My Genealogy Hound

FRANKLIN W. HALLOWELL, of Bethayres, was born on the family homestead in Abington township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, March 28, 1850. He is a descendant of John Hallowell, the immigrant, who became the progenitor of a numerous family in that section, and from whom descended most if not all of the Hallowells of Bucks and Montgomery counties.

John Hallowell, the immigrant, was twice married, as appears from the records of Abington Meeting. His first wife, Sarah, bore him one child, John, born in England, 12 mo. 8, 1672. His second wife was Mary, a daughter of Thomas Sharpe, who came with him from Hucknow, in the parish of Sutton, Nottinghamshire, England, bringing a Friends’ certificate dated 12 mo. 19, 1682. Of this marriage there were nine children, the first three born in England, and the others in America, as follows: Sarah, born 1677; Thomas, 1679; Mary, 1691; John, 1685; Elizabeth, 1687; Hannah, 1689; Samuel, 1692; Benjamin, 1694; Jane, 1696.

John Hallowell, on first coming to the country, settled near Darby. On 6 mo. 15, 1696, he bought from Silas Crispin, executor of the estate of Thomas Holmes, a tract of land containing 630 acres in Abington township, adjoining Upper Dublin, and on the line of the manor of Moreland for upwards of a mile, paying therefor 58 pounds, 16 shillings. Soon after this purchase John Hallowell removed to his new property, living at first in a rude cabin which he constructed partly in the ground, on the sunny side of a hill, making a habitation which in early days was known as a cave, similar to those constructed by some of the early settlers of Philadelphia. This was at or near what has recently been the residence of the well known horseman, Philip R. Theobald, about a mile and a half southwest of Willow Grove, in one of the finest neighborhoods in Montgomery county. The Theobald farm formed a portion of the original Hallowell tract. Up to the time of the Theobald purchase from Benjamin Hallowell, son of Isaac and Sarah Hallowell, about 1850, the property had remained in the Hallowell family, and the adjoining one hundred acre tract has remained in the family name for considerably more than two centuries. John Hallowell conveyed to his eldest son, Thomas, 8 mo. 1, 1702, 220 acres of his tract, with the improvements thereon. The remainder, 408 acres, he divided equally 4 mo. 11, 1706, between two younger sons, Samuel and Benjamin, as they came of age. Thomas conveyed, 12 mo. 25, 1730, his 220 acre farm de rived from his father, to his eldest child, William, who purchased from William Dunn in 1730, one hundred acres in Moreland, which he conveyed, June 3, 1736, to his son Thomas, weaver, who had previously occupied it. This tract was situated a mile northwest of Willow Grove and is the farm which was owned by Joseph Hallowell, father of Dr. William Hallowell, of Norristown, now long deceased, and on which he was born more than a century ago, he having been the son of Joseph Hallowell, and grandson of Thomas Hallowell. Thomas died in 1788, and his son Joseph in 1843, William dying fifty years later, so that the three generations of the same family, represented by these three individuals owned the property for a time somewhat exceeding a century and a half, being a very remarkable instance of longevity in one family.

Thomas, soil of John and Mary Hallowell, born 1679, died 1734, married in 1702, at Darby, in what is now Delaware county, Pennsylvania, Rosamond Till, who survived him, dying in 1745. Both were buried in the old section of the burying ground adjoining the Friends’ meeting house at Abington. Their children were: John, born 1703; Mary, 1705; Thomas, 1706; William, 1707; Rosamond, 1709; Elizabeth, 1711; Sarah, 1714; Thomas, 1715; Samuel, 1717; Joseph, 1719.

William, son of Thomas and Rosamond (Till) Hallowell, resided on his farm in Abington until 8 mo. 23, 1791, where he died at the age of eighty-seven years. He was twice married. His first wife was Margaret, born 1708, died 1753, daughter of Matthias (or Mathew) and Mary Tyson. They were the parents of twelve children: Thomas, Jr., and Letitia Roberts, her father being the son of Thomas Roberts, the immigrant. John and Martha (Roberts) Hallowell lived in Abington township after their marriage, and John died there in 1793, during the prevalence of an epidemic of yellow fever in Philadelphia, he having contracted the disease while engaged in the transaction of business in that city. Their children were: Isaac, married Mary Fletcher; Israel, further mentioned below; Ann, married Joseph Williams; John R., married Ann Jarrett.

Israel, second son and child of John and Martha (Roberts) Hallowell, and grandfather of Franklin W. Hallowell, was born in 1778. He was a large property holder, owning valuable farms in Abington and Moreland townships, and was also a miller, owning a grist mill on the Pennypack creek, which his father had operated prior to the Revolutionary war. He married Mary, daughter of William Jarrett, of Horsham, and their children were: Ann L., who married Isaac Mather, for whose children see sketch of Isaac Mather, elsewhere in this work; Martha, married Samuel Parry; John J., married Rachel Williams, and became the parents of Franklin W.; Tacy, married David Eastburn; William Jarrett, married Lydia Ann Lloyd; Israel, Jr., of whom further below; Mary, married George Ely; Jonas Wyman married Esther L. Fenton.

John J. and Rachel (Williams) Hallowell were the parents of the following named children: 1. Williams, born 8th mo. 27, 1835, died 4th mo. 8, 1859: he married Sarah Tyson, and they had one child, Willietta, born 3d mo. 26, 1859, died 7th mo. 31, 1868. 2. Elizabeth W., born 8th mo. 16, 1842, died 8th mo. 4, 1861. 3. Franklin W.

Franklin W. Hallowell, youngest child and only son of John J. and Rachel (Williams) Hallowell, has passed his entire life in his native township of Abington. He is known as a man of high character and usefulness in the community. He married March 19, 1873, Sallie S. Fenton, born 10 mo. 7, 1850, a daughter of William W. and Caroline H. (Saurman) Fenton. Their children: Caroline F., born 1st mo. 20, 1876, the wife of John K. Williams, they residing at Mount Airy; Helen R., born 11th mo. 19, 1884.

The Fentons are a numerous and influential family in Cheltenham and Abington townships, in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. Eleazer Fenton emigrated from England to America in or prior to 1680, and settled in Burlington county, New Jersey. Of his family, Ephraim Fenton, his son, removed to Buckingham township, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and took up 510 acres of land about the year 1710. He died in 1748, leaving three sons, Eleazer, Josiah and Samuel, of whom Samuel, whose death occurred in 1896, was the ancestor of Mrs. Hallowell. His son Ephraim married in 1782, Mary Thomas, of Milestown, in Philadelphia county, a relative of the painter, Benjamin West, and settled in Cheltenham township, Montgomery county. He was the grandfather of Mrs. Hallowell, her father, William W. Fenton, being one of his children, eight in all.