This is in reply to a mailing dated 01/09/2005 from Suzanne Wade. She is a descendant of Isaac DeCou and Susanna Ashton who were early settlers in the Pennsylvania area in the time of William Penn. She is seeking more information about the early settlement of this family and more information concerning their descendants. In 1964 I was employed as Meeting Secretary of Wilmington Monthly Meeting of Friends, centered in Wilmington, Delaware. During the five years of my employment there, and for the sixteen years that I continued to live in the Philadelphia area, I spent some of my spare time in compiling a record of early members of Friends in northern Delaware, based on Quaker records and other civil and miscellaneous records. In the course of this research, I encountered some account of the Ashton and DeCou families who were among the first members of the Georges Creek Friends Meeting, located near the present town of St. Georges near the eastern terminus of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in southern New Castle County, Delaware. Georges Creek Meeting was probably formed about 1686-1687. It first maintained some contact with the Newark Monthly Meeting of Friends which had been established ca. 1686. Newark MM first included the New Castle Friends Meeting at New Castle, DE and the Newark Friends Meeting in Brandywine Hundred in northeastern New Castle County, DE. About 1705 a new Monthly Meeting was established called Duck Creek Monthly Meeting, centered in what is now Smyrna, DE. Friends of Georges Creek Meeting decided to transfer their membership to Duck Creek MM about 1706. Georges Creek Meeting declined in the later 1700's and there probably is no physical evidence now of a meetinghouse in the vicinity of St. Georges. Leurin and Jacquimine des Cou were French Huguenots who escaped from France at about the time of the siege of the City of La Rochelle in 1627-1628. They settled in the area of the drainage project of Hatfield Chase in Yorkshire, England. Isaac DeCou and his brothers Jacob and Abraham and his sister Jane became members of the Society of Friends.----- On 2 mo. 2, 1686 Isaac DeCou and Jacob De Cou were granted certificates by York Monthly Meeting of Friends prior to their voyage to Pennsylvaniia in America. It appears that the two brothers and their families made the voyage on the Ship the _Shields of Stockton_, which landed at New Castle, Delaware in 5th Month, 1686 (O.S.). Isaac's son John remained in England. Isaac and Jacob DeCou, in partnership with Robert Ashton and Richard Darkin, purchased a tract of land called Chelsey on the south side of St. George's Creek, below New Castle. Isaac's son, Jacob, sold Isaac's share to Robert Ashton on December 1, 1691. ---- Following the death of the father, Isaac DeCou, his widow and children seem to have relocated in the area of Burlington, New Jersey. Isaac DeCou died 13th of ye 12 mth and was buried ye l5th, 1686/87. He 1/married 3 mo. 12, 1667 at Settle MM, Yorkshire England Susanna Ashton of Ealand, Yorkshire, sister of Robert Ashton Children of Isaac and Susanna: Jacob DeCou b. 7 mo. 2, 1668, d. 12 mo. 1735, m. 10 mo. 21, 1699 Elizabeth Powell Newbold. John DeCou, b. 9 mo. 25, 1671, d. 10 mo. 31, 1721 at Thron, Yorkshire, unmarried. Isaac DeCou b. 10 mo. 6, 1673, d. 1755 1/m. 9-27-1695 Rachel Newby 2/m 2 mo. 25, 1705 Anna Davenport 3/m 3mo. 3, 1742 Martha Newberry Davenport Elizabeth DeCou b. 8 mo. 25, 1675 m. 4 mo. 5, 1695 Richard Dell Emmanuel DeCou b. 5 mo. 19, 1678, d. 10 mo. 27, 1682 at Drax, Yorkshire, England. Isaac De Cou m/2 6 mo. 24, 1680 Rebecca Whitten b. 1654, d. 7 mo. 29, 1705 Child: Susannah De Cou b. 2 mo. 16, 1682, m 2 mo. 25, 1705, Ambrose Field. Rebecca (Whitten) De Cou m/ 2 8 mo. 12, 1692 Frances Davenport, Sr. Children: Isaac Davenport b. 5 mo. 14, 1693 Rebecca Davenport b. 1696 m. Josiah Kay Jacob De Cou, son of Leurin and Jacquimine De Cou d.. 2 mo. 7, 1688 (or 9 mo. 7, 1688) m. 1 mo. 10, 1677 at the house of Christopher Edwards, Selby, Yorkshire, Eng. Hannah Marshall Children: Isaac DeCou d. 7 mo. 16, 1686 Abraham DeCou d. 1700/1701, buried 1 mo. 8, 1700/01 Hannah DeCou m. 4 mo.28, 1700 Thomas England Hannah (Marshall) DeCou m/2 in 1 mo. 1689, Edward Blake. __________ I have probably taken most of this data from: _The Genealogy of the DeCou Family_, compiled by S. Ella DeCou and John Allen DeCou, 1910 _Descendants and Ancestors of George DeCou and Margaret Daniels DeCou_, compiled by Frances Branson DeCou, 1970. I know little concerning the Duncan, Bloom, and Powell families. I know that the Newbold name has been prominent in Quaker genealogy for many generations in the Delaware Valley area. I know that there are a number of DeCou family descendants who are active members of the Society of Friends today. Perhaps there are some who are subscibers to the Quaker-Roots website. If Suzanne Wade does not contact any of her American DeCou cousins, perhaps I can put her in contact with someone who has more family information than is available to me. - Herbert Standing, Earlham, Iowa.