Upon receiving the url for the Swarthmore records collection, http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/friends/search.htm, I went to the site mainly for info on their large George family collection, since I am a descendant of Richard and Jane George who came from Llangerig, Montgomeryshire, Wales in 1708, their daughter Catherine having married Joseph Eavenson. While looking at the other family names in the collection I noted the Prickett/ Prickitt family who lived in the area of Northampton and Southampton townships in Burlington Co., NJ from 1716. I am interested in knowing where this family came from in England. My ancestor Thomas Eavenson (1653-1726) came to Chester Co., PA in 1687 from Acton Parish, Cheshire. He had two sisters, Mary and Sarah. From the old Eavenson Bible he brought with him there is some indication that Mary or Sarah, or both, were married to a Prickett. This is reinforced by the fact that a 1635 seating chart of St. Mary's Chancel, Acton Parish, where the Eavenson family and those associated with them (Woodward,Orton, Davenport, Mainwaring) attended, shows a John Prickett occupying a pew near them. Does anyone know from where in England the Prickett family of Burlington Co., NJ came? Chandler Eavenson

>I noted the Prickett/ Prickitt family who lived in the area of Northampton and >Southampton townships in Burlington Co., NJ from 1716. The oldest referenced seemed to be a deed Zackariah Prickett. <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=tripm& id=I21163> suggests he was born in Gloucestershire, England circa 1675, and came over on the "Amity" with the Haines family. <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=tripm& id=I2815> suggests that was in 1682 and that the Haines family had roots in Aynhoe, Northamptonshire, England. That would place Zackariah Prickett as pretty young when emigrating, but the circa 1675 birth date could easily be way off. On some other sites I see references to a book that looks likely of interest to you: R. Haines. "Ancestry of the Haines, Sharp, Collins, Wills, Gardiner, Prickitt, Eves, Evans, Moore, Troth, Borton and Engle Families. Compiled from notes of the. Pub. by Sinnickson Chew & Sons Co., Camden, N.J., 1902. Googling the title in quotes shows it in one library and at least one reprint company selling overpriced reprints ($188!). I'd look for it at the Books We Own lookup project, http://www.rootsweb.com/~bwo/, where you can find many rare books and get access to simple lookups via volunteers. Or try the WorldCat "find in libaries search" @ www.worldcatlibraries.org for a copy in a library near you. I find copies in libraries in 10 states. <http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/search?q=Ancestry+of+the+Haines%2C+Sh arp%2C+Collins&qt=owc_search> Also try the Earlham Digital Quaker Collection <http://esr.earlham.edu/dqc/> and you can find a Prickett referenced in the two books on "Sufferings of early Quakers". That finds a 1661 reference to "Commitments to Prison from Tewksbury Meeting": "On the 24th of the Month called February, Francis Jefferies, Nathaniel Jeines, Samuel Mosses, John Ward, Jacob Underbill, John Prickett, William Peachy, Samuel Skitser, Thomas Edwards, and Edward Waters, were taken from a Meeting at Tewksbury, and because they refused to give Sureties for their good Behaviour, were committed to Prison." That is probably the reference I find referred to in one web site that noted Zackariah "... is said to be descended from a John Prickett of Gloucester, England. (A Quaker who is mentioned in a narrative called "BESSIE'S SUFFERINGS", in 1660)", If you read the chapter above carefully it appeared to me that the reference to Pritchett follows a year of records of 1660 and happens in February of the following year. The citation should be for: Collection of the sufferings of the people called Quakers (Volume 1) Besse, Joseph Or Besse, Joseph. - A collection of the sufferings of the people called Quakers, for the testimony of a good conscience from the time of their being first distinguished by that name in the year 1650 to the time of the act commonly called the Act of toleration granted to Protestant dissenters in the first year of the reign of King William the Third and Queen Mary in the year 1689 (Volume 1) And, in the second volume of Besse's books on the Quaker sufferings, CHAP. III. WORCESTERSHIRE, covers many details in the Borough of Evesham in the County of Worcester, 1655. "The Names of some who were put into the Stocks for coming to Meeting there, were John Booker, Robert Beard, William Yeates, Joseph Undrill, Jacob Undrill, and John Prickett." That's part of a much more detailed account of other men (aside from Pritchett but from the same group) thrown in a small prison cell for 14 weeks: "And as for the Prison, or Hole where we are kept, it is not twelve Foot square, and one Goal-hole belonging to it four Inches wide, wherein we take in our Food and Straw to lie upon, and we are forced to burn Candle every Day when we have it, by reason the Prison is so dark and so close, and so many in so little Room, and so little Air, with the Stink of our own Dung, all which might have occasioned the Death of some of us e'er this Time, and one they kept with me in the Dungeon until he was sick, and after turned him out in the Night: And some others have not been well by reason of the exceeding Closeness of the Prison, whereby sometimes the Stink of the Prison hath been so strong in the Streets, that the People could not endure to stand by it. Sometimes when the Days were hot, the Breath of some Prisoners was almost stopped, and they lay for several Days like Men asleep; and when the Days are at the coldest, we have not Room nor Place either to make Fire, or to walk to keep our Bodies warm; yet there is a large Prison over our Heads, where they do sometimes imprison many of our Friends, but that large Prison they will not let us be in, neither could we, nor Friends for us, prevail to have Liberty to walk in that Prison sometimes by Day, and to come down into the other Prison by Night." There is also some great testimonies there by a John Woodward. When fined 5 pounds he tells them they might as well make it 15. "Then John Woodward was called. Recorder. Pluck off his Hat. The Indictment was read. Town-Clerk. Guilty, or Not Guilty? Woodward. I am not guilty of wronging any Man's Person, neither have I Spite or Malice to, or against any Man in England. Recorder. Will you own the Paper? Woodward. I will, and prove it to be true. Here are three Men have waited ever since Yesterday Morning to witness against R. Martin, Justice, (so called) for Swearing. Recorder. I do not sit here to hear that proved; beside, if it were true, it ought not to be spoke against a Magistrate. Woodward. All People take Notice, if this be not Partiality: The Recorder commanded Edward Pitway's Hat to be taken off, who is a Magistrate of the Town, and suffers the Priest to sit by him with his Hat on. The Priest hearing that, put off his Hat; but the Recorder bid him put it on again. Recorder. Fine him. Then some of the Bench said 3l. Recorder. Are you contented? Woodward. You may do what you will. Recorder. Fine him 5l. Woodward. You may put 15l. for I expect no Favour from your Hands. " You may not be able to connect the dots, but the Digital Quaker Collection <http://esr.earlham.edu/dqc/> is a good place to look for old world Quaker connections. If people emigrated in early Quaker waves it's likely they may have been persecuted or descended from folks who were persecuted in the years before the emigration.