Early in the eighteenth century, William and his brother John emigrated from England to the colony that William Penn had established in America in 1682. The reason for the emigration of the Passmore brothers depends in part upon how one reconstructs what was taking place in Ruscombe and Hurst at the time.

It is possible to paint a relatively unattractice picture of conditions for most Englishmen in the 18th century. There is some evidence that rural life was but little advanced over that of medieval times, and there was a vast gap between the wealthy aristocrats and those who worked the land, with few winners in the struggle for a good life.

Faced with declining prospects in the England situation, William, as the eldest son and principal heir of his father’s exstate and the dominant brother in the family’s cloth manufacturing industry, may have been Pennsylvania as an important potential outlet for English cloth, a place where a comfortable living could be made by an industrious entrepreneur. John may have had no direct involvement in any of his brother’s business plans, but, as his later migration to America indicates, became convinced that his lot, too, would be better in the New World.

There was no record of William having married in England, it is asserted that he wed his first wife, Mary Buy, born 1662, daughter of John Buy a mealman and a leading Quaker of Reading. If William made this marriage, his wife Mary died prior to his migration to America, presumably without any surviving children.

At the time of their declaration of intention to marry, William was past 50 and Ann Smith, born about 1689, was about 24. He was so recently arrived that the Quaker Philadelphia Meeting knew little about him and decided not to consent to the marriage without a certificate from the Reading Monthly Meeting in England that would attest to his good character and recommend him to the meeting. The couple apparently did not want to wait the many months that would have been required for a Certificate to be rquested and received, and went ahead with their marriage.

Since it was not sanctioned by the Quaker community, the marriage had to be performed by a “priest,” as Quakers called clergymen. The minutes of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting on December 25, 1713, mention the marriage, and those of January 29, 1714, record the condemnation. William was also disowned by the Reading Meeting in England as well.4095
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William Jr. and his son John, immigrated to America via Philadelphia in about 1714. The decendents of this line kept moving across PA to Clearfield County, PA. 1305