In 1994, Jay Worrall, Jr. suggested that Ann, wife of Edward DORSEY, was "most
likely" the aunt of Elizabeth HARRIS, the famous Quaker, as Elizabeth's father
Humphrey BACHE mentioned his "sister Ann DORRY (or DORSEY)" in his will.1
Worrall had not reviewed the will, but cited an abstract in which BACHE made a
bequest of £5 to his "sister Anne DORRY."2

The will of Humphrey BACHE clearly reads DONY, not DORRY (or DORSEY).3
His will was written as Humphrey BACHE of the Liberty of the Tower of London,
Goldsmith, on the 17th "of the Month called August" 1662.  His bequests were:
To his mother Elizabeth WHITE 10 pounds of English money.
To his "dear friend" Anne GOULD, widow, 100 pounds of like money.
To his son Samuell BACHE 110 pounds of like money.
To his son Joseph BACHE 110 pounds of like money.
To Mary BACHE, his "youngest daugther" 110 pounds of like money.
To his sister Anne DONY 5 pounds of like money.
To his sister Elinor CRUNDALL 5 pounds of like money.
To his sister Elizabeth HARRISON 5 pounds of like money.
To his daughter Elizabeth HARRIS 5 pounds of like money.
30 pounds was "to be disposed amongst Friends in such manner As my Loveing
Freinds the said Ann GOULD and Henry BOURMAN shall think meete to 
give the same."
The remainder of his estate was to be equally divided between his sons Samuell
BACHE and Joseph BACHE and daughter Mary BACHE.  His sister
Elizabeth HARRISON and daughter Elizabeth HARRIS "will not dispose of
Samuell BACKE Joseph BACHE and Mary BACHE the Children without the
advice of my Dear Freind Anne GOULD."
Stephen COLE who owed him 50 shillings could keep it.
Executors were his said sisters (sic) Elizabeth HARRISON and Elizabeth HARRIS.
Humphrey BACHE signed with a mark and the will was witnessed by William
GOULD, Thomas COLLINGWOOD and Joseph COOK Ser.
The will was proved on 30 August 1662 by Elizabeth HARRISON and Elizabeth
HARRIS.

Humphrey died the day after his will was written, his death being recorded in Quaker
records as Humphrey BATCH.  As a resident of the "Parish of Barkin (so called)"
his death was listed as the 18th day 6th month [August] of 1662 of consumption.4

Humphrey BACHE was an early convert to the Friends Church, after hearing George
FOX and others speak in London, and having FOX visit him in his home.  In May of
1659 BACHE wrote a pamphlet telling of how "at the beginning of the Civil War,
his trade had fallen off, and he obtained employment under the Commonwealth, being
at first engaged at three shillings a day as one of the overseerss of the work on the
city fortifications.  Here he found that petty embezzlement, concealed in the wages
sheets, was the practice, and, falling in with it, took about six pounds beyond his salary.
After the work was finished, he obtained a place in the Excist at the Custon House."
After becoming a Quaker, he realized restituition was in order, despite that being
near half what he had in the outward, and having "a wife and five children to provide
for" and having given up his employment of selling rings and toys to proud and vain
people. He taken near 150 pounds unjustly from the Commissioners of Excise, and
he gave back to the Office 160 pounds.5

Both Worrall and J. Reaney Kelly7 identified Elizabeth HARRIS as having been born
about 1629, and married to William HARRIS on 14 Mar 1649 [1649/50] at St. Mary,
Abchurch, London.6 One problem with that identification, is that the marriage is for
a William HARRIS to an Elizabeth HARRIS, not BACHE.  Another, is that the will
of Humphrey BACHE implied that his children Samuell, Joseph and Mary were all
minors, placing their births as after 1641.  That would make them at least 10 years
younger than Elizabeth.

Elizabeth HARRIS preached of Quakerism in the Anne Arundel County, Maryland
area beginning in 1655, where she stayed for about a year and a half. In January
1657 [1658] Robert CLARKSON wrote to her in London from Anne Arundel
County.  The first persons CLARKSON mentioned in his letter after himself and his
wife were "Ann DORSEY in a more larger measure, hir husband I hope abideth
faithfull in his measure..."7

While the copy of Humphrey BACHE's will recorded into the will book clearly reads
"DONY," it is possible that the clerk misread the original will of DORCY as DONY.

1. Jay Worrall, Jr., The Friendly Virginians, America's First Quakers, (Athens,
    Georgia: Iberian Publishing Company, 1994), 8.
2. The Journal of Friends' Historical Society, VIII, No 2 (June 1911), 50-51,
    FRL microfiche 6,026,703, part 8/1.
3. Humphrey Bache will, Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) Wills Vol. 308,
   Laud 105, FHL microfilm 0,092,274.
4. Society of Friends Burials from the Quarterly Meeting of London and Middlesex,
   1661-1698, p. 4, FHL microfilm 0,587,999.
5. William C. Braithwaite, The Beginnings of Quakerism (York, England:
   William Sessions Limited, 1981, Second Edition reprint of Macmillan & Co. Ltd,
   1912), 517-519.
6. St. Mary Abchurch, London, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials 1558-1736,
   FHL microfilm 0,374,483.
7. J. Reaney Kelly, Quakers in the Founding of Anne Arundel County, Maryland,
   (Baltimore: The Maryland Historical Society, 1963).
   Copy of Clarkson to Harris letter on pages 14 to 18.