128 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



and Ely families were among the earliest 

 of the English churchmen to follow the 

 teachings of George Eox, the fonncicr 

 of the Society of Friends. Great relig- 

 ious meetings were held at Balhuci.l 

 Hall, the home of the Stacyes, by Fox in 

 his journeys to Yorkshire, and there is 

 still to be found at Ballifield Hall, an 

 antique black oak table inlaid with a 

 silver plate inscribed as follows: "This 

 called by Fox the Quaker's Table, made 

 before 1593, was for many years at Syn- 

 der Hill and afterwards for sixty years 

 in the Tool House there, then restored 

 and placed in Ballifield Hall by Thomas 

 Watson Cadman, Esq., in December, 

 1868." 



The connection between this branch of 

 the Elj^ family and those of the same 

 name mentioned in the earlier history 

 of this section of England is not known. 

 In the Feudal history of Derbyshire by 

 Yeatman in the days of Henry VH and 

 Henry VHI, Hugh*, Thomas*, Roland*, 

 and John Ely are memtioned and still 

 earlier, Nicholas le Hele, Sir William 

 "Delly," Knt. and John "Eallee" are also 

 mentioned, but no positive lineage is 

 known back of the grandparents of 

 those who came to America. Joshua 

 Ely and Rebecca Ely Stacye, who land- 

 ed in West Jersey in 1683 and 1678 re- 

 spectively, were the children of George 

 Ely, of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. 

 Other children were: Hugh of Mans- 

 field, w'ho married Marie Roos; Ruth, 

 who married Lionell Revell; and Eliza- 

 beth, whose tomb is in a good state of 

 preservation in the private cemetery of 

 the Stacyes at Ballifield Hall. Another 

 Hugh Ely is known to have married 

 Rosamond Bullock at Chesterfield, Der- 

 byshire, between 1600 and 1640, and 

 Alicia, a daughter of Hugh Ely, was bap- 

 tized at Chesterfield in 1614. 



A history of the Ely, Stacye and Rev- 

 ell families is in preparation under the 

 supervision of Warren S. Ely of Doyles- 

 town, Pennsylvania, Dr. William S. 

 Long, of Haddonfield, New Jersey, and 

 Daniel B. Ely of Montclair, New Jer- 

 sey. 



The wife of George Ely, of Mansfield, 

 was doubtless Sarah Heath, as at the 

 time Joshua Ely, their son, proposed 

 intentions of marriage at Mansfield 

 Quarterly Meeting, England, 7th month, 

 1673, with Mary Seniar, the following 

 entry was made on the minutes of that' 

 meeting: 



"Joshua Ely and Mary Senierd, both 

 of Mansfield, declare intentions of mar- 

 riage with each other. Present, his 

 grandmother, Elizabeth Heath, his re- 

 lations and guardians Mahlon and Re- 

 becca Stacy, his brother-in-law, Lion- 

 el Revel who married his sister Ruth 

 . — _» 



*These Christian names are also common in the 

 Revell pedigree. It is also known that the Elys of 

 Utterby Manor are descended from the Elys of 

 Derbyshire. 



Ely, and Alse Senierd, mother of said 

 Mary Senierd." 



Mahlon Stacy had married Rebecca 

 Ely in 1668, at Cinder Hill, a part oj the 

 Ballifield estate. From another source 

 we have the following records: "Joshua 

 Ely of Mansfield and Mary Seniar of 

 same place, daughter of Alice Seniar 

 married 8th month, 29, 1673, at G. Cock- 

 erman's House at Skegby in Notting- 

 hamshire." "John Ely, son of Joshua and 

 Mar}^, buried 9th month, 25, 1676. 

 George Ely, son of Joshua and Mary, 

 died 3rd month, 3, 1676." 



Mahlon Stacy, of the ancient family of 

 Ballifield, with his wife Rebecca Ely, 

 their children and servants, in the year 

 1678 embarked in the "Shield," and on 

 November 10, 1678, landed on the east 

 bank of the Delaware, in New Jersey, 

 where they and their descendants were 

 destined to take an important part in the 

 founding and preservation of an Eng- 

 lish colony and nation in America. In 

 the same ship came their cousin, Thomas 

 Revell, of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, who, 

 unlike them, was not a convert to the 

 gentle teachings of George Fox, but rep- 

 resented the High Church Tory party, 

 and later took an active part in the af- 

 fairs of the West Jersey colony, filling 

 the positions of surveyor general, re- 

 corder, surrogate, member and almost a 

 dictator in the governor's council, an3 

 finally a justice on the supreme bench. 

 He was, however, an aristocrat of the 

 aristocrats and was unpopular with the 

 colonists, and after the downfall of Lord 

 Cornbury was finally removed from of- 

 fice at the instigation of the colonists 

 and on the advice of William Penn. 



Mahlon Stacy became a very promi- 

 nent man, filling many important gov- 

 ernment positions. His daughters inter- 

 married with the Kirkbrides, Pownalls 

 and Janneys of Bucks county, who were 

 prominent in the affairs of Bucks county 

 and the province of Pennsylvania. He 

 took up a tract of land on the site of the 

 present city of Trenton and eretted a 

 mill there, the first to furnish meal to 

 the early colonists of Bucks county. 

 It was through him that his brother-in- 

 law, Joshua Ely, who, after his marriage, 

 had settled at Dunham, Nottingham»- 

 shire, came to America in 1684 with his 

 wife and children, and located on 400 

 acres, conveyed to Joshua by Mahlon 

 Stacy, on both sides of the Assinnipink, 

 by deed dated April 20, 1685. This tract 

 fronted on the river, about five eighths 

 of a mile from a point thirty-two and 

 one-half chains north of the mouth of 

 the creek upward, and extended inland 

 one mile. • 



Joshua Ely became a prominent man 

 in the colon}', and was commissioned a 

 justice in 1700 and recommissioned the 

 following year. He became a large 

 landholder, owning at different periods 

 two other tracts of 400 acres each, be- 



