Index Pg2
The name Plumstead is derived from Plomb, a commune in Normandy, near the ancient town and cathedral of Ayranches, and the Saxon word Staede, signifying house or residence, farm house; hence Plombstede signified a householder in the commune of P10mb. The family was of Norman origin and the name was de Plomstede and de Plumstede for many generations. The de Plumstedes came to England with William the Conqueror and settled in Norfolk and Kent, where three parishes yet bear their name. Plumstede parish in Norfolk, one hundred and fifty miles north of London, was part of the Lordship of William Ea~1 of Warren, on whom it was conferred by William, Turold the Saxon proprietor being despoiled of it; and William de Plumstede and Pleasure, his wife, were residents there in 1293. In 1308 William, son of Bartholomew de Calthorpe, conveyed to Clement de Plumstede and Catharine, his wife, four messuages in the parishes of Plumstede, Baconsthorpe, Matlaske and Hemstede. Another Clement de Plumstede was living there as late as 1377, and married Alice, daughter of Sir John de Repps, who by will devised to his grandson, John de Plumstede, his tenements in Shipden and Cremer, with the mill, villians, etc. A John de Plumstede, Esq., Lord of the Nether Court in King�s Waldon, Hertfordshire, was buried at Plumstede Church in 1561; his will dated September 22, 1560, mentions wife Frideswide, two sons, John and Thomas, and several daughters. The parish registers of the Church of St. Michael, at Plumstead in county Norfolk, dating back to 1551, show the name of Plumstede and Plumstead, at intervals, two to three centuries ago. In the chancel of the church were the arms of the Plumstede family, sable, three chevrons ermine, on the upper, three annulets of the first; and their crest, a Griffin�s head erased on a coronet. Several authorities have given slightly different descriptions of the armorial bearings of the family. That given in Burke�s General Armory,� page 809, as granted by Clarenceux, August 3, 1573, to Norfolk family of Plumstede, is �Ermine three chevrons sable--each charged with as many annulets argent� and the Crest, �Out of Coronet or, a Griffin�s head argent.� The seal used by Clement Plumstead, of Philadelphia, and attached to his will in 1745, is ermine three chevrons, with a faint indication of three annulets in the uppermost part; and the crest used by his son William and attached to his will, was the same as that described by Burke, and a letter written by William, December 25, 1740, contains a seal with the same crest and the above described arms in perfect condition. The seal on letters from Robert Plumstead, of London, son of Clement Plumstead, of London, the East Jersey Proprietor, contains practically the same seal. These facts seem to clearly indicate that the Plumstead family, of Philadelphia, descended from the ancient family of Plumstede Hall, and the parishes of Great and Little Plumstead in Norfolk, where William de Plumstede was granted land in 1189, and acquired other lands in 1190, and where the family were seated for many generations. Soon after the formation of the Society of Friends in England, some of the Norfolk family became converts to the faith as well as others residing in and near London. At least two distinct branches of the family became identified with the Colonies in America, at an early date. Francis Plumstead, ironmonger, of the �Minories,� London, signer of Penn�s charter of 1683, acquired 2500 acres of land in Pennsylvania in 1683, and It was eventually laid out to him in the township, which still bears his name in Bucks county, though he never located in America. He sold his 2500 acres in Plumstead township, 1707, to Richard Hill.
Clement Plumstead, of London, draper and merchant, was a large purchaser of land in East Jersey and was one of the Proprietors there. His lands descended to his eldest son and heir, Robert Plumstead, a merchant of London, who conveyed a portion of them to his relative, Clement Plumstead, of Philadelphia. There was also a Thomas Plumstead, of Bartholomew�s Lane, London, who married Anne Whitlock in 1672, Clement Plumstead, of Philadelphia, by his will in 1745, makes his cousin, Thomas Plumstead, of London, a trustee of his minor sons�s estate, but his parentage or the exact connection with the Plumstead family of London has never been ascertained.
Clement Plumstead, Provincial Councillor, of Philadelphia, makes his first appearance in that city in 1697, when he witnessed a deed made by Samuel Carpenter. On August 20, 1700, Clement Plumstead, of London, makes Samuel Carpenter and Clement Plumstead, of Philadelphia, his attorneys to collect moneys of George Wilcocks. From the declaration as to age made in the opening clause in his will, 1745, it is shown that he was born in the year 1680.