Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 9

Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series profiling descendants of the Mayflower settlers, focusing on the Lippincott family. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

Today I continue my series on “Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who,” focusing on an annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Mayflower Society hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Lippincott in 1908. The event was covered by the Philadelphia Inquirer and General George Washington’s birthday was the celebration theme.

Rev. Rockwell Harmon Potter of Hartford, Connecticut, delivered an entertaining and original address on Washington, which was followed with a supper and conversazione among Pilgrim offshoot cousins.

The Lippincott family joined the Mayflower Society through Josephine (nee Craige) Lippincott, a descendant of Governor William Bradford and Richard Warren:

• Joshua Ballinger Lippincott and Josephine Craige
• Seth Craige and Angeline Shaw
• Joshua Shaw and Mary Gray Lobdell
• Isaac Lobdell and Mary Stetson
• Caleb Stetson and Abigail Bradford
• Samuel Bradford and Sarah Gray
• John Bradford and Mercy Warren [Mayflower passenger Richard Warren]
• William Bradford Jr. and Alice Richards
• William Bradford and Alice Carpenter

Walter Lippincott, son of Josephine and Joshua, married Elizabeth Trotter Horstmann.

Their only daughter, Miss Bertha Lippincott, appears in the photo on the left in the above newspaper article. She married Dr. Stricker Coles a few years later. Bertha served in the Red Cross during WWI and published a book, Wound-Stripes: Stories of after the War, in 1921. It was considered a great, romantic, and patriotic tribute to the men who sacrificed for the cause and the women who inspired them to endure.

Also featured in the above newspaper article is a picture of Bertha’s cousin, Miss Constance Lippincott (middle photo), daughter of Craige and Sallie (nee Bucknell) Lippincott and granddaughter of Josephine and Joshua. She married Douglas Warner Franchot in 1914 and 2nd Captain Harold Money. Constance was also a writer, and published Maryland as a Palatinate, a historical account of early Maryland from 1633-1692.

The Lippincott family were prominent members of society and have an interesting lineage. Joshua Ballinger Lippincott was a renowned publisher in Philadelphia, founder of the family firm J.B. Lippincott Company.

I found extensive background information on the Lippincott family in a feature called “Scraps of Local History” in the West Jersey Press, which noted that the Lippincott’s descend from distinguished ancestry, including a long line of Quakers who traveled and closely associated with the founder of the Society of Friends, George Fox.

This article gives details about many members of the Lippincott family, but laments that the family is so large it would take a tremendous amount of work to compile the entire genealogy:

Richard, the first to come to America, with his wife Abigail, was excommunicated by Puritan authorities for his religious faith, returned to England, and came back to settle in New Jersey, at Shrewsbury, where he became a large land holder.

The Lippincott’s who were members of the Pennsylvania Mayflower Society descend from Restore Lippincott, a preacher in the Society of Friends at Mount Holly in Burlington County, New Jersey. He married Hannah Shattuck, daughter of William Shattuck, a Quaker who was banished from Boston and settled in Shrewsbury.

I found a transcription of the marriage certificate for Restore Lippincott and Hannah Shattuck, first entered in the Records of the Friends in Shrewsbury – a copy furnished by descendant James Starr Lippincott of Philadelphia. Note the spelling of the family names: Lippencott and Shattock.

It reads:

“Att [sic] a meeting of the People of God & Lord gathered together for that end and purpose before whom Wm Shattock father to Hannah Shattock give his daughter Hannah to wife unto Restore Lippencott son of Richard and Abigail Lippincott in these words as followeth: I desire you all to take notice that I do give my daughter Hannah to Restore Lippencott to be his wife. The words of Restore Lippencott as followeth: I desire you all to take notice that accordingly I freely receive her to be my wife. The words of Hannah Shaddock as followeth: I desire you all to take notice that I do take Restore Lippencott to be my Husband in the fear of the Lord. And they were published 2 or 3 times and they had Friends Consent to take each other. And we whose names are under written are witnesses of this thing, &c.
On the 6th of 9 mo 1674 at Wm Shattuck’s house.”

Stay tuned for more on Mayflower descendants!

Note: An online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, is not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors – the old newspaper articles also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers. Do you have a connection all the way back to the Mayflower Pilgrims?

Related Articles:

• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part I
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part II
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part III
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part IV
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part V
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part VI
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part VII
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part VII (conclusion)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 8