Richard Waln I (1628 - 1659)

Born 1628 in Knowmear, Yorkshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Jane (Rudd) Burkitt — married 1645 in Burnholm-Boiling, Yorkshire, England

Descendants

Died 7 Apr 1659 at about age 31 in Burmholm-Boling, Yorkshire England

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Biography

Richard was a Friend (Quaker)

Excerpts from Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania: Genealogical and Personal Memoirs. In Three Volumes. John W. Jordan (Editor) (NY and Chicago: The Lewis Publishing co. 1911) pp 200-225

Waln Family p. 200 Richard Waln and Jane his wife, who lived in the small village of Burholme, in district called Bolland, in West Riding of Yorkshire, England, were among the earliest converts to Quakerism, in Yorkshire. They belonged to Bolland Meeting, a branch of Settle Montly Meeting, as early as 1654, a date very shortly after the rise of the Society of Friends.

The exact limits of the district called Bolland were somewhat indefinite, and even seem to have varied from time to time, or at least to have been variously apprehended by different authorities. Before Richard Waln's time there had been a forest here called "Bolland Forest" and there were, no doubt, remains of it even in his day, though no longer a forest in the official sense. It is presumed that the Bolland of the old records was Bolland Liberty, and that it coincided with the ancient extent of the Forest. Baines' "Gazetteer of the County of York," 1822, speaks of Burholme as in the parish of Bolland, but this was doubtless an error, as no other authorities mention a parish of that name, while several show conclusively that Burgolme was in the parish of Slaidburn.

The name Bolland, now spelt Bowland, which probably represents its proper pronunciation formerly as well as now, also applied to three townships included in the same region; one of these being High Bowland-Forest, a township entirely in the parish of Slaidburn and wapentake of Staincliffe and Ewcross, West Riding of Yorkshire; another, Low Bowland-Forest, partly in the same parish and wapentake, and partly in the parish of Whalley, Blackburn Hundred, Lancashire; and the third altogether in the latter parish, hundred and shire. High and Low Bowland-Forest together constituted Bowland Liberty, which as abovesaid was no doubt what was meant by the Bolland in the old records.

Burholme itself, called "Borholme" in Baines' Gazetteer above referred to, and "Burham in Bolland" in the registers of Settle Monthly Meeting of Friends, can be definitely located. It was about eight miles northwest of Clitheroe, and in the parish of Slaidburn and Liberty of Bolland, most probably in the township of High Bowland-Forest, as that was all within said parish and most certainly in Yorkshire.

Of the personal affairs of Richard and Jane Waln we have little record. In 1664 (sic-he died in 1659) Richard Waln was sued at Whitwell Court for tithes and had a mare taken from him worth four pounds. Jane Waln was daughter of Edward Rudd, of Knowmeare, Yorkshire, a place at present not identified, but doubtless also in parish of Slaidburn. As to her family besides her father, we know of two sisters, Dorothy and Mary Rudd, who married respectively the brothers, William p. 201 and Cuthbert Hayhurst Jr., sons of Cuthbert and Alice Hayhurst, of Easington, in the same parish of Slaidburn, West Riding of Yorkshire; also an undoubted cousin, Elizabeth, daughter of Giles Rudd, probably brother of Edward, of Mouldhils, in the same locality, who married Thomas Walmsley, of Wadington Eaves, in the same wapentake as all of the above Staincliffe and Ewcross, but in a different parish, Milton. All of these parties will be mentioned later as most of them accompanied Nicholas Waln to Pennsylvania.

Richard Waln died April 7, 1659, and his widow, Jane Waln, then of Slainmerow, parish of Slaidburn, married, October 31, 1667, at the house of Robert Walbancke, Newton, same parish, William Birket, of Newton. Their subsequent residence was her house in Slaidberow, instead of his house in Newton, and here a number of her relatives or connections were married. In the records of some of these marriages her residence, or that of her husband, is given differently, but the duplicate or complementary entries show that Slaiderow continued to be her home. Thus at the marriage of Elizabeth Rudd and Thomas Walmsley, which took place there November 13, 1665, her residence in one entry is given as "Smelfats", which is also given as Elizabeth Rudd's own residence, ut the duplicate entry shows it to have been as above (though a copyist's error made it "Rainemerow". In one record of Jane Birket's son Nicholas Waln's marriage at the same house, October 1, 1673, it is called "Willm Birket's, Chapelcroft," the latter place being really Nicholas Waln's own residence; but two counter entries give it correctly, "Willm Birket's Slainerow". If she was the same Jane Birket, at whose house in Slainmerow, Jenet Stackhouse and Richard Scott were married, April 9, 1696, and she probably was, as the Stackhouse family were connected by marriage, she must have survived her first husband thirty-seven years, living all that time in this place.

On the register of Settle Monthly Meeting occur the births of two children of Richard and Jane (Rudd) Waln, Anne, born August 15, 1654, and Edward, September 22, 1657. Of Edward we know nothing further, but Anne married James Dilworth and came to Pennsylvania as will be shown below. Richard and Jane are known to have had an elder son Nicholas, who came to Pennsylvania and founded the family which is the subject of this sketch, and there are supposed to have had another and still older son Richard Waln, also an early settler in Philadelphia county, and perhaps other children, the births having occurred before the parents joined Friends, and hence their births are not entered on Friends records.

Quaker Roots Archives
From: Stewart Baldwin Subject: Nicholas Waln's English ancestors Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999

Richard Wallne or Waln, of Burholme in Bolland, Yorkshire, d. 7 2mo. (Apr) 1659, Settle NM, md. (presumably in the late 1640's) Jane Rudd, daughter of Edward Rudd of Knowlemere, Yorkshire. It was probably in the early 1650's (certainly by 1654) that the Walns became converts to the Quaker faith. After the death of Richard Waln, Jane (Rudd) Waln md. 2nd, 31 8mo. (Oct) 1667, at the house of Robert Walbancke of Newton (husband of her sister Ellen), William Birket of Newton. Jane (Rudd) (Waln) Birket was still living on 9 Apr 1696, as a widow, when Richard Scott and Jennet Stackhouse were married at her house at Slainmorrow.

Children of Richard and Jane (Rudd) Waln:

1. Nicholas Waln, prob. b. ca. 1650, d. 4 Feb 1721/2, Philadelphia, PA, rnd Jane Turner.

2. Anne Waln, b. 15 6mo. 1654, d. 1710, md. 1st, 9 5mo. (July)1680, James Dilworth, md. 2nd, 29 6mo. (Aug) 1701, Christopher Sibthorp.

3. Edward Waln, b. 22 7mo. 1657. No other information.

Richard and Jane (Rudd) Waln are also said to have been the parents of Richard Waln, an early immigrant who was a member of the Abington MM in PA, and d. 1698, but proof of that connection has not been found.

Note: McCracken, in his "Welcome Claimants", introduced an erroneous "correction" to the genealogy of this family which has been followed by some others. Most early accounts of the family stated (correctly) that the Jane Waln who married William Birkit was Richard Waln's widow. McCracken, finding the burial of a Jane Waln in the Settle MM records (which was the burial of Richard's mother, also named Jane), concluded (wrongly) that this was the burial of Richard's widow, and assigned (without evidence) the Jane who married William Birkit as a daughter of Richard. In fact, the marriage record of Jane Waln with William Birkit quite explicitly calls Jane the daughter of Edward Rudd, thus proving that McCracken was in error, and that the earlier accounts were correct. Thus, there is no good reason to believe that Richard and Jane had a daughter named Jane.

From the "Annals of the ancestry of Charles Custis Harrison and Ellen Waln Harrison" p. 60
Richard Waln, born about 1630, was one of the early followers of George Fox, and he and his wife Jane were members of Bolland Meeting of the Friends, under the Monthly Meeting of Settle, as early as 1654. In accordance with the principles of Quakerism, Richard Waln refused to pay church tithes, and it is recorded in Besse's "Sufferings of the Quakers" that once, after being sued for tithes at Whitwell court, a mare worth four pounds was taken from him by the authorities."

Note

"Richard Waln of Burholme, Bolling District, West Riding, York county, England, and his wife Jane, daughter of Edward Rudd, of Knowmeare, Yorkshire, Quakers, belonged to Bolland Meeting, a branch of Settle Monthly Meeting. In 1654, he was sued at Whitwell Court of tithes and had a horse taken from him which was worth four pounds. He died April 7, 1659, and his widow, then of Slaidburn married 31st October, 1667, Robert (sic-Willilam?) Birket of Newton." Taken from "Our Quaker Ancestry" by Rusha Wesley, 1945.

Slainmerow, Slainmorrow, and other similar spellings actually refer to a tenant farm known today (2015) as Slimrow. It is located on the west side of the road running due south of Newton. Other tenant farms associated with the Walns and Turners --Windyeats (now called Windgates) and Chapel Croft are nearby but on the east side of the road.

Sources

• "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F77Z-MJX : 11 December 2014), Richard Walne, 07 Apr 1659, Death; citing p. 200, Settle, Yorkshire, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London.

"Our Quaker Ancestry" by Rusha Wesley 1945 "Annals of the ancestry of Charles Custis Harrison and Ellen Waln Harrison" p. 60 Quaker Roots Archives "Nicholas Waln's English Ancestors." by Stewart Baldwin Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania: Genealogical and Personal Memoirs. In Three Volumes. John W. Jordan (Editor) (NY and Chicago: The Lewis Publishing co. 1911) pp 200-225

• WikiTree profile Waln-33 created through the import of nicholson.ged on Nov 16, 2012 by Jimmy Nicholson.