A SUMMARY OF RECORDS PERTAINING TO QUAKER FRETWELLS

( still a work in progress; please contribute)

Abstract

This summary first examines the scant historic record of Quaker Fretwells in England who might have been the progenitors of Quaker Fretwells in America; secondly of the Quaker immigrants John, Peter, Rebecca, and Joshua Fretwell, who are firmly established as siblings (of one family), settled in New Jersey (other incidental Quaker Fretwells who appear in the American records are briefly discussed); thirdly the record of Ralph Fretwell of Barbados and Pennsylvania, and lastly, other Quaker Fretwells. The summary is mostly chronological within each of these groups, except where tying together a complete record seemed to make more sense.

Preface

Before we discuss the Quaker Fretwells, it is important to place them in context; that is, in the context of our family line. As stated elsewhere in this website, we believe that all Fretwells come from one ancestor, Miles de Fretewell, first recorded in 1190 A.D. From him have descended many branches of the Fretwell line. We Fretwells in America are mostly descended from William Fretwell (1708 - 1788) and Mary (nee Evatt) Fretwell (1711-1791) of Cumberland County, Virginia. William's ancestry cannot trace back to England (yet). So, these Quaker Fretwells are distant relatives, but probably not of the same line as most Fretwells in America today. Nonetheless, being Fretwells, and being distant relatives, we wanted to record their most interesting history.

Who Are the Quakers?

George Fox established the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, or Friends, during a religious awakening in northwest England in 1648. Converts were Anglicans and others who were dissatisfied with the existing denominations and sects of Christianity. Quakers are counted among the historic peace churches, and have congregations scattered across the world. Since its origins in England, Quakerism has spread to other countries, chiefly the United States, Kenya and Bolivia. The number of Quakers in the world is relatively small (approximately 600,000). Unlike other groups that emerged from Christianity, the Religious Society of Friends has tended not to have a hierarchical structure, a creed, or paid clergy.

Members of the Society became known as "Quakers" because some of them trembled during religious experiences. At first the term was derogatory, but gradually came to be a term that many Friends accepted with pride. In many ways the Quakers helped shape the face of this Nation.

Early religious restrictions in England caused some of them to immigrate to New Jersey in 1675 and some 230 English Quakers founded Burlington, New Jersey in 1678. William Penn was granted the territory of Pennsylvania in 1681 and within two years there were about 3000 Quakers living there. Some Fretwells were a part of this early beginning of Quakerism, and more followed after. Two Fretwells were among the founders of Burlington, New Jersey.

Part I: Quaker Fretwells in England who are Possible Progenitors of Fretwell Immigrants to America.

The earliest record we find of Fretwells who were Quakers, hereafter referred to as Quaker Fretwells, is in 1650, in George Fox's autobiography. In that year Fox spent a year in Derby Prison with a John Fretwell, of Staniesby, in the county of Derby. They were imprisoned because of their Quaker beliefs. Following is the web reference and the account: http://www.strecorsoc.org/gfox/ch04.html

GEORGE FOX -- An Autobiography

CHAPTER IV. A Year in Derby Prison 1650-1651.

At last they asked me whether I was sanctified. I answered, "Yes; for I am in the paradise of God." Then they asked me if I had no sin. I answered, "Christ my Saviour has taken away my sin; and in Him there is no sin." They asked how we knew that Christ did abide in us. I said, "By His Spirit, that He hath given us." They temptingly asked if any of us were Christ. I answered, "Nay; we are nothing; Christ is all." They said, "If a man steal, is it no sin?" I answered, "All unrighteousness is sin."

When they had wearied themselves in examining me, they committed me and one other man to the house of correction in Derby for six months, as blasphemers, as may appear by the mittimus, a copy whereof here followeth:

"To the master of the house of correction in Derby, greeting:

'We have sent you herewithal the bodies George Fox, late of Mansfield, in the county of Nottingham, and John Fretwell, late of Staniesby, in the county of Derby, husbandman, brought before us this present day, and charged with the avowed uttering and broaching of diverse blasphemous opinions, contrary to the late Act of Parliament; which, upon their examination before us, they have confessed. These are therefore to require you forthwith, upon sight hereof, to receive them, the said George Fox and John Fretwell, into your custody, and them therein safely to keep during the space of six months, without bail or mainprize, or until they shall find sufficient security to be of good behaviour, or be thence delivered by order from ourselves. Hereof you are not to fail. Given under our hands and seals this 30th day of October, 1650.'"

"GERVASE BENNET",
"NATH. BARTON"

Laurence Fretwell, in The Fretwell Pedigree, Vol 1, Part 5, tells us more about John:

"John must have been quite young when he was sent to prison together with George Fox, for blasphemy, on 30th October 1650.

They had been arrested whilst preaching in the town square at Derby, after a magistrate, who happened to be listening to them, took offense at their criticism of the authorities.

They were taken to Derby jail w[h]ere they were later sentenced to six months imprisonment...."

It was as a result of this prison sentence that George Fox and John Fretwell were the very first two people to be called 'Quakers', as Vernon Nobles tells us in his book 'The Man in Leather Breeches'.

'The magistrates were Gervase Bennett and Nathaniel Barton, who became Member of Parliament for Derbyshire three years later. They and the Mayor examined Fox and two friends from one o'clock in the afternoon to nine that night, continually sending the prisoners out of the room while they discussed what had been said and then fetching them back again. They asked Fox questions to trap him into saying he was Christ, but he eluded any such presumption. Some of the interrogation went this way:

BENNETT: What have you to say? Who are you? Why did you come here?

FOX: God moved us to do so and to tell thee that all thy preaching, baptism and sacrifice will never sanctify thee, look into Christ and not unto men.

BENNETT: You're demented, taken up in raptures. You speak too freely of God.

FOX: Tremble and quake at the name of the Lord.

BENNETT: You quake, do you? Quakers eh?'

The name was not new, it had been given some years before to [non-Quaker] people who had been so overcome by spiritual emotion that they shook and trembled. The term that Bennett scoffingly used quickly became popular, as if people had hitherto not regarded Fox's followers as a separate sect but were eager to give them an identification. Friends were not pleased with the name but they accepted it and eventually prized it.'

Fox and one of his companions, John Fretwell, a Derbyshire farmer's son, were the first [Friends to acquire that nickname].'

Whilst serving his six months sentence, pressure was put on young John Fretwell to swear and affidavit saying that the older George Fox, had bewitched him.

Finally, he signed and was immediately released from prison. In his journal, George Fox tells us that he lost all respect for John Fretwell because of this.
[Note: Laurence Fretwell says that Quakerism never gained a strong foothold in Derbyshire thereafter because of John Fretwell's claim that Fox had bewitched him.]

Whilst John Fretwell himself seems to have regretted having done so because within a matter of months he was at the forefront of Quaker evangelism.

His wife, as far as we know, never did become involved with the Quaker movement. Her name had been Ellen Stacy who was the daughter of John and Mary (nee Fulwood) Stacy. Ellen had been christened at Handsworth in Yorkshire on the 2nd April 1626.

Although John was born at Stainsby, he died and was buried at Chesterfield in Derbyshire on the 17th April 1685. Hellen was also buried there on the 9th October 1693."

In the year 1666 George Fox recorded in his journal that one Ellen Fretwell of Derbyshire, chided a judge for his injustice to the Quakers. Here is Fox's account:

"After this I went into Derbyshire, where I had a large meeting. Some Friends were apprehensive of the constable's coming for they had had great persecution in those parts: but our meeting was quiet. A justice of peace in that county had taken away much of Friends' goods: whereupon Ellen Fretwell had made her appeal to the sessions, and the rest of the justices granted her the return of her goods; and she spoke to the persecuting justice, telling him that he should not do such a thing again. As she was moved to speak to that justice and warn him, he said to her, 'Come and sit down on the bench. 'OK, (said she), if I may persuade you to do justice to the country, I will sit down with you.'  He said 'No, then you shall not. Leave the court.' As she was going, she was moved of the Lord to turn again, and say, ‘She should be sitting as justice and he should not.' After the sessions were ended, he got among some of his persecuting companions, and said, 'They would get some more of the Quakers' goods, if the devil did not raise up that woman to hinder them.' So he went home and drove away the woman’s brother's oxen, as a penalty for going to meetings. Then Susan Frith, a Friend of Chesterfield, was moved of the Lord to tell him, 'If he continued his persecuting the innocent, the Lord would execute his plagues upon him.' Soon after which this justice, whose name was Clark, fell insane, and was bound with ropes; but he gnawed the ropes in pieces, and had almost ruined his maid: for he fell upon her and bit her; so that they were forced to put an iron instrument into his mouth, to pry his teeth out of her flesh: and afterwards he died insane. These events were told to me by Ellen Fretwell herself."
-- from The Journal of George Fox, 1666 to 1673, To America and Back

It is not absolutely certain who this Ellen is, but Laurence Fretwell ("The Fretwell Pedigree, Vol 1, Part5", p. 57) identifies her as the wife of Thomas Fretwell, the brother to the John Fretwell who was imprisoned with George Fox.

Laurence Fretwell documents a Richard Fretwell who was one of the early influential Quakers.

Richard was probably born about 1645 in Derbyshire, but moved to Baddesley Ensor, Warwickshire, England. He exerted considerable influence in the Meetings there:

"Richard was a Quaker and, under the influence of the great Quaker evangelist, Richard Farnsworth, he had left Derbyshire and came to Baddesley Ensor in Warwickshire.

On his arrival in Warwickshire, the village of Baddesley Ensor hosted the largest Quaker Meeting that had hitherto been known outside of Derbyshire.

This marked the beginning of the spread of Quakerism across the whole of England. Richard's daughter-in-law, Margery Fretwell (No. 136) [nee Bickley] in an attempt to set the record straight, wrote that Richard Farnsworth was the first to bring the Truth (Quakerism) to the village of Baddesley Ensor. But it is obvious that Richard Farnsworth had persuaded Richard Fretwell to go there and maintain that level of commitment within the village."
-- from Laurence Fretwell, " The Fretwell Pedigree, Vol 1., Part 5," p.58.

Laurence further tells us that Richard Fretwell had five children:

"Margery, Mary, John Henry, Peter, Samual, and Sarah".

Of these five siblings Mary immigrated to America. Mary and her husband, Arthur Leving, followed William Penn to Pennsylvania in 1682.

Laurence further claims that Peter and John Henry left England with another Friend, Peter Cowsnocke, in 1658, bound for Barbados and then to America (Citation provided later.) but we now know that this is incorrect. If these two siblings existed at all, they are not the Peter and John that immigrated to America, and they are not the two persons who traveled with Peter Cowsnocke, in 1658, to Barbados. (More later.)

4. Samual Fretwell, son of the Richard Fretwell mentioned above, married Margery Bickley. Their Quaker marriage is recorded in the Warwick Records Office:

Marriage; Samual Fretwell of Stainsby, County Derby, to Margery Bickley of Baddesley Ensor, 24th April 1665." (Z523/3)

Samual and Margery were influential Quakers as the following account portrays:

Margery [Bickley] had grown up with her widowed father at the Manor Cottage, Baddesley Ensor. Manor Cottage was a large rambling sandstone building that was still standing up until 1959. Back in 1654, it became the very first weekly Quaker Meeting House in the County of Warwick.

It was at one such Meeting that a squadron of cavalry of the New Model Army burst in and ejected the occupants at sword point.

Luckily for the villagers, they had a Member of Parliament, George Abbott, living at Ivy Hall in the village. Although he was not a Quaker, he was a puritan, and was known as the hero of the Siege of Caldicot. He put a stop to such persecutions and the Quakers of Baddesley Ensor were therefore able to flourish during the period of his lifetime.

For a few years Margery and her husband Samual [ Fretwell] , together with her father and her father's mother, all lived at Manor Cottage. However, in 1669 this property and its land was given by her father, Anthony Bickley, to the Quakers as a permanent Meeting House. The land belonging to this property then served as a Quaker burial ground for the whole County of Warwick. This was because Quakers were excommunicated and could not therefore be buried in consecrated ground of an English churchyard.

For the next half century, the Quakerism of Warwickshire was centered at this village of Baddesley Ensor.

It is worth noting that there was enormous interest in the New World among Quakers at that time. The New World became the subject of discussion at a number of Meetings in the village.

We simply do not know where the family lived after 1669.

Although there is a strong possibility that they lived at Stud Farm, Baddesley Ensor, which no longer exists and that stood on the boundary between Wood End and Baddesley Ensor. This farm belonged to the Bickley family and had been left by George Bickley to son Anthony, who was Margery's (136) father.

Margery is an interesting person and we know quite a lot about her because she kept the records of the Quakers of Baddesley Ensor. These records have survived and reveal her meticulous hand in her personal comments made in the margins. For instance, in one account of a Quaker Meeting she wrote in the margin, 'Richard Farnsworth of Tickhill (Derbyshire) was the first to bring the Truth (Quakerism) to Badgeley (Baddesley Ensor), signed by Margery Fretwell daughter of Anthony Bickley.'

--from Laurence Fretwell, " The Fretwell Pedigree, Vol.1, Part 5," pp 58-59.

Part II: Several Quaker Siblings Immigrate to America.

In the mid-1600s, three and perhaps four brothers and a sister from a Quaker Fretwell family all immigrated to Trenton, New Jersey. As will be shown, we can solidly prove that four of these are siblings, and can show the strong possibility that the fifth is as well. Who there English parent were remains a matter of debate; although the issue is largely academic, as the line rejoins one generation further back, and the line cannot be traced any further back. Nonetheless, both arguments will be presented.

1. According to the Trenton Historical Society of Trenton, New Jersey, in " A History of Trenton: 1679-1929," Peter Fretwell and John Fretwell arrived there in December 1678. Here is the account:

"IN THE tenth month (December) Old Style, 1678, the ship Shield arrived from Hull, England; Mr. Raum in his history says that it was December 10. 43 The Shield entered Delaware Bay and sailed up to Burlington, where it stopped. The river froze during the night and the people from the boat went ashore across the ice in the morning. In her came Mahlon Stacy, his wife and children and several servants, men and women. The others who came in the same ship were: William Emley (for the second time), with his wife, two children (one of whom was born on the way), and two men and two women servants; Thomas Lambert, his wife, children and several men and women servants; John Lambert and servant; Thomas Revell, his wife, children and servants; Godfrey Hancock, his wife, children and servants; Thomas Potts, his wife and children; John Wood and four children; Thomas Wood, his wife and children; Robert Murfin, his wife and two children; Robert Schooly, his wife and children; James Pharo, his wife and children; Susannah Fairnsworth, her children and two servants; Richard Tattersal, his wife and children; Godfrey Newbold; John Dewsbury; Richard Green; Peter Fretwell; John Fretwell; John Newbold; one Barns, a merchant from Hull; Francis Barwick; George Parks; George Hill; John Heyres; and several more. 44

43 Raum, History of Trenton, p. 42. This is apparently the only place that that exact date in December 1678 appears; and no authority is cited in verification. The "10" undoubtedly refers to the month only.

44 Smith, History of New Jersey, p. 108."

The Shield of Stockton, England, probably sailed from Hull. Daniel Towers (or Towle or Towes) was the ship's master. No loadings noted.

From what town they came, we have conflicting information. (This is not academic as it directly relates to their pedigrees.) Some unknown genealogist maintained they were from Baddesly Ensor, Warwickshire, England:

" John Henry Fretwell, Quaker, and Peter Fretwell, Quaker, left the village of Baddesly Ensor in Warwickshire, England some time around 1658. They were last recorded in Baddesly Ensor by their sister, Margery in 1660. Margery kept the Quaker records in the village, and in that year she wrote that her brothers had "gone with Friend Cowsnocke". We know that a Mr. Cowsnocke was a Quaker from the village of Hartshill, about six miles away from Baddesley Ensor."

--An unpublished genealogy exists.

The same departure point is asserted by Laurence Fretwell, Nuneaton, England, in his brief booklet titled, " The Fretwell Pedigree, Vol. 1: Part 5." He quotes as his source Joan Allen's book, " The Quakers of Hartshill." He also claims that John and Peter are descendants of Richard Fretwell of Baddesly Ensor as follows:

"134 John Fretwell and 135 Peter Fretwell.

Both of these were Quakers. They left for America whilst still comparatively young men. By doing so, they moved out of further local [English] records.

At that time (before William Penn's settlement of Pennsylvania in 1681) the Quakers were looking for a place in the New World to establish a settlement. A number of people were sent out there with various preparatory tasks. Peter and John were probably just two of these.

They did however suffer as a result of the Atlantic crossing, as Joan Allen's book, 'The Quakers of Hartshill,' tells us from letters sent back to England.

The concern of the two men hardened into action. In the summer of 1658 they set sail for Barbados with Peter Cowsnocke from the Isle of Man who had joined their venture. On the voyage he and one of the Warwickshire men became so ill that when they arrived in the West Indies it took them weeks to recover. From a letter from Henry Fell to Margaret Fell at Swarthmore, 7th October 1658 ... 'Peter Cowsnocke and one of ye Warwickshire Friends have not yet recovered their healthes'.... Later in the month, Henry Fell to George Fox… 'Peter Cowsnocke and ye two Warwicks Friends who are for New England ... it is like all passe away from hence ye next weeke (if ye Lord will) to Virginia in a ship that goes thither, & from thence ye ship after some tyme goes to Rhode Island. Soe that those 3 Friends may be serviceable there in Virginia while the Shipp stayes, and we saw little likelihood of passage for them otherwise at present'....

Eighteen months later, 3rd April 1660, Joseph Nicholson of Boston wrote to Margaret Fell ... 'I could never heare any things of Peter of the Ill[e] of Man but what I heard at Shelter Island and at Rode Island that he and two other friends cam[e] from Barbadus in a vessill longe ago but nevere was heard of since.' The consensus of all Quaker historians has been that the three were lost at sea on their voyage from Virginia to Rhode Island.

That assumption by these modern Quaker historians appears to be both correct and incorrect. Peter Cowsnocke and his two companion Friends probably did perish at sea. But the assumption that his two companions were Peter and John Fretwell was incorrect, because, far from being dead, 17 years after Nicholson's letter, Peter and John immigrate to America aboard the ship Shield. They had not attempted to travel to America before this.

Indeed, they seem to have spent considerable time and energy traveling between the island of Barbados and New Jersey, as the Immigration Records show:

Peter Fretwell arrived in New Jersey in 1677.

-- Baltimore Geneal Pub Co 1970

John Fretwell arrived in New Jersey in 1677.

Peter Fretwell arrived in New Jersey in 1677.

Peter Fretwell arrived in New Jersey in 1678.

John Fretwell arrived in New Jersey in 1678.

John Fretwell arrived in New Jersey in 1678.

Peter Fretwell arrived in New Jersey in 1678.

The fact that they traveled so often between Barbados and New Jersey so many times is quite suggestive. We know that at that time the Quakers were negotiating the purchase of an uninhabited region of New Jersey to serve as a Quaker settlement.

However, when William Penn was granted the authority to establish a Quaker settlement, that became Pennsylvania in 1681, the region of New Jersey being purchased became incorporated into Pennsylvania."

In contrast to the above arguments, we have the account in " Wright's 400 Years-Plus," by Larry C. Wright, which claims that John and Peter are from Stainsby, and descendants of John Fretwell (d. 1685) of Stensby, Derbyshire, England who married Ellin STACY  (d. 1693). This is the same John Fretwell who was imprisoned with George Fox. John Fretwell and Ellin's children are listed by Wright as:

John, b. 1657 ... immigrated to New Jersey ca 1677 at age 20

Peter, b. 1659 ... immigrated to New Jersey ca 1677 at age 18

Samuel, b. 1660 ... immigrated to New Jersey ca 1700 at age 40

Rebecca, b. 1662 ... immigrated to New Jersey ca 1700 at age 38

Joshua, b. 1663 ... immigrated to New Jersey ca 1700 at age 37

Daniel, b. 1666 … died young

Mahlin, b. 1668… died young

Of the five living children at least four immigrated to New Jersey, and probably all five, as is confirmed by records in New Jersey.

From Wright's book, we have it that Ellin (Helen) Stacy was a sister of Mahlon Stacy--and she died "a prisoner for tythes" in Hucknell parish, and was buried 9 Oct 1693 at Stensby, Derbyshire, England. [ Laurence Fretwell asserts that she could not have died as a prisoner in Hucknell parish because no prison existed there; that is, this is an historical anachronism (inaccuracy).]

Mahlon Stacy is the famed founder of Trenton, New Jersey. Mahlon was aboard the ship Shield with Peter and John Fretwell when it landed in New Jersey. In the History of Trenton, New Jersey, Lee writes:

" Of the early settlers of West New Jersey none stands in a more striking light than Mahlon Stacy of Handsworth, Yorkshire. To him must be given the credit for the practical settling of the northern portion of the Yorkshire Tenth. He was an influential member of the Society of Friends. His large plantation interests and his wealth made him rank easily among the half-score men who formed the destinies of Burlington County between 1676 and 1715...."

2. The Will of Peter Fretwell of Burlington, NJ, tanner, named: his daughter, Elizabeth, her husband Jonathan Wright and his granddaughter, Ellen Wright; his sister Rebecca, her husband John Warren and his [ nephew ] John Warren; his brother, Joshua.

-- The will was proved 24 Feb 1718-9 at Burlington Co., New Jersey (Lib. 2, p. 108).

3. Thomas and Elizabeth Curtis appeared, Feb. 1, 1720, as witness to the will of Joshua Fretwell of Mansfield Twp., Burlington Co. -- Stillwell's " Miscellany'; Notes by Dorothy A. Poore: New Jersey Wills, Series I, Vol. I and Vol. II. The Will of Joshua Fretwell of Mancefield Twp., Burlington Co., NJ, yeoman, named: his daughter, Ellen, underage; his sister, Rebecca [nee Fretwell] Warren and his brother-in-law, John Warren, and their son, John.

-- The will was proved 7 Oct 1721.

4. Joshua Fretwell married Alice Smith 7 Oct 1712 at Darby Meeting House in Delaware Co., Pennsylvania. Alice was a daughter of William Smith.

5. The Will of William Smith of Darby, Chester Co., PA dated 8 Jan 1727/28 named his granddaughter, Ellen Fretwell.

6. These four Wills bind Peter, Joshua and Rebecca Fretwell together as siblings, all in New Jersey. Add to this the Quaker records that tie Peter and John together as brothers, landing in New Jersey. Wright asserts that another of their brothers, Samuel, also came to New Jersey. Samuel's presence in New Jersey is affirmed in Quaker meeting records for 1700, but we have no New Jersey records confirming him as a sibling to the other four Fretwells. (It is quite unlikely that there would be any other Samuel Fretwell contemporary to these early immigrants, but it cannot be totally discounted.)

If we accept Larry C. Wright's assertion that Samuel is a sibling, then four Fretwell brothers (Peter, John, Joshua, and Samuel) and one sister (Rebecca), all Quakers, came to America, and are firmly documented in New Jersey records.

Admittedly, none of these documents -- other than " Wright's 400 Years-Plus" -- tells us who their parents are. Not knowing Larry Wright's sources, we cannot claim his records to be without error. We've done genealogy long enough to know better. (Does anyone have a copy of Wright's book? Can you provide his sources?) If Wright's records are wrong, we'd sure like to know how the mistakes crept in, and what documents would prove that the connection of these immigrants to John Fretwell and Ellen Stacey is a mistake.

Finally, the capstone of the argument. I acquired a copy of Joan Allen's book, "The Quakers of Hartshill" and carefully read the passages cited by Laurence Fretwell. They are on page7. Referring back to page 6, it is very clear that Joan Allen identifies the two Warwickshire Friends who departed with Cowsnocke for Barbados were Philip Rose, and Edward Teddes -- most emphatically not John Henry Fretwell and Peter Fretwell.

To summarize, Laurence Fretwell's work shows Peter and John Fretwell coming to the Americas in 1658. He argues that they are from Warwickshire, and the sons of Richard Fretwell. Larry C. Wright, on the other hand, shows Peter, John, Joshua, Rebecca, and Samuel as children of John and Ellen Fretwell of Derbyshire. New Jersey wills confirm that the first four of these are indeed in New Jersey and are siblings. Samuel is also there, but cannot be proven to be a sibling, but in all probability he is. Several records confirm that Peter and John arrived in New Jersey not in 1658, but in 1668. Finally, the two Friends lost at sea with Cowsnocke were definitely not Peter and John; they were Philip Rose, and Edward Teddes.

So what is the significance of deciding one way or the other? Not too much. Whichever is correct, whether the parents of these immigrants be Richard or John, their great grandparent is the same Richard Fretwell of Elmerton, Derbyshire, and the lineage cannot be tracked further back.

7. Peter Fretwell purchased land in 1681. Thomas Revell, “Gentleman”, a first Justice of the Peace, was appointed by a group of Proprietors as "Agent for the Honorable West Jersey Society in England" to survey and sell land and issue deeds. On September 8, 1680, he made his first entry in Liber A, "Revel's Book of Surveys." Early Trenton was called "at the ffalls of Dellaware," early Hopewell "above the ffalls of Dellaware." On January 20, 1681, Revel surveyed for Peter Fretwell "above the ffals of Dellaware" (Hopewell), and 200 acres for Andrew Smith "at the ffalls (Trenton)."

8. " A History of Trenton: 1679-1929," shows Peter Fretwell as a New Jersey landholder in 1684. Here is the complete list of landholders:

THE LANDHOLDERS IN 1684

The list of proprietors was for the first time printed in Mr. Lee’s History, which gives all the landholders of the first (Yorkshire) tenth. It includes the names of plantation holders in Trenton and vicinity as the record stood in 1684, as follows:

9. Peter Fretwell appears to have been one of the earliest landholders, having received their land grant from Mahlon Stacy early on, as indicated by the following citation, same source:

"THE growth of Trenton for some time after the settlement in 1679 appears to have been slow. It is stated in Woodward and Hageman's "History of Burlington and Mercer Counties" that prior to 1700 no great progress was made in the settlement here; that about that time purchases began to be made from the original proprietors or those who had taken up the land; and that most of the old deeds for lands in this vicinity bear date from 1699 to 1710. It is not made plain, however, just what these deeds were. A search of the records themselves discloses the true condition. It appears by the map (Stacy to Trent, 1714) that Mahlon Stacy was the only proprietor who took up all the land in old Trenton from the locality of Hermitage Avenue on the Delaware River down to just below the railroad bridge and for a considerable distance back into the country, and that all deeds for property on that vast tract were acquired from and under him. Hence any deeds that were made for tracts other than those by Stacy were made by Joshua Ely, Peter Fretwell, Ruth Beakes and others, grantees immediately and mediately from Mahlon Stacy.

10. Peter Fretwell was a Quaker, but not one given only to quiet meditation. Rather, he was politically active in ways that distressed George Fox, founder of the Quaker movement. Following are snippets from two West New Jersey Tracts, published in 1699, which lay out a "political cat fight" between two factions of Quakers. Both mention Peter. One tract challenges his actions and the other defends. We have included representative excerpts of these (now-humorous) disputes. First, excerpts from tract one:

"The Case Put & Decided

By
George Fox, George Whitehead, Stephen Crisp,
and other the most Antient & Eminent QUAKERS,

BETWEEN

Edward Billing on the one part,

And some West-Jersians, headed by.

Samuell Jenings

On the other Part,

In an Award relating to the Government of their Province, wherein, because not moulded to the Palatte of the said Samuell, the Light, the Truth, the Justice and Infallibility of these great Friends are arreigned by him and his accomplices.

ALSO

Several Remarks and Annimadversions on the same Award, setting forth the Premises. With some Reflections on the Senseless Opposition of these Men against the present Governour, and their daring Audatiousness in their presumptuous asserting an Authority here over the Parliament of ENGLAND.

Published for the Information of the Impartial and Considerate, particularly such as Worship God, and profess Christianity, not in Faction and Hypocrisie, but in Truth and Sincerity.

1.2 Purported copy of October 11, 1684 Award of George Fox et. al.,

² The Award of George Fox and other Rulers of Chiefest Authority among the Quakers. Relating to a Difference concerning the Government of West-Jarsey, depending between Edw. Billing and Sam. Jenings; &c.

<snip>

"Hence it is that P. Fretwell and T. Gardner (two of the said Jenings Minions and Quondam Justices) have run from County to County to stir up People to Sedition, and to oppose the holding of any Courts by the Governours Authority, and threaten such as yield Obedience thereunto. ⁷ And hence they themselves are so perverse and stubborn as not to come to Court to answer for their setting the Province in a flame, at the Court of Appeals, October 1698, and for other Misdemeanours, without raising Souldiers to force them along, to the end that they may send these their sufferings to London also, to be recorded (among the rest of their Lyes) as a suffering for Truth and Religion. And hence the said Fretwell, the former Treasurer, refuses to give Account to Authority what he has done with all the Money he has received of the Province, and County Taxes: No, for doubtless he finds it more profitable to continue his former method, viz, to give account to his Fellows, who applaud him to the People, but pass his Accounts unexamined. And hence it is that our Sheriff and his Assistant, for doing their Office at Burlington, are by the said Gardiner arrested and sued at a Court in Pennsilvania, directly contrary to the Laws and Liberties of our English Nation, and a notorious Violation of our antient Priviledges. And from hence some others have been encouraged to resist the Government lately at Salem, where some Quakers also assumed the Militia by beat of Drum & Colours flying, and with Whips, Clubs and Staves they forced off the Magistrates from the Court house, not suffering them to keep Court (thereby stopping the currant of Justice) till the Governour went with a Force of fifty Men in Arms, who by the Providence of God, and the said Governours discreet management, broke thorow, and quell’d the Rabble, without Blood-shed, even beyond the expectation of all concerned, the Captain of these Rioters having prepared his Gun with a Charge of thirty-eight small Bullets;

But all this seemed little in the Eyes of S. Jenings, therefore that he might more effectually accomplish his seditious Designs to subvert the Government, he and his Quaker-Followers held a great Meeting, as private as they could, about December last, at the said Jenings’ Plantation House, which Meeting was appointed for his said Followers to draw up a Writing against the Governour and Government, to send to England; but when the said People met, they found the said Writing ready contrived & drawn to their hands, which, when ‘twas read, a person was appointed to set every mans Name thereunto the said Jenings having before threatened the Governour to his face to throw him out of the Government, & therefore he [Quaker-like] uses such Clandestine ways to get others to authorize his Plots, that it may be seen in England, that ‘tis not he, but the People that does it; and all this must be for the Propagation of their Truth, yea, endeavours of Ruin to their peaceable Neighbours, nay, Province and all shall lie at stake, rather than this man to want his Will.

⁸ No wonder therefore that he and his Faction in the General Assembly refuses to sign the Association of Fidelity to King William, he being so great a Jacobite that he covenants with those to whom he sells his Land, in their Deeds, to pay their QuitRents to the late King James, a known enemy to the Kingdom; this all who please may see recorded in the Registers Office at Burlington."

<snip>

Printed at Philadelphia by Reynier Jansen 1699.

11. Immediately following tract one, another tract was published as a rebuttal to the former. Excerpts of tract two follow:

" TRUTH RESCUED
FROM
Forgery and Falsehood
BEING
An Answer to a late Scurrilous piece
Entituled
THE CASE PUT AND DECIDED &c.
Which

Stole into the World without any known Authors name affixed thereto, And renders it the more like it’s FATHER, Who was a Lyer and Murtherer from the Beginning.

By
SAMUEL JENINGS.

Printed at Philadelphia by Reynier Jansen 1699.

<snip>

What is said in the next paragraph concerning P. Fretwell and T. Gardiner, who are termed two of my Minions and quondam justices. I shall say little to, further than this, that I know divers of the things suggested against them to be false, and believe so of the rest, and cannot think their reputation hurt by it, since the names of their Accusers are known. However, there may be a fit time to look into those things, when the wheel, I lately advised them to consider the motion of, has advanced its nether parts a little more. Methinks, if there were a Conjurer amongst them, they might have foreseen, and avoided many absurdities, they have fallen into, in this short liv'd Usurpation. The rest that follows, with a hence it is, I shall say little to, because I perceive they know not whence it is, that the things they mention have arose. And as to that of Salem, I believe they can never prove what they say, there may be a time to call for it, if they can. What is said concerning a great meeting, held at my Plantation house in December last, I shall not gratifie my Adversaries so much, as to give them any account of it, further than in a general Way, that I hope it hath not proved uneffectual.

But I would fain know What these Busy Bodies have to do, to call in question the actions of that Assembly, where they say, that I and my faction refused to sign the Association of fidelity to King WILLIAM? I ask my Adversaries, if they ever knew any Quaker that did or could sign such an Instrument? But although We could not sign that for Conscience sake, something being in it, that We could not comply with; yet 'We did sign to a Declaration of our Alleigance and Fidelity to the King and Government, such as the Governour was pleased to accept and commend, and I ¹⁸ suppose was since transmitted to White hall, and no dislike shown to it, that ever We have heard of; So that I must tell them, It's a saucy, as well as a busy part, for them to meddle with it. But the great charge is yet behind viz That I am a great Jacobite: This is not the First time that these fools have been nibling at this; but finding their proof formerly to be gouty and lame, they let it fall, but now renew it again, thinking themselves cock sure, and that they can prove it with a Witness, which they thus attempt to do viz. He covenants with those to whom he sells his Land, in their Deeds, to pay their QuitRents to the late King James, a known Enemy to the Kingdom; this all who please may see recorded in the Registers Office at Burlington. This is a piece of pure envy, as well as folly; whether it hath any shadow of truth in it I know not, It's long since I signed any deed: But suppose it to be true; where's the offence? The Quit Rents belonged to him when Duke, and were none of the Revenues of the Crown. But to expose my Adversaries a little, let us consider how considerable these profits may be, which I have been so carefull to secure to King James. I suppose, by what I have heard from others, it's not more than one Deed, of the many I have executed, that's thus faulty, and that perhaps for one hundred acres, or perhaps less; for I am wholly a Stranger to it on my own knowledge, but suppose it should be two hundred; What will it amount to? Our whole Province pays but Tenn Nobles a year to the Lord of the Soyl, be it to whom it will: So that this proportion will hardly be a half penny in twenty years. Now judge Reader, This is the test, they say, I have given of my being a Jacobite; I am sure, they have given a far greater of their malice, and sometimes I have thought, that it was necessary, that such a day as this, should be put into the hands of these and such like men, that they might fully discover themselves, which being done, they might receive the correction of their own Folly, and all men might abhor them ...."

12. By 1685 Peter Fretwell had already sold part of his land, as recorded in the history of Nathaniel Pettit:

"7. NATHANIEL PETTIT 1st (son of Thomas and Christian) "The Quaker of Newtown" was born at Exeter in 1645, as he testified in court in December 1667 that he was then 22 years of age and that his brother John was older. A member of the Society of Friends, he was living in Newtown, L. I., from 1655 to 1696.

About 1665 he married MARY BAILEY, daughter of Elias Bailey of Newtown in 1656, who later went to Jamaica, L. I., and on 19 October 1699 bought a tract of three hundred acres from the West Jersey Society's thirty thousand acres in New Jersey above the Falls of the Delaware. Mary Bailey's grandfather was John Bailey, one of the purchasers from the Indians of Elizabeth, N. J.

A highway was laid out through Hempstead Swamp, near Newtown, L. I., and in the apportionment of land 23 April 1668, Nathaniel and his brother Thomas 2d received ten acres each.

In the year 1673 war was declared between Holland and England, and Captain Keith came to Newtown to tender the oath of allegiance to its ninety-nine male inhabitants. Four of these, including Nathaniel Pettit 1st, were Quakers who, on 13 September 1673, refused the oath but promised fealty to the Dutch who had recently occupied Manhattan.

Nathaniel's name is on the Charter from Governor Dongan, 25 November 1686, with his sons Nathaniel, Moses and John. In 1696 he removed to Hopewell Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, settled at the Falls of the Delaware, and in 1696 bought 200 acres from John Wilsford, Sr. and Jr., who had bought it in 1685 from Mahlon Stacy and Peter Fretwell. In 1791 Nathaniel Pettit 1st was Collector of Hopewell Township."

13. Peter Fretwell married Elizabeth Wright in Chesterfield County in 1687. She was the only daughter of Joshua Wright and Elizabeth Empson, as indicated in an unrecorded will found in Trenton, New Jersey, on file in the Secretary of State's Office, Volume 4, page 231 of unrecorded wills:

"In the name of God, Amen, the 25th day of the first month 1690, I Joshua Wright of New Jersey near the falls of the Delaware River having often in my mind the uncertainty of our Days here, though at present being in good health and memory--praised be God--do make this my last will and testament....

I give to Peter Fretwell, my son-in-law, and Elizabeth his wife, my only daughter, our lot in the town of Burlington, belonging to the first part--to them and their heirs forever...."

14. In 1682, Arthur and Mary (nee Fretwell) Leving left England and followed William Penn to Pennsylvania. (By Laurence's account, this Mary is sister to Peter and John; but that has to be incorrect because Peter had no sister named Mary.)

15. In 1688, Rebecca Fretwell (Peter's sister) married John Warren in Chesterfield County.

16. John and Elizabeth Fretwell were at a Quaker monthly meeting in Burlington County in 1700.

17. Joshua, Samuel and Rebecca Fretwell were at a Quaker monthly meeting in Burlington County in 1700.

18. From the " History of Nova Caesarea - Part 8 - CHAP. XIX.", we learn that Peter Fretwell was a member of the New Jersey Assembly in 1708 and again in 1710. He may have been a member for other years than these, but this is the record we have. For the year 1708:

"John Lord Lovelace, baron of Hurley, being appointed to succeed lord Cornbury; he summoned the council to meet him at Bergen, December 20, 1708, published his commission, and met a new assembly ¹ in the spring, at Perth-Amboy, and informed them by speech:...."

" ¹For the Eastern division: Elisha Lawrence, Capt. Price, G. Mott, --- Shepard, J. Johnston, T. Gordon, J. Harrison, Tho. Fitzrandolph, Geo. Duncan, John Trent, Law. Vanbuskirk. Western division: John Kay, speaker, P. Fretwell, J. Kaighn, H. Sharp, T. Lambert, John Lewis, Samuel Smith, --- Dennis, Jacob Spicer, Robert Wheeler, William Bustill."

And for the year 1710:

"Brigadier Hunter arrived governor in the summer this year[ 1710],10 called a new assembly ¹¹to meet the 6th of December; they chose John Kay, of Gloucester, speaker, received the governor's speech; we give it in his own words:...."

" ¹¹The Members were,

For the town of Burlington: Isaac Decow, Robert Wheeler.
The county of Burlington: Thomas Lambert, Joshua Humphreys.
Gloucester: John Kay, John Kaighn.
The town of Salem: Hugh Middleton, John Mason.
The county of Salem: Bartholomew Wyat, Isaac Sharp.
Cape May: Peter Fretwell, Jacob Spicer.
The town of Perth-Amboy: John Johnston, John Reid.
The county of Middlesex: Thomas Farmer, Adam Hude.
Essex: Joseph Marsh, John Trent.
Bergen: Andreas Vanbuskirk, William Sanford.
Momouth: Gershom Mott, William Lawrence.
Somerset: Cornelius Longfield, John Tunison."

19. By 1713, Peter Fretwell was expanding his land holdings, as indicated in Chester, New Jersey records:

"Town of Chester
Morris County, New Jersey

1713-1714 -- surveyor John Reading, Jr. laid out land in the Chester area (known to the Indians as Roxiticus) for purchase.

Early purchasers of land included Abraham Bickley, John Budd, Thomas Budd, Francis Davenport, Peter Fretwell, Jonathan Wright, Isaac Pearson, Hannah Scot, Jacob Shinn, John Snowden and John Wills."

20. In 1718, Peter Fretwell's will was probated in Burlington County.

21. The last record we have found for Peter is dated 1719:

"Deed between Daniel Smith of Burlington, Merchant…with the advice and consent of Mary his wife of one part and Peter Fretwell of the same town of the other part. Whereas Thomas Hutchinson, Thomas Pearson, Joseph Helmsley, George Hutchinson and Mahlon Stacy by indentures of lease and release under the hands and seals of William Penn, Gavon Lawrie, Nicholas Lucas and Edward Byllinge bearing date of last day of February/first day of March [no year] conveyed unto the said Hutchinson, Pearson, Helmsley, Hutchinson and Stacy …in the public records of the province of New Jersey in Liber B, fol 137 and 138 will appear, and whereas Mahlon Stacy did by his indentures of lease and release dated the first and second days of November 1682 grant unto Samuel Old___ one ___ 3 thirthieth of a propriety to be taken up and surveyed in the province, reference in Liber B [? H? F?] fol. 23, and whereas Samuel Olden [?] did by indenture dated 30 April 1685 conveyed unto John Smith , blacksmith, his dwelling house and lots containing about half an acre and whereas John Smith did by his indenture dated 30 day 8th month commonly called October 1687 conveyed to John Smith fishmonger his house and lot of half an acre and whereas the said John Smith fishmonger made his last will and testament in writing and therein grant to his mother his brothers and sister all his estate to be shared among those who shall come from England, and some time after the death of the said John Smith his five brothers came into the said province and by the said will, recorded in the secretary’s office at Burlington, became lawfully seized and whereas Joseph Smith, Manuel Smith, Samuel Smith and Richard Smith, four of the brothers of the said John deceased did by their indenture of release bearing date the 19th of February 1716 convey unto their brother Daniel Smith all their rights to the land, as recorded in Liber BBB, folio 151, Now This Indenture witnesses that Daniel Smith for the consideration of 5 pounds sells to Peter Fretwell all his lot in the island of Burlington containing about half an acre. Bounds: Beginning at a hickory bush marked for a corner…etc. Signed by Daniel Smith, Mary Smith. On verso, witnessed by James Thomson, Gavas [James?] Hall, Isaac Decou [or Decon]. Recorded in 1719 . Note by Daniel Smith acknowledging receipt of 5 pounds, 4 January 1718. Deed made 7 January 1718. Attest, Isaac Decon or Decou, Samuel Haines. Recorded in the public records of the province of New Jersey in Liber BB, folio 81 and 82. Isaac DeCou Doct Secry [?] 7 January 1718. [possibly an error somewhere in that earlier deed from Smith brothers to Daniel Smith was said to be recorded in Liber BBB]."

In 1720, Joshua Fretwell's will was probated in Burlington County:

"Thomas and Elizabeth Curtis appeared, Feb 1, 1720, as witness to will of Joshua Fretwell of Mansfield Twp., Burlington Co."

-- New Jersey Wills, Series I, Vols. I & II.

23. The last record I have of Joshua Fretwell is in the " Records of Gervas Hall, Quaker, "( bethg.shutdown.com/hall/hall_gervas.html) which contains two entries for Fretwells:

"1718.1, FRETWELL, PETER of Burlington. Wit: GERVAS HALL. GERVAS HALL performed Inventory CONJW1 p175"

"1720.2.26, FRETTWELL, JOSHUA of Mancefield TWP. Will of Debys paid to GERVAS HALL & others. CONJW1 p174"

(As shown earlier, Peter and Joshua were brothers.)

Part III: The Record of Ralph Fretwell of Barbados and Pennsylvania.

1. Ralph Fretwell is found in many records. The first we have found is from 26 July 1655. Miles Burrowes of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, clothier aged 39, deposes that Edward Cole took out a financial obligation to him. He has appointed Ralph Fretwell of Barbados, merchant, as his attorney. (" The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1607-1776" MCD 6)

2. In 1657 William Fretwell , Ralph Fretwell and Mrs. Fretwell in London are named in probate of the Will of William Watters of Barbadoes.

3. On 23 November 1659, Anthony Wyne of London, merchant aged 31, deposes at the request of William Mackerness of London, cooper, as attorney for Richard Rands of Northampton, shoemaker, that on 22 November 1653 Ralph Fretwell of London, merchant, being then bound to Barbados, signed a financial obligation to Rands. (" The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1607-1776" MCD 9).

4. Ralph Fretwell, unlike Peter, John, and Thomas Fretwell, apparently was not a Quaker when he immigrated to the Americas. He became a Quaker in 1671, as recorded in " George Fox--An Autobiography, Chapter 18. Two Years in America. 1671-1673 "

"Afterwards, while we were at Barbadoes, ....

The same week I went to Bridgetown. There was to be a general meeting of Friends that week; and the visit I had made to the Governor, and the kind reception I had with him, being generally known to the officers, civil and military, many came to this meeting from most parts of the island, and those not of the meanest rank; several being judges or justices, colonels or captains; so that a very great meeting we had, both of Friends and others.

The Lord's blessed power was plentifully with us; and although I was somewhat straitened for time, three other Friends having spoken before me, yet the Lord opened things through me to the general and great satisfaction of them that were present. Colonel Lewis Morice came to this meeting, and with him a neighbour of his, a judge in the country, whose name was Ralph Fretwell, who was very well satisfied, and received the Truth."

5. There is an entry in Hinshaw's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF QUAKER GENEALOGY, Vol II, p. 528, which states that Ralph Fretwell was received into membership by the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends on a certificate issued by the Six Days Meeting of the Society of Friends of Barbados. The certificate was dated 1683, 12, 11 -- which by today's calendar would read 12 January 1684.

6. In the "History of Chester County," by Futhey and Cope, 1881.  pp.8-43, we find a record of a lawsuit against Ralph Fretwell, stemming from his purchase of a piece of property in 1684 from one Christopher Taylor, for which he had not fully paid when Mr. Taylor died. Taylor's administrator brought suit to recover the unpaid indebtedness: 

"It may be observed that this action was commenced in the Upland court June, 1681, but was "referred till next Court by reason that there’s noe Court without Justice Otto whoe is a party." The agreement referred to between the parties was made prior to May, 1683. The "brief of title" to this island recites a patent from Governor Lovelac, Oct. 1, 1669, to Andrew Carr and Margaret, his wife, who, by indorsement on the patent, conveyed the same to Arnoldus De Lagrange, June 20, 1672. Christopher Taylor became the owner Feb. 2, 1684, and partly sold it to Ralph Fretwell. His administrator, Robert Turner, brought suit against Fretwell for £590 17s. 9d.; the island was seized and sold by the sheriff to Turner, who conveyed it to Taylor’s heirs. Israel Taylor, son of Christopher, became the sole owner, and resided thereon till his death, in 1725. Among the jurors at the above trial were Francis Chelsey (Chadsey?), Robert, Thomas, and Randall Vernon, and John Kinsman."

7. Becoming a Quaker may have been good for Ralph's soul, but it immediately did great harm to his reputation and standing in Barbados. Because of his new religion, he began to hold religious meetings for Negro slaves, for which he was fined a great deal of money, and ultimately was removed from his judgeship. Following are the references:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12428/12428.txt The Project Gutenberg EBook of " The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament (1808) ," Vol. I, by Thomas Clarkson.

"Hence in Barbadoes an act was passed in 1676, under Governor Atkins, which was entitled, An Act to prevent the people called Quakers from bringing their Negroes into their meetings for worship, though they held these in their own houses. This act was founded on the pretence, that the safety of the island might be endangered, if the slaves were to imbibe the religious principles of their masters. Under this act Ralph Fretwell and Richard Sutton were fined in the different sums of eight hundred and of three hundred pounds, because each of them had suffered a meeting of the Quakers at his own house, at the first of which eighty Negroes, and at the second of which thirty of them, were present. But this matter was carried still further; for in 1680, Sir Richard Dutton, then governor of the island, issued an order to the Deputy Provost Marshal and others, to prohibit all meetings of this Society. In the island of Nevis the same bad spirit manifested itself.--So early as in 1661, a law was made there prohibiting members of this Society from coming on shore. Negroes were put in irons for being present at their meetings, and they themselves were fined also. At length, in 1677, another act was passed, laying a heavy penalty on every master of a vessel, who should even bring a Quaker to the island."

http://www.maltbyonline.co.uk/chapter8.shtml Maltbyonline >> The Growth of a Township Chapter Eight - The Seventeenth Century - Poverty, Affluence, Conformity:

"Just beyond the Parish boundary at Hellaby, one emergent family of merchants was becoming prominent. This family, the Fretwells, appear in the early Seventeenth Century Registers. They were numbered among the "gentry"! Like other up-and-coming families, they were buying and selling land around Maltby. They had humble beginnings in Maltby and Hellaby. It is recorded that in 1610 a Richard Fretwell, carpenter, married Lucy Herring of Hooton Levitt. One branch of the family lived in Hellaby Hall. The family is remembered in a quaint wall-tablet on the Don Jon Hotel: "James Fretwell built this, 1676". The tablet must originally have been attached to a wall in some earlier building, because the Don Jon is a modern structure. Although the Fretwells had inter-married with other "gentry", they passed out of Maltby's history. Before this happened Ralph Fretwell, a significant landowner, who lived at Hellaby Hall, went to Barbados in the West Indies. He was a sugar planter and Chief Justice of the Court of Common Please in Barbados. In 1671 Fretwell was convinced by George Fox, the Founder of the Quaker Movement. He became a Quaker and in 1674 was removed from his post as Chief Justice because of his beliefs. He suffered numerous prosecutions for allowing the Negro Children to attend religious meetings in his house, for not paying his Church dues and for refusing to carry out Militia duties. However, his single-mindedness and witness served him well materially. He gained enough wealth to build the present Hellaby Hall in 1692. It is a dramatic house with Dutch gables. It is now sadly in an advanced state of decay. Ralph Fretwell also became rich enough to leave each of his three daughters £5,000--a very large sum in those days!"

8. In 1683 we have an account of Ralph traveling from Barbados to Pennsylvania. He and other Friends picked up a "hitchhiker," one William Edmundson, a Quaker Missionary, as recounted in his journal, " A Journal of the Life of William Edmundson," Chapter 10:

http://www.calledtoholiness.com/quakers/lives/wedmundson/chapter10.html . No doubt this was the same voyage mentioned in the prior paragraph.

"After I had been laboring there some months [1683], it was with me to go to the Leeward Islands. Ralph Fretwell and some other Friends then going to Pennsylvania took me on board their vessel and put me on shore in Antigua and proceeded on their voyage. I stayed there some time and had many meetings both for doctrine and discipline where there was great need of laborers. When clear, I took passage from thence to Nevis where were honest, tender Friends, and we were well refreshed in the Lord and in one another. I had many sweet, comfortable meetings with them, to which also many people came, among whom were several justices of the peace who were tendered and confessed to truth."

9. In " Quaker Arrivals at Philadelphia 1682-1750 " by Albert Cook Myers, published in 1902, we find a Certificate of Removal for Ralph Fretwell signed by Thomas Fretwell, "from Six Weeks Meeting, in Barbadoes Island, West Indies 'intending shortly to leave this Island,' dated 12 mo 11, 1683 [12 January 1684] ." Thus, it appears that Ralph abandoned Barbados and moved to Philadelphia at this time.

10. Ralph Fretwell was active in land in Pennsylvania in the 1680s, as evidenced in, " The Papers of William Penn," Vol. 3, by Dunn & Dunn (Phila.: Univ. of Penna. Press; 1986), pp. 679ff [Ch., "215. The Blackwell Rent Roll, 1689-1690"], has these designations for types of "renters":

"OR = Old Renters, generally Swedish and Dutch, who acquired land prior to William Penn's proprietorship and were to pay him rent in grain"

"NP = New Purchaser, who purchased land subsequent to William Penn's departure from England in 1682"

Below are three lists:

1. [OR] = Old Renter,
2. [NP] = New Purchaser,
3. [SAL] = Some Also Listed.

[-] = not listed here {the book has many additional listings},
both < > & ( ) indicates the previous landowner(s), [OR] or [NP]
being the person that made the agreement with WP

FRETWELL , Ralph-- of Kent Co., 1000 acres, patented in 1681, surveyed in 1685 (and others; from [OR] DRAPER, Alexander);

FRETWELL , Ralph-- of Kent Co., 1000 acres, patented in 1682, surveyed in 1685 (and others; from [OR] BARTLETT, Nicholas);

DRAPER, Alexander-- of Sussex Co., 1000 acres, surveyed in 1684 (s.a. [SAL] FRETWELL, Ralph);

BARTLETT, Nicholas; [SAL] BURBURY, Samuel; [SAL] NEWELL, John; and

[SAL] PHILLIPS, Frederick -- of Kent Co., 950 acres, surveyed in 1687 (s.a. [SAL] FRETWELL, Ralph);"

11. Ralph held 12 square miles of land (about 7,680 acres) in 1684, according to abstracts from " Early Land Records Of Pennsylvania" by Egles:

Wm Penn Land Warrants, Grants and Resurveys for "Welsh Settlers" & "Penn Quakers".

Ref: Book "C" , page 31

At a meeting of the Commissioners in the Council Room at Philada ye 25th of ye 8 Mo., 1687. Present: William Markham, Thomas Ellis, John Goodson. According to Notice given ye last sitting of ye Commissioners there appeared of ye Inhabitants of ye Caves on the Bank (of the Delaware River).... Joel Baily applying for 200 A's at the Back of Peter Dix, South of Brandywine. Ordered that it be not Sold til Is, Few

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ref: Book "G" , page 468

The Propry, by his Warrant, dat.. 4, 6 mo. 1684, Granted To Peter Yocom 500 acres Of Land at 1/2d p'r Acre, whom Thom's Holme, Surv'd Gen'l, Ordered to be laid out On the W't side Skuylkill above all the Welch Townships, not Interfereing With the 12 miles square belonging to Ralph Fretwell, and Accordingly was Suv'd by Dav'd Powell, but fell within Part of that Tract appropriated To Laetitia Penn in right of her Original Purchase of 5,000 a's, which tract including divers Other Lesser Quantities before Suv'd to Other Persons. The Prop'ry Ordered that the s'd Lesser Quantities should be Confirmed to these persons, and accordingly Samuel Carpenter and Jam's Logan, Attorneys for the Trustees of Wm. Aubry, Are to Confirm the said Land, 250 a's thereof to Jno. Hughs, To whom Peter Yocom (SEE William Clayton Liberty Grants), in his lifetime, Sold the Same, and the Other 250 a's to the said Peter's Children to whom, by will, he left the Same."

12. In 1685 Ralph and another merchant formed The Barbadoes Company:

" An organization called 'The Barbadoes Company' was brought into being in 1685 by merchants, of whom were Ralph Frettwell and Francis Gamble, of the island of Barbadoes. On October 20, 1685, they purchased of John Edmonson, a merchant of Talbot County, Md., several large tracts of land as follows: "Edmonds' Berry," one thousand acres; "Plains of Jerico," twelve hundred acres; "Long Acre" one thousand acres; and Longford, six hundred acres, all lying on or near the main branch of Murderkill Creek and mostly in Milford Hundred. The most of this land was subsequently sold by Francis Gamble to the Pennsylvania Land Company. The latter company was formed in London a few years after Penn's arrival in this country, and in 1699 purchased of him sixty thousand acres of land situated mostly in Pennsylvania and partly in New Castle County, an account of which will be found in the hundreds of Brandywine and Christiana. They continued in operation buying and selling land till about 1780, when their lands were all sold. The purchasers in Kent County were for the most part in Milford Hundred. A recital of some of the early lands is given before they came into the possession of the company."

-- Scharf, Thomas J., History of Delaware, 1609-1888: Volume Two, Chapter LXIV: Milford Hundred -- pp. 1182-1200.

13. In 1685 we find a record of Ralph doing some surveying in Pennsylvania. Ralph may have been a good judge, and a man of integrity, but apparently he was not a very good surveyor's assistant. In 1685 he and another man ran a survey line which ended up in hot dispute:

"It was not until 1685 that the Provincial Council, sitting at Philadelphia, fixed the line between Philadelphia and Chester counties. (Remember that Montgomery county was part of Philadelphia until 1784; Delaware part of Chester until 1789). Beginning at the Delaware, the line ran up Bough (Bow) creek to Mill (Cobbs) creek, up Mill creek "to a W.S.W. Line [City avenue], which Line divided the Liberty Lands of Philadelphia from Severall Tracts of Land belonging to the Welsh & Other Inhabitants; and from thence E.N.E. by a Line of Marked Trees, 120 perches more or Less; from thence N.N.W. by the harford [Haverford] Township, 1000 perches more or less; from thence E.N.E. by ye Land belonging to Jno. Humpheris, 110 perches more or less; from thence N.N.W. by ye Land of Jno. Ekley, 880 perches more or Less; from Thence Continuing ye said Course to the Scoolkill River;" etc.

This was the unanimous verdict of the Council, after weighing the expressed wishes of Governor Penn, who was then absent in England. The distances given are approximate; they were probably not intended to be exact. But it appears that the line of Haverford township was placed too far north-east. No sooner was the line surveyed than it was challenged by Henry Lewis, John Bevan & others "in behalf of Welsh Friends." Lewis's lands were in Haverford; Bevan's were in what is now Lower Merion, adjoining Lewis's. The complaint was against Charles Ashcome, deputy surveyor of Chester county, who, with Ralph Fretwell, had run the line. Ashcome was frequently involved in disputes with land-owners. As he had previously laid out some of the lands in Haverford township, he was required to bring in a draught of them. After comparing his with that of David Powell, who had laid out Merion, Council recommended a compromise, which probably resulted in the line now separating Lower Merion and Haverford."

--from " Glimpses of Lower Merion History," by Charles R. Barker, on The Lower Merion Historical Society webpage: http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/texts/barker.html (Planned as a series of newspaper articles, but never published.)"

14. In 1701 Ralph Fretwell died leaving his two daughters, Dorothy and Mabel, in England.

Part IV: Other Quaker Fretwells in America.

We found a document wherein a partnership was dissolved. At first it caused us to believe that Peter, John, or Samuel Fretwell had a male descendant who is unrecorded in any documents we have discovered so far. The hint of this is found in the following excerpt:

"Whereas the partnership between Frettwell and Jonathan Wright is dissolved, this is therefore to desire all persons who have any accounts against them since their being in partnership, to bring them in that they may be settled."

-- From the New York Gazette, No. 2772, Jan. 2, 1775.

Jonathan Wright is the son of Elizabeth Fretwell, daughter of Peter Fretwell. Peter, John, and Samuel would have been long since dead by this date. So who was this phantom Fretwell? At first we concluded that Peter, John, or Samuel had an unrecorded son. Shela Fretwell, however, has provided a far more satisfying explanation. The "Frettwell" mentioned in the document is none other than Frettwell Wright, son of Johnathan Wright, and the document is dissolving a partnership between son and father. (Thus this record is not about Fretwells at all. We include it here to prevent confusion for others.)

The New Jersey records also refer to three other Quaker Fretwells: Nathaniel, Jeremiah, and Thomas Fretwell:

1. Nathaniell Fretwell was a juror in Burlington County in 1705.
2. Jeremiah Fretwell was a commissioner in Monmouth County in 1713.
3. Concurrent with Peter and John Fretwell was one Thomas Fretwell. Whereas we know quite a bit about Peter, we know virtually nothing about John, and very little about Thomas. Here is the first record we have of Thomas:

" genealogy.patp.us/par-yrks.shm

Yorkshire Records 1530s to 1702
Parish Record Excerpts

Isolated records of names found in early New Jersey.
Some of these names are also found in early Frederick Co, VA.

Keep in mind that many entries here come from registers of non-conformists, so include many Quakers; and that the Quaker community of Burlington, West Jersey, was largely established by people from London and from Yorkshire; the two groups seem to have taken lots on either side of a dividing line.

1672 Jun 4 James ANTRAM and Alice Crossely [Ro]
1673 Jul 3 James Antram and Margaret Whaites [Ro]
1679 Nov. 13 Mary DICKINSON wife to Jere. D. buried at Halifax aged 54 [HB]
1681/2 Feb 21 Thomas FRETWELL and Sarah Bradbury, widow [Ro]
1539 Jun 2 Wm Haldesworth & Agnes Hawghton [HP]
1678 Sr Rich. HOUGHTON of Houghton Tower ffeb. aged 60 buried [HB]
1690 Aug. 4 Saml s. Willm. LUPTON, Wakefield bapt. [HC]
1681 Jul 10 Richard OGDIN and Grace Greenwood, widow [Ro]
1645 Aug 24 Mary dau Robt PARKE bapt. [CC/HC]
1644 Nov 17 Judith the daughter John SALTONSTALL bapt. [CC]
1679 John Saltonstall, Wyke, buried Jan 2-, aged 74 [HB]
1669/70 Jan 24 Nicholas SATTERTHWAITE and Helen Taylor [Ro]
1675 Oct 7 Thomas Satterthwaite and Rosamund Machion [Ro]
1665 Jun 1 John SCHOLEY and Martha TINDALL [Ro]
1667 Jul 23 Richard Scholey and Elizabeth Greene [Ro]
1678/9 Jan 23 John STOUT buried [Sc]
1658 June 20 Joshua S Joseph WRIGHT bapt. [CC/HC]
1659 Decem 18 Jonathan s. Joseph Wright, Hipperholme bapt. [CC/HC]
1661/2 Jan.18 Hanna d. Joseph Wright Hipperholme bapt. [CC/HC]
1675 Oct 19 Thomas Wright and Anne Kent [Ro]
1680 Nove 16 Richard Wright and Elizabeth Milner [Ro]
1687 June 9 Robt s. John Wright, Bingley bapt. [HC]
1688 Apr. 30 Joseph s. Joshua Wright [HC]"

4. Thomas Fretwell signed a Certificate of Removal for Ralph Fretwell,  "from Six Weeks Meeting, in Barbadoes Island, West Indies 'intending shortly to  leave this Island,'" dated 12 mo 11, 1683. This proves that Thomas was a Quaker, and of some eminence in the Quaker heirarchy.

5. In 1686 a Joseph HARBIN, Thomas Fretwell, and Edward Wright took a five-year lease from James Ashford for a place which they wanted to continue to be a Quaker meeting house (from an article on Joseph & Alexander Harbin: "Two Barbadian Merchants, Their Families & Descendants" in the Journal of the Barbados Museum & Historical Society).

6. Because we have just started studying the Quaker Fretwells, we have no information for the time period from about 1700 to 1800.

7. Thereafter, we thought we found evidence that there were Quaker Fretwells in Virginia. Hinshaw's Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy, Vol. 6, Campbell County [Virginia] Marriage Bonds, Page 818 gives us the following records:

" FRETWELL

1810, 10, 20. Lenard & Nancy Timberlake

1813, 3, 6. Richard & Margaret Mann"

Leonard Fretwell and Nancy Timberlake (listed above) are the oldest clearly documented ancestors of my family line (my g-g-grandfather). The Richard Fretwell listed above is a younger brother of Leonard.

Finding both Richard and Leonard in the Quaker marriage records made me almost certain that they both were Quakers, because one of the reasons for shunning by the Quakers was marrying of individuals who are not Friends:

" Disownment (Denial): This is the termination of membership due to actions such as military service, attending services of other denominations, marrying individuals who are not Friends, intemperance, failure to attend meeting regularly, and owning slaves."

However, once again Shela Fretwell set the record straight. Hinshaw's Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy has more that just Quaker marriages listed; so it proves nothing other than the dates of their marriages.

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latest version: 8-09-2018