General Notes

Jacob Marshill, Jr. was the son of Jacob Marshill and Margaret Edwards. He
was born about 1698 at Charlemont, Ireland.

Not much is know about Jacob except he was a Quaker and could read and write
because there is a facsimile of his signature found in a book about the Irish
Quakers.

Jacob married Ann Griffith in 1718 in Tyrone County at Charlemont, Ireland in
the Grange MeetingHouse. Ann was the daughter of John Griffith, who was also
an active member of the Grange Monthly Meeting. I have never been able to
identify Ann's mother.

Jacob and Ann were the parents of two sons. John, our ancestor, was born in
1720 and William was born in 1724, both in Tyrone County, Ireland.
Note:
In about 1728 Jacob, Ann, their two small sons, John Griffith and Ann's
brother, Christopher set sail for America. Jacob also brought an indentured
apprentice, Solomon Shepherd, Jr. on the trip.

Even though they emigrated during a famine in Ireland, Jacob and John Griffith
both seemed to be far from poor. Besides farming, Jacob was probably skilled
at some trade because of him having an indentured servant.

It is not clear whether Jacob died on the voyage over to America or if he
died shortly thereafter. There isn't any mention of him in any of the early
records of Chester County, Pennsylvania where Ann, her father and her sons
settled.

It is very likely that he died at sea. In the best of times it took two to
three weeks to make the journey and if the weather was bad it could have taken
longer. All the ships were terribly overloaded, the rations were short and
sometimes vermin ridden, water was never good and sanitation was awful.

Regardless of where he died, by 1729 Ann was a young widow with two small boys
in a strange land and evidently in ill health.
Note:
Ann settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania in the village of New Garden.
The area was heavily populated with Irish Quakers and they soon build a church
called New Garden MeetingHouse. Ann was a member of this congregation.

Not long after arriving in America, in the fall of 1729, Ann became ill and
was sick for thirteen weeks. She wrote her will, probably on her deathbed,
and died in the early part of 1730. She left everything to her sons, John and
William.

By studying the inventory of her estate, she was not poor. Besides the
indentured servant, she also owned part interest in a servant girl. She had
books, furniture, rugs, linens and "several remnants of cloath." Her clothes
were valued at over 9 pounds and she was still in possession of all her
husband's clothes when she died. They were valued at 7 pounds, 12 shillings.

From her will and estate inventory, it cost 2 shillings for the doctor to tend
to her those thirteen weeks before she died. Her funeral expenses included
one pound for her coffin and three shillings for the person who dug the grave.
Rum and other refreshments were bought for the mourners at her funeral. The
cost of the rum was 15 shillings, 4 pence. That's about eight times what it
cost for the doctor.

A funeral was always an occasion for all the Friends to gather and socialize.
The body of the deceased was placed in a plain coffin and taken to the
MeetingHouse where there would be a short meeting in memory of the deceased
and then interment was made in the adjoining graveyard. Then everyone went
back to the deceased home for dinner. These dinners were very elaborate and
were equal to a wedding feast.

Ann left John and William in the care of William Halliday and Benjamin Fred,
also making them executors of her will. John was about ten at the time and
William was only six. About nine years later, William went before the court
and requested that he be released from the care of Halliday and Fred and that
Simon Hadley be appointed his guardian. The court granted this at that time.
(It is interesting to note that Simon Hadley was the grandfather of Ruth
Hadly, who would marry John Marshill and Rebecca Dixon, who married William.)
--