children, Sarah, Ann, William, Henry, and Mary, with the help of her own sister Mary Sandwith—who never married but became an integral part of the Drinker household—as well as additional household servants. This arrangement allowed her the time for great personal recollections in her diaries, which constitute a day-by-day account of the life of a well-to-do Quaker woman living in Philadelphia during extraordinary and transitory times. Carefully preserved by her large extended family, Elizabeth’s diaries were only publicly available in excerpts, first published in 1889, by descendent Henry Drinker Biddle. They received little attention until they were “rediscovered” by a group of historians who published Drinker’s entire diary (in 3 volumes) in1991 (Northeastern University Press), resulting in renewed interest and scholarship. Her diaries became part of a larger trend in viewing “women’s writings” as key sources for context on both historical events and day-to-day life. It is often cited as a source for genealogical records for her family, friends, and well-known neighbors. The scholarly database JSTOR calls Elizabeth’s diary “...perhaps the single most significant personal record of eighteen-century life in America from a woman’s perspective...Drinker saw English colonies evolve into the American nation while Drinker herself changed from a young unmarried woman into a wife, mother, and grandmother. Her journal entries touch on every contemporary subject political, personal, and familial.” Both Elizabeth and Henry were buried in unmarked graves at Arch Street Meeting House, as per Quaker custom. In 2019, Drinker was honored with a historic marker erected by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, at the intersection of North 2nd Street and Quarry Street. The Museum of the American Revolution (in Philadelphia) features a recreation of a room of the Drinker home and a display of family objects
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The front of Drinker's diary at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP); Elizabeth Sandwith Drinker silhouette from HSP; and an inside look at Drinker's diary at HSP.
(050) | Franklin, Deborah (Read) | c.1704 - 19 Dec 1774 PA | Woman of Distinction - Business owner/manager
Deborah Read Franklin is a quintessential example of feme sole law, which following under the British system, allowed for single/divorced/widowed women or women whose legal subordination to her husband has been invalidated by a trust, prenuptial agreement, or judicial decision. As the wife of the very busy, and often absent preeminent statesman, Benjamin Franklin, Deborah Franklin could execute contracts and handle all manner of financial matters and business enterprises, separate from her husband as a feme sole trader. Deborah's parents immigrated from Birmingham, England in 1711. Her father, John Read, was a carpenter who found quick success in the growing port town of Philadelphia. Between 1716 and 1724, Deborah's father had acquired several lots of land, including 2 houses, off present day Market Street, between Third and Fourth Street. After her husband's death, Sarah Read utilized a well-developed network of female businesswomen to maintain work and regain the properties her husband had previously mortgaged off, the property that later would become the centerpiece of Franklin Court (still extant today). After Deborah's first husband (John Rogers) abandoned her (and Philadelphia), she met a young inexperienced Ben Franklin. Franklin's common law marriage (Sep 1730) gained him not just a wife, but a mother-in-law who ran businesses. Working side-by-side (1730-48) in their print shop, stationary store, and post office, Deborah and Ben, built one of the most successful printing businesses in the Colonies. The work expanded Deborah's network and community reach, especially when Ben was named postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737. (Extant account books show many entries in Deborah's handwriting.) Franklin retired from his printing business in 1748, which allowed them both to expand into other areas of interest. In 1757, before Ben was sent to England as an agent representing the Pennsylvania Assembly, he signed power of attorney to Deborah. In his will, written at the same time, Ben's bequest far exceeded the traditional "widow's third" of the property, as he left her the bulk of the estate, especially recognizing her contribution to the family's successes. He also made all post office accounts payable to Deborah so she could keep a watchful eye in his absence. By 1769, with her husband still in England, Deborah suffered a paralytic stroke, an event that would be repeated, and ultimately be her demise just five years later. After a ten-year absence, Ben returned to Philadelphia in 1775, publicly acknowledging he no longer had a representative to take care of his business dealings. Deborah and Ben had two children: Francis Folger Franklin b. 1732, died of smallpox at age 4; daughter Sarah "Sally" Franklin was born in 1743 and married Richard Bache. Ben had an extra-marital son William Franklin b. 1730 to an unknown mother, who was also raised by Deborah. Present-day tourists enjoy visiting Deborah and Ben's grave at Christ Church Burial Ground, where they often throw "good luck" pennies on their graves in honor of Ben's motto "a penny saved is a penny earned."
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Deborah Read Franklin
(066) | Fraser Dunlap, Jane/Jean (Bell) | 1735 - 1815 PA | Woman of Distinction: celebrated frontierswoman and innkeeper, c.1755/58
The life of Jane/Jean Bell McClain Fraser Dunlap has been celebrated through the centuries as one of tenacity. While some of the most well-known stories about Jane may not be proved through primary documentation, they hint at the complexities, realities, and lore of frontier life in the early part of the18th century. One thing we can state clearly, Jane lived and raised her family in a perilous place, full of uncertainty and complicated Provincial politics and agendas. Widowed at age 20, she remarried and would eventually follow her second husband, John Fraser, from their home in Maryland over the border into Pennsylvania to a soldier’s encampment (Forbes’ Army). Her husband served in various capacities, including local guide and negotiator, in service to the British amid the French & Indian War (1754-1763). This encampment would become known as Fort Bedford. Popular lore of her descendants and others tells of Jane’s capture by the Miami Indians, and her valiant escape after 18-months of captivity. Like many stories of this type and time, it’s difficult to evaluate legend versus fact. Yet, there is certainly no question that the relations between the Algonquian diaspora and the ever-encroaching settlers of British North America made for a life of the unknown, including constant danger and death. Jane and John established an inn and trading post in 1758, known as Fraser Tavern, near Fort Bedford, which is known to have provided meals for the army officers. These are the simple facts of an extraordinary life of survival of a female Pennsylvania frontier settler: Married at age 16,the widow of a British officer (McClain) at age 20, remarried and reported to have been held captive by age 20, reunited with her second husband (Fraser) 18 months later, operating an inn/trading post by age23 (while her husband served in his war capacities), widowed a second time at age 38 as a mother of five children, she married quickly a third time, Captain Richard Dunlap (also a soldier), who would die in a raid in 1781, leaving her a three-time widow at age 46, with one son and five daughters. Jane Bell McClain Fraser Dunlap died at age 80 (1815) at the home of a daughter.
Jane Fraser Dunlap
(192) | Guest, Alice (Bailys) | bap. 28 Apr 1642 - 3 Sep 1705 PA | Founder, arrived 1683; Woman of Distinction: Tavern Operator and Land Patent/Wharf Owner
(127) | Harvey, Rebecca (Owen) Minshall | 1687 - aft. 1751 PA | Quaker minister, 1729
(093) | Henry, Ann (Wood) | 21 Jan 1734 - 8 Mar 1799 PA | Woman of Distinction, beginning 1755
In December of 2023, the Lancaster/Dauphin/York committee of the Pennsylvania Dames spearheaded the rededication of a plaque celebrating the legacy of Ann Wood Henry. This marked the 70th anniversary of when the PA Dames first celebrated her life. For many years, her life was greatly overshadowed by that of her husband, William Henry, who was known as a successful gunsmith, engineer, solider, politician, and inventor. He also served in the Continental Congress and as Treasurer for Lancaster County. While she is sometimes recognized as the first woman to hold public office in Pennsylvania--taking over her husband's job as treasurer upon his death in 1786--it is only in recent years that her full impact has been understood. She played a pivotal role as a full-partner in all her husband's endeavors, taking care of the family business during her husband's frequent absences. This also included entertaining distinguished guests such as John Hart, David Rittenhouse, and Thomas Paine, and also encouraging the up-and-coming artist, Benjamin West. The commemorative plaque is a testament to Ann Wood Henry's contributions, and also a reminder of women's contributions overall, during our Revolutionary and Early National Periods. Ann gave birth to 13 children, 6 who died in infancy. Son William Henry was an Associate Justice of the Courts in Northampton, Co., John Joseph Henry, Judge of Courts in Lancaster Co., and Benjamin West Henry followed in the footsteps of this namesake, becoming an artist of note.
Portrait of Ann Wood Henry painted in 1755. Atwater Kent Collection, Drexel University / Courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection
(089) | Hoff, Justina Margaretha (Schnertzel) | 1743 - 1806 PA | Woman of Distinction
Justina Margaretha Schnertzel was born in 1743 at Grunstadt, Germany into the clockmaking family of George Schnertzel. At the age of 18, she would marry her father’s apprentice, Johann Georg Hoff (age 36), on 26 May 1761. Growing up in a family craft business, Justina would be ready for what life had in store when she, her husband and a young daughter sailed to Pennsylvania for a new life, eventually traveling from Philadelphia to Lancaster. By the end of 1769, the Hoffs purchased a house and lot on King Street, the place they started their American clockmaking dynasty. Before the Revolution, her husband, now known as George Hoff, would assume the care of the Lancaster Court House clock (1770), and dominate the early clockmaking industry in the area. In all, Justina would give birth to fourteen children, including their first daughter who died in Germany and their third child who was born and died during the voyage to the American Colonies. Son John (b. 1776) would become a famous clockmaker in his own right, John Jacob (b. 1784) was a watchmaker, and John George (b. 1788) would also work in the trade. Their daughter Catharine Juliana (b. 1763), followed in her mother’s footsteps, by marrying one of her father’s own apprentices, Fredrick Heisely, who made a name for himself as a clockmaker, as well as a maker of Surveyor’s Instruments. Two of the Heisely sons would also become clockmakers. Scholars of the craft note Hoff’s unique “German” style of clockmaking, which was unusual by English standards. By following these maker’s traits, they have identified several men who were likely apprenticed to Hoff, beyond his own sons. Due to English Coverture Laws, proving Justina’s participation in running the family business through primary documentation is likely impossible. But a preponderance of evidence reveals Justina’s incredible impact on establishing a family business, including the fact that the business on West King Street ran continuously for more than 37 years during Justina’s lifetime, through her daughter-in-law, it lasted 69 years. Common to the time, wives would handle shopkeeping, customers, and correspondence of the family business as part of their daily household responsibilities, especially as her husband George held many leadership positions outside of the clockmaking business. After Justina’s death, George did not continue alone, but invited his son John and daughter-in-law Ann Mary Boyer to purchase the house/ship and continue the business. Examples of Hoff clocks, watches, and surveying instruments can be found in many museums and archives, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art. There would be no Hoff family clockmaking dynasty without the everyday efforts of Justina Margaretha Schnertzel Hoff, who lived her entire life in the world of clockmaking.
Hoff family extraordinary Lancaster tall case clock
(079) | Hollingsworth, Ann (Calvert) | Nov 1650 - 17 Oct 1697 PA | Historic Founder (arrival 1682 Penn Ship)
(190) | Holton, Elizabeth (Guest) | 1675 - 10 Apr 1757 PA | Founder, arrived 1683; Quaker Elder
(048) | James, Elizabeth | ? - bef. 13 Jan 1747/78 PA | Organized Montgomery Baptist Church, 20 Jun 1719
Elizabeth and her husband John James arrived in Philadelphia in 1711, along with their sons Thomas, William, Josiah, and Isaac, and daughters Sarah, Rebecca, and Mary. They settled in Montgomery Township north of Philadelphia. They had been members of the Rhydwillym (Baptist) church in Pembrokeshire, South Wales. In Montgomery Township, they joined Welsh Baptists, Sarah and John Evans. In June of 1719, as the Welsh community grew, they decided to establish the Montgomery Baptist Church, which was the fourth church built by Baptists in Pennsylvania, but the first in Montgomery County. Of the original ten church founders, two women were listed, Elizabeth James and Sarah Evans. The Montgomery Baptist Church is considered the parent of at least 5 other local Baptist Churches. The family eventually purchased land nearby in New Britain, Bucks County (1720). Elizabeth predeceased her husband. In his will, he mentions daughters Sarah Lewis, Mary James, and Rebecca Miner. He also mentions sons William, Thomas, and Isaac, all of whom stayed active in the Montgomery Baptist Church. Through their children there are a great number of descendants of Elizabeth and James.
(129) | James, Mary (Goodwin) | ? - ca. 1776 PA | Quaker minister, 1718 or 1737
(053) | Jones, Mary (Porter) | 1707 - Sep 1761 PA | Woman of Distinction: School Mistress (owner No. 8 Drinker's Alley)
Mary Porter was the daughter of Thomas Porter (b. 1683) and Elizabeth Westbury, who were married at Christ Church, Barbados, 29 Jan 1706. When the Porter family arrived in Philadelphia is unknown, but Mary married William Jones at Christ Church in Philadelphia on 23 Feb. 1729. As a mariner, William Jones was not home in Philadelphia often, and ultimately he was lost at sea. During her marriage and after, she kept a school for small children at No. 8, Drinker's Alley, in a home she owned. She had a son Daniel Jones (1730-1771), who later moved to Mt. Holly, New Jersey, where he was an innkeeper and warden of St. Andrews Church. Her daughter Rebecca Jones was born 8 July1739, nine years after her brother. Much of what is known about Mary Porter Jones is from an autobiography written by her daughter Rebecca. She writes that as an infant, her father was much absent, and the care of her education and that of her brother was left to her mother, who "by hard labor, keeping a school, brought us up reputably, gave us sufficient learning, and educated us in the way of the Church of England." She also noted that when her mother's health started to fail in the spring of 1761, she was left with a "large school" which was their sole means of subsistence (which was known to be a nice living). Rebecca recalled her mother had a "noble disposition" and had "many good qualities" and lived "peaceable life among her neighbors." The main squabble between mother and daughter arrived when Rebecca left her Church of England upbringing to join the Society of Friends. A change Mary Jones eventually made peace with. Rebecca carried on her mother's school after Mary died.
(091) | Keurlis, Elisabeth (Doors) | c.1647- aft. 1 Feb 1727 PA | Historic Founder, 1683
(060) | Kunders, Lijntijen | c.1650 - bef. 19 Jun 1723 PA | Historic Founder, 1683
Elin Kunders and her husband Thunes (Dennis) Kunders where among the 33 individuals who arrived from Crefeld, Germany aboard the ship "Concord" in October 1683. Raised as Mennonites, they joined the Society of Friends under the influence of William Penn, who negotiated their arrival. The “Concord” is sometimes referred to as the German Mayflower as it was the first significant number of individuals who arrived in the Colonies to create a Germantown Settlement. The husbands or "heads" of these 33 individuals are often referred to as "the original thirteen." The Kunders hosted the first German Quaker Meetings at their home. In 1688, at the home of Elin and Thunes Kunders, an eloquent protest was written by a group of German Friends. Signed by Daniel Pastorius and three others, it preceded by 92 years Pennsylvania's passage of the nation's first state abolition law. "German Towne, in the County of Philadelphia" received their charter in 1691. (William Penn signed it in Aug 1689). Under the charter, the community was allowed a bailiff, a chief executive, four burgesses, and six committeemen. Elin died before her husband. In his will, Thunes mentions children Conrad, Mathias, John, Henry Ann Steepers, Agnes Powell, and Elizabeth Jones (and her husband Griffith Jones).
(136) | Lewis, Margaret (Thomas) | 1712 - 1789 PA | Quaker minister, 1744
(164) | Lloyd, Mary (Jones) | c. 1640 - 1683 PA | Historic Founder (arrived on "America", 1683)
(165) | Mackenet, Sarah (Shoemaker) Pastorius | c. 1723 - Apr 1795 PM | Woman of Distinction: Tavern Owner, (Green Tree, Saddler's Arms, Widow Mackent's)
(054) | Marsh, Elizabeth (Allibone) | 1 Aug 1683 - prob. 1741 PA | Woman of Distinction: Premier Schoolmistress known for her pupils' extant examples of fine needlework, 1720-1740
Elizabeth was the daughter of Joseph Allibone, a carpenter, and Ann (probably Allen). In 1681 and 1683, her father was imprisoned for refusing to pay the tithe for worshipping as a Friend. She married Joseph Marsh 8 Sept 1711 in Hallow, Worcester Co., England. The births of their four children were recorded in The Worcestershire Monthly Meeting Records: Benjamin (Feb 1713), Ann (Nov 1714), Mary (Nov 1719), and Joseph (Feb 1723). At the birth of her fourth child, Elizabeth was already 40 years old and no doubt an experienced schoolmistress before the family embarked for America. Evidence of her arrival in Philadelphia can be found in a ledger owned by James Logan in December of 1723, in which she was originally named as "mistress" paid for her work teaching Logan's daughter. Scholars have studied her samplers (and their unique techniques) and those of her students as evidence of where and for whom she worked. Elizabeth's daughter Ann Marsh also became a skilled schoolmistress in needlework. By 1734, Joseph and Elizabeth Marsh acquired property on the west side of the Schuylkill River. A mortgage of November 1738 named their three living children: Benjamin, Ann, and Mary. Elizabeth died sometime between the execution of the 1738 mortgage and the payment of their loan in January 1742, when her husband and children survived her. Daughter Ann Marsh never married, but carried on her mother's legacy. One of her account books is at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and shows that during the Revolutionary Period, she was teaching the who's who of Philadelphia society. Like her mother, she had no need to advertise for students. Nothing more is known about son Benjamin. In 1744, daughter Mary married Othniel Tomlinson of Salem, NJ. In 1760, she married Aaron Ashbridge. Her only daughter, Mary Tomlinson (1747-1800), married Samuel Hibberd, and they had seven daughters. One of Ann Marshes account books has been passed down that family line.
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Ann Marsh sampler c. 1730 under direction of her mother Elizabeth
(084) | Masters, Sybilla (Righton) | c. 1676 - 3 Sept 1720 PA | inventor: First American Colonist granted an English patent (no. 401) held under her husband's name, Thomas Masters, 25 Nov 1715
Sybilla was born to Quakers William and Sarah Righton, either in Bermuda (from which her parents emigrated), or in present day Burlington, New Jersey, on her father’s plantation called Bermuda. Before 1696, she married Thomas Masters, a prominent Quaker merchant and widower who had arrived in Philadelphia from Bermuda sometime around 1685. By 1702, the couple was living in a stately house on the Philadelphia waterfront where Sybilla raised her children, Sarah, Mary (Mercy), Thomas, and William. While her husband maintained a high-profile career holding various offices from Alderman, Mayor, and Provincial Councilor, Sybilla found time to “tinker” with several mechanical inventions. On June 24, 1712, Sybilla obtained a certificate of good standing from her Quaker meeting after she notified them of her intention to travel to London to secure two patents. She would leave her family behind, spending several years in London, before she was finally granted patent No. 401 under the Privy Seal of King George on Nov. 25, 1715. Coverture Law meant that the patents were granted under her husband’s name, but he made no secret that the inventions were of his wife’s creation. Patent No. 401 was the first patent granted to any Colonial American, and it’s sometimes been called the “first American patent medicine.” Sybilla’s invention was a means of cleaning and curing Indian corn to produce something she named “Tuscarora Rice”, otherwise known as corn meal or hominy. Sybilla had hoped it would be a useful preparation for the recovery of consumptive and sickly persons. Her husband would purchase a mill from William Penn to produce this product. Before she left London, she was granted patent No. 403, on Feb 18, 1716. The second was for a new means of working and staining straw and palmetto leaves for use in hat making. She also obtained a monopoly for the importation of palmetto leaves from the West Indies. Four years after Sybilla’s death, her husband Thomas followed, leaving their children a vast estate which included the mill, real estate in Pennsylvania and Bermuda, both indentured and enslaved servants, 31 casks of rum, and a stake in the brigantine “Dove.”
(058) | Mattson, Margaret (Erichsdotter) | c.1630 - 1693 PA | Founder, arrived New Sweden on the Eagle, 1654; Woman of Distinction: Fought oppression, exonerated of Witchcraft by William Penn, 1683.
Margaret Erichsdotter Mattson arrived in the colony of New Sweden (present-day southeastern Pennsylvania) on 22 May 1654, aboard the ship Orn (Eagle), with her husband Nils Mattson, a millwright from Finland. Her husband Nils was a reputed healer working in the Finnish tradition. But it was Margaret who would earn the reputation as the "Witch of Ridley Creek." Sometime after New Sweden became part of William Penn's new colony, Margaret's neighbors brought charges against her under the English Witchcraft Act of 1604. Specifically, charges of practicing witchcraft were brought before the Pennsylvania Provincial Council on 7 Feb 1683. Her neighbors accused her of "bewitching" their cattle, causing the cows to give little milk. On 27 Feb 1683, Margaret and a neighbor, Yeshro Hendrickson, were brought by the Attorney General before a grand jury of 21 men, who promptly indicted Margaret and sent the case to trial. William Penn, the colony's proprietor, conducted the questioning himself, and brought in an interpreter for Margaret who only spoke Finnish. The jury of 12 men returned a verdict on 27 Feb 1683, stating that Margaret was found guilty of having a reputation as a witch, but not guilty of bewitching animals. Both women were released to their husbands after they posted a bond of 50 pounds and promised six months of good behavior. A popular legend states that William Penn dismissed the charges against Margaret by affirming her legal right to fly on a broomstick, saying he knew of no legal law against it. It is said that Penn had the case tried in public so that his fellow Pennsylvanians could hear the lack of real evidence against Margaret, and also as means to illustrate that his colony was welcoming and tolerant of all religious views. Scholars believe this attitude helped Pennsylvania avoid the witch hysteria that swept through "puritanical" Salem in 1692. The handwritten court record for Margaret's 1683 witchcraft trial is held in the Pennsylvania State Archives. Nils and Margaret had a family that included a son named Anthony Nilsson. Anthony's wife was one of Margaret's accusers. Still, after Margaret died, Nils Mattson was noted in the local census as living with his son and two of his grandchildren. Before his death in 1701, he had become a charity case and was cared for by the congregants of the Wicaco church.
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Margaret Mattson PA State archives trial notes
(077) | Morris, Elizabeth (Hudson) | 1722 - bur. 23 May 1783 PA | Quaker Minister, 1743-1783
(167) | Morris, Susanna (Heath) | 12 Oct 1682 - 28 Apr 1755 PA | Quaker Minister, c.1711-1755
(090) | Op den Graeff, Catharina "Trijntje" (Jansen) | bef. 1660 - c.1710 PA | Historic Founder, 1683
(147) | Painter, Ellinor (Musgrave) | ? - bur. 23 Jan 1689/90 PA | Historic Founder, arrived on the "Unicorn" 31 October 1683
(051) | Paschall, Elizabeth (Coates) | 1702 - 10 Apr 1767 PA | Healer
Elizabeth Coates was born into a prominent Philadelphia Quaker merchant family. Her father, Thomas Coates, was an early settler of Pennsylvania and prospered in shipping and as a merchant. Her two brothers and two sisters all married within the well-connected and wealthy Society of Friends, as Elizabeth herself did upon her marriage to Joseph Pachall in 1721. While running a successful shop, Joseph also served as a member of the Common Council. When Joseph died in 1742, he left 40-year old Elizabeth with his shop and three children ranging in age from 2-years to 14-years old. By all accounts Elizabeth was a successful businesswoman. In the 1756 tax list, she is categorized as belonging to the "92-95% bracket" and upon her death her estate was valued at over 5000 pounds. But it is through Elizabeth's "recipe" book that we are provided a unique window into the life of a woman adept at healing AND powerfully asserting her authority through her knowledge and skills. The recipe book, kept from the late 1740s through her death in 1768, is uniquely discursive and provides rich details in healing practices, along with the more typical ingredient lists and directions. Her writing not only attests to her own knowledge, but enlightens the vernacular of medical knowledge in mid-18th C. Philadelphia. It also reveals webs of exchanges that crossed lines of gender, class, and race, both local and transatlantic. As a full-time shopkeeper, she describes what she learned from her customers in their daily social and business interactions. She also had access to a wide range of ingredients. Her social status provided familiarity with local intellectuals, scholars, and medical doctors. Her botanical knowledge could be discussed with an expert such as John Bartram. She had a trusted relationship with trained physician John Kearsley. She was also able to check-out books from the Library Company of Philadelphia under the name of a male family member. She was well-versed in the latest medical knowledge, and while noting sources of authority, she did not passively accept their knowledge. She would also exchange recipes with local Lenape healers. Elizabeth's original recipe book is maintained in the archives of The College of Physicians in Philadelphia.
Paschall Diary from the College of Physicians and Pascall House Cedar Grove
(026) | Penn, Hannah (Callowhill) | bap. 11 Feb 1670 - 1726 PA | Manager of Proprietary Affairs for the Colony of Pennsylvania, 1712
Hannah Callowhill was the daughter of Thomas Callowhill and Anna Hollister. Her father was a successful merchant, and as the only surviving child, Hannah was taught the skills needed to run the family store and button-making company. Hannah was a member of the Society of Friends when she married Quaker William Penn on 5 March 1696. She was 25 and he was 52. His first wife, Gulielma Springett had died two years prior. Hannah was pregnant with son John when the couple sailed to "William's" colony in 1699. This journey was a "return" for William to the colony he founded in 1681. Hannah and William lived in style, both in Philadelphia and at Pennsbury Manor, their large estate up the Delaware River in Bucks County. Though the cost of living was supplemented with Callowhill money when colony funds ran tight. When William Penn suffered a stroke in 1712, Hannah began administering the affairs of Pennsylvania. When he died in 1718, Penn gave Hannah full control of the colony and his fortune. William's oldest son by his first wife, William, Jr., contested his father's will and tried to obtain control of the colony. His suit was unsuccessful, and Hannah remained in charge of the colony until her death. This position meant that Hannah Penn was the first women in U.S. history to hold formal political authority. It is said she paid off her husband's debts and kept things running smoothly, and she even settled an old land dispute with Lord Baltimore of Maryland. Hannah gave birth to nine children, four of whom lived to adulthood: John, Thomas, Margaret, and Richard. Thomas and Richard were active in the Pennsylvania colony. Hannah Penn is one of the few individuals, and the first woman, granted the status of "Honorary Citizens of the United States" which was awarded by Presidential Proclamation through an Act of Congress by Ronald Reagan on 28 November 1984. President Reagan also noted that Hannah devoted her life to the pursuit of peace and justice.
(189) | Pennell, Mary (Morgan) | c.1678 - 10 May 1764 PA | Quaker Minister
(075) | Rambo, Brita (Mattsdotter) | 1630 - 12 Oct 1693 PA | Historic Founder
Brita Mattsdotter was thought to have arrived in New Sweden as a servant to the commander of the Swedish fort. By April of 1647, she married Peter Gunnarson Rambo, one of the first Swedish settlers of the region, who became a prominent leader and landowner. She went to live on her husband’s farm in Kingsessing, located in present-day Philadelphia. She gave birth to eight children, 4 girls and 4 boys, all living to adulthood except one daughter who died at age eight. Brita and her family were Lutherans who supported the local Wicaco church, which is known today as Gloria Dei-Old Swedes, part of the National Park system in Philadelphia. Both Brita and Peter are believed to be buried at Gloria Dei. Peter was selected to serve as a magistrate of the local court in 1656, and would hold office for29 years, ultimately under Swedish, Dutch, and English rule. While women were not considered at the time, her husband and sons (of age) were naturalized as English citizens, so they would be recognized for owning land and serving in the Pennsylvania Assembly. Brita’s son Gunnar was on the jury of Margaret Matson’s witchcraft trial (another NSCDA Founding Female) which was overseen by William Penn. In 1693 Peter Rambo wrote his sister, back in Sweden, a letter, which is preserved in the Royal Archives in Stockholm. They had not communicated in over 50 years. At age 81, he shared details of his forty-six years of “harmony and love” with Brita and that their children were all settled “in plenty” and that from their lineage there were at that time thirty-seven souls living of his children’s children
(168) | Read, Sarah (White) | bap. 16 Dec 1675 - 7 Dec 1761 PA | Woman of Distinction: Business Owner, Apothecary
(088) | Richards, Jane | ? - aft. 16 Feb 1710/11 PA | Arrived on The Amity, 3 Aug 1682
(163) | Roberts, Gaynor (Roberts) | 1653 - 20 Feb 1722 PA | Historic Founder (Morning Star, 1683)
(081) | Robinson, Catherine (Hollingsworth) | Jul 1663 - 29 Aug 1746 PA | Historic Founder (Arrival 1682 Penn Ship)
(094) | Ross, Elizabeth "Betsy" (Griscom) | 1 Jan 1752 - 30 Jan 1836 PA | Woman of Distinction, Business Owner: Upholsterer and flag maker
The legend of Betsy Ross is well-established in American patriotic lore. Recent scholarship has sought to move beyond Betsy's rumored role in making the first American flag. Marla Miller, in her definitive biography of Betsy Ross, states that there is no doubt that Ross was one of Philadelphia's most important flag makers of the Revolution, and indeed the primary flag maker on the eve of the War of 1812, but her life and work represents something deeper and more important in the course of Colonial Philadelphia. As Miller states, she was an ordinary woman who went to work as a teenager and labored in the furniture trades until she retired in her seventies, the mother of seven, and the grandmother of thirty-two. Through her extensive family and business, she was connected to all the important people of her time. While her supposed encounter with George Washington (and his request for an American flag) made her famous through time, it is her own life as a craftswoman and business owner-- supporting her family through three husbands (and ultimately the American Revolution)--which stands testament to all those who labored each day to literally and figuratively build a new Nation. Today, whether flags or upholstered furniture, if a piece can be linked to the handiwork of Betsy Ross, its value is thought to be irreplaceable, and indeed many items have sold at auction for record-breaking millions of dollars. Her name now stands on its own merit. Betsy is buried on the sight of her home and workshop on Arch Street in the Old City section of Philadelphia, where each year, more than a quarter-million visitors learn the secret of cutting the five-pointed star featured on the U.S. flag.
(115) | Rufner, Barbara (Leininger) | c.1743 - bef. Sep 1824 PA | Woman of Distinction: Abducted and held captive by Indians in 1755 until her successfully planned escape 3 1/2 years later.
Likely too young to remember her arrival on the Pennsylvania frontier, Barbara, her younger sister Regina, elder brother, and parents Sebastian and Regina Leininger, settled 1745 in the area that would become known as Berks County. They were promised religious freedom and opportunity. A mere ten years later, when Barbara was about 12 years of age, she, along with her younger sister and several neighbors were captured by “Alleghany” Indians aligned with the French. This being the beginning of the French and Indian War with the British, the Swiss/German settlers were caught in the middle of a complicated network of Indigenous relationships, whose own battle for autonomy was weaponized as they were forced to take sides between the French and British. She watched as her father and brother were killed, two among the many brutal murders. Ultimately held captive for almost three and a half years, Barbara would end up in Philadelphia, where she gave a harrowing account of her initial captivity, years of forced labor among the Indigenous and French, and terrifying escape. Her oral account, along with her fellow-captive Maria Le Roy, was first printed in the German language in 1759. It served as a warning to all those who might consider taking land and settling on the Pennsylvania frontier, at least until the war was settled in 1763. In 1761, she married Peter Rufner. They would raise three children in present-day Berks County, Regina, George, and Conrad. It is difficult to imagine the trauma Barbara must have overcome to lead a quiet life as a wife and mother in the rural confines of her new homeland. Her story of bravery serves to remind us of the complicated history of frontier settlers, and those who made sacrifices based on promises of a better life.
(092) | Seimens, Mercken Williamsen (Lucken) | 1652 - c.1715 PA | Historic Founder, 1683
(191) | Sharples, Edith (Yarnall) | 13 May 1743 - 18 Jan 1787 PA | Quaker Minister
(052) | Shoemaker, Dorothy (Penrose) | c.1704 - 11 Aug 1764 PA | Woman of Distinction: Business Owner "Dorothy's Mill", 1746
Dorothy's maternal Leech grandparents arrived in Philadelphia from Glouscestershire, England in 1682, the same year William Penn established the city. Her mother was born just 3 years later in 1685. Grandfather Toby Leech was an Anglican (Church of England) and considered a "gentleman" due to his great wealth and land ownership. He was also a member of the Pennsylvania Colonial Assembly. Dorothy was the daughter of Hester Leech and Bartholomew Penrose. Dorothy Penrose married Quaker Isaac Shoemaker about 1722. Isaac inherited a three-story stone house at Shoemakertown (present-day Elkins Park) that his great-grandfather, Richard Wall, had begun in 1686. Isaac and Dorothy took occupancy in 1725, and Dorothy remained there until her death in 1764. Following her husband's death in 1741, Dorothy went into business with her sister's husband, Richard Mather and another man, John Tyson (who would also marry into the family). It was on the Shoemaker property (opposite her garden) that "Dorothy's Mill" was built in 1746, which was a corn-grist watermill. Her son John bought an interest in the mill from John Tyson in 1752. The Shoemakers were well connected in the Society of Friends and throughout the region. Isaac's cousin Benjamin Shoemaker served as mayor of Philadelphia three times and held the office of treasure until his death in 1767. Ben's son Samuel also served as mayor, but vacated the city with the British Army during the Revolution, as he was a Loyalist. He did not return to America until 1786. In Dorothy's will, she bequeaths her entire estate to her beloved children: John, Isaac, Thomas, Joseph, Esther, and Sarah. She also mentions two of her daughters-in-law and several grandchildren by name. Her grandson Isaac (son of Isaac) carried on the milling business for nearly half a century. The Shoemaker home was demolished in 1927.
(201) | Shoemaker, Sarah | ? - c.1708 PA | Historic Founder, Cheltenham Twp., 1686
(166) | Steel, Rebecca (Steel) | c. 1704- bur. 29 Dec 1783 PA | Woman of Distinction: Business Owner
(082) | Thompson, Ann (Hollingsworth) | 28 Dec 1680 - aft. 1712 PA | Historic Founder (Arrival 1682 Penn Ship)
(044) | unknown, Dinah | btw c.1720 & c.1730 - 21 Feb 1805 PA | Woman of Distinction - Requested and won her freedom from Hannah Emlen Logan and William Logan at Stenton, April 15, 1776.
There is much we still need to learn about Dinah. We can only speculate about who her parents were. Here is what we know: Dinah was born to enslaved African American parents. Likely the family lived in Burlington, New Jersey as property of George Emlen and his wife Mary Heath Emlen. As a young girl, Dinah was brought to Stenton (Philadelphia) as the dower property of Hannah Emlen (daughter of George & Mary), upon Hannah's marriage to William Logan in 1740. William was the son of James Logan, the Provincial Secretary to William Penn. Dinah was able to gain her freedom on 15 April 1776, after she requested it from Hannah and William Logan, as stated on her manumission papers. (The original document is held in the Quaker and Special Collections Library at Haverford College.) It was Hannah Emlen Logan's daughter-in-law, Deborah Norris Logan (wife of Dr. George Logan), who mentions Dinah in her journal: "Feby 21st at about three oclock in the afternoon our very faithful and good old Dinah breath'd her last. was Buried on the 23 in my garden. ---- She had requested during her life time to be interred at Stenton." After she was freed, she remained at Stenton. Some speculate it was because her grandson Cyrus was enslaved on the property, and she wanted to remain close. Evidence indicates that Dinah was more than a "faithful servant" as she was able to express personal autonomy, resistance and resiliency. Yet, it is through oral tradition that Dinah's story lived on in the surrounding community to the present day. It is said that Dinah, through her quick thinking, "saved" Stenton from British destruction after the Battle of Germantown in 1777. Her bravery is celebrated and remembered. (April 15th is now Dinah Day at Stenton!) We are currently following leads on grandson Cyrus, whom we believe moved to Delaware when he gained his freedom. It's through him that Dinah's family lives on, and we are hoping to verify and locate her descendants soon.
Dinah Memorial at Stenton Museum; Deborah Norris Logan's Almanac (1805) about Dinah's death and burial, HSP.
(194) | Wishart, Ann (Betson) | c.1690 - 16 Jan 1770 PA | Women of Distinction: Tallow Chandler/ Candlemaker & Merchant