Robert Townsley (The coming to America)

Robert Townsley was my Great Great Great Great Grandfather. Born in Burnley, England, Robert died before 1810 in Lancaster County, Pa.

About 1760, there was a sheepherder near the Townley estate in Ireland, whose daughter Esther tended sheep for her father. Robert met and fell in love with her and asked his parents for permission to marry. His parents refused, saying she was beneath him, since she wasn't of royal blood, and threatened to disown him if he married her. But he had a mind and will of his own and married her. Robert and his brother John sailed to America, intending to land at new Amsterdam. Their ship was wrecked off New Jersey, near Hopewell and for a time they settled in Oxford, NJ. At the time of the Boston Tea Party, these men being recently from England were looked upon with suspicion by the colonists as to how they stood, whether for the colonists or for the king. Robert declared at once for the colonists. John declared for the king. This brought them trouble with their neighbors, so they moved to the vicinity of Valley Forge, Chester County, Pa. Their loyalty was still feared or else John made further declarations for the king for one midnight their house was surrounded by irate colonists and they escaped with only their night clothes, saving nothing but a sword bearing the family coat of arms, the point of which was broken off while fighting their way out.

After the house was burned, John went to Maryland. Robert and Esther moved to Lancaster County and settled in the Conestoga Valley. When the war broke out, he organized a company of militia and enlisted under the name of Townsley, putting the letter "S" in his name so he would not be taken for his brother. His services were accepted, and he was head of his company which fought in the Battle of Brandywine. He was wounded in the hip during this battle on September 11, 1777.

Robert married Esther Linsey, who resided near the Townley Estate in 1760. She was a sheep tender for her father. Esther was counted in both the 1810 and 1820 censuses as a widow in Caernarvon Township, Lancaster County.

LORDLY LINAGE, LOYAL LEGACY

In the midst of sheep began a voyage,
The legacy of Shepherdess and Noble.

Within the fiefdom of his father Lord,
In the shadow of the castle keep and
Shadow of wrath and rage that the issue of
The royal loins loved a serf of his board,
Robert Townley married Esther Linsey.

And so he divorced his inheritance,
Stately title and his native Scotland.
Young Robert, his bride and his brother John
Set sail cross the sea for New Amsterdam.

While at Boston an angry rebel band
Was busting boxes and dumping good tea,
The Townley ship wrecked off Hopewell, N J.
Making shore they built a home in Oxford.

Suspicions swirled about newly arrived
Subjects of the Crown. Be they Tory spies?
Mobs burnt the house. They escaped with a sword
With family crest, lives and little else.

Robert swore his America allegiance
In Pennsylvania. After that you find
He added an S and became Townsley.
He molded a militia company,
Was wounded at the Battle of Brandywine.

In eighteen-ten Esther was a widow,
Living on land in Lancaster County,
A patriot, a pioneer Townsley wife.

The man who rejected riches for love
Was the fore bearer of the female who
Gave birth to the father who gave me life.
-- by Larry Eugene Meredith 2004

They had the following children:
Robert (1774-1844)

Joseph (1784-1858)

Elizabeth, who was born about 1788 in Lancaster, Pa. Elizabeth died about 1858.

George Henry, who got into some kind of trouble necessitating the sale of the farm known as Whitehall Place in the Conestoga Valley. George Henry went west because of the trouble.

William Linsay, who resided in Caernarvon Township, Lancaster Co., Pa. in 1810.

John Townley resided in Maryland about 1777.

(See notes on Robert Townley.)

John had one Child:

James. (Not certain James was John's son, but the facts seem to fit.--LEM)