Note 23 — Chapter IV

Thomas Rous was a wealthy sugar-planter of Barbadoes. John Rous was his son, and son-in-law to George Fox, having married his wife’s eldest daughter. John Rous visited New England as a gospel minister when a young man, and suffered whipping and imprisonment there. After his release from Boston jail in 1658, except a visit which he paid to the island of Nevis towards the close of that year, we lose all trace of him until his marriage with Margaret, eldest daughter of Judge Fell, at Swarthmore Hall, in 1662. After his marriage he settled in London, in which, and in its vicinity, he appears to have resided during the remainder of his life. But few particulars respecting him are preserved, except a visit to the county of Kent in 1670, accompanied by Alexander Parker and George Whitehead; and to Barbadoes the following year with George Fox, as related in this Journal. Besides this, and a visit to the counties of York and Durham in 1689, we know nothing of his gospel labours after he settled in England. In his will, dated from Kingston in Surrey in 1692, he describes himself as a merchant, and his property, which, it appears was considerable, lay chiefly in Barbadoes. It is singular no record of his death has been found, but as his will was proved in 1695, it probably took place in that year.