The Ancestry of Francis Gallon 37 



to some weakness in the stock, probably on the Batt side. But we 

 have to realise that during the 20 years of the married life of Robert 

 and Edith Button, Robert spent additional time in gaol. George Fox 

 visited Taunton in 1656 and 1663, in which year Street was visited. 

 Fox's meetings in Bristol were very frequent, and he married Margaret 

 Fell there in 1669 ; his last ministry there was in 1677. There can be 

 little doubt that Robert Button like Jaspar Batt came personally into 

 contact with George Fox. John Galton must have been already a 

 Friend in 1700, when he married Sarah Button, but we do not know 

 at what date or under what influences. Originally he had been 

 apprenticed to William Wake of Shapwick, a gentleman grazier of Dorset 

 (d. 1705) and father of Archbishop Wake. He moved from Yatton to 

 Taunton 1 on the day of his marriage, which he tells us was "a sunshine 

 day," and his children were born and he died there. Probably the 

 great mortality of the Button family opened some field of activity for 

 him in Taunton. His sons Robert and John moved to Bristol, where 

 their widowed mother also resided. But the worst persecution of 

 the Friends in the West was over before the date of John Galton's 

 marriage (1703). The severest years were 1682 and 1683 2 the former 



1 Yatton is 12 miles from Bristol, Taunton 45 miles, and Street, near Glastonbury, 

 about halfway between Bristol and Taunton. 



2 Probably the Grace Button who was fined with Elias Waymouth, an innkeeper of 

 Taunton, and 20 others in 1670 for being at a meeting was a relative of the then 

 imprisoned Robert (Besse's Sufferings, Vol. I, p. 607). 



In 1678 we find Robert Button is confined again in Ilchester by Justices' warrant 

 for contempt in not appearing at the Bishop's Court on processes for tithes at the suit of 

 Robert Collier, Priest of Chard. He and other Friends were confined in a place called 

 the Friery, and it would seem that he had been there since 1675 (Besse's Sufferings, 

 Vol. i, p. 612). 



In 1683 we again find a record of imprisonment for Robert Button. 



"On the 12th of the Month called August, Henry Walrond, a Justice of the Peace 

 and Cap 1 of the Militia, came with some of his soldiers and a Constable to a Meeting 

 at Gregory-Stoke where Jasper Batt was preaching. After some time he was silent, and 

 they scornfully bid him Go on ; He answered, It is not meet to cast Pearls before Swine. 

 Then the Cap' took their names both men and women. He let the Women go, but 

 committed the Men to the Constable's Custody except four, viz. William Calbreath, 

 John Powel, John Crocker and Robert Button, whose words he took to appear at his 

 House next day, requiring the Constable to bring the others also thither at the same 



time (p. 637). Next day those four who had promised to appear, went to the 



Captain's House, who set one of them at liberty, fined William Calbreath and John Powel 

 101. 10*. each and committed Robert Button to prison " (Besse, Vol. I, pp. 626 and 627). 



