Beginning at the upper right hand side of the Map:
1. Johannes and Mary Umstadt 256
A. from Thomas Steel 1725, to sons John
and Peter Umstead 1741 each 128 A. John 250 A. from Thomas
Griffith 1741, John (and Deborah) to Peter 125 acres of 250 A.
1746. John willed to wife Deborah and son Herman 1759.
3. Adolph Pennypacker 250 A. from Thomas Griffith 1743, willed to son John 1760 to Anthony Vanderslice 1789.
4. John Kendall 500 A. 1718
to William Maulsby 200 A [to John
Maulsby 1726, to Henry Boyer 1769,
to Conrad Boyer 1773.] John Kendall
by will 300 A. to Wm. Kendall 1743/4....
[Wm. Kendall 240 A. to Philip Dodderer, 1768. Philip 234 A. to
Nicholas Schneider 1772. Nicholas 234 A. to George Boyer 1797.]
[Wm. Kendall 50 A. to Daniel Marstellar. Daniel 50 A. to Peter
Rambo]
5. Brooke Family Land: John Brooke, had purchased the land in England and died upon the Brooke family's arrival in Philadelphia in 1699, Matthew Brooke inherited that land from his father John. Matthew’s brother James inherited the land adjacent to Matthew.
6. Ann Evans, widow of immigrant William, 400 A. 1717, land which she had use of from about 1706. William Evans, son of Ann, 300 acres adjacent land 1717. Ann willed the 400 acres to her son Owen Evans in 1720. William willed 300 acres to his sons George and Mordecai 1756. In 1754 Owen willed his land to his son David.
7. John David/Davis land adjacent to William Evans from the London Company 1717 and sold to his sons this land and later purchases. This family also owned land in Limerick Twp. for several generations.
When Steel sold Johannes & Mary
Umstead their 256A in 1725, it was a perpendicular rectangle.
In 1741, Johannes & Mary sold the bottom ½ of their
rectangle to Peter Umstead and they
sold the top ½ to John & Deborah
Umstead. In 1743 John & Deborah
Umstead purchased an adjacent rectangle (250A) on the right
side of John & Mary’s original rectangle from Thomas
Griffith. This technically meant that John and Deborah owned a
perpendicular rectangle and adjacent to the top half on the left
they owned a square (purchased from Johannes and Mary) –
creating an upside down L. In 1746, John
& Deborah sold the bottom ½ of their rectangle
that they had purchased from Griffith to
Peter Umstead. Now each family again owned a rectangle
-- but a horizontal rectangle – John & Deborah the top
rectangle and Peter the bottom rectangle.
.
2. Below the perpendicular rectangle that Johannes & Mary
Umstead originally bought, was another same-size perpendicular
rectangle of 256A which Joseph Barlow bought in 1725 from James
Steel. In 1739, Ann Barlow (wid.
of Jos. d. 1738) divided it into 3 tracts and sold 50A to
Peter Umstead, 56A to Nicholas Custer,
and the rest to Matthew Brooke. The
deed to Brooke says 256A but later deeds say 161A which seems
more likely (Brooke to John Pinchbeck, then to Jacob Kline in
1777). Peter’s 50 A was a small rectangle (horizontal) in
the upper right hand corner of this Barlow rectangle – adjoining
his “square” that he got from his parents. Custer got
a perpendicular rectangle adjacent to the left of Peter’s
– but extending down past Peter’s southern edge. The
balance, shaped like a backward L went to Brooke. And, of course,
the same size perpendicular rectangle, immediately under the rectangle
that John & Deborah originally purchased (and adjacent to
the right of Barlow’s rectangle), was Adolph Pennypacker’s
250A he bought in 1743 from Griffith, willed to his son John Pennypacker
in 1760, to Anthony Vanderslice in 1789.
Joseph Barlow 256 A. from James Steel
1725. Ann Barlow (sister of immigrant
Wm. Evans, widow of immigrant Matthew Brooke [d. 1720] and Joseph
Barlow, d. 1738) divided 256 A into 3 tracts 1739: sold 50 A.
to Peter Umstead, 56 A. to Nicholas Custer, remainder to son Matthew Brooke. ...
[Peter Umstead all of his 303 A.
to Adam Prutzman 1775. Nicholas
Custer (& Susanna ) 56 A. to
Daniel Marsteller 1768. Daniel (& Elizabeth) to Peter
Rambo 1773.]
3. Nicholas Custer (& Susanna) sold the land to Daniel Marsteller (& Eliz. daughter of Herman “h”) in 1768. Herman Umstead’s will probated May, 1768, stated that his son Abraham should be taken care of by his half-sister Elisabeth’s husband, Johann Daniel Marstellar, a blacksmith , and be taught a trade. This means that Abraham Umstead was also living in Limerick. Daniel sold to Peter Rambo in 1773.
4. Now, if you look at two perpendicular rectangles again, one to the left of the Barlow rectangle and one above it (adjacent to the original Johannes/Mary Umstead rectangle), I will tell you who lived there.
5. In 1718 John Kendall got 500A (which was the TWO rectangles
combined)
In 1721 he sold William Maulsby 200A of the top rectangle and
in 1726 the 200A went to John Maulsby. In 1769 Henry Boyer got
it and sold to Conrad Boyer in 1773.
Now for the bottom rectangle (with a bit of the top rectangle since only 200A went to Maulsby and each rectangle is about 250-256A). John Kendall by will to William Kendall (1743/4) who sold to Philip Dodderer in 1768 240A , who sold 234A to Nicholas Schneider in 1772 (after Nich. had married Mary Umstead DeHaven.) Nicholas sold this parcel to George Boyer in 1797. This was a perpendicular rectangle again but only the left side of the rectangle – a smaller rectangle of roughly 50A on the right side of Kendall’s rectangle he sold to Daniel Marstellar. Marsteller also owned land from Barlow on the right side of this 50A. He eventually also sold this 50A to Peter Rambo.
6. The right hand side of the Pennypacker and John/Deborah Umstead land is the twp. line – Providence Twp. is across the line.
There was a road (laid out in 1718) that went horizontal along the line between Pennypacker/Barlow and the Umsteads. This was the Manatawney Great Road (now Ridge Pike). It went from Pottstown (Pottsgrove) through Limerick, thru Trappe and over to Perkiomen Bridge.
Now looking at the other side of the map, the Schuykill River is the border between Limerick Twp., and Chester Co. Across from Royersford is what is now East Vincent Twp., formerly just Vincent. To the right under Providence Twp. is East Pikeland, Chester Co. To the left of Vincent is Coventry.
The actual date, of Ann Evans, widow of William, having
use of the Limerick land is about 1706, when she was granted use
of it in an earlier deed. The deed in 1717 for 400 acres in Limerick
shows the land directly below (toward the Schuylkill) the land
of John Brooke, who had died upon the Brooke family's arrival
in Philadelphia in 1699. Mathew Brooke inherited that land from
his father John. Matthew’s brother James inherited the land
adjacent to Matthew. Ann Evans willed her 400 acres to her son
Owen Evans Esq. in 1720..
( Evans, Frank B. III, “History of the Family of William
Evans of Limerick, Pennsylvania” , 1981, at the Historical
Soc. of Montgomery Co., Norristown and Pennsylvania Historical
Soc Philadelphia .)
The earliest record we have of this family to date is the purchase
of 300 acres of land in Limerick Twp. in 1716. adj. to William
Evans, son of William and Ann Evans. 1 It is probable that the
family, like the Evans family, had arrived earlier. In 1730 Thomas
and Catharine Addis sold John 330 3/4 acres in Limerick Twp. adj.
to the Evans land The 1734 tax list shows 'John Davy.'
last updated 15 January 2007