Jonas Preston Sr. b.ca.1600 d.7-28-1669 buried at Liversedge, not far from Rastrick and Brighouse Meeting, Harwoodwell, of which the Preston family were members (Quaker). Jonas had a son Jonas Preston, Jr. b.ca.1630 d.4-1-1714 who married Sarah Unknown b.xxxx d.1-20-1723. Jonas Jr. was interred at Brighouse Meeting four years before his son William emigrated to America. Jonas Jr. and Sarah were married in Thomas Taylor's house on 3-29-1664. (Fifty persons were taken prisoner at a meeting of Friends in the house of Thomas Taylor, Sedbergh, in 1662. No Prestons were among the fifty, but we know that these Prestons were members.)

In 1685, The Friends were earnestly promoting the relief of Quaker prisoners, with the result that the king appointed two commissioners to examine the matter, one of whom was Viscount Richard Graham Preston (page 126, Braithwaite's "Second Period of Quakerism"). During the critical months later, when a French invasion was expected, a proclamation was issued, July 14, 1690, for the arrest, among others, of William Penn, on a charge of conspiracy. Viscount Preston, suspected of having some connection with Penn, was seized and searched. Among his papers were found two letters from William Penn, with the result that Viscount Preston, with others, was committed to the Tower on January 3, 1691, and later found guilty of high treason. Within a fortnight, however, the discoverer of the alleged plot advised the reprieve of Lord Preston, it appearing that William Penn had no part in any plot against the government, but had met Preston and had indiscretely entrusted him about ships for Pennsylvania and with letters containing expressions of personal friendship.

King Charles II gave the Pennsylvania region to William Penn in 1681. The word Pennsylvania means Penn's Woods. Penn, a Quaker, established Pennsylvania colony as a place where his fellow Quakers and persons of other faiths could have religious freedom. Thus Pennsylvania is sometimes called the Quaker State.

Jonas Preston, Jr. and Sarah Unknown had 7 children:

1. Mary Preston b.2-2-1665 d.xxxx m. Richard Chappell of Rastrick at John Eccless' house, Woodhouse, Rastrick, on 2-6-1692.
2. 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.
3. Sarah Preston b.1-31-1671 d.xxxx m. Robert Eastbourn at John Eccless' house, Woodhouse, Rastrick, on 10-3-1693. Sarah and Robert Eastbourn preceded William by settling in Philadelphia County, Abington Monthly Meeting, in December 1713.
4. Jonas Preston b.1-31-1671 d.xxxx, (twin of Sarah Preston), m. Martha Copley on 3-24-1699.
5. Martha Preston b.5-23-1675 d.xxxx m. Thomas Cooper on 11-2-1700.
6. John Preston b.3-5-1677 d.xxxx.
7. Esther Preston b.12-4-1678 d.xxxx m. Joseph Fryer, at Brighouse Meeting House, 9-6-1701.

This branch of the Preston family lived in West Riding, Yorkshire, about 35 miles east of Preston in Lancashire and just to the east of the Pennine chain of hills. It was farming country producing barley and oats and sheep and cattle were raised there. Later it became a center of coal mining.

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