USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Volume IV > Part 36
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Thomas Bringhurst, of London, earliest lineal ancestor of the Bringhurst fam- ily of Philadelphia, was doubtless of the Leicester family of Bringhurst, as there are records showing that members of the Leicester family had located in London more than a generation earlier.
(Bardsley: "Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames." John W. Jordan: "Colonial Families of Philadelphia," Vol. II, pp. 1141-46.)
(I) DR. THOMAS BRINGHURST, above mentioned, was a "chirurgeon" (sur- geon) of London. He was living in London, November 15, 1660, when he executed a general power of attorney to his wife, Elizabeth, to transact business for him. He married, August 27, 1647, Elizabeth Hughes. They had a son :
I. John, of whom further.
(John W. Jordan: "Colonial Families of Philadelphia," Vol. II, pp. 1141-46.)
(II) JOHN BRINGHURST, son of Dr. Thomas and Elizabeth ( Hughes) Bring- hurst, was born in London, England, November 1, 1655, and died there, about the year 1699-1700. In his youth he was apprenticed to Andrew Toaler, a stationer of London, and was made a freeman of the city, September 3, 1681. John Bring- hurst was a member of the Society of Friends, and is known to have been the publisher of a number of books mentioned in the "Catalogue of Friends' Library." Tradition relates that he suffered many persecutions for printing of books expound- ing the doctrine and faith of the Society of Friends, and that to escape these per- secutions removed for a time to Amsterdam, Holland.
John Bringhurst married, in London, June 2, 1682, Rosina (Prachen) Matern, widow of John Matern, and daughter of Hilarius Prachen, of Prache, a Lutheran minister of Germany, who became a convert to Quakerism in 1671. Among their four children was George, of whom further.
(Ibid.)
(The Family in America).
(I) GEORGE BRINGHURST, American progenitor, and younger son of John and Rosina (Prachen-Matern) Bringhurst, was born May 15, 1697, and died at Ger- mantown, Philadelphia, February 18, 1752. He accompanied his mother to Phila- delphia at about the age of three years, sailing on the "Brigantine Messenger." During his youth he was apprenticed to a weaver of Germantown, but on arriving at manhood he engaged in the saddlery business there, and prospering in that business accumulated a comfortable estate, and became a considerable landholder in and about Germantown.
George Bringhurst married, September 1, 1723, Anne Ashmead. (Ashmead III.) They were the parents of ten children, among whom was Jolin, of whom further.
(Ibid. Josiah Granville Leach: "History of Bringhurst Family, . " pp. 17-18, 25.)
HARBOTTLE.
Ants-Azure, three icicles bendways or, a bordure engrailed ermine. Crest A demi falcon or, with wings expanded, barry wavy of six argent and Patbotti? (Burke: "General Armory.
azure.
GRIMSTON (GRIMSTONE).
drms -.. Argent, on a fesse sable three mullets of six points pierced or, in the dexter chief point an ermine spot. ( Burke: "General Armory.")
LIEVENS.
Arms-Azure, between two billets or a bend engrailed argent.
Grimston ( Rietstap : "Armorial. Général.") Lievens
(Brimstone)
TIDMARSH.
Arms-Per pale azure and purpure, the field replenished with cross crosslets argent a lion rampant of the last. Crest-A broken lance, the head turned towards the sinister proper. ( Burke : "General Armory.")
CURRYER (CURRIER).
Arin's- Argent, on a mount an oak tree, all proper on a chief gules a bezant between two greyhounds" heads erased of the first. Crest-A conquefoil vert. ( Burke "General Armory.
GIBBINS (GIBBONS)
Arms-Or, a lion rampant sable over all on a bend gules three escallops argent. Crest-"A lion rampant sable. (Burke: "General Armory."
BRINGHURST.
Arms-Azure, two bars ermine, in chief three escallops or. hl Crest-An arm embowed, habited in mail argent, holding in the hand proper a spike club sable, spikes or. (Crozier; "General Armory.")
Aringbart
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Harbottle
Brimaton (Brimstone)
Dievens
Curryer (Currier)
Hibbing (ibbong)
Bringhurst
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HOUSTON
(I) JOHN BRINGHURST, eldest son of George and Anne (Ashmead) Bring- hurst, was born February 19, 1725, and died March 18, 1795. He was a noted coachmaker of Germantown, and was the first to build the carriages familiarly known down to the last generation just past as "Germantown wagons." He built a coach for President Washington in 1790. John Bringhurst became a wealthy and influential citizen of Germantown, and was a member of the Committee of Correspondence for Philadelphia County, in 1775.
John Bringhurst married (first) -; the name of his wife has not been found. He married (second) Mary Shute. Among their children was George, of whom further.
(John W. Jordan: "Colonial Families of Philadelphia," Vol. II, pp. 1141-46. Family data.)
(III) GEORGE BRINGHURST, son of John and Mary (Shute) Bringhurst, mar- ried, July 27, 1780, Anna Clarkson. (Clarkson IV.) They had a daughter :
1. Cornelia Clarkson, of whom further.
(Family data.)
(IV) CORNELIA CLARKSON BRINGHURST, daughter of George and Anna (Clarkson) Bringhurst, was born August 3, 1788, and died March 3, 1873. She married Samuel Bonnell. (Bonnell II.)
(Ibid.)
(The Clarkson Line).
Clarkson came into use as a surname as designating "the clerk's son," which was a nickname of the clergyman's son. It is a well-known Yorkshire name and has spread over the north of England.
The Clarkson family has been established in Yorkshire for about five hundred years. The particular branch from which Matthew Clarkson, American progeni- tor, has descent, was established at Bradford and Yorkshire, where the family is said by chronicles to have been "of high consideration, excellent substance and dis- tinguished character."
(Bardsley : "Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames." W. W. Spooner : "Historic Families of America," Vol. III, p. 276.)
(I) ROBERT CLARKSON, earliest lineal ancestor of the Clarkson family in America, was born at Bradford, Yorkshire, in the latter part of the sixteenth century, and died March 10, 1631-32, buried "among his people" in the old Parish Church of that town. He lived in Bradford all his life, residing on a street called Fayre Gappe, one of the oldest thoroughfares of that ancient town. According to an ancient chronicle, he and his family "possessed a high moral worth and social influence." In 1615, he was warden of the Parish Church of St. Peter's at Brad- ford, and some years later served as one of the trustees for the sale of the "Manor of Bradford."
Robert Clarkson married (first), September 9, 1610, Agnes Lilly. He mar- ried (second), October 4. 1629, Hester Tailor, widow of Ezekiel Tailor. Robert Clarkson had a son:
I. Rev. David, of whom further.
(Family data. W. W. Spooner: "Historic Families of America," Vol. III, p. 276. J. G. Leach : "History of the Bringhurst Family with notes on the Clarkson, De Peyster and Boude Families," p. 115. John W. Jordan : "Colonial Families of Philadelphia," Vol. I, p. 894.)
IT
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(II) REVEREND DAVID CLARKSON, youngest son of Robert and Agnes (Lilly) Clarkson, of Bradford, England, was baptized at St. Peter's Church in Bradford, March 3, 1621-22, and died at his residence in the parish of St. Dunstan, Stepney, June 14, 1686, buried at Bunhill Fields Cemetery. After attending the grammar schools in his native town he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, October 22, 1641, and took his degree in 1644-45. May 5, 1645, he was appointed to a Fel- lowship at Clare-Hall, by the warrant of the Earl of Manchester, and remained at the University until 1651, having received his Bachelor of Divinity degree during this time. Shortly after, Rev. Mr. Clarkson was called to a church at Crayford, and later to one at Mortlake, being removed from the latter by the Uniformity Act of 1662. He continued his religious work throughout his life, and was "enumerated among the chief literary champions of Non-conformity" of the turbulent period in which he lived.
Rev. David Clarkson married (first), in 1651, Elizabeth Holcroft, daughter of Sir Henry Holcroft, Knight, of East Ham, County Essex, and his wife, Lettice Aungiers, daughter of Sir Francis Aungiers. He married (second), in 1662-63, Elizabeth (Kenrick) Lodwick, widow of Wolrane (or Wolgrave) Lodwick, and daughter of Matthew Kenrick, of London. Of the first marriage there was only one definitely recorded child, a daughter, Lettice, who was baptized at Crayford, Kent, May 25, 1652, and died there in March, 1653. While the names of the children of Rev. David Clarkson are on record, there has been much discussion regarding the issue of each marriage. Particularly has there been discussion regarding the name of the mother of Matthew, whose record follows. Comparison of the authorities quoted at the end of this generation of Rev. David Clarkson will bear evidence of the weight that has been given to this subject by the chroniclers of the family. In John Hall and Samuel Clarkson "Memoirs of Matthew and Gerardus Clarkson," a very important early genealogy of the family, there is no evidence given to add to either side of the quest. The compilers of this book were certainly interested in this question and undoubtedly gave it great care and very careful search. However, it would appear that this was one of the problems which must be considered not possible of definite decision. Some of the later chronicles have decided that Matthew was son of the first marriage. Still others believe him to be the son of the second marriage, while a third group simply states that the matter is not to be definitely decided at this late date.
(Family data. W. W. Spooner : "Historic Families of America," Vol. III, p. 276. J. G. Leach : "History of the Bringhurst Family . , p. 115. John W. Jordan : "Colonial Fam- ilies of Philadelphia," Vol. I, pp. 895-97. John Hall and Samvel Clarkson: "Memoirs of Matthew and Gerardus Clarkson.")
(The Family in America).
(I) MATTHEW CLARKSON, founder of the family in America, and eldest son of Rev. David Clarkson, was born about 1663 and died in New York, of yellow fever, July 20 or 29, 1702. Of his youth we know nothing, but in 1685-86 he made a trip to New England, and, being impressed with the opportunities in the New World for a man of force and determination, he returned to England, following his father's death, and made arrangements to establish himself permanently in the colonies. He applied to the then reigning monarchs, William and Mary, for the secretaryship of the Province of New York, and, receiving their recommendation,
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was granted the commission. He sailed from the Isle of Wight on the "Beaver," December 1, 1690, and arrived at New York, Thursday, January 29, 1690-91, and was duly installed into the duties of his high office, which he continued to fill until his death. He was a vestryman of Trinity Church in 1698, and the pew which he purchased then is still held by his descendants in New York.
Matthew Clarkson married, January 19, 1692-93, Catharine (or Catherine) Van Schaick. (Van Schaick II.) Their children, baptized in the old Dutch Church, New York, were:
I. Elizabeth, died in infancy.
2. David, baptized August 19, 1694, died April 7, 1751.
3. Levinus, died in Holland; unmarried.
4. Matthew, Jr., of whom further.
5. Anna, died in Holland, unmarried.
(Family data. W. W. Spooner : "Historic Families of America," Vol. III, pp. 278-79. F. W. Leach: "The Philadelphia Branch of the Clarkson Family," pp. 2-3. John W. Jordan : "Colonial Families of Philadelphia," Vol. I, p. 897.)
(II) MATTHEW (2) CLARKSON, son of Matthew and Catharine (Catherine) (Van Schaick) Clarkson, was baptized at New York, April 9, 1699, and died there in 1739. He engaged in mercantile pursuits in New York City and became a successful merchant there. His family occupied a prominent position in the social life of the city. In 1738, Matthew Clarkson was commissioned to the com- mand of one of the military companies of New York, which position he held until his death.
Matthew (2) Clarkson married, in 1720, Cornelia DePeyster. (DePeyster III.) They were the parents of ten children, among whom were :
I. Matthew, of whom further.
2. Gerardus, born in New York in 1737, died September 19, 1790, buried in graveyard of St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia; married, at Christ Church, May 13, 1761, Mary Flower, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (Branson) Flower; became one of the eminent practitioners of his day in the field of medicine, having completed his med- ical course in 1759.
(Family data. John W. Jordan : "Colonial Families of Philadelphia," Vol. I, pp. 897-99.)
(III) MATTHEW (3) CLARKSON, eldest of the sons of Matthew and Cornelia (DePeyster) Clarkson, was born in New York, April 15, 1733, and died at his residence in Philadelphia, October 5, 1800, buried in the burial ground of Christ Church. In 1743, he went to Philadelphia with his mother, and became one of the prominent citizens of that city until his death.
On arriving at mature age Matthew Clarkson engaged in the mercantile busi- ness, which he followed to some extent for most of his lifetime. He was for some years connected with the prominent mercantile house of Baynton, Wharton & Morgan, and as their representative and confidential agent, made a trip to Fort Pitt and points farther west in 1766 and 1767, leaving Philadelphia on August 6, 1766, and making the trip on horseback to Fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh, in twelve days. He spent about a year on the frontier, traveling at times with an escort of friendly Indians to the different posts, visiting Kaskaskia and points on the Ohio in the transaction of business for his firm. His journal of his travels is of much historical interest. Returning to Philadelphia he was engaged, in 1768, in survey- ing and leveling the territory lying between the Delaware and Chesapeake bays, in
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the interests of the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal. He became a member of the American Philosophical Society, December 21, 1768, and was elected its treasurer in 1793. His first official post seems to have been that of notary public, having an office on Arch Street, 1770-74. About the same time, by commission dated Angust 19, 1771, he became a justice of the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace and of the courts of Common Pleas for the city and county of Philadelphia. He was recommissioned April 27, 1772. With the advent of the Revolution, Mat- thew Clarkson's sympathies were with the popular side, and he cast his fortunes in behalf of the struggle for independence. In 1775, following the intelligence brought by Paul Revere, of the sanguinary events which had occurred in Massa- chusetts, the first military organizations were formed in Philadelphia, among them the First Battalion of Associators, of which Mr. Clarkson was commissioned quartermaster.
He was selected, December 11, 1775, by the Continental Congress, to sign three million dollars of bills of credit ordered printed by that body, and, March 9, 1776, he was assigned to perform a similar duty. . In 1776, the Pennsylvania Assembly recommended that the Council of Safety appoint "a proper person Marshall of the Court of Admiralty for this Province," following which recommendation the council, April 10, 1776, "having considered the application of the different candi- dates," resolved "That Mr. Matthew Clarkson be, and he hereby is appointed Marshall"; which important post he held until succeeded by Clement Biddle, November 10, 1780.
In 1780, Matthew Clarkson was one of the original stockholders of the Bank of Pennsylvania, and in 1794 was a director of the Bank of the United States. He was elected a delegate to the old Congress, February 19, 1785, but he does not seem to have taken his seat, probably declining the honor, as on April 26, 1785, James Wilson was returned in his place. In 1790, Mr. Clarkson was commissioner of bankruptcy under the laws of the State, in conjunction with David Lenox, Rich- ard Bache, Peter Baynton, and George Hughes. The Board of Aldermen, at that time, selected from among their number the mayor of Philadelphia, and to this office Matthew Clarkson was chosen, April 16, 1792, having been elected, in 1789, one of the first aldermen of Philadelphia. Outstanding in Mayor Clarkson's term of service were his efforts to relieve the distress caused by the yellow fever scourge of 1793-94. In a tribute to Girardus Clarkson, brother of Matthew Clarkson, the late Dr. Mitchell says: "Brother of the Matthew Clarkson, emigrant from provin- cial New York to the gayer capital, who earned as Mayor in the yellow fever of 1793 a character for manly courage and self-possessed official calmness." In the spring following, resulting from a public meeting of citizens held March 8, 1794, a silver testimonial was presented to each member of the Relief Committee which rendered such heroic service to humanity during the prevalence of the pestilence, and the gift to Mayor Clarkson, chairman of that committee, was a handsome urn, with appendages for its use.
Mayor Clarkson's administration was also coincident with the birth of the Democratic party, then generally known as the Republican party, and the intro- duction of the wildest form of politics which has ever laid its hold upon the public and social life of the city. This was superinduced by the French Revolution of 1793, the effects of which in Philadelphia were excelled in intensity only by the occurrences which swept Paris itself.
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Matthew Clarkson was noted also for his association with Bishop White in the formation of the constitution of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America. A few facts relative to this historic incident are worthy of note. When the War of the Revolution had ended it became a difficult and delicate task to gather the scattered remnants of the English colonial churches together. The political condi- tion of the confederation did not of itself tend to foster the conception of one uniform Episcopal communion for the whole country. The first efforts, therefore, for the resuscitation of the Episcopal parishes were provincial. The first sugges- tion of a plan for resuscitating the Episcopal churches and bringing them together into some sort of unity emanated from the Rev. Dr. William White, presbyter of Pennsylvania, and rector of Christ Church, Philadelphia. In the summer of 1782 he published anonymously a pamphlet entitled "The Case of the Episcopal Churches in the United States Considered." It was a very remarkable forecast, as coming from the mind of one but thirty-five years of age. The pamphlet led to various movements and meetings to constitute one Episcopal Church for the whole United States. On October 6, 1784, a convention was held in New York. There were twenty-six representatives of eight states present. The representatives from Penn- sylvania were Rev. William White, D. D., Rev. Samuel Magraw, D. D., Rev. Joseph Hutchins, A. M., Matthew Clarkson, Richard Willing, Samuel Powell, and R. Peters. From all the representatives present, a committee of eight was appointed to formulate some general and fundamental principles of organization, to be proposed for adoption by the churches. Of that committee was Matthew Clarkson. The report of the committee was adopted and at the convention in 1789 a report was accepted to "Draft an Ecclesiastical Constitution for the Prot- estant Episcopal Church in the United States of America" and this ecclesiastical constitution was agreed upon.
Matthew Clarkson married, at Philadelphia, June 13, 1753, Mary Boude. (Boude III.) Their children numbered nine, one of whom was Anna, of whom further.
(Family data. John W. Jordan : "Colonial Families of Philadelphia," Vol. I, pp. 899-901.)
(IV) ANNA CLARKSON, daughter of Matthew and Mary ( Boude) Clarkson, was born June 23, 1758. She married George Bringhurst. (Bringhurst III.) (Ibid.)
(The Boude Line).
(I) GRIMSTONE BOUDE (or BAUDE), progenitor of our line in America, was the son of John Boude, and grandson of Adlord Boude, who married a daughter of Sir Harbottle Grimstone, son of Edward Grimstone and his wife, who was a granddaughter of John Harbottle, of Crissfield, Sussex, England. He was born in England about 1661. He came to America as agent for the Proprietaries of West Jersey, and later settled in Philadelphia, where he was a merchant. In a deposition made May 10, 1699, Grimstone Boude is named as "aged thirty-eight years or thereabouts."
(John W. Jordan: "Colonial Families of Philadelphia," Vol. I, p. 900.)
The histories of the Grimstone and Harbottle families were early connected when Joane Rysby, daughter of Thomas and Joane ( Harbottle) Rysby, married Edward Grimston(e). Joane (Harbottle) Rysby was the daughter of John Har-
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bottle, of Bradfield, Tendring Hundred, County Essex, and of Crowfield, County Suffolk. The said Edward Grimston (e) was the father of Harbottle Grimston (e), who attained note in the reign of Charles I. Harbottle Grimston (e) was knighted, created a baronette, and elected knight of the shire for Essex in the Second, Third, and Fourth Parliaments of Charles I.
(Morant : "History of Essex," p. 464.)
Grimstone Boude (Baude) married Mary. Among their children was Thomas, of whom further.
(John W. Jordan: "Colonial Families of Philadelphia," Vol. I, p. 900.)
(II) THOMAS BOUDE, son of Grimstone and Mary Boude (or Baude), was born about 1700, and died September II, 1781. He was a member of St. John's Lodge, the first Masonic organization established in Philadelphia, and was cor- oner of Philadelphia from 1754 to 1759.
Thomas Boude married Sarah Newbold. (Newbold III.) Their daughter was : I. Mary, of whom further.
(Family data. Josiah Granville Leach: "History of the Bringhurst Family . ..
.," p. 129.)
(III) MARY BOUDE, daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Newbold) Boude, was born February 14, 1735, and died November 27, 1794. She married Matthew Clarkson. (Clarkson III.)
(Family data.)
(The Newbold Line).
The surname Newbold is a name derived from residence at "Newbold," an Anglo-Saxon word meaning "the new habitation." It appears in various forms, some of them being: Newbald, Newbolt, Newbould, and Newboult. There are also several parishes and hamlets of this name in numerous counties in England. In early records we find specific instances of its occurrence as shown by the fol- lowing: In County Salop, in 1273, appears a John de Neubald, also a Robertus de Newebald in County Oxford in the same year; Willelmus Newbald is in the Poll Tax of Yorks in 1379; and a Mary Newbolt is listed as being married in 1726 in records at St. George, Hanover Square.
(Bardsley: "Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames." Lower: "Patronymica Britannica.") .
(I) MICHAEL NEWBOLD, of Sheffield Park, County York, England, founder of the family in America, and son of Thomas Newbold, of Parish of Hands- worth, Yorkshire, and grandson of John Newbold, of Hackenthorpe, County Derby, was born in the parish of Handsworth, Yorkshire, England, in 1623, and died in Burlington County, New Jersey, in February, 1692-93. His will, which was dated May 19, 1690, and proved February 25, 1692-93, a codicil having been added November 19, 1692, mentions his wife, Anne; son, Sam- uel, and daughter, Anne, wife of James Nutt, in England, and his other chil- dren, Joshua, John, Michael, Lettice and her six children, James, Thomas, Mary and her four children, Margaret and her four children; grandson, Gershom, son of daughter, Alice. In 1664, Michael Newbold removed to Sheffield Park, Yorkshire, where he held lands as tenant-in-fee of the Earl of Shaftesbury, until his emigration to New Jersey in 1680. He brought with him from England his
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wife, Anne, and nine of his eleven children, and settled in Burlington County, New Jersey. Previous to his coming to New Jersey, Michael Newbold had purchased of George Hutchinson, of Sheffield, by deed of lease and release dated January 28 and 29, 1677-78, one-eighth of three ninetieths of the Province of West Jersey, which Hutchinson had purchased of Edward Byllinge, March 1, 1676-77. Shortly after his arrival in New Jersey, Thomas Revel, surveyor-general for the Proprie- tors of West Jersey, surveyed to Michael Newbold, September 3, 1681, four hun- dred acres on the south side of Assinnicunk or Birch Creek, near the present site of Bordentown, and many other tracts were later surveyed to him in right of his purchase before mentioned. He was possessed, in all, of a large personal estate, a goodly part of which was in England; several plantations and six hundred acres of land not yet taken, besides several lots in Burlington. Michael Newbold was one of the first magistrates of Burlington County and prominent in public affairs.
Michael Newbold married Anne. They were the parents of eleven children, one of whom was Michael, Jr., of whom further.
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