Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 32

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

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Henry Austia Smith. of Phila. Bar, b. Feb. 3. 1804.

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WILLIAM RUDOLPH SMITH, second son of Thomas Duncan Smith, Esq., by his wife, Sarah Wurts Barns, born in Philadelphia, October 13, 1851 ; married, Octo- ber 7, 1875, Elizabeth Rhoads, daughter of Dr. George and Anna Bailey, born October 23, 1852, died February 15, 1889. He married (second) Sarah Whelen Bruen, a great-granddaughter of Judge Charles Smith.

Issue of William Rudolph and Elisabeth Rhoads ( Bailey) Smith:

Laura Bailey Smith, b. Jan. 11, 1878; m. Jan. 21, 1905, Charles Hudson, and had issue, Elizabeth Hudson, b. Jan. 21, 1906;

Thomas Duncan Smith, b. Dec. 1, 1880;

George Valentine Smith, b. June 24, 1883.

CHARLES SMITH, LL. D., third son of William Smith, D. D., by his wife Re- becca Moore, daughter of William Moore, of "Moore Hall," born in Philadelphia, March 4, 1765, was educated under the care of his father, then Provost of the College of Philadelphia, and at Washington College, Chestertown, Maryland, founded by his father ; graduating at the latter institution, May 14, 1783, being the Valedictorian of his class. He studied law with his elder brother, William Moore Smith, at Easton, Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar in 1786. He soon after located at Sunbury, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, and practiced law there for a number of years, acquiring considerable eminence in his profession. He was a delegate from Northumberland to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention of 1790, and represented his district in the Pennsyl- vania Assembly in 1803, 07, and 09, and in the State Senate in 1816.

When the "Laws of Pennsylvania," were published in 1810-12, under the au- thority of the Legislature, Mr. Smith furnished valuable notes for the work. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1805, and was one of its active members for many years. In 1819 the University of Pennsylvania conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D. and on March 27 of that year he was appointed President Judge of the Ninth Judicial District, comprising the counties of Cumberland, Franklin and Adams. On April 28, 1820, he was ap- pointed Judge of the Circuit Court for the District of the city and county of Lancaster. On assuming the latter position he erected a handsome residence, near Lancaster, which he named "Hardwicke," and resided there for a number of years. He later removed to Baltimore, Maryland, and after a residence there of a few years removed to Philadelphia, and died at his residence, No. 12 Clinton Square, in that city, March 18, 1836, and is buried at the Church of the Epiphany.

Judge Smith married at Lancaster, March 3, 1791, Mary, eldest daughter of Judge Jasper Yeates, of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, by his wife. Sarah, daughter of Col. James Burd, a distinguished officer in the Colonial wars as well as in the Revolution. Mary Yeates Smith was born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. March 13, 1770, and died in Philadelphia, August 27. 1836.

Issue of Judge Charles and Mary (Yeates) Smith :

Jasper Yeates Smith, b. March 15, 1792, d Nov. 19, 1822, unm .;

William Wemyss Smith, b. March 20, 1795, d. at Huntingdon, Pa., March 27, 1828;

Willamina Elizabeth Smith, b. Oct. 3, 1797, d. at Lancaster, Jan. 9, 1848; m. Feb. 22, 1822, Thomas McElwee, of Lancaster co. Bar;

Sarah Smith, b. March 24, 1802, d. at Baltimore, Md .. 1846; m. Jan. 29, 1823, Leonard Kimball, of Baltimore Bar;

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Charles Edward Smith, b. March 6, 1804, d. January 2, 1829; m. Rebecca Owen Grogan, of Baltimore;

Mary Margaret Smith, b. Oct. 16, 1808, d. Jan. 11, 1869; m. George Brinton, of Phila., b. March 7, 1804, d. June 30, 1858, son of John Hill and Sarah (Steinmitz) Brinton, of that city, and descendant of William Brinton, who came from Staffordshire, Eng- land, in 1684, and settled in Chester, now Delaware co.

Issue of George and Mary Margaret (Smith) Brinton :

John Hill Brinton, b. May 21, 1832, distinguished physician, surgeon, professor of surgery, etc., at Jefferson Medical College and Univ. of Pa .; Surgeon U. S. Vols. Aug. 3, 1861, to March 9, 1865;

Mary Yeates Brinton;

Sarah Frederica Brinton, m. Dr. J. M. da Costa, of Jefferson Medical College; Margaret Yeates Brinton, m. Nathaniel Chapman Mitchell, of Phila. Bar.

Theodore Horatio Smith, b. Jan. 20, 1809, d. March 27, 1837;

Catharine Yeates Smith, b. Dec. 31, 1810, d. July 3, 1817.

BROCK FAMILY.

JOHN BROCK, ancestor of the Brock family of Philadelphia and Bucks county, Pennsylvania, came from near Stockport, in the county of Chester, England. He had purchased 1,000 acres of land of William Penn, to be laid out in the new Province of Pennsylvania, and preceded Penn to that Province, arriving in the river Delaware, 7 mo. (September) 28, 1682, in the "Friends Adventure," Capt. Thomas Wall. He brought with him three servants, William Morton, Job Houle and Ellis Eaton.

Of the 1,000 acres purchased by John Brock of William Penn by deeds of lease and release, bearing date, the second and third days of March, 1681, six hundred acres were laid out to him in Makefield township, Bucks county, just below the present borough of Yardley, on which he settled and lived until his death in 1700. The remaining four hundred acres of his purchase remained un- located at his death and was included in the inventory of his estate filed by his administratrix, and bearing date 10 mo. (December) 28, 1700, as "ye four hun- dred acers of Land, unpatented."

John Brock became at once a prominent man in the affairs of the little Quaker colony on the Delaware, and was the close associate of his neighbors, William Yardley, Richard Hough, William Biles and Thomas Janney, all of whom were members of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, as well as prominent officials of the county. John Brock was commissioned Sheriff of Bucks county in 1683, and filled that position for three years. He was commissioned as a Justice of the Peace and of the Courts of Bucks county, January 2, 1689; was recommis- sioned July 13, 1693, and continued to fill that position until his death, late in 1700.

He was a member of the Society of Friends, and was unmarried on his arrival in Pennsylvania, but married soon after Elizabeth, daughter of Elizabeth Rowden, the second wife of Dr. Thomas Wynne, by a former marriage. On the records of Middletown Monthly Meeting of Friends appears the record of the birth of four children of John and Elizabeth Brock, but the minutes of that meeting give no mention of his marriage there or of a certificate being granted to him to marry elsewhere. He should properly, considering the location of his plantation, have been a member of Falls Meeting, but at that early date the bounds of the two first Meetings of the county were not very clearly defined.

Letters of Administration were granted at Philadelphia, October 17, 1704, on the estate of John Brock, late of Bucks county, to his widow, Elizabeth Brock, and she gave bond in the sum of five hundred pounds with William Biles and Richard Hough as sureties. The inventory of his estate made 10 mo. (Decem- ber) 28, 1700, by Richard Hough, Peter Worrall and Jacob Janney, was filed at the same time. It is made up principally of household goods, farming implements and stock; the plantation of six hundred acres is valued at four hundred pounds, and the four hundred acres, "unpatented," at thirty pounds. No settlement seems to have been filed by the Administratrix, who several years after his death mar-

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ried Richard Eyres, of Burlington county, New Jersey, and took up her residence there with her husband.

The Makefield plantation probably came unto the possession of the eldest son. John Brock, the second, who was almost sixteen years of age at the death of his father, and was probably of age at the marriage of his mother to Richard Eyres. "John Brock, the 2d," also died intestate, and evidently unmarried, at least with- out issue, and letters of administration were granted on his estate at Philadelphia, October 2, 1712, to Mary Brown, probably his sister, and wife of Joseph Brown, of Makefield, son of George and Mercy, the pioneer ancestors of the Brown fam- ily of Lower Bucks. He is called "John Brock, the 2d, of Makefield, Bucks County," in the grant of letters, and Abel Janney was the surety of the Adminis- tratrix. The inventory is made by Thomas Yardley, Thomas Ashton and Abel Janney.

On November 3, 1713, "Richard Eyre, of the County of Burlington, Province of West Jersey, and Elizabeth his wife (relict of John Brock, late of the County of Bucks, in the Province of Pennsylvania, deceased)," convey to Ralph Brock, of the said county of Bucks, millwright ( son of the said Elizabeth, by John Brock. a foresaid), all the right title and interest of the said Richard and Elizabeth in the 600 acres of land in Makefield and the 400 acres of unlocated land of which said John Brock died seized.

On December 10, 1713, Ralph Brock, of Makefield, Bucks county, millwright, conveys to John Lambert, of Nottingham, New Jersey, 223 acres of the 600 acres laid out to his father, as "son and heir of said John Brock." In a deed dated June 12, 1729, Ralph Brock, "late of Makefield," conveys to John Cawley forty- five acres as part of the 1,000 acres purchased by his father of William Penn, reciting that "since the death of his said father said Ralph Brock having obtained releases from under the hands and seals of all his brothers and sisters, of, in, and to, all their right title and interest in the said one thousand acres."

In another deed dated April 28, 1732, from Ralph Brock, of Bucks county, carpenter, to Thomas Yardley, it is recited that "by the death of Jolin Brock, late of Bucks County, father of the said Ralph, the 600 acres of which the tract hereby conveyed is a part, legally descended to John Brock, eldest son of the said John Brock, deceased; and by the death of said John Brock, the son, descended to and became the right in law of the said Ralph Brock, his eldest brother," Ralph Brock eventually removed to Philadelphia, and died there intestate and insolvent, and letters of administration were granted to William Ball, of that city, "principal creditor." He was evidently unmarried, no wife joining in any of the deeds above quoted.

The record of the births of the children of John and Elizabeth Brock on the Middletown, Bucks County, Monthly Meeting records, is as follows :-

"John Brock, b. Imo. 7, 1684, died Imo. 15, 1684; John Brock, b. 8mo. 14, 1685 ; Ralph Brock, b. Imo. 30, 1688; John Brock, b. 8mo. 30, 1690."

The last item is very evidently an error, as the records above quoted show that John Brock was the "eldest son" and died in 1712. That there were a number of other children of John and Elizabeth Brock is also very evident from the fact that Ralph refers to releases from "all his brothers and sisters," using the plural in both instances, though his brother John was then deceased. "Mary Brown,"

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the administratrix of John Brock, the second, was doubtless one of the sisters, and Richard Brock, we know, was one of the other brothers.

Thomas Brock, Sheriff of Bucks county, 1693-5, was probably brother of John Brock Sr. He was a considerable land owner in Bucks county at different periods prior to 1700, was later a resident of Burlington county, New Jersey, and died in Philadelphia, apparently without issue.

The younger children of John and Elizabeth Brock probably accompanied their mother and stepfather to New Jersey, where there was a number of the name in the next generation. One of these without doubt a grandson of John and Elizabeth, and probably a son of Stephen Brock, of Buckingham, on tax lists of 1722-6, applied for membership in Kingwood, or Quakertown, Monthly Meeting, in Kingwood township, Hunterdon county, New Jersey, 10 mo. (October) 9, 1755, and at the next meeting declared intentions of marriage with Jane Sim- cock, and on the records of that Meeting appears the births of six children, Mary, Daniel, Jacob, Jane, Alice and Stephen, the first in 1756 and the last 1766, and another was born later, and on 2 mo. 7, 1770, John Brock requests a certificate for himself, his wife Jane and seven children to Hopewell Monthly Meeting in Virginia, and it is granted.

RICHARD BROCK, one of the younger sons of John and Elizabeth Brock, was born in Makefield, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, about 1695, and in 1718, married Susanna Scarborough, born 5 mo. (July) 19, 1697, died prior to 1727, daughter of John Scarborough, of Solebury township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, born in London, England, in 1667, died in Solebury I mo. (March) 27, 1727; who came to Bucks county with his father, John Scarborough, of the parish of St. Sepulchre, London, in 1682, and settled in Solebury in 1698. He was a promi- nent man in the community and one of the founders of Buckingham Meeting of Friends, and is mentioned on the records of the Quarterly Meeting at Philadel- phia, among the "Friends eminent for their piety and virtue since their first settle- ment in America."

Richard Brock continued to reside in the vicinity of the place of his birth, in lower Bucks county, for some years after his marriage, as he appears as a wit- ness to the will of Isaac Atkinson, who resided in Bristol township, just west of the Manor of Pennsbury, in 1721. He died, however, in Solebury township, shortly prior to 1753.

The children of Richard and Susanna (Scarborough), as shown by the will of John Scarborough, were: John, Elizabeth, Mary and Susannah.

JOHN BROCK, only son of Richard and Susanna (Scarborough) Brock, was born in Bucks county, about the year 1720, and left an orphan at an early age, was probably reared in the family of some of his mother's relatives in Solebury, where the Scarborough family were large land owners. He was evidently a birthright member of Buckingham Monthly Meeting, that Meeting having been erected into a Monthly Meeting out of Falls Monthly Meeting at about the time of his birth. On 3 mo. 26, 1753, he declared intentions of marriage at Abington Monthly Meeting, Philadelphia county, with Sarah Jenkins, and was directed to produce a certificate at the next meeting. On 4 mo. 30, 1753, he produced a cer- tificate from Buckingham Meeting, and they were given permission to marry. The marriage took place at Abington, 5 mo. (May) 4, 1753, and the certificate

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there recorded states that he was a son of "Richard Brock, of Solebury, Bucks County, late deceased." Sarah Jenkins was born at the present site of Jenkin- town, in Abington township, 7 mo. (September) 6, 1731, and was a daughter of Phineas Jenkins, born 8 mo. (October) 16, 1707, died April 10, 1791, by his wife, Mary Roberts, whom he married, about November 1, 1730 (second declaration, 8 mo. 26). He had married (first), September, 1728, Isabel Mather, and she died a little over a month later, October 31, 1728. He was one of the trustees of Abington Meeting House and School in 1742, and for several years thereafter. Phineas Jenkins was a son of Stephen Jenkins, of Abington, born in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales, son of William and Elizabeth (Griffith) Jenkins, who came to Pennsylvania in 1682, and settled first at "Duffryn Mawr," near Haver- ford, but in 1698 removed to Abington township, where their name is perpetuated in the thriving borough of Jenkintown.

Stephen Jenkins married, November 14, 1704, Abigail, daughter of Phineas Pemberton, "the father of Bucks County," by his wife, Phebe Harrison. Stephen Jenkins died in 1761, and his wife Abigail, November 2, 1750.

On May 26, 1755, John Brock and his wife produced a certificate from Buck- ingham Meeting at Abington and took up their residence there, and continued to reside within the bounds of that meeting until 1769, when they removed to Phila- delphia, requesting a certificate to Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, June 26, 1769. for himself, his wife and children. The certificate was however withheld for several months from the fact that John Brock had engaged in the vocation of keeping a tavern or inn, in Philadelphia, to which the meeting objected and strongly remonstrated with him, but on his statement that his health was such that he must seek other means of earning a livelihood than by manual labor, the Meeting finally granted him a certificate.

The old Colonial inn of John Brock was located at Tenth and Mulberry (now Arch) streets, where Thomas Brock, doubtless a son, was an inn-keeper for many years.

The date of the death of John Brock has not been ascertained, but he was deceased prior to May 15, 1789, when his father-in-law, Phineas Jenkins, exec- uted his will, as therein Jenkins devises to his daughter, Sarah Brock, among other legacies, six pounds per annum, "whilst she remains a widow." From the fact that Mrs. Brock was named as one of the executors of her father's will, it is to be inferred that she had returned to the place of her nativity at Jenkintown on the death of her husband. The codicil to her father's will, dated March 6, 1791, materially increased the legacies to her.

No complete list of the children of John and Sarah (Jenkins) Brock is at present obtainable. A daughter, Mary, died at Jenkintown, while a child, March 3, 1760; and a son, Ralph, died March 21, 1763, as shown by the records of Ab- ington Friends Meeting, and from the same source we learn that a son, William, and other children accompanied their parents to Philadelphia, in 1769.

The only one of the children of John and Sarah (Jenkins) Brock; however, of whom we have any definite record, or whose descendants have been traced, was John Brock, born October 10, 1762, who appears to have retained his mem- bership in the Society of Friends, and possibly remained with his grandparents when his parents removed to Philadelphia. To a certainty his later boyhood was

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spent in the country, though at a different point from the place of his birth, as shown hereafter.

JOHN BROCK, son of John and Sarah (Jenkins) Brock, born in Abington township, Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania, October 10, 1762, removed with his parents to the city of Philadelphia when a child. He probably returned to the country, however, before attaining manhood, as he was for some time a mem- ber of the family of Thomas Janney, of Newtown, Bucks county, and was the recipient of a lagacy of ten pounds at the death of Mr. Janney in 1788, and his name appears on the tax lists of Newtown for some years prior to that date. In 1789 he married Sarah Kirk, born March 3, 1764, in Springfield township, Bucks county, daughter of Stephen Kirk, of Buckingham and Springfield, by his wife, Phebe Fell, born March 27, 1736, died September 12, 1758, daughter of Benjamin Fell, of Buckingham, by his wife, Hannah Scarborough, born in Solebury, Octo- ber 31, 1704, daughter of John Scarborough, and sister to Susanna Scarborough, the wife of Richard Brock, before mentioned.

Stephen Kirk, the father of Sarah (Kirk) Brock, was born in Buckingham township, Bucks county, November 2, 1736, and was son of Isaac Kirk, who came to Buckingham from Darby, Chester (now Delaware) county, in 1729. John Kirk, father of Isaac, belonged to an ancient family of Derbyshire, England, and came to Pennsylvania from Alfreeton, county Derby, in 1687, and settled at Darby, where he married, in April, 1688, Joan, daughter of Peter Elliott, and his son, Isaac, above mentioned, born at Darby, April 23, 1703, was the tenth of their eleven children. Isaac Kirk married, December 9, 1730, Elizabeth Twining, born in Newtown, Bucks county, September 4, 1712, died 1744, daughter of Stephen Twining, of Newtown, by his wife, Margaret Mitchell, born at Marsden Lanes, Lancashire, England, in 1686, died at Newtown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, July 9, 1784, in her ninety-ninth year. She was daughter of Henry Mitchell and Elizabeth Foulds, who were married at the house of Stephen Saeger, Marsden Lanes, Lancashire, under the auspices of Marsden Monthly Meeting of Friends, May 6, 1675; and on February 16, 1698-9, obtained a certificate to Friends in America, and with their three children, Richard, Henry and Margaret, embarked on board the Brittanica for Pennsylvania, where the vessel arrived, August 25, 1699, with the widow and three children, Henry the father having died on the voyage. The widow died October 10, 1699.

Stephen Twining, the father of Elizabeth (Twining) Kirk, was born at East- ham, Massachusetts, December 30, 1684, and came to Newtown, Bucks county, in 1693, with his parents and grandparents. His great-grandfather, William Twining, came from England to Massachusetts Bay colony, about 1640; was at Yarmouth in 1643, and removed to Eastham in 1659; his wife, Anne Doane, died at the latter place, February 27, 1680. Their son, William Twining Jr., of East- ham, married, in 1682, Elizabeth, daughter of Stephen Deane, of Plymouth, and Stephen Twining, son of William and Elizabeth, was born at Eastham, February 6, 1659. He married, January 13, 1682-3, Abigail Young, of Eastham, and he and his father having become converts to the doctrine of Friends, decided to seek a home among people of their faith in Penn's colony. In 1693 they migrated to Newtown Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where William Twining died December 4, 1703, and his wife, Elizabeth, on November 28, 1708. Stephen Twining was

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a large landholder and prominent citizen of Bucks county, and has left numerous descendants who held a like high place in the affairs of the county, colony and state.

Joseph Fell, the maternal great-grandfather of Sarah (Kirk) Brock, was born at Longlands, the seat of his family for many generations, in the parish of Rockdale, county of Cumberland, England, October 19, 1668, and married there, in 1698, Bridget Wilson. In 1704, with his wife and two sons, Joseph and Ben- jamin, he emigrated to America, and located for a short time in lower Bucks county, but in 1706 removed to Buckingham township, where he took up large tracts of land and became one of the most prominent men of that locality. His wife Bridget dying, after the birth of several other children, he married (second ) Elizabeth, daughter of Edward and Rebecca (Dungan) Doyle, and lived to rear a large family of children who have left numerous descendants.

Benjamin Fell, second son of Joseph and Bridget (Wilson) Fell, was born at Longlands, Cumberland county, England, November 1, 1703, and was therefore an infant when his parents came to Bucks county. On his marriage to Hannah Scarborough, August 27, 1728, before recited, his father conveyed to him a tract of land in Buckingham on which he resided until his death, September 12, 1758, having been thrice married and was the father of eleven children.

Isaac Kirk, the grandfather of Sarah (Kirk) Brock, was an early purchaser of large tracts of land in the then unsettled portions of Bucks county, among which was a large tract of land in Springfield township, upon which his son, Stephen, the father of Mrs. Brock, settled in early life, and where he resided the greater part of his life, inheriting the lands there, as well as a portion of the Buckingham homestead at his father's death.

On the marriage of John Brock, in 1789, to Sarah Kirk, he located at Spring- town, a little hamlet in Springfield township, near the upper line of Bucks county, and engaged in the mercantile business there until 1823, when he removed to the vicinity of Doylestown, and after about five years residence on a small farm there removed to Philadelphia, where he died January 20, 1844. During his residence in Upper Bucks he owned, at different periods, in addition to his store stand in Springtown, a small farm in Springfield, and also a tract of land in Durham township.

Sarah (Kirk) Brock died at Springtown, October 6, 1802, as shown by the records of Richland Monthly Meeting of Friends, where the family held member- ship. About a year after the death of his first wife John Brock married (second) Massey, daughter of Arnold Warner, by his wife, Margery Hall, born March 23, 1734-5, daughter of Mathew Hall, who came from Birmingham, England, about 1725, and married, in 1731, Sarah (Scarborough), widow of George Ha- worth, of Solebury, Bucks county, and daughter of John and Sarah Scarborough, and sister to Hannah Scarborough, the wife of Benjamin Fell, above mentioned. Arnold Warner, the father of Massey (Warner) Brock, was son of Isaac War- ner, of Blockley, Philadelphia, by his wife, Veronica Cassell; grandson of John and Ann (Campden) Warner, and great-grandson of William Warner, the pioneer settler of Blockley.

Issue of John and Sarah (Kirk) Brock :-

Stephen Brock, b. at Springtown, Bucks co., Pa., June 29, 1790, d. at Doylestown, Bucks co., Aug. 11, 1860; sheriff of Bucks co., 1821-3; and. 1827-8, inclusive, two

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terms of three years each; prominent landowner and business man of upper and central Bucks; m. Mary, dau. of John and Elizabeth ( Preston) Jones, of Buck- ingham, Bucks co., and was father of eight children, several of whom became prominent in business affairs of Phila., where descendants of the name still reside :

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Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 32

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