John Grubb, 1689-1731

32 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION exhibit in the Lecture Room of the Meeting House, and it was viewed by a thousand visitors. Some of the meeting's earliest records were displayed in locked glass cases; also the earliest Minute Book commencing 1684; old English certificates received and filed in 1680; a certificate from England , dated 1682, for Samuel Bunting, Trenton's first recorded Friends' Minister; Friends' manumission papers dated as early as 1774, giving freedom to many slaves; and many other early and valuable documents. The walls of the room gave lessons in Friends' history, past and present, and in their educational and philanthropic activities. Antique articles were also on display. Two historical meetings were held during the week in the meeting house, under the auspices of the Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims. At these meetings Elizabeth B. Satterthwaite and others gave historical addresses suitable to the occasion. A pageant was given on 10 mo. 25th by Mary H. MacPherson, Esther Pidcock and Theodosia Wright, personating daughters of their ancestor Mahlon Stacy. Helen Moon represented Gulielma Springett, the first wife of William Penn, and Mary Mayo Tilden appeared as the daughter of her Mayflower ancestor. All were in appropriate colonial dress. Betty Fell unveiled a portrait of George Clymer and gave the history of his life work. A tablet to the memory of Mahlon Stacy, the founder of the city of Trenton, and a founder of the Friends' Meeting of Trenton, was placed upon the Friends' Meeting House. It was unveiled 11 mo. 2nd by Mabel Potts, a descendant, in a beautiful ceremony conducted by the Historical Society of Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims, who presented the tablet to the Friends' Meeting. Elizabeth B. Satterthwaite DOCUMENTS John Grubb, 1689-1731 The following account of John Grubb, who built a ship in 1728 on the banks of the Rancocas, in Burlington County, New Jersey, has come from his descendant, Isabel Grubb, of Seskin, Carrick-on-Suir, Ireland'. He was also the ancestor of our valued Quaker writer, Edward Grubb. " Irish Wharf " where the ship was built, is still known on the stream ; and confirmation of the success of John Grubb's work is found in the Ship Registers of the Port of Philadelphia, where on November 10th, 1729, the Francis, Captain John Fellows, cleared. She was owned by Francis Annesley and John Fellows, both of Waterford, Ireland, and "built in the Province of West Jersey." * The Friends who certified to John Grubb's good character lived near 1. Penna. Mag. of History and Biography, Vol. 23 (1899): p. 262. DOCUMENTS33 the shipyard in Northampton township. Samuel Woolman was the father of John Woolman, and he and Dr. Daniel Wills and John Stokes were near neighbors. A letter exists from John Grubb and his sons, Joseph and John, soon after his arrival, showing his favorable impression of the new country, and that he wanted his wife to come out and join him. This she was, however, unable to do, as will be seen, and he returned to Ireland, dying soon after. Shipbuilding on the Delaware was a rapidly growing trade at this period, but Massachusetts and the maritime provinces had for so long been the leaders in this industry, that it was natural for John Grubb, before coming to West Jersey, to visit Marblehead, and the neighborhood of Boston, where Puritan interests were successful. The Smith family in Burlington County had a shipbuilding plant on the Delaware at Burlington, near the mouth of the Rancocas (Ancocas originally ); and sent their ships to the West Indies and to China. Several of them, including the Hon. Richard Smith, member of the West Jersey Assembly and a Proprietor, signed John Grubb's certificate. They were all Quakers. Amelia M. Gummere Biographical Sketch John Grubb (1689-1731) was the youngest son of John Grubb of Meylers Park, near Ross, County Wexford, and the only child of the latter by his second wife Elizabeth. His grandfather, also named John, had come to Ireland in 1656 from Northamptonshire. John Grubb in 1708 married Anne Willan and succeeded his father on the farm at Meylers Park. " Meetings were frequently held at their house to which several...