The Spirit World And Genealogy

Posted on October 31, 2023 by FHadmin

Aunt Ruthe and Aunt Dee were very involved in exploring the spirit world in the 1970s. Dee kept much of their writing, including a draft of a book. It included many interesting topics. But, what does it have to do with genealogy? Stay tuned to the end and you will find out.

The Beginning

Ruthe first became interested in the spirit world in 1968 when her husband Jerry (later divorced) took an interest in ESP (Extra Sensory Perception). They were living in Florida and Jerry was doing work related to the space program. Through his contacts there, he learned of the spiritualist work and mediums at nearby Cassadega. The Cassadega spiritual camp had been founded in the late 1800s by George Colby, who was a practicing medium. He named it after Cassadega, New York, which was adjacent to Lily Dale, another spiritualist community, which George had visited.

The Interviews

During this time Jerry did extensive interviews with Anne Gehman, who would become a well-known psychic medium and healer. Much of the information from those interviews was included by Harold Sherman in his book “You Can Communicate With The Unseen World.” Today, she has been featured in at least 39 books.

Teaching

When Ruthe and Jerry returned to Kansas. Ruthe worked evenings and so Jerry continued to work with ESP and mind to mind connection. Then, he began teaching others those skills.

Automatic Writing Venture

Now that Ruthe and Dee were both located in Wichita the two of them discussed many different topics related to the spirit world, spiritual techniques, and life in general.

One day as Ruthe was trying automatic writing, a technique where a person writes without consciously thinking about what they are writing. Suddenly, she started hearing information. This became a technique that she used to get “psychic” information over a significant period of time. Ruthe and Dee asked many spiritual questions, questions about the world, questions about current events, medical conditions (one of Dee’s strong interests), past lives, spiritual connections (i.e. karma) and more.

Ruthe realized that what she was doing was different from what Jerry had been studying and teaching. She was using a spiritual technique and was gifted with clairaudience. Over time information came to Ruthe faster and she graduated from writing to typing to dictating.

The Draft Book

In the box of materials Dee had kept was a draft of a book simply titled “Notes From The Other Side.” It was written in the 1970s and contains seven chapters: predictions, make-up of man, color, creation, giving direction to life, health, and healing. She claimed that the entire manuscript was written (dictated) by spirit.

With the exception of the section on predictions, most sections contained some combination of deep thought and new age topics with religion sprinkled in. Although they used different words, they touched on the fact that energy takes the path of least resistance and the importance of belief that you can do something in actually achieving that goal. Dee’s impact on the writings are clearly evident, particularly in the health section, as she was always very interested in different conditions.

One section that I found thought provoking is:

“Much of the madness felt today in the world is not madness, but a confused state of being. The transition of spirit, mind, body and soul is such that it cannot absorb the mighty changes facing them each day. If the spirit lags behind, then the body suffers. If the mind lags behind, the spirit suffers. There is more so-called madness today in the world because of the changing pace of the world. Many must learn to accept so many changes in their life style from birth to death that the pace is too great for spirit, mind and body.”

Hospital Bill From Ruthe’s Birth in 1926

Family

On a more personal level, they asked a number of questions about their family.

Spirit Drain

One of the entries they wrote was about how the loss of their sister Beth only one month after her birth affected their mother. The information they “received” stated that because of the loss, their mother would not let spirit contact her. This left Ruby, the next born, with a spirit drain at birth. Dee, it was said, was impacted, but not to a great extent. However, it claimed that when Ruthe was born that she had many issues and had almost no chance of survival.

The facts that I know about this are as follows. It is true that Ruby was very sickly when she was young. Grandpa worried that they might lose Ruby. Dee, on the other hand, hadn’t been sickly, but had poor eyesight. She always felt that might have occurred because Grandma had the measles while pregnant with her. Then, Grandma was not well toward the end of her pregnancy with Ruthe. Thus, Ruthe was the only one of Grandma and Grandpa’s eleven children born in a hospital, where both her mother and her remained for 11 days. I do not see anything in the hospital receipt that would indicate an issue with Ruthe after birth. That does not mean that there wasn’t a potential issue.

Ambidextrous

Their entry on what made some people ambidextrous vs. right-handed or left-handed indicated that favoring one hand is more of a learned trait than a natural tendency. It claimed that kids naturally use both hands, but that they come to use one or the other over time and was often based on mimicking their parents. If left to their own devices, it was stated that most children would be ambidextrous.

This entry intrigued me because being able to use both hands was a subject that came up often in the family. Grandpa was what I would call semi-ambidextrous. He could do things with both hands, but he did each task with one particular hand. He thought that his kids should also be able to accomplish tasks using both hands. The inability to do this was, in his view, a liability. He did pride himself in the fact that Ruby was left-handed. To him, it made her special.

Genealogy

Their questions to the spirit world included how to solve the family mystery of great-great grandfather Lemuel McCracken’s ancestry. The information they received was that the search should begin in Camelot, Tennessee. It included that the name had changed now, but it could be found on old maps. A different branch of the family was said to live there, but that information at a cemetery nearby would help in the search.

The Search For Camelot

I used multiple tools to search for an old town or area in Tennessee that was once called Camelot. I came up with three possible locations. All three had McCrackens buried nearby.

Bradley County

The location in Bradley County was on the edge of Cleveland, the county seat. It is easy to see how that area may have been called Camelot as the roads in the area include: Castle Drive, Knighthood Trail, and Lancelot Lane. However, very few older McCracken graves were found in this area.

Hawkins County

A location near Rogersville showed up using one tool. However, there were few older McCracken graves. In addition, limited research yielded no associations with the name Camelot.

Johnson City

Johnson City is located in northeast corner of Tennessee at the junction of Washington, Sullivan, and Carter counties. The area indicated as Camelot on the map was surrounded on two sides by the road Camelot Circle. This location is the most interesting of the three. This area did have older graves for the McCracken family.

In a local cemetery are the graves of a couple from Pennsylvania. It is in this area that their son John was born in 1811 (20 years before Lemuel). And, it is this John McCracken who looks so very much like Lemuel. I have traced this family back to Pennsylvania. Likewise, Lemuel’s McCracken DNA family also traces back to Pennsylvania. However, I have yet to connect the two families.

Afterward

I am not sure if they continued with their research and attempted to contact the spirit world as they got older or not. I do know that in the early 1980s Ruthe and Dee did a past life regression with me to a life in Germany. After that night, I don’t remember ever talking about these subjects with Ruthe. However, I know that Dee remained interested throughout her life.

They ended the manuscript with

“As long as each psychic continues to use his or her talent only to delight for frighten relatives and neighbors or to “read” for the curious public, nothing substantial will result. Only when we establish the psychic on a more scientific bent will we begin to reap the harvest of the vast material available to us.”

Always Keep Digging

Posted on October 23, 2023October 23, 2023 by FHadmin

When doing local research, genealogists and historians in the area can be very helpful. They can point you to resources that you don’t even know that you need. Word of caution, however, is to not take their word for it if they say they don’t have any information about the family you are researching. They are likely trying to keep you from wasting your time, but it is important to keep focus. It is likely that you know a lot more about your family than they do and it is unlikely that they have come in contact with information for every family that ever lived in the area. So, keep looking and keep asking questions.

Historic Fallsington

Quite a few years ago, we were doing research in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia. One of our stops was at Historic Fallsington. It was close to the area where we believed the Stackhouse family lived during the William Penn era.

The history center in the tiny town had documents, offered tours, and even sold some items of local interest. So, we talked to the woman working there about the Stackhouse family in hopes that we could find some piece of information to help in our research.

Arrival

We told her what we knew of the family’s arrival in Bucks County. We knew they had come about the time William Penn was bringing people to Pennsylvania. There were claims that he had been on the ship Welcome with William Penn, but that seems to be claimed by far more people that there was space on the ship. We would later learn that Thomas and his wife Margery had come to America on the boat “The Lamb,” a ship of 130 tons, in 1682 as a part of William Penn’s fleet. They had left Liverpool in the summer and arrived in Pennsylvania on October 22, 1682.

With Thomas and his wife Margery were Thomas’ nephews Thomas and John, Ellen Stackhouse Cowgill, and Ellen’s children. Ellen was thought to be Thomas Sr.’s sister as a sister Ellen is mentioned in his will. I have read that her husband had been put to death over his religious beliefs. However, I have not verified information about Ellen. It is known, though, that this family and the others on the ship were Quakers from Yorkshire, England.

Seeking Information

The woman very kindly told us that she did not believe the center had any information on anyone with the name of Stackhouse. She said that the name was completely unfamiliar to her and that she didn’t know of anyone with that name living within the township at any time.

We asked if the history book of the township might have anything about the family. It was 300 pages and had been compiled in 1992 to celebrate the 300^th anniversary of the township. Again, she emphasized, apologetically, that she had never seen the name Stackhouse anywhere. And, we couldn’t easily check the book as it did not have an index.

We decided to buy the book anyway hoping to at least learn about he area. And, we found that to be a wise decision.

Thomas Stackhouse’s Brand as shown in the History of Falls Township.

Branding (Photo the brand of Thomas Stackhouse)

The first mention of the Stackhouse family I found in the book was on page 8 where it showed Thomas Stackhouse’s brand for his cattle. In those days, cattle were often branded by cropping the ears of cattle with a particular pattern. Even in the very early days of Pennsylvania, the brands had to be registered with the first being registered in 1684. Thomas Stackhouse’s brand consisted of cutting the top quarter (or less) off one ear (assumed to be the left ear) and notching the other ear on the outside half way down.

The Maps (1690 map)

The area marked in yellow is where Stephen Stackhouse lived. It is within Falls Township and not far from Fallsington.

The book included numerous maps, including land ownership, dating back as far as 1690. Three of those maps showed land owned by the Stackhouse family. The 1690 map showed that Thomas Stackhouse Sr. and Thomas Stackhouse Jr. owned land along Neshaminy Creek south of Newton and about 7 miles from Fallsington. The exact size of their properties seem to change over time with Thomas (not sure which one) purchasing an additional 50 acres over their original lands in 1686. John Stackhouse purchased 200 acres of land about 1695. Later information shows land owned by him to be over 300 acres.

A later map from the 1800s shows the location of Stephen Stackhouse’s property. It is under the name of his grandson who later lived on the property. It was known by descendants as The Old Homestead.

Pennsbury Manor

The book contained a lengthy story about Pennsbury Manor. Russell Stackhouse was a caretaker of Pennsbury Manor in the 1900s. He was mentioned in the book as he had told his successor the story of how the Pennsbury Manor historical site came into existence. As it is told, Charles Henry Moon, a local surveyor, repeatedly pressured the then president of Warner Company, who owned the property where William Penn had once lived to turn 10 acres of the property over to the state for a site honoring Penn. Finally, they gave in and the current site was created. Apparently, Mr. Moon was aware that there was a provision in the deed to the land that the specific piece of the property was to go to the state for this purpose. However, it took a good deal of time and insistence to make it happen.

Other Mentions In The Book

The Supporter of England

The book also mentions a John Stackhouse, who along with numerous others was charged with treason as he supported England. I have been able to verify that this occurred, but I do not know which John Stackhouse this was as they were numerous after a few generations. It is also a bit surprising as the Stackhouse family had apparently come to American because the Quakers were persecuted by the English government. It begs many questions about why he supported England and if he was of the same family.

1914

Stackhouses apparently remained in the area throughout the years. The farm and business directory for Bucks County that was included listed a Stackhouse.

There were other photos and mentions for other families of interest as well. All in all it was a good purchase and we were so glad that we had went ahead and bought the book even though the staff did not know of the Stackhouse family. It gave us new insights and added to the research that we were doing.

The Connection

Rod’s Klinefelter family line connects to Elizabeth Mason Stackhouse, who married Joshua Brooks. Their daughter Ann married into the Klinefelter family. Elizabeth, who lived to be 99, and Joshua left Bucks County behind and moved across the state to Pittsburgh. There Joshua was in business with her brother Mark.

Elizabeth is the daughter of Stephen Stackhouse and Amy Vandike, who married in 1787 at the Presbyterian Church in Newtown, only a short distance from the original Stackhouse property. From there the belief is that Stephen is the son of John, who is the son of Thomas, who is the son of John who immigrated to America from England in 1682. However, despite years passing, I am still in the process of proving this relationship to my satisfaction. The process has been complicated by inconsistent “facts” and interpretations of records. Got to keep on digging!

What A Tangled Web We Weave When We Practice Genealogy

Posted on October 17, 2023October 17, 2023 by FHadmin

About 15 to 20 years ago, I was doing genealogy research for a friend that I worked with in Colorado. As I researched, I found myself 700 miles away in the same neighborhood where I grew up. And, before I was done, her family’s story included characters from not only her family, but my family and another friend’s family trees.

The Hogue Family

My friend had lived in Colorado all her life. We talked about her Hogue family line. She knew that her ancestors had lived in Iowa and moved to Arkansas before settling in Colorado. I dived in researching the family. When I got to her great-great-grandfather George Washington Hogue, I found a record in an unexpected place: Pawnee Township, Bourbon County, Kansas.

So many questions arose. What are the odds? What drew them there? Did our families know each other?

Footprints

I mentioned the family to my dad. He did not know of them, but said that he had seen the name Hogue in the book “Footprints of Bourbon County Families.” He was, of course, correct (photographic memory can be a wonderful resource). The man in the book was George’s son, John Wesley Hogue. The book had a photo of him and told a portion of his story.

John or J.W., as he was commonly known, and his family had travel via covered wagon to Ft. Scott in 1896, where he worked as a fireman. J.W. and his wife Amanda became involved in local organizations and he later became involved in politics.

Neighbors

By 1902, J.W. had moved his family to near Pawnee. According to the story, they lived on the Carpenter Ranch a couple of miles east of Pawnee. However, newspaper articles indicate that the family lived at two different locations in the Pawnee area. Examining the 1905 census I found them to be listed only a few houses from the Killian and Fisch families, which would have been southwest of Pawnee.

The following year, Grandma Nellie (Peelle) McCracken, her parents, and her grandparents moved to the Fisch farm and J.W. moved his family to the Carpenter Ranch. Thus, it appears the two families just missed being close neighbors by a matter of months. But, their paths still had plenty of opportunities to cross.

Johnson School

In 1904, John’s parents George Washington (G.W.) Hogue and his wife Dicy came for a visit. In November G.W. preached at Johnson School. This was the school that Grandpa Joe McCracken and his siblings attended and of which Grandpa’s father Andrew would be the director for several years. Andrew had rented “Grandpa” Johnson’s property just north of the school late the previous year. I wonder with great curiosity if this is the same man named “Johnson “that was said to have taught or given Andrew his special healing ability. (But, that is a story for another day.)

Loss Of A Wife

While in Ft. Scott one day, J.W.’s wife suddenly took ill and never recovered. Her funeral was held at the “old” Methodist Church at 3rd & National in Fort Scott. It was the last service held in the old church before it was torn down to make way for a new larger church. My husband and I married in the “new” church, as did my parents.

The Hotel In Pawnee

Following the death of his wife, J.W. moved from the Carpenter Ranch into Pawnee. At that time, he bought the hotel from W.E. Deesler, who is the grandfather of Doris Mayberry, our long-time neighbor and whose family tree I have also researched.

After a few years and with a new wife, J.W. exchanged the hotel for a small farm a half-mile west of Hiattville. The new owner said that he would keep the livery, which J.W. had run, but did not plan to run the hotel. Thus, the hotel was soon sold. The new owner was the Oscar B. Barton and his wife, who were the parents of Andrew’s niece Florence (McCracken) Barton’s husband.

Grandma & Grandpa Hogue

During the time J.W. ran the hotel and livery in Pawnee, his parents moved to the area. They seemed to be called Grandma and Grandpa Hogue by the locals. Grandma Hogue was known to visit Rocky Vale school, which sat just north of Dad’s property line. And, Grandpa Hogue preached there on at least a couple of occasions.

It was during a time between when Grandma (Peelle) McCracken and her siblings attended Rocky Vale and the time when Dad and his siblings attended. It wasn’t until 1920 that O’Ella, the oldest of his siblings, began her education at Rocky Vale. Three of the McCracken siblings would go on to teach there and Grandpa Joe McCracken would be the director of Rocky Vale for many years.

Alfred Hogue

During this time, there were also visits from other of Grandma and Grandpa Hogue’s children. One of them was my friend’s great-grandfather Alfred. Alfred and his family had moved around, but in 1913 they were living in Mulberry. However, it did not last for long as Alfred left late that summer to scout locations in Colorado for the family. He soon sent word for his wife and children to join him.

And, They Are Gone

J.W. exchanged his farm for Faust Restaurant and boarding house in Fort Scott. However, that venture only lasted a few months before he was also off to Colorado. Soon after Grandma and Grandpa Hogue sold out. It was said that they were heading back to Iowa, but if so, it must have been for a short stay as they were also soon living in Colorado.

Some of the next generation did stay in the general area, but the Hogue’s presence in Pawnee Township was suddenly greatly diminished. And, the interaction between our families would not, as far as I know, occur again until I met my friend many years later.

A Place To Call Home

Posted on October 10, 2023October 11, 2023 by FHadmin

William Jury, born circa 1812, left England for a new life in Canada. With that move he set in motion many moves to come.

Canada

About 1830, William set sail for Canada. After he arrived, he met his future wife Eleanor “Ellen” Willett, who had also arrived In Canada from England. They began a new life together in 1835 and became the parents of four children. In 1848, William built a big barn on the property. He would not live to enjoy the fruits of his labor as he soon became ill with typhoid fever and died.

Somehow Eleanor managed to raise the children. Much of the burden likely fell on John, who was 12 when his father died. He became a shingle maker and when he was 22, he married Matilda White.

Moving to Kansas

In 1868, at only 30 years of age, Matilda died. She was buried in the graveyard of a country church about 4 miles west of Drumbo, Ontario, Canada. It isn’t known if this is the event that set in motion plans to move to America. However, in the fall of 1869, John, his children, his mother, his sister Ellen, and his brother’s family headed southward. Only his sister Ann(Jury) Carr stayed in Canada.

November 23, 1869, they are listed as new arrivals at the Western House Hotel in Ft. Scott, Kansas. The cooks at the hotel were African Americans and this was a whole new experience, especially for the children. They had never encountered an African American prior to arriving in Ft. Scott.

Getting a House

From Ft. Scott, the family traveled 18 miles southwest of Ft. Scott to a friend’s home. They spent a few days with their friends before moving into a clapboard house. They stayed in this house until spring. Then John Sr. bought a farm that had a log house. The house had a tar paper roof. It was gone with the first storm that blew in. So, John Sr. relied on the skills he had learned in Canada and built a shingle roof using black walnut.

The Grasshoppers

When the MK&T Railroad came through the area, the some of the workers boarded with the family. They were all Irishmen and John Jr. remembers them wearing red shirts. However, the railroad workers moved on and so did the family. About 1873, grasshoppers were so bad “they looked like snow coming down.” The family lost all their crops.

So, family sold out and moved to Missouri. It is believed that his brother’s family also moved as they had son born in Chiliothe, Livingston, Missouri on Christmas day 1873. They spent the winter, summer, and next winter in this location. They raised good crops of corn, broom corn, and tobacco. However, they lost several horses before returning to Kansas

Credit: Department of Geography, University of Alabama

Kansas Again

It was during this stay in Kansas that John Jr. claims that he met up with Frank and Jesse James. They were running from the law and he gave them directions through the woods. In exchange, he helped him pull a heifer out of a muddy buffalo wallow. Whether the story is true is unknown. (More search may shed light of the feasibility of the details of this story.)

Michigan

However, after 3 or 4 years back in Bourbon County, Kansas, the family was on the move again. This time, John’s sister Ellen stayed behind as she had married Thomas Harnett of Hiattville. However, John had remarried to Harriett Warner and it is assumed that she made the trip with them as they headed north. John, his brother William, and his mother finally settled near Sand Lake, Michigan where John Jr. hauled logs and shingles.

After about a year, the family decided that they had moved too far north. So, they headed southward, but only for a short distance. This time they purchased 40 acres of timber land near Tallmadge, Ottawa, Michigan, about 8 miles west of Grand Rapids, Michigan. They remained until 1883 when John’s mother Eleanor (Willett) Jury died.

South Dakota

With his mother gone, John Sr. pulled up roots again. This time his brother did not join them in their travels, electing to stay in Michigan.

John sent his wife, daughter Matilda, and daughter Hattie back to Kansas. It is believed that they traveled via stagecoach. It is unknown where his wife and Hattie stayed, but Matilda went to stay with John’s sister Ellen (Jury) Hartnett.

Meanwhile, John Sr., John Jr., and possibly his other sons went to check into homesteading in South Dakota. They found it to be very busy as many people were wanting land. They ended up spending 50 cents to simply sit in a chair overnight. Mighty pricey for the 1880s.

So, they headed back to Kansas.

Kansas Yet Again

By 1885, John was back in Kansas. This time to stay. John Sr. and Harriett lived in multiple locations, but all within spitting distance of Hiattville. He died at his home north of Hiattville in 1911.

Continuing The Tradition

John’s children each moved small distances with John Jr. moving the furthest. Wilbert stayed the closest moving only to Kansas City, Missouri. Meanwhile, Matilda, who married William J. Peelle, moved as far away as Wichita. Both Walter and John Jr. lived in Western Kansas. However, after a time, Walter returned to the Hiattville area and John Jr. moved to Redlands, California.

John Jr.’s children kept the moving spirit alive with some in Western Kansas, some in California, and one who really went rogue and ended up in Bucks County, Pensylvania.

Portions of the story are based on notes of John Jury Jr., brother to Matilda Jury. The notes are not complete as only a portion of the pages have been preserved.

An Early American Nonagenarian

Posted on October 4, 2023October 5, 2023 by FHadmin

We think of people today as living longer than people of days gone by. People today do have the advantage of modern medicine and easier lives. However, even someone born in 1683 could live to a ripe old age.

The Early Years

My 6^th-great grandfather Griffith John was born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1683. It is said that he was the second child of six children. His father was John Phillips (John ap Phillips) and his mother was Elinor “Ellen” Haward. The naming delta is due to naming conventions in Wales at the time. Per earlier naming conventions Griffith would have been known as Griffith ap John (Griffith of John). However, it was a time of change in naming conventions and he simply became Griffith John.

Arrival In America

Griffith, his brother Samuel, and Samuel’s wife Margaret arrived in America on the eleventh day of the second month of 1709. Many people have recorded this date as February 11, 1709. However, if the notes in the Bible use Quaker dating of that era, the date would be April 11, 1709, which seems more likely since they are said to have sailed in December.

Griffith and Samuel each had a Bible from Wales. The Bibles that they brought with them supposedly contained a story about a member of the family being knighted for his role fighting in the Crusades. The validity of this story is unknown. However, it is known that they could read and write. And, it was said that besides Welsh, they spoke English with a strong Welsh accent.

Marriage

It is believed that upon arrival in Philadelphia, Samuel, Griffith, and Margaret went to the Goshen area in Pennsylvania that was then known as the Welsh Barony. However, it isn’t until 1714 when Griffith and Ann Williams requested permission to marry at the Chester Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends that we find a record that is verified to be the Griffith of our family line. The Griffith John that is documented in that area in the interval prior to 1714 appears to be a much older widower who came to America before the brothers.

At the time of his marriage, Griffith was 31 years of age; however, Ann, daughter of Robert and Gwen (Cadwalader) Williams, was only 14. Apparently, her parents, who are believed to have been the first settlers in Goshen township, approved of the marriage. If not, it seems highly unlikely the Society of Friends would have approved since her father was referred to as “King of Goshen.” The couple wed on the twenty third day of the seventh month of 1714. .

Uwchlan Township

Griffith John was one of the first men to purchase a plantation in Uwchlan Township. A plantation in those days was really another word for farm. Plantations could be of any size and were not limited to the large plantations of South. His initially was stated to be 100 acres and lie about 1.5 miles west of Lionville, which was about 25 miles west of Philadelphia.

Records appear to show fluctuation in the size of his property over the years. By 1765, Griffith’s property included 120 acres with buildings, 10 acres of woodland, 2 horses and two cows. Five years later, records only listed 115 acres and stated that he had gained 3 sheep. He had no servants, which was keeping with the Quaker life style, which focused more on getting by instead of getting rich.

Uwchlen Meeting House Built in 1756 Still Stands Today

His Ministry

Griffith had become interested in various religions including the Society of Friends (Quaker faith) while still living in Wales. Once in America, he associated with people of the Quaker faith and not only joined them, but, along with his brother, became a Quaker minister.

Griffith was one of the founders of the Uwchlan Monthly Meeting, which was located near Lionville. Griffith and Samuel, were the first ministers at the church, providing services in their native tongue.

The early meetings were held in homes, with the very first being in the home of John Cadwalader, who is likely Ann’s grandfather. Later, a log cabin was built for meetings. It wasn’t until 1756 that a 2+-story stone structure was built. The new building also served as a library and school.

The War

Seizure of The Meeting House

When the Revolutionary War came knocking on their door, the Quakers, being pacifists, denied the use of their building to support the war. However, the Continental Army seized the meeting house. Ironically, Revolutionary War soldiers that died at the meeting house were also buried in the Quaker graveyard, leaving the stain of war on the grounds forever.

Seizure of The Home

Members of the Uwchlan Meeting met in private home while the meeting house was used as a hospital. It was unlikely, however, that the Quakers met in Griffith’s house since George Washington, who is said to have visited soldiers at the meeting house, issued the following order on March 25, 1778.

“The Honorable the Congress having appointed Matthew Clarkson and Major John Clarke Esquires Auditors to settle and adjust the accounts of the Main Army they are to be respected accordingly; Any persons who have any accounts to be audited by them may find them at the house of Griffith Johns about three miles beyond the Pay-Master Generals quarters.”

Although there were at least two other men named Griffith John, the location described likely aligns with this particular Griffith John. If true that the Army used his home, it would have placed him in the middle of a war that he did not believe in.

Longevity

Griffith died on the 29th day of the sixth month of 1778. By this time the calendar had changed; thus, this date would be June 29, 1778. He was 95 years of age. He had been married 64 years, fathered six sons and six daughters, and had been a minister for approximately 70 years. He had continued attendance at meetings until physically no longer able.

Although he lived the plain and simple life of Quakers, Griffith managed to leave a small inheritance to each of his living children and to his grandchildren in the cases where his child was no longer living. Most of the children received 15 pounds of Pennsylvania currency with the grandchildren receiving 10 shillings. Griffith Jr. received the plantation as he had stayed in the area and help care for his parents. Additionally, Griffith Jr. had to provide specific amounts of numerous items, such as, wool, wheat, and apples for Ann as long as she chose to live at the plantation. The provisions changed if she were to move away.

The year following Griffith’s death, the meeting published a testimony to him. You can read a copy of the original document in its entirety below.

Afterward

Many years later when the Civil War broke out, the members of the Uwchlan Meeting willingly gave up their meeting house to be used as a hospital. What was different this time was that their dislike of slavery was stronger than their dislike of war. Thus, they supported abolition by passively helping the north in their fight.

Credit to Marijane “Johnnie” Zerphey, who traveled across the United States and to Wales researching the John family. Many facts herein are based on my research. However, I have supplemented them with information from her extensive research.