Townsend

 Townsend cousins, Mary Kay Ross and Sue Downey.  I think that Milton Cook also is a Townsend descendent through Elizabeth Townsend Cook.

Kim Townsend Spangrude who was unable to attend the Homecoming sent the following information:

I recently was able to correct some DAR records on John and Elvira (Cain) Townsend and the brief military role he and his brothers had in the Revolutionary War.  They were the sons of John and Elizabeth (Pearson) Townsend, and because they "took up arms in a war-like manner", they were di-united with the Bush River MM.  They later became reunited/reinstated when the war was over.  

John and Elvira Townsend and family eventually made their way through Ohio and down to Wayne, Indiana, with the other Bush River members, where they stayed.  Born in 1763, John died in 1853, and is buried in Fountain City, Indiana, in the Willow Grove Cemetery. His wife Elvira died at the age of 102 in 1870, and is buried in Friends Cemetery, West Elkton, Preble County Ohio.

Some major errors in the very first applications for John Townsend as a patriot,were made by DAR members in the early 20th Century.   The biggest error found by contemporary researchers of the DAR and SAR, was that the earliest applications for John Townsend as patriot stated that he and his family were in Burke County, North Carolina.  (This John Townsend who lived there is actually a very distant cousin to our John Townsend).  Because there was inadequate documentation that they served under Nathanial Greene and later received land for their military service, my initial application to the DAR was denied; all the earlier applications and members who had applied through this John Townsend with the very same information would be able to remain as members, although the information given was found to be inaccurate.  And all future applications based on this information would also be denied membership.   I had to prove that he actually was in South Carolina at Padgets Creek MM (which reported to the Bush River Friends Meeting) having come from Pennsylvania (including the Pearsons, Cains, Chandlers, Cooks, Wrights, Jones and of course many other family names), and that he and his brothers fought in the Revolutionary War when Charlston was under seige.  They served under Col. Thomas Brandon, a militia leader in Union County, South Carolina, a neighbor of the Townsends – John Jr., William and James.

Mary Kay recently contacted me with the following question.  Please get in touch if you have any answers for Mary Kay:

I am currently addressing an old question, but trying new avenues for the answer. My ancestor, William Townsend, 1759-1824 is my mover. He was born in PA and died in Greenville, Ohio. He lived in the Bush River area and he along with his brother were disowned by the faith for "going out in a warlike manner"in 1781. It is documented in Hinshaw.

 Records show he had children in SC before leaving for Ohio in the early 1800's. I simply cannot find the maiden name of  Margaret, his wife. He must have been

married in SC probably some time before his war service..(1778 - 1780) (first child was born  about 1780).

I have researched Margaret (William's wife),  even have her "will". No mention of a maiden name. In an effort to follow up on our Ohio trip, I called Guilford College and spoke to someone in the research library. She simply gave me the information from Hinshaw, nothing more. Any clue where I go from here??

Obviously they met and married in SC. The couple moved to Waynesville and then on to Greenville, Ohio. After William's death, she moved to Allen County, Indiana. She died there in 1845

If you have any further comments or suggestions re: Margaret Townsend, I would be forever grateful. For instance, are there records of Quaker marriages in the Bush River groups? I think they were married before his service. Are there records of members of the Quaker Meetings? I wonder if she sought a widow's pension which might have her maiden name.

Misc Thomas and Cox information from Kathie Johnston

Kathie sent the following in an answer to this Question?

Re: How long did Cox and Thomas folks stay at Miami MM and would they have worshipped in log cabins or White Brick meeting houses.

William and Elizabeth Thomas Cox's certificate from Bush River was definitely for Miami MM. (3/29/1806 Wm Cox and fam gct Miami MM, OH).

Per Bush River MM minutes. A Jesse Thomas and fam., gct Miami MM in 1805. Not sure who he is.  Isaac and Mary Thomas's children: John and fam. 1806, Edward and w. Mary 1807, have certificates from Bush River to Miami MM. A Sarah Thomas (not sure if she is connected) gct Mill Creek MM, Ohio in 1819.

Per Miami MM records: William Cox and w. Elizabeth and ch. Jemima, John, Elizabeth and Sarah rocf 4/9/1807 from Bush River MM.  John Thomas and family received on cert. from Bush River 4/9/1807; Mary Thomas and ch. Evan, Nehemiah, Sarah and Phebe Thomas rocf Bush River 5/4/1807; Edward and w. Mary Thomas and children rocf Bush River 7/9/1807. Jacob and Mary Thomas Wisener rocf Bush River 5/4/1807- with three children.  Jacob and Mary Wisener gct to West Branch MM 4/8/1809. Several other Thomases mentioned between 1805 and 1810 in Miami MM - not sure of connections.  Between 1813 and 1816 several Thomas individuals and families gct West Branch MM. In 1830, Edward and w. Mary Thomas (possibly "ours") gct to Arba MM in Randolph Co, IN. We are pretty sure that "our" Edward and Mary Wright Thomas are the ones buried at Arba, so this makes sense.

West Branch MM (set off from Miami MM early in 1807 but they had been meeting for about two years. Located in Miami County near West Milton, OH) records include lots of Coxes and Thomases. Can't sort all of them out, but in Birth and Death section lists some of Isaac and Mary Thomas's children: John and wife Anna Pemberton and children; Abel (probably "ours") and wife  Ruth and children; Evan s. Isaac and Mary and his wife Sara Cox dt of David and Jane and children; Phebe (Isaac and Mary Thomas's youngest) m. David Cox in 1809; Isaiah (son of John and Ann- probably Isaac and Mary's 3rd son) and his wife Elizabeth Cox dt of David and Ann and their children. Isaiah died in 1862, and record says he is buried at South Fork. Also, Sarah Thomas, Isaac and Mary Thomas's second youngest, married Thomas Thornton in 1813 and on and on for several pages.

West Branch shows that on 11/19/1808 Mary (Davies) Thomas and children Evan, Nehemiah, Sarah and Phebe rocf Bush River MM dated 1/31/1807, endorsed by Miami MM 8/11/1808. SO they pretty much were endorsed by Miami and began attending West Branch immediately. Same with Jacob and Mary Thomas Wisener. Jacob and son Isaac Wisener on 5/20/1809 were rocf Miami MM dated 4/8/1809. Per the records, it appears that some of the other children stayed in the Miami Meeting til 1813, 1817, etc. before transferring into West Branch.

Union MM (set off from West Branch in early 1813, located in Miami County, OH) in Ohio shows on 9/8/1819, that Nehemiah Thomas of Montgomery Co, s of Isaac and Mary,married Elizabeth Pemberton, daut of Isaiah and Esther of Miami County. Several other Thomas - Pemberton marriages over the next 36 years show up in Union MM records!

Sometimes it is very easy to tell if someone is a son/daut of Isaac and Mary Davies Thomas family, or the William and Elizabeth Thomas Cox family, but there are a fair number of Cox and Thomas individuals with similar names that I can't sort out- but it's fun to speculate!

OK- my head is spinning now... off to choir and a different challenge to my brain!

Kathie Johnston

kathquilt@gmail.com

Miami Monthly Meeting

I wanted to add a few more things to the information about the Miami Monthly Meeting itself.  I was afraid that adding a lot of text into the already existing blog post would make it unwieldy.  So I will add it in this post.


On Saturday morning, Milton talked with us about the history of the Red Brick and the White brick and the Orthodox and Hicksite split and many things of interest to the group.  I want to add some of it here as I have time.

Re: Red and White Brick Meeting Houses.

According to Milton's talk- there was a small log cabin built approximately where the Red Brick Meeting House is now.  Shortly after that, there was a 30' x 30' bigger log cabin meeting house built in the same location.  The White Brick was built in 1822.   It is most likely that one of the log cabins would have been the place of meeting when the bulk of the Bush River folks would have arrived.

The Below is from:  http://www.quaker.org/ovym/index_files/OVYMHistory.htm

In April, 1801, twelve families (81 individuals) in the Waynesville area began meeting for worship in a member‘s home. Near the end of that year they sent a request to Westland Meeting, Pennsylvania (Baltimore Yearly Meeting) for establishing a regular meeting for worship on First and Fifth Days. This request was granted in Ninth Month, 1802. The Meeting was called Miami. Early in 1803 Miami asked Westland Meeting for permission to establish a Monthly Meeting; and when the request was approved, the Monthly Meeting was opened, Tenth Month 13, 1803. The eastern boundary was the Hocking River, the southern was the Ohio River, but there was no limit to the north or to the west. During this period of migration, hundreds of Friends from the Carolinas and Georgia brought their membership to Miami Monthly Meeting, until such time as other meetings could be established in the Northwest Territory. By 1815, Miami Monthly Meeting was said to have the largest membership of any Friends Meeting in Quakerdom.

After its establishment in 1803, Miami Monthly Meeting set off many new Meetings. Among the earliest ones were Lees Creek, Hardin Creek, Caesar‘s Creek, West Branch, Elk, Center and Whitewater. In 1807 Miami, West Branch and Center Monthly Meetings requested that a new Quarterly Meeting be established to be known as Miami Quarterly Meeting, to be held at Waynesville, Ohio, on the second Seventh Day in the Second, Fifth, Eighth and Eleventh Months. Baltimore Yearly Meeting having approved the request, Miami Quarterly Meeting was opened, Fifth month 1809. The building of the White Brick Meetinghouse at Waynesville was begun in 1811 to accommodate the Quarterly Meeting.

The following information came from an article that Bob Cooke shared with me:

MIAMI MONTHLY MEETING: HISTORICAL.

A NOTEWORTHY omission occurred in the recent reports of the proceedings of Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends, published in the INTELLIGENCER; there is no mention that the place of meeting was at Waynesville, Ohio. After the memorable and deplorable division of 1828 this branch of the Society gathered in a yearly meeting capacity at Miami (Waynesville), commencing in the year 1828 and continuing until 1835, when a change of meeting-place was made. In the year 1836 the sessions were held at Whitewater (Richmond, Indiana), and from that time until 1898 the yearly meetings of the Society were held alternately at Richmond and at Waynesville.  The yearly meeting for the first time convened at Pendleton, Ind., in 1899, then they followed in regular succession at Richmond in 1900, and at Waynesville this year, and in this order they will follow, at Pendleton, Richmond, and Waynesville, until changed. In this connection it will be interesting to note the remarkable emigration of Friends during the early years of the last century, from the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia, to the then newly-created Miami Monthly Meeting. This monthly meeting was first established Tenth month 13, 1803, and it embraced all of the territory north of the Ohio river and west of the Hocking. The membership of the meeting increased 365 during the year 1804, mostly by removals from Bush River and Cain Creek Meetings, in South Carolina,

Wrightsboro' Meeting, Georgia, and from Monthly Meetings in North Carolina, Virginia, and Lost Creek, Tennessee. During one month of that year 120 persons, adults and children, were received into membership by certificates from other monthly meetings. The increase during the next year was yet more marked; it rose to 621. From Bush Creek, S. C., came the families of Pugh, Hollingsworth, Furnas, Jay, Evans, Compton,

Mills, Steddom, Lewis, Cook, and Kelly. From Cain Creek the families of Hawkins, Kenworthy, Stout, Doan, and Spray. From Deep Creek, N. C., the Mendenhalls. From Wrightsboro' Monthly Meeting, Georgia, the families of Davis, Mote, and Stubbs. From meetings in Tennessee, the Newmans, Nordykes, Sanders, Ballards, and Tothunters. From Virginia the Haines, Walker, and Lupton families. From New Jersey came the Silver, Brown, Ward, Packer, Hopkins, and Test families. From Maryland the Wright family. And at about the same time, but a little later, came the families of Farquhar (from Pipe Creek, Md.), Pedrick (Pilesgrove Monthly Meeting), Whitacre (Crooked Run Monthly Meeting), and Johnson (New Garden, N. C.). As might be surmised, with the rapid increase in the membership of the meeting it was but a short time until other monthly meetings were established near to Miami. In the year 1807 Centre Monthly to

the East and West Branch Monthly to the West were " set up." We have realized that while the lives and examples of the Friends of this community have left a lasting, and we believe, a moral influence, the inviting opportunities opened to Friends in the newer States of the West have been embraced, and the descendants of the Friends' families mentioned are scattered over the great West and to-day Miami Monthly Meeting contains but a few of the faithful. In preparing this article the writer has availed

himself of the copious notes compiled by friend Clarkson Butterworth. C. Waynesville, Ohio.

Friends’ Intelligencer Vol. 58, page 668, Tenth month 11, 1901