Contributed By: Carol Ann Smith 2 · 15 March 2015 · at https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/14276281

Source: "The Grose Family in Cornwall 1538-2006", by William James Grose , Chapter 3, pages 19-23

Formatting added by Wesley Johnston 24 Aug 2017

“The following is an account compiled from a number of different records and sources but, as will be seen from the question marks in the Family Tree, is not 100% complete. Although records of baptisms, marriages and burials were required by law to be kept from 1538, clergy were not always conscientious in entering every event in their register. Moreover, Quakers were given dispensation to keep their own records from about 1660 but entries in Monthly Meeting Minute Books tended to be sporadic until formal registers were used. For example, the Tregangeeves or “Austle” Meeting Register starts in 1690 and the Minver Meeting Register in 1701.

“In other respects, however, the Quakers kept extensive accounts of events which give a fascinating insight into the life and times of their followers.

“Some confusion may arise due to the use of the same Christian name in different generations and it is recommended that this narrative should be read in conjunction with the Family Tree.

The Family of Ambrose Grose and Jane

Ambrose Grose (1624-1704) & Jane (? -1698)

“Ambrose was baptized in Luxulyan Parish Church on the 15th August 1624, the fifth and youngest son of Nichollas & Jane who had married 20 years earlier and lived at Lockengate a hamlet in the northern part of the parish.

“Nichollas was a farmer and seems to have been comfortably off. The inventory attached to his will and taken after he died in 1643, puts a value on his goods, including cattle and crops, of pound 60.2.2.2d equivalent to about pound 4,600 at 197 prices. In the will of his father, Nichollas (1643), his mother, Jane was left a mare, a heifer, a cow, 10 sheep and a butt of bees; the rest of the livestock and crops were divided equally between Ambrose and his brother George who were made joint executors of the will. Thus Ambrose, at the age of 19, was set up to become a farmer in his own right.

“These were difficult times. In 1641 Parliament organized a national protest against “an arbitrary and tyrannical government” which was aimed at Charles I. Every man in the country aged 18 or over was required to sign a declaration of belief in the true Protestant Religion, allegiance to the King, the liberties and rights of subjects and support the rights and privileges of Parliament. In Cornwall, signing took place in February 1642 at Lostwithiel before the Sheriff and 11 Justices of the Peace, one of whom was Ezekiel Grosse of Golden, near Probus, (no relationship traced to Nichollas). Ezekiel’s grandfather, also named Ezekiel, had made a great deal of money through a combination of dealing and money lending in the tin industry through which grandson Ezekiel had become a person of some importance.

“By 1641, Ambrose had not yet reached the age of 18 and was not required to sign but must have been well aware of the implications of signing the declaration since his uncles Edward and Ambrose and his cousins John, Henry, Bennet (Benedict) and Thomas, all living nearby in Luxulyan, signed it and the matter would have been extensively discussed in the family. Ambrose’s father, Nichollas, is not among the signatories, nor are his brothers Robart and George. This is curious but the family could have been out of Cornwall at the time.

"The King (Charles I) was having constant quarrels with Parliament over supplies of money and even dissolved Parliament in 1625 ruling without it for eleven years. Despite re-assembling Parliament, Charles still endeavored to raise money illegally by imposing taxes without authority. These acts and other attacks by the King on the rights of English subjects eventually led to a confrontation of King versus Parliament and the Civil War.

“Cornwall, which was mainly Royalist, was not immune from the fighting and the King’s troops were victorious at Stratton and Braddock Down in 1643 and, in 1644, at Lostwithiel, a mere 5 miles from Luxulyan. However, the fortunes of war changed and Charles was captured, imprisoned, tried and executed in 1649. Then followed the commonwealth period with Oliver Cromwell ruling as Protector until his death in 1658.

“Ambrose married Jane (no surname given), probably in 1649, although no record of the marriage has been traced. Walter, their eldest son, was baptized on 18th October 1650 and Ambrose, their second son, was probably born in 1652 but was either not baptized or the baptism was not recorded. Between 1645 and 1660 many people did not have their children baptized because of their disapproval of the changed rite under the Commonwealth. Ambrose and Jane’s next children were twins, John and Nichollas, baptized on 6th January 1654/5 but both died within a week of baptism. Daughter Elizabeth was next, baptized on 17th December 1656, followed by more twins, John and Joan, baptized on 13th April 1658. Joan died 5 months later but John survived.

“Until now, Ambrose and Jane had been unquestioning churchgoers. In the Commonwealth period the Puritans had stripped the churches of all adornment and had removed unnecessary ritual from the services. Ambrose and Jane liked it that way. For them a church was a plain building for the purpose of worship.

“In 1658, following the death of Cromwell and the failure of his son, Richard, to live up to expectations as his successor, Parliament invited Charles II, the son of Charles I, to return from exile abroad and resume the monarch. Charles accepted and ascended the throne in 1660 but turned out to be faithless, selfish, utterly unprincipled and was intent on restoring what the Puritans had swept away. Ambrose and Jane were unhappy with the situation and had joined the religious movement known as The Society of Friends or more generally called Quakers. As a result, their last child, Mary, was not baptized in Luxulyan Parish Church like her brothers and sisters, but her birth in Luxulyan on 20th September 1660 was entered in the Register of the St. Austell Quaker Meeting held at their Meeting House, Tregangeeves.

”In the Poll Tax of 1660, Ambrose was taxed with Jane for 1/-, being a married couple, plus a further l/- for having an income of pound 5 per annum, a total of 2 shillings. The Hearth Tax assessed at Michaelmas 1664 shows Ambrose living in a house having 2 hearths for which he paid 2/- per hearth or a total of 4/- in tax.

“Quakerism had spread to Cornwall around 1655 and was growing in popularity. The Quakers held Meetings every month at their local Meeting Houses and took it in turn to hold Quarterly Meetings at which one or two representatives from each Meeting were entitled and, indeed, expected to attend. Once a year a Meeting was held in London and Quarterly Meetings usually appointed one or two Friends to represent them and bring back advice and news on Quaker matters.

“The new Parliament of 1660 consisted mostly of Cavaliers (Royalists) and their policy was directed against the Nonconformists (Protestants who would not conform to the Book of Common Prayer). A total of four Acts were passed in the next five years to persecute Nonconformists and Catholics.

“The Corporation Act, 1661, required all persons holding any municipal office to be members of the Church of England and to swear that it was unlawful to take up arms against the King.

“The Act of Uniformity, 1662, compelled all clergymen to say they fully believed in the contents of the Book of Common Prayer. As many as 2,000 clergymen were deprived of their livings, and reduced to the utmost poverty, because they would not agree to this.

“The Conventicle Act, 1664, made it unlawful for more than five persons to meet together for religious worship not according to the Book of Common Prayer, on pain of imprisonment. The result was that Dissenters often met for worship at private houses, or wandered miles away among moors and mountains for that purpose, where they were often caught by the King’s officers and imprisoned.

“The Five-Mile Act, 1665, required all dissenting ministers to take an oath like the one imposed by the Corporation Act, and those who refused were forbidden to approach within five miles of any corporate town or place came with the Test Act, 1673, which prevented both Catholics and Dissenters from holding any office under the Crown. This Act and the Corporation Act were not repealed until 1828.

“Ambrose had now taken a stand in the light of his new-found religious convictions from which there was no turning back and must have felt that things were going well for him. On 20th November 1662 he signed a 99-year lease on Enys or Innis, with Richard Bullocke of Lancarffe, Bodmin, Gentleman, on the lives of his three sons Walter, Ambrose and John. The consideration was pound 63.10s and the monthly rental 13/4d. Enys, which means island or place circled with water, is a farm in the north of Luxulyan. After 5 years farming at Innis, Ambrose clearly liked the estate and bought it on 11th February 1667/8 for a consideration of pound 30. As a sitting tenant this was a good move when one compares this with the price paid for the lease. Also, as a landowner he was now entitled to call himself a yeoman.

“Evidently by 1670 the Quaker movement had become a significant force in religious terms as the provisions of the Act of Uniformity of 1559 and the Conventicle Act, passed in 1664, started to be enforced more stringently.

“Under the Act of Uniformity, everyone had to comply with the rites and rituals of the Church of England and church attendance was compulsory. Those who did not comply or did not attend were called Recusant and could be fined with forfeiture of goods and property. Originally, this was aimed at Roman Catholics but later was applied to Protestant Dissenters or Nonconformists. When Quakers began to be picked on, the Society of Friends compiled a record of their “Sufferings”. The penalties for being caught and convicted of being a Recusant could be unduly excessive. A fine of pound 20 per lunar month and forefeiture of all his goods and two-thirds of his real property was not uncommon.

“One gets the impression that not all Recusants attracted the attention of the authorities and that it was the leading lights in the Quaker movement that were picked on as an example to the others. Ambrose seems to have had particularly strong convictions and in Luxulyan, as a landowner in an adult population of about 300, must have been seen as a person of some influence.

“In 1670 and 1671 Loveday Hambly, “a faithful and virtuous woman”, regularly attended religious meetings (of Quakers) which were often held at her house at Tregangeeves, near St. Austell, for which she had goods taken several times to the value of pound 127.10.6d. The Preacher at some of these meetings was James Parke of London and Ambrose attended one of them. On 1st November 1671, a warrant came from Degory Polwhele, a Justice of the Peace, ordering the Constables of Luxulyan to levy on the goods of Ambrose Grose to the value of pound 10 with a fine of five shillings for the offense. George Grose, elder brother of Ambrose and one of the Constables in the Parish of Luxulyan, went with the other officers of the Parish to Ambrose’s land and took 9 bullocks value pound 20.

”The principal actors in these prosecutions were Degory Polwhele, a Justice of the Peace and his Clerk; Constables John May and William Allen; and one Thomas Hodge. All these were together visited with a long and tedious Sickness, which disabled them from molesting the Meetings for an Interval of about fifteen Months. During their Afflication they all seemed penitent for what they had done, but when recovered, returned (all except Hodge) like the dog to his vomit. May, a profane wretch, when asked How he dare return so soon to a Practice he had seemed sorry for, he answered, “Needs must when the Devil drives”. The Justice also encouraged him, saying, “He was a Servant to God and the King, and a Friend to the Poor;” though it was observed that the Poor had little of the Spoil. As for Hodge, he behaved afterwards as a sincere Penitent.

“The Quaker brethren rallied round those who had suffered distress and the Quarterly Meeting in 1671 ordered that Ambrose should be given pound 5 as a “demonstration of Friends sense of theire losse and willingness to pertake with them in theire sufferings”.

“In 1677, when Ambrose attended another meeting in Loveday Hambly’s house, a warrant for a pound 20 fine had been taken out against the Speaker, Thomas Curtis. On hearing this, Curtis fled the Meeting before the Constables could serve the warrant on him. As a result, the Constables levied pound 6 of the Speaker’s unpaid fine on Ambrose plus 5/- for being present at the Meeting. He also had three cows, valued at pound 10, taken away during the night of 1st April 1677. On this occasion, the warrant was signed by Edward Parson and William Veye (Constables of Luxulyan); Nicholas Grose (Churchwarden, son of George and nephew of Ambrose); Richard Vague (Overseer) and Will Thomas (Guardsman).

“The next day, Ambrose went to Joseph Sawle’s house to complain of the wrong done to him but Joseph Sawle, a Justice, said he would not hear the complaint unless Ambrose took off his hat to him; but Ambrose had no intention of doffing his hat and came away without being heard.

“Ambrose also preached at Quaker Meetings from time to time which would not have made him popular with the authorities. The sense of duty and, no doubt antagonism towards the Quakers on the part of the officers was such tat Constable William Veye is quoted as saying that “If the law had required them to take the life of the said Ambrose and others for their meetings, they must and would have been their executioners.

“Again in 1677, Ambrose was indicted and convicted for not coming to the public place of worship which was compulsory, the penalty imposed being goods to the value of pound 4.10s. This time 6 yearling calves and 6 swine worth pound 10 were taken from him by the Sheriff’s bailffs (John Littleton being under Sheriff).

“In 1678 Ambrose was prosecuted as a Popish Recusant, although he was well known to be no such person and, on 14th October had goods worth pound 7.10s taken from him by the Sheriff (Reginald Hawkey) and his bailiffs. These prosecutions and the blatant taking of goods well above the value of the penalty imposed did not deter Ambrose from pursuing the Quaker way of life.

“The procedure adopted by the authorities from 1679 was to put responsibility for carrying out the Court’s decisions into the hands of John Littleton and his bailiff, Nathaniel Pope. It could be that the Parish Constables, after their earlier experiences, had flatly refused to be party to what must have been seen to be an unjust and unfair exploiting of the law. In each of the years 1679, 1680, 1681 and 1682, Ambrose had pound 4.10s in money taken from him by Nathaniel Pope but, on each occasion, the fine was paid by a “friendly neighbor” to prevent “outrageous distress”.

“It must have taken a good deal of courage to stick to one’s chosen Nonconformist faith in the 17th Century but Ambrose seems to have been a stubborn character as illustrated by the “hat incident.” Although the whole of his family embraced the Quaker faith and his son, John (b 1658) was a staunch adherent, it would appear that the penalties for not attending the “steeplehouse” were levied on the head of the household only. Also, no attempt was made to seize the farmhouse at Innis in which his wife and family lived.

“The Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 decreed that no one should be punished without a trial which should be held at once and not delayed, even by the King. This added a new security for the personal freedom of every Englishman and must have paved the way for some leniency in the persecution of Nonconformists, but other attempts by Charles II to secure toleration for Protest dissidents failed to get the backing of Parliament.

“Charles was succeeded in 1685 by his brother, James II, who was a Roman Catholic. He considered it was the King’s prerogative to exercise absolute rule and tried to dispense with laws against the Catholic party. In 1687, he succeeded in issuing a Declaration of Indulgence suspending generally all laws which placed civil or religious limitations on Nonconformists. Not surprisingly, James only reigned for 3 ¾ years and was then deposed by Parliament, which was anxious to preserve the rights, liberties, and faith of England and the throne was offered to Mary, daughter of James, and her husband, William, who were Protestants. However, it was not until 1689, the first year of their reign, that William and Mary introduced the Declaration of Rights. In the same year, the Act of Toleration was passed which, in practical terms, established freedom of worship.

“What is not clear is why the record of Ambrose’s “sufferings” stops from 1683 since there was no abatement in his adherence to the Quaker way of life. It is possible that he had several spells in prison because the report to the Quarterly Meeting held at Tregangeeves on 2nd April 1695 comments – “Ambrose Grose remains a prisoner”.

“With the freedom to worship granted by the Act of Toleration, Tregangeeves was formally recognized in 1690 as the Quaker Meeting House for St. Austell area and notes were kept of their Monthly Meetings.

“For almost 50 years Ambrose had the support of his wife, Jane, throughout all his “sufferings,” which included spells in prison, and her death in 1698 must have been a sad loss, reminding him of the transitory nature of human life. Jane was buried in Luxulyan Parish Churchyard on 24th November 1698. He made a will just over a year later.

“Ambrose’s attendance at the St. Austell Meeting at Tregangeves had not been too regular during the period 1694 to 1700 and Friends were appointed to speak to him and ask him to “frequent the Meeting” more often. It is likely that he had been ill as he made his will early in 1700. Innis is some 10 miles from Tregangeeves and the prospect of a round journey of 20 miles on horseback along muddy lanes at the age of 75 must have been daunting. However, he did manage to attend the Tregangeeves Meeting on 21st October 1701 and the Meeting held at Penrose Veor in St. Dennis on 19th October 1703, which was somewhat closer to home. This was the last Meeting Ambrose attended and the news that he was sick and housebound must have been given to the February 1704 Meeting as it was ordered that the March Meeting be held at Ambrose’s house. Little did the Friends know then that it was to be a sad occasion. The March Meeting recorded that: “The last monthly meeting happening that day on 10th friend Ambrose Grose was buryed, many of the Friends of this meeting being at ye sd buryall ye Buisness sof ye meeting was then omitted.”

“Ambrose made his will (part of which is reproduced on page 24) on the 24th February 1699/1700 in which he described himself as a “yeoman” and made his son, Walter, the sole executor, leaving his land in Enis (Innis) to his grandson, Ambrose, after the decease of son Walter. The rest of his houses, leases, lands, tenements and goods he gave to son Walter. Despite the fines and forfeits of previous years, his will indicates a family not well off but making a comfortable living from farming, so much so that he felt able to leave 3s 4d to the poor of Luxulyan. His financial bequests totaled pound 39.3.4d.

“The Inventory that was taken at Innis by Francis Cole and Rawlin Prinn, after Ambrose’s death on 3 April 1704, presents a picture of a well-stocked working farm. With the original spelling retained, the livestock consisted of 2 cows and one heifer, one draught steare, 8 young bulloicks, 2 yarling bullocks, 2 mares and 2 colts, 15 ewes and there lambs, 13 yuoung sheep, 7 pigs and gees and pultrey. Farming equipment included a but and wheels, plougs and harrows, youks, chains and other implements belonging to husbandry.

“The contents of the farmhouse were basic but practical and were listed as 3 fether beds and one dust bed and furniture thereunto belonging, a brass pan, fower crocks, 10 pewter dishes, 5 plates and other pewter things, 2 table boards and frames, one cupboard, one round table, one chaire, one turn, 3 joynt stools, 2 forms, 2 barrels, 2 buckets, 16 timbring plates, 12 wooden dishes, 6 sacks and a chest and 2 coffers. Also appraised were his purse and wearing apparel, making the total value of his livestock, goods and equipment assessed at pound 50.0.6d.

“Ambrose was buried in Luxulyan Parish Churchyard and, to avoid any doubt, “a Quaker” was written in brackets against the burial entry in the register.”