canby



Canby
copyright 2003, MJP Grundy
"Daylily", block print by Anne E. G. Nydam, used by permission.



This page is not intended to be a definitive Canby genealogy. It hopes to provide thorough and accurate information about the ancestors of Elizabeth (Canby) Lacey (1696-1745). Sources and notes can be seen by clicking on the small bracketted blue numbers.

If you have corrections or additions, I would be delighted to hear from you via e mail at


Suggested Earlier Generations


In the absence of my own primary research, I'll begin with work done by descendant Henry Seidel Canby, who found George CanbyD, born in approximately 1545. See an explanation of the numbering system used on this web page. George was church warden in Hatfield Township in 1601 and a trustee for the education of a child in 1607. Darrell Kitchen has posted his work-in-progress on the early Canby family and writes that after George Canby died, his widow Janet married __ BRIGGS. Her will, as Janet Briggs, was recorded 25 September 1629. In it she said she was of Sykehouse, a part of Thorne, and gave the names of five children: Edward, Thomas, William, George, and Ann Canby. Data gleaned from familysearch provides names in our line beginning with this same George. Although the data from Darrell Kitchen and familysearch has not been verified or documented by me, it tends to corroborate the information from Henry Seidel Canby.[1]

Children of George and Janet (__) Canby (order may be slightly different and may be incomplete):

i.    Edward CanbyC, b. 1571; m. 1595 Jane ___.

ii.   Thomas Canby, “the Officer” of Hatfield Chase. The task of Officer of the Chase was to serve as the “master of the game”, to work as the chief administrator of the Chase, under the chief justice in Eyre, north of Trent. Charles I passed through the Chase twice. In April 1642 he stopped in Thorne to rest and have a cup of ale. Presumably Thomas conducted him across a dangerous stretch of moor. This part of Yorkshire was sharply divided in sympathy, more or less on class lines. It appears likely that Charles bestowed arms on the old officer. The arms are recorded, and legit. “a fess ermine”. How the arms moved from Thomas the Officer to his great nephew, is not documented, but presumably Thomas and his son died without issue. So the arms were inherited by Thomas the Elder as nearest male relative. Descendant Henry Seidel Canby speculates that Thomas was listed as “old” in 1641; his nephew or great nephew was Edward, son of Thomas. Thomas Canby the Officer perhaps had a son, Theophilus, who d. in Thorne in 1658.[2] I have not done primary research on these people, so am unclear why the caveat is included about "nephew or great nephew". Some research seems needed here.

iii.    William Canby, b.

iv.     George Canby, b.

v.     Ann Canby, b.



Edward CanbyC, perhaps the eldest son, was born in 1571. He married Jane __ in 1595. The couple, like Edward's parents, lived in Thorne. Edward was styled “gentleman”.[3]

Thorne is a market town and parish, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, close to the Lincolnshire border, twenty-nine miles south by east from York. It is on the verge of the moors, the center of Hatfield Chase. Its church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, was built at the time of Edward III, mainly of later English style, with a square tower surmounted with pinnacles. Foundations of an old castle were still visible in the mid-nineteenth century.[4]

Edward and Jane "were named in a lawsuit in September 1595. They were recorded as 'deforciants', who were one of those who withheld wrongfully the possession of lands or tenements or who would eject others by force. The plaintiffs in the matter were Cotonus HORNE and James GREENE. The suit involved a transfer of a 'messuage', or dwelling house with adjacent buildings, and land located in South Hyndley."[4a]

In1609 there was big excitement in the neighborhood when Roger PORTINGDON, Esq., of Tudworth, entertained Henry, Prince of Wales at an aquatic stag hunt. Five hundred stags (rounded up ahead of time) were driven out of the forest into the water, where the party of one hundred, in boats, gave chase.[5] Presumably Edward and Jane and their children would have watched.

At this time Thorne was surrounded by “a network of waterways, meres, and marshes, with islands of firm ground.” It was fairly wild and sparsely inhabited. The vast forest that had once covered Hatfield Chase was a rich source of peat. In about 1700 a later Edward Canby dug up from his moors a single oak that was forty yards long and four yards in diameter.[6] What relation he might be to our emigrant Canbys is unknown (to me).

Possible children of Edward and Jane (__) Canby:

i.    Theophilus CanbyB, b.

ii.    Jane Canby, b.

iii.   Thomas Canby, called “the Elder”, b. 1604; d. 16 Mar. 1668 in Thorne. He inherited his uncle’s arms.


There is a George Canbye who was a member of the Selbye Particular Meeting in 1668. Selbye was one of four local meetings making up one monthly meeting. Selbye drew Friends from the towns of Braton, Skipwith, Cottenworth, and Aughton in the West Riding of Yorkshire.[6a] I have no idea if this George connects to our family, or not.


Thomas CanbyB, called “the Elder”, presumably because of nephews or sons also named Thomas Canby, was born in 1604, probably in Thorne.[7] He was the grandson of George, but whether his father was Edward (most probably) or William or George is not proved.[8] He married Mary __, who was born in 1608 and died in September 1650 and was buried on the 13th of that month in Thorne. Thomas died 16 March 1668 in Thorne.

During the reign of Charles I the fenny district of Thorne was drained. Sir Cornelius VERMUYDEN, a Protestant who had fled persecution in Flanders, purchased the estate and used £400,000 of his own money to convert it to arable land and pasture. The work was completed to the astonishment of the nation and great benefit to the local economy, in gratitude for which, Lewis drily notes, Vermuyden was allowed to die in indigent circumstances.[9] Apparently diverting the River Don away from the town, and encouraging an influx of new settlers “stirred up controversy and actual warfare” between the lowland inhabitants and the foreigners that lasted for a generation. Although no Canby is known to have participated in the violence, Edward’s farm would have suffered loss due to flood and broken dikes.[10]

Thomas was a man of property. He had a house and buildings on Pinden Hills, 90 acres near Wroote, and 17 acres in the West Moores under lease from Sir James CAMBELL’s estate. He purchased 30 acres at Wroote, near Thorne. He also had a house near the “Sluce”, and a dwelling house called Pinfold House, in Reedum Lane near the Dutch Bank.[11]

Thomas wrote his will on October 17, 1667, identifying himself as the "Elder of Thorne and Gentleman". It was sealed and impressed with the family arms and deposited at York. The will was proved on 6 March 1668, and "provided that the eldest son, Edward, would have thirty acres of land near Wroote. His son John received the lease from Sir Thomas ABDY's ninety-eight acres near Wroote and seventeen acres in West Moore." The abstract of the will does not mention any bequests to Benjamin, Thomas, and the four daughters, Mary, Phebe, Anne, and Hester. His son Edward was named executor. As the eldest son and heir, Edward inherited the Thomas's dwelling "Pinfold House", and market rights which Richard CROMWELL had granted to the town.[12]

Children of Thomas and Mary (__) Canby (may be incomplete or out of order):[13]

i.    Edward CanbyA, b. 1630; d. 1702 in Thorne. Gentleman. Rather wealthy, inherited handsomely from his father, and married into wealth ca. 1663 Elizabeth, daughter of Richard ELMHIRST, Gent. of Houndhill, in the parish of Worsborough. The Elmhirst arms are quartered with the Canby “fess ermine” on a silver platter and tankard still owned by a descendant. One of Edward’s daughters married a CUTTS. Sections of his old house were still in existence in 1918, as part of a larger Victorian house.[14] Children of Edward and Elizabeth:
a) Mary Canby who was baptized in 1664;
b) Thomas Canby who was baptized in 1667;
c) Joan Canby;
d) Elizabeth Canby;
e) John Canby;
f) Theopilus Canby;
g) Phebe Canby;
h) Samuel Canby;
i) Anne Canby;
j) Richard Canby;
k) Susannah Canby;
l) Mary Canby.
ii.      John Canby,

iii.    Thomas Canby, bur. 2 Sept. 1709 in Thorne; m(1) ca. 1662 Jane __; Jane d. 17 June 1686; m(2) __. Thomas and Jane may have had a son Benjamin who removed to New Hope, Bucks Co., Pennsylvania. Additional children include:[15]
a) Elizabeth Canby, who was baptized on April 22, 1663;
b) Charles Canby, who was baptized on September 4, 1664;
c) George Canby, who was baptized on August 4, 1666;
d) Henry Canby, who was baptized on May 11, 1672;
e) Mary Canby, who was baptized on August 19, 1673;
f) Phebe Canby, who was baptized on April 8, 1676;
g) Edward Canby, who was baptized on May 9, 1678;
h) John Canby, who was baptized on June 17, 1686.
iv.   Mary Canby, presumably d.y.

v.    Phebe Canby, m. James STAINTON; [alternatively, m. Samuel MACKWITH, according to Kitchen]

vi.    Hester Canby, m. Samuel STARKEY; [alternatively, m. 24 Sept. 1658 Richard STARKEY of Thorne Parish - Kitchen]

vii.   Anne Canby, [m. James STAINTON, according to Kitchen]

viii.  Mary Canby, m. John ATKINSON;

ix.   Sara Canby, d. Aug. 1644; bur. at Thorne.

x.   Benjamin Canby, b. 6 Sept. 1637; d. 1681/2; married twice.


Last Generation (of this line) in England


Benjamin Canby
A was born on 6 September 1637, presumably in Thorne, the son of Thomas and Mary. Benjamin died in 1682, probably in Liverpool. He married twice, Mary or Elizabeth BAKER or BOKER, and Jane HALL.

The town of Thorne was mostly built of brick, with carved stone cornices on the more prosperous older houses. There were the ruins of a Norman castle, whose dungeons were used by Thomas Canby (a cousin) as a cellar. [16] Benjamin, as a younger son, received very little from his father, and no land.

Benjamin married Elizabeth or Mary Baker, or Boker or Boaker. There is some disagreement about both her name and the date. A wedding date of 26 March 1678, and name Elizabeth are from Canby’s Family History; the Biographical Dictionary of Pennsylvania Legislators gives no date, and calls her Mary, saying that she had died by 1678.[17] Their children were christened in Thorne in the 1660s, which makes a wedding date of 1678 problematical unless there were indeed two different wives. All of the children except Thomas seem to have died quite young and were buried in Thorne (with the possible exception of Edward).

At some time after that the family became Friends, perhaps under the influence of Henry BAKER, who has been said to be a brother of Elizabeth.[18] The rest of the family were staunch Anglicans, and wealthier cousins left gifts to the church and served as trustees of schools, etc. There was a Quaker George Canby of Selby (near Thorne) but his relationship is not known to me.[19] (See above.)

Benjamin had moved to Liverpool by 1678, probably after the death of his wife. There he set up as a distiller, and married for the second time, Jane HALL or Elton at the Friends meeting in Tamworth, Warwickshire.[20]

Benjamin was an active member of Hardshaw Monthly Meeting. In Great Britain each monthly meeting consisted of a number of smaller preparative meetings within a geographical area. Benjamin attended the monthly meetings for business at least fifteen times between August 1678 and July 1681. He, Phineas PEMBERTON, and others were appointed to a committee to gather the names of all Friends indicted at the quarter session for religious offenses. The committee was also charged to speak with Friends who had paid tithes and those who were “over comme” with sleep in meeting for worship. Benjamin also served on a marriage oversight committee.[21]

Benjamin died in 1681/2 in Liverpool, and was buried in the Friends burying place in Whitfield parish, Flintshire, Wales, as requested in his will. On 31 January 1682 the administration of his will was granted by the Consistory Court at Chester to Peter ALLEN, blacksmith from Liverpool. It is possible that Peter Allen was not a Friend and therefore able to swear the oaths required by the court. Benjamin bequeathed to his son Thomas two pieces of land in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, to be held in trust for him by Benjamin's brother Edward until Thomas became an adult. In the meanwhile Thomas was to be raised and tutored by his stepmother Jane and Friends in Lancashire.[22]

Children of Benjamin and Elizabeth/Mary (Baker) Canby:

i.    Edward Canby1 , b. 9 Apr. 1663; bapt. 16 May 1664;

ii.    Elizabeth Canby, christened 10 [or 16?] May 1664 in Thorne; d. 20 May 1664..

iii.    Benjamin Canby, perhaps d. before 30 March 1681 when another son was named Benjamin?

iv.    Henry Canby, christened 24 May 1666 in Thorne; d. 9 Sept. 1666.

v.    Thomas Canby, b. 9 Apr. 1667; christened 19 Apr. 1667 [or 1668?]in Thorne; d. 20/9m (Nov.) 1742 in Wrightstown, Bucks Co., Penna.[23]

vi.    Henry Canby, bapt. 1669; d. Mar. 1669.

vii.    Katherine Canby, christened 29 Mar. 1671 in Thorne; d. Aug. 1671.

Child of Benjamin and his second wife Jane:[24]

viii.   Benjamin Canby, b. 30 Mar. 1681; d. before 24 Oct. 1681 as he was not mentionedin his father's will.



Immigrant Generation


Thomas Canby1, son of Benjamin and Elizabeth/Mary, was born in Thorne, Yorkshire, on 9 April 1667, and ten days later his parents had him christened in the Anglican parish church.[25] Sometime after that the family became convinced of Friends’ principles and joined that persecuted group. Thomas died 20 November 1742 in Solebury, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He married three times.

Thomas’s mother died when he was very young, and his father died in 1681. At first Thomas’s step mother Jane intended to move from Liverpool, but after three members of Hardshaw Monthly Meeting met with her, she was persuaded to remain and allow the Meeting to assist her in apprenticing her step-son. In August the Meeting learned that Thomas had been sent to Dublin, apprenticed to Michael SMITH. But the lad soon returned, Smith claiming he “could not fitt him for an apprentice.” In December 1683 the Meeting ordered Thomas to remain with another uncle, Henry BAKER, who lived in Walton, Lancashire, near Liverpool. Jane’s name no longer appeared in the minutes, so perhaps she had died or moved. In April 1684 Thomas was still living with Henry Baker when he refused to be bound apprentice to Tristram JACKSON, but was willing to go with his uncle to Pennsylvania. Baker took Thomas with him as one of his ten indentured servants.[26]

Thomas’s Uncle Henry Baker purchased 500 acres in Pennsylvania in Fifth Month 1684.[27] Henry, with Thomas in tow, sailed to Penn’s colony from Liverpool on the Vine, William PREESON, Master. They landed in Philadelphia 17 Seventh Month [September] 1684.[28] The Falls Monthly Meeting minutes of Fifth Month [July] 1685 record that Henry BAKER reported to the meeting that he took, “of charity”, the destitute Thomas, son of Benjamin Canby of Liverpool. Young Thomas had then been with Henry for six months, no suitable place being found for him. So William YARDLEY (1632-1693) and Thomas JANNEY (1633-1697) were appointed to talk with Henry and Thomas to see how long Thomas should serve Henry.[29] Thomas was apprenticed to Henry Baker “for Joseph fferror” for four years.[30] Baker’s nephew Thomas Canby was registered as one of the servants accompanying him, who was to work for his passage an indeterminate time plus for the 6 months (presumably in England) he had “rested with him at his charge.” Descendant Henry Seidel Canby concludes, “Baker seems to have been a skinflint. Four years was the usual time an able-bodied man was supposed to work to pay off the five pounds paid for his transportation across seas, but Thomas’s uncle persuaded the [Quarterly] meeting, to which young Thomas must have appealed, to bind the boy for five years from June 15, 1685, in addition to his year already passed as a servant; then he was to be given apparel and ‘what other things are allowed by law to minors so brought over.’” [31]

There is some dispute over where Thomas first settled. If he was bound to Henry, he would have been living with Henry in Falls, unless Henry put him in charge of one of his more distant pieces of property—an unlikely assignment for an apprentice. H. S. Canby claims Thomas settled at first in Cheltenham, and took up land near present Willow Grove, and that he was a member of Abington Monthly Meeting.[32] But the Falls Meeting records indicate that Thomas lived with Henry until his indenture was finished in 1688, then continued on in Falls until 1693 when he married and settled in Abington.

Thomas’s difficulties with his relatives were not over when he had finished serving his indenture, however. The Hardshaw Meeting minutes from 17 February 1690/1 to 17 July 1692 indicate there was some disagreement between Thomas and the uncle who was holding in trust the lands Thomas’s father had left him. The Meeting minutes do not record the resolution of the difference.[33] As Friends refused on grounds of conscience to take an oath, the courts were closed to them as an avenue of redress.[33a] Thomas's uncle was apparently not a Friend, and if he wanted to cheat his nephew, it would be relatively easy to do so—with the sanction of the courts.

self portrait of Charles Jarvis, 1725

On 12 Seventh Month [September] 1693 Falls MM sent a certificate to Oxford Meeting, indicating Thomas Canby’s clearness to marry.[34] Oxford Meeting, originally gathering for worship in the home of Sarah SEYERS, was then a particular meeting under Abington Monthly Meeting.[35] The next month, on 27 Eighth Month [October] 1693, at Philadelphia Monthly Meeting he and Sarah JARVIS, or Jervis, the daughter of Charles and Elizabeth (BOORE) declared their intention to marry.[36] They married 2 Ninth Month [November], 1693.[37] Darrell Kitchen writes that they were married in the home of Richard Wall, or Waln, where Abington Meeting met. But this seems somewhat unlikely as usually the marriage took place in the bride's meeting, in this case Philadelphia.

Sarah was Irish, supposedly a sister of Charles Jarvis (1675-1739), London artist and painter to the King, although this seems very dubious to me on the basis of biographical details of the painter.[38] A self-portrait of Charles Jarvis is to the right. A later Charles Jervis was one of the "Virginia exiles", Friends and others in Philadelphia, who were suspected of Tory leanings during the Revolution, and exiled to Winchester. I have not researched to see if there is a connection between him and our Sarah Jervis/Jarvis.

The births of Thomas and Sarah's first six children were recorded at Abington Monthly Meeting.

Thomas was one of the first three trustees appointed in 1697 for Abington School, which was under the care of the meeting.[39] He was appointed an overseer in 1709. He was named a representative to Quarterly Meeting at least seven times between 1705 and 1717 when he transferred his membership.[40]

Thomas purchased 250 acres in the Abington-Cheltenham area from a son of Joseph PHIPPS. In February 1695 Henry Baker reported to Falls Monthly Meeting that Thomas Canby had suffered a loss by fire. A collection of 49/ 1d [49 shillings and 1 pence] was raised immediately to assist him, with more money received the following month.[41]

In 1713 Thomas exchanged his now rebuilt house and 198 acres for a house and 116 acres in Dublin Township, in what became Montgomery County. He added 70 more acres to his farm in 1715. Then in 1717 he purchased 444 acres in Solebury, Bucks County, lying along the Buckingham line, for £200. The family lived there until 1729.[42]

From Abington Monthly Meeting Thomas transferred with his family to Falls Monthly Meeting; his certificate of removal dated 31 First Month [March] 1718/9 was received there on 7 Third Month [May] 1718/9.[43] At the time, Buckingham Preparative Meeting was a part of Falls Monthly Meeting. Thomas was quite active in his meeting, and before Buckingham was set off, he was named an overseer in 1718 and then in 1720 an elder in Falls Monthly Meeting.[44] A weekly meeting for worship had been settled in Buckingham in 1701, meeting at first in homes. In 1706 a meeting house was built, with a larger one constructed in 1729. In 1720 Buckingham Meeting was set off from Falls as an independent monthly meeting. Bucks Quarter minuted that Falls was loath to see them go.[45] The first monthly meeting of Buckingham was held on 6 Tenth Month [December] 1720, and Thomas Canby was named clerk. [46]

With the establishment of the Monthly Meeting Thomas Canby’s name appears regularly in the Buckingham Men’s Meeting minutes. For example, 9 Twelfth Month [February] 1720/1 he was one of two men appointed to speak to James HAMBLETON who had owed money to a Friend in Chester Meeting for a long time. On 3 Eighth Month [October] 1721 Thomas Canby and John SCARBOROUGH were appointed to speak to John KNOWLES to ascertain if he considered himself a member of Buckingham, or any other meeting, since formal recording of memberships had not yet been instituted. On 5 Tenth Month [December] 1721 he and John DAWSON were asked to visit Amor PRESTON’s family to “see how things were with them as to subsistence, and his wife being weak and out of health.” On 6 Fourth Month [June] 1722 Edmund HENSEY, Thomas BROWN, and Thomas Canby were appointed to visit Friends’ families in Solebury. The latter two were appointed the following year to visit again. The gifts Thomas had for the type of spiritual and pastoral work represented by these appointments was acknowledged 8 Eighth Month [October] 1723 when Thomas was named to the station of elder in Buckingham. While recognition of gifts of ministry were transferred from one meeting to another when the minister moved, Friends understood that the gifts of eldering were specific to a particular meeting, and were not transferred when the elder moved.[47] Thomas was instrumental in having the first log meeting house constructed in Plumstead, when a meeting for worship was settled there in 1730. In 1734 the Quarterly Meeting directed that Plumstead and Buckingham together be a Monthly Meeting. The log house stood in Plumstead until replaced by a stone building in 1752.[48] Thomas was clerk of Buckingham Monthly Meeting for 19 years, and had “a gift for the ministry”. Two daughters, Mary and Phoebe, were approved ministers.[49]

Sarah died 8 Second Month [April] 1708.[50] Thomas married for the second time in 4 Second month [April] 1709 Mary OLIVER, daughter of Evan and Jean (LLOYD) Oliver. Mary was born 12 December 1677 in Radnorshire, Wales. She was 31 when she married 41 year old Thomas Canby. Her parents had emigrated with their children David, Elizabeth, John, Mary, Evan, and Hannah on the Bristol Factor, from Glascomb, Radnorshire, in 1682. Another child, “Seaborn Oliver” was born just as the voyage was ending.[51] Thomas and Mary had eight children, in addition to the nine Thomas had with his first wife.

Mary died in 20 Tenth Month [December] 1721.[52] Thomas married for a third time on 9 Eighth Month (October) 1722, Jane (DEYN) PRESTON, born in 1671 in Coverdale, Yorkshire,[52a] the widow of William Preston, and mother of Jonas who married Jane Paxson. Thomas requested a certificate of clearness to Middletown Meeting for this purpose on 4 Seventh Month [September], and it was granted the next monthly meeting, 9 Eighth Month [October].[53] Jane went through a similar clearness process in her meeting, Middletown, where the wedding was held. It was reported at the following monthly meeting in Buckingham, 1 Ninth Month [November] 1722, that the marriage had been accomplished in an orderly manner.[53a] Jane had two children from her first marriage who married her step-sons: Martha Preston, was born 30 July 1700, died in 1 Ninth Month [November] 1729, and married Benjamin Canby, and Sarah Preston, born 6 April 1706 who married Thomas Canby.[54]

autograph of Morris MorrisThomas had a number of real estate dealings, and particularly invested in mills, often in partnership with Samuel CART, Morris MORRIS (his signature is shown on the left)[54a], Anthony MORRIS (1682-1763), and Richard WALN (son of Nicholas). In 1711 he sold his quarter share of a mill in Abington Township for £150, and in 1717 he sold his third share of a mill in Cheltenham Township to Anthony Morris for £193.[55] On 3 December 1717 Jacob HOLCOMB sold him 444 acres in Solebury, Holcombe having purchased it from John SCARBOROUGH in 1709.[56] Eastburn Reeder describes this purchase as two thirds of the Heath Mill tract. This first grist mill in Solebury had been built by Robert HEATH in 1707 on the Great Spring stream.[57] Thomas Canby and Anthony Morris, a Philadelphia brewer, remodeled Heath’s Mill. The ruins were still there in 1918. The farm in New Hope was on the creek leading from the “Great Spring” (which Thomas seems to have owned) to the Delaware.[58] Thomas and his (second) wife Mary then sold one sixth of the original tract (meaning one quarter of their portion) to Anthony Morris on 1 May 1718. In 1718 he requested that a road be laid out from his mill to the New Pennypack Mill. The following year Wrightstown petitioned for that road to be joined with the road to Philadelphia.[59] On 20 December 1720 Thomas sold one quarter (presumably of the original portion, or half of what he had left) to Thomas CHALKLEY.

As was usual for the time, Thomas Canby was asked to witness wills, as he did for John SCARBOROUGH in 1727.[60]

Typical of Friends in early Pennsylvania, Thomas was active in political life as well as the meeting’s life. In 1718 he was an overseer of highways in Solebury. Not coincidently this was the year he requested that a road be laid out to his mill.[61] He was a justice of the peace, serving on the Bucks County court in 1719, 1722, and 1725-27. He served in the Provincial Assembly in 1721, 1722, 1730, 1733, and 1738. He tried to get the ferry privilege from his New Hope lands to Lambertville, and perhaps this is why he entered politics. But in the end the right to run a ferry was given to John WELLS. In 1738 Thomas voted with five other Bucks County representatives to accept a compromise with the Penn family on the issue of paper currency. Legislators in Pennsylvania summed up Thomas Canby’s service in the Pennsylvania Assembly as “five undistinguished terms” of a backbencher.[62]

Thomas was typical of the American spirit: restless and entrepreneurial. In addition to his venture capital in mills, he was retailing liquor as early as 1726. In 1729 he purchasedd 200 acres at the intersection of Old York Road and Durham Road, in the present village of Buckingham, where he lived until 1740. He then returned to his Solebury farm. At the age of 72 he took a certificate of removal for himself and his family to Newark Monthly Meeting, and set out with his wife and son Oliver (then 25) to settle with his son Thomas Jr. on the Brandywine. In April 1742 he acquired seven acres for £107 in Christiana Hundred, New Castle County: the most magnificent mill site in all the colonies.[63]

Thomas returned to his farm in Solebury for an extended visit and died there, 20 Ninth Month [November] 1742. He was buried in Buckingham Friends Burial Ground.[64] His watch came down in the family, and Henry Seidel Canby inherited it, “a splendid piece imported from London in the early seventeen hundreds. It is of the onion type, case within case, with a beautiful face, and a finely wrought chain and key attached. The watch is of silver, the chain, I think, of steel.”[65]

Thomas signed his will shortly before he died. He left his share of the mill in Solebury (held in partnership with Anthony Morris) to his son Benjamin, and divided the rest of his estate among his wife and children. In addition he specified 5 shillings to each of eight children and four shillings to his daughter Lydia because of her (unexplained) “disobedience” to him. He stipulated that his sons Oliver, Benjamin, and Thomas each provide their mother with £10 a year. Oliver and Benjamin were named executors. The will was not probated until 25 May 1750 by which time Oliver, residing in Wilmington, was the only surviving executor. He renounced his right in favor of William HILL, William YARDLEY, and Thomas YARDLEY (1721-1803) who were the executors for Oliver’s deceased brother Benjamin Canby. The estate inventory made 16 August 1749 listed Thomas’s quarter share in the mill, worth £250, as his only asset. The eight year gap between death and probate, and Oliver’s renunciation suggest either that the will was subject to dispute or encumbered with debt.[66]

Children of Thomas and his first wife Sarah (Jarvis) Canby:[67]

i.    Benjamin Canby2, b. 24/7m (Sept.) 1694; d. 25 June 1695, in Abington MM rec.

ii.    Sarah Canby, b. 23/8m (Oct.) 1695 in Cheltenham Twp.; d. 1748/9; m. 30/7m (Sept.) 1719 at the Buckingham mtg house (the same day as her sister Phebe, both under the care of Falls MM) John HILL.[68]

iii.   Elizabeth Canby, b. 24/10m (Dec.) 1696; d. 1745; m. 1724 Thomas LACEY.

iv.    Mary Canby, b. 14/10m (Dec.) 1697; d. 4 Aug. 1754 in Wrightstown; m(1) 1715 Nathaniel CHAMPION; m(2) 1722 in Buckingham MM Joseph HAMPTON of Solebury. She removed from Abington MM to Falls MM 1/5m/1719.[69] In 1724 Thomas Canby sold 224 acres in Wrightstown for £170 to his son-in-law Joseph Hampton—property Thomas had acquired by his third marriage, to Jane PRESTON.[70] Mary was a recorded minister.[71]

v.    Phoebe Canby, b. 19/7m (Sept.) 1699; d. 19 Jan. 1774 in Buckingham; m(1) 30/7m/1719 at Buckingham mtg house Robert SMITH[72]; m(2) 16 May 1763 Hugh ELY, son of Joshua and Mary (SENIOR) Ely of Buckingham. He d. 1772. Phebe was a recorded minister. Phoebe and Mary (Nicholas) EVANS (ca. 1695-1769) felt drawn to pay a visit in the "love of the Gospel" to Friends on the West Indies island of Tortola. They arrived 14/2m/1750, conducted by John PICKERING, Jr., in his father's sloop. "They remained thirty-two days and had good service and went well away."[72a]

vi.   Esther, or Hester, Canby, b. 16 /12m (Feb.) 1700/1 in Abington; d. 12 May 1777; removed from Providence MM to Falls MM 2/1m/1719/20.[73] Reported on 4/3m/1720 at Falls MM that she m(1) 1719 John STAPLER, son of Stephen and Elizabeth of Abington MM.[74] John was disciplined for drinking to excess, but made acknowledgment; res. in Bensalem; John d. 1734; 4 children[75]; m(2) 1735 at Middletown MM John WHITE, a well-known Friends minister. Removed to Wilmington MM. Esther was recorded as a minister in 1732; she visited English Friends in 1743. Total of 8 children.[76]

vii.   Thomas Canby, b. 12/8m (Oct.) 1702; d. 1764 in Kent Co., Md.; m. 1724 Sarah PRESTON, daughter of William and Jane (Doyn or Deyn) Preston, originally of Huddersfield, Yorks; Jane was Thomas’s step-mother. They res. in Md.; had 9 children. It is probably his son Benjamin described by Reeder, 84. Canby says this Thomas removed to Wilmington in 1741.[77]

a) Joseph Canby, m. 22 Oct. 1772 Hannah LEA in Wilmington, Del.
b) Benjamin Canby, m. 21 Dec. 1760 Susanna LITTLER in Wilmington MM
c) Jane Canby, mar. 30 May 1757 William WILTON in Wilmington MM; d. in North Car.
d) Nathan Canby
e) Sarah Canby
f) Mary Canby
g) Jonas Canby, d. 31 Jan. 1822; m(1) 3 May 1758 Mary Latissee PICKEL; m(2) Sarah WILSON
h) Martha Canby, b. 18 Feb. 1736/7 in Bucks Co.; d. 24 Sept. 1831 in Philadelp[hia; m. 22 Nov. 1758 James STEELE at Christ Church, Phila.
viii.   Benjamin Canby, b. 18/7m (Sept.) 1704; d. 17 Feb. 1748 in Solebury Twp.; m(1) 26/3m (May) 1724 Martha PRESTON, daughter of William of Great Britain.[78] They had 3 children:
a) Thomas3, b. 26/1m/1725; d. 11/6m/1728 or d. 1725 (Brey, 416),
b) Joseph, b. 20/8m/1726;
c) Benjamin, b. 31/5m/1728;
Martha d. 1/9m (Nov.) 1729. Benjamin m(2) 1734 Sarah YARDLEY, daughter of Thomas and Ann (BILES) Yardley. They had 7 children:
d) Sarah, b.4/8m/1735; d. 1748.
e) William, b. 6/2m/1737;
f) Ann or Anne, b. 1/9m/1738; m. John WETHERILL;
g) Thomas, b. 26/11m [or Nov.?] 1739; d. 9 Apr. 1790; m. Beulah CARY; they had a son Samuel (b. 1772) who m. Elizabeth WOOLSTON
h) Zacheus [or Zacharus, Brey, 416], b. 16/_m/1743; d. 14/6m/1747,
i) Samuel, b. 6/4m/1745;
j) Charles, b. 26/8m/1747; d. 9m/1748.
On 27 Apr. 1731 Thomas Canby sold to Benjamin 232 acres, 144 perches, plus 8.5 acres of meadow from the original Scarborough tract “for love and affection”. On 18 Feb. 1745/6 Benjamin sold all this land to Geysbert BOGART.[79] On 29 Oct. 1745 Benjamin bought a portion of the ferry tract, including the ferry, from John WELLS. After Benjamin’s death Sarah m(2) in 1751 David KINSEY, who continued to operate the ferry. It was inherited by Thomas's son Thomas and daughter Anne, wife of John WETHERILL, carpenter of Philadelphia. The heirs sold it eventually to John CORYELL, and the ferry became known as Coryell’s Ferry (now New Hope).[80]

ix.   Martha Canby, b. 9/3m (May) 1705; m(1) 1731 at Falls MM James GILLINGHAM, Jr., son of Yeamans and Mary (BROADWAY) Gillingham; James's first wife had been Sarah Paxson; Martha m(2) 1748 at Buckingham MM Joseph DUER, widower, son of Thomas and Ellin (BEANS) Duer.

Children of Thomas and his second wife Mary (Oliver) Canby:

x.     Jane Canby, b. 12/4m (June) 1710; d. 1789; m. 4/2m (May) 1732 Thomas PAXSON (1712-1782), son of William Paxson Jr. and Abigail (POWNALL). They had 9 children.

xi.     Rebecca Canby, b. 16/12m (Feb.) 1711/2; d. 18/8m/1766; m. Samuel WILSON, son of Stephen and Sarah (BAKER) Wilson; had 7 sons and 6 daughters.

xii.     Hannah Canby, b. 3/11m (Jan.) 1712/3 [or b. 1717, Brey, 417]; d. 25/8m (Oct.) 1722.

xiii.    Joseph Canby, b. 1/1m (Mar.) 1713/4; d. 4/7m (Sept.) 1718.

xiv.    Rachel Canby, b. 8/7m (Sept.) 1715; d. 5/9m/1771 age 56, in Phila. MM; never married.[81]

xv.     Oliver Canby, b. 24/11m (Jan.) 1716/7; d. 1754; m. 1744 Elizabeth SHIPLEY. They had 4 children listed on Rash's Surname Index, all born in Wilmington, Del. Elizabeth m(2) 1761 William POOLE.
a) Hannah Canby, b. 22 Oct. 1746; d. 4 June 1748.
b) William Canby, b. 25 July 1748; d. 4 Apr. 1830; m. 16 July 1774 Martha MARRIOTT at Falls MM (she was b. 6 Oct. 1747, the daughter of Thomas and Sarah (SMITH) Marriott, and d. in Bristol Twp. 18 Aug. 1826); 5 children b. in Wilmington, Del.: [Rash's Surname Index, accessed 10/22/2014]
1. Oliver Canby, b. 15 Mar. 1775; d. 1858.
2. Frances Canby, b. 11 June 1778; d. 3 Aug. 1833 in Philadelphia; m. 17 May 1804 Benjamin FERRIS; 10 children.
3. Mary Canby, b. 11 Feb. 1780; d. 12 Apr. 1849; m. 2 Nov. 1810 Clement Biddle; 6 children.
4. Anna Canby, b. 29 Dec. 1784; d. 12 Dec. 1867; m. 12 Oct. 1815 David SMYTH; 7 children.
5. Merrit Marriott Canby, b. 9 Oct. 1787; d. 10 Dec. 1866; m. 20 May 1830 Elizabeth Tatnall SIPPLE; 3 children. Merrit developed a process for manufacturing sugar while living in Philadelphia, which enabled him to retire to Wilmington in "comfortable circumstances". There is a letter written by him in Oct. 1821 while residing in New York City.
c) Samuel Canby, b. 6 Aug. 1752; d. 18 Mar. 1832; m. 29 June 1775 Frances LEA; had 11 children b. in Wilmington, Del.: [Rash's Surname Index, accessed 10/22/2014]
  1. Elizabeth Canby, b. 2 Sept. 1776; d. 26 Apr. 1832 in Philadelphia; m. 15 Sept. 1796 John BIDDLE; 10 children.
  2. Margaret Canby, b. 16 Aug. 1778; d. 30 Sept. 1852; m. 18 Feb. 1808 John MORTON, Jr.; John d. and his executor was his brother-in-law who d. before the task was completed; 3 children.
  3. James Canby, b. 30 Jan. 1781; d. 24 May 1858; m. 19 May 1803 in Philadelphia Elizabeth ROBERTS; 8 children.
  4. Ann Canby, b. 5 June 1783; d. 10 Aug. 1849 in Chester Co., Pa.; m. 20 Oct. 1803 William Paxson; 4 children.
  5. Esther Canby, b. 19 June 1785; d. May 1859 in Birmingham Twp., Chester Co., Pa.; m. 6 May 1813 Josiah F. CLEMENT; 7 children.
  6. Sarah Canby, b. 12 Mar. 1788; d. 11 Sept. 1814.
  7. Samuel Canby, b. 17 May 1790; d. 9 July 1822 in Birmingham, England, although this seems suspect because Samuel Canby, Jr. signed his will Feb. 5, 1820, pr. Sept. 4, 1821 in Phila., listing him as a merchant in Phila. and acting co-executor of his brother-in-law's estate; Samuel left his estate to his brother James, and mentioned his sisters Frances, Mary, Elizabeth BIDDLE, Margaret MORTON, Ann PAXSON, and Esther CLEMENT as well as a nephews Samuel Canby, Samuel Biddle, Samuel Paxson, and Samuel Morton, and cousin Merrit Canby. [Phila. Wills Vol. 7, fol. 357]
  8. Thomas Canby, b. 10 June 1792; d. 1 Aug. 1792.
  9. Frances Canby, b. 5 Dec. 1793; d. 3 Apr. 1872; m. 18 May 1826 Samuel CLEMENT; 2 children.
10. Mary Canby, b. 17 Feb. 1796; d. 23 July 1796.
11. Mary Canby, b. 28 July 1798; d. 4 July 1890; m. 10 June 1824 John Ward TATUM; 4 children.
d) Mary Canby, b. 10 Aug. 1754; d. 23 Mar. 1797; m. 27 May 1790 Abraham GIBBONS
xvi.    Ann Canby, b. 26/5m (July) 1718; d. 11/7m/1763 at age 45 in Philadelphia; Removed 2/2/1744 from Buckingham MM to Burlington MM; and 1/5m/1751 from Burlington MM to Philadelphia MM. Never married. [82]

xvii.     Lydia Canby, b. 25/10m (Dec.) 1720; d. 1819 or 1821; m(1) 1749 John JOHNSON of Buckingham; m(2) 1763 Christopher ATKINSON, son of John and Mary (SMITH) Atkinson. Brey recounts the story of Lydia, as a girl of 12, unhitching and mounting a black stallion owned by Thomas WATSON, who was visiting her father. The noise of hoofbeats brought the two men to the door in time to see Lydia astride the horse, feet far above the stirrups, clinging to the saddle, and riding easily as the horse galloped for home. Friend Watson, frightened, shouted, “Somebody stop that child, she’ll be killed! What’ll we do, Thomas, what’ll we do?” Thomas Canby calmly replied, “Well, Thomas, if thee’ll risk thy horse, I’ll risk my child.” Horse and child reached the Watson stable three miles away, without mishap. Covered with lather, he stopped quietly, and Lydia calmly grabbed hold of the loosened reins, turned the horse around, and rode him back home where Thomas Watson was anxiously awaiting the worst. Lydia lived to be 101. [83] However, she apparently did something to anger her father, for he deliberately left her one shilling less than he left to her siblings, because of her “disobedience” to him.[84]


Second Generation in the New World


Elizabeth Canby
2 was born 24 December 1696 in Cheltenham Township, the third of seventeen children of her father. Her mother was his first wife, Sarah JARVIS. In 1724[85] Elizabeth married at Buckingham Meeting Thomas LACEY, son of William and Mary (PARLETT) Lacey.

Children of Thomas and Elizabeth (Canby) Lacey: [86]

i.    Thomas Lacey3, b. 14 Feb. 1725, Buckingham MM rec.; m. 22 Sept. 1748 Esther SMITH, daughter of William and Mercy. The family moved back and forth between Buckingham and Wrightstown, as traced in certificates of removal. In Eighth Month [Aug.] 1753 they were granted a cert. from Wrightstown to Buckingham; on Second Mo. 1755 they were received back in Wrightstown; in Sixth Mo. 1759 they were granted another cert. to Buckingham.[87]
ii.    William Lacey, b. 6 Nov. 1726;

iii.   Barbara Lacey, b. 26 Jan. 1730;

iv.   Benjamin Lacey, b. 6 Aug. 1734; d. 1797, Loudon Co., Virginia. This may have been to Fairfax Meeting. Unfortunately the records of Hopewell Meeting before 1759 have been destroyed.[88]

v.     Joseph Lacey, b.







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This page was first posted 6/9/2003, and updated most recently on 12m/4/2014.




Notes and Citations





    1. Henry Seidel Canby, Family History (The Riverside Press Cambridge, 1945). George was listed with a middle initial of "K", in correspondence from Norton Clapp, 19 Jan. 1976. familysearch.com familyid=4411746, 4411747, and 2101895; http://televar.com/~earth/pafg29.htm (as of 5/20/2005). See also Darrell Kitchen, "A History and Background of the Kitchen Family" at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kitgens/chapter8.htm (seen 5/24/2007). It is, as he rightly explains, a "work in progress" that has some obvious conflations and confusions along with plenty of useful material. The names of the five children in Janet Canby Briggs's will are from Wilfred Jordan, ed. Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1934), 956. Jordan sez George was church warden at Eckington. One of the sons was "officer of the chase" and acted as guide to Charles I in 1642.


    2. Canby, Family History, 8-12. Among other sources he cites Abraham de la Pryme, 17th c. scholar and antiquary who settled in Thorne and wrote about its inhabitants; his mms is now in the British Museum. The arms "were clearly bestowed and they appear in a manuscript, "The Arms of Yorkshire Families", by Francis Hougham and written in the early seventeenth century. In 1731, the manuscript belonged to John Warburton of Somerset Herald. He was the author of the map accompanying the arms book. Warburton also had a list of prospective subscribers and 'Edward Canby, Gentleman' had paid for a copy. The book was never published and only the manuscript remains." Kitchen, "A History and Background of the Kitchen Family" at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kitgens/chapter8.htm (seen 5/24/2007).



    3. Correspondence from Norton Clapp, 19 Jan. 1976.



    4. Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of England, 5th ed. (London: 1842), 4:315.


    4a. Darrell Kitchen, "A History and Background of the Kitchen Family" at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kitgens/chapter8.htm (seen 5/24/2007).


    5. Lewis, Top. Dic., 4:315.


    6. Canby, Family History, 3.


    6a. "Meetings in Yorkshire, 1668", in Journal of the Friends Historical Society (London), Vol. 2, no. 1, p. 32, image seen on www.quakerrecords.com, 10/24/2007.


    7. Norton Clapp gives a birth date of 1599, in correspondence dated 19 Jan. 1976. This is part of the confusion tangled around several men named Thomas Canby that has not (that I know of) been totally unravelled.


    8. Canby, Family History, 8.


    9. Lewis, Top. Dic., 4:315.


    10. Canby, Family History, 3-4.


    11. Canby, Family History, 12.


    12. Kitchen, "A History and Background of the Kitchen Family" at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kitgens/chapter8.htm (seen 5/24/2007); Canby, Family History, 12-13.


    13. Additional information on the children is from http://www.geocities.com/robbi01/quaker/pafg42.htm


    14. Canby, Family History, 14-15.


    15. Letter from Norton Clapp, 19 Jan. 1976. This son Benjamin with a father Thomas adds to the confusion around these names. The children, a through g, and their baptismal dates are from Kitchen, "A History and Background of the Kitchen Family".


    16. Canby, Family History, 3, 5.


    17. Canby, Family History, 15-16; Craig W. Horle, et al, eds., Lawmaking and Legislators in Pennsylvania: A Biographical Dictionary, Vol. 2: 1710-1756 (Phila.: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1997), 2:261. Charles F. Jenkins, in his manuscript on Thomas Canby, identifies Thomas' mother as Elizabeth, and states that no records "prove" her to be a sister to Henry Baker. Neither does Jenkins "prove" that she was Elizabeth.


    18. Canby assumes he was, p. 16.; William W. H. Davis, A History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 2nd ed. (1905, reprinted 1975), 3:519; see also William Canby, of Brandywine, Delaware: His Descendants Fourth to Seventh Generation in America (Phila.: For private distribution, 1883) no author, 23.


    19. Canby, Family History, 18.


    20. Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:261. The surname of Elton for Jane is given by Darrell Kitchen, "A History and Background of the Kitchen Family"


    21. Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:261.


    22. Canby, Family History, 16; Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:61 citing Hardshaw MM minutes, 20 Aug. 1678-19 July 1681; Darrell Kitchen, "A History and Background of the Kitchen Family".


    24. Canby says he was bapt. 9 April, Family History, 15. Date of death from Buckingham MM rec. as transcribed in Anna Miller Watring, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Church Records of the 17th & 18th Centuries, (Bowie, Md.: Willow Bend Books, 2003), 3:147.


    23. Canby, Family History, 15; Kitchen, "A History and Background of the Kitchen Family".


    25. Canby, Family History, 18; Brey, A Quaker Saga, 415; Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:261. Jordan, ed. Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania, 956, gives his baptism as 3m 16, 1668 and sez he died Sept. 20, 1742. Obviously there is a problem of old Style-New Style dates.


    26. Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:261 citing Hardshaw MM minutes, 18 Dec. 1683; 15 Jan., 19 Feb., 18 Mar., 1683/4; 15 Apr., 27 May 1684.


    27. Richard S. Dunn and Mary Maples Dunn, eds., The Papers of William Penn (Phila.: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1982), 2:658.


    28. Buckingham MM rec. as transcribed in Anna Miller Watring, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Church Records of the 17th & 18th Centuries, 3:147. Watring misspells the name of the ship as Nine.


    29. Falls MM Men’s minutes, 1720-1763 (Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore College), 1/5m/1685. For a capsule biography of William Yardley, see Dunn & Dunn, Penn Papers, 2:531n; and for Thomas Janney, 2:107n.


    30. Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr., ed., Passengers and Ships Prior to 1684, Publications of the Welcome Society, No. 1 (1970), 163.


    31. Canby, Family History, 16.


    32. Canby, Family History, 17.


    33. Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:61 citing Hardshaw MM minutes.


    33a. Friends rejected the implied double standard that they only told the truth when swearing an oath to do so. See Matthew 6:33-37, and James 5:12.


    34. Falls MM Men’s minutes, 12/7m/1693.


    35. Michener, A Retrospect of Early Quakerism, 85.


    36. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 2:480; Penna. Archives, series 2, 9:208. There was a "Mrs. Boore, widow" of Wigan, Cheshire, who was charged with being a Quaker as a result of the Bishop of Chester's visitation in the early autumn of 1665. I do not know if there is any connection between this Mrs. Boore and our Elizabeth Boore. "Extracts from the Bishop of Chester's Visitation for the year 1665, relating to Friends", in Journal of the Friends Historical Society (London), Vol. 2, no. 3 (July 1905), p. 100, image seen on www.quakerrecords.com, 10/24/2007.


    37. William Canby, of Brandywine, Delaware: His Descendants Fourth to Seventh Generation in America, p. 24, gives the marriage date as 2/9m, while the Buckingham MM records as transcribed by Watring in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Church Records of the 17th & 18th Centuries, 3:147 gives it as 9th day of 2nd month. Since Thomas's letter was dated 7th mo, their first intentions were 8th mo., it seems likely that in early 9th month they gave their second intentions and this was the date on which they were released to accomplish their marraige. I need to check the actual meeting minutes.


    38. Henry Seidel Canby claims that the painter and Sarah were siblings, Family History, 19. One of his descendants is said to be Caleb Harlan Canby, who married Betsy Ross. Canby, Family History, 19. The "Paige/Page Family Ancestry" web page claims that Sarah's mother was Sarah (Baker) and her father was "John Jarvis, or Jervis, a Friend (Quaker), of Roscore, King's County, Ireland, with his son Martin, as stated in the deposition of James Parrock, made at Philadelphia, in 1751, was 'obliged to fly from Ireland [in 1688] with as much haste and privacy as he could for fear of being massacred by the Papists.'" and that he "was a Justice of the Peace in Cape May Co. New Jersey in 1695, 1696 & 1697. John came to New Jersey by way of Boston and returned to Ireland in 1701." http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=uncle_bud&id=I08418 seen 5/24/2007. However, there is no Charles or Martin listed among the children of John and Sarah Jarvis, and they do have a son Samuel born in 1775 [sic] -- the painter is said to have been born in Ireland in 1675. Albert Cook Myers, Irish Quaker Arrivals to Pennsylvania 1682-1750, p.116.
On the other hand, the "Monroe/Grant/Anderson Family" web page gives Sarah's parents as Charles and Elizabeth (Boore) Jarvis. and have her brother named Charles Alpheus Jarvis, b. ca. 1675, and mar. to Satira Gildersleeve of Chatham, Middlesex, Connecticut on the unlikely date of 1 Sept. 1829, and children b. in the 1850s in Portland, Middlesex County, Conn. http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jimmonroe&id=I15178 seen 5/24/2007. Talk about crossing the years, and centuries. Caveat emptor.

A further piece of information, holds that Thomas Scattergood, who settled in Burlington, NJ, is said to have married Elizabeth Jervis in London ca. 1667. Her relation to "our" Jervis family is unknown to me. "Notes and Queries", in Journal of the Friends Historical Society (London), Vol. 1, no. 1, p. 51, image seen on www.quakerrecords.com, 10/24/2007.


    39. Brey, A Quaker Saga, 417.


    40. Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:261.


    41. Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:261; Falls MM Men’s minutes, 5/12m/1695, 4/1m/1695/6. Joseph Phipps was a member of Philadelphia MM, Dunn & Dunn, Penn Papers, 2:518; Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 2:406.


    42. Horle, Legislators in Penna., citing Deed Book 52:600. Meldrum, Abstracts of Bucks County Pennsylvania Land Records, 1684-1723, has no index entries for Thomas Canby because, in spite of its title, the records only go through 1708 except for a single record in 1723. See also, Jordan, ed. Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania, 956.


    43. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 2:987.


    44. “Deceased Falls ministers collected by request of Quarterly Meeting”; Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:262.


    45. Michener, A Retrospect of Early Quakerism, 78-79.


    46. Buckingham MM Men’s minutes, 6/10m/1720.


    47. Buckingham MM Men’s minutes (FHL), 9/12m/1720, 3/8m/1721, 5/10m/1721, 6/4m/1722, 8/8m/1723, 9/11m/1723, 1/7m/1724, 4/12m/1723, 2/4m/1724, 7/7m/1727.


    48. Michener, A Retrospect of Early Quakerism, 79; Brey, A Quaker Saga, 416.


    49. Canby, Family History, 18; Horle, Legislators in Penna. says he served as clerk and treasurer for 20 years, 2:262.


    50. Buckingham MM records, as copied in Watring in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Church Records of the 17th & 18th Centuries, 3:148. Alternatively Sarah d. 8 Feb. 1708, Kitchen, "A History and Background of the Kitchen Family". See a note on Old Style and Quaker dates


    51. William Canby, of Brandywine, Delaware: His Descendants Fourth to Seventh Generation in America, p. 24. Evan Oliver was a “reputed First Purchaser” of 4 acres in Philadelphia, Dunn & Dunn, Penn Papers, 2:660. Brey, Quaker Saga, 415; Canby, Family History, 23. Kitchen, "A History and Background of the Kitchen Family", offers alternate dates for Mary, b. 9 Oct. 1677, her mother named Elizabeth (later on, though, Kitchen describes her as Jean), and married 2 April 1709.


    52. Buckingham MM rec. as transcribed in Watring, Bucks County, Penna,, Church Records of the 17th & 18th Centuries, 3:148. William Canby, of Brandywine, Delaware: His Descendants Fourth to Seventh Generation in America, 24, gives her date of death as 26/3m/1721.


    52a. Although many web sites quote each other that Jane was born in Cloverdale, see for example http://televar.com/~earth/pafg29.htm (as of 5/20/2005), there is no such place. It is Coverdale. She was "of Brighouse" at the time of her first marriage, Sixth Month 4, 1698. The National Archives; Kew, England; General Register Office: Society of Friends' Registers, Notes and Certificates of Births, Marriages and Burials; Class: RG 6; Piece: 1090.


    53. Buckingham Men’s minutes, 4/7m/1722, 9/8m/1722.


    53a. Middletown MM Women’s minutes, 6/7m/1722, 4/8m/1722, 1/9m/1722.


    54. http://televar.com/~earth/pafg29.htm (as of 5/20/2005).


    54a. The autograph of Morris Morris is from Davis, History of Bucks County, 1:441.


    55. Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:262.


    56. Eastburn Reeder, Early Settlers of Solebury, Pa., 2nd ed., 31, citing for the sale of 510 acres by Scarborough to Holcomb on 26 Mar. 1709, Bucks County Deed Book 17, page 133. Holcomb then sold 444 acres of it to Canby on 3 Dec. 1717.


    57. Reeder, Early Settlers of Solebury, Pa., 14.


    58. Canby, Family History, 19.


    59. Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:262.


    60. Reeder, Early Settlers of Solebury, Pa., 22.


    61. Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:262.


    62. Canby, Family History, 21; Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:261, 262.


    63. Jordan, ed. Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania, 956; H. S. Canby had an old surveyor’s map, dated Feb. 22 1741/2, showing the Brandywine and sites the family purchased, Family History, 20.


    64. Buckingham MM rec. as transcribed in Watring, Bucks County, Penna,, Church Records of the 17th & 18th Centuries, 3:148; Brey, A Quaker Saga, 417.


    65. Canby, Family History, 22.


    66. Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:263.


    67. Buckingham MM records, as transcribed in Watring, Bucks County, Penna, Church Records of the 17th & 18th Centuries, 3:147-48; Brey, A Quaker Saga, 416


    68. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 2:987.


    69. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 2:987.


    70. Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:262.


    71. Canby, Family History, 18.


    72. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 2:987.


    72a. Minutes of Tortola Monthly Meeting, as quoted in Charles F. Jenkins, Tortola: A Quaker Experiment of Long Ago in the Tropics (London: Friends' Bookshop, 1923, reprinted 1971), 28. For further details, see Josiah B. Smith, Robert Smith Genealogy (Newtown, Penna.: 1885). Mary Evans, daughter of Samuel Nicholas of Philadelphia, was the second wife of Owen Evans (married 2m/29/1736) of Gwynedd, Montgomery Co., Penna.


    73. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 2:987.


    74. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 2:987.


    75. Davis, Hist. of Bucks Co., 3:486.


    76. Rebecca Larson, Daughters of Light (NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999), 318.


    77. Reeder, Early Settlers of Solebury, Pa., 84; Canby, Family History, 20; Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:263-65. Children from Rash's Surname Index, seen 10/18/2014.


    78. Reeder, Early Settlers of Solebury, Pa., 85. Names and dates of children from Buckingham MM records, as transcribed in Watring, Bucks County, Penna, Church Records of the 17th & 18th Centuries, 3:148.


    79. Reeder, Early Settlers of Solebury, Pa., 31; Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:263.


    80. Reeder, Early Settlers of Solebury, Pa., 13. Brey tells it this way: Benjamin built a forge in 1744, and operated the ferry across the Delaware from 1745 til his death in 1748, when it was sold to John Coryell. Coryell’s Ferry became the village of New Hope. Brey, A Quaker Saga, 416.


    81. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 2:343.


    82. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 2:206, 284, 343.


    83. Brey, Quaker Saga, 417; This story also repeated in Canby, Family History, 19.


    84. Horle, Legislators in Penna., 2:263.


    85. http://televar.com/~earth/pafg29.htm (as of 5/20/2005); Reeder, Early Settlers of Solebury, Pa., b, says they married in 1723.


    86. familysearch, familyid=4411751.


    87. C. Arthur Smith, Minutes of Wrightstown MM, 1734-1790 (1934), Spruance Library, Bucks Co. Historical Soc., Doylestown, kindly sent to me by Hank Steubing 7/12/2001. This is a typewritten copy and I have not checked it against the original.


    88. Benjamin does not appear in the index of Joint Committee of Hopewell Friends, assisted by John W. Wayland, Hopewell Friends History 1734-1934 Frederick County, Virginia (Strasburg, Virginia: Printed by Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc., 1936).






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