WILLIAM CUSTARD

Our fifth great grandfather, William Custard, was born in 1729 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, (see the map of Philadelphia c. 1750 above). Below is a brief history, from Wikipedia, of what Philadelphia was like in the early 1700s:

"William Penn planned a city on the Delaware River to serve as a port and place for government. Hoping that Philadelphia would become more like an English rural town instead of a city, Penn laid out roads on a grid plan to keep houses and businesses spread far apart, with areas for gardens and orchards. The city's inhabitants did not follow Penn's plans, as they crowded by the Delaware River, the port, and subdivided and resold their lots. Before Penn left Philadelphia for the last time, he issued the Charter of 1701 establishing it as a city. It became an important trading center, poor at first, but with tolerable living conditions by the 1750s. Benjamin Franklin, a leading citizen, helped improve city services and founded new ones, such as fire protection, a library, and one of the American colonies' first hospitals."

Apparently, William didn't stay long at Philadelphia, because our next record for William is his marriage to Sarah Swartwout in Minnisink Valley, Orange County, New York on the fifth of August 1754 when he was 25. Their fourteen children were born in various places, but not  far from Philadelphia, where their 10th child was born.

The Custard Farm of Egypt Mills was located in Bushkill, Pike County, Pennsylvania and this is where William died on the 10th of October in 1806. He is buried at the  Valleyview/Swartwout Cemetery in Bushkill, Pike, PA above Route 209.