Samuel Bownas (1677 - 1753)

Born 20 Jan 1677 in Shap, Westmorland, England

Died 2 Apr 1753 at age 76 in Bridport, Dorset, England

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Biography

Samuel was a Friend (Quaker)

Samuel was born 20 Jan 1677 (20th of the 11 month 1676 Julian date) at Strickland, Westmorland, England the son of Anthony Bownas and Agnes.^[1][2][3] The year of birth in the Strickland Monthly Meeting records is hard to decipher with some believing it to read 1678 with others (Wikipedia) stating he was born 1676. While early editions of the ODNB misread the old style date as 20 Nov 1676, the later versions have corrected this to 20 Jan 1677 and give the location as Shap, Westmorland.^[4] Shap is about 5 miles south of Great Strickland. In his own Account of Life and Travels he gives his birth as "about 1676 in Westmorland within the compass of Great Strickland Monthly Meeting."^[5]

Missions in America

In March 1702 he sailed for America, arriving in Potuxant river, Maryland, at the end of May. Preaching here, he soon received a written challenge from George Keith,who had left the quakers in 1692. After leading a sect of his own, Keith had received Anglican orders in May 1700, and was now an ardent (and not unsuccessful) advocate of episcopacy. Bownas wrote declining ' to take any notice of one that hath been so very mutable in his pretences to religion;' but he distributed a tract (whether original or not does not appear) in answer to one by Keith. Keith got him prosecuted for his preaching, and on 30 Sept. 1702 he was put into the county gaol of Queen's County, Long Island, as he would not give bail, ' if as small a sum as three-halfpence would do.' On 28 Dec. the grand jury threw out the indictment, but Bownas was held in prison, where he learned to make shoes, and had a visit from an 'Indian king, as he styled himself,' who discoursed with him about the good Monettay, or God, and the bad Monettay, or Devil. A seventh-day baptist, John Rogers, also came to confer with him. On 3 Sept. 1703 he was set at liberty. After further travels in America he returned home, reaching Portsmouth in October 1706.

Samuel's mother, Agnes, passed on or was buried May 20, 1698.^[7][8]Records indicate that he was married twice. The name of the first wife is presently unknown. He met her in Sherbourne, Dorsetshire, England and were married in the Spring of 1707 after returning from his 1st trip to the American colonies. She died September 1719. His second wife was Elizabeth Nicholls , whom he married 11th of 2nd month, 1722.^[9] She passed at 96 years old in 1786.^[10]

He passed away 2 Apr 1753 at Bridport, Dorset, England. according to the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Minute^[11] and the monthly meeting at Bridport 21st of the 9th month, 1755.^[12]His burial was recorded as 06 June 1753 in Dorset, according to the English Non-Conformist records.^[13]

Sources

1. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FWVN-DNY : 11 December 2014), Samuell Bownas, 20 Jan 1676, Birth; citing p. 18, Strickland, Westmorland, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London.
2. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQRC-33D : 11 December 2014), Samuel Bounas, 20 Jan 1676, Birth; citing p. 102, Westmorland, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London.
3. ↑ General Register Office: Society of Friends' Registers, Notes and Certificates of Births, Marriages and Burials. Records of the General Register Office, Government Social Survey Department, and Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, RG 6. The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, England. Piece 1206: Monthly Meeting of Strickland: Strickland (1653-1730)
4. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online
5. ↑ Bownas, Samuel, An Account of the Life and Travels of Samuel Bownas, London, James Phillips, 1795
6. ↑ Gordon, Alexander,Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 06 Bownas, Samuel Pgs 73-74.
7. ↑ "England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J8YV-RZL : 14 March 2020), Agnes Bownas, 1698.
8. ↑ "England, Cumbria Parish Registers, 1538-1990", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4Y2H-KR3Z : 11 March 2020), Agnes Bownas, 1698.
9. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VWZH-ZD9 : 11 December 2014), Samuell Bownas, 11 Apr 1722, Marriage; citing p. 134, Dorset, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London. (This source was transcribed as April and another source states it was February. Most likely it read 2nd month old style calendar which is April.)
10. ↑ "England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JC9J-9J4 : 15 March 2020), Bownas in entry for Elizabeth Bownas, 1786.
11. ↑ Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Minutes, Haverford College; Haverford, Pennsylvania
12. ↑ Account
13. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F3YY-CJR : 11 December 2014), Samuel Bownas, 06 Jun 1753, Burial; citing p. 139, Dorset, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London.

• Bownas, Samuel, 1676-1753; Richardson, John, 1667-1753; Besse, Joseph, 1683?-1757, The journals of the lives and travels of Samuel Bownas, and John Richardson 1759 London printed; Philadelphia, Reprinted and sold by William Dunlap