The Society of Friends (Quakers) began in England in the 1650s, when they broke away from the Puritans. Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn, as a safe place for Friends to live and practice their faith.
Thomas Walton was born in Byberry Parish, Gloucestershire, England in about 1658. His parents were William Walton and Alice Martin.
He came to America with his three brothers. They settled in Byberry, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania and were early members of the Byberry Friends Meeting.
He married his first wife, Priscilla Hunn in 1690 when he was thirty two years old. Their children and life together are described in detail in the section on Thomas and Priscilla Walton.
In 1691, at the time of the Keithian Separation, the Byberry meeting went Keithian. Nathaniel was the only one of the Walton brothers who remained. The other three went met with those at the home
of Henry English.
After Priscilla died, he may have married Elizabeth Eastburn in 1736, however she was considerably younger than he.
He died when he was 100 years old on February 27, 1758 in the Manor of Moreland.
The Manor of Moreland was composed of a tract of ten thousand acres, and was created, in 1682, by a grant from William Penn to Dr. Nicholas More. Most of the Manor was in Philadelphia County, but is now
Moreland Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
A yeoman was a man who owned and cultivated a small farm. He belonged to the class below the gentry or land owners. A husbandman was a free tenant farmer. The social status of a husbandman was below that of a yeoman.
