Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Benjamin Trotter 1699 Mary Fisher 1711-1750

Benjamin was a Quaker
this symbol is known as a
Quaker Star
Benjamin Trotter
Born  Nov 1699 Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Parents: William Trotter and Rebecca Theach
Occupation: Chair maker, Quaker preacher for 40 years
Religion: Quaker
Married Mary Fisher 4 Jun 1734 Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died 26 Mar 1768 Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Buried: Friends Arch Street Meeting House

A Testimony of the monthly meeting of Friends in Philadelphia concerning our friend, Benjamin Trotter, who was born in this city in the ninth month of the year 1699

Newspaper Obituary extraction 
He was one whom the Lord early visited and reached unto by the reproofs of His devine light and grace, for those youthful vanities and corrupt conversation, by which nature he was prone to and pursued, to the grief of his pious mother, who was religiously concerned to restrain him; but as he became obedient to the renewed visitations of the heavenly call, denying himself of those things he was reproved for, he not only ceased in doing evil, but to live in the practice of doing well; and continuing faithful, became an example of plainess and self-denial, for which he suffered much scoffing and mocking of those who had been his companions in folly; yet he neither fainted nor was turned aside by the reproaches of the ungodly, which thus fell to his lot, for his plain testimony to their evil conduct.

In the twenty-sixth year of his age, he appeared in the work of the ministry, and laboured therein in much plainess and godly sincerity, adorning the doctrine he preached by a humble cirumspect life and conversation, being exemplary in his diligence and industry to labor honestly for a livelihood, though often in much bodily infirmity and weakness desiring, as he sometimes expressed, that he might not owe any man any thing but love. His inoffensive openess and affability, drawing many of different denominations to converse with him, he had some seasonable opportunities of admonishing and rebuking the evil doer and evil speaker, which he did, in the plainess of an upright zeal for the promotion of piety and virtue, tempered with true brotherly kindness and charity; respecting not the person of the proud nor of the rich, because of his riches, but with Christian freedom, declaring the truth to his neighbor, and was thus in private as well as in public, a preacher of righteousness.

In his public ministry, he was zealous against errors both in principle and practice, and constantly concerned to press the necessity of obedience to the principle of divine grace; a manifestation which is given to every man; knowing from his own experience that it bringeth salvation to all them that obey and follow its teachings, and was frequently enabled with energy and power, to bear testimony to the outward coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, his miraculous birth, his holy example in his life and precepts, and his sufferings and death at Jerusalem, by which he  hath obtained eternal redemption for us.

In his public testimony, a little before his last sickness, he expressed his apprehensions, that his time among us would be short, and fervently exhorted to watchfulness and care, to keep our lamps trimmed and our lights burning, and urged the necessity of being prepared to meet the bridegroom, as not knowing what hour he will come.  

He travelled several times and and visited most of the meetings of Friends in this province and New Jersey, and some of the adjacent provinces, but was not much from home; being upwards of forty years a diligent attender of our religious meetings in this city, zealously concerned for the maintaining our Christian discipline in meekness and true charity,  careful in the exercise of pure religion, visiting the widow and fatherless in their afflictions, and often qualified to administer relief and consolation to their dejected minds.

Afflictions of divers kinds, and some very deep and exercising, fell to his lot through the course of his life, which he was enabled to bear with exemplary patience and resignation, and particularly through his last illness, in which, in upwards of six weeks, he underwent great difficulty and pain, being afflicted with the asthma and dropsy, so that he suffered much, yet was never heard to utter a murmur or complaint, but frequently expressed his thankfulness that he had not more pain, and often engaged in prayer, tha the might be preserved in patience to the end,which was graciously granted him; so that he was capable of speaking to the comfort and edification of those who visited him; and from the fervrent love of the brethren, which evidently appeared through his life, and most conspiciously during his last illness, and even in the hour of his death, we have a well-grounded assurance that he is passed unto life, and hath received a reward of righteousness.

His body was attended by a great number of Friends and others, his fellow citizens of divers religious denominations, to our meeting house in High Street, on the 24th of the third month 1768, and after a solemn meeting, in which several living testimonies were borne, was interred in our burial ground in this city.  Signed James Pemberton, Clerk, the fourth day of the 8th month, 1769

Date: 25 Feb 1768

Prove Date: 1 Apr 1768

Name: Benjamin Trotter
Residence: Philadelphia
Description: Decedent
Title: Chairmaker
BookPage: O:220
Remarks: Benjamn Trotter. Phila. Chair maker. 2 mo. 25, 1768. 1 April 1768. Daughter: Mary Browne. Grandchildren: Mary, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Dinah, Joseph, Hannah and Benjamin Browne. Execs.: cousin David Bacon and John Pemberton. Negro: Rose. O:220.
His will, dated 5 Feb 1768 was offered for probate 1 Apr 1768
"...First, I do give, desire and bequeath to my dear daughter, Mary Brown, my wearing apparel, and having heretofore assisted my said beloved daughter Mary as I have been well capable, yet consdiering she may continue under Tryals & difficulties (Mary's husband, Abraham Browne, had been disowned by the Quakers for 'bearing arms' in the war - perhaps the French and Indian War?), I do give unto her the interest which my yearly  ...from the money hereafter bequeathed in my grandchildren during their minority...I give and bequeath unto Rose, a Negro woman whome I have set free and at liberty, a small feather bed, a trundle bedstead with sacking bottom, two blankets and a pair of sheets....The money arising from such sale or sales (his executors were to sell what they could) unto my loving grandchildren, Mary, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Dinah, Joseph, Hannah, and Benjamin Brown, to be paid to them as they respectively attain to age or marry...."
Sources
US Newspaper Extractions, Index of Obituaries 1704-1800 page 474
https://sites.google.com/site/webstergriggsfamilies/webster/trotter
Will:  ancestry.com
Book: The Friends (Quaker) Library for his memorial pages 183-184
US Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy Volumes 1-6
US Quaker Meeting Records
Genealogies of Pennsylvania Families, Page 563
Family Search
A source listed on findagrave: Genealogical Gleanings from the Journal of Elizabeth Drinker, 1759 to 1807, Page 591 in Pennsylvania Vital Records, Vol. I, by the Genealogical Publishing Company, Incorporated in 1983
Occupation, Religion: The Winterthur Library The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera
Note: I found information about the Trotters of Philadelphia online. Apparently, many members of the family were locally famous for their hand-crafted furniture.
Memorial:  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/155016869
Mary Fisher
Born 26 Mar 1711 Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Note:  This birth date has to be wrong as her marriage to William Corker took place in 1709 on Quaker records.  More likely, she was born much earlier, perhaps as early as 1690.
Parents: William Fisher and Bridget Hodgkins
Married 1) William Corker
Children:  Elizabeth
Died 28 Mar 1750 Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sources
Death date:  US Quaker Meeting Records
US Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy Volumes 1-6
US Quaker Meeting Records
ancestry.com
Family Search

CHILDREN

Mary Trotter
Born 24 Jan 1734 Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Married Abraham Browne 29 Mar 1754 West Grove, Chester, Pennsylvania
Children:  Mary, Elizabeth, Dinah, Rebecca, Joseph, Abraham, Hannah, Benjamin
Died 11 Feb 1802 West Grove, Chester, Pennsylvania
Buried: New West Grove Friends Cemetery
Sources
For a look at the some of the land that Abraham Brown owned: Book:  Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 1907 Official Documents Case:  No. 7 A. 35  18 Dec 1907  Evidently there was a question about the land that Mary Trotter owned and had surveyed in 1794 (before her death)
Family Search
Memorial: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/190646031/mary-browne

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