52 Ancestors 2020 – 8 – Prosperity – Rachel (White) Winslow

With the theme this week of Prosperity, I decided I should look it up in a dictionary. Because I am focusing on siblings of ancestors who lived mostly over a hundred years ago, I chose a dictionary of 1909. The definition given there was: “Successful progress in any business or enterprise; good fortune.” It also listed some synonyms: well-being, weal, welfare, happiness, good luck. Within my self-imposed limits of their birthday being during the week and females during February, I only had 2 choices. So the “aunt” I chose was Rachel (White) Winslow, my 5^th great-grandaunt.

Rachel was one of the few individuals among my relatives who was a twin. She and her brother Thomas were born on the 25^th day of the 12^th month of 1730. But since it was before 1752 and the family were Quakers that translates to the 25^th of February 1730/31.

She was listed as the 7^th child of 13 born to Thomas and Rachel (Jordan) White.

Thomas and Rachel were married in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, in 1719. They moved to Perquimans County, North Carolina, at least by 1724 when Thomas Winslow deeded 330 acres to Thomas White. So this indicates that Rachel was born in North Carolina.

It so happened that Rachel married John Winslow, the son of John the 10^th day of the 3^rd month in 1752 “at the meeting house in the Piney Woods” as recorded at the Perquimans Monthly Meeting. I suspect that she could feel happiness on that day as there were

25 relatives and friends who signed as witnesses to their marriage. In the usual place for the parents signature there is Rachel White, but not Thomas.

It appears that Mrs. Watson Winslow, who wrote a history of Perquimans County in 1931, confused things when she stated on page 428 that Rachel married Benjamin Winslow, the son of John and Esther (Snelling) Winslow. When checking the public trees on Ancestry.com I found there were over 500 trees which have Abigail Rachael White, daughter of Thomas and Rachel, married to John Benjamin Winslow on 10 May 1752. There was listed in the Quaker records an Abigail White who married Benjamin Winslow, but this was in 1770.

There is a question in my mind of why Rachel does not appear in her father's will as it was recorded in the will book C of Perquimans County on page 1. The rest of her family does seem to be included there. In Mrs. Winslow's book on pages 370-371 she includes what she says was a newly discovered copy of Rachel's mother's will, undated and unsigned, which had not been probated. She quotes the entire will and in it she listed the following bequest: “Fifthly I give and bequeath unto my daughter Rachel Winslow, one Small Square table, and one brass Candle Stick, and one negro wench Judah, and one old feather bed and some furniture.” Rachel (Jordan) White died in 1768. In Thomas' will of 1761 his bequests to his wife Rachel included one negro woman named Judah and one square table. Were these what Rachel left to her daughter Rachel?

The Quaker record from Perquimans Monthly Meeting indicated that John and Rachel (White) Winslow had 3 children: Ann born in 1761, John born in 1763 and Samuel born in 1764. It stated that Ann “appears to have been married to John Sanders.” Then it listed 8 children born between 1776 and 1792, the last 2 being twins. Here is another place for prosperity for our Rachel, since she lived until after all 8 of these grandchildren were born.

In the Quaker record the clerk recorded her death in this manner after noting her husband's death of 1801: “Rachel Winslow his wife & mother of these children departed this life 10^th mo. 8^th 1794.”