William Preston 1667-1719
Pennsylvania/Maryland Prestons

 

William Preston b.2-4-1667 d.bef.7-31-1719 m. Jane Deyn at her father's house in Rastrick on 6-4-1698. William lived in Lamcoat, parish of Huddersfield, but later moved to Bradley in the same parish. William and Jane had 4 sons and 3 daughters, the births of whom are listed in the Brighouse records and those of Yorkshire Quarterly Meeting. William emigrated to America with his wife and six of his children and settled in Philadelphia County in 1718 at the age of 51 and died sometime in 1719. No record of William's death has been found but it is interesting to note that in 1729, the Yearly Meeting of Friends, held in Philadelphia, declared against the vanity of tombstones, ordered their erection stopped and the removal of those already placed. Thus while the Quakers have very good records of birth and marriage, deaths are more difficult. On 8-8-1722, his wife Jane Deyn Preston remarried to Thomas Canby. The 7 children of William and Jane are:

  1. John Preston b.2-22-1699 d.10-22-1785 m. in 2-1737 Ann Hopkinson at Buckingham Meeting House (no children) and m. 2nd in 11-1744 Elizabeth Tucker b.xxxx d.9-11-1768, dau. of Nicholas and Sarah Tucker, (John and Elizabeth had 3 children) and 3rd in 6-1753 Sarah Richards. Children of John and Elizabeth were:
    1. William Preston b.1746 d.8-7-1819 m. "out of unity" in 1767 Elizabeth Scott, dau. of Abraham Scott and Elizabeth Adams. William and Elizabeth had 5 children:
      1. Ann Preston b.6-30-1766/67 d.1/20/1824 m. on 10-10-1787 John Gillingham, Jr., son of John Gillingham and Sarah White.
      2. Elizabeth Preston b.1769 d.6-26-1829 m. on 2-5-1791 John Jones, son of John Jones and Hulda Fenton.
      3. Mary Preston b.1774 d.10-24-1829 m. on 1-21-1795 John Rich son of Joseph Rich and Elizabeth Brown.
      4. Martha Preston b.xxxx d.xxxx m. on 10-18-1798 Josiah Rich, son of Joseph Rich and Elizabeth Brown.
      5. Jonathan Preston b.3-9-1788 d.9-3-1788.
    2. Sarah Preston b.xxxx d.xxxx m. on 4-13-1774 Thomas Dyer son of Josiah Dyer and Esther Brown of Plumstead Township, Bucks Co.
    3. John Preston, Jr. b.1-22-1750 d.xxxx m. on 2-22-1774 Rebecca Vickers b.9-6-1759, dau. of Thomas Vickers and Elizabeth Dillon. They moved from Buckingham in 1783 to London Co., VA and later to Campbell Co., near Lynchburg. John was buried at the old Stone House Meeting near Lynchburg, VA while Rebecca lived to be 90 and died in Philadelphia. They had 9 children:(Most of the children moved to Ohio and have not been traced for this family history. Some settled in Columbiana Co., Ohio.
      1. Zenas Preston b.ca.1775 m. Elizabeth Stanton. Only have information on one child supplied by Mel Berman:
        1. Albert Gallatin Preston b.4-17-1813 in Campbell Co., VA m. abt.1834 in Middletown, Henry Co., Indiana and d. abt. 1899 in Greencastle, Putnam Co., Indiana. Albert married Jeanette Balingall b.ca.1815 d.ca.1843. Albert and Jeanette had at least one child:
          1. Zenas George Preston b.9-13-1835 in Middletown, IN, m. on 11-25-1858 Eliza A. Turk in Montgomery Co., MO. Eliza was born 6-5-1842 in Montgomery, Hamilton Co., Ohio and d. 11-5-1901 in Woodward, Dallas Co., Iowa. Zenas and Eliza had 7 children:
            1. Mary Alice (Molly) Preston b.4-10-1869 d.4-16-1939 m. Charles Barton Pierce. They had 3 children:
              • Floyd Everett Pierce b.1-16-1887 d.1968 m. on 7-7-1933 Grace Crawford and later Cleo Silvers. Floyd died in San Jose, CA.
              • Mable Chloe Pierce b.9-1-1888 d.6-21-1971 m. on 3-6-1909 Charles Webber Staker.
              • Elva Amelia Pierce b.8-3-1890 d.10-25-1959 m. on 10-5-1910 William Arthur Anderson. Elva was born in Polk City, Iowa and died in Loveland, CO.
            2. William Albert Preston
            3. Emma Preston
            4. Charles Preston
            5. Jeanette Preston
            6. Norman Preston
            7. Frederick Preston
      2. John Preston III
      3. Amos Preston
      4. Moses Preston
      5. Sarah Preston
      6. Peter Preston
      7. Ann Preston
      8. William Preston
      9. David Preston
  2. Martha Preston b.7-30-1700 d.9-1-1729 m. Benjamin Canby on 3-26-1724.
  3. Joseph Preston b.12-28-1702 d.5-30-1716 buried at Brighouse Meeting in England.
  4. Sarah Preston b.4-6-1706 d.1764 m. Thomas Canby, Jr. at Buckingham Meeting House on 3-26-1724 and died in Kent Co., MD
  5. William Preston, Jr., fifth child of William and Jane Deyn Preston, b.6-7-1708 d.3-9-1766 m. Deborah Chesman b.12-1-1710 d.11-29-1749/50 at Buckingham Meeting House on 3-21-1735. William was a mason and probably built or assisted in building numerous of the fine stone houses in Bucks Co. He apparently did well as he accumulated over 500 acres mostly alon the Doylestown-Mechanicsville Road, about one mile from Mechanicsville. William and his brother Jonas operated a mill at Spring Valley. Deborah was the dau. of Joshua Chesman (Chessman) and Ruth Smith. Two years after Deborah died William married on 11-15-1752 his second wife, Elizabeth (Sanders) Smith, widow of Thomas Smith. William and Elizabeth did not have any children.
    One of Williams friends was a Paul Preston, grandson of William Preston of Newcastle, who for 22 years served as clerk of the Buckingham Friends Meeting and whom William Jr. named as co-executor of his estate. Paul Preston was County Surveyor, Tax Collector and translator of German. He was 6 feet 6 3/4 inches tall and was a friend of Benjamin Franklin. Paul died at the age of 84 from a fall into a ditch.
    William Jr. and Deborah Chesman had 5 children:
    1. Martha Preston b.5-27-1737 d.1-2-1795 m. in 4-1756 Stephen Wilson, Jr., son of Stephen Wilson and Rebecca Hage. Martha m. 2nd on 11-22-1769 Eleazer Fenton, son of Ephraim Fenton and Hannah Pearson. She had 3 children by Stephen:
    2. Mary Preston b.2-17-1740 d.11-23-1764 m. on 8-22-1759 Joseph Brown, son of Joseph Brown and Ann Dawson. They had 2 children:
    3. Ruth Preston b.9-15-1742 d.3-25-1765 m. Yeamans Gillingham, son of James Gillingham and Martha Canby. They had one son who died when just over one month old.
    4. Sarah Preston b.6-3-1745 d.10-24-1772 m. on 4-19-1769 William Bradshaw, son of James Bradshaw and Ruth Lowther. They had 2 children:
    5. Joseph Preston b.1-11-1748 d. 6-1-1810 m. on 1-17-1770 Rebecca Bills.
  6. Jonas Preston b.11-19-1710 d.2-1-1772 m. Jane Paxson b.xxxx d.10-29-1749 at Buckingham Meeting House in 2-1732, m. 2nd Sarah (Plumly) Carter b.xxxx d.7-29-1754. Jonas moved from Bucks Co. to Chester Co., PA in 1752. Jonas m. 3rd Hannah Lewis (no children) and 4th Mary (Yarnall) Lea, widow of John Lea of Chester and dau. of John and Abigail Yarnall of Edgmont. Children of Jonas and Jane were:
    1. William Preston b.11-25-1732/3 d.xxxx
    2. Mary Preston b.9-20-1734 d.xxxx.
    3. John Preston b.10-20-1736 d.6-4-1740.
    4. Sarah Preston b.10-13-1740 d.xxxx m. Joshua Richardson.
    5. Jane Preston b.10-16-1738 d.6-8-1740.
    6. Jonas Preston b.7-24-1742 d.7-10-1748.
    7. Martha Preston b.6-22-1744 d.xxxx m. Thomas Sharpless.
    8. Ann Preston b.12-15-1745/6 d.xxxx m. Isaac Eyre.
    9. Hannah Preston b.10-22-1747 d.xxxx m. Nicholas Fairlamb.

      10. Jonas and Sarah Carter had a child b.7-29-1754, Jonas Preston. Sarah died during child birth and Jonas died in early childhood.

      Jonas and Mary (Yarnall) Preston had a son:

    10. Jonas Preston b.1-25-1764 d.4-4-1836 m. in 1794 Orpale (or Opal) Reese, dau. of William and Mary Reese. Married 2nd on 8-19-1812 Jane Thomas, dau. of George and Sarah Thomas. Jonas had no children but he was a well known physician and founded the Preston Retreat, a hospital in Philadelphia.
  7. Mary Preston b.7-13-1713 d.7-2-1731, unmarried.


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Original 2/22/99
Last updated 4/13/2007
Page by F. L. Preston