Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Archibald MICKLE
THIS man was an Irish Quaker. The records of Friends in Philadelphia indicate that he came from Lisbrun, a town in the southern part of the county of Antrim, Ireland, and that he arrived at that city on the second day of the sixth month, A. D. 1682.
He probably was among the adventurers that followed William Penn to his new colony, bringing with him considerable estate and a full supply of implements to continue the business of a cooper, in which calling he had served as an apprentice in the land of his nativity. This was worth much to him among the settlers, who generally arrived with but little house-keeping material, and had to be supplied with their wooden ware of home manufacture, when a new establishment was to be set up. Coopers were also in demand along the sea coast, as whale fishing occupied much of the time of the people, and barrels were necessary to carry away the oil. This was the most lucrative business among them, and more capital was invested in it than in any other branch. In a letter from the West New Jersey Society to Jeremiah Basse, their agent, then residing at Cape May, dated December 24th, 1692, he is directed to secure the services of a French cooper at Plymouth, skilled in making casks. The letter further says: "In the season let him make a little wine and brandy, and send us the wine in casks and the brandy in bottles." Much is also said about barrels for the fishing season, and the quantity required would certainly employ several persons, and among them it is possible that Archibald Mickle was one.
The next notice made of him was in 1686, when he married Sarah Watts, at the same meeting at which his certificate of membership and the date of his coming had been recorded.
Four years after that time, he purchased a tract of land of Robert Turner in Newton township, Gloucester county, containing two hundred and fifty acres. This survey was situated near the head of the south branch of Newton creek, adjoining lands located by Francis Collins. This tract afterward became the property of Joseph Lowe, who occupied the same.
At the date of this purchase, Archibald Mickle was still a resident of Philadelphia, but he soon after came to Newton township and settled, and there remained until his decease in 1706. In 1697, he made another purchase from the same man, of five hundred and ten acres, which survey fronted on the river Delaware and extended eastward towards Cooper's creek. This deed excepted several meadow lots, and is valuable as showing the antecedent title of the grantor.
He did not make the first improvements there, for a man named Thomas Spearman lived in a house on the tract at the time of his purchase, which house stood near the river shore and near where the former residence of Isaac Mickle, deceased, is situated.
He was the owner of considerable other real estate in the neighborhood, and the inference is, therefore, that he was a man of more means than most of his neighbors, and, excepting William Cooper, of any other in the township. In the political affairs of the colony, his name does not appear, but the fact of his being a Quaker and a strict adherent to his sect, may be drawn from that clause of his will which directed that any one of his children marrying without consent of Friends was to only have one-half of his or her share of his estate. This is certainly a significant expression, and places his religious proclivities beyond a doubt.
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