Sharpley

Common Vetch SharpleyCommon Vetch
compiled and copyright by MJP Grundy, 2011
"Common Vetch", block print by Anne E. G. Nydam, copyright 1996, used by permission


         This page traces the short line from Adam Sharpley (d. 1694)
to his daughter Abigail Sharpley (d. 1748) who married Alphonsus Kirk in 1692/3.

If you have corrections or additions, please contact me via e mail at .



         Our line may begin with Ralph Sharpley, or Sharply, a Friend with several references in Joseph Besse's account of Friends who suffered for conscience's sake.[1] But this has not yet been documented.

         It is possible, but I have not yet found documentation proving that Ralph Sharpley had a son who was Adam Sharpley1 who, with his wife Mary, emigrated to Pennsylvania sometime between 1682 and 1688. We may safely begin with Adam and Mary who settled near Skillpot or Shelpot Creek in New Castle County, then a part of Pennsylvania (now Delaware). For an explanation of the superscript 1 following his name, see the Numbering System used on this web page.

         Whoever his parents were, our Adam Sharpley1 and his wife Mary (__) turned up on Shelpot Creek. The Creek is about a mile north and roughly parallel to the Brandywine. A 1772 map shows Shellpot Creek as a tributary of the Brandywine, entering just east of Wilmington.

         Adam and Mary were both active in Newark Monthly Meeting serving on a number of the small committees by which the meeting's business was accomplished[2]

         Adam died September or November 27, 1694 and was buried in the Friends graveyard at Newark.[3] He signed his will November 16, 1686, but for some reason it was not probated until April 20, 1720. Living on the frontier it probably didn't seem necessary to go to the trouble and expense of probate until it came time to pass land on to the next generation. His wife Mary was executrix.[4]

         Children of Adam and Mary (__) Sharpley (order uncertain, probably incomplete):[5]

i.     Rachel Sharpley2, probably a daughter of these parents, b. 1665; d. July 2, 1687; cleared to m. 8m/16/1686, her mother present with a certificate from her father, giving approval; m. ca. 8m [Oct.] 1686 under the care of Newark MM to Thomas PIERSON, Deputy Surveyor for New Castle Co.; he d. 7m/2/1687; bur. at Newark.

ii.    Abigail Sharpley, d. 1748; m. Feb. 23, 1692/3 Alphonsus KIRK; 11 children.

iii.  William Sharpley, probably a son of these parents.

iv.  Adam Sharpley, m. Phebe Mendenhall?[7]

v.   Benjamin Sharpley, twin, b. Jan. 10, 1686/7.[8]

vi.   Charity Sharpley, twin, b. Jan. 10, 1686/7


Second Generation


         Abigail Sharpley2 emigrated with her parents from Yorkshire to New Castle County, Delaware. She and Alphonsus KIRK brought their intention to marry to Newark Meeting on Sixth Month 3, 1692. William LESTER and Nathaniel CARTMELL were named to a clearness committee for him, and Cassandra DRUET and Ann HOLLINGSWORTH for her. On Seventh Month [September] 3, the committees reported they had enquired and found that all was clear, "wherefore the meeting leaves them to their liberty to take one another according to the good order of truth."[9] They were married in December 1692 under the care of Newark Meeting.

         They settled on a farm where they lived the rest of their lives, a half mile from the Centre Meeting house. At first it was near the outer edge of European settlement.[10] There is a family story of a bear coming out of the woods, beaten off with Abigail's rolling pin.[11]

         Children of Abigail and her husband Alphonsus Kirk:

  1. Roger Kirk2, b. 21 Mar. 1694; d. 19 11th Month [Nov.] 1762; m. 9/12m/1726 at Nottingham Joan BOWEN, daughter of Henry of Cecil Co., Md.; 13 children; rem. to Nottingham.[12] Roger signed his will in West Nottingham on December 28, 1761, and it was proved February 4, 1762. He left to his eldest daughter Abigail CORBALLY and to each of his other 5 daughters, viz., Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Hannah and Sarah Kirk £3.10 each. To his daughter Rachel SERJEANT he left only 5 shillings as she had been given her portion already. To his daughter Margaret he left £5.10 and maintenance while she remained unmarried. To his son John he left "my plantation where I now dwell" when he became 21. The tract of land purchased of Thomas BROWN was given to son Sampson Kirk at 21. Roger also made provision for his younger sons Henry and William. His son Timothy was named Executor, and William CHURCHMAN, of Nottingham, was named Trustee to see this will faithfully performed. Witnesses were William KIRK, Thomas BROWN, and Benjamin JACOBS.[13]

  2. Elizabeth Kirk, b. 23 June 1695; m. 1717 Daniel BROWN, son of James and Honour (CLAYTON) Brown; at least 3 children.

  3. Jonathan Kirk, b. 15 Jan. 1697; d. 1 Nov. 1735; on 10 July at age 21 Jonathan was bapt. at St. James Church; m. Mary ___; their son James, aged 3 weeks was bapt. 19 Nov. 1721; their daughter Elizabeth, b. 11 Jan. 1723, was bapt. 26 Jan. 1723.[14]

  4. Mary Kirk, b. 31 Oct. 1698; d. 1 Nov. or 29 Mar. 1699.

  5. Deborah Kirk, b. Jan. 1699/70; d. 23 Sept. 1704.

  6. Abigail Kirk, b. Sept. 1701; d. 29 Sept. 1704.

  7. Timothy Kirk, b. 6 May 1704; d. 19 Oct. 1704.

  8. Alphonsus Kirk, b. 2 Oct. 1705; d. 1 Mar. 1730/1; m. 14/3m/1730 Mary NICHOLS, widow, at Centre meeting house; Alphonsus was a carpenter.[15]

  9. Adam Kirk, b. 1 May 1707; d. 8 Aug. or Dec. 1774; m. 14/9m/1744 Phebe MENDENHALL at Kennett meeting house. They had 10 children.

  10. William Kirk, b. 4 Mar. 1708; d. 2 Mar. 1787; m(1) Mary BUCKINGHAM; m(2) 27 Mar. 1754 Sibilla (DAVIS) Williams.

  11. Timothy Kirk, b. 1 Fifth month [July] 1711; d. 2 May 1786; m. 2 Third month [May] 1734 at Goshen Meeting Sarah WILLIAMS, daughter of Robert William and his wife Gwen CADWALADER. Timothy and his brother William were among the first English to settle among Welsh Friends in East Nantmeal, transferring from Newark MM to Goshen Meeting in 1731, then later from Goshen to Uwchlan Meeting. In 1770 Timothy, Sarah, and two youngest children transferred from Uwchlan to Warrington Meeting. Sarah d. 21 3rd Mo. 1796. They had 12 children, two dying in infancy. For more on the Kirk family, especially Timothy and Sarah and some of their descendants and related lines, see Miriam Cosand Ward, A Family History: A Long Time in the Making" (2009), pp. 85, 89-94; available on Lulu.com.

To continue the story of this family, go to the Kirk page.

Common Vetch





         These Sharpley and Kirk narratives are part of a larger Price family story, with two dozen of its collateral lines, that has been expanded as a hard copy book with considerable historical context. It is available through lulu.com. Click on the title, then on "preview" to see the table of contents and a few sample pages.

This larger Price line contains the collateral lines of Ashbridge, Bonsall, Borton, Cadwallader, Cox, Davies/Davis, and a second (Ellis) Davies, England, Fisher, Haines, Harry/Harris, Hayes, Holliday, John, Jones, Kirk, one Lewis (Henry), another Lewis (Thomas), Malin, Massey, Morgan, Orbell, Paxton, the main Price, another Price (Richard), a third Price (David) branch, Roessen, Sharpley, Schumacher/Shoemaker, Taylor, Thomas, Townsend, Warner, White, Williams, Wood, and Wooderson families. Some, however, are not researched adequately because of brick walls. Corrections and additions are welcome, please contact me at .


Go to the top of this page
Return to the index of collateral lines
Go to the Paxson family home page

This page was originally posted 1m/27/2011, and updated most recently on 1m/5/2012.



Common Vetch



Notes and Sources



  1. Joseph Besse, Sufferings, 1:137-8, 139.


  2. Newark (Kennett) MM minutes 1686-1739, 3/6m/1692, 3/7m/1692. Myers, Immigration of the Irish Quakers, 119. References to Adam in the Newark (Kennett) MM minutes 1686-1739: 2, 4, 8, 10, 11, 12, 377, 378, 406; references to Mary, 2, 5, 7, 10, 378; reference to their daughter Abigail, 9.


  3. Albert Cook Myers, Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania 1682-1750 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1969; originally published in Swarthmore, 1902), 119.


  4. The Historical Research Committee of the Colonial Dames of Delaware, comp., A Calendar of Delaware Wills: New Castle County 1682-1800 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1969 reprint of NY: 1911), 23. The will is C. 207 in the Registrar's Office.


  5. Myers, Immigration of the Irish Quakers, 119.


  6. Excerpts from Newark/Kennett Monthly Meeting records (1686-1703) on http://files.usgwarchives.net/de/ newcastle/church/newark.txt, seen 8/30/2010 J. Smith Futhey and Gilbert Cope, History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with Genealogical and Biographical Sketches (Phila.: Louis H. Everts, 1881), 485; Scharf & Westcott, History of Philadelphia, 1:100.


  7. "New Castle Co. DE Quaker marriage book for Newark/Kennett Monthly Meeting records index only 1690 to 1750", pp. 58, 141, on http://files.usgwarchives.net/de/newcastle/marriages/marjo.txt, seen 8m/30/2010.


  8. Kennett Square MM recs. as transcribed in John T. Humphrey, Pennsylvania Births Chester County 1682-1800 (Washington, D.C.: Humphrey Publications, 1994), 185.


  9. Newark (Kennett) MM minutes 1686-1739, 3/6m/1692, 3/7m/1692.


  10. J. Smith Futhey and Gilbert Cope, History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with Genealogical and Biographical Sketches (Phila.: Louis H. Everts, 1881), 2:624, 692.


  11. Price, "A History of the Early Settlers by the Name of Kirk", 218-20; also in Myers, Immigration of the Irish Quakers, 208. It is also printed in the Friend, 58:315 (1885).


  12. Stubbs, Historic-Genealogy of the Kirk Family, 15.


  13. Chester Co. Will Abstracts, as transcribed on http://www.usgwarchives.org/pa/chester/willabs.htm.


  14. Old Swedes Church records, Wilmington, as cited by Myers, Immigration of the Irish Quakers, 324. For more of their line as seen in the records of Immanuel Church, see F. Edward Wright, Early Church Records of New Castle County, Delaware (Westminster, MD: Family Line Publications, 1994), 16, 18, 20, 23, 52.


  15. Wright, Early Church Records of New Castle Co., 105.





Common Vetch

"Common Vetch"
block print by Anne E. G. Nydam, copyright 1996, used by permission



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