#53 The book is out now! Go to next post.

The book is finished! (See next post) Do you see what a little blogging will do? 

I wrote a book.

Best of all, the inspiration for it was from a document held by the 

Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA. 

 - A Charity Johnson

Original Manumission Record of Rachel, March 1776

Manumission Records from Long Island 1770s!

#52 - Isaac Hicks, Quaker Businessman from NYS Historical Society Museum Archives

Isaac Hicks, Businessman and Quaker 

From the NYS Historical Archives

Isaac Hicks was born in 1767, into the Quaker farming community of Westbury, Long Island. He was the son of Samuel and Phebe (nee Seaman), and had a prominent extended family within the Quaker community which included Quaker minister Elias Hicks (1748-1830) and artist Edward Hicks (1780-1849). 

While in Westbury, Hicks worked both as a tailor and as a teacher. In 1789, disillusioned with teaching, Hicks moved to New York City: he opened a mercantile shop under the title of "grocer." That year, he also met Sara[h] Doughty (1768-1847). They married in 1790 and had six children: John D. [M. Sarah Rushmore] Robert, Benjamin, Isaac, Elizabeth, and Mary. 

In 1790, Hicks began a series of partnerships; first with Richard Loines; then with Richard Loines, his father William Loines, and William Loines's brother-in-law, John Alsop, Jr. Loines, Alsop, & Company specialized in importing British made dry goods, and it is within these partnerships that Hicks transitioned from the title 'grocer' to 'dry-goods specialist.' 

It is also with Loines, Alsop &Co. that Hicks learned how to supplement his income, as the partnership owned a wharf, rented business properties, and were co-owners of a mill, all to bring in additional income during the slow seasons of their business.

In 1791, Loines, Alsop & Company dissolved. William Loines retired, Richard Loines joined with his brother John to create their own mercantile business, and Hicks and John Alsop, Jr. continued their partnership under the new name of Alsop & Hicks. It was at this point that the pair began being seen in directories under the listing of 'merchant.' For three years, Alsop & Hicks continued acting as an international importer of dry goods. In 1794, after not making the money, they expected and having trouble collecting on debts owed to them, the company Alsop & Hicks changed direction from 'dry-goods specialists' to 'shipping and commission agents.'

This change allowed Alsop & Hicks to act as trusted agents for other merchants, selling goods that were sent to them rather than buying and selling on their own. The firm also helped merchants and captains outfit ships, purchase insurance, and obtain cargo. It was in this venture that Hicks's relationships within the Quaker community were beneficial: Quaker merchants were more likely to trust other Quakers and their families with their goods than they would an outsider. 

In May of 1794, John Alsop, Jr. left New York City for a quieter life in Hudson, New York, though he did continue to maintain part interest in the firm and bring in customers from the Hudson area, including: Thomas Jenkins & Sons, Seth Jenkins, and the Paddock family, among others. 

It is these connections that also allowed Alsop & Hicks to gain commissions in Nantucket and New Bedford, Massachusetts, as well as continuing earlier commissions of cotton, tobacco, and rice, out of Savannah, Georgia. 

After continuing business in this manner for a number of years, Hicks dissolved his partnership with John Alsop, Jr. and formed a partnership with Benjamin D. Doughty-longtime clerk of Alsop & Hicks. However, a yellow fever outbreak led to the death of Benjamin Doughty shortly after this partnership began, and Hicks refrained from creating new partnerships through his retirement.

Now that Hicks was on his own, while continuing to do business in the same manner as he did while part of Alsop & Hicks, Isaac Hicks began focusing more of his efforts towards increasing his sale of whale products-especially oil and spermaceti candles. 

These commissions made up the majority of his revenue until 1800. Hicks was able to increase and keep his trade contacts in the whaling market by being fastidious in attempting to regulate the fluctuating prices of whale oil, even when it was at the loss of a commission. He also attempted to restore some of the former marketing practices of spermaceti candle makers in order to increase the candle makers profits. 

By 1800, Hicks commissions from whale merchants began a steady decline—mostly because of the changing circumstances within the whaling industry, as well as some decisions made by Hicks. Insurance rates were rising, the number of whales was dwindling in the Atlantic, and Hicks allowed his brother, Samuel, to take over many of his commissions when Samuel began his own business. Also, with the falling prices, captains and owners were becoming unhappy with their lack of income, and blamed the problems on Hicks. Because of the dwindling income from whale products, Hicks returned his focus to other forms of shipping and commission.

By 1802, Hicks began considering at least partial retirement from business, as he was beginning to get notices of declining health. It was because of this, that in December 1802, Hicks, along with others in a syndicate, purchased the ship Thames in order to capitalize on trade to St. Petersburg, Russia and quickly increase their earnings. 

When all was said and done, Hicks made a handsome profit-grossing nearly $14,000 ($292,611.21 in 2018). After a time, Hicks and his syndicate sold the Thames, and yet while Hicks continued to put on excursions to the Black Sea, none were as profitable. Regardless, by 1805, Hicks left New York City to return to Westbury and by 1807 had officially retired from business at the age of 38.

Throughout Hicks's career, he was a staunch abolitionist and active in the Quaker Meeting. He was a member of an anti-slavery organization that mixed both Friends and prominent non-Quakers, as well as a member of the New York Manumission Society. 

As part of this society, he was a fundraiser for the African Free School, and while these might have been a small distraction during his career, it became all-consuming after Hicks entered retirement.

Isaac Hicks was also extremely active in the Quaker Meeting, acting on multiple committees. In 1816, he was nominated for Clerk of the Westbury Meeting. He was also well known in many other Quaker circles outside of the Meeting, mostly thanks to his cousin, Elias Hicks, who Isaac traveled extensively with. Hicks also worked closely with his cousin, Edward Hicks, in an attempt to bring him back to preaching and away from painting by paying off his debts. 

After an active and varied retirement, Hicks fell ill on January 10, 1820, and died shortly thereafter at 52 years old.

Copied in its entirety from:

The website at the New-York Historical Society Museum & Library, Guide to the Isaac Hicks Papers 1791-1820 (MS 297) 

This collection should be cited as 

Isaac Hicks papers, MS 297, The New-York Historical Society New-York Historical Society Collection processed by Jennifer Gargiulo.

Descriptive Summary:

Creator: Hicks, Isaac, 1767-1820

Title: Isaac Hicks papers

Dates [inclusive]: 1791-1820

Dates [bulk]: 1791-1806

-----------------------------------------

Lineage to my great-grandmother:

Isaac Hicks and Phebe Seaman - > 

 John D Hicks and Sarah Rushmore - > 

  Isaac Hicks and Mary Fry Willis - > 

   Marianna Hicks and William Ephraim Hawxhurst->

    Bertha Hawxhurst and Chester J Tyson

#33 Long Line of Pedigree Collapse - Long Island Quakers

Long Island Quakers and Pedigree Collapse

Part 1

My great grandmother was born in Westbury, Nassau County, NY. Her father was William E Hawxhurst (May 1838 -Feb 1908) farmer and surveyor, son of Ephraim Cock Hawxhurst (1793-1859) and Charity Titus (1802-1877) 

Wm E Hawxhurst

Her mother was Marianna Hicks, daughter of Isaac Hicks (Aug 1815-Mar 1900) and Mary Fry Willis (Jan 1817-Feb 1898).
Both families descended, without straying, from the longest line of Quakers who settled Long Island. [In case your wondering, Marianna’s grandfather, Isaac Hicks, helped fund a cousin, Elias Hicks, in his ministry as a Public Friend early in the 1800s]

Marianna (Hicks) Hawxhurst

A Long Line.
~Imagine you were born and raised on an island with a tiny population.  

~ Imagine that for religious reasons you married only people in your religion & you were prohibited you from marrying outside your religion.  

~ Imagine moving this island, with acres and acres of rich farm land, surrounded by wonderful fishing opportunities, so it adjoins the most powerful & prosperous city of the Western Hemisphere.

This explains who these Ancestral Long Island Quakers were.

How Did They Preserve Community?

My Long Island Quakers married safe people, most often collateral cousins (cousins of cousins).

Their repeated and extensive remarrying in a small geographic area led a LONG LINE of “pedigree collapse.” 

When researching when I need to add (yet another) “Titus” or “Hicks” or “Willis” always I pray for dates and /or parents’ names to get the right person.

Here are the last names of my ancestors going back to the earliest English settlers on Long Island which appear in this (largely) Quaker family tree:

Hicks, Willis, Fry, Rushmore, Doughty, Powell, Kirby, Allen, Alsop, Birdsall, Bowne, Washburn, Carman, Carpenter, Cock(e), Cole(s), Cornell, Doughty, Eme/ory, Feeke (Feake), Haight, Hallet, Hauxhurst (Hawxhurst), Hallowell, Loines, Jackson, Moore, Mott, Noble, Oakley, Pearsall, Powell, Reddock, Rodman, Rushmore, Seaman, Seaman, Sering, Smith, [Spicer, Tilton], Titus, Townsend, Underhill, Valentine, Williams, Willet, Willets, Wood, Wright

When I see historical document on Long Island from 1850 or earlier, I can bet my mother’s family has a common ancestor. The difficulty is making the right attribution (which Thomas Powell was this?) 

Part 2

I cannot get away from the long arms of the Long Island Quakers. 

Case in point: Spicer & Tilton.

These names appear in my mother’s FATHER’s lineage. I used to consider them the “Pennsylvania” group. I was wrong. Just a tiny bit of digging and I found out that they came from New Jersey, moving to PA after the Civil War. Oops.

SPICER TILTON

My mother’s father’s family was mostly from New Jersey. But—New Jersey isn’t far from Long Island. It’s here where we reconnect the two ends of my mother’s family.

--Spicer and Tilton began on Long Island

Susannah Spicer was the daughter of Thomas Spicer. 

She was born in Long Island (Flushing), and married Henry Brazier. Susannah (Spicer) Brazier and Henry Brazier remained on Long Island.

Their daughter, Rebecca Brazier, married Peter Tilton (son of John Tilton and Mary Pearsall—there is another Ancient Name of Long Island).

--Brazier-Tilton Move

Rebecca (Brazier) Tilton and Peter Tilton moved to Monmouth, New Jersey. (They were still Quakers).

--Tiltons in New Jersey; and back again.

This Tilton line remained in the New Jersey area (and remained Quaker) at least until 

William Henry Tilton (B. 9 May 1820 Monmouth Co, NJ) and his wife Sarah A Conover (B 12 Aug 1831 of Monmouth Co NJ; D. 5 Jul 1895 in Brooklyn, NY).

They moved to Brooklyn, sometime before 1850 (US Fed. Census).

--Off to Pennsylvania

From mid-1800s the Tiltons lived in Brooklyn, then Henry Addison Tilton and his wife and family moved to Pittsburgh PA.  Since then the Tilton family claimed Pennsylvania as their own. 

--Ultimate Irony

It was ironic for me that I should find out that the Tiltons of Pennsylvania had first settled down in the New World on Long Island, NY.

My mother’s father (Chas Tilton) died in 1987 and was not a Quaker.  Might he be shocked to find out he and his wife had this in common: Long Island, NY and Quakerism?

#17 - Hawxhurst Genealogical Story of 1888 by William Ephraim Hauxhurst - A Guest Blogger from the 1800s

Now and then I get lucky. This post is a result of finding a "story" written about the Hauxhurst family by a Hauxhurst before the 20th century.

The Hawxhurst family has been on Long Island for centuries, and intermarried with some of the same Quaker families.This post will contain a genealogical piece of the Hawxhurst [also spelled Hauxhurst and Hawkshurst] family and written by an ancestor was was local to the Westbury, Long Island, my great-great grandfather, William Ephraim Hawxhurst's story.  
WE Hawxhurst was the husband of Marianna Hicks (separate post on her), and compiled this summary in February of 1888 (well over a century ago).  

He writes that the information comes from an extract in his "possession that appears to have been taken from the town records," with his own additions.

What appears in brackets are my additions. The names in bold indicates one of my direct ancestors. I have placed a Roman numeral next to each generation.

  Hawxhurst Genealogy

"A short account of my father's family taken from an extract in my possession that appears to have been taken from the town records with additions made by myself Wm. E. Hauxhurst in Feb. 1888.

[I] Christopher Hauxhust & Mary Ruddick
Sometime before 1672, Christopher Hauxhurst, of Cedar Swamp (now Greenvale) married Mary Ruddick, oldest daughter of Henry Ruddick of Killingworth, one of the first settlers and largest land owners in the old purchase of Oyster Bay [Long Island, NY].
 
Their children were: William, Mary, and Sampson. 

• William left no children. 
• Mary married George Townsend and was the ancestors of the Duck Pond, Norwich, and Yellow Coate Townsends. 
• Sampson married Hannah Townsend, daughter of John Townsend at the Mill [known as ‘Mill John’ Townsend]

[II] Sampson Hauxhurst and Hannah Townsend
[Sampson & Hannah] …lived for several years at Cedar Swamp, where he had a large property derived from his grandfather Ruddick, his father and his father-in-law.
 
Re: Sampson & Hannah (Townsend)’s Children & etc:
Somewhere between 1710 and 20 he [Sampson Hauxhurst] removed to Matinecock (now called Buckram).
Now, 1888 known as Locust Valley), where he also had inherited property.
Here for several years the records show him actively engaged in buying and selling land. Probably to bring his estate into a compact form when he died.
His children were:

• William, 
• Benjamin,
• Sampson and
• Joseph.

[III] William [Hauxhurst] and Benjamin engaged in mercantile pursuits in New York. The latter being successful. The former [William] was at first prosperous but some of the numerous misfortunes to which mercantile operations are subject, lost his property. 

Re:William Hauxhurst’s children
-His daughter Hannah married Peter Townsend of Chester Orange County, son of the fourth Henry Townsend. 

-Sampson and Joseph remained on their father's estate where their farm was bought  by James Cock. 

[IV] Joseph Hauxhurst & Family
[It is believed Joseph  married Sarah Mott. They had William Hauxhurst and probably at least three daughters.]

[V] William, the son of Joseph Hauxhurst
William (my grandfather), the son of Joseph, then removed to Kill River Hollow. 
He afterward removed to Oyster Bay in what has been known as Poverty Hollow.
Re: William Hauxhurst's Wife & Family
William, my grandfather, married Violette [Violetta] [Allen/Alling] They had children.

• Sarah married William L. Baxter. Lived at Cow Neck [Long Island, NY].

• Esther never was married  Lived to be an old woman.

• Mary married Isaac F. Brandt. Lived in New York

• Phebe married Daniel Waldron. Lived at East Norwich.

• Townsend never married. Died while young.

• Allen married. Lived in Oyster Bay.

• Ephraim Cock Hauxhurst [his father] married. Lived in his latter years where I now live.

[VI]Ephraim Hauxhurst's marriages:

1. Ephraim, my father, was married first to Julia Lefferts. She lived a short time.
2. He then married Mary Ann McKenny. Had one child who lived about one year. She died. [A Quaker source said the child's name was Ephraim]
3. He then married my mother, Charity Titus, daughter of Timothy [Titus] of Wheatly.

Ephraim Hauxhurst’s occupation, William writes:
My father was a schoolteacher in his younger days. He taught first at Huntington where he married his first wife, Julia Leffert.

He also taught in Oyster Bay and at Glen Cove [Long Island] where he married his second wife, Mary Ann McKenny. She lived some two years.

He then taught school in Westbury [Long Island, NY] and purchased the farm where I now live and married after a few years my mother, Charity Titus, daughter of Timothy of Wheatly. They had children.

• Elizabeth-Married Oliver Van Cott of Dutchess Co., N. Y.

• Caroline-Never married. Died when grown.

• William Ephraim married Marianna Hicks daughter of Isaac and Mary Fry Hicks. Lives at Westbury on father's farm.

• Margaret T. - Not married. Lives with me.

William E Hauxhurst continues with his own family:
 
William E. [himself] and Marianna [Hicks] have children:

• Mary Willis married Edwin Tyson. Lives in Flora Dale, Penna.

• Caroline - Not married

• Wm. Wallace -Not married

• Florence Amelia - Not married

• Harold E. -  Not married

• Bertha C - Not married [my great grandmother]

The Hauxhurst Genealogical Story of  1888 ends here. 
More on William E Hauxhurst and the Tyson family in other posts. Below a photo of the author (or "guest blogger") of this post, William E Hauxhurst.

William Ephraim Hauxhurst author of this story abt 1870-80

From the book:
American Ancestry- Giving The Name and Descent, in the Male Line, Americans whose Ancestors Settled In the United States Previous To The Declaration of Independence, A.D. 1776, VOL. X. Albany, N. Y. : Joel Munsell’s Sons, Publishers. 1895. 

HAWXHURST, WILLIAM EPHRAIM of Old Westbury, N. Y. 
Born there May 19, 1838
farmer and surveyor, son of Ephraim Cock Hawxhurst (1793-1859) and Charity Titus (1802-1877)
Married Oct. 17, 1861 Marianna Hicks b. Sept. 27, 1842, dau. of Isaac and Mary Fry [Willis] Hicks and gr.-dau. of John Doughty and Sarah [Rushmore] Hicks and of John and Mary [Kirby] Willis,
issue:
*Mary Willis
* Caroline
*William Wallace
*Florence A.
*Harold E.
*Bertha C.

#16- Ephraim Cock Hawxhurst and Charity Titus and Their Family

  Ephraim Cock Hauxhurst and Charity Titus

Ephraim Cock Hauxhurst (Hawxhurst / Hawkshurst) was my great grandmother Bertha Hauxhurst’s grandfather (my great-great-great grandfather).

Ephraim C Hawxhurst was the son of William Hauxhurst and Viotetta Allen (or Alling), and a longtime member of Westbury Monthly Meetings. 

His father, William Hauxhurst  was born 1761 and died 1831 while his mother was Violetta Alling [Allen] was born in 1765 and died 1819. It looks like they had seven children who survived to adulthood, Ephraim C being the third eldest.

1-Esther (1789-1858)
2-Noah Townsend (1791-1826)
3-**Ephraim Cock (1793-1860)
4-Allen (1796-1879)
5-Mary (1798-1858)
6-Sarah (1801-1885)
7-Phoebe (1804-1883)

Ephraim was given a middle name Cock which reflected yet another Long Island family he was descended from. The Cock (Cox, Cocks, Coke) family was had settled in Matinecock, Oyster Bay in the 1600s. 
This sample page from a book (publ. 1914) shows a testimony of some early Quaker families listed on the right-hand page. The book is “The History and genealogy of the Cock, Cocks, Cox family, descended from James and Sarah Cock, of Killingworth upon Matinecock, in the township of Oyster Bay, Long Island, N.Y”
 

Cock Family on Long Island

Ephraim Cock Hawxhurst's Birthdate & His Marriages
Ephraim was born April 29, 1793 and was married three times.
He married first Julia Lefferts on September 22, 1821, but she died. 
Ephraim married second a Mary Ann McKenny [McKenna] on November 27, 1824. She died also.
His third wife was Charity Titus, daughter of Timothy Titus and Margaret Titus.  Charity Titus was born December 24, 1802.

Third Marriage
Ephraim married Charity Titus on March 26, 1834 at Westbury. 

Titus Family
Charity Titus was of the of the Long Island Titus family--another long-time Quaker family of Long Island. 
The Titus family is arrived first to New England and then settled in Long Island about 1650. Her parents were likely distant cousins as they both bore the Titus surname and Quakers within a region frequently married distant cousins (or, sometimes, first cousins). 

Her father was Timothy Titus (1765-1850). His first wife Margaret Hoagland bore two sons and then died. His second wife, and Charity's  mother, was Margaret Titus (1773-1855).

Family
Unlike his first wives Charity Titus (Hawxhurst) survived and gave birth to children and then outlived Ephraim.
Charity Titus died November 7, 1877, outliving Ephraim by seventeen years. Ephraim died November 12, 1860 in Westbury, Long Island, NY.

Their children and grandchildren
1-Elizabeth was born February 7, 1835. Elizabeth married Oliver Van Cott.
 -Her brother,the son (William), noted that this sister’s husbandwas of Dutchess County NY.  And, that he (Oliver) was a descendant of one of their grandmothers, Jemina Titus.  Jemima was his grandfather Timothy's sister, and she married John Van Cott. They were distantly related. (Got that?)
William noted that Elizabeth and Oliver Van Cott had two children at the time he was writing (in mid or late 1880s): Sons were: William E. Van Cott, and George T. Van Cott.

2 Caroline was born July 17, 1836 and died June 21, 1860, buried at Westbury.
William notes that this sister “never married.” 
She had a “spinal disease and could not walk. She died with diphtheria in 1860.”
 
3 William Ephraim, (subject of Post # 34) was born May 19, 1838. William E Hauxhurst married Marianna Hicks (subject of Post #31).  William made a nice summary of genealogical notes, including the ones mentioned here.
William and Marianna had six children. Their youngest child was my great grandmother, Bertha Charity.

4 Margaret T, born July 4, 1845 and died March 14, 1916 was  “unmarried.” William notes she “Lives with me.”(her brother William at Buckram, LI)

#12 - Phebe Willets Frees Her Slave before Rev War: Westbury, NY & Gets Other Quakers to Free Theirs!

My mother (the descendant this Phebe Willets) made it clear to us all from our youngest days that all people are of equal value. I did not know that there was a racism problem in this country until I heard about it on radio.  Both my parents set a good example for us and their children imitate what their parents embrace (and, by extension, the culture will be affected).

These ancestors had embraced ideas regarding people’s equality first on religious grounds, and some of them paid heavily for it. 

In this ancestral line some fought the Civil War for the Union, others were engaged in helping escaped slaves make it to safely to the North, and others spearheaded the first manumissions in New York.

Phebe Willets, my 7th great grandmother, was born in 1699 a Quaker home. Phebe became Quaker preacher and traveled and preached. She is the subject of Post #22 on this blog (with regard to her preaching).
Eventually, she married first at 32, a much older man, Adam Mott. They had three children, including my 6th great grandmother Elizabeth Mott. After Adam died, she married widower Tristam Dodge (she was in her 40s). She died in her 83rd year.
I find scattered references to Phebe Willets Dodge (or Phebe Willets Mott Dodge) in history books now and then. They usually say something like this:
 

However, what this doesn’t reveal is that she actually began the ball rolling at Old Westbury Meeting: beginning with her, the Friends at Meeting eventually manumitted all their slaves. This wasn't as light a matter as it sounds: people often found they had serious financial loss when they manumitted a slave. Long Islanders needed manpower to get jobs done: if you pay someone it makes a dent in your pocketbook. 

In 1939, Marietta Hicks (the niece of my great-great-great grandmother Marianna Hicks) turned over the original manumission papers which were witnessed (or "affirmed") at Old Westbury Meeting to {name?} someone for safekeeping.
 
The papers were transcribed, and someone eventually copied them, and we now have digital versions of these papers. (Though only some of the originals are available).
 
The typical wording of the manumission paper was similar to Elias Hicks’ and it went this way:
 

However, Phebe Willets (Dodge) was the first person in Old Westbury to manumit her slave. 

In contrast to the others, Phebe’s commitment to her faith rings out in her manumission paper: it was a cause based in her faith, not a statement for the Meeting.  Her conscience provoked her sense of obligation, and her ethics derived from that, not the other way around.  By this time, she was elderly,  she had nothing to gain, yet she felt it unChristian to keep another person as a slave.

Her manumission has a distinctly different tone to it (as its transcription shows). 
Phebe had been considering this issue for "some years" and it was a concern. It was her "duty as a ..Christian act to set her at Liberty." ["her" is Rachel, a slave her 2nd husband had left her when he died]

I would guess since she had been a Quaker preacher of some notoriety, she probably also urged others passionately (along with several other Friends who felt similarly, such as Elias Hicks) to do the same, and to stimulate the Friends in Meeting on this.  
Indeed, by the end of the Revolutionary War Old Westbury Meeting had manumitted all their slaves.
But what is striking to me--having lived in other cultures--is that the faith was proactive in its goodness.
--------------------------------------
Below find the transcribed manumissions--there might be an ancestor of interest in here:

 

Richard Willits manumits Jean, affirmed by Elias Hicks and William Valentine, of one several originals left.