#40- W.E. Hawxhurst hands over lots of genealogical information

Hand Me Down Some Genealogy!

I have a great great grandfather who did just this and what a gift. He was a Long Island Quaker. And since many Friends (Quakers) intermarried, it helps me untangle their genealogy. 

Wm Ephraim Hauxhurst, Surveyor of Long Island abt 1865

Background on William E. Hawxhurst (which he spelled Hauxhurst)
"William E. Hawxhurst, of Westbury, was born here in 1838, and is a son of Ephraim C. and Charity (Titus) Hawxhurst. He traces his ancestry back to Christopher Hawxhurst, a native of England, who crossed the ocean in 1665 and settled in what is now Locust Valley, Queens County, L.I., becoming one of the first settlers of the town of Oyster Bay, and in time one of its largest land owners.
His children were William, Mary and Sampson.
The maternal grandparents of our subject were Timothy and Margaret (Titus) Titus, both descendants of Edmund Titus, the first of that name who settled in Queens County. The family homestead, where our subject was born, became in 1832 the property of his father, who continued to reside there until his death, in 1859.
    The boyhood days of the subject of this notice were passed on the home farm, in the cultivation of which he assisted. For a time he attended a private school in his neighborhood.
When but a boy he took up the study of civil engineering and in it he was especially interested. Under his father, who was a civil engineer, he continued his studies until he had acquired a thorough knowledge of the work.
At the death of his father the home place came into his possession, and afterward he engaged in its cultivation for a number of years, but finally abandoned agriculture in order that he might give his entire attention to surveying.
However, he continued to reside on the farm, which was cultivated under his supervision.
    For the past twenty-five years Mr. Hawxhurst has devoted almost his entire time to surveying. For ten years past he has also dealt quite extensively in real estate, conducting the sale of land purchased by wealthy residents who have recently located here.
He was completed a fine map of Westbury, showing the original purchases and subsequent owners.
His surveying has been principally in the towns of Oyster Bay, Hempstead and North Hempstead.
He has laid out over one thousand acres in town lots and has opened roads and fixed boundary lines.
In politics he is a Republican, and cast his first ballot for Abraham Lincoln.
In 1885 he was appointed notary public and served five successive terms. He is a member of the Society of Friends.
In September, 1869, Mr. Hawxhurst married Miss Marianna Hicks.
To them have been given six children, namely: Mary W., wife of Edwin C. Tyson;
Caroline, wife of Prof. Frederick Sharpless;
Wallace, who is engaged in business with his father;
Florence,
Harold E. and
Bertha. [who married Chester Tyson, brother of Edwin Tyson]
Mr. Hawxhurst has given his children good educational advantages.
In 1895 he sold a portion of the home farm, on which was situated the old family dwelling, but this he moved to its present location and had it completely remodeled, putting in steam heating apparatus and other modern improvements that have made of it a commodious and comfortable residence.

 Source: "Portrait and Biographical Record of Queens County (Long Island) New York" Copyright 1896 by Chapman Publishing Company

 
I have a letter written by WE Hauxhurst in 1907 to his daughter, Mary Hauxhurst Tyson (sister to my great grandmother Bertha).

She had written to him after reading an article on the old family homestead in a newspaper "The Herald." Apparently she had many questions, which he tries to answer. Here is his response:

Westbury Station New York

February 19th 1907

Dear Mary:

Thy letter was received this morning in regard to “The Herald" article and on Westbury. The reporter interviewed me and I gave him a lot of stuff orally. He took notes but, of course, did not get everything as I told him. I did not give him the history of the Pump at the Turnpike. That he embellished from his own imagination. The article, nevertheless, was pretty fair. That was Buster at the half-door. The picture was all right but the process of copying in the paper destroyed the beauty of it. The reporter had lots of reverence for old things. He could hardly give up looking at the samplers that hang in our wall. Thee will remember that we have Mary Fry’s sampler made when she was a school-girl, dated 1724, which is in perfect preservation.

As to the title of the land in Westbury. The Dutch, thee knows, settled the west end of Long Island and owned and claimed the land. A company of men, viz., Robert Fordham, John Strickland, John Ogden, John Carman, John Laurance and Jonas Wood, obtained a patent on March 6^th , 1666 from the Dutch governor Kieft for the Town of Hempstead which, of course, included Westbury. Previous to that there is no record of owners of the land here except the Indians.  From that time “The Proprietors,” as the company of men called themselves, owned the land in common. They had meetings which they adjourned from time to time and called them Town Meetings. I neglected to state that the said "Proprietors" purchased the land besides from the Indians. The Town Meetings made the laws and regulations for the Town and for small consideration, would give individuals land grants or deeds for land, every landholder becoming one of the “Proprietors,” so that their numbers increased pretty fast.

 

 [About their house:]

A man by the name of Seaman obtained a grant of the “Proprietors" for all Westbury, i.e., for quite a large tract just here.

Henry Willis, thy ancestor, purchased the Rachel Hicks place from Seaman and built a home and lived thereon near Buttonball Pond in the Barrack Lot on the Mary Seaman place. Henry Willis's daughter married Nathaniel Seaman who subsequently purchased the place.

 Henry Willis's son, William Willis, married Edmund Titus's daughter and built a house in our old garden and owned my place, together with a hundred acres of land besides.

William Willis's son, Samuel, married Mary Fry, thy namesake or rather ancestor.

William Willis, in his will, gave this place to his two sons, Samuel and Jacob, besides much of the land in Westbury.

Jacob bought out the interest of his brother Samuel. Jacob never married. He was not rugged and died young. In his will, he ordered his executors to sell all his land which they did, and this place was purchased by Richard Willis, son of John and nephew of Jacob who lived here a generation and then sold the place to John Loines. John Loines lived here a generation then sold the place to Benjamin Hicks, Uncle Joseph Hick’s father.

He owned it a short time, never living here, when he sold the farm to Richard Willits, Edward Willits' father, and grandfather of Mary Seaman.

Richard Willits built our house somewhere about 1820. He lived here a number of years, then sold the place to William Willis of Jericho, a grandson of Samuel Willis and Mary Fry.

William Willis owned the farm for about one year when my father [Ephraim Cock Hauxhurst] purchased it for about $2500. William Willis moved back to Jericho. The rest of the title thee knows.

I can give dates for all the above changes and transfers but if I went into all the particulars, I would have to write a volume.

 

[Questions about Long Island's history]

As to the bulrushes thee spoke of, that episode did not happen here. The Town of Flushing obtained a grant of land also from the Dutch Governor later confirmed by the Duke of York, brother of Charles II. The Town of Flushing also bought out the Indians and it was in the Indian deed that the reservation was made for them to obtain bulrushes anywhere and at any time forever for them and their descendants.

Speaking of Indians thee may not know that the road down by Isaac Cock’s in the olden Colonial times was called Matinecock Hollow. 

Matinecock was the name of an Indian tribe who lived on the north side of the Island [Long Island] Matinecock Hollow was the old Indian trail used by the Indians in traveling from the north to the south side to obtain clams and fish and dry them and when they had a supply they would go back again home. There are hundreds of loads of shells, always in heaps, on the south side where the Indians had their camps and left the clam shells. The Indians, thee may not know, called Long island Sewanhaka, meaning Island of Shells. 

The Town of Hempstead, I'm proud to say, was not stolen from the Indians but was purchased from them after “The Proprietors" had obtained their patent from the Dutch Governor Keift. The name of the Indian Chief from whom the purchase was made was Tacaposia. The deed, or copy thereof, is in the records of the Town of Hempstead. 

 [Regarding slaves on Long Island]

It may interest you to know that thy Willis ancestors living in Westbury where landholders and were well-to-do people, and they, part of them, I know by their wills, and probably all of them, owned slaves. Henry Willis, the elder, had slaves, and his son Henry, who owned Uncle Stephen R. Hicks’s farm, and William Willis, who owned our farm, kept slaves, so that in all probability all the land in Westbury was cleared of timber and swamps by slaves. In fact, there is no doubt about it.

 

[Families in Long Island]

It is a curious fact that the names of residents, landowners, of Westbury has changed about every 100 years. I have memoranda to show that. Around 1860 to 1880 the old residents died off, their property being sold and strangers came in and bought up their farms. The exceptions are, old John Titus's place, the Rachel Hicks place and in a measure the William Hicks or Hitchcock place. Since 1860-70, Westbury has steadily been denuded of its old residents and their descendants. Their places have been sold and people of other names and character will soon own all of lovely Old Westbury. It is sort of sad. In our Firstday Meetings [Quaker worship service] there is not a single man of my age and that I care particularly about who comes to meeting, except occasionally William Townsend. I will not burden thee with anymore of this long rambling letter.  If it reminds thee of any more that thee would like to know, ask, and if I can, I will answer thee. 

 

[Original Owners of Westbury]

 

I can place the original owners on about all the land in Westbury. The Colonial owners were, commencing at Cock’s road: first, George Baldwin, then John Loines, one Davis, Thomas Carman, Seaman, Henry and William Willis, Richard Stiles, Joseph Clement, Joseph Dingee, Edmund Titus. Those persons own all of Westbury. Dingee being the owner of Oliver Titus's and Powell's places.

 

[Mayo's Purchase]
            Thee is mixed up about Roger Williams. He had nothing to do with the land on Long Island, except acting as arbitrator to settle a disputed line in the Town of Oyster Bay. Tradition says that Robert Williams, cousin of Roger, sent for him to come to Long Island as follows:  Robert Williams had a grant from the King of England for a large tract of land, i.e., all the Plain land in the Town of Oyster Bay and a large part of the Plains in the Town of Hempstead.  Robert Williams’ grant formed the eastern boundary of the Town of Hempstead over which there was no dispute, but there was a dispute about the east line of the Robert Williams purchase, between it and the adjoining grant or purchase of some people, or brothers by the name of Mayo, called Mayo's Purchase. To settle this dispute, Robert Williams had his cousin Roger come over from Rhode Island to settle the difficulty by fixing the line, which he did and ended the dispute. Mayo's line is now in existence, but here I am spinning out another yarn. 

I must stop or thy English head will fail to comprehend it, at least for a while.

Papa

[William Ephraim Hauxhurst]

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

Confused yet? If not, here's another gift from my gr-gr grandfather, WE Hauxhurst. He wrote down the Titus family genealogy:

Titus Family According to William E Hauxhurst

[Marriage 1]

Timothy Titus (my grandfather) married Magdelina Hogland and had two children.

1. Andrew [Titus] 
2. Edmund [Titus] 

Magdelina died.

[Marriage 2]

Timothy Titus married Margaret Titus (who was his first cousin)

 [WE Hawxhurst’s maternal grandparents]

 and had children, 8 in number as follows:

1. Martha [Titus] married Charles Frost of Wheatly [Long Island, NY] (now living) [1884] 
2. *Charity [Titus] (my mother) married Ephraim C. Hauxhurst [his father] 
3. Mary [Titus]  never married. Deceased about 20 years [c. 1864] 
4. Ruth Titus Ruth never married. She was also unhealthy and died previous to Mary. Deceased about 20 years. [c. 1864] 
5. Sarah Titus married Horace B. Hinman from one of the River Counties. Green, I think. [Hudson River, Greene County, possibly] They lived in Brooklyn. They are now both dead. 
6. Timothy Titus married Martha Williams of Herricks [Long Island]. Timothy married Col. Williams, daughter’s  Martha. They now live in Auburn, Shawnee Co., Kansas. Have several children.
7.  Benjamin Titus  married Nancy Adams, daughter of Jacob Adams of Westchester Co. N Y. She was descendant of Jesse Dickinson. They lived on the old Homestead at Wheatly. And had several children. He died several years ago. 
8. Margaret Titus has not married. She is living at Wheatly [Long Island] with Benjamin's family [#7].

 *Charity Titus [above], my mother and daughter of Timothy [and Margaret Titus], married Ephraim C. Hauxhurst. 

[They] Had four children as follows:

1. Elizabeth Hauxhurst married Oliver Van Cott of Dutchess Co, NY. (Oliver is a descendant of Jemima Titus, my grandfather Timothy's sister who married John Van Cott) They have two children:1 William E. [Van Cott] and 2 George T. [Van Cott]
2. Caroline Hauxhurst never married. She had spinal disease and could not walk. She died with diphtheria in 1860. 
3. *William E. Hauxhurst married Marianna Hicks, daughter of Isaac and Mary [Fry] Hicks. [He did not list his children, as this genealogy was for them.] 
4. Margaret Hauxhurst is unmarried. Lives with me.

William E. Hauxhurst

Westbury, NY

1884

#39 - Henry Comly of England Emigrates to Penn's Wood

Henry Comly II & Agnes Heaton (8th gr grandparents)

Henry Comly, his wife and his family (including son, Henry Jr) emigrated in 1682. The Comlys are connected to my maternal grandmother's side several times. 
The Comlys married at least two families (possibly more) she is descended from. Comlys came to the  Phildadelphia (Moreland) area and were English Quakers. For generations, they married their kind--English (as opposed to German) Quakers.

(The lineage appears at the end of this piece)

Parents: Henry Comly Sr (1615-1684) & Joan (1630-1689)

Henry Comly (II) was born in Bedminster, England. He emigrated with his parents, (Henry Sr & Joan Tyler) 1682 when he was a young boy.

Henry (Sr) bought about 500 acres of land from William Penn (1681) where the family settled (Warminster, Bucks, PA).

Only two years after arriving Henry (Sr)died and left to his son Henry                                            “two hundred acres bought by me of the Governour besides the House and Hundred which I now live in."
His mother remarried Joseph English in 1685.

Henry (Jr) Marries
In 1695 Henry married Agnes Heaton, daughter of Robert Heaton at Langhorne,  PA.

When Henry married Agnes, she brought to the marriage property which included the Manor of Moreland—two large tracts of land; together they had this as well as his Warminster property.
Agnes & Henry raised their family on the Moreland property.

Henry was active in religious life of the Friends (Quaker) Meeting and in civil affairs. In 1711 he was the collector of county taxes. In 1721 his name is found on a list of subscribers for maintaining the poor who belonged to Byberry Preparative Meeting.

Henry's name on Byberry Prep Mtg-Money needed to maintain mtg house

One descendant, a great grandson said all "of his children were married according to the order of Friends.” (Quakers).

Children 
Henry & Agnes had 11 children whose names were recorded in the Comly family bible. They were members of Abington Meeting and that Meeting has records  for at least nine of their children.

“Henry Comly appears to have and supported through his life the character of an honest and upright man. He carried his temporal concerns with vigor and was successful in his business, so that he might be regarded as wealthy for a farmer at that early period. We find that he was employed in adjusting differences about property against his neighbors and was considered a serviceable member of the religious society.” - From Comly Genealogy: John Comly, his great-grandson

Death
Henry died at 57 year on 16 Mar 1726. (see Abington Monthly Meeting)

His widow Agnes died in 1743.

Source:
Comly, George Norwood, b. 1874. Comly Family In America: Descendants of Henry And Joan Comly, Who Came to America In 1682 From Bedminster, Somersetshire, England. With Short Account of the Ancestors of Charles And Debby Ann (Newbold) Comly. Compiled by George Norwood Comly... Philadelphia, Pa.: Priv published under supervision of J.B. Lippincott company, 1939.
PUBLIC DOMAIN; accessed 15 May 2020 at HathiTrust.org https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89066037615&view=1up&seq=5

#38 Legal Contracts: How They Serve Us -Wigard Levering of Pennsylvania

Law Contracts: Do they serve us or do we serve them?

A written contract in the form of a deed, a bond, a will, or some other instrument can give one a sense of security. 

"Posted: No Trespassing" can be nailed on a tree on your property when you have the deed to the land. 

Or, as a in will, you may inherit property.  

But what if  you are an indentured servant? how would you feel about the contract?  Wonder if my ancestor Wigard Levering find out that being indentured contract was too much of a burden? or too long? 

I Rosier Levering and Elizabeth Van de Walle - of Leiden and Germany (Gen 1) 
~ Rosier Levering was born about 1615 in Leiden (Leyden), Netherlands. He died Mar 1674/75 in Gemen, Munster, Germany.

Leiden, Netherlands (wikipedia/opensource)

~ He married Elizabeth Van De Wall[e], the daughter of Jacobus Van De Walle and Agatha Hess in 1646/47 in Gemen, Munster, Germany.
~ Elizabeth Van De Wal[e]l was born 21 May 1626 in Wesel, Germany. She died in Gemen, Munster, Germany.
Move to Pennsylvania
Elizabeth Van de Walle's brother, Jacob Van der Walle, was a wealthy Dutch Pietist and a prominent shareholder in the Frankfort Company which owned and organized Germantown, PA.
After William Penn acquired his Pennsylvania land in 1681, he needed settlers so he traveled throughout Europe seeking settlers, particularly Friends (Quakers) and Mennonites. Penn also found partners for the venture who had agents to help acquire more settlers.
One of these partnerships, organized about 1683, was the Frankfort Company (1683) and one partner in the Frankfort company was Jacob Van De Walle, brother-in-law of Rosier Levering (whose wife was Elizabeth Van De Walle).
Children of Rosier Levering and Elizabeth Van De Walle
Rosier Levering and Elizabeth Van De Walle had several children, including Wigard (son).
II Wigard Levering and Magdalena Boeckers (Gen 2)
Their son Wigard Levering was born in 1640s in the town of Gemen, Munster, Germany.
In April 1674, he married  Magdalena Boeckers, of Wesel, Germany.
The earliest record of Wigard Levering and his wife, Magdalena Boeckers, appears in the records of the Presbytery of the Evangelical Parish of Gemen, Munster Stadt, Westphalia, Germany.
On March 22, 1674, the first wedding banns for "Wigard Levering, Rosier's son, with Magdalena Bokers, of Essen," were proclaimed.
Mulheim Germany
They lived in Gemen first, then moved to Mulheim (where son William Levering was born).
No doubt Wigard's uncle, Jacob Van De Walle, was an agent for getting Wigard Levering  into a contract with the Frankfort Company at Wesel to ship the family to Philadelphia (dated 20th of March, 1685).
Their agreement with the Frankfort Company is at the Pennsylvania Historical Society:
"We, the subscribers, do acknowledge and confess by these Presents, that we have contracted and agreed together, that Doctor Thomas Van Wylick and Johannes Le Brun, in behalf of the Pennsylvania Company, in which they, and other friends of Frankfort and other parts, are engaged, to accept or receive me, Wigard Levering, old 36 or 37 years, and Magdalena Boeckers, old 36 years, and four children, Anna Catherine, William, Amelia, and Sibella, respectively 1/2, 2 1/2, 5 and 9 years, to and for the service of the aforementioned Company, to transport by shipping out of Holland or Ingland, to Pennsylvania, upon their cost. On Their arrival in Pennsylvania, they were to report themselves to Francis Daniel Pastorius, who was general agent for the company. Written upon the margin of the instrument an agreement to include "the Contractor's brother, Gerhard Levering."
New Chapter: Wigard & Magadelena's Emigration
They emigrated that year to America with four children, sailing to Philadelphia on “Penn's Woodland” from the Netherlands. They first settled in Germantown (outside of Philadelphia).
In August, 1685, the Frankfort Company conveyed 50 acres of land in Germantown to Wigard Levering.
A recorded deed, executed in August 1685 reads: "On the tenth of that month and year, Francis Daniel Pastorius, as the attorney of Jacob Van de Walle and others, forming the Frankford Company, conveyed to Wigard Levering a lot in Germantown containing fifty acres of land. So done in Germantown, on the 10th day of the 6th month (August), in the year of Christ 1685, in the sixteenth year of the reign of King James the Second of England, and in the fifth year of the reign of William Penn.'"
Wigard and his brother Gerhard Levering became freemen in 1691.
Once Wigard was a free man, he bought 500 of land and his brother bought adjoining land, near the  Wissahickon Creek to the Schuylkill River—most of Roxborough (slightly west). They lived there for the rest of their days.
Breaking a Contract:
When they immigrated both Wigard and Gerhard Levering were indentured to the Frankfort Company. (Indentured/Redemptioned laborers who lived in servitude for a set number of years in exchange for passage to the American colonies from England or Germany. They were considered chattel that could be bought and sold until the period of their servitude expired.) And although Wigard was indebted to the efforts of others for his relative prosperity and the benefit of no longer living in the church-state of Germany, he chose to get out from his obligation to the agents by suing to break the contract a full fourteen years after his immigration. Perhaps he believed that he had fulfilled his obligation? I can't know. A document reveals how Pastorious felt:
“… He…sued the said Comp; as debtors to him & to deprive me, the now Agent of the said Company of all advice & assistance in Law, employed all the Attorneys in the Country, who pleading that he the said Wigard, his wife & 4 children are not to discount anything for their Transportation, obtained Judgment in the last County Court against the said Company, for 32L 16s 10d. Now supposing the said German Company had Intended to transport the said Wigard his wife & children gratis or free, as I have proofs to the contrary… Therefore your Petitioner in the behalf of the said German Comp. humbly entreats you to grant to have the cause tried again (a thing he thinks not so unheard of as that a Plaintiff should employ all the Lawyers to impede & hinder the Defendants to get any) And to the end that a Just Cause may not suffer by my unskillfullness in pleading & notorious want or defect to express myself sufficiently in the English tongue to the full understanding of a Jury; May it please the Govr & his Council to appoint a Person learned in the Law to patronize or manage the same. And as your Petitioner requests these things only for Justice & Truths sake, so (he hopes) it will tend to the preventing both of others, who being transported by the said Company's disbursement may probably follow the steps of Wigard; as also to the allaying of dissatisfaction of several honest hearted people in Germany and especially oblidge your Petitioner.
- F.D. Pastorious "
Personal: 
Wigard Levering spoke German and was unable to write. His wife Magdalena died when she was about 67, in 1717 at the age of about 67 years.
Wigard (some people called him John) died in February 1745/46. His age was estimated between 103-107 when he died and was buried upon his farm.
The location is now part of Fairmount Park of Philadelphia. Later it became the churchyard and burial ground of the Baptist Church. It is now Leverington Cemetery.
It is now Leverington Cemetery.

[In 1689, William Penn had a census taken and found about a thousand Swedes; nevertheless, the Germans outnumbered them greatly in a short span of time. The Welsh were prominent across the Schuylkill in Merion Township.]

#37 Influencers and Dividers - John Willis and Mary Kirby Willis and George F White, Firebrand

Influencer or Divider

This post is about the amazing influence of persuading people to share your opinions.

My 4th great grandmother had two sisters who were quite happy to remain as Quakers until a powerful influencer (for lack of a better word) made remaining in the Quaker fold intolerable for them.

The two sisters (Amy and Sarah) were great supporters of abolition of slavery and there were forces inside Quakerism which felt that that was inappropriate.

Background:

Their parents (my 5th great grandparents)

Father: Jacob Kirby (Son of Willets Kirby and Hannah Titus)
B 11 Aug 1765 Jericho, Nassau, NY
D 1859 Oyster Bay New York,
Married:
Mother: Mary Seaman (Daughter of William S Seaman & Mary Jackson)
B 27 Mar 1774 Nassau Co, NY
D 21 Sep 1854

Marriage -B 24 Jun 1790 in Jericho, NY

Their Children
*1 Mary Willis Kirby&
B 30 Jul 1791 D 1873
Married
John Willis on 24 Dec 1812
2 William Kirby Born 17 Mar 1795 Died 19 Sep 1797
3 Hannah Kirby Born 1799–1827
4 Amy Kirby Born 20 Dec 1803 Died 1889
5 Willets Kirby Born September 1806 Died 1882
6 Edmond Kirby Born 1808
7 Elizabeth Kirby Born 21 Jun 1814 Died 1900
8 Sarah Kirby Born 16 Jan 1818 Died 1914

Three sisters of my 4th great grandmother (Mary Kirby) had a tumultuous time after leaving Long Island.
HANNAH:Hannah and Isaac Post married in Jericho, Long Island, NY in the early 1820s. In 1823 they moved to Cayuga County, NY.
In 1827, Hannah Kirby Post died.
AMY: In the meantime, sister Amy Kirby had moved upstate to nurse Hannah. The year after her death, Isaac Post (widower) and Amy Kirby were wed.
SARAH: In 1838 Sarah Kirby moved upstate and married 1st, Jefferies Hallowell in 1838 (d. 1844); Married 2nd, Edmund P Willis in 1853.
MARY (my great grandmother): Remained in Jericho, married to John Willis.

Both Sarah Kirby (Hallowell/Willis) and Amy Kirby (Post) were active in anti-slavery work (abolitionist movement).
They were members of the newly-formed Western New York Anti-Slavery Society in 1842, and worked on its many Antislavery Fairs (fundraising events).

There was quite an exchange of letters between the sisters in Rochester and Long Island.
One letter (which is in the Univ. of Rochester Library) is to Amy Kirby Post and is a recounting, or a reporting of a Quaker business meeting which took place in May 1842 in Westbury, and was written by Mary's husband John Willis.
He gives a report on the outcome of an appeal from a person who was to be disowned from the Friends meeting. I had believed until I read the background at that period that I understood why people were disowned. What caught my attention was his warning to his sister-in-law at at the end of the letter.

"Father and Mother expects to make you a visit and if you want them to have an agreeable visit you must talk something besides Abolition and George F White." (for transcription, see end of post)

John Willis to sister-in-law Amy Post

John Willis warns Amy not to mention George F White

Thanks to George F White,the Genesee Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends, to which Sarah & her husband belonged, was against slavery, but its ministers and elders disapproved of the aactivities of many anti-slavery advocates.

Who WAS George F White & what was the problem with speaking of Abolition?

In the 1840s George F White was a prominent Quaker minister and followed Elias Hicks' teachings (which had created a division around 1827).
Minister George F White was “anti-Anti.” He was quite persuasive; preaching that the Quakers should not come out against anything.
For example, he was against being against slavery (anti-abolitionist), but he was not pro-slavery. White strongly warned the Friends using forceful terms, against participating in antislavery and other reform movements, which were otherwise seen as advancing Quaker ideas.
He was apparently pro-George F White.
He was highly controversial figure, creating division among the Quakers.
His influence was so strongly felt that New England & New York Yearly Meetings prohibited abolitionist speeches and later on temperance and suffrage meetings in its facilities.

Amy Kirby (sister of Mary Kirby Willis) during this time worked with Frederick Douglass in Rochester and invited him to speak at Westbury (Long Island) Meeting.
However, this was cancelled when some in the meeting objected to Douglass’ message. Frederick Douglass instead met with locals but did not speak at the Quaker meetinghouse.
George F White's influence was felt all over, and in Western New York (Rochester and surrounding areas), the ground shifted for the Quakers.
There, the NY (Hicksite) Quarterly Meeting refused to allow anti‐slavery lecturers in the meetinghouse, saying even though Quaker, they were paid by abolition societies. This broke the general Quaker rule against using a “hireling ministry” (paid).
Tensions grew over how to resolve the conflicts within meetings: George F White had created more problems than he had solved.
In Western NY some people, such as Amy (Kirby) and Isaac Post left Genesee Yearly Meeting altogether. Then in 1848 about 200 others formed a separate Yearly meeting.
The controversy that surrounded George F White’s crusade against reform movements eventually created fracture nearly every Hicksite Yearly meeting.
Going back to the letter at the beginning of the post:
The letter is John Willis' account to his sister-in-law is his own recollection of an appeal by James S Gibbons on his possible disownment. There were three people in jeopardy at this time: Isaac T Hopper, his son-in-law James S. Gibbons, and Charles Marriott. The problem? They had what was viewed as improper associations with nonQuaker abolitionist movements.
After over a year of deliberation, New York Monthly Meeting disowned the men in 1842.
A few (not all) reasons listed for disowning the men:

"1. Such activity implied that something was wrong with Friends testimonies. Faith should be sufficient to cause change; therefore, it was not necessary to form or participate in man‐made organizations.

2. Such activity ignored the slaveholders, many of whom were performing a moral good by making slaves morally good and happy; it also ignored the problems that abolition would bring to slaveholders.

3. Such activity employed strong language and harsh activities unbefitting to Friends.

4. Quakers belong to a religious society, not a benevolent society; therefore, slavery was not a proper issue for the care of the Religious Society of Friends."

The above list pretty much lays bare the problem changing things in society for the better; one of the great obstacles to change is overcoming inertia against change.

[The two sisters of Mary, Sarah and Amy, eventually left the Society of Friends (Quakers). Both Sarah and Amy were one of the many former Quakers who often gathered at the Anthony home on Sundays to discuss reform activities, including anti-slavery and women's rights.]
First and last page of John Willis' letter to Amy Kirby Post (transcribed)

Jericho 5th (May) 30th 1842
My much esteemed sister - [meaning sister-in-law-]
Amy Post
    We have now returned from our Yearly Meeting and feel something of a cold  otherwise all pretty well. Our Yearly meeting was large and the business that came before it was conducted in much harmony and brotherly love we had in the company of good many strangers  some from Philadelphia, Baltimore, Genessee [county] and Can`n`ady, and the subjects that thee may feel an interest in 
I will give some account of the first business take up in the second sitting was the appeal of TTH (?) ht meeting appointed four-from each quarterly, Westbury excepted which made 36 in number. I had objected to 3 of those that where appointed and they were accordingly released and 3 others appointed in their stead with which Isaac [Hopper] felt satisfyed [sic] in the commencement of the appointment Isaac requested that he might have the company of his son in law James S Gibbons to set with him, which was granted  then asked James S G. weather [sic] he intended to prosecute  appeal James said before he answered that question it would be necessary for him to make a few remarks. He said it never was agreeable to his judgement to appeal but he did so on consideration
to his friend (but I think such friends are not worth having) and to prosecute the appeal for the sake of controversy he had no wish to do and further  he had no wish to be a member of N. York monthly Meeting as he thought the regulations of that meeting would conflict with his duty's [sic] he therefore declined proceeding any further and would withdraw from the contest. he said a good deal more but the above is about the substance.
The Meeting then proseeded [sic] on with its usual business until Sixth Day morning when the clerk informed that there was
a report from the committee on the appeal on the table which was accordingly taken up The report was as follows that they had attended to their  appointment had heard the appellant and the quarterly Meeting committee in the case, and that 18 where [sic] for confirming the judgment of the quarterly Meeting 15 for reversing it, and three declined giving any opinion in the case. John (Rh)uman asked weather [sic] it would be thought....
-----------ETC -----------
(END OF LETTER)
I have wrote a considerable >this is the last (page?)< but I suppose it will not be very exceptable [sic] information to thee but thee must try to hear it for it does appear that moddern [sic] abbolitionism [sic] is on the dicline [sic] with us [meaning Quakers], not that the interes[t] in the welfare of the slave is on the dicline [sic] by any means, that and moddern abbolition [sic] is two very different subjects--- Father and Mother expects to make
you a visit and if you want them to have an agreeable visit you must talk something besides Abolition and George F White.
Effectionately [sic] thine -
John Willis
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 1 https://www.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.5406/illinois/9780252038266.001.0001/upso-9780252038266-chapter-004
2  https://www.friendsjournal.org/2004030/
3 Quakers and Abolition, Edited by Brycchan Carey and Geoffrey Plank, 2014, University of Illinois Press
4 https://rrlc.org/winningthevote/biographies/amy-post/

#36 : An Epidemic. 100 Years Ago - Spanish Flu 1918-1919

Spanish Flu of 1918

The Spanish Flu of 1918 didn't stop on Dec 31, 1918. It naturally flowed into 1919. My great grandmother kept a diary off and on over the years. I haven’t found one from 1918, but she ‘resolved’ to keep on in 1919. 

The diary she kept starts New Year’s Day, January 1919. Their first born daughter, my grandmother, Elizabeth Tyson turned 15 in 1919.

Elizabeth had 2 elder brothers (Donald Charles 1902-1980 and Robert William 1903-1969).
In 1919 below her were seven children (in order):

• Margaret Janet {Keefer, Bouchelle} 1906-1994;
• Frederick Carroll 1908-1974;
• Edwin Phillip 1909-1973;
• Richard Stanley 1911-1987;
• Chester Julian Jr 1912-1972 (called Jr. below);
• Ralph Watts 1914-1998;
• Paul F "Dix" 1916-2008

Two more children came later. When Bertha started the diary in January 1919, her two youngest children Alan Hawxhurst 1919-1993, and Norman Eugene 1921-2010 weren’t yet conceived. (Alan born at the end of 1919).

 

Echoes of today: 

Bertha was in 1919 a mother of 10 children, and her husband worked a large farm, and he was active in PA agricultural communities. 
 

Parallels to today include: 

* Sanitary habits. In January, she’s teaching her children to be more sanitary about their runny noses.

* Widespread. Even though she was in a rural farming area, there were friends and relatives who "are sick with the 'flue'” as she spelled it. 
* Isolation. This family though comparatively well-off (they had two cars and a phone), could only call people who owned phones as well. 
* Cancellations: "Meeting"—or Quaker worship—was cancelled several Sundays.

* Deaths: Several friends/relatives died 
 

Note: driving for pleasure was not really part of the equation. 

 

Esp. in winter. Then trips were mostly with a purpose.

 

Cars were relatively new and roads were often too bad (snow, mud, ruts, etc.) in winter to go anywhere. The Pennsylvania Turnpike was opened as a "large" paved road when my mother could remember it (it opened October 1940 and was just 160 miles long).

Below is a typewritten transcript from her diary: 

 

 

Click on picture to enlarge.

 

Bertha (Hawhurst) Tyson’s Jan  & Feb 1919 Diary 

(Chester is her husband. Most people mentioned are close or distant relatives by marriage).

Wednesday 1 January 1919

No sun. Rain lasted all day. Had goose stuffed with apples and prunes, good but kids not fond of it. Most everyone one around has “flue.” [flu]

All Geo Peters family but himself & (olive?), Will & Edna (Tyson) & all colored folks,etc. Read a little & sewed. Ralph [son] wants me to get him to Uncle Ralph’s, and has been leading up to it for some time. Told me Uncle Ralph has a pony & play things for him & that he ought to ____his cousins up there! 

Resolved to keep a diary!

Thursday 2 January 1919

Rain & snow in PM. No sun. Electricians here to make changes. Made doughnuts. 

All Geo. Peters  (family) all but Olive has influenza. Olive is only caretaker. Geo. kept up as long as he could. Mary cooking as much as she could.

All well here Everyone else (nearly) is sick or has sickness in family.

Friday 3 January 1919

Snowed about 6 in. Children excited. I mended & put away, etc. 

Children have learned to be sanitary about their noses. Jr. & Stan use paper & then run quickly & burn it up! 

Boys went down to Guernsey [about 2.5 miles, depending on destination] & started generator & etc. All sick down there including the colored folks. Electricians here to make changes. 

Chester [her husband] came home feeling miserably, wen tot bed right after dinner & felt better by the time I went to bed. Big boys caught up in work too___
Saturday 4 January 1919

6 °t. Robert went up for Daisy. Froze the Ford radiator & a hole developed. Both cars out of commission. Cold all day. A little coasting Too cold for a good bread. Made tarts, good. Don went to Guernsey to fix pipes & to prevent freezing. M. J. T & Don Garretson played cards all PM.

Sunday 5 January 1919

Cold ° 8 t here ° -6 at night. 

Most of the men sick so far D--? And Don and Chester went down to clean stables & etc. 

No meeting [Quaker worship] due to flue [flu]. 

Had two meals; tea & tarts (sand)__  . W.E. read & sat in my b?. 

Tired. Clothes for the boys [side cut off]  

Sunday January 12 1919

Sunny & cold. No meeting [Quaker worship] account of flue [flu].

Chester tried to fix sitting-room fireplace so it would not smoke, it was better but not without some smoke yet. We let the fire go out. 

After dinner, Chester, Fred & I went to Mapleton and looked at the cows & their m__, and the office. I wrote his [Chester’s] letters. 

Children at home, everything more or less in disorder!

Marg. Koser’s husband died very suddenly at Middletown. 

Mrs. Warren on the Annex very sick; a nurse, hardly expects her to live thru the in night.

Wednesday 15 January 1919

Cloudy in AM Sunday a little while in PM.

Chester still has a cold. Went to the office about 9:30. 

Lizzie Garretson here to mend rug & etc. Electricians here to finish but didn’t quite. 

Mended everything, took all day.

Everything running out. 

Chester not yet feeling good. 

Thursday January 16 1919

Sunny all day. Electricians still here. Will Deardorf here to repair.  Lizzie S here to mend quilts. Daisy & I cleaned 4 roosters & canned them in 1/2 gal jars. Lovely & warm. 6 eggs gathered. Cleaned lots of nice celery. 

Chester not feeling well. (he) had supper in bed.

Children called me to see a beautiful mackerel sky in the eve. I told them it would rain.

Dix [the youngest at this time] threw a spoon into the fireplace. I scolded & I found I had consented (absentmindedly) when he asked me if he could!

Friday 17 January 1919

Cloudy all day. Didn't feel good all day & accomplished nothing! Electricians here. Finishing at last. They can kill time faster than anyone else I ever saw, walk slowly & sit on their jobs.

Eliz. has been calling [little brother] Ralph "Sweetheart" & he answers by calling her "Ducky-love" but he didn't want to be called that last night but wanted "Window"! Everything he does is concerned with "States-College," he has a suitcase that is to go to States-College, and then  he is to ? send it back? Dix..___

{Jump to the following month}

Saturday 1 February 1919 
Clear & warm. So nice. 
We went to Gettysburg in PM over good roads but such stones in it! Margaret was sick in AM but went with us. Got home just before 5 and had supper of beans & hot doggies. Went to bed and asleep. Chester phoned at 9 o’clock from Harrisburg. 

Sunday 2 February 1919

Clear & warm. Ground was frozen. 

Mary Rush came over on the 10:45 train and left at 5 o’clock. A short day but well worthwhile. The clutch [on the car] is still slipping so did not go for Chester [to train station]. Elizabeth [my grandmother] is buttering up girls to join a girls’ cooking club. All enthusiastic. Had a lovely visit with Mary Rush, all too short.