Joseph Townsend was one of my
5th great grandfathers. As the Quaker record shows he was the son of
Joseph and Martha (Wooderson) Townsend, born the 8th day of the 4th
month in 1715, so since before the calendar change it was June 8th.
This was recorded at the Chester Monthly Meeting in Chester County,
Pennsylvania.
His parents, Joseph and Martha,
were from England and immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1712. They had
been Quakers in England and brought a certificate from the Monthly
Meeting at Newbury in Berkshire. Their oldest son, William, was born
in England, but the other 7 children were born in Pennsylvania.
Joseph who was born in 1715
married Lydia Reynolds 17th day of 3rd month 1739, or 17 May 1739, as
recorded at the Concord Monthly Meeting in Chester County,
Pennsylvania, which is now Delaware County, Pennsylvania. I wrote
about Lydia on her birthday 24 Apr 2017. There I named their 5 children
and showed a portion of Joseph's will showing his bequest to his wife
Lydia. He died rather young, at age 34 in Dec 1749.
His will did have bequests for
his children when they came of age. The oldest son Francis was to
receive the saw mill with 60 acres. Benjamin and Joseph were to get
the other part of his plantation of about 152 acres. Benjamin would
get the house and that would effect the division between the two. His
daughter Esther was to get 50 pounds currency when she was 18. There
was an unborn child when he wrote his will, so he designated that 20
pounds was to go to them when they were 21. Also if there was any
money left over it would go to that child.
By reading his will we can
deduce that Joseph owned a little over 200 acres and had a sawmill.
He believed there was enough money to give cash in the future. As his
oldest child was only 9 years old when Joseph died, I wonder if his
wishes were followed, considering the amount of time before the
children would be of age. All of the children did live long enough to
be married.
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