It cannot have been easy in the middle of the 17th century to have been a member of the Society of Friends, more commonly known as the Quakers. The choice to deviate from the mainstream Church of England required courage and conviction, since there was no separation of Church and State. Quakers were openly persecuted for their religious beliefs.

My mother-in-law was descended from Quakers Thomas Walmsley and Elizabeth Rudd through her maternal side of the family.  Her great-grandmother was Margaret Miranda “Maggie” Walton of West Chester, Pennsylvania, who married Theodore Herman Brown. Maggie Walton is documented as one of the Byberry Waltons, and it was her 2nd great-grandfather, Abel Walton, (born 1703) who married Rebecca Walmsley, granddaughter of Elizabeth Rudd and Thomas Walmsley.

Elizabeth Rudd was the daughter of Giles Rudd of Knowmear. Her mother remains unknown. She was born about 1650 in Smelfats, Yorkshire, England, under the reign of King Charles II. Elizabeth Rudd married Thomas Walmsley on 13 November 1665 in a Quaker marriage at the home of Jane Waln at Slaine Merow, Yorkshire, England. Jane Waln seems to have been a close relation – probably a cousin.

This was a difficult time for the Friends. There had been specific legislation, known as the Quaker Act of 1662, which made it illegal to refuse to take the Oath of Allegiance to the Crown. One of the tenets of the Quaker faith was that believers should not take an oath to any man. The first Act was strengthened by additional legislation called the Conventicle Act of 1664. These two acts made Quakers criminals in the eyes of the law. In England, as well as the American colonies, some 15,000 Quakers were imprisoned between 1660 and 1685. Some were flogged or branded. More information is available about Quaker persecution here.

In 1681 William Penn, a devout Quaker, negotiated a deal with King Charles II for a huge tract of land in the New World as settlement of a old debt with Penn’s father. Penn envisioned this a place where Quakers would be able to worship free of persecution. A group of Friends from the Settle Meeting in Yorkshire received a charter to join William Penn in the new land.  Among those traveling were Thomas Walmsley, his wife Elizabeth, and their six children. This is documented by a certificate of removal from July 1682 that lists the names Cowgill, Chroasdale, Hayhurst, Stackhouse, Walmsley, Waln, and Wrightsworth. They are later found admitted to the Middletown Meeting in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. At one time, these families were mistakenly assumed to have traveled with will Penn on the Ship Welcome, but it is more likely that they arrived just before Penn in October 1682 on the Ship Lamb. Although, the Walmsleys had six children when they departed England, three are never mentioned again. It is presumed that Margaret, Mary and Rosamond all perished during the ocean voyage, possibly of smallpox.

Sadly, Thomas Walmsley died of dysentery within a few months of arriving in the new land. This left Elizabeth with the care for the three surviving children: Henry, Thomas, and Elizabeth. Elizabeth proceeded to make a new life for herself in the face of tragic losses. She is listed on a map showing Quaker settlers in Bucks, Philadelphia and Chester Counties. In 1684, Middletown Meeting records show that she married John Pursley (or Pursell). Most family trees indicate that Elizabeth died in 1684, but since she married her second husband in November of that year, it seems likely that her death was at a later date. Elizabeth, does, however, drop out of sight in the records after 1684.