Custance Higgenson

Custance married John Allred on 8 Feb 1580 in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England. John was born in 1545 in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England; died before 7 Jun 1620; was buried on 7 Jun 1620 in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Traces have been found on the Alrodd/Allred family. Ellen Alrodd/Alredd was the second daughter of John and Custance (Higgenson) Allred christened December 29, 1580 at Wilmslow. John Allred was born December 10, 1564, also at Wilmslow, the son of John Alred, the second of three known children. [Source: Carmen J. Finley, "Hackney, Harlan & Heald - Our Quaker Ancestors", (Computer printed: C. J. Finley, Santa Rosa, CA, 1987), pg. 16]

Ellen married Randle Janney on 14 Jul 1602 in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England. Randle (son of Thomas Janny and Jane Worthington) was born on 23 Feb 1579–80 in Styal, Cheshire, England; died on 30 Oct 1613 in Styal, Cheshire, England; was buried on 30 Oct 1613 in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 27 Jun 1605

Notes:

They became Friends and suffered considerable persecution, including distraint of goods many times, and imprisonment in 1664 for an unspecified length of time, for six months in 1665.[21] Friends met for worship in one another's homes usually twice a week, and then some from each local group gathered once a month to consider the business of the larger group. For this they met in the homes of Thomas Janney, John Badily, John Sharples, Thomas Brassey, John Symcock, and others.[22] In 1679 Thomas, along with 32 other Friends, including Thomas Holmes, George Keith, William Penn, and Thomas Ellwood, signed a testimony against William Rogers of Bristol for circulating a manuscript critical of Robert Barclay's Anarchy of the Ranters without showing it to Barclay or the Second-day meeting in London.[23] This gives an indication of the increasing strength of the Second Day Meeting, and the necessity felt by many Friends to have somewhat more structure to the nascent movement. Thomas's estate inventory, taken 6 Sept. 1678, was valued at £53.19.6; its relative small size is no doubt due to the continued depredations made by unscrupulous informers, constables, and priests. Thomas's will was proved 10 Sept. They had 7 children. [Source: Janney, compiled and copyright by MJP Grundy, 2008]

Thomas married Elizabeth Worthington on 3 Sep 1625 in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England. Elizabeth was buried in Feb 1682 in Mobberley, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Randle's father was also Randle Janney. He married Ellen Alrodd/Alredd July 14, 1602 at Wilmslow and they had children Thomas, Randle, Heline and Richard born between 1605 and 1613/14. While not much is known of Randle, Jr., a good deal of information is known about Randle, Jr.'s older brother, Thomas. Thomas was born and lived most of his life in Styall. He and his wife, Elizabeth Worthington, joined the Society of Friends a short time after it came into existence. Thomas is mentioned several times in the early annals of the Friends, and their meetings were sometimes held at his house. He suffered "distress of goods", was imprisoned and otherwise persecuted on account of his faith. Thomas, along with others, purchased and presented to the Meeting the burial ground at Mobberley. In his wil he left a legacy to the Poor of his town. He may have been the Thomas Janney who was Mayor of Stockport in 1639. His will, dated April 10, 1677, is on file at Chester; his estate amounted to L53, 19s, 10d. [Source: Carmen J. Finley, "Hackney, Harlan & Heald - Our Quaker Ancestors", (Computer printed: C. J. Finley, Santa Rosa, CA, 1987), pg. 21, 22]

It does not appear that he joined Friends.

Whether it was Randle's widow who married Thomas Cotley May 29, 1620, or whether she was the "Elen Jany Widdow" who was buried Jany. 13, 1644 is not now known. If Randle left a will it has been lost or destroyed, the inventory of his estate being all that is now to be found in Probate Registry. In 1601 he was one of the appraisers of his estate, and his name is given as Rondull Janyon. In 1607 he was churchwarden of Wilmslow Parish. His only daughter died in infancy, his three sons survived him, and all married and had families. [Source: "The Quaker Janneys of Cheshire and Their Progenitors", Article by Miles White, Jr., Baltimore, Md., pg. 196-211]

Randle married Ann Knevett on 16 Jul 1636 in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England. Ann (daughter of William Knevett and Ellen Cash) was born about 2 Nov 1617 in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England; died on 28 Feb 1700 in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England; was buried on 2 Mar 1700 in Mobberley, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 24 Mar 1610

Other Events:

• Baptism: 20 Feb 1613

Notes:

Richard the youngest son did not marry in Wilmslow Parish, and whom he married is not known further than that her Christian name was Mary. They lived in Styall, whence they removed, after the birth of two of their children, to Ardwick, in Lancashire, which was near Manchester, and is now included in the limits of that town. They did not join the Society of Friends, but at least one of their children is mentioned in Lancashire Friends' Records, though it is not clear that any of them were members. If the Anne Janney who married at Manchester in 1710 John Royley of that place was their daughter she must have been born after 1672, when Richard's will was executed. He was one of the executors of his brother Thomas, and died about November, 1690. [Source: "The Quaker Janneys of Cheshire and Their Progenitors", Article by Miles White, Jr., Baltimore, Md., pg. 196-211]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 19 Mar 1626

Mary married Robert Peirson on 3 Feb 1665. Robert was born on of Pownall Fee; died on 23 Jul 1674. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 16 Mar 1627

Other Events:

• Baptism: 6 Jun 1630

Family/Spouse: Hugh Burgess. Hugh was born on of Pownall Fee; died on 23 May 1713; was buried in May 1713 in Mobberley, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 16 Dec 1632

Other Events:

• Baptism: 11 Jan 1634
• Immigration: 1683

Notes:

In 3r. mo., 1695, he and Griffith Owen went to England on a religious visit, he traveled through England and Wales and was taken quite ill, in Spring of 1696 he reached London, but the air did not agree with him, and he started for Cheshire, which place he reached after having been very ill at Hitchin in Hertfordshire, for a considerable time. In 11 mo. 1696, he made his arrangements to return to America in the Spring of 1697, but before his ship sailed his distemper returned, and after having been in England about eighteen months he died at his sister's house, 12 mo. (Feby.) 12, 1696-7, in much quietness of mind, and was buried the 15th at Mobberley.

Thomas Janney, the second son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Worthington) Janney, was born at Styall, in the township of Pownall Fee, parish of Wilmslow, Macclesfield Hundred, county Cheshire, England, in 1633, and according to the church records of Wilmslow parish, was baptized 11 January, 1634. among the numbers of the rural population of Meidland England who in the middle of the seventeenth centruy found, in the religion preached by George Fox, the apiritual rest and strangth they longed for were Thomas and Elizabeth Janney and Their six children.

Buried:
[15da 12mo 1696]

Thomas married Margery Heath on 24 Nov 1660 in Pownall Fee, Cheshire, England. Margery was born on of Horton, Staffordshire; died between 1697 and 1700. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 1 Jan 1637

Henry married Barbara Baguley on 3 Mar 1675 in Pownall Fee, Cheshire, England. Barbara was born in of Stockport; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The most comprehensive work found on the Janneys is "The Quaker Janneys of Cheshire" by Miles White, Jr., compiled in 1904 and based on earlier work by Samuel M. Janney of Loudon County, VA. Much of the following is based on his work which was very carefully documented.

White gives many variations in the spelling of the Janney name. Included among them are Jeny, Jenny, Jenninges, Genys, Genynges (in York) and Janion, Janny, Jannye, Jannyon, Jannyne, Jannys, Jenion, Jenney, Jenny, Jennys, Jenyngs, Jenyus, Jenys, Guynes, Gynes, Gynney, Gynny, Yannes and Yannis (in Lancashire and Cheshire).

Mary (Janney) Bancroft of Wilmslow was christened 1639/40, daughter of Randle and Ann (Knevett) Janney of Handforth. Wilmslow records show there was also a younger child, William, christened in 1641. It is a bit puzzling that no other children of Randle and Ann were found in that they apparently, lived to an advanced age. The will of Ann Janney, of Ashton under Lyne, was proved in 1676, but there is no external evidence to lead to the supposition that it was the will of Randle's wife. Friends records show the death of an Anne Janney of Etchells February 28, 1698/99; and Etchells was where her daughter, Mary, was living at the time.

"Sufferings of the People Called Quakers" by Joseph Besse, published in 1753 in London, gives accounts of many persecutions of the Quakers because of their religious beliefs. Ann Janney, in 1663, is listed along with William and Thomas Janney as the subject of persecution and she 'suffered distress of goods.' It seems likely that this is the mother of Mary (Janney) Bancroft. White also believes Randle was not a Friend. It would appear that they may have lived elsewhere for a period and the records of other children have not been found. Mary's brother, William, was born in Staffordshire, and these records have not been searched. [Source: Carmen J. Finley, "Hackney, Harlan & Heald - Our Quaker Ancestors", (Computer printed: C. J. Finley, Santa Rosa, CA, 1987), pg. 21]

Buried:
[9da 1mo 1706]

Mary married John Bancroft on 6 Sep 1663 in Pownall Fee, Cheshire, England. John was born in 1633 in Cheshire, England; died on 25 Feb 1700 in Etchells, Cheshire, England; was buried on 28 Feb 1700 in Mobberley, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 8 Dec 1641, Wilmslow, Cheshire, England

William married Deborah Webb on 30 Sep 1671 in Stafford, England. Deborah died on 20 Jul 1701; was buried on 22 Jul 1701 in Mobberley, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]