Re: Another William Sinclair?

[Richard Huseth <rhuseth@ev1.net>]

At 05:42 PM 4/16/2000 -0400, Joe Greigg wrote:
>In a message dated 00-04-16 16:36:57 EDT, you write:

>Richard -- as I have mentioned , many branches of my family ( not Sinclair )
>were in the Chester County / New Castle County / Cecil County areas ( all USA
>) , dating back well into the 1600's .

>Are you looking for the Gleave ancestry also?

Sure.

>Do you know if they were Quakers or other denomination ?

Quakers.

>Where were they married ?? Lived ??

See below.

>I try to help other researchers , like yourself , where possible , since we
>live just outside of Wilmington , Delaware and have ready access to all the
>areas mentioned.

The William Sinkler (a.k.a. Sinclair) that I and several other members of 
this list are interested in, was born about 1680 (a guess) and died on or 
about 24 May 1757.

The marriage of William and Phebe Gleave is recorded in the minutes of the 
Chester Monthly Meeting and indicates that they belonged to the Springfield 
Meeting and that the marriage took place on or before 10 March 1709.  I 
believe that Phebe's parents were George Gleave and Esther Powell.  The 
parents of William are unknown.

William Sinkler appears in the list of taxables of West Caln, Chester 
county, in 1753.  The "Wills of Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1748-1766" by 
Jacob Martin records him as "William Sinkler, May 24, 1757, West Caln, Adm. 
to John & George Sinkler (his sons, I believe).

I believe that his children were Esther (married John McNabb), John 
(married Hannah Lewis in Chester county 1736/7), Margaret (married Evan 
Wilkinson in 1744), Phebe (married Joshua Swain in 1750), George (married 
Ann Grubb at Bradford MM in 1754), William (married Mary Grandy at 
Wilmington in 1756), and James (known as "Quaker James;" married Mary 
Patterson at Bradford MM in 1762).  Some researchers of this William 
Sinkler may argue that not all of the above Sinklers/Sinclairs were the 
children of William and Phebe.

As I said, the parents of William Sinkler are unknown--the first recorded 
occurrence of him, that I know about, is his 1709 marriage.  However there 
are numerous letters, written in 1894, between the great and great-great 
grandchildren of one or more William Sinclairs (although a few of  the 
letters refer to this person as James) regarding oral family history passed 
down through three or four generations.  These stories suggest that a 
William Sinclair, the son of a wealthy family, may have been kidnapped as a 
young child in Scotland and brought to the Wilmington area where he may 
have been apprenticed to a Quaker farmer from Pennsylvania, and that he may 
have married the farmer's daughter, Rebecca Merton, prior to his marriage 
to Phebe Gleave.
Here again, some researchers may argue that the William Sinclair who 
married Rebecca Merton and the William Sinkler who married Phebe Gleave are 
two different people.  However, the stories of people who may be 
descendants of William & Rebecca are very similar to the stories of people 
who may be descendants of William & Phebe, which leads me to think that 
they may be one and the same person.  These letters can be read in the book 
"Gullicks and Other Pioneers" by Eliza Brevort, which can be found in the 
microfilm/fiche of the LDS Family History Centers.

That is about all I know.  Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Richard Huseth


   
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