Ancestors

John Rambo

John Rambo was a yeoman of Providence Township, in what was then Philadelphia County and is now Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. A yeoman was a farmer who worked land of his own. His farm lay along the Perkiomen Creek, next to the land of his wife's father, Samuel Lane. A New Providence deed of 1775 bounds the old Lane tract "by Land of Peter Rambo," so the two families' farms touched.

A compiled genealogy of the family, The Rambo Family Tree by Beverly Nelson Rambo and Ronald S. Beatty (2007), makes him the son of Peter Rambo of Providence. Peter took up land on the Perkiomen and was a warden of St. James's Church there in 1738. The book says Peter's will was proved in July 1753 with his son John as executor. The step from John to Peter rests on the book alone. Through Peter the same book carries the family back to Gunnar Rambo and to Peter Gunnarsson Rambo, who came to New Sweden on the Kalmar Nyckel in 1640.

He married Anne Lane, a daughter of Samuel Lane of New Providence. The two fathers sat in the same church. Peter Rambo and Samuel Lane were both wardens and vestrymen of St. James's Episcopal Church at Perkiomen in 1737 and 1738. A warden was one of the two lay officers who kept a parish's property and accounts, and the vestry was its governing board. John and Anne had six children: Elizabeth, Ann, Mary, Alice, Rachel and Peter, the youngest, born on 1 October 1751.

Anne died on 7 May 1754 and was buried in the St. James churchyard, by the Rambo genealogy. Her son Peter was two and a half.

Four years later he was dying himself. On 24 March 1758 he made his will. "In the Name of God Amen the Twenty fourth day of March Anno Dom 1758, John Rambo of Providence in the County of Philadelphia Yeoman, being sick & weak in Body but of perfect sound mind," it begins. He ordered his whole estate, land and goods alike, sold and the money put out at interest until his son Peter came of age.

Then each daughter was to have a portion. "My eldest daughter Elizabeth" was to have £30 at twenty one, and "my daughter Ann Rambo" £20 at twenty one. "My daughter Mary Rambo" was to have hers at twenty one, and "my daughter Alse Rambo" £10 at twenty one. "My daughter Rachel" was to have £5 at eighteen. Whatever remained was to be divided equally among all the children, with Peter taking a double share.

The will names no wife, because he had none living. It says plainly what was to happen to the children: "all my Children shall be bound out till they be of age." To be bound out was to be placed by indenture in another household, working for food and keep and learning a trade or housewifery until grown. He named guardians and two executors, Jacob Umstead and a man whose given name was Christian and whose surname is not clear on the copy. David Robison, John Butterwick and Roger North witnessed it, and he signed "John Rambo."

The will was proved on 12 April 1758, so he died in the three weeks between. His daughter Alice was about nine.

Ann married William Todd on a licence of 27 November 1766. Alice, the "Alse" of the will, chose Jacob Umstead, her father's executor, as her guardian in 1766, by the Rambo genealogy, and married Edward Roberts in 1768. Peter grew up to live in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. In 1771 their grandfather Samuel Lane left a legacy to "my grand Children, which are the Children of John Rambo deceased," naming Ann Todd and "Alee Roberts" among them.

If John Rambo is in your family, start your own tree.

Cite: Heirology, "John Rambo (d. 1758)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/john-rambo-1758-18394a.