The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
Author: James Wingate Townsend
Francis Townsend, born 15 April, 1740, in East Bradford, Chester, PA, is the grandson of the Quaker immigrant Joseph Townsend of Buckelbury, Berkshire, England, who settled in East Bradford, Chester County, PA in 1712. His great great uncle, Richard Townsend came to America on the “Good Ship Welcome” with William Penn and settled in Philadelphia in 1682. Francis married first Rachel Talbot and had eleven children. She died as a complication of childbirth in 1784. After the War and the death of Rachel, in 1786, Francis moved his family to Redstone, PA and then to Salem, Ohio. He married second Marah Cadwallader in 1789 and had no more children. He died in Smithfield, OH after 1811 according to Quaker records. Francis Townsend served as a private to Captain John Underwood’s company, Colonel John Hannum’s Battalion of Chester County Militia – Penn Archives 5th Series, Col. 5, pp. 579, 588, 791, 850, 863, 874, 882.
END BIO
CHILDREN
1763 Joseph 1764 Samuel 1766 David 1768 Lydia 1770 John 1772 Benjamin 1774 Hannah 1780 Isaac 1777 Jacob 1782 Talbot 1784 Rachel
_______________________________________________________ Townsend Society, William Penn Article; Futney, J Smith & Cope, Gilbert, History of Chester County PA, (Philadelphia: 1881) P 745
Futney, J Smith & Cope, Gilbert, History of Chester County PA, (Philadelphia: 1881) P 746
Hinshaw, Wade William, Hinshaw’s Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy Vol 4, (Washington D.C. : 1969) P 62
Ibid, P 800
Launey, John Pitts, First Families of Chester County Pennsylvania (Heritage Books: 2007) P 131-132
____________________________________________________ With the digitizing of the Quaker records recorded in: Hinshaw, William Wade, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy Vol. IV (1946), it is possible to follow the life of Francis Townsend after 1789. His first wife, Rachel Talbot, died after childbirth in 1784. (see previously submitted BIO on Francis).
1789 Widow Francis marries Marah Cadwallader at Fayette, PA, Page 62 1802 Francis and wife Marah with Apprentice Job Ridway granted to leave to Concord Page 63 1802 Francis and wife Marah with Apprentice Job Ridway received into fellowship Westland Page 161 1810 Francis and wife granted leave to Plymouth, OH, 27 Oct 1810. Page 63 1811 Francis and wife received into fellowship at Plymouth, OH on 18 Mar 1811 Page 500. This is the last entry.
It appears that Marah Cadwallader is Francis’ son’s mother-n-law, as her daughter Elisabeth Cadwallader married Francis’ youngest son, Talbot. There are numerous land contracts between Francis and a “Cadwallader” in the Chester County, PA records
Quaker Gen Vol IV Cover Page Quaker Gen Vol IV Inside Quaker Gen Vol IV Forward -1 Quaker Gen Vol IV Forward -2 Quaker Gen Vol IV Abbreviations
Quaker Gen Vol IV p 62 Marriage 1789 Quaker Gen Vol IV p 63 leave Quaker Gen Vol IV p 161 received Quaker Gen Vol IV p 500 Marah Francis 1811 Handwritten Quaker marriage page for Francis and Marah
Send a biographical sketch of your patriot!
Patriot biographies must be the original work of the author, and work submitted must not belong to another person or group, in observance with copyright law. Patriot biographies are to be written in complete sentences, follow the established rules of grammar, syntax and punctuation, be free of typographical errors, and follow a narrative format. The narrative should unfold in a logical manner (e.g. the narrative does not jump from time period to time period) or have repeated digressions, or tell the history of the patriot's line from the patriot ancestor to the author. The thinking here is that this is a patriot biography, not a lineage report or a kinship determination project or other report published in a genealogy journal. The biography should discuss the qualifying service (military, patriotic, civil) of the patriot ancestor, where the service was rendered, whether this was a specific state or Continental service, as well as significant events (as determined by the author) of the patriot's life. This is the entire purpose of a patriot's biography.
Additional guidelines around the Biography writeup can be found here:
Send your submission1, in a Microsoft Word compatible format, to patriotbios@sar.org for inclusion in this space 1Upon submission of a patriot biography, the patriot biography becomes the property of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and may be edited to conform to the patriot biography submission standards.