Reflections: Penn Fifteen Club

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Penn Fifteen Club

This branch of my family tree was one I hadn't really delved into until recently. I knew that my 7th great grandmother, Grace Heaton Croasdale, was a Quaker Minister, and her daughter Ann Croasdale Hampton was as well. But now I was ready to learn more.

It was my 9th great grandfather, Robert Heaton and his wife Alice that came to Pennsylvania with their son Robert in the ship "Welcome" with William Penn arriving on Aug 27, 1682.

The Penn Fifteen Club was the group of Quaker settlers, led by William Penn, who founded the state of Pennsylvania. The King of England who was in debt to Penn’s dad gave the land of Pennsylvania to William Penn. Penn's dad died before the transaction took place the king gave the land to his son William. It was commonly referred to as Penn's Sylvania or Penn's Woods.

Wrightstown Friends Meeting House
where Ann Croasdale preached.

My 8th great grandfather, also named Robert, married Grace Pearson on March 7, 1700 in Pennsylvania. Their daughter Grace became a Quaker Minister. She married Jeremiah Croasdale and their daughter Ann also became a Quaker Minister. She married John Hampton September 17, 1748. It was John Hampton's grandfather who was affiliated with the Quaker movement in Scotland in January 1669. They came to America in 1683 aboard the ship "Exchange" to establish a "New Scotland".

The Quaker faith continued on through the next three generations: Anne's son David; then Aaron who moved to Erie, NY and was said to be a Friend of the most faithful kind; and then his daughter, Mercy Ann Hampton.

Mercy, although a Quaker, married Russel Cardy of Irish descent and a Methodist in Hamburg, Erie, NY on August 25, 1842.