William Brown (1658 - bef. 1746)

Born 29 Jul 1658 in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England

Husband of Dorothy (Unknown) Brown — married about 1680 (to about 1683) in England

Husband of Ann (Mercer) Brown — married after 1 Dec 1684 in Chester, Pennsylvania

Husband of Catherine (Williams) Brown — married after 26 May 1699 (to about 1708) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Husband of Mary (Matthews) Brown — married after 24 Sep 1711 in Delaware

Descendants

Died before 1 Oct 1746 before age 88 in West Nottingham, Chester, Pennsylvania

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Biography

William was a Friend (Quaker)

William Brown was born into a 17th Century English Quaker family beset by religious persecution in Northamptonshire in the 1600s. Around 1684, he joined his brother James in William Penn's Quaker project in the newly appointed Province of Pennsylvania, now part of the USA. He was four times married; first in England and thrice in Pennsylvania. William settled in the Nottingham lots and died in West Nottingham in 1746.

Birth

William Brown was born in England.

William was born in 1658. His birth entry, as well as those of his older brother James and younger brother Jeremiah, were preserved in archival material associated with the Wellingborough Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends (Quakers) in Northamptonshire, England. There are two records that confirm William's birth date, an entry from the Monthly meeting at Wellingborough, Northamptonshire which includes his father's name,^[1] and an entry from the Quarterly Meeting of Northamptonshire that also includes his mother's name.^[2][3] The Brown brothers' birth records confirm that William was born into a family and household that identified as English Quakers from at least the year 1656.

Early Family Life in England

The greater part of the knowledge of William's early family life has been extrapolated from a collection of his own anecdotes and stories, recollected and placed on the Quaker record, some forty years after his death by relatives associated with the East Nottingham Monthly Meeting, on the 28th day of the 1st month in the year 1786. This preserved document provides a framework for the biographical details that underpinned the key experiences in William's early life, documenting a perspective of religious persecution suffered by his family. The original memorial piece can be read within the Quaker minutes themselves^[4] or in a more literary version with additional notes in Gilbert Cope's book, The Browns of Nottingham, published in 1864.^[5] There are errors of recollection perpetuated in the story placed on record many decades later, for example William's father was referred to as William senior rather than Richard but regardless, a time frame emerges for key events in the Quaker household, and as William was very young when his father died, it can be expected he had received the gist of events from older siblings, including James.

The record describes how William's father, Richard, had earlier gravitated toward both Baptism and Puritanism and, "is said to have been a teacher amongst both...". The account reveals the family lived on a property and had a landlord, that Richard was in some way beholden to his landlord to supply some services and that he fell on hard times as a result of his firmly held religious convictions. Richard is most likely described as a yeoman. At the time, a Yeoman was a farmer who controlled either meagre or quite substantial wealth in the form of freehold, leasehold or copyhold land. The sons of Yeomen commonly took over their father's role or were trained in allied skills such as milling, or in artisanal trades such as shoe-making or weaving, as may have been the case in William's family. It is probable the family lost a great measure of wealth, privilege, and societal status within the community, as a result of religious persecution of English Nonconformists. William said that about, "... the year 1663 ... his parents had suffered greatly and were much stripped of their property for fines &c, and he though a child ... became very thoughtful of the cause of these things...".^[5] In testifying to the suffering of his parents and recounting how his father had been converted by William Dewsbury himself, William's accounts no doubt edified many early Pennsylvanian Quaker families and galvanised their new world project.

Northampton Assize records reveal that English Brownes were frequently prosecuted within the mass hearings from those times. While it is not confirmed how these Brownes were related, Jeremiah Browne of Barford, shoemaker, Daniel Browne of Puddington, yeoman and widow, Margaret Browne of Puddington, all faced the High Sheriff from as early as 1668.^[6][7] The civil records may confirm William's account that members of an extended Browne family lived in Puddington, or as it is known today, Podington, Bedfordshire but that his father was not from there. It should be noted that Quakers living at Podington would have crossed the county border to Bedfordshire to attend the closest Meeting at that time.

Research carried out by the Northamptonshire Family History Society suggests William's father, referred to in the Quaker record of burials as Richard "of Boasworth", was most likely from Husband's Bosworth, Leicestershire, close to the Northamptonshire border.^[8] The Wellingborough birth records of James, William and Jeremiah confirm the family's residence in or near Northamptonshire, for a time at least between 1656 and 1662.

Migration to Pennsylvania

By 1677, it is thought that James Brown had already left for America although records of his immigration have not yet been located. William was not to follow his brother to the Colony for several years, during which time he met and married his first wife Dorothy in England and their son, Joseph, was born.^[9][10]

There has been great confusion as to when exactly William arrived in Pennsylvania caused, no doubt, by two passengers called William Brown, who both travelled and shipped goods to the Colony on vessels with similar names within a year of each other.

The footnotes referring to the two passengers in Walter Lee Sheppard Jr’s book, Passengers and Ships Prior to 1684 (1970) the only available source apart from the Port books themselves, is contradictory. He claims that the William Brown who loaded goods on the Bristol Factor in 1682 was probably the Quaker, Brown^[11] but in a footnote to the goods entry for William Brown travelling on the Bristol Comfort in 1683, he suggests otherwise, that both men are likely to be the Bristol merchant, William Brown, First Purchaser of lots in Philadelphia and business partner to Ralph Smith the Governer’s Gardener.^[12] The identity of passengers on these early ships, other than those who were loading goods, is reliant on secondary sources such as journals and meeting records. Without references to a William Brown travelling with wife Dorothy and infant, there is no way of confirming when the family arrived in America save for an approximate date sometime between the birth of Joseph in June, 1682 in England, and the marriage of William to Ann Mercer in Pennsylvania in 1684.

Marriage

William married four times, first to Dorothy in England before 1682, and then to Ann Mercer in 1684^[13], Catherine Williams in 1699^[14], and Mary Matthews in 1711^[15], in Pennsylvania.

Quaker Life

William and Catherine were pioneers of Nottingham and were living there by 1704. Quaker meetings were held in their home prior to the construction of the meetinghouse.^[16]

Some of the following stories about William have been extracted from the document, James Brown’s Religion.

In 1684, William Brown applied to the Chester Monthly Meeting for permission to marry. He continued with Chester MM until 1694, when he either bought or inherited land in Aston from his father-in-law, Thomas Mercer. William became active in Concord MM after 1696, when Aston was transferred to the Concord meeting. He was elected in October 1698 to attend the Quarterly Meeting and was reselected from time to time. William also began to regularly be selected for visitations. Later, he became a “Public Friend,” a minister who traveled around the country.

During Pennsylvania’s first two decades, Quakerism was chaotic and unsettled. When William Penn left Pennsylvania in 1684, jockeying for power produced contention and confusion. At the local level, hierarchies emerged. “Substantial members” attended the Quarterly or Yearly Meetings, became Ministers and Elders, and were expected to lead the meetings. Stresses within the Pennsylvania Quaker organization surfaced dramatically during the Keithian schism, which began around 1691, when William was a member of the Chester Meeting.

George Keith, a Scottish Quaker^[17], came to Chichester from Philadelphia, where his ideas and preaching had antagonized much of the Quaker establishment. Keith, by some accounts erudite but vain and intolerant, worried that Pennsylvania Quakers had lost sight of true Christian doctrine. He proposed a reorganization of Quaker discipline, ignoring the existing hierarchy of Quaker ministers and meetings, which were generally dominated by the rich and powerful of colonial Pennsylvania. (Ultimately, Keith returned to England where he was disowned by the Quakers.)

The story of James Brown’s Keithian temptation is related in William’s biography: James was taken by Keith’s rhetoric, and mentioned it to his brother William. James favored Keith, but William had reservations. William reminded James of the “silent conversations” they had back in England, leading to their experience of the Inner Light. Keith, on his way to Henry Reynolds’s house to preach, invited James to follow. William’s words had had an effect, and James did not go.^[4][5]

William was an overseer. In earlier years, “elder” and “overseer” were almost interchangeable terms but later, elders were identified with spiritual concerns and overseers with the more corporeal needs of community, including morality, conduct and decisions regarding membership and dismissals.^[18] As such, it was inevitable the role would be recycled according to the designs of individual Meetings thus in 1710, the Nottingham meeting requested William Brown and John Churchman be replaced as overseers. Within a few years however, William again took up that role. He hosted the Nottingham meeting from 1705 until 1709 in his own home until the meeting house was built.

In reference to the very earliest times at Nottingham, Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania notes that, “the chief place of entertainment for Friends was at the house of William Brown the elder". The footnote also refers to William as, "of a loving disposition to all...a malster [sic] by trade ... [who] by his honest and plain dealing, obtained a good report among all sorts of people."^[19]

The younger Quaker, John Churchman (jr), in introducing the circumstances in which he received his first opportunity to attend the Quarterly Meeting in Philadelphia, provides anecdotal evidence of how it was because elders such as William Brown were no longer able to attend. He described William thus;

In the year 1731, our ancient and worthy friend William Brown, who had been in the station of an elder many years, growing feeble, and incapable to attend the Quarterly-meeting of ministers and elders... ."^[20]

Heir and Executor of Friend, Robert Williams

On Christmas day, 1711, Robert Williams, a close friend of William’s wrote his last Will in which he named his friend sole Executor and chief beneficiary of his estate - a house and Allotment in the settlement of Nottingham, where they both resided. Other beneficiaries included the quaker Preparatory Meeting, and William’s children. For example, Joseph was to receive Robert’s shoemaking tools, Mercer Brown his carpentry tools, Richard and Thomas, some money, John Brown his wolf trap, and so on. On 14 May 1716, an inventory of Robert’s goods and chattels was filed, upon which he was described as, “Lately Deceased”. William eventually completed the passage of probate and it was signed off, 14 May 1718.^[21]

Around the same time, sadly, William was also involved in the probate formalities of his two sons who both died intestate, in December 1715; Joseph whose will was administered by his wife, Margaret, and John, whose will was administered by William.

Last Will and Manumission

At the time William wrote his Last Will and Testament^[22] on a Winter's day, 23 December 1743, only three of his ten children were living. His son Richard was far away in Virginia (and would predecease him, dying in early 1745) and Thomas and Samuel lived nearby in Pennsylvania. His friends, John Gartrill, Thomas Berrey and James Johnson witnessed the Will. There were only two nominated beneficiaries; Samuel, and his servant whom he manumitted, stating, "I leave my negro Woman named Jenny her freedom...".

Given William’s involvement in a Quaker community, it’s likely that Jenny already experienced a degree of social freedom within that community but this quasi-legal proclamation would serve to free her in particular from the bonds of servitude to his heirs. Probate documents illustrate that in addition to items previously gifted to Jenny by William’s wife prior to her death, she was bequeathed numerous household items including a bed and bedclothes and, "that chest which was James Jones's".

William waived his son Thomas's £10 debt, leaving Samuel the remainder of his estate. Surviving probate records don't list an inventory of property, so there is no confirmation that the estate included landholdings. It’s possible that William had already divested himself of land and other infrastructure as his own business activity and financial needs diminished. W.W. Hinshaw shed some light on the matter though, when he noted in his indexation of the East Nottingham Monthly Minutes that, "Samuel Brown res[ided] on the original homestead where his father struck his axe into the first tree which marked the settlement of Nottingham, 1701."^[23]

William's probate documents^[22] also contained an amendment, written 28 October 1744, in which he restated in more detail the list of the possessions he wished to bequeath Jenny. She was to receive the lion's share of household appurtenances including many items that would benefit her continuing livelihood after his death: the details were exacting. It can be surmised that for William, manumitting Jenny and assuring her material means, was a matter of some consequence to him as is evidenced by the additional instructions.^[24] As a founder of the community in which he would die and an Elder within the Society of Friends, perhaps he also considered Manumission a legacy of his own Quaker convictions, and how the decision might influence other members to follow the same path of conscience.

The amendment was witnessed by his friend John Gartrill and relatives, grandson Thomas Brown (Junior) and nephew, Jeremiah Brown. Once William’s Last Will and Testament was affirmed, Probate and Letters of Administration were granted to Samuel, the sole Executor, who was instructed to bring to the Chester Registry Office an Inventory of his father's estate on or before 1 November 1746.

Death

Some research claims William Brown died on 23 August 1746 but without sources to verify that date, and given probate didn’t commence until October 1st, it is more likely he died in the latter part of September, 1746, at West Nottingham. William was 88 years old, a venerable age by anyone’s standards today but more so given the risks he took as a young Quaker and Pioneer in the late 1600s, leaving one continent to carve out a life for himself and his family in the Colony of Pennsylvania.

Sources

1. ↑ Ancestry.com, 2013. “England & Wales, Quaker Birth, Marriage, and Death Registers, 1578-1837”, Description: Piece 1380: Monthly Meeting of Wellingborough: Births (1653-1824), [database on-line], (https://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=7097&h=524194&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=XTd1&_phstart=successSource), "Name: Willyam Browne, Birth Date: 29 Mar 1658, Birth Place: Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Gender: Male, Father: Richard Browne, Meeting: Monthly Meeting of Wellingborough, Piece Description: Piece 1380: Monthly Meeting of Wellingborough: Births (1653-1824)",

   image 20/150, “Willyam Browne son of Richard Browne borne the 29th day of the first month 1658”.

2. ↑ Ancestry.com, 2013. “England & Wales, Quaker Birth, Marriage, and Death Registers, 1578-1837”, Description: Piece 0502: Quarterly Meeting of Northamptonshire: Births; Marriages; Burials (1647-1777), [database on-line], (https://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=7097&h=246957&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=7097), "Name: Willm Browne, Event Type: Birth, Birth Date: 29 Mar (sic) 1658, Birth Place: Northamptonshire, England, Gender: Male, Father: Rich Browne, Mother: Marrey [sic] Browne, Meeting: Quarterly Meeting of Northamptonshire, Piece Description: Piece 0502: Quarterly Meeting of Northamptonshire: Births; Marriages; Burials (1647-1777)",

   “William Browne son of Rich. and Marg/rey Browne was borne the 29 day of the first month in the year 1658”.

3. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N12P-HHP) : 11 February 2018, Willm. Browne, 29 Jan 1658); citing Pg. 215, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 811,721.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Ancestry.com, 2014. "US Quaker Meeting Record 1681-1935", Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, Pennsylvania; Births and Deaths 1691-1883; Collection: Baltimore Yearly Meeting Minutes; Call Number: RG2/B/N681 3.1., [database on-line], images at pp: 302-308/558, (https://www.ancestry.com.au/interactive/2189/43154_1821100519_5211-00309/1107344280#?imageId=43154_1821100519_5211-00303)
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Cope, Gilbert. The Browns of Nottingham. West Chester, PA: Privately published, 1864, p. 2. Accessed at Archive.org.
6. ↑ Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue. “Records of the High Sheriff, Assizes fonds | HSA 1653 - 1688,” Summer Assizes, sub-fonds | HSA1670/S, 1670, Presentment of nonconformists. (http://bedsarchivescat.bedford.gov.uk/Details/archive/110060678), accessed December 3, 2019.
7. ↑ http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/rd/b013b1e5-da44-48bc-b551-242b45231526
8. ↑ Brian Gubbins, President of the Northamptonshire Family History Society, kindly conducted research into the name 'Boasworth'. Upon consultation with several colleagues from the Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Leicestershire societies, it was concluded, by process of elimination, that Boasworth most likely refers to the village of Husbands Bosworth. Husbands Bosworth is in Leicestershire, fifteen miles from Wellingborough and thirteen miles from Leicester on the borders of Northamptonshire. Its name is derived from the Old English personal name 'Bar'; the village during the Middle Ages was therefore called Baresworth or Boresworth and occasionally Borisworth. The prefix 'Husbands' was not established until the late 16th and early 17th century, and is believed to have been adopted in order to distinguish between the village of the 'husbandmen' and Market Bosworth, whose substantive name derives from a different root. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/leics/vol5/pp28-38.
9. ↑ Ancestry.Com, "U.S. Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935", New Garden Monthly Meeting, Chester County, Pennsylvania, Births and Burials, [data-base online], (https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2189/31906_284135-00010/1436532), image 11/190, "Joseph Browne (son of William Browne Senior & Dorithy his wife) was born in great Britten the 12th day of the 4th Mo/th 1682".
10. ↑ No further information is available about the following unsourced IGI record that referred to a William Brown, Dorothy Presland and son Joseph. Couldn't contact contributor at Family Search. FS confirmed that the source doesn't refer to a record or film in their holding. [[1]]
11. ↑ Ancestry.com, 2006. “Passengers and Ships Prior to 1684”, Provo, UT, USA, (Original data: Sheppard, Walter Lee, Jr., comp. Passengers and Ships Prior to 1684. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970), [database on-line], [2]
12. ↑ Ancestry.com, 2006. “Passengers and Ships Prior to 1684”, Provo, UT, USA, (Original data: Sheppard, Walter Lee, Jr., comp. Passengers and Ships Prior to 1684. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970), [database on-line], [3]
13. ↑ Ancestry.com. U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA, 2014. Men's Minutes, 1681-1721; Collection: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Minutes; Call Number: MR-Ph 92. (https://www.ancestry.com.au/interactive/2189/31906_283952-00279/99772060)
14. ↑ "Brown. William & Catherine Williams, Authorized 4-26-1699" Pennsylvania, Compiled Marriage Records, 1700-1821 [database on-line]. Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2011. Pennsylvania Marriage Records. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Archives Printed Series, 1876. Series 2, Series 6. https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2383/32554_234052-00213?pid=53339 (FHL microfilm 823,996)
15. ↑ Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, Pennsylvania; Men's Minutes, 1681-1721; Collection: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Minutes; Call Number: MR-Ph 92. Ancestry.com. U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA, 2014. https://www.ancestry.com.au/interactive/2189/31906_283952-00369/1099775239
16. ↑ https://archive.org/details/historyofdelaw00smit/page/218 "History of Delaware county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the territory included within its limits to the present time, with a notice of the geology of the county, and catalogues of its minerals, plants, quadrupeds, and birds", Smith, G., Delaware county institute of science, Media, Pa, 1862, Philadelphia. (Printed by H. B. Ashmead) p.218
17. ↑ George Keith on Wikipedia
18. ↑ Binford, Raymond et al., "A Handbook for Elders and Overseers" (1944). Historical Quaker Books. 59. https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/quakerbooks/59, Image 6 & 7 (original pages 7 & 8), Chapter 1. Historical Background Of Elders And Overseers.
19. ↑ Hazard, S., Philadelphia.“Register of Pennsylvania”, Vol. vii, January - July, 1831, (Digitized copy, page 134), (https://books.google.com.au/books?id=A_tRAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&dq=william+brown+concord+monthly+meeting+1746&source=bl&ots=G-zrTIG291&sig=ACfU3U1QkddtgNU1DkCZ0fkfToqWyX2R3w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj21oKb3IbnAhVEzzgGHVxAAAkQ6AEwAXoECBwQAQ#v=onepage&q=william%20brown%20concord%20monthly%20meeting%201746&f=false).
20. ↑ Churchman, John. (1779) “An Account of the Gospel Labours, and Christian Experiences of a Faithful Minister of Christ, John Churchman, Late of Nottingham, in Pennsylvania, Deceased : To Which Is Added, a Short Memorial of the Life and Death of a Fellow Labourer in the Church, Our Valuable Friend Joseph White, Late of Bucks County.” Internet Archive, July 21, 2008. (Image 18/256), https://archive.org/details/accountofgospell00chur/page/18/mode/2up.
21. ↑ * Robert Williams, Probate: "Pennsylvania, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1683-1993"
    Estate Papers, 1713-1810; Author: Chester County (Pennsylvania). Register of Wills; Probate Place: Chester, Pennsylvania
    Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry au Record 8802 #1439478 (accessed 16 March 2022)
    Robert Williams probate on 16 Mar 1716.

    Remarks: "Robert Williams of Nottingham. 12/25/1711/2. 3/14/1716. A. 32. To friend William Brown Sr. of Nottingham house and lott of land in Nottingham. To Joseph Brown, shoe making tools. To Messer Brown, all carpenter tools. To preparation Meeting of friends [of Nottingham] £3. To friend Andrew Job 20 shillings. To friend Jean or Joan Brown, rod and kettle. To Hannah Brown, great Kettle. To Saml. Brown £5. To John Brown, wolf trap. To William son of Wm. Brown my gun. To Richard and Thomas Brown 10 shillings each. To Mary Brown one piece of gold that is in my chest. Remainder to Wm. Brown Sr. also sole executor. Witnesses: James King, Samuel Finler."

22. ↑ ^{22.0 22.1} Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, Wills and Probate Records, 1683-1993, [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Description: Wills, 1713-1854 ; Index to Wills, 1713-1923; Author: Chester County (Pennsylvania). Register of Wills; Probate Place: Chester, Pennsylvania. (https://www.ancestry.com.au/interactive/8802/005534143_00309/1642547).
23. ↑ Samuel Brown found in Maryland Quaker records: Nottingham Monthly Meeting, Cecil County by Nottingham Monthly Meeting (Md.), 1900. Available online at Archive.org, image (56 of 380).
24. ↑ A Tercentenary Celebration 2001, (2006). East Nottingham Trustees [self published, Xlibris. Corp.], p.64.