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Vol III File 5: The Paternal Ancestry of Homer Beers James

Reference: "The National Cyclopedia of American Biography"

Reference: "American Encyclopedia of Quakers (Philadelphia)"

• 1. Christopher Pennock, born in 1649 in Ireland, parentage unknown, moved to London, England in 1681 and purchased 1000 acres of land in vicinity of London, England. He married (1) Dorothy Harwood, who died in 1671. There were three unidentified children. He married before 1674 in Tipperary, Ireland, (2) Mary Elizabeth Collett, daughter of George Collett, a large landowner, possessing over 5,000 acres, which was later given to Christopher (2,000) and the balance of 3,000 to his grandsons, Joseph and Nathaniel. Mary Collett was born in 1651 also in Ireland. Christopher was living in Cork, Ireland in 1664. They came to America about 1684 and settled in Chester County, PA. This family was members of the Society of Friends (Quakers). They had two sons as follows:
  
  • 1. Joseph Pennock, born in 1677. See below.

  • 2. Anne Pennock, born in 1679

  • 3. Nathaniel Pennock, born in 1681, inherited 1,500 acres, died a minor.

  • 4. There may have been two more children, who are unidentified.
    

    Christopher died in 1701 in Philadelphia, PA.

• 2. Joseph Pennock, Senior, also a native of Ireland, born November 18, 1677, in or near Clonmell, Ireland. He married March 3, 1705 in West Marlborough Township, Chester County, PA. Mary Levis, daughter of Samuel Levis, and his wife, Elizabeth Clator, daughter of William Clator, born about 1629. Elizabeth Clator was born in 1655 in Elton, co. Nottingham, England. She was married to Samuel Levis on March 4, 1680. Samuel Levis was born July 30, 1649 in Harby, co. Leicester, England, died in March, 1734, in Pennsylvania. He was the son of Christopher Levis, born in Beetson, co. Nottingham, England, on September 20, 1621, and died in December 1677, son of Richard Levis, born in 1586. Samuel Levis' mother was Mary Nede, born also in Beetson, co. Nottingham, in 1624. The records of the ancestors of Mary Levis were obtained from the LDS Family History Library in Flagstaff, AZ. She was born August 9, 1685 in Delaware County, PA. She died November 2, 1747, in Springfield, Chester County, PA. Joseph inherited over 5,000 acres, his father's acreage and that of his maternal grandfather, George Collett. He removed to Marborough Township and built "Primitive Hall" on a plantation of 1250 acres. Each of Joseph Pennock's children were given 500 acres at the time of their marriages. They had the following children:
  
  • 1. Elizabeth Pennock, born March 23, 1703, married April 11, 1737, Edward Tatnall, born 1704. They had five children: Mary, Ann, Joseph, Elizabeth, and Sarah.

  • 2. Samuel Pennock, born February 26, 1705, died about October 8, 1754, married May 29, 1737, Elizabeth Widdifield, born about 1705. They had four children: Joseph, John, Mary, and Samuel.

  • 3. William Pennock, born May 11, 1707, in Philadelphia, PA. He married July 26, 1739, Alice Mendenhall. His share from his father of 500 acres was located near Kennett Square Park, where he built a home that was still standing in 1938, four miles from "Primitive Hall, near Londongrove, PA. His children were all born there. They had two sons as follows:
    
    • 1. Joseph Pennock

    • 2. Caleb Pennock
      

  • 4. Mary Pennock, born April 25, 1709, in Chester County, PA.

  • 5. John Pennock, born in 1711.

  • 6. Nathaniel Pennock, born October 15, 1712, died in June 1774, married April 22, 1738, Jane Pusey, born October 20, 1719, in London Grove, Chester County, PA. He later married 3 others.

  • 7. Joseph Pennock, Junior., born September 15, 1715. See below.

  • 8. Phebe Pennock, born in 1717.

  • 9. Anne Pennock, born June 6, 1718, in Chester County, PA.

  • 10. Sarah Pennock, born September 24, 1720, in Springfield, Chester Co., PA., died July 27, 1786. She married September 16, 1748, Humphrey Marshall, born October 10, 17 22, West Bradford, Chester County, PA.

  • 11. Hannah Pennock, born December 24, 1722, died July 17, 1779, married December 11, 1753, Jacob Marshall, born April 26, 1720, West Bradford, Chester County, PA.

  • 12. Levis Pennock, born November 31, 1725, died April 2, 1817, married December 11, 1753, Ruth Marshall, born July 29, 1735.

  • 13. Susanna Pennock, born January 28, 1728, in Chester County, PA., married Isaac Evans, born about 1728.
    

• 3. Joseph Pennock, Junior, born September 15, 1715, died November 24, 1800, member of the Chesterfield Monthly Meeting, was given a certification to marry in 1761, married Sarah Taylor, born August 11, 1725, died November 22, 1775, daughter of Joseph Taylor and his wife, Mary Maris. The LDS Ancestral Records show the marriage date as March 18, 1743. It also shows that he married (2) Phebe Mendenhall. born May 2, 1724, in Chester, PA., died before April 30, 1818, daughter of Moses Mendenhall and his wife, Alice Pyle. It was her second marriage, also, having been married to Adam Kirk, on September 14, 1744. The family were all members of the Society of Friends and are recorded in the Monthly Meetings in the Philadelphia area. Joseph and Sarah, according to one record, had a son and a daughter as follows:
  
  • 1. George Pennock, born in 1762, member of the Chester Monthly Meeting in 1783, married (1) Mary Liddon; (2) Sarah ______. Their only son was Abraham.
    
    • 1. Abraham Liddon Pennock, Sr., was born in Philadelphia, PA August 7, 1786. For thirty years he resided in that city, engaged in business, first as a dry goods merchant, the firm being Pennock & Robbins, and afterwards in the wire business of the firm of Sellers and Pennock. Here he was the originator of the riveted hose, the superiority of which over the sewed method enabled the firm to bring it into universal use, and caused the United States government to enter its contract with them for the making of all mail bags used in its service. In 1840 he retired from business and moved to Haverford Township. Subsequently he undertook the care of a number of estates. In the fall of 1845 he moved to Upper Darby Township, where he remained until his death on May 12, 1868. He was preeminently a man who had the courage of his convictions. When slavery was advocated in the South, as a "divine institution," and apologized for in the North, he would neither use the products of slave labor nor allow his family to do so, preferring at greater expense and trouble to procure goods elsewhere. His entire life was exemplified with high ideals, and he was "ever ready to aid the temperance cause with purse or pen." He erected at his own expense a Temperance Inn for the accommodation of travelers, in order to forestall the building of one already begun where liquors were to be sold. The poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote of him:
      

      "He was my friend and councilor in the dark and troubled times of 1838-39 and 40, a man of antique heroism, against whom the bitterest enemies of freedom could find nothing to urge. I think he came near to my ideal of a true Christian gentleman than any one else I ever knew."
      

      He was a zealous advocate of abolitionism, active in the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, and made his country home an underground station for runaway slaves. At the Darby Meeting of the Society of Friends, on May 24, 1810, he received certification to marry, doing so on June 7, 1810, to Elizabeth Sellers, daughter of John and Mary (Coleman) Sellers, of Philadelphia. She was born August 26, 1791, in Philadelphia, and died June 18, 1870. They had nine children as follows:
      

      • 1. Abraham Liddon Pennock, Jr., nurseryman and florist, was born in Philadelphia, PA, November 3, 1827. He was educated at the Friends Select School and at Haverford College. He undertook to learn the woolen business, but the confinement in the mills affected his health and he returned to his father's farm, whence sprang his love for growing plants and flowers. He built his first greenhouses in Landsdowne, PA, in 1861, and three years later formed a partnership with his brother, J. Liddon Pennock, under the firm name of Pennock Bros., and began business in cut flowers, then a new enterprise, at the ancestral home at Twelfth and Market streets, Philadelphia, PA. He was responsible for increasing the popularity of the lily-of-the-valley by preserving the pips in cold storage and planting them when needed throughout the entire year, thus furnishing the trade with a continuous supply of blooms. Other florists adopted this plan, and the lily-of-the-valley has thus been made an important feature in the cut-flower business. His son, Aldrich J. Pennock, following his footsteps, was known as the "Valley King of America." He took a keen interest in the growth and improvement of his home town, being instrumental in securing the first post-office in Landsdowne, the first sewerage plant, and a new water plant, of which his son Casper was the head. He was the inventor of a hot-water furnace and boiler for use in both dwellings and greenhouses, an improved grate for furnaces, and a greenhouse ventilator. He was a member of the American Rose Society, as well as numerous other organizations. He was twice married, (1) October 3, 1850, to Abby Jane Aldrich, daughter of Duty B. Aldrich, of Woonsocket, RI; she died in 1864, leaving the following three children: Herbert Aldrich Pennock, Casper Pennock, and George Liddon Pennock; and he was married (2), June 5, 1867, to Anna Maria Buckman, of Pennsylvania, by whom he had eight children as follows: Oliver Cadwalader Pennock; Olivia Cadwalader Pennock, who married Francis Judson Laird; Joseph Liddon Pennock; Henry Sellers Pennock; Anna Liddon Pennock, wife of Dr. Nathan Pennypacker Strauffer; and Elizabeth Pennock, wife of Robert C. Folwell, Jr.
        

        He died in Landsdowne, June 29, 1917.

      • 2. Joseph Liddon Pennock, married Lydia Eldredge. All of the Pennock family were members of the Society of Friends. He and his brother, Abraham Liddon Pennock formed in 1864 the partnership of Pennock Bros., Philadelphia, PA, becoming pioneers in the cut flower business. They had a son, Joseph.
        
        • 1. Joseph Eldredge Pennock, building contractor, was born at Collegeville, PA, December 25, 1853. He attended the Friends' Select School in Philadelphia and the Westtown (PA) boarding school. He then spent two years learning the carpenter's trade in Philadelphia and in 1876 started in business for himself as a builder. He continued in that business until he retired in 1931 at the age of seventy-eight. During the greater part of his career his firm was known as J. E. & A. L. Pennock, the other partner being his brother. The firm had offices in Philadelphia and New York City and it constructed many of the largest buildings in eastern United States during its period of operation. He was a pioneer in the building industry, particularly in the use of concrete as a foundation, in setting concrete in wintertime by using protected heat, in setting concrete underwater and in using an elevator tower alongside a building under construction to carry up materials. His buildings were always well made and have stood well the test of time. Politically he was a Republican. He was a man of many talents, an athlete, interested in good literature, raised dahlias, collected etchings, and took up photography at seventy-two. H was married at Haddonfield, NJ, January 15, 1880, to Mary Haines, daughter of John Haines Lippincott, a farmer of Woodstown, NJ, and had two daughters: Pauline Scull Pennock, who married William Caspar Horn, Jr., and Margaret Liddon Pennock. He died in Philadelphia, PA, June 6, 1941.
          

      • 3. George Pennock

      • 4. Mary Coleman Pennock

      • 5. John Sellers Pennock

      • 6. Sarah Pennock

      • 7. Ann Pennock

      • 8. Casper Wistar Pennock, born July 2, 1799.

      • 9. Isabella Pennock, born January 29, 1795.
        

    • 2. Jane Pennock. See below.
      

      The LDS Ancestral Record shows a different set of children for Joseph and Sarah, as follows:
      

      • 1. Jesse Pennock, born July 5, 1745, in Chester Co., PA.

      • 2. Joseph Pennock, born August 7, 1750, in Chester Co., PA.

      • 3. Jacob Pennock, born February 9, 1753, in Chester Co., PA.

      • 4. Isaac Pennock, born January 16, 1767, in New Garden, Chester Co., PA.
        

• 4. Jane Pennock, reported to be born in 1794 in Virginia (records of Walter James). [Note: This birthplace seems inconsistent with the fact that the Pennock family was firmly established in Eastern Pennsylvania. coupled with the discrepancy in the list of children above. This needs more research]. She was married three times. The first marriage was to Evan McBride, son of Stephen McBride, who served in the Revolutionary War. From the first marriage, there were several children, including Hanna McBride, who married Thomas James. Jane Pennock married (2) Joshua Lynch in 1842, and (3) John Chambers, born July 18, 1794, died March 30, 1885. Jane (Pennock) McBride died August 12, 1892, aged 98 years at the home of her grandson, Walter James at Springdale, IA. The fact that she was known personally to Walter James, who provided Pennock ancestral lineage makes the conflict in data more puzzling. See continuation of this lineage in the McBride and James Line

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