#16 William Hibbs Jr. {52 Ancestors}

My husband’s maternal 7 times great grandfather was named William Hibbs Jr.  I wrote about his father (William Hibbs Sr.), who was beheaded, in an earlier post. William Hibbs Jr. was born on March 23, 1665 in Gloucestershire, England to William Hibbs Sr. and Joanne (1635- March 6, 1686-possibly beheaded like her husband).  When William Hibbs Jr. was only about 11 years old, his father had him taken on as a cabin boy aboard the ship The Kent, captained by Gregory Marlow.  Hibbs Sr. knew his life was in danger because of his Quaker religion and his vocal dislike of the king and wanted to protect his young son.  Why he didn’t also send the rest of his family to America, I do not understand, as his oldest son was also executed and possibly his wife Joanne as well. Passengers on the Kent were the founders of Chygoes Island, what is now called Burlington, New Jersey where a new Quaker colony was formed.  Their first meeting was held right on the beach underneath the sails from the ship.  William remained with this group of Quakers until 1680 when he moved to Byberry township near Philadelphia, this was right when William Penn was founding Philadelphia. On December 2, 1686 he married Hannah Howell (born in PA 1666-died August 30, 1737 in Philadelphia) who was the daughter of Thomas Howell (17 Feburary 1637 Gloucestershire, England – 27 December 1702 Byberry, PA).  The couple lived on a 100 acre farm in Byberry Township and raised 7 children: Joseph (1687-1762 my husband’s 6 times great grandfather), Jonathan, Sarah, Phoebe, Jacob, William III, Jeremiah, and Hannah. It sounds like William Hibbs Jr., was an important member of the community and was one of the men who helped to make Philadelphia a strong city. William Hibbs signed his will in 1708 by leaving his mark, which indicates that he was illiterate.  He died sometime between September 28, 1708 when he signed his will and March 5, 1709-10 when his will was probated.   William’s wife remarried their neighbor Henry English in 1712, he died in 1724 and Hannah later died sometime between June 13 1737 (when she signed her will) and 30 August 1737 (when it was probated) It is also interesting to note that William Jr’s son Joseph (my husband’s 6 times great grandfather) had a daughter named Hannah who married a man named James Cooper on September 18, 1750.  The two had a child named William Cooper who was the father of James Fenimore Cooper, author of Last of the Mohicans!  Yay!  our first celebratory semi-related person (besides the possibility of those king and queen types scattered throughout our English side of the family (my mom’s maternal side).

his scrapbook page: