John Mendenhall was born on October 30, 1659 in Ramsbury, Wiltshire, England. He is the first in that branch of the family to come to the colonies. John is Walt’s 8th great-grandfather!
We are able to trace this branch of the family back so well because they were Quakers. The meeting books kept by them are detailed and provide a lot of information.
John was the son of Thomas and Joane Stroud Mendenhall. I don’t know much about them except that they had at least 4 children and died in England.
I am not exactly sure when John came to the colonies, but I know he had land in the “township of Concord in the County of Chester” in 1684. The reason I know this is that I found a notations that for the sale of some of his land for the building of a Friends Meeting House.
This was written in a book on the history of the meeting house. It states that Concord Meeting House was associated with Chester Meeting House.
Marriage
In the records of the meeting house, we can find the records of his first marriage. On the the third of May, 1685, he and his future wife announced their intent to marry. They repeated this intent on the 5th of June.
Elizabeth Maris was the daughter of George and Alice Wilsmith Maris and she too was born in England. According to the records I have found, the family came to the colonies in 1683 on the ship Bristol Comfort.
John and Elizabeth married on July 13, 1685. (One record says July 3). They married at the Meeting House in Chester County, Pennsylvania. They had three sons that I know of.
Elizabeth died on October 15, 1705. John married a woman named Ester around 1708, but I don’t have much information on that.
John Mendenhall died on August 19, 1743, at the age of 83! He and Elizabeth are buried at the Concord Friends Cemetery in Concordsville, Pennsylvania.
Leave a Reply