Pennsylvania’s early history, dating back to around 1688 was initially intended to be a Haven for Quakers who were fleeing religious persecution in England and many English colonies, including Maryland and Massachusetts. William Penn, Quaker theologian and entrepreneur was able to secure the charter for the colony, and after he arrived, ensured that people of all Christian religious backgrounds would be welcome there and not face religious intolerance as found in most other area under British control. Pennsylvania was unique in this way and attracted all different types of settlers well into the 18th century.

Those traveling to Pennsylvania by the time your family arrived could have come for a variety of reasons. In order to gauge a proper answer better, do you know where they immigrated from and what religious affiliations they had? This is extremely important since the answers to this could help narrow down some possibilities about your family’s background.

Also, it might be worth mentioning that I did my Master’s thesis, in part, by extensively studying Pennsylvania Quakers during this period and through the Revolution. I’ll be happy to extend any help that I can if you can provide those details.thank you kindly.

The Quakers were largly pacifist and would not directly get involved with the war but that's not to say individuals wouldn't have. As far as ports go, the 1700s had lots of ports and we're usually the largest cities. If you know where the ship left England you could track your family to it's port. Could be the port of Philadelphia, check the the PA historical society for passenger list search.