William Clayton
| Charts | Ancestors of Jennie Luene Logan |
William Clayton, son of William Clayton and Joan Smith, was born probably shortly before his baptism at Boxgrove, Sussex, England, 9 December 1632.1,2 He died at Delaware Co., Pennsylvania, between 1686 and 1691.3,4
William married Prudence Lanckford, daughter of William Lanckford, at St Pancras, Chichester, Sussex, England, 7 November 1653.5,1,4,6
In 1663 in Sussex, "On the 7th of the Month called February the same Year, Nicholas Rickman, Edward Hamper, William Turner, Tristram Martin, and Henry Woolyer, with John Snashold, William Clayton, Richard Newman, and John Baker, were taken out of a Meeting at Arundel by a Company of Soldiers armed with drawn Swords and Guns, without the Presence of a Civil Magistrate, and kept at an Inn till a Justice was sent for out of the Country, who committed them to Horsham Goal."7
It is not certain if this is the same man, but in 1665 in Lancashire, a "William Clayton was preaching in a Meeting at Padisham, the Priest of that Parish, attended by a Constable with a Warrant, came into the Meeting, pulled William out into the Street, and tore his Coat. The Constable then carried him before the Justices, who tendred him the Oath of Allegiance, and upon his Refusal to take it, committed him to Prison till the next Sessions, when the Justices fined him 5 /. for being at an unlawful Assembly, and committed him to the House of Correction tor three Months, The Officers, for pretended Fees and Charges of carrying him thither, took his Coat oft' his Back. The Keeper put him into the Dungeon five Days and Nights, till some moderate People of the Town procured him the common Liberty of the House for the rest of the Time."8
Also in Lancashire, in 1668, "On the 18th of September, a Lieutenant with Soldiers and others came to a Meeting at Henry Robinson's House in Padisham, and furiously dragged away William Clayton then preaching ; whom, with the said Henry Robinson, Francis Dunn, and James Whipp, they carried before a Justice of the Peace, who sent them to Prison till next Sessions, where Dunn and Clayton were fined £5. each, and the other two £3. 6 s. 8 d. each, and for Non-payment were committed to the House of Correction, where they lay ten Weeks."9
He and his family arrived on the Kent, 23 August 1677, disembarking either at the mouth of Raccoon Creek or at Chygoes Island (now Burlington) in New Jersey, with commissioners sent by the proprietors of New Jesey to purchase lands from the Indians.
In 1678/9, he purchased the share of Han Oelson, one of the original grantees of Marcus Hook and settled there.
He was an active and consistent member of the Society of Friends, and also active politically. He was a member of Governor Markham's Council and that of the Proprietary, while at the same time he was one of the justices of the Court of Upland County, and later for that of Chester County, presiding at the first Court held in Pennsylvania under the Proprietary government.3,10
William married Prudence Lanckford, daughter of William Lanckford, at St Pancras, Chichester, Sussex, England, 7 November 1653.5,1,4,6
In 1663 in Sussex, "On the 7th of the Month called February the same Year, Nicholas Rickman, Edward Hamper, William Turner, Tristram Martin, and Henry Woolyer, with John Snashold, William Clayton, Richard Newman, and John Baker, were taken out of a Meeting at Arundel by a Company of Soldiers armed with drawn Swords and Guns, without the Presence of a Civil Magistrate, and kept at an Inn till a Justice was sent for out of the Country, who committed them to Horsham Goal."7
It is not certain if this is the same man, but in 1665 in Lancashire, a "William Clayton was preaching in a Meeting at Padisham, the Priest of that Parish, attended by a Constable with a Warrant, came into the Meeting, pulled William out into the Street, and tore his Coat. The Constable then carried him before the Justices, who tendred him the Oath of Allegiance, and upon his Refusal to take it, committed him to Prison till the next Sessions, when the Justices fined him 5 /. for being at an unlawful Assembly, and committed him to the House of Correction tor three Months, The Officers, for pretended Fees and Charges of carrying him thither, took his Coat oft' his Back. The Keeper put him into the Dungeon five Days and Nights, till some moderate People of the Town procured him the common Liberty of the House for the rest of the Time."8
Also in Lancashire, in 1668, "On the 18th of September, a Lieutenant with Soldiers and others came to a Meeting at Henry Robinson's House in Padisham, and furiously dragged away William Clayton then preaching ; whom, with the said Henry Robinson, Francis Dunn, and James Whipp, they carried before a Justice of the Peace, who sent them to Prison till next Sessions, where Dunn and Clayton were fined £5. each, and the other two £3. 6 s. 8 d. each, and for Non-payment were committed to the House of Correction, where they lay ten Weeks."9
He and his family arrived on the Kent, 23 August 1677, disembarking either at the mouth of Raccoon Creek or at Chygoes Island (now Burlington) in New Jersey, with commissioners sent by the proprietors of New Jesey to purchase lands from the Indians.
In 1678/9, he purchased the share of Han Oelson, one of the original grantees of Marcus Hook and settled there.
He was an active and consistent member of the Society of Friends, and also active politically. He was a member of Governor Markham's Council and that of the Proprietary, while at the same time he was one of the justices of the Court of Upland County, and later for that of Chester County, presiding at the first Court held in Pennsylvania under the Proprietary government.3,10
Family | Prudence Lanckford |
| Children |
| This person was last edited on | 14 Apr 2017 |
Citations
- [S1613] James E. Bellarts and Louis E. Jones, "William Clayton of Chichester," The Quaker Yeomen 11 (January 1985), further cited as Bellarts and Jones, "Clayton of Chichester."
- [S2095] Charles M. Hansen, "William Clayton's Parentage: An Addition," The Genealogist 9 (Spring 1988): 78-79, at 78, further cited as Hansen, "William Clayton's Parentage: An Addition."
- [S1603] George Smith, 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 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Henry B. Ashmead, 1862), 452-3, further cited as Smith, History of Delaware Co.
- [S1608] Henry C. Peden Jr. and John Pitts Launey, Early Church Records of Delaware County, PA: Volume 2, (Westminster, Maryland: Family Line Publications, 1997), 188, further cited as Peden and Launey, Delaware Co. Church Records Vol 2.
- [S1645] Sussex Record Society, Barbican House, Lewes, Sussex, England, St. Pancras, Chichester Parish Register: 1558-1812, Tilington, notes and extracts, 49, FHL microfilm 504431. "William son of William Cleyton of this parish and Prudence Lanckford of peters teh lesse, daughter of William Lanckford of Broughton, Hants, married after purpose thrice published in Chichester Market 19 Oct, 26 Oct and 2 Oct [sic], by Richard Boughton esq., J.P." Hereafter cited as St. Pancras Parish Register.
- [S2094] Charles M. Hansen, "The Parentage of William Clayton, Quaker Immigrant to Pennsylvania: A Correction)," The Genealogist 4 (Fall 1983): 169-173, at 170, further cited as Hansen, "Parentage of William Clayton."
- [S1615] Joseph Besse, A Collection of the Sufferings of the People Called Quakers, for the Testimony of a Good Conscience, from the time of their being first distinguished by that name in the year 1650, to the Act, commonly called the Act of Toleration, granted to Protestant Dissenters in the first year of the Reign of King William the Third and Queen Mary, in the Year 1689 (London: Luke Hinde, 1753), 1:714, further cited as Besse, Sufferings of the People Called Quakers.
- [S1615] Besse, Sufferings of the People Called Quakers, 1:316.
- [S1615] Besse, Sufferings of the People Called Quakers, 1:317.
- [S1604] Walter Lee Sheppard Jr., et al., Passengers and Ships Prior to 1684: Reprints of Articles with Corrections, Additions and New Materials (1970; reprint, Pennsylvania: The Welcome Society of Pennsylvania, 1985), 139-140, further cited as Sheppard, et al., Passengers and Ships Prior to 1684.
- [S1644] London Public Record Office, RG-6, #1307, A Register for the Division of Chichester in the County of Sussex Where in is Kept an Accompt of Mariages, Births, & Burials of our [---] And [---] children; commonly & scornfull by the world would called Quakers: Commencing the Yeare 1651, 42, FHL microfilm 811736 #4, further cited as Register of Chichester Quakers.
- [S1644] Register of Chichester Quakers, 122; FHL #811736 #4.
- [S1644] Register of Chichester Quakers, 44; FHL #811736 #4.