Jean Borthwick (1789-1867), Scotland to Pennsylvania 1819

  

 

 

 

 Jean (Jennie) Borthwick
(1787-1867)

(daughter of John BORTHWICK and Elizabeth DINWOODIE)

** IMPORTANT - SEARCHING FOR ANDREW BARRETT **
Andrew, Could you email me please? I've had a computer disaster during a changeover to a new operating system and have lost all my emails and addresses for the past 12 months. Ann


Early Life / Marriage to Walker Stephen / Canada & America 1819 / Walker Stephen / Family / 1880 Census / Deaths of Jennie and Walker Stephen / Elizabeth Dinwoodie


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Early Life

John & Elizabeth Borthwick had at least seven, & probably nine, children. They had two daughters named Jean. The first Jean probably died as an infant. She had been baptised on 23 May 1785 in Tweedsmuir, Peebles, Scotland.

A second Jean Borthwick was baptised on 13 July 1787 in Tweedsmuir & survived to adulthood. The Tweedsmuir OPR is as follows:

Baptisms 1787. July 13. Baptized Jean lawfull daughter of John Borthwick Shepherd in Riggs and Elisabeth Dinwiddie his spouse. Witnesses John Rennvick [?] Shepherd in Glenbreck and Alexander Borthwick Shepherd in Over-Minzion.

(This certainly looks like "Minzion" in the OPR but was apparently spelt "Menzion". For some photos of Over-Menzion click here. And for a page on the family of Alexander Borthwick, shepherd in Over-Menzion, who surely must be a brother or cousin of our John Borthwick, click here.)

In February 2001 when I uploaded this site, I knew nothing more than the above about Jean. Over three years I had researched and traced all the other known children of John Borthwick & Elizabeth Dinwoodie but Jean proved impossible as I had no idea who she had married or where she'd lived. All I knew - from the 1843 letter written by her brother John - was that she had married & had at least two children Angus?/Agnes? & John, probably born around 1820. I also knew that Jean was still alive in July 1843 as she was at that time visiting her brother Robert in Philadelphia, USA.

In April 2002, something happened that I've been waiting for ever since uploading this site. I had an email from Andrew Barrett, a descendant of Jean Borthwick, who he knows as Jennie Borthwick. Andrew has shared with me everything he knows about his ancestors, including a wonderful letter written in 1948 attaching some of the family history . This information forms the core details on this page.

Together Andrew and I are continuing to research the family and we would love to hear from anyone who has any connection at all to Jean / Jennie Borthwick and Walker Stephen. It would also be terrific to hear from anyone who knows of Walker Stephen's 60-year professional career as a teacher in Pennsylvania. His pupils? The schools he taught at? And perhaps his role in the Presbyterian Church?


Jennie Borthwick's Marriage to Walker Stephen

Walker Stephen and Jennie Borthwick were married in Glasgow, Scotland, on 25 April, 1813. Walker, son of John Stephen (Irish) and Elizabeth Laird (Scotch), had been born in the County Donegal, Parish of Rapho, Ireland, on 13 August 1785. Walter was a teacher. He taught school for the first time on October 17, 1807, presumably somewhere in Ireland or Scotland.

A daughter Elizabeth was apparently born in Glasgow in 1814, although we have been unable to find her birth.

It is not known whether the Stephens had any other children between 1814 and 1819.


Scotland to Canada & America, 1819

Jean Stephen, nee Borthwick, left Scotland for America in the same year as her younger brother Robert, who arrived in the USA on 27 September 1819. Jean and Walker and their daughter Elizabeth took passage on the vessel �Augusta� for St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, on 30 September, 1819, making the trip in forty-four days.

We need to find the records of this trip to see exactly who was on the ship. However, the Olive Tree Genealogy site indicates that there are very few useful immigration records for Canada prior to 1865. There are a few lists pertaining to British-subsidized immigration schemes for the period 1817-1831 and these are available from the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa.

The Stephens remained in St. John for about ten months and then set out on the �Horatio� for Philadelphia, making the trip in eleven days. They spent a few days with Jennie�s brother Robert. We do not have any information from Philadelphia Directories or census circa 1820. Robert, who was a cabinetmaker & upholsterer, certainly appears in Philadelphia Directories from 1840 onwards.

(For the pages on Robert Borthwick and his family, click here.
(For the beginnings of a collection of information about Borthwicks in Philadelphia click here.

They went to Uncle George Stephen on the Lancaster line. Who was he?

Walker and Jennie as well as their immediate family were located in and around Berks County, Pennsylvania as well as possibly Lebanon and Lancaster counties (which adjoin Berks County). Uncle George Stephen was .....


Walker Stephen

The following information comes almost entirely from the 1948 family letter, rearranged for convenience. We will add more to this core information as it comes to hand.

Walker & Jennie Stephen moved to Womelsdorf in March 1825, where he taught school until 1868. There was at that time only one other English speaking family in the town.

Walker was a strong advocate of the free school system, and when it was first brought forward in the state, he did much to give it shape and success. �The State Historical Report of 1877� says - �Walker Stephen is now in his nineties and the oldest teacher in the County, having taught school for at least sixty years, as late as 1868.�

"In his political views he was a Whig and a very strong anti-slavery man, a regular subscriber to the �Anti-Slavery Standard� and a personal friend of the editor, who visited him while the cause was being agitated. In 1840 he was the only man in Berks County who voted for James C. Birney, the abolition candidate for President, who received only 343 votes in the state. In 1844, he succeeded in influencing two more votes, and lived to see the shackles of 4,000,000 slaves removed and made men in the eyes of the law."

Walker was a Presbyterian of the Old School and was an active projector of the Presbyterian Church in Womelsdorf. For fifty years he was engaged in Sunday School Work and was Superintendent until age compelled him to discontinue. He was a devout Christian, thoroughly conversant with the Bible, and was loved and respected by all who came in contact with him. The Reverend Thomas Leinbach, in his funeral service paid him a rare tribute, saying the he was more like Christ than any man he had ever known.

He was a wonderful man in every respect, possessing a remarkable memory and excellent eyesight - never having used glasses. Although his hair had been silvery white for forty years, he walked as straight as an arrow.

Walker must have been interested in the history of settlers in the US as he at one time visited the �Old Derry Church� at Derry, Pennsylvania and found many families from Ireland and Scotland buried in the cemetery there.


Family of Jean (Jennie) Borthwick & Walker Stephen

The only sources of information we have about the family of Walter and Jennie Stephens are two family letters.

In July 1843 Jennie's brother, John Borthwick then living at 3 Cresswell Street, Liverpool in England, wrote to another brother William Murray Borthwick in Australia.

My dear Brother

... I had a letter from Robert a few weeks ago, & Jean was on a visit with him at Philadelphia, Jean has only two children left, big Agnus [Angus? Agnes?], & John, both at maturity.

Then in 1948 a granddaughter of Jennie and Walker in America wrote the following:

Of his eight children, three lived to maturity. Mrs. Eliza Phillips, Dr. John Stephen, and Mrs. Agnes Quimby. He left fourteen grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren.

Elizabeth STEPHEN. Eliza must be Elizabeth who it is said was born in Glasgow in 1814. This is interesting as John Borthwick refers to only two living children - John and Agnes / Angus, not an Elizabeth. Again there is a possibility that the first Elizabeth died and another, younger child was named after her. I've not yet been able to find Elizabeth Phillips or her family in the 1880 census.

John STEPHEN. John was born in the USA in 1823. He became a doctor and married four times. The edited text of the 1948 family letter is as follows:

John Stephen, was born in 1823. He married Eliza Sallade who died very young, leaving one child, Henrietta Borthwick Stephen. She married Penrose Mark of Lebanon, a brillant lawyer, who was a Major in the Army at the time she married him. ... Two of her sons married, the other two as well as the two daughters are still single. She brought up her family to think that she came first and when she died at eighty-seven they were all still dancing attendance upon her! ...

The second wife was Amanda Reed who died at the age of thirty-two, leaving four children, ranging from five to eleven. Walker, Emma, John M. and Elizabeth. Walker studied medicine also at the University of Penn. He had one son, Walker, who was a druggist. Young Walker had a daughter, Jane who is about thirty-four years old and married to a good looking Irishman, William Bagley. They live in the country a few miles below Reading and have a little girl about five or six. She has beautiful red hair - the only one in the family I ever knew of who had red hair.

Emma married Henry Buch and had three children, Harry, Emily and Elizabeth. There are no children from that branch. You know Emily, I�m sure. She is the one who was at Strawbridges for years, and is still living in Phila., although she is retired now.

John Michael studied medicine at Jefferson after he was married, having first wanted to be a public reader. He had gone to the National School of Elecution & Oratory in Phila. and would have been a wonderful success on the stage, but his health would not permit him to continue with the work he loved, so he followed the line of least resistance and became a doctor!

Elizabeth married Benneville Bertolet and left three sons, Bentley, Reed and Wellington. She died at the age of thirty-two or three. Her sons all have families of boys. Wellington is the only one living. He and his two sons are lawyers in Reading. Bentley�s children scattered, and Reed�s live in California.

At about forty-five with five children, grandfather married his third wife, Margaret Anna Leisse, who was about seventeen! William Leissie Stephen was the first child, but she had a little girl who lived to be five. She must have been perfectly lovely in every way - her name was Mary.

The fourth wife buried John Stephen and fortunately had no children!

John Stephen's second and third wives, Amanda Reed and Margaret Anna Leisse, were cousins. Apparently, Amanda Reed's father was Michael Reed whose mother Elizabeth Leisse was a sister to Margaret Anna Leisse's father, John Leisse.

John is buried at Womelsdorf with his four wives. If any reader lives near Womelsdorf and is willing to take a photo of this grave members of the family would be absolutely delighted.

Agnes STEPHEN. All we know so far about Agnes is that she married a Quimby. If Agnes is the Nancy Quimby found in the 1880 census then she was a very late child to Walker and Jennie Stephen, born around 1851 as she was only 29 years old in 1880. Was she named after the Agnes who had been alive and "at maturity" when John Borthwick wrote to his brother in 1843?

[Since writing the above I've been kindly advised by Dee McNeil and also by Quimby / Quinby researcher Peter Quinby, that the Nancy Quimby in the 1880 census was Nancy Jane, dau of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth (Thompson) WRIGHT, b. 1852 at Eire, PA. This is an amazing coincidence as the census shows that Nancy's father was born in Ireland and mother in Scotland, exactly as would be expected for "our" Agnes Quimby. Apparently the full Quimby family history can be found in The Genealogical History of the Quimby Family, 1915 by Mr. Henry Cole Quimby.

So, I am now stuck and would appreciate help or advice from any Quimby researcher who may be able to untangle this mystery.]

Five other children. Five other children were born in Scotland or the USA but died before adulthood. I have been unable to find the births of any children of Jennie and Walker anywhere in the UK. We have much research to be done!

The visit to Robert in 1843

Berks, Lebanon and Lancaster counties (which adjoin Berks County) are only 60-70 miles from Philadelphia. Thus, Jennie's visit to her brother Robert in 1843 was probably just a short trip from the Womelsdorf area, not, as I had earlier assumed, a trip from Scotland to the USA.

Descendant and spouse surnames for Walker and Jennie STEPHEN include: BAGLEY, BARRETT, BERTOLET, BUCH, DRY, LEISSE, LISKOW, MELLINGER, PHILLIPS, QUIMBY, REED, SALLADE, WEIGLEY and of course STEPHEN.

Descendants include Wellington M Bertolet, named after his Uncle.


Descendants in the 1880 census

I have not been able to find the Phillips family in the 1880 census. (Elizabeth Stephen, born Glasgow 1814, is said to have married a Phillips.)

The Quimby Family

As noted above I was fairly certain that the Nancy Quimby below in the 1880 census was "our" Agnes, but Guimby genealogists have advised that this assumption is wrong so I would be glad to hear from anyone who can help out on the Quimby branch of the STEPHEN family. For the record I've included the census details I found.

Census Place: Hickory, Mercer, Pennsylvania
Source: FHL Film 1255155 National Archives Film T9-1155 Page 147C
Relation Sex Marr Race Age Birthplace
Go. A. QUIMBY Self M M W 34 PA
Occ: Painter Fa: PA Mo: PA
Nancy G. QUIMBY Wife F M W 29 PA
Occ: Keeping House Fa: IRE Mo: SCOT
Charles C. QUIMBY Son M S W 9 PA
Fa: PA Mo: PA
Elmer H. QUIMBY Son M S W 4 PA

The John Stephen Family

Census Place: Reading, Berks, Pennsylvania
Source: FHL Film 1255101 National Archives Film T9-1101 Page 250D
Relation Sex Marr Race Age Birthplace
John STEPHEN Self M M W 56 PA
Occ: Doctor Fa: IRE Mo: SCOT
Margaret A. STEPHEN Wife F M W 31 PA
Occ: Keeping House Fa: PA Mo: PA
John M. STEPHEN Son M S W 25 PA
Occ: Elecutionist Fa: PA Mo: PA
Willie L. STEPHEN Son M S W 12 PA
Occ: At School Fa: PA Mo: PA
Clara GRETH Other F S W 23 PA

Occ: House Keeper Fa: PA

A John M Stephen was Worshipful Master of Williamson Lodge No 307 in Womelsdorf in 1857.

On a Berks County genealogy page Andrew found the 1876 Atlas of Berks County. There is a map of Womelsdorf that has listed the house of Dr. J. Stephen (Walker and Jennie's son) on High Street, near 2nd. Of course, in the 1948 family letter it mentions that Walker and John moved to Reading, PA in 1868. Thus, another mystery, but an interesting find.

The Weigley Family

In 1865 Mary A? Borthwick, daughter of Robert and Sophia Borthwick and niece of Jennie Borthwick, married Captain Rex Weigley in Schaefferstown, Lebanon Country, Pennsylvania. he was the son of William M Weigley and Anna Rex. The Weigley family appears in the 1880 census as follows:

Census Place: Schaefferstown, Lebanon, Pennsylvania
Source: FHL Film 1255145 National Archives Film T9-1145 Page 112B
Relation Sex Marr Race Age Birthplace
Rex WEIGLEY Self M M W 38 PA
Occ: Merchant Fa: PA Mo: PA
Marry WEIGLEY Wife F M W 37 PA
Occ: Keeping House Fa: SCOTLAND Mo: CANADA
Anna WEIGLEY Dau F S W 11 PA
Occ: Keeping House Fa: PA Mo: ---
William WEIGLEY Son M S W 10 PA
Occ: Laborer Fa: PA Mo: PA
Ray WEIGLEY Son M S W 4 PA
Fa: PA Mo: PA
Robert WEIGLEY Son M S W 2 PA
Fa: PA Mo: PA
Jesse WEIGLEY Son M S W 4M PA

Later Anna Rex Weigley, aged 11 in this census, married her cousin Willie Leisse Stephen, son of Dr John Stephen and Margaret Anna Leisse. This is a great bonus in our family research as it may help to break through the brick walls of research into the family of Robert and Sophia Borthwick!

Grandchildren

1. First the MARK Family, Henrietta Borthwick Stephen and her husband Penrose Mark:

Census Place: 2nd Ward, Lebanon, Lebanon, Pennsylvania
Source: FHL Film 1255145 National Archives Film T9-1145 Page 283A
Relation Sex Marr Race Age Birthplace
P. G. MARK Self M M W 35 PA Occ: Lawyer Fa: PA Mo: PA
Etta MARK Wife F M W 34 PA Occ: Keeping House Fa: PA Mo: PA
W. Earl MARK Son M S W 12 PA Occ: At Home Fa: PA Mo: PA
Annie S. MARK Dau F S W 10 PA Occ: At Home Fa: PA Mo: PA
Mame S. MARK Dau F S W 9 PA Occ: At Home Fa: PA Mo: PA
William R. MARK Son M S W 7 PA Occ: At Home Fa: PA Mo: PA
Kate Z. MARK Dau F S W 3 PA Occ: At Home

93rd. Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Page records the following details for Penrose Mark:

Penrose G. Mark Penrose G. Mark-The author of The Red: White: and Blue Badge. Capt. Oct.12,1861 promoted from 1st. Sgt. to 2nd Lt. June 1,1862 to 1st.Lt. Jan.16,1863 to Capt. May 19,1864 to Brevet Major April 2,1865. Wounded at Opequan VA. Sept.19,1864 and Cedar Creek, VA. Oct.19,1864: went to Brigade Inspector 1st. Brig. 2nd. Division Sixth Corp. On the staff of Brig. General Warner June 15,1865. Mustered out with Co. June 27,1865: Vet. LAID TO REST IN MT. LEBANON CEMETERY

The full title of the book written by Penrose Mark was Red: white: and blue badge, Pennsylvania veteran volunteers. It is a history of the 93rd regiment, known as the "Lebanon infantry" and "One of the 300 fighting regiments" from September 12th, 1861, to June 27th, 1865. The history was authorized by the executive committee of the 93rd Pennsylvania veteran volunteer association and was published in Harrisburg, Pa. by The Aughinbaugh press in 1911.

2. Next the BERTOLET family. Although the parents' birthplaces seem to be wrong for both Benneville (wrongly recorded as Bengiman) and Lizzie Bertolet the unusual childrens' names match those in the family letter:

Census Place: Reading, Berks, Pennsylvania
Source: FHL Film 1255101 National Archives Film T9-1101 Page 8D
Relation Sex Marr Race Age Birthplace
Bengiman BERTOLET Self M M W 35 PA Occ: Railroad Supt Fa: ENG Mo: ENG
Lizzie BERTOLET Wife F M W 22 PA Occ: Keeping House Fa: ENG Mo: ENG
Bentley BERTOLET Son M S W 3 PA Fa: PA Mo: PA
Reed BERTOLET Son M S W 9M PA Fa: PA Mo: PA
Flora LESHEE Other F S W 17 PA Occ: Servent

Pennsylvania Volunteers of the Civil War Independent Battery D (Durell's) Recruited in Berks and Bucks Counties September 24, 1861 included Privates Wellington and Benneville Bertolet. This is almost certainly Lizzie Bertolet's husband and his twin brother, after whom they later named their child.

Benneville Bertolet's family tree is on Guy L. Bierman's pages recording the descendants of Louis Bertolet. Apparently the Bertolet family has been very prominent in the Oley Valley since their arrival there in 1726. Benneville was born in 1845 in Reading, PA. He served with his twin brother, Wellington, as a Private in Durell's Independent Battery D, during the Civil War. He was living with Wellington in the 1870 Census, and was a baggage master with the railroad.

Guy has recently sent me some more information on the Bertolet brothers, Benneville and Wellington, so if any reader is connected to this family I'd be delighted to hear from you.

3. Could this be the BUCH family in the 1880 census?

Census Place: West Earl, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Source: FHL Film 1255140 National Archives Film T9-1140 Page 224A
Relation Sex Marr Race Age Birthplace
Hyde G. BUCH Self M M W 24 PA Occ: Farmer Fa: PA Mo: PA
Emma BUCH Wife F M W 20 PA Occ: Keeping House Fa: PA Mo: PA
Mima BUCH Dau F S W 5M PA Fa: PA Mo: PA
Amanda BUCH Mother F W W 46 PA Occ: At Home Fa: PA Mo: PA
Henry S. BUCH Brother M S W 20 PA Occ: Cigar Maker Fa: PA Mo: PA Abraham BAER Other M S W 19 PA Occ: Servant

Henry Buch was the son of Samuel Buch and Elizabeth Mishler. Darwin R. Mishler has a website with information on the Buch family, taken from a small book published in 1921, by John Milton Mishler, "History of Mishler Families and Their Descendants".

4. And finally, I wonder whether this could be young Walker Stephen, later to become a druggist, and his mother? If so, where was his father, Dr Walter Stephen in 1880?
Census Place: Reading, Berks, Pennsylvania
Source: FHL Film 1255101 National Archives Film T9-1101 Page 249B
Relation Sex Marr Race Age Birthplace
Lewis H. WUNDER Self M M W 57 PA Occ: Ticket Agent Fa: PA Mo: PA
Susan H. WUNDER Wife F M W 57 PA Occ: Keeping House Fa: PA Mo: PA
W. W. WUNDER Son M S W 30 PA Occ: Tobacconist Fa: PA Mo: PA
Sallie STEPHENS Dau F D W 27 PA Occ: Keeping House Fa: PA Mo: PA
Walker S. STEPHENS GSon M S W 5 PA Occ: At School

Deaths of Jean and Walker Stephen

According to the 1948 letter "Grandfather and Grandmother lived happily beyond their golden wedding, never having been separated throughout their whole married life, except on one occasion."

Jennie Stephen, nee Borthwick, died in 1867 at the age of 78 (which means she was born circa 1789). Her brother Robert Borthwick was at the funeral. It is said that he was aged 80 but this can't be correct as the Robert we know of was born in 1798 so was younger than Jennie. Perhaps he was 70, not 80, at the funeral?

Walter Stephen died on 11 November, 1878, aged 93 years, 3 months, and 26 days.

Where are they buried?


Elizabeth Dinwoodie / Dinwiddie

Interestingly the 1948 letter written in the US refers to Elizabeth Dinwoodie being a niece of Governor Robert Dinwoodie / Dinwiddie, Governor of Virginia. This fact keeps surfacing in family information all around the world, including research provided by Scots Ancestry Research in the 1950s, but I can't find the relationship. In fact Dinwoodie / Dinwiddie researchers say that Elizabeth could not possibly be Robert's niece.

Is there a lost line of Dinwoodie's somewhere?

I suspect, but do not know, that Elizabeth's father was John Dinwoodie of Chappel Farm, near Kirkpatrick-Juxta. He was possibly related to the Dinwoodies of Gardenholm / Gardenholme, near Moffat.

If any reader is able to help unravel this mystery I would love to hear from you.



Copyright: Ann Carson 2001
All rights reserved.
Created: 29 April 2002
Last Updated: