History of the Lindsey and Forster families

Richard Lundy is my 7th Great Grandfather.

He is another Quaker from my Forster ancestry.  Another of many religious refugees in our family.

The connection to me is through Aaron Milton Forster my 2nd Great Grandfather.  Richard Lundy is 5 generations up Aaron’s maternal line.

The text below comes DIRECTLY, without edit, from the book:

THE LUNDY FAMILY AND THEIR DESCENDANTS
OF WHATSOEVER SURNAME

by William Clinton Armstrong, published in 1902:

Richard Lundy the First.

Richard Lundy I., the only known child of Sylvester, was the Founder of the Lundy Family in America. Richard left his native land for the New World during Sixth month, 1676, a date easily remembered, being exactly one hundred years before the Declaration of Independence. Sixth month was August, for in those times March was counted the first month of the year. He sailed from Bristol, an important seaport on the western coast of England, and landed at Boston in the province of Massachusetts. He remained in New England among the Puritans nearly six years; but not a single item of information concerning his place of residence or his experience during that interval has come down to us. From history, we know that it was an uneventful period for the people of New England, a period of rest after their terrific conflict against the confederated Indians under King Philip. Richard’s sojourn among the Puritans ended in 1682; on the 19th of 3rd month (May) in that year, he embarked and sailed for the Delaware river. What motives he had for leaving New England, we do not know; but we do know that Pennsylvania was just at thattime being energetically boomed as an ideal home for settlers.

William Penn, the grandest figure in American colonial history, was so good that we sometimes forget how wise and shrewd he was. Penn got his charter from Charles II. in March, 1781, and immediately published a circular describing his new country in glowing terms; he then began to issue a series of public letters, which kept his colony before the eyes of the world; and finally the great Proprietor himself set sail and reached Pennsylvania during the last week in October, 1682, and founded the city of Philadelphia. The total population of Pennsylvania at that time was estimated at six thousand; and immigrants continued to arrive at the rate of one thousand a year.

Richard Lundy came to Pennsylvania in 1682; two years later he secured some real estate and took to himself a wife. In the Minutes of the Board of Property of the Province of Pennsylvania, under date of 15 of 12 month, 1702, the following entry is found: “The Prop’ry, by a Patent, dated 6, 5 month, 1684, Granted to Rich’d Lundy 200 Acres of Land Situate in the County of Bucks at a penny pr. Acre, laid out 10, 6 month, 1682-3. R’d Lundy by Ind’r dated 8, 7 month, 1683, Granted the Said Land to Jacob Telnor.” See Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, vol. xix., page 359.

He came to the Delaware river in 1682; and, so far as the records show, he seems to have made his first purchase of land in 1684; hence it is surprising to find the name of Richard Lundy on a map of that river dated 1681. It is suggested that the map may have been at first an outline sketch, and that the names of new-comers who took up land may have been inserted afterward. Mr. W. J. Buck in his history of Bucks county names Richard Lundy among the original owners of land in Bristol township.

There was at that time living in Falls township a widow, Rebecca Bennet, with her four unmarried daughters, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Sarah, and Ann. William Bennet, the father, then recently deceased, had left by will to each of his girls £30 in money and 200 acres of land. Richard Lundy L and Elizabeth Bennet were married by Friends’ ceremony on 20 of 8 month, 1684. On 22 of 2 month, 1685, Elizabeth attended the wedding of Joseph English and Joan Comly and signed their marriage certificate as one of the witnesses.

Richard Lundy owns a farm now and has a wife; of course, he ought to keep a cow or two. And he did; even that is a matter of record, for he is described as an “owner of cattle.” Very little land was fenced in; it all lay out to the common. The early settlers allowed their livestock to roam at large through the woods and browse on the natural grass. Sometimes the cattle would stray far away and be gone a long time; and in some cases it would be difficult for the owner to recognize his cattle and prove his right of property thereto to the satisfaction of neighbors or strangers ; and therefore each settler, before he turned his cows and calves loose for the summer, marked each of them plainly. He cut their ears in a certain way, or else he took a red-hot iron and blistered them on the shoulder leaving a permanent scar in the shape of a letter, criss-cross or other character. Marks thus made were easily seen and recognized, and could be described with accuracy. Only one thing was yet necessary for the successful working of this system of identification ; and that was that no two owners should use the same mark. To this end, a registrar was appointed for the whole county, whose duty it was to keep in a hook a list of all cattle owners with the marks used by each.. Indeed, the law of the province expressly declared that all cattle whatsoever of a year old and upwards should be accounted strayes which were not marked on the ear or otherwise with a brand mark.

The book of registered cattle-marks for Bucks county was kept by Phineas Pemberton at Penn’s Manor, and bears the date 1684; this realistic relic of pioneer life is still in existence, and may be seen at the library of the Pennsylvania Historical Society in Philadelphia. It is twelve inches long by four wide, contains about forty pages and is margined with a thumb index. The title on the outside of the parchment cover is “A Record of the Ear and Brand Marks for Bucks in Pennsylvania.” The book contains one hundred five sets of ear-marks arranged six on a page; and among them is the cattle-mark of Richard the First, which is here reproduced.

The outline sketch or drawing represents the forehead and ears of a cow as she would stand facing her owner. The left ear half way down on the lower edge has a slit cut in; the right ear has a slit downward at the point, and is also cropped with a half- penny undercut. Neither ear- tip is cropped. The original drawings are not without a touch ‘of the picturesque; all the natural outline is in black, but all slits and the margins of all crops are penciled in red as though fresh-cut.

A law requiring the enrollment of all emigrants was enacted at New Castle, on the l0th day of the 3rd month, 1684, by the Governor and the Provincial Council and Assembly; and the said law is herewith quoted in full as printed on page 170 in a volume entitled “The Charter of William Penn and Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania passed between the years 1682- 1700.”

“Chap. CLXIII. That there be a Registry kept of all freeman, as well as servants, that already are, or from time to time shall come, into this Province and territories not already registered ; to which end all persons inhabiting” therein are hereby required at or before the first day of the fifth month next ensuing, and afterwards all that shall henceforward come to inhabit in any County within this Government within three months after arrival to deliver in the names of his or her family, male and female, old and young, unto the Register of the respective Counties where hee, shee or they inhabit. To be by him registered in a book or bookes for that purpose with their ages as neer as may be and where they wore born; or from what part of Europe or other parts they came ; From whom the said Register respectively shall have and demand no more than Three pence a peece. And if any person refuse or neglect to bring in the names of his or her or their families to be registered as aforesaid, within the time aforelimited, he shall for the said offence forfeit five shillings a head.”

Let us now turn to the register-book that was opened and kept in Bucks county as directed by the foregoing law. Four of the entries found in it have a bearing on the history of the Lundy family and are given herewith.

“James Harrison of Bolton in the County of Lancaster, aged about 57 years, Shoemaker, and Ann his wife, aged about 61 years. Sailed from Liverpool, for this province in the ship the “Submission” of Liverpool, the M’r., James Settle, the 5th of the 7th Mo., 1682, and arrived at Choptank in Maryland the 21st 9th Mo. following, being brought thither through the dishonesty of the master, and arrived at Apoquinemene in this province the 15th of the nth Mo. following”; and then the record enumerates five persons who accompanied James and Ann Harrison, namely: Agnes Harrison, aged 81 years, mother of James; Phebe, daughter of James Harrison and wife of Phineas Pemberton; Robert Bond, Alice Dickerson, and Jane Lyon. James Harrison was a minister in the Religious Society of Friends ; he was the Stewart of William Penn and had charge of Penn’s mansion and manor in Bucks county.

“William Bennet of Hammondsworth [Harniondsworth, near Longford J in the County of Middlesex, yeoman, and Rebecca his wife, arrived in this river 9th Mo., 1683, in the ship the “Jeffrey” of London. The Mr. Thomas Arnold.”

“Richard Limdy, of Axminster in the County of Devon, son of Sylvester Lundy of the said town in old England, came in a Catch from Bristol (the Mr. William Browne) for Boston in New England, in the 6th Mo., 1676, and from thence came for this river [Delaware] the 19th of the 3d Mo., 1682.”

“Elizabeth Bennet, daughter of William Bennet late of the County of Bucks, and now wife to the aforesaid Richard Lundy, came from Longford in the County of Middlesex, in the ship the “Concord” of London. The Mr. William Jeffrey, Arrived in this river the 8th Mo., 1683.” .

And then a few lines further down in the original record, a private memorandum by the Register of Bucks county is found, which reads: “I have given C. Taylor an acct. thus far, 1st 3d Mo., 1686.” Hence we conclude that the original entries just quoted concerning Richard Lundy and Elizabeth Bennet his wife, nuist have been made subsequently to the date of their marriage, 20 of 8 month, 1684, and prior to i of 3 month, 1686, the day on which the Register of Bucks county certified that he had furnished an official transcript to Christopher Taylor, the Register-General of the Province. Whether or not the original register-book for Bucks county is yet in existence, is not known; but the Historical Society of Pennsylvania has in its possession a certified copy of the original. In 1885, the whole record was published in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, under the heading “A Partial List of the Families who Resided in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Prior to 1687, with the Date of their Arrival”; see Vol. IX., pp. 223-234.

H there be no confusion concerning the names of ships and masters, William Bennet and his daughter Elizabeth came from England about the same time but in different vessels ; but it is possible that the names of ship and master were incorrectly reported from memory. The ship “Submission” had been two months and sixteen days in crossing the ocean; two months’ time was in those days deemed a prosperous voyage; and the two weeks extra in this case were caused by unfavorable weather, which was the captain’s excuse for landing his passengers in Maryland. It may be remarked that the age of Richard Lundy is unfortunately omitted from the Registerbook, and that Richard had not enrolled himself within the time limit set by the statute, and hence had rendered himself technically liable to the forfeiture of five shillings for neglect.

Elizabeth (Bennet) Lundy, wife of Richard Lundy L, was buried on 14 of 6 month, 1687, less than three years after her marriage. A record of births and deaths among Friends was kept from 1682 to i/ii; only one Lundy burial is entered therein, that of Elizabeth herself; and no Lundy birth is recorded prior to 1692. The absence of a record of the birth of any Lundy child would seem to indicate that Elizabeth left no issue; but, on the other hand, John Lundy of Bucks county, concerning whom we will speak fully a few pages further on, may have been her son.

In 1688, William Penn confirmed to Richard Lundy a tract of land containing one thousand acres situate in Buckingham township, Bucks county, Pa. It was a fine piece of property fronting a mile on the old York Road, well-watered, embracing primeval forest and a lovely valley of unsurpassed fertility. An early survey of certain portions of Buckingham township is still extant and bears date 1703; a map of it, published by Gen. W. H. H. Davis in his History of Bucks County, shows a rectangular block of land inscribed as follows: . “Rich’d Lundy 1025 A Laid out for 1000 A”

Adjoining tracts were owned by Edmund Kinsey and Thomas Bye on the east, by Jno. Reynolds on the south, and by John Smith on the west. The middle point of a straight north-and- south line joining Easton and Philadelphia marks approximately the position of the Lundy plantation in Bucks county. The village of Buckingham is seven miles from the Delaware river, and is about twenty-five miles south of Easton and the same distance north of Philadelphia.

When and how was this tract disposed of? Only a partial answer can be given.

Thomas Canby is said to have bought a part of a Lundy tract near Centreville in 1693; and James Lenox is said to have purchased, some years after this, 400 acres of land from Richard Lundy. The Lundy tract was near the recently-established post-office named Holicong, and is now owned by the Paxsons, Elys and others. Richard Lundy owned land in Bristol-borough, Bucks county; in 1706; and Watson’s map showing owners of land in 1726 places the name of Richard Lundy on a tract along the Delaware river near the Penn Manor.

In the fourth year after the death of his first wife, Richard Lundy I. married again. His second wife was Jane Lyon, the Quaker maiden previously mentioned as having come to America with the family of James Harrison. They were married at the Falls Monthly Meeting in Bucks county, Pa., on 24 of 4 mo. (June), 1691; and to them there was born in Bucks county on 20th day of 3rd month, 1692, a son Richard, designated in this genealogy as Richard Lundy H., who married Elizabeth Large, settled finally in Warren county, N. J., and there died on 28th of 2nd month, 1772. We now quote from the minutes of the Buckingham Monthly Meeting two sentences relating to the marriage of Richard Lundy L and Jane Lyon. The minutes of a Meeting held in Falls township on the 1st day of the 2nd month, 1691, state that “Richard Lundy and Jane Lyon proposed their intentions of taking each other in marriage; it being the first time, the meeting appoints John Cook and Joseph Kirkbride to inquire concerning his clearness and give an account to the next meeting”; and the minutes of a meeting held at the house of Henry Baker on the 6th day of 3rd month, 1691, state that “Joseph Kirkbride relates that he hath made inquiry concerning Richard Lundy and finds nothing but that he may proceed with Jane Lyon; Richard Lundy and Jane Lyon proposed their intentions of taking each other in marriage; it being the second time and nothing appearing but that both parties are clear, the meeting leaves them to their liberty to accomplish the same.”

We insert here a literal copy of the marriage certificate of Richard Lundy I and Jane Lyon:

Richard Lundy of ye County of Bucks & province of Pennsilvania, husbandman, and Jane Lyon of ye Aforesaid County & Province, spinster, having intentions of taking each other in manage, did publish their said intentions according to law as also did declare them before severall publique meetings of ye people of god called Quakers whose proceedings therein, after deliberat consideration and consent of partys concerned, were Aproved by ye meetings; Therefore these may certifie all whom it may concerne that on ye 24th day of ye fourth mo., 1691, they ye said Richard Lundy and Jane Lyon Apeared in a publique & sollem assembly of ye said people mett together for ye end and purpose at ye publique meeting-house of ye aforesaid people, near the fals of Dellaware in ye county aforesaid, according to ye example of ye holly men of god recorded in ye Scriptures of truth.

He ye said Rich: Lundy, taking ye said Jane Lyon by ye hand, did openly declare as followeth, – friends, in ye presence of ye Lord & before you his people. I take this my friend Jane Lyon to be my wife, promising to be to her a faithful and loveing husband till death seperat us.

And then and there in ye said assembly, she ye said Jane Lyon did in like manner declare as followeth, – friends, in ye fear of ye Lord & Before you his people, I take this my friend Richard Lundy to be my husband. promising to be to him, through ye assistance of ye Lord, a faithfull & loveing wife till it shall please god by death to seperat us.

And ye said Richard Lundy and Jane his now wife, as a further confirmation thereof, did then & there to these presents sett their hand

Richard Lundy

Jane Lundy

And we whose names are here unto subscribed were witnesses to the said solemnization and subscription.

Thomas Janney Rebecca Williams

William Biles Ann Rennet

William Baker Sarah Bennet

James Dilworth Jane Biles

John Martin Ann Dilworth

John Philley Margery Hough

Richard Hough Phebe Pemberton

John Rowland Alice Dickerson

Edward Mayes Priscila Rowland

Phineas Pemberton Phebe Kirkbrid

James Burges Sarah Cowgill

Joseph Kirkbrid Mary Beckett

Joseph Steward

James Haworth

Henry Sidall

James Moone

James Burges

Joseph Burges

The certificate given above was transcribed by me from an old book now in the possession of the Middletown (Hicksite) Society of Friends, entitled “The Quarterly Meeting Record for Marriage Certificates in Bucks County, Beginning in the yeare 1683.” In looking over the list of witnesses present at the wedding, it may be noted that not one among them, so far as is known, was of kin by blood to either the bride or the groom. Rebecca Williams, formerly Mrs. William Bennet, was the mother, and Ann and Sarah Bennet were the sisters, of Richard’s first wife.

Jane Lyon was born in England in April, 1666; she was sixteen years old when she came to America, and twenty-five years old when she married Richard. The ship “Submission” which she came in set sail on 5 of 7 month, 1682, and arrived in Chesapeake bay, Maryland, on 21 of 9 month, 1682.

A comparison of dates shows that the ship “Welcome” bearing William Penn on his first visit to America, was crossing the Atlantic ocean during this very time. Some of the passengers on disembarking from the “Submission” remained in the Choptank, Maryland; but others, including those with whom Jane had come, soon removed to Bucks county. Pa.

So it appears that Richard and Jane, not knowing of each other’s existence, reached the land of William Penn within a year of each other, he by way of Delaware bay from New England, and she by way of Chesapeake bay from Old England.

“The Harrison and Pemberton families,” says Watson in his Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in the Olden Time,

Vol. I., page 47, “came over together among 50 passengers in the ship” Submission,” Capt. James Settle, from Liverpool. The terms of passage were £4 5s. for all persons over twelve years of age, for all children £2 2s. 6d., and for all goods, £30 per ton. Their contract was ‘to proceed to Delaware river or elsewhere in Pennsylvania to the best conveniency of freighters.’

It may serve to know the execution of such voyages to learn that by distress of weather they were landed in the ‘Potuxen River in Maryland’ whence they came to Philadelphia and proceded thence to Pennsbury neighborhood [Falls township, Bucks county], where they settled and occupied places of distinguished trust. When James Harrison and his son-in-law, Phineas Pemberton, first entered Philadelphia on horseback, from Choptank in Maryland, the latter records that at that time (Nov., 1682), they could not procure entertainment there for their horses ; ‘they therefore spancelled them [by leathern hopples, I presume] and turned them out in the woods! They sought them next morning in vain, and after two days’ search [think what a wide range they must have enjoyed] they were obliged to take a boat to proceed up the river to Bucks county. One of those horses was not found till the succeeding January !”

Although the records indicate that Richard Lundy I. was at an early day the owner of real estate situate in the township of Buckingham, the numerous references to Richard, found on the minutes of the Falls Monthly Meeting between 1693 and 1701, prove that he and his wife resided during that period in Falls township.

The last occurrence that I observed of the name of Richard Lundy 1. on the minutes of the Falls Monthly Meeting was in 1701. The record for the 4th month of that year says: “Agreed that Joseph Kirkbride and Edmund Lovet and Richard Lundy endeavor to find a spring near the meeting house and, if they find one, get it opened and cleaned” ; and two months later, it is stated that “the friends who were appointed to seek for a spring do say that they have searched, and cannot find one above the ground that is convenient to the meeting house.”

Jane Lyon had come to the New World unaccompanied by her parents, and she was therefore entitled, according to the homestead law of the colony, to fifty acres of land. At last, Richard L applied to the Board of Property of the Province of Pennsylvania for the head-land of his wife, Jane Lyon.

In the Pennsylvania Archives, second series, vol. xix., page 643, under date of 18 of i month, 1717-18, we find that Richard Lundy, of the County of Bucks, had made it appear by the evidence of Joseph Mather that Richard’s present wife (then Jane Lyon) came into this province with the families of Phineas Pemberton and James Harrison, and that Jane was entitled to head-land which had never yet been laid out ; and therefore Richard now desired it might be granted, which was complied with; and a warrant was signed, dated 10, 9ber, 1718.

Richard Lundy1 was living in 1734; on the 8 day of 8th month in that year, his granddaughter, Mary Lundy, was married to Robert Willson at Plumstead, and among the witnesses were Richard Lundy (the bride’s father), Richard Lundy (the bride’s brother, aged nineteen), and Richard Lundy, senior (the bride’s grandfather, who had been in America fifty-eight years).

“Richard Lundy, Senior,” presented to the Exeter Monthly Meeting in Berks County, Pa., on 24 of 9 month, 1737, a certificate of membership from the Buckingham Monthly Meeting; this is probably Richard Lundy 1 ; and it is the last time that he is mentioned on the minutes. The said certificate contains

no reference to his wife Jane ; hence it may be inferred that she had died previous to that date. Richard Lundy 1 probably died at Maiden creek, Berks county, Pa., about 1738; his name is not found among the witnesses to the marriage certificate of his grandson in 1739.

Many years thereafter, a testimonial concerning their son, which was publicly approved by the Kingwood Monthly Meeting and signed by order of said Meeting at Hardwick the 13th of 8th month, 1772, mentions Richard and Jane Lundy as “Professors of the Truth with us,” a statement which shows that Richard and Jane continued to walk in the plain and peaceful ways of the Society of Friends and died in that religious faith.

The life of Richard Lundy, the Founder, has now been presented as fully as it is possible to do from the scattered and detached references to him which have been discovered