USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. III > Part 35
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On April 11, 1668, Governor Lovelace, who had succeeded Nicolls, directed Captain John Carr, who had been acting chief officer of the conquered colony on the Delaware, to call Hans Block, Israel Helme, Peter Rambo, Peter Cocks and Peter Alricks, or any two of them, as an advisory board in cases of dispute, and to advise and direct what is best to be done in cases of difficulty with the Indians, and give their counsel and orders for arming the several plantations and planters, who must obey and attend their summons upon such occasions.
From this time Peter Alricks was active in the councils of the colony, and was frequently called to New York for consultation with Governor Lovelace, whose esteem and confidence he held, and practically all his instructions in ref- erence to important measures for the governing and protection of the colony on the Delaware were transmitted through Peter Alricks, who was named one of the commissioners of the colony October 5, 1671, and on May 17, 1672, as bailiff of New Castle, with six assistants. When the Delaware colony was recaptured by the Dutch in 1673, Alricks was made schout, or sheriff, and a vice-director, and commander of the same territory he had held under the old Dutch dominion. With the restoration of English rule, November 4, 1674, Peter Alricks was ex- cepted from the general order restoring the old Dutch officers to office, "he hav- ing preferred himself to ye Dutch at their first coming of his own motion and acted very violently ever since."
The administrative ability of Peter Alricks, however, soon caused his recall to the service of the colony, and we find him acting in various important ca-
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pacities for the court at New Castle in 1675-76, and September 23, 1677, he was named by Governor Andross as one of the seven justices of the peace for the jurisdiction of New Castle; was reappointed October 26, 1678, and May 28, 1680, and was continued in offices by order of the Duke of York, August 27, 1681, and continued to act as one of the justices of the court until the landing of William Penn at New Castle, October 28, 1682. He seems to have been a leader of the justices in important matters of state and judicature, as July 17, 1678, when the justices of the court had asked and secured the recall of Captain Christopher Billop, who had since August 1677 been acting commander in Dela- ware Bay and River, Alricks was made commander in chief and collector of customs, and held those positions until after the arrival of Penn. He was one of the commissioners who negotiated a treaty with the Indians at Burlington, New Jersey, in 1679, and his name appears to practically all the important doc- uments relating to the colony.
On the day of the landing of William Penn at New Castle, October 28, 1682, he named Peter Alricks as one of the seven "Justices of the Peace and a Court of Judicature for the town of New Castle upon Delaware and twelve miles north and west of same, to the north side of Duck Creek, whereof, and four of you shall make a quorum to act in the said employment for the preservation of the peace and justice of the province according to law," and the court held its first session November 2, 1682, with William Penn present. Peter Alricks and Arn- old de Lagrange, two of the justices of the court, were naturalized and made citizens by their own court, February 21, 1682. When Penn directed the issu- ance of writs for the election of members of Provincial Council and General Assembly, early in 1683, Peter Alricks was elected to the Assembly and was present at its first session held in Philadelphia, March 12, 1682-3. When Penn took possession of the fort at New Castle, October 28, 1683, he appointed Peter Alricks lieutenant and commander-in-chief of the town and fort. He was re- commissioned one of the three justices for New Castle by Provincial Council, October 22, 1684, and on the same day was returned as a member of Provincial Council for a term of three years; was reelected in 1687, and continued a mem- ber of that body until his death in 1697, being present as a member at the meet- ing of the Council held at Philadelphia, May 13, 1697. During the greater part of this time he had been active in affairs of state, particularly in matters relat- ing to the Indians, when his advice was invariably sought as to the proper meas- ures to be taken. He was regularly recommissioned a justice of New Castle court up to the time of his death. He was named as one of the five judges of the Provincial Court of Equity, the predecessor of the Supreme Court, July 7, 1690, and was regularly commissioned, but the pressure of his other official dut- ies so interfered with his business, he being still actively engaged in trade that he was unable to give proper attention to the duties of the new position, and council revoked the appointment, September 21, 1690. He was one of the sign- ers of the deed between William Penn and the Indians, October 2, 1685. by which all the lands from Duck Creek "unto Upland called Chester Creek all along by the West side of the Delaware River, and So between the said Creeks Backwards as far as a man can ride in two days with a horse," was purchased, and his signature thereto was proven by his grandson, Hermanus Alricks, of Philadelphia, Gent, at Philadelphia, April 21, 1735.
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Peter Alricks married, at the Dutch Reformed Church of New York, Feb- ruary 9, 1664, Maria Wessells, who had come from Utrecht, Holland, supposed to have been the daughter of Warnaer Wessels, who was an excise officer in New Amsterdam, Breucklen, Midout and Amesfort, in 1654-55, and a small burgher in New Amsterdam, 1657, and the holder of other offices there until 1662. Peter and Maria (Wessells) Alricks had four children; Peter Sigfridus, baptized October 3, 1666; Harmanus; Jacobus, baptized September 10, 1671 ; and Wessells. Peter and Jacobus were baptized at the Dutch Reformed Church of New York, of which their parents were members. However, when Rev. John Yeo came out of Maryland and on March 7, 1678, was granted by the court at New Castle "Letters or Orders and License to Read Divine service, ad- minister the Holy Sacraments & preach ye word of God according to ye Laws & Constitution of the Church of England," Peter Alricks and his family seem to have affiliated with the Church of England, and on June 4, 1678, the court at New Castle referred the "Settling and Regulating of the Church Affaires of this place unto Mr. John Moll & Mr. Peter Alricks, they to make up ye acct wth ye Reader & wardens and make such further orders & Regulations as shall be found most necessary".
Peter Alricks left a large estate, mostly in land, including a tract of 3,000 acres in St. George's Hundred, a portion of which, on St. Augustine Creek, pat- ented to him by Governor Andross, July 24, 1676, he named Groningen, after his place of nativity in Holland. His estate was devised to his four sons. The eldest son, Peter Sigfridus, left one son Peter, who married Susanna Stidman, May 25, 1740, at Old Swedes Church, Wilmington, and died in 1764, leaving numerous children whose descendants are widely scattered over the country. Hermanus left three children, Peter, Abigail and Mary. Wessels left five chil- dren-Peter, Harmanus, Ann, Mary and Martha, of whom Harmanus removed first to Philadelphia and later to Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. Two of his grandsons, Herman and Hamilton, became prominent lawyers in Har- risburg.
Jacobus Alricks, third son of Peter and Maria (Wessells) Alricks, baptized at the Dutch Reformed Church of New York, September 10, 1671, married and had four children : Peter, Sigfridus, Jacobus and Hannah.
Peter Alricks, son of Jacobus, married Dorcas, daughter of Francis and Chris- tian Land, of New Castle county, and had five children : Samuel; Ann, married Alexander Porter ; Elizabeth, married (first) John Stalcop, and (second) John Price; Sarah, married James Dunning ; and Esther, married John Stewart.
Elizabeth Alricks, daughter of Peter and Dorcas (Land) Alricks, married (first) John Stalcop, and (second) John Price, of Lower Chichester township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, a miller and farmer and large landowner, who died in 1773, leaving six children : Ann, wife of Robert Eyre; Samuel, of whom presently ; Hannah, Sarah, John, and Elizabeth. His wife Elizabeth survived him.
SAMUEL PRICE, son of John and Elizabeth (Alricks) Price, was born in Lower Chichester township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, August 30, 1750. He was one of the active patriots of his section at the beginning of the Revolutionary struggle, being a member of the first Committee of Safety and Observation chosen at Chester, December 20, 1774, and active in the cause throughout the war, also
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serving as a private in Captain William Price's company, Chester County Militia, which was mustered into the service of the United States, June 22, 1777, at Chester. He inherited from his father the homestead of the latter in Lower Chichester, containing 180 acres and having thereon grist and saw mills. He died in Lower Chichester township, probably in 1807. Samuel Price married Ann Richards, daughter of Jacob and Susanna (Wills) Richards, of Aston township, Chester, now Delaware county, Pennsylvania, who married (second), March 24, 1814, Joseph Marshall Esq.
Joseph Richards, first American ancestor of Ann (Richards) Price, came from Newgate, parish of Witney, Oxfordshire, and settled in Pennsylvania, at about the time of the arrival of William Penn in his province. He had pur- chased of the great founder, before coming to Pennsylvania, 500 acres of land which was surveyed to him in Aston township, August 26, 1682, and he was a juror at the first court held for Chester county, February 14, 1682-3.
Joseph Richards was a physician, one of the earliest practitioners in that science in the province of Pennsylvania. He was active in public affairs, his name appearing on the public records as a grand juror and in other capacities. He died in Chichester township, where he was also a landowner, leaving a will dated 7mo. 6, 1705, which was proven February 16, 1709-1I. His wife Jane is men- tioned in court proceedings in 1689, but did not survive him. They had issue : Susanna, who married James Lownes in 1692; Joseph, of whom presently; Nathaniel, who died before his father, leaving three children-William, Nathaniel and Elizabeth; and Ann, who married (first) Anthony Weaver, and (second) Humphrey Scarlet.
Joseph Richards Jr., son of Joseph and Jane, was still a resident of New- gate, parish of Witney, Oxfordshire, England, February 25, 1685-6, when he purchased or leased for 999 years a tract of 125 acres of land which was sub- sequently laid out in Aston township, Chester county. He sold this land in 1691, having received a deed from his father for 300 acres in 1688. He pur- chased certain lots in the town of Chester, and lived there from 1712 until 1721, when he returned to his plantation in Aston, where he died in 1735. He was probably married in England, and left issue, six children: Susanna, who mar- ried James Barber ; Joseph, who inherited his father's lands in Aston; Edward. of whom presently; Dinah, who married Thomas Linville; Elizabeth, who mar- ried (first) a Johnson, and (second) Francis Simonson; and Ruth, who married John Worrell.
Edward Richards, second son of Joseph Richards Jr., bought from his elder brother 150 acres of his father's plantation in Aston, and lived thereon until his death in 1765. He married (first) Elizabeth -, who lies buried be- side him in the graveyard of St. Paul's Church, in Chester ; and (second), Sep- tember 26, 1751, at Swedes Church, Wilmington, Margaret Hogan, who survived him. His son Jacob and seven daughters were, however, all by his first wife.
Jacob Richards, father of Ann (Richards) Price, was the only son of Edward and Elizabeth Richards of Aston township, Chester, now Delaware county, where his whole life was spent, though he was also a considerable landowner in Chichester township. Both he and his eldest son Edward were enrolled in the militia company of Aston township during the Revolution, but we have no proof of their active service ; the latter was born in 1760, and was therefore too
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young to take an active part in the struggle. Jacob Richards married (first), May 9, 1754, Rachel Ruth, and (second), January 6, 1757, Susanna, daughter of Thomas and Ann Wills, of Middletown township, Chester, now Delaware coun- ty, who died August 10, 1794. His six children are all thought to have been by his first wife. They were: Ann, above mentioned as the wife of Samuel Price; Elizabeth, who married Charles Grantham, in 1784; Edward, born 1760, died unmarried, 1794; Susanna, who married (first) Caleb Smith Sayres, and (second) John Calvin, U. S. N .; Christiana, who married Pierce Crosby ; and Colonel Jacob Richards, 1776-1816. Jacob Richards, the father, died in Feb- ruary, 1789.
MAJOR SAMUEL A. PRICE, son of Samuel and Ann (Richards) Price, was born in Lower Chichester township, Delaware county, in the year 1804. His father dying when he was a child, he was apprenticed to a hatter in Chester, and followed the business for some years in that town after attaining his ma- jority. He was later proprietor of the well-known hostelry, the "National." He became prominent in military circles and in politics, and was elected sheriff of Delaware county in 1834, and served for three years, and was many years an officer of Delaware county militia. He died at his residence in Chester, March 22, 1868, in his sixty-fourth year. He married Sarah Bickham, of Philadelphia, who with his seven children survived him. His sons were: Samuel A., Jr .; Thomas Bickham; Henry Clay; Edward A., a prominent member of Delaware county bar; William Gray, the father of the subject of this sketch; John C .; and Joseph Wade Price, of the Fifth Cavalry, Pennsylvania Volunteers, in the Civil War, who died in Media, in 1872.
WILLIAM GRAY PRICE, son of Major Samuel A. and Sarah ( Bickham) Price, was born at Chester, March 4, 1828. He was reared in Chester, and he attend- ed the public schools of that city and Philadelphia. His first occupation was that of clerk in a general store at Rockdale, and later he occupied a similar po- sition in a large mercantile establishment in Chester. In 1849, during the gold excitement, he sailed on the brig "Meteor" via Cape Horn, for Valparaiso, Chili, where he was employed for two years as cashier in the English house of Ravens- croft Hermanos, and from thence went to San Francisco, California, where he joined a prospecting party and was one of the original discoverers of Sal- mon River and Gold Bluff. He was also one of a party to prospect on Queen Charlotte's Island, British America, and other points along the British Coast. He returned to the United States in 1854, via Cape Horn, and in the autumn of that year began the manufacture of brick in Chester. In 1863, prior to the bat- tle of Gettysburg, he served three months as second lieutenant of Company A, Thirty-seventh Emergency Regiment, and again, in the emergency call before the battle of Antietam, as second lieutenant of Company K, Tenth Emergency Regiment. In 1869 he was appointed postmaster of Chester by President Grant, and filled that position until 1872. He served continuously for nine years as a member of the city council, and during his first term was one of the South Ward commissioners, who superintended the construction of the present water works of Chester. He was a Republican in politics, and prominently connected with the Royal Arcanum.
He married, January 18, 1860, Jennie E., daughter of the late James Camp-
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bell, of Chester. Children: Edward A., born in Chester, September 2, 1864; William Gray, mentioned below; Howard Campbell.
WILLIAM GRAY PRICE JR., son of William Gray and Jennie E. (Campbell) Price, was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, March 23, 1869. He is now engaged in the coal business in Philadelphia. He served as second lieutenant of Company B, Sixth Regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania, as first lieutenant of Com- pany C, Sixth Regiment Infantry, National Guard, and is now a member of the Third Regiment, National Guard, and a member of the Armory Board of Penn- sylvania since its organization in 1905. He married Sallie P. Eyre, daughter of the late Joshua P. Eyre, of Chester.
PHILIP HOWARD BRICE
The ancestors of Philip Howard Brice, of Philadelphia, were among the earliest English settlers of the Province of Maryland, and his progenitors in both paternal and maternal lines were prominently identified with the affairs of that province and state through several generations. The family for the first four generations served as judges. He is eighth in descent from Richard Tilghman, the founder of the American branch of the family later prominently identified with the affairs of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, who settled on the Choptank in 1661; and also eighth in descent from Colonel Philemon Lloyd, and ninth in descent from Governor Edward Lloyd, of "Eoye House," member of the Privy Council, General Assembly ; Surveyor General of the Province; father of Colonel Philemon Lloyd, of the prominent Lloyd family of Maryland.
On the paternal side, Mr. Brice is seventh in descent from Captain John Brice, "of Severn, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Gentleman, Merchant, Planter, Judge of the County Court, Justice of the Peace and Captain of the Severn Hundred," who was born in the county of Bucks, England, about the year 1660, and died at Annapolis, Maryland, December 13, 1713. He was in Anne Arundel county prior to 1700 and married there, December 16, 1701, Sarah, the eldest daughter of Matthew Howard, by his wife Sarah, daughter of Edward Dorsey, the emigrant ancestor of that family; then the widow of Cap- tain John Worthington, of Anne Arundel. She was a niece of Captain Philip Howard. Mrs. Brice survived her husband and died at Annapolis in 1735.
Captain John Brice was the owner of considerable landed estate, his will dis- posing of a number of large plantations in Anne Arundel, among them, "Baron- neck," "Hopkins Plantation," "Howards Addition," "Doderidge Forest," "Ran- dall Delight," "Memken's Purchase," "Point Look & Lying," and "Brice's Shore."
CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN BRICE, son of Captain John and Sarah (Howard) Brice, born at Annapolis, Maryland, November 4, 1705, was chief-justice of the Provincial Court of the Province of Maryland, and a member of the Pro- vincial Council, and died while holding court in Charles county, September 26, 1766. He became chief-justice in 1745, and was also commissioner of the Loan Office in 1764, and Deputy Notary Public for the Province in 1734. He was a vestryman of St. Ann's Parish, 1741-1766. He married, September 9, 1730, Sarah, eldest daughter of James Frisby, of Cecil county, Maryland, by his wife, Ariana, daughter of Matthias Vanderheyden, by his wife Anna Margaretta, daughter of Colonel Augustine Herman, the Lord of Bohemia Manor. Mrs. Brice died April 8, 1782.
JUDGE JOHN BRICE, second son of Chief Justice John Brice, by his wife Sarah Frisby, was born at Annapolis, Maryland, September 22, 1738. From the very inception of the struggle for independence he took a prominent part in the patriot cause. On November 9, 1774, he became one of the committee to carry into effect the resolutions of the Continental Congress held at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, September 5, 1774. On January 16, 1775, he was a member
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of the Committee of Observation, for the city of Annapolis and county of Anne Arundel, and was named as a member of the sub-committee to look after the fortifications of Horn Point, Beamer's Hill, and Windmill Point; and on Au- gust 14, 1775, was commissioned to sign the bills of credit issued to raise funds for prosecuting the cause of independence. He was named as one of the committee to wait upon the Council of Safety, July 11, 1776, and five days later was named by council as one of the committee to direct the work of fortifying the city of Annapolis by the erection of breastworks. He also became a mem- ber of the military force of his native city, and on March 20, 1779, was com- missioned captain of an independent company of militia. On November 19, 1778, he was commissioned Judge of the Pleas and Peace of Anne Arundel coun- ty, and of the Orphan's Court, and in the same year was elected a member of the Supreme Executive Council of the State. He was mayor of Annapolis in 1780, and for some years filled the position of county clerk of Anne Arundel county. About 1800 he removed to Baltimore and died in that city, July 20, 1820. He married in 1766, Mary Clare, eldest daughter of Nicholas MacCub- bin, by his wife Mary Clare Carroll, daughter of Dr. Charles Carroll, and a sister of Charles Carroll, Barrister, of Baltimore. Mary Clare (MacCubbin) Brice died in Baltimore, January 30, 1806.
JUDGE NICHOLAS BRICE, second son of Judge John Brice, by his wife Mary Clare MacCubbin, was born in Annapolis, Maryland, April 23, 1771. He re- ceived a liberal education and preparing himself for the legal profession was admitted to the Baltimore Bar, August 30, 1794, and removing to that city be- gan the practice of law, in which he was eminently successful. During the sec- ond war with Great Britain he was Special Judge Advocate on the staff of Ma- jor General Samuel Smith, commanding the Third Division of the Maryland Militia, at the battles of North Point and Fort McHenry, September 12 and 13, 1814.
In 1817, he became chief judge of the Baltimore City Court and filled that position until his death on May 9, 1851. He was president of the Farmers' and Merchants Bank of Baltimore, 1819 to 1841; was president of the Maryland State Colonization Society; and was one of the founders of the Library Com- pany of Baltimore, afterwards the Historical Society of Maryland.
Judge Brice married, December 5, 1797, Anna Maria Margaret Tilghman, daughter of Richard Tilghman, 4th, by his wife Margaret Tilghman, daughter of William Tilghman, of Groces, Talbot county, Maryland; granddaughter of Honorable Matthew Tilghman, Speaker of the Assembly of Maryland, by his wife Anna Lloyd; great-granddaughter of Richard Tilghman of the "Her- mitage", born February 23, 1672, died January 23, 1738, a member of Gover- nor's Council and Provincial Assembly, by his wife Anna Maria Lloyd, daugh- ter of Colonel Philemon Lloyd; and great-great-granddaughter of Richard Tilgh- man, of Holloway Court, County Kent, England, born September 3, 1626, was a surgeon in the English Navy, and, in 1659, purchased the Manor of Canterbury on the Choptank River, in Maryland, and settled there in 1661; naming his seat "The Hermitage", which was the chief seat of the family for many generations. Hon. James Tilghman, who came to Philadelphia in 1760, and was a member of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, 1767-1775, was a brother of Hon. Matthew Tilghman above mentioned, and Chief Justice Tilghman of the Penn- sylvania Supreme Court was of the same family.
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JOHN HENRY BRICE, of "Hazlewood", Baltimore county, Maryland, second son of Judge Nicholas Brice, by his wife Anna Maria Margaret Tilghman, was born at Baltimore, Maryland, May 13, 1803, and died January 18, 1850. He married, May 15, 1832, Sophia Gough Howard, born February 28, 1809, died in Philadelphia, August 7, 1888, and is buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery. She was a daughter of James and Mary (Govane) Howard of "Drwmqwhasel", Baltimore county, Maryland, and a descendant of John Howard, a brother of Captain Matthew Howard, whose daughter became the wife of Captain John Brice (I).
PHILIP HOWARD BRICE, of Philadelphia, second surviving son of John Henry and Sophia Gough (Howard) Brice, was born in Baltimore county, Maryland. He came to Philadelphia when a young man and engaged in business, founding the firm of P. H. Brice & Co., Bankers and Stock Brokers, of which he was the senior member until his death on December 1I, 1880. He was president of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange; a member of the Union League, and identi- fied with other institutions of Philadelphia. He married, December 4, 1862, Jane Mercer, eldest daughter of Singleton Alexander Mercer, president of the Farmers' and Mechanics' National Bank; treasurer of the Bounty Fund Com- mission, and one of the original members of the Union League; by his wife Maria Palmer, a collateral descendant of Governor Anthony Palmer, of Penn- sylvania, and a lineal descendant through his mother of Alexander Allaire, a French Huguenot, who settled in New Rochelle, Westchester county, New York.
PHILIP HOWARD BRICE, LL.B., of the Philadelphia Bar, second son of Philip Howard and Jane (Mercer) Brice, was born in Philadelphia, May 31, 1872. He prepared for college at the Protestant Episcopal Academy of Philadelphia and matriculated in 1889, in the Towne Scientific School of the University of Penn- sylvania, class of 1893. At the close of his Sophomore year he left college and travelled abroad.
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