USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. I > Part 39
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Phineas Pemberton took an active part in the public affairs of the Colony as well as of Bucks county. He was a member of Provincial Council of Pennsyl- vania, 1685-87-95-97-99, was a member of Assembly, 1689-94-98 (filling the posi- tion of Speaker in the latter year), and in 1700-0I.
It was, however, in the affairs of Bucks county, where he lived, that his activity and usefulness were the greatest, and his work of the most value. He was beyond doubt the most prominent man of his time in the county, and the most efficient, as shown by the mass of records he has left behind him in his own handwriting, and by the number of official positions he filled. In addition to filling the office of Clerk of the County Court, he held the position of Deputy Master of Rolls, Deputy Register-General, and Receiver of Proprietary Quit Rents for Bucks county. The records of the county up to the time of his fatal illness are entirely in his hand- writing, and are models worthy the imitation of officials of our day. The records
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of the different courts left by him are invaluable to the historian, and greatly superior to those of his successors in office in the matter of lucidity and complete- ness. Many of our historians have noticed and acknowledged this fact, which is apparent to all that have had access to them. Buck, in his "History of Bucks County," referring to records left by Pemberton, says, "they comprise the earliest records of Bucks County offices, and though they have been referred to by differ- ent writers, comparatively little has been heretofore published from them. To us they have rendered valuable aid and we must acknowledge our indebtedness for information that could, possibly, from no other source have been obtained."
The original Record of Arrivals in Bucks county, now in the custody of Bucks County Historical Society, but long part of records of Register of Wills' Office, at Doylestown, is also in the handwriting of Phineas Pemberton.
Phineas Pemberton died March 1, 1701-2, at the age of fifty-two years, and was buried in the old graveyard above described. "Poor Phineas" wrote Penn to Logan, on September 9, 1701, "is a dying man and was not at the election, though he crept (as I may say) to Meeting yesterday. I am grieved at it; for he has not his fellow, and without him this is a poor country indeed." Again in a letter from London to Logan in 1702, Penn writes, "I mourn for poor Phineas Pemberton, the ablest as well as one of the best men in the Province. My dear love to his widow and sons and daughters." Samuel Carpenter in a letter to Penn, quoted in J. Pemberton Parke's ms., writes, "Phineas Pemberton died the Ist month last and will be greatly missed, having left few or none in these parts or adjacent like him for wisdom, integrity and general service, and he was a true friend to thee and the government. It is a matter of sorrow when I call to mind and consider that the best of our men are taken away, and how many are gone and how few to supply their places."
Logan wrote to Penn, 3mo. 7, 1702: "That pillar of Bucks County, Phineas Pemberton, worn away with his long-afflicting distemper, was removed about the 5th of Ist month last. Hearing he was past hopes, I went to visit him the day before he departed. He was sensible and comfortable to the last, and inquiring solicitously about thy affairs and the parliament ; gave his last offering, his dear love, to thee and thine, and particularly recommended the care of his estate to me in thy behalf, desiring that his services in collecting the rents with Samuel Jen- nings might be considered in his own, otherwise he should be wronged; and that his attendance at Newcastle Assembly, when his plantation and business so much suffered by it, might according to thy promise, be paid, with his overplus in War- minster, which he said was but little, and not valuable. I was with him when he departed and coming to Philadelphia that day, returned to his burial. He lies interred in his plantation on the river, with the rest of his relations. His daugh- ter, they say, is to be married to Jeremiah Langhorne." This last sentence is doubtless what led Gen. Davis to say, in his "History of Bucks County," (First Edition, p. 86) that one of Pemberton's daughters married Jeremiah Langhorne (afterwards Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Province) but the mar- riage did not take place. On the same page Davis says, "No doubt the Pember- ton's lived on the fat of the land. His daughter Abigail wrote him in 1697, that she had saved twelve barrels of cider for the family ; and in their letters frequent mention is made of meat and drink." "He lived in good style and had a 'side-
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board' in his house. He owned land in several townships in Bucks." He left a considerable estate ; one part of it was "Grove Place," which was afterwards sold to Willoughby Warder, another was the plantation of 354 acres on which he last resided and which was left to his son Israel, who named the two divisions of it "Bolton" and "Wigan," in remembrance of the country of his father; about forty acres in Bristol township, and eight hundred acres in Wrightstown township ; also a lot on High street, Philadelphia. Of course much of this land was his wife's heritage from her father, James Harrison.
Phineas Pemberton married (first) January 1, 1676-7, at the house of John Haydock, in Coppull, near Standish, Lancashire, under the care of Hardshaw Monthly Meeting of Friends, Phoebe, daughter of James and Anne (Heath) Harrison, of Stiall-Green, Cheshire, England. James Harrison was a son of Im- manuel Harrison, who died August 8, 1658. Immanuel Harrison and Agnes his wife had issue, as follows:
Anne Harrison;
JAMES HARRISON, b. 1628, d. Oct. 6, 1687; m. March 5, 1655-6, Anne Heath; of whom presently;
Robert Harrison;
Mary Harrison, m. Joseph Endon, and had issue :
Mary Endon, m. John Clark;
Margaret Endon, m. John Walker.
Perhaps others, now unknown. Some accounts have added a Jane, m. William Yardley, on the strength of Phineas Pemberton's calling Yardley "uncle," but Yardley's wife was Jane Heath, which explains the relationship.
JAMES HARRISON, son of Immanuel and Agnes, became an eminent minister in the Society of Friends and suffered much persecution for his faith. In 1660 he and several others were imprisoned in Burgas-gate prison, Shrewsbury, for nearly two months; he and his friends, among whom was his brother-in-law, William Yardley, were released from this place in consequence of a royal proclamation, dated at Whitehall, May 11, 1661 ; in 1663 he was imprisoned in the county gaol of Worcester ; in 1664-65-66, in Chester Castle. Among other persecutions of Harrison related in Besse's "Sufferings of Friends," Lancashire Chapter, is the following in 1679: "On the 9th of November, as James Harrison was preaching at a Meeting in his own House, the Constables came and plukt him away. They caused him to be fined and by a Warrant from Thomas Laver and John Kenyon Justices, made a Seizure of Leather and other Goods to the Value of fro 19s. Phineas Pemberton, for himself and wife being at said Meeting, had Goods taken from him to the value of £4 15s. 4d." At this time he lived at Stiall-Green, in Cheshire. In 1655 he had travelled in the service of the Gospel, in the north of England, one of his earliest religious services.
From several evidences and allusions, it appears that Phineas Pemberton wrote a narrative, describing the early sufferings of James Harrison and his wife, and of himself also, in England, on account of their religious principles; and of their subsequent migration to this country to seek an asylum from persecution. James Pemberton once had this book in his possession, but having lent it to some person whom he could not recollect, it was lost. His brother John had, however, made some extracts from it previously. The letters following were written while James Harrison was confined in Chester Castle ; one is:
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"Most dear, and right dearly beloved wife, whom I love in the Lord our Saviour, Jesus Christ, for thy reverent, courteous behaviour in gesture and words towards me and the Lord, whom we serve. Thy words are penetrating words and have entered my heart with impressions that can never be blotted out; and thus, with a real acknowledgement of thy spiritual and lively testimony that breaks and tenders my heart, I rest thy very loving husband. JAMES HARRISON.
Castle of Chester, 26th of 8th mo. 1666."
The other :
"J. H. Dear Love,-I had a great desire to come to see thee, with my little child, if it were the will of the Lord; but as yet I see little way made; but this I believe, that neither death nor life, nor any other thing, shall be able to separate us; so, dear heart, farewell. Let us hear from thee as often as thou can.
ANNE HARRISON."
In 1668 James Harrison removed out of Cheshire, and probably lived some- where in the neighborhood of Phineas Pemberton, at Bolton or Manchester. When William Penn received his grant of Pennsylvania in 1681, his intentions of founding a colony there were often made the subject of conversation among the persecuted Friends, the attention of their minds directed to a spot where they might seek an asylum for the security of their civil and religious privileges. In a letter from James Harrison to Roger Longworth, dated 8mo. 4, 1681, is the following hint given by him of these views: "I am about to bargain for my house in case I should go with William Penn." And he expressed a wish that Eleanor Lowe, a valued minister of the Society of Friends, might purchase it, that it might be "preserved for the Lord's service," having been frequently used for a place of Friends' worship, "for I do not question but our testimony will be of force, when we are gone."
This prospect of removing to Pennsylvania gradually grew brighter in their view, till at length resolutions were taken accordingly. Harrison was with Penn, and the latter made the former his agent in England for the sale of his American lands. In 1682 James Harrison, his son-in-law, Phineas Pemberton, and some others chartered the ship, "Submission," and sailed for Pennsylvania, September 5, of that year. The passengers in this ship were fifty-two persons, among whom were Ralph Pemberton, aged seventy-two; Phineas Pemberton, his son, aged thirty-three; Phebe the latter's wife, aged twenty-three; Abigail and Joseph, their infant children ; Agnes Harrison, aged eighty-one years; James Harrison, her son, aged fifty-seven; Anne, his wife, aged fifty-eight; Robert Bond, aged sixteen ; Lydia Wharmsby aged forty-two; Randall Blackshaw, and Alice his wife, with their four children ; Dr. Thomas Wynne's wife, and her two daughters, Jane and Margery Maud ; James Clayton, Jane his wife, and six children. Lydia Wharms- by, above mentioned, had long lived in the capacity of housekeeper in James Harrison's family ; and being much attached to them determined to remove with them to the new country. Robert Bond was a youth whom his father had confided to the protection and tuition of James Harrison. According to the original terms between the passengers and the master of the "Submission," they were to have been transported to the "Delaware river, or elsewhere in Pennsylvania, to the best
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conveniency of freighters." But through fraud on the master's part, as it is claimed, or perhaps on account of a severe storm which they are known to have encountered, they sailed up Chesapeake bay, arrived in the Patuxent river, on 8mo. (October) 30, 1682, and disembarked at Choptank, Maryland, on 9mo. 2, and James Harrison and Phineas Pemberton proceeded thence to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, as detailed above, in the account of Phineas Pemberton. Here James Harrison had laid out a large part of the 5000 acres of land that he had bought of William Penn, most of it immediately adjoining the latter's Manor of Pennsbury. In the county, and in the affairs of the Colony at large, Harrison at once took place as a leader, still continuing to act as Penn's land agent until his death. He was a member of first Provincial Council that met in Philadelphia, tenth day of first Month, 1682-3. In the same year he was a member of the com- mittee to draw up the charter of the colony. In 1685 he was appointed by Penn as Chief Justice of Supreme Court of the Province, but declined to serve. The following year, however, he accepted the position of Associate Justice of the same Court. On April 6, 1685, he was commissioned a Justice of Bucks County Court, and probably still acted as such after his appointment to the Supreme Bench. Proud, the historian, says of him: "He was one of the Proprietor's first Commis- sioners of Property, was divers years in great esteem with him, and his agent at Pennsbury, being a man of good education and a preacher among the Quakers." Among the Penn mss. "Domestic Letters," in the Library of the Historical Soci- ety of Pennsylvania, there are many original letters from Penn to Harrison, some of them written before Penn left England. Many of these letters from Penn are interesting in that they contain reference to matters current in the earliest days of the colony, and also occasionally give a picture of political life in England. Gen. Davis in "History of Bucks County," (p. 86) says: "James Harrison was much esteemed by William Penn, who placed great reliance on him. Before leaving England Penn sold him five thousand acres of land, which he afterwards located in Falls, Upper Makefield, Newtown, and Wrightstown." * * "In 1685
( 1686) he was made one of three provincial judges, who made their circuit in boats rowed by a boatman paid by the province." * "Harrison's certifi- cate from Hartshaw Monthly Meeting, gives him an exalted character, and his wife is called 'a mother in Israel'." He died October 6, 1687, during the time of great sickness in the county, mentioned above. "James Harrison being also seized with the prevailing disorder, sunk under it, and departed this life on the 6th of the 8th month. He also was an example of patience under suffering, even to the last, and died in a state of calmness and Christian composure. He was a firm and strenuous advocate for civil and religious liberty, having suffered much in his native land for the cause of truth, and his character stood high for integrity and religious usefulness. The commissions he received from the Governor, his friend, William Penn, show the confidence placed in his talents and uprightness of conduct ; and many letters from the latter, giving minute directions concerning the management of the estate at Pennsbury, are yet preserved among the papers of the family. A memorial concerning him is also found in the printed collection of memorials concerning deceased Friends, published by the Society in 1787, written by William Yardley and Phineas Pemberton."
James Harrison married, Imo. (March) 5, 1655-6, Anne Heath, born February 13, 1624, died March 5, 1690. Some account of her by her son-in-law, Phineas
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Pemberton, has been given above. Her sister, Margery Heath, married Thomas Janney, of Stiall-Green, Cheshire, a minister of Friends, who also removed to Pennsylvania, where he became a Provincial Councillor, and a large landowner in Bucks county. And it seems more probable that William Yardley's wife was another sister, Jane Heath, rather than James Harrison's sister Jane, a supposi- tion mentioned above.
James and Anne (Heath) Harrison had issue:
Phoebe Harrison, b. April 7, 1660, d. Oct. 30, 1696; m. Jan. 1, 1677, Phineas Pemberton; Joseph Harrison, b. June 20, 1662, d. an infant, before 1665;
Other children of James and Anne ( Heath) Harrison died in childhood.
Phineas Pemberton (second), May 18, 1699, at Falls Monthly Meeting, Alice Hodgson, "of Burlington, in the Province of West Jersey, spinster, daughter of Robert Hodgson, late of Rhode Island, deceased." They had no issue. Their marriage certificate is now in possession of Henry Pemberton, of Philadelphia, one of the descendants of Phineas by his first wife. Alice ( Hodgson) Pemberton married (second) in 1704, Thomas Bradford, being also his second wife, and they had issue. She died August 28, 1711. Thomas Bradford was elected a member of Common Council of Philadelphia, October 2, 1705.
Issue of Phineas and Phoebe (Harrison) Pemberton:
Ann Pemberton, b. Oct. 22, 1677. d. July 3, 1682; she was buried at Langtree, about eleven miles southwest of Bolton, England;
Abigail Pemberton, b. June 14, 1680. d. Nov. 2, 1750, bur. Nov. 4, in Abington Meeting Burying Ground; m. Nov. 14, 1704, Stephen Jenkins, of Abington twp., Phila., now Montgomery co., Pa., b. in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales, d. Sept. 14, 1761, buried in Abington Friends' Burying Ground; he was a son of William Jenkins and Elizabeth Griffith, his wife, who came from Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales, and settled in Haver- ford twp., Chester co., about 1686. William Jenkins was an active and influential member of the Society of Friends, and had suffered persecution in his native country. He was a member of Assembly from Chester co., 1690-95, and was commissioned a Justice of the Chester County Court, 1691-92. In 1697 he moved to Abington twp., where he purchased 400 acres of land, including the present site of Jenkintown, named in honor of the family. He had purchased 1000 acres of land of William Penn in 1681, before leaving Wales. He d. June 7, 1712, aged about 54 years, leaving a son Stephen, above named, and Margaret, wife of Thomas Paschall. Stephen Jenkins in- herited his father's lands at Abington and continued to reside there until his death in 1761. He was an active and prominent member of Abington Monthly Meeting of Friends.
Stephen and Abigail (Pemberton) Jenkins had issue :
William Jenkins, b. 8mo. 16, 1705; m. Lydia Roberts;
Phineas Jenkins, b. 8mo. 16, 1707, d. 1791; m. (first) Isabel Mather; (second) Mary Roberts; his dau. Sarah, born 7mo. 6, 1731, m. in 1753, John Brock, son of Richard Brock, whose mother Elizabeth, wife of John Brock, of Falls, Bucks co., is thought to have been a sister to Anne ( Heath) Harrison ;
Phoebe Jenkins, b. 6mo. 14, 1709, d. y .;
Sarah Jenkins, b. Imo. 19, 1711; m. Isaac Tyson;
Abigail Jenkins, b. IImo. 9, 1712; m. - Hugh;
Stephen Jenkins, b. 11mo. 14, 1714; removed to Phila., 1740; Charles® Jenkins.
Joseph Pemberton, b. May II, 1682, d. Nov., 1702;
ISRAEL PEMBERTON, b. Feb. 20, 1684; of whom presently;
Samuel Pemberton, b. Feb. 3, 1686, d. Jan. 23, 1692;
Phoebe Pemberton, b. Feb. 26, 1689, d. May 30, 1698;
Priscilla Pemberton, b. April 23, 1692, d. April 29, 1771; m. 1709, Isaac Waterman, of Abington twp., Phila. co., who d. Jan. 16, 1748-9, aged 67 years and 8 months. They had issue :
Humphrey Waterman, b. 6mo. 2, 1710; m. Hannah Thomas ;
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Margaret Waterman, b. 6mo. 29, 1719; m. Patrick McGarrigal, or Megargee; Rachel Waterman, b. 8mo. 8, 1722; m. Alberic Bird; see below;
John Waterman, b. 4mo. 6, 1725; m. Hannah Bettle; Priscilla Waterman, b. 10mo. 25, 1728; m. Evan Evans.
Ralph Pemberton, b. Sept. 20, 1694, d. Nov. 18, 1694;
Phineas Jennings Pemberton, b. April 17, 1696; while he was an infant his mother was very ill and he was taken to nurse by one of her friends, wife of Samuel Jennings, sometime Deputy-Governor of New Jersey, on which account he was given the middle name of Jennings, middle names being unusual at that time. He is said to have died in 170I.
ISRAEL PEMBERTON, only surviving son of Phineas and Phoebe (Harrison) Pemberton, born at the newly erected mansion at "Grove Place," Bucks county, Pennsylvania, February 20, 1684-5, was carefully educated and trained in his childhood by his pious parents. Part of his elementary education was obtained in Philadelphia, but in 1698, he had a serious difference with his schoolmaster, Pastorius, and his father took him back to Bucks county.
When a young man Israel Pemberton removed from Bucks county to Philadel- phia, where he entered the counting house of his father's friend, Samuel Car- penter, and he later became one of the wealthiest and best known merchants of the city. He was elected to the Common Council of the city, October 7, 1718; Alder- man, October 4, 1720, and these offices being then of life tenure, probably served until his death in 1754. He was at least an Alderman, October 2, 1722, and October 2, 1733. He was one of the city's two members of Provincial Assembly twenty years, nineteen of them being consecutive, his first term beginning in 1718, when he succeeded Richard Hill, who for several years held that position. He, however, served but a single session at this time, and was not again elected until thirteen years later, in 1731, when he was returned together with Dr. John Kers- ley, and was returned annually thereafter until the session of 1749-50, when his public service closed. He occupied a position of great importance in the affairs of the Society of Friends; was largely employed in looking after its property, in supervising its schools, and in adjusting differences between its members. An account of him in "The Friend," xxxi., 141, says in part: "When he reached maturity, he entered into business for himself, and, having an excellent talent for mercantile pursuits and being industrious in his habits, he soon was as extensively engaged in trade as was desirable. In the year 1708 he visited Barbadoes and other West India Islands for purposes of traffic, and doubtless to enter into busi- ness arrangements with men of standing there, as consignees or factors. On this occasion, although expecting to be absent from Philadelphia but a few months, he thought it right to take a certificate of membership with him, which says: 'He hath been of a good conversation from his childhood, having been brought up amongst us, and is well beloved for his innocent life and good behaviour in the Truth. We desire his growth and preservation therein to the end of his days, that the same may be the portion of God's People everywhere, is our sincere and hearty prayer.'
"The honorable business habits of Israel Pemberton, and his sterling integrity won him the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens generally. This was manifested in the public offices placed upon him. *
* * He was much employed in the church, in looking after its property, in watching over the interest of the schools under its care, in treating with those who had violated its discipline, and in
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composing and ending differences which, from the clashing of pecuniary interests, sometimes arose amongst its members. He appears to have been peculiarly gifted as a clerk, and held that office in several meetings for discipline, for many years. He was an overseer by appointment of the meeting, and in 1729, an elder and filled that station with honesty, firmness and love to the close of his earthly existence."
From the "Annals of the Pemberton Family," we get some information supple- mental to that in "The Friend." On his trip to Jamaica, in 1708, "he became ac- quainted with John Fothergill and William Armistead, who were travelling on the island in the service of Truth," and also that it was at the funeral of the wife of Richard Hockley, in the Baptist burial-ground, in Second street, that he was seized with the apoplectic fit, "which notwithstanding the prompt application of medical aid, soon terminated his valuable life."
In July, 1718, we find Israel Pemberton spoken of as "of the Northern Liber- ties," soon after his city residence was situated at the southwest corner of Front and Market streets ; in the middle of the life and bustle of the city. He remained in that house, which afterwards became the London Coffee House, until 1745, when he purchased the mansion at the southwest corner of Third and Chestnut streets, known as "Clarke Hall." This property was bounded on the west by house and grounds of William Hudson. A lot on the south, extending westward, later purchased by Israel Pemberton, gave an outlet on the passage afterward known as Whalebone, or Hudson's Alley. There was space sufficient in the grounds appurtenant to the mansion to render it exceedingly attractive. The ground rose gently from Dock creek toward Chestnut street in a succession of terraces or platforms, which allowed a full view of the gardens, upon which care and attention were spent. Graydon in his "Memoirs" thus describes their condi- tion about the year 1767: "Israel Pemberton's garden was laid out in the old- fashioned style of uniformity, with walks and alleys nodding to their brothers, and decorated with a number of evergreens carefully clipped into pyramidal and conical forms. Here the amenity of the view usually detained me for a few minutes ; thence turning into Chestnut Street corner to the left, and passing a row of dingy two-story houses, I came to the whalebones which gave name to the alley at the corner of which they stood."
During Israel Pemberton's occupancy of "Clarke Hall" it was the general resort of Friends from Europe, and indeed of all strangers of note. We are told that "the mansion was large and was the scene of a hospitality not often surpassed in the Province." Under Israel Pemberton's will this house became the property of his son John.
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