Bucks County, Pennsylvania is one of three original Pennsylvania Counties and was formed in 1682. Originally it was a large territory that included all of what would later be Berks, Northampton, and Lehigh.
Lucas County is in south central Iowa. It was founded in 1846 and the county seat is Chariton.
1855
Pennsylvania is one of the 13 original states and was originally founded in 1681 as a result of a royal land grant to William Penn, the son of the state's namesake.
Sarah S. Hartley Teas Fox was born in Pennsylvania on March 15, 1814 according to her tombstone inscription. Her parents were Thomas Hartley and Barbara Larr (Loar).
Her father, Thomas, was a member of the Buckingham Monthly Meeting in Bucks County, Pennsylvania when he was dismissed for marrying his second wife, Barbara Larr, who was not a Quaker. The minutes recorded
Thomas Hartley hath returned and settled amongst us without producing a certificate and hath gone out in marriage with a woman not of our Society. (from Bucks County, Volume 2: Falls Monthly Meeting Minutes)
Her mother, Barbara Larr, was the daughter of Peter and Esther Larr. They were German and probably Methodist or Mennonite. Barbara used to sing German hymns to the children. A copy of her catechism from her Mennonite school was kept by a descendant (Hartley of Bucks County, p. 13).
Eventually Thomas was restored to membership in the Society of Friends and Barbara joined the Redstone Monthly Meeting on October 2, 1812. (Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy, p. 91).
Sarah's family moved to Ohio and on September 9, 1818 Thomas and Barbara and their children joined the Cincinnati, Ohio Monthly Meeting (Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, p. 127).
To Cincinnati Monthly Meeting, Dear Friends; Being informed that Thomas Hartley and Barbara his wife have removed and settled within the limits of your meetings and inquiry being made and no obstruction appearing we therefore recommend them as members to your care with their minor children: Eliza, Leah, Esther, Sarah, Norton and Rachel and we are your friends. Signed in and dated by Director of Providence Monthly Meeting, the 22 of the 9th month, 1818.
On December 20, 1822 Thomas and Barbara and children, Eliza, Leah, Esther, Sarah, Norton, Rachel, Rebecca, Elias, and Hannah joined the Silver Creek, Monthly Meeting in Liberty Township, Union County, Indiana. (Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, p. 909).
On July 25, 1832 Thomas and his sons Norton P, Elias F. and James S. as well as Barbara and daughters Sarah T., Rachel L., Rebecca D., and Hannah F. joined the Whitewater Monthly meeting.
Sarah married Joseph Gibson Teas on June 5, 1834 at the Smyrna Monthly Meeting. Joseph was born on March 23, 1799 in Pennsylvania. His parents, Charles Teas and Mary Gibson, were also Quakers from New Jersey. He had been married before to Sarah Russell (1802-1834).
Joseph's children with his first wife were born in Wayne County, Indiana:
William Teas (1826),
Spicer Teas (1828), and
Rachel Teas (1831).
Sarah and Joseph had at least two children who were probably born in Iowa. John Teas was born about 1835 and Barbara Hannah Teas Tuttle was born September 21, 1838.
Joseph died in 1838 in Henry, Iowa.
Only one Sarah Teas appeared in the 1850 census in Fairfield, Butler County, Ohio. Census records indicate that she was a widow born in 1810 in New Jersey. She was living with her daughter Barbara Teas born in Ohio in 1838.
On December 4, 1850. Sarah Teas married Levi Fox in Butler County, Ohio.
In 1855 Barbara Teas married Noah Tuttle in Lucas County, Iowa.
When Levi died in 1877, Sarah inherited
all of the land and the appurtenances there-unto belonging, and described as follows: The South West ¼ of the North East ¼ and the South East ¼ of the North East¼ and the East half of the North East ¼ of the South East¼ of Section Thirty four (34) Township Seventy one (71) Range Twenty one (21), also the West half of the South Wes t¼ of North West quarter and West half of North Wes t¼ of South Wes t¼ of Section Thirty Five (35) Township Seventy one (71) Range Twenty-one (21), Containing in all, One Hundred and Forty (140) acres to have and to hold during her natural life, and also all my personal property, except Forty Dollars.
She died August 23, 1881 at age 68 in Washington Township of stomach and liver cancer. She is buried in lot 149, New York Cemetery with her husband Levi and step-son Josiah Fox.
The Public Land Survey System is used to survey and spatially identify land parcels in the United States.
Range is the distance east or west from a referenced principal meridian in units of six miles.
A Section is approximately a one-square-mile block of land. There are 36 sections in a township.
A Township is a parcel of land of 36 square miles or a measure of the distance north or south from a referenced baseline in units of six miles.
The Society of Friends (Quakers) began in England in the 1650s, when they broke away from the Puritans. Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn, as a safe place for Friends to live and practice their faith.
Early Quakers were persecuted. In the Massachusetts Bay colony, Friends were banished on pain of death.
Mennonites are Christians who reject infant Baptism. In the early 18th century about 2,500 Mennonites fled to Pennsylvania from persecution in the Palatinate. They opposed the Revolution, resisted public education, and did not approve of religious revivalism. They supported separation of church and state, and opposed slavery.
For a tour of the Fox family land and resting places see "Fox Hunting at New York" from October 22, 2008 in The Lucas Countyan by Frank Myers.
