Thomas Lancaster, Quaker, ca.1702-1750, immigrated to Bucks County PA.

These genealogical notes were requested and posted by Andrew Lancaster, as part of an effort to gather more information about the early roots (for example before 1750) of Lancaster families around the world. For Andrew's main page see http://users.skynet.be/lancaster/. Anyone with an interest in this family or other Lancaster families, please contact us. Another important part of this effort is the Lancaster Surname DNA Project.

Our primary resource to begin researching the family of Thomas Lancaster of Bucks County PA has been the book published privately in 1902 by Harry Fred Lancaster, a descendant. Harry F. Lancaster did his research in the 1880-1900 era, and the general accuracy of his book The Lancaster Family, A History of Thomas and Phebe Lancaster of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and their descendants, from 1711 to 1902…is remarkable. Even so, careful examination of all available documentation (e.g., early Pennsylvania and Maryland Quaker records, tax lists, marriage records, censuses, etc.) does turn up an occasional error, so anyone working on this family should recheck data before adding it to your genealogy files.

Thomas was brought to Bucks County PA by a Quaker woman named Ann Chapman in 1711. Thomas’ parents have never been proven, but recent work by Tony Murphy, who is investigating Quaker documents in the Warwickshire area of England, indicates that Thomas’ father had died before 1711, when his mother placed him in the care of the woman who would bring him to America when he was about 9 years old.

A Quaker document dated 1724 refers to the death of a widow named Elizabeth Lancaster who had sent her children to “the County of Bucks in the Province of Pensilvania” in the care of “Ann Chapman (now Parsons)”; the 1724 entry also provided that a “certificate” be placed in the “book at large”, but it makes no mention of the name of the father of the two children. Further research by Tony Murphy in the few surviving records has not uncovered proven birth records for Thomas and his sister Mary giving the names of both parents.

Thomas married Phebe Wardell; who is believed to be the daughter of John Wardell, a native of Wales. She was born about 1707, place is unproven. The marriage was “8^th month 19^th day 1725” (i.e., October 19, 1725—a Julian Calendar date) in Wrightstown, Bucks County. In 1729, Thomas purchased 108 acres on the eastern line of Wrightstown (now Upper Makefield Twp.). In 1736 he purchased 100 adjoining acres. He lived there until 1741 when he moved his family to Richland Township where he had purchased 450 acres; the fine old colonial house on this plantation is one of the noted historical landmarks in the neighborhood of Quakertown; a part of it is probably the original house occupied by Thomas' family. After his death, this property was partitioned by the Orphans' Court into 11 different tracts and awarded to his children. In 1750, Thomas sailed first to Barbados and then to Tortola as a Quaker missionary. He died aboard the ship on the way back home from Tortola.

As for Phebe, in 1752 she married Samuel Thomas of Richland Township who died in 1755; in 1757 she married John Titus in Queens, New York. Unfortunately Mr. Titus died only 24 days after the marriage. In 1759 Phebe married John Way of Flushing, Long Island, NY. In 1776, after the death of Mr. Way, she once again returned to Bucks County, living with her son John, and died there on the old homestead, at the age of 96.

Although I have worked considerably on this Lancaster line, I am not a descendant. My interest rose when I discovered that two of the sisters of my great x 5 grandfather, John Barlow, ca.1730-aft.1800 married brothers who were sons of Thomas and Phebe Lancaster. Others who are working on these Lancasters include Dennis Lancaster and Joseph Russek. If you wish to contact either Dennis or Joseph, let us know and we will forward your e-mail to them.

The known children of Thomas and Phebe Lancaster (source Harry F. Lancaster book) are:

Phebe Lancaster, 1726-1728

Thomas Lancaster, 1727-1808; m. Sarah Buckman (1752); then Martha Lloyd (abt.1787)

John Lancaster, b. & d. 1730

Benjamin Lancaster, 1731-1791; m. Rachel Barlow (1749)

John Lancaster, 1733-1791; m. Elizabeth Barlow (1753)

Phebe Lancaster, 1734-1797; m. David Roberts

Job Lancaster, b. 1736

Joseph Lancaster, 1738-1824; m. Mary Soule aft. 1770; married again (2d wife unknown)

Jacob Lancaster, 1740-1777; m. Rebecca Baldwin

Isaac Lancaster, 1742-1771

Aaron Lancaster, 1744-1786, m. Sarah Palmer

Moses Lancaster, 1746-1842, m. Rachel Lloyd

Elizabeth Lancaster, 1748-1826, m. Thomas McCarty

Tony Murphy has also turned up intriguing, but still unproven, material indicating that Thomas possibly could be related to the James Lancaster who visited America with the Quaker George Fox in the 1670-1680 era.

What We Think Needs to Be Done:

In order to help sort out the early Lancaster generations, and also to see if we can find family connections among them, we are currently running Y-DNA, 67 markers, on a well-documented proven male-line descendant of Thomas and Phebe Lancaster. When these results come in, it should become easier to establish Lancaster descent from Thomas of Bucks County. We believe that a match at the 12-marker level, which costs less than $100, should quickly indicate whether or not a male Lancaster is probably descended from Thomas; and we are hoping that other Lancaster males in Warwickshire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, and Lancashire in England will want to see if they, too, might match; this would help everyone who is searching the early generations of this family.

Thanks to all who have contributed or will in the future contribute to knowledge about this Lancaster family.