Hello all,
I am trying to find out more about Joel ARPIN who is known to have operated as a hatter in Philadelphia prior to the revolutionary war. I have found the following information online, from a publication called "American Migrations 1765-1799":
Arpin, Joel of Philadelphia, hatter. Memorial Southwark 1784. He had a successful business in Philadelphia before the war. He assisted Lieut. William Chew of NJ to escape and in 1776 was arrested on the suspicion that he was in communication with Lieut. Molesworth who was executed for procuring pilots for the British Navy. The claimant was imprisoned and made to sleep on the bare floor during a severe winter but later released on the petition of Mr. Israel Pemberton: his property was plundered and his wife and children ejected. When the Army evacuated Philadelphia, he came to England but has been unable to earn a living because of poor health. Claim for hatmaking equipment. Supporting affidavits sworn London 1784 by Thomas Badge, Hugh Stewart and Thomas Welbank who have known the claimant for many years.
The article then gives several references to National Archives (UK) documents, which I hope to have a cousin look at in a few weeks' time.
I am hoping to link this Joel Arpin with my husband's ancestor, also named Joel Arpin and a hatter, who settled in Southwark/Bermondsey in what was then Surrey (now London). "Our" Joel had children baptised in London in 1765, 1775 and 1779, so there isn't a great window of opportunity for him to have taken the family out to America after the May 1775 one and get back again by July 1779, but the coincidences of these two Joels' lives encourage me to try to find out the truth.
Any assistance would be appreciated!
Prue
