Individual Details

Marriage

earliest certificate of marriage in this section is that of William Edwards,of Milford, and Martha, daughter of Hugh Foulke, October 4, 1738, and among the witnesses are the names of Edwards, Foulke, Roberts, Griffith, Lester,Ball and others well known in this section.

Death

To all whom these presents may concern be it known that I Martha Edwards
of Lower Milford in the County of Bucks & province of Pennsylvania, widow,
being in health & of perfect memory, thanks be therefore given to the great
author and giver of all blessings, and calling to mind the uncertainty of this
life do make and put in writing this my last will & testament as followeth:
First I give & bequeath unto my friend John Roberts Senior the sum of
twnety pounds lawful money of said province and also my clock.
Secondly I will that a just appraisement be made of all the rest of my
estate,(excepting my wearing apparel and my linnens) and the whole to be
equally divided between all my children share & share alike, and my apparell
& linnens aforesaid, I give unto my three daughters to be equally divided
betwen them.
Lastly I do nominate ordain and appoint my brother Samuel Foulke & my son
William Edwards to be by Executors of this my last will and testament, hereby
revoking & disanulling all other & former wills or testaments by me before this
time make, ratifying & confirming that this and no other to be my last will &
testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the tenth
day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and
seventy.
Martha Edwards
Sealed signed & declared by the said Martha Edwards to be her last will &
testament in presence of us (two signatures, one is difficult to read)

A MEMORIAL TO MARTHA ROBERTS

A memorial concerning our worthy deceased Friend, Martha Roberts, wife of John Roberts, of Milford, Bucks county.

She was a daughter of our ancient friend, Hugh Foulke and Ann his wife, late of Richland, and being religiously educated, was in her young years an example of virtue and sobriety to her sex; and in the twenty-second year of her age, was married to William Edwards, an approved minister of Richland Monthly Meeting. Her care and zeal for the promotion of religion increasing as she advanced in years, she was, in the year 1749, and twenty-ninth of her age, appointed an elder, being the first woman Friend appointed at that station in the said monthly meeting, after it was erected--in which service and that of an overseer she was a continued zeal and diligence labored for the maintenance of good order and our Christian discipline, and in the year 1754 received a portion of the gospel ministry, in which she engaged under great diffidence and self-abasement, and, growing in her gift, her labor therein was acceptable and edifying, both at home and abroad, as she frequently was concerned to visit the neighboring meetings, and several times the meetings of Friends in the back parts of New Jersey, and other distant places.

Her said husband, William Edwards, dying in the year 1764, she remained a widow six years, in which state she conducted with religious circumspection and prudence, with unabated zeal and care in promoting the cause of truth and righteousness until the year 1771 she accomplished her second marriage with John Roberts, a member of the same meeting, and continued throughout the remaining part of her life, as before, to show forth, by example as well as precept, an extensively benevolent and charitable disposition, in visiting and relieving the poor, the sick and distressed, not only of our religious Society, but many others, whom, together with us, she being truly esteemed as a Mother of Israel, her loss is deeply felt amongst.

The last year of her life she was much confined at home by illness, which gradually increasing, brought her body into a very weak state, under which disposition of Providence she often expressed her satisfaction and full resignation, being frequently favored with the enjoyment of spiritual comfort
and inward help, as she expressed it, to wait with patience her approaching change, and being preserved sensible to the last, she departed this life as going into a sweet sleep on the 17th of fourth-month, 1781, and was decently buried the 19th of the same, in the 65th year and 27th of her ministry.

Dated: 5th-mo. 20, 1781
Samuel Foulke