Scripto – Moravian Lives

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 caster County</placename> <date>from 1777 to 1786</date>; was Armorer of the State in<br />
 <date>1778</date>; Assistant Commissary General, <date>1778</date>; and <date>1784 and 1785</date>,<br />
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Revision as of 19:49:13, Nov 27, 2018

<persname>Mary Ann</persname>, and <persname>Robert, Sarah Davis</persname>, sisters, who, with their chil-
dren removed to <placename>Virginia</placename>. <persname>John</persname>, the oldest son and the father
of <persname>William</persname>, in <date>1728</date> was married to <persname>Elizabeth</persname>, daughter of <persname>Hugh
and Mary (Jenkins) De Vinne</persname>, of Huguenot descent, who, with
his parents and family, in <date>1723</date> had settled in the vicinity of the
Henry plantation. <persname>John Henry</persname> died in <date>1747</date>, leaving to the care
of his widow, two sons and three daughters, of whom <emph><persname>William</persname></emph> was
the oldest child.
At the age of 15 years <persname>William</persname> was sent to <placename>Lancaster, Pa., </placename>then
the largest inland town in the Province. There he was apprenticed
to <persname>Matthew Roesser</persname>, a gunsmith. He was mechanically inclined
and very apt and at the age of 21, in <date>1750</date>, he engaged in the
manufacture of fire arms on his own account. He was prospered
and in due course built a fine stone, commodious dwelling at the
southeast corner of the public square in <placename>Lancaster</placename>, a most eligible
site, which he occupied with his mother and widowed sister. His
mother died on <date>October 9, 1777</date>, at the age of 74. The announce-
ment of her death, copied from a local journal, reads:
"Today the mother of <persname>William Henry</persname> died in her seventy-fifth
year. She was a friend to the poor and needy."
<persname>William Henry</persname> was married in <date>January, 1755</date>, to <persname>Ann Wood</persname>,
daughter of <persname>Abraham Wood</persname>, formerly of <placename>Darby, Pa.</placename> Her pro-
genitors were well educated, substantial English Quakers. She
was born <date>January 24, 1734</date>, at <placename>Burlington, New Jersey</placename>. <persname>George
Wood</persname>, her great-grandfather, was one of the first settlers of <placename>Darby,
Pa., </placename>and served in the Assembly. Her grandfather, <persname>John Wood</persname>,
married <persname>Jane Bevan</persname>, a daughter of <persname>John and Barbara Bevan</persname>.
<persname>John Bevan</persname> was an eminent Welsh Quaker and friend of <persname>Wil-
liam Penn</persname>, who came to the <placename>Province of Pennsylvania</placename> in <date>1683</date>
and with his family took up a tract of 5000 acres of land in what
was known as "the Welsh Tract," in <placename>Montgomery County, Penn-
sylvania </placename>(now <placename>Merion</placename>, on the main line of the Penn. R. R. near
<placename>Philadelphia</placename>.) This tract was largely settled by Welsh Quakers
who came from <placename>Glamorganshire, Wales, near Cardiff</placename>. <persname>John
Bevan</persname> served on the local bench and in the Assembly, and

[page break]

was a convincing Quaker preacher. In <date>1903</date> the American
descendants of <persname>John Bevan</persname> erected a memorial stone and bronze
tablet at his former home and burial place-<placename>Treferhyg, Glamor-
ganshire, Wales.</placename>
<persname>Ann Wood Henry</persname> was a thrifty, singularly clear-headed woman
of affairs, with an aptitude for administration. At the time of
his death (her husband, as for years, was Treasurer of <placename>Lancaster
County</placename>), she was appointed to assume his position and thus served
with honor and satisfaction, for about four years.
In his "Reminiscences," the <persname>Hon. John Joseph Henry</persname>, second
son of <persname>William Henry</persname>, testifies, to his mother's strong convictions,
extensive reading and unusual cleverness, "and yet so tender-heart-
ed that of a truth it may be said of her, 'She knew no guile.' "
<persname>Dr. William H. Egle</persname>, in "Some Pennsylvania Women during
the War of the Revolution," thus commemorates her patriotic de-
votion to the American cause:
"She was a typical matron of that period, of great energy of
character, and in full sympathy with her husband's active and
patriotic life. During that momentous period in our history, her
children being young, required attention, yet she entertained <persname>Rit-
tenhouse and Paine</persname> when the British occupied <placename>Philadelphia</placename>, and
it is well known that she aided her husband in all the various
duties assigned to him, as Treasurer of the County, State Armorer,
Asisstant Commissary General and Member of Congress."
<persname>Mrs. Henry</persname> died <date>Sept. 6, 1799</date>, while on a visit to a portion
of her family at <placename>Darby, Pa. (near Philadelphia), </placename>and was interrred
in the "Strangers' Plot" in the Darby-Smith burial ground.
<persname>William Henry</persname> was Armorer <date>(1755-58)</date> of the troops of <persname>Gen-
erals Braddock and Forbes</persname> in their expedition against <placename>Fort Du-
quesne</placename>. He was Justice of the Peace, <date>1758, 1770, and 1777</date>; Asso-
ciate Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions,
<date>1780</date>; and <date>1776</date> was elected a member of the Assembly; in <date>1777</date>
member of the Council of Safety. Served as Treasurer of <placename>Lan-
caster County</placename> <date>from 1777 to 1786</date>; was Armorer of the State in
<date>1778</date>; Assistant Commissary General, <date>1778</date>; and <date>1784 and 1785</date>,