The provincial councillors of Pennsylvania : who held office between 1733-1776, and those earlier councillors who were some time chief magistrates of the province and their descendants, Part 34

Author: Keith, Charles Penrose, 1854-1939
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia
Number of Pages: 646


USA > Pennsylvania > The provincial councillors of Pennsylvania : who held office between 1733-1776, and those earlier councillors who were some time chief magistrates of the province and their descendants > Part 34


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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FRANCIS HOPKINSON, b. Phila. May 13, 1781, son of Francis and Ann Hopkinson, p. 269, dec'd, m. - , widow of - Hewitt and dau. of Morton of Baltimore.


Issue :


ADELAIDE, m. Edward Stelle, and had issue,


ANNA MARIA, m. Thomas Stelle, and had issue,


276


Hopkinson.


LAURA, m. John Berrett, and had issue, FRANCIS, dec'd, m. -- Hewitt, and had issue, THOMAS, d. y.


ELIZABETH HOPKINSON, b. Phila. Sep. 15, 1738, dau. of the Councillor, d. Mch. 22, 1797, m. Xt. Ch. by Rev. Wm. Sturgeon June 19, 1759 at 5 o'clock in the morning to Rev. Jacob Duché of Phila., bapt. Xt. Ch. Feb. 12, 1737-8 aged 1 month, son of Jacob Duché, Mayor of Phila. in 1761, by his 1st w. Mary Spence. Rev. Jacob Duché was a graduate of the College of Phila. of the same class. with his bro .- in-law Francis Hopkinson and John Morgan, and had been also a tutor in that institution before graduating. He went abroad in 1758, and entered Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, but in the following year his father determined to recall him home. In February, 1759, his father being impatient for his return, the vestry of Christ Church wrote to the Bishop of London recommending the ap- pointment of young Mr. Duché as one of the Assistant Ministers. He was admitted to the Diaconate, and returned to America just before his marriage. On Sep. 27, 1759, he was received as one of the Assist- ant Ministers of Christ Church. A large number of the people wanted Rev. William McClenachan chosen for that position, and obliged the Rector to accept him as an additional Assistant, until finally St. Paul's Church was built for his use. In 1759, Duché was made Teacher of Oratory in the College of Philadelphia. In June, 1762, he went to England to be ordained Priest, and on his return he was put in charge of St. Peter's, which had been finished about a year before. Rev. E. D. Neill, in his sketch of Duché in Penna. Mag., Vol. II., says " His earnest preaching without notes and distinct and fervent reading of the liturgy attracted good congregations." The Oxford missionary, how- ever, complained in 1764 that he gave encouragement to the forma- tion of a Methodist congregation in the immediate vicinity of Oxford Church, and in one of his letters said that Duché had formed his theo- logical system from Jacob Boehmen, Mr. Law, and Mr. Whitefield. His first published sermon was "The Life and Death of the Right- eous," preached Feb. 13, 1763 at the funeral of Mr. Evan Morgan, on the title-page of which he describes himself as also " Chaplain to the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Stirling." He also published other sermons and a series of essays in 1774 under the signature Tamoc Caspipina, which were several times republished in Europe. On the second day of the session of the first Continental Congress in 1774, it was resolved that


277


Hopkinson-Rev. Jacob Duché.


the proceedings on the day following should be opened with prayer, and, on motion of Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, a Congregationalist, Mr. Duché was asked for that office. He came in his robes with his clerk, and read part of morning prayer including the psalter, the 35th psalm appearing singularly appropriate. He then made an extempore prayer, which John Adams greatly admired. Duché also preached the funeral sermon over Peyton Randolph, who died in Philadelphia Oct. 22, 1774, while President of Congress. Duche succeeded Peters the Councillor as Rector of the United Churches in 1775. On July 4, 1776, the Vestry of the Churches, evidently with his approval, met at his house, he presiding, and resolved that in consequence of the Declaration of Independence "it will be proper to omit those petitions in the Liturgy wherein the King of Great Britain is prayed for," and four days later Duché accepted a re-appointment as Chaplain to Con- gress to open the proceedings with prayer every morning. In Octo- ber, he resigned and returned the money which Congress voted him on accepting his resignation. He remained in Philadelphia on the ap- proach of the British, and on the Sunday after they entered, resumed praying for the King, but on leaving the church was arrested on ac- count of his former conduct. He remained in jail one night. By the next day the British general had been satisfied as to his submission. Two months later he went to England, having meanwhile written a letter to Gen. Washington urging his return to allegiance to the King. Duché was attainted of high treason to the State of Pennsyl- vania by Act of Assembly, and his estate confiscated. His house and lot on the East side of Third Street between Pine and Union was allotted by the Assembly to Chief Justice Mckean for a temporary residence. The British government appointed Duché Chaplain and Secretary to the Asylum for Female Orphans in St. George's Fields. He returned to Philadelphia in 1792, where he d. Jany. 3, 1798.


Issue (surname DUCHÉ) :


SOPHIA MARIA, b. Phila. Aug. 10, 1761, d. y. Aug. 27, 1762, bu. in middle aisle of St. Peter's, Phila.,


THOMAS SPENCE, b. Sep. 15, 1763, was an artist, studying with Sir Benjamin West, d. s. p. Mch. 31, 1790, bu. Lam- beth, Eng.,


ESTHER, b. Nov. 5, 1767, dec'd, m. William Hill, at one time of Phila., afterwards of Milton, Mass., d. Phila. June 2, 1804,


Issue (surname HILL) :


278


Hopkinson-Duché.


SOPHIA DUCHÉ, b. May 4, 1799, d. y. July 8, 1799,


JOHN CLOWES, b. June 30, 1801, d. y. July 19, 1801, MARY, b. Oct. 27, 1770, d. y. Dec. 19, 1770, bu. in middle aisle of St. Peter's, Phila.,


ELIZABETH SOPHIA, b. Sep. 18, 1774, d. Montreal Dec. 11, 1808, m. May 23, 1799 John Henry, a native of Ireland, who was a resident of Phila. before his marriage, and through the influence of the British Minister was appointed Capt. U. S. Artill., resigned Dec. 31, 1801, and retired to Vermont, where he studied law, and wrote against republican govern- ment. His writings attracted the notice of Sir James Craig, Governor-General of Canada, who, in the winter of 1809, employed him on a secret mission to New England to ascer- tain the state of public feeling in reference to a war with Great Britain, and whether the Federalists were likely to bring about a separation of those states from the American Union, and would look to the British government for aid .. He spent nearly three months in Boston, and reported the opinion that the Democrats would not take the responsibility of bringing on a war, but if war were declared, the legisla- ture of Massachusetts would call a Congress of the Federal- ist states, and erect a new confederacy. The British gov- ernment not recompensing Henry for his services, he dis- closed the affair to the American Secretary of State in 1811, causing great excitement.


Issue (surname HENRY) :


SOPHIA, d. about 1829, m. - - Greville,


ELIZABETH BLOIS, b. Mch. 23, 1802, bapt. Xt. Ch. m. Col. de Chanal of the French army.


ANNE HOPKINSON, b. Nov. 23, 1745, bapt. Xt. Ch. Dec. 31, dau. of the Councillor, d. Baltimore Apr. 26, 1817, m. Xt. Ch. Apr. 26, 1775 (by Rev. Thomas Hopkinson) Samuel Stringer Coale, b. Mch. 9, 1754, is said to have studied under Dr. Morgan, who married Mary Hopkinson, practised medicine in Baltimore, d. Sep. 19, 1798.


Issue of SAML. S. and ANNE COALE :


EDWARD JOHNSON, b. May 18, 1776, m. Mary Ann Buchanan, see next page,


ANNA MARIA, b. Sep. 9, 1779, d. Jany. 3, 1813,


WILLIAM, b. July 17, 1780, d. unm. s. p. Sep. 3, 1805,


279


Hopkinson-Coale branch.


SAMUEL STRINGER, b. Feb. 22, 1782, d. y. Aug. 15, 1782, SAMUEL STRINGER, b. Aug. 7, 1783, d. y. Oct. 7, 1783, ELIZA SOPHIA, b. Nov. 9, 1785, m. John Greene Proud, see p. 280,


THOMAS, b. May 6, 1787, d. y. May 13, 1787,


MARY ABBY WILLING, b. Feb. 4, 1789, m. William Tower Proud, see p. 280.


EDWARD JOHNSTON COALE, b. Anne Arundel Co., Md., May 18, 1776, son of Samuel S. and Anne Coale, as above, was an attorney- at-law and publisher, Vice-Consul for Russia and Brazil at Baltimore, d. Washington, D. C., Nov. 16, 1832, m. Apr. 18, 1815 Mary Ann Buchanan, b. Oct. 15, 1792, d. Apr. 3, 1866, dau. of George Bu- chanan, M. D. (U. of P.), of Baltimore.


Issue (surname COALE) :


WILLIAM EDWARD, b. Feb. 7, 1816, M. D., surgeon U. S. N., resigned 1843, practised in Boston, where he d. Apr. 24, 1865, m., 1st, May 1, 1850 Catharine Sewall Oliver of Bos- ton, who d. Dec. 19, 1856, and, 2nd, May 17, 1860 Eliza- beth Bell of Boston, by whom no issue,


Issue by 1st wife (surname Coale) :


George Oliver, grad. A. B (Harv.) 1874,


ANN LÆTITIA, b. Apr. 28, 1817, d. s. p. Oxford, Eng., July 26, 1856, m. Apr. 5, 1836 John Christian Brune of Balti- more, merchant, member of Maryland legislature in 1861, being he was one of the two who escaped imprisonment when the legislature was arrested by U. S. military authority, went to Canada, d. at sea on his way to Cuba Dec. 7, 1864,


GEORGE BUCHANAN, b. Mch. 5, 1819, of Baltimore, insurance agent, m. Oct. 10, 1855 Caroline Dorsey of Elk Ridge, Md., Issue (surname Coale) :


Edward Johnson, d. inf.,


Robert Dorsey,


George William,


Mary Buchanan, b. June 29, 1861,


Edward, d. inf.,


Grafton Dorsey, d. inf., Caroline, b. June 28, 1875,


CATHARINE ATTERBURY, b. June 27, 1821, unm.,


ELIZABETH BUCHANAN, b. Aug. 14, 1823, unm.,


280


Hopkinson-Coale branch.


JOSEPHA REBELLO, b. Apr. 9, 1826, unm.,


MARIANNA BUCHANAN, b. Mch. 5, 1831, m. June 1, 1871 Thomas R. Brown of Baltimore, merchant, who d. Dec. 25, 1871.


ELIZA SOPHIA COALE, b. Nov. 9, 1785, dau. of Samuel S. and Anne Coale, p. 279, d. Oct. 25, 1838, m. Oct. 25, 1804 John Greene Proud, who was b. New Bedford, Mass., Nov. 26, 1776, and was an insurance agent in Baltimore, d. July 12, 1865.


Issue (surname PROUD) :


WILLIAM COALE, d. y.,


JOHN GREENE, b. Aug. 21, 1814, of Baltimore, insurance agent, unm.,


ROBERT MAXWELL, b. Oct. 25, 1817, of Baltimore, insurance agent, member of City Councils, and U. S. Assessor and Collector of Internal Revenue, unm.,


ELIZA MARY ANN, d. y.


MARY ABBY WILLING COALE, b. Feb. 4, 1789, dau. of Samuel S. and Anne Coale, p. 279, d. May 11, 1831, m. Dec. 9, 1813 William Tower Proud, b. New Bedford, Mass., July 14, 1788, d. Vidalia, La., July 11, 1842.


Issue (surname PROUD) :


ANNA MARIA, unm.


RALPH ASSHETON. -


Burke's Extinct Baronetcies gives the knightly lineage of the lords of Ashton-under-Lyne in Salford Hundred, Lancashire, naming among them Sir John de Assheton, who was made a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Henry IV. His eldest son and heir was Sir Thomas Assheton, and Sir Thomas's third son was Geffrey Assheton, who m. the daughter and heiress of Thomas Manners of Shipley. He seems to have carried on the elder branch of the family : the Asshetons of Middleton (of whom were Sir Ralph Assheton of Lever, made Baronet in 1620, and Sir Ralph Assheton of Middleton, made Baronet by Charles II) were descended from Ralph, the younger son of the afore- said Sir John de Assheton. A grant of arms was made Aug. 16, 1632 to Ashton of Shepley, co. Lancaster (Burke's Gen. Armory), who must be accounted the ancestor of the Asshetons of Pennsylvania. William Assheton, eldest son of the emigrant to America, bore on his book plate the arms : quarterly, first and fourth, ar. a mullet sa. pierced of the field (which are precisely the arms of Assheton, or Ash- ton, of Shepley, as well as of Assheton of Downham Hall, descended from a son of Assheton of Lever); and second and third, ar. a mascle within a bordure engr. sa. (the arms of Shepley of Yorkshire and Sur- rey). The crest on the book plate is that described in Burke as the crest of Ashton of Shepley : a mower with his scythe, his face and hands ppr., his habit and cap counterchanged ar. and sa., the handle of the scythe or, the blade ar. as in action. From Burke's account of the Lever branch, Mrs. Frances Watts née Assheton is wrong in say- ing, as she has left on record, of the father of the emigrant, " William Assheton, descended from Sir Ralph Assheton, Baronet, one of the first of that order instituted by King James I." We make him merely of the same family as Sir Ralph. Perhaps she did not mean direct descent ; for she goes on to say, "was settled at Salford in the Dutchy of Lancaster. I have not found papers to ascertain the par- ticulars of his descent, but no doubt they are on record in England, as he was one of the Lancaster Heralds of arms, an office of considerable


282


Assheton.


distinction. The family was of great antiquity and high distinction, and allied to many noble families."


Of the parents and kindred of the first Assheton of Pennsylvania, there is considerable information in an affidavit made July 2, 1751 in connection with the title to certain land, and recorded in the deeds office in Phila. Jeffrey Hart of Salford, Co. Lancaster, chapman, aged 57, who married Margaret, dau. of Robert Ashton, or Asheton, clerk, then Minis- ter of Trinity Chapel in Salford, and brother of William Asheton, tes- tified that William Asheton was an attorney-at-law and one of the coroners of the County and a Deputy Herald at Arms, and had issue by Frances his wife, an eldest son, Robert, who went to Pennsylvania, and three daughters, Frances, Mary, and Rachel. Frances (bapt. at Salford Mch. 15, 1675, as per certificate also on record) m., 1st, Robert Booth, Esq., and, 2nd, William Legh, Esq., and she was a widow living in Manchester at the date of the affidavit. Mary (bapt. at Salford May 6, 1680, as certified) m. Thomas Warburton of Part- ington in Cheshire, gentleman, and she was a widow in Salford at said date. Rachel, sister of Robert Assheton the emigrant, m. An- drew Ashton of Manchester, checkmaker, and d. s. p. (bu. Trinity Chapel, Salford, Jany. 22, 1745.) William Asheton's wife was a relation of William Penn, and the latter on May 30, 1687 conveyed 3000 acres of land in Pennsylvania to his " cousins Robert, Frances, Mary, Rachel, and John Assheton of the County of Lancaster in the Kingdom of England." John Assheton died without issue.


ROBERT ASSHETON, the emigrant to Pennsylvania, was a lawyer, so his granddaughter Mrs. Watts says. Governor Gordon in 1726 re- minded the Council that " the said Robert Assheton had been invited over to this country by the Proprietor himself as his near relation above 27 years since to take upon him some advantageous posts in clerkship for which by his education he was very well qualified, and that he had with great abilities for about 26 years filled the office of Clerk and Prothonotary of the City and County of Philadelphia." David Paul Brown, in " The Forum," says that after this gentleman of legal education undertook the keeping of the court records, we notice a marked improvement in their character. At the chartering of the City of Philadelphia in 1701, he was named Town Clerk, and, elected in 1708 Recorder, he held both offices until his son succeeded him as Town Clerk. Also Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of the Pro- vince, and from 1722 to 1726 a Justice of the same Court, and ad- mitted to the Provincial Council in July, 1711, and made a Master in


283


Assheton.


Chancery July 25, 1722, he for some time held nearly every office connected with the administration of justice, having, moreover, as one of " the practitioners of the law," been consulted constantly before he became a Provincial Councillor upon bills relating to the judiciary. He seems to have guided the Governor on this subject, just as David Lloyd guided the Assembly. The Penna. Archives published by the State include the draft of a bill for the establishment of courts pre- pared by him in 1714. In it is provision for a separate court of equity-an institution long advocated by the lawyers of the Province, and finally established in 1720 with the name " High Court of Chan- cery," the Lieut .- Governor sitting as Chancellor with certain of his Councillors as Masters, the constitution of the court differing from that in Assheton's scheme. It had the short existence of fifteen years. Assheton was some time Deputy Clerk of the Council, and also Naval Officer, being removed from the latter position by Lieut. Gov. Keith. Keith also suspended him in 1719 from membership of the Council, charging him with divulging the debates to the Governor's prejudice, and with representing to the Penns that the Governor was aiming to overturn their authority-Assheton had sided against Keith. Keith recalled him May 18, 1722, and called his eldest son to the Board, " being desirous to have the vacancies at the Council Board filled up with such as are related to the Proprietor's family, in order to give me their best advice on all occasions where that interest happens to be concerned." He died suddenly at the Council table May 29, 1727, in the 58th year of his age (Obit. Notice), and was buried on the 30th -by torchlight, says Watson's Annals,-under Christ Church, of which he had been an active vestryman.


He m., 1st, Margaret - -, who came with him to Pennsyl- vania ; and, 2nd, at Christ Church Jane Elizabeth Falconier, who, after his death, m. Rev. Archibald Cummings, Rector of Christ Church, and, after his death, m. Rev. Robert Jenney, D. D., who was also Rector of Christ Church. She left no children.


Issue :


WILLIAM, who, as his book plate describes him, was of " Gray's Inn Esq. Judge of the Admiralty in Pennsylvania 1714,"-His name appears in the Votes of Assembly as being employed to draft bills the preparation of which was committed to various members of the House. A case tried by him as Judge of the Admiralty is commented upon in Brown's " Forum." He was active in Christ Church, being


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1


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284


Assheton.


mentioned in its records as reading the prayers in the ab- sence of a clergyman. He was called to the Provincial Council May 18, 1722, and was also a Master in the High Court of Chancery. He d. Sep. 23, 1723 in the 33rd year of his age. He m. Xt. Ch. Oct. 11, 1716 Elizabeth Mer- ring, evidently of Barbadoes, whither intending to remove she advertised in July, 1724, " a choice parcel of household goods " for sale at her house in Second St. next door to John Moore Esq., and she was perhaps dau. of John Merring, Judge of the Court of Exchequer of that Island,-


Issue :


WILLIAM, began the practice of law in Penna., after- wards is described as " of the Parish of St. Michael's in Barbadoes, gentleman," and was Provost-Marshal of Barbadoes,-He left a dau., who m. Ellis of Bar- badoes, and a son Thomas, who was sent to Penna. by Thomas Penn in 1764, became a merchant, m. Hannah Flower, and was father of Harriet, who m. Benjamin Morgan, afterwards of New Orleans, and was mother of Thomas Assheton Morgan of Phila.,- ANN, m. John Powell of Phila., goldsmith, who d. be- fore 1757,


ROBERT, bapt. Xt. Ch. Mch. 27, 1723, d. y.,


RACHEL, d. s. p., m. Xt. Ch. June 23, 1720 Dr. Samuel Monckton of Phila., apothecary, who was bu. Xt. Ch. Sep. 29, 1720,


RALPH, the Councillor,


MARGARET, d. s. p., m., 1st, Xt. Ch. Nov. 9, 1727 Matthew Hooper, and, 2nd, John Hyatt, Sheriff of Phila. Co.,-Her only issue was, by her first husband, one child : John, b. May, 1729, bu. Xt. Ch. Aug. 14, 1729,- CHARLES, bu. Xt. Ch. Aug. 5, 1710, THOMAS, bu. Xt. Ch. Sep. 29, 1711.


RALPH ASSHETON, born at Salford in Lancashire, November 30, 1695, was brought to Pennsylvania by his parents when scarcely four years old, and seems to have depended for his education on the schools of the province. Penn took care of his kindred in providing officials for the government which he had founded. The Asshetons, thus in- troduced into the colony, depended upon public employment as a


285


Assheton.


means of livelihood, and either their capacity or else their claim was generally recognized among the Proprietary's friends. Accordingly when Ralph was in his eighteenth year, the Clerk of the Provincial Council, reminding the members present that since his going abroad he had been assisted by Robert Assheton as his Deputy, now offered, young Ralph beginning to be fit for business, to constitute him his Deputy Clerk. To this the Board unanimously agreed : and Ralph Assheton continued in this capacity for some time. In August, 1716, it being thought that the offices of Recorder and Town Clerk of Phila- delphia should not be held by the same person, as had been the case since 1708, when Robert Assheton, named as Town Clerk in the Charter, was elected Recorder, it was therefore moved in the Corpora- tion that if the present incumbent consent, his son Ralph should take the Clerkship : whereupon the elder Assheton thanked the members for the regard they had for his son, and agreed to relinquish the office on the 30th of November following, when Ralph should be of age. Ralph Assheton, qualifying on that date, was Town Clerk of Phila- delphia during the whole period of his manhood. At his death, he was succeeded by Andrew Hamilton the second. In order to permit his going abroad, he obtained the consent of the Corporation to the appointment of Fenwick Lyell as his Deputy. While in England he was consignee of some merchandise shipped by James Logan.


He was a subscribing witness to the letters of attorney from Han- nah Penn and the mortgagees of Pennsylvania, dated April 24, 1724 and May 25, 1724 respectively, and swore to the signature of Hannah Penn and John Woods of London on Aug. 1st following. In Oc- tober, 1724, he was made a Common Councilman of the City, and four years later was called to the Provincial Council, qualifying October 11, 1728. He was subsequently a County Justice also, sitting for the trial of offences against the Peace, the settlement of Common Pleas, and the administration of the business of an Orphans' Court. He also sat in the Court of Chancery from July, 1730 until it was abolished, the Masters being appointed from the Provincial Council, and several of them joining the Governor, who acted as Chancellor, in the decision of causes. Ralph Assheton was also a practitioner of the law, his name being in the Minutes of the Court of Chancery as counsel in one case and also several times in the Dockets of the Supreme Court. He figures in the list of " Departed Saints of the Law with whom I have been at the Bar," which is scribbled on a leaf of an old Continuance Docket of the Common Pleas. But it is probable that he derived his support from the plantation on which he resided on the West bank of


286


Assheton.


the Schuylkill, being 750 acres now included within the 24th Ward of Philadelphia, which he bought from George Roche in 1729. The house is still standing on a bluff overlooking the Pennsylvania Rail Road tracks a little North of Haverford Street. On the property was a valuable stone quarry, which he worked, and also a brewery, con- ducted by his son-in-law Humphreys. He also had the franchise of running a ferry where now stands the Callowhill Street bridge, this being the " Upper Ferry " of the Schuylkill, sometimes called " Asshe- ton's Ferry." His other real estate included some lots near Schuyl- kill Front and Vine Streets, and from this, Assheton Street, as Twenty Third was formerly called, took its name. His personalty at his death did not amount to enough to pay 1982l. 6s. 2d. indebted- ness. In the inventory exhibited to the Orphans' Court, a conspicu- ous item is 290 oz. of silver plate appraised at 123l. 5s. Ralph Asshe- ton died in his 51st year, bu. Xt. Ch. Feb. 20, 1745-6. The follow- ing letter to one of the Penns is among the MSS. at the Hist. Society


Philada April 26th : 1746


Honoured Sir


I take this Opportunity p Capt Martin to Inform you of the Melan- choly News of my Father in Law Ralph Assheton's death after He had been a long time afflicted with a Dropsey for which he was thrice Tapped & which He bore with a great Deal of patience & Resignation.


His Loss is very Deplorable to us his Family as He was the Head & Stay of us all. We are in no Small Confusion at present He hav- ing made no will nor Settled any of his affairs tho' often pressed to it before He Dyed However I hope in a Short Time to be able to wade thro' it all to Sattisfy Every one without being obliged to part with any of the Estate. As the Proprietor always show'd a great regard & esteem for my Father when alive So Hope He will still be so good to continue it to His Family now he is Dead & I am well assur'd we shall always endeavour to behave ourselves so as to Deserve it.


As by my Father's death his office of Notary Publick is become vacant & as there is Business enough for two Notaries in this Province I take this opportunity wthe the advice of my apply


myself to you for yr. favours therein & as the Proprietor some time agoe was pleas'd to give me his promise of Doing Something for me has emboldned me to ask this favour which as well all others shall be most gratefully acknowledg'd & as I have the Keeping of my Fathers books and have acted severall Times for him in that Business since His Sickness Make no Doubt but shall be able to give Content to Every One who shall Employ me.


My Mother & Wife Joins with me in their Love & Service to yrself & Mrs. Frame & Please to accept the same from yr


Most Obedt. Hum Servt


Jas. Humphreys


287


Assheton.


Ralph Assheton m. Xt. Ch. Nov. 24, 1716 Susanna Redman, dau. of Joseph Redman of Phila. She d. at her house in Arch St. Nov. 24, 1767 in the 66th year of her age.




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