My Ancestors in the American Revolution: Pvt MATTHIAS FENTON

 

Old Red Lion Inn, Bensalem twp, Bucks Pennsylvania 

MATTHIAS FENTON was born about 1745 in Northampton twp, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of JOSEPH FENTON III and MARYTE (MARIA, MARY) VAN DYCK, both of whom were born  in Brooklyn, New York, and migrated to Northampton twp, Bucks County, Pennsylvania by about 1759,  when they were listed in Dutch Reformed Church records there.

MATTHIAS married RACHEL HARDING on 27 August 1770 at the Southampton Dutch Reformed Church in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  RACHEL was the daughter of JOHN THOMAS HARDING and JANE SCOTT, who were Quakers; both died by about 1761 leaving  RACHEL and her older sister MARTHA  orphans.

On 19 August 1775, MATTHIAS FENTON enlisted in the  Sixth Company,  Southampton, Bucks, Pennsylvania Militia, under Capt JOHN FOLWELL,  rank of Pvt.  His brothers JOSEPH FENTON IV, JOHN/JAN FENTON and CORNELIUS FENTON also served, but in Capt HENRY LOTT's regiment from Northampton twp, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  I have not yet found records indicating when MATTHIAS FENTON was mustered out. 

In 1779, MATTHIAS FENTON and his wife RACHEL purchased and ran the Red Lion Inn in Bensalem twp,  Bucks County Pennsylvania.   The Inn was built in 1730 near the Poquessing Creek, on a main highway between Massachusetts and Philadelphia.  Delegates to the First Continental Congress, such as JOHN ADAMS were known to have stopped there to dine, and many meetings were held there  during the Revolutionary War. General GEORGE WASHINGTON and the Contintental Army camped along the Poquessing Creek, just behind the Inn, on their way to the Battle of Yorktown. Sadly, this historic Inn burnt to the ground in 1991.

MATTHIAS and RACHEL were not destined to own the Red Lion Inn for long.  Both of them died in the winter of 1781, leaving four young children orphaned: MARY, MARTHA, JOSEPH and THOMAS HARDING FENTON. The Red Lion Inn was leased to ABRAHAM DUFFIELD by their guardians for a term of three years. On  8 September 1783, DUFFIELD petitioned the Bucks County Orphans' Court, along with the guardians of the FENTON children to reduce the rent "being hard and ruinous owing to Peace taking place". 

MATTHIAS FENTON and his wife RACHEL HARDING FENTON were buried at the Byberry Friends Burying Ground in Philadelphia--where her parents were buried.

Two interesting things about this family:  

1) While researching, I discovered that MATTHIAS FENTON owned and was taxed on two slaves in 1780.  His father JOSEPH FENTON III also owned slaves. Apparently in the 1700s the Dutch Reformed Church turned a blind eye to the fact that their parishioners (and indeed some of their ministers) owned slaves.  I am very surprised that RACHEL, who was raised a Quaker, would accept the purchase of slaves in her household.  Perhaps the Pennsylvania Quakers did not yet share the radical abolitionist views of my North Carolina Quaker ancestors.  

2) Three of the children of MATTHIAS FENTON and RACHEL HARDING married children  of SIMON SIMONSE VAN ARSDALE and his wife ELSE KROESEN of Southampton twp, Bucks County Pennsylvania. See the next blogpost for SIMON's biography.

MATTHIAS FENTON is in the lineage of my paternal grandfather ALONZO COX HUBER.

Sources:

--Bucks County Orphans Court Records 1685-1852 by Thomas G Myers

--Family History of Jeremiah Fenton of Adams County Ohio by William Bartholomew Brown

--History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania by William Wiatts Hart Davis

--Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution by William Henry Egle

Have a great day!

Betty

© Betty Tartas 2025

My Ancestors in the American Revolution: Ensign ABRAHAM BROWN II

 

Abraham Brown II gravestone

Arch Hill Cemetery Northfield NH   

ABRAHAM BROWN II was born 8 May 1754 in Epping, Rockingham, New Hampshire. He was the son of ABRAHAM BROWN I and HANNAH OSGOOD, both of whom died before 1760.  I have not yet found records indicating who raised  ABRAHAM BROWN II aft 1760.   He would have been six years old at the time of his father's death.  His father may have married again after the death of his first wife, HANNAH OSGOOD, in 1755.  ABRAHAM may have had siblings, but at this time I am not certain that they survived to adulthood.  

In 1775,  at age 21, ABRAHAM  enlisted with the New Hampshire Militia as a drummer, under several different commanders, for a period of three years.  Then, in 1780, he was commissioned as Ensign and Adjutant in Capt DANIEL GORDON's regiment, under Gen THOMAS BARTLETT and served until the end of the war.  An Adjutant is an officer who serves as chief administrative assistant to a Commander, in charge of managing correspondence, records, reports, and other administrative duties. The order came from (then Colonel)  THOMAS BARTLETT, at West Point.

ABRAHAM married MARY "POLLY" BUTLER on 27 May 1777 in Epping, Rockingham County, New Hampshire.  MARY was the daughter of Rev BENJAMIN BUTLER, a Harvard Graduate (and Mayflower descendant), and his wife DORCAS ABBOTT.  They lived in Nottingham, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, where Rev BENJAMIN BUTLER was the minister of the town's Congregational Church for twelve years, then a Civil Magistrate until his death in 1804

ABRAHAM and MARY had a large family of nine children.  They lived first in the town of Epping, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, and then in Northfield, which later was in Merrimack County. 

ABRAHAM BROWN II died 8 March 1824 in Northfield, Merrimack County, New Hampshire. He is buried in Arch Hill Cemetery. 

 MARY, his wife,  received his Revolutionary War Pension in 1832. She survived him by over 20 years, dying 13 July 1846. She is also buried in Arch Hill Cemetery. 

ABRAHAM BROWN II is in the lineage of my maternal grandmother RUBY BOLTON BROWN MARTINE.

 SOURCES: 

Abraham Brown II's Rev War Pension File 

DAR Patriot Index 

"History of Northfield NH" by Lucy Rogers Cross Hill;  publ 1905

"History of Town of Canterbury NH" by James Otis Lyford;  publ 1912

"History of the Town of Andover, NH" by John R Eastman

Have a great day!

Betty 

© Betty Tartas 2025