The Vandewall Family History

Early Family history of the Vandewalls.


Philip Vandewall 1 of Sandwich, Kent.

Born abroad – Netherlands. A Philip Vandewall was born at Ypres.

Many Dutch refugees from the Spanish Inquisition in the Netherlands arrived in 1561 and subsequently settled in the coastal towns of the South East of England. He appears in a list of aliens in London 22 Jun 1561 - he is listed as a member of the Dutch Church at Austin Friars in 27 Dec 1584. 

1585 Philip Vanden Waall of the Dutch Church resides in the parish off St Olave in Shorte Southwarke.

There were 351 Flemish householders in Sandwich in 1582 – most were involved in the cloth industry See Boys - History of Sandwich.

 

Philip Van den Wall II (c.1565 –c.1653)

”Philip Vandewall of Hythe, is settled there by 1615 first appears in a list of strangers at Hethe (Hythe) dated 28 April 1622.

”Philip Vandewall whoe is by trade a wolcomber and professeth the same, he sum tymes deals in marchandize and keeps a shop of small wares here; he was born of stranger parents at Sandwich”

These details are contained in a letter from the mayor and jurates of the town to the Lieutenant of Dover Castle, only two other strangers are named viz. John Jacobb alias van de Stat, a physician, nursery gardener, grazier, and flax grower of Hythe who with Philip Vandewall had “inhabited here lythe space of seven yeares together last past …….

In history of Flanders by Sanderus, 1641, are listed noblemen called van Waal at Ypres

1619. Philip Vandewalle (1590 ……) Woolcomber and merchant, of Colchester, Essex formerly of Hythe, Kent, born at Sandwich Kent, married Sarah …..?

They had four children, Daniel (1645 of Colchester), John of Harwich, Sarah and Maria.

1620. birth of Daniel Vandewall of Colchester, father of Daniel Vandewall of Harwich (1645 – after 1707)…) who became a Quaker before 1667.

1621. Birth of John Vandewall I of Harwich

1633 – 23 April Philip Vandewall of Colchester marries for the second time Sarah Springers of Sandwich.

He eventually settled at Wirksworth, Derbyshire where he became a merchant and owner of the lead mine at Naverton. This was a very astute move – lead was a very important industry, used in buildings, pipework, roofing and windows and also as ammunition. This “mineral inheritance” was named in the wills of his son John, in 1657, of Daniel Vandewalle in 1702 and Jno Vandewall in 1707 and of William Markes, brother in law of Daniel Vandewall  who mentions 1/24th in1784.

1653. Death of Philip Vandewall at Wirksworth.

1657. Death of Sarah Vandewall (Springers) at Wirksworth.

John Vandewall I (1621 - 1657).

Second son of Philip and Sarah Vandewall. Baker and ship owner. Not a quaker. Father of John Vandewall II

c.1645 marries Mary ……

1646. Birth of John Vandewall II. (father of John Vandewall III)

1648. Birth of Philip Vandewall

1650. Birth of Daniel Vandewall

1652 - John Vandewall, Baker of Harwich – issued brass farthing, trade tokens.

Mary Vandewall becomes a Quaker before 1661, and is imprisoned in February 1662 with Steven Crisp. She dies after 1670.

1657. In his will he leaves his house to his wife for life and then to his son, and to his wife and sons his lead mine inheritance at Wirksworth.

John Vandewall II (c.1646 - 1707).

son of John Van de Wall I of Harwich.

1659. - By this time he has become a Quaker.

1660. – Imprisoned for three months for refusing the oath of allegiance at Harwich.

1669 - 11 Aug. – marries Hannah Mace junior of Harwich at Friends Meeting House Colchester

1674. John Vandewall with his brother Daniel supplied bread to the towns poor and made an agreement with the boroughs churchwardens to rent the windmill from which most of the town’s inhabitants bought their bread. Info from Quakers in English Society by Adrian Davis, 2000.

1677. - In the original MS of William Penn’s Journal he says ”The morning 24 V 1677 I took my journey to Colchester and met George Watts of London upon ye way who returnd with me, came well to ye town ye evening we lodged at John Furleys ye elder; but had a blessed meeting at Jonathan Furleys house that night 25 V 1677. The next morning early I left Colchester and came to Harwich about noon accompanied by G. Watts and John Furley ye elder, Wm Talecote and George Whiterly (Weatherly father of Daniel Vandewalls wife Ann) of Colchester, where we found dear G.F. (George Fox) at John Van de Walls house with many moor friends etc. the meeting done we returned to John Vandewalls house, where we took our leave of Friends….. George Fox mentions lodging with John Vandewall before leaving for Holland, in his journal of the same time.

From The Autobiography of George Fox

1677. At Colchester, the party's hosts were Steven Crisp, another famous Quaker leader, who had many links with the Friends of Holland, and John Furly, the father of Benjamin of Rotterdam.

After the meeting at Harwich we returned to John Vandewall’s, where I had lodged; and when the boat was ready, taking leave of Friends, we that were bound for Holland went on board about nine in the evening, on the 25th of the Fifth month, 1677. The Friends that went over with me, were William Penn, Robert Barclay, George Keith and his wife, John Furly and his brother, William Tallcoat, George Watts, and Isabel Yeomans, one of my wife’s daughters.

Note : George Fox was the son of a weaver and left home at age 18 in search of religious experience. Probably beginning as a Puritan, he reacted even more strongly than the Puritans against the tradition of the Church of England and came to regard personal experience as the true source of authority, placing God-given “inward light,” or inspiration, above creeds and scripture. He traveled the countryside on foot, preaching to small groups, and he and other preachers established congregations. The Society of Friends arose in the 1650s. The Quakers' denunciation of ministers and public officials and their refusal to pay tithes or take oaths led to persecution, and Fox was imprisoned eight times between 1649 and 1673. He made missionary trips to Ireland, the Caribbean islands, North America, and northern Europe. His Journal gives an account of his life and of the rise.

1679. - 4 Nov. - John Vandewall I of Harwich, baker marries Susannah Cottisford of “Trimble Mary” at FMH Ipswich. There are no children

1681. – His brother Philip, born in 1648, dies at Colchester aged 33

1682. – 11 Aug - marries his third wife Mary Dove of Clements Lane, London, mother of John Vandewall, at Friends Meeting House, Bull and Mouth, St Martins le Grand, London. Amongst those signing the wedding certificate were two Daniel Vandewalls, Henry Dove, George Whitehead, Stephen Crisp, Robert Barclay (the apologist).

1684 – his daughter Mary is born. In 1709 Mary Vandewall of Clements Lane marries at FMH. Bull and Mouth, William Markes, citizen and glover of London, son of Nathaniel Markes, citizen and glover of Cheapside.

1685. birth of John Vandewall III.

Mary (Dove) Vandewall predeceases her husband

1696. John Vandewall II is admitted Free Burgess at Colchester.

1707. John Vandewall II dies at Harwich, his will is proved 16 Jun 1707, he gives to his son John (Vandewall III) his dwelling house at Harwich, and a share of the lead mines at Wirksworth, Derbyshire.