Lauren, a fellow Elliott researcher reached out to me this past month because of information that she had read on this blog about our mutual Elliott family, Two brothers, Jacob and Abraham, moved their families to what is now Randolph County, NC c, 1764. I find three Abraham Elliots in the census of 1790 in Randolph County. It took me years to sort them out. I now call the oldest of these three Abraham Elliotts Abraham Sr, He is the brother to Jacob, Both Abraham Sr. and Jacob had sons named Abraham Elliott. Thus accounting for all three of the Abraham Elliotts found there. I descend from Abraham who is the son of Jacob, Lauren descends from Israel who is also the son of Jacob. And a third researcher who has done yDNA testing and falls into Haplogroup C descends from Jacob's son, Jacob Jr. who married Betty Beeson,
Lauren has sent me information that helps to solidify the connection of Jacob Elliott to parents John and Sarah Elliott, Lauren did Quaker research that I had never thought to do. She followed the widow, Sarah, of John who died relatively early. Sarah married a man with surname Farmer who lived close by after John's death, And there are Quaker records that show Sarah's connection to this family continue after her second marriage,
Apparently, John Ellet was living in New Jersey and was a part of the Burlington MM there, There is a very good overview of Burlington MM at:
https://burlmhcc.org/history/
1677 Meeting for Worship under sails“Burlington, as a Friends’ settlement, is older than Philadelphia, and second only to Salem, in this part of the country. It was the ship Kent which in the year 1677 carried two hundred and thirty Friends from England, where they were suffering persecution for conscience’ sake.
True to their religious character immediate provisions were made for gatherings for worship. The sail of the ship Kent provided the first shelter.”
I do not know at this time if the Elliott family was among those 230 Quakers. Nor do I know when John Ellet's family first appear in Burlington. You can see from the map above that Burlington is up river from Philadelphia. What I have read said that the Friends moving there walked the final miles to the location of this land they had bought from the Lanape Indians, So Burlington was not a port.
Here is a screen shot of a part of the minutes of Burlington MM in which they record that John Ellet has made application for a move to Nottingham MM in PA. This is dated the 2nd month of 1722
At the Monthly Meeting held the 4th Month of 1722 John Ellet receives his certificate that he is in good standing to take with him for his move to Nottingham Monthly Meeting in Pennsylvania.
I have found it not as easy to follow John Ellet as he moves away from Burlington Monthly Meeting. And I want to look at some records that Lauren sent me concerning Sarah Elliott ..but I'll come back and edit this more at a later date.
And today is the day that I am going to work on the move from Burlington. I am totally confused at this point. The certificate given to John and Sarah is for Nottingham MM. However the records found in Hinshaw's encyclopedia show John actually received at New Garden MM in the 8th month of 1722. Where did he actually move? I believe it likely that he and Sarah moved first to the Nottingham Lots that were then under the care of New Garden Monthly Meeting. I have not done the land research to prove this assumption.
I have found a paper entitled
The Nottingham Lots and the Early Quaker Families
A Paper Presented by
Robert Warwick Day, Ph.D.
Spartanburg, South Carolina
September 29, 2001
East Nottingham Monthly Meeting
Calvert, Cecil Co., Maryland
Robert Warwick say:
Lest we forget, this comer of Maryland was mostly part of southwestern Chester County, PA, one of William Penn's original counties after his founding of Pennsylvania in 1682. This area of the county represented the western frontier of Pennsylvania at that time, and the lands west of here were primarily tribal and unsettled by Europeans.
......
Subsequent to the establishment of the area, the Friends laid out a road through the center of the Nottingham Lots. This road was a continuation of the old road from Philadelphia to Darby, Chester, Kennett Square, New London, and then Nottingham. This was also the major road for Quaker migration from Philadelphia to the southwest, as a number of Quaker villages sprung up along this route in the late 1600's.
The Nottingham area at that time has been described as rich in natural resources, with heavily forested lands and trees that included hickory, chestnut, walnut, and oak. The land was fertile and the streams were said to be clear and vibrant. New economic opportunities were plentiful for new settlers to this area.
Nottingham was a frontier village for its first 30 years, while settlers cleared the land and built roads, shops, dwellings, and the Meetinghouse. The Lots were populated by "simple, frugal, and industrious people" who combined farming with one or more of the occupations of that time including milling, blacksmithing, carpentry, clock making, tanning. They raised extensive crops of wheat, corn, and vegetables. Tobacco was not grown here since the soil would not support it.
and here is the answer that I was looking for:
The religious and cultural heart of the Nottingham Lots was clearly the East Nottingham Monthly Meeting (or Brick Meetinghouse), which was part of William Penn's original plan. In either 1707 or 1709, a log cabin was built to serve as the first Nottingham Meetinghouse. In 1715, the East Nottingham Monthly Meeting was organizationally affiliated with the Newark Monthly Meeting. In 1718, Brick Meetinghouse was put under the care of New Garden Monthly Meeting after New Garden separated from Newark.
In 1724, the 2 1/2 story structure was built and in 1730, the East Nottingham Monthly Meeting (or Brick Meetinghouse) was organized as a separate Monthly Meeting. There were two separate sides, one of brick and one of stone, one side for the men and the other side for the women. It is thought to have been the largest Quaker meetinghouse south of Philadelphia, within the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, for the next few decades.
However in 1722 (when John and Sarah Elliott made their move) The Meetinghouse at the Nottingham Lots would have been under the care of New Garden Monthly Meeting.
There is an excellent bibliography at the end of the article.
Here are two maps giving an idea of to where John and Sarah Moved. You can see that the Nottingham Lots were just west of New Garden MM.
I will also copy here the names of the original settlers in The Nottingham Lots area. There is not
an Elliott among these names,
The original purchasers of lots included the following individuals: Joel Baily, John Bales or Beals, Edward Beeson, James Brown, William Brown, John Churchman, James Cooper, Robert Dutton, Cornelious Empson, Ebeneser Empson, Randal Janney, Andrew Job, Samuel Littler, Henry Reynolds, and John Richardson.
Other prominent families that came very early were the families of Chandlee, Coppock, Gatchell, Haines, Hollingsworth, Kirk, Preston, Pugh, Sidwell, White, and Wright.
But perhaps as we do more research we will find friends and neighbors of the Elliott family among the list.
A tree on Ancestry shows man with name Edward Beeson as the great grandfather of Betty Beeson who married Jacob Elliott Jr. in Randolph County, NC. Many of the other names are names I recognize from research on my Elliott family in NC and Ohio and Indiana.
As I looked for records for New Garden Monthly Meeting, I found a nice history of this area at:
It seems that the original settlers at New Garden had been members of New Garden Monthly Meeting in County Carlow, Ireland. Had John married Sarah before his move to New Garden? Yes, I think so. I found what I believe to be the answer to this in Hinshaw. It seems that Sarah also took a certificate with her to Nottingham with her last name of Elliott. I looked through all of Hinshaw's notes on Burlington and could not find a marriage nor birth for this couple. If other researchers' dates are correct for John, the couple was quite young in 1722. Perhaps they were moving to find land on which they could farm.
It seems that the records for New Garden Monthly Meeting are held by Swarthmore College as well as Haverford College and have not been digitalized. I need to double check this information,. So perhaps the entry in Hinshaw is as good as we can get until it is possible to travel to the Philly area in person. The minutes do start in 1718, so it is likely that one could access this entry. I am updating this a few days later. I have found records for New Garden on Ancestry but haven't finished looking at them
Lauren sent me a copy of taxes that confirms where John and Sarah were living and also the date of John's death. She made a chart that shows John Elliott paying taxes in West Nottingham Township in 1724, 1725, and 1726/27 Then in Sadsbury in 173l and 1732. In 1734 Widow Elliott is paying taxes in Sadsbury Township
The question is if the change in where they paid taxes is a move or is just a different jurisdiction for the same location. Below is a map showing where in Pennsylvania Chester County is now located and where West Nottingham Township is located in Chester County.
SADSBURY.
In old records this is sometimes written Sudbury, and it may have been named for Sudbury in the county of Suffolk, England. The name of Sadsbury occurs as early as June 1, 1708, in a deed for land therein, but the township was not organized till 1717. That part of the township lying in the Great Valley was taken up at an early date in right of purchases made in England, and that part north of the valley at a somewhat later period.
In 1718 the taxables were but nine in number,—William Grimson, James Hamer, Thomas Hayward, John Musgrave, William Smith, Moses Musgrave, William Marsh, John Whitesides, and John Moor. For several years after this Sadsbury and Fallowfield formed one assessment district. The first township officer mentioned
was William Mash (Marsh), who appeared at court Nov. 26, 1717, and was succeeded, 1718, by William Grimson ; 1719, by Moses Musgrove; 1720, by William Sith ; 1721, by Robert Stanford ; 1722, by John Musgrave; 1723, by Gainer Peirce ; 1724, by David Hastings ; 1725, by Simeon Woodrow ; 1726, by John Bowles ;
1727, by George Leonard ; 1728, by James Swaffer (E. S.) and John
Guy (W. S.) ; 1729, by Amos Williams (B. S.) and John
Matthews (W. S.) ; 1730, John Minshall.
The above is from From History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with Genealogical and Biographical Sketches. by J. Smith Futhey and Gilbert Cope. (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1881. Press of J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia).
So it would seem that this was a move for John and Sarah from West Nottingham to Sadsbury. Lauren's chart shows that John Farmer paid taxes in Sadsbury in 1734/35/36 and 1740. This supports the theory that Sarah Elliott and John Farmer were neighbors when they married.
Below is a smaller version of the above:
Here is the reinstatement from the New Garden Minutes:
and below is Sarah's letter showing her desire to be taken back into the care of the Quaker community.
While looking for something else, I found the original document in which Phebe and Alexander Frazier appear for the first time at the Monthly Meeting. I particularly like the end where the comment is made: The Young Man is expected to bring a few lines from his parents.
From Lauren is information about the wedding of Sarah's daughter, Phebe, just a few months later:
Isaac is likely Phebe's brother Isaac who was married at the time of Phebe's wedding but died just two years later at the young age of 24. I believe Isaac Eliot to be another brother to Jacob, Abraham, Benjamin. Later in September I heard from Donna that she had information about Isaac after he move to Ohio and that he is not the Isaac who died at such an early age. I need to sort this out
Below is the original document for Phebe's marriage to Alexander Frazier. You will have to manipulate it to see it in it's entirety.
This clearly states that Sarah Elliott Farmer was "of Manchester" at the time of Phebe's marriage. Manchester was in Lancaster County at this date as York County was not formed until 1749. Had she and John moved to Manchester from Nottingham Lots? Or she and John Farmer had moved from Nottingham Lots to Manchester? Or perhaps all of them had been living there for a while? The earlier information indicates that Manchester would not have existed at the time of John and Sarah's first move as histories say that the land west of the Susquehanna had not been settled as early as 1722.
Here is a list of the children of Alexander Frazier and Phebe Elliott. Note that Alexander's death left Phebe with very young children. Alexander died in 1758. That last column is deaths.
In November 2021 Lauren suggested the possibility that Sarah Elliot's maiden name was Garretson. And I looked at that based on the wedding witnesses at the wedding of Phebe Elliott and Alexander Frazier. Indeed there were more than a few Garretson family members at the wedding who signed as witnesses.
So I did some poking around. And there are over 3000 trees (that doesn’t make the information correct….I realize that) that have information about Alexander Frazier’s family. And from what I am seeing on these trees, Phebe was Alexander’s second wife. I started the looking thinking that James and Rebecca Frazier who are at the top of the right hand side of the witness list for the wedding of Alexander Frazier and Phebe Ellet must be parents of Alexander. But it seems that they are not. Instead they are Alexander’s brother, James Frazier and his wife Rebecca Cox Frazier. Then I found the below. You will have to manipulate to read....the smaller version is too hard to read. I will skip to below and just put in the witnesses.
This is the marriage of James and Rebecca….and it seems that either William Garretson is a relative of this couple or perhaps the home of William Garretson is being used for meetings in this time period? They are married in his home. There are no Elliot family members present. While I do not rule out a relationship between the Garretson family and Sarah Elliot, I suspect that the relationship is between the Frazier and Garretson family instead.
In fall 2005 I viewed:
I made the following notes while viewing the article:
John Farmer’s land was next to the Elliott’s...... I had never seen info that Ann Wall was from Ireland. Information was taken Meeting records, Land records, reseaerch of Mrs. Audrey Casari and personal research. It might be noted there were more than a handful of Elliott’s in Kingsessing. I have seen where John Ellot (c1691-c1734) was identified with his cousin (?) in Kingsessing in the glass-making business and possibly was listed in the Burlington MM in New Jersey, no date given.....
Lauren also sent screen copy of information from wedding of a second daughter, Sarah:
Again the witnesses include Benjamin Eliot and Jacob Elliot
In addition, Lauren has shown that at the same time that Jacob and Abraham moved to NC, their mother and her second husband also made the move:
