Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. I, Part 18

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed; Jordan, Wilfred, b. 1884, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York, NY : Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 710

USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. I > Part 18

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RICHARD WILLING, son of Thomas and Anne (McCall) Willing, born in Philadelphia, December 25, 1775, on arriving at manhood engaged in the mer- cantile trade in connection with the firm of Willing & Francis, for whom he made four voyages to India and one to China, and later took an active part in winding up the affairs of that well-known firm.

He visited Europe, was a member of the First City Troop, and at one time president of an insurance company, the only official position he could ever be induced to accept. He died in Philadelphia, May 18, 1858.

Richard Willing married, at Christ Church, February 1, 1804, Eliza Moore, daughter of Thomas Lloyd Moore, of Philadelphia, by his wife Sarah Stamper. She was born in Philadelphia, July 14, 1786, and died May 21, 1823.

Issue of Richard and Eliza (Moore) Willing :-

Thomas Moore Willing, d. Isle of Wight, Sept. 17, 1850; m. July 23, 1831, Matilda Lee Carter, of Virginia;

Mary Willing, m. Feb. 12, 1828, John Montgomery Dale, son of Commodore Richard Dale, U. S. N., d. s. p. Feb. 13, 1860;

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Henry Willing, d. unm. Sept. 13, 1845;

Ellen Willing, m. le Compte Blondell von Cuellbroeck, Envoy Extraordinary from Belgium to Spain; d. at Madrid, Sept. 13, 1872;

Caroline Willing, d. July 22, 1860; m. and had issue who changed their name to Willing;

Elizabeth Willing, m. John Jacob, son of Jacob Ridgway, the eminent Philadelphia merchant, and they lived the greater part of their lives in Paris;

Edward Shippen Willing, d., Philadelphia, 1907; m. Alice, dau. of John Rhea Barton, M. D., and had issue :-

John Rhea Barton Willing; Susan Ridgway Willing; Edward Shippen Willing, Jr., d. young in 1873; Ava Lowle Willing.

CHARLES WILLING, second son of Charles and Anne (Shippen) Willing, born in Philadelphia, May 30, 1738, was a merchant in Philadelphia in the days of that city's mercantile preeminence, but the greater part of his business career was spent in Barbadoes, where he resided for many years. He married at Barbadoes, May 24, 1760, Elizabeth Hannah Carrington, born in Barbadoes, March 12, 1739, died there October 12, 1795, daughter of Paul and Elizabeth (Gibbs) Carring- ton. He later returned to Philadelphia, and spent most of his remaining days in that city and at his country seat "Coventry" farm, in Chester, now Delaware county, dying at the latter place, March 22, 1788, in his fiftieth year. An excel- lent portrait of him painted by Benjamin West, is in possession of Charles Will- ing Littel, of Baltimore. Elizabeth Hannah (Carrington) Willing, returned to Barbadoes after the death of her husband and died there October 12, 1795.

Issue of Charles and Elizabeth Hannah (Carrington) Willing :-

Elizabeth Gibbs Willing, b. Sept. 30, 1764, d. Feb. 12, 1820; m. June 10, 1782, John Forster of Barbadoes, son of John Forster Alleyne, and grandson of Thomas and Dorothy Alleyne of Braintree, Mass. John F. Alleyne and his family removed to England after the Revolution.

Anne Willing, b. in Philadelphia, Aug. 28, 1767, d. Jan. 11, 1853, m., May 9, 1786, Luke, son of Anthony and Elizabeth (Hudson) Morris.

Anne (Willing) Morris, according to a deposition made by her son Thomas Willing Morris, always resided in Philadelphia. She survived her husband a half century, living many years in Germantown. An account of her descendants is given in this volume under the heading of the Morris Family. The descendants of Elizabeth Gibbs (Willing) Alleyne, all lived in England.

MARGARET WILLING, daughter of Charles and Anne (Shippen) Willing, born in Philadelphia, January 15, 1753, died September 21, 1816, married November 16, 1775, Robert Hare, son of Richard and Martha Hare, of Limehouse, near London, England. He was born at Woolwich, Kent county, England, January 28, 1752, and came to Pennsylvania June 4, 1773. He became a prominent busi- ness man of Philadelphia, and represented the city in the General Assembly in 1791, and later in the State Senate; was Speaker of the Senate and ex-officio Lieutenant Governor, 1796. He was one of the original organizers of the Philadelphia "First City Troop" but took no part in the military operations during the Revolutionary War. During the British occupation of Philadel- phia, he and his family were exiles in Virginia, and made their residence with his brother-in-law, Colonel William Byrd, of Westover, near Winchester. He was trustee of University of Pennsylvania, 1789-1805. He died in German- town, Philadelphia, March 8, 1812.

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Issue of Robert and Margaret (Willing) Hare :-

Richard Hare, b. Philadelphia, Sept. 22, 1776, d. July 9, 1778;

CHARLES WILLING HARE, b. Westover, Va., April 23, 1778, m. Anne Emlen, of whom presently ;

Martha Hare, b. Philadelphia Aug. 17, 1779, d. Feb. 4, 1852, unm .;

ROBERT HARE, b. Philadelphia, Jan. 17, 1781, d. May 15, 1858; Prof. of Chemistry, Univ. of Pennsylvania, Life member of Smithsonian Institute, m. Harriet Clark, of Provi- dence, R. I .;

Richard Hare, b. Philadelphia, Sept. 24, 1782, d. Jan. 9, 1796;

John Powell Hare, b. Philadelphia, April 22, 1786, d. Newport, R. I., June 14, 1850, m. Julia de Veaux. He changed his name to John Hare Powell; was Colonel in War of 1812-14, and later a Secretary of Legation at Court of St. James, London.

CHARLES WILLING HARE, eldest surviving son of Robert and Margaret (Will- ing) Hare, married August 29, 1801, Anne Emlen, daughter of George Emlen, Esq., of Philadelphia, born July 6, 1777, died February, 1851.

Issue of Charles Willing and Anne (Emlen) Hare :-

Sarah Emlen Hare, d. unm. April, 1860;

Robert Hare, d. June 1846, m. Nov., 1840, Claire Louise de Pestre ;

William Bingham Hare, d. Aug. 1825;

George Emlen Hare, D. D., LL.D., S. T. D., m. Elizabeth Catharine Hobart;

MARGARETTA HARE, m. April 28, 1831, Israel Pemberton Hutchinson ;

Ann Bingham Hare, b. Feb. 16, 1813, d. March 27, 1825.

ROBERT HARE, son of Robert and Margaret (Willing) Hare, the distinguished chemist and philosopher, "whose name for half of a century was familiar to men of science as a chemical philosopher and to cultivators of the useful arts throughout the civilized world", was born in Philadelphia January 17, 1781. He received a fair academic education and in early life managed the business of an extensive brewery established by his father, an Englishman of strong mind, who early affiliated himself with the institutions of his adopted country, and was honored by public confidence. Young Hare soon abandoned business for the study of science, attending lectures in his native city, and united himself with the Chemical Society of Philadelphia, to whom he communicated in 1801, a description of his "hydrostatic blow-pipe," in a "Memoir" republished in Tul- loch's Philosophical Magazine, London, in 1802, and also in Annals de Chime, vol. 45. This apparatus was the earliest and perhaps the most remarkable of his many original contributions to science, and gave evidence of a highly phil- osophic mind. He experimented with Professor Silliman and with him con- structed in 1803, for Yale College laboratory, the first pneumatic trough, in which was incorporated his new invention, and he received the Rumford Medal, from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also perfected the vol- taic battery, introducing his invention of the "Deflagorator."

Professor Hare was called to the chair of Chemistry of University of Penn- sylvania in 1818, which he continued to fill until his resignation in 1847, at which time he was made Emeritus Professor. In 1816 he invented a galvanic in- strument called the "Calorimotor," introducing a new theory of galvanism, and his "Deflagorator," above referred to, followed in 1820. Dr. Hare published a number of papers and pamphlets on scientific subjects since much quoted, and considered valuable contributions to chemical science. He was an ardent patriot

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and student of political economy ; was first a Federalist and later a Whig, and published a number of works on political and financial questions which were marked by vigorous thought and large views. He was a life member of the Smithsonian Institute, to which he gave all his chemical and physical apparatus. Dr. Robert Hare died in Philadelphia May 15, 1858. Many tributes to his memory and worth in the realm of science and literature were published in the newspapers and other periodicals of the day, and an excellent account of his scientific attainments of some length appeared in the Journal of Science for July, 1858.

Dr. Hare married, September 1811, Harriet Clark, daughter of John Innis Clark, of Providence, Rhode Island, by his wife Lydia Brown. She was born 1782, and died March 19, 1869.

Issue of Robert and Harriet (Clark) Hare :-

John Innis Clark Hare, b. Aug., 1812, d. the same month;

Hon. John Innis Clark Hare, late President Judge of Common Pleas Court of Phila- delphia, b. Oct. 17, 1817, d. 1907. He received degree of A. B. at Univ. of Pa. in 1834; studied law and was admitted to Philadelphia Bar, 1841. Was made a Judge of District Court of Philadelphia, 1851, and became President Judge of that court in 1867, presiding until 1874, when the new State constitution abolished the District Court, and he was made President Judge of Common Pleas Court No. 2, which position he held until his death, in 1907. The Univ. of Pa. conferred upon him honorary degree of LL.D., 1868, and he was trustee of the University 1858-68; Pro- fessor of the Law Institute, 1868. He became a member of American Philosophical Society in 1842, was the author of a number of papers on legal questions, edited "Smith's Leading Cases," and other standard works. M., Nov. 16, 1842, Esther C. Binney, dau. of Hon. Horace Binney, by his wife Elizabeth Coxe;

Lydia Hare, m., Providence, R. I., Aug. 15, 1828, Frederick Prime of New York;

ROBERT HARFORD HARE, m., Aug. 28, 1845, Caroline, dau. of Charles Henry Flem- ing of New Bedford, Conn., by his wife Mary Rotch, of whom presently;

George Harrison Hare, of the U. S. N .; m. Elizabeth Binney, dau. of John and Mary (Binney) Cadwalader, d. s. p., July 22, 1857;

Theodore Dehon Hart, d. y., 1825.

Issue of Robert Harford and Caroline (Fleming) Hare :-

Mary Fleming Hare, m. Sussex Delaware Davis, of Philadelphia Bar, and had issue :--

Samuel Boyer Davis ;

Caroline Hare Davis. m. Oct. 8, 1904, William Penn-Gaskell Hall, of Philadel- phia, descendant of William Penn, the Founder ;

Robert Hare Davis;

Sussex Delaware Davis Jr .;

Harriet Clark Hare, m. George McClelland, M. D.

BALCH FAMILY

Among those who crossed the Atlantic about the middle of the seventeenth century to seek their fortune in the New World, was John Balch of Somer- setshire, England. The family was settled in that shire from very early times. In 1225, Edward Balch was living in the Hundred of Chyu, in 1327, William Balch was taxed at Purye near Bridgwater, and in 1492, Robert Balch became incumbent of the church at Hazelbury. William Balch of Higham, county Somerset, who died in 1532-3, was living before Columbus crossed the Atlan- tic to America, as his son John Balch of Horton, County Somerset, was born 1497, in the reign of Richard the Second. In the Visitation of Somerset in 1623 by the Heralds of the College of Arms, the right was confirmed to the family through George Balch of Horton, Somerset, to blazon on their shield, "Barry of six, or an az. on a bend engrailed gules, three spear heads ar.," and to bear for a crest, a demi griffin rampant. These arms are recorded in Harley manu- scripts 1141-5-1559, in the British Museum. The motto used by the family is, "Coeur et courage font l'ouvrage." A branch of the family that settled as early as the sixteenth century in Bridgwater gave three members to Parlia- ment, and three mayors to the town.

John Balch came from county Somerset to the Province of Maryland, 1658, of his own free will, paying himself for his transportation. One of his sons, Thomas Balch, born in Maryland, was of a restless and adventurous disposi- tion, and went as a very young man to England. There he knew Richard Bax- ter and was much influenced by that eminent divine. When "King Mon- mouth" raised his standard in south-western England in June, 1685, Thomas Balch joined the Duke's forces and became a captain in his army. After the disastrous battle of Sedgemoor, July 5, 1685, in which Monmouth's army was routed and his cause destroyed, Thomas Balch found it advisable, owing to the activities of the notorious Colonel Kirke and his men, known as "Kirke's lambs," to leave England for the New World. Accordingly, shortly after, he sailed, disguised, from Bristol and landed at Annapolis, Maryland. His part in Monmouths' rebellion was the thread round which George Parker, at one time Mayor of Bridgwater, wrapped an account of Monmouth's rising in a book entitled, "Tom Balch; an Historical Tale of West Somerset during Monmouth's Rebellion", published at Bridgwater, 1879. After returning to Maryland, Thomas Balch married Agnes Somerville.

One of Captain Balch's grandsons, James Balch, after visiting England, married Anne Goodwyn, of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, January 19, 1737. The second son of James and Anne (Goodwyn) Balch was the Rev. Dr. Stephen Bloomer Balch, of Georgetown, D. C., who was born on Deer Creek, Harford county, Maryland, April 5, 1747. He graduated at Princeton College, 1774, receiving the A. B. degree. At Princeton he was a member of American Whig Society. On October 1, 1775, he was commissioned Captain in the Cal- vert county, Maryland, militia ; he held this command for three years, and was in actual service against the enemy December 1, 1775-December 1, 1777. In

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1778, when the feeling was universal that, owing to the defeat of Burgoyne and the French alliance, our independence was secured, he resigned from the service in order to give himself up more assiduously to preparing for the Presbyterian ministry. He was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of Donegal June 17, 1779. In 1780 he was called by the Presbyterians of Georgetown on the Potomac to establish a church among them. Accepting, he arrived there March 16, 1780, and remained in charge of the church he founded until his death fifty-three years afterwards.

Among Dr. Balch's friends were George Washington, who sometimes attended his church, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Gallatin. A few weeks after the death of General Washington, Dr. Balch gave notice that he would speak of the life and services of the dead statesman. He preached in the open air to more than a thousand people, from the last verse of the tenth chapter of the book of Esther, "For Mordecai the Jew, was next unto King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed." On account of the friendly relations that had long existed between the United States and the Mus- covite Empire, the defeat of Napoleon in his Russian campaign was celebrated in June, 1813, in the District of Columbia, the religious exercises being held at Dr. Balch's church, the Russian Minister, M. Daschkoff, attending.

Dr. Balch was a firm believer in the rights of the individual, and was in favor of gradually liberating the slaves and sending them to Liberia. He was opposed to slavery and corresponded on the subject with Wilberforce. He was a lover of books, and among the classics preferred Horace to Virgil. In 1818 Princeton University conferred upon him the degree of D. D. He published, February I, 1791, the earliest publication printed in the District of Columbia: "Two Ser- mons on the Certain and Final Perserverance of the Saints." And ten years after- wards, 1801, he published "A Series of Letters addressed to the Rev. Adam Free- man," entitled "A Vindication of the right of infants to the Sacrement of Bap- tism according to the Scripture." He died September 22, 1833, as he was pre- paring to go to church. He was the leading divine in the District of Columbia, and in such esteem was he held by his fellow townsmen, that at his funeral the members of the City Councils of Georgetown attended in a body, the town was draped in mourning, all places of business were closed, and ministers of all denominations joined in the funeral cortege. His remains now rest in Oak Hill cemetery, where W. W. Corcoran has placed on the wall of the chapel a mural tablet bearing the following inscription :

"In honor of STEPHEN BLOOMER BALCH, D. D., Born On "Deer Creek," near Balt: Md. April, A. D., 1747, Came to Georgetown, D. C. March 16th, A. D. 1780 Died September 22 A. D. 1833. He planted the Gospel in Georgetown; Founded 'The Bridge Street Presbyterian Church' And was for more than 50 years Its Pastor: In life he Practiced what he Preached No Eulogy can add to such A Record."

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Dr. Balch married at Georgetown, June 10, 1781, Elizabeth, daughter of Col. George Beall of Georgetown. She was descended from Col. Ninian Beall of the Rock of Dumbarton, Prince George's county, Maryland, commander-in- chief of the provincial forces of Maryland, and also from Col. Thomas Brooke of Brookfield, Prince George's county, Maryland, President of the Council and Acting Governor of Maryland.

One of Dr. Balch's sons, Judge Lewis P. W. Balch, was born at Georgetown, D. C., December 31, 1787, graduated at Princeton College in 1806. He was a member of Whig Hall. He studied law with his kinsman, Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, and was admitted to Maryland Bar. Judge Balch's second son, Thomas Balch, was born at Leesburg, Loudon county, Virginia, July 23, 1821. He entered Columbia College in 1838 with the class of 1842. At the end of his freshman year he received a silver medal for leading the class in mathematics. and his classmate, Abram S. Hewitt, said that "Tom Balch was the master of English style in the class." He studied law with Stephen Cambreling, was admitted to the New York bar in 1845, to the Philadelphia bar in 1850, and to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1855. In 1853 he was elected Domestic Secretary and a member of the council of Historical Society of Pennsylvania. In 1854, along with William Rotch Wister, William Logan Fisher, Hartman Kuhn and others, he was one of the founders of the Philadel- phia Cricket Club, and the same year he was an original member of the Seventy- six Society. He traveled in Europe, 1859-73, residing chiefly at Paris.

In 1864, Thomas Balch, who was present at Cherbourg during the fight between the Kearsarge and the Alabama (June 19, 1864), proposed-after studying the works of Grotius, the Duc de Sully, Castel de Saint-Pierre, Leibniz, Bentham, Kant, and the Saint Croix River boundary case and other precedents, -- he proposed to various European jurists, that the differences between the United States and England arising out of the cruise of the Alabama and kindred causes, should be argued before an International Court of Arbitration. In No- vember, 1864, Mr. Balch, during a visit home, urged upon some of his friends, among them General Nathanial P. Banks, the submission of the Anglo-Ameri- can differences to such a court. General Banks requested Mr. Balch to see President Lincoln, and arranged an interview. The President questioned Mr. Balch, then lately returned from Europe, largely about trans-Atlantic affairs. The President ridiculed the Mexican Empire and said that he considered it "a pasteboard concern on which we won't waste a man nor a dollar. It will soon tumble to pieces and, maybe, bring the other down with it." President Lincoln approved of Mr. Balch's suggestion that the difficulties with England should be argued before a Court of Arbitration, as also afterwards did Richard Cob- den, James Lorimer, Prévost-Paradol and others. In an open letter, to which Horace Greeley gave a prominent place in the Tribune, May 13, 1865, Mr. Balch publicly expounded his idea of referring the outstanding differences between the two countries to a Court of Arbitration. In the fourth section of that let- ter he said :

"IV. That the best manner of composing such a Court of Arbitration would be, that each party should select some competent jurist, those two to select an umpire. The claims to be presented, proved and argued before this Court, whose decisions should be final and without appeal."

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From this seed the Geneva Tribunal grew. Mr. Balch returned to Philadel- phia, October, 1873. In 1875 he was elected an honorary member of the Ameri- can Whig Society of Princeton University. The same year he was one of the founders of the Rittenhouse Club of Philadelphia. He published and edited, "Letters and Papers relating chiefly to the Provincial History of Pennsylvania," generally known as "The Shippen Papers," 1855; "The Examination of Joseph Galloway," 1855; "Papers relating to the Maryland Line during the Revolution," 1857; "Les Francais en Amérique pendant la Guerre de l' Indépendance des Etats-Unis, 1777-1783," 1872; "International Courts of Arbitration," 1874; "The Journal of Claude Blanchard," 1876, etc. He died at his home in Phila- delphia March 29, 1877. He married, October 5, 1852, Emily, daughter of Joseph Swift of Philadelphia. She is a member of the Acorn Club, and is a member and was Vice-president of the Colonial Dames of America.

Issue of Thomas and Emily (Swift) Balch:

Elise Willing Balch; member of Acorn Club and Colonial Dames of America, and wrote the part of the "Provincial Councillors of Pennsylvania," entitled, "Edward Shippen."

Edwin Swift Balch, A. B. Harv. and member of Philadelphia Bar. Member of Phila- delphia Club, American Philosophical Society, a manager of Franklin Institute, mem- ber of Council of Society of Colonial Wars of Pa., member of Royal Geographical So- ciety. He has written and published "Mountain Exploration" "Glacières or Freezing Caverns," "Antarctica," "Comparative Art," "Roman and Prehistoric Remains in Cen- tral Germany," etc. He married Eugenia H Macfarlane, great-great-granddaughter of George Clymer, a signer of the Declaration of Independence ; Joseph Swift Balch, d. young ;

Thomas Willing Balch, A. B. Harv., LL.B. Univ. of Pa., and member of Philadelphia Bar. He is a member of Philadelphia Club, American Philosophical Society, Council of Historical Society of Pa., a manager of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and a director of Chesapeake and Delaware canal. He has written and published "The Ala- bama Arbitration," "The Alaska-Canadian Frontier," "The Alaska Frontier," "L'Adju- dication de la Question de la Frontière entre l'Alaska et le Canada," "France in North Africa, 1906," etc.

BEVAN FAMILY

The name of Bevan had its origin in the old Cymric custom prior to the use of hereditary surnames, of designating each child of a common parent by con- necting his given name with that of his father, by the word "ap", meaning "son" thus John, son of Evan, was "John ap Evan"; Evan, son of Richard, was "Evan ap Richard"; John, son of Rhys, or Rees, a common given name among the Welch, was "John ap Rhys." From the three names mentioned originated the names Bevan, Prichard and Presse or Price, common among descendants of early Welsh settlers in Pennsylvania, formed by the incorporation of the "ap" into the parental given name, after the emigration of the family to America.

John Bevan, first to bear the name in its modern form, came to Pennsylvania in 1683, from Glamorganshire, Wales, and was a son of Evan ap John, of Treverigg, Glamorganshire, and Jane, daughter of Richard ap Evan of Collena, and was descended in a direct line, through fourteen generations from Iestan ap Gwrgan, the last prince of Glamorgan, 1018, to 1090, and through his mother a lineal descendant of Edward III, King of England. The land upon which he was born in 1646, and upon which he died and was buried eighty years later, after an active and useful career, twenty years of which was spent in Pennsyl- vania, had been owned and occupied by his direct ancestors for probably ten centuries.

Iestan ap Gwrgan, before referred to, became hereditary ruler of the territory known as Glamorgan, at the death of his father in 1030. His direct male ances- tors had held sovereignty over it for many generations, but owing to the arrogance and opposition of a younger brother, Iestan's uncle, Howell, was elected ruler in his stead, and was succeeded by Iestan in the year 1043. In 1088, when Iestan was seventy years of age, he became involved in a war with Rhys ap Tewdyr, Prince of South Wales, by whom he was defeated in battle, and having lost a number of his castles, Iestan sought the aid of the Normans, who thereby gained a foothold and subsequently deprived Iestan of sovereignty and lands and he became an exile, first, at Glastonbury, later at Bath, and finally found refuge in the monastery of Llangenys, in Monmouthshire, where he died, in obscurity and forgotten, at the great age, it is said, of one hundred and twenty- nine years. He had married several times. By his first wife Denis, a sister to Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Prince of Powys, he had six sons and one daughter ; by his second wife, Angharad, daughter of Elystan Gloddrudd, Lord of Ferllwg, he had two sons, Madog and Rhys, and two daughters.

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Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. I, Part 18

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed; Jordan, Wilfred, b. 1884, ed Publication date: 1911 Publisher: New York, NY : Lewis Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 710

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed; Jordan, Wilfred, b. 1884, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York, NY : Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 710