Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 29

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 978

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She is fifth in descent from Rev. Gad Hitchcock, D. D., born February 12, 1719, at Springfield, Massachusetts ; graduated at Harvard, 1743; who in May. 1774, was called upon to deliver the election sermon in the Old South Church, Boston, before the Legislature and the Governor, being the occasion of the elec- tion "of His Majesty's Council for the said Province." Governor Gage was filled with wrath, on account of the boldness of the views expressed in the sermon, and negatived the election of thirteen of the councillors, elected in accordance with the views expressed, and adjourned the legislature to meet at Salem, June 17, as a punishment, and at Salem again adjourned them, but they locked the doors, refused admission to the Governor's messenger, and transacted their busi- ness in spite of him. Dr. Hitchcock received the degree of D. D. from Harvard in 1787. His son Dr. Gad Hitchcock, from whom Mrs. Ashton is fourth in descent, born November 2, 1749, was surgeon in Col. Simeon Cary's regiment in the War of the Revolution and afterwards appointed surgeon of Gen. Fellows' Brigade Hospital, in the Jerseys.

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Mrs. Ashton is also fifth in descent from Col. John Bailey of the Second Mass- achusetts Regiment in the War of the Revolution.

issue of Thomas George and Mary L. (Henssey) Ashton :-

Thomas Ashton, b. Aug. 24, 1901, d. the same day;

Anne H. Ashton, b. Sept. 22, 1902;

William H. Ashton, b. Dec. 24, 1904;

Caroline Ashton, b. Jan. 22, 1908.

DANIEL RAMBO ASHTON, another son of George and Elizabeth (Hughes) Ashton, and younger brother of Rev. William Easterly Ashton, above mentioned, was born in Philadelphia in 1803, and died there May, 1881. He married Eliza- beth Josiah, daughter of Joseph Marsh, and his wife Hannah, daughter of Capt. Adam Hubley, of the Pennsylvania Line in the Revolution; granddaughter of Colonel Joseph Marsh, of the Artillery Battalion of Philadelphia in 1780.

Issue of Daniel Rambo and Elisabeth Josiah ( Marsh) Ashton:

JOSEPH HUBLEY ASHTON, b. March 11, 1836, d. March 7, 1907; of whom presently; Virginia Ashton, b. Sept. 9, 1839;

JAMES WILLIAM ASHTON, b. Jan. 18, 1843; m. Cornelia Elizabeth Jones; of whom later.

JOSEPH HUBLEY ASIITON, son of Daniel R. and Elizabeth J. (Marsh) Ashton, born March 11, 1836, died March 7, 1907, was graduated from the Department of Arts, University of Pennsylvania, in 1854, and at once entered upon the study of law. At an early age he removed from Philadelphia, (where he had first filled the position of Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ) to Washington, D. C., and when still under the age of thirty years was appointed Assistant Attorney-General of the United States. His exclusive duty in that office was to represent the government in all cases involv- ing the award of prizes for the capture of ships, engaged in running the block- ade, and all sea-going craft, employed in carrying contraband goods during the Civil War. In several years service of this kind Mr. Ashton devoted himself with intense professional zeal to the mastery of international law, becoming well equipped for the important positions he was later called upon to fill. In 1869, soon after Hon. Hamilton Fish became Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President Grant, there had sprung up between Secretary Fish and Mr. Ashton, a close personal, professional and official intimacy, which continued during the whole of Secretary Fish's incumbency of the State Department, and personally until his death. When the Mexican Claims Commission was organized in 1869, Mr. Ashton was named by Secretary Fish as counsel for the United States to appear before this commission. In the importance of the questions raised before this tribunal and in the magnitude of the money involved, aggregating $350,000,000, this commission was then without precedent, nor has any subsequent tribunal equalled it in respect to the amount of money involved. The Commission was in session for ten years, and two thousand claims were submitted to it and adju- dicated. One claim entered by the Mexican Government against the United States, on account of Indian depredations, amounted to $50,000,000. Mexico was represented by the eminent jurist Caleb Cushing, who advised them that the claim was a good one and would be allowed. By patient and painstaking work on the-

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part of J. Hubley Ashton, documents were discovered disproving the validity of the claim and it was disallowed, thus saving the United States $50,000,000.

The great argument upon the subject of contract claims, involving the jurisdic- tion of international commissions over contracts, practically established the atti- tude of that commission and all subsequent ones, including that of the more recent Venezuelan Commission, before which Mr. Ashton again represented the United States. Mr. Ashton's masterly distinction between citizenship and nationality, set forth in one of his arguments before an international tribunal, has at last been practically accepted by civilized nations as a fundamental principle, always to be recognized. He demonstrated that nationality is a question of inter- national law, and established the definition of citizenship as involving purely a question of municipal law. These two now well established principles were finally and adequately set forth in arguments made while representing the United States as counsel. Mr. Ashton was also distinguished before the Supreme Court and among the great lawyers for his marvelously accurate historic memory. He never erred in a statement of historic fact. He needed to give no reference when alluding to these facts. His statements were invariably accepted by the Court. He had no remarkable elocutionary or rhetorical powers, as these terms are com- monly understood, but he possessed to a remarkable degree the talent for abso- lutely lucid statements of fact and law, and their application to the case in hand. He was one of those lawyers, who, when pleading before the United States Supreme Court at Washington, was sure to command the never wandering atten- tion of every justice of that bench. The degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by Georgetown College. Washington, D. C., in 1872.

Joseph Hubley Ashton died March 7, 1907. He married Hannah, daughter of William and Harriet Wakeman, who was born December 2, 1843, and died August 17, 1906. They had one daughter, Elizabeth.

JAMES WILLIAM ASHTON, the other son of Daniel R. and Elizabeth J. ( Marsh) Ashton, born in Philadelphia, January 18, 1843, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with the degree of A. M. Class of 1863. He entered the Univer- sity in 1859, and was awarded the Freshman and Sophomore declamation prizes and also the Junior English prize, and was president of the Zelosophic Society. He received leave of absence of the trustees in 1862, and entered the military service as Second Lientenant and Adjutant of the 157th Pennsylvania Regiment, United States Volunteers, and was connected with the Army of the Potomac. He was wounded before Petersburg, Virginia, June, 1864, and was honorably discharged by reason thereof, September, 1864. He studied for two years at the Divinity School of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, and later at the Theological Seminary at Newton, Massachusetts. He was for some years a Bap- tist clergyman and pastor of churches of that denomination at Watertown, New York, and Norwich, Connecticut. He was awarded the honorary degree of D. D. by Hobart College, Geneva, New York in 1890, and since 1892 has been a Prot- estant Episcopal Clergyman, being ordained by the Right Reverend William Bacon Stevens, Bishop of Pennsylvania, June, 1892. He was rector of the Church of Annunciation and Grace Church of Philadelphia for some years and is now rector of St. Stephen's Church, at Olean. Cattaragus County, New York. He married Cornelia Elizabeth, daughter of Frederick Jones, and a lineal descendant of Theophilus Eaton, first Governor of New Haven, 1638.

BRINGHURST ARMS.

BRINGHURST FAMILY.

The family of Bringhurst in the United States is descended from an ancient family of that name, long seated in Leicester, England, who bore for arms, az. two bars erm. in chief three escallops or, and crest, an arm embowed, habitted in mail, or holding in the hand ppr. a spiked club, sa. spikes or.

The town and parish of Bringhurst, from which the family surname is derived, antedates the Norman Conquest. It is situated in the southeast corner of Leices- tershire, in an angle between Northamptonshire and the little county of Rutland, and skirts the river Welland.

According to Leland, the town of Bringhurst, with those of Easton, Drayton, Prestgrove, Blatheston and Langton, the first four of which were later held by the Bringhurst family, were given by one Ranulfe, a kinsman of Edward the Confessor, the Anglo Saxon King of 1042-66, to the abbey of Peterborough, in Northamptonshire. The statement as made by Leland is as follows: "Ranul- phus Comes propinquis, Regis Edwardi Confessoris, dedit Monasterion de Peter- burgh, Bringhurst, Easton, Drayton, Prestgrove, Blathestun and Langdon, in Comitatu Lecestr."

J. Granville Leach, LL. B., the eminent genealogist and historian of Philadel- phia, in his "History of the Bringhurst Family," published in 1901, for Capt. Robert Ralston Bringhurst, of Philadelphia, from which the information con- tained in this sketch is largely gathered, states that the earliest mention of the surname of Bringhurst found by him was Robert de Bringhurst, who prior to 1260 was Lord of Broughton and Bringhurst, and had holdings in Drayton. Holt and Prestgrove, and Nichol's "History of Leicestershire," accords to him the arms described at the head of this article. In 1320 a John Bringhurst was summoned to Parliament from Leicestershire, and in 1567 another of the same name was rector of St. Mary Magdalen, Waltham, Leicestershire. In 1627 Charles Bringhurst "Chirurgeon" had a son James baptized at the Church of St. John the Baptist, Peterborough, and June 25, 1630, William Bringhurst, son of John Bringhurst, of Brabrooke, Northamptonshire, matriculated at Pembroke College, Oxford, and four years later received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. On March 9. 1639, Henry Bringhurst, Esq., and Sir Thomas Rotherham were elected mem- bers of Parliament of Ireland, from King's county. The Rev. Dr. Isaac Bring- hurst, graduated at Queen's College, Cambridge, 1660, and became rector of Tod- dington, county of Bedford, and was buried there October 16, 1697; a memorial tablet being erected to his memory in his parish church. One John Bringhurst was a graduate of Queen's College, 1698, and another of the same name in 1739.

The earliest record we find of the name in America is that of Thomas Bring- hurst, who appears as an inhabitant of St. Michael's parish, Island of Barbadoes. 1680; he is credited on Hotten's Lists as having five hired servants, several ap- prentices and five slaves ; on March 21, 1682, the Council of Barbadoes appointed him "Caretaker of Powder."

THOMAS BRINGHURST, earliest lineal ancestor of the Bringhurst family of Philadelphia, was a "chirurgeon" of London, and as shown by a manuscript

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record made by his grandson, John Bringhurst, of Philadelphia, was married, August 27, 1647, to Elizabeth Hughes. He 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. On October 30, 1614, a license was issued there for the marriage of Thomas Cooper, St. Clement's Danes, Middlesex, yeoman, bachelor, to "Elizabeth Bringhurst, of St. Andrews, Holborn (London) Spinster, daughter of Thomas Bringhurst, late of Easton, Leicester, yeoman, deceased." On April 17, 1607, Katharine, wife of Thomas Bringhurst, was buried at St. James, Clerkenwell, London; these two items of record may have referred to the same Thomas Bringhurst, and as the name of Thomas was not a common one, it is probable that he was a connection and possibly an an- cestor of Dr. Thomas Bringhurst, above referred to, as married in 1647.

Dr. Thomas Bringhurst was living in London, November 15, 1660, when he executed a general power of attorney to his wife Elizabeth to transact business for him, the original of which is in possession of the Philadelphia family.

JOHN BRINGHURST, son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Hughes) Bringhurst, was born in London, England, November 1, 1655, and died there about the year 1699, or 1700. In his youth he was apprenticed to Andrew Toaler, a stationer of Lon- don, and was made a freeman of the city, September 3, 1681. Prior to the latter date he began the business of a publisher and stationer, at least two of his works being published in 1681. One of these, possibly his first publication, was "An Epistle of Caution to Friends to take heed of that Spirit of Licentiousness, &c.," written by Christopher Taylor, "With a Short Testimony prepared by John Bringhurst," and bears this inscription: "Printed in London for John Bring- hurst, at the Sign of the Book, in Gracechurch Street, near Cornhill, 1681." John Bringhurst 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." In 1683 he published a book entitled "George Fox's Primer," and it being asserted that it contained "a passage liable to miscontruction" he was ar- rested for printing it, and on trial was convicted and sentenced, September 20, 1684, to pay a fine of one shilling, and to stand two hours in the pillory. In 1683 he makes the following announcement at the end of one of his publications : "This is to give notice that John Bringhurst, Printer and Publisher, who formerly lived at the Sign of the Book, in Grace Church Street, is now removed to the Sign of the Book and Three Black Birds, in Leaden-Hall-Mutton Market, between the Black Bull and Colchester Arms, where any person may be supplied with Print- ing, Books, and paper, as formerly."

Tradition relates that he suffered many persecutions for printing of books ex- pounding the doctrine and faith of the Society of Friends, and that to escape these persecutions removed for a time to Amsterdam, Holland. This statement seems to be borne out by the fact that the record of the dates of the birth of his children who later accompanied their mother to America, on the records of Phila- delphia Monthly Meeting, states that they were "all born at Amsterdam, Hol- land." He seems, however, to have returned to London and died there.

John Bringhurst married in London, June 2, 1682, Rosina (Prachen) Matern, widow of John Matern and daughter of Hilarius Prachen or Prache, a Lutheran Minister of Germany, who became a convert to Quakerism in 1671, and soon after with his wife Barbara, two married daughters, and son-in-law, John Matern,

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migrated to England. A "Testimony" of John Matern, written August 24, 1680, but seven days before his death, gives the following information: "The Lord raised a desire in my father-in-law, who was a Priest, * * * to go to the People of the Lord which he had raised, gathered and chosen for Himself in England, and as soon as he made it known to us, his wife and children, we found the same willingness and freedom also in us to go out from our father's house and kindred, not consulting flesh and blood, what would become of us,-and after we had made known our Desires and Intent to some of our Dearest Friends,-we left all for Love and Truth and went away. In all our Journey to London, the Lord was with us and brought us safe and well with joy and gladness of our Souls to his Beloved People here in England."

Hilarius Prachen died in 1693, and shortly after his death his widow Barbara, with her widowed daughter, Maria Van Buylaert, and her granddaughter, Abi- gail Matern, emigrated to Philadelphia, bringing a certificate from the Two Weeks Meeting, which is as follows :

"To ye ffrds & Brethren of ye Mo. Meeting at Philadelphia or elsewhere :-

"WHEREAS, Barbara Prachen, relict of Hilarius Prachen & Maria Van Buylaert, Re- lict of John Van Buylaert and Abigail Matern, ye daughter of John George Matern, School Master, deceased, have an intention of transporting themselves unto your Country and desire a certificate from us touching their conversation &c.

"These therefore may certify all ffrds concerned, yt upon enquiry made concerning the said Barbara Prachen, Maria Van Buylaert and Abigail Matern (mother, daughter and grand- daughter), we do not find but that they are free and clear from any engagements in relation to marriage with any here, and have been of sober conversation amongst ffriends, so wth ye salutation of dear Love in ye Holy and pretious Truth, wee remaine in ye fellowship thereof, youre friends & Brethren.

"ffor ye ffrds. and Brethren at ye 2 Weeks Meeting in London, ye 5th of 12/Mo. 1693-4."

The "Memorandoms" of John Bringhurst, of Philadelphia, state that after his grandmother, Barbara Prachen, his aunt, Van Buylaert, and his half sister, Abi- gail Matern, settled in Philadelphia, that they frequently wrote to John Bring- hurst and his wife in London, to "come over," but that "he could not be persuaded to cross the ocean to a new Country." The "Memorandoms" further continues, "My father being dead, my mother concluded to transport herself & family of small children to Pennsylvania, and accordingly took passage at London, in the Brigantine, 'Messenger,' James Guy, Master, for herself and four children, being Elizabeth, John, Barbara & George & landed at Philadelphia." No date of their sailing or arrival is given, but it was prior to October 16, 1701, on which date Mrs. Bringhurst subscribed as witness to the will of Samuel Siddon, in Philadel- phia. She died in Philadelphia, March 9, 1711-12. She was born in Germany, and married there as shown by the testimony of her husband, prior to 1671, John Matern, a "School Master," with whom, and her parents, she removed to London, England, where her first husband died August 31, 1680. She published, after his death, "a few lines" in commemoration of his works and piety. She had by him at least one daughter, Abigail Matern, who as heretofore shown accompanied her grandmother and aunt to Philadelphia, 1694.

Issuc of John and Rosina (Prachen) Bringhurst:

(All born either in London or Amsterdam).

Rosina Elizabeth, b. Aug. 24, 1688; came with her mother to Phila .; m. there, Sept. 10, 1713, Emanuel Dungworth, son of Richard Dungworth, of Phila .;

JOHN, b. Feb. 25, 1690-91, d. Sept. 20, 1750, in Barbadoes; m. Mary Claypoole; of whom presently ;

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Barbara, b. March 29, 1693; m. June 6, 1715, William Morrison;

GEORGE, b. May 15, 1697, d. at Germantown, Phila., Feb. 18, 1852; m. Anna Ashmead; of whom later.

JOHN BRINGHURST, eldest son of John and Rosina ( Prachen) Bringhurst, and the author of the "Memorandoms" so freely quoted from in this narrative, was born in London, or Amsterdam, February 25, 1690-1, and accompanied his widow- ed mother to Philadelphia in his tenth year. Almost immediately on their arrival he was apprenticed to George Guest, to learn the trade of a cooper, and followed that vocation in Philadelphia until the death of his mother, when, having a taste for life at sea, he shipped as cooper on the brig, "Elizabeth," Thomas Reed, Master, and made his first voyage to Surinam (Dutch Guiana). South America. Evidently pleased with his sea experiences, on his return he studied navigation with William Robins, and later made several trips to different points, and gives an interesting account of his experiences on these voyages in his "Memorandoms," which show that he was a man of more than ordinary business ability and force of character. After his marriage in the autumn of 1718, he abandoned the sea and engaged in the cooperage business on his own account in Philadelphia, and in connection therewith invested in small "ventures" in the sailing vessels leaving Philadelphia for southern and West Indian ports. In 1727 he engaged in the mercantile trade, but continued his cooperage business also, meeting with such financial success that in 1729 he had accumulated sufficient capital to enable him with two others to have built at Philadelphia the brigantine, "Joseph," and freight it for a voyage to foreign ports, and thereafter until his death, 1750, engaged more or less extensively in the shipping trade. He was a prominent and useful man in the community, filling a number of official positions, and executing innumerable private trusts. He was chosen constable of his district of the city in 1721 ; was made tax-collector of Dock Ward, 1725; one of the Overseers of the Poor in 1728, and in 1731 was made one of the Overseers of the Public School chartered by William Penn, and still known as the "William Penn Charter School," and continued to fill that position with interest and zeal until his death. On March I, 1749, he joined with James Logan, Israel Pemberton, Anthony Morris and the other Overseers in the conveyance of land belonging to this school. He was a prominent member of the Society of Friends, "an Elder, active and serviceable in the church, and demonstrated a sincere regard for the prosperity thereof ; exemplary in attending religious meetings, and in the careful education of his children." says a Memorial of him adopted by the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. Being afflicted with ill health he made a visit to the Barbadoes in the hope of regaining his health, but died there September 20. 1750, at the house of the Widow Oxley, whose husband, John Oxley, had previously died at John Bringhurst's house in Philadelphia, while there on a visit. His will dated June 16, 1750, names his wife, Mary : Sons, Joseph, James and John ; daughter, Mary, wife of Judah Foulke ; daughter, Elizabeth Bringhurst, and "sister" Elizabeth Claypoole.

John Bringhurst married, October 30, 1718. Mary, daughter of John Claypoole. the first of that distinguished family to come to Philadelphia, sailing in the "Amity" from the Downs, April 23, 1682, as an assistant and clerk to Capt. Thomas Holme, Commissioner and Surveyor General of the Province of Penn- sylvania. He superintended the erection of the "Claypoole House" in Phila- delphia prior to the arrival of his father, James Claypoole, Treasurer of the Free

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Society of Traders, Register General and Justice of the Supreme Court. John Claypoole was Clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly, 1686-90, and High Sheriff of Philadelphia, 1687 to 1690, and 1693 to his death, September 8, 1700. Mary (Claypoole ) Bringhurst survived her husband nearly eleven years, dying in Phila- delphia, July 2, 1761.

Issue of John and Mary (Claypoole ) Bringhurst:

Mary, b. Jan. 18, 1720-1, d. Jan. 22, 1799; m. Judah Foulke, a prominent and active citi- zen of Phila .; he was a Collector of Excise 1745-50; High Sheriff 1770-73; Marshal of Admiralty Court 1770-74; Clerk of Market and Sealer of Weights and Measures 1775; and was appointed by Continental Congress, March 25, 1775, to sign Conti- nental bills ;

John, b. Nov. 9, 1722, d. Dec. 15, 1789, unm .; was a prominent iron merchant of Phila .; an early contributor to the Pennsylvania Hospital, and prominently identified with many of the Colonial institutions of Phila .; was a signer of the Non-importation Resolutions of 1765;

Elizabeth, b. Feb. 4, 1723-4, d. Dec. 25, 1790, unm .;

JAMES, b. Dec. 7, 1730, d. at Portsmouth, R. I., Feb. 27, 1810; m. (first) Anne Pole, (second) Hannah Peters, (third) Ruth Barker; of whom presently;

Thomas, b. Jan. 17, 1731, d. Jan. 19, 1731;

Joseph, b. March 20, 1732-3, d. in Wilmington, Del., 1811 ; was apprenticed when a youth to his father's trade of a cooper, but later became a prominent and successful mer- chant ; he kept a journal, covering the period from his father's death to his final removal to Wilmington, Oct. 7, 1808, after which the only entry is the memoranda of the death of his brother, James, at Portsmouth, R. I., Feb. 27, 1810; as this journal notes the happenings in an active business life of more than half a century, it contains an immense fund of valuable information, of historical interest; the writer was never married, and the family notes have largely to do with his brother, James, and his family; he was member of American Philosophical Society, and a man of culture and substance, highly esteemed in the community;

Deborah, b. Dec. 21, 1734, d. Jan. 16, 1735;

Deborah (second of the name), b. Sept. 15. 1736, d. April 16, 1737.

GEORGE BRINGHURST, younger son of John Bringhurst, of London, by his wife, Rosina (Matern) Prachen, accompanied his mother to Philadelphia at about the age of three years, and in due time was apprenticed to Arendt Klincken, a weaver of Germantown, but on arriving at manhood engaged in the saddlery business there, and prospering in that business accumulated a comfortable estate, and be- came a considerable landholder in and about Germantown, where he died Febru- ary 18, 1752. He married, September 1, 1723, Anna, born in Cheltenham town- ship, Philadelphia county. February 9, 1707-8, died at Germantown, August. 1700, daughter of John Ashmead, born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, July 12, 1679, died at Germantown, October 7. 1732, by his wife, Sarah, daughter of Samuel and Anna ( Gibbons) Sellers. John Ashmead, the elder, grandfather of Mrs. Bringhurst, was born in Cheltenham, England, October 14, 1648, and in 1682 or 1683 emigrated to Pennsylvania with his widowed mother, Mary Ash- mead, his wife and two children, and his brother-in-law, Toby Leach, who had married Esther Ashmead. In conjunction with his brother-in-law, Toby Leech, Richard Wall and Everard Bolton, he purchased 1000 acres of land in Chelten- ham township, named by him in honor of the place of his nativity, and settling on his share thereof, died there December 21, 1688.

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Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 29

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed Publication date: 1911 Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 978

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 978