Hannah RUSLING

   Other names for Hannah were Mrs. Hannah DOWN and Mrs. William DOWN.

   User ID: P00050123.

  General Notes:

HANNAH RUSLING, the sister of James Rusling, and daughter of Robert and Christiana Rusling, was born at Hull, England, November 6, 1767. She emigrated to America, with her brother James and his family, in 1795, and the tradition is that on the voyage over she met William Down, of Bristol, England, on the same ship, and soon after landing married him. They settled at Hackettstown, Warren County, New Jersey, and he and his wife Hannah Rusling were both members of the "Methodist Class" of James Rusling there in 1805, as appears by an old "Class Paper" of said James Rusling now in my possession. Afterwards they removed to Easton, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Down engaged in business as a baker. Here Hannah Rusling died about 1837.

William Down remarried to Sarah McCombs, widow of Rev. Lawrence McCombs, of the Philadelphia Conference, a noted minister and Presiding Elder of the Methodist Episcopal Church in his day. They were married by my uncle, Rev. Joseph Rusling, then of Philadelphia.

There were no children by this second marriage. I remember being taken to their house in Easton by my father once, about 1840, when I was a lad of six years. The only thing I remember about Mr. Down is, that he was tall and stooping, apparently an aged man, with very white hair, and that his house was immaculately clean and orderly. Afterwards he removed to New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he died in 1854, Index


46 and was buried in the old graveyard of the Liberty Street Methodist Episcopal church there.

Hannah married William DOWN. (William DOWN was born on 12 Nov 1773 in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom and died on 18 Jun 1854.)