Person:Rachel Minshall (1)

About Rachel Minshall

Rachel first appears in Philadelphia presenting a certificate from Frandley, Cheshire, England, dated: 1m 2d 1697. The removal certificate is signed by her father John Minshall, and her brothers Thomas and Joshua.^[8] She appears as a witness to the wedding of James Sharples and Mary Edge on 28 Feb 1697/8 along with Thomas Minshall and Robert Vernon.

She married first Thomas Taylor pursuant to permission granted at the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting on 27 Dec 1700 and 30 Jan 1700/1. Thomas first sought permission from the Chester Monthly Meeting in September--because Rachel was of the Philadelphia meeting--and Thomas Minshall and Robert Vernon were assigned to assist.^[9]

Thomas died 1705 and she married second Samuel Littler 31 Jul 1707 in Middleton, Chester Co, PA. The marriage record notes her father is John Minshall "of Great Britain." None of the witnesses appear to be family names.

She married third, Thomas Oldham on 3 Jul 1728 in Chester Co., PA. John Minshall was a witness.

Rachel's will was written in 1761, and names her sons Simon Taylor and Joshua Littler, and leaves the bulk of her estate to her granddaughter Rachel, wife of Elisha Brown, and Thomas Barrett.

Origins

The records described above show that Rachel was a Quaker, her father's name was John, she had two (presumably older) brothers named Joshua and Thomas, and she came from Frandley, Cheshire, apparently alone, at the age of 18. There are numerous Minshalls in Cheshire in the 17th century, but only some of them were Quakers. There are two John's in Quaker record with children in Rachel's generation, both of which are linked in assorted internet trees. One fits closely, and while the other is not definitively ruled out by available evidence, it appears more likely that connection was made based on the easily located marriage record and not further research.

• John and Rachel Minshall of Appleton had children recorded at the Cheshire MM between 1664 and 1679, including twins named Rachel and Eliza in 1679 and a son Joshua in 1676. There is no birth record for their son Thomas, but the marriage of Thomas and Martha Tarbuck in 1696 names his father as John of Appleton (and is witnessed by his brother Joshua). John's 1723 burial record at the Frandley cemetery records the he was 84 years old (born about 1639). Thomas's sons John and Joshua Minshall immigrated to Chester Co, PA about 1715, and John's 1736 will instructs his brother Joshua to return to Appleton to handle his property interests there (as the oldest son of the oldest son, he presumably inherited land from his grandfather). One of the witnesses to Rachel's 1728 marriage was John Minshall.

• John Minshall of Great Sankey married Margaret Atherton in 1676 in her father's home. He was the son of John (linen draper) of Latchford. The only birth record of their children is of Nathaniel in 1682. His burial is recorded in 1709. John is named in the will of his father, John "of Latchford", in 1683, identified as of Great Sankey and married to Margaret, and the language suggests he does not yet have living children (in contrast to some of his siblings). John of Latchford's will also named his daughter Eleanor Minshall Vernon and his son Thomas. Both of them immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1682 and settled in Chester County. This Thomas and Eleanor's husband Robert Vernon appear together in some of the records above connected with Rachel's marriage, but that may be a sign of their prominence in the local congregation rather than a close relationship (and note they were in Chester, not Philadelphia). If this John were Rachel's father, he would have had to have two sons in quick succession after marriage who left no records in the local area, including not being mentioned in their grandfather's will. It seems more likely that the easily accessible marriage record was found and assumed to be related (Great Sankey is only a few miles from Frandley), without greater analysis of other records.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Find A Grave.

   Includes image of birth record (there is no stone to confirm this is the correct Rachel, but see notes)

2. ↑ Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. (Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Research, 2006).

   Name: Rachel Minshall
   Arrival Year: 1697
   Arrival Place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
   Source Publication Code: 5924
   Primary Immigrant: Minshall, Rachel
   Annotation: Certificates of removal from the different meetings of the congregations of Friends to which the immigrants had belonged in other countries. Supplemented by no. 3313, Hull.
   Source Bibliography: MYERS, ALBERT COOK. Quaker Arrivals at Philadelphia, 1682-1750; Being a List of Certificates of Removal Received at Philadelphia Monthly Meeting of Friends. Philadelphia: Ferris & Leach, 1902. 131p. Reprint of 2nd ed. (1902) by Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1957.
   Page: 30

3. ↑ Myers, Albert Cook, and Pennsylvania : Orthodox) Society of Friends. Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (Philadelphia. Quaker arrivals at Philadelphia, 1682-1750: being a list of certificates of removal received at Philadelphia Monthly Meeting of Friends. (Baltimore [Maryland]: Southern Book Company, 1957).

   Name: Rachel Minshall
   Location: from Preparative Mtg. at Frandly, Cheshire, England
   Date: 3 Jan 1697

4. ↑ FamilySearch. England and Wales, Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8). (Online: Intellectual Reserve, Inc.).

   Rachell Minshall to John and Rachel Minshall "of Appleton" b. 30 - 4th month - 1679 (see image on FindAGrave record) [1]

5.   familysearch. Pennsylvania, Church Marriages, 1682-1976. (familysearch.org).

   Marriages authorized at Philadelphia Monthly Meeting.... 10, 27, 1700 Minshall, Rachel and Thomas Taylor.

6.   U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935 [database]. (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, 2014).

   Rachel Taylor, widow of Thomas Taylor and daughter of John Minshall of Great Britain, married to Samuell Littler on 31 Jul 1707 at the Chester Monthly Meeting held at the public meeting house in Middletown.
   Full meeting record (share link)

7.   Chester County, Pennsylvania Wills, 1713-1825.

   Rachel Oldham of East Nottingham. 5/23/1761. December 13, 1762. To son Simon Taylor 5 shillings. To son Joshua Littler 5 shillings. All remainder of estate real and personal to granddaughter Rachel, wife of Elisha Brown, and Thomas Barrett to be divided. Executors: Thomas Barrett and Elisha Brown. Witnesses: Mordecai James, David Brown, Micajah James. (See full will on FindAGrave page)

8. ↑ U.S. Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Philadelphia Meeting, Arch Street, Certificates of Removal, p. 42 (image 30); "ENCYLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN QUAKER GENEALOGY; by William Wade Hinshaw; Pennsylvania Volume, page 598., and other sources cited below.
9. ↑ Various dates are often given here, likely arising out of the several references in meetings before December where Thomas obtained this certificate from the Chester MM, and then they announced their intentions in multiple records (plus the problems of Quaker dating). Some trees state they married 9 Jan 1700, which would mean 9 Jan 1700/1, but that is before the 30-11th Month-1700 permission granted at Philadelphia.