bettyw41 on Family Tree Circles

Hi Bishop cousins,

I just wanted to tell everybody that what we thought we knew about the Bishop ancestors was wrong from the beginning. We did not descend from Wilhelm/William Bischof/Bishop and Anna Steinmann of Lancaster Co/. Pa.
It is a long story about how we found all of this out and if anyone wants the details, they can email me direct at: bettyw41@yahoo.com

Our particular line actually came from Samuel Bishop Sr. who was born in England in 1669 and came to America on one of William Penn's ships as an bonded servant to a man named James Sandiland. He came in 1682 and they landed in Chester Co., Pa where he spent the rest of his life. Samuel was 13 years old when he came here. After he paid off his bond, he quickly prospered and he married a woman named Alice Curtis. Together they had at least 13 children: Joseph; Rachel; Sarah; Hannah; Susannah; Alice; Lydia; Mary; John; Priscilla; Charles; Rose; and Samuel Bishop Jr.

Samuel Bishop Sr. left a Will in which he mentioned all of the children except Rachel and Samuel Jr. Rachel evidently died before her father wrote his Will and Samuel Jr. died in Sept of 1741 and his father died in December of 1741. There is a lot of info to tell, thanks to the efforts of William Yates and Mary Helen Haines, two of our cousins who are very good at researching. As I said email me for the details as it is getting late and I am tired. By-the-way John Bishop and Elizabeth Babb had 2 daughters: Elizabeth who married a Miller and had 2 children: Abraham and Bathsheba; The other daughter was Anne 'Annie' who married an R. Gibson (don't know what the "R" stands for, but they lived in Rye Cove, Va. Have not been able to find anything more them such as if they had children etc.

Hope to hear from you all soon.

Betty Bishop Willoughby

My name is Betty Bishop Willoughby. Was born in Scott Co., VA. grew up in Sullivan Co., Tenn. I descend from Wilhelm bischoff/William Bishop and Anna Steinmann of Lancaster, Pa. William came to America ca 1838-1740. William and Anna had 10 children: John Christopher, Susannah Margaret; John; Anna Magdalena; Johann William; Barbara, michael; Peter, Gotlieb, and Phillip. Not very many people have picked up on the daughter Barbara. She is not mentioned in William's will because she married a Catholic so she was disinheirited, however, her son, John Mosser did inheirit a house from William in the will. My ancester, John Bishop married Elizabeth Babb and they moved from Penn. first to Sullivan Co. Tenn and then on to Russell Co., Va, which later became Lee Co., and then Scott Co., Va. They settled in Duffield, Va. If some one wants to share my info in detail, email me and I will be happy to share. My file is pretty big and sometimes I have trouble sending it. Some of the Bishop descendants out there seem to be under the wrong impression that John Bishop was name John William Bishop. That is not true. According to William's will, John and William were two different people and they were both mentioned in his will. John married Ellizabeth Babb and William married Phillipina Kohler. The only child of John and Elizabeth,s that I don't have any further info on is Michael Bishop. Only that he was born 02 Dec 1748, in Lancaster, Pa per church records. I did find 4 or 5 record for a Michael Bishop of Bucks Co., Pa showing that he was in the military or militia, but it appears that he did not show up for duty. Don't know if this was out Michael or not.

John Bishop and Elizabeth Babb were married 15 Aug 1766 at the St. James Church in Mt. Joy Township, Lancaster Co., PA. Elizabeth was from a Quaker family and she was disowned for marrying outside of the society. William Bishop had told his children if they married outside of his Reformed faith that they would be disowned, if thier wives did not change their faith. That did happen to daughter Barbara. As I said, She married a Catholic, John Mosser Sr. As far as the other children go, Susannah was already dead when William left a will, so he left her share to her children. Anna Magdalena was not mentioned in the will, so she was already dead or she also married out of the church. She was married to Christopher Bauer, and they had two children that I know of: Anna and Christopher. Michael was not mentioned in the will either, so he was either already dead or disinheirited. The rest of the children were in the will.

John and Elizabeth Babb Bishop, had 7 sons that can be accounted for: Thomas, Peter, Samuel, William W.; Sampson; George; and John Jr. There may have been girls, but unless you know who they married, you have a hard time finding them.

My line comes thru John; William W.; George W,; Lovel; Samuel Habern; Ray Leonard; and then me, however, I have collected as much info on the whole family as I can possibly find, so I have a pretty good bit and I am looking for more. So, if anyone wants to share, just email me and let me know.

Until then,
Betty Bishop Willoughby
bettyw41@yahoo.com