610 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



in the bounds of Pennsylvania. When 

 the celebrated preacher, William Ed- 

 mondson, visited Upland in 1675, he 

 found Robert Wade residing there, and 

 held a meeting at his house. It is 

 almost certain that Robert and his wife 

 came as passengers on the ship Griffith 

 from Loudon, the same year and in 

 company -with John Fenwick, the pio- 

 neer settler of West Jersey, as he had 

 purchased land from Fenwick in Eng- 

 land, and Samuel and Edward Wade 

 are known to have come out with him. 

 The residence of Robert Wade, known 

 as the Essex House, was on the west 

 side of Chester Creek and a little south 

 of the post road. It has been shown 

 elsewliere that it was upon the same 

 premises that had been granted to Mrs. 

 Pappegoya, the daughter of Governor 

 Printz, and shortly before occupied by 

 her under the name of Printzdorp. May 

 not tlie Essex House, the first Quaker 

 residence and the first Quaker meet- 

 ing-house in Pennsylvania, have been 

 the mansion of the daughter of its first 

 Governor? The conclusion is almost 

 irresistible. 



As a Quaker, Robert Wade was very 

 attentive to meeting affairs for a time. 

 The earliest monthly meetings of which 

 there is any record were held at his 

 house; but towards the close of his 

 life, tiiough he retained his member- 

 ship, the records do not show his ac- 

 tive participation in meeting business. 

 He was a justice of the first Court for 

 Upland County under the proprietary 

 government, and was continued in that 

 capacity for Chester County several 

 years after it had been organized. He 

 was also a member of the Assembly 

 for several years at the commencement 

 of Penn's government, as he had been 

 of Governor Markham's Council before 

 the arrival of the Proprietary. He died 

 about the year 1G98, his wife surviving 

 him till i7»l. They died childless. 



Weaver, Anthony, was an early set- 

 tler on Chester Creek, at a place called 

 Northhj. In 1G8G being in want of a 

 wife, and it being rather difficult to find 

 one in his vicinity at that time who 

 was not a Quaker, he selected one of 

 that persuasion, Ann Richard, the 

 dauj;litcrofa near neighbor, witli whom 

 he proccedcil to tlie meeting and made 

 the usual preliminary proposal. The 

 meeting duly considered the matter, 



and although Anthony " owned him- 

 self to be none of us," yet, being will- 

 ing to submit to the order of Friends, 

 they were allowed to proceed. 



Wharton, Walter, was a man of 

 considerable note on the Delaware 

 river, under the government of the 

 Duke of York. In 1G71 Governor Love- 

 lace conferred on him the appointment 

 of Surveyor General "on the west side 

 of the Delaware ;" an office for which 

 he had not been properly educated. 

 But, it may be supposed there were 

 none better in the settlement, for he was 

 again reinstated in his office after the 

 government passed a second time into 

 the hands of the English ; while at 

 the same time he held a commission 

 as one of the Justices of New Castle 

 County, in which County he seems to 

 have resided till about the year 1677, 

 when he became the tenant of a dwell- 

 ing-house in Upland, in consequence, 

 it may be supposed, of a prosecution 

 instituted against him at New Castle, 

 by certain clergymen and others, " for 

 marrying himselfe, or for being married 

 contrary to y^ knowne lawes of Eng- 

 land, and also of the lawes of this Pro- 

 vince." The matter was regarded by 

 his brother justices of New Castle as 

 presenting too grave a question for 

 their determination, and consequently 

 they referred it to the Governor. Be- 

 fore the close of the following year 

 (1678), death relieved his persecutors, 

 the Court and his Excellency, from 

 further trouble in the premises. His 

 marriage may have been after the man- 

 ner of the Quakers. The Court at New- 

 castle allowed fifty gilders out of his es- 

 tate to pay the Dutch clergyman of that 

 place for preaching his funeral sermon ! 



Wharton, Robkrt, came from Cum- 

 berland County, Wales, in 1697, and 

 was unmarried. Ilis certificate was 

 from Pardsday Monthly Meeting, which 

 commended him as " a man of sober 

 life," and one who had walked orderly 

 as became the blessed Truth. At first 

 he settled in Merion, but in 1701 he 

 married Rachel, the daughter of Thos. 

 Ellis, of Haverford, who was possessed 

 of a large landed estate, when he re- 

 moved to that township. Rachel died 

 a few years after their marriage; after 

 which, in 1707, he entered into a ma- 

 trimonial engagement with Jane Heut, 



