Abigail (Pownall) Paxson (1678 - abt. 1749)

Born 4 Feb 1678 in Lostock, Cheshire, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Wife of William Paxson Junr. — married 20 Dec 1695 in Langhorne, Bucks, Pennsylvania, British America

Descendants

Died about 1749 at about age 70 in Solebury, Bucks, Pennsylvania

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Biography

Abigail, daughter of George & Elinor Pownall was born February 4, 1678 in England. She emigrated from Lostock, Cheshire, England to Pennsylvania in 1682 aboard Friends Adventure. She married William Paxson (son of James & Jane (Gurden) Paxson) at Middletown Monthly Meeting on February 12, 1696.^[1][2]

After William's death, she removed from Duck Creek Monthly Meeting to Buckingham Monthly Meeting with her three sons in the summer of 1724.^[2] As a Quaker, she frequently exercised her gift of ministry.

In 1742 Abigail was recognized as a minister by Buckingham Monthly Meeting. A memorial described her as "a diligent attender of meetings, even in her old age; had a gift of the ministry, in which she was exercised pretty frequently. She was sound in her matter, which tended to edification."[69]

In her will dated July 16, 1742 Abigail left money to many children and grandchildren for the purchase of Bibles. The will was proven April 8, 1749 with Robert Smith and John Hill named executors.^[2]

Family History

William2 Paxson, Junior, son of James and Jane (Gurden) Paxson, was baptised 22 January 1675/6 in Marsh Gibbon, and died in July 1719 in Newcastle County, in what has become the state of Delaware. He married in Middletown Meeting on 20 Twelfth Month [February] 1695/6 Abigail POWNALL[64], daughter of George and Elinor Pownall. The Pownalls emigrated from Lostock, Cheshire, on the Friends' Adventure, arriving in the Delaware River 11 October 1682. Abigail was born 4 February 1677/8 and died in 1749.[64a]

Contemporaries referred to him as William Junior to differentiate him from his uncle William1 (#2). Unless land transactions specify "William Junr.", there is no way of separating his from those of his uncle William1 or his younger first cousin William2 (#9). In 1699 William Junr. conveyed a parcel of land to John SCARBOROUGH, with his father acting as attorney.[65] It was not usual practice for a father so to act, or for a young man to divest himself of land. But William Junr. did not conform to the usual Quaker mold. Two years earlier he had had a fight with Jonathan SCARBOROUGH, who went to the magistrate seeking redress. The Meeting intervened and persuaded the antagonists to forgive each other and promise to live in peace. Another rather cryptic incident in 1700 involved the charge that William Jr. had "raised a scandall" upon William COWPER. Friends decided that the scandal may have been accurate (and therefore not libel).[66]

In 1704 William Jr. and his family removed to Falls.[66a] He apparently purchased a farm from Solomon WARDER, that had been in the BILES family and was originally owned by Thomas and Jane ATKINSON.[66b] William was disowned from Falls Monthly Meeting 1 July 1712, for "being overtaken with drink also for uttering several extravagant expressions against the whole body of friends, and he not condemning his actions". The following year William sold his property to John and mary SOTCHER, and took his family to St. George's Hundred, Newcastle County (in what became Delaware). Abigail and some of the children carried a certificate of removal dated 5 March 1713.[67] Children born after one parent's disownment were generally not recorded by the meeting.

After William Jr.'s death intestate at the age of forty-three, his uncle Henry1 (#1) Paxson posted bond on 22 September 1719 and administered the estate. Henry devised to each of William Junr.'s sons a substantial farm with the stipulation that they provide comfortably for their mother for the rest of her life. Abigail removed to Buckingham Monthly Meeting from Duck Creek Meeting with her three sons in the summer of 1724.

Children of William and Abigail (Pownall) Paxson

Abigail Pownall and William Paxson together had 8 children.^[2]

1. Mary Paxson, born January 1696/7 in Middletown; died 171_, unmarried

1. Marrabeh, died June 30, 1714 in Duck Creek, unmarried

1. Abigail Paxson, born August 20 1700 in Middletown; married (1) September 1718, Nathaniel Lamplugh, son of Nathaniel and Susannah (BEZER) of Chichester; at least 2 children; She "eloped to Philadelphia" in 1731/2. Nathaniel d. 1742 in Concord Twp., Chester Co., and Abigail m(2) Anthony Whitley, March 14, 1744 by license at the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia; married (3) John Passmore, September 17, 1764 at Immanuel Church, New Castle, Del.; died 1778 in New Castle Her will, dated 31 Mar. 1778, was pr. 31 July 1778 at New Castle.

1. James Paxson, born November 5, 1702 in Middletown; married (1) Mary Horseman 1724; married (2) Margaret Hodges in 1730; died February 1747; 9 children

1. Thomas Paxson; born November 20, 1712; married Jane Canby 1732; died October 1782

1. Reuben Paxson; born 1713; married Alice Simcock with whom he had 5 children; died 1744

1. Esther Paxson; married Abel Clayton with whom she had 3 children

1. Amy Paxson, died young

Sources

1. ↑ US Quaker Records, Pennsylvania, Middletown MM, Marriage Certificates Available here
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} MJP Grundy, Paxson Family in Colonial Bucks County (2002), online rootsweb (3/3/2015)

• "Our Quaker Ancestry" by Rusha Wesley 1945
• Millennium File
• American Marriages Before 1699
• Pennsylvania Marriage Records