John Grist or John Griste who came to the American colonies c. 1668.

[johnedawson]

I am looking for John Grist, or John Griste who came to the American colonies c. 1668. He was a Quaker (Quaker marriage after settling on the Delaware) and may have converted before leaving UK. Family lore has him from Wales and spending some time in Holland. Family lore also has him arriving with brothers "and their Dutch wives." I have also posted in Wales general, but know that there are Grists in Wiltshire, and there were other Quaker colonists from Wiltshire.

[dawnsh]

Duplicate topics here

Wales

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=666787.0 

Beginners

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=666786.0

Please check before posting.

Dawn

[JaneyCanuck]

I had originally posted in the thread on the Wales board but since my posts relate to Wiltshire, I'll put them here instead, and note in that other thread that I am doing this.

The Wiltshire Wills site has 42 entries for the name Grist (some are duplicates), a few dating from the 1600s. You would need to pay to obtain them, but you might find clues.

http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/heritage/

Where in the US did he settle? I'm familiar with a few colonists from Wiltshire in the 1600s, from the Chilmark/Tisbury area, who settled in Massachusetts.

FamilySearch (you have used it?) shows quite a large number of Grist/Griste events in Wiltshire in the 1600s, e.g. in Laycock (Lacock), a few in Mere (my ancestral stomping grounds, so I checked), and quite a few others (but not Chilmark or Tisbury).

A John Grist with father John Grist was christened in Mere in 1670, for instance. There are several John Grist/e baptisms of someone who would have been of an age to emigrate c1670.

Did he have children in the American colonies, were there a wife/children who accompanied him ...? There was a 1655 marriage to Alice Hill in Salisbury, for instance, but with no apparent births to the couple.

Do remember to give all the information you have, to help people help!

[JaneyCanuck]

I'm guessing Delaware Co, Pennsylvania (which was likely not the original point of immigration/settlement).

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/QUAKER-ROOTS/1998-07/0899942934

http://genealogytrails.com/penn/delaware/delhistjorv1.html

Find John Grist at that second link; both the Rootsweb query and the second link refer also to a George (son George Grisse in the first, George Grist taxpayer in the second).

[JaneyCanuck]

I wondered ... Few strikes me as a Wiltshire surname, and the Rootsweb query refers to Richard Few as making an inventory of John Grist's estate in New Jersey in 1688, and asks:

A George and a John Grist are both found in Bethel Twp. on an early map of Chester Co., PA. Is this the son and grandson of the first John Grisse of NJ?

http://wiltshirefews.blogspot.ca/2008/05/prologue-journey-to-wiltshire.html

Refers to: Some Descendants of Richard Few of Chester County, Pennsylvania And Allied Lines and the author writes:

Knowing I would be in England anyway, I became motivated to pursue a long-time but mostly dormant interest. I knew that my 8 greats grandfather, Richard Few, emigrated from the county of Wiltshire in England to Chester County, Pennsylvania, America in 1681-82. Richard was a Quaker and, although we have no record of the motivations for his move, it's safe to assume that he and his family, like many of the Quakers of his day, were in a search of religious freedom. Richard bought 500 acres from William Penn and in 1681, with his wife and one of his sons, he set sail for the New World. ... Richard Few and his family were members of the Quaker meeting in the Wiltshire village of Market Lavington.

So there is certainly a possible Wiltshire connection.

That author points out how helpful the Wiltshire Family History Society is, and I can say the same for the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. You might approach them for help!

[johnedawson]

Oh, dear - not only am I new, but I haven't visited since first posting last November. Janey, thank you so much for your extremely helpful notes. I very much like the possibility that there is a Wiltshire connection, and will pursue it to see if I can turn up anything that is meaningful. Yes, you have it right, this is the Grist / Grisse / Griest family of John and George et al. in Chester. I'm afraid I can't spend any more time here this moment, but I hope you won't mind if I get back in touch at a later date. Thank you so much.

John

[dawnsh]

Welcome back John, albeit briefly by the sounds of things.

Drop by whenever is convenient, we all have lives out there in the 'real' world.

Dawn