]S3 

'jnk\ do) 




HISTORY 



OF 



BUCKS COUNTY 



W 



PENNSYLVANIA 



FROM THE DISCOVERY OF THE DELAWARE TO THE PRESENT TIME 

BY 
WILLIAM W. H. DAVIS, A.M. 

President of the Bucks County Historical Society, Member of the American Historical Society, the Historical 

Society of Pennsylvania, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, the Western Reserve 

Historical Society; Author of "El Gringo, or New Mexico and Her People, " " History of 

Gen, John Lacey: " " The Spanish Conquest of New Mexico ; " " History of the One 

Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment;" ""History of the Hart Family;" 

" Life of Gen. John Davis;" "History of the Doylestown Guards;" "The 

Fries Rebellion; " " History of Do3lestown, Old and New;" Etc. 




SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED 

WITH A 

GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNT\ 
Prepared Under the Editorial Supervision of 

WARREN S. ELY 

Genealogist, Member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and Librarian of the Buck^ 

County Historical Society, 

AND 

JOHN W. JORDAN, LL.D. 

Of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 



\ 



'^OLUME III — ILLUSTRATED 



NEW •)RK CHICAGO 

THE LEWIS JL,TIBLISHING COMPANY 

^?05 



•,'**f 




-^^ i l4Q 



Entered According to Act of Congress 

IN THE 

Office of the Librarian of Congress, in the Year 1905, 

BY 

The Lewis Publishing Company. 



INTRODUCTORY 



The present volume forms a fitting supplement to the ample historical nar- 
rative from the pen of General W. W. H. Davis. For its preparation especial 
thanks are due to Mr. Warren S. Ely, of more than merely local fame as a 
genealogist and historian. Out of his abundant store of material and through 
familiarity with the official records of Bucks and adjoining counties, he has been 
enabled to write with care and intelligence the genealogical history of various 
branches of leading families in Bucks county, and his sketches will be readily 
identified by all who are familiar with the methods which he has observed so 
successfully in making investigations into ancestral fields in response to many 
exacting requisitions by individuals and family associations. He has also, in 
this work, dealt largely with the personal history of leading men of affairs in 
his native county, and his facile pen can be readily traced by the great mass of 
readers in that region who for years have been familiar with his clear and cogent 
writings along the lines which he has pursued with that genuine enthusiasm 
becoming to one who holds in proper appreciation the sturdy race from whom 
lie sprang and among whom he was reared, and who possesses the ability of 
rightly weighing their lives and achievements. 

An earnest effort has been made to give an authentic history of most of 
the early settlers, as well as of those who later found homes in this historic 
county, and their descendants down to the present time, giving special attention 
to the part taken by them in its history and development. It has been impossible, 
however, to give as full an account of some of the old families as might have 
been desired, by reason of the paucity of data furnished, many families of more 
or less prominence in the aff'airs of the county, at different periods, being with- 
out exact records of their family line, and it being, of course, impracticable in 
a work of this general character for the publishers to undertake extensive and 
expensive researches in untrodden paths. Neither was it possible for Mr. Ely 
to revise and verify all the data furnished by the representatives of the families 
treated of in the work. It can be said, however, with reference to the bio- 
graphical matter contained in this volume that in its preparation the publisher^ 
have observed the utmost care as to accuracy and authenticity, so far as lay in 
their power. In all cases the sketches have been submitted to the subject, or 
present representative of the family, for correction and revision, and the pub- 
lishers believe that they are placing before the public, in the contents of this 
volume, a valuable adjunct t,'^ the narrative history of the events in this historic 
county, to which General Dcv'is has devoted nearly a lifetime of painstaking 



iv INTRODUCTORY 

and intelligent research, by giving some authentic account of most of the 
families that have participated in those events, and following these genealogical 
and historical sketches with some account of the present gei '.'ation, on whom 
and their descendants the grand old county must depend for the maintenance 
of the high standard of citizenship that has characterized her in the past. An 
effort has also been made to give some account of the descendants of Bucks 
county ancestry who have wandered from their alma mater and distinguished 
themselves in the various- walks of life in other sections. We believe, therefore, 
that we have rendered a lasting service to posterity in gathering together and 
placing in enduring form much valuable information that would otherwise soon 
have been irretrievably lost through the passing away of many custodians of 
family and other records, and the consequent dispersion of such matter. 

The publishers desire to express their appreciation of the assistance ren- 
dered them and their editors in the preparation of this work, by various persons 
wdio have placed at their disposal the result of valuable researches made on 
genealogical and historical lines for private purposes. As stated therein, much 
of the data in reference to the Holland families who w^ere the first actual settlers 
on the Neshaminy in Northampton, Southampton and adjoining parts of War- 
minster, Bensalem, Middletown and Bristol townships, is the result of more 
than twenty years of research conducted on these lines by R. Winder Johnson, 
of Philadelphia, very little if any of which has been heretofore published. 
Again, much of the data in reference to the early German settlers in upper 
Bucks, whose part in the history of the county has probably never received 
proper recognition, is the result of exhaustive researches made by Mr. Ely, in 
which he was materially aided by the Rev. A. J. Fretz, of ]\Iilton, New Jersey,, 
who has devoted years of unselfish work to these lines. ]\Iany others have con- 
tributed more or less to the value of the work by giving us the benefit of their 

valuable researches. 

THE PUBLISHERS. 



INDE 



PAGE 

Abbott, Francis.' *. I95 

Abbott, John I95 

Abbott, Joseph 195 

Abbott, Joseph D 195 

Abbott, Mary S 196 

Abbott, Timothy 195 

Adams Family T] 

Adams, James 7^ 

Adams, John 78 

Adams, Joseph \V 80 

Adams, Samuel 79 

Afflerbach, Abraham 532 

Afflerbach, George 531 

Afflerbach, John F 531 

Afflerbach, John H 532 

Alderfer, John K 597 

Alderfer, John Isl 597 

Alderfer, Joseph 597 

Allabough, David W 505 

Allabough, Henry 50^ 

Allabough, Henry S 505 

Althouse, Albert C i^d 

Althouse, Arndt 34° 

Althouse, Daniel 340 

Althouse, Elias 341 

Althouse, Elmer E 340 

Althouse, Frederick 341 

Althouse. "Milton D 341 

Althouse, Samuel K 367 

Altho ise, Tobias 366 

Andalusia 1 58 

Anders, Asher K 368 

Anders, INIatilda 369 

Anders, Solomon 369 

Anders, William 368 

Andres, William \\' 369 

Anderse, Paul 368 

Andress, Jacob 3^58 

Angeny. Davis F. . . . .' 424 

Angeny, Jacob 424 

Angeny, John 424 

Armitage, Amos 622 

Armitage, Amos, Sr 622 

Armitage. Samuel 622 

Atkinson Family 163 

Atkinson. Howard W 168 

Atkinson, Silas C 166 

Atkinson, Stephen K 167 

Atkinson, Thomas 6 

Atkinson, T. Howard 165 

Atkinson, Thomas 164 

\tkinson, William 6 

Atkinson, William H 166 



PAGE 

Bachofer, John C 618 

Bailey, Emily 504 

Bailey, George 503 

Bailey, George W 504 

Balderston, Charles S 573 

Balderston, David 671 

Balderston, John 573 

Balderston, John W 573 

Balderston, Oliver 573 

Balderston, Robert L 671 

Banes Family '/22 

Banes, Samuel T "22, 

Baringer, Henry 444 

Baringer, Irvin Y 410 

Baringer, William 410 

Barnsley Family -3^4 

Barnsley, John 243 

Barnsley, John 314 

Barnsley, Joseph 314 

Barnslej', J. Herman 243 

Barnsley, Lydia H 315 

Barnsley, Thomas 243 

Barnsley, William .314 

Barrow, John 615 

Bartheman, Francis 667 

Bartleman. Theodore 667 

Bassett, Samuel 4*^8 

Bassett, Samuel T 408 

Baum, Heinrich 235 

Baum Henry 235 

Baum, Joseph 235 

Baum, William , 234 , 

Bean, Henry W^ 

Bean, Wilson W 3?-> 

Beans, Nathan 349 

Beans, Stephen 349 

Beaumont, Andrew J 406 

Beaumont, Charles F 406 

Beaumont. John A 683 

Beaumont, Thomas B 683 

Beck, John B 593 

Beck, Joseph 593 

Bell, Frank F 264 

Bell, John 265 

Berger, Henry 640 

Berger, J. Fennell 640 

Bergey, Jonas G 645 

Bergey, Wilson S 645 

Beringer. Amos N 329 

Beringer, Amos S \^^ 

Beringer, John 329 

Beringer, Nicholas 32S 

Betts.' Charles IM 389 



^\ 



VI 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Betts, C. Watson 5 • 5 

Bctls, John . 389 

Betts, Stephen 5^5 

Betts, Thomas 5I5 

Betts, Wilham 5i5 

Biddle, Charles 15H 

Biddle Family 158 

Biddle, Nicholas 159 

Biehn, Michael M 334 

Biehn, Milton A 334 

Bigley, Adam 248 

Bigley. Charles. D 248 

Bigley, Isaac 248 

Birkey Family 625 

Birkey, Henry W 628 

Birkey, Isaac M 629 

Birkey, John 627 

Birkey, John W 629 

Birkey, John Y 625 

Birkey, Peter 626 

Birkey, feter 625 

Birkey, Samuel 625 

Birkey, Thomas H 627 

Birkey, William J. A., Jr 628 

Birkey, William J. A., Sr 627 

Bishop, John H 643 

Bishop, Samuel 643 

Black, Andrew A 427 

Black, Clarence R 259 

Black, George E 427 

Black, John 258 

Black, John P 258 

Black. Wilmer S 259 

Bloom, Peter D 598 

Bloom, William 598 

Bond, Cadwalader D 710 

Bond, Lewis R 709 

Boutcher, Benjamin 641 

Boutcher, Benjamin W 64T 

Boutcher, Joseph 641 

Boyer, Daniel M 436 

Boyer, John S 436 

P.raddock, Katherine 615 

Bradshaw, James 430 

Bradshaw. John W 429 

Bradshaw, Samuel 429 

Biadshaw, Thomas 429 

Bradshaw. William. Jr 43° 

\ Branson, Edwin R • 693 

vBranson, Isadore C 693 

I'ranson, Isaiah 692 

B/anson, Jacob 692 

Branson, James L 692 

Branson, Sarah E ; 693 

Branson, William 692 

Breen, James 3,^6 

Breen, Patrick 336 

Brinker, Aden H 588 

Brinker, John 588 

Broadhurst, Horace G 392 

Broadhurst. Samuel E 392 

Brooks, Abram 593 

Brot)ks, William L 593 

Brown. Benjamin 240 

Brown, Charles 240 

Brown, John 240 

Brown, Joseph 352 

Brown, Levi 352 

Brown, Robert 239 

Brown, Robert S ,, . . . 240 



PAGE 

Brown, Samuel 239 

Brown, Stacy 352 

Brown, William 683 

Brown. William B 352 

Brown, William H .- 683 

Brunner, Harvey S 484 

Brunner. Solomon 484 

Buckman, Abden 684 

Buckman, Benjamin 684 

Buckman. Edward H 233 

Buckman, Elihu S 233 

Buckman, Franklin 232 

Buckman. James R 684 

Buckman. Walter 233 

Buckman. Zenas 232 

Buehrle, Frederick F 377 

Buehrle, Josejjh 377 

Buehrle, William 377 

Bunting. Edwin M 185. 

Bunting Family 184. 

Bunting John S . . . . 186 

Bunting, Joseph 185 

Burges, Daniel 214 

Purges, Family 214 

Burges, Joseph 214 

Burson. Benjamin 614 

Burson, Edward 614 

Burson Family 614 

Burson, Joseph 614 

Burton, Anthony 22S 

Burton, Elwood 229 

Burton, John 228 

Cadwallader, Algernon S 604 

Cadwallader, Charles AI 375 

Cadwallader, Eli. Jr 718 

Cadwallader, Franklin 588 

Cadwallader. George S 588 

Cadwallader. Jacob 588 

Cadwallader. Jacob 663 

Cadwallader. James L 663 

Cadwallader. John 375 

Cadwallader. Samuel C 663 

Cadwallader. Washington 717 

Cadwallader, Yardly 376 

Candy, James B 528 

Candv. Thomas D 52S 

Carrel!, Ezra P 299 

Carrell, Ezra R 390 

Carrell, Jacob 300 

Carrell. James 300- 

Carrell. James .591 

Carrell, Joseph ,^or 

Carrell, Joseph 391 

Carrell, Joseph, Jr .3«/0 

Carter, James 61 g 

Carter. J. Harris 619 

Carver. A din (^185 

Carver. Charles H 084 

Carver. John 040 

Carver. Mahlon '>4f> 

Case. Alexander J 433 

Case. Peter 433 

Case. Theodore L 433 

Cassel, Isaac 27 f 

Cassel, Levi 271 

Cassin. Isaac S \99 

Cavanaugh, Francis 606 

Chambers, Alexander 508 

Chambers, Thomas P 5^7 



\ 



INDEX 



vii 



PAGE 

Chapman, AlM-ahani 380 

Chapman, Arthur 380 

Chapman Family 379 

Chapman, Henry 380 

Chapman, John 379 

Chapman, Joseph 380 

Christy, Alexander 615 

Christy, Henry 615 

Church, Eleazer F 501 

Church, Richard 501 

Church, Watson P 500 

Clarendon, Thomas 550 

Clarendon, Thomas, Sr 550 

Claxton, George 555 

Claxton, John B 555 

Claxton, Thomas B 555 

Clayton, Amos K 556 

Clayton, William B S56 

Clunn, Joseph F 652 

Clunn, Robert 652 

Clymer, Christian 1 236 

Clymer, Christian T 236 

Clymer, Eli L 270 

Clymer, Henry, Jr 270 

Clymer, Henry S 236 

Clymer, Jacob F 88 

Clymer, John H 2S^ 

Clymer, Lee S 86 

Clymer, Robert L 282 

Clvmer, William C 88 

Clymer, William H 87 

Comfort, Annie 203 

Comfort, George 204 

Comfort, George M 127 

Comfort, Henry W 126 

Comfort, John 203 

Comfort, Samuel 204 

Conrad, Charles 2,S7> 

Conrad, James 257 

Convent of the Blessed Sacrament.... 526 

Cooley, William J 281 

Cooper, Alfred M 330 

Cooper, John W 686 

Cooper, William B 330 

Cooper, William R 330 

Cope, Adam 567 

Cope, Addison C 566 

Cope, Amandus H _^22 

Cope, B. Frank 286 

Cope, Charles E 349 

Cope, George B 349 

Cope, Jacob 322 

Cope, John 567 

Cope, John 67S 

Cope, John F 678 

Cope, jNIilton L 678 

Cope, Tobias G 567 

Cope, William S 567 

Cornell, Adrien 52 . 

Cornell Family Sr 

Cornell, George W 53 

Cornell, Hiram 684 

Cornell, Ira H 684 

Cornell, James C 684 

Cornell, John S 237 

Cornell, John S., Sr 238 

Cornell, Joseph M 54 

Cornell, Wilhelmus 52 ~^ 

'Courter, Jacob 607 

*Courter, Jacob H 607 



PAGE 

Cox, Ezekiel B ^, 623 

Cox, Reeder 023 

Craven, Charles 712 

Craven, James R 71 j 

Craven, Joseph 248 

Craven, Linford R 247 

Craven, Thomas 712 

Cressman, Abraham S 579 

Cressman, Anthony 579 

Cressman, Anthony 079 

Cressman, David D 579 

Cressman, Henry 679 

Cressman, Henry 579 

Cressman, Jacob 405 

Cressman, Jacolj 579 

Cressman, Josiah L 405 

Cressman, Philip S 679 

Cressman, Tobias H 405 

Crewitt, Alfred 496 

Crewitt, John A 496 

Crewitt, Richard C 496 

Crispin, Silas 43 

Croasdale, Jeremiah W 546 

Croasdale, John W 546 

Croasdale, Roliert 546 

Croasdale, Robert M ..... 545 

Crouse, Andrew J 704 

Crouse Family 702 

Crouse, Frederick 703 

Crouse, Jacob W 703 

Crouse, Michael, Jr 703 

Crouthamel Family 55S 

Crouthamel, George 538 



Crouthamel, Jacob S. 



Crouthamel, Noah O. 

Crouthamel, Peter R 

Crouthamel, Washington O. 

Cunningham, Joseph T 

Cunningham, Matthew 

Cunningham, Matthew C. . 

Cunningham, Thomas 

Curley, John 

Curley, Thomas 



Dager, Charles T. . . 
Dager, Frederick 

Dager, John 

Dana, Anderson, Jr 

Dana, Richard 

Dana, Robert S 

Dana, Sylvester 

Darlington, Edward !*> 
Darlington, Hemy T. 
Darlington, Thomas 

Davis, John 

Davis, William W. H 
Deemer. Charles ... 

Deemer, Elias 

Deemer, George li.. 
Deemer, Johan G . . . . 

Deemer, John 

Deemer, John 

Deemer, Michael ... 
Deemer, Michael ... 

Deemer, Oliver J 

Delp, George 

Detweiler, Aaron C. 
Detweilef, Christian 
Detweiler, George . , 
Detweiler, Henry 



67 r 

558 
.S58 
67 1 

537 

5.36 
536 

.11)0 



325 
3-^5 
3^5 

5-'T 

5-2 ^' 

5-: I 
522 
510 
510 

Sro 
46 

45 
359 
470 

359 
358 
470 

47 1 
3> > 
47 f 
358 
731 
68.=^ 
.56 r 
677 



-iJ 



Vlil 



INDEX 



Delwciler, Henry . . . . 
Detwciler, Isaac C... 
Detweiler, Isaac H. . . 
Detwciler, Jacob . . . . 
Detwciler, Jacob L... 
Detweiler, John A... 
Detweiler, John C... 
Detweiler, Joseph . . . 
Detwciler, Mahlon C. 
Detweiler, Martin . . . 

Doan, Amos 

Doan, Harry P 

Doan, J. Oscar 

Doan, Wilson 

Dobbins, Joseph K . . . 

Doll, Charles M 

Dolton, Charles 

Dolton, Richard L... 

Dorland, John 

Doron, Thomas E. . . 
Doron, William E. . . 
Douglass, George . . . . 
Douglass, James . . . . 

Doyle, Charles C 

Doyle, Edward 

Doyle, Henry H 

Doyle, Joseph 

Doyle, Lemuel H.... 

Doyle, Samuel 

Doyle, William 

Drexel, Joseph W. . '. 

Drexel, Lucy W 

Du Bois, Charles E.. . 

Du Bois Family 

Du Bois, Jacob 

Du Bois, John L. . . . 
Du Bois, John L., Jr. 

Du Bois, Louis 

Du Bois, Louis 

] )u Bois, Peter 

Du Bois, LTriah 

Dungan Family 

lungan, Isaac 

)ungaiM /ames 

Dungan, Jesse , 

Dungan, John 

Dung?n, Thomas ... 
Dungan, Thomas . . 
Dungan, Wallace » . . 
Duvner, Charles E. . . 
Duiiicr, Charles F. . . . 



?AGE 

68 ^ 
677 
561 
631 
561 
561 
b77 
S6i 
631 

561 
685 
685 

323 
43S 
726 
348 
348 
496 
620 
620 
617 
617 
456 
454 
456 
455 
454 
455 
454 
525 
525 
194 
192 
192 
. 194 
194 
192 

193 
193 
193 

~2o6 
20S 
206 
20S 
207 
208 
206 
331 
331 



Eastburn, Charles T . . 19 

Eastburn Family 15 

Eastburn, H ugh B 17 

Eastburn, Joseph ... lO 

Eastburn, Moses \6 

Eastburn, .Robert 16 

Eastburn, Robert 15 

Eastburn, Robert 17 

Easlliurn, Robert K 21 

Eastburn, Samuel 21 

Eastburn, Samuel C ....,,.. 20 

Eastburn, William T 18 

Edwards, Benjamin R 335 

Edwards, Hugh 335 

Ellis, Charles • ■ . 5^4 

Ellis. Joseph A 564 

Ellis, Rowland ' 564 

i*' - Daniel 426 



PAGE 

Ely, Edward N 451 

Ely Family 127 

Ely, Heman 448 

Ely, Joseph 451 

Ely, Justin 448 

Ely, Warren S -. : 132 

Ely, William L 426 

Erdman, Andrew 305 

Erdman. Daniel 305 

Erdman, George 686 

Erdman, John ' 305 

Erdman, Milton K 686 

Erdman. Owen 305 

Erdman. William S 305 

Erwin, John 313 

Erwin. John 314 

Erwin, Joseph 314 

Erwin, Joseph J 313 

Evans, Caleb 388 

Evans, Wilson C 388 

Everitt, Aaron 413 

Everitt. David 413 

Everitt. Ezekiel 412 

Everitt. Jesse C 412 

Everitt, Samuel 413 

Fackenthal, Benjamin F 451 

Fackenthal, IMichael 451 

Fackenthal. Peter 451 

Fackenthal, Philip 450 

Faust, Alfred H 356 

Fell. Benjamin 186 

Fell, Benjamin 266 

F"ell, Byron ,M 266 

Fell, David 219 â–  

Fell. David X 73 

Fell, Ely 266 

Fell, James. B 266 

Fell, Jesse 186 

Fell. Tohn 266 

Fell, John A 186 

Fell, Jonathan 219 

Fell, Joseph y^ 

Fell, Joseph 218 

Fell, Joseph "oo 

Fell. Lewis W 218 

Fell, Preston J 187 

Fell. Seneca 266 

Fell. Wilson D. .37 

Felty. Victor H ." -^i,7 

Felty, William 547 

Flack. Joseph, Jr ^7Z 

THack, Joseph. Sr :^72, 

Flack, Roland 37?, 

Flagler. George W 428 

Flagler, Peter 428 

Flower^, Amos S .^55 

Flowers, Thomas K 554 

Flowers, William 5.S4 

Flum, Frank H ' . . 272 

Flum, Frederic 272 

Folkir. Howard 205 

Forrester. George W 626 

Foulke. Benjamin G 90 

Foulke, Caleb 90 

Foull.e. Charles E o 'i 

Foulke, Eleanor â– .-. 1) 

I'Vudke. Everard i... o. â–  

J'oulke Family Bf < 

Toulke, Hugh 9 ^ 



IXDEX 



IX 



PAGE 

Foulke. Hugh 89 

Foulke. Job R 91 

Foulke. Thomas QO 

Foulke. William H 91 

Freed. Henry 444 

Freed, Henry W 444 

Freed, John 444 

French, Bennett M 714 

French, J. Andrew 713 

French, William 714 

Fretz, Abraham 360 

Fretz, Abraham 401 

Fretz. Abraham J 401 

Fretz. Alfred E 307 

Fretz, Christian 401 

Fretz, Clayton D 307 

Fretz, Ely 433 

Fretz. H. Erwin 432 

Fretz. Henry L 3('r 

Fretz, Jacob 3>(^o 

Fretz, John 360 

Fretz, John 401 

Fretz, John E 146 

Fretz, John S. . : I47 

Fretz, Joseph H • 3f>o 

Fretz, Mahlon M 43-2 

Fretz, ?^Iartin 401 

Fretz, Oliver H i-'O 

Fretz, Philip H I43 

Fretz, Philip K 43-^ 

Fretz, Ralph J '. i47 

Fretz, S. Edward 30H 

Fretz, William 120 

Fulmer, Daniel 406 

Fulmer. Xoah 406 

Fulmer. Oliver A 406 

Garges. Abraham 257 

Garges. Edward 3 '6 

Garges. Henry 257 

Garner. Samuel 344 

Garner. Sannul J ' 344 

Garner. Samuel S 344 

Geil, John 15- 

Geil. Samuel I5- 

Geil, William E 15^ 

George, Jacob, Jr 43'^ 

George, Jacob. Sr 4.^8 

Gibson. Andrew 653 

GibsGii. Andrew J 653 

Gilbert Hiel 647 

Gilbert. Maris 647 

Gilke^on. Andrew W 345 

Gilkeson. Franklin 345 

"Gillam. Harvey, Sr 540 

Gillam, Simon 540 

Gilliam. Harvey H . 540 

Gilliam, William 54° 

Girton. Garret B 367 

Girton. James 5^8 

Gotwals. Daniel 581 

Gotwals. Jonas 581 

Gray. Dean (191 

Gray. John .\55 

Gray. John ]M 365 

Gray. Samuel 355 

Gray, Samuel S J56 

Gray, Thomas H (")i 

Greup, John +3' 

Griffee, Howard ^I ' >5-' 



PAGE 

Griffee, Peter 652 

Griffith, Amos 616 

Griffith, Austin E 616 

Griffith, John W 616 

Grim, Adam 301 

(irim, F. Harvey 301 

(irim, George M 306 

Grim, George W 301 

(irim, George W 306 

Grim, Webster 210 

Groff. Charles S 571 

Groff, Isaac S 477 

(iroff, Jacob • 477 

Groff, Jacob 571 

Ciroff, James E 477 

Groom, Ezekiel A 543 

Groom, Jonathan 543 

Groom, Thomas 543 

Groover. Andrew 711 

Gross, Daniel 209 

Gross, Henry W 209 

Gross, Jacob 362 

Gross, John 363 

r,ross, John A 362 

Gross, John L ;j63 

Gross, Joseph N 209 

Grundy, Edmund 365 

Grundy, Joseph R 365 

Grundy, William H 365 

Gruver, John 711 

Gruver, Jonas H 711 

Gulick. Christopher S 289 

Gulick h'amily 288 

(iulick. Hendrick 288 

(iulick, Joachim 288 

Gulick, Merari 289 

Gulick, Samuel 288 

Gulick, Samuel S 289 

Gumpper, John J i' 347 

(iumpper. Thomas K 347 

Hagerty, James 443 

Hagerty, John 44 ' 

Hagerty, Preston W 4'^ 

Haldeman, Abel G 6'^^ 

Haldeman, Charles (\^^ 

Haldeman. Daniel "^^ 

Haldeman. Edwin K ^^^ 

Haldeman. Tohn • ^~ 

Hall, C. Harry W2 o 

Hall Family I4T ' 

Hall, ^ifatthias H tji; 

Hall, William W 150 

Hancock. Charles W 516 

Hancock. John 516 

Hancock, Joseph L 5f6 

Hancock, Samuel 516 

Haney, Anthony 051 

Haney, Michael 65 1 

Haney, Michael G 651 

Haring, Charles C 611 

Haring, Charles C, Sr 611 

Harley. Jrjhn 647 

Harlcy, Jonas S 647 

Harpel, Amos 405 

Harpel, Conrad ^.05 

Harpel, Harvey F 404 

Harpel, John 405 

ITarrar. James S 240 

1 larrar, Joel J . 249 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Harris, Theopliilus 336 

Hart, B. Frank 42 

Hart, George 45 

Hart, George 320 

Hart, James 45 

Hart, James 319 

Hart. John 42 

Hart, John 318 

Hart, Joseph 45 

Hart, josnua 2t)4 

Hart, JosialT 320 

Hart, William 319 

Hart, William H , . 45 

Hartley, George W., Jr 279 

Hartley, William H 279 

Hartzel, Abram G 609 

Hartzel, l-'rancis D 609 

Harvey, George T 158 

Harvey, Joseph 488 

Harvey, Lydia A . 488 

Harvey, Theodore P 488 

Heacock, J^oel 636 

Heacock, Joel L 636 

Headley, Amos B 612 

Headley, Joseph J 612 



Headley, 
Heaney, 
Heaney, 
Heaton, 
Heaton, 
Heckler, 
Heckler, 
Heckler, 
Heckler, 
Heckler, 
Hedrick, 
Hedrick, 
Heinlein 
Heiulein, 
Heller, 
Heller, 
Heller, 
Heller, 
' leller, 
eller. 



Thomas 612 

Nicholas L 424 

Thomas 424 

Frank â– ....; 727 

Mathias 72J 

Allen H 333 

Calvin F 33^ 

John R 333 

Nari F â–  â–  333 

Samuel 33o 

David â– ...-â–  646 

John K 646 

Family .' 308 

George . â–  308 

David 310 



el Iyer, 
llyer, 
llyer, 
llyer, 



Jacob 310 

Johan M ■ • 310 

Josiah B 310 

William J .-• • 309 

Yost 310. 

Amos S 381 

Anderson 381 

Howard A -55^ 

Valmore M 381 

William -55^ 

485 

485 

Benjamin 495 

Cornelius 495 

Family 494- 

495 

496 

335 

335 



Edwin 
John 



r 

D 
Di 
Dv 

^^'-llyer, 
I:cmmerly, 
Hei.-rierly, 
Hendricks, 
Hendricks, 
Hendricks 
Hendricks, John C 
Hendricks, Joseph A 
Heritage, John B . . . . 
Heritage, John F. . . 
Heritage, Joseph B . 
Heritage, Joseph D.. 
Heston, George T. . 
Heston, Jesse S. . . 

Hibbs, James C 

Hibbs, John G . . . 
Hibbs, Si)encer H 
Hibbs, William . . 
Hicks, Fdward I' 
Hicks Family . . . . 
Hicks, George A . . . 



5^9 
5-^9 
532 
53-2 

576 
576 
576 
576 
1 12 
no 
112 



PAGE 

Hicks, Penrose 1 14 

Hiester, Maria C 87 

Hiester. William 87 

Hill. Harry C 469 

Hill. Humphrey 469 

Hill. John H 469 

llillborn, John 621 

Jlillborn, William 621 

Hillpot, Samuel S 231 

Hinckle, Casper 380 

Hinckle, Philip 380 

Hines, A. J 473 

Hines, William C 474 

Hhikle, Albert G. B 380 

Hinkle. Elias 707 

Hinkle, Joseph 381 

Hinkle, Tobias C 707 

Hinkle, William 381 

Hobensack, B. Frank 369 

Hobensack, Isaac 369 

Hobensack, Isaac C 720 

Hobensack, Wilkins 610 

Hobensack, William 719 

Hogeland, Abraham 396 

Flogeland, Daniel 395 

Hogeland, Derrick K 39c; 

Hogeland, Elias 396 

Hogeland Family 395 

Hogeland, Frank 396 

Hogeland, Horace B 397 

Hogeland, Isaac 396 

Hogeland. John 397 

Hogeland, JNIorris 398 

Hogeland. William S 397 

Hoguet, Louis A 241 

Holbert, Nathan 706 

Holbert, William 705 

Holbert. William M 705 

Holcomb. Isaac W 608 

Hplcomb. John 608 

Hoi combe, Charles 320 

Flolcombe, John 321 

Holcombe, IMary 320 

Holcombe, Oliver H 320 

Holcombe, Richard 320 

Holcombe. Sarriuel 321 

Hotchkiss, Clarence D 478 

Hotchkiss, George W 478 

Hotchkiss, Samuel 478 

Hough. Benjamin 12 

Hough. John 8 

Hough. John S 8 

Hough. Oliver 11 

Hough, Richard 5 

Plough. William H 74 

Howell. David 562 

Howell. Timothy ....". 562 

Hunsicker. Abraham 514 

Hunsicker. Isaac 514 

Hunsicker. Isaac ]\f . . 514 

Hunsicker. Jacob 514 

Hunsicker, Valentine 514 

Hutc-hinsr>tvEdward S ^44 

1 

i 'isinger. Albert 688 

1 iisinger. Edward 6SS 

Iredell. Charles T â– ;63 

Ire.loll. Robert 364 

Ireland, Charles G 705 

Irif land. Rachael P 704 



INDEX 



\n 



PAGE 

Irwin, John 689 

Irwin, Nathan D 637 

Irwin, Mrs. N. D 637 

Ivins, Aaron ^_^^ 

Ivins, Aaron 62T 

Ivins, Edward A 344 

Ivins, Edward A 343 

- Ivins, Moses H 687 

Ivins, William ' H 621 

Jacoby, Benjamin 142 

Jacoby, Edwin J 589 

Jacoby, Henry S 141 

Jacoby, John 589 

Jacoby, Peter 142 

Jacoby, Peter L 142 

James Family 60 

James, Henry A ' 6^ 

James, Howard 1 64 

James, Irvin M 65 

James, Oliver P 66 

James, Thomas A 67 

James, Wynne 64 

Janney Family 54 

Janney, Randle j^. . ^z, 

Janney, Stephen T 50 

Janney, Thomas ^6 

Janney, William S 60 

Jarrett, Alvin J 661 

Jarrett, Solomon 661 

Jenkins, John [^34 

Jenkins, Joseph ^34 

Jenkins, Phineas 534 

Jenkins, Stcphei),' . 534 

Jenkirs, Wilii^m . 5*^4 

Jenkii Zirhary T 534 

Jet;'-- .'ctmily .. ' -^,S 

Jenks, George A \o 

Jenks, John S -^ 

Jenks, Phineas 39 

Jenks, Thomas -. 38 

Jenks, William H 41, 

Jenks, William P 41 

Johnson, Casper ! . . . 347 

Johnson, Charles ;^T^y 

Johnson, Clark 242 

Johnson, Edward W 98 

Johnson, Elmer L 242 

Johnson, H. Watson 221 

Johnson, Isaac S 102 . 

Johnson, Jesse L : . . . . 243 

Johnson, John 237 

Johnson, John R 237 

Johnson, Lawrence gS 

.Johnson, Martin 237 

Johnson. JNlilton 347 

Johnson. O. James 337 

Johnson, Richard M 347 

Johnson, R. Winder \36 

Johnson, Robert M 266 

Johnson, Samuel A 715 

Johnson.' William 254 

Johnson. William 266 

.Tones, Catherine J 667 

Jordan, Alexander 475 

Jordan, A. Hayes 474 

Jordan, Frederick. Jr 475 

â– Jordan, Henry ^75 

"Kanll, George 6^8 

Kaiill, John H 6,^?> 



Keeler, 
Keeler, 
Keeler, 



Eli 
E. 



K. 



PAGE 

^ Wesley ^^q 

John ,75 

Kemi, Daniel D jgf, 

Keim, Daniel M ig6 

Keim, Nicholas 196 

Keith, Sipron C ocQ 

Keller, Abraham 509 

Keller, Christopher "' c;o9 

Keller, Joseph ;;;;' rog 

Keller, Lewis cnR 

Keller, Mahlon .... J', 

Kelly, William F.. Jr... . 387 

Kelly, William F., Sr [[[] 3X7 

Kerbangh, Benjamin F 642 

Kcrbaugh, Josiah ] * 642 

Kilcoyne, John J . . 242 

Kimble, Al)el ^^q 

Kimble, Richard 51^0 

Kimble, Seruch T 550 

Kimble, William 550 

King. John F 472 

King, John G 472 

King, ]\Lnrtin 472 

King, ^lorton 612 

King, Peter gj 

King, Samuel M 612 

Kirk, Amos W: 551 

Kirk, Charles '^-y 

Kh-k, Edward R ^^j 

Kirk, Isaac ^'c^i 

Kirk, Thomas \'^i 

Kiser, Edwin 479 

Kiser, Harvey S 478 

Kiser, Samuel 47Q 

Kline, George H 342 

Kline, Henry K 341 

Kline, Isaac 347 

ynight, Alfred ggi 

H-o -'ht, 'Amos 5g8 

KniglK r A iiej-, ggj 

Knight. 1 sirlc 7 s^gg 

Knight. Jonathan * . . c;gg 

Knight. ., Sarah J 660 

Knoll, Frank L ^4^ 

Knoll, Lewis ' / _ ,^^'- 

Kolb. Henry \j] 

Kooker, Henry ., ^j 

Kooker, Jacob , - , . 442 .^ 

Kooker, Peter ' 442 ^l^ 

Kramer, Abraham ,, ' 

Kramer, Samuel R 

Krause, Carl G 

Krause, Charles B 680 

Krauskopf, Joseph 276 

Kratz. Abraham 268 

Kratz. Abraham 689 

Kratz. David N 577 

Kratz. Henry M 268 

Kratz. Henry R 648 

Kratz. Jacob 268 

Kratz. John c,yj 

Kratz, John S . . 68g 

Kratz. Philip 1577 

Kratz. Valentine 268 

Kratz. William 648 

Kratz. William D 348 

Kreiss, Peter 5 f8 

Kreiss, Peter L 518 

Krusen, Wilmer 261 



•5" . 
()8o 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Kulp, Abraham 316 

Kulp, Abraham' M 587 

Kulp, Harry N 410 

Kulp, Harvey S 586 

Kulp, Jacob H 586 

Kulp, Jacob S 411 

Kulp. John L 316 

Kunser, Andrew 553 

Kunser, Henry 553 

Kunser, ]\Iichael 553 

Lampen, Garret H 407 

Lampen. Michael 407 

Lampen, Michael, Jr 407 

Lamnen, Simon 407 

Landis, Isaac M 619 

Landis, George 354 

Landis, George M 354 

Landis, Henry 436 

Landis, Jacob 354 

Landis, Jacob S 619 

Landis, John M 693 

Landis, Michael A 436 

Landis, Samuel B 353 

Lapp, Abraham 594 

Lapp, Henry B 594 

Lapp, Jacob 594 

Large, Henry C 484 

Large, William M 484 

Larue, Albert C 282 

Larue. John B 282 

LaRue Family 180 

LaRue, Moses 182 

LaRue, Nicholas 183, 

LaRue, William H 183 

Larzelere, Benjamin 446 

Larzelere, Jacob 446 

Larzelere, Nicholas 446 

Larzelere, William 446 

Laubach, Anthony 499 

Laubach, Charles -, ■• 500 

Laubach, Christian . . /T" 498 

Laubach Family • • ' 49^ 

Laubach, Fredenv k 385 

Laubach. Joha/i ' G 499 

Laubach. Jobh G 499 

Laubach, Samuel H 498 

Lauderbach, Charles J 659 

Lauderbach, Harris V 659 

Li ar, George 385 

i.ear. Henry 386 

1 eatherman. Aaron 690 

Lcatherman. Eli 440 

Leatherman. Henry L 361 

.[>eatherman, Jacob 41S 

l-eatherman, Jacob Y 361 

Leatherman, Joseph 690 

Leatherman. Joseph 418 

Lehman, Arthur C 483 

Lehman, Harry C 483 

Lehman, Michael 483 

Lehman & Sons : 483 

Leidy. Cornelius W 4.15 

Leidy Family S87 

Leidy, H. Frank 588 

Leidy. Levi 435 

Leidv, Samuel G 587 

Leigli. Thomas 306 

Leigh, Wiliiam B 306 

Leister, John 53S 



P.^GE 

Leister, Johnas 539 

Leister, Thomas R 538 

Lengil, Peter 542 

Lengel, Samuel R 542 

Lerch, David 429 

Lerch, George W 429 

Lerch. Samuel 429 

Lewis, David M 324 

Lewis, Joseph M 324 

Lippincott, Joshua 668 

Lippincott, Theodore 668 

Livezey, Edward 728 

Livezey, Edward, Sr 728 

Lodge, Abel 607 

Lodge, John 607 

Longstreth, Daniel 302 

Longstreth, Edward 302 

Loux, Andrew 439 

Loux, Mathias i 439 . 

Loux. Mathias J 4.S9 

Lovett, Daniel 661 

Lovett, Henry 307 

Lovett. Jonathan 307 

Lovett, R. Pittield 661 

Lovett, William 307 

Lundy, J. Wilmer 114 

Lundy, Richard 114 

Lynn. Alexander 574 

Lynn, Lewis M 574 

Lynn, Victor V 574 

IMacKenzie, Farrell 610 

MacKenzie. Richard 610 

Alagill, Alfred 602 

Magill, Edward W 449 

iSIagill, C. Howard 601 

Magill, w atsoi. r" 4; 

M -.gill. William 449 

Magill, William 602 

IMarple, Alfred . 283 

]\[arple, Frank H 284 

^Larple, F. M 2^i 

Marshall, Alfred 501 

Marshall, Caleb H 502 

]\Iarshall, George M 447 

Marshall, Harriet P 44S 

]\Iarshall. Robert 502 

]\Iarshall. Se.th 447 

Marshall, Thomas 501 

Jklartin, Adam 37- 

Martin, A. Oscar 4S2 

:Martin, Allen S -'S'8 

Martin, George ,-72 

^Lartin, George ' â– r)2 

Martin. Jonas iSj 

]\Iartin, Michael '02 

Martin, Reul)en A r - 

Martindell, Edwin W -N i 

Martindell, John 507 

Martindell. Jonathan \V 580 

Mason, Ernest ' 3.^8 

]\Iason, Joel v-^ 

Mason, Joel M ...v^ 

]\rathew, Simon I'li 

^ilathews, Charles H i^'O 

]\Iathews, Charles H 1 ' 3 

Mathews. Charles J 417 

Matliews, Lawrence J 417 

Matlack. William .i<io 

Matlack. \\'i]liam. Jr 490 



\ 



INDEX 



xm 



PAGE 

Mawson, John B 654 

Mawson, William 654 

INIayne, David C 657 

jMayne, William C '57 

JMcbowell, Major 3>.| 

McDowell, Robert 374 

McDowell, William 374 

McTlhatten, D. J 3H7 

;McIlhatten, Samuel P 387 

]\IcKinstry, George 327 

McKinstry, Henry 246 

INIcKinstry, H. Martyn 247 

jMcKinstry, Jesse 328 

McKinstry, Nathan 246 

McKinstry, Nathan 327 

IMcKinsfry, Oliver 328 

McKinstry, Robert 246 

IMcKinstry, Samuel 328 

McKinstry, Wilson B 246 

McNair, James 637 

IMcNair, James M 637 

INIcNair, Solomon 637 

Mershon, Joab C 644 

Mershon. William C 644 

]\feyer. Christian 269 

jMeyer, Hans 224 

IMeyer, Henry 440 

Meyer, John 224 

IMeyer, "Samuel 269 

Meyers, Isaac 441 

IMeyers, John H 440 

IMeyers. John 44T 

Michener, Burroughs 367 

jMichener, Ezra 584 

INIichener, Isaiah 584 

]\Iichener, IMarmaduke 367 

Michener, Meschach 367 

IVIichener, Samuel 367 

]\Iiles Family 665 

Miles, Griffith 665 

Miles, Joseph 665 

Miles, Sanmcl 665 

Miles, William G 665 

TMill. George 589 

Mill, George G 589 

Mill, Solomon 589 

Miller, A. J 281 

Milnor, J. Cambv S7S 

Milnor, William "B 575 

Mininger, William H 232 

Minster, Ell wood W , 362 

INTinster, Nicholas 362 

INIinster, William S 362 

Mintzer, St. John W 411 

iMitchell, Allen R 520 

Mitcliell. Gove 520 

INIitthell, Henry 520 

IMitchell, Joim 520 

Mitchell, Pearson 520 

Moll, James D 435 

]\[oll. John 435 

Moll, John G 435 

Mollov, Harry F 262 

Molloy, John B 581 

TMolloy, Nicholas E 262 

Moon, Charles 602 

Moon, Daniel 215 

TMoon Familj . . 212 

Moon, James .... 602 



PAGE 

Moon, Mahlon 213 

Moon, Moses 213 

Moon, Moses 602 

Moon, Owen, Jr 214 

Moon, Roger ' 212 

Moon, William 214 

Moore Family 440 

Moore, Henry â–  449 

Moore, Henry 11 579 

Moore, Jesse H 579 

Moore, Jesse P 579 

Moore, Mordeci 449 

Moore, Richard 449 

Morgan, Daniel 308 

Morgan, David 416 

Morgan, Enoch 416 

Morgan Family 308 

Morgan, John M 416 

Morgan, j^Irs. Lizzie Bell 311 

Morris, Effingham B 456 

Morris, Israel W 456 

Morris, Mrs. Robert J , 180 

Morris, Peter H 601 

Morris, Theodore 601 

Morris, William T 601 

Morrison, A. J 137 

Morrison, Joseph 138 

Morwitz, Edward 463 

Morwitz, Joseph 464 

Moyer, Abraham '. 269 

Moyer, Abraham D 234 

Moyer, Abraham G 220 

Moyer, Abram F 708 

Moyer, Allen G 219 

IMoyer, Christian 219 

Moyer, Harvey W 221 

Moyer, Henry A 1 70 

Moyer, Henry G 169 

Clover, Flenry 269 

IMoyer, Isaac H 708 ^ — 

Moyer, Levi S 2Sj 

Moyer, Peter 233 

Moyer, Samuel 220 

Moyer, Sanniel B 269 

IMoyer, William G 245 

Murphy, Felix A 67S 

Murphy, John 676 

Murray, Charles 357 

[Murray, Joseph D 331 

Murray, Mahlon 357 

Murray, William H 33^ 

T^Iyer, Benjamin 630 

Myer Family • 630 

Myer, Isaac 630 

Myer, Isaac, Jr 630 

Myers, Aaron F 359X-_ 

Myers. Abraham F 431 

Myers, Abraham G 25T 

Myers, Abraham M 2ST 

Myers, Christian 582 

Myers, Christian M 224 

Myers, Eliza B 226 

Myers, Emma E. B 259 

Myers, Francis F 25T 

IMyers, Henry 251 

Myers. Henry 431 

Myers, Henry F 725 

Myers. Jacob 582 

IVfycrs, Joseph F 359 



MV 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Myers, Newton 582 

Myers, Oliver 725 

Myers, Samuel 225 

Nase, Barndt 574 

Nase, Herbert S 574 

Nash, Abraham 423 

Nash, Abraham 571 

Nash, Abraham D 571 

Nash, Mary A 423 

National Farm School 276 

Naylor, Jesse P 662 

Naylor, William 662 

Neamand. Harry 403 

Neamand, John 403 

Neamand. William 403 

Negus, John 426 

Negus, Stephen W \ . . . 426 

Negus, Thomas C 426 

Newell, William C 157 

Nichols, H. S. P 138 

Nightingale, Charles R 464 

Nightingale, Henry B 465 

Nightingale, Samuel 464 

Nonamaker, Aaron 239 

Nonamaker, Henry 239 

Nonamaker, Noah S 239 

Ozias. George 700 

Ozias, John A 700 

Paddock, Naomi A 635 

Paddock, Phineas 635 

Paist, Andrew C 554 

Paist, James ]\I 553 

Paist, Jonathan 553 

Paist, Joseph H 553 

Parry, Benjamin 68 

Parry, Daniel yi 

Parry, Edward R 70' 

"^arry Family 67- 

Parry, George R 70- 

Parr}% Henry C 287 

Parry, Isaac 226- 

Parry, Isaac 227 

Parry, Isaac C 25(? 

Parry, Jacob 227' 

Parry, John , ; . . 68^ 

Parry, John 287 

Parry, Old Mansion 71 

Parry, Oliver 69 

Parry. Oliver P 71- 

Parry, Philip 287 

Parry. T?icliard R 70 

Parry, Thomas 67- 

Parry, Thomas 227 

ifarry, Thomas 287 

Parry. Thomas F 287 

Parry. William B 288,^ 

Parsons, Charles A > . 400 

Parsons Family 400 

Parsons, Isaac 400 

Patterson, Daniel T 50 

Patterson, James 513 

Patterson, James 411 

Patterson, Jesse 41 r 

Patterson, Samuel A. W 50 

Patterson, ThoiDas H SO 

P^.xsnn, AMiert S 693 

Paxson, Charles 693 



/ 

PAGE 

Paxson, Edward M 154 

Paxson, Jacol) 155 

Pax=on, James 154 

P' son, J. Warren 350 

xson, Mrs. J. Warren 349 

1 axson, Phineas 693 

Paxson, Thomas 754 

Paxson, Thomas 155 

Paxson, William 154 

Pemberton Family i 

Pemberton, Henry 4 

Pemberton. Phineas 4 

Penrose, Evan 699 

Penrose Family 293- 

Penrose, Jarret 294 

Penrose, Jonathan 382 

Penrose, Robert 293 

Penrose, Robert 294. 

Penrose, Samuel 294 

Penrose, Samuel J 296- 

Penrose, William 294 

Penrose, William 295 

Penrose, William 699 

Percy, Frank 434 

Percy, Thomas ^ 434 

Phillips, Francis M 339 

Phillips, Horace G 339 

Pickering, H. Augustus 530 

Pickering, Henry Y 517 

Pickering, Henry Y 669 

Pickering, Isaac, Jr 530 

Pickering, John 517 

Pickering, John 669 

Pickering, Jonathan C 531 

Pickering, Joseph 531 

Pickering, Thomas E 670 

Pickering, Yeamans 317 

Pickering. Yemans 670 

Pollock, James 480 

Poore, Daniel 697 

Poore, John B 696 

Poore, Robert A 698 

Praul, Amos T 447 

Praul, Elias 662 

Praul, Elisha C 569 

Praul, Francis 447 

Praul, Isaac 447 

Praul, John 447 

Praul, John 569 

Praul, William 662 

Preston, Albert W 666 

Preston, Joseph G 666 

Preston, Paul 666 

Preston, Silas 666 

Price, Daniel B 213 

Price, David 260 

Price, David 40^ 

Price Family - 1 3 

Price, James j.'v 

Price, John i .^ 

Price, John ^^^ 260- 

Price, John ^^^5 

Price, John N ^JBfck. 

Price, Nathan 

Price, Nathaniel 

Price, Samuel G .^o 

Price, Samuel G , 466 

Price, Smith 2U0 

Price, William H 665 

Purdy Family 45? 



IXDEX 



XV 



PAGE 

Purely, Harry R 460 

Purely, John 458 

Purdy, John M 459 

Purdv, Thomas 459 

Purdy, William 458 

Pursell, Brice 151 

Pursell, Howard 150 

Pursell, John 151 _ 

Quick, Armitage B 546 

Quick, Ezekiel 546 

Quick, Joseph G . 5.16 

Quinby, George H 386 

Quinby, Henry R 597 

Quinby, Isaiah 386 

Quinbj', James 386 

Quinn. Hiel G 55^ 

Quinn, John 558 

Radcliff, Elisha 453 

Radcliff, George W 660 

Radcliff, James 453 

Radcliff, Jarrves 660 

Radcliff. John 452 

Radcliff, John L 704 

Radcliff, Rachael P 705 

Radcliff, Samuel K 452 

Radcliff, Thomas S 704 

Ramsey, Edward 425 

Ramsey, John. Jr 425 

Ramsey, John, Sr 425 

Ramsey, William 425 

Randall. Amos 2^2 

Randall, Eber 253 

Randall, James V 2^2 

Reed, Andrew 468 

Reed, David 600 

Reed, George I\I 694 

Reed, Jacob 467 

Reed, Johann P 467 

Reed, Michael H 468 

Reed, Robert 600 

Reed. Willoughby H 467 

Reeder, Eastburn 22 

Reeder, Frank K 694 

Reeder. Joseph E 23 

Reeder, Mahlon H 694 

Reeder, Merrick 2,^ 

Renner, Adam 422 

Renner, Jr.cob • 422 

Renner, John 422 

Renner, William 422 

Rhoades. Charles H 25S 

Rice, Charles 569 

Rice, Hampton W 506 

Rice, Joseph 506 

Rice, Oliver J 568 

Rice, Robert 568 

Rice, Samuel H 506 

Rice, William 506 

RicharcKf .n, Edward 256 

Rich" -d -en, Joseph 256 

Richardson, Joshua 255 

Richardson Mary ; 256 

Rickert. Hei v R 713 

Rickert, Isasf^ 713 

Rickert. John • : 44° 

Rickert, Mary L 440 

Rickert. Reuben 1 713 

Rickey, John ' 727 



PAGE 

Rickey, ^largaret W 727 

Ricke}', Randal ^27 

Rickey, Randal H ^^27 

Ridge. Daniel 585 

Ridge, Lloyd 585 

Ridge, Louis A 355 

Ridge. William W 585 

Riegel, Ida J 423 

Riegel, John L 423 

Riggs Family 631 

Riggs, Joseph 631 

Riggs. Samuel 631 X^ 

Robbins, Isaac 1 570 

Robbins, John 57a 

Robbins, Joseph 570 

Roberts, Annie E ;i26 

Roberts, Edwin 326 

Roberts Family ;^26 

Roberts, Lewis 251 

Roberts, Robert ^^26 

Roberts, William P 251 

Rockafcllow, William 657 

Rockafellow, William H 657 

Rodman, John 162 

Rose, Edward B 712 

Rose, John 658 

Rose. OHver P 658 

Rose, Thomas 658 

Rosenberger, Abraham B 675 

Rosenberger, Artemus 418 

Rosenberger. Daniel 563 

Rosenberger. Harrington B 563 

Rosenberger. Henry 418 

Rosenberger. Isaac 67^ â–  

Rosenberger, Isaac R }.6t, 

Rosenberger, Jacob D 419 

Rosenberger, Joseph 563 

Ross, George 81 

Ross, George 83 

Ross, Henry P 82 

Ross, John 82 

Ross, Thomas 81 

Ros^, Thomas S2 

Roth, Jacob B 258 

Rubinkam, G. W 393 

Rubinkam. Nathaniel 393 

Rufe. George 302 - 

Rufe, John 30:: 

Rufe, John Z 596 

Rufe, Reden 302 — 

Ruff. Jacob ^02 ^ 

Rumpf. Frederick 055 

Rumpf, Joseph F 655 

Rush, Jacob ^i 293 

Rush, William 293 

Ruth, Henry P 539 

Ruth. Joseph S 539 

Ryan, John 476 

Ryan, William C 4/6 

Satterthwaite. Giles 646 

Satterthwaite, Henry W 646 

Savacool, Aaron 291 

Savacool, Enos 291 

Savacool Family 290 

Savacool. Jacob 290 

Savacool, Jacob 291 

Savacool. W. Elmer 292 

Savacool. William P. 291 

Scarborough, Enos T) . I7S>' 



XVI 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Scarborough Family 1/5 

Scarborough Family 178 

Scarborough, Henry W 178 

Scarborough, Hiram 179 

Scarborough, Isaac 180 

Scattergood, Caleb 578 

Scattergood, William A 578 

Schaeffer, Andrew '. 624 

Schaeffer, John .' 624 

Schaffer, Conrad ' 681 

Schaffer, Gotfrey '575 

Schaffer, John . ' 575 

Schaffer, Joseph B 575 

Schaffer, Samuel 68r 

Scheerer, Christian 238 

Scheerer, Jacob 238 

Scheetz, Albert F 384 

Scheetz, Conrad 383 

Scheetz, Erwin 385 

Scheetz Family 383 

Scheetz, George 383 

Scheetz, Harvey '. 385 

Scheib, John 541 

Scheip, George \V 541 

Scheip, John L 541 

Schenck, Courtland 660 

Schenck, Joseph H 660 

SchloUer, Abraham 565 

Schmitt, Harry B 488 

Schmitt, Leonard 488 

Schneider, Jacob 583 

Scott, Abraham 512 

Scott. Joseph ]M 547 

Scott, Josiah 512 

Scott, Josiah E 512 

Scott, Josiah N 513 

Scott, Rachel 513 

Scott, Samuel 512 

Scoit, Thomas 346 

Scott, Wilford L 547 

Scott, William 346 

Search, Christopher 592 

Search, Jacob M 326 

Search, Jacob ]\I 592 

Search, Theodore C 592 

Sells, Holmes T,2y 

Sells, John D 327 

Shaddingcr. Abraham 653 

Sbaddinger, Andrew 653 

Shaddingcr, Edward E 572 

Sh;ddineer, Hannah G 653 

-iliacidinger. Henry R 572 

Sbaddinger, Jacob L 572 

Sbaddinger. John W 675 

Shamp, David 429 

Sliamp, Jonathan 429 

Shari)loss. Charles W 669 

Shearer, Jesse 488 

Shellenberger. Conrad 292 

Shellenberger Family 292 

Shellenberger, John L 292 

Shellenberger, Jacob S 293 

Shelly, Andrew B 200 

Shel ',y, Emanuel N 353 

Shcilv, PTenry S 58^ 

Shelly, Henry S 682 

Shelly, Jacob L 585 

Shell}', Joseph W 200 

Shell} , Samn. i t,^t, 

Sboll\ S;:mml qS; 



PAGE 

Shelly, Samuel D 353 

Shelly, Samuel M 682 

Shepherd, Carlile 480 

Shepherd, Cornelius 481 

Shepherd, Henry C 481 

Shepherd, John C 481 

Shepherd. Joseph 481 

. Sherm, John 677 

Sherm, John B 677 

Sherm, William H 577 

Sherwood Catharine J 667 

Sherwood, Harry M 596 

Sherwood, John 667 

Sherwood, William 595 

Sherwood, William E 595 

Shoemaker, Harry J 296 

Shoemaker, Isaac 297 

Shoemaker, James 297 

Shoemaker, James 298 

Shoemaker, Jesse 298 

Shoemaker, Peter 296 

Shoemaker, Peter, Jr 297 

Siddall, John E 556 

Siddall, Joseph H 556 

Siegler, Charles L 304 

Siegler, C. Louis 304 

Siegler Family 303 

Siegler, INIathevv .' 303 

Siegler. Peter 304 

Sine, Darius 542 

Sine, John 542 

Sine, Joseph 542 

Slack, Abraham 562"" 

Slack, Abraham 654 - 

Slack, Abraham 673 , 

Slack, Abram K 562 - 

Slack, Albert 6^9 - 

Slack, Albert E â– . . 673 

Slack, Cornelius 562 - 

Slack, Cornelius 654- 

Slack, David 639 . 

Slack, Edward M 654 - 

Slack, Edward T 639 _ 

Slack, Elijah T 673 ^ 

Slack, John 639 - 

Slotter. Jacoh 674* 

Slotter, J. Titus 67^ 

Slotter, John F 565 

Slotter, Samuel 565 

Smith, Charles J (134 

Smith, Charles B . 511 

•Smith, Fdnumd 618 

Smith, Elias E 5tt 

Smith, Horace T 6\y 

Smith, James 656 

Smith, James P 656 

Smith, John D 339 

Smith, Jonathan 635 

Smith Joshua ^118 

Smith, Joseph L 2O,- 

Smith. i\Iartin H. 339 

Smith, Robert fnr 

Smith, Thomas M>' 

Smith, Thomas S fii.^ 

Smith, William -'03 

Smith, William 635 

Snyder, y\mos H 591" 

Snyder, George 583 

Snydev, Henry H 583 

Snvdcr, John 19S 



INDEX 



xvu 



Snyder, John H 

Snyder, Martin L 

Snyder, Martin L 

Snyder, Robert B 

Solliday, Jacob 

Solliday, Peter 

Souder, Cliristopher 

Souder, Henry 

Souder, Henry H 

Springer, John 

StackhoTise, Amos 

Stack-house, Asa INI 

Stackhouse, Benjamin 

Stackhouse, Charles 

Stackhouse Family 

Stackhouse, Henry 

Stackhouse, Henry W 

Stackhouse, Isaac 

Stackhouse, Isaac 

Stackhouse, James R 

Stackhouse, John H 

Stackhouse, John H 

Stackhouse, Robert 

Stackhouse, Thomas, Jr 

Stackhouse, Thomas, Sr 

Stapler, John 

Stapler, John M 

Staplery Stephen 

Stapler. Susanna , 

Staplerl Thomas, 

Staveley, William 

Staveley, William R 

Steeb, Friedrich 

Stever, Abraham 

Stever, John 

Stever, John H 

Stever, Reuben B 

St. Francis Industrial School. 

Stintsman, Samuel 

Stintsman, Silas 

Stintsman, Thomas 

Stockton, Isaiah V 

Stockton, John 

Stockton. Lendrum 

Stonebach, Jacob T 

Stonebach, Sylvester H 

Stoneback, Robert 

Stoneback, Worman 

Stout, Abraham 

Stout, Abraham B 

Stout, Enos 

Stout, Jacob B 

Stout, Harrison C 

Stout, Henry H 

Stout, Jacob 

Stout, Lewis K 

Stout, Mahlon H 

Stout, Oliver 

Stout, Oliver A 

Stover, Abraham F 

Stover, Henry S 

Stover, Jacob 

Stover, Jacob 

Stover, John J 

Stover, Ralph 

Stover, Samuel . . 

Strawn, Charles F 

Strawn, Daniel 

Strawn, Johnson 

Strawn, Thomas ... ...... 



'AGE 

198 
197 
198 

591 

730 â–  

730 

613 

613 

61S 

686 

489- 

489^ 

420 

420 

419 

682 

6S2 

419 

420 

682 

â– 420 

420 

490 ' 

419 

419 

4S6 

486 

4S6 

604 

486 

649 

649 

.^56 

402 

402 

40.> 

402 

414 
232 
232 
232 
600 
600 
600 
63s 
635 
676 
676 
84 
345 
203 

85 
345 
202 

84 
203 

84 
20 r 
203 
428 
582 
226 

583 
582 
428 
226 
590 
=;9o 
678 
500 



PAGE 

Strawn, Thomas 678 

St. Stephen Reformed Church 531 

Stuckert, Amos 278 

Stuckert, Henry 277 

Stuckert, Henry C 277 

Stuckert, William H 277 

Stuckert, William R 27S 

Summers Family 490 

Summers, ]\Iartin 491 

Summers, Philip 491 

Summers, Samuel 491 

Summers, William 492 

Swallow, Charles R 313 

Swallow, Francis R 313 

Swartley, Abraham M 267 

Swartlej^, George 439 

Swartley, Henry D 241 

Swartley, Henry S 267 

Swartley, John 222 

Swartley, John 223- 

Svvartley, John C 85 

Swartlc3% Levi 222 

Swartley, Levi M 223 

Swartley, Philip R 85 

Swartley, Philip 222 

Swartley, Philip 439 

Swartley, Philip C 240 

Swartz, Abram 680- 

Swart /c, Abram V 679 

Swart/C, Andrew 670 

Swartz, Jacob i I ! 230 

Swartz. Thomas I' 230 

Swartzlander. Frank 187 

Swartzlander. Frank B 189 

Swartzlander, Gabriel 18S 

Swartzlander, Jacob 188 

Swartzlander, Joseph R 190 

Swope, Reuben 276 

Taylor. Benjamin • 536 

Taylor, Benjamin J 109 â–  

Taylor, Charles L 104- 

Taylor, Joseph ^;^~ 

Taylor, Timothy ^t,/ â–  

Taylor, Thomas 104 • 

Taylor, William S 267 

Terry. Charles B, 603 

Terry, Millard F 603 

Terry, William 603 

Thatcher, Samuel B 716 

Thomas, .Abiah 494 

Thomas, Hiram 494 

Thomas, Job 40 .^ 

Thomas, Joseph 223 

Thomas, Oliver M 492 

Thomas, Thomas 403 

Thompson, Albert 66ji 

Thompson, Albert J 663 

Thompson, John 502 

Thompson, Warner C 663 

Tierney, J. J., Country Home 44S 

Titus, PYancis, Jr 437 

Titus, Jacob 437 

Titus, Oliver P 437 

Titus, Tennis 437 

Titus. William 437 

Tomlinson. Aaron 342 

Tomlinson, B. Palmer 714 

Tomlinson, George 343 

Tomlinson, Homer 675 



xvm 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Tomlinson, John 6y^ 

Tomlinson, Joshua 342 

Tomlinson, Richard 342 

Tomlinson, Robert K 714 

Tomlinson, William 342 

Torbert Family 724 

Torbert, James 72 y 

â– Torbert, James, Jr 724 

Torbert, John K 725 

Trauch, Edward H 323 

Trauch, Peter . 434 

Trauch, William H 322, 

Trauch, William H 434 

Trauger, Elias 368 

Trauger, Xoah G 36S 

Trego, Amos K 35^ 

Trego, Edward 398 

Trego, Harry R 350 

Trego, Jacob 350 

Trego, James 35^ 

Trego, John 2,31 

Trego, John K 351 

Trego, Mahlon 398 

Trego, William 351 

Trego. William . . . .' 35 1 

Troemner, Eliza B 427 

Trumbauer. George 43 ^ 

Trumbauer, Henry 431 

Trumbauer, John 695 

Trumbauer, Micliael S 695 

Trumbauer, William P 43^ 

Turner. Mary A 166 

Twining, Amas H 7or 

Twining, Charles 4.09 

Twining, Cyrus B 624 

Twining, David 70 r 

Twining, Edward W 410 

Twining, F. Cvrus 624 

Twining, Jacob, Jr 62}, 

Twining. Sara E 701 

Twining, Stephen 409 

Twining, Stcohen B 408 

Twining, William. Jr ! 408 

Twining, Wilmcr A 623 

Umstead. David R 445 

Umstead. Jonathan R 445 

Umstead, William 4J5 

L'ndcrwood. Owen L 360 

Underwood, Reuben L 360 

V'anarlsdalen, Cyrus T 279 

^'an Artsdalen, Garret ?8o 

Van Artsdalen, Henry H 2X1 

Van Artsdalen, Isaac 28c 

Van Art-dalen, Tames 28r 

Van Artsdalen. James, Jr 281 

Van Artsdalen, John 2S0 

Van Artsdalen. Silas 2.8r 

Van Artsdalen, Simon 279 

Vandegritt. Charles S. 2>3 

Vandea:rift Family 3'^ 

Vandegrift Frederic B ?,?, 

Vandegrift, George V .36 

Vandegrift. John G 34 

Vandegrift. J. Wilson },7 

Vandegrift. Lewis H 3(J 

Vandegrift. Lemuel 34 

Vandegrift. Moses 34 

\'andegrift. Sanuiel A 35 



PAGE 

Van Hart, Charles 430 

Van Hart, Charles 670 

Van Hart, David 430 

Van Hart, Frank W 645 

Van Hart, Jacob 570 

\'an Hart. Jacob 645 

\'an Hart, IMichael A 570 

Van Hart. Michael A 645 

\3.n Horn. Christian 94 

Van Horn Family 92 

Van Horn. Henry 96 

Van Horn. Isaiah 96 

\"an Horn, Richard H 97 

\'an Horn, Samuel S 97 

Van Pelt Family 102 

Van Pelt. Joseph 104 

Van Pelt. Seth C 103 

\'an Pelt. William 104 

Van Sandt. Albert 26 

Van Sandt, Cornelius 25 

Van Sandt, Garret â–  27 

Van Sandt, George 27 

Van Sandt, Jacobus . . . 26 

Van Sandt, Johannes 26 

Van Sandt, Stot^el 24, 

\'ansant Family 24- 

Vansant, Howard 28 

Vansant, James T 28 

Vansant, John F 261 

Vansant, John H 261 

Winsant, Martin Y. ^ 29 

Vansant. Nathaniel 29 

Void, Frederick R 329 

Void, Frederick, Sr 329 

Waidelich, John H 544 

\\'aidelich, Michael F 544. 

Walker. Edwin C 542 

Walker. Elias 542 

Walker. Holcombe 633 

\\'a!ker. Peter 542 

Walker. Phineas 633 

\\'alker, Rober-t 633 

Walker. William L 6,^2 

Wallace, James 462 

Wallace, James 463 

Wallace, John B 463 

AN'allace. Robert 462 

Wallace. William S j6r 

Walter. John 672 

Walter. John B 317 

Walter. Jo^^enh B 672 

WaUcr, Michael 672 

Walton. Heston J54 

Walton. Isaiah 255 

Walton. Jeremiah 254 

Walton. Thomas 25,=; 

Walton. William 298 

Wambold, Abraham H 404 

Wambold. Xoah 404 

Wanger. George 1.34 

Wans ?r. Irvinsr P 133 

Washhvrn. J. H 277 

Watson. Henry 1^7 

Watson. Henr}- ^^' 664 

Watson. Jenks G 620 

Watson. Josep'i 66a 

Watson, John 136 

Witson. Samuel \ 620 

\\'atson, William 136 



INDEX 



XIX 



PAGE 

Weaver, Brice 382 

Weaver, Isaac 382 

Weaver, Stacy L 382 

Weber, Frank 560 

Weber, George . . . ^ 560 

Webster, Hugh B.. 557 

Webster, Jesse G 557 

Weisel, Ehner P 729 

Weisel, Francis S 7:^^ 

Weisel, Henry 730 

Weisel, Oscar W 731 

Weisel, Samuel 730 

Weiss, George 44' 

Weiss, Henry W 441 

Wharton, Thomas L 525 

White,-^ Charles A 726 

White, George 698 

White, Howard P 244 

White, James , 638 

White, Jonathan 244 

White, I,ednum L 726 

White, Thdmas 658 

White, William 244 

White. William H 698 

Wildman, Alfred M 651 

Wildman. Charles 648 

Wildman, George K 315 

Wildman, John 657 

Wildman, Joshua 315 

Wilkinson, Abraham 421 

Wilkinson, Charles T 420 

Wilkinson, Eleaser 421 

Wilkinson, Frederick R 174 

Wilkinson. John 421 

Wilkinson, Lawrence 420 

Wilkinson. Ogden.D '. 171 

Wilkinson, Samuel 420 

Wilkinson. William 420 

Willard Family 398 

Willard. Jacob 695 

Willard, James V ^()S 

Willard, James V 399 

Willard, Jes-e 399 

Willard. J. Monroe 399 

Willard, Lewis ()95 

Williams, Anthony 701 

Williams, Barzilla \* 2~s 

Williams, Benjamin 272 

Williams, Benjamin 274 

Williams, Carroll R 273 

Williams. Charles 701 

Williams, Cyrenious 497 

Williams, Edward 272 

Williams Family 27 ^ 

Williams, Henry T 72S 

Williams, Jeremiah 273 

Williams, John 275 

Williams, John 728 

W^illiams, John S 272 

Williams, Neri B 497 

Williams. Samuel 272 

Williams, Thomas 497 

Williamson, Edward C 664 

Williamson Family 216 

Williamson. Jesse 664 

Williamson, John 218 

Williamson, Josephus 218 



PAGE 

Williamson, Mahlon 217 

Williamson, Mahlon . 664 

Williamson, Peter 217 

Williamson, William 217 

Wilson, Ebenezer C 378 

Wilson, Isaac 378 

Wilson, John D 205 

Wilson, Joshua ^78 

Wilson, Joseph H 378 

Wilson, Samuel 519 

Wilson, William E 519 

Wilson, William E 520 

Winder Family 100 

Winder. Jacob M loi 

Winner, Samuel 565 

Winner. William P 565 

Wismer. Christian 505 

Wolfingcr, Jacob D 6og 

Wolfinger. Reuben S 6og 

Wood. Benjamin G 715 

Wood, George 715 

Wood. Joseph 715 

Woodman, Edward 548 

Woodman. Henry 549 

^Voodman. Isaac N 548 

Worstall. Edward D 371 

Worstall, Edward H 191 

Worstall. George C 190 

Worstall. John igo 

Worstall, Joseph 190 

Worstall, Joseph 191 

Worstall. Josepli. Tr 371 

Worstall, Joseph, Sr 371 

^X^irthineion. Amasa 721 

Worthington, Amos S 352 

Worthington, Amy 672 

Worthington, Benjamin M 672 

Worthington. Elisha 559 

Worthington. Harriet L 559 

Worthiifgton, John 710 

Worthington. Joseph 559 

Worthington. Lewis 352 

Worthington. Lewis 710 

\\'orthington. T. S 721 

Wright. William P 650 

Wynkoop, Garrett 354 

Wynkoop, John 354 

Wynkoop. Philip 354 

Wynkoop, \Villiam 118 

Yardley, Achsah 604 

Yardley, Charles G88 

Yardley Family 122 

Yardley, John 122 

Yardley. Mahlon 688 

Yardley, Robert ^[ 125 

Yardley, Samuel 124 

Yardley, William 604 

Yardley. William 688 

Yardley. William W 688 

Yerkes, Harman 75 

Yerkes, Herman 75 

Yerkes, Stephen 76 

Yocum. Israel 599 

Yocum. Jonathan 599 

Yocum, William D 599 



BUCKS COUNTY. 



THE PEMBERTON FAMILY. Four 
miles south of Morrisville, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, on the mainland, near the 
Delaware river, opposite Biles' Island, 
there is an old family graveyard, dating 
back to the ninth decade of the seven- 
teenth century. It is one of the oldest 
graveyards in the county, if not in the 
state. Within its walls, measuring two 
rods square, lies the remains of four gen- 
erations of one family, all of whom died 
in the short space of fifteen years. There 
rest the five j'oung children of Phineas 
and Phebe (Harrison) Pemberton, as well 
as both the parents of these children. Near 
them also repose their grandparents. Ralph 
Pemberton, and James Harrison and Anne 
his wife; and adjoining lies the remains of 
their great-grandmother, Agnes Harrison, 
born in one of the last years of the reign 
of Queen Elizabeth. Not often, even in a 
well settled and long established country, 
is found such a number of generations, en- 
compassed by one enclosure. The early 
history of the family that lies buried in this 
ancient burying ground is so closely inter- 
woven with the history of the founding 
of Penn's colony on the Delaware and 
the causes that led up to that event, and 
so typical of that of most of the early 
families that formed the van guard of the 
Quaker emigrants to Pennsylvania, — ex- 
plaining, as it does, the motive that led 
these early settlers to leave the land of 
their birth' and seek homes in an unknown 
wilderness — that we wish to preface a brief 
account of the family with some account 
of the early sutTerings of the Society of 
Friends, of which they were representa- 
tive members. Let us take a glance at the 
condition of the Friends in England, prior 
to Penn's establishment of his colony in 
America. 

The development of Quakerism in Eng- 
land under, let us say, the reign of Henry 
VIII, would have been an impossibility: 
but the growth of popular government and 
freedom of thought which were so firmly 
established by the genius and power of 
Oliver Cromwell, rendered possible that 
which would have been entirely impossible 
a century earlier. All the force of gov- 
ernment, however, and all the power of 
the church were thrown against the So- 
ciety of Friends, and no means were spared 
1-3 



to persecute them and subject them to 
ignomy and contempt. No class of life- or 
society was spared in these persecutions. 
Many of the early converts to Quakerism 
were of noble birth or people of power 
and influence in the realm. William Penn 
was "the companion of princes and the 
dispenser of royal favors." Thomas El- 
wood was «of gentle birth, being nearly 
related through his mother to Lady Wen- 
man. George Barclay was of good stock 
and a fine classical scholar. Yet all these 
men, because of their religious convictions, 
were frequently imprisoned, sometimes 
herded with the lowest felons and vilest 
prostitutes — "nasty sluts indeed they were," 
says Elwood in his autobiography. "Re- 
member," said Phineas Pemberton, in an 
epistle that was intended as a preface to 
the "Book of Minutes of the Yearly Meet- 
ing of Friends," on the setting up of that 
body at Burlington, New Jersey; "Remem- 
ber, we were a despised people in our 
native land, accounted by the world scarce 
worthy to have a name or place therein ; 
daily liable to their spoil ; under great 
sufferings, by long and tedious imprison- 
ments, sometimes to the loss of life — ban- 
ishment, spoil of goods, beatings, mock- 
ings, and ill treatings ; so that we had not 
been a people at this day had not the Lord 
stood by us and preserved us." (Friends' 
Miscellany, vol. vii, p. 42.) His descrip- 
tion is not overdrawn : "Come out," they 
cried before Phineas Pemberton's door in 
1678 ; "Come out, thou Papist dog, thou 
Jesuit, thou devil, come out." He was 
several times imprisoned in Chester and 
Lancaster castles, being confined in the 
latter prison in 1669 nineteen weeks and 
five days, and this, too, before he was 
twenty-one years of age. 

James Harrison, who lies buried beside 
Phineas Pemberton and who was his 
father-in-law, was very active as a minis- 
ter among Friends and was imprisoned in 
1660, in Burgas-gate prison for nearly two 
months; in 1663 in the county jail of Wor- 
cester; in 1664, 1665 and 1666 in Chester 
castle : "But none of these things," says 
Phineas. were done unto us because of our 
evil deeds, but because of the exercise of our 
tender consciences towards our God." Nor 
were these cases exceptional ; to such a 
pitch of nervousness had the government 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUXTV. 



been wrought by the various plots, and 
so great was the fear of Catholic ascen- 
dency among the people at that time, that 
later, in t6S6, when James 11 issued the 
general pardon to all who were in prison 
on account of conscientious dissent, over 
twelve hundred Quakers — perfectly inof- 
fensive and harmless subjects as they were 
— were released, "many having been im- 
mured in prison, some of them twelve or 
fifteen years and upwards, for no crime but 
endeavoring to keep a good conscience to- 
wards God." 

It was from this English barbarism and 
English oppression that William Penn in- 
vited his fellow Friends to join him in 
what he called his "Holy Experiment" in 
America. Accordingly, on the sth of the 
7th month (September), 1682, the Pember- 
tons and Harrisons, with other families, 
sailed from Liverpool in the ship "Sub- 
xnission" for Pennsylvania. As it may be 
of interest to their descendants we give 
below the list of passengers on the "Sub- 
mission." This list is taken ,from James 
Pemberton Parke's mss. account of the 
Pemberton family, 1825. It is from this 
>manuscript that the account of the family 
^published in the Friends' miscellany, vol. 
vii, is drawn. The latter, however, con- 
tains only a partial list of the passengers 
given below. Our list also contains some 
particulars not included in the list given 
:in the "Sailing of the Ship Submission" 
in vol. i, no. i, of the "Publications of 
the Genealogical Society of .Pennsylvania," 
Philadelphia, 1895. 

Passengers on board the ship "Sub- 
xnission." 

Ralph Pemberton, Bolton, Lancashire, 
age 72; servants, Joseph Mather, Eliza- 
beth Bradbury. 

Phineas Pemberton, Bolton, Lanca- 
shire, age 33 ; servants, William Smith, 
servant of Phineas Pemberton, came in 
Friends' Adventure, arrived 7th mo. 28, 
:l682. 

Phebe Pemberton, wife of Phineas, 
daughter of James Harrison, age 23 

Abigail Pemberton, daughter of Phineas, 
age 3 years. 

Joseph Pemberton, son of same, aged 
pne year. 

James Harrison, Bolton, Lancashire, 
age 57 years: servants, Joseph Steward, 
Allis Dickerson, Jane Lyon. 

Agnes Harrison, Bolton, Lancashire, 
mother of James, age 81. 

Ann Harrison, his wife, Bolton, Lanca- 
shire, age 61. 

Robert Bond, son of Thomas Bond, of 
Waddicar Hall, near Garstang, Lancashire, 
age 16; being left by his father to the tu- 
ition of sd. James Harrison. 

Lydia Wharmsby, of Bolton afsd., age 

42- 

Randolph Blackshaw, Hollingee, in the 
Co. of Chester, servants, Sarah Brad- 
bury. Roger Bradbury, and Elinor his 
wife and their children Hager, Jacob, 
Joseph, Martha, and Sarah. 



Alice Blackshaw, his wife, and their chil- 
dren, l^liebe, Sarah, Jacob, Mary, Neiie- 
miah, Martha and Abraham, the latter 
died at sea, 8 mo. 2d, 1682. 

Ellis Jones, and Jane his wife. Coun- 
ty of Denby or Flint, in Whales, and 
their children, Barbara. Dorothy, Mary 
and Isaac Jones. "Servants of the Gov- 
ernor Penn these came." 

Jane Mode and Margery Mode of Wales. 
daughters of Thomas Winn, and the wife of 
sd. Thomas Winn ; servants, Hareclif Hod- 
ges, servant of Thomas Winn. 

James Clayton, of Middlewitch, Chester, 
blacksmith, and Jane his wife, and cliil- 
dren James, Sarah, John, Mary, Joshua 
and Lydia. 

The list conforms to the account given 
in the original "Book of Arrivals" in the 
handwriting of Phineas Pemberton, now in 
possession of the Bucks County Historical 
Society. The list given in the Publications 
of the Genealogical Society, above referred 
to, gives, in addition to the above, "Rich- 
ard Radclif, of Lancashire, aged 21," and 
Ellen Holland, whose name adjoins that of 
Hareclif Jones ; "Joseph* Clayton, aged 5," 
and omits Joshua Jones ; and gives age of 
Barbara Jones as 13, gives "Margery and 
Jane Mede, aged 11 1-2 and 15, respective- 
ly. It also gives "Rebeckah Winn. 20 years," 
but omits the name of — Winn, wife of 
Thomas. In re, Winn and Mode, see "Pen- 
na. Magazine of History and Biography," 
vol. ix, p 231, also "Genealogy of Fisher 
Family, 1896, pp. 15, 199, and "Ancestry of 
Dr. Thomas Wynne," 1904. 

James Settle, captain of the ship "Sub- 
mission," was by the terms of his agree- 
ment to proceed with the ship to the "Del- 
aware River or elsewhere in Pennsylvania, 
to the best convenience of the freighters," 
but through his dishonesty they were taken 
into Maryland, to their very great disad- 
vantage where after a severe storm they had 
enconntered at sea, on 8 mo. 2. 1682, they 
arrived in the Patuxent river, on the 30th 
of October, and unloaded their goods at 
Choptank. Here James Harrison and Phin- 
eas Pemberton, his son-in-law, left their 
respective families, at the house of Will- 
iam Dickenson, and proceeded overland to 
the place of their original destination, the 
"falls of the Delaware," in Bucks county. 
William Penn, who had arrived on Octo- 
ber 24, was at that time in New York ; 
Harrison and Pemberton had hoped to meet 
him at New Castle. When they arrived 
at the present site of Philadelphia they 
could not procure entertainment for their 
horses, and so "spancelled" them and turned 
them into the woods. The next morning 
they sought for them in vain they having 
strayed so far in the woods that one of 
them was not found until the following 
January. After two days searching they 
were obliged to proceed up the river in a 
bont. Philadelphia was not then founded, 
and the country was a wilderness. 

James Harrison had received grants of 
5,000 acres of land of Penn, when in Eng- 







,GNES WIFE OF.iMMAilllEL,liAKHjSQ^„ 

- ■ • BORN: i.eCi-, 0iTO,AUGJ>687 

HER SON-- JAMES HARRISON . 

',.B.' fSgS-'- 0. â– 0Ct.-8- IBB! â– '%:,':: 
HIS WIFE ANKE (H»TH1 HARRfSW^' 
,J^^^.fEB-J3- f623-4- D. March 5 168S-30: 

"^ ' HCmCHIta PHCEBE 
,;iFE^OF FHINEAS PEMBEHTON 
B. APRIL T J&60 0. Get. 30 (396 
RALPH PEMBERTON- 
B . JAN.3 l6(0-it :D: JULY'a.f687v , i,^ 

HiSSOHPHlHEASPEMBERTOffi 

B •£« 30 I649-50 D.MAR^.H I ll&rZ ^ 
IVE OF HJS CHIUBREN 

^'EST THEIR 




PUBLICLI3:^^.;^Y 



ASTON, LENOX AND 
TILCEN FOUNDATlCNS. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, 



land, a short time before his departure 
for America. Most of this land was sub- 
sequently located in Bucks county. In the 
following spring, 1683, Harrison and Pem- 
berton brought their families and house- 
hold goods from Maryland to this county, 
Harrison stopping at Upland, now Ches- 
ter, on the way south, to attend the first 
Assembly, to which he had been elected. 
Until Phineas could erect a house in Bucks 
county, he and his family stayed at the 
house of Lyonel Brittian, who had arrived 
in Bucks, 4 mo. (June) 1680. On 11 mo. 
ly, 1683, Phineas Pemberton purchased a 
tract of 500 acres on the Delaware, oppo- 
site Grecian's (later Biles') Island and 
built a house there. It must have been a 
satisfaction to him, after the storms at sea 
and wanderings on land, to have his fam- 
ily at last under his own roof-tree. This 
plantation he called "Grove Place." He 
appears, however, at first to have called 
it "Sapasse." since letters to him from 
friends in England in 16S4 were addressed, 
. "Sapasse, Bucks County." It was part of 
a tract of over 8,000 acres of land, pur- 
chased by Penn from an old Indian king, 
and had once been a royalty called "Sep- 
essain." (On Peter Lindstrom's map of 
1654, in Sharp and Westcott's "History of 
Philadelphia," vol. i, p. 75, the name ap- 
pears as "Sipaessing Land"). The old bury- 
ing ground before referred to was located 
on this tract. Being desirous of erecting 
• a more comfortable home for his family, 
Phineas Pemberton finished one in 1687. 
•On the lintel of the door was this inscrip- 
tion :, 



'P. 



P. 7 D. 2 mo. 1687. 



The initials signifying Phineas and Phebe 
Pemberton. This lintel is now in the pos- 
session of the Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania, Philadelphia. This house Pem- 
berton moved after his second marriage to 
another tract of land five miles distant 
and more in the interior. It was taken 
' down in 1802 by his grandson, James Pem- 

â–  berton. In the year 1687 a great deal of 
sickness prevailed in the colony, and Phin- 
eas Pemberton lost his father, Ralph Pem- 
berton, and his father-in-law, James Harri- 
son. Agnes Harrison, the mother of James, 
also died. Three years later Anne (Heath) 
Harrison, the widow of James died; and in 
1696 Phineas lost his wife Phebe, who 
died 8 mo. 30, i6g6, exactly fourteen years 
after her arrival in Patuxent river, Mary- 
land. 

On the i8th day of May, 1699, Phineas 

â–  Pemberton married, at the Meeting House 
at Falls. Alice Hodgson, "of Burlington, 
in the Province of West Jersey, spinster, 
daughter of Robert Hodgson, late of Rhode 
Island, deceased." The following names, 
as witnesses appear on the marriage certifi- 
•cate : 



Ann Elett, 
Ann Jennings, 
Elenor Hoopes, 
Mary Baker, 
Abigail Sidwell, 
Eliz. Browdon, 
Sarah Surket, 
Mary Webster, 
Phebe Kirkbride, 
Sarah Jennings, 
Grace Lloyd, 
Mary Badcoke, 
Elizabeth Badok, 
Ann Borden, 
Elizabeth Stacy, 
Sarah Stacy, 
William Croasdell, 
George Browne, 
John Surket, Junr., 
Joseph Large, 
Peter Webster, 
Seth Hill, 
Edwd. Penington, 
Tho. Brock, 
Joseph Kirkbride, 
John Jones, 
Jeremiah Langhorn 
William Ellett, 
John Biles, 



Saml. Beakes, 
Arthur Cooke, ' 
John Simcocke, 
Saml. Jennings, • 
Thos. Duckett, 
Jos. Growdon, 
Mahlon Stacy, 
Henry Baker, 
Richard Hough, 
Will. Dunkin, 
Isaac Mariott, 
Peter Worrall, 
Edward Lucas. 
Abraham Anthony, 
John Cooke, -^ 
John Sidwell, 
Robert Hodgson, 
Philip England, 
Mary Yardley, 
Abell Janney, 
Jos. Janney, 
Mary Williams, 
Abigail Pemberton, 
Eliz. Janney. 
Joseph Pemberton, 
Israel Pemberton, 
Thomas Yardley, 
Rand'l Blackshaw, 
Joseph Mather. 



Alice Dickerson, 
Martha Drake, 



Joseph Borden, 
John Borradaill, 



The original certificate is in the posses- 
sion of p descendant. Mr. Henry Pember- 
ton, of Philadelphia. Phineas had no chil- 
dren by his second wife. After his death 
she married, in 1704, Thomas Bradford, 
being also his second wife. She died Au- 
gust 28, 1711. 

James Harrison was at an early date the 
friend and confidant of Penn. "He was," 
says Proud, "one of the Proprietor's first 
Commissioners of Property, was divers 
years in great esteem with him, and his 
agent at Pennsbury, being a man of good 
education and a preacher among the Quak- 
ers." In the library of the Historical So- 
ciety of Pennsylvania at Thirteenth and 
Locust streets, Philadelphia, (Penn mss. 
Domestic Letters) there are many original 
letters from Penn to Harrison, some of 
them written before Penn left England. 
They undoubtedly belong to the collection 
of Pemberton mss.* now owned by the His- 



*This collection, mounted in about one hundred 
volumes, extends over a period of about two hundred 
years from a date before the birth of Penn to within 
modern times. It was presented to the Society in 
1891 by Henry Pemberton, of Philadelphia, and com- 
prises mss. of the Pemberton, Harrison, Galloway, 
Rawle, Shoemaker, Clifford and other families. Two 
volumes of letters now in the " Etting Collection" of 
the same Society, belonged originally to this collec- 
tion as they are docketed on the outside in the liand-. 
writing of James Pemberton. Harrison was a member 
of the first provincial council, which met in Philadel- 
phia on tlie tenth day of the first month, 1682-3. In 
the same year lie was a member of the committee to 
draw up the charter of the colony. In 168.5 he was 
appointed by Penn as chief justice of the supreme 
court, but declined to serve: but the following year he 
accepted the position of associate justice. He was 
Penn's steward and agent in Pennsylvania until his 
death, on October 6, 1687. His daughter Phebe mar- 
ried Phineas Pemberton, the 1st day of 11 mo. ( Janu- 
ary ) 16T6-7. at the house of John Haydock, in Coppull, 
near Standish. Lancashire. England, under the super- 
vision of Hardshaw Monthly Meeting of Friends. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



torical Society, since they contain an index 
drawn in the handwriting of Phineas Pem- 
berton. Many of these letters from Penn 
are interesting in that they contain refer- 
ence to matters current in the earliest days 
of the colony, and also occasionally give a 
picture of political life in England. 

Phineas Pemberton took an active part 
in the public affairs of the colony as well 
as of Bucks county. He was a member of 
provincial council in 1685-7, 1695, and 1697- 
9; was a member of assembly 1689, 1694, 
1698 (the latter year he was speaker), and 
in 1700, and a member of Penn's council 
of state in 1701. But it was in the affairs 
of Bucks county, where he lived, that his 
activity and usefulness was the greatest 
and his work of the most value. He was 
beyond doubt the most prominent man of 
his time in the county and the most ef- 
ficient, as shown by the mass of records 
he has left behind him in his own hand- 
writing, and by the number of official po- 
sitions he filled. In addition to filling the 
local positions of register of wills, recorder, 
and clerk of all the courts, he held for a 
time the positions of master of the rolls, 
register general, and recorder of proprie- 
tary quit-rents for the province ; and the 
records of the county up to the time of his 
fatal illness are entirely in his handwrit- 
ing, and are models worthy of imitation 
by officials of our day. The records of the 
different courts left by him are invaluable 
to the historian, and greatly superior to 
those of his successors in office in the matter 
of lucidity and completeness. Many of our 
historians have noticed and acknowledged 
this fact, which is apparent to all that have 
had access to them. Buck, in his "His- 
tory of Bucks County," referring to the 
records left by Pemberton, ;says, "they 
comprise the earliest records of Bucks coun- 
ty offices, and, though they have been re- 
ferred to by different writers, comparative- 
ly little has been heretofore published from 
them. To us they have rendered valuable 
aid and we must acknowledge our indebt- 
edness for information that could, possi- 
bly, from no other source have been ob- 
tained." In like manner Battle, in his "His- 
tory of Bucks County," writing on the same 
subject, states. "From that period (i. e. 
1683) until disabled by a fatal illness, save 
an unimportant interval, the records of the 
county were written wholly by his hand; 
and in them he has left a memorial of him- 
self that will not be lost so long as the his- 
tory of the commonwealth which he helped 
to establish shall be read."* 

Phineas Pemberton died March i, 1701- 
2, at the age of fifty-two years, and was_ 



*The Records of Arrivals " published in vol. ix. of 
Penna. Mae. of History and Biography, was compiled 
by Phineas Pemberton. although through an editorial 
oversight it is not accredited to him therein. Tin's 
record has proved very vahiable in Keneali^siral and 
historical research. The original Kecord of .<\rrivals 
in Bucks County in Pemberton's handwritinK is in 
possession of the Bucks County Historical Society, 
while that of Philadelphia and elsewhere is in the 
possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 



buried in the old graveyard above referred 
to. "Poor Phineas," wrote Penn to Lo- 
gan on September 8, 1701, "is a dying man, 
and was not at the election, though he 
crept, (as T may say) to Meeting yester- 
day. I am grieved at it ; for he has not 
his fellow, and without him this is a poor 
country indeed." Again, in a letter from 
London to Logan in 1702, Penn writes, "I 
mourn for poor Phineas Pemberton, the 
ablest as well as one of the best men in the 
Province. My dear love to his widow and' 
sons and daughters." Samuel Carpenter, in 
a letter to Penn. quoted in J. Pemberton 
Parke's niss., writes, "Phineas Pemberton- 
died the ist mo. last, and will be greatly 
missed, having left few or none in these 
parts or adjacent, like him for wisdom, in- 
tegrity, and general service, and he was 
a true friend to thee and the government. 
It is a matter of sorrow when I call to mind 
and consider that the best of our men are 
taken away, and how many are gone and 
how few to supply their places." 

()f the nine children of Phineas and 
Phebe (Harrison) Pemberton, but three 
survived him for any length of time : Abi- 
gail, who married, November 14, 1704, 
Stephen Jenkins, and settled in Abington 
township — her descendants being the 
founders of Jenkintown — Priscilla, mar- 
ried, 1708-9, Isaac Waterman, and set- 
tled at Hohnesburg; and Israel, the 
only son, who lived to manhood, mar- 
ried 2 mo. 12, 1710, Rachel Read, 
daughter of Charles Read, a provincial 
councillor. He was an active and in- 
fluential Friend, and for nineteen consecu- 
tive years a member of colonial assembly. 
He left three sons: Israel Jr., born 1715; 
James, born 1723; and John, born 1727. Of 
these, John, who was a prominent preacher 
among Friends, left no issue, and James 
left only daughters, one of whom married 
Dr. Parke, and another Anthony Morris. 
Israel Jr. married Sarah Kirkbride of 
Bucks county, and had two* daughters, and 
one son, Joseph, who married Ann Gallo- 
way of Maryland, first cousin of Joseph 
Galloway, the Bucks county loyalist, and 
died at the early age of thirty-six, leaving 
a large family, of whom John Pemberton' 
born in 1783, was in 1812 the only male 
representative of the family in America. 
He married Rebecca Clifford, and left a 
large family, of whom Henry Pember- 
ton, of Philadelphia, referred to in this 
sketch, was the fifth. A complete geneal- 
ogy of the descendants of Phineas Pem- 
berton will be found in Glenn's "Geneal- 
ogy of the Lloyd, Pemberton and Parke 
Families," Phila., 1898. Isreal, James and 
John, the sons of Israel and grandsons of 
Phineas. were prominent in the religious, 
political, social and business life of Phlia- 
dclphia, where their descendants are still 
found. 

Further accounts of the Pemberton Fam- 
ily, may be found in Appleton's "Cyclo- 
paedia of American Biography," vol. iv, 
p. 706; Westcott's "Historic Mansions of 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Philadelphia," p. 494; Sarah E. Titcomb's 
"Early New England People," p. 52 j 
"Glenn's Genealogy;" and "Friends' Mis- 
cellany," vol. vii, both before referred to. 



RICHARD HOUGH AND SOME OF 
HIS DESCENDANTS. Richard Hough, 
Provincial Councillor from Bucks county, 
for many years one of the most prominent 
figures in the Provincial Assembly, as well as 
in all the affairs of the Province and Bucks 
county, justice of the county court, etc.. 
was a native of Macclesfield, in the county 
of Chester, England, and came to Pennsyl- 
vania in the "Endeavor" of London, arriving 
in the Delaware river 7th mo. 29, 1683 (O. 
S.), bringing with him four servants nr de- 
pendents — Francis Hough, (probably a 
younger brother or nephew), Thomas Wood 
(or Woodhouse) and Mary his wife, and 
James Sutton. He settled at once in Bucks 
county on land doubtless previously pur- 
chased, though patented later. This land 
consisted of two tracts fronting on the 
Delaware in Makcfield township, one of 
them in what became later Upper Make- 
field and covered the present site of Tay- 
lorsville, and the other' lying along the 
original (bift not the present) line of Falls 
township in Lower Makefield. On the lower 
tract fronting on the river about one- 
fourth of a mile and extending inland about 
three miles, Richard Hough made his home 
and erected his tirst and only I'ucks county 
home, a stone house, (one of the earliest 
to be erected of that material) from a 
quarry on his plantation which Penn con- 
sidered of so much importance that he or- 
dered a memorandum be entered in the 
land-office, "that ye great quarry in Rich- 
ard Hough's and Abel Janney's lands be 
reserved when they come to be confirmed, 
"being for ye public good of ye county." 
On this plantation lived six generations 
of the eldest male branch of the family, 
part of it remaining in their possession 
until about 1850, when they removed to 
Ewing township, Mercer county, New Jer- 
sey. 

Richard Hough took an active part in 
all the affairs of the county, political, so- 
cial and religious. He was a member of 
Falls Meeting of Friends and his character 
and attainments gave him an important 
place in its proceedings. Prior to the erec- 
tion of the Falls Meeting House, the Bucks 
Quarterly Meeting as well as meetings for 
worship were frequently held at his house. 
He was there, as elsewhere, intimately as- 
sociated with Phineas Pemberton, Thomas 
Janney, William Yardlej-, William Biles, 
Nicholas Wain, Joseph Kirkbride and 
others, who, with him, were the leaders in 
the affairs of the county and province, 
though some of them, notably William Biles, 
with whom he was intimately associated in 
private affairs, differed from him in provin- 
â– cial politics. Biles being the Bucks county 
leader of the Popular party, with strong 



Democratic tendencies, while Richard 
Hough was a strong adherent of the Pro- 
prietary party headed by James Logan. 
Richard Hough began early to engage in 
public affairs, and represened Bucks county 
in the Provincial Assembly in 1684, 1688, 
1690, 1697, 1699, 1700, 1703, and 1704-5; 
and member of Provincial Council, 1693 
and 1700. He was one of the commission 
to divide the county into township in 
1692; was one of the justices of the coun- 
ty count, and appointed in 1700, with Phin- 
eas Pemberton and William Biles, by Will- 
iam Penn, a "Court of Inquiry" to inves- 
tigate the affairs of the province. This bare 
record of the positions filled by Richard 
Hough can give but a very inadequate 
idea of the real position he filled in the af- 
fairs of the county and province, careful 
perusal of the records of both disclosing 
that he was one of the foremost men of 
his day. William Penn in a letter to Lo- 
gan, 7 mo. 14, 1705, replying to one of Lo- 
gan reporting the death of Hough, says : 
"f -lament the loss of honest Richard Hough. 
Such men must needs be wanted where 
selfishness and forgetfulness of God's mer- 
cies so much abound." Richard Hough was 
drowned in the Delaware March 25, 1705, 
while on his way to Philadelphia from his 
home in Bucks county. By his will dated 
May I, 1704, his home plantation of 400 
acres was devised to his eldest son, Rich- 
ard, one half to be held by his wife Mar- 
gery, for life. His upper plantation, next 
the Manor of Highlands, went to his sec- 
ond son John ; 350 acres and his Warwick 
plantation mentioned as 570 acres, but real- 
ly nearly 900 acres, was devised to his 
youngest son Joseph; 271 acres, "next to 
John Palmer's," and 475 acres in Bucking- 
ham, purchased of his brother John, in 
1694, were to be sold. The Warwick tract 
was one originally taken up by his father- 
in-law, John Clows, and purchased by Rich- 
ard Hough of the heirs, and remained the 
property of his descendants for many gen- 
erations, some of it for nearly two centu- 
ries. His daughters Mary and Sarah were 
given their portions in monej'. His wife 
Margery, son Richard, and "friend and 
brother," William Biles, were made execu- 
tors. 

Richard Hough married 8 mo. 17, 1683T 
4, Margery Clows, daughter of John and 
Margery Clows, theirs being the first mar- 
riage solemnized under the control of Falls 
Meeting. John Clows and Margery his 
wife and their children, Margery, Rebec- 
ca and William, came to Pennsylvania in 
the same ship with Richard Hough, from 
Gawsworth, Cheshire. Three other chil- 
dren, John, Joseph and Sarah, had pre- 
ceded their parents, arriving in the "Friends' 
Adventure" 7 mo. 28, 1682. John Clows be- 
came a large landowner in Bucks county 
and represented the county in the Pt-ovin- 
cial Assembly in 1683 and 1684. He died 
7 mo. 4, 1687, and his widow Margery '' 
mo. 2, 1698. The eldest son John fV '^'"~ 

1683; Joseph married ElizabetK^^ ^ ^ ^^~ 
"" -^ ^ .800-67; was 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



William. Sarah ITanfield; Sarah, John 
Bainbridffe, of New Jersey; Margery, Rich- 
ard Hough ; and Rebecca, John Lambert^ 
of Nottingham, New Jersey. 

The children of Richard and IMargery 
(Clows) Hough were: 

2. Marj' Hough, born 6 mo. i, 1685, died 
November ii, 1720; married April 6, 1690, 
William Atkinson, of Bristol, Bucks coun- 
ty, 'Pennsylvania. 

3. Sarah Hough, born 4 mo. 7, 1690, 
married first, 4 mo. 23. 1708, Lsaac Atkin- 
son, brother of William; and (second) 
Leonard Shallcross. in 1724. 

4. Richard Hough, married first, 171 1- 
12, Hester Browne, and (second) 7 mo. 
27, 1717, Deborah Gumley. 

5. John Hough, born 7 mo. iS, 1693, 
married, 1718, Elizabeth Taylor. 

6. Joseph Hough, born 8 mo. 17, i695_. 
died Mav 10, 1773; married 1725, Elizabeth 
West, daughter of Nathaniel and Eliza- 
beth (Dungan) West. 

Thomas Atkinson, father of William and 
Isaac Atkinson, was a minister of the So- 
ciety of Friends, and was born at Newby_. 
Parish of Ripon, West Riding of Yorkshire. 
England. He married Jane Bond at Knar- 
esborough Meeting. 4 mo. 4, 1678, and in 
1681, with his wife and son Isaac, born 
March 2, 1679, came to America and set- 
tled for a time in Burlington county. New 
Jersey, but soon after removed to Bristol 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
where he bought a plantation. Thomas died 

9 mo. I, 1687, and the following year his 
widow Jane became the second wife of 
William Biles, before mentioned in this 
narrative. Another son, Samuel Atkin- 
son, married Ruth Beakes, widow of Will- 
iam Beakes and daughter of Mahlon Stacy_, 
of West Jersey. This family of Atkin- 
son held high rank in colonial times. An 
account of Thomas Atkinson was published 
in a "Collection of Memorials of Deceased 
Ministers and others" (Phila. 1787) and 
also in "The Friend." vol. 27. In vol. 28 
of "The Friend" is also a memorial of his 
wife, under the name of Jane Biles. 

William Atkinson was a resident of Bris- 
tol borough and a member of town council 
there ; was collector of excise eleven years, 
1738-1749. coroner of Bucks county 1721, 
I73I-5' and 1737-1740; county commissioner 
1722. He was for nearly thirty-three years 
an elder of Falls Monthly Meeting and a 
trustee for its real estate. He died in Bris- 
tol, October 29, 1749. The children of 
William and I\Iary (Hough) Atkinson 
were as follows : 

(l). Sarah, born i mo. 10, 1704-S, died 

10 mo. 1706. 

(2). Hannah, born January 25, i7o6-7_, 
died December 9. 1760; married May, 1734. 
John Hall, of Bristol, his third wife. John 
Hall was a son of Robert Hall from the city 
of Westminster, England, who was the first 
coroner of Bucks county, and by his sec- 
d. .jvife, Elizabeth, daughter of George 
possessu-om Buckleburv. Berkshire, Eng- 

while thai , ,- ,,„ . , ., ", 

possession d.cestor of the WhUe family of 



Bucks county. John Hall was a councilman 
of Bristol; member of Assembly 1717 and 
7740 to 1750; several times sheriff of 
Bucks county; a justice of the county 
courts, and succeeded his father-in-law, 
William Atkinson, as collector of excise. 
He was born 6 mo. 12, 1686. and died 11 
mo. 10, 1768; married first Rebecca Rad- 
cliffe, daughter of James Radcliffe, an emi- 
nent minister among Friends and an early 
settler in Bucks county, for whom Radcliffe 
street in Bristol is named. He married 
(second) January, 1715, Sarah Baldwin^ 
daughter of John and Sarah (Allen) Bald- 
win, and granddaughter of Samuel Allen, 
who came from Chew Magna, Somer- 
set, England, and founded a family of high 
standing in Bucks county and Philadel- 
phia. 

(3). William Atkinson, born 9 mo. 19, 
1707. married 7 mo. 24, 1734. Sarah Pawley, 
daughter of George and Mary (Janney) 
Pawley, of Philadelphia (see Janney fam- 
ily). William Atkinson, Jr., was one of 
the early shipbuilders of Philadelphia, an 
industry for which that city is famous. 

(4). Mary Atkinson, born 7 mo. 19, 1713, 
married July 9, 174S, at the First Presby- 
terian Church, Philadelphia. Daniel Bank- 
son, of Bensalem, son of Daniel and grand- 
son of Captain Andreas Bankson, one of 
the leading men among the early Swedish 
settlers at Philadelphia, whose descendants 
still hold a high place among the old 
families of that city. 

(5)- Joseph Atkinson, born 10 mo. 5,. 
1716, married first, 10 mo. 8, 1743, Janet 
Cowgill and (second) in 1762 Sarah Silver. 
He was a prominent man in Bristol borough, 
where his descendants are still people of 
high social standing. He succeeded his 
father as trustee of the real estate of 
Falls Meeting. 

(6). Sarah Atkinson, born 9 mo. 4. 1719, 
died 2 mo. 7, 1726. 

William Atkinson married (second) June 
5, 1722, Margaret Baker, daughter of Henrv 
Baker, well known in the early annals of 
Bucks county and had five children : Ra- 
chel, Rebecca, Samuel, Isaac, and Thom- 
as. Rachel, the eldest, born 2 mo. 23^ 
1723, died 5 mo. 8, 1803, married 10 mo. 
18. 1750, Thomas Stapler, son of John and 
Esther. (See Stapler Family). 

3. Sarah Hough married Isaac Atkinson,, 
another son of Thomas and Jane, born in 
Yorkshire, March 2, 1679, died in Bris- 
tol township, Bucks county, January 3,. 
1720-1, where he was a landowner. They 
had issue : Jane, born 6 mo. 6, 1709, married 
172S. John Wilson, of Middletown. son- 
of Stephen and Sarah (Baker) Wilson, 
and grandson of Henry Baker above men- 
tioned, and left numerous descendants in 
Bucks: (2) John; (3) Thomas. Sarah 
(Hough) .Atkinson married second in 1724, 
Leonard Shallcross, by whom she had nO' 
children. 

4. Richard Hough, eldest son of Richard 
and Margery, (Clows) Hough, inherited 
his father's home plantation of 416 acres 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



7 



and lired thereon during his life. He sold 
ICO acres and his heirs about lOO acres 
more, the remainder going to his son Hen- 
ry, and from him it descended to his grand- 
son Phineas Hough, who sold it about 1850. 
Richard Hough, Esq. was one of the lead- 
ing men of his time in Bucks county and 
took an active part in public affairs at a 
time when they were almost entirely in the 
hands of his cla.ss of gentlemen of landed 
estate. He was a justice of the peace and 
of the county courts for many years, and a 
member of Falls Meeting. He married 
February, 1711-12, Hester Brown, daughter 
of Henry and Margaret (Hardman) Baker, 
before mentioned, who had been the widow 
of Thomas Yardley, and of William Brown 
of Chichester, Chester county, Pennsylvania. 
Richard and Hester had one child, Richard, 
who died young. He married (second) 7 mo. 
27, 'ijf?, Deborah Gumley, (widow of John 
Gumley, of Philadelphia, formerly New 
Castle county) and had issue as follows : 

8. William Hough, died without issue 
prior to 1755. 9. Deborah, married Thomas 
Davis, of Lower Makefield. 10. Margery, 
married Jonathan Saults, of Philadelphia. 

11. Henry Hough, born 8 mo. 11, 1724 (O. 
S.) died 8 mo. 27, 1796, married 10 mo. 
22, 174S, Rebecca Croasdale: see forward. 

12. Mary, born 1726, died 1802 ; married 2 
mo. 12, 1752 (O. S.) Anthony Burton, Jr., 
of Bristol. (See Burton Family). 

II. Henry Hough, son of Richard and 
Deborah, inherited 215 acres of the Make- 
field homestead and lived thereon the life of 
a country gentleman, taking little part in 
public affairs. He was a member of Falls 
Meeting. He married 10 mo. 22, 1748, Re- 
becca Croasdale, born 1727-8, died 1800, 
daughter of William and Grace (Harding) 
Croasdale of Newton township and had 
eight children as follows: 13. Sarah, born 
1751, married 1775, John Watson. 14. John, 
born 1753, married Hannah Watson and 
Mary Yardley. 15. Deborah, born 1755, 
died 1773, unmarried. 16. Mary, born 1759- 
17. Jesse, born 1761, died 1794, married 
Mercy Merrick. 18. Rachel, born 1764, 
died 1793, married David Heston. 19. 
Rebecca, born 1766, married Isaiah Ross, 
grandson of Thomas Ross, an eminent, 
minister among Friends and the ancestor 
of the eminent jurists, an account of whose 
family is given elsewhere in this work. 
20. Henry, born 1768. 

14. John Hough, born 9 mo. 16, 175,3., 
eldest son of Henry and Rebecca (Croas- 
dale) Hough, lived on his father's planta- 
tion in Lower Makefield. He was a mem- 
ber of Falls Meeting, but was married by 
the Rev. William Frazer, a Church of Eng- 
land minister, in 1782, to Hannah Watson, 
and they had one child, Beulah. He mar- 
ried (second) about 1790, Mary Yardley, 
daughter of Richard and Lucilla (Stack- 
house) Yardley, and a great-granddaughter 
of Thomas Janney, Provincial Councillor. 
(See Yardley, Stackhouse and Janney fam- 
ily sketches in this volume.) The children 
of John and Mary (Yardley) Hough, were: 



22. Phmeas, born 12 mo. 20, ijdo, died 
5 mo. 6, 1876; 23. Lucilla, born 12 mo. 24, 
1788, died 2 mo. 9, 1883, married Abraharti 
Bond nf Newtown, son of Levi and Hannah 
(Merrick) Bond, and a descendant of 
Phineas Pemberton, whom James Logan 
styles "The Father of Bucks County." (See 
Pemberton Family). 

Phineas Hough (22) inherited a part 
his grandfather's plantation in Lower Make- 
field and lived thereon until sixty years 
old ; selling it in 1850 he removed to Ewing 
township, Mercer county, and resided with 
his son William A. Hough until his death 
in 1875. He married Elizabeth Carlile, 
by whom he had no issue. On February 

25, 1819, he married Deborah Aspy, daugh- 
ter of William and Elizabeth Aspy, of 
Makefield, and had the following children: 
24. William Aspy Hough, born December 
4, 1819, died December it, 18S8, married 
Eleanor Stockton ; see forward. 25. John 
Hough, born November 26, 1879, became 
a Methodist minister and removed to Dela- 
ware, where he married Rebecca E. Dukes. 

26. Mary S., born July 7, 1824, married Ja- 
cob Hendrickson, of Mercer county. New 
Jersey. 27. Samuel Yardley Hough, born, 
February 14, 1827, died August, 1862, mar- 
ried Wealtha Allen, from Massachusetts, 
and removed to Kansas, where he died. 
28. Phineas, born January 24, 1830, died 
May 28, 1869, . in Philadelphia ; married 
Lizzie E. Lynn. 29. Benjamin Franklin, 
born March 16, 1833, lived in Philadelphia, 
unmarried 30. Edwin W., born April 27, 
1837, died in Philadelphia, April 30, 1863, 
of disease contracted in the army, having 
served in the celebrated Anderson Cavalry, 
i6oth Regiment, P. V. 

William -Aspy Hough (25) was born on 
the old homestead near Yardley, but in 
early life removed to property purchased in 
Ewing, New Jersey, and died there. He 
married Eleanor Stockton, of the disting- 
uished family of that name in New Jersey 
and they were the parents of five children : 
31. John Stockton, see forward.- 32. Will- 
iam Henry, died while a student at Rut- 
gers College. S3. Horace G., who inher- 
ited and is living on his father's plantation 
in Ewing. 34. Thomas J., and 35. Mary 
Emma, both died young. 

John Stockton Hough, M. D. (31) eldest 
son of William A. and Eleanor (Stockton) 
Hough, was born on the old Hough planta- 
tion in Lower Makefield, Bucks county, 
December 5, 1845, and while a child removed 
with his parents to New Jersey. His edu- 
cation was obtained in the Ewing school, 
1850-58; Trenton Academy, 1858-60; Mod- 
el School, Trenton, 1860-61 ; Fort Edward 
Institute, New York, 1861-62; Eastman's 
Business College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 
iS-'6?-63: Polvtechnic College, Philadelphia, 
civil engineering course, 1864-67; Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, Medical Department, 
1865-68 ; received degree of M. D. at the 
University in 1868, and of Master of Chem- 
istry at the Polytechnic in 1870. He lec- 
tured on botany, Philadelphia, 1866-67; was 



8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUXTY 



appointed adjunct professor of Chemistry. 
Central High School, Pheladelphia. i868_^ 
resident physician, Philadelphia Hospitalj 
1868-9; lecturer on Physiology, Wagner In- 
stitute, Philadelphia, 1868-69 Philadelphia 
Dispensary, 1869; Lying-in Charity Hospit- 
al, 1869; medical adviser U. S. Life Insur- 
ance Company, 1869-73 ! Berkshire Life In- 
surance Company. 1875 ; and practiced medi- 
cine in Philadelphia 1S69-74. While physi- 
cian at Philadelphia Hopsital he made orig- 
inal discoveries in reference to trichinae. 
He invented a plan for fireproof huilding 
construction in 1870, and was the inventor 
of various surgical instruments in 1868- 
70. He was the author of about thirty pa- 
pers and pamphlets on hygiene, biology, 
speculative physiology, social science, vital 
statistics, population and political economy, 
published in medical and scientific journals 
in this and foreign countries, from 1868 
to 1886. These papers attracted much at- 
tention, and some were translated, and 
published in foreign languages, and through 
them membership in various learned socie- 
ties was conferred on him. and a sketch of 
his life was published in Johnson's and 
Appleton's Encyclopaedias, and in the En- 
cyclopaedia Britanica. His magnus opus 
was a bibliography of medical literature 
of the fifteenth century, intended to be en- 
titled ''Incunabula Medica." He had lists 
printed of all the known medical books oj 
that time, of which there were about 1.500, 
and sent copies of it to public libraries 
and private collectors all over the world, 
with the request to mark on the list such 
books as they had copies of. and to make 
certain remarks about them and return the 
lists. He also visited many important li- 
braries and most of the famous Universi- 
ties in France, Germany, and Italy, and mas- 
tered the languages of these countries, mak- 
ing eleven voyages to Europe in connection 
with this mammoth work, and traveled 
extensively in this country. Before his 
death nearly all the lists sent out had been 
returned, but he had not finished the com- 
pilation (which, besides the matter con- 
tained in the lists, was to include biogra- 
phies of all the authors) when death over- 
took him. It is to be sincerely hoped that 
some day the work so well begun will be 
taken up and finished. During this period 
of his life he also gathered together a li- 
brary on medical and related subjects es- 
timated to contain lo.ooo titles. It was 
his desire that this library should be kept 
intact. I-iut leaving no will, it was sold by 
his administrators to the College of Physi- 
cians, who transferred about 1,900 volumes 
to the library of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania. He was much interested in local 
history and the history of old Bucks county 
families, and furnished considerable mater- 
ial for Davis's "History of Bucks County," 
first edition. 1876. In 1890 he purchased 
a property in Ewing township, where he had 
always retained his voting residence, and 
named it Alillbank, and spent the remainder 
of his life there. He also owned, with his 



brother Horace, a farm in Hopewell town- 
ship, and a half interest in the Ewing flour 
mill near his home. He took a deep interest 
in that section where his boyhood was spent, 
and devoted great efforts for work of road 
improvements in that section, capably serv- 
ing in the capacity of county supervisor of 
roads. 

John Stockton Hough. M. D., as eldest 
son, back to Richard Hough. Provincial 
Councillor, was the head of the Hough fam- 
ily of Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He was 
one of the revivers of the Aryan "Order of 
St. George, of the Holy Roman Empire in 
the Colonies of America, which was found- 
ed by Sir Thomas Forsythe, Viscount de 
Fronsac, a British-American officer, with 
the allies fighting the Revolution in France, 
who in 1798 was given authority by Em- 
peror Joseph II to organize the American 
families who were descended from noble 
European blood, or from officers holding 
royal commissions in the colonies. A num- 
ber of persons were admitted during the 
early j'ears of its existence, but it was not 
thoroughly organized until 1879. when some 
of the members met in Boston for that pur- 
pose, and it was more formally organized 
in the rooms of the IMaryland Historical 
Society. October 28, 1880. 

Dr. Stockton-Hough, as he styled himself, 
was a member of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, being confirmed by Bishop Stev- 
ens in Philadelphia in 187^. He married 
first, January 29, 1874. Sarah Macomb 
Wetherill. daughter of Dr. William Weth- 
erill, of Fatland. Montgomery county. Penn- 
sylvania, a descendant of Christopher 
Wethrul. of West Jersey, ancestor of the 
well known Philadelphia family of that 
name. She died in Florence, Italy, in 1875, 
leaving an only daughter, Frances Eleanor 
Agrippina Etrusca Hough, who was born in 
Florence, December 30, 1874, and died un- 
married at Millbank, April 4, 1893. Dr. 
Hough married (second) June 30. 1887, in 
New York City, Edith Reilly, daughter of 
Edward and Anna Russun (Rogers) Reilly, 
of New York. Her father was a graduate 
of Yale, and a large mine owner in the west, 
and her mother's ancestors were prominent 
in Delaware and the eastern shore of Mary- 
land. Dr. Stockton-Hough was a member 
of the Grolier Club and University Club 
of New York. He died at Millbank, May 
6, 1900. 

DESCENDANTS OF JOHN HOUGH. 
SECOND SON OF RICHARD AND 
MARGERY HOUGH. 5. John Hough, 
second son of Richard and Margery 
(Clows) Hough, born 7 mo. 18, 1693. in- 
herited his father's upper tract adjoining 
the Manor of Highlands and included in 
Upper Makefield in 1737. It comprised 359 
acres. It is not known how he disposed 
of it, and he left no will, and none of his 
children are known to have resided upon 
it in later years. It is probable that he 
conveyed a portion of it to the Taylors, 
his wife's brothers, as a descendant of Mah- 
lon K. Taylor, who married Elizabeth 




JOHN STOCKTON HOUGH 



TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Hough, a great-granddaughter of John_ 
Hough, inherited it and founded Taylors- 
ville. John Hough was a justice of the 
Bucks county courts for several years, and 
his death is said to have occurred while 
filling this position some time after 1733. 
He married 11 mo. 1718, at Falls Meeting. 
Elizabeth Taylor, daughter of Philip and 
Julianna Taylor, of Oxford township, Phila- 
delphia county. Her brothers removed to 
Bucks county and founded a wealthy and in- 
fluential family there. The children of John 
and Elizabeth (Taylor) Hough were: 

40. John, born 11 mo. 3, 1720, died 1797, 
married Sarah Janney ; see forward. 

41. Joseph, born 5 mo. 20, 1722, died 
1777; married 1746, Lydia Hurst, and their 
descendants removed to Loudoun Coun- 
ty, Virginia, w'here one of his children 
married a Washington. 

42. Benjamin Hough, born 4 mo. 14, 
1724, died 2 mo. 10, 1803, removed to Phila- 
delphia when a young man, accumulated a 
fortune, and spent the latter part of his 
life in traveling in the interests of religion. 
He lived for a time in Wilmington, Dela- 
ware, later at Nottingham, Cecil county, 
Maryland, and about 1771 located in Little 
Britain township, Lancaster county, where 
he died. He married first, 1748, Elizabeth 
West, daughter of Thomas, of Wilmington^ 
by whom he had three children, of whom 
only Benjamin survived his father. He mar- 
ried (second) 1781, Sarah Janney. widow 
of Isaac Janney, of Cecil county, Maryland. 
Their only child, John, died at the age of 
seven years. 

43. Isaac Hough, born 9 mo. 15, 1726, 
died 4 mo. 13, 1786, married Edith Hartj 
see forward. 

44. William Hough, born 11 mo. i, 
1727-8, married 1749, Sarah Blaker. daugh- 
ter of Samuel and Catharine of Warwick, 
Bucks county. 

45. Thomas Hough, born 11 mo. 2, 
1729-30, died 5 mo. 18, 1810; married 1857, 
Jane Adams; 1784, INIary (Bacon) Wistar. 
He removed to Philadelphia in early life 
and became one of the wealthy men of that 
time. He lived at No. 20 Pine street. By 
first wife had six children, all except two 
of whom died young; Elizabeth married 
James Olden, of the New Jersey family, and 
"Betsy Hough's wedding" is referred to in 
the "Journal of Elizabeth Drinker," one of 
Mrs. Drinker's daughters being a brides- 
maid. Jane, the other daughter, married 
Halladay Jackson, of the Chester county 
family, well known in Friends' annals. One 
of her sons was John Jackson, the min- 
ister. One of her descendants is Mrs. Isaac 
H. Clothier. Mary (Bacon-Gilbert) Wis- 
tar, the second wife of Thomas Hough, was 
a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Test) 
Bacon, of Bacon's Neck, Cumberland 
county. New Jersey. She married first, 
Thomas Gilbert, of Northern Liberties, 
Philadelphia, and (second) Richard Wistar, 
whose family is prominent in the social 
life of Philadelphia to this day. There 
was no issue by the second marriage. 



46. Septimus Hough, born 4 mo. 21, 
1731, died in Philadelphia 9 mo. 3, 1749. 

47. Elizabeth, born 12 mo. 15, 1732-3, 
married Nathan Tomlinson. 

48. Bernard, born ir mo. 15, 1734-Sj 
said by an old record to have died "in 
France." 

49. Martha, born 4 mo. 22, 1737, married 
David Bunting, son of Samuel and Priscilla 
(Burgess) Bunting, of the Bucks county 
branch of the descendants of Anthony 
Bunting, who came from Matlock, Derby- 
shire, and settled in Burlington county. 
New Jersey. 

50. Samuel, born 2 mo. 15, 1739. 

John Hough (40) eldest son of John and 
Elizabeth (Taylor) Hough, removed to 
Loudoun county, Virginia, where he became 
a very large landed proprietor, and built a 
fine mansion known as "Corby Hall." He 
was an elder of Farfax IMonthly Meeting, 
and represented his Quarterly Meeting in 
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting; was well 
known in northern Virginia, and held in 
high esteem not only by the members of 
the Society of Friends but by the "cava- 
lier" gentry of that section, with whom some 
of his children and grandchildren intermar- 
ried. When a number of prominent Phila- 
delphia Quakers were exiled to Winchester. 
Virginia, during the Revolution, by or- 
der of the supreme executive council, John 
Hough visited them and was active in se- 
curing their release. A number of his let- 
ters on this subject are preserved in the 
Pemberton mss. collection in the library of 
the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. He 
is mentioned in the diary of George Wash- 
ington, on the occasion of the latter spend- 
ing a night at Corby Hall, and in other 
places. John Hough married, in 1742, in 
Bucks county, Sarah Janney, daughter of 
Joseph and Rebecca (Biles) Janney, a 
granddaughter of Thomas Janney and of 
William Biles, both provincial councillors 
from Bucks county, and among the greatest 
of the founders of the county. Their nine 
children all married and reared families, 
most of them intermarrying with Virginia 
families, though some of the married into 
Bucks county families who had migrated 
to Virginia. They have left many disting- 
uished descendants, among whom may be 
mentioned, Emerson Hough, of Chicago, 
novelist, historian and journalist, author 
of "Mississippi Bubble," and "The Way 
to the West," etc. 

Isaac Hough (43) fourth son of John 
and Elizabeth (Taylor) Hough, removed 
early in life to Warminster township. Bucks 
county, where he purchased about 236 acres 
of land. He married, September 24. 1748, 
Edith Hart, born May 14, 1727, died March 
27, 1805, daughter of John and Eleanor 
(Crispin) Hart, of Warminster, and sister 
of Colonel Joseph Hart, of the continental 
army, county lieutenant ; member Bucks 
County Committee of Safety, etc., one of 
the most prominent figures in the Revolu- 
ionary struggle in Bucks county. (See Hart 
family). Her father, John Hart, was sheriff 



lO 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUXrV. 



of Bucks county, justice of the county 
courts, coroner, etc. She was a granddaugli- 
ter of Thomas Holme, surveyor-general of 
Pennsylvania and sometime president of 
Provincial Council. of Pennsylvania, former- 
ly of the Parliamentary army in the civil 
war in England. Also great-granddaughter 
of Captain William Crispin, acting rear 
admiral in the British navy, and one of 
Penn's commissioners for settling the Col- 
ony in Pennsylvania ; and of Captain John 
Rush, also of the Parliamentary army, an- 
cestor of the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Rush, 
signer of the Declaration of Independence, 
etc. She was granddaughter of John Hart, 
from Witney, Oxfordshire, an early minister 
among Friends who joined the Keithians, 
and finally became a Baptist preacher, one 
of the most learned men of the colony, and 
of Silas Crispin who, through his mother, 
Anne Jasper^ was a first cousin to William^ 
Penn. Isaac Hough left the Society of 
Friends and joined the Baptists, to which 
sect his wife belonged. In 1775 he joined 
the Warminster Company of Associators, in 
the Second Battalion of Bucks County Mi- 
litia, Colonel John Beatty. In July, 1776, 
he was appointed by the County Committee 
of Safety one of the committee to distribute 
allowances to families in need whose hus- 
bands were in the military service. On Au- 
gust 29, 1777, he was appointed one of the 
members of the committee from Warminster 
to attend to the driving off of cattle to pre- 
vent them from falling into the hands of the 
British. The children of Isaac and Edith 
(Hart) Hough were as follows: 

60. Eleanor, born August 20, 1749, died 
March i, 1802; married 1766, Thomas Cra- 
ven, and had nineteen children. The fam- 
ily removed to Virginia during the Revo- 
lution. 

61. Elizabeth, born August 21, 1751; 
married 1771, Silas Gilbert, her first cousin, 
son of William and Lucretia (Hart) Gil- 
bert, and removed to Maryland. He was 
lieutenant in ist Battalion, Bucks County 
Militia, 1777. 

62. Susannah, born June 28, 1753 ; mar- 
ried 1773, Benjamin Jones, whose family 
furnished several members of Assembly 
and justices of Bucks county in colonial 
times. 

63. John Hough, born March 12, 1755 ;â–  
married 1774, Charity Vandoren. He was 
a member of Warminster Associators 1775, 
and afterwards in Virginia militia. He 
moved to Philadelphia after the Revolution, 
and .later to Moreland, Montgomery county. 

64. Mary, born May 19, 1757, died un- 
married. 

65. Isaac Hough, born September 15, 
1759, died March 17, 1801 ; member Warm- 
inster Associators; removed to Philadelphia 
after Revolution ; many years chief clerk 
of United States Mint. One of his descend- 
ants is Judge Robert T. Hough, of Hills- 
borough, Ohio, sometime solicitor of Intern- 
al Revenue at Washington, D. C, recently 
candidate for the Democratic nomination 
for governor of Ohio. Isaac married first 



Elizabeth Houghton ; second, Mrs. Elizabethi 
Eberth. 

66. Thomas Hough, born October 7, 
1761 ; removed to Philadelphia ; said to 
have been on otlficer in war of 1812; married' 
1790, Hannah Tompkins. 

67. Oliver Hough, born August 27, 1763^ 
died January 18, 1804; see forward. 

68. Rev. Silas Hough, born February- 
8, 1766, died May 14, 1823. Baptist minister^ 
also practiced medicine in Bucks and Mont- 
gomery counties. Married his cousin, Eliza- 
beth Hart, daughter of County Treasurer 
John Hart. 

69. Joseph Hough, born June 17, 1768, 
died July 3, 1799: married Elizabeth Marple. 

70. William Hough, born September 12, 
1770; died unmarried. 

Oliver Hough (67) son of Isaac and 
Edith (Hart) Hough, became a large land- 
owner in Upper Makefield, Bucks county. 
Hough's Creek, (formerly Milnor's Creek) 
took its name from him. In the latter part 
of his life he resided in Dolington. He mar- 
ried at Horsham Meeting, 4 mo. 16, 1790, 
Phebe Cadwallader, born 11 mo. 5, 177^, 
died 7 mo. 13, 1842, daughter of Jacob and 
Phebe (Radcliffe) Cadwallader, of War- 
minster. She was a descendant of Henry 
Baker before alluded to in this narrative, 
and from John Cadwallader, one of the 
prominent ministers among Friends, who 
died while on a religious visit to the Island 
of Tortola in 1742; also of Johannes Cas- 
sel and Thones Kunders, two of the princi- 
pal founders of Germantown, and from 
Jan Lucken, the founder of the Lukens 
family in America. Her brother, Hon. 
Cyrus Cadwallader, before referred to in 
this volume, was in state senate 1816-25. 
The children of Oliver and Phebe (Cad- 
wallader) Hough were; 71. Elizabeth, died 
young. 72. Rebecca, born 1792, married 
1820, Joseph Johnson. 73. Mary, born 
1794; married 1822, Samuel Yardley, a well 
known merchant of Doylestown, later of 
Philadelphia. 74. Elizabeth, born 1796, 
married 1817, Mahlon Kirkbride Taylor, 
founder of Taylorsville. 75, 76, 77. Isaac, 
Rachel and Phebe, all died young. 78. 
Oliver, born 2 mo. 14, 1804, died 7 
mo. 20, 1855 ; born at Dolington, lived 
there until his marriage, when he 
removed to the Doron farm in Middle- 
town township ; soon after removed to 
a farm just outside Newtown borough on 
Yardley turnpike, where five of his chil- 
dren were born. In 1842 removed to Doy- 
lestown, and in 1846 to Philadelphia. Dealt 
largely in real estate, owning besides Bucks 
county property, coal and timber lands in 
Upper Lehigh Valley, also in Michigan, 
Tennessee and elsewhere. He died in Au- 
gusta. Georgia, July 20, 1855, while on a 
trip to Louisiana to view the property of 
the Louisiana Canal Company, of which 
he was a director. He was a member of 
Spruce Street Friends' Meeting, Philadel- 
phia. 

Oliver Hough married. 3 mo. 15, 1832. 
Martha Briggs, daugiiter of Joseph and 



YORK 



ASTON, LENOX AND 
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 




OLIVER HOUGH 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



1 1 



Martha (Dawes) Briggs, of Newtown, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and had issue : 
Rebecca Jarrett Hough, died unmarried ; 
Phebe Alice, unmarried, member Civic 
Qub and Browning Society, Philadelphia, 
and of Bucks County Historical Society ; 
managing committee of Friends' Central 
School, Philadelphia ; ]\Iary Yardley Hough, 
unmarried; from 1876 to 1897 proprietor 
and editor of "The Children's Friend," a 
juvenile magazine; author of numerous 
short stories for children; Elizabeth Tay- 
lor, died in childhood. Martha Dawes 
Hough, unmarried, elder of Spruce Street, 
Meeting, manager of Friends' Home for 
Children. Philadelphia, and Friends' Board- 
ing House Association, Philadelphia. Oliver, 
died 1863 at Nashville, Tennessee, of camg 
fever, was a private in i6oth Regiment 
Pennsylvania Volunters, 15th (Anderson's) 
Cavalry. Isaac, see forward. The Misses 
Rebecca J., Phebe A., Mary Y. and Martha 
D. Hough lived for over forty years at 1340 
Spruce -street. Philadelphia. In April, 1904, 
they removed to the old William Linton 
Mansion, 24 South State street. Newtown, 
Bucks county, a picture of w'hich ap- 
pears in this volume. They inherited this 
house from their aunts Letitia and Fran- 
cenia Briggs. 

Isaac Hough, son of Oliver and Matha 
(Briggs) Hough, was born in Doylestown, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania and moved to 
Philadelphia, with his parents when a child. 
He was a merchant, and engaged in the 
shipping trade with the West Indies. He 
was a charter member and director of the 
Maritime Exchange of Philadelphia, is a 
member of the Philadelphia Bourse ; direc- 
tor of the Finance Company of Pennsjd- 
vania, and member of the Philadelphia 
Fencing Club, the Merion Crick- 
et Club, of Haverford, Pennsylvania, 
and of the Union League. He married 
first, in 1867, Anna Alexander Duff, daugh- 
ter of Edward Duff, common councilman, 
and member of the board of health of Phila- 
delphia, by his wife, Mary Jane Diehl, a 
descendant of Captain Nicholas Diehl, a 
Revolutionary soldier and a member of the 
Committee of Safety of Chester county, of 
noble birth in Frankfort, Germany. Isaac 
and Anna A. (Duff) Hough were the par- 
ents of one child, Oliver Hough, 2d 
Lieutenant. Company 8.. 3d Regiment, 
Infantry. Penna. Vol. Spanish American 
war, T898. to whom we are indebted for 
the foregoing history of the Hough 
fam.ily as well as data on numerous 
other 'families published in this volume. 
He is a member of the Bucks county 
Historical Society and has contributed 
a number of valuable papers to its Ar- 
chives. He is the author of a number 
of papers on genealogy and local his- 
tory and is now- at work on an exhaust- 
ive history of the Hart and Atkinson 
families. Is a member of a number of 
patriotic Societies. Isaac Hough mar- 
ried (second) in 1877. Emilia Antionette, 
vsndow of Francis Thibault, of Phila- 



delphia, and had one son, John Boyd, who 
died in 1895. 

OLIVER HOUGH, son of Isaac and 
Anna A. (Duff) Hough, was born in 
Philadelphia, September 3, 1868, has lived 
in that city until the present time, and 
for about two years past has had a 
transient residence with his aunts, the 
Misses Hough, at the William Linton 
Mansion, at 24 South State street, New- 
town. He received his early education 
at private schools, and entered the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania in the class of '88, re- 
ceiving the degrees of B. S. and P. C. on 
completion of course. He has been presi- 
dent, vice-president, secretary and treasurer,. 
Class of '88, and two terms secretary of 
the University of Pennsylvania Cricket As- 
sociation. For thesis required for technical 
degree (P. C.) he made three original re- 
searches in chemistry, described under the 
titles : I. "An Attempt to Introduce Iodine 
into Parabroma-benzoic Acid"; II. Some 
Salts of Meta-nitro-para-bromo-benzoic 
Acid" ; HI. Some Compounds of Monochlo- 
ro-dinitrophenol". Nos. I and II were pub- 
lished in the "Journal of the Franklin In- 
stitute," December, 1891. No. HI resulted 
in the discovery of twelve previously un- 
known chemical compounds. 

.He has written a number of magazine 
and newspaper articles of historical or bio- 
graphical character, the principal ones be- 
ing: "Richard Hough, Provincial Council- 
lor," (Penna. Mag. Hist, and Biog., XV- 
III, 20) ; "Captain Thomas Holme, Sur- 
veyor-General of Pennsylvania and Provin- 
cial Councillor,"' (Penna. Mag. Hist, and 
Biog., XIX, 413. XX 128, 248) : "Cap- 
tain William Crispin, Proprietary's Commis- 
sioner for Settling the Colony in Penna." 
(read before the Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania, January 10, 1898, and pub- 
lished in Penna. Mag. Hist, and Biog.. 
XXII, 34) ; and "Thomas Janney. Provin- 
cial Councillor," (read before Bucks Coun- 
ty Historical Society, July 20, 1897, and 
published in Bucks county newspapers). 

In politics Oliver Hough has been secre- 
tary and chairman of the Seventh Ward 
Association, Municipal League of Philadel- 
phia ; a member of several committees in 
charge of independent candidates' cam- 
paigns (one of which resulted in the elec- 
tion of Alexander Crow, Jr., as sheriff of 
Philadelphia county) ; and from 1896 to 
date has represented the Fourteenth Divis- 
ion, Seventh Ward, in many conventions of 
the Republican party. ]\Ir. Hough joined 
the National Guard of Pennsylvania as a 
private in Company D, First Regiment, In- 
fantry, August 10, 1893 ; elected second 
lieutenant Company G, Third Regiment, 
Infantry, June 10, 1897. Served again 
with Company D, First Infantry, on 
riot duty at Hazelton, Pennsylvania, 
October, 1902. Is a member of the 
"Old Guard" of Company D. He was 
mustered into the United States service 
for the Spanish War as second lieutenant. 
Third Penna. Volunteer Infantry, July 



12 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



22, 1898; detailed as acting assistant quar- 
termaster, A. A. commissary of subsis- 
tence, and A. A. ordinance officer ; served 
in camps at Fernandina, Florida, and Hunts- 
ville, Alabama ; mustered out October 22, 
1898. 

Mr. Hough is or has been a member of 
the following organizations : Society of Co- 
lonial Wars (by descent from Richard 
Hough, Thomas Janney and other early 
Bucks countians) ; Sons of the Revolution 
(by descent from Isaac Hough of the 
Bucks County Associators) ; Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania, and local historical 
societies of Bucks county, Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania, and Harford county, 
Maryland ; Genealogical Society of Penn- 
sylvania (historian and member board of di- 
rectors) ; American Catholic Historical So- 
ciety of Philadelphia ; Friends' Historical 
Society (England) ; Society of Chemical 
Industry (Great Britain) ; Franklin Insti- 
tute of the State of Pennsylvania ; ]\Ierion 
Cricket Club of Haverford, Pennsylvania ; 
and Markham Club of Philadelphia. 



ANCESTRY OF BENJAMIN HOUGH, 
OF WARRINGTON. 

Joseph Hough, youngest son of Richard 
and Margery (Clowes) Hough, a sketch 
of whose life and distinguished services 
is given in the preceding pages, was born 
in Lower Makefield, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, September 19, 1693, and died in 
Warwick township, now Doylestown, May 
10) '^773- By the will of his father he inherit- 
ed the Warwick plantation, originally taken 
up by his grandfather, John Clows, and pur- 
chased by his father in 1702. It comprised 
841 acres as shown by a survey when di- 
vided between his two sons Joseph and John 
by deeds dated May 2, 1761, and lay on 
"both sides of the Neshaminy, on the lower 
line of the present township of Doyles- 
town, extending from the Bristol road to 
Houghville, or "The Turk." It was divided 
almost equally between the two sons in 
1761, the Neshaminy being the dividing 
line for about one-third of the distance. 
John getting the end next Houghville, and 
Joseph the western end. Joseph Hough, 
Sr., married "out of meeting," his wife 
being Elizabeth West, daughter of Nathan- 
iel and Elizabeth (Dungan) West, and 
granddaughter of the Rev. Thomas Dun- 
gan, who came from Rhode Island to Bucks 
county in 1683, and of Nathaniel West, of 
Rhode Island. Nathaniel West, Jr., was 
living at the time of the marriage of his 
daughter, on the Rodman tract, adjoining 
the Hough farm, which would imply that 
Joseph Hough had taken up his residence 
in Warwick prior to his marriage. A Jo- 
seph Hough was dealt with at Falls Meet- 
ing for marrying out of unity May 9, 1726, 
but whether Joseph of Warwick, or Joseph 
Hough, son of John and Hannah, who was 
about the same age, cannot be ascertained 
from the records. He evidently retained 



a nominal membership, as his son Joseph 
was considered a member at Buckingham at 
the time of his marriage in 1756. The 
children of Joseph and Elizabeth (West) 
Hough, were as follows : 

1. Sarah, married James Radcliffe. son 
of Edward and Phebe (Baker) Radcliffe, 
and grandson of James Radcliffe, the 
preacher, and of Henry Baker, whose dis- 
tinguished services have been previously 
referred to. 

2. Martha, born 1728, died 1785, married 
William Evans, son of Lewis Evans, a 
trooper in the battle of Boyne. For their 
children, see "Fox, EUicott & Evans Fami- 
lies," Chas. W. Evans, Buffalo, N. Y., 1882. 
Four married Ellicots. 

3. Mary, married Samuel Gourley, of 
Wrightstown, Bucks county. 

4. Rebecca, married (first) a George, and 
(second) Samuel Williams, of Gwynedd. 

5. Joseph, born 1730, died January 6, 1818. 

6. John Hough, second son of Jeseph 
and Elizabeth (West) Hough, lived on the 
414 acre tract conveyed to him by his father 
in 1761, as before recited, in Warwick 
township. Was probably not a member of 
the Society of Friends, though he adhered 
to their principles. His name appears on 
the roll of "Non-Associators" in 1775. He 
married, October 31, 1767, at St. Michael's 
and Zion Church, Philadelphia, Ruth Will- 
iams, and' had issue five children, viz: Jo- 
seph, who married Eleanor Miller, who 
after his death married John Meredith ; 
Thomas married (first) Ann Mathews, 
and (second). Lydia (Mathews) Drake, 
her sister: John, married Rebecca Thomp-. 
son ; Mary, married Robert Walker of War- 
rington; and Charlotte, died January 14, 
1 81 5, married John Meredith, who after 
her death married her brother's widow, 
Eleanor (Miller) Hough. John Thompson 
Hough, the wealthy inventor and manufact- 
urer of safes, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, is a 
descendant of John and Rebecca (Thomp- 
son) Hough. 

7. Margery Hough, married Hugh Shaw. 

8. Elizabeth Hough, married Robert 
Tompkins. 

9. Hannah Hough, died April 18, 1819, 
married Simon Meredith, an uncle to John", 
who married Charlotte, daughter of John 
Hough. A grandson of Simon and Han- 
nah married Rebecca, daughter of Joseph 
Hough ; see below. 

5. Joseph Hough, Jr.. eldest son of Jo- 
seph and Elizabeth (West) Hough, born 
1730, lived on the 420 acres conveyed to him 
by his father in Warwick. He was a -mem- 
ber of the Society of Friends and was dis- 
owned for marrying out of meeting in 1756, 
but continued to adhere to their principles 
and was a "Non-Associator" in 1775. He 
married, in November, 1756. Mary Tomp- 
kins, daughter of Robert Tompkins, Esq., 
of Warrington. She died August 8, 181 1, 
at the age of seventy-five years. They had 
issue: i. Joseph, died 1796, married Re- 
becca Radcliffe, daughter of John and Re- 
becca (West) Radcliffe, niece of his aunt 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUXTV. 



13 



Sarah's husband, and a descendant of Na- 
thaniel West, as was her husband. 2. John 
who died young. 3. Richard, who married 
Pamela Walton. 4. Elizabeth, who married 
Henry Ditterline. 5. John, who married 
Mary Meredith. 6. Robert, who married 
(first) Francis Martin, of Maryland, and 
(second), Rachel Hopkins, of the Johns 
Hopkins family of Maryland, lived and died 
in Baltimore, and has left many distin- 
guished descendants there. 7. Septimus 
Hough married Edith Wilson, daughter 
of Robert and Mary (Lundy) Wilson, of 
New Jersey. See Lundy Family. 8. Ben- 
jamin Hough. See forward. 9. Jacob, died 
young. 10. Lydia, who married Elias 
Anderson. 11. Charlotte, died unmarried. 
12 and 13. Isaac and Jacob died young, and 
14. Mary, married (1808) Dennis Con- 
rad, a descendant of Thomas Kunders, 
one of the founders of Germantown. 

John Hough, son of Joseph and Mary 
(Tompkins) Hough, was a prominent man 
in the community. He inherited a part of 
his father's plantation near Houghville. 
generally known as "The Turk," and when 
the county seat was about to be removed 
from Newtown laid out streets there and 
made a plan of a town, and offered the site 
for the court house and public buildings. 
He was a large land owner and owned 
the Turk Mills at Houghville, and exten- 
sive warehouses in Philadelphia. He donat- 
ed the land on which the Doylestown Acad- 
emy was built, and was one of the commis- 
sioners of the lottery authorized by the 
legislature to raise $3,000 to complete the 
Academy. He married Mary Meredith, 
daughter of Thomas and Rachel (Mathew) 
Meredith, and niece of Simon Meredith, 
who married Hannah Hough, and had 
issue : John, who married Eliza Stuck- 
ert, and Harriet Ann Pierce, and Mary, 
who never married. 

8. Benjamin Hough, son of Joseph and 
Mary (Tompkins) Hough, was born Janu- 
ary 25, 1770, and died May 16, 1848. He 
purchased from his father in 1797 and 1806, 
and later of his brother, Septimus Hough, 
portions of the old ancestral homestead, 
and at his death owned the greater part of 
the 400 acre tract, and lived thereon all 
his life. He was a prominent man in the 
community and filled many positions of pub- 
lic trust. He was a director of the poor 
in 1818, and served as a director of Doyles- 
town Bank in 1832. He married, August 
24, 1791, Hannah Simpson, born July 26, 
1770, died April 3, 1848, daughter of John 
and Hannah (Roberts) Simpson, of Hors- 
ham, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, 
and a sister to John Simpson, the grand- 
father of General Ulysses Sirnpson Grant.* 
John Simpson, her father, was iDorn in 1738, 
and died August 16, 1804. His wife, Hannah, 



was a daughter of Lewis Roberts, of Ab- 
ington, and a sister to Colonel William 
Roberts, of New Britain, colonel of milit- 
ia during the Revolution and a sheriff of 
Bucks county. Hannah (Roberts) Simp- 
son died at the residence of her son-in- 
law, Benjamin Hough, in Doylestown 
township, January 22, 1821, aged seventy- 
nine. The children of Benjamin and Han- 
nah (Simpson ) Hough, were as follows: 
I. John Simpson, born 1792, married, 1818, 
Elivia Lunn. 2. Joseph, born 1798, mar- 
ried Jane Cowell, and lived for many years 
in Tinicum ; was brigadier general of Penn- 
sylvania Militia. 3. Anne, born 1794, mar- 
ried George Stuckert. 4. Benjamin, see 
forward. 5. Silas, born 1804 married 
Sophia F. Moser, and their son, John 
S. Hough, was a candidate for governor 
of Colorado on its admission in 1876. 7. 
Hannah, born 1807, married, November 16, 
1826, Daniel Y. Harman, member of Penn- 
sylvania legislature in 1836, etc. 8. William 
Simpson, born i8og. married Elizabeth 
Neely. 9. Samuel Moore, born 1812, mar- 
ried Elizabeth N. Harman, sister of Dan- 
iel Y., and (second) his wife's niece, Ara- 
minta Beans, daughter of Isaac and Biie»-'M7a^ 
U»^ (Harman) Beans. He was adjutant 
of 33d Pennsylvania Regiment, of which 
his brother, Joseph, was colonel. 10. Mary_, 
born 1814, married John Barnsley, of New- 
town. See Barnsley Family in this work. 

Benjamin Hough, Jr., son of Benjamin 
and Hannah (Simpson) Hough, was born 
on the old homestead in Warwick, now 
Doylestown township, January 25, 1801. He 
was a merchant and farmer, and at one 
time owned and conducted the store at 
Buckingham. He later purchased the Bar- 
clay farm, later the Radcliffe farm at War- 
rington, which then included the site of the 
present store at Warrington, across the 
turnpike from the farm, a small triangular 
piece of land, whereon he erected a store 
building and conducted the mercantile busi- 
ness there for many years. He also pur- 
chased the farm now occupied by his grand- 
son, Benjamin Hough, where he died in 
1853. He was married by the Reverend 
John C. Murphy, February 5, 1824, to Ma- 
ria Wentz, of New Britain, and they were 
the parents of ten children, viz : John, who 
removed to Valva, Illinois; Ellen, who 
married John S. Bryan; Silas, see forward; 
J. Finlay, who was a miller, lived first in 
Bedminster, later in Buckingham, died at 
Atlantic City, was the father of Dr. Hough 
of Ambler ; Mary Jane, who married Ed- 
ward Buckman, of Newtown, she died Sep- 
tember 27. 1905; Anna, for many years a 
school teacher, died at Newtown in Septem- 
ber. 1900; Simpson and Samuel H., twins, 
the former removed to Illinois and the latter 
for many years a miller in Warwick, War- 



*General U. S. Grant twice visited the section 
where his maternal ancestors resided, the first time 
soon after his graduation at West Point in 1843. The 
young cadet then was entertained at the liouse of his 
great-uncle and aunt, Benjamin Hough, Sr., and wife 
Hannah Simpson, and was conveyed thence to visit 



the old Simpson homestead in Horsham, where his 
grandfather , John Simpson, was born. In 1J<,53 he re- 
visited Bucks county and' stopped at the house of his 
relative, Robert McKinstry, vihose mother, Mary 
Weir, was a sister to Grant's grandmother, the wife of 
John Simpson. 



H 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



minster and Hatboro, died in Hatboro in 
1903; Benjamin, a soldier in the civil war, 
died at Leadville, Colorado, March 13, 1890; 
Henry, for many years a teacher in Doyles- 
town and elsewhere, was appointed during 
President Grant's term to a position in the 
Pension office at Washington, D. C, and 
died there in 1901 ; and George, still liv- 
ing in Valva, Illinois. 

Silas Hough was born and reared on the 
Warrington homestead, and on his marri- 
age removed to the farm on which his 
son Benjamin now resides. He was a 
successful and prominent farmer, and filled 
many positions of public trust, frequently 
acting as guardian of minors and as execu- 
tor and administrator in the settlement of 
estates. In politics he was a Republican^ 
and took an active interest in the questions 
of the day, but never sought or held pub- 
lic office. He married, March 3, 1855, Han- 
nah Horner, daughter of James and Ann 
(Long) Horner, of Warminster, Bucks 
county, both of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Si- 
las and Hannah (Horner) Hough, were the 
parents of four children, of whom three 
died in childhood, leaving Benjamin Hough 
as only surviving heir. Hannah Hough 
died in 1890, and Silas in 1892. 

Benjamin Hough, only son of Silas and 
Hannah (Horner) Hough, was born on the 
farm on which he still resides, in Warring- 
ton township, March 12, 1854, and it has 
been his place of residence almost continu- 
ously to the present, covering over half a 
century. He acquired a common school 
education, supplemented by a course at the 
Doylestown English and Classical Seminary. 
He was reared to the life of a farmer, and 
on his marriage he brought his bride to the 
old farm which he conducted until 1883, 
when he removed to Chester county and 
spent two years there on an experimental 
farm. After the death of his father he re- 
turned to the homestead, having in the 
meantime gained new knowledge of modern 
farming methods which he adapted to the 
use of the home place. He made substantial 
improvements and greatly improved the ap- 
pearance of his beautiful home on the 
Doylestown and Willow Grove Turnpike 
and Trolley line, overlooking the beautiful 
valley of the Neshaminy. Mr. Hough is a 
Republican in politics and takes a keen in- 
terest in public affairs, but has never been 
an aspirant for office. He has filled the 
position of school director and other town- 
ship offices. He married, September 28, 
1876, Sarah Patterson, daughter of Jesse 
R. and Mary (Myers) Patterson, both na- 
tives of Bucks county, and granddaughter 
of William and Sarah (Rubinkam) Patter- 
son, the former a native of Pittsburg, and 
the latter of Bucks county. William Patter- 
son was of Scotch-Irish Presbyterian 
stock, and inherited the sterling as well as 
the genial qualities of his ancestors. He 
was a farmer in Bucks county, and reared 
a family of seven children, viz : Jesse, the 
father of Mrs. Hough; Mrs. Susan Bolin- 
ger, Margaret, William, of Doylestown : 



Sheridan T., a farmer near Peoria. Illinois; 
Joseph, who died in the army during the 
civil war; and Thomas, who died in Illi- 
nois. Jesse Patterson, father of Mrs. 
Hough, was reared on his father's farm and 
early in life learned the miller's trade which 
he followed for many years. He was at 
one time the owner of the mills at Edisob, 
Bucks county, which he operated when the 
mill was destroyed by fire. He rebuilt and 
operated the mill during the civil war, and 
later turned his attention to farming. In 
1880 he removed to Chester county, where 
he bought a farm and carried on agricul- 
tural pursuits until his death in 1885, at 
the age of fifty-eight years. His wife, Mary 
Myers, who was a daughter of Tobias My- 
ers, of German descent, died in 1901. Her 
mother, a Miss Puff, was of English de- 
scent, and her brothers were Philip Puff, a 
merchant of Philadelphia, and Henry Puff, 
a carpenter. Jesse and Mary Myers Pat- 
terson were the parents of three children, 
of whom the youngest died in infancy, Sa- 
rah, Mrs. ^ Hough, was the eldest. Her 
brother William is a prominent farmer in 
Chester county. Mrs. Hough is a member 
of the Baptist Church of Doylestown. 

Benjamin and Sarah (Patterson) Hough, 
are the parents of two children, Frederick 
F., born September 27, 1879, at present a 
school teacher in Bucks county, who was 
born on the old homestead in Warrington, 
and William P., who was born in Chester 
county, September 7. 1885. 

WILLIAM H. HOUGH. More than a 
century has passed since the Hough family 
was established in Bucks county, for here 
occurred the birth of Charles Hough, the 
grandfather of William H. Hough, his na- 
tal year being i8or. He followed farming 
throughout his entire life and gave his 
political support to the Republican party. 
He held the office of supervisor for a num- 
ber of years and was always faithful in 
matters of citizenship. The moral develop- 
ment of the community was also of deep 
interest to him. and his life was in harmony 
with his professions as a member of the 
Society of Friends. He married Miss Sus- 
an Neal, and they became the parents of ten 
children, six of whom have passed away. 
The living are: Rachel, the wife of Tames 
Lonsdale; Jasper, a carpenter of Lang- 
horne. Pennsylvania: Henry; and Martha, 
the wife of James Subers. 

Henry Hough, son of Charles Hough, 
was born in Edgewood, Pennsylvania, in 
1838, and when a lad of twelve j-'ears went 
with his parents to the farm upon which 
his son William now resides. There he as- 
sisted in the development and cultivation of 
the fields and continued to engage in agri- 
cultural pursuits until 1861, when he estab- 
lished a hardwnre business in Yardley. con- 
tinuing it for thirly-three years. In 1894 'le 
sold this and removed to Solebury. where 
he has since given his attention to farming. 
Throughout his mercantile career he en- 
joyed an unassailable reputation, and his 
business life has ever been characterized by 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



.straightforward dealing and persistency of 
purpose. His efforts, too, have been directed 
along lines that have proved of value to his 
community, and at the same time have pro- 
moted individual success. He was one of 
the organizers of the Yardley Building and 
Loan Association, and for twenty-five years 
served as its treasurer. He was also one 
of the organizers of the Yardley National 
Bank. He held the office of school director 
for a number of years, the cause of educa- 
tion finding in him a warm friend; and his 
political allegiance has ever been given to 
the Republican party. He married Miss 
Elizabeth Parent, of New Jersey, and they 
l)ecame the parents of two children : Mar- 
tha, deceased; and William H. 

William H. Hough was born November 
17, 1856, and acquired his education in the 
•common schools of Yardley. When not 
occupied with his text books he assisted his 
father in the store, and was thus identiefid 
with mercantile interests for twenty-four 
years. In 1880 he opened a grocery store 
in Yardley, which he conducted with fair 
success for ten years. Since that time he 
has been engaged in the butchering busi- 
ness in connection with farming, and his 
"keen discernment and enterprise have 
brought to him very creditable and grati- 
fying success. Socially he is connected 
with the Improved Order of Red Men, No. 
170, of Trenton, New Jersey, in which he 
has passed all of the chairs, a fact which 
indicates his popularity with his brethren of 
the fraternity. William H. Hough was 
married to Miss Anna Ford, a daughter 
of George and Anna Ford, of West 
Chester, Pennsylvania. They becarne the 
parents of seven children, of whom one 
died in infancy. The others are : Bertha 
J., wife of William J. Wilson ; Edward T., 
Lillian I., Mabel C, Elsie and Bess, all at 
home. 



EASTBURN FAMILY. The name 
of Eastburn is an old and honorable one. 
It originates in Yorkshire, England, 
where the Manor of Esteburne, (East 
stream) was created early in the Elev- 
enth century. It comprised the par- 
ishes of BingJey and Thwaite-Keighly, 
from whence the Eastburns emigrated 
to America six centuries later. The 
name "de Eastburn" appears as a sur- 
name as early as 1200, and the more 
familiar names of Robert and John East- 
burn in 1583. The first of the name to 
migrate to Penn's Province was John 
Eastburn. of the parish of Bingley. who 
brought a certificate from Brigham 
Monthly Meeting of Friends to Phil- 
adelphia, dated 5 mo. 31, 1682. He pur- 
chased 300 acres of land in Southamp- 
ton towMiship, Bucks county, in 1693, and 
married Margaret Jones, of Philadelphia 
5 mo. 2, 1694. He died in Southampton 
about 1720. His children were: Eliza- 
beth, born 8 mo. 16. 1695: John, born 
â–  6 mo., 22, 1697; Peter, born i mo. 5, 1699; 



Thomas, born 9 mo. 22, 1700. Their 
mother died in 1740. There was also a 
daughter Mary, who married Thomas 
Studham. Elizabeth married Thomas 
\Valton. of Southampton. Thomas died 
in 1748, leaving a widow Sarah and 
daughter Margaret. The eldest son John 
left several descendants. 

ROBERT EASTBURN, probably a 
brother of John, at least son of another 
John, of the parish of Thwaite-Keighley, 
Yorkshire, married Sarah Preston, 
daughter of Jonas, of the parish of 
Rostick. near Leeds, England, 3 mo. 10, 
1693. Their children were: 

Esther, born 8 mo. 27, 1694, married 
1717. Jonathan Livezey, ancestor of the 
Solebury family. 

Benjamin, born 7 mo. 15, 1695, died 
,1741; surveyor general of Pennsylvania 
from 1733 to 1741, w'ho married Ann 
Thomas in 1722, but left no issue. 

John, born i mo. 12, 1697, married 
Grace Colston, and settled in Norriton, 
Montgomery county, Pennsj-lvania, 
where many of his descendants still re- 
side. 

INIary, born 11 mo. 17, 1698, died un- 
married. 

Samuel, born 2 mo. 20, 1702, died 
1785 in Solebury, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania; married Elizabeth Gillingham. 

Joseph, born l mo. 21, 1704, died un- 
married. 

Sarah, born 12 mo. 10, 1706; married 
1734, Hugh Thomas, of Philadelphia 
county, Pennsylvania. 

Robert, born 2 mo. 7, 1710; married 
1733, Agnes Jones; was captain in 
French and Indian w-ar of 1756-8 under 
General Forbes, and was captured by the 
Indians in March, 1756, and carried to 
Canada and held until November, 1757. 
He, however, lived to render valuable 
service to Philadelphia Committee of 
Safety at the outbreak of the Revolu- 
tion. He was the father of Rev. Joseph 
Eastburn, founder of the Mariners' 
Presbyterian Church, in 1818, and sev- 
eral other children. 

Elizabeth, the youngest child of Rob- 
ert and Sarah (Preston) Eastburn, was 
born after the arrival of her parents in 
Philadelphia. 

The family as above given brought a 
certificate from Brigham Friends' Meet- 
ing in Yorkshire to Philadelphia, dated 
12 mo. 6, 1713, and removed to Abing- 
. ton in 171.-;. Robert died 7 mo. 24, 1755, 
and Sarah 8 mo. 31, 1752. 

Samuel Eastburn, third son of Robert 
and Sarah, born in Yorkshire, 2 mo. 20, 
1702, came to Philadelphia with hi^ pa- 
rents in 1713. In 1728 he married Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Yeamans Gillingham 
of Oxford, Philadelphia county, and re- 
moved to Solebury township, Bucks 
county, near Centre Hill, where he fol- 
lowed' his trade, that of a blacksmith, 
as well as the conduct of a farm of 250 
acres which he purchased in 1734. He 



i6 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



brought a certificate from Abington 
Meeting, dated March 6, 1729, to Buck- 
ingham Meeting, of which he became 
one of the most active members, serving 
as overseer and clerk for several years. 
He was recommended as a minister m 
1770, and travelled in that capacity 
through various parts of this state, as 
well as in New Jersey, New York and 
New England. He was also a prom- 
inent man in the community in which he 
lived. He donated the land upon which 
the first school house was built at Cen- 
tre Hill, which was known for many 
years as "The Stone School House" be- 
fore Centre Hill was known as a vil- 
lage. He died in 1785. His children 
were: 

Benjamin, born 2 mo. 11, 1729, died 
II mo. 21, 1735. 

Joseph, born 12 mo. 18, 1730, died 10 
mo. 29, 1780; married 1753, Mary Wilson. 

Ann E., born 12 mo. 18, 1732; married 
1754, Joseph Pugh, son of Daniel, of 
New Britain. 

Mary, born 2 mo. 16, 1734; married 
William Edwards. 

Sarah, born 3 mo. 23, 1736; married 
1756, Benjamin Smith. 

Robert, born 6 mo. 23, 1739; married 
1763, Elizabeth Duer; 1784, Rachel Pax- 
son. 

JOSEPH EASTBURN, born 1730, 
died 10 mo. 23, 1780, inherited from his 
father one-half of the homestead, 125 
acres, and purchased considerable other 
land in Solebury, part of it being a tract 
of land purchased of Richard Pike in 
1763, a portion of which is still in the 
tenure of his great-great-grandson, 
Eastburn Reeder. He married, i mo. 
17, 1753. Mary, daughter of Samuel and 
Rebecca (Canby) Wilson, of Bucking- 
ham, and had by her eleven children, as 
follows: 

Joseph, born 7 mo. 16, 1754; married 
^777, Rebecca Kitchin, daughter of Will- 
iam and Sarah Ely Kitchin. 

Benjamin, born 7 mo. 4, 1756; married 
1778, Keziah Ross and removed to 
Maryland. 

Samuel, born 6 mo. 20, 1759; married 
1781, Macre Croasdale, and in 1786, Han- 
nah Kierkbride. 

John, born 4 mo. 28, 1760; married 
1788. Elizabeth Wiggins, and in 1808, 
Hannah Hillborn. 

Rebecca, born 4 mo. 4, 1762; married 
i8to. George Pierce. 

Thomas, born 5 mo. 14, 1764; married 
1795, Mercy Bailey. 

Mary, born 6 mo. 22, 1766; married 
1790. Joseph Phipps. 

James, laorn 8 mo. 27, T768, married 
1/91, Merab, daughter of John and Sarah 
(Simcock) Ely. 

Amos, born 12 mo. 25, 1770; married 
T7QS. Mary Stackhouse. 

David, born 4 mo. 7. 1773; married 
1801. Elizabeth Jeanes and removed to 
Delaware. 



Elizabeth, born 1776, died 1777. Mary, 
the mother, died 11 mo. 19, 1805. 

JOSEPH EASTBURN, born I7S4, 
died 5 mo. 16, 1813, inherited from his 
father the Pike tract of land in Sole- 
bury, and lived and died thereon. He 
married Rebecca Kitchin, 9 mo. 19, 1777, 
and had seven children, of whom only 
five, all daughters, grew to maturity, and 
only the eldest, Elizabeth, born 9 mo. 
13. 1778, married. She became the wife 
of Merrick Reeder, Esq., in 1802. An 
account of their descendants is given on 
another page of this work. 

ROBERT EASTBURN, youngest 
son of Samuel and Elizabeth Gillingham 
Eastburn, born 6 mo. 23, 1739, died 1816, 
married (first) 11 mo. 22, 1763, Eliza- 
beth Duer, and took up his residence on 
a part of the homestead farm where he 
was born, and spent the rest of his life 
there. His children by Elizabeth were: 
Sarah, born i mo. 12, 1766; married 
Thomas Phillips. Moses, born 4 mo. I, 
1768; married 1790, Rachel Knowles. 
Elizabeth, born 1770, died 1775. Aaron, 
born I mo. 10, 1773; married 1796, Mercy- 
Bye. Ann, born 12 mo. 27, 1775, married 
1798, John Comfort. Robert married 
(second) Rachel Paxson, a widow on 9 
mo. 16, 1784, and had two children: 
Letitia, born 1793. married 1816, Samuel 
Metlar; Samuel, born 1800, married 1821, 
Mary Carver. 

MOSES EASTBURN, born 4 nio. i, 
1768, died 9 mo. 28, 1846, married 10 mo. 
21, 1790, Rachel, daughter of John and 
Mary Knowles. Mary Knowles, the 
elder, was a daughter of Robert and 
Mercy (Brown) Sotcher, and grand- 
daughter of John and Mary (Lofty) 
Sotcher, Penn's faithful stewards at 
Pennsbury, and also granddaughter of 
George and Mercy Brown, and a cousin 
to General Jacob Brown. The children 
of Moses and Rachel Knowles Brown 
who grew to maturity were: John, born 
1791, removed to the west; Elizabeth, 
born 1793, married 1813, Samuel Black- 
fan; Robert, born 1794, removed to the 
west; Jacob, born 9 mo. 14, 1798, married 
1829, Elizabeth K. Taylor; Mary, born 
9 mo. 15, 1800, married 1829, Thomas F. 
Parry; Sarah, born 1804, married John 
Palmer; and Moses, born 5 mo. 9, 1815, 
married 1845, Mary Anna Ely. Rachel 
Knowles Eastburn died 4 mo., 1843. 

Moses Eastburn, son of Moses and 
Rachel, born 5 mo. 9, 1815, died 9 mo. 
27, 1887, was a worthy representative of 
this old family. He was possessed in a 
marked degree of the best elements of 
good citizenship, quiet and unassuming 
in demeanor, but determined and un- 
swerving in his devotion to principle 
and right. Though never holding any 
political office he held many positions of 
trust, and was always active in promot- 
ing and maintaining local enterprises 
for the benefit of the people of his na- 
tive county. He was for many years a 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



17 



manager and afterwards president of the 
Bucks County Agricultural Society; one 
of the organizers and most active mem- 
bers of the Solebury Farmers' Club; a 
manager of the Farmers' and Mechanics' 
Mutual Insurance Association of Bucks 
County, probably the largest local in- 
surance company in the county, and 
for many years its president, (1877 to 
1886); a manager of the Lahaska and 
New Hope Turnpike Company, and its 
president for many years prior .to his 
death; a manager of the Doylestown and 
Buckingham Turnpike Company from 
1864 until his death; a manager of the 
Lambertville National Bank, and school 
director for many years. He was an 
active member of Solebury Monthly 
Meeting of Friends, being for thirty-tive 
years clerk of the Meeting, and in every 
position he discharged its duties with 
ability and fidelity. Few men have been 
more honored and respected for sterling 
qualities than he. He was married 4 
mo. 16, 184s, to Mary Anna, daughter of 
Hugh B. and Sarah M. Ely, of Bucking- 
ham, where she was born, 11 mo. 30, 
i8t6. She died in Solebury, 7 mo. 2, 
1879. Moses Eastburn inherited the 
farm upon which he was born and spent 
nearly his whole life there. It is now 
the property of his only son, Hugh B. 
Eastburn. The children of Moses and 
Mary Anna (Ely) Eastburn were: Hugh 
B., born 2 mo. 11, 1846; and Fannie, born 
10 mo. 27, 1847, died 1851. 

HUGH B. EASTBURN, of Doyjes- 
town, lawyer and banker, was born on 
the Solebury farm, 2 mo. 11, 1846. He 
attended the public schools of the neigh- 
borhood until 1859, and then entered the 
Excelsior Normal Institute at Carvers- 
ville. graduating in 1865. For two years 
he taught in the Boys' Grammar School 
at Fifteenth and Race streets, Philadel- 
phia, and subsequently in the Friends' 
Central High School. While there he 
began the study of law under the pre- 
ceptorship of Hon. D. Newlin Fell, now 
justice of the supreme court, and was 
admitted to the Philadelphia bar in the 
spring of 1870. In June, 1870, he was 
appointed by State Superintendent Wick- 
ershani to fill a vacancy in the office of 
county superintendent of schools in 
Bucks county, and was elected to that 
position in 1872, and re-elected in 1875. 
Mr. Eastburn resigned the office of 
county superintendent in 1876 and en- 
tered the law department of the Univj^r- 
sity of Pennsylvania, and was admitted 
to' the Bucks County bar in August, 
1877. In 1885 he was elected district at- 
torney on the Republican ticket, receiv- 
ing a handsome majority, though the 
county was at that time Democratic. 
Mr. Eastburn was one of the organizers 
of the Bucks County Trust Company in 
1886, and has been one of the board of 
directors since organization and its pres- 
ident since 1895, and trust officer since 
2-3 



1892. He has always been deeply inter- 
ested in educational matters, and his 
voice and pen have been potent in every 
movement for the advancement of -edu- 
cation in his native county and state. 
He was for several years a member of the 
board of trustees of the West Chester 
Normal School, and has been a member 
of the Doylestown school board since 
1890, and is now its president. In poli- 
tics he is an ardent Republican, and has 
taken an active interest in the councils 
of his party. He has been its represen- 
tative in many district, state and national 
conventions. 

He was married 12 mo. 23, 1885, to 
Sophia, daughter of John B. and Eliza- 
beth S. (Fox) Pugh, of Doylestown, and 
has two sons: Arthur Moses, born 9 
mo. 27, 1886; and Hugh B., Jr., born 2 
mo. II, 1888. 

ROBERT EASTBURN, of Yardley, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was born in 
Solebury township, Bucks county, 3 mo. 
-J 1833, is a son of Jacob and Elizabeth 
K. (Taylor) Eastburn. Jacob Eastburn 
was a son • of Moses and Rachel 
(Knowles) Eastburn, mentioned in a 
foregoing sketch, and was born oh the 
old Eastburn homestead in Solebury, 
September 14, 1793. He married in 1829 
Elizabeth K. Taylor, who, like Rachel 
(Knowles) Eastburn, was a descendant 
of John and Mary (Lofty) Sotcher, 
through the marriage of their daughter 
Mary to Mahlon Kirkbride. 

On the marriage of Jacob Eastburn 
his father purchased for him the farm 
now owned by John H. Ely, adjoining 
the homestead, and he spent the re- 
mainder of his life thereon. Jacob East- 
burn was a prominent and successful 
business man and farmer. His elder 
brother Robert had heired a farm at 
Limeport, but, going west when young, 
had died without issue, whereby the 
farm descended to his brothers and sis- 
ters, subject to the life estate of the 
father, Moses Eastburn. During the life- 
time of Moses the farm, which was a 
valuable one, as it included the then 
profitable lime kilns, quarries and 
wharfage on the canal, was occupied by 
Phineas Kelly. At the death of Moses 
Eastburn, in 1846, Jacob, as the eldest 
surviving son, was induced to take 
charge of this valuable plant and man- 
age it for the heirs. He entered into a 
partnership with the late George A. 
Cook, who had been a clerk under Mr. 
Kelly, and the new firm built up a pros- 
perous and profitable business. They 
eventually purchased the interest of the 
other heirs and continued the business 
until the death of Jacob Eastburn, which 
occurred August 26, i860. Jacob East- 
burn was an active and prominent man 
in the community, though never holding 
any elective office other than school di- 
rector and was frequently called upon 
to act as guardian.' trustee or executor 



i8 



HISTORY Of BUCKS COUNTY. 



in the sclllcniciil of estates, ami held 
many positions of trust, lie was an ac- 
tive anil consistent member of Sole- 
bury Friends' Meeting. Jacob and Eliz- 
abeth Eastburn were the parents of ten 
children, viz.: William T. and Anna, 
both of whom died in infancy; Robert, 
the subject of this sketch; Ellen Y., 
wife of Samuel Hart, of Doylestown 
township, born 10 mo. 27, 1834; Mary 
Anna, born 2 mo. 29, 1837, now widow of 
J. Simpson Belts; George, born 11 mo. 
25, 1838, a prominent educator of Phil- 
adelphia; Elias and Timothy, twins, 
born 12 mo. 28, 1840 — the former, now 
deceased, was a sheriff of Bucks county, 
and the latter is still living in Solebury; 
Rachel, died in infancy; Sarah, born 10 
mo. 15, 1845, now deceased, was the wife 
of Mark Palmer, of Lower Makefie'ld. 
Elizabeth K. Eastburn the mother, died 
8 mo. 21, 1877. 

Robert Eastburn was born and reared 
on the Solebury farm, and received a 
good education. Arriving at manhood, 
he was married, 2 mo. 12, 1857, to Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Joseph E. and Letitia 
(Betts) Reeder, and in the following 
spring began farming on the Pownall 
farm at Limeport, purchased by his 
father-in-law. His wife Elizabeth died 
there 11 mo. 6, i860, and the following 
spring he sold oi.it and returned to the 
homestead. His father having died the 
preceding summer, he as eldest son and 
executor was occupied in the settlement 
of the estate and the conduct of the 
business for the next two years. These 
were trying times for the Quaker-bred 
youth of our section, the civil war hav- 
ing broken out, and excitement ran. high. 
Though bred and trained as non-com- 
batants, religious principles and parental 
injunction and restraint were insufficient 
to restrain many from responding to the 
numerous calls for men to go to the 
front in defense of our country. This 
family of four grown-up sons was no 
exception to the rule, and only the con- 
tention as to who should go and who 
remain at home to care for the widow 
and faim, probably prevented their early 
enlistment. Finally, when the rebels 
had entered our own state, the strain 
was too great, and three of the boys 
(Robert, George and Elias) enlisted in 
an emergency company formed at 
Doylestown, and started for the front, 
leaving Timothy to care for the home 
interests. Fortunately the tide of in- 
vasion was turned and the boys were 
gone but a few weeks, and came home 
to make peace with the grim elders of 
the meeting for their transgression of 
the discipline. In' 1866. one year after the 
close of the war by the active work of 
our late friend, John E. Kenderdine, a 
prominent and active worker in Sole- 
bury Meeting, assuming the position that 
the boys going to the front were no 



more guilty than those at home con- 
tributing to the war, an acknowledg- 
ment of their deviation from one of the 
cardinal points of their faith (that of 
opposition to war) by in any way giv- 
ing encouragement to the government 
in its armed support, was prepared and 
signed by forty-seven of the fifty male 
members of that meeting. Of that list 
but fourteen are living at this time. 

In the summer of 1863 Robert East- 
burn purchased the interest of his father 
in the lime business and removed to 
Yardley, where an ofifice for the sale of 
the lime had been long established, and 
formed a partnership with George A. 
Cook, under the firm name of Eastburn 
& Cook, which lasted several 3^ears. 
Later he embarked in the coal and fer- 
tilizer business at Yardley, which he 
continued until 1897. In addition to this 
business, having been elected a justice 
of the peace in 1874, he started a real 
estate and general business agency, 
which he has continud to the present 
time in connection with the settlement 
of many estates and the transaction of 
official business, Mr. Eastburn having 
held the oftice of justice until the pres- 
ent time, a period of thirty years, 

Robert Eastburn married (second) on 
Octootr 1:0, 1863, Elizabeth, daughter of 
Charles White, of Solebury, and took 
up his permanent residence in Yardley. 
His wife died 11 mo. 5, 1866, and on 8 
mo. 12, 1875, he married (third) Anna 
Palmer, who died 3 mo. 8, 1901. By his 
first marriage, with Elizabeth Reeder, 
Mr. Eastburn had two children: William 
T., born 8 mo. 31, 1859, married Alada 
Blackfan, and is now living at New 
Hope; and Jacob, born 11 mo. 6. i860, 
now living in New York city. By his 
marriage with Anna Palmer he has one 
son, Walter N., born 2 mo. 6, 1881, mar- 
ried II mo. II, 1902, Isabel Frances 
Stanbury, and now living in New York. 

WILLIAM T. EASTBURN, of New 
Hope, son of Robert and Elizabeth 
(Reeder) Eastburn, was born in Sole- 
bury, 8 mo. 31, 1859. At the death of 
his mother, 11 mo. 6, i860, he went to 
live w'ith his grandparents, Joseph E. and 
Letitia Reeder, and was reared in their 
h-^me in Solebury. He received a good 
ec'ucj.tion. and upon his marriage began 
farming at his present residence, where 
he has ever since resided. At the death 
of his grandfather in 1892 he was devised 
this pronerty and the farm upon which 
he was born at Limeport. Mr. Eastburn 
is a progressive and intelligent farmer, and 
has gradually improved the propertv since 
it came under his tenure. He is a 
member of Solebury Friends' Meeting. 
He was married 10 mo. 5, 1887. to Alada 
E., daughter of the late'William C. and 
Elizabeth (Ely) Blackfan, a lineal de- 
scendant of Edward Blackfan and Re- 
becca Crispin, the latter being a first 



/ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



19 



cousin to William Penn. William T. 
and Alada E. B. Eastburn have four 
children; viz.: Sybil Ethel, born 4 mo. 
6, 1890; William B., born 4 mo. 30, 1894; 
Edward B., born 2 mo. 9, 1898; and Jo- 
seph Robert, born 10 mo. 20, 1901. 



CHARLES TWINING EASTBURN, 
â– of Yardley, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
one of the most active and successful 
young business men of Bucks county, 
w^as born in Newtown township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, October 9, 1873, 
and is a son of Franklin and Mary Eliza- 
beth (Twining) Eastburn, both of whom 
-are descendants of the earliest English 
settlers in Lower Bucks. Mr. Eastburn' 
is a descendant in the seventh genera- 
tion from Robert and Sarah (Preston) 
Eastburn, who migrated from Yorkshire, 
England, in 1713, through their son 
Samuel, who settled in Solebury town- 
ship, Bucks county, in 1729. An account 
of the first three generations of this 
family is given above. 

Amos Eastburn, son of Joseph and 
Mary (Wilson) Eastbtirn, and grandson 
of Samuel, above mentioned, was born in 
Solebury township, 12 mo. 25, 1770, be- 
ing the ninth of eleven children. His 
father died when he was ten years of 
age. Early in life he learned the trade 
of a carpenter and joiner, and followed 
that vocation in connection with' fafm- 
ing in Buckingham and Solebury town- 
ships, until 181 1, when he removed to 
Middletown township and settled upon 
135 acres of land that had been the prop- 
erty of the ancestors of his wife since 
1699, nearly the whole of which is now 
included in the borough of Langhorne 
Manor, where he died 10 mo. 16, 1823. 
He married, 4 mo. 23, 1795, Mary Stack- 
house, born in- IMiddletown township, 
â– daughter of Jonathan and Grace (Com- 
fort) Stackhouse. granddaughter of 
Isaac and Mary (Harding) Stackhouse, 
and great-granddaughter of Thomas and 
Ann (Mayos) Stockhouse, an account of 
whose arrival in Bucks county in 1682 
is given in another part of this work. 
The land upon which Mrs. Eastburn 
spent nearly her whole life was part of 
a tract of 350 acres taken up by her 
great-grandfather (the last named 
Thomas Stackhouse) in 1699. and had 
been successively occupied by her di- 
rect ancestors down to the death of her 
father, Jonathan Stackhouse, in 1805, 
when fifty-five acres thereof was set 
apart to her as her share of her father's 
estate. Her husband later purchased of 
the other heirs an additional seventy-six 
acres adjoining, and it was her home 
from 181 1 until her death, i mo. 31. 
1831. Amos and INIary (Stackhouse) 
Eastburn were the parents of three chil- 
â– dren: Grace, born in Buckingham, i mo. 
29. 1796, died in Fallsington in 1875, 



unmarried; Jonathan, born in Bucking- 
ham, 12 mo. 25, 1797, died in Middle- 
town, 4 mo. 9, 1840, married Sidney Wil- 
son and had children: Mary Ann, Amos, 
Joseph Wilson and Isaac S.; and Aaronj 
born m Buckingham, 8 mo. 23, 1804, died 
in Newtown township, 2 mo. 6, 1889. 

Aaron Eastburn, grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch, was reared from 
the age of seven years on the Langhorne 
Manor farm. His father died when he 
was nineteen years of age, and he re- 
mained with his mother until 1828. when 
he purchased the farm where the subject 
of this sketch was born, in Newtown 
township, and spent his remaining days 
thereon, dying 2 mo. 6, 1889, in his 
eighty-fifth year. He was an active 
member of the Society of Friends, and 
a trustee of P^alls Meeting. He married 
5 mo. 22, 1831, Sarah Cadwallader, 
daughter of Cyrus and Mary (Taylor) 
Cadwallader of Lower Makefield town- 
ship, granddaughter of Jacob and Phebe 
(Radclifife) Cadwallader, great-grand- 
daughter of Jacob Cadwallader, and 
great-great-granddaughter of John Cad- 
wallader. a native of Wales, who wa= an 
early settler in \\'arminster township and 
a noted minister among Friends. Through 
her mother, Mary Taylor, she was a 
great-granddaughter of John and Mary 
(Lofty) Sotcher, William Penn's trust- 
ed stewards at Pennsbury. the former of 
whom was for many years a member of 
colonial assembly. 

Aaron and Sarah (Cadwallader) East- 
burn were the parents of five children: 
Mary C, born 5 mo. 10, 1832, married 
Charles Moon; Cyrus, of Lower Make- 
field, born 12 mo, 2, 1833, married Ase- 
nath Haines; Charles, died in infancy: 
Mercy, born 7 mo. 11, 1838, married 
Charles Albertson; and Franklin. 

Franklin Eastburn; father of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was the youngest 
child of Aaron and Sarah, and was born 
on the Newtown homestead, 11 mo. 2, 
1842, and resided thereon until 1896 
when he moved to 2107 Chestnut street, 
Philadelphia, where he now resides. He 
married. 10 mo. 28, 1869. Mary Elizabeth 
Twining, daughter of Charles and Eliza- 
beth (West) Twining, of Yardley, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, and they are the 
parents of two children: Sarah C, born 
in 1871, now the wife of George William 
Balderston. of Trenton, New Jersey, and 
Charles. 

Charles Twining Eastburn was born 
and reared on the old homestead in 
Newtown township, and acquired his 
education at the public schools and at 
Friends' Central School at Fifteenth and 
Race streets. Philadelphia, and Stew- 
art's Business College at Trenton, New 
Jersey, leaving the latter February 28, 
1892. The day following his leaving bus- 
iness college he entered the employ of 
Stephen B. Twining, in the stone quarry 
business, at Stockton. New Jersey. Upon 



20 



IIISrONV Of BUCKS COUXTY. 



the death of Mr. Twining, in July, 1894, 
he assumed charge of the entire opera- 
tions. The following year he purchased 
the business, and has increased and ex- 
panded it from year to year until he is 
now the largest cleaier in his line of trade 
in Eastern Pennsylvania, operating ex- 
tensive quarries at Stockton, New Jersey, 
Lumberville, Yardley, Neshaminy Falls, 
and in Clearrteld, Elk and Jefferson 
counties, Pennsylvania, and filling large 
contracts for furnishing stone to the 
Pennsylvania and other railroad com- 
panies, and for many large public and 
private building operations all over the 
country, employing from four hundred 
to seven hundred men in the conduct of 
his business. He also owns and con- 
ducts the homestead farm in Newtown 
township. 

Mr. Eastburn married, January 8, 1903, 
Margaret B. Phillips, daughter of Theo- 
dore F. and Emma B. Phillips, of Lang- 
horne, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and 
they are the parents of one child, Sarali 
P., born June 17, 1904- Mr. and Mrs. 
Eastburn are members of the Newtown 
Presbyterian church. Mr. Eastburn is a 
Republican in politics, and has taken an 
active interest in the success of his 
party. He is a member of Newtown 
lodge, No. 426, F. and A. M. 



SAMUEL COMFORT EASTBURN. 
Among the most enterprising business 
men of lower Bucks county is Samuel 
Comfort Eastburn, of Langhorne bor- 
ough. He is a son of Joseph and Eliza- 
beth (Comfort) Eastburn, and was born 
in Middletown township, Bucks county, 
August 2, 1848. An account of the first 
three generations of the paternal ances- 
tors of the subject of this sketch is given 
in other pages, he being a descendant in 
the sixth generation of Robert and Sarah 
(Preston) Eastburn, who came from' 
Yorkshire to Philadelphia in 1713. and 
settled near Abington. Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania, a year later. Sam- 
uel Eastburn, the great-great-grand- 
father of Samuel C, removed to Sole- 
bury township, Bucks county, in 1729. 
His son, Robert Eastburn, and his first 
wife, Elizabeth Duer, were the great- 
grandparents of both the subject and 
his wife, Elizabeth (Maule) Eastburn. 

Aaron Eastburn, youngest son of Rob- 
ert and Elizabeth (Duer) Eastburn, 
born I mo. 10, 1773, married in 9 mo., 
1796, Mercy Bye, of Buckingham, and 
lived in Solebury, dying at the age of 
seventy-three years, 3 mo. 24, 1846, and 
Mercy, his widow, dying 2 mo. 21, i8j8. 
aged seventy-four years. They were the 
parents of ten children, seven daughters 
and three sons. Joseph Eastburn, the 
ninth child of Aaron and Mercy, and 
the only son who married, was born in 
Solebury township, 4 mo. 18, 1814. He 



was reared in his native township of 
Solebury, but on his marriage, 11 ma. 
19, 1846, to Elizabeth, daughter of Sam- 
uel and Elizabeth Comfort, of Middle- 
town, settled on a portion of his fath- 
er-in-law's farm in Middletown. At the 
death of Samuel Comfort in i860 this 
farm descended to his daughter, Eliza- 
beth C. Eastburn, and a part of it is 
the present home of the subject of this 
sketch. The children of Joseph and 
Elizabeth (Comfort) Eastburn were: 
Samuel C, born 8 mo. 2, 1848; Anna^ 
born 6 mo. 24, 1852, married John G. 
Willetts; and Thomas, born 8 mo. 21,. 
1853. Joseph Eastburn, the father, died 
10 mo, 31, 1891. 

The maternal ancestors of the subject 
of this sketch were among the early 
Quaker settlers of this section. John 
Comfort was a resident of Amwell tovvn- 
ship, Hunterdon county, where he died' 
in 1728. He brought a certificate from 
Flushing, â–  Long Island, to Falls Meet- 
ing, 12 mo. 3, 1719. In 1720 he married 
Mary, daughter of Stephen and Sarah 
(Baker) Wilson, and had by her three 
children: Stephen, Sarah and Robert. 
Stephen Comfort married Mercy Croas- 
dale, and settled in Middletown town- 
ship, where he acquired several large 
tracts of land. He died in 1772, leaving 
sons Stephen, John, Ezra, Jeremiah, 
Moses, and Robert; and daughters Grace 
and Mercy. Stephen Comfort (2), mar- 
ried Sarah Stevenson, and settled on his 
father's farm on the Neshaminy, near 
Parkland, and later purchased consid- 
erable adjoining land, most of which be- 
came the property of his son Samuel at 
the death of his father in 1826. The other 
children of Stephen and Sarah Comfort 
were, Stephen, David and Jeremiah. 
Samuel Comfort lived upon the Nesh- 
aminy homestead until about 1850, when 
he removed to the village of Attleboro, 
where he died in i860, leaving children: 
Mary Ann; Jesse; Elizabeth, wife of Jo- 
seph Eastburn, and Samuel. He was a 
prominent man in the community and 
filled many positions of trust. 

Samuel Comfort Eastburn was reared 
on the Middletown farm, and received 
his education at the Langhorne Acad- 
emy and at Westtown Boarding School. 
He later took a course at Crittenden's 
Commercial College, Philadelphia. He 
engaged in railroad surveying for a few- 
years, and then in the dry goods busi- 
ness in Philadelphia, where he remained 
for ten years. In 1880 he took an agency 
for the Provident Life and Trust Com- 
pany of Philadelphia, in the life in- 
surance department, and has been con- 
nected with it ever since, now holding" 
the position of general agent for Cen- 
tral Pennsylvania. Mr. Eastburn is an 
enterprising and successful business 
man. and has been closely identified with 
most of the vast improvements in and 
about his native town of Langhorne in 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



21 



the last twenty-five years. In 1886 he 
organized and developed the Langhorne 
Improvement Company, purchasing for 
it the 620 acres of land upon which the 
present borough of Langhorne Manor 
is built. In 1887 he built the Langhorne 
water works, which now supply water 
to the three boroughs of Langhorne, 
Langhorne Manor and Attleboro, and 
in the same year he built the Langhorne 
brick works. In 1888 he organized the 
Langhorne Electric Light Company. He 
was treasurer and superintendent of the 
Langhorne Manor Inn, now the Foulke 
and Long Institute. Me has been largely 
instrumental in the sale and development 
of suburban real estate, and has been for 
many years a foremost advocate of the 
improvement of the public roads. He 
has always been an ardent advocate of 
progress and improvement, and has been 
a potent force along these lines in the 
communit)^ in which he lives. In religion 
he is a member of the orthodox branch 
of the Society of Friends. In politics he 
is a Republican, though never a seeker 
or holder of other than local office, be- 
ing for some years a justice of the peace, 
and filling other local offices. 

He married May 3, 1876, Elizabeth L.. 
daughter of Joseph E. and Sarah (Com- 
fort) Maule, of Philadelphia, who was 
torn 2 mo. 10, 1851. She is a grand- 
daughter of John and Ann (Eastburn) 
Maule, the latter being a daughter of 
Robert and Elizabeth (Duer) Eastburn, 
and a sister to Aaron Eastburn, the 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch. 
The children of Samuel C. and Eliza- 
beth (Maule) Eastburn are: Herbert 
Maule, born 3 mo. 25. 1877; Samuel 
Arthur, born 10 mo. 3. 1878; Joseph 
Maule, born 4 mo. 25, 1880: and Howard 
Percy,' born 2 mo. 15, 1887. Herbert is 
the general agent of the Penn Mutual 
Life Insurance Company at Trenton, 
New Jersey; Samuel A. is district agent 
for the Provident Life and Trust Com- 
pany at Williamsport. Pennsylvania; Jo- 
seph M. is superintendent of the Red- 
wood Lumber Manufactory, at Samoa, 
California, for Hammond & Co.; How- 
ard P. is a civil engineer in the em- 
ploy of the Good Roads Commission of 
Pennsylvania. All of the brothers are 
successful in their chosen careers, and 
all are single. 



ROBERT KIRKBRIDE EAST- 
BURN, Decea.sed, of Langhorne. Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, was born in Mor- 
Tisville, Bucks county, January 20, 1825, 
and was a son of Samuel and Huldah 
(Wooley) Eastburn and grand-on of 
Samuel and Hannah (Kirkbride) East- 
burn, the last named Samuel being 
a son of Joseph and Mary (Wilson) 
Eastburn, of Solebury, Bucks county, 
g-randson of Samuel and Elizabeth (Gil- 



lingham) Eastburn. and great-grandson 
of Robert and Sarah (Preston) East- 
burn, who were married in Yorkshire, 
England, 3 mo. 10, 1693. An account of 
the first three generations of the de- 
scendants of Robert and Sarah (Pres- 
ton) Eastburn, and some account of 
their earlier antecedents in England, is 
given in the preceding sketches. 

Samuel Eastburn, son of Joseph 
and Mary (Wilson) Eastburn, of Sole- 
bury, was born in that township, 6 mo. 
20, 1759. He was reared on the old 
Solebury homestead, still in the tenure 
of the descendants of Joseph and Mary, 
and early in life learned the trade of a 
blacksmith, which he followed during 
the active j^ears of his life, in connec- 
tion with farming in -various parts of 
the county. His father died when Sam- 
uel had just arrived at the age ot twen- 
ty-one years, and prior to the death of 
the grandfather, who died in 1785. Under 
the will of the latter, Samuel acquired 
title to a part of the old homestead on 
the borders of the present borough of 
New Hope, and he followed his trade 
there until 1787, when he purchased a 
farm of loi acres adjoining the home- 
stead, which he conducted in connec- 
tion with his trade until 179^- At about 
this time, having sold his farm, he re- 
moved to White Marsh, Montgomery 
county, where he operated a smith shop 
until 1803, when he removed to Morris- 
ville, Bucks county, and purchased a 
portion of the Robert Morris tract and 
located thereon. He followed his trade 
in connection with farming at Morris- 
ville for some years, and died at that 
place, 4 mo. S, 1822, at the age of six- 
ty-four years. He was twice married, 
having married 4 mo. 12, T781, Macre 
Croasdale, who died 4 mo. 31, 1782; his 
son Joseph, by this marriage, horn i nio. 
13, T782, died in infancy. He married 
again, 5 mo. 15. 1788, Hannah Kirk- 
bride, daughter of Robert and Hannah 
(Bidgood) Kirkbride, of Doylestown, 
granddaughter of Mahlon and Mary 
(Sotchcr) Kirkbride, and great-grand- 
daughter of Joseph Kirkbride and John 
Sotcher. both of whom, as well as Mah- 
lon Kirkbride, were provincial pustices 
and assemblymen for many years, and 
the most prominent men of their time 
in Bucks countv. Samuel and Hannah 
(Kirkbride) Eastburn, were the parents 
of nine children, viz.: Robert, born i mo, 
31, 1789. died 7 mo. 28, 1796; Samuel, see 
forward: Jonathan, born 9 mo. 2, 1792. 
married first Beulah Gaskel. and second 
Sarah Crozier; David, born 2 mo. 23, 
1795, married Louisa Willing; Mahlon. 
born 9 mo. 9, T797. died unmarried, 12 
mo. 7, 1870; Hannah, born 12 mo. 7, 
1799, married Aaron Ivins, in 1839; 
Kirkbride, born i mo. 23, 1803, married 
Ann Reeves; Macre, born 2 mo. 14, 1806, 
died unmarried; and Ruth, born i mo. 
20, 1810, also died unmarried. 



22 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Sanuul Eastbiini. son of Sam- 
uel and Hannah, was born in Solebury, 
Bucks county, lo mo. 7, J 790. His early 
boyhood days were spent at White 
Marsh, where his parents resided until 
he was in his thirteenth year, the re- 
mainder of his life being spent in Falls 
township and Morrisville borough, 
Bucks county. He married, in 1813, 
Huldah Wooley, and they were the pa- 
rents of seven children, viz.: Lewis, born 
8 mo. 5, 1814; Elwood, born 11 mo, 22, 
1816; Robert K., the subject of this 
sketch; Caroline, born 3 mo. 17, 1832; 
Maria Ann, who married and removed to 
the west; Hannah K., born g mo. 13, 
1835; and Edward. 

Robert Kirkbride Eastburn, third 
son of Samuel and Huldah, was 
born and reared at Morrisville. 
At the age of nineteen years he 
became a school teacher and taught in 
the nearby townships of Bucks county 
for several years. He later removed to 
Philadelphia, and w-as engaged in the 
manufacture of furniture, after some 
years becoming a member of the firm 
of Reeves & Eastburn, in which he con- 
tinued for a member of years. His 
health failing, he was induced to accept 
a position as book-keeper for a mining 
company in New IMexico, and removed 
there with his family, and remaiped 
twelve years, entirely regaining his 
health in that delightful climate. While 
in New JNIexico his duties required him 
to make his home in a rough mining 
camp among a turbulent element, not al- 
ways controlled or animated by the re- 
fining influences of civilization, where 
every one except he went armed, and 
human life was held exceedingly cheap. 
Mr. Eastburn always refused to carry 
arms, and, by his fearless though kindly 
defense of right and justice, won an in- 
fluence among the rugged miners, and 
successfully enacted the role of peace- 
maker in many little disturbances in the 
camp, where he had the respect of all who 
knew him. He returned to Bucks county 
in 1894 and purchased a handsome 
home on Richardson Avenue, Langhorne, 
where he lived until his death on Febru- 
ary 26, 1897, and where his widow still 
resides. He held to the faith of the So- 
ciety of Friends, in which he and his 
ancestors had been reared, and his firrn 
though kindly disposition won the re- 
spect and esteem of all who knew him. 
Mr. Eastburn married, April 12, 1859, 
Aliriam Ivins, daughter of George Mid- 
dleton and Sarah (Buckman) Ivins, of 
Penns Manor, Bucks county, where her 
paternal ancestors had resided for sev- 
eral generations, she being a grand- 
daughter of Aaron and Miriam (Middle- 
ton) Ivins, and great-granddaughter of 
Aaron and Ann {"Cheshire) Ivins. On 
the maternal side she is a granddaughter 
of James and Sarah (Burroughs) Buck- 
man, the former of whom was a son of 



William and Jane I'uckman, and a de- 
scendant of William Buckman, who* 
came from England and settled at New- 
town in 1684, and the latter a daughter 
of John and Lydia Burroughs, and 
granddaughter of Henry and Ann 
(Palmer) Burroughs, who came from 
New Jersey and settled in Lower ]\Iake- 
field, being a son of John Burroughs,, 
who was born at Newtown, Long Island, 
in 1684, and died in Ewing, New Jersey,, 
in 1772, and the last named John being 
a son of John and Margaret (Wood- 
ward) Burroughs, of Long Island and 
a grandson of John Burroughs, who 
came from England to Massachusetts 
prior to 1639, and died at Newtown, 
Long Island, in 1678, at the age of sixty- 
one years. To Mr. and Mrs. Eastburn 
were born two children, both born in 
Philadelphia, viz.: Henry Kirkbride, 
born November 19, i86i; and Edward 
Ivins, born March 17, 1866. Henry K. 
Eastburn is now engaged in the wool 
business in Philadelphia; he married, 
January 17. 1884, Carrie Gideon, of Phil- 
adelphia. Edwin I. is also a resident of 
Philadelphia. 

Mrs. Eastburn, accompanied her hus- 
band to New Mexico, and spent twelve 
years in that territory. She now resides 
in Langhorne borough where she is 
highly esteemed by a large circle of 
friends. 



EASTBURN REEDER, one of 4he 
most prominent farmers and dairymen- 
in Bucks county, was born June 30, 
1828, upon the farm on which he now 
resides, and which had been the prop- 
erty of his ancestors for five generations 
from 1763. 

Charles Reeder, great-great-grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch, born 
in England, 6 mo. 24, 1713, came to 
America in 1734 and settled first near 
Philadelphia, removing later to Upper 
Makefield township, Bucks county, 
where he purchased 200 acres of land 
in 1765; he died there in 1800. He mar- 
ried in 1737, Eleanor Merrick, daughter 
of John and Eleanor (Smith) ]\Ierrick, 
of Lower Dublin township, Philadelphia 
county. John Merrick was a Friend, a 
native of Herefordshire, England, v«ho 
came to Pennsylvania and settled in 
Lower Dublin township. In first month, 
1702. he declared intentions of marriage, 
at Abington Friends' Meeting, with Elea- 
nor Smith, and was married the follow- 
ing month. He died in 1732. His eldest 
son John subsequently removed to 
Wrightstown, having married Ilananh 
Ilulme. and was the ancestor of the 
Merricks of lower Bucks. Charles and 
Eleanor (Merrick) Reeder were the pa- 
rents, of eleven children, viz.: Joseph, 
born mo. 3, 17.18, removed to New Jer- 
sey, (his son John is supposed to be the 
ancestor of the Rceders of Easton, 




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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



23 



Pennsylvania) ; Charles, born 6 mo. 15, 
1743; Benjamin, born 3 mo. 29, 1746, 
settled in NorthumberlancJ count3% Penn- 
sylvania; Jesse, born 8 mo. 25, 1748, was 
drowned in the Delaware river when a 
young man; David, born S mo. 3, 1750, 
married, in 1776, Elizabeth Montgom- 
ery; Abraham, born 7 mo. 8, 1752, mar- 
ried in 1780; Elizabeth Lee, of Wrights- 
town; Merrick, born 7 mo. 31, 1754, mar- 
ried in 1773, Elizabeth Collins; Hannah, 
born 8 mo. 15, 1756; Eleanor, born 2 mo. 

3. 1758; John, born li mo. 29, 1761; and 
Mary, born 9 mo. 15, 1764. 

Merrick Reeder, seventh son of 
Charles and Eleanor, was reared on the 
Makeficld farm, and on arriving at man- 
hood married Elizabeth Collins, and 
followed the vocation of a farmer. He 
was a tenant on the "Canaan Farm" in 
Upper Makefield for several years. Hi 
t8io he and several of his children re- 
moved to Muncy, Lycoming county, 
Pennsylvania. He had thirteen children, 
viz.: Benajah, born 11 mo. 30, 1774, mar- 
ried Elizabeth Pownall, of Solebury, and 
removed to Muncy, in 1810; Merrick, 
born 2 mo. 8, 1776, .was the grandfather 
of the subject of this sketch; Jonathan, 
born 6 mo. ID, 1777, married Sarah 
Palmer, and removed to Muncy; David, 
born 8 mo. 23, 1778, married Rachel 
Pownall, and removed to Muncy; Han- 
nah, born 4 mo. 11, 1780, married Sam- 
•uel Winder, and removed to Muncy; 
Mary, born 10 mo. 29, 1781, married John 
Robinson; Rebecca, born 5 mo. 20, 1783, 
died unmarried; Elizabeth, born 4 mo. 3, 
1785, married Thomas Osborn and re- 
moved to ]\Iuncy; Charles, born 4 mo. 
18, 1787, married Elizabeth Clark and re- 
moved to Baltimore. Maryland, where 
he has descendants; Andrew, born 6 mo. 
12, 1789, married Anna Kemble, and re- 
moved to Muncy: John, born 5 mo. 18, 
1791, married Rebecca Ellis, and re- 
moved to Muncy; Eleanor, born 11 mo. 

4, 1793, married John Ross, and re- 
moved to Muncy, Lycoming county, with 
her parents; Jesse, born 8 mo. 19, 1796, 
married first Elizabeth Fell, and (sec- 
ond; Mary Fell, her sister; settled in 
Buckingham and is the grandfather of 
E. Wesley Keeler, Esq., of Doylestown, 
Pennsylvania. 

Merrick Reeder, Jr., second son of 
Merrick and Elizabeth, born in Make- 
field, 2 mo. 8, 1776, was the grandfather 
of the subject of this sketch. He was 
reared on a farm in Upper Makefield, 
and received a good education. He came 
to Solebury as a school teacher in 1800, 
and in 1802 married Elizabeth, daughter 
of Joseph and Rebecca (Kitchin) East- 
burn. He was a man of good business 
ability, and was for many j^ears a justice 
of the peace in Solebury and New Hope 
borough. Soon after his marriage he 
settled on a portion of the Eastburn 
farm, (purchased by Joseph Eastburn, 
Sr., in 1763), and at the death of his 



father-m-law, Joseph Eastburn, Jr., in 
1813, it was adjudged to him in right 
of his wife, and is now the property and 
home of Simpson B. Michener, of New 
Hope. Merrick Reeder was a surveyor 
and scrivener, and an active and useful 
man in the community. P^is wife, Eliza- 
beth Eastburn, died 9 mo. 7, 1833, and 
he married (second) in 1836, Sarah 
Simpson. He died in i mo., 1851, aged 
seventy-five years. (For Eastburn an- 
cestry of subject of this sketch, see East- 
burn Family). Merrick and Elizabeth 
(Eastburn) Reeder were the parents of 
three children: Joseph E., born 3 mo. 
28, 1803; David K., born 10 mo. 29, 1804, 
married Elizabeth M. Reeder, a daughter 
of Charles M. Reeder; and William P., 
born 4 mo. 26, 181 5, married Mary 
Reeder, also a daughter of Charles M. 
Reeder. David K. Reeder heired his 
father's portion of the old plantation in 
Solebury and lived and died in that 
township in 1887. William P. removed to 
Philadelphia, and died in 1885. 

Joseph E. Reeder, son of Merrick and 
Elizabeth, born in Solebury township, 3 
mo. 28, 1803, was a farmer, and resided 
during his whole life on the parental 
acres. He married 4 mo. 11, 1827, Le- 
titia, daughter of Stephen and Hannah 
(Blackfan) Betts, of Solebury, who bore 
him two children; Eastburn, the subject 
of this sketch; and Elizabeth, born i mo. 
20. 1831, died November 7, i860, married 
Robert Eastburn in 1857. Joseph E. 
Reeder died 7 mo. 28, 1892. aged eigh- 
ty-nine years, and Letitia, his wife, died 
12 mo. 2, 1892, aged ninety-one years. 

Eastburn Reeder, born on the old 
homestead of his ancestors, June 30, 
[828, has spent his whole life thereon. 
He received a good education, and on 
arriving at manhood turned his whole 
attention to the farm. He married, 12 
mo. 15 1853, Ellen, daughter of John E. 
and Martha (Quinby) Kenderdine, and 
the following spring took charge of the 
home farm, which he conducted person- 
ally until 1898 a period of forty-four 
years, since which time he has retired 
from its active management. In 1872 he 
becv.me interested in the breeding of Jer- 
sey cattle, and his handsome herds were 
the pride of the county for many years. 
He has always taken an active interest 
in the elevation of the calling of a farrner 
and the improvement of methods of till- 
ing and utilizing the soil- He was one 
of the original thirty-three members of 
the Solebury Farmers' Club organized 
in 1871, and its first secretary, and is 
still one of its most active members. He 
was the representative of Bucks county 
in the State Board of Agriculture from 
1877 to 1893, sixteen years; was ap- 
pointed by Governor Robert E. Patti- 
son. May, 1893, State Dairy and Food 
Commissioner, the first commissioner 
under the law creating the office, and 
served until JuJy, i89S. He was active 



24 



HISTORY or BUCKS COUNTY. 



in the prosecution of the manufactures 
of oleomargarine and other imitations 
of pure food, and placed the office on a 
high plane of usefulness to the farmer. 
He is also the author of numerous pa- 
pers on farming and dairying, and has 
done much to influence legislation for 
the protection and betterment of the 
farmer. He was a member of the Sole- 
bury school board for nine years, from 
1865 to 1874, and its secretary for six 
years. In politics he is a Republican of 
the independent type. In religion is an 
active and earnest member of Solebury 
Meeting of Friends, as were his ances- 
tors. Since his retirement from the ac- 
tive management of his farms he has 
devoted considerable time to literary 
pursuits, and has published a book en- 
titled "Early Settlers of Solebury," and 
also a "History of the Eastburn Earn- 
ily." 

Eastburn and Ellen K. Reeder are the 
parents of four children: Watson K., 
born October 3, 1854, the present sta- 
tion agent for the P. & R. R. R. at New 
Hope, who married 1879, Mary C. 
Beans, of Johnsville, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania; Elizabeth, born 6 mo. i, 
1857. married in 1880, Newton E. Wood, 
of Moreland, Montgomery county, Penn- 
sylvania; Letitia, wife of Dr. George 
W. Lawrence, of East Berlin, Connecti- 
cut, married in 1892; and Martha, wife 
of Charles Janney, of Solebury, married 
in 190.3. 



THE VANSANT FAMILY. The 
Vansants of Bucks county are descend- 
ants of a common ancestor, Gerret Stof- 
felse Van Sandt or Van Zandt,* (other- 
wise Garret Van Sandt, son of Stoffel 
or Christopher), who emigrated from 
the Netherlands, probably from Zaan- 
dani in North Holland, or Zandberg in 
Drenthe, in or about the year 1651, and 
settled in New Utrecht, Long Island, on 
the records of which town he is fre- 
quently mentioned as Gerret Stoffellse. 
He was one of the fourteen patentees 
mentioned in the patent from Governor 
Thomas Dongan, May 13, 1686, for the 
Commons of New Utrecht, "on behalf 
of themselves and their associates, the 
present freeholders and inhabitants of 
the said towne." His land was located 
at Yellow Hook, "under the jurisdiction 
of the town of New Utrecht." He was 
a magistrate of New Utrecht in 1681. 



* For much of the information contained in this 
sketch, more especially that pertaining to the early 
generations of the family, we are indebted to R. Win- 
der Johnson of Philadelphia, who has made extensive 
researches covering nearly twenty-five years pertain- 
ing to the ancestry of the Vansants and other Holland 
families from whom he is descended. He is himself 
a descendant of Garret Vansandt, through liis son, 
jacobus (') . and his fourth son, Isaiali X'iinsant. who 
married Charity VanHorn, and their daugliter. Sarah, 
who married Christian Van Horn, tlie descent being 
shown more in detail in the article in this volume on 
the VanHorn Family. 



By deed dated July 31, 1695, lie con- 
vej'ed his Yellow Hook plantation to 
Derick Janse Van Zutphen, and re- 
moved to Bucks countj', where Joseph 
Growdon on 12 mo. 10, 1698-9, conveys 
to him 150 acres in Bensalem township, 
and on the same date conveys a like 
tract adjoining to his son Cornelius. It 
is probable that he was located for a 
time in New York, as he had two chil- 
dren baptized at the Dutch Reformed 
church there in 1674 and 1676, respec- 
tively. It is generally conceded that he 
was twice married, as the record of the 
baptisms above mentioned gives the 
name of his wife as L3'sbeth Gerritz, 
while the later baptisms at New Utrecht 
and Flatbush churches give it as Lys- 
beth Cornelis. It is, however, possible 
that in one instance her father's sur- 
name is used and in the other his first 
name as was common on the Dutch 
records. Cornelius Gerrets was a mem- 
ber of the Dutch church at New Utrecht. 

Garret Vansand died intestate in Ben- 
salem township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, prior to June 5, 1706, the date 
upon which his ten children make a con- 
veyance of his land purchased as before 
stated in February, 1698-9. The record 
of baptism of seven of his ten children 
appears at the Dutch church of New 
Netherlands, and will be given in con- 
nection with a sketch of each child, ta- 
ken in regular order of birth, later in 
this article. The names of the ten chil- 
dren were: I. Stoffell; 2. Cornelius; 3. 
Josias; 4. Harman; 5. Albert; 6. Johan- 
nes; 7. Jacobus; 8. George; 9. Jesina, 
and 10. Garret. (Harman was really the 
third child in order of birth, and Josias 
fourth). 

I. STOFFEL VAN SANDT, eldest 
son of Garret, was born in the province 
of New York about the year 1670, and 
took the oath of allegiance at New Ut- 
recht, Long Island, as a native of New 
Netherlands, in 1687. He probably re- 
moved to Bucks county at the same 
time as his fatlier, in 1699. He was a 
member of the Bensalem Dutch Re- 
formed church, with wife Rachel Cour- 
son ; having joined by certificate in 1710. 
He seems, however, to have become a 
member of Abington Presbyterian 
church at its organization in 1714, 
and was made one of its elders. 
He purchased of Henry Paulin on 
May 23, 1706, 300 acres of land in 
Middletown, 200 acres of which he con- 
veyed to his sons Garret and John, and 
died seized of the balance in 1749. He 
was a justice of Bucks county. 1715-18, 
1723-27, and a member of colonial as- 
sembly, 1710, 1712, 1714, 1719. His chil- 
dren were: i. Jannctje. baptized at 
Brooklyn, September 3. 1693, married 
November 3. 171 1, William Renherg. 2. 
Garret, baptized at Brooklyn. May 4, 
1695. probably died young, as the soii 
Garret, mentinned later, was ceriai^ily 



HISTORY OP BUCKS COUNTY. 



25 



a younger man. (These children above 
were by Stoffel's first marriage with An- 
netje Stoffels, who probably died prior to 
the removal to Bucks county.) The chil- 
dren of Stoffel by his second marriage 
with Rachel Corson, daughter of Hen- 
drick Courson, were eight in number 
and as follows: 

3. Joshua, married February 20, 1728, 
Catharine Johnston, and settled in Kent 
county, Maryland, on land conveyed to 
him by his father, October 28, 1728. 

— >4. John, who married Rebecca Cox, of 
Philadelphia, August 19, 1728, and set- 
tled in Middletown, on land conveyed 
to him by his father in 1738, and died 
there in 1750. leaving daughters Ann, 
Elizabeth, Catharine, Rebecca and Mary 
and one son, John. 

S. James, who was baptised at Abing- 
ton as an adult September 16, 1716, and 
had children, i. Rebecca, 2. Flora, 3, 
John, 4. Jacobus, baptized there 1719- 
1733- 

— 6. Garret, purchased land of his fath- 
er in Middletown in 1742, died there in 
1789. leaving large family of children; 
see forward. 

7. Elizabeth, who married John Enoch 
in 1718, and left a large family. 

8. Alice, or Alshe, married Samuel 
Rue and left a number of children. 

9. Rachel, married Lewis Rue, March 
24. 1736, and left children. 

ID. Je.sina. who never married. 

II. CORNELIUS VAN SANDT, son 
of Garret (i) was born in New York, 
probably about the year 1672. On 12 mo. 
ID, 1698-9. he purchased 150 acres of 
land adjoining his father in Bensalem 
township. Bucks county. On May 4, 
1714. he conveyed this tract to Thomas 
Stevenson. It was probably in exchange 
for land in Cecil county, Maryland, as 
on the same date Stevenson conveyed 
to him 1,035 acres on the west side of 
Elk river, in New Mnnster township, 
Cecil county, Maryland. He was bap- 
tized at Pennypack Baptist church, Sep- 
tember 14, 1712, and in 1714, with wife 
Dericka. was "dismissed to Welsh 
Tract" Baptist church in Pencader Hun- 
dred, New Castle county. This church 
was organized by a colony of Welsh 
Baptists at Milford Haven, wdien about 
to embark for America, in 1701. On ar- 
riving in America they located at Pen- 
nypack. where they remained until 1703. 
when they located in New Castle on 
land donated to them by James James, 
and were ever after known as the 
"Welsh Tract Baptist Church." Cor- 
nelius Vansarjt remained a member of 
this church, and was buried there May 
I. 1734- His will, probated in Cecil 
county, mentions wife Mary and chil- 
dren Cornelius, Garret and Rebecca, all 
apparently minors. He evidently mar- 
ried a second time after his removal. 

III. Harman' Van Sandt, son of Gar- 
rett and Lysbeth Gerritz, was baptized 



at the Dutch Reformed church of New 
York, June 10, 1674, and died in Bensa- 
lem township, Bucks county, in 1759. He 
purchased August i, 1704, 250 acres of 
land in Bensalem of Thomas Stevenson, 
and on April 26, 1712, 250 more. On May 
26, 1713, he purchased 125 acres which 
had belonged to his brother Johannes, 
and devised it in his will to his daughr 
ter Catharine, wife of Daniel Severns. 
On May 20, 1741, he purchased 100 acres 
for his daughter Gazina, wife of Jacob 
Titus. He also purchased in 171 1 56 
acres in Southampton, which he con- 
veyed to his brother Jacobus. Harman 
Vansant was three times married. His 
first wife, whom he married in New 
Utrecht, was Elizabeth Brouwers. He 
married (second) in 1733 Jane Joudon, 
and (third) oji November 9, 1738, Judith 
Evans, who survived him. She had been 
twice married before becoming the wife 
of Harman Vansant, first to Cornelius 
McCarty, and second to John Evans, 
both of Basalem township. The children 
of Harman Vansant were as follows, all 
probably by Elizabeth, his first wife: 

I. Garret, who died in 1755, leaving 
a widow Mary and four children — Har-'' 
man, Peter, Elizabeth and Garret. Har-" 
man, who married Eleanor Vandegrift, 
was the administrator of his father in 
I7SS> and executor of the will of his 
grandfather in 1759. He was devised by 
the latter 125 acres of the land whereon 
his father had lived, and subsequently 
purchased considerable other land in 
Bensalem where he died in 1815. His 
children were: Jacob, baptized at South- 
ampton church, July 7, 1754: Joseph; 
Mary Van Horn; Eleanor, wife of Rob- 
ert Wood; Sarah Cox; Ann Pleamess 
and Garret. Peter was devised 100 acres 
of land by his grandfather. Elizabeth and 
Garret were the ancestors of practically 
all the Vansants of Bensalem. 

2. Gazina, who married Jacon Titus 
and lived on land devised to her by her 
father. She died prior to April 30, 1772, 
leaving children; Elizabeth, who mar- 
ried Ephraim Phillips, of Burlington, 
New Jersey; Olshe. who married Joseph 
Seaborne, of Warwick, Bucks county; 
Catharine, who married John Baker, of 
Mt. Holly, New Jersey; Charity, wife of 
Samuel Sutton, of Byberry, Jacob. Se- 
ruch and William, of Bensalem; and Sa- 
rah of Byberry. 

3. Elizabeth, who married May 6, 1719, 
Volkert Vandegrift, and had nine chil- 
dren, and died before her father. See 
Vandegrift Family. 

' 4. Katharine, who married Daniel 
Severns and lived on land in Bensalem 
devised to her by her father. 

5. Harman, who married Alice Craven, 
daughter of James Craven, of Warmins- 
ter, Bucks county, and died in 1735, 
leaving four children, mentioned in his 
father's will in 1755. three of whom were 
James, Harman and William. James 



26 



HISTORY OP BUCKS COUXTY. 



was born in 1731, and died in Nortlianip- 
ton, January 31, 1798; he married Aug- 
ust 23, 1756, Jane Bennett, daughter of 
William and Charity Bennett, and set- 
tled in Northampton in 1764; James and 
Jane were the ])arents of thirteen chil- 
dren: Harman, married Alice Ilogeland 
and settled in Warminster; Charity, wife 
of John Corson, Esq.; William; Charles; 
Elizabeth; Eleanor, wife of John Brown; 
Richard; Isaac; John; Alice; James; 
Aaron, and Mary. Harman, son of Har- 
man and Alice (Craven) Vansant, mar- 
ried Catharine Hogeland, and died in 
Warminster in 1823; was many years a 
justice; he left but one child, Elizabeth, 
wife of James Edams. William died in 
Warminster in 1805 

IV. Josias Van Sandt, son of Garret 
and Lysbeth Gerritz, was baptized at 
the Dutch Reformed church of New 
York, October 29, 1676. but as we find 
no further record of him he probably 
died in childhood. 

V. ALBERT VAN SANDT, son of 
Garret (i) was baptized at Flatbush, 
May 13, 1681. He married November 8, 
1704, Rebecca Vandegrift, daughter of 
Leonard and Gertje (Ellsworth) Van- 
degrift. He probably removed with 
the rest of the family to Bensalem, 
Bucks county, as he joined in the deed 
conveying his father's real estate, but 
in 1708-9, in connection with his bro- 
ther-in-law, Jacob Vandegrift, purchased 
500 acres of land in St. George's Hun- 
dred, New Castle county. He seems also 
to have purchased land in Georgetown, 
Kent county, Maryland, which he con- 
veyed to his brother George, May 14, 
"^737- 111 1743 lie and his wife Rebecca, 
of St. George's Hundred, New Castle 
county, Delaware, joined in the deed for 
his father-in-law's real estate in Bensa- 
lem. After this date and prior to De- 
cember 16, 1751, the date of his will, he 
married a second wife, Sarah, who is 
named as executrix. His children were: 
Elizabeth, baptized October 3, 1705, mar- 
ried a Joudon; Leonard, baptized No- 
vember 5, 1707, probably died young, 
not mentioned in will; Harmanus; 
James; John; Garret; Christina, mar- 
ried a Dushane; Rebecca, married a Mar- 
tin; and Ann, who married a Brown. 

VI. JOHANNES (or John) VAN 
SANDT, born on Long Island, son of 
Garret (i), married at the First Pres- 
byterian church of Philadelphia, 12 mo. 
17, 1702, Leah Grocsbeck, probably 
daughter of Jacob Groesbeck, who ac- 
companied the Vansants from Long Isl- 
and .to Bensalem and purchased land 
there. John Vansand, as he signed his 
name, purchased August I, 1704, 125 
acres of land in Bensalem of Thomas 
Stevenson, but reconveyed it to Stev- 
enson, May 17. 1714, and the latter im- 
mediately conveyed it to Harmon Van- 
Sandt before mentiontd. On the same 
date Stevenson conveyed to him 500 



acrs of land on Elk River, Cecil county, 
Maryland. It is probable that his in- 
tention to move to Maryland was- 
frustrated by his sickness and death. 
His will is dated October 30, 1714, and 
was proved the sixth of the following 
January. It devises to son John forty 
shillings, and to his wife Leah his per- 
sonal estate and the use of his Mary- 
land real estate, if not sold, during life 
for "the educaticui and maintenance of. 
herself and children." Believing that it 
will be necessary to sell his Maryland 
real eistate, he empowers Stofifel Van- 
sand and Bartholomew Jacobs to sell it. 
If not sold, to be valued and divided 
between the two boys, they paying their 
sisters their equal shares. The only child 
mentioned was John. It is possible that 
the other of "the two boys" was Gar- 
ret, who had a number of children bap- 
tized at St. Stephen's church, Cecil 
county, beginning with 1721. A daughter 
Rachel was baptized June 5, 1711. 
TJ^'-ijACOBUS (or James) VAN SANDT, 
son of Garret (i), was baptized at Flat- 
bush, Long Island, February 15, 1685, 
and removed with his father to Bensa- 
lem, Bucks county, in 1699. He married 
at the First Presbyterian church of 
Philadelphia, on January 7, 1707-8, Re- 
becca Vandegrift, daughter of Nicho- 
las and Barentje (Verkerk) Vandegrift, 
who had come to Bensalem from Long 
Island at the same date as the Vansants, 
(See Vandegrift Family). Jacobus and 
his wife joined the Bensalem church, 
Neshaminy branch, at its institution in 
1710. On April 7, 1711, Benjamin Hop- 
per conveyed to Jacobus Vansand, of 
Bensalem, yeoman, 100 acres of land in 
Southampton, and on January I, 1712, 
his brother Harman Vansandt and Eli- 
zabeth his wife conveyed to Jacobus fif- 
ty acres adjoining the 150 which had 
been purchased by Harman of Ezra 
Bowen, June 13, 171 1. He later purchased 
144 acres of land of Cornelius Egmont, 
which he devised to his son Nicholas. 
The will of Jacobus Vansandl, of South- 
ampton, is dated December 12, 1744. a"fl 
was proven January 9, 1745- It devises 
to son Jacob the 150 acre farm on which 
he dwelt, reserving certain p-ivileges to 
his wife Rebecca: the Egmont farm to 
son Nicholas: mentions daughters Eliza- 
beth and Rebecca as having received 
their shares, the latter being ceceased; 
sons Jacobus, Garret and Isaiah, and 
grandson Charles Inyard, to have equal 
shares. The will names "kinsman John 
Vansand" and friend Nathaniel Brittian 
as executors, but they renouncing, as 
also did the widov/, letters were granted 
to the sons James and Nicholas. The 
will is signed "J. V." His widow Re- 
becca survived him two years, leaving 
will dated November 18, 1746, and 
])roved January 13, 1746-7. and men- 
tions the sanfe children, and grandson 
diaries Inyar<l. The cliildren of Ja- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



27 



cobus and Rebecca Vandegrift Vansandt 
were: Jacobus (or James) baptized De- 
cember I, 1708; married 10 mo, i, 1732, 
Margaret Rreece. daughter of Hendrick 
and Hannah (Field) Breece of Bensalem; 
see ancestry of Lewis R. Bond, in this 
volume. 

2. Elizabeth, baptized May 21. 17 10; 
married 4 mo. i, 1732, Charles Inyard, 
ef Warminster, and left one son, Charles 
Inyard. 

3. Garret, married May 13, 1739. Ann 
Groome of Southampton. 

4. Nicholas, baptized January i, 1711-12, 
married May 18, 1744, Mary Brittian. 

5. Rebecca baptized August 7, 1716, 
married Isaac Larue. 

6. Isaiah, married June 6, 1732, Char- 
ity (or Gertrude) VanHorn. 

7. Jacob. 

James, who married Margaret Breece. 
was a mason, and in 1734 purchased of 
Gidean de Camp 100 acres in Warmin- 
ster, which he sold in 1748. At about 
the same date he signed a release to his 
brothers-in-law, Hendrick, and John 
Breese for legacy left his wife by her 
father, and probably accompanied his 
brother-in-law Hendrick Breece to Har- 
ford county, Maryland. Garret, the sec- 
ond son, was a blacksmith in Southamp- 
jton. His will dated 9 mo. 29, 1779, is on 
file in the register of wills' office of 
Bucks county, but does not appear to 
have been proven. It mentions wife 
Ann and the following children: Will- 
iam; Phebe, who married ]\Iiles Strick- 
land, December 24, 1760; Mary and Re- 
becca Walton; Margaret Foster; "daugh- 
ter Elizabeth's three sons, Amos, Breece 
and Mahlon Vansant; John; Ann Rich- 
ardson; Esther Vansant and James. 

Nicholas, the third son. married Mary 
Brittian and had two children. Captain 
Nathaniel Vansant, of the Revolution; 
and Rebecca, who married January 9, 
1768, Daniel Boileau. Nicholas died 
about May i, 1801, and his widow Mary 
in March, 1808. 

Isaiah, the fourth son, rr\arried Gertje 
(or Charity) Van Horn, daughter of 
Peter and Elizabeth Van Horn of Mid- 
dletown. On March 18, 17^6-7, he pur- 
chased at sheriflf's sale 178^4 acres of 
land in Makefield township. In 1754 he 
purchased a small tract adjoining, and in 
1768 purchased of John Scott 100 acres 
in Upper Makefield. His children w^ere: 
Isaiah; Elizabeth, wife of Cornelius Van- 
degrift; Rachel, wife of George Merrick, 
married 4 mo. T2. 1769; Charity; Sarah, 
who married Christian VanHorn, June 
14, 1764; Mary, who married Gabriel 
VanHorn, January 18, 1772; Joshua; 
Peter, who married Elizabeth W^ollard 
April 8. 1778, and (second) Alethia Cur- 
tis; Gabriel; and Cornelius, who married 
Mary Larzelere. The will of Isaiah Van- 
sant is dated April 15, 1786, and 
was proved September 28, 1786. It 



devises to son Joshua the land 
bought of John Scott in Upper Make- 
field, and to Gabriel and Cornelius the 
home plantation, "reserving one-fourth 
of an acre for a graveyard, where I have 
began to bury, for myself and my rela- 
tions;" mentions Elijah, eldest son of 
Isaiah, daughter Rachel's three children; 
daughter Charity's four children, and 
daughter Mary, and her daughter Char- 
ity; and daughter tElizabeth. 

Jacob, the youngest son of Jacobus 
and Rebecca Vansant, inherited from his 
father the homestead in Southampton, 
and died there in 1812, devising ninety 
acres thereof to his daughter Elizabeth 
Vansant. His other children were: Jane, 
who married Samuel Dickson; and Mar- 
garet, wdio married Jacob Roads. 

VIII. GEORGE VAN SANDT, son 
of Garret (i) was baptized at Flatbush, 
Long Island, April 24, 1687, and re- 
moved with the family to Bensalem, 
Bucks county, in 1699. He married 12 
mo. 17, 1706, Micah Vandegrift. He 
joined his brother Jacobus in the pur- 
chase of his father's Bensalem farm in 
1706, and purchased his brother's inter- 
est on- April 2, 1711. On May 17, 1714, 
he and wife Micah conveyed this 150 
acres in Bensalem to Thomas Stevenson, 
and removed to Cecil county, Maryland, 
where he purchased of Gideon Pearce, 
February 20, 1721, a tract of land called 
"Forks and Revision," and in 1737 pur- 
chased of his brother Albert part of a 
tract called "Tolchester." On October 
17, "^733, he and wife "Mary" convey to 
his son Nicholas, a tract called "Nich- 
olas' Inheritance," and on same date, 
they convey to son George other lands. 
In 1745 they convey parts of "Tolches- 
ter" to sons Ephraim and Benjamin. 
From the w-ill of George Vansant, proven 
:\Iarch 22, 1755, we learn that his chil- 
dren were Nicholas, Cornelius, George, 
Benjamin, Ephraim, John; Elizabeth, 
wife of Peter Cole; Hester Newcombe, 
Resultah Salisbury, and Ann Smith. 

X. GARRET VAN SANDT, young- 
est son of Garret (i) was a minor when 
his father's real estate was conveyed in 
1706. He settled in Wrightstown town- 
ship, near Penn's Park, where he had a 
large plantation. He died in 1746, leav- 
ing a widow Claunchy, sons Garret and 
Cornelius, to whom he devised the plan- 
tation; and daughters Sarah Sackett, 
Rachel Dungan and Rebeclcah Vansant. 
the latter a minor. Cornelius married 
Mary Lee, December 6, 1748, and died in 
March, 1789, without issue. His wife 
Mary died in August, 1808. Garret, eld- 
est son of Garret and Claunchy, inher- 
ited one-half of the Wrightstown home- 
stead, and died there in June; 1806. He 
married April 30, 1760, Rebecca Evans, 
who survived him. She was possiblv his 
second wife. Their children were Eliza- 
beth Addis, Rebecca McClellan. and 
Marv, wife of Joseph Carver. Rebecca^ 



28 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



daughter of Garret, Sr.. married a Brit- 
tian, whose son Joseph and grandson 
Cornelius are mentioned in the will of 
Cornelius Van Sant. 

Garret Vansant of Middlctown. son of 
Stophel, received by deed of gift from 
his father on October 21, 1742, gsYj acres 
of land, part of 300 acres purchased bj' 
Stophel of Henry Paulin in 1706, and on 
January 10, 1748, purchased 214 acres in 
Middletown of Charles and Ann Plumlj'. 
On June 25, 1789, he conveys the last 
mentioned tract in about equal parts to 
his sons, Garret, Jr., and John, and on 
July 31, 1789, he convej'ed to his son 
George the 95^ acres conveyed to him 
by his fatliei. No record appears of the 
name of his wife. A Garret Vansant 
married Leah Nixon at Churchville, 
April 15, 1747, which was probably this 
Garret, although it may have been his 
cousin Garret, of Wrightstown. The will 
of Garret Vansant is dated July 7, 1789, 
and was proven August 7, 1789, only a 
week after the couA'eyance of his land. 
It mentions the children of his son 
Jacob, and their mother Mary Vastine; 
daughters Rachel Harrison, Keziah 
Sweetman, Vashti Vansant and Sarah 
Hise; sons John, Garret and George, and 
grandson James Vansant. Jacob, the 
eldest son. married Mary Richardson, 
daughter of Joseph Richardson, and set- 
tled in Falls township, Bucks county, 
where he died in April, 1785. leaving chil- 
dren: Elizabeth, James, Catharine and 
Garret. His widow married Benjamin 
Vastine prior to 1789. George Vansant 
married Sarah Johnston, December 24, 
1783. He sold the old homestead to 
Joshua Woolston in 1794, and removed 
to Bristol township. John married Le- 
titia Leaw and died in Middletown in 
1812, leaving a son John, and daughters 
Ann Leah Lovett and Amelia Booz. Gar- 
ret Vansant. Jr.. remained on the home- 
stead purchased of his father in 1789 un- 
til 1822, when he convej^ed it to his sons 
James and John, and soon after removed 
to Newtown, where he died in 1842 at an 
advanced age. His wife Mary had died 
many years previously. The children of 
Garret and Mary Vansant were John, 
James, Martha: Jane, wife of Isaac Ran- 
dall; Rachel wife of Eber Randall; and 
Mary, wife of Jonathan Hunter. James 
died in Middletown in 1833, leaving a 
widow Amy and two children. Elizabeth, 
born March 11, 1821, and James born 
May I. 1826. 

JAMES TITUS VANSANT, of Mid- 
dletown township, son of John and Mary 
(Hunter) Vansant. and grandson of Gar- 
ret and Mary Vansant, last mentioned, 
was born in MiddletowMi township May 
-^• ^837. where he was educated at the 
public scliools. and has spent his whole 
life on the farm that has been the prop- 
erty of his direct ancestors since 1748, 
and part of it since 1704. On January 
21, 1863. he married Lucy Ann Carman, 



daughter of Samuel and Mary Ann 
(Brown) Carman, of Bensalem townships 
and granddaughter of Barzilla and Beu- 
lah Carman. Her maternal grandparents 
were Israel and Sarah (Hellings) Brown, 
the latter being a daughter of Nathan 
and Rachel Hellings, of an old Middle- 
town, Bucks county, family whose pro- 
genitor was Nicholas Hellings, an early 
settler in Northampton. Mr. and Mrs. 
Vansant are the parents of eight chil- 
dren, viz.: Samuel Jennings, born Au- 
gust IS, 1865. died February 28, 1904; 
William Carman, born May 14, 1867; 
John Andrew, born August 11, 1869; 
Howard, born September 12. 1871; Clar- 
ence, born August 22, 1873; James Mer- 
ton. born November 15, 1875. Joseph 
Winder, born January 10, 1879; Lucy 
Ann. born June 16. 1883. Samuel Jen- 
nings Vansant married August, 1891, 
Martha A. Tomlinson of Fox Chase, and 
they are the parents of three children — 
Roy. Arthur and Frederick. William 
Carman Vansant married January I, 
•1894, Melvina Search, and they have 
four children — Charles Search, James 
Merton, Mary, and Edward. Mrs. Mel- 
vina Search died in December, 1904. 
John Andrew Vansant married April 13, 
1900, Ella. Sickle, and had one child 
Esther Helen. Clarence Vansant married, 
January 25, 1898, Clara Worthington, 
and their children are: Harriet, born Oc- 
tober 21. 1898; and Samuel, born Octo- 
ber 19. 1901. James M. Vansant married, 
March 6, 1900, Ada K. Hibbs, and their 
children are: Albert Hunter, born De- 
cember 31, 1900; and Clifford Randall, 
born July 31, 1903. Joseph Winder Van- 
sant married June i, 1904, Matilda Pre- 
vost McArthur. 

Mr. Vansant is one of the prominent 
and successful men of the county, and 
has held many positions of trust. He 
owns a large amount of real estate, in 
dwellings and farms and takes a lively 
interest in the affairs of the county. He 
and his family are members of the Meth- 
odist church. In politics he is a Re- 
publican. He is a member of Nesha- 
miny Lodge, No. 422, I. O. O. F., of 
Hulmeville. 

HOWARD VANSANT. fourth son of 
James T. and Lucy Ann (Carman) Van- 
sant. was born in Middletown township, 
September 12, 1871. and received his ele- 
mentary education at the public schools. 
He graduated from Pierce's Business 
C>)llege in 1891. and for one winter filled 
the position in that institution as teacher 
in the banking department. He then 
accepted the position of bookkeeper for 
.Augustes Beitney, which he filled for 
six j-ears. and then entered into the em- 
ploy of Walton Bros., grain merchants 
of Philadelphia, as bookkeeper, and after 
a short time was promoted to the posi- 
tion of general superintendent, haying 
general charge of their large warehouse. 
The firm has for many years done a 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



29 



large business, and is one of the largest 
dealers in that line in Philadelphia. In 
politics Air. Vansant is a Republican, 
and takes an active interest in the af- 
fairs of the town in which he lives. He 
has been for many years a member of the 
borough council, and is now filling the 
position of clerk of that body. He is a 
member of the Masonic fraternity, being 
affiliated with Bristol Lodge No. 25, F. 
and A. M. He is also a member of 
Neshaminy Lodge, No. 422, L O. O. F., 
of Hulmeville, of which he is a past 
grand. He married, November 12, 1895. 
Cora Wilson, daughter of Charles and 
Sarah (Snyder) Wilson, of Trenton, New 
Jersey, and a granddaughter of Chris- 
topher and Sarah (Snyder) Wilson. They 
are the parents of two children, Ella 
Praul, born February 23, 1900; and 
Elisha Praul, born March 9, 1904- 

ANCESTRY OF MARTIN V. B. and 
NATHANIEL VANSANT, of South- 
ampton. 

Captain Nathaniel Vansant, only son 
of Nicholas and Mary (Brittian) Van- 
sant, of Southampton, was born on the 
old homestead in that township, March 
13- 1745- At the outbreak of the Revolu- 
tion he was a resident of Bensalem town- 
ship having purchased a farm there in 
1777. He was commissioned first lieu- 
tenant of the Associated company of that 
township. From the very beginning of 
the arming for the conflict with the 
mother country, the Vansants were fore- 
most in oft^ering their services for home 
defense and militia service. Garret and 
Peter were members of the Bensalem 
company; Garret. of Southampton, 
brother of Nicholas, ^.nd uncle to Cap- 
tain Nathaniel, was second lieutenant of 
the Southampton company in 1775. and 
was second lieutenant of the Fifth Com- 
pany of the First Battalion in the re- 
organization of 1777- Nicholas, father 
of Captain Nathaniel, and Jacob, his 
brother were both members of the 
Southampton company in 1775. In i\Iid- 
dletown. George and John, sons of Gar- 
ret and grandsons of Stophel, were mem- 
bers of the Associated company of that 
township. James, son of Harman and 
grandson of Harman. Sr.. the only mem- 
ber of the family in Northampton, joined 
the Associated company there in 1775. 
Peter, of Lower Makefield, son of Isaiah 
and grandson of Jacobus, was captain of 
the company of that township, and his 
brother Cornelius was second lieutenanh^ 

The member of the family, however, 
who rendered pre-eminent service and 
suffered untold hardships in the defense 
of his country was Captain Nathaniel 
Vansant. of Bensalem. He was commis- 
sioned a captain January 5, 1776. in Col- 
onel Robert Magaw's Fifth Pennsylvania 
Battalion of the Flying Camp, in which 
there was a large number of Bucks coun- 
tians. who through the treachery of Ma- 



gaw's adjutant, were badly routed at 
Fort Washington, New York, on No- 
vember 16, 1776, and 2,700 American sol- 
diers were taken prisoners, including 
Magaw and almost his entire command. 
Captain Vansant was captured with the 
rest, and for two years suffered the hor- 
rors of imprisonment in the floating hells 
in New York harbor and the loathsome 
warehouses in the city. Many of the let- 
ters written home to his wife while a 
prisoner are in the possession of the 
Bucks County Historical Society and of 
members of the family. The quaint 
chapeau worn by him in the service is 
also in possession of the Historical So- 
ciety. 

Captain Vansant married August 27, 
1768. at the Dutch Reformed church of 
Southampton, Hannah Vansandt. There 
seems to be some dispute about the 
maiden name of Hannah Vansant; both 
the church records and that of the grant- 
ing of the license by the civil authorities 
give it as Vanzandt, while his descen- 
dants claim that her name was Brittian, 
the same as that of the Captain's mother. 
It seems to be conceded that she was 
his cousin, and it is probable that she 
was the daughter of his uncle, James 
Vansandt. who married Margaret, daugh- 
ter of Hendrick and Hannah (Field) 
Breece. Hannah was born January 16, 
1746, and died August 19, 1818. The chil- 
dren of Captain Nathaniel and Hannah 
Vansant were as follows: Harman, who 
died of yellow fever in Philadelphia dur- 
ing the epidemic of that disease in the 
city, about the close of the century; and 
Nicholas, born February 25, 1771. died 
April 19. 1850. 

Nicholas, as only surviving child of 
Nathaniel and Hannah Vansant, inher- 
ited the real estate of his father, who 
died August 8, 1825. intestate. He lived 
and died on the old homestead in South- 
ampton, which remained in the family 
for six generations and until 1889, when 
it was sold, a period of at least one hun- 
dred and fifty years. Nicholas married 
Alary Larzelcre. daughter of Nicholas 
and Hannah (Brittian) Larzelere of Ben- 
salem township. She was born Septem- 
ber 8, 1772, and died October 27, 1863. 
The children of Nicholas and Mary 
(Larzelere) Vansant were: 

1. Alary, born September 6. 1795, mar- 
ried Jacob Vansant, and had two chil- 
dren, Franklin, who married a Hogeland, 
and Angelina. 

2. Nathaniel, born April 14, 1797, mar- 
ried z\lice Vanartsdalen; see forward. 

3. Elizabeth, born February 24. I799, 
married Silas Rhoads, and had one child, 
Alary Ann, who married William Go- 
forth. 

4. Benjamin, born February 14, 1803. 
died June. 1869; married (first) Sarah 
Campbell, born Alarch 7. 1810, died 
Alarch to. 1853: and (second) Jane Lu- 
kens. The children of the first marriage 



30 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



were: Lendrum L., born October 4, 
1832; Elizabeth R., who married J. Paul 
Knight; Harriet P., who married George 
Shoemaker; and Charles R., who mar- 
ried Carrie Saurman. The only child of 
the second marriage was Dr. Benjamin 
Vansant. 

5. Nicholas L., born September 7, 
1807; married Margaret Vandegrift, and 
had two children, Mahlon and Marj^ Ann. 

The children of Nathaniel and Alice 
(Vanartsdalen) Vansant, were: 

1. Mary Amanda, born March 26, 1824, 
married Anderson Leedom, and had 
three children: Thomas, deceased; Alice, 
wife of John Tomlinson; and Nathaniel, 
who married Martha Comly. 

2. Casper R., born April 3, 1826, died 
June 26, 1881, married Ellen Field, and 

had two children: Nathaniel, born Oc- 
tober 12, 1859; see forward; and Levi, 
who married Ida Sickle. 

3. Nicholas B., born January 28, 1828, 
went to California, where he probably 
died. 

4. Hiram R., born January 12, 1831, 
•died September 19, 1888. 

5. Jacob W., born March 7. 1833: mar- 
ried Esther Buckman, and had five chil- 
dren: Alice, who married William Brad- 
field; Watson, who married a VanReif; 
Howard, who married Lydia Stout; 
Leonard, who married Sarah Yerkes; and 
Mary who married Horace Blaker. 

6. Howard S., born February 13. 
1835; married Elizabeth Fetter. He died 
July 9, 1866. 

7. MARTIN VAN BUREN VAN- 
SANT, born on the old homestead in 
Southampton, February 4, 1839. He was 
reared on the old homestead and edu- 
cated at the public schools. He learned 
the trade of a miller, and was engaged in 
the milling business at Churchville for a 
number of years. At his father's death 
in 1883 he purchased the old homestead 
in Southampton, and subsequently sold 
it to Dr. Benjamin Baer, of Philadelphia. 
Mr. Vansant was never married. In pol- 
itics he is a Democrat. He never held 
other than local offices, having filled 
that of assessor, which office, by the way, 
was held by his great-great-grandfather 
under Colonial authority, the original 
commission being in possession of the 
Bucks County Historical Society. 

NATHANIEL VANSANT, son of 
Casper (4) and Ellen (Field) Vansant. 
was born at Somerton. Philadelphia 
county. October 12,. 1859, but was reared 
in Southampton township, Bucks county, 
and educated at the local schools. His 
father purchased a farm in Southamp- 
ton in 1870, which he conveyed to Na- 
thaniel in 1888, and he has always fol- 
lowed the life of a farmer. In politics 
he is a Democrat. He has filled the of- 
fice of school director for several years. 
He was married in September, 1888. to 



Wilhelmina Depew, and they are the 
parents of two children: Blanche, born 
March 10, 1890; and Viola E., born Oc- 
tober 8, 1892. 



THE VANDEGRIFT FAMILY is of 
Holland descent, their progenitor being 
Jacob Lendertsen Van der Grift (that is, 
son of Lenerd) who with his brother 
Paulus Lenertsen Van der Grifc, came 
from Amsterdam about 1644 and settled 
in New Amsterdam. Both of the Van 
der Grift brothers were in the employ of 
the West India Company. Paulus was 
skipper of the ship "Neptune" in 1645, 
and of the "Great Gerrit"' in 1646. He 
was a large landholder in New Amster- 
dam as early as 1644. He was a member 
of council, 1647-1648; burgomaster 1657- 
1658, and 1661-1664; orphan master 1656- 
1660; member of convention, 1653 and 
1663. On February 21, 1664. Paulus 
Leendersen and Allard Anthony were 
spoken of as "co-patroons of the new 
settlement of Noortwyck, on the North 
River." He had five children baptized ai 
the Dutch Reformed church, and he and 
his wife were witnesses to the baptism of 
five of the eight children of his brother 
Jacob. Paulus Leendertsen Van der 
Grift sold his property in New Amster- 
dam in 1671, and returned with his fam- 
ily to Europe. 

Jacob Lendertsen Van die Grifte, bot- 
tler, of New Amsterdam, in the service 
of the West India Company, on Septem- 
ber II, 1648, granted a power of Attor- 
ney to Marten IMartense Schoenmaker, of 
Amsterdam, Holland, to collect from the 
West India Company such amounts of 
money as he (Van die Grift) had earned 
at Curocoa, on the ship "Swol". em- 
ployed by that company to ply between 
the island of Curocoa and New Nether- 
lands. The early records of New Am- 
sterdam give a considerable account of 
this ship "Swol." It carried twenty-two 
guns and seventy-six men. In 1644 it 
was directed to proceed to New Amster- 
dam, and on arriving, "being old." it 
was directed to be sold. Another boat 
was', however, given the same name, be- 
ing sometimes mentioned as the "New 
Swol." 

On July 19, 1648. Jacob Lendertsen 
Van der Grist was married at New Am- 
sterdam to Rebecca Fredericks, daugh- 
ter, of Frederick Lubbertsen. On March 
7. 1652, he sold as attorney for his 
father-in-law, fifty morgens and fifty-two 
rods of land on East river. On Febru- 
ary 19, 1657, Jacob Leendersen V.nn die 
Grift was commissioned by the burgo- 
masters and schepens of New Amster- 
dam as a measurer of grain. To this ap- 
pointment was affixed instructions "that 
from now nobody shall be allowed to 
measure for himself or have measured 
by anybody else than the sworn meas- 
urers, any grain, lime or other goods 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



31 



which are sold by the tun or schepel. or 
come here from elsewhere as cargoes 
and in wholesale, under a penalty of £3 
for first transgression, £6, for sec- 
ond and arbitrary correction for the 
third." In 1656 Jacob Leendertsen Van- 
dergrift was made a small burgher of 
New Amsterdam. In 1662 he was a resi- 
dent of Bergen, New Jersey, where he 
subscribed toward the salary of a min- 
ister. On April 9, 1664, he and his wife, 
Rebecca Fredericks, were accepted as 
members of the church at "Breukelen," 
upon letters from Middlewout, (now 
Flatlands); his residence on the west 
side of the river must, therefore, have 
been of short duration. On May 29, 
1664. then living under the jurisdiction 
of the village of Breukelen, Long Island, 
he applies to council for letters of ces- 
sion with committimus to the court, to 
relieve him from his creditors on his 
turning over his property in their be- 
half, he being "burdened with a large 
family, and on account of misfortune be- 
fallen some years ago, not having been 
able to forge ahead, notwithstanding all 
efforts and means tried by him to that 
end, etc." There are records of a num- 
ber of suits prior to this date, in which 
he appears either as plaintiff or defen- 
dant. In 1665 he was living on the 
strand of the North river, New Amster- 
dam, where he is assessed towards pay- 
ing the expense of quartering one hun- 
dred English soldiers on the Dutch 
burghers. On. October 3, 1667, he re- 
•ceived a patent from Governor Nicolls 
for land on the island of Manhattan, on 
the north side of the Great Creek, which 
he sold to Isaac Bedloe, in 1668. He 
probably removed at this date to Noord- 
wyck. on the North river, where he pur- 
chased in 1671 the land of his brother 
Paulus, who had returned to Amster- 
dam. In 1686 he appears as an inhabi- 
tant of Newton, Long Island, where he 
probably died, though the date of his 
death has not been ascertained. His 
widow removed with her children to 
Bensalem, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
in 1697, and was living there in 1710. The 
children of Jacob Lendertsen and Re- 
becca Fredericks Van der Grift, baptised 
at the Dutch Reformed Church of New 
Amsterdam, were as follows: 

1. IMartje. baptised August 29. 1649, 
married Cornelius Corsen. March^ 11, 
1666. He was baptised at New York, 
April 23, 1645. being the son of Cor- 
nelius Piterse Vroom. and Trynt.ie Hen- 
dricks. After the death of Vroom, 
Tryntje had married Frederick Lub- 
bertsen. the grandfather of Marytje, 
father-in-law of Jacob Lendeert=en Van 
der' Grift. Many descendants of Corne- 
lius Corssen and Marytje Van de Grift 
still reside in Bucks county. 

2. Christina Van de Grift, baptised 
February 26, 1651, married (first) Oc- 



a widower, by whom she had two chil- 
dren, Abraham and Jacobus. She mar- 
ried (second) April 14, i68r, Daniel 
Veenvous, from Beuren, in Gelderland, 
by whom- she had five children — Wil- 
helmina, Rebecca and Contantia; two 
others also named Rebecca died in in- 
fancy. 

3. Anna Van de Grift, baptised March 
16, 1653, married, September 29, 1674. 
*Jacob Claessen Groesbeck. They re- 

;^tober 9, 1678, Cornelius Jacobse Schipper, 
moved to Bucks county with the rest of 
the Vandegrift family in 1710, but little 
is known of them other than that he pur- 
chased land in Bensalem adjoining that 
of his brothers-in-law, and that two of • 
his daughters married into well known 
families of Bucks. Their children were; 
Rebecca, baptised June 23, 1673; Eliza- 
beth, baptised September 4, 1677; Leah, 
baptised February ir, 1680, married 12 
mo. 17, 1702, Johannes Van Sandt; 
Rachel, baptised November 21, 1682, mar- ' 
ried November 8, 1704. James Biddle; and •' 
Johanna, baptised August 9, 1685. 

4. Leendert (Leonard) Van de Grift, 
baptised December 19, 1655, died in 
Bensalem, Bucks county, 1725; married, 
November 20, 1678, Styntje Ellsworth. 
He, with his three brothers and two 
brothers-in-law, purchased land in Ben- 
salem in 1697 of Joseph Growdon, Leon- 
ard's purchase being two tracts of 135 
and 106 acres respectively. He subse- 
quently purchased seventy-four acres of 
his brother Frederick. He and his wife 
were received at Bensalem church in 
1710, and he was appointed junior elder. 
On December 30, 1715- he was commis- 
sioned a justice of the peace. Letters 
of administration were granted on his 
estate February 18. 1725, to his eldest 
son Abraham, known as "Abraham. Van- 
degrift, by the River." The children of 
Leonard and Styntje (Ellsworth) Van- 
degrift were: i. Jacob, baptised Septem- 
ber 20, 1679; 2. Christoffel, baptised Au- 
gust, 1681, married July 7, 1704, Sarah 
Druith; 3. Rebecca, baptised December 
15, 1683, married November 8, 1704, Al- 
bert Van Sandt; 4. Abraham, baptised 
July 4, 1686, married October 17, 1716, 
Maritje Van Sandt, died March, 1748, 
leaving six children — Leonard, of Ben- 
salem; Garret and Abraham, of Philadel- 
phia: Christine, wife of Yost Miller, of 
Salem county. New Jersey; Mary, wife 
of Mathew Corbet, and Jemima, wife of 
George Taylor, of Chesterfield, New Jer- 
sey. 5. Anneken, baptised April 7, 1689, 
married Andrew Duow. 6. Elizabeth, 
baptised at Brooklyn, October 8. 1691, 
married May 23, 1710, "Francis Kroeson. 
7. Annetje, baptised June 12, 1695, mar- 



*Nicholas (or Claes^ Groesbeck. father of Jacob: 
was a carpenter of Albany. New York, in 1662. On 
October 10. 1696 deoosed th^t he was seventv-»wo 
years old. His will dated January 3. 1706-7, mentions 
wife Elizabeth, son Jacob and others. 



32 



HISTORY Of BUCKS COUNTY. 



ried December 22, 1715, Cornelius King. 
Ail of the above children of Leonard 
Vandegrift removed to New Lastle 
count}', Delaware, prior to the dealh of 
their father, except Abraham, to whom 
they conveyed the real estate in Bensa- 
leni in 1743. The above named heirs of 
Abraham conveyed the same to Leonard, 
eldest son of Abraham, in 1761. 

5. Nicholas Vandegrift, baptised May 
5, 1658, married at New Utrecht, Long 
Island, August 24, 1684, Barentje Ver- 
kirk, daughter of John Verkerk. They 
settled at New Utrecht, where he took 
the oath of allegiance to James II in 
1687, and where he purchased land in 
. 1691. He removed to Bucks county with 
his brothers and bothers-in-law in 1697, 
conveying his Long Island land after his 
removal. On July i, 1697, Joseph Grow- 
don conveyed to him 214 acres in Ben- 
salem. He joined the Bensalem church 
in 1710, and became a junior deacon. The 
records of the Dutch Reformed church 
show the baptism of three children, viz.: 
Rebecca, baptised July 26, 1685, mar- 
ried II mo. 7, 1707, Jacobus Van Sandt; 
Jan, baptised January i, 1691, married 
]\Iay 5, 1721, at Abington Presbyterian 
church, Anna (or Hannah) Backer; and 
Deborah, baptised April l, 1695, mar- 
ried Laurent Jansen,* or Johnson. Nich- 
olas Van de Grift removed to Sussex 
county, Delaware, conveying his land in 
1713 to Jacob Kollock, whose .w'idow 
Mary in 1722 conveyed it to Folert, son 
of John Vandegrift. 

6. Frederick Vandegrift, baptised Au- 
gust 20, 1661. purchased of Joseph 
Growdon on July i, 1697, 106 acres ad- 
joining that of his brothers in Bensalem 
township, Bucks county, a part of which 
he conveyed a year later to Leonard 
Vandegrift. If ever a resident of Bucks 
count}', he probably remained but a 
short time. 

7. Rachel Vandegrift. youngest daugh- 
ter of Jacob, was baptised at New York, 
August 20. 1664, and. married, in 1689. 
Barent Verkerk, son of Jan, and brother 
to his brother Nicholas's wife. Barent 
Verkerk purchased in 1697 a tract of 
land in Bensalem adjoining his brothers- 
in-law, all the deeds being from Joseph 
Growdon. and bearing the same date, 
July I. 1697. He died in 1739, leaving 
children: Jacob: John; Mary, married 
Niels Boon; Constantina. married James 
fitchet; Dinah, married James Keirll; 
and another daughter, who married an 
Underwood. 

8. Johannes Vandegrift, youngest son 
of Jacob Lendertsen and Rebecca Fred- 
erics Van der Grift, was baptised at New 
York. June 26. 1667, and died in Ben- 



*Laurent Jansen, or Lawrence Johnson, was doubt- 
less son of Clans Jansen. who purchased several 
tracts of land in Bensalem some years earlier than 
the Vandegrifts. He died in 1723. 'devising his lands 
to his sons Lawrence, John and Richard. The fami- 
lies later intermarried. • 



salem township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1745- He married, September 
23, 1694, Nealkie Volkers, widow of Cor- 
nelius Cortelyou, who was living at date 
of his will in 1732, but died before 1740. 
He married (second) July i, 1741, Eliza- 
beth Snowden, a widow. He purchased 
196 acres in Bensalem of Joseph Grow- 
don, adjoining the tracts of his brothers 
and brothers-in-law, the deed bearing 
date July i, 1697. He was an elder of 
the "Sammeny" church, having joined it 
at its organization in 1710. His will 
dated March 16, 1732, proved March 28, 
1745, devises to son Abraham the farm 
he lives on, for life, and if he die with- 
out issue it is to go to his surviving 
brothers and sisters. Some years later 
the children of Johannes entered into an 
agreement by which the land was to 
vest in the heirs of those deceased, even 
though they did not survive Abraham, 
and inasmuch as Abraham died without 
issue in 1781, the subsequent conveyances 
of the land throw light on the family 
connections. In 1786 the representatives 
of Jacob, Rebecca, Christana, and Hel- 
ena conveyed the land, 160 acres, to Jacob 
Jackson and later a partition thereof 
was had between Jackson and Abraham 
Harman and Cornelius, sons of Fulkert. 
The children of Johannes and Nealke 
(Volkers) Vandegrift were: i. Fulkert, 
born 1695, died 1775; married May 6, 
1719, Elizabeth Vansandt. and (second) 
August 10, 174^, Marytje Hufte. He was 
a considerable landholder in Bensalem. 
He had five sons: Folkhart, Harman, 
Abraham, Cornelius and John; and three 
daughters: Alice LaRue, Elizabeth 
Krusen and Elinor, most of whom have 
left descendants in Bucks county. 2. 
Jacob, baptised at New York, October 
14, 1696, died in Bensalem in 1771, mar- 
ried Choyes Toulej^ October 23, 1716. 
3. Abraham, born 1698, died 1781, mar- 
ried, but had no issue. 4. Rebecca, mar- 
ried John Van Horn, died 1786. 5. Chris- 
tiana, married November 8. 1722, Joseph 
Foster. 6. Lenah, married a Fulton. 7. 
Esther, baptized in Bucks count}'. May 
10. 1710. 

Most of the Vandegrifts of Bucks 
county are descendants of Johannes and 
Nealke (Volkers) Vandegrift. Leonard, 
grandson of Leonard, remained in Ben- 
salem, and the land originally settled by 
his grandfather descended to his son. 
Captain Josiah Vandegrift. John, son of 
Nicholas, became a large landholder in 
Bensalem; he died in 1765, leaving sons: 
Nicholas. Jacob, John. Joseph, for many 
years an innkeeper in Bensalem; and 
daughters: Catharine Sands; Esther, who 
married John Houten; and Rebecca 
Vansciver. Of the sons, John married' 
Ann Walton, May 28. 1761. and had chil- 
dren: Joshua. Joseph, John, Jonathan, 
and ]\Iary. The father died in 1777. and 
the widow Ann married Charles Fetters 
a jear later. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



33 



Jacob Vandegrift, son of Johannes and 
Nealke (Volkers) Vandegrift, baptized 
at New York, October 14, 1696, was but 
an infant less than a year old when his 
parents settled in Bensalein township, 
Bucks county. He married, October 2;^, 
â–  1716, Charity Touley. He became a 
large landholder and a prominent man in 
the community. He died in 1771. His 
children were,! John, died 1805, in Ben- 
salem, leaving live children, viz. :i Jacob, 
who settled in Northampton township; 
( John;VjJane, who married a Johnson; 
_, Bernard, settled in New Jersey; and Ab-"" 
' raham, who married Catharine Vande- 
grift a granddaughter of Fulerd. 2. Ber- 
nard, who was devised 200 acres in Up- 
per Dublin township, and settled there- 
on; 3. Jacob, who was devised by his 
father 200 acres of land whereon he was 
living at his father's death. 4. Charity 
(or Catharine) who married John Praul, 
January 20, 1757. 5. Helen (or Elinor) 
who married Harman Vansant. 

Jacob Vandegrift, third son of Jacob, 
married first Catrintje Hufte, May 19, 
1753. and (second) Sarah Titus, Febru- 
ary 5, 1775, as before stated he settled 
on 200 acres belonging to his father 
which descended to him at his father's 
death. He died in May, 1800, leaving 

five children; Jacob, married Elinor ; 

David, married Sarah — '■ ; William 

Bloomfield, the grandfather of Senator 

Vandegrift; Mary married Bennett; 

and Elizabeth, who married Daniel La- 
Rue. William Bloomfield Vandegrift in- 
herited from his father considerable real 
estate. He was the youngest son, and 
had just arrived at his majority when 
the will of his father was proved in 1800. 
He married Christiana Saund ers. His 
death occurred in 1854! HTs' children 
were seven in number, viz.; Sarah Ann, 
married Charles Tomlinson; Eliza L., 
married Jacob Johnson ; Eleanor, married 
Enos Boutcher; Alfred; Charles Souders ; 
William M., married Eliza Boutcher and 
Susan, married Peter Conover. 

Alfred Vandegrift was born in Ben- 
salem township in 1807, and died there 
' in 1861. In 1849 his father conveyed to 
him and his brother jointly a store prop- 
erty at Eddington, where they conduct- 
ed a mercantile business until the death 
of Alfred in 1861. In 1849 he also pur- 
chased of his father 31^^ acres on the 
Buck road, which had been the prop- 
erty of his ancestors for several genera- 
tions. He married Catharine Gibbs, 
daughter of John Gibbs, and granddaugh- 
ter of Richard Gibbs, who was sheriff 
^of Bucks county in 1771, and a promi- 
nent public man. His children were: 
John Gibbs, born September 2, 1834; 
William Bloomfield; Elinor, wife of 
William Lynesson Sayre; Charles Soud- 
ers, Jr.; Augustus: Henry S.; Lewis H.; 
Susan ; Mary : Christina ; Alfred and Eliza- 
beth LaRue. 

33 



HON. CHARLES SOUDERS VAN- 
DEGRIFT, son of Alfred and Catherine 
(Gibbs) Vandegrift, is a worthy representa- 
tive of an old and eminent family. He was 
born in Bensalem township, August 20, 
1839. He was reared on his father's farm, 
and attended the public schools until fifteen 
years of age, when he entered Captain 
Alden Partridge's Military School at 
China Hall, in Bristol township, where 
he remained for two years. At the age 
of seventeen he entered the employ of his 
uncle and namesake, Charles S. Vande- 
grift, Sr., in the country store at Ed- 
dington, where he remained as clerk and 
proprietor until 1873, when he sold out 
the store, and in connection with J. and 
E. Thomas opened a lumber yard on the 
Delaware at Eddington. This partner- 
ship continued until 1890, when he re- 
tired from the firm. Since that time he 
has been employed in the settlement of 
estates and the transaction of public 
business. In 1882 he was elected to the 
state senate and served four years. He 
was an active member of the upper 
house, and served on the ways and 
means, agriculture and other important 
committees. In politics he is a Democrat, 
and has served as representative to Dis- 
trict, State and National conventions. He 
has always taken an active interest in 
local matters, and served his township 
officially at dififerent periods. He is presi- 
dent of the Good Roads Association of 
Bensalem township, and one of its most 
active and efficient members. He is a di- 
rector of the Farmers' National Bank; 
president of the Farmers' and Mechanics' 
Mutual Insurance Company of Bucks 
and Philadelphia counties; president of 
the Doylestown Publishing Company; 
and treasurer and trustee of the Vande- 
grift Burial Ground at Cornwells. He is 
a past master of Bristol Lodge, No. 25, 
A. Y. F. and A. M.; of Harmony Chapter, 
No. 52, R. A. M.: and St. Johns Coni- 
mandery. No. 4, K. T., of Philadelphia, 
and is the district deputy grand master 
for the eighth district. He is a member 
of The Netherlands- Society of Phila- 
delphia. 

Mr. Vandegrift married, March ir, 
1862, Mary Hannah Rowland, daughter 
of Charles Rowland, of Chester county, 
Pennsylvania. To this marriage have 
been born two children : Frederic Beas- 
ley, born December 22, 1862: and George 
Bloomfield, born May 22, 1864. The lat- 
ter died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Van- 
degrift are members of the Presbyter- 
ian church. 



FREDERIC BEASLEY VANDE- 
GRIFT, son of Senator Charles S. Van- 
degrift, was educated at the public 
schools of Philadelphia, and at Smiths' 
Commercial College, after which he en- 
tered the office of John W. Hampton, Jr., 



34 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



custom house broker of Philadelphia, 
where he remained for eight years. He 
then entered into the business himself 
with offices in Philadelphia, New York 
and Chicago, and was also import freight 
agent. He continued to conduct the busi- 
ness of a custom house broker until his 
death. In 1893, feeling the necessity of 
a technical knowledge of the law in the 
transaction of his business, he entered 
himself as a student at law in the office 
of William S. Stanger, Esq., in Phila- 
delphia, and was admitted to the Phila- 
delphia bar in 1897, and was admitted 
to practice in the United States courts 
in January, 1899, but died on March 7, 
1899. 

Frederic B. Vandegrift made a close 
study of the tariflf on imports and be- 
came an expert on that subject. Among 
the papers prepared and published by 
him on the subject was one on the Mc- 
Kinley Tariff, and another on the Ding- 
ley Tariff. He received an order for 1,500 
copies of his work on the Dingley Tariff 
from the United States government, a 
copy of which was to be sent to every 
United States consul throughout the 
•world. He received the prize offered 
by the United States government for 
the most perfect paper on the tariff. Mr. 
Vandegrift became a distinguished mem- 
ber of the Masonic fraternity. He was 
made a Mason on March 8, 1884, by his 
father, Past Master Charles S. Vande- 
grift, and became master of Bristol 
Lodge, No. 25, in 1888; joined Harmony 
Chapter, R. A. M.. in 1889, and was 
elected king in 1899, which office he 
held at the time of his death. He joined 
St, Johns Commandery, K. T., in 1894, 
and held the office of captain general 
at the time of his death. He joined the 
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, 
January 18, 1895. and on June 21st re- 
ceived his thirty second degree, S. P. R. 
S. He was also a member of Lulu Tem- 
ple^ A. A. O. N. M. S., and was repre- 
sentative of University Lodge in the 
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania at the 
time of his death. On November 16. 
1887, he married Harriet Elizabeth Har- 
vey, of Philadelphia. This marriage was 
blessed with four daughters: Gertrude, 
Evelina, Lorame and Genevieve, all of 
whom are being educated at the Friends' 
Schools of Philadelphia. 



JOHN GTBBS VANDEGRIFT, eldest 
son of Alfred and Catharine (Gibbs) 
Vandegrift, and brother to Hon. Charles 
S. Vandegrift. the subject of the pre- 
ceding sketch, was born in Bensalem 
township, Bucks county, September 2, 
1834. He was educated at the public 
schools, and later received an academic 
education. He was reared on the farm, 
^nd for several j'cars followed the vo- 



cation of a farmer. In /§73 he pur- 
chased the store at Eddington and fol- 
lowed the mercantile business there for 
the rest of his life. He was a 'justice 
of the peace for twenty years, and filled 
many positions of trust. He took a 
deep interest in educational matters, and 
was for many years a member of the 
school board, acting as its secretary. He 
was a vestryman of the Episcopal church. 
In politics was a Democrat, but never 
sought or held other than local office. 
He was a member of Bristol Lodge, No. 
25, A. Y. F. and A. M.; of Harmony 
Chapter, R. A. M.; and St. Johns Com.- 
mandery, K. T. Mr. Vandegrift married 
March 27, 1861, Mary Jane Creighton, 
daughter of Thomas and Rebecca Ash- 
ton Creighton. She was born May 10, 
1832, at Holmesburg, Philadelphia, and 
died May 4, 1895. John G. Vandegrift 
died April 11, 1901. Two children were 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Vandegrift, Kath- 
erine and Lemuel. 

Lemuel Vandegrift was born August 
13. 1864. He was reared on a farm and 
attended public school. At the age of 
seventeen years he entered his father's 
store to assist him in the business, and 
at his death succeeded him in its con- 
duct. He was also elected a justice of 
the peace to succeed his father. He is 
a vestryman of the Episcopal church. In 
politics he is a Democrat. He is a mem- 
iaer of Bristol Lodge, No. 25, A. Y. F. and 
A. M., Philadelphia Chapter, R. A. M., 
and St. Johns Commanderj^ K. T. Mr. 
Vandegrift was married, April 6, 1893, 
to Mary Ella Carey, daughter of Seneca 
and Mary Ella (Moore) Carey. They 
are the parents of two children: Lem- 
uel Creighton, born July 26, 1895, and 
Marian Katharine, born July 8, 1897. 
Their eldest child, John G.. Jr., died in 
infancy. These children are being edu- 
cated in the public school of Bensalem. 



MOSES VANDEGRIFT. In the pre- 
ceding sketch of the descendants of Ja- 
cob Lender tsen Van der Grifte, who 
came from Holland in 1644 to New Am- 
sterdam, where he married in 1648, Re- 
becca Fredericks Lubbertsen. is given an 
account of the baptism and marriage of 
Johannes Van De Grift, youngest son of 
Jacob and Rebecca, and of the birth and 
marriage of his children. From two of 
the sons of Johannes and Nealkc (Volk- 
ers) Vandegrift is descended the subject 
of this sketch. Folkhart, the eldest, and 
Jacob the second son. 

Folkhart (or Fulkerd) Van de Grift, 
eldest son of Johannes, was born in the 
province of New York in 1695. and was 
therefore but an infant when brought 
into Bucks county by his parents in 1697. 
He became a large landholder in Ben- 
salem, a man of importance in the Dutch 





'.^^Voa^cUc^^ 




^/Jlo-s^ ^m^id^^A.^^ 



^^ l>c.W 



'PUBil 



yoliK 



^^'^^Any 



ASTO-', L-,,. 
TlLDtlH Fr 



X Af-l 



.9 






HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



35 



colony in Bucks, and a member of the 
Bensalem church. He was twice mar- 
ried, first on May 6, 1719 to Elizabeth 
Van Sandt, and second on August 10, 
1742, to Marytje Hufte. Neither wife 
survived him. He died in November, 
1775. Of his nine children, Fulkhart, 
Elizabeth, Harman, Alshe, Abrahaiii, 
John, Cornelius and Elinor, the first 
eight are mentioned in his will. 

Abraham Vandegrift, borrt about 1725 
married Femmentje Hufte about 1752 
and had six children. He died in Ben- 
salem township about 1800. The children 
were: Elizabeth, baptized at Southamp- 
ton church August 18, 1754, married John 
DeCoursey, and had eight children; 
Mary, married Benjamin Severns; Ab- 
raham; and Catharine, who married Ab- 
raham Vandegrift, her second cousin. 

Jacob Van de Grift, second son of Jo- 
hannes and Nealke, baptized at New 
Amsterdam, October 14, 1696, was the 
grandfather of Abraham above mention- 
ed. John Vandegrift, eldest son of Ja- 
cob, known as "John Vandegrift, Es- 
<iuire," to distinguish him /rom his cous- 
ins of the same name on the records, 
married November 14, 1750, Maria (or 
Mary) Praul, who died prior to 1786. 
He died in 1805; his will dated Septem- 
ber 7, 1804, proved May 3, 1805, devised 
to his eldest son Jacob, (baptized at 
Southampton, April 18, 1753) a stone 
house "I am now erecting"' and one 
acre of land, he having been "advanced 
400 pounds towards purchasing a plan- 
tation." This plantation was in North- 
ampton, where Jacob removed in 1783 
and died leaving a large family. The will 
of John Vandegrift further devises to 
his son John, \62Y2 acres on the Dunk's 
ferry road where the testator lived; to 
his daughter Jane Johnson a lot on same 
road; to son Bernard a tract of land in 
New Jersey purchased of John Long- 
streth, and to his son Abraham seventy- 
two acres, "part of the land where he 
now lives, beginning at brother Jacob's 
lane end." etc. 

Abraham, son of John and Maria 
(Praul) Vandegrift, was born in Bensa- 
lem in 1766. On his marriage his father 
set apart to him seventy-two acres of 
land and built a house for him thereon 
which has since been the home of his 
descendants. He was twice married; by 
his first wife he had a daughter Mary 
who married John Brodnax. His second 
wife was Catharine Vandegrift, daughter 
of Abraham and granddaughter of Fol- 
hart, as previously shown. By this mar- 
riage Abraham had two sons, John and 
Samuel, and two daughters: Elizabeth, 
who married Joseph Myers; and Phebe, 
who married Thomas Darrah. Abra- 
ham died in .May, 1800, leaving a will 
made eleven ' years previously, which 
was contested by the widow and daugh- 
ter Phebe, but proved in the court of 
common pleas in December of the same 



year. The bulk of the landed property 
mcluding the homestead descended to 
the son John. 

John Vandegrift was born on the old 
homestead August 12, 1806, and died 
there m March. 1878. He was a success- 
ful farmer, a Democrat, and a member 
of the Presbyterian church. His wife 
was Susanna Sipler. She died July 3, 
1898. John and Susanna (Sipler) Van- 
degrift were the parents of eight chil- 
dren: Jesse, who died young; Jesse (2); 
Moses; John; Philip, who served three 
years in the civil war and died January 
12. 1900, in his fifty-eighth year; Sam- 
uel; Letitia; and George W. 

Moses Vandegrift, the subject of this 
sketch, was born on the old homestead 
June 5, 1840. He was reared on the old 
farm and received his education at the 
Eddington school. On arriving at man- 
hood he settled on the old homestead 
that had been the property of his an- 
cestors for many generations, and has 
spent his whole life there. He is a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian church and po- 
litically is a Democrat. He was elected 
supervisor of Bensalem township in 
1888 for two years and was re-elected in 
1900 for an additional term. He married 
January 26, 1879, Sarah Knight, daughter 
of Strickland and Caroline (Briggs) 
Knight, by whom he has six children: 
Eugene, born January 4. 1880; Walter, 
born January 5, 1882; Roland and Oscar, 
twins, born Maj^ 27, 1884, (Oscar died in 
infancy) ; Fannie, born November 4, 1885, 
and Russell, born November 8, 1887. 



SAMUEL ALLEN VANDEGRIFT. 
eldest son of the late George V. and 
Mary Ann (Allen) Vandegrift, was born 
at Bridgevvater, Bensalem township, 
Bucks county. Pennsylvania, March 21, 
18,30. 

The educational advantages enjoyed 
by Samuel A. Vandegrift were obtained 
in the common schools of the neighbor- 
hood, and he remained a resident on the 
paternal homestead until he attained his 
majority. He then settled on the Jon- 
athan Paxon farm in Bensalem town- 
ship, and after a residence of twenty 
years there located on the farm owned 
by his brother William A., remaining 
nine years, and the following six years 
he resicj'ed on the Thomas Hamilton 
farm. He then took up his residence on 
the farm in Byberry, owned by Colonel 
Morrell, remaining three years, after 
which he located on the farm in Ben- 
salem owned by his brother Frank, and 
in 1903 removed to the old Black farm 
in Bensalem township, owned by his 
son Charles, where he has since resided. 
Being practical and progressive in his 
methods of management, he met with 
a large degree of prosperity in the va- 



36 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



rious localities where he resided, and 
his honorable and reliable transactions 
won for him an enviable reputation 
which he has always fully sustained. He 
is a firm advocate of the principles of 
Republicanism, and his support has al- 
ways been given to the candidates and 

^ measures of that party. 

On March 12, 1857, Mr. Vadegrift mar- 
ried Julia Ann Luck, born in Philadel- 
phia but reared in Bucks county, a 
daughter of Joseph and Margaret (Les- 
lie) Luck. Joseph Luck was a native of 
England, from whence he emigrated to 

y\ the United States, entered the service 
of the United States government, and 
for many years had, charge of the United 
States arsenal at Frankford, Pennsyl- 
vania. Four children were born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Vandegrift: George, born Jan- 
uary 28, 1858, engaged in agricultural 
pursuits in Bensalem township, married 
Julia Miller, of Philadelphia, and they 
are the parents of one child, Frederick 
Vandegrift; Joseph, who died at the age 
of four years; Mary Ann, born P'ebru- 
ary 19. 1863; Charles W., born December 
16. 1865. The mother of these children, 
who was a most excellent' woman in 
every respect, faithful and conscientious 
in the performance of her duties as wife 
and mother, died June 9, 1902. 



LEWIS HERBERT VANDEGRIFT, 
of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, was born at 
that place, October i, 1845, the son of 
Alfred and Catherine (Gibbs) Vande- 
grift. He was educated in the public 
schools of Bensalem, after which he en- 
gaged in farming, as an employe of his 
brother, John, with whom he remained 
until 1870, when he removed to the old 
homestead farm in Bensalem, which he 
purchased in 1892. After thirty years 
of farm life, he sold his farm and re- 
moved to Philadelphia, when he entered 
the employ of the Western Union Tele- 
graph Company, with whom he is still 
engaged. Mr. Vandegrift has been twice 
married — first, January 7, 1874, to Mar- 
garet, daughter of James and Margaret 
(Ballantyne) Harvinson. By this union 
four children were born: i. Alfred Eu- 
gene, born November 22, 1874, married, 
February 20, 1901, to Susannah Keifer, 
of Brooklyn, New York, daughter of 
John Colder and wife, Susannah (Jen- 
ninker) Keiffer. and they have one child, 
Margaret Susannah, born November 10, 
1902; 2. Clara May, born January 29, 
1877. married March 7, 1905, Eugene 
Gaskill, of Philadelphia; 3. Maud, born 
May 13, 1882; married, first Elwood E. 
Porter, by whom the issue was Milton 
Harvinson, born December i. 1899; sec- 
ond, to Frank Peabody Hedges, of 
Trenton, New Jersey, May i. 1904; 4. 
Bertha Irene, born May 20. 1883. Mrs. 



Vandegrift died February 13, 1888, andl 
for his second wife Mr. Vandegrift mar- 
ri-ed, January 14, 1892, Margaret Brown^ 
of Eddington, who was born May 4^ 
1854, daughter of Henry Jackson and 
Sarah (Staats) Brown, and the grand- 
daughter of Alexander and Elizabeth 
(Darrah) Brown; also the granddaugh- 
ter of Jacob and Maribel (Shaw) Staats. 
By his second marriage Mr. Vandegrift 
has one child — Lucy Eccleston, born Oc- 
tober 13, 1893. Each of the above chil- 
dren, except Lucy, were educated in Ben- 
salem. Alfred was graduated from 
Pierce's Business College of Philadel- 
phia, and Lucy is attending Lincoln^ 
Grammar School in Philadelphia. 

Mr. Vandegrift is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, and affiliates with- 
Newton Lodge, No. 427, A. F. and A. 
M. Both Mr. and Mrs. Vandegrift are 
members of the clmirch of Christ (Epis- 
copal) of Eddington, where they are ef- 
ficient, earnest workers. Mr. Vandegrift 
has served on the school board very 
ably for three years, and has been its 
secretary. He has ever been much in- 
terested in educational matters, and is 
counted among the loyal citizens of his 
place. 



GEORGE V. VANDEGRIFT. The 
death of George V. Vandegrift, April 
24, 1853, removed from Bensalem town- 
ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where 
he resided all his life, one of its promi- 
nent, influential and public-spirited citi- 
zens. His birth occurred in 1804, a son' 
of Joseph and Sarah (Byson) Vande- 
grift, and grandson of John Vandegrift. 
Joseph Vandegrift (father) was also a 
native of Bensalem township, Bucks 
county, the year of his birth being 1776. 
In early life he served an apprentice- 
ship at the trade of weaver, and this 
he followed successfully throughout his 
active career. He was a member of the 
Episcopal church, the service of which 
he attended regularly. By his marriage 
to Sarah Bankson the following named' 
children were 'born: Lydia, Rebecca, 
Mary, Amy, George V., Frances, Sarah 
Ann, Joseph, Julia Ann, and Jane. Mr. 
Vandegrift died in 1839, survived by his 
wife, who passed away in 1857. 

George V. Vandegrift attended the 
common schools adjacent to his home, 
after which he learned the same trade 
as his father, that of weaver, but after 
following this for a nimiber of years 
turned his attention to farming, which 
proved both a pleasant and profitable 
occupation. Upon attaining his majority 
he cast his vote with the Whig party, 
to whom he gave his allegiance up to 
the formation of the Republican party, 
and from that time up to his decease he 
advocated the principles of that great 
organization. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Z7 



Mr. Vandegrift married, May 17, 1828, 
!Mary Ann Allen, who wasjjorn in Ben- 
salem township, October 26, 1808. and 
they were the parents of nine children, 
namely: Samuel Allen, born March 21, 
1830, a sketch of whom appears in this 
work; Joseph T., born August 24, 1832, 
was twice married and had two children 
ty each marriage, and died February 
16, 1904; Jesse S., born August 24, 1836, 
resides in the western section of the Uni- 
ted States; Georgianna, born September 
23, 1839, resides on the old Allen farm 
with her brother; William Allen, born 
June 23, 1841, resides in Philadelphia; 
Israel Thomas, born August 24, 1843. and 
resides in Philadelphia; George W., born 
August 24, 1845; Jonathan, born March 
25, 1848, died September I, 1888; 
and Benjamin Franklin, born June 18, 
1853, and resides in Philadelphia. Mr. 
Vandegrift and his wife held member- 
ship in the Neshaminy Methodist Epis- 
copal church. Their deaths occurred re- 
spectively April 24, 1853, and March 19, 
1864. 

Mrs. Vandegrift was a daughter of 
Israel Allen, born May 29. 1766, and his 
wife Elizabeth Titus, born December 14, 
1771. Isreal Allen was a son of Joseph 
and Sarah (Plumley) Allen. Joseph Al- 
len was a son of William and Mary 
(Walsh) Allen. William Allen was born 
at what is now Bridgewater, Bensalem 
township, on the site of the Bridgewater 
Inn, a son of Samuel and Jane (Wain) 
Allen. 'Samuel Allen was a son of Sam- 
uel and Mary Allen, who came from 
England in 1681 and settled on the farm 
now owned by William Allen Vande- 
grift, in 1682, and one hundred acres of 
the original tract has never passed out 
of the possession of the family. The 
members of the Allen family have al- 
ways adhered to the tenets of the Society 
â– of Friends. 



J. WILSON VANDEGRIFT. Among 
the successful agriculturists of Bucking- 
Tiam is J. Wilson Vandegrift, who was 
born in that township January i, 1863, 
being a son of Bernard and Mary Ann 
(Folker) Vandegrift, and a grandson of 
Lawrence Vandegrift of Northampton 
township, Bucks county, where his fath- 
er Bernard was born June 30, 1829. The 
family is of Holland descent, being de- 
scendants of Jacob Lendert Van de Grift, 
who migrated from Holland in 1644, 
and settled on Long Island, from whence 
three of his sons (Leonard, Nicholas 
and John,) came to Bucks county in the 
latter part of the same century and set- 
tled in Bensalem, descendants of the last 
mentioned of whom settling in Northamp- 
ton township a century later. 

Bernard Vandegrift was a farmer all 
â– his life. In 1877 he purchased the farm 
now owned and occupied by the subject 



of this sketch, and resided thereon un- 
til his death, in September, 1900. He 
married, December 27, 1851, Mary Ann 
Folker, daughter of James and Mary 
(Herlinger) Folker, of Buckingham, 
where she was born August 8, 1829. Her 
parents were both natives of Bucking- 
ham, her mother being a daughter of 
Captain Mathew Herlinger, who married 
the widow Else, whose husband died at 
sea on the voyage to America. Bernard 
and Mary Ann (Folker) Vandegrift 
were the parents of six children; Harry, 
of Elizabeth, Colorado; Susanna, wife of 
William Orem, of Buckingham; Wilmer, 
a wholesale commission merchant of 
Philadelphia; Mary, wife of William H. 
Atkinson, of Forest Grove, Bucking- 
ham township; J. Wilson; and Theodore, 
of Warwick township, Bucks county. 

J. Wilson Vandegrift was reared on the 
farm and acquired a good common 
school education. In 1885 he purchased , 
the home farm, which he has since suc- 
cessfully conducted. By industry and 
careful business methods he has acquired 
a competence. In 1899 he purchased an 
adjoining farm of 102 acres and in 1903, 
purchased a farm of 160 acres in War- 
wick township. He married, in Novem- 
ber, 1894, Olive M. Fell, daughter of 
Wilson D. and Mary Jane (Trunibower) 
Fell, of Buckingham. She was born on 
the Fell homestead in Buckingham that 
had been in the tenure of her ancestors 
for over a century, January 19, 1863. She 
is still the owner of the farm, which is 
a portion of a tract purchased by her 
great-great-great-grandfather. Benjamin 
Fell, in 1753. This Benjamin Fell was 
born in 1703 in Cumberland, England, 
and came with his parents Joseph and 
Bridget (Wilson) Fell to America when 
an infant. His son John, born in 1730, 
married Elizabeth Hartley, and their son 
Seneca born 4 mo. 5, 1760, married Grace 
Holt of Horsham, among whose chil- 
dren was Stacy Fell, the grandfather of 
Mrs. Vandegrift. He was born in Buck- 
ingham in 1790, and died there in 1864, 
He married 10 mo. 14, 1812, Elizabeth 
Kinsey, of Buckingham, who was born 
in 1791 and died in 1863. They were the 
parents of seven children, the young- 
est of whom was Wilson D., father of 
Mrs. Vandegrift, who was born 12 mo. 
2, T832, and died April 28, 1895. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Vandegrift have 
been born five children, Harry E. W., 
William Orem, Edwin Taylor, Wilson 
Fell and Gladys. Mrs. Vandegrift is a 
member of Doylestown Presbyterian 
church. 

Wilson D. Fell married Mary Jane 
Trunibower December i, 1854. She was 
the daughter of Philip and Catharine 
Trumbower of Bridge Point, nOvv' Edi- 
son, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. She 
was born April 11, 1833. and died April 
15, 1904. 



38 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 




^J^l^K^ 



JENKS COAT-OF-ARMS. 






THE J E .\ K S 
FAMILY is of 
Welsh origin and can 
be clearly traced in 
the county of Mont- 
gomery, Wales, and 
the adjoining couniy 
of Salop, or Shrop- 
shire, England, from 
A. D. 900 down to the 
middle of the seven- 
teenth century. On 
the records of the 
College of Arms, Lon- 
^j^ don, England, there 
'^ is an Act in the 
year 1582, during 
*i\\Q reign of Queen 
Elizabeth, by which 
"The Coat of Arms 
of the Anciente Family of Jenks, 
long in the possession of the same" at 
Wolverton Manor, Wales, was confirm- 
ed to them in the person of their repre- 
sentative. Sir George Jenks. of Salop, 
Gentleman, as certified by Robert Cooke, 
alias Clarencieux. one of the two first 
Provincial Kings-of-Arms, in England, 
whose jurisdiction of Clarenceux ex- 
tended to all of England south of the 
Trent, Norroy holding a like jurisdic- 
tion north of the Trent. 

The Jenks family of Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, trace their descent from 
Thomas Jenks, of Shropshire, who, as 
shown by the will of John Penn. of the 
adjoining county of Montgomery, Wales, 
dated 1660. was a son of Thomas Jenks. 
Thomas Jenks the elder died 10 mo. 19, 
1680, as shown by the records of the 
Monthly Meeting of Friends in Shrop- 
shire. He was one of the earliest con- 
verts to the principles of George Fox, 
and "Besse's Sufferings'' gives a rec- 
ord of his arrest in 1656 as one of a 
party of Friends while attending a meet- 
ing of people of his faith. He was 
again arrested and fined in 1660. Thomas 
Jenks, son of the above, born in Shrop- 
shire, was married there and is supposed 
to have embarked for America with his 
wife Susan, and infant son Thomas, born 
January, 1699-1700. All that js definitely 
known, however, is that Susan Jenks. 
his widow, and her young son, Thomas, 
arrived in Bucks county soon after 1700, 
and located in Wrightstown. Susan 
Jenks married Benjamin Wiggins, of 
Buckingham, in 1708. and died soon after 
the birth of her son, Bezeleel Wiggins, 
in 1709. 

. Thomas Jenks was reared in the neigh- 
borhood of Wrightstown. We have little 
record of him until i mo. t, 1725-6. when 
he applied for membership in Wrights- 
town Meeting. He was doubtless a birth- 
right "member of the Society, but the 
death of his father while on the voy- 
age to America, or immediately preced- 
ing their sailing and the subsequent mar- 
riage of his mother to a non-member 



and her early death leaving him an or- 
phan at ten years of age, his birth- 
right privilege was no doubt neglected 
to be recorded. It was therefore neces- 
sary for him to be regularly admitted 
when he desired to become a member or> 
reaching manhood. 

Thomas Jenks married, 3 mo. 19, 1731, 
Mercy Wildman, daughter of John and 
Marah (Chapman) Wildman, of Middle- 
town. The former, born in Yorkshire, 
England, in 1681, came to America with 
his parents, Martin and Ann Wildman, 
in 1690, and the latter, a daughter of 
John Chapman, the pioneer settler of 
W'rightstown, had married first John 
Croasdale, John Wildman being her sec- 
ond husband. Thomas Jenks, on his mar- 
riage, settled first in his home in Buck- 
ingham and three years afterward re- 
moved to a tract of land in Middletown 
township, two miles southeast of New- 
town, along Core creek, containing 600- 
acres. Upon this tract he erected prior 
to 1740, a fulling mill one of the 
first in the county which was operated 
(by the family) until his death, doing a 
large business in dyeing, fulling and 
finishing the homespun goods of his 
neighbors, the early settlers of lower 
and middle Bucks. His ledger "C," ex- 
quisitely written and kept still in good 
preservation, is now in possession of his 
great-grandson, William H. Jenks. of 
Philadelphia. It covers the years 1743- 
56, and contains his accounts with near- 
ly all the early families of Bucks east 
of the Neshaminy. He was an active 
and energetic business man, and retained 
his mental and physical faculties in a re- 
markable degree to extreme old age. He 
died at Jenks Hall (erected by him ir» 
1734) from the effects of injuries re- 
ceived in being thrown from a wagon, 5 
mo. 4, 1797, in the ninetj'-eighth year of 
his age. He had in the truest sense of 
the word "grown up with the country."" 
Arriving in Bucks county w^hen far the 
greatest part of it was a primeval w-il- 
derness, still inhabited bj' the Indians,, 
he lived through its entire colonial per- 
iod, and saw his country recover frorr» 
the shock and trials of its war for in- 
dependence, and become a thickly settled 
prosperous and enlightened community. 
He w-as six years older than Dr. Frank- 
lin, and thirty-two years older than 
George Washington, yet he survived the 
former seven 3'ears. and the latter sur- 
vived him but little over two years, 
though both had lived to see the fruition 
of their long and noble struggle for 
their country's good. His wife Mercy 
died 7 mo. 26. 1787. aged seventy-seven 
years, after a married life of over fifty- 
six years. They were the parents of six 
children, as follows: 

T. Mary, born 4 mo. 20. ^JH- died 
1803: married Samuel Twining. 

2. John, born 5 mo. I. 1736. died 1791, 
married in 1785, Sarah W^eir. His son 



HISTOR]^ OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



39 



John Wildman Jenks, born 6 mo. 21, 
1790, studied medicine and removed to 
Jefiferson county, Pennsylvania, where he 
died 4 mo. 4. 1S50. He married in 1816, 
Mary Day Barclaj', who bore him ten 
children, most oi whom were distin- 
guished in their professions, the young- 
est, George Augustus Jenks, being a 
member of the Forty-fourth United 
States Congress, and the Democratic 
nominee for governor of Pennsylvania 
in 1898. 

3. Thomas, born 10 mo. 9. 1738. died 
5 mo. 30, 1799, married, in 1762, Rebec- 
ca Richardson, daughter of Joseph and 
Mary (Paxson) Richardson, of Middle- 
town. 

4. Joseph, born 12 mo. 22, 1743, died 
5 mo. 1820; married 6 mo. 22, 1763, Eliza- 
beth Pearson, daughter of William and 
Elizabeth (Duer) Pearson; see forward. 

5. Elizabeth, born 3 mo. 15, 1746, died 
12 mo. 30, 1808; married 12 mo. 23. 1762, 
William Richardson, son of Joseph and 
Mary (Paxson) Richardson. 

6. Ann. born 9 mo. 8, 1749. died about 
1812; married 2 mo. 20, 1770, Isaac Wat- 
son. 

Thomas Jenks, second son of Thomas 
and Mercy, was born and reared on the 
homestead in Middletown, and spent his 
whole life there. He was a prominent 
and influential man in the community. 
He served as a member of colonial as- 
sembly for the year 1775, and w^as a 
member of the constitutional convention 
of 1790, and was the first member of the 
state senate from Bucks under the con- 
stitution then adopted, and served con- 
tinuously in that body until his death. 
May 4, 1799. For the first six j^ears of 
his service the district which he repre- 
sented was composed of the counties of 
Delaware, Chester and Bucks, while dur- 
ing his last two terms the district con- 
sisted of Chester, IVIontgomery and 
Bucks. He was an active member of the 
upper house and served on many im- 
portant committees. He married, in 1762, 
Rebecca Richardson, and they were the 
parents of nine children, eight of whom 
lived to mature age. They were as follows : 

1. Rachel, born 5 mo. 23, 1763, died 
2 mo. 12, 1830; married 10 mo. 19, 1786, 
Thomas Story. 

2. Mary, born 3 mo. 12, 1765, died in 
infancy. 

3. Joseph R., born 9 mo. 16. 1767, died 
6 mo. 26, 1858: married first to mo. 10, 
1792, Sarah Watson; second, 6 mo. 6, 
1809, Ann West; and third. 2 mo. 29, 
T844, Ann Ely of Philadelphia, a widow. 
Joseph R. Jenks was a prosperous and 
prominent merchant in Philadelphia. 

4. Mercy, born 10 mo. 20. 1769. died 
10 mo. 19. 1836; married 10 mo. 18, 1792, 
Abraham Carlile. 

5. Thomas, born 2 mo. 4. 1772- died 2 
mo. 27. 1828: married first, in I797. 
Thomazine Trimble, and second, in 1816, 
Rachel Wilson. 



6. Rebecca, born i mo. i, 1775, married 
I mo. 15, 1801, Jonathan Fell. 

7. Mary, born 7 mo. 9, 1777, died in 
1854, unmarried. 

8. Phincas, born 5 mo. 3, 1781, died 
8 mo. 6, 1851, married first, Eliza Mur- 
ray, and second, Amelia Snyder, see for- 
ward. 

g. Ruth, born 8 mo. 19. 1788. died 2 mo. 
16, 1843, married 11 mo. 8, 1810, Joseph 
Dickson. 



DR. PHINEAS JENKS, eighth child 
of Thomas and Rebecca (Richardson) 
Jenks, was reared on the old homestead 
in Middletown. He chose the medical 
profession, and was a student of the cele- 
brated Dr. Benjamin Rush, and a gradu- 
ate of the University of Pennsylvania. 
He began the practice of medicine in 
Newtown, and continued to practice 
there until his death in 1851, becoming 
one of the eminent physicians of his day. 
He was the first president of the Bucks 
County Medical Association, and con- 
tinued at its head until his death. He took 
an active interest in the affairs of his 
county; state and neighborhood, and was 
one of the influential and prominent men, 
outside of his profession. He was a 
member of the state legislature for five 
years, 1815-19, and a member of the con- 
stitutional convention of 1837-38. He 
was one of the organizers of the St. 
Lukes Protestant Episcopal church at 
Newtown, of which he was rector's war- 
den for many years. He was a good 
extemporaneous speaker, and was al- 
ways counted on to lend his aid to any 
meritorious project in the neighborhood. 
He was twice married. His first wife 
was Eliza Murray, daughter of General 
Francis Murray of Newtown, wdiom he 
married 3 mo. 20, 1806. She died 3 rno. 
16, 1807, leaving one daughter, who died 
in' infancy. He married (second) on 3 
mo. 28, 1820. Amelia Snyder, daughter of 
Governor Simon Snyder. She was born 
June 21. 1791. and died August 6, 1859. 
They were the parents of seven chil- 
dren, three of whom, (Simon Snyder, 
Frederick A. and Henry L.) died in 
childhood, the latter being a twin broth- 
er of General A. Jenks. Esq. Those who 
survived were: Elizabeth M.. born July 
29. 1822, died March 29, 1887; married 
Rev. Joseph I. Elsegood, rector of Trin- 
ity Protestant Episcopal church of East 
New York, Long Island, who died in 
1884. William Wallace Jenks, born il 
mo. 2, 1825, a merchant in Philadelphia; 
he died 7 mo. 20. 1857. P. Frederick 
Jenks. born February 27. 1832, studied 
medicine and located at St. Louis, Mis- 
souri, soon after his graduation. At the 
outbreak of the civil war he enlisted in 
the First Missouri Light Artillery, and 
was in the battles of Fort Henry, Fort 
Donelson and Pittsburg Landing. He 



40 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



died at St. Louis, t mo. 9. 1863, from 
diarrhoea contracted in the service. 

George A. Jenks, Esq., the only surviv- 
ing child of Dr. Phineas and Amelia 
(Snyder) Jenks, was born at Newtown, 
October 9, 1829. He received his ele- 
mentary education at the Newtown 
Academy, and then entered the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, from which he 
graduated July 4, 1850. He entered him- 
self as a student at law with James C. 
Van Dycke, Esq., of Philadelphia, then 
United States district attorney, and also 
entered the law department of the Uni- 
versity, where he took a full course, and 
on July 3, 1853, the degrees of Master 
of Arts and Bachelor of Laws were con- 
ferred upon him. 

On April 16, 1853. he was admitted to 
the bar of Philadelphia, and on October 
8, 1855, was admitted to practice in the 
circuit and district courts of Pennsyl- 
vania, having. been admitted to practice 
in the supreme court on January 13, 
1854. He practiced law in Philadelphia 
from 1853 to '1859, when he removed to 
Newtown, and was admitted to the bar 
of his native county, of which he is now 
the senior member. He is a careful stu- 
dent, and his thorough knowledge of the 
law and sound judgment have made him 
a safe counselor. In his long practice 
he has had many intricate cases to un- 
ravel, and in the vast number of dis- 
puted cases as to questions of law, re- 
ferred to him by the courts as auditor, 
he has seldom been reversed in either 
the lower or upper courts. He has filled 
the office of justice of the peace for 
forty-four years, and has served his bor- 
ough in the position of school director 
for nineteen y^ears ; and filled the ofiice of 
chief burgess for seven years. He has 
always been actively interested in all 
that pertains to the interest of the local- 
ity in which he lived, and has been con- 
nected with nearly all the meritorious 
local enterprises of his town. He is 
president and one of the directors and 
active supporters of the Newtown Li- 
brary, as was both his father and grand- 
father, George A. Jenks having served as 
a director for over forty years, and presi- 
dent for about thirty years. He is a 
member of the Bucks County Historical 
Society, and has always been actively 
interested in its work, and has furnished 
several historical papers for its archives. 
He is a member of Newtown Lodge, 
No. 427, F. and A. M., of which he was 
the first master, and Newtown Chapter, 
No. 229, R. A.-M., of which he was the 
first high priest, and served as district 
deputy grand master for the district for 
five years. He is a member of St. 
Luke's Protestant Episcopal church of 
Newtown, of which his father was one of 
the founders. He was married, June 15, 
i860, to Ella Davis, daughter of Jesse 
and Susan B. Davis, and they have been 
the parents of two children, Sylva P. 



and Elizabeth M., both of whom died in 
early childhood. In politics he has been 
a lifelong Republican, but has never 
sought or held other than local office. 

Joseph Jenks, third son of Thomas 
and Mercy (Wildman) Jenks, was boni 
and reared on the old homestead in 
Middletown. He married, 6 mo. 22, 

1763, Elizabeth Pearson, born in 1744, 
died 1768, daughter of William and Eliza- 
beth (Duer) Pearson, and granddaugh- 
ter of Enoch and Margaret (Smith) 
Pearson, of Buckingham, Enoch Pearson 
being a native of Cheshire, England, hav- 
ing come to Bucks county with his par- 
ents, Edward and Sarah (Burgie) Pear- 
son, in 1687. Joseph and Elizabeth 
(Pearson) Jenks were the parents of 
three children: Margaret, born 6 mo. 6, 

1764, died 1841; married li mo. 12, 1783, 
Samuel Gillingham. William, born 8 
mo. 12, 1766, died 12 'mo. 5, 1818; mar- 
ried 10 mo. 28, 1790, Mary Hutchinson. 
Elizabeth, born 10 mo. 21, 1768, died 1828, 
married, in 1787, Isaiah Shinn, of New Jer- 
sey, who was a general in the war of 
1812. Joseph Jenks married a second 
time, 4 mo. 25, 1770, to Mary Ingham, 
who lived but a few years after tlTe mar- 
riage, and he married a third time, on 
5 mo. 30, 1776, Hannah Davids; neither 
of the last two wives left issue. 

William, only son of Joseph and Eliza- 
beth (Pearson) Jenks, was a lifelong 
.resident of Bucks county, following the 
vocation of a farmer and miller on the 
homestead. He died at the early age of 
forty-two years, leaving a widow and 
ten children, six of whom were minors 
at the time of his death. His wife Mary 
was a daughter of Michael and Margery 
(Palmer) Hutchinson, of Lower Make- 
field township, a descendant of two old 
and prominent families of Makefield. 
The children of William and Mary 
(Hutchinson) Jenks, were: 

1. Joseph, born 9 mo. 12, 1792, died il 
mo. 19, 1869, married 5 mo. 29, 1827, 
his second cousin, Eliza Jenks, daughter 
of Joseph R. and Sarah (Watson) Jenks. 

2. Rebecca H., born I mo. 30, 1794, 
died 4 mo. 21, I797- 

3. Michael Hutchinson Jenks, born S 
mo. 21, 179s, died 10 mo. 16, 1867. He 
was a surveyor and conveyancer, as well 
as a justice of the peace, for very many 
years, and did an immense amount of 
local business, and was a very fine pen- 
man and draughtsman. He was county 
commissioner for the term of 1830-2, 
county treasurer in 1834, ^n associate 
judge of the county, and represented his 
district in the twenty-eighth congress, as 
well as filling a great number of other 
positions of trust. He was four times 
married; first, in 1821, to Mary Ridg- 
way Earl, who was the mother of his 
nine children. His third daughter, .^.nna 
Earl, became the wife of Alexander 
Ramsey, first governor of Minnesota, 
and United States senator from that 



r 




^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



41 



rstate. His other wives were Mary Can- 
by, Ann Higgins and Sarah Leeclom. 

4. Eliza Pearson Jenks, born 2 mo. 14, 
1797, died 12 mo. 13, 1884; married 10 
mo. 13, 1825, George Yardley. 
• 5. Charles, born 12 mo. 31, 1798, died 
8 mo. 5, 1823; married 4 mo. 16, 1823, 
Mary Ann Newbold. 

6. Margery, born 8 mo. 5, 1800, died 
I mo. 31, 1802. 

y1 Hannah, born 6 mo. 17, 1802, died 9 
Ano. 17, 1822, unmarried. 

8. Mary Palmer Jenks, born i mo. 25, 
1804, died 2 mo. 15. 1875; married 12 mo. 
27, 1827, Edmund Morris. 

9. Margaret, born 9 mo. 24, 1806, died 
12 mo. 20. 1825, unmarried. 

ID. William Pearson, born 12 mo. 17, 
1807, die*d 9 mo. 17, 1886, married 5 mo. 
t6, 1837, Elizabeth Story; see forward. 

11. Ann, born 2 mo. 26, 1810, died 4 
mo. 15, 1870, married 10 mo. 12, 1831, 
Charles M. Morris. 

12. Susan W., born 6 mo. 3. 1812, died 
7 mo. 25. 1857; married 7 mo. 4, 1838, 
Franklin Fell. 



WILLIAM PEARSON JENKS, the 
tenth child of William and Mary (Hutch- 
inson) Jenks, was born and reared in the 
old homestead at Bridgetown, in Middle- 
town township. After finishing school he 
went to Paterson, New Jersey, where 
he learned the trade of a machinist. In 
1828 he became interested in the manu- 
facture of cotton yarns at New Hope, 
where he remained until 1832. In 1833 
he went to Madison, Indiana, in the in- 
terest of the firm in Paterson with whom 
he had learned his trade, and remained 
there two years, establishing a factory 
-for the manufacture of cotton goods. In 
1835 he accepted the position of man- 
ager of the Union Factories near Elli- 
cott's Mills, Maryland, then the largest 
plant for the manufacture of cotton 
goods south of New England. He re- 
mained there until the autumn of 1846, 
when he was obliged to resign his posi- 
tion on account of failing health, and 
took a trip to Brazil to recruit. He re- 
turned in the summer of 1847 and joined 
Tiis wife and three children in Phila- 
delphia. Having regained his health, he 
was desirous of again engaging in busi- 
ness, and in the fall of that year joined 
Evan Randolph and formed the firm of 
Randolph & Jenks, cotton merchants, 
and did an extensive and prosperous bus- 
iness. He retired from active participa- 
tion at the close of the year i860. The 
firm continued, however, under the same 
name, the present members being his 
two sons. John Story Jenks and William 
H. Jenks, Evan Randolph, his partner, 
who married his only daughter, Rachel 
Story Jenks, in 1864, having died 12 mo. 
3, 1887. William Pearson Jenks died 9 
mo. 17, 1886, aged nearly seventy-nine 
years. He was a man of marked ability 



as a merchant, and his life was full of 
active and intelligent energy. He pros- 
pered in his business and business enter- 
prises, and took an interest in many of 
the financial institutions in Philadelphia. 
His wife, Elizabeth Story, born 3 mo. 6, 
1807, was a daughter of David and 
Rachel (Richardson) Story, of New- 
town, and a great-granddaughter of 
Thomas Story, a native of Northumber- 
land, England, who came to Pennsyl- 
vania with William Penn on his second 
visit, in the ship "Centerbury," arriving 
at Chester 10 mo. i, 1699. He settled in 
Bucks county, and in i mo., 1718, mar- 
ried Elizabeth (Wilson) Buckman, widow 
of William Buckman, of Newtown, who 
bore him one son, John Story. Thomas 
Story died 9 mo. 10, 1753, at the age of 
eighty-two years. His son, John Story, 
was born 11 mo. 26, 1718-19. He married 
5 mo., 1747, Elizabeth Cutler, daughter of 
Thomas and Eleanor (Lane) Cutler, and 
lived all his life in the neighborhood of • 
Newtown. He died 11 mo. 10, 1804, at 
the age of eighty-six, and is buried at 
Wrightstown. His son, David Story, 
was born 4 mo. 20, 1760, and died 2 mo. 
23, 1833. He married 4 mo. 19, 1792. 
Rachel ^Richardson, daughter of William 
and Elizabeth (Jenks) Richardson. They 
had six children: i. Rebecca, born i mo. 

15, 1793. died 9 mo. 22, 1870; married 5 
mo. 20, 1824, Dr. Ralph Lee, of Newtown. 
2. Hannah, born 3 mo. 23, 1794, died 4 
mo. 13, 1876: married 5 mo. 16, 1837, John 
C. Parry, of New Hope. 3. John, born i 
mo. 15, 1796, died 10 mo. 22, 1844:. mar- 
ried 4 mo. 28, 1831, Esther A. Allibone. 4. 
William Story, born 9 mo. 10, 1797, died 
9 mo. 16, 1822. unmarried. 5. Mary, born 
3 mo. 23, 1800, died 5 mo. 22, 1846, un- 
married. 6. Elizabeth, born 3 mo. 6. 
1807, died I mo. 11, 1878, married 5 mo. 

16, "1837, William Pearson Jenks. 

John Story Jenks was born near Elli- 
cott City, Maryland,' 10 mo. 29, 1839, and 
came with his parents to Philadelphia 
in 1846. He married, 10 mo. 27, 1864, 
Sidney Howell Brown, and has three 
daughters, all of whom are married and 
reside in Philadelphia. 

William H. Jenks was born in Mary- 
land, II mo. II, 1842, and married in 
Philadelphia, 9 mo. 9, 1869, Hannah Mif- 
flin Hacker He has two sons, William 
Pearson Jenks and John Story Jenks, 
both of whom are business men of New 
York City, and two daughters who are 
married and reside in Philadelphia. 

John Story Jenks and William H. 
Jenks, as before stated, succeeded their 
father, William Pearson Jenks, in the 
firm of Randolph & Jenks, and now com- 
prise that firm. They have been pros- 
perous merchants, and are interested in 
many of the financial, beneficial, social 
and political institutions of the city. 
They are worthy descendants of their 
Bucks county ancestors, for whom they 
entertain the most profound love and re- 



42 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



spect. They are both members of the Bucks 
County Historical Society, and take a lively 
interest and pride in the county where 
their first ancestors on all branches were 
early settlers, and where all their later 
ancestors were born and reared. 



B. FRANK HART, of 2010 Wallace 
street, Philadelphia, retired manufacturer 
and business man. was born in Warminster, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, March 22, 
1825, and removed to Philadelphia when a 
young man and engaged in manufacturing 
interests there, where he has since resided. 
He has, however, always kept in touch 
with the county of his birth, and takes spe- 
cial pride in his distinguished Bucks county 
ancestry. On the paternal side all his direct 
ancestors from his father, John Hart, to 
his great-great-great-grandfather, John 
Hart, were prominent officials of the countv 
and members of the law making body of 
the province and state, from Bucks county, 
making five successive generations to serve 
in tliat capacity. 

John Hart, the ancestor of the Warmins- 
ter (Bucks county) family of the name, 
was a son of Christopher and Mary Hart, 
of Witney, Oxfordshire, England, where he 
was born November 16, 1651. A brother, 
Robert, remained in England, a younger 
brother Joseph migrated to Jamaica, and 
the only sister Mary, born April i, 1658, 
accompanied her brother to Pennsylvania 
in 1682. The family were members of the 
Society of Friends, and John brought a 
certificate from Friends at Witney. He 
had purchased of William Penn, July 16, 
1681, 1,000 acres of land to be laid out in 
Pennsylvania. Of this 480 acres were lo- 
cated on the Poquessing, in Byberry, Phila- 
delphia county, and the balance in War- 
minster township, Bucks county. The for- 
mer was surveyed by virtue of warrant 
dated September i, 1681, and on this John 
Hart located on arriving in Pennsylvania, 
and erected a house on the banks of the 
Poquessing. The Warmin,ster tract was 
surveyey 7 mo. 25, 1684, and lay along the 
north side of the street road near Johns- 
ville. It became the residence of John Hart 
in 1697 and remained the home of his des- 
cendants for several generations. John 
Hart was early identified with public af- 
fairs. He was a member of the first as- 
sembly of the province, from Philadelphia 
county, and his name is attached to the first 
charter of government, granted by Penn to 
his colonists, dated at Philadelphia, Feb- 
ruary 2, 1683. He was a minister among 
Friends, and the earlj' meetings of the So- 
ciety were held at his house from 1683 to 
1686, when the meeting house was erected 
"near Takony." He was clerk of the meet- 
ing for many years. In i6gi he joined 
George Keith in his famous schism against 
Friends, and was one of his ablest advo- 
cates, and, when Keith's radical doctrines 
had carried him and his followers out of 
the Society, he united with the Baptists in 



1697, and became their preacher at the 
meeting house originally erected by the 
Friends. He later became assistant preach- 
er at Penncpack Baptist church, but was 
never ordained. He removed to Warmins- 
ter in 1697. selling his land in Byberry, ex- 
cept one acre which was reserved as a 
burying ground. He died in Warminster, 
September, 1714. in his sixty-third year. He 
had married in the fall of 1683, Susannah 
Rush, daughter of William and Aurelia 
Rush, who had come to Pennsylvania in 
1682 and settled in Byberry, and a grand- â–  
daughter of John Rush, who commanded 
a troop of horse in Cromwell's army. Sus- 
annah, after the death of her husband, re- 
turned to Byberry and died there February 
27, 1725. John and Susanna (Rush) Hart 
were the parents of five children ; John, the 
ancestor of all of the name who remained 
in Bucks county ; Joseph who married 
Sarah Stout, April i, 1713, and died in 
1714, without issue; Thomas, who inherited 
a portion of the land and conveyed it to his 
cousin, James Rush, in 1731, and left the 
county ; Josiah, who removed to New Jer- 
sey, and ]\Iary, who died unmarried. 

John Hart, eldest son of John and Sus- 
annah (Rush) Hart, wa^ born in Byberry; 
July 16, 1684. He does not appear to have 
occupied so important a place as his father 
in public affairs, though he held many posts 
of honor and responsibility. He was sheriff 
of Bucks county, 1737-8-9. and 1743-4-5, 
and 1749; coroner of Bucks county, 1741 
and 1748; was commissioned justice June g, 
1752, and was succeeded by his son Joseph 
in 1761. When he was sworn in 1757, the 
record states he was "old. and impaired by 
apoplexy." He followed his father in mat- 
ters of religion and united with the Bap- 
tists and was baptized at Pennepack 
November 15, 1706, by the Rev. Evan Mor- 
gan, and was thereafter closely associated 
with the sect. He was one of the organ- 
izers of Southampton Baptist church in 
1746, and served as clerk, deacon &nd 
trustee, until his death ]\Iarch 22, 1763. 
He inherited from his father a large por- 
tion of the Warminster homestead and 
erected the family mansion there in 1750. 
He married November 25. 1708. Eleanor 
Crispin, daughter of Silas and Esther 
(Holme) Crispin, and grand-daughter of 
Thomas Holme, Penn's surveyor general, 
and oi Captain William Crispin, one of 
Penn's commissioners for settling the col- 
ony of Pennsylvania. Though the latter 
never reached Pennsylvania, he was so 
closely identified with Penn and his family 
as to be of interest to Pennsylvanians. 
He was born in England in 1610, and was 
commander of the ship "Hope" in the ser- 
vice of the Commonwealth, under Crom- 
well, in 1652. In May. 1653. he was sent 
with the expedition against the Dutch, as 
captain of the "Assistance." under Rear 
Admiral William Penn. the father of the 
founder, and remained the remainder of 
that year cruising on tlie Dutch coast and 
preying uiion their commerce. In 1654 'i^ 




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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



43 



was captain of the "Laurel," in the British 
squadron, sent against the Spanish pos- 
sessions in America, arriving at Bar- 
badoes, January 29, 1654-5. He partici- 
pated in the capture of jamica, May 17, 
1655, was named as one of the commis- 
sioners for supplying Jamica, and remained 
there when Penn returned to England, but 
following him soon after, and with him 
retired to Kinsale, Ireland, where he lived 
for about twenty years. On Penn re- 
ceiving the grant of Pennsylvania he 
named Captain Crispin as one of the three 
"Commissioners for the Settleing of the 
present Colony this year transported into 
ye Province," as stated in his letter of in- 
structions, dated September 30, 1681. Cap- 
tain Crispin, with his fellow commissioners 
John Bezar and Nathaniel Allen, sailed 
for Pennsylvania, but in different ships, 
Crispin sailing in the "Amity," which was 
blown off after nearly reaching the Dela- 
ware capes and put into Barbadoes for 
repairs. Crispin died there, and the 
"Amity" returned to England, and, return- 
ing to Pennsylvania in April, 1682, brought 
over Thomas Holme, Penn's surveyor gen- 
eral, who also succeeded Crispin as com- 
rnissioner. Captain William Crispin mar- 
ried Anne Jasper, daughter of John Jasper, 
a merchant of Rotterdam, and a sister to 
Margaret, wife of Admiral Sir William 
Penn, and mother of the great founder. 
William and Anne Crispin were the parents' 
of four children: Silas, above referred to, 
who came to Pennsylvania^ with Thomas 
Holme, and later married his daughter 
Esther; Rebecca, who married. August 24, 
1688, Edward Blackfan, son of John Black- 
fan, of Stenning, county of Sussex, Eng- 
land ; Ralph, who remained in Ireland 
and Rachel who married Thomas Arm- 
strong and also remained in Europe. 
Edward Blackfan prepared to come to 
Pennsylvania, where William Penn had 
directed land to be laid out to him, but 
died before sailing, in 1690. His widow 
Rebecca and their only son William came 
to Pennsylvania and located in Bucks 
county at Pennsbury, where she lived for 
a number of years. She married, in 1725, 
Nehemiah Allen, son of Nathaniel, the com- 
missioner. William, the son, married Elea- 
nor Wood, of Philadelphia, and located in 
Solebury, Bucks county. They are the 
ancestors of the now numerous family of 
Blackfan. Captain Crispin married a second 
time, and had eleven children, most of 
whom located in the West Indies. 

Silas Crispin, only son of the Captain 
by his first marriage, in 1684 located in 
Upper Dublin township, Philadelphia 
county, where he lived the rest of his life, 
dying May 31, 171 1. He married a second 
time. Mary, daughter of Richard and Abi- 
gail Stockton, and widow of Thomas Shinn, 
who after his death married a third time, 
September 11, 1714. Richard Ridgway, Jr.. 
son of Richard Ridgway, who was one of 
the earliest English settlers on the Delaware 
in Bucks county. Silas and Esther (Holme) 



Crispin were the parents of eight children^ 
six of whom lived to maturity: Sarah, 
married Lesson Loftus, of Philadelphia; 
Rebecca, married Joseph Finney ; Marie^ 
married John Collett ; Eleanor, married 
John Hart; Esther, married Thomas Rush; 
Thomas, married Jane Ashton, and lived 
on his father's plantation in Lower Dublin ; 
and William and Susanna who died young. 
By the second marriage Silas Crispin had 
six children ; Joseph, who removed to Dela- 
ware ; Benjamin, of Chester county; Abi- 
gail, married John Wright, of Chester 
county ; Silas ; Mary, married Thomas 
Earl, of New Jersey; and John. 

John and Eleanor (Crispin) Hart were 
the parents of ten children, viz :- 

T. John, born September 10, 1709, went 
to Virginia, where he was killed June ir, 
1743 by the accidental discharge of a gun. 

2. Susanna, born April 20, 171 1, mar- 
ried March 31, 1731. John Price, and died 
two years later, leaving an only child^ 
Joseph Price. 

3. William, born JMarch 7, 1713, died 
October 7, 1714. 

4. Joseph, born September r, 1715. died 
February 25, 1788; see forward. 

5. Silas, born May 5, 1718, removed in 
early life to Augusta county, Virginia. • At 
the organization of Rockingham county ht 
became a resident of that county, filling 
the position of judge, sheriff, etc. He 
died without issue October 29, 1795. 

6. Lucretia, born July 22. 1720, died 
December 15, 1760; was twice married, 
first, October 15, 1741, to William Gilbert, 
who died about 1750, and on March 5, 1752, 
to John Thomas ; had three sons by first 
marriage, and a son and two daughters by 
the last. 

7. Oliver Hart, born July 5, 1723, was 
for thirty years pastor of a Baptist 
church at Charleston, South Carolina, 
1749-80, and fifteen years at Hopewell, 
New Jersey; died December 31, 1795. 

8. Edith, born 1727, married Isaac 
Hough ; — see Hough Family. 

9. Seth, died at age of nine years. 

10. Olive, died in infancy. 

Colonel Joseph Hart, fourth child and 
eldest living son of John and Eleanor 
(Crispin) Hart at the death of his father, 
was born in the old family mansion in 
Warminster. September i. 1715, and died 
there February 25. 1788. He was an active 
member of the Baptist church of South- 
ampton, and a deacon from its organiza- 
tion in 1746. and succeeded his father as 
clerk and trustee in 1763. He entered into 
public life at an early age; was sheriff of 
Bucks county 1749-51 : justice of the county 
courts 1764 to the time of his death. He 
was ensign of Captain Henry Kroesen's 
company of Bucks County Associators in 
1747, and captain in 1756 of a Bucks county 
company. His most valuable services were 
however rendered during the Revolutionary 
contest, during which period to write of 
him is to write the history of the struggle 
in Bucks county, where he was in the fore- 



44 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



front from the "protest" at Newtown. July 
9, 1774, when lie was appointed one of the 
committee from Bucks to meet the "Com- 
mittee from the respective counties of Penn- 
sylvania" at Philadelphia, July 15, 1774. 
until independence was established, almost 
always representing his county in the var- 
ious conferences and conventions, serving 
as chairman of the committee of safety, 
county lieutenant, etc. He was commis- 
sioned colonel of the first battalion raised 
by the committee of safety, and took it 
through the Jersey campaign of 1776. He 
was vice-president of the convention that 
met in Carpenter's Hall. June 18, 1776, and 
was twice chairman of the committee of 
the whole in that famous convention. In 
1777 he was elected to the supreme exe- 
cutive council, and served until October, 
1779, when he became lieutenant of Bucks 
county. He was register of wills and re- 
corder of deeds of Bucks county, 1777 to his 
death in 1788, being the first person com- 
missioned for these offices by the surpreme 
•executive council. He was elected in 1782 
to represent Bucks county on the "board 
of censors," and on June 7, 1784, was 
commissioned by council as judge of the 
courts of common pleas and quarter ses- 
â– sions. The records fully verify the truth of 
the lines inscribed on the tomb erected to 
the memory of him and his wife at South- 
ampton; "His long and useful life was 
almost wholly devoted to the public ser- 
vice of his country; while the lives of both 
â– were eminent for piety and virtue." 

He married October 8. 1740, his cousin 
Elizabeth Collett, daughter of John and 
Marie (Crispin) Collett. and granddaughter 
of Richard and Elizabeth (Rush) Collett. 
She was born in Byberry, May 14, 1714, 
and died February ig, 1788, six days be- 
fore her husband's death. They were the 
parents of six children, all sons, William, 
John, Silas, Josiah. Joseph, and another 
Joseph, the first having died in infancy. 
William, the eldest died in 1760, at the 
age of nineteen, unmarried. 

John the second son of Colonel Joseph 
and Elizabeth Hart, born November 29, 
1743, was treasurer of Bucks county during 
the revolution, and was filling that position 
when the treasury at Newtown was robbed 
by the Doans and their gang of outlaws, 
October 22, 1784. He died at Newtown 
June 5, 1786. He married, September 13, 
1767, Rebecca Rees, daughter of David and 
Margaret Rees, of Hatboro, and they were 
the parents of five sons and two daughters, 
of whon three died in youth. His son 
William was a physician in Philadelphia; 
John was a merchant at Jacksonville for 
many years, married Rachel Dungan and 
left numerous descendants; Elizabeth mar- 
ried Dr. Silas Hough, see Hough family ; 
Joseph died unmarried. 

Silas, the third .son of Joseph and Eliza- 
beth (Collett) Hart, born October 4, 1747, 
was a farmer and lived and died in War- 
minster; married Mary Daniel, and had 
ten children : 



Joseph, the sixth son of Colonel Joseph 
Hart, born July 17, 1749, is treated of in 
the sketch of General W. W. H. Davis, 
whose grandfather he was. 

Joseps, the sixth son of Colonel Joseph 
and Elizabeth Hart, and the ancestor of B. 
F. Hart, was born in Warminster, December 
7, 1758. He was a man of liberal education 
and extensive information on public affairs, 
in which he took a deep interest, and always 
enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-citi- 
zens. During the famous Whiskey Insur- 
rection he was paymaster of Colonel Han- 
na's brigade, and accompanied the army 
in its march to western Pennsylvania. He 
was a member of the state senate 1804- 
1809, and as such in 1805 was chairman of 
the committee which reported favorably the 
bill for building an alms-house in Bucks 
county, and in 1808 introduced the first 
resolution in the senate for the removal 
of the county seat from Newtown to a 
more central part of Bucks county, and 
which resulted in the location at the pres- 
ent site, Doylestown, two years later. He 
enjoyed a wide acquaintance with the dis- 
tinguished men of his time in the state, as 
is evident by his correspondence. He mar- 
ried, December 25, 1783. Ann Folwell, of 
Warminster, whose family was one of the 
most respectable and influential in the 
county, and they were the parents of seven 
children, viz : Thomas, John, Charles, 
Lewis Folwell, Thomas, Eliza Ann, and 
Clarissa Maria. The first Thomas and 
Charles died in childhood. At the death 
of the father, on April 15, 181 1, the home- 
stead buildings and part of the home farm 
became the property of Thomas, the fifth 
son, who died in 1838, the balance being 
divided between John and Lewis F., who 
erected buildings thereon. The mother, 
Ann, died March 11, 1843. Eliza Ann, the 
eldest daughter, born December 8, 1797, 
married December 2, 1817, David Marple; 
and Clarissa Maria, the other daughter, 
married Joseph Carver. 

John Hart, the eldest son of Joseph and 
Ann (Folwell) Hart, born in Warminster, 
April 9, 1787, was a man of prominence 
in the county, and for many years had a 
considerable political influence. When the 
British threatened Philadelphia in 1814 he 
and his brothers, Thomas and Lewis, en- 
listed in Captain William Purdy's com- 
pany in Colonel Humphrey's regiment, and 
served in the fleld until December, when 
the danger having passed, they were mus- 
tered out of service. After the return of 
peace he took an active interest in the 
military of the county, serving at one time 
as colonel of militia. He served one ses- 
sion in the state legislature. 1832, and filled 
a number of local offices. He was a warm 
patron of Hatboro Library, founded in 
1755 by his grandfather and others. He 
married, IMarch 10. tSio, Mary Horner, 
daughter of John and Mary Horner, of 
Warminster, who was born May 3, 1790, 
and they were the parents of eight children 
as follows 




-.'blisTiing . C 



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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



45 



Joseph, the oldest son of John and Mary 
(Horner) Hart, born January 21, 1811, 
receiving a liberal education and grad- 
uated at Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, 
Pennsylvania. He followed the profes- 
sion of teaching for many years, and was 
deeply interested in public affairs up to 
the time of his death in 1898. He married 
Jane, daughter of William and Ellen 
Vansant, and had four children, — George 
W., Charles H., Mary E., and Ella S. 
George W. followed the vocation of a 
farmer, married Jennie Valentine, had one 
child, Charles Vincent, who received a 
public school education, then graduated 
from West Chester Normal school, re- 
ceiving a scholarship to Dartmouth, grad- 
uated from that institution and afterward 
from Jefferson University, Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, and is now practicing in 
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Charles H. was 
also a teacher, and at the time of his 
death, in 1881, was principal of a school 
in the Twenty-third Ward, Philadelphia. 
He was also connected with several news- 
papers, and enjoyed the reputation of being 
a deep thinker. Mary E. died in infancy. 
Ella S. taught school in Horsham. Mont- 
gomery county, for a few years, then re- 
turned home to attend her father in his de- 
clining years. She now lives in Hatboro, 
Pennsylvania. 

William H., second son of John and 
Mary (Horner) Hart, was born April 23, 
1813. In 1845 he married Rachel Ayers, of 
Moreland, Tvlontgomery county. They had 
three children, all of whom died in 
infancy. 

James, the third son of John and Mary 
(Horner) Hart, born December 15, 1820, 
married Rachel, daughter of Isaac and 
Emilie Hobensack. With his family he 
moved to jNIaryland and located near IBalti- 
more, where as a farmer he continued to 
reside until the beginning of the civil war. 
Owing to the hostile feeling entertained 
toward northerners he was obliged to 
sacrifice his property and return with his 
family to Bucks county. He then enlisted 
in the First New Jersey Cavalry Regiment, 
in the company commanded by his cousin, 
Captain John H. Shelmire. In recognition 
of his bravery and courage he was 
promoted to major of the regiment, and at 
the same time held the commission as 
major in the United States army. He was 
repeatedly wounded, and finally killed, after 
the evacuation of Richmond, at the battle 
of Five Forks, Virginia, April i, 1865. 
His remains were brought home and in- 
terred in the Southampton Baptist burial 
ground, along with his kindred. He left 
a widow and six children, all of whom 
are living. 

George, the fourth son of John and J^Iary 
(Horner) Hart, born April 18, 1823, re- 
ceived a good thorough home education, 
and afterwards graduated at YalQ. In 1849 
he went to California, returned to Phila- 
delphia, became a partner in the mercantile 
house of Shunway, Hart & Co., married 



Louisa Webb, and had four children, one 
of whom is still living. 

B. Frank, the fifth son of John and 
Mary (Horjaer) Hart, and the subject of 
our sketch, born March 22, 1825, like- 
wise received a liberal education and 
taught different schools in his native county 
and also in Philadelphia. He then located 
in Philadelphia, and was for many years 
associated with John P. Veree's rolling 
mill in Kensington, then became exe- 
cutive officer and general manager of one 
of the city passengers railways. After 
many years of close attention to business 
he retired from active life, and now resides 
with his family at 2010 Wallace street, 
Philadelphia. He is a member of the 
Bucks County Historical Society, and takes 
a lively interest in the affairs of the county 
with whose history his distinguished an- 
cestors were so closely identified. April 
9, 1867, he married Anna H., daughter of 
Thomas Barnett, Philadelphia, and had 
five children. John Davis, born March 25, 
1868, died in infancy; Sarah, born May 23, 
1869; Mabel, born November 10, 1870, 
died March 14, 1873; Walter, born October 
5, 1874; and Lydia, born September 11, 
1876. Sara, daughter of B. Frank and 
Anna (Barnett) Hart, married Rev. Madi- 
son C. Peters, the distinguished preacher, 
author and lecturer of Philadelphia, and 
has three children, Dorothy, Anna and 
Frank H. Walter Horner, son of B. 
Frank and Anna (Barnett) Hart, gradu- 
ated from Colonel Hyatt's [Military School 
and is now one of Philadelphia's rising 
business men. Lydia, daughter of B. Frank 
and Anna (Barnett) Hart, remains at 
home with her parents. 

Thompson Darrah, sixth son of John 
and Jilary (Horner) Hart, born August 
14. 1827, went to Philadelphia, where he 
engaged in business. He married Susan 
Snedecar, and had one child. At the be- 
ginning of the civil war he enlisted as 
first lieutenant in his cousin's (Colonel 
Alfred Marple's) company in Colonel W. 
W. H. Davis's 104th Regiment, Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteers, and was later commis- 
sioned as lieutenant-colonel and commanded 
a brigade at the siege of Charleston, South 
Carolina. 

Ann Eliza, daughter of John and Mary 
(Horner) Hart, born January 17, 1817, 
died June, 1900. 

Mary Darrah, daughter of John and 
]\Iary (Horner) Hart, born July 18, 1818, 
died. 

GENERAL WILLIAM WATTS 

HART DAVIS, a veteran of two wars, 
author, journalist and historian, was born 
at Davisville, Southampton township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, July 27, 1820, and 
comes of English, Welsh and Scotch-Irish 
ancestry, representing the commingling of 
the blood of these different nationalities to 
which we are indebted for many of the 
finest types of American citizenship. 

On the paternal side, his great-grand- 



46 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



father, William Davis, was an early settler 
in Solebury or Upper Makefield township, 
Bucks county, and while tradition makes 
Tiim of Welsh descent, his environment and 
associations indicate very strongly to the 
the writer of these lines that he was either 
a native of the north of Ireland, or a son 
of an Ulster Scot, who had made his way to 
Pennsylvania with the great army of Scotch 
Covenanters from the province of Ulster in 
the first quarter of the eighteenth century. 
He married, about 1756, Sarah Burleigh (or 
Burley) daughter of John Burley, of Upper 
Makefield, an Ulster Scot, who had settled 
in Upper Makefield about 1735 with the 
Torberts, IMcNairs and others with whom 
his family later intermarried. Little is 
known of the life of William Davis other 
than that he was a farmer in Solebury and 
Upper Makefield, and died in the latter 
part of the century. William and Sarah 
(Burley) Davis were the parents of seven 
children, viz : Jemima, born December 25, 
1758, married John Pitner, and removed 
with him first to Maryland and later to 
New Castle. Delaware ; John, the grand- 
father of General Davis, born September 6, 
1760; Sarah, born October i, 1763, married 
Lott Search, of Southampton, Bucks 
county; William, born September 9, 1766, 
became a sea captain and died at sea ; 
Joshua, born July 6, 1769, removed to 
Maryland about 1800; Marv, born October 
3, 1771, and Joseph, born March i, 1774, of 
whom we have no further record. 

John Davis, second son of William and 
Sarah (Burley) Davis, the grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch, was born and 
reared in Solebury, and at the age of six- 
teen years became a member of William 
Hart's company in the Bucks county bat- 
talion of the Flying Camp, under Colonel 
Joseph Hart, and participated with it in the 
New Jersey and Long Island campaign of 
1776. Returning with the battalion to 
Bucks county he participated with General 
Washington in the Christmas night attack 
on Trenton. In 1777 he enlisted in Caotain 
Thomas Butler's company in the Third 
Pennsylvania Regiment, later becoming a 
part of the Second Pennsylvania Regi- 
ment ; then transferred to Captain Joseph 
McClelland's company, was at the storming 
of Stony Point, and wounded in the foot at 
Fort Lee on the Hudson. 1780. He was in 
the Ninth, under IMcClelland. at the time of 
revolt in New Jersey, proceeded from there 
to York in January. 1781, and from there 
the company was ordered south under 
Lafayette and participated in the battle of 
Yorktown.- after which Davis was dis- 
charged on account of his disabled foot 
and returned to Bucks county. In 1782 he 
was commissioned ensign of Captain 
Neclev's company. Colonel John Keller's 
battalion, Bucks county militia, and was one 
of the members of that battalion to enter 
into active service for seven months. At 
the close of his military service John Davis 
married. June â–  26. T783. Ann Simp'^on. 
daughter of William and Ann (Ilines) 



Simpson, of Buckingham, and rented the 
Ellicott farm in Solebury, where he lived 
until 1795, when he removed with his fam- 
ily to Ellicott's Mills, Maryland, where 
they resided until 1816, when he removed 
to Franklin county, Ohio, where he died 
January 25, 1832, at the age of seventy-two 
years. His wife, Ann, survived him, dying 
June 6, 185 T, in her eighty-seventh year. 
Her father, William Simpson, was born in 
Ireland in 17,32. and is said to have come 
to Pennsylvania about 1740 with his 
widowed mother and a- brother John, who 
was the great-grandfather of General U. S. 
Grant. William Simpson married Ann 
Hines, daughter of Mathew Hines, of New 
Britain, and lived for a time in that town- 
ship, removing later to Buckingham, where 
he died in 1816. The children of John and 
Ann (Simpson) Davis were: Sarah, born 
in Solebury, October 12, 1784; William 
born August 22, 1786; John, born August 7, 
1788; Ann, born November 6, 1790; 
Samuel, born 1792, died in infancy; Joshua, 
born in Maryland, June 27, 17^\ Samuel 
S., born September, 1798 ; Joseph, born 
January 27, 1803, and Elizabeth, born 
November 18, 1805. Most of these children 
removed with their parents to the banks of 
the Scioto, where they became useful and 
active members of the community and en- 
gaged in different • branches of business 
and professions. 

John Davis, the second son of John and 
Ann. born in Solebury. August 7. 1788. was 
the father of the subject of this sketch. He 
removed with his parents to Rock Creek, on 
the banks of the Potapsico, Maryland, at 
the age of seven years, and was reared' to 
the life of a farmer. At the age of sixteen 
years he began to drive his father's Cone- 
stoga wagon with produce to Baltimore, 
and before he was seventeen was sent with 
his father's team to remove the goods of a 
neighbor to Pittsburg, crossing the Alle- 
ghenies and passing through what was then 
a wilderness with scattering settlers ; tUe 
trip occupying about sixty days. In 1808, 
at the age of twenty, he bought his time 
of his father and began farming for him- 
self. His opportunities for an education 
being limited, he supplemented what schol- 
astic knovvledge he had gained in his boy- 
hood bv the reading of books and period- 
icals of the day in the midst of a life of 
business activity. He had a thirst for 
knowledge, and. possessing a retentive 
memory, became exceptionally well in- 
formed on history and the issues of Amer- 
ican politics of the day. On one of his 
visits to his uncle. Lott Search, in South- 
ampton township, he made the acnuain- 
tance of his future wife, Amy Hart, daugh- 
ter of Josiah and Ann (Watts) Hart, who 
was living with her widowed mother on the 
old Watts homestead in Southampton, and 
from that time until March 13. 1813. the 
date of his marriage, was a frequent vis- 
itor at his uncle's house. ' 

.^my Hart was born June 30. T784. and 
came of distinguished ancestry, her father. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



47 



Josiah Hart, being the fourth son of 
Colonel Joseph* and Elizabeth (Collet) 
Hart, born July 17, 1749, and died October 
25, 1800. He was captain of one of the 
Bucks county companies of militia during 
the Revolutionary war, under his father, 
who was commissioned colonel of the first 
battalion organized in Bucks county, in 
1776, for the Jersey campaign. Colonel 
Hart was one of the most prominent men 
of his day in Bucks county, serving as 
sheriff, 1747-1751 ; justice of the courts of 
Bucks county, 1764, to the time of his death 
in 1788, ensign of militia, 1747. In the 
Revolutionary struggle he was one of the 
leading spirits from the time he was ap- 
pointed on the committee of Bucks county, 
July 9, 1774, to attend "a meeting of the 
several committees of the respective coun- 
ties of Pennsylvania, to be held in Phila- 
delphia the 15th of July, instant," until 
independence was achieved. He was born 
September i, 1715, and died February 25, 
1788, and was a son of John and Eleanor 
(Crispin) Hart, grandson of John Hart, 
who came from Witney, Oxfordshire, in 
1682, and married Susanna Rush, of 
Byberry. On the maternal side Mrs. Davis 
was a granddaughter of Stephen, and great- 
granddaughter of Rev. John Watts, born 
at Leeds, England, 1661 ; came to Lower 
Dublin, Philadelphia county, 1686, and 
married Sarah Eaton. He become pastor 
of the Pennepack Baptist church, 1690, and 
died 1702. William Watts, brother of Mrs. 
Josiah Hart, was prothonotary, clerk of 
quarter sessions, and associate justice of 
Bucks county. Mrs. Hart, mother-in-law 
of John Davis, died in 1815, at Doylestown, 
of typhoid fever ; also William W. Hart, a 
young member of the bar, her son, and 
Mrs. Miles, another daughter of Mrs. Hart, 
all dying in the George Brock house, 
Doylestown, within a few days, of the 
same fever. 

Soon after his marriage John Davis 
settled on his mother-in-law's farm in 
Southampton, and, at her death, in 181 5, 
it was adjudged to him in right of his wife, 
and he resided in that immediate neighbor- 
hood the remainder of his long and active 
life. He at once became active in the af- 
fairs of his native county, to which he re- 
turned while the second war with Great 
Britain was in progress. On news of the 
burning of Washington reaching Bucks 
county, a meeting was called at Hart's 
Cross Roads, now Hartsville, on Thursday, 
September i, 1814, to raise volunteers to 
take the field. The list of the men enrolled 
is in the handwriting of William Watts 
Hart, brother of Mrs. John Davis, and John 
Davis's name heads the list. He became 
ensign of the company then formed, which, 
after two months' camp and drill at Bush 
Hill, Philadelphia, proceeded to Camp 
Dupont, in Delaware, where their three 
months' service was completed. Ensign 
Davis, soon after his discharge, entered 



* See preceding sketch. 



the volunteer militia of the county, became 
active therein, and was in constant commis- 
sion for thirty-four years, holding in suc- 
cession commissions as captain, brigade in- 
spector, major, lieutenant-colonel, colonel, 
and was three times elected major-general 
of the division composed of Bucks and 
Montgomery counties. General Davis was 
a natural politician, a Democrat from con- 
viction, and became a power in that party 
in Bucks county. Sturdy in the advocacy 
of what he conceived to be right and strong 
in the reasons and facts on which his con- 
clusions were founded, he became a strong 
and eloquent advocate and was "on the 
stump" in many of the political campaigns 
of his day. He was appointed by Governor 
Wolf, 1833, a member of the board of ap- 
praisers of public works and held the office 
three years. In 1838 he was elected to 
congress from the Bucks county district, 
and made a splendid record as a congress- 
man. His speech in favor of the passage 
of the Independent Treasury Bill, June 2/, 
1840, was commented on throughout the 
country as a masterly and able one. He 
served on many important committees and 
took an active interest in all that pertained 
to the best interest of his district and ,the 
country at large. On March 4, 1845, he 
was appointed surveyor of the port of 
Pniladelphia, and filled that position for 
four years. During the forty years from 
1820 to i860, General John Davis's 
position in the political arena was a 
prominent one and he was closely 
associated and in constant correspondence 
with the leading political lights of that time, 
A lifelong friend of James Buchanan, he 
used strenuous efforts to accomplish his 
election to the presidency. He, however, 
disapproved of Buchanan's Kansas and 
Nebraska policy, and refused to indorse it, 
and became estranged from many old-time 
comrades in the party. 

During all these years General Davis 
remained a resident of Davisville, where he 
operated a farm and saw mill for many 
years. In 1829 he built a store building 
there, and conducted a general merchan- 
dise store for many years, and filled the 
position of postmaster. He was an ex- 
cellent business man, frank and straight- 
forward in his dealings, and of unswerving 
public and private integrity. He and his 
family were members of the Baptist church, 
and he took a deep interest in religious and 
educational matters. At the outbreak of 
the Civil war he was amongst the very first 
to raise his voice in favor of maintaining 
the Union and putting down the rebellion 
with a strong arm. Had his age permitted 
would have gone to the front, as did his 
only son, in defense of the government he 
loved and served. 

Amy, the wife of General John Davis, 
died August 17, 1847, and he on April 8, 
1876, and both are buried in the old graver 
yard at Southampton Baptist church. Their 
children were : Ann, who married, Decem- 
ber 10, 183s, James Erwin, of Newtown, 



48 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



whose only surviving child married Henry 
Mercur, of Towanda, Pennsylvania ; Re- 
becca, who married, January 5, 1840, Alfred 
T. Duffield, who succeeded the General as 
storekeeper at Davisville, and died in 
September, 1871, and his wife in 1884, leav- 
ing three children : J. Davis Duffield, T. II. 
Benton Duffield, and Amy, wife of Judge 
Gustav A. Endlich of Reading; Sarah, who 
married Ulysses Mercur, of lowanda, later 
chief justice of the supreme court of Penn- 
sylvania; Amy, who married Holmes Sells, 
a practicing physician at Dublin, Ohio, 
later a prominent physician and druggist 
at Atlanta, Georgia, where they resided 
during the Civil war; Elizabeth, who never 
married, and resides at the old homestead 
at Davisville; and an only son, William 
Watts Hart Davis, the subject of this 
sketch, who was named for his mother's 
brother, William Watts Hart, a member of 
the Bucks county bar, who was clerk of 
the orphans' court of Bucks county in 1814, 
and resigned to go in defense of his country 
when Washington was burned, and was 
adjutant of Colonel Humphrey's Bucks 
county regiment. At the close of the war 
he returned to Doylestown and died m 1815 
of typhus fever. 

William Watts Hart Davis was born at 
at Davisville, July 27, 1820. He was 
reared on ttie old homestead and his 
earliest educational advantages were ob- 
tained at a private school Kept by Miss 
Anna Longstreth, at the Longstreth home- 
stead nearDy; later he attended the cele- 
brated classical school at Southampton 
Baptist church, and the day school, a mile 
from Davisville, on the Bucks and Mont- 
gomery county line road. In 1832 he came 
to Doylestown and attended the Academy 
there, boarding at the public house of his 
father's old captain and friend, William 
Purdy; a few years later he attended the 
select school of Samuel Long, near Harts- 
viUe, and the Newtown Academy, finishing 
his elementary education at the boarding 
school of Samuel Aaron, Burlington, New 
Jersey. From the age of ten years the time 
not spent in school was spent behind the 
counter in his fathers' store, where he 
learned practical business methods and 
habits of industry from the best of teachers, 
by both example and precept. In 1841 he 
entered Captain Alden Partridge's Univer- 
sity and Military School at Norwich, Ver- 
mont, and concluded a three years' course 
in sixteen months, graduating in 1842 with 
the degrees of A. M. and M. M. S. In 
the same year he was appointed an instruc- 
tor of mathematics and commandant of 
cadets in the military academy at Ports- 
mouth, Virginia, where he remained three 
years. 

He then began the study of law in the 
office of Judge John Fox, at Doylestown, 
and in 1846, after his admission to the bar, 
entered the law department of Harvard 
University. On December 5, 1846, while a 
student of Harvard Law School, at Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts, he enlisted in the 



First Massachusetts Infantry for the Mex- 
ican war ; was commissioned first lieutenant, 
December 31, 1846, of Captain Crowning- 
shield's company, Colonel Caleb Cushing's 
regiment; adjutant, January 16, 1847; aide- 
de-camp June I, 1847; acting assistant ad- 
jutant general, July 18, 1847; acting com- 
missary of subsistence, October 9, 1847; act- 
ing qtiartermaster and inspector, October 
29, 1847; captain. Company I, First Massa- 
chusetts Infantry, March 16, 1848, spending 
the winter of 1847-1848 with Scott's con- 
quering army in the Valley of Mexico. 
He was one of the officers who participated 
in the capture of General Valencia, in a 
night ride of seventy miles. He was mus- 
tered out July 24, 1848, at the close of the 
war. 

He now returned to Doylestown, where 
he practiced law until 1853, when he was 
appointed by President Franklin Pierce 
(with whom he had served in the Mexican 
war) to the position of United States dis- 
trict attorney of the territofy of New 
Mexico, and spent the next four years in 
that territory, during which time he filled 
the offices of attorney-general, secretary of 
the territory, acting governor, superintend- 
ent of Indian affairs and of public build- 
ings. While there he also published a 
newspaper at Santa Fe in Spanish and 
English, and, with the assistance of an in- 
terpreter and his clerk he saved the valuable 
Spanish manuscript in the secretary's office 
which afterward furnished him the material 
from which he wrote "The Spanish Con- 
quest of New Mexico," that was issued 
from the press of the "Doylestown Dem- 
ocrat" in 1869. While at Santa Fe he wrote 
his first work on New Mexico, entitled 
"El Gringo, or New Mexico and Her 
People," which Harper & Brothers puD- 
lished in 1857. While exercising the func- 
tions of government in our new territory, 
Mr. Davi^ met with some unique experi- 
ences. On one occasion, himself and party, 
while traveling on the plains, were cap- 
tured by the Arapahoe Indians, but, by the 
exercise of a little diplomacy, escaped seri- 
ous molestation. 

Returning to Doylestown in the fall of 
1857, lie purchased the "Doylestown Dem- 
ocrat," then as now the organ of the Demo- 
cratic party in the county, and owned and 
edited it until 1890, when he sold out to 
the Doylestown Publishing Company, but 
continued as its editor until 1900, since 
which time he has devoted his time to his- 
torical and literary work. 

General Davis raised and took to the 
front the first armed force in the county for 
the defense of the country in the civil war, 
known as the "Doylestown Guards," of 
which he had been captain since 1858 as a 
volunteer militia organization. He served 
with this company through a campaign in 
the Shenandoah Valley under General 
Robert Patterson, an account of which cam- 
paign he later published, and which is con- 
sidered an authority on that subject. The 
company was ordered to Washington in 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



49 



1861, and was the first military force to 
pass through Baltimore after the riots of 
April 19, 1861. The company being mus- 
tered out at the end of their three months' 
service, Captain Davis, by order of the 
secretary of war, raised at Doylestovi^n the 
One Hundred and Fourth Regiment, Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers, and a battery known 
at its inception as the "Ringgold Battery," 
but later as "Durell's Battery," an excel- 
lent history of which has lately been writ- 
ten and published by Lieutenant Charles A. 
Cuffel, of Doylestown. Colonel Davis went 
to the front with his regiment November 6, 
1861, and served throughout the war as its 
colonel, though frequently filling positions 
and exercising commands commensurate to 
a much higher rank. His military record 
during the civil war, as briefly summed up 
from the records of the War Department, 
is as follows : Captain Company I, Twenty- 
fifth Pennsylvania Regiment (Doylestown 
Guards), April 16, 1861, in the Shenandoah 
Valley campaign; mustered out July 26, 
1861 ; colonel One Hundred and Fourth 
Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Sep- 
tember 5, 1861 ; provisional brigade com- 
mander, November 11, 1861 ; commanding 
First Brigade, Casey's Division, Fourth 
Corps, November 30, 1861 ; wounded at 
Fair Oaks, May 31, 1862 ; commanded First 
Brigade, Second Division, Eighteenth 
Corps, January II, 1863 (Second Division, 
First Corps, March 10, 1863; commanded 
United States forces at Port Royal Island, 
South Carolina, May 27, 1862, post of Beau- 
fort, South Carolina, June 14, 1863; First 
Brigade, Terry's Division, July 8, 1863, at 
siege of Charleston, S. C. ; commanded U. 

5. forces at Morris Island, South Carolina, 
January 19, 1864; District of Hilton Head, 
Port Pulaski, St. Helena and Tybee 
Islands, South Carolina, April 18, 1864; 
First Brigade. Hatch's Division, July 4, 
1864; wounded at siege of Charleston, July 

6, 1864, losing fingers of right hand ; mus- 
tered out September 30, 1864; brevetted 
brigadier-general. United States Volun- 
teers, March 13, 1865, "for meritorious ser- 
vices during the operations against Charles- 
ton, South Carolina." In connection with 
the distinguished services rendered by Gen- 
eral Davis in the operations before Charles- 
ton we publish below a letter written by 
Major General Gilmore, then in command 
of the forces there, which shows in what 
light his services were held by his superior 
officers : 

"Headquarters, Department of the South, 
"Folly Island, S. C, Nov. 26, 1863. 
"Col. W. W. H. Davis. 104th Pa. Vol. Inf., 
Commanding Brigade, Morris Island 

S. C. 

"Dear Sir :— Although entirely unsol- 
icited by you, directly or indirectly, I deem 
it my duty, as it is certainly a pleasure, on 
the eve of your departure for a short leave 
of absence in the North, to express to you, 
officially, my high appreciation of the zeal, 
intelligence, and efficiency which have 
marked your conduct and service during 
4-3 



the operations against the defences of 
Charleston, still pending. Much of our 
service here has been trying, indeed, upon 
both officers and men, but I have been most 
nobly sustained by all, and by none more 
zealously than yourself. I wish you a suc- 
cessful journey and a safe return to us. 

Very Respectfully, Your Obt. S'vt., 
(Signed) Q. A. Gilmore, 

"Maj. Gen'l. Com'd'g." 

The above letter, received on the eve of 
his departure for a short visit to his family 
and friends in Bucks county, was an en- 
tire and gratifying surprise to the general 
and is -much prized by him. 

The One Hundred and Fourth passed 
through the thick of the fight, and rendered 
valiant service in the defense of the Union, 
and left many of its numbers in their last 
sleep under Southern skies. General Davis 
was largely instrumental in securing the 
erection of a monument to the memory of 
his fallen comrades at Doylestown. 

At the close of the war General Davis re- 
turned to the management and editorship 
of the "Democrat." He was honorary com- 
missioner of the United States to the Paris 
Exposition in 1878; was Democratic candi- 
date for congress from the seventh district 
in 1882, and for the state at large in 1884. 
In 1885 he was appointed by President 
Cleveland United States pension agent at 
Philadelphia, and filled that position for 
four years. In the midst of a life of busi- 
ness activity General Davis has devoted 
much time to literary and historical work. 
In addition to numerous lectures, addresses 
and papers on historical and other subjects, 
he is the author of the following publica- 
tions, "El Gringo," 1857 ; "Spanish Con- 
quest of New Mexico,"* 1869; "History of 
One Hundred and Fourth Regiment, Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers," 1866 ; "History of the 
Hart Family of Bucks County," 1867 ; "Life 
of. General John Lacev," 1868; "History of 
Bucks County," 1876; '"Life of John Davis," 
1886; "Doylestown Guards," 1887; "Cam- 
paign of 1861. in the Shenandoah Valley," 
1893; "The Fries Rebellion." 1899: "Doyles- 
town, Old and New," 1904, and a revised 
edition of the "History of Bucks County," 
1905. All of these publications are consid- 
ered the best authorities on the subjects 
treated and most of them now bring in 
the market double and treble their original 
subscription price. General Davis has been 

*The eminent historian, George Bancroft, read the 
entire manuscript of the " Spanish Conquest of New 
Mexico" prior to its publication, and in a letter to 
General Davis, from Berlin, under date of February 
17, 1869, said: "You are the only American I know 
who had the opportunity and the curiosity to investi- 
gate the subject, and our new acquisition is rising so 
rapidly in greatness and value that a new interest 
attaches to the romantic career of the adventurers who 
discovered it, and I trust that you will publish your 
valuable work." Thomas A. Janvier, author of the 
" Mexican Guide," and an extensive contributor to 
Spanish-American literature, in a letter to the General 
says: "Your history is one of the most scholarly and 
thoroughly satisfying works in the whole range of 
Spanish-American literature. It has the charm of 
style of the old chroniclers, and much of their charm 
of quaintness. with an exactneFS that is not, in all 
cases, an old chronicler's characteristic." 



5P 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUXTV. 



president of the Bucks County Historical 
Society almost from its organization, and 
its success as an organization .is largely due 
to his untiring efforts in its behalf. Nearly 
his whole time since his retirement from 
the editorship of the "Democrat," in 1900, 
as well as a large part of his time prior to 
that has been spent in its rooms and in its 
service, and hundreds of books, pamphlets 
and curios on its shelves are of his con- 
tribution. At the age of eighty-five years 
his highest ambition is to live to see the 
Society successfully installed in its hand- 
some new building, for which it is largely 
indebted to his untiring zeal in that behalf. 

General Davis was married, June 24, 
1856, to Anna Carpenter, daughter of Jacob 
Carpenter, of Brooklyn. New York, and of 
their seven children three survive: Jacob 
C, of Doylestown, now in the employ of 
the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad 
Company ; Margaret Sprague, wife of Cap- 
tain Samuel A. W. Patterson, of the U. S. 
Marine Corps, son of Rear Admiral 
Thomas H. Patterson, U. S. N.. and grand- 
son of Commodore Daniel T. Patterson, 
U. S. N., who commanded the Naval forces 
at the battle of New Orleans, 1865; and 
Eleanor Hart, residing with her father. 

General Davis is a companion of the mil- 
itary order of the Loyal Legion, a member 
of the Aztec Club, Survivors oi the Mex- 
ican War, of the Pennsylvania Society of 
the Sons of the Revolution. Post No. i, 
G. A. R., Philadelphia, the American 
Historical Association and the Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania, and a member 
and one of the founders of Historical So- 
ciety of New Mexico. 



CAPTAIN SAMUEL AUCHMUTY 
WAINWRIGHT PATTERSON. U. S. 
Marine Corps, on board the United States 
battleship "Kentucky," of the North At- 
lantic squadron, U. S. N., was born at 
Washington, D. C, December 3. ^^>9, and 
is a son of Rear Admiral Thomas Harman 
Patterson. U. S. N., by his wife. Maria 
Montresor Wainwright. daughter of Colonel 
Richard D. Wainwright. first colonel of 
the United States Marine corps : and grand- 
son of Commodore Daniel Todd Patterson, 
U. S. N. 

Commodore Daniel Todd Patterson was 
born on Long Island. New York, in 1786. 
He entered the U. S. navy in t8oo, and was 
a mid'^hipman on board the frigate "Phila- 
delphia" in the expedition commanded by 
Captain William Brainbridge, engaged in 
the blockade of Tripoli. October 31. 1803, 
when the frigate ran upon the rocks and 
the vessel and entire crew were captured 
and held prisoners in Tripoli for three 
years, until peace was declared. On Janu- 
ary 24. TS07. he was promoted to the rank 
of lieutenanl, and on July 24. 1813. to 
master-commander. As commander of the 
naval forces he co-operated with General 
Andrew Jackson in 1S14-15 in the defense 



of New Orleans, lending such support as 
to assure the victory over the British, and 
received the expression of their apprecia- 
tion from the U. S. congress. He com- 
manded the expedition sent to capture the 
defenses of the corsair Lafitte, on the is- 
land of Grand Terre, in Batavia Bay, hav- 
ing been made captain February 28, 1815. 
He commanded the frigate "Constitution," 
1826-29, and was appointed navy-commis- 
sioner in the latter year, holding the posi- 
tion for four years. In 1832-36 he was in 
command of the Mediterranean squadron, 
and on his return was made commandant 
of the navy yard at Washington, which he 
held at the time of his death in 1839. 

Rear Admiral Thomas Harman Patter- 
son was born at New Orleans, May 10, 
1820, entered the navy from Louisiana as 
actmg midshipman April 5, 1830, was pro- 
moted midshipman March 3, 1837, passed 
midshipman July i, 1842. He spent the 
next five years on the frigate "Macedonia " 
the sloop-of-war "Falmouth," acting mas- 
ter and lieutenant on the brig "Lawrence," 
West India squadron, and on the brig 
'Washmgton," Coast Survey, from April 
17, 1844, to October, 1848, when he was 
commissioned master. He was commis- 
sioned lieutenant June 23, 1849. and served 
on the sloop-of-war "Vandalia," Pacific 
Squadron, until October 12, 1852. 

At the breaking out of the civil war he 
was serving on the steam sloop -'jMohickan," 
on the coast of Africa; returning home he 
was put on active duty; was commissioned 
commander of sham gunboat "Chocura," 
July 16, 1862, in Hampton Roads, Vir- 
ginia; and was present .at the siege of 
iorktown, and opened up the Pamunkey 
river for McClellan's army, co-operating 
with the Army of the Potomac. In Novem- 
ber, 1862, he was ordered to the South At- 
lantic Blockading Squadron in the steamer 
"James Adger," which he commanded untjl 
June. 1865. participating in the capture of 
a flying battery near Fort Fisher, in Aug- 
ust. 1863; captured the "Cornubia" and 
"Robert E. Lee," and the schooner "Ella" 
off the North Carolina coast. He 'was 
senior officer in the outside blockade off 
Charleston. South Carolina, September 15, 
1864; commanded the steam-sloop "Brook- 
lyn," flagship of the South Atlantic Squad- 
ron, from September 19, 1865. to Septem- 
ber 18, 1867. being commissioned captain 
July 25, 1866; promoted to commodore 
November 2. 1871, and commanded Wash- 
ington Navy Yard 1873-6; was commis- 
sioned rear admiral March 28. 1877. and 
commanded the Asiatic Squadron until 
1880, which completed his twenty-five years 
of active sea duty. He retired May ro, 
1882. He was elected Januarv 2. 1868. a 
member of the Military Order of the 
Loyal Legion of the United States. He 
died at Washington. D. C. after a, long 
and painful illness, April 9. 1889. He mar- 
ried Maria Montresor Wainwright. daugh- 
ter of Colonel Richard Wainwright. of the 
United States Marine Corps, who died in 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



51 



1881. They were the parents of three sons 
and one daughter. 

Captain Samuel A. VV. Patterson entered 
the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1876, 
and graduated in 1882, after making sev- 
eral cruises as a student. After gradua- 
tion he was attached to the flagship "Hart- 
ford," of the Pacific Squadron, where he 
served twcr years. He left the navy in 1884, 
and in 1885 was appointed as a clerk in 
the United States Pension Office at Phila- 
delphia under General W. W. H. Davis, 
pension agent, and filled that position for 
four years and six months. From 1886 to 
1896 he resided in Doylestown, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania. In May, 1896, he 
entered the U. S. Revenue Cutter service, 
where he served until January 17, 1900. He 
Vfas in the blockading squadron at Cuba 
during the Spanish- American War. He re- 
entered the U. S. navy in January 1900, 
and was stationed at the Boston Navy 
Yard until ordered to China, June, 1900, 
as second lieutenant of the U. S. Marine 
Corps, and was promoted to first lieuten- 
ant, July, 1900, during the Boxer troubles 
in China, where he participated in the 
famous march to Pekin to relieve the im- 
prisoned legations. At the close of the 
Chinese imbroglio he was ordered to the 
Philippines, and served on the U. S. S. 
"New Orleans," at China and Japan, and at 
Cavite and Olongapo, Philippine Islands. 
After two years and eight months' service 
abroad he was stationed for a time at the 
New York Navy Yard, from whence he 
was ordered to the Isthmus of Panama, 
where he served for six months. Return- 
ing to the New York Navy Yard he was 
promoted captain in November, 1903, and 
is now (1905) cruising on board the U. S. 
battleship "Kentucky," of the North At- 
lantic Fleet. 

Captain Patterson. February 18, 1886, 
married Margaret Sprague Davis, daugh- 
ter of General W. W. H. Davis, of Doyles- 
town. Bucks county. Pennsylvania, a 
sketch of whose distinguished career and 
ancestry is given in this volume. Captain 
and Margaret (Sprague) Davis Patterson 
have been the parents of three children, 
Anna Davis, born December 27, 1886, 
died December i. 1894: Thomas Harman, 
born April 15. 1889. died August 12, 1889; 
and Daniel Walter, born April , 14, 1891, 
who survives. 



CORNELL FAMILY. Gulliame Cor- 
neille, (variously spelled. Cornele, Cor- 
nale, Cornelise. in the Dutch records 
of New Netherlands) wa<: of un- 
doubted French origin, probably a Hue- 
guenot. and possibly of the same family 
as Pierre and Thomas Corneille, the 
noted dramatists and poets of Rouen, a 
supposition strengthened by the fact that 
he named his eldest son Peter, the 
French of which would have been 
'"Pierre." He settled on Long Island 
•early in the seventeenth century, and 



died at Flatbush prior to July 17, 1666, 
at which date his son Pieter Guilliamse 
paid for the burial of both his father 
and mother, as shown by the town rec- 
ords. On August 9,-1658, he procured 
from Director Stuyvesant, a patent for a 
large plantation at Flatbush, and in 
i66r he and his son Pieter purchased a 
"bouwery" and several building lots in 
Flatbush. He left five children Pieter, 
Gulliam or Gelyam, Cornelis, Jacob and 
Maria, who have left numerous descen- 
dants in Kings county. Long Island, 
New York, New Jersey, and in Bucks 
county and other parts of Pennsylvania. 
The name for nearly a century was 
spelled Cornele, with the accent on the e. 

Pieter Wuellemsen, as he wrote his 
name, the eldest son of Guilliam Cornele, 
was a prominent man in the early history 
of Flatbush and Kings county. As above 
stated he was joint purchaser with his 
father of a large plantation in Flatbush, 
and later was alloted other building lots 
in the town. He was commissioned as 
"Pierre Guilleaum" on October 8, 1686, 
a lieutenant of the Flatbush company of 
Kings county militia. His will is dated 
May 23, 1689. He married in 1675 Mar- 
gueritie Vercheur, or Vernelle, as the 
marriage record gives it. and they were 
the parents of at least five children: 
Gulliame. born 1679; Cornelis, 1681 ; Ja- 
cob, 1683; Maria, 1686, and Pieter. 
Cornelis, the second son, married Jan- 
netje — and had children: Johannes, bap- 
tised September 21, 1718; Adrien, bap- 
tised November 19, 1721; Cornelis, mar- 
ried Anne Williams in Philadelphia in 
1746. and probably several others, some 
of whom are said to have settled in Bucks 
county. Pieter, the j^oungest son of 
Pieter and Margaret, married Catharine 
Lanning and settled in New Jersey. 
Adrien, son of Cornelis, is erroneously" 
confounded with Adrien, son of Guilliam, 
who settled in Bucks county; the former 
probably never lived in Pennsylvania. 

Gilliam Cornell, eldest son of Peter 
and Margaret, was born at Flatbush, 
Long Island, in 1679, married November 
4, 1714. Cornelia Van Nortwyck, daugh- 
ter of Simon and Folkertje Van Nort- 
wyck, of Blanckenbufg, in the Nether- 
lands, and remained until 1723 at Flat- 
bush. removing from there to New 
Utrecht, and is said to have accompan- 
ied some of his children to Bucks county 
prior to 1750. of which latter fact we 
have no proof, unless a tombstone, be- 
side those of his sons Gilliam and Wil- 
helmus. in the old Dutch Reformed 
burying ground near Feasterville. marked 
"Q x C," maybe considered as such. He 
purchased a. "house and lot in Flatbush as 
early as 1708. His children as shown 
by the records of the Dutch Reformed 
churches of Flatbush and New Utrecht 
and from the Bucks county records, 
were: Adrien: Jacobus, baptised October 
2, 1720: Wilhelmus, baptised July 29, 



52 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



1722; Gilliam, baptised October 23, 1724; 
Johannes, baptistnl June 16, 1727, married 
May 23. 1750, Maria Lott, and remained 
in Flatbush; Simon, baptised July 13, 
1729; and Abraham, baptised October 10, 
1731. Margaretta Cornell, who married 
Rem Vandcrbclt, of Southampton, and 
had a son Gilliam baptised at South- 
ampton in 1742, is also supposed to have 
been a daughter of Gilliam. Of the above 
named sons of Gilliam and Cornelia Cor- 
nell, four (Adricn, Wilhelmus, Gilliam 
and Simon) came to Bucks county, and 
settled in Northampton and Southamp- 
ton, and where the first three left nu- 
merous descendants. Adrien was the an- 
cestor of most of the Cornells who now 
reside in Bucks, and a more detailed ac- 
count of him will be given below. 

^WILHELMUS CORNELL, born at 
Flatbush, Long Island, July 13, i7.-2f. 
probably came to Bucks county with 
his elder brother Adrien and their pa-- 
rents prior to 1740. He was married at 
the Southampton church, April 14, i744- 
to Elshe (or Alice) Kroesen. H'ls first 
purchase of land was in connection with 
his younger brother Gilliam in 1755, and 
consisted of three tracts of land near 
Churchville, eighty-two acres on the 
Northampton side of the Bristol road, 
and IIS acres opposite in Southampton, 
including the present site of the church. 
In 1762 he conveyed his interest in 
these tracts to Gilliam, and purchased 
of Jacob Duffield 2331^ acres in South- 
ampton, and subsequently acquired con- 
siderable other land there. He died Oc- 
tober 14, 1783, and his wife Elshe died 
October 8, 1802, at the age of seventy- 
seven years; they are buried side by side 
in the old grave yard af Feasterville. 
They were the parents of Seven children: 
Gilliam, born January 2, 1745, died Au- 
gust 17, 1755; John, born January, 1750, 
died January 24, 1811. leaving sons Gil- ; 
Ham, Wilhelmus, Jacob, John and Isaac, 
and daughters Elizabeth, wife of Henry 
Feaster, and Cornelia, wife of Gilliam 
Cornell; Cornelia, baptised February li, 
1753, married William Craven; Margaret, 
baptised December 14, 1755, married 
Henry Courson; Elizabeth, baptised June 
7, 1761; and Gilliam, baptised September 
17, 1758, married Jane Craven. The lat- 
ter was known locally as "Yompey Cor- | 
nell." He was buried on his farm at 
Southampton Station. 

Gilliam Cornel, born on Long Island 
in 1724, married there May 23, 1750. Mar- 
garet Schench, and removed to Bucks 
county. He purchased land as above 
recited in 1755 in connection with his 
brother Wilhelmus, and purchased the 
latter's interest therein six years later. 
He died in Northampton, July 17. 178=;. 
and his wife Margaret died September 
5, 1805. They had seven children: 
I. Phebe, who married her cousin Cor- 
nelius Cornell, the son of Simon. 2. 



Cornelia, baptised April 11, 1757, mar- 
ried William Bennett. 3. John, baptised 
December 31, 1758, married Catharine 
Sleght. 4. Abraham, baptised January 28^ 
1760. died August 31, 1801, married Agnes 
Bennett. 5. Gilliam, baptised August 27, 

1764, married Rachel and left 

Bucks county. 6. Margaret, baptised 1767. 
7. John, baptised June 12, 1774, died 
young. 8. Maria, baptised August 24, 
1778. 

Simon Cornell, born on Long Island 
in 1729, married Adrienne Kroesen and 
settled in the neighborhood of South- 
ampton, though probably in Philadelphia 
county; his sons Cornelius and John were 
baptised at Southampton church in 1761 
and 1772 respectively. The former mar- 
ried Phebe, daughter of his uncle Gil- 
liam, and had children Gilliam, John, 
Cornelius, Isaac, Jane, who married 
Peter Bailey, and Margaret. 

ADRIEN CORNELL, eldest son of 
Gelyam and grandson of Peter Guil- 
liamse Cornel, was born in Flatbush, 
Long Island, August 22, 1713, as shown 
by his family Bible now in possession of 
Thompson Cornell of Philadelphia, a 
great-great-grandson, and died July 28, 
1777. He was eldest son of Gelyam Cor- 
nell by the first marriage of Gelyam, who 
was a landholder in Flatbush as early as 
1708. Historians have erroneously stated 
that he was a son of Cornelis, the brother 
of Gelyam. Bergen, in his "Early Settlers 
of Kings County," makes that statement 
and gives the date of his baptism as 
November 19, 1721, but this is effectually 
disprove!! by the Bible record, as well as 
by the will of Gilliam of Bucks county, 
who is shown to be a son of Gelyam and 
Conelia, and makes "my nephew Gilliam 
Cornell, son of my brother Adrien," one 
of the executors of his wilj^' Adrien 
Cornell married Mattie Hegeman, born 
at Brooklyn. Long Island, November I, 
1718, daughter of Rem and Peternella 
(Van Wycklen) Hegeman, grand-daugh- 
ter of Elbert and Marytje (Rappalye) 
Hegeman, great-granddaughter of Jo- 
seph and Femmeltje (Remse) Hegeman,. 
and great-great-granddaughter of Adrien 
and Catharine Hegeman, who emigrated 
from Amsterdam in 1650, settling first at 
New Albany, but later removing to Flat- 
bush. Long Island, where Adrien was a 
magistrate in 1654 and died in April, 
1672. Adrien Cornell removed to Bucks 
county prior to June 7, X739, at which 
date he purchased 250 acres in North- 
ampton township, where he was already 
a resident. In 1751 he purchased sixty- 
one acres adjoining his first purchase 
and 205 acres additional in 1772. Tliis 
land was located in the heart of the 
Dutch settlement known as Holland, and 
much of it still remains the property of 
his descendants. He died on his plan- 
tation purchased in 1739. July 27. 1777, 
and his wife Mattie died July 4, 1790;; 




(^^'f //y 9Tt ^-^f^r? P-^-pf 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



53 



both are buried at Richboro. Their cliil- 
dren were: Gilliam, born April 26, 1741, 
died March 2, 1809, married Jannetje 
Suydam, daughter of Lambert Suydam; 
and Rem, born June 9, 1744, died July 
18, 1825, married Peternelletje Hegeman, 
born 1751, died December 19, 1816. 

Gilliam and Jane (Suydam) Cornell 
were the parents of nine children: 
Adrien, born May 18, 1765, died Febru- 
ary 28, 1841, married Rachel Feaster; 
Abigail, born December 17, 1769, mar- 
ried Henry DuBois; Lambert, born July 
14, 1772; James, born October 20, '1774, 
died April i, 1850, married first Cynthia, 
daughter of Rem Cornell, and second 
Margaret Vandegrift; Rem, born April 
4, 1777, died young; Mattie, born April 
23, 1779, married Aaron Feaster; Jane, 
born May 15, 1781, married Christopher 
Vanarsdalen; John, born March 29, 1783. 
married Elizabeth Vandegrift; and Gil- 
liam, born May 13, 1785, married Eliza- 
beth Krewsen, November 16, 180Q. In 
the division of the real estate of Adrien 
Cornell between his two sons Gilliam 
and Rem, the/ latter retained 203 acres 
of the homestead tract of 250 acres, and 
forty-one acres of the Vanduren pur- 
chase adjoining, and conveyed to his 
brother Gilliam the balance of the home- 
stead, fifty-six acres, and 205 acres pur- 
chased by their father of Van Horn in 
1772. These lands were devised by the 
brothers to their respective sons, and a 
portion of both tracts still remain in the 
tenure of their descendants of the name. 
Gilliam divided the homestead between 
his sons Lambert, James and Gilliam, 
settling his son Adrian on eighty-five 
acres purchased in 1785 of William 
Thomson, and John on 100 acres pur- 
chased of Henry Dyer. 

Rem Cornell, second son of Adrien 
and Mattie (Hegeman) Cornell, born in 
Northampton in 1744, married Pet'er- 
neelitie Hegeman. and lived all his life 
on the old homestead in Northampton, 
acquiring later considerable other land 
in the vicinity./ He was an active and 
prominent man in the community, and a 
member of the Dutch Reformed church 
of North and Southampton. He died 
July 18. 1825, in his eighty-second year. 
His wife died December 19. 1816, in her 
sixty-fifth years, and both are buried in 
the old gravej-^ard at Richboro. They 
were the parents of three children: Mat- 
tie, born 1770, married John Kroeson; 
Cynthia, born 1776, died June 7. 1808, 
married her cousin James Cornell; and 
Adrien. 

Adrien Cornell, only son of Rem. was 
born on the old homestead in North- 
ampton in May, 1779, and, inheriting it 
from his father in 1825. spent his whole 
life there. He was a prosperous farmer 
and a good business man and acquired a 
large estate, owning at his death in 1857 
over 700 acres of farm land and a fine 
mill property in Northampton, and over 



400 acres in Upper Makefield township. 
His wife was Leanah Craven, daughter 
of James and Adrianna (Kroeson) Cra- 
ven, and Vas baptised at Churchville, 
February 21, 1779. The children of 
Adrien and Leanah (Craven) Cornell 
were as follows: i. James Craven, bap- 
tised November 4, 1804, died February 

I, 1865, married Judith S. Everett. 2. 
Eleanor, baptised January 10, 1807, mar- 
ried James Krusen. 3. John Leflferts, 
baptised January 10. 1807, died January 
14, 1836. 4. Ann Eliza, baptised August 
28, 1810, married James S. McNair. 5. 
Charles, baptised March 21, 1812. 6. 
Lj'dia, January 18, 1815, married Henry 
Wynkoop. 7. Cynthia, baptised August 

II, 1816, married William R. Beans. 
Adrian, see forward, and Mary Jane, 
wife of Frances Vanartsdalen. 

Adrien Cornell, youngest son of Adrien 
and Leanah (Craven) Cornell, was born 
on the old homestead in Northampton, 
December 21, 1818. He was reared on 
the farm that had been the home of his 
ancestors since 1739, and in the house 
erected by his great-great-grandfather in 
1747. This house he tore down in 1861, 
and erected the present mansion house. 
He was an active and successful business 
man. He was connected for many years 
with the Bucks County Agricultural So- 
ciety, of which he was for several years 
president, succeeding his brother James 
C. Cornell in that position. He married 
January 8, 1840, Mary Ann Van Horn, 
daughter of Abraham Van Horn, who 
survived him many years. He died on 
the old homestead, September 17, 1870. 

GEORGE W. CORNELL, only child 
of Adrien and Mary Ann, was born on 
the old homestead. October 17, 1841, and 
resided there until the spring of 1904, 
when he removed to Newtown borough, 
where he now resides. He was educated 
at the public schools of Northampton, 
supplemented by a three years course 
at the Tennent School at Hartsville, 
Pennsylvania. He married October 10, 
1871, Sarah C. Luken. who died May 23, 
1873. On June 6, 1877, he married Eliza- 
beth B. Camm. his prresent wife, who is a 
daughter of Joseph C. and Martha 
(Feaster) Camm. and a granddaughter of 
Aaron and Matilda (Cornell) Feaster, 
Matilda being a daughter of Gilliam and 
Jannetje (Suydam) Cornell. Her pater- 
nal great-grandfather, John Camm, was 
a native of England and located in Phil- 
adelphia, where his son William and 
grandson Joseph C, were born and 
reared. Her father, Joseph C. Camm. lo- 
cated in Northampton township. Bucks 
county, after his marriage, and Mrs. Cor- 
nell was born and reared in that town- 
ship. On the Feaster side she is of Hol- 
land descent. Her great-great-grand- 
father, John Feaster, was born on Long 
Island in 1798, and died in Northampton 
township, Bucks county, December 19, 



y 



54 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



\77S. His wife Mary, born in 1706, died 
May 28, 1774. Their son David, born 
April 8, 1740, married Mary Hegeman, 
born March 8, 1743; he died September 
28, 1808, and his wife May 28, 1783. Their 
son Aaron, the grandfather of Mrs. Cor- 
nell, was born in October, 1772, and died 
July 18, i860. Mr. and Mrs. Cornell 
have no children. Mr. Cornell still owns 
the old homestead in Northampton, but 
lives retired in Newtown. In politics 
he is a Republican. He and his wife are 
members of the Dutch Reformed church. 

Gilliam Cornell, youngest son of Gil- 
liam and Jannetje (Suydam) Cornell, of 
Northampton, was born on the old home- 
stead May 30, 1785. He married Novem- 
ber 16, 1809. Elizabeth Krewsen, and 
settled on a portion of the old homestead 
purchased by his grandfather of the Van 
Horns in 1772, 103 acres of which Gil- 
liam inherited at his father's death in 
1809. His two children were: Jacob 
Krewsen, born September 28, 1810, and 
Martin H., born May 29, 1820. 

Jacob Krewsen Cornell was reared on 
the old Northampton homestead, but on 
his marriage purchased of Samuel Mc- 
Nair a farm in Southampton, at Church- 
ville, part of the land purchased in 1755 
by Wilhelmus and Gilliam Cornell, and 
settled thereon. He married January 7, 
1834, Elizabeth Finney, who bore him 
eleven children, seven of whom lived to 
maturity and raised families, viz.: 

1. Mary, born June 26, 1835, married 
Charles Van Artsdalen, January 10, 1856, 
and had one daughter, Alice, born De- 
cember I, 1856, who married James L. 
Cornell. 

2. Alice, born December 18 1837, died 
May 28, 1838. 

3. Jane M., born August 21, 1840, mar- 
ried December 26, 1861, Thomas Beans, 
and has three children — George, William 
and Howard. 

4. Alice L., born June 5, 1842, married 
(first) Henry McKinney and (second) 
Joseph J. Yerkes, and has a son Jacob. 

5. John Corson, born August 2, 1844, 
a prominent merchant of Oakford, Penn- 
sylvania, married April, 1870, Margaret 
J. Stevens. 

6. Jacob Krewsen, Jr., born June 10. 
1846, now deputy recorded- of deeds of 
Bucks county; married January 8. 1884, 
Alice E. Woodrufif; has no children. 

7. Charles F., born June 10, 1848, died 
August 8, 1848. 

8. Gilliam, Jr., born June 22, 1849; mar- 
ried Januar} 24, 1878, Jane, daughter of 
Joseph Hogeland; one son, Joseph Rem- 
sen, borrt January 8, 1885. 

9. Martin Harris, horn February 19, 
1851, married October 7. 1874. Mary H. 
Agin ; now reside in Doylestown ; one 
daughter, Carrie Ruth, Ixirn July 7, 1884. 

TO. Charles Finney, born t8s3, died 
1861. 

II. Henrietta, born 1857, died 1863, 



Jacob Krewsen Cornell married (s'ec- 
ond) Ruth Anna Morrison, daughter of' 
Judge Joseph J. and Ellen (Addis) Mor- 
rison, by whom he had the following chil-' 
dren : Joseph M., born December 18, 1862^ 
see forward ; Ella M., born October 4, 
1864, married January 14, 1897, J. Warner 
Cornell, and has two children — Ruth and 
Charles; Edith, born May 10, 1870; and' 
Albert, born October, 1871, died July, 
1872. 

JOSEPH MORRISON CORNELL 
was born on the old homestead at 
Churchville, Southampton township,. 
Bucks county, December 18, 1862, and is 
the eldest son of Jacob Krewson Cornell 
by his second marriage with Ruth Ann 
Morrison. He was reared on the farrn 
and acquired his education at the local 
schools. On arriving at manhood he fol- 
lowed farming five years in that vicinity,- 
and then purchased his father's farm, 
where he has since resided. He has 
always taken an active interest in the 
affairs of his native township, and has 
filled several local offices. He was for 
three years supervisor, and has also filled 
the office of township assessor. Mr. 
Cornell was married November 27, 1884, 
to Emma E. Fetter, daughter of John 
Carrel and Mercy C. (Lefferts) Fetter, 
and they have been the parents of two 
children: John Fetter, born December I, 
1887, died July 17, 1890; and Joseph M. 
Jr., born January 16, 1894. 

Mrs. Cornell was l3orn March 20. 1864,. 
and is one of the three children of John 
C. and Mary (Leffets) Fetter. Her 
great-grandfather, George Fetter, was 
one of twelve children, and was born 
January 13, 1768. His wife, Rebecca 
Wynkoop, was born August 28, 1868, and 
they were the parents of nine children,, 
of whom William, the eldest, born Oc- 
tober 7, 1797, was the grandfather of Mrs. 
Cornell. He married Sarah Carrell, De- 
cember 26, 1821, and had six children, of 
whom the eldest, John C, born August 
18, 1824, was the father of Mrs. Cornell. 
On the maternal side Mrs. Cornell is of 
Holland descent, being descended from 
LefTet Pieterse, who came to Long Island 
with his parents in 1669 from Haugh- 
wout. North Holland, and settled at 
Flatbush, Long Island. His son, Pieter 
Lefferts, born May 18, 1680. married Ida, 
daughter of Hendrick Suydam. and their 
son, Leffertse LefTertse, was the first of 
the family to settle in Bucks county, 
where he has left numerous dscendants. 



THE JANNEY FAMILY of Bucks 
county are descendants of the Cheshire 
family of that name who, according to- 
various authorities, "are supposed to be" 
or "considered to be" descended from 
the house of De-Gisne. or Gyney, of 
Heverland, Norfolk, who were of French 
extraction, and the name' to be derivect 
from Guisnes. near Calais. France. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



55 



The earliest lineal ancestor of the 
American family of Janney of whom 
there is any authentic record was Ran- 
dull Janne3% of Stiall, parish of Wilmes- 
lome, Cheshire, Enghvnd, who died about 
the year 1596, being mentioned in the will 
of his son Thomas Janney, made in 1602, 
as having left legacies to daughters of 
Thomas, the youngest of whom was 
baptised in 1595. Thomas Janney, before 
mentioned, was married at least twice, 
if not three times. Investigations re- 
cently conducted in Cheshire by Miles 
White, of Baltimore, indicate that he 
married first Ellen , who was bur- 
ied February 7, 1578, and by whom he 
had a daughter Alyce, who was baptised 
Novemoer 7, 1570, but as no further rec- 
ord of this Alice is found, and she is not 
mentioned in Thomas's will, there is no 
proof that the record above refers to 
'J. hom;iT of Stiall. 1 He married, Decem- 
ber 7. 1578, Jane Worthington, who was 
Duried August 10, 1589, and (second) on 
Movember 4, 1590, Katharine Cash, of 
Stiall. By the first marriage he had two 
sons, Randle and Henry, and daughters 
Margerie and Maud. By the second 
marriage he had six children, two at least 
of whom died in infancy. He was pos- 
sessed of a considerable freehold of lands 
in Cheshire, which he devised to his sons 
Randle and Harry, and personal estate 
to Thomas and daughters Maud, Mar- 
garet and Anne. 

Randle Janney, the eldest son of 
Thomas and Jane (Worthington) Jan- 
ney, was baptised February 23, 1579-80, 
and was buried October 30, 1613. He 
married, July 14, 1602, Ellen Abrodd, and 
lived and died at Stiall, Cheshire. They 
were the parents of four children: 
Thomas, baptised June 27, 1605, died 12 
mo. 17, 1677. married September 3, 1625, 
Elizabeth Worthington, who died 12 mo. 
19. 1681-2; Randle, baptised May 26, 1608, 
married July 16. 1636, Anne Knevet; 
Heine, baptised March 24, 1610, buried 
March 3. 161 1; and Richard, baptised 
February 20, 1613, settled in Ardwick, 
Lancashire, where he died in 1691, wife 
Mary. Of these four children of Randle 
Janney, of Stiall, only the two eldest 
has special interest to the Janneys of 
America, as through the two sons of the 
former, Thomas and Henry, and Will- 
iam, son of the latter, are descended all 
the Janneys who today are scattered 
over the United States. 

Thomas Janney, eldest son of Randle 
and Ellen (Alrodd) Janney, baptised 
June 27, 1605, was married September 3, 
1625, to Elizabeth Worthington, and 
both joined the Society of Friends soon 
after it came into existence, and are fre- 
quently mentioned in the early annals 
of the Society, meetings being frequently 
held at their house at Stiall, and later 
at Mobberly, Cheshire. He suffered 
distress of goods, was imprisoned, and 
otherwise persecuted on account of his 



faith as related in Besse's sufferings. He 
and others purchased and presented to 
the Meeting the land for the t)urial 
ground and meeting house at Mobberly. 
He was evidently possessed of consider- 
able property, and in his will made in 
1677 left a legacy to the poor of the 
town. He died 12 mo. 17, 1677, and his 
widow Elizabeth on 12 mo. 19, 1681-2, 
and both are buried in the Friends' bury- 
ing ground at Mobberly. His will is stfi' 
preserved at Chester, and his name 
thereto is spelled Jannej^ though men- 
tioned in the records as Janey. His will 
names the children mentioned below, 
his brother Richard, and William Janney 
of Handworth. The children of Thomas 
and Elizabeth (Worthington) Janney 
were: 

1. Mary, baptised March 19. 1625-6, 
died 7 mo. 3, 1698, married 12 mo. 3, 
T663-4, Robert Peirson, of Pownall Fee, 
Cheshire, and had a son Enoch, born il 
mo. 30, 1665, died 8 mo. 2, 1680-I. 
Thomas and Robert Pearson, who came 
to Pennsylvania in 1683 and 1682 respec- 
tively, were probably related to Robert. 

2. Margaret, baptised March 16, 1627, 
died II mo. 11, 1673, is buried at Mob- 
berly. 

3. Martha, baptised June 6, 1630, died 

2 mo. 4, 1702, married 12 mo. 12, 1672, 
Hugh Burges, of Pownall Fee, who died 

3 mo. 23, 1713, aged seventy-four years. 
Both are buried at Mobberly. It was at 
their house, that her brother Thomas 
Janney, of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
died in 1696, while on a religious visit 
to England. 

4. Randle, baptised December 16, 1632, 
died 3 mo. 17, 1674, buried at Mobberly. 

5. Thomas, the ancestor of tlie Jan- 
neys of Bucks county, baptised January 
II. 1634. died 12 mo. (Feb.) 12, 1696, and 
is buried at IMobberly; see forward. 

6. Henry, baptised January r, 1637, 
died at Eaton Norris, Lancashire, 6 mo. 
3. 1690. and is buried at Mobberly. He 
married at the house of Thomas Potts, 
Pownal - Fee. i mo. 3. 1674, Barbara 
Baguley, of Stockport, was a tailor and 
chapman or cloth dealer. His daughter 
Elizabeth, born 9 mo. 7, 1677. came to 
Philadelphia in 1698. and married in 1710 
Pentecost Teague. a distinguished Friend 
of Philadelphia. Mary, born 11 mo. I, 
1680, and Tabitha. born 7 mo. 29. 1687, 
also came to Philadelphia, the former 
marrying in 1708 Joseph Drinker, and the 
latter in 1709 William Fisher. A son 
Thomas and daughter Martha died in 
infancy. 

Before proceeding to give an account 
of Thomas Janney, the distinguished an- 
cestor of the Janneys of Bucks county, jt 
might be well to say a word or two in 
reference to William Janney, (son of 
Randle and Mary, and grandson of 
Randle and Ellen Alrodd Janney), 
whose two sons. Randle and Thorn'as, 
also came to Pennsylvania. 



56 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



William Janney was baptised Decem- 
ber 8, 1641, died 8 mo. 4, 1724, and is 
buried among his kinsman in the old 
burying ground at Mobberly. He mar- 
ried 7 mo. 30, 1671, Deborah Webb, and 
was then living at liandforth; after his 
wife's death he removed to Morley. He 
was a prominent member of the Society 
of Friends, and suffered persecution for 
his faith. Meetings were frequently held 
at h's house. His son Randle, born 2 
mo. 10, 1677, in 1699 obtained a certifi- 
cate from the Meeting at Morley and 
emigrated to Philadelphia, where he be- 
came a prominent merchant, was a friend 
of Penn, and a large landowner in Penn- 
sylvania and Cecil county, Maryland. He 
married at Philadelphia, in 9 mo., i/OI, 
Frances Righton, daughter of William 
and Sarah Righton, of Philadelphia. 
Their only child died in infancy. In 1702 
and 1706 he visited England, and in 
1715 obtained a certificate to visit the 
Bermudas, but died before starting, 10 
mo. 7, 1715. His will mentions his 
brother Thomas and his sister Mary, wife 
of George Pawley, who had also come 
to Philadelphia, and their children, De- 
bora. Mary, Sarah and Thomas. 

Thomas Janney, brother of Randle, 
was born in Cheshire, England, 3 mo. 18, 
1679, and died in Cecil county, Maryland, 
about 1750. In 1702 his brother Randle 
obtained a certificate for him to Phila- 
delphia, which, with the one brought 
from the Morley Meeting by Randle in 
1699, is preserved among the records of 
Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. In 1706 
he went to England with his brother, and 
after his return settled in West Not- 
tingham township, Chester county, on 
land formerly owned by Randle, and 
later found to be in Cecil county, Marj-- 
land. His will was proven in Cecil 
county, March 22, 1751, and in it he men- 
tions his wife Magdalen, son-in-law Rob- 
ert Lashly, and children Jemima Janney, 
Debora Lashly, William, Thomas and 
Isaac Janney, who are the progenitors 
of the Janneys of Cecil county. Robert 
Lashly was Robert Leslie, who married 
Debora Janney, in 1740, and is the an- 
cestor of Charles Robert Leslie, R. A., 
the noted author and artist, and his"'tal- 
ented sisters. Deborah Pawlee, daugh- 
ter of George and Mary (Janney) 
Pauley, married 9 mo. 21, 1727, Samuel 
Siddons, son of Thomas and Lowrey 
(Evans) Siddons, who have descendants 
in Bucks county. Sarah Pawley, another 
daughter of George and Mary, married 7 
mo. 24. 1734, William Atkinson, Jr., of a 
Bucks county family. 

THOMAS JANNEY, second son of 
Thomas and Elizabeth (Worthington) 
Janney, baptised at Stiall. Cheshire, Eng- 
land, January 11, 1634, "was convinced 
of the truth as held by Friends" at the 
first preaching thereof in Cheshire in 
1654, and the next year took up the min- 



istry in that sect and traveled exten- 
sively in England and Ireland. He mar- 
ried, 9 mo. 24, 1660, Margery Heath, of 
Horton, Staffordshire. The marriage 
took place at the house of James Harri- 
son, in the township of Pownal Fee, in 
which Stiall the home of the Janneys 
was situated. Ann, the wife of James 
Harrison, was a sister of Margery, as 
was also Jane, the wife of William Yard- 
ley, both of whom came with their hus- 
bands to Pennsylvania and settled m 
Bucks county in 1682, as shown by an 
account of each family given in this 
volume. They lived at Stiall, where their 
four sons were born, until 1683, when 
they followed their brothers-in-law to 
Pennsylvania and settled on a tract of 
land in Makefield, Bucks county. Thomas 
Janney had purchased of William Penn, 
6 mo. 12, 1682, 250 acres of land to be 
laid out in Per .;sylvania, and it was laid 
out in Lower Makefield, fronting on the 
Delaware. He and his wife Margery, 
their four sons and two servants, John 
Nield and Hannah Falkner, arrived in 
the Delaware river in the Endeavor, 7 
mo. (September) 29, 1683. He eventually 
purchased other lands in the vicinity; the 
tract fronting on the Delaware below the 
present borough of Yardley containing 
550 acres was confirmed by patent in 
T691, and ancther tract of 1000 acres lay 
back of the "River Lots" and extended 
into Newtown and Middletown town- 
ships, wdiere the line between these 
townships joins the line of Lower Make- 
field. The latter tract was of irregular 
form and was well watered. Core creek 
running through it. A saw mill was 
erected on it soon after its occupation in 
1683, and Jacob Janney erected a grist 
mill near the old family mansion in 1816, 
which was in use until a few years since, 
that portion of the plantation still being 
owned and occupied by descendants of 
the name. Thomas Janney was related 
by blood or marriage to many of the 
most prominent settlers of the county. 
William Yardley, for many years a jus- 
tice of the county courts and a member 
of provincial assembly, and James Har- 
rison, Penn's confidential agent in Penn- 
sylvania, were, as before stated, his 
brothers-in-law. and Phineas Pemberton, 
called by Logan "the father of Bucks 
County." was therefore his nephew, and 
John Brock, another prominent oificial 
of the county, was his cousin. Thomas 
Janney was also an intimate friend of 
Penn, who entertained a high opinion of 
him and mentioned him lovinglj' in many 
of his letters. Thomas Janney continued 
his labors as a minister of the Society of 
Friends, but that did not preclude his en- 
gaging actively in civil affairs, and upon 
his arrival in America he at once took a 
prominent place in the affairs of the col- 
ony. He was elected to provincial coun- 
cil for a term of three 3-ears, and was 
qualified as a member i mo. 20. 1684, and 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



57 



was again elected and commissioned in 
1691. He was also commissioned April 
6, 1685. one of the justices of the courts 
of Bucks county, which commission was 
renewed January 2, 1689-90. He was one 
of the commission of twelve men ap- 
pointed to divide the county into town- 
ships in 1690, and filled many other im- 
portant official positions. In the minis- 
try he visited Friends' meetings in New 
England, Rhode Island, Long Island, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, 
and was an esteemed counsellor in all 
matters pertaining to the Society, as 
well as of the county and province. In 
the early part of 1695 he began to make 
preparations for a visit to Friends in 
England, executing a power of attorney 
to his eldest son, Jacob Janney, to trans- 
act business for him in his absence, and 
making his will, which is dated 3 mo. 
21, 1695. This will was doubtless proved 
and recorded in the county of Bucks, 
but the records of the county (with the 
exception of deeds) from 1693 to 1713 
are entirely lost, and it is only through a 
copy found among the papers of Samuel 
M. Janney. the Quaker historian, that 
we learn what its provisions were. He 
was accompanied on his visit to England 
by Griffith Owen, and they started by 
way of Maryland 3 mo. 31, 1695. Ean'ding 
in London, they traveled through Eng- 
land and Wales, visiting many meetings. 
Janney was taken sick in the spring of 
1696, while in Derbyshire, but. partially 
recovering, attended the Quarterly Meet- 
ing in London, and then started to pay a 
visit to his relatives in Cheshire, and, 
though detained in Hertfordshire by a 
severe attack, eventually reached Che- 
shire, and so far recovered as to visit 
meetings there and in Lancashire, and 
made preparations to return to Penn- 
sylvania in \i mo., 1696, but, being taken* 
seriously ill, returned to the home of his 
sister. Mary Burgess, where he was born, 
and died there the 12th of the 12th mo., 
(February) 1696-7, at the. age of sixty- 
three years, having been a minister for 
forty-two years. His wife Margery sur- 
vived him and died somewhere between 
1697 and 1700, Their children were six 
in number — four sons: Jacob, Thomas, 
Abel, and Joseph, who accompanied their 
parents to America; and two daughters, 
Martha and Elizabeth, who died in Eng- 
land. 

I. Jacob Janney, born at Pownall Fee, 
Cheshire, 3 mo. 18, 1662, buried in Bucks 
county, 8 mo. 6, 1708, married at Falls 
Meeting, Bucks county, 10 mo. 26, 1705. 
Mary Hough, born in Bucks county, 7 
mo. 6, 1684, daughter of John and Han- 
nah Hough, of Newtown. After her 
husband's death she married, 3 mo. 2, 
1710, John Fisher, by whom she had one 
child, Mary, who married in 1740 John 
Butler. The only child of Jacob and 
Mary (Hough) Janney was Thomas, 
born 12 mo. 27, 1707-8, died 4 mo. 8, 1788. 



2. Martha Janney, born at Cheadle, 
Cheshire, 5 mo. 17, 1665, died there 12 
mo. 4, 1665-6. 

3. Elizabeth, born at Pownall Fee, 11 
mo. 15, 1666-7, died 11 mo. 17, 1666-7. 

4. Thomas Janney, born at Pownall 
Fee, Cheshire, 12 mo. 5, 1667-8, died in 
Bucks county. He married 9 mo. 3, 
1697, Falls Meeting records, Rachel 
Pownall, born in Cheshire, England, 
daughter of George and Eleanor Pow- 
nall, of Bucks county. They had four 
children; Henry, born 4 mo. 20, 1699; 
Sarah, born 8 mo. 26, 1700, married 1722, 
Thomas Pugh; Mary, married 1725, 
Thomas RoutJedge; Abel, born in Bucks 
county, died there 1748, married June 5, 
1740, Elizabeth Biles. 

5. Abel Janney, born at Mobberly, 
Cheshire, 10 mo. 29, 1671, married in New 
Jersey, 1700, Elizabeth Stacy, born at 
Dorehouse, Yorkshire, 8 mo. 17, 1673, 
daughter of Mahlon and Rebecca (Ely) 
Stacy, of Trenton, New Jersey. They 
had seven children; Amos, born 11 mo. 
15. 1701-2, died in Fairfax county, Vir- 
ginia, 1747, married, 1727-8, at Falls, 
Mary Yardley, daughter of Thomas and 
Ann (Biles) Yardley; Rebeckah, born 9 
mo. 9, 1702, died at Wilmington, Dela- 
ware, married Joseph Poole, of Bucks 
countjs born in Cumberland, England, 
1704, died in Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, 1767; Mahlon, born in Bucks 
county, 2 mo. 18, 1706; Thomas, married 
1735, Hannah Biles, daughter of William 
and Sarah (Langhorne) Biles; Jacob, 
born 4 mo. 10, 1710, died in Delaware il 
mo. 14, 1782. married Elizabeth Levis, at 
Kennett, Chester county, was a prom- 
inent minister: Abel, removed to Vir- 
ginia, 1742; Elizabeth, married 10 mo. 
22, 1737, John Stackhouse, and (second) 
David Wilson, both of Bucks county. 
Abel Janney. the father of the above 
named children, was a justice of the 
peace 1708-10, and a member of assem- 
bly 1710-21. 

6. Joseph Janney, born at Pownall Fee, 
Cheshire, i mo. 26, 1675-6, died in Bucks 
county, about 1729, married at Falls 
Meeting, 6 mo. 18, 1703, Rebeckah Biles, 
born in Bucks county, 10 mo. 27, 1680, 
daughter of William and Joanna Biles, 
and had six children : Martha, married 
Nicholas Parker and settled in 'New Jer- 
sey; Ann, died young; Abel, married at 
Falls, 8 mo. 2. 1733, Sarah Baker, and 
removed to Virginia; William, married 
at Falls, Elizabeth Moon, born 10 mo. 16, 
1719, daughter of Roger and Ann (Nutt) 
Moon, and removed to Virginia; Jacob, 
married at Falls, 1725, Hannah IngTe- 
dew, and removed to Virginia; Mary, 
married at Falls, 1720, John Hougji, of 
Bucks county and removed to Virginia; 
they are the ancestors of Emerson 
Hough, of Chicago, the novelist and His- 
torical writer, editor of "Forest and 
Stream." 

Thomas Janney, born 12 mo. 27, 1797-8, 



58 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



only son of Jacob and Mary (Hough) 
Janney, is the ancestor of the Janneys at 
present resident within the county of 
Bucks. He married at Wrightsfown 
Meeting, Bucks county, lo mo. 28, 1732, 
Martha IMitchell. daughter of Henry and 
Sarah (Gove) Mitchell; the former a son 
of Henry and Elizabeth (Foulds) 
Mitchell, was born at Marsden Lane, 
Lancashire, and the latter was a daugh- 
ter of Richard Gove of Philadelphia. By 
the will of Thomas Janney, the pioneer 
and provincial councillor, he devised to 
his son "Jacob the house and plantation 
which 'we do live in and upon, with all 
the la7ids and appurtenances thereunto 
belonging," and, Jacob dying in 1708, it 
descended to his infant son and only 
child Thomas Janney, and has contin- 
ued to be the home of his descendants 
to the present day. On a visit to the 
old homestead in May, 1905, the writer 
of these lines was shown the old family 
Bible nearly a century old, in which was 
inscribed, in the quaint handwriting of 
long ago, the dates of the birth of the 
children of Thomas and Martha (Mitch- 
ell) Janney. Martha, the mother, died 
9 mo. 19, 1785, and Thomas, the father, 
4 mo. 8, 1788. Their children were: 
Jacob, born 8 mo. 15, 1733, died 3 mo. 
26, 1761, without issue; Thomas, born 2 
mo. 17, 1736, died 11 mo. 16, 1754; Rich- 
ard, born 8 mo. 22, 1738, died 9 mo. 5, 
1766, see forward; Mary, born i mo. 18, 
1741, died 2 mo. 24, 1795, married 3 mo. 
19, 1788, William Linton, no issue; Sarah, 
born 10 mo. 19, 1743, married 11 mo. 11, 
1762, Daniel Richardson, and had one 
son, Daniel; Alice, born 10 mo. 4, 1747, 
married John Dawes, and settled in New 
Jersey; Martha, born 9 mo. 11, 1750, mar- 
ried Isaac Warner. None of these sons 
survived their father, and the homestead 
was devised by his will to his grandson 
Jacob Janney, the only grandson of the 
name. 

Richard Janney, third son of Thomas 
and Martha (Mitchell) Janney, born 8 
mo. 22, 1738, married, in 1764, Sarah 
W^orth. daughter of Joseph Worth, of 
Stony Brook,' Burlington county. New 
Jersey. She was born in 1741, and died 
in Wrightstown township, Bucks county, 
August 20. 1833. at the age of ninety-two 
years, having been a widow for forty 
years, though three times married. Rich- 
ard Janney died 9 mo. 5, 1766, leaving an 
only child, Jacob Janney. born 4 mo. 10, 
1765. His widow married Stephen Twin- 
ing in T773, and had two children; Mary 
born September 16, 1774, died March 8. 
1815, married Joseph Burson; and 
Stephen Twining, born 1776, died 1849. 
Her second husband dying in 1777, Sarah 
married (third) 2 mo. 6, 1782, James Bur- 
son. 

Of the youth of Jacob Janney, only 
child of Richard and Sarah (Worth) Jan- 
ney, little is known. Tradition relates 



that he lived for a time in New Jersey. 
If this were true, it was probably with 
his maternal grandparents. As his moth- 
er's last two husbands both resided in 
Wrightstown, it is probable that he was 
reared there or on the old homestead in 
Newtown, with his grandparents, 
Thomas and Martha Janney. Certain it 
is that that was his residence at the time 
of his grandfather's death in 1788, when 
he is devised the plantation and made ex- 
ecutor of the will of his grandfather. He 
married, ii mo. 16, 1792, Frances Briggs, 
born 10 mo. 19, 1773, died 8 mo. 21, 1851, 
daughter of John and Letitia Briggs, and 
continued to reside on the old homestead 
until his death, 2 mo. 19, 1820. The 
children of Jacob and Frances (Briggs) 
Janney, all born on the old homestead at 
Newtown, are as follows: 

1. Thomas, born 8 mo. 9, 1794, died in 
Newtown borough, 3 mo., 1879, married 
10 mo. II, 1838, Mary Kimber, daughter 
of Emmor and Susanna, born 2 mo. 10, 
1807, and had two children: Anna, mar- 
ried a Bergner, and is still living in New- 
town; and Emmor Janney, of Philadel- 
phia. Thomas lived on the old home- 
stead until 1842, when he rented it to his 
youngest brother, Stephen T. Janney, 
and removed to Newtown. He was a 
large landowner in Newtown and Make- 
field. 

2. Richard, born 3 mo. 13, 1796, died 
in Lower Makefield, 8 mo., 1877, married 
(first) Ann Taylor, and (second) Ach- 
sah Yardley, and lived and died in Lower 
Makefield. He had seven children: 
Mercy Ann, married Heston Lovett, of 
Lower Makefield, and is deceased; Tay- 
lor, died unmarried; Susan, married 
(first) Lovett Brown, of Falls, and (sec- 
ond) Oliver Paxson, of New Hope, where 
she still resides; Franklin, died in Phila- 
delphia; Jacob, married Matilda Ely, of 
Lambertville, and is living in Philadel- 
phia; Frances, married Jonathan Scho- 
field, of Lower Makefield, and is de- 
ceased; and Mary, married William Lin- 
ton, of Newtown, and is deceased. 

y 3. Jacob, born 4 mo. 24, 1798, married 
Esther Betts, daughter of Stephena and 
Hannah (Blackfan) Betts of Solebury, 
and removed to Cecil county, 
Maryland, and after several years 
residence there returned to Bucks 
county. and later removed with 
his family to IMichigan. where he died 12 
mo., 1869. They had seven children: 
Hannah. married Amasa Atkinson; 
James Worth, married Loisa Beitzel; Ed- 
ward B., died single in Michigan; Fran- 
ces, married John Sumner, and is re- 
cently deceased: Elwood, married Al- 
meda Allen; Robert Simpson, married 
Urania Baldwin: Dr. Joshua Janney. of 
Moorestown, New Jersey, who married 
Amanda Eastburn, of Solesburj^. 

4. John L., born 5 mo. 31. 1800, died 
on his portion of the homestead, 4 mo. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



59 



12, 1872. He married Mary . Jenks, 
daughter of Thomas and Thomazine 
(Trimble) Jenks, of Middletown. (See 
Jcnks Family). By the will of Jacob 
Janney the homestead was devised to his 
sons Thomas and John L., and they in 
1829 made partition of it and a tract pur- 
chased by them adjoining, the new pur- 
chase and a small part of the homestead 
on the east going to John L., where he 
lived and died, and where his son Thomas 
and daughters Elizabeth and Thomazine 
still reside. The children of John L. and 
Mary (Jenks) Janney were: Charles, 
married first Anna Yardley, and second 
her sister, Julia Yardley, was a merchant 
at Dolington for many years, and died 
on a farm in Solebury in 1902; Thomas 
J., who was prothonotary of Bucks 
county, 1895-7, and is now cashier and 
accountant in the office of the Newtown, 
Bristol and Doylestown Electric Rail- 
way Company at Newtown; John L., Jr., 
married Matilda Wynkoop, and resides 
in Newtown borough, though still con- 
ducting the old homestead farm; and 
Elizabeth and Thomazine, before men- 
tioned. 

5. Martha, born 10 mo. 14, 1801, died 
12 mo. 6. 1876, married Robert Simp- 
son, of Upper Makefield, and had five 
children: Jacob, of Buckingham, de- 
ceased, married Elizabeth Johnson; 
William, of Upper Makefield, deceased, 
married Julia Johnson; Elizabeth, wife 
of Benjamin Smith, many years princi- 
pal of Doylestown English and Classical 
Seminary, now of Plymouth Friends' 
School; IMartha, wife of Albert Hibbs, of 
Kansas; and James, who married an Eis- 
inbrey, of Solebury, and died in Kansas. 

6. Benjamin, born i mo. 17, 180.^, died 
I mo. 8, 1806. 

7. Mary, born 6 mo. 8, 1805, died 7 mo. 
31. 1807. 

8. Sarah, born 10 mo. 21, 1806, died 10 
mo. 10, 1851; married Joshua Dungan, no 
issue. 

9. Letitia, born 9 mo. 25, 1808, died i 
mo, 22, 1813. 

10. William, born 3 mo. 31, 1810, died 
3 mo. 7, 1891, married 12 mo. 15, 1830, 
Rebecca Smith, daughter of William and 
Sarah (Moore) Smith, of Solebury, 
where she was born in 1810. He was a 
farmer in Lower Makefield for several 
years, and later lived retired in Newtown 
borough, where his widow and two 
daughters still reside. They were the pa- 
rents of nine children: Richard H., re- 
siding on the old Smith homestead in 
Solebury, married Mary Hibbs, of Pine- 
ville, and had three children: Dr. Will- 
iam Smith Janney, of Philadelphia, see 
forward; Sarah Smith, living with her 
mother in Newtown: Stephen Moore, of 
Newtown, married Elizabeth Nickelson, 
of Yardley; Oliver, of Wrightstown, 
married Hannah Willard, of Newtown; 
George, of Solebury, married Elizabeth 



Ellis, of Langhorne; Martha, wife of 
Harrison C. Worstall, a hardware mer- 
chant of Newtown; Rebecca Frances, 
died in infancy; and Mary Ella, living 
with her mother in Newtown. 

11. Joseph, born 9 mo. 19, 1812, died 
10 mo. 19, 1887, married li mo. 21, 1833, 
Mary Ann Taylor, daughter of David B. 
and Elizabeth, of Lower Makefield, lived- 
and died in Philadelphia. They had chil- 
dren: Barton Taylor, of Eniilie; Benja- 
min, Samuel and Joseph, of Philadelphia; 
Frances, wife of Joseph Lovett, of Emi- 
lie; Elizabeth, died in Philadelphia; and 
Emma, wife of Charles Walton, of Lang- 
horne. 

12. Mahlon, born 12 mo. 15, 1815, mar- 
ried Charlotte Brown, and removed ta 
the west where he died. 

13. STEPHEN T. JANNEY, young- 
est child of Jacob and Frances (Briggs) 
Janney, was born 11 mo. 15, 1817, and 
died II mo. 12, 1898, on the old home- 
stead where he was born and always re- 
sided. He was but three years of age at 
the death of his father, and remained 
with his mother on the homestead, and. 
was educated at an academy in Wilming- 
ton, Delaware. On his marriage in 1842, 
he rented the homestead of his brother 
Thomas, and purchased it in 1855, and 
continued to conduct it until his death. 
He married Harriet P. Johnson, born in 
Buckingham. 10 mo. 20, 1820, died 1891, 
daughter of William H. and Mary (Pax- 
son) Johnson, and granddaughter of 
Samuel and Martha (Hutchinson) John- 
son, all of Buckingham. (See ancestry of 
Hon. E. M. Paxson, where an account of 
the distinguished ancestry of Mrs. Jan- 
ney, maternal and paternal is given). 
The children of Stephen T. and Harriet 
P. (Johnson) Janney, were: Calvin D., 
born January 12, 1843, residing on the 
homestead, married March 8, 1892, Fred- 
erica, daughter of Frederick and Anna. 
M. Linton, of Newtown, who died at 
the birth of their only child. Frederick, 
December. 1892; Horace, born Septem- 
ber I, 1846, farmer and nurseryman at 
Newtown: William H., born October i, 
1849, a farmer in Lower Makefield, mar- 
ried February 3, 1873, Anna M. Torbert, 
daughter of James L. and Maria (Van 
Artsdalen) Torbert. of Lower Makefield, 
and had two children: Elizabeth, wife of 
Erwin J. Doan, of Philadelphia, who 
has three children — Frances J., Anna 
Jean and Harriet J.; and Harriet, wife of 
LeRoy Suber, of Newtown. Mrs. Anna 
M. Janney died 3 mo. 11, 1893. and Will- 
iam H. married (second) June 8, 1905, 
Ella J. Burroughs, daughter of Robert 
and Phebe (Beans) Burroughs of New- 
town. Marietta Janney, third child of 
Stephen and Harriet, is still single, and 
resides with her brother Calvin on the 
homestead. Frances J. Janney, the 
youngest daughter, married, September 



6o 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



26, 1877, Wilmer A. Briggs, son of Theo- 
dore S. and Sarah B. (Leedom) Briggs, 
of Upper Makefield, and they reside at 
Glen Ridge, New Jersey. 

DR. WILLIAM SMITH JANNEY, of 
1535 North Broad street, Philadelphia,, 
Pennsylvania( second son of William and 
Rebecca (Smith) Janney, was born in 
Lower Makefield township, Bucks 
•county, Pennsylvania, August 12, 1833. 
He acquired his elementary education at 
the public schools, Newtown Academy, 
Bellevue Academy at Langhorne, and 
finished as a private pupil of Joseph Fell, 
of Buckingham. At the age of seventeen 
years he taught school at Brownsburg, 
Upper Makefield township, and later at 
Lumberville, in Solebury, at the same 
time taking up the study of medicine. He 
attended lectures at the Pennsylvania 
Medical College at Philadelphia in the 
winters of 1852 and 1853, and graduated 
in March, 1854. He practiced medicine 
at Tullytown, Bucks county, for two 
years, and in April, 1856, removed to 
Leavenworth, Kansas, just in time to 
tecome involved in the noted "Border 
War." Returning to Bucks county in 
the fall of the same year, he located at 
Woodsville, Mercer county, New Jerse3% 
where he remained until 1870. In the 
meantime, however, (in 1862, he enlisted 
in the army as assistant surgeon of the 
Twenty-first New Jersey Volunteers, and 
was promoted to surgeon of the Twenty- 
second Regiment. His regiment during 
its ten months service took part in the 
battles of Chancellorsville and Freder- 
icksburg, and the doctor had ample op- 
portunity for the use of his skill as a 
surgeon. Returning to Woodsville, New 
Jersey he resumed his practice, which 
continued until 1870, when he removed 
to a plantation in Caroline county, Vir- 
ginia, where he remained until 1874. 
when he resumed the practice of his pro- 
fession at Eighth and Oxford streets, 
Philadelphia, removing in 1877 to his 
present location, where he has since 
practiced. In 1880 he was elected cor- 
oner of Philadelphia by 20,000 majority. 
He was for sixteen years surgeon of the 
Philadelphia Hospital, and for the last 
fourteen years has had charge of the 
"hospital of Girard College, and stands 
deservedly high in his profession. He 
is a member of Post No. 2, G. A. R., and 
of the Loyal Legion, and in politics is a 
Republican. He married, in November, 
185s, Sarah Ellen Beans, born April, 
1835, daughter of Benjamin and Mary 
Beans, of Lower Makefield, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania. They have been 
the parents of four children, two of 
whom, a son and daughter, died in in- 
fancy; those who survive are: Marianna, 
born November 2, 1873; and William, 
born February 18. 1876, a graduate of 
the University of Pennsylvania, both re- 
siding with their father. 



THE JAMES FAMILY. The James 
family of Bucks county is of Welsh orig- 
in, being descended from John James 
and Elizabeth, his wife, who with sons 
Thomas, William, Josiah, and Isaac, 
and daughters Sarah, Rebecca and Mary, 
migrated in the year 171 1 from 
the parish of Riddillyn, Pem- 
brokeshire, South Wales, and settled in 
Montgomery township, Philadelphia, 
(now Montgomery) county. They 
were Welsh Baptists, and the vanguard 
of the little colony of that denomination 
who eight years later organized them- 
selves into a church known as the Mont- 
gomery Baptist church, of which the 
James family were members for many 
years. New Britain and Hilltown Bap- 
tist churches were ofifshoots of this an- 
cient church. The James family con- 
tributed largely to the moral and finan- 
cial support of the New Britain church 
for many generations. 

Whether the family settled originally 
in Montgomery or in New Britain is 
problematical. According to Rev. Mor- 
gan Edwards, the great Baptist histor- 
ian, the Rev. Abel Morgan, pastor of 
Pennypack church, preached to the lit- 
tle colony at Montgomery prior to the 
organization of the church, at the house 
of John Evans, who arrived from Pem- 
brokeshire a year prior to the arrival 
of the James family, and the James fam- 
ily formed part of the assembly. At that 
period all the land on the Bucks county 
side of the line belonged to other than 
actual settlers, in large tracts, and it 
is more than probable that the James 
family were tenants on some of this 
land. In 1720 John James and his eldest 
son Thomas purchased one thousand 
acres in New Britain township, Bucks 
county, including a portion of the pres- 
ent borough of Chalfont, and extending 
eastward at least two miles, and north 
westerly at its western end nearly as far, 
being in the shape of the letter L. Be- 
tween that date and 1726, when they 
made a division of the land between 
them, they conveyed nearly one half of 
this tract to the other three brothers, 
William, Josiah and Isaac, and William 
and Thomas had purchased other tracts 
adjoining on the northeast until the fam- 
il}^ owned nearly if not quite 2,000 acres, 
extending from Chalfont far into what 
is now Doylestown township, and up 
across Pine Run and North Branch to 
the old highway leading through New 
Galena. Two of the brothers. Josiah 
and Isaac, do not seem to have left de- 
scendants in Bucks county, though both 
owned portions of the original 1,000 
acre purchase. Josiah married. May 21, 
T724, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas 
Ferry of Great Valley Baptist church, 
Chester county, and a year later she was 
received as a member of Montgomery 
church, but June 16. 1727, they received 
a dismissal to Great Valley and prob- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



6i 



ably settled in Chester county. Isaac 
James was a blacksmith, and resided in 
Montgomery township. He married, No- 
vember 26, 1729, Ann Jones. We have 
no further record of him other than his 
conveyance of his New Britain land 
about 1742. Josiah had received 235 
acres of the 1,000 acre purchase in 1722, 
and conveyed it to his brother in 1725. 
Of the daughters of John and Elizabeth 
James, Sarah, .the eldest, as shown by 
the records of Montgomery church, 
s married Benjamin Phillips, March 2, 
^f 1727, but in the will of her father twen- 
ty years later she is mentioned as Sarah 
Lewis. Rebecca, we learn from the same 
source, was married to a miner. Mary 
' was single at her father's death in 1749, 
K^ ' and was requested to live with her 
brother Thomas. Elizabeth James died 
prior to her husband. 

Thomas James, eldest son of John and 
Elizabeth, was born in Wales about 
1690, and died in New Britain in April, 
1772. As previously stated, he was one 
of the original purchasers of the 1,000 
acres of which he retained possibly 300 
acres, and in 1731, purchased over 200 
acres of the society lands of Joseph 
Kirkbride, most of which, however, he 
conveyed to his sons several years prior 
to his death. He married. May 15, 1722, 
Jane Davis, and she was baptized as a 
member of Montgomery church, No- 
vember 19, 1725. They had four sons 
and two daughters, Thomas, the eldest, 
lived and died on a portion of the old 
plantation in New Britain, but is said 
to have left no issue to survive him. 
Elizabeth, the eldest daughter, married 
Benjamin Butler about 1746, and had 
one daughter, Ann, who married (first) 
Thomas Morris, and (second) Moses 
Aaron. Benjamin Butler died about 1750. 
James James, second son of Thomas 
and Jane, married Elizabeth Eaton in 
1762. His father had conveyed to him 
in 1755, 167 acres, part of which is now 
the property of the estate of Eugene 
James, deceased, one-half mile west of 
New Britain, and here he lived until the 
close of the Revolution, when he ex- 
changed v/'th Peter Eaton for land in 
Rov.c.n ccuirty North Carolina, and re- 
moved thither taking with him three of 
the children of his brother John. 

John James, third son of Thomas and 
Jane, received by deed from his father 
in 1 761 a farm of two hundred acres, and 
lived thereon his entire life. He was a 
member of the New Britian Company of 
Associators in 1775, and a private in 
Captain Henry Darrah's company, when 
in service under Lieutenant Colonel 
(later General) John Lacey, November 
I, 1777. He died in March, 1779. John 
James was twice married, first on Au- 
gust 13, 1762, to Magdalena Keshlen, (or 
Keshler) a German woman, by whom he 
had two children; Margaret, born 1763, 



died March 3, 1821, married Morgan 
Jame,'-.. son of John, and grandson of 
William James; and Benjamin James, 
born 1765, removed to Bryant's Settle- 
ment, • Rowan county, North Carolina, 
with his uncle James James about 1785. 
John James married (second) June 14, 
1766, Edith Eaton, a sister to his brother 
James' wife, and had by her two children 
Catharine and James. In his will dated 
February 10, 1779, proved March 10,. 
1779, he directs that Catharine's share 
of his estate be left in the hands of her 
"Aunt Elizabeth James;" this was the 
wife of James James, with whom all 
three of the younger children removed 
to North Carolina. James, the young- 
est son, was devised 200 acres of land 
in Chestnut Hill township, Northamp- 
ton county. 

Samuel James, youngest son of Thom- 
as and Jane, received from his father a 
farm of about 150 acres just northeast 
of Chalfont, and died there in 1804. He 
married, April 8, 1765, Anna Keshlen, a 
sister to his brother John's first wife, 
and had five children; i. Samuel, who 
married Elizabeth Shewell, and removed 
to Maryland, where he died in 1847; 2. 
Levi, who married Rebecca Polk and 
was the father of Samuel P. and grand- 
father of Levi L. James, late a member 
of the bar, and father of Robert James, 
deceased, whose son Louis H. was also a 
lawyer, and Lydia, who married John 
G. Mann; 3. Elizabeth, married Isaac 
Oakford; 4. Margaret, married John 
Wolfe; and 5. Ann James. Levi married 
late in life Mary Polk, nee Good, who 
survived him many years. 

William James, son of the emigrant 
John James and Elizabeth his wife, from 
whom most of the family now residing 
in Bucks county are descended, was born 
in Pembrokeshire about 1692, and died 
in New Britain township, Bucks county, 
in 1778. He seems to have been the fa- 
vorite son. and was the largest land- 
owner of the family. In the year 1725 
his father and brother Thomas con- 
veyed to him 206 acres of the 1,000 acre 
purchase, and in the same year he pur- 
chased of his brother Josiah his allot- 
ment of 235 acres of the same. In 1738 
he purchased of John Kirkbride 207 
acres of the society lands, part of which 
is still the property of his descendants. 
He also owned other tracts of land near 
Chalfont. which became the property of 
his sons-in-law. He conveyed practical- 
ly all of his land to his children in his 
life time — in 1749 to John the 206 acres, 
and to Isaac the 207 acres; and in 1758 
to Abel the 235 acres. William James 
married in 1718. The name of his wife 
was Mary, but nothing more is known of 
her. She was baptized at Montgomery 
church in 1719 as "Mary, wife of Will- 
iam James." She died about 1765. Will- 
iam and Mary James had five children; 









^2 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



John; Isaac; Margaret, wlio married 
Henry Lewis; Abel; and Rebecca, who 
married Simon Butler, Jr. 

John James, eldest son of William and 
Mary, born 1719, died 1785, was a car- 
penter and joiner by trade, but, since he 
retained possession of his farm and re- 
sided thereon his whole life, it is to be 
supposed his principal occupation was 
the tilling of the soil. He married, May 
20, 1740, Elizabeth, daughter of Lewis 
' Evans, and was the father of ten chil- 
â– dren, nine of whom grew to maturity, 
viz: I. Josiah, born 1741, died December 
II, 1816, married Elizabeth Evans. 2. 
AVilliam, born 1742, died May 10, 1828, 
married January 25, 1769, Rebecca Will- 
iams. 3. Isaac, born 1744, married Jemi- 
ma Mason, and removed to the state of 
Ohio. 4. Ebenezar, born 1746, died 1815, 
had no children. 5. Simon, born 1748, 
died 1814, married Elizabeth Hines. 
6. Morgan, born April 27, 1752, died 
April 18, 1816, married Margaret James, 
daughter of John, as before stated. 7. 
Elizabeth, married John Callender. 8. 
Mary, married Nathan Evans. 9. Alice 
married Thomas Mathias. Of the above 
Josiah and Elizabeth were the great- 
grandparents of Robert E. James, Esq., 
of Easton, Pennsylvania, and the chil- 
dren of William and Rebecca all re- 
moved to the west. The only one who 
left descendants in Bucks of the name 
was Morgan, and Margaret. 

Morgan James, sixth son of John and 
Elizabeth James, was born on the old 
plantation in New Britain, April 27, 
1752. At the breaking out of the Revo- 
lution he, with his brothers Josiah, Will- 
iam, Isaac, became members of the Asso- 
ciated Company of New Britain militia. 
Morgan was later a private in Captain 
Henry Darrah's company, and was in ac- 
tive service under General John Lacey. 
His brothers, Isaac, Ebenezer, Simon 
and William, were also in this company. 
Morgan James married, as before stated, 
Margaret James, daughter of John and 
Magdalene. Their children were: i. Ly- 
â– dia, who married Mathew Thomas. 2. 
Benjamin, born November 28, 1786, 
died May 24, 1865, married Elizabeth, 
daughter of Moses Aaron, and widow of 
James Poole, left no issue. 3. Naomi, 
iDorn February 26, 1793, died November 
4, 1871, married Jacob Conrad. 4. Isa- 
iah, born August 27, 1798, died Septem- 
ber 23, 1886, married Caroline James, 
daughter of Abel James. 

Isaac James, second son of Williani 
and Mary James, born in New Britain 
about 1726, received from his father in 
1749 a deed for over 200 acres of land 
upon which he lived his entire life. He 
was constable of New Britain township 
for many years. He died very suddenly 
in 1766. aged about fifty years. His wife, 
whom he married in 1751. was Sarah 
Thomas, daughter of John Thomas, who 
•came to New Britain from Wales in 



1726 and died there in 1750. The chil- 
dren of Isaac and Sarah (Thomas') 
James were: i. Abiah, born 1745, died 
December i, 1834, married September 22, 
1773, Rachel Williams. 2. John, born 
1747- a soldier in the Revolution, mar- 
ried Dorothy Jones. 3. Abel, born 1749, 
died 1798, married Elizabeth Hines. 4. 
Nathan, born 1754, died 1845, married 
Sarah Dungan. 5. Samuel, born 1760, 
died 1848, married Elizabeth Cornell and 
removed to North Carolina in 1785. 6. Us- 
lega, born 1762, died 1844, married Jo- 
seph Morris. 7. William, born 1764, 
died 1854, removed to Reading, Berks 
county, Pennsylvania. 8. Benjamin, 
born 1766, died 1854, married Ann Will- 
iams. Tracy, died young. Of these, Ab- 
iah, Abel, Nathan, and Benjamin have 
descendants residing in Doylestown.and 
will be noticed later in this sketch. 

Abel, the youngest son of William and. 
Mary James, born about 1729, died Sep- 
tember, 1770, at Dover, Delaware, was in 
some respects the most prominent of 
the family m his generation. He re- 
ceived a liberal education and was pos- 
sessed of ample means and early evinced 
a taste for mercantile pursuits. He mar- 
ried Mary, daughter of Thomas Howell, 
of Warwick, in 1756, and entered into 
business in Philadelphia and Dover, Del- 
aware, and was for several years very 
successful. An unfortunate speculation 
ruined him. and the worry and strain 
of his financial difficulties brought on a 
fever from which he died while at Dover. _/;^ 
His plantation of 235 acres in New Brit- - 
ain had been heavily mortgaged to tide 
him over a financial speculation and was 
sold. He left five sons and four daugh- 
ters, viz: I. Daniel, the eldest son, was a 
clerk for his father at Dover at the time 
of the failure; after his father's death r 
he secured a position as clerk at Dur- 
ham Iron Works, then operated by Jo- 
seph Galloway. At the closing of the 
furnace in 1776 he returned to Delaware 
and joined Proctor's Delaware regiment 
as a lieutenant, was promoted to cap- 
tain, and served throughout the war. 2. 
William, the second son, was also a sold- "^' 
ier in the Revolution, first enlisting in 
Captain Edward Jones' company recruit- 
ed in Hilltown, and later serving in Cap- 
tain John Spear's company in the Elev- 
enth Pennsylvania Regiment. 3. Mar- .^ 
garet, married William Kerr, of War- »* 
wnck. 4. John James was a noted mill- ,J* 
wright, and lived and died in Lower ^ 
Dublin township, Philadelphia county."^ 
5. Mary, married Abel Thomas of Hill- 
town; they removed first to Harford 
county, Maryland, and later to Rock- 
bridge county, Virginia. 6. Martha, 
married Asa Thomas, brother of Abel.* 
Abel H., youngest child of ."Vbel and 
Mary (Howell) James, was born Jan- 

*Catharine, another dauehter. married Mr. Hilt, an 
iron master, having iron works in the extreme western 
end of Virginia. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



63 



nary i, 1771, a few months after his 
father's death. VV'hen quite a youth he 
went with his brother-in-law, Abel 
Thomas, to Maryland, and a few years 
later to Virginia, near the Natural 
Bridge, where he engaged in the trans- 
portation of produce down the James 
river. The boats were built at Lexing- 
ton, and on reaching tidewater were 
sold as well as the cargo, and a new one 
built for the next trip. He returned to 
Bucks county in 1803 to marry Cath- 
arine Owen, daughter of Griffith Owen, 
Esq., of Hilltown, intending to return 
with her to Virginia. He was, how- 
ever, persuaded to remain in Bucks 
county, and in 1804 he opened a store 
at what is now Hagersville, on the Beth- 
lehem road, above Dublin, which he 
conducted a few years when he opened a 
store at Lewis' Tavern, in Hilltown. A 
few years later he purchased the store 
property at Leidytown and remained 
there one year, when he purchased the 
tavern and store known as Lewis', at 
what is now Hilltown postoffice and re- 
mained there until his death, June 11, 
1838. His wife died August 12, 1810. and 
he married (second) Gainor Mathias, a 
widow. His children were: Caroline, 
born September 2, 1804, died Septem- 
ber 5, 1888, married Colonel Isaiah 
James, before mentioned; Mary, born 
March 6, 1806. died young. Owen, born 
1807. died young. John Owen James, the 
great Philadelphia merchant, born 
March 8, 1809, died June 26. 1883. Cathar- 
ine Owen, who married Abel H. James, 
•was born in Hilltown township, Bucks 
county, June 17, 1781. She was the eld- 
est daughter of Griffith Owen, Esq., and 
his wife Jane Hughes. 

Griffith Owen, the grandfather of the 
â– Griffith mentioned above, was a native 
of Wales and came to America in 1721, 
settling in Hilltown. He was received 
into Montgomery Baptist church, and on 
June 30, 1731, married Margaret, daugh- 
ter of Thomas Morgan, who it is said 
accompanied him from Wales to Bucks 
county. Griffith Owen, Sr.. was one of 
the most prominent men of Hilltown. He 
was captain of the Hilltown company of 
Associators in 1747-8, raised for the de- 
fence of the frontiers and was a member 
-of colonial assembly from 1749 to 1760. 
He died October 18. 1764. He had three 
sons, Owen, Ebenezer and Levi; and 
•one daughter, Rachel Erwin. His eld- 
est son, Owen Owen, married Cathar- 
ine Jones about T756, and had eigJit chil- 
dren: Abel, Elizabeth, Griffith, Edward. 
Owen. Margaret. Sarah and Mary. Grif- 
fith, the second son. was born Febru- 
ary 0. 1758. He was one of the trustees 
of Hilltown Baptist church, and a very 
prominent man in the community. He 
was commissioned a justice of the peace 
in t8oi. and served in that office until 
prevented by the infirmities of age from 
â– discharging its duties. He died Feb- 



ruary 5, 1840. His wife, Jane, was the 
daughter of Christopher Hughes, of 
Bedminster and was born September i, 
1759. died January 9, 1841. 

Isaiah James was a very prominent 
man in local and county affairs, a mem- 
ber of New Britain Church, he always 
took an active part in all its affairs and 
was a consistent member thereof. After 
his marriage he lived for a number of 
years in Hilltown township. In 1849 he 
purchased the New Britain farm, now 
owned by the estate of his son, Eugene, 
and made his home thereon for several 
years, conveying it to Eugene in 1870. 
Like all the family he was an ardent 
Democrat in politics and always took an 
active part in his party's councils. He 
was a member of the Assembly, 1834- 
1838, and Prothonotary of Bucks county 
1848-1851, The children of Isaiah and 
Caroline James were Abel H., born 
April 16, 1825, died September 20, 1850. 
He was a man of more than ordinary 
culture and fine ability. He served as 
Deputy Prothonotary during his fath- 
er's incumbency of that office up to the 
time of his death. Isabella, born August 
9, 1828, married Dr. Thomas P. Kep- 
hard; she is now residing in Doyles- 
town with her daughter Florence. Eu- 
gene, born March 31, 1831, died August 
22, 1896, married Martha J., daughter of 
Abiah J. and Miranda (James) Riale. 
Isaiah James, the father, was for many 
years a Colonel of militia, and was al- 
most universally known as Col. James. 

Abiah James, eldest son of Isaac and 
Sarah (Thomas) James, born in 1745, 
died December i, 1834. He accepted the 
222 acre farm of his father, under pro- 
ceedings in partition in 1789, but soon 
after' conveyed a portion thereof to his 
brothers. He married September 22, 
1773, Rachel Williams, and had six chil- 
dren, viz: I. Margaret, married Joshua 
Riale and had. Abiah J., who married 
Miranda, daughter of Joseph and Mar- 
tha (Mann) James; Rachel who married 
Joseph Evana; Elizabeth, who married 
Josiah Lunn, Ann, and Sarah who mar- 
ried David Stephens. 2. Col. Nathan 
James, a soldier in the U. S. army who 
served through the war of 1812. 3. Eliza- 
beth who married William Hines, and 
had children. Nathan. Dr. A. J., deceased, 
late of Doylestown, Elizabeth and Emily. 
4. Abiah, married Pamela Jones. 5. 
Martha, died unmarried, and Benjamin 
W., who married Elizabeth Black, daugh- 
ter of Elias and Cynthia (James) Black. 

Abel James, second son of Isaac and 
Sarah (Thomas) James, born 1749, died 
1798. married Elizabeth Barton, and had 
four children. Barton, who removed to 
Baltimore. Maryland. James, who re- 
moved to Ohio. John, who died unmar- 
ried and Cynthia, who married Elias 
Black, the latter being the parents of 
Elizabeth, who married Benjamin W. 
James. Benjamin W. and Elizabeth 



64 



HISTORY Of BUCKS COUNTY. 



had one son, Abiah R., who married 
Josephine Leavitt and is now livin<,' in 
Doylestown township. A sketch ot 
their only son Wj'nne James, Esq., will 
follow. Nathan James, third son of Isaac 
and Sarah (Thomas) James, born 1754, 
died 1845, niarried Sarah Dungan, and 
had four children, i. John D., for many 
years Court Crier, married Sarah Cline, 
and had Elizabeth who married Ashcr 
Cox, Nathan C, a life long member of 
the Bucks County bar, Sarah, who mar- 
ried Jacob Shade, and Henrietta. 2. Ann, 
or Nancy, married Jesse Callender. 3. 
Joseph, married, Martha Mann, and had 
Miranda, who married Abiah J. Riale, 
Wilhelmina, Charles, Joseph, Louisa, 
and Susan. 4. Simon, married Mary 
Meredith. 

Benjamin youngest son of Isaac and 
Sarah (Thomas) James, born 1766, died 
1854, was a farmer and resided in New 
Britain township. He married Ann or 
Nancy Williams, daughter of Benjamin 
Williams. She died in 1838. Their chil- 
dren were: i. Uslega, married Edward 
Roberts; 2. Isaac W., married Ann Mere- 
dith; 3. Abiah, married Charlotte Aa- 
ron; 4. Thomas C. never married; 5. 
Elizabeth M., died unmarried; 6. Sarah 
Maria, married (first) Hervey Mathias, 
(second) John G. Mann; 7. Abel, died 
unmarried; 8. Silas H. died immarried; 
9. Oliver P., M. D., and two daughters 
who died 3'oung. 



HOWARD I. JAMES, Esq., of Bristol, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, senior member 
of the firm of Gilkeson & James, is the sec- 
ond son of Eugene and Martha A. (Riale) 
James, of Doylestown township, whose an- 
cestry is given on other pages of this work, 
and was born on his father's farm in Doyles- 
town township. He was educated at the 
public schools and Doylestown Seminary, 
and read law with his brother, Henry A. 
James, Esq., and was admitted to the Bucks 
county bar May 9, 1892. He' opened an 
office at Bristol, Bucks county, and began 
the practice of his profession, forming a 
partnershipwith his brother Henry A., who 
had an office at Doylestown. In 1898 he 
formed a co-partnership with Hon. B. t. 
Gilkeson, of Bristol, under the firm name 
of Gilkeson & James. This firm was for 
many years the leading one at the local 
bar, and did an immense amount of legal 
business, the routine work of which de- 
volved largely upon Mr. James. At the 
death of Mr. Gilkeson, in 1904, Mr. James 
continued the business for the family, and 
on the admission of B. F. Gilkeson, Jr., to 
the bar about a year later, he became a 
member of the firm, the old firm name of 
Gilkeson & James being continued. Mr. 
James has been a successful practitioner, 
and is one of the leaders among the younger 
members of the bar, and highly respected 
by his fellow attorneys. 



WYNNE JAMES, lawyer and real es- 
tate agent, Doylestown, was born No- 
vember 2, 1865, in Doylestown town- 
ship, on a part of the plantation that 
had been in the tenure of his direct an- 
cestors for over a century, and where 
his father, grandfather and great-grand- 
father were born. He comes of the good 
old James stock. His great-great-grand- 
father Abel James, through his matern- 
al grandmother, was second lieutenant 
of Captain William Pugh's company, 
Fourth Battalion of Pennsylvania militia,^ 
and saw active service in 1777 under 
Lieutenant Colonel William Roberts. 
Several other members of the family 
were also in the service, among them 
John James and Isaac James, who served 
under Captain Henr}' Darrah, in the bat- 
talion of Lieutenant Colonel (afterward 
General) John Lacey, the former being 
a brother to Abiah James, the great- 
grandfather of the subject of this 
sketch. Abiah James was also a mem- 
ber of the militia. 

Abiah R. James, the father of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, as before stated, was 
born on the old homestead in Doyles- 
town township, formerly New Britain, 
being the son of Benjamin W. James 
and Elizabeth Black, the former being 
a son of Abiah James and Rachel Will- 
iams, and the latter a granddaughter of 
Abel James and .Elizabeth Barton. Abiah 
R. was educated in a school established 
on the home farm by his father, and 
where many prominent men were edu- 
cated under the tuition of Professor 
Clark, a graduate of Yale College, and 
an eminent educator. Arriving at man- 
hood he married Josephine Levitt, of 
Memphis, Tennessee, whose family had 
sought refuge in the north during the 
trying scenes of the civil war in their 
native state. At the death of his father 
he inherited the farm that had descend- 
ed from father to son for six generations, 
and still owns it. Failing health in- 
duced him to leave the farm and he and 
his wife live retired in Doylestown town- 
ship. He is a trustee of New Britain 
Baptist church, of which his ancestors 
have been members since its organiza- 
tion. In politics he is a Democrat, but 
has never sought nor held office. The 
subject of this sketch is the only child. 

Wynne James was educated at the 
public schools of his native township 
and at Doylestown English and Classical 
Seminary, where he graduated in 1885. 
He tangh't school in Doylestown town- 
ship for one year, in Southampton for 
three years, and again in Doylestown 
township for one year. In 1891 he en- 
tered as a student at law in the office of 
Nathan C. James, Esq., at Doylestown, 
and was admitted to the bar in March, 
1893, since which time he has practiced 
law and conducted an extensive real 
estate business, his practice being mainly 
in the orphans' court and in connection 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



with real estate titles and conveyancing. 
He is a member of Doylestown Lodge, 
No. 245, F. & A. M.; Doylestown Chap- 
ter, R. A. M.; and Philadelphia Con- 
sistory; Doylestown Lodge, No. 94, L 
O. O. F. ; the Royal Arcanum and the 
Knights of the Golden Eagle. He was 
married in 1895 to Madeline Mai Gen- 
try, of Memphis. Tennessee, and has 
two children, Madeline A., and Wynne, 
Junior. 



HENRY A. JAMES, attorney and 
counselor at law, Doylestown, son of 
Eugene and Martha A. (Riale) James, 
was born in Doylestown borough, Octo- 
ber 22, 1865. Through the various in- 
termarriages of his ancestors, as shown 
by the preceding sketch of the James 
family, Mr. James is a descendant of 
two of the sons of the emigrant John 
James, viz: William and Thomas, and 
a lineal descendant of three of the sons 
of the former. 

Eugene James, the father of Henry A. 
James, was the son of Col. Isaiah and 
Caroline James, and was born at War- 
rington, Bucks county, where his father 
was at the time conducting a store, 
March 31, 1831. Most of his boyhood 
days were spent in Hilltown, where 
his father was engaged in the mercan- 
tile business. In 1849 his father pur- 
chased the old James plantation in New 
Britain, and Eugene, at the age of eigh- 
teen years, became its principal farmer, 
his father at the time being prothono- 
tary of the county. He remained on the 
farm until his marriage in 1864 to Maria 
A. Riale, daughter of Abiah James and 
Miranda (James) Riale, when he settled 
in Doylestown. His father-in-law, Abi- 
ah J. Riale, dying at about this time, 
Eugene purchased his interest in the 
mercantile firm of Bell & Riale, who 
conducted a store where George W. Met- 
lar, is now located, and became a mem- 
ber of the firm. He continued in the 
store business until the spring of 1870, 
when he purchased his father's New 
Britain farm and lived there until his 
death, August 22, 1896. He was an ac- 
ti'^e and prominent man in the commim- 
ity, and won the esteem of all who knew 
him. He held man}' positions of trust; 
was one of the directors of the Doyles- 
town National Bank, from January, 1884, 
until his death: president for many 
years of the Whitehall Fire Insurance 
Company; a director of the Whitehall 
Turnpike Company, and one of the man- 
agers of the Doylestown Agricultural 
and Mechanics Institute. Eugene and 
Martha A. (Riale) James were the par- 
ents of three children — Henry A.; How- 
ard I., a prominent member of the 
Bucks county bar; and Gertrude Miran- 
da, wife of Rev. Purdy Moyer. 

Henry .\. James was reared from 
the age of five years on the New Brit- 

5-3 



ain farm, and received his early educa- 
tion at the public schools. He later at- 
tended the Doylestown English and 
Classical Seminary, from which he grad- 
uated in 1884. In the following year he 
registered as a student at law in the 
office of J. M. Shellenberger, Esq., at 
Doylestown, and was admitted to the 
bar of Bucks county, January 30, 1888. 
For two years he remained in the office 
of his preceptor, and then opened an 
office for himself, and has since prac- 
ticed his chosen profession in all its 
branches, and has met with success. In 
politics he is a Democrat, and has taken 
an active interest in the councils of his 
party, frequently representing his home 
district in state, congressional and dis- 
trict conventions. He has been a mem- 
ber of the Doylestown school board for 
several years. He is a member of the 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and 
of the Bucks County Historical Society. 
He is one of the directors and counsel 
for the Whitehall Fire Insurance Com- 
pany, vice-president of the Fellowship 
Horse Company, president of the Doy- 
lestown Fire Company, and one of the 
board of censors and examiners of the 
Bucks County Bar Association. He is a 
member of Doylestown Lodge, No. 245, 
F. & A. M., and Aquetong Lodge, No. 
193. I. O. O. F. 

He married, April 30, 1902, Miriam 
Watson, daughter of ex-Judge Richard 
and Isabella T. (McCoy) Watson, of 
Doylestown. They have no children. 
Mr. and Mrs. James are members of St. 
Paul's Protestant Episcopal church, of 
Doylestown, of which Mr. James has 
been a vestryman and accounting war- 
den for a nuinber of years. 



IRVIN MEGARGEE JAMES, of 
Doylestown, was born in that town, No- 
vember 25, i860, and is a son of the late 
Nathan C. and Maria (Megargee) 
James, the former of whom was for 
many years a prominent rnember of the 
Bucks County bar, and died August 10, 
1900. 

Nathan James, the great-grandfather 
of Irvin IM., as shown bj' a preceding 
sketch, was a son of Isaac and Sarah 
(Thomas) James, and a great-grandson 
of John James, the emigrant ancestor 
of the family. He Avas an officer of 
militia during the revolutionary war, 
having been commissioned first lieuten- 
ant on ]May 6, 1777, of the Eighth Com- 
pan}\ Captain John Thomas, Second 
Battalion, Colonel Arthur Erwin, Bucks 
County Militia, and was promoted May 
May 10, 1780, to captain of the Seventh 
Company. Fourth Battalion. Colonel Mc- 
Elroy. Captain Thomas' company was 
in active service in August. 1777. Cap- 
tain James married Sarah Dungan, 
daughter of John Dungan, of New Brit- 



66 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ain, and had l\jur cliildrcn. viz: Jdlm 
D.; Nancy, wife of Jesse Callender; Jo- 
seph, and Simon, John Dungan James, 
son of Captain Nathan and Sarali ( Dnn- 
gan) James was the grandfather of Ir- 
vin James. He was an officer in the war 
of 1812-14, m the company of his consin. 
Captain Nathan James, as was also his 
brother Simon. John D. was crier of 
the courts of Bucks county for fort)' 
years. He married Sarah Cline. and 
had seven children; Elizabeth; Nathan 
C, above mentioned; Sarah, Silas. Hen- 
rietta, Mary Ann, and Elizabeth. 

Irvin Megargee James was born and 
reared in Doylestown. and was educated 
at the Doylestown Seminary and the 
Cheltenham Academy at Ogontz. Penn- 
sylvania. In 1879 he accepted a position 
as clerk in the wholesale dry goods es- 
tablishment of William B. Kempton & 
Co., of Philadelphia, where he remained 
for two years. The next three years he 
held a similar position with Riegel, 
Scott & Co., in Philadelphia. On July 
5, 1885, he was appointed a clerk in the 
United States pension office at Phila- 
delphia, which position he filled accept- 
ably for five years, four under General 
W. W. H. Davis, and one year under 
his Republican successor. Pension 
Agent Shelmire. In 1890 he entered the 
employ of the Philadelphia "& Reading 
Railroad Company, where he remained 
for one year, when he accepted a re- 
sponsible position in the offices of the 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, where 
he remained until April, 1903. He now 
follows a general insurance and real es- 
tate business at Doylestown. 

Mr. James has been a member of the 
Doylestown school board for the past 
four years, and is now the secretary of 
the board: he is also clerk of the town 
council. He married, November 27. 
1889. Elizabeth C. Firman, daughter of 
the late Samuel A. and Hannah (Doan) 
Firman. Their only surviving diild is 
Marie Megargee. born July 5. 1893. Mr. 
and Mrs. James are members of St. 
Paul's Protestant Episcopal church of 
Doylestown, of which Mr. James has 
been a vestryman for a number of years. 



DR. OLIVER P. JAMES, late of 
Doylestown, deceased, was the young- 
est son of Benjamin and Nancy (Will- 
iams) James, and was born in New Brit- 
ain township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1815-. He was a descendant in 
the fifth generation from John and Eliza- 
beth James; who emigrated from Pem- 
brokeshire. Wales, in 1711, as shown by 
the preceding sketch. On the maternal 
side he is said to be a descendant of the 
Roger Williams family of Rhode Isl- 
and. 

Dr. James was reared upon the New 
Britain farm, on Pine Run, and received 



his education at the schools of the 
neighborhood. At the age of nineteen, 
believing that a mechanical trade was 
his sphere in life, he took up that of a 
carpenter. He did not bind himself as 
an apprentice, as was the custom in 
those days, but. after assisting in build- 
ing a house erected for his father in 
1834, lie went to Philadelphia and 
worked at the trade for two years. Be- 
coming convinced by that time that he 
had mistaken his calling, he abandoned 
the saw and plane, and in 1837 entered 
himself as a student of medicine in the 
office of his cousin. Dr. Robert E. James, 
of Upper Mount Bethel. Northampton 
county. Pennsylvania, father of Robert 
E. James, Esq., of Easton, and read 
the allotted time with the Doctor, and 
during the winter season attended lec- 
tures at the Jefferson Medical College, 
Philadelphia, where he graduated in 
March, 1840. During his studies it de- 
veloped that he possessed a peculiar 
aptitude for his chosen profession. Dur- 
ing the year succeeding his graduation 
his cousin and preceptor, Dr. Robert E. 
James, was serving a term in the state 
legislature and the young doctor took 
charge of his practice in his absence. 
Fie opened an office in New Britain, 
where he soon built up a large practice. 
In the first or second year of his prac- 
tice he was appointed physician at the 
Bucks County Almshouse, a position he 
retained for seventeen years. This po- 
sition attracted attention to the rising 
voung physician, and assisted in secur- 
ing him a large practice that soon ex- 
tended into the far surrounding sec- 
tions. He continued his residence in 
New Britain until 1859, when he re- 
moved to Doylestown. purchasing the 
present Ginsley property, on Main street, 
the former residence of General Sam- 
uel A. Smith. Soon after the war he 
purchased the handsome residence on 
North Main street, where he spent the- 
reniainder of his life, and where his 
widow and dai ghter still reside. 

Dr. James became very prominent in 
the practice of his profession. Prior 
to his retirement from active practice, a 
few years btfore his death, he was one 
oi the most prominent physicians of the 
county, and enjoyed an extensive and 
lucrative practice. He was always close- 
ly identified with the interests of his 
town and county, and in his prime his 
high ability, courtly manners and kind- 
ly nature commanded the highest re- 
spect and gave him a wide infiuence 
among men. , 

In politics he was a Democrat, and 
from early manhood he took an active 
mterest in politics. In 1864 he was 
elected to the state senate over his old 
neighbor. William Godshalk. by a ma- 
jority of 989 votes. In 1878 he was the 
candidate of his party for congress from 
the Seventh District, and. though he rah 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



67 



far ahead of his ticket in many of the 
precincts, was defeated by his old op- 
ponent, William Godshalk. In local so- 
cieties and institutions Dr. James took 
a deep interest. He was a member of 
Doylestown Lodge, No. 245, F. & A. M., 
and its treasurer for many years, hold- 
ing that position at the time of his 
death. He was president of the Doyles- 
town borough council for several terms. 
He was treasurer of the Doylestown Ag- 
ricultural and Mechanics' Institute from 
its organization in 1866 to its dissolu- 
tion in 1892. He was for twenty years 
a director of the Doylestown National 
Bank, and was a member of the board 
of directors of the Doylestown and Wil- 
low Grove Turnpike Company, and treas- 
urer of the company for many years. 

Dr. Jai-'.es died at his residence in 
Doylestown on the evening of Novem- 
ber 19, 1894. He had been in failing 
Tiealth for some time, being confined to 
the house for upwards of a month. The 
cause of his death was valvular disease 
of the heart. 

Dr. James was married in 1859, to Sa- 
rah A. Gordon, of Montgomery county, 
who survives him. Their only son, Oli- 
ver B., died when a young man. several 
years ago. Two daughters survive: 
Martha A., wife of Rev. George H. 
Lorah, D. D., of Philadelphia; and Sarah 
M., residing in Doylestown. 



THOMAS A. JAMES, of Doyles- 
town, son of Louis H. James, is de- 
scended from Thomas James, eldest son 
of John and Elizabeth, who accompanied 
his father from Wales in 1710 and joined 
him m the purchase of the one thousand 
acres of land in New Britain in 1720. 
He married Jane Davis, May 15, 1722, 
and lived all his life on the old farm 
plantation, and died there in 1772, leav- 
ing Thomas; Elizabeth, who married 
Benjamin Butler, and second, Moses 
Aaron; James, John and Samuel. 

Samuel James, born 1730, succeeded 
to one hundred and fifty acres of the 
homestead, and married Anna Kach- 
line, died in 1804, leaving three children: 
Samuel, Levi and Elizabeth, who mar- 
ried Isaac Oakford. 

Levi married Rebecca Polk, of an old 
Scotch-Irish family of Warwick, whose 
pioneer ancestor, Samuel Polk, came 
from Ireland, in 1725, and after her death 
married Mary Good. His children by 
the first wife were: Robert, Samuel, 
Elizabeth. Lydia Ann, and Isabella. He 
was a prominent man in the community. 
He died in 1857. 

Robert, the son, married Ann Bayard, 
a relative of the distinguished Delaware 
family of that name. He was almost a 
giant in stature, modest, unassuming, 
intelligent, a man of unquestioned integ- 
rity. He participated actively in the af- 



fairs of the county, both politically and 
socially. He was elected to the legisla- 
ture at the same election in which Fran- 
cis R. Shunk was made governor, and 
while at Harrisburg a warm friendship 
was cemented between the two men. He 
died in his eighty-eighth year, and was 
survived by his wife and five children: 
Louis H., Nancy C., Frank, Emma C. 
and Louise. 

Louis H. married Mary E. Laughlin, 
of Philadelphia, studied law in the of- 
fice of George Lear, and as a lawyer 
had a large clientage throughout the 
county. Like his father, he took a very 
active part in politics, and was one of 
the leaders of his parity. He died in the 
latter part of 1900, and was survived by 
his wife and six children: Robert C., 
Helen, Thomas A., Carrie Y., Margaret 
C, and Mary E. 



THE PARRY FAMILY OF NEW 
HOPE, PENNSYLVANIA. ("CORY- 
ELL'S FERRY" OF THE REVOLU- 
TION.) 

The Parrys herein mentioned are de- 
scended from an ancient and honorable 
family, long resident in Caernarvon- 
shire, Wales.- THOMAS PARRY, the 
founder of the family in Pennsylvania, 
was born in Caernarvonshire, North 
Wales. A. D., 1680, and came to America 
towards the close of the seventeentU 
century, settling in that part of Phila- 
delphia county — long afterwards set 
aside as Montgomery county, and still 
so called. In 1715 he married Jane Mor- 
ris, by whom he had issue ten children, 
all born between the years 1716 and 1739 
inclusive. Eight of these were sons, and 
two daughters, named Mary and Mar- 
tha. The eldest son Thomas having been 
born July 26, 1716. the third child, John, 
(ancestor of this branch) July 25, 1721, 
and Martha, the youngest, March 3, 
1739- 

THOMAS PARRY, THE ELDER, 
born 1680, was a considerable landholder 
and is recorded as having been owner of 
over one thousand acres of land in Mont- 
gomery county, Pennsylvania, to a part 
of which his son John, Parry, of Moorland 
Manor, subsequently succeeded. Of the 
above thousand acres, Thomas Parry 
conveyed 200 acres to John Van Bus- 
kirk, September 2, 1725;. and 300 acres 
he conveyed to David Maltby, December 
29, 1726. Thomas Parry was a man of 
most excellent good sense, and judg- 
ment, and he and his neighbor and ac- 
cmaintance. Sir William Keith. of 
Graeme Park. Governor of Pennsylvania 
under the Penns. consulted together 
about their internal local affairs, such as 
roads, etc., and certainly the roads were 
bad enough in their day, as Indian trails 
and bridle paths were frequently the best 



68 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



that they had before. It is only since 
comparatively late years that there were 
turnpikes from Willow Grove, in Mont- 
gomery county to either Doylestown or 
New Hope, in Bucks county. The de- 
scendants of Thomas and Jane Morris 
Parry are to be found at the present day 
not only in Pennsylvania, but in parts of 
Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, New Jersey, 
and Virginia. By intermarriage the 
Parrys have become allied with some of 
the oldest colonial families in the United 
States, such as Tyson, Randolph, Pax- 
son, Morris, Waldron, Gerrish, Winslow, 
and others of note. A paper, stamed 
yellow with age, found recently among 
some old family papers recites quaintly 
that "Thomas Parrj' dyed ye 30th day 
of ye seventh month, in the year of our 
Lord, one thousand seven hundred and 
Forty Eight." (7 mo. 30, 1748). His 
widow, Jane Parry, survived him many 
years, dying September 6, 1777, aged 
eighty-two years. Both Davis "History 
of Bucks County, Pennsylvania" 1876, 
and "Munsell's American Ancestry" Vol. 
7, page 21, note the coming to America 
of this Thomas Parry. 

JOHN PARRY, of "Moorland Manor," 
so styled to distinguish him from an- 
other John of the same name, the third 
child of Thomas Parry, born 1680, and 
Jane Parry, his wife, was born July 25, 
1721, married September 21, 1751, Mar- 
garet Tyson, daughter of Derick and 
Ann Tyson, and granddaughter of Re- 
nier (sometimes spelled Reynear) Ty- 
son, who, with Daniel Pastorius, the 
three brothers UpdegrafF, Jan Lukens, 
and others, came to America in 1683, 
from Crefeld in Germany, and were the 
original settlers of Germantown, Penn- 
sylvania. Renier Tyson was twice chief 
burgess of Germantown; he in early 
days, removed to Montgomery countjs 
then a part of Philadelphia county, ac- 
quired a large estate, and became ances- 
tor of the Pennsylvania and Maryland 
Tysons. John Parry and Margaret Ty- 
son Parry, his wife, had seven children: 
Thomas, John, Benjamin, Phebe, 
Stephen, David and Daniel, the eldest 
born August 20. 1752, and the youngest 
April 21, 1774. John Parry lived on the 
back road, near the present "Heaton 
station" of the North-East Pennsylvania 
Railroad, the road running into the old 
York Road at about this point. This 
estate was derived from his father, 
Thomas Parry and his house, a large 
double stone mansion, still stands, but 
has since that time been altered by car- 
rying the attic up square, making it now 
(1905) a double three-story structure, but 
losing in its colonial style, which was 
originally not unlike the "Old Parry 
Mansion" at New Hope, Pennsylvania, 
built in T784. John Parry was an elder 
in the Society of Friends, had many city 
acquaintances and, being a man of means 



and much given to hospitality, enter- 
tained largely in this ancient home in his 
day; it passed out of the ownership of 
the family, however a number of years 
ago. Several of John Parry's books 
containing his autograph and dated and 
an oaken and iron-bound wine chest 
once owned by him containing a num- 
ber of very thin bottles bearing curious 
cut devices and most of them unbroken, 
with the wine glasses and two small 
glass funnels, each dotted with cut stars 
gilt are still in existence and much val- 
ued by their owner, a great-grandson, re- 
siding at New Hope. Pennsylvania. .A 
stout gold-headed walking stick or cane 
of this John Parry's and engraved with 
his name and date, A. D., 1751, was also 
in the possession of his great-grandson. 
Judge William Parry, now deceased, and 
doubtless is still preserved in that branch 
of the family. John Parry, of Moorland 
Manor died November 10, 1789, his wife, 
Margaret Tyson Parry, surviving him 
for eighteen years and dying November 
24, 1807. 

BENJAMIN PARRY, a prominent and 
influential citizen of Bucks county. 
Pennsylvania, during the latter part of 
the eighteenth and early part of the nine- 
teenth centuries, was the third child of 
John Parry, of "Moorland Manor" and 
Margaret Tyson, his wife, and was born 
March i. 1757, and married November 
4> 1787, Jane Paxson, daughter of Oliver 
Paxson the elder, of "Maple Grove," 
Coryell's Ferry (now New Hope) Penn- 
sylvania, by whom he had issue, four 
children as follows: 

1. Oliver, born December 20, 1794 (and 
noted later on) died February 20, 1874, 
in eightieth year. 

2. Ruth, born January 4, 1797 and died 
October 28, 1885 in ninetieth year, un- 
married. 

3. Jane, born August 27, 1799, and died 
September 28, 1879, in eighty-first year, 
unmarried. 

4. Margaret, born December 7, 1804, 
and married C. B. Knowles, and had no 
issue. Died July 26, 1880, aged seventy- 
six years. 

Benjamin Parry is mentioned at con- 
siderable length in General Davis' "His- 
tory of Bucks County. Pennsylvania," 1876, 
in Hotchkin's "York Road, Old and New," 
Philadelphia. 1892, and in divers other 
published works. Under the chapter 
upon New Hope. General Davis in the 
historical pages of this work gives some 
account of Benjamin Parry and the old 
Parry Mansion, which is minecessary to 
repeat here. 

Benjamin Parrj^ was the original pro- 
moter of the New Hope Delaware Bridge 
Company and in 1810. first agitated the 
subject, with his friend, the Hon. Sam- 
uel D. Ingham of Solebury. secretary of 
the United States Treasury, under Pres- 
ident Jackson. At that early day, real- 




• -s • x-«^--.x->^" T 




'cmt^^ 




Bom Marc'h I 



f TlLD£N 



-U 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



69 



izing the great importance of bridging 
the Delaware River at New Hope, these 
two men never rested until it was ac- 
complishd, in 1813-1814. Benjamin Parry 
headed the subscription list and Mr. Ing- 
ham signed, as second subscriber. The 
first public meeting towards organization 
was held September 25, 181 1, at the Tav- 
ern of Garret Meldrum in New Hope at 
which vigorous action was taken towards 
securing the building of the bridge. Ben- 
jamin Parry and Mr. Ingham were the 
commissioners, to superintend its con- 
struction as noted in the very interesting 
paper of the Reverend D. K. Turner, 
upon "Our Bucks County Congressmen" 
read before the Bucks County Historical 
Society, January 22, 1895. It was neces- 
sary to obtain charters from both the 
states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, 
and charters were granted in both states 
in 1812 — about fifteen months after the 
first eventful meeting at "Meldrum's 
Tavern." The charters gave the bridge 
company banking privileges and acting 
imder the same, and the written opinion 
of their counsel, the Hon. George M. 
Dallas, once vice-president of the United 
States, a banking business was conducted 
and bank bills were issued, for many 
years and became largely the currency 
of the country,. both in Pennsylvania and 
New Jersey. The first president of the 
New Hope Delaware Bridge Company 
was the Hon. Samuel D. Ingham and 
Benjamin Parry was a member of the 
First Board of Managers in 181 1. It 
may perhaps be of some interest to note 
that in 1905, ninety-four years later, the 
family are still closely connected with 
this ancient corporation and one of its 
members (a grandson of Benjamin 
Parry) has been for a number of years 
president of the company. Daniel Parry, 
born April 21, 1774, a younger brothet 
of Benjamin, was its treasurer in 1814. 
The present treasurer is John S. Will- 
iams. From 1784 to about 1815 "Cory- 
ell's Ferry," (now New Hope) was ad- 
mittedly the most active and thriving 
town in Bucks county and the means, 
liand and influence of Benjamin Parry, 
were those which mainly guided the 
helm; so much so was this that in earl> 
times he was known and styled "the 
Father of Coryell's Ferry." Besides his 
linseed oil mills, flour and saw mills in 
Pennsylvania, Benjamin Parry was 
owner of flour mills in Amwell town- 
ship. New Jersey, on the opposite side of 
the river from New Hope and was inter- 
ested with his relatives, Timothy Pax- 
son (one of the executors of the rich. 
Stephen Girard) in the flour commission 
business in Philadelphia. A letter from 
the late Martin Coryell of Lambertville, 
New Jersey, states as follows, "Benjamin 
Parry had a very large and profitable 
trade, for the product of his flour mills 
â– with the West Indies and other tropical 



countries, having in A. D., 1810, invented 
a process by which malt, flour, corn 
meal, etc., would resist the heat and 
moisture of voyages through tropical 
climates and remain sweet and whole- 
some" and "that the amount of produc- 
tion was the only limit for the demand 
in foreign ports." This patent from the 
United States to Benjamin Parry is dated 
July 10, 1810; and is recorded in both 
Washington and Philadelphia; the rec- 
ord in Philadelphia being in Book 25 
"L. W." of Miscellaneous Records, 
page 67, etc., Recorder of Deeds Office. 
It was long known as the "Kiln Drymg 
Process" and was not superceded by 
any different method for a period of 
nearly seventy-five years. Some of the 
business affairs of Benjamin Parry were 
conducted under the firm name of Ben- 
jamin Parry & Co., and others as Parry 
& Cresson. Some time between 1791 and 
1794. the name of "Coryell's Ferry" was 
changed and it became known as New 
Hope and a private map of the settle- 
ment, made for Benjamin Parry, bears 
the name of New Hope and is dated, in 
printed letters A. D.. 1798. Mr. Parry 
died as before stated, November 22, 1839, 
in his eighty-third year at "The Old 
Parry INIansion,"* New Hope, and he is 
buried with so many others of his name 
and race, in the family lot at Solebury 
Friends' burying ground, Bucks county. 

OLIVER PARRY, GENTLEMAN, of 
Philadelphia and Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, only son of Benjamin Parry, 
born 1757, was born at "The Old Parry 
Mansion," Coryell's Ferry, now New 
Hope, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, De- 
cember 20, 1794, and married May I, 
1827, Rachel Randolph, daughter of Cap- 
tain Edward F. Randolph, a patriot of 
1776, who had served in many of the 
principal battles of the Revolutionary 
war and who became an eminent citizen 
of Philadelphia. His portrait in oil, 
painted by Robert Street, hangs upon the 
walls of the "Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania." at Philadelphia. Oliver and 
Rachel Randolph Parry had twelve chil- 
dren, four sons and eight daughters, all 
born between March 24, 1828, and Au- 
gust 17, 1848. Of the sons. Oliver Paxson 
Parry, born June 20, 1846, died in 1852, 
aged 6 years, and the others will be noted 
later. Oliver Parry, the elder, born 
1794, was a large landholder and his name 
appears upon the records of Philadel- 
phia county oftener perhaps, than that 
of any other person of his day. A part 
of his property was a large tract of the 
once famous "Bush Hill Estate" long 
the residence of Governor Andrew Ham- 
ilton, in colonial days. This property 
Mr. Parry owned jointly with his 



*An account and description of "The Old Parry 
Mansion" follows this narrative. 



â– o 



HISTORY OP BUCKS COUNTY. 



nephew Nathaniel Randoljth. In Wat- 
son's "Annals of l'hilaclcii)hia, " nuich 
mention is made of "The Bush Hill Ins- 
tate." Rachel Randolph Parry, the wife 
of Oliver Parry, died at "The Old Parry 
iVIansion," New Hope, September g, 
iS66, his own death occurring February 
20, 1874, at his city residence, 1721 
Arch street, Philadelphia, and both are 
buried in the family lot at Solcbury 
Friends" burying ground, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania. The close of an obituary 
notice of Oliver Parry in a Philadelphia 
newspaper of the day, thus pays tribute 
to his high character, and standing: 
"Born a member of the Society of 
Friends, he lived and died in that faith, 
walking through life with a singleness 
and direct honesty of purpose which 
made the name of Oliver Parry synony- 
mous with truth and honor." (E.dward, 
Richard, George and Oliver, the four 
sons of Oliver, are noted below.) 

MAJOR EDWARD RANDOLPH 
PARRY, U. S. army, born July 27, 1832. 
eldest son of Oliver Parry (born 1794) 
was a brave and gallant officer, who 
served from the beginning to the end of 
the Civil war of 1861. The following no- 
tice of him, appeared in many of the 
newspapers, after his death, which event 
occurred at "The Old Parry Mansion" 
April 13, 1874: 

Major Edward Randolph Parry, late 
of the United States army, died at his 
residence. New Hope, in this county, on 
the 13th of April, 1874, and was buried 
on the i6th, at Friends' Solebury burying 
ground. He was a son of the late Oliver 
Parry of Philadelphia, and was born at 
New Hope, July 27, 1832. In May, 1861, he 
entered the army as first lieutenant in 
the nth United' States Infantry, and 
served throughout the war, with great 
credit. In 1864 he was made captain in 
the nth; afterwards transferred to the 
20th, and on reorganization of the army 
was promoted to a majorality for j^allant 
service. He was in the terrible fighting 
along the line of the Weldon railroad, 
and before Petersburg, Virginia, com- 
manding his regiment in several actions. 
In 1865 he was assistant general of the 
regular brigade. Army of Potomac, and 
served upon the stalT of General Win- 
throp when he was killed. At Lee's sur- 
render he was attached to army head- 
quarters. In 1868 Major Parry com- 
manded Forts Philip and Jackson, at 
mouth of Mississippi river, and Fort 
Ripley in Minnesota in 1869. He re- 
signed on account of ill health in 1871. 
Major Parrj' was the grandson of Major 
Edward Randolph, who served from the 
beginning to the end of the Revolution- 
ary war. 

A portrait of Major Parry hangs upon 
the walls of the "Bucks Comity Histori- 
cal Society" at Doylestovvn, Pennsyl- 
vania. Major E. R. Parry married De- 



cember 17, 1863, at ]^>oston, Massachu- 
setts, Frances, daughter of General Jus- 
tin Dimick, U. S. A., and had three chil- 
dren. She, with one child, an unmarried 
daughter (named Katharine) survives 
him. The other two children, daughters, 
died in childhood 

RICHARD RANDOLPH PARRY, 

GENTLEMAN, of New Hope, Pennsyl- 
vania, second son of Oliver and Rachel 
(Randolph) Parry, was born in Phila- 
delphia, December 5, 1835, and married 
October 11, 1866, in Saint Luke's Prot- 
estant Episcopal church, Portland. Maine, 
Miss Ellen L. Read, of Portland, and 
they have issue, three children, as follows : 

1. Gertrude R. Parry, unmarried. 

2. Adelaide R. Parry, unmarried. 

3. Oliver Randolph Parry, born March 
29, 1873, married on October 15, 1898, in 
New York city, Miss Lida M. Kreamer 
and has one child, Margaret (born May 
3, 1901,) at "The Old Parry Mansion." 

R. R. Parry was educated at private 
schools in Philadelphia and at Haver- 
ford College, Pennsylvania. From 1856 
to 1862, he resided at Mankato, Minne- 
sota, where he was engaged in the bank- 
ing business. In "Neill's History of the 
Minnesota Valley" page 549, published 
in Minneapolis, 1882, and in "Mankato, iLs 
First 50 Years" published at Mankato 
1903, Mr. Parry is described as one of 
the early pioneers of the valley. In 1862 
he returned to Pennsylvania to live_. He 
is a member of the "Bucks County His- 
torical Society" and a life member of 
"The Historical Society of Pennsjdvania" 
since 1855. He is also a member of the 
"Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the 
Revolution;" and a companion of the 
Military Order of the Loyal Legion of 
the United States, commandery of Penn- 
sylvania. He is senior warden of "St. 
Andrew's Protestant Episcopal Church", 
Lambertville, New Jersey, and for many 
years past has been president of "The 
New Hope Delaware Bridge Company." 
Mr. Parry is a man of literary tastes, 
and historical interests and has fre- 
quentl}^ contributed articles to the press 
and published works. He resides at the 
"Old Parry Mansion," in New Hope- 
borough, erected for his ancestor. Ben- 
jamin Parry in 1784. Two dififerent por- 
tions of this estate were occupied by the 
Continental troops, in December. 1776, 
just prior to the "Battle of Trenton" as 
more fully mentioned elsewhere in this 
volume. 

DR. GEORGE RANDOLPH PARRY, 

of New Hope. Pennsj'lvania ("Coryell's 
Ferry"), third son of Oliver and Rachel 
(Randolph) Parry, was born September 
3. 1839 in Philadelphia, and was edu- 
cated in private schools of that city. He 
began the study of medicine in the Phil- 
adelphia College of Pharmacy from 
which .In- graduated, in the class of 1862. 




V 




(jSc^_vL.^X,r-U-^ A 




'THEN 

'PUBLIC 






*SrOH, Lr-NQx AND 




OLD PARRY MANSION — INTERIOR VIEW 



L 



I l»ki>.V^ > 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



71 



In 1864 he entered the Medical Depart- 
ment of the University of Pennsylvania 
and was graduated in 1867. For some 
years he practiced his profession in 
Cayuga county. New York. On return- 
ing to Pennsylvania in 1880 he located at 
the old homestead at New Hope, living 
at the ""Old Parry Mansion" until his 
death June 12, 1893. He enjoyed a large 
practice, and died much esteemed and 
lamented. Dr. Parry married March 2, 
1869, Miss Elizabeth Van Etten, of Van- 
ettenville. New York, whom he survived 
twelve years. They had two children, 
Elizabeth R. and Jane Paxson, the latter 
deceased. Dr. Parry was a member of 
the Medical Societies of Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania and Hunterdon county, 
New Jersey; and was also a member of 
the "Bucks County Historical Society" 
and a life member of the "Historical^ So- 
ciety of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia." He 
also was much interested in Free Ma- 
sonry and belonged to a commandery of 
Knights Templar in New York state. 

OLIVER PAXSON PARRY, fourth 
son of Oliver and Rachel (Randolph) 
Parry was born 1846. and died December 
13, 1852, in his seventh year. 

DANIEL PARRY, ESQ., of New 
Hope, Pennsylvania, son of John Parry, 
of "Moorland Manor" and Margaret Ty- 
son, his wife, was born April 21, 1774, 
and married Martha Dilworth of Dil- 
worthtown, Pennsylvania, having but one 
child, named for his grandfather, John. 
Parryville, Carbon county, Pennsylvania, 
an important point for shipment of coal 
on the Lehigh river, was named for this 
Daniel Parry, who was a gentleman of 
fortune and owned large tracts of land, 
in Carbon, Wayne, Luzerne and other 
counties of Pennsylvania; a part of which 
were obtained through the Marquis de 
Noailles of France. Daniel Parry died 
July 16, 1856, aged eighty-two years. 
Martha Dilworth Parry, his wife, died 
April 3, 1831, aged fifty-three years. Their 
son John died in childhood and all three 
lie buried in their family lot, at Friends 
burying ground in Solebury township, 
Bucks county. The Doylestown papers, 
in noticing the death of Daniel Parry, 
spoke of him as "a man of large benevo- 
lence, and a generous friend to the des- 
titute," and many poor persons indeed 
mourned the loss of a friend ever ready 
to help them. 



"THE OLD PARRY MANSION," 
New Hope Borough, Bucks County, 
Pennsylvania ("Coryell's Ferry," of the 
Revolution). 

The ancient colonial double stone r^an- 
sion still standing at the corner of the 
old York road and the Trenton or River 
road in New Hope borough, erected in 



1784 for Benjamin Parry, which has 
bravely stood in three centuries has long 
been known as "The Old Parry Man- 
sion" and has been the home of the 
Parrys of New Hope (Coryell's Ferry) 
for five generations. Two different por- 
tions of this property were occupied by 
troops of the Continental army, in the 
Revolutionary war. In 1776, just prior 
to the Battle of Trenton, a considerable 
bod}' of American soldiers under General 
William Alexander (Lord Stirling) were 
quartered here and the village placed in 
a state of armed defence by Stirlmg, 
who threw up a strong redoubt on top of 
the hill across the pond, in a southwest- 
erly direction from "The Old Parry 
Mansion," and a part of this estate. These 
earth works extended from where the 
yellow public school house now stands, 
in an easterly direction, a considerable 
distance towards the Delaware river, at 
the termination of the old York road at 
the river's brink above and below the 
Ferry landing. Upon another part of the 
Parry property, (purchased of the 
Todd's) entrenchments were erected and 
batteries placed. Lord Stirling also had 
another redoubt thrown upon the old 
York road facing the river at the cor- 
ner of Ferry street, and the present 
Bridge street, opposite where "the old 
Washington Tree," cut down November 
28, 1893, then stood and near the site of 
the present Presbyterian church. From 
this elevated position he Ifkewise com- 
manded the approach from the Delaware 
river. Such were the defenses of Cory- 
ell's Ferry at this period of the Revolu- 
tion, when it (then an important 
strategic point, and crossing of the 
Delaware) was saved to the American 
cause from British plans and designs. At 
page 175, Volume I of *Washington and 
his Generals" in speaking of General 
Alexander (Lord Stirling) it is stated 
"That in his new capacity of Major Gen- 
eral, he joined the army in its memorable 
retreat through New Jersey and took 
part in the operations on the Delaware 
river, where he again signalized himself 
by his successful defense of Coryell's 
Ferry." 

Lord Stirling's headquarters at New 
Hope, are said to have been in the old 
hip roof house known as "The old Fort" 
which then stood on the site of the pres- 
ent hipped roof home of Mr. P. R. Slack 
on the Old York road, just opposite the 
avenue and entrance to "Maple Grove" 
then and now owned and occupied by the 
Paxson family and where Benjamin' 
Parry's wife Jane Paxson was born Jan- 
uary 24, 1767, 

Looking backward through the long 
vista of more than a century and a quar- 
ter, it seems difiicult to realize that New 
Hope ("Coryell's Ferry") and the now 



♦Published by E. Meeks, Philadelphia, 1885. 



72 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



peaceful highways about it once re- 
sounded witli the bustle of war, and the 
frequent tramp of armed inen, as our 
patriot sires hurried forward to do battle 
for their country or fell back in the sad- 
der marches of retreat. The years have 
come and gone since the days of the 
Revolution, bringing with them many 
changes, but the old settlement at 
"Coryell's" still remains, nestling close 
beside the noble river, at the "Ferry" 
which our forefathers defended in the old 
heroic days. Many of the boats used by 
General Washington on Christmas night, 
1776, to make that memorable crossing 
of the Delaware, now known the world 
over in history, as "Washington's Cross- 
ing" and made additionally famous by 
the artists' brush, were collected at New 
Hope ("Coryell's Ferry") and kept se- 
creted behind Malta Island, then densely 
wooded over and were floated by night, 
down the river to "Knowles Cove," just 
above Taylorsville, Pennsylvania, the 
point where Washington crossed 
to fight and win the Battle 
of Trenton. "Malta Island" has 
since filled up and become mainland, 
the present "Union Mills" paper manu- 
facturing company's plant at New Hope 
is just at the north end of Malta 
Island. Former mills here were owned 
many years ago by Daniel Parry Esq., 
(born April 21, 1774) a younger brother 
of Benjamin Parry. Many letters of 
General Washington and other of his 
prominent Generals, are at different 
times, during the Revolutionary War, 
dated at "Coryell's Ferry." 

In both Benjamin Parry's day and 
that of his son Oliver Parry, the "Old 
Parry Mansion" was the scene of much 
hospitality and its doors were thrown 
open wide upon many an occasion to bid 
hearty welcome to both city and coun- 
try guests and during the life time of the 
latter and his hospitable and popular 
wife, Rachel Randolph, this ancient 
homestead was often called by their 
friends "Hotel de Parry" and sometimes 
"Liberty Hall." Many distinguished per- 
sons have been entertained beneath its 
broad roof in the long period in which 
it has stood and had it lips, much it 
could speak of events in three centur- 
ies. Interesting mementos of bye-gone 
days have been sacredly treasured up 
and much old family furniture is yet pre- 
served in this home; some of it nearly 
(or quite) 200 years old, and brought 
from over the sea; the ancient high 
clock standing half way up the stairs, 
on the broad landing, has ticked in and 
out the lives of many generations of the 
family and still shows upon its familiar 
face the moon, in all its phases. In this 
connection it may be perhaps of some in- 
terest to note the occurrence of an event 
so unusual in its character as to become 
historic, and worthy of passing notice in 
the birth in this home, on May 3, 1901, 



of a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Oliver 
Randolph Parry (named Margaret 
Kreamer Parry) in the same room in 
which her great-grandfather Oliver 
Parry was born in 1794, one hundred and 
eleven years ago, and in the same old 
mansion, in which her great-great-grand- 
father Benjamin Parry lived and died. 
Seldom do we find homes in the United 
States passed on beyond the second or 
third generations. Many sketches of 
"The Old Parry Mansion" have appeared 
from time to time, in various published 
works, and newspaper articles, a com- 
paratively recent one on July 15, 1901, 
issue of The Philadelphia Inquirer by 
its historical editor, being illustrated. In 
the "York Road, Old and New" by Rev. 
S. F. Hotchkin, published 1892 in Phil- 
adelphia, this old colonial home of the 
Parrys of "Coryell's Ferry" is thus de- 
scribed : "As viewed from the outside — • 
this ancient mansion, presents a quiet 
and dignified appearance, in keeping with 
the family for whom it was built; the 
quaint and handsome carved ornamen- 
tations, over the windows, small window 
panes, pointed corners, and hoods, be- 
token its age, and are charmingly at- 
tractive. Over the front door remains 
the ancient bonnet or hood of our fore- 
fathers' day, beneath which is the mas- 
sive old-fashioned door, with its trans- 
verse panels, brass knocker, cumbrous 
lock and huge iron hinges, which stretch 
across the whole width. This door opens 
into a wide wainscoated and paneled hall, 
running through the middle of the house 
and dividing the long parlor upon one 
side from the dining room and the parior 
or sitting room, on the other; in these 
rooms and in daily uso, are yet preserved 
the corner cupboards of a hundred 3'ears 
ago" now (1905) 121 years old. "The up- 
per floors are approached, by low broad 
steps and half way up the stairs on the 
broad landing, stands in one corner, 
relic of a past age — the old eight-day 
clock which has ticked in and out, the 
lives of so many of the family and still 
showing upon its familiar face, the moon 
in all its phases. Five bed chambers, 
most of thetn communicating upon the 
second floor, open out upon an upper 
hall, the full width of that beneath ; the 
inside shutters over the house — both in 
the main building and wing — -are secured 
for the most part by long wooden bars, 
stretching across, and fitting into the 
deep window frames. In most of these 
rooms may be seen great open mouthed 
chimneys and fire places, the brick floors 
of which are painted in bright tile col- 
ors; immense closets, with brass door 
knobs in one of these chambers fill up en- 
tirely one end of the room, taking sev- 
eral feet off its length but compensating 
by the additional convenience afforded 
the family. The rooms and halls of this 
old mansion contain much valued, hand- 
some and ancient furniture, belonging 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



73 



to the family for several generations, 
much of it being carved in solid ma- 
hogany and walnut woods. In one of 
the rooms on the first floor is a trap 
door in the floor leading into a cellar, 
partitioned off and shelved as a wine 
cellar, but which may have been in- 
tended in earlier times, as a means of 
escape from sudden danger. In the great 
attic overhead the children, grandchil- 
dren and great-great-grandchildren oif 
the original owner, have often played 
and wondered at the contents of numer- 
ous chests, high cases of drawers and 
boxes, since found to have contained 
much linen-stuffs, and other articles of 
family value, and far up amid the ratters 
on the fourth floor, a dark secret room 
only reached by a long ladder (always 
removed after each visit) afforded a safe 
hiding place for papers, and such valued 
matter as seemed to require extra secur- 
ity and care in the time of the original 
owner, which was to his grandchildren, 
of course, a place of especial wonder, 
tinctured somewhat perhaps, with a spec- 
ies of fear. In the wing of the mansion, 
in a capacious fire place, still swings an 
ancient iron crane, with its outstretchea 
arm at rest after a long term of service, 
much prized by the family and shown 
visitors as a curious relic. A huge bake 
oven of an early period and no longer 
used in the kitchen adjoining was torn 
out a few years ago for the lost space 
which was needed. An elaborately cut 
stone circle in the north gable end of 
the house, under the roof, bears a tablet 
inscribed Benjamin Parry, A. D.. 1784, 
and to this home in 1787 he brought his 
wife Jane Paxson, as a bride" and here 
on December 20. 1794, was born their 
only son, the late Oliver Parry, Esq. 
whose son Major Edward P.andolph 
Parry of the United States army, died at 
"The old Parry Mansion" in 1874 of dis- 
ease brought on by hardships and ex- 
posure endured during the late terrible 
Civil war. Major Parry received a 
brevet from Congress "for gallant serv- 
ices during the war." This old mansion 
has never been out of the Parry family 
and name; it is now (1905) owned and 
occupied by Richard Randolph Parry. 
Of the male descendants of Benjamin 
Parry (of the name) in the next genera- 
tion, Oliver Randolph Parry, born March 
29, 1873, son of above Richard, is the only 
one living, at the present time. 



_ HON. DAVID NEWLIN FELL, jus- 
tice of the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- 
vania, was born in Buckingham, No- 
vember 4^ 1840, and is a son of Joseph 
and Harriet (Williams) Fell. 

Joseph Fell, the pioneer ancestor of 
the family, was born at Longlands, the 
seat of the family for several generations 
in the parish of Rockdale, Cumberland, 
England, October 19, 1668. In 1698 he 



married Bridget Wilson, and two sons, 
Joseph and Benjamin, were born to them 
at Longlands. In 1704 with his wife and 
two sons, he emigrated to America, and 
located for a short time in lower Bucks 
county, removing to Buckingham in 
1706, when he became a large landholder 
and a prominent man in the community. 
Two daughters, Tamar and Mary, were 
born to him in Bucks county. His wife 
dying when the latter was eleven days 
old, he married three years later Eliza- 
beth Doyle, daughter of Edward and 
Rebecca (Dungan) Doyle, who had come 
to Bucks county from Rhode Island in 
1683. Their seven children were John, 
Isaac, Titus, Thomas, George, Sarah, 
and Rachel. He died in 1748, his widow 
surviving him several years. 

Joseph Fell, eldest son of Joseph and 
Bridget (Wilson) Fell, was born at 
Longlands, Cumberland, England. June 
29, 1701. He married, March 4, 1735. 
Mary Kinsey, daughter of Edmund and 
Sarah (Ogborn) Kinsey of Buckingham, 
the former a native of New Castle, Dela- 
ware, for many years a noted minister 
among Friends at Buckingham. Joseph 
Fell, Jr., settled on a farm on the Dur- 
ham road above Mechanicsville. con- 
veyed to him by his father, which re- 
mained the property of his descendants 
until 1890, a period of one hundred and 
seventy-five years of continuous occu- 
pancy. He died there February 22, 1777. 
His children who lived to maturity 
were: Joseph; Sarah, who never mar- 
ried; Rachel, who married William Low- 
nes ; David ; and Martha, who married 
Edward Rice, Jr. Mary (Kinsey) Fell, 
the mother, was born in Buckingham, 
April 29, 1715, and died December 29, 
1769. 

Joseph Fell (3) son of Joseph and 
Mary (Kinsey) Fell, born October 31, 
1738, on the Buckingham homestead, 
married October 21, 1767, Rachel Wil- 
son, who was born in Buckingham June 
5, 1741. and died March 8, 1810. She 
was the daughter of Samuel and Re- 
becca (Canby) Wilson, the granddaugh- 
ter of Thomas Canby and Stephen Wil- 
son, both early pioneer Friends in Bucks 
county and a great-granddaughter of 
Henry Baker, a provincial councillor 
and one of the most prominent public 
men in the infant colony on the Dela- 
ware. Soon after his marriage Joseph 
Fell removed to Upper Makefield town- 
ship, Bucks county, where he purchased 
a farm and resided until his death, March 
26. 1789. He was the father of eight 
children, six of whom grew to maturity: 
Joseph, born 1768, married Esther Bur- 
roughs; John, born 1770, married Edith 
Smith; Martha, married Benjamin Scho- 
field; David, married Phebe Schofield; 
Jonathan, born 1776, married Sarah Bal- 
derston and returned to the Buckingham 
homestead, in 1831; and Rachel, born 
1783, married John Speakman. 



74 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUXTV. 



David Fell, M. D., second son of Jo- 
seph and Rachel (Wilson) Fell, born in 
Upper Makeficld, Bucks county, July i, 
1774, was the grandfather of Judge Fell. 
He received a liberal education, and, hav- 
ing" chosen the medical profession, en- 
tered the University of Pennsylvania, 
from which he graduated with the degree 
of M. D. in 1801. He began the practice 
of medicine in Upper Makefield, but soon 
after removed to Buckingham, where he 
built up an extensive practice and be- 
came one of the prominent physicians of 
his day. He died February 22, 1856, in 
his eighty-second year. He married, 
March 16, 1803, Phebe Schofield, who 
was born September 26, 1774 and died 
January lo, 1858. She was the daughter 
of Samuel and Edith (Marshall) Scho- 
field, of Solebury, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania. They were the parents of five 
children: Joseph, born March 12, 1804; 
Edith Newlin, died unmarried in 1857; 
Sarah Ann, died unmarried in 1872; Bush- 
rod, died in infancy; and Elizabeth, mar- 
ried Ezra B. Leeds, of Germantown, and 
later removed to Columbiana county, 
Ohio. 

Joseph Fell, son of David and Phebe 
(Schofield) Fell, was born at Lurgan, 
Upper Makefield, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, March 12, 1804, and died in 
Buckingham, March n, 1887. He was 
one of the best known and highly re- 
spected men of Bucks county. He began 
teaching at Union School, Buckingham, 
and was later an instructor in the school 
of John Gummere at Burlington, New 
Jersey. In 1830 he began to teach at the 
Friends School at Buckingham Meeting 
House, where he remained several years, 
making it one of the famous local 
schools. He later made a journey to 
Ohio and on his return purchased the 
Buckingham homestead, still owned by 
his grandchildren, and spent his remain- 
ing days there. During the winter for 
several years he continued his teaching 
at Tyro Hall and the Hughesian School. 

He was elected to the state legislature 
in 1837, and was prominently identified 
with the adoption of the common school 
law of Pennsylvania, and rendered effic- 
ient services in placing it in effect in his 
native county. He was a member of the 
first school board of Buckingham, and its 
secretary for many years. When the 
office of county superintendent was 
created in 1854 he was elected as the first 
superintendent of Bucks county, and did 
much to place the office on the high 
plane of usefulness it has since attained. 
After filling the position for three years 
he declined a reelection. In 1855 he held 
the first teachers' institute. Retiring to 
his farm in 1857 he devoted himself to 
the affairs of his farm and neighborhood, 
filling many important positions of pub- 
lic trust. He was for many years a trus- 
tee and director of the Hughesian Free 
School, and continued an active interest 



in educational matters during his whole 
life. He vv-a.': a lifelong member of the 
SocicLy of Friends, and an active, fear- 
less and outspoken Abolitionist, his 
home being one of the stations of the 
"Underground Railroad." He was a man 
of high intellectual ability, and kept in 
touch with the important public move- 
ments, and was fearless and outspoken 
in all his convictions on public questions. 

He married, March 28, 1835, Harriet 
Williams, born September 25, 1807, died 
March 28, 1890, a daughter of Samuel 
and Sarah (Watson) Williams, of Buck- 
ingham, and a descendant of Jeremiah 
Williams, who came to Tinicum town- 
ship, Bucks county, from Westbury, 
Long Island, about 1743, and they were 
the parents of five children: William W., 
born May 25, 1836, died unmarried, Jan- 
uary 4, 1874, was a lawyer of Philadel- 
phia; Emily C, born June 15, 1838, mar- 
ried William T. Seal; David Newlin; Ed- 
ward Watson, born September 27, 1843, 
married Elizabeth M. Kenderdine, and 
resided on the old homestead, died April 
30, 1900; and Lucy W., who never mar- 
ried. 

Hon. David Newlin Fell, born and 
reared on the Buckingham farm, was ed- 
ucated under the direction of his father, 
and graduated from the First Pennsyl- 
vania State Normal School at Millers- 
ville, in the class of 1862. In August of 
1862, he entered the army as lieutenant 
of Company E, I22d Regiment, Pennsyl- 
vania volunteers, the company being 
mainly recruited from the students of tKe 
school. 

He studied law in the office of his 
brother, William W. Fell, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar MarclT 17. 1866, and at 
once began the practice of his chosen 
profession at Philadelphia. After â– eleven 
years of successful practice he was ap- 
pointed May 3, 1877, by Governor Hart- 
ranft, as judge of the court of common 
pleas of Philadelphia county, and in the 
November following was elected to the 
same position for a term of ten years, 
and reelected in 1887, receiving on both 
occasions the nomination of both the 
Republican and Democratic parties. He 
has always manifested an active interest 
in the public aft'airs of the city of his 
adoption, and at the time of his appoint- 
ment to the bench was a member of the 
city council for the twentieth Ward, and 
was a member of the municipal commis- 
sion created by the act of legislature to 
devise a plan for the better government 
of the cities of the commonwealth. He 
i.c a member of Post No. 2, G. A. R., of 
Philadelphia, and has served as senior 
vice cfunmander and judge advocate gen- 
eral of the Grand Army of the Republic 
of Pennsylvania. He was elected to the 
Supreme Bench in 1893. 

He married, September i. 1870. Martha 
P. Trego, born July 31. ^846, daughter of 
Smith and Anna (Phillips) Trego, and 






A'-'^r 




. ph/lA- 




)%^-^^. 




HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



75 



they are the parents of seven children: 
Joseph Williams, born June 24, 1871. died 
December 8, 1901; Anna Trego, born 
Februa,ry t6, 1873. married John H. 
Ruckman, April 26. 1900; David Newlin, 
born June 3, 1^75 ; Edith Newlin. born 
August I, 1879; Emma Trego, born De- 
cember 17, 18S1; Edward Watson, born 
August 22, 1888; and Alfred Moore, born 
January 30, 1891- Jvtdge Fell and his 
family have made Buckingham their 
summer residence for many years, he 
having erected a handsome residence on 
a part of the old homestead overlooking 
the beautiful valley of Buckingham. 



HON. HARMAN YERKES, of Doyles- 
town was born in Warminster township, 
Bucks county. October 8. 1843- He is ot 
French and Holland descent, being son ot 
Stephen and Amy Hart (Montayne) Yerkes, 
and sixth in descent from Anthony Yerkes, 
who emigrated from Holland about 1700 
and settled in Germantown. This pioneer 
ancestor of the Yerkes family in America 
was accompanied to our shores by "is wite 
Margaret and two sons Herman and Adol- 
phus The first record we have of him is 
m the year 1702, when he was burgess of 
Germantown, a position which he filled 
for three years. In 1709 fie purchased the 
plantation in the "Manor of Moorland, 
now Moreland township, Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania. He married (sec- 
ond) Sarah (Eaton) Watts, widow of 
Rev. John Watts, pastor of Pennypack 
Baptist church. , . , j 

Hfrman Yerkes, son of Anthony and 
Margaret, born in Holland in 1689, died in 
Moreland in March, 1751- He was a farni- 
er and miller. He married February 8, 
171 1, Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. John 
and Sarah (Eaton) Watts, born April 15, 
1689 (Rev. John Watts was a native ot 
Leeds, England, and his. wife of Wales). 
Herman Yerkes pn^bably settled on his 
father's plantation in Moreland at its pur- 
chase in 1709. His father conveyed to 
him two hundred acres on Pennypack 
creek in 1723. In 1744, in conjunction with 
Walter Moore he erected a mill on Penny- 
pack and set apart nineteen acres of land 
therewith. This mill he devised to his 
sons, and it later became the property of 
Jacob and John Shelmire, and is to this 
dav known as "Shelmire's Mill." The 
chi'ldren of Herman and Elizabeth (Watts) 

Yerkes : 

1. Anthony, born November 28. 1712, 

died March 9, i79i- ,. , 

2. John, born February 21, 1714. died 
1790; married Alice McVeagh. 

3. Sarah, born July 15. I7i6, married 
Jacob Hufty. •. 

4. Josiah, born November 28, 1718, died 
1793; married Mary . 

5. Herman, born January iS. 1720. died 
November 29. 1804; married (first) Mary 
Stroud, and" (second) Ivlrs. Mary Clayton, 
and (third) Mrs. Eliza Tompkins. 



6. Silas, born February 15, 1723, died 
1795; married Hannah Dungan. 

7! Elizabeth, born January 29, 1725, died 
1793; married John Howell. 

8" Stephen, born August 3. 1727, died 
1811 ; married Rebecca Whitesides. 

9. Elias. born February 7, 1729, died 
January 17, 1799; married Rebecca Foster. 

10. Titus, born 1731, died 1762; married 
Margaret Paul. 

Harman Yerkes, fourth son of Herman 
and Elizabeth (Watts) Yerkes, was born 
in Moreland. January 18, 1720, and died 
there November 29, 1804. Like his fatlicr 
V!e was a farmer and miller. He also fol- 
lowed the mercantile business at Plymouth 
Montgomery county, in the years 1752-5. 
where he had purchased a tract of land 
from his brother John in 1747. In 1762 he 
removed to Warminster township. Bucks 
county, being the first of the family to 
make a home in this county. He purchased 
i8t acres of land near Johnsville. which 
still remains the property of his descend- 
ants. He returned to Moreland in 1788 
and died there November 29, 1804. He was 
an active supporter of the war for inde- 
pendence. His name appears on the list 
of Associators in Warminster in 1775, and 
he served on various committees under the 
committee of safety. His Warminster 
home witnessed some of the bloody car- 
nage and rout following the battle of 
Crooked Billet in 1778. An incident is 
related of an American soldier being saved 
from slaughter by four British soldiers 
who were pursuing him, by the strategy 
of Mrs. Mary Yerkes, the second wife of 
Harman, who, when the soldier had sought 
refuge in the house, conducted him to a 
rear exit and found him a place of con- 
cealment in a pile of buckwheat straw in 
a neighboring field. His pursuers entered 
the house and made a diligent search for 
the fugitive, thrusting their bayonets 
through" beds and up the chimney, to the 
terror of the women and children of the 
household. 

After locating at Plymouth, Mr. Yerkes 
became enamored of a Quaker lass, Mary, 
the daughter of Edward Stroud, of White 
Marsh, and uniting himself with the So- 
ciety, was married to her by the simple 
ceremony of the Society March 22, 1750-1. 
She died in 1771. and he married (second) 
Mary (Houghton) Clayton, widow of 
Richard Clayton. His second wife died in 
1785, and he married in 1787 Elizabeth 
(Ball) Tompkins, widow of John Tomp- 
kins, of Moreland. She was the proprie- 
tress of an inn on the Old York road, and 
his remaining years were spent as "mine- 
host" at this old hostelry. His widow died 
in 1819. The children of Harman and 
]Mary (Stroud) Yerkes. were: 

I.' William, born 1752, died in infancy. 

2. Elizabeth, born September 5. I753; 
married 1779 John Hufty. 

3. Catharine, born June 19. I755- died 
1821 ; married Major Reading Powell. 



76 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



4. Edward, born April 19, 1757, a 
Revolutionary soldier and sea captain, died 
at sea. 

5. Sarah, born 1759, died in infancy. 

6. Stephen, born October 20, 1762, died 
1823 ; married Alice Watson. 

7. Mary, born January 5, 1765, died un- 
married. 

8. Harman, born July 25, 1767, died 
February 12, 1827; married Margaret Long. 

9. William, born July 25, 1769, died 
1823, married Letitia Esther Long. 

Harman, son of Harman and Mary 
(Stroud) Yerkes, was born in Warminster, 
July 25, 1767. He spent his whole life on 
the Warminster homestead, one hundred 
acres of which he purchased in 1793, upon 
which he erected the large stone mansion 
still standing. In 1800 he purchased the 
remainder of the 180 acres that had been 
his father's and later bought the Noble 
tract on the county line, making three 
farms which he devised to his sons. He 
married in 1790 Margaret, daughter of Cap- 
tain Andrew Long, of Warrington, born 
January 8, 1771, died March 4, 1849. He 
died February 12, 1837. 

The children of Harman and Margaret 
Long Yerkes were 10, viz : 

1. Mary, born 1791, died 1816; unmar- 
ried. 

2. William, born July 8, 1792, died 1826; 
married Penelope McDowell. 

3. Andrew L., born August 25, 1794, 
-died 1862 ; married Eliza Everhart. 

4. Edward, born July 11, 1797, died 1799. 
- 5. Elizabeth, born May 26, 1800, died 

1875 ; married John C. Beans. 

6. Clarissa, born October 2, 1802, died 
December, 1873 ; married Samuel Mon- 
tayne. 

7. Edwin, born November 28, 1804, died 
1864; married Catharine R. Williamson. 

8. Harman, born March 9, 1807, died 
1889; married Rebecca Valentine. 

9. Stephen, born May 19, 1809, died 
July 25, 1865; married Amy Hart Mon- 
tayne. 

ID. Margaret, born October 8, 1815, died 
December 29, 1815. 

Stephen, son of Harman and Margaret 
Long Yerkes, was born on the old home- 
stead in Warminster, May 19, 1809, and died 
there July 25, 1865. He commenced life as 
a farmer on the west side of the Yo;-k 
road, but at the death of his father in 1837 
he removed to the original homestead de- 
vised to him by his father. He later added 
to this two other farms now occupied by 
his sons. He married January 13, 1831, 
Amy Hart Montayne, daughter of Rev. 
Thomas B. Montayne, and great-grand- 
daughter of Jean de la Montaigne, who 
came to New York in 1624, and was direc- 
tor-general of New York under the Dutch 
government. Mrs. Yerkes was born Octo- 
ber 23, 181 1, and died March 22, 1856. The 
children of this marriage were : 

1. Thomas, born November 14, 1831. 

2. Harman, born February 8, 1833, died 
May 24, 1840. 



3. Stephen, born April 11, 1835; mar- 
ried Elizabeth Jamison, and is now living 
on the Warminster homestead. 

4. Adolphus, born January 31, and died 
February 31, 1837. 

5. Anna Margaret, born January 17, 
1841, died at Germantown, March 13, 1903; 
married Captain George H. Bucher. 

6. Harman, the subject of this sketchy 
born October 8, 1843; married Emma 
Buckman. 

7. Alfred Earle, born June 7, 1846; 
married Mary A. Hazlett, living in War- 
minster. 

8. Edwin Augustus, born October 24, 
1849, died May 21, 190D. 

Judge Yerkes' boyhood days were spent 
on the Warminster farm. He attended the 
public school of the neighborhood and la- 
ter the Tennent school at Hartsville, and 
then entered Williston College at East- 
hampton, Massachusetts, from which he 
graduated in the class of 1862. He read 
law with Thomas and Henry P. Ross, at 
Doylestown, and was admitted to the bar 
November 3, 1865, and at once began the 
active practice of his chosen profession. He 
was elected district attorney in 1868, and 
discharged the duties of the office with 
special ability. In 1873 he was elected to 
the state senate and was re-elected in 1876. 
He was a prominent figure in the upper 
house of the state, and served on many im- 
portant committees. He drew the laws 
regulating the separate orphans courts 
and the civil and criminal courts of' the 
state under the new constitution of 1874. 
He was a member of the state board of 
managers of the Centennial Exposition at 
Philadelphia in 1876, and took a prominent 
part in the management. He introduced 
the bill creating the Hospital for the In- 
sane at Norristown and was one of the or- 
iginal trustees to which position he has 
been a second time appointed. He has been 
a life long Democrat and has always been 
prominent in the councils of the party. He 
was chairman of the judicial committee of 
conference in 1869, and was a delegate to 
the judicial conventions of 187 1 and 1872. 
He was a delegate to the Democratic 
national convention at Baltimore in 1872, 
but was one of the twenty-one members of 
that memorable convention that refused to 
vote for the nomination of Horace Greeley, 
giving the vote to Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, 
of this state. He was a national delegate 
again in 1880, and delegate to the state con- 
ventions of 1873, 1874, 1877, 1878 and 1882. 
In 1883 he was elected president judge of 
the district and was re-elected in 1893, re- 
ceiving at that time the unanimous endorse- 
ment of the bar of the county. As a judge 
â– Mr. Yerkes displayed remarkable ability, his' 
promptness in the despatch of business, his 
eminent fairness of his decisions, the deep 
study and wide research shown by the 
opinions rendered and his intense earnest- 
ness in the prosecution of the suits brought 
before him, made him very popular. He^ 
has frequently been called upon to hold 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



77 



court outside the county, and was univer- 
sally considered a learned and able judge. 
He was one of six Democratic nom- 
inees for the superior court at the Will- 
iamsport convention in 1895, and received 
on the first ballot 349 out of a total of 
454 votes in the convention. 

In the election that followed, '.vhile he 
ran far ahead of most of the ticket, re- 
ceiving a handsome plurality in his home 
county, he was defeated by his colleague. 
Justice Smith, of Wilkesbarre. In 1901 he 
was the Democratic nominee for justice 
of the supreme court, and ran far ahead 
of his ticket. On the expiration of his sec- 
ond term as president judge he was unani- 
mously re-nominated for the position, but 
was defeated at the polls by Hon. Mahlon 
H. Stout. On retiring from office he at once 
'resumed the practice of law, associating 
himself with the grandsons of his old pre- 
ceptor, Thomas and George Ross, and en- 
joys a large practice. 

Judge Yerkes and his family are members^ 
of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church 
of Doylestown, of which he is a member 
of the vestry. He is a member of Doyles- 
town Lodge No. 245, F. and A. M. ; of the 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the 
Bucks County Historical Society; the Col- 
onial Society ; the Society of the Sons of 
the Revolution, and the Pennsylvania Ger- 
mans' Society. He was extremely active 
in bringing about the erection of the Bucks 
County Historical Society building, and 
was largely instrumental in securing funds 
for the purpose, and as chairman of the 
building committee had principal charge of 
the erection of the building. He was mar- 
ried June 24, 1869, to Emeline, daughter of 
Monroe Buckman, of Doylestown, but has 
no children. 



THE ADAMS FAMILY. Among the 
earliest members of the Adams family who 
emigrated to America were Henry Adams, 
of Braintree, Massachusetts, and Robert 
Adams, of Oxford township, Philadelphia 
county, and Walter Adams, his brother, 
all of whom it is said were descended from 
Lord John Ap Adams, son of Ap Adams, 
who "came out of the Marches" of Wales. 
Thomas Adams, brother of Henry Adams, 
of Braintree, Massachusetts, was one of the 
grantees named in the charter of Charles 
I. in 1629. He was high sheriff and lord 
mayor of London. 

Henry Adams with his eight sons set- 
tled at Mount Wollaston, in Braintree, and 
Walter and Robert Adams were his broth- 
ers. It is thought, however, that they 
came to this country at a later date. They 
settled in Pennsylvania and, like the ma- 
jority of the early colonists of that state, 
Walter was a Quaker. 

The earliest record of the English branch 
of the Adams family is that of John Ap 
Adams, of Charlton Adams, in Somerset- 
shire, who married Elizabeth, daughter 



and heiress to Lord Gowrney, of Bevistorj 
and Tidenham county, Gloucester, who was 
summoned to parliament as baron of the 
realm, 1226 to 1307. In the upper part of 
a Gothic window on the southeast side of 
Tidenham church, near Chopston, the name 
of John Ap Adams is still to be found, to- 
gether with "arms argent in a cross gules, 
five mullets or," of Lord Ap Adams. The 
design is probably executed on stained glass 
of great thickness and is in perfect preser- 
v'ation. This church originally stood with- 
in the boundary of Wales, but at a later 
period the boundary line was changed so 
that it is now upon English soil. The arms 
and crest borne by the family are described 
as argent in a cross gules ; five mullets or, 
out of a ducal coronet a demi-lion. The 
legend is "Loyal au mort ;" a motto com- 
monly used by this branch of the family is 
"Aspire, persevere and indulgence," all 
other "sub cruce Veritas." 
,The following is the line of direct des- 
cent to the Adams family of the Lehigh 
Valley, (i). Ap Adams came out of the 
Marches of Wales. Lords of the Marches 
were noblemen who in the early ages se- 
cured and inhabited the Marches of Wales 
and Scotland, living there as if they were 
petty kings, having their own private laws. 
These laws, however, were subsequently 
abolished. (2) Sir Ap Adams, knight, 
lord of Ap Adams, married Elizabeth, 
daughter of Lord Gowrney. (3) Sir 
Thomas Ap Adam; (4) William Ap Adam ; 
(5) Sir John Ap Adam; (6) Thomas Ap 
Adams; (7) Sir John Ap Adam, Knight; 
(8) Sir John Ap Adam, who was the 
first to attach the letter "s" to his 
name; (9) Roger Adams; (10) Thomas 
Adams; (11) John Adams; (12) John 
Adams; (13) Nicholas Adams; (14) 
Richard Adams; (15) William Adams; 
and (16) Henry Adams, who is said to 
have emigrated about 1634. In February, 
1641, he was granted forty acres of land 
near Boston, of which Braintree is a part. 
His brothers were Robert, Thomas and 
Walter. The last named came to America 
by way of the Barbadoes, West Indies, and 
after living there for a time took up his 
abode in Pennsylvania. 

(i) Walter Adams married Elizabeth 

. Their children were: Richard, 

Anne, William, and Robert. Walter Adams 
was the brother of Robert Adams, of Ox- 
ford township, Philadelphia, who died in 
1719, leaving no children; he devised the 
estate of his nephews and nieces, the chil- 
dren of his brother Walter and Elizabeth, 
his wife. 

(2) Richard Adams, of New Provi- 
dence township, now Montgomery county, ^ 
Pennsylvania, died in 1748. His first wife^V<?S' y^<v<i 
namef is not known^ His second wife was 4<iU'Oi>-' 
Alice or Aishe Withers, and they were /^ -n^ <^^ 
married in 1726. His children were as fol- / 
lows: Abraham, married Alse ; Will- 
iam, of Braken township, Lancaster coun- 
ty ; Isaac, of Coventry township, Chester 
county; Susanna, married Conrad Custard, 



78 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



or Kistard; Catharine, married Joiiii Mor- 
ris ; Mary, married Israel Morris ; Mar- 
garet, married Paul Casselberry ; Elizabeth, 
married Thomas Bull ; Ann, married Jacob 
Umstadt; Hannah, married Owen Evans. 

(3) Abraham Adams died in 1738, and 
letters were granted to Rachel, his daugh- 
ter, a spinster. There is mention of two 
children, Ann and Abigail. 

Walter Adams and his brother were 
brothers of Henry Adams, who came to 
New England and was a founder of the 
Adams family there, at Braintree, ]Massa- 
chusetts. Walter, his son Richard, and his 
son Abraham were Quakers. 

Conrad Custard, husband of Susanna 
Adams, (daughter of Richard), owned a 
large tract of land immediately adoining 
the tract surveyed to Ensign John Adams, 
of Nockamixon township, in 1763. 

John Adams and James Adams, possibly 
and probably brothers, lived in Nocka- 
mixon township, Bucks county. There are 
a few records at Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 
which bear James Adams's signature. He 
was also an ensign in the provincial ser- 
vice. Associated Companies of Bucks coun- 
ty, in 1747. (See Colonial Records, vol. 
v., p. 209 ; also Pennsylvania Archieves, 
second series, vol. ii., p. 505). This was 
nine years before John Adams held a like 
commission in the provincial service in the 
Associated Companies of Bucks county. 
There is nothmg to establish that James 
Adams and John Adams were related, nei- 
ther can be found any data of their former 
residence or whose children they were. 
The only solution is that they were both 
possibly sons of Abraham Adams ; the lat- 
ter having died intestate no list of his chil- 
dren is obtainable. The fact that John 
Adams held land adjoining that of Conrad 
Custer is a possible solution, he having 
been raised by his aunt Susanna. 

Richard Adams, of Providence town- 
ship, Philadelphia, whose will is dated 
February i, 1847-8, and probated March 
24, 1747-48, mentions son Abraham's chil- 
dren, Ann and Abagail, then letters were 
granted to Abraham's daughter Rachel. 
There at once seems to be some discrep- 
ancy which is most ditificult to explain. 

James' commission in the provincial ser- 
vice, as above stated, was dated in 1747, 
which tends to show that he might have 
been disinherited by his grandfather. Then, 
again, there is a possibility that James and 
John Adams are one and the same man, 
but this is very doubtful, as their names 
are mentioned distinctly and separately in 
the old records. 

(i) John Adams, ensign, Provincial 
Service, of Nockamixon township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, died in Nockamixon 
township. May 22, 1807. He married Mary 
. He was buried in the old Nocka- 
mixon church graveyard. His will dated 
March 21, 1807, proved June 8, same year, 
is recorded in Will Book No. 7, p. 278, in 
the registrer of wills office, Doylestown, 
Pennsylvania. 



Jiilm Adams, of Nockamixon, served in 
llu' provincial service in 1756. He held a 
commission as ensign in one of the com- 
panies of the Associated Companies of 
Bucks county. (See Pennsylvania 
Archieves, vol. iii., p. 19; also Pennsyl- 
vania Archives, second series, vol. ii., p. 
531). Captain William Ramsey was cap- 
tain of the company in which John Adams 
served and held his commission as ensign 
in 1756, and was also from Nockamixon. 
township, Bucks county. John Johnson 
was the lieutenant of the company. John 
Adams of Nockamixon, and Mary his wife, 
had the following children : Mary, Eliza- 
beth, Margaret, George, Henry, John 
Jacob. 

George and Henry, sons of John Adams 
of Nockamixon, served in the Nockamixon 
Company of Associators in 1775. George 
was sergeant of the company, and the son, 
John was a soldier in the Continental army 
during the Revolutionary war. 

The first record that we have of John 
Adams of Nockami.xon owning any land 
is a warrant that was granted March 26, 
1754, to John Adams, for land in Nocka- 
mixon township, Bucks county, upon which 
a survey was returned for fifty-four acres 
and 113 peiches. A patent for this same 
land Wis granted April 26, 1726, to Abra- 
ham Fryling. John Adams had some 
trouble with this land, for on May 19, 1763, 
he entered a caveat against the acceptance 
of a survey made for Archibald Merrin, 
which took in the above mentioned land 
and improvements. (See Pennsylvania 
Archieves, third series, vol. ii., p. 275). The 
above land was surveyed by J. Hart, for 
which he gave a receipt, June 26, 1763, 
which is recorded in Doylestown, Pennsyl- 
vania, in Deed Book No. 32, p. 169. This 
vcceipt also mentions the date of the war- 
rant, March 26, 1754. 

(H) John Adams, private in Captain 
Samuel Watson's company, of Durham 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
was a son of John Adams of Nockamixon 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
born in Nockamixon township, November 
3- 1759, tlied in Durham township, Novem- 
ber J 2, 1826. He married Christina Klinker, 
December 15, 1789, at the Tohickon Ger- 
man Reformed church. Some time after 
the Revolutionary war he moved into Dur- 
ham township, where he lived until his 
death. He is buried in the old Durham 
church graveyard. Christina Klinker, the 
wife of John Adams, of Durham, was born 
in Nockf.mixon township August 15, 1770, 
died in Durham township October 2. 1847, 
and is buried in the old Durham church 
grc-.veyard. She was the daughter of John 
and Mary Klinker of Nockamixon town- 
ship, Bucks ^county, Pennsylvania. 

John Adams, of Durham township. Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, was a soldier in the 
Cortinental army during the Revolution- 
ary war. He served as a private in Cap- 
tarn Samuel Watson's company of the Sec- 
ond Pennsylvania Battalion under Colonel 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



79 



Arthur St. Clair. He enlisted February 12, 
1776. (See Pennsylvania Archieves, second 
series, vol. x, p. 98). Several of the mem- 
bers of his company were from upper 
Bvcks county. Captain Watson died at 
Three Rivers and was succeeded by 
Thomas L. Moore, who was promoted to 
major of the Ninth Regiment, Mav 12, 1779, 
and was succeeded as captain by John Hen- 
derson. The company was transferred or 
became a part of the Third Battalion, 
Twelfth Regiment, July i, 1778, and thus 
became associated with other companies 
of Bucks county. For his services he re- 
ceived from the state of Pennsylvania two 
hundred acres of "donation land" in Rob- 
inson township, Westmoreland county, 
Pennsylvania, which was returned for pat- 
ent October 9, 1786. (See Pennsylvania 
Archives, third series, vol. vrii, p. 7^3)- This 
land he sold to Hugh Hamill, November 
4, 1786. for i37 IDS. The witnesses to this 
deed were Thomas Delap (Dunlap). John 
Donnell and Jacob Glassmyer, all residents 
of Nockamixon township at that date. (Re- 
•corder's office,' Philadelphia. Pennsylvania, 
deed book D-17, p. 322.) John K.. son of 
John Adams of Durham, was a soldier for 
some time during the war of 1812-1814, 
private in Captain John Dornblaser's com- 
pany (Pennsylvania Archives, second ser- 
ies, vol. xii, p. 105). 

John Adams of Durham, and Christina, 
his wife, had the following children : 
Elizabeth, Mary, Margaret, John K.. Hen- 
ry, Jacob, Samuel, Susan, married Joseph 
Retfchlin, and Daniel. 

John Adams of Durham was quite a 
large land owner. In 1706 he owned one 
hundred acres of land and a grist and a 
saw mill in Nockamixon township. Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania. April 20, 1799, he 
bought of Solomon Lightcap 263 acres of 
land. (Bucks county deed book 30, p. 310). 
April II. 1808, he bought two tracts, one 
of 155 acres and the other of twelve acres. 
(Bucks county deed book 39, p. 135)- John 
Adams of Durham died without making 
a will. It is impossible to give the date 
when John Adams was mustered out of 
the service, for the muster rolls of the 
Twelfth Regiment have practically never 
been found. 

Tax lists of Nockamixon township 
show the holdings of John Adams, the 
father of the above John Adams, and his 
sons George and Henry, elder brothers of 
John. John Adams appears as a "single 
man'" first in the year of 1785, notwithstand- 
ing that he was of age in 1780. He there- 
foVe served, in all probability, up to about 
that date (1784-1785) in the Twelfth Penn- 
sylvania Regiment. Captain Samuel Wat- 
son's company records date to November 
25. 1776. only. 

(Ill) Henry Adams, of Durham town- 
ship. Bucks county, Pennsylvania, son of 
John Adams, was born in Durham town- 
ship June 17. 1806. and died there Decem- 
ber 15. 1838. He married Elizabeth Bitz, 
August 25, 1828, at her home in Spring- 



field township, Bucks county. Pennsylvania. 
He is buried in the old Durham church 
graveyard. Elizabeth Bitz, the wife of 
Henry Adams, of Durham, was born Sep- 
tember 18. 1811, in Springfield township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and died 
March 28, 1878, in Bethlehem, Pennsyl- 
vania. She was the daughter of John Bitz 
and Susan Riegel, his wife, of Springfield, 
Bucks ^ county, Pennsylvania. Henry 
Adams's will is recorded in Doyles- 
town, Pennsylvania. It is dated April 
28. 1838, and is proved December 22, 
1838. Henry Adams of Durham and 
Elizabeth, his wife, had the follow- 
ing children: John, Hannah, Catharine 
and Samuel. After the death of Henry 
Adams in 1840, Elizabeth Bitz was married 
a second time to Christian Nicholas. She 
had no children by this union. Christian 
K. Nicholas was born in Nockamixon 
township. Bucks county, Pennsvlvania, 
January 23, 1817, and died in upper Saucon 
township, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, 
November 3, 1893, and was buried in Fried- 
ensville November 7, 1893, and body re- 
moved to Nisky Hill Cemetery, Bethlehem, 
December 16, 1899. 

(IV.) Samuel Adams of south Beth- 
lehem, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, 
son of Henry Adams, of Durham township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was born in 
Durham township July 25, 1837, and died 
in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Febru- 
ary 22. 1902. He married Susie Weaver, 
September 14,. 1865. at her home in Allen- 
town, Pennsylvania. He is buried at Nisky 
Hill Cemetery, Bethlehem. Pennsylvania. 
Susie Weaver, wife of Samuel zA.dams, was 
born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, ]\Iay 5, 
1847. She was a daughter of Joseph Wea- 
ver and Salome, his wife, of Allentown, 
Pennsylvania. Samuel Adams and Susie 
Weaver, his wife, had the following chil- 
dren : John, Joseph W., Henry and Susie. 
Samuel Adams when quite a young man 
started out in farming, and then in iron 
ore mining. He entered the employ of the 
Thomas Iron Company of Catasaqua. Penn- 
sylvania, and was given charge of their 
mining interests. Mr. John Fritz induced 
him to come to Bethlehem and accept the 
position as his assistant in the Bethlehem 
Iron Company. Here he remained for 
nearly thirty years, and then had to re- 
sign on account of his health. He then or- 
ganized the Ponupo Mining and Trans- 
portation Company, Limited, and went to 
Santiago de Cuba as general manager of 
the company. Here he bought a railroad 
for the company, the Ferro-Carril de San- 
tiago de Cuba, and became its president, 
and also built an extension to the railroad 
to connect with the company's manganese 
mines. He remained in Cuba with his fam- 
ily for over two years, when he resigned 
and returned north. He was in Cuba part 
of the year 1892, all of 1893, and part of 
1894. After returning from Cuba he a.s- 
sisted in forming the Sheffield Coal. Iron 
and Steel Company of Sheffield, Alabama. 



8o 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUMY. 



He stayed in Sheffield with liis family one 
year, then sold out his interest and came 
north. While with the Slieffield Coal, Iron 
and Steel Company he held the position- of 
general superintendent and assistant treas- 
urer, and also director of the company. He 
then retired from active business and de- 
voted himself to farming, having a tract of 
one hundred acres near Friedensville, 
Pennsylvania, about I3p acres above Bin- 
gen, Pennsylvania, and a tract of woodland 
along the P. & R. of forty acres, above 
Bingen, Pennsylvania. He was also inter- 
ested in and a director of the following 
companies at the time of his death : Pon- 
upo Mining and Transportation Company, 
Cuban Alining Company,- Jones and Bix- 
ler Manufacturing Company, South Beth- 
lehem National Bank. 

Henry, son of Samuel Adams, was a 
soldier during the Spanish-American war 
of 1898. He organized the first volunteer 
company in the state. He and his com*- 
pany were taken into the Ninth Pennsyl- 
vania Regiment to help make up the Third 
Battalion of that regiment. He was com- 
missioned as captain of Company K, Ninth 
Pennsylvania Regiment, United States 
Volunteer Infantry. The regiment was in 
the Third Brigade, Third Division, First 
Army Corps. 

(V.) Joseph W. Adams, of South Beth- 
lehem, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, 
son of Samuel Adams, was born in Beth- 
lehem, Pennsylvania, January 19, 1872. He 
married Reba Thomas, of Pittsburg, Penn- 
sylvania, daughter of David J. Thomas and 
Susannah Edwards, of Pittsburg, June 14, 
1899, at her home. Reba Thomas, the wife 
of Joseph W. Adams, was born in Pitts- 
burg, November ir, 1877. 

Joseph W. Adams was educated at the 
Moravian parochial school of Bethlehem, 
Pennsylvania, the HiH school of Potts- 
town, Pennsylvania, and the Lehigh Univer- 
sity of South Pennsylvania, where he joined 
the Delta Upsilon fraternity. He started to 
work in the drawing rooms of the Bethle- 
hem Iron Company. He went to Cuba 
with his father and was treasurer of the 
Ferro-Carril de Santiago de Cuba, 1892-93. 
He went to Alabama as assistant to the 
general superintendent of the Sheflfield 
Coal, Iron and Steel Company in 1895, and 
part of 1896. He returned home and took 
up his studies again at Lehigh University 
in metallurgy and mineralogy, and then 
read law for over a year. In 1899 he and 
his brother Henry formed the Cuban Min- 
ing Company, and he was elected secretary 
and treasurer of the company and also a 
director. He is connected with the follow- 
ing companies : Director and vice-president 
of the South Bethlehem National Bank ; 
director and president of La Paz Mining 
Company; director, secretary and treasurer 
of the Cuban Mining Company ; director 
and executive committee of Delaware Forge 
and Steel Company; director and commit- 
tee of Guerber Engineering Company ; 
director of Lehigh Valley Cold Storage 



Company; director, secretary and treasurer 
of the Roepper Mining Company; director 
of Valentine Fibre Ware Company; acting 
trustee of . the estate of Samuel 
Adams. He is a member of the fol- 
lowing clubs and societies : Society of 
Colonial Wars in the State of New 
York; Empire State Society; Sons of the 
American Revolution ; Pennsylvania So- 
ciety of Sons of the Revolution ; Pennsyl- 
vania German Society, and the local town 
and country clubs ; and of Masonic bodies — 
Bethlehem Lodge, Zinzendorf Chapter,, 
Bethlehem Council, Allen Commandery, 
Caldwell Consistory, and Rajah Temple. 
He is captain of commissary, Fourth Reg- 
iment Infantry, N. G. P. His children 
were : John, born January 23, 1901 ; David 
Samuel, born March 15, 1903. 

Henry Adams, captain of Company K, 
Ninth Pennsylvania Regiment, U. S. V. I., 
son of Samuel Adams, of South Bethlehem, 
Northampton county, Pennsylvania, was 
born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Novem- 
ber 2, 1873. He married Annette Talbot 
Belcher, of New London, Connecticut, July 
9, 1902. 

Henry Adams, mining engineer, was edu- 
cated at the Moravian parochial day school 
of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Hill 
school of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and the 
Lehigh University of South Bethlehem, 
Pennsylvania, where he joined the Delta 
Upsilon fraternity. He started to work 
with Thomas Edison at Edison, N. J. He 
went to Cuba and was assistant superin- 
tendent and then superintendent of the Fer- 
ro-Carril de Santiago de Cuba. He went 
south to Alabama and was in charge of the 
coal and coke department of the Sheffield 
Coal, Iron and Steel Company at Jasper, 
Alabama. He went to Mexico and erected 
an electric light plant for the Mexican Na- 
tional Railroad, and then was supervisor 
of a division of that road. He resigned and 
was made constructing engineer for Tumer 
Nunn & Company of Mexico, Mexico, with 
headquarters in Pueblo. In December of 
1897 and January of 1898 he was in Cuba 
in the city of Santiago and the surrounding, 
countr}', and visited the insurgents sev- 
eral times. 

When war broke out with Spain in 1898 
he raised the first company of volunteers in 
the state, with the assistance of Colonel 
Wilson and Captain Juett of Bethlehem. 
He and his company were mustered into 
the United States service, and he received 
his commisison as captain of volunteers on 
July 6, 1898. His company was attached 
to the Ninth Pennsylvania Regiment, 
United States Volunteer Infantry, as Com- 
pany K, to help complete the Third Bat- 
talion. The regiment was in the Third 
Division, Third Brigade, First Army Corps. 
Company K, of the Ninth Pennsylvania 
Regiment of United States Volunteer In- 
fantry, is thus mentioned in the "Record of 
Events which may be Necessary or Useful 
for Future Reference at the War Depart- 
ment." 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



8i 



"This company was organized in July at 
South Bethlehem, and mustered in at South 
Bethlehem, July 6, 1898, which company 
left by rail for Chickamauga Park, July 7, 
1898, arriving in camp July 19, 1898. Re- 
mained in camp until August 26, 1898, when 
company left by rail for Camp Hamilton, 
Lexington, Kentucky, arriving , in camp 
August 28, 1898. . Left Camp Hamilton for 
regimental headquarters at Wilkesbarre, 
September 17, 1898, arriving there Septem- 
ber 19, 1898. Company left by rail for 
home station, September 20, 1898, arriving 
same day, when company was verbally fur- 
loughed for thirty days." 

The above is taken from the muster-out 
roll of the company. The company was 
mustered into service on the 6th day of 
July, 1898, and was mustered out of the 
service on the 29th day of October, 1898. 
It was the first volunteer company formed 
in the state of Pennsylvania, and was taken 
to help fill out the Third Battalion of the 
Ninth Pennsj-lvania Regiment. The other 
companies were Captain Green's, of Read- 
ing; Captain Mercer's, of Summit Hill, 
above Mauch Chunk ; and Captain Moor's, 
of Towanda. 

On Friday evening, April 22, 1898, there 
was a meeting held in the Fountain Hill 
Opera House, and a call for volunteers 
made. These met in Doxon's Hall after- 
ward and elected Henry Adams, captain ; 
Leighton N. D. Mixsell, first lieutenant; 
and Dick Enright, second lieutenant. Mr. 
Enright failed to pass his physical ex- 
amination and was re-elected. A. Alison 
Mitchell, of Wilkesbarre, was appointed in 
his place. The South Bethlehem Market 
Hall was used as an Armory by the com 
pany. 

Henry Adams is a member of the Penn- 
sylvania German Society, 1899; a member 
of the Society of Foreign Wars, Pennsyl- 
vania Commandery, 1899 ; general manager 
of the Cuban Mining Company at Neu- 
vitas, Cuba, 1899-1902, and the mines of this 
company were discovered by him ; a mem- 
ber of the Empire State Society of the Sons 
of the American Revolution, and was pre- 
sented a medal of honor by the society for 
service in the Spanish-American war; and 
of Masonic bodies — Fernwood Lodge, No. 
543, Philadelphia, and Caldwell Consistory, 
32d degree. He was vice president and 
general manager of the San Domingo Ex- 
ploration Company and San Domingo 
Southern Railway Company, San Domingo, 
R. D., West Indies, 1902. 



HON. GEORGE ROSS, an eminent jur- 
ist and statesman, was born in Doylestown, 
August 24, 1841. He came of a distinguished 
and honored ancestry. His earlier ancestors 
were of the clan Ross, of the Highlands of 
Scotland. His great-great-grandfather 
Thomas Ross was born in the year 1708, in 
county Tyrone, Ireland, where his parents 
had sought a refuge from the horrors of civil 
6-3 



and internecine war in their native Scotia. 
Emigrating to America at the age of twen- 
ty-one he settled in Solebury, Bucks county. 
He joined the Society of Frien-ds and be- 
came a distinguished preacher. He was a 
man of superior education and intellectual 
ability, and traveled extensively in later life 
both in the American colonies and in Eng- 
land and Ireland. He died at the home of 
Lindley Murray, the great grammarian, in 
York, England, while on one of his relig- 
ious visits in 1786. He married Keziah 
Wilkinson in 1731, and had by her three 
children : John, Thomas, and Mary, who 
married Thomas Smith. John Ross mar- 
ried Mary Duer in 1754, and had seven 
children; Sarah, who died in childhood; 
Thomas; Keziah, who married Benjamin 
Eastburn ; John ; Joseph ; Isaiah ; and 
Mary, who died in infancy. 

Thomas, the great-grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch, as one of the execu- 
tors of his father's will, joined in the con- 
veyance of the Solebury homestead, pat- 
ented to his father in 1737, to Jacob Van 
Horn in 1787, and the latter conveyed it 
back to Thomas by deed dated two days 
later. In 1796 he conveyed it to his son 
Thomas, who by will in 1814 devised it to- 
his brother, Judge John Ross, of Easton, 
who devised it to his son Thomas, the fath- 
er of the subject of this sketch, who con- 
veyed it to Edward Vansant in 1853.. 
Thus the original homestead of the Ross 
family in Bucks county remained in the 
family for one hundred and sixteen years, 
notwithstanding the fact that for three 
generations the owners had been much 
more eminent as jurists than as farmers. 
John Ross, eldest son of Thomas and Ke- 
ziah, removed to Philadelphia. His son 
Joseph removed to the West. John be- 
came an eminent physician. Thomas mar- 
ried Rachel Longstrethand settled in West 
Chester. He was a lawyer, and had a 
large and lucrative practice. 

Thomas Ross, younger son of Thomas 
and Keziah. (Wilkinson) Ross, born on the 
old homestead in Solebury, was the great- 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch. 
He married (first) a Miss Clark, and (sec- 
ond) Jane Cliapman, who was the mother 
of his six children : Thomas, John, Will- 
ia'm, Cephas, Hugh and Samuel. He lived 
on the Solebury plantation until 1796, when 
he removed with his family to Newtown, 
where he died about 1814. His eldest son 
Thomas was appointed prothonotary and 
clerk of the courts of Bucks county in 1801, 
and held those offices for eight years. He 
was born in 1767 and was admitted to the 
bar of Northampton county in 1793, but 
practiced but a year or two, when he re- 
moved to New York city. He returned to 
Newtown in 1800 and practiced law until 
appointed prothonotary and clerk. His wife 
was Mary Lyons, of Long Island. He died 
in 1815, while visiting his brother John at 
Easton and left no children. Hugh Ross 
studied law with his brother John at Easton 
and on being admitted to the bar returned 



82 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



to Newtown, later went to Trenton, New 
Jersey and finally settled in Milford, Pike 
county, Pennsylvania. Samuel, the young- 
est child of Thomas Ross (2) born 1779, 
â– married in 1815 Mary Helena Wirtz, and 
settled in Philadelphia. He had six chil- 
dren. Cephas Ross, another son of 
Thomas (2) remained in Bucks county, 
â– where he still has numerous descendants. 
-He died in Plumstrad in 1840. 

Hon. John Ross, the grandfather of the 
•"su"bect of this sketch, son of Thomas and 
Jane (Chapman) Ross, was born on the 
Solebury homestead. February 24, 1770. He 
received a liberal education, but it appears 
that his family were averse to his follow- 
ing a professional career. From a number 
'of letters written by him in 1790 to his 
benefactor, Richard Backhouse, it would 
seem that by reason of the difference with 
his parents as to his future career he was 
cast upon his own resources. These let- 
ters are now in the possession of the Penn- 
sylvania Historical Society. He commenced 
life as a school teacher at Durham, where he 
attracted the attention of Richard Back- 
house, then proprietor of the furnace. To 
Mr. Backhouse the youth confided his in- 
tention of going South to seek his fortune. 
Mr. Backhouse urged him to take up the 
study of law, and generously offered to give 
him sufficient financial aid to complete his 
studies and start him in the practice of 
law. Taking up with this generous offer, 
the embryo judge began the study of law 
with his cousin. Thomas Ross, of West 
Chester, then in the same judicial dis- 
trict as Bucks county, and he was admitted 
to the bar of the district in 1792. He set- 
tled at Easton. Northampton county and 
began the practice of law. and at once 
sprang into prominence. Hon. Henry P. 
Ross, his grandson, once said : "No 
member of the family approached him in 
ability," and his brilliant professional ca- 
reer warrants the assertion, superlative 
though it be. A born politician, he early 
launched into the , arena of politics. He 
was elected to the state legislature in 1800. 
In 1804 he was a candidate for congress, 
but the jealousies aroused by the rival 
claims of the three counties of Northamp- 
ton, Bucks and Montgomery, then compos- 
ing the district, caused his defeat. He re- 
newed the fight in 1808 and was then 
elected. At the expiration of his term he 
was appointed prothonotary of Northamp- 
ton county. Was elected to congress again 
in 1814. and re-elected in 1816 and resigned 
to accept the appointment of judge of the 
seventh judicial district, comprising the 
counties of Bucks, Montgomery, Chester 
and Delaware. January 25. 1818. He had 
married November 19. 1795. Mary Jenkins, 
whose family resided at Jenkintown, and 
on taking up the duties of his office he 
located there. The act of March. 1821, 
placed Montgomery and Bucks in one ju- 
dicial district and Judge Ross removed to 
Doylestown, then the county seat of Bucks. 



He purchased the old tavern stand where 
the National Bank now stands, and con- 
verted it into a residence, and it remained 
the home of his descendants until 1896. 
Judge Ross was appointed justice of the 
supreme cgurt April 16, 1830, after which 
much of his time was spent in Jenkintown. 
He died of apoplexy in Philadelphia Jan- 
uary 31, 1834, in his sixty-fourth year. 
While in Northampton county he had pur- 
chased a tract of 348 acres near the Wind 
Gap in what is now INIonroe county, and 
named it Ross Common. He set apart 
upon this tract a family burying ground. 
Here his favorite brother Thomas was bur- 
ied, and here the famous jurist and states- 
man himself lies buried. 

The children of Judge John Ross were : 
George, a graduate of Princeton, who stud- 
ied law with his father and was admitted 
to the bar in i8r8; (he became involved in 
a quarrel which resulted in a duel on the 
Delaware river, and he was never after- 
wards heard from) Charles J.; Lord; Cam- 
illa, who married General Peter Thrie, of 
Easton ; Serena ; John, an invalid, though 
he lived until 1886; Thomas; Jesse Jen- 
kins, who was at one time consul to Sicilv ; 
Adelaide, who married Dr. Samuel R. 
Dubbs. and Mary. Of these, George, 
Thomas, William and Jenkins all were col- 
lege graduates and all lawyers, though 
Thomas was the only one who continued 
to practice. William became a teacher. 
]\Iary Jenkins Ross died in December. 1845. 

Thomas Ross, the father of the subject 
of this sketch, was born in Easton. Decem- 
ber I,. 1806. He graduated at Princeton 
in 1825. studied law, and was admitted to 
the bar February 9. 1829. Inheriting the 
abilities of his distinguished ancestors, he 
was a fine pleader and a logical thinker 
and became one of the eminent lawyers 
of his day. He was elected to consress 
from the tenth district comprising Bucks 
and Lehigh in 1848. and re-elected in 1851, 
and the district was never more ably repre- 
sented. As an orator he obtained a na- 
ional reputation. He died July 7. 1865. 
His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Levi 
Pawling of IMontgomery county, a member 
of the fiftieth congress, and £rrandauQ:hter 
of Governor Heister. The children of this 
marriage were Henry P., George and Mary. 

Henry P. Ross, born December 16. 1836, 
who became president judge of the seventh 
judicial district, graduated at Princeton 
in 1857. studied law with bis father and 
was admitted to the bar in December. 1859. 
He nracticed law with his father imtil the 
death of the latter in 1865. when he took 
his brother George into the firm. He w'as 
elected district attorney in 1862. He was 
a brilliant lawyer and an accomplished 
speaker. He was a leader of his party, and 
twice its candidate for congress. He was 
elected additional law^ judge in 1869. and 
succeeded Judge Chapman as president 
judge two years later. When the district 
was divided in 1874 he chose Montgomery 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



83 



•county and, finishing his term there, was 
re-elected in 1881, but died at Norristown, 
April 13. 1882. 

George Ross, son of Thomas and Eliza- 
"beth (Pawling) Ross, was born August 24, 
1841. He obtained his preparatory edu- 
cation at the Tenent school at Hartsville. 
-conducted by the Rev. Alahlon anfi Charles 
Long, and at the Lawrenceville. New Jer- 
sey Academy, under the tutorship of Dr. 
Hamill. He entered Princeton in January, 
1858, and graduated in the class of 186 r. 
He at once began the study of law with his 
father and brother at Doylestown and was 
admitted to the bar of the county June 13, 
1864. At the death of his father the fol- 
lowing year he formed a partnership w^ith 
his elder brother, Hon. Henry P. Ross, 
which lasted until the elevation of the lat- 
ter to the bench in 1869. when he became 
associated with Levi L. James, under the 
firm name of George Ross & L. L. James. 
At the death of Mr. James in 1889, J. Ferd: 
inand Long became the junior partner. 

Mr. Ross, like his father and grandfather, 
was a trained and erudite lawyer, by years 
of study and patient industry he had mas- 
tered the great principles of common and 
statute law, and soon earned the proud 
distinction of being the recognized leader 
of the bar in his native county. He \vas a 
forceful speaker, quiet and undemonstra- 
tive in his manner, not given to self-asser- 
tion in oratory. One of his contemporaries 
has said of him. "if the absence of art is 
the highest quality of oratory, he was an 
orator indeed. His remarkable knowledge 
of the law. his subtle power of logic, and 
his indomitable perseverance in the ad- 
vocacy of the cause of a client, have made 
his memory dear to the people he served, 
and made his name remembered and hon- 
ored in the community in which he lived." 
In 1872 he was a member of the constitu- 
tional convention that framed our present 
state constitution, representing the counties 
of Bucks and Northampton in that body. 
He was elected to the state senate in 1886, 
and succeeded himself four years later, a 
distinction exceedingly rare in the history 
of his county. He was a life-long Demo- 
crat, and therefore represented the minority 
in the law-making body of the state. Not- 
withstanding this fact he soon became 
known as the recognized leader in all that 
pertained to the best interests of his state. 
At the organization of the senate on Janu- 
ary 2, 1895, Senator Brewer, of Indiana 
county, who w-as not of his political faith, 
in calling the attention of the body to the 
death of Senator Ross, said in part : "Sel- 
dom has any legislative body been called 
upon to mourn the loss of a more disting- 
uished member. This is not the proper 
time to pay a tribute to the distinguished 
services he rendered his state. There is 
such a thing as leadership, known and rec- 
ognized among men, and the members of 
this body, irrespective of party, accorded 
to George Ross leadership. Although we 



have scarcely passed the threshold of this 
session, his absence is noticed and his coun- 
sel is missed. " Mr. Ross stood deservedly 
high in the counsels of his party. He was a 
delegate to the national conventions of 
1876. 1884. and 1892. He was the Demo- 
cratic nominee for congress in the seventh 
district in 1884, but was defeated at the 
polls by Hon. Robert M. Yardley. He w^as 
also the caucus nominee of his party for 
the Um'ted States senate in 1893. He was 
deeply interested in the local institutions 
of his county and district was one of the 
original directors of the Bucks County 
Trust Company, and its president at the 
time of his death. He was also a trustee 
of the Norristown Insane Asylum until 
his death. He died at his home in Doyles- 
town, November 19, 1894. The disease 
which caused his death had given his fam- 
ily and friends much concern for probably 
a year. The state senate, of which he was 
a member at the time of his death, ap- 
pointee' a committee of five to draft resolu- 
tions expressive of the sense of that body 
upon his death, and fixed a special session 
on January 23, 1895, to receive and con- 
sider the report of such committee. At 
this special session the resolutions adopted 
and the speeches of his colleagues show 
the merited appreciation of his public ser- 
vices and private virtues. We quote from 
one of these speeches the following : "Our 
friends was not of humble origin, nor could 
he boast of being wholly a self-made man. 
He had great advantages, coming ^rom a 
long line of distinguished ancestors, a race 
of lawyers, some of whom had worn the 
judicial ermine; he had the benefits of a 
most liberal education, and claimed the 
famous college of Princeton for his alma 
mater. This scion of one of the most il- 
lustrious families of Pennsylvania, in 
whose veins flowed some of the best blood 
in this grand old Keystone state, worthy 
of his origin, was a prince among men." 

George Ross married, December 4, 1870, 
Ellen Lyman Phipps, a daughter of George 
W. Phipps, of Boston, Massachusetts. The 
children of this marriage are : Thomas, 
born September 16, 1873 : Elizabeth P., 
George ; Ellen P., I\Iary ; Gertrude. 

Thomas, the eldest son, was educated at 
Lawrenceville and Princeton, and gradu- 
ated at Princeton in the class of 1895. He 
studied law under the preceptorship of Hon. 
Harman Yerkes, and was admitted to the 
bar December, 1897. He formed a partner- 
ship with his father's old partner, J. Ferd- 
inand Long, which terminated with the 
death of the latter in January, 1902. 

George Ross was born May 28, 1879. He 
graduated at Lawrenceville in 1896 and at 
Princeton in 1900. He studied law with 
his brother Thomas at Doylestown and at 
the University of Pennsylvania Law School 
and was admitted to the bar December 22, 
1902. and entered into partnership with his 
brother. In 1904 Hon. Harman Yerkes be- 
came a member of the firm. 



84 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



HON. MAHLON H. STOUT, president 
judge of the courts of Bucks county, was 
born in Richland township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, March lo, 1852, being the 
son of Jacob and Amanda (Headman) 
Stout, both of German descent. 

Jacob Stout, the great-great-grandfather 
of the subject of this sketch, was- born in 
Germany in the year 1711, and came to this 
country at the age of twenty-six years. He 
arrived in Philadelphia in the ship "Sam- 
uel," August 30. 1737, accompanied by an 
elder brother John, aged thirty years. In 
the year 1739 Jacob Stout married Anna 
Leisse, widow of John Leisse, of Rockhill 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. 
John Leisse, LaCene, Lacey, or Licey, as 
the name has been variously , spelled, ar- 
rived in the ship "Adventurer," from Rot- 
terdam, with wife Anna, aged twenty- four 
years, a brother, Paul La Gene, with his 
wife Luisa and three children, and a broth- 
er-in-law, Michel Miller, September 23, 
1732. John Leisse purchased in 1735 two 
hundred acres in Rockhill under the name 
of "John Lacey." He died in 1738, and 
the following year his widow married Jacob 
Stout. The two hundred acre farm pur- 
chased by Leisse. included a large part of 
the present borough of Perkasie. In 1759 
Johannes and Hendrick Licey, the sons of 
John Leisse, deceased, conveyed this tract 
to their stepfather, Jacob Stout, and he 
and wife in turn conveyed to them tracts 
in HilUown, portions of 266 acres purchased 
by Jacob Stout in 1757. The first purchase 
of land by Jacob Stout was a tract of land 
adjoining the Durham tract, now in Will- 
iams township, Northampton .^ county, 243 
acres, purchased September 9, 1750; his 
residence at that date was given as "Dur- 
ham township, Bucks county." In 1753 he 
purchased a mill property at Church Hill, 
in Rockhill township. In 1767 he purchased 
the Pine Run mill property and one hun- 
dred and nineteen acres, and in 1774 a 
tract of one hundred and fifty acres in 
New Britain township. These later pur- 
chases were doubtless to provide homes for 
his daughter, Salome, who had married 
Abraham Freed, a miller, and to whom he 
conveyed the mill and forty-one acres three 
years later ; and Catharine, who had mar- 
ried Jacob SchliefTer, who occupied and 
later heired the New Britain property. 
Jacob Stout was a potter by trade and was 
a successful and prominent man in the com- 
munity. The last twenty years of his life 
were doubtless spent on his Perkasie farm, 
• where he lies buried in a neat little burial 
lot close to the P. & R. R. R. station. He 
died April 30, 1779. aged sixty-eight and a 
half years. The children of Jacob and Anna 
(Miller-Lei.sse) Stout were: Abraham. 
Isaac; Salome, married (first) Abraham 
Freed and (second) Gabriel Swartzlander ; 
and Catharine, wife of Jacob Schlicfifer 

Abraham Stout, eldest son of Jacob and 
Anna Stout, was born August 17, 1740. He 
was probably one of the best educated 
Pennsylvania Germans of his time in Bucks 



county. Most of his education was ac- 
quired in the old Germantown Academy,, 
under the tuition of Hilarius Becker, pro- 
fessor of German, and David J. Dove as 
instructor in English. He thus acquired a. 
thorough knowledge of the English lan- 
guage, a rare accomplishment at that date 
or for many years later among the German 
colonists of upper Bucks. He was an ex- 
cellent accountant and penman as well as 
a good business man, and his services were 
much in demand as a surveyor, scrivener 
and accountant among his German neigh- 
bors for over a quarter of a century. From' 
an examination of the old papers on file 
in the county ofiices it would appear that he 
drew a great majority of the deeds, wills 
and other legal papers for the middle sec- 
tion of upper Bucks during that period. In 
addition to this he was constantly in de- 
mand by the court to serve as one of the 
auditors appointed to prepare and state the 
accounts of administrators and executors 
under the rule then in vogue, and many of 
these papers now on file in the orphans' 
court are models of penmanship, concise- 
ness and neatness. At the death of his 
father in 1779 his brothers and sisters con- 
veyed to him the homestead farm at Per- 
kasie, whereupon he was born, and he spent 
his whole life there, the Durham farm go- 
ing to his brother Isaac, while the sisters 
were provided for as before stated. He 
died June 8, 1812, and is buried beside his 
father, mother and wife in the family- 
burial lot at Perkasie. His life presents a 
fine example of German-American citizen- 
ship. Though he was in the height of his 
local usefulness during the period of the 
Revolutionary war, he seems to have held 
aloof from active participation therein. He 
was elected to represent Rockhill township 
in the committee of safety in 1775, but 
after several meetings had been held he 
asked to be relieved and another was ap- 
pointed in his place. It is probable that the 
traditions of the sufferings of his ancestors 
from the civil wars in the Palatinate had 
their effect in deterring him from taking 
an active part in the struggle. He was a. 
delegate from Bucks county to the constitu- 
tional convention of 1790, and took an ac- 
tive part in the framing of the constitution 
of our commonwealth. He married Octo- 
ber 21, 1772, Mary Magdalen Hartzell, 
daughter of Henry Hartzell of Rockhill. 
She died November 8, 181 1, in her sixty- 
first year. Their children were : Hannah, 
who married a Worman, and was left a 
widow young and for many 3'ears resided' 
with her parents; Abraham; Henry H. ; 
Jacob H. ; Anna, who married Jacob Hart- 
man; Margaretta, who married Tobias 
Rule; (later spelled Ruhl") and Magdalene, 
who married John Gearhart. 

Jacob Stout, second son of Abraham and 
Magdalen, was the grandfather of Judge 
Stout. He was born on the Perkasie 
homestead January 9. 1775. and died there 
.August 15. 1820. His wife was Elizabeth 
Barndt, born November 27, 1778, and died' 




J^ C^yH^<>CrV'<-^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



85 



November 7, 1821. They resided on a por- 
tion of the old homestead and raised a 
family of eight children, viz : Isaac ; Abra- 
ham; Jacob B. ; Samuel; Sarah, who mar- 
ried Charles Leidy ; Anna, who married 
Isaac Drumbore ; Mary Magdalen, who 
married Jacob Groff; and Elizabeth, who 
married Enos Kile. 

Jacob B. Stout, the father of Judge Stout, 
was born at Perkasie, November 8, 1814, 
and died near there in April, 1896. He mar- 
ried Amanda, daughter of Michael Head- 
man. They resided for a time at the ola 
Headman Pottery in Rockhill, but returned 
later and purchased a farm adjoining the 
old Perkasie homestead, where the re- 
mainder of their lives were spent. The 
children of Jacob and Amanda Stout were : 
Maria, who married Tobias Weil ; Emma, 
who married George W. Kratz ; and Mah- 
lon H., the subject of this sketch. 

Judge Stout spent his boyhood days on 
the Rockhill farm and attended the -public 
schools of the neighborhood and the First 
State Normal School at Millersville, and 
taught school for four years. He after- 
wards entered Franklin and IMarshall 
'College, at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from 
which he graduated in 1878. He at once 
took up the study of law in the office of 
Adam J. Eberly, Esq., at Lancaster, and 
was admitted to the Lancaster county bar 
April 4, 1880, and to that of his native 
county in ]\Iay of the same year. After 
two years of practice at Doylestown he lo- 
cated in 1882 at Flulmeville, opening a law 
office there and having a branch office at 
Bristol. He was also a justice of the peace 
at Hulmeville. In 1886 he came to Doyles- 
town and formed a law partnership with 
cx-Judge Richard Watson, under the firm 
name of Watson & Stout, which continued 
until the death of Judge Watson in 1894. 
Mr. Stout was elected district attorney of 
Bucks county in 1888, and was unanimously 
nominated by his party to succeed himself 
three years later, but was defeated at the 
polls by the' late Paul H. Applebach, the 
â– candidate of the then dominant party. 

Mr. Stout was married November 13, 
1894, to Miss Harriet Miller, of Downing- 
town, Pennsylvania. In 1898, his wife's 
health failing, he sacrificed his business and 
removed with her to Pasadena. California, 
with the hope of saving her life. While 
there he was admitted to the bar of that 
state and practiced law at Pasadena. His 
-wife died December 24, 1899, and their in- 
fant son Max on December 25, 1898. 

Mr. Stout returned to Doylestown in the 
spring of 1900, and again took up the prac- 
tice of law. In 1901 he formed a partner- 
ship with Harvey S. Kiser, Esq., under the 
firm name of Stout & Kiser, which con- 
tinued until the elevation of Mr. Stout to 
the bench. He was elected president judge 
in November, 1903, and entered upon the 
duties of his office in January, 1904. Judge 
Stout has always been a close student, and 
as a lawyer had the reputation of being one 
of the best counsellors at the bar, and his 



administration of the high office to which 
he has been elevated merits the trust re- 
posed in him by the large majority of voters 
who elected him. His calm and even tem- 
perament, his uniform courtesy, his sterling 
common sense, his devotion to principle and 
right, and his unquestioned knowledge of 
the law, have made his administration 
popular with all classes. 



JOHN C. SWARTLEY was born in 
Franconia township, Montgomery county, 
Pennsylvania, September 14, 1865, and is a 
son of Jacob S. and Elizabeth (Cassel) 
Swartley, both of whom are descendants 
of early German settlers in that locality 
of the Mennonite faith. 

John Schwardley, the pioneer ancestor of 
the subject of this sketch, was born in Ep- 
pingen, in Necker, grand duchy of Baden, 
Germany, in the year 1754. At the age of 
eighteen years, accompanied by his younger 
brothers, Jacob and Philip, he emigrated 
to Pennsylvania, arriving in Philadelphia 
September 30, 1772, in the ship, "Minerva," 
Captain James Johnston, from Rotterdam. 
He soon after found a home among his 
compatriots in Franconia township, where 
he married Magdalena Rosenberger, born 
December 18, 1759, daughter of the Rev. 
Henry Rosenberger, Mennonite minister at 
Franconia, and grand daughter of Henry 
Rosenberger, the pioneer ancestor of the 
Rosenberger family, who had taken up a 
large tract of land in Franconia in 1728. 
Rev. Henry Rosenberger was born Decem- 
ber 2, 1725, and died in 1809. He married 
in 1745 Barbara Oberholtzer, born in 1726, 
died February 3, 1765, daughter of Jacob 
and Barbara Oberholtzer, (or Overholt), 
who were early settlers in Bedminster 
township. Bucks county, where Jacob pur- 
chased land in 1749. Rev. Henry and Bar- 
bara (Oberholtzer) Rosenbergeir were the 
parents of eight children, five of whom sur- 
vived and left descendants, viz : Anna, who 
married (first) Michael Leatherman and 
(second) John Loux, both of Bedminster; 
Elizabeth, married Mark Fretz ; Barbara, 
married Daniel Rickert ; all of Bucks 
county ; Magdalena, above named ; and Sar- 
ah, who married Philip Schwardley, the 
youngest brother of John Schwardley, above 
named. John and Magdalena Schwardley 
lived and died on a portmn of the Rosen- 
berger homestead in Franconia, still in the 
tenure of iheir descendants, and were the 
parents of nine children, viz : John, Jacob, 
Samuel, Abraham, Joseph, Henry, Philip 
R., Elizabeth and Mary. 

Philip R. Swartley, son of John and 
Magdalena, was born on the old homestead 
in Franconia, January 2, 1795, and died 
there July 30, 1880. He married Annie C. 
Shoemaker, and their son Jacob S. Swart- 
ley, born in 1821, died 1867, was the father 
of the subject of this sketch. He was born 
and reared on the old homestead in Fran- 
conia, and followed farming and milling 



86 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



(luring the brief period of bis nianbood. 
His wife, Elizabeth Cassel, was a descend- 
ant of early German settlers on the Skip- 
pack, who have left numerous descendants 
of the name in Bucks and Montgomery 
counties and elsewhere. She is still living 
in Lansdale. Pennsylvania. 

John C. Swartley, the subject of 
this sketch, left an orphan at the age of 
two years, was reared in the family of his 
maternal uncle, Abraham F. Delp, in the 
township of New Britain, Bucks county, 
and acquired his elementary education in 
the public schools of that township. He 
entered the First state normal school at 
Millersville in 1885, and graduated in 1888. 
For the next two years he was principal of 
the North Wales high schools, in Mont- 
gomery county. In 1890 he entered the law 
department of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, from which he graduated in 1893, 
in the meantime reading law in the office of 
Henry Lear, Esq.. at Doylestown. He was 
admitted to the Philadelphia bar in June, 
1893, and in August of the same year to 
the bar of Bucks county, and at once be- 
gan the practice of his profession at the 
county seat. Soon after admission to the 
bar he became active and influential in pol- 
itical circles, and served for three years as 
chairman of the Republican county com- 
mittee. In the fall of 1897 he was elected 
to the office of district attorney for the 
term of three years, and filled that position 
with ability. He has always been active in 
the councils of his party, and has served 
as delegate to state and congressional con- 
ventions. He was appointed January i, 1903, 
assistant United States attorney for the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a posi- 
tion which he still fills. In 1903 he formed 
a co-partnership at law with Wesley Bunt- 
ing, Esq., and the firm have a good prac- 
tice in the several courts of Bucks county. 

Mr. Swartley was married on October 24, 
1900, to Agnes Darlington, daughter of the 
late Henry T. and Susan Darlington, of 
Doylestown, and this union has been blessed 
with two children — John C. Jr., and Mar- 
garet Darlington. 

(A sketch of the career and ancestry of 
Mrs. Swartley's distinguished father, 
Henry T. Darlington, will be found in this 
volume.) 



LEE S. CLYAffiR, of Riegelsville. Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, one of the prominent 
manufacturers and business men of uppei 
Bucks, was born at Mt. Laurel Furnace. 
Berks -county, Pennsylvania. (Temple post-- 
office) April 2, 1863, and is a son of Will- 
iam Hiester and Valeria (Smith) Clymer. 
His father was for many years proprietor 
of the Mt. Laurel furnace. Mr. Clymer 
comes of a distinguished ancestry both in 
this country and in Europe, only brief men- 
tion of which can be given in the scope of 
this brief sketch. Richard Clymer, the pa- 
ternal ancestor, was a native of Bristol, 
England, from whence he migrated to 



Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1705, ac- 
companied by his mother, Catharine Clymer, 
and a brother William, who died in 1740 
without issue. Richard Clymer was ' a. 
shipping merchant and shipbuilder; he died 
August 18, 1734, leaving several children, 
of whom only his sons, Christopher and 
William have left descendants. George 
Clymer, the signer of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, was a son of the former. 

William Clymer, son of Richard, was a 
captain in the English navy, commanding 
the frigate "Penzance" during the reign of 
George II, and was lost at sea, leaving a 
will dated October 16, 1760. He married 
at Christ Church, Philadelphia, January 19, 
1742, Ann Judith Roberdeau, daughter of 
Isaac and Mary (Conyngham) Roberdeau, 
and sister to General Daniel Roberdeau, 
the friend of Franklin, and one of the most 
distinguished patriots in Pennsylvania dur- 
ing the Revolution. Ann Judith (Rober- 
deau) Clymer was born on the Island of 
St. Christopher, West Indies, in the year 
1725, and died at Morgantown, Berks 
county, Pennsylvania, April, 1782. Isaac 
I Roberdeau, father of Mrs. Clymer, was a 
native of Rochelle, France, and fled to the 
, island of St. Christopher, one of the Brit- 
I ish West Indies, on the revocation of the 
Edict of Nantes in 1685. Here he met and 
married Mary Conyngham, born at Cayou, 
on that island, April 4, 1699. daughter of 
Robert Conyngham, born in Scotland, 
March 24, 1669, and his wife Judith Eliza- 
beth de Bonneson, a native of Morlais, 
France, the former of whom traced his des- 
cent back through a long line of kings and 
princes royal to William the Conqueror, 
and in his own direct line to Malcolm, son 
of Friskine, who assisted Malcolm Can- 
more, afterwards King of Scotland, to es- 
cape from ]\IacBeth"s tyranny and treason, 
and was in return made Thane of Conyng- 
ham, from which his posterity afterwards 
took their surname. Robert Conyngham, of 
St. Christopher, left an immense estate in 
St. Christopher and in Scotland, a portion 
of which he entailed in the male line, and 
which was the subject of litigation a cen- 
tury later on the male line bearing his sur- 
name becoming extinct. Isaac and Mary 
(Conyngham) Roberdeau were the parents 
of three children, all born at St. Christo- 
pher, viz : Elizabeth, born 1724, who died 
unmarried ; Ann Judith, who married Will- 
iam Clymer; and Daniel, the eminent mer- 
chant, statesman and patriot before referred 
to. Isaac Roberdeau died at St. Christo- 
pher, and his widow and children removed 
to Philadelphia while the children were still 
in their minority, where the widow married 
a man by name of Keighly, but was again 
a widow many years prior to her death, 
which occurred March 13, 1771. 

Daniel Conyngham Clymer, only son of 
William and Ann Judith (Roberdeau) Cly- 
mer, was born in Philadelphia. April 6^ 
1748. His father dying when he was a 
child, he was educated under the care of his 
distinguished uncle. General Daniel Rober- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



87 



dcau. He graduated at Princeton in 1766, 
studied law and became eminent in his pro- 
fession. At the beginning of the Revolu- 
tion he at once joined the Associators of that 
city and was commissioned a lieutenant. 
April -8, 1776, he was commissioned lieu- 
tenant-colonel and placed in command of 
a rifle battalion. He was appointed in 1775 
and again in 1776 by Congress as a signer 
of Bills of Credit, and held the offices of 
deputy commissary-general of prisoners and 
commissioner of claims of the treasury. 
During the closing years of the Revolution 
he removed to Reading, Berks county, and 
represented that county in the legislature 
in 1782 and several succeeding terms. He 
died at Reading, January 25, 1810. He had 
married in 1782 Mary Weidner, daughter of 
Peter and Susan Weidner, of Berks county, 
who died December 5, 1802, in her forty- 
sixth year. Their children were Ann, born 
1782, who died unmarried in 1852; Will- 
iam, born 1788, died October 10, 1845, an 
eminent lawyer of Reading; and Edward 
Tilgham, born August 14, 1790, died 
March 6, 18.31. Edward Tilghman Clymer 
was born at Reading, Berks county, and 
was educated at Princeton. He married 
June II, 1818, Maria Catharine Hiester, 
daughter of William and Anna Maria 
(Meyer) Hiester. She was born March 
4>_ 1793, and died March 24, 1845. Edward 
Tilghman was a man of scholarly attam- 
ments, and follows 

1. Daniel Roberdeau. a merchant and 
lawyer of Reading, born March ,31. i8ig, 
died May 5, 1889, aged seventy years, 

2. William Hiester, the father of the 
subject of this sketch; see forward. 

3. Edward Myers, born July 16, 1822, 
died May 25, 188.?, in New York City, pro- 
jector and first president of the East Penn- 
sylvania railroad, later president of a coal 
company connected with the N. Y., L. E. & 
W. Railroad Companv, with offices in New 
York. 

4. Wiedner, born May 12, 1824, died 
July 16, 1824. 

5. Mary Hiester. born July 19, 1825, 
drowned in the English Channel November 
26, 1878, with two of her children ; mar- 
ried August 10, 1852, her cousin, William 
Bingham Clymer, son of Henry, and grand- 
son of George Clymer, the Signer, who was 

jDorn April 18, 1801, at Morrisville, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, died May 28, 1873, 
at Florence, Italy. 

6. Hon. Hiester Clymer, born Novemlier 
3, 1827, died June 12, 1884; lawyer, state 
senator, congressman. Democratic candidate 
for governor, president of Union Trust 
Company, etc. 

7. George Edward - Clymer, born Jan- 
uary 8, 1830, died July 7, 1895, major of 
Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry in the civil war 
and prominent in the iron and steel indus- 
tries. 

William Hiester Clymer, the father of 
the subject of this sketch, was born at the 
Clymer homestead in the Conestoga Valley, 
near Morgantown, Berks county, October 



9, 1820. His father dying when he was 
eleven years of age, he was placed with his 
uncle, William Hiester, at New Holland, 
Lancaster county, arid was educated at 
Lititz, and assisted his uncle in his store. 
He later removed to Reading, where he and 
his brother, Daniel R., conducted a dry 
goods store until 1846, when he sold out 
to Daniel, and with his brother Edward M., 
purchased the Mt. Laurel iron furnace. 
They built the Temple iron furnace in 1867, 
and, having seven years previously pur- 
chased the old Oley furnace, became exten- 
sive manufacturers of iron, organizing the 
Temple Iron Company in 1870, and later 
the Clymer Iron Company, both of which 
W^illiam H. Clymer was president, until 
September, 1882, when he resigned and re- 
moved with his family to Reading, where 
he died July 26, 1883. He was president of 
the First National Bank of Reading from 
1876 to his death. He married, June 12^ 
1855, Valeria Smith, eldest daughter of Levi 
B. Smith, who was born March 14, 1828,. 
and died August 17, 1901. They were the 
parents of six children : Emily Smith ; Ed- 
ward Tilghman ; William Hiester ; Lee 
Smith ; Valeria Elizabeth ; and Frederick 
Hiester. 

The ancestors of Maria Catharine Hies- 
ter, the grandmother of the subject of this 
sketch, were of Silesian origin, her first 
American ancestor being Daniel Hiester, 
the youngest of three brothers, John, Jo- 
seph and Daniel, who emigrated from Wit- 
genstein, in Westphalia, to Pennsylvania, 
early in the eighteenth century, and took up 
their residence in Goshenhoppen, now Mont- 
gomery county. Daniel had several sons, of 
whom John, born April 9, 174S, was a mem- 
ber of congress from Chester county 1807-8 
and was succeeded by his son Daniel ; Dan- 
iel, a representative in congress from Mont- 
gomery county, 1789-97, and from Mary- 
land 1801-5 ; Gabriel, for thirty year's a 
member of the state legislature from Berks 
county; and William. All four of these 
sons of Daniel Hiester were in the conti- 
nental service during the revolution, the 
two elder as colonels, the third as a major,. 
while William, the youngest, born June 10, 
1757. being required to look after his aged 
parents, did not serve but one campaign. 
Joseph Hiester, governor of Pennsylvania, 
was the only son of John, and a cousin of 
the four brothers above named. 

Daniel Hiester. the elder, was born m 
the town of Elsoff, county of Witgenstein,. 
province of Westplialia, in Silesia, Ger- 
many, January r. 1713, and died in J^erii 
township, Berks county, Pennsylvania, June 
7, 1795. His wife was Catharine Schuler, 
whom he married September 29, 1742. She 
was born Sepiember 10, 1717, and died 
August 17, 1789, aged seventy-two years, 
eleven months and seven days. 

William Hiester, the great-grandfather 
of the subject of this sketch, born at Go.sh- 
enhoppen. Upper Salford township, Mont- 
gomery county, June 10, 1757, was the 
youngest son of Daniel and Catharine 



88 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



(Schulcr) Hiester. He was seventeen 
years of age when his parents removed to 
Reading, and remained with his parents in 
Reading for ten years. He then removed 
to Bern township, where he died July 13, 
1822. He was a private in Captain George 
Will's company, in 1777, in the battalion 
commanded by his brother, Major Gabriel 
Hiester. He married. March 18, 1784, Anna 
Maria Meyer, daughter of Isaac Meyer, the 
founder of Meyerstown, Pennsylvania. She 
was born December 28, 1758, and died 
October 4, 1822. They were the parents 
of eight children, the fifth of whom. Maria 
Catharine, born March 4, 179.3. was the 
wife of Edward Tilghman Clymer. 

Lee S. Clymer, born at the Mt. Laurel 
Furnace. April 2, 1863, was educated at 
Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, 
taking a special course in chemistry. On 
leaving college he accepted a position as 
chemist for the Minnesota Iron Company, 
which he filled for one year. In 1885 he 
opened a general laboratory at Reading, 
Pennsylvania. In December, 1886. he left 
Reading and took a position as chemist for 
the Carnegie Company at the Edgar Thom- 
as Furnace. Braddock, Pennsylvania, where 
he remained for one year. In October. 1887, 
he came to Bucks county as chemist for 
the Durham Iron Company, and filled that 
position for two years, when he was made 
superintendent of the Request Iron Fur- 
nace, near Oxford, New Jersey, where he 
remained until the furnace was about to 
be closed in the autumn of 1890. He then 
accepted a position as superintendent of 
the Lehigh Iron Company's works near 
Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he re- 
mained for about eight months. During a 
part of the next two years he was superin- 
tendent for the Thomas Iron Company's 
furnaces at Hellertown, Pennsylvania. In 
1895 he erected and equipped the Durham 
Knitting Mills, at Riegelsville, Bucks coun- 
ty, which he has since sucessfully operated. 
He also operates several fine farms in Dur- 
ham township, and is interested in the 
breeding of standard bred horses and thor- 
oughbred cattle. He recently became half 
owner of what was the Lehigh Power 
Company, located at Raubsville, Pennsyl- 
vania. It is proposed to operate this plant 
under the name of the Clymer Power Com- 
pany. 

He married, June 11, 1891, Clara Matilda 
Riegel, daughter of the late John L. and 
Lydia (Stover) Riegel. by whom he has 
two children. John Riegel, born April 14, 
1892, and Valeria Smith, born January 12, 
1896. 



JACOB F. CLYMER. The Clymer fam- 
ily, of which Jacob F. Clymer. a prosperous 
farmer of New Britain township is a worthy 
representative, is one of the oldest in the 
township, and have always been highly es- 
teemed for the many excellent characteris- 
tics displayed by them both in public and 



private life. Jonas Clymer, grandfather of 
Jacob F. Clymer. resided on the farm now 
owned by Jacob F. Clymer. He was a 
shoemaker by trade, and this occupation he 
followed in connection with agricultural 
pursuits during the early years of his life, 
but as he advanced in years he abandoned 
the former line of work entirely, devoting 
his entire attention to the latter. He served 
as supervisor of his township for seven 
years, his long term of office attesting to 
his capability. He adhered to the tenets of 
the Mennonite church, in which he served 
as trustee ; he was formerly a Whig in pol- 
itics, and later a Republican. He married 
Hannah Clymer, daughter of Henry Cly- 
mer, and their children were : John, Will- 
iam C. Henry. Levi, Elizabeth, Sarah, 
Amanda and Hannah. 

William C. Chmer, father of Jacob F. 
Clymer. was reared on his father's farm in 
New Britain township, educated in the com- 
mon schools of the neighborhood, and upon 
the death of his father succeeded to the 
homestead. In connection with his exten- 
sive farming operations he engaged in the 
produce commission business for thirty 
years, deriving a goodly income from both 
enterprises, and thus was enabled to pro- 
vide a comfortable home for his family. The 
esteem in which he was held by his fellow- 
townsmen was evidenced by the fact that 
he was the incumbent of the office of school 
director twelve j'ears and supervisor one 
year. He was a trustee of the Mennonite 
church, the doctrines of which he firmly be- 
lieved in, and his political views were in 
accord with those of the Republican party. 
By his marriage to Elizabeth Fretz, only 
child of Joseph and Mary (Markley) Fretz, 
four children were born: Jacob F., Charles 
who died at the age of twenty years ; Jonas, 
who is engaged in business in Philadelphia; 
and Harvey, also engaged in business in 
Philadelphia. Mary (Fretz) Clymer, moth- 
er of these children, died in 1884. and ]\Ir. 
Clymer married for his second wife Lydia 
A. Swartley. widow of Philip Swartley. 

Jacob F. Clymer was born in New Britain 
township. Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
March 16. 1862. He was reared on the old 
homestead, and his educational advantages 
were obtained by attendance at the com- 
mon schools. His whole life has been spent 
on the farm where he was born, his occu- 
pation being that of farming, for which he 
is eminently qualified, as is clearly shown 
by the appearance of his broad acres and 
com.modious outbuildings. Mr. Clymer has 
served as supervisor of the township nine 
3'ears. his duties during that time being 
performed in a highly creditable and ef- 
ficient manner. In religious and political 
faith he follows in the footsteps of his fore- 
fathers, being a member and trustee of the 
Mennonite church and a Republican. In 
1887 l\Ir. Clymer married Anna Mary 
Swartley, daughter of Philip and Lydia 
Swartley, and they are the parents of one 
son, Vincent, born June 30, 1892. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



89 



THE FOULKE FAMILY that has been 
prominent in the ofificial, professional and 
business life of Bucks. Montgomery and 
Philadelphia counties for many generations 
as well as in that of far distant states and 
cities, is descended from Edward Foulke, 
who emigrated from Wales in 1698 and set- 
tled in Gwynedd, now Montgomery county, 
Pennsylvania. An acount of his ancestry, 
tracing in unbroken line to "John King of 
England, born December 24, 1166. crowned 
May 27, 1216," and an account of his com- 
ing to America, etc., the latter written by 
himself under date of ii-mo. 14. 1702, con- 
tains among other things the following : 

"When arrived at mature age, I married 
Eleanor, the daughter of Hugh, ap (son 
of) Cadwallader, ap Rhys of the parish of 
Spytu in Denbighshire. Her mother's 
name was Gwen the daughter of Ellis ap 
William, ap Hugh, ap Thomas, ap David, 
ap Madoc. ap Evan, ap Cott, ap Evan, ap 
Griffith, ap Madoc, ap Einion, ap Meredith 
of Cai-Fadog: she was born in the same 
parish and shire with her husband. I had 
by my said wife nine children, whose names 
are as follows: Thomas, Hugh. Cadwall- 
ader. and Evan ; Grace. Gwen, Jane, Cath- 
arine, and Margaret. We lived at a place 
called Coedy-foel, a beautiful farm belong- 
ing to Roger Price, Esq., of Rhiwlas, of 
Merionethshire, aforesaid. But in progress 
of time I had an inclination to remove with 
my family to the Province of Pennsylvania ; 
and in order thereto we set out on the 3d 
day of the 2d-month, A. D. 1698, and came 
in two days to Liverpool, where with divers 
others, who intended to go the voyage, we 
took shipping, the 17th of the same month, 
on board the "Robert and Elizabeth," and 
the next day set sail for Ireland, where we 
arrived, and stayed until the ist of the 3d 
month. May, and then sailed again for 
Pennsylvania, and were about eleven weeks 
at sea. And the sore distemper of the 
"bloody flux broke out in the vessel, of 
which died five and forty persons in our 
passage. The distemper was so mortal 
that two or three corpses were cast over- 
board every day while it lasted. But 
through the favor and mercy of Divine 
Providence. I. with my wife and nine chil- 
dren, escaped that sore mortality and ar- 
rived safe at Philadelphia, the 17th day of 
the sth-month. July, where we were kindly 
received and hospitably entertained by our 
friends and old acquaintances. I soon 
purchased a fine tract of land of about sev- 
en hundred acres, sixteen miles from Phila- 
delphia, on a part of which I settled, and 
divers others of our company, who came 
over sea with us, settled near me at the 
same time. This was the beginning of 
November, 1698, aforesaid, and the ^own- 
ship was called Gwynedd or North Wales." 

According to his own narrative Edward 
Foulke was born 5th mo. 14th. 1651, and 
taking the age given by the Meeting Rec- 
ords at time of his death would place the 
date of his death in 17,39. All of his nine 
children lived to mature age, married and 



reared families. The only two in whom 
Bucks countians have any especial interest 
were his eldest son Thomas, and second 
son Hugh. Gwen, the eldest daughter, 
married Alexander Edwards, Jr., who was 
a land owner in Bucks county and 
has descendants here. Grace mar- 
ried John Griffith, of Merion, Chester 
county. Jane married Ellis Hugh, and set- 
tled at Exeter, Berks county, and left nu- 
merous descendants of the name of Hughes. 
Catharine married Theophilus Williams, of 
Montgomery. Margaret married Nicholas 
Roberts. Thomas Foulke, eldest son of Ed- 
ward and Eleanor, born in Merionethshire, 
\yales, immigrant to Gwynedd. 1698, with 
his parents, married at Gwynedd. 4 mo. 27, 
1706. Gwen Evans, daughter of David, of 
Radnor, and settled at Gwynedd on part of 
the Edward Foulke tract. He died in 1762, 
and his wife in 1760. They were the par- 
ents of eight children, of whom the two 
oldest Edward (1707-1770) and William 
(1708-1775) had descendants in Bucks. Dr. 
Joseph Foulke, for many years a practicing 
physician of Buckingham, was a great 
grandson of Edward, through his son Hugh 
(1752-1831), a noted minister among 
Friends, who married Ann Roberts, their 
son Joseph (1786-1863). who married Eliza- 
beth Shoemaker, being the father of the 
Buckingham physician. Dr. Charles Foulke, 
born December 14, 1815, died December 
30, 1871, for many years a practicing phy- 
sician at New Hope. Bucks county, and 
the father of Dr. Richard C. Foulke, still 
practicing there, was also a great-great- 
grandson of Thomas Foulke and Gwen 
Evans. His father. Edward Foulke, of 
Gwynedd (1784-1851). married Tacy Jones, 
and his grandfather, Amos Foulke, (1740- 
1791) one of the firm of Caleb and Amos 
Foulke. merchants of Philadelphia, was the 
son of William, second son of Thomas and 
Gwen. who married Hannah Jones, of 
Montgomery. 

Hugh Foulke. second son of Edward and 
Eleanor, born in Merionethshire, in 1685, 
married, in 1713. Ann Williams, born 11 
mo. 8, 1693, died gvao. 10, 1773, daughter 
of John Williams, of Montgomery, and 
settled in Richland, Bucks county, soon 
after his marriage, and died there 5mo. 
21, 1760. He was a minister of the 
Society of Friends for iorty years. He 
is the ancestor of many present residents 
of Bucks county, through comparatively 
few of the name now reside in the county. 
The children of Hugh and Ann (Wil- 
liams) Foulke were; — Mary, born 1714, 
died 2mo. 29. 1756, married James Boone, 
of Exeter, Berks county, son of George 
the elder, and brother of Squire Boone, the 
father of Daniel, the pioneer of Kentucky. 
Their eldest daughter, Ann, married Abra- 
ham Lincoln, of the family of the martyred 
president. Martha, born Smo. 22. 1716, 
died 4mo. 17. 1781, married (first), October 
4, 1738, William Edwards, of Milford, 
Bucks county, and (second) John Roberts. 
Samuel, born 1718, died 1797, married Ann 



90 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Greasley. He was one of tlie most promi- 
nent men in upper Bucks county, serving 
in the Provincial Assembly 1761 to 1768. 
He was a surveyor and conveyancer, and 
transacted a large amount of public busi- 
ness for his neighbors. He was clerk of 
Richland Meeting from its organization in 
1742 for thirty years, and an elder until 
his death, notwithstanding the fact that he 
and his brothers, John Thomas, and The- 
ophilus and nephew, Everard, were dis- 
owned in I 781 for having taken the oath 
of allegiance, the action of the Meeting not 
being sanctioned by the Yearly Meeting. 
He translated the "narrative" of his grand- 
father, Edward Eoulke, from Welsh into 
English. John Foulke, born i2mo. 21, 
T722, died 5mo. 25, 1787, married Mary 
Roberts, daughter of Edward Roberts, a 
noted minister amcrng Friends of Richland. 
John was also a member of Provincial 
Assembly from Bucks county from 1769 
to 1775. Thomas Foulke. born in Rich- 
land 8mo. 14, 1724, died 3mo. 31, 1786, 
married Jane Roberts, another daughter of 
Edward Roberts, of Richland. See for- 
ward. Theophilus Foulke, born in Rich- 
land, i2mo. 21, 1726. died iimo. 4, 1785, 
married Margaret Thomas, daughter of 
Samuel and Margaret. Of their twelve 
children Benjamin, born iimo. ig, 1766, 
died 2mo. 28, 1821, was a member of as- 
sembly from Bucks county, 1816 to his 
death in 1821, at Harrisburg in attendance 
upon the session of the legislature. He 
was given an official funeral, which was 
attended by both houses, the governor, and 
heads of departments, and resolutions were 
adopted that crape should be worn during 
the remainder of the session. William 
Foulke, born i2mo. 10, 1728, died 4mo. 
II, 1796, married Priscilla Lester, daughter 
of John of Richland. Edward Foulke, 
born lomo. ig, I72g, died March i, 1747, 
unmarried. Ann Foulke, born imo. i, 
1732, married William Thomas. Jane 
Foulke, born imo. 3, 1734, died 8mo., 1771, 
married John Greasley. 

Thomas Foulke, of Richland, son of 
Hugh and Ann (Williamsj Foulke, born 
imo. 14, 1724, died 3mo. 31, 1786, was a life 
long resident of Richland township, and 
a prominent man in the community. He 
was a member of Richland Monthly Meet- 
ing, and like his brothers was dealt with 
for taking the oath to the United Colonies 
in 1781. His wife, Jane Roberts, born 
Iimo. 3, 1732, died 7 mo. 25, 1822, was a 
daughter of Edward and Mary (Bolton). 
Roberts, of Richland, the former a native 
of Merionethshire, born 3mo., 1687, came 
to Pennsylvania in i69g, and settled in 
Byberry, Pliiladelphia county. He married, 
in 1714, Mary Bolton, born in Cheltenham, 
Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania, Novem- 
ber 4, 1687, daughter of Everard and Eliza- 
beth Bolton, who came from Ross, Hert- 
fordshire, England, in 1682, and settled in 
Cheltenham. F.verard Bolton was a just- 
ice of Philadelphia county, and a very 
prominent man in Colonial times. The 



children of Thomas and Jane (Roberts> 
Foulke were: — Everard, born gmo. 8, 
1755, died gmo. 5, 1-827; Abigail, born 
lomo. 4, 1763: Susan, born iimo. 5, 
1766; Samuel, born iimo. ig, 1767; Ed- 
ward and Samuel, died in infancy. 

Everard Foulke, son of Thomas and 
Jane, was one of the justices of the peace 
of Richland for many years. He was one 
of the assessors of the United States taxes, 
w'hen John Fries raised his rebellion in 
I7g8, in upper Bucks and Northampton 
counties, against the collection of the tax, 
and was one of the assessors attacked in 
Lower Milford and at Quakertown by the 
insurrectionists and forced to desist from 
performing their duty. He married, in 
1778, Ann DeHaven, of Holland ancestry 
and they were the parents of nine children, 
as follows: — Abigail, born 5 mo. 18, I77g, 
married Abel Penrose, see Penrose family 
in this work; Eleanor, born 7mo. 18, 
1 781, died 4 mo. 28, 1815, unmarried; 
Caleb, see forward; Samuel, born 3 
mo. 28, 1786, married Elizabeth John- 
son; Thomas, born 4 mo. 13, I78g, died 
in Kentucky; Susanna, born g mo. 18, 
I7gi, died 1883, married David Johnson; 
Anna, born 5 mo. 3, 1794, died 9 mo. 
16,' 1820; Margaret, born 12 mo. 24, 1796, 
married Peter Lester in 1820; Everard, 
born 7 mo. 21, 1800, married Frances 
Watson, daughter of John Watson, of 
Buckingham, and removed to Illinois. 

Caleb Foulke, son of Everard and 
Ann (DeHaven) Foulke, was born in 
Richland, 8 mo. 28, 1783, died 2 mo. 22, \ 
1852, was also a lifelong resident of 
Richland. He married, 11 mo. 26, 1807, 
Jane Green, born 2 mo. 8. 1785, died 3 
mo. 3, 1835, daughter of Benjamin and 
Jane (Roberts) Green. Benjamin 
Green was a son of Joseph and Cath- 
arine (Thomas) Green, of Springfield, 
Bucks county, and was born in Spring- 
field. 4 mo. 27, 1750. died in Quaker- 
town. He was a hatter in Springfield 
and later in Quakertown. The children 
of Caleb and Jane (Green) Foulke 
were: — Caroline, died in infancy; Caro- 
line, born 2 mo. 25, 1810, died 12 mo. 
17. 1838; Maryetta, born 7 mo. 30, 1811, 
died 4 mo. 26, 185 1, married Aaron Pen- 
rose; Benjamin G. (see forward); and 
Eleanor, born 3 mo. 12. t8i6, died 8 
mo. 13, 1842, married Samuel J^ Levick. 

Benjamin G. Foulke, son of Caleb and 
Jane (Green) Foulke, was born at Qua- 
kertown, and died there 8 mo. 14. 1888. 
He was clerk of the men's branch of 
the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting from 
1873 to 1886. He w^as a prominent busi- 
ness man of Quakertown for a half cen- 
iniy and was highly respected by all 
who knew him. He was a surveyor and 
conveyancer and did a large amount of 
public' business. He married, in 1838,, 
Jane Mather, born 3 mo. 24. 1817. daugh- 
ter of Charles and Jane Mather, of 
Whitpain. Montgomery county, Penn- 
sylvania. Their children were, Caleb. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



91 



born 12 mo. 3, 1839, died 10 mo. 20, 
1865; Charles M.. born 7 mo. 25, 1841, 
educated at Foiilke's school at Gwyn- 
edd, and Friends' Central School, Phila- 
delphia; entered mercantile business in 
Philadelphia, 1861, retired 1872, married 
at Paris,. France, December 10, 1872, 
Sar.Th A. Cushing. of New York city; 
Job Roberts, born 2 mo. 23, 1843; Anna 
S., born 1846; and Eleanor, 1850. 

Job Roberts Foulke, son of Benjamin 
G. and Jane (Mather) Foulke, born at 
Quakertown, 2 mo. 23, 1843, has been 
trust officer of the Provident Life and 
Trust Company of Philadelphia for 
many years. He married, 5 mo. 25, 1869, 
Emma Bullock, daughter of Samuel and 
Jemima R. Bullock, of Mt. Holly, Ne\Y 
Jersey, and has two children; Roland 
Roberts, and Rebecca Mulford. Roland 
Roberts, a member of the Philadelphia 
bar, married, June 6, 1900, Ellen R. 
Griffith, daughter of Manuel E. and 
Mary E. Griffith, of Philadelphia. 

Eleanor Foulke, daughter of Benja- 
min G. and Jane (Mather) Foulke, is, 
the only one of the family to retain her 
residence in Bucks county. She resides 
at the old family mansion at Quaker- 
town, and is unmarried. 



WILLIAM HENRY FOULKE, one 
of the enterprising, practical farmers 
of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was 
there born in Richland Centre. July 4, 
1841, on the farm he now occupies and 
cultivates, it being one of the original 
Foulks homesteads. William is the son 
of Hugh and Sarah (Roberts) Foulke, 
and grandson of Hugh Foulke, who was 
a farmer by occupation and the founder 
and a trustee of the subscription schools 
of his district. He is a descendant of 
Hugh Foulke, the first of the name born 
in America. An old Bible now in the 
possession of Mrs. Susan Hannah Biehn, 
sister of William Henry Foulke. gives 
the record of his birth. July, 1685. and 
death, May 21, 1760. He married Ann 

, who was born November 3, 

1693, and died September 10, 1773. They 
were the parents of the following named 
children: i. Mary, born September 24, 
1714; 2. Martha, June 2. 1716; 3. Sam- 
uel, December 4, 1718: 4- Ellen, Janu- 
ary 19, 1720; 5. John, December 21, 
1722; 6. Thomas, January 14. 1724; 7- 
William, December 10, 1728; 8. Edward, 
October 19, 1729; 9. Ann, January I, 
1732; 10. Jane, January 3, 1734. 

Hugh Foulke, father of William Hen- 
ry Foulke, was born in Richland town- 
ship, Bucks county. Pennsylvania. His 
education was obtained in the subscrip- 
tion schools of his district, and the fol- 
lowed the quiet but useful calling of a 
farmer. He married Miss Sarah Rob- 
erts, daughter of John and Sarah Rob- 



erts, and the following children were 
the issue of this union: i. Catherine, 
born September 6, 1835. married Isaac 
Tomlinson, of New Britain township; 
2. Julia Ann, born December 4, 1839, 
married Henry Dotts of Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania; 3. William Henry, 
mentioned at length herein after; 4. Sa- 
rah Martha, born August 19, 1843, mar- 
ried (first) David Hillegas, of Quaker- 
town, and (second) Henry Sonders, far- 
mer, of lower Richland township; 5. 
Charles Edward, born in 1845, married, 
1870, Anna, the daughter of Warner and 
Alice (Singley) Haycock, farmers, 
Whitemarsh township, Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania; 6. Elizabeth, 
born March 6, 1847, married Charles 
Miller, and resides at Hockerstown, 
Montgomery county; 7. Hester Ellen, 
born November 16, 1850, married Nicho- 
las Martin, of Stowe. Montgomery 
county; 8. Susan Hannah, born Octo- 
ber 25, 1852, married Andrew Biehn, 
lives at PaletQwn, Richland township; 9. 
Anna, born April 15. i860, married Fran- 
cis Fellman. 

William Henry Foulke, third child 
and eldest son of Hugh and Sarah (Rob- 
erts) Foulke, obtained his educational 
training in the Rocky Ridge public 
school at Paletown, remaining there 
until his nineteenth year. After leaving 
the school William assisted with the 
farm work, and later he and his brother, 
Charles Edward, purchased the place. 
They were engaged in the cultivation of 
the farm until 1891, when the partner- 
ship was dissolved. William sold his 
interest in the property to Charles and 
purchased the Hugh Foulke farm, the 
old family homestead, comprising sev- 
enty-two acres of improved land and 
forest. Mr. Foulke is an industrious, 
useful member of the community, and 
an excellent farmer. In matters of poli- 
tics he affiliates with the Republican 
party, and, although he takes a deep and 
lasting interest in the welfare of that 
organization has never aspired to public 
office. He is actively interested in edu- 
cational affairs, and served twelve years 
as school director. 

January 25, 1883, William Henry 
Foulke was united in marriage to 
Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Charles 
Pilgrim. V. S.. of New York city, and 
widow of George S. Plant, Esq., of Nor- 
folk. England. Mrs. Foulke was born 
at Hudson, on the Hudson river, near 
Albany, New York, May 31. 1847- Dm"- 
ing her first husband's life she lived for 
a time in England, and later near Quak- 
ertown. Mrs. Foulke is a woman of 
bright and active disposition and assists 
in the management of the home farm. 
Mr. and Mrs. Foulke are the parents of 
one child, Mary Elizabeth, born June 
5, 1888; she was educated in the public 
schools of Paletown, and now resides at 
home with her parents. 



92 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



CHARLES EDWARD FOULKE, an 
old resident and worthy representative 
of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was 
there born in Richland Center in 1845, 
the son of Hugh and Sarah (Roberts) 
Foulke. Mention of the ancestral his- 
tory of Mr. Foulke is made in the pre- 
ceding sketch of his brother, William 
Henry Foulke. Charles obtained his edu- 
cation in the Rockridge public school, 
continuing there until he was eighteen 
years of age. He then engaged in as- 
sisting with the home farm work, and 
later spent six months in Quakertown 
with Mr. Richard Moore. He subse- 
quently purchased the home farm in 
partnership with his brother William, 
and in the spring of 1891 purchased his 
brother's interest, and has since contin- 
ued alone in the conduct of the farm. 
Mr. Foulke is one of the progressive 
farmers of the county, his farm compris- 
ing one hundred and seven acres of 
mostly improved land. In politics Mr. 
Foulke is a strong advocate of the prin- 
ciples of the Republican party, has al- 
ways taken a lively interest in local af- 
fairs, and has served as committeeman 
of his township. He and his wife are 
members of the Society of Friends of 
Quakertown Meeting. 

In 1870 he was united in marriage to 
Miss Anna Hoycock, daughter of War- 
ner and Alice (Singley) Hoycock, farm- 
ers of White Marsh township, Mont- 
gomery county, Pennsylvania. The fol- 
lowing named children were born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Foulke: i. Linford, born 
December 21, 1872, married, June 6, 
1900, Miss Mary C. Gerhart, daughter of 
Edward and Caroline (Lewis) Gerhart; 
Linford Foulke, lives at Quakertown, is 
carrier of U. S. mails, rural free deTiv- 
ery, and a dealer in agricultural imple- 
ments, wagons and farrhers' supplies; 2. 
Joseph, born August 27, 1874, married 
Miss Katharine, daughter of William 
and Elizabeth Neanan, of Richland; he 
lives in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, and 
is a carpenter for J. W. Stoneback; 3. 
Herbert Theophalus, born September 17, 
187s, lives at home and assists his father 
on the farm; unmarried; 4. Oschar Clif- 
ford, born January 20. 1878, married 
January i, 1904, Martha, daughter of 
Peter and Sarah (Weaver) Smith; lives 
at Quakertown, Pennsylvania; stove 
moulder for Roberts. Winner & Com- 
pany. 5. Chester A. Foulke, born Au- 
gust 25, i88r, lives at home, unmarried, 
and is a weaver in the Quakertown silk 
mill. 



THE VAN HORN FAMILY. The 
family of Van Horn has been a promi- 
nent one in Bucks county for two cen- 
turies, filling important positions in the 
official, professional and business life of 
the county in every generation and 
constantly sending out its representa- 



tives to fill like important positions in 
other localities and states, its represen- 
tatives now being found in nearly every 
state in the Union. 

The pioneer ancestor of the family 
was Christian Barendtse, that is Chris- 
tian, son of Barendt, who it is said came 
from Hooren, a city of the Zuyder Zee, 
about twenty-five miles from Amster- 
dam The exact date of his arrival in 
America is not known. He was a car- 
penter by trade, and the records of New 
Amsterdam show that he and a fellow 
craftsman, Auke Jansen, were appoint- 
ed, March 10, 1653, by the burgomasters 
and schepens of New Amsterdam to 
view a house, about the building of 
which there was some litigation. These 
records further show that he was fre- 
quently appointed a referee during the 
next four or five years. And he is shown 
to have contributed towards the 
strengthening of the city wall on Octo- 
ber IS, 1655. He is also said to have 
been with the force sent out from New 
Amsterdam, September 5, 1655, against 
the Swedes and Finns on the south 
(now Delaware) river, at Fort Chris- 
tina. On his return to New Amsterdam 
he was appointed January 18, 1656, a 
fire warden, in place of Johan Paul 
Jacquet, who had resigned and "re- 
moved to the South River in New 
Netherlands." On April 17, 1657, he was 
admitted a "Small Burgher" of New 
Amsterdam, an honor which carried 
with it the freedom of trade and a right 
to membership in the respective guilds 
of the town, and conferred upon na- 
tives of the city, residents there one 
year and six weeks before the date of 
the charter, burgher's sons-in-law, city 
storekeepers, salaried servants of the 
company and all paying the sum of 
twenty-five guilders. On August I, 
1657, Christian Barentze, carpenter, was 
granted by Peter Stuyvesant, director 
general of New Netherland, a lot in 
New Amsterdam, by the Land Gate, 
(now at Broadway and Wall streets) 
for a house and garden. He also owned 
several other properties in the neighbor- 
hood, some of which are said to have 
covered a part of the present Trinity 
churchyard. Probably as a result of 
his trip to the South river. Christian 
Barentse and Joost Rugger and possibly 
others obtained a grant of land on the 
south side of None Such creek, a tribu- 
tary of the Chrisiana. near the present 
site of Wilmington. Delaware, and be- 
gan the erection thereon of a tide water 
mill. According to Amos C. Brinton, 
who has given much attention to the an- 
cient mill sites of Delaware Barentse 
and Rugger, he began the erection of 
this mill in 1656. From the dates previ- 
ously given, however, as well as from 
other records, it would appear that the 
date of Christain Barentse. removal to 
the Delaware was sometime in the 5^ear 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



93 



1657. Contemporary records also refer 
to the mill as a "horse mill," the truth 
of the matter being most probably that 
the horse mill was set up to serve until 
the tide water mill was completed. The 
low marshy nature of the land and the 
turning up of the mud to the sun caused 
an epidemic from which Barentse died 
July 26, 1658. A letter written by Vice- 
Director Jacob Alricks, from New Ani- 
stel, (New Castle) to Stuyvesant, under 
date of September 5, 1658, and published 
in documents relating to tTie Colonial 
History of New York, vol. xii, p. 224, 
relates entirely to the affairs of the wid- 
ow and children of Christian Barentse. 
It states that the widow had requested 
within three days of his burial that she 
desired to return to New Amsterdam, 
and that the property which he left be 
sold and that though he consents there- 
to he "advised and proposed to her that 
it woulld be for her best to remain in 
possession, she should be assisted in 
completing the mill, with income where- 
of, which through the grists she would 
be able to diminish the expenses and 
live decently and abundantly with her 
children on the surplus, besides that 
she had yet three or four cows with 
sheep and hogs, which also could help 
her to maintain her family, she and her 
children should have remained on and 
in her and the father's estate, which 
was in good condition here, wherein the 
widow with the children could have con- 
tinued reputably and in position to much 
advantage; but she would not listen 
to advice, * * * tj^at she was to 
be restricted in her inclinations and well 
being, which I shall never think of, 
much less do." The wife of Christian 
Barentse was Jannetje Jans, and it is 
probable that they were married before 
coming to America, as the baptism of 
their eldest child is not recorded in 
the New York church. On December 
12, 1658, Jannetje Jans, widow and ex- 
ecutrix of Christian Barents, presented 
an inventory of his goods and chattels 
to the court at New Amsterdam, and 
requested that Vice-Director Alricks, 
"Director of the City's Colony on the 
South River, where her husband died, be 
written to in order that the chattels 
which are there may be sent from the 
South river to this place." The widow 
married on September 12, 1658, Laurens 
Andriessen Van Boskerk, who was born 
in Holstein, Denmark. He was a mem- 
ber of Bergen court in 1667, its presi- 
dent in 1682, a member of the governor's 
council for many years. He died in 
1693 and Jannetje on July 13, 1694. 
They were the parents of four children, 
Andries, Lourens, Peter, and Thomas, 
the two latter, according to the Dutch 
custom, being known as Lourensons, 
appear later to have become known by 
the name of Lawrence. Peter joined his 
half-brother, Barant Christian Van 



Horn, in his purchase of land in Bucks 
county in 1703. His youngest son John 
married Alee Van Horn, granddaugh- 
ter of Christian Barents, and his daugh- 
ter Jannetje, married Cornelius Corson, 
of Staten Island, and became the ances- 
tress of the Bucks county Corsons. 
The children of Christian Barents and 
Jannetje Jans were as follows: Barendt 
Christian Van Horn, born in Holland, 
married Geertje Dircks; died in Bergen 
county. New Jersey, in 1726. 3. Cor- 
nelius Van Horn, baptized August 3, 
1653, married Margaret Van de Berg, 
died in Bergen county in 1729. 4. Jan 
Van Horn, baptized March 18, 1657, 
married Lena Boone, died in Bergen 
county. 

2.' Barent Christian Van Horn, eld- 
est son of Christian Barents and Jannet- 
je Jans, as before stated was probably 
born in Holland, a theory which is borne 
out by the early date at which he ac- 
quired title to land. On March 26, 1667, 
Governor Philip Carteret granted to 
Barent Christian, of Menkaque, planter, 
fifty acres of land at Pembrepach and 
eighty-five acres on the bay called Kill 
Van Kull, both in Bergen county. On 
September 29, 1697, he obtained a grant 
from the proprietors of East Jersey, 160 
acres on "Hackingsack River," joining 
that of his half brother Thomas Law- 
renson (Van Boskerk). On May 15, 
1703, Barnard Christian and his half- 
brother, Peter Lawrence, purchased i,- 
000 acres of Robert Heaton, on Ne- 
shaminy creek, in Bucks county, which 
on September 18, 1707, they partitioned 
between them. Two days later, Sep- 
tember 20, 1707, Barnard Christian con- 
vej^ed his portion to his two sons, Peter 
and Christian Barnson, Peter receiving 
257 acres and Christian 294 acres. On 
September 29, 1707, Barnard Christian 
purchased 550 acres in Bucks county, of 
Thomas Groom, 274 acres of which he 
conveyed to his son Barnard Barnson, 
June 17, 1714. He also acquired other 
land in Bucks county, and on June 2, 
1722, conveyed to his son, Isaac Van 
Horn, 276 acres, and on May 6, 1722, 290 
acres to his son, Abraham Van Horn. 
He thus owned in all 1381 acres of land 
in Bucks county, though he continued to 
live in Bergen county. New Jersey, and 
died there in 1726. He married, in 1679, 
at the Bergen Dutch Reformed church, 
Geertje Dircks. daughter of Dirck Clas- 
sen, who was baptized in New York, 
March 5, 1662. The children of Bar- 
ent Christian Van Horn and Geertje 
Dirckse were: 

5. Richard Barentsen Van Horn, 
born at Bergen, New Jersey, died at 
Hackensack, New Jersey, in 1763; mar- 
ried, April II, 1704, Elizabeth Garretsen. 

6. Christian Van Horn, born Octo- 
ber 24. 1681. died in Northampton 
township, Bucks county, November 22, 
1751; see forward. 



94 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



7. Nicholas Van Horn, born in Ber- 
gen county, New Jersey, died in Dela- 
ware; he was for a time a resident of 
Bucks county, and the baptism of two 
of his children Barnet on July 24, 1715, 
and Rachel on April 29, 1720, are re- 
corded at Abington Presbyterian church. 
8. Peter Barentsen Van Horn, born 
at Bergen, 1686, died in Middletown 
township, Bucks county, February 20, 
1750. He married (first) Tryntje (Cath- 
arine) Van Dyck, and (second) Eliza- 
beth Gabriels, on May 9, 1706. She was 
baptized at Albany, New York, May 12, 
1689, and died November 3, 1759. She 
was a daughter of Gabriel Tomase 
Struddles. Peter settled on land con- 
veyed to him by his father in Northamp- 
ton in 1707 and 1715. and later pur- 
chased 425 acres in Middletown. Ac- 
cording to the Rev. Samuel Streng. Pe- 
ter Van Horn joined the Episcopal 
church, and was a vestryman of St. 
James Protestant Episcopal church at 
Bristol, 1734-7. His children, all with 
the possible exception of Barnard, his 
eldest son, being by the second wife 
Elizabeth, were as follows: Catharine, 
baptized June 4, 1710, died 1755, married 
Thomas Craven, of Warminster, Bucks 
county; Barnard, who "married Patience 
Hellings; Charity, who married, June 
6, 1732, Isaiah Vansant (see Vansant 
family) Jane baptized October 16, 1715, 
married, Au.gust 10, 1732, Edmund Rob- 
erts; Gabriel, baptized March 3, 1716, 
died 1789, married Martha Brelsford; 
Elizabeth, who married April 21. 1737, 
Peter Praul ; Peter, baptized August 25, 
1719. married in 1746, Margaret Marsh- 
all; Mary, who married William Gos- 
line. of Bristol, Bucks county; Benjamin, 
who married, June S, 1749. Hannah Da- 
vis; Richard, born 1726, died unmar- 
ried, February i, 1756; John, twice mar- 
ried, second wife being Mary Collett, 
a widow ; and Garret, who married Mary 
Neal. and died in 1801. 

9. Barent Barentsen Van Ho'-n, born 
in Bergen, New Jersey, April 3, 1691. 
died in Bucks county, in 1776. He mar- 
ried (first) February 23, 1712, Jannetje 
Pieters. and (second) January 25. 1726. 
at Bergen, Elizabeth Klinkenberg. He 
received by Deed in 1714 276 acres in 
Northampton township, Bucks county, 
from his father. He had fourteen chil- 
dren, most of whom married and reared 
families. 

TO. John Van Horn, born in Bergen, 
New Jersey, 1692. died in Lower Dublin, 
Philadelphia county. 1758. and is buried 
in the Vandegrift burying ground. He 
married Rebecca Vandegrift. daughter 
of Johannes and Nealke (Volkers) Van- 
degrift. of Bucks county, and had one 
son John and six dau.ghters. 

II. Abraham Van Horn, born in IWr- 
gen. New Jersey, died in Northampton. 
Bucks county, in 1773. on farm of 290 
acres received by deed from his father 



in 1722. He married first Mary Dungan, 
and second Mary Vansciver, and had 
six sons, Barnard, Isaac, Abraham, 
David, Jacob, and Jeremiah, and three 
daughters. Mary, wife of Derrick Krew- 
son. Charity, and Martha, who married a 
Van Sciver. 

12. Jane Van Horn, born at Bergen, 
New Jersey, April 18, 1697. married Ad- 
rien La Rue, and resided at Six-Mile 
Run. New Jersey. 

13. Isaac Van Horn, born at Ber- 
gen, New Jersey, died in Solebury town- 
ship. Bucks county, Pennsjdvania, • in 
1760. He married Alice Sleght (or 
Slack) and had eight children: Bernard, 
who married first Sarah Van Pelt and 
second Jane Slack; John, who married 
Catharine Neafie; Catharine, who mar- 
ried a Van Pelt; Charity, Geertje, Elsie, 
Isaac, baptized 1749,* married Alice 
Neafies; and Jane. 

14. Jacob Van Horn, born at Ber- 
gen, New Jersey, died there . April 14, 
1775- 

15. Benjamin Van Horn, born at Ber- 
gen. January 10, 1705. 

(6) Christian Van â–  Horn, second 
son of Barendt and Geertje (Dirckse) 
Van Horn, born at Bergen. New Jersey, 
October 24, 1681. He married William- 
tje Van Dyck, daughter of Hendrick 
Janse and Jennetje (Heermans) Van 
Dyck, and granddaughter of Jan Tom- 
asse Van Dyck, who emigrated from 
Amsterdam in 1652 and settled in New 
Utrecht, Long Island. His sixth child, 
Hendrick Janze, baptized July 2. 1653, 
married, February 7, 1680, Jannetje 
Hermans, daughter of Herman Janse 
Van Barkeloo, and settled on Staten Isl- 
and, where he was a constable in 1689 
and assessor in 1703. In 1704 he pur- 
chased land in Bucks county and re- 
moved there. At the organization of 
Bensalem church, in 1710. he produced 
a certificate from the Staten Island 
church. He purchased four tracts of 
land in IMiddletown, two of which he 
retained until his death in 1721, and de- 
vised to his daughter Williamtje. wife 
of Christian Van Horn, and his g'\ind- 
(la ightcr. Susanna Van Vleck. who later 
m.'lv'-ied her cousin, Henry Van Horn. 
He had but two children, Williamptje, 
and J;innetje. who became the wite of 
\hz Reverend Paulus Van Vleck, the 
first ])asior ar Neshaminy. 

Christian Van Horn located in North- 



*Isqac Van Horn, of Solebury township. Bucks 
county. Pennsylvania, was commissioned January I. 
177(5, ensign of Captain John Beatty's company. Bucks 
county's contingent of the Flying Camrv Hiffh Penn- 
sylvania Battalion, Colonel Robert Magaw, and was 
tiken prisoner at Fort Washington. November Ifi, 
177f). Exchanged in 1(78, and promoted to lieutenant. 
Sixth Pennsylvania Battalion, captain lieutenent, July 

1, 177P; captain. Second Pennsylvania. June 19. 1781. 
Retired from service January 1. 1783. Settled in West- 
moreland county. Pennsylvania. 1781. Member of 
seventh and eighth congress. (1801-1803> from Pennsyl- 
vania. Receiver of public monies at /^anesville Ohio, 
in 1815. Died in Muskingum county, Ohio. February 

2, 1834. Pennsylvania Archives. Second Series. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



95 



ampton township, Bucks county, on 
294 acres conveyed to him by his fath- 
â– er in 1707. In 1737 two hundred acres 
of the land belonging to the estate of his 
father-in-law, Hendrick Van Dyck, in 
Middeltown township was conveyed to ' 
him by leremiali Langhorne, as "straw 
man" in efifecting the transfer from the 
devises of Van Dyck to Christian Van 
Horn. He represented Bucks county in 
the I'onnsylvania assembly for the / 
ye:irs 1723-1732 and I734-I737. thirteen 
years in all. He died November 23, 1751, . 
and his wife May 6, 1760. She was born 
on Slatcn Island, July 4, 1681. The will 
of Christ i?n Van Horn devised to his 
eldest sor Bernard the home plantation 
of 205 acres in Northampton, to his son 
Henry 200 acres on which Henry was 
living in Newtown, purchased of George 
and Joseph Randal in 1726; to his son 
John thirty-two acres in Northampton , 
to his daughter Charity Van Duren 
anotl'.er tract adjoining containing for- 
ty-ore acres, and to his son Christian 
187 acres in Northampton, wdien he 
should come of age; the other children 
receiving their shares of his. estate in 
money. To his , son Barnard he be- 
queathed his large Bible. This Bible 
is now in the possession of Dr. Wilmer 
Krusen, of 127 North Twenty-ninth 
street, Philadelphia, having descended 
to him from his ancestors, the Hege- 
mans, John Hegeman having ' married 
Jane Van Horn, daughter of Christian. 
who inherited it from her brother, Bar- 
nard Van Horn, who died in 1760, with- 
out issue. It was printed at Dordrecht 
in 1690, and was purchased by Hen- 
drick Van Dyck in December, 1701, and 
presented to his daughter Williamtje, 
who married Christian Van Horn. On 
the My leaf it contains the record of the 
"birth of the children of Hendrick Van 
Dyck, those of Christian and Williamt- 
je Van Horn, and those of John and 
Jannetje (Van Horn) Hegeman. 

The children of Christian and Will- 
iamtje (Van Dyck) Van Horn were: 

16. Barnard Van Horn, born February 
19, 1701-2. died April 22. 1760. married 
December 31, 1741, Jannetje Van Bos- 
kerk, had no children. 

17. Henry Van Horn, born Septem- 
ber 15, 1707. died in Newtown township, 
Bucks county in 1761. He married his 
first cousin, Susanna Van Vleck. daugh- 
ter of Rev. Paulus and Jannetje (Van 
Horn) Van Vleck. She inherited from 
her grandfather, Hendrick Van Dyck, 
one half of his real estate, and 173 acres 
thereof was conveyed to Henry by the 
same proceedings as in the case of h.is 
father, and the latter at his death devis- 
ed to Henry 200 acres, in Newtown. 
and it was devised by the will of Henry 
in T761 to his sons. Christian and Henry. 
Susanna, the widow of Henry, died in 
June. T776. They were the parents of 
four children, Christian, who married. 



June 14, 1764, Sarah Vansant, — see for- 
ward; Henry Van Horn, died 1777, 
married Elizabeth Vansant; Jane, who 
married John Johnson; and Susannah, 
who married Euclides Longshore. 

18. Geertje or Charity, baptized May 
21, 1710, married Godfrey Van Duren, 
who was the first innkeeper at Ruck- 
man's, in Solebury township, Bucks 
county. 

19. Antje of Ann, baptized March 22, 
1712, died in infancy. 

20. John Van Horn, born December 
8, 1713. married. May 30, 1739, Lena Van 
Pelt, (See Van Pelt Family) and died 
in 1760. John and Lena (Van Pelt) 
Van Horn were the parents of five chil- 
dren, all of whom were baptized at 
Southampton church, viz: Catharine, 
baptized August ir, 1741, married Jan- 
uary 12, 1764, John Subers, see forward; 
Christian, br-'.ptized October 4, 1743, 
died young; Willimentje, baptized May 

_ II, 1746, died in infancy; Willimentje, 
born March i. 1748; and Joseph, born 
May 30, 1750, married, January 7, 1773, 
Ann Searle. 

2T. Ann Van Horn, born July 19, 
1716, died 1753. married Cornelius Cor- 
son, and had seven children, viz: Bland- 
ia, baptized March 26, 1738, Willemeyn- 
je, baptized February 24, 1740; Maryt- 
je, baptized May 23, 1742; Jannetje, 
baptized July 19, 1744; Antje, baptized 
December 26, 1746; Benjamin, baptized 
April 13. 1749; and Cornelius, baptized 
November 16. 1751. 

22. Catharine Van Horn, born April 
13, 1719. married Hendrick Hegeman, 
and had four children, viz: Adrien. bap- 
tized March 26. 1738; Maria, baptized 
April 7, 1740; Jannetje, baptized June 
6; 1742; Catrintje. baptized March 24, 

1745- 

23. Jane Van Horn, born May 20, 1721, 
died September 7, 1783, married, Octo- 
ber 20, 1741, John Hegeman, born Jan- 
uary 10, 1718. and had nine children; 
Mary, born March 8, I743; Christian, 
born August 8. 1745: Henry, born Jan- 
uary 5, 1748; John, born July 26, 1750; 
Henry,' born January 11, 1753; Benjamin, 
born Novemiser 19, 1755; Adrian, born 
September 16. 1758; Barnet, born Feb- 
ruary 23, 1761; and Jane, born May 15, 

1765. 

24. Christian Van Horn, born August 
29. 1728, died December 17, 1753. 

Christian Van Horn, eldest son of 
Henry (17) and Susanna (Van Vlecq) 
. Van Horn, born in Newtown township, 
Bucks county, married. June 14, 1764. 
Sarah Vansant, daughter of Isaiah and 
Charitv (Van Horn) Vansant, of Lower 
Makefield. Her mother. Charity (Van 
Horn) Vansant. being a daughter of Pe- 
ter (8) and Elizabeth (Gabriels) Van 
Horn. Christian Van Horn inherited 
from his father 126 acres of land in 
Newtown township, on the Neshaminy 
creek, part of the land purchased by his 



96 



HISTORY 01' BUCKS COUNTY. 



grandfather, Christian Van Horn, in 
1726, whereon he lived until his death m 
1777, when it was divided between his 
sons- Henry and Isaiah. Sarah (Van- 
sant) Van Horn died in 1785. They were 
the parents of but two children, viz: 
Henry and Isaiah. Henry, married, 
April 26, 1787, Elizabeth McCorkle, and 
had three children; Amos, born March 
4, 1792, died at Newtown, September 5, 
1823, married, January 8, 1817, Mercy 
Starkey; Susan, born October 25, i794, 
died in Michigan, September 5, 1872, 
married Joseph Roberts; and Elrzabeth, 
born January 27, 1797, married Joseph 
Winship, and died at Newtown, May 12, 
1868. 

Isaiah Van Horn, second son of 
Christian and Sarah (Vansant) Van 
Horn, was born in Newtown township, 
Bucks county, married, December 31, 
1794, Catharine Suber, daughter of John 
and Catharine (Van Horn) Suber, and 
his first cousin. He was adjudged fifty 
acres of the homestead farm by the or- 
phans' court in 1787, but on March 15, 
1791, sold it to his brother Henry, and 
on his marriage in 1794 took up his 
residence on a farm belonging to the 
estate of his father-in-law, Isaiah Van- 
sart, in Upper IMakefield, where he died 
in 1802. His widow, Catharine, married 
John Wynkoop, January 31, 1805. The 
only child of Isaiah and Catharine( Van- 
sant) Van Horn, was Sarah, born Feb- 
ruary 29, 1796; died January 27, 1838. 
She married (first) on January 16, 1812, 
Aaron Winder, and (second) Avigust 
24, 1825, Abner Morris. (See Winder 
Family in this volume). Catharine 
Wynkoop, the mother, died in Decem- 
ber, 1820. 

R. Winder Johnson, of Philadelphia, 
to whom we are indebted for the above 
account of the Van Horn familj', is a 
grandson of Aaron and Sarah (Van 
Horn) Winder, ^reat-grandson of Isa- 
iah and Catharine (Suber) Van Horn, 
great-great-grandson of both Christian 
and Sarah (Vansant) Van Horn, and 
John and Catharine (Van Horn) Sub- 
er, and great-great-great-grandson of 
Henry and Susanna (Van Vlecq) Van 
Horn, John and Lena (Van Pelt) Van 
Horn, and Isaiah and Charity (Van 
Horn) Vansant, and great-great-great- 
great-grandson of Christian and Will- 
iamtje (Vandyck) Van Horn, and Peter 
and Elizabeth (Gabriells) Vanhorn, the 
last mentioned Christian and Peter Van 
Horn, being sons of Barendt Christian- 
zen Van Hoorn and his wife Geertje 
Dircks Classen, and grandsons of Chris- 
tian Baretzen Van Hoorn and Jannetje 
Jans, the pioneer ancestors of the family 
in America. An account of the Van 
Pelt, Vansant, Vandegrift, Winder and 
Johnson families also largely the result 
of investigations made by Mr. John- 
son, will be found elsewhere in this 
work. 



Henry Van Horn, son of Henry and 
Susanna (Van Vlecq) Van Horn, was 
reared on the old homestead purchased 
by his grandfather. Christian Van Horn, 
in 1726, and at the death of his father, 
in 1761, inherited a one-half interest there- 
in with his brother Christian. They made 
a division of the 252 acres, each con- 
veying to the other 126 acres in 1773. 
After the reverses on Long Island in No- 
vember, 1776, and at Fort Washington 
when the Continental forces were so badly 
routed and so niau}^ of the Bucks county 
contingent were taken prisoners, Henry 
Van Horn raised an independent company 
of militia and was commissioned their 
captain, December 6, 1776, (See Penna. 
Arch. vol. xiv p. 175) and took them into 
the service. He died of camp fever late 
in 1777. He married Elizabeth Vansant, 
daughter of Isaiah and Charity (Van 
Horn) Van Sant, and they were the par- 
ents of eight children : Joshua, born Feb- 
ruary 21, 1759; Isaiah, born October 24, 
1760, was drummer in his father's com- 
pany, 1776-7; Mary, born May 5, 1764, 
married Isaac Gillam, died April 18, 1823; 
Christian, . born July 13, 1766 ; Susanna, 
born October 9, 1768, married Jesse Wil- 
lett, who had previously married her sis- 
ter Sarah ; Elizabeth, married an Ander- 
son, and • died January 26, 1813 ; Sarah, 
born February 7, 1773, married Jesse Wil- 
lett, died prior to 1809; Henry, born Ap- 
ril 5, 1777. Elizabeth the mother, died 
November 25, 1807, aged about eighty 
years. 

Henry Van Horn, youngest child of 
Captain Henry and Elizabeth (Vansant) 
Van Horn, born in Newtown township, 
April 5, 1777, learned the trade of a car- 
penter and cabinet maker and located at 
Yardley, Bucks county, where he followed 
the trade of a cabinet maker for several 
years. His sign uniquely painted is now 
in possession of his grandson, Richard H. 
Van Horn, of Lambertville, New Jersey. 
He also purchased a farm of 93 acres in 
Lower IMakefield in 1805, which, in 181 1, 
he conveyed to his brother-in-law, Isaac 
Gillam. He purchased a farm of 200 acres 
in Upper ]\Iakefield, near Eagle Tavern, 
where he resided the balance of his life. 
He died in Februarj', 1849. He married, 
in 1798, Hannah Reeder, of Canaan, Up- 
per Makefield, and their six children who 
grew to maturity were as follows : 

1. Abraham, born 1802, married, in 1829, 
Eliza Hampton, by whom he had one child, 
Margery. He married (second) Chris- 
tiana Neald, and a son Henry K. was 
born in 1834. He married (third) Eliza- 
beth Sampsel. He sold his farm in Upper 
]\Iakcfield and removed to Sandy Spring, 
Maryland, where he reared a family of 
thirteen children. 

2. Elizabeth, born 1804, married William 
Ryan, of Upper Makefield, born 1810. They 
settled near Rocksville, Northampton 
township, Bucks county, and engaged in the 
milling business. Three of their children 



ITHE r 



'Y 



A3TOK, LENOX AND 
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



97 



survive : Edward H., born 1832 ; Mary, 
born 183s ; and Hannah, born 1839. 

3. Eleanor H., born 1810, married Cor- 
nelius Slack, and settled in Lower Make- 
field. He was lately a merchant at Dol- 
ington. Their children are : Watson, born 
1832; John H., born 1833; Henry V., 
born .1836; Jane E., born 1839; Sarah E., 
born 1841; William H., born 1843; Anna 
M., born, 1847; and Hannah, born 1850. 

4. Moses H., born January 15, 1812, at 
Yardleyville, removed with his parents to 
Upper Makefield, where he spent his entire 
life, inheriting at his father's death, in 
1849, 100 acres of the old homestead. He 
was a successful farmer, and a prominent 
man in the community, holding many posi- 
tions of trust and honor. He and his wife 
and family were lifelong members of the 
Society of Friends. He married, April 13, 
1843, Rebecca Scattergood, born February 
7, 1820, daughter of John* and Catharine 
(Hepburn) Scattergood, of Makefield, 
who died September 15, 1895. Moses died 
February 13, 1885. They were the parents 
of nine children: Richard H., born 1844; 
Mary Anna, ^born 1846; Samuel S., born 
1848; William T., born 1851; George F., 
and Catharine S., twins, born 1854; Han- 
nah E., born 1857; Benjamin F., born i860; 
and Emma L., born 1863.** 

5. Mary A., born 1816, married Christian 
Van Horn, born 1814, and settled on a 
farm near Dolington. Their surviving issue 
are : Cyrus B., Jane E., Cornelius S., Han- 
nah E., and Callender C. 

6. John R., born 1820, married Rebecca 
Feaster, and settled on a portion of the 
old homestead in Upper Makefield. Their 
surviving children are : James P., David 
F., Emeline, Watson, Martha F., and Jo- 
seph F. 

RICHARD H. VAN HORN, eldest son 
of Moses and Rebecca (Scattergood) Van 
Horn, born at the old homestead of his 
grandfather, in 1844, was reared on the 
Upper ISIakefield farm, acquired a limited 
education at the public school and" later 
took a course at Union Business College 
in Philadelphia. After a few years ex- 
perience in the mercantile business in 
Philadelphia, he started into that business 
for himself at Lambertville, New Jersey, 
in 1868. By strict application to business 
and a close study of the wants and needs 
of the community, he soon built up a 



*John Scattergood (a descendant of Thomas Scatter- 
good, of Burlington county, New Jersey, a noted min- 
ister among Friends' was born 6 mo. 14, 1774. He 
married 5 mo. 4. 1794, Sarah Forman. .and second 
Catharine Hepburn, who was the mother of Mrs. 
Rebecca (Scattergood) Van Horn. John Scattergood 
died 1 mo. 12, 1842. 

**George F. and Benjamin F. Van Horn, sons of 
Moses H., left the Upper Makefield homestead on 
arriving at age. George learned the printing business, 
and subsequently both brothers, after a few years 
engagement with their brother, Richard H , learning 
the mercantile business at Lambertville, New Jersey, 
went in 1890 into business on their own account near 
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where by much energy and 
hustle they met with great success, but owing to poor 
health both have retired from business, 190.5. 

7-3 



large trade and his remodeled store in 
1884 named "Grand Depot"'enjoyed much 
more than a locak reputation and soon out- 
grew its early modest quarters. In 1877 an 
adjoining building was added and the vol- 
ume of business doubled. Seven years 
later the entire property was remodeled 
and both stores thrown into one, making 
a large and commodious department store, 
and his brother, Samuel S., who had been 
for some years a clerk in the establishment 
was given an interest in the business, and 
the firm name became R. H. Van Horn 
& Brother. The partnership of the grow- 
ing_ establishment extended far beyond the 
limits of Jersev into their native county, 
and the country districts and towns of 
New Jersey. In 1S89, the brothers dis- 
solved partnership and Richard H. contin- 
ued the business alone until 1892, when his 
son Henry came of age and was admitted 
as a partner. Ten years later the younger 
son, Edmori E., becoming of age, also be- 
came a partner, and the firm of R. H. 
Van Horn & Sons, continue to conduct the 
popular and successful establishment that 
has grown from its modest beginning of 
1868. To an additional L a new building, 
the floor space of which combined with 
the original "Grand Depot" covers now 
'1904) about three-quarters of an acre. 

Richard H. Van Horn married, in 1869, 
Lydiana Beatty Warner, born in 1845, 
daughter of Edwards Edmunds Warner, 
of Philadelphia, and of New England an- 
cestry, and they are the proud parents of 
two sons, both of whom, as before stated, 
are members of the firm. Henry E., the 
eldest, born April 21, 1870, married Era 
Runkle, of Hunterdon county, New Jer- 
sey ; and Edmori E., born in October, 
1S79, married Jessie Hoffman of the same 
place. Mr. R. H. Van Horn is an active 
member of the Society of Friends, having 
many years since transferred his certificate 
of membership from Wrightstown Monthly 
Meeting to Solebury Friends' Meeting 
where he and his wife Lydianna were sub- 
sequently appointed elders. R. H. Van 
Horn has always shown an active spirit 
in his town affairs but little interest- in 
"Political Pulls" ; he has, however, served 
in the school board, acted as a member of 
the board of trade, and at present is next 
to the oldest director in the Amwell Na- 
tional Bank of Lambertville. ' 

SAMUEL SCATTERGOOD VAN 
HORN, second son of Moses and Rebec- 
ca (Scattergood) Van - Horn, whose 'an- 
cestry has been given in the preceding 
pages, was born in Makefield township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania. October 28, 
1848, and was reared on the Upper Make- 
field farm; acquiring his education at the 
public schools of that township. In 1870 
he went to Lambertville, New Jersey. In 
1889 Samuel S. Van Horn embarked in 
the general merchandise business in Lam- 
bertville. where he carried on a successful 
business for three years. He then purchased 



98 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



his present location, where he has since 
conducted a successful business. 

Mr. Van Horn married, in 1888, Ella M. 
Dilley, daughter of Louis and Caroline 
(Larison) Dilley, of Kingwood, Hunter- 
don county, New Jersey. To this marriage 
has been born two sons, Lloyd and Earl. 
Mr. Van Horn is an extensive real estate 
owner in Lambertville, owning fifteen resi- 
dent properties. He is a member of the 
Society of Friends. 



LAWRENCE JOHNSON AND HIS 
DESCENDANTS. The family of John- 
son, from which Lawrence Johnson de- 
scended, belonged to the yeomanry and 
lived in Lincolnshire, England, having set- 
tled in Barrow-on-H umber in 1684, after 
the marriage of Robert Johnson and Mary 
Hall, nee Ledgard. Here five generations 
of the family lived and owned property. 
Edward Johnson removed to Hull after 
his marriage in 1796. Previous to 1680 
the family had lived and owned property 
at Grasby, in Lincolnshire. 

Edward Johnson had a large family of 
children, and, believing that their prospects 
for advancement would be greater in 
America, he was induced by his sons to 
sell his property in Hull, and emigrate 
with his family to America.- On July 4, 
1818, with his wife and ten children, he 
sailed from Grimsby on the brig Gen- 
eral Ripley" for New York, where the 
vessel arrived August 28, 1818. The people 
of New York looked so pale that Edward 
Johnson thought it could not be a health- 
ful place, and accordingly sailed immedi- 
ately vip the Hudson to Albany, where he 
bought a farm of one hundred and twenty- 
fice acres near Cato, Cayuga county, 
New York. 

Lawrence Johnson, son of Edward and 
Ann (Clayton) Johnson, was born in Hull, 
England, January 23, 1801, and was bap- 
tized in Holy Trinity church, March 2, 
1801. Immediately after coming to Amer- 
ica with his parents in 1818, he found em- 
ployment in the office of the "Troy Budg- 
et," a newspaper published at Troy, New 
York, but the following spring went to 
New York city, where he was employed 
in several printing establishments. About 
1820 he settled in Philadelphia and estab- 
lished a stereotype foundry, to which he 
later added the industry of making type, 
under the firm name of L. Johnson & Com- 
pany, and built up an immense business. 
He became interested in many prominent 
enterprises in Philadelphia and elsewhere 
in Pennsylvania, the development of coal 
lands, building of street horse-car lines, 
and many other enterprises, and acquired 
a fortune. He was also president of the 
Commonwealth Bank. He died in Phila- 
delphia, April 26, i860. 

In the spring of 1851 Lawrence Johnson 
purchased a farm and country seat in 
Bristol township. Bucks county, known as 



"Lansdowne," where he spent much of his 
time, and which has ever since been occu- 
pied by members of his family. 

Mr. Johnson had married May 3, 1825, 
Sarah B. Murray, of Philadelphia, who 
died August 21, 1834, leaving one child, 
a daughter. He married a second time, on 
May 29, 1837, Mary Winder, daughter of 
Aaron and Sarah (Van Horn) Winder, of 
Lower Makefield township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, who was born June 18, 1814, 
and died February 16, 1877. (See Winder 
Family). Lawrence and Mary (Winder) 
Johnson were the parents of ten children, 
viz: I. Edward Winder; 2. Anna Rebec- 
ca; 3. Mary Ella; 4. Caroline Fletcher; 
5. Howard Lawrence; 6. Russel Hamp- 
den ; 7. Lawrence ; 8. Walter Richards ; 9. 
Robert Winder; 10. Alfred Clayton. 

I. Edward Winder John.son, eldest son 
of Lawrence and Mary (Winder) Johnson, 
was born in Philadelphia, April 12, 1838. 
In the summer of 1847 he accompanied his 
father on a trip to Europe. He was edu- 
cated at Mr. Fay's boarding school at 
Elizabeth, New Jersey, and at Dr. Faires' 
and other private schools in Philadelphia. 
In 1856 he traveled under the care of an 
agent of his father to Havana, Mexico, 
Texas, and up the Mississippi river, and 
to Cincinnati, Ohieu In the latter place he 
remained for some months, working in a 
branch type foundry established there by 
his father. On October 23, 1857, he was 
commissioned. as a midshipman on the flag- 
ship "Powhattan," and on December 9, 
following that frigate left Norfolk, Vir- 
ginia, on a long cruise, with ex-President 
Franklin Pierce and wife on board. She 
sailed first to Maderia, St. Helena, and 
Cape Town, preceeding thence to Hong 
Kong, stopping on the way at Mauritius 
and Singapore, and arrived at Hong Kong 
in May, 1858, and proceeded to Japan in 
the following July. Becoming ill in Japan, 
Midshipman Johnson obtained a dismissal 
from service on the LI. S. frigate "Pow- 
hattan," and embarked as a passenger on 
board the "Minnesota," October 2, 1858, to 
return home, arriving in Boston, Massa- 
chusetts, Jvlay 29, 1859. On September 26, 
i860, he sailed from New York on the clip- 
per "Messenger" for Hong Kong, intend- 
ing to enter into business with A. W. Hab- 
ersham, in Japan. He arrived in .Yoko- 
hama, April 20, 1861, where he remained 
for some time, engaged in business. On 
learning of the outbreak of the civil war in 
America he left Japan on the steamship 
"Carrington," and arrived in San Fran- 
cisco, California, October 20, 1861, from 
which place he proceeded at once to New 
York. He enlisted in August, 1862, in 
Company G of the Anderson Cavalry, and 
fought in the battles of Antietam and Mur- 
freesboro. Afterwards his regiment was 
reorganized, and he became a member of 
Company A of the Anderson Cavalry. He 
was also in the battle of Chickamauga, 
under General Rosencrans. On December 
30, 1863, he returned home on a furlough, 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



99 



and did not again enter the army. He died 
at Lansdowne, Bristol township, Bucks 
county, January 12, 1874, unmarried. 

2. Anna Rebecca Johnson, second child 
of Lawrence and Alary (Winder) Johnson, 
was born in Philadelphia, December 15, 
1839. She was educated at the school of 
Professor Charles D. Cleveland, in Phila- 
delphia. In 1858 and 1859 she traveled 
extensively in Europe, Egypt, and Pales- 
tine, under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Gar- 
del. She was married in Philadelphia, De- 
•cember 3, 1863, to Theodore Hoe Mead, 
of New York. Theodore Hoe and Anna Re- 
becca (Johnson) Mead have been the par- 
ents of six children, three of whom survive, 
viz : Lawrence Johnson Mead, who mar- 
ried, June 29, 1901, Anna Frances Ely, of 
Doylestown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
daughter of Samuel L. and Mary (Knight) 
Ely; Anna Johnson Mead, who married, 
October 7, 1902, Herbert Gordon Thom- 
son, of New York; and Gilbert Mead, 
who married, July 25, 1903, Mary Comly 
Ely, daughter of Samuel L. and Mary 
Comly (Knight) Ely, of Doylestown, 
Bucks county. (See Winder Family.) 

3. Mary Ella Johnson, third child of 
Lawrence and Mary (Winder) Johnson, 
was born in Philadelphia, September 22, 
1841. After spending five years in Profes- 
sor Cleveland's school in Philadelphia, she 

.traveled in Great Britain, Europe, Egypt, 
the Sinaitic Peninsula, Palestine and Syr- 
ia, as well as the rock-hewn city of Petra, 
to which, it is said, no ladies had previously 
ventured with the exception of two Eng- 
lish ladies, somewhat earlier in the same 
year. Miss Johnson married, December 
4, 1862, William D. Stuart of Philadel- 
phia, who died April 7, 1863, leaving no 
children. Mrs. Stuart married a second 
time^ January 11, 1870, Dr. James Ches- 
ton Morris, of Philadelphia, by whom she 
has eight children, all residing in Phila- 
delphia. 

4. Caroline Fletcher Johnson, fourth 
child of Lawrence and Mary (Winder) 
Johnson, was born in Philadelphia, July 
10, 1843, and was educated at Dr. Cleve- 
land's school. She married, February 21, 
1871, Anthony Taylor, son of Robert Tay- 
lor, and a nephew of Hon. Caleb Newbold 
Taylor, of Bristol, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania. Anthony Taylor enlisted in the 
Pennsylvania cavalry August 8, 1862, was 
promoted sergeant. October 30, 1862 ; first 
sergeant, March i, 1863; first lieutenant 
of 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry, May 8, 1863; 
and captain, June i, 1865. He was awarded 
a medal of honor for signal acts of bravery, 
and was honorably mustered out June 21, 
1865. He died in Philadelphia, May 21. 
1894. Anthony and Caroline F. (Johnson) 
Taylor were the parents of two children 
Mary Lawrence Taylor, who married, Feb- 
ruary 25, 1893, Bromley Wharton, now pri- 
"vate secretary to Governor Samuel W. Pen- 
nypacker; and Elizabeth Elmslie Taylor, 
-who married, December 31, 1904, Houston 
Dunn. 



5. Howard Lawrence Johnson, born Oc- 
tober 31, 1845, died June 25, 1891 ; mar- 
ried, May 7, 1876, Mary Evangeline Brad- 
ley. They had no children. 

6. Russell Hampden Johnson, son of 
Lawrence and Mary (Winder) Johnson, 
was born in Philadelphia, September 15, 
1847, and received his preliminary edilca- 
tion in private schools in Philadelphia. He 
entered Princeton University at the age of 
seventeen years, and graduated in the class 
of 1868, after a four years' course, with 
the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then 
made an extensive tour of Europe, and on 
returning entered the medical department 
of the University of Pennsylvania, where he 
received the degree of Doctor of Medicine 
in 1871. After serving as resident physi- 
cian in the Episcopal Hospital of Philadel- 
phia, he once more visited Europe, spend- 
ing two years in travel, chiefly for the fur- 
ther prosecution of his medical studies in 
the University of Vienna. Returning to 
Philadelphia he began the practice of medi- 
cine there, where, excepting occasional vis- 
its abroad, he has since lived and practiced 
his profession. He married, December 13, 
1877, Grace H. Price, of New York. Five 
children blessed this union, all, like their 
father, devotedly attached to the old home 
on the Nashaminy, in Bucks county, where 
the youngest daughter was born. The chil- 
dren are : Russel Hampden, Jr., born Sep- 
tember t6, 1878; Lawrence, born Septem- 
ber 17. 1880; Anna Price, born September 
20, i88r ; Louisa, born May 20, 1883; and 
Paul Sears, bom October 24, 1896. 

7. Lawrence Johnson, seventh child of 
Lawrence and Mary (Winder) Johnson, 
was bom in Philadelphia. September 28, 
1849. and was educated at private schools 
there and at Princeton University. In 
1868 he began his business career* as a 
clerk in the shipping house of Isaac Hough 
& Morris, where he remained for about two 
years. On coming of age in 1870 he began 
business for himself, under the firm name of 
Lawrence Johnson & Company, shipping 
and commission merchants and foreign 
bankers, which business he has since fol- 
lowed. On November 21. 1891. he was 
elected a director of the Philadelphia Na- 
tional Bank, and he is also a director of 
the Pennsylvania Company for Insurances 
on Lives and Granting Annuities, the In- 
surance Company of North America, and 
the Philadelphia Warehouse Company. He 
married. December 6. 1877. Louisa Philler 
Gaw, daughter of Henry L. Gaw, of Phila- 
delphia. They have one child, Millicent 
Gaw Johnson, born November 22, 1884. 

8. Walter Richards Johnson, eighth 
child of Lawrence and Mary (Winder) 
Johnson, was born at Lansdowne. Bucks 
county. August 24. 1851. He was educated 
at Dr. Faires' and other private schools 
of Philadelphia. He married, October 31, 
1876. his cousin. Mary Rebecca Winder, 
daughter of Moses and Margaretta Winder. 
He purchased a farm on the right bank of 
the Neshaminy, in Bensalem township, 



:^71146 



100 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Bucks county, between Hulmeville and 
Newportville, where he lived the remainder 
of his life, and was actively engaged in ag- 
ricultural pursuits. He was also actively 
interested in political afifairs and held sev- 
eral political otiices. He died March 25, 
1897, leaving one child. Winder Lawrence 
Johnson, since deceased, who married, Oc- 
tober II, 1899, Susan D. Fine. 

9. Robert Winder Johnson, ninth child 
of Lawrence and Mary (Winder) John- 
son, was born Sunday, May 7, 1854, at 
No. 727 Pine street, Philadelphia. He pre- 
pared for college at Mr. Gregory's private 
school on Market street, near Eleventh, 
and entered the freshman class of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, September, 1870 
(class of 1874,) but left the University in 
tlTC spring of 187 1 and accompanied his 
mother to Europe, where he studied and 
traveled until October, 1874- He agaui 
traveled abroad in 1875 and 1876. In Jan- 
uary, 1877, he entered the office of Law- 
rence Johnson & Company, doing a large 
business as importers and exporters and 
bankers, and in July, 1879, was admitted as 
a member of the firm and has since 
been actively associated with its busi- 
ness. He was elected a member of 
the Historical Society of Pennsylvania 
in 1874 and a life member in 1877; 
was elected a member of the Rittenhouse 
Club in 1883; a member of the vestry of 
St. Peter's church in 1891 ; member of the 
board of managers of Christ Church Hos- 
pital in 1892; member of the Genealogical 
Society of Pennsylvania in 1892; member 
of the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania in 
1897; member of the Society of theProt- 
estant Episcopal Church for the Advance- 
ment of Christianity in Pennsylvania in 
1897; member of the Board of managers 
of the Children's Hospital in 1897; mem- 
ber of the Netherlands Society of Phila- 
delphia in 1899; and a life member of the 
Bucks County Historical Society in 1903. 
He takes a deep interest in the local history 
of Bucks county, where his maternal an- 
cestors, the Van Horns, Van Dycks, Van 
Sandts, Van Pelts, Vandegrifts, Winders, 
and others were among the earliest and 
most prominent settlers, and has devoted 
much time and expense during the last 
twenty-five years in tracing out the history 
of these early families of Bucks. Mr. 
Johnson was married on November lO, 
1887, to Rosalie Morris, daughter of George 
Calvert and Elizabeth (Kuhn) Morris, at 
St. Peter's Church, Third and Pine streets, 
Philadelphia. Their children are as fol- 
lows: Morris Winder, born July 5, 1889, 
at Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia; Lawrence 
Edward, born July 9, 1892, at Lansdowne, 
Bucks county; Robert Winder, Jr., born 
August 19, 1894, at Lansdowne, Bucks 
county; and Rosalie Eugenia, born Octo- 
ber 12, 1900, at Chestnut Hill. 

ID. Alfred Clayton Johnson, youngest 
child of Lawrence and Mary (Winder) 
Johnson, was born in Philadelphia, Sep- 



tember 17, 1856. He was educated at pri- 
vate schools in Philadelphia and at Dres- 
den, Saxony. He read law under P. Pem- 
berton Morris, Esq., of Philadelphia, and 
also attended lectures on law at the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, and was admitted 
to the Philadelphia bar April 3, 1880. He 
was appointed consul to Stuttgart, Ger- 
many, in 1893 and vice consul general at 
Dresden in 1898. He married in Dresden, 
July 21, 1888, Countess Toni von Baudis- 
sin,' and they have one child, Mary Winder 
Johnson, born in . Bristol township, Bucks- 
county, Pennsylvania, June 11, 1889. 



THE WINDER FAMILY.* The pro- 
genitor of the Winders of Pennsylvania 
and New Jersey was Thomas Winder of 
England, who settled in Hunterdon county,. 
New Jersey, in 1705. He was in New Jer- 
sey in 1703, and was one of the purchasers 
of Maidenhead and Hopewell, and partici- 
pated in the agreement with Daniel Coxe,. 
one of the proprietors of West Jersey, in 
relation to that purchase. Soon after the 
consummation of the purchase he returned 
to. London, and was married at St. Mar- 
garet's, Westminster, June 5, 1704, to Sara 
Bull, and returned to West Jersey, settling 
in Hunterdon countly, where he became a 
large landowner. In 1721 he purchased six 
hundred acres at Newtown, Bucks county, 
of John Walley, and in 1727 purchased 
three hundred and forty-one acres in Make- 
field, Bucks county, which descended to his 
son John, and remained in the tenure of 
his descendants for several generations un- 
til it was sold in 1837. He was a prominent 
man in Hunterdon county, and was com- 
missioner of highways in Amwell town- 
ship in 1723. He married (second) in 1731, 
Rebecca Gregory, who survived him, and 
married Edward Collins in 1736. Thomas 
Winder died, and letters of administration 
were granted on his estate May 23, 1734. 
The children of Thomas and Sara (Bull) 
Winder were as follows : 

1. John Winder, born 1707, died August 
9, 1770, married Rebecca Richards. 

2. Thomas, settled in Amwell, where he 
was living in 1736. 

3. James, removed to Prince George- 
county, Maryland, where he died in 1789. 

_^'4. Jane, who married John Slack and set- 
tled in Lower Makefield, Bucks county, 
where many of her descendants still reside. 

5. Elizabeth, married Peter Phillips of 
Amwell, where they lived and died. 

Elinor, daughter of Thomas and Rebecca 
(Gregory) Winder, married July 31, I751r 
Thomas Guinnup, of Philadelpliia. 

John and Rebecca (Richard.-^) Winder 
settled on the land purchased by his father 
in Lower Makefield, Bucks county, the 
other heirs making conveyances to him for 
their interest therein at various periods af- 

♦Condensed from "Winders of America," by R. 
Winder Johnson 




^Ci^e4^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



lOI 



ter the death of Thomas. His wife, Rebec- 
ca Richards, was born September 19, 1714, 
and died January 19, 1788. The family- 
were not members of the Society of Friends 
until 1747, when he and his wife applied 
for membership at Falls Meeting, and were 
admitted as members. John died in Make- 
field, August 9, 1770. The children of 
John and Rebecca (Richards) Winder, 
were as follows: 

1. Thomas, married, May 11, 1758, Eliza- 
beth Linton, daughter of Joseph and Mary 

(Blackshaw) Linton, of Northampton 
township. 

2. James, married (first) December 28, 
1763, Sarah Bailey, and (second) Mary 
Booz. 

3. John, married, January 23, 1760, Mar- 
garet Briggs. He removed first to Dela- 
•ware and later to Fayette county, Pennsyl- 
vania, and still later to the state of Ohio. 

5. Elizabeth, married (first) in April, 
1759, Joseph Linton, son of Joseph and 
Mary, before mentioned, and on April 2, 
1795, married David Feaster. 

6. Sarah, married, April, 1761, Robert 
Whitacre, and removed to Catawissa, Penn- 
sylvania. 

7. Hannah, married in 1770, Timothy 
Brooks. Moses, Aaron and Rachel died un- 
married. 

11. Rebecca, married March 26, 1772, 
John Nutt, and removed to Fairfax, Vir- 
ginia. 

12. Mercj^ died unmarried. 

13. Ann married May 13, 1779, Absalom 
Knight. 

14. Aaron Winder, born September 14, 
1759, died July 2, 1824, married Janu- 
ary 16, 1812, Sarah Van Horn, 
born February 29, 1796, died Janu- 
ary 27, 1838, daughter of Isaiah and Cath- 
erine (Subers) Van Horn, of Makefield. 

He purchased in 1788 two hundred acres 
of the Makefield homestead, and built a 
Tiouse thereon in 1790. It is related that 
Catherine Subers, whose daughter he 
eventually married, was the first love of 
Aaron Winder, and on her marriage to his 
successful rival in her affections, Isaiah 
Van Horn, he abjured matrimony and lived 
single until the age of fifty-three years, 
when he married her daughter though Mrs. 
Van Horn, the mother, had been a widow 
almost from the birth of the daughter. 

The children of Aaron and Sarah Van 
Horn Winder were as follows : 

1. Joel, born March 8, 1813, died in 
"infancy. 

2. Mary, born June 18, 1814, died Feb- 
ruary 16. 1877, married Lawrence John- 
son. (See Johnson Family). 

3. Rebecca, born February 22, 1817, died 
September 26, 1854, married General John 
Ely" and had four children, but two of 
whom lived to mature age ; Mary Winder 
Ely, born November 19. 1840, died July 
12, i860, married October 19. 1859, Joseph 
Parry Brosius ; and Samuel Lawrence Ely, 
"born May 24, 1847, died March 19, 1886, 
imarried December 29, 1865, Mary Comly 



Knight. He was sheriff of Bucks county 
for the term of 1881-83. 

4. Dr. Aaron Winder, born October 17, 
1821, died December 28, 1883, married 
August 21, 1846, Mary S. Gillam, and had 
three children; William G. Winder, M. 
D., of Andalusia, Bucks county and Phila- 
delphia ; Mary Ely Winder, wife of Henry 
B. Knight of Bucks county ; and Lawrence 
Johnson Winder, M. D. 

5. Moses Winder, born December 20, 
1823, died April, 1864, married December 
25, 1844, Margaretta Thornton, and had six 
children, five of whom grew to maturity, 
viz : Sarah, born 1849, married Blackstone 
P. Doddridge; Mary Rebecca, born 1851; 
died 1893, married Walter Richards John- 
son, of Bensalem, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania; Anna Louisa, born February 4, 
1854, married April 6, 1885, Isaac Holbor- 
row Robertson ; John Ely Winder, born 
1857, died 1866 ; and Aaron Augustus Win- 
der, born February 8, 1859, married Octo- 
ber 12, 1880, Jane Phillips Slugg, died 
September 5, 1903. 

Sarah (Van Horn) Winder married 
(second ) August 24, 1825, Abner Morris, 
and had four children. 



JACOB M. WINDER, of Bristol, 
was born in that borough August 28, 

1858, and is a son of Isaac and Mary 
Jane (Hetherington) Winder. He is of 
English descent, his paternal ancestors 
having been early English settlers in 
New Jersey. Samuel Winder, the great- 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch, 
was a farmer in Falls township, and 
died there in April, 1816, devising his 
small estate to his wife Sarah who sur- 
vived him several years. 

Giles Satterthwaite Winder, _ son of 
Samuel and Sarah, was born in Falls 
township about 1795, being just arrived 
at legal age at the death of his father, 
and was named as executor of the will. 
He received a good education and taught 
school in Middletown township for 
thirty years. He died in Bristol in 
1857. He married Sarah Yonker, 
daughter of George Yonker, of Middle- 
town, and granddaughter of Daniel 
Yonker, of Solebury. George Yonker 
was the father of twelve children, one 
son George, and eleven daughters, all 
of whom lived to mature age, and all ex- 
cept two of whom married and reared 
families. The father resided on his farm 
in Middletown, near Langhorne, until 

1859, and then sold it on account of in- 
ability to care for it, being very old 
and infirm, and lived with a married 
daughter in Burlington for one year, 
and then removed to Bristol, Bucks 
county, where he died in 1861 at a very 
advanced age. Sarah Satterthwaite was 
his eldest daughter. She also lived to 
an advanced age. dying in Bristol, June 
21, 1880. The children of Giles S. and 



102 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Sarah (Yonker) Winder were: George 
Y., Daniel Y., Samuel, Isaac, Eliza and 
Mary. 

Isaac Winder, father of the subject of 
this sketch, was born in Middletown 
township, Bucks county, in 1832, and 
died in Bristol in i860. He married 
Mary Jane Hetherington and they were 
the parents of one child, Jacob McBrien 
Winder, the subject of this sketch. 

Jacob M. Winder was born and reared 
in Bristol, Bucks county, and acquired 
his education at public and private 
schools in Bristol and Philadelphia. He 
graduated from Bryant and Stratton's 
Business College in 1877. For the 
greater part of his business life he has 
been engaged in the wholesale liquor 
business in Bristol, where he has always 
resided. In politics he is a Democrat, 
and has always taken a prominent part 
in the councils of his party. He was 
postmaster of Bristol for the term of 
1895-1899, discharging the duties of that 
responsible position efficiently and to 
the satisfaction of its patrons. Mr. 
Winder married in August, 1878, Mar- 
garet Scott Irwin, daughter of Robert 
and Dorothy (McCartney) Irwin, of 
Philadelphia. Mr. and Mrs. Winder are 
members of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church of Bristol. 



ISAAC S. JOHNSON, of Bucking- 
ham, was born in New Britain township, 
on February 20, 1850, being a son of 
Jacob B. and Lydia (Swartz) Johnson. 
Jacob B. Johnson was a son of Jacob 
Johnson, a native of England, and was 
born in Montgomery county, Pennsyl- 
vania, and while still a young man re- 
moved to New Britain township, Bucks 
county, and later located in Plumstead 
township, where he still resides. He 
was a prominent farmer for many years, 
but is now living a retired life with his 
son Harry. When the turnpike was 
built from Doj'lestown to Dublin, Mr. 
Johnson was the builder under contract 
with the newly organized company. 
Jacob B. and Lydia Swartz Johnson 
were the parents of nine children, of 
whom seven survive, viz.: Henrj^ S., of 
Plumstead; John S., of New Britain; 
Isaac S. ; Abraham S., of Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania; Sallie S., wife of 
John Funk, of Foimtainville; Mary Ann, 
wife of Reuben Detweiler. of Hilltown; 
Susan,, wife of Harry High, of Plum- 
stead. 

Isaac S. Johnson, the subject of this 
sketch, was reared on the farm and ac- 
quired his education at the public 
schools of the neighborhood. In 1873 
he married Mary A. Myers, of Pipers- 
ville, Bedminsler township, and settled 
on and conducted his father's farm in 
Plumstead for ten years. He then 
rented the Lead Mine farm in New 



Britain, which he conducted for four 
years. In 1887 he purchased his present 
farm in Buckingham, eighty-six acres^ 
where he has since resided. He is a 
successful farmer and a man of high, 
standing in the community. Mr. and 
Mrs. Johnson are the parents of four 
children, viz.: Laura, for several years 
a school teacher in Buckingham, now 
the wife of Clarence Buckman; Monroe 
M., a graduate of the Hughesian Free 
School, West Chester Normal School 
and Pierce's Business College, now fill- 
ing a clerical position in Philadelphia; 
Franklin M., living at home; Rosa, re- 
siding at home and teaching school in 
Buckingham, who acquired her educa- 
tion at the Hughesian School, Doyles- 
town High School and at West Chester 
Normal School. Mr. Johnson is a 
member of the Mennonite meeting, as- 
was his father. In politics he is a Re- 
publican, but has never sought or held 
office. 



THE VAN PELT FAMILY. The 
emigrant ancestor of the Van Pelt fam- 
ily was Tennis jansen Lanen Van Peltt^ 
who emigrated in 1663 from Liege, Bel- 
gium, with wife, Grietje Jans, and six 
children and settled in New Utrecht, 
Long Island. He was known as "Tunis- 
the Fisher." The children of Teunis-^ 
Jansen L. Van Pelt were, John Van 
Pelt, died after 1720, married Maria 
Peters; Anthony Van Pelt, died Feb- 
ruary 2, 1720-1, married Magdalen Joos- 
ten; Hendrick Van Pelt, married An- 
netje Meinards; Wouter Vafi Pelt, mar- 
ried Maria Jansen Schaers; Jacomytje, 
married Jochem Gulick; and Aerte, mar- 
ried Nieltje Jansen Van Tuyl. Bergen 
in his "Early Settlers of King's County"" 
mentions three other children, of Teunis- 
Jansen L. Van Pelt, viz.: H. Teuntje, 
married Hermanns Gelder. Rebecca^ 
married Abraham De La Montaigne, 
and Elizabeth. 

Anthony Van Pelt, son of Teunis 
Janse, came to this country with his 
parents in 1663. He was a landholder 
in New Utrecht in 1683, ^"d ten years 
later was constable of New Utrecht. In 
1700 he joined with his brothers and sis- 
ter, the six above mentioned, in a con- 
vej-ance of land taken up bj'^ his father 
in New Utrecht, on July 27, 1713; he. 
conveyed his land to his sons John and 
Tunis with a provision that he and his 
wife were to remain thereon during their 
natural lives. He died on February 2, 
1720-1. His wife was Magdalena or 
Helena Joosten. Their children were: 
Joost. (Joseph) baptized at Flatbiish, 
September 28, 1679; Maria, baptized Oc- 
tober 14. i68r, married Adrien Schoute; 
Adriantje, baptized February 3. 1684, 
died young; Grietje, baptized June 3, 
1685, married Barendt Bond ; Tunis, who 
removed to Staten Island, 1719, marriedl 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



103 



Maria Degreau; Adriantje. baptized 
May 25, 1690, married Charles Taylor; 
John, of Staten Island, married Susanna 
La Tourette: Helena, baptized ]\lay 29, 
1695, married Tennis Stoutenburgh, and 
Sarah, who married Cornelius Dorlandt. 
Of the above, at least two, Joseph Van 
Pelt and Adrien Schoute, (Scout) and 
Maria Van Pel.t his wife settled in Penn- 
sylvania, Joseph in Byberr3% Philadel-* 
phia county, and Scout in Warminster 
township, Bucks county. 

Joseph Van Pelt married Catharine 

, and the baptism of three of their 

children appears of record in Staten 
Island, Catharine, baptized May 4, 1714. 
Joost, baptized March 20, 1716, and Jo- 
hannes, baptized September 8, 1717. He 
removed to Pennsylvania prior to De- 
cember 6, 1719, as his daughter Sarah 
was baptized at Abington Presbyterian 
church on that date. Another son Der- 
rick was baptized at the same church 
May 7, 1721. His other children were: 
Joris (George), who married Catharine 
Sleght, June 2, 1743, and had children, 
Joseph John, Catharine and Sarah, bap- 
tized at the Dutch Reformed church of 
North and Southampton, (1744 to 1756); 
Lena, who married John Van Horn; An- 
thony, who died in Buckingham in 1754. 
and Elizabeth, who married John Ben- 
nett. On November 7, 1730, Joseph Van 
Pelt purchased 180^ acres of land in 
Byberry of Jacob Hibbs. He died 
intestate and letters of ^administration 
were granted to his widow Catharine 
March 17, 1739. His widow married 
John McVeagh, May 17, 1745. His son 
Joseph must have died j^oung as he does 
not appear in connection with the con- 
veyance of his father's real estate. John 
Van Pelt, the second son, married May 
12, 1739, Cornelia Sleght, and settled in 
Northampton township, Bucks county. 
Their children were: Joseph, baptized 
December 11, 1742; Catharine, baptized 
April 2, 1745; John, baptized August 31, 
1749; Daniel, baptized October 15, 1751; 
Isaac, baptized August 11, 1754. mar- 
ried December 30, 1788, Jane Hender- 
son, and removed to Wrightstown town- 
ship, Bucks county. Helena, baptized 
January 2, 1757; Jacob, baptized August 
12, 1759, married Sarah Ryan. He died 
in New Mil ford, Ohio, August 31, 183 1. 
He was the father of eleven children. 
Sarah, baptized September 23. 1761. 
Catharine Van Pelt, eldest daughter of 
Joseph and Catharine Van Pelt, married 
Abraham Carroll, January 29. 1737. 
Sarah, daughter of Joseph and Catharine 
Van Pelt, married Barnard Van Horn, 
January 17, 1753, and their son Isaac 
Van Horn was baptized at Southamp- 
ton, March 17, 1754. 

Derrick Van Pelt married February 
14. 1742. Mary Britton. He was an inn- 
keeper in Whitpain township, Philadel- 
phia county, at his death in 1767. His 
sons Joseph and John were residents of 



Upper Dublin township in 1770, but both 
removed to New Britain township, 
Bucks county, prior to 1776. The other 
children of Derrick and Mary were: 
Abraham, Mary, Anne, Samuel, Cath- 
arine, married Isaac Newhouse, and 
]\Iercy, married Jacob DeHaven. 

Isaac Van Pelt, who married Jane 
Henderson in 1788, removed to Wrights- 
town township, Bucks county, in 1795, 
later removed to Buckingham where he 
died in 181 1. His children were: Mary, 
married Robert Jones ; John ; Isaac ; 
Thomas; Jane, married Thomas D. 
Wolf; and Eleanor, married William 
Vansant. Jane (Henderson) Van Pelt 
died in Buckingham in 1S35. 

Three of the sons of Joseph Van Pelt, 
viz.: John, Isaac and Daniel — were pri- 
vates in Captain Folwells Associated 
Company in Southampton in 1775, John 
was commissioned a lieutenant in Lower 
Solebury, I\Iay 10, 1779. Isaac also saw 
actual service in the revolution. John 
became a captain. 

Isaac, son of Isaac and Jane Hender- 
son Van Pelt, was born in Wrightstown 
in 1797. He was a shoemaker by trade 
and lived in Wrightstown until 1836, 
when he purchased a farm* in Bucking- 
ham, where he died May 27, 1865. He 
was twice married. His first wife was 
Sarah, daughter of Peter D. and Re- 
becca (Lewis) Cattell, (originally De- 
Cattel). The children of this marriage 
who survived were: Seth C, born Au- 
gust 24, 1829: Jane Ellen, married Jo- 
seph S. Ely, Esq., of New-town: William, 
of Upper Makefield: Wilhelmina, mar- 
ried Charles H. Warner. Isaac Van 
Pelt married (second) Mary Ann Rich- 
ardson and had three children: Joseph, 
born October 8, 1844, Elizabeth, mar- 
ride Joseph Starkey. and Matilda Caro- 
line, who never married, living with her 
sistei Elizabeth at Forest Grove. 



SETH C. VAN PELT, deceased, was 
born near Penns Park, Wrightstown 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
August 24. 1829. a son of Isaac and Sarah 
(Cattell) Van Pelt. He was reared on a 
farm until twenty years of age, acquir- 
ing a good education in the common 
schools adjacent to his home. He then 
entered the store of Jesse P. Carver, at 
Pineville, as clerk, where he remained 
until December i, 1872, when, having been 
elected to the office of prothonotary of 
Bucks county, he removed to Doyles- 
town and there resided until the spring 
of 1877, when he returned to Pineville 
and rented a store for two years. At 
the expiration of this period of time he 
purchased the same and continued the 
management of it until his death. May 
31, 1889. He was a man of sterling in- 
tegrity, and in all his career as clerk, 
accountant, postmaster, merchant and 



104 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



public official enjoyed the unbounded re- 
spect and esteem of all with whom he 
came in contact. 

Mr. Van Pelt married, May 30, 1877, 
Carrie A. Bodine, daughter of John R. 
Bodine, and sister of General Robert L. 
Bodine, who participated in the civil 
war. One child was the issue "of this 
union, Arthur C, who now resides in 
Pittsburg. Mr. Van Pelt was survived 
by his wife, who now makes her home in 
Doylestown. Their son, Arthur C. Van 
Pelt, born in 1879, is now residing in 
Bellevue, a suburb of Allegheny City, 
Pennsjdvania. He married Claudia 
Geer, and has two daughters: Marian 
and Margaret. 



Hope, Bucks county; Seth, who now has 
charge of the home fafm; and Clara, 
wife of Harry S. Woolsey, of Doyles- 
town. 



WILLIAM VAN PELT, of Upper 
Makefield, son of Isaac and Sarah (Cat- 
tell) Van Pelt, was born in Wrightstown 
township, Bucks county. May 27, 1833. 
He was reared on the Wrightstown 
farm, and acquired his education at the 
local schools. In 1857 he married Han- 
nah D. Tomlinson, daughter of Samuel 
Tomlinson, of Pineville, Bucks county, 
and took charge of the home farm, 
which he conducted for four j^ears, when 
he removed to Taylorsville, where he 
conducted a temperance hostelry for one 
year. He then removed to Searchville, 
and conducted a small farm for one 
year, and then removed to Titusville, 
New Jersey, and engaged in the butcher 
business. In the fall of 1861 he enlisted 
in Company F, Twenty-second Regiment 
New Jersey Volunteers, for a term of 
nine months, and went to the front in 
defense of his country. At the expira- 
tion of his term of enlistment he re- 
turned to Titusville, and was employed 
in a store there for a short time. His 
father being taken sick, he returned 
home and took care of him until his 
death, May 27, 1865. After his father's 
death he removed to Pineville, and 
worked at carpentering for a short 
time, and then purchased a lot of land 
and erected buildings and began buying 
and slaughtering calves and poultry for 
the New York market, and conducted a 
local butchering business. In 1878 he 
sold out his business to his half-brother. 
Joseph Van Pelt, and Hiel Quinn. and 
purchasing his present farm in Upper 
Makefield, has since devoted Tiis atten- 
tion to farming and stock raising. He 
has bred and owns a number of high 
bred horses. In politics Mr. Van Pelt 
is a Democrat. He is a member of Cap- 
tain Angel Post, G. A. R., of Lambert- 
ville, New Jersey. 

Mrs. Van Pelt died October 17, 1900. 
They have been the parents of seven 
children, four of whom survive: Jose- 
phine, wife of Augustus Poore, a con- 
ductor on the P. & R. R. R., residing at 
Doylestown; Isaac, residing in New 



JOSEPH VAN PELT, deceased, of 
Pineville, Pennsylvania, was born in 
Buckingham township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, October 8, 1844, a son of 
Isaac and Mary Ann (Richardson) Van 
Pelt. He was reared on his father's 
farm, and obtained such education as 
could be acquired at the common 
schools in the vicinity of his home. At 
his father's death, in 1865, he went to 
live with his brother-in-law, Joseph 
Starkey, on the Buckingham farm. In 
1869 he came to Pineville and entered 
the employ of his half-brother, William, 
in the butcher business. Ten years later 
he began the business of butchering in 
partnership with Hiel G. Quin, under 
the firm name of Van Pelt & Co. Mak- 
ing a specialty of pork butchering, they 
built up a large and lucrative trade, 
turning out a finished product of two 
hundred and twenty-five thousand 
pounds in a year. The success attained 
by the firm was entirely due to the en- 
ergy, perseverance and pluck displayed 
in their management of affairs, and also 
by honorable and straightforward busi- 
ness principles which characterized their 
career from the beginning. In politics 
Mr. Van Pelt was a Democrat. 

Mr. Van Pelt married, December 31, 
1874. Rachel R. Tomlinson, daughter of 
William H. and Sarah (Phillips) Tom- 
linson. Five children were born to 
them, of whoin Jennie died at the age 
of two years and eleven months, and 
Harry in his sixteenth year. The sur- 
viving members of the family are: Eu- 
gene K., a bookkeeper in Philadelphia; 
Mary A., a graduate of Doylestown high 
school, resides at home; and Lewis W., 
who also resides at home. William H. 
Tomlinson, father of Mrs. Van Pelt, was 
a son of Samuel and Hannah (Doan) 
Tomlinson, and grandson of Joseph 
Tomlinson, whose mother was a de- 
scendant of William Buckman, who came 
from Sussex county, England, arriving 
here in the "Welcome," 8 mo., 1682. 
Joseph Van Pelt died January 5, 190S. 



CHARLES LANGHORNE TAYLOR, 
of Trevose, son of the late Charles Will- 
iams Taylor, and Sarah (Paxson) Taylor, 
his second wife, was born on the Trevose 
estate in Upper Bensalem township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, the home of the 
Taylor family for several generations, and 
the residence in Colonial times of the 
Growdons, ancestors of the Taylor family. 

The founder of the Taylor family in 
America was Thomas Taylor 6f Virginia, 
who was a son of Thomas Taylor, of Lon- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



lO: 



don, England. The latter wa? a son of 
John, who was a son of one Nathaniel Tay- 
lor, who lived in Colchester, Essex, at the 
time of the commonwealth under Crom- 
well. Thomas Taylor, the American pro- 
genitor of the family, went to Virginia 
when young and became a planter. He was 
prosperous and became possessed of a large 
landed estate which he devised to his son 
Caleb at his death. Thomas Taylor, third 
son of Caleb and grandson of Thomas Tay- 
lor of Virginia, was born in 1753, joined 
the Society of Friends, and settled in York, 
Pennsylvania, where he died in 1S37, aged 
«ighty-four years. His son, Caleb, Jr., was 
born in 1789, and went into the wholesale 
drug business at 24 North Front street, 
Philadelphia, in 1810, at the age of twenty- 
one. In the space of ten years he built up 
a large and profitable business. In 1820 he 
died, leaving a widow, Lydia, and four chil- 
dren : Caleb, third ; George W., Charles 
W., father of the subject of this stetch ; and 
Sarah, wife of the late Thomas Paul, of 
Germantown, whose niece, Mary Paul, mar- 
ried William Waldorf Astor, of New York 
city. Caleb Taylor, Jr., married in 1814 
Lydia Williams, a woman of superior men- 
tal attainments and of distinguished an- 
cestry. She was a lineal descendant of 
Thomas Langhorne and of Lawrence Grow- 
don, the elder, and Joseph Growdon, prom- 
inent men in and early settlers of the pro- 
vince of Pennsylvania ; also from the Eng- 
lish Mauleverers of Arncliffe. She was the 
daughter of Charles Williams and Sarah 
Dickinson, his wife. The original parch- 
ment marriage certificate reciting their mar- 
riage in 1788 by Frends' ceremony, is still 
in the possession of the family, and is an 
interesting document. Charles Williams 
was the son of Hezekiah Williams, Jr. and 
Grace Langhorne Biles, his wife. The lat- 
ter was a daughter of Charles Biles and 
Anne Mary, his wife. Charles Biles was 
the son of William Biles and Sarah Lang- 
horne, his wife. 

William Biles was one of the early set- 
tlers of the county. He took up nearly 
three hundred acres just east of the pres- 
ent borough of Langhorne. He was a man 
of eminent talents and of great influence. 
He was a member of the assembly, over- 
seer of the highways, and a constable un- 
d?r Governor Andros and the Duke of 
York. Sarah Langhorne, his wife, was the 
daughter of Thomas Langhorne, and sister 
of Jeremiah Langhorne, a noted minister of 
the religious Society of Friends, and later 
judge of the provincial courts. Hezekiah 
Williams, Jr., was the son of Hezekiah 
Williams, Sr., and Sarah Abbott, his wife. . 
The latter was the daughter of John 
Abbott, and Anne Mauleverer, his wife. 
Anne Mary, wife of Charles Biles, 
was the daughter of Thomas " Hooper 
and Ganfeier (Growdon) Hooper, who 
was the daughter of Joseph Growdon, 
the father of Lawrence Growdon the 
younger. Joseph Growdon was a son 
of Lawrence Growdon the elder, of Trevose, 



Cornwall, England. He with his son Jo- 
seph in i68r together obtained a grant of 
ten thousand acres of land from the pro- 
prietor of the province of Pennsylvania. At 
the death of Joseph his share of the estate 
went to his wife Anne, and at her death it 
went to Lawrence Growdon the younger. 
The Growdon tract comprised nearly the 
whole of what is now the present township 
of Bensalem. The present Trevose estate 
is all that is now left of it, and it is one of 
the historic estates of Pennsylvania. The 
boundaries of the tract as it then existed 
began on or near the farm of one Charles 
Vandegrift, on the Poquessing creek, and 
extended in an irregular line to the Nesh- 
aminy creek, a short distance above the 
present village of Newportville ; thence fol- 
lowing the Neshaminy until it reached the 
range of the Southampton township line; 
thence along this line to the Poquessing, 
and down that stream until it reached the 
farm of Charles Vandegrift, at the place of 
beginning. The Growdons also took up 
under their patent from Penn three hun- 
dred acres of land in the southern point of 
Bensalem, between the Poquessing creek 
and the Delaware river. 

After a short residence in Philadelphia, 
after he came over from England, Lawrence 
Growdon erected a mansion house at Tre- 
vose, set up a manorial establishment, and 
maintained much pomp and. circumstance. 
The mansion house was at that time a large 
stone building with pointed finish, two stor- 
ies high, with open stairway and hall. When 
it was completed in 1687 it was one of the 
finest residences in the province. Two 
wings, one adjoining the east end of the 
house, and the other adjoining the west end, 
with an open court-yard between them, 
were used for kitchen, scullery, store house 
and slave quarters respectively. At the 
east end of the dwelling house Growdon 
erected a small stone fireproof building, 
with brick arched roof, and an iron door. 
Here the county records were stored while 
the county seat was at Bristol and while 
Growdon was prothonotary, and here at a 
later date were kept many of the valuable 
papers of Benjamin Franklin, who was an 
intimate friend of Joseph Galloway, son-in- 
law of Lawrence Growdon. In the iron door 
at present on this building there still may be 
seen bullet holes from shots fired by soldiers 
in the Continental army during the Revolu- 
tionary war. In front of the mansion house 
the main door opened into the spacious hall, 
and from this door a splendid view could 
be had of distant Jersey and the Delaware 
river, as well as the lower lands of Ben- 
salem, Byberry and Bristol. A fine lawn of 
original forest trees surrounded the house, 
while back were stables and garden. Back 
of the house and towards the "Neshaminy 
river" was Growdon's famous orchard of 
one thousand apple trees of English im- 
portation. This was the home, or Manor 
farm. The farms retained and rented were 
South Trevose, East Belmont, West Bel- 
mont, South Richlieu, West Richlieu, and 



io6 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Richlieu Forest. Part of the soiitlicrn 
lands were subsequently sold to the Rod- 
mans. Gabriel Thomas, in his book en- 
titled "An Historical Description of the 
Province of Pennsylvania," published in 
London in 1698, describes the Growdon 
mansion as situated on the "Neshaminy 
river" and further says that "Judge Grow- 
don hath a very noble and fine house, very 
pleasantly situated ; and likewise a famous 
orchard adjoining to it, wherein are con- 
tained above a thousand apple trees of 
various sorts." Growdon's mansion house, 
which this quaint historian refers to, is 
still standing, and is as solid as it was when 
built over two hundred years ago. There 
have been but slight changes to alter its 
appearance with the exception of a half 
story which was added in 1847. The old 
house- in its day had seen many a dis- 
tinguished guest. Here Penn held council, 
and here laws were formulated for the bet- 
ter government of the province. Here, in 
the next generation, Benjamin Franklin re- 
hearsed his theories regarding the then un- 
discovered science of electricity with his 
friend the eminent and erratic Galloway. 

Lawrence Growdon, the younger, was a 
member of the general assembly from Phila- 
delphia in 1685. In 1693 he was elected to 
represent Bucks county in the same body, 
and served as speaker of the house for a 
number of consecutive terms. He was ap- 
pointed a provincial judge in 1706, and 
was one of the judges of the supreme court 
in 1715. Proud speaks of him as being at- 
torney general in 1725. For further in- 
formation on this subject the reader is re- 
ferred to an interesting paper entitled "The 
Growdon Mansion," read before the Bucks 
County Historical Society, January 19, 1897, 
by Henry W. Watson, Esq., of Langhorne. 

Lawrence Growdon died in 1769, and left 
surviving him two daughters, Elizabeth 
and Grace. The latter married Joseph Gal- 
loway, one of the eminent men of his day. 
He was an able lawyer, and at the begin- 
ning of the Revolution had built up a large 
practice in the courts of Pennsylvania, New 
Jersey and Delaware. He was a man of 
great activity and indefatigable industry. 
He was a member of the provincial assem- 
bly eighteen years, and speaker of the house 
twelve years. He was sent by the assembly 
as a delegate to the Continental congress. 
After the death of Lawrence Growdon, his 
father-in-law, Joseph Galloway, resided at 
Trevose. He believed that the difficulties 
between Great Britain and the Colonies 
which eventually led to the Revolution 
could be settled amicably and without 
bloodshed. These views he boldly upheld 
in the Continental congress. His influence 
was so great that his opponents saw that 
he must be silenced. In the autumn of 
1776, while Galloway was supposed to be 
living at Trevose, a squad of soldiers ap- 
peared there in search of him. They did 
not find him, however, as he had been 
warned and had left. They sacked the man- 
sion, and plundered the wine cellar. As 



they left they fired a parting shot at the 
iron door of the old record office. The bul- 
let holes may be seen to this day. After 
hostilities commenced Galloway upheld the 
British cause. His wife and daughter went 
to Philadelphia, where he rejoined them 
shortly after, entering the city with the 
British army under Sir William Howe. 
Joseph Galloway had one daughter, known 
to history as "Betty." In her day she was 
a great belle. Among her admirers was a 
British army officer, William Roberts, whom 
she afterwards married. Galloway took a 
determined stand against the young man 
and forbade his daughter to have any as- 
sociation with him, and threatened to shoot 
him if he ever came on his property. The 
colored servants sympathized with the 
young lovers and carried letters between 
them. An elopement from Trevose and a 
marriage followed. When Galloway dis- 
covered this he was enraged. He imme- 
diately resolved to sell all his slaves, and ac- 
cordingly advertised and sold them in the 
open court yard at the rear of the mansion 
house and between its wings. This oc- 
curred about ten years before the Revolu- 
tionary war. 

Some time after this, Galloway turned 
his mind to religion and wrote and pub- 
lished a work entitled "Galloway's Com- 
ments on Divine Revelation," an old work 
yet in many libraries. Meeting the far- 
famed Christian philanthropist, Anthony 
Benezet, one of the best men of any age or 
country, Galloway asked him very pom- 
pously if he had read his great work on 
"Divine Revelation." "No," replied Ben- 
ezet, "neither shall I, for I think that a 
man who sells his fellow beings at public 
sale had better leave Divine Revelation 
alone, and everything else that is Divine." 

To prevent her property from being con- 
fiscated, Galloway's wife Grace, by her will 
dated December 30, 1781, and recorded at 
Doylestown, devised all her real estate, in- 
cluding Trevose, to nine persons therein 
named, their heirs and assigns, without any 
restrictions or limitations whatever. The 
devisees took possession and held her estate 
until in iSoi, when the survivors of them 
recorded in Doylestown "A Declaration of 
Trust," in which they declared that they 
held the estate in trust for Elizabeth Gallo- 
way, her heirs and assigns, covenanting to 
convey at her request. The tracts Trevose, 
South Trevose, East Belmont, West Bel- 
mont, Richlieu, and Richlieu Forest were so 
conveyed to Elizabeth Galloway Roberts, 
and were sold by her grandchildren to 
George Williams, great-uncle of the subject 
of this sketch. 

The Galloways lived at Trevose in ac- 
cordance with their social position and 
wealth and were looked up to as great 
folk, by the people of the community. On 
every fair day "Betty" Galloway could be 
seen cantering on horseback over the roads 
of the ncighhorhnod, followed by a colored 
groom. Her riding habit has been min- 
utely described by a local historian : 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



107 



"The habit consisted of a black hat 
and phinie, with coat and bodice and 
flowing skirt of green velvet, faced with 
gold." Her father wore the short trous- 
ers of the day with silk stockings and a 
powdered wig on all important occasions. 

An interesting discovery was made at 
Trevose in 1888. It was part of the neigh- 
borhood tradition that before Mrs. Grace 
(Growdon) Galloway was forced to leave 
her home at the time of the Revolution, she 
buried a good deal of her treasure, which 
was too bulky to take with her. In August, 
1888, this tradition was confirmed. A la- 
borer while working on the farm unearthed 
the remains of what had been a box of rare 
and costly eggshell or India china. It was 
unfortunately nearly all broken when found, 
but enough remained to show that it had 
been hand-painted with pictures of Chinese 
life, with the funny and impossible perspec- 
tive so much in use by the artists of the 
Flowery Kingdom for the last thousand 
years. Just enough remained to show 
what once had been. They had evidently 
been carefully packed. Saucers and tea 
plates were found standing on their edges 
in rows, and there was a strong partition in 
the box separating them from the larger 
and heavier pieces of china. There were 
also a number of pieces found belonging to 
a children's toy -tea set of common blue 
ware. There was but one other article de- 
serving of mention, and this was a bowl of 
the commonest ware ornamented with a 
likeness of King George III., taken when he 
was a young man, with the words "George 
III., King," on a scroll at the base of the 
portrait. There seems to have been no 
reason why so worthless an article should 
have been hidden away, excepting that, as it 
indicated the loyalty of the family, it was 
dangerous to allow it to be exposed to view. 
A similar box of china was dug up in 1847 
by the late William Ridge, who was then 
lessee of the property. 

In 1847 the Burtons, grandchildren of 
Betty Galloway, sold Trevose to their sec- 
ond cousin, George Williams, a lineal des- 
cendant of the Growdons. At his death he 
devised it to his niece Lydia (Williams) 
Taylor, wife of Caleb Taylor ; Lydia at her 
death devised it to her son, the late Charles 
W. Taylor, father of the subject of this 
sketch. It is somewhat singular that, from 
the time of the Growdons down to the time 
of the Burtons, there is no mention in any 
deed or will conveying the prope'rty to any 
male heir being born to the estate. There 
has always been a female heir in each gen- 
eration for whom the property has been 
held in trust. From 1681 to the present time 
the property has been sold but twice. 
Through the Williams family the present 
owner is a lineal descendant from the 
Growdons, the first purchaser from William 
Penn, and while the property has not al- 
ways descended in a direct line, yet it is 
interesting to note that it has never passed 
out of the hands of the descendants of Law- 
rence Growdon the elder, since the time he 



received it by grant from Penn, the pro- 
prietor of the province of Pennsylvania. 

Lydia (Williams) Taylor, wife of Caleb 
Taylor, was also a lineal descendant of 
Thomas Langhorne, father of Jeremiah 
Langhorne, of Langhorne Park. The lat- 
ter was an interesting contemporary of 
Lawrence Growdon. He was a branch of 
the Langhorne family of Wales, "a family 
of much wealth, and great note." They 
were the owners of all the country from 
St. Davids' to Carmarthan, over sixty 
miles. St.' Brides' was the family seat of 
the Langhornes, settled by one Thomas 
Langhorne during the reign of Richard II. 
Langhorne Castle was dismantled by Crom- 
well. Thomas Langhorne, of Kendall meet- 
ing, Westmoreland, England, came to Bucks 
county in 1684. He took up some eight 
hundred acres of land covering the ground 
between the present borough of Langhorne 
and Glen Lake, and was one of the first set- 
tlers. His mansion house was situated 
about one half-mile south of the present 
borough of Langhorne ]\Ianor, and on the 
property now owned by J. Hibbs Buckman, 
Esq. He had four children: Jeremiah; 
Elizabeth, who married Lawrence Grow- 
don; Sarah, who married William Biles; 
and Grace, who died at the age of thirty- 
four, unmarried. 

Jeremiah Langhorne was farfamed as one 
of the ablest ministers of the religious So- 
ciety of Friends. He was chief justice of 
the province, and held court in many places 
in it. He lived a single life with his sister 
Grace until her death, and after that alone 
with his servants. Besides Langhorne Park, 
his residence, he owned several thousand 
acres in Lehigh county. As to the date of 
his death there is no known record. His 
remains are said to lie in the Middletown 
meeting graveyard in the borough of Lang- 
horne. His will was proved in 1774. By- 
marriages and deaths without issue Jere- 
miah Langhorne's estates went largely to 
the Growdons and the Galloways of Tre- 
vose. For an interesting essay on "Jeremiah 
Langhorne and his Times" the reader is 
referred to a paper read before the Bucks 
County Historical Society on August 9, 
1898, by Samuel C. Eastb'urn. Esq., of 
Langhorne, from which much of the infor- 
mation herein contained is taken. 

The Williams family are also descended 
from the Mauleverer? of Arncliffe, Eng- 
land. Hezekiah Williams, Jr. (ante) great- 
grandfather of the late Charles W. Taylor, 
was the son of Hezekiah Williams, Sr., and 
Sarah Abbott, his wife. The latter was a 
daughter of Anne ISIauleverer and John 
Abbott, of Burlington county, New Jersey, 
who were married April 16, 1696. John 
Abbott was born in Nottinghamshire in 
1663, and arrived in Philadelphia in 1684. 
Anne Mauleverer was the daughter of Ed- 
mund Mauleverer, of West Auyton, York- 
shire, and Anne Pearson, his wife. He died 
27 November, 1679. Edmund's father was 
James, who married Beatrice, daughter of 
Sir Timothv Hutton, Bart. Records in St. 



io8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Mary's church, York, show that he was 
buried there 25 April, 1664. James's father 
was William, who married Eleanor, daugh- 
ter of Richard Aldborough. William 
Mauleverer was buried at x\rncliffe, the 
familj' seat of the JNIauleverers, 11 April, 
1618. William's father was Sir Edmund, 
who married Mary, daughter of Sir Chris- 
topher Danby, Bart. He was buried at 
Arncliffe, 27 April 1571. Sir Edmund's 
father was Robert, who married Alice, 
daughter of Sir Nimian de Markenfield. 
Robert's father was Sir William ]\Iaule- 
verer (knighted at Flodden in 1513 )who 
married Anne, daughter of William, first 
Lord Conyers, and Anne de Neville his 
wife. The latter was a daughter of Ralph 
de Neville, third earl of Westmoreland. 
Lord Conyers was the son of Sir John 
Conyers, Bart, and Alice de Neville, his 
wife. Through the Nevilles, and John of 
Gaunt, the line may be readily traced to 
Edward IIL, and so on back, by any one 
familiar with English history. For further 
research on this matter the reader is re- 
ferred to "Descent of Anne Mauleverer 
Abbott," by Charles Marshall and John B. 
Clement, 1903. Times Printing House, 
Philadelphia. See also "Inglesby Arncliffe, 
and its Owners," by William Brown, F. S. 
A., 1901, John Whitehead & Son, Alfred 
street. Boar Lane, Leeds. The descent in 
all its details is beautifully traced in the 
Marshall-Clement chart, to which the 
reader is referred. 

Sarah (Paxson) Taylor, second wife of 
the late Charles W. Taylor, and mother of 
the subject of this sketch, was born April 
13, 1841, at "Brushy Park," near Edding- 
ton, Pennsylvania, and died at Trevose, 
February 22, 1889. She was the daughter 
of Joseph Paxson and Elizabeth (Gallaher) 
Paxson, his wife, and a member of the Rod- 
man family. Joseph Paxson was born Feb- 
ruary 12, 1803, and died September 24, 1867. 
He was the eldest son of John Paxson, of 
Brookfield, and Sarah (Pickering) Paxson, 
his wife. John Paxson's father was Joseph, 
who married Sarah Rodman. He was born 
25 December, 1744, and resided at Brook- 
field until his death in 1795. Sarah Rod- 
man's father was John Rodman (fourth) of 
Brookfield, who married (second) Mary 
Harrison Rodman. Pie was born in 1714 
at Flushing, Long Island. He removed to 
Burlington, New Jersey, with his father, in 
1726; thence September i, 1748, to Bensa- 
lem township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
residing until his death in 1795 on the farm 
called Brookfield, which he purchased from 
the Growdons. His father was John Rod- 
man (third) who married Margaret Grosse. 
John Rodman (third) was born in the Is- 
land of Barhadoes, May 14, 1679, and ac- 
companied his father to Newport, Rhode 
Island, in 1682. He resided at Newport 
after he became of age. and was admitted 
as a freeman of that city May i, 1706. He 
removed to Flushing, Long Island, in 1712, 
where he continued to reside until 1726. He 
was a member of the Society of Friends, 



and a practicing physician. He was a mem- 
ber of the ninth assembly of the province . 
of New Jersey in 1727, from the city of 
Burlington. From 1738 until his death, a 
period of eighteen years, he acted as 
King's Councillor for New Jersey. King 
George II. appointed him 8 January, 1741, a 
member of a commission to settle the con- 
troversy between the Mohegan Indians and 
the colony of Connecticut. He was the son 
of John Rodman (second) and Mary 
(Scammon) Rodman, his wife. John Rod- 
man (second) was born in 1653. His name 
appears among the inhabitants of Christ 
church parish, Barbadoes, December 22, 
1679, as the owner of forty-seven acres of 
land and thirteen negroes. He was a mem- 
ber of the Religious Society of Friends, 
and while he lived in Barbadoes was fined 
1)350 pounds of sugar "for default of ap- 
pearing in the troop." He purchased land 
in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1682, and in 
Burlington, New Jersey, in 1686. He died 
July 10, 1731, at the age of seventy-eight. 
He was the son of John Rodman (first) of 
the Island of Barbadoes, the progenitor of 
the Rodman family in America, and Eliza- 
beth Rodman, his wife. Of John Rodman 
little is known. He died in the Island of 
Barbadoes some time between the i6th Sep- 
tember and 4th December, 1686. His will 
bears the former date, and it was proved on 
the latter date. From whence he came is 
not now known. No memorials now exist 
in the family showing this fact, and the re- 
searches necessary to discover it from other 
sources have not been made. The only fact 
which tends to throw any light at all upon 
the subect is found on page 2^ of Rutty's 
"History of the Quakers in Ireland," pub- 
lished in 1751 : "In the year 1655 ^oi" wear- 
ing his hat on in the Assizes in New Ross, 
was John Rodman committed to goal by 
Judge Louder, kept a prisoner three months 
and then banished the country." The infer- 
ence from this passage is that John Rod- 
man originally came from Ireland, and 
upon his banishment went to the Island of 
Barbadoes. See "A Genealogy of the Rod- 
man Family from 1620 to 1886," by Charles 
Henry Jones, Philadelphia, 1886, Allen 
Lane & Scott, publishers. 

The Brookfield Farm above mentioned 
as the home of the Rodmans for so many 
generations is still owned by their descend- 
ants, and the subject of this sketch inher- 
ited an interest in it throiigh his mother. It 
is worthy of remark that from the early 
part of the seventeenth century until the 
present time, a period of two hundred years, 
this property has never been out of their 
hands, but has been owned and occupied by 
seven or eight successive generations of 
the family. 

Charles W. Taylor, father of the subject 
of this sketch, was born in Philadelphia in 
t5i7. He was educated at the Westtown 
Friends' School, and at the Friends' Acad- 
emy, then on Fourth street, below Chestnut 
street, Philadelphia. Soon after coming of 
age he became associated with his great 





^,^^^.^^e^^^?^ // o 




HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



109 



uncle, George Williams, in the China and 
East India trade. In 1847 he gave up active 
business owing to ill health, and took up his 
residence at Trevose, where he resided until 
his death, May 30, 1893. He was a man of 
great force o'f character, of earnest piety, 
and much respected by those among whom 
â– he lived. In early life he was a member of 
the Society of Friends, as were all his fam- 
ily before him. In later years he became an 
Episcopalian. He was an attendant at 
Christ church, Eddington, and Grace Prot- 
estant Episcopal church, Hulmeville. For 
a number of years he was vestryman and 
rector's warden of the latter church, and 
represented it at the Episcopal convocation 
of Germantown. While he was possessed 
of more than ordinary ability and took a 
great interest in the public affairs of his 
time, yet he was of a retiring disposition, 
and, although he was often strongly urged, 
he never held public office. While living a 
retired life at Trevose he was active in 
every work for the advancement of the 
community. He was a fluent and graceful 
writer, and a frequent contributor to cur- 
rent newspapers and magazines on flori- 
cultural and historical subjects. He was 
especially interested in the latter subject, 
and was one of the charter members of the 
Bucks County Historical Society. 

Charles Langhorne Taylor, the subject 
of this sketch, was prepared for college by 
a private tutor, and at the Abington 
Friends' School, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. 
He entered the University of Pennsylvania 
in 1893 and was graduated B. S. in 1897 ; 
attended Harvard College, but did not 
graduate; was graduated LL. B. from Har- 
vard Law School, 1900; also graduated LL. 
B. from the Law School of the University 
of Pennsylvania, 1901 ; was admitted to 
practice law at the Philadelphia bar on mo- 
tion of George Wharton Pepper, Esq., in 
1901 ; was admitted to the bar of the su- 
preme court of Pennsylvania in 1904, and 
has practiced his profession in Philadelphia 
since 1901. In the latter year he was one of 
the organizers of the Bucks County Coun- 
try Club at Langhorne, near Trevose ; later 
became one of its charter members, and a 
member of the board of governors; was 
elected secretary of the club in 1904. He is 
a Republican in politics, and a member of 
several clubs and societies, among which 
may be mentioned the Harvard Club of 
Philadelphia, the Bucks County Historical 
Society, and Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania. 

BENJAMIN J. TAYLOR, of Bristol, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, president of 
the Farmers' National Bank of Bucks 
county and prominently associated with the 
business interests of lower Bucks, was 
born in Burlington county. New Jersey, 
and is a representative of a distinguished 
family that has been prominently identified 
with the business, official and social life of 
• Bucks and Philadelphia counties, and of the 



neighboring state of New Jersey for over 
two centuries. 

Samuel Taylor, the emigrant ancestor of 
the family, was a native of the parish of 
Dore, Derbyshire, England, and sailed 
from Bristol, England, in the fly-boat, 
"Martha," in the year 1677, and landed at 
the point where Burlington, New Jersey, 
now stands. He was one of the proprietors 
of West Jersey, owning one thirty-second 
share in the lands of West Jersey, the 
papers for which were executed by his 
brother, William Taylor, of Dore, county 
of Derby, England, who had purchased the 
land of George Hutchinson, when in Eng- 
land and sold it to Samuel, but being lost 
before reaching America, the land was 
conveyed to Samuel by Hutchinson in 1681. 
He located in Chesterfield township, Bur- 
lington county, owning large tracts of land 
there and elsewhere. He died in December, 
1723, leaving a family of eight children, 
four sons, John, George, William and Rob- 
ert, and four daughters who married into 
prominent families of New Jersey. 

Robert Taylor, youngest son of Samuel, 
was the executor of his father's will and 
inherited a large portion of the homestead 
tract, which descended to his son Anthony, 
the great-grandfather of the subject 
of this sketch, and remained in the tenure 
of his descendants until quite recently. The 
five hundred acre tract known as Brookdale 
farm was Robert's portion. His son, An- 
thony, who inherited Brookdale and lived 
thereon until his death in 1785, was an ar- 
dent patriot during the revolution and ren- 
dered material service to the cause of na- 
tional liberty. 

Anthony Taylor, Jr., third son of An- 
thony, and great-grandson of Samuel, the 
founder, was born at Brookdale farm in 
1772, and when quite young was placed with 
John Thompson, a prominent merchant of 
Philadelphia, to be trained for a mercan- 
tile and business career. On attaining his 
majority he formed a partnership with 
Thomas Newbold. whose sister Mary He 
later married, and engaged extensively in 
the East India trade, the firm name being 
Taylor & Newbold. In 1810 Mr. Taylor 
retired from active business pursuits and 
settled at Sunbury," his fine country seat 
in Bristol township, Bucks county, which 
had been his summer home for some years 
previously.. He later purchased several 
other large tracts of land in lower Bucks 
county, and at his death in 1837 was the 
largest landowner in the county. Anthony 
Taylor married, in 1802, Mary Newbold, 
tenth child of Caleb Newbold, of Spring- 
field township. Burlington county. New 
Jersey, and a descendant of Michael New- 
bold, of Sheffield Park, Yorkshire, Eng- 
land, who in 1678 purchased one eighth of 
three nintieth parts of the province of West 
Jersey, and settled in Springfield townshif), 
Burlington county, where he died in 1693, 
leaving a large number of children and 
grandchildren, some of whom were still Jn 



IIO 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



England. Many of his descendants even- 
tually became residents of Bucks county. 
Anthony and Mary (Newbold) Taylor 
were the parents of eleven children, Robert, 
Anthony, Sarah, William, Edward, Law- 
rence, Michael, Caleb Newbold, Mary Aim, 
Thomas, Emma L. and Franklin. The 
seventh of these children, Hon. Caleb 
Newbold Taylor, born at "Sunbury," July 
27," 1814, was for over fifty years one of 
the most prominent men in Bucks county, 
being an acknowledged leader tirst of the 
Whig and later of the Republican party in 
Bucks county, representing his county in 
state and national conventions almost con- 
tinuously after attaining his majority, and 
four times was the candidate of his district 
for congress, being twice elected, in 1866 
and 1868, respectively. He was also one of 
the most prominent business men in the 
â– county and amassed a large estate, owning 
at one time about 3,000 acres of land in 
Bucks county. He was president of the 
Farmers' National Bank of Bucks county, 
of which his father, Anthony Taylor, had 
been president for many years at his death 
in 1837. He died unmarried. 

Dr. Robert Taylor, eldest son of An- 
thony and Mary (Newbold) Taylor, was 
the father of the subject of this sketch. He 
was born in Philadelphia in 1803, and was 
reared in Bucks county. On attaining 
manhood settled in Philadelphia, removing 
later to Burlington county. New Jersey, and 
late in life to Bristol, Bucks county, resid- 
ing at Sunbury Farm, where he died in 
August, 1872, at the age of sixty-nine years 
and was buried in the graveyard of the 
Protestant Episcopal church of St. James, 
the less, at the Falls of Schuylkill. Pie mar- 
ried Elizabeth Jones, daughter of Benjamin 
Jones, of Philadelphia, and a great-grand- 
daughter of John Jones, a large landowner 
in Bucks and Philadelphia counties in 
colonial times. Dr. Robert and Eliza- 
beth Ash (Jones) Taylor were the pa- 
rents of five children: Benjamin J., Cap^- 
tain Anthony, Robert, Fr&nces, and Alice 
J. Elizabeth Taylor, the mother of 
these children, died at Bristol, January 
29. 1893, aged eighty years. 

Captain Anthony Taylor, the second 
son of Dr. Robert Taylor, born in Bur- 
lington county, New Jersey, October 11, 
1837, rendered distinguished services to 
his countrj' during the civil war. He 
â– enlisted August 8, 1862, in the Fifteenth 
Pennsylvania Cavalry as a private, was 
made sergeant, October 30, 1862; first 
sergeant, March i. 1863; first lieutenant 
of Company A, May 8, 1863: and Cap- 
tain. June I, 1865; having had command 
of the company as lieutenant, command- 
ing almost from the date of his commis- 
sion as first lieutenant. Prior to 1865 
he was under Brigadier General Rosen- 
crans, in the Army of the Cuml)erland, 
and participated in the battles of An- 
tietam, Stone River, Chickamauga and 
many other engagements. From June 
I, 1865 until tlie close of the war he 



served on the stafif of General William 
J. Palmer, as aide-de-camp, and was 
honorably mustered out June 21, 1865. 
In 1893 he was awarded a medal of 
honor by the United States congress for 
signal acts of bravery and meritorious 
service. He married, February 21, 1871. 
Caroline Fletcher Johnson, daughter of 
Lawrence and Mary (Winder) Johnson, 
and died in Philadelphia, May 21, 1894, 
leaving two daughters, Mary Lawrence, 
now wife of Bromley Wharton, private 
secretary to Governor Pennypacker; and 
Elizabeth Elmslie, wife of Hcruston- 
Dunn. 

Benjamin J. Taylor was born in Bur- 
lington county,. New Jersey, and re- 
ceived his education at the Friends' 
Select School and at the Protestant 
Episcopal Academy of Philadelphia. He 
received a thorough business training, 
and followed mercantile pursuits in 
Philadelphia for eight years. In 1863 he 
served for three months in the Grey Re- 
serves, and was at the shelling of Car- 
lisle by General Fitz Hugh Lee. He 
also saw military service in Tennessee 
and Mississippi as volunteer aide on the 
staff of dififerent commanders. After 
retiring from active mercantile pursuits 
he made his residence at the old fam- 
ily homestead at Sunbury Farm, in 
Bristol township, and devoted much of 
his time to the transaction of business, 
acting as agent for others and assisting 
in the care and management of the large 
estate belonging to the family. He has 
been a director of the Farmers' National 
Bank of Bristol for many years, and on 
the death of Pierson Mitchell, in 1894, 
was elected its president, representing 
the third generation of his family in suc- 
cession to serve in that capacity. Mr. 
Taylor has inherited many of the ster- 
ling business qualities of his ancestors, 
and is interested in niost of the local 
business enterprises. He and his sisfer 
Alice are the owners of Sunbury Farmj 
comprising 400 acres, which has been 
the home of his ancestors and their fam- 
ilies for four generations, covering a 
period of over a century. He is a mem- 
ber of H. Clay Beatty Post, G. A. R., 
and other social, fraternal, and patriotic 
associations. 



THE HICKS FAMILY of Bucks 
county descend from Pilgrim stock, 
their first American progenitor being 
Robert Hicks, who landed at Plymouth, 
Massachusetts, November 11, 1621, hav- 
ing sailed from London in the ship 
"Fortune," which followed the "May- 
riower," and brought over those left be- 
hind the previous year by that famous 
t'essel. The family of Robert Hicks 
were natives of Gloucestershire, Eng- 
land, and traced their ancestry in an 
unbroken line back to Sir Ellis Hicks, 
who was knighted by Edward, the Black 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Ill 



Prince, on the battle field of Poitiers, 
September 9, 1356, for conspicuous brav- 
ery in capturing a stand of colors from 
the French. 

Robert Hicks settled at Duxbury, 
Massachusetts, and died there at an ad- 
vanced age. His sons John and Stephen 
in 1642 joined an English company 
which acquired by patent an extensive 
tract of land about Hempstead and 
Flushing. Long Island. Stephen Hicks 
purchased several thousand acres at 
Little Neck, Long Island, and erected a 
large mansion where he lived to an ad- 
vanced age and died without leaving 
male descendants. 

John Hicks settled at Hempstead, and 
from him are descended the extensive 
family of the name on Long Island, in 
New York, Philadelphia and Bucks 
county, as well as in many other parts 
of the Union. He was educated at Ox- 
ford, and was a man of intelligence and 
natural force of character, and there- 
fore soon became a leader in the youth- 
ful colony, and took an active part in 
public affairs, his name appearmg in 
nearly all the iinportant transactions of 
the time. 

Thomas Hicks, only son of John, in- 
herited his father's intellectual ability 
and force of character, and occupied a 
prominent position in public and social 
life, filling many positions of trust and 
honor. He was the first judge of 
Queens county, New York, and filled 
that office for many years. In 1666 he 
obtained from Governor Nicolls a pat- 
ent for four thousand acres of land in- 
cluding Great Neck, Long Island, and 
lands adjacent, and lived there in Eng- 
lish manorial style. He was a remark- 
able man in many respects, and retained 
his mental and physical powers unim- 
paired to an extreme old age. He was 
twice married, his first wife being Mary 
Washburne, by whom he had two sons. 
Thomas and Jacob, the latter being the 
father of the famous Quaker preacher, 
Elias Hicks, the founder of that branch 
of the Society of Friends known to this 
day as Hicksites. Judge Hicks married 
(second) Mary Dought3^ by whom he 
had ten children — six sons; Isaac. Will- 
iam, Stephen, John, Charles, Benjamin; 
anl four daughters; Phebe. Charity, 
]\Iary and Elizabeth. A paragraph in 
the "New York Post Boy" of January 
26, 1749, in referring to the death of 
Judare Hicks., says: "he left behind him 
of his own offspring above three hun- 
dred children. grandchildren. great- 
grandchildren and great-great-grand- 
children." He died in his one hundredth 
year. 

Isaac Hicks, eldest son of the Judge 
by his second marriage with Mary 
Dought3\ was, like his father, a prom- 
inent man in public affairs. He was 
judge of Queens county. Long Island-, 
for the years 1730-1738, and a member 



of the colonial assembly of New York 
from that county, 1716 to 1739. He mar- 
ried Elizabeth Moore, and they were 
the parents of evelen children — nine 
sons: Charles, Benjamin, Isaac, Gdbert, 
James, Thomas. Henry, John, Edward; 
and two daughters, Margaret and Mary. 
Gilbert Hicks, fourth son of Isaac 
and Elizabeth (Moore) Hicks, was 
born in Queens county. New York, Sep- 
tember 19, 1720, and married April 24, 
1746, Mary Rodman, born February 17, 
1717, a daughter of Joseph Rodman. 
They were the ancestors of all the 
Hickses of Bucks county. Both were 
born at Flushing. Long Island. As a 
wedding present to the youthful couple, 
Joseph Rodman conveyed to them six 
hundred acres of land in Bensalem 
township, on the Neshaminy creek, 
twenty miles northeast of Philadel- 
phia, which he had recently purchased. 
Hither they came in 1747 and made their 
home in a comfortable log house untfl 
they erected a more commodious dwell- 
ing, to defray the expense of which he 
sold off two hundred acres of the land 
to Lawrence Growdon. They subse- 
quently sold the remaining four hun- 
dred acres and purchased one hundred 
acres, coming to a point at Four-Lanes- 
End, (now Langhorne) on which he 
erected in 1763 a commodious brick 
house which is still standing. 

On June 9, 1752, Gilbert Hicks was 
commissioned by the governor and 
council one of the justices of the peace 
for Bucks county, and on May li, 1761, 
he was commissioned chief justice of 
the court of common pleas. On March 
29. he and Hugh Hartshorne were com- 
missioned by John Penn, then gover- 
nor, to hold court for the trial of ne- 
groes, whether slave or free. Gilbert 
Hicks was a man of superior mental 
abilities, and stood very high in the com- 
munity, commanding the respect of all. 
On July 9, 1774, he was chairman of a 
public meeting held at Newtown, then 
the county seat of Bucks, in pursuance 
of previous notice, and in a short ad- 
dress explained the objects of the meet- 
ing as being to consider the injury and 
distress occasioned by the numerous 
acts of oppression inflicted on the col- 
onies by the English parliament, in 
which the colonies were not represented, 
and entirely concurred in the resolu- 
tions then adopted, looking toward a 
congress composed of delegates from 
the different colonies, "to use every 
lawful endeavor to obtain relief and to 
form and promote a plan of union be- 
tween the parent country and colonies." 
See Penna. Archives, Second Series, 
Vol. XV, page 343. 

When, however. General Howe issued 
his proclamation calling on the loyal 
subjects of George III to lay down their 
arms and seek peaceful means of re- 
dress. Judge Hicks, being greatly im- 



112 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



pressed with, the power of Enghind and 
the futility of armed resistance, while 
he condemned the injustices ijf the 
mother country toward the colonics, and 
being conscientious in regard to the 
oath he had taken as a justice, read the 
proclamation from the court house steps 
at Newtown, and counselled his friends 
and neighbors to pause before it was too 
late, and to postpone any over action or 
resistance until the colonies grew 
stronger. Excitement ran high at the 
time, and he was branded as a traitor 
and forced to flee the country and spend 
the remainder of his days in Nova 
Scotia, where he was supported by a 
pension from the British government, 
and where he 'was waylaid and mur- 
dered by highwaymen on March 8, 1786, 
for the quarterly pension he had just 
drawn. From the nature of the advice 
he gave to his eldest son Isaac, who 
visited him while in New York imme- 
diately after his flight, there is every 
reason to believe that if reasoned with 
calmly he would have realized that mat- 
ters had progressed too far for peaceful 
measures to prevail, and would have 
lived to render to the patriot cause the 
same eminent service that he gave to 
his county under royal authority. His 
extensive property was confiscated, and 
his family reduced to almost penury. 
His son Isaac, wdio at the time was clerk 
of the several courts of Bucks county, 
was cast under suspicion and removed 
from office. Mary Rodman Hicks, the 
wife of Gilbert, died August 17, 1769, 
years before his flight and disgrace. They 
were the parents of five children: i. 
Isaac, born April 21, 1748, married his 
first cousin. Catharine Hicks, daughter 
of Colonel Edward Hicks and Violetta 
Ricketts, of New Jersey. 2. Sarah, born 
November 3, 1749, died unmarried. 3. 
Elizabeth, born April 7, 1751, married 
June 4, 1768, General Augustine Willet, 
of Bensalem township. 4. Mary, born 
January 15, 1753. married May 8, 1772, 
Samuel Kirkbride. 5. Joseph Rodman, 
born November 12, 1756, married July 
29, 1777, his cousin, Margaret Thomas'. 
Joseph Rodman Hicks purchased in 
1780 a farm of one hundred acres near 
Dolington, in Upper Makefield town- 
ship, and spent the remainder of his life 
there. He died May 28, 1816. His wife 
was an approved minister among 
Friends at Makefield Meeting, adjoin- 
ing the farm, the land upon which the 
meeting house was built being orig- 
inally part of the farm. She continued 
, in the ministry from 1790 to the date 
of her death. May 2, 1842. In 1822 Mrs. 
Hicks and her children sold the farm, 
and she took up her residence with her 
son Charles in Philadelphia. 
â–  Joseph Rodman and Margaret 
(Thomas) Hicks *were the parents of 
eight children, viz: Charles, married 
Elizabeth Cooper; Joseph, married Jane 



Bond; Elizabeth, married Jacob Woll- 
ery; Margaret, married Amos Carlile; 
Gilbert, married Phoebe Mathews; 
Mary, married Elias Slack; William, 
died unmarried; and Isaiah married 
Mary P'lannagan. 

Joseph Hicks, second son of Joseph 
Rodman and Margaret (Thomas) Hicks, 
born June 12, 1780, died October 4, 
1827, married January 2, 1804, Jane 
Bond, of New^town, Bucks county, and 
had nine children, the seventh of whom 
was Tliornas Hicks, the eminent artist. 
Cha-rles Hicks, eldest son of Joseph 
RodmarT and Margaret (Thomas) Hicks, 
w-as born June 12, 1778. At the age of 
sixteen years he removed to Philadel- 
phia, and learned the carpenter trade, 
which he followed in that city during the 
ative years of his life. He died April 
20, 1855. He was married August 10, 
1804, to Elizabeth Cooper, born June 
19, 1780, died April 17, 1858, and they 
were the parents of nine children, viz,: 
William C, Isaac, Ann C, Joseph, Wil- 
let, Charles C, Cooper, Rodman, and 
Elizabeth. 

Willet Hicks, fifth son of Charles and 
Elizabeth (Cooper) Hicks, born Feb- 
ruary 21, 1814, died December 12, 1853, 
married April 16, 1836, Margaret Mint- 
zer, born June 26, 1816, died January 5, 
1899, and had six children, viz.: George 
A.; Edwin M.; S. Pllizabeth; Albert M.; 
William U.; and Harry H. 

George A. Hicks, to whom we are in- 
debted for a history of the earlier gener- 
ations of the Hicks family, is the eld- 
est son of Willet and Margaret Mintzer 
Hicks, and was born in Philadelphia. 
Earlj' in life he learned the trade of a 
plumber, and has followed that business 
to the present time in his native city. He 
takes deep interest in Bucks county, the 
home of his ancestors. He is one of the 
active members of the Bucks County 
Historical Society, and is a regular at- 
tendant at its meetings, and contribut- 
ing largely to its success. Previous to 
manhood he imited himself with the 
United .States Hose Company, No. 14, 
(late Volunteer Fire Department of 
Philadelphia) and served as its secre- 
tary for many years. He is a member of 
the Veteran Firemen's Association, the 
Firemen's Association, State of Penn- 
sylvania, and a life member of the As- 
sociation for. the Relief of Disabled Fire- 
men. He is an honorary life member 
of Columbia Lodge No. 91, F. and A. 
M., and an honorary life member of 
Harmony Chapter. No. 52, R. A. M.; a 
member of the Master Plumbers' As- 
sociation, and a stockholder in the Mer- 
cantile Library, all of Philadelphia. Mr. 
Hicks was never married. 



EDWARD P. HICKS. Isaac Hicks, 
the eldest son of Gilbert and Mary 
(Rodman) Hicks, an account of whose 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



113 



ancestry from the Pilgrim ancestor 
Robert Hicks down to his father Gilbert 
Hicks, is given in the preceding sketch, 
was born in Bensalem township, April 
21, 1748, and died in Newtown, Bucks 
county, October 5, 1836. He received a 
good education, and was a man of fine 
intellectual ability and excellent busi- 
ness capacity. On June 6, 1772, he was 
commissioned prothonotary and clerk of 
the several courts of Bucks county, and 
filled those positions with eminent abil- 
ity until 1777, when he was directed to 
turn in all papers and books relating to 
these offices to be deposited in the fire- 
proof at Newtown, the political views 
of his father (Gilbert Hicks) having 
cast a suspicion upon him. He was 
also commissioned a justice of the peace 
an April 9, 1774, and held that office for 
three years. , The continued good and 
loyal deportment of the son had its 
proper effect to convince the public 
that the suspicion was groundless. After 
the close of the Revolution he was again 
commissioned a justice of the peace, 
and held the office many years while re- 
siding at Newtown. His office for many 
years was in the western end of what is 
now the White Hall Hotel. Here by 
close attention to his duties and an hon- 
orable course of life he built up a large 
business. It is said that in dress he ad- 
hered to the old style of breeches and 
knee-buckles. 

He was married at Newtown, on No- 
vember 17, 1771, to his cousin, Catharine 
Hicks, daughter of Col. Edward and 
Violetta (Ricketts) Hicks, who was born 
in New York, November 4, 1745, and 
died at Burlington, New Jersey, Oc- 
tober ig. 1781. Her brother William 
was prothonotary of Bucks county, 1770- 
1772. The children of Isaac and Cath- 
arine Hicks, were : 

1. Gilbert Edward, born March li, 
J773, who became a prominent physician 
at Catawissa, Pennsylvania, where hd- 
married Catharine Hibbs, daughter of 
James Hibbs. His grandchildren now 
living are: Dr. J. J. John, historian and 
prominent business man of Shamokin, 
who spent some little time in Bucks 
county in early life ; Emma Walters, of 
Catawissa; and Anna M. Ormsby, widow 
of Henry George Ormsby, of Philadel- 
phia. 

2. William Richard, born November 
17, 1774, died February 5, 1777- 

3. Edward Henry, born June 29, 1776, 
died August 20, 1776. 

4. Eliza Violetta, born March 17, 1778. 
married October 4, 1807, Thomas G. 
Kennedy, sheriff of Bucks county for 
the term 1815-1817. She was drowned 
in Newtown creek, near her home in 
Newtown, July 28, 1817, in an effort, to 
save her child, who had fallen in the 
creek. 

. 5. Edward, born April 2, 1780, died 
August 23, 1849. 
8-3 



Isaac Hicks married (second) October 
20, 1792, Mary (Gilbert) Young, widow 
of Edward Young, of Philadelphia, who 
was born August 3, 1757, and died at 
Newtown February 22, 1812. 

Edward Hicks, youngest son of Isaac 
and Catharine, was born at Attleboro 
(now Langhorne, then known as Four- 
Lanes-End) April 2, 1780. His mother 
dying when he was but eighteen months 
old, he was left to the care of her faith- 
ful servant Jane, a colored woman. His 
father's home was entirely broken up 
by the confiscation of all the property 
belonging to his father, Gilbert Hicks, 
and this, with sickness and deaths in 
his family, reduced him for a season to 
a great strait. He later secured a home 
for his infant son in the family of David 
Twining, where he remained until thir- 
teen years of age. Edward Hicks in his 
"Memoirs" gives abundant testimony of 
his appreciation of the kindness received 
at the hands of his adopted mother, 
Elizabeth Twining. In April, 1793, he 
was apprenticed to the coach-making 
trade with William and Henry Tomlin- 
son, at Four-Lanes-End, where he re- 
mained until 1800, when he set up bus- 
iness for himself. In the autumn of 
1801 he entered the employ of Joshua 
C. Canby, then a coach-maker at Mil- 
ford (now Hulmeville) and remained a 
resident of that village untilApril, 1811, 
when he removed to Newtown, Penn- 
sylvania. He became a member of Mid- » 
dletown Monthly Meeting of Friends in 
the spring of 1803, and later became a 
prominent minister in the Society, trav- 
eling extensively in the ministry. Like 
his distinguished cousin, Thomas Hicks, 
he possessed considerable artistic talent, 
and a number of his paintings of high 
merit are still preserved. He was an 
ardent temperance advocate, and claimed 
to have built the first house in Bucks 
county erected without the use of intox- 
icating liquors, in 1804. He married 
II mo. 17, 1803, Sarah Worstall, daugh- 
ter of Joseph and Susanna (Hibbs) 
Worstall. He died in Newtown 8 mo. 23, 
1849, and his widow died 12 mo. 30, 
1855. Their children were: Mary, born 
10 mo. 12, 1804, died 2 mo. 7, 1880, un- 
married; Susan, born 11 mo. 9, 1806, 
married 5 mo. 17, 1832, John Carle, Jr., 
of New York, and died in New York, 
I mo. 24, 1872; Elizabeth T.. born 8 rno. 
24, 1811, married Richard Plummer. of 
Baltimore, Maryland, 11 mo. 11, 1852, 
and died in Newtown, 3 mo. 22, 1892; 
Sarah B., born 12 mo. 24, 1816, married 
Isaac C. Parry, of Warminister, 5 mo. 
23, 1844, and died in Warminister 2 mo. 
23, 1895; Isaac W., born i mo. 20, 1809, 
and died 3 mo. 28,. 1898. 

Isaac W. Hicks, only son of Edward 
and Sarah (Worstall) Hicks, was born 
at Hulmeville, and reared in Newtown, 
Bucks county, where he lived from ,t)ie 
age of two years until his death. He 



114 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUXTV. 



assisted his father in the coach painting 
business and farming, but after his fath- 
I ers (leatli he devoted himself mostly to 
farming. He was greatly interested in 
the incorporation of Newtown as a bor- 
ough in 1S38, and the laying of the brick 
walk on Penn street which led from a 
ladies seminary at the corner of Penn 
and Congress street to the heart of the 
town, and was the first improved walk 
in the new borough. Throughout his 
life he was interested in everything that 
would add to the best good of the town. 
His entire life after he was twelve years 
of age was spent in the house on Penn 
, street, Newtown borough, built by his 
father about 1821 and remodeled by him- 
self in 1870, and still occupied by his 
daughter Sarah. He married 6 mo. 4, 
1857, Hannah L. Penrose, daughter of 
William and Hannah (Jarrett) Pen- 
rose, of Horsham. She was born at the 
historic Graeme Park, the former resi- 
dence of Sir William Keith, colonial 
governor of Pennsylvania, 2 mo. 20, 
1820, and died at Newtown 9 mo. 23, 
1894. The children of Isaac W. and 
Hannah Penrose Hicks are: 

Sarah W.. born 4 mo. 9, 1858, still re- 
siding at the old homestead in New- 
town. 

Edward P., born 8 mo. 27. 1859. mar- 
ried 2 mo. 24, 1903, Lydia Harper 
Barnesley, daughter of William and Mary 
Ellen (Paff) Barnesley, of Newtown, and 
resides in Newtown borough, in the house 
on Penn street, opposite the old homestead 
built by his father about 1833. and re- 
modeled by himself in 1904. Their daugh- 
ter, Mary Barnesley Hicks, was born 7 mo. 
24, 1904. Mr. Hicks took a prominent 
part in 1898 in establishing the standard 
telephone system at Newtown which 
was a matter of much importance to 
Newtown. He was for seven years a 
member of the Newtown town council 
and during this time many very im- 
portant improvements were inaugurated 
which have proved beneficial to the 
town. He is somewhat retiring in dis- 
position but one of the useful and highly 
respected citizens of the town and 
county. 

William Penrose Hicks, born 9 mo. 6, 
1864, married 5 mo. 23, 1890, Nellie 
Brown, daughter of William B. and 
Hannah (Hough) Brown, of Browns- 
burg, and resides on "Fountain Farm," 
adjoining Newtown borough. Their 
children are: Hannah Brown Hicks, 
born 12 mo. i, 1891 ; and Cornelia Carle 
Hick?, born 3 mo. i, 1898. 



annals of the Society of Friends. Will- 
iam Hicks was a native of Bucks county, 
and was the father of five sons and two 
daughters. One of the sons, George, 
was a farmer and married Ann, daughter 
of John and Ann Penrose. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Hicks were born eleven chil- 
dren, of whom one was Penrose, men- 
tioned at length hereinafter. In re- 
ligious belief all the family were Friends. 

Penrose Hicks, son of George and 
Ann (Penrose) Hicks, was born May 9, 
1802, in Milford township. In his youth 
he learned the trade of a wheelwright 
and ploughmaker, but at the age of 
twenty-one became a farmer, devoting 
himself to agricultural pursuits until he 
was forty-two years of age. Some years 
later he retired from active labor. He 
was one of the directors of the Turn- 
pike Company. He was chosen by his 
neighbors a member of the council, in 
which he served with honor to himself 
and satisfaction to his constituents. He 
was a Republican in politics, and always 
took an active interest in the affairs of 
the organization. He was a birthright 
member of Richland Monthly Meeting. 

Mr. Hicks married Mary, daughter of 
W^illiam and Martha (Cadwallader) Ball, 
and they were the parents of a number 
of children. After the death of his wife 
Mr. Hicks married, November 13, 1862, 
Elizabeth, daughter of Hugh and Eliza- 
beth (Roberts) Foulke. 

The death of Mr. Hicks occurred July 
II, 1886, when he had reached the ad- 
vanced age of eighty-four. He left be- 
hind him the memory of a good husband 
and father, a kind neighbor, and a use- 
ful, public-spirited citizen. 



PENROSE HICKS. Bucks county is 
rich in memories of her honored citizens 
of the past, among whom must be num- 
bered Penrose Hicks, for many years a 
respected resident of Richland town- 
ship. Mr. Hicks belonged to a family 
whose name is a memorable one in the 



J. WILMER LUNDY, of Newtown, 
Bucks county, was born at Rancocas, 
Burlington county, New Jersey, May 3, 
1869, and is a son of Joseph and I\lary 
(Evans) Lundy. Though a native of 
New Jersey, as have been his ancestors 
for four generations, his paternal an- 
cestors were among the earliest settlers 
of the county in which he now resides. 

Richard Lundy, the first American an- 
cestor of the subject of this sketch, was 
a son of Sylvester Lundy, of Axminster, 
in the county of Devon, England; and 
came to Boston. Massachusetts in 6 
mo.. 1676. "and from thence came to 
the Delaware River the 19th of the 3d 
mo.. 1682." So says the ancient record 
in the quaint little tattered "Book of 
Arrivals" in the handwriting of Phine- 
as Pemberton (the first clerk of the 
Bucks county courts), now in posses- 
sion of the Bucks County Historical So- 
ciety. The same volume records the ar- 
rival in the Delaware river in "8th mo. 
1683, in the ship Concord of London, 
the Master William Jeffry, of Elizabeth 
Bennett, daughter of William Bennett 
of Hammondsworth, in the county of 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



IT 



Ivliddlesex (now deceased) and now the 
wife of the aforesaid Richard Lundy." 
William Bennett was accompanied to 
America by his wife Rebecca and 
daughters Elizabeth, before mentioned, 
Ann and Sarah. This book also gives 
the record of the marriage of Richard 
Lundy and Elizabeth Bennett, 6 'mo. 24, 
1684. Elizabeth survived her marriage 
"but three years, and was buried 6 mo. 
14, 1687. Still another entry in the old 
"Book of Arrivals" is interesting to the 
descendants of Richard Lundy, that 
which records the arrival of James Harrison 
and the Pembertons in the ship "Submis- 
sion," on 5 mo. 7, T682, at Choptank, 
Maryland, and their subsequent trip 
overland to Bucks county, detailed in 
this volume in a brief sketch of "The 
Pemerton Family," in which is given a 
list of the passengers on the ship "Sub- 
mission." With the family of James 
Harrison came. Jane Lyon, who was to 
serve in his family for four years to 
9 mo. 2, 1686, and was then to receive 
fifty acres of land. On 4 mo. 24, 1691. this 
Jane Lyon became the second wife of 
Richard Lundy, at Middletown Meet- 
ing of Friends. Jane was born in the 
year 1666, and was therefore sixteen 
years of age when she arrived in Penn- 
sylvania, and twenty-five years old when 
she became the wife of Richard Lundy. 
On 10 mo. 6th, 1682-3 there was laid out 
to Richard Lundy two hundred acres in 
what is now Bristol township, just west 
of the Manor of Pennsbury, which' was 
patented to him 5 mo. 6th, 1684. 8 mo. 
7th, 1685, he exchanged this tract with 
Jacob Telner for 1000 acres in what 
is now Buckingham, "back in the 
woods", as it is described in the deed 
recorded at Doylestown under date of 
2 mo. I2th, 1688. It comprised all the 
land below the York road, eastward 
from the west line of Judge Paxson's 
"Nonesuch" farm to the village of Holi- 
cong, and extending to the top of Buck- 
ingham mountain. 

Richard Lundy did not at once take 
up his residence "back in the woods" of 
Buckingham, but purchased of Samuel 
Burgess a tract of 103 acres on the up- 
per side of Pennsbury Manor, part of 
the same tract on which Falls Meeting 
House was erected, and probably re- 
sided there until close to 1700. He 
finally conveyed this land to Thomas 
Duer, and took up his residence on his 
Buckingham purchase, either • where 
Charles J. Smith now resides, or across 
the creek at the old Ely homestead now 
owned by the estate of Anna J. Will- 
iams. On 7 mo. 12. 1692, he conveyed to 
Francis Rossel. 500 acres off the west- 
ern end of his tract, lying in about equal 
quantities on both sides of the present 
Durham Road. Rossel dying in 1695, 
devised it to William Smith, Ralph Boon 
and the "sons of Samuel Burgess." By 
various conveyances prior to 1705 that 



west of the Durham road came to 
Mathew Hughes, whose family owned 
and occupied it for over a century, or 
until the death of Amos Austin Plughes 
in 181 1. The east side of the road was 
first occupied by Lawrence and Enoch 
Pearson in 1702-3, and came to be the 
home of Thomas Canby in 1729. On 4 
mo_. 7, 1709, Richard Lundy, then rcj- 
residing in Buckingham, conveyed 100 
acres to Joseph Large (now the Broad- 
hurst farm) and some time prior to 
1719 sold to his son Richard Lundy, Jr., 
300 acres of the remaining 400 acres of 
his tract "back in the woods." The date 
was probably that of the marriag,e of 
Richard, Jr., in 1714. He, however, 
failed to convey the land to his son, 
and he having agreed to sell it to Isaac 
Norris. Richard Lundy, Sr., and Jane 
his wife and Richard. Jr., and Elizabeth 
his wife in 1710 conveyed it to Norris, 
and a year later it became the property 
of Hugh Ely, and remained in the fam- 
ily several generations. In 1724 "Rich- 
ard Lundy, Sr., conveyed the remaining 
100 acres to Hugh Ely. This was prob- 
ably the approximate date of the death 
of his wife Jane, and he took up his 
residence with his son Richard, Jr., who 
at this date had removed to Plumstead 
township and located on land belonging 
to his brother-in-law, Ebenezer Large, 
which he subsequently purchased. 

Richard Lundy was a prominent mem- 
ber of Falls Meeting, and is frequently 
mentioned on their records. On his 
removal to Buckingham he became affil- 
iated with the ^Meeting there, then a 
branch of Falls Meeting, and on it be- 
coming a separate monthly meeting 
with Wrightstown in 1720, became one 
of the overseers and elders. On 8 mo. 
5. '^7i7' he requested a certificate to re- 
move himself to Maiden Creek. Berks 
county, where his son and family had re- 
moved two years previously. and 
though the Friends remonstrated against 
his removing himself so far back on 
the frontiers at his advanced age, he 
persisted, and was granted a certificate 
to Exeter Meeting, which he deposited 
there the month following. He prob- 
ably died at Maiden Creek soon after 
his removal there, as we find no further 
record of him, and at the marriage of 
his grandson there in 1789 his name 
does not appear among the witnesses. 

Richard Lundy (2), son of Richard 
and Jane (Lyon) Lundy, was born 3 
mo. (May) 20. 1692, in Bucks county, 
probably in Falls township, and died 
2 mo. (February) 28, 1772. at Alla- 
muchy, Warren county. New Jersey. 
At least part of his boyhood days were 
probably spent on the Buckingham plan- 
tation. 300 acres of which was conveved 
to him on his marriage in 1714. H-is 
wife was Elizabeth Large, daughter of 
Joseph Large, then deceased, and they 
were married at Buckingham under the 



ii6 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



auspices of Falls Meeting, 4 mo. 3, 
1714. He was for ten years caretaker of 
Buckingham Meeting House and 
"grave digger." The records of the 
Meeting on 10 mo. 2, 1724, recites the 
fact that he had "moved too for off" to 
further officiate in this capacity, and 
fixes the date of his removal to Plum- 
stead, where he was later made one of 
the trustees of the land on which Plum- 
stead Meeting House was erected though 
the deed for the land (200 acres) on 
which he lived was not made to him 
until November 2, 1734, less than six 
months before the date on- which he 
conveyed it preparatory to his removal 
to Berks county, viz.: 3 mo. 24, 1735. 
On 3 mo. 5, 1735, he was granted a cer- 
tificate by Buckingham Meeting to re- 
move with his family to Maiden Creek, 
Berks county, the certificate being di- 
rected to Gwynedd Meeting, from which 
Exeter was organized two years later,' 
and of which latter meeting he was ap- 
pointed an elder in 1737. Richard Lundy 
and his family remained in Berks county 
twelve years, removing in 5th mo., 1747 
to the valley of Pequest river, in what 
is now Allmuchy township, Warren 
county, he and his family bringing cer- 
tificates to Bethlehem (later Kingwood, 
and now Quakertown Meeting) in Hunt- 
erdon county. New Jersey., but becom- 
ing later attendants at Hardwick Meet- 
ing, a branch of Kingwood. Several of 
his children had married prior to the 
removal to New Jersey, but all removed 
there with their families, though a few 
years later several of his children and 
grandchildren removed elsewhere. On 
March 28, 1749, Richard Lundy was 
commissioned a justice of the peace for 
the county of Morris, in which his res- 
idence was then included. In the same 
year he was made an elder of the 
Friends Meeting at Great Meadows, and 
frequent mention is made of meetings 
being held at his house. He died in 
Allemuchy, 2 mo. 28, 1772, and was bur- 
ied at Hardwick Friends' burying 
ground. On the records of Kingwood 
Monthly meeting is recorded a testi- 
mony of his worth, which says among 
other things, "he was a man much es- 
teemed among Friends and others, being 
of a meek and quiet spirit, exemplary in 
life and conversation, and a pattern of 
plainness and simplicity * * * jjg 
was an affectionate husband, a tender 
father, a kind friend, punctual and just 
in his dealings among men, evidencing 
to the world that he was concerned to 
do to others as he would have them do 
to him." His eighty years of life had 
not been lived in vain. 

The children of Richard and Eliza- 
beth (Large) Lundy were nine in num- 
ber, all of whom were born in BuckiiTg- 
ham and Plumstead townships, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, and all of whom 
removed with their parents to Berks 



county, and all of whom either pre- 
ceded or accompanied them back to 
New Jersey; they were as follows: 

1. Richard, born 4 mo. 23, 1715, in 
Buckingham, died at Allemuchy, New 
Jersey, 11 mo. 7, 1757; married at 
Maiden Creek, Berks county, in 1739^ 
Ann Wilson, and removed to the Pe- 
quest Valley, New Jersey, in 1746. He 
had eleven children, ten of whom grew 
to maturity: Samuel, William, Amos, 
Sarah, Richard, Ann, Ebenezer, John 
Eleazer and Azariah. Samuel and Will- 
iam removed to Canada, Samuel to New- 
market, and William to Lundy's Lane, it 
being upon his property that the famous 
battle of Lundy's Lane was fought in 
1814. Ebenezer and Azariah returned 
to Bucks county. Amos, Sarah (Kes- 
ter) Richard, John, and the family of 
Azariah removed to Virginia. 

2. Mary Lundy, born in Buckingham, 
Bucks county, 11 mo. 6, 1716, married in 
Plumstead in 1734, Robert Wilson, re- 
moved with him to Berks county, Penn- 
sylvania in 1735, and to Sussex county. 
New Jersey, in 1748, where she died 3 
mo. 4, 1807, at the age of ninety years. 
She left numerous descendants., some of 
whom still retain the Sussex homestead. 

3. Joseph Lundy, born in Buckingham 
4 mo. 24, 1719, removed with the family 
to Berks county in 1735, married there 
in 1743 Susanna Hutton, and removed to 
Warren county. New Jersey, in 1745; 
died- there about 1759; left children: 
Sarah, who married Joseph Carpenter, 
and returned to Berks county, as did his 
son Enos, who in 1805 removed to York 
county, Ontario. His daughter Hannah 
married Samuel Shotwell, and settled in 
Sussex countj% New Jersey. 

4. Jacob Lundy, born in Buckingham 
6 mo. 15, 1721, married at Maiden Creek, 
1748, Mary Wilson, removed to New 
Jersey same year, and died there in 1800, 
leaving children, Jacob, Mary (Schmuck), 
Jonathan, and Deborah (Dennis). 

5. Martha Lundy, born in Bucking- 
ham, 6 mo. I, 1723, married in New Jer- 
sey in 1755, Benjamin Schooley; died 
there 9 mo. 11, 1803; left four children. 

6. Thomas Lundy, born in Plumstead, 
Bucks county, and died in Warren 
countj^' New Jersey, about 1775; he mar- 
ried there in 1750, Joanna Doan, and had 
si.x children. See forward. 

7. Samuel Lundj', born in Plumstead, 
Bucks county, 12 mo. 13, 1727, died in 
Sussex count}'. New Jersey, 2 mo. 14, 
1801. He was a judge of Sussex county 
court, and was twice married, first in 
1731 to Ann Schooley, and second in 
1765 to Sarah Willets, and had twelve 
children. His son Levi removed to 
Ohio, Samuel to Seneca county. New 
York, and Jesse to Ontario. Canada. ' 
The others of his children remained in 
New Jersey. 

8. Elizabeth Lundy, bom at Plum- 
rtead, Bucks county, marr.cd at Hard- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



117 



wick, New Jersey, in 1748, Gabriel Wil- 
son, and settled at Great Meadows, in 
Warren county, New Jersey, where she 
<died 5 mo. 25, 181 1; their eight children 
removed to North Carolina, Indiana^, 
Canada and Kentucky. 

9. Margaret Lundy, born at Plum- 
stead, Bucks county, 12 mo. 14, 1732, 
died at Hardwick, New Jersey, in 4 mo., 
1776. She had married in 1750 John 
Wilson, who removed with her family 
from Maiden Creek, Berks county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1745. No record of 
-children. 

Thomas Lundy, sixth child of Rich- 
ard and Elizabeth Large Lundy, was a 
mason by trade, and was the first of 
the family to remove from Berks county 
to the Pequest Valley in New Jersey. 
He helped to erect the first jail of War- 
ren county in 1754. His wife Joanna 
Doan was probably a granddaughter of 
Daniel and Mehetabel Doan, of Bucks 
county. Thomas and Joanna had six 
children: Susanna, who married Thomas 
Parker, son of- Humphrey Parker, of 
Wrightstown, Bucks county. Reuben, 
l)orn 3 mo. 13, 1752. married in 1776 
Esther Bunting, daughter of Joseph and 
Sarah (Bidgood) Bunting, of Bristol. 
Bucks county, and later settled in Co- 
lumbia county, Pennsylvania. Ephraim, 
son of Thomas and Joanna, married in 
1776, Elizabeth Patterson, and after 'liv- 
ing for twenty years in New Jersey re- 
Tfioved with their five children to Cat- 
awissa, Lycoming county, Pennsyl- 
vania. Thomas, son of Thomas and Jo- 
anna, married in 1779 Elizabeth Stock- 
ton, and in 1787 removed to North Car- 
olina. Elizabeth, youngest daughter of 
Thomas and Joanna (Doane) Lundy, 
iDorn 8 mo. 30, 1763. married in 1782, 
Israel Bunting, son of Joseph and Sarah, 
of Bucks county, and settled in Warren 
county. New Jersey, where their seven 
•children were born. 

Joseph Lundy, son of Thomas and Jo- 
anna (Doane) Lundy and the great- 
grandfather of the subject of this 
sketch, was born in Warren county, 
New Jersey. 3 mo. 19, 1762, and died at 
Rancocas, Burlington county, New Jer- 
sey, 8 mo. 13, 1846. He married 4 mo. 
26, 1787, Elizabeth Shotwell, born 1762, 
daughter of Benjamin and Amy ( Hal- 
let) Shotwell, of Rahway. New Jersey, 
who bore him one son. Benjamin Lundy. 
the eminent abolitionist and editor of 
""The Genius of Universal Emancipa- 
tion." He was born in Sussex county, 
New Jersey, i mo. 4, 1789, and on 10 
mo. 5. 1809 was granted a certificate of 
removal to Westland Meeting Wash- 
ingto^T county, Pennsylvania, and settled 
in Wheeling, West Virginia, where he 
learned the trade of a liarness maker, 
and in 1812 located in Mt. Pleasant 
Ohio, where he carried on his business 
-of harness making. Becoming strongly 
impressed with the horrors of human 



slavery, he about this time began to 
speak against it and organize anti- 
slavery societies, also contributing ar- 
ticles to the "Philanthropist," a paper 
published in Mt. Pleasant. In 1821 he 
started the publication of "The Genius 
of Universal Emancipation," the first 
paper published, devoted exclusively to 
that cause. He later traveled exten- 
sively in the interest of emancipation, 
and became one of the noted exponents 
of the emancipation of slaves. He died 
in Lowell, La Salle county, Illinois, 8 
mo. 22, 1839. 

Joseph Lundy, the father, having lost 
his first wife, married a second time, 
I mo. 15, 1795, ]Mary Titus, of \yestbury. 
Long Island. He continued to reside 
in Hardwick. Sussex county, New Jer- 
sey, until 1810, when he removed with 
his family to Willingboro township, Bur- 
lington county, New Jersey, where he 
purchased a farm of 160 acres on Ran- 
cocas Creek. The children of Joseph 
and Mary (Titus) Lundy were eight in 
number: Abigail, born 9 mo. 30, I795- 
died 5 mo. 14, 1875, married Daniel 
Woolston, of Eyrestown; Richard, born 

I mo. 30. 1797, died 7 mo. 30, 1875, at 
Rancocas. married Mary Ward; Eliza- 
beth, born 6 mo. 2, 1709, died 9 mo. 22, 
1840, unmarried: Phebe, born 2 mo. 6, 
1802, died May, 1849. married William 
Hilton: Lydia Shotwell. born 7 mo. 25, 
1804. died 5 mo. 27. 1864, married Joel 
Wierman; Deborah, born 4 mo. 29, 1806, 
died 5 mo. 7. 1896, married Ezra Wal- 
ton: Asenath, born 1808, died 1809; 
Mary, born 3 mo.. 26. 1811, died 10 
mo 2, 1887, married William Barnard, a 
minister of the Society of Friends and 
prominent in the anti-slavery cause. 

Richard Lundy, second child of Joseph 
and Marv (Titus) Lundy. was the grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch. He 
was born at Hardwick. Sussex county, 
New Jersey, and removed to Rancocas 
with his parents at the age of thirteen 
vears, and spent the remainder of his 
life there. His wife. Mary Ward, born 
9 mo. 27, 180S. died 6 mo 14. 1888 was 
a daughter of George and Edith (Wood) 
Ward from near Salem, New Jersey. 
Richard and Mary were the parents of 
four children, viz.: George Ward born 
6 mo. 25. 183s, married Mana Haines, 
and resides at Mt. Holly. New Jersey. 
Edith M.. born 6 mo., 21, 1838 d'ed Au- 
gust 28, 1871. married Isaac S Wright, 
of Falls, Bucks county, and left three 
children, all born in Bucks county- 
Walter S., Marv Ellen, wife of George 
H Betts, and Ruth Anna: Joseph, born 
it' mo ir. 1840: Charles, born n mo., 

II 1847. died 2 mo. 6, IQ04. was twice 
married, and left one child. Mary. 

Joseph Lundy. the father of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was born at Ran- 
cocas. II mo. II, 1840. He was edu- 
cated at the Friends' schools, and has 
been a farmer in Burlington county all 



ii8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS. COUNTY. 



his life. He married June 15, 1864, Mary 
Evans, daughter of Darling anl Rachel 
(Matlack) Evans, and they are the pa- 
rents of two children: Maurice E., born 
8 mo. 19, 1865, married Laura S. Thomp- 
son and has one child, Florence T., born 
II mo. 8, 1891; and J. Wilmer, the sub- 
ject of this sketch. 

The first maternal ancestor of Mr. 
Lundy to land in America was William 
Evans, of South Newenton, Oxford- 
shire, carpenter, who came to New Jer- 
sey prior to 1682 and purchased one- 
half of a one-fifteenth share of the lands 
of West Jersey in that year, and several 
hundred acres were laid out to him on 
the Rancocas creek in Burlington 
county. He died in 1688, leaving a wife 
Jane; a daughter Sarah, wife of Thomas 
Eves, or Evans; and a son William. 
William (2) died in 1728, leaving chil- 
dren Thomas, Jane and John. Of these 
Thomas, born 12 mo., 12, 1693, died Feb- 
ruary, 1793, married 10 mo. i, 1715, 
Esther Haines, and had children: Will- 
iam, Elizabeth Isaac, Esther, Jacob, 
Nathan; of -whom William, born 1716, 
died 1761, married Sarah Roberts, and 
had children, John, Hannah, Enoch. 
Esther, Mary, Rebecca and William, of 
whom William, born 10 mo. 5, 1760, died 
5 mo. 22, 1845, married 11 mo. 17, 1785, 
Rebecca Ballinger, and had children, 
Enoch, Joshua, Sarah, Mary, Darling 
and Hannah; of whom Darling, born 3 
mo. 14, 1799, died 12 mo. 19, 1891. mar- 
ried I mo. 19, 1826, Rachel Matlack, and 
had children. William, Sarah, Enoch, 
Rebecca, wife of Thomas Lawrence, 
Mary, wife of Joseph Lundy, and Ezra, 
of Trenton, New Jersey. 

J. Wilmer Lundy was born and reared 
on the farm near Rancocas, and was 
educated at the Friends' school there and 
at Moorestown Friends' high school. 
After teaching school one year he en- 
tered Trenton Business College, from 
M'hich he graduated in 1889. From that 
date until 1893 he filled the position of 
bookkeeper for his uncle, Ezra Evans, a 
Trenton grocer. In the latter year he 
went to Mt. Holly as bookkeeper in the 
plumbing establishment of George D. 
Worrel, where he remained until 1900, 
when he formed a partnership with 
Elmer J. Shinn. and bought out the 
plumbing, heating, tin and stove busi- 
ness of Franklin Smith, at Newtown, 
Bucks county, which business he has 
since conducted, his partner having 
charge of a branch establishment at 
Princeton, New Jersey. Mr. Lundy is 
a member of the Society of Friends, and 
politically is a Democrat. He is a mem- 
ber of Mt. Holly Lodge No. 14. F. and 
A. M., the Junior Order U. A. M.. and 
the Knights of Pythias. He married 
April .30, 1895. Lizzie Morris Roberts, 
daughter of Stacy and Harriet Roberts, 
and they have one child, Elizabeth, born 
January 5. 1900. 



CAPTAIN WILLIAM WYNKOOP, of 

Newtown, is a representative of a fam- 
ily that has been prominent in the his- 
tory of our country for over two cen- 
turies, many of them at different periods 
filling high and honorable positions in 
church and state, in local, state and 
national affairs. 

The American progenitors of the 
family were Peter and Cornelius Wyn- 
koop, who migrated from Holland tO' 
New York in 1639 and 1642, respec- 
tively. Peter was born in 1616 and came 
to New Amsterdam in 1639, and settled 
in New York state near the present site 
of Albany five years later, where he be- 
came prominent in the Dutch colony. 
His descendants were prominent in the 
affairs of that section for many gener- 
ations. A grandson Evert, son of Cor- 
nelius, was a captain in the French and 
Indian w\r and died of camp fever in 
1750. Adrian Wynkoop, another de- 
scendant, was commissioned major of 
the First Regiment of Ulster county. 
New York, May i, 1776, and in the same 
year was placed in command of two 
hundred men to guard the passes of the 
Hudson. His brother Jacobus was a: 
captain of the Fourth New York Regi- 
ment in 1775, and was later transferred 
to the naval service on recommendation 
of General Schuyler, to take comnjand 
of all the vessels on Lakes George and 
Champlain. Another Cornelius was «. 
colonel in the Continental service in- 
New York. Cornelius, a son of Peter, 
married Maria Janse Langedyck, and 
their third son Gerrit (or Gerardus, as 
the name came to be spelled later) mar- 
ried Hilli'tje Folkert. and in the year 
1717 came to Pennsylvania with his sons 
Nicholas and Gerritt. He lived for a 
time in the manor -of Moreland, but 
later removed to "Northampton town- 
ship, Bucks county, where he died in 
1747, leaving sons Cornelius, Nicholas,. 
Gerrit and Philip, and daughters • Jan- 
netje Van Buskirk and Jacomyntje Van 
Meter. He purchased in 1727 five hun- 
dred and twenty acres in Northampton, 
which he conveyed in equal parts to 
his two sons Nicholas and Gerrit in 
1738, and part of the latter is still the 
propertj' of the subject of this sketch, 
having descended from father to son for 
five generations. Nicholas, the third 
son, married Ann Kuypers, and their 
only son was Judge Henry Wynkoop, 
who was in the opinion of many the 
most prominent man in the history of 
Bucks county. He was for many years 
the leading justice of the courts of 
Rucks county, and its first president 
judge. From the time the relations be- 
tween the colonies and the crown be- 
came strained, he was the leader of the 
patriot cause in Bucks county, was one 
of the delegates to the meeting o'f the 
proN'incial deputies at Cari)entcr's Halt 
in July. 1774. was appointed t<> attend 




6/i 



^^x^fc^«-^ 




ITHE NEW YORK' 

PUBLIC LICRARY 



â–  ^STOX, LENOX A.ND 
TILC£N F0UMDATICN3. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



119 



the provincial conference in May, 1775, 
and was again a delegate to the confer- 
ence that drafted the first constitution 
in 1776. He was the leading member of 
the committee of safety in Bucks, and 
the county's first representative in the 
congress of the United States, which 
assembled in New York on March 4. 
1789. He died in 1816. after a long car- 
eer of unexampled usefulness in public 
life.. 

Gerrit Wynkoop, second son of Ger- 
rit and Lilletje (Folkert) Wynkoop, 
was born in New York, about 1700, and 
came to Bucks county with his father 
in 1717, and died in Northampton town- 
ship, May 12, 1769, on the 260-acre farm 
conveyed to him by his father in 1738. 
He and his wife, Susanna Vliet, were 
members of -the Dutch Reformed church 
of Northampton and Southampton. 
They were the parents of several chil- 
dren, only two of whom survived him, 
Geri-rdus and Adrian. The latter was 
baptized at Southampton, October 4, 

1/43- 

Gerardus, eldest son of Gerrit and Su- 
sannah, M^as born in Northampton, and 
was joint heir with his brother Adrian 
of the paternal homestead, which he pur- 
chased entire in 1770, and spent his en- 
tire life thereon. He was first lieuten- 
ant of the Northampton County Asso- 
ciators in 1775. He was elected a mem- 
ber of assembly in 1774, and served con- 
tinuously in that body until 1794, and 
was for several years speaker. He died 
in June, 1812. His wife, whom he mar- 
ried December 7, 1758, was Elizabeth, 
daughter of Isaac- Bennett. They were 
the parents of eight children — six sons: 
Isaac, John, Garret, Mathew, David, and 
William; and twc^ daughters, Susannah, 
wife of David Wylie, and Elizabeth, 
wife of Stephen Rose. 

William, youngest son of Gerardus 
and Elizabeth, inherited one hundred 
and twenty-eight acres of the old home- 
stead in Northampton, and spent his 
life thereon. He married April 13, 1801, 
Mary Longstreth. and died in 1833. His 
widow iMary survived him several years. 
Their children were: Thomas L., Ger- 
ardus, Christopher: Elizabeth, wife of 
Charles McNair; Catharine, wife of Dr. 
James McNair; Susannah, Margaret. 
Anna Maria, Susan, Mary Frances and 
Caroline. 

Thomas L. Wynkoop married Eliza- 
beth Torbert, daughter of James and 
Margaret (McNair) Torbert, of Scotch- 
Irish ancestry, a descendant of Samuel 
Torbert, who came to Newtown. Bucks 
countv. from Carrickfergus, Ireland, in 
1726. 'Thomas and Elizabeth (Torbert) 
Wynkoop were the parents of five chil- 
dren, viz. : James. Catharine. William, 
Samuel, and Thomas Henry. The lat- 
ter was a member of General W. 
W. H. Davis' 104th Pennsylvania Regi- 
ment, and was killed in action in June, 



1862. Thomas L. Wynkoop, the father 
of the above named children, died in. 
1879, and devised the old homestead 
where he had lived all his life to his 
son William, the subject of this sketch, 
who still owns it. 

The subject of this sketch has lived 
an eventful life. He served three years 
during the war of the rebellion in the 
First New Jersey Cavalry, enlisting as 
a private and was promoted successively 
- to sergeant, second lieutenant, first lieu- 
tenant and captain, rie served on the 
staff of Brigadier General Davis, in 
Gregg's, Cavalry Division, as provost- 
marshal, ordnance office and assistant 
adjutant general; was three times 
wound and received an honorable testi- 
monial for meritorious services. 

Soon after the war Captain Wynkoop 
removed to Newtown, where he has 
since resided. He was engaged in the 
real estate business for nearly twenty 
years, and transacted a large amount of 
public business as assignee, executor, 
administrator, and agent. He served in 
the office of justice of the peace for fif- 
teen years; was three years chief .bur- 
gess of Newtown borough, and borough 
treasurer for several years. He has been 
president of the school board for the 
past ten years, and is an active member 
of the school directors' association of 
Bucks county, which he has served as 
president. He was one of the assign- 
ees of the Newtown Banking Company 
on its failure in May, 1878, and was an 
important factor in winding up its com- 
plicated affairs. 

Captain Wynkoop' comes of good old 
Presbyterian stock, his ancestors for 
eight generations having been officers 
of the Presbyterian or Reformed 
churches in the localities where they re- 
sided. He has served as ruling elder of 
the Newtown Presbyterian church since 
1872. during which period he has acted 
as clerk of. the session. In the same year 
he was chosen superintendent of the 
Sabbath school connected with the 
church, and was re-elected to that posi- 
tion for twenty-eight consecutive years, 
then declining a re-election. In 1879 he 
was elected president of the Bucks Coun- 
ty Sabbath School Association and served 
in that position for eight years. He has 
been identified with the Bucks County 
Historical Society for many years, and 
has prepared a number of valuable his- 
torical papers for its sessions. , He is 
now one of the board of trustees of the 
Society. He is an nctive member of the 
G. A. R., and commander of T. H. Wyn- 
koop Post. No. .427. at Newtown. This 
Post was named in honor of his brother, 
who died in the service of his country, 
having enlisted in Colonel Davis' 104th 
Regiment, when twenty years of age. 
and was killed in action nine months 
later. Captain Wynkoop served as aide- 
de-camp, to Ge'neral John L. Black, 



I20 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



commander-in-chief of tlic G. A. R. of 
the United States in 1904. 

He married Rachel Ann Blaker, who 
died in January, 1895, leaving four chil- 
dren, their eldest child having died in 
her eighteenth year; those who survive 
are: Elizabeth, wife of George R. Luff, 
who resides with her father at New- 
town, with her five children, William, 
Ruth, Mabel, Katharine and Rachel. 
Katharine, who married (first) Henry 
C. Wylie, who died six years later, leav- 
ing a daughter, Margaret; she after- 
wards married G. F. Reynolds of Scran- 
ton, Pennsylvania, and has two sons, 
William and Arthur. Evelyn, married 
H. L. Harding, of Scranton. The only 
son, James .Wynkoop, entered Prince- 
ton University in 1900, intending on his 
graduation to study for the ministry 
but failing health compelled him to re- 
linquish his studies during his first 
year at college; he is at present employ- 
ed in a bank at Scranton, Pennsylvania, 
with greatly improved health. He is the. 
only male descendant of the Wynkoops 
in Bucks county, of the younger genera- 
tion, that bears their name. He was 
married in 1904 to Cora B. Gernon, of 
Scranton. 

Captain Wynkoop is still in active life 
and health. He is president of the Ex- 
celsior Bobbin and Spool Company of 
Newtown, president of the Mutual 
Beneficial Insurance Association of 
Bucks county, and a director in six other 
Bucks county corporations, and has 
served as secretary of the Newtown 
Cemetery Company for the last thirty 
years. He is widely and favorably known 
in business and social circles, and has 
traveled extensively both in this country 
and Europe. 



HON. OLIVER HENRY FRETZ, A. 
M., M. D., of Quakertown, Bucks coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, one of the leading phy- 
sicians of upper Bucks, was born on his 
father's farm in Richland township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, April 9, 
1858, and is descended from the earliest 
German settlers in upper Bucks county, 
whose descendants have been identified 
with the affairs of that section since it 
was inhabited by the aborigines, a per- 
iod of nearly two, centuries. John Fretz, 
the paternal ancestor of Dr. Fretz, came 
to Pennsylvania about the end of the 
first quarter of the eighteenth century, 
accompanied by two brothers Christian 
and Mark, the latter of whom is said 
to have died at sea. John Fretz located 
for a time in what is now Montgomery 
county, where he married Barbara Mey- 
er, daughter of Hans Meyer, an early 
German emigrant, who had settled in 
Salford township, now Montgomery 
county. About 1737 John Fretz pur- 
chased a tract of 230 acres in Bedniin- 
ster township, Bucks •county,, and set- 



tled thereon. His wife Barbara died 
about 1740, and he married a second 
time. He reared a family of eight chil- 
dren, five of whom were by his first wife, 
all except one of which were born in 
Salford. John Fretz died early in the 
year 1772. According to the historian of 
the family. Rev. A. J. Fretz, of Milton, 
New Jersey, he has to-day 5,000 living 
descendants. 

Jacob Fretz, second son of John and 
Barbara (Meyer) Fretz, was born in 
Montgomery county, in 1732, came with 
his parents to Bucks county when a 
child and was reared in Bedminster 
township. About 1755 he married Mag- 
dalena Nash, daughter of William Nash, 
of Bedminster, and settled in Tinicum 
township, near Erwinna, but later re- 
turned to Bedminster township, where 
he purchased a farm and lived and died 
there. He and his wife as well as all the 
earlier generations of the family were 
Mennonites and worshiped at the his- 
toric old Deep Run Meeting House 
erected about 1746, and where many of 
the family are buried. Jacob and Mag- 
dalena (Nash) Fretz were the parents 
of six sons and three daughters, only 
the eldest of the latter having married, 
viz : Elizabeth, who became the wife of the 
Rev. John Kephardt, for many years 
pastor of the Doylestown Mennonite 
congregation. Abraham the eldest son, 
located in Hilltown; he was a teamster 
in the Revolutionary army and endured 
many hardships. He married and has 
numerous descendants in Bucks. John, 
Jacob, William and Joseph Fretz were 
farmers in Bedminster, where they rear- 
ed families. 

Isaac Fretz, youngest son of Jacob 
and Magdalena (Nash) Fretz, was the 
grandfather of Dr. O. H. Fretz. He was 
born on the homestead in Bedminster 
township. June 11, 1781, and on arriving 
at manhood married Mary Moyer, and 
followed farming in Bedminster until 
1822. when they removed to Richland 
township, where he also followed agri- 
cultural pursuits until his death on De- 
cember 27, 1855. His wife, Mary Moyer. 
was born August 24, 1786, and died 
March 27, 1855. They were the parents 
of two children, William and Magdalena, 
the latter of whom died July i, 1854, 
unmarried. 

William Fretz. only son of Isaac and 
Mary (Moyer) Fretz, was born in Bed- 
minster township, April 9, 1811, and re- 
moved with his parents to Richland 
at the age of eleven years. Early in life 
he learned the trade of a carpenter, 
which he followed until the death of his 
parents in 1855, when he returned to the 
homestead and resided thereon until 
1866, when he removed to Quakertown, 
where he lived retired until his death 
on December 22, 1869. He took an ac- 
tive interest in local aflfairs and served 
as supervisor of Richland township for 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



121 



several years. He was a member of 
the German Reformed church. He mar- 
ried, in 1854, Catharine Hofiford, daugh- 
ter of Daniel and Snsanna (MaugleX 
Hofford, and they were the parents of 
two children, Edwin Penrose, and the 
subject of this sketch. Edwin Penrose 
Fretz, born March 3, 1856, on the home- 
stead in Richland township, attended 
the public schools there until his fif- 
teenth year, when he learned the shoe- 
maker trade with A. B. Walp & Co. 
Later he entered Washington Hall Col- 
legiate Institute at Trappe, Montgom- 
ery county, Pennsylvania, and later Al- 
lentown Business College, from which 
he graduated in 1878. He was employed 
for some time in the shoe factory of 
A. B. Walp & Co. He is now proprietor 
of a shoe store at Lansdale, Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Hon. Oliver Henry Fretz, A. M.. M. 
D., second and youngest son of William 
and Catharine (Hofford) Fretz, was born 
in Richland township, Bucks county, 
April 9, 1858. There he lived till he was 
ten years old, when he removed with 
his parents to Quakertown, Pennsylvan- 
ia, where he received the best school 
advantages the borough afiforded. He 
later attended Oak Grove Academy, a 
school conducted under the auspices of 
the Society of Friends. During 1878 
and 1879, he was a student of Muhlen- 
berg College, at Allentown, Pennsyl- 
vania. He began the study of medicine 
in 1879, first under that able practitioner, 
and scientist. Dr. I. S. Moyer, and after- 
ward in the same year he entered the 
Jefferson Medical College,. Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, and, after pursuing a three 
years' graded course of study, gradu- 
ated March 30, 1S82, receiving the degree 
of Doctor of Medicine. He began the 
practice of medicine at Salfordville, 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, but, 
owing to ill health, at the end of three 
years he sold his practice and removed 
to Quakertown, where he is now suc- 
<;essfully engaged in the drug business, 
combined with a large and lucrative 
ofifice and consulting practice. In 1886- 
87 he took a post-graduate course of 
instruction at the Philadelphia Poly- 
clinic and College for Graduates in 
Medicine. He also pursued a course of 
instruction at the eye, ear, nose and 
throat department of the Philadelphia 
Dispensary, fitting himself as a specialist 
in diseases of the eye. ear, nose and 
throat. In 1889 he completed a course 
in pharmacy at the National Institute 
of Pharmacy, Chicago, Illinois. Since 
1886, when he was elected a school di- 
rector of Quakertown borough, he has 
been closely identified with the edu- 
cational interests of his town and the 
county. He was re-elected school di- 
rector in 1889, and served three years 
as president and one year as treasurer 
of the board. 



In 1890 Dr. Fretz was nominated on 
the first ballot for assembly by the 
Bucks county Democratic convention, 
and was elected by nearly three hun- 
dred majority. He represented his coun- 
ty in the legislature of 1891 with marked 
ability, and to the utmost satisfaction of 
his constituents. In the fall of 1892 he 
was renominated by acclamation and re- 
elected by a largely increased majority.' 
In the session of 1893 he served on the 
following important committees: educa- 
tional, municipal corporations, public 
health and sanitation, and congressional 
apportionment. He introduced a num- 
ber of bills in the legislature, the most 
important of which was, an act to auth- 
orize the state superintendent of public 
instruction to grant permanent state 
teachers' certificates to graduate of rec- 
ognized literary and scientific colleges. 
He was also elected by the house of Rep- 
resentatives a member of the Pennsyl- 
vania election commission for 1893-94, 
whose duty it was to open, compute and 
publish the vote for state treasurer. On 
June 21, 1893, Ursinus College recog- 
nized his ability by conferring the hon- 
orary degree of Master of Arts (A. M.) 
upon him. In January, 1894, Dr. Fretz 
was appointed a clinical assistant in the 
eye department of the Jefferson Medi- 
cal College Hospital, Philadelphia, Penn- 
sylvania. He received the appointment 
of borough physician of Quakertown 
in 1888, and has since been reappointed 
annually. In July 1893, he was appointed 
by the borough council; a member of 
the borough board of health, a position 
he still holds, he being president of 
the board. November 2, 1898, he was 
elected president of the Bucks county 
Medical Society. He is also a member of 
the State Medical Society of Pennsylvania, 
the Lehigh Valley Medical Association, the 
American Medical Association, the American 
Academy of Political and Social Science 
of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania For- 
estry Association and the Bucks County 
School Directors' Association, of which 
he served as vice president. He is also 
surgeon for the Philadelphia and Lehigh 
Valley Traction Co.. and medical ex- 
aminer for numerous life insurance com- 
panies. On November 21, 1898, Dr. 
Fretz was elected by the board of trus- 
tees a censor of the Medico-Chirurgical 
College of Philadelphia. He pursued a 
course of study at the Chicago School of 
Psychology, graduating therefrom 
March 15, 1900, receiving the degree of 
Doctor of Psychology (Psy. D.). On 
March 7, 1905, he completed a course of 
study at the South Bend College of 
Optics, South Bend, Indiana, graduating 
therefrom with the degree of Doctor of 
Optics, (Opt. D.). He is a member of 
the following organizations: Quaker- 
town Lodge, No. 512, F. and A. M. ; Zin- 
zendorf Chapter. No. 216. Royal Arch 
Masons, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; 



122 



HISTORY OP BUCKS COUNTY. 



Pennsylvania Comniandcry, No. 70, 
Knights Templar of Philadelphia; Qua- 
kertown Lodge, No. 714, 1. O. O. F.; 
Secona Tribe, No. 263, 1. O. of R. M., 
and Marion Circle, No. 16, B. U. (H. F.) 
of Pennsylvania. 

On October 26, 1882, Dr. Fretz mar- 
ried Elniira A. Roedcr, daughter of Na- 
than C. and Lucinda (Antrim) Roeder, 
of Spinnerstown, Pennsylvania. Both are 
members of the Reformed church. Their 
union was blessed with two children: 
Roberts Bartholow, born January 19, 
1884, and died October i, 1884, and Ray- 
mond Lamar, born April 24, 1885. The 
latter received his primary education in 
the public schools of Quakertown, 
Pennsylvania; later he attended Perkio- 
men Seminary for two years, and the 
Bethlehem Preparatory School, an ad- 
junct to Lehigh University for one year. 
He then entered his father's drug store 
as a student of medicine and pharmacy, 
and in May, 1905, he graduated in the 
Era Course of Pharmacy of New York. 
He is also a member of Marion Circle, 
No. 16, B. U. (H. F.) of Pennsylvania, 
also of the Quakertown Mandolin Club. 



YARDLEY FAMILY. John Yardley, 
treasurer of the Doylestown Trust Com- 
pany, is a son of Mahlon and Elizabeth 
(Brock) Yardley, and was born in Doy- 
lestown, 6 mo. IS, 1852, and belongs to 
the fourteenth generation of the descen- 
dants of John Yardley, of county Staf- 
ford, England, who married a daughter 
of Marbury of Dadesbury, in 1402. The 
family of Yardley (formerly spelled 
Yeardley) is an ancient one with resi- 
dence in Staffordshire, where the heads 
of the familj-^ were known as the "Lords 
of Yeardley." Their coat-of-arms is: 
"Argent on a chevron azure, three garbs 
or, on a canton gules, a fret or;" Crest: 
"A buck courant, gu. attired or." 

The pioneer emigrant of the family 
was William Yeardley, who with wife 
Jane and three sons, Enoch, William 
and Thomas and a servant Andrew 
Heath, emigrated from Ransclough, 
near Leake, in the county of Stafford, 
and arrived in the river Delaware in the 
good ship "Friends' Adventure," 7 mo. 
29, 1682. They located on five hun- 
dred acres of land purchased of William 
Penn 3 mo. 30, i68r, (just sixteen days 
after Penn received the grant of Penn- 
sylvania from Charles II). This tract 
was located on the Delaware river, near 
the present site of the borough of Yard- 
ley, and was called "Prospect Farm." 
William Yardley was fifty years of age 
on his arrival in Bucks county. He was a 
member of the Society of Friends, and 
had been called to the ministry among 
them in his twenty-third year. He had 
traveled through dififerent parts of iMig- 
land preaching the Gospel, and had suf- 



fered imprisonment and fines for his- 
faith. He became at once and contin- 
ud to his death one of the most promi- 
ennt men of the province. He was a 
member of the first Colonial Assembly 
in 1682, and again in 1683; member of 
Provincial Council in 1688-9; justice of 
the peace and of the courts of Bucks 
county, April 6, 1685, to January 2, 1689; 
sheriff, February 11, 1690, to April 29, 
1693. He died 5 mo. 6, 1693, aged sixty- 
one years. 

Enoch Yardley, eldest son of William 
and Jane, was a member of Colonial 
Assembly in 1699. He married 10 mo. 
1697, Mary, daughter of Robert Pletch- 
er, of Abington, Philadelphia county, 
Pennsylvania, and had by her three 
daughters, Jane, Mary and Sarah, all of 
whom died in infancy. He died li mo. 
23, 1702-3. His brother William died' 
unmarried 12 mo. 12, 1792-3. Thomas, 
the other brother, married 9 mo. 6, 1700, 
Hester Blaker, and had two children, 
William and Hester, both of whom died" 
in infancy. He died on the same day as 
his brother, 11 mo. 23, 1702-3. Mary, 
the widow of Enoch Yardley, married 
(second) Joseph Kirkbridge, one of the 
most prominent men of the Province, 
who had emigrated from the parish of 
Kirkbride, in Cumberland, England. She 
was his third wife, and bore him seven 
children — John, Robert, Mary, Sarah 
(married Israel Pemberton), Thomas, 
and Jane, who married Samuel Smith, 
the historian of New Jersey. Hester, 
the widow of Thomas Yardley, married 
8 mo. 1704, William Browne, of Chiches- 
ter, Chester county, Pennsylvania. 

William Yardley, his wife, children 
and grandchildren all being dead, his 
real estate in Bucks county descended 
to his brother Thomas, of "The Beech- 
es," in the parish of Rushton, Stafford- 
shire. In the year 1704 Thomas^ Yard- 
ley, Jr.. son of Thomas of Rushton, 
came to Bucks county with a power of 
attorney from his father and his brother 
Samuel to claim the real estate. "Pros- 
pect Farm" was sold under this power, 
of attorney, 5 mo. 25, 1710, to Joseph 
Janney, who as "straw man" conveyed 
it back to Thomas Yeardley, Jr., 6 mo. 
14, 1710. This Thomas Yeardley (as he 
always wrote his name) was the ances- 
tor of all the Yardleyi of Bucks county. 
He married 12 mo., 1706-7, Ann, the 
youngest daughter of William and Joan- 
na Biles, who had emigrated from Dor- 
chester, in the county of Dorset. Eng- 
land, and arrived in the river Delaware 
4 mo. 4. 1679. The children of Thomas 
and Ann (Biles) Yardley were ten in 
number: 

1. Mary, born 8 mo. 4. 1707, married. 
12 mo. 30, T72S-9. Amos Janney of Lou- 
doun county. Virginia. 

2. Jane, born 11 mo. 20, 1708-9. married 
Francis Hague, of Loudoun county, Vir- 
ginia. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



123: 



3. Rebecca, born 7 mo. 27, 1710, never 
married. 

4. Sarah, bom 7 mo. 30, 1712, married 
(first) Benjamin Canby, (second) David 
Kinsey. 

5. Joyce, born 10 mo. 3, 1714, never 
married. 

6. William, born 3 mo. 25, 1716, died 
8 mo. 3, 1774. 

7. Hannali, born 11 mo. 13, 1718-19, 
never married. 

8. Thomas, born 11 mo. i, 1720-1, died 
3 mo. 12, 1803, married Mary Field. 
Entered military service of the Province 
and was disowned by Friends therefore 
in 1756. 

9. Samuel, born 4 mo. 16, 1723, died 
8 mo. 12, 1726. 

10. Samuel, born 7 mo. 13, 1729, died 
1759. married Jane. 

Thomas Yeardley was returned as a 
member of the Provincial Assembly in 
1715 and again in 1722. He was commis- 
sioned a justice of the several courts of 
Bucks county, May 12, 1725, and contin- 
ued to serve as such until 1741. He was 
one of the most prominent and active 
of the judges, being present at nearly 
every sitting of the court. He became 
a very large land holder, acquiring in 
1726 five hundre(| acres adjoining Pros- 
pect Farm, and in T733 a tract of six- 
hundred acres in Newtown township. 
He also acquired title to the Solebury 
Mills, erected by Robert Heath in 1707. 
He died in 1756. He devised his Make- 
field lands to his sons William an'd 
Thomas, and his Solebury property to 
his son Samuel. 

William Yardley, born 3 mo. 25, 1716, 
married 4 mo. 20, 1748, Ann Budd, of 
New Jersey, and had: Ann, born 4 mo. 
10, 1749, married Abraham Warner. 
Sarah, born 2 mo. 17, 1751, married 
Timothy Taylor. Margaretta, born 12 
mo. 6, 1752, married Stacy Potts, of 
Trenton, New Jersey. Anna (Budd) 
Yardley died 1753, and William married, 
3 mo. 31, 1756. Sarah, daughter of Mah- 
lon and Mary (Sotcher) Kirkbride. Mah- 
lon Kirkbride was the son of Joseph, 
before mentioned, by his second wife, 
Sarah, daughter of Mahlon and Rebecca 
(Ely) Stacy, who were married at Cinder 
Hill, near Mansfield. Yorkshire, Eng- 
land, in 1668, and emigrated to Nevv 
Jersey in 1676. Mahlon Stacy was the 
first settler at the present site of Tren- 
ton, New Jersey, where he built a mill 
which was the sole resources for the 
farmers on the Pennsylvania side of the 
Delaware for many years. Mahlon Stacy 
was a prominent official of the Prov- 
ince of West Jersey, while Joseph Kirk- 
bride, his son Mahlon, John Sotcher, 
father of Mary Kirkbride, and Penn's 
steward at Pennsbury, and William 
Biles, all ancestors of the subject of this 
sketch, were all members of Colonial 
Assembly and justices of the court at 
different times. The children of Will- 



iam Yardley and his second wife Sarah 
Kirkbride were: 

Mary, born i mo. 27, 1757, married 
Jonathan Woolston. 

Hannham, born 3 mo. 19, 1758, mar-- 
ried 1779- John Stapler. 

Achsah, born 2 mo. 17, 1760, married 
1794, Thomas Stapler. 

Letitia. born 7 mo. 12, 1762, married 
1782. Jonathan Willis, of Philadelphia. 

Thomas, born 10 mo. 2, 1763, married 
1785, Susanna Brown. 

Mahlon, born 7 mo. 17, 1765, married 
1787, Elizabeth Brown. 

Samuel, born 2 mo. 28, 1767, died in 
infancy. 

William, born 6 mo. 8, 1769, married 
1793, Elizabeth Field. 

Joseph, born 3 mo. 19, 1771, married 
1798, Sarah Field. 

Sarah (Kirkbride) Yardley, died i mo. 
21, 1783. 

William Yardley, served as sheriff of 
Bucks county from October 4. 1752, to 
October 4, 1755; and as justice of the- 
courts of Bucks county December 7, 

1764, to 1770. He died 8 mo. 3, 1774. 
Mahlon, son of William and Sarah 

(Kirkbride) Yardley, born 7 mo. 17, 

1765, married 4 mo. 26, 1787, Elizabeth, 
daughter of John and Ann (Field) 
Brown, of Falls township. (Benjamin 
Field, father of Ann Brown, was a mem- 
ber of Provincial Assembly 1738-45.) The 
children of Mahlon and Elizabeth 
(Brown) Yardley, were: 

Sarah, born 4 mo. 16, 1788, married 
1813, Joseph Paul. 

Ann. born 2 mo. 6, 1790, married 1812, 
Jesse Lloyd. 

Achsah, born 9 mo. i, 1792, married 
1834, Richard Janney. 

John, born 12 mo. i, 1794, married' 
1823, Frances Hapenny, 1841, Anna Van 
Horn. 

Hannah, born 4 mo. 25, 1797, married 
1819, Samuel Buckman. 

Robert, born i mo. 18, 1799, married 
1829, Ellen Field. 

Charles, born 8 mo. 4, 1802, married 
Anna Warner. 

Elizabeth, born 7 mo. 21, 1807, married 
1831. Mahlon B. Linton. 

Elizabeth (Brown) Yardley, died i 
mo. 22. 1824. 

Mahlon Yardley died in Makefield, 
II mo. 17, 1829. 

John, son of Mahlon and Sarah (Kirk- 
bride) Yardley, born 12 mo. i, 1794. 
married, i mo. 23, 1823, Frances Hap- 
penny. Their children were: Mahlon, 
born 2 mo. 4, 1824, married 12 mo. 11, 
1850, Elizabeth, daughter of Stephen 
Brock. Strickland, born 10 mo. t8, 1826. 
married Martha Johnson. Franklin, 
born 6 mo. 26. 1830, died in infancy, 
John Yardley, married (second) Anna" 
Van Horn, 6 mo. 16, 1841; their children 
were: Fannie, born 12 mo. 10. 1S44. Hon. 
Robert M., born 10 mo. 9, 1850, member 
of congress, Seventh District. Mary 



124 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Eliza, born i mo. 14, 1854. John Yardley 
during the later years of life was a mem- 
ber of the firm of Yardley & Justice, 
coal and lumber merchants, at Yardley, 
.Pennsjdvania. He died at Yardley, 5 
mo. 24, 1874. 

Mahlon Yardley was born in Make- 
field township, 2 mo. 24, 1824, where his 
early boyhood was spent. He graduated 
at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsyl- 
vania, in the class of 1843, and at once 
began the study of law at Easton. He 
was admitted to the Bucks County bar 
February 2, 1846, and began the practice 
of law at Doylestown. At the organiza- 
tion of the Republican party he became 
an ardent advocate of its principles. In 
the fall of 1851 he was its nominee for 
state senator from the Sixth district, 
and, although the district was then over- 
whelmingly Democratic, was elected, de- 
feating the late General Paul ApplebacH, 
of Haycock. The term at that period 
was three years, and he was therefore in 
the state senate at the breaking out of 
the war. 

When in April, 1861, the Doylestown 
Guards were on their way to the front, 
they were met at the station at Harris- 
burg by Senator Yardley and two col- 
leagues and a bountiful supper served 
to them. When General W. H. H. Da- 
vis recruited and organized the 104th 
Pennsylvania Regiment at Doylestown, 
September, 1861. Mr. Yardley enlisted 
and was commissioned^rst lieutenant of 
Company K. He was with the regiment 
at the siege of Yorktown, and in the be- 
ginning of the hostilities along the 
Chickahominy. In the skirmishes at Sav- 
age's Station and Seven Pines, prelimin- 
ary to the battle of Fair Oaks on May 
24, 1862, he narrowly escaped being 
killed. General Davis, in his "History of 
the 104th Regiment," says, in speaking 
of this engagement: ''There were many 
narrow escapes. Lieutenant Yardley 
moved his head to one side just in time to 
prevent a shell that passed along, from 
taking it off. A soldier named Brown, 
immediately back of him. was struck in 
the head and instantly killed. After the 
battle the regiment M^as encamped on 
the edge of a dense swamp, and many of 
the men were taken sick with fevers. 
Among these was Lieutenant Yardley. 
In the latter part of the month he was 
carried home by some friends who were 
on a visit to the regiment, and never 
rejoined the command. When sufficient- 
ly recovered he was placed in the re- 
cruiting service and was subsequently 
appointed provost marshal for the Fifth 
District, with headquarters at Frank- 
ford." 

Mr. Yardley never fully recovered 
from the severe attack of typhoid con- 
tracted in the Chickahominy swamps, 
and was ever thereafter afflicted with a 
severe cough, which no doubt hastened 
his death. After being in bed for about 



four months, he opened a recruiting of- 
fice at Doylestown. On April 10, 1863, 
he was appointed provost marshal for 
this district, then comprising three 
wards of the city of Philadelphia, and 
promoted to the rank of captain. At the 
close of the war he was appointed in- 
ternal revenue collector for the same dis- 
trict, a position he filled until his death. 
He died June 23, 1873. His wife, whom 
he married 12 mo. 11, 1850, was Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Stephen and Mary 
(Jones) Brock. The Brocks are one of 
the oldest families in Bucks county. The 
emigrant ancestor of the family was 
sheriff of the county in 1685, and his son, 
Thomas Brock, held the same office for 
the term 1693-5. Stephen Brock, father 
of Mrs. Yardley, was twice elected 
sheriff of Bucks county, in 1821 and 
again in 1827. 

John Yardley, the only child of Mah- 
lon and Elizabeth, was born in Doyles- 
town, June 15, 1852. He was educated at 
private schools in Doylestown, and en- 
tered Lehigh University in 1868, remain- 
ing two years, after which he entered 
the silk house of Watson & Jan- 
ney, of Philadelphia, as clerk. He re- 
turned to Doylestown in the autumn of 
1872 to assist his father in the revenue 
office. On February i, 1873, he was 
appointed a clerk in the Doylestown Na- 
tional Bank, and remained in the em- 
ploy of the bank until 1896, when he 
resigned to accept the position of treas- 
urer of the Doylestown Trust Company, 
which position he still fills. Mr. Yard- 
Ity has always been active in everything 
that pertains to the best interests of the 
t»iv,n he lives in. He was for many 
years a member of the S'chool board and 
has h^ld other borough offices. He was 
one of the organizers of the Doyles- 
town Electric Company and of the 
Doylestown Gas Company, and has been 
a director of both companies from their 
organization. He has also been inter- 
ested in several other local enterprises. 
He is a member of Doylestown Lodge, 
F. and A. M., No. 245; Aquetong Lodge, 
No. 193. I. O. O. F.; Doylestown En- 
campment, No. 25, I. O. O. F.; and Len- 
ape Council, No. 11 17, Royal Arcanum. 
He married. October 19, 1876, Emma, 
daughter of David and Lucy "(Lear) 
Krewson. Their only child is Mahlon, 
born May 19, 1878, who resides with his 
parents. 



SAMUEL YARDLEY. of Edgewood, 
Lower Makefield township, was born in 
Upper Makefield township. Bucks coun- 
ty, October 19. 1834, and is a son of 
Joseph H. and Esther B. (Knowles) 
Yardley. and is without doul:)t of the 
same lineage as Tliomas Yardley, son of 
Thomas Yardley. of Rushton Spencer. 
Staff'ordshire, England, the former of 
whom came to Bucks county in 1704, as 



TH t 



TILC 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



125 



the heir of his uncle, William Yardley, 
of Ransclough, near Leake, county Staf- 
ford, who had come to Bucks county in 
1682, an account of whom is given in this 
work. 

Richard Yardley appears in Bucks 
county soon after the arrival of Thomas, 
with whom he was closely associated. 
He was probably a grandson of John 
Yardley, of Rushton Spencer, uncle of 
William and Thomas, above mentioned, 
who married Alice, daughter of Richard 
Sutton, of Rushton Spencer, and had 
sons, Edward, William, Ralph, John, 
Richard, and Thomas. As before stated 
Richard Yardley appears in Bucks coun- 
ty soon after the emigration of Thomas 
Yardley to this county, and the latter 
sold him in 1753 six hundred acres of 
land near Newtown, purchased in 1742. 
Richard never lived on this land, and 
at his death in 1761 was operating the 
mill belonging to Thomas Yardlej^ in 
Solebury township. His will, dated Jan- 
uary 5, 1761, and proved March 4, 1761, 
mentions wife Mary, daughter Mary, 
wife of Joseph Harvey; and sons, Thom- 
as, Samuel, Richard, Enoch, William, 
and Benjamin. 

Richard Yardley, son of the above 
Richard, married November i, 1759, Lu- 
cilla Stackhouse. He purchased in 1773 
of Thomas and Mary (Field) Yardley 
107 acres of land in Lower Makefield, 
on which he lived and died. He was a 
wheelwright by trade and followed that 
vocation in connection with farming. 
He died in 1786 leaving two sons, Sam- 
uel and William; and three daughters: 
Anna, wife of John Leedom; Hannah, 
wife of James White; and Mary, wife 
of John Hough. William, the j^oungest 
of the children, was born in 1777. Lu- 
cilla Stackhouse, wife of Richard Yard- 
ley, was born 4 mo. 9, 1738, and was a 
daughter of John and Elizabeth (Jan- 
ney) Stackhouse, her maternal grand- 
father being Abel Janney, whose daugh- 
ter Elizabeth, John Stackhouse married 
at IMiddletown 10 mo. 22. 1737, their only 
other child being Abel Stackhouse, born 
4 mo. 4, 1740. John Stackhouse was born 
3 mo. II, 1708, and died 7 mo. 23, 1743, 
and was a son of John and Elizabeth 
Stackhouse, of ]\iiddletown, the former 
of whom came to Middletown from 
England with his uncle, Thomas Stack- 
house, in 1682. 

Samuel Yardley, eldest son of Richard 
and Lucilla (Stackhouse) Yardley, was 
a man of considerable prominence in the 
community, and at one time a consider- 
able landholder in the Makefields. He 
married Ann Vansant, daughter of Cor- 
nelius and Ann (Larzelere) Vansant, and 
had two sons, Richard and Joseph Har- 
vey Yardley. 

Joseph H. Yardley was born near 
Yardley in the year 1797. He was a nat- 
ural mechanic, and in ,early life followed 
the trade of a carpenter, in connection 



with the conduct of a farm near Taylors- 
ville. In April, 1841, he purchased at 
sheriff's sale the Jacob Janney farm of 
115 acres, which included the farm now 
owned and occupied by his son, the sub- 
ject of this sketch, and spent the remain- 
der of his life thereon, dying in 1880 at 
the age of eighty-three years. In politics 
he was a staunch Republican, and was 
an active and prominent man in the com- 
munity, holding the office of justice of 
the peace for many years. He was also 
one of the directors of the Yardley Del- 
aware Bridge Company, and held several 
other positions of trust. His wife was 
Esther B. Knowles, of an old and promi- 
nent family in Upper Makefield, and 
they were the parents of six children: 
Elizabeth; Julia, widow of Charles Jan- 
ney, of Solebury ; Anna, first wife of the 
above named Charles Janney; Rebecca, 
who died young; Samuel, the subject oi 
this sketch; and Gulielma, wife of Rob- 
ert Yardley Linton, of Makefield. 

Samuel Yardley was born near Tay- 
lorsville, -Upper Makefield township, Oc- 
tober 19, 1834, but from the age of seven 
years was reared on the farm upon 
which he still resides. He was educated 
at the local schools and at the Norris- 
town Academy. He was jeared to the 
life of a farmer, and has always given 
his attention to the tilling of the soil. 
In politics he is a Republican, but has 
never sought or held other than local 
office. He is one of the highly respected 
citizens of Lower Makefield, where he 
has always resided. Mr. Yardley has been 
twice married, his first wife being Sa- 
rah Swartzlander, who died December 21, 
1865; and his second wife was Jane P. 
Swartzlander, who died November 28, 
1902, both being daughters of Abraham 
and Rebecca Swartzlander. 

William R., only son of Samuel and 
Sarah (Swartzlander) Yardley, married 
j\Iary Vanhorn, and they are the parents 
of eleven children, as follows: Florence 
K., born February 6, 1884; Joseph H., 
born July 21. 1885; Bernard V., born 
October 4, 1887; Mary S., born Novem- 
ber 16. 1889: Sarah S., born Januarj' 22, 
1892; Oscar v., deceased; Jane P., born 
^larch 12, 1'897; Maud L., born August i, 
T898; Samuel Y., born February 5, 1900; 
Virginia, born May 30, 1901; Esther K., 
born January 8, 1903. 



HON. ROBERT M. YARDLEY, de- 
ceased. On the ninth day of December, 
1902, passed away in Doylestown, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, one of the most 
popular and distinguished citizens of the 
county, one who by reason of eminent 
ability and distinguished services had 
achieved a fame far beyond the borders 
of his native county, and who by his gen- 
erous, kindly and affable traits had in- 
trenched himself in the hearts of the 
people. 



126 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Robert M. Yardley was born in Yard- 
ley, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, Octo- 
ber 9, 1850, a son of John and Ann (Van 
Horn) Yardley. Of a distinguished an- 
cestry who had rendered to tiieir county, 
state and nation distinguished and emi- 
nent services in nearly every generation, 
he rendered fully his meed of service. 
He w^as reared in the village, (now bor- 
ough) of Yardley, and received a good 
academic education. As a young man he 
was engaged for a few years in assisting 
his father in the conduct of a large lum- 
ber and coal business at Yardley. At the 
age of eighteen he began the study of 
law in the office of his half-brother, 
Mahlon Yardley, Esq., and was admitted 
to the bar of Bucks county in 1872. He 
located in Doylestown, and immediately 
began the practice of his chosen profes- 
sion. He was a careful and conscien- 
tious student, a logical and forceful reas- 
oner and an eloquent speaker, and soon 
proved himself an able and strong law- 
yer, and merited and held the confidence 
of a large clientage. 

In 1879 he was elected district attor- 
ney of the county against an adverse 
majority, and filled the office for three 
years with eminent ability. In politics 
he was an ardent Republican, and repre- 
sented his party and county in the na- 
tional convention of 1884. He was elected 
to the Fiftieth Congress in 1886, from 
the Seventh District, over Hon. George 
Ross, and made an enviable record. Re- 
turning to Doylestown and declining a 
♦re-election, he resumed the practice of 
his profession and soon reached the first 
rank as a lawyer. His reputation as an 
orator placed him upon the platform at 
many political and other assemblies, and 
his eloquent addresses, touched with a 
vein of humor, were always incisive, in- 
structive and to the point. He was ap- 
pointed receiver of the Keystone Nation- 
al Bank, Philadelphia, in 1891, and his 
excellent administration of its a'rfairs 
led to his appointment as receiver of the 
Spring Garden Bank, in 1894. He was 
interested in all that pertained to the 
best interests of his town and county, 
and generously contributed to every 
good cause, public or private. He was a 
director of the Bucks County Trust 
Company of the Doylestown Elec- 
trical Company, the Doylestown Gas 
Company, and an officer in several other 
local institutions. He was president 
of the Doylestown school board for 
several years prior to his death, and 
an active member of the local board of 
health. He was a member of the Ma- 
sonic fraternity and of the I. O. O. F. 

Mr. Yardley was twice married, first 
in 1874. to Clara Bell, who died in 1883, 
and second, on April 21, 1892, to Re- 
becca P., widow of Levi. L. James. Esq., 
and daughter of John M. and Sarah 
(Roberts) Purdy, who survives him. 
An account of the ancestry of Mrs. 



Yardley, is given on another page of 
this work. The news of the death of 
Mr. Yardley on December 9, 1902, was 
heard with profound regret and sorrow 
in ail parts of Bucks county. The end 
came without warning; he had gone to 
his office as usual in the morning, and 
a few minutes after entering his private 
office died in his chair from heart fail- 
ure. 



HENRY W. COMFORT. It is def- 
initely known that it was at a very early- 
epoch in the settlement of the new world 
when the Comfort family was estab- 
lished in America, for John Comfort 
came from Flushing, Long Island, to the 
Friends Monthly Meeting held in Falls 
township. Bucks county, December 3, 
1719, bringing with him a certificate 
from the former place. He settled in 
Amwell, Hunterdon county. New Jer- 
sey, and his life was devoted to reclaim- 
ing the wild land for purposes of civili- 
zation and to more advanced agricul- 
tural interests. He married Miss Mary 
Wilson, August 6, 1720, and they had 
three children: Stephen, Sarah and Rob- 
ert. 

(II) Stephen Comfort, of the second 
generation, was married to Mercy 
Croasdale August 25, 1744. They had 
nine children; John; Ezra; Jeremiah; 
Stephen; Grace, the wife of Jonathan 
Stackhouse; Mercy, the wife of Aaron 
Phillipps: Moses; Robert; and Hannah. 

(III) Ezra Comfort, son of Stephen 
Comfort, was born August 11, 1747, arid 
married Alice Fell, January 9, 1772. He 
was a recorded minister of the Society 
of Friends and exerted strong influence 
in behalf of the moral as well as mafer- 
ial development of his community. In 
his family were six children: Elizabeth, 
who became the wife of Peter Roberts, 
and after his death married Benjamin 
White; Mercy, wife of Joshua Paxton; 
Grace, twin sister of Mercy, and the 
wife of Benjamin Gillingham; John; 
Ezra; and Alice. 

(IV) Ezra Comfort, who was born 
April 18. 1777, was also a recorded minis- 
ter of the Society of Friends. He mar- 
ried Margaret Shoemaker, October 16, 
1800, and they had nine children ; Sarah, 
wife of Hughes Bell; Grace, wife of 
Charles Williams; Jane, who became the 
wife of Jones Yerkes, and after his death 
married Charles Lippencott; Ann, who 
married Isaac Jones; John S.; Alice, the 
wMfe of George M. Haverstick; Jere- 
miah; David; and Margaret, wife of 
Henry Warrington. 

(V) John S. Comfort, son of Ezra 
Comfort, was born May 25, 1810, in 
Plymouth. Montgomery county, Penn- 
sylvania. In early life he engaged in a 
lime business, building and owning 
kilns about ten miles from Easton on 
the Delaware division of the canal. He 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



127 



shipped the first boatload of lime that 
was ever sent over the canal, and for a 
number of years supplied most of the 
farmers in the lower part of Bucks 
county. Later he turned his attention 
to the lumber business, which he con- 
ducted quite extensively in the Lehigh 
valley. About 1835 he purchased the 
farm where his son, George AL Comfort, 
now resides, situated in Falls township, 
about a mile and a half from the village 
of Fallsington, whereon he spent his re- 
maining days, passing away in 1891. He 
married Jane C. Comfort, a daughter of 
Jeremiah and Sarah (Cooper) Comfort. 
Their only chil,d was 

(VI) George M., who was born April 
10, 1837, in the house which is yet his 
home. He early engaged in agricultural 
pursuits, in which he was much inter- 
ested, finding it both congenial to his 
tast«s and satisfactorily remunerative. 
He was a member of the first board of 
directors of The Peoples' National Bank 
of Langhorne, and is yet a member of 
the board of directors of the First Na- 
tional Bank of Trenton, New Jersey, 
and is president of the Bucks County 
Contributionship for Fire Insurance. 
Like his ancestors for several genera- 
tions, he is a member of the religious 
Society of Friends, and from early life 
has been actively engaged in its work. 
He married Ann Elizabeth, daughter of 
Moses and Mercy Comfort, of Penns 
Manor, on October 14, 1858. Their chil- 
dren are : Edward .C, who died in child- 
hood; Henry W., born February 27, 
1863; and William S., who died in child- 
hood. 

(VII) Henry W. Comfort, the only 
surviving son of George M. and Ann 
Elizabeth Comfort, resides on and is 
operating the farm in Falls township 
which has been the family home for 
three generations. It includes ah area 
of 225 acres, on which he keeps a large 
herd of high grade dairy cows, the 
milk from which is delivered daily to cus- 
tomers in the city of Trenton, New Jer- 
sey. This business was started by his 
grandfather in 1847. and the milk route 
has been constantly served from this 
farm ever since. Mr. Comfort is presi- 
dent of the John L. Murphy Publishing 
Company, president and treasurer of the 
International Pottery Company, of Treii- 
ton; a director of the Yardley National 
Bank, and is interested in. and vice- 
president of The William H. Moon Nur- 
sery Company. He has been actively 
associated with affairs touching the gen- 
eral interests of the neighborhood, is 
a director of the Morrisville Building 
and Loan Association, and of the Falls- 
ington Library Companv, and is one of 
the managers of The Friends' Asylum 
for the Insane at Frankford. Philadel- 
phia. 

Mr. Comfort has been twice married.. 
His first wife was Edith, daughter of 



Samuel Ellis and Sarah B. DeCou, and 
his present wife was Lydia P., daughter 
of Ellwood and Mercy A. Parsons. 



THE ELY FAMILY. The earliest men- 
tion of Ely as a family surname in Eng- 
land occurred during the reign of the 
Plantaganets after the Norman Con- 
quest. The English "Book of Digni- 
ties" records William De Ely as lord 
treasurer for King John and Richard I ; 
Richard De Ely, lord treasurer for Rich- 
ard I and Henry II; Ralph De Ely, ba- 
ron of the exchequer for Henry III, 
(1240); Philip De Ely lord treasurer 
for Henry III (1271); Nicholas De Ely, 
lord chancellor, in 1260, Lord treasurer 
in 1263, and Bishop of Worcester 1266 
to 1289. One bra:nch of the family is 
known to have lived at Utterby, Lin- 
colnshire, from this early period down 
to the present day, L. C. R. Norris- 
Elye being the present Lord of the Man- 
or of Utterby and patron of the old 
thirteenth century church of * St. An- 
drew a.t that place. Wharton Dickinson, 
the New York genealogist, traces this 
line back to a connection with Ralph De 
Ely, Baron of the Exchequer. The Man- 
or House has the Ely arms, (a fesse 
engrailed between six fleurs-de-lis) cut 
in stone over the entrance, dated 1639. 
The same arms are also found in the 
church. Another branch is said to have 
settled in Yorkshire, and Burke gives 
the arms the same as above, but red 
instead of black. Papworth's "British 
Armorials" states that these arms were 
borne also by Nicholas De Ely and Sir 
Richard De Illey. In Bailey's "History 
of Nottinghamshire," John De Ely is 
stated to have been appointed the first 
vicar of St. Mary's Collegiate church at 
Nottingham in 1290, and its author adds 
that the name has "Come down to the 
present day." Another John De Ely was 
Lord of the Manor of Thornhaugh and 
Wiggesley in Nottinghamshire in 1316 
(within a mile of Dunhan, where Joshua 
Ely resided before embarking for Am- 
erica in 1683.) 

The ancestors of the Elys of Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, came from that 
part of Old England known as the Peak 
District, famous both for its natural 
beauty and historic interest. It com- 
prises Upper Derbyshire, Southwestern 
Yorkshire, and Western Nottingham- 
shire. The family were related to the 
Revells of Derbyshire, an ancient and 
powerful family, descendants of the JM^or- 
man nobility. Hugh De Revell was 
grandm.aster of the Knight Hospitalers, 
and this family in England throughout 
the Crusades were trustees of the Knight 
Templar property in England. The Sta- 
cyes of Yorkshire, who held the estate 
known as Ballifield from the time of the 
Norman Conquest, were also closely 
connected with the Elys. The Stacye 



128 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



and Ely families were among the earliest 
of the English churchmen to follow the 
teachings of George Eox, the fonncicr 
of the Society of Friends. Great relig- 
ious meetings were held at Balhuci.l 
Hall, the home of the Stacyes, by Fox in 
his journeys to Yorkshire, and there is 
still to be found at Ballifield Hall, an 
antique black oak table inlaid with a 
silver plate inscribed as follows: "This 
called by Fox the Quaker's Table, made 
before 1593, was for many years at Syn- 
der Hill and afterwards for sixty years 
in the Tool House there, then restored 
and placed in Ballifield Hall by Thomas 
Watson Cadman, Esq., in December, 
1868." 

The connection between this branch of 
the Elj^ family and those of the same 
name mentioned in the earlier history 
of this section of England is not known. 
In the Feudal history of Derbyshire by 
Yeatman in the days of Henry VH and 
Henry VHI, Hugh*, Thomas*, Roland*, 
and John Ely are memtioned and still 
earlier, Nicholas le Hele, Sir William 
"Delly," Knt. and John "Eallee" are also 
mentioned, but no positive lineage is 
known back of the grandparents of 
those who came to America. Joshua 
Ely and Rebecca Ely Stacye, who land- 
ed in West Jersey in 1683 and 1678 re- 
spectively, were the children of George 
Ely, of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. 
Other children were: Hugh of Mans- 
field, w'ho married Marie Roos; Ruth, 
who married Lionell Revell; and Eliza- 
beth, whose tomb is in a good state of 
preservation in the private cemetery of 
the Stacyes at Ballifield Hall. Another 
Hugh Ely is known to have married 
Rosamond Bullock at Chesterfield, Der- 
byshire, between 1600 and 1640, and 
Alicia, a daughter of Hugh Ely, was bap- 
tized at Chesterfield in 1614. 

A history of the Ely, Stacye and Rev- 
ell families is in preparation under the 
supervision of Warren S. Ely of Doyles- 
town, Pennsylvania, Dr. William S. 
Long, of Haddonfield, New Jersey, and 
Daniel B. Ely of Montclair, New Jer- 
sey. 

The wife of George Ely, of Mansfield, 
was doubtless Sarah Heath, as at the 
time Joshua Ely, their son, proposed 
intentions of marriage at Mansfield 
Quarterly Meeting, England, 7th month, 
1673, with Mary Seniar, the following 
entry was made on the minutes of that' 
meeting: 

"Joshua Ely and Mary Senierd, both 
of Mansfield, declare intentions of mar- 
riage with each other. Present, his 
grandmother, Elizabeth Heath, his re- 
lations and guardians Mahlon and Re- 
becca Stacy, his brother-in-law, Lion- 
el Revel who married his sister Ruth 
. — _» 

*These Christian names are also common in the 
Revell pedigree. It is also known that the Elys of 
Utterby Manor are descended from the Elys of 
Derbyshire. 



Ely, and Alse Senierd, mother of said 
Mary Senierd." 

Mahlon Stacy had married Rebecca 
Ely in 1668, at Cinder Hill, a part oj the 
Ballifield estate. From another source 
we have the following records: "Joshua 
Ely of Mansfield and Mary Seniar of 
same place, daughter of Alice Seniar 
married 8th month, 29, 1673, at G. Cock- 
erman's House at Skegby in Notting- 
hamshire." "John Ely, son of Joshua and 
Mar}^, buried 9th month, 25, 1676. 
George Ely, son of Joshua and Mary, 
died 3rd month, 3, 1676." 

Mahlon Stacy, of the ancient family of 
Ballifield, with his wife Rebecca Ely, 
their children and servants, in the year 
1678 embarked in the "Shield," and on 
November 10, 1678, landed on the east 
bank of the Delaware, in New Jersey, 
where they and their descendants were 
destined to take an important part in the 
founding and preservation of an Eng- 
lish colony and nation in America. In 
the same ship came their cousin, Thomas 
Revell, of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, who, 
unlike them, was not a convert to the 
gentle teachings of George Fox, but rep- 
resented the High Church Tory party, 
and later took an active part in the af- 
fairs of the West Jersey colony, filling 
the positions of surveyor general, re- 
corder, surrogate, member and almost a 
dictator in the governor's council, an3 
finally a justice on the supreme bench. 
He was, however, an aristocrat of the 
aristocrats and was unpopular with the 
colonists, and after the downfall of Lord 
Cornbury was finally removed from of- 
fice at the instigation of the colonists 
and on the advice of William Penn. 

Mahlon Stacy became a very promi- 
nent man, filling many important gov- 
ernment positions. His daughters inter- 
married with the Kirkbrides, Pownalls 
and Janneys of Bucks county, who were 
prominent in the affairs of Bucks county 
and the province of Pennsylvania. He 
took up a tract of land on the site of the 
present city of Trenton and eretted a 
mill there, the first to furnish meal to 
the early colonists of Bucks county. 
It was through him that his brother-in- 
law, Joshua Ely, who, after his marriage, 
had settled at Dunham, Nottingham»- 
shire, came to America in 1684 with his 
wife and children, and located on 400 
acres, conveyed to Joshua by Mahlon 
Stacy, on both sides of the Assinnipink, 
by deed dated April 20, 1685. This tract 
fronted on the river, about five eighths 
of a mile from a point thirty-two and 
one-half chains north of the mouth of 
the creek upward, and extended inland 
one mile. • 

Joshua Ely became a prominent man 
in the colon}', and was commissioned a 
justice in 1700 and recommissioned the 
following year. He became a large 
landholder, owning at different periods 
two other tracts of 400 acres each, be- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



129 



sides his original purchase on the site of 
Trenton, of which he died seized. His 
wife Mary died in 1698, and he married 
(second) November 9, 1699, Rachel Lee, 
who bore him two children, Benjamin 
and Ruth, twins. He died 4th month, 
1702, at Trenton. The children of Josh- 
ua and Mary (Seniar) Ely were John 
and George, before mentioned, who died 
in infancy in England ; Joshua, born in Eng- 
land 1680; George, born 1682 in England; 
John, said to have been born on the voy- 
age to America; Hugh, born at Tren- 
ton about 1686; Elizabeth, and Sarah, 
the latter born -in the same year that 
her mother died. Of Rachel, the widow 
and her two children, nothing is known. 

Joshua Ely, the eldest son, bought a 
portion of the homestead in 1705. Let- 
ters of administration were granted on 
his estate to George Ely in 1760, but 
whether his son or not wc are unable 
to determine; nothing is known of his 
descendants. 

George Ely, the second son, it would 
seem, was about to marry Christian, the 
daughter of Nathaniel Pettit, who lived 
on an adjoining tract, at the death of 
his father, and the latter, in his will, 
expresses decided objections to the mar- 
riage and practically disinherits George 
in case of its consummation. What be- 
came of Christian Pettit remains a mys- 
tery, but in 1703 George Ely married 
Jane Pettit, daughter of Nathaniel, but 
whether the same person or another 
daughter is a matter of conjecture. 
George Ely purchased 100 acres of the 
old homestead of his father's executors 
at Trent Town (as it came to be known 
after the purchase by William Trent of 
the Stacy mill and lands) and lived 
thereon until his death in 1750. He was 
active in the affairs of the embryo city, 
and a member of its first town coun- 
cil, at the incorporation in 1746. The 
children of George and Jane (Pettit) 
Ely were: Joshua, born March 16, 1704; 
George, born 1706; Rebecca, who mar- 
ried Eliakim Anderson, and has descend- 
ants in Bucks county; Joseph; Mary, 
who married Richard Green, and is the 
ancestress of Mrs. Ethan Allen Weaver 
of Philadelphia; Sarah, who married 
John Dagworthy:* and Elizabeth, who 
married James Price of Hopewell. 

John Ely, the tjhird son of Joshua and 
Mary (Seniar) Ely, married Frances 
Venables, daughter of William and Eli- 
zabeth Venables, of Bucks county. Penn- 
sylvania, in 1706, and died at Trenton. 
in 1732. Their four children, John, who 
married Phebe Allison; William; Mary, 
wife of William Hill; and Elizabeth, 
wife of Joseph Higbee, have left num- 
erous descendants in New Jersey. The 



*John Dagworthv's sons. John and Ely. were 
officers in the French and Indian war. John became 
a brigardier general, and was granted 20,000 acres of 
land in Maryland for his services. 

U-3 



descendants of John and Phebe are es- 
pecially numerous in southern New Jer- 
sey. 

Hugh Ely, the youngest son of Josh- 
ua and JNIary (Seniar) Ely, born at 
Trenton about 1686, married December 
12, 1712, Mary Hewson, and in 1720 
settled in Buckingham township on 400 
acres of land purchased in the "Lundy 
Tract," extending from Broadhurst's 
lane to Holicong and from the York 
road to Buckingham Mountain, and 
lived there the remander of his life, dy- 
ing in 1771. He became a member of 
Buckingham Friends' Meeting, and, his 
wife Mary having died, he married May 
16, 1753, Phoebe Smith, widow of Robert 
Smith, of Buckingham, and daughter of 
Thomas Canby, an eminent minister among 
Friends. Phoebe was also an accepted 
minister. The children of Hugh Ely, all 
by his first wife, were : 

1. Thomas, who married January 22, 
1734, Sarah Lowther, daughter of William 
and Ruth Lowther, of Buckingham and 
about 1775, removed with most of his grown 
up children to Maryland. Gen. Hugh Ely 
of Baltimore county, veteran of the sec- 
ond war with Great Britain, congress- 
man. United States senator, etc., was a 
son of Mahlon and grandson of Thomas 
and Sarah (Lowther) Ely. Many of the 
male descendants of Thomas migrated 
to Ohio, where the family is now quite 
numerous. 

2. Hugh Ely, Jr., married Elizabeth 
Blackfan, and remained on the home- 
stead in Buckingham, part of which is 
still owned and occupied by his de- 
scendants. He reared a family and has 
very numerous descendants in Bucks 
county and elsewhere. 

3. Ann Ely married Peter Matson. 

4. Anna Ely, married John Wilkinson. 

Of Elizabeth and Sarah Lly, daugh- 
ters of Joshua and Mary, little is known. 
The descendants of the three sons, 
George, John and Hugh, are now widely 
scattered over the United States, and 
many of them have filled honored po- 
sitions in the official, professional and 
business life of the sections in which 
their lot was cast. 

George Ely, second son of George and 
Jane (Pettit) Ely, married Mary Prout,, 
and settled in Amwell township, near 
Lambertville, New Jersey, in 1748- 1750. 
He was proprietor of Wells Ferry, now 
New Hope, and resided there, and also 
was the owner of considerable land in 
the Ferry Tract, Solebury. He had sons 
Joseph, John and George, the last named 
of whom was colonel of a New Jersey 
regiment during the revolutionary war, 
and at its close removed to Shamokin, 
Pa., where he died in 1820, He married 
Susanna Farley, of Amwell and had nine 
children, many of whose descendants 
now reside in western Pennsylvania and 
Ohio. 



130 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Joshua Ely, eldest son of George and 
Jane (Pettit) Ely, born at Trenton, New 
Jersey March 16, 1704, married in 1729, 
Elizabeth Bell, daughter of Henry and 
Elizabeth Bell, of Burlington county, 
New Jersey. He removed to Pennsyl- 
vania permanently in 1737, but .it would 
appear that he had established a resi- 
dence there some years earlier, as he 
was admitted a member of Buckingham 
Meeting in 1734- Though the minutes 
of that meeting fail to show any record 
of his removal, he and his wife Eliza- 
beth received a certificate of removal 
from Chesterfield Meeting to Bucking- 
ham in 1738. In 1737 he leased of Will- 
iam Blakey 400 acres in Solebury town- 
ship. Bucks county, the greater part of 
which is still owned and occupied by his 
descendants of the name. The lease 
was for ten years, and under its provis- 
I'ons, he was to clear sixty acres of up- 
land and ten acres of meadow, and build 
an addition to the house, Blakey to fur- 
nish "nails and shingles," and to build 
a frame barn. The lease was renewed 
in 1747, but in 1749 he contracted for its 
purchase, which failed of consummation 
until two years later by reason of the 
death of Blakey before the deed was de- 
livered. Here Joshua Ely lived until his 
death in 1783, building a stone house 
soon after his purchase, which is still 
occupied by his great-great-grandson, 
William L. Ely. He became a prominent 
man in Solebury but, being a consistent 
member of the Society of Friends, took 
no part in the revolutionary struggle, 
his name and those of his sons appear- 
ing on the list of "non-associators" in 
1775. He was made an elder of Bucking- 
ham Meeting in 1752 and was recom- 
mended as a minister in 1758. He was a 
successful farmer, and in addition to the 
400 acres acquired another large tract 
of land, part of the Pike tract adjoining. 
The children of Joshua and Elizabeth 
(Bell) Ely were as follows: 

1. Joshua, born at Trenton in 1730, 
died on a part of the Solebury home- 
stead in 1804. He married Elizabeth 
Hughes, daughter of IMathew and Eliza- 
beth (Stevenson) Hughes, of Plumstead, 
and has left numerous descendants. The 
farm of 150 acres received by him of his 
father was occupied successively by his 
son and grandson, both named Jonathan, 
the latter dying in 1867, when the farm 
went to another branch of the family, 
and is now conducted by a great-great- 
grandson of his brother George, George 
H. Ely. 

2. George Ely. born at Trenton, New 
Jersey. November 9. 1733- died in New- 
town township in 1815. He married Sep- 
tember 24, 1760, Sarah Magill; see for- 
ward. 

3. John, born May 28, 1738. married 
SaVah Sinicock. and inherited the home- 
stead tract of his father. For his de- 



scendants see sketch of William L. Ely, 
who still resides there. 

4. Sarah Ely, born June 14; 1736, mar- 
ried William Kitchin, to whom her fath- 
er conveyed a portion of the homestead 
lying next to the Delaware river, upon 
which he erected a mill for his half- 
brother Aaron Phillips, whose descend- 
ants of the name operated it until about 
1890. 

5. Hugh Ely, born August 8, 1741, mar- 
ried Elizabeth Wilson. He inherited 
from his father a farm in the "Pike 
Tract," but sold it and resided in New 
Hope, where he was a noted clock mak- 
er a century ago. 

6 Hannah, married James Dubree, 
and left two children Absalom and Han- 
nah. 

7. Jane, married Jonathan Balderston, 
and lived and died in Solebury. 

George Ely, second son of Joshua and 
Elizabeth (Bell) Ely, born at Trenton, 
November 8, 1733, married November 24, 
1760, Sarah Magill, Jr., daughter of 
William and Sarah (Simcock) Magill, of 
Solebury, the former a native of Ulster, 
Ireland, located in Solebury about 1730. 
Sarah Simcock was a daughter of Jacob 
Simcock, Jr., and Sarah Wain, of Rid- 
ley, Chester county; Sarah Wain being 
a daughter of Nicholas -Wain, for many 
years a member of colonial assembly, 
at whose house in Middletown, Bucks 
county, the early Friends Meetings were 
held. John Simcock, of Ridley, the 
grandfather of Jacob, Jr., born in Chesh- 
ire, England, in 1630, came to Chester 
county with his wife Elizabeth about 
1682; he was one of Penn's five commis- 
sioners, and a member of provincial 
council, 1683-1700; judge of Chester 
county, 1683-86; puisine judge of prov- 
ince, 1686-90; provincial judge. 1690-93; 
and speaker of assembly, 1696; died 1703. 
His son Jacob, who was coroner of 
Chester county in 1691, married Alice 
Maris, daughter of George Maris and 
Alice his wife, who came from Wor- 
cestershire, England, to Chester county 
in 1682, a member of the governor's 
council. 1684 to 1695. member of assem- 
bly, justice, etc., died 1705. In 1760 
George Ely received from his father 
112 acres of the homestead, on which he 
erected a house still standing, aijd 
which is still owned by his descendants, 
being the home of his great-grand- 
daughter Laura Ely Walton. He later 
purchased considerable other land in 
Solebury and elsewhere, much of which 
is also occupied by his descendants. He 
was a prominent man in the community, 
and a member of colonial assembly in 
1760. He was a resident on the old 
homestead until 1802, when he trans- 
ferred it to his son George Ely, Jr., 
and removed to Newtown township to a 
farm purchased of Hampton Wilson, 
where he died in 1814. The children of 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



13^ 



<jeorge and Sarah (Magill) Ely were 
as follows: 

1. Joseph, born August 13, 1761, mar- 
ried Mary Whitson, daughter of Thom- 
as Whitson, Jr., and granddaughter of 
Thomas Whitson, who came from Beth- 
page, Long Island, and a descendant of 
the Powells. Hallecks and Estes of Long 
Island. Joseph Ely received from his 
father the Rabbit Run farm, now occu- 
pied by his great-grandson Thomas Ma- 
,gill, and lived and died there. 

2. Jane Ely, born January 5, 1764, mar- 
ried Benjamin Paxson. 

3. Joshua, born July 4, 1766, died 
young. 

4. Amos, born February 6, 1769. 

5. George, born July 25, 1772, married 
Sarah Smith, and lived and died on the 
Tiomestead, where his sons, Robert, 
Smith. George and Gervas, late of Lam- 
bertville. New Jersey, were born and 
reared. 

6. William, born November 26, 1774. 
inherited his father's Newtown farm. 

7. Aaron married Alada Britton, was 
â– the father of Hiram and Britton Ely, of 
New Hope, and the grandfather of Dan- 
iel Britton Ely, of Montclair, New Jer- 
sey. 

8. Joshua, born October 24, if79, died 
young. 

9. Mark, born September 18, 1781; see 
forward. 

10. Mathias, born September 5, 1783, 
was twice married, and was the grand- 
father of Esward W. Ely, of Doyles- 
town. 

11. Amasa, born November 12, 1787. 
Mark Ely, ninth chiM of George and 

Sarah (Magill) Ely, born on the old 
homestead, September 18, 1781, was a 
shoemaker by trade, and followed that 
vocation in connection with farming all 
Tiis. life. He inherited from his father 
a small farm adjoining the homestead, 
-and lived thereon until his death in 1835. 
He was twice married, first on June 2, 
1802, to Hannah Johnson, who bore him 
three daughters, and second, December 
12, 1815. to Rachel Hambleton, born 
May 23. 1787, died August 21, 1878, 
daughter of James and Elizabeth (Pax- 
son) Hambleton, of Solebury, later of 
Drumore, Lancaster county, grand- 
daughter of Stephen and Hannah (Pax- 
son) Hambleton. and great-granddaugh- 
ter of James and Mary (Beakes) Ham- 
bleton, of Solebury. James Hamble- 
ton came to Solebury in the early part 
of the eighteenth century from Mary- 
land, where his ancestors had resided 
â– for two or three generations. Hannah 
Paxson, wife of Stephen Hambleton, born 
December 28, 1732, died November i, 
1812. was the daughter of James and 
Margaret (Hodges) Paxson. and grand- 
daughter of William and Abigail (Pow- 
nal) Paxson: and Elizabeth, the wife of 
James Hambleton, was a daughter of 
Henry and Elizabeth (Lupton) Paxson, 



and granddaughter of Henry and Ann 
Plumly Paxson, the latter being a broth- 
er to William before mentioned, and 
both sons of James and Jane Paxson, 
who came from Bucks county, England, 
m 1682. Mary Beakes, wife of James 
Hambleton, was a daughter of Stephen 
and Elizabeth (Biles) Beakes, both of 
whom were natives of England, the for- 
mer born April 28, 1665, in Blackwell, 
Somerset, England, son ,of William and 
Mary (Wall) Beakes, ca'me to Pennsyl- 
vania with his parents in 1682 and died 
in 1699. Both he and his father wc e 
members of colonial assembly. His wife 
Elizabeth, bom in Dorchester, England, 
June 3, 1670, was a daughter of William 
and Joanna Biles, who came to Bucks 
county in 1679, William was a member 
of the first provincial council, and rep- 
resented his county for many years. 

Of the three daughters of Mark and 
Hannah (Johnson) Ely, one married a 
Hall, and had a large family of children; 
Rachel married Amos C. Paxson, of 
Solebury, and had a large family, most 
of whom are now deceased: and Rachel 
Ann, married first Joseph Lownes, and 
second Samuel Cooper, having several 
children by the first marriage, and one 
(Mrs. Rachel Pidcock, of New Hope) by 
the second. 

The children of Mark and Rachel 
(Hambleton) Ely, were. 

1. James H. died September 29, 1905, in 
Solebury, married Emeline Magill, and had 
four daughters and one son, Mark, of Ew- 
ing township, Hunterdon county. New 
Jersey. Of the daughters, Henrietta 
married Ellis Walton, and is living in 
Solebury; Josephine is the wife of 
George Quinby. of Warrington; Eliza- 
beth married Joseph Lear, and is de- 
ceased; and Amy, unmarried, resides 
with her father. 

2. Amy, married Isaac Heston Wor- 
stall. and is deceased, leaving two chil- 
dren, Mrs. George Wiley of Solebury 
and Mrs. Emma Wilson of California. 

3. Mercy, married William H. McDow- 
ell, and resided for many years in Cecil 
county, Maryland, both are deceased 
leaving four sons and a daughter. 

4. Mary, married Howard Paxson of 
Solebury and has been a widow for many 
years, residing with her daughter Mrs. 
Harvey Warner in Solebury. 

5. Isaac Ely. second son of Mark and 
Rachel, born in Solebury. May 23. 1819, 
was reared in that township and lived 
there and in the borough of New Hope 
all his life. He was a farmer, and, after 
renting a farm for about five years, pur- 
chased a farm in the Pownall tract ad- 
joining the homestead of his ancestors, 
where he lived until i86.q, when he pur- 
chased the farm on which his grandpar- 
ents, George and Sarah (Magill) Ely, 
had settled in 1760, and where his father 
was born, and lived there until 1884, 
when he retired from active business and 



132 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



resided in New Hope until his death, on 
March 3, 1898. In 1867 he purchased the 
farm given by his great-grandfather, 
Joshua Ely, to his son, Joshua, Jr., on 
which his eldest son, William M. Ely, 
settled and still resides. Isaac Ely was 
a prominent and successful farmer and 
business man. He took an active inter- 
est in local affairs, and held a number of 
positions of public trust. He was for 
many years a member of the local school 
board, and took an active interest in the 
cause of education. During the civil 
war, though a member of the Society of 
Friends and constant in the attendance 
of Solebury Meeting, he was active in 
raising the quota of soldiers required to 
carry on the war, from his section, and 
in rasining funds and materials for the 
care of the sick and wounded in the hos- 
pitals. He was for manj' years a direc- 
tor of the Bucks County Agricultural 
and Mechanics' Institute, and one of 
the active members of the Solebury 
Farmers' Club. He married December 
25, 1841, Mary Magill, born October 23, 
1820, died March 2, 1897, daughter of 
John and Anne (Ely) Magill. The 
former,*born July 12, 1779, died Febru- 
ary 10, 1866, was a son of John. and Amy 
(Wliitson) Magill, and a grandson of 
William and Sarah (Simcock) Magill, be- 
fore mentioned; and the latter a daugh- 
ter of Joseph and Alary (Whitson) Ely 
before mentioned. Amy Whitson, the 
wife of John Magill, Sr., was born July 
18, 1739, and was a daughter of David 
and Clemence (Powell) Whitson, who 
came from Long Island to Solebury in 
the first half of the eighteenth century. 
The children of Isaac and Mary (Ma- 
gill) Ely were: 

Sarah Ellen, born 1842, died August 
3, 1876; married John S. Abbott. 

William M. Ely, born January 29, 
1844; has been for many years a justice 
of the peace of Solebury, residing on 
150 acres of the land taken up by his an- 
cestor, Joshua Ely, in 1737. He mar- 
ried December 19, 1876, Agnes S. Mich- 
ener, daughter of Hugh and Sarah 
(Betts) Michener, and they are the pa- 
rents of two children: George H., born 
June 30, 1880, is married to Marion Rice, 
daughter of Hon. Hampton and Emma 
(Kenderdine) Rice, and resides with his 
two children, Wilton and Helen, on the 
same farm; and Mary D., born Decem- 
ber 12, 1880. 

Anna M. Ely, born June 7, 1845. mar- 
ried March 29, 1873, Frederick L. Smith, 
for many years engaged in the mercan- 
tile business at Penns Park and New 
Hope, now living retired in Doylestown. 
Their "only child. Ely J. Smith, born De- 
'cember 16, 1877, is a member of the 
Bucks county bar. 

Edgar C. Ely, born October 14, 1846, 
find Rachel Anna, born June 4, 1850, both 
died August 25, 1851. 

John H. Ely, born November 17, 185^, 



married in 1882, Martha S. Gilbert^ 
daughter of John W. and Letitia (Smith) 
Gilbert, of Buckingham; he was a farmer 
in Solebury for several years, and is 
now residing in New Hope borough. 
Thejf have no children. 

Laura Ely, born August 18, 1853, mar- 
ried Seth T. Walton, of one of the 
oldest families of Montgomery county, 
and has three children, Edna M., Mark 
Hubert, and Marguerite. 

Warren S. Ely, born October 6, 1855; 
see forward. 

Alice K., born January 17, i860, mar- 
ried Clarence T. Doty, a prominent bus- 
iness man of Jacksonville, Florida, 
where they reside. 

Martha C, born December 10, 1861, 
married Thomas B. Claxton, a farmer 
in Buckingham. 



WARREN SMEDLEY ELY, tenth 
child and fourth son of Isaac and Mary 
(Magill) Ely, was born in Solebury 
township, October 6, 1855. He was ed- 
ucated in the common scRools and Lam- 
bertville Seminary. On April i, 1878, he 
took charge of the paternal farm, upon 
which he had been reared, and con- 
ducted it for two years. March i, 1880, 
he purchased a farm in Buckingham, to 
which he removed and cultivated it for 
five years, during the same period acting 
as one of the manager^ and the treas- 
urer of the Buckingham Valley Cream- 
ery Association. On October 26, 1881, 
he experienced a distressing accident by 
the loss of his right arm in farming ma- 
chinery. This necessitated his seekmg 
other employment than that to which 
he had been accustomed, and in the wm- 
ter of 1881-82 he engaged in business as 
a real estate and general business agent, 
and during the ensuing four years was 
busily engaged in that capacity, at the 
same time continuing his residence upon 
the farm and directing its management. 
In the spring of 1885 he sold the farm 
and purchased a mill in Buckingham, 
which he remodeled and refitted 
throughout, equipping it with the latest 
improved roller process machinery for 
the manufacture of flour and granulated 
cornmeal. He was the pioneer in east- 
ern Pennsylvania in the manufacture of 
the latter product, and his "Gold Grits" 
enjoyed a inore than local reputation, 
and commanded a ready sale, as did his 
roller process flour, and he conducted a 
prosperous business for several j^ears. 

In the autumn of 1893 he was elected 
on the Republican ticket to the oflice of 
clerk of orphans court of Bucks county, 
and in the spring following removed to 
Doylestown, where he has since resided. 
After his retirement from oftice on the 
expiration of his ofticial term, he was 
appointed a deputy clerk of the same 
court, acting more especially as advisor 




r SathfT y: 



\M'GJV\.€/y^. S) 




The Lewis Hihlishm// l c 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



133 



and assistant to his chief, and during a 
large portion of this same period also 
serving as deputy register of wills, and 
for some time as deputy recorder of 
deeds and deputy sheriff. In March, 
1900, he went to Jacksonville, Florida, to 
fill a position in the mercantile house of 
Doty-Stowe Company, but returned to 
Doylestown May ist of the same year to 
accept the position of business man- 
ager of the "Republican," a daily and 
weekly newspaper. He was so engaged 
until August, 1901, when he resigned to 
take charge of the work of arranging, 
recopying and filing the papers and rec- 
ords of the orphans' court office under 
the direction of the court, a task which 
employed him constantly for nearly two 
years.. Since the completion of this 
labor his entire time has been devoted 
to historical and genealogical work, and 
much of the contents of the genealogical 
department of these volumes (History 
of Bucks County) is from his pen. 

Proud of the achievements of the sons 
of Bucks county, abroad as well as at 
home, Mr. Ely has made a close study of 
the part the county has taken in the rise 
and development of the province, state 
and nation, and is recognized as an 
authority in matters relating to its local 
liistory, and particularly the genealogy of 
its early families. He was directed into this 
channel of thought and investigation during 
his incumbency of the office of clerk of the 
orphans, court, and while rendering 
efficient service in that capacity, found 
congenial occupation in his contact with 
the ancient records of the county not 
alone in his official investigations, but in 
the fund of information opened up to 
him with reference to the old families 
of the county. He became an active 
member of the Bucks County Histori- 
cal Societ}', was its first regularly con- 
stituted libt-arian, and has occupied that 
position to the present time. He has 
contributed a number of papers to the 
archives of the Society, these including 
•one of particular merit, on "The Scotch- 
Irish Families of Bucks County." 

Mr. Ely is deeply interested in gen- 
eral educational affairs, and gave cap- 
able service as one of the trustees and 
<lirectors of the Hughesian Free School, 
in Buckingham, until his removal from 
the township rendered him ineligible for 
the office. He is a member of the fra- 
ternity of Odd Fellows, affiliated with 
Aquetong Lodge, No. 193, in which he 
is a past grand, and Doylestown En- 
campment. No. 35, in which he is a past 
chief patriarch; he has represented both 
in the grand bodies of the state for a 
number of years, and for some time 
filled the position of district deputy. He 
is also a past select commander of the 
Ancient Order, Knights of the Mystic 
Chain, of Pennsylvania, affiliated with 
Buckingham Castle. No. 208. which he 
represented in the select castle for sev- 



eral years, also serving for three years 
as trustee of the state body. 

Through his marriage, Mr. Ely is re- 
lated to a family as old in America as 
his own. March 29, 1882, he married 
Hannah S. Michener, a daughter of Hugh 
and Sarah (Betts) Michener. She is de- 
scended on the paternal side from John 
and Sarah Michener, who came from 
England about 1690 and settled in Phil- 
adelphia, later removing to Moreland 
township, Montgomery county, whence 
William Michener removed in 1722 to 
Plumstead, Bucks county, where Mrs. 
Ely's ancestors were prominent farm- 
ers for several generations. On the ma- 
ternal side she is descended from Col- 
onel Richard Betts, who came from 
England to Ipswich, Massachusetts, 
about 1648, and soon afterward to Long 
Island, where he filled many high and 
honorable positions under the colonial 
government — member of the provincial 
assembly, commissioner of highways, 
sheriff, officer of volunteers, etc., and 
died _November 18, 1673, at the remark- 
able age of one hundred years. Among 
the maternal ancestors of Mrs. Ely 
were also the Stevenson, Whitehead, 
Powell. Whitson. De la Plaine, Cresson, 
Cock, Halleck,. Este. Field and other 
prominent families of Long Island and 
New Jersey and the Blackfan, Simpson, 
Warner, Wiggins. Croasdale. Chapman 
and Hayhurst families of Bucks county. 
Many of her line'al ancestors have held 
high official positions in the early days 
of the colonies, as have those of her 
husband. 

The children of Warren S. and Han- 
nah S. (Michener) Ely are as follows: 
M. Florence, born July 19. 1884; Laura 
W., born February 2t, 1887, died Feb- 
ruary 25. 1903; and Frederic Warren, 
bor.i February 16. 1889, now a student 
at Swarthmore College. 



HON. IRVING PRICE WANGER, 
the present representative m congress 
from the Eighth Congressional District, 
comprising the counties of Bucks and 
Montgomery, while not a native or a' 
resident of Bucks, nevertheless holds a 
conspicuous place in the interest and 
regard of the people of the county he 
has so ably and conscientiously repre- 
sented in the law making body of the 
nation for the past twelve years, and 
some account of his career and ante- 
cedents will be of interest to the readers 
of this historical work. 

He was born in North Coventry town- 
ship, Chester county, Pennsylvania, 
March 5, 1852. and is the eldest son of 
George and Rebecca (Price) Wanger, 
and a descendant of early settlers in 
Montgomery county, of the religious 
sects known as the Brethren (Dunkard"s) 
and Mennonites. His paternal ances- 
tor, Henry Wanger (or Wenger, as the 



134 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



name was then spelled") came from 
Switzerland with other Mennonites in 
1717, and located on one hundred acres 
now included in the borough of Potts- 
town, Montgomery county, purchased 
September 15, 1718, with his wife Eliza- 
beth and several children. He was a 
farmer by occupation, and later pur- 
chased additional land in that locality. 
He died in 1753. and is supposed to be 
interred in the Mennonite burying 
ground at 1^2ast Coventry, Chester 
county. John Wanger, son of Henry and 
Elizabeth, was born on his father's farm 
at what is now Pottstown, December 10, 
1726, and in 1754 purchased part of the 
plantation, on which he resided until 
1762, when he removed to Union town- 
ship, Berks county, where he had pur- 
chased 293 acres of land on which he 
lived until his death, January 5, 1803. He 
was court martial officer of Captain 
Thomas Parry's company. Fifth Bat- 
talion Berks County Militia, commis- 
sioned May 17, 1777, under Colonel 
Jacob Weaver. 

Abraham Wanger, son of John, was 
born at Pottstown, December 15, 1761, 
and died in Berks county, March 18, 
1793. His wife was Susanna, daughter 
of Jacob and Magdalena Shantz, and 
their son, Abraham, born December 11, 
1787, was the grandfather of Congress- 
man Wanger. He was born on the old 
Berks county homestead, which was ac- 
quired by his fa,ther in 1788, and re- 
mained in that county until late in life, 
when he removed to Chester county, 
where he died April 23, 1861. He mar- 
ried Mary Berge. daughter of Abraham 
and Susanna (Shantz) Berge, and they 
were the parents of ten children, five of 
whom grew to manhood and woman- 
hood. 

George Wanger was born in Berks 
county in 1820, and was reared to mauc 
hood in that county, and then removed 
with his parents to Chester county, 
where he followed the occupation of a 
farmer during life. He was a soldier in 
* the civil war, enlisting first in the Key- 
stone Guards, organized for state de- 
fense, in Company E. Nineteenth Regi- 
ment, and was in service a short time. 
Later he served for two months in Com- 
pany D, Forty-second Regiment Penn- 
sylvania Volunteer Militia, which went 
to Chambersburg. George Wanger, 
though a Mennonite by birth, became a 
member of the official board of St. 
James' Methodist Episcopal Church at 
Cedarville, Chester county, the site of 
which church he presented to the con- 
gregation. He died in North Coventry 
township, December 30, 1876. He was 
known as a man of great force of char- 
acter and high standing in the commun- 
ity; a strong advocate of the public 
school system, he served for a number 
of years on the local school board. Or- 
iginally a Whig, he cast his first presi- 



dential vote for Henry Clay. He was a 
strong advocate of the restriction and 
abolition of slavery, and his home was 
one of the stations of the "Underground 
Railroad" through which many runaway- 
slaves were assisted to freedom. He 
was active in the formation of the Re- 
publican party, and foremost in the tem- 
perance movement in his locality. He 
married Rebecca, daughter of Rev. John 
and Mary (Reinhart) Price, whose direct 
ancestors for five generations had been 
preachers in the denomination known as 
German Baptist Brethren; the first, Rev. 
Jacob Price (or Priesz), was a native of 
Witzenstein, Prussia, and united with, 
the sect soon after its establishment at 
Schwarzenau in 1708, and early became: 
a preacher and missionary. Driven by 
religious persecution to Serverstin,. 
Friesland, he came to Pennsylvania with 
the first party of German Baptists irb 
1719, and settled on Indian Creek,. 
Montgomery county. His son, Rev. 
John Price, was born in Prussia and ac- 
companied his father to America in his 
seventeenth year. He was a poet and 
preacher, and a personal friend of Chris- 
topher Saur, the noted German printer 
who in 1753 published a collection of 
Mr. Price's poetry. He was one of the 
founders of the mother church at Ger- 
mantown in 1723. He had two sons, 
John and Daniel, both of whom became 
preachers, the former settling in In- 
diana county, Pennsylvania, where he 
has left many descendants. Rev. Daniel 
Price was born in Montgomery county, 
December ii, 1723, and died there Feb- 
ruary II, 1804. He married in 1746 Han- 
nah Weickard, and left a large family. 
He owned two hundred acres of the land 
taken up by his grandfather, and was 
active in local matters, serving as town- 
ship auditor and supervisor. Rev. 
George Price, son of Daniel, was also a 
preacher among the German Baptists. 
He was born in Montgomery county, No- 
vember I, 1753, but removed to East 
Nantmeal, Chester county, in 1774, and 
to Coventry in 1794. His wife was Sarah 
Harley, and they were the parents of 
several children. 

Rev. John Price, son of George and 
Sarah, was the father of Mrs. George 
Wanger, and the grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch; he was a farmer and 
preacher, and was born in Chester 
county. August 6. 1782, and died April 
12, 1850. His wife was Mary, daughter 
of John and Hannah (Price) Rinehart, 
born May 17, 1783, died April 23, l863r 
and they were the parents of twelve chil- 
dren, three of whom and the husband of 
a fourth became preachers. 

George and Rebecca (Price) Wanger 
were the parents of six children, five 
sons and one daughter, of whom four 
survive — Irving P., Newton, George F. 
P., assistant postmaster of Pottstown, 
and Joseph P. Wanger. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



135 



Hon. Irving P. Wanger was born and 
reared on the old homestead in Chester 
county, and was educated in the public 
schools and the Pottstown Hill and high 
schools. He taught school for one year 
and in 1870 became a clerk in the pro- 
thonotary's office at West Chester, and 
in the following year was appointed 
deputy prothonotary, which position he 
resigned at the end of a year, and in 
January, 1872, began the -study of law in 
the office of Franklin March, Esq., at 
Norristown, Montgomery county. In 
December, 1872, he was ^ appointed dep- 
uty prothonotary of Montgomery under 
William F. Reed, the first Republican 
ever elected to that office in Montgom- 
ery. He continued the study of law and 
was admitted to the bar of Montgomery 
county in December, 1875. Being an 
earnest student and an eloquent 
forcible advocate, he soon acquired a 
practice from all parts of Montgomery 
county. His talent for public speaking 
caused his services to be in demand in 
behalf of the candidates of his party, and 
he soon became a prominent figure in 
Montgomery county politics, being an 
earnest and logical advocate of the prin- 
ciples of the Republican party. In 1878 
he was elected burgess of Norristown, 
and in 1880 to the office of district attor- 
ney of Montgomery county. In the lat- 
ter position he instituted several re- 
forms, among them, the dividing the 
list of criminal cases to be tried among 
the several days of the term, thus ob- 
viating the necessity of all the witnesses 
and parties interested to attend during 
the whole term, and thereby making a 
great saving to the taxpayers. This cus- 
tom has been uniformly followed since. 

In 1880 Mr. Wanger was a delegate to 
the Republican national convention, and 
voted continuously for the unit rule and 
for the nomination of James G. Blaine 
for the presidency, until the final ballot, 
when, as requested by the friends of fhe 
latter, he voted for James A. Garfield, the 
nominee. In 1886 he was again elected 
to the office of district attorney by a ma- 
jority of 1187 votes, running several 
hundred votes ahead of his ticket, not- 
withstanding the fact that his opponent 
was one of the most capable candidates 
ever nominated by the Democracy. In 
1889 he was chairman of the Republican 
county committee. In 1890 he was 
unanimously nominated for congress in 
the Bucks-Montgomery district, buf, ow- 
ing to the unpopular candidacy of George 
W. Delameter for governor, was de- 
feated by ,187 votes, the Republican 
ticket being defeated in both counties 
by a much larger vote. Two years later 
he was again nominated, and elected, 
though the district gave a majority for 
Cleveland. In 1894 he was elected by a 
majority of 4826, and has been re- 
elected in 1896, 1898, 1900, 1902 and 1904, 
by increased majorities, his majority in 



the latter year being 10,252, showing 
that his course at Washington had been 
such as to commend him strongly to the 
people of the district. His support has 
not been confined to members of his 
own party, voters of other party affilia- 
tions testifying their appreciation of his 
worth by their votes at each election. 
As a congressman Mr. Wanger has 
taken an active part in the debates in the 
house on the tariff, the currency, the 
Philippine legislation, and other ques- 
tions of national interest, but his strong 
point has been his conscientious atten- 
tion to all matters affecting his consti- 
tuents, doing everything possible to pro- 
mote the prosperity and welfare of the 
people of his district, as well as of the 
country at large. He has always voted 
with his party upon questions involving 
its principles, ably and earnestly up- 
holding the policy of McKinley and 
Roosevelt, whenever it has been a mat- 
ter for action in congress or elsewhere. 
It was upon his motion that the special 
committee was appointed which inves- 
tigated the hazing of cadets in the United 
States Military Academy at West Point, 
and suggested important legislation on 
the subject, which was adopted. His 
principal committee service has been as 
a member of the committee on foreign 
and interstate commerce, and as chair- 
man of the committee on expenditures 
in the postoffice department. He has 
always been a faithful exponent of the 
wishes and interests of his constituents, 
as his repeated re-elections testify. 

As a public speaker. Mr. Wanger 
stands deservedly high: he is argumen- 
tative, logical, clear and deliberative, ap- 
pealing always to the reason and judg- 
ment of his hearers, rather than to their 
prejudices and personal or partisan 
feelings. He is a ready debater and par- 
liamentarian, quick to take advantage of 
the weak point in the argument of his 
opponent. He has always kept in close 
touch with the measures and policies of 
the two dominant parties in congress, 
and is quick to perceive and defend the 
interests of his constituents in any pro- 
posed legislation. During his service 
he has made many friends among the 
representatives of other districts and 
states, frequently securing their services 
and support, when occasion required in 
his home district. 

Mr. Wanger was married on June 25, 
1884, to Emma C. Titlow, daughter of 
John Titlow of North Coventry, Ches- 
ter county, a playmate and schoolmate 
of his youth. They are the parents of 
three children— George. Ruth and Ma- 
rion. Two others, Lincoln and Rebec- 
ca, died in infancy. He resides with his 
family in the old Chain homestead, 827 
West Main street. Norristown. His 
mother, from whom he inherits many_ of 
his characteristics, resides with him. 
She is a member of the Methodist 



136 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



church. Marshall street, Norristown. Mr. 
Wanger is himself a member of St. 
John's Episcopal church. He is a mem- 
ber of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows and the Improved Order of Red 
JVien, and of the various branches of the 
Masonic fraternity, having been grand 
commander of the Knights Templar of 
Pennsylvania in 1894-5. 



WILLIAM WATSON, one of the 
most enterprising and progressive farm- 
ers of Buckingham, was born on the old 
Watson homestead upon which he still 
resides, February 17, 1862, being only 
son of Henry and Emeline P. (Rich) 
Watson. 

The first American ancestors of the 
subject of this sketch were early settlers 
in Chesterfield township. Burfington 
county, New Jersey. Mathew Watson 
and Anne Mauleverer, his wife, migrated 
form Scarborough, in Yorkshire. Eng- 
land, about 1682, and settled in Chester- 
field. They were members of Chester- 
field Monthly Meeting of Friends. 
Mathew's occupation is given as "chem- 
its." He purchased in 1683 of Thomas 
Hutchinson, late of Beverly, in York- 
shire, a one-twelfth share in the prov- 
ince of West Jersey, and appears to have 
been a man of wealth and education. He 
died in Chesterfield, 7 mo. 13, 1703. and 
his wife Anne died there il mo. 16, 1721. 
Their children were: Mathew, Jr., born 
at Burlington, 10 mo. 2, 1682; and 
Marmaduke, born 8 mo. 13, 1685. Mathew 
seems to have been engaged in a ship- 
ping business, as on 3 mo. 27, 1724, he 
takes a certificate from Chesterfield 
Meeting to "transport himself to other 
parts on account of trading." 

Marmaduke Watson, second son of 
Mathew and Anne, was married at Bur- 
lington Meeting, i mo. 27, 1718. to Eliza- 
beth Pancoast, daughter of Williaffi and 
Hannah (Scattergood) Pancoast. He 
inherited from his father large tracts of 
land in dififerent parts of West Jersey, 
allotted as part of the one-twelfth share 
of the province, among them a tra'ct in 
Bethlehem township. Hunterdon county, 
on the Musconetcong creek, which he 
devised in his will to his son Aaron. 
This w'ill is dated in Chesterfield town- 
ship. Burlington county, 3 mo. 14, 1746, 
and was proven July 24, 1749, and men- 
tions, beside the son Aaron, wife Eliza- 
beth, son Marmaduke, and daughter 
Anne, wife of Joseph Curtis. 

Aaron Watson, son of Marmaduke 
and Elizabeth (Pancoast) Watson, was 
born in Chesterfield about 1720. It is 
possible that on arriving at manhood he 
became associated with his uncle 
Mathew in the "trading" business, as he 
seems to have followed a migratory life 
for some years. In 1744 he brings a 
certificate from Chester, Pennsylvania, 



Meeting to Philadelphia, where he re- 
mained until after his father's death. In 
1750 he takes a certificate to his old 
home at Chesterfield, but probably lo- 
cated at once on his inheritance at Beth- 
lehem, now Kingwood, though he does 
not take a certificate to Kingwood Meet- 
ing until 1754, when about to marry 
Sarah Emley, a member of that Meeting. 
The children of Aaron and Sarah 
(Emley) Watson were: John, Lucy, 
Anne and Sarah, all born at Kingwood, 
New Jersey. 

John Watson, eldest child of Aaron 
and Sarah, born at Kingwood, about 
1755' was reared on the Jersey farm. 
During the Revolution he remqved to 
Shrewsbury, and engaged in the manu- 
facture of salt on the Jersey coast, where 
Point Pleasant is now located. He sold 
the product to the continental army, and 
thus incurred the special enmity of the 
British, who destroyed his residence and 
plant, thereby ruining him financially. 
He married about 1778 or 1779, at 
Shrewsbury, Mary Jackson, a descen- 
dant of Daniel Jackson, who migrated 
from Stangerthwaite, in Yorkshire, about 
1693, and located in Bristol township, 
Bucks county, whose descendants had 
removed to Shrewsbury prior to the 
revolution. John Watson, returned to 
Kingwood in 1781, with wife and daugh- 
ter Sarah. His eldest son John was born 
there 10 mo. 25, 1781. In the autumn of 
1782 he removed to Middletown, Bucks 
county, where his son Aaron was born, 
and his eldest child, Sarah, died. He 
removed to Buckingham in 1785, where 
the rest of his ten children were born, 
viz.: Hannah, married William Gilling- 
ham: Sarah, married George Hughes; 
Elizabeth, married James Shaw; Joseph; 
Charles; Ann; Marmaduke and John. In 
1794 he purchased 140 acres of land 
lying on both sides of the Mechanics- 
ville road, and including the present 
Watson farm, the original buildings be- 
ing on the northwest side of the road, 
where John Riniker now lives. He died 
on this farm in 1818, and the farm w^as 
partitioned through the orphans' court, 
the farm now occupied by the subject 
of this sketch being adjudged to his 
oldest son, William Watson. 

William Watson, son of John and 
Mary (Jackson) Watson, was born in 
Kingwood, 10 mo. 25, 1781, and was but 
a child when his parents removed to 
Buckingham. He married. May 10, 1809, 
Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel and Mar- 
garet (Jenks) (Dillingham, who was born 
II mo. 21, 1784, and died June 28, 1868. 
Upon his marriage William Watson set- 
tled on the farm still occupied by his 
grandson the subject of this sketch, the 
building then being first erected for him 
by his father. William Watson was a 
prominent and useful man in the com- 
munity, and filled many positions of 
trust. He was one of the original trus- 



THE ]N^\y lORK 

PUBLIC LIBRARY 



ASTr--, LENOX AND 
TILCC.J FCIJNDATIC^^S. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, 



137 



tees of the Hughesian Free School, and 
filled other responsible positions; was 
one of the solid substantial men of his 
day, a prosperous farmer and conserva- 
tive business man. He and his family- 
were members of Buckingham Meeting 
of Friends. The children of William and 
Elizabeth (Gillingham) Watson were: 
Samuel G., born 4 mo. 10, 1810, married 
Sarah H. Thomas; Jenks, died an in- 
fant; Margaret Jenks, born 1814, died 
1835; Mary, born 4 mo., 17, 1817, mar- 
ried Joshua Fell; Henry, the father of 
the subject of this sketch; Elizabeth, 
born 1822, died 1861; and Sarah, born 
1825, died 1904. Neither of the last two 
were married, and lived and died at the 
residence of their brother Henry, on the 
old homestead. 

Henry Watson, the father of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was born on the farm 
upon which he still resides, on 12 mo. 
17, 1819. He "is one of the most highly 
esteemed men of his neighborhood. Like 
his father, he is a member of Bucking- 
ham Friends' Meeting, and has fully 
maintained the standing of this old and 
respected family. He succeeded his 
father as a trustee and director of the 
Hughesion Free School, and has served 
as director of the public schools for 
many years, and held many other posi- 
tions of trust. He married Emaline 
P., daughter of Moses Rich, of Buck- 
ingham, who was born in 1822 and 
died January 3, 1903. They were the 
parents of five children: John Rich, 
who died in infancy; Caroline M., 
born 10 mo. 19, 1852, died 11 mo. 8, 
1898, married Lewis D. Rich; Martha 
Rich, born 7 mo. 25, 1855, died 3 mo. 
12, 1903, married James McNair; Fannie, 
born 4 mo. 8, 1858, married William E. 
Wilson; and William, born 2 mo. 27, 
1862. 

The subject of this sketch was reared 
on the farm, and obtained his education 
at the public schools and at Doylestown 
English and Classical Seminary. Being 
the only son, the care of the farm de- 
volved upon him at an early age, his 
father being occupied with public afl^airs 
and the oversight of several other farms 
owned by the family. Like his father 
and grandfather, he is an excellent 
farmer, and takes great pride in the old 
farm, which is one of the best tilled 
and productive in the township. In pol- 
itics Mr. Watson is a Republican, and, 
though never an office seeker, takes a 
"keen interest in all that pertains to the 
best interests of his party, and has served 
as a delegate to several state and district 
conventions. He is a member of Buck- 
ingham Friends' Meeting. Socially 'he 
IS a member of Doylestown Lodge, No. 
245, F. and A. M.; a past high priest of 
Doyelstown Chapter, No. 270, R. A. M.; 
a member of Pennsylvania Commandery 
No. 70, K. T. ; Philadelphia Consistory, 
A. and A. S. S.; and of Aquetong Lodge, 



No. 193. I. O. O. F., and Doylestown 
Council, No. 11 17. Royal Arcanum. 

He was married on 12 mo. 5, 1893, to 
Caroline M., daughter of the late Cap- 
tain John S. Bailey, of Buckingham, and 
has one child, Edward Blackfan Watson, 
born in 1894. 



PROFESSOR A. J. MORRISON, 
one of the best known educators in Phil- 
adelphia, was born in Northampion 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania 
February 14, 1844, and is a son of Judge 
Joseph and Eleanor (Addis) Morrison. 

John Morrison, the great-grandfather 
of Professor Morrison, was a native of 
the north of Ireland, and was one of the 
great army of Ulster Scots who, having 
fled from religious persecution and in- 
ternecine strife in their native Scotia, 
took temporary refuge in the province 
of Ulster, Ireland, from whence many 
emigrated to Pennsylvania in the first 
half of the eighteenth century. John 
Morrison settled on the banks of the 
Brandywine, where his son, John Morri- 
son, was born in 1767. On attaining man- 
hood he located in Northampton town- 
ship, Bucks county, where he died March 
17, 1858, at the age of ninety-one years. 
He married Hannah Yerkes, daughter of 
Elias Yerkes. of Southampton, who was 
born June 30, 1772, and died February 
12, 1844. Her paternal grandfather, Silas 
Yerkes, was born in Moreland township, 
Montgomery county, February 15, 1723, 
and died there September 25, 1795. He 
was a son of Herman Yerkes, born 1687, 
and grandson of Anthony Yerkes, one 
of the first burgesses of Germantown. 
Silas married June 14, 1750, Hannah 
Dungan, daughter of Thomas and 
Esther Dungan, and granddaughter of 
the Rev. Thomas Dungan, who founded 
the first Baptist church in Bucks county, 
in 1684. Their son Elias was born in 
Warminster (where his parents resided 
for many years) December 7, 1751. and 
died in Moreland. January 15, 1828. Eliza- 
beth (Watts) Yerkes, the mother of 
Silas, born April 15. 16S9. died October 
II, 17.S6, was the daughter of Rev. John 
and Sarah (Eaton) Watts of South- 
ampton. 

The children of John and Hannah 
(Yerkes) Morrison, w«re : Joseph, horn 
October 18. 1794; Hannah, born Febru- 
ary 10, 1796, married Joseph Erwin; Ben- 
jamin, born 1798, died in infancy: Mary, 
born February 5, 1799, married Benjamin 
Longstreth: Martha, twin to Mary, died 
single in 1882; Eliza, born March 19, 
1802. married Charles Blaker; Ann, born 
May II. 1803; David and Benjamin, born 
April 18, 1805; John, born October 28, 
1807; Esther, horn February 10, 1809, died 
unmarried: Matilda, born November S, 
1810, married Joseph Erwin; Rebecca 
Ann, born March 19, 1813. married John 
Campbell; Jonathan J., born May 4, 



i^^8 



HISTORY 01' BUCKS COUNTY. 



1815, married Jane Rapp; and Sarali, born 
May 30. 1818. married Jonas Yerkes. 

JOSEPH MORRISON, eldest son of 
John and Hannah (Yerkes) Morrison, 
born October 18, 1794, died July 30, 
1880. became one of the most distin- 
guished citizens of Bucks county. He 
was born in Delaware county, and 
learned the trade of a miller with Amos 
Addis, in Moreland, and on his marriage 
to the daughter of his preceptor he re- 
moved to Northampton township, Bucks 
county, where he owned and operated 
the Rocksville Mills for fifty years. Early 
in life he took an active interest in the 
organization of the local militia, and 
eventually filled every commissioned po- 
sition in the organization from captain to 
brigadier-general, and was esteemed the 
best informed man in the county on mil- 
itary tactics. He was elected to the 
office of commissioner of Bucks county 
in 1836, and served three years. In 1840 
he served a term as county treasurer. He 
filled the responsible position of re- 
corder of deeds for the term 1852-4. He 
served as associate justice of Bucks 
county courts for fifteen years, 1863 to 
1878. He married in 1822 Eleanor Ad- 
dis, born December 11, 1802, died Janu- 
ary 8, 1870, daughter of Colonel Amos 
Addis, who for many years operated a 
mill in Moreland township, Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania. He was born in 
Moreland or Oxford township, and was 
a son of Nehemiah and Grace Addis, and 
a grandson of John Addis, an early set- 
tler in Oxford township, Philadelphia 
county, where he died in 1724. Richard 
and John Addis, the pioneers of the fam- 
ily in Northampton township, Bucks 
county, from whose family, Addisville 
(now Richboro) took its name, were 
older brothers of Nehemiah Addis. The 
children of Joseph and Eleanor (Addis) 
Morrison were: Amos Addis, born May 
27, 1823. married Mary Coxhead; John, 
born March 13, 1827, died in Tennessee 
in 1864, while a soldier in the Union 
army; Johnson, born November 16, 
1827, married Mary Hobensack; Ruth 
Ann, born July 30, 1830, married J. 
Krewson Cornell; Charles B., born 
March 31, 1832, married Mary A. Feas- 
ter; Eliza Ann. born September 9, 1835; 
Mary Ellen, born October 12, 1839, mar- 
ried Joseph F. Whitall of Southampton; 
Hannah Rebecca, born May 7. 1841; and 
Andrew Jackson. Judge Joseph Morri- 
son, married (second) Mary Ann Lash- 
ley,, widow of Lambert Lashley, of 
Wrightstown, and died at the Anchor, 
in Wrightstown. July 30, 1880. 

Professor Andrew Jackson Morrison 
was born and reared in Northampton 
township and acquired his education at 
the Central High School of Philadelphia, 
the Tennent Academy at Hartsville, 
Bucks county, and the University of 
Pennsylvania. He has devoted his whole 
life to the cause of education. He was 



successively principal of the Tillyer,. 
Wheat Sheaf, Landreth, Irving, and 
Northern Liberties Grammar Schools, 
and of the Kaighn Grammar School of 
Camden, New Jersey. From 1881 to 
1883 he was professor of mathematics in 
the Central High School, Philadelphia; 
from 1883 to 1898, senior assistant su- 
perintendent of public schools in Phil- 
adeli)hia; and acting superintendent dur- 
ing the year 1891. Since 1898 he has 
filled the position of principal of the 
Northeast Manual Training School of 
Philadelphia. In 1901 the honorary de- 
gree of Doctor of Philosophy was con- 
ferred upon him by Cedarville College. 

Professor Morrison has always kept to- 
the fore front in the cause of education. 
He has served two terms as president of 
the Teachers' Institute of Philadelphia, 
and two terms as president of the Edu- 
cational Club of Philadelphia. He is an 
active member of the National Educa- 
tional Association and of the State 
Teachers' Association, as well as of all 
the teachers' organizations of Philadel- 
phia. He and his family are members 
of the Second Reformed Church of 
Philadelphia. He is a member of 
Phoenix Lodge, No. 130, F. & A. M., 
and of Kensington Chapter, No. 2:i2>, R- 
A. M. He is also a member of the 
Penn Club, and of the Schoolmen's Club. 

Professor Morrison was married at 
Feasterv>ille, Bucks county, March 9, 
1865, to Julia H. Jones, daughter of Asa 
Knight Jones, and they are the parents 
of five children, viz.: Anna Jones Mor- 
rison, born January 18, 1866, graduate 
of the Girls' Normal School; Jennie 
Singer Morrison, born December 5, 
1867. now the wife of Rev. H. W. Har- 
ing, D. D.. of Lancaster, Pennsylvania; 
Egbert Heisler Morrison, born March 
T4, 1870, a graduate of the Central 
High School, now agent for the Gar- 
lock Packing Company; Clara Maria 
Morrison, born October 16, 1877, a grad- 
uate of the Girls' Normal School, re- 
siding at home: and Horace Stanton 
Morrison, born March 20, 1879, a grad- 
uate of the Northeast Manual Training 
School and of the University of Penn- 
sylvania, now associate editor of the 
Publications of Commercial Museums 
of Philadelphia. 



H. S. PRENTISS NICHOLS. Esq., 
of Philadelphia, was born in Columbia,. 
Lancaster county. Pennsylvania, No- 
vember 2. 1858. and is a son of Dr. Jo- 
seph D. and Emilj' (Darrah) Nichols. 
His grandfather was also a phj^sician 
and a native of New Hampshire. Dr. 
Joseph D. Nichols, was the proprietor 
of an academy at Columbia, Lancaster 
county, and died in T874. His wife 
Emily Darrah was a daughter of Robert 
Darrah, of Warminster Bucks county. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



139- 



and a great-granddaughter of Captain 
Henry Darrah of the Revolution. 

The pioneer ancestor of the Darrah 
family was Thomas Darroch, native of 
Londonderry, Ireland, who with his 
wife Mary, emigrated to Pennsylvania 
about 1730, with the colony of Scotch 
Irish who settled on the banks of the 
Neshaminy, about the famous "Log Col- 
lege." He settled for ,a time in Hor- 
sham township, but in 1740, purchased 
of Mathew Hughes, a tract of land in 
Bedminster, Bucks county, on the 
Swamp Road, below the present village 
of Dublin, purporting to be 500 acres of 
land, but really containing nearly 800 
acres. He died there in March, 1750. 
The children of Thomas and Mary 
Darroch were Robert, Thomas, Agnes, 
wife of John Davis, Esther, wife of 
George Scott, William, Henry, James, 
and Susanna. Robert died in Bedmin- 
ster in 1793. leaving a son Robert and 
several daughters. He represented his 
township in the Bucks County Commit- 
tee of Safety in 1776, and was active in 
the struggle. Thomas also died in Bed- 
minster leaving two sons Thomas and 
Mark and several daughters. William 
was lieutenant of Captain, later Col. 
Robinson's company of Bucks county 
militia in 1775. and is also said to have 
served in the Colonial war of 1756-7. He 
left two sons Archibald and W^illiani and 
several daughters, one of whom Hannah, 
married David Kelly of Buckingham and 
became the mother of Hon. William D. 
Kelly, for many years a member of Con- 
gress from Philadelphia and known as 
the "Father of the House." Another 
daughter Susannah, married John Shaw 
and was the mother of Commodore 
Thompson Darrah Shaw. Still another 
Agnes married James Smith of Buck- 
ingham, son of Hugh, and was the 
mother of Gen. Samuel A. Smith of 
Doj'lestown. 

Henry Darroch, fourth son of 
Thomas and Mary, was a miner at the 
death of his father in 1750. B}^ the will 
of the latter about 190 acres of the 
homestead was devised to each of the 
elder sons, Robert and Thomas and the 
residue to the three younger sons Will- 
iam, Henry and James, subject to a life 
interest of their mother. On part of this 
residue, containing 185 acres Henry 
probably took up his residence on his 
marriage in 1760 though it was not con- 
veyed to him by his brothers until 1763, 
when he was about to convey it to 
Henry Rickert. In 1767, he purchased a 
farm of 207 acres on the west bank of 
the Neshaminy, on the Bristol Road, 
between Tradeville and New Britain vil- 
lages, now in Doylestown township, at 
Sheriff's sale as the property of his 
brother-in-law John Davis. Here he 
lived until 1773, when he purchased 237 
acres further west in New Britain town- 
ship, on the line of Warrington town- 



ship, and now included in the latter 
township, later purchasing about 50- 
acres adjoining. This remained his home 
until his death in 1782. Henry Darroch 
was one of the most illustrious of our 
Bucks county patriots in the trying days 
of the war for independence. He was a 
member of the New Britain company of 
Associators in 1775, and was commis- 
sioned in ]\Iay, 1776, first lieutenant of 
Captain William Roberts Company of 
the Flying Camp, under Col. Joseph 
Hart, and served with distinction in the 
Jersey campaign of 1776. Returning to 
Bucks county in December, 1776, his 
company was one of the few that re- 
sponded to the second call in the winter 
of 1776-7. On the reorganization of the 
Militia in the Spring of I777, his old 
captain and lifelong friend William 
Roberts was made a Lieut. Colonel and 
Lieut. Darroch was commissioned Cap- 
tain May 6. 1777, and his company was 
soon after in active service under Col- 
onel, later Gen. John Lacey. In 1778, 
it was again incorporated in Col. Rob- 
erts' Battalion, which in 1781, came 
under the command of Col. Robinson. 
Captain Darroch's company of< Militia 
was one that was almost constantly in 
service and he died in the Spring of 
1782 from a cold contracted in the serv- 
ice of his country. His will is dated 
INIarch 17. 1782, and his friends. Col. 
William Roberts. Col. William Dean 
and his brother-in-law W^illiam Scott 
are named as executors. It is related' 
that George Washington was a great ad- 
mirer of Captain Darroch and visited 
him at his house. 

Captain Henry Darroch married Au- 
gust 13, 1760, Ann Jamison, daughter of 
Henry and Mary (Stewart) Jamison of 
Warwick township. Bucks county. Tra- 
dition relates that Henry Jamison did 
not approve of the attentions of young 
Darroch to his daughter, because he was 
too much of a dashing young man and 
too fond of fast horses to settle down to 
the life of a farmer; and that the young 
people settled the matter for themselves 
by his taking her up behind him on one 
of his fast horses and outdistancing the 
irate father in a race to the parson's. 
Henry Jamison was a native of the 
north of Ireland. . and came to Bucks 
county with his father, Henry Jamison 
and brothers Robert and Alexander 
about 1720. Henry the elder is said to 
have been born in Midlothian, Scotland, 
and removed to the Province of Ulster, 
Ireland in 1685. with his parents, from 
whence he migrated to Pennsylvania. 
He purchased in 1724. i.ooo acres partly 
in Northampton township and partly in 
Warwick, and was one of the founders 
of Neshaminy Church in 1727. In 1734 
he conveyed the greater part of his real 
estate to his sons and returned to Ire- 
land, where he died. His son Henr3^ Jr., 
the father of Ann Darroch. was one of 



I40 



HISTORY OP BUCKS COUNTY. 



the original trustees of the "new lights" 
of the Neshaminy Church in 1743, a 
large landowner and prominent man in 
the Scotch-Irish settlement on the 
Neshaminy. He sailed for Florida in 
1765, and was never heard of after- 
wards. His wife Mary Stewart was one 
of a large and influential family of the 
names that were early settlers in War- 
wick, New Britain, Warrington. Plum- 
stead and Tinicum. The children of 
Henry and Mary (Stewart) Jamison 
were, Isabel, who married Tristram 
Davis, brother of John who married 
Agnes Darroch; Jean, wife of Captain 
Thomas Craig; Ann, wife of Captain 
Darroch; Alexander; William. Robert 
and John. 

In the possession of the descendants 
is a beautifully written letter yellow 
with age written by Ann Darroch to her 
husband while he was in the army. The 
children of Captain Henry and Ann 
(Jamison) Darroch, were, James, see 
forward Ann, who married Hugh Shaw; 
Margaret who married William Hewitt; 
William, born 1767, died July 11, 1838; 
John and George, the last two of whom 
died young. 

James Darrah. eldest son of Captain 
Henry and Ann (Jamison) Darroch, was 
born in 1764, and reared in New Britain 
township. In 1789, the executors of his 
father's will conveyed to him 170 acres 
of the homestead tract in New Britain 
and the balance 114 acres to his brother 
William. James married Rachel Hen- 
derson, born in Warminster July 27, 
1762, daughter of Robert and Margaret 
(Archibald) Henderson, of Warminster. 
In 1794, James Darrah purchased of h'is 
w^ife's sisters and their husbands the 
250 acres farm in Warminster belong- 
ing to the estate of Robert Henderson, 
formerly the property of Rev. Charles 
Beatty, pastor of Neshaminy Church, 
and they sold the New Britain farm and 
made their home on the Warminster 
farm, all of which is still owned by their 
grandsons, John M. and R. Henderson 
Darrah. Rachel (Henderson) Darrah 
died November 18, 1802, and James mar- 
ried second Rebecca McCrea. James 
Darrah died February 17, 1842, aged 78 
years. His children, both by the first 
wife, were Robert Henderson and 
Henry. The latter married his cousin 
Martha Stinson, daughter of Elijah and 
Mary (Henderson) Stinson and lived for 
a time in Warminster, but removed later 
to Richboro, Northampton township 
where he died August 10, 1849, aged 58 
years. 

Robert Darrah, eldest son of James 
and Rachel ("Henderson) Darrah, was 
born on his grandfather's homestead in 
New Britain, February 8, 1789, and re- 
moved with his parents to the War- 
minster homestead at the age of nine 
years, and spent the remainder of his 
•days there. He was an ensign in the 



war of 1812. Among the cherished me- 
mentoes now owned by the family are 
three swords, that of Captain Henry 
Darroch, of the Revolution; the sword 
of Ensign Robert Darrah of the war of 
1812 and that of Lieutenant Robert Hen- 
derson Darrah of the Civil war. Rob- 
ert Darrah was an industrious and enter- 
prising farmer and accumulated a con- 
siderable estate. He had a sawrnill on 
the farm which he operated in connec- 
tion with his farming. He also had a 
lime kiln and burned the lime used "on 
his plantation. He early realized the 
value of a dairy and gave much atten- 
tion to this branch of husbandry, mar- 
keting the product in Philadelphia. He 
married September 4, 1819, Catharine 
Gait of Lancaster county, born January 
26, 1799, a woman of fine intellectual 
ability and both she and her husband 
took a deep interest in and devoted their 
energies and means to the cause of 
morality, temperance, education and re- 
ligion. In 1835, at the urgent request' 
of his wife, he erected a school house on 
his farm which was afterwards en- 
larged and in connection with Josepii 
Hart and others secured college gradu- 
ates as teachers for their own and theii^ 
neighbors children for many years, in 
1849, he built a fine stone mansion house 
on the Bristol Road and retired from 
active farming, introducing water, bath," 
any many modern improvements, and 
this was the happy home of his family 
for forty years. His wife entered into 
all his plans and was his wise and pru- 
dent adviser. She lived to the good old 
age of ninety-one years, surviving her 
husband thirty years, he having died 
August 5, i860. The Darrahs were of 
strong Scotch-Irish Presbyterian stock. 
For more than a century the family have 
occupied the same pew in the historic 
Neshaminy Church, and the first two 
generations were intimately associated 
with the equally historic church at Deep 
Run, near their first Bucks county home, 
then presided over by Rev. Francis 
McHenry. Robert Darrah left a fam- 
ily of three sons and six daughters. His 
eldest son. Rev. James A. Darrah, born 
in 1821, was one of the pioneer home 
missionaries and teachers in the West. 
He graduated at Princeton in 1840 and 
studied law under Judge John Fox at 
Doylestown and was admitted to the bar 
in 1843. But feeling called to the min- 
istry he took a three years' course in the 
Theological Seminary of Yale College 
and was licensed to preach by the Pres- 
bytery of Philadelphia September 23, 
1846. For some months he labored as a 
missionary at Winchester, Va., and tlien 
removed to St. Louis, Mo., where he 
was pastor of a church and principal of 
the preparatory department of Webster 
college for nine years and tlien was 
called to the pastorate of a church at 
West Ely, Mo. He died at Zanesville, 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



141 



Ohio, Feb. 24, 1882. The other chil- 
dren of Robert and Catharine (Gait) 
Darrah were, Rachel H., first wife of 
Rev. D. K. Turner, the eminent Presby- 
terian divine of Hartsville, lately de- 
ceased; Eliza M., who married Dr. Free- 
land of Chester county; Emily, the 
mother of the subject of this sketch; 
Rebecca, the second wife of Rev. D. K. 
Turner; Mary A., who died unmarried; 
John M., of Hartsville; Kate, who mar- 
ried Theodore R. Graham of Philadel- 
phia; and R. Henderson, still residing on 
the homestead. 

Prior to the death of her husband Dr. 
Joseph D. Nichols, Mrs. Nichols re- 
turned to Bucks county and resided with 
her mother at the old stone mansion, on 
the Bristol road now owned by the sub- 
ject of this sketch, her son M. S. Pren- 
tiss Nichols, where she died in 1898. 

H. S. Prentiss Nichols came to Phil- 
adelphia in 1872, and since that time 
has had a home in the old homestead on 
the Bristol Road at Hartsville, Bucks 
county, though most of his time has 
been spent in Philadelphia. He gradu- 
ated from the college department of the 
University of Pennsylvania in 1879; 
studied law and was admitted to the 
bar of Philadelphia county, where he 
has since practiced with success, and has 
since been admitted to practice at the 
Bucks county bar. He is a member of 
the Bucks county Historical Society and 
takes a lively interest in Bucks county, 
the home of his distinguished maternal 
ancestors. He is a member of the 
Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the 
Revolution. 

He married, June 4, 1895, Isabel 
Mcllhenny, of Germantown, daughter of 
John and Berenice (Bell) Mcllhenny, 
both natives of the north of Ireland, now. 
living in Germantown, but formerly of 
North Carolina, where Mrs. Nichols was 
born. Mr. and Mrs. Nichols reside at 
346 Pelham Road, Germantown, but the 
summer months are generally spent at 
their country home at Hartsville, Bucks 
county. 



HENRY SYLVESTER JACOBY, 
Professor of Bridge Engineermg, m 
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 
was born April 8, 1857, in Springfield 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
between Bursonville and Springtown, 
and is a son of Peter L. and Barbara 
(Shelly) Jacoby, both of German de- 
scent. 

The paternal ancestor of Professor Ja- 
coby came to Pennsylvania, as is sup- 
posed, prior to 1750, but little is known 
of him. His widow Elizabeth survived 
him many years, dying at an advanced 
age at the home of her son-in-law, An- 
dreas Schneider, in Richland, about 
1790, letters of administration being 
granted on her estate January 9, 1790. 



Her children as shown by the distribu- 
tion account filed were: Conrad, "eld- 
est son," Henry, who settled in. Lower 
Mount Bethel township, Northampton 
county; George, who settled in Lehigh 
county; John, who settled in York coun- 
ty; and Margaret, who married An- 
dreas Schneider, of Richland, a native 
of Zweibrucken, who came to this coun- 
try in 1759. Margaret, probably the 
youngest of the Jacoby family, was born 
January 6, 1749, and died March 22, 
1828. 

Conrad Jacoby was born June 7, 1730, 
and was certainly in Bucks county May 
18, 1751, when a warrant of survey for 
a tract of land in Bedminster township, 
Bucks county, was issued to him. His 
later Bucks county residence was in Mil- 
ford township, the threshold of German 
immigration into the county of Bucks. 
On April i, 1768, he purchased of Ja- 
cob Geil 220 1-2 acres of land in Spring- 
field township, on the line of Durham 
township. In this deed he is styled "Con- 
rad Jacobi, of Lower Milford township. 
Blacksmith." This farm is on the road 
from Bursonville to Durham, and ad- 
joins the farm still owned by Professor 
Henry S. Jacoby, on the northeast. On 
March 6, 1787, he purchased a farm of 
152 acres in Bedminster township, the 
present residence of Gideon S. Rosen- 
berger, and lived thereon until his death 
]March 26, 1795. On April 11, 1791, he 
purchased 259 acres in Durham town- 
ship, being Nos. 5 and 6 of the Durham 
tract, and adjoining his Springfield pur- 
chase. This tract he conveyed to his 
sons, Peter and John and John Reigle, 
respectively, in 1792 and 1793. His wife 
Hannah died November 27, 1828, at the 
age of ninety-nine years six months, 
and is buried at St. Peter's German Re- 
formed church, in Leidytown, her later 
days having been spent with her young- 
est son, Leonard, in Hilltown township. 
Conrad Jacoby is buried in the grave- 
yard of the old Tohickon church at 
Church Hill. He and his wife Hannah 
were the parents of nine children: John, 
Philip, Peter, Benjamin, Margaret, Cath- 
arine, Elizabeth, Henry and Leonard. 
John lived on the Durham land conveyed 
to him by his father in I793> until his 
death as did his brother Peter. Philip 
lived for a time in Nockamixon, and from 
1783 to 1787 he lived on a farm of 196- 
1/2 acres at Stony Point, in Springfield 
township. He then removed to Hill- 
town township, where he died in 1827. 
Benjamin settled in Haycock township 
on a tract of 165 acres, patented to him 
as No. 15 of the Lottery Lands in 1789, 
near Haycock Run postoftice, where he 
lived until his death. One of the daugh- 
ters, either Margaret or Catharine, mar- 
ried a Woolsleyer. Elizabeth married 
(first) John Fluck, and after his death 
married Robert Darroch, Jr., and they 
resided in Bensalem township, Bucks 



â– 142 



HISTORY or BUCKS COUNTY. 



•county, during the latter part of their 
lives. Henry lived for a time in Bed- 
minster, removed thence to Gwynedd, 
and a year later to Andalusia, Bensaleni 
township, Bucks county. Leonard lived 
for lifty years near the Mennonite meet- 
ing house in Hilltown, and then re- 
moved to Allentown. 

Peter Jacoby, third son of Conrad 
and Hannah, was born in Bucks county 
on New Years day, 1759. He learned 
the trade of a blacksmith with his fath- 
er, and probably followed it for a num- 
ber of years. On June 9, 1792, he pur- 
chased of his father seventy-one acres 
of the Durham tract No. -6. He built 
in 1801 the stone house and later the 
barn, both of which are still standipg, 
and later, purchasing other land ad- 
joining, lived there all his life. While 
attending the February term of court, 
1815, as a juror, he was taken ill and 
died' March 11, 1815. He was a member 
of Durham Reformed church, a trustee 
of the church from its organization and 
was later an elder. He married Cathar- 
ine Trauger, born September 29, 1763, 
died September 4, 1844; daughter of 
Christian and Ann Drager (Trauger) 
of Nockamixon. The former, born 
March 30, 1726, in Bechenbach, grand 
duchy of Hesse Darmstadt, came to 
Pennsylvania in the ship "Restora- 
tion," arriving in Philadelphia, October 
9, 1747, and died in Nockamixon, Janu- 
ary 8, 181 1. His wife, Anna Barbara, 
was born March 5, 1729, and died No- 
vember 5, 1821. The children of Peter 
and Catharine (Trauger) Jacoby were: 
John, who settled in Doylestown town- 
ship; Elizabeth, who married George 
Hartman, of Rockhill, who after living 
for twenty-seven years in that town- 
ship, removed to near Bloomsburg,. 
Pennsylvania; Mary, who married Jacob 
Hartman, of Rockhill; Benjamin, who 
finally settled in Springfield township; 
Barbara, who died in youth; Catharine, 
who married Frederick Laubach, of 
Lower Saucon, later of Durham town- 
ship; Hannah, who married George 
Overpeck, of Springfield, and later re- 
moved to near Milton, Pennsylvania; 
Sarah, who died in youth; Peter, who 
lived and died on the old homestead in 
Durham; Samuel, who finally settled in 
Northumberland county, Pennsylvan- 
ia; and Susannah, who married Jacob 
Schliefifer; of Springfield township. 

Benjamin Jacoby, son of Peter and 
Catharine (Trauger) Jacoby, was born 
September 9, 1786. He was a mason 
by trade. In the fall of 1809 he married 
Margaret Landes, daughter of Samuel 
and Susannah Landes, and on Septem- 
ber 10, 1810, purchased a small farm 
in Nockamixon, where he lived for six 
years, following his trade in summer and 
teaching school during the winter 
months. He then bought a farm of nine- 
ty acres two miles from Frenchtown, 



New Jersey, where he lived until 1826, 
when he purchased the farm in Sprmg- 
ficld, adjoining the farm purchased by 
his grandfather in 1768, and removed 
thereon. This farm has remained in the 
family ever since, and is now the prop- 
erty of the subject of this sketch. Here 
Benjamin Jacoby lived until the sprmg 
of 1839, when he rented the farm to his 
son, Peter L. Jacoby, and removed to 
the village of Springtown, where he 
lived until his death, October 29, 1850. 
He served for three months in the army 
during the war of 1812-14, his company 
being stationed at Marcus Hook, to 
guard the approach to Philadelphia af- 
ter the burning of Washington in 1814. 
His wife Margaret died in 1827, and he 
married in 1829 Margaret, daughter of 
Peter Werst, who died September 26, 
1844, without issue. The children of 
Benjamin and Margaret (Landes) Ja- 
coby were: Samuel, who finally settled 
at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Peter L., 
who lived nearly all his life on the 
Springfield homestead; Catharine, who 
married Aaron Heckman and settled 
near Milton, Pennsylvania; Caroline, 
who married John Schlieffer, of Spring- 
field; Susannah, who married Samuel 
Fulmer, of Springtown; Anna, who died 
in infancy; Benjamin L., who during 
his later years resided in Philadelphia; 
John L., who lived for some years in 
Springfield and later removed to Allen- 
town, Pennsylvania; and Levi L., who 
was a minister of the German Evan- 
gelical association and stationed at 
various points in New York state, be- 
ing located at Newark, New York, at 
the time of his death. 

Peter L. Jacoby, second son of Ben- 
jamin and Margaret (Landes) Jacoby, 
was born in Nockamixon township, 
Bucks county, February 9, 1813, and, 
aside from teaching school for a brief 
period was a farmer all his life. He mar- 
ried, August 20, 1837, Barbara Shelly, 
daughter of John and Mary Shelly, of 
Milford township, Bucks county, and 
lived in Milford township until the 
spring of 1839, when he took charge of 
his father's farm in Springfield, rent- 
ing it until his father's death, when he 
purchased it, later purchasing other land 
adjoining, and lived on the homestead 
until his death, July 3, 1876. With the 
exception of ten years residence in New 
Jersey and one year at a select private 
school, his whole life was spent in 
Bucks county. He was better educated 
than most men of his day in that vicin- 
ity, and appreciated the advantage of a 
higher education. He was a prosperous 
farmer, and actively interested in the im- 
portant public interests of his neighbor- 
hood. His wife died at Bethlehem, June 
12, 1904. Their eldest child, Mary Ann, 
died at the age of twenty-two years. 
Those who survive are: Titus S., now 
residing in Bethlehem; Amanda, who 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



143 



married Henry Unangst, of Williams 
township, Northampton county, Penn- 
sylvania, and later settled near Pleasant 
Valley, Bucks count)-; Lewis Shelly, and 
John S., both now residing in Allentown, 
Pennsylvania; and Henry Sylvester, who 
now resides in Ithaca, New York. 

Henry Sylvester Jacoby, born on 
the old homestead near Bursonville, 
April 8, 1857, was reared on the 
farm and attended the public school 
during the winter sessions, and during 
the summer months attended the private 
school of David W. Hess for eight years. 
He attended the Excelsior Normal In- 
stitute at Carversville, Bucks county, 
during the terms of 1870-72, and the 
preparatory department of Lehigh Uni- 
versity, 1872-3. He then took the regu- 
lar four-years course at Lehigh Univer- 
sity, receiving the degree of Civil En- 
gineer in 1877. During the season of 
1878 he was stadia rodman on the Le- 
liigh Topographical Corps, of the Sec- 
ond Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. 
From November, 1878, to November, 
1879, he was engaged on surveys of the 
Red River, Louisiana, with the U. S. A. 
Corps of Engineers, under Major W. 
H. H. Benyaurd. From November, 
1879. to March, 1885, he served as chief 
draughtsman in the United States En- 
gineer's Office at Memphis, Tennessee. 
From May, 1885, to August, 1886, he was 
bookkeeper and cashier for G. W. Jones 
& Co., wholesale druggists in Memphis. 
From September, 1886, to June. 1890, he 
was instructor in civil engineering at his 
alma mater, Lehigh University. In Sep.- 
tember, 1890, he was elected assistant 
professor of Bridge Engineering and 
Graphics at Cornell University, was pro- 
moted to an associate professorship in 
the same department in 1894. ^'if^ in 
1900 was made full professor of Bridge 
Engineering in the University, and has 
since filled that position. 

In August, 1887, he was admitted a 
member of the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science; was 
made a fellow of the Association in 
1894; secretary of "Section D" in 1895, 
and vice president and chairman of Sec- 
tion D. (Mechanical science and Engi- 
neering) in 1901. On November 5, 1890, 
he became an associate of the American 
Society of Civil Engineers; in August. 
1894, a member of the Society for the 
Promotion of Engineering Education, of 
which he was secretary 1900-1902. On 
February 22, 1888, he became a member 
of the Honorary Scientific Society of 
Tau Beta Pi, and of the Honorary Sci- 
entific Society of Sigma Xi on May i. 

Professor Jacoby. in addition to con- 
tributing numerous articles on Engineer- 
ing and kindred subjects, for periodicals 
devoted to that science, is the author 
-of the following publications: "Notes 
and Problems in Descriptive Geom- 



erty," (1892); "Outlines of Descriptive 
Geometry" Part I, 1895, Part II, i8q6. 
Part III, 1897; "A Text Book on Plain 
Lettering," (1897). He is joint author 
with Professor Mansfield Merriman of 
a "Text Book on Roofs and Bridges," in 
four volumes (1890-1898) embracing the 
following branches: Part I, "Stresses in 
Simple Trusses," 1888, entirely re- 
written in 1904; Part II, "Graphic Sta- 
tics," 1890, enlarged in 1897; Part III, 
"Bridge Design," 1894. re-written 1902; 
Part IV, "Higher Structures," 1898. 
Professor Jacoby served as editor of the 
Journal of the Engineering Society of 
Lehigh University for the years 1887- 
1890. 

Professor Henry S. Jacoby married 
May 18. 1880, Laura Louise Saylor, 
daughter of Thomas S. and Emma A. 
Saylor, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 
and they are the parents of three chil- 
dren, John Vincent, Hurlbut Smith, and 
Freeman Steel, all of whom reside with 
their parents at Ithaca, New York. 

Professor Jacoby retains a lively in- 
terest in the affairs of his native county, 
and makes many extended visits to the 
old homestead in Springfield (the own- 
ership of which he still retains), as well 
as to other points of Bucks county, tak- 
ing a proper and commendable pride in 
his Bucks county ancestry. 



PHILIP H. FRETZ. Among the rep- 
resentatives of the old and honored fam- 
ilies of Bucks county who. with their 
respective ancestors, have witnessed the 
settlement and development of our be- 
loved county from a primitive wilderness, 
inhabited by a primitive race, to a thick- 
ly settled, prosperous, wealthy and en- 
lightened community, is Philip H. Fretz, 
of Doylestown township. He w-as born 
in the township in which he still resides, 
November 22, 1846. and is a son of Phil- 
ip K. and Anna (Stover) Fretz. the an- 
cestors of both of whom had been prom- 
inent factors in the development of the 
natural resources of Bucks county, those 
of the latter being the pioneer millers 
of Tinicum and Bedminster and her emi- 
grant ancestor being Henry Stauflfer, 
who emigrated from Alsace in 1749 and 
settled in Bedminster soon after that 
date. His son Jacob, born May 13. 1757. 
was the grandfather of Mrs. Fretz, and 
Henry, son of the last named, born Oc- 
tober 17. 1786, was her father. Her moth- 
. er w-as Barbara Stout, daughter of Is- 
aac Stout, of Williams township. North-i 
ampton county, and a granddaughter of 
Jacob Stout, the emigrant ancestor of 
the Stout family of Bucks, an account 
of w-hom is given in this work. Bar- 
bara was educated at the Moravian 
school at Bethlehem, and her husband, 
Henry S. Stover, at the Doylestown 
Academv. under the Rev. Uriah Dubois, 



.144 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



both receiving unusual advantages in 
this respect for their day and genera- 
tion. 

The paternal ancestor of Mr. Frclz 
was John Frets, who with a brother, 
Christian emigrated from Manhenii, m 
Baden, Rhenish Prussia, about 1720, and 
settled for a time in Upper Salford, now 
Montgomery county, where he married 
Barbara Meyer, daughter of Hans Mey- 
er, who bore him five children — John, 
Jacob, Christian, Abraham and Eliza- 
beth. In 1737 John Fretz settled in Bed- 
minster township, Bucks county, where 
he purchased 300 acres of land and lived 
until his death in February, 1772. 

Christian Fretz, son of John and Bar- 
bara, born in Upper Salford, May, 1734, 
was reared in Bedminster township, 
Bucks county, and married in 1757 Bar- 
bara Oberhotzer, born November 10, 
1737, died May 8, 1823, daughter of Mar- 
tin Oberholtzer, who was born near 
Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1709, and set- 
tled in Bedminster soon after attaining 
manhood. Christian Fretz, on attaining 
manhood, settled in Tinicum township, 
where he lived until his father's death, 
when, having inherited the old home- 
stead, he returned to Bedminster, where 
he died May i, 1803. During the boy- 
hood and early manhood of Christian 
Fretz the Indians were still quite num- 
erous in that vicinity, and tradition re- 
lates many incidents of the association 
of the family with the "noble red man." 
At the time of the death of Barbara 
Fretz, widow of Christian, in 1823, she 
was the mother of twelve children, one 
hundred and nine grandchildren, and 
one hundred and three great-grandchil- 
dren. The children were: John; Agnes, 
wife of Abraham Bebighouse; Joseph; 
Henry; Martin; Jacob; Abraham; Is- 
aac; Barbara, wife of Henry Fretz; 
Christian; Mary, wife of Henry Tyson; 
and Elizabeth, wife of Abraham INleyer. 
, John Fretz, eldest son of Christian 
and Barbara, was born in Bedminster, 
May 24, 1758, aiid was reared in the Men- 
nonite faith, his .parents being members 
of the old Deep Run Meeting, the oldest 
Mennonite congregation in Bucks coun- 
ty. He purchased land adjoining the 
homestead in Bedminster, and lived 
there until 1792, when he purchased 300 
acres of the Rodman tract in Warwick, 
now Doylestown township, and settled 
thereon, building in 1795 the stone house 
which was standing until about 1898. He 
later purchased considerable adjoining 
land, owning at one time 800 acre§ along 
both sides of the Neshaminy, marked 
on the old maps of the region as "Fretz 
Valley." He died December 20, 1804. 
His wife was Anna Kratz, born in Pluin- 
s.tead township, November 4, 1764. She 
died August 4, 1813. John and Anna 
Kratz Fretz were the parents of nine 
children, viz: Christian; Susan, wife of 
William Garges; Elizabeth, wife af 



Thomas Z. Smith; Mary, wife of Henry' 
Gill; John; Rachel, wife of Abraham F. 
Stover; Barbara, wife of John Smith; 
Anna, wife of Samuel Dungan, and Phil- 
ip, died young. 

Christian, eldest son of John and An- 
na (Kratz) Fretz, was born in Bedmin- 
ster township, November 17, 1782, and 
was reared from the age of ten on the 
Fretz Valley farm in Doylestown town- 
ship, where he spent the remainder of 
his life. He was a successful 'business 
man and acquired considerable real es- 
tate. He was a farmer and hotelkeepr- 
er, establishing the "Fretz Valley Inn," 
near the homestead on the Easton road, 
opposite the almshouse, which he con- 
ducted for a number of years. He 
died January 28, 1840. -He married April 
14, 1808, Mary Stover, daughter of 
Ralph and Catharine (Funk) Stover, 
and granddaughter of Henry Stauffer 
above referred to, and a great-grand- 
daughter on the maternal side of the 
pioneer. Bishop Henry Funck. 

Ralph Stover, father of Mary (Stover) 
Fretz, was born in Bedminster, Bucks 
county, January 10, 1760, and died there 
November 7, 181 1. He was one of the 
prominent business and public men of 
his time. For many years a justice of 
the peace, he did a large amount of le- 
gal business pertaining to the transfer 
of real estate and the settlement of es- 
tates. He was a member of state assem- 
bly from 1783 to 1799, and was one of 
the first board of directors of the goor, 
created under act of assembly of April 
10, 1807, ^nd superintended the erection 
of the almshouse opposite the Fretz 
homestead. His daughter Mary was 
born December 15, 1787, and died in 
New York, where she had gone to un- 
dergo a surgical operation, November 
I7i 1855. The children of Christian and 
Mary (Stover) Fretz were six in num- 
ber, as follows: 

I. Ralph Stover Fretz, born in War- 
wick, November 13, 1809, died in Cali- 
fornia, June 6, 1867. He had an event- 
ful career. Early in life he engaged in 
business in Philadelphia and later in 
New York city. At the latter place 
he met Commodore Garrison and be- 
came interested with hiin in several im- 
portant enterprises. For some years he 
ran a line of steamboats on the Missis- 
sippi river, and later engaged in a trad- 
ing and shipping enterprise with Com- 
modore Garrison at the Isthmus of Pan- 
ama, in which he was later joined by his 
brothers John and Christian Augustus. 
In 1849 he sailed from the Isthmus to 
San Francisco, where in connection 
witli the commodore he established a 
bank and amassed a fortune of a half 
million of dollars. The eighth clause 
of his will reads as follows: 

"Eighth: Considering that I have been 
greatly blessed and that I have an un- 
dying attachment to the Government of 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



145 



the United States, the country of my 
birth, and remembering that by reason 
of my age and infirmities during the re- 
cent unnatural rebellion to destroy it, 
I was unable to render service in the 
field to put down and punish that great 
crime, and being not unmindful that a 
huge public burden of indebtedness has 
been necessarily incurred in accomplish- 
ing that object, I desire not only to 
leave behind me when I am gone an 
humble testimonial of the gratitude I 
feel towards those whose virtues, val- 
or and sacrifice and services preserved 
what I regard as the best government 
man was ever permitted to have, but 
beyond that and in addition to paying 
the ordinary taxes on my estate, 1 think 
it my duty out of the means Providence 
in His bounty has enabled me to ac- 
quire, and the Laws of the Country 
has aided me to preserve, to do some- 
thing towards extinguishing the Nation- 
al Debt; Therefore moved thereto by 
the foregoing causes only, I hereby give 
and bequeath unto the Secretary of thd; 
Treasury of the United States of Ameri- 
ca, in trust and to be applied only to- 
wards cancelling the National Debt, the 
sum of Twenty Thousand Dollars." 
Dated at San Francisco, May i, 1867. 

2. John Fretz. born October 2, 1811, 
in Warwick, died at White Sulphur 
Springs, California, where he was op- 
erating a gold quartz mill, June 26. 1863. 
He had also been associated with his 
brothers in enterprises at Panama. 
Neither of the above were married. 

3. Philip Kratz Fretz, see forward. 

4. Elizabeth Fretz, born February 23, 
1818, in Doylestown township, died 
there February 9, 1897, married John 
Farren, of Lancaster county, Pennsyl- 
vania, January i, 1844. He was born 
March i, 1809, and died in Doylestown 
township December 16, 1878. He was a 
contractor, and was associated with his 
brother-in-law, Philip K. Fretz, in rail- 
road building, etc. He and his family 
were members of the Roman Catholic 
church. l'h<Mi children were: Mary Jan- 
netta and Frances Annetta, who died in 
infancy; John Augustus, born April 21, 
185s, died December 17, 1884, ' married 
January 25, 1882, Alleta Bleiler; he left 
no issue. Mary Cecilia Farren, born 
February 21, 1858, died; married June 
16, i88j, Samuel J. Penrose, and has left 
children, Cyril F., Ralph and Norman. 

5. Christian Augustus Fretz, born 
February 23, 1824, died December i, 
1859. He was a provision merchant at 
Panama for seven years prior to his 
death. He was never married. 

6. Mary Catharine Fretz, born Janu- 
ary 13. 1827, died March 4, 1842, unmar- 
ried. 

Philip K. Fretz, third son of Chris- 
tian and Mary (Stover) Fretz, was born 
on the old homestead at Fretz valley, 
now Doylestown township, September 
10-3 



14, 1813, and died on board the steamship 
"Henry Chauncey" off the coast of the 
Carolinas, March 13, 1867, while on his 
way to California. Mr. Fretz was one of 
the prominent men of his community, not 
in the sense of seeking or holding public 
office, but in the doing day by day, as 
occasion offered, those things that tend 
to uplift humanity and stimulate in oth- 
ers that love of country and home which 
is the sheet-anchor of American liberties 
and citizenship. He inherited from his 
forefathers a stern sense of duty, a lov- 
ing and jovial disposition, and an un- 
swerving directness in following the 
course which his conscience dictated as 
right and proper. One who knew him 
well has said of him, "To write of him 
as he was known is to write of the day 
by day life of the earnest loving Chris- 
tian who had at heart first, his town- 
ship, then his county, next his state and 
finally the best country that God Al- 
mighty ever made." At the time of the 
civil war he was one of the foremost in 
calling meetings to raise funds to clear 
his district and neighbors of the drafts 
and, when the money could not be raised 
in time, advanced it himself and went 
to Philadelphia and cleared his district 
of the draft. He was president of the 
Democratic club of Pennsylvania before 
and during the civil war. About 1850 
the cholera, which was prevalent in 
many parts of the country, broke out 
with great virulence at the almshouse, 
and many of the inmates died of the 
dread disease, several in a single day, 
and it was impossible to obtain assist- 
ance to bury the dead or care for the 
living; the steward was dying of the dis- 
ease, and his son was already dead and 
unburied, when Mr. Fretz, after remov- 
ing his wife and family to her father's, 
residence at Erwinna, with Davis E. 
Brower, went to the almshouse and 
worked till the scourge was abated. Be- 
ing unable to find an undertaker who- 
would bury the steward's young son, he 
secured a hearse and buried the lad him- 
self. 

Mr. Fretz succeeded his father as pro- 
prietor of the Fretz Valley Inn, which 
he conducted until January 9, 1846, the 
first anniversary of the birth of his 
daughter, Mary Catharine, when he cut 
down the sign pole and closed the inn as 
a public house. He was extensively en- 
gaged in contract work in connection 
with his brother-in-law, John Farren, 
and was one of the contractors to build 
the horse-shoe curve of the Pennsylvan- 
ia railroad over the Allegheny moun- 
tains. He was buried in the Atlantic 
ocean. His wife, Anna Stover, whom 
he married February 18, 1841, was born 
in Tinicum township, at Point Pleasant, 
where her father. Henry S. Stover, was 
an extensive miller, September 11, 1812. 
She was a fitting helpmate for an earn- 
est loving husband. Their children 



146 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



were: Charles Augustus, born May 31, 
1843. married Susan Derby, and resid- 
ed (in the homestead until his death. 
August 12, 1900, without issue; Mary 
Catharine, born January 9, 1845, married 
September 8, 1868, Theodore P. Austin, 
of Hancock county, Maine; Philip H. 
and John S. Anna (Stover) Fretz died 
at the residence of her son, Philip Hen- 
ry Fretz, October 8, 1889. 

Philip Henry Fretz, second son of 
Philip K. and Anna (Stover) Fretz, 
was born on the ' old homestead, 
in Doylestown township, November 
22. 1846. He was educated at the 
public schools of Doylestown and at the 
famous Tennent School, at Hartsville. 
On arriving at manhood he went to New 
York city, where he engaged for a short 
time in the manufacture of silver plate. 
He sailed from New York for San 
Francisco, where he engaged in the 
banking business for a short time, and 
then returned to the old home in Doyl- 
estown township. His partner in the 
banking business was Judge Pratt, of 
California. The return trip was made 
overland across the plains by stage 
coach, having for traveling companion 
on the trip his uncles' old partner, Com- 
modore Garrison. In 1871 he erected 
the buildings and handsome residency 
now occupied by his brother, John S. 
Fretz, and married and lived there until 
1879. when, having erected his present 
handsome residence one mile south of 
Doylestown, he moved there and has 
since made it his home, operating his 
farm and looking after his other prop- 
erties. He is the owner of the old Turk 
mills, one of the oldest mill properties 
in this section, it having been operated 
by Hugh Miller as early as 1745. Mr. 
Fretz is a broad-minded and public- 
spirited man and is interested in what- 
ever inures to the benefit of the com- 
munity in which he lives. He has been 
an elder of Doylestown Presbyterian 
church for nearly thirty years. He was 
largely instrumental in the building of 
the chapel at Edison, which was placed 
under the control of the sessions of the 
Doylestown Presbyterian church, and is 
used for Sunday school purposes. Mr. 
Fretz being the superintendent of the 
Sunday school held there, and which 
by the way is said to be the oldest Sun- 
day school ever held in Eastern Penn- 
sylvania outside of Philadelphia. It was 
originally held in the old school house 
at Edison, which was originally built 
by and for the use of the neighborhood, 
long before the days of the public school 
system, and was rented by the directors 
after the organization of the public 
schools for some years, the upper story 
being used for religious and other lo- 
cal meetings. After the school direct- 
ors erected another school house, the 
old one was sold and the proceeds with 
liberal contributions from the neighbors 



was used to erect the present chapel on 
land donated by Aaron Fries. In 1881 
Philip H. Fretz was elected to the of- 
fice of- justice of the peace and filled 
the same for one term of five years. He 
was one of the original directors and 
managers of the Bucks Coimty Trust 
Company at its organization in 1888, and 
still fills that position. 

Philip H. Fretz married, September 
19, 1871, Margaret Wilhelmina John- 
ston, born in Doylestown township, 
June I, 1848, daughter of Robert and 
Wilhelmina (McHenry) Johnston. Her 
father, Robert Johnston, was born in 
Doylestown township, December 5, 
1817. He died January 25, 1905. He was 
a son of David and Susanna (Riale) 
Johnston. His father, David Jonnston, 
was a son of Robert Johnston, an early 
settler in Huntingdon county, and died 
in Doylestown township, October 28, 
1867. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 
under Captain William Magill. His wife 
Susanna Riale, was a daughter of John 
Riale, Esq., of Scotch-Irish descent. She 
died August 26, 1866, in her ninety-sixth 
year. Wilhelmina McHenry, mother of 
Mrs. Fretz, was born in the old Ross 
Mansion at Doylestown, April 6, 1818, 
and was a daughter of Captain William 
McHenry, who was born 9. mo. 22, 1794, 
and died io mo. 22, 1880. He was a son 
of William and Mary (Stewart) Mc- 
Henry, both of whom were of Scotch- 
Irish descent, the former, born May 6, 
1744, died November 25, 1808, was a son 
of the Rev. Francis McHenry, the first 
settled pastor of Deep Run and Red Hill 
Presbyterian churches, and one of the 
ablest divines of his time. He was born 
on the island of Rathlen, Ireland, Oc- 
tober 18, 1710, and came to this country 
when a lad of fourteen and was educated 
at the famous Tennent Log College at 
Neshaminy. He was licensed to preach 
in 1738, and preached for a time at Ne- 
shaminy Presbyterian church, and Deep 
Run. In 1748 he took charge of Deep 
Run and Red Hill churches and settled 
in Bedminster. where he died January 
22. 1757. His son Charles was a lieu- 
tenant in the continental army. Mr. and 
Mrs. Philip H. Fretz have been the par- 
ents of six children: Dr. John Edgar 
Fretz, of Easton, Pennsylvania ; Anna 
Leola Fretz, residing with her parents, 
Ralph Johnston, deceased; Philip K".. de- 
ceased; Marguerite Wilhelmina, now a 
student, preparing for Bryn Mawr; and 
Edna McHenry, died February 21, 1897. 
Dr. John Edgar Fretz was born in 
Doylestown township, November 29, 
1872, and was educated at Lafayette 
College, graduating in the class of 1893. 
He graduated at medical deparment of 
Pennsylvania University in 1897. He be- 
gan the practice of medicine at Easton. 
He was recently honored by the offer 
of the position of physician and profes- 
sor of hygiene, anatomy and physiol- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



147 



â– ogy, in Williams' College, at Williams- 
town, Massachusetts, to fill the vacancy 
-caused by the death of Professor Luther 
Dana Woodbridge, M. D. He however, 
chose to follow his profession at Eas- 
ton, where he has a lucrative practice. 
He was married, December 7, 1904, to 
Frances Josephine Rodenbough, daugh- 
ter of Joseph S. Rodenbough, of Eas- 
ton. 

Ralph Johnston Fretz, second son of 
Philip H. Fretz, was born February 25. 
1878, and died December 24, 1899. He 
prepared for college under Dr. John 
Gosnian, of Doylestown, and entered 
Lafayette College in the class of 1901, 
and had returned home to spend the 
Christmas holidays, when he was taken 
suddenly ill with acute myelitis, and 
lived but three days. He was a bright 
manly boy and much beloved by his 
family and class mates, and his sudden 
and untimely demise was a sad blow. 

John S. Fretz, youngest son of Phil- 
ip K. and Anna (Stover) Fretz, was 
born on the old Fretz Valley homestead 
in Doylestown township. September 22, 
1850. He was but seventeen years of age 
at the death of his father, and resided 
for some years with his brother, Philip 
Henry Fretz, the subject of the preced- 
ing sketch. In 1879 he purchased of his 
brother his present residence, and has 
since made it his home. He soon after 
erected and equipped a large steam saw 
mill near his residence, which he has oper- 
ated for many years. He is a member of 
the Doylestown Presbyterian church, 
and takes an active interest in all chari- 
table objects. He is the owner of the 
•old Fretz homestead that has been the 
home of his ancestors for over a cen- 
tury. He married, in November. 1879, 
Mary W. Long, daughter of Henry 
Long, of Doylestown, and they are the 
parents of one son. Augustus Henry 
Fretz. who graduated at Lafayette Col- 
lege in the class of 1903, and is now tak- 
ing a post graduate course there in me- 
chanical engineering. 



THE HALL FAMILY. The pioneer 
ancestor of this family was Mathew 
Hall, who came from Birmingham, Eng- 
land, about 1725, and settled in Buck- 
ingham township. Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, where he married in 1731 Sa- 
rah (Scarborough) Haworth. widow of 
George Haworth. daughter of John and 
Mary Scarborough, and granddaughter 
•of John Scarborough, a coachsmith of 
St. Sepulchre. London. England, who 
came to America in 1682 accompanied 
by his son John. Sarah was born in 
Solebury township, Bucks county. Penn- 
sylvania. 2 mo. 4, 1694. and married 
•George Haworth at Falls Meeting. 9 mo. 
20, 1710. Mr. Haworth. who died in 1725, 
purchased 500 acres on the north cor- 



ner of Buckingham and settled thereon, 
and at his demise was seized of 339 acres 
thereof which descended to his six chil- 
dren; George, Stephanus, Absalom, 
James, Mary, who became the wife of 
John Michener; and John. Of these 
George and John remained in Bucks 
county, the former dying in 1749. and 
James and Absalom removed to the 
Shenandoah valley in Virginia. Mathew 
Hall settled on the land belonging to 
the estate of his wife's first husband, 
nearly the whole of which he subse- 
quently purchased of his step-children. 
His wife died 3 mo. 4, 1748, and on 7 
mo. 13, 1750. he married Rebecca 
(Rhoads) Massey, widow of Mordecai 
Massey, of Marple, Delaware county, 
Pennsylvania, and daughter of Joseph 
and Abigail Rhoads. On 8 mo. 3, 1752, 
with a certificate to Haverford Meeting, 
he removed with his family to Block- 
ley, Philadelphia, where he purchased a 
large tract of land, and in 1756 removed 
to Marple, Delaware county, and pur- ^ 
chased 194 acres of land there, whereon 
he died 9 mo. 1766. His second wife, by 
whom he had no children, died prior to 
his death. He was not a member of the 
Society of Friends on his arrival in 
Bucks county, "but became a member af- 
ter his first marriage. He was an over- 
seer of Springfield (Chester county,) 
Meeting from 3 mo. 28, 1757, to 3 mo. 
23. 1759- The children of Mathew and 
Sarah (Scarborough) (Haworth) Hall 
were as follows: i. David, born in Buck- 
ingham, 7 mo. 7, 1732, died in Marple, 
Delaware county. 1802. He married, 12 
mo. 21. 1758. Deborah Fell, daughter of- 
Edward Fell, of Springfield, and had 
children: Beulah, who married William 
Broomall ; David, who married Hannah 
Parnell; Sarah, who married Joseph 
Levis: Edward and Joseph. 2. Mahlon, 
born in Buckingham, 11 mo. 12, 1733-34; 
see forward. 3. Margery, born i mo. 23, 
1734-35. married, 11 mo. 10. 1753, at 
Merion Meeting. Arnold Warner, of 
Blockley, son_ of Isaac and JVeron[ca_ 
Waj;j]_er, of__Bl£i£kle3t, amT had four 
daughters, of whom Gulielma, wife of 
William Widdifield. was for many years 
an accepted minister of Friends in Phila- 
delphia. 4. Sarah, born 11 mo. 24. 17,^6- 
2,7, married at Buckingham Meeting. 5 
mo. 12. 1756, John Pearson, and had 
children, Enoch, Margaret, Mahlon and 
William. The family removed to Bush 
River, South Carolina, in 1772. with the 
exception of Enoch, who removed tov 
Gunpowder. Maryland, in 1780. 

Mahlon Hall, second son of Mathew 
and Sarah HalJ^ born in Buckingham, 
II moTTjanuary) 12. 1733-34, took a 
certificate from Buc1<ingham Meeting to 
Falls in 1752, and from there to Chester 
Meeting in 1756. He married at Bristol, 
Bucks county. 4 mo. 21, I7,=;7- Jane 
Higgs, daughter of James and Elizabeth 
(Andrews) Higgs. of Bristol. Jane was 



148 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



born 8 mo. 17, 1728, and died 5 mo. 10, 
1812. On their marriage they settled 
on a tract of land in Blockley township, 
Pliiladelphia, devised to him by his 
father hiter, much of which is now with- 
in the limits of the park. It adjoined 
Belmont, the residence of Judge Peters, 
and Lansdowne, the residence of Gov- 
ernor John Penn, the last of the colon- 
ial governors. Mahlon Hall relatecLjto 
his granddaughter, Matilda Hestpn, that 
during the revolutionary war a party of 
British soldiers visited his home, and 
the officer in command after some con- 
versation with Mahlon Hall told him 
that he was a native of Birmingham, 
England, and on learning that the 
father of Mahlon Hall was also a na- 
tive of that place gave strict orders that 
nothing about the place should be dis- 
turbed by the soldiers. Mahlon Hall 
died 7 mo. 26, 1818, and he and his wife 
are buried at Merion JNIeeting. Their 
children were as follows: i. John, born 
at Blockley, 6 mo. 16, 1758, died there 

I mo 17, 1842, married, li mo. 21, 1783, 
Anna Morris, daughter of Edward Mor- 
ris, of Montgomery township, now 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania; she 
died 6 mo. 17, 1845, aged ninety-one 
years; they had children: Martha, wtio 
married Nathan Dickinson, and was the 
mother of Mahlon Hall Dickinson, late 
president of the State Board of Chari- 
ties, and an eminent Philadelphian ; 
James, George, John, Morris, Hannah, 
Sarah and Charles. 2. Mahlon, born 11 
mo. 29, 1759, died 4 mo. 7, 1805; see for- 
ward. _3^ Sarah, born 4 mo. 16, 1763, 
died 8 mo. 18, 1856, married li mo. 18, 
1784, Ed"ward Warner Heston, the foun- 
der of Hestonville, now part of the city 
of Philadelphia. She was his second 
wife, he having previously married Mary 
Griffith, by whom he had children; 
Abraham, Isaac, Bathsheba, Mary, who 
married Mahlon Hall; Jacob F. and 
Thomas W. The children of the second 
wife, Sarah Hall, were: Jane, who mar- 
ried Joseph Worstall, of Newtown, 
Bucks county, in 1808; Rachel, Anna, 
Matilda, Isaac, Sarah, William Penn and 
Louisa. 

Mahlon Hall, second son of Mahlon 
and Jane (Higgs) Hall, was born in 
Blockley township. Philadelphia county, 

II mo. 29, 1759. He married, 5 mo. 15, 
1791, Mary Heston, born 3 mo. 26, I775> 
died 12 . mo. 12, 1858, daughter of Ed- 
ward Warner and Mary (Griffith) Hes- 
ton, of Blockley, before mentioned. Ed- 
ward Warner Heston was born in Bucks 
county, and was a son of Jacob and 
Mary (Warner) IJeston, of Makefield, 
and a grandson of Zebulon and Doro- 
thy Heston, early settlers in Wrights- 
town, Bucks county. He inherited frona 
his father the lands at what was named 
Hestonville, in Blockley township, and 
was the founder of the village. He was 
an officer of the Seventh Battalion, 



Pennsylvania Militia, during the revolu-, 
tion and saw active service and was- 
subsequently one of the judges of the 
court of common pleas of Philadelphia 
county. His second wife was a sister 
of Mahlon Hall, who married his daugh- 
ter. On his marriage Mahlon HallS 
erected a house on what is now Elm 
avenue, West Philadelphia, close to Fair- 
mount Park, where he died 4 mo. 7, 
1805. He was an active business man of 
Philadelphia. His widow married Will- 
iam Sanders, and had one son, Jacob 
Sanders, born 5 mo. 22. 1810. Mahlon 
and Mary (Heston) Hall were the par- 
ents of nine children: i. Edward H.,. 
born at Hestonville, 4 mo. 30, 1792, died 
in Columbiana county, Ohio, 4 mo. 10,- 
1831, married at West Chester, Pennsyl- 
vania, 2 mo. 5, 1816, Jane Paxson, daugh- 
ter of Benjamin and Jane (Ely) Paxson,. 
of Solebury, and removed to Ohio irt 
1820. 2. Mahlon, born 3 mo. 11, I793, 
died in Doylestown township, Bucks 
county, II mo. 3, 1872; see forward. 3. 
Thomas W., born 3 mo. 4, 1795, died in- 
Cain township, Chester county, 4 mo. 
7, 1896, aged over one hundred and one 
years; he married Mary Heston, daugh- 
ter of Abr^jim HesUyi, and had nine 
children."^. Isaac, born 4 mo. 29, 1796, 
died 4 mo. 21, 1810. 5. John, born 8 mo. 
17, 1797, died 2 mo. 3, 1897, at West 
Chester. He married, 10 mo. 23, 1862, 
Sarah (Thatcher) Yarnall, a widow, 
who survives him. He was a farmer at 
Hestonville for many years and removed 
to West Chester in 1872. 6. Jane, born 
II mo. 24, 1798, died at West Chester, 
10 mo. 4, 1876, unmarried. 7. William 
H., born i mo. 21, 1801, died in West 
Chester, 5 mo. 20, 1886, married Ann- 
Paxson, but had no children. 8. Sarah, 
born 12 mo. 28, 1802, died at West Ches- 
ter, 2 mo. 3, 1900, married Edward Dick- 
inson, leaving no issue. 9. Ann, born 
3"mo. 29, 1804, died 12 mo. 23, 1813. This 
family was very remarkable for longev- 
ity, one of them having exceeded the 
century mark, another came short of it 
but six months, wdiile four others passed 
four score years. 

Mahlon Hall, second son of Mahlon 
and Mary (Heston) Hall, born at Hes- 
tonville. Philadelphia, March 11, I793r 
was the father of Mathias H. Hall and 
the grandfather of William W. Hall,, 
sketches of whom follow. He was a 
blacksmith by trade, and came to Buck- 
ingham, near Pineville, Bucks county,, 
when a young man and followed his 
trade there for some years, returning 
later to Philadelphia where he was a 
partner with his brother John in the 
milk business. Subsequently he removed' 
again to Bucks county, and in 1836 pur- 
chased a farm of fifty acres in Dovles-, 
town township, where his son, Isaac H. 
Hall, still lives, and thereon died No-, 
vember 3, 1872. He married (first) Han- 
nah P. Hampton, of Buckingham, by 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



149 



whom he had five children: Thomas, a 
prominent business man of Philadel- 
phia ; John ; William ; Moses P., for many 
years a merchant in Buckingham; and 
Benjamin, the father of Squire Hall. Mr. 
Hall married (second) Isabella Robin- 
son, daughter of John Robinson, who 
was a soldier in the war of 1812 and 
stationed at Marcus Hook, by whom 
he had twelve children, of whom eleven 
survived him: Mary, who never married; 
Hannah, who married her cousin, Al- 
bert P. Hall, son of Edward H. and Jane 
•(Paxson) Hall, who is a dry goods mer- 
chant at West Chester, Pennsylvania; 
Jane H., v/ho married William Seal; 
Martha R., who married George Geil; 
Edward D.; Isaac H., who lives on the 
homestead in Doylestown township; Sa- 
rah D., who married J. Gilpin Seal; 
Matthias H., a prominent farmer of Up- 
per Makefield township; Charles Henry; 
George W., and Emma P. Hall. Isabella 
(Robinson) Hall, widow of Mahlon Hall, 
•died in Doylestown township, June 29, 

1879. 

Benjamin Hall, third son of Mahlon 
and Hannah P. (Hampton) Hall, was 
born in Bnuckingham, Bucks county. 
Pennsylvania, September 30, 1823, and 
resides with his son, William W. Hall, 
at I.innboro. He went to Philadelphia 
wlitn a boy, and for some time drove a 
milk wagon for his uncle. Returning to 
B;'cks county he clerked in the store of 
"his brother Thomas at Mechanics Val- 
ley until 1850, when in partnership with 
his brother, Moses P. Hall, he purchased 
the store at Buckingham, which they 
conducted for four years. On April i, 
1854, he purchased and removed to 
the present homestead farm " at 
Danboro, where he resided for the 
following thirteen years. In April. 1867, 
"he purchased a property at Smith's Cor- 
ner in Plumstead township and opened 
a store, which he conducted for two 
years. He then removed to Mechanics 
"Valley, where he conducted the store 
â– for six years, and in 1875 returned to the 
old homestead, where he has since re- 
sided. Mr. Hall was the pioneer milk 
shipper to Philadelphia market from 
Doylestown. He married Sarah Carlile, 
daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth 
Carlile, of Plumstead, who was born on 
the present Hall homestead, wliere her 
father died January 9, 1833. Benjamin 
and Sarah (Carlile) Hall were the par- 
•ents of two sons and a daughter, of 
whom William W., mentioned herein- 
after, alone survives. 

MATTHIAS H. HALL, third son of 
Mahlon and Isabella (Robinson) Hall, 
was born in Doylestown township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, April 29, 
1844. He was reared to the life of a 
farmer and acquired his education at the 
public schools of that vicinity. His whole 
life has been devoted to agricultural 
pursuits in the county of his birth. The 



following spring after his marriage he 
began farming for himself in Wrights- 
town township, and after five years' resi- 
dence there he removed to Upper Make- 
field, and in 1883 purchased his present 
farm in that township, on the Ime of 
Wrightstown, near the site of the his- 
toric Indian village of Playwicky, where 
he has since resided. While conforming 
to the tenets of the Society of Friends, 
in which faith his paternal ancestors 
were reared, he is not a member of the 
society. Though deeply interested in the 
afifairs of his coi^mty, state and nation, 
he has taken little part in partisan poli- 
tics. He is an active member of the 
Bucks County Historical Society, and 
a regular attendant of its meetings. He 
recently contributed a valuable paper to 
its archives on the local history and 
folk-lore of his locality, so rich in his- 
toric interest as the border line between 
the original settlement of the pioneers 
of Penn's colony in America and the 
land taken up by. their descendants and 
the later arrivals. He married, Novem- 
ber 18, 1874, Sarah Wiggins, daughter of 
Jesse and Margaret (Hampton) Wig- 
gins, of "Wrightstown. She is a de- 
scendant of Benjamin Wiggins, one of 
the earliest settlers in the locality in 
which she lives, and who is said to have, 
come thence from New England. He 
married in 1708, Susan Jenks, widow of 
Thomas Jenks, of Shropshire, England, 
on the borders of Wales, who came into 
Bucks county with her infant son 
Thomas, about 1700, and is the ances- 
tress of the prominent family of that 
name in Bucks county. By her second 
marriage with Benjamin Wiggins she 
had one son, Benzaleel Wiggins, born in 
1709, from whom the prominent family 
of that name as well as numerous oth- 
ers of Wrightstown, Buckingham, Sole- 
bury and Makefield are descended. The 
pioneer maternal ancestor of Mrs. Hall 
was John Hampton, of Ephingstoun, 
East Lothian, Scotland, who purchased 
land at Amboy Point, East Jersey. No- 
vember 23, 1682, and later settled at 
Freehold, New Jersey, where he died in 
February, 1702-3, leaving sons: John, 
Joseph, Andrew, David, Jonathan and 
Noah. Joseph Hampton, his son by a 
second marriage with Jane Ogburn, 
widow of John Ogburn, and mother of 
Sarah Ogburn, wife of Edmund Kinsey, 
was one of the first ministers among 
Friends of Buckingham. Jane was four 
times married and came to Buckingham 
about 1720, then the widow Sharp, and 
died there in 1731. Joseph Hampton 
either accompanied or preceded hiS 
mother to Bucks county and located in 
Wrightstown. He married Mary, daugh- 
ter of Thomas Canby and has left 
numerous descendants. He died in I767> 
leaving two sons, John and Benjamin, 
and three daughters. The children of 
Matthias H. and Sarah (Wiggins) Hall 



150 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



are : Frances, Margaret, Hanna, Jesse, and 
l-lmma, all of whom reside with their 
parents. 

WILLIAM W. HALL, only surviving 
son of Benjamin and Sarah (Carlile) 
Hall, was born in the village of Buck- 
ingham where his father and uncle 
Moses were at the time engaged in mer- 
cantile business, November 2, 1851. His 
parents removing to the present home- 
stead in T<S54, he was reared on the farm 
upon which he still resides and was edu- 
cated in the schools of Plumstead town- 
ship At the age of thirteen years, dur- 
ing the civil war, he and four compan- 
ions went to Philadelphia and offered 
their services in the Union army. It is 
needless to say that their services were 
declined on account of their age. He re- 
turned home and entered the store at 
Buckingham as a clerk, remaining as 
such for eight years, and then returned 
to the farm. In politics Mr. Hall is a 
Republican and has taken an active in- 
terest in the councils of his party. He 
has held a number of local positions, 
and has been a justice of the peace 
since 1888. He has served as delegate 
to state and- congressional conventions 
and as a member of the county commit- 
tee. He is an active member of the In- 
dependent Order of Red Men, and has 
served as representative grand chief for 
five terms to th » grand council of the or- 
der. ' He is al.so a past chief of the 
Knights of the Golden Eagle. Mr. Hall 
married, October 26, 1880, Anna Fry, 
daughter of Michael Fry, of, Plumstead, 
and they are the parents of ten children: 
Chester Arthur; Roscoe C. ; Nellie B., 
deceased; Warren Russell; Florence 
Ethel; Norman D.; Althea Fry; Eleanor 
E., deceased; and- Sarah Esther, and 
Emma F'auline Hall. 



HOWARD PURSELL, M. D. of Bristol, 
was born in Bridgeton (formerly Nocka- 
mixon) township, Bucks county, March 
23, 1847, and is a son of Brice M. and 
Martha Merrick (Poore) Pnrsell. 

The Purcell-Pursell family of Penn- 
sylvania and New Jersey are descend- 
ants of the noble family of Purcell in 
Ireland, whose founder. Sir Hugh Pur- 
cell, was a grandson of Sir Hugh Purcell 
who went from Normandy to England 
with William the Conqueror, and traced 
his descent through many generations 
from Charlemagne of France. Sir Hugh 
Purcell is said to have been the first of 
the conquering Normans to land on 
1 British soil at Pevensey Bay, and the 
first to effect a deed of arms by storming 
the ruins of a Roman castle where a 
party of King Harold's soldiers lay en- 
trenched. The Irish Purcells were ad- 
herents of the House of Stuart, and 
were swept away by the rebellion of 
1641, though several distinct branches 



of them later recovered their lands and 
titles at the restoration and were again' 
badly broken on the accession of Will- 
iam of Orange. 

John Purslone Pursley or Purssell, as 
his name is variously spelled, came to 
America from Dublin. Ireland, in the 
ship "Phoenix," arriving in the river 
Delaware in August, 1677, and settled in 
Bucks county. He was appointed con- 
stable far the "further side of Nesham- 
inah" 7 mo. 9, 1685, and on the 8th of 
7 mo. 1689, w^as again appointed consta- 
ble for the "upper, parts of the settle- 
ment, between Neshaminah and Poques- 
sing." In the same year he appears as a 
witness in the Bucks county courts, and' 
on being attested gives his age as "about 
sixty years." He was again appointed 
constable in 1690, for "upper parts of 
Neshaminah." He married in 1684, Eliza- 
beth, widow of Thomas Walmsley, who- 
with her husband and six children mi- 
grated from Yorkshire in .1682 and set- 
tled in Byberry, Philadelphia county, 
bringing a certificate from Settle Month- 
ly Meeting of Friends in Yorkshire. At 
about the same date of the arrival of 
John Purslone in Bucks county, Thom- 
as Purcil appears at Flatlands, Long 
Island. He acts as an appraiser in that 
town in 1679, and was one of the pat- 
entees of Newton, Long Island, in 
1686. He or a son of his with the same 
name removed to the Raritan, in Som- 
erset county. New Jersey, prior to 1703, 
and had children baptized at the Raritan 
. Dutch Reformed church. The descen- 
dants of Thomas Pursell became num- 
erous in Somerset, Middlesex and Essex 
counties. New Jersey, prior to 1760. In 
1710 he purchased a large tract of land 
in Somerset county, though then living 
in Middlesex, and in 1719 conveyed one- 
half of it to his son Daniel, who in 172S 
conveyed a part of it to Gysbert Krom, 
of Amwell township, Hunterdon county. 
A Daniel Purcell settled later in Alex- 
andria township, Hunterdon county and 
in 1783 bought a tract of land in Tini- 
cum, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and 
erected a grist mill which he operated 
for two j'ears. He then returned to- 
Kingwood, New Jersey, where he died 
in 1804, leaving sons, Peter, Benjamin 
and Thomas, and daughters, Ruth Mid- 
dleswarts, Sarah Tinsman and Hannah 
Jones. 

On September 28, 1728, "Denes Purcell 
of Pennsylvania" married Ruth Cooper, 
daughter of Henry and Mary (Buck- 
man) Cooper, of Newtown, Bucks coun- 
ty, and settled in Bethlehem township, 
Hunterdon county. New Jersey. Wheth- 
er he w-as a son of John and Elizabeth 
(Walmsley) Purssell, of Bucks county, 
or of Thomas, of New Jersey, is prob- 
leniutical. but certain it is that Dennis 
and Ruth Cooper were the parents of 
John Pursell, "of Pennsylvania," who 
married in 1761 Ann Coone (Coomb), of 




HOWARD PURSELL 



THE NLW YORK 

PUBLIC LI3RARY 



AST â–  




tilde;/ rouNDATl: 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



151 



Tinicum township, Bucks county, and 
settled in Nockamixon township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, wdiere he pur- 
chased land in 1773. Another John Pur- 
sell, also of Pennsylvania, married in 
1765 Mary Logan, and settled in Falls 
township, Bucks county, where he died 
in 1778. 

John Pursell, of Nockamixon, died in 
that township in December, 1804, and 
his will was probated February 5, 1805. 
It is probable that his father, Dennis 
Pursell, settled in Nockamixon while 
John waj a young man, as a Denes Pur- 
sle was sergeant of the Nockamixon 
company of Associators in 1775, and, 
though John had a son Dennis, it is 
hardly probable that he could have been 
of sufficient age to have held a commis- 
sion at that date. The children of John 
and Ann (Coomb) Pursell were: i. John. 
Jr., who married Mercy Iliff. and died 
in 1816, leaving eleven children. 2. 
Thomas, who married Catherine Crause, 
and died in 1841, leaving six sons, Den- 
nis, William. John. Thomas, Jacob and 
Frederick, and one daughter, Mary, who 
married Jacob Fulmer. 3. Brice, men- 
tioned hereinafter. 4. Dennis, who went « 
west and left no descendants in Bucks 
county. 5. Ruth, who became the wife 
of Daniel Strawn, born 1752, son of Ja- 
cob and Christiana (Pursell) Strawn, of 
Haycock, the former of whom was a 
half-brother of Ruth (Cooper) Pursell. 
by the second marriage of Mary (Buck- 
man) Cooper with Launcelot Strawn. 6. 
Elizabeth, who became the wife of Ben- 
jamin Holden. 7. Mary. 8. Ann. 9. Han- 
nah, who became the wife of John Will- 
iams, a son of Benjamin and Mercy 
Stevenson Williams. TO. Margaret. 11. 
Jane, who became the wife of Jacob 
Hauseworth. Mary. Ann and Hannah, 
aforementioned, were triplets; all grew 
to womanhood, married and all died at 
the birth of their first child. Either Mary 
or Ann married a Henry, and left a 
daughter Ann. 

Brice Pursell, third son of John and 
Ann (Coomb) Pursell, was born in 
Nockamixon. August 15, 1776, and died 
there August 12, 1830. He lived on a 
portion of the homestead which had 
been devised to the three eldest sons, 
John. Thomas and Brice. and was par- 
titioned between them in 1806. He later 
purchased considerable other land ad- 
joining, becoming a large landholder 
and a man of prominence in that com- 
munity. He was a justice of the peace 
for twenty-one years and performed a 
large amount of public business. He 
married Catharine Moore, who was born 
May 25. 1784. and died August 12, 1848, 
and they were the parents of nine chil- 
dren: I. Ann, who became the wife of 
John Fisher. 2. Thomas, who married 
Eliza IMarshall. 3. John, who married 
Sarah .Williams. 4. Evaline. who be- 
came the wife of Abrarn Arndt. 5. 



Brice Moore, mentioned hereinafter. 6. 
Hugh, who married Jane B. Eltonhead. 
7. Daniel, who married three times; his 
first wife was Susanna Unangst; his 
second wife was Alargaret Rebecca Eil- 
enberger; and his thrid wife was Rachel 
Quinn. 8. Hannah, who became the wife 
of Cyrenius Slack, of Hunterdon coun- 
ty, New Jersey. 9. Mary, who died at 
the age of six years. 

Brice Moore Pursell, father of Dr. 
Howard Pursell, was born in Nockam- 
ixon, August 31, 1811, and died there 
June 18, 1885. He was a farmer and 
lived on the old family homestead. He 
married, July 19, 1837, Martha Merrick 
Poore, born February 18, 1817, in Up- 
per Makefield township, Bucks county, 
died in Bristol, Pennsylvania, May 2, 
1902. She was a daughter of Daniel and 
Maria (Merrick). Poore; the former a 
son of John Poore, was born October 12, 
1793, and died April 12, 1888, and the 
latter was born April 23, 1798 and died 
October i, 1879. They were married 
May 2, 1815. The Merricks are descend- 
ants of John Merrick, a native of Here- 
fordshire. England, who settled in Low- 
er Dublin. Philadelphia co.unty, prior 
to 1700. His son John Merrick was an 
early settler in Makefield, where he has 
left numerous descendants. Brice Moore 
and Martha M. (Poore) Pursell were the 
parents of four sons: i. Augustus, born 
^Li}- 3, 1839, married November 12, 
1868, Evalina Eilenberger, daughter of 
David and Susan (Arndt) Eilenberger, 
who bore him one child, Jessie Martha 
Pursell; Evalina's death occurred at his 
home in Muncy, Pennsylvania, July 27, 
1904. 2. Horatio N., born December 4, 
1841, died August 31, 1863. after his 
return from the civil war; he was unmar- 
ried. 3. Howard, born Marth 23, 1847, 
mentioned hereinafter. 4. Stacy, born 
November 20, 1849, married, April 22, 
1885. Josephine K. Williams, daughter 
of Barzilla and Sarah (King) Williams, 
no issue. 

Howard Pursell, third son of Brice 
and Martha M. (Poore) Pursell, was 
w.Ts born and reared in Nockamixon 
(now Bridgeton) township. He gradu- 
ated from the medical department of the 
New York University. March i, 1867, 
and practiced medicine at Ceres, New 
York, until 1869. In the latter year he 
removed to Bristol, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, where he has conducted a drug 
store and practiced medicine ever since. 
He is a member of the Bucks County 
]\Iedical Society, the Medical Society of 
Pennsylvania, and the American Medi- 
cal Association. He is president of the 
board of health of Bristol, which posi- 
tion he has held since 1893. He is a mem- 
ber of the board of United States exam- 
ning surgeons for Bucks county. In po- 
litics he is a Republican. He is a past 
master .of Bristol Lodge, No. 25, Free 
and Accepted Masons. 



1^2 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Dr. Pursell lias been twice married, 
first on February 22, 1869, to Vestilla 
Smith, daughter of James and Achsah 
(Lear) Smith. His second marriage oc- 
curred at Milford, New Jersey, June 
4, 1879, to Nellie Carpenter Bartolette, 
daughter of Dr. Charles R. and Ann M. 
(Carpenter) Bartolette. His children 
are as follows: James Everett, born 
June 12, 1870; Ethel Bartolette, born 
May 12, 1882; Charles Howard, born 
September 30, 1885, died February 18, 
1886: and Carrie Nesbit, born February 
2, 1888. 



WILLIAM EDGAR GEIL, the dis- 
tinguished author, traveller and orator, 
was born near Doylestown, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, and is the son of Samuel 
Geil, still residing in Doylestown, by his 
late wife Elizabeth Seese, deceased. On 
the paternal side Mr. Geil is of French 
and German descent. His great-grand- 
father, Jacob Geil, was born in the prov- 
ince of Alsace, in the year, 1742, and ac- 
companied his parents to America in the 
ship "Duke of Bedford," arriving in 
Philadelphia, September 14, 1751. The â–  
family lived for a time in Philadelphia 
and then located on the Skippack, in 
what is now Montgomery coimty, Penn- 
sylvania, where Jacob Geil married Anna, 
daughter of John Clymer (or Klemmer) 
and granddaughter of Bishop Valentine 
Klemmer, who came from Switzerland in 
1717. By deed dated April 18. 1763, Will- 
iam Crook conveyed to him by name of 
"Jacob Choel, of Philadelphia county," 
194 acres in Springfield township. Bucks 
county. He was a weaver by trade. On 
April I, 1768, Jacob Geil and Anna his 
wife conveyed the Springfield farm to 
Conrad Jacoby, and on April 18, 1768, 
Samuel Barnhill and wife conveyed to 
him 153 acres near New Galena in New 
Britain township. Bucks county. Here 
his wife Anna died, and he married a 
second time and in 1786 sold his farm 
and removed with the j-ounger members 
of his family to Chester county, and 
from thence to Rockingham county, Vir- 
ginia, where he died about 1802. The 
children of Jacob Geil were: Mary, who 
married Samuel Godshalk. of New Brit- 
ain; Abraham. John, Philip, and Mar- 
garet. The first two were by the first 
wife, and the last three by the second. 
Philip and Margaret were minors on their 
return to Bucks county in 1802, and guar- 
dians w^ere appointed for them b)^ the 
Bucks county court. 

John Geil, son of Jacob, was born in 
New Britain, Bucks county, April i, 1778, 
and removed with his father to Virginia, 
where he was apprenticed to the tanning 
trade, but, liking neither the trade or his 
master, he returned to Bucks county 
about 1796, and probably resided for a 
time with his elder brother, Abraham 
Geil. Abraham was a farmer, and later 



located near Doylestown, where Samuel 
Hart now lives, and reared a family of 
eight children, of whom but two married, 
and none so far as known left male de- 
scendants. John Geil married April 22, 
1802, Elizabeth Fretz, daughter of Mark 
Fretz, wdio owned and operated the grist 
and saw mills later known as Curley's 
Mills, in New Britain. John Geil settled 
in New Britain, where he owned a farm, 
and resided there until near the close of 
his life. He was ordained as minister of 
the Mennonite congregation at Line Lex- 
ington in 1809, and preached there for 
forty-two years. Late in life he re- 
moved to Plumstead, where he died Jan- 
uary 16, 1866, at the age of eighty-eight 
years. His wife was born January 27, 
1781, and died November 6, 1849. She 
was the daughter of Mark and Elizabeth 
(Rosenberger) Fretz, the former a son 
of John and Maria Fretz of Bedminster, 
and the latter the daughter of Rev. 
Henry Rosenberger, for many years pas- 
tor of the Mennonite congregation in 
Franconia, Montgomery county. Rev. 
John and Elizabeth (Fretz) Geil were 
the parents of nine children: Jacob, the 
eldest son, married Anna Funk, and had 
three sons: John F., Enos F. and Sam- 
uel; the first and last removed west; 
Samuel became a distinguished lawyer in 
Ohio, and removed later to California, 
where he recently died. The remaining 
children of Rev. John Geil were: Bar- 
bara, who married Abraham Landis; 
Elizabeth, who married Martin D. Ros- 
enberger, of Hilltown, (see Rosenberger 
family); Mark, who died young; Catha- 
rine, who married John Krabehl; Mary, 
who married Joseph Landis; John, born 
August 20. 1819, killed by a fall in his 
barn in New Britain, August 26, 1890; 
Anna, who married Mathew Hare and 
removed to Illinois; and .Samuel. 

Samuel Geil, of Doylestown, youngest 
son of Rev. John and Elizabeth (Fretz) 
Geil, was born in New Britain, Bucks 
county, March 11. 1825. He was a youth 
of more than ordinary intellectual abil- 
ity and of a studious temperament. Early 
in life he studied civil engineering and 
surveying. After teaching school for 
some j^ears he followed topographical 
engineering and surveying, and for many 
years made and published township, 
county and state maps. He made a sur« 
vey of Morris county. New Jersey, in 
1850, and his last map published, which 
was a triumph in map-making, was that 
of the state of Michigan, made in 1863- 
65;. He then settled on his large farm in 
New Britain, where he resided until 
1878, when he removed to Doylestown, 
and for several years was engaged in 
the hard wood lumber business. In 1856 
he injured his spine by a fall from which 
he never fully recovered. Samuel Geil 
married Elizabeth Seese. of Plumstead, 
whose ancestors came over in the May- 
flower and they were the parents of two 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



153 



children: Ella, residing with her father 
in Doylestown; and William Edgar, the 
subject of this sketch. 

William Edgar Geil, the great traveler, 
author and orator, was born in New 
Britain township, Bucks county, near 
Doylestown, October i, 1865. He ac- 
quired his education at the public 
schools, the Doylestown English and 
Classical Seminary, and Lafayette Col- 
lege, Easton, Pennsylvania, graduating 
from the latter institution in the class 
of 1890. At an early age he manifested a 
d^ep interest in religious matters and 
became an earnest and active member of 
the church. An indefatigable student, he 
early became thoroughly versed in the 
Scriptures as well as in most of the im- 
portant sacred literature, ancient and 
modern. 

On leaving college where he was fa- 
mous as an orator he engaged in evan- 
gelistic work, with credentials from the 
Doylestown church, and soon after made 
several trips to Europe. Later he vis- 
ited Asia, Egypt, the Holy Land, and 
many of the ancient cities of the Mediter- 
ranean. Returning to America he again 
engaged in evangelistic work. He then 
began his life work in earnest, and his 
success was phenomenal. He held re- 
vival meetings in various parts of New 
Jersey, New York and New England, 
and later made a tour of the south and 
west, addressing meetings of thousands 
of hearers and making thousands of con- 
verts. The "Cincinnati Inquirer" says 
of him: "His success has been more pro- 
nounced than that of any evangelist since 
Moody;" and the "Lowell (Mass.) Citi- 
zen" says that the meetings conducted 
by him were "the most remarkable series 
of meetings ever held in this city." In 
1896 he made another extended trip 
abroad, revisiting the Holy Land and its 
ancient environs, and many of the an- 
cient towns of Asia Minor, and the Med- 
iterranean. Among other points he vis- 
ited the Isle of Patmos, and on his re- 
turn wrote and published his book. "The 
Isle that is called Patmos," which reach- 
ed a sale of many thousands, and was 
rewritten, enlarged and republished in 
1904. after his second visit to the island, 
in that year. The alarming illness of his 
mother, to whose early training he says 
he owes most of his success, called him 
"home in the early part of 1897. and soon 
after closing the eyes of his beloved par- 
' ent in her last sleep, on May 2. 1897, 
be returned to Europe for a brief sojourn 
and then again took up his work in his 
native country with increased success. 

The crowning feat, however, of his 
younger days, was his remarkable trip 
around the world, visiting missions in 
-obscure and distant parts of heathendom, 
and occupying a period of nearly four 
years. The purposes of this trip are best 
described by his Doylestown pastor, who 
says: "The purpose of the tour is that of 



independent observation of the whole 
missionary field, in its actual condition, 
operations, modes of organization, in- 
struction and efforts, its different pecu- 
liarities, its needs, its difficulties, its rela- 
tions to existing heathen religion, to in- 
ternational and denominational policies of 
political events ; and what encouragement or 
discouragement may exist in the great work 
of extending the gospel to the world, 
and especially to the neglected parts of 
heathendom. A special object is to visit 
schools, colleges and institutions of sa- 
cred learning in connection with mis- 
sionary operations and report the results 
to the whole Christian church." This 
purpose Mr. Geil fulfilled to the letter. 
Leaving Philadelphia on April 29, 1901, 
he crossed the continent to California, 
and. sailing from the Golden Gate for the 
Sandwich anjj South Sea Islands, visiting 
the Hawaiian, Samoan, Fiji, and many 
other archipelagoes, inspecting the mis- 
sions, and intelligently noting their con- 
dition and work, as well as the condition 
and characteristics of the inhabitants, 
and the relation of governmental and 
commercial matters to the propagation 
of the Gospel of Christ. He proceeded 
thence to New Zealand, and Australia, 
reaching Sydney in November. 1901, 
where, and in Melbourne the following 
April and May, he organized and partici- 
pated in the greatest religious revivals 
the continent has evein known, speaking 
daily to audience*s of 3-000 at noon and 
10,000 at night. From Australia he pro- 
ceeded to New Guinea, the Philippines 
and Japan. The results of this part of 
the trip are beautifully told in his book, 
"Ocean and Isle," published in 1904. He 
also made an extensive trip through 
China, going up the Yangtse river in a 
native gunboat, and was carried over the 
mountains of western China in a bamboo 
mountain chair. His popular work, "A 
Yankee on the Yangtse" tells the story 
in brilliant language. He visited Man- 
churia. Korea and Siberia, and later 
traveled extensively in Burmah and jour- 
neyed across Africa from Mombassa on 
the eastern coast to the Pigmy Forest, 
and thence down the Congo to the west- 
ern coast. William Edgar Geil is the 
greatest living traveler. He is the only 
living white man who has crossed both 
China and tropical Africa. His great book 
"A Yankee in Pigmy Land," is just 
published. After spending sometime 
lecturing to vast audiences in England 
and Scotland, where he was welcomed by 
immense crowds, he returned to Bucks 
county and in June, I90S,_ delivered an 
address before the alumni of his alma 
mater. Lafayette College, and received 
from that institution the degree of A. _M. 
One feature of his return to his native 
town was the large and enthusiastic re- 
ception tendered him by his fellow 
townsmen in the courthouse at Doyles- 
town, when addresses were delivered by 



154 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



many prominent P)ucks counlians, ami 
at least one thousand pe()j)le ijacked the 
"Temple of Justice" while others climbed 
up to the windows on ladders to wel- 
come the distinguished traveler on his 
return to his native heath. In August, 
7905, he again sailed for foreign lands, 
and. after spending some months in Eng- 
land, Scotland and Wales, intends mak- 
ing an extended trip to Persia and other 
Asiatic points to fmish up the work of 
his renowned trip around the world. 

Mr. Geil, in addition to numerous and 
noted magazine articles, is the author of 
a number of books that have had enor- 
mous sales. One of his earliest publica- 
tions was "The Pocket Sword," a vest- 
pocket book of scriptural phrases anr! 
texts and the lessons drawn from them, 
that has been immensely popular and has 
reached a sale of over j^ocooo copies. 
Among his other books are, "Judas Is- 
cariot and other Lectures;" "The Isle 
That is Called Patmos;" "A P.oy in the 
Sun;" "Laodicea, Or the Marble Heart;" 
"Smyrna, or the Flight of the Angel;" 
"Trip Stories;" "Ocean and Isle;" "A 
Yankee on the Yangtse;" "The Man of 
Galilee;" "A Yankee in Pigmy Land." 
Mr. Geil's new books "The Men on the 
Mount;" "The Automatic Calf," and 
"The Worker's Testament," have just 
passed throught the press. He has deliv- 
ered six thousand lectures to large au- 
diences in many states and countries. He 
is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical 
Society of London, and a member of a 
number of other noted societies. In all 
his wanderings the heart of the great 
traveler still clings to Doylestown as his 
"home," in all the 'truest sense of that 
much abused term. 



HON. EDWARD M. PAXSON, of By- 
cot House, Buckingham township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, ex-chief justice of 
the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, was 
born in Buckingham, September 3, 1824, 
and is a son of Thomas and Ann (John- 
son) Paxson, and comes of an old and dis- 
tinguished family that have been residents 
of Bucks county from its earliest settle- 
ment. 

James, Henry and William Paxson, 
brothers, came to Pennsylvania in the ship 
"Samuel," arriving in the river Delaware 
the middle of the eleventh month, 1682. 
Another brother, Thomas, died at sea on 
the same ship as did the wife and son 
(Henry) of Henry. Henry Paxton came 
from Bycott House, in the parish of Stowe, 
Oxfordshire, and James and William from 
the parish of Marsh Gibbon, county of 
Bucks, near Stowe. Bycot House is said 
to have been the ancestral home of the 
family for many generations. The subject 
of this sketch, in a visit there several years 
ago, found a Henry Paxton then occupy- 
ing the premises. The family were Friends 



prior to tlicir coming to Pennsylvania, anrl 
brought certificates from Bucks Monthly 
Meeting in Buckinghamshire, England. The 
family settled in Middletown, where Henry 
took as a second wife, Margery, the widow 
of Charles Plumly, August 13, 1684, his 
nephew, Henry Paxson, son of James, mar- 
rying her daughter, Ann Plumly. Eliza- 
beth, the only child of Henry Paxson, Sr., 
who reached Pennsylvania with him, mar- 
ried Richard Burgess, who in 1696 pur- 
chased two hundred acres on the river 
Delaware in Solebury, and what was long 
known as "Paxson's Island," in the river 
adjoining, then known as "Turkey Point." 
This tract, and island later became the prop- 
erty of William Paxson, son of James, and 
remained in the family many generations. 
Henry Paxson was also a very extensive 
land holder in Solebury, owning about one 
thousand acres there, and numerous large 
tracts elsewhere. He died about 1725, and, 
having no living descendants, devised his 
immense holdings of real estate to his 
nephews, the Solebury land going to Will- 
iam and Henry, the sons of his brother 
James. 

James Paxson and Jane his wife, who 
came from Marsh Gibbon, in the county of 
Bucks, England, as before recited, were the 
parents of four children : Sarah, born in 
England, Smo. 28, 1671, married 1692, John 
Burling; William, born lomo 25, 1675, mar- 
ried Abigail Pownall ; Henry, born in 
Bucks county, 7mo. 20, 1683, married Ann 
Plumly ; and James, born 4mo. 10, 1687. 
died 7mo. 16, 1687. Jane, the mother, died 
2mo. 7, 1710, and James, the father, 2mo. 
29, 1722. 

William Paxson, the second son of James 
and Jane, born in Bucks county, England^ 
on Christmas day, 1675, was the direct an- 
cestor of Judge Paxson. He married, Feb- 
ruary 20, 1695, Abigail Pownall. youngest 
daughter of George and Elinor Pownall. 
of Laycock, Cheshire, England, who, with 
their son, Reuben and daughters Elizabeth, 
Sarah, Rachel, and Abigail, came to Penn- 
sylvania" in the ship "Friends' Adventure,"" 
arriving in the Delaware river Smo. (Octo- 
ber) II, 1682, and located in Falls town- 
ship, where George was killed by a falling 
tree thirty days after his arrival. Another 
son George was born eleven days after his 
father's death. The w^idow Elinor later 
married Jo.shua Boare. Abigail was born 
in England in 1678. She became a recom- 
mended minister among Friends, and died 
in Solebury, Bucks county, 4mo. 17, 1749- 
Her husband, William Paxson. died in 1719. 
Their children were: Mary, born iimo. 2, 
1696; Al)igail, born 6mo. 20, 1700; James, 
born gmo. 5, 1702, married (first) Mary 
Horsman in 1723, and (second) Margaret 
Hodges in 1730; Thqmas, born 9mo. 20, 
1712, married Jane Canby ; Reuben, who 
married Alice Simcock ; Esther, who mar- 
ried a Clayton ; and Amy. who never 
married. 

Thomas Paxsnn. son of William and 
Abigail (Pownall) Paxson, in the division 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



155 



of the real estate in Solebnry fell heir to 
the farm lately occupied by the Johnson 
family near Centre Bridge, and the island 
lying opposite. He later purchased other 
large tracts of land in Solebury, some of 
which still remain in the tenure of his de- 
scendants. Thomas died in 1782. He married 
in 1732 Jane Canby, daughter of Thomas 
Canby, an eminent preacher among Friends, 
(son of Benjamin Canby of Thorn, 
Yorkshire) who had come to Penn- 
sylvania with his uncle Henry 
Baker. He was three times mar- 
ried, and had nineteen children who 
intermarried with the most prominent fam- 
ilies of Bucks county and have left numer- 
ous descendants. The children of Thomas 
and Jane Canby Paxson, were : Joseph, 
born gmo. 10, 173.3, married 6mo. 28, 1758, 
Mary Heston ; Benjamin, born 8mo. i, 
1739, married 6mo. 16. 1763. Deborah Tay- 
lor, (second) in 1797 Rachel Newbold : and 
. (third) in 1807 Mary Pickering; Oliver, 
born 7mo. 9, 1741, married, 1766, Ruth Wat- 
son ; Rachel, born 3mo. 6, 1744, married, 
1764. John Watson; Jacob, born iimo. 6, 
1745, married in 1769 Lydia Blakey ; Jona- 
than, born iimo. 14,.^ 1748, married, 1771, 
Rachel Biles; Isaiah, boVn 9mo. 20. 1751, 
married, 1775. Mary Knowles ; and Martha, 
who died yoimg. Of the above named sons 
of Thomas and Jane (Canby) Paxson, 
Joseph was devised a farm at Limeport, 
Solebury township: Benjamin, a farm at 
Aquetong. still owned by the children of 
his grandson, Elias Ely Paxson, one of 
whom is the wife of Colonel Henry D. 
Paxson; Oliver, who married (second) 
Ruth Johnson, was left a farm in the Pike 
tract, near New Hope; Isaiah, the island 
known as Paxson's Island, where he died 
without issue ; Jacob, the homestead farm 
at Centre Bridge ; Jonathan, the farm at 
Rabbit Run, now owned by Thomas Magill. 
, — .Jacob Paxson, born iimo. 6, 1745, in 
I Solebury township, fourth sou and fifth 
I child of Thomas and Jane (Can- 
Lby) Paxson, was the grandfather of 
Judge Paxson. He married 6 mo. 
19, 1769, Lydia Blakey, and at 
about that date purchased a farm and 
mill property on Tacony creek, in Mont- 
gomery county, Pennsvlvania. and settled 
thereon. Here his wife died, leaving him 
two children, and he married a second 
time, in 1777. ^Tary Shaw. born, in Plum- 
stead township, Bucks county. 5mo. 28, 
T759, daughter of Johnathan and Sarah 
((^ood) Shaw, the former born in Plum- 
stead, June 15, 1730. died there May 24. 
1790, was a son of James and Mary 
(Brown) Shaw, the pioneers of the Shaw 
family in Plumstead. James being the son 
of John and Susanna Shaw, early English 
settlers in Northampton, and born January 
9. 1694, a'icl married at Abington Friends' 
Meeting. September 24, 1718. Mary Brown, 
daughter of Thomas and Mary Brown, who 
came from Barking Essex county, England, 
and after residing for some time in Phila- 
delphia settled near Abington, Montgomery 



county. Pennsylvania. Thomas Brown was 
one of the earliest landowners in Plum- 
stead township, and he and his sons were 
pioneer Friends in that section and the 
founders of Plumstead Meeting. In 1724 
Thomas conveyed to his son-in-law, James 
Shaw, two hundred acres of land on the 
upper line of Buckingham township, that 
remained the Shaw homestead for over a 
century and a half. The ancestors of Sarah 
(Good) Shaw, were also early Quaker set- 
tlers in Plumstead and adjoining parts of 
New Britain. Jacob and Mary (Shaw) 
Paxson were the parents of twelve children, 
all born in Abington township, Montgom- 
ery county, where Jacob Paxson continued 
to reside until his death in Buckingham, in 
i8?2. while on a visit to his. son-in-law. 
William H. Johnson. The children of Jacob 
and Marv (Shaw) Paxson were: John, 
Sarah, Isaiah. Jonathan. Jane, Thomas. 
Jacob. Oliver, and Ruth, most of whom 
married and reared families, whose des- 
cendants are now widely scattered over 
Bucks, Philadelphia. Montgomery and 
Chester counties and elsewhere. 

Thomas Paxson, sixth child of Jacob and 
Mary (Shaw) Paxson, was born in Mont- 
gomery county in 1793, and reared in that 
county. He married, in 1817. Ann Johnson, 
daughter of Samuel and Martha (Hutchin- 
son) Johnson, of Buckingham, and grand- 
daughter of William Johnson, who was a 
native of Ireland, and came to America 
about the year 1754, in his nineteenth year. 
He was a man of high scholastic attain- 
ments, and a great student on scientific 
subjects, and delivered numerous lectures 
on electricity and kindred subjects of the 
highest merit. He married Ruth Potts, of 
an eminent New Jersey family, and re- 
sided for a time in Philadelphia, where his 
son Samuel was. born in 1763. He soon 
after removed with his family to Charles- 
ton, South Carolina, where he died in 
1767 at the age of thirty-two years. His 
widow and four children returned to Phila- 
delphia and later removed to Trenton. New 
Jersey, where they resided at the time of 
the memorable battle of Tren<:on, on Christ- 
mas night. T776. His eldest daughter Mary 
married Thomas Mathews of Virginia, 
and Hon. Stanley Mathews of the United 
States supreme bench was a descendant. 
The second child was Hon. Thomas Potts 
Johnson, an eminent lawyer of New Jersey. 

Samuel Johnson, third child of William 
and Ruth (Potts) Johnson, born in Phila- 
delphia, in 1763, removed with his par- 
ents to South Carolina, and returned with 
his mother to Philadelphia in his fourth 
year. He was reared at Trenton, New 
Jersey, and came to Bucks county in 1786, 
purchasing "Elm Grove," on the York road, 
east of Holocong. now the residence of his 
great-grandson. Colonel Henry D. Paxson. 
He later purchased a farm including the 
site of the present "Bycot House," and 
removed thereou. He was a man of high 
intellectual ability and literary attainments, 
a poet of more than ordinary merit. TwO' 



156 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



volumes of his poems have been published, 
the last one in 1845. In 1801 he retired 
from active business and, making his home 
with his son-in-law. Thomas Paxson, de- 
voted his time to literary pursuits and so- 
cial intercourse with congenial spirits. He 
died at the age of eighty-one years, 
his wife having died a few years previously. 
She was a daughter of IMathias Hutchinson. 
Esq., a prominent public official of Bucking- 
ham, and Solebury, for many years a jus- 
tice of the peace and an associate justice of 
the Bucks county courts. He was a grand- 
son of John and Phebe (Kirkbride) Hut- 
chinson, of Falls township, the latter being 
a daughter of Joseph and Phebe (Black- 
shaw) Kirkbride. Mathias Hutchinson 
married, in 1765, Elizabeth Bye, whose an- 
cestors were the first settlers on the land 
now occupied by "Bycot House." Ann 
Johnson, who married Thomas Paxson, 
was born at "Elm Grove" in 1792. She was 
a woman universally loved and respected in 
her neighborhood for her many acts of 
Christian charity and kindness. Whenever 
by sacrifice and self devotion a fellow being 
in want or sickness could be made more 
comfortable by help in counsel or material 
assistance, she acted the part of the Good 
Samaritan with a cheerfulness that was 
"highly appreciated. She was a writer of 
much merit, both in poetry and prose. She 
died in 1883, in her ninety-second year. 
William H. Johnson, a brother of Mrs. 
Paxson, married her husband's sister Mary 
Paxson. He was a classical scholar and 
mathematician, and an extensive writer 
on temperance and anti-slavery, contribut- 
ing numerous essays to the "Iiifclligenccr" 
and other journals. 

Thomas Paxson, at his marriage to Ann 
Johnson in 1817, settled on the homestead 
at Abington, but moved to Buckingham 
two years later and purchased a portion of 
the Johnson homestead near the mountain, 
now occupied by his son, Hon. Edward M. 
Paxson, where he spent his remaining days, 
dying in April. 1881, at the age of eighty- 
eight years. He was a member of the 
Society of Friends and a constant attendant 
at Buckingham Meeting. He took an active 
part in the affairs of his neighborhood, and 
"had strong convictions of right and wrong. 
He was conservative in his views, and the 
old landmarks of Friends that had dis- 
tinguished them as a people were held in 
reverence by him ; while an earnest advo- 
cate of all true reforms for the improve- 
ment of mankind, he believed the religious 
society of which he was an earnest mem- 
ber had a mission to fulfill with the Chris- 
tian religion as a enduring basis. In him 
the Socety of Frends lost an earnest sup- 
porter and a living example of sacrifice and 
devotion to principle rarely met with. The 
children of Thomas and Ann (Johnson) 
Paxson, were : 

I. Samuel Johnson Paxson, born in 
Montgomery county in 1818, died in Buck- 
ingham, May 28. 1864. He was editor and 



proprietor of the "Doylestown Democrat" 
from 1845 to 1858, when he sold it to Gen- 
eral W. W. H. Davis; he was a writer of 
recognized ability. He married Mary 
Anna Broadliurst in 1840, and had two 
daughters: Helen, widow of J. Hart Bye, 
now living at Germantown; and Carrie, 
who married Watson B. Malone, and is 
now deceased, leaving two daughters, 
and a son Arthur, a business man of 
Philadelphia. 

2. Albert S. Paxson, born in Bucking- 
ham in 1820. died there. At the age of 
nineteen he became a teacher at a school 
in Montgomery county where his father had 
taught many years before. A year later, 
1840. he returned to Buckingham and 
taught for some years at "Tyro Hall" and 
at the Friends School at Buckingham. 
From 1851 to 1856 he was local editor and 
general manager of the "Doylesfozvn Dem- 
ocrat," owned and edited by his brother, 
Samuel Johnson Paxson. In 1856 he re- â–  
moved to the old Ely homestead, near Holi- 
cong. that had been in the continuous oc- 
cupancy of his wife's ancestors since 1720. 
He was elected to the office of justice of 
the peace in 1873, and served for ten years. 
He devoted considerable time to literary 
pursuits and was a writer of known merit. 
He married first, in 1844, Mercy Beans, 
daughter of Dr. Jesse Beans, who died in 
1849, leaving a daughter Mary, who mar- 
ried Robert Howell Brown, of Mount 
Holly, New Jersey. She died at Bycot 
House. July 20, 1887. leaving a son. T. 
Howell Brown, now residing in Solebury. 
Mr. Paxson married C second) in 1854, La- 
vinia Ely, daughter of Aaron Ely, of Buck- 
ingham, and a descendant of Joshua and 
Mary (Seniar) Ely. who came to Trenton, 
New Jersey, from Nottinghamshire, Eng- 
land, in 1684. Their children are: Edward 
E., born May 7, 1S60. engaged in the bank- 
ing business in Philadelphia, with summer 
residence at the old homestead; and Colon- 
el Henry D. Paxson, born October T, 1862, a 
member of the Bucks county and Philadel- 
phia bar, for many years an officer of the 
National Guard of Pennsylvania, and a 
prominent lawyer of Philadelphia. He mar- 
ried Hannameel Canby Paxson, a daugh- 
ter of Elias Ely Paxson, of Aquetong, 
and they reside at Elm Grove, in Buck- 
ingham. 

3. HoH. Edward M. Paxson, the 
third son of Thomas and Ann (Johnson) 
Paxson, was born in the old homestead in 
Buckingham. September 3, 1824. He was 
educated at the Friends' School at Bucking- 
ham, then a famous educational institution, 
where many young men. who later dis- 
tinguished themselves in legal and other 
professional life were educated. Judge 
Paxson did not have a collegiate educa- 
tion, but fitted himself in the classics and 
higher branches of learning, chiefly bv his 
own exertions. At an early age he had am- 
bitions for a journalist career, and, having 
mastered the practical art of printing, in 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



157 



1842, at the age of eighteen years, started 
the "Nezutown Journal," at Newtown, 
Bucks county, and successfully conducted 
it until 184.7, when he sold out and estab- 
lished the "Daily Neius" in Philadelphia. 
but sold it out also the following year and 
removed to Doylestown, where he studied 
law in the office of Hon. Henry Chapman, 
later the judge of the Bucks county courts. 
He was admitted to the bar of Bucks coun- 
ty April 24. 1850, and after two years prac- 
tice at Doylestown removed to Philadelphia, 
where he practiced his chosen profession 
for seventeen years, building up a large 
practice and establishing a reputation as a 
counselor at law that marked him for a 
career as a jurist. He was appointed as a 
judge of the common pleas court of Phila- 
delphia on the resignation of F. Carroll 
Brewster in 1869, and, showing marked 
ability as a judge, was imanimously nom- 
inated to succeed himself, and elected the 
following October. After seven years' ser- 
vice on the common pleas bench, he was 
elected to the supreme bench in 1874. and 
at once took a commanding position among 
his fellow justices. His career on the su- 
preme bench on which for eighteen years 
he served as chief justice, was marked by 
promptness in the discharge of business, 
and always by careful considerations of the 
questions of law. His opinions were mod- 
els of terseness, clearness and appropriate 
diction, and showed an accurate knowledge 
of the law, expressed in clear and concise 
Tanguage and terms that could be clearly 
imderstood. Many notable cases were com- 
mitted to his hands, and his reputation as 
a supreme justice was an enviable one. He 
resigned from the bench in 1893 and be- 
.sylvania ; fourth, receiver of the Philadel- 
phia & Reading Railroad Company, a posi- 
tion he filled for four years. The only four 
public positions ever held by Chief Justice 
Paxson were the following: First, a mem- 
ber of the board of guardians of the poor, 
of Philadelphia; second, judge of the court 
of common pleas, of Philadelphia ; third, 
chief justice of the supreme court, of Penn- 
sylvania ; fourth, receiver of the Philadel- 
phia & Reading Railroad, all of which posi- 
tions he resigned. He has for many years 
had charge of several large estates, to the 
"management of which and that of his own 
large interests he has devoted much of his 
time in recent years, his summers being 
spent at "Bycot House" and his winters in 
Philadelphia. He is one of the largest real 
estate owners in' Bucks county, owning 
manj'^ farms in Buckingham and Solebury, 
aggregating nearly 2,000 acres. 

Judge Paxson married, April 30, 1846, 
Mary Caroline Newlin, of Philadelphia, 
daughter of Nathaniel and Rachel H. New- 
lin. of Delaware county, Pennsylvania. She 
died at Bycot House, June 7, 18S5. He 
married ("second) December i, tS86, Mary 
Martha S. Bridges, widow of Hon. Sam- 
uel K. Bridges, of Allentown. He has no 
children. 



WILLIAM CLAYTON NEWELL, of 
Doylestown, Pennsylvania, was born in 
Philadelphia, October 23, 1856, and is a 
son of William C. and Susan (Bispham) 
Newell. 

William Cfirst") and Martha (McGee) 
Newell, the great-grandparents of William 
C. Newell, came from Belfast. Ireland, to 
Philadelphia in 1780. He was a wholesale 
merchant and importer and conducted a 
large mercantile establishment at Water 
street, below Market street, Philadelphia, 
for many years. He died January 7, 1883, 
and Martha, his wife, died in 1843 at the 
age of eighty-four years. They were the 
parents of nine children, all of whom were 
born in Philadelphia : John in 1789; Eliza- 
beth in 1790; William, February 25, 1792; 
James in 1797; Ann in 1800; Stewart in 
1802 : Samuel in 1804 ; Robert in 1808, and 
Martha, in i8o5. 

William Newell ("second") son of Will- 
iam and Martha (McGee) Newell, born in 
Philadelphia. February 25, 1792. succeeded 
his father in the wholesale business in Phil- 
adelphia, and was a large importer of teas 
and coffees, owning two docks on the river 
front and doing a large business. He was 
a member of the First Troop Philadelphia 
City Cavalry, 1820 to 1831, and was the 
bearer of government despatches to France 
in 1842. He married, April 10, 1823, Eliza 

, born in Philadelphia. October 19, 

1795. and died August 2. 1863, and they 
were the parents of two children, William 
and Rebecca. 

William C. Newell (third) son of Will- 
iam and Eliza, was born in Philadelphia, 
September 5, 1825. and died there June 27, 
1865. He was reared and educated in Phil- 
adelphia, and on arriving at manhood en- 
gaged in the wholesale tea business in 
Philadelphia, and was a large importer of 
tea from China, to which country he was 
the bearer of government despatches in 
1846. He married. June 16, 1852, Susan 
Bispham Dunlap. of a prominent family of 
that city, where she was born in May. 1824. 
They were the parents of three children : 
Susan, wife of Dr. James Hendrie Lloyd, 
of Philadelphia ; William Claj'ton. the sub- 
ject of this sketch; and Rebecca W., wife 
of Grellett Collins, of Philadelphia. 

William Clayton Newell, son of 
William C. and Susan ("Dunlap) Newell, 
born in Philadelphia. October 23. 1856, was 
reared in that city and acquired his educa- 
tion at the Central High School. At the 
close of his school days he engaged in the 
wholesale provision business, in 1877, with 
which he was connected for several vears. 
In 1892 he accepted a position with the 
Provident Life and Trust Co. of Philadel- 
phia, and has since filled a responsible po- 
sition with that company, having charge of 
the real estate department. He fs a member 
of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of 
the Revolution, and of the Society of the 
War of 1812. He has been a resident of 
Dovlestown since 1880, and is a vestryman 



i:;8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal church 
•of Doylcstown. Mr. Newell married, 27 
April 1880, Sarah Rex Harvey, daughter 
of Dr. George T. and Mary L. Rex Harvey, 
of Doylestovvn, who is a descendant of one 
of the oldest families in Bucks county. 

Mathias Plarvye, the great-great-great- 
grandfather of Mrs. Newell, came from 
England and settled in Flushing, Long 
Island, where he was a justice of Kings 
county. New York, commissioned October, 

1, i6go. On January i, 1697, he purchased 
1050 acres in Upper Makefield, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, and settled thereon. 
By his will dated April 5, 1699, his land was 
devised to his three sons Mathias, Thomas 
and Benjamin, Mathias, the eldest, get- 
ting the dwelling house and four hundred 
acres, and Thomas and Benjamin each three 
hundred acres. All three of the sons reared 
large families and left numerous descend- 
ants in Bucks county. Mathias married 
Elizabeth Margerum and died in 1742. 
Benjamin died in 1730. Mathias, the father, 
was twice married, the three sons above 
named being by the second marriage, June 

2, 1689, to Sarah Harrington. 

Thomas Plarvye, the second son of ]\Ia- 
thias and Sarah (Harrington) Harvye, 
torn at Flushing, Long Island, October 22, 
1692, came with his parents to Makefield 
when a child. As above stated he inherited 
from his father three hundred acres of 
land in Upper Makefield, on which he lived 
and died, his death occurring in January, 

1759. He married Tamar , and had 

•eleven children, five sons: Thomas, who 
died in 1749: Benjamin, who also died be- 
fore his father; Joseph, Mathias and 
William; and six daughters: Hannah, 
who married John Milnor in 1741; Ann, 
who married Edward Bailey; Elizabeth, 
married a Coryell; Mary, married Rich- 
ard Plolcomb; Letitia, married Nathan- 
iel Ellicott; and Sarah. 

Joseph Harvey, son of Thomas and Ta- 
mar, was born in Upper Makefield, Bucks 
county, February 8, 1734, and died there 
February, 1779. He inherited from his 
father one-half of the homestead in Make- 
field, and lived there all his life. He was 
twice married, his second wife Margaret, 
surviving him. By his first wife, Mary, he 
"had six children : Thomas, Joseph, Letitia, 
William, Enoch and Jo.shua. 

Enoch Harvey, son of Joseph and ]\Iar}% 
was born in Upper Makefield in 1767, and 
-came to Doylestown about 1790, where he 
followed the trade of a saddler for a few 
years and was later the proprietor of the 
inn now known as the Fountain House for 
a few years. He was a large landowner 
and an influential citizen, and took an active 
part in the improvement of Doylestown as 
it grew from a cross-road village into a 
town and borough. He died July 15, 1831, 
in his sixty-fifth year. He married. March 
20, T792, Sarah Stewart, daughter of 
Ch.-irles Stewart, of Doylestown, of Scotch- 
Irish ancestry, a granddaughter of Captain 
'Charles Stewart, a soldier in both the pro- 



vincial and revolutionary wars. Sarah died 
February 16, 1847, aged seventy-three. The 
children of Enoch and Sarah (Stewart) 
Harvey, were : Joseph, Charles, Mary, 
Pleasant, Letitia, Sarah and George T. 
Harvey. 

George T. Harvey, youngest child of 
Enoch and Sarah (Stewart) Harvey, was 
born at Doylestown, February 27, 1813. He 
was educated at a school kept at Bridge 
Point by Samuel Aaron, and at the Doyles- 
town Academy. At the age of twenty years 
he began the study of medicine with Dr. 
Abraham Stout, of Bethlehem, and, enter- 
ing the medical department of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, graduated in 1835. 
He then removed to Missouri, where he 
practiced medicine until 1840, when he re- 
turned to Dojdestown and erected a drug 
store on the site of the present Hart build- 
ing at Court and Main streets, where he 
kept a drug store for nearly half a century. 
He was a prominent and influential citizen, 
was three times postmaster of the town and 
several years a member of town council, be- 
ing a member of that body when water was 
first introduced into the borough in 1869. 
He was second lieutenant of the Doyles- 
town Guards, the first company organized 
in Bucks county for the civil war, and later 
served three years and three months as 
captain of Company E, 104th Regiment 
Pennsylvania Volunteers. Dr. Harvey 
married (first) June 27, 1842, Mary K. 
LaRue, of Philadelphia, by whom he had 
two children, Emma and Edward, the latter 
judge of the Northampton county courts. 
Dr. Harvey married (second) in 1856, 
Mary L. Rex, of Montgomery county, by 
whom he had three daughters : Mary, 
Sarah, (Mrs. Newell) and Emily. 

The children of William Clayton and 
Sarah (Harvey) Newell are: George Har- 
vey, born June 25, 1881. died July 28, 1881 ; 
William Clayton, born September 16, 1883; 
Edward Harvey, born September 4, 1885 ; 
Louis H. F., born November 16, 1887; Mary 
Louise, born April 4, 1890; and Margaret, 
born September 10, 1891, died October 5, 
1891. 



"ANDALUSIA." This place has been 
hande^d down in uninterrupted succes- 
sion to the members of the same family 
since its acquisition in the year 1795. 
It was purchased at that time by Mr. 
John Craig, a well known and disting- 
uished merchant of Philadelphia, and, 
through his eldest daughter's marriage 
in 181 1 to Mr. Nicholas Biddle, has de- 
scended to their issue, and is occupied 
by them and their descendants at the 
present time. 

The Biddle family has been prominent 
in Pennsylvania since a very early day; 
William Biddle (3d) married in 1730 the 
daughter of Nicholas Scull, surveyor-gen- 
eral of the province of Pennsylvania, 
and, dying in 1756, left a numerous fam- 
ily. His son Charles was an active pa- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



159 



triot during the revolution, and vice 
president of the State of Pennsylvania 
betw^een 1785 and 1788. yvhen Benjamin 
Franklin was the president. Another son 
was Captain Nicholas Biddle, a comrade 
in early life of Horatio Nelson, when 
both were midshipmen in the English 
navy. His later career in the navy of 
our own country is well known. It was of 
him Paul Jones, writing of the "live Cap- 
tains" appointed in the revolution, said: 
"Four of them were respectable skippers; 
and they all outlived the war! One of 
them was the kind of naval captain that 
the God of Battles makes. That one was 
Nick Biddle — poor, brave Nick! and he 
died in hopeless battle with a foe double 
his own strength — half of his flagship 
going down, and the other half going 
up by explosion of his magazine." 

Vice-president Charles Biddle married, 
in 1778, Hannah Shepard, and had ten 
children. Two of these, Edward and 
James, went into the United States navy. 
Edward died during his first voyage, but 
James became one of the most famous 
naval officers. He served under Commo- 
dore Bainbridge on the coast of Tripoli, 
and shared with the crew of the ill-fated 
"Philadelphia" the long period of im- 
prisonment to which they were con- 
demned by the Tripolitans. He was 
first lieutenant of the sloop-of-war 
"Wasp," in the sea fight with the British 
sloop-of-war "Frolic," and led the board- 
ers when the decks of the Englishman 
were carried. He was captain of the 
"Hornet," in the action with the British 
ship "Penguin," when the latter was cap- 
tured after a furious conflict, her cap- 
tain being among the list of killed. He 
was afterwards commander of the navy 
yard and governor at the naval asylum 
at Philadelphia, from 1838 to 1842. 
Among special services rendered by him 
was the taking possession of Oregon ter- 
ritory in 1817; the signing of a commer- 
cial treaty with Turkey in 1826; he ex- 
changed ratifications of the first treaty 
with China, and acted as United States 
commissioner to that country; he also 
touched at Japan and made an earnest effort 
to conciliate by kindness and forbearance its 
singular and exclusive people. 

Nicholas Biddle. whose name is first 
associated with "Andalusia," (son 01 
Vice-president Charles) was during 
manv years the most noted member of 
the family. He was secretary to General 
Armstrong, United States Minister to 
France, in 1804, and was present at the 
coronation of Emperor Napoleon in 
Paris. At tliis time the purchase of 
Louisiana and the indemnification for in- 
juries to American commerce were in 
progress, and. although but eighteen 
years of age, young Biddle managed the 
details with the veterans of the French 
bureau, in whom his juvenile appearance 
and precocious ability excited much sur- 
prise. Leaving the legation, he traveled 



in the continent of Europe, adding to his 
classical attainments a thorough mastery 
of the modern languages which he re- 
tained through life. On reaching Eng- 
land, he became secretary to Mr. Mon- 
roe, then our Minister to London. On 
his return to America in 1807, he engaged 
in the practice of the law and devoted a 
portion of his time to literary pursuits. 
He became associated with Joseph Den- 
nie in the editorship of the "Portfolio" in 
181 1. His papers on the fine arts, bio- 
graphical sketches and critical essays 
exhibit a discriminating taste. When 
Lewis and Clark had returned from 
their explorations their journals and 
memoradums were placed in the hands 
of Mr. Biddle, who prepared from them 
and the oral relation of Clark the nar- 
rative of the expedition. Published in 
1814, it has gone through various edi- 
tions, and is recognized to-day as an au- 
thoritative and admirably compiled ac- 
count of this noted journey. 

He was in the state legislature in 1810, 
advocating a system of popular educa- 
tion. It was not until 1836 that the 
ideas broached by him were fully carried 
out by legisla/tive enactment. When 
the renewal of the charter of the old 
United States Bank was under discus- 
sion in 181 1, he advocated the measure 
in a speech which was widely circu- 
lated at the time, and gained the dis- 
tinguished approval of Chief Justice 
Marshall. During the war with England 
he was elected to the state senate and 
gave a zealous and powerful support to 
the measures of the national adminis- 
tration for carrying on the contest. He 
and all of his brothers were now en- 
gaged in the service of the country — in 
public councils, the navy, the army, and 
the militia; of whom Commodore James 
Biddle, Major Thomas Biddle, and Ma- 
jor John Biddle gained particular mili- 
tary reputation. The youngest of the 
brothers, Richard Biddle, during the war 
a volunteer at Camp Dupont, afterwards 
settled at Pittsburg and was for many 
years an acknowledged leader of the bar 
of that city. 

After the capture of Washington, when 
an invasion of Pennsylvania was ex- 
pected, Nicholas Biddle in the senate 
initiated the most vigorous measures for 
the defense of the state. Towards the 
close of the war he replied to the ad- 
dress of the Hartford convention by an 
elaborate report which was adopted in 
the Pennsylvania legislature, a state pa- 
per which attracted universal attention 
and added greatly to the reputation of its 
author. In 18T9 he became a government 
director of the Bank of the United States 
on the nomination of President Mon- 
roe, and under a resolution of Congress 
prepared a work on the laws and regula- 
tions of foreign countries relative to com- 
merce; moneys, weights and measures. 
This was known in its day as "The Com- 



i6o 



HISTORY OF DUCKS COUNTY. 



mercial Digest." In 1823, on the retire- 
ment of j\lr. Langdon Chcves, Air. Biddle 
was elected to the presidency of the bank 
and to the conduct of its affairs ne 
thenceforth devoted all his energie.';. h i.e 
history of the bank is public knowledge, 
it has been recounted and touched upon 
in writings and biographies dealing with 
the events and characters of the time. 
Only recently (1903) a work entitled 
"The Second Bank of the United States," 
by Ralph C. H. Catterall, published un- 
der the auspices of the University of 
Chicago, has appeared giving a full account 
of what in its day was long a "burning ques- 
tion." After the smoke of battle had 
cleared and when passions had cooled, 
it was found that political antagonists 
were ready to bear testimony to the high 
character of Nicholas Biddle. Mr. C. 
J. Ingersoll, a political opponent on the 
bank question, writing of the war, says: 
"Nicholas Biddle was as iron-nerved as 
his great antagonist, Andrew Jackson; 
loved his country not less, and money 
as little." The last years of Mr. Biddle's 
life were spent at Andalusia and there 
he died on the 27th of February, 1844. 

"Andalusia" is noted for the fine timber 
growing upon it, splendid specimens of 
the American tulip, catalpa, chestnut, 
Spanish chestnut, and varieties of oak, 
adorning the lawns, while towering ever- 
greens surround the mansion house. 
Many of these trees were planted in the 
time of Mr. Craig. Nicholas Biddle did 
much to adorn and beautify the place, ad- 
ding a very striking portico in the Gre- 
cian style with Doric columns to the 
river-front of the house. He was an 
enthusiastic agriculturist, devoting time 
and thought to the cultivation of the 
grape and importing the first Alderney 
cattle to this country. 

He was a member and served as presi- 
dent of the Agricultural Society, resign- 
ing only the month before his death. His 
son, Judge Craig Biddle, inherited his 
tastes in this direction, serving the so- 
ciet}'^ before its dissolution in the -capac- 
ity of president, also, and he continues 
to direct the farming operations at "Anda- 
lusia." 



CHARLES HENRY MATHEWS, 
of Philadelphia, is a descendant of the 
early settlers in Bucks county, and was 
born in Doylestown, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, April 21, 1844, being a 
son of Dr. Charles H. and Margaret 
(Rodman) Mathews, the former an emi- 
nent physician of Bucks county, and the 
latter belonging to a family that had been 
prominent in the affairs of the county 
since the time of Penn. Simon Mathew, 
the paternal ancestor of Dr. Mathews, 
was a " native of Langenych, South 
Wales, from whence he emigrated with a 
colony of Welsh Baptists in 1710, and 



settled in the Welsh Tract, New Castle 
county, now Delaware. He was accom- 
panied from Caermarthcnshire by An- 
thony Mathew, either his father or broth- 
er, and among others by Simon Butler, 
who was in some way connected with 
him b}^ ties of blood or marriage, and 
with whom he was closely associated 
during his whole life, both in New Cas- 
tle and Bucks counties. The Welsh 
Tract comprised a large tract of land 
granted to a colony of Welsh Baptists 
who, having formed themselves into a 
church at Milford Haven just prior to 
sailing for America, migrated to Penn- 
.sylvania in September, 1701, in the 
'â– James and Mary," and settled at Pen- 
n3^pack, where they remained for a year 
and a half, and, being joined by later ar- 
rivals from Pembroke and Caermarthen- 
shire, removed in 1703 to Pencader 
Hundred, New Castle county, where they 
built a church and founded a colony, 
both known by the name of "Welsh 
Tract" for a century. In course of time, 
the spelling of the name has been 
changed in two particulars. One "t" has 
been dropped, and the oldest legal docu- 
ments do not show that it has been used 
since the emigration to America. The 
final "s" at first was not used; but old 
deeds of a date previous to the Revolu- 
tion show that the name had come to be 
spelt "Mathews." 

In 1720 Simon Mathews and Jane his 
wife, Anthony Mathews, Simon Butler 
and Ann his wife, and Daniel Rees and 
Jane his wife, removed from Pencader 
Hundred to New Britain township, 
Bucks county, bringing certificates from 
Welsh Tract ' church to Montgomery 
Baptist church, the parent of New 
Britain Baptist church, founded in 1741. 
Simon Mathew and Simon Butler pur- 
chased large tracts of land comprising 
the greater part of the present borough 
of Chalfont, where they jointly erected 
what was known for many years as "But- 
ler's Mill," Butler being the miller; and 
Mathew a millwright. This mill was the 
nucleus of the present town, and was the 
objective point of many of the early 
roads laid out from the ferries on the 
Delaware and points in Upper Bucks 
during the first half of the eighteenth 
century. Anthony Mathew died in New 
Britain, March 3, 1726. Simon Mathew^ 
died about July i, 1755. and his wife 
Jane prior to December 28, 1751. the date 
of Simon's will. By this will the testa- 
tor's half interest in the mill, mill lots 
and dwelling house was devised to his 
son Edward, as well as a tract of land 
adjoining, the remainder of the real 
estate, about 150 acres, the homestead, 
was devised to the youngest son Thomas. 

The children of Simon and Jane 
Mathew, were: John, married Diana 
Thomas, and is the ancestor of Edward 
Mathews, of Lansdale, the historian of 
the family; Simon, who removed to Vir- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



i6i 



ginia; Benjamin, who also removed to 
Virginia; Edward, who lived in New 
Britain, on Pine Run; Margaret, who 
married a Thomas; Ann, who married 
Simon Morgan; and Thomas. John, the 
eldest son, died in New Britain in 1783, 
and his widow Diana in 1799. Their chil- 
dren were: Benjamin; Margaret, married 
John Young; IMary, married Thomas 
Barton; Joseph; Rachel, married James 
Meredith: Ann, married Jonathan Doyle, 
and removed to Huntingdon county, 
Pennsylvania, and Susanna, married 

Thomas. 

Thomas Mathew, youngest son of Si- 
mon and Jane, was born in New Britain 
• in 1728. He inherited the homestead 
farm near Chalfont, and was a prominent 
and successful farmer, acquiring consid- 
erable other land in the vicinity. He 
married IMary Stephens, daughter of 
David Stephens and granddaughter of 
Evan Stephens, an early Welsh settler in 
New Britain. He died in 1795. 

Edw^ard Mathew, son of Thomas and 
Mary (Stephens) Mathew, was born on 
the old homestead in New Britain (pur- 
chased by his grandfather in 1720), in 
1755. In 1779 he purchased a farm of 
one hundred acres in New Britain, on 
which he resided until 1791, when his 
father conveyed to him the homestead 
farm of 127 acres, whereon he resided 
until his death in the winter of 1813-14- 
He married Eleanor Thomas, daughter 
of Ephraim and Eleanor (Bates) 
Thomas, of Hilltown, and granddaugh- 
ter of "Elder" William Thomas, who 
was born in Llanerwarth, Wales, in 1678, 
and came to Pennsylvania in 1712 and 
located in Radnor, Chester county, re- 
moving to Hilltown in 1718. where he 
became a very large landholder and one 
of its most prominent residents. He was 
a Baptist preacher, and officiated in that 
capacity for the Baptists of Hilltown 
prior to the founding of the Hilltown. 
church, the land for which w^as donated 
by him and the first church erected at his 
expense. Edward ^Mathew w^as a man of 
excellent parts and good standing in 
the community. He was for many years 
a deacon of the Baptist church of New 
Britain. The children of Edward and 
Eleanor (Thomas) Mathew were: Abel; 
Rebekah, wife of Charles Humphrey; Si- 
mon; and John, all of whom married and 
reared families in New Britain. 

Simon Mathew. second son of Edward 
and Eleanor (Thomas) Mathew. was 
born in New Britain in 1781. At the 
death of his father he inherited sixty- 
three acres, of the old homestead, on 
which he resided for some years, though 
he was at one time a resident of Mont- 
gomerv county, and prior to the death 
of his father had resided in Roxborough, 
Philadelphia. He was a man of excellent 
character, and succeeded his father as 
deacon of the New Britain church. He 
died in New Britain in February, 1828. 
11-3 



He married his cousin. Isabella Stephens, 
daughter of William and Sarah Stephens, 
of Doylestown, formerly New Britain 
township, and granddaughter of David 
and Ann Stephens, who were the parents 
of his grandmother Mary (Stephens) 
Mathew. Isabella was born and reared 
on the old homestead of the Stephens 
family in Doylestown (then New Britain 
township) which was purchased by her 
great-grandfather Evan Stephens, in 
1729, and most of which remained the 
property of the family for four genera- 
tions. Isabella (Stephens) Mathews died 
in 1833. 

Dr. Charles H. Mathews, only son of 
Simon and Isabella, was born at Rox- 
boro. Philadelphia. November 6, 1805. 
He received a liberal education and 
graduated from the medical department 
of the University of Pennsylvania in 
1827. locating at Doylestown, Bucks 
county, where he practiced his chosen 
profession until his death, July 25, 1849, 
He was a man of fine intellectual ability, 
pleasing address and irreproachable 
character; a popular and skilled physi- 
cian, who was loved and respected by all 
who knew him. He took an active inter- 
est in the affairs of the town and county, 
and filled many positions of trust. He 
was prothonotary of the county for the 
term 1836-9. He was for several years 
an officer of militia, and was commis- 
sioned major-general of the district com- 
posed of the counties of Bucks, Mont- 
gomery and Delaware, his commission 
being delivered to him by General W. 
W. H. Davis but a week prior to his 
death. Dr. Mathews married first Mary 
INIeredith, of Doylestown township, and 
(second) Margaret Rodman, daughter of 
Gilbert and Sarah (Gibbs) Rodman, and 
a sister of his classmate, Dr. Lewis Rod- 
man, who achieved high distinction in 
the practice of his profession in Phila- 
delphia. 

Mrs. Mathews was born January 29, 
1797, and died January 12. 1875. She 
married Dr. Mathews on May 3, 1837. 
She belonged to a family that had been 
prominent in state and national affairs- 
for several generations. Her grand- 
father, Richard Gibbs. was sheriff of the 
county of Bucks for the term 1771-2. and 
filled a number of other high positions. 
The pioneer ancestor of the Rodman 
family was John Rodman, who died in 
the Barbadoes in 1685. He is supposed 
to have been the same John Rodman, a 
Quaker, who for wearing his hat at the 
assizes at New Ross. Ireland, in 1665, 
was sent to jail for three months and 
later banished the country. See Rutty's 
"History of Quakers in Ireland." This 
theory is strengthened by the known 
fact that a great number of Quakers and 
other "dissenters" were transported to 
Barbadoes between the years 1669 and 
1685. John Rodman died on his planta- 
tion in the parish of Christ Church, 



1 62 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



Island of Barbadoes, in 1686, leaving a 
widow Elizabeth, sons Thomas and John, 
and daughters Ann Thwaite and Kath- 
arine Brandeth. The sons Thomas and 
John removed to Newport, Rhode Island, 
Thomas in 1675, and John in 1682. 
•>'Dr. John Rodman, the second son of 
John and Elizabeth, born in 1653, be- 
came a freeman of Newport, Rhode 
Island, in 1684, and was prominent in the 
affairs of that colony for five or six 
years. He later removed to Block 
Island, having purchased a three-six- 
teenth share of the Island. In 1691 he 
removed to Flushing, Long Island, but 
returned to Block Island later. He died 
September, 1731, at the age of seventy- 
eight years. He was a prominent physi- 
cian, and a minister among Friends for 
forty years. In 1686 he purchased one 
thousand acres of land in Burlington 
county. New Jersey, where some of his 
descendants later lived. He married 
Mary Scar^^jjiion and had twelve children, 
as follows :\rohn, born in Barbadoes May 
14. 1679, see forward; Mary, died at New- 
port in 1683; Samuel, died in New York 
city in 1720; Joseph, born August II, 
1685, died September, 1759, married 
(first) Sarah Lawrence, (second) Helena 
Willett; William, born May 20, 1687, 
died jNIay 23, 1704; Anne, born August 
II, 1689. died 1715, married Walter New- 
berry; Thoma?, born 1692, died October, 
1693 ; Mary, born December 20, 1693. 
married John Willett; Elizabeth, died 
young; Thomas, born January 9, 1698, 
married Elizabeth Scott; Hannah, born 
August 6, 1700. married (first) Jonathan 
Dickinson, and (second) Samuel 
Holmes; and Elizabeth, born at Flushing 
in 1702, married Thomas INIasters, of 
Philadelphia. 

'b Dr. John Rodman, eldest son of Dr. 
John and Mary (Scammon) Rodman, 
born in Barbadoes. ]\Iay 14, 1679. was 
reared at Newport, Rhode Island, where 
he became a freeman in 1706. removed to 
Block Island, and from there to Flush- 
ing. Long Island, in 1712. In 1726 he 
purchased land in Burlington county, 
New Jersey, and settled there. He was, 
like his father, a prominent physician and 
a member of the Society of Friends. He 
was a member of provincial assembly 
1727-9, member of governor's council 
1738. and commissioner to treat with the 
Indians in 1741. He owned 1300 acres of 
land in' Burlington county, and in 1703 
purchased 3000 acres in Warwick town- 
ship, Bucks county, comprising nearly 
the whole eastern side of the township, 
which at his death in Burlington county, 
July^,T3. 1756. was devised to four of his 
sons," John. William, Scammon, and Sam- 
uel. Dr. Rodman married (first) Mar- 
garet Grosse. daughter of Thomas and 
Elizabeth Grosse. of Boston, who died at 
Flushing. I-ond Island, June 2, 1718. He 
married (second) July 7, 1719, Marj^ 



Willett, daughter of William Willett, of 
Westchester county, New York, grand- 
daughter of Thomas Willett, a native of 
Bristol, England, who married in 1643 
Sarah Cornell, daughter of Thomas Cor- 
nell, of Cornell's Neck, Westchester 
county. New York. The children ot Dr. 
Kjohn 2.n(l Margaret (Grosse) Rodman 
were :n John, born at Flushing, Long 
Island, 1714, died 179S; Thomas, born 
1716, died in Burlington, New Jersey, 
1796, married Elizabeth Pearson; Mary, 
married John Johnson, of Bucks county. 

The children of Dr. John and Mary 
(W^illett) Rodman were: William, born 
May 5, 1720, see forward; Anna, born 
1722, died 1763, married October 20, 1759, 
William Lister, of Essex county, New 
Jersey; Scammon, born March 8, 1723, 
died January 4, 1762, unmarried; Han- 
nah, born July 4, 1726, died October 7, 
175s; Samuel, born May 30, 1729, died 
July 4, 1761; and Margaret, born Aiigust 
6, 1731, died October 18, 1752, married 
October 10, 1751, Charles Norris. 

William Rodman, eldest son of' D.r. 
John by his second marriage with Mary 
Willett, came to Burlington county. New 
Jersey, from Flushing at the age of six 
years. In 1744 his father sent him to 
Bucks county to take charge of six hun- 
dred acres of land in Bensalem township, 
called Rodmanda, later named by him 
after his birthplace. Flushing, where he 
lived until his death, January 30, 1794. He 
was one of the most prominent men of 
his day in Bucks count}'. He was a jus- 
tice 1752-57, and a member of provincial 
assembl}', 1763-76. He married Mary 
Reeve, of New Jersey, September 6, 1744, 
and they were the parents of eight c-bil- 
dren; Sarah, did at the age of four years; 
Mary, born July 23, 1747. died Decem- 
ber I, 1765. married, June 27, 1765, 
Phineas Buckley; Gilbert, born July 21, 
1748. died August 21, 1830. married Sarah 
Gibbs. daughter of Richard and Mar- 
gery Gibbs ; Hannah, born 1751, died 
1775. married John Howard; Margaret, 
born September 20. 1752. died February 
22, T7S1. married Dr. William Mcllvaine; 
Elizabeth, died unmarried; William, born 
October 7. 1757, died July 27, 1824. mar- 
ried Esther W^est; and Rachel, born De- 
cember I, 1759. died September I. 1783, 
married September 20, 1782. Samuel 
Gibbs. 

Gilbert Rodman, born at Flushing, 
Bucks — cmwity; July 21. 1748. died in 
Bucks county, August 21. 1830. He was 
a major in the continental forces during 
the Amboy campaign of 1776. and was 
disowned from the society of Friends for 
his military services. He inherited from 
his father. William Rodman, the farm on 
which the Bucks county alms house is 
now located in Doylestown township, it 
being part of the tract purchased by his 
grandfather of John Gray, alias Tatham. 
in 1703. He lived on this plantation until 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



163 



i8o8, when he sold it to the county and 
removed to Bensalem, where he died. He 
married, June 3, 1784, Sarah Gibbs, and 
they were the parents of eleven children: 
Mary, married Anthony McCoy, and was 
the mother of Dr. Gilbert Rodman 
McCoy, who succeeded to the practice^ 
of Dr. Charles Mathews at Doylestown, 
and was one of the most prominent phy- 
sicians of the count}'; Margery, married 
Judge John Fox, president judge of the 
•courts of Bucks county, 1830-40, and a 
leader of a powerful faction of the Dem- 
ocratic party in Bucks county for many 
years; Gibbs Rodman, born January 8, 
1782, died December 18, 1812, unmarried; 
Sarah, married John S. Benezet; Eliza- 
beth, married William Drinker of Phila- 
delphia; Margaret, wife of Dr. Charles 
H. Mathews; Hannah, died unmarried; 
Gilbert, born August 25, 1800, died Jan- 
uary 15, 1862, unmarried, studied law 
with Judge Fox, later with Judge Da'P 
las at Philadelphia, located at Lancaster, 
was a clerk in the United States Treas- 
ury department under Samuel D. Ing- 
ham in 1829, later becoming chief clerk 
and filling that position until his death; 
Euphemia, born 1802, died 1807 ; Mary 
Ann, born 1804, died in 1827, unmarried ; 
and Lewis, who graduated from the med- 
ical department of the Universitj' of 
Pennsylvania in the same class with Dr. 
Charles H. Mathews, located in Phila- 
delphia, where he became a prominent 
l)hysician, was censor of the College of 
Physicians, consulting physician tor 
Preston's Retreat, etc. 

CHARLES HENRY MATHEWS, 
only son of Dr. Charles H. and Margaret 
(Rodman) Mathews, was born at Dojdes- 
town, April 21. 1844. He was educated 
at the Doylestown English and Classi- 
cal Seminar3\ the high school at Law- 
renceville. New Jersey, and at the Col- 
lege of New Jersey, (now Princeton Uni- 
versity) graduating in 1864. He studied 
law in the office of his cousin, Gilbert 
Rodman Fox. at Norristown, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar of the Seventh Judicial 
District, comprising Bucks and Mont- 
•gomery counties, in June, 1867 and to the 
Philadelphia bar in November of the 
same year. He located in Philadelphia, 
where he has since practiced his chosen 
profession, holding a high position in the 
legal fraternity; his present office being at 
717 Walnut street. He married, March 
I. i88t. Hannah Selena Black, daughter 
of William and Delia (Dimon) Black, of 
New York, and they have been the pa- 
rents of three children: Charles Henry", 
Jr., born May 31. 1882. a graduate of 
Princeton University, class of 1905 ; Lewis 
Rodman died in infancy; and William 
Black, born Aoril 12. 1887. Mr. Mathews 
is a member of the Bucks County Histor- 
ical Society, and- takes a lively interest 
in the affairs of his native county. 



ATKINSON FAMILY. The family 
of Atkinson is an ancient and honorable 
one, whose representatives were found in 
different parts of Great Britain several 
centuries ago. Two distinct families of 
the name settled in Bucks county, Penn- 
sjdvania, in the latter part of the seven- 
teenth century. Thomas Atkinson, of 
Sandwick, Yorkshire, was married to 
Jane Bond, at Knaresborough meeting 
of Friends in 1678, and four years later 
emigrated to America with his wife and 
three sons, Isaac, William and Samuel, 
settling first in Burlington county. New 
Jersey, but removing soon after to Bucks 
county. Both Thomas and Jane were 
ministers among Friends. The former 
died in 1687, and his widow married Will- 
iam Biles two 3'ears later. She travelled 
extensively in the ministry after her 
second marriage, both in the colonies 
and in England and Ireland. Thomas 
Atkinson was a son of John Atkinson of 
Newby, Yorkshire, and in his will in 
1687 devises land in Bucks county to his 
brother John Atkinson, "should he come 
to Pensilvania." It is not known that the 
brother John ever emigrated to Amer- 
ica. Isaac Atkinson, the eldest son of 
Thomas and Jane, died in Bucks county 
in 1721, leaving three children, John, Jane 
and Thomas. Most of the descendants 
of Thomas and Jane Atkinson eventu- 
ally settled in New Jersey. 

The present familj' of Atkinsons in 
Bucks county are descendants of John 
Atkinson, of Scotforth, near the city of 
Lancaster, England, who with his brother 
Christopher and their respective fami- 
lies embarked in the ship "Brittanica," 
in April, 1690, for Pennsylvania, where 
they had purchased of William Penn 
â–  1500 acres of land, to be laid out, etc., in 
March. 1690. Christopher Atkinson, the 
elder of the two brothers, was married 
at Lancaster Meeting, England, on 6 mb. 
8, 1679, to Margaret Fell, daughter of 
Christopher Fell, of Newtown, Lanca- 
shire, and the records of that meeting 
show the birth of seven of their children, 
of whom at least four, William, Hannah, 
Margaret and Isabel, sailed with their 
parents, though only the two latter ap- 
pear to have survived the voyage, the 
father. Christopher Atkinson, also dying 
on the way to America. John Atkinson, 
the other brother, had married at the 
same meeting, on 2 mo. 8. 1686. Susanna 
Hynde. daughter of Richard Hynde, of 
Scotforth, and the following chHdren 
were born to them in Lancashire, viz.: 
William, i mo. 31. 1687; Mary, 7 mo. 25, 
1689; John. 8 mo. 25, 1692, died 9 mo. 5. 
1694; John, born 9 mo. 25, 1695. The 
three surviving children above named 
accompanied their parents on board the 
"Brittanica." and. both their parents dy- 
ing on the voyage, were received by the 
Friends of Middletown Meeting. Bucks 
county, where the certificate from Lan- 



164 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



caster Meeting, dated 2 mo. 30, 1690, was 
deposited. 

The 1500 acres of land purchased by 
Christopher and John Atkinson was laid 
out in 1700 in Buckingliam township, 
Bucks count}-; 1,000 acres in a parallelo- 
gram was surveyed in right of Chris- 
topher, lying between the present Me- 
chanicsvilie road and the line of the land 
of T. Howard Atkinson, a lineal de- 
scendant of John, and extending from 
the Street road at Sands' Corner to the 
Greenville road at Beans' Corner. It 
was in two equal tracts of 500 acres each, 
and was patented to Margaret Atkinson, 
widow of Christopher, the upper half 
in her own right, under the will of her 
husband, proved on her arrival in Phila- 
delphia, and the lower tract for the use 
of her children. The latter was con- 
veyed by the widow and heirs to Jo- 
seph Gilbert, and the upper tract by 
Margaret Atkinson to William Cooper. 
The remaining 500 acres was surveyed 
for the use of the heirs of John Atkinson, 
and was laid out on the opposite side 
of the Street road, touching the upper 
tract of the i.ooo acres at Sands' Corner, 
and extending northwesterly from that 
point. It was resurveyed by Cutler in 
1703 in the name of Alice and Mary 
Hynde, sisters of Susanna, wife of John 
Atkinson, who had taken out letters on 
the estates of John and Susanna, in Phil- 
adelphia, September 6, 1699. No convey- 
ance appears of record by the Atkinson 
heirs or their representatives, the first 
actual settlers thereon being William 
George, and Alice his wife. Certain it is 
that none of the heirs of either Chris- 
topher or John Atkinson found homes 
on the land originally purchased by their 
respective patents. 

John Atkinson, the youngest child of 
John and Sunsanna (Hynde) Atkinson, 
born in Lancashire, 9 mo. 25, 1695, is 
supposed to have spent his bojdiood days 
among Friends in the neighborhood of 
Newtown, Bucks county. On 8 mo. 13, 
1717, he was married at the house of 
Stephen Twining, Newtown, to Mary 
Smith, daughter of William and Mary 
(Croasdale) Smith, of Makefield. He 
immediately purchased 200 acres in the 
Manor of Highlands, now Upper IMake- 
field, adjoining his father-in-law, and set- 
tled thereon and lived there until his 
death in January, 1752. The children 
of John and Mary (Smith) Atkinson 
were: John, born 1718; William, born 
1721, married Mary Tomlinson, and re- 
mained on a portion of the homestead; 
Thomas, born 1722, see forward; Chris- 
topher, born 1725, married Lydia Canby; 
Mary, born 1725, married John Stock- 
dale; Exekiel, born 1728, died on the 
homestead. 1768. married Rachel Gilbert; 
Cephas, born 1730. married Hannah 
Naylor; and Elizabeth, born 1732. 

Thomas Atkinson, third son of John 
and jNIary, was born and reared on the 



Makefield homestead, but on his mar- 
riage in 1744 to Mary Wildman, located 
on 200 acres in Wrightstown township, 
near Penn's Park, the greater part of 
which is still owned and occupied by his 
descendants, part of it by his great- 
grandson, George G. Atkinson, and part 
by another great-grandson, Wilmer At- 
kinson Twining, Esq. Two children, 
Thomas and Mary, were born to him, but 
the latter died in infancy. He died in 
August, 1760. 

Thomas Atkinson, only surviving 
child of Thomas and Mary (Wildman) 
Atkinson, was born on the Wrights- 
town horncsfead, 8 mo. 19, 1751. He in- 
herited from his father the two hundred 
fcre farm, and spent his whole life there, 
dying 8 mo 19, 181 5. He was a promi- 
nent man in the community, and an ac- 
tive meinljcr of Wrightstown Friends' 
Meeting. He married, 5 mo. i, 1779, 
Sarah Smith, daughter of Timothy and 
Sarah (Kjnsey) Smith, who bore him 
seven children, viz. : Mary, died young; 
Jonathan, brrn 5 mo. 9, 1782, married 
Esther Smith, and lived and died on the 
ho.niestcad: Timothy, see forward; 
I'hoinas, born 10 mo. 8, 1786, married 
Jane Smith, see forward; Mahlon, born 
4 mo. II, 1790, a physician, settled in 
Ohio, married Rebecca Babb; Sarah, 
boni 2 mo. 25, 1793, iTjarried Jacob Ples- 
tcn; au'l Joseph, born 8 mo. 22, 1795, died 
1815. Sarah, the mother of the above 
children, died 10 mo. 19, 1830. 

Timothy Atkinson, second son of 
Thomas and Sarah, was born in Wrights- 
town townsliip and spent his whole life 
there. He was a farmer and at his fath- 
er's death purchased a considerable por- 
tion of il;e old homestead and lived 
thereon during his life. He married in 
1807 Deborah, daughter of Edmund 
Smith, who bore him four children: Ed- 
mund S., born in 1808; Sarah, born 
1815, died 1840; Elizabeth, born 18^1, 
died 1836; and Timothj^, Jr., born 1829, 
married Letitia Smith, daughter of Dan- 
iel and Hannah (Betts) Smith, died 1868. 
Timothy, the father, died in March, 1867. 

Edmund S. Atkinson, born on the old 
homestead in 1808, lived his whole life 
thereon. He was twice married, first in 
1831, to Ruth Simpson, who bore him 
three sons, — Robert, Thomas Ogborn 
and J. Simpson, the latter being now a 
resident of Springfield, Missouri. Ed^ 
mund married (second) Ann L. Gilling- 
ham. and had children, Ann: Deborah, 
deceased; George G., now living on the 
old homestead in Wrightstown: Sarah 
E., single, residing in Wrightstown; and 
Lewis, deceased. Edmund S. Atkinson, 
the father, died February 16. 1895. 



THOMAS OGBORN ATKINSON, 

son of Edmund S. and Ruth (Simpson) 
Atkinson, was horn in Wrightstown 
township. Bucks county, October 12, 



T-T. I '..- v-'->v YORK 




J.Pwc 



^TluZLAd 




^CA/WJJTH 





Oc 





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TH L â–  K 



ASTOri, LCrjOX AMD 
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



lb- 



1834, on the homestead farm, and was 
reared thereon to manhood. He received 
an ordinary education in the public 
schools, and the school of Rev. Samuel 
Aaron, in Norristown, Pennsylvania, 
known as Tremont Seminary. In early 
manhood he taught school for several 
years, working on the homestead farm 
during vacation season. In August, 
1858, he removed to Mound City, Linn 
county, Kansas, and engaged in the mer- 
cantile business in company with his 
brother, J. Simpson Atkinson, remaining 
until December, 1859, when he returned 
to Wrightstown and engaged in the same 
business at Penn's Park, where he did a 
large business until 1871, at which time 
he sold out and removed to Doylestown, 
his present residence, and engaged in the 
real estate business. He first formed a 
partnership with Andrew J. LaRue. un- 
der the firm name of A. J. LaRue & Co. 
After the death of Mr. LaRue in 1873 
be formed a partnership with Samuel A. 
Firman, under the firm name of T. O. 
Atkinson & Co. The latter firm did a very 
extensive business in their line in Bucks 
and adjoining counties. In 1886 he quit 
the real estate business, and with the 
late Judge Richard Watson and others 
assisted in organizing the Bucks County 
Trust Company, and became its first 
treasurer and secretary, and has held 
that position until the piesent time. Mr. 
Atkinson is one of the best known busi- 
ness men in Bucks county, and has al- 
ways stood deservedly high in the esti- 
mation of the people. He has held many 
positions of trust. Like all of his an- 
cestors he is a member of the Society of 
Friends. In politics he is a Republican, 
but has never held other than local of- 
fices. He is now serving his third term 
as president of the town council of the 
borough of Doylestown. 

He married in March, 1861, Mary B. 
Heston, daughter of Jacob and Sarah 
<Smith) Heston, who is also a member 
of the Society of Friends. Their only 
child, Edmund Russell, died in early 
manhood. 



T. HOWARD ATKINSON, one of 

the most prominent farmers and busi- 
ness men of Buckingham township, 
Bucks county, was born in that township. 
May 14, 1848, being the son of Mahlon 
and Sarah (Smith) Atkinson of that 
township, both deceased. Thomas At- 
kinson, grandfather of the subject of 
this sketch, was born on the old Atkin- 
son homestead in Wrightstown, 10 mo. 
'8, 1786. In early life he learned the 
blacksmith trade, which he followed for 
many years. He was an expert work- 
man, and did a large and profitable 
business. He wrought the iron work for 
the jail built at Doylestown in 1812. On 
arriving at manhood he located in Buck- 
ingham, doing business for several years 



at Pineville, and later at other points 
in lower Buckingham. He was also a 
farmer, and became a very large land- 
owner, and prominent business man. He 
married 10 mo. 16, 1811, Jane, daughter 
of Thomas and Eleanor Smith, by whom 
he had nine children, viz: Mahlon, born 
1812, died II mo. 6, 1879; Joseph S., 
born August 19, 1823, died 3 mo. 27, 
1900; Sarah Jane, born 1825, died 10 mo. 
9, 1899, who married Benjamin W. 
Smith; and Mary, Martha, Ogborn, 
Eleanor, Thomas and Timothy, who died 
young. Thomas, the father, died in 1864, 
and his widow Jane in 1867, aged sev- 
enty-eight years. 

Mahlon Atkinson, eldest son of Thom- 
as and Jane, was born in Buckingham 
township and received a good comnion 
school education. He had a special tal- 
ent for business, and was one of the most 
successful business men of his day m 
Bucks county. On attaining manhood 
he settled on his father's farm m lower 
Buckingham, and married Sarah, daugh- 
ter of Thomas and Anna Hicks Smith. 
He was one of the pioneer sausage mak- 
ers and pork butchers in that section, 
hauling his product to Philadelphia. He 
was for very many years a director in 
the Doylestown National Bank, and did 
the banking business for his whole neigh- 
borhood. He became a large real es- 
tate owner, and conducted various busi- 
ness enterprises. He owned and operat- 
ed for many years the agricultural ma- 
chinery works at New Hope. He died 
at the home of his daughter-in-law, Anna 
C Atkinson, in Buckingham. 11 mo. 6, 
1897 His children were: Albert, aied 
in infancy; Charles S., born March 30, 
1841 married Matilda R. Magill; Silas 
C born September 20, 1843, died Octo- 
ber 1876, married Anna C. Wollaston; 
T Howard, the subject of this sketch; 
Anna Jane, born December 24, 1849. died 
1902, married Charles H. Williams. 

T Howard Atkinson was born on his 
father's farm in Lower Buckingham, 
May 14, 1848. He received a good edu- 
cation, and on arriving at manhood as- 
sumed charge of the homestead farm, 
where he lived until April, 1882, when he 
purchased the Anderson farms, near 
Buckingham village," his present resi- 
dence and moved thereon. He is a suc- 
cessful farmer and business man and 
holds many positions of trust. He was 
elected justice of the peace in 1890, and 
has served continuously in that position 
since. He was elected a trustee and di- 
rector of the Hughesian Free School in 
i88r was a director of the public schools 
of Buckingham from 1886 to 189^5: has 
been a directoi^ of the Bucks County 
Trust Company for many years; and is 
a director of the Buckingham and 
Doylestown and the Lahaska and New 
Hope Turnpike Companies. Political y 
he is a Republican, but has never held 
or sought other than local offices. He 



1 66 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



and his familj' are members of Bucking- 
ham Friends Meeting. 

He was married in 1868 to Mary, 
daughter of Edward and Phoebe Ellen 
(Sciiolield) Williams. They have been 
the parents of seven children, viz.: Alvan 
W., born September 22, 1869. now a suc- 
cessful physician in Trenton. New Jer- 
sey; Ellen, born December I, 1870, now 
wife of Edward A. Jenkins, of Swarth- 
more; Anna, born April 7. 1872. now the 
wife of Richard C. Sellers, of Swarth- 
more; Edith, born April 7, 1877, wife of 
Samuel P. Green, of Kennett Square, 
Chester county; Florence, born Novem- 
ber 8, 1881. died November 22. 1886; 
Mahlon, born July 12, 1884. died Novem- 
ber 15. 1885; and Emily, born July 28, 
1888, residing at home. 



MARY ATKINSON TURNER. 
Charles S. Atkinson, eldest surviving 
son of Mahlon and Sarah H. (Smith) 
Atkinson, was born in Buckingham town- 
ship, Bucks county, March 30, 1841. and 
was educated at the public schools of 
his native township and at the First 
Pennsvlvania State Normal School at 
Millersville. and the Claverack Academy, 
on the Hudson, New York. In 1862 he 
located in Solebruy. where he has since 
followed farming in connection with va- 
rious other business enterprises. In 
1879 he purchased the agricultural works 
at New Hope and carried on the manu- 
facture and sale of agricultural imple- 
ments for manv years. He married in 
1862 Matilda R. Magill, daughter of 
Jonathan P. and Mary (Watson) Ma- 
gill. of Solebury. and they have one 
child, Mary M. Atkinson, now the wife 
of H. W. Turner, a veterinary surgeon, 
who practiced his profession for a num- 
ber of years at Lahaska, Bucks county, 
and for several years past has been en- 
gaged as veterinary surgeon for an 
equestrian establishment traveling through 
different parts of Europe and Amer- 
ica. Dr. and Mrs. Turner have no 
children. 



Mrs. Atkinson was a lineal descendant 
of Jeremiah Wollaston, of New Castle 
county, Delaware, who married Cathar- 
ine, daughter of George and Catharine 
(Hollingsworth) Robinson, at Newark,, 
(now Kennett) Monthly Meeting of 
Friends. 9 mo. 21, 1716. Their son, 
James Wollaston, born 11 mo. 26, 1724^ 
married Mary Chambers, 11 mo. 16,. 
1752, at New Garden Meeting, Chester 
county, was the great-grandfather of 
Mrs. Atkinson. The Wollastons were 
large landholders in Delaware. Thomas 
Wollaston, the father of Mrs. Atkin- 
son, was born in Delaware, and died in 
Chester county at the age of eighty 
years. 

Silas C. and Anna C. (Wollaston) At- 
kinson were the parents of four chil- 
dren: Alice M.. residing at home; Sa- 
rah H., wife of Robert H. Engle, of Mt. 
Holly, New Jersey; Jane; and Susan W., 
the two latter named residing at home. 
All the children are graduates of Swarth- 
more College. The family are members- 
of the Society of Friends. 



SILAS C. ATKINSON. Deceased, 
son of IMahlon and Sarah (Smith) At- 
kinson, was born in Buckingham town- 
ship, on the old Atkinson homestead. 
September 20. 184,1, and died on his farm 
near Bycot. in October. 1876. He was 
educated at the public schools of Buck- 
ingham, and at the Excelsior Normal 
Institute at Carversville. He married. 
October 17. 1867, Anna C. daughter of 
Thomas and Minerva (Pennoch) Woll- 
aston, of Chester county. Pennsylvania, 
and settled on the farm where he died. 
and where his widow and family still 
reside. He was a man of fine qualities, 
and was universally esteemed in the 
comnninity in which he lived. 



WILLIAM H. ATKINSON, of Buck- 
ingham, son of Joseph and Eliza (Hibbs) 
Atkinson, and grandson of Thomas and 
Jane (Smith) Atkinson, some account of 
whom is given upon other pages of this 
work, was born at Pineville, Bucks coun- 
ty. Pennsvlvania. August 10, 1850. 

Joseoh S. Atkinson, deceased, the fath- 
er of the subject of this sketch, was born 
in Buckingham township, August g, 
182^ being a son of Thomas and Jane 
(Smith) A"tkinson. He was a prominent 
farmer and large landholder in Bucks 
county. The first fifty years of his life 
was spent in Buckingham township. 
About T879 he purchased the Shaw farm 
in Solebury township, near Lahaska. and 
lived thereon for several years. He la- 
ter built a house in Lahaska and retired 
from farming. He died 3 mo. 27. T900. 
His wife was Eliza, daughter of Will- 
iam and Margery (Kirk) Hibbs, of Pine- 
ville. by whom he had four children:, 
William' H.. the subject of this sketch; 
Thomas, who died on the Solebury- 
homestead in TQ03: Mary, wife of George 
Watsnn. of Dovlestown; and Albert, 
who died in infancy. 

The subject of this sketch was reared 
on the farm in Buckingham, attended the 
nublic schools of the neighborhood, and 
later the Excelsior Normal Institute at 
Carversville and the Doylestown English 
and Classical Seminary. On arriving at 
manhood he took charge of the home 
farm, his father beinsr occupied with 
the management of his other nroper- 
lics. and. on his marriage in 1879. his^ 
father removed to Solebury. and he took 
entire charge of the farm, which witW 
six other farms he acquired at his fath- 
er's death. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



167 



He married, in 1S79, Elmira, daughter 
of Jesse K. and Sarah (Headley) Har- 
per, of Falls township. Mr. Harper was 
a prominent and highly esteemed far- 
mer of Falls; he died in 1898, aged 
eighty-three years, and his wife died in 
1893, aged seventy-seven years. Both 
were prominent members of the Society 
of Friends. Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson are 
the parents of two children, Eva W. and 
J. Harper, both residing at home. The 
family are members of the Society of 
Friends. In politics Mr. Atkinson is a 
Republican, but has never sought or held 
public office. 



STEPHEN K. ATKINSON, Protho- 
notary of the county of Bucks, was born 
in Upper Makefield township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, June 7, 1854, and 
is a son of Jesse H. and Martha B. 
(Stradling) Atkinson. 

An account of the migration of John 
and Christopher Atkinson from Lan- 
cashire with their families, the death nf 
the head of both families on the ill-fated 
"Brittanica" in 1692, and the subsequent 
marriage and settlement of John Atkin- 
son, Jr., in Makefield, is given in the 
sketch of The Atkinson Family in this 
volume. 

William Atkinson, second son of John 
Jr. and Mary (Smith) Atkinson, was 
borri in Upper Makefield in 1721, and 
married, September I, 1742, Mary Tom- 
linson, daughter of Joseph Tomlinson. 
He inherited from his father 120 acres 
of the homestead in Upper Makefield, 
and lived thereon until his death in 
April, 1800. He and his wife Mary were 
the parents of thirteen children, of whom 
eight lived to mature age. i. Mary, mar- 
ried John Rose; 2. John, married Hannah 
Lee; 3. Sarah, and 4. Eleanor, both of 
whom married Lees; 5. Isaac, who 
moved to Maryland; 6. Phebe; 7. Will- 
iam; 8. Joseph. 

John Atkinson, eldest surviving son of 
William and Mary (Tomlinson) Atkin- 
son, inherited the homestead and lived 
thereon all his life, dying in 1831. He 
married his second cousin. Hannah Lee. 
in 1769, and had twelve children, nine of 
whom lived to maturity, viz: May, born 
1770, married Joseph Gummere; Hannah, 
born 1772, married Joshua Burleigh; 
Esther, born 1774, married Joseph Ran- 
dall; Jane, born 1775, married Charles 
Deeder; Elizabeth, born 1777, married 
, Jacob Cooper; John, born 1778, married 
first Mary Atkinson, and second Eliza- 
beth Harding; Phebe. born 1781. married 
William Neeld; William, born 1782, mar- 
ried Belinda Harvey; and Samuel, born 
1789. married Mary Harding. 

Samuel Atkinson, youngest son of 
John and Hannah (Lee) Atkinson, was 
born in Upper Makefield in the year 1789, 
and lived there all his life with the ex- 
ception of four years spent in Doyles-- 



town. On April 28, 1821, his parents 
conveyed to him sixty-eight acres of the 
old homestead on which he lived until 
he became recorder of deeds in 1836, and 
which he conveyed to his son Samuel in 
1842. He was commissioned recorder of 
deeds of Bucks county, January 23, 1836, 
and filled that position for four years, 
being recommissioned January 4, 1839, 
for one year, the constitutional conven- 
tion of 1838 having made the office elec- 
tive and to go into effect with the fall 
election of 1839. He also filled the posi- 
tion of deputy register of wills while an 
incumbent of the recorder's office. At 
the expiration of his second term as re- 
corder he purchased a property in the 
village of Buckmanville. where he lived 
the remainder of his life, dying August 
23, 1858. He was commissioned April 
14, 1840, a justice of the peace of Upper 
Makefield township, and did a large 
amount of public business. He was a 
Whig in politics, and took part in the 
organization of the Republican party 
in 1856. Like all his ancestors for many 
generations, he was a member of 
Wrightstowp Meeting of Friends. He 
married Mary Harding, of Southampton, 
and they were the parents of nine chil- 
dren, three of whom died young: Charles, 
Watson, and John. Those who survived 
were : Rachel, who married Kinsey 
Tomlinson, a prominent resident of New- 
town; Samuel, who married Rebecca, 
daughter of Bezeleel Eastburn and lived 
and died on the old homestead; Silas L., 
who married Elizabeth Eastburn, -and 
was a printer for several years in 
Doylestown, later of Langhorne, where 
recently died; Ralph L., who married 
first Sarah Ann Scarborough, and (sec- 
ond) Martha E. Johnson, and removed 
to Shelby county. Ohio; Jesse H., the 
father of Stephen K.; and Hannah, who 
married Stephen L. Kirk, a prominent 
merchant of Langhorne. 

Jesse H. Atkinson, son of Samuel and 
Mary (Harding) Atkinson, was born in 
Upper INIakefield, May 6, 1824, and was 
reared on his father's farm near Buck- 
manville, acquiring his education at the 
public schools. During his father's in- 
cumbency of the office of recorder of 
deeds he filled the position of transcrib- 
ing clerk. He married, October 7, 1847, 
Martha B. Stradling, born August 12, 
1828, daughter of William and Sarah 
(Carver) Stradling, of Newtown town^ 
ship. William Stradling was a son of 
Joseph and Hannah (Michener) Strad- 
ling, of Plumstead, grandson of Daniel, 
and great-grandson of Thomas and Lyd- 
ia (Doan) Stradling, who were married 
at Middletown, October 5, 1719, and set- 
tled at Newtown township, where Thom- 
as died in 1764. Sarah (Carver) Strad- 
ling. born February 19. 1794, was a 
daughter of William and Phebe (Worth- 
ington) Carver, granddaughter of Will- 
iam and Sarah (Strickland) Carver, and 



1 68 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



great-granddaughter of William and 
Elizabeth ( W'almsley) Carver, the first 
of the familj' to settle in Buckiiigliam, 
and William Carver, who came from 
England in 1682 and settled in Byberry, 
Philadelphia county. 

Jesse H. Atkinson followed farming 
for a few years after his marriage in 
Upper Makelield, and later engaged in 
droving and dealing in western horses, 
residing in Newtown township. He was 
actively interested in local politics, and 
was elected to the office of register of 
wills of Bucks county in the fall of 
1872, on the Republican ticket, and 
served the term of three years. He died 
January 4, 1876, one day after the expira- 
tion of his term of office. His wife, 
Marthg. B., still survives Kim, residing 
in Newtown, Bucks county. They were 
the parents of four children: Georgine 
T., who died at the age of thirteen years; 
William S., who died in his eighteenth 
year; Stephen K., the subject of this 
sketch; Sallie, born 1862, married Stew- 
ard S. Crouse, of Riegelsville, Bucks 
county, and resided in Philadelphia, 
where he died in 1887, leaving three chil- 
dren, — J. Clyde, Mary and Fred. 

Stephen K. Atkinson was educated at 
the Hughesian School, Buckingham, and 
at Doylestown English aiid Classical 
Seminary. At an early age he accepted 
a position as clerk in the general mer- 
chandise store at Holicong, and later 
worked on the farm for Josiah R. Pen- 
nington, in Buckingham, in the summer 
months, for three years attending school 
in winter. On the election of his father 
to the office of register of wills he en- 
tered the office as his assistant and depu- 
ty. At the death of his father he en- 
gaged in farming for a few years, and 
then engaged in the clothing and gents' 
furnishing business at Doylestown, and 
later was employed as a traveling sales- 
man for a wholesale house.' He removed 
to Newtown, where he owned and con- 
ducted a livery stable for a few years, 
and later engaged in selling cigars for 
a large wholesale house. He has for 
several years taken an active interest 
in local politics, and was nominated and 
elected to the office of prothonotary of 
Bucks county in the fall of 1903. 

He married May 24, i'877, Sallie M. 
Ruth, born in Buckingham, May 21, 
1858, daughter of Jesse ana Martha (Car- 
ver.) Ruth. She is also a descendant of 
William Carver, the immigrant of 1682. 
her maternal grandparents being Izri 
and Mary (Hartley) Carver, the former 
of whom was a son of William and Mar- 
tha (Addis) Carver, and a grandson of 
Joseph Carver, another son of William 
and Elizabeth (Walmsley) Carver before 
mentioned. On the paternal side Mrs. 
Atkinson is descended from early Ger- 
man settlers in Upper Bucks. The chil- 
dren of Stephen K. and Sallie M. (Ruth) 
Atkinson are: i. Elmer H., born April 



21, 1879, married Clara Sergeant, daugh- 
ter of Charles Sergeant of Langhorne 
and resides in Newtown; they had three 
children, Ogden, Eugene, and Elmer R., 
the latter of whom died August 7, 1905; 
2. Martha Ruth, born April 4, 1882, wife 
of Dr. George R. Doan of Newtown. 
They have one child, Ronald. Mr. At- 
kinson still retains his residence at New- 
town, as well as an active interest in the 
affairs of that borough. 



HOWARD W. ATKINSON, of 
Doylestown, is a descendant on both the 
paternal, and maternal side from the old- 
est families in Bucks county. He was 
born at Davisville, Southampton town- 
ship, Bucks county, November 22, 1853, 
and is a son of Mahlon and Mary Ann 
(Wood) Atkinson, and a grandson of 
Mahlon and Martha (Walmsley) Atkin- 
son. 

His paternal ancestor, John Atkinson, 
was born at Scotforth, Lancashire, Eng- 
land, 9 mo. 25, 1695, and came to this 
country at the age of four years. His 
father, John Atkinson, married Susanna 
Hynde, daughter of Richard, at Scot- 
forth, 2 mo. 8, 1686, and in company with 
his brother Christopher and their respec- 
tive families embarked for America in 
the ship "Brittanica" in April, 1699, bear- 
ing a certificate from Lancaster Meeting 
of Friends to Friends in Pennsylvania. 
John and Susanna Atkinson both died on 
the voyage, and their three children 
(William, Mary and John) were taken in 
charge by the- Friends of Middletown 
Meeting in Bucks county on their ar- 
rival. John, the eldest, married 8 mo. 
15. 1717. Mary, daughter of William and 
Mary (Croasdale) Smith, of Wrights- 
town, and the following year settled on a 
tract of two hundredvacres of land in 
Upper Makefield, where their eight chil- 
dren were born, and where the father 
died in 1752. 

Ezekiel, the si.xth child of John and 
Mary, born in 1728, purchased a portion 
of the homestead tract and died there in 
June, 1768. He married in 1754, Rachel 
Gilbert, born 11 mo. 14, 1732, daughter of 
Benjamin and Sarah (Mason) Gilbert, of 
Byberry, granddaughter of Joseph and 
Rachel (Livezey) Gilbert, and great- 
granddaughter of John and Florence Gil- 
bert, who came from England in the 
ship "Welcome," in 1682, settling first 
in Bensalem. Bucks county, but removing ^ 
to Byberry in 1695, where his descen- 
dants resided for many generations. 
Ezekiel and Rachel (Gilbert) Atkinson 
were the parents of five children: Ben- 
jamin, Thomas, Watson, Rachel and 
Ezekiel. the latter born after the death 
nf the father in 1768. After the death of 
her husband, Rachel Atkinson returned 
with her children to Byberry, and later 
married William Walton, of that place, 



.r 





rha Iir.idiniiiitX:m}. CuJ^hila 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



169 



known as "Jersey Bill}'," to distinguish 
him from his cousins of the name. Here 
the Atkinson children were reared. Ben- 
jamin, the eldest, married Jane Adams 
and died in 1816, leaving a family of six 
children. Thomas was a captain of a 
company in the war of 1812. Ezekiel, 
the youngest, married and removed to 
Drumore township, Lancaster county, 
where he purchased land in 1818, and 
died in 1842. 

Mahlon Atkinson, the grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch, was born and 
reared in Byberry, but removed with his 
father to Drumore, where he purchased a 
farm of fifty-two acres in 1822. He died 
four years later, in August. 1826. His 
widow, Martha, returned to Byberry with 
her five children, Mary, Howard H., Vio- 
letta, Angelina, and Mahlon R., the lat- 
ter born a few months after his father's 
death. Martha, the wife of Mahlon At- 
kinson, was a daughter of Daniel T. and 
Mary (Willett) Walmsley, and a grand- 
daughter of General Augustin and Eliza- 
beth (Hicks) Willett. General Willett 
was one of the first soldiers of the Rev- 
olution to enter active service; he was 
commissioned as a caption in the First 
Pennsylvania Battalion, raised under act 
of Congress of October 12, 1775, for the 
expedition against Canada, on October 
27. 1775, and suffered the terrible priva- 
tions and hardships of that disastrous 
campaign of nearly a year on the fron- 
tiers of Canada. Elizabeth Hicks, wife 
of General Willett, was a daughter of 
Gilbert and Mary (Rodman) Hicks, and 
a descendant of Robert Hicks, the Pil- 
grim Father, who came to Plymouth, 
Massachusetts, in the "Fortune" in 1621, 
from Southwark. London. England. He 
was a leather dresser in Bermonfdey 
street, Southwark, and had been twice 
married, his first wife being Elizabeth 
Morgan, by whom he had four children, 
Thomas. Elizabeth. John and Stephen. 
His second wife was Margaret Winslow, 
who with her four children, Samuel. Eph- 
raim, Lydia and Phebe, followed her 
husband to Plymouth in the ship "Ann," 
arriving in June, 1722. and they settled 
at Duxbury. The sons John and Stephen 
removed to Long Island in 1642. The sub- 
sequent history of the descendants of John 
Hicks is given elsewhere in this work, un- 
der the title of "The Hicks Family." 

Mahlon R. Atkinson was born at B3'- 
berry Cross Roads, where his mother had 
taken up her residence with her relatives 
after the death of her husband, on Feb- 
ruary I. 1827. He learned the trade of a 
house painter, and early in life removed 
to Southampton township, Bucks county, 
near Davisville, where he followed his 
trade during the active years of his life, 
removing later to Ivyland. He died at 
the residence of his son, Lawrence Rush 
Atkinson, at Hatboro. October 17, 1904. 
His widow, who was Mary Ann Wood, 
survives him. They were the parents of 



ten children, viz. : S. Emma, who died 
unmarried in 1898; Charles S., of Doyles- 
town; Howard W.: Violetta, wife of Will- 
iam Kline, of Philadelphia; Lawrence 
Rush, of Hatboro; Matilda, wife of 
Courtland Yerkes, of Willow Grove; 
Anna, deceased; Joshua J., and Harry 
B. of South Amboy; and A. Louisa, wife 
of Albert Hohensack, of Ivyland. 

Howard W. Atkinson was born at 
Davisville. November 22, 1853, and at 
the age of eight years went to live at 
Huntingdon Valley, where he remained 
until the age of sixteen years, when he 
reurned home and learned the trade of a 
house painter, which he followed for fif- 
teen years. In 1876 he removed to 
Doylestown. where he carried on paint- 
ing, eniploying twelve to fifteen men. In 
1884 he began the business of an under- 
taker, which he has since conducted at 
Doylestown with success. In 1891 he 
opened the summer resort known as Oak- 
land, just outside the borough of Doyles- 
town, formerly occupied by the Doyles- 
town English and Classical Seminary, 
which has become one of the popular in- 
stitutions of the neighborhood under the 
conduct of Mr. Atkinson and his ex- 
cellent wife. Mr. Atkinson married, 
March 9, 1885. Emma Wilson, of Doyles- 
town. and they are the parents of four 
children: Mary, Julia, Augistina, and 
Frances. 



HON. HENRY G. MOYER. of Perk- 
asie. Bucks county, Pennsylvania, for 
many years prominent in the business 
and official circles of Bucks county, was 
born in Hilltown, Bucks eounty, August 
28, 1848. and is a son of the late Henry 
A. and Sarah (Gerhart) Moyer, of Hill- 
town, and is descended from early Ger- 
man settlers on the Skippack, nearly two 
centuries ago. The name of Moyer, 
Meyers. Myers,. now almost as common 
in Bucks county as Smith, was origin- 
ally spelled Meyer, and the present bear- 
ers of the name are descended from sev- 
ral German emigrants of that name who 
settled in what is now Montgomery 
county, in the first quarter of the eigh- 
teenth century, from whence their de- 
scendants migrated into Bucks county 
in the second and third generation. 

I. Christian Meyer, the paternal an- 
cestor of this sketch, was a landowner in 
Lower Salford township, Montgomery 
county, as early as 1719. and possibly 
some years earlier, and was one of the 
founders of the earliest congregations 
of Mennonites in that locality. All the 
earlier generations of the family be- 
longed to that sect, though many of 
their descendants now belong to othej 
denominations. Christian Meyer died 
in June, 1757. leaving three sons. Chris- 
tian, Jacob and Samuel, the last of whom 
settled in Hilltown: and daughters Eliza- 



I70 



HISTORY or BUCKS COUNTY 



beth, who married Nicholas Oblingcr; 
Anna, who married Henry Funck, and 
Barbara, who married Abraham Reiff. 
The descendants of the two latter are 
now quite numerous in Bucks county. 

II. Christian Meyer, Jr., son of the 
above, born in 1705, died 1787, was a 
farmer in Franconia, Montgomery 
count}', and left sons. Christian, Jacob 
and Samuel, and daughters, Esther, wife 
of Christian Gehman; Anna, wife of 
John Kratz; Maria, wife of Martin Det- 
weiler; and Barbara, wife of Abraham 
Kratz. 

III. Rev. Jacob ]\Ie3'er, second son of 
Christian and Magdalena, of Fran- 
conia, born January 28, 1730, married 
(second) Barbara Derstein, of Rockhill, 
and settled in Hilltown township, where 
he owned over three hundred acres of 
land. He was for many years a preacher 
of the ]\Iennonite faith in Hilltown, and 
died there in 17S2, leaving a family of 
nine children. 

IV. Joseph Moyer (as the name then 
came to be spelled), second son of the 
Rev. Jacob and Barbara (Durstein) 
Meyer, was born in Hilltown, June 19, 
1774, and died there June 21, 1815. He 
was a farmer and lived near Yost's, now 
Schwenk's mill, north of the present 
village of Blooming Glen. Joseph Moyer 
was quite a noted penman and more or 
less of an artist, several specimens of 
his artistic work with the pen being still 
extant. He married, April 7, 1795. Bar- 
bara Angeny, who was born in Bucks 
county, April 8, 1770, and died about the 
year 1857, and they were the parents of 
eight children, of whom seven lived to 
maturity, viz.: Jacob, who migrated to 
Canada; Samuel, who lived and died on 
the homestead; Joseph, Avho died in 
1842: William A., who died in 1885; 
Henry A., see forward; Elizabeth who 
married Abraham Gerhart; and Mary, 
who married Abraham Hunsberger. 

V. Henry A. Moj'er. youngest son of 
Joseph and Barbara (Angeny) Moyer, 
was born in Hilltown. October 26, 1807, 
and died there August 4, 1875. He re- 
ceived a good education, and during his 
younger days taught school for a num- 
ber of years, but on his marriage. De- 
cember 8, 1833, to Sarah Gerhart, aban- 
doned the life of a pedagogue and settled 
down as a farmer in Hilltown. He took 
a prominent part in local afifairs, and 
filled a number of township offices, 
among others holding the office of as- 
sessor for many years. His wife, Sarah 
Gerhart, was born August 20, 1814, and 
died February 20. 1800. Their children 
were: Lydia, wife of Samuel M. Ger- 
hart; Abraham G.. deceased; Joseph G., 
a prominent business man of Perkasie; 
Barbara, wife of Samuel G. Kramer; 
Sarah Jane, wife of Henry O. Moyer. of 
Perkasie; Jacob G.. of Pprkasie; Isaiah 
G., deceased; and Henry G., the subject 
of this sketch. 



VI. Henry G. Moyer, born and reared 
on his father's farm in Hilltown, at- 
tended the public schools, and later 
other institutions of learning, and closed 
his education with a course at Quaker 
City Business College, Philadelphia, 
from which he graduated with high 
honors in 1868, at the age of twenty. In 
1879 he was elected justice of the peace, 
and since that time has done a large 
amount of public business, officiating as 
executor, administrator and agent in the 
settlement of estates, attending to the 
survey and transfer of real estate and 
other business of a public character. In 
1882 he purchased a one-half interest in 
"The Central News," a paper published 
at Perkasie, with Mahlon Sellers, and 
conducted it under the firm name of 
Mahlon Sellers & Co., becoming one of 
its editors. Mr. Sellers dying soon after, 
his interest in the paper was purchased 
by Samuel R. Kramer, and the firm 
name became Moyer & Kramer, and that 
firm conducted the paper and a job 
printing oflice in connection therewitTT 
imtil 1904. Under their management 
"The Central News" became a success- 
ful weekly paper, and enjoys a 9ircu- 
lation equal to that of any weekly paper 
published in upper Bucks. Mr. Moj^er 
is an ardent Republican in politics, and 
has been for many years prominently 
identified with the local organization of 
the party in Bucks county, serving as 
delegate to a number of state and other 
conventions. In 1882 he was the party 
nominee for representative in the as- 
sembly, but was defeated though receiv- 
ing much more than his party vote in 
his own locality, the county being then 
Democratic. In 1894 lie was elected to 
the state senate by a majority of 1577 
votes, and in the sessions of 1895 and 
1897 served upon many of the important 
committees of the upper house. Mr. 
Moyer still does a large amount of pub- 
lic business. On the organization of 
Perkasie National Bank, he was elected 
president and still fills that position, giv- 
ing much of his time to the afifairs of the 
bank. On January 31, 1905, he was ap- 
pointed postmaster at Perkasie, Penn- 
sylvania, by President Roosevelt, which 
office he fills with satisfaction, and has 
established four rural free delivery 
routes from said office. He is a member 
nf the United Evangelical Church, and 
has been for many years superintendent 
of the Sabbath School and class leader 
of tho ocal church at Perkasie, render- 
ing eminent and efficient services in that 
capacitv. He is a member of the l\Ta- 
sonic fraternity and affiliated with the 
Odd Fellows and O. U. A. M. He mar- 
ried Emclinc Sciple, of Allentown, 
Pennsylvania, and tlioy have been the 
parents of seven children, of whom but 
two survive Mabel Rebecca, born Oc- 
tober TO. 18*^?. and Henry Clayton, born 
iMarch c;. 188S. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



iji 






WILKINSON COAT-OF-ARMS. 



OGDEN D. WILKINSON. Lieuten- 
ant Lawrence Wilkinson, the ancestor of 
the Wilkinson family of Bucks county, 
belonged to a very old and respected 
family, one noted for its consistent ad- 
herence to the throne of England, and 
from time to time the recipient of its 
favors. He was a son of William Wilk- 
inson, of Lancaster, county Durham, 
England, by his wife ]\Iary Conyers, 
daughter of Christopher Conyers, of 
Horden, and sister of Sir John Conyers, 
Baronet; and a grandson of Lawrence 
Wilkinson, of Harpsley House, Lancas- 
ter, Durham. The arms of the family 
were confirmed and the crest granted to 
Lawrence Wilkinson,' last mentioned, 
September l8, 1615, by Ricliard St. 
George Norrey, King of z\rms. as shown 
by the following extract from the records 
of the College of Arms: 

"Being now requested by Lawrence 
Wilkinson, to make search for the an- 
ciente coate Armor belonging to that 
name and Familye, which fynde to be 
Azure a fesse erminiois between thre 
unicorns passant Argent, and for that 
I can fynde noe Crest proper or be- 
longing thereunto, as unto manye anci- 
ente coates at this day there is wanting, 
he hath further requested me to confrme 
unto him such a one as he maye law- 
fulh'e beare — I hav likewise condescend- 
ed and allowyde him the Crest ensvinge, 
(vide) a demy unicorne erazed erminoys 
standing on a murall crown gules, as 
more plainh^ appearth depicted in the 
margent hereof. All of which Arms 
amd Crest, I the said Richard St. George 
Norrey, doe give, grant, ratifye and con- 
fyrme unto sayd Lawrence Wilkenson 
and to the several descendants of hys 
bodye forever, bearing their due dif- 
ferences." 

Lawrence Wilkinson, the younger, 
first above mentioned, was born in Lan- 
caster, county Durham, at about the date 
of the confirmation of the arms to his 
grandsire as above recited. He became 
a lieutenant in the army of Charles I., 
and was taken prisoner by the Scotch 



and Parlimentary troops on the surren- 
der of NevvXastle-on-Tyne, October 22, 
1644. In common with many others who- 
fell into the hands of the enemies of the 
crown, he was deprived of his property. 
On the records of sequestrations in Dur- 
ham we find the following item, in the 
period between 1645 and 1647: "Lawrence 
Wilkinson, of Lancaster,^ officer in arms, 
went to New England." His estate hav- 
ing been sequestered and sold, he ob- 
tained permission from Lord Fairfax to- 
emigrate to America, and in 1652, with 
his wife and son, he settled in Provi- 
dence. Rhode Island, where he had lands 
granted him. He was made a freeman 
in 1658. and in 1673 was chosen deputy 
to the general court. He was known as 
Captain Wilkinson, and was a soldier 
in the Indian wars. He was a member 
of colonial assembly which met at Ports- 
mouth in 1659. He died May 9, 1692. 
This Lawrence Wilkinson had married 
Susannah Smith, daughter of Christo- 
pher Smith, who also settled at Provi- 
dence. Rhode Island. The children of 
Lawrence and Susannah (Smith) Wil- 
kinson, were six, viz: Samuel, Susan- 
nah, John, Joanna, Josias, and another 
Susannah. While we are chiefly con- 
cerned with the descendants of Samuel, 
the eldest of the above children, it might 
be pertinent to here state that John, the 
second son. married Huldah Aldrich. of 
Rhode Island, and their son, Ichabod 
Wilkinson, born in Rhode Island in 1720, 
removed to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
bringing a certificate from Smithfield, 
Rhode Island, to Wrightstown Meeting 
of Friends, 12 mo. i, 1742, and married 
at that meeting. 7 mo. 7. 1743, Sarah 
Chapman, of Wrightstown, and settled at 
New Hope, where he erected a forge in 
1753. and became the owner of exten- 
sive tracts of land in Solebury township. 
He died prior to 1780, leaving children: 
Joseph: Zibiah. wife of Peter Ink: Sa- 
rah, wife of John Prince: Huluah and' 
Mary, some of whom have left descend- 
ants in Bucks^ county. 

Samuel Wilkinson, eldest son of Law- 
rence and Susannah, married Plain 
Wickenden, daughter of Rev. William 
Wickenden. the second pastor of the 
first Baptist church in America. Samuel 
Wilkinson was coTtimissioned a captain 
in the provincial militia of Rhode Island, 
April 4. 1697, and took part in the early 
Indian wars. He was a surveyor, and 
assisted in running the line between 
Massachusetts and Rhode Island in 1711. 
He was also a member of the provincial' 
assembl}'. and a justice of the peace. 
He died August 27, 1827. He took a very 
active part in the Indian wars, and the 
old records of Providence give abund- 
ant evidence of the high position he held 
in provincial affairs. A summarj^ of the 
positions he held, as taken from the 
original records, is, as follows: Samuel' 
Wilkinson appointed constable July 12, 



172 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



16S3; swore allegiance to Charles I, IMay 

1, 1682; chosen justice of the peace May 

2, 1704; October, 1705, Captain Samuel 
Wilkinson, deput}' to colonial assembly 
for Providence; February 25, 1708, re- 
appointed deputy; October 27, 1707, Cap- 
tain Samuel Wilkinson, deputy to as- 
sembly held at Warwick; October 31, 
1716, deputy for Providence; May 14, 
1719, Captain Samuel Wilkinson appoint- 
ed to settle boundary dispute between 
Rhode Island and Massachusetts. (John 
and Josiah, brothers of Samuel were also 
in the Indian Wars, and the historians 
say "fought valiantly"). 

Samuel and Plain Wilkinson were the 
parents of six children, viz: Samuel, 
John, William, Joseph, Ruth, and Sus- 
annah. Of these Ruth married William 
Hopkins, and became the mother of two 
<iistinguished men, Stephen Hopkins for 
many years governor of Rhode Island, 
and a signer of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and Essex Hopkins, the first 
commander of an American fleet in 1776. 

John Wilkinson, second son of Sam- 
uel and Plain Wilkinson, was born on 
his father's homestead at Loquiessett, 
Providence, Rhode Island, on January 
25, 1677-8. He left there when a young 
man and located in Hunterdon county. 
New Jersey, where he married Mary 
. He later removed to Wrights- 
town township, and in 1713 purchased 
three hundred and seven acres of lau' 
lying partly in the three townships of 
Wrightstown, Warwick antl Bucking- 
ham, near what is now Rushland Sta- 
tion, on the Northeast Pennsylvania 
Railroad. In 1728 he returned to Provi- 
dence and participated in the settlement 
of his father's estate, signing on July 
3 of that year a power of attorney for 
his brothers and brothers-in-law, to sell 
his father's land. The deed for the 
land, dated July 6, 1728, and recorded 
at Providence, is signed by Josiah Wilk- 
inson, of Providence, John Wilkinson of 
Wrightstown, in the county of Bucks 
and Province of Pennsylvania, William 
Hopkins and Ruth, his wife, James An- 
gell and Susanna his wife, David, Sam- 
uel, and Huldah Wilkinson, Ichabod 
Comstock and Zabiah his wife, and Jo- 
seph Arnold and PAtience his wife. John 
Wilkinson was one of the justices of 
the peace of Bucks county who were 
commissioned to hold the court of com- 
mon pleas, quarter sessions and orphans' 
court for the county, and he became a 
large landowner on both sides of Ne- 
shaminy. and a prominent man in the 
commnnit\'. He was an active member 
of Wrightstown Friends' -Meeting. His 
will is dated February, 1751, and was 
proven April 2t,. 1751. He had seven 
children, viz: Mary, born July 17, 1709, 
married Joseph Chapman; Kcziah, mar- 
ried Thomas Ross, and was the grand- 
mother of Judge John Ross (see Ross 
family): Plain, married Peter Ball; Su- 



sanna, married Adrien Dawes; Ruth, 
married Joseph Chapman; John, see for- 
ward; Josiah, who married Rosanna 
Kemble and (second) Mary Carver, 
daughter of William Carver and Mary 
Walmsley; and Joseph, who married 
Barbara Lacy. The last two removed to 
Chester county in 1762. 

John Wilkinson, son of John above 
mentioned, was born in the year 171 1. He 
became a very prominent citizen of 
Bucks county, serving in the colonial 
assembly for the years 1761, 1762-3, and 
in that of the commonwealth of Penn- 
sylvania for the years 1776-1781, and 
1782, and as a justice of the peace from 
1764 to 1774 inclusive. At the organi- 
zation of the committee of safety in 
1774 he participated therein, and was one 
of the delegates from Bucks county to 
the conference held at Philadelphia July 
July 15, 1774; was selected on December 
15, 1774, as one of the committee of ob- 
servation; was again a delegate to the 
provincial convention at Philadelphia, 
January 23, 1775, and a member of the 
first constitutional convention, July 15, 
1776. When, however, it became evident 
that war would ensue, he, with a num- 
ber of other members of the Society of 
Friends, on July 21, 1775, "alleging 
scruples of conscience relative to the 
business necessarily transacted by the 
Committee, desired to be relieved from 
' further attendance." Later, however, his 
patriotic feelings got the better of his 
religious feelings; and in spite of the 
protests of Wrightstown Meeting, of 
which he was a member, he again united 
himself with the defenders of the rights 
of his country, and continued to take an 
active part in that defence until his death 
on May 31, 1782, serving as lieutenant- 
colonel of militia, and filling other im- 
portant positions. He was appointed 
lieutenant-cononel of the Third Bucks 
County Associators, August 16, I775; 
and member of conference of delegates 
for all the counties at Philadelphia, 
July 18, 1776. He was constantly on 
important committees as representative 
of either the assembly or the commit- 
tee of safety, in both of which he rep- 
resented his district, during the most 
trying time of the Revolution. He was 
appointed justice of the peace and judge 
of the court of common pleas, September 
3. T776; committee and referee to In- 
dian lands; one of committee to consider 
draft and report to the house what laws 
it will be necessary should be passed, 
at this season; (Journals of Assembly, 
vol. i, p. 133); was appointed by assem- 
bly one of committee to consider an act 
for emitting the sum of 200,000 pounds 
in bills of credit for the defence of the 
State, and providing a fund for sinking 
the same by tax on all estate, real and 
personal; as a member of the committee 
of safety he served upon the committee 
of observation and committee of cor- 




LIEUT. COL. JOHN WILKINSON 



THE NEW YORK 

PUBLIC LIBRAl; â–  



ASTOH, LENCX AND 
Tll-OEN FOUNDATr'l? 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



^73 



respondence, and was a delegate to the 
second convention and conferences, and 
also, P^bruary 19, 1763, was appointed 
a committee to audit accounts of Ben- 
jamin Franklin. He died May 31, 1782. 
The Pennsj'lvania Gazette of June 19, 
1782, has the following obituary article: 

"On Friday, the 31st ult., departed 
this life at Wrightstown, in the county 
of Bucks, John Wilkinson, Esq., in the 
seventy-first j-ear of his age, after a long 
and painful illness, and on the Sunday 
following his remains were interred in 
the Friends' burying ground, the fun- 
eral being attended by a very large con- 
course of people of all denominations. 
Mr. Wilkinson was a man of very repu- 
table abilities and of a sound judgment, 
scrupulously just in all of his transac- 
tions, free from bigotry to religion or to 
party, and a friend to merit whenever it 
was found. As a companion, a friend, a 
neighbor, a master, an husband, a father, 
a guardian to the orphan and the wid- 
ow, his life was amiable and exemplary. 
He served his people m several import- 
ant offices with fidelity and applause, 
under the old constitutions as well as the 
new. His conduct in the present Revo- 
lution was such as entitled him to the 
peculiar esteem of all the friends of this 
country, but it drew on him the rage of 
enthusiastic bigots. 

"He was born and educated among 
the people called Quakers, and was a 
member in full standing in the Wrights- 
town Meeting. His life was an orna- 
ment to the Society. 

"He mingled not in idle strife and 
furious debates, but lived as became a 
Christian, studying peace with all men. 

"His principles led him to believe that 
defensive war was lawful. He was 
strongly attracted to a republican form 
of government and the liberties of the 
people, and when Great Britain, by her 
folly and wickedness, made it necessary 
to oppose her measures from judgment 
and principle he espoused the cause of 
his country. He was unanimously chosen 
a member of our convention, and after- 
wards served in the Assembly with zeal 
and integrity, becoming a freeman and 
a Christian. 

"This unhappily aroused the resent- 
ment of the Society with which he was 
connected, so that one committee after 
another were dealing with him and per- 
secuting him to give a testimonial re- 
nunciation of what they were pleased 
to consider as errors of his political 
life, though there was no rule or order 
of the meeting which made his conduct 
a crime. 

"This demand he rejected although 
as tending to belie his own conscience, 
but at length, worried with their impor- 
tunities, weakened by the growing in- 
firmities of age. and fondly hoping that, 
his country might dispense with his serv- 
ices, he consented to promise that he 



would hold no other appointments under 
the constitution. 

"This seemed to be satisfactory for 
a time, but, when Sir William Howe be- 
gan his victorious march through Penn- 
sylvania, a more pressing sense of duty 
urged his brethren to renew their visit, 
while his dear son lay dying in his 
house, and to demand an immediate 
and preemptory renunciation of his past 
conduct. 

"Provoked by this indecent and unfeel- 
ing application he gave them a decisive 
answer, and preferred the honest dictates 
of his conscience to his membership in 
the meeting and was, for his patriotism 
alone, formally expelled as unworthy of 
Christian fellowship. 

"The testimony of the meeting against 
him on this occasion was heretofore pub- 
lished in this paper. We trust he is 
now in those mansions where the wicked 
cease from troubling and the weary are 
at rest." 

Colonel Wilkinson was twice married. 
By his first wife, Mary Lacy, married 
3 mo. 21, 1740, who was a sister to 
General John Lacey, he had five chil- 
dren: Mary, born in 1741, married Steph- 
en Twining; John, married Jane Chap- 
man; Stephen, James and iCachel, all 
died unmarried. By his second wife, Han- 
nah Hughes, (born 3 mo. 7, 1742, mar- 
ried 2 mo., 1770. died April 18, 1791), he 
had four children : Martha, who married 
a Bennett; Ann Lucy, married General 
Samuel A. Smith; Hannah, who married 
!May 22, 1796. Abner Reeder, and re- 
moved to Trenton, and Colonel Elisha 
Wilkinson. Hannah Hughes, the sec- 
ond wife of Colonel John Wilkinson, 
was a daughter of Professor Mathew 
Hughes, Jr., (he was lieutenant-colonel 
of the Associated Regiment' of Bucks 
county, 1747-8) and Elizabeth Steven- 
son, married March 17, 1733, the latter 
being a daughter of Thomas Stevenson 
and Sarah Jennings, and granddaughter 
of Thomas Stevenson, of Newtown, Long 
Island, and Elizabeth Lawrence, daugh- 
ter of Colonel William Lawrence. 
Sarah Jennings was a daughter 
of Governor Samuel Jennings, of 
New Jersey. Mathew Hughes, Sr., the 
grandfather of Hannah Wilkinson, was 
a very prominent man in Buckingham, 
Bucks county, a member of assembly, 
justice, etc. His wife was Elizabeth 
(Biles) Beaks, daughter of William Biles, 
provincial counsellor, and widow of 
Stephenson Beaks, the record of whom is 
noted elsewhere in this volume. 

The Wilkinsons now residing in Bucks 
county are principally the descendants 
of John and Jane (Chapman) Wilkinson, 
who had children, John, Abraham. Elias 
and Amos. John, the father of these 
children, died in 1778, and on his death- 
bed received from his father a deed for 
one hundred and fifty acres of the old 
homestead, that part of his grandfather's 



1/4 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



purchase lying in Warwick township, 
and it lias descended from father to son 
to the present day, being now occupied 
by Charles T. Wilkinson, a grandson of 
Abraham, the son of John and Jane 
(Chapman) Wilkinson. (See sketch of 
â– Charles T. Winkinson in this volume.) 
Colonel Elisha Wilkinson, born 1772, 
died March 15, 1846, youngest son of 
John and Hannah (Hughes) Wilkinson, 
became a very prominent man in Bucks 
county. He was lieutenant-colonel of 
the Ihirty-lirst Regiment Pennsylvania 
militia, as early as 1807, and hlled that 
position and that of colonel for many 
years. He was sheriff of Bucks county 
for the term of 1809-1811. During the 
war of 1812-14 he was quarter-master" 
of the Second Division, First Brigade, 
Pennsylvania militia, of which his 
brother-in-law, General Samuel A. 
Smith, was brigadier-general. He later 
became assistant quartermaster general 
of Pennsylvania Volunteer militia. He 
was proprietor of the inn at Bushington 
from 1S05 to 1809, and from 181 1 to 
1836 of the popular hotel at Centreville, 
Buckingham township. He was a man 
of fine appearance and a great horse- 
man. He introduced into Bucks county 
a very fine breed of Arabian horses, and 
maintained a track near his tavern, 
where his blooded colts were broken 
and trained. He was twice married, first 
on April II, 1792, to Anna Dungan, 
xjaughter of Elias and Diana (Carrell) 
Dungan, of Northampton township, who 
bore him four children : John A., a mem- 
ber of the Doylestown bar, wTio died in 
1830; Ogden D., see forward. B'C'ei«U6T^ 
born March 22, 1794, married October 
18, 181 1, Crispin Blackfan, who was 
prothonotary of Bucks count}' in 1821- 
4, and later removed to Trenton, New 
Jersey. '':^«iiT»lY died >Iay 8, 1818, and 
Blackfan married her sister, ^ffMlftjk. 
born August 14, 1796, died December 
6, 1858. Anna (Dungan) Wilkinson 
died May 31, 1810, aged thirty-six years, 
and Colonel Elisha married (second) 
Maria Whiteman, by whom he had six 
children: I. Sarah Ann, who died at 
Trenton. New Jersey, in 1880, unmar- 
ried; 2. Ross Wilkinson, who was edu- 
â– cated at West Point, and served as a ma- 
jor during the civil war, and after its 
close purchased a plantation in Louisi- 
ana, where he died in 1880. He was Uni- 
ted States .marshal of the district at the 
time of his death. He married Hannah 
Ann Folwell, of Philadelphia, and had 
two children; his son, Henry Clay Wilk- 
inson, was also educated at West Point, 
and was adjutant of Coloney Woodman's 
Forty-fourth Regiment Pennsylvania 
Volunteers during the civil war. 3. 
Samuel Smith Wilkinson left Bucks 
countj' and settled in Dallas, Texas, 
where he died, February 26, 1879. 4. 
Edward Blackfan Wilkinson, was a dent- 
ist, and located at Huntsville, Alabama. 



He died of cholera, while on a visit to 
Paris, France, June 20, 1854., at the age 
of twenty-five years, and is buried at 
Mount Parnasse, Paris. 5. Elisha, died 
in infancy. 6. Algernon Logan Wilkin- 
son, born October 22, 1821, settled in 
Huntsville, Alabama, in 1844, where he 
practiced medicine, married, and reared 
a family of children. 

Anna (Dungan) Wilkinson belonged to 
one of the oldest families in Pennsyl- 
vania'. Her father, Elias Dungan, was a 
soldier during the Revolution, and a 
prominent member and deacon of South- 
ampton. Baptist church. He was a son 
of Clement and Eleanor Dungan. and a 
grandson of Jeremiah and Elizabeth 
(Drake) Dungan, and a great-grand»on 
of Rev. Thomas and Elizabeth (Weav- 
er) Dungan, who came from Rhode Isl- 
and in 1684, and established th^ first 
Baptist church in Bucks county. (See 
Dungan Family). 

Ogden Dungan Wilkinson, second son 
of Colonel Elisha and Anna (Dungan) 
AVilkinson, was born in Bucks county, 
1807; married, March 6, 1834, Sarah 
Snowhill Dill, born August 16, 1801, 
daughter of George Dill and Ann Red- 
inger, who were married at Germantown, 
February 6, 1797, she being the daughter 
of John Redinger and Elizabeth Beker, 
who were married February 14, 1758. 
George Dill was the son of John and 
Elizabeth Dill; his father, John Dill, 
was an officer during the Revolutionary 
war. George Dill was born February 
7, 1772, settled in Trenton, New Jersey, 
and April 2, 1798, purchased his home- 
stead property. He was one of the larg- 
est real estate holders in Trenton, and 
did much to build up and improve the 
city. He was interested in numerous 
business enterprises, was one of the 
founders of the Mechanics' Bank and for 
some years its president. Ogden Dun- 
gan Wilkinson moved to Trenton, New 
Jersey, in 1832. He and his brother- 
in-law, Crispin Blackfan, builf the Dela- 
ware and Raritan Canal, from Trenton 
to New Brunswick. They were many 
years in business together and opened 
up and built up much of the cit^^ 

Ogden Wilkinson (or Colonel Wilkin- 
son, as he was known, he having been 
colonel of militia), was one of Trenton's 
most influential citizens. He was inter- 
ested in many of the business enterprises 
and acted as director of several of the 
banks and filled other local as well as 
municipal positions of trust. He died 
August 24, 1866. His wife died Febru- 
ary 16. 1891. They were the parents of 
several children, only one of whom, 
Frederick Redinger, survived infancy. 

Frederick Redinger Wilkinson, Only 
surviving child of Ogden D. and Sarah 
Snowhill (Dill) Wilkinson, was born in 
Trenton June 9, 1837; and graduated 
from Princeton, in the class of 1857. He 
married, January 24, i860. Harriet Sarah 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



/ D 



Folwell, born December 13, 1839, daugh- 
ter of Robert Folwell and Harriet Gra- 
ham. Robert Folwell, born April 5, 1800, 
died July 10, 1875, was son of Nathan and 
Rebecca (Iredell) Folwell; Harriet Gra- 
ham, born April 24, 181 5, died January 
18, 1S42, was daughter of Thomas and 
Sarah (Lasher) Graham. Thomas Gra- 
ham was a son of Michael Graham, and 
Margaret Kittera, daughter of Thomas 
Kittera. 

Frederick R. Wilkinson was a lawyer 
and resided in Trenton, New Jersey, but 
owing to his large real estate interests 
did not practice. He was actively inter- 
ested in a number of financial enterpris- 
es, was for many 3-ears director of the 
Mechanics' Bank and the People's and 
Standard Fire Insurance companies, and 
held a number of important positions 
both in private and municipal affairs. He 
was one of the influential men of the 
city. He died December 30, 1883. They 
were the parents of three children, two 
â– of whom are now living. Ogden Dungan, 
the subject of the sketch; and Eliza- 
beth Dill, wife of Louis Gompertz, 
now living in Paris, France; they are the 
parents of four children: Harriet, Helen, 
Ogden and Francisque. 

Ogden D. Wilkinson, son of Frederick 
Redinger and Harriet (Folwell) Wilk- 
inson, was born in Trenton, New Jer- 
sey, May 2, 1863, and now resides at 
2031 Walnut street, Philadelphia. His 
early education was acquired at Chel- 
tenhan Academy, and at Tivoli Military 
Academy. He later spent some tinie 
abroad, and attended Mr. Edward Foazy's 
school at Geneva, Switzerland. On his 
return to America he attended Phillips- 
Andover Academy and the University 
of Pennsylvania. At the conclusion of 
his University course, he read law, but 
the care of the large family interests, 
most of which consisted of valuable real 
estate in the citj^ of Trenton, have al- 
most entirely engrossed his attention, 
and he has of late years devoted his 
entire attention to the improvement o^ 
the propert}- there. He has built and 
owns some of the most valuable and 
important buildings m the business cen- 
tre of Trenton, among them bemg the 
new State Street Theatre, said to be 
one of the most complete and attractive 
play houses in the State. The large 
department store opposite the postoffice; 
the Wilkinson building; the Hotel Ster- 
ling; and many others. Among the most 
extensive and attractive of Mr. Wilkin- 
sont's building operations, is Wilkinson 
Place, a very attractive residence portion 
of the thriving city of Trenton, consist- 
ing of two large apartment houses and 
forty-five very attractive and stylish 
dwellings. While not a resident of 
Trenton, having large "interests there, he 
is deeply interested in the aflfairs of the 
citv. and in its improvement and devel- 
opment and spends much of his time there. 



In Philadelphia he has been for many 
years quite actively interested in the 
patriotic societies of that city, and has 
from time to time acted as a member of 
the councils of most of them. He. is a 
member of the Pennsylvania Society of 
Sons of the Revolution; the Founders 
and Patriots' Society; Colonial Society 
of Pennsylvania, of which he is a mem- 
ber of the council; Society of the War of 
1812; member and secretary of Pennsyl- 
vania Commandery, Military Order of 
Foreign Wars; member of the Order 
of Albion; the Genealogical Society of 
Pennsylvania; Historical Society o^ 
Pennsylvania; Bucks County Historicaf 
Society; Society of Descendants of Co- 
lonial Governors; Union League Club 
of Philadelphia; New York Yacht Club; 
and of the Corinthian Yacht Club of 
Philadelphia, of which he was a found- 
er and its first vice-commodore, and for 
several years commodore. He owned 
the schooners "Lydia" and "Speranza," 
and the steam yacht "Speranza." 

During the Spanish-American war Mr. 
Wilkinson, after offering his services to 
the volunteer navy, assisted in organiz- 
mg the Wetmore Regiment, which was 
tendered to the United States, but, not 
bemg accepted, was finally distributed 
among the several National Guard regi- 
nients, and was a great factor in bring- 
ing the old regiments up to the new 
standard of efficiency. Mr. Wilkinson 
was later first lieutenant and commis- 
sary of the 'Nineteenth Regiment, Na- 
tional Guard of Pennsylvania, which 
was formed as a provisional regiment 
for the Spanish American war. Colonel 
O. C. Bosbyshell, commanding, and was 
later commissioned captain and quarter- 
master of the same regiment, and was 
mustered out with the regiment after 
the close of the war. Mr. Wilkinson is 
a director of the Broad Street National 
Bank of Trenton, and of the Standard 
Fire Insurance Company of the same 
city. 

He was married, April 4. 1883 to Sara 
Jane Taylor, daughter of Robert and 
Sarali Taylor, of Philadelphia, and they 
are the parents of two children: Sarah 
Dill, born December 30, 1883, and Eliza- 
beth, born January 3, 1888. 



SCARBOROUGH FAMILY. The 
family of Scarborough is an old one. and 
doubtless derived its name from the lo- 
cality where its early progenitors resided 
■"^•hen surnames first came to be used. 
Scarborough Castle, an old Norman 
fortress in Yorkshire, England, is built 
on a high, narrow, rocky promontory, 
extending seaward about a half-mile, at 
the foot o vhich the ancient seaport of 
the same name is nestled in a sheltered 
nook along South Bay. The modern 
town of Scarborough is now a noted 
watering place of about 40.000 inhabi- 



1/6 



HISTORY OP BUCKS COUNTY. 



tants, and a few families of the name of 
Scarborough still reside there. The 
name is derived from its location, tlie 
word Scear, or Scaur, meaning a i,harp 
rock or crag, and "burg,' or borough, 
meaning a town or fortress, the combi- 
nation indicating and literally meaning 
a town or fort on or near the crags or 
rocks. Xhe arms of the family consist 
of a castle by the sea, a beacon tlaming 
on its turrets, the sun rising in the east, 
and a manned ship at anchor. 

Several representatives of the family, 
at that time scattered over different parts 
of England, emigrated to America dur- 
ing the period of the early settlement 
of the colonies, one settling in Boston, 
Massachusetts, another in Connecticut, 
and still another on the eastern shore of 
Virginia. Edward Scarborough was the 
first surveyor general of Virginia. 
Charles Scarborough was the physician 
to King Charles I. 

The earliest known progenitor of the 
Bucks county family of Scarborough 
was John Scarbrough, of the parish of 
St. Sepulchre's, London. He was known 
there as a blacksmith and coachmaker. 
He was a member of Peel Monthly 
Meeting of Friends, whose place of wor- 
ship was in Peel Court, near 65 St. John 
street. He is referred to in the minutes 
of this meeting under date of 10 mo. 26, 
1677. He signed his name "Scar- 
brough," as did his descendants until 
about 1800, although in the body of the 
papers executed by them the lawyers 
and conveyancers frequently wrote the 
name "Scarborough." The Scarborough, 
Scarboro, Scarbrough, Scardeburg and 
Scarburg families are probably of one 
descent. 

On 7 mo. 4, 1682, he purchased of 
William Penn 250 acres of land to be 
laid out in Pennsylvania, and embarked 
for the Deleware to locate his purchase 
and prepare a home for his family in 
the new province. He left his wife in 
England, but took with him his only 
<r son John, then a youth. The 250 acres 
were surveyed to him in Middletown 
township, near the present site of Lang- 
horne, where he was one of the first set- 
tlers. After remaining for two years 
and preparing a rude home in the wil- 
derness, he embarked for England with 
the intention of bringing over his wife, 
leaving his son in the care of a Friend 
until he was able to take charge of his 
father's farm. His wife, not being* a 
Quaker, declined to come to Pennsyl- 
vania, and, the persecution of Friends 
having somewhat abated, he decided to 
remain in England and never return to 
America. In 1696 he executed and sent 
to his son John a power of attorney to 
convej'^ his lands in Bucks county. His 
early experiences among the Indians 
are mentioned on page 222 of vol. i. of 
Proud's "History of Pennsylvania.'" He 
died 5, mo. 21, 1706, aged sixty years. 



John Scarbrough, Jr., remained in 
Bucks county, when his father returned 
to England in 1684. His actual residence 
from that date until 1689, when he is 
shown to have been residing at Nesham- 
iny, (the name by which Middletown 
Meeting was first known, as well as the 
locality), is somewhat a matter of con- 
jecture. A sketch published at page 
244, vol. 29, of "The Friend," states that 
he was born in London in 1667. Samuel 
Preston, a great-grandson, born in 1756, 
in a letter written in 1823, says that he 
ran away when a youth and resided sev- 
eral years among the Indians, learned 
their language, and later ofticiated at 
Indian treaties as interpreter. It is said 
that at one time he was instrumental in 
preventing an Indian war. He is known 
to have been a great friend of the Indi- 
ans, and is said to have visited them on 
religious missions. He married about 
1690, but, though he was an active mem- 
ber of Middletown Meeting, the maiden 
name of his wife Mary has never been 
ascertained. On the records of this 
meeting appear the dates of the birth 
of four of his children, his eldest child 
William being born 10 mo. 30, 1691. 
In pursuance of the power of attorney 
from his father, he sold the Middletown 
land and obtained a warrant of survey 
for 510 acres in Solebury, on which he 
settled about 1700, exchanging it later 
for 820 acres adjoining. The 510 acre 
tract is at the present time bounded as 
follows, viz: Beginning at the Five 
Points, and thence extending 250 
perches along the road leading toward 
Lahaska, to the first right hand road, 
thence along the latter road 324 perches 
to the road leading from Carversville 
to Aquetong, thence along this road 250 
perches to the Mountain road, thence 
along that road to the place of begin- 
ning. The 820 acre tract began at a point 
where the Lower York road crossed the 
eastermost boundary' of the 510 acre 
tract, and thence extended northwest- 
ward 410 perches to the Upper York 
road, thence along that road 324" perches 
to a road located between the present 
Solebury Creamery and Centre Hill, 
thence along this latter road, southeast, 
410 perches to a point and thence 
southwest 324 perches to the place of be- 
ginning. A sketch published on page 
244 of Volume 29 of the "Friend" in- 
dicates that he was the first white man 
to settle in the Buckingham-Solebury 
valley. On 6 mo. 5, 1702, he and John 
Bye requested that a Meeting be set 
apart at Buckingham, and Falls' IVIonth- 
ly Meeting consented that a First Day 
Meeting be held at the house of Thomas 
Bye. The Quarterlj^ Meeting records 
mention him as a minister and also in a 
list of "Friends eminent for their piety 
and virtue since their settlement in 
America." He was an elder of Bucking- 
ham Meeting prior to its establishment 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



177 



into a Monthly Meeting, and later one of 
its leading ministers. He died on his 
Solebury plantation, I mo. 27, 1727, de- 
vising it and the "Liberty Lot" at Fifth 
and Spruce streets, Philadelphia, patent- 
ed to him in 1705, in right of his father's 
purchase of 250 acres, to his sons, Will- 
iam, John and Robert. He was one of' 
the commissioners appointed by the 
Pennsylvania assembly in 1711 to lay out 
the York road fr.om Reading's Ferry, 
now Centre Bridge, to Philadelphia. The 
children of John and Mary Scarbrough 
were as follows: 

1. William, born 10 mo. 30, 1691; died 
4 mo. 1727, married Mary; see forward. 

2. Sarah, born 2 mo. 4, 1694, died 3 
mo. 4, 1748, married (first), 9 mo. 28, 
1710/ George Haworth, and settled in 
Upper Buckingham, where Mr. Haworth 
died in 1730, and she married (second) 
Mathew Hall, a native of Staffordshire, 
by whom she had four children: David, 
Mahlon, !\larger3' and Sarah. From 
Mahlon, who married Jane Higgs in 
1757. is descended a numerous family 
of Hall in Bucks county. George and 
Mary (Scarbrough) Haworth had five 
children: Stephanus, George, Absalom, 
James, and Mary, who married John 

Michener. George married Martha 

and died in Solebury without issue. The 
other three boys moved to the Shen- 
andoah valley, Virginia. 

3. iSIary Scarbrough, born 8 mo. 8, 
1695, married 10 mo. 1712, Samuel Pick- 
ering. An account of their descendants 
is given elsewhere in this volume. 

4. Susannah Scarbrough, born 5 mo. 
19. 1697, married in 1718, Richard 
Brock, and died before her father, leav- 
ing children: John, Elizabeth, Mary 
and Susannah. 

5. Elizabeth Scarbrough, married 10 
mo. 29, 1719. John Fisher. They located 
on a farm adjoining the Haworths near 
Carversville, where were born their ten 
children: Robert; Sarah, married Mor- 
decai Michener; John; Elizabeth, mar- 
ried Thomas Stradling; Hannah, married 
Paul Preston; Joseph, married Ann 
Gary; Deborah, married Joseph Burgess; 
Barbara; Samuel, married Margaret 
Dawes; and Katharine, married William 
Hartley. 

6. Hannah Scarbrough, born 8 mo. 
31, 1704, died 2 mo. 21, 1743. married 
Benjamin Fell. See Fell Family. 

7. John Scarbrough married Jane Mar- 
gerum in 1731. but died childless. He re- 
sided on the present farm of Wilson 
Pearson in Solebury, and Avas a very 
eminent minister among Friends from 
the vear 1740 to his death. 5 mo. 5, 1769, 
in his sixty-sixth year, traveling exten- 
sively in .the ministry in New Jersey, 
Virginia, and North Carolina. A sketch 
of him is printed on page 274 of Cruik- 
shank's ^Memorials. 

8. Robert, the youngest son of John 
and Mary Scarbrough, inherited from 

12-3 



his father a farm of 157 acres in Sole- 
bury, located opposite the present Sole- 
bury Creamery, on which he resided un- 
til 1737, when he sold it and removed 
with his wife Elizabeth and two chil- 
dren, John, born II mo. 28, 1734, and 
Elizabeth born' 9 mo. 18, 1736, to the 
Shenandoah valley in Virginia, taking a 
certificate to Opeckon, now Hopewell 
Monthly Meeting; at Winchester, Vir- 
ginia. Another son James was born in 
Virginia, and became prominent in the 
affairs of that section. His son John was 
an officer in different Virginia regiments 
throughout the revolutionary war. 
James and his children settled along the 
headwaters of Indian creek, a branch of 
the New river in Greenbrier county, 
now Monroe county, West Virginia. 
Som€ of his descendants still reside in 
Fayette county. West Virginia, and spell 
their names Scarbrough. 

John Scarbrough, eldest son of Rob* 
ert, returned to Solebury in 1757, and on 
5 mo. 5, 1760, took a certificate to 
Wrightstown to- marry Margaret Kirk, 
daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth 
(Twining) Kirk, and soon after removed 
with his wife to a tract of land owned 
by her father in Springfield township, 
where Margaret died, and her husband 
and children returned to Wrightstown in 
1779- John Scarbrough married (sec- 
ond), 10 mo. II, 1779, Johanna Cahoon, 
a widow. In 1791 he purchased of Cris- 
pin Pearson 103 acres of the land orig- 
inally taken up by his grandfather, John 
Scarbrough, in 1700, in Solebury, and 
is still owned and occupied by his great- 
grandson, Isaac P. Scarborough. 

The children of John a;id Margaret 
(Kirk) Scarbrough were as follows: I, 
John, born 5 mo. 6, 1761, married Eliza- 
beth Kelly, and settled in Cecil county, 
Maryland; Robert, born 3 mo. 9, 1763, 
married Ann Paxson; Rachel, born 5 
mo. 8, 1765, married Ajax Osmond; 
Joseph, born 2 mo. 15, 1767, married 
Sarah Hartley, died 6 mo. 21, 1813; Is-' 
aac, born 5 mo. 8, 1769, married Amy 
Pearson; Elizabeth, born 11 mo. 30, 1772, 
married Thomas Hartle}'; Charity, born 
11 mo. 5, 1774, married Mahlon Hart- 
ley, and settled at Quaker City, Guern- 
sey county, Ohio. John Scarbrough 
died in Solebury in 1813, all the above 
named children surviving him. 

Isaac Scarbrough. fourth son of John 
and Margaret (Kirk) Scarbrough, born 
5 rro. 8. 1769, married 12 mo. 24, 1794, 
Amy Pearson, daughter of Crispin and 
Hannah (Willson) Pearson, who was 
born in Solebur3', 10 mo. 10, 1769, and 
died 10 mo. 8, 1835. In 1809 his father 
conveyed to Isaac Scarbrough the Pear- 
son farm purchased in 1791, where he 
lived through the active j^ears of his 
life. He subsequently lived with his 
son Elijah W^ilson Scarborough near 
Stony Hill school house, where he died 
10 mo. 24, 1851, and is buried at Buck- 



178 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ingham Friends burying ground. Though 
he married "out of unity" he was sub 
sequently forgiven this offense against 
their discipline, and remained a meml)er 
of Friends' Meeting through life. In 
politics he was first a Federalist but 
later a Whig. The children of Isaac 
and Amy (Pearson) Scarbrough were: 
Crispin, born lo mo. 31, 1/95; John, 
born 2 mo. 13, 1797; William, born 4 mo. 
22i< I799> married Martha K. Past; Asa, 
born 9 mo. 12, 1800, died 11 mo. 24. 
1800; Cynthia, born 11 mo. 17, 1801, 
married Joseph Large; Isaac, born 7 mo. 
I, 1804, married Mercy Pearson; Charles, 
born 10 mo. 6, 1806, died 11 mo. 26, 1839. 
He served under General Sam. Houston 
in the war between Texas and Mexico, 
was captured, and with eleven others 
drew black beans which meant that he. 
was to be shot. They escaped at night 
and after being twelve days without 
food reached friends. His daughter, Mrs 
Dorothea Ann Burks, and her children 
reside at Kerrville, Kerr county, Tex- 
as. Amy, born 10 mo. 16, 1806, married 
Watson' Smith; Pearson, born 4 mo. 7, 
1813, married Hannah Worstall, died 2 
mo. 7, 1874; and Elijah Wilson, born 
10 mo. 7, 1817, married Sarah Adams. 
Crispin, the eldest son, married Mary 
Shaw, and they were the parents of Mrs. 
Isaiah Quinby, of Lumberville, Penn- 
sylvania. John, married Hannah Reed- 
er, and their children were: Reeder, of 
Wrightstown; Kirk, of Falls; Elizabeth, 
wife of Dr. George W. Adams; Cynthia, 
wife of Oliver H. Holcombe; Amy Ann, 
wife of William Buckman; Alfred, and 
Dr. John W. Scarborough, late of New 
Hope. William Scarborough settled in 
Buckingham adjoining the meeting 
house where he died in 1875; one of his 
daughters, Maria, married J. Watson 
Case, and is still living with her son, 
Edward G. Case, in Doylestown. 

Isaac Scarborough, fourth son o£ 
Isaac and Amy (Pearson) Scar- 
borough, born 7 mo. T, 1804, married 
Mercy Wilkinson, daughter of Crispin 
and Elizabeth (Wilkinson) Pearson, of 
Solebury, who was born 7 mo. 3, 1810, 
and died 10 mo. 16, 1884. In 1853 he 
purchased the homestead farm and lived 
thereon during the active years of his 
life, retiring late in life to a lot adjoin- 
ing the farm, at Canada Hill, where he 
died 3 mo. 22, 1883. In politics he was 
a Wiiig, and later a Republican, and 
boasted 'that he never missed a presi- 
dential election. Though neither he nor 
his wife were members of Friends Meet- 
ing, they always affiliated with the 
Friends, and used the plain language. 
The children of Isaac and Mercy 
(Pearson) Scarborough were: Amy El- 
len, who died young; Watson, born 4 mo. 
24, 1839, fl'cd TO mo. 6, 1903; Elizabeth, 
born 10 mo. 11, iSio, married Richard 
C. Betts: Mercy Ellen, born 7 mo. 5, 
1843, married Isaac C. Thomas, died 



8 mo. 27, 1886; Isaac Pearson, born 7 
mo. 24, 1846, married Emma Hampton, 
still living on the old homestead in 
Solebury; and Margaret, who died in in- 
fancy. 

Watson Scarborough, eldest son of 
Isaac and Mercy (Pearson) Scar- 
borough, married, i mo. i, 1868, Anna 
M., daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth 
(Wismer) Stover, of Carversville, Penn- 
sylvania, and took up his residence on 
one of his father's farms near Lumber- 
ville, known as "The Whittier Farm" 
« from the fact that the poet, John Green- 
leaf Whittier, once spent a summer 
there. In the fall of 1890 he retired to 
Carversville, where he died 10 mo. 6, 
1903. In politics he was a Republican. 
His wife was a member of the Chris- 
tian church at Carversville. Watson and 
Anna (Stover) Scarborough were the 
parents of one child, Henry Wismer 
Scarborough. 

Henry W. Scarborough was born 
in Solebury, 7 mo. 24, 1870. He received 
his preliminary education at the Green 
Hill school at Lumberville, entered the 
West Chester Normal School, from 
which he graduated in 1890. In 1894 he 
received the degree of B. S. from Haver- 
ford College, and in 1895 the degree of 
M. A. In 1896 he graduated from the 
law department of the University of 
Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the 
bars of Bucks and Philadelphia counties. 
He at once began the practice of his 
profession in Philadelphia, with offices 
at 522 Walnut street, and has met with 
marked success, being one of the rising 
young attorneys of the Philadelphia 
bar. He also practices at the bar of his 
native county. He is a professor of com- 
mercial law and the law of real property 
and conveyancing at the Temple Col- 
lege. He married 7 mo. 20, 1904, Clara 
Hagerty, daughter of ex-County Treas- 
urer Jacob Hagerty, of Plumsteadville, 
Bucks county, by his wife Mary (Lan- 
dis) Hagerty. A son, Jacob Watson 
Scarborough, was born in Germantown, 
Philadelphia, 4 mo. 30, 1905. 



SCARBOROUGH FAMILY. William 
Scarborough, eldest son of John and * 
Mary Scarborough, and grandson of 
John Scarborough, of St. Sepulchre par- 
ish, London, England, was born in Mid- 
dletown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
December 30, 1691, and removed with 
his parents to Solebury township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, when a lad of ten 
years. He was a "turner" bj- trade, 
which probably implied a cabinet maker 
and all grades of local wood working, as 
well as that of a wheelwright, which 
latter trade he is known to have lol- 
lowed. On arriving at manhood he mar-, 
ried and settled on a tract of sixty acres 
conveyed to him by his father in 1724, 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



179 



part of a tract of 520 acres taken up by 
the latter in 1701. He died a few months 
after his father, sometime between the 
date of his will, April 27, 1727, and the 
date of its proof, September 24 of the 
same year. His wife's name is un- 
^ known, and as she is not mentioned in 
'his will, and a minor son is directed to 
reside with his uncle John during mi- 
nority, it is presumed that she died short- 
ly before her husband. His children 
were: William, who died without issue 
in 1783; Euclides, Lydia, Martha, and 
Sarah. The latter married a Stradling, 
and another daughter married a Smith. 
Euclides Scarborough, second son of 
William, was born in Solebury, and was 
a minor at the death of his father. By 
the will of the latter he was directed to 
"be apprenticed to John Heed "to learn 
the art of making German Wheels." 
Whether the parental direction was fol- 
lowed does not appear. He did learn 
the trade of a blacksmith, and followed 
it for many years in Solebury in con- 
nection with farming. He inherited from 
h\s father the homestead of sixty acres 
of land, but in 1746 sold it and purchased 
two tracts of over one hundred acres of 
his brother William. In 1762 he re- 
purchased the sixty acre homestead, 
and probably resided thereon until 1770, 
although he later purchased one hundred 
and sixty acres in the present limits of 
New Hope borough of John Coryell, 
which he sold at different periods in 
tracts of forty-nine to seventy acres. In 
1770 he closed out all his real estate 
and removed with his wife Mary and all 
of his children, except Isaac, the eldest, 
to Maryland, where he died in 1808. 
The children of Euclides and Mary 
Scarborough, were as follows, all of 
whom were born in Solebury: Isaac, 
born in 1745; Euclides, died unmarried; 
James, who was twice married, and re- 
moved with his family to Ohio; Will- 
iam, Samuel, John, Joseph, Thomas, all 
of whom married and lived and died in 
Maryland; Mary, who married Reuben 
Jones; Sarah, who married Joseph Rog- 
ers; and Hannah, who married John 
Richards, all of Maryland. 

Isaac Scarborough, eldest son of 
. Euclides and IMary Scarborough, 
was born on the old homestead where 
his grandfather, William Scarborough, 
had lived and died, in the year 1745. Like 
his father he was a blacksmith, and fol- 
lowed that occupation through life in 
Solebury and Upper Makefield town- 
ships, dying in Solebury in 1825. He 
married Susan Dean, and' they were 
the parents of five children, viz: 
Enos Dean; Joseph; Elizabeth, mar- 
ried Joseoh Hartley; Sarah, married 
Thomas Sands; Mary, married Abra- 
ham Gray. Susan, the mother, dying, 
Isaac married (second) Rachel Lewis 
and had three children, — Thomas. Isaac, 
and Rachel. Joseph, the second son, 



^vas twice marned, first to a Sutton 
and second to Sarah Dudbridge; he had 
three chidren,— Sutton, who removed to 
Maryland; Mary, who married Samuel 
Rose; and Evelme, who married Dr 
George Twining. 

Enos D. Scarborough, eldest son of 
Isaac and Susan (Dean) Scarborough, 
was born in Upper Makefield township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1771. 
Like his father, grandfather, and great- 
great-grandfather he was a blacksmith, 
and a very expert mechanic. He received 
a good common school education and 
was a proficient penman. He lived most 
of his life in New Hope, where he fol- 
lowed his trade. He was at one time 
deputy sheriff of the county, and dur- 
mg that period resided in Doylestown. 
He married in 1798, Meribah Jackson, 
of Buckingham, whose ancestors were 
among the earliest English settlers in 
Bucks county. Enos D. and Meribah 
(Jackson) Scarborough, were the par- 
ents of nine children, as follows: i. Is- 
aac, born 1799, died in Hunterdon coun- 
ty. New Jersey, 1849; married Eliza 
Howell. 2. Joseph, born 1801, died at 
Milford, New Jersey, in 1877, married 
(first) Sarah Shamp, and (second) Ann 

-^- 3- William, born 1804, married 

(first) Elizabeth Shamp, and (second) 
Elrania Potts; died in Lambertville, 
New Jersey, in December, 1884. 4- Hi- 
ram, born January 19, 1806; see forward. 
5. Hannah, born 1S08, died 1864, married 
Jacob Donaldson of Philadelphia. 6. 
John, born 1810, died in infancy. 7. 
Susan, born July, 1812, died unmarried 
at Centre Bridge. Bucks county, Septem- 
ber 5. 1875. 8. Mary W., born Decem- 
ber 12. 1815, married Samuel Hall, of 
Doylestown, and died in Doylestown, 
February 18, 1879- 9- John, born 1818, 
removed to Indiana; was twice married 
and had a family. Meribah (Jackson) 
Scarborough died in 1821 at the age of 
forty-three years, and Enos D. married 

(second) Logan, by whom he had 

three sons; George W., and Andrew J. 
of Lambertville, New Jersey; and Enos 
D. Jr., who removed to Indiana. 

Hiram Scarborough, fourth son of 
Enos D. and Meribah (Jackson) Scar- 
borough, was born in New Hope, Janu- 
ary 19. 1806, and resided there most of 
his life. He learned the blacksmith 
trade with his father and followed that 
occupation until 1851, when he lost his 
right arm by the accidental discharge of 
a gun. He then became collector of 
tolls at the Delaware Bridge, and filled 
that position for thirty-five years. He 
was the confidential agent of the own- 
ers and had charge of the repairs and en- 
tire control of the bridge. He was also 
the proprietor of the shad fisheries at 
New Hope. In politics he was a Demo- 
crat, and took an active part in the coun- 
cils of his party. He served in the state 



i8o 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



legislature for tlie term of 1876-8. He 
was a man of good business ability and 
kindly disposition, and was widely and 
favorably known. He was a member of 
Lenni Lenape Lodge of Masons of Lam- 
bertville, New Jersey, and had taken 
most of the official degrees, and one of 
the oldest Odd P'ellows in' the state at 
his death. He was rectors warden in 
St. Andrews Episcopal church of Lam- 
bertville. New Jersey. He died in New 
Hope. March 12, 1888. His wife was 
Ann Jones, daughter of Joab and Eliza- 
beth (Fisher) Jones, the former a coop- 
er in Solebury township, and descend- 
ant of an old Bucks county family, and 
the latter a native of New Jersey. Ann 
Scarborough died in New Hope, April 
5, 1904. at the age of eighty years. The 
children of Hiram and Ann (Jones) 
Scarborough are: Rutledge T., residing 
in Lambcrtville, New Jersey; Isaac; 
Catharine, wife of Robert J. Morris, of 
New York; Fletcher D., of Trenton, 
New Jersey. 

Isaac Scarborough, of New Hope, is 
the second son of Hiram and Ann 
(Jones) Scarborough, and was born in 
New Hope. May 19, 1848, and acquired 
his education at the common schools 
there and at Trenton Business College. 
Almost from boyhood he has had charge 
of one of the fisheries formerly owned 
and operated by his father, and is still 
engaged in the fishery business. In 
politics he is a Democrat, and has al- 
ways taken an active part in local and 
countj' politics, filling many local offices 
and serving as delegate to district, 
county and state conventions. He is 
now serving his second term of five 
V years as justice of the peace. He is a 
member of Castle No. 136. Knights of 
the Golden Eagle. Mr. Scarborough 
married in 1871. Mary O'Brien of Lam- 
bertville, and they have been the parents 
of seven children, five of whom survive; 
Frank, of Lambertville, New Jersey; 
Hiram, of Philadelphia; Anna, at home; 
Andrew, telegraph operator for the P. 
& R. R. R. at New Hope; and Albert, 
a farmer in Solebury. 

Mrs. Robert James Morris, of New 
Hope, Bucks county, formerly Miss 
Catharine Scarborough, is the only 
daughter, of Hon. Hiram and Ann 
(Jones) Scarborough, an account of 
whose ancestry and life is briefl}^ sketch- 
ed in the preceding pages. She was 
born and reared in New Hope. In 1875 
she married Albert Wills Taylor, an 
eminent journalist, who for several 
years prior to his death, held a respon- 
sible position on the staff of the Phila- 
delphia Times. He died March 4. 1894. 
Mr. and Mrs. Taylor were the parents 
of two children; H. Ross Taylor, re- 
siding \\\i\\ his mother in New Hoi)e: 
and Albert Wills Taylor. Jr., who was 
a member of Battery O. First I'. S. 
Artillery, in the Spanish-AmericJ\n war. 



Mrs. Taylor married (second) Novem- 
ber 17, 1898, Robert James Morris, also 
a journalist by profession, who is em- 
ployed in Philadelphia. 



THE LARUE FAMILY. The LaRue 
family is of French origin, the name 
being originally Le Roy, and the imme- 
diate ancestors of the members of the 
family who came to New York province 
about 1680 were probably among the 
millions of French Huguenots who fled 
from their mother country about 1666- 
and took refuge in Switzerland and the 
Palatinate, many also migrating direct 
to America and England. About 1680 
Franz, Jacques, and Abraham Le Roy, 
probably all, and at least the last two 
brothers came from Manheim "In the 
Palz" an.d located in the Province of 
New York; Franz at or near the present 
site of Albany, New York, where there 
was a considerable colony of Huguenots 
under the leadership of Lois Du Bois, 
otherwise "Louis the Walloon." who had 
himself fled from France to Manheim in 
1658 and from there to America in 1660; 
Jacques, on the Hackensack, in Bergen, 
later Essex county, New Jersey; and 
Abraham, on Staten Island. 

Franz Le Roy married Celia Janse 
Damen, and his sons, Jonas and George 
went with the Ferrees to the Conestoga 
valley, and later located in York and 
Lebanon counties. He was also prob- 
ably the father of Abraham LaRue, who 
settled near Mififlinburg, in 1754. though 
tradition makes him a brother of Jean 
Jacques Le Roy, who was killed by the 
Indians in 1755, and his daughter Bar- 
bara carried into captivity as related by 
her and made part of the state archives. 
This Jean Jacques Le Roy came direct 
from Switzerland to America in 1750. 
Some of the descendants of Franz Le 
Roy Germanized the name into "Koe- 
nig" and later Anglicized it to "King." 
Bergen in his "Early Settlers of Kings 
County" makes the curious mistake of 
supposing that Franz Le Roy's wife 
Celia Janse Damen was twice married, 
first to Franz Koenig and later to Franz 
Le Roy. because his name is given in 
the two forms on the Dutch records of 
baptisms of his children. 

The marriage of Jacques Le Ro3\ at 
Bergen Dutch Reformed church, Janu- 
ary 2. t68i. to Wybregh Hendricks, 
states that he was "of Manheim in the 
Palz," as does also that of his sister 
Susanna to Thones Hendricks, May 20, 
1683, at the same church. This might 
niean that he was born at Manheim, or 
that he had recently arrived from there; 
the common practice with the Dutch 
being to give the place of birth, .\bout 
the time of his marriage, with other 
Huguenots, he helped to organize a 
"French Church" at Bergen, but later 
affiliated with the Dutch church where 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



i8i 



\ 



V 



â– y. 



his six children were baptised. He died 
in 1730, leaving ten children, all of whom 
seem to have remained in Bergen and 
Essex counties, New Jersey, and in New 
York. 

Abraham La Roe, as both he and his 
brother Jacques came later to spell their 
name, located on Staten Island where he 
was still residing when he made his will 
in 1702, though prior to 1712, when it 
is first offered for probate, he had re- 
moved to the neighborhood of Hopewell, 
then Burlington county, later Hunter- 
don, and now Mercer county, New Jer- 
sey. His will mentions his children, but 
not by name. From contemporary rec- 
ords we learn that his sons were: Peter, 
Abraham, Daniel, David and Isaac. The 
witnesses to the will, William Tillyer, 
Francis L'Roe, Louis DuBois, and Will- 
iam Grassett, being all either deceased 
or removed to such distance that their 
testimony could not be obtained, his 
will failed of probate and letters of ad- 
ministration were granted on June 14, 
1712, to his widow Olshe (Alice) who 
had been named as executrix and al- 
most sole legatee in the will. Olshe, 
Alshe, or Aiken, the wife of Abraham 
La Roe, was prior to her marriage to 
him the widow of Joshua Cresson, 
youngest son of Pierre Cresson, a na- 
tive of France, who had come to Amer- 
ica from Holland, where he had mar- 
ried a Dutch Woman, and located on 
Long Island. Joshua Cresson was bap- 
tised in 1658, and died prior to 1690, 
which later date is approximately that of 
the marriage of his widow to Abraham 
La Roe. The names of Peter, Abraham, 
Isaac and David La Rue appear on the 
tax lists of Hopewell township, in 
1722, and the first and last were 
contributors to a fund to purchase a 
plantation as a home for the pastor of 
Hopewell Presbyterian church in I7,3i- 
Abraham died in Hopewell "in the cor- 
poration of Trenton" leaving a will dat- 
ed February 26, 1747, and proved Feb- 
ruary 15, 1749. It mentions his wife 
Harmekie, and children; Abraham. Is- 
aac, Susannah, wife of Cornelius Slack; 
Altie, Catren (Catharine); another 
daughter, without giving her name, and 
Jacob. It devises his plantation in Hope- 
well to his sons. Abraham and Isaac, 
jointly at the death or marriage of his 
wife. Isaac was yet a minor. These 
sons. Abraham. Isaac and Jacob, are 
doubtless the three brothers referred 
to by Stapleton in his "Memorial of 
Huguenots," page 136, as the ancestors 
of the southern family of the name of 
La Rue; the first and last of whom he 
states were "pioneers in Kentucky, 
where LaRue county commemorates 
their name." If this be true, however, 
the date of their removal was consider- 
ably later than there given, as Isaac 
was still a minor and all were residents 
of Hunterdon county at the death of 



their father in 1747. "Isaac," he states, 
"born in Hunterdon county, New Jer- 
sey, in 1712, removed in 1743 to the 
Shenandoah valley and established the 
Virginia family of the name." David La- 
Rue died intestate in Hopewell town- 
ship, and letters of administration were 
granted on his estate to Abraham La- 
Rue, February 18, 1732; nothing is 
known of his descendants. The remain- 
ing three brothers; Peter, Daniel, and 
Isaac LaRue, all settled, at least for a 
time, in Bucks county. "Peter La Row," 
of Hopewell in the western division of 
New Jersey Yeoman, on December 11, 
1738, purchased of Abel Janney 288 acres 
in Makefield, and settled thereon, later 
purchasing 216 acres adjoining. On May 
16, 1749, he conveyed 258 acres, part of 
both tracts, to Nicholas Larzelere. the 
ancestor of the Bucks county family of 
that name, who at that date removed 
from Staten Island to Bucks county. 
No further record appears in Bucks 
county of Peter LaRue. Isaac LaRue 
evidently located in Bucks county at 
about the same date as his brother Peter. 
On October 6, 1743, he married, at Ab- 
ington Presbyterian church, Rebeckah 
Vansant. daughter of Jacobus Vansant, 
of Middletown. (See Vansant Family). 
He purchased land in Bensalem in 174S, 
and died there about 1760, leaving chil- 
dren: Rebecca, who married James Van 
Arsdalen; Abraham, Isaac and David, 
all of whom left descendants. 

Daniel LaRue, with whose descend- 
ants this narrative is chiefly interested, 
was without doubt a son of Abraham 
and Alshe (Alice) Cresson LaRoe, or 
Le Roy. of Staten Island, later of Hope- 
well, New Jersey. He was born on 
Staten Island in the year 1697, and was 
reared at Hopewell, where, as before 
stated he contributed to the support of 
Hopewell Presbyterian church in 1722. 
On June 15, 1751, the executors of Mark 
Watson, convey to "Daniel La Roe. of 
Hunterdon county. Province of West 
Jersey." 300 acres in Fall.s township, 
Bucks county. Pennsylvania, and on 
January 26, 1763. John Plumley conveys 
to "Daniel La Roc. of Falls township, 
Bucks county" 200 acres in Middletown 
township. He died in Middletown town- 
ship. February i. I79S. at the age of 
ninety-eight years, and is buried in the 
old Presbyterian burying ground in 
Bensalem. ' His wife was Ann Praul. 
who died October 23, 1776, at the age of 
sixty-two years, and is buried in the 
same cemetery. The will of "Daniel 
Larrew, the elder, of IMiddletown town- 
ship, dated March 19, 1786, and proven 
February 16. 1795. devised to son Abra- 
ham, five pds. "he already having had his 
share" Son Daniel the plantation where 
the testator then lived. 200 acres "bought 
of John Plumlev;" Son Moses the north- 
easterly part of the plantation in Falls. 
212 acres; Son Peter and Daughter Mary 



1 82 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Stillwcll the l);ilance of the Falls plan- 
tation; Daiighter-in-law Apama. widow 
of son David. 200 pounds if she have, 
issue. The children of Daniel and Ann 
(Praul) LaRue were: I. Peter LaRue, 
eldest son of Daniel and Ann, was born 
in 1732, and died August 3, 1797, is bur- 
ied at the Larzelere burying ground 
near Hulmeville, now Beechwood ceme- 
tery. He lived and died on the home- 
stead in Falls township, was probably 
never married, at least had no children. 
II. Abraham, born 1734, died March 26, 
1790. married Alice, daughter of Folek- 
ert Vandegrift, born April, 1731, died 
died September 24, 1801. They had chil- 
dren: Abraham; Anna, baptized at 
Southampton church in 1757, married 
John Larzelere; Elizabeth, married Gar- 
ret Vansant; and Eleanor, married Jo- 
seph Sackett. III. Mary LaRue, mar- 
ried, April 25. 1769, Captain Richard 
Stillwell, Qf the revolution, and had son 
Daniel. IV. Daniel LaRue, born 1737, 
died February 27, 1819, married. May 
21, 1763, Elizabeth Sutton, daughter of 
Daniel Sutton, of Burlington county. 
New Jersey, no issue. V. Moses La 
Rue, born 1744. died February 28, 179S, 
less than a month after the death of his 
father. He lived on a part of his father's 
plantation in Falls long before the de- 
cease of his father; probably from the 
date of his marriage, October 19, 1769, 
to Catharine Larzelere, daughter of 
Nicholas, before referred to as coming 
from Staten Island to Makefield. They 
were the parents of six sons : Jesse. Dan- 
iel, John, Moses. Nicholas and Aaron. 
See forward. VI. David LaRue. died 
late in 1785 or early in 1786 as his un- 
born child is referred to in the will of his 
father, March 19, 1786. He was a private 
in the company of his brother-in-law, 
Captain Richard Stillwell, Bucks county 
militia, in 1781. His widow Apama, 
married a Parsons. He had one child, 
Rebecca, born after his death. 

Of the children of Moses and Cath- 
arine (Larzelere) LaRue. Elizabeth, the 
only daughter, married a Mr. Carlile. 
Jesse, the eldest son, lived on the home- 
stead in Falls, where he died in 1814, 
leaving a widow Barbara, and eight chil- 
dren: Catharine, wife of John W. Van- 
degrift; Elizabeth, wife of Jonas Cox; 
Samuel; Marv Ann, wife of William Do- 
ble; Sarah Vandegrift; Julianna; Jesse 
and Martha. Daniel, the second son, was 
born September 9, 1774, and died April 
29, 1853. He was a carpenter, and a 
considerable land owner in Falls town- 
ship. He married, February 8. 1798, 
Elizabeth Vandegrift, born October 16, 
1777, died June 30, 1871, in her ninety- 
fourth year. Thev were the parents of 
eleven children. William, who married 
Sarah Palmer and is still livin.g; John, 
who married Rebecca Burton and died 
at the age of ninetv years; Sarah, who 
marrfe-d William Biles; .A^nn Eliza, died 



December 9, 1867, at the age of sixty- 
four years; Mary, who married Jonathan 
Burton and died at the age of eighty- 
eight years; Moses, wdio married Eliza- 
beth Russell and is living in Philadel- 
phia at the age of ninety-seven years; 
Harriet, died at the age of nineteen 
years; Caroline, who married Abraham 
English, of Trenton, New Jersey; Eliza- 
beth, who married Jesse Hellings and is 
living at the age of eighty-eight years. 
Susan, wlio married Tuni':; Hellings, 
brother of Jesse, and is liv- 
ing a-t the age of eighty-six 
years; and Catharine, who married 
Abraham Howell and is living at the age 
of eighty-five years. John, third son of 
Moses and Catharine LaRue, was a 
stone mason and lived in Byberry. He 
had children: Daniel, Marmaduke, Mary, 
wife of Joseph Knight, Ezra, Carey, 
Moses and Ann. Moses, the fourth son, 
mentioned hereinafter; Aaron, the fifth 
son, resided at Yardleville; he was 
county treasurer of Bucks county in 
1827. Nicholas, the yongest son, mar- 
ried Elizabeth Kinsey, and also resided' 
at Yardley; they had children: John 
Kinsey, and Mary. 

Moses La Rue, fourth son and fifth 
child of Moses and Catharine (Larzel- 
ere) LaRue, was born in Falls town- 
ship, Bucks county, November it, 1779, 
and -died at Newportville, Bristol town- 
ship, August 7, i860. He learned the 
trade of a coach maker early in life, 
and carried on an extensive business in 
carriage building at Newportville for 
many years. He was a prominent man 
in the community, serving for many 
years as a justice of the peace and filling 
the office of county treasurer in 1838.. 
He married Rachel Johnson, born June 
6, 1785, died July 19, 1852. and they 
were the parents of ten children as fol- 
lows: I. Mary, born August 28, 1803, 
married Lewis Reeder and removed to- 
Muncy, Pennsylvania. She died at 
Bridesburg, Pennsylvania, July 5, 1879. 
Children: Kate, Annie and Sarah. 2. 
Catharine, born August ^. 1805, married' 
1864, John Wright, of Tullytown, died 
August 31, 1883. No children. 3. Nicho- 
las, born October 14. 1807, died Philadel- 
phia, August 9, 1849, married Catharine 
M. Bunting, see forward. 4. Daniel, born 
August 25, 1809. 5. Peter Johnson,, born- 
January, 1812. died young. 6. George» 
born September 15. 1813. died March 8, 
1890, succeeded his father as carriage 
maker at Newportville, but later re- 
moved to Bristol where he died. He 
married first Christianna Headly, ont 
child. John H., of Bristol township. 
Married second, Sarah A. White, one 
child, Mnr}' Elizabeth, who marrie*d Dr. 
James Osman. 7. Sarah, born Febru- 
ary 14. i8t6. died February to. 1896,. 
married J. Hibbs Goforth, of Hulme- 
ville. One child, Catharine, single. 8. 
Rachel Ann. born April 22, 1S19, died 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



183 



May 30, 1865. married Kinsey Krewson. 
Children, Rachel Florence, William Em- 
ley, single, and Kate L., wife of James 
V. Randall, of Newtown. 9. Edward W. 
born May 30. 1822, died Virginia City, 
Nevada, married Mary Lemon, no sur- 
viving issue. 10. Aaron, born March 
30, 1827, died March 5, 1879, was a mer- 
chant in New York. 

Nicholas La Rue, third child and eld- 
est son of Moses and Rachel (John- 
son) LaRue, was a tailor by trade and 
followed that vocation at Newportville 
and later in Philadelphia. He and his 
wife, Catharine Moon Bunting, were the 
parents of six children, as follows: i. 
Albert G., born July 18, 1836, married, 
December 3, 1857. Annie H. Jackson 
and resided in Philadelphia. 2. Eugene, 
born September 17, 1838, died unmarried 
at Jefferson City, Missouri. 3. Moses, 
born May 26, 1841, died young. 4. Ruth 
A., born June 4, 1843, wife of John M. 
Hartman, of Mt. Airy, Philadelphia. 5. 
Rachel, born January 13, 1846, of Phila- 
delphia, is unmarried. 6. George S.. 
born February i, 1848, married in 1868, 
Emeline Getz. and died in Philadelphia. 
The paternal ancestry of Catharine 
(Bunting) LaRue will be found in the 
sketch of the Bunting family in this vol- 
ume. 



WILLIAM H. LA RUE. deceased, 
who throughout his entire life followed 
farming, was born in New Jersey, Feb- 
ruary 19. 1823, his parents being Uriah 
and Elizabeth (Rockafellow) LaRue, in 
whose family were six children, name- 
ly: Asa, whose wife's name was Rachel; 
Hackett; William H.; Jonathan, who 
married Miss Kiphart; Calvin, who mar- 
ried Miss Ruth Tice; and Rebecca, who 
married Charles Kiphart. 

William H. LaRue was reared in 
Huntington county, N.ew Jersey, pur- 
suing his education in its public schools. 
A portion of his boyhood was spent in 
the home of his uncle. William Heis. 
At an early age he engaged in farming 
and followed that vocation throughout 
his entire life. Mr. LaRue was married 
twice, his first union being with Jane 
Parks, by whom he had three children: 
George H.. who married Mary Moore; 
Susanna; and Elizabeth, who became 
the wife of Nathaniel Briton. For his 
second wife Mr. LaRue chose Margaret 
Thompson. Her ancestry can be traced 
back to Mrs. Mary Thompson, who 
came to this coimtry with her four sons: 
John, Hugh, William and Robert. Of 
this family John settled in Wrisrhtp- 
town. making his home near Chain 
Bridge, in Northampton township. His 
house, an old hiproofed one. is still 
standing, but some of it was torn down 
and rebuilt in later years. He was treas- 
urer of the colonies at that time, and 
while holding the office was robbed, the 



bullet holes being seen in the house until 
repaired. He married and had seven 
children: Hugh, born in 1764; William, 
who was a doctor, married and settled in 
Chester county, Pennsylvania; Thomas, 
who married Elizabeth Wilson; James; 
Elizabeth, who became Mrs. McClellen, 
and had a son, Charles, who died in the 
south; Robert, who married Jane Wil- 
son, and settled near Chain Bridge. 
Bucks county; and John, who wedded 
Mary Wilson. 

Hugh Thompson, son of John Thomp- 
son, was born in 1764, and died in Au- 
gust, 1847. He wedded Mary Houston 
and they had five children: Elizabeth, 
born December 2, 1791, died April 25, 
1843, was the wife of James Gaine; 
John, born January 17, 1795; Charles. 
born August 11. 1797. married Ann 
Johnson; Samuel, a physician, born 
February 15, 1800, died February 21, 
1863, was married twice; his first wife 
was Martha Burson, and his second wife 
was Hannah Thomas; and Maria, born 
September 26, 1803, died August 11, 1865, 
was the wife of William Poole. 

John Thompson, son of Hugh and 
Mary Thompson, was born January 17, 
1795, and married Ann Lefiferts, a 
daughter of Abraham and Margaret Lef- 
ferts. Her father was born February 
17, 1754, and died March 18, 1863. while 
Mrs. Margaret Lefferts was born Feb- 
ruary 9, 1761. and died August 4. 1831. 
Abraham LefTerts was married twice. By 
the first marriage there were two chil- 
dren, John and Alice. The former, 
born March 14, 1784, married and had 
children: Susan, who married Isaiah 
Delaney and had two children: Marj:. 
Helen, who married Lambert Cornell, 
and Annie, wife of Peter Dyer; 2. Simon, 
married Susanna States and had a son, 
John, who married Helen Rich and had 
two children: Walter and Helen; 3. 
Mary Ann. became the wife of Harry 
Search and had two children; Susannah 
and Theodore; 4. Jonathan, married a 
]\Iiss Cornell and had three children, 
one of whom was Heleiti. wife of Jacob 
Cornell; 5. Charles, married a Miss 
Cornell, and had two children; John and 
Julia; 6. Mary Catharine, became the 
wife of John C. Fetter and had one child, 
Emma, wife of Joseph M. Cornell. Alice 
Lef¥erts, daughter of Abraham Lefiferts. 
was born October 28. 1790. and married 
Samuel Winner. Abraham and Margar- 
et Lefferts had the following children: 
Simon, born April 14. 1793- died August 
ii. 1805; Abraham, born July 17, 1794. 
died August 24, 1862; James, born Sep- 
tember 26, 1797; and Ann, born October 
7, 1800, became the wife of John Thomp- 
son. 

John and Ann (Lefferts) Thompson 
had nine children, i. Albert, born No- 
vember 21, 1822. married Susan W. Car- 
ey and their children were Warner C. 
and Amos, the latter now deceased. 2. 



1 84 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Abraham L.. l)orn ]\Iarch 28, 1824, died 
February 17, 1902. He married Letitia 
Collins and their children were: Edward, 
who married- Klla Ingall; Clara, John, 
who married Miss Worthington; Emma, 
who became the wife of Charles Cope; 
and Hugh, who is living in Doylestown. 
3. Mary Ann, born February 26, 1826. 
died September 12, 1903. 4. Benjamin 
Franklin, born October 3, 1827, married 
Emeline Johnson, and had two children, 
Harry and J. Wesley. 5. Charles, born 
July 18, 1829. married Emily Van Horn 
and they have two children: George H. 
and Anna Mary. 6. John Praul, born 
January 15, 1831, died in the winter of 
1882. His wife was Lydia Knipe and they 
had the following children: Albert, de- 
ceased, and who married Sarah Holland, 
now deceased, and their children were: 
Albertta and Lydia; Kate, deceased, who 
was the wife of James McGrath: Charles, 
who married Henrietta Russel, and 
three children were born to them: 
Charles R., Warner C, deceased; and 
Norman, deceased; Annie, who married 
Herbert Alrich. 7. Henry, born May 2, 
1833, married Mary Elizabeth Mathews 
and their children were: Alice, who mar- 
ried William Sacket; Bertha, unmarried 
and Harry, who married Marietta Car- 
ter and their children are: Elizabeth, 
John and Alice. Henry Thompson died 
April IS, 1901. 8. Margaret, born May 
6, 1837, is the wife of William H. La- 
Rue and they have a daughter, Jennie. 
9. Elizabeth, born August 16, 1840, is 
the wife of Charles Bemis. John Thomp- 
son and his cousin, Hugh Thompson, 
son of Robert Thompson, were each 
captains of the militia and went to escort 
General Lafayette from Briston to 
Philadelphia when he visited this coun- 
try in 1824. John was captain of the 
Wrightstown militia and Hugh of the 
Northampton; each rode a white horse, 
and the blue plume tipped with red worn 
by John Thompson is still in the posses- 
sion of his descendants. 



BUNTING FAMILY. The pioneer 
ancestors of the Bunting family of 
America were three sons and a grandson 
of Anthony and Ellen Bunting, of Mat- 
lock, Derbyshire, England, the former of 
whom was born in Derbj'shire, A. D. 
1600, and died at Matlock, January 4, 
1700, at the age of one hundred years, 
his wife following him to the grave on 
September i, 1700. They were the par- 
ents of six children, four sons and two 
daughters. The daughters married and 
settled in Nottinghamshire. The sons 
were: John, born 1655, came to New 
Jersey in 1678, and married there in 
1679, Sarah Foulke, and reared a large 
family of children, some of whom 
later settled in Delaware; William, 
married May 6, 1683, Mary Stevenson, 
and had five children, the youngest of 



whom, Samuel, born November 9, 1692, 
came to Pennsylvania in 1722, married 
Sarah Fearne, and is the ancestor of the 
Darby Buntings; Samuel, came to New 
Jersey and married, November 18, 1684, 
Mary Foulke, and is the ancestor of the 
New Jersey family of the name. 

Job Bunting, see forward, youngest 
son of Anthony and Ellen, born in Mat- 
lock, Derbyshire, also came to Cross- 
wicks, New Jersey, and married there 
Sarah Perkins, in 1685. She and her in- 
fant daughter died in 1687, and Job 
married at Falls Meeting, Bucks county, 
June 27, 1689, Rachel Baker, daughter 
of Henry and Margaret (Hardman) Ba- 
ker, who was born in Hindley, West 
Darbye, Lancashire, April 23, 1669, and 
came to Bucks county with her parents 
in 1684. Her father, Henry Baker, was a 
prominent Friend in Lancashire, and 
suffered persecution there for his princi- 
ples. After coming to Bucks county he 
became one of the most prominent men 
in the colony, and served as provincial 
councillor and member of assembly for 
several years, as well as filling many 
other high official positions in the county 
and province. He married a second time, 
in 1692, Mary Radcliffe, widow of James, 
and had ten children, nine by the first 
marriage and one by the second. His 
son Samuel, also a prominent man in 
Bucks county, was the ancestor of 
Johns Hopkins, founder of the Univer- 
sity that bears his name. Job Bunting 
on his second marriage, located in Bucks 
county, on land conveyed to him by his 
father-in-law, and later purchased con- 
siderable other land in Bucks and Ches- 
ter counties. He died in 1703, when com- 
paratively a young man, and his widow 
married John Cowgill. The children of 
Job and Rachel (Baker) Bimting were: 
Rebecca, born March i, 1691, inarried 
December 16, 1709, Joseph Wildman, 
born March 23, 1683, son of Martin and 
Ann Wildman, who came from England 
and settled in Middeltown in 1682. Of 
the four daughters of Joseph and Re- 
becca only Rebecca, born January 9, 
1715, survived infancy. 2. Samuel, born 
October 4, 1692, see forward. 3. Sarah, 
born 1694, died 1699; 4. Job, born March 
26. 1696. 5. Rachel, born March 4, 1698. 

Samuel Bunting, eldest son of Job 
and Rachel, settled in Falls township, 
and was a member of Falls Meeting. He 
died December, 1759. He married Pri- 
cilla Burgess, and they were the par- 
ents of thirteen children, viz: Rachel, 
born August 25, 1717; Samuel, born 
August 3, 1718, married Hannah Stock- 
dale; John, born September 26, 1720; 
Priscilla, born July 22, 1722. married, 
1747, Thomas Buckman: Sarah , born 
May II, 1724; Phebe, born March 2, 
1726; Joseph, born May 4, 1728. married 
1753, Sarah Bidgood; Rebecca, born 
April 2, 1730, married. 1754. David Head- 
ley; Daniel, born February i, 1733-4. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



185 



married, 1754. Marry Bartliolomew; 
David, born February 15, 1735-6, mar- 
ried, 1757, Martha Hough; Timothy, 
born July 4, 1736, married Elizabeth 
Headley; Isaac, born January 28, 1738; 
Benjamin, born September 7, 1740. 

John Bunting, second son of Samuel 
and Priscilla, born September 28, 1720, 
married, January 16, 1745, Christiana 
Headley, born May 3, 1723, daughter of 
Joseph and Hannah (Palmer) Headley, 
of Middletown, and granddaughter of 
John and Christiana Palmer, the pioneer 
ancestors of that family in Bucks coun- 
ty. The children of John and Christiana 
(Headley) Bunting were: Joshua, born 
March 16, 1746. married Mary Brown; 
Samuel, born September 18, 1748, mar- 
ried, May II, 1775, Ann Moon; Hannah; 
Joseph, see forward; John, born 1755; 
Sarah; Lydia, and Asa. 

Joseph Bunting, son of John and 
Christiana, married November 27, 1783, 
Phebe Moon, daughter of William and 
Elizabeth Moon, of Falls, and a descend- 
ant of one of the oldest families in 
Bucks county, and later located in Low- 
er Dublin township. Philadelphia coun- 
ty, where they resided until 1808, when 
he purchased a farm in Bristol town- 
ship, between Nawportville and Bris- 
tol, where he resided until his death in 
April, 1830. He joined the Associated 
Company of Falls township in 1775, un- 
der Captain Thomas Harvey, of which 
his uncle, Daniel Bunting, was ensign, 
and was disowned by Falls Meeting the 
same year. The children of Joseph and 
Phoebe (Moon) Bunting were: William, 
born June 17, 1784; Ann, born August 6, 
1785, died February 27, 1786; Solomon, 
born August 9, 1786, see forward; 
James, born January 11, 1788: Joshua, 
born December 17, 1788, married Eliza- 
beth Wright; Christiana, born Decem- 
ber 2, 1789, married Walter W. Bald- 
win; John, born May 12, 1792, never 
married; Timothy, born June 9, 1793. 
died young; Samuel, born July 4, i795- 
died young; Charles, born October i, 
1796, married Isabella Hood; Phoebe, 
born December 23, 1797, died young; 
Lydia, born January 20, 1799. married 
Joshua Wright; David, born January 20, 
1802, died August 11, 1802. Joshua, the 
fourth son. married Elizabeth Wright, 
daughter of James and Rebecca (Pat- 
terson) Wright. January 13, 1820. and 
they were the parents of the following 
children: James W. 2^, born October 30, 
1831, married Sarah Swart; Joseph, born 
October 26. 1823, married Beersheba 
Rue; Joshua E.. born October 16, 1825, 
married Lucy Smith; John, born March 
3. 1827, married Matilda Boate; Lydia, 
who married Joshua Wright, son of 
James and Rebecca, and has Phoebe 
.A.nn, James H. and Elizabeth; residence, 
Bristol. Pennsylvania. 

Solomon, second son of Joseph and 
Phoebe (Moon) Bunting, born August 



9, 1786, lived for several years on the 
old homestead in Bristol township, was 
later a farmer at Andalusia, and finally 
removed to Philadelphia, where he died. 
He married, January 17, 181 1, Ruth 
Mathias. Solomon and Ruth (Math- 
ias) Bunting were the parents of eight 
children: Eliza, born 1812, married 
Aaron MacDonald, a car builder, of 
Philadelphia, and died at St. Joseph, 
Missouri; Lydia. born 1814, married 
(first) Samuel Osier, a merchant of Phil- 
adelphia, and (second) Jacob Rambo, a 
cooper of the same city; Catharine 
Moon, born in 1816, married Nicholas 
La Rue, see LaRue family in this vol- 
ume; Mary, born 1818, married Thomas 
I. Meyers, a saddler of Philadelphia, 
and died in that city; Spencer, born 1820, 
married Susan Noble, and was a car- 
penter in Philadelphia; Joseph, born in 
1S22, married Malvina Kessler; John, 
born 1824, died young; Solomon, born 
1829, married Annie Steele, and was a 
saddler in Philadelphia for some years, 
removing later to the south, where he 
died. Solomon, the father is buried at 
the Hanover street cemetery, Phila- 
delphia. 

Joseph Bunting, second son of Solo- 
mon and Ruth (Mathias) Bunting, born 
on the old homestead in Bristol town- 
ship, was a farmer and lived for a time 
on the old homestead, and later farmed 
near Bridgewater, Bensalem township, 
where he died in November, 1891. He 
married Malvina Kessler, and they were 
the parents of seveii children: Edwin 
M., see forward; Elwood, a farmer in 
Bensalem township; Anna, wife of Jo- 
seph Preston, who died in Philadelphia 
twenty years ago; Ruthanna. wife of Ed- 
ward T. Jenks, a prominent resident of 
Bensalem; Eliza, wife of Johnson Min- 
ster, of Bensalem; Catharine, wife of 
Theodore Lippincott, of Bensalem; and 
John S., a farmer in Bristol township, a 
sketch of whom appears in this volume. 

The Buntings have been members of 
the Society of Friends, almost since 
George Fox began his ministry, but 
some of the family early drifted out of 
membership through marriage to non- 
members, though retaining their asso- 
ciations with the Society, whose meet- 
ing they attended. The branch of the 
family above noted lost their member- 
ship in the Society, through the patriot- 
ism of their ancestor, Joseph Bunting, 
Jr., son of John and Christiana, who vio- 
lated the rules and principles of the sect 
by joining the Associated Company of 
Falls township, in 1775. "nder Captam 
Thomas Harvey, for the defense of tlie 
rights of his country. His uncle, Daniel 
Bunting, was ensign of the company. 

Edwin M. Bunting, eldest son of Jo- 
seph and Malvina (Kessler) Bunting, 
born August 25, 1847, was reared in Ben- 
salem township and educated in the pub- 
lic schools of that township. He fol- 



1 86 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



lowed farming and trncking in Bensalem 
until the spring of 1804. when he was 
appointed steward -of the Bucks County 
Home, a position he has since filled to 
the satisfaction of the people of Bucks 
county, being several times successively 
reappointed • by the different boards of 
directors of the poor. He has always 
affiliated with the Republican party po- 
litically, and had for many years been 
active in local politics prior to his ap- 
pointment as steward, representing his 
district on the county committee. He 
served as supervisor of Bensalem town- 
ship for three years, being elected by a 
handsome majority in a Democratic dis- 
trict. He married, March 16, 1872, Ellen 
Powell, daughter of David and Mary 
Ann (Moore) Powell, of Bensalem, and 
a representative of one of the oldest 
families in that locality, and they are the 
parents of two children: Wesley, born 
November 8. 1875, ^"d Bertha, born No- 
vember 10, 1879. Wesley, the son, was 
educated at the public schools of Ben- 
salem and the Doylestown high school, 
of which he is a member of the alumni. 
He studied law in the office of the Hon. 
Robert M. Yardley, and was admitted to 
the Bucks county bar, April 23, 1902. On 
January i, 1903, he formed a partner- 
ship with John C. Swartley, Esq., as- 
sistant United States attorney for the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania, under 
the firm name of Swartley & Bunting, 
and the firm are enjoying a good prac- 
tice in the several courts of Bucks 
county. Bertha, the daughter, resides 
with her parents. 

John S. Bunting, youngest child of 
Joseph and Melvina (Kessler) Bunting, 
was born in Hulmeville, Middletown 
township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. 
November 5, i860. When five years of 
age he removed with his parents to By- 
berry, Pennsylvania; in 1874 removed 
to Penn's Manor; and in 1876 to Croy- 
don, Bensalem township, where he pur- 
chased a farm in 1880, which by intelli- 
gent labor has been brought to a high 
state of cultivation. Mr. Bunting has 
served as supervisor two years, and is 
now a member of the school board. He 
is a Republican in politics, and is re- 
garded as a citizen of influence and 
\vorth in the community in which he 
resides. 

March 2q, 1888, Mr. Bunting married 
Emeline Virginia Otto, of Bristol, Penn- 
sylvania, daughter of Lewis and Ann 
(Hain Otto, and a descendant of a 
German ancestry. She was educated in 
the public schools of Byberry and Bris- 
tol. Their children are: Marion Louisa, 
born March 15. 1889; .Mbert John, born 
July 12. t8oo; Frederick, born .'Xpril 27, 
1892: and Katharine F., born Sentembcr 
24, 1896, who died in infancy. The chil- 
dren were educated in the public schools 
of Bristol township, and reside with 
their parents on the home farm. 



JOHN A. FELL, M. D., of Doyles- 
town, was born in Buckingham town- 
ship, Bucks county, October 21, 1850, a 
son of Jesse and Priscilla Sands Fell, 
and is a descendant in the sixth genera- 
tion from Joseph Fell, of Louglands, 
Cumberland, England, and Bridget Wil- 
son, his wife, who came to Bucks county 
in 1705 and settled in Buckingham two- 
years later. 

Benjamin Fell, born in Cumberland, 
England, 9 mo. i, 1703, married 6 mo. 
27, 1728, Hannah Scarborough, daughter 
of John Scarborough, of Solebury, and- 
had by her six children, four of whom 
grew to maturity: John, born 4 mo. i, 
1730; Asa, born 1732, married Elizabeth 
Mitchell; Phebe, who married Stephen 
Kirk; and Benjamin, who married Re- 
becca Casner. Benjamin settled on land 
in Buckingham conveyed to him by his 
father in 1726, where Charles Carwitben 
now lives, and later purchased consid- 
erable land adjoining. He was married 
three times, and has left a large number 
of descendants. His wife Hannah was 
born 8 mo. 31, 1704, and died 2 mo. 21. 
1743. He died 9 mo. 12, 1758. 

John Fell, eldest son of Benjamin and 
Hannah, born 4 mo. i, 1730, was also a 
farmer. He purchased of his cousin, 
Isaac Fell, the farm upon which his 
great-grandson, Preston J. Fell still lives, 
soon after his marriage, and spent his 
whole life thereon. He married, to mo. 
30. I7.=;3. Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas 
and Elizabeth (Paxson) Hartley, of Sole- 
bury, and had thirteen children, eleven 
of whom lived to maturity, viz: Mahlon; 
William; Nathan; Seneca; Miriam, who 
married David Carr; Jonathan; Hannah; 
George; Rachel, who married John Pax- 
son; John and Jonas. 

Jonas Fell, youngest son of John and 
Elizabeth, was born on the old home- 
stead 8 mo. 17, 1777, and died there i mo. 
8, 1854. He married 3 mo. 28, 1802, 
Sarah, daughter of Joseph and Mary 
(Comfort) Church, and great-grand- 
daughter of Joseph Fell. Sr.. and his 
second wife. Elizabeth Doyle, through 
the marriage of their daughter Sarah to 
Richard Church, the father of Joseph. 
Sarah Church Fell was born 8 mo. 20. 
i8_, and died 5 mo- 25, i857- They had 
five children, viz.: Hannah, born 1803, 
married Charles Kirk; Jesse, bom 3 mo. 
t8o6; Lvdia. born iSii. married Jesse 
Dean; Jonas, born 1813. married Mary 
Louderborough; Sarah, born 1816, mar- 
ried Isaac Mathews. 

Jesse Fell, born 3 mo. 8. t8o6, was the 
father of the subiect of this sketch. He 
married 2 mo.. 1828, Priscilla Sands, 
daughter of William and Jane Sands, of 
Buckingham, born in 1808. and died 12 
mo. 7. i88j. Jesse Fell died in t8?8. The 
children of Jesse and Priscilla Fell were 
ten in number, viz.: Lvdia Ann. born 
T829. married Samuel Frankenfield. and 
is still living in Buckingham; Sarah 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



1S7 



Jane, born 9 mo. 27, 1830, married Jo- 
seph Mathias Flack, died 1902; Preston 
J., born 2 mo. i, 1836, a sketch of whom 
will be found in this work; Rachel S., 
born 10 mo. 31. 1837, married John M. 
Gray, a sketch of whom will ;ilso be 
found in this work; Isabella, born 1840, 
married John R. Rapp, died 1903; Henry 
C, born 1842. a soldier in the One Hun- 
dred and Ninety-fourth Pennsylvania 
Volunteers, died 5 mo. 31, 1862, from 
typhoid fever contracted in the army; 
Louisa, born 1846. married Amos Ran- 
dall, died 1S90: Adaline. born 1848. died 
1903; and John A., the subject of this 
sketch. 

Dr. John A. Fell, the youngest of the 
ten children of Jesse and Priscilla Fell, 
received a rudimental education at 
Church's public school, after which he 
attended the Doylestown English and 
Classical Seminary. He spent two years 
teaching school in Buckingham, one and 
a half years of which he was principal 
of Hughesian Free School. The next 
two years were spent at Lafayette Col- 
lege. He then entered the University of 
Pennsylvania and graduated in the class 
of 1874. In the same year he accepted a 
position as resident physician at the 
Bedford Street ^Mission Hospital, where 
he remained until Jaifuary i, 1875, when 
he began the practice of his profession at 
Centreville. Buckingham. He practiced 
at Buckingham initil April i. 1888, when 
he removed to Doylestown and forming 
a partnership with John B. Livezey. 
opened a drug store. At the end of one 
year the partnership w^as dissolved, and 
Dr. Fell went to attend lectures at the 
Philadelphia Polyclinic and College for 
Medical Graduates, during the next four- 
teen months attending the whole thirty- 
four courses; he passed a successful ex- 
amination in all of them, and was elected 
on June 23, 1890, the first Fellow of the 
College. Li the same year he opened 
an office on Oakland avenue, Doyles- 
town. where he now resides, and re- 
sumed the practice of medicine. Dr. 
Fell is considered one of the leading 
physicians of Bucks county, and has a 
large practice. He has devoted especial 
care to study of the defects and diseases 
of the eye, and has considerable local 
fame as an oculist. He is a member of 
the County. State and American Medical 
Associations. He has been a member 
of the board of health from its organi- 
zation; was assistant surgeon of the 
Sixth Regiment National Guard, from 
1884 to 1895, has been a member of the 
Doylestown school board since 1891. 
now^ serving his fifth term. He is a 
member of Doylestown Lodge. No. 245. 
F. and A. M.; of Aquetong Lodge. No. 
193. T. O. O. F. ; Doylestown Encamp- 
ment. No. 35: and Sciota Tribe. No. 214, 
I. O. R. M. He was married. May 18, 
1887. to Clara, daughter of Henry D. 
and Anna (Wambold) Livezey. and is 



the father of two daughters. — Anna born^ 
February 17. 1888; and Dorothea,' born- 
January 4, 1896. 



PRESTON J. FELL, eldest son of 
Jesse and Priscilla Sands Fell, was born 
February i, 1836. on the farm owned 
and occupied by his father, grandfather 
and great-grandfather, and still owns 
and occupies a part of it. The farm, as 
owned by his grandfather, Jonas Fell, 
included the farm of Mrs. Joseph Ellis, 
on the opposite side of the Buckingham 
and Doylestown turnpike, and he lived 
and died there. Jesse Fell, the father of 
the subject of this sketch, took up his 
residence on the farm now occupied by- 
the subject of this sketch upon his mar- 
riage, and his children were all born 
there, and Preston J. has resided there 
all his life. He was educated at Church's 
Public school and at the Hughesian 
Free School of Buckingham. As the 
eldest son, the respon?ible care of the 
farm devolved upon him at an early 
age, his father having died when he 
was but twelve years of age. He 
conducted the farm until the young- 
est child was of age, and then pur- 
chased it, and has conducted it to- 
gether with the nursery business ever 
since. He married, November 3, 1870,^ 
Cassie H., daughter of Joseph and Eliza- 
beth Stover. The Stovers came to Bucks 
county from Switzerland about 1727. 
They were residents of Bedminster for 
several generations. Joseph Stover lived 
for a time on the old homestead of his 
father. Henry Stover, but later removed 
to Buckingham and purchased the farm 
and mill property still known as the 
Stover Mill. 

Preston J. Fell is a Republican in pol- 
itics, and has always taken an active part 
in the afifairs of his township and 
county. He was director of the poor 
for three years; has been a member of 
the township school board for many 
years, serving as secretary of the board 
for five years; and he is also a trustee 
of the Hughesian Free School, and pres- 
ident of both the Buckingham and â–  
Doylestown Turnnike Company and the 
Centreville and Pineville Turnpike Com- 
pany, and is supervisor and director of 
the former company. He is a prominent, 
man in the community, and has held 
many positions of trust. 



DR. FRANK SWARTZLANDER, 
physician and surgeon, of Doylestown, 
was born in Southampton township, 
Bucks county. February 9. 1842, being a 
.son of Joseph and Abigail (Rankin) 
Swartzlander. the former of German and 
the latter of English descent, though 
both were descended throngh several 
generations of American birth. On the 



1 88 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



paternal side the Swartzlanders are de- 
scended from Philip Schwartzlander, 
who came from Steinhardt, in Schwarz- 
wald, arriving in Philadelphia on No- 
vember 8, 1752, in the ship "Snow 
Lonisa," Captain John Pitcairn, from 
Rotterdam. The voyage had been a long 
and perilous one, and many of the pas- 
sengers had died on the way. Among 
these was the wife of Philip Schwartz- 
lander, leaving on his hands two chil- 
dren, Gabriel, aged seven 3^ears, and Bar- 
bara, aged five. Soon after his arrival 
in Pennsylvania, Philip Schwartzlander 
found a home in New Britain township, 
Bucks county, where he married Mar- 
garet Angel, by whom he had two chil- 
dren, Conrad and Philip, descendants of 
whom still reside in that locality. 
Philip Schwartzlander, Sr., died in 1784, 
and is buried in the New Britain church- 
yard. 

Gabriel Schwartzlander, born in Stein- 
hardt, March 31. 1747. spent his boy- 
hood days in New Britain township, 
where he learned the trade' of a miller. 
At the age of twenty-seven years he 
married Salome, the widow of Abraham 
Freed, and daughter of Jacob and Anna 
(Leisse-Miller) Stout, an account of 
whose ancestr^^ is given on another page 
X oi this volume. Abraham Freed, the 
first husband of Salome Stout, had pur- 
<:hased of his father-in-law the Pine Run 
mill property, one mile north of Doyles- 
town, and also owned about two hun- 
dred acres of land adjoining the mill 
and extending over into Plumstead 
township. He died in 1773. leaving three 
infant daughters, and a j-ear later the 
widow married Gabriel Schwartzlander. 
By proceedings in the orphans' court the 
mill and about fift}^ acres of land were 
sold for the pajmient of debts, and were 
purchased by Gabriel Schwartzlander. 
The remaining 150 acres of Freed de- 
scended to his two surviving daughters, 
one of whom married John Kratz, whose 
descendants still own and reside on a 
portion of the land on the Plumstead 
side of the line. John Kratz later found 
a second wife in a daughter of Gabriel 
and Salome Schwartzlander. and half- 
sister to his first wnfe. Jacob Stout 
owned considerable other land adjoining 
the mill on the west, which on his death 
in 1779 descended to his daughter Sa- 
lome, and was latej transferred to her 
husband. Gabriel Schwartzlander. He 
operated the mill until his death July 
17. 1814. The children of Gabriel and 
Salome Swartzlander were: John, Mag- 
dalen, Jacob, Margaret, Catharine, Abra- 
ham, Joseph, Philip, and David. Of 
these. Abraham and Philip died j^oimg. 
A number of the descendants of Joseph 
and the daughters still reside in the 
neighborhood of Pine Run. At the 
death of Gabriel Swartzlander in 1814, 
liis extensive real estate holdings were 
partitioned among his children by pro- 



ceedings in the orphans' court, the mill 
property falling to Joseph, who owned 
and operated it until his death, the title 
remaining in the famil}^ for nearly a 
centurj-. 

Jacob* Swartzlander, the grandfather^ 
of Dr. Swartzlander, was 'the second son -^ 
of Gabriel and Salome, and was born at 
the old Swartzlander mill property in 
New Britain, now Doylestown township. 
He learned the trade and assisted in 
operating the mill until 1808, when he 
removed to Southampton township, 
where he purchased a mill property 
which he operated until his death in 
1845. He was twice married; by his first 
wife, Elizabeth Cope, of Hilltown. he 
had four children: Abraham. Gabriel, 
Joseph and Salome. He married (sec- â–  
ond) Elizabeth Moode, of Southampton, 
by whom he had four daughters: Emily, 
Clara, Wilhelmina and Harriet. His 
widow survived him man}^ years. Abra- 
ham, the eldest son, was also a miller and 
operated and owned a mill in Middle- 
town. He was killed in May, 1839, by the 
falling of a wall of a barn which work- 
men, under his direction, were tearing 
down. He left a widow Rebecca, and 
three daughters, Elizabeth, Jane and 
Sarah. ^ 

Joseph Swartzlander, the father of the 
subject of this sketch, was born in 
Southampton township, Bucks county, 
January T. 1812, and ended an eventful 
and useful career at Yardley. Bucks 
county, in May, 1903. He obtained the 
rudiments of an education at the public 
schools of his native township, and later 
attended the academy of Rev. Samuel 
Aaron, at Burlington, New Jersey. He 
learned the milling trade with his father 
at the Rocksville mill. In 1834 'he started 
on a memorable trip through what was 
then our western states. Traveling by 
stage coach, canal boat and on foot, he 
reached Zanesville, Ohio, \vhere he was 
stricken with smallpox. A stranger in a 
strange land, and having a contagious 
disease, he was fortunate in securing the 
services of an aged negress who had 
known the family in Bucks county. She 
nursed him back to health in her hut in 
the woods, and received for compensa- 
tion his gold watch, which w^as returned 
to him several years later. On his re- 
covery he continued his journey, taking 
passage on a flatboat down the Ohio- and 
^Mississippi to New Orleans. After a 
brief stay in this cosmopolitan south- 
ern city he returned by steamer to St. 
Louis, from which point he and a corn- 
panion tramped overland to Detroit, 
Michigan, a distance of five hundred and 
sixty-four miles. Crossing the swamps 
and lagoons where Chicago now stands, 
they stopped at Fort Dearborn, the nu- 
cleus of the now famous "Windy City," 
and proceeded on their way to Detroit. 
From Detroit the travellers went to 
Buffalo, thence down the F.ric canal to 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



189 



Rochester, New York, from there to Al- 
ban3', and thence overland to Boston, 
Massachusetts, from which point Mr. 
Swartzlander returned to his home in 
Southampton, where he resumed the 
occupation of a miller. Prior to his 
father's death in 1S45 he removed to 
Yardley, where he operated a grist and 
saw mill. At the time of the Irish 
famine he was one of the largest grain 
dealers and millers in Bucks county, 
operating at one and the same time the 
Rocksville, Bridgetown, and Yardley 
mills, handling, grinding and kiln-dry- 
ing immense quantities of corn and 
cornmeal which he shipped to New York 
and Philadelphia for exportation to Ire- 
land. Through the dishonesty or de- 
fault of a firm of commission merchants 
to whom he shipped his product he lost 
over $12,000, an immense simi in those 
days, and was ruined financially, but by 
industry and a close application to busi- 
ness succeeded in paying off his indebt- 
edness and acquiring a competence. In 
i860 he practically abandoned the grain 
business and devoted himself almost ex- 
clusively to. the lumber business, buying 
native timber in the woods and sawing 
it into ship timber which he shipped to 
the shipyards at Williamsburg, New 
York, and Philadelphia. He was a very 
active business man. and continued to 
personally conduct his business in con- 
nection with his son Harry until within 
a few months of his death at the age of 
ninetyj;One years. Joseph Swartzlander 
married, in i8.s7, Abigail Rankin, a 
daughter of William Rankin, a well 
known merchant at Huntingdon Valley, 
]\Iontgomery county. Their children 
M^ere: Mary, wife of Daniel Beans, of 
Newtown: Dr. Frank, the subject of this^ 
sketch: Albert, a lawyer at Omaha, 
Nebraska: Laura. Harry and Ella, re- 
siding at Yardley; and Fred, a physi-' 
cian at Omaha. Nebraska. 

Dr. Frank Swartzlander. the eldest 
son, was born in Northampton, February 
9, 1842. and was therefore a mere cTiild 
when the family removed to Yardley. 
where he attended the public schools 
and was later a student in Philadelphia. 
He began the study of medicine in i860 
with Dr. Joseph Smith, of Yardley. and 
was later under the preceptnrship of Dr. 
Rufus Tryon, nf Philadelphia, late sur- 
geon-general of the United States Navy. 
Dr. Swartzlander entered the medical 
department of. the University of Penn- 
sylvania in 1861. Showing a remarkable 
aptitude for surgery, he was appointed 
in 1862, while still a student, anatomist 
at the Military Hospital, located at 
Twenty-fourth and South streets, Phil- 
adelphia, where he made all_ the post 
mortem examinations until his gradua- 
tion at the University in 1863. In March. 
i86,-^. he was appointed assistant sura:eon 
of the Seventy-fourth Regiment Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers, and went with his 



regiment to the front, passing through 
many trying scenes during the civil 
war. He was at the battles of Chancel- 
lorsville, Gettysburg, John's Island, S. 
C, and many other sanguinary engage- 
ments. At Gettysburg he was surgeon 
of the operating stafif of the field hos- 
pital of the Third Division of the Elev- 
enth Army Corps. When the Seventy- 
fourth Regiment was mustered out he 
accepted a commission as assistant sur- 
geon of Volunteers and was sent south 
to meet Sherman's army on its march 
from "Atlanta to the Sea." General 
Sherman had just arrived at Savannah 
when Dr. Swartzlander reached the 
army, and he was assigned the charge 
of the Military Hospital at the Marshall 
House, and later had charge successively 
of the hospitals at the Scriven House 
and Pavilion House, and remained in 
the hospital service until the close of 
the war. After attending special lectures 
at the_ University he located at Doyles- 
town in 1866, and began the practice of 
his profession. He soon built up a 
large practice, and enjoys an enviable 
reputation as a physician and surgeon. 
Dr. Swartzlander was married in Oc- 
tober, 1872, to Susan, daughter of John 
S. Bryan. She died February 4. 1884. 
Their children are: Dr. Frank B. Swartz- 
lander, a practicing physician at Doyles.- 
town; Dr. Joseph Swartzlander, a prac- 
ticing physician of Forest Grove, Buck- 
ingham township, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania: and Susan, who resides with 
her father. Dr. Swartzlander was for 
twenty consecutive years physician of 
the Bucks County Almshouse, and later 
filled the same position for three years. 
He is a member of the County and State 
Medical Societies, and of the Grand 
Army of the Republic, and the Loyal 
Legion of the United States. He is also 
a member of the Masonic fraternity. 



DR. FRANK B. SWARTZLANDER, 
Doylestown (son of the preceding) was 
born December 19, 1873. He was edu- 
cated at public and private schools in 
Dojdestown, and spent three years in the 
Germantown Academy. He entered the 
Medical Department of the University 
of Pennsjdvania, and graduated in the 
class of 1894. In the same j^ear he ac- 
cepted the position of resident physician 
at the Children's Hospital, Philadelphia, 
which he filled until January. 1895. filled 
the same position in the Pottstown Hos- 
pital from January to August, 1895. and 
was then appointed a resident physician 
in the Episcopal Hospital at Philadel- 
phia, which position he filled until .\u- 
gust. 1807. He then came to Doyles- 
town and began the practice of his pro- 
fession. 

Dr. Swartzlander was married May 4. 
1899, to Florence R. Evans, of Potts- 



190 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



town, and has two daughters: Mary, and 
Ellen Bryan Swartzlander. 



DR. JOSEPH RANKIN SWARTZ- 
LANDER, Eorest Grove, Buckingham 
township, Bucks county, son of Dr. 
Frank and Susan (Bryan) Swartzlander, 
was born in Doylestown, August 23, 
1875. He acquired his education at the 
public and private schools of Doyles- 
town, studied medicine under his father, 
and in 1893 entered Jefferson Medical 
College, graduating in class of 1897. He 
served as resident physician in the Jer- 
sey City Hospital for eighteen months, 
and in the . summer of 1899 located at 
Forest Grove and began the practice of 
medicine. With inherited ability and 
careful training and experience, he 
started well equipped in his chosen pro- 
fession and has met with merited suc- 
cess. He is still single. 



GEORGE C. WORSTALL, one of 
the most prominent business men of 
Newtown, is one of the representatives 
of a family that have been prominent in 
the business affairs of Newtown for four 
generations, and extending over a period 
of one hundred and thirty years. He 
was born in Upper Makefield. October 
25, 1839. and is a son of Edward H. and 
Maria E. (Smith) Worstall. 

The family is said to have been of 
Welsh origin, but nothing definite is 
known of the ancestry of John Worstall 
or of his whereabouts until his proposal 
of marriage at Middletown Friends 
Meeting in 7 mo., 1720. to Elizabeth 
Wildman, daughter of Martin and Ann 
Wildman, who was born in Settle. York- 
shire, England, 9 mo. 19. 1689, and came 
with her parents to Bucks county, and 
they settled in Middletown township. 
John and Elizabeth Worstall were the 
parents of three sons: John, born 7 mo. 
4, 1722; Edward, born 5 mo. 21. 1724; 
and James, born 12 mo. 26, 1726-7. The 
mother died when James was But two 
weeks old, and the children were reared 
by their maternal relatives in Middle-' 
town. Nothing is known of the descen- 
dants of Edward Worstall. James mar- 
ried Esther Satterthwaite and removed 
to Makefield in 1759, and has left nu- 
merous descendants in Bucks county. 

John Worstall. eldest son of John and 
Elizabeth (Wildman) Worstall. born in 
Middletown, 7 mo. 4. 1722. married 8 mo. 
2. 1746, Mary Higgs, daughter of James 
and Elizabeth (Andrews) Higgs. of Bris- 
tol, who were married in 1719. James 
Higgs died in 1736, leaving a son James 
and four daughters: Mary: Elizabeth, 
who married Thomas Hutchinson: Jane, 
who married Mahlon Hall: and Ann. 
Mary Higgs Worstall was born in 1720. 
and died at the residence of her son 



Joseph, in Newtown, 8 mo., 1808, at the 
age of eighty-eight years. 

Joseph Worstall, son of John and 
Mary (Higgs) Worstall, was born in 
Middletown, i mo. 13, 1750, and married, 
m 1778, Susanna Hibbs, daughter of 
William and Anna (Carter) Hibbs of 
Middletown. In 1774 he purchased of 
General Francis Murray a tract of land 
on Penn street, in Newtown, part of the 
old court house grounds, and erected 
thereon a tannery which he operated 
for fifty-five years. He subsequently 
purchased considerable other land ad- 
joining, and erected houses and other 
buildings and carried on an extensive 
business. In addition to the tanning 
business he carried on the manufacture 
of shoes on a large scale, and employed 
a number of workmen. He also ground 
and shipped an immense amount of 
bark. The bark after being cured and 
ground was packed in hogsheads and 
hauled to the Delaware, where it was 
loaded on the Durham boats then plying 
on the Delaware, and carried to Phila- 
delphia, where it was shipped to France 
and other parts of the old world. It is 
related that George Washington, while 
he had his headquarters at Newtown, 
had a pair of boots made at the shops 
of Mr. Worstall, from leather tanned on 
the premises, which he wore during the 
revolutionary war. Mr. Worstall also 
owned about fifty acres of land adjoin- 
ing his business place on the south, and 
carried on farming in connection with 
his other business enterprises, in which 
he was assisted by his sons Joseph and 
James. The successful business career 
of the family was suddenly wrecked in 
February. 1829. when his large curry- 
ing shops, bark mill house, wagon 
hou?e, barns and an immense amount of 
bark, implements and farm produce 
were consumed by fire. There was no 
insurance on the property, and Mr. Wor- 
stall was financially ruined, and in his 
old age saw the savings of a life-time of 
industry and business activity swept 
away in a single night. He sacrificed 
the greater part of his real estate for 
the payment of his debts, retaining the 
tannery and his residence and some of 
his other houses. Being unable to carry 
on the tannery, however, with his lim- 
ited means, he sold that also in 1831. and 
it remained out of the family until 1842, 
when it was purchased and remodeled by 
his grandson Edward H. Worstall. Jo- 
seph Worstall. Sr.. died i mo. 13. 1841, 
at the age of ninety-one years, having 
lived a long life of extraordinary busi- 
ness activity. His children were: 

1. Elizabeth, born 9 mo. 3. 1779, mar- 
ried in 1807. James Sleeper. 

2. Sarah, born 6 mo. i. 1781, married 
in 1803 Edward Hicks, the eminent min- 
ister among Friends. 

3. Joseph, born 2 mo. 8, 1783. see for- 
ward. 




/^iv^;^7^-^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



191 



4. James, born 2 mo. 20, 1786, married 
(tirstj Jane Eastburn .and (.secondj 
Sarah Smith; died 10 mo. 7, 1839, with- 
out issue. 

5. John, born 2 mo. 10, 1790, died un- 
married. 

6. i\iary, born 6 mo. 19, 1791, died un- 
married late in life. 

7. Amos T., born 4 mo. 25, 1793, mar- 
ried Ann Chambers. 

8. Susanna, born 11 mo. 25, 1797, mar- 
ried Amos Phipps, of Plymouth, Mont- 
gomery county. 

Joseph Worstall, eldest son of Joseph 
and Susanna (Hibbs) Worstall, was 
born and reared in Newtown, and was 
actively associated with his father in the 
business enterprises established by the 
latter. He was one of the proprietors 
of the tannery at the time it was burned 
in 1828, and suffered heavily in the finan- 
-cial wreck. His remaining days were 
spent in Newtown township on a farm 
he purchased, and where he died April i, 
1856. He married in 1808 Jane Heston, 
daughter of Colonel Edward Heston, the 
founder of Hestonville, Philadelphia, 
who was a native of Makefield township, 
Bucks county, being a son of Jacob and 
Mary (Warner) Heston, and a grandson 
of Zebulon Heston, an early settler in 
Wrightstown. He was captain of the 
Sixth Company, Seventh Battalion, 
Philadelphia County Militia, in 1777, and 
later was commissioned lieutenant- 
â– colonel. 

The children of Joseph and Jane (Hes- 
ton) Worstall were as follows: Sarah 
Ann, who married Jacob Hibbs; Edward 
H., see forward; Hannah C, who mar- 
ried (first) Pearson Scarborough, of 
Solebury, and (second) Henry Magill; 
Joseph, who married Mary Ann Van 
Buskirk, and lived and died in Warring- 
ton; and Isaac H., of Solebury. who mar- 
ried (first) Sarah Jane Ely and (sec- 
ond) Amy Ely. 

Edward H. Worstall, eldest son of 
Joseph and Jane (Heston) Worstall, 
was born at the old homestead on Penn 
street, Newtown, October 19, 181 1, and 
was reared and educated in Newtown. 
He married November i, 1838. Maria E. 
Smith, daughter of Joseph and Mary 
<Betts) Smith of Upper Makefield. The 
descent of George Worstall in the 
Smith line is as follows: i. William 
Smith. 1684. Wrightstown, formerly of 
Yorkshire, England, married Mary 
Croasdale, 9 mo. 20, 1690, and had nine 
children; his second wife was Mercy 

, by whom he had seven children. 

2. Thomas Smith married Elizabeth 
Sanders, 6 mo., 1727, and they had eight 
â– children; they were the first settlers pn 
the Windybush farm. 3. Samuel Smith 
married Jane Schofield, 1750. and they 
"had ten children. 4. Thomas Smith 
married Elanor Smith. 4 mo. 15, 1778. 
and they had six children. 5. Joseph 



Smith married Mary Betts, 1808, and 
they had five children. 6. Maria Smith 
married Edward H. Worstall, 11 mo. i, 
1S38, and they had five children. 7. 
George C. Worstall. 

After his marriage Edward H. Wor- 
stall located at the Smith tannery at 
Windy Bush, in Upper Makefield, where 
he resided until April i, 1842, when he 
purchased the old tannery property in 
Newtown, formerly his grandfather's, 
that had been recently sold by the sher- 
iff as the property of Thomas H. Buck- 
man, and revived the old industry so 
long conducted by his father and 
grandfather. He purchased the follow- 
ing year the house where his grand- 
father lived and died, and subsequently 
purchased much of the property that 
had belonged to his grandfather, as well 
as thirty-five acres of land, the greater 
part of which had belonged to his un- 
cle James Worstall. He operated the 
tannery and farm until 1882, during 
the last eleven years of the time having 
associated with him his youngest son, 
Willis G. Worstall. During the last ten 
years of his life he lived retired in New- 
town. He died February 18, 1891, and 
his widow Maria E. on January ir, 1898, 
Their children were: George C, the sub- 
ject of this sketch; Lavinia. wife of 
George C. Blackfan, of Newtown; Jo- 
siah S., born September 7, 1843, died 
March 3, 1883; Willis G., born July 9, 
1846, married Lydia Croasdale, and is 
now a m.ember of the firm of Worstall 
Brothers & Co.; and Lettie, born Feb- 
ruary 28, 1850,- wife of William Eyre, 
of Newtown. Josiah was for a number 
of years associated in business with his 
brother George C, in Newtown; he mar- 
ried Sarah J. Uber, and left two daugh- 
ters, now residing in West Chester, 
Pennsylvania. 

George C. Worstall was born in Up- 
per Makefield, but his parents having 
removed to Newtown when he was two 
and a half years old he was reared in 
that town and has spent his whole 
life there. On his marriage in 1865 he 
settled on a farm on the Yardleyville 
turnpike, purchased for him by his fath- 
er of Nicholas Willard, and resided there 
until 1893. In 1868 in connection with his 
brother Josiah, he started a brick and 
coal yard thereon, which they conducted 
until 1880, when they removed to the 
present location of the firm of Worstall 
Brothers, where they had started a hay 
press in connection with their }'ounger 
brother Willis G. a year previous. The 
old tannery was abandoned in 1882 and 
torn down in 1887, and the land laid out 
in building lots and built upon. In 
1880 the firm erected a feed mill, and 
eight years later built a full roller pro- 
cess flour mill, which with the brick 
making, feed and coal business they 
still conduct. The hay business was 



192 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



abandoned in 1S93, being burned oul in 
February. 

George C. Worstall lias been one nf 
the pioneers in practically every puK- 
lie improvement and corporate enter- 
prise in and about Newtown since his 
arrival at manhood. Edward H. Wor- 
stall & Sons owned a twentieth interest 
in the Newtown and Philadelphia Rail- 
road, and were among the most active 
promoters of that enterprise. George 
C. was chairman of the meeting that or- 
ganized the Newtown Artesian Water 
Company in 1888, that now supplies the 
town with water, and has been its presi- 
dent from its organization to the present 
time. He was one of the organizers 
and an officer of the Newtown Building 
Association in 1867. and is a director in 
the present Association, organized m 
1887. He was one of the organizers of 
the Newtown Electric Light and Power 
Company, and a director since its or- 
ganization. He was one of the active 
promoters and secretary of the New- 
town, Langhorne & Bristol Railway 
Company, and of the Newtown Electric 
Railway Company, that built the trolley 
line from Bristol to Newtown and to 
Doylestown, and is still secretary and 
director of the latter company. He was 
one of the organizers of the Standard 
Telephone Company, as well as of the 
Newtown & Yardley Street Railway 
Company, of which he is president. He 
is president of the Newtown Canning 
Company, secretary of the Excelsior 
Bobbin and Spool Company, a director 
of the Newtown Cemetery Company, 
director of the Bridgetown & Newtown 
Turnpike Company, and president of the 
Newtown Reliance Horse Company. 
During the Civil war he twice respond- 
ed to his country's call, first in 1862, 
when he went to Harrison's Landing, 
Virginia, as a nurse, and assisted m car- 
ing for the sick and wounded,, and sec- 
ond in 1863 as a member of an emer- 
gency regiment. He is a member of 
T. H. Wyncoop Post, G. A. R., of New- 

town. 

He married, March 22, 1865. Hulda A. 
Price, daughter of Samuel and Sarah 
(Betts) Price of Buckingham, who died 
January i. i8Qq. They were the par- 
ents of two children.— Edward A., who 
died in his seventh year, and Emma L., 
residing with her father in Newtown. 
He married (second) February 19. 1902. 
Mary W. Barnsely. daughter of John and 
Mary (Hough) P.arnsley. of Newtown, 
who' died September 24, 1904. 

Tn politics Mr. Worstall is a Repub- 
lican. He has served several terms in 
town council, and filled other local of- 
fices. He was appointed postmaster of 
Newtown in February, 1901. and was re- 
appointed in February, 1905. He is a 
member of the Bucks County Historical 
Society, and actively interested in its 
work. 



DUBOIS FAMILY. The family of 
DuBois is of French origin, the name 
being derived from two French words 
signifying "of the forest." The family 
is an exceedingly old one, several rep- 
resentatives having achieved distinction 
there over five centuries ago. 

The ancestor of the American branch 
of the family was Louis DuBois, who 
fied from France to the Palatinate to es- 
cape religious persecution, in 1658, re- 
siding for two years in Manheim on the 
Rhine, then the capital of the Palatin- 
ate. He emigrated to America, with 
his wife and two children in 1660. He lo- 
cated at Kingston, Ulster county, New 
York, with a number of other French 
Huguenots, and became a very promi- 
nent character there. His wife and 
three children were carried into captiv- 
ity by the Indians on July 6, 1663, and 
he led a company of the enraged set- 
tlers, who rescued them and dealt sum- 
mary vengeance on their savage captors. 
With his two sons, Abraham and Isaac, 
and nine other French refuges, known 
as the "Twelve Patentees," he organ- 
ized the settlement of New Palz, on the 
Hudson, opposite Poughkeepsie, in 
1677, on 36.000 acres purchased of the 
Indians and patented to them by Ed- 
mund Andros, governor-general under 
the Duke of York. The other nine pat- 
entees were Christian and Pierre Deyou, 
Abraham and Jean Hasbrouck. Andre 
and Simon LeFevre, Louis Bevier, An- 
toine Crespel and Hugh Frere. 

Louis DuBois was the first elder of 
the New Palz Church, organized in 1683, 
and the first records of the church are 
in his handwriting. He returned to 
Kingston in 1686, and died there ten 
years later. His wife was Cathrine 
Blancon, whom he married in France, 
where he was born, near Lyons, in 1630. 
They had ten children, viz: i. Abra- 
ham, born in France in 1656, died in 
New Palz, October 7, 1731, married Mar- 
garet Deyou, and had seven children, 
the youngest of whom Mary married 
Philip Veree, and they settled on the 
Conestoga, in Lancaster county, on land 
purchased by Abraham in 1717. 2. Is- 
aac, born at Manheim in 1658, married 
Maria Hasbrouck, and died at New Palz 
in 1690. 3. Jacob, born in Kingston, 
New York. October, i66r, married Ger- 
ritje Van Newkirk, died 1745. 4. Sarah, 
married Joost Jansen. 5. David, whose 
descendants settled and lived in Ulster 
county. New York. 6. Solomon, born 
1669, died 1759, married Trintje Van 
Newkirk. 7. Rachel, died young. 8. Re- 
becca, also died young. 9. Louis, born 
1677. married Rad'iel Hasbrouck. 10 
Mathcw, born 1679. married Sarah Mat- 
hcwsen. Of these children — Jacob and 
Solomon — have descendants in Bucks 
county. 

Jacob DuBois. third son of Louis and 
Catharine " (Blancon) DuBois, was the 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



193 



first of the family born in America, be- 
ing baptised at Kingston. Ulster county. 
New York, October 9, 1661, when but 
a few days old. He married at New 
Palz about 1690, Gerrite Van Niuwkirk, 
daughter of Gerrit and grand-daughter 
of Cornelius Van Nieuwkirk, one of the 
earliest emigrants from Holland, and 
with those other descendants later gen- 
erations of the DuBois family married 
in New Jersey. Solomon, fifth son of 
Louis, married Trintje, another daugh- 
ter of Gerrit, and his eldest daughter 
Jacomyntje became the wife of Barent, 
the eldest son of Jacob, her double first 
cousin, and they were the parents of 
the Rev. Jonathan DuBois, who became 
pastor of the Dutch Reformed church 
of North and Southampton in 174S, mar- 
ried Eleanor Wynkoop, and has left 
numerous descendants in Bucks county. 
Jacob DuBois settled on a farm of his 
father's at Hurley, Ulster county, New- 
York, and spent his whole life there, 
dying in June, 1745. By his Dutch wife 
Gerritje, otherwise Margaret Van New- 
kirk, he had eleven children: Magdalena,. 
Barent, Louis, Isaac, Sarah, who mar- 
ried Conrad Ermendorf; Gerritje, Gerrit,. 
â– Catharine, who married Petreus Smedesr 
Rebecca, Neeltje. and John. Jacob- 
DuBois purchased in 1714 1,200 acres in 
Salem county. New Jersey, upon which 
three of his sons settled on arriving at, 
manhood, viz.: Barent, Louis, and Ger- 
rit, though the latter returned to Ulster 
county on the death of his father. Bar- 
ent was an elder of Pittsgrove Presby- 
terian church, and a prominent man in 
Salem county: he died there January 22, 
1750, leaving eight children. The' other 
children of Jacob DuBois remained in 
Ulster eounty. New York. 

Louis DuBois, second son and third 
child of Jacob and Gerritje. was borrt 
in Hurley, Ulster county. New York,. 
January 6. 1695. He married. May 20,. 
1720. Margaret Jansen, and settled in 
Pittsgrove township, Salem county. 
New Jersey, where he became the own- 
er of 1,091 acres of land. He and his 
wife were among the first members of 
Pittsgrove Presbyterian church, of 
which he was an elder and trustee. He 
^died in 1784. He had eleven children, 
Viz.; Jacob, born 1720, died 1768; Mat- 
hew, born 1722; Anna, born 1724, mar- 
ried Rev. Marenus. of New York, later 
pastor of Freehold church; Gerritje, 
born 1726; John, born 1728. died at New 
London, Chester county, Pennsylvania, 
while a student for the ministry with 
his cousin. Jonathan, in July. 1746; Eli- 
zabeth, born 1739. died 1785. married 
Gai-ret Newkirk; Cornelius, born 1732; 
Peter, born 1734; Joseph, died young; 
Benjamin, born 1739. an eminent minis- 
ter of the Gospel, pastor of Freehold 
Presbyterian chmxh for sixty-three 
years. 1764 to 1827; Samuel, born 1741, 
died 181 1. All except two of these have 
13-3 



left descendants who are now scattered 
over the United States. 

Peter DuBois, eighth child of Louis 
and Margaret, was born in Pittsgrove, 
Salem county. New Jersey, April 10, 
1734. He was an intelligent and thrifty 
farmer and a pious and consistent Chris- 
tian gentleman. He was a lieutenant 
in the company of his cousin, Jacob Du- 
Bois, and later a captain during the rev- 
olution. He died August 21, 1795. He 
married in 1758 Amey, daughter of Jere- 
miah and Sarah (Blackman) Greenman, 
and sister to Rev. Nehemiah Greenman, 
pastor of the Pittsgrove church. She 
was born October 24. 1727, and died 
June 2, 1807. They had five sons and two 
daughters, viz.: i. Joel, born October 
22, 1759. died June 29, 1805. Jeremiah, 
born November 22, 1760, died December 
29. 1844, an eminent justice and legis- 
lator for many years; Sarah; Thomas; 
Samuel; Uriah; and Amey. 

URIAH DUBOIS, ymmgest son of 
Peter and Amey (Greenman) DuBois, 
born in Pittsgrove township, February, 
1768, became one of the most promi- 
nent preachers and educators in Bucks 
county. He received his academic edu- 
cation near the home of his ancestors 
in Orange county. New York, entered 
the University of Pennsylvania in 1787, 
and graduated in 1790. While a student 
there he boarded in the family of Rob- 
ert Patterson, professor of mathematics 
and natural philosophy at the Universi- 
ty, whose daughter Martha he later 
married. On his graduation he accepted 
a position as teacher in an academy at 
Charleston, South Carolina, where he 
spent one year. Returning to New Jer- 
sey he taught at Woodbury and Bor- 
dentown for three years, and then re- 
turned to Philadelphia to pursue his 
studies for the ministry under the Rev. 
Ashbel Green, D. D., afterwards presi- 
dent of Princeton. He was licensed 
to preach in 1796 and preached as a 
licentiate at Allentown, and at Deep 
Run and Red Hill in Bucks county. The 
Presbj^terians of the latter two churches 
were pleased with him and he was elect- 
ed their pastor in 1798. On June 20, 1798, 
he married Martha Patterson, and in De- 
cember of the same 3'ear took up his' 
pastoral labors in Bucks county, resid- 
ing for one year at Dublin, and then 
removing to the parsonage farm near 
the Deep Run church, and preaching 
alternately at Red Hill and Deep Run. 
In 1804 the inhabitants of the growing 
village of Doylestown built an academy 
and invited Rev DuBois to become its 
principal instructor. The con,gregations 
at both churches had decreased by the 
removal of the English settlers from 
that locality, and he decided to accept 
the offer and removed to Doylestown, 
meanwhile continuin.g his pastorate. He 
built a house, still standing at the north 



194 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



corner of Stale and Broad streets, in 
what was then a "two acre blackberry 
patcli" and removed into it in 1805. He 
later built the house adjoining the acad- 
emy and lived there from 1807 to 1814. 
and then removed back to the first 
home where he spent his remaining 
days. The builders of the academy had 
provided that religious services were to 
be held therein, and Mr. DuBois fre- 
quently preached there. This was the 
nucleus of the present Presbyterian 
church at Do3destown, which was or- 
ganized in 1814 and the building dedicat- 
ed in August, 1815. Rev. DuBois was a 
fine classical scholar and an excellent 
instructor. He was an assidous worker, 
and the infant academy and church both 
prospered under his guidance. He con- 
tinued his work in both institutions as 
well as at Deep Run until his death, 
September 19, 1821. He was also clerk 
of the Orphans court of Bucks county 
for the last six years of his life, his eld- 
est son Charles E. performing the cleri- 
cal work. His wife Martha Patterson 
was also a native of New Jersey, being 
born in Carltown, Cumberland county, 
July 30, 1779, from whence her father 
moved to Philadelphia when she was a 
year old. She was a very estimable 
woman and a fitting helpmeet for the 
enthusiastic and struggling divine in a 
sparsely settled community, and a heroic 
wife and mother. She survived him 
many years, dying October 25, 1856. The 
children of Rev. Uriah and Martha (Pat- 
terson) DuBois were: Charles E., the 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch: 
Emilia, who married the Rev. Samuel 
Aaron, born 1803, and died 1830; Robert 
P., born, 1805. for many years pastor 
of the Presbyterian church at New Lon- 
don. Chester county. Pennsylvania, 
married Jane H. Latta; Samuel, born 
1808. a noted local photographer and 
artist; William, horn 1810, married Sus- 
anna Eckfeldt; Matilda, wife of the' 
Rev. Silas M. Andrews, who succeeded 
his father-in-law as pastor of the Doyles- 
town church and filled the pastorate for 
a half century: Louis; born 1814. mar- 
ried Henrietta Cox; and Mary, who mar- 
ried S. H. Thompson. 

Charles E. DuBois, eldest child of 
Uriah and Martha, was born at the Deep 
Run parsonage. July 16. 179O. His fam- 
ily removing to Doylestown when he 
was five years of age, his youth and man- 
hood was spent there. He was educated 
at the Union academy under his father's 
tuition, studied law under Abraham 
Chapman. Esq., and was admitted to 
the bar August 28. 1820. In 1823 he was 
commissioned clerk of the orphans' 
court and filled that position for six 
years, and in 1832 was appointed district 
attorney. He was an able and success- 
ful lawyer, and practiced in the Bucks 
county courts for forty years. In 1847 
he was elected president of Doylestown 



National Bank, and filled that position 
until his death which occurred March 
5, 1865. He was married to Mary S. Lat- 
ta. daughter of Rev. John E. Latta, of 
New Castle, Delaware, by whom he had 
eleven children: John L., born April 16, 
1832, died February 20, 1903; Samuel M., 
died 1859; Emma P., married Edward P. 
Flint, a merchant of San Francisco, Cali- 
fornia, died 1899; Helen M., living in 
Doylestown; James L., died in Cali- 
fornia in 1897; Charles, died in infancy; 
Louis P., died 1889; Mary L., living 
in Doylestown; Charles E., died 1867; 
Henry M., a practicing attorney in Phil- 
adelphia; and Edward M., died 1857. 

JOHN L. DUBOIS, Esq., eldest son 
of Charles E. and Mary S. DuBois, was 
born in Doylestown, April 16, 1832. He 
attended school in Doylestown until 
1847. when he went to Norristown, and 
attended an academy conducted by Rev. 
Samuel Aaron. He next attended a 
boarding school at New London, Ches- 
ter county, kept by William F.. Wyers, 
where he remained for one year, when 
he entered LaFayette College and gradu- 
ated in 1852. Returning to Dojdestov/n 
he read law with his father, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar on February 4. 1856. 
He entered into partnership with his 
father, which continued tmtil the death 
of the latter in 1865. He contiued the 
practice of law during the remainder of 
liis life, handling many important civil 
and criminal cases, and settled some of 
the largest estates in Bucks county. He 
was an elder in the Presbyterian church 
and one of its most earnest workers 
for many years. He also held very many 
positions of trust, was president of the 
town council for three 5'ears, a director 
in the Doylestown National Bank, sec- 
retary and treasurer of the Doylestown 
Improvement Company, treasurer of the 
Doylestown Cemetery Company, and 
president of the Bucks County Bar As- 
sociation. He was superintendent of the 
Presbyterian Sunday School for thirty- 
four years. He died at his home on 
Court street, Doylestown. on Friday, 
February 20. 1903. He married, June 11, 
1863, Emma Rex, of Montgomery coun- 
ty. Pennsylvania, who survives him. His 
only surviving child is John L. DuBois, 
Junior. 

JOHN L. DUBOIS. Jr.. was born in 
Doylestown. June 30. 1873. He was edu- 
cated at the public schools. Doylestown 
Seminary and at the William Penn 
Charter School, Philadelphia. He read 
law with his father and was admitted to 
the bar January 13, T8ofi: entered into 
partnership with his father, which con- 
tinued until the death of the latter, and 
is one of the young enterprising mem- 
bers of the bar. He was married De- 
cember t8. tooo. to Christiana, daughter 
of Dr. Samuel G. and Rachel Ann (Cad- 



K 

:y 



A3T0:-<, LENOX AND 
TiLOtN, FOUNDATIONS. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Vd 



-wallader) Price, of Doylestown. Their 
•only child — John L., was born Decem- 
ber 5, 1903. 



JOSEPH DEBENNEVILLE AB- 
BOTT, burgess of Bristol, Bucks coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, is a native of the state, 
born in Philadelphia, (Tioga), June 28, 
1866, eldest son of Francis and Julia 
â– (Churchman Shewell) Abbott. He is de- 
scended on his father's side from John 
Abbat (subsequently spelled by this an- 
cestor, "Abbott") who came to America 
from Farnslield, Nottingham, England, 
in 1684, and "settled a plantation on 
Crosswicks Creek," between Borden- 
town and Trenton, New Jersey, consist- 
ing at the time of his death in 1739 of 
â– eight hundred and ten acres. An active 
Friend, he took a prominent part in^ all 
that concerned the Chesterfield Meet- 
ing at Crosswicks, Burlington county. 
New Jersey. He was constable of Not- 
tingham and surveyor of highways. In 
1695 he married Anne Mauleverer, 
-daughter of Edmund and Anne (Pear- 
son) Mauleverer. She, like her husband, 
was an active Friend, an elder of the 
meeting, and prominent in all meeting 
interests, as the records indicate. She 
died in 1754. John and Anne (Maulever- 
er) Abbott had, with other issue, 

Timothy Abbott, born in 1717, died 
1776. He married Anne Satterthwaite. 
He succeeded to his father's estate in 
part, and was prominent like his parents 
in the Society of Friends. He was a 
merchant as well as farmer, and had 
•vessels plying up and down the Dela- 
ware river to Philadelphia from the plan- 
tation on Crosswicks Creek, then a navi- 
gable stream for boats of. for those 
days, considerable draught. Timothy and 
Anne (Satterthwaite) Abbott had, with 
other issue, 

John Abbott, born 1748, died 1809. 
He married Susannah Bulloch. He suc- 
ceeded to his father's estate and_ was 
actively engaged in the business insti- 
tuted by his father, continuing the mer- 
cantile phase of it until 1800, when his 
large land-holdings demanded all his at- 
tention. He took an active part in local 
public afifairs and in those of the relig- 
ious body to which he belonged. John 
and Susannah (Bulloch) Abbott ' had, 
with other issue, 

Joseph Abbott, born 1779, died 1861. 
He married Anne Rickey. In his father's 
lifetime he moved to a portion of the 
original "Watson plantation," east of 
the Abbott homestead, and was a far- 
mer. Joseph and Anne (Rickey) Ab- 
bott had, with other issue, 

Timothy Abbott, born 1809, died 1882. 
He married Susan Conrad. In early life 
he was a merchant, then was long asso- 
ciated with Peter Cooper, and later with 
Cooper. Hewitt & Co.. in the Iron busi- 
ness. He was president of the Mechan- 



ics' National Bank, Trenton, New Jer- 
sey. Timothy and Susan (Conrad) Ab- 
bott had, with other issue, 

Francis Abbott, born 1840. He mar- 
ried (first) Julia Churchman Shewell. 
Mr. Abbott entered the banking house 
of the late F. M. Dre.xel in February. 
1857, and at this date (November, 1904) 
still holds an important position in the 
same house. Francis and Julia C. (She- 
well) Abbott had, with other issue, Jo- 
seph de Benneville Abbott, mentioned 
at length hereinafter. 

Through the pioneer ancestor, John 
Abbat, Dr. Abbott is descended from 
the Ingrams, Colvilles and Maulever- 
ers, who successively, as named, were 
owners of Ingleby Arneclifife, Yorkshire, 
England, an estate in existence as such 
since the middle ages. Through the 
Maulevers the descent may be traced 
back to nearly all of the Barons of 
Magna Charta, 1215. The ancestry of 
Anne Mauleverer Abbott is of unusual 
interest because of this fact. Edmund 
Mauleverer, the father of Anne, became 
a Quaker, and was apparently the only 
member of the family who changed his 
faith. The Mauleverers have been 
Church of England folk since the time 
of Henry VIII, and were previously 
Roman Catholics. Edmund's father was * 
James, who married Beatrice, daughter 
of Sir Timothy Hutton. James' father 
was William, who married Eleanor, 
daughter of Richard Oldborough. Will- 
iam's father was Sir Edmund, who mar- 
ried Mary, daughter of Sir Christopher 
Danby. Sir Edmund's father was Rob- 
ert, who married Alice, daughter of Sir 
Niman Markenfield. Roberts father 
was Sir William, (knighted at Flodden 
in T513) who married Anne, daughter 
of Sir William Conyers, and through 
this line the descent from Edward III is 
readily traced. Sir William's father was 
Robert, who married Joan, daughter of 
Sir Henry Vavasour. Robert's father 
was Edmund, who married Alionara, 
daughter of Sir James Strangwayes. 
Edmund's father was Robert, who mar- 
ried, Joan , and his father was Sir 

William Mauleverer, who married Joan 
de Colville, and succeeded to the Ingle- 
by Arnecliffe estate. The marriage of 
Robert Mauleverer and Alice Marken- 
field linked the family to descent from 
eighteen of the Magna Charter barons, 
the descent having intermarried between 
1215 and 1500. This descent in all its 
details is traced in the beautiful Mars- 
shall-Clement chart published in 1904, to 
which the reader is referred. (Vide "In- 
gleby Arnecliffe and its Owners." by 
William Brown, Esq., Secretary of the 
Yorkshire Archaeological and Surtees 
Societies, Leeds. John Whitehead & Son, 
1901.) 

On his mother's side Dr. Abbott is 
descended from Walter Shewell, born 
near the village of Painswick, Glouces- 



196 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



tershire, England, in 1702. He came to 
IMiiladelphia. June 7, 1722, and purchased 
from the I*cnn estate a tract of land in 
New Britain township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, near Doylestown. He 
founded Painswick Hall, of which an ac- 
count will be found elsewhere in this 
volume. Dr. Abbott is the sixth in de- 
scent from Walter and Mary (Kimber) 
Shewell, who had with other issue, Rob- 
ert Shewell. born 1740, died 1825. He 
was a merchant in the West India trade. 
He married Sarah Sallows, and they had, 
with other issue. Thomas Shewell, born 
1774. died 1848. He was a merchant. He 
married Sarah B. Linnington,. and they 
had, with other issue, Linnington Dan- 
iel Shewell, born 1808, died 1873. He 
married Martha R. Roberts, and they 
had, with other issue. Julia Churchman 
Shewell, born 1843, died 1882. She was 
the wife of Francis Abbott, and mother 
of Joseph de Bennevjlle .Abbott. 
â–  Dr. Joseph de Benncville Abbott was 
educated at the famous Germantown 
Academj', and subsequently studied 
medicine in the Hahnemann Medical 
College of Philadelphia, from which he 
was graduated in April, 1887. In Octo- 
ber. 1890, he entered upon the practice 
of his profession in Bristol, Pennsyl- 
vania, in which he has been usefully en-' 
gaged to the present time. February 20, 
1903, he was chosen burgess for a two 
year term, ending in 1905. In 1897 Dr. 
Abbott married his second cousin, Helen 
Shewell Kcim, who is a descendant on 
her mother's side of the Rodman fam- 
ily, prominent in Bucks county since 
early in the eighteenth century. (Vide 
"Autumn Leaves fr'om , Family' Trees," 
by Theo. Francis Rodenbough, New 
York, 1892. Privatelj' printed.) Two 
children have been the issue of this mar- 
riage: Charles Shewell, born Febru- 
ary 17, 1899; Helen Rodman, born Aug- 
ust 20, 1900. 



MARY S. ABBOTT. The paternal 
ancestors of Mrs. Abbott were among 
the earliest German settlers in Pennsyl- 
vania, her first American ancestor be-" 
ing Johannes Keim, who emigrated from 
Germany in 1698. and after a short stay 
in Pennsylvania returned to the fath- 
erland, where he married in 1706, and 
returned to Pennsylvania the following- 
year. He located soon after on the Ma- 
natawny, in Oley township. Berks coun- 
ty, and took up land. He was probably 
one of "those adventurous Germans" 
who settled bej^ond the limits of the 
land purchased by Penn of the Indians, 
and referred to in the correspondence 
between James Logan, Penn's famous 
secretary, and the founder. He obtained 
a patent for his land in 1720 and fur- 
ther patents for additional land in 1737- 
He died in Oley in December, 1753- A 
manuscript in his own writing gives an 



account of his first marriage in 1706, 
(without mentioning the name of his 
wife) and the birth of his six children 
by that marriage, and his second mar- 
riage in 1731. By the second marriage 
he had ten children. The children by 
the first marriage were: Katharina, born 
1708, died 1793; Johannes, born 1711; 
Stephen, born ' 1717; Johan Nicholas, 
born April 2, 17197 died at Reading, 
Berks county, Pennsylvania, in 1803; 
Elizabeth, born 1723; and Jacob, born- 

1724- 

Nicholas Keim, the third son, became 
a merchant in Reading, and his son 
John, born at Oley in 1749, was the an- 
cestor of Mrs. Abbott. At the age of 
twentj'-eight years, in 1777, John Keim 
enlisted in the Fourth Battalion of 
Berks county and served through the 
Revolutionary war. He was a captain 
in the Fifth Battalion in 1778. At the 
close of the war he returned to 
Reading and resumed his position with 
his father in the mercantile business, and 
remained in that business until his death 
on February 19, 1819. The "Berks and 
Schuylkill Journal," in referring to his 
death, says: "The remains of John 
Keim, merchant, were interred in the 
Episcopal burial ground this afternoon. 
* * * * jjg ].,j^(j resided in this 
borough sixty-four years, during which 
time he amassed a large fortune which 
never caused a widow's tear or an or- 
phan's execration. What he left behind 
was justly his own. As a creditor he 
was ever lenient and his numerous ten- 
antry can testify to his goodness as a 
landlord." His wife was a daughter of 
George de Benneville, of Bristol town- 
ship, near Germantown, Philadelphia; 
county. 

Daniel De Benneville Keim was cap- 
tain of the Berks county "Washington 
Blues," attached to the First Regiment 
of Pennsylvania Volunteers in the war 
of 1812. General George de Benneville 
Keim. grandfather of Mrs. Abbott, was 
born in Reading in 1778, and died there 
in 1852. He married INIary May, daugh- 
ter of James and Bridget (Douglass) 
May, of Reading. James May was born 
May 2. 1749, in Coventry township, 
Chester county, Pennsylvania, and re- 
moved to Reading prior to the Revolu- 
tion, dying there March 13, 1819. He 
was a descendant of John ]\Tay, born in 
Mayfield, Sussex, England, in 1590. and 
emigrated to New England in 1635, Rob- 
ert Mny. the grandfather of James, com- 
ing from New England in 1700 and set- 
tling at Limerick, now ]\Iontgomery 
county. Bridget Douglass was a daugh- 
ter of George Douglass and granddaugh- 
ter of Andrew Douglass, of Scotland, 
the latter of whom settled at what is 
now Douglassville. Berks county. 

Major Daniel May Keim, son of 
George De Benneville and Mary (May) 
Keim, was born at Reading, in 1806, and 




3 



wc X'^c^? J\*i^\^^ w\ e ( n-v J 



THE 

Pi: 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



197 



<iied in Bristol, Bucks county, Febru- 
ary 12, 1867. He was a man of much 
more than ordinary intellectual ability 
and of scholarly tastes and extensive 
learning. He had an anticiuarian turn of 
mind, and made extensive researches in 
almost everything pertaining to history, 
and made many valuable contributions 
to the Historical Society of Pennsyl- 
vania, of which he was one of the most 
active and distinguished members. He 
was for many years engaged in mercan- 
tile business in Philadelphia, and during 
the later years of his life held a respon- 
sible position in the custom house at 
Philadelphia. He was a prominent 
member of the Masonic fraternity, and 
at the time of his death was affiliated 
with Bristol Lodge, No. 25, A. Y. M., 
and that lodge and the grand lodge of 
the order adopted resolutions com- 
memorative of his worth as a man and 
liis distinguished services in the order. 
He married, November 17, 1829. Marj' 
Linnington Shewell, born in Philadel- 
phia, June 5, 1805, daughter of Thomas 
and Sarah B. (Linnington) Shewell. The 
former was born at Painswick Hall, 
New Britain township, Bucks county, 
July 13, 1774, and was a son of Robert 
and Sarah (Sallows) Shewell, and a 
grandson of Walter Shewell, of Pains- 
vi'ick Hall, the founder of the familj-. 
Thomas at the age of eighteen 
years went to Philadelphia and en- 
tered mercantile pursuits. In 1796 
he went to the West Indies, and 
from thence to England, where he 
â– entered the house of Bonsfield & 
Co., woolen staplers and army con- 
tractors, London. He returned to Phila- 
delphia and became a merchant there in 
1802, and was a member of the board of 
managers of the House of Refuge, and 
held many other positions of honor and 
trust. He retired from business in 1832, 
and died in Philadelphia, March 23, 184S. 
He was three times married. His first 
wife was Sarah B. Linnington, born 
March 10, 1784, whom he married March 
TO, 1802. She was a granddaughter of 
Dr. George de Benneville, of Bristol 
township, Philadelphia county, near 
Germantown. She died February 11, 
1819. 

Daniel May. and Mary L. (Shewell) 
Keim, were the parents of eight chil- 
dren, the two eldest of whom died in 
infancy. Those who survived were: 
Thomas Shewell Keim, born January 
3, 1834, in Philadelphia, died at Bris- 
tol, Bucks county, November 9, 1866; 
Joseph D. (Brown) Keim, (so signed as 
administrator of fathe'r and brother) 
born November 26, 1835, married April 
17, 1868, Lillie Paxson; Esther de Benne- 
ville Keim, born November 26, 1835, 
-died January 24. 1874, married James P. 
Wood; Augusta Shewell Keim, born Sep- 
tember 6, 1840; Mary Shewell Keim. the 
subject of this sketch, born December i, 



1843, married January 22, 1884. Francis 
Abbott; Anetta Faber Keim, born De- 
cember 29, 1845, died December 20, i860. 



MARTIN LUTHER SNYDER, 
wholesale dealer in rubber goods,- at 
Fourth and Market streets, Philadel- 
phia, was born at Farmersville, North- 
ampton county, Pennsylvania, July 2, 
1850, and is a son of John H. and Anna 
(Groover) Snyder, both of whom were 
natives of Bucks county. 

Andreas Von Schneider (or, as he 
signed himself in America, Andreas 
Schneider), the great-grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch, was born in the 
year 17.39, in Zweybrucken, or Deux 
Ponts. Rhenish Bavaria, and is said to 
have belonged to the nobility of that 
cosmopolitan town, but, having taken 
part as a mere youth in an uprising 
against the government, was stripped of 
his nobility and property and forced to 
flee from the countr}^ He sold himself 
to the captain of a sailing vessel bound 
for the port of Philadelphia, where R"e ar- 
rived some time in the year 1759. He 
bound himself to a merchant in Phila- 
delphia whose name has not been ascer- 
tained, by whom it is said he was em- 
ployed in the capacity of a farmer in 
the neighborhood of Germantown for 
some years, and that later his employer 
sold him sufficient stock and farming 
impleiTients with which to embark in the 
farming business for himself, taking his 
note without security for the same. It 
is probable that his employers and bene- 
factors were Abel James and John 
Thompson, of Philadelphia, prominent 
merchants on whose plantation in Rich- 
land township. Bucks county, we find 
Andrew Schneider in 1775, and five years 
later they conveyed to him 140 acres 
thereof, on wjiich he lived and died. He 
was a member of the first Associated 
Companj^ of Richland township in 1775, 
and is said to have rendered active serv- 
ice in the defense of the rights of his 
adopted country during the Revolutio'^ 
and served as an officer under Washing- 
ton when he crossed the Delaware to at- 
tack the Hessians on that memorable 
Christmas night. It is related of Mr. 
Schneider that he was in such haste to 
join the army in the time of his coun- 
try's urgent need, that he left his team 
in the field hitched to the plow. After 
service in the army of five years he set- 
tled on his farm in Richland, and de- 
voted his energies to the tilling of the 
soil, meanwhile rendering such service 
to the public as the needs of the com- 
munity in which he lived demanded. In 
the latter part of the war he served as 
a collector of militia fines, and, having 
in his hands at different periods consid- 
erable public funds, he kept the money 
hid in places known only to himself in 
order to protect his family from the dep- 



1 98 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



redations of the Doane outlaws, wlio 
did not hesitate to maltreat and torture 
the families of tax collectors in order to 
ascertain the hiding place of the public 
money. In religion Andreas Schneider 
was a member of the Lutheran church. 
He had received more than the ordinary- 
advantages in the way of education, and 
took an active interest in the establish- 
ment of schools in the community in 
which he lived. He spoke the French 
language fluently, and while living in the 
neighborhood of Gerniantown was gen- 
erally referred to as "the Frenchman." 
He died on his Richland farm about the 
year 1816. He married in 1765 Margaret 
Jacobi, whose parents were also early 
settlers in upper Bucks county, and they 
were the parents of eleven children, 
viz.; Frederick, who married a INIiss 
Eckhart and had seven children; Eliza- 
beth, who married Stephen Knizeley and 
had five children; Catharine, who mar- 
ried Isaac Bean and had five children; 
Andrew Jr., who married Mary Mickley 
and had five children; Margaret, who 
married John Weisel and had ten chil- 
dren; Magdalena, who married Jacob 
Bean; Henry, who married a Miss Mes- 
simer and had one child; George, who 
married Mary IMickley and had ten 
children; John, who married Elizabeth 
Hinkle and had eleven children; Mary, 
who married Philip Rumfield and had 
four children; and Susanna who never 
married. 

John Snyder was the seventh child of 
Andreas and Margaret (Jacobi) Schnei- 
der, and was born and reared in Rich- 
land township. Bucks county. He was 
a farmer and lived and died in Richland 
township, his death occurrir"- pbnut 
August I. 1844. His wife was Elizabeth 
Hinkle, daughter of John Hinkle, who 
owned and occupied a farm adjoining 
that of Andreas Snvder,. in Richland. 
The children of John and E'i7ibeth 
(Hinkle) Snj'der were as follows: 
William H.. who married Catharine 
Heist and died befo.re his father, leav- 
ing two children. Charles and ^^'^illiam; 
John H.. the father of the subject of 
this sketch, who married Anna Groov- 
er; Tobiss H., who died unmarried; 
Lydia, who died young; Sarah, v'- 
also died unmarried; Amos H.. Avho 
married Mary Blank: Andre"' H.. never 
married: Carolina, who married George 
Brnna:; Thnmas H., who married Sarah 
Erdman; Catharine, who married .'^p" 
lie! Cressman. and Joseph H., who never 
married. 

Tohn H. Snvder, son of John and 
Eliznbcth (Hinkle) Snvder. was born in 
Richland townshin. May 20. i8t6. and 
died in Philadelnhia. September .•^o. 
187=;. When a lad he was apprenticed 
to the shoemaker trade but was obliged 
to relinquish it on account of ill hcnlth. 
He entered the famous academy of Pro- 
fessor Blech, at Bethlehem, and fitted 



himself for teaching school, and taught 
for twelve years, 1839 to 1851, part of the- 
time at Rufe's school in Durham towi 
ship, later at Hellertown, Northampton 
county, where he resided at the time- 
of his marriage, and the last thrp. 
years, 1848 to 1851, at Farmersville, 
Northampton county, Pennsylvania. In 
1851 he removed with his family to- 
Richlandtown, Bucks county, where he 
conducted the village hotel until March 
21, 1861, when he removed to a farm 
formerly owned by his wife's father, John 
Groover, in Durham township. In 1873. 
the family removed to Philadelphia, 
where Mr. Snyder died September 30, 
1873. Mrs. Snyder is sH:ill living. Anna. 
(Groover) Snyder, wife of John H. Sny- 
der, was born in Nockamixon township,. 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania March 29, 
1821, and was a daughter of John and 
Catharine (Miller) Kruger, (that being: 
the original spellin,g of the name). Her 
grandfather, Nicholas Kruger, is said t-^ 
have been born in Germany, and died in 
Nockamixon township in 1842. His- 
grandfather. Nicholas Grouger (or Kru- 
ger) was one of the earliest settlers on 
the Tohickon, in Tinicum township, and 
died there in 1773. leaving a widow Ul- 
fronica and children Nicholas. Philip^ 
Mary Barbara and Anna Elizabeth. 
Nicholas Kruger. first above mentioned, 
married Catharine Wolfinger and had 
five children; Henry, who married Mary 
Trauger; Elizabeth, who married Nicho- 
las Younkin; Margaret, who married a 
Fenner; John, who married Catharine 
IMiller; and Nicholas, who married Susan 
Rufe. John Kruger and Catharine Mil- 
ler were the parents of five children: 
Anna, the wife of John H. Snyder, and 
the mother of the subject of this sketch; 
William, who died in infancy; Charles,^ 
who married Hannah Frankenfield; Sa- 
rah, wife of George Harwick; and Sam- 
uel, who died in childhood. 

John H. Snyder was a member of the- 
Lutheran church, and in politics was a 
Democrat. He was a master mason of 
Philetus Lodsje. No. 527. F. & A. M., 
at the time of his decease. He had five 
sons,- — -Martin L.. John A., and Charles 
A., who are living, and Robert J. and 
Mat-cus F.. who died in infancv. 

Martin E. Snyder was born in North- 
ampton county, where his father was 
at that time teaching school, but his 
parents removing to Richlandtown, 
Bucks countj\ when he was less than a 
year old. his earliest education was ac- 
quired in the public schools there: he 
later attended the Monroe school in 
Durham township, and finished his edu- 
cation at the Excelsior Normal Insti- 
tute at Carversville, .Solebury township, 
Bucks count}\ Pennsylvania. At the age 
of sixteen years he be.gan teaching- 
school and taught in the public schools 
of Bucks county for three j-cars. At the 
age of nineteen years he went to Phila- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



199 



delphia and was employed there as a 
clerk until 1878, when .he embarked in 
business for himself as a wholesale 
dealer in rubber goods, in which he has 
since been successfully engaged. In 
politics he is a Republican, with a decid- 
ed leaning toward clean politics as ex- 
emplified b}^ the Committe of One Hun- 
dred and the Municipal League. In 1901 
he was the candidate of the Municipal 
League, endorsed by the Republican 
party, for common councilman from the 
thirty-seventh ward of Philadelphia, but 
failed of election. He is an active mem- 
ber of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
of the Incarnation, Broad and Jefferson 
streets, and for the past seven years has 
been a vestryman of that church, and 
is the present secretary of the vestry. 
He is a Master Mason of Shekinah 
Lodge, No. 246. F. and A. M.; past re- 
gent of Apollo Senate. No. 6, Order of 
Sparta, and Great Ephor of the Great 
Senate of Sparta for the last twelve 
years, also secretary of the Great Eph- 
ori of the Great Senate of Sparta; past 
master workman of Quaker City Lodge, 
No. 116, Ancient Order of United Work- 
men of Pennsylvania, and an ex-super- 
A-ising deputy grand master workman 
of the order in Pennsylvania; and a 
member of Pennsylvania council. No. 
342, Royal Arcanum. Mr. Snyder was 
married in Philadelphia, January 28, 
1880. by the Rev. Francis L. Robbins, 
D. D., to Eliza Hunter Cassin, daughter 
of Isaac Sharpless and Emily CHunter) 
Cassin, of Philadelphia, and they have 
been the parents of two sons, the elder 
of whom died in infancy. TKeir son, 
Cassin Snyder, born February 27, 1885, 
received his education in the public 
schools of Philadelphia, graduated from 
the North East Manual Training School, 
and until recently was connected with 
the engineering department of the Phila- 
delphia Rapid Transit Company in the 
construction of the subway and bridge 
work for the depression and elevation 
of the car tracks on Market street; but 
is now associated with his father in 
business. 

Isaac S. Cassin, father of Mrs. Sny- 
der, was born in Delaware county, Penn- 
sylvania, July 29, 1826, and is of Eng- 
lish and Irish lineage, Joseph Cassin. 
his great-grandfather having emigrated 
from Queen's county, Ireland, in 1725, 
and settled in Philadelphia. He had 
among other children sons John and 
Luke, the former of whom became fa- 
mous as Commodore John Cassin dur- 
ing the Revolution, was a warm personal 
friend of Washington, who presented 
him with an oil portrait of himself, 
which was destroyed by fire in the home 
of his no less distinguished son. Com- 
modore Stephen Cassin, at Washington. 
Commodore Stephen Cassin commanded 
the Ticonderoga in McDonough's fa- 
mous victory on Lake Champlain in the 



war of 1812-14, and was awarded a med- 
al by Congress for bravery in that ac- 
tion, a replica of which is now in pos- 
session of Cassin Sn3'der, above men- 
tioned. Luke Cassin, brother of the first 
Commodore, was the great-grandfather 
of Mrs. Snyder. He was born in Phila- 
delphia in 1763, and followed the trade 
of a silversmith. He married Ann Wor- 
rall, of an old Delaware county family, 
and had one son, Thomas W. Cassin, 
who married Rachel Sharpless, daughter 
of Isaac and Hannah (Wright) Sharp- 
less, and had children: John, the dis- 
tinguished naturalist and ornithologist; 
Lydia, Luke, Thomas W., Rebecca S., 
William V., Isaac S., Ann Eliza, and 
Susanna S. 

Isaac S. Cassin was educated at the 
famous Friends' school at Westown and 
under private tutors, and early manifest- 
ed a talent for mechanics. He served 
an apprenticeship with Messrs. I. P. 
Morris & Co., of Philadelphia, and sub- 
sequently became, successively, engineer 
of the Spring Garden Water Works, of 
Philadelphia Gas Works, chief engineer 
of the Philadelphia Water Works, and 
chief engineer of the United States 
Mint in Philadelphia. Relinquishing 
for a time public office, Mr. Cassin re- 
organized the Union Hydraulic Works, 
and was one of the most eminent water 
and gas engineers in the country, hav- 
ing built not less than fiftv water works 
in prominent cities throughout the coun- 
try. His services as an expert in the 
construction of water works, were in 
great demand, and he had a distinct and 
unique reputation in the valuation of 
water and gas properties. He was a' 
life member of the Franklin Institute, 
and of the Engineers' Club, and for 
more than twenty years prior to his 
death was a member of the Public 
Buildings Commission, which had charge 
of the erection of the city hall of Phila- 
delphia. He was a member of the So- 
ciet}^ of Friends, at the Race Street 
Meeting. In politics he was an uncom- 
promising Democrat, and besides filling 
numerous public offices was frequently 
a delegate to state and national conven- 
tions. He married, October 10, 1850, 
Emily Hunter, daughter of John Mor- 
gan Hunter, of Delaware county, and 
they were the parents of six children: 
Thomas; Eliza H. fnow Mrs. M. L. 
Snyder): Edward, John, Emily, and Is- 
aac S. Cassin. 

The maternal ancestors of Mrs. Sny- 
der were no less distinguished than her 
paternal ancestors. John Hunter, the 
progenitor of the family in America, 
was a strong churchman, and was in 
the Protestant army, under William of 
Orange in the battle of the Boyne, where 
he commanded a troop of horse and 
was wounded in the hip. He was a 
native of Durham, England, and a de- 
scendant of the Hunter family of Mad- 



200 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



omsle}' Hall, Gateshead, where many of 
his ancestors are buried. Upon the ac- 
cession of James II, he fled to Rath- 
drum, county Wicklow, Ireland, where 
he married Margaret Albin, who bore 
him ten children. He came to Ameri- 
ca in 1722, and a year later settled in 
Newtown township, Delaware county, 
where he died in 1734 at the age of sev- 
enty years, and lies buried at old St. 
David's, Radnor, of which church he 
was one of the founders and a member 
of the first vestry. He was accompa- 
nied to America by Anthony Wayne, the 
grandfather of Mad Anthony Wayne, of 
the Revolution, the former being his su- 
perior officer in the battle of the Boyne, 
and the two families were closely asso- 
ciated. John Morgan Hunter, the grand- 
father of Mrs. Snyder, was a descend- 
ant in the fifth generation from John 
Hunter, the pioneer. His mother's sis- 
ter, Elizabeth Edwards, married Peter 
Penn-Gaskill. who claimed descent in 
the sixth generation from William Penn, 
the founder. John Morgan Hunter mar- 
ried Eliza Rhodes, by whom he had five 
children, — Rachel, Hannah, Samuel, Em- 
ily, (the mother of Mrs. Snyder), and 
Sarah. 



JOSEPH W. SHELLY, for the past 
five years District Attorney of the coun- 
ty of Bucks, was born in Milford town- 
ship, Bucks county, March 26, /1864, 
on a farm that had been the property of 
his ancestors for a century and a quar- 
ter. The family of Shelly, now very 
numerous in Upper Bucks, is descended 
from Abraham Shelly, who emigrated 
from the Palatinate, Switzerland, or 
northern France, about 17,30. On Janu- 
ary 29, 17,39, Thomas and Richard Penn. 
proprietaries of Pennsylvania, conveyed 
to him fifty acres of land in Milford 
township, adjoining other land on which 
he was already settled, showing that he 
was already located in ]\Tilford at that 
date. In 1740 he purchased of Morris 
Morris 260 acres additional, a portion 
of which was occupied by his descend- 
ants, the lineal ancestors of the subject , 
of this sketch, until 187.3. In February, 
1761. he and his wife Elizabeth entered 
into an agreement to convey to their son 
Michael Shelly 1,3^ acres of this tract, 
but Abraham died before the conveyance 
was comoleted. They also conveyed a 
portion of their land to their son Jacob 
in 1760. Abraham and Elizabeth Shelly 
were the oarents of six sons. — .Abraham. 
Jacob, Joseph. Christian, John and 
Michael, from both the first and Inst of 
whom the subiect of this sketch is de- 
scended thronch the inter-mnrriage of a 
grandson of the former with a grand- 
dauehter of the latter. 

.A.brnham Shellv. Jr., purchased land 
adjoining his father in 17-3. which he 
later conveyed to his son Joseph. The 



date of the death of Abraham Shelly 
and Eve his wife has not been obtained, 
nor a full list of their children, though 
it is known that their two sons were 
Joseph and Christian. 

Joseph Shelly, son of Abraham, Jr.. 
as above related, received from his fath- 
er a portion of the homestead. He was 
a farmer, and followed that vocation in 
Milford township until his death in No- 
vember, 1818. He married Jannie Yo- 
der, and thpy were the parents of the 
following children: Jacob. Abraham, Jo- 
seph, John, Mary, wife of Michael Lan- 
dis; Eve, wife of Peter Moyer; Anna, 
wife of Jacob Moyer; Barbara, wife of 
Peter Schneider; and Fannie, 'wife of 
John Fretz. 

Jacob Shelly, son of Joseph and Anna 
(Yoder) Shelly, married Barbara, only 
child of Michael and Elizabeth (Mus- 
selman) Shelly, and granddaughter of 
Micheal Shelly, youngest son of Abra- 
ham the emigrant. The land purchased 
by Michael, Sr.. of his father, in 1761, 
was devised by Michael to his son John, 
who, dying without issue in 1770. de- 
vised it to his brother Michael, the fath- 
er of Barbara, and he. dying in 1790, de- 
vised it to his only daughter, who later 
married Jacob Shelly, her second cousin. 
Elizabeth, the mother of Barbara Shelly, 
died in 1793, while her daughter Barbara 
was yet a minor. Jacob Shelly died in 
September, 1847, and his wife Barbara 
in Februarv, 1852. They were the parents 
of ten children, viz.: INIichael; Fannie, 
wife of William H. Oberholtzer; Joseph 
S.; Elizabeth, who became the wife of 
Rev. Samuel TNIoyer; David; Susanna, 
who married Samuel K. Harley: John 
and Mary, who died young; Jacob: and 
Barbara, who married Levi S. Shelly. 

Joseph S. Shelly, second son of Jacob 
and Barbara, was born in Milford towa- 
ship, Bucks countv. December 20. 1809, 
and died there in 1872. By proceedings in 
the orphans' court in 1848, the property 
which had descended to his mother 
was adjudged to him, and he continued 
to own it until his death. He married 
Elizabeth Bauer, dauehter of Andrew 
and Elizabeth (Bechtel) Bauer, v.-ho was 
born in Douglas township, Montgomery 
countv, Pennsylvania, October 30, i8og, 
and thev were the parents of four chil- 
dren. — Andrew B.; Susanna, wife of Da- 
vid Stauffer; Mary, wife of John Bleam 
Bechtel; and Elizabeth, who died in 
childhood. 

Rev. Andrew B. Shellv. the fnther of 
the subject of this sketch, was born in 
Milford township. September 23. T854. 
He received his early education at the 
public and parochial schools of that vi- 
cinage, and at the afre of eighteen vears 
began teaching school in the winter 
months, devoting the summer to study in 
connection with assistin,g his father on 
the farm. In t8,!^4 and 18.^7 he was a 
student at Frecland Seminary (now Ur- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



20I 



sinus College) at Collegeville, Montgom- 
ery county. In 1864 he entered the min- 
istry and became the pastor of East 
Swamp, West Swamp, and Flatland, 
Mennonite congregations, to which he 
has since ministered. He has from a 
youth been one of the active leaders and 
teachers in the doctrine of the Mennon- 
ite church, bringing to bear upon this 
work, as upon all that he has under- 
taken, an energy, earnestness and fidelity 
to principle that has characterized his 
whole life. He has filled many promi- 
nent positions in the church, being for 
many years president of the general 
triennial conference, and a prominent 
member of the foreign missions and 
publication boards of the church. He 
was for fifteen years editor of the "Men- 
nonitche Friedensbote," a church paper 
published at Milford Square, and for 
inany years associate editor of the 
"Christliche Bundesbote," a paper pub- 
lished in the interest of the Mennonite 
church at Berne, Indiana. He has also 
teen for man^v^ years one of the editors 
of "The Mennonite," an English church 
paper published in Philadelphia. 

He married, October 16, 1858, Fannie 
Weinberger, born March 11, 1834, daugh- 
ter of Joseph and Mary (Shelly) Wei- 
berger. and also a descendant of Abra- 
ham Shelly, Sr.. her mother being a 
great-granddaughter of Jacob Shelly, 
son of the pioneer, Abraham. This uni- 
on was blessed with the following chil- 
•dren: Mary Elizabeth, wife of Isaiah T. 
Clymer. of Quakertown; Adeline, wife 
of Uriah S. Staufifer, editor of "Quaker- 
town Free Press"; Joseph W.; IMenno 
and Oswin. 

The Shelly family have nearly all been 
-farmers and from their arrival in Amer- 
ica, have nearly all been adherents of the 
Mennonite church, and true to the ten- 
•ets of that faith, have taken little part 
in active politics or afifairs of State, 
though taking an active interest in lo- 
cal afifairs. in their respective neighbor- 
hoods. They have almost invariably 
given their political support to the old 
AVhig and later to the Republican party. 
Joseph W. Shelly was born on the old 
Michael Shelly homestead (purchased by 
liis great-great-great-great-grandfather 
in 1740) ]\Iarch 25, 1864. He received 
his early education at the public schools 
of his native township, and the Quaker- 
town High School, and finished his ele- 
mentary education at Ursinus College. 
On leaving college he taught school at 
Quakertown. in the meantime entering 
liimself as a student at law in the office 
of the late Charles F. Meyers, Esq., at 
Doylestown. He was admitted to the 
Bucks county bar December i. 1890, and 
formed a partnership with his precept- 
or, which continued for five years, since 
which time he has practiced alone. He 
w-as admitted to practice in the supreme 
court of Pennsylvania in 1893. Mr. Shel- 



ly is a Republican in politics, and has 
from the time of attaining his majority 
been actively identified with the organi- 
zation of his party, serving as secretary 
of the county committee for several 
years, and as its chairman for six years. 
He is also a member of the Union Re- 
publican Clul) of Philadelphia. He was 
elected to the office of district attorney 
of Bucks county in 1900, and was re- 
elected in 1903, being the only liv- 
ing member of the bar to serve 
two terms in that office, the only other 
instance of a re-election being that of 
the late Nathan C. James, re-elected in 
1857. As prosecuting attorney of the 
county, Mr. Shelly has made a good rec- 
ord, and he enjoys the confidence and es- 
teem of the court and his fellow mem- 
bers of the bar. In religion he conforms 
to the faith of his ancestors for many 
generations, and is a member o^f the 
Mennonite Church. 



DR. OLIVER STOUT. Jacob Stout, 
the pioneer ancestor of the subject of 
this sketch, was born in Germany, Rhine 
Province, in the year 1710, and. came to 
Pennsylvania in the ship "Samuel." ar- 
riving in Philadelphia on August V30, 
1730. He was accompanied by two broth- 
ers. John and Abraham Stout, of 
whom little is known. Jacob Stout locat- 
ed in Bucks county near the present site 
of Perkasie, where John Lacey_ (who 
had emigrated from Germany with his 
wife Anna, nee Miller, in the ship "Ad- 
venturer" in 1732) had purchased a tract 
of two hundred acres in I735- Lacey 
died in 1738. and in 1739 JacoH Stout 
married the widow Anna. He probably 
remained on the Perkasie plantation 
with his wife and her two sons by La- 
cey. for the next ten years and later 
came to what became Williams town- 
ship. Northampton county, where he 
purchased a tract of 2^3 acres on Sep- 
tember 9. 17^0, which remained the 
propertv of his descendnnts for several 
2-enerations. descending through his son, 
Isaac Stout, the father of the famous 
physician and surgeon. Dr Abraham 
Stout. Jacob Stout was a potter by 
trade, and seems to have followed that 
vocation both at Durham and at Perka- 
sie. How long he remained at the for- 
mer place does not appear, but in 1753 
he purchased a mill property and tract 
of land at Church Hill, in Rockhill 
township. In 1759 his step-sons, John 
and Henry Lacey, having come of age, 
Jacob Stout conveyed to them 266 acres 
in Hilltown. which he had purchased 
in 1757. and they in turn conveyed to 
him the 200 acres in Rockhill, originally 
taken up by their father. This tract em- 
braced a large part of the present bor- 
ough of Perkasie, and it remained the 
residence of the ancestors of the sub- 



202 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ject of this sketch for at least three 
generations. Here Jacob Stout resided 
the remainder of his life, becoming a 
prominent man in the community and an 
extensive landowner. In 1767 he pur- 
chased the Pine Run mill property, one 
mile north of Doylestown, which in 
1770 he conveyed to his son-in-law, Ab- 
raham Freed. In 1774 he purchased 150 
acres in New Britain, on which he set- 
tled his daughter Catharine, who had 
married Jacob Schliefifer. Jacob Stout 
died April 30, T779, at the age of sixty- 
eight and one-half years, and is buried 
beside his wife and several of their chil- 
dren and grandchildren in a neat little 
family burial lot within a few rods 
of Perkasie station on the N. P. 
R. R. on a part of the old plantation. 
The children of Jacob and Anna (Mil- 
ler-Lacey), Stout were as follows:, i. 
Abraham, an account of whom fol- 
lows: 2. Isaac, who settled on his fath- 
er's Northampton county tract and 
reared a family, among whom were Dr. 
Abraham Stout. 3. E. Salome, who 
married first Abraham Freed, and after 
his death, in 1773. Gabrielle Swartzland- 
er, and lived and died at what was known 
for a century as "Swartzlander's Mill" 
one mile north of Dojdestown, and left 
many descendants, among whom is Dr. 
Frank Swartzlander. of Dovlestown. 4. 
Catharine, who married Jacob SchleifYer, 
and lived and died in New Britain. 

Abraham Stout, eldest son of Jacob 
and Anna, born at Perkasie, August 
17, 1740, was probably the most promi- 
nent and best educated Pennsylvania . 
German of his day. Most of his educa- 
tion was acquired at the famous Ger- 
mantown Academy, for years the rival 
of the College of Philadelphia, later 
the University of Pennsvlvania, under 
the tuition of Hilarius Becker, profes- 
sor of German, and David J. Dove as in- 
structor in English. Abraham Stout 
thus acquired a thorough knowledge 
of the English language, an accomplish- 
ment exceedingly rare at that date and 
for a century later among the descend- 
ants of the German colonists of upper 
Bucks, as well as a thorough scientific 
training. He was an excellent account- 
ant and penman, a surveyor and con- 
veyancer, as well as an excellent bust 
ness man, and transacted practically all 
the public business for his German 
neighbors far and near. Most of the 
deeds, wills, petitions to the courts, 
etc., on file among the papers of the 
several county offices from 1770 to t8i2. 
are in his handwriting, as well as num- 
berless account of administrators and 
executors, (he having served very fre- 
quently as auditor in estates) and are 
models of brevity, neatness and execu- 
tion. At the death of his father his 
brothers and sisters conveyed to him the 
old Perkasie homestead, and his whole 
life was spent thereon. At the begin- 



ning of the protest agaiui^t the oppres- 
sive acts of the mother country in 1774- 
75, he was foremost in the neighborhood 
in organizing for the protest, and was 
named as the member of the committee 
of safety from Rockhill in 1775. When, 
however, it became apparent that a re- 
sort to arms would follow, he resigned 
from the committee and thereafter held 
aloof from active participation in the 
struggle. The reason for this was, no 
doubt, owing to religious convictions 
on the subject of the war, as there is 
evidence to show that his sympathies 
were with the patriot side. Though 
later generations of the family were 
members of the German Reformed 
church, it is probable that he was reared 
in the Mennonite faith. When his fath- 
er, Jacob Stout, took the oath of alle- 
giance in 1751, his name appears among 
the list of "Quakers and others wha 
from religious conviction conscientiously 
scruple to take the Oath on the Holy 
Evangelists and having complied with 
the terms required by the Act of Par- 
liament took and subscribed the qualifi- 
cations required." Again, the German- 
town Academy was in its inception a 
Mennonist institution, and he probably 
imbibed ideas of non-combativeness that 
prevented his participation in a sanguin- 
ary struggle. The war having ended, he 
became, however, a prominent figure in 
public afifairs. He was one of the dele- 
gates from Bucks county in the consti- 
tutional convention of 1700, and took a 
prominent part therein. His career of 
usefulness ended with his death on the 
eve of the second struggle with the 
mother country, June 8, 1812, and he is 
buried beside his father in the old bury- 
ing ground at Perkasie. He married,. 
October 21, 1773, Mary Magdalen Hart- 
zell, daughter of Henry Hartzell, an- 
other prominent Pennsylvania Germarr 
in Rockhill township. She died Novem- 
ber 8, t8ii. Abraham and Magdalen 
(Hartzell) Stout were the parents of 
seven children, viz. : i. Nancy, who mar- 
ried Jacob Hartman. 2. Jacob, the grand- 
father of Hon. Mahlon H. Stout, president 
judge of the courts of Bucks county. 3. 
Henry H., the great-grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch. 4. Abraham. 6. Mar- 
garetta, who married. Tobias Ruhl, and 7- 
^lagdalen, who married John Gearhart. 

Henry H. Stout, second son of Ab- 
raham and Magdalen (Hartzell) Stouts 
was born on the Perkasie homestead, 
June 3. 1776. He was a lifelong farmer 
and resided for some years after attain- 
ing manhood on a portion of the old 
homestead, but later settled in Hilltown, 
where he owned considerable land. He 
was a member of the German Reformed 
church at Tohicken and an influential 
man in the community. He married. 
May. 1798, Elizabeth Kern, daughter of 
Christian Kern, of Hilltown. She was 
born May 10, 1778, and died June 5. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



203, 



1871. Henry H. Stout died January 12, 
1854. Both are buried at Tohincon. 
Their children were: Catharine, born 
1798; Mary, born 1800; Samuel, 1802; 
Magdalene, born 1805; Hannah, born 
1807; Elizabeth, born 1809; Enos, born 
April 17, 1813; Lydia, born January 18, 
1815; and Annie, born 1821. 

Enns Stout, only son of Henry H. and 
Elizabeth (Kern) Stout, was born and 
reared on the Hilltown homestead, a 
part of which he purchased on attaining 
manhood, and erected buildings there- 
on. At the death of his father he pur- 
chased the remainder and lived thereon, 
during life. He was a prominent and 
influential man in the commtmity, and 
a memebr of the German Reformed 
church. He married, November 13, 
1834. Catharine Kratz. daughter of John 
and Magdalena (Swartlander) Kratz. of 
Plumstead, his cousin, her mother 
being a daughter of Gabriel and 
Salome (Stout) Swartzlander. Catharine 
w^as born May 2, 1809, and died March 
31, 1890. Enos Stout died December 
6, 1886. Their children were: Lewis K., 
born December 22, 1835: John Henry, 
born July 22. 1838: Reuben, born March 
28. 1841; Allen K.. born May 21. 1843; 
Edward Clayton, born March 3, 1846; 
died January 28, 1862; and Wilhelmina, 
born 1850, died 1862. 

Lewis K. Stout, eldest son of Enos 
and Catharine (Kratz) Stout, and the 
father of Dr. Oliver Stout, was born on 
the Hilltown farm, and educated at the 
public schools. He taught school in 
Hilltown. Bedminster and Rockhill town- 
ships, in all eight years. He was a jus- 
tice of the peace of Rockhill township 
for five years, 1874-1779. In April. 1886, 
he removed to Philadelphia, where he 
resided until May l. 1903, when he re- 
moved to Perkasie. Bucks countv. Penn- 
sylvania, where he still resides. He mar- 
ried. October 28, 1865. Lavina ]\T. Alt- 
house, born August 23, T844. daugbter 
of Samuel and Sarah (Mitman) Alt- 
house, of Bedminster. Bucks county, 
and thev are the parents of seven chil- 
dren, viz.: Henry Erwin, born Septem- 
ber 15, 1866, died April 8. 1874; Annie 
A., born January 14. 186S, unmarried; 
Oliver A., the subject of this sketch; 
Edward Clayton, born August 12, 1872, 
graduate of the College of Pharmacy, 
Philadelphia, a druggist at 4628 Wood- 
land avenue, Philadelphia; Charles A., 
also a graudate of the College of Phar- 
macy and now a druggist at Eighth and 
Diamond streets. Philadelnhia; Philip 
Samuel, born August 20. 1877. graduat- 
ed at the College of Pharmacy. Phila- 
delphia, class of 1899, graduate of Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, class of 1904, 
now demonstrator in pathology in the 
University; Benjamin Franklin, born 
January 18. 1880, a graduate of the Col- 
lege of Pharmacy in 1903, a druggist 
at Tonopah, Nevada. 



DR. OLIVER A. STOUT, second son 
of Lewis K. and Lavina M. (Althouse) 
Stout, was born in East Rockhill town- 
ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, No- 
vember II, 1869. He was reared in Rock- 
hill, and received his elementary educa- 
tion in the Rockhill public schools, sup- 
plemented by two years at the Perkasie 
high school, entered the College of 
Pharmacy', and graduated from the three 
years' course in 1891. He entered the 
medical department of the University of 
Pennsylvania, from which he graduated 
in 1893. He was drug clerk for J. How- 
ard Evans, at Sixth and Venanga 
streets for one year; then located at 
Twentieth and York streets, where he 
practiced medicine for two years. In 
i8q6 he purchased the drug store at 
Fifth street and Glenwood avenue, of 
J. Howard Evans, where he is still lo- 
cated. He is a member of Welcome 
Lodge. No. 453. F. and A. M., of PJiila- 
delphia, of the Jr. O. U. A. M., the For- 
esters of America, and the P. O. S. A. 
He married. June 11, 1902, Gail Louise 
Simpkins. daughter of Samuel Robert 
and Louise (Patterson) Simpkins, and' 
they are the parents of one child, Lou- 
ise Martindale, born June II, 1903- 



ANNIE COMFORT. The ancestry of 
Annie Comfort can be traoed back to 
John Comfort, the first of the name 
known in Bucks county. He brought a 
certificate from -the Friends of Flushing,. 
Long Island, to the Friends' monthly 
meeting held in Falls township, Decem- 
ber 15, 1719. Pleased with this portion 
of the country he settled in Amwell, 
Hunterdon county. New Jersey, where 
he continued to follow farming through- 
out his active life. On the sixth day of 
.August, 1720. he married Miss Mary 
Wilson, and they had three children: 
Stenhen. Sarah, and Robert. 

(TI) Steohen Comfort, eldest son of 
John Comfort, was married August 25, 
1744, to Mercy Croasdale, and they had 
nine children: John, Ezra. Jeremiah, 
-Stephen, Grace, who became the wife of 
Jonathan Stackhouse; Mercv, who be- 
came the wife of Aaron Phillips; Moses, 
Robert, and Hannah. 

(Ill) John Comfort, eldest son of 
Stephen Corftfort, removed from Mount 
Holly, New Jerse3^ in 1793, and settled 
upon the farm where his descendants 
are still living. He married Miss Mary 
Woolman. a daughter of John and Sa- 
rah (Ellis) Woolman. and six children 
were the issue of this marriage: Samuel, 
John, Stephen, Mary, who became the 
wife of Moses Doan; Ellis, and Joseph. 
John Comfort was the father of another 
child. Ezra, by a second marriage. John 
Woolman, father of Mrs. Comfort, was 
a very noted man in his day in the So- 



204 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ciety of Friends, also a well known anti- 
slavery man, and it was largely throngh 
his efforts that the Friends Society took 
strong steps against slavery and gave 
up the slaves that were in their posses- 
sion. He spent a considerable portion 
of his time in religious work and writ- 
ing. His book, "The Journal of John 
Woolman," is a representation of the 
man; it has a very lengthy introduc- 
tion by John Greenleaf Whittier, the 
celebrated poet, and Charles Lamb, an 
Englist poet and essayist, is of the opin- 
ion that every one should memorize the 
M^ords of John Woolman. 

(IV) Samuel Comfort, the eldest son 
of John and Mary (Woolman) Comfort, 
was born near Mount Holl)^ New Jer- 
sey, in 1776. When fourteen years of 
age he removed to the home now- occu- 
pied by his granddaughter, Annie Com- 
fort, whose name heads this sketch, in 
Falls township, Bucks county. Pennsyl- 
vania, and there he remained until his 
decease, giving his entire attention to 
agricultural pursuits. His influence 
was a recognized factor for good in the 
community in wdiich he resided for so 
many years. He was a preacher in the 
Society of Friends, as was also his sec- 
ond wife, and when his son, George 
Comfort, took possession and manage- 
ment of the old homestead, he devoted 
most of his time to religious work, trav- 
eling and preaching throughout many 
states, being accompanied by his second 
wife, and in this way they were enabled 
to perform a large amount of good 
work. ]\Ir. Comfort married Miss Rebecca 
Moon, and they were the parents of six 
children: Martha, who became the wife' of 
]\Iark Wright; Mary, who died unmarried; 
Sarah, who became the wife of Ezekiel 
Combs ; George, mentioned hereinafter ; Re- 
becca, who became the wife of James Law- 
rence ; and Ann, who became the vnit of 
John Simpson. Three years after the death 
of Rebecca (Moon) Comfort, which oc- 
curred in 1836, Samuel Comfort married 
Mrs. Elizabeth Cox, who was a minister 
in the religious society of Friends. She 
survived him a number of years. 

(V) George Comfort, son of Samuel 
and Rebecca (Moon) Comfort, .was born 
on the old family homestead in Falls 
towmship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
in 1808. For a few years after attaining 
manhood he taught a private school in 
the city of Philadelphia, T)ut later re- 
turned to Bucks county and took pos- 
session of the old homestead, giving his 
entire attention to the quiet but useful 
calling of agriculture until his death. He 
M^as a man of the strictest integrity and 
took an active part in everything that 
tended to the betterment of the neigh- 
l)orhood, rendering efficient aid in every 
enterprise, whether of a religious, edu- 
cational or social character. He was 
held in peculiar honor by his fellow 
citizens for his manv nolile and manlv 



characteristics, and his daily walk and 
conversation was well worthy of emu- 
lation. He was a true friend to all who 
were in distress,' giving liberally of his 
substance, and throughout his lifetime 
followed and obeyed the scriptural 
proverb "It is more blessed to give than 
to receive." He was one of the direc- 
tors of the Fallsington Library, and for 
the long period of thirty-five years 
served in the capacity of school direc- 
tor of Falls township. He was a regular 
attendant and stood high in the Friends 
Society. In politics he was an adherent 
to the principles of the Republican party. 
Mr. Comfort married Miss Susan 
Lower, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 
and their children are: Rebecca, who 
became the wife of Joshua Palmer; Sam- 
uel, wdio has spent many years abroad; 
Annie, whose name heads this sketch; 
Susan E., deceased, was the wife of 
the late Milnor Gillingham; and Geor- 
gina, who became the wife of Charles 
Satterthwaite. George Comfort, father 
â–  of these children, died at his home in 
Falls township, in 1887, leaving behind 
him the memory of a good name and an 
untarnished reputation. 



SAMUEL COMFORT, son of George 
and Susan (Lower) Comfort, grandson 
of Samuel and Rebecca (Moon) Com- 
fort, great-grandson of John and Mary 
(Woolman) Comfort, was born at the 
Comfort homestead near Morrisville, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, May 5, 
1837. He was educated under private 
instructors and at the Trenton Acad- 
emy. At an early age he developed 
special talents in mathematics and 
sciences, and attained considerable dis- 
tinction as an inventor of improvements 
in mowing and reaping machines, sew- 
ing machines, counting :nachines, etc., 
for which he received numerous patents. 

Samuel Comfort joined the union 
army in October, i86t, and served in 
Captain Palmer's "Anderson Troop." the 
bodyguard of General D. C. Buell. in 
Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and 
Northern Alabama, and was present at 
the battle of Pittsburg Landing. After 
eleven months' service in this command 
he was honorably discharged from the 
service on account of physical disabil- 
itv contracted in the service. In June, 
1863, under special authority from Gov- 
ernor Curtin. of Pennsylvania, he re- 
cruited an independent company of cav- 
alry in Bucks and Montgomery counties 
and the city of Philadelphia which was 
mustered into the service of the United 
States for a term of six months under 
the name of "Captain Samuel Comfort, 
Jr.'s Independent Companv of Cavalry, 
the Bucks County Troon." This com- 
pany served on escort and provost guard 



PUBLIC LibKAul 



ASTOH, LfNCX AMD 
TILDEN FOUNDATI'JHS. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



20 ' 



dutjr at the headqiiarters of General Cad- 
wallader at Philadelphia. ,In January, 
1864, Captain Comfort re-enlisted his 
companj' for a further period of three 
years, or during the war, and was mus- 
tered into the service as captain of com- 
pany "F" of the 20th Pennsylvania 
Volunteer cavalry. One Hundred and 
Eighty-First Pennsylvania Volunteers, 
commanded by Colonel JoJm E. Wyn- 
koop. The regiment was ordered to join 
the army in West Virginia, and Captain 
Comfort was never absent from his 
command when any important opera- 
tions v.^ere in progress from that time 
imtil the end of the war. Captain Com- 
fort was promoted to be major of the 
Twentieth regiment Pennsylvania Vol- 
unteer Cavalry in March, 1865. He was 
mustered out and honorably discharged 
from the service as major of the first 
Provisional Pennsylvania Cavalry, July 
25, 1865. Major Comfort was present 
in nearly fifty battles or skirmishes of 
more or less importance, chiefly in and 
near the Shenandoah vallej'' and in 
other parts of Virginia and West Vir- 
ginia. His last campaign was with Gen- 
eral P. H. Sheridan from the Shenan- 
doah valley to Appomattox Court 
House. At this time his regiment was in 
General Deven's Second Brigade of Gen- 
eral Merrit's First division of General 
Sheridan's Cavalry Corps, and he was 
actively engaged in the battles of Five 
Forks and Sailer's Creek, and at the sur- 
render of General Lee's army at Ap- 
pomattox Court House. He was 
wounded in the right arm while in com- 
mand of the skirmish line in the battle 
of New Market, in the Shenandoah val- 
ley, in 1864. 

After the close of the war Major Com- 
fort engaged in manufacturing and mer- 
cantile pursuits, and travelled exten- 
sivel}^ in foreign countries. Pie resided 
in India ten years and was United States 
vice consul at Bombay from 1894 to 
1896. consul at Bombay from 1896 to 
1898, and United States vice and deputy 
consul general at Calcutta from 1900 to 
1903. Major Comfort was a member of 
the Union League Club of New York, 
the Army and Navy Club of New York, 
the military order of the Loyal Legion 
of the United States, the Grand Army 
of the Republic and other clubs and so- 
cieties in the LTnited States, and in for- 
eign countries. He accumulated a com- 
fortable fortune and retired from active 
business in 1904. On October 16, 1866, 
he married Elizabeth Jenks Barnsley, 
daughter of John and Mary Hough 
Barnsley, of Newtown, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, a second cousin of Gen- 
eral U. S. Grant. One child was born 
of this marriage, Emma Walraven Com- 
fort, who was educated at Vassar Col- 
lege and married Harry M. Crook- 
shank, Pacha, a British official tem- 
porarily residing in Cairo, Egypt. 



HOWARD OLIVER FOLKER, of 
Philadelphia, was born at Davisville, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, March 15, 
1857, and is a son of David and Eliza- 
beth (Wilson) Folker. David Folker, 
the father, was born in Buckingham, 
Bucks county, July 17, 1826, and was a 
son of James and Mary (Hurlinger) 
Folker. He learned the trade of a har- 
nessmaker, which he followed in South- 
ampton township, Bucks county, for 
many years. During the civil war he 
was an uncompromising friend of the 
Union, and stood shoulder to shotilder 
with the loyal and earnest men of that 
section in measures tending to the sup- 
port of the government and the prose- 
cution of the war. He was an indus- 
trious and exemplary citizen who had 
the respect of all who knew him. He 
died February 23, 1892. He married 
Elizabeth Wilson, born September 4, 
1826. died November 11, 1882. She was 
a daughter of Ezekiel Wilson, who was 
born July 11, 1789, and died April 28, 
1854. He was a private in Captain Will- 
iam Purdj^'s company in the war of 1812- 
14, serving at Camp Dupont, Marcvis 
Hook, under Colonel Thomas Hum- 
phrey. Llis wife was Elizabeth Dungan, 
born May 31, 1794, died August 17, 1850, 
youngest daughter of John and Mary 
(Hyle) Dungan, and great-granddaugh- 
ter of Rev. Thomas Dungan, of Cold 
Spring. The children of David and 
Elizabeth (Wilson) Folker were: Mary, 
died in infancy; Charles White, now a 
resident of Camden, New Jerse3'; How- 
ard Oliver, and Horace Conard, de- 
ceased. 

John Dungan Wilson, second son of 
Ezekiel and Elizabeth (Dungan) Wil- 
son, born August 28, 1817, died Septem- 
ber I, 1875, was a man of fine parts and 
varied accomplishments. He was a 
jeweler and watchmaker, gunsmith, ma- 
chinist and carpenter, and a thorough 
mechanic in all that the word implies. 
He was also an expert dancing master 
and a professor in the manly art of self- 
defense. He married Lucy Ann Lewis, 
daughter of Elias Lewis, and was a 
model husband and indulgent father. His 
wife still survives him, living in 1905 at 
Hatboro, Pennsylvania. No children 
now living. He is interred at Davis- 
ville Baptist church. 

Howard O. Folker was educated in the 
common schools and at the First State 
Normal School at Millersville, Penn- 
sylvania. He taught school for a short 
time, and in 1873, during the Cuban im- 
broglio, entered the LTnited States navy 
and assisted in returning to the United 
States the filibustering steamer "Vir- 
ginius," after the massacre of American 
citizens at Santiago. A vear later he was 
transferred to the Mediterranean squad- 
ron, and visited all the different coun- 
tries of Europe as well as those of Asia 
and Africa. In 1877, under the new 



206 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



naval apprentice system, he was ap- 
pointed naval schoolmaster by Commo- 
dore Schufeldt, and sent to Port Royal, 
South Carolina, to take charge of the ca- 
dets at the training station there. Two 
years later he was transferred to the 
TJ. S. S. "Kearsage," of Alabama fame, 
and in her made several cruises in the 
West Indies and to South American 
ports; was at the occupation of Shep- 
lierd's Island, United States of Colom- 
bia, and assisted in the establishment of 
a coaling station there. He left the 
navy in 1881 and entered the service of 
the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad 
Company, filling the position of tray- 
â– eling car agent for twelve years. He is 
at present connected with the transpor- 
tation department as chief car distribu- 
tor, with offices in the Reading Ter- 
minal, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since 
leaving the navy he has taken great in- 
terest in veteran associations, and has 
assisted in the formation _ of a number 
of these patriotic associations. He is a 
past commander of the John A. Dahl- 
gren Garrison, No. 85, Army and Navy 
Union, and is its present adjutant. He 
is also an active member of Farragut 
Association, U. S. Naval Veterans. Mr. 
Folker is a member of the Bucks County 
Historical Society, and has prepared a 
number of papers for its archives on 
local and family history. He has de- 
voted several years to investigations in 
reference to his distinguished ancestors, 
the Dungan family, and from his "Chron- 
icles of the Dungan Family" the brief 
sketches of some of its distinguished 
members w'hich follow this sketch are 
derived. Mr. Falker married Annie M. 
Forney, daughter of Peter and Mary 
Ann (Henning) Forney, of Annville, 
Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, and they 
are the parents of six children: Lucy 
Wilson, now a teacher in the Philadel- 
phia schools; Marian Henning; Alma 
Forney; Judson La Barre; and Irene 
Stine, deceased. Their eldest child, 
Amos Franklin, is also deceased. 



WALLACE DUNGAN. one of the 
successful and active business men of 
Doylestown. was born in Doylestown 
township. Bucks county. July 8, 1845. 
John Dungan. son of Thomas (4) and 
Mary (Drake) Dungan, and grandson of 
Rev. Thomas Dungan, was the ancestor 
of Wallace and Mahlon K. Dungan. of 
Doylestown. He had sons Thomas, 
John. Joseph and Jesse. Thomas Dun- 
gan. son of John, above mentioned, mar- 
ried Deborah Doan. daughter of Daniel 
and and Sarah, born March 25. 17^7, died 
December 7, 1829. Thomas Dungan 
died intestate August 30, 1803. He had 
issue James, born January 22, 17/8. died 
January 20. 1840; Isaac, see forward; 
and Daniel, born December 30, 1784, 



married Catherine Adams, of War- 
minster. 

Isaac Dungan, son of Thomas and 
Deborah (Doan) Dungan, born July 14, 
1779, died January 27, 1844, married 
Mary Dyer, daughter of Joseph and 
Christine Dyer, born May 10, 1781, died 
June 23, 1849. Their sons were: I. 
Thomas, born September 30, 1803, died 
January 13, 1869; married Rebecca U. 
Montanye; he was county treasurer in 
1847; and lived late in life in Plumstead. 
2. Jesse, see forward; 3. John, born May 
5. 1805, died July 18, 1868; married Eliza 
Reed, and lived and died in Northamp- 
ton township, Bucks county; had chil- 
dren: Harman Y., Dyer C, and John T., 
deceased, and Mary, wife of David S. 
Fetter. 

Jesse Dungan, son of Isaac and Mary 
(Dyer) Dungan, born February 5, 1802, 
died May 4, 1892, married Adriana Cor- 
nell. He was a successful farmer, and a 
man much esteemed by his neighbors. 
He filled the office of director of the 
poor of Bucks county for the term 
1866-68. and a few years later retired 
from active life, and lived to the age of 
ninety years. Religiously he was a 
Presbyterian and politically was a 
staunch Democrat of the old school. 
He died at Churchville and is interred 
in the churchyard there. Jesse and Adri- 
anna (Cornell) Dungan, were the pa- 
rents of four sons and five daughters, 
viz.: Isaac, George. John K. David, 
Mary Jane, Ann Eliza, Louisa, Sarah and 
Adelaide. 

Isaac Dungan, son of Jesse Dungan, 
was born on his father's farm in North- 
ampton township and spent practically 
all his life in that and the adjoining 
township of Southampton. He was a 
farmer, and an active and prominent 
man in the community, holding at differ- 
ent times different township offices. Po- 
litically he was a Democrat, and took 
an active part in the councils of his 
party. He was an earnest and consistent 
member of the Davisville Baptist 
church. He died in Southampton town- 
ship in 1887. at the age of sixty-five 
years. His first wife was Rebecca Boos, 
by whom he had two sons Wallace, to 
be further mentioned, and IMahlon K., 
of Doylestown. The mother died at 
Richboro in 1849, and Isaac Dungan 
married (second) C^mthia Ann Doan, 
and two children were born to them that 
grew to maturity: Sarah, wife of Albert 
Fesmire of Hartsville, and William Dun- 
gan. of Southampton. 

Wallace Dungan. son of Isaac and 
Rebecca (Boos) Dungan. though born in 
Doylestown township, removed with his 
parents to Northampton township when 
a child. At the age of thirteen years he 
went to Tinicum township, where he 
lived for three years. Returning to 
Southampton, he lived with his father 
until twenty-one years of age. He re- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



207 



•ceived a fair common school education 
in the schools of the neighborhood, and 
at the age of twenty-two years he began 
farming on his own account and fol- 
lowed that vocation for five years. In 
1872 he engaged in the hide and tallow 
business in a building near the Doyles- 
town flour mill, and in the following 
year built a factory near the present 
Doylestown electric light plant. Yiy 
strict attention to business he built up a 
prosperous business, and prospered in 
spite of repeated reverses. His factory 
was totally destroyed by fire June 29, 
18S0. Undismayed by this untoward 
disaster, he at once erected another 
factory near his present residence, just 
â– east of the borough line, and equipped 
it with the most improved machinery for 
utilizing the several products of dead 
animals. In 1892 he purchased a tract 
of seventy-five acres, one mile west of 
Doylestown, and moved his factory 
thereon and added a fertilizer plant, 
both of which he conducted on a large 
scale. He now experienced another 
great loss in the destruction of his plant 
by fire on April 8, 1897, but he again re- 
built it immediately, and has since con- 
•ducted the business with entire success, 
assisted by his son-in-law, William 
Worthington. Mr. Dungan erected his 
present residence on Maple Avenue in 
1878, and has resided there ever since. 
In 1899 Mr. Dungan had the misfortune 
to lose his left arm by having it drawn 
into the machinery in his factory, neces- 
sitating an amputation near the shoulder. 
He has, however, accustomed himself 
to the loss and continues to personally 
conduct his business. In politics Mr. 
Dungan is a Democrat. He is a deacon 
of the First Baptist Church of Doyles- 
town. He is a member of Doylestown 
Lodge No. 24s, F. and A. M., Doyles- 
town Chapter No. 270, R. A. M., and 
Mary Commandery, No. 36, Knights 
Templar, of Philadelphia. He was mar- 
ried February 21, 1867, to Rachel Hea- 
ton, of Moreland, Montgomery county, 
Pennsylvania, and the union was blessed 
with one child, Effie F. H., now the wife 
of William Worthington. Rachel Hea- 
ton Dungan died December 22. 1898. 
aged fifty-eight years, and Mr. Dungan 
married. March 11, 1903, Anna, daugh- 
ter of George Martin, of Doylestown 
township. 



DUNGAN FAMILY. Reverend 
Thomas Dungan, the great-grandfather 
•of John Dungan, mentioned in the pre- 
ceding sketch, was born in London. Eng- 
land, about the year 1632. His father, 
William Dungan, was a merchant of 
London, and was of a cadet branch of 
the Dungans of Dublin, Ireland, en- 
nobled by Queen Elizabeth. The senior 
branch ended under the following cir- 
cumstances: William Dungan, Earl of 



Limerick, died in 1698, without leaving 
issue, in consequence of the death of his 
son, Lord Walter Dungan, colonel of 
dragoons at the Boyne, in 1690. The 
title of Earl of Limerick then came to 
Colonel Thomas Dungan, brother of the 
Earl of Limerick. Thomas, under the 
will of his father, Sir John Dungan, 
baronet, inherited an estate in the 
Queen's county, and served in the army 
of Louis XIV till 1678 as colonel of an 
Irish regiment, worth to him about 
£5.000 per annum. He had from 
Charles II a life pension of £500 a year; 
was made lieutenant-governor of Tan- 
gier, in Morocco, and subsequently gov- 
ernor of New York in America. The 
title of Earl of Limerick ceased in the 
Dungan family on the death of Colonel 
Thomas Dungan in December, 1715, he 
leaving no heirs. William Dungan died 
in London in 1636, leaving four children, 
Barbara. William, Frances, and Thomas. 
The mother of Rev. Thomas Dungan 
was Frances Latham, daughter of Lewis 
Latham, sergeant falconer to Charles I. 
She had married (first) Lord Weston 
and (second) William Dungan, and soon 
after the latter's death married Captain 
Jeremiah Clarke, and with him and her 
children emigrated to New England and 
settled in Newport, Rhode Island, where 
Captain Clarke became prominent, serv- 
ing in the provincial assembly and fill- 
ing other official positions. He died in 
1651, and his widow married (fourth) 
Rev. William Vaughan, pastor of the 
first Baptist church in America. INIrs. 
Vaughan died in September, 1677, at the 
age of sixty-seven years. 

Thomas Dungan came to Newport, 
Rhode Island, in 1637, with his mother 
and stepfather, Captain Clarke, and was 
reared and educated in that colony, prob- 
ably receiving his education in a school 
established there by Roger Williams. 
His second stepfather being a Baptist 
clergyman he imbibed that faith and 
became an eminent Baptist preacher. He 
was a representative in the colonial as- 
sembly of Rhode Island, 1678-81, and a 
sergeant in the Newport militia. He be- 
came one of the patentees of East 
Greenwich, -Rhode Island, but sold his 
real estate there in 1682 and removed 
with a colony of Welsh Baptists from 
Rhode Island to Cold Spring. Falls, 
township. Bucks county, and established 
the first Baptist church in Pennsylvania. 
He died in 1688. He married in New- 
port. Rhode Island, Elizabeth Weaver, 
daughter of Sergeant Clement and 
Mary (Freeborn) Weaver. Clement 
Weaver was a member of colonial as- 
sembly in 1678, and his father-in-law, 
William Freelsorn served in the same 
body in 1657. Elizabeth (Weaver) Dun- 
gan, died at Cold Spring. Bucks county, 
in 1600. The children of Rev. Thomas 
and Elizabeth (Weaver) Dungan were 
as follows: 



2o8 



HISTORY 01' BUCKS COUNTY 



1. William, born 1658, preceded his 
father to Bucks count}-, died there 1713; 
married Deborah Wing of Newport and 
left five children. 

2. Clement, died in Northampton 
township, Bucks county, in 1732, without 
issue. 

3. Elizabeth, married Nathaniel West 
and had four children, one of whom, 
Elizabeth, married Joseph Hough of 
Warwick, and has numerous descendants 
in Bucks. 

4. Thomas, born about 1670, died June 
23, 1759, married Mary Drake and had 
nine children, Thomas, Joseph, James, 
John, Jonathan, Elizabeth, who married 
John Hellings; Mary, married Thomas 

Barton; and Sarah married 

Stevens. 

5. Rebecca married Edward Doyle, 
who died in 1703, leaving sons Edward 
and Clement, who were the ancestors of 
the Doyles for whom Doylestown is 
named. 

6. Jeremiah, born about 1673, died in 
Bucks county, April 6, 1766, married 
Deborah Drake and had eight children. 

7. Mary, married a Richards and had 
three children. 

8. John, who died without issue. 

9. Sarah,, who married James Carrel, 
and had six children. 

The sons and sons-in-law of Thomas 
and Elizabeth Dungan became large 
landowners in Bucks county, and they 
and their descendants were prominent 
in the afifairs of the county, province 
and state. 

James Dungan, son of Thomas and 
Mary (Dr^ke) Dungan, of Northampton 
township, Bucks county. Pennsylvania, 
was the great-great-grandfather of How- 
ard O. Folker, the historian of the fam- 
ily, and a full account of him is given 
in his "Levi Dungan, the Pioneer," 
among the archives of the Bucks County 
Historical Society. He married Re- 
becca Wells, daughter of Samuel Wells. 
a farmer in Lower Dublin township, 
near the present site of Bustleton, Phil- 
adelphia county, and lived and died on 
a farm in Lower Dublin township. 

JOHN DUNGAN, the gfeat-grand- 
father of Mr. Folker. was a son of James 
and Rebecca (Wells) Dungan, and w^as 
born in 1753, died March 22, 1798. He 
was a lieutenant in Captain Andrew 
Long's company, Pennsylvania Rifle 
Regiment, Colonel Samuel Miles. This 
company was in the disastrous battle of 
Fort Washington, November 16, ^77^, 
under the command of Lieutenant John 
Spear, and was almost annihilated. 
'Lieutenant John Dungan was a farmer 
in Northampton township, Bucks county, 
and is buried at Southampton. He mar- 
ried Mary Hyle, and had four children- 
two sons: Uriah and Jonathan: and two 
daughters: Esther, who married William 
Hibbs. Jr., and I^Jizabeth, who married 



Ezekiel Wilson. Another daughter, Re- 
becca, died young. Uriah, born 1777^ 
died October 4, 1822, had children: 
Mary, who married Edmund Van Arts- 
dalen, of Springville, Northampton 
township, whose daughter Elizaueth 
married Elias Hogeland, (see Hogeland 
Family); and John and Martin. Mary, 
the widow of Uriah, married (second) 

Everett, and (third) Jonathan 

Knight. John, son of Uriah, had four 
sons : William, now living at Ringoes, 
New Jersey; Edmund B., who died at 
Harlingen, New Jersey, in 1900, leaving 
live children; Charles, deceased; and 
Thomas A., now a resident of Chicago. 
Nelson Y. Dungan, son of Edmund B., 
is a practicing attorney at Somerville, 
New Jersey, ex-district attorney, state 
senator for two terms and major of 
Second Regiment National Guards of 
New Jersey. 

COLONEL THOMAS DUNGAN. 
Joseph Dungan, son of Thomas and 
Mary (Drake) Dungan, born 1710, died 
1785 married Mary Ohl, born 1710, died 
1788, and had children: Thomas, Joshua, 
Sarah (wife of Benjamin Corson) and 
Hannah, (wife of Benjamin Marple). 
Both Joseph and his wife are interred at 
Southampton churchyard. 

Thomas Dungan, eldest son of Joseph 
and Mary (Ohl) Dungan, was born in 
Warwick township, Bucks- county, Penn- 
sylvania, March 16, 1738, entered the 
University of Pennsylvania (then "Col- 
lege of Philadelphia,") in 1762 and grad- 
uated in 1765. Was a tutor there 
1764-66; professor of mathematics 1766- 
69; and Master of Arts 1767. On May 
2. 1767, he was called to preach at the 
Southampton Baptist Church, but de- 
clined. In 1774, March i8th, he was 
chosen principal of the Germantown 
Academy. Soon after this date, how- 
ever, he entered the continental army, 
and was commissioned paymaster of the 
Twelfth Regiment, Continental Line, 
April 29, 1777; was transferred to Sixth 
Pennsylvania, and commissioned ensign 
June 2, 1778; made paymaster of Sixth 
Regiment, September i, 1778; promoted 
to Lieutenant January i. 1781, and 
transferred to Second Pennsylvania, 
January i. 1783. General Washington 
in refering to the deplorable condition 
of the troops while suffering from 
smallpox in their winter quarters at 
]\Iorristown, New Jersey, mentions the 
special efiforts made by Paymaster Dun- 
gan to ameliorate their conditon and 
his persistent importuning of Robert 
Morris, the financier of the Revolution, 
for money for necessary clothing and 
medicine. He served until the close of 
the war and then returned to the charge 
of the Germantown Academy, where he 
remained until about 1800. He died at 
Germantown, April 26. 1805. aged sixty- 
seven vears, and is buried in Hood's 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



209 



cemetery at that place. He married, 
May 19, 1793, at Nesha,miny Presby- 
terian Church, his cousin Elizabeth 
Dungan, daughter of Jeremiah and Ann 
(Whitton) Dungan, of Northampton 
township, Bucks county, and three chil- 
dren were born to them: Thomas, died 
in infancy; Elizabeth, who married 
George Taylor Stuckert, and had one 
child Elizabeth, the wife of Dr. William 
Wilby Burnell of Philadelphia; and an- 
other Thomas. 

Another prominent descendant of Rev. 
Thomas Dungan was General Mahlon 
Dungan, born April 23, 1780, died De- 
cember 8, 1848, seventh child of David 
and Sarah (Newell) Dungan, grandson 
of David and Rachel Dungan, and great- 
grandson of Jeremiah, fourth son of Rev. 
Thomas Dungan. He married, October 
7, 1802, Phoebe Addis, daughter of John 
and Mary of Northampton, and lived foi* 
many years at "Lakeside," the ancestral 
home of Thomas Yardley, at Yardley, 
Pennsylvania, built in 1728. He was a 
prominent Democratic politician,' and a 
Mason of high degree. He was elected 
in January, 1824, brigadier-general of 
Bucks county militia and had command 
of the military escort that accompanied 
Marquis Lafayette across Bucks county 
on his visit to America in 1824. In 1827 
he was a candidate for the nomination 
for sherifif, and was defeated by Genera! 
John Davis. He left three children, 
viz.: John A., born August 11. 1803, mar- 
ried Amelia V. Bailey, and left one son 
Mahlon, died 1849, Methodist minister 
at Yardley, and three daughters; Levi,, 
born March 23, 1805, died August 5,. 
1824, unmarried; and Mary Ann, died 
1831, unmarried. 



HENRY W. GROSS, of Doylestown, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was bom in 
New Britain township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, February 4, 1842, and is a 
son of Joseph N. and Sarah (Wismer) 
Gross. 

Rev. Jacob Gross, the great-grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch, was 
a native of Germany and came to this 
country about 1763, locating in Hatfield, 
now Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, 
from whence about the year 1780 he re- 
moved to Bedminster township, where 
he purchased a farm and resided until 
his death, December 12, i8jo, at the age 
of si.xty-seven years. He was for many 
3^ears a minister of the Mennonite con- 
gregation at Deep Run, and later a 
bishop of that denomination. His wife 
Mary nee Krall. survived him and died in 
Bedminster, February 10, 1816, at the 
age of sixty-five years. They were the 
parents of six children: Isaac, Christian, 
Mary, wife of Abraham Nash, Jacob, 
Daniel and John. 

Daniel Gross, son of Jacob and Mary, 
was born May 24, 1784, and was a farmer 
14-3 



in Bedminster, and later in Doylestown 
township, where he died in 1875. He 
married, June 20, 1809, Elizabeth Nash, 
born June 25, 1788, died November 9, 
1823. She was a daughter of Joseph and 
Elizabeth (Wismer) Nash, and grand- 
daughter of William Nash, an early Ger- 
man settler on the Skippack, who later _ 
settled in Bedminster township. Joseph 
Nash was born January 18, 1753, ^nd died 
May 31, 1830, was a farmer and weaver 
in Tinicum township, Bucks county. He 
was a member of the Mennonite congre- 
gation at Deep Run and a deacon for 
many years. His wife, Elizabeth Wis- 
mer, was a native of Bedminster and was 
born September i, 1753, died September 
9, 1837. Daniel Gross was a deacon of 
the Doylestown Mennonite congregation 
for thirty years. His children were: 
Mary, born May 20, 1812, died Septem- 
ber 12, 1813; Joseph N., born August 3, 
1816, see forward; Elizabeth, and So- 
phia, married Samuel Kaisinger. 

Joseph N. Gross, eldest son of Daniel 
and Elizabeth (Nash) Gross, born in 
Bedminster township, August 3, 1816, 
was a lifelong farmer. On his marriage 
he located on a farm in New Britain 
.township, on which he resided for forty- 
four years. He was a Mennonite, and 
politically was a Republican. He took 
an active interest in local affairs, and 
served for a number of years as a school 
director, also filled the position of county 
auditor. He died April 13, 1902. He 
married, March 16, 1841, Sarah Wismer, 
born April 30, 1819, daughter of Samuel 
and Susanna Wismer, and they were the 
parents of five children: Henry W., the 
subject of this sketch; Susanna, born. 
June 4, 1843, died December 11, 1873,. 
married William J. Leatherman, of 
Plumstead: Daniel W., born June 3,. 
1846, died February 12, 1880, unmarried; 
Levi N., born October 24, 1854, removed' 
to Oakland, California; and Isaiah W., 
born January 10, 1861, living in Phila- 
delphia. 

Henry W. Gross was born and reared 
on the farm in N^^w Britain township,, 
and attended the public schools there,- 
later entering the First State Normal! 
school at Millersville, Pennsylvania., 
from which he graduated in 1873. He 
taught school in Bucks and Allegheny 
counties for sixteen years ; was princi- 
pal of the Etna borough schools, Alle- 
gheny county, for five years. Since 1880' 
he has been connected with the cream- 
ery business. In politics Mr. Gross is a 
Republican, but has never sought or 
held other than local office. He has 
served as school director of Doylestown 
township for two terms. He is inter- 
ested in several local institutions, and is 
president of the White Hal! Mutual Fire 
Insurance Company, and of the Chalfont 
Mutual Wind and Storm Insurance Com- 
pany. Religiously, he is a member of 
Doylestown Presbyterian church, of 



2IO 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



which he has lieen a ruling elder since 
1890. He joined the Forest Grove Pres- 
byterian church, Allegheny county, in 
1869, and was superintendent of the 
Sharpsburg. (Allegheny county) Pres- 
byterian Sabbath School for two years. 
He has been superintendent of the Dan- 
boro (Bucks county) Sabbath School 
since 1890, except for an interval of less 
than a year. He has served for several 
years as secretary of the Bucks County 
Sabbath School Association and as pres- 
ident of the Sabbath School' Associa- 
tion, second district of Bucks county, 
and superintendent of the normal depart- 
ment of the Sunday schools in that dis- 
trict. 

In June, 1905, Mr. Gross asked- to be 
relieved from the Sunday School su- 
perintendent duties at Danboro. In do- 
ing so the school presented him with a 
beautiful combination couch, and the fol- 
lowing resolutions signed- by the one 
hundred and thirty members: 

Dear Mr. H. W. Gross: 

It is with the deepest regret, that we, 
the officers, teachers and members of the 
Danboro' Union Sunday School, accept 
your resignation as superintendent. 

We lose a superintendent whose life 
has been marked by the most genial 
companionship and devoted Christian 
character. 

In you we have recognized a worker 
whose individual fidelity has been the 
means of inspiring the young people and 
adding endurance and courage to the 
older ones. 

In you we have seen the Christian in 
belief, in experience and in example. 

In you we have noticed a church mem- 
ber in profession, in loyalty and in work. 

In you we have seen a Bible student in 
teachableness and in thoroughness. 

You have been a teacher in knowledge 
and a teacher in tact and we will be 
grateful for continued services. 

All have profited by your sympathy 
and helpfulness. , 

The members of your family deserve 
their share of credit for the help they 
have been. Those were happy Sunday 
School days when the entire family gath- 
ered in the chapel from Sabbath to Sab- 
bath. Every man, woman and child have 
felt for you all in the sad affiiction which 
has overtaken one of your children and 
one of our scholars. 

God be praised that He gave you the 
talent to do so much for us, and may 
. He continue to give you and us strength 
to bear what lies before us. 

And we would not be forgetful of your 
helpmate who has stood so faithfully by 
you.- 

Again, we desire to express our grate- 
ful appreciation of the services you have 
so faithfully and conscientiously ren- 
dered, and may our relationship cease 
with Mizpah. 

July I, 1905- 



Mr.^Gross married at Line Lexington, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, June 17, 
1875, Susan Elizabeth Funk, of Ililltown, 
daughter of Jacob and Susanna (Fretz) 
Funk, the former a native of Springfield, 
and the latter a daughter of Martin 
Fretz, for many years a miller at the old 
Yost mill near Bloomington Glen, and 
a granddaughter of Christian and Bar- 
bara (Oberholtzer) Fretz, of Bedminster. 
Mr. and Mrs. Gross have been the pa- 
rents of four children: Sarah Ella, Emma 
Laura, Esther- F. and Walter Gross. The 
latter died at the age of eight months. 
S. Ella Gross attended the West Chester 
Normal school, and has taught in the 
public schools of Bucks county for two 
terms. Emma Laura is an invalid and 
resides at home. Esther F. Gross at- 
tended the State Normal school at 
Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, for one j'ear, 
graduated from the West Chester Nor- 
mal school, and is now a teacher in the 
public schools of Quakertown borough, 
Bucks county. 



HON. WEBSTER GRIM, of Doyles- 
town, representative of Bucks county, 
in the upper house of.the state legis- 
lature, was born in Nockamixon town- 
ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, Au- 
gust II, 1866, and is a son of Dr. George 
W. and Elizabeth P. (Koons) Grim. On 
the paternal side his ancestors were 
early German- settlers in what is now 
Montgomery county, the pioneer ances- 
tor being doubtless Adain Greim, who 
emigrated from Rhenish, Bavaria, ar- 
riving in Philadelphia in the ship* "An- 
derson," Captain Hugh Campbell, Au- 
gust 25, 1751. The family of Grimm, 
though for several generations, residents 
of Prussia or Rhenish Bavaria, trace 
their descent to early Franks who were 
residents of that part of Gaul which be- 
came later Normandy, whose descen- 
dants became allied with those of their 
Norse conquerors before their migra- 
tion to the Rhine provinces about the 
tenth century. 

The, earliest American ancestor of 
Senator Grim of whom we have any 
definite record was George Grim, who 
was a resident of Upper Salford town- 
ship, ]\Iontgomery county. Pennsylvania. 
He married Elizabeth Favinger, also of 
German origin, and they were the pa- 
rents of three children, one son Adam 
and two daughters. Adam Grim, son of 
George and Elizabeth (Favinger) Grim, 
married Christina Desmond, daughter of 
Daniel Desmond, who was of English 
and Irish extraction. Adam Grim was 
killed on the Reading railroad in 1S46, 
when his son George W. was fourteen 
years of age. 

Dr. George W. Grim was born in 
Montgomery county, March i,^. 1832. He 
was educated at Washington Hall, 
Trappe, Pennsylvania, and received a 







>4,^jL.j^jr 



PUBLIC library! 

ASTON, LrNOX AND 

J^I^D^N FOUNDATIONS. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



211 



:good academic education. His father 
dying when he was fourteen years of 
age, he was cast upon his own resources, 
and learned the trade of a stove moulder, 
which he followed for some years. An 
accident, by which his foot was badly 
burned in the discharge of his duties, 
decided him to prepare himself for the 
medical profession. He resumed his 
studies at Washington Hall, where he 
also taught for a short time, and began 
his preparation for his chosen profes- 
sion under the preceptorship of Dr. 
Gross, of Harleysville. He later entered 
Jefiferson Medical College, from which 
he graduated in 1859. He located in 
Nockamixon township, Bucks county, 
and soon built up a large practice, be- 
coming one of the leading physicians of 
upper Bucks, and was engaged in profes- 
sional work there for thirty-three years, 
dying March 6, 1892. Dr. Grim was a 
man of good business qualifications and 
strict integrity, and always held the es- 
teem and confidence of his community. 
He was the owner of a fine farm near 
Revere, the work'of which he superin- 
tended in connection with his profes- 
sional duties. In politics he was a Dem- 
ocrat, and he and his family were mem- 
Tsers of the Reformed church. Dr. 
Grim married in 1857 Elizabeth P. 
Koons, who survives him, and the}' were 
the parents of nine children, as follows: 
F. Harvey, who succeeded his father as 
a practicing physician at Revere; 
George W., a physician at Ottsville, 
Bucks county; A. Florence, wife of Os- 
car H. Bigley, of Doylestown, tran- 
scribing clerk in the recorder of deeds 
oflice; Webster, the subject of this 
sketch: Frank S., a physician at Baptist- 
town, New Jersey; Harry E., law part- 
ner with his brother Webster, under 
the firm name of Grim & Grim, with 
offices at Perkasie, Pennsylvania; Cora 
B., wife of W^illiam H. Rufe. a merchant 
at Riegelsville; Nora E., wife of Asher 
K. Anders, Esq., a successful attorney 
of Doylestown; and James S., professor 
of natural science at Keystone Normal 
School, Kutztown, Pennsylvania. 

Hon. Webster Grim, the third son, 
was reared in Nockamixon and attended 
the public schools of that township and 
the Riegelsville high school, and later 
entered "the Keystone normal school at 
Kutztown, Pennsylvania, from which he 
graduated in 1887. Prior to his gradu- 
ation he taught school in Bucks county 
for five years. Immediately after his 
graduation he began the study of law in 
the office of Nathan C. James. Esq., and 
was admitted to the bar of Bucks county 
in September. 1889. Locating in Doyles- 
town. he at once began the practice of 
his chosen profession and Jiuilt up a lu- 
crative practice. He was the Democratic 
nominee for district attorney in 1894. but 
was defeated by a small majority, re- 
ceiving a much larger vote than the 



other nominees on the ticket. He has 
been active and prominent in the coun- 
cils of his party for many years, and 
has served as delegate to several 'state 
conventions, and was permanent chair- 
man of the state convention of 1903. He 
filled the office of justice of the peace for 
Doylestown borough from 1890 to 1900, 
and did a large amount of official busi- 
ness. He was elected a member of the 
school board in 1900 and re-elected in 
1903 and is at present the treasurer of 
the board. In the fall of 1902 he was 
elected to the state senate, and in the 
sessions of 1903 and 1905 took an active 
part in the proceedings of the upper 
house, introducing a number of merit- 
orious bills and serving on important 
committees. In the latter session he 
was chairman of both Democratic cau- 
cuses, and was the recognized leader of 
the minority party in the legislature. He 
was at all times the uncompromising foe 
of vicious legislation and extravagant 
appropriations, and his course met with 
the approbation of his constituents 
without reference to party. Among the 
important bills introduced by him was 
one for the regulation of the speed of 
and registration of automobiles, which 
was passed at the session of 1903. and 
amended upon his motion at the session 
of T905: a bill for freeing the toll bridges 
over the Delaware river between tlie 
states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey 
and New York; and a bill for more ade- 
quate punishment of the crime of crim- 
inal assault. He was also instrumental 
in securing liberal appropriations for 
Bucks county educational institutions. 
He was one of the prominent candi- 
dates before the Democratic state con- 
vention of 1905 for the nomination for 
judge of the superior court, and only the 
decision to nominate but one candidate 
defeated his nomination. 

Being possessed of a natural musical 
talent he has given much time to the 
organization and perpetuation of mus- 
ical organizations. He was for five years 
musical director of the choir of the 
Doylestown Presbyterian church, and 
has since filled the position of choir 
master and organist at the Salem Re- 
formed church, of which he is a mem- 
ber. He also had charge of the musical 
part of the program at the Bucks 
County Teachers' Institute for many 
vears. and has been the director of the 
Arion Glee Club for many years, furnish- 
ing vocal music for entertainments in 
all parts of Bucks county. He was su- 
perintendent of the Sabbath school of 
the Salem Reformed church for twelve 
years, and introduced a uniform and 
graded course of studv that has since 
been adopted bv a number of other Sab- 
bath schools in the county and else- 
where. He has been one of the most 
active mei-nbers of St. Tammany Castle, 
No. 173, Knights of the Golden Eagle, 



212 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



served as its clerk of the exchequer for 
several years, and has been a member 
of the grand caStle of Pennsylvania for 
twelve years and in May, 1905, 
was installed as grand chief of 
the • order in the state. He 
arranged, codified and published a digest 
ftf the laws of the order which has been 
in use for several years. He is a past 
grand of Aquetong Lodge, No. 193, I. 
O. O. F., of Doylestown, and has tilled 
the position of musical director and de- 
gree master of that lodge for several 
years. As such he organized and in- 
structed a degree stafif that has the rep- 
utation of being one of the best in the 
state, taking second prize in a com- 
petition this year before a Committee 
of the Sovereign Grand Lodge, in which 
were entries in all parts of the United 
States. He has been the collector of 
Lenape Council, No. 1117, Royal Ar- 
canum, since 1890, and is treasurer of 
the fraternal accident order, known as 
the "True Blue." He has served as a 
director of Eastern Union Building and 
Loan Society of Philadelphia since 1890, 
and is connected with a number of other 
business enterprises. He has prepared . 
and published two directories of Bucks ' 
county, and is at work upon a third 
edition. In August, 1904, he purchased 
a controlling interest in the Doylestown 
Publishing Company, the proprietors of 
the "Doylestown Democrat," daily and 
weekly, which he has since personally 
conducted as president of the company, 
and has greatly improved the standard 
of the paper. 

Senator Grim was married August 9, 
1890, to M. Alice Sassaman, daughter of 
Jacob and Emeline (Wildonger) Sas- 
saman of Bucksville, Bucks county, and 
they are the parents of two children, 
Ruth S. and George W. 



MOON FAMILY. James Moon and 
Joan Burges were married near Bristol, 
England, and with a family of children 
were among the early emigrants to settle in 
Pennsylvania. By deed dated 10 mo. 13, 
1688, he purchased of James Hill 125 acres 
of land in Falls township, one and a half 
miles west from Morrisville, and largely 
covered in 1905 by the classification yard 
of the Trenton branch of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad. On 12 mo. 11, 1706, he conveyed 
the same by deed in fee to his son Roger. 
James Moon's will mentions six children : 
Sarah, James, Jonas, Jasper, Mary and 
Roger. James married Mary Wilsford, i 
mo., 1696, and afterward Agnes Priestly, 
in 1714; he deceased 4th mo. 6. 1755. 

Jonas, born 10 mo., 24, 1671, married 
Alice Chissum, about 1707, and deceased 
10 mo. 4, 1732; Mary married a Curtis. 
Tradition says that Ja.sper went to Virginia 
and was the progenitor of the Moon 
family of that state. He marrried Su- 



sanna . Among the earmarks of 

cattle recorded at the clerk's office 
in a book preserved in the Library 
of the Bucks County Historical So- 
ciety are those of James Moon. He was 
a^ member of Falls Monthly Meeting of 
Friends, and was buried in the old grave- 
yard at Fallsington. His wife Joan's Eng- 
lish relatives sent her money with which 
she purchased a farm near the river Dela- 
ware, two miles north of Yardleyville, since 
owned by Zachariah Betts. She resided 
with her son Roger at the homestead un- 
til her death, at nearly ninety, having sur- 
vived her husband twenty-six years. She 
was an active member of Falls Monthly 
Meeting, and frequently preferred to walk 
to meeting when in advanced years. 

Roger Moon, son of James and Joan 
Moon, born about 1680, married Ann Nutt, 
of England, at Palls Meeting of Friends, 8 
mo. 23, 1708; they had seven children: 
James, born i mo., 1713, died 5 mo. 9, 1796; 
John, born 5 mo. 27, 1717, died 9 mo. 24, 
1732; Elizabeth, born 10 mo. 16, 1719, died 
aged eighty-five and one-half years, 1805; 
Roger, born i mo. 20, 1722, died 12 mo. 4, 
1759; Isaac, born 11 mo. 6, 1724, died 6 mo. 
23, 1748; William, born 3 mo. 6, 1727, died 
10 mo. 4, 1795; Ann, born 4 mo. 7, 1730, 
died 3 mo. 28, 1764. Roger Moon's second 
marriage was to Elizabeth Price (daughter 
of Reese and Mary Price), i mo., 1734. 
Their children were : John, born 12 mo. 
28, 1734, died I mo. 6, 1788; Mary, born 3 
mo. 8, 1736, died 11 mo. 20, 1815; Sarah, 
born ID mo. 29, 1737; Timothy, born 10 mo. 
15, 1739, died 7 mo. 5, 1813; Samuel, born 
7 mo. I, 1744; Jasper, born i mo. 12, 1748; 
Hannah, born 8 mo. 29, 1749. 

Roger Moon said he had lived seventy 
years in the same place, and had never dis- 
charged a gun or quarrelled with any man. 
lie deceased 2 mo. 16, 1759, on the ancestral 
acres, at the ripe old age of seventy-nine 
years ; eleven of his children surviving him. 

James Moon, eldest child of Roger and 
Ann Nutt Moon, married three times, and 
one child of each marriage lived to grow 
up; first to Hannah Price, 11 mo. 18, 1737; 
their son James married Sarah Dowdney, 
and had two children, James and Mary. 
James married and had several children, 
lived and died on the same farm his father 
did near the river two miles above Morris- 
ville. Mary married John Thornton, had a 
large family of children. James, son of 
Roger and Ann Nutt Moon's second mar- 
riage was to Elizabeth, daughter of Edward 
and Bridget Luca.s, 3 mo. 18, 1742; she de- 
ceased 6 mo. 14, 1748. One daughter sur- 
vived her mother, who married Yeomans 
Gillingham, at Falls Meeting, i mo. 13, 
1708, and had nine children. James Moon's 
(son of Roger and Ann Nutt Moon) third 
marriage was to Ann Watson, widow of 
Mark Watson, and daughter of John and 
Mary (Lofty) Sotcher, at Falls Meeting, 
3 mo. 28, 1753. One child, Moses Moon, 
survived this marriage. On i mo. 29, 1749, 
James Moon purchased of Robert Lucas, 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



213 



for £480, two hundred and eighteen and one- 
quarter acres of land in Middletown town- 
ship, now known as "Woodbourne," where 
he resided the remainder of his life, and 
in 1905 it is owned and occupied by his 
descendants. Beside ordinary farming he 
was a nurseryman, as entries in his cash- 
book testify, one reading thus: "nth mo. 
22nd 1775. Joseph Lovett bought six New- 
town pippins and two grafted pear trees for 
eight shillings.'' He thus started a business 
which his descendants have followed to a 
greater or less extent for over one hundred 
and thirty years. 

Moses Moon was born 10 mo. 9, 1754. 
Beside following the occupations of his fa- 
ther as farmer and nurseryman, he also 
was a noted surveyor. He married Rachel 
Burges, at Falls Meeting of Friends, and 
deceased 4 mo. 19, 1822, having resided his 
entire life at Woodbourne, which he in- 
herited from his father and bequeathed to 
his only son James, who adhered more 
closely to farming than did his predecessors. 
James Moon married Jane Haines, at Eve- 
sham Meeting, N. J., 5 mo. 13, 1813, and 
continued to reside at the homestead until 
his death in 1855. He left six children : 
Mahlon, Eliza, Charles Rachel, James n. 
and Jane C. 

Mahlon, the oldest son of James and Jane 
(Haines) Moon, followed the nursery busi- 
ness for quite a period of time, alter which 
liis brother James H. Moon purchased the 
greater part of the land. Charles Henry 
Moon, son of Charles Moon, is a prom- 
inent surveyor and engineer, and lives on 
the western portion of the place, he being 
the fifth generation of the family to occupy 
these ancestral acres. 

James H. Moon, the third son of James 
and Jane (Flaines) Moon, married Eliza- 
beth Balderston, in 1853, and settled two 
miles west of Fallsington, where they still 
reside with their son, Alfred H. Moon. Of 
their nine children five are still living: 
Everett, LL. D., Alfred H.. Willett B., M. 
D., Elizabeth Laetitia, Ph. D., and Rachel, 
M. D. 

Of James and Jane Haines Moon's daugh- 
ters, Eliza married Morton A. Walmsley, 
of Byberry, Pa. ; Rachel married William 
Tatnall, of Wilmington, Delaware, and Jane 
C. married Hon. Jonathan Chace, of Rhode 
Island. 

Of the eleven children which survived 
Koger Moon, we have partially traced but 
one line, that of his eldest son James. The 
descendants of the five sons who survived 
him are scattered in all directions, although 
there is proof that many remained near 
home, the name occurring frequently in 
this vicinity and in New Jersey. His son 
William married Elizabeth Nutt; and settled 
on Moon's Island in the Delaware River. 
An account of his descendants is given later. 
Ann married Jonathan Pursell ; Elizabeth 
married William Janney, 7 mo., 1739. at 
Falls Meeting and they moved near Water- 
ford, Loudoun county. Va. ; John. Roger 
and Isaac died without issue. Of the sec- 



ond wife's children; John married and left 
descendants; Mary married John Linton; 
Sarah married Daniel Burges; Timothy 
married Martha Richie; Hannah married 
ISlahlon Hartley, and removed to Ohio; 
Jasper, unknown. 



PRICE FAMILY. Elizabeth Price, sec- 
ond wife of Roger Moon, was of Welsh 
origin and a daughter of Reese and Marv 
Price (or Preese), who settled in Bucks 
county about the year 1700. 

The ancestors of Mrs. Samuel C. Moon, 
of Morrisville, were Nathaniel and Sarah 
(Bnggs-Shaw) Price, who emigrated from 
Rhode Island and settled in Middletown 
township, Bucks county, near the present 
site of Langhorne about the middle of the 
eighteenth century. They were the par- 
ents of three children ; Nathaniel, of whom 
a more particular account follows: Eliza- 
beth, married Edward Worstall; and Su- 
sanna, married Thomas Jones. Sarah 
(Briggs-Shaw) Price died 10 mo. 22, 1808, 
in her eighty-seventh year. 

Nathaniel Price, son of Nathaniel and 
Sarah, born February 8, 1759, was received 
into membership with Friends and married 
October 18, 1786, Ann Bailey, daughter of 
Edward and Ann (Satterthwaite) 'Bailey, 
of Bucks county, and had three children: 
(i) William, born September 14, 1787, died 
June 4, 1852, married April 18, 1808, Mary 
jNIahan, and had nine children : Cornelius, 
Mary, John. Deborah, Ann, Amos, Susan, 
Catharine and William. (2) John, born 
November 23, 1788, died April 5, 1867, mar- 
ried Rachel Burgess, daughter of Joseph 
and Sarah (Matson) Burgess, and had chil- 
dren : Daniel B., of whom an account fol- 
lows ; Lydia B., Sarah Ann, and Phebe B., 
none of whom married, living and dying 
near Fallsington, Bucks county. (3) Edith, 
born 1790, died 1792. Ann (Bailey) Price 
died January 8, 1791, and Nathaniel mar- 
ried (second) December 13, 1792, Mary 
Spicer, daughter of James and Rachel 
Spicer, and they were, the parents of four 
children: (4) Joseph, born March 10, 1793, 
married October 14, 1821, Eliza Wildman, 
and had children, Mary and Elizabeth. (5) 
Ann, born February 23, 1795, married, 1819, 
Israel Burgess, and had two children, Will- 
iam and Mary, both of whom married into 
the Longshore family. (6) Isaiah, Dorn 
December 20, 1798, married May 20, 1824, 
Margaret Burges, daughter of William and 
Rachel Burges, and had four children : Ra- 
chel, married Benjamin Woolston ; Ann, 
married a Hance; Jane, married a Cro- 
shaw ; Martha, married Dr. William E. 
Case, and has two sons, William and Philip 
of Morrisville. (7) Rachel, born December 
4, 1800, lived to an advanced age at Lang- 
horne, but never married. Mary (Spicer) 
Price, the mother of the above named four 
children, died December 8, 1829. 

Daniel B. Price, only son of John and 
Rachel (Burges) Price, was born December 



214 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



3, 1823. He was a successful farmer and 
died at his residence, Brookdale farm, two 
miles from Fallsington, Bucks county, 
March 26, 1891, at the age of sixty-seven 
years. He married, first. May 18, 1848, 
Hannah B. Childs, of Le Raysville, New 
York, and they were the parents of four 
children : Rachel Anna, married Samuel 
C. Moon; Clinton, died young; Elizabeth, 
married John W. Tatum, of Wilmington, 
Delaware, and has three children — Anna 
P., Lucy R. and John W. Tatum, Jr.; Mary 
C, remained single. 

The Burges Family, with whom the 
Moon and Price families are much inter- 
married, are descended from Samuel and 
Eleanor Burges, who came from England 
in 1685 and settled in Falls township, on 
200 acres of land purchased of William 
Penn, for one silver shilling per acre, the 
original deed for which is still in possession 
of their descendants. This land joined that 
on which James and Joan (Burges) Moon 
settled, and Samuel was probably a brother 
of Joan Moon. On this tract lymg oh both 
sides of the road now leading through the 
village of Fallsington, all the Friends' meet- 
ing houses of Falls Meeting have been built. 
In 1689, when the Friends decided to build 
a meetmg house, Samuel Burges gave them 
six acres on which the first meeting house 
and graveyard were located. The first 
building was of logs and the second of 
brick. In the ' latter a school was kept for 
many years in which the great-grandchil- 
dren of Samuel Burges, living in 1855, re- 
member attending, being used as a school 
after the erection of the third meeting 
house, a little distant from the first site and 
now (1905) used as a dwelling house. The 
fourth meeting house was erected in 1789 
on the first location, north of the graveyard 
and Newportville -road, and is still used by 
one branch of the society. The fifth meet- 
ing house was built in 1840, when a stone 
school house erected in 1799 was removed 
to make room for it, the present school 
house being erected in 1817. The will of 
Samuel Burges, made in 1713, mentions 
wife Eleanor, sons Joseph, Samuel, John 
and Daniel, and daughters Priscilla and 
Sarah. Priscilla became the wife of Sam- 
uel Bunting, and an ajccount of her de- 
scendants is given in this volume. Sarah 
married John Hutchinson and an account 
of her descendants is also given in the 
Rickey family. Samuel, thf jon, a member of 
assembly in 1712, married Ann Snowdcn, 
and had three children— Margaret, married 
Joseph Jackson ; Rebecca, married Joseph 
Church ; Ann, died single. 

Joseph Burgess married Flannah Wilson, 
and had five children : Daniel, of whom a 
more particular account follows; Joseph, 
married Deborah Fisher and removed to 
Buckingham, later to Baltimore, Maryland, 
and subsequently to Virginia; had children; 
Thomas, Sarah, John, Tacy, .Martha and 
Daniel, of whom Thomas married Eliza- 
beth Hendricks, and removed to Highland 



county, Ohio, about 1813; John, Sarah, and 
Hannah. John, son of Samuel and Eleanor, 
married Mary Duer, and had six children, 
Samuel Ellen, Jonathan, Mary, Susanna, 
and Martha. 

Daniel Burges, son of Samuel and 
Eleanor, was twice married, but left no 
issue, devising his farm, part of 600 acres 
purchased by Samuel, the pioneer in 1695, 
to his brother Joseph's son Daniel. 

Daniel Burges, son of Joseph and Hannah 
(Wilson) Burges, married 6 mo. 17, 1750, 
Lydia Sisom, and had eight children : Jo- 
seph, born 3 mo. 31, 1752, married, 11 mo. 
8, 1780, Sarah Matson ; Rachel, born 11 mo, 
14, 1753) married Moses Moon; Hannah, 
born 12 mo. 23, 1755, married Joseph Child; 
Sarah, born 9 mo. 17, 1758, died at the age 
of ninety-six years; Rebecca, born 10 mo. 
26^ 1763, married John Burton; Edith, born 
3 mo. 15, 1766, married Joseph Headley; 
Phebe, born 6 mo. 20, 1769, died single lu 
1839; Amos, born 10 mo. 11, 1772, married 
Sarah Boulton. Daniel Burges married (sec- 
ond), Sarah Moon and had two children; 
Daniel, born 10 mo. 15, 1780, married De- 
borah Wood, and lived on the homestead 
for some years and then removed to New 
York state; and Elizabeth, born 11 mo. 28, 
1784, died at the age of eighteen years. 

Joseph Burges, eldest son of Daniel and 
Lydia, married Sarah ISIatson, and had eight 
children: Moses, born 8 mo. 17, 1781, mar- 
ried Ann Hancock ; Lydia, born 8 mo. 28, 
1783, and Amy, born 11 mo. 28, 1785, both 
died single; Daniel, born 4 mo. 30, 1787, 
also died single ; Rachel, born 7 mo. 26, 
1789, married John Price; John, Joseph and 
Aaron, died young. Joseph Burges mar- 
ried, second, Deborah Bailey and hkd one 
child, Mary born 12 mo. 24, 1803, died 
}'Oung. Moses and Ann (Hancock) Burge-s 
had eight children, Joseph, Sarah, Phebe, 
Moses, Rebecca, Robert, Ann, and George, 
of whom Robert and Phebe still reside on 
the ancestral homestead, and are nearing 
the sunset of life. Anna Price Moon, Eliza- 
beth Price Tatum, and Mary C. Price, 
daughters of Daniel B. and Sarah (Burges) 
Price, with their children are the only liv- 
ing descendants of Joseph and Sarah (Mat- 
son) Burges. 



OWEN MOON, Jr., of the Trenton 
(New Jersey) Times," is a descendant of 
James and Joan (Burges) Moon, the pio- 
neer ancestors of the family, as shown by 
the preceding narrative, throughout the fol- 
lowing line: 

William iNIoon, fifth .son and sixth child 
of Roger and Ann (Nutt) Moon, was born 
March 6, 1727, and died October 4. I795- 
He married his cousin Elizabeth Nutt, and 
was treated with therefor by the Friends' 
Meeting at Falls, the marriage of first cous- 
ins being "against the good order maintained 
among Friends." Among the children of 
William and Elizabeth (Nutt) Moon were 
Ann, married. May 17, 1775, Samuel Bunt- 
ing; and William Moon, born February 5, 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



21 



1765, died May 30, 1827, at the age of sev- 
enty-two years. He was .twice married ; 

first to Sarah , who died about 1749, 

and (second) to Phoebe Mott, born May 
26, 1754, died July 23, 1847, aged ninety- 
three years. The children of the first mar- 
riage were as follows: i. Daniel, see 
forward; 2. Phoebe, married Benjamin 
Kelly, son of Joseph and Phoebe (Buck- 
. man) Kelly, and had three children: Ben- 
jamin; Elizabeth, married Thomas Miller; 
and Sarah, married John Miller. 3. Eliza- 
beth, never married. 4. Mary, born March 
19, 1794, died January 22, 1866, married 
John Stackhouse, and had two children, 
one of whom, Phoebe, married 1847, Joseph 
Brown, of Fallsington, and has two chil- 
dren : Charles and Edward. 
f Daniel Moon, eldest child of William and 
Sarah, born July 5, 1789, died August 21, 
1869, aged eighty years. He married Mercy 
Lovett, born July 17, 17S9, died December 
23, 1840, daughter of Evan Lovett and 
Sarah Neeld (nee Stackhouse) and they 
were the parents of eleven children: i. 
William L., born August 25, 1810, died 1900; 
married in 1839, Elizabeth Y. Williamson, 
born July i, 1819, died July 26, 1891, daugh- 
ter of Mahlon and Charity (Vansant) Will- 
iamson, and had eleven children, five of 
whom survive: Daniel H., born October 15, 
1843 ; Mary Jane, widow of Andrew Crozer 
Reeves, whose only child Andrew C. Reeves, 
is prominent in the business interests of 
Trenton, New Jersey; Mercy Ann, wife of 
Frank W. JNIuschert, senior member of the 
wholesale grocery firm of ISIuschert, 
Reeves & Company, Trenton, New Jersey, 
and has one child, William M. Muschert; 
Georgiana Watson, of Langhorne, Pennsyl- 
vania, who has three children, Elizabeth W., 
Thompson, Elwood Watson, and Margaret 
Watson; and Anna Elizabeth, wife of Will- 
iam B. Parry, of Langhorne, who have two 
children. 2. Evan L. Moon, born August 
8, 1812, died April 19, 1898; married (first) 
Ann Palmer, ]\Iarch 12, 1835, and had one 
child, Owen, a more particular account of 
whom is given below. Evan L. Moon mar- 
ried (second) Mary Atchley, and had two 
children, Jesse and Daniel, the latter of 
whom married Mary Fell, daughter of 
Henry R. and Rachel W. Fell, of Trenton. 
New Jersey, and has four children ; Arthur 
E., Elizabeth F., Rachel W., and Ridgway. 
3. Sarah, born July 9, 1814, died Septem- 
ber 7, 1883, married George Thompson, 
who died in 1864, and had four children, 
three boys and one daughter. ^lercy Ann, 
who married B. Woolston Watson, in 1862, 
and has three children. 4. John Moon, 
died in infancy. 5. Owen, born 1817, died 
at the age of thirteen. 6. Daniel, died ui 
infancy in 1819. 7. John Hutchinson Moon, 
born October 5, 1820, married in 1848, 
Sarah Ann Crozer, daughter of Robert and 
Grace (Wright) Crozer, and had six chil- 
dren. 8. Andrew Moon, born October 16, 
1823, died January 2, 1897 ; married, Feb- 
ruary 20, 1845, Anna Mary Watson, daugh- 
ter o'f Miles and Ann (Kelly) Watson, and 



had three children; M. Watson Moon, of 
Fallsington, who married Charlotte Green 
^lull, daughter of Ebenezer and Sarah 
(Green) Mull, and has three daughters, 
Emma, wife of Willets B. Farley; Jennie 
and Annie, unmarried. 9. Phoebe: Ann 
:\Ioon, born October 5, 1825, married 
(first) January 20, 1848, William 
Kelly, who died in 1862, leaving one 
child, Daniel Edward, who married 
Mary F. Gilkyson, and had six chil- 
dren; she married (second) in 1865, 
John Hellings, and had no children. 10. 
Benjamin, born September i, 1827, died 
1S64; married Rebecca B. Miller, and had 
one child Ella. 11. Anna Mary, born July 
II, 1829, married, October 24, 1861, William 
Penn Crozer, son of Robert and Grace 
(Wright) Crozer, and has one child, Mercy. 

Owen Moon, only child of Evan L. and 
Ann (Palmer) Moon, born January i, 1836; 
married December 14, 1859, Elizabeth Buck- 
man, daughter of Spencer W. and Sarah 
(Williamson) Buckman, and their only sur- 
viving child is Owen Moon, Jr., of the 
"Trenton (New Jersey) Times." The ma- 
ternal ancestry of Mr. Moon is given under 
the heading of the Williamson Family. 

Owen Moon, Jr., son of Owen and Eliza- 
beth (Buckman) Moon, was born at Penn 
Valley, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, De- 
cember 6, 1873. He received his primary 
education at local schools and graduated at 
Swarthmore College in June, 1894, with 
the degree of B. Sc, and is a member of the 
national college fraternity of Delta Upsilon. 
In the fall of 1894 he removed to Trenton, 
New Jersey, and in conjunction with a 
course at Trenton Business College, took 
up the study of law, but relinquished it a 
year and a half later to devote himself to 
a number of business interests. From 1896 
to 1901 he was interested in the construc- 
tion of a number of electric railways in 
Philadelphia, Trenton, Bucks county and 
elsewhere, as director and ofiicial of the 
various organizations having them in charge. 

He was perhaps more largely interested 
in trolley development in and about Tren- 
ton than any other individual. He was 
president of the Trenton, Morrisville and 
Yardley Street Railway Company, who con- 
structed a line of six miles connecting those 
towns ; was a director and financial agent 
of the Trenton, Lawrenceville and Prince- 
ton Railroad Company, which constructed a 
trolley line of ten miles connecting those 
towns ; a director and treasurer of the Tren- 
ton City Bridge Company, the owners of the 
only Delaware river bridge at this point not 
controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad 
Company, and which bridge was purchased 
from the former (Bucks county) owners, 
on account of it being the key to any trolley 
connection between Pennsylvajiia and Tren- 
ton. These two trolley lines, upon their 
completion, together with the bridge, were 
sold to the Lehigh Valley Traction Company 
interests, represented by Mayor Tom L. 
Johnson, of Cleveland, Ohio, and are now 
successfully operated by that company. Mr. 



2l6 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Moon is also a director and an official in the 
syndicate which owned the old turnpike ex- 
tending across lower Bucks county, con- 
necting Trenton with Bristol and Phila- 
delphia, as well as of a half dozen or more 
railroad corporations, whose object was the 
completion of a trolley line from Philadel- 
phia to Trenton, which was initiated by 
General Morrcll in i8gi. The history of 
the construction of this line represents one 
of the most stubborn fights between the 
trolley interests and the railroads ever be- 
fore the courts of Pennsylvania or any 
other state, a right-of-way fight of ten years 
duration, on the line between Bristol and 
Bridgwater, being ultimately won by the 
syndicate securing an elevated trolley char- 
ter, at Harrisburg, which permitted track 
connections across the disputed right of way 
and assured the completion of the Phila- 
delphia and Trenton line. This road was 
later sold to a Baltimore syndicate which 
now operates its cars direct from Phila- 
delphia, over the tracks of the Trenton, 
Morrisville and Yardley street railway and 
the Trenton city bridge into Trenton. Ivlr. 
Moon became a director of the Yardley 
(Penna.) National Bank in 1895, at the age 
of twenty-two years. He is a director and 
secretary of the Philadelphia firm of the 
Scott Paper Company ; a director of the 
Reeves Engine Company of Trenton, and 
also a director in a number of other cor- 
porations and industrial and business organ- 
izations. In 1901 lie became one of the pro- 
prietors and treasurer of the "Trenton (New 
Jersey) Times," and in 1902 became the 
active business manager of the establish- 
ment. Under his capable management the 
circulation of "The Times" has nearlj^ 
doubled, and it is becoming one of the 
popular and strong newspapers of the state. 
Mr. Moon is a member of the Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania and the Bucks 
County Historical Society. He is also a 
member of the Young IMen's Christian Asso- 
ciation of Trenton, the Republican Club of 
Trenton, and the Trenton Country Club. 
He married, November 8, 1899, at Swarth- 
more, Pennsylvania, Margaret Scott, bom 
October 20, 1876, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
E. I. Scott, of that place. 



THE WILLIAMSON FAMILY. The 
history of this family takes us back to the 
period prior to the grant of Pennsylvania to 
William Pcnn and possibly to two or three 
decades prior to that date when the repre- 
sentatives of three Eureopean nations were 
battling for supremacy on the shores of our 
middle states. The Swedes made the first 
organized settlement on Pennsylvania soil 
in 163S under Peter Minuit. The Dutch be- 
gan almost immediately to contest their 
supremacy there, and from the time of the 
conquest of the Swedes by the Hollanders, 
two decades later, until the subsequent con- 
quest of the latter by the English, repre- 
sentatives of the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic 



races began to make their appearance on the 
Delaware. The earliest records of the court 
at Upland (now Chester) under English 
jurisdiction in 1676, show a number of 
names of undoubted English origin, though 
the first justices v/ere all. Swedes. Dunck 
Williames, as his name is usually spelled in 
the earlier records, though it appears in vari- 
ous forms both as to first and surname, 
during his whole life was the founder of 
the family of Williamson in Pennsylvania. 
He is claimed by his descendants to have 
been of Swedish or Holland origin, but 
many circumstances in connection with his 
first appearance on Pennsylvania soil strong- 
ly indicate to the writer of these lines that 
he was of English or Scotch origin. The 
most significant of these is the fact that 
he was associated in his first purchase of 
land with Francis Walker, whose name 
clearly indicates that he was of neither 
Dutch or Swedish origin. Again, hereditary 
surnames were unknown in eithec, Sweden 
or Holland until late in the sixteenth cen- 
tury and their representatives in America 
were known by their father's given name, 
with the addition of "es" or "se" and "sen." 
Had he therefore been of Dutch origin his 
name would have been more probably Gul- 
liamse, if his father was named William, 
and the name William was practically un- 
known among the Swedes. The name 
Dunck or Dunk was doubtless a contraction 
of Duncan, and in neither form has ever 
been found among the Swedes or Dutch. 
Just when Dunk Williamson arrived on the 
Delaware is a matter of some conjecture. 
As early as 1667 Dunk Willims and eight 
others secured from Governor Richard Nic- 
olls a patent for a tract of land of one thou- 
sand acres, known as Passaxunk^ indicating 
that he was one of the first settlers to se- 
cure title to land in what is now Philadel- 
phia, from the English rulers who con- 
quered the territory in 1664. His grant of 
land, in connection with Francis Walker, 
under patent from Sir Edmund Andross un- 
der date of July 18, 1676, comprehended 
450 acres on the Neshaminy in the present 
limits of Bensalem township, comprising 
the present site of Dunks Ferry, named for 
him. "Franck Walker," first appears of rec- 
ord at Upland as the custodian of goods be- 
longing to Captain Edward Cant well, who- 
administered the oaths to the first justices 
at Upland in 1676. On a "List of Tydable 
persons under the jurisdiction of ye Court," 
made November 13, 1677, the names of 
"Dunk Williames" and "Franck Walker" 
appear in the district of Taokanink (Ta- 
cony), and on November 12, 1678, Dunk 
Williams petitioned to take up one hundred 
acres of land "on the lower syde of Nie- 
shambenies (Neshaminy) creek, 50 acres 
thereof att ye river syde & ye other 50 
acres up in the woods ;" this was therefore 
at the mouth of Neshaminy in Bensalem. 
He also served on a jury at the same date. 
On March 12, 1678-79. he petitioned to take 
up four acres of marsh back of liis "plan- 
taceion." On the latter date Ednnuid l")rauf- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



217 



ton brought suit against him for the tuition 
of his children, showing that at that early 
date the Pennsylvania colonists were inter- 
ested in the education of their youth. The 
title of Williamson and Walker to the tract 
of land in Bucks county was conhrmed by 
Penn, and the former became a large land- 
owner. The will of Dunck Williamson, 
dated February 12, 1697-8, and probated 
March i, 1699-1700, mentions his wife, 
Wallery, sons William and John William- 
son, and daughters, Hanna, wife of John 
Gound, and Margred, wife of John John- 
son. To John he devises 500 acres of land 
in the bounds of Cohanset. (Cohansey, 
Salem county. New Jersey), to Hanna 
•Gound, one hundred acres in the county of 
Kent; to Margred Johnson, five pounds or 
its equivalent ; and to William, all his es- 
tate in Pennsylvania.* 

William Williamson, born 1676, died 1721, 
married Elizabeth Claessen, of Dutch or 
Swedish origin,? and had five sons : Jacob, 
who is said to have died without issue; 

Abraham, who married Rachel , and 

had two sons and two daughters ; John who 

married Elizabeth , and had eight 

sons and two daughters, who resided in 
Philadelphia county, see forward; William, 
married and had a son John and a daugh- 
ter; Peter, married Leah , and had 

seven children: Jacob, Isaac; Peter; Eliza- 
beth, who married a Moore of Burlington, 
New Jersey, and after his death removed to 
Virginia; Sarah; Rebecca; and Jane, who 
married Abraham Heed. 

Peter Williamson, third son of Peter and 
Leah Williamson, born in Bucks county, 
January 17, 1735, settled in Falls township, 
Bucks county, and died there June li, 1823, 
at the age of eighty-nine years. He was 
twice married ; first to Sarah Sotcher, 
daughter of Robert and IMercy (Browne) 
Sotcher of Falls, and granddaughter of John 
and Mary (Lofty) Sotcher, the last named 
being William Penn's steward and steward- 
ess at Pennysbury for many years. They 
were married at Pennysbury in the presence 
â– of William Penn, October 16, 1701, Falls 
Meeting having held a special session in 
order that they might be married before 

*In the Williamson (sometimes called the Johnson 
graveyard situated in Bensalem lownsliip, near Bridge- 
water, a tablet has been erected with this statement : 
"In memory of Duncan Williamson, one of the orig- 
inal settlers of this township, who died about the year 
1700." 

5^Members of the Claassen family, children of Jan 
Claassen, who was of Dutch or Swedish orisjin and a 
grantee in 16615, are as follows: Henricka, eldest 
daughter of Jan Claassen, married Matthias Kyn (Keen) 
born 1667, died 17H, eldest son of Hans and Willemka 
Kyn, and grandson of Joran Kyn, an original Swedish 
settler near Chester about 1644. Gertrude, second 
child of Jan Claassen, married Hans L'iican, eldest 
son of Peter Nilsson Laykan, a native of Sweden. Of 
the Kyn family, one Jonas Keen (the third son of Hans 
and Willemka Kyn and grandson of the origijial Swed- 
ish settler, Joran Kyn) married in 1697 to Frances 
Walker, only daughter of Francis Walker (Walcker). a 
grantee in Bucks county on the Neshaminy Creek with 
Dunck Williams and others in 1676. C Uherine, third 
child of Jan Claassen, married Erie Kyn (Keen second 
son of Hans and Willemka Kyn, and grandson of the 
original Swedish settler Joran Kvn. F.lizabeth. another 
daughterof Jan Claassen, married William Williams, 
3l son of Dunck Williams. 



Penn left for England at the conclusion of 
his last visit to his province in America. 
John Lofty became a prominent man in the 
colony and served many years in colonial 
assembly, 1712 to 1722. He died November 
19, 1729. John and Mary (Lofty) Sotcher 
were the parents of four children : Hannah, 
born January 25, 1702, married October 26, 
1720, Joseph Kirkbride; Mary, born Sep- 
tember 15, 1704, married November 12, 
1724, Mahlon Kirkbride; Ann, born March 
2y, 1710, married April 23, 1729, Mark Wat- 
son; Robert, born November 3, 1706, mar- 
ried in 1731, Mercy Browne, youngest 
daughter of George and Mercy Browne, 
who came from England in 1678 and set- 
tled in Falls township, Bucks county. George 
Browne was the first Englishman to serve 
as justice of the court at Upland, being re- 
turned as a justice at the June sessions, 
1680, but not being present was sworn and 
took his seat as a justice, in accordance 
with his commission, October 13, 1680, and 
served until the establishment of the courts 
by Penn after his arrival. George and 
Mercy Brown reared a large family who 
have left numerous descendants. General 
Jacob Brown, commander-in-chief of the 
United States Army, was a great-grandson. 

Peter and Sarah (Sotcher) Williamson 
were the parents of eight children, as fol- 
lows : Letitia, born June 12, 1765, died Au- 
gust 5, 1847, married Jonathan Burton, of 
Falls ; Mercy, born June 12, 1766, died 
March 10, 1830, married William Crozer, 
of Falls, and had ten children; Parmelia, 
born January 16, 1768, died October 2^, 
1813, married Thomas Crozer and had 
three children; Jesse, born September 21, 
1769, died October 22,, 1852, married Sarah 
Williamson, daughter of Josephus, see for- 
ward, and had three children ; David, born 
March 14, I773, died August 10, 1799; IMah- 
lon, born M^rch 15, i777, died July 8, 1848; 
John, born February 24, 1778, was lost at 
sea March 4. 1798; Sarah, born November 
28, 1781, married Nov. 30. 1815, Jesse Kelly, 
son of Joseph and Phoebe (Buckman) Kel- 
ley, and died July 18, 1862. Sarah 
(Sotcher) Williamson died November 3, 
1799, and Peter married a second time Eliza- 
beth Banes, but had no children by her. 

Mahlon, sixth child and third son of 
Peter, and Sarah (Sotcher) Williamson, 
born March 15, I777, settled near Fallsing- 
ton, Bucks county, and lived there all his 
life, dying July 8, 1848. He married Charity 
Vansant, born November 16, 1781, died 
April 29, 1848. daughter of Cornelius and 
Ann (Larzelere) Vansant, and whose pa- 
ternal and maternal ancestry is given else- 
where in this volume. Mahlon and Charity 
were the parents of eight children, as fol- 
lows : John, born December 21, 1800, died 
July 28, 1802 ; Isaiah V., born February 4, 
1803, died March 7, 1889, unmarried, was 
the founder of the Williamson Industrial 
School in Delaware county, Pennsylvania ; 
Peter, born September 4, 1805, died Febru- 
ary 21, 1880, married May 26, 1831, Eliza 
Martin, and had six children ; John B. 



2l8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



born January 4, 1S08, died October 24, 
1874, moved to New Albany, Indiana, about 
1833, married and bad nine cbildren ; Jesse, 
born May 13, 1810, died October, 1892, mar- 
ried tirst Margaret Buckman, and second 
EHzabeth Albertson, (had five cbildren : 
Edward C, of Morrisville; Henry D., of 
Lancaster ; Franklin, of Lancaster ; Ida, 
wife of Headley Harper; and Ella, wife of 
J. D. Tantum) ; Sarah Ann, born ISIay 
14, 1812, died July 22, 1891, married De- 
cember 14, 1836, Spencer W. Buckman of 
Falls, Bucks county, see forward ; Mah- 
lon, born March 9, 1815, died May i, 1871, 
married ]Mary Ann Stiles and settled in 
Philadelphia, had seven children; Eliza 
Ann, born February i, 1819, died July 
26, 1891, married William J. Moon, son of 
Daniel and Mercy (Lovett) INIoon and bad 
eleven children.- Spencer W. Buckman, 
born December 18, 1814, was a son of 
Zenas and Mary (Wortbington) Buck- 
man. He married December 14, 1836, 
Sarah Ann Williamson above mentioned, 
and they were the parents of seven chil- 
dren, as follows : Mary, born December 
II, 1837, married Charles A. Parsons, see 
Parsons Family in this volume; Eliza- 
beth, born January 2, 1839, married Owen 
Moon, son of Evan and Ann (Palmer) 
Moon, see preceding sketch ; Isaiah, 
born May 26, 1841, died May 9. 
1842; Charles, born July 13, 1842, married 
Henrietta Anderson and has eight chil- 
dren ; William A., Spencer W., Engene. 
Anna Mary, George, Ida, Sarah, and 
Macre ; Wallace, born April 26, 1845, mar- 
ried Elizabeth Hart, and has two chil- 
dren : Edwin H., and Williamson ; George, 
born 1846, died 1848; Sarah, born Alarch 
5, 1854, died April 24, 1883, married ]\Iah- 
lon Wharton and had two children : Caro- 
bne and Albert. 

John Williamson, third son of William 
and Elizabeth (Claessen) Williamson, and 
grandson of Dunck and Wallery William- 
son, born 1698, died August 31, 1761, mar- 
ried Elizabeth , who survived him. 

They lived on the homestead (inherited 
from his father) and are buried in the 
old family burying ground on the banks 
of the Neshaminy. They had nine sons 
and two daughters, as follows : William, 
born June 14, 1727; John, born ]\Iay lO, 
1730; Joseph, born September 16, 1731, 
removed to Philadelphia ; Abraham, born 
November 16, 1733; Elizabeth, born April 
25. 1736, married Joseph Vandegrift , 
Katharine, born November 17. 1738, 
married Benjamin Walton, of Byberry; 
Jesse, born June 25, 1741, removed to 
Philadelphia ; Josephus, born December 3, 
1743, died April 28. 1817,. married Mary 
Bush, who died July 28, 1843, aged 87 
years, both buried at St. Peter's church- 
yard, Philadelphia, see forward; David, 
born September 21, 1748, died April 22, 
1794, married Ann Bennett and had eight 
children, see below ; Jeremiah, born March 
8, 1751, removed to Philadelphia; Ben- 



jamin, born July 8, 1752, also removed to- 
Philadelphia. 

Josephus and Mary (Bush) Williamson 
had nine children, as follows: Jeremiah; 
David, died September 7, 1803, aged 2>i r 
Joseph (^none of whom married) ; Rebec- 
ca, born 1774, died July 5, 1831, married 
December 3, 1797, David Fleckmire, of 
Philadelphia and had seven children; Sa- 
rah, born September 22, 1776, died May, 
1868, in her ninety-second year, marriea 
November 2, 1794, Jesse Williamson, son 
of Peter and Sarah (Sotcher) William- 
son, before mentioned; Ann, born 1779^ 
died April 21, 1839, married her cousin 
David Williamson, of Philadelphia, a son 
of David and grandson of John, see for- 
ward; Elizabeth, died 1840, married May 
3, 1804, John Burns, lived on a farm ad- 
jacent to Pennsbury until 1825, and then 
removed to Wayne county, Indiana; John, 
born May 15, 1786, died April i, 1791 ; 
John G., married Harriet Shardon, and 
after her death removed to St. Louis, Mis- 
souri, had three children. 

The children of David and Ann (Ben- 
nett) Williamson were as follows : Cath- 
arine, born April 20, 1777, died August 
30, 1798; Thomas, born May 5, 1774; Jo- 
seph, born September 15, 1779, had one 
son; Jesse, born' January 24, 1782, died 
September 2, 1798; David, born June 18, 
1785, died June 10, 1851, married his 
cousin Ann Williamson, and had three 
children: Joseph, Bennett, and David E. ; 
Benjamin, born June 5, 1788, married. El- 
len Fitzmaury; Ann; and Samuel, who 
died in infancy. 



LEWIS W. FELL, of Buckingham^ 
merchant, was born in Buckingham 
township, near Mechanicsville, on a farm 
that had been the property of his ances- 
tors since 1723. He is only son of David 
and Margaret (Atkinson) Fell, of Buck- 
ingham, and of the sixth generation in 
descent from Joseph Fell, who came 
from Longlands parish, Rockdale, Cum- 
berland, England with Bridget W^il^on,. 
his wife, in 1705. 

Joseph Fell, eldest child of Joseph and 
Bridget, born in Cumberland. England, 
4 mo. 29, 1701, was reared on his father's 
farm near Pool's corner, wdiere H. Clay 
Large now lives, and on bis marriage in 
1735 received from his father a' deed of 
gift of 125 acres of land on the Durham 
road, above Mechanicsville. purchased by 
Joseph. Sr., in 1723, and lived thereon 
until his death, 2 mo. 22, 1777- He mar- 
ried, I mo. 4, 1735. Mary Kinsey, daugh- 
ter of Edmund and Sarah (Ogborn) Kin- 
sey, the former an eminent preacher 
among Friends. The children of Joseph 
and Mary Fell w^ere seven in number, five 
of whom grew to maturity, viz.: Joseph, 
born 8 mo. 31, 173S: Sarah, never mar- 
ried: Rachel, born 1744. married Wdliam 
Lownes; David, born 1750, married Sarah 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



2:9 



Kinsey; and Martha, born 1756, married 
Edward Rice. Mary (Kinsey) Fell, was 
born 2 mo. 29, 1715, and died 12 mo. 29, 
1769. 

Joseph Fell, eldest son of Joseph and 
Mary, born 8 mo. 31, 1738, on the home- 
stead farm in Buckingham, married 10 
mo, 21, 1767, Rachel Wilson, born 4 mo. 
5, 1741, died 3 mo. 8, i8ro, daughter of 
Samuel and Rebecca (Canby) Wilson, of 
Buckingham, and removed to Upper 
Makefield, where he purchased a farm. 
He died there 3 mo. 26, 1789. He had 
eight children, six of whom grew to ma- 
turity, viz.: Joseph, born 1768, married 
Esther Burroughs; John, born 1770, mar- 
ried Edith Smith; Martha, married Ben- 
jamin Schofield; David, married Phebe 
Schofield; Jonathan, born S mo. 5, 1776; 
Rachel, born 1783, married John Speak- 
man. 

Jonathan, son of Joseph and Rachel, 
was born in Upper Makefield township, 
5 mo. 5, 1776, and married i mo. 2, 1799, 
Sarah Balderston, and removed to North- 
ampton township. Two years later he 
removed to Falls township, near Mor- 
risville, where he lived until 1831, and 
then removed to the old homestead of 
his ancestors in Buckingham, where he 
died 7 mo. 27. 1849. His wife Sarah died 
at Morrisville 11 mo. 23, 1802, and he 
married 10 mo. 11, 1809, Jane Buckman, 
born 12 mo. 12. 1784. died 3 mo. 25, 1874, 
daughter of James and Sarah (Burroughs) 
Buckman. By his first wife he had two chil- 
dren — Jane, who married Seth Davis ; and 
Rebecca, who died an infant. By his second 
marriage he had six children, viz. : James, 
born in 1810, married (first) ]\Iary Cad- 
wallader, and (second) IMary Holcombe; 
Sarah, who never married; Joshua, born 
2 mo. 22, 1814, married Mary Watson, 
has been postmaster and merchant at 
Mechanicsville for many years; Eliza- 
beth, born 1817, died 1853, unmarried; 
Hannah, born 2 mo. 22, 1820, married 
Thomas Story Smith, of Upper Make- 
field; David, born 11 mo. 13, 1823, mar- 
ried Margaret Atkinson. 

David Fell, the father of the subject 
of this sketch, born in Penn's IManor, 
near Morrisville, 11 mo. 13, 1823, was the 
youngest child of Jonathan and Jane 
Buckman Fell. As he was but eight 
years old when the family moved to the 
old homestead in Buckingham, his boy- 
hood days were spent on the farm that 
remained his home during the rest of his 
life. He was a man of high character, 
much esteemed in the neighborhood, and 
held many positions of trust. Like his 
ancestors for many generations, he was 
a member of the Society of Friends, and 
a regular attendant at Buckingham Meet- 
ing. He died on the old homestead 8 
mo. 9. 1887. He had married I mo. 3, 
1850. Margaret, daughter of Abner and 
Sarah Atkinson, who bore him three 
children; Sarah Jane, born 11 mo. 7, 
1850, married Horace Michener, living 



in Doylestown; Marj- Lester, born 9 mo. 
26, 1853, married Thomas B. Claxton. 
and died; and Lewis, the subject of this 
sketch. Margaret (Atkinson) Fell is 
still living in Doylestown. 

Lewis \W Fell was born on the home- 
stead of his ancestors in Buckingham, 6 
mo. 2, 1857, and remained thereon until 
1881. He was educated at the public 
school of the neighborhood and at the 
Doylestown English and Classical Sem- 
inary. In the spring of 1881 he accepted 
a position in the store of his brother-in- 
law, Evan T. Worthington, at Bucking- 
ham, and two years later acquired an 
interest in the business, forming a co- 
partnership under the firm name of 
Worthington & Fell, wdiich lasted for 
six years, when he purchased the entire 
interest in the store and has since con- 
ducted it with marked success. The 
store has the reputation of being one of 
the best country stores in the county and 
does a large, trade. Mr. Fell was ap- 
pointed postmaster of Buckingham on 
February 18, 1890. and has held the po- 
sition continuously since. In 1896 Mr. 
Fell was one of the organizers of a local 
telephone company in Buckingham, 
which was later purchased by the Stand- 
ard Telephone Company, who estab- 
lished their exchange in his store, which 
is also the exchange for the Bell Tele- 
phone Company. ]\Ir. Fell is a member 
of Aquetong Lodge, No. 193, I. O. O. F., 
of Doylestown. and was an original 
member of Buckingham Castle, No. 208, 
A. O. K. of the M. C, and has been its 
treasurer since 1893. He is a member of 
Buckingham Friends' Meeting. Po- 
litically he is a Republican. 

Mr. Fell was married on January 20, 
1881, to Emma Clara Worthington, 
daughter of Elisha and Harriet (Lukens) 
Worthington, who has borne him two 
children: Arthur D., who assists his 
father in the business; and Ashton W., 
w-ho is private secretary to John 
Shreeve. publisher . of the "Atlantic City 
Review," Atlantic City, New Jersey. Mr. 
Shreeve is also secretary for Congress- 
man Gardner, and secretary of the Con- 
gress of Labor. Both the sons are grad- 
uates of Friends Central School, Phila- 
delphia, and of Pierce's Business Col- 
lege. 



ALLEN G. MOYER belongs to one 
of the old and honored families of Bucks 
county. The name was variously spelled 
bv the ancestors, some using the form 
of Meyer, while others continued the 
spelling used by the subject of this re- 
view and his immediate branch of tFe 
family. 

His father. Christian Moyer. was born 
near Sumneytown, ]\Tontgomery couaty. 
about 1814. In early life he followed 
milling, but later engasred in merchan- 
dising at New Galena, Pennsylvania, for 



220 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



many years one of the enterprising rep- 
resentatives of commercial interests in 
that place. He conducted his store with 
good success until his death, and was 
also the promoter of other business en- 
terprises which proved of direct value 
to the community. In i860 he discov- 
ered the lead mines at New Galena, 
which were on tlie property owned by 
himself and his brother-in-law, Daniel 
Barnes. His political views were in ac- 
cord with the principles of the Repub- 
lican party, which he always supported 
"by his ballot. He held the office ot school 
director, and at one time was postmaster 
of New Galena for your years. He be- 
longed to the Old Mennonite church, and 
died in that faith in 1867. His wife was 
Miss Barbara Godshalk in her maiden- 
liood, a daughter of John Godshalk. They 
had eight children, one of whom was 
drowned in a mill race when only two 
years of age, while another died at the 
age of six years. The surviving six 
members of the family are: Enos, who 
is now connected with mining interests 
in British Columbia; Isaac G., a butcher, 
residing in Dover, New Jersey; Allen 
G. ; Mahlon G., of North Wales, and who 
for the past thirty years has been in the 
employ of the Western Union Tele- 
graph Company; Lydia, the wife of 
Samuel Leatherman, of Doylestown; 
and Amanda, the wife of H. Erwin 
Fritz, of Bedminster. 

Allen G. Moyer, son of Christian 
Moyer, was born in New Britain town- 
ship, Bucks county, August 5, 1848, and 
at the usual age entered the public 
schools, where he completed his liter- 
ary education. In the school of experi- 
ence, however, he has learned many 
valuable lessons. He clerked in his 
father's store until seventeen years of 
age, and following his father's death 
â– was, employed for a year as a salesman 
in the store of R. J. Hillier, at Line Lex- 
ington. He afterward followed house 
painting and paper hanging for a num- 
ber of years, and since 1884 has been 
engaged in butchering hogs in Hilltown 
and Plumstead townships. In 1888 he 
purchased the place which is now his 
home at Danboro, and has made exten- 
sive and modern improvements there. 
This property is an evidence of his life 
of business activity and energy, for he 
started out with little capital, and all 
that he has acquired has been won 
through his own efforts. Mr. Moyer is 
a leading member of the Doylestown 
Presbyterian church, and has been par- 
ticularly active in Sunday-school work. 

He wedded Miss Mary Brand, a 
daughter of John and Margaret Brand, 
and in 1902 was called upon to mourn 
the loss of his wife, who died on the 
nth of December of that year. They 
were the parents (if fifteen children, 
seven of whom died ere reaching the age 
of ten years. The others are Wannita, 



born January 6, 1871, and is the wife of 
J. r. Leatherman; J. Arthur, born March 

9, 1872; Purdy B., born December 27, 
1873, and was ordained as a minister of 
the Baptist church in 1900, now occupy- 
ing the pulpit of the Hepzibah Baptist 
church near Coatesville, in Chester 
county, Pennsylvania; Carey, born July 

10, 1877, and is engaged in the butcher- 
ing business in Danboro; . Harvey K., 
born April 28, 1878, and is engaged in 
merchandising at Doylestown; Margar- 
etta B., born February 28, 1880, now the 
wife of Wilson Fretz; Jesse, born June 
I, 1882; and Nellie, born December i, 
1887. 



ABRAHAM GEORGE MOYER. A 
type of the well-informed and energetic 
business man who is essential to the. 
well-being of any community is Abra- 
ham George Moyer, of Quakertown. He 
belongs to a well known family, the 
various branches of which are scattered 
through Bucks county. 

He is a grandson of Samuel Moyer, 
who was a resident of Hilltown. Joseph 
Hunsicker Moyer, son of Samuel 
Moyer. before mentioned, was born May 
22, 1840. on the homestead in Hilltown 
township, and until his eighteenth year 
attended the public schools of his 'dis- 
trict. His life was devoted to agricul- 
tural pursuits. He married Elizabeth 
Yoder, daughter of Abraham and Mary 
(Yoder) George, the former a farmer of 
Milford township, who had obtained his 
education in the subscription school. 
The other children born to himself and 
his wife were: i. Charles, who married 
a Moyer. 2. Jacob, who married and 
lives at Milford Square. 3. Benjamin, 
who married and is a resident of Spin- 
nerstown. 4. Daniel, who is a farmer at 
Milford Square and has been twice 
married, his second wife being Mary, 
daughter of Jacob Shelly, of Milford 
township. 5. Anna, who is the wife of 
Abram Leatherman, of Plumsteadville. 

Mr. and Mrs. Moyer were the parents 
of the following children: i. Mary, who 
married Jacob Rush, son of William and 
]\Iary (Moyer) Rush, of Bedminster 
towniship, and lives on the Moyer home- 
stead, near Plumsteadville. 2. Emma, 
born May 24, 1865. became the wife of 
John Bergstresser. of Haycock town- 
ship, and died in 1904, leaving four sons : 
Abel B., Howard. Daniel, and Elton. 3. 
Abraham George Moyer mentioned at 
length hereinafter. 4. Daniel born in 
May. 1870, married Maggie, daughter of 
Henry Souder. of Souderton, and lives 
at Perkasie. 5. Elizabeth, born in 1872, 
became the wife of John, son of William 
and Maria (Moyer) Staufifer. 6. Cath- 
arine, born in 1874, married Henry C, 
son of the Rev. John and Mary Beidlcr, 
of Rosedale Valley, and lives at Allen- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



221 



town. 7. Adeline, who is the wife of 
John Fhick, and lives at. Lansdale. 8. 
Joseph Wilson died in infancy. Mr. 
Moyer, the father of the family, died at 
the comparatively early age of forty-six, 
passing away February 20, 1886, on his 
own farm in Plumstead township. 

Abraham George Moyer, son of Jo- 
seph Hunsicker and Elizabeth Yoder 
(George) Moyer, was born April 4, 
1867, on his father's farm in Hilltown 
township. When he was one year old 
his father purchased a farm of fifty- 
eight acres near Plumsteadville, and 
there the family took up their abode. 
On this farm, which had previously been 
the property of Tobias Rickert, Abra- 
ham George rendered valuable assist- 
aince, at the same time attending the 
district school. He left school in his 
eighteenth year and was not yet nine- 
teen at the time of the death of his 
father. The farm was then sold, and 
Mr. Moyer became a pupil in the West 
Chester State Normal School. After 
teaching for a time in a school near 
Dublin, he went to Plumsteadville, 
where for four years he was engaged in 
the creamery business. He then devoted 
four years to a mercantile business at 
Milford Square, and at the end of that 
time purchased the Milford Square 
creamery which he conducted for five 
years. His next venture was to build a 
creamery in Milford township, which he 
still owns. In 1900 he purchased from 
Enos R. Artman the store which he now 
occupies, and which was then conducted 
by his brother-in-law, Henrj^ Beidler. 
On this site he is now doing a thriving 
business. The confidence reposed in 
Mr. Moyer by his fellow-citizens is dem- 
onstrated by the fact that he has been 
chosen by them to fill the office of com- 
mitteeman for Shelly district, and that 
while a resident of Milford township he 
served for one year as school director, 
resigning his position when he moved to 
Quakertown. In his political principles 
he is a Republican. He and his family 
are members of the Mennonite church 
at W^est Swamp, in which he served as 
superintendent of the Sunday school from 
1896 to 1900. 

Mr. Moyer married, November 26, 
1887, Hannah Oberholtzer. daughter of 
Levi and Mary (Oberholtzer) Fretz, 
the former a farmer of Plumsteadville. 
Mrs. Moyer received her education in 
the district school. The family of Mr. 
and Mrs. Moyer consists of the follow- 
ing children: i. Willis, born April 23, 
1891. 2. Pearl, born February 12. 1893. 
3. Edna, born November 28, 1895. 4. 
Elizabeth, born November 27, 1898. 5. 
Joseph, born June 16. 1901. It. is to Tae 
believed that these children will prove 
worthy heirs of the good qualities as 
well as of the good name of their an- 
cestors, and that they will live to do 
credit to their native county. 



HARVEY W. MOYER. Among Chal- 
font's progressive and public-spirited 
citizens must be numbered Harvey W. 
Moyer. Mr. Moyer is a son of Levi S. 
Moyer, who learned the trade of a 
miller at Diehl's mill near Hellertown, 
Pennsylvania, and afterward purchased 
the property and the business. Subse- 
quently he engaged in business "as a 
butcher. He married Caroline, daughter 
of Shelly Weinberger, of Milford, and 
the following children were born to 
them: Clinton W.; Mary A.; Joseph 
W.; Emma W. ; and Harvey W., men- 
tioned at length hereinafter. The pa- 
rents of these children were, as their 
names would indicate, of German de- 
scent. 

Harvey W. Moyer, son of Levi S. 
and Caroline (Weinberger) Moyer, was 
born June 21, 1868, in Bingham, North- 
ampton county, Pennsylvania, and was 
educated in the public schools of his 
birthplace. There also he was trained 
by his father to the occupation of a' 
butcher, and followed the iDusiness for 
four years. Beginning in a small way 
and on borrowed capital, his efforts 
were crowned with success, and he was 
enabled to discharge his obligations and 
build up a flourishing trade. In 1894 he 
moved to Chalfont, and is now at the 
head of a large establishment, his con- 
nections extending throughout the adja- 
cent country. He is a successful busi- 
ness man and has built for himself a 
comfortable and attractive home. He is 
active as a citizen, and has been chosen 
by his neighbors a member of the town 
council, an oflice which he still holds. 
In politics he is a Republican, and in re- 
ligion a member of the Mennonite 
church. Mr. Moyer married, December 
29, 1892, Lizzie S., born November 23, 
1871, daughter of Abram and Ellamina 
(Sleifer) Kulp, and three children have 
been born to them : Florence, who was 
born January 30, 1894; Grace Lorene, 
born October 14. 1896; and Ray K., born 
November 23, 1898, and died July 19, 
1900. 



H. WATSON JOHNSON, a prosper- 
ous agriculturist, son of Charles and 
Esther (Strawn) Johnson, was born No- 
vember II. 1832, on the farm where he 
now resides, it being part of the original 
tract acquired by Casper Johnson 
(great-grandfather), the first of that 
family to come to the colony of Penn- 
sylvania, emigrating from his home in 
Holland early in the eighteenth century. 
Casper Johnson (grandfather), son of 
the emigrant ancestor, was born on the 
farm now owned by Henry Johnson, the 
farm owned by H. Watson Johnson be- 
ing a part of that tract. Charles John- 
son (father), son of Casper and Geborah 
Johnson, was born on the homestead 
farm. He attended the subscription 



222. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



schools of his community, and followed 
farming. He was a man of considerable 
fame as a farmer and man of affairs in 
northern Bucks county, and in 'his im- 
mediate neighborhood was looked upon 
as a leading agriculturist. His employes 
always received recognition and their 
just dues for faithful services, and his 
home was always a resort for neigh- 
borly intercourse. He was a member 
of the Whig party, and took an active 
interest in its affairs. He married Esther 
Strawn, davighter of Abel and Elizabeth 
Strawn, of Haycock township, and had 
issue: H. Watson, Mary Ann, wife of 
Aaron Walp, of Quakertown ; Oliver James 
married Maria Stover, and they reside in 
Haycock township; Anna Maria, wife 
of Louis N. Shelly, of Quakertown. 

H. Watson Johnson attended the sub- 
scription schools of Richland township 
until the free school system was intro- 
duced, and later the public schools, com- 
pleting his studies at the age of eigh- 
teen years, and in the meantime assisted 
on the home farm. For one year after 
leaving school he clerked in the general 
store of Mr. H. Buchacer, at Richland- 
town, but, his parents being insistent 
upon his returning home, he complied 
with their request and thereafter re- 
mained at home. After his marriage he 
assumed charge of his father's farm, 
working the same on shares, and con- 
tinuing thus until the death of his father, 
February 28, 1879, and at the settlement 
of the estate he became the owner, pur- 
chasing the interest of the other heirs. 
Since attaining his majority Mr. John- 
son has taken an active part in the affairs 
of his community. In politics he is a 
Republican, and has served his party in 
local, county and state conventions as 
delegate, and, has also served for fifteen 
years as director of the local school 
toard. In the campaign of 1874 Mr. 
Johnson, at the solicitation of his party, 
stood as candidate for the state legis- 
lature, and, although the county was at 
that time strongly Democratic, he, with 
no special effort on his part, came within 
twenty-two votes of being elected, which 
was an unmistakable proof of his pop- 
ularity. Of recent years Mr. Johnson 
has not taken so active a part in politi- 
cal affairs as of yore, devoting his time 
and attention to the care of his estate, 
he being of the fourth generation to re- 
side there. 

Mr. Johnson married, November 15, 
1855, Margaret Kratz. daughter of Jacob 
and Eliza (Fretz) Kratz, of Plumstead 
township. Five children were the issue 
of this union: i. Erwin Thomas, now a 
practicing physician and surgeon at 
Leidytown, Hilltown township; he mar- 
ried Martha, daughter of Leidy Sheip. 
2. Charles Jacob died in 1878. 3. Oliver 
Kratz died in 1893. 4. Harvey Ellwood. 
who attended the township schools, and 
is now at home, assisting his father with 



the duties of the farm. 5. Jennie, who 
married November 7, 1894, Wilson Erd- 
man, M. D., son of Owen and Mary Ann 
Erdman, of Richland township; Dr. and 
Mrs. Erdman reside in Richlandtown. 
Mr. Johnson and his family attend the 
Union Reformed church at Richland- 
town. 



LEVI SWARTLEY, of Chalfont, Bucks 
county, is the only surviving child 
of John and Mary (Moyer) Swartley, 
and was born in New Britain township, 
April 5, 1832. Philip Schwardley, the 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch, 
was born in Eppingen, in Necker, grand 
duchy of Baden, Germany, October 28, 
1764 and is supposed to have come to 
this country with his elder brothers 
John and Jacob in the ship "Minerva," 
arriving at Philadelphia on September 
30, 1772. As, however, the list of pas- 
sengers does not include the names of 
the two younger brothers, it is possible 
they may have followed their brother 
to Pennsylvania some years later. 

Philip was probably a resident for 
some years of Franconia township, 
Montgomery county, where he married 
Sarah Rosenberger, born Januarj' 24, 
1765, daughter of Rev. Henry and Bar- 
bara (Oberholtzer) Rosenberger, and a 
sister to Magdalena, the wife of his 
brother John Schwardley. About 1790 
Philip Schwardley settled in New Brit- 
ain township, Bucks county, where he 
became a large landowner. He died Sep- 
tember 23. 1840, and his wife Sarah died 
April 6, 1849. They were the parents of 
nine children, viz.: Elizabeth, married 
Jacob Krout; Henry; John; Jacob; 
Mary, married Jacob Hafner; Philip; 
Abraham; Samuel; and Sarah, who mar- 
ried John Price. 

John Swartlej^ second son of Philip 
and Sarah (Rosenberger) Swartley, was 
born in New Britain township June 8, 
1792, and was reared on his father's 
farm. In 1814 he married Mary Moyer, 
born in Springfield township, Bucks 
county, October 9, 1795, and died in New 
Britain, on April 10, 1872, daughter of 
Jacob and Magdalene ("Moyer") Moyer, 
of Springfield, and settled in Plumstead 
township, where they resided for one 
j'ear. April 3, 1816, his parents conveyed 
to him a farm of ninety-one acres in 
New Britain, where he lived from that 
date until his death, March 14. 1856. 
John and Mary (Moyer") Swartley were 
the parents of eight children, viz.: I. 
Jacob M.. born April 15, 1816, died De- 
cember 20, 1885, married Anna Rulh 
and left a number of children. 2. Sarah, 
born September 28, 1818, died Januarv 7, 
T901, married Abraham Kratz. 3. W'ill- 
iam, born June 2%. 1821, died April 17, 
187s, was blind for thirty-eight years. 
4. Magdalena, born September 28. 1824, 
died April 7, 1893, married in 1844 




JOSEPH THOMAS 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUXTY. 



223 



Henry Ruth; 5. Joseph AL, born Decem- 
ber 7, 1826, married three times; lived 
on the old homestead, where he died 
March 26, 1892. 6. John M., born Septem- 
ber 18, 1829, died September 24, 1900; 
Levi M., the subject of this sketch; and 
Mary, born May 5, 1835, died January 2, 
1888, married William G. Meyer. 

Levi M. Swartley, youngest son of 
John and Mary, was born and reared on 
the I^Iew Britain homestead and re- 
mained there with his mother until he 
was twenty-seven years old. After a 
residence of a year and a half in Hill- 
town he purchased the old homestead 
and returned to it, and resided thereon 
until 1890, since which time he has lived 
a retired life in the borough of CHal- 
font. He is a member of the Mennon- 
ites, and politicall-y is a Republican. He 
married December 2, i860, Lydia H. 
Myers, daughter of Isaac Myers, of 
Plumsteadville, and they have been the 
parents of three children: Mary Ann, 
born September 22, 1862, married Abra- 
ham L. Garges, of New Britain, and has 
children: Anna, Howard and Lydia. 
Isaac M., born January 16, 1865. died 
May. 1892. married Alary L. Moyer, 
daughter of Abraham Moyer, and left 
one child, Bertha. Ella M., boi-n August 
3, 1873, married Henry Rosenberger, and 
has one child, Laura Elizabeth. 



JOHN SWARTLEY, postmaster of 
Chalfont, was born in New Britain 
township, Bucks county, November 19, 
1862, and is a son of John M. and Mary 
(Moyer) Swartley, and a grandson of 
John and Magdalene (Moyer) Swartley, 
whose ancestry is given in the sketch of 
Levi Swartley. 

John M. Swartley w-as born in New 
Britain township, September 18, 1829, 
and was educated at the local schools. 
He followed the life of a farmer, near 
the little village of Newville, and was a 
member of the Mennonite church. He 
was an active and progressive farmer, 
and filled the office of supervisor^of New 
Britain township for a number of years. 
He married on October 18, 1853, EHza- 
heth M. Moyer, daughter of Rev. Abra- 
ham and Anna Moyer, of Bedminster. 
the ancestors of the former having borne 
the name of Christian for four gener- 
ations, the first of whom was Christian 
Meyer, who came to Pennsylvania about 
1712 and settled in Franconia township. 
His grandson, Christian Moyer, born in 
Franconia, March 27, 1763, married 
IMary Landis, and settled in Bucks 
county. Rev. Abraham Moyer, of Bed- 
minster, above mentioned, was the ninth 
of their eleven children; he married 
Anna Moyei', and Elizabeth M., who 
married John M. Swartley, was the 
youngest of their five children. John 
M. and Elizabeth M. (Moyer) Swartley 



were the parents of eight children, viz.: 
Mary Ann, born January 5, 1S55, died 
July 12. 1873; Amanda, born April 19, 
1856, died June 22, 1878, married Novem- 
ber 13, 1877, A. G. Ruth; Oliver J., born 
November 15, 1857, died August 30, 1885; 
William M., born September 24, i860; 
John, the subject of this sketch; Emma 
Jane, born November 24, 1863, died 
April 19, 1878: Elizabeth M., born May 
II, 1865, died February 15, 1884; and El- 
mer M., born June 25, 1873, died April 
29, 1899. John, the father, died Septem- 
ber 24, 1900. 

John Swartley, the subject of this 
sketch, was reared on the • farm near 
Newville', and was educated at the local 
schools. , In 1882 he entered the general 
merchandise store at Chalfont as clerk, 
and filled that position for sixteen years. 
In 1898 he entered into the mercantile 
business for himself, and carried it on 
for five years and "then sold out. He w^as 
appointed postmaster of Chalfont in 
February, 1897 and still fills that posi- 
tion. He is a member of the Methodist 
church, and politically a Republican. 

He married April 7, 1891, Laura 

'Scholl, daughter of Leidy L. and Lucilla 

(Diehl) Scholl. They have no children. 



DR. JOSEPH THOMAS, of Quaker- 
town, Bucks county, one of the best 
known public men of Upper Bucks, was 
born in New Britain township, June 15, 
1829, and is of Welsh, English and Ger- 
man descent. His paternal ancestor, 
Alban Thomas, a native .of Wales, lo- 
cated in Plumstead township about 
1720, purchasing of Richard Hill 125 
acres of land west of Danboro, and in 
1749 adding fifty acres more, most of 
which remained in the family for four 
generations, Danboro itself being named 
for his son Daniel. Alban Thomas died 
June, 1776, his wife Jane surviving him 
a few years. Their children were Jo- 
seph, Daniel, and Isaac. Isaac, the third 
son, inherited the homestead, purchased 
other land adjoining, and lived there all 
his life, dying in 1825. He left several 
children, among them a son Alban, who 
was the grandfather of Dr. Thomas. 
Elias Thomas, son of Alban and grand- 
son of Isaac, was born at Danboro, 
Plumstead township, and on attaining 
manhood married Sarah Snyder, daugh- 
ter of Frederick Snyder, of German an- 
cestry, and settled on a farm in New 
Britain township, near the present vil- 
lage of Levin, where his son, Dr. Jo- 
seph Thomas was born. 

Dr. Joseph Thomas received a good 
English education, and at the age of 
seventeen began teaching school, which 
vocation he followed for eight years. In 
1854 he began the study of medicine, 
and, entering the medical department of 
the University of Pennsylvania, gradu- 
ated in 1856. He located at Applebachs- 



224 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ville, where he practiced his profession 
until the breaking out of the war in 
1861, when he organized a company of 
which he was commissioned captain, 
and it was assigned to the Pennsylvania 
Reserve Corps. In the autumn of 1862 
he was appointed surgeon of the ii8th 
Corn Exchange Regiment, Pennsylvania 
Volunteers, and subsequently became 
surgeon-in-chief of the field hospital and 
filled that position to the close of the 
war. 

At the return of peace he again lo- 
cated at Applebachsville and resumed 
his professional work. In 1866 he was 
appointed assistant assessor of internal 
revenue and remoyed to Quakertown, 
Bucks county, where he has ^ince re- 
sided. In 1870 he organized the Quak- 
ertown Savings Bank, was made its 
cashier, and filled that position until 
the bank closed out its successful career 
in 1877, by paying out .to its stockhold- 
ers four dollars for every one dollar in- 
vested. The Quakertown National Bank 
was then organized, and Dr. Thomas 
became its president, and has filled that 
position ever since. Like its predeces- 
sor, the Quakertown National Bank, 
with Dr. Thomas at its head, has been 
one of the most successful banks in 
Bucks county, and has always stood in 
the first rank of financial institutions. 
In 1904 the Quakertown Trust Company 
was organized, and the veteran finan- 
cier Dr. Thomas was one of its prom- 
inent promoters and sponsers, and is 
still intimately identified with the conduct 
and management of this institution. Jonas 
S. Harley is its president. 

Though he has not been in active 
practice of his profesion for manj^ years, 
he is still considered one of the able 
physicians of Upper Bucks, and is fre- 
quentlj^ called in as a consulting physi- 
cian. Politically Dr. Thomas is an ar- 
dent Republican, and has always taken 
an active interest in the success of the 
party in whose principles he believes. 
In 1878 he was elected to the state sen- 
ate by a handsome majority, though at 
that time the county was strongly Dem- 
ocratic. He has served as delegate to 
state and national conventions, and has 
filled a number of local positions. In 
the midst of an extraordinary busy life 
Dr. Thomas has found time to devote to 
science and literature, and is one of the 
best versed men in the county on orni- 
thologj' and natural history. In con- 
nection w'ith his former colleague. Dr. 
I. S. Moyer, of Quakertown, he prepared 
the catalogue of the flora, birds and 
mammals of Bucks county for General 
W. W. H. Davis's first edition of the 
History of Bucks County. He is past 
master of Quakertown Lodge, No. 512. 
F. and A. M., and is also a member of 
the chapter, commandery and other high 
branches of the Masonic fraternity, as 
well as a member of Quakertown Lodge, 



No. 714, I. O. O. F. He belongs to- 
Peter Lyle Post, G. A. R., No. 145, and 
to the Loyal Legion of the United 
States. L)r. Thomas married, April 3, 
i860, Sarah Ott, daughter of Samuel and 
Eliza (Fluck) Ott, and they are the 
parents of one son, Byron, who has been 
for many years teller of Quakertown 
National Bank. Dr. Thomas is one of 
the best known and most highly re- 
spected men in Bucks county. 



CHRISTIAN M. MYERS. Among 
the descendants of the early German 
settlers on the virgin land of Bedmin- 
ster, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, when 
it was still a wilderness and the haunt 
of the red men, is Christian M. Myers, 
still a resident of the township where 
his ancestors settled over a century and 
a half ago. 

Hans Meyer, the pioneer ancestor and 
great-great-grandfather of Christian M. 
Myers, emigrated from Germany or 
Switzerland, about the year, 1718, and in 
1729 purchased a plantation in Skippack 
township, Philadelphia (now Montgom- 
ery) county, in that part later incor- 
porated into Upper Salford township, 
still in the occupancy of his great-grand- 
son. Hans Meyer was a Mennonite and 
one of the pioneer settlers in that lo- 
cality. He was married before emi- 
grating to America, and brought with 
Iiim his eldest son Henry, then but a 
year old. Six other children were born 
to him in Pennsylvania, viz.: John, the 
great-grandfather of the subject of this 
sketch; Barbara, who married John 
Fretz, another pioneer in Bedminster; 
Jacob, who enlisted in the colonial war 
of 1756, and never returned; Elizabeth, 
who married Christian Stover; Anna, 
who married Jacob Beidler. and became 
the ancestress of ]\Irs. Christian M. 
Myers; and Hester, who married Nich- 
olas Lear. 

John Meyer, born about 1720, settled 
in Bedminster township soon after at- 
taining manhood, on land owned by 
William Allen, Esq., which he later pur- 
chased. In 1762 he purchased a farm of 
two hundred acres in Plumstead township 
where he resided the remainder of his 
life. He was a farmer and blacksmith 
by occupation, and a member of the 
Mennonite congregation at Deep Run. 
He married a widow Nash, whose maid- 
en name was Sensenich. and they were 
the parents of six children, Henr\-. 
Abraham, and Christian, all of whom 
learned their father's trade and followed 
it in connection with farming in Plum- 
stead: Hester and Marj% who lived to an 
advanced age, but never married; and 
Barbara, who married Charles Dyer. 

Christian flyers, son of John, and the 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch, 
was born on the old Plumstead home- 
stead, April 24. 1772, and later pur- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



22- 



chased it, and lived there all his life. 
He followed blacksmithiiig for many- 
years in the old smith-shop built by 
his father. He married Hanna Derstein, 
of Rockhill, where her ancestors were 
early settlers, born January 12, 1778, 
died August 27, 1848, and they were 
the parents of seven children, viz.: 
Amos, born 1800, died 1825, unmarried; 
John, died in infancy; Catharine, born 
February 14, 1803, married Abraham 
Wismer; Michael, born May 9, 1804, re- 
moved to Fairfield county, Ohio, where he 
died in 1889; Samuel, the father of the 
subject of this sketch; Abraham, born 
1807, died 1834, unmarried; Charles, who 
married Susan Myers and left several 
sons still residing in Bucks county; and 
Isaac, who died in 1845, leaving an only 
daughter, Hannah Wolfsberger, of 
Philadelphia. Christian Myers, the 
father, died November 15, 1850. 

Samuel Myers, son of Christian and 
Hanna (Derstein) Myers, was born on 
the old homestead in Plumstead, De- 
cember 27, 1805, and lived there all his 
life, dying February 4, 1879. He prob- 
ably learned the blacksmith trade w^th 
his father, but never followed it fur- 
ther than to do his own work in that 
line. He was a mechanical genius, do- 
ing his own shoe and harness making, 
and manufacturing most of the imple- 
ments of husbandry needed on the farm. 
Those were the days when the farmer 
was almost independent of the outside 
world except for the luxuries of life. 
Mr. Myers raised and prepared the flax 
and wool for the spinning wheel, and 
the clothes of the family were exclu- 
sively the product of the spinning of 
Mrs. Myers, and the weaving of the 
father. Samuel Myers married Decem- 
ber 24, 1835, Susanna Nash, born De- 
cember 30, 1810, daughter of Jacob and 
Elizabeth (Meyer) Nash, the latter be- 
ing also a descendant of Hans Meyer,, 
the emigrant, through his eldest son 
Henry, who married Barbara Miller, and 
their son Henry, born 1750, (died in 
Plumstead) who married Susan Smith. 
Elizabeth (Meyer) Nash, the daughter 
of the last named Henry, was born August 
16, 1786, and married Jacob Nash, of 
Tinicum, son of Joseph Nash, and grand- 
son of William Nash, another pioneer 
of Bedminster. Samuel and Susanna 
(Nash) Myers were the parents of eight 
children, viz.: Hannah, died in infancy; 
Tobias N., married Rosanna Kratz, and 
lived for a time in Plumstead, now a 
resident of Philadelphia: Jacob, married 
Maria Myers, and resides in Hilltown, 
Bucks county; Christian M., the sub- 
ject of this sketch; Amos, married Hilda 
Myers, and resides on the homestead in 
Plumstead, being the fourth generation 
in the township; Elizabeth, died at the 
age of nineteen years; Anna, widow of 
David Kratz; and Charles, deceased. 
Samuel Myers was a member of the old 
15-3 



Deep Run Mennonite congregation, and 
a man much respected in the commun- 
ity. He never held or sought office. 

Christian M. Myers, son of Samuel 
and Susanna (Nash) Myers, who born 
April 29, 1841, on the old homestead in 
Plumstead, and educated at the public 
schools. He inherited the mechanical 
genius of his father, and made the first 
hay rake and hay drag used on the home 
farm, as well as a number of other im- 
plements of husbandry, and, in the ear- 
lier years of the conduct of the mill 
where he now resides, he dressed his 
own mill picks and did the necessary 
milhvrighting about the mill. On his 
marriage in 1863 he took charge of the 
Stover mill, on Tohickon creek, in 
Bedminster township, near Pipersville, 
Pennsylvania, belonging to his father-in-law, 
Samuel Stover, and conducted it until 
1904, keeping in pace with the times in 
the installation of improved machinery, 
having in 1885, equipped the mill with 
the latest improved roller process for 
the manufacture of flour, and again in 
1903, installed the Gyrator system of 
bolting and other improvements. In 
1904 he retired and turned the business 
over to Norman L. Worman, who had 
been his foreman and head miller for 
many years, and who is now doing a 
flourishing business there. Mr. Myers is 
a strong advocate of higher education, 
and has given each of his sons a col- 
lege education. He and his wife are not 
members of any church, but are liberal 
supporters of church, Sabbath school 
and charitable w'ork. and to which and 
the temperance cause they have devoted 
much time and labor. Mr. Myers mar- 
ried, February 7, 1863, Eliza Beidler 
Stover, born February 22, 1844, daugh- 
ter of Samuel and Anna (Beidler) Stov- 
er, an account of whose ancestry fol- 
lows, and they are parents of three sons, 
viz.: I. Samuel Horace Myers, born May 
9, 1864, a graduate of Lafayette Col- 
lege, class of 1888, and of the law de- 
partment of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, July 17, 1892. He was admitr 
ted to the Philadelphia bar in 1892, and 
has since practiced there with success. 
He married, February 22, 1893, Elean- 
or Matilda Stover, daughter of Isaac 
S. and Ellen A. (Capner) Stover, and 
they are the parents of one daughter 
Roberta Eliza Myers, born October 9, 
1897. 2. Hugh Ely Myers, born August 
30, 1871. graduated at Lafayette Col- 
lege June 21, 1893, took a two years 
post-graduate course there in chemistry 
and is now employed as chemist with 
the United Engineering and Foundry 
Company, at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. 
3. Ira Stover Myers, born August 3, 
1876, educated at Germantown Academy 
and Lafayette College, graduated at 
College in class of 1898, is now in the 
office of his brother, Samuel Horace 
in Philadelphia. 



226 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Eliza B. (Stover) Myers, the wife 
of Christian M. Myers, is descended 
from pioneer settlers in Bucks and 
Montgomery counties, who have been 
prominently identified with the settle- 
ment and development of the native 
resources of the county. Henry Stauf- 
fer, (as the name Stover was then 
spelled) Mrs. Myers' paternal ancestor, 
was born and reared in Alsace or Man- 
heim, Rhenish Prussia, and married 
there in 1749, Barbara Hockman, and 
accompanied by Christian, Daniel and 
Ulrich Stauffer, probably his brothers 
and Ulrich Hockman, his wife's broth- 
er, sailed for Pennsylvania in the ship 
"St. Andrew," Captain James Abercrom- 
bie, from Rotterdam, arriving in Phila- 
delphia on September 9, 1749. He lo- 
cated in Bedminster township on the 
Allen tract, where he purchased 213 
acres of land June 12, 1762, having pre- 
viously resided for a time among his 
compatriots on the Skippack in Mont- 
gomery county. The Bedminster home- 
stead remained the property of his de- 
scendants for nearly a century, having 
been sold by Reuben Stover, a great- 
grandson, in i860 to Joseph Sine. The 
children of Henry and Barbara (Hock- 
man) Stauffer, were: i. Ulrich, born 
July 16, 1750, married Barbara Swartz, 
and died on the homestead November 2, 
1811. 2. Barbara, died young. 3. Henry, 
born July 10, I754, married Elizabeth 
Fretz, and settled near Bursonville, 
Springfield township. 4. Jacob, see for- 
ward. 5. Ralph, born June 10, 1760, died 
November 7, 181 1, married Catharine 
Funk; was a very prominent man, jus- 
tice of the peace, member of assembly 
and one of the first board of directors 
of the poor of Bucks county. 

Jacob Stover, third son of Henry and 
Barbara, born May 13, 1757, was reared 
in Bedminster township. During the 
war of the Revolution his father's team 
and wagon was pressed into the service 
of the continental army under General 
Sullivan, and Jacob, a lad of sixteen 
years, accompanied it in the Jersey 
campaign, and endured many hardships. 
He purchased the mill property now 
owned by the subject of this sketch, 
December 27, 1784, and resided there the 
remainder of his life, 'dying April 28, 
1844. He married (first) Elizabeth 
Swartz, and had -by her one daughter, 
Elizabeth, who married Philip Kratz. 
He married (second) Catharine Stauf- 
fer, daughter of Mathias and Anna 
(Clemens) Stauffer, who kept an inn in 
colonial times on their farm in Lower 
Salford, Montgomery county, where of- 
ficers of Washington's army were en- 
tertained and sheltered by them after 
the battle of Germantown. Mathias 
Staufifer was a son of Christian Staufifer, 
Jr., who died in Lower Salford in 1781, 
and a grandson of Christian Stauffer, 
a pioneer emigrant, who purchased 150 



acres at the present site of Harleysville, 
Montgomery county, and died there in 
1735, leaving a large family of children 
of whom Christian, Jr., was the eldest, 
and settled in Lower Salford in 1736. 
Jacob and Catharine Stover were the 
parents of eight children: Henry S., born 
October 17, 1786, died at Erwinna, Aug- 
ust 19, 1872, married Barbara Stout; 
Mathias, born April 28, 1789, died June 
4, 1S07; Anna, born 1791, married David 
Worman, a tanner, at Parkerford, Ches- 
ter county, Pennsylvania; Jacob, born 
July 12, 1794, died March 30, 1856, mar- 
ried Sarah Treichler; Abraham, died 
young; Catharine, born August ^2, 1799, 
married Henry Funk and removed to 
Northumberland county; Jonas, born 
February 27, 1802, died 1855, a miller 
at Church Hill, Bucks county; Samuel, 
see forward; and Isaac, born March 13, 
1806, died January 21, 1876, miller at 
Carversville, married Elizabeth Wismer. 
Samuel Stover, father of Mrs. Myers, 
was the seventh child of Jacob and Cath- 
arine, and was born on the homestead, 
near Pipersville, November 25, 1804, and 
died there February 18, 1888. In 1836 he 
purchased of his father the brick dwell- 
ing erected in 1832, the mill and fifty 
acres of land, and in the same year re- 
built the mill. He continued to oper- 
ate the mill during his active days, and 
lived there all his life. He was a suc- 
cessful business man, and upright and 
conscientious in all his dealings. He 
married in December, 1836, Anna Beid- 
ler, born near Plumsteadville, Septem- 
ber 12, 1808, died March 2, 1893, daugh- 
ter of Jacob Beidler, and great-grand- 
daughter of Jacob and Anna (Meyer) 
Beidler, the latter daughter of Hans 
Meyer, the paternal ancestor of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, C. M. Myers. Sam- 
uel and Anna (Beidler) Stover were the 
parents of two children: Susan, born 
June 19, 1839, died March 25, 1842; and 
Eliza Beidler Stover, born February 22, 
1844, the wife of Christian M. Myers. 
She was educated in the public schools 
of the township, both English and Ger- 
man, and at Excelsior Normal Institute 
at Carversville, in 1S61, Rev. Dr. F. 
R. S. Hunsicker, principal, where Hon. 
D. Newlin Fell was also a pupil. 



ISAAC PARRY. The name of Parry 
is closely interwoven with the history 
of eastern Pennsylvania, having been 
established in this part of the state when 
tlie country was still numbered among 
the colonial possessions of Great Brit- 
ain. The ancestors of Isaac Parry were 
in comfortable financial circtmistances, 
and at the time of the Revolutionary war 
the homestead farm was foraged by 
both armies. On one occasion some 
British scouts made their way to the 
farm and seeing some fat sheep caught 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



227 



and killed one, compelling Mrs. Parry- 
to cook it for them in the Dutch oven, 
but before their feast was prepared 
some American troops arrived on the 
scene and the British fled, so that the 
Continental troops enjoyed the meal in- 
stead. The ancestry of the family is 
traced back through several generations 
to Thomas Parry, Sr., who emigrated 
from Radmanshire, Wales, settling in 
America in colonial days. He became 
one of the pioneer residents of Mont- 
gomery county, and assisted materially 
in promoting its substantial develop- 
ment and moral improvement. He lived 
a straightforward, honorable life, leav- 
ing an example for his descendants that 
is well worthy of emulation. He was a 
coftsistent member of the religious So- 
ciety of Friends, and successive gener,a- 
tions of the family have always adhered 
to that faith, living lives of simplicity 
without vanity. They have been con- 
servative to a considerable degree, and 
yet they have won success and gained 
the respect of all with whom they have 
Tseen associated. The family has largely 
been represented in the great depart- 
ment of agriculture, and yet certain of 
its representatives have entered profes- 
sional and commercial life. Samuel 
Parry was a broadminded, intelligent 
business man, whose ability was often 
sought by people of the neighborhood 
who wished him to write wills, settle 
estates or act as guardian to minors. 
Thomas Parry, Sr., the progenitor of 
the family in America, obtained a large 
tract of land near Baronhill, Montgom- 
ery county, where he improved an ex- 
tensive farm, being one of the promi- 
nent and successful agriculturists of his 
day. Upon the home place he reared 
his family and continued to reside until 
his death. 

His son, Thomas Parry, Jr., was 
reared to manhood on the old home- 
stead, and after his marriage located in 
Warminster township, Bucks county, 
where by j)urchase he became the pos- 
sessor of large landed holdings. Set- 
tling thereon he improved the property, 
and a part of it is yet in possession of 
Tiis descendants. He continued to reside 
thereon until his death. 

Jacob Parry, son of Thomas Parry, 
Jr., was reared on the home farm in 
Warminster township, and at the time 
of his marriage took his bride to that 
farm and reared his family there. 

Isaac Parry, son of Jacob Parry, in- 
Tierited the old homestead and he, too, 
reared his family there. 

Isaac Parry, son of Isaac Parry, in 
turn inherited the old homestead, reared 
his family thereon, and died on the 
farm. Isaac Parry was born in June, 
1774, and passed away in October, 1857. 
He first married Sarah Hopkins, and 
they became the parents of three chil- 
•dren: Rebecca, Jacob, and Richard H. 



After the death of his first wife Isaac 
Parry wedded Mary Nixon, a daughter 
of Samuel and Susan (Roberts) Nixon, 
also of a prominent early family of 
Bucks county. By the second marriage 
there were six children: Tacey, who 
died unmarried; Thomas, Samuel, Isaac 
C, Susanna, and Mary, who was the 
wife of Joseph Saunders, of Philadel- 
phia. 

Thomas Parry, second child of Isaac 
and Mary (Nixon) Parry, was born at 
the Parry homestead in Warminster 
township, was reared upon the farm 
there and at the time of his marriage 
took his bride to the old home place. He 
wedded Lydia Conard, a native of Hors- 
ham township, Montgomery county, and 
a daughter of Josephine and Hannah 
(Nixon) Conard. In his younger days 
her father was engaged in the lumber 
business at Philadelphia, but afterward 
removed to Horsham township, Mont- 
gomery county, where he purchased 
land and carried on farming. He also 
built a mill known in after years as. 
Walker's mills. This is still in use, 
being operated by Eugene Blair. 
Jonathan Conard spent the remainder 
of his life at that place and died upon 
his farm near the mill. He was a mem- 
ber of the religious Society of Friends, 
and was highly respected. His children 
were: John; Charles, a carpenter and 
builder of Philadelphia; Susanna, the 
wife of W. Folk; Deborah, the wife of 
N. Cleaver; Mary, the wife of B. Brown, 
of Byberry; Ann, the wife of B. Mor- 
gan; Lydia, who became Mrs. Thomas 
Parry; and Rebecca J., who died un- 
married. All were members of the re- 
ligious Society of Friends. Following 
his marriage Thomas Parry lived on a 
farm which he purchased from Jonathan 
Conard, now the property of Isaac Parry. 
He remodeled this farm, made substantial 
improvements, and continued to carry 
on agricultural pursuits there through- 
out his remaining days, passing away in 
18.1^7 at the age of forty-five years. He 
followed general farming and also at- 
tended the city market, and was practical 
and successful in all his business deal- 
ings. He was a devoted member of the 
Friends Societ>^ ever • active in church 
work and was a generous contributor 
toward the erection of the Warminster 
Meeting, which was built on one cor- 
ner of his farm and is yet standing as a 
monument to the religious enterprise 
of its promoters. Politically he was an 
Abolitiqnist in early life. He at all 
times commanded the respect and confi- 
dence of those with whom he was asso- 
ciated because of his upright life and 
honorable purpose. To him and his 
wife were born eight children: Ed- 
ward H., who served in the First New 
jersev Cavalry during the war of the 
rebellion, joining the army with the 
rank of corporal and returning with 



228 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



the rank of lieutenant, is now proprietor 
of a hat store in Philadelphia. Rebec- 
ca C, who became the wife of J. Tyson, 
of Abingdon, but both are now deceased; 
Isaac is the third of the family; Oliver, 
is a farmer of Warminster township ; 
William is a practicing physician of 
Haynesport, New Jersey; Charles C. 
is a farmer of Wrightstown township; 
Thomas E. is living in California; Jo- 
seph S. is an attorney-at-law of Ho- 
boken, New Jersey. 

Isaac Parry was born upon the home 
farm, June 30, 1844, and under his fa- 
ther's instructions learned the various meth- 
ods of tilling the soil and caring for the 
crops. In 1869 he was married, after 
which he rented the homestead and con- 
tinued its cultivation for two years. In 
1872 he purchased the Hart homestead, 
including the town site of Ivyland. He 
removed to this farm, remaining there- 
on for five years, and then sold forty 
acres of the land to Edwin Lacey, who 
desired to build the town of Ivyland 
there. Later he sold the remainder of 
the farm to Comly Walker, and in 1877 
removed from the place. In 1878 he 
took up his abode upon the old Parry 
homestead, and in 1886 purchased the 
interest of the other heirs in the prop- 
erty, making his home thereon continu- 
ously. In 1877 he bought the interest 
of L. W. Damenhower in a coal and feed 
business at Bradyville, and continued in 
the business twenty-eight years. He se- 
cured an extensive patronage through- 
out the surroutiding country, and gave 
his personal attention to his mercantile 
interests, while his farm is operated un- 
der his personal supervision. He is both 
a practical and successful agriculturist 
and business man. In his political 
views Mr. Parry has always been a 
stanch Republican, and his filled some 
township offices, including those of audi- 
tor and supervisor, j^et he has always 
preferred to give his undivided attention 
to his business affairs. In addition to 
his agricultural and commercial inter- 
ests, he is a stockholder in the National 
Bank and in other corporations. He has 
a wide and favorable acquaintance, is 
known for his reliability and enterprise, 
and stands to-day as one of the repre- 
sentative men of his community. Mr. 
Parry was married March 11, 1869, to 
Miss Elizabeth Logan, who was born at 
Jenkintown. Pennsjdvania, and is a 
daughter of George and Jane (Shoe- 
maker) Logan, belonging to one of the 
old and honored families of eastern 
Pennsylvania. The children of the Lo- 
gan family were Elizabeth; Theodore, 
now deceased; and Albanus. To Mr, 
and Mrs. Parry have been born three 
children: Samuel D., who is principal of 
the Olney public school in Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania; George, a practicing dent- 
ist of Jenkintown; and Charles K., who 
is engaged in the lumber business of 



Philadelphia as a member of the Right- 
er, Parry Lumber Company. The chil- 
dren have been provided with good 
educational privileges, thus fitting them 
for the responsible and practical duties 
of life. 



JOHN BURTON, of Tullytown, deal- 
er in coal and general merchandise, was 
born in Tullytown, Pennsylvania, Aug- 
ust 12, 1864, and is a son of Elwood 
and Anna H. (Bailey) Burton, of Tully- 
town,. and a representative of a family 
that have been prominent in the settle- 
ment and development of Bucks county 
for six generations. 

Anthony Burton, the emigrant ances- 
tor of the family, was a native of Eng- 
land, and was among the earliest settlers 
in Bristol township, where he owned 
land as early as 1684. His name ap- 
pears among those who registered the 
"ear marks" for their cattle in the old 
book kept for that purpose by Phinehas 
Pemberton in 1684. On March 16, 1695, 
he and Thomas Burk purchased the 
tract of land on which the town of Bris- 
tol was subsequently built, and laid it 
out in streets and building lots, and laid 
the foundation of the present metropolis 
of Bucks. It was incorporated by the 
provincial council of Pennsylvania at a 
meeting of that body held at the house 
of Phinehas Pemberton in Falls town- 
ship. Bucks county, on the petition of 
"severall in that countie for a Market 
Town, viz: att the Ferry agt. Burling- 
ton, within the said township of Buck- 
ingham, and that the sd persons have 
projected the same Into ways & streets, 
Haveing regard to the divisions of div- 
ers men's Land by the sd streets in the 
sd Town as how laid down," whereupon, 
"It was resolved by the Gouvernor & 
Council, that a town be there erected and 
the ways & streets to be according to 
ye model ye agreed upon." The town 
being erected, grew to such importance 
that Mr. Burton and other lot holders 
on October 17, 1718, petitioned* the coun- 
cil to erect it into a borough, which 
was done, and its charter as engrossed 
was agreed to by the board of provin- 
cial councillors at a meeting held July 
19, 1720. The name of Buckingham, 
first selected for the new town, was soon 
dropped, and it retained the name of 
Bristol. 

Anthonj^ Burton was a man of liberal 
education and wielded a wide influence 
in the communitj'. He was commissioned 
a justice of the peace on May 13, 1715, 
and was regularly re-commissioned until 
'^72)?f and probably held the position un- 
til his death in 1739, the records for 
the intervening period merely stating 
"Justices now acting, re-commissioned." 
He was a member of the established 
church, and donated the land upon 
which St. James Episcopal church of 




^^^ ci^rzrcrz^C:^ /^C//^^/^ 



irTX^ 



PUiliC - 






HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



229 



Bristol was erected, and contributed 
liberally to its erection in 1712. From 
the records of this old church it ap- 
pears that his lineal descendants are en- 
titled to occupy two pews therein for- 
â– ever. Anthony Burton married, Decem- 
ber 18, 1687, Sarah Gibbs, a widow. She 
died June 28, 1718, without issue. On 
July 28, 1720, he married Susan Keene, 
by whom he had two children; Martha, 
who died unmarried; and Anthony, Jr., 
born July 17, 1721. Anthony Burton, 
Sr., died in 1739, and is buried in St. 
James churchyard at Bristol. 

Anthony Burton, Jr., son of Anthony 
and Susan (Keene) Burton, was a far- 
mer and a large landowner in Bristol 
township, residing on the road from 
Bristol to the "Falls of the Delaware." 
He married, February 12, 1752, Mary 
' Hough, daughter of Richard Hough^, of 
Falls, and, she being a member of the 
Society of Friends, he also became af- 
filiated with that society, as have been 
"his descendants to this day. He died 
February, 1798. Anthony and Mary 
(Hough) Burton were the parents of 
eight children, four of whom died in 
infancy; those who survived were: John, 
born September 17, 1753; Martha, born 
July 25, 1756, married John Minster; 
Anthony, born August 9. 1758; and 
Jonathan born August 21, 1765. 

John Burton, eldest son of Anthony 
and Mary (Hough), born September 
17, 1753. was the great-grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch. He was a 
farmer and resided for many years on 
the old homestead in Bristol township, 
but removed late in life to Falls town- 
ship, where he died September 3. 1835. 
He was twice married, first in Febru- 
ary, 1778, to Rachel Wilson, nee Sotch- 
er, widow of Henry Wilson and daugh- 
ter o" Robert and ]\Iercy (Brown) Sotch- 
er. She died in 1781, leaving two sons, 
Joseph and John. On October 9, 1789, 
be inarried Hannah Watson, by whom 
be had five children: Benjamin, Mary, 
Rachel, Anthony, and Charles. 

Anthony, the second son of Anthony 
and Mary (Hough) Burton, born Aug- 
ust 9, 1758, married Jane, daughter of 
John and Deborah (Watson) Gregg, 
April 27, 1781, and had children: John 
G., Amos, Deborah, and William. The 
latter became a successful merchant in 
Philadelphia and afterwards a physician. 
He was a remarkably brilliant man. His 
wife was Susan Hallowell, of Philadel- 
phia, belonging to an old Bucks county 
family, who died in Penns Manor, Bucks 
â– county. Jonathan, the other son of An- 
thony and Mary, married Letitia Will- 
iamson, March 11, 1790. and died in 
1840. His children were William, Sarah. 
Peter, Ann L., and Elizabeth. His 
grandson, Jonathan Burton, was a large 
manufacturer of iron, and died in Ohio. 
Joseph Burton, son of John and Rachel 
<Wilson) Burton, was a large landhold- 



er in Bristol and Falls township, and 
a justice of the peace for over thirty 
years. He married Sarah Watson, and 
died in 1858. Many descendants of the 
three sons of Anthony and Mary 
(Hough) Burton still reside in Bucks 
county, where they have intermarried 
with other families that have been 
prominent in the development of the 
county. 

Anthony Burton, grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch, born in 1796, was 
a son of John and Hannah (Watson) 
Burton. In his 3'ounger days he was a 
school teacher, but later became a farm- 
er, and he was also identified with va- 
rious business enterprises, operating for 
several years an extensive shad fishery 
on the Delaware. He was for twenty- 
four years the president of the Farmers' 
National Bank of Bucks county, at Bris- 
tol, and was also president of the Upper 
Delaware River Steamboat Company, 
and filled many other positions of trust. 
He was a prominent member of the So- 
ciety of Friends, and a man much es- 
teemed In the communit^^ He died near 
Tullytown in 1874, at the age of seventy 
eight years, lamented by all who knew 
him. He was twice married, his first 
wife and the mother of his children 
being Mary Headley, and his second 
wife was Anna Paxson. His children 
were Caroline, Hannah, John, Anna, 
and Elwood. John, born August 3, 1829, 
was a soldier in the war of the rebel- 
lion, serving in the Anderson Cavalry, 
and participating in eighteen engage- 
ments. He was a prominent business 
man in Falls township, holding many 
positions of trust and honor, being a 
director of the Farmers' National Bank 
of Bucks county, president of the Bris- 
tol Improvement Company, and direc- 
tor of the Delaware River Steamboat 
Transportation Company, and of the 
Cape May and Delaware Bay Naviga- 
tion Company. He was also president 
of the William Penn Mutual Loan and 
Building Association. He married, Feb- 
ruary 7, 1867, Elizabeth Headley, daugh- 
ter of William and Eliza, and had chil- 
dren, Franklin, Elwood, Horace H. and 
A. Russell. Caroline Burton, daughter 
of Anthony and Mary Headley Burton, 
married Pierson Mitchell, of Middle- 
town. Hannah never rnarried, and Anna 
married John W. Paxson, of Philadel- 
phia. 

Elwood Burton, father of the subject 
of this sketch, was the youngest son of 
Anthony and Mary (Headley) Burton, 
and was born on the old homestead farm 
near Tullytown, February 28, 1836. He 
obtained his elementary education in 
the public schools of Falls township, 
and finished at the academy at Lang- 
horne. On leaving school he entered 
the store of his brother-in-law, John 
W. Paxson, at Tullytown, as a clerk, 
and filled that position until arriving at 



230 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



his majority, when with his brother 
John he purchased the plant of Mr. Pax- 
son. Two years later he purchased his 
brother's interest, and successfully con- 
ducted the business until his death in 
1896. Jie was a man of much more 
than ordinary business ability, and h 
many positions of honor and trust. He 
was a director of the Farmers' National 
Bank of Bucks county from 1874 until 
his death, also a director of the Bristol 
Rolling Mill Company, the Bristol Im- 
provement Company and the Standard 
Fire Insurance Company of Trenton, 
New Jersey, and was frequently called 
upon to act as executor, administrator, 
agent and guardian in the settlement 
of estates. He was a consistent member 
of the Society of Friends, and was high- 
ly respected and esteemed in the com- 
munity. He married, September 8, 1859, 
Anna H. Bailey, daughter of John W. 
and Phoebe (Brown) Bailey, of Falls 
township, and a descendant of two old 
and prominent families of Bucks county, 
and they were the parents of five chil- 
dren; Ida C, wife of A. Brock Shoe- 
maker, a prominent merchant of Tully- 
town; John, the subject of this sketch; 
Pierson, who died in infancy; Rayinond 
A. ; and Lilian C, wife of Allen Cor- 
son, of Philadelphia. Anna (Bailey) Bur- 
ton resides in Philadelphia. The ma- 
ternal ancestors of the subject of this 
sketch were also among the most promi- 
nent people of Bucks county. Richard 
Hough, the father of Mary, the wife of 
Anthony Burton (2) was the son of 
Richard and Margery (Clowes) Hough, 
of Makefield, the former of whom came 
from Macclesfield, in the county of 
Chester, England, arriving in the Dela- 
ware river in the "Endeavor," 7 mo. 29, 
1683, and settled in Makefield township. 
He was a member of provincial council, 
and was drowned in the Delaware in 
1706, while on his way to attend a meet- 
ing of the council. His wife, Margery 
Clowes, was a daughter of John and 
Margery Clowes, who also came in the 
"Endeavor" and settled in Makefield. 
Rachel Sotcher, who became the wife 
of John Burton (l) was the daughter 
of Robert and Mercy (Brown) Sotcher, and 
granddaughter of John and Mary (Lofty) 
Sotcher, the latter of whom were William 
Penn's trusted stewards at Pennsbury, 
and John. Sotcher • was for many years 
a member of colonial assembly. George 
and Mercy Brown, the parents of IMercy, 
the wife of Robert Sotcher, was the 
j^oungest child of George and Mercy 
Brown, who came from Leicestershire, 
England, together in 1679, and were 
married at New Castle on their arrival, 
and later settled in Falls township, 
where they reared a family of eight 
sons and three daughters. General Ja- 
cob Brown was a great-great-grandson 
of George and Mercy Brown. Phoebe 
(Brown) Bailey, the maternal grand- 



mother of the subject of this sketch, 
was of the same lineage. The Headleys 
and Baileys were also among the earliest 
settlers in Lower Bucks, where they 
have left numerous descendants. 

John Burton was educated at the 
Friends' Central School in Philadelphia,, 
and later took a course in Trenton Busi- 
ness College, after which he assisted 
his father in the conduct of the general 
merchandise and coal business at TuUy- 
town, and succeeded his father in 1893. 
He is a director of the Farmers' Na- 
tional Bank of Bucks county at Bris- 
tol, and a director of the Bristol Im- 
provement Company, treasurer of the 
William Penn Mutual Loan and Build- 
ing Association, of Tullytown, and a 
director of the Standard Fire Insurance 
Company, of Trenton, New Jersey. In 
politics he is a Republican. He mar- t;. 
ried, September I. 1893, Sarah G. East- 
burn, daughter of Thomas C. and Abi 
(Crozer) Eastburn, who was born in 
Bucks county, Penn's Manor, in 1866, 
and is a descendant of Robert and Sarah 
(Preston) Eastburn, who came from 
Yorkshire in 1714, their son Samuel set- 
tling later in Solebury, from whence 
Samuel Eastburn, a grandson of the 
above named Samuel, removed to Penn's 
Manor in 1803. The Eastburns were 
members of the Society of Friends. 
John and Sarah G. (Eastburn) Burton 
have one son, Pierson Mitchell Burton. 



JACOB H. SWARTZ. The name 
which introduces this record is that of 
an honored veteran of the civil war, 
and one of the enterprising agriculturists 
of Plumstead township, and was also 
borne by his paternal grandfather, who 
lived and died in Bucks county, where 
he followed farming for many years. 
The family, although its earlier history 
has not been preserved, was undoubt- 
edly one of the first established in Bucks 
county. Jacob Swartz, the grandfather, 
who served in the war of 1812, purchased 
of Nicholas Swartz in 1812 the farm 
upon which his grandson and namesake 
now resides, and the property has since 
been continuously in the family. Jacob 
Swartz was united in marriage to Miss 
Ann Black, and they became the parents 
of six children: Sarah Ann, Thomas B., 
Catherine, wife of Lewis HoYn; Henry, 
Cyrus, and Sophia, who married. Abra- 
ham Garis, and after his death Josiah 
Tomblin. 

Thomas B. Swartz, the eldest son of 
Jacob and Ann (Black) Swartz, was 
born April 16, 1813, upon the farm now 
owned and occupied by his son Jacob, 
and his boyhood da3'S were quietly 
passed in the usual manner of farmer 
lads of that period. He learned the 
blacksmith's trade in his youth and fol- 
lowed it for a number of years, but about 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



231 



1840 resumed agricultural pursuits, pur- 
chasing the old homestead farm from 
his father. He then gave his entire at- 
tention to farming until his retirement 
from active business life, about two 
years prior to his demise, which occur- 
red April 22, 1895. In all Ijusiness trans- 
actions he was thoroughly reliable and 
he won the respect and confidence of his 
fellow men. In politics he was a Re- 
publican, and held the office of school 
director at one time. He married Miss 
Emily Ann Beans, born October 29, 
1814, died May 15, 1899, and they be- 
came the parents of four children: i. 
Levi B., born 10 mo. 26, 1837, married, 
I mo. 10, i860, Elizabeth Nash, and their 
children were: Mary Alice, born 4 mo. 
6, 1863; Abraham Thomas, born 10 mo. 
19, 1865; and Emily Ann, born 9 mo. 2, 

* 1867. 2. Jacob H., born 9 mo. 23, 1842, 
married, 12 mo. 5,. 1867, Caroline P. 
Meginnis, mentioned at length herein- 
after. 3. Anna Mary, born 8 mo. 29, 
1847, married, 10 mo. 30, 1871, Cephas 
W. Michener, and their children are: 
Evan W., born 10 mo. 8, 1872; Frank 
P., born II mo. 18, 1875' Hiram AL, 
born I mo. 28, 1878; and Thomas Swartz 
Michener, born 6 mo. 8, 18S0. 4. Laura 
P., born II mo. 11, 1855, married, 6 mo. 
6, 1881, Stacy B. Emmons, and they are 
the parents of one child: Stella Alice 
Emmans, born i mo. 6, 1885. 

Jacob H. Swartz, the second son of 
Thomas and Emily Ann Swartz, first 
opened his eyes to the light of day on 
the old family homestead September 2, 
1842. At the usual age he enterd the 
public schools and acquired therein a 
good knowledge of the fundamental 
branches of English learning. He re- 
mained at home with his father on the 
farm until 1862, when his patriotic spirit 
being aroused by the continued attempt 
of the south to overthrow the Union he 
enlisted as a member of Company D, 
Forty-fifth Pennsylvania Infantry, from 
which command he was honorably dis- 
charged on August 29, 1863. Following 
his return from the war he again be- 
gan work for his father, with whom he 
remained until 1868. He then purchased 
the home farm, on which he remained 
for three years, when he sold it back to 
his father. He then removed to Lum- 
berville, where he engaged in the coal ana 
feed trade for a year and also conducted 
a general mercantile store. After a 
• year he purchased the Hellyer farm in 
Plumstead township, where he remained 
until 1897. His son then took charge 
of the farm, and for two years Jacob H. 
Swartz carried on agricultural pursuits 
and also engaged in the commission 
business. In 1899 he purchased the in- 
terest of the other heirs in the old 
homestead property, where he now re- 
sides, giving his undivided attention to 

. agricultural pursuits. He follows pro- 
gressive methods of farming, utilizing 



the latest improved machinery and the 
scientific methods of rotating crops in 
order to secure good harvests, and his 
fields now annually return to him a 
bountiful product. Mr. Swartz votes 
with the Republican party, and while 
he has never sought nor desired public 
office he has held the position of school 
director for two terms. Fraternally he 
is connected with the Knights of Py- 
thias Lodge, No. 221, at Carversville, 
Pennsylvania. Mr. Swartz has been 
married twice. He first married, 12 mo. 
5, 1867, Caroline P. Meginnis, and to 
them were born three children: Flora 
May, 5 mo. 7, 1869, wife of Thomas S. 
Michener; Henry, 4 mo. 26, 1874, a- resi- 
dent farmer of Plumstead township; 
and Emily Ann, 4 mo. 4, 1880, wife of 
Harry Vassey. For his second wife Mr. 
Swartz chose Mrs. Emma Meginnis, nee 
Stout. 



SAMUEL SNYDER HILLPOT. 
Samuel Snyder Hillpot, a prosperous 
farmer and old resident of Bucks coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, was there born in Tin- 
icum township, November 20, 1802, the 
son of Barnard and Barbara (Snyder) 
Hillpot, and grandson of Barnett Hill- 
pot. Samuel received what education the 
subscription schools of that period af- 
forded, leaving school at the age of 
twelve years. He then turned his at- 
tention to farming and has since fol- 
lowed that occupation with considerable 
success. He was born and reared in 
Tinicum township. He was a Democrat 
in politics, and although he took a live- 
ly interest in the affairs of that organi- 
zation, and always advocated its princi- 
ples with great enthusiasm, he never 
aspired to public office. He was a regu- 
lar attendant of the Lutheran church in 
Lower Tinicum. 

March 9, 1830, Mr. Hillpot was united 
in marriage to Christena, daughter of 
George and Catherine (Hager) Shive, 
weavers of cloth and blankets, of Nock- 
amixon township. The following named 
children, eight in number, were born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Hillpot: William Barnett, 
July 2, 1831, died October 10, 1879; 2. 
Elizabeth Shive, born May 26. 1833, died 
May 19, 1855; 3. Thomas Shive. born 
June 4, 1835, married Amanda, daugh- 
ter of Thomas and Lydia (Landis) Lan- 
dis: 4. Jonas George, born July 16, 1837, 
died October 15, 1865; 5- Mary Ann 
Shive, born June 6, 1840, married, June 
6, 1865, William Keep, of Allentown, 
who died in February, 1884, and had the 
following children: i. Anna, born Feb- 
ruary. 25. 1866, died March 12, 1889; 
2. Samuel George, born October 9, 1874, 
resided at Salt Lake City, Utah, where 
he was instructor in bookkeeping in 
Brown's School of Correspondence. He 
died in Salt Lake City in February, 
1905. 6. The sixth child born to Mr, 



232 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



and Mrs. Snmnel Hillpot was Leah 
Shive, born April ii, 1844, married John 
King, a wheelwright of Plumstead town- 
ship; 7. Fannie B., born December i, 
1846, married May 12, 1870, to Lewis, 
son of John and Mary Fluck, farmers 
of Richland township. He was a Demo- 
crat in politics and was postmaster of 
Richland Center during Grover Cleve- 
land's second administration. He died 
February 20, 1888. and Mrs. Fluck mar- 
ried, August 28, 1890, William H. Min- 
inger, son of Joseph and Mary Mininger, 
a carpenter and builder at Zion Hill, 
Bucks county, Penrisylvania, and lives 
in Quakertown. By her first husband 
Mrs. Mininger had two children: John 
Samuel, born April 16, 1878, married 
Addie Moyer. He is engaged as car 
tracer for the Reading railroad, and 
lives at Lansdale, Pennsylvania; Arthur 
Fluck, born March 28. 1881, lives at 
home, unmarried, and is assistant 
freight agent to the North Pennsylvania 
Railroad of Quakertown. The eighth 
child born to Mr. and Mrs. Hillpot was 
Clarissa, born October 6, 1849, died No- 
vember 17, 1857. 



THOMAS STINTSMAN. The good 
business men and useful citizens of the 
county have a worthy representative 
in Thomas Stintsman, of New Hope. 
Mr. Stintsman is a grandson of Samuel 
Stintsman, who emigrated from Ger- 
many and settled in Bucks county, 
where his son, also named Samuel, spent 
his life on the homestead, dying at the 
advanced age of ninety-two. The Stints- 
man homestead is situated near Point 
Pleasant, in Plumstead township. 

Silas Stintsman, son of Samuel, sec- 
ond bearer of the name, mentioned 
above, was born in Plumstead town- 
ship, and on reaching manhood en- 
gaged in boating on the canal, owning 
and controlling two canal boats. He mar- 
ried Elizabeth Solomon, and they were 
the parents of a son and two daugh- 
ters: Annie A., who is the widow of 
Edward McNutt, of Philadelphia; 
Thomas, mentioned at length hereinaf- 
ter; and Laura J., deceased. While 
boating on the Hackensack, Mr. Stints- 
man was accidentally killed by the cars 
in consequence of delay in opening a 
bridge through which his boat was to 
pass. 

Thomas Stintsman, son of Silas and 
Elizabeth (Solomon) Stintsman, was 
born October 20, 1854, in Plumstead 
township, and was about ten years old 
at the time of his father's death. After 
that event he went on the canal with 
an uncle and until his seventeenth 
year was employed in boating on the 
Lehigh, Delaware, Raritan and Morris 
canals. He then went to New Hope to 
learn the boat-building business under 



his uncle, A. J. Solomon. In four years 
he finished his apprenticeship and then 
worked two years as a journeyman. His 
uncle being elected county commission- 
er, Mr. Stintsman took charge of the 
yards and during two years built many 
boats on his own account. The times, 
however, being unfavorable to the busi- 
ness, he accepted a position with C. S. 
Atkinson in 'his agricultural implement 
shops, where he remained fifteen or 
eighteen years, holding during the lat- 
ter four or five years the position of 
superintendent of the shops. After re- 
signing this position he was engaged 
for a short time in contracting and house 
building. July 3, 1896, he was appointed 
postmaster of New Hope, taking his 
place August i, following, and served 
a full four years' term under President 
Cleveland's administration. On the ex- 
piration of his term he engaged in the 
hardware business in partnership with 
John W. Kooker, and the firm conduct- 
ed a flourishing trade. In May, 1903, 
Mr. Stintsman sold his interest in that 
firm and established a general notion 
store. Mr. Stintsman has served six 
years as a member of the borough coun- 
cil, the same length of time as treasurer 
of the borough, for eighteen months 
held the office of deputy coroner, and 
for three years was a member of the 
school board. He belongs to Delaware 
Castle, No. 196, Knights of the Golden 
Eagle,' and since 1888 has been secre- 
tary to the order. He is also a mernber 
of the Order of Heptasophs. In politics 
he is a Democrat. Mr. Stintsman mar- 
ried in 1880 Laura, daughter of Moses 
L. Fryling, of New Hope, and of the 
eleven children born to them nine are 
now living: Catherine, who is engaged in 
her father's store at New Hope; Eliza- 
beth; Moses, who has the newspaper 
route in the borough; Harold; Samuel; 
Frank; Charlotte; Howard; and Harry. 
All these children are at home with 
their parents. 



FRANKLIN BUCKMAN. Prominent 
among the old residents of Bucks coun- 
ty is Franklin Buckman, of Upper Make- 
field township. Mr. Buckman is a son 
of Zenas Buckman, who was a farmer 
in Newtown, and married Mary Worth- 
ington. Of their nine children four sur- 
vive: Spencer, who lives in Trenton; 
Amos, who is a resident of Newtown; 
George, who lives in Wrightstown 
township; and Franklin, mentioned at 
length hereinafter. ]\Ir. Buckman, the 
father, died on his farm at Newtown at 
the comparatively early age of forty- 
five years. 

Franklin Buckman. son of Zenas and 
Mary (Worthington) Buckman, was 
born October Q, 1823. and when a child 
was taken by his aimt, .Margaret Worth- 
ington, who lived in Warwick township, 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



233 



where he remained until reaching his 
eighteenth year. He then began to work 
for farmers, and after three j^ears be- 
came a tenant farmer. In 1857 he pur- 
chased the farm which has since been 
his home. He also owns two other farms 
in Upper Makefield township, where he 
is one of the leading citizens. He affili- 
ates with Newtown Lodge, No. 225, F. 
and A. M., and is a Republican in poli- 
tics. He is a member of the Society of 
Frifends. Mr. Buckman married in 
184s Martha, daughter of Joseph Hamp- 
ton, of Buckingham township, and the 
"following children have been born to 
them: Edward H., who resides in 
Wrightstown township; Joseph, de- 
ceased; Walter, who lives in Upper 
Makefield; E. Smith, who is also a resi- 
dent of Upper Makefield; Anna, who is 
the wife of Lemuel Hendrycks; Mary, 
who married Wilbert Trego, of Upper 
Makefield; Frank, who lives in Kansas; 
Sallie, who is the wife of John F. Adams, 
of New York state; Benjamin, deceased; 
Richard J., and Henry H. Buckman. 



EDWARD HAMPTON BUCKMAN, 
one of the best known citizens of New- 
town township, was born December 25, 
1845, and was educated in the common 
schools. When about twenty years old 
he began to work by the year as a 
farm hand, and at the end of two years 
"hired the "Gus Taylor farm," near Tay- 
lorsville. Seven years later he purchased 
his present farm of eighty-one acres, in 
Newtown township, where he has since 
resided. He is a good citizen and votes 
with the Republicans. Mr. Buckman 
married, June 6, 1867, Sarah H.. daughter 
of Joshua Heston, of Upper Makefield 
township, and they are the parents of 
one son. Jesse, who is a blacksmith at 
Wood Hill, Upper Makefield. 



ELIHU SMITH BUCKMAN. One 
of the progressive men of Upper Make- 
field township is Elihu Smith Buckman, 
son of Franklin and Martha Hampton 
Buckman. He was born February 4, 
1852, on the homestead in Upper Make- 
field township, and received his educa- 
tion in the common schools. For twenty- 
three years he was a tenant farmer on 
different estates, and in 1898 bought the 
""Moses Van Horn farm" in Upper Make- 
field township. The property consists 
of ninety-five acres, and it is there that 
Mr. Buckman has resided since its pur- 
chase. For eight years he was a mem- 
ber of the school board, and has also 
served at different times as inspector 
of the electoral board. He is a mem- 
her of Newtown Lodge, No. 427. F. and 
•A. M., and endorses the principles of 
the Republican party. Mr. Buckman 



married in October, 1875, Maggie, 
daughter of Joseph and Mary Ann 
(Young) Phillips, and they have four 
children: Harry, who is a farmer in Up- 
per Mekefield; Mary, who is the wife of 
Albert File, of Stoops Corner; Ray- 
mond; and Ethel. The two last named 
reside at home. 



WALTER BUCK^IAN. A type of the 
active, enterprising citizen is found in 
Walter Buckman, of Upper Makefield 
township. He is a son of Franklin and 
Martha (Hampton) Buckman, and was 
born June 4, 1857. at Dolington, Bucks 
county, and obtained his education in 
the common schools. He worked on 
the home farm until the spring of 1880, 
when he moved to Taylorsville and 
there engaged in the coal, lime, and 
lumber business, which he conducted un- 
til 1894. I'l that year he disposed of the 
business and turned his attention to 
farming, to which he has since devoted 
himself. For several years he served 
as school tax collector and for eight 
3'ears was supervisor of the township. 
He is an adherent of the Republican 
party and a member of the Society of 
Friends. Mr. Buckman married in 1878, 
Ida. daughter of Joseph Phillips, of 
Trenton, New Jersey, and they are the 
parents of the following children: 
Charles, who lives in Upper Makefield 
township; Ambrose, who is also a resi- 
dent of that township; Eva. Lela. Wat- 
son, Willard. Lulu, Edward, and Laura. 
Of these, all but the two eldest are at 
home with their parents. 



LEVI S. MOYER. The pioneer ances- 
tor of the branch of the Moyer family 
to which belongs Levi S. Moyer, a pros- 
perous agriculturist of Chalfont, was 
the Rev. Peter Moyar, a native of 
Switzerland, who came to American in 
1742, accompanied by his widowed moth- 
er, sister, and three brothers, William, 
Jacob and Henry. Peter. William and 
Henry settled in Springfield township, 
Bucks county, and Jacob at Center Val- 
ley, Lehigh county. They all became 
farmers, and were active members of the 
Mennonite church. The supposition is 
that Peter was a minister in Switzer- 
land, and he was one of the early min- 
isters of the church in Springfield town- 
ship; Jacob was also a minister and 
preached in Saucon township. The year 
prior to their emigration to America 
they were the guests of friends who re- 
sided in the vicinity of Kerlock, Ger- 
many, whither they removed from their 
native land, Switzerland, during the per- 
secution of the Mennonites by the Cal- 
vinists, or State Reformed church. 

Rev. Peter Moyer (aforementioned) 
was born in Switzerland in 1723. He pur- 



234 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



chased a farm of one hundred and seven 
acres in Springlield township, formerly 
the property of Joseph Green, which he 
cultivated to a high state of perfection, 
and whereon he resided. By his mar- 
riage to , which occurred 

May 28, 1752, the following named chil- 
dren were born; John, Jacob, William, 
Abraham, Henry, Isaac, Mary, and Bar- 
bara. William Moyer, son of the Rev. 
Peter Moj^er, was born in Springfield 
township, Bucks county. Pennsylvania, 
June 7, 1764. His occupation was that 
of farmer, and in connection therewith 
he preached the gospel. He married 
Mary Overholt, who was born Decem- 
ber 27, 1767. and w^ho bore him six chil- 
dren, as follows: Magdaline, Nancy, 
Hannah, Kate, Mary, and Abraham D. 
The deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Moyer oc- 
curred February 12, 1848, and Septem- 
ber I, 1850. respectively. 

Abraham D. Moyer, son of William 
and Mary (Overholt) Moyer, was born 
on the old Peter Moyer farm in Pleas- 
ant Valley, June 6, 1798. He followed in 
the footsteps of his forefathers, devot- 
ing his time and attention to the tilling 
of the soil. He was the possessor of 
a fine voice, and was the leader of the 
choir in the Monnonite church. In 1832 
he married Mary Geisinger, a native of 
Upper Milford, Lehigh county, born 
September 18, 181 1, daughter of Philip 
and Fanny (Hestand) Geisinger. Four 
children were born to them: William 
G. ; Fanny, who became the wife of Na- 
thaniel Bechtel; Mary; and Abraham. 
Abraham D. Moyer (father) died Sep- 
tember IS, 1871; his wife survived him 
many years, passing away December 9, 
1900. 

William G. Moyer, eldest son of Abra- 
ham D. and Mary (Geisinger) Moyer, 
was born in Springfield township, Bucks 
county, February 14, 1834. His first oc- 
cupation was that of teacher, which vo- 
cation he followed for ten years (1855 
to 1865) and fronj. the latter year until 
1872 he was engaged in farming in 
Springfield township, after which he re- 
moved to New Britain township, and 
purchased a farm in the borough of 
Chalfont. He was the recipient of sev- 
eral public offices which were in the 
gift of his fellow-citizens, and during 
his incumbency of the same rendered 
valuable service. He was towmship au- 
ditor for six years, secretary of the 
school board for a similar period, jury 
commissioner for Bucks county, and 
first president of the council of Chal- 
font. For a number of years he served 
as correspondent and reporter for the 
government agricultural department. 
He is an active and consistent member 
of the Monnonite church, in which faith 
he was reared, and his political alleg- 
iance is given to the Republican party. 
In i860 he married Mary Swortley, born 
in New Britain township, 1835, daughter 



of John Swortley. Their children were 
as follows: Emma, born December 17, 
1861, died January 9, 1881; Levi S., born 
May 22, 1864, mentioned hereinafter; 
Abraham S., born November 7, i866^ 
married Susie M. Fretz, and they are the 
parents of one child, Alvin, born Oc- 
tober 18, 1900; William, born November 
29, 1868, a merchant of Chalfont; Men- 
no S., born November 18, 1870, a mem- 
ber of the firm of Moyer I3ros., mer- 
chants of Lansdale; he married Annie 
Souder, and their children are: Evelyn 
and Elizabeth; Harvey, born March 16, 
1877, married Mary Johnson. The 
mother of these children died January 
2, 1888. Mr. Moyer married for his sec- 
ond wife Mrs. Hannah (Sleifer) Weis, 
who was born near Quakertown, Bucks 
county, daughter of Philip Sleifer. 

Levi S. Moyer, eldest son of William 
G. and Mary (Swortley) Moyer, was 
born in Springfield township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, May 22, 1864. He 
obtained a practical education in the 
public schools of New Britain town- 
ship, and since the completion of his 
studies has devoted his time and atten- 
tion exclusively to agricultural pur- 
suits. He is an active and public-spir- 
ited citizen, keenly alive to everything 
that pertains to the welfare of the com- 
munity in which he resides, a faithful 
member of the Mennonite church, and 
a stanch Republican. January 6, 1887, 
Mr. Moyer was married to Anna B. Det- 
wnler, daughter of Enos and Sarah 
(Sherm) Detwiler, whose faniily con- 
sisted of five other children, namely: 
John F.. William H., Irvin S., Alfred 
S., and Lizzie S. Detwiler. Eight chil- 
dren were the issue of the marriage of 
Mr. and Mrs. Moyer; William D., born 
December 25, 1887; Sarah Amelia, born 
July 27. 1889; Theresa, born October 23, 
1891; Mary, born April 17. 1894; Irene, 
born February 2, 1897; Enos, born July 
5. 1898; Eva, born February 9, 1900; 
and Norah, born June 25, 1901. 



WILLIAM BAUM, d^eceased, one of 
the. best known and respected citizens 
of Bedminster township, was born in 
Springfield towmship, Bucks county,. 
Pennsylvania, March 30. 1841, and was 
a descendant of early German settlers 
in that township. Heinrich or Henry 
Baum. the great-grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was one of a family 
of five brothers and two sisters, born in 
Wurtemberg, Germany, of which four of 
the brothers and one sister emigrated 
to America and settled in Bucks county, 
viz.: Carl or Charles. Heinrich, Mich- 
ael, Susanna, and Philip Baum. Carl 
and Heinrich came together in the ship 
"Hero.' arriving in Philadelphia. Octo- 
ber 27. 1764. and settled in Springfield 
township. Carl, the eldest of the fam- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



235 



ily, married Barbara Youngken, and af- 
ter a residence of several years in 
Springfield, removed with his family to 
Carlisle, Cumberland covmty, Pennsyl- 
vania, and later removed to what was 
then Northumberland county and from 
thence, in 1798. to Northwestern Terri- 
tory, now the State of Ohio, where h? 
died. His son Samuel, born in Spring- 
field, Bucks county, August 16, 1769, 
died in New Berlin, Union county, Penn- 
sylvania, October 2, 1842. His other 
eight children, most of whom lived and 
died in Felicity, Ohio, were: Elizabeth, 
wife of Peter Emery; Catharine, wife 
of Benjamin Sells; Mary, wife of Peter 
DeWitt; Susanna, wife of Thomas 
Jones; Margaret, wife of Conrad Metz- 
ger; Barbara, wife of Leonard Metz- 
ger; Michael and Charles Baum. Mich- 
ael, the third of the emigrant brothers, 
also settled in Bucks county and reared 
a family of ten children, as follows: 
Samuel, who settled in Montgomery 
county; Elizabeth, the wife of John 
Trumbore, of Milford ; Mary, wife of John 
Trumbore; Ann, wife of Johin Gregg; 
Catharine, wife of Jacob Werhold, of 
Rockhill; Susan, wife of Jacob Willauer; 
Michael, of Milton, Pennsylvania; Hen- 
ry, of Montgomery county; Hannah, 
wife of William Grafley; and Sarah, Phil- 
lip, the youngest of the emigrant broth- 
ers, married Mary IVIoyer, settled in 
New Britain township, where he died 
at an advanced age, on March i, 1841, 
without issue. Susanna, the sister, mar- 
ried John Landis, of Milford township, 
and had two sons: Samuel and Henry. 
Another brother Samuel and a sister 
lived and died in Wurtemberg. 

Heinrich Baum, the second of the emi- 
grant brothers, as before stated, arrived 
in this country in 1764, and almost im- 
mediately after his arrival located in 
Springfield township, where he took up 
a tract of land on which he resided un- 
til his death in 1803. His wife's name 
was Elizabeth, but her maiden name is 
vtnknown by her descendants. They 
were the parents of eleven children, all 
of whom were born and reared in 
Springfield, viz: Abraham, Anna, who 
married John Landis and removed to 
Warren county. New Jersey ; Susanna, 
who married Isaac Meyer, of Spring- 
field; Elizabeth, who married Henry 
Ackerman: Henry, the grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch; Catharine, 
who married Samuel Bleam; Hannah, 
who married John Shelly; Margaret, 
who married Henry Bleam; Barbara, 
who married Michael Huddle; Philip, 
who died in 1814. without issue; and 
Mary, who married Joseph Moyer, and 
died in 1815. 

Henry Baum. second son and fifth 
child of Heinrich and Elizabeth Baum, 
was born and reared in Springfield town- 
ship. Bucks county, and spent his whole 
life there, dying in 1823. He married 



Magdalene Moyer, daughter of William 
Meyer, born in Springfield, June 17, 1767, 
died there February 12, 1848, son of the 
Reverend Peter Meyer, one of the early 
Mennonite ministers of Bucks county, who 
was born in Switzerland about 1723 and set- 
tled in Springfield in 1752. The mother of 
Magdalene (Moyer) Baum was Barbara 
Overholt, who was born December 27, 1767, 
and died September i, 1850. The children 
of Henry and Magdalene (Moyer) 
Baum were: William, Joseph, Henry, 
Elizabeth, wife of Henry Focht, of Le- 
high county; and Mary, who married 
Samuel Detweiler. After the death of 
Henry Baum. his widow married John 
Shantz and had three children: Abra- 
ham, Lydia and Sarah. 

Joseph Baum, second son of Henry 
and Magdalene, was born in Springfield, 
September 26, 1810. Left an orphan at 
the age of thirteen years, he learned the 
trade of a shoemaker with Christian 
Moyer, of Hilltown township, and fol- 
lowed that trade until his marriage, 
when he settled in Springfield township. 
After a few years spent in agricultural 
pursuits in Springfield he removed to 
Bedminster township, where he resided 
for a few years ; returned again to- 
Springfield, but later again removed to 
Bedminster where he purchased the 
farm on which his son W^illiam lately 
resided and passed the remainder of his 
life there, dying April 28, 1892. He was 
an active and prominent man in the 
community, filling the office of school 
director in Springfield township, and 
that of supervisor for eighteen years in 
Springfield and ten years in Bedminster. 
He also served as township auditor. He â–  
was a member of the New Mennonite 
church. He married in 1828 Esther 
Moyer. born August 3. 1808, daughter 
of Christian and Barbara (Landis") 
Moyer, and they were the parents of six 
children: Hannah, widow of Jacob K. 
Overholt, of Bedminster; Sarah, who- 
married Christian F. Meyers; Henry, 
who married Hannah Moyer and resides 
in Philadelphia; Joseph, who died in the 
army in 1863; William, the subject of 
this sketch; and ^fagdalena, who died at 
the age of seven years. 

William Baum, third son and fifth 
child of Joseph and Esther (Moyer) 
Baum. born in Springfield towmship, 
March 30. 1841, received his education 
at the public schools. Reared to the life 
of a farmer he took charge of the home 
farm at his marriage and cultivated it 
for his father until 1873, when he pur- 
chased the farm; his parents continuing 
to reside with him imtil their death. He 
was one of the directors of Souderton 
National Bank at the time of his de- 
cease, and had been for ten years a di- 
rector of the Bucks County Fire Insur- 
ance Company. He was also a director 
of the Dublin Mutual Insurance and 
Protective Company from its organi- 



236 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



zation in 1892 to the time of his death. 
He served a number of years in differ- 
ent local offices, filling the position of 
assistant assessor for nine years, and 
was census enumerator in 1890. He was 
•elected to the office of director of the 
poor for Bucks county in 1897, and re- 
elected in 1900, serving in all six years. 
He was a member of the Mennonite con- 
gregation at Deep Run, and politically 
was a Republican. Mr. Baum stood de- 
servedl)' high in the regard and confi- 
dence of the people of Bucks county, and 
of the community in which he lived. 
He was a faithful and conscientious pub- 
lic servant, an earnest patriotic citizen, 
a devoted husband and father and an 
lionest consistent Christian gentleman. 
His loss is keenly felt in the commun- 
ity. He died June 7, 1905, buried at 
Deep Run. Mr. Baum married, October 
5, 1865, Maria Hunsicker, daughter of 
Jacob and Barbara (Moyer) Hunsicker, 
of Hilltown, Bucks county, granddaugh- 
ter of Rev. Isaac and Anna Hunsicker, 
great-granddaughter of Jacob an,d Eliza- 
beth Hunsicker, who came from the 
Skippack to Hilltown township in 1757, 
and a great-great-granddaughter of Val- 
entine Hunsicker, who emigrated from 
Switzerland in 1717, and settled in Mont- 
gomery county. She is also a descen- 
dant through her mother, Barbara 
Moyer, born July 26, 1813, died August, 
1890, from Heinrich Baum, the pioneer 
ancestor of her husband, her grand- 
mother Susanna Bleam, wife of Samuel 
Moyer, of Hilltown, being a grand- 
daughter of Heinrich and Elizabeth 
Baum. The children of William and 
Maria (Hunsicker) Baum are: Hannah, 
wife of Samuel H. Moyer. of Bloom- 
ing Glen; Harvey H., who married Mary 
Shaddinger, and lives in Perkasie; Ida, 
wife of Edwin F. Stover, of Blooming 
Glen; Jacob, deceased; Joseph H., who 
married Lizzie Detweiler and lives on 
the homestead; Edwin, deceased; Will- 
iam Garfield married Mary Overholt; 
and Nora, who resides at home. 



CHRISTIAN TREICHLER CLY- 
MER. Bucks county has no more useful 
â– citizen than Christian Treichler Clymer, 
of Quakertown. The Clymer family is 
of German origin, the name having been 
formerly spelled Klemmer. It was 
brought to this country by two brothers, 
one of whom was Christian Clymer, or 
Klemmer. He was born in 1697 in Ger- 
many, and is thought to have emigrated 
to America prior to 1730. He settled in 
what is now Lower Milford township, 
and in 1734 his name appeared on the 
record as a petitioner to divide the 

township. His wife was Barbara , 

and they were the parents of seven sons 
and five daughters. Among the sons 
was Jacob, mentioned at length herein- 



after. Christian Clymer died in 1759, 
and some of his descendants are yet liv- 
ing on the land which he settled. His 
wife passed away January 14, 1776. 

Jacob Clymer, son of Christian and 
Barbara Clymer, was born in 1729, and 
was the father of a numerous family, 
among whom was Henry, who married 
Maria, daughter of Peter and Maria 
(Zeingcnfus) ShalTer, of Northampton 
county. They were the parents of seven 
sons and two daughters. Among the 
sons was Henry Shafifer, mentioned at 
length hereinafter. All the descen- 
dants of Christian Clymer were born in 
the region in which that pioneer ances- 
tor made his home. 

Henry Shaffer Clymer, son of Henry 
and Maria (Shaffer) Clymer, was born 
in 1819, on his father's farm, near Mil- 
ford Square. He attended the subscrip- 
tion school, also the Friends Richland 
Meeting, and learned the shoemaker's 
trade, which he followed in connection 
with farming. In politics he was an old 
line Whig, and later became a Republi- 
can. He was a member of the Lutheran 
church, which he served as deacon and 
was active in religious work. He mar- 
ried Lavina, daughter of Jacob and 
Sarah (Trumbauer) Treichler, and ten 
children were born to them, among 
whom was Christian Treichler, men- 
tioned at length hereinafter. Mrs. Cly- 
mer, the mother of the family, died in 
1859, and her husband passed away in 
January, 1863. 

Christian Treichler Clymer, son of 
Henry Shafifer and Lavina (Treichler) 
Clymer, was born February 10, 1846, on 
his father's farm, near Milford Square, 
Milford township. He attended the 
public schools of his native place, and 
remained on the farm until his eigh- 
teenth year, when he was apprenticed 
to learn the shoemaker's trade with 
Isaac Groff, near Quakertown. At the 
end of two years he became a journey- 
man, and for six months worked near 
Zion's Hill. In the autumn of 1866 he 
moved to Quakertown, where he en- 
gaged in business as a custom shoe-^ 
maker on Main street, near the Friends' 
meeting-house. He carried on a flour- 
ishing trade until April, 1903. when he 
retired from business. Mr. Clymer has 
always taken an active interest in local 
political affairs, and for thirteen years 
was a member of the board of educa- 
tion, serving two terms as president 
and two as treasurer. He has also acted 
as delegate to the county convention. 
On March 18, 1903, he received the ap- 
pointment of postmaster of Quaker- 
town, an office which he still holds, dis- 
charging its duties with credit to him- 
self and satisfaction to the government. 
His political principles are those advo- 
cated and upheld by the Republican 
• party. Since 1864 he has been a mem- 
ber of St. John's Lutheran church, to 




\ 




^J^rfppt y\%\Jy/ncM^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



237 



which his family also belong. He is a 
member of the choir, and has served 
ten years as treasurer of the Sunday 
school, in which he has been a teacher 
since 1864. 

Mr. Clymer married, January 29, 1869, 
Andora, daughter of Samuel and Cath- 
arine (Trumbauer) Troxel, of Mont- 
gomery county, and they have one son, 
Benjamin Franklin, who was born Sep- 
tember, 1870, attended the Quakertown 
public schools, and is now a commer- 
cial traveller, residing in Wilmington, 
Delaware. C. T. Clymer married in 
1884, for his second wife, Margaret, 
daughter of David and Rachel (Kulp) 
Kulp, of Skippack township, Montgom- 
ery county, and they have one son, Will- 
iam Kulp Clymer, who was born June 
20, 1886, and was educated in the Quak- 
ertown public schools, graduating in 
1903. He holds the office of assistant 
postmaster. 



JOHN R. JOHNSON. Martin John- 
son was the emigrant ancestor of the 
family to which John R. Johnson, of 
Lumberville, belongs. He came from 
England, where his birth occurred on 
the 5th of May, 1755, and located on 
Bools Island, now Raven Rock, Hunter- 
don county, New Jersey, where he ac- 
quired extensive farming lands and 
other property, becoming one of the 
wealthy citizens of his community. 

John Johnson, son of Martin John- 
son, was born and reared on the old 
homestead secured by his father, and 
he. too, followed the occupation of 
farming. He married Sarah E. Bray, 
and their son, Albert R. Johnson, be- 
came the father of John R. Johnson. He 
was born on the old homestead in Hun- 
'terdon county. New Jersey, August 3, 
1833, was there reared, and in later 
years acquired possession of the old 
home property, upon which he resided 
until 1844, when he retired and removed 
to Stockton, where he now resides. He 
was very successful in his agricultural 
pursuits, and acquired a very desirable 
competence. He has long been a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian church. He 
married Margaret A. Dilts, who died 
April 8, 1893, at the age of sixty years, 
six months knd twenty-two days. She 
was a member of the Dunkard church. 
They had six children, of whom five are 
living: John R. ; Clark B., who occu- 
pies the old homestead; Catherine, wife 
of Wilmot Quinby. of Solebury town- 
ship; Rachael, wife of Theodore L. 
Green, of Union county, New Jersey; 
and Sarah, wife of Eden B. Hunt, of 
Stockton, New Jersey. 

John R. Johnson was born in Hunt- 
erdon county. New Jersey, April 22, 
1854, and the first nineteen years of his 
life were spent upon his father's farm, 
during which time he acquired a public 



school education. In 1873 he went to 
Lambertville, New Jersey, where he ac- 
cepted a position in a mercantile estab- 
lishment and there laid the foundation 
for his later successful mercantile ca- 
reer. He remained there for two years 
and in 1875 came to Lumberville, ac- 
cepting a position in the store of Read- 
ing & Shaddinger, acting as clerk in the 
establishment for two years, when he 
purchased the interest of Mr. Shad- 
dinger, and the firm name was changed 
to Reading & Johnson, this connection 
being maintained until 1892, when Mr. 
Johnson became sole owner of the bus- 
iness. He has developed an enterprise 
of considerable importance, and his an- 
nual sales now bring a good financial 
return, his business principles being 
based upon the rules which govern strict, 
unswerving integrity and unabating in- 
dustry. Politically Mr. Johnson is a 
Democrat. He belongs to Black City 
Lodge, No. 391, I. O. O. P., of Black 
City, and he and his wife are active 
members of the Baptist church, to the 
support of which he contributes gen- 
erously. 

In 1879 Mr. Johnson married Miss 
Marietta Bodine, of Stockton, New Jer- 
sey, a daughter of William and Mary 
(Bellis) Bodine. Her brother, Wesley 
Bodine, now deceased, was for many 
years sherifif of Hunterdon county. New 
Jersey. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson had three 
children, but lost their elder son, Raymond 
D. Bessie K. and Wilmot Q. are at home. 
The daughter is a graduate of the George 
school, has been a close student since the 
completion of her course there, now holds a 
state certificate and at the present writing 
(1904) is teaching in Solebury township. 



JOHN S. CORNELL, who has now 
passed the seventy-seventh milestone 
on life's journey, and throughout his 
business career has followed farming, 
is a representative of one of the old fam- 
ilies of Pennsylvania, a son of John and 
Elizabeth (Vandegrift) Cornell, and a 
grandson of Gilliam and Janet je (Suy- 
dam) Cornell. His grandfather, Gil- 
liam Cornell, had a brother, Remsen 
Cornell, who had two children, a son, 
Adrien, and a daughter. 

Gilliam Cornell had eight children: 
I. Adrien married Rachel Feaster and 
had four children, David. William, 
Henry and Jane. 2. Lambert married a 
Miss Feaster, and their children were: 
Gilliam. David, James and Aaron. 3. 
James married a daughter of Remsen 
Cornell, and his second wife was Mar- 
garet Vandergrift, by whom he had four 
children, Jacob, Remsen, Cornelia Ann 
and Jane. 4. John was the father of 
John S. Cornell, of Northampton town- 
ship. 5. Gilliam inarried Elizabeth 
Krewson. 6. Jane married Christopher 



238 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Van Artsdalen, and their children were 
John, Simon, Jane, Johanna and Eliza- 
beath. 8. Abbie married Henry Dubois, 
and had six children: Christian, Susan, 
Ellen, Nancy, Jane and Mary Ann. 

John S. Cornell, Sr., son of Gilliam 
and Janetje Cornell, was born in 1782, 
baptized at the Dutch Reformed church 
of North and Southampton. He was de- 
vised by his father a farm purchased by 
the latter of Henry Dyer in 1793, con- 
taining 105 acres, near Holland, and 
lived there until he died, December 15, 
1851. He was married twice. His first 
wife was Mary Krewson, by whom he 
had two children. Matilda, the younger, 
born October 21 1813, died in childhood. 
Elizabeth, the elder, was born March 6, 
181 1, and became the wife of Thomas 
Purdy, by whom she had six children: 
Mary Jane, John, Elizabeth Ann, Ma- 
tilda; Mrs. Catherine Lingerman, and 
Amanda. For his second wife John S. 
Cornell, Sr., chose Elizabeth Vandegrift, 
(daughter of Jacob and Cornelia (Van- 
artsdalen) Vandegrift, of Northampton 
and sister to Margaret, the second wife 
of his brother, James Cornell. The chil- 
dren of John S. and Elizabeth (Vande- 
grift) Cornell were: i. William, born 
August 4, 1818, remained on the home- 
stead; he married Cornelia Krewsen, and 
their children were Edmond and Anna 
Mary. 2. Mary, born October 8, 1819, 
married James Craven and their chil- 
dren were Annie, Charles, Elizabeth and 
Matilda. 3. Alfred, born September 27, 
1822, married Jane Van Buskirk, and 
their children were: Elizabeth, Johanna, 
Samuel, Matilda, Allen, Frank. John, 
Albert, Mary and Susannah. 4. John S., 
the subject of this sketch. 5. Louisa, 
born July 9, 1825, married Isaac 
Rightley. 

John S. Cornell, Jr., youngest son of 
John S. and Elizabeth (Vandegrift) Cor- 
nell, is descended in the maternal line 
from Jacob Vandegrift, who served in 
the Revolutionary war and afterward 
removed to Northampton county, Penn- 
sylvania, settling in the southeastern 
part. It was his daughter who became 
the mother of John S. Cornell, of this 
review. 

John S. Cornell, who was born July 
16, 1827, was reared to farm life, and 
was educated near Holland, in North- 
ampton county, Pennsylvania. He en- 
gaged in farming at an early age and 
has followed this occupation to the 
present time. He resided near the Bear 
Hotel, at Richboro, until 1877, when he 
removed to his present farm, purchas- 
ing eighty acres of land in Northamp- 
ton township, which his labors have 
placed under a very high state of cul- 
tivation, and although now well ad- 
vanced in years he still gives his per- 
sonal supervision to its cultivation. 

Mr. Cornell wedded Ellen Bennett, a 
•daughter of William and Sarah (Wyn- 



koop) Bennett, and through long years 
they have been held in favorable, regard 
in Nortiiampton township. Mrs. Cor- 
nell's ancestors in both paternal and ma- 
ternal lines were, like those of her hus- 
band, of Holland descent, and among 
the earliest settlers in Northampton and 
Southampton counties. Mr. and Mrs. 
Cornell have had no children. 



JACOB SCHEERER, of Buckingham, 
was born in Hilltown township, Bucks 
county, August 29, 1850, the son of 
Christian and Lovina (Cassel) Scheerer. 
Christian Scheerer was born in Wur- 
temberg, Germany, in November, 1813, 
and came to this country when a young 
man. As a youth he had learned the 
trade of a dyer, and was employed in 
the Manayunk mills of Ripka & Co., in 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, for 
about twenty-five years. On April 2, 
1850, he purchased of his father-in-law, 
Jacob Cassel, a small farm in Hilltown 
township, Bucks county, and lived there- 
on until his death in 1897. In 1847 he 
married Lovina, daughter of Jacob and 
Elizabeth (Oberholtzer) Cassel, of Hfll- 
town. The Cassels emigrated to this 
country about 1740, and have been resi- 
dents of Montgomery county for sev- 
eral generations. Jacob Cassel was a 
farmer in Hilltown township from the 
time of his marriage. Christian 
Scheerer was a man of fair education, 
and took an active interest in the affairs 
of his adopted country. In early life 
he was a Whig, but later a Democrat. 
In religion he was a member of the Lu- 
theran church. He was a member of the 
I. O. O. F. His wife was born in Hill- 
town in 1821, and died in 1900. She 
was a member of the German Reformed, 
church. 

The subject of this sketch was. the 
second of the three children 0f Chrisr 
tian and Lovina Sc4ieer^f, his elder 
brother John is still living and a 
younger brother, Charles, is deceased. 
He was reared on the farm and received. 
his education at the public schools. At 
the age of seventeen he apprenticed 
himself to learn the shoemaker's trade 
at Hockertown. Finishing his appren- 
ticeship in 1869. he worked as a jour- 
neyman shoemaker for seven years in 
Hilltown. Hatfield, Pennsburg and Line 
Lexington. In 1876 he came to Buck- 
ingham and opened a ' shop, where he 
now resides. In 1875 he married Ann 
Rebecca, daughter of Aaron and Letitia 
(McDowell) Carver, of Buckingham, by 
whom he has three children: Carrie, re- 
siding at home: Walter, a trainman on 
the P. & R. R. R. : and Evan T., a 
printer, now foreman of the composing 
room of the "Doylestown Democrat," at 
Doylestown. In politics Mr. Scheerer is 
a Democrat. He is a member of 
Doylestown Lodge, No. 94. I. O. O. F. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



2.39 



DR. NOAH S. NONAMAKER, a 
well-known physician of Bedminster, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was there 
born March 2t,, 1854. He is a descen- 
dant of Adam Nonamaker, a native of 
this county and of foreign parentage. 
His parents came to this country about 
1747. Adam Nonamaker was born April 
21, 1759, lived in Hilltown township, and 
was a farmer throughout the active years 
of his life. He married IMiss Barbara 
Kramer, born March 5, 1763, died April 
27, 1821. They, had one child, Henry, 
the grandfather of Noah S. Adam Non- 
amaker died August 28, 1843, and is 
buried at the Tohickon church burying 
ground. 

Henry Nonamaker was born in Hill- 
town township, July 31, 1786. He carried 
on for many years the business of un- 
dertaker and cabinetmaker very suc- 
cessfully in Bedminster. He, with all 
his family, was noted for skill as work- 
ers in wood. He married Miss Eliza- 
beth Rosenberger, born November 25, 
1785, died in Bedminster township, April 
7, 1845. There were seven children born 
of this union, four sons and three 
daughters: Charles, died at the age of 
about seventy-two; Henry died at the 
age of seventy-five; Maria died at the 
age of seventy-five, was the widow of 
Peter Stout; Elias, died at the age of 
about seventy-two from injuries sus- 
tained from a falling tree; Rebecca died 
at the age of sixty-five; Elizabeth died 
in early childhood; and Aaron, father of 
Noah S., died March 17, 1885, in the 
seventy-first year of his age. Henry 
Nonamaker, father of these children, 
died in Bedminster township, Septem- 
tter 16, 1871. 

Aaron Nonamaker, the father of Noah 
S., was born in Rockhill township, June 
26, 1814. He was brought up to farm- 
ing and for fourteen years after his 
marriage farmed the home place in 
•Bedminster township, and then pur- 
chased a small place near Perkasie, 
where he lived for nearly thirty years. 
He was an honest and upright man and 
though without education enjoyed the 
confidence and respect of the entire 
community. His wife was Anna Shutt, 
of Horsham township, Montgomery 
county. She was born March 5, 1815, 
and died in 1894, in the seventy-ninth 
year of her age. Their children are: 

1. Debaroh, widow of Charles Wise, re- 
sides in Perkasie ; 2. Elizabeth, deceased ; 

2. Jacob, a resident of Perkasie ; 4. Noah 
S. Aaron Nonamaker laid down the 
burden of life at his home in Perkasie, 
March 17, 1885, in the seventy-first year 
of his age. 

Noah S. Nonamaker attended the dis- 
trict school until he was thirteen years 
old, then worked at farming and later 
•engaged in mechanical pursuits for ten 
years. He was a great reader and stu- 
dent, and while working in the vicinity 



of Doylestown attracted the attention 
of Dr. F. Swartzlaider, who enabled him 
to satisfy his love for the study of med- 
icine, and while continuing to work in- 
dustriously he began reading for the 
profession under the instruction of Dr. 
Swartzlaider. He began his cqll&giate 
course in 1877, graduating from the Jef- 
ferson Medical School, Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, in 1879. He at once came 
to Bedminster, where he has built up 
for himself a large and enviable prac- 
tice. Dr. Nonamaker is identified with 
the Doylestown lodge No. 245, F. and 
A. M., the Bucks County Medical So- 
ciety, and the State Medical Society. He 
is emphatically a self-made man, start- 
ing in life without advantages of any 
kind, supporting himself by industrious 
work in the daytime, and assiduous 
study at night. With rare energy, per- 
severance and indomitable courage he 
has become a well read and successful 
member of the honored profession. 
March 15, 1883, Dr. Nonamaker married 
Lizzie, a daughter of Abraham Beans, of 
Sellersville. She was born September 
8, 1857. Six children were born of this 
union: Annie Lucretia, deceased; Edgar 
Vasco, who graduated from Perkiomen 
Seminary in 1905, and is going to pre- 
pare for the ministry at Muhlenburg 
College; Claudius Howard, deceased; 
Bessie Gertrude, deceased; Mattie Pau- 
line, deceased; and Celia Helen. The 
mother of these children died June 26, 
1895. 



ROBERT BROWN, late of Lower 
Makefield, deceased, was born on the old 
homestead where he spent most of his life 
and where his widow and two daughters still 
reside. This homestead is a part of a plan- 
tation that has been in the family for two 
hundred and twenty-five years, having been 
originally taken up by George Brown, who 
came from Leicestershire, England, and 
landed at New Castle in 1679, proceed- 
ing thence up the Delaware to Bucks 
county. His wife Mercy came over on 
the same ship with him and they were 
married at New Castle on their arrival. 
Tradition states that he had been court- 
ing her sister in Leicestershire, but that 
on her refusal to accompany him to 
America, he proposed to Mercy to ac- 
company him. They were members of 
the Society of Friends, and among the 
first members of Falls Meeting. They 
were the parents of fifteen children, sev- 
eral of whom died in infancy. Eight 
sons and three daughters survived; of 
the latter one married a Titus, another a 
Stackhouse, and the third, Mercy, mar- 
ried Robert Sotcher, son of William 
Penn's trusted steward, John Sotcher, 
many years a member of colonial as- 
sembly. George Brown was born in 
1644, and died in 1726. 

Samuel Brown, son of George and 



240 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Mercy, was born 9-11-1694, and mar- 
ried, 5-9-1717, Ann Clark and had live 
children, viz.: George, who njanied 
(first) Martha Worrell and (second) 
Elizabeth Field ; John, see forward ; Mercy, 
who married Joshua Baldwin ; Ann, who 
married Joseph Lovett; and Esther, who 
married Daniel Lovett, Samuel Brown died 
10-3-1769. 

John Brown, second son of Samuel 
and Ann (Clark) Brown, was born 8- 
29-1724. He was known as "Fox Hunt- 
ing John Brown" to distinguish him 
from his cousins of the same name, and 
was a prominent man in the commun- 
ity. He settled on the Newport road, 
near Emilie, where he died 1-1-1802. His 
wife was Ann Field, daughter of Benja- 
min Field, a trustee of the loan office in 
1743 and a member of colonial assem- 
bly 1738-1745. John and Ann (Field) 
Brown were the parents of nine chil- 
dren: Samuel, the eldest, born 11-1-1751, 
died 1813, married Abi White and was 
the father of General Jacob Brown; 2. 
John, born 1753, died 1821, married 
Martha Harvey; 3. Benjamin, born 1754, 
married Jane Wright; 4. David, born 
1756, died 1777; 5. Sarah, born 6-11- 
1758, married Samuel Allen; 6. Mary, 
born 1761, died 1777; 7. Charles, born 
3-27-1762, see forward; 8. William, born 
1764, died 1764; 9. Elizabeth, born 
12-11-1765, died 1824, married Mahlon 
Yardley in 1787. 

Charles Brown, the seventh child of 
John and Ann, resided on the Milford 
road, two miles from Fallsington. He 
married in 12 mo., 1784, Charlotte 
Palmer. He was a farmer and a mem- 
ber of Falls Meeting. He died 9-20- 
1834. Charles and Charlotte were the 
parents of thirteen children, five of whom 
died in infancy and three daughters, 
Mary, Martha and Mercy, died in early 
life, unmarried. Those who survived 
were: Joshua, born 1785, married Sarah 
Lovett; Benjamin, born 8-18-1787, see 
forward; Joseph, born 1789, never mar- 
ried, was drowned in the Neshaminy in 
1863; Alice, born 1792, married John 
Moon. 

Benjamin Brown, second son of 
Charles and Charlotte, born 8-18-1787, 
married 6 mo., 1811, Mary, daughter of 
Isaac Barnes and Martha Brown, his 
wife, the latter being a daughter of 
George Brown (3), above mentioned, 
who had married Elizabeth Field. After 
his marriage Benjamin Brown went to 
live on the old homestead which for two 
generations had been in the branch of 
the family to which his wife belonged, 
and died there 9-10-1879. Benjamin and 
Mary (Barnes) Brown were the parents- 
of nine children, three of whom died 
young. Isaac, the eldest son, born 
2-5-1815, married Sarah C. Smith, and is 
still living in Newtown ; William, born 
10-25-1817, married Huldah Pettit, of 
Philadelphia, and died 4-17-1877; Robert, 



see forward; Joseph, born 12-28-1824, died 
in 1903, he married Phebe Stackhouse; 
Joshua, born 2-3-1831, is still living in Phila- 
delphia, he married Sarah Hance; Char- 
lotte, born 1834, married Herbert Galbraith, 
of Philadelphia, and died in 1879. 

Robert S. Brown, the third son of 
Benjamin and Mary (Barnes) Brown, 
was born on the old homestead, 1-24- 
1820. He married, 10-19-1871, Caroline 
Barnes, daughter of John R. S. and 
Mary D. (Loud) Barnes, and grand- 
daughter of Isaac Barnes, who was a 
cousin to Isaac Barnes, the grandfather 
of her husband. Her maternal grand- 
father, Thomas Loud manufactured the 
first upright piano ever built in this 
country; it is now on exhibition at- Me- 
morial Hall, Philadelphia. Before his 
marriage Robert S. Brown removed to 
Philadelphia and carried on the milk 
business for some years, and then re- 
turned to the old homestead, where he 
died February 17, 1903. His widow and 
children still reside there. His chil- 
dren are: Mary, born 9-7-1872, and 
Charlotte, born 1-19-1876. The latter 
married, 6-12-1900, Nicholas Brewer 
Davis; they have two children: Lynn 
David, born August i, 1901, and Dor- 
othy Wayne Davis, born May 17, 1904. 
The family are members of the Society 
of Friends. 



PHILIP C. SWARTLE.Y, of Line 
Lexington, Bucks county, belongs to a 
family that has been prominent in the 
afifairs of the section in which he re- 
sides for five generations. His paternal 
ancestor, Philip Schwartley, was born 
in Eppingen, in Necker Grand Duchy of 
Baden, Germany, October 28, 1764, and 
accompanied his elder brothers Jfbhn 
and Jacob to America in the ship "Min- 
erva," arriving in Philadelphiar Septem- 
ber 30, 1772. The Schw^ai-tley brothers 
located for a time in Franconia town-, 
ship, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, 
where Philip married Sarah Rbsen- 
berger, born January 24, 1765, daughter 
of the Rev. Henry and Barbara (Oben- 
holtzer) Rosenberger, and granddaugh- 
ter of Henry Rosenberger, the pioneer 
ancestor of the family in America. Philip 
Schwartley about the year 1790 settled 
in New Britain township, and became a 
large landholder and prominent citizen 
of that township. He died September 
23, 1840, and his wife Sarah died. April 
6, 1849. They were the parents of nine 
children, the sixth of whom, Abraham 
Swartley. was the grandfather of Philip 
C. Swartley. He was born in New Brit- 
ain township and resided there all his 
life, becoming a large landholder and a 
prominent and useful citizen. He died 
November 17, 1879. He was twice mar- 
ried, his first wife being Anna Delp, 
daughter of John Delp, of New Britain, 
also of German descent, whose family, 



^ 




I 




HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



241 



like that of her husband, were of the 
Mennonite faith. Abraham and Anna 
(Delp) Swartley were the parents of 
four children: Henry D., Philip, Abra- 
ham, and Sarah, who died young. Abra- 
ham Swartley married (second) Barbara 
Hunskker, who survived him, and had 
four children; Isaac, who died young; 
John; Anna, wife of Levi Henge; and 
Sarah, who married Joseph Hyer. 

Henry D. Swartley, eldest son of 
Abraham and Anna (Delp) Swartley, 
was born in New Britain township. 
Soon after his marriage he settled in 
Hilltown township, where he followed 
the life of a farmer. He married Sarah 
Clymer, daughter of Henry and Eliza- 
beth (Kulp) Clymer, and they were the 
parents of five children: Annie, wife of 
Milton D. Alderfer; Abraham C, who 
married Sallie Detweiler ; Philip C, the 
subject of this sketch; Henry C, who 
married Elizabeth Myers; and Sarah, 
who married David B. Beidler, of Phil- 
adelphia. 

PHILIP C. SWARTLEY, a son of 
Henry D. and Sarah (Clymer) Swartley, 
was born in Hilltown, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, July 15, i860. He ac- 
quired his education at the public 
schools of Hilltown township, the North 
Wales high school and at Perkiomen 
Seminary. He worked on his father's 
farm until sixteen years of age, and then 
taught school in Hilltown during the 
years 1876, 1877 and 1878. He then be- 
gan farming, which he has since fol- 
lowed in connection with the vocation 
of an auctioneer. He also does an ex- 
tensive business in the sale of live stock 
on commission. In 1900 he purchased 
his present farm at Line Lexington, 
which he has since conducted. In poli- 
tics he is a staunch Republican, and is 
one of the local leaders of his party in 
that section, serving for several years 
as a member of the county committee. 
He has filled the position of township as- 
sessor for four years, and has occupied 
other township offices. In religion he 
is a Mennonite. He is a member of the 
Order of Knights of Maccabees, and is 
affiliated with other beneficial organi- 
zations. He married Helen Leidy, 
daughter of Isaiah and Elizabeth 
(Swartz) Leidy, and they have been the 
parents of six children: Warren, de- 
ceased; Elizabeth; Raymond; Margaret; 
Edmund; and Paul, deceased. 



LOUIS AUGUSTUS HOGUET, for 
sixty years a public-spirited and influ- 
ential citizen of Bristol, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, was born May 5, 1822, in 
the city of Philadelphia, a son of Fran- 
cis Augustus and Mary (Collins) 
Hoguet, who were the parents of six 
children: Josephine and Francis (twins), 
16-3 



Louis Augustus, Adelaide, Lucien and 
Mary. Francis A. Hoguet (father) emi- 
grated to America and located in Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania, where he engaged 
in business as a jeweler on a large scale. 
He is a descendant of a French ances- 
try, and was born and died in France. 

Louis A. Hoguet attended the schools 
of Philadelphia, and after completing his 
studies learned the drug business, being 
employed in a wholesale and retail drug 
house, and at the age of twenty-two 
came to Bristol, Bucks county, and 
opened the first drug store in that sec- 
tion of the county. This was in the year 
1844, and he conducted tiiat business 
very successfully from that date up to 
the time of his decease, June 23, 1904, 
He was a man of excellent judgment, a 
careful adviser, and one who had the full 
confidence of his business and social as- 
sociates. He occupied a prominent po- 
sition among the business men of the 
town of his adoption. He was one of 
the oldest directors of the Farmers' Na- 
tional Bank, his term of service in this 
capacity being the longest of any in its 
history. He was treasurer of the Bristol 
Water Company, and sometimes called 
"its father;" was president of the Bristol 
Gas Company; and an ardent friend to 
all measures that in his judgment would 
improve the borough or be helpful to his 
fellow-citizens. He was for many years 
an active member of Bristol Fire Com- 
pany, No. I, having been a charter mem- 
ber of this organization. He was a 
member of the Masonic fraternity, affil- 
iating with Bristol Lodge, No. 25, An- 
cient York Free and Accepted Masons, 
and a member of the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, of Bristol. He was one 
of the originators and for many years 
the treasurer of the first Building and 
Loan - Association in Bristol, the first 
meeting for organization being held in 
his store. He was a painstaking me- 
thodical man of business, his charac- 
teristics winning for him the confidence 
and esteem of the entire community. 

On IMarch 9, 1844, Mr. Hoguet mar- 
ried Mary Louisa Murphy, of Philadel- 
phia, aind the issue of this union was the 
following named children: Thomas 
Henry, deceased, who was educated at 
Louisburg Seminary ; Clara became the 
wife of J. Ross Calhoun, whose father 
was Admiral Edwin Calhoun, of the 
United States navy, deceased; Albert, 
deceased ; William, deceased ; Clifford, 
deceased; Ellen, who received her ed- 
ucation at Chelton Hills, and became 
the wife of Winfield Scott Wintermute, 
of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, and they 
are the parents of five children: Louis 
Hoguet; Clara, who became the wife of 
William R. Pierce, of Philadelphia; 
Edith, who became the wife of Louis 
Conant, of Montevista. California, and 
they are the parents of one child. Emily: 
and Helen. Mrs. Hoguet, the mother of 



24^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



these children, died about i860. On Feb- 
ruary 26. 1862, Mr. Hoguet married 
Maria Hellings, of Bristol, Bucks 
county, daughter of Joseph A. and 
Susan (Richards) Hellings. The issue 
of this union was one child, Annie, born 
September 19, 1869, who was educated at 
St. Mary's Hall, Burlington, New Jer- 
sey, and on October 23, 1894, became the 
wife of Richard Henry Morris, of Bris- 
tol, Pennsylvania, son of Captain Rich- 
ard Henry and Alice (Vanuxem) Morris, 
now living at Germantown, Pennsyl- 
vania, and they are the parents of three 
children: Charlotte, born December i, 
1895; Richg,rd Henry, born May 14, 
1897; and Margaret, born September i, 
1898. This family is now living in Ger- 
mantown, Pennsylvania. 



JOHN JOSEPH KILCOYNE, the 
genial proprietor of the Closson House 
at Bristol, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
was born at Holmesburg, Philadelphia. 
September 30, 1864, and is a son of 
Michael and Margaret (McGinnis) Kil- 
coyne, the former of whom was a well- 
known contractor and builder of 
Holmesburg. 

John J. Kilcoyne was educated at the 
Holmesburg Academy, and at the close 
of his school days learned the trade of a 
mason with his father and worked at the 
same for about twelve years. In the 
spring of 1897 he came to Bristol and 
assumed the management of the old and 
popular hostelry, known as the Clos- 
son House, and on April 3, 1900, became 
its proprietor and has since conducted 
it in an efficient manner, maintaining its 
old-time reputation as one of the leading 
hostelries of lower Bucks. Mr. Kil- 
coyne is the Exalted Ruler of the Elks 
Lodge of Bristol. 

Mr. Kilcoyne married, September 20, 

1894, Theresa Marie Antoinette Farley, 
daughter of James and Elizabeth Jane 
(Leslie) Farlev, of Bristol, and grand- 
daughter of Thomas and Ann (Brady) 
Farley, and two children were the issue 
of this union: John Leslie, born July 30, 

1895, now a student at St. Dominic's, 
Holmesburg, and Anita, born July 26. 
1897, now attending the Sacred Heart 
Academy at Torresdale. James Leslie, 
maternal grandfather of Mrs. Kilcoyne, 
who was a well-known resident of Bris- 
tol, Pennsylvania, for many years, was a 
native of Ireland, from whence he came 
to America and settled at Mauch Chunk, 
Pennsylvania, later locating in Bristol, 
and becoming the owner of boats on the 
Lehigh Valley canal. He was also the 
owner of the "Exchange Hotel," in 
Bristol. James I-eslie married Mary 
Bovle, who bore him a family of six 
children, four of whom attained years 
of maturity, as follows: Elizabeth J., 
Henry, a physician and druggist; James, 



an attorney; and Mary A., wtio became 
the wife of John W. Closson. John W. 
Closson, now deceased, was born near 
Point Pleasant, Tinicum township, June 
16, 1839, a son of George W. and Char- 
lotte (Wyker) Closson, natives of Bucks 
county, and a grandson of William and 
Sarah Closson and Henry and Mary 
Wyker. John W. Closson was educated 
at Point Pleasant, and clerked in stores 
for his father and brother until the out- 
breaking of the civil war, when he 
joined the Doylestown Guards, April, 
1861. Upon his • return home he en- 
gaged in mercantile business for him- 
self at Point Pleasant, continuing the 
same until his marriage to Mary A. 
Leslie, above mentioned, after which he 
moved to the "Exchange Hotel" in Bris- 
tol, which he purchased in 1872 of his 
father-in-law, James Leslie, and in 1875 
remodeled, and which has since been 
known as the Closson House. In 1872 
Mr. Closson was elected coroner, and 
by a special act of the legislature he 
was empowered to appoint deputies 
throughout the county of Bucks, and 
served six years, when his health fail- 
ing him, he gave up political life and 
turned his attention to his hotel, where 
he died November 8, 1882. Mrs. Clos- 
son took charge of the hotel at once, and 
being a lady of excellent mind and busi- 
ness talent, she made the house one of 
the most popular in the state. Owing 
to the increase in trade, she erected a 
fine three-story brick building with 
pressed brick "front and all the most 
modern improvements; the chambers of 
the house are spacious, handsomely fur- 
nished, well ventilated and comfortable, 
and the parlors and reception rooms are 
attractive and elegant. Mrs. Closson, 
who was an atmt of Mrs. John J. Kil- 
coyne, reared Mrs. Kilcoyne to woman- 
hood and at the death of the former she 
left the Hotel Closson to her, which is 
now being managed by her husband, 
John J. Kilcoyne. 



ELMER L. JOHNSON, a represen- 
tative of that class of men whose active 
careers are spent in the quiet but useful 
calling of agriculture, was born on the 
old Johnson homestead in Bensalem 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
February 8, t86o. His parents were 
Jesse L. and Anna P. (Levis) Johnson, 
and his grandparents were Clark and 
Rachel (Grim) Johnson. 

Clark Johnson (grandfather) was born 
on the old Johnson tract, which con- 
sisted of between six and seven hundred 
acres, owned by his father, who di- 
vided it among his five children, and the 
farm of one hundred and fifty acres 
farmed by Elmer L. Johnson, whose 
name heads this review, is all that re- 
mains in the family at the present time 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



243 



â– ^1904). Clark Johnson followed farm- 
ing as a means of livelihood, his i3to- 
ducts finding a ready market. He was a 
vestryman of the Episcopal church, and 
his political affiliations were with the 
Democratic party. He married Rachel 
Grim, who was a native of Delaware 
county, Pennsylvania, and their children 
were: John, who was a merchant of 
Hulmeville; Adaline, who became the 
wife of C. M. Henry; Ann, who became the 
wife of Frank Wood ; and Jesse L., who is 
mentioned hereinafter. Both Mr. and 
Mrs. Johnson lived many years beyond 
the allotted scriptural age of three score 
years and ten, he dying at the age of 
eighty-four, and she at the age of eighty- 
six. 

Jesse L. Johnson (father) was born on 
the old homestead in Bensalem town- 
ship, September 5, 1822. He attended 
the district school at Eddington, and 
after completing his education settled on 
the old homestead, where he followed 
agricultural pursuits successfully during 
his lifetime. Like his father, Mr. John- 
son served in the capacity of vestryman 
of the Episcopal church, and cast h- 
vote for the candi.dates of the Demo- 
cratic party. He was a member of if 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He 
was united in marriage to Anna P. 
Levis, a daughter of Robert Levis, a 
tanner of Mt. Holly, New Jersey, later 
â– of Maryland. Mrs. Johnson was reared 
by her aunt, Eliza Renshaw, of Edding- 
ton. Ten children were the issue of this 
marriage, namely: Lizzie, Elmer L., 
Mary, Josephine, Clark, deceased; 
Louisa, deceased; Clara, John, Jesse, de- 
ceased; and Annie. Jesse L. Johnson 
(father) died September 25, 1901 ; his 
wife passed away May 12, 1895, after one 
day's illness. 

Elmer L. Johnson attended the public 
schools at Eddington, thereby acquiring 
a practical education which qualified him 
for the many duties and responsibilities 
of life. He engaged in farming pursuits, 
having become familiar with that line 
of work by assisting his father, and in 
due course of time succeeded to the old 
homestead of one hundred and fifty 
acres, which is one of the best cultivated 
and most productive farms in that sec- 
tion of Bucks county. The neat and 
thrifty appearance of the property be- 
speaks the careful' supervision of one 
thoroughly versed in the details of farm 
work. Mr. Johnson follows in the foot- 
steps of his forefathers in religious and 
political affairs, being a vestryman of the 
Episcopal church, and a Democrat. He 
is interested in all matters pertaining to 
the welfare of the community, and in 
every relation of life has proved him- 
self an honorable and conscientious 
man. On April 2, 1890, Mr. Johnson was 
married to Elizabeth T. Schaffer, who 
was born in Bucks county. Pennsylvania, 
a daughter of Godfrey Schaffer. Their 



children are: Jessie A., born April 30, 
1894; Helen L, born January i, 1899; and 
Elizabeth V., born December 3, 1903. 



J. HERMAN BARNSLEY. Thomas 
Barnsley, major in "His Majesties 6oth 
Royal American Regiment of Foot," came 
with his regiment to America during 
the French and Indian War of 1756. 
. At the close of the war he resigned his 
commission and returning to England 
brought over to Bucks county his wife 
Bersheba and his nephew John Barnsley. 
J In 1763 he purchased six hundred acres in 
Bensalem, part of the Tatham tract, and 
erected thereon a handsome and commo- 
dious mansion house, the bricks for which 
were brought from England. He died in 
1771, and his wife died some years earlier. 
The property was sold by his executors to 
John Swift in 1772, and remained in the 
Swift family until 1883, when it was pur- 
chased by Sallie B., wife of Dr. Richard 
Dingee. The mansion house is still stand- 
ing. 

John Barnsley inherited a fourth interest 
in his uncle's estate, but it was paid him 
in Continental money and became prac- 
tically worthless. He was one of the com- 
mittee for driving off cattle in Bensalem to 
prevent them from falhng into the hands 
of the British., and was with Washington's 
army in January, 1777, in the march from 
Trenton to Princeton, his team having 
been impressed to haul ammunition. He 
purchased a farm in Newton township, 
where he lived until his death, February 2, 
1796. His wife was Elizabeth Van Court, 
who was born at Huntingdon Valley in 
1751, and died in 1824. The children of John 
and Elizabeth (Van Court) Barnsley were: 
Thomas, born January 21, 1774, removed to 
Maryland; WILLIAM, born November 8, 
1775; Mary, born March 21, 1778; Eliza- 
beth, born August 3. 1780; George, born 
November 8, 1783 ; Moses, born February 
23, 1788; Sarah, born March 10, 1791 ; and 
Ann, born October 14, 1795. 

William Barnsley, second son of John 
and Elizabeth, married Jane Van Horn, 
born in Makefield, July 25, 1784, and died 
July 25, 1861. They were married January 
21, 1808. Their children were: Mary, born 
1809, died unmarried January 16, 1889; 
John, born August 26, 181 1; Thomas C, 
born October 21, 1815, died September 5, 
1866, and Joseph Barnsley, born June 9, 
1820, died near Hartsville, January 12, 1888. 
William Barnsley died at Newtown, August 
21, 1848. 

John Barnsley, eldest son of William and 
Jane, resided on the homestead at Newtown 
until his death, January 11, 1880. He was 
a justice of the peace for thirty-five years, 
and transacted a great deal of business in 
settlement of estates and in transfers of 
real estate. He was a man of more than 
ordinary ability and very much respected 
in the community. He was county treasurer 



244 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



about 1848. He married October 27, 

1835, Mary Hough, born October 15, 1814, 
in Doylestown tuwnship, daughter of Ben- 
jamin and Hannah (Simpson) Hough, and 
a first cousin to the moiher of General U. 
S. Grant. She died at Newton, ScplL-niber 
25, 1895. Their children are : Anna J., liorn 

1836, married Captain Henry Y. Pickering; 
William, born February 17, 1838, died 
October 27, 1902, married INIary FJlen Faff, 
and has one daughter, Lily H., the wife of 
Edward P. Hicks, of Newtown. Hannah H., 
born 1839, married October 16. i860, Cap- 
tain Thomas P. Chambers. Elizabeth J., 
born July 4, 1844, married Major Samuel 
Comfort. Wilhelmina, born 1847. ^lary, 
born 1850, married George C. Worsfall. 
John Herman, born December 12, 1854, 
married April 23, 1902. Elizabeth, daughter 
of Colonel E. A. L. Roberts, of Titusville, 
Pennsylvania. 

J. Herman Barnsley, son of John and 
Mary (Hough) Barnsley, was born in New- 
town, December 12, 1854. He was educated 
in the public schools and Newtown Acad- 
emy and later took a course at a business 
college. He has traveled extensively in this 
country and abroad and spent several years 
in Kansas. He filled for some time a cler- 
ical position with the Standard Oil Company 
at Titusville, Pennsylvania, and later opened 
an office in Newark, New Jersey, and con- 
ducted a brokerage business. He married 
April 23, 1902, Elizabeth C. Roberts of 
Titusville. He purchased the old home- 
stead, "Sharon," near Newtown, Pennsyl- 
vania, which he remodeled, and resided' 
there one year when he sold the property 
to jSIr. John J. Tierney, of West Virginia, 
the present owner, and the following year 
erected a handsome residence on North 
Chancellor street, Newtown, where he now 
resides. His only child, John, was born 
March 15, 1903. 



HOWARD P. WHITE, of Doylestown, 
coroner of Bucks county, was born in War- 
rington township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, September 2, 1859, and is a son of the 
late Jonathan and Mary Anna (Brunner) 
White. The paternal ancestors of Mr. 
White were residents of Solebury. Bucks 
county, for several generations. Wil,liam 
White having purchased a farm of 125 acres 
on the Carversville road below Peters Cor- 
ner in 1729. 

William White, the grandfather of How- 
ard P. White, was a Iffelong resident of 
Solebury, residing near Carversville. and a 
shoemaker by trade. He married ^lary 
Delaney, and they were the parents of sev- 
eral children, among whom was Jonathan 
White, the father of the subject of this 
sketch. 

Jonathan White was born in Solebury, 
September 2. 1825. and was reared in that 
township. He learned the shoemaker's 
trade with his father, and followed that 
vocation for a few years. In 1857 he was 



appointed deputy sheriff by Albert Phillips, 
the sheriff of Bucks county, and served 
during the three years' term of Sheriff 
Phillips, closing with the year 1853. Im 
the fall of that year he was elected to the 
office of clerk of Orphans' court, and served 
in that office for three years. On his retire- 
ment from office he became proprietor of 
the Frog Hollow Hotel in Warrington 
township, Bucks county, which he con- 
ducted until the breaking out of the war. in 
1861, when he enlisted in Company D, One 
Hundred and fourth Pennsylvania Volun- 
teers, Colonel W. W. H. Davis, Captain 
Jacob Swartzlander, and was commissioned 
sergeant of his company. He served dur- 
ing three years of arduous service, partici- 
pating in many hard fought battles, the 
record of the gallant One Hundred and 
Fourth being too families to the people of 
Bucks county to be recounted here and -was 
mustered out September 25, 1864. He re- 
turned home badly broken in health, and 
never fully recovered from the effects of 
the hardships endured in the service of 
his country. After a few months rest he 
became the proprietor of a hotel at No. 1220 
Market street which he conducted for three 
years ; he then returned to Bucks county 
and kept a restaurant at Buckingham at 
the present location of the "Ottaway 
House," where he died in 1868. He mar- 
ried Mary Anna Brunner, daughter of 
Thomas and Theresa (Fredericks) Brun- 
ner, the latter a native of Germany, and the 
former of German descent, his ancestors 
having emigrated from Germany and settled 
in New Britain several generations back. 
Thomas Brunner was proprietor of the 
Willow Grove Hotel for two 3'ears, and 
then purchased the mills at .bridge Point, 
now Edison, Bucks counfy, of which he 
was the proprietor for-many years, residing 
in Edison in all oyer fifty years. Mary 
Anna (Brunner) White resides with her 
son in Doylestown. Jonathan and Mary 
Anna (Brunner) White were the parents of 
two children : Howard Phillips and Arthur 
Cernea White, the latter of whom died in 
1896. 

Howard P. White resided with hi? par- 
ents to the age of seventeen years, and then 
became a clerk in the store of E. H. Worth- 
ington, at Edison, and filled that position 
for four years. In 1881 he went to Phila- 
delphia and filled various positions there 
for two years. In 1883-4 he was employed 
at Cresson Springs, Pennsylvania. He then 
pccepted a position as steward on Jay 
Gould's yacht and later was bookkeeper of 
the Philadelphia Art Club of Pniladelphia 
for several years, resigning in 1897, since 
which time he has been engaged in the mer- 
cantile business at Doylestown. In the fall 
of 190-I he was elected to the office of 
coroner of Bucks county, and is now filling 
that position. In politics he is a Republican, 
and is one of the well known m-n nf the 
county seat. He is a member of Aquetong 
Lodge No. 193, I. O. O. F., St. Tammany 



TILDE 



kJ 



'0 

NS. 





^./M^^j^^v 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



245 



Castle, K. G. E. ; and the Doylestown I\Ian- 
naerchor Society. 

He married, May 12, 1889, May Emma 
Roberts, born May 12, 1861, daughter of 
John and Susanna (Kratz) Roberts, of 
Doylestown. On the maternal side she is 
descended from John Valentine Kratz, who 
was born in the Palatinate in 1707, and 
came to Pennsylvania at the age of twenty 
years in the ship "Friendship," arriving at 
Philadelphia, October 15, 1727, and settled 
in Upper Salford, now Montgomery county. 
The grandparents of Mrs. White arje Isaac 
H. and Sybilla (Duke) Kratz; her great- 
grandparents Abraham and Elizabeth 
(Fretz) Kratz; and her great-great-grand- 
parents Isaac and Mary (Yellis) Kratz, 
Isaac being a son of John Valentine, the 
emigrant. The only child of Howard P. 
and MaryJEmma (Roberts) White is Ed- 
ward Earfe, born February 18, 1890. The 
family are members of the Presbyterian 
church. 



WILLIAM G. MOVER, a venerable and 
«minently esteemed resident of the borough 
of Chalfont. for many years an active and 
potent factor in the agricultural, political 
and social interests of New Britain town- 
ship, was born at Pleasant Valley, Spring- 
field township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
February 14, 1834, a son of Abraham D. 
and Mary (Geisinger) Moyer. 

The founder of the American branch of 
the family was the Rev. Peter Moyer, who 
with his brothers William. Jacob and Henry, 
and their sister and widowed mother, came 
to America in 1741. The family were na- 
tives of Switzerland, and were forced to 
flee from their native country during the 
fierce persecution of the Mennonites by 
the Calvinists, or State Reformed church, 
to the Palatinate in Germany, where they 
remained with friends in the vicinity of 
Kerbach for about one year, when they 
â– emigrated to America. The mother mar- 
ried Nickey Schaafroth ; no issue. Of the 
brothers, Peter was the oldest and Plenry 
the youngest. Peter, William and Henry 
settled in Springfield township, Bucks 
county, and Jacob settled at Center Valley. 
Saucon township, Lehigh county. They all 
became farmers, and were active members 
of the Mennonite church. The supposition 
is that Peter was a minister in Switzer- 
land, and he was one of the early minis- 
ters of the church in Springfield township; 
Jacob was also a minister and preached 
at Coopersburgh. 

Rev. Peter Moyer, great-grandfather of 
William G. Moyer, was born in Switzer- 
land about 1723, married . He set- 
tled in Springfield township, Bucks county. 
Pennsylvania, near Pleasant Valley, where 
on May 28, 1752. he purchased his farm 
â– consisting of 107 acres (old measure) from 
Joseph Green. The property was bounded 
\>y lands of William Bryan. Joseph I'n- 
thanks, and James Green, and is owned 



now by Mary Moyer Geissinger, wife of 
Charles A. Geissinger, daughter of Abra- 
ham G. Moyer, a great-grandson. Rev. 
Peter ]\Ioyer was one of the early minis- 
ters of the Mennonite church of Spring- 
field. Children : Christian. John. Jacob, 
William, Henry, Isaac, Mary (Mrs. Kulp), 
Barbara. Two daughters married Kulps, 
and three children died young. 

William Moyer, grandfather of William 
G. Moyer, was born in Springfield town- 
ship, Bucks county, June 7, 1764. His oc- 
cupation was that of a farmer. He was 
united in marriage to Mary Overholt, who 
was born December 27, 1767, and their 
children were : Magdalena. Nancy. Han- 
nah. Kate. Mary and Abraham D. The 
death of William Moyer occurred February 
12. 1848; he was survived by his wife, who 
passed away September i, 1850. 

Abraham D. Moyer, father of William 
G. Moyer. was born on the old Peter Moyer 
farm in Pleasant Valley, June 6, 1798. He 
was reared on the homestead, received a 
good common school education, and 
throughout his active career followed farm- 
ing as a means of livelihood. He was the 
leader of the singing in the Mennonite 
church. In 1832 he married Mary Geis- 
inger, who was born in Upper Milford, 
Lehigh county, September 18, 181 r, a 
daughter of Philip and Fanny (Hestand) 
Geisinger. Their children are: William 
G., mentioned hereinafter ; Fanny, who be- 
came the wife of Nathaniel Bechtel, of 
Berks county ; Mary and Abraham. The 
father of these children died September 15, 
1871 ; the mother passed away December 9, 
1900. They were honest and industrious 
people, and in every relation of life per- 
formed their duties conscientiously. 

William G. Moyer spent his childhood and 
early manhood years on the farm owned 
by his father, and his education was ob- 
tained in the schools of Springfield and 
Quakertown. For ten years, from 1855 to 
1865, he served in the capacity of teacher, 
achieving a fair degree of success in this 
vocation owing to the fact that he was able 
to impart to others clearly and concisely 
the knowledge he wished them to receive. 
From the latter named year untTl 1872. a 
period of seven years, he engaged in farm- 
ing in Springfield township, after which he 
removed to New Britain township, where he 
owns a fine farm in the borough of Chal- 
font. He is practical and progressive in his 
methods, and, being familiar with all the 
details of this branch of industry, derives 
a goodlj' income from his labor. He has 
been active and prominent in political 
affairs, and has been chosen the incum- 
bent of several offices of trust and respon- 
sibility. He was township auditor for six 
years : secretary of the school board for 
a similar period and jury commissioner for 
Bucks county, having been elected in June, 
1903 ; and was first president of the council 
of Chalfont. serving three years. For 
many years he has served as correspondent 



246 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



and reporter for the United States Agri- 
cultural Department. He is a prominent 
member of the Mennonite church, and a 
Republican in politics. 

In i860 Mr. Moyer was married to Tvlary 
Swartley, who was born in New Britain 
township, in 1835, a daughter of John 
Swartley. Their children arc: i. Emma, 
born December 17, i86r, died January 9, 
1881. 2. Levi, born May 22, 1864, married 
Anna Detwiller, and they are the parents 
of the following named children : William 
D., born December 25. 1887; Sarah Amelia, 
born July 27, 1889; Hannah Theresa, born 
October 23, 1891 ; Mary Maria, born April 
17, 1894; Irene, born February 2. 1896; 
Enos, born July 5, 1898; Eva. born Febru- 
ary 9, 1900; Nora, born in June, 1901. 3. 
Abraham S., born November 7, 1866, mar- 
ried Susie M. Fretz, daughter of Eli Fretz, 
of Bedminster, and one child is the issue of 
this union, Alvin, born October 18. 1900. 4. 
William, born November 29, 1S68. a mer- 
chant of Chalfont. 5. Menno S., born 
November 18, 1870, was educated in the 
State Normal School at West Chester, and 
Haverford College. After his graduation 
he taught school for a number of years, 
and now is a member of the firm of Moyer 
Brothers, merchants of Lansdale. He 
married Annie Souder, and their children 
are : Evelyn Elizabeth and Margarette, 
born February 2, 1904. 6. Harvey, born 
March 16, 1877, married Macie Johnson. 
The mother of these children died January 
2, 1888. Mr. Moyer married for his second 
wife Mrs. Hannah Slifer Weis, who was 
born near Quakertown, Richland township, 
Bucks county. October 6, 1837, a daughter 
of Joseph Slifer. 



WILSON B. McKINSTRY. Nathan 
McKinstry, the founder of the Mc- 
Kinstry family in this country, was a 
native of the north of Ireland. He was 
born in the year 1712 and came to this 
country when a youth. In connection with 
a brother-in-law, Hugh Young, they pur- 
chased in 1744 a tract of 195 acres in 
Wrightstown. which they subsequently di- 
vided. Ten years later he sold his Wrights- 
town farm and removed to that part of 
Buckingham township now included in 
Doylestown township, where he purchased a 
farm of 202 acres and resided thereon until 
his death, April 15. 1790. He and his wife 
Mary were active members of Neshaminy 
Presbyterian church of Warwick township, 
of which he was a trustee. Their children 
were John, born ^7?,6, died 1791 ; Jane, born 
1745, married James Kerr, died 1797; 
Samuel, born 1748, died January 24, 1796; 
Henry, born 1750. died November 28. 1804; 

William, born 1752, died ; Robert, born 

1756, died July 25. 1834. 

Robert McKinstry, youngest son of Na- 
than and Mary, was born on the Bucking- 
ham homestead in T756. and remained there 
until his father's death in 1790. He mar- 



ried in 1783 Mary Weir, daughter of James 
Weir, of Warrington. Her sister, Rebecca 
Weir, married John Simpson and became 
the grandmother of U. S. Grant. The dis- 
tinguished soldier and statesman, shortly 
after his graduation at West Point, paid a 
visit to his cousins, the McKinstrys of 
Warrington. On the marriage of Robert 
INIcKinstry, his father built a house for him 
on the old homestead, but at the settlement 
of his father's estate he did not elect to 
retain any of the paternal, farm, and took 
up his residence in New Britain. He died 
July 25, 1834. His wife Mary died April 6, 
1846, at the age of eighty-nine years. 

Robert and Mary (Weir) McKinstry were 
the parents of seven children, viz : Jane, 
born 1784, died unmarried April 24, 1869; 
John, born November i, 1786, died unmar- 
ried September 24, 1863 ; Nathan, born Jan- 
uary 29, 1791, died December 23, I862 ; Rob- 
ert, born 1793, died September 5, 1871 ; Wil- 
liam, born 1796, settled in Ohio; James, borr» 
1799, died 1877; and Henry, born 1805. Rob- 
ert McKinstry, wife and their five sons and 
one daughter who remained in Bucks county 
were all active and consistent members of 
Neshaminy Presbyterian church ; John was 
for a long period a trustee ; and Henry and 
Nathan were elders. In their later days 
services were frequently held in their houses^ 
John, Nathan, James and Henry lived in 
Warrington, and Robert lived and died ors 
the homestead in New Britain ; he left no 
issue. 

Henry McKinstry, the youngest son of 
Robert and Mary, was reared on the home- 
stead, and early in life learned the trade of 
a carpenter, which he followed for several 
years. In April, 1832, he purchased of 
Antlinn-" Robinson a farm of ninety acres, 
pnd erecting an entirely new set of buildings- 
thereon settled down to agricultural pur- 
suits. He married. November 29, 1838,. 
Amanda Brady, daughter of Alexander 
Brady, of Philadelphia, but for many years 
a resident of Warrington, where he died in 
1863. Henry McKinstry was an elder in- 
the Neshaminy Presbyterian church for a 
number of years. He was active and prom- 
inent in social and political matters of his 
community, and served several years as 
school director. After a long and usefuT 
life, he died in 1885 at the age of eighty- 
years. His wife Amanda died in August, 
1902. The children of Henry and Amanda 
CBradv) McKinstry were five in number, 
viz.: Sarah. Mary. Wilson Brady. Henry 
Martyn, and Franklin Pierce. Sarah mar- 
ried David Cornell ; Mary married Samuet 
McNair ; and Franklin married Jennie Boil- 
cau. He is now a prominent physician of 
Washington, New Jersey. 

Wilson Brady McKinstry, eldcn son of 
Henry and Amanda (Brady") McKinstry, 
was born March i. 1846, on the farm where 
he still resides. On arriving at manhood 
he assumed the conduct of the home farm 
which he purchased at the death of his 
mother. In politics he is a Democrat, but 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



247 



has never sought or held other than local 
office. He has been a member of the local 
school board for nine years, serving both as 
treasurer and president of the board. He 
and his family are members of Neshaminy 
Presb>-terian church, with which the family 
has been connected for four generations. 
He married in 1876 Matilda Breuhl. born 
in Philadelphia, in 1855, \a daughter of John 
Breuhl, a native of Alsace, who came to this 
country when a youth and settled in Bucks 
county. To Wilson and Matilda (Breuhl) 
McKinstry have been born four children, 
viz: Mary, died in infancy; William. Henry 
and Herbert. William and Henry are elec- 
tricians and are both actively interested in 
the telephone business. William married 
Mary Stocker, and lives in West Chester. 

H. MARTYN McKINSTRY was born 
June 25, 1849, on the farm, in Warrington 
township where his brother, Wilson B. Mc- 
Kir..<«try, now resides. He is the second son 
of Henry and Amanda (Brady) McKinstry, 
the children of whom are five m number : 
Sarah B., wife of the late David Cornell, 
Southampton ; Mary, wife of Samuel INfac- 
Nair, Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania; Wilson 
B., Warrington, Pennsylvania ; H. Martyn, 
Warrington, Pennsylvania; Frank P., (M. 
D.) Washington, New Jersey. 

Henry McKinstry was born in 1805. He 
was a stanch Presbyterian and was a mem- 
ber of the Neshaminy Presbyterian church 
of Warwick. For many years and up to 
the time of his death, he was an elder in the 
church and although living six miles dis- 
tant, he was always in his place unless 
hindered by something over which he had 
no control. If the condition of the roads 
were such that he could not drive he quite 
often walked the whole distance to be able 
to be in his place. On November 29, 1838, 
he was married to Amanda Brady, daughter 
of Alexander and Achsah (Appleton) 
Brady, who helped and encouraged him in 
all duties, both spiritual and domestic. 
After his marriage he moved to the farm, 
which he had purchased a short time before, 
and which his son, Wilson B., now owns. 
He was a good, practical and prosperous 
farmer. 

H. Martyn McKinstry obtained his educa- 
tion at the local school and remained on 
the home farm, being associated with his 
brother in its management until 1893. On 
January 19, 1893, he married Mattie L., 
daughter of John B. and Adeline E. 
C Hoover) Walter, born ]\Iarch 9, 1862. Her 
father, John B. Walter, was born and 
reared where his daughter was born, in 
Warrington township, February 14. 1S35, 
and was a son of Samuel and Deborah 
(Brunner) Walter, and grandson of George 
Walter. He was a practical and active 
business man and a prominent member of 
the Reformed church. He died June 14, 
1900. aged sixty-five years. He married on 
December 2, 1856. Adeline E., daughter of 
Frederick and ^laria (Fleck) Hoover, and 



granddaughter of Philip and Mary (Con- 
rad) Hoover, of one of the oldest and most 
prominent Pennsylvania German families 
of the vicinity. 

After his marriage H. Martyn McKinstry 
purchased a farm belonging to his father's 
estate, about one mile north of the village 
of Warrington, where he still resides and 
on which he has since made many improve- 
ments. It is now one of the most convenient 
and comfortable homes in the neighborhood, 
the house and barn being supplied with 
water and the house heated throughout. 
Another of the modern conveniences of 
this home is the telephone of the local tele- 
phone company, of which Mr. H. Martyn 
McKinstry is the president. He is a mem- 
ber of the Neshaminy Presbyterian church 
and in 1890 was elected a trustee and in 
1904 he was elected an elder, which offices 
he still fills. H. Martyn and Mattie L. 
(Walter) McKinstry have been the parents 
of three children : Frank R., born November 
3, 1893; and Adeline W. and Amanda B., 
twins, born January 5, 1895. Adeline died 
at the age of two weeks. 



LINFORD R. CRAVEN. Among the 
men who have achieved local eminence in 
their chosen profession is Linford R. 
Craven, photographer, Doylestown, Penn- 
sylvania. He was born iMarch 26, 1864, in 
Hilltown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, the 
son of Joseph and Ann (Ritchie) Craven. 

The family of Craven are of Holland des- 
cent, and have been residents of Bucks 
county since the first quarter of the eigh- 
teenth century. Jacobus (James) Craven 
was one of the trustees of Neshaminy 
Presbyterian church of Warwick in 1743. 
He was a large landowner in Warminster 
township and in Moreland township, !Mont- 
gomery county. He died about 1760 at an 
advanced age. His children were : Thomas, 
Giles, James, Alice, wife of Harman Van- 
sant ; Elinor, wife of Clement Dungan ; 
Hannah, wife of William McDowell ; 
Esther, wife of Williarr t Gilbert ; and Mary, 
wife of Anthony Scout. Giles died without 
issue in 1798, and James removed to Vir- 
ginia. 

Thomas Craven ma^rfed ,Lena, daughter 
of William and Janet (Suydam) Bennett, 
and settled in Warminster township, where 
he died August, 1799, leaving sons : Will- 
iam, James, Giles, Isaac and Thomas, and 
daughters : Christiana, wife of Thomas 
Beans ; Edith, wife of Charles Vansant ; 
Ann, Catharine and Helena. 

Isaac Craven inherited from his father 
the "Mansion House" and 103 acres of land 
in Warminster that had been his grand- 
father's, whereon he died in May, 1835, at 
an advanced age. His children were Will- 
iam. Isaac, Abraham, and Elenah, wife of 
John Finney. Only the last two survived 
him and inherited his lands. His son Abra- 
ham married Hannah Finnev and settled 



248 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



on a farm in Moreland, but returned to 
Warminster some time after his father's 
decease. He died in 1882, aged al)out 
eighty-tive years, leaving seven children, 
four sons and three daughters. 

Joseph Craven, son of Abraham, and fath- 
er of the subject of this sketch, was born 
near Hatboro, in Moreland township, in 
1823. He married Ann, daughter of 
Thomas Ritchie, and great-granddaughter 
of James Ritchie, a Scotch-Irish settler of 
Warwick township, Bucks county. In 1869 
he removed to Hatlsoro, where he conducted 
a store for four years. In 1873 he purchased 
a farm in IMoreland, upon which he resided 
until 1883, when he removed to North 
Wales, Montgomery county, where he lived 
a retired life. 

His children , are : Edwin, residing in 
Scranton, Pennsylvania; Sue, wife of Frank 
McVeagh, of Philadelphia; Joanna, wife of 
Lewis K. Hall of Upper Makeheld; Will- 
iam of Bridgeport, Pennsylvania; Linford 
R. ; Robert, of Ashbourne, Pennsylvania ; 
and Mary deceased, who was the wife of 
Elmer Smith. 

Linford R. Craven, the subject of this 
sketch, was educated at the public schools 
of Hatboro and Upper Makefield, and at 
the age of fourteen years began his business 
career as a clerk in a store at Frankford, 
Philadelphia. In 1880 he removed to North 
Wales, where he was employed in making 
shirts, came to Doylestown three years later 
and followed the same business for one 
year, when he began photographing in 
connection with Samuel F. Dubois, a local 
photographer, and William Boyce of Phila- 
delphia. In 1885 he opened a portable 
studio in Doylestown, and a year later pur- 
chased the old spoke factory at the junction 
of Court and State streets and erected his 
present residence and studio. In politics 
Mr. Craven is a Democrat. He and his 
family belong to the Doylestown Presby- 
terian church. He is a member of Doyles- 
town Lodge, No. 94, I. O. O. F., Doyles- 
town Encampment, No. 35, I. O. O. F., St. 
Tammany Castle, No. 1^73, K. G. E., and of 
Lenape Council No. 11 17, Royal Arcanum. 
He has served three years in Doylestown 
borough council, and held other local 
offices. He was married February 14, 1883, 
to Fannie H., daughter of Gibson Johnson. 



CHARLES D. BIGLEY, the genial pro- 
prietor of the North Main Street Bakery, 
Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and for man}- 
years an officer in the Bucks county courts, 
was born in Nockamixon township. Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, December 14, 1844, 
and is a son of Isaac and ]\Iary (Deemer) 
Bigley, both of German extraction. 

Adam Bigley, the grandfather of Charles 
D., was a saddler by trade, and a lifelong 
resident of Nockamixon township, having 
purchased a small farm there in 1807, 
which he conducted in connection with his 



vocation as a harness maker. He died in 
Nockamixon in 1839. He and his wife Sarah 
were the parents of four children : Isaac, 
Solomon, Ann, wife of David Haring, and 
John. 

Isaac Bigley, eldest son of Adam and 
Mary, was born in Nockamixon township, 
September 5, 1798, and died there October 
12, 1883. He was a limeburner in Durham 
township and in Hunterdon county for sev- 
eral years, but during the last forty years of 
his life resided in Kintnersville, Nock- 
amixon township, on the line of Durham 
township, on a small lot conveyed to him 
in 1842. He married Mary Deemer, daughter 
of Solomon and Mary Deemer, of Nock- 
amixon, and a granddaughter of Michael 
Deemer, an early settler in Nockamixon. 
(See Deemer Family). They were the 
parents of nine children, viz : Elizabeth, 
who married James Lewis ; Sarah, who mar- 
ried Jesse Moser; Catharine, wife of Will- 
iam Cyphers of Riegelsville, Pennsylvania; 
Hannah, wife of Frank Laubenstaine ; 
Susan, wife of Owen Gares; Adam, who 
married Mary Bellis of New Jersey; Lydia, 
wife of William Nicholas; Solomon and 
Charles D. All three of the sons served 
in the Union army during the civil war ; 
Adam in a New Jersey regiment ; Solomon 
D. in the First Pennsylvania Regiment and 
later as recruiting sergeant ; and Charles D. 
in the One Hundred and Seventy-fourth 
regiment. 

Charles D. Bigley was born and reared in 
Nockamixon township, and acquired his 
education in the public schools. In early 
life he followed the trade of a cigar maker, 
aiid vras also engaged for some time in lime- 
burning. In October, 1862, he obtained the 
consent of his father and enlisted for nine 
months service in the One Hundred and 
Seventy-fourth Pennsylvania Regiment, 
under Colonel John W. Nyce, and 
at the organization of the regiment 
in Philadelphia on November I, 1862, 
was appointed corporal in Company 
F under Captain Thomas W. Harris. 
November ig, 1862, the regiment proceeded 
to Washington, D. C, and from there to 
Suffolk, Virginia, where it reported to 
General Peck and was assigned to General 
Ferry's brigade, and on December 31, was 
ordered to Newbern, North Carolina, 
where it arrived January 6, 1863. In the 
same month it was ordered to reinforce the 
army operating in front of Charleston, 
South Carolina, and sailed from Beaufort, 
arriving at Hilton Head on February 5, 
and was stationed on Helena Island for 
about a month. It then proceeded to Beau- 
fort, where it was engaged in provost duty 
imtil June, 1863, when it was again trans- 
ferred to Hilton Head. Towards the close 
of July, the term of enlistment being about 
to expire, the regiment was ordered north, 
and, returning to Philadelphia, was hon- 
orably mustered out of service August •/, 
1S63. Mr. Bigley returned to Nockamixon, 
where he resided for the next twenty 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



2-\9 



years, being employed for fourteen years 
at Durham furnace. Politically Mr. Big- 
ley is a Democrat, and has always taken 
an active part in the councils of his party, 
-as well as in the affairs of the commun- 
ity in which he lived. He was a member 
of the school board of Nockamixon town- 
ship for a number of years, and also filled 
other local offices. In the fall of 1884 he 
was electee^ on the Democratic ticket to 
the office of clerk of quarter sessions of 
Bucks county, and removed with his fam- 
ily to the county seat. He filled the of- 
fice of clerk of courts for three years with 
eminent ability, and since the expiration 
of his term of office has filled a number 
of official positions. He was a member 
of borough council for seven years, resign- 
ing the position during his third term by 
reason of his removal to a different ward. 
In 1896 he was appointed a tipstaff of 
the court, and in igor was advanced to 
the position of court crier, which he since 
filled to the satisfaction of the court. In 
1890 he purchased the North Main Street 
Bakery of Enos Weiss, and is still en- 
gaged in conducting it. He is a member 
of Peace and Union Lodge, No. 456, I. 
O. O. F., of Rieglesville, Pennsylvania; 
of Pakonet Lodge, No. 158, I. O. R. M., 
of Kintnersville ; and of General Robert 
L. Bodine Post, G. A. R., of Doylestown. 
He and his family are members, of Salem 
Reformed church. 

Mr. Bigley has been twice married. His 
first wife was Mary Jane Fluck, daugh- 
ter of Amos Fluck, of Springfield town- 
ship, Bucks county, and they were the par- 
ents of two children; Oscar H., now trans- 
cribing clerk in the office of the recorder 
of deeds; and Minnie, wife of Reuben C. 
Stever. Oscar H., married A. Florence 
Grim, daughter of the late George W. and 
Elizabeth (Koons) Grim, of Nockamixon, 
and sister of Hon. Webster Grim of 
Doylestown, and they have been the parents 
of six children, three of whom survive, viz : 
Grace, a teacher in the public schools of 
Bucks county, Ethel, and Dorothy. Reu- 
"ben C. and Minnie CBigley") Stever are the 
parents of three children : Charles B., Helen 
and Frank, deceased. Mrs. Mary Jane Big- 
ley died July 11, 1894, and Mr. Bigley mar- 
ried ("second) Decenaber 3, 1896, Mrs. 
Ella (Harrold) Haldeman, widow of Ja- 
cob Haldeman, of Doylestown township, 
and daughter of William Harrold, of 
Doylestown. 



JAMES S. HARRAR, descended from 
an honored early family in Montgomery 
â– county, Pennsylvania, and now following 
farming in Warminster township, Bucks 
county, was born April 30, 1866, in the 
former county, his parents being Joel J. 
and Wilmina (Haupt) Harrar, who were 
likewise natives of Montgomery county. 
The father was a son of James S. Harrar, 
also born in Montgomery county, while 



the great-grandfather, John F. Harrar, Sr., 
was a native of Wales and emigrated to 
America during the colonial epoch in the 
history of the United States, settling in 
ISIontgomery county. He was a Baptist in 
religious . faith. In early manhood he 
learned the shoemaker's trade, and in ad- 
dition to that occupation followed farm- 
ing. James S. Harrar was reared in JMont- 
gomery county, and after his marriage set- 
tled upon a farm there, carrying on agri- 
cultural pursuits throughtout his remain- 
ing days. He, too, was a Baptist in relig- 
ious faith and was of a leading and influen- 
tial family of the county. He had a broth- 
er, Nathan Harrar, who was twice a repre- 
sentative of the district in the state legis- 
lature of Pennsylvania. The children of 
James S. Harrar, grandfather of our sub- 
ect,* were five in number : Lydia, Joel J., 
Martha, Elwood and Mary. 

Joel J. Harrar, father of James S. Har- 
rar, was married and settled near the old 
home farm, where he remained for five 
years. He afterward removed to the Thom- 
as Folk farm, upon which he lived for 
thirteen years, when he purchased the "Will- 
iam Shae farm in Horsham township, 
Bucks county, where he remained until 
his death, which occurred January 29, 
1904. He lived the quiet life of a farmer, 
and his upright and honorable career gained 
for him the respect of his fellow men. His 
political support was given the Democracy. 
His wife survives him and finds a good 
home with her son James. She was a 
daughter of John and Susan (Fell) Haupt. 
The Haupt family, residents of Berks coun- 
ty, were of German descent, while the Fells 
lived in Buckingham township, Bucks 
county, and were of Quaker faith. John 
Haupt was an agriculturist, actively iden- 
tified with farming interests in Montgom- 
ery county, and he died upon the old fam- 
ily homestead near Montgomeryville. In 
his family were four children: Seneca, a 
farmer ; Wilmina, who became Mrs. Har- 
rar ; Nathan ; and Elizabeth. To Joel J. 
and Wilmina (Haupt) Harrar were born 
four children: John, a farmer; James S. : 
Elwood ; and Wilmar, a farmer for the 
iMcKean estate. 

James S. Harrar was reared to farm 
life and remained at home until his mar- 
riage, when in 1890 he rented the old his- 
toric farm known as the Isaac Parry prop- 
erty in Warminster township, Bucks coun- 
ty. He has since purchased this place and 
yet resides thereon, carrying on general 
farming and also attending the Philadel- 
phia market. He has repaired and remod- 
eled the barn, placed all of the buildings 
in good condition, has his fields under a 
high state of cultivation and, in fact, has 
made his farm one of the best improved 
properties of the locality. He uses modern 
machinery in its development and culti- 
vation, and everything about his place is 
kept in excellent condition. He also has 
a herd of cows and sells milk and he 



2:;0 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



also keeps good horses, both for the farm 
work and driving. Mr. Harrar was reared 
in the Democratic faith, and has always 
supported the party, but has never sought 
or desired office. 

He has been married twice. His first 
wife died August 8, 1898, leaving a son, 
Carrell, who was born May 3, 1893. 
December 4, 1901, Mr. Harrar wedded Miss 
Susan C. Parry, belonging to one of the 
old and prominent families of Pennsyl- 
vania. Her parents were Isaac C. and 
Sarah B. (Hicks) Parry, both natives of 
Bucks county, descended from ancestors 
who have long been identified with the 
development and progress of the state. 
The mother was a daughter of Edward and 
Sarah (Worstel) Hicks, of Newtown. Ed- 
ward and Elias Hicks were cousins, and 
both were highly educated and became emi- 
nent preachers, being the founders of the 
Hicksite branch of the Friends society. Ed- 
ward Hicks was an eminent divine of that 
denomination, and was well known through- 
out â–  the world by the representatives of 
the Society of Friends. He resided in Lang- 
horne and at Newtown, Bucks county, but 
he preached the gospel according to his 
interpretation in many places in America 
and thoroughly established the faith in 
which he believed. The children of Ed- 
ward Hicks were : Mary. Mrs. Susan Car- 
lac, Isaac W.. Mrs. Elizabeth Plummer, 
and Mrs. Sarah H. Parry. 

In the paternal line the ancestral history 
of Mrs. Harrar can be traced back through 
many generations to Thomas Parry. Sr.. 
who came from Radmanshire, Wales, to 
America during colonial days and settled 
in Montgomery county, being one of the 
early promoters of development and prog- 
ress in eastern Pennsylvania. He assisted 
in laying broad and deep the foundation 
for the present development and progress 
of his part of the state, and was a leading 
and influential resident of. Pennsylvania. 
He and his descendants have been con- 
sistent members of the Society of Friends. 
to which they yet adhere. They have lived 
lives of simplicity and of honesty, and have 
ever commanded the respect of those with 
whom they have come in contact. Thomas 
Parry, Sr., was the father of Thomas Par- 
ry, Jr., and he was the father of Jacob 
Parry, whose son Isaac Parry. Sr., was the 
father of Isaac C. Parry, who was Mrs. 
Harrar's father. Isaac Parry, Sr.,* was a 
broad-minded, intelligent business man and 
farmer, who was often called upon to write 
wills, settle estates and acts as guardian for 
heirs. None of the family have ever as- 
pired to elective offices or public notoriety 
of any kind. They have mostly followed 
farming, but others have been concerned 
with industrial and commercial interests. 
Thomas Parry, Sr., obtained a large tract 
of land at Edgehill. where he improved nn 
extensive farm, becoming very successful. 
There he reared his family and spent his 
remaining days. Thomas Parry, Jr., his 



son, was reared to manhood upon the old 
homestead and after his marriage removed 
to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he 
purchased an extensive tract of land^ 
including the farm upon which James 
S. Harrar now resides. Thomas Parry- 
improved a large portion of his property 
and thereon reared his family. His son 
Jacob married and settled upon the. old 
homestead, continuing the work of 
further development and there he, too, 
lived and died. His son, Isaac Parry, 
Sr., obtained the old homestead, which 
in turn was inherited by his son, Isaac 
C. Parrj^ and both reared their fami- 
lies and died upon that place. During 
the period of the revolutionary war the 
Parry family was often molested by the 
contending armies, who foraged upon 
their place. On one occasion a scouting 
party of English came to the homestead 
farm and found there some fat sheep, 
one of which they killed, compelling 
Mrs. Parry to cook it for them in the 
Dutch oven. Before the cooking pro- 
cess had been completed, however, a: 
party of American scouts appeared and 
the British fled, so that the American' 
troops got the meal which had been 
prepared for the other soldiers. The 
Parry family, from Thomas Parry, the 
progenitor in America, down to the 
present generation, has always been dis- 
tinguished for simplicity of living, pur- 
ity of morals, untiring industry and high 
principles. Isaac Parry, Sr., grandfather 
of Mrs. Harrar, was born upon the old 
family homestead in June, 1774, and died 
there in October, 1857. He was mar- 
ried twice, his first union being with 
Sarah Hopkins, by whom he had three 
children: Rebecca. Jacob and Richard 
H. His second wife was Mary Nixon, 
a daughter of Samuel and Susan (Rob- 
erts") Nixon, also of a prominent family 
of Bucks county, and their children 
were: Tacey, who died unmarried; 
Thomas; Samuel; Isaac C; Susanna; 
and Mary, who became the wife of Jo- 
seph Saunders, of Philadelphia, and is 
the only one now living. 

Isaac C. Parry, father of Mrs. Har- 
rar, was born and reared on the old fam- 
ily homestead in Bucks county, and 
became one of the prominent farmers 
of the locality, carrying forward the 
work of agric\iltural development that 
had been instituted by his ancestors. He 
was a man of sterling integrity and 
honor, his name being above reproach, 
and he lived a life in harmony with the 
principles of Friends, in which he reared 
his family and they have never departed 
from that faith. He married Miss 
Hicks, and they became the parents of 
five children: Elizabeth H., who mar- 
ried Isaac Warner; J. C. of Philadel- 
phia: Tacey M.. the wife of R. Willetts: 
Mary S.; and Susan C. the wife of J. S. 
Harrar. The father died upon the old 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



2^1 



family homestead July 12, 1893, passing 
away at the age of seventy-seven years, 
while his wife's death occurred Febru- 
ary 23, 1895. 



ABRAHAM M. MYERS. Six genera- 
tions of the Myers family, to which Abra- 
ham M. Myers belongs, have resided in 
Bucks county. His great-great-grandfather 
was the first of the name to locate here, 
settling in Bedminster township, near 
Pipersville, whence he removed to Plum- 
rtead township. He was a farmer and 
blacksmith, following those pursuits 
throughout his entire life. He married a 
Miss Nash and they had children : Henry, 
Abraham, Christian, Esther, Mary and Bar- 
bara. 

Henry Myers (2) son of John Myers, 
also learned the blacksmith's trade, which 
he followed in connection with agricultural 
pursuits. He lived near Smith's corner, in 
Plumstead township, on land which had 
hitherto been in possession of his father. 
He married Margaret Geisinger, and they 
had children : Abraham G.. Joseph G., Mary, 
Nancy, Esther and Henry G. 

Abraham G. Myers (3) son of Henry 
and Margaret (Geisinger) Myers, was born 
on the old home farm in Plumstead town- 
ship, October 27, 1800, and died January 27, 
1881. He, too, followed the occupation of 
farming, and lived near Pipersville. He 
was married in 1834 to Sarah Fritz, and 
their children were three in number : 
Francis F., Mary, who was born April 23, 
1840, and died June 7, 1893; and Aaron F., 
born May 4. 1846. 

Francis F. Myers (4), elder son of Abra- 
ham G. and Sarah (Fritz) Myers, was born 
in Bedminster township. April 22, 1838. He 
was a farmer, and lived all his life in the 
township of his nativity. His wife bore 
the maiden name of Rachel Ivlyers, and they 
had the following children : Abraham M., 
Sarah Ann, the wife of Allen Zetty; IMary 
Ellen, wife of Levi Myers ; Minerva, wife 
of Henry Myers ; Huldah ; Rachel , 
Amanda ; Ida : and Livvie. deceased. 

Abraham M. Myers (5), the eldest child 
of Francis Myers, was born in Bedminster 
township, July 19, 1861, and was reared 
upon his father's farm, while his education 
was acquired in the district schools of the 
neighborhood. At the time of his marriage 
he settled in Skippack township, ]\Iontgom- 
ery county, where he conducted a farm for 
two years and then returned to Bedminster 
township, where he worked in a mill for 
three years. On the expiration of that period 
he purchased the Jacoby farm, on which he 
still resides, and to the further development 
and improvement of which he still directs 
his energies, making it an excellent property. 
He has also been active in community af- 
fairs, and in 1892 was elected a school 
director, which position he has since con- 
tinued to fill. His political allegiance is 
given to the Republican party, and he is a 



member of the Lutheran church. On January 
13, 1883, Mr. Myers was united in marriage 
to Miss Sarah Ann Gruver, a daughter of 
John and Hannah (Hillpot) Gruver, and 
they now have seven children, who are rep- 
resentatives of the Myers family in the sixth 
generation in Bucks county. These are : 
Ervin G.. born April 7, 1884; Eva G.. born 
May 9, 1885 ; Francis G., bom August 17^ 
1887; Jerome G., born September 19, 1894; 
Hannah C., born IMarch 6, 1896. died April 
15. 1897 ; Aaron G., born September 14,. 
1898; and Norman, born June 21, 1902. 



WILLIAM PENN ROBERTS, a mem- 
ber of the firm of Roberts, Winner & Co., 
manufacturers, of Quakertown, Pennsyl- 
vania, was born August 16, 1843, near Per- 
kiomen Junction, Schuylkill township, 
Chester county, Pennsylvania, a son of 
Lewis and Harriet (Brooke) Roberts and 
grandson of Israel and Anna (Foulke) 
Roberts, who resided near Trumbauers- 
ville, Pennsylvania, where Israel Roberts 
was engaged in agricultural pursuits. 

Lewis Roberts (father) was born 
December 21, 1791, in Milford township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He attended 
the subscription schools of his district, and 
received some instruction from the Friends' 
school at Richland Monthly Meeting^ 
Quakertown. He then learned wheelwright- 
ing and ploughmaking, which trades he fol- 
lowed throughout the active years of his 
career. On May 24. 1821, Mr. Roberts 
married Harriet Brooke, daughter of Isaac 
and Susan (Jones) Brooke; her father was 
a miller of Conshohocken, Montgomery 
county, and settled at Perkiomen Junction, 
Chester county. Their children were as fol- 
low? : Clementina Brooke, became the wife 
of Samuel Lee, of Leesport, Berks county. 
Anna Foulke became the wife of Evan 
Vanderslice, of Schuylkill township, Chester 
county; they now reside at Valley Forge. 
Sarah Emily became the wife of Joseph 
Fussell. of Chester Springs. Chester county. 
Mary became the wife of Charles Fish, and 
thev now reside at Reading. Charles 
Brooke, born September 13, 1829, died 
February 5. 1885. married Rebecca Rossitej ; 
they lived in Perry county, Pennsylvania. 
Lewis Ellwood, born February 26, 1835, 
married Jane Foulke, of Quakertown, and 
thev reside in the city of Philadelphia. Jo- 
seph Jones, died at Relay Station, iMary- 
land ; he was a member of the One Hundred 
and Twentj'-eighth Pennsylvania Volun- 
teers during the Civil war. William Penn, 
mentioned at length hereinafter. David 
Brooke was killed in the battle of Peters- 
burg, April, 1865 ; he was first lieutenant of 
Company H, Two Hundred and Fifth 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, Ninth Army 
Corps, during the civil war. 

William Penn Roberts attended the dis- 
trict school, and at the same time assisted 
with the work at home until the death of 



252 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



his father, in 1861, wlicn the family moved 
to Port Kennedy, jMontgomery county! lie 
attended the school of that section for one 
winter, 1861-62, and in the spring of tlie 
latter named year went to Piiiladclphia and 
entered an apprenticeship to learn stove- 
plate molding with Cox, Weightman & Cox, 
founders. Here he remained for one year, 
but on account of labor troubles was com- 
pelled to give up learning the trade at that 
place. He went to Stuyvesant, New York, 
and entered the employ of the Columbia 
Company, where his brother, Lewis E. Rob- 
erts, was engaged as moulder, and here com- 
pleted his term of apprenticeship, serving 
one and one-half years with this firm. He 
worked as a journeyman for the same com- 
pany until the fall of 1865, when he was 
Employed by his brother, Lewis E. Roberts, 
who had established a stove plate foundry 
at Quakertown, Pennsylvania, in 1864, in 
conjunction with David H. Thomas, who 
Tiad erected a small shop near Strawn's 
Mill. In 1867 the firm felt the necessity of 
enlarging their facilities to meet the de- 
mands of their constantly increasing busi- 
ness, and accordingly located on Broad 
street, near Third street, Quakertown, 
where they erected a large foundry and 
stove fitting room, taking possession of the 
same in that year. William P. Roberts 
continued with them as a floor worker until 
1875, in which year he was engaged as fore- 
man of the molding department, and con- 
tinued in that capacity until the destruction 
of the plant by fire in 1880. The firm then 
leased the American Stove Foundry, at 
Second and Mifflin streets. Philadelphia. In 
1881 William P. Roberts joined with several 
other former employes of Roberts & Thomas 
and purchased the 'ruins of that firm at 
•Quakertown, and under the title of Rogers, 
Roberts, Ecypes & Co. started the plant in 
February, 1882. Since then there have been 
some changes in the personnel of the firm, 
but Mr. Roberts has kept his place, and to- 
gether with William P. Winner and Francis 
Cavanaugh form the firm of Roberts, Win- 
ner & Co., master mechanics in their lines, 
all of them, and during this latter partner- 
ship the business has gained in volume and 
importance until at the present time (1905) 
the stoves of Roberts, Winner & Co. can 
be found at the homes of people from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific. The firm gives em- 
ployment to about one hundred hands in 
its various departments, and is thus an im- 
portant factor in the industrial life of the 
town. Mr. Roberts is actively interested in 
local political affairs, has served on the 
Quakertown board of education, and also in 
other positions of usefulness to the citizens 
of that town. His views coincide with 
those of the Republican party. 

Mr. Roberts was twice married. His first 
wife was Anna Rawlings, daughter of 
Franklin and Martha ("Roberts) Rawlings. 
of Quakertown. who died M^rch 24. 1882. 
Their children were : Rachel, born May 
23, 1871, attended the public schools 



of Quakertown, is unmarried, and re- 
sides at home. Warren, born Sep- 
tember I, 1873, died December 6, 1873. 
Thomas, born August 12, 1876, died 
August 12, 1876. William Arthur, born 
June 13, 1879, attended the public 
schools of Quakertown, also the George 
School, at Newtown, Bucks county, and 
then entered the dental department of the 
University of Pennsylvania, graduating 
with the class of 1902. He practiced for a 
time at Ambler, Pennsylvania, but is now 
traveling through the south, west and 
Mexico. In 1884 Mr. Roberts married Le- 
titia K. Kinsey, daughter of Nathaniel and 
Elizabeth (Morgan) Kinsey, of Quaker- 
town. Their children are : Linford Brook, 
born December 15, 1885, attends the 
Quakertown public school. Nathaniel Jo- 
seph, born October 25, 1888, attends the 
Quakertown public school. Marian Eliza- 
beth, born September 7, 1890, also attends 
the Quakertown public school. The family 
are members of the Society of Friends. 



JAMES VANSANT RANDALL, of 
Newtown, one of the best known and 
largest carriage manufacturers in Bucks 
county, was born in Byberry, Philadel- 
phia county. December 10, 1831, and is 
a son of Eber and Rachel (Vansant) 
Randall. 

The- Randall family have been resi- 
dents of Bucks county for over two cen- 
turies, and are of English descent. Nich- 
olas Randall, a carpenter by trade and 
a native of England, settled in South- 
ampton township, Bucks county, where 
he purchased 250 acres of land in 1698. 
His son, Nicholas Randall, Jr., married 
in 1738 Agnes Comly, daughter of 
Henry and Agnes (Heaton) Comly, of 
Middletown, and later removed to More- 
land township. George, Joseph and 
William Randall, supposed to be sons 
of Nicholas, became members of Buck- 
ingham Meeting of Friends in/ 1722. 
They lived for a time near Newtown, re- 
moving later to Southampton. Joseph 
removed to York county with his fam- 
ily in 1755. Both George and Joseph 
married Doans. daughters of Daniel 
Doan and Mehetabel his wife, who 
came to Middletown, Bucks county, 
from Sandwich, Massachusetts. George 
married (second) Mary Harding, widow 
of Thomas Harding, Jr., and another 
daughter of Henry and Agnes (Heaton) 
Comly. 

The paternal grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch was Amos Randall, 
said to have been a grandson of Jacob 
Randall, eldest son of George by his 
second marriage with Mary (Comly) 
Randall. Jacob was married in 1753 to 
"a woman of another perstiasion" and 
was disowned by the Friends. Amos 
Randall was a carpenter by trade and 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



253 



lived from early life in Buckingham 
township. He was born in the year 
1779, and was married December ir, 
1804, before John Wilson, Esq., of 
Buckingham, to Jane Hartley, daughter 
of Anthony and Sarah (Betts) Hartley, 
of Buckingham, granddaughter of 
Thomas and Elizabeth Hartley, and 
great-granddaughter of Edward Hart- 
ley,, who settled in Buckingham in 1702, 
and was the ancestor of all the Hart- 
leys of Bucks county. Edward w-as the 
father of three sons — Thomas, John and 
Roger, all of whom had large families 
and were large land-owners in Bucking- 
ham and Solebury. Thomas and Eliza- 
beth had twelve children, of whom An- 
thony was the fourth. He was twice 
married; by his first wife, Elizabeth 
Smith, he had seven children, and by 
his second, Sarah Betts, six more, Jane, 
born 4 mo. i, 1779, being the fourth. Her 
mother, Sarah Betts. was a daughter of 
Thomas and Elizabeth Betts, of Buck- 
ingham, and was born 4 mo. 14, I747. 
and died in 1797. Her grandfather, 
Thomas Betts, was a native of Long 
Island and died at Newtown, Bucks 
county, in 1747- 

Amos Randall purchased in 1810 a 
small farm in Buckingham, which he 
conducted in connection with carpen- 
tering until his death on April 14, 1854, 
at the age of seventy-five years. Amos 
and Jane . (Hartley) Randall were the 
parents of eight sons: Aaron, Eber, 
David, Levi, Ralph, Isaac, Jesse and 
Edward. Jane, the mother of these chil- 
dren, was a member of Friends' Meet- 
ing: the father was not a member, 
though frequently attending their meet- 
ings. All of the eight boys were reared 
to mechanical trades, and five of them 
eventually engaged in the manufacture 
of carriages in Bucks county. Aaron 
and Levi never married: David removed 
to the west; Isaac and Jesse married 
sisters by the name of Lambert, the for- 
mer settling in Makefield and the latter 
in Solebury: Ralph married Deborah 
Firman, and died in 1883; Edward never 
married. 

Eber Randall, the father of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was born in Buck- 
ingham township in the year 1807. and 
was educated at the local and Friends' 
schools. He remained on the farm until 
the age of sixteen years, when he be- 
came an apprentice to the shoemaker's 
trade, which he followed for a number 
of years. He later purchased and rrtoved 
to his father-in-law's farm in Middle- 
town, and followed farming until 1858, 
when he removed to New^town. and later 
to Princeton, New Jersey, where he re- 
sided for a short time, and then removed 
to Bristol, Bucks county, where he died 
in T887. at the age of eighty years. His 
wife was Rachel • Harrison Vansant, 
daughter of Garret Vansant, of Middle- 
town township, Bucks county, whose 



ancestors had been residents of Bucks 
county, for several generations, being of 
Holland descent and settling origmally 
on Long Island, from whence his great- 
grandfather, Garret VanSandt, removed 
to Bucks county in 1699. Garret Van- 
sant, the maternal grandfather of Mr. 
Randall, was the father of six children, 
three sons and three daughters — 
Rachel, the mother of Mr. Randall; Jane, 
who married Isaac Randall, a cousin of 
Eber; and Mary, who married Jonathan 
Hunter. Eber and Rachel (Vansant; 
Randall were the parents of five chil- 
dren: I. James V. 2. Wilson, who mar- 
ried Caroline Harding, and was for a 
number of years associated with his 
brother James in the carriage business, 
and some time afterwards in the same 
business at Bristol, Bucks county. Their 
children were: Clarence, who married 
Hannie L. White, one son, Clifford W. 
Randall; James Merton, who married 
IMartinette Patterson, daughters, Helen 
and Marian; Clara, who married Will- 
iam Broadnax, issue: Clara, Wilfred and 
Wilson. Clara married for second hus- 
band Thomas Ivins, issue: Charles; 
Rachel, who married Samuel Roberts, 
issue: Samuel Ralph and Wayne Wal- 
ton. 3. Mary Jane. 4. Anna L., who 
married Penrose Wilson, one son, 
George R. 5. Isaac, who died at the age 
of four years. 

James V. Randall was educated in the 
public schools of Bucks county, and at 
an early age learned the carriage manu- 
facturing business with his uncle Isaac 
Randall, at Dolington, Bucks county, 
serving an apprenticeship of five years 
and working as a journeyman for his 
uncle one year. In 1854 he located at 
Newportville, Bucks county, and en- 
gaged in the manufacture of carriages. 
In the fall of the same year he took his 
brother Wilson into partnership and 
they did a small business there until 
1857 under the firm name of J. V. & W. 
Randall. In the latter year they re- 
moved to Newtown, having purchased 
the plant of J. E. Woolsey, who had es- 
tablished a carriage manufacturing 
business there in 1852. This firm con- 
tinued the business at Newtown until 
1865, doing a large business. In that 
year James V. purchased the interest of 
his brother and continued the business 
alone until 1895, when his nephew, 
Clarence Randall, became a member of 
the firm, under the firm name of J. V. 
& C. Randall, which has continued to 
the present time. This firm do a large 
business in the manufacture and repair 
of carriages and wagons of all kinds 
used in this part of the country, and 
have built up an enviable reputation for 
the character of the work they turn out, 
and for fair and reliable methods of doing 
business with their home people. Their 
plant is thoroughly equipped with the 
best up-to-date machinery, and by a 



254 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



careful study of the wants and needs of 
the people they are able to keep in 
their large warerooms and sell at reas- 
onable prices every variety of wagon 
and carriage used in this part of the 
country. The plant is one of the valu- 
able institutions of Newtown, and em- 
ploys several hands. In politics, Mr. 
Randall is a Republican, but is a man of 
unassuming manners and retiring dispo- 
sition, devoted to his business, and has 
never sought public office. He has 
served one term in the town council of 
Newtown. He is a strong advocate of 
temperance principles, and from boy- 
hood has lived a moral, upright and tem- 
perate life, and devoted time and money 
to the cause of temperance. As an em- 
ployer of a large number of hands over 
a period of fifty years, he has never 
permitted intemperance, profanity or 
the inordinate use of tobacco among 
his employees. His support and sympa- 
thy have always been with the Society of 
Friends, and all others whose teaching 
makes men better citizens and fits them 
for the whole of life's duties. He takes 
little interest in dogmatic theology, but 
much in the discoveries of science in the 
nineteenth century relating to the prob- 
lems of the universe and man's place in 
nature. 

He was married in 1858 to Mrs. Han- 
nah L. Stradling, a daughter of Thomas 
Harding, and they were the parents of 
two children: George, who died at the 
age^of four years; and William E., who 
is a photographer at Newtown, and is 
married to Meta Schisler, of German- 
town, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Hannah Lee- 
dom Randall, the mother of his children, 
died in 1886, and Mr. Randall married 
in 1894 Kate Larue Krewson, daughter 
of Jonathan K. Krewson, of an old and 
highly respected family of lower Bucks. 
Her father devoted most of his life to 
school teaching and was for many years 
-one of the prominent educators of 
Bucks county. 



WILLIAM JOHNSON, of South 
Perkasie, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
was born February 6, 1847, at White 
Marsh, Montgomery county, on the old 
Tiomestead where his ancestors had lived 
for several generations. Henry John- 
son, the father of William, was a son of 
Henry, and was born and reared on the 
old homestead at White Marsh. He was 
a farmer and lime burner, carrying on 
â– for many years an extensive business 
in lime burning. He died on the old 
homestead in 1901. His wife was Deb- 
orah DeWees, of an old family in the 
•nieghborhood of Valley Forge, and they 
were the parents of six children, Henry; 
Ihe subject of this sketch; Samuel: Ra- 
•chel: Emma, wife of Joseph Nyce; and 
Annie, wife of Daniel Hallman. 



William Johnson was reared and edu- 
cated in White Marsh township. He 
was for several years engaged in the 
lime business, and also was an exten- 
sive contractor in the building of ma- 
cadam roads. He built the macadam 
road from Philadelphia to Chestnut 
Hill, and also filled other large con- 
tracts. In 1902 he came to South Per- 
kasie and purchased the hotel property 
there, which he has since conducted. 
He is a member of the Masonic frater- 
nity, being affiliated with Thompson 
Lodge, No. 340, F. and A. M.; and 
Thompson Chapter, No. 360, R. A. M., 
of Philadelphia. Mr. Johnson was for 
ten years a resident of Chester county, 
where he did an extensive business in 
lime burning, stone crushing and road 
building. In 1870 he married Sarah 
Leisinger, of Montgomery county, and 
they have been the parents of four chil- 
dren: Henry, who married Rebecca 
Schultz, of Norristown, and is engaged 
in the lime and stone business at Read- 
ing, Pennsylvania; Howard and Alfred, 
both of whom are deceased ; and Mary. 



HESTON WALTON, who was born 
December 31, 1845, on the home farm 
near Hatboro, where he yet resides, 
traces his ancestry back through sev- 
eral generations to William Walton, 
who was the youngest of four brothers 
of the Walton branch who came from 
England to America in 1678 and settled 
at Wilmington, Delaware, whence they 
found their wary to Byberry, in Phila- 
delphia county, locating on land as a 
temporary place of residence. Later two 
of the brothers went on foot to Wil- 
mington for supplies, and each carried a 
half bushel of wheat home with him. It 
is supposed that this was the first wheat 
seeded in eastern Pennsylvania. The 
brothers concluded to remain in the vi- 
cinity of their first location, and" there 
they became valued settlers, promoting 
in large measure the early development 
and progress of the locality. William 
Walton, the youngest of the brothers, be- 
came the progenitor of the branch of 
the family to which Heston Walton be- 
longs, and his descendants are now num- 
erous in Montgomery and Bucks coun- 
ties. The brothers were consistent mem- 
bers of the Friends' meeting in England, 
and became early representatives of the 
denomination in Pennsylvania. They 
were allied with the farming interests, 
and lived exemplary lives, contributing 
in large measure to the moral develop- 
ment as well as material upbuilding of 
the localities in which they lived. Will- 
iam Walton married Sarah Howell, and 
their son 

Cin Jeremiah W«ilton. wedded Eliza- 
beth Wamsley. and continued farming 
in eastern Pennsylvania. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



'OD 



(III) Jacob Walton, son of Jeremiah 
Walton, was a farmer of Montgomery- 
county, and his son 

(IV) Isaiah Walton was born in 
^Montgomery county, and wedded Mary 
Harding, whose birth occurred in Bucks 
county, and who belonged to a promi- 
nent old family founded in America in 
early colonial days. She was descend- 
•ed from Henry Harding, of Churchville, 
Bucks county. The children of Henry 
Harding were: Thomas, Joseph, Jon- 
athan, Isaac, Abram, and Sarah, who 
married Jesse Gilbert. Thomas Hard- 
ing was a farmer by occupation, and 
was a member of the Friends' meeting. 
His children w^ere: Thomas, Henry, and 
Mary, the last named the grandmother 
of Heston Walton and the wife of Isa- 
iah Walton. Isaiah Walton settled near 
York Pike, below Hatboro, where he 
reared his family and remained until 
his death. His children were: Seth, 
Sarah, Joseph, Jacob, Thomas, and 
Mary. 

(V) Thomas Walton, son of Isaiah 
and Mary Walton, was born in Mont- 
gomery^ county, and wedded Mercy Hes- 
ton, also a native of Bucks county. 
Thomas Walton was reared to the oc- 
cupation of farming and afterward 
learned the stone-mason's trade, which 
he followed for twenty years. He then 
engaged in agricultural pursuits, and at 
the time of his marriage settled upon 
the farm which is now occupied by the 
son, Heston, taking up his abode there 
about 1842. He reared his family upon 
that place, and died December 14, 1882, 
at the advanced age of eighty-two years. 
He lived the quiet life of a mechanic and 
farmer, attending strictly to his busi- 
ness without active participation in pub- 
lic affairs, save that he never neglected 
his duties of citizenship. He was a 
faithful adherent of the Friends' meet- 
ing. His wife survived him and died 
March 26, 1888, in the eighty-seventh 
year of her age. She was a- daughter 
of John and Rachel (Warner) Heston, 
who also belonged to colonial families 
that were identified with the Friends' 
meeting and were highly respected peo- 
ple. John and Rachel (Warner) Heston 
had four children: Rebecca, who died 
unmarried; Esther, who became the wife 
of A. Michner; Mercy, who became Mrs 
Walton; and Hannah, the wife of C. 
Starkhou5^e. 

(VI) Heston Walton, the only child of 
Thomas and Mercy (Heston) Walton, 
was born and reared on the old family 
homestead, where he yet resides, early 
becoming familiar with the labors neces- 
sary for the cultivation and develop- 
ment of the fields and the care of the 
crops. He pursued a public-school edu- 
cation, and largely assisted his father in 
the farm work during the period of his 
youth, while later he has engaged in 
farming and marketing on his own ac- 



count. In his work' he has prospered, 
owing to his close application and care- 
ful management, and he now has a well 
improved farm on which is a commodi- 
ous stone residence, large barns and 
other outbuildings, and groves of forest 
and fruit trees. He keeps the entire 
place under a high state of cultivation 
and uses the latest improved machin- 
ery in operating his land. He is an en- 
terprising and public spirited agricul- 
turist, and in addition to his home place 
owns a well improved farm in Mont- 
gomery county. Mr. Walton exercises 
his right of franchise in support of the 
Republican party, takes an active inter- 
est in the questions of the day and fre- 
quently attends the party conventions, 
but has never sought or desired office. 
He was reared in the Friends' faith, and 
although not a member of any church 
has lived a life in consistent harmony 
with high principles. 

In 1874 Mr. Walton was married to 
Elizabeth Eastburn, who was born in 
Makefield township, and is a daughter of 
John and Sarah (Smith) Eastburn, rep- 
resentatives of families long connected 
with eastern Pennsylvania. The father, 
John Eastburn, was a well known far- 
mer of Bucks county, and throughout 
his entire life remained on the old home- 
stead, where he died January 27, 1878, 
at the age of seventy^even years. His 
wife had passed away August 18, 1863, 
at the age of sixty-three years. They 
were the parents of three children: Het- 
tie A., the wife of C. Williams; Eliza- 
beth, now Mrs. Walton; and one that 
died unmarried. Mr. and Mrs. Walton 
had a daughter, Hettie A., who was 
born May 10, 1875. Mrs. Walton's 
death occurred September 9, 1888. 



JOSHUA RICHARDSON. The 
Richardson family of Attleboro, Penn- 
sylvania, the members of which have 
been noted for sterling integrity and in- 
domitable courage and patriotism, was 
founded in America in 1724 by Joseph 
Richardson, who upon his arrival here 
from his native land, England, located 
near Oxford, where he commenced work 
on the farm of William Paxson. Octo- 
ber -21, 1732, he married Mary Paxson, 
daughter of William Paxson. and short- 
ly afterward moved to Four-Lanes-End, 
where he engaged in business for him- 
self in a country store. The line of de- 
scent from the pioneer ancestors is as 
follows: Joshua, who married Sarah 
Preston: Joseph, who married Mary 
Dixon; and Joshua, whose name appears 
at the head of this sketch. 

Joshua Richardson, son of Joseph and 
Mary (Dixon) Richardson, was born in 
Attleboro, Pennsylvania, (now Lang- 
horn borough) March 6, 1803. After 
completing his studies in the Friends' 



256 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



school at Attleboro he assisted in the 
farm work, as was the custom with the 
boys of that period, on his father's es- 
tate, and this occupation proving con- 
genial to his tastes and also highly re- 
munerative he followed the same 
throughout the active years of his car- 
eer. 

October 15, 1835, Mr. Richardson mar- 
ried Mary Carpenter Hunt, who died 
July 18, 1836, leaving no issue. On 
March 15, 1838, he was united in mar- 
riage to Mary Knight, of Lower Make- 
field, Bucks county, daughter of Joshua 
and Jane (Bunting) Knight, the former 
named having been a son of John and 
Margery (Paxson) Knight, and the lat- 
ter a daughter of William and Margery 
(Woolston) Bunting. Three children 
were the issue of the second marriage, 
namely: _, 

1. Joseph, born March 14, 1839, at- 
tended the Friends' school, Bucks Coun- 
ty Academy at Langhorn, and Foulk's 
boarding school at Gwynedd. He is now 
retired from active agricultural pursuits. 
February 16, 1865, he married Hannah 
Gillingham Rowland, of Middletown 
township, daughter of William D. and 
Margaret G. Rowland, and their chil- 
dren are as follows: Margaret, born 
February 3, 1866, attended the public 
schools of Middletown township and the 
Friends' school at Langhorne, and 
January 23, 1890, became the wife of 
Newton May Comly, of Philadelphia, 
and their children are: Rowland Rich- 
ardson, born December 23, 1890; Bessie 
May, born February 11, 1892; Edith 
Bosler, born July 17, 1894; John Byron, 
born June 17, 1896; Mary Richardson, 
born July 14, 1897; and Helen Maud, 
born February 18, 1899. These children 
attended the public schools of Bustle- 
ton, and the eldest, Rowland Richard- 
son Comly, is completing his studies at 
the Manual Training School in Phila- 
delphia. Mary Rowland, born July 13, 
1867, attended the public schools of Mid- 
dletown township and the Friends* 
school at Langhorne. Samuel, born 
February 25, 1869, also acquired his edu- 
cation in the same institutions. Joshua, 
born November 12, 1872, attended the 
same institutions of learning as his 
brothers and sisters, and the knowledge 
thus obtained was supplemented by at- 
tendance at Pierce's Business College, 
Philadelphia, from which he was gradu- 
ated. 

2. Edward, born April 21, 1841, attend- 
ed the Friends' school and the Bucks 
County Academy at Langhorne, and he 
is now one of the representative agri- 
culturists of Bucks county, his prosper- 
ity being the direct result of capability 
and efficiency. 

3. Mary, born March 7, 1844, acquired 
her educational advantages at the 
Friends' school and Bucks County Acad- 
emy, and is widely known and highly 



esteemed throughout the section in 
which she resides for her many estima- 
ble traits of character. 



SIPRON C. KEITH, the genial pro- 
prietor of the popular hostelry known 
as the White Hall Hotel in Newtown, 
was born in Kings county, province of 
New Brunswick, Domonion of Canada, 
where his paternal ancestors had resided 
for several generations, on October I, 
1854. He is a son of Noah and Cathar- 
ine (Alward) Keith, the ancestors of 
the latter having resided in the state 
of New York for several generations. 
He was educated at the parish schools 
of his native county, and early in life 
learned the trade of a plasterer, which 
he followed in his native county until 
1883, when he removed to Minneapolis, 
Minnesota, where he remained for three 
years. After a year spent in Chicago 
he removed to Philadelphia in the 
spring of 1886 and was employed there until 
the spring of 1891, when he came to New- 
town and purchased the White Hall Ho- 
tel, which he has since successfully con- 
ducted, making it one of the popular 
hostelries of lower Bucks. Mr. Keith 
married in Philadelphia, July 18, 1889, 
Kate E. Salter, daughter of Charles 
Burleigh and Anna E. (Sperry) Salter, 
of that city. Their only child is Ruth 
Marion, born at Newtown, May 10, 
1892. 

The White Hall Hotel, while not one 
of the old colonial inns, is nevertheless 
of historic interest. At the time of the 
revolutionary war and for many years after 
it was kept as a store, the proprietor at 
that time being a man by the name of 
Campbell. During a great part of the 
war it was occupied by a government 
quartermaster as a store house for sup- 
plies for the American army, and was 
raided by the Doan outlaws, who car- 
ried off a lot of government stores. It 
was later occupied as a store by a man 
by the name of Evans, who Josiah B. 
Smith, the historian of the town, re- 
ferred to as "one of the noisy store- 
keepers." In 1796 it was purchased by 
Isaac Hicks. Esq., and was occupied by 
him as a residence and justice's office 
for the next forty years. The "Old 
Squire," as he was known, was a char- 
acter in his day, and did an immense 
amount of public business, and could 
the old timbers of the White Hall be giv- 
en a tongue they could probably recite 
for our edification many amusing legal 
tilts held within its walls. After the 
death of the "Squire" it was purchased 
by his grandson, Dr. Edward H. Ken- 
nedy, who soon after built a new h'ouse, 
and the old White Hall was occupied 
as a school, the title being vested in 
about a dozen of the prominent citi- 
zens of the town at that time. It was 



,,^X AND 







atd^uJ a^tm4^diJL^ 




'K. 



(y/iA^ 



W : 




HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



257 



first licensed as a tavern in 1852 to 
Daniel Y. Harman, on the petition of 
about one hundred residents of the town 
and vicinity, and against the remon- 
strance of about half that number and 
was re-licensed the following year. For 
the next five years the license was re- 
fused by the court. In 1858 a license 
was granted to Amos W. Buckman, and 
it has remained a regularly licensed 
place every since. Mr. Buckman con- 
ducted the tavern until 1864. and was 
succeeded by Samuel Thatcher, and he 
in turn three years later by Mahlon S. 
Harding, who remained for two years, 
and then sold out to James Wesley Hel- 
lings, who in less than a year sold the 
tavern to Samuel L. Ettenger, who 
owned the property for many years, and 
was its proprietor at three different pe- 
riods during the next ten years, it being 
conducted in the intervals by his ten- 
ants, Burtis Magill, George W. Shinn, 
Mrs. Alice Shinn, and Frederick Schie- 
fer. From February, 1880, to May, 1891, 
it was conducted by Edward A. Tomlin- 
son. who was then succeeded by Mr. 
Keith. During the year 1904 Mr. Keith 
made extensive improvements, practi- 
cally renewing and remodeling the 
whole structure. 



JAMES CONRAD, for many years 
the popular funeral director of Mozart, 
Buckingham township, Bucks county, 
was born in Warwick township, July 12, 
1835, and died January 20, 1905. He was 
a son of Charles and Mary (Patterson) 
Conrad, and grandson of William and 
Hannah (DeCoursey) Conrad. Both the 
father and grandfather were farmers 
and lifelong residents of Buckingham 
and Warwick townships. Charles Con- 
rad was born in Buckingham in 1800, 
and died there in 1873. He was the fath- 
er of four children, three of whom sur- 
vive, John Conrad, of Rushland: Rob- 
ert, of Philadelphia; and the subject of 
this sketch. 

James Conrad was reared in Bucking- 
ham and received his education at the 
public schools. At the age of eighteen 
years he apprenticed himself to the car- 
penter trade, and after finishing his ap- 
prenticeship, followed the trade for 
several years, erecting many buildings 
in that section of Bucks county. He 
also engaged for some time in the manu- 
facture of pumps. In 1870 he began the 
business of an undertaker, which he fol- 
lowed up to his decease, conducting a 
large number of funerals in central 
Bucks county during the last thirty 
years. Mr. Conrad was a man of high 
standing in the community, and filled 
many positions of trust. He served as a 
school director, and was one of the 
trustees and directors of the Hughesian 
free school. In politics he was a Repub- 
lican. He was a member of Doylestown 

17-3 



Lodge, No. 245, F. and A. M., and 
Doylestown Chapter, No. 270, R. A. M. 
He was married March 13, 1862, to Mar- 
tha C. Worthington, daughter of Will- 
iam and Seraphina (Taylor) Worthing- 
ton, of Buckingham. She was a native 
of Wrightstown, but her girlhood days 
were spent in Buckingham. She died in 
April, 1902. Their only child Minnie 
Jane died at the age of twenty-one 
years. 



HENRY GARGES. Among the men 
who have achieved financial success in 
the management of their farming inter- 
ests, and have thus been enabled to re- 
tire from active business pursuits during 
the latter years of their life, is Henry 
Garges, who was born on the old home- 
stead near Doylestown, Bucks county, 
Pennsj'lvania, August 19, 1830. 

John Garges, grandfather of Henry 
Garges, lived and died near Doylestown, 
Bucks county, where he followed farm- 
ing as a means of livelihood during his 
entire active career. He owned the farm 
adjoining that of Henry Garges, now in 
the possession of the (Tounty Historical 
Society. He was a member of the old 
Mennonite church. His family consisted 
of -four sons an"d five daughters, namely: 
William, Henry, John, Abraham, Mary, 
wife of Abram Gile; Sarah, wife of John 
]\I\-ers: Elizabeth, wife of Philip Gile; 
Percilla, wife of William Borrows; and 
Margaret, wife of William Fritz. 

Abraham Garges, father of Henry 
Garges, was born on the old homestead 
near Doylestown, Bucks county, in 1784. 
In early life he served an apprenticeship 
at the trade of blacksmith, which occu- 
pation he worked at in connection with 
farming for a number of years, thereby 
providing a comfortable home for his 
family. He was one of the first school 
directors of Doylestown township after 
the free school system was inaugurated, 
this giving evidence of the appreciation 
in v^diich he was held by his fellow citi- 
zens. In 1845 he removed to War- 
wick township, and also -served a> 
school director there for a number of 
years. He held membership in the old 
Alennonite church, and his political 
views were in accord with those of the 
old Whig partJ^ He was united in mar- 
riage to Leah Ruth, and eight chil- 
dren were born to them: William, de- 
ceased, who was a farmer of New Brit- 
ain township; INIary, wife of James C. 
Fell; Rebecca, wife of Joseph Funck; 
Henry, mentioned hereinafter; Sarah 
Ann, wife of Oliver P. Shutt; Prucilla, 
wife of Henry Haines; Amy L., who 
died in early life; and Lewis, a farmer 
of Dojdestown township. Abraham 
Garges (father) died in Doj'lestown 
township, i\Iay 5, 1861, aged seventy- 
seven years. 

Henry Garges spent the years of his 



258 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



boyhood in the same fashion' as the 
majority of boys reared on a farm — at- 
tending the common schools and as- 
sisting with the duties pertaining to farm 
life. He remained at home with his 
father — cultivating and tilling the farm 
— until the death of the latter in 1861, 
when he inherited the property, on 
which he continued his operations until 
1900, since which time he has lived re- 
tired. He served as school director of 
Doylestown township for three years, 
and the cause of education has always, 
found in him an active and willing sup- 
porter. He is staunch in his advocacy 
of Republican principles, contributing 
materially to the success of that party 
in his community. He is a member of 
the Presbyterian church of Doylestown. 
Mr. Garges was united in marriage to 
Mary Elizabeth Roberts, daughter of 
George and Anna Roberts, and three 
children were the issue of this union: 
Annie Leah, born March 16, 1864, wife 
of B. Frank Bodine; Edward, born 
April 6, 1865, a farmer of Warrington 
township: and Isaac B., born Febru- 
ary 9, 1867, a grocer of Philadelphia. 
Mrs. Garges, the mother of these chil- 
dren, died June 9, 1901. 



CHARLES H. RHOADES, livery- 
man, Doylestown, was born near Brick 
Tavern, Milford township, Bucks coun- 
ty, June 4, i860, a son of Jacob B. and 
Mary (Hockman) Roth. The family of 
Roth (the original form of the name) 
is a German one, many of the name 
emigrating to Pennsylvania between the 
years 1730 and 1800. One branch of the 
family settled in Rockhill, where their 
descendants still reside. The name be- 
ing pronounced "Rote," came to be 
spelled Rhoad, and in various other forms. 
The subject of this sketch was, however, 
descended from a later emigrant. Johan 
Jost Roth, with wife, Louise Rodepil- 
ler, (later Reedmiller), and children, 
J'ohn Heinrich. Ludwig, and Herman, 
migrated from Germany in the ship 
"Fortune." from Hamburg, and settled 
in Bedminster township. Ludwig_ Roth, 
the great-grandfather of the subject of 
this sketch, purchased a small farm 
near Bedministerville in 1806, and died 
there in 1824, leaving wife Elizabeth, 
sons Mathew and George, and grand- 
sons John B. and Jacob B., sons of his 
deceased son Christian. 

Jacob B. Roth settled in Milford town- 
ship in 184T, where he followed the 
trade of a stone mason. As early as 1841 
Tie purchased land near Brick Tavern 
on the Bethlehem road. He was twice 
married, his first wife being Roselna 
Groude, by whom he had one child that 
died young. He married (second) Mary 
Hockman, who survives him, living with 
her daughter in Doylestown. Jacob B. 



Roth died at Brick Tavern, Milford 
township, November 6, 1866. His cliil- 
ren were: Sallie, who married Eliab 
Ritchie; and Charles H., the subject of 
this sketch. 

Charles Hockman Rhoades, the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was but six years 
old at the death of his father, and his 
sister Sallie was but two years his sen- 
ior. As soon as the estate of his father 
was settled, the widow Roth, with her 
two children, removed to Doylestown, 
where her brother Peter Hockman had 
a livery stable, and about a year later 
removed to Warrington, where his 
mother was housekeeper for Joseph 
Paul, Esq., for two years. The fam- 
ily then removed to Fox Chase, Mont- 
gomery county, where the boyhood of 
the subject of this sketch was spent. He 
was educated at the Abington Friends' 
school, and on arriving at his majority 
in 1881 he came to Doylestown, and, 
in connection with his brother-in-law, 
Eliab Ritchie, opened a livery stable 
near the railroad depot, where he still 
has his stand. A year later he bought 
out the interest of his brother-in-law, 
and has since conducted the business 
alone. In T)olitics Mr. Rhoades is a 
Republi<:an. He has served three years 
as a member of town council, and has 
filled other local offices. He is a mem- 
ber of Aquetong Lodge. No. 193, I. O. 
O. F., and of St. Tammany Castle, K. 
G. E., of Doylestown. He was married 
February 6. "1886. to Ella, daughter of 
George and Anna Maria Burgstresser, 
and has one daughter Edith, now fifteen 
years of age. 



JOHN PHILLIPS BLACK. Among 
the active business men of Langhorne, 
Bucks county, is John Phillips Black, 
who was born in that town March 16, 
1839, and is a son of John and Rachel 
Shaw (Wells) Black. 

John Black, the father, born in 1807. 
was a cooper by trade, and followed 
that trade for several years in Lang- 
horne, where he purchased a home in 
1850. He also assisted in building a 
number of the older buildings in that 
vicinity. He was a native of Bucks coun- 
ty, and a son of James and Judith 
(Searle) Black, the latter being a 
granddaughter of Arthur Searle, an ear- 
ly settler near the Neshaminy in South- 
ampton, who married a daughter of 
John Naylor of Southampton. John 
Black married Rachel Shaw Wells, born 
1814, daughter of Valentine (born 1784) 
and Phoebe (Shaw) Wells of Middle- 
town (born 1785) the latter being a 
daughter of Gideon Shaw. John and 
Rachel S. (Wells) Black were the par- 
ents of nine children: John P., the sub- 
ject of this sketch; Elizabeth, wife of 
William Gillingham; Margaret, wife of 
Barclay Wildman; Franklin S.. of Tully- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



259 



town; Emma T., wife of Byran Wright; 
Phebe W. ; William G., George D., and 
•Catherine, died young. 

John Black, Sr., died in July, 1859, and 
his widow survived him many years, dy- 
ing August 6, 1904, at the age of nearly 
ninety years. 

John Phillips Black was reared in 
Langhorne, and obtained his education 
in the public and Friends' schools of that 
town. At the age of twelve years he 
hired out on a farm, where he remained 
for four years. In 1856 he went to New- 
town to learn the trade of a carriage 
blacksmith, which he finished at Lang- 
horne. He found employment at Hulme- 
ville as a journeyman, and later located 
at Bridgetown, where he remained for 
five years. He then bought the T. W. 
Boileau property in Langhorne, and 
later the wheelwright shops and busi- 
ness adjoining, thus uniting under one 
ownership and management a complete 
carriage building establishment which he 
has since successfully conducted, doing 
a large and profitable business, mak- 
ing his establishment one of the largest 
of its kind in lower Bucks. Mr. Black 
is an enterprising and active citizen-, and 
takes an active interest in the affairs of 
his town. He has served several terms 
in the town council, and has filled other 
local offices. He is a member of Orion- 
to Lodge, No. 177, L O. O. F., of Lang- 
horne. 

On February 5, 1863, Mr. Black mar- 
ried Rachel Pyle Boyce, daughter of 
Samuel and Jane (Stevens) Boyce, of 
Philadelphia county, the former a na- 
tive of Delaware, and a son of Robert 
Boyce, whose father v^^as a large tobac- 
co planter and snuff manufacturer in that 
state; and the latter a native of South- 
ampton township, Bucks county, and a 
daughter of Benjamin Stevens, whose 
ancestors had been residents of that lo- 
cality for several generations. Mr. and 
Mrs. Black are the parents of three chil- 
dren, viz: Wilmer Stevens, born April 
18, 1865: Emma Elizabeth, born August 
15, 1869; and Clarence Randall, born 
June 6, 1873, all of wdiom were born and 
reared in Langhorne, and were educated 
in the local schools. 

Wilmer Stevens Black at an early age 
became associated with his father in the 
conduct of the carriage building estab- 
lishment, and has been a valuable as- 
sistant in ^the work. He married April 
17, 1890, Anne Bentley Candy, daugh- 
ter of James B. and Mary Jane (Moser) 
Candy, of Langhorne, an account of 
whose ancestry is given elsewhere in 
this work. Wilmer S. and Anne C. 
Black are the parents of two children: 
Edith Holbrook, born. September 13, 
1898; and Cyrille Kershaw, born July 
29, 1904. 

Emma Elizabeth Black, only daughter 
of John P. and Rachel (Boyce) Black, 
â– married August 21, 1890, Samuel Mills 



Myers, and they are the parents of five 
children, viz: Elenore Kruger, born Oc- 
tober 12, 1893; John Harold, born Octo- 
ber 8, 1895; Boyce Mills, born October 
7, 1897; Liez May, born December 4, 
1899; and Dever, born April 15, 1902. 



CLARENCE RANDALL BLACK, son 
of John Phillips and Rachel Pyle 
(Boyce) Black, was born in Langhorne, 
June 6, 1873, and was educated in the 
public and Friends' schools of Lang- 
horne. At the age of sixteen years he 
entered the wood working department 
of his father's carriage building estab- 
lishment, where he was employed for 
about two years, when, having an incli- 
nation towards the painting department, 
he learned that branch of the work and 
now has entire charge of the carriage 
painting department of the works as 
superintendent of the entire force of 
men employed therein. He also acts as 
salesman, and has a general oversight 
over the whole establishment. In poli- 
tics Mr. Black is a Republican, and 
takes an active interest in local affairs. 
He is a member of Langhorne Castle, 
Knights of the Golden Eagle. He and 
his family attend the Langhorne Metho- 
dist Episcopal church, both Mr. and 
Mrs. Black being members of the choir 
of that church. He married. May 26, 
1898, Elizabeth Davis Duffield, daugh- 
ter of the late Thomas Hart Benton and 
Rebecca (Search) Duffield, granddaugh- 
ter of Alfred Torbert and Rebecca Miles 
(Davis) Duffield, and great-granddaugh- 
ter of General John Davis, of Davis- 
ville, Bucks county. Her maternal 
grandparents were James and Susanna 
(Hall) Search, the former a son of Sam- 
uel and Katharine (Puff) Search, and 

grandson of Christopher and 

(Torbert) Search , and the latter a 
daughter of John and Eleanor (Conily) 
Hall, all early and prominent residents 
of lower Bucks. 



SAMUEL G. PRICE, V. S., of 
Doylestown, was born in Solebury town- 
ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, May 
25. 1846, and is a son of John N. and 
Christianna (Godshalk) Price, of Sole- 
bury. The paternal ancestors of Dr. 
Price were early settlers in New Jersey, 
but were probably descendants of John 
Price, who came from England to Phila- 
delphia, in 1683. 

James Price was a considerable land- 
owner in Maidenhead township, near the 
present site of Lawrenceville, New Jer- 
sey, as early as 1698. and was a promi- 
nent man in that section. He was corn- 
missioned lieutenant of provincial mi- 
litia, March 19, 1714, and hisson John 
was a captain in the provincial service 
during the colonial wars, and died at 
Hopewell in 1773, leaving sons: John, 



26o 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



James, and David and several daugh- 
ters, one of whom, Elizabeth, married 
James Slack, of Hunterdon county in 
1732. James Price, above mentioned, 
married Elizabeth Ely, daughter of 
George Ely, of Trenton, in 1737, and had 
one son George. 

David Price, supposed to have been a 
son of James of Maidenhead, was the 
direct ancestor of Dr. Price. He was a 
large landholder in the neighborhood 
of Hopewell, New Jersey, and in 1756 
purchased 200 acres of land in Middle- 
town township, and died there in 1765, 
leaving two sons, Nathan and James, 
and four daughters, Rebecca, who mar- 
ried Daniel Price of Kingwood, Hun- 
terdon county. New Jersey, and doubt- 
less a descendant of Benjamin Price, 
who settled at Elizabethtown, New Jer- 
sey, in 1677, whose son Daniel was 
sheriff of his county in 1692; Eleanor, 
who married Benjamin Stackhouse of 
Bucks county in 1761; Sarah, who died 
single in Merion, Philadelphia county, 
in 1767; and Susannah, who married Jo- 
seph Mahr, of Northampton county. 
James Price, the second son, married 
Sarah Huddleston, of Middletown, and 
lived and died on the old homestead 
there. 

Nathan Price was for some years a 
resident of Bucks county, but removed 
to Kingwood, Hunterdon county. New 
Jersey, prior to 1775, where he became 
a prominent citizen, and served as sher- 
iff of the county, 1806-8. He is said to 
have married a daughter of Timothy 
Smith, sheriff of Bucks county, 1728-30, 
and 1737-9. The children of Nathan 
Price in 1767 as shown by the will of 
his sister Sarah were : John, Rebecca, 
Smith, Elizabeth, Sarah, Phebe, James 
and David. 

Smith Price, second son of Nathan, 
was born September 11, 1748. Both he 
and his brother John were residents of 
Plumstead township during the revolu- 
tion, the latter serving as first lieuten- 
ant of militia. Smith was a wheel- 
wright by trade and followed that line 
of work for r number of years in Plum- 
stead. He later became a storekeeper 
at Gardenville, and was a considerable 
land owner in Plumstead. He married, 
September i, 1776, before Isaac Hicks, 
Esq., of Newtown, Martha Carver, born 
December 21. 1756, died April 11, 1793, 
daughter of Joseph Carvver, of Bucking- 
ham, and had one son John, born May 
IS. 1779- He married (second) Hannah 
-^ and had children: Jonathan. Jo- 
seph. Samuel, Smith. Mary and Bur- 
roughs. He died October 17, 1816, at the 
age of eighty-eight years. 

John Price, only surviving child of 
Smith and Martha (Carver) Price, born 
in Plumstead township May 15. 1779- 
was a lifelong resident of Plumstead. 
On his marriage in 1798 he settled on 
his father's farm on the Durham road, 



below Gardenville, which he inherited 
later under his father's will, and lived 
there until his death, November 2, 1828^ 
in his fiftieth year. He married, Janu- 
ary 21, 1798, Elizabeth Kirk, born Oc- 
tober 19, 1773, died January 11, 1849, 
daughter of Stephen and Phebe (Fell) 
Kirk, and granddaughter of Isaac and 
Elizabeth (Twining) Kirk, and of Ben- 
jamin and Hannah (Scarborough) Fell, 
the former of whom was born in Cum- 
berland, England, in 1703. (See Fell, 
Kirk, and Scarborough families in this 
work). The children of John and Eliza- 
beth (Kirk) Price were: Phebe, born 
1799, died 1802; Charles M., born June 
29, 1801, married Susan Rich; Martha, 
born February 8, 1804, married Yeam- 
ans Paul Jones; Kirk J., born Septem- 
ber 24, 1805, married Sarah Brown; 
Stephen K., born October 30, 1807, mar- 
ried (first) Rebecca Carey and (second) 
Nancy Flack; Sarah B., born October 7, 
1809, married James Meredith; John N., 
born September 19, 181 1, married Chris- 
tianna Godshalk ; Hannah Brock, born 
January 20, 1814, married Eleazer F, 
Church, of Newtown: Smith, twin to 
Hannah B:, married Harriet Opp; and 
Preston, born September 30, 1816. 

John N. Price, son of John and Eliza- 
beth (Kirk) Price, born in Plumstead, 
September 19, 181 1, resided the greater 
part of his life in Solebury township, 
where he owned and operated a small 
farm. After the death of his wife he re- 
sided for a number of years with his 
son Samuel G., in Plumstead and 
Doylestown, dying at the later place 
August 8, 1888, in his seventy-seventh 
year. He married, December 27, 1832, 
Christianna Godshalk, daughter of Sam- 
uel and Sidney Godslalk, born April 
20, 181 1, died February 19, 1865. Sam- 
uel Godslalk w-as born November li, 
177S, and died June 26, i860, and his 
wife Sidney, whom he married in Febru- 
ary, 1801, was born December 17, 1780, 
and died May 30. 1850. The children of 
John N. and Christianna (Godshalk) 
Price were: Edmund M., born Novem- 
ber 7, 1833, died at Lahaska, Bucks 
county, August 12, 1893, was for many 
years a veterinary surgeon in Bucking- 
ham; Elizabeth H., born July i, 1836, 
died April 2, 1856. married Walker Booz. 
of Carversville; Sidney G., born Aug- 
ust 16, 1840, married Joseph Mathews, 
of Solebury, and is still Iiving;i John 
Beatty, born April 17, 1842, died in a 
military hospital at Mound City, Illinois, 
August 19, 1863, from sickness contract- 
ed in the army in the civil war, in Dur- 
ell's Battery; Marj^ P., born November 
26, 1843, married Harvey Fretz ; and 
Samuel G.. born May 25, 1846. 

Samuel G. Price was born and reared 
in Solebury township, and acquired his 
education at llic public schools and at 
Carversville Excelsior Normal Institute. 
On leaving school he filled the po- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



261 



sition of clerk in the store of Richard 
R.\ Paxson, at Lahaska, for two years. 
H^ then taught school in Warwick 
township for one term, in the meanwhile 
studying veterinary surgery under Dr. 
Joshua C. Smith, of New Hope. He be- 
gan practice as a veterinary surgeon in 
Plumstead, in 1869, and followed his 
profession there for seventeen years, 
most of which time he was located at 
Danboro. In 1886 he removed to 
Doylestown, where he has since conducted 
a large practice. He takes an active in- 
terest in local affairs, has served for 
three years as a member of the Doyles- 
town school board, and is serving his 
second term of three years each as a 
member of borough council. At Dan- 
boro he was affiliated with the local 
lodges of I. O. R. AI. and the Golden 
Eagles. He is a member and past mas- 
ter of Doylestown Lodge, No. 245, F. 
and A. M., and a past high priest of 
Doylestown Chapter, No. 270, R. A. AI. 
He is also a past officer of Aquetong 
Lodge, No. 193, and Doylestown En- 
campment, No. 35, L O. O. F., and takes 
a leading part in the degree staffs of 
l)Oth lodge and encampment. 

Dr. Price married, at the Doyles- 
town Presbyterian manse, November 29, 
1872, Rachel A. Cadwallader, daughter 
of James and Christianna (Fell) Cad- 
wallader, of Buckingham, and grand- 
daughter of Eli and Rachel (Morris) 
Cadw-allader. On the maternal line 
Mrs. Price is descended from Joseph 
Fell, who came from Cumberland, Eng- 
land, in 1795, and settled in Buckingham 
two years later, through his son Benja- 
min, before mentioned. To Dr. and 
Mrs. Price have been born two chil- 
dren: Beatty, July 2, 1876. died May 
8, 1877; and Christianna, February 24, 
1879, wife of John L. DuBois, Jr.. a 
member of Bucks county bar. To Mr. 
and Mrs. DuBois have been born two 
children: Rachel, who died September 
29, 1901, and John Latta DuBois, born 
December 5, 1903. 



WILMER KRUSEN, M. D., was 
"born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
May 18, 1869, a son of John and Eliza- 
beth A. (Sager) Krusen. He is of 
Holland-Dutch descent, and his father 
was a farmer of Bucks county. 

He was educated in the public schools 
â– of his native county, and read medicine 
for a year with Dr. Charles B. Smith, 
•of Newtown, Pennsylvania, before enter- 
ing Jefferson Medical College, from 
which he was graduated in 1893, with 
the degree of Doctor of Medicine. For 
a year following he was resident physi- 
cian in the Jefferson Hospital. He 
then opened a practice in Philadelphia, 
Tiis specialty being gynecology, and since 
1894 has been instructor in gynecology 



at Jefferson College. He has been as- 
sistant gynecologist in the Jefferson 
Hospital, the St. Joseph Hospital and 
the Samaritan Hospital. He is chief of 
the Gynecological Dispensary of St. Jo- 
seph's Hospital, and a fellow of the 
College of Physicians. He is at pres- 
ent (1905) chief gynecologist of the Sa- 
maritan Hospital, and professor of 
gynecology in the Temple Medical Col- 
lege. He is a member of the American 
Medical Association, of the Philadel- 
phia County Medical Association, of the 
Philadelphia County Medical Society, 
the Philadelphia Medical Club, the Phil- 
adelphia Obstetrical Society, the North- 
western Medical Society, and the Phila- 
delphia Pathological Society. He is a 
collaborator on "American Medicine," 
and has written many articles in the line 
of his specialty. In politics he is a Re- 
publican. In 1895 Dr. Krusen married 
Elizabeth W. Gilbert, and his three chil- 
dren are: Edward M., Francis H., and 
Carolyn A. 



JOHN H. VANSANT, whose exten- 
sive agricultural pursuits have brought 
to him a large degree of prosperity as a 
result of his reliable and progressive 
methods, is a native of the community 
in which he resides, Eddington, Ben- 
salem township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, born October 31, 1840, a son of 
John F. and Mary (Boozer) Vansant. 

John F. Vansant (father) was also a 
native of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
born in 1806. He was a blacksmith by 
trade, which line of work he followed in 
Cornwells, opposite the old tavern 
where the stage horses were changed, 
and, being an expert mechanic, his trade 
increased steadily both in volume and 
importance from year to year, becoming 
a lucrative means of livelihood. In 1840 
he purchased the farm at Eddington 
where his son John H. now resides, and 
in connection with his farming pursuits 
conducted a blacksmith shop at that 
place, continuing until his death. By 
his marriage to Mary Boozer, of Ben- 
salem township, Bucks county, nine chil- 
dren were born, seven of whom attained 
years of maturity, as follows: Charles, 
Jesse, Thomas, Margaret, Elizabeth, 
John H., and James. The family at- 
tended the Episcopal church, in the 
work and to the support of which they 
were liberal contributors. Mr. Van- 
sant died in 1866, in the sixty-seventh 
year of his age; his wife died Septem- 
ber 29, 1889, having attained the ad- 
vanced age of eighty-six years. 

John H. Vansant was reared on his 
father's farm, whereon he has resided 
during his entire lifetime, and thus be- 
came thoroughly familiar with all the 
details of the quiet but useful calling of 
agriculture, to which he has since de- 
voted his entire time and attention. His 



262 



HISTORY Of BUCKS COUNTY. 



land is under a hish state of cultivation 
and therefore produces goodly harvests, 
and, the products being of a superior 
quality, find a ready sale in the nearby 
markets. Mr. Vansant has always taken 
a keen interest in township affairs, and 
has been the incumbent of several local 
offices, including that of assessor, in 
which capacity he served for a number 
of years. His political views coincide 
with those advocated by the Democratic 
party, whose candidates and measures 
he has upheld since attaining his ma- 
jority. He and family attend the Epis- 
copal church. 

Mr. Vansant married, September 11, 
1867, Ella Van Horn, daughter of 
Thomas Van Horn, of Philadelphia 
county, Pennsylvania, and two children 
were the issue of this union : i. Will- 
iam N., born February 5, 1869, educated 
in the public schools, and at the Naval 
Academy, at Annapolis, Maryland, grad- 
uating at the head of his class in 1888. 
He was sent by the government to The 
Royal Naval College, Greenwich, Eng- 
land, studying three years as a naval 
constructor, and ranked as lieutenant 
His death occurred January I, 1893. 
2. Charles H. born February 19, 1871, 
attended the Lehigh University, and is 
now a civil engineer. He is connected 
with the Berlin Construction Company, 
and he assisted in the construction of the 
New York Subway. 



HARRY F. ^lOLLOY, recorder of 
deeds of the county of Bucks, was born 
in Wrightstown, August 14, 1856, and is 
a son of Nicholas E. and Frances Jenks 
(Stradling) Molloy. 

Nicholas E. Molloy, for many years 
a well known farmer and highly re- 
spected citizen of Wrightstown, was 
born on the Atlantic ocean when his 
parents were on their way to America 
from Ireland in 1817. At the age of six 
he was taken charge of by David Shipps 
of Northampton township, and was 
reared in his family. Soon after arriv- 
ing at manhood he purchased a farm in 
Northampton, near Richboro, on which 
he resided for a number of years, and 
then sold it and removed to Wrights- 
town where he resided for two years, 
and then removed to the old Lacey farm 
in Buckingham, on the Wrightstown 
line, the birthplace of General John 
Lacey, living in the house erected by 
the Lacey family about 1706, now torn 
down. He purchased this farm in 1878, 
but had previously purchased and re- 
moved upon an adjoining farm, now oc- 
cupied by his son Harry F. INIolloy, 
where he died in August, 1880, aged 
sixty-three years. Mr. Molloy was an 
industrious and successful man, and 
was highly respected in the community. 
For over thirty years he ran a commis- 



sion wagon to Philadelphia, carrying: 
his own and his neighbors' country pro- 
duce to the Philadelphia market. He 
was a member of the I. O. O. F. lodge 
and encampment. Frances J. Stradling, 
the mother of the subject of this sketch, 
was a daughter of Thomas Stradling, 
and a descendant of Thomas Stradling 
who married, October 5, 1715, Lydia 
Doan, daughter of Daniel Doan, who 
came to Middletown from Massachu- 
setts in 1699. Thomas Stradling settled 
in Newtown township, where he died in 
1761, leaving two sons: Daniel, of Plum- 
stead, and Joseph, who died on the 
homestead in 1810, without issue, and 
the children of his second son Thomas 
who died in Newtown in 1757. Thomas, 
Jr., the ancestor of Mrs. Molloy, mar- 
ried, December 13, 1744, Elizabeth. 
Fisher, born June 13, 1727, daughter of 
John and Elizabeth (Scarborough) 
Fisher, who, after his death, married^ 
December 4, 1759, Joseph Lee. The chil- 
dren of Thomas and Elizabeth (Fisher) 
Stradling were: Sarah, Elizabeth, John,. 
Thomas, and Daniel, of whom Thomas 
was the grandfather of Mrs. Molloy. 
Nicholas^ E. and Frances J. (Stradling) 
Molloy were the parents of three chil- 
dren: Harry F., the present recorder of 
deeds of 1 Bucks county, and popular 
merchant at Pineville; Anna, wife of W. 
Harry Rockafellow ,of Buckingham; and' 
John B. Molloy,, of Wycombe, a sketcb 
of whom appears in this work. 

Harry F. Molloy was born and reared 
in Wrightstown and has always lived, 
in that vicinity. He was educated at the 
public schools, and continued to reside 
on his father's farm until 1875, when he 
became a clerk in the store of Jesse P. 
Carver, at Pineville. of which he is now 
proprietor. On Mr. Carver's retirement 
in 1877 he continued with his successor, 
Seth Cattell Van Pelt, until 1879 when 
he went back to the farm. In 1888 he 
purchased the store at Mozart, Buck- 
ingham township, where he conducted' 
the mercantile business for five years. 
Having purchased the store stand at 
Pineville, he removed there April i, 
1893, and has since conducted a large 
and successful business there. In poli- 
tics Mr. Molloy is a Democrat, and in' 
the fall of 1902 was elected on the Dem- 
ocrat ticket to the office of recorder of 
deeds. He continued to conduct his 
store at Pineville, spending a portion of 
each week in the office in Doylestown, 
which is mainly condiicted by his son 
J. Carroll, a young man of much prom- 
ise. Mr. Molloy takes an active interest 
in local affairs, and is well and favorably 
known in his native township. He is a 
member of Doylestown Lodge No. 245, 
F. and A. M. ; Doylestown Chapter No. 
270, R. A. M.; of Northern Star Lodge 
No. 54. I. O. O. F. at Richboro: New- 
town^ Council, K. of P.; and Wycombe 
Castle No. 125, K. G. E. 





'a/i/7Ai,^^M(McY 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



263 



He married in 18S3 Anna 'SI. Leedoni, 
daughter of John and Sarah (Harrold) 
Leedom, of Wrightstown. She died Oc- 
tober 5, 1902. On the paternal side she 
was descended from Richard Leedom, 
an early English settler in Southampton, 
the ancestor of a numerous and prom- 
inent family in Lower Bucks and else- 
where, and on the maternal side from 
Samuel Harrold, who came from Ireland 
in the early part of the eighteenth cen- 
tury and settled in Buckingham, where 
he became a large landholder and prom- 
inent man. He was twice married and 
reared a large family, who have left 
numerous descendants in Bucks, though 
few of the name now reside here. Th*^ 
children of Harry F. and Anna M. 
(Leedom) Molloy are: J. Carroll and 
William H. 



JOSEPH L. SMITH connected with 
the farming interests of Warminster 
township, was born in Lower Makefield 
township, Bucks county, June 8, i860. 
The family is of German lineage and 
was established in America at an early 
epoch in the history of this part of the 
state. The paternal grandfather, An- 
drew Smith, was a native of Bucks 
county, following the occupation of 
farming and was widely known and 
highly respected. He gave his political 
allegiance to the Democratic party. His 
sons and daughters were as follows: 
Elias A.; William; Andrew; James; 
Jessie H.; Alfred R. ; Mary, the wife of 
J. B. Tumbleson; Elizabeth, the wife of 
George Slack; and Jane and Etta, who are 
still living. The parents were consis- 
tent and faithful members of the Epis- 
copal church. 

William Smith, father of Joseph L. 
Smith, was boxn in Makefield township, 
and was reared to the occupation of 
farming in Bucks county. He followed 
that pursuit throughout his entire life, 
remaining upon the old homestead farm 
lip to the time of his marriage, when he 
settled upon a tract of rented land, 
which he'continued to operate for a few 
years or until his industry and economy 
had brought him capital sufficient to en- 
able him to make purchase of land. He 
then bought a farm, which he conducted 
for a number of years; he then sold that 
and purchased a larger tract of land 
whereon he spent his rem.aining days. 
He follow^ed general farming and sold 
his produce in the Philadelphia market. 
In all of his business interests he was 
practical and energetic, and his well 
conducted affairs brought to him- de- 
served success. He left to his family 
an untarnished name because of his in- 
tegrity and honor in all life's relations. 
His political views were in harmony 
with Democratic principles, and he kept 
well informed on all the questions and 
issues of the day. He belonged to the 



Friends' Meeting, and died in that faith 
in April, 1904. In early manhood he 
wedded Sarah A. Linton, who died May 
25, 1902. She was a daughter of Thomas 
and Hannah Linton, descendants of old 
families of Bucks county. Her father 
was a leading and influential farmer, 
whose political support was given to the 
Whig party and afterward to the Re- 
publican party, and who in his religious 
faith was a Friend. In his familj^ were 
two sons and a daughter: William and 
Joseph, who follow farming; and Sarah, 
who became Mrs. Smith. To Mr. and 
Mrs. William Smith were born six chil- 
dren: Anna, who married Joseph R. 
Comlj'; Emma, the wife of S. D. Tom- 
linson; William A., who follows farming 
on the old homestead ; Joseph L. ; Sarah 
H., who married Joseph W. Ross; and 
Jennie E. 

Joseph L. Smith remained in the 
home of his parents up to the time of 
his marriage, which occurred in 1888. 
He had been reared to the occupation 
of farming, and he chose that pursuit 
as a life work. At the time of his mar- 
riage he settled on the farm where he 
now resides, one mile east of Ivyland, 
and there he carries on general agricul- 
tural pursuits, attending the Philadel- 
phia market, where he places his farm 
products on sale. He has many regular 
patrons, and his business has become 
profitable. His farm is productive and 
is kept in a high state of cultivation. 
There is a commodious residence, splen- 
didly situated on a building site that 
commands an excellent view of the sur- 
rounding country. There are beautiful 
trees about the place and everything is 
neat and attractive in appearance. There 
is a large barn, commodious outbuild- 
ings and, in fact, the entire property is 
well improved. He uses the best farm 
implements in conducting the labor of 
field and meadow, and he raises some 
stock for the support of the farm. Fie 
is a fancier of fine horses and always 
has some splendid ones upon his place. 
He is now raising some colts, having 
two fine thoroughbreds which will un- 
doubtedly develop into superior road- 
sters if not race horses. Mr. Srnith is a 
stanch advocate of Democratic prin- 
ciples, and uses his influence to further 
the growth and success of his party. He 
is well qualified for public office, but 
the Democracy is in the minority m 
Bucks countj% and Mr. Smith belongs 
to that class of men who would never 
surrender a principle for an office within 
the gift of the people. He has served 
as school director, however, for nine 
years and the cause of education has 
found in him a warm friend. He is a 
man of social nature, of pleasant ad- 
dress, public-spirited and highly re- 
spected. 

Mr. Smith married Miss Martha H. 
Spencer, who was born in Northampton 



264 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUXTY. 



township, in 1864, a daughter of Cam- 
eron and Rachel B. (Hart) Spencer, 
both natives of Bucks county, their an- 
cestors having located here in early- 
days. In fact the name of Spencer is 
closely associated with the history of 
the material and moral development of 
this part of the state. The early repre- 
sentatives of the name here were of Irish 
birth and of Presbyterian faith. John 
Spencer was enrolled with the volun- 
teers in the war of 1812, and afterward 
received a pension in recognition of his 
services. His son, Samirel Spencer, was 
a reliable farmer, successfully conduct- 
ing his business affairs. He voted with 
the Whig party in early life, and upon 
its dissolution joined the ranks of the 
new Republican party. His religious 
faith was that of the Presbyterian 
church. He married Sarah A. Harmon, 
and died in March, 1889. Their only son, 
Cameron G. Spencer, was born in Bucks 
county and reared and educated there, 
remaining upon the old homestead as 
his father's assistant until 1859, when he 
married and brought his bride to the 
farm, of which he then took charge, 
making a home for his father during his 
remaining days. Cameron Spencer was 
born in November, 1836, and was but 
five years of age w-hen he lost his 
mother in 1841. He was reared by his 
father and the latter's housekeeper, and 
his life developed into that of a man of 
remarkable strength of character and 
sterling purpose. He never used to- 
bacco or liquor in any form, and he was 
popular and prominent in the commun- 
ity, receiving the unqualified trust and 
respect of those w-ith whom he was as- 
sociated. After l>is marriage he con- 
ducted the home farm for eleven years, 
and then sold that property, removing to 
Philadelphia, where he rented a hotel 
property in Spring Garden street. He 
made it a temperance house and to the 
astonishment of all his friends pros- 
pered in this undertaking, although those 
who knew him predicted that he could 
not wfin success unless he sold liquors 
there. However, he conducted a tem- 
perance house for ten years after which 
he purchased a farm near Jacksonville, 
Bucks county. He then resumed farm- 
ing, in which line of activity he contin- 
ued until his death. He was a Repub- 
lican, and although he was never an as- 
pirant for office he served for one term 
as assessor, while residing in Philadel- 
phia, discharging the duties of the office 
with credit to himself and satisfaction 
to the general public. He was widely 
known and coinmanded the confidence 
and good will of the people of every 
community in which he lived. His 
death occurred in May, 1882. His wife 
still survives him and makes her home 
with her two children, ]\Irs. Smith, and 
a son who resides upon the homestead 
farm. She was born in Northampton 



township in 1837, and is a lady of cul- 
ture and intelligence; she is a daughter 
of Joshua and Martha (Bonham) Hart, 
both connected with early colonial fam- 
ilies. Her father was a son of John and 
Sarah (Dungan) Hart, also of Bucks 
county. John Hart followed farming 
and merchandising, making his home in 
Jacksonville, and he became widely 
known as a highly respected citizen. He 
w'as of Irish lineage, affiliated with the 
Baptist church, and his political allegi- 
ance was given to the Democracy. His 
children w-ere: Joshua, William, Rachel, 
Joseph, John, Elizabeth, Sarah, Hum- 
phrey, and Rebecca. 

Joshua Hart, who was born in 1802, 
was reared to farm pursuits, and after 
his marriage settled in Northampton 
township, while later he took up his 
abode upon the farm now occupied by â–  
Mrs. Smith. Throughout his entire life 
he carried on agricultural pursuits, and 
died in Buckingham township. In poii- 
itics he was a Democrat, but had no 
political aspirations. In an early day 
he served as captain in a militia com- 
pany. His w^ife was born in 1809, and 
was a daughter of Joseph and Letitia 
(Kinsey) Bonham, both of Bucks 
county, her father being a prominent 
and well known farmer. In politics he 
was a Whig. The members of the 
Bonham family were Jonathan, Isaiah, 
Charles, Kinsey, Samuel and Martha. 
The children of Joshua Hart were: 
Sarah, the wife of John Spencer; Letitia; 
Charles, wdio died in the civil war; 
Rachel B., who became the mother of 
Mrs. Smith; Elizabeth, the wife of Jo- 
siah Thompson, of Philadelphia; and 
John, also of Philadelphia. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Cameron Spencer were born three 
children: Horace G., who was reared 
upon the home farm, and was later em- 
ployed by the Presbyterian board of 
publication; died in September, 1888, 
leaving a wife but no children; Martha 
H., who became Mrs. Smith; and A. 
Lincoln, who is now farming the old 
homestead: he is a stanch Republican 
in his political views; he has a son, 
Cameron, born Januarj^ 23, 1895. 



FRANK F. BELL, deceased, who was 
elected the first treasurer of Philadelphia 
under the new city charter, popularly 
known as the "Bullit Bill." having been 
the youngest incumbent upon whom this 
responsible office had ever fallen, was 
of old and honored German origin. His 
paternal grandparents were natives of 
Wurtemberg, Germany. His grand- 
mother died when her son, John Bell, 
father of Frank F. Bell, was about 
eleven years of age. and subsequently 
her husband and son emigrated to 
America, the former named dying dur- 
ing the voyage at sea. 



•.V YORK 



Fu 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



26: 



John Bell (father) came to Philadel- 
phia, Pennsylvania, an orphan, and sub- 
sequently became a well known and re- 
spected citizen of Old Northern Liber- 
ties, having established an extensive 
business as caterer and confectioner. He 
was united in marriage to Mary Lang- 
enstein, who was born in Gros-Glatt- 
bach, Wurtemberg, Germany, daughter 
of Frederick and Anna Mary (Wein- 
gartner) Langenstein, whom she accom- 
panied to America in 1839, settling in 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Frederick 
Langenstein was a son of Michael and 
Eva Dorothea (Schaefle) Langerstein, 
both of Gros-Glattbach, Wurtemberg, 
Germany, and grandson of Michael Lan- 
genstein, who served in the capacity 
of burgomaster of the aforementioned 
place. John Bell (father) died at the early 
age of thirty-six years, his son Frank F. 
being then only two years of age. 

Frank F. Bell was born in the city of 
Philadelphia, May 26, 1855. Upon 
reaching the qualified age he was entered 
â– as a pupil at Girard College, Irom which 
institution he was graduated with high 
honors at the conclusion of the eight 
years' course. After his graduation he 
entered upon the study of architectural 
drawing in the office of Professor Rich- 
ards, of the University of Pennsylvania, 
and later he accepted a position in the 
manufacturing firm of W. C. Allison & 
Sons. He had a special aptitude for ac- 
counts which rapidly brought him to 
promotion in the counting room of this 
great firm. Not long after, however, 
an opportunity arose which promised 
him an opening in the political arena, 
and served to afiford opportunity for the 
study of law, which he had already de- 
cided to follow as a profession. He was 
offered a position of trust in the office 
of the receiver of taxes, which he ac- 
cepted, and at the same time became a 
law student in the office of Hampton 
Todd. Shortly after his acceptance of 
this new office an investigation of its af- 
fairs was ordered by the city comp- 
troller, which proved to be prolonged 
and exhaustive, and Mr. Bell acquired 
a reputation in this investigation which 
led directly to his future advancement. 
Shortly after its conclusion William B. 
Irvine was elected city treasurer of 
Philadelphia, and he. having a knowl- 
edge of the executive ability of Mr. Bell, 
tendered to him the important office of 
â– chief of the department for the collec- 
tion of revenue due the commonwealth. 
The successful efiforts of Mr. Bell in this 
position brought him prominently into 
public favor, and resulted in making him 
the nominee of his party to succeed Mr. 
Irvine. The public confidence in his 
fitness for the office was expressed by a 
popular majority of 21,106 votes, and he 
met the responsibilities and fulfilled the 
duties of the position in' a highly cred- 
itable manner. In his business and po- 



litical relations he was eminently con- 
sistent and reliable. His matured capa- 
bilities had received ample and thorough 
training in the great trusts and in all 
the departments of activity to which he 
had been called, and in his handling of 
the millions of dollars in the city treas- 
ury there was not the slightest whisper 
of the innuendos and scandals so fre- 
quently alleged of men in public life. 

Mr. Bell was a member of the Union 
League Club of Philadelphia; of the 
Philadelphia Athletic Club; of the Al- 
gonquin Club of Bristol; and of the 
Stock Exchange of Philadelphia and 
New York. 

In i88r Mr. Bell was made a Mason 
in Oriental Lodge, No. 385, and four 
3'ears from that date was chosen wor- 
shipful master, and this rapid rise in 
Masonry and in the affections of the 
craft was but a reflex of his walks in 
life. The following is an extract from 
the eulogy paid to Frank F. Bell by 
Past Master Z. Taylor Rickards : "Ac-. 
quaintance with him elicited admiration, 
intimacy was to love him; to contribute 
to his ambitions was but to do right and 
receive his gratitude always. To-mor- 
row we shall look for the last time at 
the face of our dear friend and brother, 
stilled, no longer to respond to the 
cheerful greeting he had for all who 
knew him. We shall not look again 
into those soul-lit eyes. He is dead— 
and what is this condition we call death? 
What of it? It has come to Frank F. 
Bell at forty-eight. When it will come 
to each of us, no man can tell, but of 
him we know that in this preparing 
room he leaves a record so good that we 
believe it is well with him now. Let us 
emulate his virtues and remember him 
for his ever kindly walks with us here." 

On January 18, 1888, Mr. Bell was 
married to Helen Geneva Edwards, of 
Philadelphia, daughter of James and 
Elizabeth (Atmore) Edwards, paternal 
granddaughter of James and Mary Ed- 
wards, maternal granddaughter of Will- 
iam Penn and Caroline (Stowe) Atmore, 
maternal great-granddaughter of Will- 
iam and Mary Magdalene Stull, and ma- 
ternal great-great-granddaughter of 
George and Caroline Lausatte, who were 
born in Alsace or Lorraine, France. 
William Penn Atmore came to America 
in the same ship with William Penn and 
settled in Philadelphia. George Stroup, 
maternal great-great-grandfather of Mrs. 
Bell, served with Washington during 
the revolutionary war, as did also his 
son. The children of Frank F. and 
Helen G. (Edwards) Bell are as follows: 
Frank Frederic, born September 25, 
1888, is being educated at Swarthmore 
preparatory to entering the Institute of 
Technology at Boston, Massachusetts; 
Helen Florentine, born January 29, 1891, 
is a student at the Holman School, Phil- 
adelphia; Dudley Edwards, born Octo- 



266 



HISTORY OF DUCKS COUNTY. 



ber 4, 1894, attends the Friends' Central 
School, Philadelphia. Frank F. Bell, 
father of these children, died August 31, 
1903. His widow resides in a beautiful 
home, elegant in its appointments, is 
devoted to her children, and prominent 
in the social life of Bristol, Pennsyl- 
vania. 



ROBERT M. JOPINSON, one of the 
energetic business men of Chalfont, is a 
son of William Johnson, who was 
reared on a farm, and upon the breaking 
out of the civil war enlisted in the 
Union army from New Britain township. 
He married Hannah Lutz, and . their 
children were: F"ranklin L., Emma E., 
and Robert M., mentioned at length 
hereinafter. Franklin L. married Anna 
Lister. Emma E.. became the wife of 
Abraham Clymer, of Line Lexington, 
and after his death married John Lewis, 
of Hilltown. 

Robert M. Johnson, son of William 
and Hannah (Lutz) Johnson, was born 
July 13, 1859, i" New Britain township, 
and was educated in the public schools 
of his birthplace. He acquired a 
knowledge of plumbing, heating and 
ventilation with David E. Hebner, of 
Chalfont, and after the expiration of his 
time he worked for five years as jour- 
neyman at Line Lexington. In 1887 he 
purchased the store of William Bruner, 
at Chalfont, .where he now conducts an 
extensive . plumbing and heating busi- 
ness, carrying a large stock of stoves, 
heaters, ranges and similar articles. His 
patronage is not limited to Chalfont, 
but includes the surrounding towns. His 
political connections are with the Demo- 
cratic party, and he is a member of the 
Pleasantville Reformed church. 

Mr. Johnson married Lillie L, daugh- 
ter of Dr. Louis C. and Lucilla (Ely) 
Rice, and they are the parents of the 
following children: Marion, who was 
born January i, 1882; Florence, born 
October 31, 1891; and Chester, who was 
born December 3, 1898. 



BYRON M. FELL, _D. D. S., of 
Doylestown, was born in Buckingham 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. 
December 21, 1872, being a son of 
James B. and Josephine B. (Conard) 
Fell, and of the sixth generation in de- 
scent from Joseph and Bridget (Wilson) 
Fell;, of Longlands, Cumberland. Eng- 
land, who Settled in Buckingham in 

1707. 

Benjamin Fell, son of Joseph, born in 
Cumberland, England, 9 mo. 12, 1703, 
died in Buckingham 9 mo. 12, 1758, was 
thrice married, first 6 mo. 27, 1728, to 
Hannah Scarborough, by whom he had 
six children, second to Hannah Iredell, 
who bore him four children, and third 



to Sarah Rawlins, bj^ whom he had one 
son. 

John Fell, eldest child of Benjamin 
and Hannah (Scarborough) Fell, was 
born in Buckingham, 4 mo. I, 1730, and 
married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas 
and Hannah (Paxson) Hartley, 10 mo. 
30, 1753, and had by her thirteen chil- 
dren. Among them were Seneca and 
Nathan, twins, born 4 mo. 5, 1760. 

Seneca Fell married Grace Holt, of 
Horsham, Montgomery county and set- 
tled in Buckingham on a farm purchased 
by his grandfather in 1753, part of which 
has remained, in the family to the pres- 
ent time, the late residence of E. Hicks 
Fell. Seneca and Grace had eight chil- 
dren, viz.: Sarah, married John Stock- 
dale; Eli, see forward; Martha, 'married 
Jacob Michener; Rachel, married 
Charles Wilson; Jesse, died unmarried; 
Seneca, married Sarah Cress; and Grace, 
married Benjamin Buckman. In 1817 
Grace Fell, the widow of Seneca, re- 
moved with lier son Jesse and son-in- 
law Jacob Michener to Harrison county, 
Ohio, and died at the residence of her 
son-in-law Jacob Michener, in Morgan 
county, Ohio, about 1845. 

Eli Fell, eldest son of Seneca and 
Grace, was born on the homestead 
above referred to in 1787, and died 
there 3 mo. 6, 1859. He married 5 mo. 
4. 1808, Rachel Bradshaw, daughter of 
William Bradshaw, and had thirteen 
children, nine of whom grew to matur- 
ity; Jane, wife of Cornelius Shepherd; 
Ruth, died unmarried; Eunice, married 
Charles M. Shaw; Uree, married Abra- 
ham Geil; Eli; Rachel, widow of Wilson 
Pearson; Martha, married John Bur- 
gess; James B.; Elias Hicks; and Hulda 
Ann, married John M. Kirk. 

James B. Fell, the eleventh child of 
Eli. and Rachel (Bradshaw) Fell, was 
born on the old homestead in Bucking- 
ham 8 mo. 17, 1827, and died in Buck- 
ingham 5 mo. 19, 1880. He was a farmer, 
and lived all his life in Buckingham. 
He married i mo. I, 1857, Josephine B. 
Conard, daughter- of Jacob and Martha 
Conard, of Buckingham, who died 5 mo. 
28, 1891. They were the parents of seven 
children, five of whom lived to mature 
age: Clara M., late wife of Elmer W. 
Kirk, of Doylestown; J. Conard, of New 
Hope; Eli H., of New York; Marian V., 
wife of Earl Peters, of Mt. Holly 
Springs, Pennsylvania; and Byron M., the 
subject of this sketch. 

The subject of this sketch was reared 
on the farm in Buckingham, and ac- 
quired an elementary education at the 
public schools. In November, 1891, he 
entered Trenton Business College, from 
which he graduated in 1892, and accepted 
a clerical position with the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad Company, which he filled 
until October. 1893. when he entered 
Pliiladclphia Dental College, from which 
he graduated March 5, 1896. On his 




(£ p^ ^.^^^ 



THE ^ 






HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



267 



graduation he at once located in Doyles- 
town, opening an otfice in the Rhoads build- 
ing on Main street, and began the practice 
of his profession. He soon built up a lucra- 
tive practice, and four years later purchased 
his present residence and offices on Court 
street. 

Dr. Fell was married February 17, 
1897, to Catharine E. Kenney, of Phil- 
adelphia, daughter of William R. and 
Savilla Kenney. Four children have 
been born to them: Foster Flagg, born 
December 2, 1897; Earl Garretson, born 
May 26, 1899; Alargaret Gaskill, born 
September 29, 1902; Max Kenney Fell, 
born December 12, 1904. 



ABRAHAM M. SWARTLEY. Among 
the old German families of Penn- 
sylvania is that of which Abraham 
M. Swartley, of Chalfont, is a represen- 
tative. Mr. Swartlej' is a great-grand- 
son of Philip Swartley, who was born in 
1764 in Baden, Germany, and in 1782 
emigrated to America. He married 
Sarah Rosenberger. and they were the 
parents of nine children, six sons and 
three daughters. Among the sons was 
Philip, mentioned at length hereinafter. 
Mr. Swartley died September 2, 1840, 
and his wife passed away in April, 
1847, at the advanced age of eighty-four 
years. 

Philip Swartley, son of Philip and 
Sarah (Rosenberger) Swartley. was 
born February 28, 1799, in New Britain 
township, and followed the calling of a 
farmer. He married Mary Smith, and 
their family consisted of the following 
children: George, born July 12, 1820, 
married Catharine Funk; Henry S., 
mentioned at length hereinafter; Levi, 
born April 7, 1824, married Catharine 
Haldeman: Philip, born November 12, 
1825; Susanna, born March 2^, 1827, 
married Jacob Alderfer; Sarah, born 
November ii. 1830, married John Alder- 
fer, whom she survived but one day and 
whose grave she shared; Mar3^ born 
December 9, 183,3, married David Rosen- 
berger; Elizabeth, born August 15, 1838, 
became the wife of Louis Schleier, and 
Aaron, born February 7, 1841, married 
Maria Leidy. 

Henry S. Swartley, son of Philip and 
Mary (Smith) Swartley, was born 
March 24, 1822, on the homestead. He 
married Sarah IMyers. and the following 
children were born to them: Lavinia, 
who married Isaac, son of Joseph 
Funk; Abraham M., mentioned at length 
hereinafter; Anna Eliza, who became the 
wife of Henry F., son of Abraham 
Moyer; and Sallie J., who married David, 
son of Joseph Funk. 

Abraham ]\L Swartley, son of Henry 
S. and Sarah (Myers) Swartley. was 
born November 6. 1854, on the home- 
stead in New Britain township. He re- 



ceived his primary education in the New- 
ville public school, and graduated at the 
Millersville high school. His youth and 
early manhood were passed in assisting 
his father in the cultivation of the pater- 
nal acres, and on reaching the age of 
twenty-eight years he settled on the 
farm which is now his home. For a 
number of years he conducted a large 
dairy, disposing of its products in the 
markets of Philadelphia, but is now en- 
gaged exclusively in general farming. 
He is a Republican in politics, and is a 
member of the Mennonite church at 
Line Lexington. 

Mr. Swartley married, March 28, 1885, 
Anna M., daughter of Oliver K. and 
Mary Jane (Stever) Myers. The latter 
was the daughter of Reuben Stever, who 
built the Dublin Hotel. Mr. and Mrs. 
Swartley are the parents of the follow- 
ing children: Mary M., who was born 
December 15, 1886, and died August 5. 
1887; Harry M., born December 9, 1890; 
Sadie M., born March 9, 1892; Viola 
Mae, born April 18, 1900; and Minnie 
Isabella, born August 20, 1903, and died 
February 2, 1904. 



WILLIAM SHIMMEL TAYLOR, a 
manufacturer, of Quakertown, was born 
on a small farm near Passer Post Office, 
in Springfield townhsip, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania. July 31, 1854, son of 
Thomas and IMaria (Shimmel) Taylor. 
Thomas Taylor (father), son of Joseph 
and Nancy Taylor, was born in Spring- 
field township, July 19, 1827. He ac- 
quired the limited education afforded- 
by the subscription schools of that place 
and day, and afterwards learned the 
trade of shoemaking, which he followed 
in conjunction with farming. He was 
industrious, economical and thrifty, and 
was one of the representative citizens 
of the community. September 24, 1850, 
he married Mary' Shimmel, daughter of 
John and Hannah (Oberholtzer) Shim- 
mel, farmers, of Springfield township, 
and had issue: Emeline, born June 23, 
1853. died September 30, 1853; William 
S., born July 31. 1854, mentioned here- 
inafter: Joseph S., born March 15. 1856, 
married Kate Johnson, and resides at 
Sedgwick Park, Fordham Heights, New 
York; he is an educator; Elemina, born 
November 9, 1859, became the wife of 
Louis Link, and they reside at No. 1925 
North Eleventh street, Philadelphia. 

When William S. Taylor was nine 
years of age his father died, leaving him 
a small patrimony, and in the care of a 
guardian, Louis Slifer. with whom he 
resided for two years. He then went to 
Philadelphia to work with an uncle, a 
brother of his mother, with whom he 
proposed making his home. Finding the 
work too difficult and arduous for a 
bov of his vears, he returned to Bucks 



268 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



county and hired out with a farmer, a 
Mr. Geisinger, but, not taking very well 
to the strenuous life of the farm, after 
being there for six months, during which 
time he worked for his board and also 
attended school, he left the place and en- 
tered as an apprentice to learn shoe- 
making with Christian Musselman, near 
Steinsburg, in Milford township, and 
remained there for two years. He then 
went to live with a farmer, Henry 
Moyer, near Line Port, Bucks county, 
and later purchased a farm in Spring- 
field township, which he cultivated and 
whereon he resided up to 1887, when he 
disposed of the same. He then pur- 
chased the property where he now re- 
sides, at Sixth and Juniper streets, Quak- 
ertown, where he is a manufacturer of 
ice cream, and has established an exten- 
sive trade throughout northern Bucks 
county, from which he realizes a goodly 
income. Mr. Taylor adheres to the Re- 
publican party, but, takes no interest in 
local affairs outside the casting of his 
vote for the candidates of the party of 
his choice. 

While a resident of Line Port, August 
23, 1873, Mr. Taylor married Sarah Roth, 
daughter of David and Lydia (Mussel- 
man) Roth, of Rockhill township, where 
Mr. Roth followed agricultural pursuits. 
Their children were as follows: Elmer 
M., born May 2, 1875, married Sarah 
Rissmiller, daughter of Josiah and El- 
enia Rissmiller, of Richland township, 
farmers, and they reside in Quaker- 
town, Pennsylvania. Addie R., born 
November 3, 1876, became the wife of 
Harvey Benner, of Lansdale. The 
mother of these children died February 
5, 1881, aged twenty-seven years, four 
months and live days. Mr. Taylor mar- 
ried for his second wife, Mary Roth, a 
sister of his first wife, and had issue: 
Joseph Warren, born October 24, 1885, 
â– died August 23, 1886. Katie, born June 
IS, 1887, died July i, 1901. Elsie, born 
January 28, 1895, resides with her pa- 
rents. The family are members of the 
Bathany Mennonite church of Quaker- 
town, in which body Mr. Taylor is serv- 
ing as trustee. 



HENRY M. KRATZ. The Kratz 
family, of which Henry M. Kratz is a 
representative, is of German origin, and 
was established in America in the early 
part of the eighteenth century, its pro- 
genitor in the new world being John 
Valentine Kratz, a son of John Philip 
Kratz, who was born in Germany, Oc- 
tober 8, 1665, (lied in 1746, aged eighty 
years; his wife died in 1710. John V. 
Kratz emigrated from the Palatinate 
in Germany to Pennsylvania in the year 
1727, and he married Ann Clemmens, 
whose death occurred in 1793. 

Abraham Kratz, son of John Valen- 



tine and Ann (Clemmens) Kratz, was 
born in Montgomery county, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1741, and resided for many 
years in New Britain township. He 
purchased the Williams homestead in 
that township and continued its cultiva- 
tion through a long period. He married 
Barbara Moyer, and they became the 
parents of ten children: Anna, Mary, 
Valentine, Susanna, Barbara, Veronica, 
Magdaline, Elizabeth, Abram and Cath- 
erine. 

Valentine Kratz, son of Abram and 
Barbara (Moyer) Kratz, was born April 
22, 1773, in New Britain township, and 
in his youth learned the weaver's trade, 
which he followed throughout his entire 
business career. He also engaged in 
farming in connection with his other 
occupation, and died September 18, 1830. 
His wife bore the maiden name of Anna 
Overholt, and they were the parents of 
six children: Simeon, Elizabeth, Jacob, 
Abram, Barbara and Mary. 

Jacob Kratz, son of Valentine and 
Anna (Overholt) Kratz, was born on 
the old homestead in New Britian town- 
ship in a house which was built in 1795. 
He was educated in the public schools 
of his home* locality, and afterward en- 
gaged in teaching school in New Britian 
and Hilltown townships, following that 
profession for several years. He also 
engaged in farming, and for a long 
period served as a school director in 
Hilltown township and took an active 
and helpful interest in public affairs. He 
died February 23, 1903. November 28, 
1838 he married Mary Myers, a daughter 
of Christian Myers, and they had four 
children: Salome, who was born August 
30. 1839, and was married January 19, 
1864. to John F. Funk, by whom she has 
six children; Henry M.; Anna, who was 
born July 22, 1850. and was married 
July 22, 1899, to Joseph D. Bishop; 
Isaiah, who was born May 7, 1856, and 
died on the 31st of August of the same 
year. 

Henry M. Kratz, elder son of Jacob 
and Mary (Myers) Kratz. was born at 
Naces Corner in Hilltown township, 
Bucks county, July 2.-^, 1845. He pur- 
sued his education after attending the 
public schools in the New Britian Sem- 
inary and at the North Wales Normal 
Institute at Carversville, and following 
his graduation he engaged in teaching 
for three terms, being thus occupied suc- 
cessively at Hilltown. Bedminster and 
Milford. He has since followed farm- 
ing at his present home at Naces Corner, 
where he was born and has always lived. 
He is a member of the IMennonite 
church, and his political allegiance is 
given to the Republican party. He was 
married January 4. 1868, to Sophia L. 
Shaddinger, a daughter of Jacob L. and 
Mary (Leathermau') Shaddinger. They 
have one child. Mary Emma, born Sep- 
tember 22,, 1868. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



269 



HENRY O. MOYER. Among the 
well known and enterprising business 
men of upper Bucks is Henry O. Moyer, 
of Perkasie. He is a native of Hilltown 
township, and was born November 27, 
1845. He is a descendant of that sturdy, 
frugal, truth-loving race of German 
Mennonites who peopled upper Bucks 
and Montgomery counties in the early 
part of the seventeenth century, and 
have probably added more to the wealth 
and prosperity of our country than any 
other nationality or sect. 

Christian Meyer, supposed to have 
been a native of Switzerland, founded an 
as3'lum from religious persecution in the 
Netherlands prior to i/oo, and some 
time after that date emigrated from Am- 
sterdam to Pennsylvania and settled in 
Lower Salford township, Montgomery 
county, where he was a landowner prior 
to 1719. He was an ardent Mennonite, 
and one of the founders of the earliest 
Mennonite congregation in that locality. 
He died in June, 1757, leaving children. 
Christian, Jacob, Samuel, Elizabeth, 
Ann and Barbara. 

Christian Meyer, Jr., was born in the 
year, 1705. probably in Holland, and 
was reared in Lower Salford. On at- 
taining manhood he settled in Franconia 
township, Montgomery county, where he 
purchased 170 acres of land in 1729, 
most of which is still owned and occu- 
pied by his descendants. He was the 
first deacon and one of the founders in 
173S of the Mennonite meeting at Fran- 
conia, and was later a minister there. 
He died in May, 1787. By his wife, 
Magdalena he had children: Christian, 
Jacob, Samuel. Anna, Maria, Fronica, 
Esther, Barbara, all except one of whom 
married and raised families. 

Samuel Mej-er, third son of Christian 
Jr., and Magdalena, was born in Fran- 
conia, June 10, 1734, and became a widely 
known Mennonite preacher. He settled 
in Hilltown township, Bucks countj^ 
early in life, and spent his remaining 
days there, living to a venerable and 
highly respected old age. He married 
Catharine Kolb, and reared a family of 
nine children, as follows: I. Fronica, 
born 1757, died 1818; married Abraham 
Wismer, of Plumstead township, where 
they have numerous and worthy descen- 
dants. 2. Isaac, born 1758, married a 
Landis and reared a large family. 3. 
Elizabeth, died young. 4. Christian, 
born 1763, married Marj^ Landis and 
settled in Bedminster township. 5. Sam- 
uel, born 1765, died 1847, married Sus- 
anna Bleam, and lived and died in Hill- 
town. 6. Rev. Jacob Moyer, born 1767, 
married Magdalena Bechtel and re- 
moved to Canada. 7. Abraham, see for- 
ward. 8. Dilman, born December 20, 
1772; married Barbara Latshaw, and 
emigrated to Canada in 1801. 9. Hein- 
rich, born October 27. 1774, died Oc- 
tober 19, 1857; was a farmer and weaver 



in Hilltown; married Salome Stover; 
was a deacon of the Mennonite meeting 
at Blooming Glen. Samuel Moyer, the 
father of the above children, was de- 
vised by his father the homestead in 
Franconia, but having already settled in 
Hilltown he never returned to his na- 
tive county. The homestead he con- 
veyed to his sons Isaac of Franconia, 
and Christian of Bedminster. The lat- 
ter conveyed his portion to his son Ru- 
dolf in 1810, and it is now the property 
of Abraham F. Aloyer, son of Rudolph. 

Abraham Moyer, seventh child of 
Samuel and Catharine (Kolb) Meyer, 
was born in Hilltown, November 19, 
1770, and was reared to the life of a 
farmer. He married Elizabeth Bechtel, 
and reared a family of ten children as 
follows: I. Susan, married John Bergy. 
2. Anna, married Samuel S. Yeakel. 3. 
Abraham B. married a Delp and left one 
son, Francis. 4. Samuel B., see forward. 
5. Rev. Henry B., removed to Westmore- 
land county, Pennsylvania, where he was 
ordained a Mennonite minister, and returned 
to Hilltown and preached for some years at 
Blooming Glen. 6. Martin, died unmarried. 
7. Catharine died unmarried. 8. John B., 
moved to Canada, married there ; later 
moved to Michigan and had children. He 
died in Michigan. 9. Mary married 
George Swartz, and removed to Illinois. 
10. Elizabeth, married Rev. Isaac Over- 
holt (or Oberholtzer). 

Samuel B. Moyer, fourth child of 
Abraham and Elizabeth (Bechtel) 
Moyer, was born in Hilltown in Feb- 
ruary, 1815, and died there November 7, 
1852, leaving a family of five small chil- 
dren, the youngest but a j^ear old. He 
was a farmer and a consistent member 
of the Mennonite congregation at 
Blooming Glen. He married October 
31, 1841, Hannah Overholt, who was 
born in Plumstead, January i, 1819. 
Their children were: Abraham, who died 
j^oung; Isaac, born December 5, 1843, 
died April 12, 1854; Henry O., the sub- 
ject of this sketch; Samuel, born August 
2, 1847; Mary Ann, born September 23, 
1844, died October 12, 1877, married 
Peter Yoder; Enos, born 1851, died 1873. 

Henry O. Moyer was born and reared 
on his father's farm in Hilltown. In 
early life he learned the blacksmith 
trade, which he followed for ten years 
in Hilltown. In 1881 he started in the 
creamery business and successfully 
operated a creamery at Bedminsterville 
for thirteen years. In 1894 he removed 
to Perkasie, where he conducted a cloth- 
ing and gents' furnishing store until 
1899, when he sold out, and in the au- 
tumn of the same j^ear entered into the 
real estate business with his son Theo- 
dore, of Uhlertown, Bucks county, and 
they still conduct that business. At the 
organization of the National Bank of 
Perkasie he was selected as one of the 
directors of that successful financial in- 



2/0 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



stitution. and has served as such ever 
since. He is one of the active and suc- 
cessful business men of the thriving 
borough, and is interested in all that 
pertains to the best interest of that 
growing business town. He is a mem- 
ber of the German Reformed church, 
and politically is a Republican. He is 
a member of Bedminster Castle, Knights 
of the Golden Eagle, and was for many 
years its keeper of records. He married 
October 6, 1866, Sarah Jane Moyer, 
daughter of Henry A. and Sarah (Gear- 
hart) Moyer, and a sister of Hon. Henry 
G. Moyer, of Perkasie. She was born 
in Hilltown, October 15, 1845- 

Mr. and Mrs. Moyer are the parents 
of eight children, as follows : Theodore 
M., born February 10, 1868; a prom- 
inent justice and business man in Nock- 
amixon, Bucks county; married Belle 
Mills, and has seven children. Hannah 
M., born February 14, 1871; married Jo- 
seph H. Gulden, a prominent creamery 
man. Ida Jane, born July 25, 1873, wife 
of Charles M. Meredith, editor of the 
"Perkasie Central News." Henry Clin- 
ton, born June 25, 1876. Samuel Linford, 
born April 19, 1879. Sarah Alice, born 
July 25, 1882: Florence Mabel, born 
March 13, 1885. Marian Viola, born 
April 4, 1888. 



ELI L. CLYMER. At the time that 
the United States formed a part oi the 
colonial possessions of Great Britain the 
Clymer family was established in Bucks 
county. The progenitor of the family 
in America came from Germany, and 
most of his descendants have been till- 
ers of the soil, recognized in the various 
generations as men of prominence and 
influence in the community and of un- 
questioned honor, integrity and worth. 
Henry Clymer, Sr., grandfather of Eli 
Clymer, was born and reared in Bucks 
county, and married Elizabeth Kulp, also 
a native of this county. They became 
the parents of eleven children: Abram, 
Henry, William, Hannah, wife of Jonas 
Clvmer; Polly, wife of C. Moyer; Eliza- 
beth, wife of B. Kulp; Mrs. Ann S. 
Haldeman, Valentine, John, Fannie, 
who became the wife of John Kulp; and 
Sarah, the wife of H. Swartley. All were 
reared in the faith of the Mennonite 
church, and continued adherents of that 
denomination. 

Henry Clvmer, Jr., son of Henry and 
Elizabeth (Kulp) Clymer, was born in 
New Britain township, and remained 
with his parents up to the time of his 
marriage, when he purchased a farm in 
Warrington township, whereon he set- 
tled and reared his family. He carried 
on general farming and also attended 
the market, and was practical, enterpris- 
ing and therefore successful in his la- 
bors. His political support was given to 
the Republican party. Reared in the 



faith of the Mennonite church, he was 
always a faithful member thereof and 
was widely known and highly respected 
in his township. He was a man of me- 
dium size, but of- strong constitution and 
did much hard work in his younger 
years. He married Mary Benner, a na- 
tive of Hatfield township, Bucks county, 
and a daughter of John Benner, a farmer 
and a member of one of the pioneer 
families of this county. He, too, was a 
devoted member of the Mennonite 
church. He married a Miss Haldeman, 
also connected with one of the leading 
families, and their only child became 
the wife of Henry Clymer. She survived 
her husband about twelve years. They 
were the parents of eight children: John, 
a farmer; Eli L., Ann, who became the 
wife of Joseph Sapp;' Valentine, a me- 
chanic; Daniel, a farmer; Henry, a car- 
penter; K94e, the wife of E. Kratz; and 
Abiiarn, -Who is an assessor and auc- 
tioneer^ in Warrington township. 

Eli L. Clymer was born in Warring- 
ton township on his father's farm, June 
5, 1841, and acquired his education m 
the public schools. He began earning 
his own living as a farm hand and after- 
ward rented land for a year. Subse- 
quently he purchased a house, but sold 
this property in the fall of 1868, and 
bought the farm where he now resides, 
comprising seventy-one acres, which 
was originally the John Grove farm. 
This was but partly improved, but he at 
once began its further development and 
cultivation, and made it a splendid prop- 
erty. He has erected all the present 
substantial buildings, including a com- 
modious two story frame residence, 
which is built in modern style of archi- 
tecture and is one of the attractive fea- 
tures of the landscape. There is also 
large barn and substantial outbuildings. 
He has set out a good orchard and fol- 
lows general farming, sending his pro- 
ducts to the city where they are sold to 
the commission merchant. In all of his 
business transactions he is active and 
energetic, and whatever he undertakes 
he carries forward to successful com- 
pletion. 

On May 6, 1865, Mr. Clymer was mar- 
ried to Miss Magdalena Detweiler. who 
was born in New Britain township. 
March 12, 1844, a daughter of Joseph and 
Hannah (Burdy) Detweiler, the former 
a native of Bucks county. Pennsylvania, 
and the latter of IMontgomery county. 
Her paternal grandfather, Jacob Det- 
weiler. of New Britain township, repre- 
sented an old colonial family of German 
lineage. They became prominent and 
progressive citizens of this part of the 
state and were faithful adherents of the 
Mennonite church. Jacob Detweiler was 
a farmer and also owned and operated a 
sawmill. His children were : Elizabeth, 
who became Mrs. Roscnlierger : Jacob 
and John, farmers; Mary, the wife of M. 



THE NEW YORK 

[PUBLIC LLlRARvl 



Til D 




MRS. LEVI CASSELL MISS ELMANDA BIEHN 

LEVI CASSELL 
JOHN C. HILLEGASS MRS. JOHN C. HILLEGASS 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



271 



Kindy; Joseph, father of Mrs. Clymer; 
and JNIagdalena, wife ' of J. Knise. At 
the time of his marriage Joseph Det- 
weiler purchased a farm in New Britain 
township, where he spent his remaining 
days, living a quiet and uneventful life, 
yet commanding the good will and con- 
fidence of all by reason of his fidelity 
to honorable, manly principles. He mar- 
ried Hannah Burdy, and died in 1849 at 
the age of forty-seven years, while his 
wife, long surviving him, passed away 
in 1890. He had left but a small estate, 
and in her later years she made her 
home with her older children. Both 
Mr. and Mrs. Detweiler were members 
of the Mennonite church. Their chil- 
dren arc: Isaac, a practicing physician 
of Lancaster, â– . Pennsylvania; Mary, the 
wife of M. Rosenberger; Sarah, who 
married Eli Yoder; Jesse, a farmer; 
Elizabeth, whomarried E. Rosenberger; 
Magdalene, wife of Eli L. Clymer; Jo- 
seph, a farmer and tailor to the trade; 
and Hannah, who died at the age . of 
forty years. 

Mr. and Mrs. Clymer have become 
the parents of eight children: Ellen, wife 
of William Swartley, a farmer; Adda, 
wife of L. McCune, a farmer; Hannah, 
who married William Worth; Frank, 
who died at the age of thirteen years; 
Elmer, a farmer; Flora, the wife of 
Frank McNare; Oliver, at home; and 
Emma, a school teacher. All were given 
good educational privileges, and the 
daughters have becoine successful teach- 
ers. The parents and children are mem- 
bers of the Mennonite church, and Mr. 
Clymer is a Republican, who has filled 
the office of school director for ten 
years, and takes an active interest in 
public affairs. He is a typical Ameri- 
can, alert and enterprising in business, 
loyal in citizenship, and interested in 
everything pertaining to the welfare and 
progress of his county, state and nation. 



LEVI CASSEL, deceased, was born 
on the old Cassel homestead farm in 
Hilltown township, Bucks county, Feb- 
ruary 24. 1816, and died in Richland 
township, September i, iS/O- The pater- 
nal grandfatehr, Hoopert Cassel, was a 
joiner by trade, and lived in Franconia 
township, Philadelphia county, Penn- 
sylvania. In 1758 he purchased a tract 
of land, one hundred and six acres, ad- 
joining Perkasie ]\Ianor. He married 
Susan Swartz, a daughter of Abram 
Swartz, a minister of the Mennonite 
church and a man of considerable influ- 
ence and ability in his day. 

Isaac Cassel, son of Hoopert Cassel, 
was born April 20. 1776, in Hilltown 
township, on the farm purchased by 
his father. Throughout his entire life 
he carried on agricultural pursuits, and 
was one of the leading citizens of his 



neighborhood, active in business affairs, 
reliable and energetic in business, and 
highly esteemed in social circles because 
of his hospitality and of his genuine 
worth. He succeeded his father in the 
ownership of the old home farm, and 
there lived for many years. He was 
married to Catherine Trumbore, who 
was born February 8, 1776. - His death 
occurred July 3, 1856, while his wife 
passed away several years earlier. Their 
children were: Susan B., born March 2, 
1804, died May ii„ 1889; Polly, married 
Michael Kulp; Kate, married Jacob Fill- 
man; Elizabeth, married Philip Hood; 
Sallie, married Joseph Schull; Joseph, 
deceased ; Enos, married Marie Gerhart ; 
Samuel, married Susan Mann; and Levi, 
married Sarah Ann Biehn. 

Levi Cassel was born on the old home- 
stead farm in Hilltown township, where 
two generations- of the family had prev- 
iously lived, and there he was reared in 
the usual manner of farmer lads of that 
period. He attended the subscription 
schools of his district, although his ad- 
vantages ~for an education were some- 
what limited owing to the primitive con- 
ditions of the schools of that period. He 
worked with his father on the old home 
farm until his m.arriage, and later be- 
came proprietor of a hotel at Sellers- 
ville, where he remained for two years. 
He then removed to Hagersville, and 
later to Dublin, while subsequently he 
lived at Richlandtown, where he con- 
ducted a hotel for fourteen years, and 
it was while thus engaged that his death 
occurred. He was energetic in his bus- 
iness affairs, carefully watching every 
indication that pointed to success, and 
by his keen discernment and strong pur- 
pose he won a comfortable competence. 
September 17, 1848, Mr. Cassel was 
united in marriage to Mrs. Sara Ann 
Beihn, a daughter of Abraham and 
Hanna (Fluck) Beihn, who were farm- 
ing people living at Ridgehill, in Rock- 
hill township, Bucks county. Her father 
was born August 5, 1800, and died De- 
cember 5, 1875. He was descended from 
one of the old families of this country, 
long connected with the material up- 
building of eastern Pennsylvania. He 
was married July 18, 1823, to Hanna Ott 
Fluck, born May 29, 1801, died April 12, 
1891, at the advanced age of ninety 
vears. Her parents were Jacob and 
Elizabeth Ott Fluck. The children of 
iNIr. and Mrs. Beihn were as follows: 
Sara, born September 17, 1826, became 
the wife of Levi Cassel; Maria, born 
July 8, 1829, married John Louright, of 
Richlandtown; Elizabeth, born July 9, 
1837, married Leno Kile, a veterinary 
surgeon of Perkasie; Hanna, born Au- 
gust 28, 1839, married John C. Hille- 
goss, who was born February 19, 1839, 
and died May 2,=;, 1893. his parents bein^ 
William and Eliza (Carver) Hillegoss, 
farming people of Milford township; 



2'J2 



HISTORY Of BUCKS COUNTY. 



Elmanda, born July 12, 1843, living with 
Mrs. Cassel at Quakertown. 

In his political affiliations Mr. Cassel 
was a stalwart Republican, and although 
he never aspired to office he took deep 
and active interest in the welfare of his 
party, and assisted materially in its 
growth and upbuilding. He and his 
family were members of the Reformed 
church at Richlandtown, and he lived an 
upright, honorable life. Passing away 
in September, 1879, his remains were 
interred in the cemetery adjoining the 
Reformed church. He was always lib- 
eral in his support of the church and of 
every worthy object, and his entire life 
was actuated by high manly principles. 
He was well liked by all who knew 
him, the circle of his friends being al- 
most coextensive with the circle of_his 
acquaintance. 



FRANK HEADMAN FLUM, of 
Bristol, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
who has won and retained an enviable 
reputation in the community for in- 
tegrity and probity, and whose career 
has been one of marked enterprise, was 
born in Bensalem township, Pennsyl- 
vania, April 2, 1868, a son of Frederic 
and Catherine (Barth) Flum. 

Frederic Flum (father) was born in 
Wurtemberg, Germany, March 18, 1823. 
He came to America about the year 
1850, followed some years later by his 
wife and children, and settled in Ben- 
salem towmship, where they resided for 
many years, and where Mrs. Flum is re- 
siding at the present time (1904), Mr. 
Flum having passed away May 5, 1875. 
Mrs. Flum, whose maiden name was 
Catherine Barth, was born in Wurtem- 
berg, Germany, June 15, 1826, and was 
the mother of the following named chil- 
dren: I. John, born September 27, 1847, 
married Emma Page, and they were 
the parents of three children: Fred, 
John, and George. 2. Fred, born Decem- 
ber 2, 1849. 3. Hannah, born October 
10. 1853, wndow of George Thackara. 
4. David, born August 31, 1859, 5. Frank 
H., born April 2, 186S, mentioned here- 
inafter. 6. Lizzie, died in infancy. 7. 
Daniel, born October 3, 1869, married 
Annie Kilpatrick, June 5. 1880, and three 
children were born to them: Catharine, 
Bessie and Helen. 

Frank H. Flum was educated in the 
public schools of Bensalem township. 
He then worked at farming with his 
father, remaining until 1880, when he 
took up his residence in Bristol, Bucks 
county, and at once engaged in the 
butchering business, which he has fol- 
lowed ever since, and in which he has 
achieved a large degree of success. Mr. 
Flum stands well in the community, as 
is evidenced by the fact that he has 
served two terms in the borough coun- 
cil. He is a charter member of the Good 



Will Fire Company of Bristol, serving 
in the capacity of its treasurer, a member 
of the Improved Order of Red Men, and a 
member of the Knights of Friendship. He 
is a Republican in politics. Mr. Flum 
\vas married August 18, 1890, to Eliza- 
beth Rotta Guyon,' of Bristol, a daugh- 
ter of Robert and Eleanor (Murray) 
Guyon, and granddaughter, on the pa- 
ternal side, of John and Elizabeth 
(Thomas) Guyon, and on the maternal 
side of Lewis and Martha (Wolohon) 
Murray. Their children are: Edith 
Guyon, born May 8, 1893; and Frank 
Leslie, born May 8, 1902. Mr. and Mrs. 
Flum are Presbyterians in religion. 



JOHN S. WILLIAMS, a public-spirit- 
ed citizen of Solebury township who has 
givejvj' generous and helpful support to 
many movements fostering progress and 
improvement in the county, was born in 
Buckingham township, March 21, 1831. 
The first ancestry of whom the family has 
definite record was Jeremiah Williams, of 
English descent, who wedded Mercy Ste- 
phenson. 

(II) Benjamin Williams, son of Jere- 
miah and Mercy (Stephenson) Williams, 
was a resident of Nockamixon township, 
where he followed the occupation of farm- 
ing. He wedded Mercy Stevenson Octo- 
ber II, 1744, in Huntington township, New 
Jersey. 

(HI) Samuel Williams, son of Benja- 
niin and Mercy (Stevenson) Williams, 
was born July 20, 1762, and reared in Tini- 
cum township, where he resided until after 
his marriage, when he removed to Buck- 
ingham township and continued to engage 
in farming there up to the time of his 
death, which resulted from typhus fever 
when he was about forty-five or fifty years 
of age. His political allegiance had been 
given to the Whig party, and he was a man 
of local prominence, highly respected 
throughout his community. He wedded 
Sarah Watson, who was also reared in Tin- 
icum township. 

(IV) Edward Williams, son of Samuel 
and Sarah (Watson) Williams, was born 
on the old homestead farm in Buckingham 
township, and he, too, devoted his entire 
life to agricultural pursuits, becoming not 
only one of the leading farmers of his 
community, but also a man of prominence 
in community affairs, whose integrity stood 
as an unquestioned fact in his career. He 
was frequently called upon to serve in po- 
sitions of public trust, was president of a 
turnpike company and one of the trustees 
of the Hughesian free school. His political 
allegiance was given first to the Whig and 
afterward to the Republican party. He 
was married twice, his first union being 
with Phoebe Esther Schofield. They had 
three children, but John S. Williams, whose 
name introduces this record, is the only 
one now living. .\ second marriage result- 
ed in the birth of seven children: Charles 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



273 



H., deceased ; Esther S. ; Mary E. ; Wil- 
liam, deceased; Marshall, who resides in 
Florida ; Frank H., a practicing physician 
of Trenton ; and Harriet F. The father, 
Edward Williams, died at the age of sev- 
enty-two years. 

John S. Williams, son of Edward and 
Phoebe Esther (Schofield) Williams, was 
reared under the parental roof, acquired 
his early education in the common schools 
and afterward attended the Friends' school 
in Buckingham, also in Langhorne as a 
student in a boarding school conducted by 
James Anderson, and in the boarding 
school at Abington conducted by Samuel 
Smith, and in the Tremont Seminary at 
Norristown, Pennsylvania, of which Sam- 
uel Aaron was principal. When twenty-one 
years of age he assumed the management 
of the farm in Solebury township, which 
was the ancestral home of the Scholield 
family and descended to him through his 
maternal grandfather, John Schofield. He 
has since been actively and prominently 
identified with agricultural interests along 
progressive lines, and his splendidly im- 
proved property is an indication of his un- 
flagging thrift and enterprise. He has been 
vice president and director of the Bucks 
County Trust Company since its organiza- 
tion, has for thirty years been a director 
of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Insurance 
Company, and for twenty years its treasur- 
er, and is secretary and treasurer of the 
New Hope and Delaware Bridge Company, 
in which capacity he has served for several 
years. His interest in public progress and 
the material upbuilding and improvement 
of his county has found tangible evidence 
in the hearty co-operation which he has 
given to many measures for the benefit of 
his community. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican, and for several years served as school 
director, but otherwise has declined public 
office. He belongs to the Friends' Society, 
and stands today as one of the best known 
and honored men of Solebury township. 

Mr. Williams was married to Miss Ra- 
chel R. Magill, a daughter of Jonathan 
Paxson and Mary (Watson) MeGill, of 
Solebury towaiship, one of the early fam- 
ilies of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Williams 
have three children: Carroll R., the eld- 
est, was graduated from Swarthmore Col- 
lege in 1877 and completed the latter course 
in the University of Pennsylvania with the 
class of 1880. He was admitted to the bar 
the same year, began the practice of his 
profession in Philadelphia, and is today 
one of the most successful lawyers of that 
city. He was elected a member of the 
common council from the twenty-fourth 
ward, serving thereon from 1835 until 1839. 
On January 23, 1890, he married Eleanor 
(Boyd) Palmer, of Baltimore, Maryland, 
and they have three children : Catherine 
B., born September 26, 1891 ; John S., born 
April 8, 1893 ; and Carroll R., born Sep- 
tember 3. 1903. Agnes Blackfan, the only 
daughter of John S. and Rachel Williams, 
is at home. Edward Newlin, the younger 
18-3 



son, died when but twenty-six years of age. 
He was a graduate of the medical depart- 
ment of the University of Pennsylvania, 
and was acting as physician and surgeon on 
the American Line steamship plying be- 
tween London and New York. 



THE WILLIAMS FAMILY of 
Nockamixon and Tinicum, and other 
parts of Bucks county, trace their an- 
cestry to Joseph Williams, of Boston, 
Massachusetts. He and his wife, Lydia, 
had ten children, namely: Joseph, 
born 12 mo., 14, 1670 (O. S.) ; William, 10 
mo., 13, 1671 ; Richard, 12 mo., 8, 1673; 
Hannah, 3 mo., 20, 1674, died in infancy; 
Daniel, 10 mo., 25, 1676; Hannah, 3 mo., 
26, 1679; Jeremiah,. 6 mo., 22, 1683 (refer- 
red to hereafter) ; Elizabeth, 7 mo., 22, 
1686, died in infancy; Elizabeth, 10 mo., 9, 
1688; and Mary, 9 mo., 6, 1869. 

Jeremiah at an early age was bound to 
a ship carpenter to learn the trade. Dur- 
ing his apprenticeship he left the church 
of England and joined the Friends or Qua- 
kers. I mo, 28, 1706-07 (O. S.), he pre- 
sented a certificate to the monthly meeting 
of Philadelphia from the Monthly Meeting 
of Rhode Island, i mo., 1707-08, he 
requested a "Certificate of Clearness" from 
the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting to Flush- 
ing Monthly Meeting to marry Philadel- 
phia, daughter of George and Mary (Wil- 
lis) Masters. In 1680 or '81 George Mast- 
ers, a tailor of New York, married Mary, 
daughter of Henry Willis, of Flushing, 
Long Island. Henry was fined for allow- 
ing his daughter to be married by Friends 
ceremony. After their marriage they went 
to England, where their first child, a daugh- 
ter named Mary, was born in 1682. Upon 
their return to this country they must have 
been in Philadelphia for a time, as their 
second child, a daughter, was born there 
in 1684. She was the first white female 
child born in the city, and was named 
Philadelphia for the city in which she was 
born. Jeremiah and Philadelphia Williams 
lived in the city of New York. They had 
two children. Joseph, born 3 mo., 15, 1710, 
died in infancy; and Hannah, born 9 mo., 
8, 171 1, married Benjamin, son of Charles 
and Elizabeth (Jackson) Doughty, of Long 
Island, in 1737. Philadelphia Williams died 
3 mo., 16, 1715, and the same year, 5 mo., 
5, he bought a m.ill property at Hempstead 
Harbor, Nassau Island, Queens county. 
New York, of John Robinson. The follow- 
ing year, 7 mo., 11, 1716, Jeremiah married 
Mary, daughter of Walter and Anne (Col- 
lins) New^bury, of Newport, Rhode Island, 
and widow of Jedediah How-land. This is 
a copy of their marriage certificate. 

Marriage Certificate — Whereas, Jeremiah 
Williams, late of New York, but now of 
Hempstead in Long Island, and Mary 
Howland, widow and relict of Jedediah 
Howland. of Newport, in Rhoad Island, 
Having declared their intention of taking 



274 



lUSTOXV OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



each other in Marriage before several! Pub- 
lick Meetings of the people commonly 
called Quakers in said Rhoad Island, ac- 
cording to the Good order used among 
them whose proceedings therein after a de- 
liberate consideration thereof with regard 
unto the righteous law- of God and exam- 
ple of his people recorded in the Scriptures 
of Truth in that case were approved by the 
said Meetings, they appearing clear of all 
others and Having consent of parents and 
others concerned. 

Now these are to certifie all whom it may 
concern that for the full accomplishing of 
their said Intentions this eleventh day of 
the Seventh month called September in the 
year according to the English, one thou- 
sand seven hundred and sixteen they the 
said Jeremiah Williams and Mary_ How- 
land appearing in a publick assemWy -&f ^ 
the People and others met together for that 
purpose in their Publick Meeting place at 
said Newport and in a solemn manner, he 
the said Jeremiah Williams taking the said 
Mary Howland by the hand did openly de- 
clare as foUow-eth : 

Friends, in the fear of God and before 
this assembly whom I desire to my wit- 
nesses I take this my friend Mary Howland 
to be my wife promising through the Lord's 
assistance to be to her a faithful and lov- 
ing husband till death separate us. And 
then and there in the said assembly the 
said Mary Howland did in like manner de- 
clare as followeth; Friends, in the fear of 
God and before this assembly whom I de- 
clare to be my witnesses I take this my 
friend Jeremiah Williams to be my hus- 
band promising through the Lord's assist- 
ance to be to him a faithful and loving 
wife till death separate us. And the said 
Jeremiah Williams and Mary Howland as 
a further consideration thereof did then 
and there to these presents set their hands. 
And we whose names are hereunto sub- 
scribed being present among others at the 
Solemnizing of their said Marriage and sub- 
scription in manner aforesaid as witnesses 
hereunto have to these presents subscribed 
our names the dav and year above written. 
JEREMIAH WILLIAMS, 
MARY WILLIAMS. â–  
Witnesses— Johannah Mott, Elizabeth 
Whartenby, Jacob Mott, Mary Wing, Wil- 
liam Barker, Hannah Brinley, Bethia Fol- 
ger, Ann Kay, Clarke Rodman, Susanna 
Freeborne, Ephraim Hicks, Katherine Hull, 
Thos. Leach, Hannah Hull, Samuel Col- 
lins, Thomas Rodman, John Headly, 
Thomas Borden, Ruth Fry, Peter Easton, 
John Stanton, Jimr., Dorcas Easton, Sam- 
uel Bufifum, Johannah Leach, Thomas 
Hicks, Susannah Hicks, John Hull, Junr., 
Mary Caine, Deliverance Cornell, Abigail 
Hicks, Elizabeth Borden, Rebecca Bennett. 
Hope Borden, Ann Redwood, Alice Bor- 
den, Sarah Redwood, Mary Borden. Mary 
Stanton, Thomas Rodman, John Easton, 
Walter Newberry. William Anthonv, Ann 
Cranston, John Wanton. Justice, Elizabeth 
Bordens, George Cornell, Leah Newberry, 



Joseph Borden, Ann Richardson, John Bor- 
den, Martha Cornell, Thos. Richardson, 
Patience Anthony, Patience Redwood, 
Hannah Fry, Sarah Newberry, Sarah Bor- 
den, Ann Newberry, Blcnham Stanton, A. 
Redwood, Catherine Clarke, Ann Clarke, 
Hannah Rodman, Katherine Shefifield. 

At the time of her marriage to Jeremiah, 
Mary had one son, Joseph Howland, born 
lo mo., 25, 1710 (O. S.) The children of 
Jeremiah and Mary Williams were : Anne, 
born 4 mo., 17, 1719, married, first, For- 
tunatus Woods, second, Ebenezer Carter; 
Walter, born 10 mo., 17, 1720, married out 
of meeting, 1744; Benjamin, born 9 mo., 
4, 1722 (referred to hereafter) ; Mary, born 
9 mo. 26, 1724; Jeremiah, born 3 mo. 18, 
1726; Lydia, born 12 mo., 6, 1729; and 
Martha, date of birth unknown, married 
Benjamin Hill, at Kingwood, 8 mo., 3, 1753 
(N. S.). In the year 1743 or '44 Jeremiah 
and his two sons, Walter and Benjamin, 
and daughter Martha moved to Kingwood, 
Hunterdon county. New Jersey. His 
daughter Mary came in 1758. Jeremiah, 
at the establishment of the Monthly Meet- 
ing at Kingwood, was made with Joseph 
King the first elder of that meeting. Some 
years after this his health failing he, with 
his wife and daughter Mary, moved to their 
son Benjamin's, he having moved some 
years before to Nockamixon township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He remained 
with his son until his death, 3 mo., 15, 
1766 (N. S.), and was buried in the old 
grave yard at Quakertown, New Jersey. 
His will was written in Nockamixon, i mo., 
23, 1760, proved 6 mo., 6, 1766. His wife 
died in 1774. Her will is dated Nockamix- 
on, Pennsylvania, 6 mo., 12, 1766, proved 3 
mo., 20, 1774. 

Benjamin Williams, son of Jeremiah and 
Mary (Newbury) Williams, was born 9 
mo., 4, 1722 (O. S.). He married Mercy, 
daughter of John and Margaret Stevenson, 
of Kingwood, New Jersey, in 1744. Their 
children were: John, born i mo., 29, 1745, 
married Hannah Pursell; Mary, born 10 
mo., II, 1747; Jeremiah, born 5 mo., 9, 
1749 (referred to hereafter) ; Margaret, 
born 4 mo., 4, 1751, married John IlitT; 
Lydia, born 8 mo., 18, 1752 (N. S.), mar- 
ried David Burson; Benjamin, born 10 mo., 
30, 1756, married Dorothy Leiper; Anne, 
born 7 mo., 15, 1758, married Jacob Ritter; 
William, born 9 mo., 20, 1760, married 
Rachel Leiper; Samuel, bom 7 mo., 20, 
1762, married Sarah Watson: Sui^anna, 
born 7 mo., 30, 1765, married a Mr. Stroud : 
Benjamin and his family moved to Nock- 
amixon township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, some time prior to 1760, and must 
have lived there some considerable time be- 
fore receiving a deed for the property. It 
w-as finally deeded to him in 1769. There 
were 515 acres and 31 perches, the boundar- 
ies reaching from near the Narrows to the 
village of L^pper Black's Eddy along the 
river, and extending over the hill regions 
for a considerable distance. This was the 
land once owned and controlled bv the 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



2 



1 :5 



Chief Nutimus and his tribe, and this chief 
was always an honored guest of Benjamin 
WiUiams, Sr., whose home was nearly on 
the site of the mansion built by Jacob Sto- 
ver soon after purchasing in 1818. Benja- 
min Williams, Sr., and his family lived 
here during the time of the raids by the 
Doans, and having a valuable horse of 
which he was very fond, and hearing of the 
approach of the Doans, he quietly stabled 
his favorite horse in his kitchen and it was 
thus saved from falling into the hands of 
the lawless gang. Soon after taking pos- 
session of the land in Nockamixon the 
young Indians roaming over it at will, 
gathered the apples from the trees and 
took them away, and disturbed the water 
in the spring until it was unfit for use for 
a time. Benjamin expostulated with Nuti- 
mus, and asiced why they did it. Nutimus 
replied it was true the Indians had sold the 
land, but not the apples and spring. Ben- 
jamin asked them how much they wanted 
for the apples and spring, and the chief 
replied, five bushels of Indian corn, five 
bushels of buckwheat and five loaves of 
rye bread. After that the spring and the 
apples were not disturbed. In 1778 or '79 
Benjamin bought about 500 acres of land 
in Tinicum township, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, and built the house on the river 
road now owned by Clinton Haney, near 
the little hamlet of Lodi. The little creek 
which empties into the Delaware was the 
northern boundary of this tract. His son, 
Jeremiah, took possession of this tract in 
1779. Some time after this Benjamin 
bought about 500 acres in the beautiful 
Buckingham Valley, which was occupied 
by his youngest son Samuel. 

In his will, which was dated Nockamix- 
on township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. 
3 mo., 16, 1809, and probated 5 mo- 3°, 
i8og lie mentions "a general arrangement 
of my estate," in which, on the '4th d of 
the 1st m. in the year one thousand eight 
hundred and three" he deeded to his three 
sons, Jeremiah and Benjamin the land on 
which they were living, and on the "3ra 
of the first m. in the year one thousand 
eight hundred and four" he deeded the land 
in Buckingham to his son Samuel, who 
was then residing there. Benjamin died 
at the home of his son Samuel in Bucking- 
ham and was buried in the grave yard at 
the Buckingham Meeting House. He died 
in 1809, probably in the early part of the 
fifth month. 

Jeremiah, son of Benjamin and Mercy 
(Stevenson) Williams, born 5 mo.. 9, I749- 
married 4 mo. 25, 1779 (N. S.), ^lary, 
daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Black- 
ledge, of Richland township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania. Their children were : John, 
born I mo., 27, 1780 (referred to here- 
after) ; Thomas B., born 4 mo., 11, 1781. 
married Rebecca Arndt ; Benjamin, born 
12 mo.. 18, 1782, married, first, Mary (Mer- 
edith), widow of (?) Burson, sec- 
ond, Rachel, daughter of Benjamin and 
Dorothy (Leiper) Williams; Susan, born 



6 mo., 10, 1785, never married; William, 
born 6 mo., 12, 1789, married Hannah 
Whiting; Samuel, born 6 mo., 18, 1792, 
died 1812; Isaac B., born 4 mo., 23, 1794, 
married Martha Shelton White; Margaret, 
born 4 mo., 28, 1796, married Abel Lester; 
Jeremiah, born 12 mo., 28, 1798, married 
Elizabeth Lake. 

John, son of Jeremiah and Mary (Black- 
ledge) Williams, born i mo., 27, 1780, mar- 
ried July, 1804, Christiana, daughter of 
John and Anne (Kimple or Kimball) 
Moore. Christiana was born 3 mo., 5, 1781, 
Their children were: Marj-, born 5 mo. 
20, 1805, married Nathan Whiting; New- 
bury Davenport, born 5 mo. 9, 1807, mar- 
ried Lucy Adelaide Gould; was made the 
first cashier of the Frenchtown, New Jer- 
sey, National Bank, when that institution 
was established ; James, born 8 mo. 23, 
1809, married first Phoebe Treichler, sec- 
ond, Josephine Krause (widow). He died 
March 14, 1903, at the age of nearly ninety- 
four years ; Ann Eliza, born 7 mo. 30, 
1812, married Jonas Smith, at this writ- 
ing, August 26, 1905, she is still living in 
possession of all her faculities, and enjoying 
a ripe old age in the home of her only 
child, John W. Smith, at Stockton, New 
Jersey. Barzilla Newbold, born 7 mo. 4, 
1814, referred to later; and Caroline, born 
I mo. 18, 182 1, married Thomas W. Har- 
ris. John and Christiana Williams built 
a home on the estate of his father, at 
Lodi, at the intersection of the river road 
and a road leading back to the western 
part of the township. The place is now 
owned by a Mr. Adams. After the death 
of his father, Jeremiah Williams, in 1834, 
John bought land, in Tinicum township, 
of the William Erwin estate, about 300 
acres, and moved there in the spring of 
1837. In the settlement of his father's 
estate, Thomas was the only purchaser of 
any part of the original estate ; his pur- 
chase being about one-half of the land on 
the north and west side of the tract. His 
three brothers, Benjamin, Isaac and Jere- 
miah, with their sisters, Margaret Lester 
and Susan Williams moved to Ohio with 
their families about 1840. John died 6 mo. 
6, 1858. Prior to his death he sold the 
middle portion of the tract, bought of the 
Erwins, to Conrad Wyker and at the sale, 
after his death, the northern portion w-as 
bought by his son Barzilla and the re- 
maining portion by his daughter Caro- 
line. There had been a few lots sold to 
others for building purposes, and these 
together with three houses on the south 
side of the Dublic road comprise the little 
village of Erwinna. 

Barzilla Newbold Williams, born 7 mo. 
4, 1814, married first, in 1839. Mary, daugh- 
ter of Azariah and Anna Cummings Davis, 
of Sussex countv. New Jersey, and had 
two daughters: Stella, born 6 mo. 13, 1841, 
died 10 mo. 4, 1843 : and Anna M., born 
I mo. 4, 1844, married. 2 mo. 15. 1877, 
William H.. r^on of Rev. Samuel and 
Katherine (Wolfinger) Stahr. William 



276 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



and Anna lived in Philadelphia ; he died 
3 mo. 9, 1903; they have one daughter, 
Francelia Williams, who resides with her 
mother in Philadelphia. She was born 
I mo. 10, 1878. In September, 1847, he 
married Sarah S., daughter of William L. 
and Elizabeth (Large) King, by whom he 
had two children : Josephine King, born 
10 mo. 4, 1852, referred to hereinafter, and 
Sarah Francelia, born 3 mo. 4, 1855, married 
3 mo. 7, 1878, Evan Thomas, son of Elisha 
and Harriet (Lukens) Worthington. Their 
children were : Elisha, born 2 mo. 27, 1879 ; 
Helen born 6 mo. 15, 1881, died 9 mo. 30, 
1881 ; Eleanor F., born 12 mo. 7, 1887, died 
6 mo. 15, 1888. Evan T. and Sarah 1^. 
Worthington resided in Buckingham, Penn- 
sylvania, where he had a general store 
until the spring of 1890 when they mov-ed 
to Newtown, Pennsylvania, where he con-- 
ducts the middle store purchased by him 
before his removal to Newtown. Barzilla's 
second wife died i mo. 26, 1856, and in 
March, 1858, he married Mary, daughter 
of George and Maria (Davis) Morrow, 
by whom he had one son, Samuel Silvey, 
born 2 mo. i, 1859 ; he married Harriet 
May, daughter of William and Mary Ann 
(Hagenbuck) Hendricks, of Chicago. They 
were married 12 mo. 10, 1888, have one 
child, Marion Francelia, born 6 mo. 7, 
1897. Samuel Silvey and his family re- 
side in Chicago, he is the associate man- 
ager of the Detroit Stove Works, whose 
main office is located in Chicago. On 6 
mo. I, 1875, Barzilla married his fourth 
wife, Hannah, daughter of Ralph and Mar- 
tha Harrison, and widow of a Mr. John- 
son, of Camden, New Jersey, who still 
survives him. They had no children. He 
died 6 mo. i, 1901, and was buried in 
the Pursell burying ground at Upper 
Black's Eddy, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. 
Josephine King Williams, daughter of 
Barzilla and Sarah (King) Williams, and 
the compiler of this record, was born at 
Erwinna, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 10 
mo. 4, 1852. She married, 4 mo. 22, 1885, 
Stacy B., son of Bruce M. and ]\Iartha 
(Poore) Pursell, of Upper Black's Eddy, 
Pennsylvania, a record of whose ancestry 
on both sides is embraced in this work. 
At the time of their marriage Stacy was 
a druggist in Portland, Northampton coun- 
ty, -Pennsylvania. In the spring of 1888 
he sold his drug store in Portland and they 
removed to Bristol, Pennsylvania, their 
present place of residence. In the settle- 
ment of the estate of Barzilla Williams, 
the administrator, Stacy B. Pursell, sold 
the farm to Readen Tettemer, and thus, 
excepting a store property in Erwinna, 
owned by Joseph Williams, and a house 
and lot at Lodi, owned by Mrs. Alice 
(Williams) Winter, all the ancestral es- 
tate in Tinicum has passed out of the name, 
as it has also in Nockamixon : only a few 
acres of the hill regions of that tract 
are now owned by the descendants of Ben- 
jamin Williams, the original purchaser. 



REUBEN ORLANDO SWOPE, at 
present prinicpal of Glen Rock High 
School, Glen Rock borough, Bergen coun- 
ty. New Jersey, was born in Bedminster 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, No- 
vember 17, 1868. The ancestors of Mr. 
Swope were of German extraction and 
have been residents of Bucks county for 
many generations. But little is known of 
the earlier generations of the family 
further than that they belonged to the 
solid substantial yeomanry of Upper Bucks,, 
and filled their places in the history with 
honor and integrity. The grandparents of 
the subject of this sketch were John and 
Mary (Wildonger) Swope, whose son Jo- 
seph Swope, born in Tinicum township, 
Bucks county, August 6, 183 1, was reared 
arid, educated in that and Bedminster town- 
ships, and followed the occupation of a 
farmer in Bedminster and Plumstead town- 
ships — and he, as well as his immediate 
ancestors, was a member of the Ludieran 
church, and politically he was a Democrat, 
though he never sought or held political 
office. He married Mary Overholt, daugh- 
ter of Abraham and Hannah (Shutt) Over- 
holt, and granddaughter of Martin and 
Elizabeth (Nash) Overholt. She was born 
in Plumstead township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, October 6, 1833. 

Reuben Orlando Swope was educated in 
the common schools of Bucks county, and 
later took a course at the West Chester 
State Normal School, and followed the 
profession of teacher for eight years in 
the public schools of Bucks county, two 
of which he was principal of the high 
school at Richlandtown. He is now prin- 
cipal of the high school at Glen Rock, 
Bergen county, New Jersey. Thoroughly 
devoted to his profession, he has taken 
little part in public affairs. He is a mem- 
ber of the Lutheran church of Hilltown,. 
and filled the position as organist there 
for some time. He also served as superin- 
tendent of the' Sunday school for two- 
years. Mr. Swope is unmarried. 



THE NATIONAL FARM SCHOOL. 
In the summer of 1894 the Rev. Dr. Jo- 
seph Krauskopf, of Philadelphia, visited' 
Russia in an effort to secure data con- 
cerning the condition of the Jews in that 
country and to urge means for its ameliora- 
tion. While there he observed the aston- 
ishing zeal with which Jews pursued agri- 
culture within the limits allowed by the 
Russian Government. He saw a people 
yearning, not as common prejudice has as- 
sumed, for a life of trade, but for op- 
portunities to work out their existence 
from the soil. He further visited, at the 
suggestion of Count Tolstoi, the Jewish 
Agricultural School at Odessa, the end 
and aim of whose activity was the gradua- 
tion of practical working farmers, and in- 
structors and managers of agricultural' 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



277 



colonies. The avidity with which the 
Jewish lads avail themselves of the facili- 
ties thus given them convinced him that 
the agricultural instincts, fostered in Bible 
times, still lingered, and needed but op- 
portunity for their manifestation. 

On his return to America, Dr. Kraus- 
kopf proceeded to formulate plans for the 
institution of a Farm School, which, while 
welcoming all students regardless of creed, 
might satisfy the demand of large num- 
bers of Jews for agricultural opportunities. 
After months of agitation sufficient funds 
were procured for the purchase of a farm 
and the erection of adequate buildings 
thereon. On April 10, 1896 the National 
Farm School was incorporated. The Wat- 
son farm, situated a mile from Doylestown, 
the county seat of Bucks, was purchased, 
where school buildings were erected, and 
the school opened with fifteen pupils in its 
first class. The school is a purely technical 
institution which has for its purpose the 
•education of young men in both practical 
and scientific agriculture. The course of 
instruction contmues for four years. The 
entrance requirements are those ordinarily 
demanded of candidates to enter a good 
high school. The grade of instruction is 
somewhat higher than that of a high school, 
because the length of the school year is 
II months. The academic studies con- 
sist of instruction in many of the different 
branches of agriculture and horticulture, 
general, analytical and agricultural chem- 
istry; general and agricultural physics, 
animal hygiene. United States history, Eng- 
lish, mathematics and surveying. The 
technical or practical agriculture is required 
of each pupil every day for three hours, 
and during the summer months the time 
is extended to seven hours per day. All 
of the work on the farm is performed by 
the pupils. The young men graduating 
from the school are sufficiently proficient 
to take positions in the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture at Washing'ton 
and with different Experiment Stations, 
and some have full charge of farms, other 
conduct dairies, while others go into farm- 
ing for themselves. 

The facilities for instruction consist of 
a home farm of 122 acres, well stocked 
with fifty head of cattle, fifteen horses, 
sheep, swine and poultry. There is donated 
or loaned to the school from the manu- 
facturers for use and instruction every 
kind of a farm implement that is considered 
of practical use on a Pennsylvania farm. 
There is also a well equipped dairy where 
the pupils are taught how to make butter. 
In addition to these advantages the school 
possesses two farms of about forty acres 
â– each, which are equipped as model farms, 
and which are used for post-graduate in- 
struction, upon wdiich the graduates of 
the school have practice in superintendence. 
One also finds at this schoo"l well equipped 
laboratories of chemistry and physics with 
surveying instruments and a good green- 
house, together with orchards and vine- 



yards and small fruit gardens, for in- 
struction in horticulture. A library con- 
sisting of over 2,000 well chosen books 
adds greatly to the equipment of all depart- 
ments. A comfortable dormitory provides 
a home for forty-five pupils, which is the 
number enrolled for January i, 1906. A 
large number of names are on the waiting 
list due to the school's limited accommo- 
dations. 

The president of the board of managers 
is the Rev. Dr. Joseph Krauskopf, of 
Philadelphia ; the secretary is Mr. Harry 
Felix; the director of the school is John 
H. Washburn, Ph. D. 



HENRY CLAY STUCKERT, of War- 
rington, Bucks county, is the eldest son of 
William H. and Rachel (Scarborough) 
Stuckert, and one of the prominent farm- 
ers of Warrington township. Henry 
Stuckert, the father of William H., 
and grandfather of H. Clay Stuckert, 
was born and reared in Germany, 
where he learned the trade of a baker. 
He came to Philadelphia when a young 
man and followed his trade there until 
181 1, first as a journeyman but for 
many years afterwards carrying on busi- 
ness for himself. On April 6, 181 1, he 
purchased the farms now occupied by his 
tw'O grandsons, 213 acres, in Warrington 
township, Bucks county, and turning over 
his baker business to his eldest son George 
removed to Bucks county. He was an in- 
telligent, practical and successful business 
man, and was highly respected in the 
community. He married soon after coming 
to America, Elizabeth Bennett, of Phila- 
delphia. He died in 1836, at the age of sev- 
enty years, and his wife died in 1843. They 
were the parents of six children: i. 
George, who succeeded his father as baker 
in Philadelphia, but later removed to 
Northampton township, Bucks county, mar- 
ried Anne Hough, of Warrington, but re- 
turned to Philadelphia where he died. 2. 
Louisa, married George Jamison. 3. John, 
who remained in Philadelphia. 4. William 
H., the father of the subject of this sketch. 
5. Anna Maria, who married A. Jackson 
Beaumont, of Solebury. 6. Jacob, who 
purchased a portion of the home farm in 
184s, but some years later removed to 
Trenton, New Jersey, where he died. 

William H. Stuckert, third son of Henry 
and Elizabeth (Bennett) Stuckert, was 
born at Warrington, October 2, 1816, and 
was reared on the farm. At his father's 
death in 1836 he took charge of the farm 
for his mother and conducted it for seven 
years. At the death of his mother he pur- 
chased that part of the homestead now 
occupied by his son, H. Clay Stuckert, 
and made substantial improvements. Sev- 
eral years later he purchased the home- 
stead of his brother Jacob and lived there 
until his death with the exception of a 
few years spent on a farm in Doylestown 



278 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 




township, in 1874. returning to the home-, 
stead at the death of his wife in 1880, 
and residing with his son Amos. He was 
an enterprising and successful farmer and 
business man, and held many positions of 
trust. He and his family were members of 
the Presbyterian church, of which he was 
a trustee. He died in November, 1896. 
He married in 1841 Rachel Scarborough, 
of Wrightstovvn, daughter of Amos and 
Elizabeth (Cooper) Scarborough, both na- 
tives of Bucks county and of English 
Quaker descent. Both the Cooper and 
Scarborough families were among the 
earliest settlers in Bucks county. William 
H. and Rachel (Scarborough) Struckert 
were the parents of five children, viz. : i. 
Henry Clay, born August 7, 1842, see for- 
ward ; 2. Sarah, wife of Dr. A. H. Clay- 
ton, of Richboro, Bucks county ; 3. Amos,^ 
born March 19, 1846, see forward ; 4. Will- 
iam, a prominent lawyer of Do3destown ; 
5. John C, a prominent lawyer of Bristol, 
Bucks county. 

Henry Clay Stuckert, eldest son of 
William H. and Rachel (Scarborough) 
Stuckert, was born on the farm where he 
still lives, August 7, 1842. He was reared 
on the farm and acquired his education 
at the common schools and at a normal 
school at Upland, Chester county, Penn- 
sylvania. On reaching manhood he took 
charge of the home farm, which he event- 
ually purchased of his father, and this he 
has greatly improved and beautified ; he 
is an enterprising and successful farmer. 
He married in 1875, Emma J. Harman, 
born in 1849, daughter of Daniel Y. and 
Elizabeth K. (Bennett) Harman, and 
granddaughter of John and Elizabeth 
Addis) H arman. both of Holland descent, 
.ohn Harman was an early settler in Upper 
Makefield township. Daniel, the ninth of 
his ten children, married first Hannah, 
daughter of Benjamin and Hannah (Simp- 
son) Hough, of Doylestown township, by 
whom he had six children. He married 
second Elizabeth K. Bennett, daughter of 
Miles and Hannah (Kroesen) Bennett, 
both of Holland descent, and representa- 
tives of early Knickerbocker families that 
settled first on Long Island and removed 
later to North and Southampton, Bucks 
county. Daniel Y. Harman was in early 
life a farmer, but later was a hotel keeper 
at Newtown ; he was for several years a 
justice of the peace. He died in 1855. By 
his second wife, Elizabeth K. Bennett, he 
had three children: Emma J., the wife of 
the subject of this sketch; Lewis C, a mer- 
chant of Philadelphia; and Franklin P., 
who died at the age of seven years. The 
children of Henry Clay and Emma J. (Har- 
man) Stuckert are: Frederick, an attorney 
at law at Bristol, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania; William R., see forward; Louis H., 
a bookkeeper at Trenton, Ne_w Jersey; 
Henry, a student at Jefferson Medical Col- 
lege, Philadelphia ; and Anna P.. residing 
at home. Mr. Stuckert and family are 
members of the Presbyterian church. 



AMOS STUCKERT, of Warrington, 
the second son of William H. and 
Rachel (Scarborough) Stuckert, was 
born on the Warrington farm March 19^ 
1846, and on his marriage in 1873 took 
up his residence where he still resides,, 
on the original homestead, buying the 
farm of his father. He is an enterpris- 
ing and successful farmer, and has in- 
troduced all the latest improvements in 
farm machinery. He married in 1873, 
Esther N. Fesmire, daughter of H. C. 
and Sydonia (Chappelle) Fesmire, of 
Moreland township, Montgomery 

county, Pennsylvania, where Mrs. 
Stuckert was born December 6, 1852. 
Her grandfather, Peter Fesmire, was a 
native of Germany, who settled in Mont- 
gomery county in early life, was a suc- 
l^joessflil farmer. His son, Henry C, the 
third of seven children, settled in More- 
land township, where he lived for a num- 
ber of yeafs and then removed to Dela- 
ware, where he lived for three years on 
ah experimental farm, and then returned' 
to Glenside where he died in 1900. His 
widow still survives, residing at Glen- 
side at the age of seventy-eight years. 
She is of French Heugenot descent, and 
a daughter of John Santell, a life-long 
resident of Montgomery county. 

Mr. and Mrs. Stuckert have been the 
parents of eleven children, viz.: George 
J., died at the age of eighteen years; 
Esther B., wife of Professor William H. 
Black, who was captain of a company \n 
the Spanish-American war, and is now 
principal of a school at High Bridge, 
New Jersey; Elizabeth, wife of Albert 
Reed, a machinist; John C, a farmer, 
married Eva Jamison; Grace, wife of 
H. J. Worthington; W^illiam H., residing 
at home; Sarah, married B. R. Yerkes; 
Sidney, residing at home; Clarence, who 
died young; Anna and Claud, who reside 
at home. Mr. Stuckert and his family 
are members of the Presbyterian church. 

WILLIAM R. STUCKERT, second 
son of Henry Clay and Emma J. (Har- 
man) Stuckert, was born on the old 
homestead in Warrington township, 
March 23. 1877. He was educated in the 
public schools of Warrington. the 
Doylestown High School and Ursinus 
College. After completing his course 
of study at college in 1899. he taught 
school for one year in Bucks county, and 
then entered upon the study of the law 
in the offices of his uncles, William and 
John C. Stuckert, and was admitted to 
practice in the Bucks county courts in 
December, 1902. In March. 1903. the 
law firm of William and J. C. Stuckert 
was dissolved, and W'illiam R. Stuckert 
was taken into partnership by his. uncle, 
William Stuckert, under the firm name 
of William & William R. Stuckert, with 
oftices at Doylestown and Newtown, and 
he at once took cliarge of tlie Newtowit 
office and entered upon the active prac- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



279 



tice of his profession. ]\rr. Stuckert is 
the present borough solicitor of the 
borough of Newtown, and has already, 
built up a remunerative business, and 
established a reputation for careful and 
painstaking service in behalf of his 
clients. 



GEORGE W. HARTLEY, Jr.. of 
Pineville, Buckingham township. Bucks 
county, was born in New Hope borough. 
Bucks county. December 28, 1867, and 
is a son of William H. and Sarah Ellen 
(Girton) Hartley, and a grandson of 
Levi and Rachel (Heaton) Hartley. 

The pioneer ancestor of the Hartley 
family was Edward Hartley of English 
Quaker stock who settled m Bucking- 
ham about 1700, and has left numerous 
descendants in various parts of the 
union, although few of the name now 
reside in Bucks county. 

William H. Hartley, the father of the 
subject of this sketch, was born in 
Buckingham. July 4. 1836. At the age 
of sixteen he left the paternal roof and 
learned the trade of a blacksmith, which 
he followed in connection with farming 
until t886, when he retired from active 
life. He resided in Pineville from 1877 
until his decease on April 10. 1904. He 
married Sarah Ellen Girton. daughter 
of James and Diadama Girton. who was 
born at Dolington, Bucks county, No- 
vember 18, 1841, and died at Pineville. 
January 6, 1900. Their children were as 
follows: J. Howard: INIary. widow of 
Piers'on Eddowes of Hartsville: George 
W.. the subject of this sketch; .Eh of 
Doylestown: and Dr. William K. Hart- 
ley of Dovlestown. 

George 'W. Hartley. Jr., acquired his 
education at the public schools and re- 
mained on the farm with his father as- 
sisting in the operations during the 
summer months, and during the winter 
months followed various other occupa- 
tions. After the death of his father he 
moved to his present residence where he 
has since lived a retired life. He mar- 
ried November i. 1894. Margaret Ann 
Kelley. daughter of Isaac' and Martha 
E. (Mathews) Kelley. of Solebury.^ and 
they are the parents of one child. Walter 
Sickle, born March 28. 1899- In politics 
Mr. Hartley is a Republican, and is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. He is a member of Wycombe 
castle. No. 125, Knights of the Golden 
Eagle. 



CYRUS T. VANARTSDALEN. of 
Newtown township. Bucks county, was 
born in Northampton township. April 
5. 1823. He is a son of Isaac and Ann 
(Torbert) Vanartsdalen, the former a 
descendart through seven generations in 
an unbrrken line from as many Dutch 



ancestors who emigrated from Holland 
to New Netherlands in the first half of 
the seventeenth century, while the lat- 
ter's ancestry traces back to at least 
four Ulster Scots who found homes in 
Bucks county a century later. The pa- 
ternal ancestor of the Van Artsdalens, 
who bore their patronymic, was Simon 
jansen Van Artsdalen, who emigrated 
from Holland in 1656 ,and settled m 
Flatlands. Long Island, where he mar- 
ried Pieterje Claesen Wycoff. who had 
accompanied her brother to New Neth- 
erlands in 16,36. Simon Jansen Van 
Artsdalen was a magistrate of Flatlands. 
1661-1686. 'and a deacon of the Dutch 
church there. He died in 1710, leavmg 
several sons and daughters: among the 
former was Cornelis Symonse Van 
Artsdalen, born in Flatlands in 1665, and 
died there in 1745- He was thrice mar- 
ried, first to Tlletje Reinerse Wizzel- 
penning. second, on March 16, 1687, to 
A.eltje Willemse Couvenhoven, born De- 
cember 14. 1665. daughter of Willemse 
Gerretse Covenhoven and Altie Brinck- 
erhoff. and granddaughter of Gerret 
Wolfertse Couvenhoven. who had emi- 
grated from Holland with his father m 
1630 having been born in Holland in 
1610 Cornelis Symonse Van Artsdalen 
married third, Maretje or Mary Dirckse. ^:i^ 
on May 2. 1691. By the three wives 
he had ten children: Aeltje, Jacobus, 
Dirck. Petronella, Alaria, Abraham, 
Jannetje, Jacobiis, who married Alice, 
daughter of Jacob Hogeland. of New 
Jersey. Philip. John, and Simon, born 
August 16. 1697. Cornelis Symonse 
Van Artsdalen purchased a farm of 
his father at Gravesend. May 7. ^700. 
and is supposed to have lived thereon 
until 1726 when he sold it to his 
brother John and removed to Somerset 
county. New Jersey. / He was active in 
building the Dutch church there, and 
was prominent in the affairs of the com- 
munity. It is possible that he returned 
to Long Island prior to his death, as his 
will is registered at the surrogate's 
office at New York in 1745, though dated 
at Somerset in 1738. 

Simon Van ARXsnALEN, son of Cornells 
and Marv (Dirckse) Van Artsdalen. was 
born at "Flatbush. Long Island. August 
16. 1697. and married there. October 30. 
1716 jannetje Romevn, whose father 
and' his tw^o brothers had emigrated 
from Holland about 1650. Simon re- 
moved with his father to Somerset 
county New Jersey, and prior to 1730 
removed with his family to the Dutch 
colony in Southampton township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, where he was 
one of the early elders of the Dutch 
church, lived a long and useful life, and 
reared a family of seven children, hve 
sons and two daughters. He died m 
the winter of 1770. and is buried at "The 
Buck." The children of Simon and 
Jane (Romeyn) Van Artsdalen were as 



280 



HISTORY OP BUCKS COUNTY. 



follows: I. John, born at Flatlands, Long 
Island, June 27, 1718, died in North- 
ampton in 1777. 2. Lammetje, born Au- 
gust 21, 1720, married first Derick Kroesen, 
and second Cornelius Wj'ckoff. 3. Chris- 
toffel, born April 15, 1722, married, Oc- 
tober 26, 1748, Elizabeth Kroesen, 
daughter of Henry Kroesen. Died 
1765, leaving children, Simon, born 
1752; Else, born 1754; Jane, born 1757; 
Henry, born 1759; and Jacob, born in 
1762. 4. Simon, born April 18, 1726, 
married, January 24, 1751, Elsie Kroesen. 
Died 1795, leaving nine children, Cor- 
nelia, wife of Jacob Vandegrift; Simon, 
married Joanna Hogeland; Jane, mar- 
ried Joshua Praul; Derrick; Margaret, 
married Abraham Lefferts; Jacob; John; 
Elizabeth, married Thomas Fenton; and 
Mary, married Joseph Fenton. 5. Mar- 
garet, 'born January 12, 1729, married 
Derick Kroesen, and had several chil- 
dren. 6. Jacobus or James, born Janu- 
ary 25, 1732, married Rachel LaRue, 
daughter of Isaac LaRue. 7. Nicholas, 
born July 14, 1736, died 1805, married 
December 29, 1759, Jane Vansant. 8. 
Peter, born March 2, 1739, probably died 
young, not mentioned in father's will. 

John Van Artsdalen, born January 29, 
1718, accompanied his father to Bucks 
county and settled on a farm in North- 
ampton township, containing 250 acres, 
where he lived and died. He married, 
April 30, 1742, Elizabeth Kroesen, 
daughter of Garret, granddaughter of 
Dirck Kroesen and Elizabeth Kregier, 
and great-granddaughter of Gerret 
Dirckse Kroesen, who emigrated from 
Holland about 1650 and settled in Brook- 
lyn, where he died in 1680. John and 
Elizabeth (Kroeson) Van Artsdalen had 
seven children, as follows: I. Jane, born 
November 17, 1744, died of smallpox, 
January 30, 1756, unmarried; 2. Ariantje. 
born May 25, 1746, married, February 18, 
1767, Arthur Lefferts; 3. Lammetje, born 
April 2. 1748, married, January II, 1770, 
Peter Lefferts; 4. Elizabeth, born Sep- 
tember I, 1750, died at the age of two 
years; 5. Simon or Simeon, born July 10, 
1753. was pastor of the Dutch church at 
Readington. Hunterdon county. New 
Jersey, died 1788, married IVIagdalen 
Hogeland; 6. Elizabeth, born May 7, 
1756, married John Cornell, left no is- 
sue surviving : 7. Garret, born ]\Iay 8, 
1758, died 1848, married, November 29, 
1781, Euphemia Hogeland, born October 
24, 1761. died February 19, 1829, daugh- 
ter of George and Maria (Scheneck) 
Hogeland, a lineal descendant of Dirck 
Hogeland, the emigrant. (See Hogeland 
Family in this work.) 

Garret Van Artsdalen purchased the 
interest of his brother and sisters in the 
old homestead and resided thereon. He 
and his brother Simon were members 
of Captain Henry Lott's company of as- 
sociators in Northampton in 1775- The 
children of Garret and Euphemia 



(Hogeland) Van Artsdalen were: I. 
John, born January 17, 1784, married, 
April 17, 1806, Jane Kroesen, died 1844; 

2. Simon, born November 10, 1786, mar- 
ried Deborah Dyer, had twelve children; 

3. Isaac, born September 23, 1791, mar- 
ried. September i, 1814, Ann Torbert. 

4. Garret, born May 5, 1797, died Sep- 
tember 20, 1799. 5- Maria, born May 2, 
1-794, married Joel Carver. 

Isaac Van Artsdalen was reared on 
the old plantation in Northampton, and 
in 1831, his father conveyed to him 
ninety acres thereof, and a year later he 
acquired of his brother Simeon another 
tract, part of the same, and he spent his 
whole life on the farm of his ancestors. 
He died in i860. Ann Torbert, the 
mother of the subject of this sketch, 
was a daughter of James and Margaret 
(McNair) Torbert, of Makefield, and a 
granddaughter of James Torbert and 
Hannah Burley, and of James and Mar- 
tha (Keith) McNair. Her four great- 
grandfathers Samuel Torbert, Samuel 
McNair, John Burleigh and William 
Keith emigrated from the north of Ire- 
land and settled in Makefield, Bucks 
county, about the year 1730. Samuel 
Torbert came from Carrick-Fergus on 
the northeast coast of Ireland in 1726. 
He was a tanner, and located in New- 
town where he lived for many years. 
Late in life he became a farmer in Upper 
Makefield, where he died in 1778. Isaac 
and Ann (Torbert) Van Artsdalen had 
eight children, as follows: i. Garret, born 
1816. died 1881, married Harriet E. Warne 
and had seven children ; 2. James Torbert, 
born in 1818. married Catharine Nag- ^ 
lee; 3. Theodore Milton, born 1821, died 
1904, married, 1843, Cornelia M. Cornell; 

4. Cyrus Torbert, born April 5, 1823, 
married Jane E. Cornell, see forward; 

5. Margaret Ann, born 1825, married, 

1846, David Wynkoop ]\IcNair. 6. Alice 
Elizabeth, born 1828, married James An- 
derson; 7. Maria, born 1831, married, 
1850. James L. Torbert; 8. Isaac Keith, 
born 1834. married Sarah IMatthiea. 

Cyrus T. Vanartsdalen was born and 
reared on the old homestead in North- 
ampton, and remained on the farm with 
his father until twenty-five years of age. 
He then followed farming in Northamp- 
ton until 1859, when he purchased the 
farm in Newtown township, where he 
still resides. He married, December 15. 

1847. Jane Eliza Cornell, daughter of 
Jacob and Maria Cornell, of Northamp- 
ton, who bore him three children: Mary, 
born December 18, 1850, died January 
25. 1875, was wife of George C. Fetter. 
Alice, born November 22. 1853, died Feb- 
ruary II, 1880, was wife of Murray 
Gardner. Isaac T., born March 28, 
1757, married Addie C. Camm. Mr. 
Vanartsdalen has been a member of the 
Presbyterian church since his eigh- 
teenth year, served several yearr> as dea- 
con and has been an elder of lue New- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



281 



town church since 1868. In politics he is 
a Republican, but has never sought or 
held office except that of school director. 



HENRY H. VAN ARTSDALEN, of 
Feasterville, Southampton township, 
Bucks county, was born near Feaster- 
A'ille, November i, 1842, and is a son of 
James and Rachel (Hough) Van Arts- 
dalen. He is a lineal descendant of Si- 
mon Jansen Van Artsdalen, who emi- 
grated from Holland in 1653 and settled 
on Long Island, his great-grandfather 
being Nicholas Van Artsdalen, men- 
tioned in the preceding sketch, who was 
born July 14, 1736, son of Simon and 
Jane (Romeyn) Van Artsdalen, the pio- 
neer ancestor of the family in Bucks 
county. Nicholas Van Artsdalen mar- 
ried, December 29, 1759, Jannetje or Jane 
Vansant. Being the youngest surviving 
son, he remained upon the old home- 
stead which was devised to him at the 
death of his father, and died there in 
November, 1805. His widow Jane sur- 
vived him, dying in August, 1813. They 
were the parents of seven children, four 
sons, Simon, James, John and Chris- 
topher, and three daughters. Anna, mar- 
ried Garret Stevens, Jane, who married 
John Kroesen, and Margaret, who mar- 
ried Jesse Willard. 

James Van Artsdalen, son of Nicholas 
and Jane, was the grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch. He was born 
on the old homestead and inherited a 
portion of it at his father's death, and 
died there August 29. 1834. His wife 
was Elizabeth Staats, daughter of Daniel 
and Mary (Praul) Staats, and a grand- 
daughter of Peter Praul. They were the 
parents of eight children, as follows: 

Silas, who married Effie Cox and had 
children, Silas and Elizabeth. Nicho- 
las, who married Louisa Knight and had 
•children, Joseph, Cursey and James. 
Cornelius, who married and had chil- 
dren. Daniel. Truxton, and Mrs. Silas 
Twining. Daniel, who married Maria 
Clayton and had children, George, Jona- 
than, Elizabeth, and Lucinda. Jesse, 
â– who married and had a family. James, 
father of subject of this sketch. George, 
who married and had children, Walter, 
Emanuel and Lydia. Phebe, who mar- 
ried Allen Dyer, and had children. Peleg 
and James. 

James Van Artsdalen. Junior, was born 
on the old homestead in 1803. and re- 
ceived his education at local schools. 
He learned the trade of a wheelwright 
and followed it at Feasterville, until 
succeeded by his son in the seventies. 
He purchased a house and lot in 
Feasterville of Aaron Feaster in 1834, 
and died there in i8qi. He married, about 
1828, Jiachel Hough, who was born in 
1805 and died in 1888. They were the 
parents of six children, as follows: 



Charles, born November 3, 1830, married 
Mary Elizabeth Cornell, and had one 
daughter who married James Cornell, 
and has a son, Charles Cornell. Martha, 
born 1832, married Christopher Clayton 
and has three children. Spencer, died 
young. Mary Elizabeth died at age 
of seventeen years. Eliza Ellen, mar- 
ried Michael Irwin and had two chil- 
dren, both deceased. Henry H., born 
November i, 1842. 

Henry H. Van Artsdalen was reared at 
the Feastersville home purchased by his 
father in 1834, and acquired a common 
school education at the local schools. He 
learned the trade of blacksmithing and has 
carried on the business for upwards of forty 
years. In politics he is an ardent Demo- 
crat, and has always taken an active 
interest in the councils of his party. 
He served one term as auditor of the 
county, and has filled local offices at 
different periods. He was his party's 
candidate for director of the poor in 
1902. but was defeated. He married 
Annie, daughter of Benjamin and Mary 
(Clayton) Worthington, and they have 
been the parents of three children: Min- 
nie, born March 26, 1867. died October. 
1900. married Israel Stack and had one 
child. Anna; Henry, who died young, 
and Benjamin, born November 14, 1880. 



WILLIAM JOHN COOLEY, Esq., 
of the Philadelphia 'bar, though not a 
native of Bucks county was reared from 
childhood within its borders and still 
retains his residence at New Hope, 
where his grandfather was a prominent 
manufacturer many years ago. Mr. 
Cooley was born at Trenton, New Jer- 
sey. July 9. 1877. and is a son of John P. 
and Catharine Young (Umbleby) 
Coolev. On the paternal side he is de- 
scended from an old New Jersey fam- 
ily, and on the maternal side his grand- 
father. William Umbleby, came from 
England at the age of eight years and 
located in Chester county. Pennsylvania. 
He was a manufacturer of cordage, and 
later removed to New Hope, Bucks 
county, where he owned and operated 
the flax or cordage mills for many years. 
He was a man of a high sense of honor 
and of a deep religious nature, and was 
for many years a local preacher of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. He had 
one son, John, and two daughters, Mary, 
the wife of William H. Closson, and 
Mrs. Cooley. On the death of Mrs. 
Cooley. in Trenton. New Jersey, the 
subject of this sketch was reared by his 
uncle, William H. Closson, of New 
Hope. 

William J. Cooley was educated at. the 
New Hope high school, Pennington 
(New Jersev) Seminary, and at the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania. He graduated 
from the law department of the latter 



282 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



institution in the class of i8(j8. and was 
admitted to the bar of Philadelphia 
county in the same year. He has smce 
practiced his profession in that city, 
with offices at the Hale Building, 1328 
Chestnut street. He is a member of 
the Law Association of Philadelphia, 
and of the Law Academy. He is a mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
and a, local preacher of that faith. 



ALBERT C. LARUE, one of the 
young enterprising farmers of Bucking- 
ham, was born in Southampton town- 
ship, in which vicinity his paternal an- 
cestors have been residents for two^cen- 
turies, on November 10, 1874; he is a^ 
son of John B. and Eva (Cadwallader) 
Larue. His father, John B. Larue, was 
born on the same farm as his son in the 
3'ear 1850, being a son of Marmaduke 
Larue of Southatnpton. He w^as a 
farmer for several years in Southamp- 
ton, and then removed to Buckingham, 
purchasing a farm near Pineville, wdiere 
he still resides with his son-in-law. He 
is a member of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church, and in politics is a Re- 
publican. The family of La Rue is of 
French descent, the American progeni- 
tors being Huguenots who came to 
America about the middle of the seven- 
teenth centur3\ and became residents of 
Bucks county early in the next centurj-. 
John B. and Eva (Cadwallader) Larue 
are the parents of four children: viz.: 
Albert C, the subject of this sketch; 
Harry C, Alice, wife of Fred Worth- 
ington, and Edgar J., all of whom are 
residents of Buckingham. ^ 

Albert C. Larue was reared on the 
farm in Southampton. From his twelfth 
year he lived in the family of his uncle, 
Samuel K. Tomlinson, of Southampton. 
On February 10, 1897, he married Sarah 
Rhoads. daughter of Nathan and Re- 
becca Rhoads, and removed to his pres- 
ent farm in Buckingham, previously pur- 
chased by his uncle. He and his fam- 
ily are members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church. To Mr. and Mrs. Larue 
have been born three children: Horace 
Raymond, Earl Stanley and Edith May. 



ROBERT L. CYLMER. the success- 
ful merchant of Doylestown, Bucks 
count3% was born in Bethlehem, Penn- 
sylvania, June 20, 1872, and is a son of 
John H. and Maria (Kiser) Clymer. The 
Clymer family is of German origin, but 
has figured in the history of Pennsyl- 
vania for nearly two centuries. Richard 
Clymer having come to Philadelphia in 
1795, and engaged in shin building uiuil 
his death in 1734. From his sons. Chris- 
tian and William, have descended a nu- 
merous progeny that have been more or 



less prominent in the affairs of .I'enn- 
sylvania, many of them holding high 
official position. George Clymer, signer 
of the Declaration of Lidependence, was 
a son of Christian, and was born in Phil- 
adelphia in 1838, and died in Morrisville, 
Bucks county, in 1813, leaving two sons: 
Henry and George. Another branch of 
the family now numerous in Bucks and 
Montgomery counties are descendants 
from Valentine Clemmer, a bishop of 
the Mennonite church, who came to this 
country from Germany or Switzerland 
in 1717, and settled in what is now 
Montgomery county, most of his de- >. 
scendants becoming known later by the ^ 
name of Clymer. Tradition connects 
the subject of this sketch with the 
former family, but there is absence of 
-'-authentic records to prove the con- 
nection. 

Christian Clymer, the great-grand- 
father of Robert L. Clymer, was an ex- 
tensive landowner in Alilford township, 
and died there in 1802, leaving severt 
sons, Jacob, Christian, Isaac, Gerhard, 
John, David and Samuel, and three 
daughters, Esther, wife of Adam 
Scheetz, Ann, wife of Henry Souder^ 
and Mary, wife of Henry Beidler. 

John Clymer. the grandfather of Rob- 
ert L. Clymer, born March 31, 1793, lo- 
cated in Nockamixon township soort- 
after arriving at manhood, married Mar- 
garet Pearson, daughter of Lawrence 
Pearson, of that township, and pur- 
chased a small farm, part of his father- 
in-law's homestead. He followed the 
vocation of a weaver for some years, 
and was also a merchant at what is now 
Ferndal^ prior to 1826. He later pur- 
chased considerable other land in that 
vicinity, and his later days seem to have 
been devoted to agricultural pursuits. 
He died in Nockamixon, March 11, 1868. 
His wnfe, Margaret Pearson, was horn 
in Nockamixon, near Ferndale, Novem- 
ber 22. 1794. and died September 30,. 
1863. They were the parents of the fol- 
lowing children: Sarah Lavina, wife of 
Ephraim Yost; Caroline, wife of Fred- 
erick Horn; Sybilla, wife of William 
Loudenberger; Catharine, wife of Frank- 
lin J. Shick; Esther, wife of Jacob Sum- 
stone; Elwood; Margaret, who died un- 
married; and John H., the father of the 
subject of this sketch. 

Lawrence Pearson, great-great-grand- 
father of Margaret (Pearson) Clymer. 
was a native of Yorkshire. England, and 
came to Pennsylvania with his father,. 
Edward Pearson, in 1683, and settled in 
Falls township. Bucks county, from 
whence he removed to Buckingham in 
1701, and later to Plumstead, where he 
died in 1756, and his wife Ann in 1760. 
They were members of the Society of 
Friends and their children were reared 
in that faith. They were the parents of 
two sons: Enoch, who died in 1748, un- 
married, and Joseph, and daughters: 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



283. 



Hannah Fenton, Elizabeth Allen, 
Martha Shrigley, Priscilla jMcKinstry, 
and Mary Jewell. Lawrence Pearson, 
son of Joseph and grandson of Lawrence 
and Ann, was born about the year 
1720, and in 1744 purchased of Barthol- 
omew Longstreth 250 acres of land in 
Nockamixon, including the site of 
Nockamixon German Lutheran and Re- 
form church, a portion of which he con- 
veyed to the trustees of the church in 
1797 to enlarge their graveyard. 
Lawrence Pearson died in 1803, leaving 
a widow. Elizabeth, and eight children, 
viz.: Christian, Henry, Philip, Lawrence, 
Peter, Mary, wife of John Kohl; Cath- 
arine, wife of Jacob Saassaman; and 
Susanna, wife of John Easterling. Kohl 
and Sassaman were trustees of Nocka- 
mixon church. Lawrence Pearson, son 
of the above named Lawrence, was the 
father of Margaret Clymer. He married 

Margaret , of German ancestry. 

and became a member of the Nocka- 
mixon church, where his children were 
baptised. Lawrence, the eldest, born 
August 27, 1782; William. June 27, 1784; 
Abraham, November 28, 1790; Margaret, 
November 22, 1794; John, about 1800: 
and Elizabeth, January 4, 1807. The lat- 
ter married Jesse Algart. Lawrence, the 
father, died in 1810. Though of English 
ancestry on the paternal side, the chil- 
dren of Lawrence Pearson (3) imbibed 
the language and customs of their ma- 
ternal ancestors, and both spoke and 
wrote in the German language. 

John H. Clymer, youngest son of 
John and Margaret (Pearson) Clymer, 
was born in Nockamixon, November 3, 
i8.?6. On arriving at manhood he lo- 
cated for a time in Durham township, 
but on the death of his father in 1868 
purchased of the other heirs a portion of 
his father's real estate in Nockamixon 
and lived thereon for some years, re- 
moving later to Tinicum township, 
where he died August' 5, 1881. He mar- 
ried Maria Kiser, daughter of Jacob rnd 
Ann (Seiner) Kiser, of Nockamixon, 
granddaughter of Frederick and Ger- 
trude (Hoffman) Kiser, and great-grand- 
daughter of Frederick and Anna Bar- 
bara (Stein) Kiser. who emigrated from 
Bretzinger, in the grand duchy of Baden, 
and settled in Durham township, Bucks 
county, prior to 1770. Maria (Kiser) 
Clymer is living with her son in Doyles- 
town. The children of John H. and 
Maria (Kiser) Clymer are: Robert L., 
the subject of this sketch, and Idella, 
wife of Edward Steely, of Tinicum. 

Robert L. Clymer was reared in Nock- 
amixon and Tinicum townships, and ac- 
quired his education at the public 
schools. At the age of fifteen years he 
began his mercantile career as a clerk 
in the general merchandise store at 
Kintnersville, where he was employed 
for eight years. In 1897 he came to 
Doylestown and purchased the stock 



and fixtures of the general merchandise 
store at the corner of Clinton and Ash- 
land streets, of Kohn K. Benner, where 
he has since successfully conducted the 
business. He has taken an active inter- 
est in the affairs of the town and is a 
well known and popular business man. 
t\\v. Clymer is a member of the Re- 
formed church, and is affiliated with 
Aqueton Lodge No. 193, L O. O. F., of 
Doylestown, the Junior O. U. A. M.,, 
Ferndale Council No. 685, and the F. 
and A. M., of Doylestown. He married 
October 18, 1894, Stella Rufe, daughter 
of Josiah and Mary Jane Rufe, of Nock- 
amixon, wdiere her ancestors had been 
prominent landowners and business men 
for several generations. 



F. M. MARPLE. The Marple familjr 
has been connected with Bucks county 
through various generations. N. David 
Marple. grandfather of F. M. Marple,. 
was born in Bucks county and became 
an influential and leading farmer of his 
community. His early political support 
was given the Democracy, but at the 
time of the civil war he joined the ranks 
of the Republican party, and upon that 
ticket was called to offices of honor and 
trust. He held office as a Democrat long 
before the war. He served as county 
commissioner and prothonotary of 
Bucks county, and acted as clerk for 
General John Davis when the latter was 
serving as collector of customs for the 
United States. N. David Marple was a 
man ,of superior education and was 
closely identified with the educational 
interests of his county at an early day„ 
having been a competent school teacher. 
He served as a colonel in his regiment 
in the war of 1812, and was thus promi- 
nent in business, political and military 
circles, a man whose life was above re- 
proach, and who in consequence com- 
manded the entire respect and con- 
fidence of those with whom he was as- 
sociated. His last days were spent in 
Kansas, to which state he removed in 
his later years.. He belonged to the 
Baptist church, and all of his relations 
with his fellowmen exemplified his 
Christian faith. His wife, who bore the 
maiden name of Eliza Hart, was born in 
Bucks county and was descended from 
an old colonial family of Pennsylvania. 
Their children were : Eliza A.. Mary P., 
Clara, Virginia. Ellen, Alfred, Joseph,. 
Silas. Nathan, Warren, and Eugene. 

Alfred Marple, born in Bucks county,, 
was reared upon his father's farm, ac- 
quired a liberal education and became a' 
capable teacher in the public schools. 
At the time of his marriage he located 
upon a farm, but later turned his atten- 
tion to merchandising at Langhorne. He 
also served as postmaster there for a 
number of years, and at one time was 



284 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



principal of the Soldier's Orphan's 
schools of Quakertown. He served for 
three years in the war of the rebellion, 
becoming a member of the One Hun- 
dred and Fourth Pennsylvania Infantry, 
Colonel W. H. Davis commanding. He 
performed his full duty as a valorous 
soldier and on the expiration of his term 
of service w^as honorably discharged. Po- 
litically he vt-as a Democrat until the 
time of the war, when he espoused the 
cause of the Republican party that stood 
so loyally by the Union in the darkest 
hour of our country's history. Follow- 
ing the war he engaged in farming, and 
in his later life lived retired, making 
his home in Langhorne, where he died 
in 1896, when seventy-four years of age. 
In early manhood he married Anna A. 
Van Sant, a native of Bucks county, who 
died in 1871, and later he wedded Sarah 
Aaron. His first wife was a daughter 
of Garrett Van Sant. of Bucks county, 
who was a blacksmith by trade, for 
many j'cars closely identified with the 
industrial life of his community. His 
political views accorded with the prin- 
ciples of Democracy, and he filled the 
office of county commissioner. His re- 
ligious faith was that of the Presbyter- 
ian church. The children of Mr. and 
Mrs. Van Sant are: George, William, 
Maria, Elizabeth, Anna, and Jane. The 
children of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Mar- 
pie are : Frank H. ; William W.. a prom- 
inent farmer; Mary, deceased; Florence; 
and Ida, wife of Dr. Heritage, a physi- 
cian of Langhorne. 

Frank H. Marple, son of Alfred Mar- 
pie, was born in Langhorne township. 
Bucks county, December 31, 1849, and 
was reared to farm life, while in the pub- 
lic schools he acquired his education. He 
remained under the parental roof until 
he had attained his majority, and in 
1876 he was married and settled on the 
old Hart homestead, where he remained 
for four years. He then returned to the 
township of his nativity and rented his 
father's old homestead, there carrying 
on agricultural pursuits until 1902, when 
he purchased the old Hart homestead 
on which he had resided immediately 
after his marriage. Hereon he has 
since made his home, his farm lying 
partly in Warminster and partly in 
Southampton townships. He carried on 
general farming and matketed his own 
produce, and for two years also operated 
a creamery, but is now devoting his en- 
tire time and attention to the produc- 
tion of vegetables and cereals and to the 
sale of his products in the Philadelphia 
markets. His business af¥airs are ca- 
pably managed and his enterprise and 
unremitting diligence form strong and 
basic elements for a successful career. 

Mr. Marple was married to Miss 
Laura Tomlinson, a native of Bucks 
county, and a daughter of William Tom- 
linson, also of Bucks county. He was 



a carpenter by trade, and was killed 
while serving his country in the civil 
war, being for three years a member 
of the Union army. In his political 
views he was a Republican. His wife 
long survived him, passing away in 
T882. Their children were: Charles, Eliza- 
beth, and Laura, the last named the 
wife of Mr. Marple. To Mr. and Mrs. 
JMarple were born three children: Will- 
iam, who is clerking; Grace, at home; 
and Alfred, who is a stenographer in 
California. After the death of his first 
wife, Mr. Marple married Mrs. Susan 
Johnson, a cultured lady, whose par- 
ents were William B. and Mary A. (Al- 
ford) Kitchen, of Philadelphia. Her 
father, a tailor by trade, followed that 
business throughout his entire life, and 
died at Center Hill in 1869. In his polit- 
ical views he was a Republican, and 
he held some local political positions. 
He belonged to the Baptist church, of 
which his wife, who now makes her 
home with her children, is also a mem- 
ber. In the Johnson family were six 
children: Victor, Florence, Orville, 
Claude. May and Burleigh. In his polit- 
ical views Mr. Marple is a Republican, 
but the honors and emoluments of of- 
fice have had no attraction for him, and 
although he is never remiss in the du- 
ties of citizenship, he prefers to devote 
his time and energies to his business af- 
fairs, which are now bringing him a de- 
sirable financial return. 



A. J. MILLER, following farming 
near Neshaminy, was born in Philadel- 
phia, February 18, 1845, and in the ma- 
ternal line comes of German ancestry. 

His father, A. J. Miller, was born in 
Allentown, Pennsylvania, and after ac- 
quiring a good education went to Phila- 
delphia as a young man, there engaging 
in mercantile pursuits. He made for 
himself an excellent place in business 
circles in that city, becoming a member 
of the firm of Miller, Weber & Hand, 
conducting an extensive and profitable 
business as dealers in dry goods at the 
corner of Fourth and Market streets. 
Mr. Miller remained a member of the 
house until 1847, when his death oc- 
curred at the age of forty years. While 
business afifairs claimed much of his 
time, he yet found opportunity to de- 
vote to movements effecting the general 
interests of society. He was a leading 
member of the Presbyterian church, 
and served as an elder and as superin- 
tendent of its Sunday-school. He con- 
tributed generously to the work of the 
church .and did all in his power to ad- 
vance the cause of Christianity. He 
was also generous to those who needed 
assistance, sympathetic with those in 
sorrow, and at all times kind and con- 
siderate. Having prospered in his busi- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



285 



ness he was able to leave his family in 
comfortable circumstances. In 1831, in 
Philadelphia, he married Miss Cather- 
ine Helffenstein, a cultured and intelli- 
gent lady, a granddaughter of John C. 
Helffenstein, of honored Germany an- 
cestry, belonging to a distinguished fam- 
ily of that country, connected with the 
nobility and possessing a coat-of-arms. 
Her parents were Rev. Samuel and Ann 
(Stitle) Helffenstein, both of German 
descent. Her father, who was born 
April 17, 1775, was regularly ordained 
as a minister of the German Reformed 
church in 1796, at which time he took 
charge of the old Bean church in Blue- 
bell, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. 
In 1799 he became pastor of the congre- 
gation of that denomination at Fourth 
and Race streets, in Philadelphia, where 
he remained for thirty-two years, 
preaching in both the German and Eng- 
lish languages. Later in life he retired 
to his farm near North Wales, where 
he spent his remaining days. He still 
continued preaching, taking charge of 
a church in Northampton county, to 
which he rode twenty miles in order 
to deliver the gospel message. He 
preached his last sermon at North 
Wales when ninety years of age. He 
was a fine musician, and his musical 
talent added greatly to his services. He 
passed away on his home farm at the 
age of ninety-three years, after a long, 
useful and honorable career. He had 
likewise prospered in his material af- 
fairs, and became possessed of a large 
estate. In his family were twelve chil- 
dren, eleven sons and a daughter, all 
of whom are now deceased. Three of the 
sons became ministers of the gospel, 
and all were professional men or mer- 
chants. Seven sons and a daughter sur- 
vived him, the latter being Mrs. Cath- 
erine IMiller. A. J. Miller, Sr. died in 
1847 and his wife, long surviving him, 
passed away in 1884. She remained at 
the old home in Philadelphia through- 
out that period, and both were buried 
in one of the cemeteries of that city. 
They had five children: Samuel H., a 
merchant, now deceased; Lavina G. ; 
Mary M., the wife of Joseph Linton; 
Annie M., the widow of E. D. Wakeling, 
who was an attorney of Philadelphia; 
and A. J., of this review. 

A. J. Miller, whose name introduces 
this record, spent his boyhood days in 
the manner of most city lads, his time 
being largely given to his school work 
as a student in the grammar and high 
schools of Philadelphia. He thus ob- 
tained a good education. He was but a 
young lad when his father died, but the 
mother kept her children together, care- 
fully rearing them. When he had at- 
tained the proper age he was employed 
as a clerk in his brother's store, and 
later engaged in he real esate business 
in Philadelphia, which he continued to 



follow for many years. At length he 
turned his attention to general merchan- 
dising at Bethayres, and subsequently 
expanded the field of his labors by es- 
tablishing a coal and lumber business 
in connection with his real estate opera- 
tions, continuing therein until 1890. He 
then bought the farm upon which he 
now resides; it is one of the old historic 
places of the county, and the house is 
a commodious three story stone resi- 
dence, which was occupied at the time 
of the revolutionary war and is yet in 
a good state of preservation. Many ad- 
ditions have since been made and mod- 
ern improvements added, but one of the 
old doors yet swings with its latch 
string that always hung out in the old- 
en times. In 1774 the Rev. N. Erwin 
resided here, and ministered to the 
spiritual wants of the people of the lo- 
cality for many years as pastor of the 
Neshaminy Presbyterian church. In 
1800, however, he built the residence 
that Joseph Dobbins now occupies and 
there he remained until his death, his 
remains being then interred in the Ne- 
shaminy cemetery. Since taking up his 
abode upon the farm Mr. Miller has de- 
voted his entire attention to its further 
cultivation and improvement, and he 
annually harvests good crops and mar- 
kets the products of the gardens. 

A. J. Miller was married to Miss El- 
len V. Sickel, who was born in Quaker- 
town, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, June 
13, 1844. She was a devoted wife and 
helpmate to him, and was the only 
daughter of General H. G. Sickel, of 
national fame. Her mother, who bore 
the maiden name of Eliza Van Sant, 
was a daughter of William Van Sant, a 
representative of one of the oldest fami- 
lies of Bucks county. Mr. and Mrs. 
Sickel had but two children: Jane, who 
became the wife of Joseph Hart; and 
Eliza, the mother of Mrs. Miller. Gen- 
eral Sickel was reared in the vicinity of 
Mechanicsville, and being left an or- 
phan when quite young was entirely a 
self-made man. He learned the wheel- 
wright's and blacksmith's trades, which 
he followed for many years. He was 
married at Davisville and later settled 
at Quakertown, where he followed his 
pursuits, conducting an extensive busi- 
ness. About 1846 he removed to Phila- 
delphia, where he became connected 
with mercantile interests as a dealer in 
lamp and gas fixtures, continuing in 
that line until 1857. He afterward held 
various public positions by appoint- 
ments of the governor, and was promi- 
nent and influential in community and 
state afifairs. At the tin;ie of the out- 
break of the civil war Vie raised a com- 
pany for service in dr-tense of the Union, 
was made its captam and was promoted 
from time to tirae, being brevetted ma- 
jor general at 'the close of the war. He 
served throur^hout the entire period of 



•^86 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



hostilities with honor and distinction, 
his promotion coming in realization ot 
meritorious conduct on the lield of bat- 
tle. He was several times wounded, and 
on one occasion it was thought that he 
would lose an arm because of injuries. 
Following the cessation of hostilities 
he was appointed revenue collector and 
health oflicer of Philadelphia, filling 
these positions for a number of years. He 
was aLso appointed pension agent at Phila- 
delphia by appointment of the president, 
and he occupied many positions of of- 
ficial preferment, discharging the duties 
•of all in a most creditable and honorable 
manner. His last position was that of 
pension attorney, in which capacity he 
was serving at the time of his death, 
which occurred April 17, T§S9, when he 
was seventy-two years of age.^iJI^e wjis 
a consistent and worthy member of the 
Presbyterian church, taking a most ac- 
tive and helpful part in its work and con- 
tributing generously to its support. 
Broad-minded, liberal and charitable. 
Tie was ever found fearless in conduct, 
lionorable in action and stainless in 
reputation. As the years have passed 
he had made investment in different 
public enterprises, becoming a stock- 
holder in some paying business con- 
cerns. He was president and one of the 
promoters of the Newtown railroad. His 
military service and the influential po- 
sition he occupied in political circles of 
Pennsylvania won him national fame. 
His wife died prior to his demise, pass- 
ing away at the age of sixty-two years. 
They were the parents of five children, 
all of whom are living: Howard V., who 
entered the pension office during his 
father's service and yet holds a position 
in that department in Washington, D. 
C. ; Ellen, the wife of A. T. Miller: 
Charles A., who is a pension attorney 
in Washington, D. C. : William V., a 
pension attorney in Philadelphia: and 
Horatio, who is a major in the United 
States army in the Philippines. All are 
married, and this circle constitutes an 
interesting family. 

Mr. and Mrs. Miller have become the 
parents of three children: Randolph H., 
a structural engineer, who married Miss 
Catherine Darrah: Clarence, who is 
foreman for the Kittarlinus Lithograph- 
ic Company of Philadelphia, and mar- 
ried Miss Helen Warner: and Augus- 
^ tus J., an architect of Philadelphia. The 
p.^arents and their children are mem- 
ijers ^ of the Presbyterian church. Politi- 
cally -Mr. Miller is a Republican where 
national ' issues are involved, but at local 
elections i:'s independent, casting his bal- 
lot for meii ''and measures rather than 
for party. He is active in the church 
work, serving as superintendent of the 
Sunday school at v 'Harrington. He has 
also been connected w.^Vh several federal 
organizations, but has n q.^ withdrawn 
ironi these and his time ^nd energies 



are devoted in more undivided manner 
to his business affairs, which, capably 
conducted, are bringing him desn'able 
success. 



B. FRANK COPE. Among the active 
and efficient business men of Lower 
Buckingham is B. Frank Cope, for many 
years a director and superintendent of 
the Forest Grove Creamery. Mr. Cope 
was born in Doylestown township, 
Bucks county, August 14, 1859, and is a 
son of Amandus F. and Anna Elizabeth 
(Funk) Cope. His father, who is a son 
of Franklin S. and Magdalena (Urfer) 
Cope, was born near Pennsburg, Mont- 
gomery county, Pennsylvania, and soon 
after his marriage purchased a farm in 
Doylestown township, where he resid- 
ed until 1870, when he removed to Mont- 
gomery county, near Bryn Mawr. He 
was a farmer during his active life, but 
now resides with a daughter at Atlantic 
City, New Jersey. 

The subject of this sketch was born 
and reared on the farm, and received 
a good education at the schools of 
Doylestown township and Bryn Mawr. 
At the age of twenty-one he accepted a 
position as assistant in the Pine Run 
creamery, Doylestown township. On 
June 4, 1882, he took charge of the For- 
est Grove creamery, and was superin- 
tendent and salesman, as well as a mem- 
ber of the board of directors, for many- 
years, and giving entire satisfaction to 
the patrons and stockholders. ]\Ir. Cope 
was for many years an ardent Democrat 
and took an active part in the councils 
of his party. He was the party nominee 
for director of the poor in 1898, and re- 
ceived the highest vote of any on the 
ticket, running far ahead of other can- 
didates in his home township. In 1902 
he was nominated for the assembly, but 
a fusion was later effected by the local 
leaders, and he was forced off the ticket. 
He is a member of Doylestown Lodge, 
No. 245. F. and A. M.; Warrington 
Lodge, No. 447, L O. O. F., of which 
he has been secretary and representa- 
tive for ten years; Neshaminy Castle, 
No. 139, K. G. E.; and Paunacussing 
Lodge. No. 221, K. of P. In the spring 
of 1004 he purchased a farm in Lower 
Buckingham, upon which he now re- 
sides. He was married, in 1883. to Rose 
Ella Barton, daughter of Joel and 
Phoebe (Carver) Barton, of Solebury. 
Her parents now reside in Warwick 
township. Mr. and Mrs. Cope have been 
the parents of four children: Linford 
W., deceased; Edmund B.; Anna E., de- 
ceased; and Harman Yerkes. 

The brothers and sisters of Mr. Cope 
are as follows: Mary J., widow of Sam- 
uel Eckstein, of Philadelphia; Samuel 
E., of Telford. Pennsylvania; Edward- 
ine, wife of Harry L. Riley, of Atlantic 
City; Clinton B., of Buckingham; James 



w York] 



â– ~) r-l 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



287 



R., of Egg Harbor; John A., of Atlan- 
tic City, and Daniel, who has been an 
employe of John Wanamaker for several 
years. 



HENRY CRAWFORD PARRY, one 
of the best known citizens of Langhorne, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, retired 
business man, president of the People's 
National Bank, is of Welsh descent. His 
earliest ancestor in America was Thom- 
as Parry, who was born in Caernarvon- 
shire, North Wales, in 1680, and came 
to Pennsylvania when a young man, 
married Jane Phillips, in 1715, and set- 
tled in Moreland, near the present site 
of Willow Grove. The family of Par- 
ry is one of the most ancient in the 
United Kingdom, and their coat-of-arms 
is registered in Burke's General Arm- 
ory. 

Thomas Parry, above mentioned, was 
a grandson of Colonel Geofifrey Parry, 
of Caernarvonshire, who married Mar- 
garet Hughes, of Cefn Llanfair, and son 
of Love Parry, of Wanfour, who was 
high sherifif of Caernervonshire in 1685, 
and his wife Ellen, daughter of Hugh 
Wynn of Penarth. Thomas and Jane 
(Phillips) Parry were the parents of ten 
children, eight sons and two daughters. 
He died in 1751, aged seventy-one years. 
Philip Parry, born in the "Manor of 
Moorland," now Moreland township, 
Montgomery county, 11 mo. 18, 1716, 
married 2 mo., 1740, Rachel Harker, 
daughter of Adam Harker, one of the 
most prominent Friends of his day in 
Pennsylvania, and settled in Bucking- 
• ham township, where he purchased 
March 11, 1746, 170 acres of land near 
Holicong. He died on this plantation, 
the late residence of E. Watson Fell, in 
1784. leaving three sons: John, Philip, 
and Thomas; and five daughters: Han- 
nah, Jane, Grace, Rachel and Mary. 

John Parry, son of Philip and Rachel 
(Harker) Parry, born in Moreland, 9 
mo. 10, 1743. married 4 mo. 17. 1771, 
Rachel, daughter of Titus and Elizabeth 
(Heston) Fell, and granddaughter of 
Joseph Fell, who came 'from Longlands, 
in Cumberland. England, in 1705. by his 
second wife, Elizabeth Doyle, daughter 
of Edward and Rebecca (Dungan) 
Doyle. John Parry died in Buckingham 
II mo. 13. 1807, and his wife Rachel, 2 
mo. 18, 1818. ' They were the parents 
of nine children: Elizabeth, who married 
George Shoemaker;. Joyce, who married 
Jacob Shoemaker: Mercy: Charity; 
Tacy: Rachel; and' John, who died un- 
married; David, who married Elizabeth 
Ely, and (second) Lydia Richardson, 
and settled in Drumore. Lancaster coun- 
ty, and Thomas Fell Parry. _ 

Thomas Fell Parry, youngest child of 
John and Rachel (Fell) Parry, was born 
in Buckingham 7 mo. 8. 1791. He mar- 
ried 12 mo. 17, 1829, IMary, daughter of 



Moses and Rachel (Knowles) Eastburn, 
of Solebury, who was born 9 mo. 13, 
1800. Mr. Parry was for many years a 
resident of Philadelphia, where he was 
engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 
1846 he purchased property at Lang- 
horne and two years later removed to 
that locality, where he spent the remain- 
ing years of his long and useful life. He 
died 3 mo. 27, 1876. His wife, Mary E'., 
died 6 mo. 5, 1872. Th^y were the par- 
ents of five children: Rachel, born 9 mo. 
20, 1830, married Gilbert Shaw : Eliza 
beth, born 4 mo. 16, 1832, married Wil- 
son Croasdale; Henry C, born 3 mo. 23, 
1834; John E., born li mo. 22, 1836, 
married 2 mo. 14, 1861, Mary Jane Live- 
zey; Charles, born ii mo, 24, 1839, died 
12 mo. 19, 1842. 

Henry C. Parry, the subject of this 
sketch, eldest son of Thomas Fell and 
Mary (Eastburn) Parry, was born in the 
city of Philadelphia and received his 
primary education at private and pub- 
lic schools in that city. He was fifteen 
years of age when the family removed 
to IMiddletown, Bucks county, and then 
entered Pennington, New Jersey, Semi- 
nary, where he finished his education. 
On arriving at manhood he engaged in 
farming in Middletown township, which 
vocation he followed successfully for 
sixteen years. In 18.76 he engaged in the 
coal and lumber business at Langhorne 
station, which he conducted for twenty- 
one years, building up a fine and profi- 
table business. He sold out the busi- 
ness in 1887, and has since lived retired. 
Mr. Parry has always been actively in- 
terested in the local affairs of his neigh- 
borhood, and has held many positions 
of trust. He has served as chief bur- 
gess of the borough for two terms, and 
tw^o terms as a member of council. He 
was for many years a director of the 
First National Bank of Newtown, has 
been for eight years a director of the 
People's National Bank of Langhorne, 
and was- unanimously elected president 
of the latter institution in 1899, a posi- 
tion he still fills. ]\Ir. Parry has been 
actively interested in the improvements 
in and around Langhorne, and is one of 
the solid substantial business men of 
that section. He and his family are 
members of the Society of Friends. Po- 
litically he is a Republican. 

He was married November 13. 1856, 
to Susan Gillam Blakey, daughter of 
William Watson and Anna. (Gillam) 
Blakey, and granddaughter of William 
and Elizabeth (Watson) Blakey. On the 
maternal side she is a granddaughter of 
William and Susanna (Woolston) Gil- 
lam. and great-granddaughter of Simon 
and Anna (Paxson) Gillam, and of 
Jonathan and Elizabeth (Harvey) Wool- 
store. There of her lineal ancestors 
were members of the colonial assembly 
at one time — Thomas Watson, William 
Paxson and John Sotcher, all of them 



288 



HISTORY OP BUCKS COUNTY 



serving a number of years. Her great- 
great-grandfather ]\Jazry Watson, was 
also a member of colonial assembly for 
very many years. Henry C. Parry i.^ alsr, 
a descendant of John Sotcher, through 
his grandmother Rachel (Knowles) East- 
burn. (See Eastburn sketch in this work.) 
William Blakey Parry, only child of 
Henry C. and Susan G. (Blakey) Parry, 
"was born in Middletown township, 5 mo. 
i8, 1858. He was educated in the 
schools of Middletown and in Phila'del- 
phia. He married September 27, 1883, 
Elizabeth, daughter of William and 
Elizabeth (Williamson) Moon, who 
was born 7 mo. 27, 1857. Two children 
have been born to this marriage: Laura 
Elizabeth, born July 28, 1891; and Henry 
Crawford, Jr., born November^ l?^ i895-~ 



PROFESSOR ALLEN S. MARTIN. 
County Superintendent of Public 
Schools, was born in Lancaster county, 
Pennsylvania, April 7, 1868, and is a 
son of the late Henry K. and Anna 
(Sahn) Martin, both natives of Lancas- 
ter county. He was reared on his fath- 
er's farm, and attended the public 
schools until the age of sixteen years, 
when he began teaching in the public 
schools of his native county, teaching 
in all in that county for five years. He 
graduated at the State Normal School 
at Millersville, Lancaster county, and 
later took a course in arts and sciences 
in the University of Pennsylvania, re- 
ceiving the degree of Bachelor of Sci- 
ences. In June, 1893, he became prin- 
cipal of the high school of Sellersville, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and tw^o 
years later accepted the position of prin- 
cipal of the Doylestown high school, 
which latter position he filled with emi- 
nent ability for seven years. In 1902 
Prof. Martin was elected to the office 
of Superintendent of Public Schools of 
the county, and was unanimously re- 
elected to the same position in 1905. 
Superintendent Martin is deeply inter- 
ested in the cause of popular education, 
and has done much to improve the effi- 
ciency of our public schools. He has a 
superior talent for organization and 
one of his plans that has proved emi- 
nently successful, is the holding of fre- 
quent "educational meetings" of teach- 
ers and directors in different parts of 
the county, where subjects that are of 
direct interest to teachers and direc- 
tors are discussed, whereby the interest 
of both in the work of bettering the 
schools is stimulated and strengthened, 
and the best methods of imparting knowl- 
edge are brought within the reach of all. 
Professor Martin is president of the 
Bucks County Natural Science Asso- 
ciation, and a member of the Academy 
of Natural Science of Philadelphia. He 
takes a deep interest in botany and zool- 
ogy, and is considered an authority on 



the flora and mammals of the section in 
which he lives. He is a member of the 
State Teachers' Association, and has 
been frequently called upon to aid in 
educational work in different parts of 
the state. 

Professor Martin was married, in 
Lancaster county, to Mary Magdalena 
Kauffman, of an old family in that coun- 
ty, and they are the parents of four chil- 
dren — Edith and H. Clay, born in Lan- 
caster county; and Lenore and Mildred, 
born in Doylestown. 



GULICK FAMILY. Joachim Gulick, 
or, as he signed his name, "Jochem 
Guyllyck," the pioneer ancestor of the 
Gulick family of Hilltown, Bucks coun- 
ty, emigrated from the Netherlands in 
1653, and settled in Gravesend, Long 
Island, removing later to Staten Island. 
He married Jacomyntje Van Pelt, 
daughter of Teunis Janse Lanen Van 
Pelt, who emigrated from Liege, Bel- 
gium, in 1663, with wife Grietje Jans 
and six children and settled at New Ut- 
recht, Long Island, from whence his 
grandson, Joseph Van Pelt, migrated to 
Staten Island and later to Byberry, 
Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania, and 
has numerous descendants in Bucks 
county. Jochem Gulick was an ensign 
at Gravesend in 1689, and about 1691 
purchased land on Staten Island, and is 
said to have removed later to New Jer- 
sey, though of this there is no proof. 
Jochem and Jacomyntje (Van Pelt) Gu- 
lick were the parents of four sons,— 
Hendrick; Samuel, born 1685; Joachim, 
born 1687; and Peter, born 1689. Of 
these, Joachim and Hendrick located 
on Threc-Mile-Run, Somerset county. 
New Jersej^, in 1717, and left numerous 
descendants. 

Hendrick Gulick, eldest son of Joa- 
chim, the founder, married Cantje 
Dirckse Amerman, who was baptized 
on Long Island, April 2, 1677. He locat- 
ed in Somerset county. New Jersey, 
where he died in 1757, leaving eleven 
children: Joachim, Derrick, Jacomynt- 
je, Samuel, Alshe, Catrin, Mary, Grreb- 
rantje, Hendrick, Peter and Antje or 
Anna. 

Hendrick (or Henry, as he later signed 
himself), son of Hendrick and Cantje 
(Amerman) Gulick, settled in Alexan- 
dria township, Hunterdon county. New 
Jersey, near the present site of Milford, 
where he died in April, 1798. leaving 
nine children, Samuel, Nicholas, Char- 
ity Hoagland, Minnor, Catharine Buck- 
alew\ ]\Iary Duckworth, Ranshea Allen, 
Abraham and Rachel. His wife, Mary 
Williamson, whom he married Septem- 
ber 26, 1754, survived him. 

Samuel Gulick. eldest son of Henry 
and Mary (Williamson) Gulick, settled' 
in Northampton county, whore he mar- 
ried and reared a family. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



289 



Jonathan GuHck, son of Samtiel, born 
in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, 
in 1795, removed to Towamencin town- 
ship, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, 
in 1818, where he followed farming un- 
til 1837, when he removed to Hilltown, 
Bucks county, where he located on a 
small farm adjudged to him in right of 
his wife as part of the real estate of her 
father, Obed Aaron, and later purchased 
other land adjoining. He died in Hill- 
town in 1873, at the age of seventy-sev- 
en years. He married Urey Aaron, daugh- 
ter of Obed Aaron, and granddaughter 
of Moses and Elizabeth (James) Aaron, 
the former a native of Wales, settled in 
New Britain about 1725, and died there 
in 1765. Thomas James, the father of 
Elizabeth Aaron, was also a native of 
Wales, and came with his father, John 
James, from Pembrokeshire in 1712. 
Obed Aaron was born in 1761 and died 
in 1837. The children of Jonathan and 
Urey (Aaron) Gulick were Merari, Har- 
riet, Sybylla and Urey, all of whom are 
deceased. 

Merari Gulick, only son of Jonathan 
and Urey, was born on his father's 
farm in Towamencin township, Mont- 
gomery county, Pennsylvania, in 1819, 
and removed with his parents to Hill- 
town in 1837- In 1843 he purchased a 
farm in Hilltown of 117 acres, winch 
he conducted during the active years of 
his life. He was an active and promi- 
nent farmer of that section, and followed 
the Philadelphia markets for some thir- 
ty years. He married, in 1841, Chris- 
tina Swartz, who was born in New Brit- 
ain township in 1819, and died in Hill- 
town in 1888. She was a daughter of 
Christian Swartz, a prominent farmer 
of New Britain township, of German 
ancestry. He married Margaret FunV, 
daughter of Rev. John and Elizabeth 
(Lewis) Funk of Line Lexington, the 
former a son of Martin Funk, who came 
from Germany in 1737 and settled in 
Hatfield, Montgomery county, and the 
latter a native of Wales and a daughter 
of Henry Lewis of New Britain. John 
Funk was the founder of a branch of 
the jMennonites known as Funkites. He 
is said to have preached at German- 
town while residing in Hilltown, making 
the journey back and forth on horseback. 
Christian and Margaret Funk Swartz 
were the parents of eight children: 
John, died young; Andrew F.; Eliza- 
beth, wife of John Rosenberger; Mar- 
garet, wife of Enos Gehman; "Christina, 
wife 'of Merari Gulick; Lydia, wife of 
John Heckler; Amelia, wife of John 
Hunsberger; and Mary, wife of Samuel 
Rosenberger. 

The children of Merari and Christina 
(Swartz) Gulick w^ere: Mary, wife of 
William D. Yocum, a farmer of Hill- 
town; Urey, wife of Joseph B. Alla- 
baugh, also a farmer in Hilltown; Jon- 
athan, of Hilltown; Obed Aaron, a gro- 
10-3 



cer in Philadelphia; Merari, who died 
at the age of two years; Samuel S., of 
South Perkasie; Christopher S., of 
Blooming Glen; and John S., born Feb- 
ruary 17, 1861, died September 28, 1878. 

SAMUEL S. GULICK, son of Merari 
and Christina (Swartz) Gulick, was 
born in Hilltown township, October 10, 
1856, and was educated at the public 
schools. He was reared on his father's 
farm and remained there until his mar- 
riage in 1886, when he located at what 
is now South Perkasie. In 1890 he was 
elected a justice of the peace of Rock- 
hill township, and was re-elected in 
1895, and served until 1900. He is an 
auctioneer, which business he has fol- 
lowed for many years, crying hundreds 
of sales in a single year. Since his 
election as justice of the peace he has 
conducted a general business agency 
in connection with his official duties, 
and has settled a great number of estates 
and done a large amount of public busi- 
ness. He .is the owner of several pri- 
vate properties at South Perkasie, a 
small farm located within the limits of 
Perkasie borough, and his present resi- 
dence in South Perkasie. He is direc- 
tor of the Quakertown Trust Company, 
and one of the progressive and promi- 
nent business men of the growing town 
of Perkasie. He is a member of Mc- 
Calla Lodge, No. 596, F. and A. M., of 
Sellersville, and of the brotherhood of 
the Union. Politically he is a Republi- 
can. He and his family are members 
of the German Reformed church. He 
married, March 13, 1886, Mary E. Shell- 
enberger, daughter of Jacob S. and Cath- 
arine (Rudy) Shellenberger, "and they 
have been the parents of eight children: 
Paul, Katie, deceased; Ella, Herman, 
Esther, Emma, Samuel and Robert, de- 
ceased. 

CHRISTOPHER S. GULICK, ex- 
register of wills of Bucks county, now 
(1905) deputy treasurer of the county, 
was born in Hilltown township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania. June 11, 1859, and 
is the youngest son of Merari and Chris- 
tina (Swartz) Gulick, whose ancestry 
is given in a preceding ske-tch. 

He was reared in Hilltown township, 
and has resided there all his life with 
the exception of the three years, 1896- 
98, during which he filled the office of 
register of wills, when he resided in 
Doylestown. He received his elemen- 
tary education at the public schools of 
Hilltown township, later attending 
Sellersville high school, from which he 
graduated at the age of nineteen years, 
and began teaching in the public schools 
of the county. He taught for one year 
in Bedminster and ten in his native 
township, eight of which were spent in 
conducting the school at Blooming 
Glen, where he now lives. In politics Mr^ 



290 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Gulick is a Republican, and has always 
given an unfaltering support to the prin- 
ciples of that party, and done effective 
service in its behalf in his home local- 
ity, and keeping himself well informed 
as to the questions and issues of the day. 
In 1885 he was elected to the office of 
justice of the peace in Hilltown town- 
ship, and filled that position for five 
years, doing a large amount of official 
business and assisting in the settlement 
of estates. He also took up the business 
of auctioneering, and did considerable 
business in that line. On the termina- 
tion of his term as justice, in 1889, 
he was appointedr-, under President 
Harrison, deputy collector of internal 
revenue for the district in ^vhich Bucks 
county is included, and served in that 
capacity for four years. In 1894 he em- 
barked in the mercantift business at" the 
thriving village of Blooming Glen, in 
partnership with M. H. Leidy, under 
the firm name of Leidy & Gulick, which 
continued until his election to the office 
of register of wills, in the fall of 1895. 
On assuming the duties of this office 
in January, 1896, he transferred his in- 
terest in the store to Abram M. Moyer, 
and removed with his family to Doyles- 
town. Thoroughly diligent and consci- 
entious in the transaction of his offi- 
cial duties, and courteous to all with 
whom he came in contact, he made a 
very popular and efficient official, and 
made many friends throughout the 
county. On the termination of his term 
of office in 1899, he returned to Bloom- 
ing Glen, and in August of that year 
purchased his former store of the firm 
of Leidy & ]Moyer, and conducted the 
business 'Until February. 1904, when he 
sold out to the present firm of Apple & 
Shaddinger, and, purchasing a residence 
of his former partner. M. H. Leidy, 
followed farming and auctioneering im- 
til May, 1905. w^hen he was appointed 
deputy county treasurer, under John B. 
Poore, and assumed the duti.es of that 
office, retaining his residence at Bloom- 
ing Glen. 

Mr. Gulick is a member of McCalla 
Lodge, No. 596, F. and A. M., of Sellers- 
ville ; of Doylestnwn Chanter, No. 270. 
R. A. M.; of Perkasie Lodge, No. 671, I. 
O. O. F., and of Doylestown Encamp- 
ment. No. 35. I. O. O. F.. of which he 
is a past chief patriarch. Mr. Gulick has 
always taken an active interest in all 
that pertains tn imorovement and devel- 
opment nf the material interest of the 
community in which he lived, and has 
filled a number of positions of trust. At 
the organization of the Perkasie Na- 
tional Bank he was elected one of the 
original board of directors, and _ has 
served continuouslv in that position 
since. He is a member of the Reformed 
church. 

He married. February 28. 1885. Emma 
H. Moyer, daughter of Rev. Abraham 



and Hester (Hunsberger) Moyer, of 
Hilltown. She was born in Hilltown, 
October i, 1864, and was the tenth of 
eleven children. Her father. Rev. Abra- 
ham F. Moyer, was born in Upper Sal- 
ford, Montgomery county, Pennsylvan- 
ia, September 19, 1822, and was a son of 
Abraham and Elizabeth (Fretz) Moyer, 
grandson of Christian Meyer, great 
grandson of Henry INIeyer, who came to 
Pennsylvania about 1725, at the age of 
one year,- with his father, Hans Meyer, 
from Germany or Switzerland, who set- 
tled in Skippack, now Salford township, 
Montgomery county, and purchased 
land there in 1729, which is still in the 
tenure of his great-great-grandson, Ja- 
cob L. Moyer. Henry, the son of Hans, 
married Barbara Miller, who came from 
Germany at the age of eighteen years, 
and inherited the homestead at the 
death of his father, in 1748. He reared 
a family of seven children, many of 
whom have left descendants in Bucks 
county. Rev. Abraham F. Moj-er came 
to Bucks county when a lad, and lived 
with his maternal uncle, Martin Fretz. 
From the age of sixteen to twenty-one 
he was a clerk in a store, but later be- 
came a farmer in Hilltown. He was 
ordained minister of the Mennonite 
congregation at Blooming Glen Novem- 
ber 6, 185s, and continued to minister to 
that flock until his death. He was an 
active and faithful Christian teacher, 
and much respected in that community. 
He was 'twice married. His fir=t wife, 
and the mother of his eleven children, 
was Hester, daughter of Jacob and Mary 
Hunsberger. of Hilltown, who died Feb- 
ruary 28, 1873. He married, in 1874, 
Anna, widow of Henry M. Hunsberger, 
of Montgomery countA% and daughter of 
Abraham L. Moyer. 

The children of Christopher S. and 
Emma H. (Mover) Gulick, are: Arnon 
M., born July 8, 1886; Mabel M., born 
April 13. 1889; Gertrude Hester, born 
December 3, 1891; Blanche M., born 
February 15, 1894; Russel Blair, born 
March 5, 1898: Howard M., born Janu- 
ary 6. 1901; and LeRoy M., born April 
12, 1904. 



SAVACOOL FAMILY. The paternal , 
and pioneer ancestor of the Savacool 
family of Hilltown and South Perkasie 
was Jacob Savacool (or Sabelkool, as 
the name was then spelled), who was 
born in German^' in the year 1713. and 
emigrated to Pennsjdvania at the age of 
eighteen years, arriving in Philadelphia 
on board the ship "Brittnnia." Michael 
Franklin, master. September 21. 1731. 
Like all the other early German settlers 
of Upper Bucks he made his waj'^ into 
Bucks through the present county of 
Montgomery. The earliest record of 
him Ts his purchase on Time 14, 1742, 
of 102J/2 acres of land in Rockhill town- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



291 



«hip, near the present site of Sellers- 
ville, of Michael Durstine, the pioneer 
-ancestor of that family, whose descend- 
ants still reside on a part of the same 
tract, one mile south of Sellersville, at â–  
the station bearing their name. Here 
Jacob Savacool lived and reared a fam- 
ily of six children, — two sons, William 
and Isaac; and four daughters,— Cath- 
arine, Eleanor, Susanna, and Elizabeth. 
He was a member of the Menncnite 
congregation of Rockhill, to whom he 
devised a legacy of ten pounds. His 
widow, Elizabeth, survived him. Will- 
iam Savacool, the eldest son of Jacob 
and Elizabeth, was born at Derstines, 
Rockhill township, but on his marriage 
located on a farm in Hilltown purchased 
for him by his father in 1772, and devised 
to him by his father in 1782, Isaac, the 
second son, being devised the Rockhill 
homestead. William married Eliza- 
beth Miller, and they were the parents 
of seven children: Michael; Catharine, 
wife of George Jenkins; Susanna, wife 
of John Cope; John; Henry; Maria, and 
Jacob. William, the father, lived to a 
good old age, dying in 1832. 

Jacob Savacool, youngest son of Will- 
iam and Elizabeth (Miller) Savacool, 
was born on the old homestead in Hill- 
town in the year 1803. Early in life he 
learned the wheelwright trade, which he 
followed until after the death of his 
father in 1832, when he purchased the 
old homestead and conducted it until 
his death in 1878. He married Lydia 
Snvder, daughter of Jacob and Eliza- 
beth (Yost) Snyder, of Hilltown, 
(whose ancestry is given elsewhere in 
this work), and they were the parents 
of fourteen children, three of whom 
â– died in infancy; those who survive are: 
Enos B., born January 18. 1831. of South 
Perkasie: Aaron, a sketch of whom fol- 
lows: Elizabeth, wife of Leidy SchoU; 
William B., see forward; Lydia; Amelia', 
wife of Benjamin Althouse; Caroline, 
wife of John Sherm; Jacob A., see for- 
ward; Emma, who married Tobias Cuf- 
fel, of Lansdale, and is now deceased, 
leaving nine children; and Elias, de- 
ceased. The old homestead still remains 
in the family and is occupied by Jacob 
• A. Savacool, the youngest son. 



ENOS SAVACOOL. eldest son of 
Jacob and Lydia (Snyder) Savacool, 
was born in Hilltown, January 18, 1829, 
and was reared on the old homestead, 
acquiring his education in the public 
schools of that township. At the age 
of sixteen years he entered the general 
merchandise store of his uncle. C. A. 
Snyder, in Richland township. He later 
engaged in the business with his uncle 
in Rockhill township. In 1884 he pur- 
chased a farm at Bridgetown, now 
South Perkasie. where he still resides. 
He is a member of St. Andrew's Luth- 



eran church, and politically is a Demo- 
crat. He married, February 26, 1854, 
Hannah Moyer, daughter of Samuel M. 
and Barbara (High) Moyer, and they 
have been the parents of five children: 
I. Susan, died at the age of fourteen 
years; 2. James Erwin, born January 
I, 1856, died at the age of eight years; 
3. William Henry, born February, 1858, 
now a resident of Philadelphia; has been 
twice married; by his first wife, Ella 
Stoneback, he has two children, — Lizzie 
and James Erwin: he married (second) 
Mrs. Lavinia (Clymer) Savacool, by 
whom he has three children; 4. Levi M., 
born January 15, i860, died December 
31, 1882; 5. Franklin M., born December 
5, 1864. married Lydia Weigner, and has 
one child, Frank. 



AARON SAVACOOL was born in Hill- 
town township, and reared on the old home- 
stead, acquiring his education at the lo- 
cal schools. Reared to the life of a 
farmer, he has never followed any other 
vocation. Until 1898 he was one of the 
active and progressive farmers of Hill- 
town township. In connection with the 
tilling of the soil he ran a commission 
wagon, carrying his own and his neigh- 
bors' lighter produce to the Philadelpnia 
markets. In the latter year he built 
himself a handsome and commodious 
residence in Perkasie, where he now re- 
sides, enjoying the fruits of a life of 
industry and usefulness. He is a mem- 
ber of St. Andrew's Lutheran church, 
and in politics is a Democrat, but has 
never sought or held other than local 
office, having served for four years as 
assessor of Hilltown township. He mar- 
ried, November, 1857, Esther Shetler, 
and to them have been born three chil- 
dren: Martha, wife of J. Howard Gear-, 
hart, and has four children; Susan, de- 
ceased, the latter having been the wife 
of Milton L. Cope, and had two chil- 
dren, and one son, Jacob, who married 
a distant cousin, Lizzie Savacool, daugh- 
ter of Mahlon Savacool, and has one 
child, Esther. 



WILLIAM B. SAVACOOL, son of 
Jacob and Lydia (Snyder) Savacool, 
whose ancestry is traced in a preceding 
sketch, he being a grandson of William 
and Elizabeth (Miller) Savacool, and 
a great-grandson of Jacob Savelkool. 
who came to Pennsylvania in 1731, and 
settled in Rockhill, was born on the old 
homestead in Hilltown. August 27, 1833. 
He was educated in the public schools 
of Hilltown. and remained on the farm 
with his parents until his marriage in 
1856, when he removed to Sellersville. 
where he lived for five years. He then 
returned to the homestead and worked 
for his father for five years. In 1880 he 
settled at South Perkasie, and opened a 



292 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



flour and feed store, , and also purchased 
calves for the New York and Philadel- 
phia markets. He continued the busi- • 
ness until 1904, when he leased the mill 
and feed store to his nephew, W. Elmer â–  
Savacool, and now lives retired in South 
Perkasie. He is a member of the Luth- 
eran church of Perkasie, and in politics 
is a Democrat. Mr. Savacool married 
in November, 1858, Christiana Fulmer, 
daughter of Jacob and Mary (Kramer) 
Fulmer. 



W. ELMER SAVACOOL, of South 
Perkasie, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
was born on the old homestead in Hill- 
town township, which has been the prop- 
erty of his ancestors for over one hun- 
dred and fifty years, and is still occu- 
pied by his parents, Jacob A. and Eva 
(Steeley) Savacool. 

Jacob A. Savacool, the father of Will- 
iam Elmer, was born on the old home- 
stead October 9, 1850, and is the young- 
est son of Jacob and Lydia (Snyder) 
Savacool, whose ancestry is traced in 
preceding pages.* He was reared on the 
old homestead where he still resides, 
and was educated in the public scTiools 
of Hilltown township. Being the young- 
est of the family, he remained with his 
parents on the homestead, and at the 
death of his father in 1876 he purchased 
the homestead of ninety-four acres, and 
has always followed the life of a farmer. 
He is a member of the Lutheran 
church of South Perkasie. and in poli- 
tics is a Democrat. He married, May 
10, 1873, Eva Steeley, of Tinicum_ town- 
ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and 
they are the parents of five children; 
William Elmer, the subject of this 
sketch; Stella: Emma, deceased; Ada 
and Jacob. 

William Elmer Savacool was reared 
on the old homestead and attended the 
Red Hill school, later entering the Sel- 
lersville high school. He remained on 
the farm with his father until the age 
of twenty-two years, and then removed 
to Hagersville. Bedminster township, 
where he lived for two years. He then 
removed to South Perkasie and entered 
the emplov of his uncle. William B. Sava- 
cool, in the mill and feed store, and five 
years later (in 1904) leased the plant of 
his uncle and now conducts the business 
for himself. He has always taken an 
active interest in local affairs, filling a 
number of local offices. He has been 
a member of the board of health of Per- 
kasie borough and is now servmg a 
term as school director of that borough. 
He is a member of Relief Circle, No. 57, 
Brotherhood of the Union, and religi- 
ously is affiliated with the Lutheran 
church of South Perkasie. 



He married, December 16, 1896, Clara 
Meyers, born August 6, 1877, daughter 
of Abraham F. and Susanna (High) 
Myers, the latter deceased; and grand- 
daughter of Joseph F. and Barbara 
(Fretz) Myers. Her great-grandfather 
Henry Meyer, was born in Bucks coun- 
ty, February 23, 1780, and died in Plum- 
stead township, Bucks county, October, 
1847. His wife was Elizabeth Fretz, born 
March 24, 1807. John Meyers, the father 
of Henry, was also a resident of Plum- 
stead township, and was born in 1756 
and died in 1814. His wife was Cath- 
arine Souder. William Elmer and Clara 
(Meyers) Savacool are the parents of 
two children — Eva M. and William 
Russell. 



*For ancestry of Lvdia (Snyder) Savacool see 
sketch of Henry H. Snyder. 



SHELLENBERGER FAMILY. The 
paternal ancestors of Mary E. (Shell- 
enberger) Gulick were early settlers in 
Hatfield township, Montgomery county, 
Pennsylvania, and were the descendants of 
Johannes Schellenberger, who emigrat- 
ed from Germany and settled in that 
township, arriving in Philadelphia, Oc- 
tober 4, 1751. in the ship "Queen of 
Denmark." He purchased 250 acres in 
Hatfield and became one of the promi- 
nent men of that section. By his wife 
Margaret he had at least five sons, Con- 
rad. John, Philip, Jacob and Charles^ 
all but the two last settling in Bucks coun- 
ty. In 1776 he purchased several tracts 
of land in Hilltown, which he soon after 
convej^ed to his sons above mentioned. 

Conrad Shellenberger, son of John 
of Hatfield, settled in Rockhill town- 
ship, where he was living in 1779. when 
his father conveyed to him 120 acres of 
land in Hilltown. He eventually pur- 
chased several other farms in Hilltown, 
and became one of the prominent land- 
holders there. He died in 1839 in Hill- 
town. His wife. Eve Leidy, died about 
1828. They were the parents of seven 
children, — two sons, John L. and Jacob 
L,, and five daughters: Hannah, who 
married a Trauger, and died before her 
father, leaving two daughters. Eve and 
Mary; Elizabeth, who married Jacob 
Datesman; Eve, who married John 
Wart, of Bedminster; Susanna, who • 
married John Drumbore; and Anna, who' 
married George Mumbauer. Jacob L. 
died on a portion of the old homestead 
in 1857. 

John L. Shellenberger, eldest son of 
Conrad and Eve (Leidy) Shellenberger, 
was born in Hilltown township in 1792. 
In 1829 his father conveyed to him 102 
acres of the old homestead, purchased 
by his grandfather in 1772. and at Con- 
rad's death ten acres additional were 
adjudged to him. He lived on the old 
h-^mestead all his life, dying Anril 26, 
1882, at the age of ninety years. He was 
twice married, his first wife being Cath- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



293 



arine Snyder, daughter of Jacob and 
Elizabeth (Yost) Snyder of Hilltown, 
whose ancestry is given elsewhere in 
this volume and they were the parents 
•of eight children : Elias, late of Sellers- 
ville; Eve; Elizabeth; Catharine; John; 
Levi, of Hagersville; Jacob S., and 
Amelia. He married (second) Elizabeth 
(Harr) Savacool, a widow, and had by 
her one son, Henry H., who lives on the 
old homestead in Hilltown. 

Jacob S. Shellenberger, son of John 
L. and Catharine (Snyder) Shellenber- 
ger, was the father of Mrs. S. S. Gu- 
lick. He was born in Hilltown in 1824, 
and died there in 1881. He married 
Catharine Rudy, born June 8, 1830. died 
June 6, 1898, and had seven children; 
Amanda, wife of Frank Alderfer; Mary 
E., wife of Samuel S. Gulick; Emma, 
wife of Dr. Milton Fretz, of Palmyra, 
Pennsylvania; Hiram R., of North Da- 
kota, who married Sarah Rolfe; Ella, 
wife of Simon Snyder, of Swarthmore; 
Leidy R., a civil engineer in New York, 
who married Mary Stump, and Jacob, of 
Montana, who married Bertha Risk. 



JACOB M. RUSH. The Rush family 
has been represented in Bucks county 
since an early period in its develop- 
ment. Jacob Rush, grandfather of Ja- 
cob M. Rush, was a son of Peter Rush, 
who lived and died in Bucks county. 
By trade he w^as a tailor and followed 
that pursuit for a number of years, but 
subsequently turned his attention to 
farming. He was a member of the To- 
liickon Reformed church. He married 
Miss Catherine Hofford, and thev be- 
came the parents of six children: 
Charles, Hillary, Peter. William. Re- 
mandus. and Lucy Ann, the wife of 
Eleazer McCarty. 

William Rush, father of Jacob M. 
Rush, was born in Bedminster town- 
ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where 
Tie has followed farming all his life. His 
religious faith is indicated by his mem- 
bership in the Old Mennonite church. 
He married Miss Annie Myers, and they 
became the parents of nine children: 
Jacob M.: Lizzie, wife of Joseph 
Schuler ; Catherine, the wife of Philip 
Musselman; Annie, wife of Newton 
Snyder; Isaac M.; Allen M.; William 
M. : Amanda, who died at the age of four 
years; and Mahlon M. 

Rev. Jacob M. Rush was born in Bed- 
minister township, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, April 4, 1862, and his education 
was acquired in the common schools 
near his home. In the periods of vaca- 
tion he assisted in the work of the home 
farm, gaining practical knowledge of the 
l3est methods of conducting agricultural 
interests, so that he w-as well qualified 
to successfully carry on business for 
liimself in the same line. He remained 



on the homestead farm until twenty years 
of age, and then entered the employ of 
the Plumsteadville Dairymen's Associa- 
tion in the capacity of foreman. He re- 
mained in that service for about four or 
five years, and in 1887 purchased the 
fann whereon he now resides. His at- 
tention has been chiefiy given to agri- 
cultural pursuits and his property is 
now well improved, his fields being un- 
der a high state of cultivation. He was 
ordained on the 24th of October, 1895, 
a minister of the Old Deep Run Men- 
nonite church by Bishop Andrew Mack, 
of Bucks county, since which time he 
has ofificiated as pastor of the Deep Run 
church, and was also a supply for the 
Plumstead church. His life consecrated 
to his holy calling has been a potent 
element in the moral development of 
his community, and by example as well 
as precept he teaches the living truths 
of the gospel. Rev. Mr. Rush was mar- 
ried on the fourth of August, 1883, to 
Miss Mary G. Mover, a daughter of Jo- 
seph H. and Elizabeth (George) Moyer. 
Their union has been blessed with ten 
children: Nora Lizzie, born February 
20, 1885; Anna M.. April 16, 1889; Aquil- 
la M., June 30, 1891; William Norman 
M., November 4, 1892; Joseph ]\I., April 
22. 1894; Mary M., August 7, 1896; Ja- 
cob Paul, December 15, 1897; Raymond 
M., June 30, 1900; Isaac M., August 17, 
1902; Theodore M., March 28, 1905. 



THE PENROSE FAMILY. The 
Penrose family is an old one and v/as 
established in Yorkshire. England, many 
generations before Robert Penrose, the 
ancestor of the subject of the sketch 
left there in 1669. He was the son of 
Robert and Jane Penrose, and in that 
year removed to county Wicklow, Ire- 
land, where in the same year he married 
Anna Russell. In 1673 he w-as impris- 
oned for refusing to take an oath. He 
was probably accompanied or preceded 
to Ireland by other members of the 
family, as Richard and John Penrose, 
of county Wicklow, suffered persecution 
in the same year for their religious 
faith. 

Robert Penrose, a son of Robert and 
Anna (Russell) Penrose, born in county 
Wicklow, married in 1695 Mary Clay- 
ton, of Back Lane, Dublin, by whom 
he had thirteen children. On 3 mo. 2, 
1717. Robert Penrose and INIary his wife 
of Ballykenny. county Wicklow, Ire- 
land, with daughters Ann and Margaret 
and son Christopher, obtained a certifi- 
cate from the Two Weeks Meeting at 
Dublin, which they produced at Phila- 
delphia Monthly Meeting. 8 mo. 25. 1717. 
Another son Robert soon followed them 
to Pennsylvania, and the family settled 
first in Philadelphia and later at Mar- 
pie, Chester, (now Delaware) county. 



294 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



where Christopher married at Middle- 
town Meeting, 3 mo. 1719, Ann Hunter. 

Robert Penrose, son of Robert and 
Mary (Clayton) Penrose, born in Ire- 
land, as before stated, followed his par- 
ents to Pennsylvania and located near 
them in Chester county. On September 
13. '^723, he married at Springfield Meet- 
ing, Mary Heacock, and in 1734 ob- 
tained a certificate to Gwynedd Monthly 
Meeting. He located in the Great 
Swamp, later Richland township, be- 
coming a member of Richland Monthly 
Meeting at its organization in 1742. 
Their children, all born in Richland, 
were: Jonathan, born March i, 1736; Jo- 
seph, born August 10, 1737; John, born 
January 19, 1740. married Ann Roberts; 
William, born April 15, 1742, married 
Mary Roberts; Robert, Jr., born May 
6. 1744; Samuel, born Arugust 21, 1748, 
see forward; Benjamin, born Decem- 
ber 30, 1749; Mary, born June 5. 1753; 
and Jesse, born May 2, 1755. Of the 
above named children of Robert and 
Mary Penrose Jonathan, Joseph, John 
and William remained in Richland and 
reared families. Jesse, the youngest 
son, removed to Warrington. York 
county, by way of Exeter, 1776. 

Samuel Penrose, sixth son of Robert 
and Mary (Heacock) Penrose, born in 
Richland, August 21, 1748, remained 
there until April, 1801, when he re- 
moved with his wife and children, Will- 
iam, Eeverard, Benjamin and Margaret, 
to the Graeme Park farm in Horsham, 
Montgomery count3\ which he had just 
purchased. Graeme Park was established 
as the country residence of Sir Will- 
iam Keith, the last of the English pro- 
vincial governors of Pennsylvania. The 
old historic mansion erected by him in 
1721 and still standing, an illustration 
of which appears in these volumes, is 
replete with historic associations as 
narrated in a previous volume. He mar- 
ried at Richland, November 9, 1777, 
Sarah Roberts, born June, 1758, daugh- 
ter of Abel and Gainor (Morris) Rob- 
erts, and granddaughter of Edward 
Roberts, born in Merionethshire. Wales. 
in May, 1687, came to Pennsylvania in 
1699, and settled in Byberry, Philadel- 
phia county. He married in 1714 Mary 
Bolton, daughter of Everard, and in 
1816 removed to Richland, where he be- 
came an extensive landholder and reared 
a family of eight children. He was a 
minister among Friends for many years, 
and died on his Richland farm, Novem- 
ber 25, 1768, in his eighty-second year. 
His widow died July 22, 1784, in her 
ninety-seventh year. Abel Roberts, 
their second child and eldest son, born 
October 23, T717, married, April 17, 1744, 
Gainor Morris, daughter of Morris and 
Susanna (Heath) Morris. Morris Mor- 
ris was also a native of Wales. His 
father, Evan Morris, born in Grikhoth, 
Caernarvonshire, Wales, in 1654, became 



a convert to Friends' faith and suffered 
persecution therefor. He emigrated to 
Pennsylvania with his wife and family 
about 1690, and lived for a time in the 
present limits of Delaware, removing 
later to near Abington, now Montgom- 
ery county, where he died. His son Mor- 
ris Morris, born 1674, was a farmer near 
Abington for a number of years but be- 
came one of the pioneers to the Great 
Swamp, where he died June 2, 1764. His 
wife Susanna was a daughter of Robert 
Heath; she died in Richland, June 8^ 
1755. The children of Samuel and Sarah 
(Roberts) Penrose, all but the youngest 
of whom were born at Richland, were- 
as follows: Abel, born August 7, 1778, 
died in Richland, married (first) Keziah 
Speakman and (second) Abi.gail Foulke; 
Gainor, born March 4, 1780; William^ 
born March 13, 1782; Everard, born Oc- 
tober 7, 1784; Mary, born May 11, 1787^ 
died young; Benjamin, born September 
16, 1791; Susanna, born August 21, 1793; , 
Samuel, born August 10, 1796; Margaret,, 
born September 20, 1798, and Morris, 
born June 15, 1801. Samuel Penrose, 
the father, on the marriage of his son 
William sold him the Graeme Park 
farm and removed to Warminster, 
where he died February 2, 1833. 

William Penrose, second son of Sam- 
uel and Sarah, born in Richland, March 
14, 1782, removed with his parents to- 
Horsham, in 1801. In i8ro he married' 
Hannah Jarret, daughter of William and 
Ann, of Horsham, purchased the home 
farm of his father, and erecting a com- 
modious residence on a natural building 
site, lived thereon until a few years be- 
fore his death, when he purchased a 
farm adjoining and there spent his re- 
maining days. His seven children were: 
Ann J., born September 25. 181 1, married 
Abraham Iredell, of Horsham; Samuel, 
born April 18, 1813, died unmarried at 
the age of thirty-five years; Jarret, bom 
April' I, 1815; Abel, born May 3, 1817, 
married Sarah Beisel, of Allentown, in 
1856; Hannah, born February 28, 1820, 
married Isaac W. Hicks, of Newtown. 
(See Hicks Family) ; William, born 1822, 
died in infancy; and Tacy S., born Oc- 
tober 14, 1823, married Morris Davis, of 
Warminster. William Penrose, the 
father, died November 20, 1863. and his 
wife in 1850. Both were consistent mem- 
bers of Horsham Friends' Meeting, and 
their children were reared in that faith. 

Jarrett Penrose, second son of Will- 
iam and Hannah (Jarrett) Penrose. born- 
April T, 1815, was reared at the Hor- 
sham homestead and lived all his life \n 
that township. On his marriage he pur- 
chased the Abraham Iredell farm irr 
Horsham and lived thereon until his 
death in 1889. His life was one of un- 
faltering industry and straightforward 
dealing. He and his wife were members 
of Horsham Meeting of Friends, and 
their children were reared in that faith. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



295 



In politics Mr. Penrose was a Repub- 
lican, but while giving his unfaltering 
support to the principles of that party 
by his ballot he neither sought nor held 
public office. He married Tacy Ann 
Kirk, daughter of John and Tabitha 
Kirk, who still survives at the age of 
eighty-three years. Her great-grand- 
father, a mason by trade, born 1692, and 
a son of John and Joan (Elliot) Kirk, 
the pioneer ancestors of the family, 
erected for Sir William Keith, the last 
of the provincial governors of Pennsyl- 
vania, Graeme Hall, the home of her 
husband's ancestors in Horsham. The 
children of Jarrett and Tacy Ann (Kirk) 
Penrose were: Ellen S., born January 
14, 1843, married Edward T. Betts, late 
of Buffalo, New York, deceased; Eliza- 
beth H., born January 4, 1845, wife of 
Alfred Moore, of Horsham; William, of 
Warrington, Bucks county, born July 
31, 1847, mentioned hereinafter; Alfred, 
born May 14, 1849. died in infancy; and 
Samuel, also mentioned hereinafter. 

William Penrose, born in Horsham 
township, Montgomery county, Penn- 
sylvania, July 31. 1847, spent the days of 
his childhood and youth upon the home 
farm and early became familiar with the 
duties and labors that fall to the lot of 
the agriculturist. After his marriage he 
began farming on his own account in 
Warrington township, Bucks county, 
upon the tract of land which is yet his 
home. He has attended market and is 
regarded as a practical and prosperous 
agriculturist. He has one of the exten 
sive and valuable farms of Warrington 
township, comprising three hundred 
acres, upon which are two sets of farm 
buildings, houses, barns and outbuild- 
ings. The farm is well equipped in 
every way and its highly cultivated con- 
ditions indicates the careful supervision 
which he has given to it. He is now 
largely living retired, having given the 
management of the property over to his 
son. His present residence is situated 
on the Doylestown pike and trolley line, 
and is a commodious two story stone 
structure, built in modern style of ar- 
chitecture. It is surrounded by a fine 
stone fence, the gates being formed by 
heavy pillars, and beautiful forest and 
evergreen trees adorn the land, while in 
the rear are many fine fruit trees. He 
endorses Republican principles and is 
deeply interested in the success of his 
party, but has never sought or desired 
office for himself. He was reared in the 
Friends' meeting and has never de- 
parted from that faith. 

William Penrose was married Decem- 
ber 14, 1871, to Miss Hannah Paul, who 
was born in Warrington township. Buck? 
county, a daughter of Morris and Lydia 
(Hallowell) Paul. Joseph and Mary 
Paul, ancestors of INIrs. Penrose, came 
from Yorkshire, England, about 1682, 
and settled near the site of the present 



village of Fox Chase. Joseph Paul pur- 
chased the farm now occupied by Will- 
iam Penrose in 1727, and it descended to 
his son James, who married 2 mo. 25, 
T737, Mary Worth, daughter of Judge 
Worth, of Maryland; she was a lady of 
education and culture and a warm friend 
of Lady Fereuson, who then lived at 
Graeme Park. Joseph Paul, first child 
of James and Mary (Worth) Paul, born 
1739, became the next owner of the old 
Warrington homestead. He married his 
cousin, Hannah Paul, whose mother, 
Sarah Morris, was a daughter of Mor- 
ris and Susanna Morris, the latter a 
prominent minister of the Society of 
Friends for forty years, and although 
the mother of twelve children she made 
several religious visits to various parts 
of the American colonies and three 
voyages over the sea, attending the 
Meetings of Friends, and the gracious 
arm of divine providence was evidently 
manifested in preserving and supporting 
her through divers remarkable perils and 
dangers, which she ever reverently re- 
membered and gratefully acknowledged. 
Her paternal grandfather, Joshua Paul, 
was a descendant of an old colonial fam- 
ily connected with the Friends' meet- 
ing. Morris Paul was reared in War- 
rington township, where he settled on 
a farm after attaining man's estate, re- 
maining one of the reliable and enter- 
prising agriculturists of his community 
up to the time of his death, his life be- 
ing in harmony with his profession as a 
member of the Society of Friends. His 
onlv child became the wife of Mr. Pen- 
rose. She was a lady of culture and in- 
telligence, who proved a devoted wife 
and loving mother and was also a con- 
sistent Christian. She died of typhoid 
fever in 1900, and their daughter Lydia 
H. died on the 29th of April of the same 
year when twenty years of age, also 
from an attack of typhoid. The other 
children are J. Howard, born May 10, 
1873; Morris P., born November 8, 1875; 
and William, born October 16, 1877. 
Howard married Miss Edith Chapman, 
and is in the office of the Reading Coa) 
& Iron Company. Morris is connected 
with the extensive lumber, coal, and 
milling business in Pedricktown, New 
Jersey. William Penrose. Jr., is oper- 
ating the old homestead farm. On the 
i6th of October, 1902, William Penrose 
married (second) Miss Anna Hallowell, 
who was born in Abingdon township, 
^lontgomery county, September 28, 1865, 
her parents being Joseph W. and Hannah 
(Lloyd) Hallowell, the former born in 
Abingdon township and the latter in 
Moreland township, Montgornery 

county, where both were representatives 
of distinguished early families of this 
state. Her father, Joseph W., was a «on 
of John R. and Ann (Jarrett) Hallo- 
well, the former descended from John 
Hallowell and a native of Nottingham- 



296 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



shire, England. Emigrating to America 
he became one of the first settlers of 
Pennsylvania. John R. was one of the 
directors of the old York pike road. 
Joseph Hallowell was a brother-in-law 
of Edwin Sattefthwaite. who was a 
grandson of Betsey Ross, who made the 
first American flag and who made the 
ruffles for General Washington's shirt 
fronts. The Satterthwaite family were 
among the oldest and most respected 
members of the Abingdon meeting. The 
children of John R. Hallowell were: 
William, Lydia, Mrs. Martha Saiter- 
thwaite, Joseph and Penrose. Joseph Hal- 
lowell was reared to farm pursuits and 
always carried on the work of an agri- 
culturist. However, he extended his ef- 
forts to various other lines and was con- 
nected with many enterprises, his good 
management winning him desirable suc- 
cess. He was recognized as one of the 
substantial men of his county. After his 
retirement from the farm he resided at 
Jenkintown, becoming one of the in- 
corporators of the Jen^cintown Bank and 
a director thereof for many years. He 
was a man of plain deportment, but re- 
liable and trustworthy at all times, and 
his freedom from self laudation and os- 
tentation commanded the good will of 
all who recognized and appreciated true 
worth. He died at Jenkintown. April 
3, 1904, leaving a wife and four children. 
His widow still occupies the residence 
at Jenkintown and she, too, is a mem- 
ber of the Friends' meeting. They were 
parents of four children: Edwin S., a 
prominent farmer of Abingdon, Penn- 
sylvania; Emma L., who is living with 
her mother; Fanny, born August 12, 
1856, died March 25, 1900; and Anna, the 
wife of William Penrose. Hannah 
(Lloyd) Hallowell, the mother of these 
children, was descended through Ben- 
jamin Lloyd and Sarah Child, whose 
marriage took place 6 mo., 1775, and is 
also descended from George and Sarah 
Shoemaker, of Warrington, who were 
married in 1662, and George and Sarah 
(Wall) Shoemaker, who were married at 
Abington Meeting, 12 mo. 14, 1694. T3en- 
jamin H. Shoemaker commemorated the 
two hundredth anniversary of the mar- 
riage of the latter named by a dinner, 
Sixth day evening, twelfth month four- 
teenth, 1894, at seven o'clock. George 
Shoemaker, Jr., and Sarah Wall, his 
wife, were the great-great-great-grand- 
parents of Benjamin H. Shoemaker. Mr. 
and Mrs. Penrose have one son, Joseph 
Hallowell, born July 31, 1903. They 
are prominent socially in the commun- 
ity where they reside, and the circle of 
their friends is almost co-extensive with 
the circle of their acquaintance. 

Samuel Jarrett Penrose, born at Hor- 
sham, May 5, 1852, was reared in that 
township and educated at the Friends' 
school, at LoUer Academy, Hatboro, the 
Excelsior Normal Institute at Carver- 



ville, and Swarthmore College. At the 
close of his school days he accepted a 
clerical position with the firm of Ellis 
P. Moore & Co., lumber merchants in 
Philadelphia, where he remained for 
eighteen months. He then returned to 
his father's farm in Horsham, and was 
engaged in agricultural pursuits until 
his marriage in 1881 with Mary C. Far- 
ren, daughter of John and Elizabeth 
(Fretz) Farren, of Doylestown town- 
ship, whose ancestry is given under the 
title of "The Fretz Family" in this work. 
He continued as a farmer in Horsham 
until 1884, when he removed to his 
mother-in-law's farm in Doylestown 
township, where he has since resided, he 
and his wife having inherited it at the 
death of Mrs. Farren, and devotes his 
time to the care of his three farms com- 
prising 278 acres. Mr. Penrose is now 
serving his second term as director of 
the poor of Bucks county, and is also a 
director of the Doylestown Trust Com- 
pany, vice-president and director of the 
Philadelphia and Eastern Railway Com- 
pany, and director of Fellowship Norse 
Company. Their children are: Cyril, 
Ralph F., and Norman, all of whom re- 
side with their father. The mother of 
these children is deceased. 



HON. HARRY J. SHOEMAKER, 
one of the prominent members of the 
Bucks county bar, and an officer of sev- 
eral of the important corporations of the 
county, was born in Horsham township, 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, De- 
cember 25, 1855, and is a son of James 
and Phebe (Shoemaker) Shoemaker, of 
that township. He comes of a distin- 
guished ancestry that have been potent 
in the affairs of their respective com- 
munities since the founding of Penn's 
colony on the Delaware. 

His paternal ancestor, Peter Shoe- 
maker, was born in Kreigsheim, a rural 
village on the Upper Rhine, "two hours 
ride from the City of Worms," in the 
year 1622. He was one of the earliest 
converts to the principles of George 
Fox, the founder of the Society of 
Friends, and suffered persecution for his 
religious faith as early as 1665 when he 
had goods to the value of two guilders 
taken from him in payment of a fine 
for attending a meeting of Friends at 
W^orms. He was also imprisoned and 
fined at subsequent periods for his re- 
ligious faith. He was one of _ the 
Friends seen by Penn on his visit to 
Kreigsheim early in 1683, and was in- 
duced to join a company of Palatines in 
founding a colony in Penn's new prov- 
ince of Pennsylvania. He was a car- 
penter by trade, and before leaving 
Krcighsheim entered into an agreement 
with Dirck Sidman, of Crefeld, on Au- 
gust 16, 1685, to proceed to German- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



297 



town, .where the original thirteen fami- 
lies from Crefeld had already formed a 
settlement, and receive from Herman 
Op den Graef 200 acres of land upon 
which he was to erect a dwelling and 
pay therefore two rix dollars. This old 
agreement and the deed for the land is 
recorded in German at Philadelphia and 
has been seen by the writer. He em- 
barked in the "Frances & Dorothy," 
with his son Peter, daughters, Mary, 
Frances, and Gertrude, and the widow of 
his cousin, Sarah Shoemaker and her 
children, and arrived at Germantown, 
October 12, 1685. He at once became 
one of the active men of the youthful 
colony, and is frequently mentioned in 
the old annals of Germantown. He was 
an active member of the Society of 
Friends, and ^one of the signers of the 
certificate to the Meeting at London in 
1695 for Samuel Jennings, who carried 
the protest of Pennsylvania Friends 
against the schism of George Keith. He 
died in Germantown in 1707, aged 
eighty-five years. His daughter Frances 
married John Jacob Van Bebber, and 
another daughter married Rynier Her- 
man von Barkelow and removed to Bo- 
hemia Manor, Maryland. A grandson 
Martin Kolb accompanied him from 
Germany and has left numerous de- 
scendants. 

Peter Shoemaker, Jr., born at Kreig- 
sheim, accompanied his father and sis- 
ters to Germantown in 1685 and became 
one of the prominent men of the colony, 
filling the office of burgess of German- 
town in 1696, 1704 and 1707, and many 
other positions of trust. He was one of 
the committee appointed December 30, 
1701, to organize a school at German- 
town, erect a school house and arrange 
for a teacher. Through his efforts 
Francis Daniel Pastorius was induced to 
take charge of the school and it became 
one of the famous institutions of the 
infant province. Peter, Jr., was like his 
father a carpenter or "Turner," and had 
a part in the erection of most of the 
•early buildings in Germantown. He was 
a prominent member of the Society of 
Friends, and was frequently the repre- 
sentative of his meeting in quarterly 
and yearly meetings. He married, at 
Germantown Meeting, 2 mo. 6, 1697, 
Margaret Op den Graef, daughter of 
Herman Op den Graef, one of three 
brothers who were among the first thir- 
teen families to settle Germantown in 
October, 1683. He was a native of Cre- 
feld on the Lower Rhine, and a son of 
Isaac and grandson of Herman Op den 
Graef, who was born at Alderkerk, No- 
vember 26, 1585, and died at Crefeld, De- 
cember 27, 1642. He was a delegate to 
the Mennonite council at Dordrecht in 
1632 that formulated the creed of that 
sect. Herman Op den Graef and his 
"brothers were the authors of the famous 
protest against human slavery presented 



to Germantown Meeting in 1688 and by 
them forwarded to the Quarterly and 
Yearly Meetings of the Society. It was 
the first protest of its kind ever formu- 
lated in America. Peter Shoemaker died 
at Germantown, 4 mo. i, 1741, and his 
widow Margaret on 7 mo. 14, 1748. They 
were the parents of ten children, as fol- 
lows: r. Sarah, born 5 mo. 22, 1698, mar- 
ried Daniel Potts; 2. Mary, born 7 mo. 
15, 1701, married Thomas Phipps; 3. 
Margaret, born 6 mo. 8, 1704, married 
Benjamin Masin; 4. Peter, born 6 mo. 

8, 1706; 5. Daniel, born 11 mo. 14, 1709; 
6. Isaac, born i mo. 15, 171 1, see for- 
ward; 7. Elizabeth, born 11 mo. 6, 1713. 
married Joseph Davis; 8. Agnes, born 3 
mo. 9, 1716, married William Hallowell; 

9. John, born 6 mo. 30, 1718; 10. Samuel, 
born 6 mo. 13, 1720, died young. 

Isaac Shoemaker, son of Peter and 
Margaret, born at Germantown, March 
15, 1711, on arriving at manhood settled 
in Upper Dublin township, Philadelphia 
(now Montgomery) county, where he 
purchased a tract of land and followed 
the life of a farmer. He was a member 
of Abington Meeting and took a cer- 
tificate from there to Philadelphia 
Monthly Meeting, 5 mo. 27, 1741. to 
marry Hannah Roberts, daughter of John 
Roberts, of Philadelphia. They were 
members of Horsham Meeting at its or- 
ganization. Isaac and Hannah (Rob- 
erts) Shoemaker were the parents of 
thirteen children, as follows: Margaret, 
born 10 mo. 3, 1742, died unmarried in 
1788; Peter, born 4 mo. 12, 1744, married 
Hannah Norman; Elizabeth, born 4 mo. 
23, 1748, married John Letchworth; 
Martha, born 7 mo. 14, 1750, married 
Jonathan Shoemaker; Daniel, born 12 
mo. 9, 1752, married Phebe Walton, 
daughter of Thomas, of Byberry; Isaac, 
born 10 mo. 29, 1754; James, born 10 
mo. 13, 1757. see forward; Rachel, born 
3 mo. 26, 1759; David, born 6 mo. 15, 
1761; Hannah and Mary, born 3 mo. 9, 
1764; Thomas, born 3 mo. 22, 1766, and 
Rebecca, born 4 mo. 29, 1769. 

James Shoemaker, seventh child of 
Isaac and Hannah, born in Upper Dub- 
lin, 10 mo. 13. 1757, was a farmer and 
lived all his life in Upper Dublin. He 
married in Horsham Meeting house, 6 
mo. I, 1781, Phebe Walton, daughter of 
William and Phebe (Atkinson) Walton, 
the original certificate of the marriage 
engraved on parchment, as well as that 
of the marriage of William Walton and 
Phebe Atkinson, which was solemnized 
at the same place, 9 mo. 26, 1741, are in 
the possession of the subject of this 
sketch. William Walton, father of 
Phebe Shoemaker, was a resident of 
Moreland, and a son of Jeremiah and 
Elizabeth (Walmsley) Walton, of By- 
berry. William Walton, father of Jere- 
miah, was one of the four Walton broth- 
ers who landed at New Castle in 1675 
and subsequently located in Byberry. He 



298 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



was married at Byberry. 4 mo. 29, 1689. 
to Sarah Howell, and was the first min- 
ister at Byberry after the Keithian 
trouble and continued to preach there 
for many years. Phcbe (Atkinson) Wal- 
ton was a daughter of William and 
Phcbe (Taylor) Atkinson, of Upper 
Dublin, and granddaughter of John and 
Susannah (Hinde) Atkinson, of Lan- 
cashire, England, an account of whom 
is given elsewhere in this volume. 

William and Phebe (Atkinson) Wal- 
ton were the parents of ten children, sev- 
eral of whom died j^oung. Phebe, who 
married James Shoemaker, was the sec- 
ond of the name and was born 11 mo. 16, 
1759. The children of James and Phebe 
(Walton) Shoemaker were as follows: 
William, born 3_ mo. 16, 1782; Joseph, 
died an infant; Isaac, born 4 mo. 6, 1785; 
John, born 9 mo. 8, 1786; Hannah, born 
2 mo. 24, 1789; Jesse, born 4 mo. 17, 
1791, see forward; Jonathan, born 9 mo. 
3, 1793. married in 1822 Margaret Rut- 
ter; Rebecca, died an infant; Rachel, 
born 2 mo. 28, 1798; and Phebe, born 9 
mo. 2, 1802. 

Jesse Shoemaker, sixth child of James 
and Phebe, was born and reared in Up- 
per Dublin, and spent the active years 
of his life in that township, removing 
late in life to Horsham where he died 
in 1882, aged over ninety years. He 
married at Horsham Meeting, 3 mo. 8, 
1821, Edith Tongstreth, daughter of 
Isaac and Jane Longstreth, of Bucks 
county, a descendant of Bartholomew 
Longstreth, one of the earliest settlers 
in Warminster, who was born in 
Longstrothdale, Yorkshire, in 1679, came 
to Pennsylvania in 1698, and married 
Ann Dawson in 1727. The children of 
Jesse and Edith (Longstreth) Shoe- 
maker were: James, the, father of the 
subject of this sketch, born 8 mo. 20, 
1822; Charlotte L., who died in infancjs 
and John L., born ID mo. 7, 1832. The 
latter became an eminent lawyer in Phil- 
adelphia and filled manj' important posi- 
tions. He was a member of select and 
common council for a number of years, 
and took an active part in the manage- 
ment of the Centennial Exposition at 
Philadelphia in 1876. 

James Shoemaker, eldest son of Jesse 
and Edith, was born in Upper Dublin, 
but on arriving at manhood settled on a 
farm in Horsham township, where he 
has since resided, following the life of a 
farmer during his active years. He mar- 
ried Phoebe Shoemaker, daughter of 
Jonathan and Margaret (Rutter) Shoe- 
maker, and granddaughter of James and 
Mary Rutter. She died in April, 1896. 
James and Phoebe were the parents of 
eight children : Bella, residing with her 
father in Horsham: Adeline B., wife of 
Charles E. Chandler, of Germantown; 
Jesse, who died in infancy: Harry J., the 
subject of this sketch; Augustus Brock, 
an active business man of Tullytown, 



Bucks county, who married Ida, daugh- 
ter of Elwood and Anna Burton, and 
has one son Lester; Charlotte L., wife 
of Russel Twining, of Horsham; Emily 
P., wife of Edward B. Webster, of Phil- 
adelphia; and Mary G., wife of Isaac 
Warner, of Horsham. 

Hon. Harry J. Shoemaker was borrr 
and reared in Horsham township and 
acquired his education at the public 
schools and at Doylestown Seminary. 
At the age of nineteen j-ears he began 
teaching school in Bedminster township, 
Bucks county, and the following year 
was appointed principal of the Tully- 
town (Bucks county) school, which he 
taught for three years. In 1880 he em- 
barked in the mercantile business at 
Tullytown, conducting a general mer- 
chandise store there until 1884. In poli- 
tics he is an ardent Republican, and has 
always taken an active interest in the 
councils of his party and in everything 
that pertains to the best interest <of the 
community in which he lived. He was 
postmaster of Tullytown for four years, 
and also filled the office of school direc- 
tor and other local offices in that dis- 
trict. , In the fall of 1884 he was elected 
to the state legislature, being the only 
Republican elected from Bucks county,- 
and served one term with marked abil- 
ity, being appointed on several import- 
ant committees. At the termination of 
his term he declined the renomination 
and became a candidate for congress in 
the seventh congressionaK district, but 
was defeated in the convention by two 
votes. He was a delegate to the Na- 
tional Rpublican Convention of 1884,. 
and also to that of 1888, which nomiri- 
ated Benjamin Harrison to the presi- 
dency. During Harrison's administra- 
tioii he was confidential clerk to the 
second Comptroller of the United States 
treasury. In the meantime he entered 
himslf as a student at law in the office 
of the late Hon. B. F. Gilkeson, of Bris- 
tol, and was admitted to the bar of his 
native county, and also to the Bucks 
county bar on January 3, 1890. At the 
close of his term of four years as con- 
fidential clerk he located in Doylestown- 
and began the practice of law, in which 
he has been successful in the buildings 
up of a lucrative practice. Later he was 
admitted to practice in the suprerne 
courts of Pennsylvania and of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. In 1893 he was a 
iudge of awards at the World's Fair at 
Chicago, and in that capacity served as 
secretary of the committee on food 
products. In 1896 he was again a can- 
didate for the nomination for congress 
and received a majority of the votes 
from his home county, but was defeated 
in the joint convention. He was a char- 
ter member of the Doylestown Trust 
Company, and has served continuously 
as a director of that institution since its 
organization. He was one of the orig- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



299. 



inal promoters of a trolley road from 
Doylestown to Easton, and was one of 
the most active and energetic in push- 
ing the work to a completion, being one 
of the original directors of the Philadel- 
phia and Easton Railway Company, 
who built the road, and is secretary and 
treasurer of the company. He is also 
solicitor and director of a number of 
other important corporations. He has 
served for a number of years as school 
director of Doylestown township, and 
fills the position of secretary of the 
board. He married, November 28, 1878, 
Ella B. Wright, daughter of John H. 
and Elizabeth (Harding) Wright, of 
Penn Manor, and they have been the 
parents of two daughters: Elsie C, who 
died November 30, 1898, at the age of 
eighteen years; and Edith E., who died 
in infancy. 



EZRA PATTERSON CARRELL 
was born in Warminster township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, November 
25) 1857, on the Carrell farm (now owned 
by H. Warner Hallowell), on which he 
resided twenty-three years. His father 
was born and died on the same prop- 
erty, having lived thereon seventy-three 
years. 

Ezra P. Carrell was educated until his 
thirteenth year, in the public schools of 
the township. After a two years' course 
at the Excelsior Institute of Hugh Mor- 
row, in Hatboro. Pennsylvania, his edu- 
cation was finished by a four years' 
course at the private school of Rev. 
George 'Hand of the same place. He is 
by occupation a farmer, as has been hl^ 
ancestors for at least four generations 
before him. He was located first in 
Warminster, next at Willow Grove, and 
for the last fourteen years on his pres- 
ent farm near Jamison, Pennsylvania, 
which he purchased at that time. Al- 
though a Republican, he has always 
been very independent in politics and 
always ready to vote for a better man on 
the opposite side. He has never held a 
political office, never wanted nor would 
accept one, yet has always been readj^ 
and willing to serve his fellow citizens 
in any other capacity, and through their 
choice has served in many positions of 
trust, as manager and director in vari- 
ous associations and companies. A 
busy, progressive farmer, he has not al- 
lowed his occupations to dwarf his 
other attainments nor his educational 
advancement, but has kept himself 
abreast in all matters which tend to 
the betterment and enrichment of the 
lives of those about him. Interested in 
genealogy he has in later j'-ears devoted 
much time to research into the history 
of his family, and is the secretarj^ and 
genealogist of the Carrell Reunion As- 
sociation. In religion a Presbj'terian, 
as has been his family for many gener- 



ations, he has always interested himself 
in church work, taking an active part in 
it. At present he is a Sunday school 
teacher, Sunday school superintendent,. 
and ruling elder in the Neshaminy Pres- 
byterian church in Warwick. On De- 
cember 22, 1881, he was married to Mary 
McCarter, daughter of James and Re- 
becca A. McCarter, of Ivyland, Pennsyl- 
vania. The AlcCarter family is an old 
English family which has lived in Chel- 
tenham township, Montgomery county, 
Pennsylvania, for many generations. 
Rebecca Aikley (Shoemaker) McCar- 
ter, the mother of Mrs. Carrell, is of the- 
well known Shoemaker family of Shoe- 
makertown, (now Ogontz) also in Chel- 
tenham township. Three children have 
blessed their union: Esther, died in in- 
fancy; Margaret L., and Edith. 

Mr. Carrell is the son of Ezra Patter- 
son Carrell and Margaret Long (Beans) 
Carrell. ]\Ir. Carrell, Sr.. who died a 
few 3'ears ago, was one of the substan- 
tial men of Warminster township, al- 
ways taking an active interest in the af- 
fairs of the vicinity. A man of edu- 
cation and refinement, hospitable, gen- 
erous and honored by his neighbors for 
his probity and integrity, he held for 
many years the office of ruling elder in 
the Neshaminy church in Warminster, 
and later in Neshaminy in Warwick. 
Always interested in church work, he 
served long and well in the capacities of 
teacher and superintendent in the Sun- 
day school, and for many years as chor- 
ister in his church. He fully justified in 
his life the words of his pastor, who 
prefaced his remarks at his funeral by 
these words: "Before me lies the re- 
mains of an honest man. The world 
says that no man can be honest and suc- 
cessful, but the life of Mr. Carrel fully 
refutes this." Margaret Long Carrell,. 
his wife, is the daughter of John C. 
Beans and Elizabeth Yerkes. The 
Beans family have been residents of 
Warminster for many years. Mrs. Car- 
rell's grandfather, Thomas Beans, was 
the keeper of the old hotel at War- 
minster, then a post station on the mail 
line between Philadelphia and ^ew 
York, and was a breeder of running- 
horses, having a half mile track on the 
large tract of land which he owned. The 
holdings of the contiguous estates of 
the Beans and Yerkes families was the 
largest in this section, several hundred 
acres of which is retained in the fami- 
lies. The Beans family trace their gen- 
ealogy back to Donald (Bane) of Scot- 
land, immortalized by Shakespeare. Mrs. 
Carrell was educated by a private 
teacher, and later finished her education 
by a course at a young ladies' seminary 
in Wilmington, Delaware. She is still 
living at the home place in Warmfnster. 
^Ir. and Mrs. Carrell had five children: 
Joseph, who is a farmer in Warminster 
township; John Beans, one of the lead- 



300 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ing physicians of Hatboro; Stacy Beans, 
in the wholesale and retail grocerj^ busi- 
ness in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Ezra 
P., the subject of this sketch; and 
Emily, who died in infancy. 

James Carrell, the pioneer ancestor 
â– of the family, settled in Bucks county 
about i/oo and possibly came from 
Rhode Island in 1683 with Rev. Thomas 
Dungan, wliose daughter Sarah he mar- 
ried. Tradition, however, relates that 
he was a weaver, and had a mill or loom, 
in Philadelphia, where he wove linen 
and linsey-woolsey; some products of 
his loom remaining in the family until 
recently. He purchased one hundred 
acres of land in Southampton in 1704 
and lived thereon until his death about 
1730. In 171 1 he purchased of his broth- 
€rs-in-Iaw, Thomas and Clement Dun- 
gan, a tract of land in Warminster which 
is still the property of his descendants, 
descending from father to son down to 
the present owner, Isaac Carrell. The 
children of Thomas and Sarah (Dun- 
gan) Carrell were six in number: James, 
the eldest son; Benjamin, who died in 
1733; Elizabeth, who married Samuel 
Gilbert, of Warminster; Sarah, who 
married Silas McCarty; and Lydia, who 
married Robert Tompkins, of Warmin- 
ster, later of Warrington, Bucks county ; 
and another daughter of whom we have 
no record. In 1732 the other heirs of 
James Carrell conveyed the homestead 
in Southampton to the eldest son James 
and in 1734 he also purchased the North- 
ampton homestead on which he settled 
and lived until his death in 1750, con- 
veying the Southampton homestead on 
his purchase of the Northampton farm. 
The family were of Scotch-Irish Pres- 
byterian stock, and are supposed to have 
emigrated from Scotland or Ireland in 
the seventeenth century. Tradition re- 
lates that James Carrell, Sr., was im- 
prisoned in Londonderry during that 
memorable siege of one hundred and five 
days, and soon after came to America'. 
The family is probably of the branch of 
the house of Carroll who were rulers in 
the northern counties of Ireland, which 
Dr. William Carrell in his historj'- of the 
family traces back to the beginning of 
the third century. 

James Carrell, Jr., married Diana Van 
Kirk, of Holland descent, daughter of 
Bernard and Rachel (Vandegrift) Van 
Kirk, and granddaughter of Jan Janse 
Ver Kirk or Van Kirk, who emigrated 
to Long Island in 1663 from the little 
town of Bueer Maetsen. in Gelderland. 
Holland, 'and settled at New Utrecht, 
where he died in 1688. His wife was 
Maykje Gysberts and they were the pa- 
rents of the following children: Roelof 
Janse, born 1654; Aert Janse, -born 
1655; Geertje. married Jan Dirckse Von 
Vliet: Barentje, married Nicholas Van- 
degrift; Cornelis Janse; Jan Janse, Jr., 
and Bernard or Barnet, the father of 



Diana, above mentioned, who married 
Rachel Vandegrift. The maternal an- 
cestor of Diana (Van Kirk) Carrell is 
given in full in this work under the head 
of "The Vandegrift Family." Jamc^ and 
Diana Carrell were the parents of eleven 
children, viz.: Rebecca, born May 25, 
1725, married Robert Weir, of Warring- 
ton, and their descendants later mi- 
grated to Kentucky. Sarah, born Sep- 
tember 25, 1726, married Robert Patter- 
son, of Tinicum, whose descendants set- 
tled in Virginia, from whence they mi- 
grated to Ohio and Missouri. Bernard, 
married Lucretia McKnure and settled 
on one of his father's farms in Warmin- 
ster purchased of the heirs of Rev. Will- 
iam Tennent, and including the site of 
the famous log college of which Ten- 
nent was the founder, and which re- 
mained in the tenure of the descendants 
of Bernard until quite recently. James, 
born March 26, 1730, married Sarah' 

and settled in Tinicum township, 

Bucks county, in 1765, on land pur- 
chased of his brother Solomon and died 
there leaving four children who have 
numerous descendants scattered over 
the whole union. He was a private in 
the associated company, of Tinicum, 
Nicholas Patterson captain, during the 
revolution. Jacob and Rachel (twins), 
born April 27, 1735: Rachel became the 
second wife of Robert Stewart, of War- 
wick, Bucks county, and after her hus- 
band's death settled with her son Robert 
in Tinicum, from whence the family 
migrated to New Jersey. Phoebe, born 
August 20, 1837, married Andrew Scout, 
of Warminster. Solomon, born May 25, 
1740, died 1777, married Mary Van Kirk, 
and in 1761 purchased a farm of three 
hundred and five acres in Plumstead, 
one hundred and forty-three acres of 
which he conveyed to his brother James 
in 1765 and the balance of which he sold 
in 1774 and then settled in Kenseng- 
ton, Philadelphia; he went with Wash- 
ington to New York, dying of the fever 
on Staten Island, whence _ his body \yas 
never removed; his widow married 
Charles Ryan, and died in Wallingford. 
Chester county, in 1821. Descendants of 
Solomon now reside in Chester, Penn- 
sylvania, and in Delaware. Elizabeth, 
born May t6. 1742. Diana married Elias 
Dungan, who" was a soldier in the Revo- 
lutionary war. and has left numerous 
descendants; her daughter Rachel mar- 
ried Tesse Johnson. 

Jacob Carrell. son of James and Diana 
(Van Kirk) Carrell, born April 27, 
1735, was the great-grandfather of Ezra 
P. Carrell. He was born and reared on 
the old family homestead known as Car- 
rcllton and lived there all his life. He 
and his brother served in the Northamp- 
ton company in the revolutionary war. 
He was a successful farmer and pos- 
sessed of considerable means. He de- 
voted himself to home and church af- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



301 



fairs, taking little part in public mat- 
ters outside his own immediate local- 
ity. He married Elizabeth Jamison, 
daughter of Daniel Jamison, of Nocka- 
mixon, Bucks county, of. Scotch-Irish 
ancestry, and they reared a large family 
of children who by intermarriage with 
families in that vicinity brought the Car- 
rells into relation with many of the lead- 
ing families of Bucks county. His chil- 
dren were: Joseph; Benjamin, married 
Mercy Comfort; John; Mary, married 
Lot Bennett; Sarah, married ]\lahlon 
Banes; Jesse, married Mary Bennett; 
Isaac; Elizabeth, married John Cornell. 
Joseph Carrell, the grandfather of 
Ezra P. Carrell, was born June i, 1792, 
at Carrellton, the old family homestead 
near Richboro. Bucks county. When a 
young man he learned the trade of a car- 
penter under his uncle, Jesse Johnson, 
and followed it some years. About 1835 
he purchased the Carrell farm in War- 
minster where he lived the remainder of 
his life, dying April 25, 1884. When 
quite a young man he served as corporal 
in the army during the war of 1812-14, 
and many were the anecdotes he used to 
tell of camp life at Camp Dupont, near 
IMarcus Hook, where his regiment was 
then stationed, Philadelphia at that time 
only extending as far north as Vine street 
and south to Pine street. Those who 
knew him remember him as a portly, 
white-haired old gentleman, tall and 
erect, with a military bearing acquired 
in youth and never forgotten. He was 
one of the last survivors of the small 
coterie of veterans of the war of 1812-14 
which included General John Davis, 
W' illiam Bothwell, and one or two others 
whose relations were very intimate. He 
was for many years an elder of Nesha- 
miny Presbyterian church, with whose 
interests he was actively identified dur- 
ing his whole life. He was twice mar- 
ried, to Mary and Anna Gill, sisters, of 
an old English family who emigrated 
from London to Philadelphia and later 
settled in Northampton, Bucks county, 
where their descendants are now quite 
numerous. By the first marriage he had 
three children: Hugh Jamison, Emily, 
and Ezra Patterson, and by the second 
marriage two daughters: Sidney, who 
became the wife of Thomas B. Mon- 
tanye; and Elizabeth, who married Rob- 
ert Thompson Engart. 



F. HARVEY GRIM, M. D., who for 

the past twenty-five years has been a 
prominent physician at Revere, Bucks 
county. Pennsylvania, was born at Re- 
vere, September 4, 1859, and is a son of 
the late Dr. George W. and Elizabeth 
(Koons) Grim, the former of whom was 
one of the prominent practicing physi- 
cians of Upper Bucks and for thirty- 
three 3'ears was located at Revere, being 



one of the prominent men of that local- 
ity. His great-grandfather was a native 
of Rhenish Bavaria, and belonged to a 
family that were prominent in the af- 
fairs of Europe several centuries ago, 
tracing their descent from Prankish resi- 
dents of that part of ancient Gaul that 
became later Normandy, where the fam- 
ily became allied with those of the Norse 
conquerors, and later migrated to the 
Rhine Provinces about the tenth cen- 
tury. 

The American pioneer of the family 
located in Montgomery county, where 
George Grim, the great-grandfather of 
F. Harvey Grim, was born. He located 
in Upper Salford township and married 
Elizabeth Favinger, also of German or- 
igin, and they became the parents of 
three children, one son Adam and two 
daughters. 

Adam Grim, son of George and Eliza- 
beth (Favinger) Grim, married Chris- 
tina Desmond, of English or Scotch- 
Irish extraction, and lived in Montgom- 
ery county. He was killed on the rail- 
road in 1846. 

Dr. George W . Grim, son of Adam and 
Christina (Desmond) Grim, was born in 
Montgomery county, March 13, 1832, 
and was educated at Washington Hall, 
Trappe, Pennsylvania, receiving a good 
academic education. His father dying 
when he was of the age of fourteen 
years, he learned the trade of a stove 
moulder and worked at the same for 
some years. Having badly burned his 
foot in the discharge of his duties, he 
decided to prepare himself for the med- 
ical profession, and resuming his studies 
at Washington Hall accepted a position 
as instructor in that institution, in the 
meantime entering himself as a student 
in the office of Dr. Gross, at Harleys- 
ville. He later entered Jefferson Medi- 
cal College, from which he graduated 
in the class of 1859, and immediately lo- 
cated at Revere. Nockamixon township, 
Bucks county, where he soon built up a 
large practice. He purchased a fine 
farin near Revere, which he conducted 
in connection with his professional du- 
ties. He married in 1857 Elizabeth P. 
Koons. who survives him, and they vVere 
the parents of nine children, six sons 
and three daughters. Three of the sons 
are prominent physicians, two are mem- 
bers of the Bucks county bar, and one 
is an instructor at the Keystone State 
Normal school at Kutztown. The fam- 
ily are members of the Reformed church. 
Dr. George Grim died at Revere, March 
6. 1892. 

Dr. F. Harvey Grim is the eldest son 
of Dr. George W. and Elizabeth 
(Koons) Grim. He was reared in Nock- 
amixon township and acquired his edu- 
cation at the local school, the West 
Chester State Normal school and the 
Keystone State. Normal school at Kutz- 
town. He studied medicine with his 



302 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



father and entered Jefferson Medical 
College, from which he graduated in the 
class of i88r. Returning to Revere he 
began the practice of his chosen pro- 
fession in connection with his father, 
and after the latter's death continued 
the practice at Revere where he has a 
large and lucrative practice, and main- 
tains the reputation of his father as a 
physician of superior merit. Dr. Grim 
has taken an active interest in the af- 
fairs of the community in which he 
lives, and has been identified with vari- 
ous local enterprises. He has served 
for twelve years as a member of the 
local school board in which he filled the 
position of secretary. He was a mem- 
ber of the medical board of pension ex- 
aminers for four years, and is a member 
of the County and State Medical Asso- 
ciations. He was instrumental in the 
establishment of Revere postoffice. and 
was its first postmaster in 1885. Prev- 
ious to that time it was known as 
"Rufe's" and earlier as "Kintner's." He 
is a member of Riegelsville Lodge, No. 
567 F. and A. M.; a past chief of the 
K. 'G. E., and a member of the Jr. O. U. 
A. M. and I. O. R. M. of Ferndale and 
Kintnersville. Dr. Grim married Ella 
M. Rufe. daughter of Reden and Mary 
Ann (Hillpot) Rufe, of Nockamixon, 
whose paternal ancestors were among 
the earliest and most prominent resi- 
dents of Nockamixon. Mrs. Grim died 
October 4, 1899, leaving seven children: 
Edna P., Mamie B., Lizzie E., George 
W., Clair F., Esther M., and Horace R. 
The family are members of the Re- 
formed church. 

Jacob Ruff, as the name was origin- 
ally spelled, emigrated from Germany 
in the ship,' "Snow Betsy," arriving in 
Philadelphia. August 27, 1739, at the age 
of twenty-one years, and soon after lo- 
cated in Nockamixon, Bucks county, 
where he became the owner of 180 acres 
of land. He was corporal of captain 
Jacob Shupe's company, Bucks county 
militia, in 1775 and 1777, and his sons, 
John, Jacob and Henry, were privates 
in the same company. This company 
was one of those stationed at Bristol, 
Bucks county, in 1777. mider the com- 
mand of Colonel Hugh Tomb, and 
probably saw active service in the New 
Jersey campaign. Jacob Rufe died on 
Christmas day, 1790. aged seventy-two 
years. His wife Elizabeth survived him. 
They were the parents of six sons. Johrf, 
Jacob, Henry, Christian, George and 
Frederick, and one daughter, Sophia, 
who married George Fulmer. 

George Rufe. son of Jacob and Eliza- 
beth Rufe, was the great-grandfather of 
Mrs. Grim. In 1795 he became the 
owner of 181 acres of land near Kint- 
nersville, and in 1798 of 176 acres near 
Revere. He was a blacksmith by trade 
and followed that vocation in connection 
with farming until his death in Decem- 



ber, 1822. His wife Sarah survived him. 
They were the parents of four sons, 
Jacob, John, Frederick and Samuel, and 
four daughters, Elizabeth, Sarah, Su- 
sanna and Catharine. 

John Rufe, son of George and Sarah 
Rufe, was born in Nockamixon, in 1797. 
He learned the trade of a blacksmith 
with his father, and followed that voca- 
tion for several years in connection with 
farming. He also owned and conducted 
the well known "Rufe's Tavern," one 
of the old hostelries of that section. He 
died in 1872 at the age of seventy-five 
years. His wife was Catharine Hager, 
daughter of Valentine Hager, and they 
were the parents of six children: Isaac, 
Reden, Amanda, wife of Hugh Kintner, 
who was recorder of deeds of Bucks 
county in 1854; Josiah, William and 
John H. 

Reden Rufe, the father of Mrs. Ella 
M. Grim, M^as born in Nockamixon, June 
20, 1824. He learned the carpenter trade 
at an early age and followed it for twen- 
ty-five years. He then purchased the 
homestead of ninety acres, where he still 
reside. He was twice married ; first to 
Sarah Burgstresser, who died at the age 
of thirtjf-one years; and second to Mary 
Ann Hillpot, of an old Tinicum family, 
who bore him four children: Ella, who 
married Dr. F. H. Grim; Josiah; Sey- 
mour, who married Cora Kohl ; and Annie, 
wife of Oscar Stone. 



EDWARD LONGSTRETH. The late 
Edward Longstreth, for many years su- 
perintendent of the Baldwin Locomotive 
Works, and a retired member of the firm 
of Burnham, Williams and Company, 
wdio now operate that plant, though a 
resident of Philadelphia for the last 
forty years of his life, was a native of 
Bucks county. Throughout a long and 
busy life he kept in touch with the 
county of his nativity and took an active 
interest in all that pertained to her wel- 
fare and advancement. Mr. Longstreth 
was born in Warminster township, 
Bucks county, June 22. 1839, and was a 
son of Daniel and Hannah T. Long- 
streth, and a descendant of one of the 
oldest and most prominent families of 
Bucks county. His pioneer ancestor, 
Bartholomew Longstreth, settled in 
Bucks county in the time of William 
Penn and became one of the prominent 
men of his time. An account of the de- 
scendants of Bartholomew Longstreth 
is given in General Davis' narrative his- 
tory of Warminster contained in these 
volumes. The Longstreths came of 
good old English Quaker stock and rep- 
resented the solid, conservative and 
substantial elements of the county in 
the colonial days as well as down to the 
present time. 

Daniel Longstreth. the father of Ed- 
ward Longstreth, was born in War- 




;:^^W^^^ ^t/i^^^^A-/^uy/C 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



303 



minster, November 25, 1800, and died 
there March 30, 1846. He married (first) 
Elizabeth Lancaster, January 4, 1827. 
She was born July 5, 1803, and died 
September 19, 1829. They were the 
parents of two children: John L., born 
November 10, 1827, who has been for 
many years actively associated with the 
business life of Philadelphia and now 
resides at 556 North Eighteenth street; 
and Elizabeth L., who died April 23, 
1848. Daniel Longstreth married (sec- 
ond) October 25, 1832, Hannah Town- 
send and they were the parents of seven 
children ; Joseph T., born August 7, 
1833, died July 12, 1834. Sarah, born 
September 4, 1834, died in Baltimore, 
March 14, i88r, married Charles R. Hol- 
lingsworth. Moses Robinson died April 2, 
1838. Edward C, born June 22, 1839, died 
February 24, 1905. Samuel T., born August 
2, 1837. Anna, born April 2, 1841, married 
Robert Tilney. David S., born October 
26. 1844, died July 9, 1845. 

Edward Longstreth, the fifth child, 
was reared on his father's farm in War- 
minster and received a good English ed- 
ucation. On October 4, 1857, at the age 
of eighteen years, he went to Philadel- 
phia. A month later he began his ap- 
prenticeship with M. W. Baldwin and 
Company at the Locomotive Works. 
Trained in the habits of industry, punc- 
tuality and strict integrity, he was in 
many ways a remarkable apprentice. 
During his five years of apprenticeship 
he was never known to be late in re- 
porting for duty, and this trait character- 
ized his after life. His energy, aptitude 
and punctuality were so marked that 
when less than three years of a five 
years' apprenticeship had elapsed, he 
was made assistant foreman of one 
of the departments and was advanced to 
the position of foreman of the second 
floor of the works. While filling these 
positions he applied himself to a study 
of an improvement in the gauge system 
with success, and his perfected system 
has long been in use and is on^ of the 
characteristic features of the Baldwin 
Locomotive Works. Mr. Baldwin also 
patented locomotive trucks and draft ap- 
pliances of his improved pattern, which 
are still used in the works. On August 
I. 1867, he became foreman of the erect- 
ing shop, and on January i, 1868, super- 
intendent of the entire works. He be- 
came a member of the firm January i, 
1870. and continued the control of the 
mechanical and construction depart- 
ment, superintending the work of three 
thousand men. By reason of impaired 
health he retired from the active busi- 
ness of the firm January i, 1886. Mr. 
Longstreth was at one time vice presi- 
dent of the Franklin Institute, and a di- 
rector of the Williamson Industrial 
School. In 1884 he was one of the most 
energetic and active members of the 
Committee of One Hundred, which de- 



feated the corrupt organization in Phil- 
adelphia and aided Samuel S. King to the 
mayoralty. Until his death, Mr. Long- 
streth was a member of the Merchant's 
Fund, a charitable organization; direc- 
tor of the Delaware Insurance Com- 
pany; a member of the Union League 
and the Engineers' Club. He was a life- 
long member of the Society of Friends, 
holding membership in the meeting at 
Fourth and Green streets, Philadelphia. 
He was a member and for several years 
one of the trustees and directors of the 
Bucks County Historical Society, and 
took an active part in the work of pre- 
serving the records and archives of 
the history of the county, in which his 
ancestors had resided for manj genera- 
tions. It was through his liberality that 
the tablet was placed on the old York 
road in Warminster to mark the place 
where John Fitch conceived the idea of 
steamboat navigation, and he was also 
instrumental in having many other his- 
toric places duly marked. The first 
tract of land owned by the Society upon 
which to erect a building for its archives 
and collections was a gift from ]Mr. 
Longstreth. He was a man much re- 
spected and loved by his Bucks county 
contemporaries, among whom he had a 
large acquaintanceship. He died at his 
home, 1410 Spruce street, February 24, 
1905, lamented and honored by all who 
knew him. Mr. Longstreth married, 
June 7, 1865, Anna C. Wise, and they 
were the parents of two sons: Charles 
and Howard, and one daughter, Airs. 
W. L. Supplee. all residing in Philadel- 
phia. Mrs. Anna W. Longstreth, the 
mother, died September 18, 1899. His 
son Charles also served a five years' ap- 
prenticeship at the Baldwin Locomotive 
Works after his father had left the firm, 
and is now the head of the United States 
Metallic Packing Company, which con- 
ducts a very large business in that and 
other lines. 



THE SIEGLER FAMILY. Mathew 
Siegler, for nearly thirty years a resident 
of Doylesto'wn, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
was born in the province of Baden, Ger- 
many, January 6, 18 12, and married there, 
in 1837, Antoinette Eckerly, who was born 
in Baden, June 16, 1812. Mathew learned 
the trade of a stone mason, which he fol- 
lowed in Baden until 1849, when he emi- 
grated to Pennsylvania and located in Hill- 
town, Bucks county, at the present site of 
the borough of Silverdale. Having estab- 
lished a home in his adopted country, he 
sent for his wife and three children, who ar- 
rived in Bucks county in 185 1. After fol- 
lowing his trade in Hilltown for ten years 
in 1859 Mr. Siegler removed with his fam- 
ily to Doylestown, where he resided until 
his death, July 30, 1888, being killed at a 
railroad crossing west of the town, one year 
after the celebration of the fiftieth anni- 



304 



HISTORY or BUCKS COUNTY. 



versary of his married life, at which all his 
children and grandchildren were present. 
His widow Antoinette survived him over 
ten years, dying November i, 1898. They 
were the parents of five chddren, all m 
whom are still living : Augustus, of Phila- 
delphia; Pauline, who married (first; 
Francis Roach, and is now the wife of 
Joseph Merkle, of Doylestown; Charles 
Louis, of Doylestown; Peter, of Doyles- 
town; and Annie, wife of Bernard Mc- 
Ginty, the veteran job printer of Doyles- 
town. Augustus, the eldest son, married 
Mary Taylor, and they are the parents of 
six children, all of whom reside in Phila- 
delphia, except one. They are: Clara, wife 
of A. Fries Shive, of Doylestown; Nettie, 
wife of Harry Goldsmith; Julia, wife of 
John Friend; Marv, wife of Dr. Borger; 
Henry and Agnes, who are single. Bernard 
and Annie CSiegler) McGinty are the pa- 
rents of five children: Antoinette, Kath- 
arine, Helen, Allen and Frank. The fam- 
ily are all members of St. Mary's Roman 
Catholic church. 

CHARLES LOUIS SIEGLER, Sr., D. 
D. S., of Doylestown, second son of Mathew 
and Antoinette (Eckerly) Siegler, whose 
arrival in America from the fatherland is 
mentioned in the preceding sketch, was 
born in the province of Baden, Germany, 
July 17, 1845, and accompanied his mother 
to America at the age of five years. He 
was reared to the age of sixteen years m 
Hilltown, Bucks county, and attended the 
public schools there. Removing with his 
parents to Doylestown in i860 he studied 
dentistry with the late Dr. Andrew J. 
Yerkes, and at the latter's death in 1868 
continued his practice until 1872. On April 
1 of that year he started to practice dentis- 
try on his own account at his present loca- 
tion on State street, where he has since 
practiced and has built up a large and 
lucrative business. Dr. Siegler represents 
a fine type of German-American citizen- 
ship, and is one of the highly respected citi- 
zens of the town. He is deeply interested 
in local affairs and institutions, but takes 
little part in partisan politics. He is a 
member of St. Mary's Roman Catholic 
church, of St. Joseph's Beneficial Society, 
and an active member of the German Aid 
Society of Doylestown, of which he has 
been a trustee for many years. He is also 
a member of the Mannaerchor Society. 

Dr. Siegler married, February 5, 1873. 
Catharine Kearns, of Hilltown, Bucks 
county, who was born in Norriton township, 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, May 
IS, 1852, and is a daughter of John and 
Catharine (Kennedy) Kearns, both natives 
of Ireland, he of Drogheda, county Louph, 
and she of Carrick-on-Suir, county Tipper- 
ary. John Kearns came to America in 
1839, and was married to Katharine Ken- 
nedy at Norristown in 1844. She had ac- 
companied her parents, John and Kath- 
arine Kennedy, from Ireland some years 
previously. Dr. Siegler and Katharine 



Kearns were married at St. Agnes' Roman. 
Catholic Church at Sellersville by Reverend 
Father Hugh McLoughlin. Five children 
were born to this marriage, in Doyles- 
town: Katharine and John, who died in in- 
fancy; and Estelle, C. Louis, and FranK, 
all of whom reside with their parents. 

C. LOUIS SIEGLER, Jr., eldest sur- 
viving son of Charles Louis and Katharine 
(Kearns) Siegler, was born in Doyles- 
town, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, Octo- 
ber 2, 1878. His earliest education was ac- 
quired at St. Mary's parochial school,. 
Doylestown. He later attended Doylestown 
seminary, and graduated from the Roman 
Catholic high school in Philadelphia in 
1896. In the same year he entered the den- 
tal department of the University of Penn- 
sylvania, and graduated with honors in the 
class of 1899. He located on Main street 
in his native town, where he has since 
practiced his chosen profession with suc- 
cess. He is a member of the State Dental 
Association, and stands high in his profes- 
sion. He is a member of St. Joseph's So- 
ciety and the German Aid Society of 
Doylestown. 



PETER SIEGLER, youngest son of 
Mathew and Antoinette (Eckerley) Sieg- 
ler, was born in Hilltown township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, June 16, 1852, and 
came with his parents to Doylestown in his 
seventh year. He was reared in Doyles- 
town and acquired his education at the 
Doylestown public schools. In 1871 he en- 
tered the employ of Louis Spellier, at that 
time an eminent jeweler and watchmaker 
in Doylestown, with whom he remained for 
three years. Having mastered the mysteries 
of the craft he went to Lambertville, New- 
Jersey, and entered the employ of Rudolf 
Talcott. Mr. Talcott having sold his 
jewelry establishment at the end of three 
months, Mr. Siegler went to Trenton, New 
Jersey, where he was employed at his trade 
for a short time, and then returned to- 
Doylestown and took charge of the jewelry 
and watchmaking department in the store of 
Henry Y. Moyer, on State street, where he 
remained for five years, the latter part of 
the time having an interest in the business. 
In the winter of 1883-4 he and his brother- 
in-law, Bernard McGinty, purchased the 
site of his present establishment and erected 
the present store and printing offices, Mr 
Siegler taking possession of his present 
jewelry store on June 6, 1884. "By pro- 
fessional skill and close attention to busi- 
ness he has built up a nice business, and 
is one of the solid conservative business 
men of the county seat. He is a member 
of the German Aid Society, of St. Joseph's 
Society, Sciota Tribe, I. O. R. M., and the 
Mannaerchor Society. He married. Octo- 
ber 31, 1884, Rosa E. Schmutz, daughter of 
John and Katharine Schmutz, who was 
born in Doylestown township, both her 
parents being natives of Germany, her 



THE NEW YORK 

PUBLIC LIBRARY 




^^^-' 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



305 



father of Baden, and her mother of Bavaria. 
Mr. and Mrs. Siegler are the parents of 
eight children, the eldest two, William and 
Katie, died in childhood, and those who 
survive are Marie, Catharine, Gertrude, 
Anna and Emma, twins, and Rose. The 
family are members of the Roman Catholic 
church. 



WILLIAM S. ERDMAN, M. D., of 
Buckingham, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, was born in Richland township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, October 
5, 1869, and is a son of Owen and Mary 
Ann (Singmaster) Erdman, both of Ger- 
man descent, whose ancestors -were 
among the early German settlers in 
Bucks and Montgomery counties. John 
Yost Erdman, the paternal ancestor of 
Dr. Erdman, was born at Pfungstadt, in 
Hesse-Darmstadt, in the year i&<52, and 
emigrated to America with his son An- 
drew, arriving at Philadelphia on board 
the ship at "St. Andrew's Galley," John 
Stedman, master, September 24, 1737. 
Like nearly all the early German emi- 
grants he probably made his home for a 
short time among his compatriots on 
the Schuylkill or its tributaries. In 1750, 
however, we find him settled in Upper 
Saucon township, near Centre valley, in 
what was then Bucks county, but be- 
came a part of Northampton county in 
1752 and Lehigh county in 1812. He was 
the owmer of 178 acres of land that de- 
scended to his son Andrew^ and has re- 
mained in the family ever since. John 
Yost Erdman died in 1760, at the age of 
seventy-eight years. 

Andrew Erdman. son of John Yost 
Erdman, married Anna Maria Freder- 
ick and had nine children, viz.: John, 
Andrew, Jacob, Catharine, wife of Jacob 
Barnhart; Yost, Sybilla, wife of Henry 
Bittz; Abraham, George, and Anna Mar- 
garet, wife of George Sober. Of the 
above children John, Jacob and George 
remained in Lehigh county; Andrew set- 
tled in Montgomery county where he 
was living in 1833 at the age of seventy- 
eight; Abraham removed to Westmore- 
land county, and Yost settled in Milford 
township, Bucks county. The sons-in- 
law settled in Northampton and Bucks 
counties. 

John Erdman, great-grandfather of 
Dr. Erdman, was born on the old Le- 
high county homestead about the year 
1760, and was probably the second son 
of Andrew and Anna Maria (Frederick) 
Erdman. He married Sarah Bitz and to 
them was born a family of six children, 
viz. : Jacob, Daniel, John, Henry, Kate and 
Levina. 

Daniel Erdman, grandfather of Dr. 
Erdman, was born on the Upper Saucon 
homestead in Lehigh county, February 
12, 1797, and spent his whole life there, 
living to a good old age. He married 
Anna M. Miller and had four children, 

ao-3 



viz. : Sara Anna, Daniel, Owen and Anna 
Marie. 

Owen Erdman, father of Dr. Erdman, 
was born on the old homestead in Le- 
high county, November 11, 1828. He 
was reared to the life of a farmer and 
followed that vocation in his early man- 
hood. His education was acquired in the 
district schools of his native township; 
he conducted his father's hotel prior to 
his moving to Steinsburg, this county, 
where he purchased a farm and entered 
the cattle business, eventually drifting 
into the commission business; moving 
to the city of Philadelphia, where he 
conducted a commission house. Return- 
ing to Bucks county he settled in Rich- 
land Centre, where he began making 
leather flynets and harness; he followed 
that until the civil war broke out when 
he enlist-ed . in the army. He served 
three years and three months as a mem- 
ber of Company E, Third regiment, 
Pennsylvania Reserves and participated 
in several engagements, the most 
notable of which was the battle of Bull 
Run, where he received a wound wdiich 
made it necessary for him to be sent to 
the hospital. He is still living in Rich- 
land township, near Quakertown, being 
engaged in the harness business. Mary 
Ann Singmaster, the mother of Dr. Erd- 
man, was a native of Richland town- 
ship, and comes of a well known Bucks 
county family of German ancestry that 
have been residents of Bucks county for 
several generations. Owen and Mary 
Ann (Singmaster) Erdman w-ere the 
parents of four children: Dr.^ Milton S. 
Erdman, deceased, who was one of the 
most successful physicians in the 
county; Dr. Wilson S. Erdman, a prom- 
inent and successful physician' of Rich- 
landtown, Bucks county; Sarah O. re.sid- 
ing at home; and Dr. William S. , 

Dr. William S. Erdman was born and 
reared in Richland township, an'd ac- 
quired his education at the public 
schools of that township and at the 
Quakertown high school. After his 
graduation from the latter school he 
spent two years in his father's harness 
shop, and in 1889 took up the study of 
pharmac}^ and served an apprenticeship 
of three years, and later began the study 
of medicine under his brother. Dr. Mil- 
ton S. Erdman, to w-hich he applied 
himself for four years. In 1893 he en- 
tered the Medico Chirurgical College of 
Philadelphia, from which he graduated 
with honors in the spring of 1896. After 
his graduation he spent the summer with 
Dr. E. S. Reed, of Atlantic City, and in 
the autumn of the same year located at 
Buckingham, Bucks county, where he 
has since practiced his profession with 
marked success, building up a large and 
lucrative practice. Among his friends 
and patrons are people w^ho have graced 
the highest walks of life. It must be 
said for Dr. Erdman that with a brave 



3o6 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



and indomitable spirit combined with 
industry he has succeeded in life. He is 
the owner of a handsome colonal res- 
dence, which has been occupied continu- 
ously by physicians since 1832. Dr. 
Erdman is a lover of "antiques" and 
among his collection of "old china" and 
"antique furniture'' are many pieces 
dear to him. He is a member of the 
Bucks County Medical Society, the Le- 
high Valley Medical Association, the 
Pennsylvania State Medical Society and 
, the American Medical Association. Dr. 
Erdman married on June 3, 1903, Clara 
Wendell Lovett, daughter of Edmund 
and Clara (Weaver) Lovett, of Penns 
Manor, Falls township, Bucks county, 
who is a descendant of one of the oldest 
English Quaker families in Bucks 
county, members of which have been 
prominent in the business, social and 
political life of Bucks county for nine 
generations. 



Frank and Mary Jane Fetter, of South- 
ampton, Bucks county, and they are the 
parents of four children, Flarold F., Helen 
K., Alma, and Sara Margaret. 



GEORGE MELVIN GRIM, M. D., 
of Ottsville, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, is a son of Dr. George W. and 
Elizabeth P. (Koons) Grim, an account 
of whom is given in the sketch of his 
brother Hon. Webster Grim, and was 
born in Nockamixon township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, March 8, 1863. 

After attending the public schools of 
his native township, he attended the 
high school at Spring City, Chester 
county, and then entered the academic 
department of Muhlenburg College, Al- 
lentown, and graduated in 1880. He 
also took a course in the Keystone Nor- 
mal school at Kutztown, Pennsylvania, 
graduating in 1884. After teaching three 
terms in Nockamixon township he en- 
tered Jefferson Medical College, Phila- 
delphia, and graduated in the class of 
1887, having previously read medicine 
with his father at Revere. He began 
the practice of his profession at Revere 
in 1887, and a year later located at Otts- 
ville, where he has since practiced his 
chosen profession with success. He is 
a member of the American Medical, 
Lehigh Valley and the Bucks County 
Medical Associations, and stands high 
in his profession. He has always 
been deeply interested in the cause 
of education, has served for the past 
twelve years as a member of the 
local school board, and is one of the 
active and prominent members of the 
School Directors Association of Bucks 
County, before which he has delivered a 
number of addresses on school manage- 
ment, hygiene and kindred subjects. He 
is a member of the Knights of the 
Golden Eagle and the Shield of Honor 
Lodges. Religiously he is a member of 
the Reformed church, and politically a 
Democrat. He married, October 18, 
1888, Sarah E. Fetter, daughter of B. 



WILLIAM B. LEIGH. Thomas 
Leigh, the ancestor of that branch of 
the Leigh family resident in Bucks 
county and vicinit^^ Pennsylvania, was 
born in Lancastershire, England, in the 
year 1775. He was a son 'of William 
Leigh, who it appears was in some way 
connected with Sir Walter Raleigh as 
the .maiden name of that gentleman's 
wife was Ann Leigh. In early life 

Thomas Leigh married Alice and 

he became the father of eleven children, 
all of whom were born in England. 
Thomas Leigh came to America in 1816, 
settling in Trenton. New Jersey, and 
shortly afterward his eldest daughter 
came over to keep house for him, his 
w^ife and remaining children coming in 
the year 1818. After a short residence 
in Trenton, the family removed to the 
vicinity of Fallsington in the old house 
on the farm now owned by Daniel Kelly. 
After residing in various places they set- 
tled on the farm of John Wildman in 
Lower Makefield, where his wife died in 
1853. After this sad bereavement Mr. 
Leigh resided with his daughter Ellen 
about a mile west of Fallsington until 
his death, which occurred in 1856. Their 
remains were interred in the Friends' 
Yard at Fallsington. Their children 
were as follows: 

I. Nany, born 5 mo. 7, 1795. died 
1848; she was the wnfe of John Lonsdale 
and they were the parents of four chil- 
dren: Thomas, Ellen. Alice, and James, 
all deceased. 2. Catharine, born i mo. 3, 
1797, died 1856; she was the wife of Jo- 
seph Radcliffe, no issue. 3. Alice, born 
I mo. II, 1799, died young. 4. Ellen, born 
in 1801, died young. 5. Alice (second), 
born 7 mo. 30, 1802, was the wife of 
Samuel Morris, and they reared a large 
family of children. 6. William, born 11 
mo. 4, 1804, died young. 7. Joshua, born 
12 mo. 4, 1806, died in 1881; he mar- 
ried Esther Margerun, and they were 
the parents of several children. 8. 
Thomas, born 4 mo. 2. 1809. married 
Martha Van Horn, who bore him four 
children: Cynthia, Wallace. Augustus, 
and Edward. In 1843 he moved to west- 
ern Illinois and died there in 1894. 9- 
Ellen (second), born 7 mo. 15, 1811, died 
in 1899; in 1845 she became the wife of 
William Brelsford. no issue. His death 
occurred in 1876. 10. William (second), 
born 2 mo. i, 1814, died 9 mo. 15, 1875; 
in 1840 he married Louisa M. Schaffer, 
who is living at the present time 
(1905); their children were: Jolin S.. 
born 9 mo. iS, 1841. married Anna Clark; 
Thomas, born 4 mo. 14, 1843, married 
Elizabeth Foster; Eliza H., born 5 mo. 




lA YKVyLvmJ 



m.^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



» 



307 



â– 8, 1846, married John D. De Coursey; 
William B., born 9 mo. 2, 1848, men- 
tioned hereinafter; Edward L., born 2 
mo. 7, 1851, married Margaret Leaman; 
Henry C, l3orn 6 mo. 28, 1853, married 
Susan Smith; Anna Alice, born 4 mo. 6, 
1859, married Elwood Lovett; and James 
L., born 7 mo. 12, 1862, died August 
22, 1899. II. Joseph, born 7 mo. i, 1816, 
married Elizabeth Wharton, who bore 
him several children. He moved to 
western Illinois in the early forties. 

William B. Leigh, third son of Will- 
iam and Louisa M. (Schaffer) Leigh, 
•was born 9 mo. 2, 1848. By his mar- 
riage to Fannie Lovett the following 
•named children were born: William Lov- 
ett, 5 mo. 6. 1873; Arthur H., 8 mo. 19, 
1877; and Laurance R., 5 mo. 7, 1882. 
Samuel Lovett, the ancestor of Mrs. 
William B. Leigh, and the first of the 
family to arrive in this country, was one 
of the "Proprietors of West Jersey" and 
came in the ship "Kent." arriving in 
the Delaware in 1677. He settled in 
Burlington, New Jersey. They were 
people of good estate in England and 
came to" this country to enjoy religious 
liiaerty, which was guaranteed to them 
before they sailed. The birth of his son 
Jonathan (i) was registered in the 
Friends' meeting. The christening of 
Tiis son Jonathan (2) is recorded as hay- 
ing taken place in 1719 in St. INIary's 
.church, Burlington, New Jersey. Jona- 
than (3).. was christened in 1746 in St. 
Mary church, Burlington, New Jersey. 
He married (first) Mary Bates, of 
Penn's Manor, and moved to Falsing- 
ton, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He 
married (second) Acsah ]Moon. The 
family born in Bucks county consisted of 
twelve children. The children of his 
first marriage were: I. William, who 
married Mary Bowman, mentioned here- 
inafter; 2. Jonathan, who married Re- 
becca Palmer; 3. John, who married 
Mary Woodruff: 4. Aaron, who went to 
sea with Billy Moon; and 5. Mary, who 
married David Munyon. The children 
by his second marriage were: i. Mahlon, 
who married Phoebe Clark, and after her 
death Charlotte Mershon: 2. Samuel, 
who married Margaret Fitzgerald; 3. 
Sarah, who married Daniel Bowman; 4. 
Joseph, who married Susan Rue; 5. 
Elizabeth, who married Richard C. Win- 
ship; 6. Ann, who married Longstreet 
Poland; 7. Daniel, who married Buehla 
Fitzgerald. 

William Lovett, son of Samuel and 
Mary (Bates) Lovett. and his wife Mary 
Bowman were the parents of eight chil- 
dren: I. Henry, who married Sarah Mar- 
gerum; 2. Mary, who married (first) 
Thomas Cheston. (second) Joseph 
Hutchinson, (third) Elijah Scatter- 
good; 3. Rebecca, who married Joel 
Cheston; 4. Phoebe, who married Elijah 
Scattergood; 5. Jonathan, who married 
Mary Pullen; 6. Elizabeth, who married 



Charles Smith; 7. Ann, who married 
George Brown; 8. William, who married 
Mary Ann Green. 

Henry Lovett, eldest son of William 
and Mary (Bowman) Lovett, and- his 
wife Sarah ]\Iargerum were the parents 
of twelve children: i. Mary, who mar- 
ried Amos Shippy; 2. Adeline, who mar- 
ried Jonathan Brown; 3. Rebecca R., 
who married W. S. Winship; 4. William 
H., who married Harriet Dickel; 5. 
Phoebe, who died in infancy; 6. Rich- 
ard R., who married (first) Ann Shippy, - 
(second) Elmira Hibbs; 7. Charles E., 
who married Madge Barnes; 8. Aaron, 

who married Mary ; 9. Biven, who 

died in infancy; 10. Elijah, who mar- 
ried Jennie ; 11. George, who died 

without issue; 12. Frederick P., who 
married ^lary E. Dean. 

Jonathan Lovett, second son of Will- 
iam and IMary (Bowman) -Lovett, and 
his wife Mary Pullen were the parents 
of eight children: i. Anthony, who died 
in infancy; 2. Charles, who died without 
issue; 3. Sarah, who married a Mr. Ap- 
pleton; 4. Rebecca, who married a Mr. 
Hazzard ; 5. Lucy B., who died in in- 
fancy; 6. Amanda, died in infancy; 7. 
IMary Elizabeth, died in infancy; 8. 
Martha, died in infancy. 

William Lovett, youngest son of Will- 
iam and Mary (Bowman) Lovett, and 
his wife Mary Ann Green were the pa- 
rents of eight children: i. George G., 
who died of wounds received at the 
Battle of the Wilderness; 2. Anna Mary, 
who married Joseph Wells; 3. Fanny B., 
who married William B. Leigh; 4. Will- 
iam, unmarried; 5. Andress, died in in- 
fancy ; 6. Henry L., who married Eliza 
Myers; 7. Elwood, who married Alice 
Leigh; 8. IMiranda, who died in infancy. 



CLAYTON D. FRETZ, M. D., a son 
of Abraham and Sarah (Detweiler) 
Fretz, was born in Bedminster, Bucks 
county, November 16, 1844. His pater- 
nal ancestor, who with his brother Chris- 
tian established the family in Arnerica, 
emigrated from near IManheim. in the 
Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany, in 
1720. He spent his boj'hood on the 
"old homestead" in Bedminster, attend- 
ing the public schools, and later taught 
in the county four years. He chose 
medicine as a profession, and graduated 
from the medical department of the Un- 
iversity of Pennsylvania, March 13, 
1868. He commenced practice at Sel- 
lersville immediately thereafter, and in 
1872 also opened a drug store. On No- 
vember 16. 1871, he was married to Kate 
B. Everhart. a daughter of Charles W. 
Everhart. who was a graduate of Jeflfer- 
son INIedical College of Philadelphia. 
Four children were born to them, of 
whom a son and a daughter died in in- 
fancv. Alfred E. Fretz. M. D., a grad- 



3o8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



iiate of the medical department of the 
University of Pennsylvania, of the 
class of 1896, was born August 30, 1874. 
He served the appointment as resident 
physician at Mercy Hospital, Pittsburg, 
Pennsylvania, and returned to his native 
town to begin the practice of his pro- 
fession. S. Edward Fretz, M. D., a 
graduate of the same institution in the 
class of 1900, was born August 30, 1878. 
He served as resident physician in 
Cooper Hospital, Camden, New Jersey, 
and two years as assistant physician to 
the Relief Association of the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad Company. He is now in 
practice at Denver, Pennsylvania. 

On September i, 1898, Dr. Clayton D. 
Fretz's wife died, aged fifty-two years. 
He was married to his second wife, 
Annie M. Fackenthall, a daughter •f 
Aaron Meredith, late of Doylestown, 
and the widow of Alfred Fackenthall, 
Esq., of the same town, on August 14, 
1900. 

The study of botany and the collection 
of plants and flowers has afforded Dr. 
Fretz much pleasure during his long 
cgireer as a country practitioner. He has 
added many new and rare plants to the 
known flora of Bucks county, and about 
forty to the state flora. His herbarium 
contains a complete set of nearly all the 
plants in the county, and a large ma- 
jority of the plants east of the Missis- 
sippi, including about 10,000 specimens, 
and 4,000 species and varieties. He has 
just completed a revision of Dr. I. S. 
Moyer's catalogue ;Of the plants of 
Bucks county. 

Politically Dr. Fretz is a Republican, 
and was a delegate to the state conven- 
tion of 1895. He served as a school di- 
rector for p. period of fifteen years; is a 
member of St. Paul's congregation of 
the Reformed church, and has been 
president of the Sellersville National 
Bank since 1893. He is a member of the 
Bucks County Historical Association, 
the Bucks County Branch of the Penn- 
sylvania Forestry Association, the Phil- 
adelphia Botanical Club, the General 
Alumni Association of the University of 
Pennsylvania, MacCalla Lodge No. 596, 
F. and A. M.; Doylestown Chapter. R. 
A. M.; Pennsylvania Commandery, 
Knights Templar, of Philadelphia; and 
Sellersville Lodge No. 658, L O. O. F. 



HEINLEINS AND ^lORGANS of 
Durham township, Bucks county. All 
the Heinleins in America are descen- 
dants of Matheis Heinlein, who with his 
wife, son George, and daughters Sarah 
and Eva. took passage in the ship "Ban- 
nister." Captain John Doyle, from Am- 
sterdam, and qualified at Philadelphia, 
October 31, 1754. He settled in Durham 
township on a tract of land nn the south- 
ern slope of Bucher Hill. A farm now 



belonging to B. F. Fackenthal was part 
of this tract, the other portion reaching 
over the hill into Northampton county. 
This entire tract became the property of 
his son George. Eva, the oldest daugh- 
ter, became the wife of George Bernhard 
Horn. Sarah, the other daughter, be- 
came the second wife of James Morgan, 
ironmaster of Durham Furnace, and 
father of Daniel Morgan, the famous 
general of the Revolution. 

Daniel Morgan's biographer, in a fit 
of romance, tells the story that the Gen- 
eral, when a boy of fifteen, left his- 
home solely by reason of his dislike to- 
his stepmother. At the same time he 
sets Daniel's departure in the year 1752, 
which is the correct period, and just two 
years before Sarah Heinlein arrived in 
America. She was married to. James 
Morgan in 1765, and, tradition says,, 
"made an excellent wife for her hus- 
band, hislping to rear the children from 
his first wife." These were Mordica, 
Abel, James, Samuel and Olivia. Abel 
became a noted physician in Philadel- 
phia. Mordica, James and Samuel were 
lumbermen, and were purchasers of 
large tracts of land in the upper Dela- 
ware and Susquehanna river country. 
Mordica purchased four hundred acres 
in Monroe county in 1785, on which he 
erected extensive saw-mills, and also- 
four hundred acres in Luzerne county as 
early as 1776. James and Samuel alsa 
purchased four hundred acres each in 
this same year. Mordica a»d James 
finally settled at a place called Morgan's 
Hill, in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, 
where their stepmother, Sarah Heinlein, 
passed her widowhood. General Daniel- 
Morgan made a visit to his brortier on 
one of his trips from the north, the place 
being about twenty miles from the Dela- 
ware river, along which the old mine 
road traversed, the road generally used 
by the troops in passing between the 
Delaware and Hudson rivers. Probably 
Daniel's cause for leaving home was 
more through the spirit of adventure 
than by any other reason. This same 
characteristic we find in his favorite 
cousin, Daniel Boone (Boone's mother 
was a sister of James Morgan). The 
Boone family lived about this time near 
the Lehigh river, in Allen township, 
Northampton county. Squire George 
Boone and James Morgan were close 
friends. Dr. Abel Morgan and Captain 
George Heinlein never forgot their 
friendship of their boyhood days, and 
were close friends during the entire pe- 
riod of the Revolutionary War. Dr. 
Morgan was surgeon of the Eleventh 
Regiment. Pennsylvania Line. 

George Heinlein was a very popular 
man and became captain of the Durham 
township militia, served all through the 
war, anfl afterwards secured additional 
land and pursued farming. He always 
took an active part in public affairs, and 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



309 



at the time of his death, which occurred 
October 2, 1805, at the age of sixty- 
three, he was the possessor of the entire 
•east end of Bucher Hill. He was buried 
with great honors in the famliy burj'ing 
ground on the plantation. Tliis quarter 
acre lot is along the road at the extreme 
end of Mr. Fackenthal's farm, and 
through neglect is fast becoming oblit- 
â– erated. In it are buried all the first gen- 
erations of Heinleins, Longs, Buchers 
and others. His family consisted of 
-eleven children: jNIargaret, wife of Nich- 
olas Brotzman; Eleanora, wife of John 
Bucher; Sarah, wife of Abraham Bucher; 
Lawrence, James, George, William, 
Reading. John, Ann and Catharine. All 
the Heinleins living in the regions 
roundabout are descendants of James, 
who married Ann Bay. only daughter of 
Hugh Bay and his wife Elizabeth Bell, 
both of Philadelphia. After Hugh 
Bay's death Dr. Abel Morgan married 
the widow, and removed to what is now 
Morgan's Hill, in Williams township, 
about one mile below Easton. They 
"had only one daughter, Hannah, who 
â– died while yet in her teens. James Hein- 
lein is credited with changing the spell- 
ing of the name from Heinlein to Hine- 
line, yet the baptismal records of his 
•family show the former way of spelling. 
His children were George Bay Heinlein. 
Hugh Bay Heinlein, Abel Morgan Hein- 
lein, Edward Bay Heinlein'. Morgan 
Bay Heinlein. Jacob Bay Heinlein. John 
Bay Heinlein, Henry Bay Heinlein, 
Hannah Eliza, wife of William Raub. 
"They all were born prior to 1820. The 
'children of George Bay Heinlein are: 
Hugh Abraham, born 1823; Joseph, 
1825; John William, 1829: Samuel Mor- 
â– gan, 1832; Susan, 1834; Daniel Edward, 
1836; Ann Shultz, 1839. The children of 
Joseph Heinlein are: Mary, married 
"Kemmerer; Emma, married Edelman; 
Charles, Frank and Clara, married 
Kleinhans, all of whom have children, 
and some grandchildren. Hugh. Abel. 
Jacob and John, with their entire fami- 
lies, about the year i860 removed to 
Ohio, where their descendants are quite 
numerous. The descendants of Morgan 
and Edward are to be found in Warren 
county. New Jersey, and Bucks and 
"Northampton counties, Pennsylvania. 
Henry died without issue. 



WILLL\M JACOB HELLER, of 
Easton, Pennsylvania, manufacturer, 
lias long been numbered among the pa- 
triotic citizens of the land, and his ef- 
"forts were largely instrumental in insti- 
tuting the movement that resulted in 
placing the flag upon the school houses 
of the United States. He comes of a 
family noted for kiyalty and patriotic 
service in the colon al struggles and in 
â– the war for indepenc ence, and traces his 



descent from eleven patriots who served 
Pennsylvania in the revolution. 

He is a direct descendant of Christo- 
pher Heller, who was born in Peter- 
shiem. near Bingen, along the Rhine, in 
the Province of Pfaltz, Germany, in 
1688, and emigrated to America in 1738, 
arriving in Philadelphia with his six 
sons on the fifth of September of that 
year. He established his home in what 
is now Milford township, in the south- 
ern part of Lehigh county. He passed 
the last few years of his life with his 
son, Daniel, who lived along the creek 
a short mile below Hellertown, and 
where he died in the year 1778. Of his 
six sons, Joseph, in early life known as 
Joe Dieter, was the oldest, having been 
born in 1719, and died unmarried in 
1800. He was buried at Plainfield 
church. The second son of Christopher 
Heller was Johan Simon Heller, born 
in 1721. On attaining his majority he 
purchased the 200 acre farm in Lower 
Saucon township, along the creek, where 
he built what is now Wagner's mill in 
1746. He was one of the founders of 
the Reformed church in that township, 
and in the year 1763 removed to what is 
now known as the Woodley house, in the 
town of Wind Gap. Here he assisted in 
the organization of the Reformed church 
in Plainfield township, and later married 
a second time and removed to Hamilton 
township, and there organized Hamilton 
church. His patriotic spirit was mani- 
fested by active military service in the 
French and Indian war. He had sixteen 
children, of whom Jacob, John, Abra- 
ham, and Simon served in the revolu- 
tionary arm}'. His death occurred in 
1783, and he was buried at Plainfield 
church. Johan Michael Heller, the third 
son of Christopher Heller, was born in 
1724, died in 1803, and is buried at the 
ancient burying ground of the Reformed 
church, now known as the Lime Kiln^ 
schoolhouse. Daniel, the fourth son, 
was born in 1726, and died in 1803. 
Daniel's children were Mathias, John, 
Jeremiah and Michael (the potter). He 
was buried in the ancient burial ground 
at what is now Lime Kiln schoolhouse. 
Ludwig, the fifth son, was born in 1728, 
and in early life removed to Bucks 
county, later to Hamilton township, 
Monroe county, where he died in 1807, 
leaving several children, of whom An- 
drew and John remained in Bucks 
county. He is buried in Hamilton town- 
ship, at the church which he helped to 
organize. The sixth son, George Chris- 
topher, was born in 1731. He married 
in early life and settled on a farm ad- 
joining that of his brother Michael. A 
few years later he purchased an ad- 
joining property, on which was erected 
a grist mill and a hemp mill. He was the 
father of two boys, Joseph and Michael, 
who on attaining their majority were 
given the property, Joseph taking the 



310 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



grist mill, and Michael the oil mill. The 
father removed to Upper Mount Betliel 
where he died in 1805, leaving besides 
the two boj-s four children by a second 
marriage, Elizabeth, Magdalena. Solo- 
mon and Daniel. He was buried at 
Stone church in Mount Bethel town- 
ship. After a few years Joseph sold his 
mill to Michael, and moved to a mill 
site along the Monocacy, in Hanover 
township. Milchael was now the pos- 
sessor of his father's entire tract of land 
in Lower Saucon township, and which 
is now embodied in the entire east side 
of the main street in Hellertown. Mi- 
chael was the father of a large family, 
all of whom died in infancy, with the 
exception of Paul and Tobias, who after 
their father's failure removed to what is 
now Lanark, Lehigh county, and built 
the hotel known as Heller's Tavern. 
_ Johan Michael Heller, above men- 
tioned, was a direct ancestor of William 
J. Heller, the subject of this sketch, and 
was known as Michael, the elder (Alt 
vater Mike). Early in life (1751) he 
purchased a farm on Saucon creek, in 
what is now the entire west side of the 
main street in Hellertown. In the same 
year he built a stone house which is 
still standing. He became the founder 
of Hellertown, and was an extensive 
land owner, prospering in all his busi- 
ness affairs, but lost very heavily 
through the depreciation of currency 
during the revolution, which, together 
with his contributions to the revolution- 
ary cause, and his gift of several hun- 
dred-acre farms to each of his children, 
left him comparatively a poor man at 
the time of his death. His team was 
the first to leave Saucon Valley loaded 
with provisions for the starving army at 
Valley Forge. However, he gave not 
only assistance of this character, but 
rendered active service in behalf of the 
cause of liberty as a lieutenant in the 
army. His children were: David, born 
in 1751, served a period in the revolu- 
tionary war, and was a farmer in Lower 
Saucon township; Margaret, who mar- 
ried Jacob Kreeling; Heob (Job), born 
1765, and was a farmer in Upper Saucon ; 
Simon, born in 1758, was a farmer, and 
settled near Plainfield church: Michael, 
who was known as "Creek Mike," was 
born in 1757, and always remained at 
the homestead, where he died in the 
year 1828. 

David Heller, son of Johan Michael 
Heller, was the great-great-grandfather 
of William J. Heller. He married Eliza- 
beth, daughter of John Ladenmacher, 
and their children were: Catharine, born 
in 1773, died in 1776: Susanna, born in 

1774, died in 1776; Elizabeth, born in 

1775, married Jacob Roth, who became 
the owner of the homestead immediately 
east of Hellertown; ]\Iichael, born in 
1777, died in 1816, leaving several chil- 
dren; his oldest son Michael lived and 



died in Cunningham valley; David, borm 
in 1778, learned the trade of a tanner,, 
and afterwards removed to Lehighton, 
Carbon county; Job, born in 1780, diecf 
in 1822. unmarried; Catharine, born in 
1780, died in 1786; Yost, born in 1783; 
Susanna, born in 1784; Maria, born in' 
1786; Joseph, born in 1788, and at the 
age of thirty years removed to Philadel- 
phia, where he remained until his death; 
Rosanna, born in 1789, died in 181 1. 

Yost Heller, the great-grandfather, 
was reared upon the home farm, and irt 
his early youth was full of life, fun and" 
merriment. IVIany a laugh did he cause 
in the neighborhood by his merry 
pranks, but he also commanded the re- 
spect of friends and neighbors, and as 
the years advanced his attention was 
given to work that proved of benefit to 
the community along material and moral 
lines. He was the most popular man 
in Lower Saucon township, was the first 
deacon of Appel's church, and reared his 
family according to its teachings, while 
its principles formed the rule of his own 
conduct. He was married to Elizabeth' 
Shaffer, of a prominent family of Lehigh 
county, and their children were: Jacob, 
Elizabeth, who became Mrs. Bachman, 
and later Mrs. Flexer, and Mary, who- 
became Mrs. Weiss, and afterward Mrs. 
Rice. 

Jacob Heller, the grandfather, was 
born in 1804, and died in Easton, in 1881. 
Brought up in the faith of the church 
according to its teachings, he alsc^ 
reared his family in the same way. He 
was the first elder in Appel's church. He- 
married Sarah Bellis, of Lower Saucon, 
a descendant of one of the original own- 
ers of West Jersey, Lawrence Bellis, 
and their children were: Elizabeth, born' 
in 1825; William, born in 1827; Josiah 
B., born in 1829; Jacob, Sarah, John,, 
Susan and Emma. 

Josiah B. Heller, the father of Will- 
iam J. Heller, was born in 1829, and 
pursued his education in a school at 
Hellertown, and under Dr. Vanderveer 
at Easton. Subsequently he engaged in 
teaching in Easton and in surroundings 
townships, and he also was numbered 
among the music instructors of the Le- 
high Valley on his daj'. After devoting 
a number of years to educational work 
he engaged in farming for a decade, and' 
then returned to Easton, where he con- 
ducted a transfer freight line for many 
years. He was one of the early mem- 
bers of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows at that place, and took a helpful 
interest in promoting the lodge and its 
growth. His political allegiance was 
given to the Democracy, whch he con- 
tinued to support until his death. De- 
cember 5, 1898. He married Susan Hein- 
Icin, of Forks township, a descendant of 
George Heinlein. captain of the Durhami 
township militia during the revolution^ 
and a great-grandd lughter of Elizabeth 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



311 



Morgan, of Morgan's Hills. Their chil- 
dren were: George B., born in 1853; 
William J., in 1857; Arthur P., born in 
1864, died in 1903; and Lizzie May, born 
in i86g, marred Chester Seip. 

William J. Heller is indebted to vari- 
ous institutions of Easton, Pennsyl- 
vania, for the educational privileges he 
enjoyed in his youth. Ait&r putting 
aside his text books he followed various 
pursuits and became quite widely 
known because of his artistic talent and 
ability. In 1886, however, he established 
his present business, the manufacture of 
flags, opening the first exclusive flag 
factory in the United States. His bus- 
iness has constantly grown in volume 
and importance, and to-day he manufac- 
tures nearly one-half of the flags used in 
this country. While witnessing the 
decoration of a public school building 
for a celebration in the year, 1886, the 
idea occurred to him that the nation's 
emblem should be seen over school 
buildings of the country in order to fos- 
ter a spirit of patriotism among the chil- 
dren of the land. He began discussing 
the idea with the prominent educators of 
America, and. in fact, was the founder 
of the movement which has embodied 
his ideas, and deserves great credit for 
instituting the patriotic rnovement which 
swept over the country in 1892. He is 
popular and well known among workers 
in patriotic circles, and was one of the 
first active members of the Patriotic 
League. He has had many honors con- 
ferred on him by the Woman's Relief 
Corps, the National Congress of Wo- 
men, and other national patriotic organ- 
izations. He is a charter member of the 
George Washington Memorial Associa- 
tion, organized to promote the establish- 
ment of the University of the United 
States. He is an honorary member of 
the various leading women's clubs in 
many parts of the country. He has 
lectured in many of the principal cities 
of America upon patriotic occasions. 
His lecture on "The Evolution of Our 
National Ensign" is universally known. 
History has always been a most inter- 
esting study to him, and he believes in 
promoting every line of thought that 
will foster a love of country and its 
people. He has made a study of local 
Indian history during his leisure hours, 
and is now engaged in compiling data 
for a history of the Forks of the Dela- 
ware. He is a life member of the His- 
tori-cal Society' of Pennsylvania, also the 
Pennsylvania German Society, a mem- 
ber of the Bucks County Historical So- 
cieties in this and adjoining states. He 
takes an active part in public afifairs, and 
is a member of the board of trade and 
of the Municipal League of the city of 
Easton. 

Mr. Heller married. May 5. 1877, Miss 
Tillie A. Lesher, a daughter of George 
Lesher, and a lineal descendant of 



George Loesch, of Tulpehocken, Berks 
county, Pennsylvania, who gave so gen- 
erously of his means to assist the strug- 
gling Moravians when they first landed 
in this country. His memory |s yet per- 
petuated by the record of his good deeds, 
preserved in the Moravian archives. Mr. 
and Mrs. Heller became the parents of 
three children, two sons and one daugh- 
ter. The two sons, Ray and Harry, died 
in early childhood. The daughter, Bes- 
sie Evelyn Heller, is a lineal descendant 
of sixteen patriots who gave active 
service in the revolutionary war, and 
a great-great-great-granddaughter of 
Elizabeth Morgan, of Morgan's Hill, 
through her paternal grandmother. Su- 
san (Heinlein) Heller, a daughter of 
George Bay Heinlein, who was the son 
of James Heinlein and his wife Ann Bay, 
a daughter of Mrs. Morgan by her first 
husband Hugh Bay. 

Mrs. Morgan's maiden name was 
Lizzie Bell, or "pretty Lizzie Bell," as 
she was known by nearly every one in 
Philadelphia, where she was born and 
raised. She was the daughter of Jacob 
and Ann Bell, residing on Front street, 
Philadelphia, prior to the revolutionary 
war. Her parents were orthodox 
Quakers, and consequently frowned 
upon a certain young grocer, Hugh Bay, 
son of Rev. Andrew Bay, a chaplain in 
the provincial army, who was getting 
very intimate with Elizabeth, and who 
was not of their faith. They used mild 
methods to discourage intimacy, and 
when, a few years later. Hugh made his 
appearance dressed in the uniform of a 
noted artillery company in the revolu- 
tionary service, he was refused ad- 
mittance to the Bell domicile, and Eliza- 
beth was compelled to make closer ap- 
plication to her studies. All went 
seemingly well until the British army 
was reported coming toward Philadel- 
phia, when its citizens prepared to repel 
the enemy by gathering all ammunition, 
collecting old lead and converting it 
into bullets, etc. Elizabeth, whether 
through born intuitiveness or from close 
application to study, at that opportune 
time developed character that was one 
remarkable feature in after life. She re- 
moved the leaden weights from her 
father's clock and converted them into 
bullets for her soldier lover, Hugh Bay. 
This not only caused a flurry in Quaker- 
dom, but so enraged her father that he 
forthwith transported her to Europe to 
finish her studies. After the lapse of 
four years her father, thinking that she 
had outlived her infatuation, brought her 
home. Elizabeth, however, true to her 
first love, was married to Hugh Bay in 
the Swede's church, Philadelphia, Au- 
gust 16, 1781. This act so shocked the 
orthodox Quaker congregation that they 
immediately called a special meeting at 
which a resolution was passed expelling 
Elizabeth from the congregation for 



312 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



marrying a worldly man, and a certifi- 
cate to that effect was given her. What 
effect all this had upon her parents is 
unknown. Her father died a few years 
later, and left the greater part of his 
wealth to Elizabeth and her mother. 
Hugh made a good husband and main- 
tained a fine house on the fashionable 
street. After a marriage of three years 
he unfortunately died, leaving only one 
child, Anna. Elizabeth remained a 
widow six years, when, on September 2, 
1790, she became the wife of Dr. Abel 
Morgan, a prominent physician of Phila- 
delphia, and formerly a surgeon in the 
revolutionary army, and a brother of 
General Daniel Morgan. Two months later 
her mother died. With the exception of 
the birth of another daughter, nothing 
eventful transpired until 1793 when the 
great epidemic broke out in Philadelphia, 
when Dr. Morgan took precautionary 
measures and removed his family from 
Philadelphia to the Lehigh Hills, leav- 
ing his home in charge of the colored 
servants. Dr. Morgan selected for his 
retreat a hotel on the top of the hill 
overlooking the "Forks of the Dela- 
ware." This delightful locality was a 
favorite of Dr. Morgan's when he was 
surgeon in the revolutionary army and 
encamped with his regiment at Colonel 
Proctor's headquarters along the ravine 
to 'the south of what is now Kleinhan's 
green houses, which was then along the 
main road to Easton from the south. 
Dr. Morgan, after seeing his family com- 
fortably settled, returned to Philadel- 
phia to help stamp out the epidemic. 
Elizabeth, not receiving any cominunica- 
tion from him for upwards of two 
months, .and quarantine being removed 
from Philadelphia, concluded to make a 
trip there. On her arrival at her Phila- 
delphia home she found that the servants 
had decamped, the house had been ran- 
sacked from garret to cellar, and every- 
thing of value confiscated. At a loss to 
know what had become of her husband, 
she made inquiry of the health officers 
and found that her husband had con- 
tracted the malady and died within a 
few days after his arrival, and was 
buried in the trench along with the rest. 
This double afBiction required consid- 
erable fortitude to withstand. Finding 
herself the second time a widow, she 
disposed of her fine home and all her 
interests in Philadelphia and returned 
to the "Hills," with the purpose of liv- 
ing in quiet retirement with her two 
daughters. She never returned to Phil- 
adelphia, but purchased the hotel prop- 
erty in which she had taken up her 
abode, and lived there for upwards of 
fifty years. Mrs. Morgan made good 
use of her excellent education. She 
possessed a fine library, and her favorite 
pastime was reading law books, of which 
she had a complete set. These were 
kept on a bench in the public room. 



where she would dispense law when oc- 
casion required. This room, in time, 
became the popular retreat for those 
of her neighbors who could not settle 
their differences themselves. They 
would invariably refer their case to this 
improvised court. A request for her de- 
cision was never refused; both old and 
young respected her judgment, and sel- 
dom was there an appeal to a higher 
tribunal. This condition of aft'airs 
brought forth a protest from the legal 
fraternity of Easton, who endeavored 
by various methods to break up the 
practice. Reflections as to her char- 
acter and the character of the place 
were made, bringing her name into ridi- 
cule with the unthinking. All this un- 
kindness toward the "Widow" Morgan 
only increased her popularity. Few of 
these gentry of the bar could boast of a 
better legal education than Elizabeth 
Morgan, and none of a better univer- 
sity training. Her last will and testa- 
ment (written by herself) for scholarly 
composition and legal construction is 
the peer of any instrument of any mem- 
ber of the legal fraternity of her day. 
Steeled to adversity, never showing re- 
sentment toward her traducers, living a 
good and true life, a kind and generous 
neighbor, ministering to the afflicted, ad- 
justing neighborly disputes for many 
years, she died October 16, 1839, aged 
eighty years, and was buried in the Re- 
formed cemetery on Mount Jefferson 
(now the site of the new library). Her 
obsequies were attended by people from 
far and near, her funeral cortege being 
nearly two miles long, reaching from 
the cemetery gates to a point along the 
Philadelphia road bej'ond Lachenour 
Heights, South Side. Her second daugh- 
ter, Hannah Morgan, died at the age of 
twenty years. Her first daughter, Ann 
Bay, was married to James Heinlein, a 
son of Captain George Heinlein, of Dur- 
ham township. Bucks County, a prom- 
inent figure in the revolution. Their 
children were: George, born 1799; Hugh, 
born 1802; Abel Morgan, born 1804; Ed- 
ward, born 1806; Morgan, born 1808; 
Jacob, born 1811; John, born 1813; 
Henry, born 1814; Hannah Eliza, born 
1815, became the wife of William 
Raub. Of the many descendants of thesa 
grandsons of Elizabeth Morgan living 
in the Lehigh Valley and the regions 
round about, there are very few bearing 
the name of Heinlein. Mrs. Morgan 
took great pride in her grandsons and 
gave all of them an advanced education. 
Three of these grandsons emigrated in 
company with several of the families of 
Hays from Lehigh county to Ohio, set- 
tling in and around Fremont. Mrs. 
Heinlein, the mother, married for the 
second time a Mr. Schultz. She was 
buried to the right of her mother, Mrs. 
Morgan, and Hannah, the other daugh- 
ter, was buried on the left side. Their 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



3f3 



remains were not disturbed when the 
site of Easton's colonial burying ground 
was remodeled for the park surrounding 
the new library. 



FRANCIS R. SWALLOW. Well 
known and valued in Bucks county is 
Francis R. Swallow, one of the summer 
residents of Lumberville. Mr. Swallow 
is a son of Charles R. Swallow, who 
was born about 1812, near Ringold, New 
Jersey, and was reared in Hunterdon 
<:ount3\ He settled on a farm near 
Rosemont, where for many years he fol- 
lowed agricultural pursuits. About 
1851 he moved to Lumberville and en- 
gaged in mercantile business, which he 
carried on for several years. About 
1865 he removed to Lambertville, New 
Jersey, where for a number of years he 
â– conducted a mercantile business, which 
he finally sold and became a commer- 
-cial salesman for a wholesale shoe 
house, a position which he continued to 
hold during the active years of his life. 
He married Eliza Robinson and five of 
the ten children born to them are now 
living: Harriet, who lives in Philadel- 
phia; Emma, who is also a resident of 
that city; Hannah, who is the wife of 

A. H. Horton, of Philadelphia; Francis 
R.. mentioned at length hereinafter; and 
Winfield, who lives in Philadelphia. 

Francis R. Swallow, son of Charles 
R. and Eliza (Robinson) Swallow, was 
born September 29, 1846, in Rosemont, 
Hunterdon county, New Jersey, and 
from his early bojdiood was in the store 
with his father. At twelve years of age 
he went to Lahaska, where he found em- 
ployment in the store of William Bald- 
â– erston. a worthy member of the Society 
or Friends, with whom he remained , 
imtil the second year of the civil war. In 
August, 1862, he enlisted in Company 

B, One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth 
Regiment for nine months' service. Two 
months after the expiration of his term 
he re-enlisted in Company B, One Hundred 
and Ninety-Sixth Regiment for three 
months' service, and after the expira- 
tion of this his second term was em- 
ployed for some months in Philadelphia. 
In March. 1864, he again enlisted, this 
time in Company I. Two Hundred and 
Thirteenth Regiment for one year, serv- 
ing until the close of the war. After 
Mr. Swallow's retirement from military 
service he went to Philadelphia and for 
nineteen years was employed by the 
â– old Carpenter Ice Company. In 1886, 
in partnership with Thomas C. Jenkins, 
he organized the Washington Ice Com- 
pany, with offices at 13 Brown street, 
and a shipping wharf at the Brown street 
•shipping market wharf. From a small 
heginning the business increased to 
large proportions, the company running 

thirty-five wagons, the first wagons 
and teams ever used in that business in 



Philadelphia. In 1899 they sold out ad- 
vantageously to the trust, and for five 
years Mr. Swallow and his partner 
served as officers of the company. In 
the autumn of 1903 Mr. Swallow again 
engaged in the ice business, confining 
himself strictly to the wholesale trade, 
with offices at Broad and Cumberland 
streets, Philadelphia. The title of the 
present company, of which Mr. Swallow 
is sole owner, is "The Washington Ice 
Company." The business is carried on 
principally by car-load lots and wagons 
are run as far from the city as Bristol. 
Mr. Swallow is also interested in the 
New Knickerbocker Ice Company. He 
is a member of Birney Post, No. 63, G. 
A. R., of Philadelphia, and also be- 
longs to Gothic Lodge, No. 519, F. and 
A. M. In politics he is a Republican. 
Mr. Swallow married in 1876 Mary A. 
Diddleback, of Philadelphia, and nine 
children have been born to them, five 
of whom are living: Mamie E., who is 
the wife of Charles Krupp, of Philadel- 
phia; Frank W., who is a student in Jef- 
ferson Medical College ; Isabelle Alay ; 
Florence H.. and Lilliam Hazle. The 
four last-named are at home with their 
parents. In 1899 Mr. Swallow purchased 
the old Fretz residence in Lumberville, 
which he has since used as a country 
home, his cit}-- residence being at 2042 
Mount Vernon street, Philadelphia. 



JOSEPH JENKINS ERWIN, of 
Spokane, Washington, though his lot 
is now cast far from the place of his 
nativity, cherishes a love of the good old 
county of Bucks where his ancestors on 
both maternal and paternal lines lived, 
loved and labored. He was born in the 
year 1844, and is a son of John and 
Martha M. (Jenkins) Erwin, both of 
whom came of Bucks county ancestry 
and are descended from early settlers in 
and near Bucks county, of Scotch-Irish 
Welsh, Holland, and English extraction. 
His maternal ancestry is given fully in 
the sketch of his cousin, Zachary Tay- 
lor Jenkins, which appears elsewhere in 
this work. 

John Erwin. his great-grandfather, 
was of Scotch-Irish origin, and a resi- 
dent of Southampton township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, where he died 
February 7, 1823, at the age of fifty- 
three years. The Erwin family were 
early Scotch-Irish emigrants to Bucks 
county, and took a prominent part in the 
founding of the Republic, many of them 
taking an active part in the revolution- 
ary struggle. Hugh Erwin was a mem- 
ber of the associated company of South- 
ampton in 1775. and doubtless the pio- 
neer ancestor of John Erwin. and prob-|^ 
ably also a kin to Colonel Arthur Erwin, ' 
of Tinicum, who came to Pennsylvania 
about 1760 and was assassinated while 



314 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



serving in the state asscmlily in 1790. 
John Erwin, of Southanii)tc)n, married 
Susan Tomlinson, of English Quaker 
ancestry, who was born in Bucks county, 
in 1775, and died February 5, 1856. She 
was a descendant of Ralph Dracott, an 
early Huguenot settler in Soutliampton. 
John and Susan (Tomlinson) Erwin 
reared a family in Southampton, among 
whom was Jose'ph Erwin, born Decem- 
ber. 23, 1792, died October 8, 1870. 

Joseph Erwin married Hannah Morri- 
son, born February 10, 1796, died De- 
cember 10, i860, daughter of John and 
Hannah (Yerkes) Morrison, and grand- 
daughter of John Morrison, who came 
from the north of Ireland and settled on 
the Brandywine, and a descendant on 
the maternal side from Anthony Yerkes, 
one of the early burgesses of German- 
town. (See "Morrison Family" in this 
work.) Joseph and Hannah (Morrison) 
Erwin lived for a time in Montgomery 
county, where was born to them a fam- 
ily, of whom two were as follows: John 
Erwin. the father of the subject of this 
sketch, and Martha Morrison Erwin, 
who married John Jenkins, brother ot 
Martha Merrick Jenkins, whom her 
brother married. 

John Erwin, son of Joseph and Han- 
nah (Morrison) Erwin, was born in 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. As 
before stated he married Martha Mer- 
rick Jenkins, daughter of Joseph and 
Tacy (Martindale) Jenkins, of Bucks 
county, whose distinguished ancestry is 
given in the account of the Jenkins fam- 
ily in this work, and they were the pa- 
rents of six children: Joseph Jenkins, 
the subject of this sketch, born June 
16, 1844; B. Frank, residing in Philadel- 
phia; Preston, of Westport, Missouri; 
Tacy, wife of William Sutton, of Phila- 
delphia; and James and Charles Erwin, 
also of Philadelphia. 



THE BARNSLEY FAMILY. The 
late Joseph Barnsley, of Hartsville, 
Warminister township, Bucks county, 
was of English descent. He was born 
in Newtown, Bucks county, June 9, 1820, 
a son of William and Jane (Van Horn) 
Barnsley, and grandson of John and 
Elizabeth (Van Court) Barnsley. 

John Barnsley emigrated from York- 
shire, England, about 1760. He was the 
first member of his line to found a fam- 
ily on American soil. His uncle, 
Thomas Barnsley. was a major of the 
British army in the "60th Royal Ameri- 
man Regiment." and had fought in the 
French war under Lord Loudon in 1756. 
After the settlement of the "French and 
Indian trouble" in connection with 
Braddock's defeat, he resigned his com- 
mission, went back to England, whence 
he returned with his wife and nephew 
John, and bought an estate of five hun- 



dred acres on the Neshaminy creek in 
what is now Bensalem township. Here 
he built a mansion, the bricks for which 
were brought from England. This house 
is yet standing, a fine representation of 
colonial architecture. Major Barnsley 
died in 1771, his wife surviving him sev- 
eral years. They had no children, and 
the executors being Tories, who were 
expatriated, the estate was not settled 
for several years. 

John Barnsley, one of the four heirs,, 
received his portion in continental 
money, and not investing it at once it 
became worthless. He was married 
about the time of his uncle's death and 
managed the estate until his aunt's de- 
mise. On the breaking out of the revo- 
lution he became one of a committee in 
Bensalem to drive ofif the cattle to keep 
them from the British. In January, 
1777, he was with Washingtan's army in 
the night march from Trenton to Priiice- 
ton. His team was impressed to haul 
ammunition, and in the battle of Prince- 
ton he was ordered by Washington in 
person to drive along the line to supply 
the soldiers. His time expiring shortly 
after, he came home suffering great 
hardships on the way. He followed 
farming in Bensalem for several years, 
finally buying property at Newtown,, 
where he lived until his death, February 
2, 1796. His wife was Elizabeth Van 
Court, whose ancestors were French 
Huguenots, originally called De la 
Court. She was born at Huntingdon 
valley, Montgomery county, in 1751, and 
died in 1824. 

Their son, William, father of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was born in Ben- 
salem township, November 8, I77S, and 
removed with his parents to Newtown 
township when a boy. He married, Jan- 
uary 21. 1808, Jane Van Horn, born in 
Lower Maketield. March 25, 1784, who- 
died July 25, 1861. Their children were: 
Mary, John. Thomas and Joseph. He 
lived in Newtown until 1831. when he 
bought a farm at Huntingdon valley, 
Moreland township, where he resided 
until his death in 1848. He was a suc- 
cessful farmer and financier, acquiring^ 
three farms, besides other property. His 
son John remained on the homestead 
farm in Newtown, where he lived until 
his decease, January 11, 1880. He fol- 
lowed surveying and held the office of 
magistrate for thirty-five years. Mary, 
died unmarried January 16. 1889. 
Thomas lived on the homestead at Hunt- 
ingdon valley until his death. September 
6, t866. 

Joseph Barnsley was reared at New- 
town and Huntingdon valley, and in 
1845 located on the farm in Warminster 
which he later inherited. He resided 
there until 1868. when he was appointed 
United States revenue collector for fifth 
district and transferred his home to 
Doylestown. On the expiration of his 




The Lewis pjAhsh-w:. Co 



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THE NEW YOHK 

PUBLIC LIBRARY 



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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



315 



term of office in 1870, he did not return 
to his farm which he had rented, but 
purchased a new home, the beautiful 
"Roseland" property at Hartsville. where 
he lived until his sudden death from 
heart trouble in full vigor of mind and 
body January 12, 1888. He married, 
January 21, 1847, Lydia Harper Walton, 
who was born in Horsham township, 
November 28, 1826, and at this writing, 
September, 1905, survives him, living in 
Hatboro, Montgomery county,' Pennsyl- 
vania. They had no issue. Mr. Barns- 
ley was a man of clear-cut principles and 
staunch integrity, of strong mental 
powers with a philosophical bent, 
brightened by a rich vein of humor. He 
had a tender heart and generous nature, 
becoming a public benefactor within the 
circle of his influence. He was further 
an individual of intense public spirit and 
patriotism. A Republican in politics he 
took a lively interest in the success of 
his party. One of the best known citi- 
zens of the township, his personal pop- 
ularity led to his election to the state 
legislature in 1858, 1859, and i860, up to 
that time the first nominee of his party 
to serve three successive terms from 
this county. From earlj^ manhood he 
had been called to fill various public 
offices and positions of trust and con- 
fidence. He was president of The Farm- 
ers' Hay Market Company, of Philadel- 
phia for eleven years prior to his death, 
and director of Hatboro National Bank 
from its organization. He lies interred 
in the graveyard of St. Luke's Protestant 
Episcopal church in Newtown. In his 
will he bequeathed an ample trust fund 
for the erection and maintenance of a 
memorial library and reading room in 
this town, the home of his boyhood 
and last resting place of his parents and 
family. 



GEORGE KNORR WILDMAN. 
Prominent amongthe representative cit- 
izens of Bensalem township, Bucks 
county. Pennsylvania, who follow the 
quiet but useful calling of agriculture, is 
George K. Wildman.. a native of that 
township, born on the homestead farm, 
February 22. 1859. The founder of the 
Wildman family in America was Martin 
Wildman, who came from Yorkshire, 
England, in 1683, accompanied by his 
wife. Ann Wildman, and settled in Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, where he followed 
farming as a means of livelihood. They 
were honest and God-fearing people, 
members of the Society of Friends, and 
at their decease left to their children the 
legacy of an untarnished name and rep- 
utation. The line of descent is traced 
through their son. John Wildman. who 
was the father of a son. John Wildman. 
who married Marjorie Knight, and 
among their children was a son, John 
Wildman, who was born in Bensalem 



township, Bucks county, March 28,. 
1771, married Mary Knight, and died 
May 21, 1842. Among their children 
was a son, Joshua Wildman, who be- 
came the father of George Knorr Wild- 
man. 

Joshua Wildman (father) was born in 
Bensalem township, Bucks county,. 
Pennsylvania, August 3, 1819. He was 
reared on the homestead farm, and in 
the common schools of the day obtained 
a good English education. He devoted 
his attention to farming, and the income 
thus derived provided his family with 
the necessaries of life. On August 28, 
1844, Mr. Wildman married Hannah 
Johnson, who was born in Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, August 28, 1823, daughter 
of William and Catherine (Knorr) 
Johnson, and granddaughter of John and 
Rachel (Liozne) Johnson. Four chil- 
dren were the issue of this marriage: 
Catherine, deceased; Caroline, deceased; 
Lavina, wife of Edward Comly, of By- 
berry, Philadelphia county, Pennsyl- 
vania: and George Knorr. whose name 
heads this sketch. Edward and Lavina 
Comly are the parents of four children,, 
as follows: Joshua K. Comly, who died 
in infancy: Edward Comly. who died at 
the age of eleven years; Hannah Wild- 
man Comly. and Deborah Ann Comly, 
who died at the age of ten years. Joshua 
Wildman. father of George K. Wild- 
man, died February 26, 1867. 

George K. Wildman pursued his stud- 
ies at the Friends' school in Byberry and 
at the Friends' Central School at the 
corner of Fifteenth and Race streets,. 
Philadelphia. Having been reared on a 
farm he naturally chose that occupation 
for his life work, and in following the 
same has acquired a large degree of finan- 
cial success as a result of his prac- 
tical and progressive methods and pains- 
taking labor. Upon the deatb of his 
father he succeeded to the fine old horne- 
stead in Bensalem township, upon which 
he now resides. His political affilia- 
tions are with the Republican party. Mr. 
Wildman wa? united in marriage, June 
9, 1881, wth Rachel Ridge Comly. who 
was born in Philadelphia county, near 
Bustleton, was educated at Swarthmore 
College, and is a daughter of John and 
Emeline (Ridge) Comly. and grand- 
daughter of Robert and Esther (Shall- 
cross) Comly, who were the parents of 
ten children. Robert Comly was a suc- 
cessful business man, and his only 
brother. Samuel Comly, was one of the 
earliest to engage in the tea trade with 
China, owning his own ships, and be- 
came very wealthy. He. like his brother 
Robert, was the head of a large family. 
Esther (Shallcross) Comly was a 
daughter of Leonard Shallcross. who was 
a son of Leonard Shallcross. Both 
father and son were tsrominent in the 
business circles of Philadelohia in their 
dav. Five children were born to Mr. 



3i6 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



and Mrs. Wildman: Edith, born May 23, 
1882, died in infancy. Allen Comly, born 
June 8, 1883. Clara Wilson, born Janu- 
ary 22, 1886. Emma Comly, born Oc- 
tober 18, 1888. John, born September 14, 
1891, died in infancy. The children are 
bright and intelligent, and the family are 
highly esteemed in the community in 
whch they live. The family are mem- 
bers of the Society of Friends. 



JOHN L. KULP, whose enterprising 
spirit has prompted him to fill many 
public positions resulting in benefit to 
his community and who is well known 
as proprietor of a hotel in the village 
of Plumsteadville, was born in Bed- 
minster township, Bucks county, No- 
vember 13, 1857, and is a representative 
of one of the old families of this part 
of the state. His paternal grandfather, 
Henry Kulp, lived and died in Bucks 
county, where for many years he fol- 
lowed the occupation of farming. He 
was a member of the Old Mennonite 
church. His children were: Jacob, 
David, Abraham, Hannah, who married 
John Porter; Mary, the wife of Isaac 
Gross; and Elizabeth, the widow of 
/Samuel Wismer. 

Abraham Kulp, son of Henry Kulp, 
was born in Bedminster township, in 
1816, and in early life learned the shoe- 
maker's trade, which he followed for 
many years in connection with general 
agricultural pursuits. He was a member 
â– of the Mennonite church and a law-abid- 
ing citizen, whose upright life won the 
respect of all. He wedded Miss Nancy 
Leatherman, a daughter of John Leath- 
â– erman, and his death occurred in August, 
1900. To them were born six children: 
Mary, wife of Aaron M. Kulp; Annie, 
wife of Isaac S. Yothers; Barbara, who 
â– died in childhood; John L., Henry, who 
died in childhood; and Abraham. 

John L. Kulp acquired his education 
in the common schools of Bucks county 
and in the State Normal schools at Mil- 
lersville and Westchester, Pennsylvania. 
He afterward engaged in teaching 
through the winter months, while in the 
summer seasons he worked at the car- 
penter's trade, giving his attention to the 
dual pursuits for about ten years. In 
1887 he began farming in Bedminster 
township and while carrying on the work 
of cultivating the fields through the 
summer months he continued as a 
teacher for about ten years. He was 
thus closely identified with the educa- 
tional development of his locality, and 
was acknowledged as one of the com- 
petent instructors in the common 
schools of Bucks county. In 1897 he 
purchased the hotel at Plumsteadville, 
and has since given his undivided atten- 
tion to its conduct, making it a popular 
hostelry with the traveling pirblic. Polit- 



ically a Republican, Mr. Kulp is now fill- 
ing the office of township auditor, and 
while he has never been very active as 
an office seeker he has always kept well 
informed on the questions and issues 
of the day. He belongs to the Odd Fel- 
lows Lodge, No. 678, now of Plum- 
steadville, where he has passed all of the 
chairs, and he likewise belongs to the 
Order of United American Mechanics, 
No. 75, at Plumsteadville, in which he 
has also filled all of the offices. His re- 
ligious faith is indicated by his mem- 
bership in the Old Mennonite church. 
John L. Kulp was married to Miss Han- 
nah E. Barndt, a daughter of Henry and 
Elizabeth Barndt, and they became the 
parents of nine children, of whom one 
died in infancy. The others are: Henry 
B., born July 29, 1884; Isaac Newlin, 
December 7, 1886; Eleanora, July 2, 
1888; Anna Mary, September 20, 1889; 
Estella May, December 20, 1891; Abram 
Lincoln, September 12, 1893; Aaron 
Freeman, February 13. 1895; and John 
Walter, born April 29, 1S97. 



EDWARD GARGES. The Garges 
family came from Germany and was 
planted on American soil in colonial 
days. Almost continuously from the 
time that the white race had dominion 
over the district embraced in Bucks 
county, representatives of the name have 
been connected with its history. The 
family in more recent generations is rep- 
resented by descendants of Abraham and 
John Garges. Abraham was grandfather 
of Edward Garges, learned the black- 
smith's trade and lived a life of a me- 
chanic and farmer. He held member- 
ship in the Mennonite church, and was 
interested in public afifairs to the extent 
that he gave hearty support to all move- 
ments which he believed would contrib- 
ute to the general good. He married 
Leah Ruth, and died in the year i860. 
His children were William, a farmer; 
Henry, father of Edward Garges; Lewis, 
a farmer; Rebecca, who became the wife 
of Joseph Funk; Mrs. Mary J. Fell; 
Sarah A., wife of O. P. Shutt; Priscilla, 
wife of H. Hines; and Amy and Abra- 
ham, both deceased. 

Henry Garges, son of Abraham and 
Leah Garges, was born in Doylestown, 
Bucks county. August 19, 1830, and 
reared upon the old family homestead, 
which is now owned by Joseph Rich. 
He was but sixteen years of age_ ^yhen 
his father and uncle John, who jointly 
owned the above property, dissolved 
partnership by drawing sticks, and it fell 
to his father's lot to leave, so he removed 
to another farm in Bucks county. At 
the time of his marriage he settled upon 
a tract of land in Doylestown township, 
near Edison, which he yet owns, al- 
though he is now living retired from ac- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



317 



tive farm labor. His business career 
was characterized by unfaltering dili- 
gence and perseverance, and was 
crowned with a very gratifying measure 
of success. He sold his farm products 
to wholesale dealers, and in connection 
with general farming engaged in the 
raising of stock. As the years passed, 
his financial resources increased until he 
has become the possessor of a good 
estate. A Republican in his political 
views, Henry Garges has filled a number 
of township positions. He belongs to 
the Presbyterian church at Doylestown, 
and is a man of charitable spirit, kindly 
nature and genial disposition, qualities 
which have won him the high regard 
and good will of those with whom he 
has been associated. March 13, 1862, 
Henry Garges married Mary E. Roberts, 
a native of Bucks county, whose father 
died during her infancy, so that little is 
known concerning the history of the 
Roberts family. Her people, however, 
were identified with the Friends. Mrs. 
Garges was an only child. She became a 
member of the Presbyterian church and 
passed away July 7, 1901, at the age of 
sixty-eight years, but Mr. Garges is still 
living, at the age of seventy-five years. 
Their children are Anna L., the wife of 
Frank Bodine; Edward; and Isaac Buck- 
man, a merchant of Philadelphia. 

Edward Garges, the elder son of 
Henry and Mary E. (Roberts) Garges, 
was born in Doylestown township, April 
6, 1865, and his elementary education ac- 
quired in the common schools was sup- 
plemented by study in the high school 
of Doylestown. Under his father's di- 
rection he gained practical and compre- 
hensive knowledge of farm methods and 
in April, 1889, he settled upon the home- 
stead farm, which he cultivated for thir- 
teen years. He then purchased the old 
homestead property of John B. Walter, 
deceased, and since 1902 has operated 
this tract of land, giving his undivided 
attention to the cultivation of field and 
garden and to the sale of his products on 
the markets. He is a practical and suc- 
cessful business man, watchful of oppor- 
tunities, and by the careful conduct of his 
business affairs has gained a very desirable 
competence. He raises stock for the support 
of his farm. Mr. Garges usually exercises 
his right of franchise in support of the men 
and measures of the Republican party, 
but is somewhat independent in his po- 
litical views, and does not consider 
himself bound by party ties. He be- 
longs to the Presbyterian church of 
Doylestown, and investigation into his 
life record shows many points worthy 
of commendation. 

Edward Garges married Miss Maria F. 
Walter, who was born on the farm which 
is now her home, her parents being John 
B. and Adeline E. (Hoover) Walter, 
both natives of Bucks county. Her an- 
cestry can be traced back to George 



Walter, who was a blacksmith of 
Doylestown in early manhood. He 
worked at his trade on the Garges home- 
stead before mentioned, now occupied 
by Joseph Rich, while his wife run a 
saw mill on the same place. It is said 
he came there from Skippack, Mont- 
gomery county, to operate these trades 
for Mrs. Garges after her husband's 
death. He afterward became a resi- 
dent of Warrington township, where he 
purchased a tract of land* of one hun- 
dred and thirty-one acres, developing 
this into a very productive farm, where 
he also conducted his blacksmith shop. 
His son, Samuel Walter, grandfather of 
Mrs. Garges, was born on his father's 
farm in Warrington township, and where 
he spent his remaining days, his death 
occurring before the death of his father, 
George Walter. He passed away in 
1851. His wife, who bore the maiden 
name of Deborah Brunner, was a daugh- 
ter of John and Elizabeth Brunner, her 
father being proprietor of a hotel in 
Philadelphia. He was also a farmer 
and miller at Bridge Point, Bucks 
county, now called Edison, where in 
1800 they boarded the hands who built 
the stone bridge which still spans the 
Neshaminy at that place. Mrs. Samuel 
Walter died in 1874. By her marriage 
she had become the mother of six chil- 
dren: John B., father of Mrs. Edward 
Garges; George, a plasterer; Catherine, 
the wife of W. A. Smith; Elizabeth, the 
widow of John Marks; Anna M., the 
wife of Joshua W. Scott; and Frances, 
the wife of Preston Bissy. 

John B. Walter was born February 14, 
1835, on the farm now owned and oc- 
cupied by Edward Garges. This had 
been purchased . by his grandfather, 
George Walter, in 1805, and after his 
death John B. Walter bought the prop- 
erty at the sale. There were but meager 
improvements upon it then, but Mr. 
Walter began its further development, 
and in due course of time made it a 
splendidly improved farm. He repaired 
the house and erected a barn, added 
many modern equipments, and alto- 
gether developed a farm whose value 
was hardlj^ second to none of the size 
in the county. He tilled the fields and 
raised stock, having some very valuable 
horses and cattle. He was particularly 
fond of horses, and many specimens of 
the noble steed were seen upon his place. 
He was also a market man, and secured 
a large patronage in the Philadelphia 
markets. In matters relating to his 
county he was public-spirited and pro- 
gressive, and at all times his business 
integrity was above reproach. He was 
devoted to His home and' family, and 
held friendship inviolable. Politically a 
Democrat, he filled many township of- 
fices and also served on the election 
board. The moral development of the 
community was likewise of deep interest 



3i8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



to him, and he was a consistent member 
of the Reformed church, taking a very 
active part in its work, and serving as 
trustee for a long period. He died June 
14, 1900, at the age of sixty-live years. 
He was prominent in fraternal circles, 
"belonging to Doylestown Lodge, No. 
245, A. F. and A. J\I.; Doylestown Chap- 
ter, R. A. M.; Pennsylvania Comman- 
dery. No. 70, K. T., of Philadelphia: and 
Warrington Lodge, No. 447, L O. O. F. 
He filled the position of school director 
for nineteen years and held other town- 
ship offices. 

John B. Walter was married December 
2, 1856, to Miss Adeline E. Hoover, who 
Avas born in Warrington township, Sep- 
tember 10, 1831, and died February 4, 
1905. She was a lady of intelligence and 
culture. Her parents were Frederick W. 
and Maria (Fleck) Hoover, both de- 
scendants of early settlers of Bucks 
county. Her paternal grandparents 
were Philip and Mary (Conrad) Hoover, 
who were born in this county and were 
of German descent, the Hoover family 
having been established in Pennsylvania 
at an early epoch in the colonization of 
the state. Frederick W. Hoover, father 
of Mrs. John B. Walter, was reared on 
the home farm, and after his marriage 
engaged in merchandising in Pleasant- 
ville, Pennsylvania, for a number of 
years. Subsequently he purchased a 
tract of land and continued to make his 
home upon the farm, which he there de- 
veloped until his life's labors were ended 
in death. When he was at Pleasantville 
he became one of the founders and or- 
ganizers of the Reformed church and 
one of its pillars, taking a most active 
part in its work and serving as elder. 
His home was always' open for the re- 
ception of the ministers and the church 
people. Possessing marked musical 
talent, he was a leading singer in the 
church and also played upon different 
musical instruments. His ability in this 
â– direction also added to the attractive- 
ness of his home. He voted with the 
Democracy and held different township 
offices, while his father and grandfather 
were prominent in political circles of 
the state, each representing his district 
in the general assembly. Frederick W. 
Hoover was married to Maria Fleck, a 
daughter of Adam Fleck, who died from 
camp fever contracted while serving in 
the war of 1812. He was a farmer of 
Montgomery county prior to entering 
the army. He and his brothers, Daniel 
and Jacob, were representatives of an old 
Pennsylvania family. Adam Fleck had 
six children: Charlotte; Samuel; Maria, 
who became Mrs. Frederick W. Hoover; 
Eliza; Benjamin; and Adam. The chil- 
dren of Frederick W. and Maria 
(Fleck) Hoover were Tilghman A.; Ade- 
line E., who became Mrs. John B. Wal- 
ter: Philip W.. of Philadelphia: F. Ly- 
man, deceased; Samuel, of North Wales; 



Truman and William L., both of Phila- 
delphia; Frank, who is living at lilue- 
bcll; and Andrew, who died at the age 
of fourteen years. They were reared in 
the Reformed church, but some of the 
family became identified with other re- 
ligious denominations. 

The children of John B. and Adeline 
E. (Hoover) Walter are: Mary H., a 
school teacher; Ida E., the wife of Frank 
Larzelere; Mattie L., the wife of H. M. 
McKinstry; Maria, the wife of Edward 
Garges; Andrew J., pastor of the Dutch 
Reformed church at Harlingen, New Jer- 
sey; and William, who died at the age of 
nineteen years; Samuel, who died at the 
age of two years; and Gertrude, at the 
age of six years. The children of Ed- 
ward and Maria Garges are Ethel F., 
born March 8, 1893; John W., born Oc- 
tober I, 1894, died March 8, 1903; Mary 
E., born November 7, 1896; Mildred A., 
May 17, 1898; Henry W., December 16, 
1900; and Anna M., January 12, 1903. 



JOHN HART, president of the 
Doylestown Trust Company, and his 
brother Frank Hart, of Doylestown, re- 
tired banker, are the sons of Josiah and 
Sarah (Brock) Hart. The former was 
born in Doylestown township, February 
3, 1846, and the latter February 24, 1851. 
On the paternal side they are of Scotch- 
Irish descent. 

Among the thousands of Ulster Scots 
who migrated to Pennsylvania in the 
first half of the eighteenth century 
were those who formed two distinct set- 
tlements within the present limits of 
Bucks county, one on the banks of the 
Neshaminy in Warwick, Warrington and 
New Britain, and the other on the banks 
of the Tohickon in Plumstead. Tinicum 
and adjacent townships. In the latter 
settlement were the Stewarts, Harts, 
Means, McGlaughlins, Pattersons, Arm- 
strongs, Erwins, Davies and a host of 
others, more or less united by ties, con- 
sanguinity, and common interest, whose 
names are found on the earliest lists of 
military companies organized for the 
defense of the frontiers against their 
hereditary enemies, the French and their 
savage allies. 

Among these early settlers on the 
Plumstead side of the Tohickon about 
1735 was Samuel Hart and his family, 
consisting of wife and nine children, the 
eldest of whom, James, was born in the 
year 1717, and the second son William 
was probably three or more years 
younger. Samuel Hart obtained a war- 
rant of survey for 100 acres of land on 
March 9, 1737, and settled thereon. Ten 
j-ears later in 1747 when the first clouds 
of war appeared on the horizon, com- 
panies were formed in the several town- 
ships for the defence of the frontiers. 
The Plumstead company had for its cap- 
tain the veteran Charles Stewart, lieu- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



319 



tenant, James Hart, and ensign, William 
Hart, both of the latter being ancestors 
of the subjects of this sketch through 
the marriage of a grandson of the latter 
with a granddaughter of the former 
many years later. Across the Tohickon 
in Tinicum the captain of the company 
was James McGlaughlin, who had mar- 
ried Mary, the eldest sister of the Hart 
brothers, and the lieutenant was James 
Davies, whose son William was a broth- 
er-in-law to them, all three having mar- 
ried daughters of William Means or 
Main, a neighbor and compatriot. Sam- 
uel Hart, the elder, died in April, 1750, 
devising his plantation to his sons James 
and William. His other children than 
the three above mentioned were: Joseph, 
John, Jean, who married Samuel Math- 
ers and removed to North Carolina, 
Elinor, Samuel and Elizabeth. 

James Hart, born 1717, flied May 4, 
1766, was an innkeeper in Phnnstead, 
near Wismer, where he had purchased a 
tract of about 400 acres of land in 1751 
adjoining the plantation of his father. 
He married Jean, daughter of William 
and Mary Means, and their children 
were: Samuel, born August 30, 1746. died 
January 21, 1831, unmarried. William, 
born March 24, 1748. died January 2, 
1830, married Elizabeth Means, his 
cousin. John, born March 24, 1748, died 
February 24, 1803, married Mary Mc- 
Calla. Elizabeth, born Fcliruary 13, 
1750, died in infancy. Mary, born Janu- 
ary 15, 1752, married James Ruckman. 
James, born December 27, 1753, died 
young. Joseph, boTn February 16, I7SS. 
married Elinor Wilson and removed to 
New Jerse3^ Elizabeth, born February 
28, 1757, married John Johnston and re- 
moved to New Jersey. James, born 
March 17, 1759, married Ann Hankinson, 
removed to New Jersey. Solomon, born 
August 30, 1762, died April 27, 1810. mar- 
ried Isabel^ Long, daughter of Captain 
Andrew Long, of Warrington, and set- 
tled in Warrington. Jane, born August 
4, 1765, married Samuel Opdycke, of 
Hunterdon county. New Jersey. Jean 
(Means) Hart was born August 30, 1726, 
and died January 31, 179Q. 

William Hart, second son of James 
and Jean Hart, married in 1776 his cousin 
Elizabeth, daughter of John and Griz- 
elda (Patterson) IMeans. He purchased 
in 1783 of his brothers and sisters the 
whole of his father's plantation in Plum- 
stead, but a few years later removed to 
Hartsville, then known as "Warwick 
Cross Roads" and purchased the. old 
tavern property, where he served as 
""mine host" for many years. He died 
January 2, 1830, and his widow died Jan- 
nary 10. 1841. She was born March 15, 
1753. Their children were: Jane, born 
June 28, 1779, married Joseph Carr, of 
Warwick. John, born December 17, 
1780, died January 27, 1811. Mary, born 
February 19, 1783, married Samuel Hart, 



son of Joseph Hart, January 6, 1806. 
James, born March 6, 1785, married Jane 
Baird, of Warwick. Grizelda, born March 
19. 1787, never married, died October 5, 
1868. William, born January 4, 1789, 
married Martha Carr, daughter of Adam 
and Frances Carr, of Warwick. Joseph, 
born November 9, 1790, died 1872, un- 
married. Elizabeth, born April 14, 
1794, married her cousin William Hart, 
son of John and Mary Hart. William 
Hart, father of the above children, was' 
commissioned major of second battalion 
of Bucks county militia, May 6, 1777, and 
rose to rank of colonel. Both James 
and William Hart, the two eldest sons 
of Samuel, the pioneer, died compara- 
tively young, whether in the service of 
their country or not is not known. 

Of the children of William and Mar- 
garet (Means) Hart we have record of 
but one, Joseph Hart, born November 
20, 1745, died August 31, 1797. His 
mother, Margaret (Means) Hart, mar- 
ried a Beatty. His early manhood was 
spent in the neighborhood of Hartsville. 
He was a member of the Associated 
Company of Warminster in 1775, was 
commissioned a captain. May 6, 1777, and 
rose to the rank of colonel of militia. 
He married, January i, 1770, Elizabeth, 
daughter of Nicholas and Esther 
(Craven) Gilbert of Warminster. She 
was born July 9, 1748, and died January 
26. 1841. In 1772 the 173 acre farm of 
which Nicholas Gilbert died seized in 
Warminster on the Street road and War- 
rington line was adjudged to Joseph 
Hart in right of his wife Elizabeth and 
they settled thereon. Joseph Hart later 
sold the Warminster farm and removed 
to the mill on the York road in War- 
wick, near Hartsville, now owned by 
John M. Darrah, where he died August 
31, 1797- His children were: Josiah, born 
October 15, 1770, died May 20, 1850, un- 
married. Levi, born August 16, 1773, died 
young. Mahlon. born March 11, 1775, 
died young. Elizabeth, born November 
2. 1777, married first Jonathan Conrad, 
second, Samuel Croasdale. Samuel, born 
November i, 1783, died November 25, 
1863, married first jNIary, daughter of 
William and Elizabeth Hart, born Feb- 
ruary 19. 1783, died February 28, 1828. 

Samuel Hart, grandfather of the 
subject of this .sketch, was but four- 
teen years of age at the death of his 
father, and Robert Loller, Esq., of Hat- 
boro, who was appointed his guardian, 
took him to his home and superintended 
his education. He studied surveying 
and conveyancing and assisted his 
guardian in these pursuits, and at the 
death of the latter succeeded to his bus- 
iness and was employed in settling a 
number of estates. He was for many 
years a justice of the peace and surveyor. 
He married, January 6. 1806. Mary, 
daughter of Colonel William and Eliza- 
beth (Means) Hart, and had by her 



320 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



seven children as follows: Mary, born 
October 9, 1S08, married June 17, 1S34, 
William C. Jamison, of Warwick. IJiza- 
beth, born January 22, 1810, died unmar- 
ried. Josiah, born September 15, iSii, 
died 1898, married November 24, 1842, 
Sarah Brock. William, born August 24, 
1813, married April 19, 1844, Isabella 
Mann. He died February 25, 1867. Ir- 
win, born December 9, 1815, died young. 
George, born April 4, 1817, died Febru- 
ary 7, 1871. Nathaniel, born October 15, 
1819, died November 14, 1862, married 
December 10, 1843, Susan L. Cox. Sam- 
uel Hart was a member of Neshaminy 
Presbyterian church, of which he was 
trustee for thirteen years — 1810 to 1823. 
In 1829 he joined th-e Society of Friends. 
He married Amy, widow of John \Ia- 
thews, and daughter of Benjamin Kin- 
sey, of Buckingham. His only child by 
the second marriage was Samuel Hart, 
of Doylestown township, born in 1832, 
married Ellen Eastburn. 

George Hart, son of Samuel and Mary 
Hart, studied law and was admitted to 
the Bucks county bar November 16, 
1843. He was a man universally ad- 
mired and respected for his many good 
qualities. He was thrice married; (first) 
February i, 1842, to Zallida, daughter of 
James and Amelia (Brockway) Gofif; 
(second) January 22, 1846, to Sarah, 
daughter of Nathan and Sarah (Cal- 
lender) Cornell; and (third) February 
I, 1854, to Martha, daughter of John and 
Martha CDuncan) Watson, a sister to 
Judge Richard Watson. 

Josiah Hart, son of Samuel and Mary 
Hart, was born in Warwick township, 
September 15, 181 1. He received a lib- 
eral education and on June 18, 1834, was 
appointed a clerk in the Doylestown 
Bank and December 8, 1847, was pro- 
moted to the position of cashier, which 
position he filled for ten years, being 
succeeded by John J. Brock, November 
19, 1857. In the following year he or- 
ganized a banking institution in con- 
nection with his brother, George Hart, 
Richard Watson, Willam M. Large and 
Jonas Fretz, under the name of J. Hart 
& Co. During the civil war Messrs. 
Fretz, Large and Watson retired, and 
after the death of George Hart, John 
and Frank Hart became partners with 
their father and sole proprietors of the 
bank. Josiah Hart died October 16, 
1885, and the sons continued the busi- 
ness until 1896. when the business was 
closed out. Josiah Hart married, No- 
vember 24. 1842, Sarah, Daughter of 
Stephen and Mary (Jones) Brock. John 
and Frank were their only children. 
On the organization of the Doylestown 
Trust Company, March 24, 1896. John 
Hart became its president. Both John 
and Frank Hart received a liberal edu- 
cation and early in life became clerks in 
their father's bank and later proprietors 
as above stated. At the closing of the 



bank Frank retired from active business. 
John married Grace Vansant, and has 
one child, Rebie. Frank married Lizzie 
Pallett, who is now deceased, and he 
has one son George. 



MARY HOLCOMBE, of Newtown, is 
a native of Plumstead township, Bucks 
county, being a daughter o^ Charles and 
Hannah Robinson Ilolcombe, and a de- 
scendant of John and Mary (Green) 
Holcombe, an account of whose descen- 
dants is given in the preceding sketch. 

Richard Holcombe, the grandfather of 
Mary Holcombe, was the second son of 
John and Mary (Closson) Holcombe, of 
Amwell township, Hunterdon county. 
New Jersey, where he was born in 1767. 
On November 20, 1792, he married Eliza- 
beth Closson, daughter of Cornelius and 
Jennet Closson, of Solebury, and settled 
on his father's farm in Amwell, where he 
spent his whole life, dying in 1827. He 
was a carpenter by trade, and was dis- 
tinguished from his cousins of the same 
name by the appelation of "Carpenter 
Richard Holcombe." Richard and Eliza- 
beth (Closson) Holcombe were the pa- 
rents of nine children: John C, who 
resided on the old Amwell plantation, 
dying at the age of ninety years; 
Thomas; Charles; Mary, married Ab- 
salom Phillips; Allen; Elizabeth, mar- 
ried Wilson Moore, and Aaron. 

Charles Holcombe, son of Richard and 
Elizabeth, was a wheelwright by trade, 
but for many years prior to his death 
was a farmer in Plumstead township, 
Bucks county. He married (first) Mary 
Roberts, who bore him seven children, 
only one of whom grew to maturity, 
Elizabeth, who married Charles P. Fen- 
ton. He married (second) Hannah Rob- 
inson and had four children: Mary, the 
subject of this sketch; Allen, and Sarah 
Ellen, both of whom died young;' and 
Charles, who married Phebe Ellen Betts, 
and is now deceased, leaving three chil- 
dren: Reuben, who married, September 
15, 1898, Amy Cooper, daughter of 
George and Sarah (Miller) Cooper, of 
Avondale, Chester county, Pennsylvania; 
Rachel B., and Charles, who is a local 
minister of the Methodist church: he 
married, February 22, 1899, Flora Sny- 
der, daughter of Silas and Catherine Sny- 
der, of Bucks county, Pennsj-lvania; 
Phebe Ellen, the widow of Charles Hol- 
combe. Jr., resides with the subject of 
this sketch at Newtown. Charles Hol- 
combe, Sr., died in Plumstead, August 
7, 1881, aged eighty-two years. 



OLIVER H. HOLCOMBE. of 
Wrightstown. is a worthy descendant 
of one of the oldest families in Bucks 
county. Lie is a son of John and Eliza- 
beth (Hibbs) Holcombe. and was born 
in Upper Makefield township, Bucks 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



32 [ 



county. Pennsylvania, November 7, 1830. 

The progenitors of the Holcombes of 
Bucks county and of Hunterdon county, 
New Jersey, were Jacob and John Hol- 
combe, brothers, born in Triverton, Dev- 
onshire, England, about 1680. George 
Holcombe Larison, the historian of the 
family, says that their father died when 
they were quite young, but this does not 
seem to be borne out by the records, as 
Jacob Holcombe. while in middle age 
and residing in Buckingham, requested 
that a meeting of Buckingham Friends 
might be held "at the home of his aged 
parents." John and Jacob are sup- 
posed to be the sons of Richard Hol- 
combe and Sarah Holme, daughter of 
Thomas Holme. Penn's first surveyor- 
general. The latter, in his will in 1694, 
leaves a legacy "to the children of Rich- 
ard Holcombe by my daughter Sarah." 
Jacob Holcombe was one of the earliest 
landholders in Buckingham, and died 
there in 1748. leaving a son Thomas and 
several daughters. His wife was Mary 
Woolridge. whom he married at Falls 
Meeting in 1712. 

John Holcombe purchased in 1705 a 
large tract of land on the Delaware in 
New Jersey, including a large part of 
the present city of Lambertville. and has 
left numerous descendants of the name 
in that vicinity. At the time of he pur- 
chase he was a resident of Abington, 
Philadelphia county, and married at Ab- 
ington Meeting of Friends, 4 mo. 28, 
1707, Elizabeth Woolridge. He settled 
in Amwell township, Hunterdon county, 
New Jersey, where he later added to his 
purchase of 1705 several other large pur- 
chases of lands, and owning at his death 
in 1743 over one thousand acres of land 
which he devised to his sons and grand- 
sons. He was one of the judges of the 
first court held in Hnuterdon. John 
and Elizabeth (Woolridge) Holcombe 
were the parents of six children: John, 
who died a young man and unmarried; 
Samuel, see forward; Richard, married 
(first) Mary Harvey, and (second) Ann 
Emiey. and had one son and two daugh- 
ters; Grace, married Philip Calvin; Mary, 
married Samuel Furnlan. of Morris 
county. New Jersey; and Julia Ann, 
married Daniel Howell. 

Samuel Holcombe, second son of John 
and Elizabeth, born in New Jersey. 171 1, 
married Eleanor Barber, and they are 
the ancestors of all the Holcombes of 
Bucks county, as well as of Hunterdon 
county. New Jersey. He was a mem- 
ber of Buckingham Friends Meeting, 
and became a large landholder. He died 
August 26, 1769. His wife Eleanor 
survived him nearly a quarter of a cen- 
tury, dying June 2, I793. aged about 
ninety years. The children of Samuel 
and Eleanor (Barber) Holcombe, were 
nine in number: i. John, born February 
16, 1739. see forward; 2. Jacob, born 
December 7. 1741, married Rachel, 
21-3 



daughter of John and Elizabeth Hyde, 
and had eight children. 3. Phebe, born 
October 2^, 1743, married Henrj^ Lott, 
and had ten children, three of whom 
died in infancy; 4. Samuel, born March 
I7i 1745, married first a widow Stephen- 
son, nee " Stillwell, and had two sons, 
Samuel and George; married (second) 
Sarah Emley, and had children: Mary, 
Robert, Elisha, Atkinson, Thomas A., 
Solomon, Lewis and Hannah; he liv^d 
and died in New Jersey near Mt. Airy. 
5. George, born April 9, 1747, married 
Achsah Knowles, and had five children: 
Joseph, George, Achsah, John and Sam- 
uel. He was a soldier in the Revolution, 
and rose to the rank of major. 6. Elijah, 
born September 29, 1750, married Nancy 
Brittain, and had eight children. He 
and his family migrated to Zanesville. 
Ohio, at an early date. He was also a 
soldier in the Revolution. 7. Richard, 
born December 30, 1752, married Hannah 
Emley, and had seven children: Ann, 
Emley. Lucilla, George, EHsha and Eli- 
nor. He was a revolutionary soldier. 
His grandson, George B. Holcombe, was 
sheriff of Hunterdon county, 1856-58. 
8. Thomas, born November 19, 1754, 
married (first) Leah Deremer, whose 
only child died young. He married 
(second) Mary T. Holcombe, and had 
ten children, Richard, John, Abraham, 
Leah, Elias, Thomas, Henry, Ralph, 
Ann and ^Maria. 9. Elizabeth, born Oc- 
tober 14, 1758. married John Bellis and 
reared a family of ten children. 

John Holcombe. eldest son of Samuel 
and Lienor (Barber) Holcombe, born 
February 16, 1739. married Mary Green, 
daughter of Richard and Elizabeth 
(Wolverton) Green. Mary was born in 
Amwell township, June 26, 1741. and died 
in Solebury township, Bucks county in 
1829. John and Mary lived on the old 
homestead near Lambertville, and reared 
a family of nine children, several of 
whom became residents of Bucks 
county. John Holcombe moved to 
Solebury in 1792, and died there in 1818. 
The children were: i. Elizabeth, died 
unmarried in Solebury about 1855, at the 
age of ninety years. 2. Samuel, see for- 
ward. 3. Richard, born 1767, married in 
1792, Elizabeth Closson, see succeeding 
sketch. 4. Lienor, married Asher Ely, 
of Solebury, see sketch of William L. 
Ely in this volume. 5. John, died in 
Solebury in 1820; married Mary Pear- 
son and had children: Pearson. Rhoda, 
John, Hannah, Samuel. Mary, married 
Jesse Walton, and Elizabeth, married 
Thomas Paist. 6. Sarah, married Phineas 
Walker, see sketch of William L. Walker 
in this volume. 7. Margaret, never mar- 
ried, died in Solebury 1855. 8. Amaziah, 
died young. 9. Daniel, died young. 

Samuel Holcombe. eldest son of John 
and Mary (Green) Holcofmbe. was born 
in Amwell township. Hunterdon county. 
New Jersey March 16. 1765. He married 



322 



HISTORY OF DUCKS COUNTY. 



November g, 1797, Anna Amelia Van 
Horn, born January 25. 1775, daughter of 

and Sarah (Mode) Van Horn, and 

settled in Upper Makefield township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he 
became a large landowner. Anna Amelia 
(Van Horn) Holcombe died 'March 12, 
1833. He married (second) Elizabeth 
Furman, nee Wildman, who survived 
him. The ceremony was performed Oc- 
tober 16. 1834. He died April 8, 1855. 
The children of Samuel and Anna Ame- 
lia (Van Horn) Holcombe are as fol- 
lows: Sarah, born July 31, 1798, married 
Samuel Ross. Mary, born December 14, 
1799, married Benjamin Beans. Eliza- 
beth, born May i, 1801. married William 
Hibbs. John, born December 4, 1802, 
see forward. Anna Amelia, born March 
24, 1804, married David Phillips. Han- 
nah, born April 6, 1806, married William 
Martindale. Samuel, born August 2, 
1807, died unmarried, 1870. Phebe, born 
September 9, 1809, died March 11, 1831. 
Matilda, , born April 25, 181 1, married 
Carey Longshore. De Witt Clinton, 
born October 23. 1812. died unmarried, 
September 20, 1843. George, born 'May 
31, 1815, married and had one son, Sam- 
uel, and three daughters; he died July 
24, 1844. One child was born to Sam- 
uel and Elizabeth (Furman) Holcombe, 
Phebe W., born October 12, 1837, mar- 
ried Dr. Benjamin Collins. Samuel Hol- 
combe was in early life a carpenter and 
cabinet maker, but later in life followed 
the life of a farmer. 

John Holcombe, son of Samuel and 
Anna Amelia (Van Horn) Holcombe. 
was born 12 mo. 4, 1802, and died in 
Newtown 9 mo. 15, 1894, at the age of 
ninety-one years. He was a farmer in 
Upper Makefield until 1837, when he 
purchased a farm in Newtown township. 
He was a successful farmer and an ac- 
tive and prominent man in the commun- 
ity. He took an active part in the estab- 
lishment of the public school system, 
and an active interest in all that per- 
tained to the best interests of the com- 
munity. He was a member of Wrights- 
town Friends' Meeting, and in politics 
was an ardent Whig, and later a Re- 
publican. His later years were spent 
in Newtown borough. He married Eliza- 
beth Hibbs, who bore him five children 
of whom two survive: Oliver H., the 
subject of this sketch, and Hannah E., 
residing in Philadelphia. 

Oliver H. Holcombe was born in Up- 
per Makefield township, November 7, 
1830. He acquired his education at the 
common schools and at a private school 
conducted by Jeremiah Hayhurst, at 
Kennett Square, Chester county, Penn- 
sylvania. He married on March 22, 
T855, Cynthia Scarborough, daughter of 
John and Hannah (Reeder) Scarborough, 
of Solebury, and began life as a farmer 
on a farm rcccntl}^ purchased by his 
father in Wrightstown township. A year 



later he removed to Newtown township 
on a farm purchased by his father across 
the road from the homestead, where he 
lived for five years, and then took charge 
of the homestead, where he lived for 
thirty-four years, having acquired the 
ownership of the homestead. In the 
spring of 1895 he removed to Newtown, 
and has since lived a retired life, pur- 
chasing his present residence in Pineville, 
and removing there in the spring of 
1899. He has been a stockholder in the 
First National Bank of Newtown since 
its organization, and a member of the 
board of directors since 1899. He was 
one of the first to agitate the building 
of the Philadelphia & Newtown Rail- 
road, spent much time and money to that 
end, and was elected one of the first di- 
rectors of the completed road. He has 
served several years as a school direc- 
tor, and has filled other local positions. 
He has been for many years active in the 
cause of the Prohibition party; has been 
its candidate for congress and other of- 
fices; and in 1888 was a delegate to the 
national convention of the party in In- 
dianapolis. Mrs. Holcombe has also 
been active in temperance work for many 
years, being the first president of the 
Bucks County Woman's Christian Tem- 
peraoce Union, which was organized in 
March, 1885, and under her efficient man- 
agement about one thousand women 
were enrolled as members. For more 
than twenty-five years she has been a 
monthly contributor to the Home De- 
partment of the Farm Journal, of Phil- 
adelphia, under the pseudonym of 
"Mary Sidney," and her essays have 
been copied into many papers and at- 
tracted much attention. Mr. and Mrs. 
Holcombe are both members and reg- 
ular attendants of Wrightstown Monthly 
Meeting of Friends, and for many years 
have been elders. They are the parents 
of two children: William P., now re- 
siding in New Hampshire; and Anna, 
wife of Edward R. Kirk, of Buckingham, 



AMANDUS HARTZELL COPE, one 
of the progressive farmers of Richland Cen- 
ter, son of Jacob and Julia (Hartzell) 
Cope, was born April 17, 1852, on a. farm 
then owned and operated by his father in 
Richland township, near Richlandtown. 
The property consisted of forty acres, and 
was located on Applebachville road, near 
the line of Haycock township. Jacob Cope 
(father), son of Jacob and Julia Cope, was 
born in Rockhill township, Bucks county. 
He attended the subscription and public 
schools of the neighborhood, after which he 
served an apprenticeship at the trade of 
cigarmaker, which he followed for some 
time, and later turned his attention to farm- 
ing. He married Julia Hartzell, of Rock- 
hill township, and had issue: Euphemia, 
who became the wife of Jacob Allum. a 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



3^3 



farmer; Maria, who became the wife of 
Jonas Suyden, and they reside in Philadel- 
phia; Aaron, married Savilla Gangawere, 
and they reside in Haycock township ; 
Eliza, widow of Jacob Fluck, and resides 
near Richlandtown ; Jacob, deceased ; Will- 
iam, married Amanda Mace, and they re- 
side at Tylersport, Montgomery county, 
Pennsylvania; and Amandus Hartzell Cope. 
In i860, when Amandus H. Cope was 
eight years of age, his parents moved to 
Haycock township, near Tohickon creek, 
where they purchased a farm containing 
eighty-five acres, which later became the 
property of Peter Horn. The family re- 
sided thereon for the long period of twenty- 
eight years. After his marriage Amandus 
settled on his father's farm and succeeded 
the latter in managing the same on shares, 
which he continued to do until the death 
of his father in 1884, when the property was 
sold to a Mr. Gross. Amandus then moved 
to a place near Richlandtown, where he re- 
mained for one year, and in 1886 purchased 
a farm of twenty-two acres of improved 
land, situated on Mill near Third street, 
Quakertown, which was formerly the prop- 
erty of Henry Hager. He still resides on 
this property, which he operates as a gen- 
eral farm, and in addition to these duties 
he attends the Philadelphia market. He 
casts his vote for the candidates of the 
Democratic party, but owing to the demands 
made upon his time by his business takes no 
active part in local affairs. Mr. Cope en- 
joys the respect and esteem of a large cir- 
cle of friends and acquaintances. Novem- 
ber 6, 1875, Mr. Cope was united in mar- 
riage to Harriet Harding, who was born 
September 27, 1853, daughter of Readmg 
and Emeline (Potts) Harding, farmers of 
Haycock township. Mr. and Mrs. Cope are 
members of the Reformed church at Rich- 
landtown. 



EDWARD H. TRAUCH. In Bedmm- 
ster township there are few more popular 
men than Edward H. Trauch. Mr. Trauch 
is a grandson of Peter Trauch, for many 
years a prominent farmer of Williams town- 
ship, and later of New Britain where he 
died. ^ 

William H. Trauch, son of Peter Trauch, 
mentioned above, was born in 1847, in 
Williams township, and at seventeen years 
of age became the teacher of a school ni 
Tinicum township, working on a farm dur- 
ing the summer. At the end of two years 
he gave his attention entirely to farmmg, 
and after his marriage was employed for 
three years on the farm of his father-in- 
law, and then purchased his present home 
farm in Bedminster township, where he has 
â– since resided. For twelve years he has 
lield the office of supervisor. He is a Demo- 
crat in politics, and belongs to the Lutheran 
church, being a member of the church coun- 
cil. He married Mary Jane, daughter of 
Elias Trauger, of Bedminster township, 
-and of the twelve children born to them 



ten are now living: Emma Laura, Ella 
Nora, Ira Elias, Minnie May, Clara, Ed- 
ward H., mentioned at length hereinafter ; 
William, Samuel, Susanna, and JMary. 

Edward H. Trauch, son of William H, 
and Mary- Jane (Trauger) Trauch, was 
born July 22, 1874, in Bedminster township, 
where he obtained his education in the 
common schools. At the age of nineteen 
he went to Keller's Church, where for two 
years he was employed as salesman. He 
then accepted a position with Lewis Keller, 
the proprietor of the extensive department 
of Bedminsterville, where he remained four 
years. In June, 1900, he purchased the 
bakery business of William Yost, of Bed- 
minsterville, which he now so successfully 
conducts, the patronage having greatly in- 
creased under his management. He has 
filled various election offices, but is not an 
office seeker. He is a member of Maratina 
Castle, Knights of the Golden Eagle, and 
Ottsville Lodge, No. 32, Shield of Honor. 
He is a Democrat in politics, and belongs 
to the Lutheran church. Mr. Trauch mar- 
ried, November 20, 1897, Maggie, daughter 
of Titus Snyder, a prominent farmer of 
Bedminster township, and they have three 
children : Ildah, Elsie and Mary. 



J. OSCAR DOAN. Several generations 
of the Doan family have been represented 
in Bucks county. The grandparents of J. 
Oscar Doan were Jonathan and Grace 
(Worthington) Doan, farming people of 
Buckingham township. The grandfather 
died when his son Wilson was but nine 
years of age, leaving a widow and ten chil- 
dren, only four of whom reached mature 
years. His widow continued to reside upon 
the home farm and there reared her fam- 
ily, continuing upon the old home property 
up to the time of her demise. 

Wilson Doan, son of Jonathan and Grace 
Doan, was born in Buckingham township, 
October 20, 1823, and was carefully reared 
by his mother. He attended the public 
schools and being an apt student gained a 
very thorough common-school education, 
which enabled him to successfully engage 
in teaching for several years in the district 
schools. He followed that profession both 
prior and subsequent to his marriage, and 
gained such an excellent reputation for dis- 
cipline that whenever there was an un- 
manageable school in the district he was 
sent to take charge and thereafter there was 
no trouble. He was married in 1845 and 
engaged in farming, leasing the Henry S. 
Knight farm in Buckingham township for 
five years. He afterward conducted a store 
in Cottageville for a shore time, and then 
engaged in teaching for several years, being 
identified with educational development of 
the county in this way for at least twenty 
years. He resided in Solebury township 
until his health became impaired, and m 
1884 he purchased the home in Plumstead, 
the township where his daughter Elizabeth 



3^4 



HISTORY OF BUCKS CO-UNTY. 



now resides and where he continued until 
his death, March 2, 1904. He was a member 
of the Friends' meetmg, was a Kepubiican 
in pontics, and a man of sterling integrity,, 
his hfe being imbued with high ideals and 
honorable principles. In 1845 he wedded 
Hannah Fenton, who was born in Chelten- 
ham, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania^ 
December 14, 1819, a daughter of William 
and Mary (,Fenton) Fenton. Mrs. Hannah 
Doan died August 4, 1897. There had been 
born seven children ot that marriage, ot 
whom four are living : William F., Harr> 
W., J. Oscar, and Elizabeth, who as stated 
occupies the home farm in Plumstead town 
ship. 

J. Oscar Doan, son of Wilson and Han- 
nah (Fenton) Doan, was born in Solebur> 
township, October 26, 1854, and having ac- 
quired his education in the common schools 
worked with his father on the home farm 
during the periods of vacation and until 
his seventeenth year, when he started out 
in life on his own account as a farm hand. 
He was employed in this way for nine 
years, after which he spent two or three 
years at home. He was married April 17, 
1884, to Miss Ida E. Thomas, a daughter 
of Newton R. and Margaret (Jamison) 
Thomas, both of whom died during the 
early girlhood of their daughter. Two 
children have been l.«arn of this union, 
Newton R. W. and Otis H. After his mar- 
riage Mr. Doan purchased a farm in the 
northwestern part of Solebury township, 
where he turned his attention to agricul- 
tural interests, and four years later re- 
moved to the Jacob Booz farm in Bucking- 
ham township, which he operated as a renter 
for eight years. In 1897 he purchased that 
property and still devotes his time and ener- 
gies to its further development and im- 
provement. He exercises his right of 
franchise in support of the Republican 
party, and he is a member of Pannaucus- 
sing Lodge, No. 221, K. P., of Carvers- 
ville. The success which he has achieved has 
come as the direct result of his labors, and 
in his business career he has proved that a 
competence and an honored name may be 
won simultaneously. 



JOSEPH M. LEWIS. Bucks county is 
ever mindful of the scions of her old fam- 
ilies, watching with interest their progress 
and rejoicing in their prosperity. This she 
has not failed to do in the case of Joseph 
M. Lewis, of Lambertville, New Jersey. 
The founder of the Lewis family emigrated 
from Wales, and his son Ephraim was born 
in Bucks county. Ephraim Lewis was a 
volunteer in the war of 1812, serving in the 
Pennsylvania line and being stationed at 
Marcus Hook. 

David M. Lewis, son of Ephraim Lewis, 
mentioned above, was born in Doylestown 
township, where he was brought up by an 
aunt, Mrs. Malsbury, attending the old 
Doylestown Academy. As a young man he 



went to New Hope, where he served a 
nine years' apprenticeship at the tailor's 
trade, after which he went to Davisville, 
where for a short time he carried on a tail-- 
oring business. He then removed to Lam- 
bertville, and was living there in 1841, whea 
the sweeping away of the bridge by the 
flood brought such disaster to the place. At 
the end of a year he returned to New Hope ' 
and there conducted business for many 
years. During the Mexican war he was 
orderly sergeant of the Doylestown Greys, 
a company of the National Guard, and en- 
listed for the war, but the quota being full 
his services were not accepted. He was for 
a number of years a member of the I. O. 
O. F., but allowed his membership to lapse 
prior to his death. He was a Democrat in 
politics, and a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. He married Elizabeth 
Stackhouse, and one child was born to- 
them ; Joseph M., mentioned at length here- 
inafter. The death of Mr. Lewis occurred 
in New Hope, of which place he had been, 
a resident of so many years. 

Joseph M. Lewis, only child of David M. 
and Elizabeth (Stackhouse) Lewis, was 
born February 15, 1840, in Davisville, and 
in his sixteenth year went to Lambertville 
to learn the jeweler's trade. His five years' 
apprenticeship expired in February, 1861, 
and the. following April witnessed the out- 
break of the Civil war. Mr. Lewis was 
among those who responded to the first 
call for troops, two companies being raised 
in Lambertville. He joined and helped to 
drill Company E, commanded by Captain 
A. W. Angel. This company was attached 
to the Third New Jersey Regiment, Col- 
onel Napton commanding, and formed part 
of the brigade commanded by Brigadier- 
General Runyon. Mr. Lewis was made 
drum major prior to leaving the state and 
served three months, his term expiring two 
days after the battle of Bull Run. The 
brigade was then resting at Fort Runyon 
after their retreat from Manassas. Mr- 
Lewis then returned home, and six weeks 
later re-enlisted in the One Hundred and 
Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment, Colonel 
William W. H. Davis commanding. He 
was made a drummer in the band, serving 
all through the peninsula campaign, and 
remaining with the regiment until the pas- 
sage of the act of congress disbanding all 
regiment bands, his discharge occurring 
August II, 1862, at Harrison's Landing, 
Virginia. Mr. Lewis then returned home 
and accepted a position with a Doylestown 
jeweler, where he remained nine months, 
returning to Lambertville to accept a po- 
sition in the store where he had served his 
apprenticeship. For one year he worked 
for his former employer, who then sold the 
business, Mr. Lewis entering the service of 
the new owner. At the end of three years 
Mr. Lewis purchased the business which 
he has conducted for the last thirty-six 
years, and is now the leading jeweler of 
Lambertville. He belongs to Angel Post, 
No. 20, G. A. R., of Lambertville, is a 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



3^5 



Democrat in politics, and a member of the 
Presbyterian church. Mr. Lewis married 
December 9, 1868, Victoria R., daughter of 
Phihp Harper Matthews, a hmiber mer- 
chant of Lambertville, and they have one 
son, Frank B., who is in business with his 
father, and married Jennie H., daughter of 
WilHam Price, of New Hope. Mr. and 
Mrs. Lewis are the parents of one child, 
Florence Josephine. 



CHARLES T. DAGER, proprietor of a 
hotel at Warminster, also identified with 
farming interests in the township of that 
name, was born at Baron Hill, Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania, April 3, 1834. His 
grandfather, Frederick Dager, was a miller 
by trade and followed that pursuit through- 
out his entire life. He voted with the 
Democracy, but never aspired to office. 
During the revolutionary war he saved the 
life of an American ofiicer who was being 
pursued by the British by hiding him in a 
chimney in the house at Marble Hall. 
Montgomery county. Frederick Dager died 
and was buried at Baron Hill. He and his 
wife were members of the Lutheran church 
at that place. Their children were: Philip, 
John, Henry, Charles, Martha, and Mrs. 
Frye. 

Major John Dager, son of Frederick 
Dager, was born in Montgomery county, at 
Spring Mill, and in his youth assisted' his 
father in the milling business, thus learn- 
ing the trade in his younger days. After 
his marriage he settled upon the home 
farm, purchasing the property at Baron 
Hill, comprising twelve acres. There he 
â– conducted a hotel and upon his land raised 
much of the products needed for consump- 
tion by the guests of the house. He con- 
•ducted the hotel altogether for forty-eight 
years, and was one of the best known citi- 
zens of that locality. He was largely in- 
strumental in securing the postolSce at 
Baron Hill, and acted as postmaster when 
the office paid no salary. At the time of 
the building of the' pike he stronglv en- 
dorsed that movement, and in fact was an 
advocate of all progressive measures. Li 
politics a Democrat, he was recognized as 
one of the leading supporters of the party 
in his locality and he filled a number of 
local offices, including that of school 
director and justice of the peace, occupying 
the latter position for many years. He was 
an enterprising and public-spirited citizen, 
a popular business man, and was widely 
known and highly respected. He was 
usually called Major Dager, having served 
his country as a major in the war of 181 2. 
He was a devoted member of the Lutheran 
church, in which his wife was also identi- 
fied. She bore the maiden name of Ann 
Freas, and was a daughter of Simon treas. 
who belonged to one of the old families of 
Montgomery county. He engaged exten- 
sively in dealing in marble and was an en- 
terprising farmer, recognized as one of the 



leading business men of his neighborhood. 
He held membership in the Lutheran 
church, and gave his political allegiance to 
the Democracy. His children were : Philip, 
who became editor of the Germantown 
Telegraph ; Nicholas, a partner in the 
ownership of the paper ; Charles, an ex- 
tensive farmer, also a dealer in marble; 
Mrs. Ann Dager ; Barbara, who became the 

wife of , a teacher in the high 

school of ; and Henry, a merchant 

of Germantown. To Major and Mrs. 
Dager were born the following children : 
Margaret, wife of H. S. Hitner; Susanna, 
the wife of S. Struper; Mrs. Harriet Zim- 
merman; Mrs. Eliza Stif er ; Mrs. Mary 
Lismyer; Mrs. Martha Richardson; Sarah 
and Anna, deceased; William, a farmer, 
and for many years overseer of the 
Lutheran church; Moulton R., a merchant; 
Charles Nicholas, who also follows mer- 
chandising; and Albert, a dealer in coal. 
The sons have become prominent and in- 
fluential in business circles, and the daugh- 
ters all married leading citizens of their 
respective communities. 

Charles T. Dager was born in the Baron 
Hill hotel, became familiar with the busi- 
ness of conducting a hotel in his youth, 
and throughout the greater part of his life 
has continued in that line of activity. For 
fourteen years he has been proprietor of the 
hotel at Warminster and is popular in this 
connection, having made an excellent record 
as a landlord. He remained under the 
parental roof until 1861, when he enlisted 
for three months setrvice under General 
Hartranft. On the expiration of that period 
he received an honorable discharge, but in 
the following month he again enlisted, be- 
coming one of the body guard of General 
Anderson's troop. H'e was assigned to 
the Army of the Cumberland and after 
reaching Ringgold, Georgia, was trans- 
ferred to General Buell's body guard, serv- 
ing in that capacity for more than three 
years or until the close of the war. He 
was then again honorably discharged and 
returned to his home with a most creditable 
military record, having displayed marked 
valor and loyalty in times of great danger. 
Mr. Dager was married at Chattanooga, 
Tennessee, during the period of the war, 
and after the cessation of hostilities he re- 
turned home bringing his bride to the 
north. He then located at the old home- 
stead at Baron Hill land acted as ba(r- 
keeper for his father. Later he followed 
the trade of brick mason, which he had 
learned in his youth. He conducted the 
business of contractor for a number of 
years, and at the same time assisted his 
father in the hotel business. Later he went 
to Marble Hall, where he took charge of a 
mining, marble and iron enterprise, con- 
tinuing there for fifteen vears, after which 
he again located at the Baron Hill Hotel, 
continuing in charge until April, 1890. He 
then bought the hotel and farm at War- 
minster, where he has since remained. He 
is a practical and successful hotel man. 



326 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



also active and energetic in his farming 
operations, and as the years have passed he 
has acquired considerable valuable falrm 
property in Georgia and Tennessee and 
owns a number of farm mortgages. He has 
good, business discernment, has made 
creditable and judicious investment, and in 
guiding his business affairs has shown capa- 
bility and sound sense. During the period 
of the civil war Mr. Dager married Miss 
Margaret Springer, who was born at Look- 
cut Mountain, and was a daughter of Joel 
and Sarah (Lewis) Springer, the former 
a native of Pennsylvania. He went to the 
south, however, where he obtained a large 
plantation and became an extensive slave 
owner. Prior to the war of the reliellion 
he was one of the leading planters of his 
section of the country, and he remained and 
died upon the old homestead in Georgia. 
He was an earnest, Christian man. He was 
connected with the Whitesides family, who 
owned Lookout Mountain and were promi- 
nent people of his portion of the State. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Dager have been born 
five children: Henry, a farmer; Maggie, 
the wife of George Miller, who is engaged 
in the butchering business ; Charles, who is 
engaged in the raising of vegetables which 
he sells in the Philadelphia market; Al- 
bert and Anna, both at home. Mrs. Danger 
is a member of the Baptist church. Mr. 
Dager votes with the Democracy and exer- 
cises considerable influence in the party 
councils. He served as a school director 
at Baron Hill for three years, was justice 
of the peace for three years and has also 
been supervisor of his township. He has 
never been a politician, however, in the 
sense of office seeking, his official positions 
being bestowed upon him by his fellow 
townsmen, who recognized his worth and 
ability. He is a member of the Lutheran 
church at Baron Hill, and has led an up- 
right, honorable life. He has reared three 
sons who have never used intoxicants. 
His entire career has been characterized 
by fidelity to duty and straightforward deal- 
ing with his followmen, and during his long 
residence in this part of Pennsylvania has 
become widely and favorably known. 



THE ROBERTS FAMILY. Robert 
Roberts, the progenitor of that branch of 
the Roberts family resident in Southamp- 
ton. Bucks county, Pennsylvania, whose 
birth is supposed to have occurred in Mont- 
gomery county, near Willow Grove, about 
the year 1797, died in 1876. His wife, 
whose maiden name was Hannah Tyson, 
bore him the following children ; Tacy. 
Mary, who became the wife of Ed. C. Wal- 
ton and two children were born to them : 
John and Seth. Jonathan, who married 
(first) Martha Walton, of Monts-nmery 
countv, who bore him two children : Edwin 
and Hannah; married (second) Marv N. 
Lawrence, who was born in Philadolpliia. 
Pennsylvania, June 20. 1832, daughter of 



George and Mary (Boss) Lawrence, ancf 
granddaughter of William and Mary 
(Weaver) Lawrence. George Lawrence 
was born April 25, 1798, and his wife Mary 
was born April 25, 1798, which was a most 
unusual incident. Jonathan and Mary N. 
Lawrence were the parents of one child., 
Jonathan Lawrence, born April 27, 1871^ 
died April 26, 1879. Edwin, born April 9, 
1851, in Montgomery county; in 1863 he 
accompanied his parents to Davisville^ 
Southampton township, Bucks county^ 
where his education was continued in the 
common schools. He began his career as a 
farmer, which vocation he followed for 
several years, or until his marriage with 
Annie E. Search. He then moved to the 
city of Philadelphia, where he engaged irfc 
the produce commission business, but after 
a residence of eleven years there returned 
to Bucks county, locating at Southampton, 
where his death occurred in the spring of 
1898. Two children were born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Roberts, namely : Harry, born 
jNlarch 14, 1877, died December 23, 1885; 
and Harold S., born January 22, 1889. 

Annie E. (Search) Roberts, widow of 
Edwin Roberts, traces her ancestry to one 
of three brothers — Charles, William and 
Lot Search — who came to this country dur- 
ing the eighteenth century and settled re- 
spectively in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and 
New York. Christopher Search, probably 
a son of Charles Search, a descendant of 
one of the three brothers aforementioned, 
was married twice. His first wife bore 
him six children, as follows : Samuel, who 
married Catherine Puff; William, Sarah, 
John, Charles, and James. His second wife,, 
whose maiden name was Ann Miles, bore 
him eight children, namely : Miles, who died 
in infancy ; George, who married Martha 
Owens and their family consisted of lWO 
children; Elizabeth and Celina ; Jacob, men- 
tioned hereinafter ; Margaret, who became 
the wife of Elias Lefferts and they reared 
a family of eleven children : Ellen, Anna, 
George, Rachel, Neismuth, Samuel, Sarah,. 
Lizetta, Jacob, Laura and Mary; Christo- 
pher, who married Margaret Fetter and they 
reared a family of seven children : Cornelia,. 
George, NewLon, Casper, Margaret. Kattie^ 
and Weedie ; Anthony, who married Eliza • 
— , and he with two of his sons- 
served in the Civil war, the latter being- 
killed; Ann, who became the wife of Casper 
Fetter and mother of five children : George, 
Christopher, Anna. Anthony, and one who- 
died in infancy; Griffith, who married 
Louisa Fetter and their family consisted of 
the following named children ; Amy, Ida,. 
Cora, Louisa, Mary and Alice. 

Jacob M. Search, son of Christopher and' 
Ann (Miles) Search, was born at South- 
ampton, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. De- 
cember 7, 1810, on the old homestead farm 
now occupied by John Finney. His active- 
career was devoted to farming pursuits. 
Although always intensely interested iit 
politics he never held any public office other 
than that of school director. He purchased 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



2>^7 



the old homestead farm of one hundred 
acres from his father, and a large portion 
of the present village of bouthampton was 
built on this land. He married Xancy uor- 
son, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth 
(Bennett) Corson, and their children were: 
Elwood, born September 22, 1838 ; Theo- 
dore, born March 20, 184 1, married Anna 
White and by her had one daughter, Ida 
May, who married George Howard Cliff 
and has one child, Anna S. ; Harry, born 
September 18, 1846, married Mary M. Lef- 
ferts and two children were born to them : 
Susannah, wife of Maurice Hartman, and 
they have one child, Vernon ; and Theodore, 
unmarried; Erasmus, born March 7, 1851, 
married Mary Ella Warren, and three chil- 
dren were born to them : Pauline, who be- 
came the wife of William Benny, and they 
have one child, Doris; Pauline Benny died 
in March, 1905 ; Leroy, and Ethel ; Anna 
E., born March 13, 1858, aforementioned as 
having become the wife of Edwin Roberts. 



JOHN DAVIS SELLS, of Hatboro, 
Pennsylvania, was born at Dublin, Ohio, 
May 4, 1857, and is a son of Dr. Holmes 
and Amy (Davis) Sells. His oaternal 
ancestors were political refugees from the 
provinces along the Rhine and came to this 
country in the early part of the eighteenth 
century, settling in Virginia about 1750. 
His ereat-great-grandfather was John Sells, 
and in about 1780 his son, John Sells, Jr., 
moved out to the Scioto valley, in what was 
then called Virginia, and settled at a point 
about twelve miles from where the city of 
Columbus now stands, in the state of (Dhio, 
county of Franklin. At this place his 
grandfather Charles, his father Holmes 
Sells and himself were born. 

Dr. Holmes Sells was born at Dublin, 
Ohio, Alarch 29, 1826. and finished his med- 
ical studies in Philadelphia at Jefferson 
College. He married, June 12, 1850, Amy 
Hart Davis, born June 24, 1827, daughter 
of John and Amy (Hart) Davis, and sister 
of General W. W. H. Davis, and began the 
practice of his profession at Dublin, Ohio, 
from which point he removed with his fam- 
ily to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1859, where he 
was proprietor of a large drug store and 
practiced medicine for many years. They 
were residents of Atlanta during its bom- 
bardment by General Sherman in the fall 
of 1864 and lived for six weeks in their 
cellar. Several shells struck the house and 
the kitchen was entirely demolished, the 
cooking stove being the only article of 
furniture uninjured. In the beginning of 
the siege a shell burst on the bed from 
which Mrs. Sells had recently risen, and 
the concussion threw her through a partially 
opened door into the yard. Dr. Sells was 
almost financially ruined by the destruction 
of his property during the war, and though 
entirely loyal to the Union he received no 
remuneration therefor. The family re- 
mained in Atlanta until the death of Dr. 



Sells in 1888. Mrs. Sells now resides with 
her sister 'at the old Davis homestead at 
Davisville. Dr. Holmes and Amy H. 
(Davis) Sells were the parents of two chil- 
dren : Charles Watts, born May 15, 1851, 
died September 9, 1862; and John Davis, 
the subject of this sketch. Charles Watts 
Sells had an extraordinary talent for music, 
and though dying at the early age of eleven 
years was quite a ijoted performer on the 
piano. 

John Davis Sells was reared in Atlanta, 
Georgia. He entered Lehigh University, 
class of 1876, and finished his education 
at the University of Georgia, graduating in 
the class of 1876. He came north to live 
in 1877, and while residin- at Davisville 
took up the study of law in the office of 
Hon. Harman Yerkes, at Doylestown, and 
was admitted to the Bucks county bar in 
June, 1882. In the fall of the same year 
he removed to Pottsville, Schuylkill county, 
Pennsylvania, and being admitted to the 
bar of that county practiced law tliere for 
ten years. In 1893 he went to Washing- 
ton to fill a governmental position under 
President Cleveland, which he retained for 
two years. In 1895 he removed to Phila- 
delphia and engaged in the iron and steel 
business, becoming associated with the 
Royersford Foundry and ^lachine Company, 
Inc., manufacturers of power transmission 
machinery, in which he has an interest, 
and is manager of the "power department" 
with offices at 43 North Seventh street. 
Mr. Sells resides with his family at Hat- 
boro, Montgomery county Pennsylvania. 
He is a member of the Pennsylvania Society 
Sons of Revolution, and the Historical So- 
ciety of Pennsylvania, the Trans- Atlantic 
Society, and is affiliated with the Masonic 
fraternity. He married. June 6. 1889, Ella 
Lane Schofield, daughter of Samuel Lane 
Schofield, of Scotch Irish ancestry, one 
of the pioneer civil engineers in locating 
the original surveys of several of the early 
railroads of Pennsylvania. His early an- 
cestors settled in Philadelphia about 1745. 
On the maternal side Mrs. Sells is a great- 
great-granddaughter of Michael Kauffman, 
one of the original settlers of Lancaster 
county. Mr. and Mrs. Sells have one 
daughter, Elizabeth Davis Sells, a graduate 
of Hatboro high school, who now attends 
St. ]\Iary's Hall, Burlington, New Jersey, 



GEORGE McKINSTRY, one of the 
younger generation of farmers of Bucking- 
ham townshin. is a native of Plumstead 
township, though hi,s paternal ancestors for 
three generations had been residents of 
Buckingham. He is a son of Oliver and 
Louisa (Miller) IMcKinstry, of Plumstead, 
both deceased, the former of Scotch-Irish 
and the latter of German descent. 

Nathan McKinstry. the great-great- 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch 
was born in the year 1712 and came to 
this country in the "Scotch-Irish Invasion," 



328 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



as Secretary Logan termed the great in- 
flux of Ulster Scots about 1735. Whether 
accompanied by his parents is not known. 
Certain it is that he was accompanied by 
a sister Elenor, who married Hugh Young 
in 1737. and possibly by a younger brother 
Samuel who settled in Plumstead in 1761. 
Hugh Young purchased a tract of 195 
acres in Wrightstown township, and in 
June, 1744, conveyed ninety-seven and one- 
half acres thereof to his brother-in-law, 
Nathan McKinstry. Here Nathan Mc- 
Kinstry and his wife Mary lived until 1753. 
when he sold his Wrightstown farm and 
purchased a tract of 202 acres in Bucking- 
ham (now Doylestown) township, one 
mile southeast of Doylestown^ where he 
spent his remaining days, dying April 15, 
1790, at the age of seventy-eight years. His 
wife Mary survived him several years. 
They were members of Neshaminy Pres- 
byterian church, of which he was a trustee, 
and both are buried there. Their children 
were: Jane, born 1745, died July 15, 1797, 
married James Kerr; John, died 1791 ; Sam- 
uel, born 1748, died January 24, 1796; 
Henry, born 1750, died November 28, 1804; 
William; and Robert, born 1756, died July 
25, 1834, married Mary Wier, sister to the 
grandmother of General U. S. Grant. 

Samuel McKinstry, second son of Nathan 
and Mary, born in Wrightstown in 1748, 
died January 24, 1796, on the old home- 
stead in Buckingham, which had been ad- 
judged to him in 1791. His wife Mary 
survived him twenty-two years, dying April 
4, 1818, at the age of sixty-four years. 
Samuel McKinstry had lived for a time 
prior to his father's death in Hilltown town- 
ship, but his later days w^ere spent on the 
homestead, where his father had built him 
a house. The children of Samuel and 
Mary McKinstry were: Nathan; James, 
Jane and Jesse, among whom the Buck- 
ingham plantation was divided in 18 13. 
Nathan took the present farm of Frank 
Heaton, where he died in 1852 ; James the 
farm now owned by Amos Worthington, 
and Jane and Jesse thirty-four acres of the 
present Doan farm. James conveyed his 
farm to Jane in 1819, and she at her death 
in 1822 devised it to her brothers Nathan 
and Jesse. 

Jes.«e McKinstry, youngest son of Sam- 
uel and Mary, born 1790, was the grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch. He was 
married prior to 1814 to Rachel Pierce 
and resided on the old homestead in Doyles- 
town township until April i, 1837, having 
purchased the interest of his brother Nathan 
in the lower farm in 1827. In 1837 he 
sold the farm and after residing for one 
year in New Britain purchased a farm on 
the Durham road in Upper Buckingham 
which he sold a year later and removed 
to Pulmstead, where he died November 
7. 185T. He was a member of Doylestown 
Presbyterian church, to which he left a 
legacy of forty dollars. His wife Rachel 
died July 22, 1869. at the age of sixty- 
eight years. Their children were : Harri- 



son, born March 5, 1814, died May 20, 
1876; Sophia; Jane; Nathan; Mary; 
Oliver; Alfred; Ezra; and John W., the 
latter dying in 185 1, aged seventeen years. 

Oliver McKinstry, father of the subject 
of this sketch, was born in Doylestown 
township, in 1822, and died in Plumstead 
township, August 2, 1902. His wife Louisa 
Miller was born in New Britain township, 
in 1827, and died in 1895. Oliver Mc- 
Kinstry on his marriage settled on a farm 
purchased for him by his father in 1846, 
and conveyed to him in 1850, and spent his 
whole life thereon, the farm being now oc- 
cupied by his son Harry. Oliver and Louisa 
McKinstry were the parents of live chil- 
dren, four of whom survive, Harry, resid- 
ing on the homestead ; Nannie, wife of 
Frank L. Gordon, of Seattle, Washington ; 
Ida, of Plumstead ; and George. 

George McKinstry was born and reared 
on the Plumstead farm and acquired his 
education at the public schools of that 
township and the Doylestown high school. 
He married in 1883 Mary R. Paist, daugh- 
ter of James Monroe and Elizabeth (Con- 
rad) Paist, of Buckingham, and for three 
years conducted the Cowdrick farm near 
Carversville. In 1886 he moved to a farm 
in Buckingham, purchased for him by his 
father, which he conducted for sixteen 
years. In 1901 he purchased his present 
home, a farm of sixty acres in Landisville, 
and removed there in the spring of 1904. 
To Mr. and Mrs. McKinstry have been 
born five children : Ethel. Bernice P., 
Clara F., Grace I., and Frances G., all of 
whom reside at home. 



AMOS S. BERINGER, one of the 
prominent and active business men of the 
little borough of Silverdale, was born in 
Hilltown near the location of the present 
borough on October 22, 1868, and is a 
son of Amos and Sophia (Sheip) Beringer, 
both of German origin and descendants of 
early settlers in that locality. 

Nicholas Beringer, the pioneer paternal 
ancestor of Amos S., came to Pennsylvania 
from Germany in the ship "Neptune." John 
Mason master, arriving in Philadelphia, 
September 24. 1754. He probably followed 
the trend of German emigration into Bucks 
by way of the present county of Montgom- 
ery. The first authentic record we have 
of him is in the list of non-a«sociators of 
Hilltown township in 1775. On June 29. 
1777, he purchased 140 acres of land in 
Hilltown of John Penn, the deed for which 
is still in the possession of the subject 
of this sketch as well as a large portion 
of the land therein represented. Nicholas 
Beringer died on the Hilltown plantation 
about October i, 1783. and his wife Eliza- 
beth died in March, 1808. They were the 
parents of three sons, John, Henry, and 
George, and three daughters. Elizabeth, 
wife of George Cramer, a cabinet maker 
of Hilltown; Catharine, wife of Amos 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



329 



Miner, of Marlboro, Montgomery county ; 
and Mary, wife of John henner of Hill- 
town. 

John Beringer, the eldest son of Nicholas 
and Elizabeth, purchased the homestead 
farm of his brothers and sisters and lived 
thereon during the active years of his life. 
In 1820 he and his wife Elizabeth con- 
veyed it to their sons Henry and George. 
John, the father, lived to an advanced age, 
dying in December, 1842, his wife having 
died some years earlier. Their children 
were : John, Henry, and George ; Henry 
died before his father, leaving a family. 

George Beringer, son of John and Eliza- 
beth, was born on the old homestead in 
Hilltown and lived there all his life. He 
purchased ninety-nine acres of it of his 
father in 1820, and in 1858 conveyed it to 
his son Amos Beringer, reserving for him- 
self and wife the "new dwelling and 
garden" for their use during the remainder 
of their lives. He died in December. 1864. 
He married Catharine Nunamaker, daugh- 
ter of Adam Nunamaker, of Rockhill, and 
granddaughter of Henry Nunamaker, who 
had purchased a tract of land in Rockhill 
and Hilltown in 1782 which descended to 
his son Adam in 1807. Adam died in 
1742, leaving several children, among whom 
was Catharine, wife of George Beringer. 
George and Catharine (Nunamaker) Berin- 
ger were the parents of two children, Amos 
and Mary. 

Amos N. Beringer, only son of George 
and Catharine, was born on the old home- 
stead May 29, 1824, and lived there all 
his life, dying December 4, 1885. He pur- 
chased the homestead of his r.arents, April 
21, 1858, and later acquired two lots in 
the village, now borough, of Silverdale, 
now occupied by the subject of this sketch. 
He was for many years a member of the 
school board of Hilltown and active in local 
affairs. He was twice married, first to 
Barbara Anglemoyer by whom he had two 
â– children, Ephraim and Mary, neither of 
whom survived him. He married (second) 
Sophia Sheip, of an old New Britain fam- 
ily, who survived him. Amos and Sophia 
(Sheip) Beringer were the parents of two 
children, Amos S. and Ellen. The family 
were members of the Lutheran church. 

Amos S. Beringer, born on the old home- 
stead which had been the home of his an- 
cestors nearly a century, was educated in 
the public schools. His father dying when 
he was sixteen years of age, he at once 
assumed the superintendence of the farm 
which he has continued ever since and has 
never lived anywhere else. In 1893 he be- 
gan pork butchering in connection with 
the conduct of his farm, which he has since 
continued with success, enlarging his busi- 
ness from year to year and marketing the 
product in Philadelphia. He has always 
taken an active interest in local affairs and 
has served in the town council of Silverdale 
^ince its organization, this being hi« third 
term. He is a member of the South Per- 
kasie Lutheran church. Mr. Beringer mar- 



ried on October 29,' 1887, at Quakertown, 
Sophia Hedrick, daughter of Oliver and 
Mary (Fretz) Hedrick, who was one of 
twelve children and was born September i, 
1868. Her paternal grandparents were 
Henry and Elizabeth (Heistand) Hedrick, 
the latter being a daughter of David Heis- 
tand, born January 24, 1788, died July 17, 
i860, by his wife Susan Kephard, born 
January 15, 1785, died January 23, 185 1, 
daughter of Rev. John and Elizabeth 
(Fretz) Kephard; and the former, born 
July 10, 1751, being for many years minister 
of the Mennonite congregation at Doyles- 
town. 



FREDERICK R. VOID is engaged in 
general agricultural pursuits on the farm 
on which his birth occurred in Hilltown 
township, Bucks county, April 15, 1856. 
His father, Frederick Void, Sr., was born 
in Germany, in 1831, and was a noted musi- 
cian, being able to play any musical in- 
strument. He was a wheelwright by trade 
and followed that pursuit for many years. 
In 1844 he purchased a farm in Hilltown 
township and continued its cultivation and 
improvement up to the time of his death, 
which occurred in 1876. He was a Demo- 
crat in his political affiliation, was a mem- 
ber of the Reformed church, and lived a 
useful and upright life. He married Mag- 
daline Roth, a daughter of Abram and 
Mary (Cramer) Roth, and they had two 
children, Charles R. and Frederick R. The 
former married Diana Housekeeper, a 
daughter of Samuel Housekeeper, and they 
have three children, Samuel, Harvey and 
Erasmus. 

Having mastered the common branches 
of learning in the public schools of Hill- 
town township, Frederick R. Void worked 
with his father on the home farm, gaining 
practical knowledge of the best methods of 
cultivating the fields and caring for the 
stock. When he was married he began 
farming for himself and in 1884 purchased 
a farm adjoining his father's land, while in 
1877 he bought the old homestead farm. 
He carries on general agricultural pursuits, 
having placed his land under a high state 
of cultivation, while neatness and thrift 
characterizes the entire place. Mr. Void 
is a member of the Reformed church of 
Hilltown, and is interested in the sub- 
stantial improvement of his locality, giving 
his co-operation to many movements for 
the general good. He was married in April, 
i88r, to Miss Mary Alice Cope, who was 
born January 10, 1861. a daughter of 
Charles and Elizabeth (Kile) Cope. Her 
father was born October 23, 1814. His first 
wife was Elizabeth Hackman, a daughter of 
John and Catharine Hackman. She was 
born June 4, 181 r, and by her marriage he- 
came the mother of four children, namely: 
Catharine, born April 3. 1844; Andrew J., 
born November 5. 1837. died at the age 
of one vear and ten months; Malinda, born 



330 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



March 6, 1839, t'icd January 28, 1859 ; and 
Sarah B., born July 23, 1841. The niotlicr 
of these children died March 22, 1853. Air. 
Cope afterward married Elizabeth Kile, 
by whom he had three children : Charles, 
born December 17, 1856; Annie E., born 
September 30, 1857, died May 18, 1858 ; and 
Mary Alice. To Mr. and Mrs. Void have 
been born thirteen children, as follows: 
Bertha C, born July 14, 1882, died August 
22,, 1894; Charles C, born January 17, 
1884; Elsie C, born June 12, 1885; Mable 
C, born October 9, 1887, died December 22,, 
1887 ; Edith C, born October 3, 1888 ; Wel- 
lington C., born December 8, 1889; Agnes 
C, born December 6, 1890; Delia C, born 
August I, 1893, died May 25, 1894; Harry 
C, born June 24, 1895 ; Edna C, born Jan- 
uary 23, 1897, died September 14, 1897 ; 
Florence C, born December 7, 1898; Helen 
C, born October 19, 1903; and one that 
died in infancy. 



DR. WILLIAM RIDGE COOPER, of 
Point Pleasant, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, was born at Point Pleasant, August 
26, 1862, and is a son of the late Dr. 
Alfred M. and Elizabeth (Ridge) Cooper. 

The great-great-grandfather of Dr. Al- 
fred M. Cooper was a native of Stratford- 
on-Avon, England. William Cooper, the 
great-grandfather, settled in Tinicum town- 
ship and his son, James Cooper, was born 
and reared there. William B. Cooper, son 
of James, was born in Tinicum, Decem- 
ber 24, 1807, and came of English Quaker 
ancestry. He became an extensive land- 
owner in Tinicum township and died there 
December 12, 1854. He married Elizabeth 
Meyer, born May 9, 1807, died December 
4, 1871, daughter of John Meyer, who was 
born June 22,, '^^773, and died September 9, 
1823, by his wife Eve Fry, and granddaugh- 
ter of Henrv Meyer, who was born in 
Montgomery county, in 1750, married Susan 
Smith, and settled in Plumstead townshin, 
Bucks county. Henry Meyer, the father of 
the last named Henry, was a son of Hans 
Meyer and came to America with his pa- 
rents at the age of one year about 1720. 
He inherited the homestead of his father, 
Hans Meyer, in Upper Salford, Montgom- 
ery county, and died there about 1800. His 
wife. Barbara Miller, came from Germany 
at the age of eighteen years, in 1738, and 
was a niece of Anna (Miller) Leisse, who 
married Jacob Stout, the pioneer ancestor 
of the Stout family in Bucks county. John 
Meyer, above mentioned, and his brother 
Henry followed teaming between Philadel- 
phia and Pittsburg when much of the inter- 
vening country was a wilderness. On one 
of their trips John was taken sick and died 
and his brother Henry buried him in the 
wilderness. William B. and EHzabeth 
(Mey-er) Cooper were the parents of eleven 
children: Lavina. born Julv 15. 1826, died 
December 24, 1893, married John H. Wat- 
son ; Rebecca, who died young; Dr. Alfred 



M. ; Clara, living in Philadelphia unmar- 
ried; Rachel and Jane, who died young; 
Eve, who died in January, 1899; James B., 
born August 11, 1842, killed at a barn rais- 
ing in Tinicum, October 5, 1875 ; Caroline,, 
born January 14, 1845, married Eli Siga- 
foos, of Easton ; Newton R., born August 
26, 1848, died June 14, 1865 ; and Justus,, 
born July 28, 1851. 

Dr. Alfred M. Cooper, eldest son of 
William B. and Elizabeth (Meyer) Cooper,, 
was born in Tinicum township, Bucks coun- 
ty, September 15, 1830, and was reared on 
a farm to the age of nineteen years. He 
received a good common school education 
and taught school for five years. At the 
age of twenty-three years he began the 
study of medicine and graduated at Jeffer- 
son Medical College, March 10, 1856. He 
located at Point Pleasant and began prac- 
tice the same year, and was considered one 
of the leading physicians of Middle Bucks, 
being highly respected in the community 
for his many excellent qualities. He prac- 
ticed at Point Pleasant until his death,. 
September 15, 1898, after a continuous- 
practice there for forty-two years. He was 
a member of the State Medical Society, 
the Bucks County Medical Society, the Le- 
high Valley Medical Society, and the Hun- 
terdon County ( N. J.) Medical Society. 
He married, March 21, 1861, Elizabeth 
Ridge, daughter of Will'am and Catharine 
(Wyker) Ridge, of Point Pleasant, and a 
descendant of Edward Marshall, the 
Walker of 1737. Dr. and Mrs. Cooper were 
members of the Baptist church of Point 
Pleasant, of which the former served as 
deacon and elder for many years. He alsc^ 
took an active interest in educational mat- 
ters and served several years as school di- 
rector. Dr. and Elizabeth (Ridge) Cooper 
were the parents of three children: Dr. 
William R., the subject of this sketch; J. 
Howard Cooper, M, D., now practicing- 
medicine at Middle Bush, New Jersey ; and 
Katherine E. C, wife of William S. AcufY, 
a lawyer of Ambler, Pennsylvania. 

William R. Cooper was reared at Point 
Pleasant and attended public school there 
and later the First Pennsylvania State Nor- 
mal school at Millersville, Pennsylvania. 
He studied medicine with his father for 
two years and then entered Jefferson Medi- 
cal College, from which he was graduated 
April 2, 188=;, and began to practice the 
same year as an assistant to his father. 
Five years later he established an office of 
his own. On the death of his father he re- 
moved to the old homestead, in the spring 
of T899, where he has since resided and 
continued the practice of his profession, 
retaining practicallv all the practice of his 
honored father. He is a "member of the 
American Medical Association, the State 
Medical Society, the Bucks County Medical 
Society, and the Lehigh Valley Medical 
Association. He is a member of the Point 
Pleasant Banti=t church, of which he is a 
trustee. Dr. Cooper married, March 20. 
1890, Marv Smith Shaddinger, daughter ot 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



33^ 



Andrew and Martha (Smith) Shaddinger, 
of Point Pleasant, and they are the parents 
of two children, Lloyd Napier, and 
Dorothy S. 



WILLIAM H. MURRAY, one, if not 
the oldest resident of New Hope, Penn- 
sylvania, at the time of his death, was 
born in the city of Philadelphia, Penn- 
sylvania, January 31, 1817, and died in 
New Hope, Pennsylvania, November 
23, 1904, after an almost continuous res- 
idence of nearly eighty-eight years. He 
was one of thirteen children born to Jo- 
seph D. and Margaret M. (Sharp) Mur- 
ray, four of whom still survive. Thomas 
S., a resident of Trenton, New Jersey; 
Frances, wife of James E. Darrow, Tren- 
ton, New Jersey; Anna, widow of 
Charles E. Aaron, of Norristown, Penn- 
sylvania; and J. Howard Murray, of 
Trenton, New Jersey. Joseph D. Mur- 
ray (father) was born in Edenton, North 
Carolina, November 7, 1788. His grand- 
father emigrated from Scotland with a 
colony that settled on the Roanoke river, 
naming the settlement Scotland Neck. 
His parents settled in Edenton. His 
mother dying in his infancy, he was left 
an orphan at the age of seven years by 
the death of his father, and came under 
the care of his uncle Henry. After his 
uncle's death, and at the age of eighteen 
years he came to Philadelphia, engag- 
ing in the dry goods business. In the 
spring of 1817 when his son William 
was but two weeks old he removed to 
New Hope, Pennsylvania, where he en- 
gaged in general merchandising. He 
purchased the house in which his son 
so long resided (a portion of the resi- 
dence being built later), and in two 
rooms of this house conducted a suc- 
cessful business. After engaging several 
years in mercantile pursuits he disposed 
of the same, and then turned his atten- 
tion to the lumber business, from which 
he derived a goodly income. 

At the age of fifteen years, after com- 
pleting a common school education with 
two years at a private school at Bur- 
lington. New Jersey, William H. Mur- 
ray accepted a position in an engineer 
corps engaged in laying out and build- 
ing the Beaver Meadow Railroad above 
Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, with Ario 
Pardee at head of corps. His compen- 
sation at first was $14 per month, which 
was later advanced until it reached 
$4 per day, and at finishing of road was 
made superintendent of same at nineteen 
years of age. Subsequently he engaged 
in the lumber business with his father. 
In 1838 and '39 he was in the silk busi- 
ness, hatching out the eggs and carry- 
ing it on in its different branches to the 
finished product. This was considered 
at the time as a business with a bright 
future. In 1840 Mr. Murray engaged in 
mercantile pursuits, but at the expira- 



tion of six years he disposed of same 
to his brother Thomas. In 1848 he 
joined in partnership with A. J. Beau- 
mont and Samuel Sutton in the plow 
business, continuing until 1852. In 1853 
and '54 he was engaged with his brother 
Thomas in building a portion of the 
Flemington railroad. In 1858 and '59 
he was in the soap and candle business 
bought of Charles B. Knowles. In April,. 
1859, he again became interested in the 
agricultural implement business, and. 
for the next ten years manufactured 
the same. When the civil war broke out 
Mr. Murray told his employees to ofifer 
their services to their country if they 
so wished and he would take care of 
their families as far as he was able. 
He called upon the burgess and prom- 
inent citizens in order to secure funds 
to raise a company, was successful 
therein and he assisted in putting in the 
crops for the men who went to the front. 
In 1871 he was engaged in the lumber 
business with his brother-in-law, James 
E. Darrow, Trenton, New Jersey, for 
four years. In 1877 he engaged in the 
grocery business, continuing until 1896 
when he retired from active pursuits and 
lived a retired life. He was a consistent 
member of the Baptist church for many 
years, and an earnest advocate of Re- 
publican principles. 



CHARLES EDWARD DURNER. a 
prominent factor in commercial circles 
in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was born 
on Front street, Quakertown, the son of 
Charles Frederick and Mary Jane 
(Speaker) Durner, and belongs to a 
family distinguished for five generations 
as organ builders. Charles Edward Dur- 
ner is descended from Conrad Durner 
and his wife, Rosina Gauibier, of Wur- 
temberg, Germany. Their son, Chris- 
tian Durner, (grandfather of Charles 
Edward Durner) was born 1810, and 
died 1879. He followed the trade of or- 
gan building, as did his ancestors, and 
emigrated to America, settling in Zion 
Hill.' He married Catherine Goll and 
had a son, Charles Frederick. 

Charles Frederick Durner, father of 
Charles E. Durner, was the son of 
Christian and Catherine (Goll) Durner, 
and was born April 3, 1838. in Wurtem- 
berg, Germany. He attended the state 
schools until he was fourteen years of 
age, when he commenced a term of ap- 
prenticeship to learn the trade of organ- 
building, serving five years. He then 
went to Lyons and Grenoble, France, at 
these places working as journeyman and 
tradesman for about five months. The 
experience thus gained proved of no 
little value to him in later years. In 
1859 he emigrated to this country, set- 
tling at Zion's Hill. Here he entered 
into business for himself, but met with 
opposition at first, owing to the fact that 



332 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



the trade of organ-builder was not a 
popular one with the people of this 
country at that time, who considered 
that time wasted that was spent in "pro- 
ducing sounds" from an instrument. 
However, Mr. Burner persevered in his 
work and has been attended with great 
success, as is demonstrated by the large 
and well-equipped factory in Quaker- 
town, to which place he removed 
his business in 1861. The first organ ^Ir. 
Durner built was valued at seven hun- 
dred and fifty dollars, the building of 
which occupied Mr. Durner for nearly 
a year, the compensation he received be- 
ing the munificent sum of about fifty 
cents per day. His means being lim- 
ited, he began with foot-power, which 
was superceded by steam as his business 
developed, and he is now at the head 
of one of the largest and most com- 
pleteh' equipped organ factories in 
Pennsylvania. In 1876 he built an or- 
gan for the Centennial exposition at 
Philadelphia, which won for him the 
Tiighest honors. Though small in size, 
(compared with many others on exhibi- 
tion) it was considered in volume and 
sweetness of tone and perfection of me- 
chanism superior to many other organs 
on exhibition, the production of more 
pretentious establishments. His instru- 
ments also received the first premium at 
the State fair in 1878. Mr. Durn^r's 
business has extended over the greater 
part of eastern Pennsylvania, and his 
handiwork is highly appreciated where- 
ever seen. Mr. Burner's political affilia- 
tions are with the Democratic party, and 
while he takes much interest in local 
affairs, he has little to do with politics, 
beyond the influence of his opinion as 
expressed in his vote. He is a member 
of St. John's Lutheran church, and is 
especially interested in religious work, 
and was a trustee for many years. 

In 1862 jMr. Durner was united in 
marriage to Miss Mary Jane Speaker, 
daughter of William and Lydia (Poor- 
man) Speaker, of Center county, Penn-, 
sylvania. Immediately after his mar- 
riage Mr. Durner and his wife removed 
to Quakertown, settling in the house 
where they now reside. The following 
named children were born to them: 
Charles Edward, September i, 1863, 
spoken of at length hereinafter; 2. Anna 
Elizabeth, born January 5, 1866, married 
Calvin F. Heckler, lawyer, son of John 
and Victoria (Fluck) Heckler, farmers 
•of Hilltown township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania. 3. Mary Katherine, un- 
married, and lives at home. INIrs. Dur- 
ner died January 5, 1893, in the seventy- 
first year- of her age. 

CHARLES EBWARB BURNER, 
•eldest child of Charles Frederick and 
Mary Jane (Speaker) Burner, attended 
the common schools of his native place 
until his sixteenth year. He then de- 



voted himself to learning the trade of 
organ-building with his father, with 
whom he is still engaged at the organ 
factory in Quakertown, on the corner of 
F"ront and Juniper streets, one of the 
largest and most prosperous of its kind 
in that section of the country. Mr. 
Burner and his father have worked 
themselves up to a very high place in 
the world of business, and theirs is an 
example of what perseverance, indom- 
itable will and unfailing energy can ac- 
complish in the way of assisting men to 
attain the highest success. In political 
affairs, Mr. Charles E. Burner helps 
support the Bemocratic party, and al- 
though he never aspired to public office, 
takes a lively interest in the welfare of 
that organization. He is a member of 
St. John's Lutheran church, in the af- 
fairs of which he has always taken an 
active part. He was a member of the 
church council for fourteen years, and 
for a period of thirteen years was sec- 
retary of that bod3^ 

June 17, 1889, Charles Edward Burner 
was united in marriage to Miss Emma 
Jane Fluck, daughter of William Ben- 
jamin and Catherine (Hager) Fluck, of 
Quakertown. She is a descendant of an 
old German family who emigrated to 
this country under Richard and Thomas 
Penn, settling in Bucks county. Penn- 
sylvania. After their marriage, Mr. and 
Mrs. Burner settled in Juniper and 
Third streets, in a house that they had 
had erected previous to their marriage. 
The following named children were 
born to them: Harold Frederick, born 
October 25, 1890, lives at home and at- 
tends the Quakertown schools; and 
Laura Catherine, born ]\Iarch 22, 1893, 
also lives at home, attanding school in 
Quakertown. 



CALVIN F. HECKLER. The early 
ancestors of Calvin F. Heckler, both di- 
rect and collateral, settled in the south- 
eastern counties of Pennsylvania more 
than one hundred and fifty years ago. 
Mr. Heckler is a descendant of George 
Heckler, a Redemptioner, who arrived 
in Philadelphia on the ship "Neptune," 
September 30, I7S4- He was purchased 
by John Steiner of North Coventry 
township, Chester county, near Potts- 
town. George Heckler was the son of 
^lichael Heckler, and was born in 1736 
in the province of Lower Alsace, on the 
Rhine. He was obliged to work on a 
farm for three years in order to redeem 
his passage, and afterwards married 
Christiana Freed, daughter of Peter 
Freed, of Lower Salford township, 
Montgomery county. He died August 
28, t8t6, aged eighty years, and by his 
thrift and industry had acquired consid- 
erable property. At the beginning of 
the .American Revolution George Heck- 
ler bought a two hundred acre farm on 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



333 



or near the site of the Mennonite meet- 
ing house at Blooming Glen, in Hill- 
town township, Bucks county. He ren- 
dered assistance to the patriots when the 
Continental army was in and around 
Philadelphia. In 1774, according to a 
tax duplicate record, he was rated 
among the list of taxables of Hilltown 
township. The European branch of the 
family fought alternately for and against 
Napoleon, according to the fate of the 
Alsace and Loraine provinces as deter- 
mined by the fortunes of the Napoleonic 
wars. 

Samuel (Detweiler) Heckler, grand- 
son of George Heckler mentioned above, 
whose father's name was also George, 
was born in Lower Salford township, 
Montgomery county, in 1803. After his 
marriage he settled in New Britain 
township, near the village of Greer's 
Corner, where he resided for six years. 
He then purchased a farm of about 
one hundred and twenty acres in the 
western part of Hilltown township, 
where he resided until his death, which 
occurred in the spring of 1884, at the 
age of eighty-one years. He was a life- 
long farmer, disposing of his produce in 
the Philadelphia markets. He was very 
successful, reared a family of twelve 
children, and accumulated considerable 
property. In religious belief he was a 
liberal Mennonite, and belonged to the 
church of that sect at Line Lexington, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania. In poli- 
tics he was affiliated with the Whigs, and 
later with the Republicans. He mar- 
ried, in 1825, Anna Rosenberger, of the 
vicinity of Norristown, Montgomery 
county. Their children were as follow^s: 

1. Anna Eliza, unmarried, died at the 
age of twenty-two years. 

2. George, unmarried, died in 1859, at 
the age of twenty-nine years. 

3. Elias, married Rebecca Gerhart, of 
Hilltown township, and died in 1900. 

4. Hester Ann, deceased, became the 
wife of George W. Magargal, of Elkins 
Park, Montgomery county. 

5. David R., married Amanda Kimbel, 
of Buckingham township, in 1862, and 
is now a prosperous farmer in West 
Bedminster township, Bucks county. 

6. Jacob R., married Lydia Baringer, 
of Hilltown township, and is now a re- 
tired resident of Perkasie, Pennsylvania. 

7. Aaron R., married Sophia Rosen- 
berger, of Hatfield, Pennsylvania, and is 
one of the substantial farmers of that 
township. 

8. Samuel, died in infancy. 

9. John R., mentioned at length here- 
after. 

10. Samuel R., having served through- 
out the great civil war as a volunteer, 
married Rebecca Kimbel, of Bucking- 
ham, and is now a retired farmer living 
near Lansdale, Pennsylvania. 

11. Amanda, the widow of Charles 
Massinger, deceased, of Chalfont. 



12. Franklin R., deceased, married 
]Margaret, daughter of Christian Meyer, of 
Hilltown. 

John R. Heckler, son of Samuel Det- 
weiler and Anna (Rosenberger) Heck- 
ler, was born November 3, 1840, on the 
homestead in Hilltown township. His 
boyhood was passed in rendering assist- 
ance on the farm, and at the same time 
attending the subscription and free 
schools. He taught a public school in 
Monroe county, Pennsylvania, and after- 
wards at Pluck's school house, in Hill- 
town township for two years. He was 
for some years afterward a tenant- 
farmer, but in 1885 purchased one of his 
father's farms, where he lived until 1892, 
when he moved to Perkasie, Pennsyl- 
vania. John R. Heckler married, in 
1861, Victoria S. (Stout), daughter of 
Tobias and Anna (Stout) Fluck of Hill- 
town and the following children were 
born to them: 

1. Calvin F. (christened Samuel Cal- 
vin), mentioned at length hereafter. 

2. Allen Henry, born August 26, 1866, 
married in 1891 to Elizabeth, daughter 
of John D. Hunsberger, of Souderton, 
one child, Sallie Lorene, being born in 
1892. Mrs. Heckler's death occurred 
shortly afterwards. Mr. Heckler mar- 
ried again, in 1894, Kate Abele, of the- 
city of Philadelphia, where he now re- 
sides. Since 1888 he has been a foreman 
of carpenters in the service of the Phil- 
adelphia and Reading Railroad Com- 
pany. Their children are: Calvin F., Jr., 
deceased; Henry Frederick, and Ernest 
Abele. 

Nari Franklin, the third son of John 
R. Heckler, was born February 4, 1873, 
in Hilltown, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, and attended the common schools 
and the Sellersville high school. In 
July, 1888, he became a telegraphic stu- 
dent with the Philadelphia and Reading 
Railroad Company at Souderton, Penn- 
sylvania, and afterwards served as a tel- 
egraph operator of the Philadelphia and 
New York divisions until October 24, 
1895, when he resigned to enter the serv- 
ice of the American Printing Company, 
of New York City. On March 30, 1896, 
he was employed by the Union League 
of Philadelphia, as a stenographer, and 
was gradually promoted until he was 
appointed superintendent of that fa- 
mous organization on IMarch 20. 1900, 
which position he still retains. He is an 
active member of the Baptist church, 
and was married to Alberta Lorene, 
daughter of John G. Fritz, of Lafayette, 
Montgomery county, and has one child, 
John Franklin, who was born July 12, 
1806. 

Calvin F. Heckler, son of John R., and 
Victoria Stout (Fluck) Heckler, wa« born 
on the Heckler homestead in Hilltown 
township, Bucks county, June 12. 1864. He 
received hi^ preliminnry education in the 
common schools of the township, after- 



334 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ward attending the Sellersville high school 
and dlso the normal school at Millers- 
ville, Pennsylvania. He ' worked on the 
farm during the summer, taught school 
during the winter in Hilltown and Bed- 
minster townships, saved his money, and 
worked his way through the University 
of Pennsylvania, graduating with high 
honors in the law department of that in- 
stitution in 1887. He registered as a law 
student with Hon. Henry M. Hoyt, for- 
mer governor of Pennsylvania, with whom 
he served three years, and on whose mo- 
tion he was admitted to practice in all the 
county courts. He was afterward admit- 
ted to the Pennsylvania supreme court and 
the United States courts. He further sup- 
plemented his legal attainments by after- 
wards associating himself with the law 
firm hi Arundel & Moon (Congressman 
Reuben O. Moon of Philadelphia) until 
he took offices for himself in the Pennsyl- 
vania Building at Fifteenth and Chestnut 
streets, Philadelphia-, where he is favored 
with a large clientage. He has held var- 
ious positions of trust, and since February, 
1904, is serving as a member of the bor- 
ough council. His political support is al- 
ways freely given to the Republican party, 
and he has actively participated in every 
state and national campaign since 1884. 
Mr. Heckler has traveled extensively in the 
United States and many of the provinces of 
Canada. He is a member of the German 
Reformed church, to which his parents also 
belong. Mr. Heckler is past master, by 
merit, of the Quakertown Lodge, No. 512, 
F. and A. M., and member of the Philadel- 
phia Sovereign Consistory, S. P. R. S. 32d 
degree. He also belongs to numerous oth- 
er fraternal organizations. Mr. Heckler 
married, 1892, Anna Elizabeth Burner, who 
for ten years prior was a successful teacher 
in the public schools of Quakertown. She 
is an active member of the Lutheran church 
and other auxiliary organizations, and is 
devoted to all the interests and duties of 
her home and family. Mrs. Heckler be- 
longs to a family distinguished for five 
generations as church-organ builders. She 
is a daughter of Charles F. and Mary J. 
(Speaker) Burner, of Quakertown, Penn- 
sylvania. 



MILTON ALTHOUSE BIEHN, of 
West Chester, Pennsylvania, was born 
June 10, 185T, at Bunker Hill, now Rich 
Hill, in Rockhill township, Bucks 
county, Pennsjdvania, a son of Michael 
Martin and Catharine (Althouse) Biehn, 
and grandson of Abram and Mary (Mar- 
tin) Biehn. 

Michael Martin Biehn (father) was 
born in Rockhill township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, October 3, i8to. His an- 
cestors were among the German emi- 
grants who came to this country under 
Th(imas and Richard Penn and took up 
a considerable tract of land. They fol- 
lowed farming and the weaving of cloth 



and carpets. On June 10, 1838, Mr. 
Biehn married Catharine Althouse' 
daughter of Baniel and Elizabeth (Wert) 
Althouse, of Richland township, farm- 
ers, and settled at Bunker Hill. Their 
children are: Maria, born April 13 18^0 
married, September 10, 1859, Tobils 
Hinkle, of Bunker, or Rich Hill, a full 
account of whom appears in the sketch 
of Harry Hinkle; Elizabeth, born March 
8, 1847, resides with her sister, Mrs 
Maria Hinkle, at Quakertown; and Mil- 
ton Althouse, mentioned hereinafter. 

Milton Althouse Biehn attended the 
Rock Ridge public school until his four- 
teenth year, after which he was appren- 
ticed to learn the boot and shoe making 
with his brother-in-law, Tobias Hinkle, 
with whom he continued as journeyman 
or tradesman for several years there- 
after. In 1871 he moved to Quakertown, 
Pennsylvania, m company with Tobias 
Hinkle, in whose service he continued 
there and finally formed a copartnership 
with him in a boot and shoe store on 
Front street. In 1874 Mr. Biehn erected 
the storehouse now occupied by Harry 
Wilson Hinkle, son of Tobias Hinkle, 
and conducted business under the title of 
Hinkle & Biehn, this connection con- 
tinuing until the retirement of Tobias 
Hinkle on account of failing health, when 
he was succeeded by his sons Harry W. 
and Nelson B. Hinkle, and this partner- 
ship was continued until 1892. In 1893 
Mr. Biehn moved to West Chester, Ches- 
ter county, and established a boot and 
shoe store in that town. Mr. Biehn has 
been remarkably successful in his bus- 
iness ventures, which is owing largely 
to his close study of trade conditions and 
the needs of his customers. His store 
is located at No. 2>3 West Gay street, this 
being the first one he established, but in 
1904 he established another at the cor- 
ner of Gay and Church streets, which is 
managed by his son, Harry Biehn. Mr. 
Biehn and his family are members of the 
West Chester Methodist Episcopal 
church, in the affairs of which Mr. Biehn 
is much interested, serving as class 
leader, and for nine years assistant su- 
perintendent of the Sunday school con- 
nected therewith. He is a trustee of 
the Young Men's Christian Association 
of West Chester, in which position his 
services are highly apprecated. He was 
formerly an adherent of the Republican 
part}', but differing from them on several 
issues, particularly the liquor question, 
he thought best to cast his vote with 
the party whose principles were more 
closely allied with his own, the Prohi- 
bition party. On Becember 11, 1877, 
]\Ir. Biehn was married to Sarah Ed- 
wards, daughter of Benjamin Roberts 
and Lydia (Bartholomew) Edwards, of 
Quakertown, a family descended from 
the early and substantial settlers of 
Bucks county. The issue of this mar- 
riage was: I. Nellie E., born September 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



335 



i8, 1878, attended the Quakertown pub- 
lic schools, the West Chester high 
school, from which she was graduated in 
the class of 1896; Philadelphia Colle- 
giate Institute, from which she was 
graduated in the class of 1897; and the 
Woman's College, at Baltimore, Mary- 
land, from which she was graduated in 
the class of 1901. She is now (1905) a 
teacher in the department of mathe- 
matics at the West Chester high school; 
she resides at home. 2. Harry E., born 
May 24, 1880, attended the Quakertown 
public schools, West Chester public 
schools, Williamson Trade school, Dela- 
ware county, and State Normal school, 
at West Chester. He entered his father's 
boot and shoe store, and is now inanager 
of the new store established by his 
father in the fall of 1904 at West Ches- 
ter. 3. Grace E., born October 14, 1886, 
died July i, 1887. 

Mrs. Biehn traces her ancestry to 
Hugh Edwards, of Wales, who mi- 
grated to this country under William 
Penn and settled first in the southern 
part of Bucks county. Pennsylvania. He 
resided for a time in the vicinity of Pen- 
lyn, Gwynedd township, now in Mont- 
gomery county. He was a man of con- 
siderable force of character, was a 
member of the Society of Friends and 
devoted considerable time to preaching. 
During the early part of the eighteenth 
century he settled in that part of Bucks 
county now occupied by Milford and 
Richland townships. William Edwards, 
son of Hugh Edwards, married Martha 

. and among their children was a 

son. William Edwards, born May 13, 
1746, near Trumbauersville, Milford 
township, Bucks county; he was a farmer 
ty occupation. He married Maribah 
Gaskill, daughter of Samuel and Mar- 
garet Gaskill and h-ad issue: Margaret 
and Amos. Amos Edwards w-as born in 
Richland township, April 10, 1786. mar- 
ried Abigail Roberts, daughter of Abel 
and Margaret Roberts, and their chil- 
dren were: Eveline, born Mav 18, 1821. 
married Milton Johnson, a farmer, of 
Richland township; and Benjamin R., 
born January i. 1824. Benjamin R. Ed- 
wards, father of Mrs. Biehn, was born as 
above stated in Richland township on a 
farm containing forty acres then owned 
and operated by his parents. He at- 
tended the subscription schools of his 
township, also the school attached to 
Richland ' Monthly Meeting of the So- 
ciety of Friends, and among the teach- 
ers at the latter school were John Ball 
and Hannah Foulke. prominent educa- 
tors of that day and place. Leavmg 
school at the age of nineteen years, he 
for a time conducted a subscription 
school of his own and also assisted on 
the home farm. At the age of twenty- 
five years, he went to Milford township 
and there learned the milling trade with 
Daniel Heist, who conducted a grist mill 



at Swamp creek. Settling at Milford 
Square, he conducted for a time a mill 
for grinding feeds, but in 1856 disposed 
of his business and moved to Quaker- 
town wdiere he conducted a flour and 
feed store until 1899, in which j-ear he 
retired from active pursuits. He is a 
birthright member of Richland Monthly 
Meeting of Friends, of Quakertown, and 
in politics is a Republican, taking an ac- 
tive interest in the success of that 
party. On November 13, 1853. Mr. Ed- 
wards married Lydia Bartholomew, 
daughter of Henry and Ann (Bleam) 
Bartholomew, farmers of Milford town- 
ship. Their children are: Ellen R., born 
July 19, 1856, became the wife of George 
T. Hersh, of Allentown. Henry, born 
February 13, 1858, married Hermina 
Brown, of Rockhill township, and they 
reside in Quakertown. Sarah Roberts, 
born May 20, i860, became the wife of 
Milton A. Biehn, as afore mentioned. 
Amos, born March 27, 1870, is unmar- 
ried and resides at home. 



JOHN B. HERITAGE. The Herit- 
age family is of English ancestry and 
was founded in America by two broth- 
ers, one of whom settled in New Jersey 
and the other in Bustleton, Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania being among the first set- 
tlers in that village. John F. Heritage, 
grandfather of John B. Heritage, was 
born in Bustleton, Philadelphia. He 
served his country in the war of 1812 
and in his home community was re- 
garded as a representative citizen. He 
was a tailor by trade, and while carry- 
ing on that business for many years 
also conducted agricultural pursuits. In 
politics he was a Democrat. He mar- 
ried Ann Fetters, a native of Montgom- 
ery county, and their children were: 
John F.; Joseph; George; Samuel, who 
died at the age of thirty years; Sarah, 
the wnfe of D. Test; and two daughters 
W'ho died in early womanhood. 

John F. Heritage, Jr., son of John F. 
and Ann (Fetters) Heritage, was born in 
Philadelphia county, and in his youth 
learned the trade of tailor under the di- 
rection of his father, w^honi he also as- 
sisted in the operation of the home farm 
up to the time of his marriage, when he 
settled upon another farm and in con- 
nection with its cultivation worked at 
his trade. He thus carried forward the 
business that his father had inaugurated, 
but upon a more extensive scale. Inter- 
ested in military afifairs, he became a 
captain of a militia company which was 
called to active duty in Phladelphia at 
the time of the riots there. In politics he 
was a Democrat. Purchasing his father's 
homestead at Bustleton he therein spent 
the evening of life, dying at the ripe old 
age of seventy-five years. He was a 
man of good physique, large and well 



23^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



proportioned, of a social nature, enjoy- 
ing the companionship of his friends, 
â– while to the poor and necdj- he was 
charitable and benevolent. His integ- 
rity and honor were above reproach, and 
he was a consistent and worthy member 
of the Pennypack church for thirty or 
fort}^ years, regularlj' attending its serv- 
ices and contributing liberally to its sup- 
port. His wiie died about five or six 
years prior to his demise. She bore the 
maiden name of Ann Benner and was a 
daughter of John Benner, who died dur- 
ing her early girlhood, leaving two 
daughters, the sister of IMrs. Heritage 
being Mrs. Hannah Campbell. Her ma- 
ternal grandfather was Joseph Durman, 
who was a captain of a company in the 
war of the revolution, defending the 
cause of the colonies. When at home on 
a furlough he was taken from his bed 
by the English and sent to an English 
prison, but later was exchanged and re- 
joined the American forces, continuing 
to serve with the continental troops until 
independence was achieved. Following 
the establishment of the republic he set- 
tled in Philadelphia county, where he fol- 
lowed farming and spent his remaining 
days. His farm remained in possession 
of the family for many years. Seven 
children were born of the marriage of 
John F. Heritage and Ann Benner as 
follows: Anna, wife of George Brooks; 
Joseph, a carriage and coach manufac- 
turer; Samuel, who is connected with 
his brother Joseph in business; John B.; 
George, a farmer; Mary A., who died 
unmarried; and Emma C, who died at 
the age of thirty-five years. 

John B. Heritage was born near Bus- 
tleton' in Philadelphia county, Pennsyl- 
vania. July 23. â–  1835. In the public 
schools he acquired his education, while 
upon the home farm he was reared, early 
becoming familiar with the duties and la- 
bors that fall to the lot of the agricul- 
turist. Thinking that he would find an 
industrial pursuit more congenial he 
learned the carriage painting trade, wliich 
he followed for a number of years, but 
his health prevented his continuance in 
that line of activity and he returned to 
agricultural life about three years after 
his marriage. He rented a farm and 
was engaged in its cultivation when he 
was drafted for service in the rebellion. 
but he hired a substitute and continued 
his farming operations in Montgomery 
county. In 1866 he purchased the farm 
in Bucks county upon which he now re- 
sides, its former owner having been 
Morris Jarrett. Here he carries on gen- 
eral agricultural pursuits, and also at- 
tends the city market. His business af- 
fairs are capably managed and are bring- 
ing to him a good financial return. He 
has never aspired to public ofiice, yet 
his fellow townsmen elected him to the 
position of supervisor. In politics he is 
a Democrat. In i860 Mr. Heritage mar- 



ried Miss Mary L. Harris, who was borir 
in Bustleton, January 13. 1836. and who 
has been to hmi a faithful and devoted 
wife. She is a daughter of Theophilus 
and Ellen (Merritt) Harris, the former a 
native of Virginia, and the latter of 
Bucks county. Her grandfather, Theo- 
philus Harris, was of Welsh descent 
and was a leading divine of the Primi- 
tive Baptist church. On leaving Vir- 
ginia he removed to Bustleton, Pennsyl- 
vania, where he engaged in church work 
and also farming. He was likewise con- 
nected with the cloth factory, and was 
prominent in local afifairs in his com- 
munity as well as in the church. His first 
wife bore the maiden name of Mary 
Long Harris and was of English descent. 
She died in Virginia, and after his re- 
moval to Pennsylvana he married a 
daughter of Dr. Jones, of a prominent 
Baptist family. By the first marriage 
there was one son, Theophilus Harris. 
By the second marriage the children 
were: Mrs. Sarah Griffith; Mrs. Martha 
Chilton; Mrs. j\Iary Bazier; and Mrs. 
Ann Willstack, whose husband was a 
wealthy resident of Philadelphia, and 
he and his wife donated millions of dol- 
lars to the city. To Mr. and Mrs. Her- 
itage have been born four children: 
Charles E., a farmer; Mrs. Mary E. 
Schlotzhaur; John, a farmer; William 
C, who is operating the old homestead 
and who married Sallie Fenton, by whom 
he has one child, Hannah May. Both 
Mr. and Mrs. Heritage are members of 
the Baptist church. 

Theophilus Harris. 'father of Mrs. Her- 
itage, was a highly educated man who as- 
sisted his father in business, acting as 
bookkeeper in the factory and supervis- 
ing other business enterprises. Later he 
engaged in farming, giving to the culti- 
vation of the soil his entire attention, 
and in the evening of life retired from 
active business pursuits, his children 
conducting the farm. In politics he was 
a Democrat, and he supported the Baptist 
church, although he was not a member. 
His wife died in 1858, and his death oc- 
curred in 1865. Their children were: 
Mary L.; Theophilus, of Philadelphia; 
Mrs. Christiana Clayton, who died leav- 
ing three children; Thomas, of Philadel- 
phia; and Ellen, wife of George W. Her- 
itage. 



PATRICK BREEN. who following the 
occupation of farming in Warwick town- 
ship, has also been active and influen- 
tial in political circles, was born in 
county Tipperary, Ireland. December 
26. 1830, his parents being James and 
Mary (Haj-s) Breen, both of whom are 
natives of Ireland, where their marriage 
was celebrated. Mrs. Breen was of a 
distinguished family, one of her great 
uncles being a general in the English 
arnl}^ The paternal grandfather, John 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



337 



Breen, was a resident of Ireland and 
spent his entire life there. His only 
child was James Breen, who followinjg 
his marriage settled upon a farm in Ire- 
land, and all of his children were born in 
that country. In 1849 he emigrated to 
America, and the following year was 
joined by his family. He went first to 
New Jersey, but soon afterward re- 
moved to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
and located in Northampton township. 
He was there employed as a laborer and 
did some contracting on the turnpike. 
Later he purchased a small farm in 
Wrightstown township, and subse- 
quently sold that property and bought 
a tract of land in Northampton town- 
ship. His wife died in Northampton 
township in 1858, and he afterward mar- 
ried again. In his old age be and his 
second wife made their home with his 
son, Patrick, and he here died in 1881. 
He was a stanch Democrat in his politi- 
cal views, but never an aspirant for 
office. Both he and the mother of Pat- 
rick Breen w^ere Catholics in religious 
faith. They had five children: Patrick; 
Johanna, who since 1861 has been in the 
convent known as Mount Hope Retreat 
near Baltimore. Maryland; Margaret, 
the wife of Patrick McNanaman; Will- 
iam, a prominent farmer, who died at 
Spring House; and Elizabeth, who be- 
came the wife of A. Colligan, of Jersey 
City, New Jersey, but both have passed 
away. 

Patrick Breen pursued his education 
in subscription schools of his native 
land, and when nineteen years of age 
crossed the Atlantic to the new world. 
For four years he was employed as a 
laborer, and then rented a farm, remain- 
ing thereon for two years after his mar- 
riage, when in 1856 he purchased the 
farm upon which he now resides known 
as the Thomas Helm farm. It was then 
but partly improved, but he has erected 
a large commodious frame residence, a 
substantial barn and other necessary out- 
buildings for the shelter of grain and 
stock and has added all of the modern 
equipments, keeping his place in an ex- 
cellent state of cultivation. He follows 
general farming and markets his pro- 
ducts at Philadelphia. He also raises 
some stock, keeping a herd of good cows 
and selling the milk at the creamery. He 
has always been a practical and success- 
ful farmer, and is a stockholder in the 
Creamery Company. 

In January, 1853, Mr. Breen was 
united in marriage to Miss Catherine 
Maher. who was born in Ireland, a 
daughter of ]\Ir. and Mrs. Thomas Ma- 
her. who spent their entire lives in that 
country. Mrs. Breen was reared by an 
aunt, as was her brother, Timothy 
Maher. who came with her to America 
and who was later known as a leading 
agriculturist of his community. He died 
and was buried in Doylestown. In the 
22-3 



family of Mr. and Mrs. Breen were nine 
children, of whom six died in childhood, 
including Lizzie, who passed away at the 
age of thirteen. The others are: Will- 
iam, who followed the butchering busi- 
ness; Thomas, who was a painter by 
tarde and possessed considerable artistic 
skill; and James, a butcher. The last 
named is the only one now living. Mrs. 
Catherine Breen departed this life in 
July, 1879, in the faith of the Catholic 
church. On the 24th of November, 1881, 
Mr. Breen was married to Miss Annie 
Brahan, who was born in Ireland, July, 
1846, a daughter of Michael and Mary 
Brahan, also natives of that country 
whence they came to America in 1849, 
settling in Bucks county. Her father 
was an industrious man and hard worker. 
He voted with the Democracy, and both 
he and his wife were of the Catholic 
faith. He died in 1903 at the age of 
eighty years, while his wife's death oc- 
curred in 1882, when she was seventy- 
five years of age. Their children were 
Annie; Kate, deceased; Maria, deceased, 
who was the wife of William J. Brennan; 
Bridget, deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Breen 
had one son, John, who was born Janu- 
ary 15, 1892, and died April 14, 1892. 

Mr. Breen gave his early political sup- 
port to the Democracy, but at the open- 
ing of the rebellion, he became a champion 
of Republican principles. He is thor- 
oughly informed on all questions per- 
taining to the history of the world. He 
has always taken an active interest in 
politics, has been judge of elections, and 
in 1892 was chosen to fill the position of 
clerk of quarter sessions in Bucks 
county, serving for three years in a 
manner creditable to himself and satis- 
factory to his constituents. In 1879 he- 
was appointed by the legislature to the 
position of engineer for the capitol at 
Harrisburg, and acted in that capacity 
for two years. He has a wide and fav- 
orable acquaintance in the county in 
which he has lived from early manhood, 
to the present. 



O. JAMES JOHNSON, a well known 
resident of Haycock township, Bucks coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, son of Charles and Esther 
(Strawn) Johnson, was born January 10. 
1838, on the homestead farm now owned 
and occupied by his brother, H. Watson 
Johnson, in the northern part of Richland 
township, and which farm is part of the 
tract of land acquired by Casper Johnson 
(i), from Richard and Thomas Penn in 
the early part of the eighteenth century. 
Casper Johnson (2), son of Casper John- 
son, the immigrant, was the father of 
Charles Johnson, who in turn was the 
father of O. James Johnson. 

Charles Johnson (father) was born on 
the homestead farm. He attended the sub- 
scription schools of the neighborhood, and 



338 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



his active career was devoted to farming. 
He was one of the public-spirited and in- 
fluential men of the community, and highly 
esteemed for his integrity and enterprise. 
He was an advocate of the principles of the 
Whig party, to which organization he gave 
his allegiance. He was united in marriage 
to Esther Strawn, daughter of Abel and 
Elizabeth Strawn, of Quakertown, and then- 
children were: H. Watson, a sketch of 
whom appears elsewhere in this work; 
Mary Ann, wife of Aaron Walp, of Quaker- 
town ; Oliver James, mentioned hereinafter ; 
and Anna Maria, wife of Louis N. Shelly, 
of Quakertown. 

After attending the public schools of 
Richland township until his seventeenth 
year, O. James Johnson assisted at farm- 
ing with his father until his marriage m 
the year 1S67. Shortly afterward he set- 
tled on a farm near California station, in 
Richland township, where he remained for 
one year, after which he removed to the 
farm of his father-in-law. Abram Stover, 
at Tohickon, in Haycock township, where 
he remained until the spring of 1883. when 
he moved to where he now resides. This 
farm which contains eighty-seven acres of 
arable land, he purchased in 1882 from 
Charles McCarthy, and he greatly improved 
the same by. erecting an entire new set of 
buildings which added greatly to its ao- 
pearance. He conducted this as a dairy and 
general farm until 1900, when he retired 
from active work and was succeeded by his 
eldest son, Elmer Johnson, to whom he 
rented the farm and stock. Since that -ear 
Mr. Johnson has led the quiet life of a 
country gentleman, enjoying to the full the 
consciousness of a life well snent. He takes 
little interest in public affairs. He is a Re- 
publican in politics, and while he ardently 
believes in the principles of that party has 
taken only nominal interest in its work, 
and beyond serving two terms as a school 
director has never aspired to or held any 
other office of a political nature. 

Mr. Johnson married January 19, 1867. 
Anna Maria Stover, daughter of Abram and 
Sarah (Fulmer) Stover, farmers, of Hay- 
cock township. Bucks county. Pennsylvania. 
Their children are as follows : Elmer, born 
April 16. 1868. married November 10, 1894. 
Emma Afflerbach, daughter of John and 
Abbie (Fulmer) Afflerbach, farmers of 
Haycock township. Mr. and Mrs. Elmer 
Johnson reside on a farm, and their chil- 
dren are: Abbie Laura, died in infancy; 
Anna Maria, and Clarence Wilmer. Mr. 
and Mrs. Johnson belong to the Reformed 
church at Kellers Church. Pennsvlvania. 
Laura, born August 12. 1869, married, De- 
cember 12, 1892. Stover Detweiler. son of 
John and Lavina Detweiler, of Haycock 
township ; he is a miller by trade, and re- 
sides in East Rnckhill township, near 
Thatcher Post Office, Pennsylvania, and 
their children are: Mabel, died in infancy; 
Laura Grace, Blanche, died in infancy: and 
Earl. Mr. and Mrs. Detweiler are members 
of Kellers Reformed church. Louis, born 



May 9, 1871, married, February 19, 1896, 
Annie Frankenfield, daughter of Abel and 
Cathrine (Hager) Frankenfield, farmers 
of Haycock township. They reside at Hay- 
cock Run, where Mr. Johnson is engaged 
at farming; their children are: Elsie, James 
Freeman and Ruth. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson 
belong to the Lutheran church at Kellers 
Church, Pennsylvania. Harry, born No- 
vember 12, 1872, died October 5, 1873. 
Minnie, born November 2, 1874, married 
February 20, 1897, Isaac Ruth, son of David 
and Mary (McElroy) Ruth, farmers of 
Springfield township. They reside at Pleas- 
ant Valley, Springfield township, where Mr. 
Ruth is engaged in farming. Mr. and Mrs. 
Ruth are both members of the Lutheran 
church of Springfield township, Pennsyl- 
vania. Their children are : Florence Pearl, 
and Harry Watson, died in infancy. El- 
mira, born October 31. 1876, married, No- 
vember 28, 1898, Edwin Lewis, son of Tesse 
and Elizabeth (Lutz) Lewis, of Haycock 
township; they reside at Lansdale, Penn- 
sylvania, where Mr. Lewis is engaged in the 
livery business. Mr. Lewis is a member of 
the Lutheran church at Kellers Church, 
Pennsylvania, and Mrs. Lewis is a member 
of the Reformed church of the same place. 
Their children are : Esther Elizabeth, 
Richard, died in infancy ; Evelyn Myrtle, 
died in infancy; and Edith Margaret. 
Freeman, born April 3. 1880, unmarried, is 
employed on the home farm with his 
brother, Elmer Johnson. He also is a mem- 
ber of the Reformed church at Kellers 
Church. Warren, born October 16, 1881, 
unmarried. resides at Fairview, near 
Quakertown ; he is a blacksmith by trade. 
Stover, born May 21, 1887. unmarried, re- 
sides on the homestead farm, and is a mem- 
ber of the Reformed church of Kellers 
Church. 



JOEL M. MASON has spent his en- 
tire life in Falls township, his birth oc- 
curring w'ithin its borders on May i, 
1850. Several generations of the family 
have been represented here. His pa- 
ternal grandfather. Ernest ]\Iason. lived 
arid died in Bucks county and was iden- 
tified with its agricultural interests. He 
married Hannah Hart and they had five 
children: Daniel: Joel; Edmond; Ruth, 
wife of Walter Collas; and Ernest, who 
was drowned when a child. 

Joel Mason, son of Ernest Mason, was 
born in Falls township, in 188^. In early 
life he began farming and afterward in 
connection with the tilling of the soil 
took contracts to make excavations. In 
politics he is a stanch Democrat, active 
in the interest of the party and doing 
all in his power to promote its growth 
and insure its success, yet never seeking 
political preferment for himself. For 
some years he was the supervisor of the 
Delaware Navigation Company on its 
canal. He married Miss Anna Feir, of 
New Jersey, and they had five children : 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



339 



Rebecca, wife of Samuel Biirk, of ]\Iont- 
goniery county, Pennsylvania; Annie, 
who became the wife of Charles Schaffer 
and after his death married Jacob 
Painter; Joel M.; Matilda, wife of George 
Harry; and Edmond, of Alorrisville, 
Pennsylvania. 

Joel AI. Mason, the elder son of Joel 
Mason, pursued his education in the 
Friends' school at Falsington and in the 
public schools at Morrisville, Pennsyl- 
vania. When he was about twenty-two 
years of age he began farming for him- 
self in Lower Makefield, where he re- 
.mained for two years. He then returned 
to the old homestead farm in Falls 
township, where he was born and con- 
tinued its cultivation until 1886, when he 
removed to Morrisville. There he en- 
gaged in the stock business and also con- 
tinued his farming operations, and he is 
now well known as a stockdealer of that 
town, making extensive purchases and 
shipments so that his annual sales reach 
a large figure. Mr. Mason has been 
prominent in public affairs, and is a stal- 
wart advocate of the Democracy. He 
has been elected three times as a mem- 
ber of the council of Morrisville. and was 
street commissioner for one year. He 
was also appointed fish and game war- 
den of Bucks county in 1899 for a term 
of three years, and the capable manner 
in which he has discharged his busi- 
ness duties has fully justified the con- 
fidence reposed in him by his fellow 
citizens. Mr. INIason married Miss Annie 
Crosslie. a daughter of Thomas and 
Elizabeth Crosslie. They are the pa- 
rents of five children: Edmond, who is 
engaged in the ice business; Annie, the 
wife of Henry Ort: Joel, who deals in 
coal and lumber: Charles, who is con- 
nected with the Wright Publishing Com- 
pany; and William, a motorman. After 
the death of his first wife, Mr. Mason 
wedded Mrs. Jennie T. Moorehouse, nee 
Tice, and there is one child by this mar- 
riage, Jennie L. Mason. 



MARTIN H. SMITH, an esteemed and 
honored citizen of Dovlestown township. 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was born Octo- 
ber 16. 1838, a son of John D. and Mary 
M'. (Hevener) Smith, and grandson of 
George and Susanna (Deaterly) Smith. 
George Smith (grandfather) was a lifelong 
resident of Bucks county, where he fol- 
lowed farming and teaming, and, being a 
man of energy, industry and perseverance, 
achieved a fair degree of success. By his 
marriage to Susanna Deaterly, eleven chil- 
dren were born, as follows : Joseph : Mary, 
who became the wife of Philip Swartley : 
Sarah, who became the wife of Martin 
Loux ; Henry ; Catherine, who became the 
wife of Henry Treisbach ; Elizabeth, who 
became the wife of John Foix ; John D., 
mentioned hereinafter; Susanna, who be- 



came the wife of Peter Frick; Nancy, who 
became the wife of Eli Ruth; George'; and 
Lydia, who died in childhood. George 
Smith was buried in the Mennonite church- 
yard at Deep Run. 

John D. Smith (father) was born in 
Plumstead township, Bucks county, Septem- 
ber 29, 1812. In early life he learned the 
blacksmith trade, but after his marriage 
commenced farming, giving his entire at- 
tention to that pursuit until compelled to 
retire on account of infirmities due to old 
age. He was one of the first school direc- 
tors of Bedminster township, his incum- 
bency of the office being noted for integrity 
and efficiency. He was a member of the 
German Reformed church, and his political 
support was given to the Republican ^arty. 
He married Mary M. Hevener, daughter 
of Abraham and Elizabeth Hevener, and 
their family consisted of nine children, one 
of whom died in infancy. The surviving 
members of the family are: Martin H., 
whose name heads this review, born Octo- 
ber 16, 1838; Frances, born September 2' 
1840. married Sarah Snyder, and their 
children are: Martha, Mary, Ellen, de- 
ceased; Amanda, wife of James High; 
Clara, wife of Jacob Beerley, and John. 
Mary Ann, born November 11, 1843, widow 
of Henry Kile. Ephraim and Oliver 
(twins), born September 25, 1845: Oliver 
married Mary Ann Myers, daughter of 
Christian B. and Sarah Landis Myers, and / 
they are the parents of one child, Emily, 
wife of Isaac Long. Susanna, born June 
19, 1850. George, born October 22, 1853, 
married and has two children: Catherine 
and George, Jr., Reed, born February 16, 
1856, now deceased. 



FRANCIS M. PHILLIPS, who was born 
in Warminster township, Bucks county, 
where he yet follows the occupation of 
farmer, is a son of Horace G. and Caro- 
line (Matlack) Phillips, the former of 
Bucks county and the latter of Philadel- 
phia county. The paternal grandfather. 
Horace Phillips, was a native of New Jer- 
sey and in early life settled in Bucks coun- 
ty, where he followed the occupation of 
farming. He also carried on shoemaking 
for some time, but stibsequently devoted his 
undivided attention to agricultural pursuits. 
In politics he was a Democrat, but never 
aspired to office, and he belonged to the 
Presbyterian church. He died in Harts- 
ville, Pennsylvania. In his family were the 
following named children : Hannah, the 
wife of B. T. Jamis9n ; Caroline; David 
S.. a business man of Philadelphia: and 
Horace G. 

Horace G. Phillips, father of Francis M. 
Phillips, always followed the occupation of 
farming and at the time of his marriage 
rented a tract of land. Later he became 
owner of a farm and continued to engage 
in general asricultural pursuits and in 
marketing until his demise. He voted with 



340 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



the Democracy, served as school director 
and filled some minor township offices. In 
the Presbyterian church he held member- 
ship, served as one of its elders and took 
an active interests in its work. He mar- 
ried Caroline Matlack, a daughter of 
Francis E. and Mary (Titus) Matlack, the 
latter a native of Doylestown, Pennsyl- 
vania, while Mr. Matlack was born in 
Philadelphia and was a son of Abram and 
Elizabeth (Elliott) Matlack. Abram Mat- 
lack was a native of Petersburg, Pennsyl- 
vania, and when a young man removed to 
Philadelphia, where he fouowed the wheel- 
wright's trade for a number of years. Sub- 
sequently he returned to Petersburg, where 
his remaining days were passed. Francis 
E. Matlack was born in Philadelphia and 
spent his entire life in this state. He pur- 
sued his education in his native city, and 
later engaged in the conduct of a boot 
and shoe factory for many years. In 1866 
he retired from that business and nurchased 
a farm in Warminster township, carrying 
on general agricultural pursuits until his 
demise, which occurred December i, 1890. 
In politics he was a Whig and afterward a 
Republican, but he never aspired to public 
office. He was a consistent and worthy 
member of the Presbyterian church, con- 
tributed generously to its support, aided 
actively in its work and served as one of its 
trustees. He died December i, 1890, while 
his wife passed away in 1881. She w'as the 
daughter of Joel and Hannah (Thompson) 
Titus, both natives of Bucks countv. and 
descended from old colonial families. The 
children of Mr. and Mrs. Titus were : Jo- 
seph ; John ; Samuel ; Elizabeth : Griffith ; 
Susan, who became the wife of J. Mana- 
hon : Lucy A. ; and Mary, the wife of F. 
Matlack. The children of Francis Matlack 
are: Mary E.. and Caroline, the latter the 
wife of Horace G. Phillips. Following their 
marriage Mr. and Mrs. Horace G. Phillips 
resided upon a farm in Bucks county and 
here his death occurred January 28, 1904, 
while his wife passed away July 25, 1902. 
They were the parents of seven children : 
Francis M. : Emily, the wife of H. Halde- 
man; Marv. the wife of C. Sprogell ; Eliza- 
beth, the wife of W. McDaniel ; Rachel, the 
wife of H. Barton, an architect in the em- 
ploy of the government at Washington. D. 
€.;' Caroline, the wife of W. Vanartsdalen ; 
and Ella G. 

Francis M. Phillips was born and reared 
in Warminster township, early becoming 
familiar with agricultural pursuits and 
throughout his entire life he has engaged 
in the tilling of the soil. He acquired his 
education in the common schools, and re- 
mained at home until after his marriage, 
bringing his bride to the old homestead 
farm, where he yet resides. He inherited 
the Matlack homestead and expects alwavs 
to make it his place of residence. On 
February i. T900. Mr. Phillips was married 
to Miss Florence E. Watson, who was born 
in Bucks county, January i. 1877. Her 
paternal grandfather. Howard Watson was 



born at Edgewood, Bucks count}^, March 
10, 1822, and learned the blacksmith's trade, 
which he followed througliout his active 
business career, but in his later years lived 
retired. After his marriage he settled at 
Horsham, where he conducted a smithy 
for a number of years, but is now living 
retired in Byberry. He married Catherine 
L. Doron, who was born in June, 1826, 
and was reared at Hatboro Mill. Thev re- 
sided for forty-nine years at the Horsham 
homestead, having there a small tract of 
land and a commodious home. They were 
members of the Horsham meeting, and Mr. 
Watson was a Republican in his â–  political' 
affiliation. Their children were: Elwood, a 
steamboat clerk and business man • B. 
Frank; Enos, a farmer of Horsham; 
Howard, engaged in the insurance business; 
and Adele. wife of H. Jenks. B. Frank 
Watson was born at Horsham and learnecf 
the blacksmith's trade with his father. He 
remained at home until his marriaee and 
then settled upon a rented farm, where he 
lived for a year. He afterward located 
upon the homestead now occupied by 
Francis M. Phillips, and here he carried 
on agricultural pursuits throughout his re- 
maining days, passing awa^' February 28. 
1898. He followed general farming and 
also raised some stock, and was practical 
and successful in his business methods. In 
politics he was a Republican, and fratern- 
ally was connected with the Knights of 
Pythias. His wife died in 1897. :5he lost 
her parents during her early girlhood and 
was reared by her grandparents, who were 
prominent farming people and were highly 
respected throughout the community in 
which they lived. Mrs. Watson was an 
only child. By her marriage she became the 
mother of four children : Florence E., now 
Mrs. Phillips; Herbert: Claude L. ; and 
Leila H. Both Mr. and Mrs. Phillips hold 
membership in the Hartsville Presbyterian 
church. They are w'idely known in Bucks 
county, representing old families of Penn- 
sylvania, and Mr. Phillips is regarded as 
one of the progressive agriculturists of his 
community. 



ELMER E. ALTHOUSE. editor and 
proprietor of the "Sellersville Herald," 
was born in Sellersville, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, December 12. 1874. a"ct 
is a son of Milton D. and Elizabeth 
(Nace) Althouse. The pioneer ancestor 
of the subject of this sketch was Arndt 
^Andrew) Althouse. who emigrated 
from Germany in the ship "Fane" ar- 
riving in Philadelphia on October 17, 
1749. He located on the Tohickon, near 
Church Hill, in Haycock township. He 
and his wife Anna IMaria were members 
of Tohickon Reformed church at Church 
Hill, and their son Daniel was baptised 
there March 4. 175.^. 

Daniel Althouse was a farmer in Hay- 
cock township until 1785. wiien he lo- 
cated in Redminster towmship. where he 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



341 



died in 1795. He was twice married 
and left the following children: Maria, 
Frederick, Abraham, Conrad, Michael, 
Jacob and Rebecca by the first wife, and 
Isaac, Elizabeth, Daniel, ]\Iartin, and 
George by the second wife. 

Frederick Althouse, born in Haycock 
in 1783, on attaining manhood located in 
Rockhill township, where he purchased 
twenty-three acres of land in 1818. In 
1824 he purchased of Andrew Schlichter 
a farm of eighty-seven acres on the 
Bethlehem road, near Sellersville, and 
lived there the remainder of his life, 
•dying January 26, 1852. He married 
Susanna Schlichter, of Rockhill town- 
ship, and had nine children who sur- 
vived him, viz: Thomas, Elias, Daniel, 
James, Andrew, Elizabeth, wife of Enos 
Sellers; Hannah, wife of Isaac Barndt; 
Mary, wife of Noah Weisel, and Abigail. 

Elias Althouse, second son of Fred- 
•erick and Susanna (Schlichter) Alt- 
house, was born and reared in Rockhill 
township. He was born August 5, 1814, 
and died in July, 1869. At the death of 
liis father he accepted a portion of the 
"homestead and it was adjudged to him 
by the orphans' court, and part of his 
allotment was a small lot included in 
the present limits of Sellersville borough. 
He was a tailor by trade, and probably 
lived on this lot and followed his cal ing. 
He moved back to Rockhill in 1856, and 
lived there until his death in 1869. He 
married Maria Dietz, daughter of Abra- 
ham Dietz, of Rockhill, and they were 
the parents of nine children, viz: Mil- 
ton D.; Susanna, wife of Thomas R. 
Leister: Elizabeth, wife of Peter R. 
Ziegenfuss: Henry; John; Thomas: Will- 
iam; Amos; and Emma, wife of Charles 
Himmelwright. 

Milton D. Althouse was born in Rock- 
liill township, January 6. 1841, and was 
reared and educated in Sellersville. He 
learned the trade- of a cigar maker when 
a boy, and worked at that trade for 
twenty-five years. He at one time 
owned and conducted a cigar factory in 
Sellersville. He has always taken an 
active interest in the affairs of the town, 
and has filled a number of local offices, 
serving as school director and mem- 
ber of borough council for several terms. 
In politics he is an ardent Republican, 
and for many years took an active part 
in the councils of the party. He was 
•elected to the office of recorder of deeds 
of Bucks county in 1884, and served 
one term of three years. He has also 
filled the position of transcribing clerk 
in the recorder's office. In 1889 he was 
appointed postmaster of Sellersville by 
President Harrison, and filled that posi- 
tion for four years. Since July, 1903, 
lie has had charge of the rural free 
delivery on the Sellersville mail route. 
He and his family are members of the 
lieformed chitrch at Schlichtersville, 
of which he has been an eider for 



twenty-two years, and deacon for eight 
years. He also filled the 'position of 
trustee and treasurer of the church. He 
is a member of the Knights of the Golden 
Eagle and Patriotic Order Sons of 
America. He married, October 15, 
1863, Elizabeth Nace, and they have 
been the parents of four children, of 
whom only Elmer E., the subject of this' 
sketch, survives. 

Elmer E. Althouse was born in 1874, 
and was reared in Sellersville. He 
graduated from the Sellersville high 
school in 1891. and from Pierce's Busi- 
ness College, Philadelphia, in 1892. He 
entered the law department of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania and graduated 
in 1896. He, however, had a taste for 
journalism, having been correspondent 
for Philadelphia and Doylestown papers 
for some years, and in 1897 started the 
"Sellersville Herald" in partnership with 
C. R. Addison. During the first year 
he purchased his partner's interest, and 
has since conducted the paper alone, 
which now has the largest subscription 
of any weekly paper in upper Bucks. 
He is also connected with the "Emaus 
Herald," published at Emaus, Lehigh 
county. Pennsylvania. The "Herald" is 
a popular weekly local paper and exer- 
cises a potent influence toward the im- 
provement and development of the town 
of Sellersville and vicinity. Mr. Alt- 
house is deeply interested in the affairs 
of his native town, and has filled a num- 
ber of local positions; he is now serving 
as borough auditor. 

He is a member of McCalla Lodge, 
No. 596, F. and A. M., and Sellersville 
Lodge, No. 658, I. O. O. F. Mr. Alt- 
house married June 30, 1807, Margaret 
G. Leinbach. daughter of Rev. Samuel 
A., and Margaret (Everhart) Leinbach, 
and they are the parents of two chil- 
dren — Samuel L.. born October 12. 1899; 
and INIary Elizabeth, born March 23, 
1905. The family are members of St. 
Paul's Reformed church, Sellersville. 



HENRY KEMMERER KLINE, re- 
siding at Quakertown, Bucks count3% 
Pennsylvania, is a representative of an 
old family of German extraction. His 
ancestor, Isaac Kline, came from Ger- 
many and settled in Bucks county prior 
to the Revolutionary war. By his wife 
Barbara, Isaac Kline was father of a son 
George, born August 17, 1788, who mar- 
ried Susanna Hembach, boirn November 
16, 1803. George and Susanna (Hem- 
bach) Kline were the parents of the 
following named children: I. Solomon, 
born February 12, 1826; died July, 1904: 
he married Sarah Keppler, and resided 
in Easton. 2. Mary, inarried M. Erd- 
man. 3. Isaac, born 1828; married Eme- 
line Kneedler. of Kneedler's Corner, 
Gwynedd township, and lived in Beth- 
lehem. 4. Sarah, born April 12, 1834, 



342 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



married Joseph Himevelt, ami lived in 
Philadelphia. 5. Susanna, born Septem- 
ber 3, 1835, married Louis Kehl, of 
Montgomery county. 6. George, to be 
further mentioned hereinafter. 7. An in- 
fant. The father of this family died 
February 3, 1838, and his wife survived 
him many years, dying January 14, 

1875. 

George Hembach Kline, son of George 
and Susanna (Hembach) Kline, was 
born January 13, 1837, on a farm then 
owned and cultivated by his father, at 
Hembach, Lower Milford township, 
Lehigh county. He attended the sub- 
scription school of Samuel Crawford, at 
Swamp Church, and also for two years 
the public schools, which were then 
first opened. He then went to Plym- 
outh Meeting, Montgomery county, where 
he remained until his sixteenth year, 
working on a farm and attending 
the Friends' school. He was then ap- 
prenticed to Jacob Harley, a harness 
maker at Zion Hill, Lehigh county, and 
who was father of Jonas Harley, pro- 
prietor of a harness manufactory at 
Quakertown. Here George Kline re- 
mained one year, when he went to 
Quakertown. where he entered the em- 
ploy of Louis P. Jacoby. In the course 
of a few years he established a shop on 
his own account at Riegelsville, Dur- 
ham township. In 1859 he located in 
Quakertown, where he purchased the 
business of his former employer, Louis 
Jacoby. He conducted his establish- 
ment profitably until the second year 
of the civil war, when (October i. 1862) 
he enlisted in Company H, Fifteenth 
Regiment Pennsylvania Cavalry, Colonel 
William J. Palmer commanding. He 
was detailed for special duty as saddler, 
and in August, 1863, was promoted to 
sergeant, which rank he held until he 
was honorably discharged from the ser- 
vice of the United States after the col- 
lapse of the rebellion, in June, 1865. 
He participated in some of the most 
stirring campaigns of the great con- 
flict, and among the notable battles in 
which he bore a part was the sanguin- 
ary struggle at Chickamauga. Tennes- 
see. After returning from his army 
service, Mr. Kline resumed his business, 
which he has successfully conducted to 
the present time. He has alwa;\'s taken 
an active part in community afifairs, and 
enjoys the respect and confidence of 
his neighbors in high degree. During 
President Cleveland's first administra- 
tion he filled a full term of four years 
as postmaster, discharging the duties of 
the position with ability and integrity. 
In politics he is a stanch Democrat. 
With his family he holds membership 
in St. John's Lutheran Church, in which 
he has served as deacon, and has other- 
wise been active in church work. 

In 1857, while residing in Riegels- 
ville, Mr. Kline married Elmina, daugh- 



ter of Henry and Lydia (Bartholomew> 
Kemmerer, and of this union were borni 
the following children : i. Henry Kem- 
merer, to be further mentioned; 2. 
Emma B., who became the wife of 
Harry Y. Jacoby, son of Simon Jacoby,. 
of Sellersville, Bucks county ; 3. Susan 
B., who became the wife of Andrew 
Snovel, of Hatfield, Montgomery county; 
4. William K. 

Henry Kemmerer Kline, eldest child 
of George H. Elmina (Kemmerer) 
Kline, was born June 4, 1862. He at- 
tended the common schools and the 
high school until reaching his sixteenth 
year, after which he worked for J. S. 
Harley. He became assistant post- 
master to his father, acting in that ca- 
pacit}' for four years. During the sec- 
ond Cleveland administration and that 
of President Harrison he was assistant 
postmaster to Edward Ochs, and after 
the death of Mr. Ochs. with Dr. Joseph 
Thomas. For two years and a half he 
was assistant to Mahlon Detweiler, 
after which he was employed for six 
months by Mrs. Clymer. Since October,. 
1903, he has been engaged in stove- 
mounting. He has been active in public 
affairs, and for four years served as 
clerk of the council, and is now a mem- 
ber of the school board and clerk of the 
election board. In politics he is a 
Democrat. He and his wife are mem- 
bers of St. John's Lutheran Church, in 
which for many years he has served 
as deacon and secretary of the Sunday 
school. Mr. Kline married, December 
26. 1891, Emma Matilda, daughter of 
Til and Amelia (Mint) Osnean, of 
Quakertown. formerly of Allentown, and 
they have three children: J. Robert,. 
Herman Otto and Lillian Naomi. All 
these children attend school and J. 
Robert is studying music. 



JOSHUA TOMLINSON, honored as 
the oldest living resident of Langhorne, 
of which city he is a native, and the 
onlv surviving charter member of the 
Lodge of Odd Fellows in that village, 
is a representative of ancestry v\ho set- 
tled in Pennsylvania in the colonial days, 
shortly before the Revolution. The 
founders of the American branch of the 
family came from England and settled 
in Philadelphia and Bucks counties. 
They were farmers by occupation, and 
Friends in religion. 

Mr. Tomlinson was born March 24, 
1822. in Middletown township, son of 
Aaron and Jane (Headley) Tomlinson; 
grandson of William and Rachel (Ever- 
ett) Tomlinson; and great-grandson of 
Richard Tomlinson. He was educated 
at the Friends' school and the Belle- 
view school in Langhorne, that last 
named being then under the charge of 
William Mann, one of the most capable 



1^ 



ULi, 



'RAR/I 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



343 



teachers of that day. Young Tomlin- 
son labored upon the paternal farm 
until he was seventeen, and at that early 
age entered upon an apprenticeship to 
the coachmaker's trade in a shop which 
his father conducted in connection with 
his farming labors. He was so em- 
ployed for four years, and at the expira- 
tion of that time, his father retiring, he 
succeeded to the management. He con- 
ducted the business with much success 
until 1849, when he sold it and went to 
Maryland, where he cultivated a plan- 
tation for a couple of years. In 1851 
he returned to Middletown and resumed 
his coachmaking business, in which he 
successfully continued until 1875, when 
he retired to a finely improved and 
highly productive farm which he had 
previously purchased, and where he 
made his home for thirteen years. He 
then made a final removal to Lang- 
horne, where he has since resided, occu- 
pying a beautiful and comfortable home 
where he enjoys that well merited ease 
and contentment which should properly 
crown so active and well spent a life. 
He enjoys the esteem aYid confidence of 
the community, to whose prosperity 
and advancement he has materially con- 
tributed, and among whom he is held 
in peculiar regard as the oldest citizen. 
He is the oldest surviving member of 
and the only charter member now liv- 
ing of Orionto Lodge, No. 177, I. O. 
O. F., organized in May, 1846, and of 
which he has been an active and con- 
tributing member continuously down 
to the present time, a period of forty- 
eight years. He was for five years a 
justice of the peace, and for many years 
was a member and secretary of the old 
Attleboro Fire Company. In religion 
he is a Friend, and in politics a staunch 
Republican, having affiliated with the 
party when it organized in 1856 for its 
noble purpose of staying the aggres- 
sions of slaveholders and the prostitu- 
tion of free soil to human slavery, a 
crime against humanity and a sin against 
God. Mr. Tomlinson married, July 4, 
1847. Miss Lydia Ann Noble, of Phila- 
delphia, daughter of Edward and Eliza- 
beth (Tiller) Noble. Of this union 
were born three children, all of whom 
were educated in the Friends' and public 
schools of Langhorne. They were: i. 
Edward Hicks, born May 11, 1848, he 
married Annie Reigan, and they became 
the parents of the following children — - 
Florence May, born 1874; Joshua Noble, 
who married in 1904, Elizabeth Griffith: 
Estelle, Clarence L., and one who died 
in infancy. Florence May was married 
to Ervin Fisher, of Philadelphia, and 
they became the parents of two chil- 
dren: Nevin and Oswald Fisher. 
Elizabeth Jane, born September 29, 1850. 
Frederick Noble, born June 17. 1855, 
never married. Mrs. Tomlinson. mother 
of this famih^ passed away January 28, 



1902, leaving to her mourning hwsband 
and children the tender memories of a 
beautiful spirit which shed the light of 
love upon all who came into companion- 
ship with her. 



GEORGE TOMLINSON, son of Aaron 
and Jane (Headley) Tomlinson, and grand- 
son of William and Rachel (Everett) Tom- 
linson, mentioned in the preceding sketch, 
was born in Middletown, February 15, 
1840, and was educated at the public and 
Friends' schools of Langhorne. He re- 
mained on the farm with his parents until 
twenty years of age. In 1861 he responded 
to the call of his country by enlisting in 
Company F, One Hundred and Fourth 
Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers under 
Captain Alfred Marple, and that veteran 
of two wars. Colonel (now General) W. 
W. H. Davis, and participated with his 
regiment in the bloody battles of Fair 
Oaks, the Seven Days Fight, Malvern Hill, 
as well as in a number of other engage- 
ments and skirmishes. On account of ill 
health he was honorably discharged on 
October 3, 1862, after having been confined 
for some time to the military hosnital on 
David's Island, New York. He returned 
home, and after careful nursing regained 
to some extent his normal hea.th, though 
he never fully recovered from the results 
of the campaign of hardships in the Vir- 
ginia swamps. As soon as sufficientlv re- 
covered he resumed the vocation of a 
farmer, which he followed until 1883 when, 
having purchased a house on Green street, 
Langhorne, he retired to that borough, 
where he has since resided, having built 
his present residence in 1891. He has al- 
ways taken an active intere-t in the affairs 
of the town, and is a member of Sergeant 
Hugh A. Martindale Post, G. A. R., No. 
366, and of Orionto Lodge,. No. 177, I. O. 
O. F. He was reared in the faith of the 
Society of Friends, of which his ancestors 
have been members for many generations. 
In politics he is a Republican, and has 
always taken an active interest in the suc- 
cess of his party. He married, December 
21, 1865, Annie Strouse, daughter of Sam- 
uel and Susan (Lutz) Strouse, of Lang- 
horne. â–  â– ' : r^. 



EDWARD A. IVINS, of Falls, township, 
a representative of one of the old and 
honored families of Bucks county, may be 
properly mentioned among the citizens who 
are contributing their quota toward the 
development of the agricultural interests 
of the community. He is a native of Penns 
Manor, the date of. his birth being Febru- 
ary II, 1858. 

Aaron Ivins. grandfather of Edward A. 
Ivins, resided at Penns Manor, Falls town- 
ship, where he successfully conducted agri- 
cultural pursuits for a number of years. 
He married Hope Aaronson, and they were 
the parents of three children : Edward A., 



344 



HISTORY OF DUCKS COUNTY. 



Aaron R., and Stephen Woolston. His 
second wile, wliose maiden name was Han- 
nah Eastburn, bore him two children, one 
of whom died in childhood, the other being 
Wihiam Henry Ivins, of Langhorne, Penn- 
sylvania. 

Edward A. Ivins, eldest son of Aaron and 
Hope (Aaronson) Ivins, was born in Penns 
Manor, July 30, 1828. The occupation to 
which he was reared he made his life work, 
being accounted one of the practical and 
progressive farmers of his locality. He 
enjoyed the confidence of the entire com- 
munity, and was thoroughly trustworthy 
in all the relations of life. He was united 
in marriage to Anna Brown, who was born 
in Penns Manor, May 23, 1830, a daughter 
of Moses and Ann (Harvey) Brown, life- 
long residents of Penns Manor. Moses 
Brown was born in 1792, was a farmer by 
occupation, and died May 16, 1874, aged 
eighty-eight years. His wife, Ann (Har- 
vey) Brown was born in 1794, and died 
January 10, 1852, at the age of fifty-ei<Tht 
years. They were the parents of five chil- 
dren : Alice, who died in infancy ; Eliza- 
beth, who became the wife of Thomas 
Headley, and died at the age of eighty-five 
years; Sarah, born 1820, died at the asre 
of twenty-one years ; Mary, born 1825, died 
in 1871 ; and Anna, aforementioned as the 
wife of Edward A. Ivins. The family on 
both sides were members of the Friends 
Society. The children born to Edward A. 
and Anna B. Ivins were as follows : Annie, 
who died unmarried ; De Witt Clinton, a 
resident of Plainfield, New Jersey; Edward 
A., mentioned hereinafter; M. Harvey, a 
resident of Langhorne, Bucks county, and 
William Henry, deceased. Edward A. 
Ivins, father of these children, died at 
Penns Manor, August 12, igoo. 

Edward A. Ivins, second son of Edward 
A. and Anna (Brown) Ivins, entered the 
public schools of Penns Manor at the usual 
age, and after studying for some time be- 
came a student in the Friends Cent''al 
School, of Philadelphia, conducted by 
Aaron B. Ivins, a relative. When 
he had completed his course of study 
he entered the employ of the Phila- 
delphia and Reading Railroad Com- 
pany as clerk in the counting depart- 
ment, and remained there for eighteen 
years, this fact being ample proof that he 
was one of its most truster! and capable 
employes, discharging the duties assigned 
to him in a conscientious and painstaking 
manner. In June, 1900, prior to the death 
of his father, he returned to the old home- 
stead and assumed its management, and 
since then has given his attention ex- 
clusively to the same, his energy and en- 
terprise being resultant factors in making 
this one of the fine farming properties of 
the locality, having thereon all the im- 
provements usually found upon the estate 
of a careful, energetic and progressive 
farmer. 

Edward A. Ivins married Mary L. 
Thomas, who was born January 8, 1863, a 



daughter of Jonathan and Mary Ann 
(Knight) Thomas, deceased, who were well 
known residents of Bensalem township, and 
the parents of eleven children, among whom 
were the following: Ellwood, Carrie, wife 
of J. J. Broadhurst, of Langhorne; 
Howard, Reese, Henry, Russell, Mary, wife 
of Edward A. Ivins; Franklin, and Clinton 
Thomas ; they also had a step-daughter, 
Ellen Thomas. One child was the issue of 
the marriage of Edward A. and Mary L. 
Ivins, A. Russell Thomas Ivins, born Jan- 
uary 19, 1892. 



SAMUEL J. GARNER, of Hatboro, 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, was 
born in Philadelphia, of Bucks county pa- 
rents. May 2, 1852, but for the last thirty 
years has been one of the leading citizens 
of the thriving borough, just over Bucks 
county's southwestern line. 

The family of Garner is of German 
origin, and descended from Hans (John) 
Garner, who came to Bucks county about 
the middle of the eighteenth century and 
settled in New Britain township, near the 
present village of Colmar on the county 
line. Samuel Garner, son of John, the 
pioneer, was reared in New Britain town- 
ship, Bucks county, and became a promi- 
nent man and a large landowner there and 
in Warrington. He reared a large family 
of children, among whom was Samuel, the 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch. 
By a later division of the township most 
of the land of Samuel Garner, Sr., in New 
Britain township, was incorporated into the 
township of Warrington and is still owned 
and occupied by his descendants. 

Samuel Garner (2) was born in New 
Britain township, Bucks county in 1798, and, 
inheriting a portion of his father's real 
estate, followed the life of a farmer there 
and in Warrington during the active years 
of his life, removing late in life to Doyles- 
town township, where he died about 1877. 
He took an active interest in the affairs 
of his locality, filled a number of local 
positions, and was a soldier in the Mexican 
war. He married Mary A. Snare whose 
father was for several years proprietor of 
the old historic Green Tree Tavern on the 
county line in Warrington township. On 
the maternal side she was descended from 
the Polks and other prominent Scotch- 
Irish families of Neshaminy colony in War- 
wick and Warrington. 

Samuel S. Garner, son of Samuel and 
Mary A. (Snare) Garner, was born in War- 
rington township, Bucks county, in March. 
1828. and lived there until the age of 
eighteen years, when he went to Philadel- 
phia and learned the trade of a bricklayer, 
and resided there the greater part of his 
life. He married a widow Ray, whose 
maiden name was Elizabeth Carr. He died 
in 1890. 

Samuel J. Garner, the son of Samuel 
S. and Elizabeth (Carr) Garner, born in 
Philadelphia, May 2, 1852, attended school 





'f///^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



345 



in Philadelphia and in Doylcstown town- 
ship, Bucks county, where a portion of his 
boyhood was spent. He later learned the 
jewelry trade, and in 1872 located in Hat- 
boro and opened a jewelry store, later 
opening a clothing and a more general mer- 
chandise store. He conducted both busi- 
nesses for ten or twelve years, and then en- 
gaged in the real estate business, which he 
has since followed with success. In poli- 
tics Mr. Garner is a Republican, but he 
has never aspired to public office. He has 
served many years on the local school board, 
of which he is president, and has always 
taken an active interest in educational mat- 
ters. He has also served for several years 
as a member of borough council, and taken 
a leading part in all that pertained to the 
best interests of the borough. He is one of 
the directors of the Bucks County Trust 
Company, and interested in a number of 
Bucks county's local enterprises. 

He married Fannie H. Wilson, daughter 
of Silas Wilson, a well known dry goods 
merchant of Philadelphia, and they are the 
parents of five children : Howard W., a 
graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, 
and now studying in Paris ; Marion, resid- 
ing at home ; Samuel Carl, in the brokerage 
business in Philadelphia ; and Ralph and 
Florence, who are attending the public 
school. 



FRANKLIN GILKESON. The late 
Benjamin F. Gilkeson, for many years one 
of the leading attorneys of the Bucks county 
bar, and prominently identified with the 
political affairs of his native county, was 
born in Bristol, Bucks county, August 23, 
1842, and spent his whole life there. 

His father, Andrew W. Gilkeson, Esq., 
was born in Montgomery county, but was 
of Bucks county ancestors, and spent most 
of his life in this county. His father, also 
named Andrew, was a lieutenant-colonel in 
the war of 1812, and prominently identified 
with the volunteer militia in the years im- 
mediately following the second war with 
Great Britain, and the family were among 
the early settlers of Pennsylvania. Andrew 
W. Gilkeson was a prominent attorney, 
being admitted to the Bucks county bar 
April 29, 1840, and practicing for many 
years at Bristol. He took an active in- 
terest in the afifairs of the county, and filled 
the office of prothonotary of the county for 
the term of 1854-7. He married Margaret 
M. Kinsey, of that borough, whose ances- 
tors had been among the early English set- 
tlers in Bucks county, her great-great- 
grandfather, Samuel Kinsey, having settled 
in Bristol township in 1728. Andrew and 
Margaret M. (Kinsey) Gilkeson were the 
parents of four children, of whom Benja- 
min Franklin was the eldest, and the late 
A. Weir Gilkeson, also a prominent at- 
torney of Bristol, was the youngest. 

Benjamin F. Gilkeson was educated in the 
graded schools of Bristol and at the acad- 



emy at Hartsville. He studied law with 
the late Anthony Swain, of Bristol, and was 
admitted to the bar February 2, 1864, and 
at once engaged in practice at Bristol. Pos- 
sessed of more than ordinary ability in the 
line of his profession, an earnest and care- 
ful student, his unflagging energy and in- 
domitable will soon brought him to the 
front, and for twenty-five years prior to his 
death he was the leader of the Bucks county 
bar, and represented vast corporate interests 
both in the county and elsewhere. Soon 
after' his admission to the bar he launched 
into the political arena, and was a promi- 
nent figure in the political councils of the 
county and state for many years. Reared 
in the Democratic faith, he was an early 
convert to the principles of the Republi- 
can party, and was for several years a col- 
league of Hon. Caleb N. Taylor, at that 
period a potent political factor in Bucks 
county and twice her representative in con- 
gress. Taylor and Gilkeson later became 
estranged, and the rising young attorney 
became the recognized leader of his party 
in the county, and held that position in local 
and state politics for many years. He 
served as the representative of his county 
in many state, national and congressional 
conventions, and also in the state committee, 
of which he was for some years chairman. 
He was intimately associated with the lead- 
ing statesmen and politicians of his day, 
serving in the cabinet of Governor Daniel 
H. Hastings as commissioner of banking, 
and taking an active part in state affairs 
for many years. He was second comptroller 
of the United States Treasury during the 
administration of President Harrison, and 
made an excellent record. He was promi- 
nent in the Masonic fraternity, and served 
as district deputy grand master for Bucks 
and Montgomery counties. He was one 
of the trustees of the State Lunatic Asykim 
at Norristown, and held many lotlier posi- 
tions of trust and honor. 

Mr. Gilkeson was twice married: first in 
1870, to Charlotte B. Jones, daughter of 
George B. Jones, of Pittsburg. She died 
in 1872, and he married (second) in 1874 
Helen E. Pike, daughter of Samuel Pike 
of Bristol, and they were the parents of 
three children: Franklin, a member of the 
Bucks county bar, and of the firm of Gilke- 
son & Janes, and two daughters, Helen and 
Ethel. 



HARRISON C. STOUT. Among the 
useful and respected citizens of Bucks 
county must be numbered Harrison C. 
Stout, of Quakertown. He is a grand'^on 
of Jacob and Lydia (Barndt) Stout, whose 
son, Abraham Barnard, in youth assi-ted 
his father on the farm and afterward 
learned the cabinet maker's trade. In poli- 
tics he was a Whig, and in religion a 
member of the German Reformed church. 
• He married Lydia Cressman, and they were 
the parents of one son ; Harrison C, men- 



>4^^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



tioned at length hereinafter. The ckatli 
of Mr. Stout occurred in 184 1. 

Harrison C. Stout, son of Abraham Bar- 
nard and Lydia (Cressman) Stout, was 
born October 3, 1836, at Sellersville, Rock- 
hill township, and was the only child of his 
parents. While he was still an infant the 
family moved to Mil ford township and set- 
tled in what is now Rosedale. After the 
death of his father his mother moved to 
Sellersville, and it was there that Harrison 
C. spent his boyhood. At the end of eight 
years he went to live with his uncle, Jacob 
Stout, and in 1851 moved to Doylestown. 
where he was employed on the "Bucks 
County Express," a German newspaper. 
After a few months he was obliged to 
abandon this work on account of failing 
sight, and took a position with Dr. W. S. 
Hendrick, with whom he remained for one 
year. He then went to Hagersville in order 
to learn the carpenter's trade with Elias 
Rosenberg, and after applying himself to 
that calling for two years and a half mi- 
grated to Stirling, Illinois. Thence he pro- 
ceeded to Missouri, and extended his wan- 
derings as far south as Fort Scott, Kan- 
sas. In the spring of 1859 he returned to 
Pennsylvania and settled with his uncle 
Jacob at Bridgetown, where for some time 
he worked at his trade. In 1863 he moved 
to Philadelphia, where for a short time he 
was employed as railroad carpenter, after- 
ward applying himself to general carpentry. 
He then became foreman in the furniture 
factory of Ebert, Sleifer & Hall, a position 
which he held for eight years. In 1870 he 
moved to Sellersville, where he followed his 
trade until 1875, in which year he established 
himself as a manufacturer of cigar boxes. 
In 1890 he settled in Quakertown, building 
the plant which he now operates, and in 
which he employs a large number of hands. 
He is actively interested in local affairs, 
and durincr his residence in Sellersville 
served as chief burgess. Since coming to 
Quakertown he has been for three years 
a member of the council, and has also 
served as chairman of the electric light 
committee and of the fire department. He 
has been prominently identified with fire 
departments in various places for about 
fifty-three years. He was one of the or- 
ganizers of the fire department at Sellers- 
ville, Bucks county, and was its first chief. 
In 1892 he organized the Quakertown fire 
department, and has been chief ever since. 
He had a wide reputation as a fireman, and 
has in many instances risked his own life 
to save others from being consumed by the 
flames. Politically he is a Republican, and 
is active in the interests of the organiza- 
tion. He is a member of the First Re- 
formed • church, in which he has held the 
ofifice of trustee and since 1889 has served 
continuously as elder. 

Mr. Stout married, October :8. i86o, 
Mary Ann Nace. and they have one son. 
Edward Newton, born March 30. 1863. and 
lives in Pliiladelphia, where he is employed 
as an engineer in Cramp's shipyard. He 



married in 1882, Susan, daughter of Jesse 
and Eliza (Nace) Nace, of Sellersville, 
and their family consists of the following 
children : Minnie, died in 1891 ; Harrison 
Stephen, born September 20, 1885, and lives- 
with his grandfather in Quakertown; Will- 
iam, born June 30, 1891, and is at home 
with his parents in Philadelphia; and 
Charles, deceased. Mrs. Stout is a grand- 
daughter of Adolf and Annie (Weitzel) 
Nace, whose son Isaac was born July '>. 
1810, and was a lifelong farmer. He lived 
at one time in Montgomery county, and 
later took up his abode in Haycock town- 
ship. He married in 1835, Anna, daughter 
of John and Mary (Zellers) Berger, and 
they were the parents of the following chil- 
dren: I. William, born January 21, 1837, 
married, January i, i860, Lisetta Seems, and 
lives at Siegfried, Lehigh county. 2. Mary 
Ann, born February 8, 1839, became the 
wife of Harrison C. Stout, as mentioned 
above. 3. Henry, born October 25, 1841, 
is unmarried and makes his home with his 
sister. 4. Eliza, born February 21, 1843^ 
resides in Philadelphia. 5. Isaac, born Feb- 
ruary, 1846, married Elizabeth Monroe, of 
Philadelphia, and died in 1889. 6. Sarah, 
married a Mr. Obiedenn, of Philadel- 
phia. 7. Isaac, born July 3, 1855, died irt 
1899. Mr. Nace, the father, passed the 
greater part of his life in New Britain 
township, but at the time of his death was 
a resident of Silverdale, Hilltovvn town- 
ship. 



WILLIAM SCOTT is the owner of a. 
good farm about a mile distant from Yard- 
ley. It was in the vicinity of this borough 
that he was born, on the i6th of December. 
1864. His father, Thomas Scott, emigrated 
from his native country, Ireland, to Amer- 
ica in 1857, when nineteen years of age, and 
settled in Chester county, Pennsylvania,^ 
where he worked on a farm for about three 
years. He then removed to Penns Manor, 
Bucks county, wjhere he entered the em- 
ploy of Arthur Collins, in whose service he 
remained for some time. He then began 
farming on his own account, and has since 
given his undivided attention to agricul- 
tural pursuits. He is a member of the 
Presbyterian church of Morrisville. and a 
respected and worthy citizen of his com- 
munity. He married Miss Cecelia M'oran, 
a daughter of William and Margaret 
j\Ioran, of Chester county, Pennsylvania,, 
and they had four children, one of whom 
died in childhood, the others being William ; 
Robert, a resident farmer of Lower Make- 
field town.ship"; and Mary, at home. 

At the usual age. William Scott entered 
the public schools, his time being passed 
in a manner similar to that "of most farm 
lads of the period. He continued to assist 
his father in the cultivation of the home 
place until eighteen years of age. when he 
went to New York city, believing that he 
would prefer- commercial life. He there 
entered the employ of T. G. Patterson, a 



n-Ht' NEW YORK! 

;iniACL13RARV! 



'-■■■-DATIONS. • 





O'Wl/LA , 





HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ZA7 



manufacturer of packing boxes, with whom 
he continued for twelve years. On the ex- 
piration of that period he returned to v^hes- 
ter county, Pennsylvania, where he had 
charge of a farm for William J. Moran for 
two years, and then returned to Bucks coun- 
ty, where he purchased the farm upon 
which he now resides, about one mile dis- 
tant from Yardley, and has since given his 
entire attention to agricultural pursuits. In 
politics he is a Democrat, but has never 
sougliL or desired public office, preferring 
to devote his attention to his business af- 
fairs, in which he is now meeting with 
creditable and gratifying success. Mr. 
Scott married Miss Margaret Irwin, and 
they have two children : Edith G., born 
February 4, 1901 ; and Florence, born July 
17, 1902. 



RICHARD M. JOHNSON, one of the 
most prosperous farmers of Bucks county, 
and a man who is held in high ,esteem by 
his foUow-townsmen as an upright, honest 
and useful citizen, was born in Richland 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, No- 
vember 22, 1841, the son of Milton and 
Evaline (Edwards) Johnson. The pro- 
genitor of the Johnson family in America 
was Casper Johnson, great-grandfather of 
Richard M. Johnson, who emigrated to this 
country from Germany at an early day, 
settling in the province of Pennsylvania, 
in Upper Bucks county. He married and 
had a son, Casper Johnson. 

Casper Johnson, junior, grandfather of 
Richard M. Johnson, was born in Richland 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He 
acquired what education the subscription 
schools of that day afforded, and followed 
the occupation of blacksmithing all his life. 
He married Mary Gibson and had a son, 
Milton. 

Milton Johnson, father of Richard M. 
Johnson, was born in 1823 in Richland 
township, on the farm now owned by Cor- 
nelius Loucks. He attended the subscrip- 
tion schools, and then turned his atten- 
tion to farming, which occupation he fol- 
lowed all his life. He was a Whig in 
politics, but at the formation of the Repub- 
lican party joined that organization. He 
married Evaline, daughter of Amos and 
Abigail (Evans) Edwards, of Quakertown, 
and the following children were born to 
them : Richard Moore, mentioned at length 
hereinafter ; Amos, born November 24, 
1849, married Anna Shaw, daughter of 
William and Hannah (Morgan) Shaw; he 
is a farmer, living at the corner of Station 
road and Bethlehem pike, south of Quaker- 
town. 

Richard Moore Johnson was educated in 
the common schools of his native place, and 
also studied in a private school under the 
preceptorship of Rev. A. Home, at Quaker- 
town, until his twentieth year. He then lo- 
cated on his father's farm, which his father 
had purchased in April, 1842, and assisted 



with the farm work. In 1870 Richard, with 
his brother Amos and their father com- 
menced working the home farm on shares, 
and this arrangement existed until 1876. 
Milton Johnson (father) died in 1883, after 
which Richard purchased his brother's in- 
terest and continued to operate the farm 
for himself. The farm consists of one hun- 
dred and four acres of fertile, gently slop- 
ing land, with a southern exposure, and 
which Mr. Johnson operated as a dairy and 
general farm. Politically Mr. Johnson is 
a strong Republican, and, although living 
in a district that is strongly Democratic, 
has on several occasions been elected to 
local offices, thereby defeating the candi- 
date of the Democratic party and demon- 
strating the esteem and respect in which he 
is held by the community. Mr. Johnson 
is a member of the school board and has 
served as judge of elections. He is a mem- 
ber of the Society of Friends, Richland 
Monthly Meeting, at Quakertown. His 
mother was a birthright member of this 
organization. March 25, 1870, Richard M. 
Johnson was united in marriage to Mary 
P. Strawn, daughter of Eli- W. and Mar- 
garet (Penrose) Strawn of Richland 
township. She was born September 26, 
1841, and died July 29, 1892. The follow- 
ing children were born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Johnson: Harry S., born February 13, 1872, 
married Melvina Penrose, daughter of 
Stephen and Hannah (Morgan) Penrose, 
of Quakertown. Her parents are farmers 
living on Strawn farm on Bethlehem pike, 
one mile south of Quakertown ; Milton, 
born November ir, 1876, married Martha 
Penrose ; Walter E., born October 26, 1879, 
unmarried: Maurice, born September =;. 
1886, unmarried ; Arthur R., born June id, 
1891, attending school. 



THOMAS K. GUMPPER, of Newtown, 
Pennsylvania, is the son of John J. 
Gumpper, of Germany, who settled in Phil- 
adelphia when quite young. John J. Gump- 
per was a man of more than ordinarv abil- 
ity. He began his active career by learn- 
ing the barber trade, and in early manhood 
opened a shop in Philadelphia, and a few 
years afterwards by energy, perseverance 
and thrift was the owner of several barber 
shops in the city. For a number of yccirs 
prior to his retiring from business he was 
busily employed in looking after these shops, 
although he did not work at the chair 
himself. He was the Republican candidate 
for congress in the third Philadelnhia dis- 
trict, his Democratic opponent having been 
the Hon. Samuel Randel, who was elected 
from this district several terms. He was 
counsel at Ghent under President Grant. 
He was a member and one of the organizers 
of the Union League of Philadelphia. For 
several years prior to his death, which oc- 
curred in 1896, he was engaged in variou."? 
business enterprises and accumulated a 
handsome fortune. He married Su.^an W. 



348 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Elton, and their children were: Joseph E., 
deceased; and Thomas K., mentioned here- 
inafter. Thomas Keyser, the maternal 
grandfather of Thomas K. Gumpper, was 
a Dunkard minister, and was among the 
â– early settlers of Germantown. He donated 
the ground occupied at Germantown by the 
Dunkard graveyard. 

Thomas K. Gumpper was born in Phila- 
-delphia, Pennsylvania, November i, 1843. 
He received his education at the common 
schools of his native city, and early in life 
mastered the trade of barber under his 
father's instruction. In 1873 he moved to 
Newtown and established himself in the 
barber business, which he successfully fol- 
lowed for twenty years, since which time 
he has lived a retired life. He served as 
mail carrier in Philadelphia from 1862 to 
1874, and was also connected with the Phil- 
adelphia arsenal for two years. He is a 
member of the Episcopal church of New- 
town. He is also a member of the Mystic 
Chain, No. 121, of Newtown, in which 
•order he has passed all the chairs. 
Politically Mr. Gumpper is a Republican. 
He served as mayor two terms, as assessor 
nine j^ears, as tax collector for Newtown 
borough for about two years, and for quite 
an extended period was a member of the 
council. In each place of public and 
private trust he has proved himself capable 
and trustworthy. Mr. Gumpper married, 
February 24, 1862, Miss Emma Hill, daugh- 
ter of George M. and Anna Hill. Mr. Hill 
was a well-known Philadelphia politician ; 
he was city commissioner two terms, tax 
collector two terms, sergeant-at-arms at 
Harrisburg three or four years, and also 
United States detective, having worked on 
the case of President Lincoln when as- 
sassinated by Mr. Booth. The Hills were 
among the early settlers of Kensington and 
were large property holders and prominent 
people. The issue of this union was eleven 
children, as follows : John J., who died in 
infancy; Mirriam. born October 23, 1864. 
wife of James Gamble: Annie H., who died 
at four years of age : Sue W., born Januarv 
13, 1868, wife of John R. Lenny, o. Phila- 
delphia; Thomas K., born May 25, 1871 : 
John T.. born June 26, 1873 ; William K., 
born December 23, 1875 ; Joseph E., born 
February 28, 1877; James P. H., deceased, 
born August 10, 1880: Ray E., born Sep- 
tember II, 1883: Charles N., born June 17, 
1887. Their grandchildren to the date of 
February, 1905, are: Mirriam E., Clara, 
James Elton, Thomas .•\shton, Harry. 
Erben, Emma and Edna, children of James 
and Mirriam Gamble. Thomas K., Edward. 
William and Roy, children of John R. and 
Sue W. Lenny. Emma H., child of 
Thomas K. Gumpper. Thomas K., son of 
John J. Gumpper. Irene, James G. and 
Helen, children of William K. Gumoper. 
Ruth and Mirriam, children of Josenh E. 
Gumpper. All in all he of whom this 
notice is written may very well count life 
a success. He has by dint of industi^r built 
lip for himself a home surrounded with 



life's comforts, and he has the respect cf 
all with whom he mingles. His family, 
well reared, are an ornament to society 
and useful to the world. 



RICHARD LAFAYETTE DOLTON. 
Among the progressive and prosperous 
farmers of Southampton township, who 
make a specialty of dairy farming, may 
be mentioned the name of Richard L. Dol- 
ton, a native of Newtown, bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, the date of his birth being 
October 21, 1847. His parents were Charles 
and Emma (Poulterer) Dolton, and his 
grandparents were Charles and Tamar 
(Tomlinson) Dolton, whose family con- 
sisted of two children : Fanny, who became 
the wife of a Mr. Walker, who was a 
printer in the Ledger office, and they were 
the parents of two children ; and Charles, 
born October 28, 1811. 

Charles Dolton (father) aforementioned 
was a ship carpenter, and for many years 
followed a seafaring life. It was during 
one of his voyages that he met his wife, an 
English girl, whose name was Emma Poul- 
terer, born February 23, 1824. After his 
marriage he continued his seafaring life for 
some years, and in 1867 turned his atten- 
tion to farming at Newtown, Bucks county, 
but shortly afterward, however, retired from 
active occupation, spending his life in New- 
town until his death, seven years later, 
which was the result of an injury received 
from the kick of a horse. He served dur- 
ing the Mexican war as a carpenter, prob- 
ably in an engineer corps, and was severely 
hurt, having both legs broken by a falHng 
timber. He also served in the war against 
the Seminole Indians in Florida, and was 
one of the men who helped bury Major 
Dade and his men. The children of Mr. 
and Mrs. Dolton are as follows : Eliza, born 
1844, became the wife of Franklin Fenton, 
son of Benjamin Fenton; Richard Lafay- 
ette, born October 21, 1847, mentioned here- 
inafter; Charles T., born in April, 1850, 
married a lady in Chicago, and they have 
one son, Richard; they reside in Chicago; 
John ; Elwood, deceased ; Frank, died in in- 
fancy. 

Richard L. Dolton attended the schools 
of Newtown, Bucks county, until the age 
of ten years, after which he went to work 
on the farm owned by Isaac Chapman, at 
Wrightstown, where he remained for three 
years. He then went to Holland and worked 
for Joseph W. and James C. Cornell, and 
from Holland joined his father in New 
Britain, where they cultivated a farm leased 
from Richard Hamilton. In the sixties he 
went with his father to Illinois, w'here they 
only remained a short period, returning to 
Bucks county in September, 1865, -after hav- 
ing disposed of their property in the west. 
He then went to work for John K. Talbot 
in Upper Makefield. where he remained un- 
til the spring of 1866, when he went to 
farming for himself, renting the property 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



349 



of David Twining. This land he farmed 
for about one year and then joined his 
father at Newtown, with whom he remained 
until his marriage, when he moved to the 
farm of Aaron Knight, his father-in-law, 
which farm he cultivated for twenty-five 
years, renting it until it was sold. In 
April, 1904, he removed to the farm on 
which he now resides in Southampton 
township and since then has made a 
specialty of dairy farming. Mr. Dolton 
was united in inarriage to Phoebe T. 
Knight, who was born in Southampton 
township, September 29, 1856, a daughter of 
Aaron and Hannah (Tomlinson) Knight. 
Seven children were the issue of this union, 
six of whom are : Aaron, born August 10, 
1880, married Blanche Atkinson and they 
are the parents of two children : Aaron and 
Florence. Emma, born August 10, 1882, 
wife of George T. White. Bertha, born 
July 25, 1884, died August 9, 1885. Mary 
E., born December 26, 1885. }^Iabel, born 
January 28, 1887. Richard, born April 6, 
1888. 



CHARLES E. COPE, the well known 
hotel proprietor of Atlantic City, and the 
Water Gap, was born at New Hope, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, December 28, 1852, 
and is descended on the paternal side from 
Yost Cope, one of the earliest German 
settlers in Bucks county. 

George B. Cope, father of Charles E., 
v/as born and reared in Plumstead town- 
ship, Bucks county. Soon after his mar- 
riage he engaged in business in New Hope, 
Bucks county, where he was a successful 
merchant and general business man, be- 
ing engaged for some years in boat build- 
ing and other local industries. He was a 
Democrat in politics, and for many years 
took an active part in the councils of his 
party. He was elected to the office of 
treasurer of Bucks county, and served for 
three years. He later removed to Burling- 
ton, New Jersey, and engaged extensively 
in cranberry growing. He died at the age 
of seventy years. His wife was Frances 
M. Crook, of an old New Hope familv, 
and they were the parents of ten children 
of whom eight survive : Ella, widow of 
Edgar Haas, of Solebury ; Charles E.. the 
subject of this sketch; G. Frank, of Sum- 
mit's Point. New Jersey ; Clara, widow of 
Sexton Woodward, of Philadelphia ; An- 
netta, wife of Blanchard White, an at- 
torney of Pemberton, New Jersey ; Cath- 
arine, wife of Dr. Seagraves, of Pember- 
ton ; Bertha, wife of William Watts, a 
hotel proprietor at Atlantic City ; J. Pardy, 
of Atlantic City. 

Charles E. Cope was reared at New Hope 
and acquired his education at the public 
schools and the State Normal School at 
Millersville. Pennsylvania. At the age of 
twenty years he left his father's cranberry 
farm and returned to Bucks county, where 
he took up the butchering business, first 



in Pineville, later at Forest Grove, and 
Buckingham, and finally in Doylestown, 
where he conducted a meat market for some 
years. Selling out his business he con- 
ducted the Upper Hotel at Buckingham for 
two years, and then removed to the Water 
Gap, where he conducted a summer resort 
for three years. His father dying about 
this time and leaving him his partially de- 
veloped cranberry farm, encumbered, 
Charles as the eldest son was called home 
to take matters in charge. Needing money 
to develop the property, Mr. Cope went 
to Atlantic City and engaged in the hotel 
business, and from his earnings there de- 
veloped the cranberrv bog, thus placing 
the property upon an earning basis, so that 
in three or four years cranberries were pro- 
duced by the carload, and a large income 
was provided for the widowed mother and 
her children. Mr. Cope then deeded the 
property over to his mother, and has since 
continued the hotel business at Atlantic 
City and the Water Gap. He assisted his 
brothers to start in business for themselves, 
and both of them have been successful, 
Frank, the elder having retired from active 
business. Mr. Cope has been the proprietor 
of the "Clifton," "San Marcus," "Alber- 
marle," "Kenilworth," the "Grand Atlantic," 
and the "Jackson" hotels at Atlantitc City, 
and still retains the latter, as well as the 
Kittatinning House at the Delaware Water 
Gap, both of which he conducts. In 1898 
he purchased a tract of land at Wycombe, 
Bucks county, upon which he has erected 
several houses and business places. 

Mr. Cope married, in 1879, Emma 
Thompson, daughter of the late Abraham 
Thompson, of Wrightstown, for many years 
a prominent farmer of that townshio, and 
who filled the office of county commissioner 
several years ago. He belonged to an old 
family in that vicinity, of Scotch-Irish ex- 
traction. Mr. and Mrs. Cope have no chil- 
dren. He is a member of Doylestown 
Lodge, No. 245, F. & A. M.. Atlantic City 
Lodge, B. P. O. E.. Pequod Tribe, I. O. R. 
M., and Atlantic City Lodge, I. O. O. F. 



MRS. J. WARREN PAXSON, of Sole- 
bury township, is descended from the well 
known Beans family of Bucks county, be- 
ing a great-granddaughter of Nathan Beans, 
who at one time was the owner of a clock 
that is now in possession of Mrs. Phillips. 
It was made for him by Seneca Lukens, 
of Horsham, Pennsylvania, in 1787. 

Stephen Beans, son of Nathan Beans, 
was born March 8. 1776. in Warminster 
township, Bucks county, but after attaining 
his majority removed to Northampton 
township, where he was engaged in farm- 
ing for many years. He. however, returned 
to Warminster township and located in 
Johnsville, where he died on the 20th of 
August, 1866. He married Nancy Ramsey, 
and their son was Robert Beans, who was 
bcr-. in Norlhnmpton township, March 28, 



350 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUXTY. 



1818. In early manhood he learned the 
wheelwright trade and opened a shop in 
New Hope about 1840. In 1842 he re- 
moved to Richboro, where he remained for 
a year or two and then established his 
home at Johnsville, where he owned and 
conducted an extensive .machine shon which 
became one of the leading industrial con- 
cerns of the locality, furnishing employment 
to twenty or more men. He was an ac- 
â– complished mechanic, and patented a mow- 
ing machine. He was very active in busi- 
life, a man of keen discernment and un- 
faltering enterprise as well as unblemished 
integrity, and through the capable manage- 
ment of his affairs acquired a handsome 
competency. He always voted with the Re- 
publican party, giving stalwart support to 
the cause, and was a recognized leader in 
its local councils, and, in fact, his influence 
extended â–  to political circles in the state. 
He was at one time a candidate for state 
senator, and although his district was 
strongly Democratic he was defeated by a 
very small vote, running far ahead of his 
ticket. He served for a number of years 
as justice of the peace, and was one of the 
liighly esteemed and influential men of his 
locality. He married Miss Ann Carver, 
who was born in Northampton township, 
December 9, 1818, a daughter of Robert and 
Mary (Smith) Carver. Her father was a 
prominent farmer of Northampton town- 
ship, and was a son of Joel and Ann 
(Smith) Carver. Robert and Ann (Carver) 
Beans became the parents of five children, 
of whom four are living: Mrs. Carrie R. 
B. Paxson; Annie E., the wife of Frank 
A. Phillips, assistant cashier of the Lam- 
bertville National Bank of Lambertville, 
New Jersey; Mary C, wife of Watson 
K. Reeder, of New Hope, Bucks county; 
and Alice, wife of Milton Wood. 

Mrs. Paxson spent her girlhood days in 
her parents' home, and her early education, 
acquired in the common schools, was sup- 
plemented bv study in the State normal 
school at Millersville, from which institu- 
tion she was graduated with the class of 
1875. In 1863 she began teaching, and fol- 
lowed that profession with splendid suc- 
cess in the district schools for twelve years. 
In 1879 she gave her hand in marriage to 
J. Warren Paxson, a son of Abraham and 
Evelina (Walton) Paxson. His father 
was born July 17, 1802. in Solebury town- 
ship, where his entire life was passed. He 
was in ill health for a long time, and died 
when comparatively a young man. 

J. Warren Paxson was born in Solebury 
township on the farm where he now resides, 
his natal day being June 25, 1845. He was 
here reared, and the common schools af- 
forded him his educational privileges. In 
1863 he enlisted for three months service 
in "the Union army, and returned to his 
home at the end of that time in very poor 
health, so that for three years he was under 
the doctor's care, and for a lonp- time little 
hone was entertained for his recovery. 
After regaining his health he worked on the 



farm of his father until 1876, when he and 
a brother purchased the old homestead, 
which they farmed together until 1879. In 
that year Harvey Paxson assumed the man- 
agement of the home place, and J. Warren 
Paxson removed to his late home, where 
he and his wife thereafter resided. For sev- 
eral years he was engaged in the under- 
taking business. He was a cabinet-maker 
and carpenter by trade, and followed these 
pursuits occasionally. Mr. Paxson was a 
Republican in his political views, and be- 
longed to the Friends' ijieeting. Botii Mr. 
and Mrs. Paxson represent old families of 
Bucks county, and have enjoyed the high ' 
regard of a large circle of friends. J. War- 
ren Paixson died suddenly of heart trouble 
on June 27, 1905. 



HARRY R. TREGO, of Pineville, 
Wrightstown township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, was born March 2, 1866. on 
the farm upon which he still resides, and 
which had been the property of his ances- 
tors for several generations, having been 
, purchased by John Trego, the ancestor of 
the Bucks county branch of the famib- of 
George Newburn, October 10, 1743. The 
family of Trego is of French origin, the 
ancestors Peter and Judith Trego emigrat- 
ing from France about 1685, and settling 
in Middletown township, now Delaware 
county, where Peter purchased land in 
1690. The children of Peter and Judith 
Trego were: Jacob, born 8 mo. 17, 1687; 
James, born 4 mo. 26, 1690; William, born 
6 mo. 3, 1693 ; Ann, born 8 mo. 28, 1702, 
married Dr. James Rushton ; John, born 12 
mo. 15, 1696; Peter, born about i /oo. Peter, 
the father, died in Middletown at the age 
of seventy-five years, in 1730. 

Jacob Trego, the eldest son of Peter and 
Judith, born in 1687, married at Darby 
Meeting of Friends in 1710, Mary Cart- 
ledge, daughter of Edmund and Mary Cart- 
ledge, who had come from Darby, Derby- 
shire, in 1683. Mary was born at Darby, 
Chester county, Pennsylvania, 8 mo. 25, 
1685. Jacob resided in Merion, Chester 
county until 1717, when he moved to Darbv. 
where he died 4 mo. 10. 1720, his eldest 
daughter Hannah dying on the same day. 
He left two children : John, born ^ mo. 6, 
1715; and Rachel, born 7 mo. 27. 1719. On 
October 5, 1722. his widow, Marv Trego, 
married John Laycock, who had emigrated 
from Lancashire, England, and settled in 
Wrightstown. Bucks county. Their only 
child. Mary Laycock, married Daniel White, 
of Buckingham, 9 mo. 12, 1751. 

James and William Trego, sons of Peter 
and Judith, married sisters bv the name of 
Moore, and remained in Chester county, 
the former rearing a family, and the latter 
dying soon after his marriage, childless. 
Peter, Jr. married Ann Whitaker, and 
reared a family. John, the youngest son. 
followed the sea for many years. Rachel, 
the surviving daughter of Jacob and Mary 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



351 



Trego, married Joseph Johnson, of 
Wrightstown, and left four sons and a 
daughter. 

John Trego, only son of Jacob and Mary 
(Cartledge) Trego, born in Chester county, 
5 mo. 6, 1715, was reared from the age of 
seven years in Wrightstown, Bucks county. 
He married Hannah Lester, of Richland, 
her ancester, Peter Lester, being one of 
the first settlers in the "Great Swamp." 
In 1736 his stepfather and mother, John 
and Mary Laycock, conveyed to him 140 
acres in Upper Makefield, a part of which 
remained the property of his descendants 
until the present generation, the last owner 
of the name being Morris W. Trego, his 
great-grandson. This farm was near the 
line of Wrightstown, and its northeast line 
â– was that of Buckingham township. The 
children of John and Hannah (Lester) 
Trego were: Jacob, died in Wrightstown, 
on the old homestead, without issue ; Sarah, 
married Joseph Wiggins, of Wrightstown, 
and removed to Harford county, Maryland, 
in 1771 ; Joyce, died young; Rachel, married 
a Skelton: Mary, married Meshach Mich- 
ener, of Plumstead ; Hannah, married David 
Stockdale, and removed to Harford coun- 
ty, Maryland; and William. 

William Trego, second son of John and 
Hannah (Lester) Trego, was born on the 
Upper Makefield homestead, March 16, 
1744, married 9 mo. 19, 1768, Rebecca Hibbs, 
and on June 18, 1770, his father conveyed 
to him aout sixty acres of the liomestead 
farm, the balance of which reverted to him 
and his six sons at the death of his brother 
Jacob, in accordance with his father's will, 
probated in 1791. William Trego died in 
1827. He and his wife Rebecca were the 
parents of eleven children, as follows : i. 
Thomas, born 8 mo. 15, 1769, married Sarah 
Duffield, and removed with his family to 
Harford county, Maryland, in 1812, dying 
there 8 mo. 7, 1837; 2. Mahlon, born 11 mo. 
25, 1770, married Rachel Briggs, and died 
3 mo. 22, 1849; 3. Joseph, born 11 mo. 10, 
1772; 4. William, born 9 mo. 29, 1774, mar- 
ried Rachel Taylor, and died 7 mo. 14. 
1850; 5. John, born 2 mo. 20, 1776, died 
10 mo. 16, 1832 ; 6. Mary, born 10 mo. i. 
1778, died 10 mo. 6, 1784 ; 7. Jacob, born 
10 mo. 28, 1780, married Letitia Smith, 
and lived in Wrightstown until 1846, when 
li€ removed to Illinois, where he died, 10 
mo. 3. 1870; 8. Jesse, born 1783, died 1784; 
9. Hannah, born 10 mo. 23, 1784, married 
Isaac Beans, and settled in Harford coun- 
ty. Maryland, in 1812; 10. Rebecca, born 
8 mo. 21, 1786, married John Beans, and 
(second) Thomas Briggs; 11. Marv, born 
10 mo. 3, 1788, married her cousin, Mahlon 
Hibbs West, in Harford county, Maryland, 
his mother and hers being sisters. 

John Trego, fifth child of William and 
Rebecca (Hibbs) Trego, born 12 mo. 20, 
1776, on the LTpper Makefield homestead, 
inherited sixty-five acres thereof and spent 
his whole life there. He also inherited the 
Wrightstown farm now occupied by his 



great-grandson, the subject of this sketch. 
He died 10 mo. 16, 1832, and the Upper 
Makefield homestead was adjudged to his - 
second son, Morris W., his eldest son, 
John K. Trego, the grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, electing to take the 
Wrightstown farm, where he then resided. 
The other children of John Trego, were 
Seth and Lydia. 

John K. Trego was born on the Upper 
Makefield homestead, but on his marriage 
or soon after settled on the Wrightstown 
farm, where he spent the remainder of his 
life, dying March 23, 1886. He was an 
active and prominent man in the commun- 
ity. Like all his American ancestors, he 
was a member of the Society of Friends. 
He was one of the trustees of the Pinevilie 
school, established for the use of the neigh- 
borhood long before the time of the com- 
mon school, and filled other positions of 
trust. He married Wilhelmina Kirk, 
daughter of Amos and Chanty (Doan) 
Kirk, of Buckingham, the tormer of whom 
was born in Buckingham 2 mo. 10, 1782, 
and died 9 mo. 24, 1863. He was a son of 
Thomas and Ocea (Kinsey) Kirk, grand- 
son of Isaac and Rachel (Fell) Kirk, great- 
grandson of John and Joan (ElHot) Kirk, 
the former of whom came from Alderton. 
Derbyshire, England, in 1687, and settled 
near Darby, from whence his son John re- 
moved to Buckingham in 1729. The chil- 
dren of John K. and Wilhelmina (Kirk) 
Trego, were Angelina, now widow of S. 
Smith Kirk, still living in Wrightstown, 
and Amos K 

Amos Kirk Trego, only son of John K. 
and Wilhelmina, was born on the Wrights- 
town homestead, March 27. 1838, and still 
resides on a portion of it, having resigned 
the management of the farm to his son, the 
subject of this sketch, several years ago. 
He married Emily A. McKinstry, daughter 
of Henry and Hannah (Hillborn) Mc- 
Kinstry, who was born in Montgomery 
county, July 21, 1840. Henry McKinstry 
died in 1845. and his widow, Hannah (Hill- 
born) McKinstry, survived him fifty-nine 
years, dying in Wrightstown in April, 1904, 
at the age of eighty-six years. Amos K. 
and Emily A. (McKinstry) Trego are the 
parents of two children: Harry R., the sub- 
ject of this sketch; and Miriam, wife of 
Jonathan A. Warner, of Edison, Bucks 
county. 

Harry R. Trego was born and reared 
on the Wrightstown homestead, which he 
now occupies, arid was educated at the pub- 
lic schools. He was reared to the life of 
a farmer, and on his marriage in 1889 took 
charge of the farm. In politics he is a 
Republican, but has never sought or held 
other than local offices. He is a member 
of Northern Star Lodge. No. 54, I. O. O. F. 
of Richboro ; Penns Park Council, No. 973. 
Jr. O. U. A. M., and of Northern Star 
Castle, No. 121. A. O. K. of the M. C. of 
Newtown. On January 10, 1889. he mar- 
ried Anna D. Twining, daughter of Elias 



352 



I'll STORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Twining, of Wrightstown. and a descend- 
ant of the oldest and most prominent fam- 
ilies of that section. They have no chil- 
dren. 



AMOS S. WORTHINGTON. Lewis 
Worthington, the father of the subject 
of this sketch, was born in Buckingham 
township, Bucks county, in 1820, and is a 
descendant of the family of that name who 
have been residents of Buckingham for sev- 
eral generations, their earliest ancestors 
having originally settled in Byberry, Phil.i- 
delphia county, from whence the immedi- 
ate progenitors of the Buckingham fam- 
ily removed to Buckingham about the 
middle of the eighteenth century._ Lewis 
Worthington was reared to the life of a 
farmer, and always followed that vocation. 
In the year 1854 he purchased of a rela- 
tive, Israel Worthington, the farm m 
Doylestown township where the subject 
of this sketch now resides, and contammg 
eighty-two acres, and resided thereon until 
his death in 1895. He married Tacy Dud- 
bridge, daughter of William Dudbridge, of 
Warwick township, and they were the par- 
ents of two children: Theresa, wife of 
Frank Keller, of Doylestown; and Amos S. 

Amos S. Worthington was born in 
Doylestown township, August 19, 1855. He 
was reared on the farm where he still re- 
sides, and acquired his education at the 
public schools. At the death of his father 
he continued to manage the farm, and 
a year later purchased his sister's interest 
therein, and takes great pride in making 
it one of the most productive and attrac- 
tive farms in the neighborhood. 



STACY BROWN, of Newtown, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, was born at Browns- 
burg, Upper Makefield township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, February 28, 1864, 
and is a son of the late William B. and 
Hannah (Hough) Brown. 

Mr. Brown is descended on both mater- 
nal and paternal sides from the oldest and 
most distinguished families of Bucks 
county. George Browne and Mercy his 
wife, the pioneer ancestors of the family, 
came from Lancashire, England, in 1679, 
and were married on their arrival at New 
Castle. They located in Falls township 
on land surveyed to them under warrant 
from Edmund Andros, governor-general 
under the Duke of York. This land fronted 
on the Delaware, above the Manor of 
Pennsbury, and a part of it has remained 
in the tenure of the de.scendents of George 
and Mercy Browne to the present time. He 
and his wife Mercy were said to have been 
members of the Established church, but 
most of their descendants of the third gen- 
eration became members of the Society 
of Friends. They had fourteen children. 

Joseph Brown, the great-great-grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch, was 



a grandson of George and Mercy Browne 
and supposed to be a son of Joseph and 
Ann (Higgs) Brown. He was born in 
l^'alls township, Bucks county, and residea 
there all his life, dying in 1777. He mar- 
ried, May 27, 1760, Mary Hutchinson, eld- 
est child of Joseph and Esther (Stanaland) " 
Hutchinson, and granddaughter of John 
and Phebe (Kirkbride) Hutchinson, and 
great-granddaughter of Joseph and Pheot 
(Blackshaw) Kirkbride. Many of the de- 
scendents of George and Mercy Browne 
became prominent in the affairs of the in- 
fant province, and later in that of the 
state and nation. His son, Samuel, was 
prominent member of the colonial assem- 
bly, as were George and John, sons of Sam- 
uel. The former was the grandfather 01 
General Jacob Brown, of the United States 
army. Of Joseph Kirkbride, the distin- 
guished ancestor of the subject of this 
sketch, it is hardly necessary to state that 
he was one of the most pi 
in the colonial history of Bucks county. 

Joseph and Mary (Hutchinson) Brown 
were the parents of six children : Joseph 
and Jesse, who died young; Levi, Stacy, 
Phebe and Letitia. Mary, the mother, 
died in 1783. 

Levi Brown, eldest surviving son of Jo- 
seph and Mary (Hutchinson) Brown, was 
born in Falls township in the year 17O5. 
On arriving at manhood he located in 
Buckingham and married Sarah Bennett, 
daughter of William Bennett, of Holland 
and English ancestry. In 1791, while a 
resident of Buckingham, he purchased in 
partnership with Joseph Harrold 150 acres 
of land in Plumstead township, but prob- 
ably never lived on it, as he was a resi- 
dent of Warwick township, when he joined 
in its conveyance in 1793. Little is known 
of his subsequent history. 

Stacy Brown, son of Levi and Sarah 
(Bennett) Brown, was born in Bucks 
county, November 11, 1796. On Decembei 
17, 1826, he married Lenah Beans, born 
August 5, 1896, daughter of Thomas and- 
Christiana (J,fl]i»son) Beans, of Warmin- 
ster, and located at the present site of the 
village of Brownsburg, Upper Makefield 
township, Bucks county, of which village 
he was the founder. He first purchased 
five acres of land there, but eventually be- 
came the owner of over 299 acres in that 
locality, and was a prominent and succes- 
ful business man, establishing a store, ho- 
tel, sash and blind factory and coal and 
limiber yard, and doing an extensive and 
thriving business. He died September 20, 
1879, and his wife Lenah on May 3, 1872. 
They were the parents of five children: 
Mary, the wife of Albert Agin ; Thomas 
B. ; William B. ; Sara, the first wife of 
the late Dr. J. P. Agnew; and Harriet 
S., who never married. 

William B. Brown, second son of Stacy 
and Lenah (Beans) Brown, died, 1875, 
married Hannah Hough, daughter of Sam- 
uel Moore Hough, of Newtown, and 
granddaughter of Benjamin and Hannah 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



353 



(Simpson) Hough, of Warrington, and a 
descendant of Richard Hough, provin- 
cial councillor, an extended account of 
whose descendants is given in this vol- 
ume. The children of William B. and 
Hannah (Hough) Brown were: Stacy, the 
subject of this sketch; Nellie, the wife of 
William Hicks, of Newtown; and Lizzie, 
who died in infancy. 

Stacy Brown was educated at the State 
Normal School at Trenton, New Jersey, 
and the First Pennsylvania State Normal 
School, Millersville, Pennsylvania. After 
a few years employment as clerk in a mer- 
cantile establishment he purchased the 
Thomas Betts farm in Upper Makefield, 
near Brownsburg, on which he resided for 
about five years, and then removed to New- 
town, where he has been engaged in the 
undertaking business with his brother-in- 
law, William Hicks, under the firm name 
of Brown & Hicks. He married Lavinia, 
daughter of Dr. Howard and Kate (Smith) 
Trego, of Newtown, and they are the par- 
ents of two children — Ellen and Catha- 
rine. 



EMANUEL N. SHELLY. Abraham, 
Christian and Johannes Shelly, supposed 
to be natives of Switzerland, were land- 
owners in ISIilford township prior to 1750, 
and from them are descended the numer- 
ous family now scattered over upper Bucks 
and Montgomery counties. Christian Shel- 
ly died in 2^Iilford township in 1793, leav- 
ing a widow Susanna, and nine children : 
Henry, who died in 1814, leaving six chil- 
dren; Elizabeth, wife of Peter Moyer; 
Mary, wife of Rev. Jacob Funck, of Ches- 
ter county ; Abraham ; Samuel ; Catharine ; 
Fronica, wife of Jacob Allebach; Ann, 
wife of John Beam; and Susanna, wife of 
Philip Doreworth. 

Samuel Shelly was a miller and tanner. 
In 1830 he purchased a small farm near 
Schhcters, in Rockhill township, where 
he lived until his death in March, 1847. He 
married Sarah Driesbach, and had seven 
children: Henry: Tobias, Samuel D., So- 
phia; Lena, married John Gayman; Caro- 
line, married Elijah Dennis; and Amanda, 
married Peter Brown. 

Samuel D. Shelly, second son of Sam- 
uel and Sarah (Driesbach) Shelly, was 
born in Rockhill township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1827. Early in life he 
learned the carpenter trade, and followed 
it in Rockhill, where he lived until 1900, 
when he removed to Sellersville, where he 
died in the spring of 1903. He and his 
family were members of Jerusalem Luther- 
an church at Ridge Road, where he of- 
ficiated as sexton for twenty-five years. 
He was an honored and respected citizen, 
of industrious habits and strict integrity. 
He married Hannah Nace, daughter of 
Henry Nace, of Rockhill. She died at 
Sellersville in 1901. Samuel D. and Han- 
nah (Nace) Shelly were the parents of 
seven children : Clayton, who married 
23-3 



Anna Nuss ; Emanuel N. ; Augustus N., of 
Sellersville, who married Malinda Rouden- 
bush, and has nine children ; Malinda ; 
Pierson; Matilda; and Ida, wife of Mon- 
roe Cuffel. 

Emanuel N. Shelly, second son of Sam- 
uel D. and Hannah (Nace) Shelly, was 
born in Rockhill township, November 21, 
1854, and was educated at the public 
schools. He learned the trade of a ci- 
gar maker when a young man, and fol- 
lowed that vocation until 1905, having been 
in the employ of Allen R. Cressman & 
Sons for thirty-five years, for fifteen ot 
which he was foreman of their factory. 
In June, 1905, he purchased the general 
merchandise store of F. F. Kilmer, at 
Sellersville, which he now conducts. He 
has always been actively interested in the 
aft'airs of the town, and has served as town 
councilman for six years, and treasurer 
for one year, as well as filling other local 
offices. He is a director and president of 
the Sellersville Building and Loan Asso- 
ciation, and has been chief of Sellersville 
Fire Company No. i, for three years. He 
and his family are members of the Luth- 
eran church, of which he is a deacon. He 
is a member of McCalla Lodge, No. 596, 
F. & A. M., of Sellersville; of Sellers- 
ville Lodge, No. 658, I. O. O. F., of which 
he has been the representative in the grand 
lodge of Pennsylvania several years; of 
Sellersville Encampment, No. 252, I. O. O. 
F., and of Sellersville Council, No. 482, 
P. O. S. of A. Politically he is a Repub- 
lican. Mr. Shelly married, January 16, 
1875, Lizzie Ann Gearhart, daughter of 
Levinus Gearhart, and this union was 
blessed with eight children, viz : Harry, 
who married Lizzie Cope, and has two chil- 
dren ; Charles, married Amelia Rosenber- 
ger; William, married Lizzie' Nace; 
Emmtt, wife of Harry J. Buck ; Alfred Rob- 
ert, married Bertha Lewis; Elmer, de- 
ceased; and Luther. 



SAMUEL B. LANDIS, of Hilltown 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, Oc- 
tober 4, 1849, and is a son of Rev. 
George M. and Mary (Bechtel) Landis. 
John Landis, the pioneer ancestor of the 
subject of this sketch, came to Pennsyl- 
vania from the borders of Switzerland in 
or about the year 1700, and located for a 
time in the neighborhood of Germantown. 
He was accompanied to America by Ben- 
jamin Landis, supposed to be a brother 
who was a minister among the Mennon- 
ites, to which sect John Landis also be- 
longed. Rev. Benjamin Landis later lo- 
cated in Lancaster county, where he has 
numerous descendants. John Landis, fol- 
lowing the trend of German migration up 
the Schuylkill and its tributaries, eventu- 
ally located in Milford township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, where he purchased 
land in 1743. He died in 1750, leaving a 
widow Anne, and several sons, .only two 
of whom, Jacob and Samuel, are mentioned 



354 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUXTY. 



by name in his will. Jacob was made ex- 
ecutor with a brother-in-law, Jacob Mus- 
selman, and the plantation was devised to 
Samuel, he to have possession wlipn the 
youngest son should be nineteen years of 
age, "which will be in January, 1759." 
Samuel Landis, the son, died in 1771, leav- 
ing a widow iVlargaret, who married Mich- 
ael jMusselman, and children : John, Ja- 
cob, George, Anna; Barbara, wife of Ja- 
cob Shelly ; Abraham, Eve and Samuel. 

Jacob Landis, the second son of Samuel 
and Margaret, born about 1745, purchased 
a large tract of land in Richland, near 
California, and lived thereon until about 
1800, having previous to that date con- 
veyed the greater part to his sons, John 
George and Jacob. He probably located 
later m life in Lehigh or Montgomery coun- 
ty, as there is no further record of him in 
Bucks. 

George Landis, son of Jacob and Bar- 
bara, was a turner by trade, and located 
prior to 1788 in Springfield township, 
where he purchased a farm of fifty acres 
in that year. In 1794. he located at Cali- 
fornia, Richland township, where he fol- 
lowed his trade in connection with farm- 
ing. In 1806 he purchased a farm of 137 
acres in Haycock, and lived there until his 
death in 1842, at an advanced age. He 
married Anna Meyers, and they were the 
parents of eight children ; two sons, George 
and John; and six daughters — Barbara, 
Catharine, Anna, Sarah, Maria and Eliza- 
beth. 

George M. Landis, eldest son of George 
and Anna (Meyers) Landis, was born at 
California, Richland township, December 
20, 1796. He learned the trade of a turn- 
er with his father, and followed it in Hay- 
cock, in connection with the con'duct of 
fifty acres of the old homestead conveyed 
to him by his father in 1822, until 1857, 
when he sold his farm and .removed to 
Hilltown, where he purchased the farm 
and mill belonging to the estate of Peter 
Loux, where he resided the remainder of 
his life. He was a preacher in the Men- 
nonite church, being the first preacher at 
the Flatland church in Richland, which he 
helped to build, contributing both money 
and labor. On the Hilltown homestead, 
purchased in 1859, was a mill known as the 
old Fretz Mill, erected by Martin Fretz, 
which George Moyer operated after settling 
in Hilltown. He died August 28, 1881. He 
was twice married, first on March 28, 1820, 
to Barbara Rosenberger, daughter of Ja- 
cob and Catharine (Rickert) Rosenber- 
ger, of Rockhill, who died November 30, 
1842, and their children were; Jacob, born 
July 7, 1822; Ephraim, born December 13, 
1824; George R., born November 2, 1828; 
John L., born March 25, 1832. George M. 
Landis married (second) August 22, 1843, 
Mary Bechtel, born August 12, 1804, and 
they were the parents of one child, Samuel 
. Landis. the subject of this sketch. 
Sanniei B. Landis, born on the old home- 
stead in , Haycock, October 4, 1849, re- 



moved with his parents -to Hilltown when 
a lad, and was educated in the public 
schools of Haycock and Hilltown. He re- 
mained on the farm with his parents as- 
sisting in the operation of the farm and 
mill, and at the death of his father pur- 
chased the farm and still resides there. He 
has attended the Philadelphia markets for 
eighteen years, doing a large commission 
business in the marketing of his neigh- 
bor's produce. Like his ancestors for 
many generations, he is a member of the 
Mennonite church. In politics he is a Re- 
publican. Mr. Landis married, January 2^, 
1869, Mary Ann Hockman, born June 3, 
1848, daughter of Ulrich and Margaret 
(Myers) Hockman, of Bedminster, and 
they were the parents of twelve children, 
as follows: John, died in infancy; George, 
born June 8, 1870, married Ida Kachline, 
and has three children, — Charles, Sam- 
uel and Mary; Mary, born September 8, 
1872, wife of Jonas Hockman,; Catharine, 
born September 22, 1874, wife of John 
Musselman ; Ella, born September 9, 1876, 
wife of Samuel Moyer; Sallie, born No- 
vember 24, 1878, wife of William Keller; 
Daniel, born July 31, 1881, died August 
28, 1882; Emma, born May 10, 1883, mar- 
ried William Dunlap ; William and Ida, 
twins, died in infancy ; Anna, born Decem- 
ber 27, 1890; Lettie, born March 28, 1892. 

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel B. Landis have 
twelve grandchildren : Charles, Samuel and 
Mary Landis, children of their son George ; 
Samuel, Mabel, George and Walter Hock- 
man, children of Jonas and Ida ; Samuel 
Musselman, son of John and Catharine; 
Samuel and Mathias Moyer, children of 
John and Ella ; and IMamie and Evelyn 
Gertrude Keller, daughters of William and 
Sallie. 



JOHN WYNKOOP, proprietor of the 
Buck Tavern, in Southampton township, 
Bucks county, was born in Moreland town- 
ship, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, 
July 22, 1837. His paternal grandfather, 
Philip Wynkoop, married a Miss Norcross 
and they had six children, namely : Henry, 
who wedded Mary Hogeland. and had 
three children, William H., Kate and 
Lucy ; John, who married Sarah Yerkes, 
and had one son, Franklin; Mary, who be- 
came the w'ife of Enos Boutcher, and had 
two children, George and Albert ; Garrett, 
who was born October 6, 1802, and wed- 
ded Mary Carr; Ann, who became the wife 
Amos Yerkes, and had two children, 
Albert and Katherine ; and Margaret, who 
became Mrs. Boutcher, and had six chil- 
dren : Charles, Wynkoop, Catherine, Lucy, 
William and John. Garrett and Mary 
(Carr) Wynkoop had three children: 
John ; Charles, who married Amy Yerkes, 
and has a daughter, Rebecca ; and Theo- 
dore, wlin married Miss Morrison. 

John Wykoop. eldest son of Garrett and 
Mary (Carr) Wynkoop, was reared in his 
native township and acquired a public 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



355 



school education, after which he learned 
ihe miller's trade and for forty years con- 
ducted Ridge's Mills, in Southampton, to 
â– which place he removed two years previous 
to his marriage. Following his long and 
successful connection with the milling busi- 
ness, Mr. Wynkoop rented the famous 
Buck Tavern, which he has managed since 
1897. Prominent and active in community 
affairs, Mr. Wynkoop has filled' several 
township and county offices. He was elected 
auditor in. 1867, and held that office for 
three years. From 1870 until 1881 he was 
school director, and was then elected coun- 
ty commissioner, remaining in the office 
for three years, after which he was again 
elected school director. He built the coun- 
ty jail at Doylestown, and in all his re- 
lations to the public interests he has been 
progressive and enterprising, fostering 
many measures for the general good. Mr. 
Wynkoop was married to Miss Mercy 
Riley, a daughter of William Riley, of 
Yardleyville, and their children are : 
Mamie, who married Frank Eastburn ; and 
Gairett, who married Emma Fulmer, and 
has two children, Dorothy and Helen. 



LOUIS AUGUSTUS RIDGE, late of 
Philadelphia, was born in Bristol township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, January 23, 
1832, son of Jesse and Hannah (Noland) 
Ridge, and grandson of Henry Ridge, of 
Bensalem township. On the maternal side 
he is the grandson of Dr. William and 
Hannah (Noble) Noland. 

He was educated in the public schools 
of Bristol township, and at the Whitehall 
boarding school, then in charge of Dr. 
Eoen D. Buckman and brother. The year 
after leaving school he aided his father on 
the farm, and in 1852 began school-teach- 
ing in the country, first in Newportville and 
later at Eddington, Bristol and various 
places until 1865. He was engaged to teach 
in the select school of William Fewsmith 
at Tenth and Chestnut streets, Philadel- 
phia, where he remained five years, and 
was then elected to the principalship of the 
first section grammar school, remaining 
there for five years, when he was trans- 
ferred to the Lincoln grammar school. 
Twentieth street and Fairmount avenue. 
In 1886 he was made supervising princi- 
pal of the Thaddeus Stephens Combined 
school, where he was engaged in excellent 
work for many years. His record is ex- 
ceptional, for he has taught school con- 
tinuously for over fifty years, each year 
gaining to a greater degree the confidence 
of the school patrons and students. The 
supreme delight of his life was to re- 
ceive letters from all parts of the coun- 
try from his old pupils, many now holding 
important positions of trust in the busy 
world. August 25. 1857, Mr. Ridge mar- 
ried Rosannah Kirk, of Bensalem, the 
daughter of Simpson and Anna (Grim) 
Xirk, the granddaughter of Benjamin and 



Rosanna (Carr) Kirk. The maternal 
grandparents of Mrs. Ridge were John 
and Alica (Culin) Grim. From this union y 
eight children were born: Edwin Buck- 
man, born September 28, 185S; Susannah, 
born December 4, i860; Eleanor, born Feb- 
ruary 15, 1862; Augusta, born September 
29, 1864; William Crichton, born April 4, 
1867; George Edgar, born May i, 1870; 
Kirk, born April 10, 1874; Rachel John- 
son, born May 16, 1876. Only two of these 
children are now living, Augusta and 
George E., who were educated in the pub- 
lic schools and Friends' Central school of 
Philadelphia. Augusta was married April 
II, 1888, to Henry William Pyle, son of 
William and Angelina (Darlington) Pyle; 
he died, without children, January 21, 1890, 
and his' widow Augusta then made her 
home with her father.' George Edgar is a 
jeweler in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. He-, 
married, March 18, 1899, Winifred Kil- 
bride, of England,! daughter of Joseph and 
Catherine Kilbride. William Crichton mar- 
ried Elizabeth Kitchenman, and they had 
one son John, born November 5, 1891. 
William Crichton died November 22, 1902. 
Mr. Ridge was a member of the Masonic 
fraternity and associated with Bristol 
Lodge, No. 25, A. Y. F. and A. M. He was 
ex-president of the teacher's institute; a 
member of the educational club; School 
INlen's Club and the Teacher's Association. 
In religion he was of the Episcopal faith. 



JOHN M. GRAY, deceased, was born 
in Buckingham township, Bucks county, 
August 16, 1836. He was a son of Samuel 
and Julia Ann (Robinson) Gray. John 
Gray, the grandfather of John M. Gray, 
was a native of Ireland, and came to this 
country soon after 1800. In 1813 he pur- 
chased a farm of sixty-five acres near the 
southern base of Buckingham mountain, 
and followed farming until his death in 
1845. He had five sons : John, who died 
in 1875; William; Joseph; Samuel and 
George, the latter of whom is still living 
in Buckingham ; and two daughters, Mar- 
tha Heyde and Rachel Blaker. 

Samuel Gray, the father of John M. 
Gray, was a blacksmith in early life, but 
later followed farneing. He died in 1882, 
aged about seventy-five years. His wife 
was Julia Ann Robinson, a native of New 
Jersey. She survived him, and died Janu- 
ary 10, 1894. Samuel and Julia Ann Gray 
were the parents of three children : John 
'M., Ellis, and Sarah Ann, all of whom are 
deceased. 

John M. Gray was reared on his father's 
farm and attended the schools of the neigh- 
borhood. He was married in 1861 to Ka- 
chel Fell, daughter of Jesse and Priscilla 
(Sands) Fell, an account of whose ances- 
try is given on another page of this work. 
On his marriage, Mr. Fell settled on the 
farm devised to him by his uncle John 
Gray in 1875, and followed farming until 



356 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY . 



1876, when, having purchased a lot in the 
village of Forest Grove, he erected sub- 
stantial buildings thereon and made 11 
his home for the remainder of his days. He 
died August 30, 1900. Mr. Gray was a 
prosperous and successful man, and left 
his family in comfortable circumstances. 
In politics he was a Republican, but never 
held other than township othces ; he was 
for many years a member of the school 
board, and was one of the best known men 
in his neighborhood. He was a member of 
Warrington Lodge, I. O. O. F., and for 
many years was treasurer of that organi- 
zation. At his death he devised to the 
lodge $5,000 to enable them to erect a 
building for lodge purposes. Mr. and x\irs. 
Gray were the parents of two children : 
George Henry, deceased ; and Samuel Scott 
Gray, a sketch of whom follows. Mrs. Gray 
resides at Forest Grove. 

Samuel Scott Gray, son of John M. and 
Rachel Fell Gray, was born in Bucking- 
ham township, Bucks county, November 14, 
1867. He was reared on his father's farm 
and attended the public schools, after 
which he took a full course at Pierce's 
Business College. Arriving at manhood 
he engaged in the butchering business a: 
Forest Grove, and continued there for four 
years. He then removed to Newtown and 
opened a meat store and conducted it for 
two years. In 1898 he returned to his 
ninety-acre farm near Forest Grove and 
has since made his home thereon, and is 
recognized as one of the best farmers of 
the neighborhood. He married, June 14, 
1898, Elizabeth M. Kirk, daughter of 
Charles Johnson and Lydia (Scarborough; 
Kirk. In politics Ivlr. Gray is a Republi- 
can. He IS a member of Doylestown 
Lodge, No. 245, F. and A. M., Doylestown 
Chapter, No. 270, R. A. M., a Philadelphia 
Commandery, Knights Templar, and of the 
Philadelphia Consistory. He is also a mem- 
ber of Warrington Lodge, No. 447, I. O. 
O. F. and Newtown Lodge, K. of P. Mr. 
and Mrs. Gray have no children. 



FRIEDRICH STEEB. Throughout the 
length and breadth of the county there 
can be found no more loyal foreign-born 
citizen than Friedrich Steeb, of Levin. Mr. 
Steeb is a son of Friedrich and Magdaline 
(.Magley) Steeb, natives of Germany, 
whose family consisted of the following 
children : Friedrich, mentioned at length 
hereinafter ; John ; Christopher ; and Caro- 
line, who is the wife of Carl Colmer, of 
Trenton, New Jersey. The three sons are 
also residents of the United States. 

Friedrich Steeb, son of Friedrich and 
Magdaline (Magley) Steeb, was born No- 
vember 21, 1844. in Germany, and in 1870 
emigrated to the United States. He set- 
tled in Gardenville, Pennsylvania, where 
he was employed by Nathan Fretz, and 
about twenty years ago purchased the old 
Kratz farm in New Britain township. 



Since that time he has been an enterpris- 
ing and successful agriculturist, his pros- 
perity being the result of the industry and 
thrift which he has exercised all his life. 
As a citizen he possesses the highest es- 
teen of all his neighbors. Politically he 
is a member of the Democratic party. In 
matters of religion he is identified with the 
German Lutheran church of Hilltown. Mr> 
Steeb married in Germany, Louise Haff- 
ner, a native of that country, and they are 
the parents of the following children : 
Charley, born November 6, 1866, in Ger- 
many, and died in Bucks county at the 
age of seven years; Annie, born August 
17, 1870; Sophia, born August 9, 1872; and 
Friedrich D., born November i, 1880, mar- 
ried Ellen Cassel, of Montgomery county^ 
and has one child Laura. Ihe Steeb fam- 
ily, it will be seen, is largely represented 
in the United States, where it has recruit- 
ed the ranks of our useful and loyal citi- 
zens. 



ALFRED H. FAUST, proprietor of the 
Chalfont Creamery, one of the leading in- 
dustrial industries of the town of Chalfont^ 
Pennsylvania, was born in Frederick town- 
ship, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, 
September 28, 1857, a son of Samuel and 
Mary Faust. 

During his boyhood he obtained liberal 
educational advantages, attending the pub- 
lic schools of his native township and 
Norristown, also Washington Hall Semi- 
nary and Sumneytown Academy. The 
knowledge thus acquired thoroughly quali- 
fied him for the vocation of teaching, which 
he followed for two years. He then ac- 
cepted a position as superintendent ot a. 
creamery in his native township, retain- 
ing the same for six years, and also served 
in a similar capacity at Franklin for two 
years, and in the Union Creamery in 
Plumstead township, Bucks county. On 
April I, 1894, Mr. Paust, in company with 
Mr. H. W. Gross, purchased the Chalfont 
Creamery, and they conducted business un- 
der the firm name of A. H. Faust & Co.,. 
Mr. Faust taking upon himself the active 
management of the same. Two year* 
later Mr. Faust purchased his partner's in- 
terest in the business, and from then to 
the present time (1905) has successfully 
conducted the same on his own account. 
He is honorable and straightforward in all 
his transactions, and therefore well merits- 
the prosperity which has crowned his ef- 
forts. In 1900 he was elected justice o£ 
the peace, of which office he is still the in- 
cumbent, and he also served in the capacity 
of borough treasurer and school director. 
He adheres to the doctrines of the Lutheran 
church, in which body he holds membership- 
and serves as trustee. His political alle- 
giance is given to the Republican party, 
and lie is an honored member of the 
Knights of the Golden Eagle, and the 
Protective Order of Sons of America. Mr. 
F'aust was married March 20, 1880, in. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



357 



Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, to Miss 
Clarissa Trumbower, a daughter of Elias 
and Rachel (Jones) Trumbower. Their 
children are: Olivia, wife of Charles Pier- 
son, Jr.,. and they are the parents of one 
child, Elizabeth Pierson ; Laura, Irene, and 
Alfred H., Jr. 



CHARLES MURRAY, following farm- 
ing in Warrington township, was born at 
Doylestown, April 6, 1862. His paternal 
grandfather, a tanner by trade, followed 
that pursuit throughout his entire life. He 
was of Irish lineage, but of Protestant 
faith, and he became one of the pioneer 
settlers of Bucks county, where he was well 
known as a man of industrious habits and 
straightforward dealing. 

Mahlon Murray (2j, his only child, was 
born and reared in Bucks county, spendmg 
the greater part of his life in Bucking- 
ham and in Doylestown. He worked m 
his father's tannery and also engaged in 
farm labor. After arriving at years of 
niaturity he was married and carried on 
agricultural pursuits in Buckingham town- 
ship until the civil war was maugurated. 
His patriotic spirit was aroused ana 
prompted his enlistment in the Union 
army, and he became a soldier in the south, 
where it is supposed he was killed in bat- 
tle or died from wounds. No news was af- 
terward received from him and he un- 
doubtedly lies in an unmarked grave in 
southern soil. He had married Martha 
Beal, also a native of Bucks county, and 
after the death of her husband she care- 
fully reared her children, doing the best 
she could for them with her limited means. 
She afterward married Elias Slusher, a 
liative of Germany, and a tailor by trade, 
â– which pursuit he followed through the 
_years of his active business career. He died 
in Bucks county, leaving three children : 
Lizzie, Ann, and William, but the last 
named died in childhood. The mother of 
Charles Murray was married a third time, 
becoming the wife of Abram Barndt, a 
tanner by trade, who also owned a farm at 
Quakertown and carried on agricultural 
pursuits in connection with the preparation 
of leather. There was one daughter by 
this marriage, Sarah Barndt. Mrs. Mar- 
tha Barndt is yet living at the age of 
sixty-four years. She is a daughter 01 
John Beal, who was a farmer and laborer 
of Buckingham township. His children 
â– were : Martha, mother of Charles Murray ; 
Eleazer and Charles, who served in the 
•civil war and are yet living; Mary, and 
Josephine. By her first marriage Mrs. 
Martha Barndt had two children, Charles 
Murray, and Maria, the wife of J. Ker- 
nechel, a moulder, living in Quakertown, 
Pennsylvania. 

Charles Murray is an excellent type of 
the self-made man, for all that he has en- 
joyed and gained in life has come to him 
"through his well-directed efiforts and un- 
:faltering perseverance. He began to earn 



his living when only eight years of ao^e 
in the employ of James M. Lacy, a promi- 
nent farmer, with whom he remained for 
six years, receiving in compensation for 
his services his board, clothing and limited 
educational privileges. He was afterward 
employed as a farm hand in Buckingham 
township, where he remained for a year, 
and subsequently entered the employ of 
H. Acre in Warrington township. He 
has since resided in Warrington township, 
. employed in various capacities with the ex- 
ception of a period of two years. He con- 
tinued to work as a farm hand until the 
time of his marriage in 1883. Subse- 
quently he and his wife entered the serv- 
ices of Abraham Clymer, with whom they 
remained for three years, and then rented 
the Lacy farm, which he conducted for 
three years. He afterward cultivated the 
George Garner farm for a year, and for 
seven years rented and operated the Scott 
farm, on the expiration of which period 
he purchased the old Grier homestead 
upon which he now resides. This com- , 
prises one hundred and twenty-three acres 
of well improved land and has been in his 
possession since 1898. The house is a 
commodious stone structure, and there are 
large barns and many substantial out- 
buildings. Thre is a spring of constantly 
flowing water, which is piped to the house 
and barns, and there are many modern 
conveniences on the place which is pleas- 
antly located four miles from Doylestown 
on the pike and trolley line. Mr. Murray 
has made splendid improvements on his 
place, including the building of an addition 
to the barn and the erection of a large 
silo tank. The work of repair is continu- 
ally being carried forward and the farm 
has been placed under a high state of cul- 
tivation, so that the property is now at- 
tractive in appearance and valuable. He 
carries on general agricultural pursuits 
and in connection with the tilling of the 
soil keeps a herd of cows. Labor is the 
keynote of his success, and his untiring 
effort guided by strong and honorable pur- 
pose has been the foundation upon which 
he has builded his prosperity. Questions 
affecting the general welfare awaken the 
attention of Mr. Murray, who gives politi- 
cal support to the Republican party and has 
filled some township offices. He has served 
altogether as supervisor for seven years, 
his first incumbency covering two years, 
while later service has covered seven years. 
At length he retired from the office, re- 
fusing another nomination. Every public 
duty devolving upon him has been 
promptly and efficiently discharged, and he 
is known as a valued citizen of his com- 
munity. He belongs to the Royal Arcanum, 
and he and his wife are devoted members 
of the Baptist church. 

Mr. Murray has found a most faithful 
companion and assistant in his wife, who 
bore the maiden name of Miss Elizabeth 
Kraft, and who was born in Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1861. Her parents were 



358 



HI ST OR]' OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Gotlip and Mary (Doll) Kraft, tlie lor- 
mer a native of Germany and the latter 
of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, hut hoth 
are now deceased. Gotlip Kraft was an 
honest farmer, hut died hefore he had ac- 
quired much properly. His wife soon af- 
terward passed away. She was a daughter 
of Christian Doll, a farmer of Pennsyl- 
vania, of Dutch descent, and a soldier of 
the war of 1812. In early life he learned 
the shoemaker's trade, hut subsequently 
carried on agricultural pursuits. The gov- 
ernment granted him a pension in recog- 
nition of his patriotic service in the sec- 
ond war with England. His children 
were: Washington, a weaver and farmer; 
Charles, a cigar manufacturer; Jesse, a 
plasterer; Mrs. Elizabeth Diehl and Mrs. 
Mary Kraft. After the death of her pat- 
ents Mrs. Elizabeth Murray had to make 
her own way in the world, and she was 
employed in different households up to the 
time of her marriage. She became the 
able assistant- of her husband, and their 
united efforts have resulted in the acquire- 
ment of a good home and a fine farm, 
and now they are enabled to enjoy many 
of the comforts and luxuries of life. They 
have two children, Mabel, born May 29, 
1887; and C. LeRoy, November 17, 1894. 



OLIVER J. DEEMER. The Deemer 
family of Bucks county are descendants 
of Johannes Deimer, who emigrated from 
Germany in the ship Davy, arriving in 
Philadelphia, October 25, 1738, and soon 
after settled on a large tract of land m 
Nockamixon township, on the river, just 
below the Durham Ime. Whether he was 
the same John Deimer, who was a captam 
of a company in the expedition agamst 
Quebec in 1746-7, is problematical. Tra- 
ditions in the family seem to bear out the 
theory that he was. Tradition further re- 
lates that he was reared in the Roman 
Catholic faith and educated for the min- 
istry, but becoming enamored of a i-Totest- 
ant maid, he married her and emigrated 
to America to escape the wrath of his 
family and church. The name of Diemer 
appears in different parts of Pennsylvania 
at about the time of his arrival. A John 
Deimer, practitioner in Physic and Chirur- 
gery was a land owner in New Providence 
township, now Montgomery county, as 
early as 1734, and died there in 1759. He 
purchased land in Bucks county in 1753, 
which was sold by the sheriff after his 
death on suit against his administrator, 
James Deimer. A Michael Deimer set- 
tled in Limerick township in 1769 and died 
there in 1795, leaving sons George and 
Daniel and a daughter Eve, who married 
Jacob Painter. The eldest son George 
removed to Vincent township, Chester 
county, and is the ancestor of a family 
of the name located later in the Cumber- 
land valley. 

Johannes Deimer was the father of 
Michael Deijner, mentioned . at lengtli 



hereinafter and probably of George 
13eenicr, "House Carpenter," who purchas- 
ed land in Rockhill m 1773, which he and 
wife Dorothea conveyed in 1777, as well 
as of Joseph Deimer who located in New 
Jersey at about the same date, alter having 
resided some years in Durham, Bucks 
county. 

Michael Deemer, son of Johannes, the 
immigrant of 1738, and ancestor of ail the 
present Bucks county family, was born in 
or near Durham, Bucks county, about the 
year 1750. On the division of the Dur- 
ham tract in 1773, he purchased one hun- 
dred and sixty-three acres on the Nock- 
amixon line, and in 1789 purchased a tract 
adjoining in Nockamixon. He died in 
1797, and his widow Elizabeth, some years 
later. They were the parents of thirteen 
children, John, Jacob, Mereles, Catharine^ 
Solomon, Madlena, Sarah, Michael, George, 
Henry, Frederick, Barnet, and Margaret. 
Michael and Elizabeth Deemer were among 
the original members of Nockamixon Re- 
formed church at its organization in 1773,. 
and the baptism of several of the above 
children appear of record there, the ear- 
liest one to be baptised there, however, be- 
ing Sarah, born October 2, 1774, and the 
last one Margaret, on March 17, 1782. 
John Deemer, the eldest son, died a year 
before his father, leaving eight small chil- 
dren, Benjamin, John, Mary, Margaret, Sa- 
rah, Hannah, Michael, and Catherine. The 
eldest, Benjamin, born April 17, 1784, is the 
paternal ancestor of Newberry Deemer, of 
Bridgeton, through the marriage of hu> 
daughter Sarah to William Deemer, son of 
Frederick, above mentioned. Michael 
Deemer, another son of Michael and Eliza- 
beth, born December 20, 1776, died March 
8, 1850, was the grandfather of Edward 
Deemer, a soldier in the civil war and late- 
ly a resident of Doylestown ; and Elias 
Deemer, the prominent lumber merchant 
and business man of Williamsport, Penn- 
sylvania. Barnet Deemer, j^oungest son ot 
Michael, Sr., settled in Rockhill and was 
the father of Mrs. Michael Lehman, of 
Doylestown. 

Johan George Deemer, fifth son ot 
]\lichael Deemer, Sr., and great-grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch, was 
born in Nockamixon, February 2, 1779, and 
baptized in Nockamixon church, March 13,. 
1779, though the latter date is given on 
his tombstone as the date of his birth. He 
was a farmer and considerable land owner 
in Nockamixon and Haycock, being appar- 
ently a large dealer in timber and timber 
land. He married Elizabeth Unangst, bom 
September 17, 1783, died March 19, 1862. 
He died April 27, 1858, and they are buried 
side by side in Nockamixon burying 
ground. They were the parents of six chil- 
dren, as follows : Margaret, born Septem- 
ber I, 1811, married David Argart ; Cathe- 
rine, who married Samuel Wagener ; Mary, 
who married Henry Sassaman ; Samuel, 
who married Catharine Ruth ; Charles, who 
married Mary Bergy ; and Rose Anna, who- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



359 



married Thomas Atherholt. All of the 
above children left descendants except the 
eldest. Henry and Mary Deemer Sassa- 
man had eight children, Margaret, who 
married Oliver H. Myers; Sarah, who 
married James McNamee; Elizabeth, who 
married James Smith, and is the mother of 
W. Harry Smith, present sheriff of Bucks 
county; Mary, who married Harry 
Strycker ; William, who married Amanda 
Reaser ; Lavinia, who married George B. 
Deemer; Lydia, who married Thomas Mos- 
er, and Annie, who married Augustus Feas- 
ter. Samuel, the eldest son of Georgo 
Deemer, born December 4, 1803, died Jan- 
uary 12, 1874, married Catharine Ruth, and 
had four children; George R., who died 
in Nockamixon, April 2, 1904; Samuel W. ; 
Savilla, who married James Y. Zeigenfuss, 
and is the mother of Mrs. Elmer Funk, of 
Doylestown; and Rosanna, who married 
Aaron Zeigenfuss. Thomas and Rose Anna 
(.Deemer) Atherholt were the parents of 
four children: Eliza, wife of Reden Mey- 
ers ; Mary, Sarah, and David. 

Charles Deemer, second son of George 
and Elizabeth (Unangast) Deemer, and the 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch, 
was Born in Nockamixon, , Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, January 2;^, 1808, and died 
there February 13, 1882. He was a far- 
mer and followed that vocation in dif- 
ferent parts of the county, prior to the 
death of his father, living at one time in 
Doylestown township. After the death of 
his father, he succeeded to a portion of 
the old homestead in Nockamixon and 
spent his remaining days there. He mar- 
ried Mary Bergy, who was born January 
6, 1798, and died April 3, i860, and they 
were the parents of two children, Anna 
Margaret, born December 11, 1828, died 
June 13, 1895; married Charles Zuck ; and 
George B., born January 23, 1830, died 
March i, 1898. 

George B. Deemer was born and reared 
in Nockamixon, and in early life learned 
the trade of a stone mason and plasterer 
which he followed during the active years 
of his life, He removed to Doylestown in 
1866, and resided there until his death. In 
politics he was a Democrat, and took an 
active part in the councils of his party. He 
served one term as jury commissioner of 
Bucks county. He and his family were 
members of Nockamixon Reformed church. 
He married Lavina Sassaman, daughter of 
Henry and Mary (Deemer) Sassaman, 
born October 15, 1834, died February i::^, 
1898, and they are the parents of five chil- 
dren : Arabella, Margaret M., Sarah E., 
Oliver J., and Viola, all of whom except 
Oliver J., reside in the homestead on Court 
street, Doylestown. 

Oliver James Deemer was born in 
Springfield township, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, August 17, 1861, and came witn 
his parents to Doylestown, at the age of 
five years. His education was acquired at 
the Doylestown school. When a young man 
he entered the employ of Allen H. Heist, 



distiller, wholesale liquor dealer and cider 
manufacturer at Doylestown, and in i88» 
was placed in charge of a branch estab- 
lishment at Gallitzin, Cambria county, 
Pennsylvania, which he conducted for sev- 
eral years for Mr. Heist, and in April, 
1900, purchased it of Mr. Heist, and has 
since conducted it on his own account with 
success. Mr. Deemer is a man of excel- 
lent business ability, and irreproachable 
character, and has many friends both in 
his native town and in Gallitzin. In the 
latter place he has- been actively identified 
with many of the local enterprises and pub- 
lic improvements, and has served for many 
years as a member of the town council. He 
is a member of Aquetong Lodge, No. 19^, 
and Doylestown Encampment, No. 35, 1. 
O. O. F., and is also a member of the Or- 
der of Elks, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, No. 
175, and kindred organizations in Gallatzin. 
He is unmarried. He is a strong Democrat 
in politics. 



AARON F. MYERS. One of the highly 
esteemed citizens of Bedminster is Aaron 
F. Myers. Mr. Myers is a grandson or 
Henry Myers, who was a brick and stone 
mason ot Plumstead township, and married 
Elizabeth Fretz. Their children were: 
Henry F., John F., Reuben F., Joseph F., 
mentioned at length hereinafter; William 
F., Barbara, Catharine, and Annie. Mr. 
and Mrs. Myers both died in Plumstead 
township, where they had passed their lives. 

Joseph ¥. Myers, son of Henry and 
Elizabeth (Fretz) Myers, was born March 
12, 1812, in Plumstead township, where he 
learned the trade of a mason which he 
followed for some years. In 1844 he pur- 
chased the Myers homestead in Bedmin- 
ster township, whither he removed, and 
thenceforth devoted himself to agricul- 
tural pursuits. In politics he was a Repub- 
can, but while taking an active interest in 
the affairs of the organization, was never 
an office seeker. He was a member of the 
Deep Run Mennonite church, of which he 
was a trustee for many years. He married 
Barbara, daughter of Abraham Fretz, of 
Bedminster, and of the eight children born 
to them three are now living : Henry F., 
who lives in Tinicum township; Abraham 
F., who is a resident of Bedminster town- 
ship; and Aaron F., mentioned at length 
hereinafter. Mrs. Myers died January 8, 
1884, in the seventy-second year of her 
age, and her husband passed away May 
12, 1882. 

Aaron F. Myers, son of Joseph F. and 
Barbara (Fretz) Myers, was born July 
ID, 1846, on the farm which is now his 
home. He was educated in the common 
schools, and at the Carversville Normal 
School, which he attended for three terms. 
At the age of eighteen he began to teacli 
and continued to do so for five years. In 
the spring of 1870 he bought a farm near 
New Galena, New Britain township, and 
engaged in agriculture. At the end of ten 



36o 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



years he sold the estate and returned to 
the home farm, which he purchased after 
the death of his father, which occurred the 
following year. He has served as school 
director, is a Republican in politics, and a 
member and trustee of the New JMennon- 
ite church. JNlr. Myers married, May i, 
1869, Lydia, born February 7, 1845, daugh- 
ter of Henry Aloyer, of Lehigh county. Of 
the eleven children born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Mjers, Barbara, Susanna and Henry are 
deceased, and the following survive : Os- 
car, who lives in Milford township ; Jo- 
seph, who is a resident of the same place, 
Titus, who resides in Dublin, Bedminster 
township; Pierson, Isaiah, Levinus, Abra- 
ham, and Menno, all of whom reside at 
home. 



OWEN L. UNDERWOOD. One of 
Pennsylvania's old families is represented 
by Professor Owen L. Underwood, of New 
Hope. The founders of the Underwood 
family in America were three brothers, 
Zephaniah, Alexander, and John, wiio came 
over from Wales not less than two centu- 
ries since. Alexander settled in Virginia 
and John in jNIassachusetts, where his de- 
scendants are numerous. Zephaniah made 
his home in York county, Pennsylvania. 
One branch of Alexander's family came 
to Pennsylvania (Owen L. Underwood is a 
descendant of this branch). Zephaniah, a 
descendant of Alexander, was born in 
York county, Pennsylvania, where his son 
Charles was also born. All the Under- 
woods of this branch were farmers and 
members of the Society of Friends. 

Reuben L. Underwood, son of Charles 
Underwood, mentioned above as the de- 
scendant of the emigrant ancestor, Alexan- 
cer Underwood, was born in 1842, in Uni- 
onvi'le. Center county, Pennsylvania, i'ud 
received his education in the common 
schools. He was a farmer ar.<l in 1883 
moved to Adams county, where he remained 
until 1903, when he abandoned tarmmg 
and removed to Grampian, Clearfield coun- 
ty, where he now resides. He is a staunch 
Republican and has filled several local of- 
fices which were entirely unsought by him. 
He has been on active worker in his party 
and influential in its councils. He is a 
men-.ber of tiie Society of Friends. He 
married Emeline Griest, and they were the 
parents of twelve children, ten of whom 
survive: Ida J., who is a graduate of 
the State Normal School and is now en- 
gaged in teaching; William A., who is a 
farmer in Illinois ; Miles W., who is a 
contractor and painter in Clearfield, Penn- 
sylvania; Eli G., who is a merchant in 
Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania; Owen 
L., mentioned at length hereinafter; Ed- 
ward, who is a farmer in Illinois; Alfred 
who is a graduate of the State Non-nal 
School and is now teaching in the public 
schools; Lydia, who is attending the State 
Normal School at Shippensburg; Bessie; 
and Eliza, at home. 



Owen L. Underwood, son of Reuben L. 
and Emeline (Griest) Underwood, was 
born April 16, 1879, in Unionville, Center 
county, Pennsylvania, and attended the 
public schools of Adams county, graduating 
after a uniform course in 1895. In 1897 
he attended a summer Normal school 
at York Springs, and in 1901 gradu- 
ated from the Shippensburg State Nor- 
mal School, having previously taught 
two terms. After his graduation Pro- 
fessor Underwood taught one term at 
Johnsville, Bucks county, and in the au- 
tumn of 1902 went to New Hope, having 
been made principal of the public schools 
of that place, in which position he is now 
serving his fourth term. He is a member 
of York Springs Lodge, No. 211, I. O. O. 
F., is a Republican in politics, and a mem- 
ber of the Society of Friends. The length 
of time that Professor Underwood has 
been retained in his office sufficiently at- 
tests his popularity. 



JOSEPH H. FRETZ, a successful and 
prosperous business man of Doylesiovvn, 
Pennsylvania, was born in Hilltown town- 
ship, Pennsylvania, August 6, 1876. He is 
a descendant of John Fretz, who, with his 
brother Christian, emigrated to this coun- 
try from INIanheim, Grand Duchy of Baden, 
Germany, about 1725, settling for a time in 
Montgomery county, where he was married 
to Miss Barbara Mayer, of Upper Salford 
township, by whom he had five children, 
namely : John, Jacob, Christian, Abraham, 
Elizabeth. His wife died in 1740, and he 
remarried and had three children. In 
1738 he purchased two hundred and thirty 
acres of land, in Bedminster township 
where he died, February, 1772. 

Jacob Fretz, second son of John and Bar- 
bara (Mayer) Fretz, married Magdalena 
Nash, daughter of William Nash, in 1755, 
and settled in Tinicum township, Pennsyl- 
vania, near Arwinna, returning to Bed- 
minster, where he died. 

Abraham Fretz, second child of the ten 
children born to Jacob and Magdalena 
(Nash) Fretz, was born January i, 1758. 
When he was seventeen years of age, a 
team and wagon of his father's was im- 
pressed with the American army to carry 
powder and stores from Trenton to bos- 
ton, and he w-as placed in charge of the 
team during this long journey, and was 
present at the battle of Bunker Hill, re- 
maining with the army three months, and 
he then returned home. March 14, 1786, 
he married Miss Elizabeth Harmon, and 
lived after marriage in Hilltown township, 
near Leidytown, engaging in farming and 
weaving. Five children were born of this 
union, namely : Jacob, Susan, John. Cath- 
erine, Abraham. Abraham Fretz died Feb- 
ruary 14, 1839, his wife surviving him four 
years, passing away in 1843. 

John Fretz. second son of Abraham and 
Elizabeth (Harmon) Fretz, and grandfa- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



361 



ther of Joseph H. Fretz, was born in Bucks 
â– county, Pennsylvania, September 28, 1795, 
•died November 18, 1874. He was a pros- 
perous farmer of Bucks county, and in 
1827 married Miss Elizabeth Kerns, born 
January 19, 1805. Four children were born 
of this union. Mrs. Fretz died Januarv 
7, 1843, and Mr. Fretz took for his second 
wife Miss Mary Landis, who was born Jan- 
uary 25, 1846, and died January 18. 1889. 
Their children were : Henry L., father of 
Joseph; John L. and William L. Mr. Fretz 
was a member of the Mennonite church. 

Henry L. Fretz, eldest son of John and 
Mary (Landis) Fretz, was born in Hill- 
town township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, November 14, 1846. He was reared 
and educated in his native town, and for 
several years after reaching manhood was 
engaged in buying and shipping stock. For 
the past twenty years he has been doing 
business successfully as a hotel-keeper, and 
is now sole proprietor of the Clear Springs 
Hotel at Doylestown, Pennsylvania. De- 
sember 10, 1873, he married Miss Wilhelmin 
Kline, born January 7, 1855, and their chil- 
•dren are : Rev. Franklin K., Lutheran min- 
ister of Grace Evangelical church of Phila- 
delphia; Joseph H., Mary Irene, a milliner 
of Souderton; Ida Stelle, Arthur Alonzo, 
horse dealer of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 
John Paul, in the employ of his brother, 
Joseph H. ; Frances Grace, reading medi- 
cine at North Wales ; Flora Fidelia, at 
home ; Lydia Viola, at home ; Elsie Noami 
and Luther Leroy, residing at home. 

Joseph H. Fretz, second son of Henry L. 
and Wilhelmina (Kline) Fretz, was reared 
and educated in Hilltown township, Penn- 
sylvania. He was of a very energetic, am- 
bitious nature, and as early as his four- 
teenth year had started to make his own 
way in the world. He was variously em- 
ployed in his early life, and in 1897, having 
saved some money, engaged in the hotel- 
business at Unionville, Montgomery county, 
where he remained until the spring of 1898, 
when he went to Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 
and there opened a restaurant on the pre- 
sent site of the Pollock Hotel. One 3'ear 
later, however, he sold this out, and pur- 
chased the adjoining building, which he 
could see presented greater advantages for 
•opening a first-class hostelry. He refitted 
and reconstructed this place, making an in- 
viting spot out of an unsightly building. In 
1900 he sold this place, and in August of 
the same year purchased the Fountain 
House, at a cost of $65,000. He immedi- 
ately took charge and began reconstructing 
the place, supplying it with all modern im- 
provements — steam heat, electric lighting, 
â– etc., and now has in it one of the most in- 
viting hostelries of Bucks county. His un- 
bounded energy and great ambition have 
won for him an enviable place in his chosen 
line of work. It may well be said of him 
that he is an excellent business man. and 
lie is counted among the most genial and 
popular landlords of Bucks county. In 
religious affairs Mr. Fretz affiliates with 



the Lutheran church, and politically he 
helps support the Republican party. He is 
identified with the Doylestown Lodge No. 
245, F. and A. ]M.; Doylestown Chapter, 
No. 270, R. A. M. ; St. Tamany Castle, 
K. G. E. ; Doylestown Circle No. 252, 
Brotherhood of the Union; Doylestown 
Lodge, No. 217, I. O. R. M.; Lansdale 
Lodge, O. U. A. M.; Doylestown Lodge, 
Improved Order of Heptasophs. In Janu- 
uary, 1897, Mr. Fretz was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Elizabeth Zoller, daughter 
of George and Lina (Livingston) Zoller. 
Four children were born of this union, two 
of whom survive : Grace and Helen Fretz. 



JACOB Y. LEATHERMAN, who for 
thirty years has been well known as 
an auctioneer of Bucks county, was 
born in Bedminster township, on the 
14th of December, 1853. At least three 
generations of the family had previously 
been represented in this county for 
Jacob Leatherman, the grandfather, was 
born in Bedminster township, at which 
time his' father was carrying on agri- 
cultural pursuits there. He was reared 
to the work of the farm and throughout 
his entire life carried on farm labor. 
For his second wife he chose Miss Mollie 
Landis. 

Henry L. Leatherman, a son of that 
marriage, was born in Bedminster town- 
ship in 1823, and became a miller and 
farmer, following both pursuits through- 
out his entire business career. He was 
a member of the Old Mennonite church, 
and a man whose business integrity 
stood as an unquestioned fact in his 
life. He married ^liss Elizabeth Yoder, 
and they became the parents of five 
children : Magdalena, the wife of Frank 
L. Wismer; Jacob Y.; Annie, who mar- 
ried Henry K. Gross; Sallie, the wife 
of Joseph B. Overholt; and Henry Y. 

At the usual age Jacob Y. Leatherman 
entered the public schools and master- 
ing the branches therein taught gained 
a good practical knowledge to assist 
him in the performance of life's duties. 
He was twenty-two years of age when 
he began farming on his own account 
in Bedminster township, an occupation 
which he has since followed. He has 
also been auctioneer for the past thirty 
years, has cried many sales and is one 
of the best known men in Bucks county. 
His many excellent traits of character 
have made him popular, and a con- 
genial and kindly nature has endeared 
him to many friends. He holds mem- 
bership in the Deep Run Mennonite 
church. Jacob Y. Leatherman was mar- 
ried to Miss Sarah Gayman, daughter of 
Abraham Gayman, and they had two 
children, but one died in infancy. The 
surviving daughter is Elizabeth, the wife 
of Allen Rush. 



362 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ELLWOOD WILLIAMSON MIN- 
STER, postmaster of the borough of 
Bristol, the duties of which responsil:>le 
position he has discharged with credit 
to himself and to the entire satisfaction 
of all concerned since his first election 
to the office in March, 1899, is a native 
of Bristol township, born August 3, 1856. 

The progenitor of the family in America 
was Nicholas Minster, who came from 
Germany, settling in Chester county, 
Pennsylvania. His son,. John Minster, 
a resident of Bristol township, married 
a Miss Burton, and they reared a family 
of four children, namely: John, An- 
thony, Mary and William. Anthony 
Burton Minster, second son, was born 
in Bristol township, December 14, 1794. 
He was educated in the private schools 
of that vicinity, and his active career 
w^s devoted to agricultural 'pursuits. 
He served as supervisor of his town- 
ship several years. He enlisted in the 
war of 1812, serving with credit and 
distinction. On April i, 1824, he mar- 
ried Ann Starkey, who was born in 
Solesbury, Bucks county, August 14, 
1802, and nine children were the issue 
of this union: Margaret and- Martha 
(twins), born December 3, 1825; Will- 
iam S., born July 10, 1827; Anthony D., 
born March 3, 1829; Sarah Ann, born 
April 9, 1830; Eliza B., born November 
I, 1832; Pemberton, born January 13, 
1835; Mary Jane, born May 26, 1837; 
and Edward, born July 8, 1840. The 
parents of these children died respec- 
tively June 16, 1874. and April 30, 1874. 

William S. Minster, eldest son of An- 
thony Burton and Ann (Starkey) Min- 
ster, was born July 10, 1827. He at- 
tended the schools of Bucks county and 
by close application to his studies be- 
came thoroughly proficient and well 
qualified to accept the position of 
teacher, in which capacity he served for 
many years. He received an appoint- 
ment in the Custom House in Phila- 
delphia, served faithfully and efficiently 
for an extended period of time, and was 
the incumbent of the office at his de- 
cease, in 1881. He was a Presbyterian 
in religious faith, and a Republican in 
politics. His wife, Clarissa (Parsons) 
Minster, born in Bucks county and 
educated in public schools thereof, bore 
him seven children, as follows: B. 
Frank, Ellwood Williamson, Ann 
Starkey, Kate, Harry, Maria Louisa, who 
died in infancy, and Sarah Boyd. 

Ellwood Williamson Minster, second 
son of William S. and Clarissa (Parsons) 
Minster, obtained a practical education 
in the public schools of Falls township 
and Pierce's Boarding School in Bristol 
township. He then engaged in the milk 
business, which he followed for ten years 
with more or less success, and in 1886 
was elected prothonotary for Bucks 
county, serving three years. Later he 
received the appointment of factory m- 



spector and after four years of faithful 
service in that capacity, in A 'rcn. 1899, 
was appointed postmastei ^- the 
borough of Bristol, was rea d in 

April, 1903, and is still servir ,rm 

thus far extending over a . of 

almost six years. Mr. Minster , been 
prominent in the political affairs of the 
Republican party, both state and na- 
tional, and particularly active in those 
of Bristol borough and the towns of 
Bucks county, he always being found 
in the front ranks of those who are 
strenuous in the service of his party. 
He is connected with the Presbyterian 
church of Bristol borough, contributing 
freely to the support of the same. He 
is also actively connected with many of 
the business enterprises of Bristol, and 
is president of the Bristol Company, or- 
ganized for the manufacture of ice from 
distilled water, their plant for the pur- 
pose being one of the finest in that 
vicinity. Mr. Minster is a member of 
Lodge No. 25, Ancient York, F. & A. 
M. of Bristol; Mohegan Tribe of Red 
Men; and Ancient Order of Mystic 
Chain, Beneficial Society. He is a great 
lover of horseflesh, and at various times 
has been the proud owner of many fine 
specimens of the same. 

Mr. Minster married, October 20, 1892,. 
Olivia Goslin Highland, of Bristol, 
Bucks county, daughter of Eugene and 
Louisa (Goslin) Highland, and their 
children arc : Ellwood Gilkeson, born 
August II, 1893; and Clarissa High- 
land Minster, born March 22, 1901. 
Eugene Highland, father of Mrs. Min- 
ster, was a butcher by trade. He served 
as clerk of quarter sessions court of 
Bucks county, for many years. He was 
very popular in politics, also in social 
life, and was respected and esteemed by 
all with whom he was brought in con- 
tact. In 1861 he enlisted in Captain 
Beatty's company and served until the 
close of the war. At the end of his 
service he was presented with a Henry 
Rifle by the government for his valiant 
and courageous conduct as a soldier. 
This token of esteem is retained and 
highly prized by his widow. His 
death occurred May 24, 1894. 



JOHN A. GROSS. The Gross family 
has figured in connection with the 
material and moral development of 
Bucks county for four generations. 
Jacob Gross, the founder of the family 
in America, was a native of Germany, 
whence he emigrated to this country, 
about 1761. He first settled at Skip- 
pack, Montgomery county, subsequently 
resided in Germantown and thence re- 
moved to Bedminster township, Bucks 
county, where he spent his remaining 
days. He was a shoemaker bj- trade 
and followed that ])ursuil in connection 



A 




Fl 



â– NO' 

r-. . IONS. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



36: 



with general farming up to the time of 
his demise. While in Bedminster he 
was ordained a minister of the old 
Deep Run IMennonite church and was 
afterward elected a bishop of that de- 
nomination. His death occurred Decem- 
ber 12, 1810, when he was sixty-seven 
years of age and his remains were 
interred in the church cemeter3^ He 
gave his services without financial com- 
pensation to the cause of the ministry, 
and his influence was marked as a 
potent element for good in the neighbor- 
hood where he resided. His wife, who 
bore the maiden name of Mary Krall, 
died February 10, 1816, at the age of 
sixty-three years. They were the par- 
ents of six children: Christian, Isaac, 
Mary, who became the wife of Abram 
Nash ; Daniel, John and Jacob. 

John Gross, son of Jacob and Mary 
(Krall) Gross, spent his entire life in 
Bucks county, and during the greater 
part of his business career carried on 
agricultural pursuits in Fountainville, 
Pennsylvania. He. too, was an ordained 
minister of the Old Mennonite church 
and officiated for years as pastor of the 
congregation of that denomination at 
Doylestown. He was married twice, 
his first union being with a Miss 
Leatherman, by whom he had the fol- 
lowing children: John L., Jacob, Joseph, 
Anna, the wife of Henry Godshalk; and 
Mary, the wife of John Godshalk. For 
his second wife John Gross married 
Mrs. Myers, a widow, and their chil- 
dren were: William and Samuel, twins, 
and Sarah, the wife of Samuel \\\ Lapp. 

John L. Gross, the eldest son of John 
Gross, was born in Fountainville, Penn- 
sylvania. August 25, 1824. and in early 
life he engaged in farming. He was 
employed by Christian Leatherman and 
others until he found opportunity to 
engage in business on his own account. 
In connection with general agricultural 
pursuits he carried on the commission 
business, carrying his products to the 
Philadelphia market. About 1853 he en- 
tered mercantile circles in partnership 
with Henry H. Rosenberger, his brother- 
in-law, establishing a commission busi- 
ness at Dublin. About four years later 
he purchased two acres of ground from 
his father, constituting a part of the old 
family homestead, and he erected there- 
on a store building in Fountainville that 
is still occupied by his son, John A. 
Gross. There he carried on merchandis- 
ing for about thirteen years, after which 
he sold his business to John L. Kramer 
and resumed farming, conducting agri- 
cultural pursuits with good success for 
ten years. At the end of that time he 
purchased the stock that was in his 
store building and resumed merchandis- 
ing, in which he continued until 1891, 
when he retired from business life and 
sold his stock of goods to his two sons, 
Daniel G. and John A. Gross. Starting 



out empty handed to make his own liv- 
ing he continually progressed and as 
the result of his capable management, 
keen discernment and executive force 
he won a full measure of prosperity. 
He also took a deep interest in the moral 
development of his community, and for 
a long period served as an elder in the 
Old Mennonite church, occupying that 
position up to the time of his death, 
which occurred on the 5th of December,. 
1901. In early manhood he married Miss 
. Esther Gotwals, and they become the 
parents of four children: Daniel G., 
Mary Ann, the wife of Henry Johnson; 
John A., and Emma, wife of John F. 
Mood. 

John A. Gross was born in the house 
where he now lives and in which he 
conducts his mercantile interests, his 
natal day being October 28, 1865. He 
acquired his education in the common 
schools and early became familar with 
commercial methods by acting as clerk 
in his father's establishment. He was 
thus employed until 1891, when he and 
his brother Daniel purchased the busi- 
ness of their father and for four years 
conducted the store under the style of 
Gross Brothers. On the expiration of 
that period John A. Gross bought his 
brother Daniel's interest and has since 
continued as sole proprietor, conducting 
one of the best general stores in this 
part of Bucks county, his reliable busi- 
ness methods and earnest desire to please 
his patrons being among the salient 
features of his successful career. On the 
6th of December, 1888, John A. Gross 
was married to Miss Anna E. Leather- 
man, daughter of Isaac and Lydia 
Leatherman, and they had one child, 
Clarence L.. who was born November 
5. 1890, and died June 27, 1896. Mr. 
and Mrs. Gross hold membership in the 
Salem Reformed church of Doylestown. 
In politics he is a Republican and was 
auditor of his township for three years. 
In 1891 he was appointed postmaster 
by John W^anamaker, then postmaster 
general of the United States, and has 
since occupied that position. 



CHARLES THOMAS IREDELL. 
The name of Charles Thomas Iredell, 
for more than a half a century an hon- 
ored citizen -of Bristol, will ever be in- 
separably associated with the financial 
interests and institutions of Bucks 
county. The name of Iredell is a very 
ancient one and the following origin has 
been ascribed to it: "In an old Norman 
manuscript, mention is made of this 
familj\ Sir Pierre d'Ancoma follow'ed 
W^illiam the Conqueror and was pres- 
ent at the battle of Hastings. The 
king, being very pressed, and in danger 
of his life. Sir Pierre is stated to have 
rescued him by slaying those around 



364 



HISTORY OP BUCKS COUNTY 



him, to whom the king said, 'Sir Pierre, 
thou hast given me air (Eyre) to 
breathe,' from hence the crest. On a 
wreath of colours, a dexter arm em- 
bossed in armour proper garnished and 
charged, in the hand a sword." The 
Conqueror subsequently gave Sir Pierre 
large tracts of land about Dale, and by 
royal license the family name was 
changed to that of Eyre-Dale, moder- 
nized about the fifteenth century to Ire- 
dell. The founder of the family in this 
country was Thomas Iredell, who came 
here in 1700. He belonged to the branch 
of the family living near Carlisle, Eng- 
land, and brought with him to the 
Monthly Meeting of Friends in Phila- 
delphia the following certificate: 

Certificate of Removal 

On behalf of Thomas Iredell, taken 
from the Records of Philadelphia 
Monthly Meeting. 

"From our. Monthly Meeting upon 
Pardshaw Cragg, Cumberland, ye 27th 
of ye 6th month, 1700, to Friends in 
Pennsylvania and other parts of Amer- 
ica: Dear friends and brethren, ye tender 
salutation of our dearest love in ye 
truth always continues and reaches forth 
to you. Ye account we have to give to 
you is on behalf of a young man, the 
bearer hereof, Thos. Iredell, who this 
day layd before us ye transporting of 
Tiimself into Pennsylvania, requesting 
our certificate along with him. 

"We therefore certifie to all where he 
may come, that he hath of late years 
come frequently amongst Friends. His 
carriage appears to be sober and truth- 
like. Those that know him ye best give 
no other account but well. He comes 
with consent of his Mother, though no 
Friend, and enquiry hath been made 
of his clearness in relation to marriage, 
but nothing appears to ye contrary. 

"We need not to further inlarge, but 
subscribe ourselves. Your friends and 
brethren on behalf of ye aforesayd 
Meeting. 
Thos. Griffin, John Burngeat & others." 

Thomas Iredell settled at first in 
Philadelphia, and afterward bought of 
Samuel Carpenter two hundred acres of 
land, in Horsham township, adjoining 
Friends' Meeting property atthat place, 
on which he erected a dwelling. In an 
iron knocker on the door was drilled. 
"T. I., 1720," supposedly the date of 
building. Before leaving Philadelphia 
lie married. Third month, gth. 1705. at 
Friends' Meeting-house, corner of Sec- 
ond and Market streets. Rebecca Will- 
iams, also of Philadelphia. 

Robert Iredell, presumably the son of 
Thomas and Rebecca (Williams) Ire- 
-dell, married Hannah Lukens. who was 
descended in the third generation from 
Jan (or John) Lucken (or Lukens), who 
came from Holland in 1683, and was 
one of the thirteen original settlers of 



Germantown, who took up the land from 
Francis Daniel Pastorius. Jan Lucken 
was one of the overseers of Friends' 
Meeting established in that neighbor- 
hood, the members of which were a pro- 
gressive and far-seeing people, inas- 
much as they made at that early day — 
1688 — the first protest against slavery 
and presented it to the Yearly Meeting, 
which, however, did not act in the mat- 
ter. This action on the part of the Ger- 
mantown Friends antedated bj^ many 
years the agitation which finally cleared 
the Society of any complicity in the evil. 

Charles Iredell, son of Robert and 
Hannah (Lukens) Iredell, married 
Phoebe Cadwallader, and they were the 
parents of a son, Joseph, who was a 
merchant in Philadelphia. Joseph Ire- 
dell married eleventh month, gth, 1804, 
Hannah, daughter of Mordecai and Eliza- 
beth (Jarrett) Thomas. The Thomas 
family was of Welsh origin. 

Charles Thomas Iredell, son of Joseph 
and Hannah (Thomas) Iredell, was born 
9 mo. II, 1805, in Hatboro, Pennsylvania, 
and in his early boyhood his parents 
moved to Philadelphia, where he at- 
tended school, later becoming a pupil at 
the Westtown Boarding School. Until 
1827 he was employed in a drug-store, 
and in that year entered the Farmers' 
Bank of Bucks county, afterward the 
Farmers' National Bank of Bucks county. 
He was connected with the institution 
first as clerk and subsequently as cash- 
ier. For more than fifty years he was 
at his post, faithful to his trust, with in- 
tegrity as the key-note of his character. 
This trait, together with his clear pene- 
tration in regard to business matters and 
his indefatigable energy, were fully ap- 
preciated throughout the wide circuit 
having dealings with the bank. He was 
treasurer of several building associa- 
tions. In politics he affiliated with the 
Whigs and later with the Republicans, 
having a warm feeling for the principles 
through which the party appealed for its 
support to the country, but he kept aloof 
from the vortex of politics and never 
sought or held an office. He and his wife 
were both birthright members of the 
Society of Friends, as had been their an- 
cestors for many generations, and both 
were -standard-bearers of its principles. 
Mr. Iredell held many positions of 
trust and usefulness in the Bristol Meet- 
ing, in which he served as trustee, treas- 
urer, elder and clerk, while Mrs. Iredell 
was for many years an acknowledged 
minister of the Society. 

Mr. Iredell married, 10 mo. 8. 1829, 
Rebecca Newbold. and they were the 
parents of the following children, all of 
whom were born in Bristol: i. Hannah 
Ann. who became the wife of Nathan 
Spencer Thomas, of Philadelphia, later 
of Elmira. New York. Their children 
are : Rebecca Iredell, who married George 
Pickering and has three children. Dor- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



365 



othy Iredell, Ruth Thomas, and Hannah 
Rowlette ; Anna Abbott, who died in her 
fourteenth year; and Charles Iredell. Mr. 
Thomas, the father, died in 1890. 2. 
Louisa. 3. Joseph, who died in infancy. 
4. Samuel Newbold, who resided many 
years in Titusville, and married Margaret 
Monier Spangler, of Philadelphia. Their 
children were: George Spangler, who 
married Orinda Corson Fausette, of 
Trenton, New Jersey, and has one son, 
Leslie Newbold; Harriet Louisa; Will- 
iam Miller, who died on the eve of man- 
hood; Charles Francis, who married 
Elizabeth Hyde, of Titusville, and has 
four children, Francis Raymond, Henry 
Hyde, Helen Margaret, and Elizabeth 
Mae; Marian Oakford; Henry Volkmar, 
who married Margaret Valeria Mahoney, 
of New York city; Rebecca Catharine, 
and Florence Newbold. Mrs. Iredell died 
in 1899, and her husband passed away in 
1902. 5. Abbie Newbold. 6. Rachel, who 
died in infancy. 7. Mary Howell. 8. 
Charles, who married Annie Maria Er- 
win, of Painted Post, New York, where 
they resided for some time, and then 
moved to Elmira. New York.. They had 
one son, Arthur Erwin, who married Isa- 
bella Paxson Rogers, of Bristol, and has 
two children, Charles Vernon and 
Frances Barrett. Mrs. Iredell died in 
1898. g. Susan Trump. 10. Elizabeth 
Newbold. 

Mr. Iredell was actively engaged in 
his duties at the bank until within six 
weeks of his death, which occurred Sixth 
month, i6th. 1882. The officers of the 
bank unanimously passed resolutions ex- 
pressive of their high appreciation of his 
services; of their sorrow at his decease; 
and of their sympathy with his bereaved 
family. One of the directors of the bank 
thus wrote of him in the columns of a 
local paper: "Above all was his devotion 
to rectitude as an inward principle to 
which all other things were made to 
yield. During the long period of his 
connection with the bank his integrity 
of conduct and friendly attention _ to 
those dealing with the bank were im- 
pressed upon all and contributed to exalt 
the character and credit of that excellent 
and popular institution. And amidst the 
numerous instances of recreancy to their 
trust which have occurred amongst of- 
ficers of moneyed institutions, that fidel- 
ity which never faltered in the worst, or 
wearied in the best of times, has made 
his example more distinctly marked and 
highly appreciated. At his post of duty, 
in the fullness of his years and the ma- 
turity of his character, he has passed 
away, leaving behind him a name and an 
example to be respected and followed 
by generations of his countrymen." 

Mrs. Iredell was descended from Mi- 
chael Newbold. who came from Ycrl<- 
shire. England, in 1679, and settl.d on 
the Assiscunk creek, just above Burling- 
ton, New Jersey. He had numerous de- 



scendants and among them Joshua New- 
bold, who married Rebecca Atkinson. Their 
son, Samuel Newbold, married Abigail, 
daughter of Samuel and Susanna (Han- 
son) Howell. The former was de- 
scended from John Howell, who came- 
from Wales with his three children in 
1690. The eldest of these children, Jacob 
Howell, married Sarah, daughter of 
Randal Vernon, who, with his two 
brother, Robert and Thomas, had allied 
himself with the Friends' cause in this 
country a short time before the arrival 
of William Penn. They belonged to a 
family of note in England, being sons of 
James Vernon, who was secretary of 
state for Great Britain from 1697 to 1700, 
and brothers of Admiral Vernon, in 
honor of whom the Washington estate 
received its name. Thus it will be seen 
that the marriage of Samuel Newbold_ 
and Abigail Howell united two old fam-' 
ilies. Mr. and Mrs. Newbold were the 
parents of a daughter, Rebecca, who was 
married at Friends Meeting, Byberry, 
Pennsylvania, to Charles Thomas Ire- 
dell, as mentioned above. The death of 
Mrs. Iredell occurred 4 mo. 23, 1893. 



JOSEPH RIDGWAY GRUNDY, 
proprietor of the Bristol Worsted Mills 
and one of the most prominent manu- 
facturers and business men of Bucks 
county, was born in Camden, New Jer- 
sey, January 13, 1863, and is a son of 
the late William Hulme and Mary 
(Ridgway) Grundy, and a grandson of 
Edmund and Rebecca (Hulme) Grundy, 
and is a descendant on the maternal side 
from the earliest English settlers on the 
Delaware. 

Edmund Grundy, grandfather of 
Joseph R. was a native of England, 
came to this country when a young 
man and located in Philadelphia, where 
he became a prominent merchant. He 
retired from business in 1856, at same 
time moving to Walnut Grove Farm, 
Bristol township, where he resided until 
his death in 1878. He married Rebecca 
Hulme, daughter of William and Rachel 
(Knight) Hulme, of Hulmeville, Bucks 
county, and they were the parents of 
five children. 

William Hulme Grundy, the father of 
the subject of this sketch, was the 
'second child of Edmund and Rebecca 
(Hulme) Grundy, and was born in Phila- 
delphia, in December. 1836. He was 
educated at a select school in that city 
and at an early age became a clerk in 
a mercantile establishment. Later he 
entered into the mercantile trade for 
himself in the city. In 1870 he began 
the manufacture of worsted yarns, mov- 
ing his plant to Bristol. Bucks county, 
in 1876, establishing the Bristol Worsted 
Mills, so long and successfully conducted 
by the firm of William H. Grundy & Co., 



366 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



of which firm he was the senior member. 
It proved to be one of the important 
industries of the county and gave em- 
ployment to several hundred hands. 
William H. Grundy was a public-spirited 
and broad minded business man and 
did much to advance the interests of his 
town. He was president of the Bristol 
Improvement Company, and filled ihe 
office of chief burgess of the town for 
two terms. He was always active in all 
that pertained to the best interests of 
the town and won and held the respect 
and esteem of all with whom he came 
in contact. He was one of the first 
members of the Union League in Phila- 
delphia, and a prominent member of 
the Manufacturers Club of that city. 
He was also a prominent member of the 
Masonic fraternity. His career of ex- 
traordinary business activity and use- 
fulness was terminated by his sudden 
death on October 26, 1893, of heart 
disease. Mr. Grundy married, in 1861, 
Mary Ridgway, of New Jersey, a lineal 
descendant of Richard Ridgway, of Wel- 
ford, county of Bucks. England, who 
arrived in the River Delaware, in the 
ship, "Jacob and Mary," of London, in 
September, 1679, and settled near the 
Falls of the Delaware in what is now 
Falls township, Bucks county, where he 
was a considerable landholder. The first 
court house of Bucks county was erected 
on land belonging to Richard Ridgway. 
Mr. Ridgway was accompanied to Amer- 
ica by his wife Elizabeth and son 
Thomas, and another son Richard was 
born a few months after their arrival. 
His wife died in Bucks county, and in 
1699 he married Abigal Stockton, of 
New Jersey, and thereafter made his 
residence in Burlington county. New 
Jersey, where he became a very promi- 
nent man, and has left numerous de- 
scendants. 

The maternal ancestors of William 
Hulme Grundy, were also among the 
earliest English settlers in Bucks county. 
George Hulme and his son George 
Hulme, Jr. came from England prior 
to 1700 and settled in Middletown town- 
ship. George, Jr. married, in 1708, 
Naomi Palmer, daughter of John and 
Christain Palmer, who came to Bucks 
county from Cleveland, Yorkshire, ar- 
riving in the Delaware, 9 mo. 10. 1683. 
Naomi only survived her marriage a 
short time. George Jr., married (sec- 
ond) her sister, Ruth Palmer, contrary 
to the rules of Middletown Friends' 
Meeting, which forbid marriage with' a 
deceased wife's sister, and he was dis- 
owned by the Meeting. John Hulme. 
son of George and Ruth, married Mary 
Pearson, daughter of Enoch and Mar- 
garet (Smith) Pearson, of Buckingham, 
and their son, John, was the founder 
of Hulmeville. which still bears his 
name. He married Rebecca Milnor, 
daughter of William Milnor, of Penn's 



Manor, and lived for a number of years 
in the Manor. In 1796 he exchanged 
his Manor farm with Joshua Woolston 
for the "Milford iMiUs," as Hulmeville 
was at that time known, and subse- 
quently purchased several hundred acres 
of land adjoining, and with his sons: 
William, John, Joseph, George, and 
Samuel established several new indus- 
tries there and laid out and developed 
the town. The family were the origi- 
nators of the Farmers Bank of Bucks 
county, now located at Bristol, which had 
Its mception at Hulmeville. John Hulme 
was one of the most prominent business 
men of Bucks county and a pioneer in 
the rapid development that began in the 
first quarter of a century after the Revo- 
lution. His eldest son William was a 
carpenter and cabinet maker and was 
associated with his father in the varied 
industries of the town and assisted 
materially in its development. He mar- 
ried, 4 mo. 17, 1794, Rachel Knight, and 
died m 1809, leaving one son Joseph K. 
and two daughters, Susanna, and Re- 
becca. The later was born in 1803, aad 
became the wife of Edmund Grundy. 
She outlived all of her generation, dying 
at her country residence in Bristol 
township, October 26, 1895, at the ad- 
vanced age of ninety-two years. Of 
her five children only one survived her, 
Mrs. Susan G. Harrison. William Hulme 
and Mary (Ridgway) Grundy were the 
parents of two children, Joseph R. and 
Margaret R. Mrs. Grundy is still living in 
Bristol, though much of her time is spent 
in traveling in Europe and elsewhere. 



ALBERT C. ALTHOUSE, M. D. One 
of the active practicing physicians of Bucks 
county is Dr. Albert C. Althouse, of Bed- 
minster township. Dr. Althouse is a de- 
scendant of Daniel Althouse, who came 
from Germany and settled in Bedminster, 
where he owned a large tract of land. 
Martin Althouse, son of Daniel Althouse, 
mentioned above, had a farm near Keller's 
Church and also worked as a mason. His 
wife was Catherine Sigafoos, and they 
were the parents of a large family, many 
of whom died young. Those who reached 
maturity were: Martin, Levi, Tobias, men- 
tioned at length hereinafter; Mathias. and 
Silas. The parents of these children are 
both buried at the Tohickon church. Mpr- 
tin Althouse was accidentally killed while 
coming home with his team from Pliiladel- 
phia. 

Tobias Althouse, son of Martin and Cath- 
erine (Singafoos) Althouse, was born in 
1808. and was a blacksmith by trade. For 
thirty-eight years he was absent from the 
township, but returned four years before 
his death. He served in the army during 
the Mexican war and also in the Civil war. 
He married Elizabeth, daughter of John 
Kramer, of Bedminster, and their children 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



367 



were : Catharine, Samuel K., mentioned 
at length hereinafter, and Reulxn. The 
mother of these children died in 1843, and 
the father expired January 13, 1885, in the 
home of the oldest son. 

Samuel K. Althouse, son of Tobias and 
Elizabeth (Kramer) Althouse, was born 
June II, 1837, in Nockamixon township, 
and was about six years of age when his 
parents moved to Bedminster. From 1855 
to i860 he was engaged in teaching, and in 
1865 purchased the farm on which he lived 
for the remainder of his life. Three years 
ago he retired from active labor. He has 
held the township offices of assessor, 
auditor and clerk, and has also served one 
term as county auditor. He is a member 
of the Tohicicon Reformed church. He 
married, November 25, i860, Sarah Ann, 
born July 26, 1837, daughter of Enos 
Crouthamel, and they were the parents of 
the following children : Sarah, who died in 
childhood; Albert C, mentioned at length 
hereinafter ; Mary, who is the wife of Ed- 
win J. Rumer, of Bedminster township ; 
Emma, who resides at home ; Edwin, who 
lives in Bedminster township : and Reuben, 
who is a resident of Washington, District 
of Columbia. 

Albert C. Althouse, son of Samuel K. 
and Sarah Ann (Crouthamel) Althouse, 
was born April 7, 1863, in Bedminster town- 
ship, and received his primary education in 
the common schools, afterward attending 
the Sellersville high school and the West 
Chester State Normal School. At nine- 
teen years of age he took up the profession 
of teaching, which he practiced for six 
years, and during this time began reading 
medicine under Dr. Daniel P. Mover, of 
Dublin. In the autumn of 1889 he entered 
Jefiferson Medical College, Philadelphia, 
from which institution he received in the 
spring of 1892 the degree of Doctor of 
Medicine. He immediately opened an office 
in Pineville, where he practiced for eight 
years, and in 1900 moved to Dublin, where 
he has built up a large practice. He is a 
member of the Bucks County Medical So- 
ciety and the State Medical Association. 
He also belongs to the Knights of the 
Golden Eagle. He is a member of the 
Reformed church at Dublin. Dr. Althouse 
married, October 10, 1894, Ida, daughter 
•of Jonas H. Lear, of Tinicum township, 
and they have three children; Harold Lear, 
Georgie Neta and Jessie Beulah. 



BURROUGHS MICHENER. Among 
the active and successful business men of 
Buckingham is Borroughs Michener, of 
Mechanicsville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. 
He was born in Buckingham. May 7 1855. 
and is a son of Samuel and Beulah T. 
(White) Michener. The ancestor of the 
Michener family of Bucks county was John 
Michener. who with his wife Sarah came 
from England to Pennsylvania, and settled 
in Philadelphia about 1685. He later re- 



moved to Moreland township, where he 
died. He had several daughters and two 
sons: John and William. The latter, born 
10 mo. 14, 1696, married at Abington Meet- 
ing of Friends in 1720, Mary Kuster, grand- 
daughter of Paulus Kuster, who came to 
Germantown from Crefeldt, on the Rhine, 
in 1687. William Michener settled in Plum- 
stead township, Bucks county, in 1722, and 
became an extensive landowner there and 
a prominent citizen. He was for many 
years an elder of Friends Meeting. He 
died in 1782, leaving six sons and four 
daughters, whose descendants are now 
widely scattered over the United States, 
many of them achieving distinction in the 
various walks of life. 

Meschach, fifth son of William and Mary 
(Kuster) Michener, was born in Plum- 
stead township, Bucks county, 4 mo. 22, 
1737, and died i mo. 9, 1826. He was a 
farmer in Plumstead and Buckingham 
townships and a considerable landowner in 
both townships. He married, 11 mo. 24, 
1761, Mary Trego, of Wrightstown, Bucks 
county, and they were the parents of eleven 
children. 

Marmaduke Michener, tenth child of 
Meschach and Mary (Trego) Michener, 
was born 12 mo. 28, 1780, and died 3 mo. 
25, 1864. He was a farmer and lived the 
greater part of his life in Plumstead town- 
ship. He married Hannah Stradling, of 
Plumstead, born 1784, died December 26, 
1866. 

Samuel Michener, son of Marmaduke 
and Hannah (Stradling) Michener, was 
born in Plumstead township December 15, 
1805, and died March 24, 1885. He was a 
miller by trade, and in early life worked 
at that trade at Spring Valley and else- 
where, but later turned his attention to 
farming. He married Beulah T. White, 
born in Buckingham. July 26, 1815, died 
September 25, 1899, and their children were : 
Preston J., born August 18, 1839, now liv- 
ing at Oak Lane. Philadelphia county ; 
James S., born October 22, 1842, now living 
at Lahaska, Bucks county ; Eli C, born Oc- 
tober 13, 184s ; Hannah A., born Oc- 
tober I, 1849, now the wife of Henry 
Livezey, of Hatboro, Pennsylvania ; and 
Burroughs, the subject of this sketch. 

Burroughs Michener, was reared in 
Buckingham and Solebury townships, Bucks 
county. He was thrown upon his own re- 
sources at an early age. His .first employ- 
ment was at the age of eight years when he 
engaged with a blind man, to lead him 
about, and he continued with him for eight 
years. At the close of his engagement with 
the blind man he found employment on a 
farm in Solebury, where he remained for 
one year. On April i, 1871, he apprenticed 
himself to John B. Davis, at Lahaska. to 
learn the blacksmith trade. After finishing 
his apprenticeship, he worked as a journey- 
man blacksmith for Patrick Barrett, at Me- 
chanics Valley, for one year, one at Pine- 
ville, and then removed to Jenkintown, 
where he remained for one year. In Au- 



368 



HISTORY or BUCKS COUNTY. 



gust, 1878, he purchased ihc blacksmith 
shop at Mechanicsville, Bucks county, and 
started into business for hnnself, which he 
continued until 1883, when, his health lull- 
ing, he purchased a small farm near >\ic- 
chanicsville, and sold out the blacksmith 
stand and business. One year later he 
purchased the stage route between Doyles- 
town and Carversville, which he conducted 
for seven years. He then purchased the 
livery business at the Fountain House, 
Doylestown, Pennsylvania, but after con- 
ducting it for fifteen months sold out and 
returned to Mechanicsville. In 1898 he pur- 
chased a lot there and conducted a plant 
of green houses, raising flowers for the 
Philadelphia markets, which he conducted 
for several years. In 1899 he was elected 
recorder of deeds of Bucks county, and 
served a term of three years, part of which 
time he resided in Doylebtown. In 1902 he 
was elected one of the board of directors 
of Doylestown National Ba-nk, a position 
which he still fills. He was largely instru- 
mental in effecting a reorganization of the 
bank, after its close in 1903. He was 
president of a company organized to build a 
trolley line from Doylestown to New Hope, 
via Mechanicsville, and was active in se- 
curing a right of way for the road. He is 
one of the trustees and directors of the 
Hughesian Free School, president of the 
Mechanicsville Cemetery Company and 
holds other positions of trust. He is a 
member of Black Eddy Lodge, No. 191, 
I. O. O. F.; St. Tammany Castle, No. 
173, K. G. E., Lenape Council, No. 11 17, 
Royal Arcanum, of Doylestown, and of a 
lodge of the I. O. R. M., of Lambert- 
ville. Mr. Michener married, in December, 
1877, Miss Arabella Collins. They have no 
children. 



NOAH G. TRAUGER. One of the good 
citizens of Bedminster is Noah G. Trauger. 
Mr. Trauger is a son of Elias Trauger, 
who was born January i, 1820, in Nock- 
amixon township, son of Christian and 
Susanna (Long) Trauger. About 1854 
Elias Trauger purchased a farm in Bed- 
minster township, but about twelve years 
ago retired from active labor. He now re- 
sides with his son Noah. He is a Demo- 
crat in politics, and a member of the 
Lutheran church. He married Susanna 
George, and their children were : Mary 
Jane, who married William H. Trauch, of 
Bedminster township; Reuben G., who re- 
sides in Luzerne county; Titus, who lives 
in Bedminster ; Louise, who is the wife of 
John Chittick, of Gardenville; Ellen, who 
married Jonas Gruver, of Bedminster ; 
Noah G., mentioned at length hereinafter; 
and Emma, who married Noah Gruver, of 
Pipersville. Mr. Trauger, the father, who 
in early life worked at the carpenter's trade, 
is still living at the age of eighty-five. He 
has two brothers. Christian, eighty-one 
years old. and Aaron, who is eighty. Aho 
a sister, Mary, who is ninety-five. These 



arc the survivors of a family of ten chil- 
dren. 

Noah G. Trauger, son of Elias and 
Susanna (George) Trauger, was born No- 
vember 9, 1858, on the tarm which is now 
his home, and received his education in the 
common schools. In 1882 he purchased 
the farm of his deceas< 1 father-in-law, 
where he lived three years. He then suld 
it and in connection with his brother Titus 
bought the Trauger homestead of his father. 
For two years he cultivated the land in 
partnership with his brother, whose right 
he then purchased and has since been the 
sole owner. He is now serving his third 
year as school director and at different 
times has held the office of judge of elec- 
tion. He is a Democrat in politics, and he 
and his family are members of the Lutheran 
church. Mr. Trauger married, in 1881,. 
Emeline, daughter of Samuel and Susanna 
(Tettemer) Mood, of Tinicum township 
and their children are: Ida M., Nora M. 
and Claude M. The last-named is the 
only grandson in the family, and is thus the 
one on whom rests the responsibility of 
transmittin"- the family name. 



ASHER K. ANDERS, Esq., one of the 
younger members of the Bucks county bar, 
and for the past three years chairman of 
the Democratic County Committee, was 
born in Nockamixon township, Bucks coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1869, and is a 
son of William W. and Matilda (Kohl) 
Anders. The paternal ancestors of the An- 
ders family of Bucks county were residents 
of New Jersej', near Mil ford, for several 
generations, the name being variously 
spelled, Anders, Anderse, Andries, Andress,. 
Andriesen, Anderson, and Enderse. They 
were probably descendants of Andries An- 
driesse, from Westerover, Sweden, who 
was among the Swedes on the Delaware 
from 1659 to 1670. 

Paul Anderse or Enders and Gertruyd 
Delse were married June 5, 1754, at the 
"Dutch and English Presbyterian Church of 
Alexandria" in Alexandria township, 
Hunterdon county. New Jersey, near the 
present site of Milford. At least nine chil- 
dren were born to them as shown by the 
records of this old church, viz. : Jacob, 
Hubert, Margaret, Gertruvd, Abraham, 
Paulus. Wilhelm, Anna, and Adam. 

Jacob Andress. probably the eldest son of 
Paul and Gertruyd, obtained patents for 
land in Northampton county near the Bucks 
county line, in 1786 and 1789, respectively, 
and about 1800 located in Nockamixon 
township. Bucks county, where he died in 
1810, leaving a widow. Mary Magdalena 
Andress, and children : John. Jacob. George, 
Hannah, Elizabeth and William,' and 
possibly others. George and William re- 
mained in Nockamixon and reared families 
there. 

William Anders, son of Jacob and Mary 
Magdalena Andress, married Rebecca 



t: 

PUu.. 


W YORK 

'^RARY 


T 


•X ANJ> 
\TijMS. 




/^c^^^^ nDnr{^ri4}^iZ^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



369 



— , and had at least four sons : Jacob, 

born in 181S; Charles, born 1820; Solomon, 
born ^larch 7, 1822, and William, born 
1826, died July i, 1896. The date of death 
of William Anders, Sr. has not been as- 
certained; his wife Rebecca died March 
25, 1875, at the age of seventy-six years. 
Solomon Anders, son of William and 
Rebecca, was the grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch. He was a farmer and 
a lifelong resident of Nockamixon, and 
was a landowner there almost from his 
arrival at his majority, purchasing his first 
home in 1847. He later purchased the 
farm owned by the subject of this sketch 
near Bucksville, where he died October 25, 

1897. His wife, Elizabeth Fabian, born 
February 9, 1825, died December 18, 1897, 
belonged to a well-known family of that 
vicinity, and was of German ancestry, who 
had been residents of Upper Bucks for 
several generations. 

William W. Andres, only son of Solomon 
and Elizabeth (Fabian) Anders, was born 
in Nockamixon, April 13, 1844. and died 
there September 11, 1902. Hewas a farmer 
and resided on the old homestead near 
Bucksville. He married Matilda Kohl, 
born August 14, 1851, died at the residence 
of her son, Asther K. Anders, in Doyles- 
town, October 22, 1903. 

Matilda (Kohl) Anders was a daughter 
of Thomas and Maria (Lightcap) Kohl, 
both natives of Nockamixon, the former 
born October 21, 1821, died October 24, 

1898, and the latter born April 15, 1820, 
died September 16, 1890. Thomas S. Kohl 
was a son of Conrad Kohl, who died in 
Nockamixon in 1843, grandson of ^lichael 
Kohl, of the same place, who died in 1828. 
and great-grandson of Conrad Kohl, a 
native of Germany, who came to America in 
the ship "Lydia," arriving in Philadelphia. 
September 20. 1743. He was twenty-four 
j-ears of age at the time of his emigration, 
and died in Nockamixon township, Bucks 
county, in 1807. His descendants have 
been large landowners and prominent citi- 
zens of Upper Bucks for five generations, 
and are now very numerous. William W. 
and Matilda (Kohl) Anders were the pa- 
rents of two children, viz. : Lewellyn, born 
July 24, 1867. died, unmarried, April 3, 
1901 ; and Asher K. 

Asher K. Anders was born and reared 
on the old homestead in Nockamixon and 
was educated at the public schools and at 
Kutztown Normal School, graduating from 
the latter in 1892. He taught for five years 
in the public schools of Nockamixon and 
Durham township, in the meantime en- 
tering himself as a student at law under 
Samuel Z. Freed. Esq.. of Doylestown. He 
was admitted to the Bucks county bar, Au- 
gust 23, 1897. and opening an office at 
Doylestown began the practice of his 
chosen profession. In politics Mr. Anders 
is an ardent Democrat and has always 
taken an active part in the councils of his 
party. He was elected chairman of the 
Democratic County Committee in March, 
24-3 



1902, and filled that position with ability 
for three years. He has also represented 
his party in district, congressional and 
state conventions, and has also served his 
party "on the stump" in several campaigns. 
Mr. Anders married, July 12, 1899, Nora 
E. Grim, daughter of the late Dr. George 
W. and Elizabeth (Koons) Grim, of Nock- 
amixon, and a sister to Hon. Webster Grim, 
of Doylestown. Their daughter Elizabeth 
Marion was born May 15, 1904. Mr. An- 
ders is a member of Doylestown Lodge, 
No. 24s, F. & A. M., of Doylestown R. 
A. C. No. 270, of Aquetong Lodge, No. 
193, I. O. O. F., of Doylestown, of Revere 
Castle, K. G. E. No. 230, of Revere, and 
of Sciota Tribe No. 214, L O. of R. M. of 
Doylestown, Pennsylvania. 



B. FRANK HOBENSACK. When 
Pennsylvania was numbered among the 
colonial possessions of Great Britain the 
Hobehsack family was founded within its 
borders and representatives of the name 
since that time have been loyal to the in- 
terests of the colony and have taken an 
active and helpful part in its material de- 
velopment. The progenitor of the family 
in America came from Germany in pioneer 
times, and was the great-great-grandfather 
of B. Frank Hobensack. He was one of 
the early promoters of the development and 
progress of Bucks county along many 
beneficial lines. 

Isaac Hobensack, grandfather of B. 
Frank Hobensack, was born in Bucks coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, and became well known 
as a successful and enterprising farmer. 
In choosing this walk of life he followed 
in the footsteps of his ancestors. He was 
content to devote his time and energies to 
agricultural pursuits, having no aspirations 
for political office, although he ever kept 
well informed on the questions and issues 
of the day. He gave his early support to 
the Whig party, and he served as township 
supervisor and in other minor positions. 
He was a devoted and consistent member 
of the Primitive Baptist church, and was 
%vell known in the locality where he re- 
sided, commanding the good will and trust 
of all because of his own reliability and 
integrity in all life's relations. He wedded 
Emily Fetter, also a native of Bucks county, 
and their children were : Margaret. Rachel, 
Isaac C. John, William, Marv^E. and Eliza- 
beth. 

I-aac C. Hobensack. whose birth occurred 
in Warminster township. Bucks county, was 
reared upon the home farm and there re- 
mained until his marriage, when he rented 
a tract of land, which he continued to 
cultivate until his efforts had brought him 
capital sufficient to enable him to purchase 
land. He then bought a farm in Southamp- 
ton township. UDOn which he spent his re- 
maining davi. successfully carrying on gen- 
eral agricultural nnrsuits and also attend- 
ing the Philadelphia market. In his busi- 



370 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



ness career he was progressive and practi- 
cal, carrying forward to successful com- 
pletion whatever he undertook. His in- 
terest in the political questions and issues 
of the day led him to give earnest support 
to the Republican party. He served as 
county commissioner lor one term and held 
some minor township positions, including 
that of school director. He was reared m 
the faith of the Primitive Baptist church 
and never united with any other religious 
denomination. He possessed a genial man- 
ner, was kindly and charitable in disposi- 
tion and the poor and needy found in him 
a warm friend. He died January g, 1903, 
respected by all who knew him. His wife, 
whose maiden name was Joanna Hogeland, 
was born June 29, 1832, in Southampton 
tonship, Bucks county, and died April 17, 
1905, at the age of seventy-three years. 
Her father, Abraham Hogeland, was a 
farmer who settled in Bucks county at an 
early period in its development. He be- 
came prominent in community affairs and 
as a representative of agricultural interests. 
His daughter, Mrs. Hobensack, became a 
member of the Presbyterian church. She 
was the youngest in a family of nine chil- 
dren, the others being: Elias, a farmer, who 
at one time served as sheriff of Bucks coun- 
ty; John, Joseph, Theodore, William, Mor- 
ris, and Charles, all of whom follow farm- 
ing; and Susan, the wife of H. D. Leffert. 
Unto Isaac C. and Joanna (Hogeland) 
Hobensack were born eight children : Mary 
A., the wife of H. B. Krewsen, deceased; 
Isaac M., a western man; William, who is 
engaged in business at Ivyland; B. Frank; 
Albert C, ,also in business in Ivyland; 
Emily, the wife of W. C. Yerkes; Wilkins, 
of Norristown ; and Joanna. 

B. Frank Hobensack was born in South- 
ampton township, Bucks county, Septem- 
ber 30, 1864, and at the usual age entered 
the common schools, where he acquired a. 
good practical English education. In his 
youth he became familiar with all the duties 
and labors that fall to the lot of the_ agri- 
culturist, and he continued to assist in the 
operation of the home farm until he had 
attained his majority. He afterward spent 
some time in %vorking at the printer's trade, 
but following his marriage he resumed 
farming, renting a tract of land for four 
years. H^ then went to Ivyland, where he 
joined his brother, William Hobensack, in 
an industrial enterprise under the firm style 
of Hobensack Brothers, the partners being 
William and B. Frank Hobensack. They 
operated a mill for grinding, also handled 
feed, and dealt extensively in lumber to- 
gether with agricultural implements and 
fertilizers. Mr. Hobensack of this review 
continued successfully in that line of trade 
imtil 1899, when he was elected high sheriflf 
of Bucks county, serving for a full term 
with credit to himself and satisfaction to 
all concerned. He discharged his duties 
without fear of favor, and his course 
awakened the confidence of all law-abiding 
citizens. On the expiration of his term 



he retired from office as he had entered it— 
with the contidence and good will of all 
concerned. He then engaged in the stone 
crushing business at Quakertown, also 
dealt in real estate and bought a large trad- 
ing business. He is still following those 
pursuits, and is regarded in his locality as 
a broadminded, intelligent and successful 
business man, meriting the respect of his 
fellow citizens. 'His efforts have likewise 
extended to other lines of activity, for he 
is a stockholder and director in the Jenkins- 
town Trust Company. He is enterprising 
and public-spirited, well know^n and highly 
respected. His political views are in ac- 
cordance with the principles of the Re- 
publican party, and he is deeply interested 
in its success, believing that it contains .the 
best elements of good government. He 
attends various party conventions, has been 
judge of elections and has often served on 
the election board. He has also filled town- 
ship positions, has been school director, 
was auditor for three terms and was chosen 
for the position of justice of the peace. 
With a full recognition of the duties that 
devolve upon him as an officer, he has ever 
been true to the trust reposed in him by his 
fellow townsmen and in performing his 
public service has displayed marked fidelity 
and capability. 

In 1886 Mr. Hobensack was married to 
Miss Catherine Cornell, who was born in 
Warwick township, Bucks county, August 
II, 1863, her parents being Hiram and Jen- 
nie (McKinstry) Cornell, the latter of War- 
rington township and a member of one of 
the early families of Bucks county, of 
Scotch-Irish lineage. Hiram Cornell's an- 
cestors also located in this county at an 
early day. He became a leading farmer, 
well known for his activity and reliability 
in business. He voted with the Democracy, 
and was a loyal adherent of the Presbv- 
terian church in which he held membership. 
His death occurred March 29, 189.;. and his 
widow, who still survives him. finds a good 
home with Mr. and Mrs. Hobensack. She 
is a daughter of James and Agnes Mc- 
Kinstry, natives of this county. Jner father 
was a carpenter by trade and later in life 
followed farming, and was both a success- 
ful and practical mechanic and agricul- 
turist. He served as school director and 
also held some minor positions, and was 
deeply concerned in the welfare and 
progress of his community, although he did 
not seem to figure prominently in public 
life. He held membership in the Neshaminy 
Presbyterian church, and nearly all of the 
members of the McKinstry family became 
identified with the same denomination. 
These were Robert, Jessie, Mary, William, 
Catherine, John, Sarah and Jane. Unto 
Mr. and ]\Irs. Hiram Cornell were born two 
children : James, who is married and re- 
sides in Ivyland: he is a popular salesman 
in a clothing house in Philadelphia; and 
Catherine, wife of Mr. Hobensack. The 
marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Hobensack has 
been blessed with one son. Wilkin C, born 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



37i 



October s, 1896. The parents are consistent 
members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. 
Hobensack is a worthy Mason, belonging 
to the lodee, chapter and consistory, so that 
he has attained high rank in the fraternity, 
the leading elements and teachings of which 
he exemplifies in his life. 



EDWARD D. WORSTALL, a popular 
merchant and postmaster at Jamison, is 
of English lineage, the early members of 
the family in America coming to Pennsyl- 
vania from England in colonial days. Jo- 
seph Worstall, Sr., grandfather of Edward 
D. Worstall, was born in Bucks county, 
•and was a tanner by trade. After mastering 
that pursuit he carried on an extensive busi- 
ness at Newtown for a number of years, 
but subsequently purchased a farm upon 
which he established his home and there 
spent the evening of life. He was a con- 
sistent member of the Friends meeting and 
died in that faith. He married Jane Hes- 
ton, a native of Hestonville, Chester county, 
Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Edward 
and Sarah Heston. Her father was born 
in Chester county, March 16, 1745, and died 
February 14, 1824, while his wite, who was 
born April 16, 1763, died August 15, 1856, 
at the age of ninety-three years. The Hes- 
tons were directly connected with the Rev. 
Hicks, the author of the Hicksite faith of 
the Friends meeting. The Hestons were 
widely known in eastern Pennsylvania, and 
were prominent and popular people, highly 
respected by all. Unto Joseph and Jane 
(Heston) Worstall were born five children: 
Sarah A., the wife of Jacob Hibbs ; Han- 
nah, who married P. Scarbro ; Edward H., 
a tanner ; Isaac H., a farmer and ex-county 
treasurer of Bucks county ; and Joseph. 

Joseph Worstall, Jr., was born in Bucks 
county and was reared in .Newtown, where 
he learned the tanner's trade under the 
direction of his father, whom he assisted 
until after his marriage. He then purchased 
a farm in Doylestown township, where he 
established his home, there spending his 
remaining days in the quiet pursuits of 
agriculture. He affiliated with the Friends 
meeting, and politically was Whig, but had 
no aspirations for onice, although he kept 
well informed on the issues and questions 
of the day. It was his ambition to provide 
well for his family and to this end he 
labored earnestly and persistently, making 
for himself an honorable name by reason of 
his fidelity to all life's relations. He died 
in July, 1853, while his wife passed away 
in March. 1894, at the age of seventy- four 
years. Mrs. Worstall bore the maiden name 
of Mary Van Buskirk, and, like her hus- 
band, \vas a native of Bucks county. Her 
parents were Isaac and Susan (Van Horn) 
Van Buskirk, representatives of early fam- 
ilies of Bucks county. Both were members 
of the Neshaminy Presbyterian church. In 
their family were seven children : Andrew. 
John George and Isaac, all of whom fol- 
low farming; Mary, who became Mrs. 



Worstall; Susan, wife of S. Rake; and 
Elizabeth, wife of R. Eddus. Mr. and 
Mrs. Joseph Worstall, Jr., had but two chil- 
dren, the daughter, Susan, living at home 
with her brother, Edward D. 

In the usual manner of farmer lads Ed- 
ward D. Worstall spent the days of his 
boyhood and youth, being reared upon the 
old family homestead by his mother, for 
his father died during the infancy of the 
son. He continued to assist his mother dur- 
ing the period of his minority, and when 
fie had attained adult age he purchased the 
old homestead, which he conducted for a 
number of years. In 1880 he was married, â–  
and the following year he purchased a store 
in Jaminson, which he is yet conducting. 
He has been very successful in his mer- 
cantile ventures, -enjoying a constantly in- 
creasing patronage. In 1877 he tore away 
all of the old buildings and erected a com- 
modious frame block, three stories high, 
including both his residence and business 
property. In 1898 he built a fine barn 
and he has two acres of lan9 and manv out- 
buildings. His is a finely improved home 
and business place, and he is a practical and 
prosperous merchant. He drew the plans 
for the block which was erected, and in 
his store he carries a well selected line of 
general merchandise. He is also one of 
the large stockholders in the Doylestown 
National Bank, assisted in its re-organiza- 
tion and has since been one of its directors. 
He also holds stock in the Warwick Cream- 
ery (Company, a successful business enter- 
prise, and for two years he was secretary 
and treasurer of the company. The third 
story of his building is occupied by the 
Odd Fellows lodge, and it was largely 
through Mr. Worstall's instrumentality 
that the lodge was instituted here. He also 
secured the establishment of the postoffice 
through the influence of I. N. Evans, con- 
gressman from this district. Mr. Worstall 
was appointed postmaster January 21,. 1884, 
and has since managed the affairs of the 
office. In his political affiliations Mr. Wor- 
stall has always been a stanch Republican, 
and in addition to serving as postmaster 
he has held the office of school director in 
Warwick township for thirteen years. He 
likewise filled a similar position in Doyles- 
town township for six years, and has been 
treasurer of the Warwick school board for 
the entire period of his connection there- 
with. He belongs to the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, in which he has filled all of 
the chairs, has taken the blue lodge and 
chapter degrees in Masonry, holding mem- 
bership with the Doylestown lodge, is af- 
filiated with the Knights of Pythias at Hat- 
boro. with the Knights of the Golden 
Eagle and with the American Mechanics. 
He is in good standing in all of these 
organizations and has filled many positions 
in the different lodges. He and his family 
are members of the Neshaminy Presbyter- 
ian church. 

Mr. Worstall was married to Miss 
Clarissa Fell, who was born in Doylestown 



3/2 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



township, in 1855, a daughter of James 

C. and Mary E. (,Gargus; i'ell, boUi na- 
tives of Bucks county. Her father was a 
prominent farmer, whose active and hon- 
orable business career was in harmony 
with his professions as a member of the 
Friends meeting. He died in February, 
1897, at the age of seventy-four years, while 
his wife survived until June, 1904- Her 
death occurred while she was visiting in 
South Carolina, but her remains were in- 
terred in Doylestown cemetery.- Their chil- 
dren were: Abram, a farmer; Caroline, 
wife of Joseph Ellis; Ella, the wife of 
Hugh Carroll; Fanny, the wife of E. 
Bodine; and Clarissa, the wife of Edward 

D. Wor^tall. Mr. and Mrs. Worstall have 
but one child, Joseph F., born May i, 1884, 
who is now assisting his father in the store 
and postoffice. 

ADAM MARTIN, who is engaged in 
farming near Chalfont, was born in New 
Britain township, March 20, 1853, and is 
of German parentage. He is a son oi 
George and Harriet (Bailmyer) Alartin, 
bofh of whom were natives of Wittenberg, 
Germany, where they were reared and mar- 
ried. Following the birth of two of their 
children they came to America, crossing the 
Atlantic about 1850. George iNlartin estab- 
lished his home in Bucks county, where he 
worked as a day laborer for some time. 
Subsequently he purchased a small tract of 
land at New Galena, built a house and afcer 
a few years sold that property and bought 
again at Eden, where he also erected a 
dwelling. After residing there for many 
years he retired from business life and now 
makes his home in AUentown, Pennsyl- 
vania. He was employed by the Reading 
Railroad Company for many years in dif- 
ferent capacities, and now with a com- 
fortable competence saved from his earn- 
ings is enjoying a well merited rest. He 
proved his loyalty to his adopted country 
when in 1863 he offered his services to the 
government, becoming a member of the One 
Hundred and P"ourteenth Pennsylvania 
Regiment of Infantry. The command was 
assigned to the Army of the Potomac and 
he served until the close of the war, en- 
during deprivations and exposures such as 
are meted out to the soldier. He did his 
full duty as a defender of the stars and 
stripes, and after the close of the war he 
returned home and resumed work with the 
Reading Railroad Company. In politics n<s 
has always been a Republican, and he is a 
member of the Reformed church. His life 
has been an honorable and upright one, and 
at the age of eighty-two years he enjoys 
the respect and confidence of all. His 
wife also is eighty-two years of age, and 
they reside with a daughter in AUentown. 
She is likewise a member of the Reformed 
church. George and Harriet Alartin be- 
came the parents of seven children : Car- 
rie, wife of M. Mclntire; Michael, a farmer 
of Chalfont; Lizzie, who married A. 



Rhodes; Adam; Amanda, deceased; Mrs. 
Emma Hotelter, who cares for lier fatner 
and mother in Alientown; and Anna. 

Adam Martin was reared m Bucks coun- 
ty and when only seven years ot age be- 
gan working on tarms. He spent the win- 
ter months at home, attending the public 
sciiools, but Irom the early age of seven 
years he has been dependent upon his own 
resources for a living and is entirely a self- 
made man. As the architect of nis own 
fortunes he has buildcd wisely and well, and 
his life record is an illustration of what can 
be accomplished through determination 
and earnest purpose. He did work as a 
farm hand until about eighteen years ol 
age, when he was apprenticed to learn the 
carpenter's trade with David High. When 
his term of service was ended he worked as 
a journeyman at different places in Phila- 
delphia, being thus employed for more than 
eleven years. Soon after his marriage, how- 
ever, in 1876, he purchased a farm through 
the assistance oi a friend and for eight 
years remained upon his first place, alter 
which he sold it to Charles Holdeman, and 
bought the farm upon which he now lives. 
He at first had fifty-five acres, but to this, 
has added, and now has a good tract oI 
land of seventy-five acres, he has remod- 
eled and added to the buildings which are 
now in a good state of repair, and his fields 
are highly cultivated. At times misfortune 
has overtaken him, for periods of prosper- 
ity and adversity come to all, but he has 
manifested a most determined and per- 
severing spirit and is now one of the sub- 
stantial farmers of his community, prac- 
tical and progressive in his work. He at- 
tends the Philadelphia market, thus placing 
his products on sale. 

Mr. Martin gives his influence and sup- 
port to the Republican party, warmly es- 
pousing its principles and he has filled the 
positions of constable of New Britain town- 
ship, of court constable under G. Ely, 
sheriff, and for thirteen consecutive years 
in Warrington township has been super- 
visor. He was afterward school director, 
but later resigned and became a candidate 
for the office of county commissioner, to 
which he was elected. At this writing in 
1904 he is township auditor, and his election 
is an evidence of the office seeking the man. 
His capability has been recognized by his 
fellow townsmen, who have selected him 
for local positions of honor and trust, and 
in office he has been most loyal, discharg- 
ing his duties with promptness and fidelity. 

Mr. Martin was married to Miss Abigail 
R. Sherm, who was born in this county, 
September i, 1853, a lady of intelligence and 
culture, who has been a faithful helpmate 
to him. She is a daughter of John and 
Barbara (Rickard) Sherm, the latter a na- 
tive of Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Her 
father was born in Alsace, Germany, and 
with his mother and stepfather, Jacob 
Steifer, he came to America in 1826. After 
his arrival here he was emploj'ed in a mill,, 
cnlering the services of Henry Fritz, with 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



373 



whom he remained until his marriage. He 
then bought a lot and built a house and con- 
tinued in the milling business for five years. 
Later he rented a farm for a year and on 
Ihe expiration of that period bought a tract 
of land near Chalfont, there carrying on 
agricultural pursuits for a number of years. 
At length he retired from business cares 
and bought a small lot, on which was a 
dwelling in which he made his home. Event- 
ually he returned to the home farm, how- 
ever, where he died in 1880. His wife 
passed away in i860. Both were members 
of the Lutheran church. In their family 
were eleven children : Elizabeth, who died 
in childhood ; Catherine, who became the 
wife of Charles King; INIary A., the wife 
of E. Wice; William H., a school teacher 
and later a farmer; Sarah, the wife of E. 
DetweilEr ; Barbara, who became the wife of 
Eli O. Crouthamel ; John B., a farmer; 
jMagdalene, wife of Monroe Trumbauer; 
Fannie, wife of A. Lininger ; Noah, who 
died in childhood; and INlrs. Abigail Mar- 
tin. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Alar- 
tin are eight in number : Reuben A., who 
is married and follows farming; Flora, 
wife of F. L. Brinker; Alice S., Bertha 'SI. 
and Walter A., at home; Edward H., who 
died in infancy ; and Jennie T., at home. 
The parents are consistent and active work- 
â– ers in St. Patrick's Lutheran church at Hill- 
town, Mr. jNIartin serving as one of its 
-deacons. His life has been characterized 
ty untiring activity in business, and his 
strong purpose and indefatigable energy 
have brought to him a creditable measure 
of success. 



ROLAND FL.\CK. representing one of 
the early families of Pennsylvania, was born 
September 11. 1857, upon the old home- 
stead farm a mile and a half east of Jami- 
son, where he still resides. The Flack fam- 
ily is of Irish lineage and was established in 
Pennsylvania in colonial days. Most of 
its representatives have been tillers of the 
soil, and they have been leading and worthy 
â– citizens of their respective communities. 

Joseph Flack, Sr., the grandfather," was a 
resident of Bucks county and followed the 
occupation of farming. In his political 
views he was a Whig and served as justice 
of the peace for many years, proving a most 
capable officer, discharging his duties with 
promptness and fidelity. In his religious 
faith he was a Presbyterian. His family 
numbered eleven children : Ann, who be- 
-came Mrs. George Opdvke; Samuel, a car- 
penter ; Joseph, a farmer : Spencer, a 
farmer: Mary, the wife of J. Jamison; 
Elizabeth, the wife of J. Roberts ; Isaac, a. 
farmer: Abigail, who became Mrs. Jami- 
son and after the death of her first husband 
"became IMrs. Holbert ; Sarah, the wife of 
Isaac Walton : Everett, a farmer : and Evan. 
W^ith the exception of the last named, who 
died in childhood, all reached advanced 
age. 
â–  Joseph Flack. Jr.. father of Roland Flack, 



was born in Bucks county, reared upon the 
old home farm and educated in the public 
schools. He afterward engaged in teach- 
ing for a number of years, being one of the 
capable representatives of the profession 
in his native county. At a later date he 
gave his undivided attention to agricultural 
pursuits, successfully carrying on general 
farming and also attending the Philadel- 
phia market, where he found a ready sale 
for his products. His political views were 
in harmony with the principles of the Whig 
party and he afterward endorsed the prin- 
ciples of the Republican party. He Kept 
well informed on the questions and issues 
of the day, never failing to support his 
political ideas by his ballot, and he also 
filled various township offices, discharging- 
his duties in a capable manner. He held 
membership in the Presbyterian church, and 
was widely known and highly respected for 
his integrity and honor in all life's rela- 
tions. He married Miss' Jane Yonkers, 
also a native of Bucks county, and a daugh- 
ter of William Yonkers, a prominent farmer 
of Philadelphia county, who lived a quiet,- 
unassuming, but useful life. In his family 
were the following named children : Caro- 
line, who died in childhood ; Mary, the wife 
of John Worthington ; Sarah, the wife of 
N. Holbert ; Thomas, who died at the age 
of twenty-one years ; Jane, who became 
Mrs. Flack; and Eveline. Joseph Flack, 
Jr., died July 14, 1898, at the advanced age 
of eighty years, while his wife passed away 
in 1857. They were the parents of a daugh- 
ter and son, Eva and Roland, and the 
former finds a good home with her brother 
on the old family homestead. 

Roland Flack was reared to agricultural 
pursuits and has carried on the work which 
his father inaugurated in the development 
and improvement of w'hat is known as the 
old Flack homestead. His attention has 
been given to agricultural pursuits through- 
out his entire life, and his work is now 
carried on along progressive business lines. 
He has yet found time to devote to public 
interests, is a stanch advocate of Republi- 
can principles, and has filled various town- 
ship offices. He has been a member of the 
township central committee and his lovalty 
and capability would well qualify him for 
any political office to which he might be 
called. He has demonstrated his friend- 
ship for the cause of public education by 
his active service in behalf of the schools 
while acting on the school board. He has 
likewise served on the election board. He 
was elected by a good majority to the state 
assembly, representing Middle Bucks 
county. 

In 1885 Mr. Flack was married to Miss 
Sallie Walter, who was born in Bucks 
county, and is a daughter of George and 
May (Young) Walter, also natives of this 
county. Her father is a plasterer bv trade, 
and has always been content to follow the 
pursuits of a quiet business life without 
nolitical aspirations. He yet resides in 
Doylestown. His children are : Sallie, now 



374 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Mrs. Flack; Catherine, the wife of J. N. 
Doan; Augustus, a machinist; and Alice, 
at home. The parents hold membership in 
the Presibytcrian church, to which Mrs. 
Flack also belongs. Mr. Flack is a mem- 
ber of the Masonic fraternity. Unto him 
and his wife have been born two sons, 
Howard W., born in 1888; and Joseph, born 
in 1894. 



ROBERT McDowell is of Irish line- 
age, being a representative of the third gen- 
eration of the family in America. His 
grandfather, William McDow^ell, was a na- 
tive of the north of Ireland, and when a 
young man came to the United States where 
he secured employment as a farm hand. 
He remained a resident of Montgomery 
county throughout his remaining days, his 
death occurring near Abingdon. In his 
religious faith he was a consistent Presby- 
terian. His children were: Major, William, 
a stone mason ; Robert, a farmer of Kan- 
sas; EUic, who died unmarried; Margaret, 
the wife of J. Rapp ; Caroline, the wife of 
Samual Swartz; and Mrs. Ann Fisher. 

Major JNlcDowell, eldest son of William 
McDowell, was born in Montgomery coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, and in early life learned 
the shoemaker's trade, which he followed 
for many years. He also farmed a small 
. tract of land, which he was enabled to pur- 
chase as the result of his economy and in- 
dustry. He was an excellent workman at 
the shoe bench and because of his skill 111 
that line secured a good patronage. In 
politics he was a stanch Democrat, giving 
his effort for the benefit of the party, yet 
never seeking or desiring office as a re- 
ward for party fealty. He, too, belonged 
to the Presbyterian ctiurch and was a man 
of unqualified integrity and honor, enjoying 
the high regard of all with whom he was 
» brought in contact. A broad-minded, in- 
telligent business man, in social life he had 
the friendship and esteem of many who 
• knew him. He possessed a charitable, 
kindly spirit that prompted generous aid to 
the needy and caused him to give ready 
and heartfelt sympathy to those in distress. 
He was a worthy member of the Independ- 
ent Order of Odd Fellows at Jenkinstown, 
filling all of the chairs there. He wedded 
Mary Henry, also a native of Montgomery 
county, and his death occurred in 1891, 
when he was seventy-five years of age. His 
w^idow still survives him and has reached 
the advanced age of ninety years. Her fa- 
ther was a farmer and her mother, Mrs. 
Elizabeth Henry, was a representative of 
an honored early family of Frankfort, 
Pennsylvania. In their family were the 
following named children : Samuel Henry, 
who followed farming ; George Henry, who 
was a farmer and auctioneer ; Ann, who 
died at about twenty-five years of age, un- 
married ; Mrs. Margaret Van Hart, Mrs. 
Emeline Feaster, Mrs. Mary McDowell, 
and Mrs. Sarah Evans. Unto IMajor and 



Mary (Henry) jNIcDowell were born eight 
children: Robert, Harry, who resides on 
the homestead farm and cares for his. 
mother, and who is a leading speaker ia 
the Odd Fellows Society; Samuel, who for 
over thirty years was superintendent of the 
street car system of Philadelphia, and died 
about 1897; Lewis, a wholesale and retail 
dealer in milk in Frankfort ; Edward, a 
night watchman of Philadelphia; George,, 
an early settler and cattle rancher of Kan- 
sas, who, because of failing healthy started 
to his old home in Pennsylvania and died 
en route; Clara, the wife of L. Bennor; 
and Mrs. Margaret Coar. 

Robert McDowell, son of Major and 
Mary (Henry) McDowell, was born in 
Abington township, Montgomery county,, 
Pennsylvania, March 17, 1843, and the com- 
mon schools afforded him his educational 
privileges, while upon the old homestead 
he was reared to farm pursuits. He re- 
mained under the parental roof until thir- 
teen years of age, when he began earning 
his own livelihood by working as a farm, 
hand, continuing with one employer until 
sixteen years of age. He was afterward 
employed on other farms in the locality 
until he entered the service as a defender 
of the Union army in the Civil war. It 
was in February, 1864, when he was twenty 
years of age, that he enlisted in the Third 
Ir'ennsylvama Regiment of Artillery, also- 
known as the One Hundred and Fifty-sec- 
ond Pennsylvania Volunteers, under com- , 
mand of Captain Fred Kortie. He served 
until November, 1865, when he received 
an honorable discharge. He enlisted iir 
Doylestown township, Bucks county, was 
mustered in at Philadelphia and was sent 
to Fortress Monroe to do garrison duty. 
Later the regiment was attached to the: 
command of General Butler, who was plan- 
ning a campaign for the capture of Rich- 
mond. Mr. ]\icDowell had charge of an 
artillery team to haul the big guns. The 
command proceeded to Bermuda Hundred^ 
landed there and threw up breastvvorks^ 
remaining there for some time at Point ot 
Rocks. iVir. McDowell was taken ill and 
sent to Camp Hamilton, where he remained 
in the hospital for three weeks, after which 
he was detailed to go as nurse and contin- 
ued to serve in that capacity for some time. 
Later Air. McDowell joined his company 
near Petersburg where he acted as guard 
after the evacuation. Subsequently he re- 
turned to Fortress Monroe and was there 
promoted to orderly paymaster. He con- 
tinued there during the remainder of his- 
service and for a time acted as guard for 
Jefferson Davis, remaining with him in the 
cell, which was closely guarded both inside 
and outside and on the ramparts. Mr. Mc- 
Dowell with his regiment remained at 
Fortress Monroe until relieved by regulars. 
He saw much of the hard side of the sol- 
dier's life, experiencing the difficulties and 
rigors of war, but he was always found at 
his post of duty and proved a brave and 
loyal soldier. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



375 



After being mustered out of the service 
Mr. McDowell returned to his native county 
where he was employed as a farm hand 
for about a year. He then made his way to 
Hartsville, Bucks county, where he entered 
the employ of Alford Murray, with whom 
he continued for thirteen years, and upon 
the death of Mr. Murray he entered the 
services of George Jamison, with whom he 
remained for seven years. He afterward 
spent two years in the employ of Charles 
Freitz, and in 1882 he came to his present 
home in Warwick township, farming the 
place on shares for three years. In 18S5 
he bought the farm comprising fifty acres 
of tine land. On the place is a good farm 
residence and barn. The buildings, however, 
were in poor repair when they came into 
his possession, but he remodeled and made 
additions to the house and also the barn, 
has erected a number of sheds for the 
shelter of grain and stock and for the ma- 
chinery, and has all the latest improved 
implements that facilitate agricultural work. 
In addition to general farming he has at- 
tended the Philadelphia market and has 
made a specialty of the raising of hay 
which he there places on sale. There is 
one event in the history of Mr. McDowell 
that is well worthy of mention. He spent 
the first three years of his business career 
in the employment of Alford Murray, fol- 
lowing his return from the war, remained 
with him for thirteen years and when Mr. 
^Murray died was found by the -terms of 
his will that he had left to Mr. AIcDowell 
one thousand dollars in recognition of his 
capable service, unfaltering fidelity and 
honesty. 

In 1869 ]\Ir. McDowell was married to 
Miss Ellie Fenton, who was born in Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, September 12, 1850. 
bhe is a lady of intelligence and culture 
and has been a faithful helpmate to her 
husband. Her parents were John and 
Rachel (Cline) Fenton, both of whom were 
natives of Bucks county. Her paternal 
grandparents were John and Betsey Fen- 
ton, representatives of one of the old fam- 
ilies of this part of the state, his ancestors 
having settled in Bucks county when Penn- 
sylvania was still numbered among the 
colonial possessions of Great Britain. The 
first of the name in America were of Eng- 
lish lineage and his descendants have been 
farmers and mechanics of Pennsylvania for 
many years. John Fenton, Jr., father of 
Mrs. McDowell, was reared and married 
in Bucks county, and became a prominent 
farmer of his locality, also conducting a 
sawmill. He made his home in Hartsville. 
Ever industrious and energetic, his business 
career was characterized by all that is hon- 
orable and straightforward in one's deal- 
ings with his fellow men. In polities' he 
was a Democrat. His death occurred in 
Edison in 1894, while his wife survives at 
the ripe old age of seventy-eight years and 
finds a good home with ]SIr. and Mrs. Mc- 
Dowell. She is a consistent member of the 
Neshaminy church. In her family were 



Edwin, who is a miller by trade, but now 
follows farming; ^Mrs. Elizabeth Krier, de- 
ceased; and i\Irs. JNIcDowell. Unto Mr. 
and Mrs. McDowell have been born two 
children : Mary Lillian, who died at the 
age of nine months; and Fenton, born 
March 16, 1877. The son was provided 
with a liberal education and in early man- 
hood married Louisa Morgan, a daughter 
of John Morgan, and a granddaughter of 
Miles Morgan, connected with one of the 
honored early families of Bucks county. 
John Morgan is a carpenter and served in 
the One Hundred and Fourth Regiment in 
the war of the rebellion. His wife was 
twice married, her first husband being John 
Cook, who served in the Civil war and lost 
one leg while fighting for his country. His 
death occurred as the result of his army 
experiences. The children of Fenton Mc- 
Dowell are Robert D., born March 10, 
1892; and ^lartha G., born July 17, 1904. 
Mrs. Fenton McDowell is a member of 
the Baptist church, while he is connected 
with Neshaminy Castle, No. 139, Knights 
of the Golden Eagle, of which he is a past 
chief. 

In his political allegiance Robert Mc- 
Dowell has always been a Democrat and 
he has taken an active interest in all of 
the issues of the day, yet has never aspired 
to public oftice. He belongs to Hatboro 
Post, No. loi, G. A. R., and attends the 
Presbyterian church. He has lived a quiet 
and unassuming life, yet his entire career 
has been characterized by honesty in busi- 
ness, fidelity in citizenship and trustworthi- 
ness in social relations, and thus his career 
has won for him the entire confidence and 
respect of his fellow men. 



CHARLES M. CADWALLADER. The 

Cadwallader family has been represented 
in Pennsylvania from the colonial epoch in 
the American history down to the present 
time. The first of the name of whom de- 
finite record is obtainable was Johi> Cad- 
wallader, who was of Welsh descent. His 
parents came from Wales to this country 
when it was still a part of the colonial 
possessions of Great Britain and established 
a home in Montgomery county, assisting in 
the permanent development and improve- 
ment of that part of the state, and giving 
their influence for its moral growth, being 
consistent members of the Hicksite branch 
of the Society of Friends. John Cadwallader 
(i) was a resident farmer of Horsham 
township, Montgomery county. Benjamin 
Cadwallader (2) was born in Horsham 
township and was reared amid the refining 
influence of a good Christian home in ac- 
cordance with the tenets of the Friends 
meeting and remained to his last days a 
faithful follower of its teachings. After 
his marriage he located on a farm in Hor- 
sham township, where he resided for many 
years and then removed to Bucks county, 
purchasing a large tract of land in Buck- 



3/6 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ingham township. Here he made many 
improvemcnls, developing one of the best 
farms of the locality, equiped with all im- 
provements known in agricultural circles of 
that day. He was never known to take 
advantage of the necessities of his fellow 
men in any trade transaction and his busi- 
ness integrity stood as an unquestioned 
fact in his career. In his later years he 
made disposition of the homestead prop- 
erty by dividing it among his sons and re- 
moving to Byberry, Pennsylvania, spending 
the evening of life in the enjoyment of a 
well earned rest. At his death, however, 
his remains were taken back to Horsham 
township, Montgomery county, for inter- 
ment. His wife bore the maiden name of 
Hannah Bradfield, and she, too, was a na- 
tive of Horsham. She passed away prior 
to her husband's demise. In their family 
were seven sons and two daughters : Eli, 
who became well known as a successful 
farmer of Bucks county; Yardly; Ben- 
jamin, who carried on agricultural pursuits; 
Peter, who won sucess as a physician and 
surgeon; John, a farmer; David, a tailor 
by trade; Cyrus, a wheelwright; TJree, 
who became the wife of James Bonner; and 
Elizabeth, who married John Rich. 

Yardly Cadwallader (3), born on his fa- 
ther's farm in Horsham township, Mont- 
gomery county, but reared to manhood in 
Bucks county, remained on the old fjimily 
homestead subsequent to his marriage and 
operated it for two years. He then re- 
turned to -Horsham township, where he 
rented a farm and subsequently lived in 
Abington township. His next place of resi- 
dence was Byberry, where he continued for 
many years, devoting his energies to agri- 
cultural pursuits, but in 1S64 he sold tnat 
farm, and he and his wife afterward found 
a good home with their son, Charles M., 
remaining with him until their death. 
Throughout his active business career 
Yardly Cadwallader carried on farming, 
managing his affairs with capability and 
conducting his business interests with keen 
discn'mination and business insight. For 
many years he attended the Philadelphia 
market. Caring nothing for public office 
or official preferment of any character his 
undividel attention was devoted to the work 
of tilling the soil, and he was known as an 
honest, upright farmer. His study of po- 
litical questions in early life led him to give 
his support to the Whig party, and he en- 
dorsed the abolition principles so that when 
the Republican party was tormed to prevent 
the further extension of slavery he espoused 
its cause and remained one of its consistent 
adherents until his death. Interested in the 
welfare of his community, he labored for 
the election of competent men and never 
failed to cast his ballot for the candidates 
whom he thought best qualified for office. 
He belonged to the Friends meeting and 
his religious faith permeated his entire life, 
moulding his character and shaping his des- 
tiny. Yardly Cadwallader married Christi- 
ana Moore, a native of Plainlield. New Jer- 



sey, whose ancestors had through several 
generations resided in that state, and they, 
too, were members of the Friends meeting. 
In her father's family were four children: 
John, a successful agriculturist, whose pro- 
gressive spirit was in keeping with modern 
advancement, figured prominently in politi- 
cal circles in his community and state. He 
held many township and county offices and 
twice represented Trenton district in the 
New Jersey legislature. He was also as- 
sociate judge of the Belvidere court, and 
was elected to these various positions on the 
Democratic ticket. His influence in New 
Jersey politics was marked, his thorough 
understanding of the issues of the day and 
his devotion to the general good well fitting 
him to become a leader in public thought 
and action. Joseph Moore prospered in 
his farming operations, but did not seek 
political prominence. Susan Moore became 
the wife of E. Price, of New York, and 
Christiana, of Yardly Cadwallader. The 
members of the Moore family all lived to 
the advanced age of eighty years. The 
children of Yardly and Christiana (.Moore) 
Cadwallader, were : Mary, wife of Thomas 
Lightfoot ; Peter, a school teacher, who 
died at the age of twenty-eight years ; How- 
ard, a farmer, who died in 190D at the age 
of seventy-seven years; Elizabeth, wife of 
F. Diamond; Charles M. (4); Anna, who 
died at the age of five years ; and Sarah A., 
wife of S. Ely, of Kansas. 

Charles M. Cadwallader (4), born in 
Byberry, Philadelphia county, Pennsyl- 
vania, November 6, 1830, accompanied his 
parents on their various removals, living 
with them in Horsham and in Upper Dub- 
lin, during which time he gained practical 
and comprehensive knowledge of farming 
methods. When eighteen years of age he 
went to Southampton, where he was ap- 
prenticed to the miller's trade for a term of 
three years. On the expiration of that pe- 
riod he worked for one year as a journey- 
man and then went to Wrightstown town- 
ship, Bucks county, where he assumed 
charge of the Rich flour mills, which he 
operated for five years. He was married 
during that period and subsequently re- 
moved to Horsham, where he conducted a 
milling business for two years. Then re- 
suming the occupation to which he had 
been reared he rented a farm near Jarret- 
town, continuing its cultivation for seven 
years, after which he rented land near 
Three Tons for three years. In the spring 
of 1867 he purchased the farm in Warring- 
ton township, on which he has since re- 
sided, it being a well-improved tract of land 
pleasantly located about a mile north of the 
Warrington postoffice. A commodious 
residence, large barn and substantial out- 
buildings are among the leading features 
of the place, while the productive soil under 
his careful cultivation brings forth rich 
crops. He carries on general fanning and 
for many years sold his products 10 the 
Philadelphia markets, but in recent years 
on account of advanced age and the failure 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Z77 



•of his eyesight he has largely left the man- 
agement of his farm to his son, who is 
<:arrying forward the work along progres- 
sive lines that his father inaugurated. 
Charles Cadwallader concentrated his ener- 
gies and efforts exclusively upon his agri- 
cultural labors and a splendidly improved 
property is now the visible evidence of his 
life of thrift and industry. Charles M. 
Cadwallader endorses Republican pnn- 
â– ciples by his ballot, and manifests in the 
questions of the day the interest which 
every American citizen should display in 
the measure which effect the general wel- 
fare of county, state and nation. His In- 
fluence is ever on the side of progress, re- 
form and improvement, and he is a faith- 
ful member of the Friends meeting, to 
which his wife also belonged. 

On the i6th of February, 1855, ]\Ir. Cad- 
wallader married Miss Anna Conard, who 
was born in Warwick township, Bucks 
•county, Pennsylvania, in 1830, a daughter 
of Charles and JNlary (Patterson) Conard, 
also natives" of this county and representa- 
tives of early pioneer families. She was 
one of four children, the others being : 
John, a farmer; Robert, a carpenter and 
engineer ; and James, a farmer and funeral 
director. In September, 1890, after more 
than thirty-five years of happy wedded life, 
Mrs. Cadwallader died. She is survived by 
her husband and two children, while their 
second daughter, Julia Elma, died in 1865 
at the age of three and a half years. The 
eldest daughter, Elizabeth D., became the 
wife of George Corson, of Plymouth, Penn- 
sylvania, and died July 21, 1903, leaving 
two sons. The living children are Martha 
A. and Howard, both on the old homestead, 
the son continuing the conduct of the farm 
since his father's practical retirement from 
its active management. 



FREDERICK F. BUEHRLE. The 
Buehrle family of which Frederick F. 
Buehrle is a representative had its or- 
igin in Germany. His grandfather, Jo- 
seph Buehrle, was a native of Baden, 
and entertained strong Republican prin- 
ciples as opposed to monarchical ideas. 
He served as revenue and tax collector 
for the duchy of Baden for a long period, 
but on account of his connection with 
the Republican movement which cul- 
minated in the rebellion begun at Baden 
in 1848 he was deprived of his office and 
of most of his property, and in 1846 he 
sought a home beyond the Atlantic in 
the "land of the free." Bucks county was 
his destination and he established his 
home near Easton, where he began boat- 
ing on the Lehigh and Delaware canal. 
Later he purchased a farm in Tinicum 
township, Bucks county, where he spent 
his remaining days, devoting his atten- 
tion to agricultural pursuits. The con- 
ditions of his life were very greatly 
changed from those of his German 



home, but he made the best of the cir- 
cumstances and became a loyal and val- 
ued citizen of the Keystone state. His 
children were: Robert, who is now su- 
perintendent of schools in Lancaster 
city ; Wilemine, who married Jacob Stee- 
ley, a resident of Nockamixon township; 
Emma, who married Titus Applebach, of 
Bethlehem; Josephine of Bethlehem, 
who was married twice; first to Jacob 
Krouse, and two years after his death to 
James Williams, both of Tinicum. 

William Buehrle, son of Joseph 
Buehrle, was born in Germany in 1834, 
and when a lad of twelve years left his 
native province of Baden in company 
with his mother and crossed the water to 
the new world. His educational privi- 
leges were somewhat limited, for it was 
necessary that he earn his own living at 
an early age, his father's property having 
been confiscated in Germany, so that it 
forced him to begin business life anew 
in the United States. When quite a 
young boy William Buehrle crossed the 
mountain with a pack on his back and he 
was still quite young when he secured a 
position on the Delaware canal, follow- 
ing that business continuously for twen- • 
ty-one years. The careful husbanding 
of his resources enabled him in that time 
to save enough money to purchase a 
small farm in Tinicum first and later he 
bought one belonging to Dietrich Knop- 
pel in Bedminster township. He resided 
thereon for five years, devoting his en- 
ergies to general agricultural pursuits 
and to dealing in cattle. He then sold 
the property to its former owner and 
bought another farm, where he contin- 
ued to engage in the tilling of the soil 
until twenty years of his life had been 
given to agricultural pursuits. At that 
time he turned his attention to mer- 
chandising at Quakertown, but when 
two years had passed sold out to his son 
William. Since that time he has been 
engaged in canvassing for books of vari- 
ous kinds. A Republican in his political 
views, he has ever been deeply inter- 
ested in the issues and questions of the 
day, keeping well informed on political 
conditions of the country. He served 
as school director in Tinicum township 
for two years and in Bedminster town- 
ship for six years. William Buehrle was 
married on the i6th of September, 1856. 
to Miss Mary Ann Fryling. a daughter 
of Samuel Fryling, a resident of War- 
rington township. She was born in 1842 
and by her marriage became the mother 
of nineteen children: William; Hannah, 
wife of Nathan Beer, of Perkasie, Rnck- 
hill township; Charlotta, who married A. 
O. Myers, of' Portland; Frederick F. ; 
William F. : Rosanna, who became the 
wife of John Edwin Scheetz, and after 
his death married Joseph Hager; Samuel, 
Joseph, Robert. Lawrence, Harry, de- 
ceased; John Edward, deceased; Benja- 
min Franklin; Annie, the wife of Charles 



378 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Bowman; Lillie, Mary Ann. deceased; 
and three who died in infancy. 

Frederick F. Buehrle was born in Tin- 
icuni township, Bucks conntj', November 
14, i86r, and pursued a common school 
education, entering upon his business 
career in the capacity of a clerk in the 
store of D. B. Crouthenear, of Ridge. On 
leaving that employ he turned his at- 
tention to farming, which he has since 
followed in connection with the butcher- 
ing business and fence building. His 
life has been characterized by unfalter- 
ing industry and has been crowned with 
a fair measure of success. In politics 
he is a stanch Republican, active in the 
work of the party, recognized as one 
of its local leaders and at the present 
writing in 1904 is spoken of as a candi- 
date for sheriff. He belongs to the Lu- 
theran church at Kellers, Pennsylvania, 
and is the champion of all measures that 
have for their object the upbuilding and 
substantial improvement of his county. 

Frederick F. Buehrle was married to 
Miss Annie Bewighouse, the only daugh- 
ter of Isaac Bewighouse, and they now 
have two children: Sarah B. and Mary 
Ann. 



JOSEPH HARRISON WILSON, for 
nearly twenty years a prominent mem- 
ber of the town council of Doylestown, 
Bucks county, and one of the active bus- 
iness men of the county town, was born 
at Jenkintown, Montgomery county, 
Pennsylvania, February i, 1854, and is a 
son of Ebenezer C. and Sarah T. (Fell 1 
Wilson. On both the paternal and ma- 
ternal sides he is descended from early 
English pioneers in Pennsylvania and 
New Jersey. His paternal ancestor. 
Captain Ebenezer Wilson, son of Samuel 
Wilson, a merchant of London, England, 
came to America prior to 1677, and set- 
tled in New Jersey, from whence his de- 
scendants later migrated to the Manor 
of Moorland, now Moreland township, 
Montgomery county. 

Joshua Wilson, great-grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch, was an early 
resident of Moreland township. He mar- 
ried Rachel Harding, daughter of Isaac 
and Phebe Harding, of Southampton. 
Bucks county, and a descendant of 
Thomas Harding, one of the earliest 
English settlers in Southampton. 

Isaac Wilson, son of Joshua and 
Rachel (Harding) Wilson, was born 
1801. He was a farmer in Moreland, and 
married Sarah Conrad, a descendant of 
Thones Kunders. one of the founders of 
Germantown. and they were the parents 
of six children: Emeline, Ebenezer C 
Thomas, Joseph, Alfred and Charles. Of 
these Thomas married Mary Fell, daugh- 
ter of Thomas and Sarah (Michener) 
Fell, and was a farmer for many years 
near Lahaska, Bucks county. 



Ebenezer C. Wilson, eldest son of 
Isaac and Sarah (Conrad) Wilson, was- 
born in Moreland township, Montgom- 
ery county, Pennsylvania, November 17,. 
1828. His early education was acquired 
at Jenkintown, and at the age of sixteen 
years he went to learn the shoemaker's 
trade with James K. Miller, later of 
Doylestown, and followed that trade for 
some years. He later engaged in farm- 
ing near Jenkintown, where he followed 
that vocation for two years. He then 
removed to a farm near Dublin, Bucks 
county, where he resided for two years. 
In 1870 he removed to Doylestown, 
where he spent his remaining days. He 
was street commissioner of the town at 
the time of his death in 1892. He was a 
soldier in the rebellion, a member of 
Company C, Eighth Pennsylvania Cav- 
alry. He was wounded at Dinwiddy 
Court House, and was helped from the 
battle field by General Custin, who saved 
him from being captured. Mr. Wilson 
was in the hospital in Washington when 
President Lincoln was assassinated. He 
married in 1853, Sarah T. Fell, born May 
I, 1832, who survives him and is living 
in Doylestown. She is a daughter of 
Thomas and Sarah (Michener) Fell, of 
Moreland, Montgomery county, Penn- 
sjdvania, the former born in 1802, died 
June I, 1841 ; and the latter a daughter 
of Isaac and Mary (Dehaven) Michener, 
and a descendant of John Michener, who- 
came from England prior to 1690, and 
later settled in Moreland township; she 
was born January 4, 1803, and died in 
Bucks county, March 5, 1876. Thomas 
Fell, above mentioned, was a son of 
Phineas and Rachel (Coates) Fell, of 
Buckingham, the former born December 
18, 1778, died 1818, was a son of Thomas 
Fell, born January 11, 1746, married' 
April 18, 1770, Grace Parry, daughter of 
Philip and Rachel (Harker) Parry, of 
Buckingham, and a great-granddaughter 
of Thomas and Elinor Parry, who came 
from Wales in 1693. Thomas Fell was a 
son of Benjamin Fell, born in Cumber- 
land, England. November i, 1703, by his- 
second wife Hannah Iredell, of Hor- 
sham. Ebenezer C. and Sarah T. (Fell) 
Wilson were the parents of four chil-^ 
dren: Emma, born April 14, 1856. wife 
of Morris Cloud, of Doylestown; Joseph 
Harrison, the subject of this sketch; 
Isaac Thomas, born July 2, 1858, married 
Priscilla Thompson, and resides in Phil- 
adelphia; and Elw^ood Conrad, born July 
10. i860, died 1882. leaving one son, El- 
wood, of Philadelphia. 

Joseph Harrison Wilson was reared 
on the farm in Montgomery and Buck* 
counties and acquired his education in 
the public schools. He came to Doyles- 
town with his parents in 1870. at the age 
of sixteen years, and two years later 
learned the trade of a plasterer, which 
he has since follo\ved in Doylestown and 
vicinity, filling many large contracts, and 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



379- 



employing a number of men. He has 
always taken an active interest in local 
affairs, and has served continuously in 
the borough council for nineteen years, 
being re-elected in February, 1905, for 
the seventh term of three years each. 
During nearly the whole of this period 
he has been one of the most active mem- 
bers of the board, serving continuously 
on the street and water committees. 

He married, in 1876, Anna Shive, 
daughter of Levi Shive, of Doylestown, 
and they are the parents of two children: 
Carrie, wife of A. Harry Clayton, local 
editor of the "Daily Republican," and 
George Lorah. Mr. Wilson and his fam- 
il}^ are members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church. He is a member of 
Doylestown Lodge No. 94, L O. O. F., 
of Dovlestown Council No. 166, A. O. 
U. A. M. and No. 214, L O. R. M., of 
Doylestown. He is a Son of Veterans of 
Doylestown, a charter member of the 
Roj-al Arcanum. 



THE CHAPMAN FAMILY. The 
pioneer ancestor of the Chapman family 
was John Chapman, whp was born at 
Stanhope, or Stanehaugh, in the county 
of Durham, England, about the year 
1635. He was a son of John Chapman, 
of Froslerty, Durham, and the Parish 
records show that the family had been 
residents in that locality for several 
generations and that some of their de- 
scendants continue to reside there. John 
Chapman was an earlj' convert to the 
principles of George Fox, and as early 
as 1656, suffered imprisonment and other 
persecutions for his religious principles. 
In 1660 he was confined in York Castle 
for eight weeks for refusing to take a 
prescribed oath, together with other 
Friends, and at several periods there- 
after had goods seized for the payment 
of fines imposed for attending non-con- 
formist meetings. He was twice mar- 
ried, first on 10 mo. 14, 1665, by which 
marriage he had one daughter, Ann, 
born 4 mo. 21, 1667, but who died g mo. 
15, 1668. His wife died 8 mo. 2, 1668, and 
he was married a second time 4 mo. 12, 
1670. to Jane Sadler, of Lagenby. To this 
marriage was born seven children, five 
at Stanhope and two in Bucks county- 
On June 2T. 1684, John Chapman and 
Jane his wife and their five children 
set out from Stanhaugh, in Durham, tak- 
ing wnth them a certificate from the 
Friends Meeting at that place to Friends 
in America, and took passage on the ship 
"Shield" at New Castle, on the river 
Tyne, for Penn's colony in America. On 
the I2th of September they encountered 
a storm off the capes of Virginia, which 
almost entirely dismantled their ship, 
and they were for two days at the mercy 
of the waves, but on the 15th of Septem- 
ber effected a landing on the shores of 



Maryland. After a few weeks stay in 
Maryland they proceeded up the Dela- 
ware to Bucks county, arriving at the 
house of Phineas Pemberton, near tht 
Falls, in the latter part of October. Prev- 
ious to leaving England, John Chapman 
had purchased 500 acres of land to be 
laid out in Pennsylvania, and it was laid 
out to him in the present township of 
Wrightstown, then the frontier of the 
little Quaker settlement on the Dela- 
ware, and still an absolute wilderness. 
Here the family removed in 10 mo., 1684, 
and erected the first house that far north 
in the county of Bucks. John Chapman 
died in 5 mo. (July), 1694, and Jane, his- 
wife, in 9 mo., 1699, and both were buried 
in an old burying ground near Penns 
Park. Friends Meeting was held at the 
house of John Chapman for some time- 
prior to the erection of the first IMeet- 
ing House on his land. The children of 
John and Jane (Sadler) Chapman were: 

I. Mara, born at Stanhope, 2 mo. 12,. 
1671, married 2 mo. 28, 1697, John Croas- 
dale, who died 10 mo. 14, 1706, leaving 
three children: Ruth, Agnes and Thomas. 
She married (second) John Wildman 
and had two daughters: Mercy and 
Elizabeth, and has left numerous de- 
scendants. 2. Jane Chapman, born lo 
mo. 19, 1672. 3. Ann Chapman, born 3 
mo. 19, 1676, married John Parsons, of 
Wrightstown, in 1717, and died 10 mo. 9^ 
1732, without children. She was an 
eminent preacher among Friends and 
travelled extensively in this country and 
abroad. 4. John Chapman, born 11 mo. 

II, 1678, was surveyor for Bucks county 
for many years, making nearly all the 
early surveys, and was also a justice. He 
married, November 10, 1739,. Ruth, 
daughter of John and Mary Wilkinson, 
and had one son, John, who was for 
many years a justice and a member of 
assembly. 5. Ruth Chapman, born 5 mo. 
9. 1682. 6 and 7. Abraham and Joseph 
Chapman, twins, were the only children 
born to John and Jane Chapman in 
Bucks county. They were born at 
Wrightstown, 12 mo. 12, 1685. Joseph 
married ]\Iary Worth, of Stony Brook, 
NeWjersey, who died 5 mo. 24, 1727. Of 
her six children only three lived to ma- 
turity, and her only surviving son Isaac 
died in 1779 without issue. Joseph mar- 
ried again in 1730, Mary Wilkinson, 
daughter of John, who died in 1744, leav- 
ing no surviving issue. Abraham Chap- 
man, son of John and Jane, born 12 mo. 
12, 1685, died 2 mo. 2^, 1755. He was a 
member of Colonial Assembly from' 
1723 to 1752, and a justice from 1738 
until 1752. His son, Benjamin, was a 
member of Assembly in 1758-9, and was 
succeeded by his brother Abraham, who 
served for five years, when Benjamin' 
was again returned and served until the 
breaking out of the Revolution. Abra- 
ham Chapman. Sr., was married in 1715- 
to Susan Olden, daughter of Williami 



38o 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Olden, of Bound Brook, New Jersey, and 
they were the parents of eiglit children, 
viz.: John, born August, 17T6; Abraham, 
born June, 1718; John, born February, 
1720; Jane, born May 21, 1723; Thomas, 
born June 8, 1725; Benjamin, born No- 
vember 10, 1727: Elizabeth, born May 20, 
1730; and Joseph, born October 20, 1733. 

Joseph Chapman, j^oungest child of 
Abraham and Susan (Olden) Chapman, 
was born in Wrightstown in 1733, and 
died of yellow fever in 1790. He mar- 
ried, 5 mo. 17, 1758. Ann, daughter of 
John Fell, who was born 10 mo. 6, 1739, 
and died 3 mo. 20, 1828. They were 
the parents of fourteen children, nine 
of whom lived to mature age. 

Abraham Chapman, sixth child of Jo- 
seph and Ann (Fell) Chapman, was born 
8 mo. 18, 1767, at Wrightstown, and died 
at Doylestown, 2 mo. 24, 1856. He was 
an eminent lawyer, being admitted to the 
Bucks county bar in 1790. He prac- 
ticed at Newtown until the removal of 
the county seat to Doylestown in 1812. 
when he removed to Doylestown and 
spent the balance of his days in that 
towm. He was knowm for vears as the 
"Father of the Bucks County Bar." He 
was the first president of the Doylestown 
National Bank. Fie married 12 mo. 15. 
1795, Elizabeth Meredith, daughter of 
Dr. Hugh and Mary (Todd) Meredith, 
the former a native of Warwick town- 
ship, of Welsh descent, and was for 
many years a practicing attorney at 
Dojdestowm, and the latter was a daugh- 
ter of Joseph Todd, of Warminster, and 
of English descent. Abraham and Eliza- 
beth (Meredith) Chapman were the pa- 
rents of eight children, only two of 
whom lived to grow up: Wilhelmina, 
born I mo. 27, 1801. married Mathias 
Morris, and Henry, born 4 mo. 2, 1804. 
died 4 mo. Ii, 1891. 

Hon. Henry Chapman was born at 
Wrightstown. but was reared in Doyles- 
town, where he spent his entire life. He 
studied law in the office of his father and 
was admitted to the bar at the age of 
twenty-one, April 25, 1825. Inheriting 
the fine intellectual ability of his illus- 
trious sire, he had made the most of ex- 
cellent opportunities for acquiring a fine 
classical education, and possessed of a 
truly well-balanced mind and a faculty 
of concentration, his classical acquire- 
ments and fine literary taste lent a gloss 
to his oratory, and made him a strong 
advocate. In politics he was a Demo- 
crat of the old school, and exercised a 
potent influence in his wing of the 
party. He w-as elected to the state sen- 
ate in 1843 and served one term of three 
years. In 1847 he was appointed to fill 
an unexpired term of four years as pres- 
ident judge of the Chester-Delaware 
District, and at its termination in i8;i 
declined a rcnomination. He was the 
nominee of his party in Bucks for the 
position of president judge of the Bucks 



Montgomery District, and though he 
carried his home county by a handsome 
majority, internal dissensions in the 
party in Montgomery lost him the elec- 
tion. In 1856 he was elected to congress 
from his home district, and at the ter- 
mination of his term declined a re-nom- 
ination. In 1861 he was elected presi- 
dent judge of the Bucks-Montgomery 
District, and at the termination of the 
term in 1871 retired to private life. He 
died April 11, 1891. He was twice mar- 
ried, his first w^ife being Rebecca Stew- 
art, daughter of Dr. Thomas and Re- 
becca Stewart, of New Britain township. 
She died 10 mo., 1837, and he married, in 
1845, Nancy Findlay Shunk, daughter of 
Governor Francis R. and Jane (Findlay) 
Shunk. By his first marriage he had 
four children: Elizabeth, who married 
T. Bigelow Lawrence, of Boston, Massa- 
chusetts, and has been many years a 
wndow. residing at Doylestown; Mary 
Rebecca, who married William R. Mer- 
cer, born at Washington, D. C, now liv- 
ing at Doylestown. Mrs. Mercer died 
October 27. 1903. They were the pa- 
rents of three children: Henry C, Eliza- 
beth, wife of Captain Fidler Von Tsar- 
born, of Austria, and William R.. who 
married in 1904. Martha Dana, of Bos- 
ton. Massachusetts. The other children 
of Henry and Rebecca Chapman were 
Henry A., who died in 1834. and Thomas, 
who died 10 mo. 18, 1862. The children 
of Henr3^ and Nancy Findlay (Shunk) 
Chapman are: Fanny, residing at the old 
homestead near Doylestown. and Arthur. 
Nancy (Shunk) Chapman died 2 mo. 27, 
1900. 

Arthur Chapman was born at Doyles- 
town. He studied law and was admitted 
to the bar, November 2. 1871. and prac- 
ticed for a few years, but preferring an 
outdoor life to the practice of the legal 
profession, he purchased the two hun- 
dred acre farm in New Britain, that was 
the property, of the ancestors of his 
father's first wife for two centuries, and 
conducted it for several years. He has 
lived a retired life in Do^-lestown town- 
ship for the last fifteen years. 



ALBERT G. B. HINKLE, M. D.. of 
1.300 Spring Garden street, Philadelphia. 
Pennsvlvania, was born in Plumstead 
township, Bucks county. Pennsylvania, 
November 6. 1831. and is a son of Will- 
iam and Elizabeth (Walter) Hinkle, late 
of Plumstead. 

Casper Hinckle. the pioneer ancestor 
of the subject of this sketch, came from 
Germanv in the shin, "Neptune," arriv- 
ing at the port of Philadelphia, Septem- 
ber 24, 1754. and settled at or near Ger- 
man town. 

Philip Hinckle, born in Germany, re- 
moved from "Cresham. alias German- 
town," to Plumstead township, Bucks 




9^ nM'Ut^^Aj^ 1 ^, 



c f 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



381 



county, Pennsylvania, in 1766, purchas- 
ing on December 16, 1766, of Robert 
MacFarland, 153 acres near the present 
site of Hinkletown, on the Durham 
Road, between Gardenville and Pipers- 
ville. He was a blacksmith by trade, 
and followed that vocation there for a 
number of years. He later purchased 
considerable other land in Plumstead, 
owning at the time of his death, in 1814, 
over 200 acres of land, and had conveyed 
to his sons, Casper and Charles, each a 
farm prior to his death. During the later 
years of his life he was the proprietor 
of an inn or tavern, at Hinkletown. He 
was a member of Captain William Mc- 
Calla's company of Associators in Plum- 
stead in 1775, and later served in the Con- 
tinental Line. Philip and Mary Hinckle 
were the parents of five sons: Joseph; 
Casper, who died in Plumstead in 1850; 
Charles, who died in 1819; Anthony, who 
died in 1815; and Philip. He had also 
six daughters: Catharine, wife of Joshua 
Richards; ^lary, wife of Jacob Hol- 
bush ; Elizabeth ; Margaret, wife of Samuel 
Beakes ; Barbara, wife of William Grove ^ 
and Ann. 

Joseph Hinkle, eldest son of Philip, 
was the grandfather of Dr. Hinkle. He 
married Ann Marshall, one of the nine 
daughters of Edward Marshall, who 
made the one and a half days walk in 
1737, that defined the purchase of the 
land known as the "Walking Purchase." 
Edward Marshall died in Tinicum town- 
ship, November 6. 1789, aged seventy- 
nine years. A full account of him and 
his exploits with the Indians is given in 
this work in the chapter entitled "The 
Walking Purchase." Ann Hinkle was a 
daughter of the second marriage to Eliz- 
abeth Mease, who died October 12, 1807, 
aged eighty years. Joseph Hinkle died in 
Plumstead township June 24, 1821, aged 
fifty-six years. 

William Hinkle. son of Joseph and 
Ann (Marshall) Hinkle, was born in 
Plumstead township, and spent his whole 
life there as a farmer. He died in July, 
i860. His wife was Elizabeth Walter, 
daughter of Michael W^alter. Esq., for 
many years a prominent farmer and jus- 
tice of the peace of Plumstead township. 
Dr. Albert G. B. Hinkle was reared on 
the farm in Plumstead township. Bucks 
county, attended the public schools of 
that neighborhood and finished his ele- 
mentary education' at Point Pleasant 
Seminary, under the Rev. Dr. Hyde. He 
studied medicine under his relative. Dr. 
James M. Ridge, then of Tinicum town- 
ship, later of Camden. New Jersey, now 
deceased, who was also a descendant of 
Edward Marshall. Dr. Hinkle entered 
the Medical Department of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, from which he 
graduated in 1857. and practiced his pro- 
fession in Philadelphia, until the sum- 
mer of 1862. when he was appointed as- 
sistant surgeon in charge of the trans- 



port, Daniel Webster No. 2, and served 
until taken sick with typhoid fever, 
when he was relieved from service. On 
his recovery he resumed the practice of 
medicine in Philadelphia, where he has 
since been in active practice. 

Dr. Hinkle married in i860, Emma 
Sevelenge Downie, of Philadelphia, and 
they are the parents of two children: 
Sallie, wife of William R. Warner, Jr., 
a prominent wholesale druggist and 
chemist of Philadelphia; and William 
]\Iarshall Hinkle, M. D., also a graduate 
of the University of Peryisylvania. 



VALMORE M. HELLYER, of the mer- 
cantile firm of A. S. Hellyer's Sons, was 
born at Mechanics Valley, Buckingham 
township, Bucks county, September 15, 
1857, and is a son of Amos S. and Annie 
(Penrose) Hellyer. His paternal great- 
grandfather, Bernard Hellyer, is said to 
have been the .son of an English baronet, 
and came to this country about the middle 
of the eighteenth century, when a lad. He 
spent his life in central Bucks county, and 
reared a large family of children. He was 
twice married, the second time somewhat 
late in life, on December 24, 1795, to Sarah 
Walton, by whom he had four children — 
Hettie, who married Aaron Crooks ; Mary, 
who married Aaron Bradshaw ; Benjamin; 
and Anderson. 

Anderson Hellyer the grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch, was born in Bucking- 
ham township, Bucks county, and spent the 
greater part of his life there. He married 
Mary Cress, daughter of Michael ' Cress, 
and they were the parents of nine children — 
George, who lived and died at Newtown, 
Bucks county ; Amos, of Doylestown ; 
Cress, of Crawford county, Pennsylvania ; 
William who died young ; Myrom B., of 
Bucks county : Mahlon, of Crawford coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania ; Joseph, of Ohio ; Jenks, 
of lower Bucks county; and Catharine, who 
married John Griffith, and is deceased. 

Amos S. Hellyer was born in Buckino^- 
ham, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, May 20, 
1828. His younger days were spent upon 
farms in Buckingham and Solebury town- 
ships. On his marriage in 1854 he located 
at Mechanics Valley, where he was the pro- 
prietor of the hotel for several years. He 
later removed to Mechanicsville and was 
employed as a lightning rod salesman. In 
1872 he took charge of the farm belonging 
to the Hughesian Free School, at Buck- 
ingham, which he conducted for fourteen 
vears. In 1886 he sold out and removed to 
Doylestown and entered into the mercantile 
business with his son, Samuel A. Hellyer. 
under the firm name of A. S. Hellyer & 
Son, which continued until 1898. when he 
retired from the firm, his elder son Val- 
more M. becoming a partner with Samuel 
A. under the firm name of A. S. Hellyer's 
Sons. Mr. Hellyer is distinctly a self-made 
m:.n. Left at an early age to his own re- 



382 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



sources, he has by industry and careful 
business methods acquired a cunipeience. 
Always a man of strict integrity and high 
moral character, he has the respect and es- 
teem of all who know him. Amos S. Hcll- 
yer married Annie Penrose, a daughter of 
Samuel and Catharine (Cressmau; Pen- 
rose, of Plumstead, formerly of Richland, 
the former of English and the latter of 
German descent. 

Jonathan Penrose, the grandfather of the 
above named Samuel i^enrose, was the 
eldest son of Robert and Mary CHeacock) 
Roberts, an account of whose arrival in 
America and subsequent settlement in Rich- 
land, Bucks county, is given elsewhere m 
this work. Jonathan w^as born March i, 
1736 ( N. S.; in Richland township, and 
lived his whole life there, dying in I797- 
He married. May 10, I759> Martha Pen- 
rose, and in 1761 purchased a farm partly 
in Rockhill and partly in Richland, where 
he died. He had three sons, Isaiah, David 
and Robert, and four daughters, Mary, 
Phebe, Martha, and Sarah. David Penrose, 
son of Jonathan and Martha, was born and 
reared in Richland. He was a carpenter 
and farmer in Rockhill township, owning 
a portion of the old homestead on the Rich- 
land line. He married Mary Hartzell of 
Rockhill. Samuel Penrose, son of David 
and IMary (Hartzell) Penrose, was born m 
Rockhill township about the year 1800, and 
resided there and in Richland until 1842, 
when he purchased a farm of fifty acres 
in Plumstead, near Carversville, and re- 
moved thereon. He lived in Plumstead un- 
til 1848, when he sold his farm and removed 
soon after to Philadelphia, where he died 
about i860. He was a man of consider- 
able prominence in local affairs, and was a 
member of legislature from Bucks county 
in 1839-40. He married Catharine Cress- 
man, of Rockhill, and they were the pa- 
rents of nine children, five of whom grew 
to maturitv: Annie, the wife of Amos S. 
Hellyer ; Franklin C, of Doylestown ; Sam- 
uel C., of Wilmington, Delaware; Joseph, 
who- enlisted in the army during the civil 
-war, and was among the missing after the 
battle of Petersburg, and was never after- 
wards heard of; Maria, widow of Kinsey 
Reeder., of Makefield, now livin- in Phila- 
â– delphia ; Jonathan, of Trenton, New Jersey. 

Amos S. and Annie f Penrose) Hellyer 
were the parents of three children, one of 
whom, a daughter, died in childhood. The 
two who survive are Valmore M., the sub- 
ject of this sketch, and his partner in the 
firm of A. S. Hellyer's Sons, Samuel A.. 
Hellyer, born July 14, 1859. The latter 
remained on the farm with his father until 
1876, when he became a clerk in the store 
of Joseph K. Beans, at Holicong, where 
"he was engaged for less than two years. 
Returning home in 1878 he attended Dovles- 
town Seminary for one year, and in 1879 
went to Yardieyville, where he was clerk 
in the general merchandise store of Thomas 
Pursell for four years. He then accented 
a position with S. P. Dunham & Co., of 



Trenton, where he was employed until 
February, 188O. On March lO, 1886, he 
opened the store in the Armstrong building, 
Doylestown, and conducted business there 
for twelve years in partnership w4th his 
father, under the firm name of A. S. Hell- 
yer & Son. In 1897 he purchased the site 
of the present store and erected the present 
handsome store building, and, greatly en- 
larging the business, took his brother V. 
M. Hellyer into the firm under the title 
of A. S. Hellyer's Sons, opening business 
in the new store April 10, 1898. Fie mar- 
ried, June 20, 1885, Martie D. White, ot 
Lawrenceville, New Jersey, and they are 
the parents of two daughters, Grace and 
Carrie. 

Valmore M. Hellyer was born and reared 
in Buckingham, and acquired his education 
at the Hughesian School and Doylestown 
Seminary. In 1880 he accepted a position 
in Buckingham Valley Creamery, and soon 
after became its superintendent and general 
manager, retaining that position with emi- 
nent satisfaction to the corporation for thir- 
teen years. In August, 1894, he purchased 
the creamery and operated it on his own 
account until April, 1895, when he sold out. 
Prior to leaving the creamery he had 
erected a stone crusher on Buckingham 
mountain, which he operated for several 
years. In 1898 he purchased his father's 
interest in the firm of A. S. Hellyer & Son, 
and in 1900 removed to Doylestown, where 
he has since resided. He has always taken 
an active interest in local affairs and enter- 
prises. He has been secretary and treas- 
urer of the Centreville and Pineville Turn- 
pike Company since 1887, and is also secre- 
tary and treasurer of the Buckingham and 
Doylestown Turnpike Company. He was 
a trustee of the Hughesian Free School un- 
til his removal to Doylestown. He is a 
member of the Doylestown Lodge, No. 245, 
F. and A. ]\I., and Chapter. No. 270, R. A. 
M. ; Aquetong Lodge. No. 193, I. O. O. P., 
and Castle No. 208. A. O. K. of the M. C. 
He married, March 16, 1881, Lettie Fell, 
daughter of Charles K. and Letitia (Lar.ge) 
Fell, and they are the parents of two chil- 
dren — Alma and A. Newlin. 



STACY L. WEAVER, who for the 
past thirty years has been engaged in the 
ice business at Doylestown, was born in 
Tinicum township. Bucks county. Sep- 
tember 27. 1846. He is a son of Isaac 
and Cypra Ann (Laubenstein) Weaver, 
the former deceased and the latter still 
residing with her son at Doylestown. 
The Weaver family have been residents 
of Tinicum township since its organi- 
zation. Brice and Anna TTrollinger) 
Weaver, the grandparents of the subject 
of this sketch, were engaged in farming 
all their lives in Tinicum township, and 
reared a family of nine children — Isaac, 
the father of Stacy L.. who died about 
1892; Mrs. Martha McClain, residing 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



3S3 



-svitli her son-in-law, George \V. Ott, in 
Doj'lestown; Elizabeth, wife of Joseph 
Scott, who lived and died at Passaic. 
New Jersey; Williain, who lived and 
died near Frenchtown, New Jersey; 
Christian, now residing in Doylestown; 
Clara, wife of Edward Lovett, of Penns 
Manor, Bucks countj'; Mrs. Ellen Jen- 
kins, who died in Trenton, New Jersey; 
and Samuel, who lived and died in Tin- 
icum. John Weaver, the father of Brice, 
was also a resident of Tinicum township 

-and of English parentage, and his wife, 
Elizabeth McCauley, was of Scotch Irish 
parentage. 

Stacy L. Weaver married ^Marietta 
Worman. of another old Tinicum fam- 
ily, a descendant of Johannes and Bar- 
bara Woerman, who came from Ger- 
many in 1735 and settled in Rockhill 
township. Bucks countj^ removing to 

• Bedminster in 1754. and to Tinicum in 
1761. where Hohn Worman died in 1768. 
Stacy L. and Marietta (Worman) 
Weaver are the parents of four children: 
Burton, Estella, Anna, and Clarence. 



THE SCHEETZ FAMILY is an ex- 
tensive one in Bucks county, as well as 
in other parts of Pennsvlvania and in many 
other states of the Union, south and we=t. 
They are the representatives of probably 
no less 'than thirty pioneer emigrants of the 
name who emic^ated from Germanv to 
Pennsylvania between the years 1700 and 
1760. All these pioneer emigrants probably 
trace to a common ancestor at or near 
Prankfort-on-the-Main. Germany, in the 
seventeenth century or earlier. 

The earliest record of the family in con- 
nection with Pennsvlvania was in 1683. 
when Johan Jacob Scheetz. a minister of 
â– Crefeldt, on the Rhine, purchased of Will- 
iam Penn four thousand acres of land to be 
laid out in Pennsylvania. He was one of 
about a score of Palatines who purchased 
large tracts of land of Penn with the pur- 
pose of establishing a German colonv in 
Pennsylvania, and later organized them- 
selves into a company known as the Frank- 
fort Company, and named the eminent 
scholar and teacher Francis Daniel Pas- 
torious and others to come to Pennsylvania 
and take up the land for them. In accord- 
ance with this plan the thirteen families, 
principally from Crefeldt. came to Penn- 
svlvania in 1683 and founded Germantown. 
Not nearly all the purchasers were includ'- ' 
in these thirteen families. Johan Jacob 
Scheetz never came to America, but died 
in Crefeldt prior to 1701, when William 
Penn patented to his widow Cntharine the 
land originally purchased bv him. Cath- 
anne sold the greater part of the land to 
Daniel Falkner, Arnold Stork and George 
Miller. Later, however, representatives of 
the family began to make their appearance 



at Germantown. Conrad Scheetz, said to 
have been a son of Johan Jacob, arrived at 
Philadelphia in the ship "Samuel," August 
30, ^7Z7, aged thirty years, and George 
Scheetz followed him in October of the 
same year. Conrad Scheetz died in 1771, 
leaving a widow Catharine and several chil- 
dren. He is supposed to be the father of 
Henry Scheetz. who married Catharine 
Rubinkam, daughter of Justus and Susanna 
(Rittehuissen) Rubinkam, and was the 
father of General Henry Scheetz, of Mont- 
gomery county, who commanded a brigade 
in the Fries rebellion, and later in the war 
of 1812-14. Conrad Scheetz was a "paper 
maker" in Lower Merion in 1763, as shown 
by the Philadelphia records, and Henry, 
the father of the General, ivas later the pro- 
prietor of a paper mill at Sandy Run, 
White Marsh township, where the General 
was born in 1761. 

Conrad Scheetz, of Germantown, "hatter" 
and later a "storekeeper," doubtless a son 
of Conrad, the "paper maker," though 
possibly the *Johan Conrad Scheetz who 
emigrated from Germany in the "Loyal 
Judith" in 1743.) was the ancestor of the 
Scheetz family of Kellers' Church, Haycock, 
and Doylestown, Bucks county. He died 
at Germantown in 1812. and his widow 
Christianna survived him many years. He 
was associated in the ownership of land at 
Germantown and Chestnut Hill with Philip 
Scheetz, probably a son. who was an "inn- 
keeper" in Haycock township, Bucks coun- 
ty, 1798 to 1802. when he purchased of 
Conrad the real estate at Chestnut Hill 
and removed there. Philip had come to 
Bucks county in 1788. and followed the 
trade of a hatter at or near Sellersville for 
ten years prior to his removal to Haycock, 
where he purchased a farm of 114 acres 
in 1798. Conrad and Christianna were the 
parents of three sons and three daughters, 
who died unmarried. 

George Scheetz, son of Conrad and Chris- 
tianna. was born at Germantown. December 
12. 1785. and was also a hatter by trade. 
He came to Bucks county when a young 
man. and lived at Keller's Church, Bed- 
minster township, for forty-five years, dving 
there September 17. 1863. He was a school 
teacher for many years, and many old resi- 
dents of that locality acquired their early 
education at his school at Keller's Church. 
For twenty years prior to his death he 
was a member of Keller's Reformed 
Church, and served several years as a 



*This Conrad Scheetz settled in Upoer Hanover 
Montgomery county. Pennsylvania, in 17.55. 

Note— There is another branch of the Sheetz family 
in Bucks county, the descendants of George Ludwig 
Scheetz who arrived in the " Dragon." September 30 
l<d2. and soon after settied in Milford township Bucks 
county, where he purchased land in 17.5.S which he and 
wife Ann Mary conveyed to their son George in 1767 
Adam Scheetz. of Nockamixon. propablv of the same 
branch, died in 1819 at an advanced age He had 
sons Conrad. John. Andrew. Adam. Jacob. John and 
Michael, and three daughters who married and reared 
ffmihes bv name of Althouse, Raisner and Stone 
Some of this family removed to Virginia and North 
Carolina about 1800. 



384 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



deacon. He married Heslor Fluck, who 
was born March b, 1792, and died April 
7, 1875, and they reared a taniily of nine 
children, viz. : Wilhani, Edwin, Franci.^, 
Reuben F., Jacob, Eliza, wife of Aaron Fui- 
nier, Samuel V., Charles, and Albert ¥., 
all of whom are now deceased. Of the 
children of George and Esther (Fluck) 
Scheetz, William, the eldest, born in 1812, 
was a farmer for many years, latterly in 
Richland, near Quakertown, where he died 
October 19, 1888, leaving two sons and four 
daughters. Francis, born 1814, was a farmer 
and later a merchant at Norristown, Mont- 
gomery county, where he died 1897, leav- 
ing two sons, Remandus, a wholesale grocer 
of Norristown, and Mahlon F. Scheetz. 
Jacob, born 1815, was a carpenter by trade, 
but was a lifelong farmer in Bedminster, 
and died there April 5, 1899; he had two 
children, Levi G. and Lizzie Ott. Reuben 
F., born 1817, was a mason by trade, but 
most of his life was devoted to clerical and 
mercantile pursuits, he was many years a 
resident of Doylestown, and at one time had 
a hardware store there; he was clerk of 
quarter sessions of Bucks county, 1849-51 ; 
prothonotary, 1866-69; deputy sheriff, 
1863-66; deputy clerk of orphans court, 
1884-87. He died in Doylestown early ni 
1888; he had live sons and one daughter, 
two sons are since deceased. Edwin F., 
born 1821, was a miller by trade, which he 
learned at New Hope, Pennsylvania; he 
was, however, a merchant for the greater 
part of his active life, later living retired in 
Quakertown, where he died September 28, 
1904; two children— Oliver R., teller of 
Quakertown Bank, and Amanda, wife of 
Charles Biehn, survive. Charles, born Jan- 
uary 17, 1823, was a justice of the peace 
and merchant at Keller's Church, Bed- 
minster township, where he lived all his 
life, dying June i, 1901- He married Mag- 
dalena Hager, and had eight children ; his 
son, George H., succeeded him as justice, 
and is also a merchant at Keller's Church. 
Eliza married Aaron Fulmer, a farmer of 
Bedminster, she died in 1888. Samuel F., 
born 1828, was a merchant and justice of 
the peace for many years at Rich Hill. 
Rockhill township, where he died August 
3, 1890; had three daughters., 

Albert F. S.cheetz, youngest son of George 
and Esther (Fluck) Scheetz. was born at 
Keller's Church, Bedminster township, 
Bucks county June i, 1831. He was for a 
half century actively connected with busi- 
ness enterprises in Bucks county, the 
greater part of which was spent in Doyles- 
town. He was reared in Bedminster town- 
ship, and received his intellectual training 
at the public schools and under the private 
tuition of his father. At the age of seven- 
teen years he was apprenticed to the car- 
riage maker's trade at Springtown, Bucks 
covinty. After serving two years in that 
capacity he continued for one year at 
journey work at Quakertown, and then 
went to Bedminster and filled the position 
of clerk in a mercantile establishment for 



two years. In 1853 he opened and conducted 
a store for one year at Stover's Mills, Hay- 
cock township, for Jonas Stover. He then 
went into the mercantile business for him- 
self at Wormansville, Tinicum township, 
with his brother-in-law, Morgan Rufe, as 
partner, under the tirni name of Scheetz & 
Rufe, which continued until 1857. In that 
year he formed a copartnership with his 
brother, Edwin F. Scheetz, under the firm 
name of E. F. Scheetz & Brother, and they 
conducted a store at Quakertown for three 
years. In i860 he purchased his brother's 
interest and conducted the store alone until 
the close of the war m 1865, when he dis- 
posed of the store to his brother Edwin F. 
Scheetz. A year later he came to Doyles- 
town, and in partnership with Morgan 
Rufe, under the firm name of Rufe & 
Scheetz, bought and finished leather until 
1869, when they built a steam tannery at 
Doylestown and manufactured and sold 
leather for a number of years. In 1870, 
leaving Mr. Rufe to attend to the tannery^ 
Mr. Scheetz removed to Pittston, Luzerne 
county, Pennsylvania, where he established 
a store and sold leather of his own manu- 
facture. In 1872 he purchased his part- 
ner's interest and, returning to Doyles- 
town, operated the tannery for several years. 
In 1878 he formed a partnership again with 
his old partner, Morgan Rufe, under the 
old firm name of Rufe & Scheetz, and 
opened a general merchandise store in the 
Armstrong building on Main street, Doyles- 
town, where they remained for six -years, 
when Mr. Rufe purchased the Cowell 
House, (hotel property) at Court and Pine 
streets, and rebuilt it and converted it into 
a store, and, the firm taking a new part- 
ner, Oliver R. Scheetz, a nephew, located 
there. Mr. Rufe retired at the end of one 
year, and the firm of A. F. & O. R. Scheetz, 
continued for another year, when Mr. 
Scheetz purchased his nephew's interest and 
conducted the business for three years, un- 
til 1889, when he retired and was succeeded 
by his two sons, Leo and Harvey. Leo 
died September 8, 1890, and was succeeded 
by his brother Harry. Harry died in 1896, 
and the youngest son Erwin became a mem- 
ber of the firm, and with his eldest brother 
Harvey still conducts the business under 
the firm name of A. F. Scheetz's Sons. 
Morgan Rufe dying in 1894, the present firm 
purchased the property, rebuilding and re- 
fitting it, and have the largest general mer- 
chandise store in Doylestown. When the 
present store was first opened it was in a 
sense an experiment, as the idea of con- 
ducting a large department store of its class 
in a country town was a new one. but by a 
careful study of the wants of the people, 
courteous treatment of customers and the 
application of thorough business principles 
to every branch of the trade, Mr. Scheetz 
and the succeeding members of the firm 
have built up and maintained a business in- 
stitution of which the town is proud. A 
few years after retiring from the business. 
Mr. Scheetz was afflicted with locomotor 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



385 



ataxia, and was almost helpless for about 
three years. He died December 8, 1903. 
Mr. Scheetz married, in 1859, Matilda 
Laubach, born in Durham township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, January 31, 1833, 
ninth and youngest child of Frederic and 
Catharine (Jacoby) Laubach, of Durham, 
and a descendant of Christian Laubach, who 
with his father, Rhinehardt Laubach, came 
to Bucks county from Germany and settled 
in Lower Saucon, Northampton (then 
Bucks) county, in 1738. (See Laubach in 
this work). Christian Laubach was captain 
of a ""Ranging Company" that saw active 
service in the P'rench and Indian war. 

Frederick Laubach was a son of Urich 
Laubach, and grandson of Captain Chris- 
tian. He was reared in Lower Saucon and 
removed to Durham in 1816, where he be- 
come a large landowner and prominent man. 
He died May 17, 1851, and his wife, Cath- 
arine Jacoby, born November 11, 1791, died 
January 8, 1862. She was a daughter of 
Peter (1759-1815) and Catharine (Trauger) 
Jacoby, of Durham, and a granddaughter 
of Conrad Jacoby, born 1730, died 1795, 
who was one of the early German settlers 
in Lower Milford, Bucks county, removing 
successively to Springfield, Durham and 
Bedminster, where he died. (See Jacoby 
in this work). 

Albert F. and Matilda (Laubach) Scheetz 
were the parents of seven children : Leo, 
who died in 1890; Morgan, died young; 
Harry, died 1896; Harvey, and Erwin, the 
members of the present firm ; Ellen, living 
with her mother in Doylestown ; and Allen, 
a twin to Erwin, who died in infancy. Al- 
bert F. Scheetz and his family were and are 
members of the German Reformed church. 
Li politics he was a Democrat. Though 
in no sense a politician, he took a deep 
interest in local affairs. He was for sixteen 
3-ears a member of the school board of 
Doylestown borough and was treasurer of 
the board when the handsome new school 
building was erected. He was one of the 
organizers of the Doylestown Electric Com- 
pany in 1892, was superintendent and pur- 
chasing agent from its inception to 1895, 
and one of the*board of directors from its 
organization to his death. He was also 
one of the purchasers of the plant of the 
Doylestown Gas Company, in 1894, and a 
director therein until his death. As a busi- 
ness man and public spirited Christian 
gentleman Mr. Scheetz stood exceedingly 
high in the estimation of those who knew 
him best, and won and held the respect and 
esteem of all who knew him. 

Harvey Scheetz, senior member of the 
firm of A. F. Scheetz's Sons, was born at 
Quakertown, February 22, i86r, and came 
to Doylestown with his parents at the age 
of five years, and was reared in that town, 
acquiring his education at the Doylestown 
schools. At the age of fifteen years he 
entered his father's store as a clerk, and 
continued to fill that position until he be- 
came a member of the firm in 1889. with 
his brother Leo. At about the same time 
25-3 



he and Leo purchased the Novelty Hat 
Store on State street, Doylestown, whith 
Leo conducted until his death in 1890, after 
which it was conducted by the youngest 
brother, Erwin, until the latter became a 
member of the firm, Harvey retaining the 
management of the department store of 
which he has been one of the proprietors 
under the firm name of A. F. Scheetz's 
Sons since 1889. He is one of the directors 
of the Doylestown Electric Companj', and 
is one of the active managers of the plant, 
and was one of the promoters of the Doyles- 
town Worsted Company, and has served as 
a director from its organization. He was 
also one of the active organizers of the 
Doylestown Board of Trade, of which he 
is a director. He is a member of Salem 
Reformed church, and politically is a Demo- 
crat. He is a member of Aquetong Lodge, 
No. 193, L O. O. F., a charter mem- 
ber of St. Tammany Castle, No. 173, K. 
G. E. Mr. Scheetz married, April, 1892, 
Clara M. Desh, daughter of Aaron and 
Susan (Bunstine) Desh, of Coopersburg, 
Pennsylvania, and they, are the parents of 
one child, Albert Frederick. 

Erwin Scheetz, junior member of the firm 
of A. F. Scheetz's Sons, was born in 
Doylestown, May 26, 1873, and received his 
intellectual training there. He entered the 
store at an early age and grew up with the 
business. At the death of his brother 
Harry, he purchased the Novelty Hat Store, 
which he conducted for one year, and then 
purchased his brother Harry's interest in 
the firm of A. F. Scheetz's Sons, and has 
since been a member of that firm with his 
brother Harvey. He married, February 14, 
1903, Sarah Huber, of Philadelnhia! Mr. 
Scheetz is a director in the Doylestown 
Gas Company, and is interested in other 
local enterprises. He is a member of Aque- 
tong Lodge, No. 193, L O. O. F.. and re- 
ligiously is affiliated with Salem Reformed, 
church. 



HON. GEORGE LEAR. Among the 
self-made men of his day and generation 
who have achieved eminence and suc- 
cess in the face of adverse circumstances, 
was Hon. George Lear, of Doylestown, 
deceased. He was born in Warwick 
township, Bucks county, February 16, 
1818, the son of Robert and Mary 
(Meloy) Lear. He w^as reared on a farm, 
and at the age of thirteen years was 
thrown entirely upon his own resources. 
Until the age of nineteen he sought such 
employment as could be obtained in an 
agricultural community, and devoted his 
spare moments to the acquiring of an 
education. He was for some years a 
member of the family of the late Will- 
iam Kitchin, Sr., of Solebury, whose 
sympathy and encouragement to the as- 
piring youth were freely acknowledged 
and requited by Mr. Lear in later years. 

In 1837 he became a teacher in the 



386 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



public schools, and followed this voca- 
tion for four years, when he entered a 
country store and devoted his spare mo- 
ments to the study of law under the pre- 
ceptorship of Eleazer T. McDowell, 
Esq., of Doylestown. He removed to 
Doylestown in 1844 and entered the of- 
fice of his preceptor and was admitted to 
practice at the bar of his native county 
on November 16, of the same year. In 
August, 1848, he was appointed deputy 
attorney general for the county of Bucks, 
by Hon. James Cooper, the attorney- 
general of the state, and was recommis- 
sioned by Mr. Cooper's successor, Hon. 
Cornelius Darrah, and held the posi- 
tion until the oi^ce was superseded by 
the creation of the office of district at- 
torney in 1850. Endowed with more 
than ordinary intellectual ability, a 
."Strong will, a marked gift of oratory, a 
tremendous force of character and in- 
'dustry, and, above all, of a sturdy corn- 
mon sense, he soon rose to a proud posi- 
tion among his fellows. He was'an elo- 
quent speaker and a forceful reasoner, 
and had great power before a jury. He 
rarely accepted a case vmtil he was con- 
vinced of the justice of the claim of his 
client, and then threw himself into It 
with all the force of an indomitable cour- 
age and sense of justice. The people of 
Bucks county will long remember the 
bold advocate and faithful counselor. He 
was for many years the recognized 
leader of tlie bar. The host of friends 
who knew him and loved him will like- 
wise remember his genial, honorable and 
manly traits of character, that made him 
a pleasant companion and a faithful 
friend. What he was in the practice of 
his profession he was, in the world at 
ilarge, a bold and fearless advocate of 
right and justice, and earnest in the de- 
'fense of his principles. In politics he 
-was an ardent Republican from the or- 
Iganjzation of that party, and stood de- 
servedly high in its councils. He was a 
member of the constitutional conven- 
tion of 1872-3, but did not sign his name 
to or vote for the constitution as adopted 
by the convention. Though he advocated 
and helped to sustain all the important 
measures of reform in the convention, he 
was convinced that the instrument as 
adopted contained unwarranted restric- 
tions on the rights and powers of the 
people. In 187=^ he was appomted by 
Governor Hartranft as attorney general 
of the state and filled that position with 
eminent ability. He was elected presi- 
dent of the Doylestown National Bank, 
and filled that position until his death. 
He died at his home in Doylestown, May 
23, 1884, and his funeral obsequies were 
attended by the most prominent men of 
the state. In January, 1845, '^e married 
Sidney White, of Montgomery county, 
who survives him. They were the pa- 
rents of three children— Henry, born 
March 21, 1848; Cordelia, wlm died in 



1903, unmarried; and Mary, the wife of 
George P. Brock. 

Henry Lear, son of George and Sid- 
ney, was educated partly in Doylestown 
and Philadelphia, and graduated at Yale 
College in the class of 1869. He attended 
lectures at the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, and studied law in the office of 
his father, and was admitted to the bar 
September 11, 1871. He is a man of 
marked ability as a lawyer, and achieved 
eminence in the practice of his profes- 
sion. He succeeded his father as presi- 
dent of the Doylestown National Bank 
in 1884, and held that position for twenty 
years. He married, June 10, 1875, Louisa 
Philler Brock, daughter of John J. and 
Julia (Philler) Brock, of Doylestown. 
Their children are John B., George, Will- 
iam P., Julia, and Sidney. The family 
are members of the Protestant Episco- 
pal church. 



GEORGE H. QUINBY, of Warring- 
ton, Bucks count}^ Pennsylvania, was 
born in Solebury township, and is a son 
of James and Grace (Ridge) Quinby, the 
former a native of Amwell township, 
Hunterdon county. New Jersey, and the 
latter of Tinicum township, Bucks 
county. Pennsylvania. 

Isaiah Quinby came from Chester in 
1742, bringing a certificate to Bucking- 
ham Monthly Meeting of Friends, and 
located in Amwell township, New Jer- 
sey, retaining his membership in Buck- 
ingham Meeting, and later SoleBury, 
when it became a monthly meeting. 
Most of his children intermarried with 
Bucks county families, and he has nu- 
merous descendants in Bucks county. 
James Quinby, the grandfather of George 
H., married 10 mo. 13, 1803, Margaret 
Good, of Plumstead township, Bucks 
county, and resided the greater part of 
his life in New Jersey. He died 2 mo. 
2, 1830, and his widow 2 mo. 25, 1842. 
They were the parents of seven chil- 
dren: Mary; Rachel, who died in in- 
fancy; Martha, who married John E. 
Kenderdine, of Solebury; Hannah, who 
married Thomas Atkinson, of Wrights- 
town; Francenia, who died unmarried 
in 1854; Isaiah, born September 5, 1814. 
located in Solebury, in 1834 and lived 
there all his life, married Ruth Scar- 
borough, and left .one son and two 
daughters; and James, born 1816, mar- 
ried Grace Ridge. 

James Quinby was born and reared in 
Amwell, Hunterdon county, and came 
to Solebury, Bucks county, when a 
young man, and was employed for some 
years in the milling business with his 
brother-in-law, John E. Kenderdine. On 
his marriage he began farming in Sole- 
bury, and has since followed that voca- 
tion. He was supervisor of roads in 
Soleburj' township for eleven years. 
James and Grace (Ridge) Quinby were 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



3^7 



the parents of seven children, viz.: Ellen, 
wife of William Jay, of Illinois; Elwood, 
a farmer in Illinois; Joseph, engaged in 
the dry goods business in New York; 
George H., of Warrington; Frances, 
married (first) William Worstall. and 
(second) Smith Clark, both of Solebury; 
Henry R., a farmer near Carversville, 
Bucks county; and Many, wife of James 
M. Winder of Philadelphia. 

George H. Quinby was born and 
reared in Solebury township and re- 
sided there until 1897, when he removed 
to Philadelphia, where he was engaged 
in the milk business for two years, and 
then removed to Warrington township, 
Bucks county, where he has since been 
engaged in farming. He has filled the 
position of supervisor of roads in that 
township for the past four years. He 
married Josephine Ely, daughter of 
James H. and Emeline (Magill) Ely, of 
Solebury, and they are the parents of 
eight children: Lizzie, wife of Edward 
Shupe, of Solebury; James E., a farmer 
near Bristol, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania; Grace, a successful teacher in the 
public schools of Bucks county, and a 
graduate of West Chester Normal 
School: Lewis L.. a successful grocer in 
Philadelphia; May, who is filling a cler- 
ical position in Philadelphia: Mark, a 
farmer; Joseph, 'also engaged in agricul- 
tural pursuits with his brothers in Bris- 
tol township; and Emeline, who is a 
graduate of Warrington schools, and 
resides with her parents. 



WILLIAM F. KELLY, postmaster of 
Doylestown, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, was born in Montgomery county, 
Pennsylvania, September 3. 1866, and 
is a son of the late William F. and Cath- 
arine (Phalen) Kelly. William F. 
Kelly, Sr., the father of Postmaster 
Kelly, was born in Queen's county, Ire- 
land, August 15, 1823, and was a son of 
Garret and Ann (Fines) Kelly. Garret 
Kelly was a farmer in Queen's county, 
and reared a family of eleven children, 
of whom eight lived to maturity, viz.: 
William F., Margaret, Maria, Patrick, 
James, Thomas and John, six of whom 
migrated to America. William F. Kelley 
was reared on a farm in his native 
county, and remained there until twen- 
ty-seven years of age. On September 
IS, 1850, he took passage at Dublin on 
the sailing vessel "Carry" for America, 
and landed at New York, October 15, 
1850. After remaining for a week in New 
York he came to Horsham township, 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and 
went to work on a farm, remaining at 
his first place two and a half years, part 
of which time he had full charge of the 
farm. He then removed to Hatboro, 
where he resided for one year. In 1854 
he returned to his first employers and 



took charge of their farm, working it on 
shares until 1863. I'^ 1864 he removed to 
Sprigfield . township, Montgomery 

county, where he farmed until 1873, when 
he came to Buckingham township, 
Bucks county, and purchased the farm 
of 118 acres where his widow and young- 
est son still reside, and lived there the 
remainder of his life, dying there No- 
vember 24, 1898, at the age of seventy- 
eight years. Mr. Kelly was a man of 
irreproachable character, and won the 
respect and esteem of all who knew him. 
He married, January 11, 1859, Catharine 
Phalen, who was also a native of Queen's 
county, Ireland, and they were the pa- 
rents of four children Jeremiah, of 
Doylestown; Daniel, who died in New 
York in 1901; William F., Jr., the sub- 
ject of this sketch, and Thomas, who 
resides with his mother on the home- 
stead in Buckingham. 

WILLIAM F. KELLY, Jr., was 
reared on his father's farm in Bucking- 
ham, and acquired his education at the 
public schools and at Doylestown Sem- 
inary. At the close of his school days he 
located in Doylestown and engaged in 
the real estate and insurance business 
until 1894, when he became deputy sher- 
iff of the county, in which capacity he 
served for three years. In 1897 he was 
appointed deputy prothonotary, and was 
reappointed in 1900 and 1903, resigning 
to accept the position of postmaster, to 
which he was appointed June 25, igoS- 
Mr. Kelly was a competent and obliging 
official, and in his ten and a half years 
service as a county officer gave entire 
satisfaction to the patrons of the offices, 
and made many friends. He had also 
served for several years as assessor of 
Doylestown borough prior to appoint- 
ment as deputy sheriff. In politics he is 
a Republican and has taken an active part 
in the councils of his party, and was sec- 
retary of the Republican county commit- 
tee for a number of years. He is un- 
married. 



SAMUEL P. McILHAT'TEN, M. D., a 
leading physician and surgeon of Ivyland, 
was born in Philadelphia, February 11, 
1879. The family, of Scotch lineage, was 
founded in America by Samuel Mcllhatten, 
a native of the green isle of Erin. He 
was a weaver by trade, and followed that 
business in New York city, becoming prom- 
inently identified with that line of industrial 
activity there. His children were : Alex- 
ander, a ship carpenter ; D. J., Rachel, and 
Jennie. D. J. Mcllhatten, father of Dr. 
Mcllhatten, was also born in the JLInited 
States, and won for himself a creditable 
position in the business world that yielded 
to him a good financial return, becoming 
auditor of a steamship company. He is 
now retired from active business life. He 
wedded Mary Patterson, w^ho was of Scotch 
lineage, a daughter of Samuel Patterson. 



388 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



a farmer of Westmoreland county, who was 
a practical and successful farmer and later 
lived retired in Philadelphia, where his 
death occurred. The members of Samuel 
Patterson's family were : Maggie, now Mrs. 
McKnight; Mrs. Margaret Patchell ; Mrs. 
Mary Mcllhatten ; Thomas, who learned 
the coppersmith's trade and is now in Harts- 
ville; Robert, a farmer; James, who is con- 
nected with the Baldwin Locomotive Works 
in Philadelphia; and McLeod, a farmer. 
The children of Mr. and Mrs. D. J. Mc- 
llhatten were Samuel P.; Thomas, who is 
engaged in the coal business in Boston, 
Massachusetts; David A., Edward and Wal- 
ter, all in college. The parents reside in 
one of Philadelphia's suburbs. Mr. Mc- 
llhatten is now enjoying a well earned rest. 
Both he and his wife are Presbyterians in 
their religious faith. 

Dr. Mcllhatten was born in Philadelphia, 
February li, 1879, and spent his boyhood 
days there in the usual manner of city 
lads. He first attended the public schools 
and later the Friends' Academy, after which 
he took up the study of medicine, continumg 
his reading in the Medico-Chirurgical Col- 
lege of Philadelphia, where he pursued a 
full course and was graduated with the 
class of 1900. He then practiced in his 
home city until January, 1902, when he lo- 
cated in Hartsville, remaining there until 
March, 1904, when he located in Ivyland. 
He has since given his entire attention to 
his profession, and by his capability and 
skill has won the confidence of the com- 
munity and gained a very desirable patron- 
age. He is a member of the Bucks County 
Medical Society, and the Medical Club of 
Philadelphia, and is also a member of the 
Neshaminy Presbyterian church. Dr. Mc- 
llhatten was married October 19, 1904, to 
Miss Anna P. Flack, daughter of Theodore 
and Margaret (Patterson) Flack, .of an 
old Bucks county family. 



WILSON C. EVANS, of Kintners- 
ville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was 
born in Carversville, same county, in the 
year 1832, and is a son of Caleb and 
Sarah C. (Black) Evans, the former a 
native of Montgomery county, and the 
latter of Plumstead township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania. On the paternal 
side Mr. Evans is of Welsh descent and 
a descendant of Cadwallader ap Evan, 
who emigrated from Wales in 1698, and 
settled in Gwynedd (now) Montgomery 
county. Thomas Evans, the great-grand- 
father of Wilson C, was the son of 
Thomas and Elizabeth Evans, and grand- 
son of Cadwallader, and was born 8 mo. 
24, 1733. died 9 mo. 3, 1818. He married 
Elizabeth, daughter of John and Jane 
Roberts, who was born 11 mo. 19, 1740. 
and died 8 mo. 16, 1794. The last named 
ccuple resided in Plymouth township, 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and 
were the parents of ten children, of 



whom seven lived to mature years: 
Caleb, Tacy, Nathan, Jonathan, Eliza- 
beth, and Jane. Jonathan Evans, sev- 
enth child of Thomas and Elizabeth 
(Roberts) Evans, was born at Plymouth, 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, 6 mo. 
26, 1778, and died in 1844. He married 
10 mo. 5, 1809, Elizabeth Iden, daughter 
of George and Hannah (Foulke) Iden, 
of Richland, Bucks county, who was 
born in that township. They settled in 
Montgomery county and reared a large 
family, all of whom except two sons, 
Caleb and William R., removed to the 
western states early in life. 

Caleb Evans was born in Montgomery 
county April 8, 1815, and at the age of 
seventeen years came to Bucks county 
and located in Solebury township. He 
learned the trade of wheelwright, and 
followed that trade at Ruckmans, in 
Solebury, for several years. He was also 
the proprietor of the store at Ruckmans 
for some years. He removed later to 
Carversville, where he resided until 
about 1894, when he removed to Doyles- 
town and resided with his daughter, 
Mrs. Edward Doan, until his death, Feb- 
ruary 17, 1901. He was an industrious 
man and exemplary and respected citi- 
zen. William R. Evans, a younger 
brother of Caleb, also settled in Solebury, 
and was for many years a prominent 
merchant and business man of Carvers- 
ville, Solebury township. Caleb Evans 
married Sarah C. Black, daughter of 
Abraham and Elizabeth (Carver) Black, 
of German and English ancestry, who 
was born March 15, 1818, and died at 
Doylestown, March 14, 1903. Their chil- 
dren were Mary Emma, wife of Edward 
R. Doan, of Doylestown, and Wilson C. 
Evans, the subject of this sketch. 

WILSON C. EVANS was born and 
reared in Carversville and received a 
good common school education. In early 
life he filled the position of clerk in a 
country store, first for his father and 
later for others, and in 1875 engaged in 
the mercantile business for â–  himself at 
Landisville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
but sold out at the end of two years and 
purchased the Sands homestead at 
Sand's Corner, in Buckingham, of the 
estate of his father-in-law, and lived 
there until 1888, devoting his energies to 
agricultural pursuits and the buying and 
shipping of poultry and calves for the 
New York markets. In the spring of 
1888 he sold his Buckingham farm and 
removed to Kintnersville and engaged in 
the mercantile business, continuing and 
increasing his poultry shipping and com- 
mission business. In poltics Mr. Evans 
is an active Republican, taking a deep 
interest in the success of his party and 
its principles, but has never aspired to 
other than local office. He has served 
for a number of years as a member of 
the school board of Durham township, 
and filled other local positions. He mar- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



389 



ried in 1870 M. Jennie Sands, daughter of 
James and Rachel (Shaw) Sands, of 
Buckingham, and they have been the pa- 
rents of four children, one of whom died 
in infancy. Those who survive are: 
Adah S., born 1871, now the wife of 
Stacey Vanderbelt, of Hunterdon 
county, New Jersey; Stanley C, born 
April 26, 1873, residing with his parents; 
and Emma D., born in 1877, now the wife 
of William Nicholas, a commission mer- 
chant of New York City, New York. 



COLONEL CHARLES M. BETTS, 
of Philadelphia, is a son of John and 
Sarah C. (Malone) Betts, both natives 
«ind lifelong residents of Bucks county, 
and a descendant in the eighth genera- 
tion from Richard Betts, who came from 
England to Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 
1648, and soon after to Newtown, Long 
Island, where he became prominent in 
public affairs, member of provincial_ as- 
sembly (1665); commissioner of high- 
ways; sheriff, (1678-1681), etc. He died 
November 18, 1713, aged one hundred 
years. His son Thomas married in 
1683, Mercy Whitehead, daughter of 
Major Daniel and Abigail (Stevenson) 
Whitehead, whose father and grand- 
father were both members of provincial 
assembly, etc. Thomas Betts, son of 
Thomas and Mercy, born at Newtown, 
Long Island, August 14, 1689, married 
(first) Susanna Stevenson, and (second) 
Susannah Field, of New Jersey. He 
moved first to Burlington county. New 
Jersey, and later to Newtown, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, where he died in 
1747. Thomas Betts, fifth child of 
Thomas and Susanna (Stevenson) 
Betts, born at Newtown, Long Island, 
February 18, 1723, came to Bucks county 
with his parents and later settled in 
Buckingham township, where he died in 
June. 1785. He married Sarah, daughter 
of William and Rebecca (Wilson) Smith, 
and granddaughter of William Smith and 
Stephen Wilson, both natives of England, 
and great-granddaughter of Thomas Croas- 
dale. who came to Pennsylvania wit^ 
William Penn in the "Welcome" in 
1682, and of Henry Baker, one of the 
most distinguished men of his time in 
Bucks county. Stephen Betts, eighth 
child of Thomas and Sarah (Smith) 
Betts, born in Buckingham, May 31, 1758, 
settled in Solebury in early life, and 
died there November ig, 1834. He mar- 
ried April 19, 1786, Hannah Blackfan, 
daughter of Crispin and Martha (Davis) 
Blackfan, granddaughter of William and 
Eleanor (Wood) Blackfan, and great- 
granddaughter of Edward and Rebecca 
(Crispin) Blackfan, the latter being a 
daughter of Captain William Crispin,, 
uncle to William Penn, and his first com- 
missioner of the colony of Pennsyl- 
vania. 



John Betts, the father of Colonel 
Charles M. Betts, was the youngest son 
of Stephen and Hannah, and was born 
in Solebury, Bucks county, August 10, 
1804, and in 1836 located in Warminster 
township, Bucks county, where he died. 
He married Sarah C. Malone, daughter 
of John and Rachel Malone, of Bucking- 
ham, born May 20, 1810, died January 
27, 1858, and they were the parents of 
five children, two daughters who died 
young and three sons, Charles M., Ed- 
ward T., deceased, and Dr. B. Franklin 
Betts, of Philadelphia. 

COLONEL CHARLES M. BETTS 
was born in Warminster, Bucks couney, 
August 9, 1838, and reared on his father's 
farm there, attending school at Loller 
Academy, Hatboro, and later an academy 
at Burlington, New Jersey. When six- 
teen years of age he removed to Phila- 
delphia and accepted a position with the 
firm of Malone & Taylor, wholesale 
lumber merchants, with whom he re- 
mained until the fall of 1861. He was 
then commissioned by Governor Andrew 
Curtin as first lieutenant of Company D, 
Third Regiment, Blue Reserves, organ- 
ized for the defense of the city. In No- 
vember of the same year he accepted a 
position as chief clerk in the quarter- 
master's department. General W. B. 
Franklin's division and corps. On the 
call of President Lincoln for 300,000 
more troops, after the seven days battle 
in front of Richmond, Lieutenant Betts 
felt impelled to take a more active part 
in the suppression of the rebellion, and 
resigned his position in the army as a 
civilian, and in August, 1862, enlisted as 
a private in the Fifteenth Pennsylvania 
(Anderson's) Cavalry, then being re- 
cruited. He served with this regiment 
until the close of the war, being pro- 
moted through the several grades as a 
non-commissioned officer, and in March. 
1863, was made captain of Company F. 
The following year he was promoted to 
major of the regiment, and in the spring 
of 1865 was advanced to the position of 
lieutenant-colonel, and commanded the 
regiment until it was mustered out of 
service. May 21, 1865, Colonel William 
J. Palmer, its organizer and commander, 
having been made brevet brigadier-gen- 
eral. Colonel Betts was wounded in the 
left arm in a fight near Gatlinsburg, 
East Tennessee, with the Cherokee In- 
dians who had enlisted in the confeder- 
ate service. He was awarded a medal 
by Congress for distinguished services 
in action near Greensboro, North Caro- 
lina, in April, 1S65. He is a past com- 
mander of the Medal of Honor Legion, 
and of Post No. 2, G. A. R., and has 
been president of the Fifteenth Cavalry 
Association since its formation in 1873. 

Soon after the close of the war, Col- 
onel Betts became a member of the firm 
of Taylor & Betts, wholesale lumber 
merchants, Philadelphia, which was con- 



390 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



tinned until 1890, when the present firm 
of Charles J\I. Eetts & Co. was formed, 
consisting of Colonel Betts, his son B. 
Franklin Betts, and C. Walter Betts, 
son of his brother, Edward T. Betts. 
Colonel Betts was a charter member of 
the Lumbermen's Exchange of Phila- 
delphia, and its president in 1890. He 
also served for two years as president of 
the National Wholesale Lumbermen's 
Association, and several years as presi- 
dent of the Philadelphia Wholesale Lum- 
ber Dealers' Association, and has been a 
director of the Consolidation National 
Bank and the Trades League of Phila- 
delphia. He married in 1866, Louisa G. 
Hance, daughter of David and Sarah J. 
(Lancaster) Hance, and their children 
are: B. Franklin, who married Helen D. 
Furman; William T., who married Flor- 
ence B. Shaw; Charles L., married Ella 
F. Lucas; John H., married Mary F. 
Smith; and Caroline Lancaster, married 
Joseph Linden Heacock. All are living 
except John H., who was killed in an 
elevator accident in March, 1902. 



WILSON W. BEAN, of Ferndale, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, the largest 
individual shoe manufacturer in Bucks 
county, was born at Ferndale, February 
22, 1853, and is a son of Henry and 
Sarah (Hager) Bean, both of German 
descent. Henry Bean, the father, was 
born in Richland township, Bucks county 
in 1813, his pioneer ancestors having heen 
early settlers in Rockhill township. Early 
in life he learned the trade of a shoe- 
maker and becama very expert at that 
trade, being able to. make three pairs of 
shoes in a day, at a time when they wera 
entirely handmade. By industry and 
close attention to business he was able 
to accumulate a considerable estate. He 
located at Ferndale and manufactured 
shoes for the wholesale trade, his pro- 
duct being marketed mainly among the 
retail merchants of Bucks county, with 
whom he maintained a high standing for 
the excellence of his work and conscien- 
tious business methods. He died at 
Ferndale, in 1882. He was twice mar- 
ried. By hi? first wife, who died in 1856, 
he had nine children, viz.: Andrew J., a 
shoe manufacturer of Ottsville. Bucks 
county; Mary, wife of Aaron Lightcap; 
Catharine, deceased, who was the wife of 
Joel Tettemer; Henry H., who was also 
a shoemaker, now deceased; Emeline, 
wife of John F. Heller; Wilson W.. the 
subject of this sketch; John A.; and two 
who died in infancy. Henry Bean mar- 
ried (second) Sarah Fretz, by whom he 
had three children; C. H. Bean, a shoe 
manufacturer at Ferndale; W. R. Bean, 
and L-win, who is employed in the shoe 
inanufacturing establishment of his half- 
brother, Wilson- W. Bean. Mr. Bean and 
his family were members of the Lu- 
theran church. 



WILSON W. BEAN was born and 
reared at Ferndale, and was educated at 
the common schools and at Muhlenberg 
College, Allentown. He learned the 
shoemaker's trade with his father, and 
in 1872 established himself in the busi- 
ness of manufacturing shoes at Ferndale 
in a small way, and annually increased 
his output until he became one of the 
largest manufacturers of shoes in the 
county. In 1901 he opened a general 
merchandise store at Ferndale, in con- 
nection with his manufacturing business, 
and is also engaged in the timber, and 
hardwood lumber business. He has been 
an elder in the Lutheran church for ten 
years. In politics he is a Democrat, but 
has never sought or held other than local 
office, filling the position of school di- 
rector of Nockamixon township for a 
number of years. Mr. Bean is owner of 
a very fine home. He married October 
21, 1880, Ida A. Rufe, daughter of Josiah 
and Mary (Wyker) Rufe, of Nocka- 
mixon, both of German extraction and 
descendants of early settlers in Nocka- 
mixon and Tinicum townships, respec- 
tively, and to this union have been born 
four children: Bertha, born May i, 1883, 
now wife of John Frankenfield; Ches- 
ter, born April 22, 1886; Roy R., born 
October 27, 1889, and one who died in 
infancy. 



JOSEPH CARRELL, Jr. For many 
generations the Carrell family has been 
identified with agricultural interests in 
Bucks county, and to the same pursuit Jo- 
seph Carrell has directed his energies, mak- 
ing his home in Warrington townshin, 
where he is proprietor of one of the best 
country estates in this part of the county. 
He was born March 25, 1850, in Warminster 
township, a son of Ezra R.' and Margaret 
L. Carrell. His early education was ac- 
quired in the public schools, which he at- 
tended until thirteen years of age, and he 
completed his course at the Excelsior In- 
stitute at Hatboro, of which Rev. Hugh 
Morrow was professor. At tlie time of his 
marriage he assumed the management of 
the farm on which he was born, and which 
remained his place of residence until the 
spring of 1884, when he removed to his 
present home in Warrington township, 
which he had purchased of Conely Hamp- 
ton in the previous autumn. In the year 
1897 he built the house which he occupies, 
and he had previously erected most of the 
buildings upon the place. He has always 
been a farmer and attended the Philadel- 
phia markets, and his business capacity, 
keen discrimination and marked enterprise 
are evidenced in the desirable success which 
has crowned his efforts. His farm is a 
splendid property, highly improved and the 
house is a spacious and modern residence, 
attractive in its appearance, and comfort- 
able and luxurious in its furnishings. There 
are beautiful groves of forest and fruit 



HISTORY Of BUCKS COUNTY. 



391 



trees on his place, and the splendid ap- 
pearance of the farm indicates the careful 
supervision of a progressive owner who 
keeps in touch with the modern spirit of 
the times. Joseph Carrell has always taken 
an active interest in neighborhood and 
church affairs, and has held numerous town- 
ship positions and also official positions in 
the church. His political support is given 
the Republican party, and fraternally he is 
connected with the Knights of Pythias 
lodge at Hatboro. On the 22d of March, 
1876, Mr. Carrell was married to Elizabeth 
Watson, a daughter of Conely and Caro- 
line (Hampton) Watson, of Warminster 
township. They have three children : 
Frank Beans, born January i, 1877; Helen 
Maria, December 4, 1879; and Joseph John 
Carrell, July 4, 1884. The wife and mother 
passed away April 3, 1885. The family are 
identified with the Presbyterian church, 
which has been the religious faith of the 
ancestors through various generations. 

Mr. Carrell is the son of Ezra Patter- 
son Carrell and Margaret Long (Beans) 
Carrell. Mr. Carrell, Sr., who died a few 
years ago, was one of the substantial men 
of Warminster township, always taking an 
active interest in the affairs of his vicinity. 
A man of education and refinement, hospit- 
able, generous, and honored by his neigh- 
bors for his probity and integrity, he held 
for many years the office of ruling elder 
in the Neshaminy church in Warminster, 
and later in Neshaminy in Warwick. Al- 
ways interested in church work, he served 
long and well in the capacities of teacher 
and superintendent in the Sunday-school, 
and for many years as chorister in his 
church. He fully justified in his life the 
words of his pastor, who prefaced his re- 
marks at his funeral by these words, "Be- 
fore me lies the remains of an honest man. 
The world says that no man can be honest 
and successful, but the life of Mr. Carrell 
fully refutes this." Margaret Long Carrell, 
his wife, is the daughter of John C. Beans 
and Elizabeth Yerkes. The Beans family 
are long residents of Warminster. Mrs. 
Carrell's grandfather, Thomas Beans, was 
the keeper of the old hotel at Warminster, 
then a post station on the mail line be- 
tween Philadelphia and New York, and was 
a breeder of running horses, having a halt- 
mile track on the large tract of land which 
he owned. The holdings of the contiguous 
estates of the Beans and Yerkes families 
were the largest in this section, several 
hundred acres of which is retained in the 
families. The Beans family trace their 
genealogy back to Donald Bane of Scot- 
land, immortalized by Shakespeare. Mrs. 
Carrell was educated by a private teacher, 
and later finished her education by a course 
at a young ladies' seminary at Wilmington, 
Delaware. She is still living at the home 
place in Warminster. Mr. and Mrs. Car- 
rell had five children: i. Joseph, who is a 
farmer in Warrington township ; 2. John 
Beans, one of the leading physicians of 
Hatboro; 3. Emily, who died in infancy; 



4. Ezra P. ; 5. Stacy Beans, of the firm of 
Worthington & Carrell, of Germantown, 
Pennsylvania 

Joseph Carrell, the grandfather of Joseph 
Carrell, Jr., was born June i, 1792, at the 
old homestead, Carrellton, near Richboro, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania. When a 
young man he learned the trade of car- 
penter under his uncle, Jesse Johnson, and 
followed it some years, later, about 1823, 
purchasing the Carrell farm in Warminster. 
When quite a young man he enlisted in the 
army for the war of 1812, in which he 
served as corporal, and many were the 
anecdotes he used to tell of camp life at 
Camp Dupont, where he was stationed, at 
which time Philadelphia only extended as 
far north as Vine street and south as far 
as Pine street. Those who knew him re- 
member him as a portly old white-haired 
gentleman, tall and erect, with a military 
bearing acquired in youth and never for- 
gotten. He was one of the last survivors 
of the war of 1812, dying April 25, 1884, 
and was one of a small coterie of veterans 
which included himself. General John Davis, 
W^illiam Bothwell, and one or two others 
whose relations were very intimate. He was 
for many years an elder in the Neshaminy 
church, with the interests of which he was 
identified all his life. He was married to 
sisters, Mary and Anna Gill. By his first 
wife were born Hugh Jamison, Emily and 
Ezra Patterson. By his second wife, were 
born Sidney (Montanye) and Elizabeth 
(Engart). The Gills are an old English 
family who emigrated to Philadelphia from 
London, and later settled near Richboro, 
where many of them still reside. Jacob 
Carrell, the great-grandfather of Mr. Car- 
rell, was born at Carrellton and lived there 
all his life. A man of considerable means, 
he seems to have devoted himself to home 
and church. He was married to Elizabeth 
Jamison, and reared a large family, all of 
them except one arriving at maturity, and 
by intermarriage with families in the near 
vicinity brought the family in relation with 
many of the leading families of Bucks coun- 
ty. His children were: Benjamin, married 
to Mercy Comfort ; John ; Mary, wedded 
to Lott Bennett ; Sarah, married to Mahlon 
Banes : James, married to Sarah Ten Wyck 
and settled in New York; Jesse, married 
Mary Bennett ; Elizabeth, married to Tohn 
Cornell ; and Joseph. He was a soldier in 
the Revolutionary army, serving with his 
brother in the Northampton guards His 
wife, Elizabeth Jamison, was the daughter 
of Daniel Jamison, of Nockamixon town- 
ship, Bucks county. 

James Carrell, Mr. Carrell's great-great- 
grandfather, was one of the earliest set- 
tlers of this section. Whether he came from 
Ireland or not is not well established. In 
the register's office is filed the settlements 
of the estate of Benjamin Carrell in 1733, 
with James as administrator. Whether he 
was father or brother is not known, but 
it is possible that the first settlement of 
Carrells was in Delaware, as few Scotch- 



392 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Irish settled in Bucks county in the early 
part of 1700. November 3, 171 1, James 
Carroll purchased the old Carrcll home- 
stead (Carrellton) from Thomas and 
Clement Dungan, it being a tract of land 
purchased by the said Dungans of the 
widow of Arthur Cook on May 11, 1699, 
for the sum of five shillings lawful money, 
it being a part of a tract of one thousand 
acres purchased by Arthur Cook of James 
Claypool and Robert Turner, commission- 
ers for William Penn, April i, 1686. This 
old homestead has been in the Carrell fam- 
ily since this date (1711) descending from 
father to son to its present owner, Isaac 
Carrell. James Carrell seems to have been 
a man of great energy and push, and ac- 
cumulated quite a large property for those 
days, leaving three fine farms and about 
four thousand dollars in money at his death. 
He was married to Diana VanKirk, and she 
bore him eleven children. Of Scotch-Irish 
Presbyterian stock, he identified himself 
with the establishment of the Neshaminy 
church, at which he was a regular wor- 
shipper. Identified as he was with the early 
history of the county, an account of his 
children will doubtless be interesting. His 
first child, Rebecca, was born May 25, 1725, 
married Robert Weir, and settled in Vir- 
ginia. Sarah, born September 25, 1726, 
married Robert Patterson and settled in 
Bucks county, but later generations removed 
to Maryland and later to Ohio and Mis- 
souri, where some of the family now live. 
Barnard married Lucretia McKnure, and 
settled on one of his father's farms lo- 
cated in Warminster township, it being pur- 
chased of William Tennent, the founder of 
the old Log College, which afterwards was 
removed to Princeton, New Jersey, and is 
the parent of the Princeton University. 
This old college was first across the old 
York road from the Carrell purchase. This 
farm remained in Barnard's family until a 
few years ago. By intermarriage the 
Service, McNair, Fleck and other families 
were brought into the family. James was 
born March 26, 1730. He married Sarah 

and settled in Tinicum township, 

Bucks county, on a farm about two miles 
west of Point Pleasant, now occupied by 
Mr. Seikenfuss. From his four children, 
James, Daniel, Ann and Rachel, are de- 
scended many families in upper Bucks 
county and in New Jersey. Jacob and 
Rachel were born December 12, 1732. A 
full account of Jacob has been o-iven. 
Rachel married Robert Stewart and set- 
tled in Bucks county. Benjamin, born 
April 27, 1735, served in the Revolutionary 
war. Phoebe, born August 20, 1737, mar- 
ried Andrew Scout. Solomon, born May 
25, 1740, married Mary . and pur- 
chased a farm of over one hundred acres 
in Tinicum township. Elizabeth, born May 

16, 1742, and Diana, married • ■ 

Dungan. Her daughter, Rachel, married 
Jesse Johnson, and by whom the Johnson- 
Thompson family is brought into connec- 
tion with the Carrells. Diana also had two 



sons, traces of whom have been lost. The 
family of Carrell came to this country from 
the North of Ireland and was of Scotcn- 
Irish extraction with an infusion of French 
Huguenot blood. Family tradition says that 
the Carrell who came here about 1690 was a 
weaver who, with his wife, was imprisoned 
in Londonderry during that memorable siege 
of one hundred and five days, and soon 
after came to America. The family is prob- 
ably a branch of the house of Carrell who 
were rulers in the northern counties of 
Ireland, and Dr. William Carroll in his 
history of the family traces them back 
through the different generations to the be- 
ginning of the third century. 



HORACE G. BROADHURST, a farmer 
residing in Buckingham township, was 
born within its borders, April 2, 1855, his 
parents being Samuel E. and Sarah T. 
(Reeder) Broadhurst. The family con- 
nection with Bucks county dates from the 
early part of the seventeenth century, when 
this was a pioneer district, the work of im- 
provement and development being scarcely 
begun. Thomas Broadhurst, the great- 
grandfather, was a farmer during his early 
life, and for a number of years resided in 
Solebury township, but his last days were 
spent in Centerville, Bucks county. His 
son, Joseph Broadhurst, became a resident 
of Buckingham township in 1826, and pur- 
chased the farm which later became the 
property of Samuel E. Broadhurst. There 
he carried on agricultural pursuits with 
good success for some time, but eventually 
purchased a small place and lived in hon- 
orable retirement from further labor until 
called to his final rest in 1868. To him and 
his wife, Rachel Broadhurst, were born 
four childlren : A son who died the same 
day ; Mary Anna, the wife of Samuel John- 
son Paxson ; Samuel E. ; and Caroline L., 
the wife of Oliver Howard Wilson. 

Samuel Eastburn Broadhurst, son of Jo- 
seph and Rachel Broadhurst, was born in 
Solebury township, February 25, 1823, and 
died June 16, 1905, in his eighty-third year. 
He spent his youth in the usual manner of 
farmer lads of that period. He decided to 
make the occupation to which he had been 
reared his life work, and has since been 
interested in farming in this county. He 
was also' at one lime president of the Buck- 
ingham and Doylestown Turnpike Company 
and for a number of years was a trustee 
of the Hughesian Free School. In 1848 he 
married Sarah Twining Reeder, to whom 
were born three children : Joseph J., 
Anna M. and Horace G. Anna M. died at 
the age of twenty-one. 

Horace G. Broadhurst, reared upon his 
father's farm, was a student in the Hughes- 
ian Free School, and afterward entered 
the Holicong public school, while subse- 
quently he becarne a student in the Doyles- 
town English and Classical Seminary, in 
which he completed his education. Return- 
ing to his father's home he then took charge 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



393 



of the farm, wliich he continued to manage 
from 1878 until 18S8. In the latter year he 
removed to his present farm, which is the 
property of his wife, and here he has resided 
continuously since. This property has con- 
siderable historic importance. It is known 
as the Samuel Johnson farm, and previous 
to the Civil war was one of the stations on 
the famous "Underground Railway." Upon 
this farm is also located the famous Holi- 
cong well, which is seemingly bottomless, 
opening into what is supposed to an ex- 
tensive subterranean lake. Mr. Broadhurst 
has placed the farm under excellent con- 
dition, the fields being highly cultivated, and 
therefore returning to him splendid crops. 
He also conducts a commission business in 
connection with his agricultural interests, 
attending the market once a week, and is 
one of the best known and most reliable 
business men of Buckingham township. 
October 2-:>, 1877, Mr. Broadhurst married 
Miss Fannie Lovett, a daughter of David 
H. and iNIercy A. (Janney) Lovett, of 
Lower Makefield township. There was one 
child of this marriage, Anna M., now de- 
ceased, and the mother passed away August 
9, 1879. January 15, 1884, Mr. Broadhurst 
wedded Miss Fanny J. Smith, a daughter 
of Benjamin W. and Sarah J. (Atkinson) 
Smith, who were former owners of the 
farm upon which Air. and :^Irs. Broadhurst 
reside, and whereon they remained until 
their death. Mr. and Mrs. Broadhurst are 
the parents of five children: Sarah J.; Jo- 
seph P.; Edgar S. ; Ellen D. ; and Miriam 
G. The first named is a graduate of the 
West Chester State Normal School, and 
the other children are being provided with 
liberal educational privileges. ;Mr. Broad- 
hurst is a Democrat in his political affilia- 
tion, and has been honored with some local 
offices. He served as a numerator of the 
census in 1880, and in 1890 became justice 
of the peace under appointment of Gover- 
nor Patteson. 



G. W. RUBINKAM. At a time when 
early settlements were being made in 
Bucks county, the Rubinkam family was 
established within its borders. It was the 
great-grandfather of our subject who was 
the progenitor of the family in Pennsylvania, 
coming to this country from Wales in colo- 
nial days. The religious faith of the family 
was that of the Presbyterian church. Jesse 
Rubinkam, grandfather of G. W. Rubin- 
kam, was born September 16, 1777, in Bucks 
county. He followed the occupation of 
farming, and became a successful agricul- 
turist, widely and favorably known in his 
community. His political views were in 
accord with the principles of Democracy, 
but he never aspired to office. He wedded 
Mary Mullen, who was born in Bucks coun- 
ty, May 12, 1775. Her people were mem- 
bers of the Society of Friends, but Mrs. 
Mary Rubinkam worshiped with her hus- 
band in the Presbyterian church, and 
through her devotion to the cause of Chris- 
tianity she at one time held the old Ne- 



shaminy church together. This worthy 
couple were the parents of five children: 
Sarah, William, Agnes, Nathaniel and Mar- 
garet. 

Nathaniel Rubinkam was born in an old 
historic house near the Neshaminy post- 
office. In his youth he early became familiar 
with farming, and devoted his energies to 
agricultural pursuits until the time of his 
marriage. He afterward engaged in the 
flour and feed business in Philadelphia, 
and subsequently returned to Bucks county, 
where he purchased the farm upon which 
his son G. W. Rubinkam now resides. He 
did not seek to figure prominently in public 
life, being content to do his duty as a pri- 
vate citizen, and so honorable and straight- 
forward was his career that he had not an 
enemy in the world. His early political 
allegiance was given to the Democracy, but 
in 1862 he became an advocate of Repub- 
lican principles, and took an active inter- 
est in the growth and success of that party 
from that time on. He was very patriotic 
and loyal to the Union cause, and upheld 
the war policy of the president and gave 
generous assistance to many soldiers' fam- 
ilies in this locality. The cause of education 
found in him a warm friend, and for twen- 
ty-five years he did effective service as a 
school director. He possessed a social na- 
ture and kindly disposition, and the poor 
and needy ever found in him a friend. A 
bright and intelligent man, reliable in busi- 
ness, trustworthy in all relations, he was 
regarded as one of the faithful followers 
of the Neshmainy Presbyterian church, in 
which he served as trustee and treasurer 
for many years. He died December 6, 1872, 
and was survived by his wife until 1887. 
She bore the maiden name of Anna Maria 
Winkoop, and was also a native of Bucks 
county. Her father, William Winkoop, was 
born in this county and descended from an 
old colonial family of Holland origin. The 
name figures prominently in connection witli 
the history of Bucks county, for through 
various generations members of the family 
have been prominent in promoting the ma- 
terial, social and moral upbuilding of the 
community. To William Winkoop and his 
wife were born seven children : Thomas, 
Gerardus, Christopher, Margaret, Mary, 
Catherine and Anna M. 

To Nathaniel E. and Anna ]\I. Rubin- 
kam were born seven children: Mary F.; 
Jesse, who served for three years in the 
First New Jersey Cavalry, was taken pris- 
oner and sent to Richmond, where he con- 
tracted a disease from which he never re- 
covered; William, who also served in the 
war of the rebellion, but lived to return 
home ; Henry, a graduate of Princeton 
College, for which he prepared at the old 
Tennent School, after which he went to 
Allegheny Seminary at Allegheny, Pennsyl- 
vania, but died of hasty consumption before 
completing the course ; Elizabeth, who be- 
came the wife of Silas Yerkes and died in 
Plainfield, New Jersey ; G. W. ; Nathaniel 
I., who attended the Tennent school and 
was afterward graduated with honors from 



394 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Princeton College and from the Princeton 
Theological Seniinai-y. He resides at Chi- 
cago, and the degree of Doctor of Philos- 
ophy has been conferred upon him by Basle 
University, Switzerland. 

G. W. Rubinkam was born on the old 
family homestead where he now resides, 
August 12, 1849, and pursued his education 
in the common schools and in Tennent's 
school. Liberal mental training well 
equipped him for life's practical duties, and 
in early manhood he successfully engaged 
in teaching school. Later he occupied a 
position in a railroad office at Mauch Chunk, 
but upon the sudden death of his father he 
returned home and purchased the old home- 
stead property, after which he cared for his 
mother. He paid a large price for the 
farm, incurring considerable indebtedness 
in order to do this, but he possessed strong 
determination and unremitting energy, and 
in course of time was enabled to discharge 
his financial obligation. As his moneyed 
resources increased he also bought another 
farm, and he has continuously carried on 
general agricultural pursuits. He has been 
well known as a market man for twenty- 
six years, only missing six market days in 
all that time, and doing a regular commis- 
sion business. He is the architect of his 
own fortunes, and has builded wisely and 
well. When the old homestead came into 
his possession the buildings thereon were 
of a poor character and of primitive con- 
striction. These he has torn away, and 
erected in their stead fine modern buildings, 
including a substantial residence, a large 
barn, and all the necessary outbuildings 
for the shelter of grain and stock. Indeed, 
he has made splendid improvements upon 
his place, and his home stands upon a nat- 
ural building site, commanding a tine view 
of the surrounding country. There are 
forest and fruit groves, and the various 
features of the place constitute it one of the 
best improved farm properties of the local- 
ity. Mr. Rubinkam is a good financier, 
having marked enterprise and capability, 
and certainly deserves great credit for what 
he has accomplished. In his political views 
Mr. Rubinkam is a Republican, stanch and 
unfaltering in his advocacy of the prin- 
ciples of the party. He is regarded as one 
of the leaders in his township, and always 
attends its conventions and never fails to 
cast his ballot at the elections. He has 
filled most of the township positions, has 
long been school director, and has also been 
president of the School Directors' Associa- 
tion. He is likewise a director of the Farm- 
ers' and Mechanics' Fire Insurance Com- 
pany, acting as one of its five managers. 
This company was organized in 1843 and 
has had a prosperous existence. Mr. Rub- 
inkam is also very active in church work, 
and has been the valued superintendent of 
the Sunday-school at Neshaminy for several 
years. He has also been elder of the church, 
its secretary and clerk of the session, and 
is a very regular attendant upon its serv- 
ices. He has been secretary and treasurer 



of the Bucks County Sabbath School Asso- 
ciation, and is now filling the office of jus- 
tice of the peace, in which capacity he has 
served for ten years. 

December 18, 1873, Mr. Ribinkam was 
married by Dr. Greenough, of Philadel- 
phia, to Rachel C. Buckman, who was born 
in Bucks county, and is a daughter of Will- 
iam and Sarah Buckman, of a leading 
Quaker family of this part of the state. Her 
father has lived the quiet life of a farmer, 
but his genuine worth has made him highly 
respected. There was one child born of 
this marriage, Mary, who is now acting as 
secretary for her uncle, A. Buckman, the 
president of the Windstorm Insurance 
Company of Iowa. I\Ir. Rubinkam was 
called upon to mourn the loss of his first 
wife in 1876, her death occurring March 18, 
of that year, when she was twenty-two 
years of age. March 7, 1878, he wedded 
Sarah C. Shoemaker, who was to him a 
faithful and devoted wife and helpmate. 
Her father, Nathan Shoemaker, belonged 
to an honored and prominent colonial fam- 
ily of eastern Pennsylvania. He carried on 
agricultural pursuits â–  quite successfully in 
his younger years, and later turned his 
attention to the real estate business and to 
building operations in Philadelphia, where 
he yet resides. He is a member of the 
Friends' meeting. By her marriage she be- 
came the mother of seven children : Nathan 
I., a farmer and market man living on the 
old homestead ; Jesse, who is a book- 
keeper of Philadelphia ; Edna M., a grad- 
uate of the Doylestown high school and of 
Pierce's Business College of Philadelphia, 
and now occupying a position as sten- 
ographer in that city; Carrie, died at the 
age of two years ; Lillian Geraldine, at 
home; Samuel S., died in infancy; and 
Elizabeth Y., at home. February 4, 1900, 
]\Irs. Sarah C. Rubinkam passed away. 
She worshipped with her husband in the 
Neshaminy church, was a devoted Chris- 
tian woman and a devoted wife and loving 
mother. February 6, 1902, Mr. Rubinkam 
was again married. Miss Elizabeth Shoe- 
maker McCarter becoming his wife. She 
was born in Montgomery county, Pennsyl- 
vania, a daughter of James and Rebecca S. 
(Shoemaker) McCarter. The Shoemaker 
family was established in Pennsylvania in 
colonial days, and its representatives have 
been prominent in community and state af- 
fairs. The McCarter family is of Scotch- 
Irish lineage. James McCarter was a son 
of Joseph McCarter, and was connected 
with a distinguished old Presbyterian fam- 
ily. He became a leading agriculturist 
of his community, was a Republican in poli- 
tics, served as school director, and held 
other minor positions. Both he and his 
wife reside in Ivyland and they are affiliated 
with the Presbyterian church. Their chil- 
dren are: Sarah R. Magee ; Elizabeth, now 
Mrs. Rubinkam ; and Mary, the wife of 
E. P. Carroll. Mr. Rubinkam is a member 
of the Historical Society of Bucks county, 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



395 



and both he and his wife are favorably- 
known here, enjoying the warm regard of 
manv friends. 



THE HOGELAND FAMILY. The 
first American ancestor of the Hoge- 
lands^ of Bucks county was Dirck Janse 
Hoogelandt, who emigrated from Maer- 
senoven, in the province of Utrecht, Hol- 
land, in 1657, and settled at Flatbush, 
Long Island. He married October 8, 
1662, Anneken Hanse Bergen, widow of 
Jan Clerq, and daughter of Hans Han- 
sen, a native of Bergen, Norway, a ship 
carpenter, who had migrated to Holland 
and thence to New Netherlands in 1633. 
Many of his descendants eventually 
found their way to Bucks county later, 
as three of his granddaughters married 
Kroesens, one married Johannes Sleght, 
and a fifth Gysbert Bogart, an early set- 
tler in Bucks. Dirck Janse Hoogelanat, 

married second Elizabeth . His 

children were: Annetje, baptized 1663; 
Joris (or George); Lysbeth; William 
Dirckse; Jan Dirckse; Sara and Necltje. 
Of these William Dirckse took the oath 
of allegiance at Flatbush in 1687 as a 
native, and conveyed land there in 1702. 
He is said to have settled later on Staten 
Island. He had children, Dirck, Eliza- 
beth and Marytje. 

Dirck Hogelandt, born at Flatbush, 
Long Island, November 14, 1698, married 
October 15, 1720, Maria Slodt,- born in 
New York, November 25, 1700, and re- 
moved to Southampton township, Bucks 
county, where he purchased land in 1722. 
He became a large land owner and a 
prominent and influential man in. the 
Dutch colony of Bucks, and was a mem- 
ber of colonial assembly for the years 
1752, 1753, 1754, and '1755. He died 
February 6, 1778, and his wnfe Mary died 
July 6, 1777. They were the parents of 
eleven children, and have left numer- 
ous descendants in Bucks. The children 
were: 

1. Jane, born in Bucks county, August 
24, 1721, married Rev. P. H. Dorsius, 
pastor of the Dutch Reformed church of 
Northampton and Southampton; she 
died December 17, 1793. 

2. George, born August 24, 1723, died 
February 17, 1778, married (first) Oc- 
tober 4, 1760, Maria Schenck, and had one 
child, Euphemia; and (second) July 30, 
1767, Mary Wynkoop, and had Derick, 

1 Christopher Hooglandt emigrated from Haer- 
lem, and married, June 28, 1661, Catharine Cregiers, 
and had children, Dirck, Lysbeth, Martyn, Christo- 
pher, Franz, Denys, Jacob and Harman, some of whom 
settled in Ulster county. New York, and others in New 
Jersey. It is possible that Jacob Hogelandt, who mar- 
ried Joanna Vandegrift and had children baptized at 
Southampton as early as 1744, was of this family. 

3 The Slodt family of New York are probably 
distinct from the Sleght or Slecht family of Long Is- 
land, who are the ancesters of the Slacks of Makeiield 
and Sleghts who were early settlers in North and 
Southampton. 



born July 25, 1769, and George, born 
June 22, 1771. 

3. John, born 1725, married Cornelia 
Stoothoof and had several children. 

4. Maria, born June 16, 1728, married 
January 20, 1757, Giles Craven, died in 

1777. 

5. Catharine, born October 26, 1730, 
married October 22, 1766, Harman Van- 
sant. 

6. Sarah, born February 16, I733> died 
unmarried July 3, i777- 

7. Elizabeth, born August 16, 1735, 
died in Wrightstown, February 27, 1786, 
unmarried. 

8. Daniel, born April 14, 1738; see for- 
ward. 

9. Derick, born May 26, 1740, married 
1769, Idah Bennett, died February 5, 
1811. 

10. Benjamin, born December 21, 1742, 
a merchant at Philadelphia, died No- 
vember 19, 1792. 

11. Anna, born April 20, 1748, married 
Jacob Bennett. 

DANIEL HOGELAND, son of Dirck 
and Mary (Sleght) Hogeland, was bap- 
tized at the Southampton church, April 
3, 1738. In 1760 his father had pur- 
chased, 297 acres of land on the county 
line in Southampton, and upon this tract 
Daniel took up his residence at about 
the time of its purchase, his father con- 
veying it to him in I774- He was a 
blacksmith by trade, but probably de- 
voted himself to the vocation of a farmer 
on taking possession of this large tract. 
He was a captain of militia during the 
revolution, and saw active service under 
Captain John Keller. He married Elsie 
Kroesen, May 23, 1761. He died in De- 
cember, 1813, and his widow in 1823. 
They had four children: Derrick K., bap- 
tized April 26, 1762; Elshie (Alice) mar- 
ried Harman Vansant; Hendrick, bap- 
tized May 5, 1766, married, August 2, 
1787. Rebecca Wynkoop, and died before 
his father, leaving one son, John Wyn- 
koop Hogeland, (his widow married 
George Fetters in 1796); and M"aria, who 
married Abraham Stevens, September 
27, 1789. The old homestead was par- 
titioned among the two daughters and 
Derrick K. in 1815. It extended from 
the counfcy line to the Street road, just 
above Feasterville, and the greater part 
of it remained in the tenure of their re- 
spective heirs until the present genera- 
tion. 

DERRICK KROESEN HOGE- 
LAND, son of Daniel and Alice Kroe- 
sen Hogeland was born on the old home- 
stead April 26, 1762, and was iDaptized at 
Southampton church on May 23, 1762., 
He was a justice of the peace in South- 
ampton for nearly fifty years. He died 
December 10, i837- His wife was Jo- 
hannah Stevens whom he married May 
IS, 1783; she w-as born July i, 1764; they 



396 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



were the parents of twelve children, viz.: 

1. Daniel, born November i, 1783, died 
November 28, 1817. He married Cor- 
nelia and had children: Charlotte; 

Ann Eliza, married Samuel Winder; 
William, Charles, John, Daniel and 
Henry Hogeland. 

2. John, born March 5, 1785, died Feb- 
ruary 3, 1847, was twice married. 

3. Sarah, born June 10, 1787, died Sep- 
tember 26, 1863, married John Kroesen. 

4. Henry, born January 22, 1789, died 
June 16, 1855. 

5. Benjamin, born February 25, 1791, 
died September 9, 1816, children, Jacob 
L. and Mary Hogeland. 

6. Abraham, born September 16, 1792^ 
died December 25, 1863. 

7. Isaac, twin brother of Abraham7 
born September 16, 1792, died September 
7, 1874- 

8. William, born 1795, died 1796. 

9. William, born May 3, 1797, died 
March 21, 1870. 

10. Elcie, born April i, 1800, died De- 
cember 28, 1866, married Lefferts. 

11. Maria, born July 22, 1802, died Sep- 
tember 12, 1836, married Wyn- 

koop. 

12. Elias, born August 7, 1805, died 
August 22, 1828. 

ABRAHAM HOGELAND, sixth child 
of Derrick K. and Johanna Stevens 
Hogeland, born September 16, 1792, 
married March 10, 1824. Mary Ann Fen- 
ton, and had twelve children: 

1. Joseph Hogeland, married Evelina 
Banes, who died July, 1885. They had 
children: Mary Louisa; Sarah; Gusta- 
vus; Adella; Jane; and Anna Elizabeth, 
wife of John Vandegrift. 

2. William, married Louisa Hogeland 
and had children: William, Mary, Jose- 
phine and Jane. 

3. Elias, see forward. 

4. Susannah, married Henry Lefferts. 

5. Joanna, widow of Isaac Cornell 
Hobensack. 

6. John, died August, 1886, married 
Keziah D. Willard, and had: Albert; 
Mary, died young; Horace B., Newlin 
F. and John. 

7. Morris, died May, 1866, married 
Mary Jane Willard, and had: Ella, Mar- 
garet and Abraham. Latter di»d young. 

8. Theodore, died January, 1869, mar- 
ried Rachel White, daughter of George, 
and had, Elizabeth and Emily and 
George, deceased. 

9. Frank Hogeland, Esq., of South- 
ampton. 

10. Charles, died June 12. 1879, mar- 
ried Katharine Cornell, died June i, 
1883, and had: Elias, H. Voorhees, and 
Maria. 

11. Abner, died young. 

12. Anna, died young. 

Abraham, the father of the above chil- 
dren, was a soldier in the war of 1812-14. 
He was a harness maker by trade, a 



prominent man in the community, and 
served ten years as justice. 

ELIAS HOGELAND, third son of 
Abraham and Mary (Fenton) Hogeland, 
was born in Southampton township, Feb- 
ruary 22, 1829, and still resides there. He 
received his education at the public and 
private schools of that vicinity. Arriv- 
ing at manhood he married Elizabeth, 
daughter of Edward and Mary Van- 
artsdalen, and lived for a time on his 
father's farm. In the early '60s he purchased 
his present farm of fifty acres on which 
he has since resided, being one of the 
enterprising and successful farmers of 
that vicinity. He was sheriff of Bucks 
county for the term of 1869-72. His chil- 
dren are: Howard, married Rachel 
Woodington; Abraham, married Mary 
Walton; Anna; Mary; Carrie, married 
William Yerkes, and has had ten chil- 
dren ; Theodore, now living in Montana ; 
Isaac, married Luella Wright; Morris, 
deceased; Elizabeth; Elias, deceased; 
Frank, married Isabel Risler and they 
have two children, Anna F. and Newlin. 

FRANK HOGELAND, of Southamp- 
ton, seventh son of Abraham and Mary 
Ann (Fenton) Hogeland, was born in 
Southampton township, on the old home- 
stead, May 15, 1841, and received his ed- 
ucation at the public schools of that vi- 
cinity. He has been a farmer nearly all 
his life, purchasing his first farm in 1865 
and conducting it for over thirty years. 
In the spring of 1904 he purchased a 
property in the village of Southampton- 
ville and removed there, leaving the farm 
to the management of his son George. 
He was first elected justice of the peace 
in 1872, and has served continuously 
since, and is now serving his seventh 
consecutive term. He was twice mar- 
ried, his first wife being Alice, daugh- 
ter of Charles and Elizabeth Rhoads, by 
whom he had one child, Charles R., born 
May 27, 1866. He married second March 
4, 1875, Emma, daughter of George and 
Anna Saurman, who was born April 15, 
1850. By her he has had the following 
children: Carrie S., born December 14, 
1875, married R. Monroe Stout, of South- 
ampton; George, born October 30, 1878, 
married Emily Barber; Mildred born De- 
cember 22, 1891. 



ISAAC HOGELAND. seventh child 
and sixth son of Derrick K. and Jo- 
hanna (Stevens) Hogeland, born in 
Southampton, September 16, 1792, mar- 
ried, December 23, 1819, Phebe, daugh- 
ter of Joseph and Mary States, who was 
born January 18, 1795. and died January 
II, 1873. Their children were six in 
number, viz: i. William States, see for- 
ward: 2. Julia Ann, born June 13, 1823, 
married Charles Tillyer; 3. Louisa, born 
Februarv 2, 1826, married William Hoge- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



397 



land; 4. Alfred, born March 12, 1828; 

5. Abraham, born November 16, 1831; 

6. Harriet, born July 5, 1834, married 
Alfred Johnson. 

WILLIAM S. HOGELAND, eldest 
son of Isaac and Phebe (States) Hoge- 
land, was born in Southampton town- 
ship, near Feasterville, October 7, 1820. 
Until ten years of age he resided with 
his grandmother, from which time he 
has resided on the farm where he was 
born, inheriting it at his father's decease; 
he conducted it until 1874, when he retired 
from active work. He has served as town- 
ship assessor at different periods for about 
eighteen years, and has also filled the posi- 
tion of auditor for the county. He has 
been the owner for many years of the his- 
toric "Buck Ta-«*ern" near Feasterville. He 
has never married. 

JOHN HOGELAND, son of Abraham 
and Mary Ann (Fenton) Hogeland, was 
born on the old Hogeland homestead in 
Southampton, January 19, 1834, and died 
there August 10, 1886. He was reared on 
the old homestead and acquired his edu- 
cation at the local schools. On his mar- 
riage to Keziah D. Willard, January 24, 
1856, he took charge of one of his fathers 
farms and conducted it until the death of 
his father in 1865, when he acquired 
seventy-two acres of the old homestead and 
took up his residence thereon, and con- 
tinued to reside there until his death, and 
it is still the residence of his widow and 
his son John. In addition to conducting 
the home farm he carried on an extensive 
butchering business. He was a conscient- 
ious and upright man. and was much re- 
spected in the community in which he lived. 
In 1866 he united himself with the Old 
School Baptist church of Southampton 
and was a deacon and trustee of the church 
for many years prior to his death. He mar- 
ried, January 24, 1856, Keziah D. Willard, 
born in Northampton township, July 23, 
1837, daughter of James V. and Mary 
(Delaney) Willard. of Northampton town- 
ship, and a granddaughter of Jesse and 
Margaret (Van Artsdalen) Willard of Ab- 
ington. The children of John and Keziah 
D. Hogeland were: i. James Willard, born 
January .24, 1857, died ^larch 5. 1857 : 2. Al- 
bert H., born January 10. 1858, graduated 
at Lafayette College in 1877 as a civil en- 
gineer, and secured a position in 1879 in 
Minnesota on a local railroad, and later 
accepted a position with the Great North- 
ern Railroad Company, and has risen to 
the position of chief engineer of the road. 
He was married in Januar}-. 1889. to Eliza- 
beth Trego, and has one daughter, Anna 
T., born September 15, 1892; 3. Horace B., 
born March 2, 1862, see forward : 4. Charles 
M., born November 2, 1864, died young; 5. 
Mary W.,born 1867, died 1870; 6. John, born 
December 7, 1868, and was educated at the 
local schools and at Millersville State Nor- 
mal School, and has charge now of the 



homestead farm, which he has conducted 
for the last fourteen years ; he married 
December 31, 1890, Flora Krewsen, their 
children are: Blanche, born July 26, 1891 ; 
Horace W., born August 4, 1893; John B., 
born May 30, 1897; and Paul P., born 
February 15, 1902. 7. Justus M., born Jan- 
uary 30, 1872, was educated at the Univer- 
sity of Minnesota, and died in Minnesota, 
July 27, 1894; 8 I. Blance, born March 5, 
1876, died Dec. 3, 1878; 9. Newlin F., born 
September 5, 1878, died November 24, 1898, 
was educated at the Newtown high school, 
supplemented by a course at Pierce's Busi- 
ness College, Philadelphia, accepted a posi- 
tion in a Philadelphia bank, and was paying 
teller in the Fourth Street National Bank 
at time of his death. 

HORACE B. HOGELAND, cashier of 
the First National Bank of Newtown, is a 
son of John and Keziah D. (Willard) 
Hogeland, and was born on the homestead 
farm in Southampton that had been the 
home of his ancestors for three generations, 
on March 23, 1862. He acquired his educa- 
tion at the public schools, supplemented by 
a term at a Philadelphia school. He en- 
tered the Newtown bank as clerk on June 
23, 1878, and after filling the positions of 
bookkeeper and teller respectively was ad- 
vanced to the position of cashier on Janu- 
ary 19, 1904. He was married February 
6, 1884, to Mary Lena Trego, daughter of 
W. Wallace and Sarah (Bennett) Trego, 
of Newtown, and they are the parents of 
two chil'lren: Alice Fitch, born June 13, 
1886, and Albert Wallace, born April 20, 
188S. 

The ancestors of Mrs. Hogeland were 
French Huguenots, she being a descendant 
in the eighth generation from Peter and 
Judith Trego, the former of whom was 
born in France in 1655, and about 1685 
emigrated to Pennsylvania and settled in 
Miidleto.vn township, Chester, (now Dela- 
ware) county, where their oldest son Jacob 
Trego was born in 1687. 

Jacob Trego married Mary Cartledge, 
daughter of Edmund and Mary Cartledge, 
of Darby, Chester county, in 1710 and set- 
tled in Merion, Chester county, from 
whence he removed to Darby in 1717 and 
died there in 1720. His widow married 
John Laycock, of Wrightstown, Bucks 
county, who had come from Lancashire, 
England, in 1717, and purchased land in 
the neighborhood of Wrightstown. 

John Trego, only son of Jacob and Mary 
(Cartledge) Trego, was born in Merion, 
Chester county, Pennsylvania, July 6. 1715, 
and came with his mother and stepfather 
to Wrightstown in 1722. In 1736 they con- 
veyed to him a farm in Upper Makefield, 
near the lines of Buckingham and Wrights- 
town, where he lived until his death in 
1791, leaving sons Jacob and William, and 
four daughters. 

William Trego, born in Upper Make- 
field. March 16, 1744, was the second son 
of John and Hannah (Lester) Trego, and 
lived all his life there, dying in 1827. He 



398 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



married Rebecca Hibbs, September 19, 
1768, and had eleven children. 

Mahlon Trego, second son of WilHam 
and Rebecca, was born November 25, 1770, 
and married Rachel Briggs, daughter of 
Joseph and Elizabeth, who bore him thir- 
teen children: Charles B., the famous 
scholar, state geologist, surveyor, professor 
in the University of Pennsylvania, etc., 
born II mo. 25, 1794, died ii mo. 10, 1874, 
married Martha Smith, of Buckingham. 

2. Albert, born 1796, died 1797. 3. Phineas, 
born I mo. 12, 1796, died 5 mo. 21, 1875. 
4. Elizabeth, born 11 mo. 26, 1798, died 6 
mo. II, 1881, married John Merrick; 5. 
Louis, born 11 mo. i, 1801. 6. Robert S., 
born 9 mo. 24, 1803, died 3 mo. 29, 1886. 

7. Mary, born 9 mo. 14, 1805, died in Illi- 
nois, unmarried. 8. James, born 8 mo. i, 
1807, removed to Illinois in 1858. 9. Jo- 
seph B., born 5 mo. 19, 1809, removed to Il- 
linois in 1839. 10. Cyrus, born 9 mo. 15, 
1810, died 12 mo. 11, 1866. 11. Edward, 
born II mo. 3, 1812, died December 12, 
1886. 12. Mahlon, born 9 mo. 8, 1815, died 
unmarried in 1839. 13. Morris, born I mo. 
18, 1819, died 10 mo. 14, 1843. Mahlon, the 
father, died in 1849, and his wife in 1840. 

Edward Trego, eleventh child of Mahlon 
and Rachel (Briggs) Trego, born 11 mo. 

3, 1812, married Sarah Fenton, born 1817, 
daughter of Richard and Elizabeth, on 
4 mo. 21, 1836 and had seven children, the 
eldest of whom, "William Wallace Trego, 
of Newtown, born March 20, 1837, is the 
father of Mrs. Hogeland. Her mother, 
Sarah Bennett, born August 9, 1841, is a 
daughter of John and Abi Bennett, of Up- 
per Makefield. 

MORRIS HOGELAND, seventh child 
of Abraham and Mary Ann (Fenton) 
Hogeland, was born on the old family 
homestead in Southampton in 1835, and 
died May 6, 1866. He was reared on the 
old homestead and received his education 
in the local schools. On arriving at man- 
hood he took up the vocation of a farmer, 
and after his marriage took charge of one 
of his father's farms in Southampton, which 
he conducted until his death. Lie was 
affiliated with the Baptist church of South- 
ampton, and was a consistant Christian 
and highly respected in t^ie community. 
His wife was Mary Jane Willard, born near 
Rocksville, April 6, 1839, a daughter of 
James V. and Mary (Delaney) Willard. 
and a granddaughter of Jesse and Mar- 
garet (Van Artsdalen) Willard. Mrs. 
Hogeland is still living in Southampton. 
The children of Morris and Mary Jane 
(Willard) Hogeland are as follows: i. 
Ella, born February 25, 1861, married 
Holmes DeCoursey. of Warminster, and 
has two children, — Etta L., born September 
3, 1884; and Morris H., born August 9, 
T890. 2. Margaret W.. married Albert C. 
Twining, and has two children, — Jessie W., 
born November 28, 188S, and A. Chester, 
born July 18, 1892. 3. Abraham, born May 

8, 1865, died in infancy. 



James V. Willard, the father of Mrs. 
Mary Jane Hogeland, and also of Keziah 
D. Hogeland, widow of John Hogeland, of 
Southampton, was a son of Jesse Willard, 
and was born in Abington, Montgomery 
county, April 23, 1806. His father, Jesse 
Willard, was twice married ; by his first 
wife, who was Wynkoop, he had two sons, 
David and Wynkoop. He married (sec- 
ond) Margaret Van Artsdalen, and had by 
her seven children, as follows: Jesse; 
Esther; James; Charles, married (first) 
Rachel Stockdale and (second) Phebe Lee; 
Jackson, never married ; William, married 
and had two children, Geary, and Esther; 
and Jane, married Harmon Marshall, and 
had four children, all of whom are de- 
cea'sed. 

James V. Willard, a third child of Jesse 
and Margaret (Van Artsdalen) Willard, 
married Mary Delaney and settled near 
Rocksville, Northampton township, Bucks 
county. _ They were the parents of thir- 
teen children : 

1. Jesse, born December 19, 1830, married 
Emma C. Streeper and had two children, 
xA.ry W. and Harold E. 

2. Eliza Ann, born May 2, 1832, mar- 
ried James T. Blair in 1852, and has five 
children, Frank P., Mary W., Orvilla, Ida 
Belle, and William James. 

3. Matilda, born September 18, 1833, mar- 
ried Samuel Stillwell, of Doylestown ; chil- 
dren : Willard, Irene, John W. and Sarah. 

4. John, born December 9, 1835, died 
March 7, 1866. 

5. Keziah D., widow of John Hogeland, 
born July 23, 1837 (see sketch). 

6. Mary Jane, see above. 

7. Emily, born June 22, 1840. married 
Martin V. Dager, and has children; Char- 
les O., Jesse, and Martin V. B. 

8. Julia, born August 30, 1842, married 
John Fenton, and has children ; James M., 
Simon, Anna, Morris, Mary W., J. Pur- 
ington, John, and Blanche. 

9. Loisa, born June 30, 1844, married 
Samuel D. Cornell, and has children; 
David, Harold, Horace, and Mary W. 

10. Esther, born August 14, 1846, died in 
infancy. 

11. J. Monroe, born February 13, 1848, 
married Sarah Stout, and has one daugh- 
ter, Florence G. 

12. Josephine, born November 4, 1849, 
married Morris H. Trego, and 'has one 
daughter, Marian. 

13. Margaret, born December 16, 1851, 
died at the age of ten years. 

(For ancestry of Mary Jane Hogeland 
and Keziah D. Hogeland, see Willard 
family.) 



THE WILLARD FAMILY have been 
residents of lower Bucks county and ad- 
joining parts of Montgomery county for 
the pilst two hundred years. George Wil- 
lard, of Marple township. Chester county, 
on Januarj' 24. 1696, purchased 100 acres of 
land in Northampton township. Bucks 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



399 



county, and on August 23, 1697, purchased 
two hundred and forty-six acres in South- 
ampton township, same county, on which 
he then settled. February 17, 1699, he 
purchased one hundred acres adjoining his 
last purchase and lived thereon until his 
death prior to 1718, when his executors 
conveyed his land, reciting his will as dated 
January 24, 1706. He left one son George, 
who was named as executor, with John 
Shaw, a neighbor. 

George Willard, Jr., died in Northamp- 
ton prior to 1739, at which date letters of 
administration were granted on his estate. 
It is not known by the present generation 
of the family what children he left or how 
they are descended from George Willard 
who settled in Bucks county in 1697. Jon- 
athan and George Willard were residents 
of Northampton township in 1775, and 
were members of Captain Henry Lott's 
company of Northampton Associators, and 
as such participated in the Jersey cam- 
paign of 1776-7, being stationed at Billings- 
port. New Jersey, November 16, 1777. As 
tradition relates that the father of Jesse 
Willard (an account of whom and his de- 
scendants follows) served in the revolu- 
tionary war in a Bucks county company, 
he was doubtless a son of either Jonathan 
or George above mentioned. Jonathan 
Willard died early in the century, leaving 
a widow Elizabeth, who died in 1825, at 
the age of ninety-three years, and a large 
familv of children. 

JESSE WILLARD, the grandfather 
of Dr. J. Monroe Willard. principal 
of the Philadelphia Normal School !or 
Girls, and of Mrs. Keziah D. Hogeland, 
and Mary Jane Hogeland, of Southampton, 
Bucks county, born about 1765 or earlier, 
resided in early life in the township of 
Moreland, now Montgomery county. On 
January 7, 1786, he purchased three tracts 
of land" in Southampton, Bucks county, and 
settled thereon, but in 1799 sold his Bucks 
county real estate and is said to have re- 
turned to Moreland.- Jesse Willard was 
married twice, his first wife being a Wyn- 
koop, his second Margaret Van Artsdalen 
whom he married December 20, 1800. He 
had two sons, David and Wynkoop, by his 
first marriage, and by his second marriage 
seven children : Jesse, Esther, James V.. 
Charles, Jackson, William and Jane. 
Charles married, first, Rachel Stockdale. 
and second Phebe Lee. William married 

Christiana ■ • and left two children, 

William and Esther. Jane married Har- 
mon Marshall, and had four children, two 
of whom are deceased. 

James V. Willard, third child of Jesse 
and Margaret Van Artsdalen Willard, was 
born in Moreland, ^Montgomery county, 
April 23, 1806, and married Mary Delany 
(born April 30, 1812), daughter of William 
and Mary Delaney. of Southampton, Bucks 
county, on February 25, 1830. He settled 
near Rocksville. Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania. They were the parents of thirteen 
children : 



1. Jesse, born December 19, 1830, mar- 
ried Emma C. Streeper, and had two chil- 
dren, Mary W. and Harold Ethelbert. 
Jesse was a teacher and was drowned at 
Flat Rock Dam, Schuylkill river, August 

15, 1859- 

2. Eliza Ann, born May 2, 1832, married 
James T. Blair in 1852 and had five chil- 
dren : Frank P., Mary W., Orilla, Ida Belle 
and William James. 

3. Matilda, born September 18, 1833, 
married Samuel Stilwell, of Doylestown, 
and had four children : James Willard, 
Irene, John Willard and Sarah. Matilda 
died May li, 1901. 

4. John v., born December 9, 1835, died 
March 7. 1866, unmarried. 

5. Keziah D., born July 23, 1837, married 
John Hogeland. 

6. Mary Jane, born April 6, 1839, married 
Morris Hogeland. 

7. Emily M., born June 22, 1840, married 
Martin V. B. Dager, and had three chil- 
dren: Charles O. Dager, D. D. S. ; Jesse, 
and Martin V. B. Jesse died in infancj'. 

8. Julia, born August 30, 1842, married 
John C. Fenton and had eight children: 
James Monroe W., Simon, Anna, Morris, 
Mary W., J. Purington, John and Blanche. 

9. Louisa, born June 30, 1844, married 
Samuel D. Cornell, and had four children: 
David, Harold, Horace and Mary W.' 
Louisa died September 23, 1904. 

10. Esther, born August 14, 1846, died 
in infancy. 

ir. James Monroe, born February 13, 

1848. married Sarah A. Stout, and had one 
daughter, Florence Gillingham. 

12. Josephine Delany, born November 4, 

1849, married Morris H. Trego, and had 
one daughter, Marian W. 

13. Margaret, born December 16, 1851, 
died October 8, 1862. 

On the death of his father, J. Monroe 
Willard accepted a position as teacher in a 
little school near Willow Grove, at a place 
known as Kirk's Corner, and taught there 
for a short time. Finding that it was pos- 
sible for him to return to finish his course 
at the Philadelphia High School, he re- 
signed this position. After finishing his 
course at the high school, he taught for 
three months in Springfield school, Spring- 
field township, Montgomery county, Penn- 
sylvania. He began his career as a teacher 
in the public schools of Philadelphia in 
January, 1866, as principal of the Washing- 
ton Consolidated School, Twentj^'-third Sec- 
tion : January I, 1868, he was made prin- 
cipal of the Randolph School, Twenty-fifth 
Section ; November, 1869, elected to the 
principalship of the Forest School, Twen- 
ty-eighth Section ; in March, 1880, to the 
principalship of the Germantown School, 
Twenty-second Section, which he resigned 
July 7. 1896, upon his election to the prin- 
cipalship of the Northeast Manual Train- 
ing School, which position he relinquished 
in September, 1898, to become principal of 
the Philadelphia Normal School for Girls. 
In April, 1903, the honorary degree of D. 



400 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Lit. (Doctor of Letters) was conferred 
upon him by the Board of Public Educa- 
tion in recognition of the "long service 
and eminent ability of James INIonroe 
Willard and the fact that he stands at the 
head of the educational corps in the tram- 
ing of young ladies in the public schools 
of this district, conferring upon him an 
honorary degree worthy of his literary and 
scholastic attainments, and for the honor- 
able distinction he has attained in his years 
of service in the public schools of the First 
School District of Pennsylvania." 

Dr. Willard has always, been actively in- 
terested in educational matters. He was a 
charter member of the Teachers' Institute 
of Philadelphia, and president of the same 
for two years, 1887-88. He was also one 
of the organizers of the Educational Club 
of Philadelphia, and its president for the 
first five years, 1892-96. He was vice-pres- 
ident of the Association of Colleges and 
Preparatory Schools of the Middle States 
and Maryland for one year, 1903. He was 
also instrumental in forming the Philadel- 
phia Teachers' Association, and was corre- 
sponding secretary of that body for two 
years. He is also a member of the Publig 
Education Association of Philadelphia, and 
maintains his interest in Bucks county, as 
shown by his membership in its Historical 
Society. 



THE PARSONS FAMILY. The Par- 
sons family of Falls township, Bucks coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, is descended from Isaac 
Parsons, born November 12, 1748, in Penn- 
sylvania, and supposed to be the son of 
Abraham and Johanna Parsons, of Lowei 
Dublin, Philadelphia county, and mentioned 
in the will of the latter in 1779. He set- 
tled in Penns Manor, Bucks county, prior 
to the revolutionary war and later sold his 
Manor farm and purchased one in the upper 
part of Falls township between Morrisville 
and Fallsington. He was a member of St. 
James Episcopal Church of Bristol, Bucks 
county, and is buried in the old graveyard 
connected with that church beside his sec- 
ond wife, Elizabeth. His tombstone re- 
cords the fact that he was born November 
12, 1748, and died September 26, 1818. His 
first wife was a Stillwell and his second 
Elizabeth Brodnax, born May 20, 1755, died 
June IS, 1827. His children by his two 
wives were : Abraham, who died at about 
the same time as his father in Falls town- 
ship ; Rachel, born June 3, 1773, died De- 
cember 22, 1831, married Israel Bailey; 
Mary, died- November 26, 1871, married 
John Martin ; John ; Amos ; Sarah, who 
married Lemuel Crozer ; and Isaac. The 
last two were children of the second mar- 
riage. Elizabeth (Brodnax) Parsons is 
supposed to have been a daughter of 
Robert Brodnax, an early settler in Ben- 
salem township. The land purchased by 
Isaac Parsons in Upper Falls about 1790 
is still occupied by his grandson, Alfred 
M. Parsons. 



Isaac Parsons, son of Isaac and Eliza- 
beth (Brodnax) Parsons, was born in Falls 
township, July 3, 1794, and died there Au- 
gust 21, 1851. lie inherited the homestead 
of his father and lived there the greater 
part of his life, but was for a time en- 
gaged in mercantile pursuits. He married, 
April 5, 1821, Lydia Ann Anderson, born 
in New Jersey, July 18, 1801, died July 
19, 1901, one day over one hundred years 
old. She belonged to one of the oldest 
families in New Jersey, whose pioneer an- 
cestor is supposed to be Alexander Ander- 
son, who came from East Lothian, Scot- 
land, and settled in Monmouth county. 
New Jersey, about 1674, but her first known 
ancestor of whom we have any authentic 
record was Enoch Anderson, who was 
one of the early settlers on the site of 
Trenton, and one of the founders of the 
First Presbyterian Church of that city. He 
took an active part in the affairs of the 
colony and held a number of positions of 
trust. He died in 1741, leaving children: 
John; Enoch, born 1697, died 1756; Elia- 
kim; Jeremiah; Joshua; Catharme ; Sa- 
rah; Rachel; Elizabeth and Mary. His son 
Eliakim became a large landowner in Hope- 
w^ell township, now Mercer county, and 
died there in 1782, at a very advanced age. 
He married Rebecca Ely, daughter of 
George and Jane (Pettit) Ely, and had 
children: Rebecca, Catherine, Sarah, Ely 
and George. Of these Sarah married her 
lirst cousin, Josiah Anderson, son of Jere- 
miah Anderson, above mentioned, and had 
children: Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Skirm; 
George ; Joseph ; Joshua ; Achsah ; Samuel ; 
Catharine ; Dagworthy ; Rebecca. Joseph 
Anderson, son of Josiah and Sarah, mar- 
ried Sarah Norton, daughter of Joshua 
Norton, of New Jersey, and lived for a 
time in Bucks county, where his daughter, 
Lydia Ann, married Isaac Parsons, Jr. The 
children of Isaac and Lydia Ann (Ander- 
son) Parsons were: i. Elwood, born 
April 5, 1822, died October 13, 1891 ; mar- 
ried, March 26, 1851, Mercy Ann Taylor, 
of Morrisville, and had children : Anna K^., 
>\Iary T., Lydia A. and Ella. He was a 
farmer in Falls, later near Bordentown, 
New Jersey, and for several years engaged 
in the lumber business with his brothers 
Joseph C. and David Taylor at Morris- 
ville. He was one of the prominent busi- 
ness men of that community, a director of 
First National Bank of Trenton, the Bucks 
County Contributionship and the Trenton 
Bridge Company. 2. Charles A., born 
June 30, 1831, a more particular account 
of whom is given below. 3. Alfred M., 
born February 25, 1834, still living on the 
old homestead in Falls; married in 1856, 
Josephine Harnian and has children : Ed- 
ward B., Caroline, Anna H., and Gertrude. 
4. Sarah A., married Joseph Robbins. 5. 
Hilary A., marriejj William S. Mull. 6. 
Elizabeth. 7. Emma, married James New- 
bold. 8. Rose P., widow of John E. Case. 
Charles A. Parsons, son of Isaac and 
Lydia Ann (Anderson) Parsons, born in 
Falls township, Bucks county, Pennsylvan- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



401 



ia, June 30, 1831, was reared in that town- 
ship and acquired his education in Samuel 
Aaron's Academy at Norristown, Mont- 
gomery county, and at the Bellevue Acad- 
emy, at Langhorne, Bucks county. He was 
a successful farmer and a fine type of Amer- 
ican citizenship, taking a lively interest in 
the affairs of his township, county, state 
and nation, but neither seeking nor hold- 
ing public office. He died January 9, 1885, 
in his hfty-fourth year. He married jNIary 
Buckman, daughter of Spencer W. and 
Sarah Ann (Williamson) Buckman, of 
Falls township, an account of whose an- 
cestry is given later in this narrative, 
and they were the parents of the following 
named children : Lucy, married Elwood 
Tyson, and resides in Chester, Delaware 
county, Pennsylvania. Alice, married 
Charles E. Hayes, and resides in Penn Val- 
ley, Pennsylvania. Sarah B., married M. 
Harvey Ivins, and resides in Langhorne, 
Pennsylvania. Mary, married Henry Pal- 
mer, and resides in Langhorne, Pennsyl- 
vania. Elizabeth, married W. Coates Fores- 
man, and resides in Chicago, Illinois. Mar- 
garet, married Edmund D. Cook, and re- 
sides in Trenton, New Jersey. Charles A., 
married Elsie Fox, and resides in ^Morris 
Heights, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. 



REV. ABRAHAM J. FRETZ, of ^lil- 
ton. New Jersey, to whom we are indebted 
for much of the information contained in 
these pages in reference to the early Ger- 
man settlers of Bucks county, was born 
in that county, February 7, 1849, a descend- 
ant on several lines from early immigrants 
to Upper Bucks, mostly of the Mennonite 
faith, who had fled from Germany and 
Switzerland in search of religious free- 
dom. 

John Fretz, with brothers Christian and 
Mark, (the last of whom died on the voy- 
age) emigrated from near the city of Man- 
heim, grand duchy of Baden, about 1725, 
and settled in Bucks. John settled on the 
"old Fretz Homestead," in Bedminster 
township, still occupied by his descendant, 
Mahlon M. Fretz, where he died in 1772. 
He married Barbara i\Ieyer, daughter of 
Hans Meyer, who came to America abour 
1720, and they were the parents of five 
children : John, Jacob, Christian, Abraham 
and Elizabeth. He married, second, Maria 

, and had children Alark, Henry and 

Barbara. 

n. Christian Fretz, born in Bucks coun- 
ty, 1734, died there May i, 1803, inherited 
the Bedminster homestead, added to it la- 
ter by purchase, making it two hundred 
and sixty acres. He became a prominent 
man of his time in church and local af- 
fairs, adhering, like his ancestors, to the 
Mennonite faith and worshipping at the 
old Deep Run Meeting House. He mar- 
ried Barbara Oberholtzer, born in Bucks 
county, in 1737, daughter of Martin Ober- 
holtzer, a native of Germany, born 1709, 
died April 5, 1744, in Bedminster. Chris- 
26-3 



tian and Barbara were the parents of 
twelve children : John, Agnes, Joseph, Hen- 
ry, Martin, Jacob, Abraham, Isaac, Barba- 
ra, Christian, Mary and Elizabeth. 

III. Abraham Fretz, born March 30, 1769, 
died March 7, 1844, Hved and died on tn<y 
old homestead in Bedminster. He was an 
honest, upright citizen, a conscientious and 
consistent Christian and was much esteem- 
ed in the community in which he lived. He 
was a deacon of the Deep Run Mennon- 
ite congregation. He married, April 30, 
1793, Magdalena Kratz, daughter of John 
Kratz, of Hilltown, born August 30, 1776, 
died January 9, 1840, and granddaughter on 
the paternal side of John Valentine and 

. Ann (Clemens) Kratz, and on the matern- 
al side of Christian Meyer, an early imi- 
grant from Switzerland. John Valentine 
Kratz was born in Germany, 1707, came 
to America 1727, settled in Montgomery 
county where he died in 1780. He married 
Ann Clemens, daughter of Gerhart Clem- 
ens, born in Germany, 1680, came to Mont- 
gomery county 1709, and died there. Abra- 
ham and Magdalena (Kratz) Fretz were 
the parents of ten children — Anna, Rebec- 
ca, Jacob, Christian, John, Isaac, Martin, 
Elizabeth, Barbara and Abraham. 

IV. Martin Fretz, born September 12, 
1808, died July 13, 1882, married Eliza- 
beth Kratz, daughter of John and Cath- 
arine (Johnson) Kratz, and great-grand- 
daughter of John Valentine Kratz, be- 
fore mentioned, and they lived for a time 
in Montgomery county, later on a portion 
of the old homestead where he built a 
stone house in 1838, now occupied by Reu- 
ben JMiller. He was a trustee of the old 
Mennonite congregation, but in the division 
of 1847 cast his lot with the new church 
and was one of the leading spirits in the 
founding and building of the New Men- 
nonite church at Deep Run, and was one 
of its first ministers, serving in that capac- 
ity for about four years. In 1854 lie re- 
moved to Sussex county. New Jersey, 
where he had purchased a mill property 
the autumn preceding, and which he con- 
ducted for three years, and then moved to 
a farm in Warren county. New Jersey. 
After a few years of retired life in New- 
ton, New Jersey, he removed to Stillwater 
and engaged in mercantile business. In 
1882 he returned to the farm in Warren 
county, and died there the following July. 
He was ordained a ruling elder of the Pres- 
byterian church at Stillwater, and was 
highly respected by the people of that com- 
munity. He married (second) a widow, 
Margaret E. Hill, nee Wintermute, on Feb- 
ruary 14, 1857. His children by the first 
marriage were Mary, Magdalena, Catha- 
rine, Leah, Elizabeth, John, Aijna, Theodore, 
Abraham, Martha, Edwin and Albert, and 
by the second, Alva, Lucilla and David. 

Rev. Abraham J. Fretz, the subject of 
this sketch, is a son of Martin and Eliza- 
beth (Kratz) Fretz, and was born in Bucks 
county, February 7, 1849. He attended the 
public schools of Sussex and Warren 
counties. New Jersey, and the Newton 



402 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Academy, and in 1867 entered the Newton 
Collegiate Institute at Newton, New Jer- 
sey, to prepare himself for the ministry. In 
l8<58 he taught school in Sussex county, 
and in September, 1870, entered Wads- 
worth College, Ohio, and in 1876 took a 
course in the Wyoming Seminary, Kings- 
ton, Pennsylvania. He had been licensed 
as an exhorter in the ^^Icthodist Episco- 
pal church at Newton, October 18, 1869, 
and as a local preacher, ]March 7, 1870. 
In 1872 he w^as appointed pastor of the 
Middle Smithficld cliarge in Monroe and 
Pike counties, Pennsylvania, and was in- 
strumental in adding many new members 
to the church. He has since filled the fol- 
lowing pastorates : Stockholm, New Jer- 
sey, Unionville and Westown, New York, 
Hamburg, Ogdensburg, Hurdtown and 
Hopatcong, New Jersey. In 1880 he locat- 
ed permanently at Milton, New Jersey, 
building a house and engaging in farming 
in addition to serving as pastor at Long- 
wood, Berkshire, Dodge Mine and West 
Milford, New Jersey. He was ordained 
a deacon in 1882 and elder in 1888. He held 
the office of town clerk from 1890 to 190:1. 
and was elected to the office of justice of 
the peace in 1902, and has since filled th^t 
office. Mr. Fretz has taken a great in- 
terest in the local history and genealogy of 
the early German settlement, and has pub- 
lished numerous family histories, among 
them being the history of the families of 
Fretz, Kratz, Wismer, Funk, Moyer, Stover, 
Rosenberger, Oberholtzer, Nash, Beidler, 
and Headley. He married, November 14, 
1B77, Elizabeth C. Headley, born in Mor- 
ris county, New Jersey, in 1853, daughter 
of Joseph W. and Almeda (Chamberlain) 
Headley, and a descendant of Leonard 
Headley, who died at Elizabethtown, New 
Jersey, in 1683. Mr. and Mrs. Fretz have 
been the parents of three children : Mary 
Headley, born 1878; Joseph and Ervin, 
who are deceased. 



JOHN H. STEVER, of Hilltown, was 
born in Bedminster township. Bucks coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, June 12, 1866, and is a 
son of Reuben B. and Mary (Stover) Stev- 
er. Philip Stever, the pioneer ancestor of 
the family, was born in Germany and came 
to Pennsylvania when a youth and settled 
in Haycock township, Bucks county, where 
he married, October 8, 1756, Maria Eliza- 
beth Keller, born at Weierback, Baden, 
Germany, November 9, 1737, came to Amer- 
ica with her parents, Heinrich and Juliana 
(Kleindinst) Keller, when less than a year 
old. Philip Stever w'as a captain in the 
revolutionary war under his brother-in- 
law. Colonel John Keller. At the close of 
the war he purchased 200 acres of land on 
the Tohickon, in Haycock, opposite Kel- 
ler's church, and adjoining his father-in- 
law, Heinrich Keller, where he spent his 
remaining days. He died in 1808. leavinp^ 
eleven children: George; Barbara, wife of 
George Shaffer, of Haycock ; Adam, who 



removed to Maryland; Alichael, settled in 
Montgomery township, Montgomery coun- 
ty; Elizabeth; Abraham; Peter; Balzer; 
Joseph; Sarah, married John Ahlum; and 
Mary. 

Abraham Stever, son of George, who 
was the eldest son of Captain Philip and 
ISlaria Elizabeth (Keller) Stever, was born 
on the old homestead in Haycock in the 
year 1782. In 1807 he purchased of his 
grandfather, Philip Stever, forty-three acres 
of the old homestead, and lived thereon all 
his life. He was a carpenter and cabinet 
maker, and followed that vocation in con- 
nection -with farming. He died in October, 
1842. Like his father and grandfather he 
was a member of Keller's church, of which 
his great-grandfather. Heinrich Keller was 
one of the founders in 1742. He married 
Mary Silvius, who was born in Rockhill 
township, and they were the parents of 
six children: Abraham; Samuel; John; 
Reuben, for many years proprietor of the 
hotel at Dublin, died in Lehigh county in 
1899; Caroline, married Fluck; Han- 
nah, who married Jesse Housekeeper; and 
Mary, who married John Keller. 

John Stever, son of Abraham and Mary 
(Silvius) Stever, was born on the old home- 
stead in Haycock, November 10, 1812. Early 
in life he learned the trade of a carpenter 
and cabinet maker, and followed that voca- 
tion until old age, was an expert cabinet 
maker, and much of his work is still found 
in the homes in that district. From 1840 
to 1844 he had a shop at Bedminsterville. 
In the latter year the homestead farm was 
adjudged to him, but he sold it and re- 
mained in Bedminster, purchasing a farm 
near Bedminsterville in that year, and 
later purchasing considerable other land 
in that township, and combined agricultural 
pursuits with his vocation of a cabmei 
maker. He died June 7, 1880. He was a 
member of Keller's Lutheran church, of 
which he w-as a trustee for fifteen years. 
He married, in 1838, Mary Magdalene Bar- 
tholomew, born September 23, 1816, daugh- 
ter of Benjamin Bartholomew, of Haycock, 
and they were the parents of four chil- 
dren : Joseph and Sarah, who died young ; 
Reuben B., and John B., the latter still a 
resident of Bedminster. 

Reuben B. Stever was born August 25, 
1839, and was the eldest son of John and 
Mary Magdalene (Bartholomew) Stever. 
He learned the trade of a cabinet maker 
with his father, and worked with him at 
that trade for a number of years. In 1872 
he purchased of his father fifty-six acres 
of the home farm, and lived thereon dur- 
ing life, later purchasing other land adjoin- 
ing. He was a member of Keller's church, 
and an active man in the community, serv- 
ing as a member of the local school board, 
and filling other local positions. In 1891 
he was elected on the Democratic ticket 
as a member of the courty board of direc- 
tors of the poor, and served a term of three 
years. He died November 21. 1899. He 
married, October 11, 1864. Mary S. Stover, 
daughter of John and Hannah Stover, who 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



403 



-was born August 24, 1843, and they were 
the parents df ten children: John H., the 
•si'bject of this sketch; Abraham S., born 
March 29, 1868; Isaac S., born August 31, 
ih'/o; Mary M., born October ji\ 1872. 
-wife of W. Irvin Bryan; Elizabeth, born 
A-gust 10, 1874 wif; cf T/nn T Slahr; 
J.-irob S., born Apjil 6, 1877; Reuben S. 
and Lydia Ann, born October 7, 1880, the 
latter deceased; Allen S., born May 31, 
1883; and Enos S., born ]May 23, 1886. 

John H. Stever, eldest son of Reuben 
B. and Mary S. Stever, born in Bedmin- 
ster, June 12, 1866, was reared in that town- 
ship and educated at the public schools. He 
remained on his father's farm until nine- 
teen years of age, and then learned the 
blacksmith trade with John F. Crouthamel, 
of Bedminster, and has followed that trade 
for twenty years. In 1905 he purchased 
the Hilltown hotel property and fourteen 
acres of land of Gottleib Mease, and has 
since conducted the hotel. He has always 
taken active interest in local affairs, and 
.served as a school director in Bedminster. 
He is a member of Bedminster Castle, No. 
-285, K. G. E.J of Bedminster. He married, 
February 21, 1889, Angelina Fulmer, daugh- 
ter of Amos Fulmer, and they are the par- 
â– ents of two children : Edith, born Novem- 
ber 30, 1889; and Sylvester, born Decem- 
ber 31, 1893. 



HARRY NEAMAND, the popular drug- 
gist of Perkasie, Pennsylvania, was born 
in Philadelphia, IMay 27, 1867, but is a 
descendant of early German settlers in 
Bucks county. John Neamand, his great- 
great-grandfather, was a native of Germany 
and one of the earliest settlers on the 
Tohickon, near Keller's church, in Bedmm- 
ster township, and died there when com- 
_paratively a young man, in 1768. He mar- 
ried in 1760, Margaret Keller, born April 
14, 1749, daughter of Heinrich, and Juli- 
•anna (Kleindinst) Keller, both natives ot 
Weierbach, Baden, Germany, from whence 
they emigrated to Pennsylvanian in 1738, 
.and a few years later settled on the Tohick- 
on. Heinrich was one of the organizers 
â– of the church which still bears his name, 
in 1746. He was the father of eleven chil- 
dren, and has left numerous descendants 
in Bucks county. John and Margaret (Kel- 
ler) Neamand were the parents of three 
children. — John. Peter and Barbara. Mar- 
garet Neamand married for her second 
husband, in 1769, }klichael Stoneback. Peter 
Neamand, the second son, settled on a farm 
in Nockamixon. where he died in 1816, 
leaving a son John, who died unmarried 
in 1830; another son Samuel, who left an 
only son. Reed Neamand; and four daugh- 
ters : Susannah, married Philip Franken- 
field ; Catharine, died in Doylestown, De- 
cember 26, 1889, unmarried ; ]Maria, never 
married ; and Sarah, married Elias Reig- 
•el, and died August 10, 1890, at a very ad- 
vanced age. 

John Neamand. eldest son of John and 
Margaret (Keller) Neamand, was born in 



Bedminster in 1761, and was reared in the 
family of his step-father, Michael Stone~ 
back, in Haycock township, where he later 
owned and operated a farm of 55 acres. 
John Neamand, son of the above named 
John, was born in Haycock township, but 
later removed to Philadelphia. He was 
the father of six sons: William, Harry, 
Robert, John, Howard, and Milton. 

William Neamand, son of John and IMary 
Neamand, was born in Philadelphia, March 
30, 1841. He was educated in the schools 
of that citj', and early in life learned the 
trade of a whitesmith, and was a manu- 
facturer of all kinds of chandeliers. At the 
breaking out of the civil war in i86r he 
enlisted in the 71st Regt. Pennsylvania Vol- 
unteers, and served in the Army of the 
Potomac throughout the war. He was cap- 
tured at the battle of Antietam, and was 
a prisoner of war for six weeks, when he 
was exchanged and rejoined his command. 
He was in the three days carnage at Get- 
tysburg, and was wounded in the evening 
of the third day's fight and taken to the 
hospital. He was also in the battles of 
Ball's Bluff, Chancellorsville, Fredericks- 
burg, Fair Oaks, Peach Orchard, Savage 
Station, Malvern Hill, White Oak Swamp, 
as, well as in a number of minor engage- 
ments. At the close of the war he en- 
gaged in farming noar Doylestown. whtr-; 
bt resided for eight or nine years. He then 
removed to Richland township, near Ricn- 
h.ndtown, where he was engaged in farm- 
ing until 1905, when he removed to Rich- 
landtown borough, where he still resides. 
He is a member of Gen. Peter Lyle Post, 
G. A. R. No. 145, of Quakertown ; of Rich- 
landtown Castle, Knights of the Golden 
Eagle ; and also of the Order of United 
American Mechanics. Politically he is a 
Republican. His wife \vas Mary A. Smith, 
daughter of Thomas Smith, of Philadel- 
phia, and nine children have been born to 
them: Harry, the subject of this sketch; 
William, deceased. Charles, married An- 
nie Martin, of Richland; Colin, married 
Winnie Weaver, of Richland. Walter, de- 
ceased ; Kate, wife of Joseph Foulke, of 
Richland; Harvey, married Mary Zinger; 
Edward ; and Frederick, married Mabel 
Laubach, of Darham. 

Harry Neamand, was educated in the 
public schools of Richlandtown, and spent 
his early boyhood days working on his fath- 
er's farm. At an early age he accepted a 
position in the drug store of Dr. O. H. 
Fretz, of Quakertown, where he remained 
for six years, in the meantime taking a 
special course in the Philadelphia College 
of Pharmacy. He is also a graduate of the 
Chicago Institute of Pharmacy and the 
Era School of Pharmacy, New York. In 
1894 he erected a drug store in Perkasie, 
and started into the drug business for him- 
self, and by close application to business 
has built up a fine business. He also 
conducts a general news agency at his drug 
store, and is one of the active and popular 
young business men of that thriving bor- 
ough. In politics he is an ardent Republl- 



404 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



can, and takes an active interest in the 
councils of his parly. He was one of the 
prominent caiuHdates for the nomination 
for assembly in 1902. He is a member of 
Perkasie Castle, No. 330, Knighls of the 
Golden Eagle, and has been its representa- 
tive in the grand castle for the past ten 
years, serving on many important com- 
mittees of the grand body, and has been 
district grand chief of his local district for 
five years. He is also a member of Mc- 
Calla Lodge, No, 596, F, and A. JNI., of 
Sellersville, and of Mont Alto Lodge, No. 
246, Knights of Pythias. He has been a 
member and president of the Perkasie 
board of health for five years. He is a 
member of St. Stephen's Reformed church, 
and superintendent of the Sabbath school 
connected therewith. He is also secretary 
of the Seventh district of the Sabbath 
School Association of Bucks county, and 
recording secretary of the county associa- 
tion. He has promoted and helped to build 
eighty-one homes in Perkasie and vicinity 
during the past few years, and also assisted 
in locating a number of industries in that 
town, being an active member of the Board 
of Trade, and for a number of years the 
secretary. He is a member of the Bucks 
County Druggist's Association. Mr. Nea- 
mand married, June 16, 1898, Miss Han- 
nah Freed, daughter of William Freed, of 
Richlandtown. They have no children, and 
reside in a handsome residence at Sixth and 
Chestnut streets, Perkasie, Pennsylvania. 



ABRAHAM H. WAMBOLD, deceased, 
of Sellersville, was born in that town, then 
a part of Rockhill township, June 21, 1844, 
a son of Noah and Hannah (Haertzell) 
Wfimbold, both natives of Rockhill and de- 
scendants of the earliest German settlers 
in that locality. George Wambold, the pi- 
oneer ancestor of the family, came to 
America from Germany, arriving at Phila- 
delphia, September 24, 1737, in the ship "St. 
Andrew's Galley," and located in Salforcl 
township, ^lontgomery county, removing 
soon after to Franconia township. In 1742 
he purchased a tract' of land near the site 
of Sellersville, which he later conveyed to 
his son John, who died there in 1793. Abra- 
ham Wambold, another son, settled on ad- 
joining land about the time of the revolu- 
tionary war, and erected a tannery, and, 
purchasing considerable other land adjoin- 
ing, also operated a mill on the northwest 
branch of the Perkiomen creek, Howing 
through Sellersville. In 1812 he removed 
to Franconia township, where he died about 
the year 1832. He and his wife Louisa 
were the parents of six children : Abraham ; 
Magdalena, who married George Reller ; 
Catharine, who married Abraham Leister ; 
Samuel ; Mary, who married George Leidy, 
and Henry. The tannery and a large part 
of the land became the property of his 
son Abraham, who conducted the tannery 
during his whole life, dying March 4, 1848. 



He married Hannah Kramer, a descendant 
of another old family in that locality, ana 
reared a family of live children, viz: Noah; 
Catharine, wife of Charles Weikel ; Mary^ 
wife of Charles Schwenck; Aaron K., and 
Edwin. 

Ncah Wambold was born on the old 
homestead and on arriving at manhood 
became a partner with his father in the 
management of the tannery, and at his fath- 
er's death inherited it, with a large portion 
of the homestead, and lived there all his 
life, dying July 2* 1890. He was an active 
business man. and a deacon and elder in 
the Lutheran church. He married Hannah 
Hartzell, and they were the parents of 
eleven children, viz : Abraham H., the sub- 
ject of this sketch; Amanda, wife of Sam- 
uel Slotter ; Henry ; Zachariah ; Noah ; Jo- 
siah; Edwin; Hannah; Benjamin Frank- 
lin, and two who died in infancy. The 
mother died in December, 1879. 

Abraham H. Wambold was born ana 
reared on his father's farm, and always 
lived on the old homestead, having pur- 
chased it from his father. He was a dea- 
con of the Lutheran church for sixteen: 
years. In politics he was a Republican, and 
always took an active part in local affairs 
as well as in church work. He married, 
October 13, 1865, Elizabeth Appenzeller, 
daughter of David and Mary (Bean) Ap- 
penzeller, who was born June 28, 1846. and 
they were the parents of three children : 
Mary Louise, born June 9. 1866, died May 
21, 1879; Benjamin Franklin, born Feb- 
ruary 15. 1870; and Charles Stahley. born 
1875, dfed 1879. Benjamin Franklin Wam- 
bold married, December 20, 1893. Carrie 
Dannehower, daughter of John and Sarah 
( Shellenberger) Dannehower, and their 
only child is deceased. Abraham H. Wam- 
bold died near Sellersville, February I, 
1900, aged fifty-five years. 



HARVEY F. HARPEL, merchant arid 
postmaster at South Perkasie, was born in 
Bedminster township, Bucks county. Janu- 
ary I, 1864, and is a son of Amos and Mary 
(Fulmer) Harpel. His paternal ancestor,. 
Philip Harpel, a native of Germany, born 
in 1728, was an early settler near Otts- 
ville, where he purchased a large tract of 
land partly in Bedminster and partly in 
Tinicum. He was one of the early mem- 
bers of Tohickon Lutheran church, and 
became a large landowner and a prominent 
man in the community. He died Decem- 
ber 24. 1802, and his wife, Anna ]Maria, 
September 27, 1816, at the age of eighty- 
two years, eight months and three days. 
They were the parents of two sons: Philip 
and Conrad; and three daughters: Eliza- 
beth. Magdalena and Margaret. The plan- 
tation of 279 acres was devised to Conrad. 
Philip the eldest son, settled in Tinicum 
where he died in 1843. leaving a son Phil- 
ip R. Harpel, county commissioner in 1844; 
and daughters, Elizabeth, wife of Peter 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



405 



George, Alary Ann, and AFargaret, wife of 
Jacob Wolfinger and another son, Joseph. 

Conrad, the great-grandfather of the snb- 
ject of this sketch, inherited from his fath- 
er the 280 acre farm in Bedminster and 
Tinicuni, and lived thereon during his long 
life, dying in 1837. He was a very prom- 
nent man, filling the office of justice or 
the peace for many j'ears, and doing an im- 
mense amount of public business, acting as 
agent, adi;iinistrator and executor in a 
large number of estates. He married Lydia 

, born February 3, 1772, died June 

-25, 1857, and they left to survive them 
•one son and heir, John Harpel. 

John Harpel, like his father, was a prom- 
inent man in the community, and tilled the 
office of justice of the peace for many 
years, and was treasurer of Bucks county 
in 1838. He was born on the old homestead 
in Bedminster, November 2, 1795, and died 
there Alay 20, 1866, and his wife Elizabeth 

, was born March 17, 1799, and died 

January 13, 1854. He married a second 
time, shortly before his death, Catharine 
, who survived him. John and Eliza- 
beth Harpel were :hc parents of six chil- 
•children : Amos, the father of the subject 
of this sketch, who was born. October 25. 
1825, and died February 14, 1872 ; Thomas 
C, the proprietor of the Ottsville hotel ; 
Samuel, born August 14, 1831, died Janu- 
ary 19, i860; Lydia Ann; Levi, born Sep- 
tember 15, 1840, died January 3, 1872; and 
Sarah. 

Amos Harpel was born and reared on the 
plantation in Bedminster, and purchased it 
of his father in 1865. He, however, sold 
the greater part of it in 1867, and in 1869 
purchased a farm in Hilltown, and removed 
there and lived there the remainder of life, 
dying February 14, 1872, in his forty-sev- 
enth year. He married Mary Fulmer and 
they were the parents of four children : 
Emma, wife of Lewis Keller, the well- 
known merchant of Bedminsterville, a 
sketch of whom appears in this volume ; 
Leidy F., a merchant at Church Hill, Bucks 
county who married Rachel Yost, and has 
one child, Alaggie ; Harvey F., the subject 
of this sketch ; and Alargaret, wife of 
Milton Afiflerbach. 

Harvey F. Harpel, born on the old home- 
stead that had been in the family almost a 
century at the time of his birth, removed 
with his parents to Hilltown when a child, 
and was educated at the public schools 
there. He remained on the farm until six- 
teen years of age, and then entered the 
store of his brother-in-law, Lewis Keller, 
at Bedminsterville, where he filled the po- 
sition of a clerk for seven and a half years. 
In 1888 he started in the mercantile busi- 
ness for himself at South Perkasie, where 
he still conducts a general marchandise 
store. He was appointed postmaster in 
1889, and is still filling that position. In 
1900 he built himself a fine residence at 
South Perkasie, and in 1901 built a new 
two and one-half story store building in 
which he is carrying on a fine business, 
l^ike his ancestors, he is a member of the 



Lutheran church at Tohickon (Church 
Hill). He married, in 1888, Lavinia C. Ath- 
erholt, daughter of Aaron D. and Erma 
(Strawn) Atherholt. 



JOSIAH L.' CRESSMAN, of Silverdale, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was born in 
Rockhill township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1838, and is a son of Tobias H. 
and Lydia (Leidy) Cressman. The Cress- 
man family is one of the oldest in Bucks 
county, and is descended from George 
Cressman (or Gressman) as the name was 
originally spelled), who emigrated from 
Germany in 1729 and settled in Franconia 
township, now Montgomery county. John 
Cressrnan, son of George, was a landhold- 
er in Rockhill as early as 1747. Anthony 
Cressman, the great-great-grandfather of 
Josiah L., was a farmer in Rockhill town- 
ship during the Revolutionary war, and was 
either a son or grandson of George Cress- 
man, the pioneer. He died 1790, leaving 

widow Magdalena, and four sons Jacob, 

Abraham, John and Adam; and three 
daughters — Elizabeth, wife of Daniel Sli- 
ver ; Catharine and Sarah. His farm con- 
sisting of 139 acres in Rockhill was ad- 
judged to the eldest son of Jacob Cress- 
man. 

Jacob Cressm.an. eldest son of Anthony 
and Magdalena, was a lifelong resident of 
Rockhill, and one of the largest land holders 
in the township, having purchased land 
there as early as 1782. He died in 1832, at 
an advanced age. He married Elizabeth 

, and they were 'the parents of ten 

children, viz : Daniel ; Jacob ; Abraham ; 
Henry; Philip; Alargaret, who marriea 
first Peter Demigh, and (second) Charles 
Leidy; Magdalena, wife of Henry Carr (or 
Kerr) ; Catharine, wife of Peter Rouden- 
bush ; Maria, wife of Abel Kerr; Hannah, 
who never married. 

Jacob Cressman, son of Jacob and Eliza- 
beth, was the grandfather of the subject 
of this sketch. He was a blacksmith, and 
followed that vocation during the active 
years of his life, in connection with farm- 
ing. He died in Rockhill in May, 1871. 
He married Alagdalena, daughter of Philip 
Hartzell, of Rockhill, and they were the 
parents of ten children : Tobias H., the 
father of the subject of this sketch; Philip, 
who married Nancy Gerhart ; Jonas, who 
married Kate Sheip ; John, who married 
Margaret Alann, and lived on the old home- 
stead ; Jacob, who died single ; Hannah, 
wife of Simon Scholl ; Lydia, wife of Leidy 
Gerhart ; Elizabeth, wife of William K. 
Shellenberger. Mary, wife of Abner Ger- 
hart; and Sarah, wife of Jacob Shellen- 
berger. 

Tobias H. Cressman, eldest son of Jacob 
and Magdalena (Hartzell) Cressman, was 
born in Rockhill township in 1814. He 
learned the trade of a blacksmith with his 
father, and followed that trade in Rock- 
hill until 1848, when he removed to Hill- 
town, and about 1853 purchased the farm 



4o6 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



where his son Josiah now lives, and fol- 
lowed farming- and blacksniithing, having 
been continuously engaged at the latter 
trade for upward of fifty years. He died 
on his Hilltown farm March lo, 1901, at 
the age of .eighty-seven years. He married 
Lydia Leidy, daughter of George Leidy, 
and a descendant of Jacob Leidy, the 
founder of the Lutheran church, known 
as Leidy's church, near Souderton, where 
Mr. and Mrs. Cressman were life -long 
members. 

Josiah L. Cressman, only son of Tobias 
H. and Lydia (Leidy) Cressman, was 
reared to the age of twelve years in Rock- 
hill township, and removed with his par- 
ents tO' Hilltown, where he has since re- 
sided. He acquired his education at the 
public schools, and was reared to the life 
of a farmer, and has never followed any 
other vocation. At the death of his father 
he inherited the homestead, and still re- 
sides thereon. He is a member of Leidy's 
church, and politically is a Democrat. He 
married, in 1865, Catharine Ann Nace, 
daughter of Elias Nace, of an old Penn- 
sylvania German family, who have been 
residents of Rockhill and vicinity for many 
generations. 



OLIVER A. FULAIER, teller of the 
Perkasie National Bank, was born in Hay- 
cock township, Bucks ccunty, October 4, 
1862, a descendant of one of the oldest 
Pennsylvania German families of Upper 
Bucks. Daniel Fulmer was one of the first 
settlers in Bedminster and a large landhold- 
er there. Noah Fulmer, the father of Oliver 
A., was a farmer in Haycock township. He 
married Mary Elizabeth Ahlum, daughter 
of Jacob Ahlum. and they were the parents 
of seven children, the eldest of whom died 
in infancy. Those who survive are : Oliver 
A. ; Wilson A., married Delia Baltz, and 
has two children — Roy and Renie; Hannah, 
wife of Henry Stover; Carrie, the wife 
of Thomas Brunner ; Jacob, married Alice 
Hartman, and has two children — Horace 
and Florence ; and Jennie, wife of Preston 
S. Detweiler. 

Oliver A. Fulmer was born and reared in 
Haycock, and received his primary education 
in the schools of that township. He later 
took a course in the State Normal School 
at iCutztown, graduating in 1885. He taught 
school for fourteen years, making a record 
of high efficiency as an instructor. He then 
took a special course at the University of 
Pennsylvania, and then filled the position 
of principal of the high school at Fox 
Chase, Philadelphia county, for one year, 
after which he returned to his home at 
Perkasie and was made principal of the 
Perkasie schools. He organized the high 
school there and was the principal for seven 
years. In February, 1901, he was appointed 
teller of the Perkasie National Bank, and 
still holds that position. He has always 
taken an active interest in the cause of edu- 
cation, and on his retirement from the posi- 
tion of principal of the high school was 



elected a member of the school board. He 
and his family are members of the Method- 
ist Episcopal church, and politically he is- 
a Republican. He is affiliated with the fol- 
lowing lodges : Sellersville Lodge, No. 
596, F. and A. M. ; Telford Lodge, Knights- 
of the Golden Eagle; and Perkasie Lodge, 
No. 246, Knights of Pythias.' He married, 
September, 1885, Bertha Hofifmeister, and 
they are the parents of seven children : 
Verda, born February 26, 1890; Earl Leon,, 
born November 18, 1891, died December 18,. 
1903; Mildred, born March 7, 1893, died 
March 8, 1893; Russell and Irma, twins, 
born May 19, 1895, died the same month; 
Hazel Grace, born March 30, 1897; and 
Dorothy Ethel, born February 16, 1899. 



CHARLES F. BEAUMONT, of Dyers- 
town, Bucks county, is a representative of 
a family that have been prominent resi- 
dents of middle Bucks county for many 
generations. The earlier members of the 
family were members of the Society of 
Friends at Buckingham and Wrightstown. 
Andrew Jackson Beaumont, father of 
Charles F., was born at Brownsburg, Up- 
per Makefield township, in the year 1809,, 
and was reared in Solebury township. In 
early life he was engaged for some time ia 
selling patent rights on some novel and 
useful inventions, and in that capacity 
traveled through nineteen different states. 
He later settled on a large farm in Sole- 
bury, near New Hope, which he con- 
ducted in connection with a paper 
mill located on the same premises,, 
and also engaged in the burning and 
sale of lime on an extensive scale, often 
marketing over 300,000 bushels in a year. 
He was the original promoter of the Beau- 
mont Deer Park, which was laid out on 
his Solebury farm, and was for many years- 
a popular resort. He died on his iarm in 
Solebury in 1890. His wife was Anna 
Maria Stuckert, daughter of Henry and 
Elizabeth (Bennet) Stuckert, or Warring- 
ton, and they were the parents of nine chil- 
dren, viz. : Horatio Nelson, a prominent 
surgeon in the United States navy for 
many years ; John Henry, who died young ; 
Andrew, also deceased ; Adelaide, wife of 
Dr. Huffnagle, of Vineland, New jersey; 
Charles Foulke, the subject of this sketch; 
George, a farmer in Delaware county, Penn- 
sylvania ; Sarah A., wife of Williard P. 
Miller, of Arizona; and two who died in 
infancy. 

CHARLES FOULKE BEAUMONT^ 
was born in New Hope, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1851, and acquired his 
education at the common schools, the Pen- 
nington, (New Jersey) Seminary, and the 
Trenton Business College. He began his 
personal career as a clerk in the large car- 
pet house of Arnold, Constable & Co., at 
Nineteenth and Broadway, New York city^ 
where he was employed for two years. He- 
then returned to his old Solebury home and 
operated the paper mill and farm for a few 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



407 



years. In 1883 he removed to the Mill 
property at Dyerstown, which he has since 
operated. He has devoted considerable at- 
tention to the breeding of fancy stock. Of 
late years his specialty has been the rais- 
ing of the celebrated Brazilian ducks, of 
which he raises m a single year from 17,000 
to 18,000, for which he finds a ready market, 
supplying most of the leading cafes in Phila- 
delphia and Atlantic City. 

]\lr. Beaumont married Flora A. Snyder, 
daughter of Jacob B. and Frances Snyder, 
of Plumsteadville, and to them have been 
born four children : Mabel Frances, grad- 
uate of West Chester State Normal School, 
who is now a teacher in the public schools 
of the county; Horatio N., a graduate of 
Brown Preparatory School of Philadelphia, 
now a student at Lehigh University ; Flor- 
ence R. ; and A. Evelyn. Mr. Beaumont 
and family are members of the Lutheran 
church of Doylestown. 



GARRET HARLOW LAM PEN, the 
distinguished educator, author and lecturer 
on American History, Ethnology, Arch- 
aeology and kindred subjects, comes of 
Bucks county ancestry and is a son of the 
late Michael Lampen. 

Simon Lampen, so far as is known to 
his descendants, was the pioneer ancestor 
of his family in America. At the time the 
Colonists were beginning to arm in defense 
of their liberties in 1775, he was a resi- 
dent of New Hampshire, and of about the 
age of twenty-five years. He was descend- 
ed according to family tradition from one 
of two brothers who emigrated from An- 
halt, Prussia, to England, and were granted 
coats-of-arms by the King of England in 
1565 for conspicuous services to the crown. 
Simon Lampen rendered valuable services 
to the patriot cause, assisting in the or- 
ganization of the militia of New Hamp- 
shire, and participating in a number of 
battles and skirmishes. In 1778 he re- 
moved to Haycock township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, where he spent his remain- 
ing days. He was survived by two sons, 
at least — jNIichael, mentioned later in this 
narrative, and Nicholas. The latter mar- 
ried but left no sons. One daughter re- 
moved to Philadelphia, and the other three, 
to New Jersey, two of the latter never 
marrying. 

Michael Lampen, son of Simon Lampen, 
was bofn in Haycock township, Bucks 
county, in 1779. As a boy he was a close 
student, and he became a man of scholarly 
habits, easily ranking as one of the best edu- 
cated and most widely read men of his 
county. He was an unusual Greek and Lat- 
in scholar, conversing as fluently in these 
languages as he did in German and Eng- 
lish. He was also deeply interested in sev- 
eral of the sciences, and he gave much ol 
his time to literature. His library of much- 
thumbed books, nearly all of them bemg 
along intellectual lines, evidenced a man of 
high intellectual endowment and deep 
thought. It was therefore a great surprise 



to his neighbors and friends that he chose 
the humble trade of a weaver as his life 
work. He was intensely patriotic and 
served for a number of years as an officer 
in and was prominently identified with the 
volunteer militia of Bucks coimty. Mi- 
chael Lampen married in 1827 Marie Anne 
Byers, a widow, with one son Joseph. Mrs. 
Byers had come from Switzerland to Bucks 
county in 1817 at the age of fourteen years. 
^Michael Lampen died in 1863, his wife hav- 
ing died two years before. Both are bur- 
ied at the Brick church, Tinicum, Bucks 
county. They were survived by three chil- 
dren : Rebecca, born July 18, 1828, mar- 
ried Henry Clemens, died May 21, 1882, 
leaving one son and one daughter, one son 
having died in infancy; Michael, born 1831, 
mentioned later in this narrative ; John, 
born March 14, 1834, married Elizabeth 
Thomas, died June 14, 1895, leaving one 
son and four daughters, one daughter hav- 
ing died in infancy. 

Michael Lampen, Jr., son of Michael 
and Marie Anne (.Byers) Lampen, was 
born in Bucks county, April 10, 1831. In- 
heriting his father's intellectual abilities 
and love of study, he worked his way 
through the lower schools and then through 
the old Pennsylvania Medical College, at 
Philadelphia, taking a full three years' 
course and graduating with high honors, 
and then taking a post-graduate course 
of one year at the same institution. The 
expenses of his college course were paid 
with money earned by farm labor, teaching 
in the public schools and in surveying a 
road across the state of Ohio. He served 
throughout the civil war as assistant sur- 
geon in the Union army, being part of che 
time with the army in South Carolina, but 
during the greater part of the time being 
detailed to service in the Satterlee Military 
Hospital at Philadelphia. At the close of 
the war he settled in Philadelphia and re- 
sumed the practice of medicine. He ac- 
quired an enviable reputation as a special- 
ist in diseases of the heart and lungs, and 
became one of the greatest obstetricians of 
his day. In 1858 he married Rachel Ann 
Vandegrift, of Newportville, Bucks coun- 
ty, a member of one of the oldest Dutch 
families in the country, an account of which 
is given elsewhere in this work. Dr. Lam- 
pen died June 18, 1890, and is survived by 
his widow and five children, four others 
having died in infancy. Those who sur- 
vive are : Louis Peale, who is also a dis- 
tinguished obstetrician, and who married 
Elizabeth Horbert ; Howard Rand, who 
married Eleanor Thompson Piper, and is 
a business man of Philadelphia ; Minnie 
Roe, who married Rev. William Allen, 
Jr., of the Presbyterian church, and has 
two sons ; Garret Harlow, mentioned at 
length hereinafter, and Maud, who married 
Joseph Guild Muirheid, a member of one of 
the old families of New Jersey. 

Garret Harlow Lampen, the youngest 
son of Dr. Michael and Rachel Ann (Van- 
degrift) Lampen, was born in Philadelphia, 
January 26, 1867. Fle received his elemen- 



4o8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



tary education at the pi;b!ic schools of his 
native city, after whicli he took the Arts 
course in the Philadelphia High School, 
and later took a special course at FrauK- 
lin College, Ohio, where he received the 
degree of Master of Arts. Devoting his 
attention to educational work he for sev- 
eral years specialized in American History 
and Politics, and made extensive original 
researches in American Ethnology and 
Archaeology, and is considered an author- 
ity on these latter subjects. Professor 
Lampen has always aimed for a high plane 
of work in his chosen profession. Enter- 
ing educational work in 1894 he remarked 
to an associate that he expected to reach 
a college presidency "in ten years" ; he 
realized that goal in one week less than 
the time set, being called to the presidency 
of Bellevue College, Bellevue, Nebraska. 
He has been honored with several degrees 
by various educational institutions. 

Professor Lampen has a national repu- 
tation as an educational and historical 
writer, and he is also the author of a 
number of poems which have received fa- 
vorable mention and criticism. He has at- 
tained his high rank in the face of almost 
jnsurmountable difficulties, among them the 
total loss of sight for a time, and four years 
under the constant care of an oculist. From 
the time he left Philadelphia High School 
he paid his own way as his father had 
done before him, never receiving any out- 
.side assistance. In 1895 Professor Lampen, 
while superintendent of the Indian School 
at Philadelphia, was sent of a special mis- 
sion by the United States government to 
the Chippewa Indian reservation. He served 
with the Second Regiment Pennsylvania 
Infantry for four years (1894-7, inclusive), 
and joined the Nineteenth Regiment in 
1898, with the hope that it would take him 
to the front in the Spanish-American war, 
the Second Regiment having refused him 
admission by reason of the condition of his 
eyes. He volunteered for service in the 
war against Spain eight times, and he is 
said to have suggested and planned the 
trip across Cuba taken by Lieutenant Row- 
an of the regulars to connect the armies 
of the United States with the Cuban forces. 
Professor Lampen has always kept up a 
lively interest in Bucks county, the birth- 
place of his parents, and during the great- 
er part of his life has spent a portion 01 
each year within her borders, and has al- 
ways considered himself as belonging to 
the county. Religiously he has always been 
actively associated with the Presbyterian 
church. He has never married. 



youth, learning the trade of a tailor, which 
he followed during life. In 1848 he re- 
moved to Prospectville, and resided there 
two years, and then removed to Camden, 
New Jersey, where he lived until his death, 
in April, 1875. He married Sarah Daniels, 
a native of Philadelphia, and they were the 
parents of nine children ; Annie, residing 
in Philadelphia ; William, a painter in Phila- 
delphia ; Samuel', the subject of this sketch; 
Andrew, a machinist in Camden, New Jer- 
sey ; Hartley, died in infancy : Edward, a 
prominent merchant and shipper in Cam- 
den, New Jersey ; Harvey and Frank, who 
died young; and Jennie, now living in New 
York City. Sarah, the mother, died in 
187 1. 

Samuel Bassett was educated in the high 
school of Camden, New Jersey. He served 
an apprenticeship of three years at the 
machinist trade in Camden, and then re- 
moved to Upper Makefield township, Bucks 
county, where he, has since resided, with 
the exception of two years during which 
he was proprietor of a restaurant at Car- 
versville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He 
has since been engaged in farming in Up- 
per Makefield, where he has a farm of 
thirty-seven acres, and for several years 
has run a commission wagon to Philadel- 
phia markets. He is also agent for com- 
mercial fertilizers. In politics he is a Dem- 
ocrat, and has for several years taken an 
active part in the councils of his party in the 
county. He was elected to the office of 
county commissioner in the fall of 1902. 
He is a member of Tuscarora Tribe, I. O. 
R. M., of Lambertville, New Jersey. Mr'. 
Bassett married, January 28, 1875, Lizzie 
Wesner, born June 9, 1853, daughter of 
Stephen and Emma (White) Wesner, of 
Upper Makefield, and they are the parents 
of two children ; Frank, born January 6, 
1876: and Howard Eldridge, born January 
II, 1879. Mrs. Bassett is an active member 
of Thompson Memorial Presbyterian 
Church, of Lower Solebury, Bucks county. 



SAMUEL BASSETT, one of the pres- 
ent board of county commissioners ot 
Bucks county, was born at Prospectville, 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, Janu- 
ary 24. 1850, and is a son of Samuel T. 
and Sarah (Daniels) Bassett. Samuel T. 
Bassett, the father, was born in Phila- 
delphia, and resided in that city during his 



STEPHEN B. TWINING, deceased, 
was born at Dolington. in Lfpper Make- 
field township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
January 19, 1844, and was the oldest son 
of Charles and Elizabeth (West) Twining. 
The pioneer ancestor of the Twining family 
was William Twining, who came from 
England to Massachusetts about 1640, and 
in 1643 settled at Yarmouth, removing later 
to Eastham, iVIassachusetts, where he died 
in 1659. He took an active part in the 
affairs of the Puritan colony, and held 
man}' offices of public trust. He married 
.A^nne Doane, who died February 27, 1680. 
Thev were the parents of two children. 
William. Jr., and Isabel, who married 
Francis Baker. 

William Twining, Jr., married Elizabeth 
Deane, daughter of Stephen Deane. of 
Plymouth, in 1652, and had children 
as follows: William, born February 28, 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



409 



1654, married Ruth Cole ; Eliza, married 
John Rogers, of Eastham ; Anne and Jo- 
anna, both of whom were successively the 
wives of Thomas Bills ; Stephen ; Susanna, 
who died young and Mehitabel, who mar- 
ried Daniel Doane, and settled in Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania. William was a dea- 
con of Eastham church in 1677, but in 1695 
became converted to the principals of 
Friends, and removed to Newtown, Bucks 
county, where he died November 4, 1703. 
His wife died December 28, 1708. 

Stephen Twining, son of William and 
Elizabeth (Deane) Twining, was born at 
Eastham, Massachusetts, February 6, 1659, 
and died at Newtown, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, April 8, 1720. He married. Jan- 
uary 1-3, 1682-3, Abigail Young, dauehter 
of John and Abigail Young of P2aslham, 
Massachusetts, and came to Bucks county 
with his father in 1695, where he became 
a large landholder and a prominent and in- 
fluential citizen. He was one of the original 
members of Wrightstown Friends' Meet- 
ing, and meetings were frequently held at 
his house prior to the erection of the meet- 
ing house. He had children : Stephen, 
Nathaniel, Eleazer, John, Rachel, Mercy, 
Joseph, David and William. His wife 
Abigail died April 9, 1715. 

Stephen Twining, eldest son of Stephen 
and Abigail (Young) Twining, was born 
at Eastham, Massachusetts, December 30, 
1684, and died at Newtown, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, June 28, 1772. He married 
in 1709, Margaret Mitchell, daughter of 
Henry and Elizabeth (Foulds) Mitchell, 
â– who was born at Marsden's Lane, Lan- 
cashire, in 1686, and came to Bucks county 
with her mother in 1699; her father having 
died on the, ill fated "Brittanica," on the 
way to America. She died July 9, 1784, in 
her ninety-ninth -year. Stephen and Mar- 
garet (Mitchell) Twining, were the parenls 
of seven children : William, who died in in- 
fancy ; Elizabeth, who married Isaac Kirk; 
Abigail, who married Samuel Hillborn ; 
Stephen ; Mary, who married John Chap- 
man; another William, who also died 
young ; and Margaret, who married Thomas 
Hambleton. 

Stephen Twining, son of Stephen and 
Margaret (Mitchell) Twining, was born 
in Wrightstown, April 20, 1717. His father 
purchased in 1738 a tract of five hundred 
and fifty acres in Springfield township, 
Bucks county, upon which he resided with 
liis family for a number of years, return- 
ing to Wrightstown about 1761, Stephen, 
the son, being left in charge of the Spring- 
field farm for some years. At his father's 
death in 1772 he was devised a farm in 
Wrightstown of one hundred and eiorhteen 
acres on the Neshaminy, where he died on 
September 3, 1777. He married, in 1773, 
"Sarah Janney, widow of Richard Tnnnev, 
and daughter of Joseph Worth, of Stony 
TBrook, Burlington county. New Jersey, 
where Sarah was born in 17 11. She mar- 
ried a third time, in 1782, James Burson, 
and died in Wrightstown, August 20, 1833, 



at the age of ninety-two years. Stephen 
and Sarah (Worth) Twining, were the pa- 
rents of two children, Mary, born Septem- 
ber 16, 1774, married Joseph Burson, died 
March 3, 1815, and Stephen, born in 1776. 

Stephen Twining, son of Stephen and 
Sarah, left an orphan at a tender age, was 
reared in Wrightstown. He learned the 
trade of a tanner at the Chapman tannery 
in Wrightstown, and followed that busi- 
ness in Wrightstown and Newtown in con- 
nection with farming until about 1818, when 
he married Elizabeth Baldwin, an eminent 
minister among Friends, who had been a 
preacher since the age of nineteen years, 
and with the approbation of Philadelphia 
Yearly Meeting went as a teacher and 
counsellor to the Cattaraugus Indians, on 
their reservation near Troy, New York, 
where he remained for nine years. His 
wife dying in 1827. he returned to New- 
town, where he resided until 1835. when 
he purchased a farm of one hundred acres 
in Upper Makefield, and, having remar- 
ried, lived thereon until his death in 1849. 
Stephen and Elizabeth (Baldwin) Twining 
were the parents of two children: Charles; 
and Sarah B., who married Isaac Simpson, 
and removed to Independence, Kansas. 

Charles Twining, only son of Stephen 
and Elizabeth (Baldwin) Twining, was 
born at Troy. New Y'ork, August 9. 1820. 
Returning to Bucks county with his father 
after the decease of his mother, he was 
reared in Newtown and Upper Makefield. 
At the death of his father he inherited 
the homestead in Upper Makefield, upon 
which he lived for a time, removing later 
to Yardley, Lower Makefield township, now 
Yardlcy borough, where he engaged in the 
lime and coal business. He died February 
10. 1902. He married, December 7, 1842, 
Elizabeth West, daughter of Mahlon and 
Mary (Trego) West, of Harford county^. 
Maryland, who was born January 29, 1821, 
and died at Yardley, February 3, 1884. Mr. 
Twining married (second) on September i, 
1886. Hannah Y. Bunting. The children 
of Charles and Elizabeth H. (West) Twin- 
ing are: Stephen B., to be further men- 
tioned hereinafter; Edward W., of Yard- 
ley; Mary E., born March 27, 1849, wife of 
Franklin Eastburn, of Philadelphia ; Emma, 
born August 5. 185 1, married R. Franklin 
Schofield; Charles P.. who died at the age 
of ten years ; 'Rebecca, born March 7, 1856, 
wife of Watson G. Large of Yardley; Will- 
iam R., Adeline, and Sarah, who died in 
childhood. 

STEPHEN B. TWINING was born in 
Upper Makefield township on the farm near 
Dolington, January 19, 1844. He was reared 
in the Makefields. and received the major 
part of his education at the Friends' Central 
School, at Fifteenth and Race streets, Phil- 
adelphia, later taking a course in Bryant 
& Stratton's Business College in Philadel- 
phia. After the completion of his educa- 
tion he engaged with his f.nther in the lime 
and coal business at Yardley. Stephen B., 
in partnership with his brother, under the 



4IO 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



firm name of S. B. and E. W. Twining, 
began the stone business at Yardley, liist 
opening a quarry on the home farm, and 
subsequently purchasing the extensive quar- 
ries at Prallsville, New Jersey, which they 
operated on a large scale, furnishing large 
quantities of stone for bridges and other 
buildings, and for macadamizing and pav- 
ing purposes. The large busintss built up 
by them is now conducted by their nephew, 
Charles Twining Eastburn, and gives em- 
ployment to a large number of men. Mr. 
Twining was one of the organizers of the 
Yardley National Bank, of which he was a 
director and vice-president. He was also 
one of the organizers and an officer of the 
Yardley Building and Loan Association. 
During his whole life he was prominently 
identified with all the local enterprises of 
Yardley and vicinity, having for their ob- 
ject the upbuilding and improvement of the 
town and community. He and his family 
were members of the Society of Friends. 
He died July 26, 1894. Mr. Twining mar- 
ried, January 17. 1866, Letitia Warner, 
daughter of Abraham and Sarah Ann (Tay- 
lor) Warner, of Penns Manor, Bucks coun- 
ty, who survives him. They were the pa- 
rents of two children: Sarah W.. wiie of 
T. Sidney Cadwallader, of Yardley; and 
Elizabeth, wife of Professor Edward C. 
Wilson, of Baltimore. Maryland. 

EDWARD W. TWINING, of Yardley 
borough, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, wa's 
born in Upper Makefield township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, March 4, 1846, and is 
the second son of Charles and Elizabeth 
(^yest; Tw-ining, and a lineal descendant of 
William Twining, of Eastham, Massachu- 
setts, through the four Stephen Twinings, as 
related in the preceding sketch of his elder 
brother, Stephen B. Twining. Edward W. 
Twining was reared in Upper and Lower 
Makefield and acquired his education at the 
public schools and Westtown Boarding 
School, under the care of the Society oi 
Friends, in Chester county, Pennsylvania. 
At the age of twenty-two years he en- 
tered into partnership with his brother, 
Stephen B. Twining, in the stone business 
at Yardley, Pennsylvania, and Stockton and 
Prallsville, in Hunterdon county. New Jer- 
sey, being junior member of "the firm of 
S. B. & E. W. Twining, aqd contributed 
largely to the success of the business. He 
has been interested in the various local en- 
terprises of Yardley and vicinity, and is 
one of the well known business men of that 
locality. After the death of his brother 
he retired from active business, the stone 
business being conducted by his nephew and 
successor. Charles Twining Eastburn. ]\Ir. 
Twining married in 1878. INTary S. Walker, 
daughter of Phineas and Deborah (Mitch- 
ell) Walker, of Makefield. granddaughter 
of Phineas and Sarah (Holcomb") Walker, 
great-granddaughter of Robert and Mary 
(Linton) Walker, of Soleburv. and great- 
great-granddauchter of Josenh and Sarah 
(Heaton) Walker, of Middletown, Bucks 



county, and great-great-great-granddaugh- 
ter of Robert and Grace (Pearson) Heaton, 
both natives of England, the former hav- 
ing come to America with his parents 
Robert and Alice Heaton, in the "Wel- 
come," in 1682, with William Penn. Ed- 
ward and Mary (Walker) Twining are the 
parents of one son, Stephen B. Twining. 



IRVIN Y. BARINGER, of the firm o£ 
Bissey & Baringer, merchants of PerRasie, 
was born in that part of Rockhill now in- 
cluded in the borough of Perkasie, May 9, 
1870, and is a son of William and Sarah 
(Yeakel) Baringer. The paternal ances- 
tor of Mr. Baringer came from Wiutem- 
berg, Germany, and settled in Franconia 
township, Montgomery county, where his- 
grandfather, Christopher F. Baringer, was 
born January i, 1806. He died March 15. 
1889. His wife, Julia Ann Barth, was born 
August 16, 1806, and died July 28, 1892. 

William Baringer, the father of Irvin Y., 
was born in Franconia, August 9, 1841,. 
and died in Rockhill, September 31. 1879. 
He married Sarah Yeakel, a descendant of 
Christopher Yeakel, a native of Silesia w-ho- 
came to Pennsylvania in 1734, with his- 
widowed mother, Regina, from Creiham, 
in the Palatinate, and settled near Chest- 
nut Hill, Philadelphia. Sarah (Yeakel) 
Baringer was born March, 1848, and died 
November 19. 1875. William and Sarah 
(Yeakel) Baringer were the parents of twa 
children — Irvin Y. and Annie, wife of Har- 
vey B. Rosenberger. 

Irvin Y. Baringer was reared at Perkasie 
and acquired his education at the public 
schools. When a young man he became 
a clerk in the general merchandise store 
of his maternal uncle, Joseph A. Hendricks, 
at Perkasie. and in 1897 became a partner 
in the business with Tobias Bissey, under 
the firm name of Bissey & Baringer, Mr. 
Hendricks retiring from the business. The 
firm are doing a large and successful busi- 
ness. Mr. Baringer is a member of the 
Reformed church, and politically is a Re- 
publican. He married. June 28. 1893. Han- 
nah F. GrofF. daughter of David and Maria 
(Fluck) Groff, and thev are the parents 
of four children, viz. : Mildred, born March 
30. 1894; Sarah, born November IQ. 1807; 
Francis, born May 17, 1902; and William,, 
born May 19, 1904. 



HARRY N. KULP, of Rockhill town- 
ship, near Telford, is a native of Montgom- 
ery county, Pennsylvania, and was born 
near Franconia Square. January 12, 1869. 
a son of Jacob S. and Barbara (Nice) 
Kulp. His paternal ancestor came fronr 
Germany and settled in Montgomery coun- 
tv, where his great-grandfather, Henry 
Kolb, was born, July 14, 1769. and died 
March 20. 1850. He was a farmer, dyer 
and tombstone cutter. Like his pioneer an- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



411 



cestor, Deilman Kolb, and most of the fam- 
ily since, he was a Mennonite. He married, 
in 1797, Susanna Moyer, born April 25, 
1775, died rsiarch 23, 1856, daughter of 
Jacob and Mary (Detweiler) Moyer, and 
whose paternal ancestors for the three pre- 
ceding generations were named Christian 
Meyer, the first of whom is supposed to 
have been a native of Switzerland, from 
whence he fled to the Netherlands and lived 
for a time in Amsterdam, migrating to 
America soon after 1700, and settling in 
Lower Salford township, Montgomery 
county, prior to 1720. He died in 1751, 
leaving children : Christian, Jacob. Samuel, 
Elizabeth, Anna and Barbara. His son. 
Christian Meyer, born 1705, died 1782. had 
children : Christian, Jacob, Anna. Maria, 
Fronica, Esther, and Barbara. Christian 
(3d) born 1728 died 1783, married Susanna 
Detweiler, daughter of Jacob and Xeltjen 
(Kolb) Detweiler, and had fourteen chil- 
dren, the second of whom was Jacob, the 
father of Susanna (Moyer) Kolb. 

Henry and Susanna (Moj-er) Kolb were 
the parents of nine children, as follows : 

1. Catharine, born February 3, I7q8, mar- 
ried John Freed. 2. Jacob, born November 

2, 1799, a Mennonite minister. 3. Mary, 
born December 10, 1801, married Peter B. 
Hendrick. 4. Henry, see forward. 5. Abra- 
ham M., born January 11, 1806. died in 
Francnnia. 1886. 6. Sarah, bom December 
8, 1808, married Joseph Swartz. 7. Will- 
iam, born June 14, 181 1. died June 8. 1880, 
was a watchmaker. 8. Safnuel. born No- 
vember 20, 1813. 9. Anna, bnrn March 22, 
1818, married Benjamin Kolb. 

Henry Kolb, fourth child of Henry and 
Susanna, was born in Franconia, January 
24. 1804. He was a farmer, and lived and 
died in Franconia township. He married 
Elizabeth Shoemaker, and had eight chil- 
dren : Catharine who married John C. 
Moyer; Jacob S.. the father of the subject 
of this sketch: Samuel S.. of Telford: 
Susanna, married Francis Frick : Henry, 
married Kate Ziegler. living in Franconia: 
Michael, livins: near Telford : Lizzie, mar- 
ried Henry Bergv' ; Sarah, who married 
Eno3 Moyer. 

Jacob S. Kulp learned the jewelry and 
watchmaking trade at Salford, Montgomery 
county, and conducted a jewelry store at 
Franconia Square for twenty-five' years. He 
still lives at Franconia Square, and con- 
ducts the feed. coal, hay and lumber busi- 
ness at Telford, Montgomery countv. He 
married Barbara Nice. Jacob S. and Bar- 
bara (Nice) Kulp were the parents of five 
children, viz.: Amanda, wife of L. L. Horn- 
ing: Elias. who married Emma Nice: Li7- 
zie. wife of Harrv Hartzell : Kate, deceased : 
and Harry N.. the subject of this sketch. 

Mr. Kulp acquired his education at the 
public schools of Franconia township. 
Montgomery county. He was a clerk for 
some years in the store of Tacob C Swart- 
ley, at Line Lexington, and later in the store 
of Henry Zeip-ler. at Hatfield. Montgomery 
county. Jn 1882 he removed to his pres- 



ent farm in Rockhill township. He makes 
a specialty of the dairy business, using two- 
large silos for the storage of ensilage, and 
is one of the large milk shippers of that 
neig;hborhood. He is a member of Men- 
nonite Meeting, and politically is a Re- 
publican. He married, in 1891, Irene May 
Swope, daughter of Isaiah and Rebecca 
(Hager) Swope, of Plumstead township. 
Bucks county, and they are the parents oJ 
one child, Howard Russell, born May 22, 
1893- 



ST. JOHN W. MINTZER, M. D., born^ 
in Philadelphia, May 10, 1834, died Decem- 
ber 25, 1894. He graduated from Jefferson 
^ledical College and the University of 
Pennsylvania. April 16, 1861, he was ap- 
pointed surgeon of the WashingtorL 
Brigade, and April 19, three days later, at 
Baltimore, Maryland, attended the first 
killed and wounded of the war. On May 5, 
1861 he was appointed surgeon of the Twen- 
ty-sixth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers 
and also acted as surgeon of United States 
Volunteers, Third and Fourteenth Army 
Corps. He was present on duty in all the 
battles fought by General Hooker, com- 
manded by Generals McClellan and Burn- 
side, in the Arniv of the Potomac. He was 
acting medical inspector of the Army of 
the Cumberland, surgeon-in-chief command- 
ing the United States Army general hos- 
pitals at McMinnville, Tennessee ; South, 
street, Philadelphia; Beverly, New Jersey, 
and York, Pennsylvania, and surgeon-in- 
chief of the states of Texas, Mississippi, 
etc. He resigned and was mustered out 
June 28, 1867. He practiced medicine until 
within one year of his death. June 29, 
1867, Dr. Mintzer was appointed commis- 
sioner to the Paris Exposition by Governor 
Geary, of Pennsylvania. 

Dr. Mintzer married Frances M. , 

who survives him. With her children, 
Watkins Franklin and Anna M.. she resides 
at the old colonial mansion, "China Hall," 
on the Upper Delaware river, near Croy- 
don station, which Dr. Mintzer purchased 
and restored in 1882. 



JAMES PATTERSON, D. V. S. Anjr 
words of introduction prefixed to' the name 
of James Pattei-son. of Newportville 'vould 
be idle and superfluous. Dr. Patterson 
is a grandson of Jesse Patterson, who was 
born in England, and in boyhood was 
brought to this country by his parents, who 
settled in New Jersey. Subsequently Jesse 
Patterson moved to Bucks county, where 
he engaged in farming. During the war 
of 1812 he served in the army of his adopted 
country. He married Charity Barr, by 
whom he had two children : Jesse, men- 
tioned at length hereinafter: and a daugh- 
ter. Mrs. Patterson died in 1830, and her 
husband survived her but a few years. 

Jesse Patterson, son of Jesse and Charity 
(Barr) Patterson, was born in 1810, irt 



412 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Warwick township, and on reaching man- 
hood went to Wrightstown, where he pur- 
chased a small farm which was his home for 
the remainder of his life. He was extremely 
influential in the political affairs of the 
township, and was elected to various offices, 
among them that of supervisor. Prior to 
1865 he was a Democrat, but in that year 
associated himself with the Republicans. 
He and his wife were members of the So- 
ciety of Friends. Mr. Patterson married 
Hilda Morgan, born in Bucks county, in 
1820, daughter of Samuel Morgan, and their 
children were : Mary, born May 19, 1838 ; 
William, September 6, 1839; Lizzie, Sep- 
tember 19, 1841 : James, mentioned at length 
hereinafter; Martha, born March 15, 1846- 
Anna M., July 23, 1849: Benjamin, May 
II, 1851 ; Henry. September 4,. 1857; and 
Amos, September 26, 1859. Mrs. Patter- 
son died April i, 1884, and her husband 
passed away in April, 1886. Both are buried 
in the Friends' bufyine-ground in Wrights- 
town township. 

James Patterson, son of Jesse and Hilda 
(Morgan) Patterson, was born June 19. 
1843, in Wrightstown township, and until 
he was fourteen years of age attended the 
common schools. He then began to work 
for the neighboring farmers, but still found 
time to prosecute his studies. In 1864 he 
enlisted in Company H, Fifth Regiment, 
Pennsylvania Volunteer -Cavalry, and 
served until the close of the war. His 
regiment was immediately sent to the front 
under the command of General Butler, and 
participated in many engagements, chief 
among which were Fort Fisher. South Side 
Railroad, Petersburg and Richmond. At 
the battle of Five Forks, April 2, 1865, Mr. 
Patterson narrowly escaped death by a ball 
from the gun of a sharpshooter, which 
passed through his right arm, penetrating 
his body within an inch of his heart, and 
lodged in a book which he carried in the 
pocket of his blouse. He was taken to the 
Fairmount Hospital, near Washington, and 
notwithstanding the fact that small hopes 
were entertained of his â–  recovery he was 
able to return home by May 26, that being 
the day on which he received his discharge. 
The book and bullet are now in his pos- 
session and will be preserved by his de- 
scendants as priceless relics. Upon his com- 
plete recovery Mr. Patterson engaged in 
farming until 1875. when he entered the 
School of Veterinary Surgery at Trenton. 
New Jersey, and after a complete course 
graduated in 1878. He immediately began 
the practice of his profession in Newport- 
ville, and two years later purchased the es- 
tate of two hundred and eighty-five acres 
where he has since lived and had his office. 
His patronage is both select and extensive. 
For several years he had full charge, in 
his line, of all the stock on the Drexel 
School Farm, and purchased all the horses 
and cows for that establishment. Dr. Pat- 
terson's interest in public affairs has always 
been keen and active and he has been chosen 
"by his fellow-citizens to fill many offices of 



trust. For nine years he served as school 
director, and at one time was a member of 
the Bristol township Republican committee. 
He has also acted as delegate to many con- 
ventions. In 1894 he was elected to the 
State legislature, and was re-elected in 1896. 
During his first term he served on the fol- 
lowing committees : city passenger rail- 
ways, corporations, and comparing bills. In 
his second year, in addition to serving on 
these committees, he was a member of the 
committee on military affairs. He was in- 
terested in defeating the bill for a bridge to 
span the Delaware river between Bristol 
and Burlington. In 1899 he was deputy 
internal revenue collector for Bucks county, 
serving about two years. In March, 1903, he 
was appointed by John C. Delaney to the 
office of factory inspector and is still serv- 
ing in that position. He is a member of 
Captain H. Clay Beatty Post, No. 73, G. 
A. R., of Bristol, and of Bristol Lodge, 
No. 25, F. and A. M. He is also an ex- 
member of Hulmesville Lodge, I. O. O. F., 
and was one of the organizers of the Bris- 
tol Driving Association, to which he still 
belongs. 

Dr. Patterson married, March 17, 1867. 
Elizabeth Wright, and they are the parents 
of the following children : Lillian Bertha, 
who was born October 7, 1868, and is the 
wife of Isaac Chapman Cooper, of "North- 
ampton county; Marie Wright, who was 
born July 25, 1871, was married. July 31, 
1897, to John Gyger Embree, of West Che? 
ter, and has two children, John Harola. 
born May 7, 1898, and James Newlin, born 
February i, 1902; Charles Rhodes, who was 
born January 6, 1878 ; and Alice Taylor, 
who was born April 17. 1883. Mrs. Pat- 
terson comes, like her husband, of English 
ancestry. She is a granddaughter of 
Joshua Wright, who was a farmer in 
Bucks county, and married Beersheba Rue, 
by whom he had a -family of eleven children, 
of. whom Charles Rhodes Wright was the 
second and was also a farmer. He mar- 
ried Maria Vanzant, also a native of Bucks 
county, and -they were the parents of a 
daughter. Elizabeth, who became the wife, 
of James Patterson, as mentioned above. 
Mr. Wright, in his latter years, by reason 
of itailing health, retired from active labor, 
and moved to B^ristol. where his death 
occurred February 17, 1885. Mrs. Wright 
died August 6, 1901. 



JESSE C. EVERITT. clerk of the or- 
phans' court of the county of Bucks, 
was born in Middletown. Bucks county. 
Pennsylvania. October 24. 1866, and is a 
son of the late David P. and Hannah M. 
(Vandegrift) Everitt. 

Ezekiel Everitt, the great-great-grand- 
father of Mr. Everitt, came to Bucks 
county about the close of the revolution- 
ary war. from Hunterdon county. New 
Jersey, where, and in the adjoining part 
of New Jersey, his ancestors had prob- 





^. 




HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



413 



ably been residents for two -or three 
generations. The lirst of the name of 
whom we have any record was Edward 
Everett, "of St. Saviour's, Southwark, 
Surrey, England, Shipper," who came 
to New Jersey and purchased on July 
23, 1681, a tract of land in Gloucester 
county, East Jersey, opposite Philadel- 
phia, a part of which he and his wife 
Mary conveyed to Richard Wall, Decem- 
ber 9, 1681. No probate record is found 
on his estate, and there is no proof that 
he was the ancestor of the family of 
Everitt who later settled in Middlesex 
and Hunterdon counties. New Jersey, 
and were the direct ancestors of the sub- 
ject of this sketch. Nicholas Everitt, of 
Hopewell, Hunterdon county, died in 
1723, intestate, and letters of adminis- 
tration were granted on his estate to his 
widow Phebe. He was probably the 
father of Benjamin, who died at Maiden- 
head in 1760; William, of Kingwood; 
John, of Bethlehem, who died 1756; and 
possibly also of Ezekiel Everitt, who 
died in Middlesex county, in 1795. Will- 
iam Everitt purchased land in Hunter- 
don county in 1753, and died there in 
1782, letters of administration being 
granted to his son Samuel, who died in 
December, 1783. The similarity of the 
names of the children of the Everitts 
above named indicates that they were 
all of the family. 

The first record we have of Ezekiel 
Everitt, the ancestor of the Bucks county 
family, is in 1784 when, with Benjamin 
Doughty, of Hunterdon county, he ad- 
vertises for information in reference to a 
span of horses stolen from his late resi- 
dence in Ulster county. New York. At 
about this date he came to Bucks county, 
and was engaged in the milling business 
on the Neshaminy in Middletown, and 
in 1789 purchased lots in the present 
limits of the borough of Langhorne. He 
later purchased a farm of eighty acres 
on Core Creek near Jenks' Mill, and sev- 
eral other tracts of land in Middletown. 
About 1810 he removed to Tinicum town- 
ship, Bucks county, where he purchased 
a farm of ninety-eight acres, but soon 
after removed to Amwell township, 
Hunterdon county. New Jersey, where he 
lived until his death, about May i, 1829. 
He was twice married ; his first wife and 
the mother of his children was Mary. 
About the time of his removal to New 
Jersey he married a second wife, Abigail, 
who survived him. His children were: 
Jacob, Epenetes; Aaron; Moses; Will- 
iam; David; Ezekiel; Rachel, wife of 
William Tomlinson, of Middletown; 
Mary Quick, and Elizabeth Bonham ; 
Jacob died in Middletown, in 1832, on 
land devised to him by his father. 

Aaron, the great-grandfather of the 
subject, was the third son of Ezekiel ana 
Mary Everitt, and was probably a native 
of New Jersey. In 1809 he purchased 
of his father, a home in Middletown, 



and three years later purchased of the 
heirs of John Van Horn a farm of 93V2 
acres in iMiddletown, on which he lived 
until his death in 1852. In the year 1829 
he purchased a farm of seventy-eight 
acres which, on March 31, 1830, he con- 
veyed to his son Samuel. Aaron Everitt 

married Mary , and their children were : 

David, who inherited the homestead in 
Middletown; Samuel; and Rachel, who 
married Ridgway Longshore. 

Samuel Everitt, son of Aaron and 
Mary, was born in Middletown township, 
Bucks county. As before stated, he pur- 
chased a farm in Middletown of his 
father in 1830 on which he lived the 
greater part of his life, dying about 1874. 
He was a leading man in the commun- 
ity, taking an active part in local afTairs. 
He was at one time engaged in milling 
at Hulmeville. He married Sarah Ben- 
nett, and was the father of five children : 
Christiana, wife of Jesse Cabe of Middle- 
town; Leila, wife of Joseph Hammer, of 
Bakersfield, California; Mary, widow of 
Burtis Magill, of Hulmeville;' David P.; 
and Clara, wife of James M. Boileau, of 
Bridesburg, Philadelphia. 

David Everitt, only son of Samuel and 
Sarah (Bennett) Everitt, was born on 
the old homestead in Middletown, No- 
vember 20. 1839. He was educated at 
the Bellevue Academy at Langhorne, and 
on attaining manhood engaged in farm- 
ing in Middletown for eight years. In 
1872 he engaged in the mercantile busi- 
ness at Newportville, Bristol township, 
Bucks county, which he continued until 
his death. May 18, 1893, serving as post- 
master for four years during Cleveland's 
administration. He was a Democrat in 
politics, and religiously was a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal church, of 
which he was a trustee. He was a mem- 
ber of Neshamin}' Lodge, No. 422, I. O. 
O. F., of Hulmeville. He married Han- 
nah M. Vandegrift, daughter of Jona- 
than and Martha Vandegrift, of Middle- 
town, where she was born, March 17, 
1842. She now resides with her son, 
Jesse C, of Newportville. David P. and 
Hannah M. (Vandegrift) Everitt were 
the parents of nine children: Camilla and 
Samuel, who died young; Jesse C. ; Stan- 
ley, who died young; Etta, wife cf Sam- 
uel G. Davis, of Eddington; Edward, who 
married Nellie Rudolph, and died Janu- 
ary 9. 1903; Gertrude S., wife of James 
J. Dugan, of Bristol; and Nellie D.. wife 
of loseph Y. Severns of Newportville. 

Jesse C. Everitt obtained his early ed- 
ucation at the public school at Newport- 
ville. At an earlj' age he entered his 
father's store as clerk and filled that po- 
sition for eighteen years. At the death 
of his father he took charge of the store, 
which he has since conducted in connec- 
tion with his mother. He served as as- 
sistant postmaster under his father and 
mother respectively, during the two ad- 
ministrations of President Cleveland. In 



414 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



politics he is a Democrat, and has for 
several years taken an active interest in 
the councils of his party. He was 
elected school director of Bristol town- 
ship in 1901 and served for three years, 
filling the position of president of the 
board. In the fall of 1902 he was elected 
to the office of clerk of orphans' court of 
Bucks county, and has tilled that posi- 
^:ion with eminent ability, -meanwhile 
continuing the mercantile business at 
^ewportville. He is a member of Nesh- 
aminy Methodist Episcopal church, of 
which he is trustee, and has filled the 
position of superintendent of the Sun- 
day school for a number of years. He is 
a member of Neshaminy Lodge, No. 422, 
I. O. O. F., of Hulmeville, and of a 
lodge of Knights of Pythias at Burling- 
ton, New Jersey. He married, June 12, 
1890, Lizzie May Hunt, daughter of Lam- 
bert S. and Rebecca (McNeil) Hunt. 
They have no children. 



ST. FRANCIS' INDUSTRIAL 
SCHOOL. Of all the charitable and edu- 
cational institutions in charge of the Broth- 
ers of the Christian Schools in the United 
States, the St. Francis' Industrial School 
at Eddington, Bucks county, may be said 
to have had the most auspicious beginning. 
Like many of its class it had its origin in 
private charity. The members of the fam- 
ily of the late Francis A. Drexel were long 
and widely known for their many and gen- 
erous benevolences, and when their father, 
the excellent man and noble philanthropist 
whose name is perpetuated in this institu- 
tion, passed away, his daughters, the Misses 
Drexel, continued the chain of benefactions 
which he had begun and continued through- 
out his life. 

Having maturely considered the project' 
•due to a happv inspiration — that of provid- 
ing for a great want and of erecting a 
splendid Christian charity — the three daugh- 
ters of the late Mr. Drexel busied them- 
selves in selecting an eligible site, and late 
in January, 1886, through the intermedia- 
tion of the late Henry Preant secured a 
farm of more than two hundred acres a 
short distance inland from Eddington Sta- 
tion, in the southwestern corner of Bucks 
county. The tract occupies an elevated 
situation overlooking the river, and com- 
mands a beautiful view. Ground was 
broken in July, 1886. and the corner stone 
of the edifice was laid and solemnly blessed 
by Archbishop Ryan, November 14th fol- 
lowing, in the presence of a large as- 
semblage. The address of the day was by 
the Rev. Dr. Horstmann, and at its con- 
clusion the Right Reverend Archbishop 
made brief but touching remarks, express- 
ing his gratification in the inauguration of 
this great work, and taking occasion to 
say that the foundresses of the institution 
were animated by the noblest motives of a 
liberal and intelligent philanthropy to pro- 



vide for a great want in the community, 
but that they were influenced even more 
by the still higher motive of christian 
charity. On Christmas Eve of 1886 an un- 
known vandal performed a sacrilegious act 
in upsetting the corner stone and taking 
away the coins which it contained. The 
corner stone was relaid in June, 1887, the 
memorial coins deposited therein being con- 
tributed by Mr. Anthony J. Drexel. The 
school was then to be called St. John's, but 
the name was subsequently changed to the 
one it now bears — that of the patron saint 
of Francis A. Drexel, the father of the 
young ladies to whom it owes its existence. 

The school was opened on Thursday, 
July 19, 1888, the feast of S. Vincent de 
Paul. The building was blessed by Arch- 
bishop Ryan. Among those present were 
the principal clergy of the neighborhood : 
Very Rev. M. A. Walsh, rector of St. 
Paul's; Very Rev. P. A. Stanton, D. D., 
O. S. A.; Rev. Ign. F. Horstmann, D. D., 
chancellor of the arch-diocese ; Rev. Daniel 
A. Brennan, rector of the Assumption ; 
Rev. Francis Pila, chaplain of La Salle 
College; Rev. Lawrence J. Wall, rector of 
St. Dominic's, Holmesburg; and Revs. 
Hugh McGlinn and Francis J. Carr, rector 
and assistant of St. Mark's, Bristol. Also 
were present all but one of the board of 
managers, who are the same as those of 
St. John's Orphan Asylum ; the three 
Misses Drexel, and a large number of in- 
vited guests. To Brother Anatole had been 
committed the direction of the new, institu- 
tion, and he was aided by a corps of fifteen 
Brothers of the Christian Schools. It had 
been decided to make the Industrial School 
a branch or ally of St. John's Orphan 
Asylum, and these brothers were charged 
with the selection of two hundred out of 
the five hundred inmates of the latter in- 
stitution, to become inmates of the former, 
there to be trained not only in virtue but 
in trades and other useful pursuits. This 
work had been concluded on July i6th. An 
eye witness says : 

"The removal was a picturesque sigh* 
as well as an important event. After the 
Sisters of St. Joseph had completed the 
draft, the fortunate little fellows (ranging 
in age from ten to fourteen), were dressed 
in new suits and straw hats, which had been 
bought for them by the Misses Drexel, and, 
having been formally turned over to the 
Christian Brothers whose wards they were 
to become, were marched over in proces- 
sional form to Girard avenue station of the 
Pennsylvania railroad, at which point they 
took the train for their new abode. The 
boys seemed to enjoy the change very much, 
and soon felt at home in the delightful pre- 
cincts of St. Francis. They wsre also at 
once prepared for the epoch-marking event 
of Thursday." 

While the building was in course of erec- 
tion the Misses Drexel not only made a 
close study of the arrangement and work- 
ings of similar institutions in Europe, but 
they sent Brother Anatole (who had been 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



415 



employed in such work in Baltimore) to 
go over the same field in the Old World 
as had been explored by themselves. With 
the ideas thus gained, and the deep thought 
of many at home, the best possible results 
were attained, and the school has been 
pronounced one of the very best appointed 
of its kind in the world. It is two hundred 
and seventy feet long by eighty-four feet 
wide, four stories in height, and with very 
lofty ceilings. The central portion is sur- 
mounted by a lofty clock tower, and is 
flanked with wings on either side. The 
walls are of brick with terra cotta trim- 
mings. On the ground floor are apartments 
for the archbishop, the brother in charge. 
the chaplain, library, reception room, 
museum, etc. In each of the wings on the 
first floor are four large class rooms, 
separated by sliding doors which enable all 
to be thrown into one. On this floor also 
are the refectories for the instructors, and 
for the boys, and a band room. Closely 
connected is the kitchen. The second floor 
contains the private apartments of the in- 
structors ; some of the boys' dormitories are 
also upon this floor, and the remainder on 
the third, all most admirably arranged and 
suitably furnished. Adjoining buildings are 
fitted as a natatorium ; for washing and dry- 
ing clothes ; the carpenter shop, and the en- 
gine room with admirable machinery for 
supplying water and electric light. 

The first year was prolific with events of 
moment. Classes were formed, and all the 
l)oys were put under systematic instruction 
in the ordinary branches of an education. 
In November a brass band was organized 
with twenty-six boys from the first class. 
The same year an immense well (fifty feet 
in diameter, by twenty feet dee'p) was dug. 
and amply supplies every want ; the prop- 
erty was also surrounded with a handsome 
hedge. In January, 1889, the carpenter 
shop was provided with a full equipment. 
In this year was celebrated in Baltimore 
the centennial anniversary of the establish- 
ment of the Catholic hierarchy in the 
United States, and in the grand procession 
the Industrial School Band headed a dele- 
gation from La Salle College, and were 
"hospitably entertained at Calvert Hall and 
St. Peter's. In November ground was 
"broken for the blacksmith shop, which was 
completed in the course of a few months, 
and work was begun therein on Mav 19, 
1890. The new chapel was formally opened 
January 29, 1890, the feast of St. Francis de 
Sales, the music being rendered by a choir 
of the school boys led by Brother Celestine. 
The Most Reverend Archbishop Ryan cele- 
brated mass, and gave first communion to a 
class of seventy-three boys. Archbishop 
.Ryan delivered two touching addresses dur- 
ing the day. The chapel is an ornament of 
architecture, and contains beautiful mural 
ornaments, and rich stained glass windows 
from the most celebrated works in Munich. 
These represent for the most part saints 
who trod the humbler walks of life, and 
•were either husbandmen, or, at some time in 



their lives, followed some mechanical pur- 
suit. The scenes were selected with a 
special view of presenting to the boys ideal 
patrons in keeping with the character of the 
school, and the vocation for which they 
are being fitted. The altar is unique, and 
unlike all others in the United States, con- 
structed of the finest mosaic work. Shortly 
after the death of Mrs. Smith (.September 
26, 1890), there was erected in the chapel 
a memorial tablet, bearing the following in- 
scription: 

"This tablet is in memory of the amiable 
Mrs. Elizabeth Longstreth Smith, wife of 
Walter George Smith, born August 27th, 
1854, died September 26th, 1890. In her 
great charity she planned the foundation 
of this Industrial School, and superintended 
the building thereof, and donated the same, 
which is a monument to her. 'If therefore 
I have found favor in thy sight, show me 
thy face.' — Exodus xxxiii, 13. " 

In September, 1891, a shop was fitted up 
and a class of seventy-two formed for 
learning plumbing. This year was com- 
pleted the laying of a railroad" siding for 
supplying the institution with coal, obviating 
the necessity for wagoning. 

In 1900 Brother Teliew, the Brother in 
charge, died and was succeeded by Brother 
Ferdinand, the present conductor, who is 
assisted by Brother Julian, who for forty 
years was director of the Percival School in 
Philadelphia, and who has direct charge 
of the teaching. Brother Ferdinand has 
immediate direction of all the business con- 
nected with the school, and from the first 
has adhered to the plans laid down by his 
revered predecessor. Brother Teliew. At 
first the school had no regular chaplain, and 
was attended by the Rev. Hugh McGlinn, 
rector of St. Mark's, Bristol, with his as- 
sistant, the Rev. Francis J. Carr. A s^ort 
time before Christmas of 1888 the Rev. 
Peter A. Quinn. rector of St. Martin's, 
New Hope, was appointed to the chaplaincy, 
who was sent to Media, in Juiy, 1892, being 
succeeded by the Rev. Michael Brady, of 
Mahanoy City. September 7, 1890, oc- 
curred the first death, that of Brother 
Eusebius Patrick, teacher of the seventh 
class. He came to the school an invalid, 
afflicted with a heart ailment which threat- 
ened his death on a moment's warning. He 
was, however, faithful to his duties, and 
remarkably successful with his class. On 
January 4, 1891, Brother Celestine died at 
St. Agnes' Hospital. Philadelphia. As in- 
firmarian he was devoted, careful, and very 
charitable towards the children confided to 
his care, and as teacher of singing was 
capable, and eminently successful. 

In 1893 the number of inmates was in- 
creased to three himdred, and the number 
of classes was made seven. From the be- 
ginning the patrons of the school have been 
accustomed to visit it about once a week. 
During the first years, on Christmas Day 
there was a distribution of prizes and an 
entertainment in the study hall. Later on 
the distribution was made in May, and 



4i6 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



finally in June. Each succeeding exliibition 
and entertainment has been an improvement 
upon the preceding, eliciting hearty appreci- 
ation and congratulations from His brace 
the Archbishop and other dislinguiMi^d 
guests. Prizes are now distributed lor 
proficiency in all tiiat is taught in the school 
— Class work, elocution, drawing, stained 
glass work, wood carving, stone cutting, 
blacksmithing, plumbing, cabinet making, 
clay modeling, sign painting, tailoring, 
shoemaking, music, engineering, fresco 
painting, and military drill. After the com- 
mencement exercises the boys are placef'- 
out as soon as practicable. 



JOHN M. MORGAN. The Morgan 
family, of Walsh lineage, has been rep- 
resented in America through several 
generations. The great-grandfather of 
John M. Morgan was a native of Wales, 
and came to this state with a colony 
whose members sought the advantages 
of the new world and settled in Penn- 
sylvania. He was a consistent member 
of the Friends' meeting. Most of his de- 
scendants have followed the occupation 
of farming, living quiet but useful lives. 

David Morgan, grandfather of John 
M. Morgan, was born in Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania, and after arriving 
at years of maturity wedded Sarah Kin- 
derdine, whose birth occurred in Hor- 
sham township, Montgomery county. 
Her ancestors were among the pioneer 
settlers of that locality, removing thence 
from the parish of Horsham in England. 
The first of the name in America be- 
' longed to the Friends' meeting, and the 
congregation of that society which was 
organized in his locality he called by 
the name of Horsham, and eventually 
the township took the same name. To 
David and Sarah (Kinderdine) Morgan 
were born the following children : Enoch ; 
David ; Margaret, who became the w'ife of 
John Conard Morgan, a farmer ; Isaker ; 
and Edward. 

Enoch Morgan, son of David Morgan, 
was born and reared in Horsham town- 
ship, Montgomery county, and early be- 
came familiar with the duties and labors 
that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. 
Later he learned the tailor's trade, which 
he followed for a number of years, and 
then resumed farming. He possessed 
considerable mechanical genius, being 
able to construct any device which he 
saw. Because of his ability in this di- 
rection he kept everything about his 
place in excellent repair, including the 
buildings and farm machinery. He spent 
the greater part of his life as an agricul- 
, turist, and his loyalty to duty and hon- 
esty in business transactions made him a 
valued resident of his community. He 
voted with the Whig party until its dis- 
solution, when he joined the ranks of the 
new Republican party. He always affili- 



ated with the l'~riends' meeting, and died 
in that faith in 1876. In early manhood 
he wedded Ann Spencer, whose death 
occurred in I1S63. She was a daughter 
of James Spencer, one of the early set- 
tlers and prominent farmers of Mont- 
gomery county, of German lineage, in 
whose family were four children: Ann, 
who became Mrs. Morgan; George; 
Ruth; and John. To Enoch and Ann 
Morgan were born three children: Lydia, 
the wife of John Maxwell; John M.; and 
Tacy. 

John M. Morgan was born in Hor- 
sham township, August 16, 1845, reared 
to farm life, and remained under the 
parental roof until twelve years of age, 
when he started out upon an indepen- 
dent business career. He is a self-made 
man, having since that time depended 
entirely upon his own resources for a 
livelihood. He tirst found employment 
on a farm in Lancaster county, Penn- 
sylvania, where he remained with one 
man until sixteen years of age. He then 
enlisted in 1861, in response to the 
country's call for aid to crush out the 
rebellion in its incipiency. He joined 
the Fourth Pennsylvania Reserves for 
three years or during the war, and went 
to the front under command of Isaiah 
Kimble and Colonel Cook. The regi- 
ment was assigned to the Arnij^ of the 
Potomac, and he soon went to the front 
to battle for the Union. The first en- 
gagement in which he participated w'as 
the second battle of Bull Run, and he 
afterward took part in a second battle of 
Fredericksburg, and the engagements at 
Gaines' Mill and Malvern Hill. He was 
then transferred to the Thirteenth Penn- 
sylvania Cavalry, vmder command of 
Colonel J. A. Gallaher, and participated 
in the battles of Fair Oaks, Antietam, 
the second day's fight in the Wilderness, 
Gettysburg and Spottsylvania. At the 
last" named place, the regiment was dis- 
mounted. He there sustained a wound 
caused by a minie ball which plowed its 
way through the instep of his left foot. 
Unwilling to leave his command he re- 
mained with his company, but took cold 
in his wound and was then forced to go 
to the hospital on the i6th of June, 1864. 
He remained there for four months, and 
in order to save his life submitted to the 
amputation of his foot, which was taken 
off above the ankle. As soon as able, 
however, he joined the Invalid Corps, 
and continued in the service with an in- 
dependent battalion, going to Harper's 
Ferry, Virginia, and on to other points 
in the south. He continued in active 
duty until after the close of the war, and 
then returned to York, Pennsylvania, be- 
ing mustered out and receiving his hon- 
orable discharge on the 17th of Maj', 
1865. He was a courageous soldier, al- 
ways found at his post of duty, whether 
it called him to the lonely picket line or 
to the midst of the fire. The govern- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



417 



ment recognized his valuable services 
and his sacrifices, and granted him a 
pension. 

Following his return home, where he 
remained for a few months, Mr. Morgan 
went on a prospecting tour to Los An- 
geles, California, where he was given a 
mail route. He continued in the strict 
service of the government for thirteen 
months, and then again came to Penn- 
sylvania. Here he did some trading, and 
after his marriage, which occurred in 
1868. he settled in Horsham township, 
where he remained for a year and a half. 
He then moved to Plumstead township, 
where he spent one year, and afterward 
went to Jamison, where he engaged in the 
operation of the Small farm for one 
season. Later he conducted another 
farm for tw^o years, and in 1874 removed 
to the six acre lot whereon he yet re- 
sides. Here he has since operated his 
land and has attended to other busi- 
ness interests. In 1881 he conducted a 
mail route between Hatboro and La- 
haska, being thus engaged for six 
months. He has engaged in dealing in 
horses and he has filled public positions. 
In 188S Mr. Morgan was elected on the 
Republican ticket to the office of con- 
stable, and collected the delinquent 
taxes, serving in all in that capacity for 
fourteen years. In 1893 he went upon a 
man's bond for the mail service, and 
when the man abandoned the route Mr. 
Morgan biegan carrying the mail for that 
term, and was a successful bidder for 
the next term. He has since remained 
in the position, which he has capably 
filled for twelve years, carrying the mail 
from Bridge Valley to Rushland, making 
two trips daily. For this he receives 
four hundred dollars annually. He is a 
man of determination, temperate in hab- 
its, industrious and energetic, and de- 
serves credit for what he has accom- 
plished. 

]Mr. Morgan wedded Miss Sarah Jack- 
son, who was born in Horsham township 
in 1852. Her parents were Charles and 
Rachel (Gordon) Jackson. Her father 
is a farm laborer, and he and his wife are 
affiliated with the Friends' meeting. 
Their cliildren are Job S.; George; 
Mary A., who died at the age of six- 
teen years; and Sarah E. To Mr. and 
Mrs. '^Morgan were- born eight children: 
John, who has been an invalid -from 
childhood: Viola, the wife of T. Belger; 
Charles K., a farmer; Tacey, the wife 
of F. Martindale; Oliver J., a la- 
borer: William, a farmer; Fannie O.. the 
wife of William Kirk: and Carrie. Mrs. 
Morgan died December 18, 1898. and 
since that time Mr. Morgan has ern- 
ploved a housekeeper to manage his 
household affairs. An honored veteran 
of the civil war. and handicapped by the 
loss of his foot, he has displayed marked 
energy and enterprise in his business ca- 
reer, making the most of his opportuni- 
27-3 



ties, and winning for himself an honor- 
able name by reason of what he has ac- 
complished and because of his unfalter- 
ing perseverance. 



CHARLES J. MATHEWS, of Lang- 
horne Manor, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, the prominent Philadelphia mor- 
occo manufacturer, was born in Phila- 
delphia, July 23, 1862, and is a son of 
Lawrence James and Mary Catharine 
(Knight) Mathews. Lawrence Mathews, 
Sr., the grandfather of the subject of 
this sketch, was for several years a 
prominent brick manufacturer in Kens- 
ington, Philadelphia. In 1829 he located 
on the Germantown road, in Kensing- 
ton, but prior to that date had been 
engaged in the manufacture of bricks for 
some years in Kensington. In the spring 
of 1850 he removed with his family to 
Wrightsville. York county, Pennsyl- 
vania, and subsequently located in Lan- 
caster county, where he died. Lawrence 
and Margaret Mathews were the pa- 
rents of eight children, all of whom were 
born in Philadelphia, viz.: Cecilia; Jame^, 
to whom they conveyed the Kensington 
real estate in April, 1850; Mary; Law- 
rence J.; Emmaline; Edward; Susan, now 
residing in San Francisco; and Martha. 

Lawrence James Mathews, second son 
*of Lawrence and Margaret, was born in 
Philadelphia, in 1832, and removed with 
his parents to York county in 1850. He 
married, in 1855, Anna Wilson, daugh- 
ter of William and Anna Wilson, of 
Lancaster county, who bore him two 
children: Emmeline, who died young; 
and Lizzie, now Sister Mary Joseph, in 
St. Ursula Convent, Bedford Springs, 
New York. Mr. Mathews married (sec- 
ond) Mary Catharine Knight, in 1861, 
and located in Philadelphia, the city of 
his birth, where he engaged in the man- 
ufacture of morocco goods in a small 
w-ay^ establishing the plant now con- 
ducted by the subject of this sketch, 
which has grown from -that modest be- 
ginning to an industry representing a 
capital of millions of dollars, marketing 
its extensive product in all parts of the 
civilized world. Mr. Mathews died in 
March, 1883. By his second marriage 
with Mary Catharine Knight he had sev- 
eral children, four of whom survive: 
Charles J., Estelle. Alice and Nellie. 

CHARLES J. MATHEWS w^as born 
in Philadelphia, and acquired his edu- 
cation at the public schools of that city 
and at Andalusia Hall preparatory 
school in Bensalem township. Bucks 
county. At the age of fifteen years he 
entered his father's morocco manufac- 
turing establishment to learn the busi- 
ness. Beginning at the bottom, he thor- 
oughly mastered every detail of the work 
in all its branches, and became thor- 
oughly familiar with the different pro- 



4i8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



cesses of manufacture tlien in vogue. 
Shortlj' after the death of his father in 
1883, he assumed the management of tlie 
factory, and has continued to conduct it 
and the various plants hitcr added to tlie 
present time. The house has kept pace 
with the rapid development and im- 
proved methods of manufacture in their 
line of business, and has vastly increased 
its capacity and output, from twenty-'tive 
dozen skins in 188,3 to over eight hun- 
dred dozen per day, representing an 
output of two and a half million dol- 
lars, and filling orders from England, 
Scotland, Germany, France, Italy, Aus- 
tralia, Constantinople, as well as from 
all the South American countries. Mr. 
Mathews has discovered and introduced 
some very important improvements in 
the treatment of skins for the manu- 
facture of patent leather and other 
products of his factory. 

On October 16. 1884. Mr. Mathews 
was united in wedlock with Clara L. 
Brunner, daughter of Samuel and Anna 
(Leatherman) Brunner, of Philadelphia, 
both of whom were natives of Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania. The Brunner 
family are of German origin, many of 
the name having migrated to Pennsyl- 
vania between the years 1727 and 1780. 
The branch of the family to which Mrs. 
Brunner belonged were early settlers in 
Montgomery county, from whence they 
migrated into New Britain and Bed-, 
minster townships, Bucks county. 

Jacob Leatherman, the maternal an- 
cestor of Mrs. Brunner, was a native of 
Germany, and emigrated to America, 
arriving at Philadelphia in the ship 
"Lydia," September 20. 1741. accom- 
panied by his wife Magdalena and two 
sons, Jacob and Abraham, the latter less 
than two years of age. They settled in 
Bedminster township, Bucks county, 
shortly after their arrival, where six 
other children were born to Jacob and 
Magdalena. The father died in 1763. 
Jacob Leatherman, the eldest son of 
Jacob and Magdalena, born in Germany, 
did not marry until late in life, his wife. 
Esther Overholt, being twenty years 
his junior. She was born July 27. 1762. 
and died October 7, 1816. Jacob Leath- 
erman died in 1805. aged about seventy 
years. 

Joseph Leatherman, son of Jacob and 
Esther (Overholt) Leatherman, was 
born in Bedminster. February 14, 1786. 
and died there April ti. t86o. He mar- 
ried. November 12, 1811. Sarah Meyers, 
born May 5. 1788. died September 10, 
'i^?i?,< daughter of Christian and Mary 
(Landis) Meyer, the former of whom 
was born March 27. 1763. in Franconia 
township, Montgomery county. _ Penn- 
sylvania, and was a son of Christian and 
Susanna TDetweiler) Meyer, and grand- 
son of Christian and Magdalena Meyei. 
the pioneer ancestors of the family. Jo- 
seph and Sarah (Meyers) Leatherman, 



were the parents of eleven children, of 
whom Jacob M., the eldest, was born 
January 14, 1813, and died August I, 
1876. He married, October 3, 1837. Sarah 
Bishop, born March i. 1817. daughter of 
Jacob and Anna (Fretz) Bishop, of New 
Britain township, Bucks county. Jacob 
Bishop was the son of a German emi- 
grant by name of Bischoff, (sometimes 
spelled Bischofifberger) and was reared 
in the family of Joseph Fretz, in Bed- 
minster, whose daughter Anna he sub- 
sequently married. He located in New- 
Britain after his marriage, and died there 
December 15, 1832. Anna (Fretz) Bis- 
hop was born February 29, 1788, and died 
in 1865, and was a descendant of the 
Fretz family of Bedminster, an accourt 
of which is given elsewhere in this vol- 
ume. Anna Leatherman, daughter of 
Jacob M. and Sarah (Bishop) Leather- 
man, was born in Bedminster township, 
November 10, 1839. and married Samuel 
C. Brunner, December 25, i860. He died 
several years ago,, and she married sec- 
ond John Piercy of Philadelphia. 

Charles J. and Clara L. (Brunner) 
Mathews, are the parents of one child 
Alyse, born July i. 1894- Mr. and Mrs. 
Mathews have resided for several years 
in Langhorne Manor borough. Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, where they oc- 
cupy a handsome home. 



ARTEMUS ROSENBERGER. Among 
the representatives of the sturdy Ger- 
man emigrants who early in the sev- 
enteenth century found an asylum from 
religious persecution in Penn's colony, 
and a few decades later settled the upper 
portion of Bucks county, is Artemus 
Rosenberger, of Hilltown, Bucks county. 
He is a son of Jacob D. and Eliza 
(Swartley) Rosenberger, and was born 
in Hilltown May 10, 1863. 

Henry Rosenberger. the emigrant an- 
cestor of the subject of this sketch, was 
among the earliest of the German immi- 
grants to settle in Franconia township. 
Montgomery county, having purchased 
land there in 1729. part of which is still 
in the tenure of a descendant. IMichael 
Swartley. His son, Daniel Rosenberger. 
who accompanied his parents from Ger- 
many, purchased land in Hatfield. Mont- 
gomery county, near Hockertown. in 
1740, and here his son Isaac Rosen- 
berger was born, November 30. 1751. The 
latter married Christiana, an adopted 
daughter of Rev. John Funk, of Hat- 
field, and their son Henry, born in Hat- 
field. October i. 177.^. w^as the grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch. Isaac 
Rosenberger purchased in 1790 one hun- 
dred aci-es in Hilltown, where the subject 
of this sketch now lives, and here Henry 
settled in 1803. purchasing the farm of 
his father in 1810. He erected the pres- 
ent large stone house in 1812 and the 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



419 



Sjarn in 1816, and lived on the old farm 
until his death, September 10, 1846. He 
married Hannah Detweiler, born Deceni- 
iier 17, 1778, clied May 2, 1857. 

Jacob D. Rosenberger, son of Henry 
and Hannah, was born on the Hilltown 
homestead, November 28, 1819, and lived 
there until his death, January 21, 1892. 
He married, December 23, 1843, Eliza 
Swartley, daughter of Jacob and Polly 
(Funk) Swartley, born March 3, 1824, 
died January 19, 1890, and they were the 
parents of the following named chil- 
dren: Henry Franklin, born October 5, 
1844, married Amanda Kline, and has 
one son, Robert Fulton, at present a stu- 
dent at Muhlenberg College. Albert, 
died an infant. Mary Matilda, born Feb- 
ruary 6, 1847, living on a farm near Sil- 
verdale, married first Jacob Snyder, de- 
ceased, married (second) Jacob Fell- 
man, also deceased. William F. Johnson, 
born November 29, 1848, died in Phila- 
delphia, June, 1900. Sarah Jane, born 
November 27, 1851, married John M. 
Kulp, deceased. Hannah Etta, born Feb- 
ruary 17, 1853. wife of Aaron S. Moyer, 
of Harleysville. Jacob, born February 
27, 1855, died at the age of three years. 
Ann Eliza, born August 4, 1856, wife of 
Jacob S. Rosenberger, of Hagersville. 
Isaiah S., born April ir, 1858, married 
Jemima Rosenberger, daughter of David, 
deceased, living in Philadelphia. Arte- 
mus, born May 10, 1863, see forward; 
Susan R. born May 16, 1866, wife of 
William D. Kratz. 

Artemus Rosenberger was the seventh 
son of Jacob D.'and Eliza (Swartley) 
Rosenberger, and was born and reared 
on the old homestead in Hilltown, pur- 
chased by his great-grandfather, Isaac 
Rosenberger, in 1790, and has spent his 
whole life there. This farm was part of 
a plantation patented to William 
Thomas, and descended to his grandson, 
William Thomas, who was a tax col- 
lector for Hilltown, and, defaulting in 
the payment of the taxes collected, the 
farm was seized on a writ issued at the 
instance of Abrahain Chapman, county 
treasurer, and sold by the sheriff to 
Isaac Rosenberger, and has descended 
from father to son for four generations 
to the present owner, Artemus Rosen- 
berger, who purchased it of his father, 
and it is now conducted by his son, J. 
Wesley of the fifth generation. The 
family have been Mennonites since their 
arrival in Pennsylvania; Henry Rosen- 
berger, son of the emigrant Henry, was 
the minister of Franconia Meeting for 
many years, and nearly every generation 
since have supplied the sect with min- 
isters and elders in their respective com- 
munities. Artemas Rosenberger married 
Mary Ann Hendricks, daughter of Jo- 
seph G. Hendricks, deceased, and this 
union has been blessed with seven chil- 
dren, four of whom survive, three hav- 
ing died in one week's time in 1898, with 



dyphtheria. Those who survive are: Jo- 
seph Wesley, born November 5, 1885; 
Fanny Elizabeth, May i, 1888; Jacob 
Herman, February 2, 1891; and Amy 
Eva, November 18, 1901. Mr. Rosen- 
berger has retired from the active man- 
agement of his farm, which is now con- 
ducted by his eldest son J. Wesley, and 
devotes his time to real estate business 
and in the settlement of estates. 



THE STACKHOUSE FAMILY OF 
HORSHAM. John H. Stackhouse, late 
of Horsham, deceased, was born in Hor- 
sham township, Alontgomery county, Penn- 
sylvania, I mo. 24, 1844, and died 4 mo. 14, 
1899, a son of Charles and Hannah (Hes- 
ton) Stackhouse. The Stackhouses of Hor- 
sham are descendants of Thomas Stack- 
house, who came from Yorkshire, England, 
in 1682, and settled in Aiiddletown, and an 
account of whom and his marriages and 
children is given in this volume. (See 
sketch of Dr. Asa M. Stackhouse). 

Isaac Stackhouse, youngest son of 
Thomas Stackhouse, of Middletown, by his 
second marriage, with Ann Mayos, was born 
in Middletown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
7 mo. 5, -1720, and died I mo. 17, 1791. He 
married, 10 mo. 29, 1743, Mary Harding, 
daughter of Thomas Jr. and Mary (Comly) 
Harding, who was born 6 mo. 17, 1720, and 
died 3 mo. 4, 1782. Her mother, Mary 
Comly, born 12 mo. 12, 1699, was the eldest 
daughter of Henry and Agnes (Heaton) 
Comly. She married first Thomas Harding, 
Jr., who died 7 ino. 12, 1728, and (second) 
George Randall, in 1731. Isaac and Mary 
(Harding) Stackhouse were the parents 
of seven children ; Thomas, born 7 mo. 2y, 
1744, married Hannah White; Mary, born 
II mo. 5, 1745, died 9 mo. 21, 1800, married 
Jesse tleston; Ann, born 6 mo. 2, 1749. 
married^ohn Gilbert, died i mo. 3, 1839; 
Jonathan, born 10 mo. 31, 1750, died 4 mo. 
16, 1806, married Grace Comfort; John, 
born II mo. 11, 1752, died 9 mo. 12, 1828, 
married Sarah Kmght ; Martha, born 9 mo. 
13, 1758, died 3 mo. 4, 1782, married Caleb 
Gilbert; and Isaac, born 11 mo. 18, 1759, 
died I mo. 30, 1835, married Elizabeth 
Townsend. 

Thomas Stackhouse, the eldest of the 
above children, married Hannah White, 5 
mo. 8, 1771, and had five children, viz.: 
Thomas, born 6 mo. 4, 1774, died 4 mo. 
30, 1848, married Susanna Parry; Isaac, 
born 1775, died 4 mo. 23, 1824, marriea 
Margaret Tho-rnton ; Mary, born 4 mo. 4, 
1783, died 8 mo. 31, 1821, married Jesse 
Knight; Ann, married William Plumly; 
Joseph, born 4 mo. 10, 1772, died 10 mo, 10, 
1806, married first Phebe Parry, and (sec- 
ond) Mary Walmsley. 

Thomas Stackhouse, Jr., second son of 
Thomas and Hannah (White) Stackhouse. 
married in 1798, at Byberry Meeting, Su- 
sanna Parry, born 4 mo. 23, 1777, died 4 
mo. 8, 1823, daughter of Jonathan and Re- 



420 






HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNT-Y. t^ " ^r^ ) 



becca (Knight) Parry, and in 1800 settled 
in Horsham, Montgomery county, Pennsyl- 
vania. Thomas and Susanna were the par- 
ents of seven children: Martha, born 3 mo. 
6, 1800, died 10 mo. 2, 1866, unmarried; 
Elizabeth, born 4 mo, 4, 1802, died 7 mo. 
4, 1890; Hannah, born 8 mo. 20, 1804, died 
3 mo. 28, 1886; CHARLES, born 2 mo. 11, 
1807, died 2 mo. 19, 1881, married HAN- 
NAH HESTON; Jonathan, born 3 mo. 28, 
1810, died 10 mo. 20, 1884, married tirsi 
Anna Headley and (second) Sarah R. 
Quinby; Rebecca, born 3 mo. 12, 1813, died 
II mo. 7, 1872, unmarried; Joseph, born 
3 mo. 25, 1815, died 11 mo. 8, 1828. 

Charles Stackhouse, son of Thomas and 
Susanna (Parry) Stackhouse, was born in 
Horsham, 2 mo. 11, 1807, married II mo. 12, 
1834, Hannah Heston, born 9 mo. 9, 1805, 
died 3 mo. 3, 1889, daughter of John and 
Rachel (Warner) Heston, of Wrightstown, 
Bucks county. John Heston, father of Han- 
nah, was born 2 mo. 9, 1776, and died 8 mo. 
22, 1843. He was a son of Jesse Heston, 
born 6 mo. 25, 1743, died 1828, and Mary 
Stackhouse, daughter of Isaac and Mary 
(Harding) Stackhouse, before-mentioned. 
Jesse Heston was a son of Jacob and Mary 
(Warner) Heston, and grandson of Zebu- 
Ion and Dorothy Heston, the latter of whom 
was the third wife of Thomas Stackhouse 
the emigrant. Charles and Hannah (Hes- 
ton) Stackhouse were the parents of four 
children, only two of whom lived to mature 
age, viz. : Thomas W., born 7 mo. 16, 1842, 
married Elizabeth J. Kenderdine ; and John 
H. Stackhouse, first above-mentioned, who 
was born i mo. 24, 1844. 

John H. Stackhouse was born and reared 
in Horsham township, and was educated 
at' the public schools of that township ; he 
was of a scholarly turn of mind, and being 
very fond of books acquired quite a fund 
of useful knowledge. He was reared to the 
life of a farmer, and followed that vocation 
until a few years before his death, 4 mo. 
14, 1899, owning and cultivating a farm of 
eighty-five acres. He married, 11 mo. 21, 
1866, Rachel P. Stackhouse, daughter of 
Benjamin and Mary (Phares) Stackhouse, 
of Southampton, Bucks county. Benjamin 
Stackhouse was a son of Isaac and Mar- 
garet (Thornton) Stackhouse, and a grand- 
son of Thomas and Hannah (White) 
Stackhouse, before mentioned. 

Isaac Stackhouse, son of Thomas and 
Hannah, born in Middletown, in 1775, mar- 
ried at Falls Meeting, 5 mo. 14, 1795. Mar- 
garet Thornton, daughter of James Thorn- 
ton, and removed to Horsham in 1797. He 
died 4 mo. 23, 1824. The children of Isaac 
and Margaret (Thornton) Stackhouse were 
as follows: i. Hannah, born 1796, mar- 
ried James West; 2. Thomas, born 1798, 
died 8 mo. 16, 1867, married Phebe K. Paul, 
and had children, Charles, John and Eliza- 
beth. 3. Amos B., born 4 mo. 25. 1800, died 
8 mo. 26, 1836, married Eliza Landis; 4. 
Lydia B., born 7 mo. t8, 1802, died 6 mo. 
4. 1835. married Isaac C. Knight; 5. BEN- 
JAIMIN, born 7 mo. 8, 1804, died 11 mo. 17, 



1873, married twice,i(see below) ; 6. Isaac, 
born I mo. 29, 1806, died 5 mo. 22,, 1868, 
married Eliza Phares, and had children; 
Townsend, Lydia, Thornton, Amos, Mar- 
garet and Elizabeth. 7. Thornton, born <} 
mo. 8, 1809, died 4 mo. 29, 1892, married 
Mary H. Twining, and had children ; James, 
Henry, Clara and Emma ; 8. Margaret, born 

I mo. 29, 1814, married James McMullin. 
Benjamin Stackhouse, third son of Isaac 

and Margaret, born 7 mo. 8, 1804, married 
first Elizabeth Raisin, and had two chil- 
dren, Evan and Burroughs. He married 
(second) in 1831, Mary Phares, born i mo. 
24, 1814, died 5 mo. 3, 1888, daughter of 
William and Rachel (Bodine) Phares, and 
they were the parents of six children : i. 
John, born 7 mo. 7, 1839, married Adaline 
Burton, and had children; J. Burton, Eliza- 
beth, John and Joseph, the latter dying: 
young. 2. George, married Catharine Law- 
rence, and has children : T. Clifton, Ben- 
jamin, Harry and Ida; 3. Rachel P., bora 
1842, married JOHN H. STACKHOUSE, 
above mentioned; 4. Pierson N., married, 

II mo. 8, 1866, Achsah P. Hampton, daugh- 
ter of Simeon and Letitia Hampton; 5. 
Benjamin, died in infancy; 6. Oliver, died 
in infancy. 

John H. and Rachel P. Stackhouse were 
the parents of two children : John, born 
12 mo. 27, 1867, married Thirza Smith, 
and has two children, Harvey and Evan;, 
and Howard, born 4 mo. 8, 1877. 



CHARLES T. WILKINSON is de- 
scended from ancestry connected with the 
nobility of England, and among those who 
have borne the name in America have been 
several men prominent in public and pro- 
fessional life. He is also a descendant of 
the second minister having charge of the 
First Baptist church in this country. In 
England one Lawrence Wilkinson jvas a 
lieutenant in the army of Charles I and at 
the surrender of Newcastle, October 22, 

1644, he was taken prisoner by parliament 
and the Scotch troops. The progenitor of 
the family in America was Lawrence Wil- 
kinson, a native of Lanchester, county Dur- 
ham, England, but the ancestry can be traced 
back to still more remote generations, for 
record is obtainable concerning his grand- 
father, who also bore the name of Lawrence 
Wilkinson, who resided at Hartly House, 
Lanchester,' county Durham. 

(II) William Wilkinson, son of Lawrence 
Wilkinson, wedded Mary Conyers, a daugh- 
ter of Christopher Conyers, of Hardin,. 
England, and a sister of John C. Bort. 

(III) Lawrence Wilkinson, son of Will- 
iam and Mary Wilkinson, was born in Lan- 
caster, England, and came to America in 

1645, settling at Providence, Rhode Island, 
where his remaining days were passed. His 
son 

(IV) Captain Samuel Wilkinson, served 
in the continental assembly of Rhode Island. 
He was an expert surveyor, being ofteni 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



421 



called upon to s.ettle disputed questions con- 
cerning boundary lines. His entire life was 
passed in Rhode Island. He married Plain 
Wickenden, a daughter of the Rev. Will- 
iam Wickenden, who was the second pastor 
of First Baptist church in America. 

(V) John Wilkinson, son of Samuel and 
Plain Wilkinson, was born at Providence, 
Rhode Island, January 25, 1677, removed 
irom Rhode Island to New Jersey, and in 
1713 came to Bucks county. It is not known 
just when he came to Bucks county, but 
we find him here through a deed dated }ilay 
27, 1713, for the property now in possession 
of Charles T. Wilkinson. John Wilkinson 
was the progenitor of the family in this 
state. He wrote his will February, 1751, 

and it was proved April 23, 1751. He turned 
his attention to agricultural pursuits, and 
many of his descendants have followed the 
same calling. He married and was the fa- 
ther of seven children, among them the fol- 
lowing, all born in Wrightstown township: 
Mary, married Joseph Chapman; Kesiah, 
mairied Thomas Ross; Plain, married Peter 
Ball; Susannah, married Andrew Daws; 
Ruth, married Joseph Chapman; and John, 
mentioned hereinafter. 

(VI) Colonel John Wilkinson, son of 
John Wilkinson, was born in Wrightstown 
township. He wedded Mary Lacy, daugh- 
ter of John Lacy, and a sister of General 
Lacy, of Revolutionary fame. Colonel John 
"Wilkinson also won his title by defending 
the interests of the colonists in the war for 
independence. He served twelve years in 
the legislature from Bucks county, and was 
also a member of the first constitutional 
convention held in Philadelphia, July 15, 
1776. His second wife was Hannah Hughes. 
They were the parents of Elisha Wilkin- 
son, at one time high sheriff of Bucks coun- 
ty and later innkeeper at Centerville. In 
1782 a portion of the land upon which 
Charles T. Wilkinson now resides was 
deeded to Elisha Wilkinson, and afterward 
to Abram Wilkinson, grandfather of Charles 

T. Wilkinson, in 1805. This land came into 
possession of the Wilkinson family about 
the close of the seventeenth century. Col- 
onel John Wilkinson died May 21, 1782, 
aged seventy-one years, and his remains 
were interred in the Friends' burying ground 
at Wrightstown. His will is dated Febru- 
ary II, 1782. 

(VII) Abraham Wilkinson was the 
grandfather of Charles T. Wilkinson. He 
was born in Bucks county, and as stated a 
part of the old family homestead came into 
his possession in 1805. He resided thereon 
throughout his entire life, devoting his 
energies unremittingly to agricultural pur- 
suits. His religious faith was that of the 
Priends meeting. He married Mary Twin- 
ing, also a native of Bucks county, and 
their children were: Jane, John, Abraham, 
Samuel T.. a farmer ; and Eleaser. 

(VIII) Eleaser Wilkinson, son of Abra- 
~ham Wilkinson, was born April 12, 1812, 
reared on the old family homestead, and 
after arriving at man's estate purchased the 



interest of the other heirs in the property 
and thereon reared his own family. He 
carried on general agricultural pursuits, 
and his life was at all times honorable and 
upright, being in consistent harmony with 
his professions as a member of the Friends 
meeting. He wedded ^Nl'ary A. Twining, a 
daughter of Jacob Twining, a representative 
of an old and prominent family of Bucks 
county. Her grandfather was Stephen 
Twining, who married a daughter of Col- 
onel Wilkinson. Jacob Twining was a 
farmer and he, too, belonged to the Friends 
meeting. His children w^ere : Crosedall, 
Stephen, Charles T., Isaac, and Aaron, all 
of whom were farmers; Mary A., who be- 
came Mrs. Wilkinson ; and Deborah, the 
wife of Charles R. Scarborough. Eleaser 
Wilkinson died March 20, 1855, while his 
wife, long surviving him, -departed this lite 
in 1876. They were the parents of six chil- 
dren : Charles T. ; Jane ; Barclay, who died 
at the age of three j'ears ; Caroline; Mary, 
the \\\i& of Charles Warner; and Comly, 
who died at the age of twenty years. 

Charles T. Wilkinson was born at the 
old ancestral home of the Wilkinson family, 
November 6, 1843, was reared in the usual 
manner of farmer lads and pursued his edu- 
cation in the common schools. He contin- 
ued to assist his mother in the operation of 
the old homestead up to the time of his 
marriage. He afterward bought the inter- 
est of the other heirs in the home property 
and is yet living there, carrying on general 
farming. He also has a large herd of Jersey 
cows, is engaged in the manufacture of 
butter, and attends the Philadelphia mar- 
ket, having for forty years sold his prod- 
ucts there. His business affairs have been 
capably conducted along enterprising lines, 
and he has gained a very desirable measure 
of success. In addition to the home prop- 
erty he has purchased an adjoining tract 
of land. He now occupies the commodious 
stone mansion which his father erected in 
1840. This he has remodeled, adding many 
modern equipments including steam and 
hot and cold water, together with other con- 
veniences. The house occupies a fine build- 
ing site, commanding a splendid view of the 
surrounding country. There are forest and 
fruit trees upon the place, and in addition 
to his home there is a large barn and com- 
modious outbuildings for the shelter of 
grain and stock. He uses the latest irn- 
proved machinery in the operation of his 
farm and also has steam power for forcing 
the water to the house and for the thresh- 
ing, churning, feed grinding and other work 
where power is needed. He has kept fully 
abreast with the progressive spirit of the 
times along agricultural lines, and is a pros- 
perous farmer and market man. Mr. Wilk- 
inson gives his political endorsement to the 
Republican party. He has filled various 
township positions, acting as school director 
for twenty-five years, and since 1890 he has 
been secretary of the board. He was also 
elected justice of the peace in 1895 and is 
yet filling the position, his decisions being 



422 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



strict!}' fair and impartial, llo is also sec- 
retary of the board of School Directors 
Association of Bucks County, serving since 
1896, and is president of the Concord Per- 
severance Company. The positions which 
he has tilled have come to him in recogni- 
tion of his ability and not because he has 
been an active office seeker. In every posi- 
tion that he has been called to lill he has 
been found faithful and true to the duties 
intrusted to him and his career has there- 
fore been a creditable one. 

In 1868 Mr. Wilkinson was united in mar- 
riage to JNIiss Hannah Elizabeth Lamueri, 
who was born in Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 184s, her parents being Charles 
and Sarah (Alartindell) Lambert, both na- 
tives of Bucks county. Her father was a 
harness maker by trade and was respected 
in both business and social circles. His 
children were Emma, the wife of D. Ste- 
wart; Jemima, the wife of E. Carhart ; and 
Mrs. Wilkinson. The last named was a 
successful school teacher prior to her mar- 
riage. She has become the mother of two 
sons, Howard, who wedded Sarah Spencer, 
a daughter of Oren P. Spencer and resides 
upon the old homestead; and Charles, who 
married Sarah Twining and follows farm- 
ing in Wrightstown township. Sarah Twin- 
ing is a descendant from Stephen Twining 
and Alary Wilkinson. 



WTLLIAM RENNER. Among the pron.- 
, inent business and public spirited men of 
the thriving borough of Perkasie is William 
Renner, who has been identitied with its 
business interests since its incorporation. 
Mr. Renner was born in Rockhill township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in the year 
1843. and is a son of John and Catharine 
(Kramer) Renner, both natives of Rock- 
hill township, and descendants of early Ger- 
man settlers in Bucks county. Valentine 
Renner, the pioneer ancestor of the family, 
came to Pennsylvania from Germany nearly 
a century and three-quarters ago, arriving 
in Philadelphia in the ship "Johnson," of 
London, Captain David Crockett, September 
19, 1732. He was a young man, and was 
accompanied by his wife Magdalena, and 
an mfant daughter Catharina. Following 
the trend of German-American immigra- 
tion up the Schuylkill and its tributaries 
into the neighborhood of the Skippack, and 
thence hito Mil ford township, Bucks coun- 
ty, where he resided for a time, in the year 
1762 he purchased a farm in Bedminster 
township, where he lived until his death 
in 1781. He was a weaver by trade, and 
followed that occupation in connection with 
the tilling of the soil and clearing his farm 
of 130 acres. The children of Valentine 
(or Felty) and Magdalena Renner were: 
John, Peter, Jacob, Henry, Adam, Clara, 
Catharine, Magdalena, Michael, and Eliza- 
beth. 

JACOB RENNER, eldest son of Valen- 
tine and Magdalena, was a blacksmith by 



trade, and followed that vocation in MilforcS 
township, Bucks count}-, where he remained 
on the removal of his parents to Bedminster. 
He purchased twenty-hve acres of land 
there in 1767, and later purchased several 
other small tracts adjoining. He died in 
the winter of 1818-19, leavmg four sons: 
Benjannn, Jacob, Henry, and Adam; and 
one daughter, Susanna. 

Adam Renner, youngest son of Jacob, 
learned the trade of a blacksmith with his 
father, and in 1800 purchased a farm of 
hfty acres in Hilltown township, near the 
line of Rockhill, but sold twenty acres 
thereof two years later. He followed his 
trade at that place until his death in 1823. 

He married Elizabeth , and they were 

the parents of ten children, viz, : Henry, 
also a blacksmith in Hilltown; Mary; 
Elizabeth, who became the wife of George 
King ; Hannah, who married Nathan 
Thomas; Sarah, who married John Nace; 
Samuel ; Catharine, who married Jacob 
TroUinger; Enos; John and Lydia. 

John Renner, ninth child of Adam and 
Elizabeth Renner, was born in Hilltown 
township, Bucks county, in 1814. He was 
but nine years of age at the death of his 
father, and John Kramer was appointed his 
guardian. He received a meagre education, 
and early in life learned the trade of a 
inason, which he followed until hfty-five 
years of age, and then purchased a farm 
in Hilltown, upon which he lived for a 
number of years, and then sold it and re- 
moved to Franconia township, Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania, where he still re- 
sides. He married Catharine Kramar, who 
bore him nine children : Sarah, Simon, 
William, Elizabeth, Noah, Amanda, James, 
John and Catharine. His wife Catharine 
dying he married (second) Susanna Harr, 
a widow, her maiden name being Frantz, by 
whom he has two children, Frank and 
Ella. 

WILLIAM RENNER was born in Rock- 
hill township, and was reared in the town- 
ship of Bedminster. At the age of sixteen 
years he came to Hilltown township, where 
he was employed for three years, in 1862,. 
at the age of nineteen years, he enlisted in 
Company I, One Hundred and Thirty-eighth 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served 
throughout the war in the Pennsylvania cav- 
alry, serving under Sheridan in his many 
raids, and, though in numerous engage- 
ments, came out without a scratch. He was 
mustered out at Harrisburg in 1865, and, 
returning to Bucks county, followed farm- 
ing and carpentering for three years, and in 
1868 came to Perkasie and was employed, 
in the mill of A. H. Hendricks, at South 
Perkasie, for three years and for two years 
with ]\lr. Moyer at the same business. In 
1874 he started the feed and hay business at 
Perkasie, and has been in that business ever 
since. Air. Renner has always taken an 
active interest in all that pertained to the 
interest of the town, tilling the position of 
school director for a number of years, and 
also serving in other local positions. He 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



423 



is president of the Bridgetown and Bloom- 
ing Glen Turnpike, and associated with 
other local enterprises. He is a member of 
Blooming Glen Mennonite church. Mr. 
Renner married, in 1869, Sarah Hunsicker, 
daughter of Abraham and Catharine (Islo- 
yer) Hunsicker, "who is deceased. Their 
only cTiild is also deceased. 



C. HARRY HALL. The Hall family has 
long been represented in Bucks county, and 
C. Harry Hall has ever sustained the hon- 
orable record made by those of his name 
who have always been active in upholding 
the moral and political status of their re- 
spective communities and aiding in its ma 
terial development. He was born in Doyles- 
town township, April 22, 1846, and received 
his education in the public schools. During 
the periods of vacation he assisted his fa- 
ther in the operation of the home farm, and 
continued under the parental roof until 
twenty-two years of age, when he began 
clerking in a general store for his brother. 
Benjamin, with whom he remained for a 
year and a half. He then went to Phila- 
delphia, where, embarking in commercial 
pursuits on his" own account, he was engaged 
in the flour and feed business for about 
nine years. He next secured employment in 
the city hall at Philadelphia as a steam and 
gas fitter, and remained there for eight 
years. Returning at the end of that time 
to the occupation to which he had been 
reared, he purchased in 1902 the farm upon 
which he now resides, near Danboro, in 
Plumstead township, and is giving his at- 
tention to the tilling of the soil. His life 
has been characterized by unfaltering in- 
dustry and his well directed labor has been 
the foundation of his success. 

Mr. Hall was united in marriage to ^liss 
Clara A. Shermer, a daughter of William 
and Maria Shermer. They have two chil- 
dren : ^klabel S., born December 7, 1879; 
and Elsie ^L, born March 15, 1886. The 
latter is a graduate of the normal school of 
Philadelphia, and is now principal of the 
public schools of Germantown. 



IDA JOSEPHINE RIEGEL, of Riegels- 
ville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was born 
in Riegelsville, New Jersey, and is a daugh- 
ter of John Leidy Riegel, by his second 
wife, Lydia Stover. John Leidy Riegel, a 
prominent and successful manufacturer of 
Riegelsville, was born in New Jersey, May 
I, 1819, and belonged to a family that have 
been residents of Bucks and Northampton 
counties, Pennsylvania, and adjoining parts 
of New Jersey for several generations. His 
parents were Benjamin and Elizabeth 
(Leidy) Riegel, of Lower Saucon township, 
Northampton county, and his grandparents, 
Martha and Catherine (Kram) Riegel, of 
German parentage, and his maternal grand- 
parents were John and Elizabeth (Lerch) 



Leidy. ^Ir. Riegel was educated in the 
schools of New Jersey, and remained a resi- 
dent of that state until 1874, when he re- 
moved to Pennsylvania, erecting a hand- 
some residence at Riegelsville, where he 
spent his remaining years, dying December 
^7, 1893, at the age of seventy-four years. 
He was for a half century a prominent 
manufacturer of Riegelsville, New Jersey, 
being the proprietor of a large flour and 
paper mill there, and doing an extensive 
business. 

He married, September 12, 1839, Eliza- 
beth Shimer, who died in 1858. They were 
the parents of five children, of whom two 
survive — Benjamin, and Sarah Jane, the 
wife of B. F. Fackenthall, Esq., of the 
Thomas Iron Company. Mr. Riegel married, 
(second) on April 30, 1859, Catharine 
Stover, of an old Bucks county family, an 
account of which is given in this volume, 
and they became the parents of three chil- 
dren, only one of whom lived to maturity, 
Ella E., wife of Silas DeWitt, wlio^died at 
the age of twenty-one years, leavi^ a son, 
John Riegel DeWitt. ^Nlrs. Catherine 
(Stover) Riegel died in 1864, and Mr. 
Riegel married (third) March 28, 1855, 
Lydia Stover, who died in 1873. She was 
the mother of four children : Clara M., 
Ida Josephine, John and Laura May. On 
June 19, 1876, Mr. Riegel was married a 
fourth time, to ?klary Easton, who survived 
him, and they were the parents of one child, 
George E. Mr. Riegel was a lifelong mem- 
ber of the Reformed church, in which most 
of his family have retained membership. 



MARY A. NASH. The home occupied 
by Miss Mary A. Nash, in Wismer, Plum- 
stead township, was erected in 1827. Her 
paternal great-grandparents were residents 
of Bucks county, where they followed farm- 
ing and it was upon the farm on which Miss 
Nash now resides that her grandfather, 
Abraham Nash, was born in the eighteenth 
century. He continued to reside here 
throughout his entire life, also carrying on 
general agricultural pursuits. His children 
were Abraham; Joseph; William; Barbara, 
the wife of George Gaddes; and Agnes, 
the wife of William Bryan. 

Abraham Nash, the father, was born on 
the old Wismer family homestead in 1798, 
and in early life learned the carpenter's 
trade, being connected with building opera- 
tions for many years in addition to agri- 
cultural pursuits. Eventually he retired 
and spent the evening of his life in the 
enjoyment of a well earned rest, passing 
away in 1882. He was a member of the 
Old Mennonite church, and his Christian 
religion permeated his entire career. He 
was twice married. First to Miss Barbara 
Detweiler, by whom he had five children: 
Abraham, John, William, Joseph, and Mary, 
who died unmarried. For his second wife 
he married Barbara Myers, and their chil- 
dren were Elizabeth, the wife of Levi 



424 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Swartz ; Mary A. ; and Henry, of Phila- 
delphia. 

The house now owned and occupied by 
Miss Nash was built by her father in 1827. 
This is one of the most attractive home- 
stead farms, splendidly improved and 
equipped with all modern conveniences and 
accessories. She has spent her entire life 
here and following her father's death she 
purchased the interest of the other heirs 
in the home property and has since managed 
it, displaying excellent business and 
executive force in its control and cultiva- 
tion. Miss Nash is a member of the Meth- 
odist church at Lahaska, Pennsylvania. 



NICHOLAS L. HEANEY, who 
makes his home in Plumstead township 
and has followed stone cutting through- 
out his entire life, was born at Ponit 
Pleasant, Pennsylvania, October 12, 
1855. His father. Thomas Heaney, was 
born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 'in 
1818, and in earl}' life learned the saddle- 
maker's trade, which he followed for a 
number of 3-ears. He also followed 
butchering for some years at Point 
Pleasant, Pennsylvania, and continued 
actively in business up to the time of his 
death, which occurred in 1862, when he 
w^as about forty-four years of age. He 
held membership in the German Re- 
formed church. His first wife was prior 
to her marriage a Miss Ott, and there 
were five children by that union: ^ohn, 
deceased; Lizzie; Nancy; Taylor T.; and 
Lydia. For his second wife Thomas 
Heaney chose Miss Mary Ann Swartz, 
and they had tw^o children, the daughter 
being Eva S., who died in childhood. 

Their son, Nicholas L. Heaney, was 
born during the residence of his parents 
at Point Pleasant, Pennsylvania. He ac- 
quired his education in the common 
schools, and his life has been quietly 
and unventfully passed, yet it has been 
characterized by many estimable quali- 
ties, including reliability in business 
and progressiveness in citizenship. In 
his youth he learned the stone-cutter's 
trade, whch he has since followed and 
has also carried on agricultural pursuits, 
being a farmer of Plumstead township. 
He married Miss Mina C. Cress, and 
they are widely and favorably known 
in the township where they reside. 



DAVID F. ANGENY, a builder and 
undertaker of Danboro, belongs to one 
of the old and honored families of Bucks 
county. Several generations of the 
nam^ have resided here, and have ever 
upheld the political and moral status of 
the community and aided in the material 
improvement of their localities. The 
grandfather. John Angeny, who lived 
and died in Bucks county, followed 



farming throughout his entire business 
career. He married a Miss Kerns, and 
they became the parents of two children, 
the elder being John, of Philadelphia, 
now deceased. 

Jacob, the younger son of John An- 
geny, was born in Bedminster township, 
January 8, 1821, and in early life drove a 
team used in connection with the con- 
duct of a flour and feed business in Phil- 
adelphia. He was thus employed for 
some years, after which he returned to 
Bucks county and began farming on his 
own account, carrying on agricultural 
pursuits until his death, which occurred 
on the 19th of December, 1891. His life 
was ever upright and honorable and for 
a number of years he served as a dea- 
con in the Reformed church of Tohickon, 
in which he held membership. He also 
made Tdivturnself a creditable record as 
a soldier oPthe civil war. He married 
Miss Lydia Fjluck, and they became the 
parents of ten children: John H. ; 
David F.; Clayton F.; Jacob F.; Mary, 
the wife of John King; Anna, tht wife of 
Harvey Fluck; Katie, the wife of Ervin 
Fluck; Emma and Ida, twins, the former 
the wife of Frank Smell and the latter of 
Asher Wycker; and Amelia, who com- 
pletes the family. 

David F. Angeny, who was born in 
Haycock township^ Bucks county, Sep- 
tember 21, 1857, is mdebted to the public 
school system of the state for the edu- 
cational privileges he enjoyed. When 
fifteen years of age he began earning his 
own living by entering upon an appren- 
ticeship at the carpenter's trade under 
Jacob Cope, of Quakertown, with whom 
he remained for two j-ears. He then 
began working for John Loux, who was 
his employer for four years, and on the 
expiration of that period began busmess 
for himself as a carpenter and buifder in 
Dublin. Since that time he has been 
identified with building operations in 
Bucks count}^ About 1883 he removed 
to Danboro, and in connection with car- 
pentering established and conducted an 
undertaking business. He has a thor- 
ough knowledge of the builder's art, and 
his excellent workmanship and fidelity 
to the terms of a contract have gained 
for him a liberal and growing patronage. 
His interest in community affairs 
prompts his co-operation in many meas- 
ures for the general good. He is a mem- 
ber of the Reformed church of To- 
hickon. 

Mr. Angeny has been married twice. 
He first wedded Sallie Leatherman. and 
they became the parents of five children: 
Edwin L., born November 20, 1882; 
Christina Beatty, November i. 1885; 
Willis L., August 6, 1887; Jacob Warren, 
August 28, 1889; and Flora L.. born 
March 4. 1892. died May i, 1S93; ^Irs. 
Sallie Angeny departed this life August 
13, 1892. For his second wife David F. 
Angeny chose ]\Iiss Amanda Gross, a 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



425 



•daughter of Joseph L. and Mary (Lan- 
dis) Gross. There are three children by 
this marriage : Howard, born November 
30, 1895; Clarence, January 2, 1899; and 
Arthur, June 24, 1903. 



EDWARD RAMSEY, a farmer, car- 
penter and contractor of Warminster 
township, is of Irish descent, the family 
having been established in America dur- 
ing the colonial epoch in the history of 
Pennsylvania, since which time the Ram- 
seys have borne a helpful part in the ma- 
terial development and substantial pro- 
gress of their respective communities. 

William Ramsey, the great-grand- 
father, devoted his attention to farming, 
and was a broad-minded, intelligent 
business man and financier. He became 
the owner of large tracts of land, and 
was one of the most prominent agricul- 
turists of his community. The land upon 
which Edward Ramsey now resides was 
purchased by William Ramsey from 
William Penn, and was given to John 
Ramsey, Jr., when he was a little child, 
to become his when he should attain his 
majority. William Ramsey gave to each 
of his children a farm. His son Robert 
owned and operated the farm adjoining 
that upon which Edward Ramsey now 
resides, and was a very prominent and 
influential citizen, not only successfully 
controlling his business affairs, but also 
exerting a strong influence over pu])lic 
thought and action. He w^as twice called 
to represent his district in congress, and 
he left the impress of his individuality 
for good upon the public life of his 
county and state. He died upon the old 
homestead, in the midst of friends who 
had long known and honored him, and 
whom he had honored by his capable 
and efficient public service. His wife, 
Mrs. Mary Ramsey, w^as also a native of 
Bucks county. 

John Ramsey, Sr., the grandfather of 
Edward Ramsey, was born and reared 
upon the old family homestead, and spent 
his entire life there, winning success 
through the capable management of his 
"business affairs for many years. During 
the last seventeen years of his life he 
was an invalid. In his political views 
he was a Democrat, but never aspired to 
office, preferring to give his undivided 
attention to his business interests. He 
was a Presbyterian in religious faith, and 
like the others of the family was con- 
nected with the old Neshaminy church. 
Of social nature, he enjoyed the compan- 
ionship of his many friends. He was of 
"kindlj' spirit and charitable disposition, 
and the poor and needy had reason to 
count him as a benefactor. 

John Ramsey, Jr., only son of John 
and Mary Ramsey, was born and reared 
at the ancestral home w^hich had been in 
possession of the family since the land 



had been purchased from William Penn. 
He gave his attention to farm pur- 
suits, placed his land under a high state 
of cultivation, and regularly attended 
the citj'^ markets, where he sold his pro- 
duce to good advantage. He also en- 
gaged in raising stock, and found that a 
profitable source of income. He kept 
well informed on general topics of in- 
terest, as well as political questions, 
reading broadly and thinking deeply. He 
voted with the Democracy, and while he 
strongly endorsed the principles of the 
party he was never an office seeker. He 
was highly respected, his integrity and 
honor being above reproach. He wedded 
Mary Stagner, also a native of Bucks 
county. Her father lived the quiet life 
of the farmer and gave his political alle- 
giance to the Democracy. In his family 
were eight children: William, a farmer; 
Christopher and Barkley, who were 
killed in the battle of Bull Run, while 
serving their country in the civil war, 
Christopher leaving a family of small 
children; Sarah; Margaret; Elizabeth; 
Julia; and Mary. The last named be- 
came the wife of John Ramsey, Jr., and 
died in 1863, while Mr. Ramsey, who was 
born April 9, 1810, died September 28, 
1886. at the age of seventy-six years,. 
They were the parents of five children^ 
Frank, who was a farmer; Edward; 
Mary, who became the wife of E. Mor- 
gan; Robert H., a farmer and hotel 
keeper; and Julia, who died in her eigh- 
teenth year. All have passed awaj^ with 
the exception of the second named. 

Edward Ramsey, born at the ances- 
tral home of the family where he yet 
resides. August 28, 1853. was reared to 
farm pursuits and is indebted to the pub- 
lic school system of the county for the 
educational privileges he enjoyed. He 
remained at home until sixteen years of 
age. when he entered upon a three years 
apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade, 
after which he spent three years as a 
journeyman, and then began contract- 
ing and building on his own account, 
being closely identified with the build- 
ing industry in this part of the state. 
After several years he purchased the 
interest of the other heirs in the old 
homestead, becoming the owner of the 
property November 4. 1886. He then be- 
gan conducting the farm, in connection 
with his building operations, and so con- 
tinued until 1903, when he turned his 
contracting business over to his son to a 
large extent. He still does light car- 
penter work to some extent, but gives 
more of his attention to the farm work, 
living, however, partially retired. He 
lias by careful and conservative manage- 
ment acquired a competency for old age. 
Since age gave to him the right of fran- 
chise, Mr. Ramsey has voted the Demo- 
cratic ticket, and his position on any 
public questions is not a matter of doubt, 
for he is fearless in support of his con- 



426 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



victions. He is a worthy mcnilicr of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the 
Junior Order of United American Me- 
chanics, and the Brotherhood Accident 
yVssociation of Boston, jMassachusctts. 
In September, 1877, Mr. Ramsey was 
united in marriage to Miss Ellen Ritchie, 
who was born in Bucks county, in 1H55, 
her parents being Robert and Arabella 
(Aaron) Ritchie, the latter a sister of 
ex-sheriff Aaron, of Bucks county. Her 
grandfather, Thomas Ritchie, was a na- 
tive of Montgomery county, Pennsyl- 
vania, and belonged to a family whose 
identification with the state dates back 
to colonial days. Robert Ritchie was a 
carpenter of considerable mechanical in- 
genuity, and he still resides in Montgorn- 
ery county, at the age of seventy-seven 
years, although he has been an invalid 
for some time. His w'ife died in 1896. 
Their children were: Ellen, now Mrs. 
Ramsey; Horatio, a mechanic; Aaron, a 
farmer; William, a mechanic, now de- 
ceased; Rhoads. a butcher; Amelia, the 
wife of F. Treble; Emily, the wife of A. 
Rush; and John, a farmer. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey are the parents 
of six .children: John, a carpenter and 
contractor; Laura, wife of C. Dudbridge; 
George, a carpenter; Robert R., who is 
farming the old homestead; Amelia, and 
Adella. 



THOMAS CLAXTON NEGUS, an 
enterprising and highly esteemed citi- 
zen of the torough of Bristol, where he 
has resided since 1876, a period of twen- 
ty-nine years, is a native of the city of 
Philadelphia, the date of his birth being 
March 17, 1831. His parents were Stephen 
West and Eliza (Ray) Negus, the former 
named having been a son of John Negus, 
and grandson of John Negus and the 
latter named born in Georgetown, D. C, 
a daughter of John and Harriet (Clax- 
ton) Ray. The Rays were a very prom- 
inent family in the District of Colum- 
bia, as were also the Claxton family, of 
which Commodore Claxton, noted for 
his career in the United States navy, 
was a member. 

Thomas C. Negus received his pre- 
paratory education in the public schools 
of Philadelphia, and in 1848, after pur- 
suing the regular course of instruction, 
graduated from Yale University. Shortly 
after\vard he entered the counting room 
of his father, who was engaged in the 
wholesale grocery business, and after 
spending a brief period there was pro- 
moted to the position of cashier, in which 
responsible capacity he served four 
years. He then entered the firm of Ray 
& Negus, this connection continuing un- 
til his retiretnent from active pursuits in 
1889. In 1876 Mr. Negus purchased a 
farm in Bristol borough, which he im- 
proved and cultivated, and has resided 
thereon continuously since that date. He. 



is a member of the Episcopal church, 
and a Republican in politics. Mr. Negus 
married May 10, 1854, Martha Jane 
Shearer, of Philadelphia, daughter of 
Jacob and Margaret (Baldwin) Shearer. 
Their children are as follows: i. Mary 
Shearer, born in 1855, became the wife of 
John S. Ely, of Doylestown, Pennsyl- 
vania, and they are the parents of one 
child: Claxton Negus Ely, educated in 
the public schools of Philadelphia, and is 
now employed by the New York Central 
& Hudson River Railroad Company. 2. 
Josephine Baldwin. 3. Georgina. 



WILLIAM L. ELY, farmer and lime- 
burner, of Solebury township. New Hope 
postofiice, was born in New Hope, March 
4, 1863, and is a son of Daniel and 
Sarah (Cox) Ely, both deceased. His- 
emigrant ancestor Joshua Ely was born 
in Yorkshire, England, in 1649, a son 
of Rev. George Ely and Sarah Heath,, 
of Mansfield, who married Mary Sen- 
ior and settled in Durham, Notting- 
hamshire. In 1684 Joshua Ely emi- 
grater to America and settled at Tren- 
ton, New Jersey, where he purchased 
of his brother-in-law, jNIahlon Stacy, 
400 acres lying wholly in what is 
now the city of Trenton. His second 
son George married Jane Pettit, and 
"their son Joshua married Elizabeth Bell 
in 1730, and removed to Bucks county irr 
1738 upon 500 acres of land, two-thirds 
of which still belongs to his descendants. 
He lived and died where the subject of 
this sketch now lives, part of the present 
residence having been erected by hirrk 
about 1750. Joshua and Elizabth (Bell) 
El J' had seven children: Joshua; George; 
John: Hugh; Sarah, married William 
Kitchin; Hannah, married James Du- 
bree; and Jane married Jonathan Bald- 
erston. John, born May 28, 1738, inher- 
ited the homestead portion of the tract 
from his father. He married first Sarah 
Simcock. and Asher Ely, grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch, was the only 
son. Asher was born on the old home- 
stead, July II, 1768, and at the death 
of his father in 1811 the farm descended 
to him. He married Eleanor Holcomb 
in 1791. and had nine children. Daniel 
Ely. father of William L., was born Oc- 
tober 27. 1796. At the death of his- 
father, August 12, 1855. the hereditary 
acres became vested in him and his 
maiden sister Sarah, and at the death 
of the latter the whole title vested in 
Daniel. He married late jn life Sarah 
Cox. and at his death. March 14. 1886, 
devised the farm to his only son \\'ill- 
iam L. Ely. Daniel Ely was a miller by 
trade, and for many j^ears operated the 
old mill still standing on the farm. 
Lime has been quarried and burnt on 
the premises for a century or more, and 
the subject of this sketch on arriving at 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



4^7 



manhood devoted his attention to this 
branch of the business in connection with 
farming, the lime kihis and quarry hav- 
ing been previously rented out for many 
years. The mill was erected in 1833, and 
is still operated for the use of the farm. 
William L. Ely was married March 23, 
1898. to Nettie Wilson, daughter of 
James and Mary (Holcomb) Wilson, of 
Hunterdon county, New Jersey. They 
have no children. In politics Mr. Kly 
is a Republican. 



GEORGE E. BLACK. The student of 
history does not have to carry his in- 
vestigations far into the annals of Bucks 
county without learning that the Black 
family was among its early settlers. An- 
drew A. Black, the grandfather of 
George E. Black, lived in Plumstead 
township, where he followed boating and 
various pursuits. He was drowned in 
the canal at Weissport in 1836. His wife 
bore the maiden name of Mary Closson, 
and they were the parents of the follow- 
ing named: Anna, wife of O. G. Bird; 
Elizabeth, wife of Jonathan Smith; Jane, 
wife of Hugh Major; Isaac; and An- 
drew A. 

The last named was born in Plum- 
stead township, December 25, 1836, and, 
never enjoying the benefits of a father's 
assistance, started out in life early on 
his own account. He followed boating 
for many years, or until 1873, when the 
capital he had acquired through his own 
labors enabled him to engage in other 
pursuits, and he established a mercantile 
enterprise and a hotel at Point Pleasant, 
where he spent three years. In 1876 he 
opened a stone quarry, and supplied the 
borough _ of Doylestown with its curb 
stones for a year. He afterward en- 
gaged in the hotel business for three 
years in what is now known as the 
Housen Hotel. He then engaged again 
in merchandising, which he conducted 
for three years at Point Pleasant, and 
during two years subsequent to that time 
he was proprietor of the Lumberville 
Hotel. Next turning his attention to 
agricultural pursuits, he followed farm- 
ing in Plumstead township for two years, 
after which he rented the hotel of which 
George E. Black is now the owner. 
This the father conducted for three 
years, and then returned to the farm, 
giving his time and energies to its cul- 
tivation and further development for five 
years. Again he was in the hotel busi- 
ness for two years, and again followed 
farming for two years. Once more he 
conducted a hotel there a year, and re- 
turning to the farm, was for five years 
engaged in the tilling of the soil, prior 
to November 3, 1902, when he opened a 
grocery and restaurant in partnership 
with his son. George E., under the firm 
style of G. E. and A. A. Black, and still 



remains in this business, having pur- 
chased the interest of his son in April, 
1904. Whatever success he has achieved 
is due entirely to his own labors, for he 
started out in life empty-handed. The 
force of his character, his strong pur- 
pose and indomitable energy, have been 
the salient features in his career and 
have gained him a comfortable compe- 
tence. Politically he is a Republican, 
and, while he has never been active in 
search for public oftice, he was elected 
and served as constable of Plumstead 
township in 1882. He married Miss Su- 
san Rymond, and they have six chil- 
dren: Elizabeth, wife of Frank Kugler; 
George E.; Anna Mary, wife of Elmer 
Margerum; Lillie C., wife of Victor 
Johnson; and three who died in infancy. 

George E. Black was born November 
12, i860, at Point Pleasant, Pennsyl- 
vania, and acquired a common-school 
education. He remained at home with 
his father until twenty-eight years of 
age. and during his' early manhood was 
identified with various business enter- 
prises, finding in each transition stage 
opportunity for further advancement and 
a broader scope for his labors. He con- 
ducted a restaurant in Lambertville, New 
Jersey, for five years, in connection with 
the grocery business, and in 1903 pur- 
chased the hotel and dwelling house 
known as the George Closson property, 
at Lower Black's Eddy. He did not take 
possession of this, however, until April 
T, 1904, but is now successfully engaged 
in business and is a popular and genial 
hotel proprietor. As before stated, he 
was associated with his father in the 
conduct of a grocery and restaurant, and 
after selling out became proprietor of 
the hotel, which is now being conducted 
so capably that it has won favor with the 
traveling public. Mr. Black is well 
known in local fraternal circles, belong- 
ing to Odd Fellows Lodge, No. 391, in 
which he has passed all of the chairs. 

Mr. Black wedded Miss Vinnie J. Sine^ 
a daughter of William and Sarah Sine, 
of Raven Rock, New Jersey, and they 
have become the parents of- two chil- 
dren: Nellie Lulu, born January 20,. 
1890; and Andrew^ A., born June i, 1892. 



ELIZA B. TROEMNER. of Point 
Pleasant, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
is a daughter of the late Ralph Stover 
and of his wife Eliza Stover, both of 
whom are descendants of Henry Stauf- 
fer, who was born in Alsace, and came 
to America with his wife Barbara Hock- 
man, on the ship "St. Andrew," arriving- 
in Philadelphia, September 9, 1749. They 
located on the Skippack in the present 
limits of Montgomery county, Penn- 
sylvania, where they resided for about 
ten years and then removed to Bedmin- 
ster township, Bucks county, and located 



428 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



on two hundred and thirteen acres of 
land belonging to Chief Justice VV'illiam 
Allen, of which Henry Stauffer com- 
pleted the purchase and received a con- 
veyance on June 12, 1762. This land re- 
mained the property of his descendants 
for a century. The children of Henry 
and Barbara (Hockman) Stauffer were: 
Ulrich, born July 16, 1750, married Bar- 
bara Swartz and lived and died on the 
homestead; Barbara, died young; Henry, 
born July 10, 1754. married Elizabeth 
Fretz and settled in Springfield town- 
ship; Jacob, born May 13, 1757, died 
April 28, 1844, married (first) Elizabeth 
Swartz and (second) Catharine Stauffer; 
Ralph, born June 10, 1760, died Novem- 
ber 7, 181 r, married Catharine Funk, 
granddaughter of pioneer Bishop Henry 
Funk. The family name was changed 
to Stover on application to the legisla- 
ture by Ralph Stover. 

Ralph Stover was one of the prominent 
"business men of his time, filling for many 
years the office of justice of the peace, a 
very important position in that section 
â– of the county, and did a large amount of 
public business in the transfer of real 
estate, settlement of estates, etc. He 
was a member of the state Igislatvire 
from 1783 to 1799. and took an active 
part in state legislation of that im- 
portant period of our history following 
the close of the revolutionary struggle. 
Mr. Stover was one of the first board of 
directors of the poor, created under the 
act of 1807, and superintended the erec- 
tion of the first almshouse of the county. 
He purchased a farm of three hundred 
acres at the point where the Durham 
crosses the Tohickon, partly on Bed- 
minster and Tinicum townships, where he 
died November, 7, 1811, in the prime of 
life and usefulness. 

Abraham F. Stover, eldest son of 
Ralph and Catharine (Funk) Stover, was 
born on the old homestead in 1786. He 
succeeded his father as justice of the 
peace and was twice elected to the state 
legislature. In 1833 he sold his interest 
in the old homestead and removed to 
Fauquier count3% Virginia, where he died 
in 1854. He married Rachel Fretz, born 
1787. died 1870, of the prominent family 
of that name in Bucks county, an ac- 
coimt of which will be found in this 
work. Of their three sons, Charles, Al- 
bert, and Ralph, the two former died in 
Virginia. 

Ralph Stover, born September 28, 181 1. 
went to Virginia with his parents but 
returned to Bucks county in 1841. He 
married in October, 1838, Eliza, daugh- 
ter of Henry S. and Barbara (Stout) 
Stover, and granddaughter of Jacob 
Stover, eldest son of Henry Stauffer. the 
â– emigrant. Her maternal grandfather 
was Isaac Stout, of Williams township. 
Northampton county, vv'ho was a son of 
Jacob and Anna CMiller) Stout, the pio- 
neers of the family in America. Henry 



S. Stover was one of the pioneer millers 
on the Tohickon as well as a large land 
owner. Ralph Stover purchased of his 
father-in-law the mill property and farm 
at Point Pleasant long conducted by 
him, also the house still occupied by the 
subject of this sketch, where he passed a 
busy and successful life, living to an 
advanced age. He was one of the most 
active in the building of the Delaware 
river bridge at Point Pleasant, was also 
one of the projectors of the Danboro and 
Point Pleasant turnpike, and an oflicer 
of both corporations for many years. He 
was likewise interested in many other 
local enterprises. Ralph and Eliza 
Stover were the parents of twelve chil- 
dren, three of whom died young, and the 
names of the others are as follows: 
Robert C, of Virginia; Mary G., wife of 
Charles E. Keyser; John Henry, who 
was a soldier in the Union army during 
the civil war, was wounded at the ter- 
rible battle of Cold Harbor, Virginia, in 
1864, and died of his wounds in Wash- 
ington, D. C. ; Eliza B., the subject of 
this sketch, who married Frederick W. 
Troemner, and their children are: Flor- 
ence M., Clara Louise, and Henry, de- 
ceased; Ella, wife of John B. Lequear; 
Adelaide, wife of A. L. Thompson, of 
New York; R. Chester, of Bristol, Bucks 
county; Annie, wife of Albert Stover, of 
Kintnersville; and Albert F., of Point 
Pleasant. Frederick W. Troemner, 
aforementioned, was the son of Henry 
Troemner, who emigrated from Ger- 
many when a young man and in 1840 
established the manufacture of fine bal- 
ances in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 
Upon the^ death of his father, Frederick 
W. Troemner succeeded to the head of 
the firm of Henry Troemner and so con- 
tinued until his death, April 3, 1902. 



GEORGE W. FLAGLER, of Tinicum 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
comes from the following family : 

The grandfather emigrated from Ger- 
many to this country with his family about 
1840, and settled in New York citj', where 
he followed butchering until about 1871 or 
1872, when he moved to Bucks county, and 
purchased a farm in Tinicum township. 
He there tilled the soil until overtaken by 
death in 1894. He was a devoted member 
of the Lutheran church. He married, and 
his children were Peter, George, and Bar- 
bara. 

Peter Flagler, son of the emigrant, was 
born in Germany, coming to this country 
with his father when young. In early life 
he was engaged in the butcher business 
with his father in New York city, but 
later followed the footsteps of his father, 
and began farming in Bucks county. Penn- 
sylvania, in which he is still engaged. In 
religious faith Mr. Flagler is of the 
Lutheran faith. He married Miss Rosa 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



429 



Moser, by whom eight children were born : 
Katie, wife of Martin Luly; Barbara, wue 
of Simon Bickl ; Dora, wife of John 
FrankHn; George, the subject of this 
memoir; Mary, wife of John Rutherford; 
Maggie, wife of Peter Laubenstein;_Rosa, 
wife of John Jamison; Christian, a farmer 
of Bucks county. 

George W. Flagler, son of Peter, born in 
New York city, April 23, 1858, was edu- 
cated in the common schools and removed 
to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, with his 
family, when but fourteen years of age. 
When quite young he began work in a 
sash and blind factory, but later took up 
cigar making. For two years he followed 
boating on the Delaware canal. But, 
finally, the farm attracted his attention, 
and he has since followed it in its various 
branches. In 1889 he bought his present 
farm of ninety acres, one of the best in 
the township. Mr. Flagler is a member of 
the Lutheran church, and a good church 
•worker. He married Miss Ella Eisentrager, 
and to them six children were born : May, 
born May 10, 1880; Arthur, born Septem- 
ber 21, 1883. a clerk in Clymer's store at 
Dovleston, Pennsvlvania ; Rosa, born June 
26 '1885; Nora. February 3, 1888; Lloyd, 
August 14, 1891; Walter, July 19, 1899. 



living : Howard W., Edna F., and Carrie 
E. All these children reside at home with. 
their parents. Botfli as a business man 
and a citizen Mr. Lerch is recognized as 
one of the leaders of the township in 
progress and reform. 



GEORGE W. LERCH holds a foremost 
place among the enterprising business men 
of Bedminster township. He is a grand- 
son of David Lerch. who was a farmer m 
Northampton county, where he died. His 
son Samuel was born in that county July 
15, 1823, and moved to Tinicum township 
when a young man, settling on _ a small 
farm. He was a Democrat in politics, and 
a member of the Reformed church, in which 
he served as a deacon for many years. He 
married Sarah, daughter of Peter Shull. 
of Tinicum, and they were the parents of 
three sons: Clinton, who resides in Tini- 
cum; Samuel, who lives in Lambertville ; 
and George W.. mentioned at length here- 
inafter. Mrs. Lerch died in 1867, and her 
husband survived her many years, passing 
away in 1891. 

George W. Lerch. son of Samuel and 
Sarah (Shull) Lerch. was born March g, 
1854, in Tinicum township, and in his four- 
teenth year began to earn his living by 
farm work. In 1873 he apprenticed himself 
to Reuben Hunsberger. of Bedminsterville, 
in order to learn the tinsmith's trade. 
Three years later he purchased the business 
of Mr."Hunsberger. and has since conducted 
it with signal success. He belongs to the 
Junior Or'der of American Mechanics alid 
the Knights of the Golden Eagle. In poli- 
tics he is a Democrat, and takes an active 
part in the affairs of the organization. He 
is a member of the Reformed church. Mr. 
Lerch married. November i. i'88o. Anna, 
born July 31. 1859. daughter of Elias 
Strouse, of Tinicum, and four children have 
been born to them, three of whom are now 



' DAVID SHAMP one of the respected 
citizens of New Hope, Bucks county, is a 
son of Jonathan Shamp, who was born on 
Schooley's Mountain, Sussex county. New 
Jersey, and learned the cooper's trade which 
he followed in later life. He married Nancy 
Gillett, and they were the parents of twelve 
children, four of whom are now living: 
Matilda, wife of Isaac Houseworth, of 
South Easton, Pennsylvania; Isabella, wife 
of Newbury Fair, of Phillipsburg, Pennsyl- 
vania ; William, resides with his brother; 
and -David, mentioned at length herein- 
after. Jonathan Shamp died at the age 
of seventy-three. 

David Shamp, son of Jonathan and Nancy 
(Gillett) Shamp, was born August, 31, 
1836, in Sussex county. New Jersey. Owing 
to the straitened circumstances of the fam- 
ily, his educational opportunities were 
limited, and at the early age of nine years 
he began to work on a farm, the proceeds 
of his labor going to his father up to his 
twenty-third year. At the breaking out of 
the civil war he did not at first see his way 
clear to respond to the call of his country, 
but in October, 1862, he enlisted for nine 
months' service, and later re-enlisted for 
another term, which would have obliged 
him to serve two years. He was, however, 
held by the government for three years. He 
was a member of Company G. commanded 
by Captain Corcoran, One Hundred and 
Fourth Regiment, and was discharged in 
July, 1865. After his return to his home in 
Upper Black Mountain township he went 
to work at boating, which he had followed 
since his ninth year, and which he now 
continued until 1878, since which time he 
has been variously employed. In 1889 he 
moved to New Hope, where he has since 
resided. In politics he is a Republican. 
]\Ir. Shamp married, in 1859, Louisa War- 
ford, of Upper Black Mountain, and three 
children have been born to them, two of 
whom are living : Amos, lives in Bayonne, 
New Jersey and William, a resident of 
Aurora, Illinois. 



JOHN W. BRADSHAW was born in 
Fulton county, Illinois, August 14, 1856, a 
son of Samuel and Martha (Walton) Brad- 
shaw. The paternal ancestor of the family 
was Thomas Bradshaw, of Oxton, Notting- 
hamshire, who presented a certificate at 
Darby INIonthly Meeting, Chester county, 
5 mo. 6, 1683, from Farnsfield Monthly 
Meeting. Nottinghamshire, England. On 
3 mo. 12, 1687. he proposed intentions of 
marriage with Sarah Levis, of Darby. They 
w'ere the parents of four children, born at 



430 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Darby; Hannah, Mary, John, and Sarah, 
John being born lo mo. 30, 1690. 

James Bradshaw, son of John, married 
about 1740, Ruth Lowther, daughter of 
William and Martha Lowther, of Bucking- 
ham, Bucks county, who had brought a cer- 
Aiticate from Abington Meeting, a few years 
previously and settled near Mechanicsville, 
in Buckingham. James Bradshaw pur- 
chased of his father-in-law in 1741 a por- 
tion of the Lowther homestead, and at 
Lowth6r's death in 1750 purchased the bal- 
ance of the 150 acre farm, and resided there- 
on until his death in 1776. James and 
Ruth (Lowther) Bradshaw were the par- 
ents of twelve children, seven sons : John, 
William, James, David, Amos, Joel, George, 
-and five daughters: Rachel, married Isaac 
Child ; Sarah, married David Gilbert ; Ruth 
married Watson Welding; Mary, married 
Isaac Kinsey; and Martha. William, sec- 
ond son of James and Ruth, settled m 
Plumstead, where he became a large land- 
.holder. He was twice married, first on 4 
mo. 19, 1769, to Sarah Preston, and second 
to Mary Shaw of Plumstead, 12 mo. 22, 

1774- 

William Bradshaw, Jr., was born m 
Plumstead township on the old homestead 
purchased by his father soon after his first 
marriage, and lived and died there. He 
married Rachel Lewis, and had a number 
of children, among whom was Samuel, the 
father of the subject of this sketch, who 
was born in 1814. He married Martha Wal- 
ton, daughter of Jacob and Hannah (Ar- 
mitage) Walton, the former a native of 
Buckingham, and the latter of Sojebury 
township. Martha was born in Lancaster 
county, Pennsylvania, October 12, 181 2. 

Samuel Bradshaw and wife removed to 
Fulton county, Illinois, about 1855, and re- 
mained there about four years, returning to 
Plumstead township in 1859, where he 
died the following spring at the age of 
forty-five years. He was a justice of the 
peace in Plumstead for fifteen years, and 
followed surveying, conveyancing and civil 
engineering. In early life he had also been 
a school teacher. His widow died in Sole- 
bury in 1882. The families of both the la- 
ther and mother of the subject of this sketch 
had been members of the Society of Friends 
since their arrival in this country. His ma- 
ternal ancestor, Samuel Armitage, brought 
a certificate from Yorkshire, in 1739, and 
settled in Solebury township where he has 
left numerous descendants. 

John W. Bradshaw, from the age of six 
years, was reared by his grandmother, Ra- 
chel (Lewis) Bradshaw, in Plumstead 
township. After the death of his grand- 
mother, his aunt, Mary Bradshaw, purchased 
the farm where Mr. Bradshaw lately re- 
sided, at Peter's Corner, in Solebury town- 
ship, and he came there to live with her, 
and conducted the farm for her until her 
death in 1889, when he purchased the farm 
and continued to reside there until the 
autumn of 1904, when he removed to Phila- 
delphia. On March 17, 1884, he married 



Anna J. Betts, daughter of William and 
Emily (Walton) Betts, of Solebury, and, 
having purchased a small lot across the 
road from the farm, resided there until 
after his aunt's death. He is a Republican 
in politics, and in religion a Friend. He is 
a member of Doylestown Lodge No. 245, 
F. and A. M., and of Paunnacussing Lodge 
No. 221, K of P., at Carversville. Mr. and 
Mrs. Bradshaw are the parents of three 
children : J. Watson, Emily, and William, 
all of whom are filling responsible clerical 
positions in Philadelphia. Another son, 
George, died in infancy. 



DAVID VAN HART. Among the de- 
scendants of the old settlers of Bucks coun- 
ty must be numbered David Van Hart. 
The great-grandfather of Mr. Van Hart 
was a native of Holland, who settled in 
Falls township prior to the revolution. His 
son, Jacob Van Hart, was a farmer and 
shoemaker, and married Mary, daughter of 
Daniel Richardson, a pioneer, who lived 
near Dolington. Their family consisted of 
fifteen children. 

Charles Van Hart, son of Jacob and 
Mary (Richardson) Van Hart, mentioned 
above, was born October 9, 1821, in New- 
town township, and later settled in L'pper 
Makefield township, where he engaged in 
farming. Politically he is a Democrat. He 
married Eliza Tomlinson, and they were 
the parents of seven children, six of whom 
are living: Jacob, lives in Upper MaKe- 
field ; Mary, married Edward Lake, of 
Philadelphia ; Eliza, wife of Winfield Pool, 
of Wycombe ; David, mentioned at length 
hereinafter ; John, lives in Lower Make- 
field township ; and Catherine, a widow, and 
resides in Yardleyville. After the death of 
his wife, Mr. Van Hart married Jane 
Jackson. 

David Van Hart, son of Charles and 
Eliza (Tomlinson) Van Hart, was born 
August 15, 1846, in Bucks county, and was 
educated in the common schools. At the 
age of nineteen he began to work for the 
farmers, and after some years entered the 
service of a farmer near Taylorsville, by 
whom he was employed by the year for 
four years. He then rented the "Edward 
Merrick farm," which he cultivated for 
five years, and moved thence to the Harvey 
farm, where he spent two 3-ears. His next 
removal was to Bronwsburg, where for five 
years he cultivated the Boileau farm, and 
then spent one year on the Wagner farm. 
After living for three years on the Horn 
farm, he took tip his abode in 1889 on the 
Wynkoop farm, where he has since resided. 
For nine years he has served on the school 
board, and for ten years has held the office 
of tax collector of the township. His politi- 
cal principles are those of the Republican 
party. He is a member of the Thompson 
Memorial Presbyterian church, in which 
for the last twenty-one years he has held 
the office of trustee. Mr. Van Hart mar- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



431 



ried, in September, 1869. Frances Jackson, 
of Solebury township, and they have three 
children : Eugene, a resident of Brooklyn, 
New York; Charles, a farmer in Upper 
Makefield township ; and Abner, lives in 
Norristown, Pennsylvania. 



ABRAHAM F. MYERS, one of the 
representative farmers of Bedniinster town- 
ship, Bucks county, is a grandson of Henry 
and Elizabeth (Fretz) Myers, the former 
a mason and farmer of Plumstead town- 
ship. The following children were born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Myers : Henry F. ; John F. ; 
Reuben F. ; Joseph F., mentioned at length 
hereinafter; William F. ; Barbara; Cath- 
arine; and Annie. The parents of these 
children both died in Plumstead township. 
Joseph F. Myers, son of Henry and Eliza- 
beth (Fretz) Myers, was born March 17, 
1812, in Plumstead, and like his father was 
a mason and farmer. In 1845 he purchased 
a farm in Bedminster township, where he 
passed the remainder of his days. He was 
a member and trustee of the second Deep 
Run Mennonite church. His wife was Bar- 
bara, daughter of Abraham Fretz, of Bed- 
minster township, and their children were 
eight in number of whom the following 
survive: Henry F., who lives in Tinicum ; 
Aaron F., a resident of Bedminster; and 
Abraham F., mentioned at length herem- 
after. Mrs. Myers died January 8, 1884. 
in her seventy-second year, and the death 
of Mr. Myers occurred, May 12, 1882. 

Abraham F. Myers, son of Joseph F. and 
Barbara (Fretz) Myers, was born Octo- 
ber 12, 1842, in Plumstead township, and 
received his education in the common 
schools. Until 1871 he assisted his father 
in the labors of the homestead, and in that 
year undertook the management of the farm 
as a tenant. In 1881 he purchased his 
present home farm of one hundred and six 
acres, near Hagersville, where he has since 
resided. He is a Republican in politics and 
a member of the New Mennonite church. 
Mr. Myers married, November 18, 1871, 
Susanna High, born in 1849. daughter of 
John F. High, of Plumstead township, and 
they were the parents of two children : 
Clara, wife of Elmer E. Savacool, of South 
Perkasie ; and Josephine, who is now house- 
keeper for her father. Mrs. Myers died in 
1885, and jNIr. Myers subsequently married 
Caroline, widow of Aaron Line, whose 
maiden name was Michener. Mrs. Myers 
died in 1895. 



WILLIAM PAUL TRUMBAUER. a 
prosperous farmer and old resident of 
Richland township. Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, was born in Springfield town- 
ship, December 17, 1865, on the farm of 
his maternal grandfather, John Greup. 
He is a son of Henry and Sarah (Greup) 
Trumbauer. and grandson on the pa- 
ternal side of George and Elizabeth 



(Kinsey) Trumbauer, and on the mater- 
nal side of John and Mary (Nuspickle) 
Greup. The Trumbauer family is one of 
1,he oldest in upper Bucks county, and 
has always held itself as one of the most 
intelligent and respected of that com- 
munity. 

Henry Trumbauer (father) was born 
in East Rockhill township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, July 12, 1844, on the farm 
of his mother's people, then being oper- 
ated by his father, and which consisted 
of seventy-five acres. He attended the 
district schools of the county until he 
was fourteen years of age, after which 
he worked on the home farm until he at- 
tained the age of twenty. The follow- 
ing four years were spent in learning 
the trade of stone mason with Ezra 
Moore, a contractor, who resided at 
w^hat is now South Perkasie. For many- 
years after the expiration of his appren- 
ticeship he followed farming, and in 1897 
sold the fai-ni to hs son, William Paul, 
who now operates the place. He then 
removed to Quakertown, and there fol- 
lows his trade of stone mason, from 
which he derives a comfortable liveli- 
hood. In September, 1866, he married 
Sarah Greup, daughter of John and Mary 
(Nuspickle) Greup, residents of Spring- 
field township, Bucks county, where the 
former named is engaged in farming, 
and had issue: William Paul, mentioned 
hereinafter; Elizabeth, who became the 
wife of Milton Grout, and resides at 
Quakertown; Peter and Annie. The 
mother of these children having died, 
Mr. Trumbauer married in March, 1884, 
for his second wife, Elizabeth Fry, 
daughter of Joseph and Christiana 
(Campbell) Fry, of Springfield township. 
William Paul Trumbauer acquired the 
education the common schools of that 
period afforded, an^ during his spare 
time assisted his father with the farm 
work. In 1875 his father purchased the 
farm of John Johnson, in Richland town- 
ship, near the Tohickon creek, where the 
townships of Haycock, East Rockhill 
and Richland meet, and it was on this 
farm that the early life of William P. 
was spent. He attended school until his 
seventeenth year, when he commenced 
his first regular employment, the quar- 
rying of building stone, of which there 
were large quantities on his father's 
farm. Previous to 1898 he worked his 
father's farm on shares for three years, 
and in 1890 became a tenant farmer, fol- 
lowing this occupation in connection 
with the quarrying of stone. Subse- 
quently he became the owner of the 
paternal estate, wdiich was purchased 
by his father in 1875, and this he now 
operates as a dairy and general farm, in 
addition to the extensive business he 
conducts in stone-quarrying. Mr. Trum- 
bauer is a Democrat in politics, and is 
now (1905) supervisor of public roads 
of the southern part of Richland town- 



432 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ship. He is greatly interested in local 
affairs, and is an industrious, useful cit- 
izen. September 20, 1890, Mr. Truni- 
bauer was united in marriage to Ida 
Christine Gross, born November 24, 
1866, daughter of Edwin and Lydia 
(Fluck) Gross, for many years residents 
of Lower Saucon township, Lehigh 
countyj from whence they removed to 
and settled in Springtield township, 
Bucks county. Six children were the 
issue of this marriage, as follows: Pearl, 
deceased; Stella, born June 14, 1893; 
Minnie Elizabeth, November 8, 1894; 
Laura Lydia, March 12, 1898 ; Mary 
Sarah, March 13, 1901; and Margaret, 
July 12, 1903. Mr. Trumbauer, realiz- 
ing the value of a good practical educa- 
tion, loses no opportunity to give his 
children the very best possible advan- 
tages along this line. Mr. and Mrs. 
Trumbauer are members of the Spring- 
field Reformed church, at Pleasant 
Valley. 



H. ERWIN FRETZ, of Fretz, one of 
the most highly esteemed citizens of 
Bedminster township, traces his de- 
scent from Abraham Fretz, who was the 
father of a son, also named Abraham. 
This second Abraham had a son who 
likewise received the name of Abraham. 
He was born August 17, 1775, and mar- 
ried April 4, 1797, Rachel Kratz, born in 
Plumstead, September 5, 1797. Their 
children were: Susan, Mary, Jacob, Ann, 
Elizabeth, Abraham, and Philip K., men- 
tioned at length hereinafter. Mr. Fretz 
died in May, 1815, and was survived 
many years by his widow, who passed 
away May 22, 1852. 

Philip K. Fretz, son of Abraham and 
Rachel (Kratz) Fretz, was born June 25, 
1809, on the farm ajjjoining the one now 
occupied by his son, H. Erwin Fretz. 
For a few years he hired the Mitman 
farm, and then settled on that portion 
of the homestead which has since de- 
scended to his son above-mentioned. On 
the land he erected buildings which are 
still standing and in use. He was a Re- 
publican in politics, and a member of the 
Mennonite church. He married, Novem- 
ber 22, 1836, Eliza daughter of Henry 
Fretz, by whom he was the father of the 
following children: Rebecca, who is the 
wife of James L. Reber, of Chicago, Illi- 
nois; Anna, who resides with her sister 
mentioned above; and H. Erwin, men- 
tioned at length hereinafter. These three 
are the survivors of a family of five. 
The mother of the family died in Au- 
gust, 1867, and in September, 1872. Mr. 
Fretz married Magdalena Hunsberger, a 
native of New Britain. The death of Mr. 
Fretz occurred when he had reached the 
advanced age of eighty-three. 

H. Erwin Fretz, son of Philip K. and 
Eliza (Fretz) Fretz, was born April 6, 
1847, on the farm which is now his home, 



and received his education in the com- 
mon schools and at the Normal School 
at North Wales, working on the farm 
during the summers. From his seven- 
teenth year he spent the winters in Phil- 
adelphia working for different .lusiness 
houses for six years, and in 1870 took 
charge of the home farm. In 1882 his 
father purchased from the John K. 
Myers estate, for his son, Jacob F., the 
milling property now owned by H. H. 
Randt. Jacob F. Fretz, who was then in 
the west, came home and took charge of 
the property, but not meeting with the 
success he anticipated, his brother, H. 
Erwin Fretz, agreed to take a half in- 
terest in the business and endeavor to 
advance it. From that time the enter- 
prise became prosperous, the firm 
handling almost all the grain from this 
section, together with many carloads of 
western grain. One year later, at the 
height of their success, Jacob F. Fretz 
was accidentally killed while waiting at 
the station with his team for the arrival 
of some grain. The business was then 
conducted by H. Erwin Fretz for about 
a year, after which he sold out to H. H. 
Randt. He then engaged in the sale of 
agricultural implements, beginning in a 
small way, but was soon compelled by 
the rapid growth of the business to pro- 
vide greater facilities for its conduct. 
The second year he sold three carloads 
of reapers and mowers, and three years 
after the inception of the business he 
added to his line that of buggies, wag- 
ons and harnesses, and has become the 
leading business man in the community. 
He is now the owner of the homestead, 
the estate having descended to him by 
will on the death of his father. He is a 
Republican in politics and has never 
been an office-seeker. He is a member 
of the new Mennonite church. Mr, 
Fretz married, December i, 1870, Aman- 
da, daughter of Christian Moyer, of New 
Galena, and thirteen children have been 
born to them: Eliza, deceased; J. Oscar, 
who lives on the homestead; Warren, a 
resident of New Britain township; 
Philip, a steamfitter in Philadelphia; 
Clarence, wdio lives in Haycock town- 
ship; Bertha, resides at home; Eugene, 
lives at home; Florence, who is attend- 
ing the IMillersville Normal School; Her- 
bert; Blanche; Harold; Arthur, de- 
ceased; and Russell. 



MAFTLON M. FRETZ, of Bedminster 
township, is among the representatives 
of one of the oldest families of the 
count}'. He is a descendant of John 
Fretz. who emigrated from Baden, Ger- 
many, i;etween 1710 and 1720, was ac- 
companied by two brothers. Christian, 
and another whose name has not been 
preserved, and who died at sea. It is not 
known at what port they landed, but it 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



433 



is certain that John, at least, made his 
home in Bucks county. The land which 
he took up there is still in the posses- 
sion of his descendants. In 1734 his son 
Christian was born there, and married 
Barbara Oberholtzer, and they were the 
parents of a son Abraham, mentioned at 
length hereinafter. Christian Fretz died 
May I, 1803. 

Abraham Fretz, son of Christian and 
Barbara (Oberholtzer) Fretz, wasc born 
March 30, 1769, in Bedminster, and was 
an inriuential man in the community. The 
family all adhered to the Mennonite 
faith, and Abraham Fretz was a deacon 
of that church. He married Magdalena 
Kratz, and among their children was a 
son Christian, mentioned at length here- 
inafter. Abraham Fretz died March 7, 

1844- 

Christian Fretz, son of Abraham and 
Magdalena (Kratz) Fretz, was born Jan- 
uary 13, 1801, in Bedminster township, 
and married Mary Leatherman. They 
were the parents of four children: Eli, 
mentioned at length hereinafter; Abra- 
ham; Eliza Ann; and Mary. The death 
of Christian Fretz occurred September 
5> 1874. 

Eli Fretz, son of Christian and Mary 
(Leatherman) Fretz, was born Septem- 
ber 9, 1825, in Bedminster township, and 
has passed his life on the homestead, 
combining the miller's trade with the 
pursuit of agriculture. He is a director 
of the Sellersville National Bank, and, 
like all his ancestors, is a Mennonite, a 
member of the board of trustees of the 
Second Mennonite church at Deep Run, 
and treasurer of the board. He married, 
in 1850, Mary Myers, born in 1830, daugh- 
ter of William ;Myers, of Bedminster, 
and their children are: Allen M., pas- 
tor of the New Mennonite church at 
Soudertop; Lucinda, wife of Edward 
Yost, of Plumstead township; Emeline 
F., wife of Henrv D. Detweiler, of Sou- 
derton; Mahlon M., mentioned at length 
hereinafter; Francis, who lives in Bed- 
minster township; Barbara, wife of Ir- 
win Wasser, of Bedminster; Susan and 
Mary Etta (twins), the former of whom 
married Abraham S. Moyer, of Chalfont, 
while the latter is the wife of Jacob M. 
Landis, of Richlandtown. 

Mahlon M. Fretz, son of Eli and Mary 
(Myers) Fretz, w^as born August 20, 
1859. in Bedminster township, and re- 
ceived his education in the public schools 
and at the Sellersville high school. In 
the spring of 1882 he moved to his pres- 
ent home farm, which was then owned 
by his father, and where he has since led 
the life of a successful farmer. The es- 
tate consists of seventy-two acres. He 
is a director of the Bedminster branch 
of the Philadelphia & Easton Electric 
Railway Company. He rnanifests an ac- 
tive interest in community affairs, has 
served as school director, and is the 
present town clerk of Bedminster. His 
28-3 



political advocacy and support are given 
to the Republican party. He is a mem- 
ber of the New Mennonite church at 
Deep Run. Mr. Fretz married, Decem- 
ber 22, 1883, Amanda, daughter of John 
and Hannah (Cassel) Fretz, of Richland 
township. Mr. and Mrs. Fretz are with- 
out children. 



THEODORE L. CASE, proprietor of 
the Gardenville Hotel, also one of the 
prominent and influential citizens of the 
township of Plumstead, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, where he was born No- 
vember 10, i860, belongs to one of the 
old families of the county. 

Peter Case (grandfather) was a native 
of Bucks county; was educated in the 
common schools thereof, followed the 
trade o£ tailor throughout his active ca- 
reer, and his death cccurred in the vicin- 
ity of his birthplace. Among his chil- 
dren was a son, Alexander Johnson Case 
(father), who was a native of Bucks 
county and resided there during the 
greater portion of his life. He served 
an apprenticeship at the trade of shoe- 
maker, followed the same for a number 
of years, abandoning it in order to en- 
gage in the hotel business, becoming 
proprietor of the hotels at Ottsville, 
Raven Rock and Quakertown. He also 
engaged in the restaurant business in 
Doylestown for several years, later 
turned his attention to agricultural pur- 
suits in Plumstead township, and subse- 
quently was proprietor of a shoe busi- 
ness in Lumberville, continuing as such 
for three years. At the expiration of 
this period of time he removed to Car- 
verville and established a cigar and to- 
bacco store, and later conducted the 
same line of trade at Germantown and 
Philadelphia, his death occurring in the 
latter named city in February, 1899. By 
his marriage to I\Iary Morris, daughter 
of Theodore Morris, of Plumstead town- 
ship, the following named children were 
born: Leonard L., deceased; Laura, 
widow of Oliver Jacoby; Theodore L., 
mentioned hereinafter; Howard Will- 
son. Charles and Emma Case. 

Theodore L. Case is indebted to the 
common school system of Bucks county 
for his educational advantages. He 
gained his first experience in business 
life by establishing a shoe store in 
Doylestown, on the site of the present 
Hotel Pollock, which he successfully 
conducted for several years, and prior to 
his purchase of the Gardenville Hotel 
was engaged in a number of enterprises 
which yielded him a goodly return for 
his labors. Since becoming proprietor 
of the Gardenville Hotel. Mr. Case has 
made many improvements which add 
greatly to its attractiveness and also to 
the comfort of its numerous patrons and 
the traveling public, and at the present 
time (1904) it is one of the most popular 



434 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



resorts in this section of the county. Mr. 
Case was united in marriage to Miss Ida 
Geyer, and their children arc Dorothea, 
Minnie, and Emma Case. 



FRANK PERCY, one of the representa- 
tive farmers and public-spirited citizens of 
Doylestown township, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, was born in Buckingham town- 
ship, same county, September 24, 1855. 

The first of the family to settle in this 
country was Thomas Percy, great-grand- 
father of Frank Percy, who emigrated 
from Ireland about the year 1780, settling 
in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he 
followed the occupation of weaving. In 
1796 he was united in marriage to Miss 
Tacy Demgan, and their children were as 
follows : Sarah, died unmarried ; Gilbert, 
mentioned hereinafter ; Jane, who became 
the wife of Isaac Feaster; Garret; Nancy, 
who became the wife of Samuel Watson ; 
William; Eliza, died unmarried. Gilbert 
Percy, grandfather of Frank Percy, was 
born in Wrightstown, Bucks county, Octo- 
ber 16, 1799. His entire active career was 
devoted to farming, which proved a most 
profitable occupation. By his marriage to 
Catherine Vansant he became the father of. 
three children : Thomas, mentioned here- 
inafter; Mary, born September 28, 1S34; 
and William, born January 14, 1837. 

Thomas Percy, father of Frank Percy, 
was born in Northampton township, Bucks 
county, November 30, 1824. He followed 
the same occupation as his forefathers, that 
of farming, conducting his operations for 
about half a century in Buckingham town- 
ship, achieving a large degree of financial 
gain by his reliable methods of business. 
He was a stanch adherent of the principles 
of Democracy, but never sought or held 
office, preferring to attend strictly to his 
farm and' its management. He married 
Miss Mary Morris, daughter of Daniel and 
Cynthia (White) Morris, and the issue of 
this union was eight children: Frank, men- 
tioned at length hereinafter ; Catherine, born 
June 28, 1857, wife of Reuben Kratz ; Gil- 
bert, born March 18, 1859, a resident of 
Philadelphia ; Lydia, born February 5, 
1862, died March 15, 1886; Alice, born 
January 13, 1866, died September 4, 1866; 
William, born June 27, 1867, died April 24, 
1872; Watson, born November 23, 1869; 
Evaline, born July 3, 1S72, wife of Harry 
Good. 

Frank Percy attended the common schools 
of Bucks county, thereby acquiring a prac- 
tical English education. He remained at 
home assisting his father with the duties 
of the farm until he was twenty-three years 
of age, after which he commenced farming 
on his own account on his grandfather's 
farm, where he remained six years. He 
then moved to Newtown, locating on the 
Buckman farm, and after a residence there 
of three years removed to Northampton 
township, locating on his father-in-law's 



farm. At the expiration of three years he 
sold this properly and moved to Roxbor- 
ough, Philadelphia, remaining two years, 
during which time he was employed as fore- 
man by the Horse Car Company. He then 
returned to Doylestown township, and for 
live years thereafter conducted farmhig 
operations on the Esther Fell farm. In 
1898 he located on the old Clemmens farm, 
where he now resides, and since then his 
entire attention has been devoted to its cul- 
tivation and improvement. In 1900 he was 
elected school director of the township, 
and his incumbency being noted for faith- 
fulness and efficiency, he was re-elected to 
the same office in 1903. His political affilia- 
tions are with the Democratic party. Mr. 
Percy married Miss Sallie Hageman, 
daughter of John and Ellen Hageman, and 
four children were born to them, one of 
whom died in infancy. Those surviving 
are : Atlee L., born November 24, 1880, a 
professor of commercial law, teaching at 
Reading, Pennsylvania; Lewis H., born 
June 8, 1883; and M. May, born January 
18, 1886. The family are respected in the 
community, and enjoy the acquaintance of a 
large circle of friends. 



WILLIAM H. TRAUCH, who holds 
an honorable place among the farmers 
of Bedminster township, is a grandson 
of Peter Trauch, who was a native of 
New Jersey and a miller by trade. In 
middle life he became a resident of Bucks 
county. 

Peter Trauch, son of Peter Trauch 
mentioned above, was born about 1823 
or 1824, near Easton, New Jersey, and 
was still a child when his parents re- 
moved to Bucks county. His boyhood 
was spent in Durham township, and sub- 
sequently he removed to Nockamixon 
township, where he purchased a farm on 
which he lived thirteen or fourteen 
years. He then sold the property, and 
after some years spent at farm work 
settled in New I^ritain township, where 
he passed the remainder of his life. He 
was a Democrat in politics, and a mem- 
ber of the Lutheran church. He married 
Diana Ruth, and seven of their eight 
children are still living: Christiana, wife 
of Edwin Rice, of Williams township; 
Saul, living in Durham township; Will- 
iam H.. mentioned at length hereinafter; 
Edward, a resident of Easton: Titus, 
living in Durham township; Philip, re- 
siding in Easton; and Sarah Catherine, 
wife of George Fackenthal, of Riegels- 
ville. New Jersey. After the death of 
his wife, Mr. Trauch married the widow 
of Dr. Clymer. His death occurred in 
1870. 

William H. Trauch, son of Peter and 
Diana (Ruth) was born September 18, 
1848. in Durham township, and at the 
age of ten years was employed by Jona- 
than S. Kohl, a neighboring farmer, with 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



43-5 



â– whom he lived three years. -At the end 
of that time his mother died, and he re- 
turned home and remained two years. 
He was then placed with the family of 
-George M. Swope, in Tinicum township, 
-and after living there five years entered 
the family of Tobias M. Swope, of the 
same township. At the end of a year 
he was given his time by his father, and 
on application obtained a teacher's cer- 
tificate. He had charge of a school for 
three terms, and then for two years 
worked on the farm of Reed Wildonger, 
â– of Tinicum township. After his mar- 
riage he worked four years for his 
father-in-law, and then began farming 
for himself as a tenant. Two years later, 
in the autumn of 1876, he bought the 
farm which is now his home, taking up 
his abode there in the spring of 1877. 
He has served eleven years as super- 
visor of Bedminster, and in politics ad- 
heres to the Democratic party. He is a 
member of St. Matthew's Lutheran 
church, in which since 1895 he has served 
as deacon. Mr. Trauch married, Decem- 
ber 23. 1870, Mary Jane, daughter of 
Elias Trauger, of Bedminster township. 



CORNELIUS W. LEIDY, who since 
1883 has occupied his present farm in Hill- 
town township, was born in this township, 
October 30, 1862, his parents being Levi and 
Catharine (Weisel) Leidy. The father was 
born in Line Lexington, Bucks county, and 
when a young man learned the blacksmith's 
trade, which he followed for fifteen years. 
He then purchased the Line Lexington 
Hotel, which he successfully conducted un- 
til his death, which occurred ten years later. 
To Levi and Catherine Leidy were born the 
following named : Frank, married Ange- 
line Brey; Levi, married Lizzie Meyers; 
Cornelius W. ; Kate, wife of William 
Knause; Lydia, wife of Daniel Bilger; 
Susan, who married Jacob Groman ; and 
Anna Mary, deceased. 

Cornelius W. Leidy was a student in the 
Hilltown public schools in his boyhood and 
youth, and his educational training was sup- 
plemented by the practical work of the 
farm, as he assisted his father in the cul- 
tivation of the fields. He has always carried 
on the tilling of the soil since reaching 
man's estate, and in 1883 purchased the 
farm in Hilltown township which has since 
been his place of residence, and to which 
he has since devoted his energies until it 
is now a well improved and highly culti- 
vated place. He manifests a public-spirited 
interest-in community affairs, and gives his 
political support to the Democracy, while 
his religious faith is indicated by his mem- 
bership in the German Reformed church. 
Mr. Leidy was married March i, 1882, to 
Miss Annie Preisendance, a daughter of 
Jacob and Hanna Preisendance. They now 
have one child, Jacob, born June 18, 1884. 



JAMES D. MOLL, born in Sellersville, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, August 9, 
1865, is a representative of one of the old 
families of the state. Authentic records 
make mention of Michael Moll, who was 
a resident of Montgomery county. 

John Moll, son of Michael, was born in 
Pennsburg, Montgomery county, and in 
early life learned the tailor's trade, which 
he followed for some time, but his later 
years were devoted to farming. He mar- 
ried Eva Graber, and they became the pa- 
rents of eleven children : Edward, mar- 
ried Dena Weiand ; Reuben, married Cor- 
delia Underkofifler ; Ezra, wedded Mary 
Mack ; Ephriam, married Henrietta Vieg- 
ner ; John G. ; Andrew, married Amanda 
Gowkler; Leanna ; Sophia; Maria; and two 
that died in infancy. 

John G. Moll, son of John and Eva Moll, 
was born in Pennsburg, Montgomery coun- 
ty, September 25, 1833, pursued a common 
school education, and afterward worked for 
Abraham Cressman for fifteen years, during 
which time he saved from his earnings the 
capital which enabled him to become a 
landowner. In 1874 he purchased a farm 
in Rockhill township, Montgomery county, 
and at once began its further development 
and improvement, continuing its cultiva- 
tion with success for fifteen years, or until 
1889, when, retiring from business life, he 
removed to Perkasie, where he has since 
resided, making his home with his soii, 
Jacob D. He married Miss Lydia Det- 
wiler, a daughter of Jacob and Catherine 
(Clymer) Detwiler. She was born March 
^3, 1836, and they were married October 12, 
1861. Mr. Moll is a member of the Re- 
formed church, while his wife holds mem- 
bership with the Mennonite church. They 
were the parents of four children : Jacob 
D., born August i, 1863; James D. ; John 
D., born' June 15, 1870, and is deceased; 
and Harry D., born December 12, 1876. The 
eldest son was married, September 19, 
1885, to Miss Lizzie Hedrick, daughter of 
Oliver Hedrick, and they have three chil- 
dren : Howard, born January 7, 1887 ; Ray- 
mond, December 3, 1891 ; and Warren, May 
7, 1893. Harry D. Moll, the youngest son, 
was married March 26, 1898, to Miss Ida 
Shellenberger, born May 16, 1875, a daugh- 
ter of Henry Shellenberger, and they have 
one son, Ralph, born December 18, 1902. 

James D. Moll began his education in the 
schools of Sellersville, and continued his 
studies in the high school of Perkasie. He 
has always followed farming from the time, 
as a boy, he assisted his father in the de- 
velopment and cultivation of the fields on 
the old home place. In 1892 he purchased 
a farm in Hilltown township, where he still 
lives and carries on general farming, fol- 
lowing progressive methods and using the 
latest improved machinery in the develop- 
ment of his farm. His political interest 
centers in the Republican party and he en- 
dorses its principles by his ballot. He be- 
longs to the IMennonite church. James D. 
Moll was married, January 9, 1886, to Miss 



436 



HISTORY OF DUCKS COUNTY. 



Lizzie G. Moyer, a daughter of Isaac H. 
and Annie (George) Moyer. They had 
two children, both of whom died in infancy. 



JOHN S. BOYER, of Chalfont, is the 
worthy bearer of a name which has long 
been an honored one in Pennsylvania. Mr. 
Boyer is a grandson of John S. Boyer, of 
Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, who was engaged 
in the flour and feed business, and aiso 
took large contracts in grading and build- 
ing railroads. He was twice elected to the 
legislature from Schuylkill county. Among 
his children was a son, Daniel M., men- 
tioned at length hereinafter. Mr. Boyer 
during the latter part of his life withdrew 
from politics and from active business, his 
death occurring at the age of seventy-three. 

Daniel M. Boyer, son of John S. Boyer, 
when a young man held the position of 
bookkeeper with the Catawissa Railroad 
Company. In 1862 he was the proprietor 
of the Summit Hotel, and afterward en- 
gaged in the produce business m Tamaqua. 
In 1866 he moved to Shenandoah, Schuyl- 
kill county, where he again became the pro- 
prietor of a hotel. He married Sarah 
Moyer, both of whose parents were drowned 
in a freshet which in 1850 inundated the 
banks of the Schuylkill. Mr. and Mrs. 
Boyer were the parents of the following 
children: George W., deceased; John :d., 
mentioned at length hereinafter ; William 
F. ; Howard, deceased ; Sarah Kate ; 
Thomas, deceased ; Charles ; Daniel ; Annie ; 
and Ida. The death of Mr. Boyer, the 
father of this numerous family, occurred in 
June, 1902. 

John S. Boyer, son of Daniel M. and 
Sarah (Moyer) Boyer, was born Novem- 
ber 6, 1855, in Tamaqua, Schuylkill county, 
Pennsylvania, where he was educated in 
the public schools. For five years he was 
engaged in the drug business with J. W. 
Deitric at Shenandoah, and in 1888 moved 
to Bucks county, making his home in Chal- 
font, where he conducted a general mer- 
chandise store. In 1891 he disposed of the 
business to the firm of Kulp Brothers, and 
moved to the farm on which he has since 
resided. The estate consists of forty 
acres and is cultivated by a tenant, Mr. 
Boyer preferring to lead a retired life. His 
political affiliations are with the Republi- 
can party. He and his family are members 
of St. James' Lutheran church at Chalfont. 
Mr. Boyer married, March 18, 1876, at 
Mahoney Plains, Charlotte Johns, and the 
following children have been born to them : 
I. Anna M., born September 29, 1877. and 
in June, 1892, became the wife of James 
M., son of Daniel McCann, who now holds 
the position of general inspector of ma- 
chinery for the Montgomery Steel Works : 
they have one child, Howard J. 2. Howard 
J., born December 9. 1879. graduated from 
the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, and 
is now chief clerk at Leedom's pharmacy, 
situated at Broad and Filbert streets, Phil- 



adelphia. 3. Charles G., born June 28, 
1882, studied medicine with Dr. Walters,, 
of Philadelphia, and graduated in that city^ 
where he is now a practiAng physician, hav- 
ing an office in the Odd Fellows' Temple 
at Broad and Cleary streets. 4. Elizabeth, 
born March 24, 1891, and is now receiving, 
her education in the public schools. 

Mrs. Boyer is a daughter of George W. 
and Anna (Evans) Johns, whose family- 
consisted of the following children: Annie; 
Elizabeth, born October 7, 1855 ; Charlotte,, 
born October 8, 1859, and became the wife 
of John S. Boyer, as mentioned above ;_ 
Carrie; George, born February 22, 1869; 
and Marril, born February 23, 1873. 



MICHAEL A. LANDIS, who is en- 
gaged in general farming and gardening at 
Silverdale, was born at Collegeville, Mont- 
gomery county, Pennsylvania, January 7, 
1846, and belongs to a family that have 
been prominently identified with the affairs 
of Bucks county for many generations. 
Three brothers of the name of Landis came 
from Germany to America, one settling in 
Chester county, one in Montgomery county,, 
and one in Bucks county. Henry Landis,.- 
father of Michael A. Landis, was born in 
Springfield township, Bucks county, in 1799. 
He was a cabinet-maker and undertaker,, 
and followed business along those lines at 
Collegeville for many years. He also de- 
voted a part of his time and attention to 
farming. His father died when he was a 
j'oung lad, and, thus thrown upon his own 
resources, Henry Landis made his way in 
the world unaided, deserving mucVi credit 
for the success he achieved. He was a 
member of the Mennonite church, and he 
gave his political allegiance to the Repub- 
lican party. His death occurred in 1885. 
In early manhood he married Magdaline 
Alderfer, and they became the parents of 
thirteen children, as follows : Elizabeth, the 
wife of Martin Anglemoyer ; Barbara, mar- 
ried Martin Swartley ; Mary, died in in- 
fancy ; Joseph, married Rachel Robinson ; 
Reuben, married Sophia Zorns f Anna, the 
wife of Christian F. Riley; Rachel, the wife 
of Jacob P. David ; Henry, married Mary 
Kauffman ; Abraham, married Matilda 
Cliarles ; Catharine, the wife of Harry 
Bradford; Michael A.; Maggie, the wife of 
Fred K. Fisher ; and Sallie, . married An- 
drew Trucksess. 

Michael A. Landis pursued his educa- 
tion in the public schools of Collegeville, 
Montgomery county, and then learned the 
carpenter's .trade imder the direction of 
his brother Joseph, after which he followed 
that pursuit for fourteen years. . He pur- 
chased a farm at Silverdale in 1894, and has 
since carried on general agricultural pur- 
suits and gardening, raising products for 
the city market. His business career is 
characterized by unflagging diligence and 
resolute purpose. Mr. Landis was married" 
at Sellersville, Pennsylvania, October 13^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



437 



3870, to Miss Sybilla Hangey, a daughter 
of Allen and Elizabeth (Heffner) Hangey. 
They now have two children, having lost 
their eldest child, Elizabeth, who was born 
March 9, 1872, and died June 9, 1877. The 
living children are: Allen, born July 4, 
1877; and Maggie born December 30, 1882. 
The daughter, possessing considerable musi- 
cal talent, has served for four years as 
•OTganist of the Reformed church of Silver- 
dale, of which Mr. Landis is a member. 
His political support is given the Renubli- 
â– can party. 



THOMAS CURLEY, of New Britain 
township, Bucks county, is a representa- 
tive of the best type of Irish-American 
â– citizenship. He is a son of John and Anna 
(Connors) Curley, whose family consisted 
•of the following children: Patrick; 
Michael ; John ; Thomas, mentioned at 
length hereinafter; Margaret, who lived in 
New York ; Winona, who married a Regan, 
and died at Turk, in Doylestown township ; 
Julia, who died in Philadelphia ; Mary, who 
•died in Ireland ; Delia, who died in Cam- 
'den. New Jersey; and Minnie, who died in 
Ireland. 

Thomas Curley, son of John and Anna 
(Connors) Curley, was born January 26, 
184s, in Ireland, and in 1862 emigrated to 
the United States. He settled in Philadel- 
phia, where he was employed as an errand 
"boy by David Hayes, at Ninth and Elbert 
streets. His brother Patrick, who worked 
in the same place, enlisted in the army dur- 
ing the civil war. Mr. Curley moved to 
Hilltown, where for five years he was cm- 
ployed by his cousin Francis Curley and in 
1879 purchased a farm in New Britain town- 
ship of Louis Weinrebe, of Doylestown. 
This farm under his skillful management 
lias proved very productive, supplying the 
market with large quantities of fruit and 
vegetables. Politically Mr. Curley is identi- 
fied with the Democratic party. He is a 
member of St. Mary's Roman Catholic 
â– church at Doylestown. Mr. Curley mar- 
ried, in November, 1882, Delia Rasby. a 
native of Ireland, who landed in this coun- 
try at the age of ten years. 



OLIVER P. TITUS. The pioneer an- 
cestor of the Titus family was Titus 
Syrachs de Vries, who emigrated from 
Vries, a village of Drenthe, Holland, 
about 1650, and settled on Long Island, 
living at different periods at Brooklyn, 
Flatlands and New Utrecht, and owning 
considerable land. He was lieutenant of 
a company of foot at Midwout in 1673, 
and died about 1688. He married Jan- 
-netje Tennis, daughter of Tennis Janse 
Converts, who emigrated from Heem- 
-stede. North Holland, in 1651, and their 
â– children (all of -whom, and their de- 
scendants adopted and kept the surname 
-of Titus), were: Tryntje, baptized De- 
cember 23, 1663; Tennis Titus; Syrach 



Titus, baptized December 28, 1679; Jan- 
netje, March, 1682; Titus Titus; Francis 
Titus. 

Tennis Titus, son of Titus Syrachs and 
Jannetje Couverts, joined his mother in 
the conveyance of 'his father's land at 
Flatlands, May 14, 1695, and removed to 
Newtown, Long Island, where he re- 
sided until 1703, and at about that date 
removed to Mansfield, Burlington 
county. New Jersey, from whence two 
of his sons, Francis and Jacob, migrated 
to Bucks county about 1730. The former 
married, June 19, 1734, Mary Clark of 
Bucks county and settled in Middletown 
township, where he died in 1784, leav- 
ing seven children, viz.: Francis, Jr., 
who married, August 17, 1763, Jane Fa- 
gen, and died at Bristol in 1800, leaving 
a son, Francis, and three daughters; 
Martha, married Abraham Slack; Eliza- 
beth married John Hcllings; John; Tim- 
othy, married Martha Wright in 1764, 
and lived and died at Bristol; Samuel; 
and Tunis, who died before his father, 
leaving five children. 

Jacob, the other son of Tennis, of 
New Jersey, married Gazina Vande- 
grift, daughter of Harnian Vandcgrift, of 
Bensalem, and had ten children, viz.: 
Elizabeth, who married Ephraim Phillips of 
Burlington county. New Jersey; Olchia, 
married Joseph Severns; Harman; 
Catharine, married John Baker, of Mt. 
Holly, New Jersey; Jacob, of Bensalem, 
who married Elizabeth Moon; Sarah, 
married Jacob Vandegrift; William; 
Charity, who married Samuel Sutton, of 
Byberry; and Seruch, married Deborah 
Featherbe. and settled in Buckingham, 
where he died in 1792, leaving sons Will- 
iam, Seruch and David. 

Francis Titus, Jr., son of Francis and 
Mary (Clark) Titus, owned land in Plum- 
stead and Tinicum townships, and lived 
for a time in Plumstead township, 
though he removed to Bristol township 
prior to his death in 1800. The descent 
of the subject of this sketch from the 
earlier generations of the family as 
above noted is not entirely clear, but he 
is thought to be a son of the third Fran- 
cis of Bristol. 

"William Titus, said to be a son of 
Francis Titus, Jr., married Fronica 
Keeler, daughter of George and Mary 
Keeler, of Tinicum township, and had 
two sons, Lewellyn and Jacob. The 
former went to California during the 
gold fever in 1852, and still resides there. 
He was at first engaged in mining, but 
later purchased large tracts of timber 
land, and operated a saw and grist mill. 
He married and reared a family in Cali- 
fornia. 

Jacob Titus was reared in Tinicum 
township, and married there Elizabeth 
George, daughter of Jacob and Hannah 
George, the latter of whom died in 1831. 
Hannah George was a granddaughter of 
Edward Marshall, the famous walker 



438 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



and Indian fighter, who was born near 
Bustleton, Pennsylvania, in 1710, and 
died in Tinicnm. Bucks county, Novem- 
ber 6, 1789. He made the famous "day 
and a half walk back in the woods" from 
Wrightstown to the Blue mountains in 
^737- which defined the boundaries of 
the "Walking Purchase," and thereby 
incurred the enmity of the Indians, who 
several times attacked his cabin and 
killed his first wife. He married (sec- 
ond) Elizabeth Mease, and left a family 
of fifteen children. A full account of 
him is given in the first volume of this 
history, in the chapter entitled "The 
Walking Purchase." 

Jacob Titus purchased in 1852 a large 
farm in Warrington. Bucks county, one 
hundred and thirty-seven acres of which he 
retained and greatly improved, erecting 
in 1855 the present large and commod- 
ious stone dwelling now occupied by 
his son, Oliver P. Titus. He also erected 
the barn and other outbuildings. He was an 
enterprising and successful farmer, and 
held a high place in the community. 
Starting out in life with little or none 
of this world's goods, by dint of prese- 
verance and hard work he achieved 
financial success, while his strict integ- 
rity and unblemished character won the 
esteem of his neighbors and a large 
circle of friends. 

Jacob George, the father of Elizabeth 
(George) Titus, was a son of Jacob and 
Eve George, of Tinicum, Bucks county. 
the former of whom died in 1815, and 
the latter in 1829. They were the par- 
ents of one son, Jacob, and four daug- 
ters: Elizabeth, wife of George Hillpot; 
Catharine, wife of Jacob Fulmer; Mary, 
wife of George Wycker; and Susanna, 
wife of Frederick Solliday. Hannah, the 
wife of Jacob George, Jr., is thought to 
have been a daughter of William and 
Naomi (Marshall) McCalla. 

Jacob George, Jr. inherited from his 
father a farm of 199 acres in Tinicum, 
where he died December 18, 1831. He 
and his wife Hannah were the parents 
of the following children: Hugh, a civil 
engineer who died in 1866, unmarried; 
Susanna, married George Raike; Hiram, 
died in 1879; Eve. married William 
Royce; Elizabeth, wife of Jacob Titus; 
Naomi, wife of Michael Worman; and 
Jacob W. George. Mrs. Titus died in 
1898. 

The children of Jacob and Elizabeth 
(George) Titus were: Elwood. died at 
the age of twenty-two years; George, 
also deceased; Hugh, of Richboro, Bucks 
county; and Oliver P. The mother was 
a member of Neshaminy Presbyterian 
Church, which her husband also at- 
tended but was not a member. 

Oliver P. Titus, son of Jacob and 
Elizabeth, was born on the farm upon 
w'hich he now resides. May 8, 1864. 
and began his education at the public 
schools, and finished at Doylestown 



English and Classical Seminary. He re- 
mained on the farm with his father un- 
til his marriage, and two years later 
removed to New Jersey, where he was- 
for si.x years superintendent of a stock 
farm of 350 acres. He then returned 
home, and at the death of his mother 
purchased the homestead in 1899, and 
has since made it his home. The farm 
is pleasantly located in the valley of 
the Little Neshaminy, and is a very 
productive one. Mr. Titus takes great 
pride in keeping up its ornamental and 
attractive features as well as the fertility 
of the soil. Politically Mr. Titus is a 
Republican, and religiously he and his. 
wife are members of Neshaminy Pres- 
byterian Church. Mr. Titus married 
Florence B. Dobbins, who was born in- 
Bucks county, October 19, 1865, and is- 
a daughter of the late J. K. and Sarah 
A. (Jenkins) Dobbins, of Warrington^ 
Her father, J. K. Dobbins, was born irr 
Pemberton, New Jersey, November 27, 
1838, and was a son of Joseph R. and 
Mary A. (Hilliard) Dobbins, the former 
a native of New Jersey, and a prom- 
inent merchant and well known citizen 
of Mont Holly, New Jersey. He served 
in the war of 1812. Mary A. (Hilliard) 
Dobbins was a daughter of Eben Hil- 
liard, a prominent contractor of Phil- 
adelphia, who married a daughter of 
Richard Summers, a captain in the Revo- 
lutionary war. The children of Joseph 
R. and Mary A. (Hilliard) Dobbins were, 
Eber H., John J., Richard, Susan K., 
Sarah, Edward. Joseph K.. and Merrill. 
Joseph K. Dobbins, the father of Mrs. 
Titus, was reared on the farm near 
Pemberton, New Jersey. After leaving: 
home he was employed at various voca- 
tions, and in i860 entered the employ 
of the United States government as a 
member of an engineering corps. He 
was afterwards promoted to the posi- 
tion of superintendent of a corps of 
structural engineers, and had charge of 
the erection of forts and bridges during, 
the civil war. He resigned his position 
in the winter of 1864-5 and settled in 
Bucks county, but later removed to- 
Philadelphia. In 1878 he purchased the 
the farm on which he lately lived in 
Warrington, Bucks county, which he 
conducted until his death in 1905. He 
was one of the well known and popular 
men of central Bucks county, and an 
active member of the Bucks County 
Historical Society, in whose meetings 
he took a lively interest. His wife,. 
Sarah A. Jenkins, was born in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, and is a daugter of 
Thomas Jenkins of that place. Their 
children are: Joseph T.. of California; 
Florence R.. wife of the subject of this 

sketch; Clara, wife of McKinstry; 

Sarah L., wife of Charles Horner; Mary^ 
wife of H. Shaffer; Gertrude V., Ed- 
ward, a well known inventor, now iix 
Europe; and Merrill, of Philadelphia. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



439 



Mr. Oliver P. and Florence R. (Dob- 
bins) Titus are the parents of four chil- 
dren; Paul M., Malvina E., Helen and 
Joseph B. 

jM. 

MATHIAS J. LOUX. Andrew Loux, 
who emigrated from Germany, became 
the founder of the family in the United 
States to which Mathias Loux belonged. 
Andrew Loux, son of Andrew Loux, Sr., 
was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
and troughout his active business career 
followed farming here. He married Katie 
Hartman. 

Mathias Loux, son of Andrew and 
Katie (Hartman) Loux, was a native of 
Bucks county and throughout his entire 
life carried on agricultural pursuits. He 
belonged to the state militia under Col- 
onel Hager, of Hagersville, Bucks 
county. His political support was given 
to the Democracy and he was a mem- 
ber of the German Reformed church. 
He married Catherine Yost, a daughter 
of Daniel Yost, who was born in Bucks 
county, Pennsylvama, in 1809 and died 
in 1874, at the age of sixty-five years. 
He was a weaver by trade, and followed 
that pursuit in connection with farm- 
ing near Dublin. His family numbered 
fourteen children; Andrew, Isaac. Dan- 
iel and Hannah, all deceased; Catherine; 
Mary, who has also passed away ; Math- 
ias J.; Elizabeth; Noah; Aaron, Anna 
and Eli, also deceased; Israel; and 
David, deceased. 

Mathias J. Loux, son of Mathias and 
Catherine (Yost) Loux, was born in 
Hilltown township near Dublin, Bucks 
county, July 13, 1841. He was educated 
in the public schools of his native town- 
ship and, when he had completed his 
course, learned the mason's trade, serv- 
ing a regular apprenticeship. In re- 
sponse to President Lincoln's call for 
volunteers he was the sixth man to join 
Colonel Davis's 104th Regiment at 
Captain Harvey's recruiting office in Doy- 
lestown. He belonged to Company E 
of the One Hundred and Fourth Regi- 
ment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, and 
went from Doylestown to Washington, 
and thence to Fortress Monroe. He 
participated in several skirmishes in the 
vicinity of Chickamauga, and his first 
battle was at Fair Oaks. He partici- 
pated in every engagement with Com- 
pany E throughout the war. and was in 
the hospital for three days, but would 
not stay there. Slipping away he re- 
joined his company, so anxious was he 
to be at the front. After the war he 
settled at Nace's Corner, in Bucks 
county, where he is now living retired. 
He was for many years identified with 
farming interests, but his son is now 
managing the farm, while Mr. Loux is 
enjoying a well merited rest. He is a 
member of the German Reformed 



church and politically is an advocate 
of Republican principals. Mathias J. 
Loux was married to Anna Elizabeth 
Bryan, a daughter of William and Lou- 
isa (Leidy) Bryan, August 12, 1865. 
They have one son, Harvey Monroe 
Loux, born in New Britain township, 
October 23, 1874. He married Anna 
Elizabeth Halderman, a daughter of 
Cornelius Halderman, and they have 
three children: Grace Marcella; Marian 
Louisa and Howard Pierson. 



GEORGE SWARTLEY for many years 
a representative farmer of New Britain 
township, was born in that township July 
12, 1820, and is of German ancestry. His 
paternal grandfather, Philip Swartley, was 
born in Baden in 1764 and emigrated to 
America in 1782. He married Sarah Rosen- 
berger, and died September 2, 1840, at the 
age of seventy-five years, while his wife 
passed away in April, 1847, at the age of 
eighty-four years. They were the parents 
of nine children, six sons and three 
daughters. 

Philip Swartley, son of Philip and Sarah 
(Rosenberger) Swartley, was born in New 
Britain township, Bucks county, February 
28, 1799, and throughout his business career 
followed the occupation of farming. He 
wedded Mary Smith and they had nine chil- 
dren : George, born July 12, 1820 ; Henry, 
born March 24, 1822 ; Levi, who was born 
April 7, 1824 and married Catherine Halder- 
man ; Philip, born November 12, 1825 ; 
Susanna, who was born March 23, 1827, 
and married Jacob Alderfer ; Sarah, who 
was born November 11, 1830. and became 
the wife of John Alderfer, her death oc- 
curring the day following her husband's 
demise from grief for his loss, their re- 
mains being interred in the same grave ; 
Mary, who was born December 9, 1833, and 
is the wife of David Rosenberger ; Eliza- 
beth, who was born August 15. 1838, and 
is the wife of Louis Schleifer ; and Aaron, 
who was born February 7, 1841, and wedded 
Maria Leidy. 

George Swartley, son of Philip and Mary 
(Smith) Swartley, was reared to the oc- 
cupation of farming and in his youth ac- 
quired his education in the public schools. 
Throughout his business career he fol- 
lowed agricultural pursuits, selling his 
products in the Philadelphia market. He 
lived for forty-five years on what is called 
the Levi Schutz farm and was accounted 
one of the progressive agriculturists of his 
community. In his political views he is 
a stanch Republican and religiously is con- 
nected with the Mennonite church. George 
Swartley was married November 8. 1842, 
to Catherine, a daughter of Jacob and Mar- 
garet (Halderman) Funk. They had three 
children, of whom Oliver P., born July 
4. 1845. died at the age of seven years. 
The others are Mary M. and Jacob F. The 
daughter, born February 24, 1852, is the wife 



440 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



of Francis P. Sheip, a son of John and 
Hannah (Schneider) Sheip. They have two 
children: Alma E., born March 29, 1870; 
and Arthur B., who was born December 22, 
1876, and married Hannah Sherm, a daugh- 
ter of William H. and Lizzie (Barndt) 
Sherm. Jacob F. Swartley married Sarah 
Geil, a daughter of Enos and Mary (Means) 
Geil, at Doylestown, Pennsylvania, in 1888, 
and they have one child, Catherine 
Swartley. 



MRS. MARY ELIZABETH RICK- 
ERT, of Chalfont, is the widow of John 
S. Rickert, who was born in Hilltown, 
Pennsylvania, January 13, 1844. He 
acquired his education in the schools of 
Plumsteadville. He entered the general 
merchandise store at Dublin, Pennsyl- 
A'ania, when twenty years of age, and 
later Jaecame one of the proprietors as 
a member of the firm of Jones D. Moyer 
& Company, and following the death of 
Mr. Moyer, ]\Ir. Rickert became the 
senior member of the firm of John S. 
Rickert & Company. He continued in 
business at Dublin with good sucess 
until 1882, when he removed to Chal- 
font and entered into partnership with 
Preston W. Hagerty, under the firm 
style of Rickert & Hagerty, dealers in 
general merchandise. They carried a 
well selected stock of goods and by reason 
of their honorable dealing secured a de- 
sirable patronage, Mr. Rickert continuing 
actively in the business up to the time of 
his demise. 

On the 5th of February, 1870, in Lam- 
bertville, New Jersey, Mr. Rickert had 
married Miss Mary Elizabeth Leather- 
man, a daughter of Eli and Sara (Got- 
wals) Leatherman. Mrs. Rickert is a 
granddaughter of Jacob Leatherman, 
and is a representative of one of the 
oldest German families of Bedminster, 
tracing her ancestry back to another 
Jacob Leatherman, who was the founder 
of the family in the new world. He 
emigrated from his native country, Ger- 
many, on the ship "Lydia,' arriving at 
Philadelphia, September 28, 1741. He 
was then thirtj'-two years of age. 
He secured a tract of land of three 
hundred acres near the present Men- 
nonite meeting house, in Bedminster, 
and throughout his remaining days de- 
voted his energies to agricultural pur- 
suits, passing away on February 17, 1769, 
at tlie age of sixty years. He was 
accompanied on his emigration to Amer- 
ica by his wife Magdalena and their 
sons Jacob and Abraham, the latter then 
but two years of age. Six other chil- 
dren were born to them in this country: 
Michael ; Henrv ; John ; Magdalene, who 
became the wife of Jacob High; Cather- 
ine; and Ann. 

Jacob Leatherman, grandfather of 
Mrs. Rickert, was horn in 1793 and died 
September 4, 1833. His wife, who bore 



the maiden name of Elizabeth Walters, 
was born in 1788 and died September 
30, 1859. Their children were: Mary 
G., who was born in 1820, and died 
September 17, 1874; Catherine, who was 
born in 1823, and died June 5, 1842; Eli, 
who was born November 14, 1824, and 
died September 28, 1897; and Tobias, 
who was born in 1829 and died March 
20, 18.34. 

Eli Leatherman, son of Jacob and 
Elizabeth (Walters) Leatherman, was 
born in Plumstead township, November 
14, 1824, and throughout his business 
career carried on agricultural pursuits. 
He wedded Sarah Gotwals, and his 
death occurred September 28, 1897. 
Their children were four in number: 
Mary Elizabeth, who was born January 
22, 1846, and became the wife of John 
S. Rickert; Catherine, who was born 
July 26, 1848, and married Isaac G. 
Moyer; Henry R., who was born Decem- 
ber 4, 1850, and married Almina Ger- 
hart; and Emma, who was born Novem- 
ber 16, 185s, and is the wife of Preston 
W. Haggerty, a merchant of Chalfont. 
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Rickert 
are Sarah C, who was born November 

29, 1874, and is the wife of A. F. Book, 
a son of Henry and Hannah (Krupp) 
Book; Mary E., who was born December 

30, 1875, and is the wife of Robert 
Mathias, by whom she has one daughter, 
Margaret Elizabeth; George, who was 
born August 18, 1877; and Florence, who 
completes the family. 



JOHN H. MEYERS. The Meyers 
family, to which John H. Meyers be- 
longs, was founded in America about 
1708 by Hans Meyer,* who came from 
Germany or Switzerland and settled in 
Salford township, Montgomery county 
about two miles east of Salfordville. 
There he purchased land in 1720 and his 
property became known as the ancestral 
home and is yet occupied by his great- 
great-grandson. Hans Mej'er was a 
farmer by occupation and always fol- 
lowed that pursuit. He held member- 
ship in the Mennonite church and died 
in that faith in 1741. His children w^ere 
Henry, John. Barbara, Jacob. Elizabeth, 
Anne and Hester. 

(II) Henry Meyer, son of Hans 
Meyer, was brought to America by his 
parents when only a year old. He 
married Barbara Miller, who came from 
Germany to the new world when eigh- 
teen years of age. He, too, followed the oc- 
cupation of farming, living upon a tract 
of land inherited from his father. He 
was a Mennonite in religious belief and 
died in 1800. Unto him and his wiie 
were born the following named, Henry, 



*The name was originally spelled Meyer, and was 
later corrupted into Myers, Meyers and Moyer. 



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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



441 



Alary, Jacob, John, Isaac, Annie, Bar- 
bara, Elizabeth, Christian, Abraham and 
Samuel. ' 

(III) Isaac Meyers, son of Henry and 
Barbara (Miller) Meyer, was born De- 
cember 31, 1759, in Salford township, 
Montgomery county and became a 
farmer of Bedminster township, Bucks 
county. Like his ancestors he was an ad- 
herent of the Mennonite faith. He married 
Magdalina Overholt, who was born August 
14, 1762, and his death occurred December 
31, 1832, while his wife passed away Janu- 
ary 27, 1846. They were the parents of 
six children: Jacob; Henry; Isaac; John 
O.; Esther, the wife of William Swope; 
and Barbara, the wife of Jacob Yoder. 

(IV) John O. Meyers, son of Isaac 
Meyers, was born in Bedminster town- 
ship, Bucks county, in 1800 and died on 
the 2ist of May, 1843. He was married 
October 10, 1824, to Miss Elizabeth 
Halderman and they had seven children: 

1. Hannah, born May 17, 1826, became 
the wife of Daniel K. Rickert, a son 
of Daniel and Elizabeth (Kulp) Rickert, 

2. Tobias, deceased. 3. Isaac H., born 
October 22, 1830, married Cecelia Funk, 
a daughter of Ralph and Barbara (Kauf- 
man) Funk, and their children are 
Isadora, born August .2, 1857; William 
Clyde, born January 28, 1861: Laura F., 
born March 8, 1867. 4. Sophia died in 
1832. 5. Eliza, born September 3. 1833, 
<died July 23, 1853. 6. John H., the sub- 
ject of this sketch. 7. Ephraim H., born 
September 28, 1841, is a carpenter at 
Blooming Glen, Bucks county. He mar- 
ried Mary Susanna Hunsicker, and they 
had ten children, of whom five are yet 
living. 

(V) John H. Meyers, son of John O. 
and Elizabeth (Halderman) Meyers, was 
born in Bedminster township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, August 17, 1838, 
and in his youth learned the trade of 
shoemaking under the direction of 
Christian Gayman at Dyerstown. Bucks 
county. He afterward followed that pur- 
suit in Plumsteadville until 1863, when 
Tie settled upon a farm in Bedminster- 
-ville. Subsequently he removed to 
Plumsteadville, where he continued 
farming until 1884, when he took up his 
abode in New Britain township and 
purchased a tract of land, upon which 
he still resides, having for long years 
"been actively associated with farming in- 
terests in Bucks county. 

Mr. Meyers has been married twice. 
He wedded Sarah Meyers, on the igtli 
of October, 1861, and they became the 
parents of nine children. I. Elizabeth, 
horn November 22, 1863, is the wife of 
Herry Swartley and they have six chil- 
dren. 2. Lydia A., born February 27, 
1865, is the wife of Amos Nace, and they 
have four children. 3. Joseph, born 
October 28. 1866, died on the 2rst of 
Ivlovember of the same year. 4. Han- 
nah, born March 9, 1868, is the wife of 



Oliver Grass and has three children. 

5. Irvin, born February 8, 1871, is at home. 

6. Henry, born July 19, 1872, married 
Delia Smith and has two children. 

7. Isaac M., born September 6, 1877, 
died on the 15th of September of the 
same year. 8. Cora, born March 16, 
1880, died August 28, 1880. 9. Tressie, 
born March 4, 1882, is the v^rife of Levi 
Yothers, and they had two children. 
Mr. Meyers lost his first wife Novem- 
ber 28, 1896, when she had reached the 
age of fifty-five years and eight days. 
He has since married Lavina, daughter 
of Samuel and Mary (Johnson) Buck- 
waiter, and they reside at Chalfont. 
Mrs. Meyers was born in East Windsor, 
Chester county, Pennsylvania, February 
2, 1838. Mr. Meyers belongs to the 
Mennonite church, whose doctrines em- 
brace the faith of his ancestors, and his 
political allegiance is given to the Re- 
publican party. 



HENRY WEINBERGER WEISS, an 
agriculturist of Quakertown, born April 8, 
1834, on a farm near Milford bquart, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, traces his an- 
cestry to Killian Weiss, a Swiss immi- 
grant, who in the early part of the eigh- 
teenth century located near Zionsville, Le- 
high county, Pennsylvania, having acquired 
a grant of land from the Penns. The line 
of descent is traced through his son, 
Killian Weiss, born in 1751, who was a 
farmer by occupation, continued to live on 
the home property near Zionsville, Lehigh 
county, and who became quite prominent 
and influential in the neighborhood. He 
married a Miss Landis, and among his chil- 
dren was a son, George Weiss. 

George Weiss, father of Henry W. Weiss, 
was born on the homestead farm near Zions- 
ville, Lehigh county. He followed fann- 
ing, and in conjunction therewith conduct- 
ed a saw and chopping mill near Milford 
Square, Bucks county, which property still 
remains in the hands of a member of tnt 
Weiss family. He was a member of the 
Mennonite church, and a Whig in politics. 
He married Anna Weinberger, whose fath- 
er was a farmer of Milford township. His 
death occurred in 1864. 

Henry W. Weiss attended the common 
schools of the district until his sixteenth 
year, after which he assisted on the home 
farm and in the saw and chopping mill, 
above referred to, continuing the same until 
his marriage, ]\Iarch 12, 1859, when he set- 
tled on his father's farm. In 1864 he moved 
to Haycock township, near Applebachs- 
ville, where he farmed for one year. He 
then moved to Quakertown, near where 
the North Penn railroad .station now 
stands, and there raised and shipped stock 
to New York markets. In 1876 he pur- 
chased the Harry Hacket farm on Califor- 
nia road, north of Quakertown, containing 
fifty-nine acres of improved land, which he 
operates as a dairy farm. For several 



442 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



years Mr. Weiss was actively engaged in 
building creameries through Bucks county, 
being one of the pioneers of that industry. 
Of late years, however, he has led a less 
active life, and devoted his time to the 
management of his farm, which is known 
as "Fairview," and which as a summet 
boarding house is patronized by many peo- 
ple from Philadelphia and elsewhere, Mr. 
and Mrs. Weiss having the reputation of 
being excellent providers and entertainers. 
In politics Mr. Weiss has always been ac- 
tively engaged as a Republican, but has 
never sought or held office. By his mar- 
riage to Frances Allebach, daughter of Ja- 
cob and Ellen (Van Fossen) Allebach, 
farmers, of Montgomery county, Pennsyl- 
vania, which was celebrated March 12, 1859, 
the following children were born : Joseph 
Franklin, deceased : Ellen, deceased ; and 
Elmira, born September 10, 1862, who mar- 
ried Joseph B. Shelly, .son of Elias Shelly, 
a farmer, of Milford township. Joseph B. 
Shelly was engaged for a time in the hotel 
business, but after several years retired 
from that line of work and engaged in the 
agency for farming implements and wag- 
ons, building up a large business in and 
about Quakertown. In politics he was an 
ardent Republican, but never served in any 
official capacity. He was a Mennonite ni 
religion, member of East Swamp church, 
and for several years took an active part 
in religious affairs as teacher and superm- 
tendent of Sunday schools at East Swamp. 
' Their children were : Herbert Arthur, Hen- 
ry Eugene, Lilly Alberta, Frances Mabel, 
George Joseph, Cora Irene, and Peninnah 
May Shelly. Mr. Shelly died August 2, 
1903, since which time Mrs. Shelly has suc- 
cessfully conducted the business in which 
her husband was engaged at the time of 
his death. Mr. Weiss and his family are 
members of the Mennonite church, at East 
Swamp, Pennsylvania. 



JACOB KOOKER. One of the well- 
known men of Solebury is Jacob Kooker. 
The great-grandfather of Mr. Kooker was 
Peter Kooker, a native of Germany, who 
emigrated to this country in company with 
a brother, Jacob Kooker, who settled near 
Norristown, Montgomery county, on land 
known as Big Meadows. Peter Kooker 
(great-grandfather) settled in Nockamix- 
on township, near Rufe's hotel (now Re- 
vere). He was married three times; his 
first wife was Elizabeth Raub, who bore 
him one child, Jacob Kooker, mentioned 
hereinafter. His second wife was Kate 
White, who was a widow with several 
children by her first marriage, and his 
third wife was also a widow, Mrs. Myers, 
who was the mother of one son by her tirst 
marriage, Jacob Myers, who, at the peril 
of his life ran back and rescued the tiag 
of the One Hundred and Fourth Regiment, 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, when they had 
been driven back from their position by 
the rebels during the civil war. 



Captain Jacob Kooker, 'grandfather of 
Jacob Kooker, was captain of the Leopard 
ivitiemen during the war of 1812. He was. 
numbered among the good citizens of Bucks 
county, and died of consumption at the early 
age of thirty-nine years. He married Mary 
Magdaline Calfe, who was born in Tinicum 
township, June 2, 1790, died August 10, 
1868, and her remains were interred at 
Upper Tinicum churchyard. They were 
the parents of nine children, as follows: 
John, a carpenter and undertaker by 
trade, who resided at Holland, New Jer- 
sey, where he was married. Henry, men- 
tioned at length hereinafter. Elizabeth, 
wife of Jacob Sigafoos, of Tinicum town- 
ship, Bucks county. Samuel, a farmer and 
retired gentleman, who resided near Pine- 
ville, Pennsylvania. Sarah, wife of Will- 
iam Auld, of Carversville, Bucks county. 
Annie, wife of Charles Slack, of Yardley,, 
Bucks county. Margarette, wife of Joseph 
Welsh, of Holland, New Jersey. Mary, 
who died at the age of two years. Cathar- 
ine, wife of Charles F. Smith, of Clay- 
ton, Bucks county. These children with 
their husbands and wives are all now de- 
ceased with the exception of Louisa, wid- 
ow of Samuel Kooker, who lives at Pine- 
ville, Pennsylvania. 

Henry Kooker, father of Jacob Kooker,. 
was born March 11, 1815, in Nockamixon, 
and was a son of Jacob and Mary ]\Iagda- 
line (Calfe) Kooker. When a boy he went 
to live with an uncle, John Calfe, in Tini- 
cum township, and there he grew to man- 
hood. Later he went to Hunterdon coun- 
ty. New Jersey, and for several years was 
employed at (^odley's mills, ultimately be- 
coming salesman for the mills. At the 
time of his marriage he returned to Bucks^ 
county, Penn.sylvania, and settled in Sole- 
bury whence he removed to Clayton, Buck- 
ingham township, remaining some years 
and engaging in lime burning. Subsequently 
he moved to Tinicum township, where he 
resided nine years, then moved back to » 
Buckingham township, and on his retire- 
ment from business both he and his wife 
made their home with their daughter, Ida 
Roberts, wife of Charles S. Roberts, ot 
New Hope, Pennsylvania. Until the break- 
ing out of the civil war Mr. Kooker was 
a Democrat in politics, but then became a 
Republican. He was a member of boie- 
bury Baptist church, in which body he 
served as deacon for many years. He mar- 
ried, November 5, 1840, Elizabeth Strouse, 
who was born in Tinicum, Pennsylvania, 
January 12, 1821, daughter of Frederick ana 
Elizabeth (Sigafoos) Strouse, of Nocka- 
mixon township, the latter named having 
been born October 13, 1792, died August 
10, 1868, and buried at Upper Tinicurrt 
churchyard. After the death of his wife 
Mr. Strouse went to live with his daugh- 
ter Catharine, wife of Cyrus Foreman, 
who resided in the vicinity of Harrisburg,. 
Pennsylvania, and there resided until his- 
death and was buried in that city. Mr. and 
Mrs. Strouse were the parents of sever* 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



443 



children, three sons of whom died in youth 
and childhood, and the names of the otn- 
ers were as follows : Annie, deceased, who 
was the wife of the late Paul Rymond, of 
Tinicum. Elizabeth, deceased, wife of the 
late Henry Kooker, of_ New Hope. Mary, 
deceased, who was the wife of the late John 
Wilkinson, a cotton manufacturer of New 
Hope, who operated the cotton mills there 
for several years. Catharine, wife of Cy- 
rus Foreman, aforementioned, who is the 
only survivor of the family. Henry and 
Elizabeth (Strouse) Kooker were the par- 
ents of the following children : William S., 
a physician in the city of Philadelphia. 
Mary, who married Walker Booze, of New 
Hope. Jacob, mentioned at length herein- 
after. Charles H., who 'is a contractor 
and builder in Philadelphia. John, a resi- 
dent of New Hope, who carries on pork 
butchering and is the owner of a large 
hardware store. Ida, wife of Charles S. 
Roberts, a lumber and coal dealer of New 
Hope. The deaths of *Mr. and Mrs. Kooker 
occurred May lo, 1903, and February 10, 
1898, respectively, and the funeral services 
were conducted at the Solebury Beptist 
church, of which they had both been mem- 
bers for many years. 

Jacob Kooker, son of Henry and Eliza- 
beth (Strouse) Kooker, was born Septem- 
ber II, 1846, in Buckingham township. He 
received his education in the public schools, 
at the age of twenty began to teach, but 
at the end of a year turned his attention 
to farming, becoming a tenant in Solebury. 
After two years he removed to the farm 
in Buckingham now owned by Judge Pax- 
son, where he remained six years, and then 
purchased the store at Holicong. He con- 
ducted the business for one year and then 
sold out and bought his present farm in 
Solebury township. He deals extensively 
in horses and cattle, owns the Keystonts 
carriage works in Doylestown, and is also 
a dealer in real estate, owning several 
farms and properties at the present time 
(1905). He was the first man in this sec- 
tion to buy wagons from the manufactur- 
ers in carload lots, and is still in the busi- 
ness, carrying at the present time a stock 
of over two hundred and also deals exten- 
sively in harness, organs and pianos. As 
a clerk for sales he is better known than 
any other man in the county. He is a 
member of the Carriage Dealers' Protec- 
tive Association, and was recently a dele- 
gate to a convention of that organization. 
He now holds the office of registration as- 
sessor. In politics he is a Republican, 
and his church membership is with the Sole- 
bury Baptist church, in which for so many 
years his father served as deacon. He 
married, December 17, 1867, Martha Nay- 
lor, daughter of Reeder and Elizabeth (Mc- 
Nealey) Naylor, of Solebury township, and 
the following children have been born to 
them : Annie, who is the wife of Ellsworth 
Lippencott, of New Hope, and has four 
children : Bertha, Nellie, Herbert J., and 
Eva. Nellie G., who married Spencer Rob- 



erts, a gardener and florist with Judge 
E. M. Paxson, and has one child, Martha 
K. Roberts. Margaret N. Edgar S., who 
is assistant station agent at Buckingham 
Valley station on the Reading Railroaa 
from New Hope to Philadelphia, Penn- 
sylvania. 



PRESTON W. HAGERTY. Among 
the prosperous and influential business men 
of Chalfont, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
who have aided materially in the develop- 
ment of its mercantile pursuits, is Preston 
W. Hagerty, whose birth occurred in Nock- 
amixon township, Bucks county, April 4, 
1852. This township (which was spelled 
Noximinson in a deed of 1762) signifies, 
in the Delaware language, "the place at the 
three houses." and is supposed to have 
been settled prior to 1730. Judging from 
a list of the names of landowners in 1742, 
the original settlers were English-speaking 
people. 

John Hagerty, father of Preston W. 
Hagerty, was a son of James Hagerty,. 
who emigrated to this country from Ire- 
land, settling in Nockamixon township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he fol- 
lowed farming as a means of livelihood. 
John Hagerty was a shoemaker by trade, 
and this line of work he followed in con- 
nection with agricultural pursuits in the 
state of New Jersey. He was united in 
marriage to Catherine Walters, daughter 
of Jacob Walters, a native of Germany^ 
who migrated to America, settling at the 
Forge, in Warren county. New Jersey. In 
1852, accompanied by his family, John 
Hagerty removed to Nockamixon town- 
ship, Bucks county, and thereafter made 
his home in that attractive locality. The 
following named children were the issue 
of his marriage : Mary M., James, Jacob,. 
Sarah E., Solomon, Annie, Sophia J., John 
W., Hannah M., and Preston W. 

Preston W. Hagerty was reared on his 
father's farm, and was indebted to the com- 
mon schools in his neighborhood for liis 
educational advantages. At the age of eight- 
een years he engaged with his brother 
Jacob in the produce commission business, 
and at the expiration of three years, one 
of which he was employed in driving a 
team, he purchased the business and con- 
ducted a wholesale produce trade for ten 
years, achieving a well merited success as 
a result of his reliable methods. In the 
meantime he purchased a farm which he 
conducted until 1884, in which year he en- 
tered into business relations with his broth- 
er-in-law, John S. Rickert, purchasing the 
store at Chalfont. This connection contin- 
ued until the death of Mr. Rickert, ten 
years later, when Mr. Hagerty purchased 
his interest and has since conducted tnt 
business alone ; he also purchased the build- 
ings. His general mercantile business ha» 
increased to large proportions, and is now 
one of the most extensive of its kind in 
that section of the county. The respect and 



444 



HISTORY 01' BUCKS COUNTY. 



esteem in which he is held is evidenced by 
the fact that he was appointed a director of 
the Doylestown National Bank, a school 
director, and attained the position of post- 
master in his town, in which capacity he 
served for twelve years. His political views 
are in accord with those advocated by the 
Democratic party. 

In 1874 ^Ii"- Hagerty married Miss Emma 
Leatherman, daughter of Eli Leatherman, 
of Plumstead township, Bucks county, 
and three children were born to 
them : Wilson, w^ho died at the age 
of six months ; Mable, who died at 
the age of nine months; and Luella, who 
resides at home. The family are mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian church of Doyles- 
tow^n, and are highfy respected in the 
community. 



HENRY WALP FREED. Among the 
descendants of Bucks county's pioneers 
must be numbered Henry Walp Freed, of 
Richlandtown. Mr. Freed is a grandson 
of Henry and Catharine (Ruhl) Freea, 
who were the parents of a son, John, men- 
tioned at length hereinafter. The old Freed 
homestead, which has now passed out of 
the possession of the family, was situated 
on the turnpike, near Tohickon bridge. 

John Freed, son of Henry and Catha- 
rine (Ruhl) Freed, was born in 1800, on 
the homestead, and was a farmer and weav- 
er. He married Hannah, born in 1810, 
daughter of David and Susanna (Ohlwein) 
Walp, by whom he was the father of the 
following children : i. Henry Walp, men- 
tioned at length hereinafter. 2. Julia Ann, 
who was born January, 1833, and married 
John A., son of John and Adeline Judd. 
3. William, who was born in 1835, mar- 
ried Sarah Biehn, of Richland township, 
and is now a resident of Richlandtown. 
.4. Charles, who married Marietta, daughter 
of Tobias and Susan (Leidyj Scholl. of 
Hatfield, Montgomery county. 5. Reuben 
James. 

Henry Walp Freed, son of John and 
Hannah (Walp) Freed, w^as born Novem- 
ber 25, 1831, on the homestead, and in 
1835 his parents moved to a farm of forty 
acres situated on the Doylestown road, 
about one mile from Richlandtown. There 
he attended the district school until his 
sixteenth year, when he began to learn 
the shoemaker's trade with his uncle, 
Charles Walp, serving one year and a half, 
after which he did custom work for his 
uncle. After a time he formed a partner- 
ship with his brothers, Charles, William 
and Reuben, and the firm carried on a thriv- 
ing business, the partnership remaining un- 
dissolved until 1903, since which time Mr. 
Freed has led a quiet and retired life on 
a farm. He has always been a public- 
spirited citizen, and was one of the prime 
movers in the organization of Richland- 
town borough, serving for four years as 
its first chief burgess. He is now a mem- 
ber of the council. In politics he is a Dem- 



ocrat. Since 1853 he has held the position 
of organist in the Union Reformed church 
of Richlandtown, of which he and his wife 
are members. Mr. Freed married, De- 
cember 18, 1858, Hannah, daughter of Ja- 
cob and Hannah (Lewis) Horn, the for- 
mer a farmer of Haycock township, and 
they have one daughter, Martha Ida, who 
is the wife of Henry C. Trumbauer, son 
of Dr. Trumbauer, of Norristown, Penn- 
sylvania, and the mother of one child, Ma- 
ria. Mrs. Freed is the granddaughter of 
the Rev. A. D. Horn, whose son Jacob 
married Hannah, daughter of Jacob Lew- 
is, a farmer and weaver of Rockhill town- 
ship and a member of the Lutheran church. 
They were the parents of a daughter, Han- 
nah, who was born September 3, 1837, at- 
tended the subscription schools until reach- 
ing the age of fourteen, and remained at 
home until she became the wife of Henry 
Walp Freed, as mentioned above. 



HENRY BARINGER. One of the most 
highly respected citizens of Bucks county 
is Henry Baringer, of Richland Centre. Mr. 
Baringer is a representative of one of the 
old families of Pennsylvania, the land but 
lately in possession of the present genera- 
tion having been purchased of the Penns. 
The Baringers are related to John David 
Behringer, one of the original settlers of 
Lehigh county. 

Henry Baringer, son of Henry and Ma- 
ria (Cramer) Baringer, was born on the 
homestead in Richland Center, and marnea 
Anna Bartholomew. They were the par- 
ents of a son, Henry, mentioned at length 
hereinafter. Mr. Baringer made it his life- 
work to cultivate the land which had de- 
scended to him from former generations, 
the estate comprising in all ninety-three 
acres. 

Henry Baringer, son of Henry and Anna 
(Bartholomew) Baringer, w'as born No- 
vember II, 1826, on the homestead which 
had been the birthplace of so many of his 
ancestors. Until completing his twelfth 
year he attended the subscription school, 
and thenceforth became his father's as- 
sistant in the labors of the farm. Following 
the traditions of his family he has all his 
life been a tiller of the soil, and has proved 
himself an enlightened agriculturist. On 
April 25, 1904, he sold the farm on which 
his entire life had thus far been passed 
to Enos Kile, and withdrew from active 
labor to enjoy the fruits of a laborious ana 
useful career. He is a good citizen, taking 
an active interest in all that concerns the 
welfare of the community, but has never 
been induced to accept ottice. In politics 
he is a Democrat. He and his family are 
members of the German Reformed church 
of Richlandtown. in which he has served 
for many years as elder and deacon. The 
Baringers were largely instrumental in the 
organization of this church and in the erec- 
tion of their present place of worship. Mr. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



445 



Baringer married, in 1859, Matilda, daugh- 
ter of John and Sarah (^AioyerJ I'oust, of 
Upper Whitehall township, Lehigh coun- 
ty, and fbur sons have been born to them : 

1. Oliver Franklni, who was born July 
17, i860, attended the public schools of 
Richland township and the Quakertown 
high school, and later studied at Pierce's 
Business College. He died March 22, 1875. 

2. Milton, who was born November 25, 
1863, was educated in the schoofs of his 
native township and in those of Quaker- 
town, resides at VVyncote, Montgomery 
county, and is a member of the Philadel- 
phia Bourse. He married, in 1892, Ella 
Walraven, of Philadelplwa. 3. Henry. 4. 
John, born September 25, 1866, attended, 
as his brothers had done, the schools of 
his native township, and in 1886 graduated 
from the Quakertown high school. His 
death occurred August 15, 1895. Since 
1889 Mr. Baringer has resided in Quaker- 
town, making his home in the comlortable 
and attractive residence which he built for 
himself at the time of his retirement from 
agricultural labors. 



JONATHAN RITTENHOUSE UM- 
S'i EAD, M. D. Among the practicing phy- 
sicians of Bucks county Jonathan Ritten- 
house Umstead, of Quakertown, holds a 
well recognized position. Dr. Umstead is 
a grandson of William and Maria (Ritten- 
house) Umstead, who were the parents of a 
son, David Rittenhouse, mentioned at 
length hereinafter. Mr. and Mrs. Umsteaa 
were residents of Germantown, where the 
former was employed in the stone 
quarries. 

David Rittenhouse Umstead, son of Will- 
iam and Maria (Rittenhouse) Umstead, 
was born November 6, 1829, in German- 
town, and received his education in the lo- 
cal schools. In the course of time he came 
into possession of the farm in connection 
with his brother, Josiah Umstead, and for 
two years they managed the estate in part- 
nership, disposing of their produce in the 
Philadelphia markets and having a dairy 
attached. ]\Ir. Umstead married Leah, 
daughter of Isaac and (Springer) Benner, 
of Franconia township, where they lived 
on a farm. Mr. and Mrs. Umstead were 
the parents of the following children: i. 
Jonathan Rittenhouse, mentioned at length 
hereinafter. 2. Thomas, who married and 
lives in Philadelphia. 3. Angeline, who be- 
came the wife of William Evenna, of Piiila- 
delphia. 4. Amanda, who married William 
Tyson, of Philadelphia. 5. Ella, who was 
engaged in teaching. 6. Maurice, who mar- 
ried Hannah Straley, of Germantown. 7. 
Josiah. 8. William, who married and lives 
in Philadelphia. 

Jonathan Rittenhouse Umstead, son of 
David Rittenhouse and Leah (Benner) 
Umstead, was born November 25, 1864, on 
his father's farm, near Souderton, in Fran- 
conia township, Montgomery county, and 



attended the public school until his tenth 
year, when he went to reside with his grand- 
uncle, Jonathan Rittenhouse, at German- 
town. During his stay there he attended 
for two years the Friends' school at Lane 
and Green streets. After spending one 
year at home he returned for one year to 
the Friends' school, and then attended fo^ 
the same length of time the West Chester 
Slate Normal School. In the summer of 
1881 he again returned home, and for the 
next four years devoted himself to the 
labors of the home farm. In March, 1885, 
he entered the drug store of Dr. Horace 
A. Long, of Souderton, to whom he was 
related through the Rittenhouses, and in 
the autumn of the same year matriculated 
in Jefferson Medical College, from which 
institution he graduated in 1888 with the 
degree of Doctor of Medicine. While a 
student his vacations were spent in Dr. 
Long's drug store, and were thus made sea- 
sons of continued study and improvement. 
After graduating he became the assistant of 
his preceptor with whom he remained until 
the spring of 1889, when he moved to Qua- 
kertown, where he has since followed his 
profession as a general practitioner. Dr. 
Umstead is active as a citizen and is now 
serving his third term as deputy coroner. 
For three years he represented the sec- 
ond ward in the town council, and during 
his term of service was prominently con- 
nected with the promotion of the water and 
trolley franchise. He has acted as delegate 
to county and congressional conventions of 
the Republican party of which he is an ac- 
tive member. He is an attendant of St. 
John's Lutheran church. Dr. Umstead mar- 
ried, in 1889, Lillian Minerva Zendt, and 
they are the parents of the following chil- 
dren : I. Evelyn Zendt, born February 7, 
1892. 2. Joseph Russell, born April 17, 1893. 
3. Daniel Milton, born August 31, 1895. 4. 
Floyd, born July 2, 1897, and died Septem- 
ber 25, 1897. 5. Ralph J., born October 
I, 1902. Mrs. Umstead is a granddaughter 
of Frederick D. and May (D'elp) Zendt 
whose son, Milton Delp Zendt, was born 
in 1845, in Skippack township, ^Montgomery 
county. He attended the public schools 
of his district and was for several years 
a teacher in the township schools. He moved 
to Illinois and there also engaged in teach- 
ing, returning finally to his old home, 
where he is now a cloth manufacturer. 
Mr. Zendt married Mary, daughter of 
George L. and Ann (Harley) Hallman, 
and they were the parents of the follow- 
ing children: i. Lillian Minerva, who was 
born February 22, 1859, attended the dis- 
trict schools of her native town, and be- 
came the wife of Jonathan Rittenhouse Um- 
stead, as mentioned above. 2. Penrose Har- 
per, who was born in 187 1, lives at Souder- 
ton, married Laura, daughter of Oliver Alt- 
house, of that place, and has three children : 
Robert, Laura and Oliver ]Milton. 3. An- 
nie Eunice, w4io became the wife of Frank- 
lin Moyer, son of Enos ^loyer, of Souder- 
ton, and has had three children, the young- 



446 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



est of whom is deceased, the others being 
Clifford and Mary. 4. George Newton, who 
married Eva, daughter of Benjamin and 
Emma (Harr) Barndt, of Souderton, and 
has two children, Abram Randall and Alma. 
Mr. Zendt holds a position in a bank at 
Souderton. 5. Joseph Ncrrman, who mar- 
ried Gertrude, daughter of Joseph Moyer, 
of Perkasie, has one son, James Edward, 
and lives in Philadelphia. 6. Ivan Freder- 
ick, who is a cloth manufacturer at Soud- 
erton and is unmarried. 7. May Pearl, 
who was born September 17, 1886. 8. Beulah 
H., who was born November, 1892. Both 
the last named members of the fan>ily re- 
side at home. 



BENJAMIN LARZELERE, of Bristol 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, is 
a descendant of Jacob La Resaleur, who 
came to Long Island about 1675, sup- 
posedly from Antwerp, where a French 
inerchant of that name had settled some 
years earlier and was probably of the same 
lineage as Nicholas Largilliere, the distin- 
guished portrait painter of the age of Louis 
XIV (.born in Paris, 1656, removed witli 
his father to Antwerp, 1659). 

Jacob Larzelere (La Keseleur) was a 
member of Flatbush church in 1677. He 
owned considerable land in the New Lotts 
of Flatbush at the time of his death, about 
1687. He married Maria Granger, and 
had issue: Claes Jacobse (Nicholas) ; Mag- 
dalen, born January 5, 1679 ; Maria, bap- 
tized January 12, 1681 ; and Catharine, who 
married Daniel Stillwell. Nicholas Lar- 
zelere, removed to Staten Island and be- 
came a land owner there in 1693, and was 
sheriff of Richmond county. 

Nicholas Larzelere, son of above, born 
in Richmond county, Staten Island, pur- 
chased May 16, 1740, two tracts of land ag- 
gregating 264 acres in Lower Makefield 
township, Bucks county, and settled there- 
on, his residerxe as given in the deed of 
the above date being "of the County 01 
Richmond, Stratton Island, in the Province 
of New York." He later purchased several 
other tracts of land in Lower Makefield, 
â– where he died in 1799. The name of his 
first wife and mother of his children has 
not been ascertained. He married about 
1766 Sarah DePuy, a widow with several 
children, who died in 1791. The children 
of Nicholas Larzelere were: Nicholas; 
John, who married Margaret Van Horn in 
1768; Catharine, who married Moses La- 
Rue in 1767 ; Esther, who married Rich- 
ard Mitchell in 1771 ; Anne, married Cor- 
nelius Vansant ; Mary, who married George 
Appleton ; Elizabeth, who married John 
Cape ; and Margaret married John- 
son. 

Nicholas Larzelere. eldest .son of the 
above named Nicholas, married Hannah 
Brittain, daughter of Benjamin and Mary 
(Johnson) Brittain, of Philadelphia, and 
settled on land devised to Hannah by her 
father in Bensalem township, opposite 



Hulmeville. Benjamin Brittain was a grand- 
son of Nathaniel Brittian, an early Eng- 
lish settler on Long Island, who married 
Anna, daughter of Nicholas Stillwell in 
1660, and settled on Staten Island in 1664. 
The children of Nicholas and Hannah 
(Brittain) Larzelere were: Benjamin (see 
forward) ; Nicholas; John; Abraham; Brit- 
ton ; Mary, married Nicholas Vansandt ; 
Elizabeth, married Asa Sutton ; ,§arah, mar- 
ried Andrew Gilkeson; Hannah, married 
Thomas Rue; Ann, married John Thomp- 
son, and Margaret. Nicholas and Hannah 
Larzelere both died prior to 1818. 

Benjamin Larzelere married Sarah 
Brown, daughter of Joseph and Mary 
(Higgs) Brown, of Bristol township. Jo- 
seph Brown was a son of Thomas Brown, 
and a grandson of George and Mercy 
Brown, who emigrated from England, land- 
ing at New Castle in 1679, and settling in 
Falls township, Bucks county. Joseph 
Brown died in Bristol township in April, 
1796, and his land, a farm of 117 acres, 
was conveyed to Benjamin and Sarah Lar- 
zelere in 1802, through proceedings in par- 
tition. Here Benjamin Larzelere and his 
wife lived and died. Their children were: 
Joseph; Nicholas; Benjamin; William, 
(see forward); Ann, died unmarried; 
Mary, died unmarried January 18, 1879 ^ 
Hannah, married James Harrison; Eliza- 
beth, married Richardson. Sarah 

(Brown) Larzelere died March i, 1839, 
and her husband, Benjamin Larzelere, died 
September 7, 1850. 

William Larzelere, fifth son of Benja- 
min and Sarah (Brown) Larzelere, born 
January 24, 1809, married January 22, 1852, 
Anna Maria Antrim, daughter of Thomas 
Antrim, and settled in Bristol township, 
Bucks county, wliere he died January 18, 
1889, leaving two sons, Benjamin and 
Frederick, and a daughter Sarah, wife of 
John Tomlinson. Mrs. Lazelere died in 
1885. 

Benjamin Larzelere, the subject of this 
sketch, is the eldest son of William and 
Anna Maria (Antrim) Larzelere, and was 
born in Bristol township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, December 25, 1854. He re- 
ceived his education at the private school 
of Hannah Coleman, Pierce's Boarding 
School at Bristol, and Bryant and Strat- 
ton's Business College. On arriving at 
manhood he engaged in farming on his 
father's farm, in Bristol township, where he 
has since resided. He married, December 
22, 1875, Sarah Jane Subers, of Emilie, 
Bucks county, daughter of William LaFay- 
ette and Elizabeth LaRue (Vansant) Su- 
btrs. Htr paternal grandparents were_ John 

and (Booz) Subers, and her maternal 

Garret and Sarah (Stevens) Vansant. Mr. 
and Mrs. Larzelere are the parents of two 
children : Harry Shippy, born April 5, 1880. 
and Lily Subers, born May 3, 1882. Both 
these children are graduates of Bristol 
high school. Harry S. resides on the 
homestead with his parents, and assists in 
the management of the farm. Lily S. was 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



447 



married August i, 1901, to Dr. John M. 
J. Raunick, of Harrisburg, a graduate of 
the University of Pennsylvania, class of 
1900, who now has an extensive practice 
!at Harrisburg. 



AMOS TAYLOR PRAUL. Among tue 
highly cultivated and therefore productive 
farms in Southampton township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, noted for their gen- 
eral appearance of good management and 
thrift, is the one owned and operated by 
Amos T. Praul, who was born in that town- 
ship, September 4, 1849. Isaac Praul, his 
earliest ancestor of whom there is any au- 
thentic record, had children : Grace, be- 
came the wife of Charles Biles ; Rebecca ; 
and John. 

John Praul, only son of Isaac Praul, 
married Alartha Tomlinson, and they reared 
a family of children to manhood and wo- 
manhood, namely: i. Isaac. 2. Thomas, 
married Sarah Tomlinson and by her had 
children : Amanda, deceased, who was the 
wife of Charles Eddows ; Sarah, Martha, 
and Watson. 3. William, married Lydia 
Worthington, who bore him six children: 
Theodore, who married Jennie Jamison; 
Edward; William, who married Jennie 
Lough; Ida, who married (first) Harry 
Patterson, and (second) Thomas Poinsett; 
Lucinda, who married Stephen Carter; and 
Thomas Wrigfield, who married Ella Biles. 
4. Francis, mentioned in the following par- 
agraph. 5. Charles, married Arnetta Tom- 
linson, and they were the parents of eight 
children : Emnor, who married Annie 
Stradling; William, who married Martha 
Barton ; Augustus, who married Susan 
Hilliard; Albert; Mary, who became the 
wife of Isaac Stradling ; Annie, who be- 
came the wife of Amos Barton ; Ada, who 
became the wife of David Beaton, and 
Emma. 6. Philadelphia, who became the 
wife of Cornelius Bowden. 

Francis Praul, son of John Praul, was 
born in 1819. He married Caroline Tom- 
linson, daughter of Amos, (born in 1786), 
and Sarah (Doan) Tomlinson. Caroline 
(Tomlinson) Praul was born May 6. 1826. 
Their children were: i. John Edmund, 
married Anna , and two chil- 
dren were born to them : Alice and Caro- 
line. 2. Amos Taylor, born September 4, 
1849, mentioned in the following para- 
graph. 3. Albert, married Rachel Con- 
nell, who bore him two children : Walter 
and Alabel. 4. Charles Morris, married 
Clara Pierce and had two sons : Harold 
and Morris. 5. Clinton S., married Clem- 
entine Smack, and one child was the issue 
of this union, Francis. 6. Anna M., be- 
came the wife of Samuel Ford and their 
chiklcen are : Martha and Chester. 7. Mar- 
tha J., became the wife of David Hart ana 
their family consists of two children, Stan- 
ley and Marian. 8. Emma, became the wife 
of Andrew Hibbs and six children were 
born to them. 



Amos Taylor Praul, second son of Fran- 
cis Praul, when one year old was taken by 
his parents to Bensalem township and was 
there reared and received his early educa- 
tional advantages. Later he attendea 
Friends' School at Langhorne and there 
completed his studies. He turned his at- 
tention to farming as a means of livelihood 
and worked on his father's farm until his 
marriage, after which he moved to South- 
ampton township, near Trevose, where he 
has since resided. In 1882 he purchased a 
tract of land consisting of ninety-five acres 
of arable land, on which he has since con- 
ducted extensive operations, producing a 
general line of farm products which find 
a ready market. Mr. Praul is a Republi- 
can in politics. He married Emily A. 
Paxson, a native of Southampton town- 
ship, born April 12, 185 1, a daughter of 
Phineas and Rebecca (Tomlinson) Pax- 
son. One son has been the issue of this 
marriage, Clarance T., born December 31, 
1876. He married Cora Wagner, daugh- 
ter of Harry Wagner, of Bethayres, Penn- 
sylvania, and one child was born to them, 
Helen E., now deceased. 



GEORGE MORLEY MARSHALL, phy- 
sician, residing at New Hope, Bucks coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, was born in Painesville, 
Lake county, Ohio, March 13, 1858, son of 
Seth and Esther Philena (Morley) Mar- 
shall. Seth Marshall was one of the early 
abolitionists. Like some others of strong 
principle and fearless at this period, he did 
not hesitate to imperil large business in- 
terests that he might protect the fugitive 
slaves in their flight to Canada, although it 
was in defiance of the law and the pro-slav- 
ery sentiment. His home was regarded as 
one of the stations on "the underground 
railro.ad." There still stands at the Marshall 
homestead the old barn with its massive 
frame of hewn timber, where many of these 
unfortunates were given food and shelter. 
The ancestor of this family who first 
came to America was Thomas Marshall, 
one time mayor of Boston, in Lincolnshire, 
England. He emigrated in 1634 to Boston, 
Massachusetts, where he was for many 
years a deacon of the First Church and 
dean of the board of selectmen. His son. 
Captain Samuel Marshall, went to the de- 
fense of the colonies, commanding a regi- 
ment against the Indian conspirator King 
Philip, and in December, 1675, was killed 
while at the head of his force storming 
Philip's Fort, in the Great Swamp fight. 
For his exceptional bravery he is mentioned 
in Bancroft's history, Hollister's Connecti- 
cut, Hutchinson's Massachusetts, Drake's 
Indian, and other histories of that period. 
Thomas Marshall, next in line, married 
Mary Drake, of the family of Sir Fran- 
cis Drake. Thomas Marshall, grandson 
of the latter, and great-grandfather of 
George Morley Marshall, fought in the war 
of the revolution. Esther Philena (Mor- 



448 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ley) Marshall, the mother of George Mor- 
ley Marshall, was descended on her pater- 
nal side from Abel Morley, who emigraud 
from England in 1650. On her maternal 
side she was descended from William 
Healy, who came with the Pilgrims and set- 
tled in Roxbury (afterwards Cambridge) 
Massachusetts. 

George Morley Marshall attended the 
public schools of his native village and 
graduated from the Painesville high school 
in 1877. In 1877-78 he taught school while 
preparing for college, completing this pre- 
paration the following year at the Univer- 
sity preparatory school in Hudson. He then 
entered the Western Reserve University, 
receiving in 1883 the degree of Bachelor 
of Arts from Adelbert College. In the au- 
tumn of 1883 he entered the medical de- 
partment of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, from which in 1886 he received the 
degree of Doctor of Medicine. Taking 
the competitive examination at St. Joseph's 
Hospital, he became the first resident phy- 
sician of that institution. In 1887 and 
1888 he continued his medical studies at 
Vienna and Berlin, returning to Philadel- 
phia to active practice in January, 1889. In 
this year he was appointed attending phy- 
sician and laryngologist to St. Joseph's 
Hospital. Two years later he was also 
appointed laryngologist to the Philadelphia 
Hospital. Dr. Marshall is a member of the 
Philadelphia County Medical Society, tiie 
American Academy of Medicine, the Amer- 
ican Medical Association, the Philadelphia 
College of Physicians and other medical 
organizations. He was elected to the Phi 
Beta Kappa Society at Western Reserve 
University. While independent in politics, 
he has in general voted with the Republi- 
can party. He married, June 7, 1893, at 
Elyria, Ohio, Harriet Putnam Elj-, daugh- 
ter of Heman and Mary (Day) Ely, of Ely- 
ria, Ohio. Their children are as follows : 
George Morley, Jr., born in Philadelphia, 
March 19, 1894, died March 7, 1895; Esth- 
er Philena, born in Philadelphia, June 8, 
1895 ; Harriet Ely, born in Solebury, Bucks 
county, September 7, 1896 ; Margaret Ely, 
born in Philadelphia, April 24, 1898; Edith 
Williamson, born in Solebury, August 3, 
1899, died August 17, 1900; Celia Belden, 
born in Solebury, January 29, 1902. While 
residing in Philadelphia Dr. Marshall and 
his wife attended Calvary Presbyterian 
church on Locust street, but when in Bucks 
county they attend with interest the Friends' 
Meeting at Solebury. 

Harriet Putnam (Ely) Marshall, born in 
Elyria, Ohio, October 9, 1864, traces her 
ancestry to Nathaniel Ely, Puritan, born 
in Tenterden, in the county of Kent, Eng- 
land, in 1605, and emigrated to America in 
April, 1634, to escape persecution under 
Charles I. He settled first in Newtown 
(now Cambridge) Massachusetts. In June, 
1636, he went with the Rev. Thomas Plook- 
er and about one hundred others who made 
the first settlement of the city of Hartford, 
Connecticut. In 1649 he was instrumental 



in the first settlement of Norwalk, Connec- 
ticut. In 1659 he sold his property in Nor- 
walk and removed to Springheld, Massachu- 
setts, where the remainder of his life was 
spent. Springlield has since been the home 
of the family from generation to genera- 
tion. Here, as in Norwalk and Hartford^ 
Nathaniel was called to serve the public 
shortly after his arrival. He was selectman 
in Springfield in 1661-66-68-71 and 72,. He 
died December 25, 1675, and Martha, his- 
wife, died in Springfield, October 23, 1688. 
They left two children, a son and a daugh- 
ter. The son Samuel married Mary, young- 
est daughter of Robert Day. 

Justin Ely, fifth generation, was born In 
West Springfield, Massachusetts, August 
10, 1739, and died there June 26, 1817. He 
graduated at Harvard College in 1759, rep- 
resented his town in general court of Mas- 
sachusetts in 1777, from 1780 to 1785, in- 
clusive, and from 1790 to 1797, inclusive^ 
and was otherwise prominent in public af- 
fairs. During the war of the revolution, 
he was active in aiding his country, es- 
pecially in the collection of men who were 
drafted into the service and providing 
for the comfort of the same and those who 
enlisted. He was largely interested in real 
estate in the states of Massachusetts, Ver- 
mont, and New York and the district of 
Maine, and was one of the original pro- 
prietors of the Connecticut Western Re- 
serve in Ohio under the Connecticut Land 
Company. 

Heman Ely, son of Justin Ely, was 
born in West Springfield, Massachusetts, 
April 24, 1775, and died in Elyria, Ohio, 
February 2, 1852. He married Celia, daugh- 
ter of Colonel Ezekial Polter Belden. Ear- 
ly in the last century he became interested 
in the purchase of lands in central and wes- 
tern New York, and under his direction 
considerable tracts were surveyed and sold 
to settlers. Nearly coincident with these 
enterprises he entered into partnership with 
his brother Theodore in New York city, 
and was for ten years engaged in commerce 
with European countries and the East In- 
dies, and during this time he made several 
voyages. He was in Paris, France, from. 
July, 1809, until April, 1810, a period when 
history was rapidly made. He saw in Aug- 
ust, 1809, the grand fete of Napoleon, with 
Josephine as empress, and in the evening 
attended a ball at the Hotel de Ville, where 
a cotillion was danced by a set composed 
of kings and queens ; the following April 
(Josephine divorced and dethroned) he 
witnessed the formal entrance into Paris of 
the Emperor Napoleon with the Empress 
Maria Louise of Austria, and the religious 
ceremony of marriage at the chapel of the 
Tuilleries. In 1810 he returned to America 
and the following year visited Ohio, going 
as far as Cleveland, twenty-five miljc* east 
of his future home. The war with Eng- 
land made it inadvisable to open new ter- 
ritory in Ohio, and it was not until 1816 
that he visited the land owned by his fath- 
er, and then known as No. 6, range 17, 



r 



A^TOH, LIT'ICX AND 
TILDew FOU'JDATICNS. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



449 



Connecticut Western Reserve. At that time 
he made arrangements for future settle- 
ment, contracting for a grist and saw mill 
and a log cabin. In February, 1817, ac- 
companied by his step-brother, Ebenezer 
Lane, late chief-justice of Ohio, and attend- 
ed by a company of skilled workmen and 
laborers, he left West Springfield for his 
future home. He called the new town Ely- 
ria, and from that time gave his life to 
the development of its resources. Hk ei- 
forts were not confined to' his own town. 
He served on the state board of equaliza- 
tion, and from 1835 to 1845 was one of the 
associate judges under the old constitu- 
tion. 

Heman Ely, son of Heman and Celia 
(Belden) Ely, was born in Elyria, Ohio, 
October 30, 1820, and died July 8, 1894, in 
the house where he was born. He married 
May 2j, 1850, jNlary F. Day, daughter of 
Thomas and Sarah (Coit) Day, of Hart- 
ford, Connecticut. He was educated at 
schools in Westfield, JNIassachusetts, ana 
F^armington, Connecticut. Owing to his 
father's failing health he gave up his con- 
templated college course at Yale and re- 
turned to Elyria. In his father's office he 
received a business training, particularly 
in the care and conveyancing of real es- 
tate, and soon assumed the charge of all 
his father's business. He assisted in the 
organization of the first bank in Elyria, 
and was chosen a director at the first elec- 
tion in 1847. He was successively direc- 
tor, vice-president and president to the 
time of his death. In 1852, with Judge 
Ebenezer Lane and others, he secured the 
building of the Lake Shore and Michigan 
Southern Railway, then known as the 
"Junction Railroad," from Cleveland to To- 
ledo. PTom 1870 to 1873 he was a mem- 
ber of the state legislature, particularly 
interesting himself in insurance legisla- 
tion, and in formation of the state insurance 
department. His connection with the F"'irst 
Congregational church in Elyria was 
formed in 1838; he was for many years 
one of its officers, and for ten years served 
as superintendent of the Sabbath school. 
He was deeply interested in the advance- 
ment of his native town. 



MOORE FA^HLY. The Moores of 
Richland were descended from Mordecai 
Moore, a physician, by his first wife, his 
second wife being a daughter of Thomas 
Lloyd, well known in the early history of 
Pennsylvania. The son Richard married 
5 mo. 27, 1709, ^Margaret Preston, born 
1689, daughter of Samuel Preston, who 
was born in Patuxent, Maryland, in 1665, 
and became mayor of Philadelphia in 171 1. 
Margaret Preston's mother was Rachel, 
daughter of the same Thomas Lloyd men- 
tioned above. Richard Mcore was a physi- 
cian and merchant, and resided most of 
his life in Maryland. Richard had five 
children. 

293 



Mordeci Moore, son of Richard, mar- 
ried Elizabeth Coleman and had eight chil- 
dren : Margaret, Mary, Richard, Samuel 
Preston, Rachel, Deborah, Henry and Han- 
nah. Mary married Jonathan Dickinson, 
and Hannah became the second wife ot 
Charles Willson Peale, the famous artist. 
Henry, 5 mo. 29, 1753, married Priscilla 
Hill Jackson. Fiis father, Mordecai, died 
at Montgomery Square, Pennsylvania, 7 mo. 
31, 1800. 

Henry Moore, son of Mordecai and Eli- 
zabeth, resided in Montgomery county, and 
afterwards in Lancaster county. They had 
seven children : Mordecai, Mary, Samuel 
Preston, Elizabeth, Milcah IMartha, Rich- 
ard and Charles. Henry died in 1829, ana 
his wife in 1821. 

Richard Moore, of Richland, was promi- 
nent in the Society of Friends, as was his 
son, John Jackson Moore. He was active in 
the anti-slavery movement, sheltering and 
feeding many fugitives from bondage. He 
married, i mo. 7, 1819, Sarah Foulke, daugh- 
ter of Theophilus and Hannah Foulke, as 
we have seen. Their children : i. John 
Jackson, 11 mo. 17, 1819, married Jane, 
daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Warner, 
they having three children, — Alfred, El- 
len, Arthur; 2. Hannah, 7 mo. 27. 1821, 
married 10 mo. 5, 1843, William M. Levick, 
of the Philadelphia bar, a brother of Samuel 
J. Levick. William died 6 mo. 10, 1874. 
iheir children : Anna F"., Elizabeth J. 



EDWARD W. MAGILL, a prominent 
member of the Philadelphia bar, was born 
in Solebury township, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, January 27, 1858, and is descend- 
ed from early settlers in Bucks county, 
who have been prominent in the affairs 
of the count}', province and state from tlic 
time of William Penn. 

William Magill, his pioneer paternal an- 
cestor, was born in the north of L'eland, 
where his ancestors had been resident for 
several centuries, several of the name from 
Armagh, Antrim and Downs having held 
commissions in the army of Cromwell, ana 
long prior to that time had held large es- 
tates with baronial rights. The family is 
said to have originated with GioUa, a grand- 
son of the one hundred and twenty-fourth 
monarch of Ireland, the name becoming 
anglicized into Gill, and his children be- 
coming known as jNIacGill. The name cen- 
turies ago came to be spelled in its present 
form. William Magill emigrated to Amer- 
ica about 1725, and about 1730 located in 
Solebury township, in what was then known 
as the Manor of Highlands, in the lower 
part of the township. In 1735 he became 
a member of Buckingham Friends' meet- 
ing, and married at Falls Meeting, Mary 
Sinicock, daughter of Jacob and Sarah 
(Wain) Simcock, of Ridley, Chester coun- 
ty. Mrs. Magill's father, grandfather and 
great-grandfather were all successively 
members of provincial assembly, and the 



450 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



latter, as well as her maternal great-grand- 
father, was a provincial councillor. Will- 
iam and Sarah Simcock Magill were the 
parents of eight children, of whom John, 
the second son, born September 27, 1740, 
was the great-great-grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch. He was a farmer m 
Solebury and died there March il, 1814- 
He married in 1765, Amy Whitson, daugn- 
ter of David and Clcmence (Powell) 
Whitson, both natives of Long Island, and 
they were the parents of six children, of 
whom Jacob, born November 2, 1766, died 
January 14, 1847, was the great-grandfath- 
er of Edward W. Magill. He was also a 
farmer in Solebury, .-ind a member of the 
Society of Friends. He married Rebecca 
Paxson, of Solebury, and they were the 
parents of Jonathan P. iNIagill, a promi- 
nent Friend and Abolitionist, whose house 
was for many years a station of the under- 
ground railroad, through which many slaves 
found their way to freedom. Jonathan P. 
Magill married Mary Watson, daughter of 
David and Rachel (Twining) Watson, 
granddaughter of Joseph and Rachel 
(Croasdale) Watson, great-granddaughter 
of Mark and Ann (Sotcher) Watson, and 
great-great-granddaughter of Thomas Wat- 
son and John Sotcher, both of whom, as 
well as Mark Watson, were for many years 
members of colonial assembly and other- 
wise closely associated with colonial af- 
fairs in' the time of Penn. The children 01 
Jonathan P. and IMary (Watson) Magill 
were: Sarah T. ; Edward H., the distin- 
guished ex-president of Swarthmore Col- 
lege; Watson P.; Rebecca; Catharine M. ; 
Rachel, the late wife of John S. Williams 
of Solebury, and Matilda R., wife of 
Charles S. Atkinson, of Solebury. 

Watson P. :Magill, son of Jonathan and 
Mary; was born in Solebury and spent the 
greater pai-t of his life there. He took 
an active part in politics, was a pioneer in 
the organization of the Rtpublican party, 
being president of the fir-t association of 
that party in Solebury ami New Hope, anJ 
continued to fill that pos-tion for a numbd 
of years. In 1854 he was elected to the 
state legislature and served one term. In 
1862 he raised a company of one hundred 
and three men, of ^vhich he was commis- 
sioned captain, and which was musters! 
into the Seventeenth Regiment Pennsyl- 
vania Militia at Harrisburg, and during the 
battle of Antietam, in September, 1862, was 
stationed at Hagerstown, Maryland. Again 
in 1863, just prior to the battle of Gettys- 
burg, he responded to his country's call 
with his company, which was incorporated 
in the Thirty-first Regiment Pennsylvania 
Volunteers, as Company D. In 1868 Mr. 
Magill was a presidential elector on the 
Grant ticket. In 1875 he was appointed 
United States assistant internal revenue as- 
sessor for the fifth district, which he held 
for four years. In July, 1879 he was ap- 
pointed United States ganger and inspec- 
tor for the first district of Pennsylvania 



and held that position until December, 
1885. The later years of his life were main- 
ly spent in Philadelphia. He married Sep- 
tember, 185 1, Mary W Harvey, daughter 
of Eli and Rachel (Hollingsworth) Har- 
vey of Deleware county, Pennsylvania, and 
they were the parents of two children — 
Chalkley H., a prominent veterinarian and 
business man of Philadelphia, and Edward 
W. Magill, Esq., the subject of this sketch. 
Mrs. Magill died and Watson P. Magill 
married (second) in 1882, Elizabeth H. 
Moore, daughter of Francis W. and Mary 
(Kelley) Moore, of Philadelphia, but for- 
merly of Bucks county. 

Edward W. Magill took up the study of 
law with Orlando Harvey, of Chester, 
Pennsylvania, in September, 1877, and in 
September, 1880, was admitted to the Dela- 
ware county bar. He entered the law 
department of the University of Penn- 
sylvania in the fall of 1879, graduating 
in June, 1881, and the same year was ad- 
mitted to the Philadelphia bar. In 1880, 
after being admitted to the Delaware county 
bar, he took up his residence in Philadelphia, 
and became connected with Carroll R. Will- 
iams, a son of John S. Williams, of Solebury 
township, Bucks county, and formed the firm 
of jMagill & Williams, which continued until 
January i, 1891. Mr. Magill then formed a 
partnership with Robert Alexander, Esq., 
who at an early age was a teacher in the 
Carversville Academy, Bucks county, and 
had become one of the leading members of 
the Philadelphia bar. This partnership under 
the firm name of Alexander & Magill, con- 
tinued until the death of JMr. Alexander in 
December, 1903, since which time Air. 
Magill, who is an eminently successful law- 
yer, has continued in the practice of his 
profession alone. Mr: Magill married, June 
14, 1888, Carrie Altemus, daughter of Francis 
and IMartha Altemus, and a member of Phil- 
adelphia P>iends' Meeting. To them has 
been born one son, Watson H. Magill. Mr. 
Magill resides with his family at Oak Lane, 
in the Forty-second ward, Philadelphia, 
and has a summer residence in Solebury 
township, near New Hope, Bucks county, 
the homestead of his grandfather, Jonathan 
Magill, and his father, Watson P, IMagill. 



PHILIP FACKENTHAL, founder of 
this family in Bucks county, was born in 
the Palatinate and immigrated to Amer- 
ica, landing at Philadelphia from the ship 
"Robert and Alice," September 24. 1742. He 
settled in Springfield. The name of his 
wife was Elizabeth, but whether married 
when he arrived we do not know. On May 
I9> 1753; he purchased one hundred and 
twenty-three acres of James Galbraith, near 
the Haycock line, where he settled down 
to farming, and died there 1765. He was 
the father of five children: Michael, the 
eldest son, born May 22,, 1756; Henry, 
Mary, Catharine and Elizabeth. Michael, 




WATSON P. MAGILL 






1 



~J 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



451 



the most prominent member of the family 
was brought up on his father's farm. When 
the revolution broke out he espoused the 
cause of the colonies and shortly enrolled 
himself. It is related of Michael Facken- 
thal that when called upon to enroll he was 
in the harvest field, but, cutting his sickel 
into a post, signed his name at the head 
of the Springfield Association. His military 
record is highly creditable. On June 4, 
1776, the continental congress resolved to 
establish a "flying camp" of ten thousand 
men in the middle colonies, of which Bucks 
•county was to furnish a battalion of four 
hundred. Joseph Hart, of Warminster, 
was appointed colonel, and Valentine Opp, 
Springfield, one of the captains. In this 
company young Fackenthal enlisted, was 
appointed a' sergeant, and served with his 
company in a six months campaign, return- 
ing home in December. On the night of No- 
vember 16, he was with his company and 
battalion in the attack on a force of Hes- 
sians on Staten Island, capturing part oi 
them. He was subsequently attacked with 
camp fever, and prevented taking part in 
the defense of Fort Washington. He re- 
ceived an honorable discharge at the end 
of his enlistment and six months pay. Mi- 
chael Fackenthal re-entered the service in 
1781 as second lieutenant of Captain Chris- 
topher Wagners company, and performed a 
two months' tour in New Jersey. Among 
the officers he is mentioned as serving un- 
der on this occasion were Governor Reed, 
of New Jersey, and Brigadier General John 
Lacey, of this county. 

In 1807 Michael Fackenthal removed to 
Durham township, with w'hich he was sub- 
sequently identified and where he spent his 
life. He purchased plat 12 of the Durham 
lands, on which he removed, and occupied 
himself as a farmer and general business 
man. He built a saw mill at the lower end 
of Wyker's island in the Delaware, where 
he carried on a large lumber trade. He 
took an active part in politics, was many 
years justice of the peace, elected county 
commissioner, member of the assembly 
1812-15; and died January 21, 1846, in his 
ninetieth year. Michael Fackenthal mar- 
ried Christina Derr, Springfield, born Sep- 
tember 24, 1754, and died 1S28, at tne age 
of seventy-four. ]Michael and Christina 
Fackenthal were the parents of five chil- 
dren : Catharine, born June 18, 1779, mar- 
ried Younkin, and died March, 1859. 

Anna IMai-ia, born February 22, 1785, died 
January 23, 1864. John, born February n. 
1790, married Elizabeth Adams (born Jan- 
uary 25, 1791, died May 4, 1878, leaving 
six children). John Fackenthal held sev- 
eral public trusts, was a member of assem- 
bly 1825-27, register of wills, 1836, brigade 
inspector of militia, and died November 
21, 1865. 

Peter Fackenthal, fourth child of Mich- 
ael and Christina, born June 12, 1792, mar- 
ried Elizabeth Long, of Durham, born De- 
cember 4, 1796, died June 12, 1877. They 
-were the parents of twelve children. Two 



of the sons served in the civil war, one in 
the 174th Pennsylvania militia, subse- 
quently in the Nineteenth Pennsylvania 
Cavalry, and died in the hospital at Mem- 
phis, Tennessee, December 5, 1864; the oth- 
er in the Thirty-fourth New Jersey In- 
fantry. Michael, born May 13, 1795, a land 
surveyor and convej^ancer by profession, 
was also a farmer and in the lumber busi- 
ness with his father. He died February 
15, 1872, leaving one son, Benjamin F. 
Fackenthal, a graduate of Lafayette Col- 
lege, and for many years a prominent mem- 
ber of the Northampton county bar. 



EDWARD NICKLESON ELY, de- 
ceased, for many years one of the well 
known and popular residents of Yard- 
ley, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was 
born in Solebury township, Bucks 
county, October 3, 1832, and is a de- 
scendant of Joshua and Mary (Senior) 
Ely, who came from Nottinghamshire, 
England, in 1684, and settled at Tren- 
ton. New Jersey. An account of the 
earlier generations of their descendants 
is given in this volume under the head 
of The Ely Family. 

Joseph Ely, the grandfather of Ed- 
ward N., as shown in. the above quoted 
article, w.is the eldest son of George 
and Sarah (Magill) Ely, and was born 
in Solebury, August 13, 1761, and mar- 
ried ^lary Whitspn, daughter of Thomas 
Whitson, Jr., starch 12, 1783. Their 
children were: Anna, who married John 
Magill; Charles, Thomas, Sarah, Tacy, 
Joseph, Mary Jane' Elizabeth and Oliver. 
Joseph Ely settled near New Hope on a 
farm purchased by his father and died 
there. 

Joseph Ely, son of Joseph and Mary, 
born -November 16, 1794, on th« Sole- 
bury homestead, which he subsequently 
inherited at the death of his eldest 
brother, Charles, and lived thereon until 
eighty years of age, when, his children 
all having married and settled elsewhere, 
he sold his farm and lived the re- 
mainder of his life in retirement: He 
died at the home of his daughter in 
Somerville, New Jersey, jNIarch 2, 1885, 
in his ninety-first year. He married, 
March 19. 1823, Ann Nickleson, daugh- 
ter of Charles McCormick and Mercy 
(Bailev') Nickleson, of Makefield, the 
former a native of Ireland and the latter 
a daughter of Edward Bailey, and a de- 
scendant of early English Quaker settlers 
on the Delaware. Joseph and Ann (Nickle- 
son) Ely were the parents of the fol- 
lowing children : Anna Maria, born June 27, 
1824, died October 9. 1867; married Will- 
iam Van ^larter, November 27, 1844; 
Mercy A., born January 26, 1826, mar- 
ried, October 7, 1846, Jacob C. Phillips, 
now a retired grain dealer of Somer- 
ville, New Jersejs Susanna D.. born 
March iS, 1828, married, Januarj- 30, 



452 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



1857, David Wilson Small, a judge and 
prominent citizen ' t' Oconomowoc, 
Wisconsin; Mary II.. born September 
13, 1830, died November 16, 1873, mar- 
ried, January 16, 1855, Nathan R. 
Worth ington, of Solebury; Edward N., 
above mentioned; Elias E., born Aug- 
ust 5, 1837, died October 26, 1888, mar- 
ried, October 27^ 1869, Eleanor Bab- 
cock, removed early in life to Ocono- 
mowoc, Wisconsin,. where his family are 
all buried; Franklin,, born . August 10, 
1840, married, . October 8, 1873, Flora 
A. Bradbury, also reriioved to Wiscon- 
sin, and is living at" Pewaukee, in that 
state. 

Edward Nickleson Ely, eldest son of 
Joseph and Ann; was born on. the old 
family homestead in Solebury^ where 
his boyhood . days were spent. He ac- 
quired, his early education at the public 
schools and later 'took a course at an 
academy at Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. 
At the age of seventeen years he went 
to Somerville, New Jersey," to assist his 
brother-in-law, Jacob C. Phillips, in the 
grain business. In 1857 he went to Wis- 
consin, and was employed for two years 
as purchasing agent for Rockwell, Luck 
& Company, large grain dealers and 
millers . there. He then returned â–  to 
Bucks county and engaged in the lum- 
ber business with . Samuel Solliday, at 
New Hope, until the spring ,of 1862, 
when, 'ha-ving married, he removed to a 
farm of one "hundred and thij-t3^-seven 
acres at Yardley, which had .been in the 
Howell family since 1812, and spent 
the remainder of his . days there, dying 
June 13, .1899.' • He was active :in local 
affairs, and .gave his political allegiance 
to the Democratic party, .\n whose coun- 
cils he took an active part. He was a 
member of .Doylestown -Lodge, No. 245, 
F. and ' A. . M., and of - the Ancient 
Order United Americail, Workmen. Religi- 
ously he was ,a regular attendant of the 
Episcopal cliurch, .of which his wife 
was a -member. He. married, February 
26, i862,,'Mai-y. E. Howell, daughter of 
David and .Harriet L (Sandoz.) .Howellj 
of Makefield, Bucks couijity, and a de- 
scendant of one of the oldest families 
about tlix; Falls of- the Delaware, the 
earliest generations of which have re- 
sided on the New Jersey side of the 
river. The Howell family is mentioned 
at length hereinafter. The children of 
Edward N. and Mary E. (HowelJ) Ely 
were: Howell, born December 4, 1862, 
died July 29, 1865; Carrie Howell, born 
April 9, 1868, married, June i, 1899, Will- 
iam Stanley Mac Lewee and they have 
one child, Dorothy, born December 3, 
1900. Harriet Sandoz, born February 
S, 1870. married, April 6. 1904, George 
Kinnear Robinson and they have one 
son, Donald Henry, born April 30. 1905. 

It is believed on good family tradition 
that the first American ancestor of the 
Howell familjr, Daniel Howell, came 



from Kent county, England. He came 
to Ewing, New Jersey, from Long Is- 
land, and there purchased and lived on 
the land which has continued in the 
family up to the present time and was last 
inherited by a great-great-granddaugh- 
ter, who married Alfred Muirheid. The 
deeds for the land were from Samuel 
Coxe and John Hutchinson dated 1702, 
and from William Worrell dated 1705. 
Daniel HQ"well married Mary, a sister 
of Ebenezer Front's wife, and they were 
the parents of eleven children." Daniel 
Howell, died April 25, 1732, aged fifty- 
two, and his wife died September 26, 
1760, aged ..seventy-six. David Howell, 
sqn of Daniel and Mary Howell, mar- 
ried Mary Baker, who: bore, him seven 
children. He died October 24,- 1775, aged 
seventy, and she -passed aw-ay January 
15, 1786, aged seyent3^7nine. Joseph 
Howell, the fifth son of David and Mary 
(Baker) Howell, purchased five hundred 
acres of land .'near, Taylorsvilfe, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania. .He married 
Jemima Burroughs, who lived to be one 
hundred years old. Here- they enter- 
tained, the officers .and . soldiers of the 
revolutionary war, giyirjg-.up.. their beds 
for the comfort of the soldiers. The 
log house is still standing and is in 
fairly good repair; it is owned by Edgar 
Titus. Timothy Howell, son of Joseph 
and Jemima (Burroughs) Howell, re- 
moved from Taylorsville farm to Yard- 
ley, near the Delaware , river, in 1810, 
and in the spring of 1812 purchased a 
farm, of pne hundred' .and forty acres 
i-n Makefield. He and his wife Rebecca 
were the parents 9f the' following chil- 
dren: Sarah, married (first) a !Mr. 
Fenton, .and . (second)-. Lewis Moore. 
Susan, married ;( first) John Hogeland, 
and (second) John Temple. Marj'-, died 
unmarried.. Martha, married Samuel 
Slack. Johji. married Elizabeth Rich- 
ardson. David,, the ; father .pf*Mrs. Ely, 
who was- a. farmer in Makefield and 
died liiere- August .2, -1364, leaving a 
.widow and the following children: ]\lary 
E., wife of. Edward N. .Ely. .Martha A., 
widow o£ Joshua Maris, residujg in Tren- 
ton, New Jersey. -Emrna. -Carrie, wife 
of Samuel W. 'Throp. of- Tcenton. H. 
Amelia. Two other children, Ella and 
Wilhelmina, died young. 



SAMUEL K. RADCLIFF was born Feb- 
ruary 14, 1855, upon the old homestead 
farm where he yet resides, in Warwick 
township, Bucks county. His ancestry can 
be traced back to John and Jane (Tor- 
rence) Radcliff. the former a well known 
and highly respected farmer of Bucks coun- 
ty, where he continued his residence up to 
the time of his death. His children were: 
Mary, Elizabeth, Isaliella, Jane, James. Will- 
iam, John and Charles. 




ycW^c/ ^ /cLc6c£<J^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



453 



James Radcliff, son of John Radcliff, 
was a native of Buckingham township, 
Bucks county; he was reared to tarm pur- 
suits, and after his marriage settled upf)n a 
tract of land, continuing to engage in busi- 
ness along agricultural lines throughout his 
entire life. He bought the farm uoon which 
Samuel K. Radclitf now resides, making the 
purchase in September, 1829. There lie car- 
ried on general farming and marketed his 
products in Philadelphia. His political 
views were in harmony with the principles 
of the Whig party in early life, and after 
its dissolution he joined the ranks of the 
new Republican party. He was honorable 
and upright at all times, and was a faithful 
member of the church. Of medium size 
and vigorous constitution, he was a hard 
worker in his younger years. He possessed 
a social, genial nature, was charitable to 
many, and his kindly spirit and considera- 
tion for others won him the friendship and 
favorable regard of all with whom he came 
in contact. He married Margaret Flack, 
and his death occurred November 10, 1876, 
he having long survived his wife, who died 
in 1842. She was a daughter of Joseph 
and Euphemia Flack,' representatives of 
pioneer families of Bucks county. To Mr. 
and Mrs. James Radcliff were born six chil- 
dren : Ellen, wife of Joseph L. Sack'ctt ; 
Elisha Smith, who became a resident of 
Jamison; John T., a carpenter; Euphemia, 
married Jane W. Doan ; and Joseph F., died 
in childhood. 

Elisha Radchff, son of James Radcliff. 
was born in Buckingham township, Bucks 
â– county, and succeeded to the ownership of 
the old home farm, whereon he still resides. 
He has always carried on general agricul- 
tural pursuits, and has attended the Phila- 
delphia market. Following his father's 
death he purchased the farm at sale, and has 
never conducted business at any other place. 
He assisted previously in improving this 
property, and since becoming its owner has 
added to it many modern equipments and 
accessories. Without political ambition he 
"has nevertheless given stalwart support to 
the Republican party, having firm faith in 
its principles. In 1853 he was married to 
Margaret L. Kirk, who was born in the old 
historic house which General Washington 
made his headquarters when passing 
through Bucks county, her natal day being 
April II, 187^. Her parents were William 
R. and Hannah (Carver)) Kirk, the latter 
a daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Lovet) 
Carver. The Carver family was repre- 
sented in the war of the Revolution. Will- 
iam R. Kirk was born at Dunkirk, New 
York, and was a son of John Kirk, a native 
of Ireland and his wife. Jane Raney. who 
was born in Wales. John Kirk was a sea- 
faring man in his younger life, but after 
Tiis marriage emigrated from the Emerald 
Isle to Dunkirk, where three of his children 
, were born. Later he removed to Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, where he learned the 
weaver's trade. He also engaged in farm- 
ing, and purchasing a lot he settled at Car- 



versville, where he remained until his 
death, which occurred at the advanced age 
of ninety-five years. He was the oldest 
master mason in Bucks county, and was a 
man of many sterling characteristics, en- 
joying the full esteem and confidence of all 
with whom he was associated. His chil- 
dren were: John, died in infancy; David, 
a carpenter; William R., the father of Mrs. 
Radcliff; Hugh, who was accidentally killed 
when a young man ; Jane, died unmarried ; 
Marguerits, who became the wife of J. 
Lukens ; Mary A., the wife of C. Schermer- 
horn ; Mercy, the wife of A. Jones ; and 
Ella, the wife of E. Jamison. The mother 
was a member of the Presbyterian ^hurch, 
and all of her children became identified 
with that denomination. To Mr. and Mrs. 
William R. Kirk were born five children: 
Margaret L., who became the wife of Elisha 
Radcliff; Samuel C, a farmer, deceased: 
William, who served throughout the civil 
war and is now living in Wycombe; John, 
a farmer; and Mary E., the wife of C. 
Twining. 

Samuel K. Radcliff, the only child of 
Elisha and Margaret L. (Kirk) Radcliff, 
was born on the old family homestead where 
he yet resides, February 14, 1855, and was 
reared to agricultural pursuits. He ob- 
tained a common-school education, and 
afterward continued his studies in Doyles- 
town Seminary. Since putting aside his 
text books he has devoted his engeries in 
undivided manner to farm work, and. in 
addition to the raising of the cereals best 
adapted to the soil and climate, he also 
raises some stock, having good grades of 
cattle and horses upon his place. He is a 
practical and successful agriculturist, thor- 
oughly conversant with the best methods of 
cultivating the land and caring for his stock, 
and in no business transaction has he ever 
been known to take advantage of the neces- 
sities of his fellow men. Mr. Radcliff was 
reared in the Republican faith and has seen 
no reason to change his views since attain- 
ing his majority. He has always been an 
active supporter of the party and one of its 
influential representatives in his township. 
He has served for a number of years as 
township committeeman, and has filled var- 
ious township offices, discharging his duties 
in a capable and creditable manner. On 
the 1st of January, 1900, he became acting 
deputy sheriff of the county, and filled the 
position for three years with credit to him- 
self and satisfaction to all concerned. In 
1896 he was elected county auditor, filling 
that position for a term of three years. He 
was also chosen iusticc of the peace, but 
never qualified. He is a worthy and con- 
sistent member of the Masonic fraternity, 
belonging to both the blue lodge and chan- 
ter, and he is also identified with the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows at War- 
rington and the Neshaminy Lodge of 
Golden Eagles. 

On the T2th of December, 19OT, Mr. Rad- 
cliff was united in marriage to Mis= Esther 
P. Gaines, who was born in Wrightstown 



^54 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



township, Bucks county, in 1862, her pa- 
rents being Charles and Mary J. Gaines, 
also natives of this county, but now de- 
ceased. Her grandfather, James Gaines, 
was a farmer and merchant, and was promi- 
nent in community interests. Charles 
Gaines also engaged in merchandising in 
his younger years, but later devoted his 
energies to agricultural pursuits. He was 
popular in his community because of a 
genial manner, personal worth and unfalter- 
ing loyalty to the general good in all mat- 
ters of citizenship. He served in the gen- 
eral assembly for two terms, elected on the 
Democratic ticket, and was actively con- 
cerned in constructive legislation as shown 
in the work of the committee rooms. He 
exerted considerable influence in public af- 
fairs, and his efforts were always for the 
general good, he placing the welfare of state 
and county before personal aggrandizement. 
He died in 1895 at the age of sixty-two 
years, while his wife's death occurred in 
1890. She was a devoted member of the 
Methodist church. Their children were 
three in number : Anna M., who became the 
wife of L. Worthington ; Esther P., the wife 
of Samuel K. Radcliff ; and John T., a 
bookkeeper, of Philadelphia. 



LEMUEL HASTING DOYLE, of 
Doylestown, Wisconsin, editor and proprie- 
tor of the "Badger Blade," and for the past 
twenty-five years actively interested in 
journalist work in Wisconsin, was born 
November 26, 1832, at Mount Washington, 
Steuben county, New York, and is a de- 
scendant of the Doyle family of Bucks 
county, for whom our county seat is named 

Edward Doyle, the pioneer ancestor of 
the family and the great-great-great-grand- 
father of Lemuel H. Doyle, came to Bucks 
county from Newport, Rhode Island, with 
his father-in-law, Reverend Thomas Dun- 
gan (an account of whom is given in this 
volume) and settled on land taken up by 
the Dungans in Bristol township. On June 
9, 1696, he purchased of his brother-in- 
law, Clement Dungan, fifty acres of land 
on the banks of the Delaware and lived 
there until his death in the latter part of 
1702, leaving a will dated September 16, 
1702. He married Rebecca Dungan and 
had at least three children, Edward, Clem- 
ent, and Elizabeth, who married Joseph 
Fell, the pioneer ancestor of the Fell fam- 
ily of Bucks county. Edward and Clement 
Doyle, the sons of Edward and Rebecca, 
both settled near Doylestown ; Edward on 
the present site of the borough and county 
seat, and Clement a mile north of the pres- 
ent borough, and both reared families whose 
descendants are now widely scattered over 
the United States, none of the name re- 
siding in th<j county where their ancestor 
was one of the earliest settlers, though one 
branch of the descendants of Edward re- 
cently resided just over our borders in 
Montgomery county, and others reside in 



Philadelphia, the late James B. Doyle, the 
architect and builder of our court house in 
1877, being a descendant of the founder 
of Doylestown. Edward Doyle, second, pur- 
chased a tract of land fronting on our pres- 
ent Court street, Doylestown, Bucks coun- 
ty, then the line of New Britain and War- 
wick township, in 1730, and resided there 
until his death in 1770. He was a farmer,, 
but does not seem to have been a success- 
ful agriculturist. His estate was sold by-- 
the shcrifT and purchased by his son, Will- 
iam Doyle, for whom the town was named^ 
He had sons, William, Edward, and Jere- 
miah, and daughters Rebecca, wife of Rich- 
ard Freeman, and another who married a 
Rees. 

William Doyle, son and grandson of Ed- 
ward Doyle, was born in Bucks county- 
about the year 1720. In 1745 he petitioned 
the court for recommendation to the gov- 
ernor for a license to keep a "house of en- 
tertainment" in New Britain township, near, 
the crossing of the two great roads across-' 
the county, at the present site of Doyles- 
town, and his petition was granted and a 
license issued. He continued to keep the inn 
on the New Britain side of the line until 
1752, when he purchased two acres cov- 
ering the present site of the Fountain 
House then in Warwick township, and the 
following year was licensed to keep his inn 
at that place and regularly conducted the 
old hostelry there from which the town 
took its name vmtil 1775, when he sold it 
and removed to Plumstead township, and 
is supposed to have followed some of his 
children outside of the county soon after; 
a theory that seems to be borne out by the 
fact that there is no further record of hinr 
in Bucks county after about 1785, and no 
probate record of the settlement of his es- 
tate in the county of his Tjirth. The little 
hamlet that grew up about his tavern knowrk 
first as "Doyle's Tavern," a noted stopping 
Iplace for travelers in colonial times trav- 
'eling from the Delaware to the Welsh set- 
tlements in Montgomery county and from^ 
Philadelphia to the "Forks of the Dela- 
ware," now Easton, came in the beginning 
of the revolutionary war to be known as- 
"Doyle Town," and being the geographical 
center of the county became the county 
seat in 1812. William Doyle married first 
about 1742, Martha Hellings. probably his- 
second cousin, as Elizabeth Dungan, a sis- 
ter of his grandmother, married Nicholas- 
Hellings. She was at least a daughter of 
Nicholas Hellings of Newtown, and is men- 
tioned in his will in 1745. William Doyle 
married (second) about 1775 Olive Hough^ 
widow of John Hough and daughter of 
Hezekiah Rogers of Plumstead township, 
Bucks county. No authentic list of the chil- 
dren of William and Martha (Hellings) 
Hough is obtainable, as they seem to have 
left the place of their nativity on reaching 
manhood and womanhood. Two at least of 
his sons, Samuel and William, found homes- 
in Northumberland county soon after the 
close of the revolutionarv war. Williant 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



455 



was commissioned sergeant of Captain 
Thcmas Robinson's ranging company in 
that county, February lo, 1781 ; the lieu- 
tenant being IMoses Van Campen, the cele- 
brated Indian fighter. This William Doyle 
became a colonel in the army operating 
against the Indians on the frontier in the 
period following the revolution and up to 
the second war with Great Britain. He 
served under General Harrison at the bat- 
tle of Tippecanoe, and was brevetted briga- 
dier-general for conspicuous bravery in 
that action. He died soon after the close 
of the war of 1812-14, and was buried at 
Fort Meigs, Ohio. The town of Doyles- 
town, Ohio, was so named in his honor. 

Samuel Doyle, the grandfather of Lem- 
uel H. Doyle, was born in Bucks county in 
the year 1752. He served as a soldier dur- 
ing the revolutionary war, during the lat- 
ter part of which he was a member of Cap- 
tain Thomas Robinson's ranging company 
from Northumberland, and was a friend 
and associate of jNIoses Van Campen, the 
noted Indian fighter who commanded the 
company as lieutenant in many expeditions 
against the Indians of the frontier. He 
obtained a patent for 400 acres of land in 
Point township, Northumberland county, 
where he resided until about 1794, when he 
formed one of a colony of Pennsylvanians 
that settled at Painted Post, later called 
Bath, Steuben county. New York, where he 
died in 1817. He married Mary Arbor, 
who was born in Monmouth county. New 
Jersey, and died at Bath, New York, in 
1836, at the age of eighty-four years. They 
reared a large family of children, of wnoui 
Charles Carroll Doyle was the eldest and 
Joseph, the father of Lemuel H. Doyle, 
was the youngest. A daughter was the 
first white child born in the new settlement 
of Bath. Charles Carroll Doyle, eldest son 
of Samuel and Mary (Arbor) Doyle, born 
at Bath, Steuben county, New York, in 
1793, served in the war of 1812-14, and at 
its close settled in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 
where he died in July, 1866. He married 
IMary Robinson, of Pittsburg, a grand- 
daughter of Peter Wile, of Lanca.ster 
county, Pennsylvania, who was a soldier in 
the revolutionary war. Charles Carrol and 
Mary (Robinson) Doyle were the parents 
of three sons and five daughters, among 
whom was Henry H. Doyle, a prominent 
business man of Pittsburg. 

Joseph Doyle was born in the village of 
Bath, Steuben county, New York. June 4, 
1805. He received a common school edu- 
cation in the crude frontier schools of that 
vicinity, and was reared to the life of a 
farmer, which vocation he followed in Steu- 
ben and Allegheny counties. New York, 
until 1852, when he engaged in the mercan- 
tile business at Swainville, New York, and 
became the first postmaster there. He con- 
tinued in the mercantile and hotel busi- 
ness the remainder of his life. In Jan- 
uary. 1866, he removed to Doylestown, Wis- 
consin, where he died August 29, 1883. 
He was a member of the Baptist church. 



and in politics gave his allegiance to the 
Republican party, after its formation. He 
was three times married, first on January 
10, 1832, to Hannah Seager, born in Dry- 
den, Tompkins county. New York, ]\Iay 7, 
1807, died in North Almond, Allegheny 
county. New York, October 5, 1S39. The 
children of this marriage were : Lemuel 
Hasting, the subject of this sketch; Mary 
Maria, born at Mount Washington, Steuben 
county. New York, June 26, 1835 ; and 
William Nelson, born at Mud Creek, Steu- 
ben county, August 21, 1837. Joseph Doyle 
married (second) January 24, 1842. at 
Burns, Allegheny county. New York, Betsy 
Starr, who died May 14, 1844, leaving an 
only child. Vine Starr Doyle, born August, 
1843, now residing at Doylestown, Wiscon- 
sin. Joseph Doyle married (third) on Sep- 
tember I, 1844, Phebe Penfield, and six chil- 
dren were born to this union : Charles Ar- 
nold, born June 24, 1845, at North Al- 
mond, now living at Pardeeville, Wiscon- 
sin, who has been for forty years in the 
employ of the Chicago, Alilwaukee & St. 
Paul Railroad Company ; Joseph Alonzo, 
born April 4, 1847, now residing at Hunts- 
ville, ISlissouri, who has been for nearly for- 
ty years in the employ of the Wabash Rail- 
road Company; Hannah Melissa, born De- 
cember 14, 184S, at North Almond, Alle- 
gheny county ; Delia Elvira, born April 
14, 1852, at Whitney's Valley, New York; 
Henry Albert, born March' 17, 1854, at 
Swainsville, New York; and Julia Ellen, 
born at the same place, November 20, 1855. 
William Nelson Doyle, the second son, re- 
sides at Nile, Allegheny county. New York. 
He served for three years during the civil 
war as a member of Company K, I36ta 
Regiment New York Volunteers. 

Lemuel Hastings Doyle, born at Mount 
Washington, New York, November 26, 
1832, was educated at the common schools 
of Allegheny county, New York, supple- 
mented by a term at the academy at Nun- 
da, Livingston county. New York. At the 
age of twenty years he removed to Colum- 
bia county, Wisconsin, near the present 
site of Doylestown, Wisconsin. In Novem- 
ber, 1859, he removed to Waterloo, Iowa, 
but returned to Columbia county, Wiscon- 
sin, in June, 1865, and purchased 235 acres 
of land on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. 
Paul railroad, then just completed, and in 
August of the same year laid out the vil- 
lage of Doylestown and was appointed the 
first postmaster there, holding that position 
for fifteen years. He was also station agent 
and express agent for seven years, resign- 
ing and naming his brother, Charles A. 
Doyle, his successor. He was also super- 
visor of the town of Otsego, in which the 
villages of Doylestown, Rio and Otsego 
were located; was secretary and director of 
the Columbia County Agricultural So- 
ciety for seven years ; postmaster of 
Rio, August, 1889, to August, 1893 ; 
member of the village board, village 
clerk, justice of the peace and police jus- 
tice. In 1878 he sold his Doylestown real 



456 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



estate and purchased 300 acres three miles 
north of Doylestown, 200 of which he still 
owns and upon which he still lives, enjoy- 
ing the pleasures of a life in the country, 
though doing business in the town, and al- 
ways keeping in touch with the outside 
world by telephone and free rural mail de- 
livery. He first engaged in newspaper work 
in 1883, as agricultural editor of "The 
Prohibitionist," at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 
and in March, 1885, bec?me associated wth 
the late Judge G.- J. Cox, of Portage, Wis- 
consin, under the firm name of L. H. Doyle 
& Co., in the publication of "The Portage 
Advertiser," which they disposed of in less 
than a year. In September, 1885, he es- 
tablished "The Columbia County Reporter," 
at Rio, and published it until May i, 1895. 
In 1902 he established a second paper at 
Rio, known as "The Badger Blade," which 
he still publishes and in connection there- 
with conducts a first-class job office, both 
ventures proving a success, "The Blade" 
enjoying a large circulation, and his job of- 
fice is doing an extensive business. In 
politics INIr. Doyle is a Republican. He has 
been a member of the Masonic fraternity 
for thirty-five years, and a member of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows since 
the lodge was organized in Rio, and has 
served as its representative in the grand 
lodge of Wisconsin for several years. He 
has been twice married ; first to Amanda 
Jane Hall, who .was born February 23, 1833, 
at South Dansville, Steuben county. New 
York, and died at Whitney's Valley, New 
York, September 16, 1857, to whom he w-as 
married December 3, 1856. He married 
(second) at Fountain Prairie, Wisconsin, 
September 27, 1858, Mary Jane Edwards, 
eldest daughter of David and ^Mary H. 
Edwards, and a descendant of Reverend 
Jonathan Edwards, the eminent divine. She 
was born at West Troy, Walworth coun- 
ty, Wisconsin, September 5, 1843, and died 
at Rio, Wisconsin, January 5, 1902. They 
were the parents of two sons: Edwards 
Joseph, born November 16, 1863, at Water- 
loo, Iowa, now residing at No. 298 Van 
Buren street, Chicago ; and Lemuel Hobart, 
born June 15, 1868, at Doylestown, Wis- 
consin, and still residing on the farm there. 

CHARLES CARROL DOYLE, named 
for Charles Carrol of Carrolton, the signer 
of the Declaration of Independence, and 
son of Samuel and Mary (Arbor) Doyle, 
born in Bath. Steuben county. New York, 
in 1793. was the grandfather of ]\Irs Henry 
Clay McEldowney. At the age of nineteen 
he enlisted in a New York regiment for 
the war of 1812-14, and served until its 
close, participating in the battle of Lundy's 
Lane in 1S14. After the close of the war 
he married Mary Robinson, then living near 
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an orphaned 
granddaughter of Peter Wile, of Lancaster 
county, Pennsylvania, who was a soldier in 
the revolutionary war, and s-etlled near 
Pittsburgh, where he died in July, 18O6. 



Charles Carrol and Mary (Robinson) Doyle 
were the parents of the following chil- 
dren: Margaret McCaffery, died in 1880; 
Nancy Power, died in 1887; Susan, wife 
of James C. Elliot, still living; Maria, 
widow of Seth Wilmot ; Sarah, widow of 
John Dobson ; Joseph Alexander, born in 
1820, still living; William Bentley, born 
1824, died 1891 ; and Henry Harrison, born 
September 24, 1840. 

Henry Harrison Doyle, of Pittsburgh, is a 
prominent business man of that city, being 
engaged in the real estate and insurance busi- 
ness. He married Susanna Evans, bom in 
Pittsburg, daughter of John and Mary Evans, 
natives of Wales. ]\Ir. Doyle is a veteran of 
the civil war, having served first in Company 
G, 28th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 
and later in Battery C, Independent Penn- 
sylvania Light Artillery. The children of 
Henry H. and Susanna (Evans) Doyle 
are : Mary Emma, wife of Adam Reden- 
baugh ; Henry Harrison, Jr., M. D., mar- 
ried Clara Carey ; John, unmarried ; Anna- 
bel, wife of Henry Clay McEldowney ; Jo- 
seph Alexander, married Gertrude Stolzen- 
bach; and Marion Robinson, unmarrried. 



EFFINGHAM B. MORRIS, a promi- 
nent lawyer of Philadelphia, and who 
has also long held official position with 
various important transportation and 
financial corporations, and whose resi- 
dence is near Ardmore, Montgomery 
county, is a representative of a family 
which has been conspicuous is the his- 
torj^ of the commonwealth from the 
time of its earliest colonial existence. 

He was born August 23, 1856, in the 
city of Philadelphia, in the famous old 
jNIorris Mansion on Eighth street, below 
Walnut, which at intervals of a genera- 
tion has three times been occupied by 
four generations of the family at the 
same time. His father was Israel W. 
Morris, one of the most accomplished 
of the early mining engineers in the 
anthracite region, and who was presi- 
dent of the Locust Mountain Coal Com- 
pany and other coal mining corporations 
connected with the Leh'igh Valley Rail- 
road. His lineal ancestor in the direct 
line was Anthony Morris, who was a 
justice of . the supreme court under 
William Penn in 1696, first proprietary 
of the province of Pennsylvania, and 
who was the second mayor of the then 
little city of Philadelphia. Captain 
Samuel Morris, great-great-grandfather 
of Effingham B. Morris, was commander 
of the First City Troop during the revo- 
tionary war, and was a trusted friend 
of Washington and of others of the 
leaders in the scenes attending the in- 
auguration of the new government. 
From the day of the first Anthony Mor- 
ris in 1696 to the present, tlte mem- 



HISTORY DF BUCKS COUNTY. 



457 



l!crs of the jNIorris family have been 
alien of standing in the state and com- 
munity. 

Mr. Morris received his early educa- 
tion in the classical school of Dr. J. W. 
Faires in Philadelphia, and then entered 
the University of Pennsylvania, from 
which he graduated in 1875 at the early 
age of nineteen years. He then became 
a student in the law department of the 
same institution, graduating in 1878, 
when he was at once admitted to the 
bar of Philadelphia. He practiced his 
profession in association with his kins- 
man, P. Pemberton Morris, LL. D., 
and " during the later years of the life 
of that eminent lawyer succeeded to 
his practice. Mr. Morris was early in 
his career called to important positions 
requiring industry and tact. He was for 
some years general attorney for the 
Lehigh Valley Railroad. He served as 
receiver with Hon. Frederick Fraley, of 
the Schuylkill Navigation Company, and 
arranged for the settlement of its afifaii^s 
in the reorganization of the Reading 
Railroad Companj' in 1888. He was 
solicitor for the Girard Trust Company 
of Philadelphia until 1887, when he was 
elected to the presidency of that corpora- 
tion. In 1893 the Pennsylvania Steel 
Company, with its immense properties, 
gigantic manufacturing contracts and 
army of eight thousand operatives, became 
embarassed, and the Girard Trust Company 
was appointed its receiver, with Major L. 
S. Bent. Mr. Morris was called to the chair- 
manship of the reorganization committef 
and was primarily instrumental in restor- 
ing the Pennsylvania Steel Company to ef- 
ficiency and solvency. For the first year 
of the period of rehabilitation he was presi- 
dent, and when the reorganization had been 
made permanent he remained upon the di- 
rectorate and is now chairman of the execu- 
tive committee. He is also chairman of the 
executive committee of the Cambria Steel 
Company, also emplo\nng about eight thous- 
and men, and is therefore the chief advis- 
ory officer of the two largest independent 
steel companies outside the United States 
Steel Company in this country. Since liis 
election to the presidency of the Girard 
Trust Company in 1887 the corporation 
has prospered beyond comparison with its 
former self. The company erected its fine 
office building at Broad and Chestnut 
streets in 1889, and results have abund- 
antly vindicated the wisdom of his choice 
of its site, which was not at the time gen- 
erally considered available for purposes of 
such an institution. When he became con- 
nected with the company its deposits 
amounted to one million dollars, and dur- 
ing his administration these have been in- 
creased to over thirty million dollars, at 
this date (1905), while the value of its 
trust estates has expanded to seventy mill- 
ion dollars, not including many million 
dollars of corporation mortgages under 



which it is trustee. Its capital has in- 
creased from five hundred thousand dol- 
lars to ten million dollars. Mr. Morris, in 
addition to his connection with the Girard 
Trust Company, is a director in the follow- 
ing named corporations : Pennsylvania 
Railroad Company, and its allied lines ; 
Pennsylvania Company; Philadelphia Sav- 
ing Fund Society; Philadelphia National 
Bank ; Franklin National Bank ; Fourth 
Street National Bank ; Commercial Trust 
Company; Pennsylvania Fire Insurance 
Company; Pennsylvania Steel Company; 
Cambria Steel fompany, and Mutual Life 
Insurance Company of New York. In his 
personal capacity he is trustee for many 
important estates, among others those of 
William Bingham and Anthony J. Drexel, 
deceased. 

Mr. Morris at one time was a prominent 
figure in city politics. For two years (in 
1880 and 1881) he represented the eighth 
ward of the citj- of Philadelphia in the com- 
mon council, to which he was elected as 
the candidate of the "committee of one 
hundred." In 1883 he was elected to the 
Gas Trust, then the most powerful poli- 
tical organization in the city, defeating Mr. 
David H. Lane, one of the "bosses" of 
Philadelphia. His conduct in the last named 
body during his four years of service was 
characterized by entire independence, but 
through his personal tact he was enabled 
to accomplish several practical and salutary 
changes in the methods of that body, at the 
same time retaining the good will of those 
who were opposed to him politically. The 
voucher system of payment of bills and 
contracts was devised and introduced by 
him into this department of the city busi- 
ness and is yet in use. Mr. Morris was a 
director of the Union League for three 
years, retiring from that position under the 
rule which limited length of service to that 
period. He is also a member of the Phila- 
dalphia Club, the Rittenhouse Club, the 
University Club, the Merion Cricket Club, 
and others. He was a manager for some 
years of the Pennsylvania Hospital. Wheth- 
er in business or social circles, Mr. Mor- 
ris is held in high regard for his ability 
and equable disposition and absolute fidel- 
ity to his friends. He possesses exceptional 
capacity for work, as well as versatility, 
making thorough disposition of whatever 
is in hand at the time, and then at once 
concentrating all his powers upon what 
may be next requiring attention. Contact 
with large concerns and immersion in the 
rush of modern business have worked no 
impairment of his heart qualities, and no 
man is blessed with a greater number of 
warm personal friends than he. He is a 
reticent, quiet man and rarely talks of his 
business. He prefers to do things rath- 
er tlian to talk about them. Mr. ]Morris 
married in 1879, Miss Ellen Douglass Bur- 
roughs, daughter of Nelson Burroughs, of 
Philadelphia. Of this marriage were born 
three daughters and a son : Airs. G. Clymer 



458 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Brooke, Mrs. Stacy B. Lloyd, Caroline iM. 
Morris, and Effingham B. Morris, Jr. 



PURDY FAMILY. The founder of 
the branch of the Purdy family of which 
this narrative treats was John Purdy, 
who emigrated from county Antrim, 
Ireland, about 1740, and settled on a 
farm on Pennypack creek, Moreland 
township, Montgomery county, Penn- 
sj-lvania. It is a familj^ tradition that 
his ancestors were French Hugenots, 
who to escape persecution left their na- 
tive land and took refuge in the north 
of Ireland early in the sixteenth century. 

His education was manifestly far 
above the average for his day, for he 
brought with him a library. He was a 
man of piety and ability, a Covenanter 
in religion; he was instrumental in get- 
ting ministers and people of that order 
to come to America, and he was the first 
to establish the Covenanters in Penn- 
sylvania and Maryland. In 1742 he vis- 
ited Ireland, and on his .return to Amer- 
ica was accompanied by his brother 
Thomas, who settled in Juniata county, 
Pennsylvania. John Purdy became a 
prosperous farmer and a man of influ- 
ence. In 1752, while attending an elec- 
tion in Newtown, Bucks count}', in cros- 
sing a street, he was killed by being run 
over by a horse. He married at the 
First Presbyterian church, Philadelphia. 
December 3, 1743, Grace Dunlap, who 
came from county Antrim, Ireland, with 
her brother John She survived him, 
with four children: William, born Janu- 
ary 13, 1745; Mary, born September 29, 
1747, married John Ramsay, May 14, 
1765; Martha, born September 29, 1749, 
married John Hellens; Elizabeth, born 
March 31, 1753, married Benjamin Scott. 

William (2), only son of John Purdy, 
obtained a better education than was 
common at that time. He was bound 
out to a tailor, and after finishing- his 
apprenticeship married Mary Roney. 
Her father, Hercules Roney, was the 
only child of a surgeon in the army of 
Queen Anne, who died on the cost of 
Guinea. Hercules Roney married into 
the Barnes family. He and his sons 
John, James, Joseph, Thomas, Robert, 
Hamilton and William, all served in the 
revolutionary army. After W^illiam 
Purdy and his wife had made their home 
in Moreland his mother came to live with 
them. She died in 1776, a few days after 
William had rejoined the Revolutionary 
army at Amboy, being a member of 
Captain Hart's Moreland company, at- 
tached to the fourth battalion of the 
Philadelphia county niilitia. The chil- 
dren of William and Mary (Roney) 
Purdy were: 

I. John, born April 24, 1767; died in 
1808, at Ovid, New York; he married 



Mary Wheeler, and they had three chil- 
dren. 

2. William, of whom see forward. 

3. Mary, born January 17, 1772, died 
June, 1821, at Ovid, New York; married 
Joseph Yerkes, 1793; had eight children. 

4. Thomas, born December 13, 1774, 
died April 3, 1864, at Ovid, New York; 
married December 31, iSoi, Charity Smith; 
had four children, 

5. Sarah, born October 4, 1777, died 
June 13, 1850, at Romulus, New York; 
married in 1801 to John Pinkerton, who 
died in 1805 ; married in 1817 to Silas 
Allen; three children. 

6. James, born December 23, 1780, died 
November 17, 1864, at Plymouth, Michi- 
gan; married, December 24, 1806, Eliza- 
beth Hathaway, who died 1840; married 
(second) Matilda Blauvelt; fourteen 
children. 

7. Elizabeth, born December 23, 1780^ 
died in infancy; a twin with James. 

8. Robert, born August 9, 1783, died 
August 18, 1856, at Northville, Michi- 
gan; married, December 18, 1810, Han- 
nah Brockway; nine children. 

9. Joseph, born April 17, 1786, died 
March 3, 1813, at Canandaigua, New 
York; unmarried; was a soldier in army, 
in Captain Dox's company, Colonel 
Christey's (13th) regiment. 

In July, 1799, all of the family except 
the son William removed from Penn- 
sylvania to Seneca county. New York, 
which was at that time all but a wilder- 
ness. All prospered fairly well, and 
twenty-five years later some of them,, m- 
cludin'g Robert, went to Michigan, 
where they again felled forests, tilled 
the land and aided in the upbuilding of 
society. James and Robert were active 
in establishing the Presbyterian church 
in Ovid, New York, and they aided in 
founding four churches in Michigan. 
The father, William Purdy, who re- 
mained in Ovid, died September 13, 
1825, in his eighty-first year, and his 
wife died September 2, 1823, in her sev- 
enty-ninth year, and both are buried in 
the graveyard originally owned by Rob- 
ert Dunlap, in Seneca county, Nev7 
York. 

William (3), second son of William 
(2) and Mary (Roney) Purdy, was born 
in Moreland, Montgomery county, Penn- 
sylvania, June 4, 1769- He obtained a 
fair education, and by occupation was 
a farmer. About 1800 he married Mary, 
daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Fol- 
well. of Southampton, Bucks county, 
whither he removed and where he 
passed his life. The Folwells were an 
old and prominent family whose an- 
cestors are said to have come out of 
Normandy with William the Conqueror, 
Thomas's grandfather Nathan came 
from England and settled in Burling- 
ton county, New Jersey, in 1680. Thom- 
as's father William was born in I704» 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



459> 



married Ann Potts in 1727, and died in 
1776. Thomas himself was born in 
1737, married in 1764, and died in 1813. 
During the revolution he was a private 
in the Moreland company of which his 
brother John was captain. Thomas Fol- 
well's wife Elizabeth was a daughter of 
Arthur Watts, who was a descendant of 
John Watts, pastor of the Pennypack 
Baptist church as early as 1699. John 
Watts was a descendant of the John 
Watts who was lord mayor of London, 
1592-1603. 

William Purdy, like all his family, 
was a Presbyterian, but after he married 
and settled in Southampton he became 
a Baptist. In politics he was. like all 
the Pennsylvania Purdys at that time 
and since, a Democrat. He was a man 
of good abilities and excellent charac- 
ter, one of the most public-spirited men 
of his time, and stood high in the esteem 
of his fellows. In 1794, when Washing- 
ton called for troops to quell the 
"whiskey insurrection," he was one of 
the first to volunteer and went to Pitts- 
burgh, where he remained until the trou- 
ble was over. In 1805 he was elected 
captain of the rifle company attached 
to the Bucks and Montgomery counties 
Forty-eighth regiment, which position 
he held for several years. During the 
second war with Great Britain, after 
the capture and burning of the capitol 
at Washington by the British, although 
beyond the military service age, he was 
chiefly instrumental in forming a com- 
pany of independent riflemen. By 
unanimous vote he was made captain, 
and he remained in that position for the 
sake of his men, although solicited to ac- 
cept command of the regiment. After 
the war he resumed farming in South- 
ampton until elected to the state legis- 
lature, where he continued four years. 
Shortly after his retirement from his 
seat in that body the governor appointed 
him prothonotary of the courts of Bucks 
county, in which office he continued un- 
til his death. May 30, 1834. He was 
buried in the graveyard of the Baptist 
church at Southampton, and upon his 
tombstone is the inscription, "An honest 
man. the noblest work of God." He was 
survived by his widow, who died June 
9, 1846, in the sixty-seventh year of her 
age. Their children were: i. John, born 
180T, died May 29, 1838; he was a wheel- 
wright, and resided first at Davisville, 
Bucks county, and then in Philadelphia; 
he married Amy H., daughter of William 
and Sarah Shelmire. who was born in 
1806 and died in 1878; they had two 
children. 

2. Thomas, (see forward). 

3. William W^atts, born 1805, died Sep- 
tember 5, 1827. 

4. Elizabeth Anne, born 1809, died 
May 5, 1832. 

5. Joseph Hart, born August 6, 1813, 
died June 12. 1842. All these, with one 



exception, are buried near their parents 
in Southampton. Joseph is buried in 
Ewing, New Jersey. 

Thomas (4) second son of William 
(3) and Mary (Folwell) Purdy, was born 
in 1802 and died October 10, 1844. He 
was educated in the common schools, 
and began life as a farmer. Later he 
engaged in the hotel business, purchas- 
ing the Green Tree Hotel at Doyles- 
town, about 1832. He next embarked in 
the mercantile business at Richboro, 
Pennsylvania, but soon took up farming 
again, having purchased about 1836 the 
old Folwell homestead at Southampton, 
the house upon which was built by his 
maternal ancestors in 1719. He was a 
staunch Democrat, and took an active 
interest in politics. He was elected 
sherifif in 1842. Like his father he was 
prominent in military affairs; in 1828 he 
was elected captain of the Liberty 
Guards, and in 1835 and again in 1842 
he was elected colonel of the First 
Regiment of Bucks County Volunteers. 
He was a member of the Baptist Church 
at Southampton, and a trustee for many 
years. He married Elizabeth, daughter 
of John S. and Mary (Krusen) Cornell, 
the former of English and the latter of 
Dutch origin. She was born March 18, 
181 1, and died May 29, 1884. Of this 
marriage were born six children: 

1. Mary Jane, born July 7, 1830; un-, 
married, and residing in Germantown. 

2. John Mann, to be further men- 
tioned below. 

3. Elizabeth Ann, born July 7, 1835; 
married Peter Rittenhouse; four chil- 
dren; resides in Willow Grove, Penn- 
sylvania. 

4. Matilda, born February 12, 1838;: 
married Charles (brother of Peter) Rit- 
tenhouse; six children; resides in Ger- 
mantown. 

5. Amanda, born June 8. 1841; married 
William B. Weiss, of Philadelphia; six 
children. 

6. Katherine Hart, born 1843. Oied 
:May 8, 1867: married James Lingerman^ 
of Somerton; no issue. 

John Mann Purdy (s), only son of 
Thomas and Elizabeth (Cornell) Purdy, 
but for whom this particular branch of 
the Purdy family would have become ex- 
tinct, w-as born in Dojdestown, Bucks 
county, January 17, 1833. He was 
reared in Davisville, in the same county, 
and attended the common schools of 
that vicinity, and spent one year in the 
China Hall Military School in Bristol 
township. Upon the death of his father 
in 1844 he went to live with Mercy 
Warner, of Warminster, same county, 
with whom he remained until 1849, whert 
he was apprenticed to the carpenter's 
trade and followed the same at Somerton, 
Philadelphia county for about ten years. 
He then began farming on the old Van- 
sant farm at Somerton, remaining there 
until 1867, when he bought the Delaware 



460 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



House at New Hope, and conducted the 
same until 1873. In that year he was 
elected on the Democratic ticket to the 
sheriffalty of Bucks county — the only 
instance in the history of the county 
where father and son held the same office. 
At the expiration of his term in 1876 he 
engaged in the coal and lumber business 
at Doylestown. In 1878 he bought the 
old Cowell House in that place, which 
he sold five j-ears later, and took pos- 
session of the Fountain House, where 
he remained ten years. In 1893 he was 
appointed by President Cleveland to 
the postmastership of Doj-lestown, the 
county seat. At the expiration of his 
term in 1897 he took possession of the 
historic Red Lion Inn in Bensalem, 
Bucks county, where he remained until 
May I, 1904, when he became proprietor 
of the General Wayne Hotel in Holmes- 
burg, Philadelphia. Nature endowed him 
with a genial disposition which fitted 
him in a remarkable degree for a suc- 
cessful hotel man, and it can be truth- 
fully said that he has always kept an or- 
derly and highly respectable house, 
against which there has never been a 
breath of suspicion, and by so doing 
has gained for himself hosts of friends 
among all classes of society. Mr. Purdy 
is a member of the Masonic order, affil- 
iated with Frankford Lodge, No. 292, 
and he is a member of the Improved Or- 
der of Red Men at Doylestown. 

November 16, 1854, Mr. Purdy mar- 
ried Sarah koberts, of Somerton, Penn- 
sylvania. She was born November 16, 
1833, a daughter of John and Rebecca 
Roberts, the former of Welsh and the 
latter of Dutch descent, being the daugh- 
ter of James Vansant, whose ancestors 
came from the Netherlands in 1660. 
James Vansant's father, also named 
James, was a soldier of the American 
revolution. To John Mann and Sarah 
(Roberts) Purdy were born five chil- 
dren: 

1. Rebecca, born at Somerton, Sep- 
tember s, 1855. She was educated in the 
public schools and Doylestown Sem- 
inary. In 1883 she married Levi L. 
James, a prominent lawyer and former 
district attorney, of Doylestown, by 
whom she had two children: Samuel 
Polk James, born October 6, 1883, and 
Grace Vansant James, born May 30, 
1887, both now living with their mother 
in Doylestown. May 4, 1890, Mr. James 
died, and in 1892 his widow married an- 
other prominent lawyer of Doylestown, 
and former congressman, Robert M. 
Yardley. No children resulted from 
this union. Mr. Yardley died December 
9. 1902. 

2. Thomas Purdy, born in Somerton, 
May 29, 1857. He was educated in the 
public schools, at Doylestown Seminary 
and the West Chester Normal School. 
He taught school in Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania; Steuben ville, Ohio; and Cape 



May Court House, New Jersey, covering 
a period of about ten years. In 1887 he 
gave up school teaching and entered the 
employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad 
Company as ticket agent in Philadel- 
phia, and after several promotions be- 
came passenger agent of the Long 
Branch division of that road, with head- 
quarters at Newark, New Jersey, and 
is now (1904) occupying that respon- 
sible position. In the railroad world, as 
elsewhere, he enjoys an enviable repu- 
tation. In politics he is a Gold Dem- 
ocrat. He is connected with the Ma- 
sonic and Royal Arcanum orders. June 

2, 1877, he married Ella Virginia, born in 
1857, daughter of Edward and Lydia 
Yost, of Doylestown, both of German 
extraction. Of this marriage were born 
six children: i. Edward Yost, born in 
Steubenville, Ohio, 1878; 2. Jay Victor, 
born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1880; 

3. Cora May, born at Cape May Court 
House, New Jersey, 1882; 4. Florence 
Coney, born in Philadelphia, 1886; 5. 
Harry Roberts, born in Philadelphia, 
1889; 6. Russell Wray, born in Phila- 
delphia, 1892. None of the children are 
married, and all live at home with their 
parents in Metuchen, New Jersey. Ed- 
ward and Jay Victor both volunteered 
in the United States army during the 
war with Spain, and at the conclusion 
thereof were honorably discharged. This 
action on their part affords evidence that 
patriotism and military ardor yet mark 
the Purdy blood. The former named is 
employed by the^Pennsylvania Railroad 
Company as ticket agent in New York 
city. West Twenty-third street; the lat- 
ter is in the art department of the New- 
ark (New Jersey) "Daily Advertiser." 

3. Harry Roberts Purdy, born in 
Somerton, February 13, 1859. He at- 
tended the public schools of Somerton 
and New Hope, and the Doylestown 
Seminar^^ until 1876. when he entered 
Dr. George T. Harvey's drug store at 
Doylestown, in which he worked for 
three years. He then went to New York 
city and was graduated from the New 
York College of Pharmacj^ in 1882. 
From 1882 to 1887 he was apothecary to 
the Bloomingdale Asylum, New York 
city, and gave up pharmacy for medi- 
cine. He entered Bellevue Hospital 
Medical College and was graduated with 
the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 
1890, since which time he has been en- 
gaged in medical practice. From 1892 
to 1899 he was assistant to the chair of 
diseases of children in his alma mater, 
and at the same time was visiting phy- 
sician to the out-door department of 
Bellevue Hospital, as well as to the out- 
door department of St. Mary's Free 
Hospital for Children. He is a mem- 
ber of the New York County. New York 
State and American Medical Associa- 
tions, of the New York Count}'- Med- 
ical Societv. is fellow of the New York 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



461 



Academy of Medicine, and is a member 
of the Society of Medical Jurispru- 
dence. In religion he is an Episcopalian, 
being a member of the Church of the 
Transfiguration. In politics, although 
by inheritance and conviction a Demo- 
crat, he has, since the free-silver craze 
took possession of the Democratic 
party, been an independent. His mili- 
tary record, briefly, is as follows: Dur- 
ing the great railroad strike in Pennsyl- 
vania in 1877 he with others^ organized 
in Doylestown Company G of the Six- 
teenth Pennsylvania Regiment, in which 
he was made corporal. When the strike 
was over the company was made per- 
manent as part of the Sixth Regiment, 
and he was a corporal in that company 
until 1S80, when he took up his residence 
in New York city for the practice of his 
profession. He has never married. 

4. Cora May Purdy, born in Somer- 
ton, October 16, 1861. She was edu- 
cated in the public schools and Eden 
Hall. Convent, Torresdale, Pennsylvania, 
although she was then, as she is now, 
like all her family, an Episcopalian. She 
was married, November 15, 1884, to 
former Mayor Edward S. McElroy, of 
Beverly, New Jersey, whose ancestors 
emigrated from the north of Ireland in 
1717 and settled in Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania. Their children are: Sarah 
Purdy, born August 19, 1885 Cora 
Purdy, and Rebecca James, twins, born 
July 21, 1887; Richard Dale, born June 
25, 1890; Mary Trotter, born January 3, 
1897. These children are all living with 
their parents in Beverly, New Jeirsey. 

5. Frank Vansant Purdy, born in Som- 
erton, October 20, 1865. He was edu- 
cated in the public schools of Doyles- 
town, and was for a time a druggist, 
serving for three years in Dr. George 
T. Harvey's drug store in Doylestown, 
after which he assisted his father in the 
hotel business until the latter was ap- 
pointed postmaster, when Frank became 
his chief clerk. After his term expired 
he was appointed conductor on the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad dining cars, which 
position he held until he died, April 16, 
1904, the cause of his untimely death be- 
ing pneumonia. He was very popular, 
both as an official and as a man. He 
never married. 

Sarah, wife of John Mann Purdy, died 
of smallpox, at New Hope, Pennsyl- 
vania, February 12, 1872. About two 
years later (October 13, 1874) Mr. Purdy 
married Caroline Pearson, born October 
23, 1848, daughter of Chrispin and Cor- 
delia Worthington Pearson, of New 
Hope, Pennsylvania, the former of 
Scotch and the latter of Welsh descent. 
Of this marriage were born five chil- 
dren: 

I. George Smith Purdy, born in 
Doylestown. July 27, 1875. while his 
father was sheriff. He was educated in 
the Doylestown high school, and is 



(1904) a superintendent in Jacob Reed's 
Sons' large clothing establishment in 
Philadelphia. He is noted for his busi- 
ness energy and integrity. He is un- 
married. 

2. Charles Cox Purdy, born in Doyles- 
town, May 26, 1879. He was educated at 
the Doylestown High School and 
Pierce's Business College, Philadelphia, 
and is an artist. He lives in Holmes- 
burg, and is unmarried. He has seem- 
ingly inherited the religious fervjDr of 
his ancestors to a greater degree than 
any other member of the family now 
alive. He is a teacher in the Episcopal 
Church Sunday school. 

3. Anna Van Hart Purdy, born in 
Doylestown May 28, 1880. She was 
educated in the Doylestown high school. 
She lives with her parents in Holmes- 
burg, and is unmarried. She is a very 
active member of the Episcopal Church. 

4. John Mann Purdy, Jr., born in 
Doylestown, January 22, 1885. He at- 
tended the public schools, the School 
of Industrial Arts of Philadelphia, and 
is now attending the Drexel Institute in 
that city. At the annual exhibition of- 
students' work at this school in June, 
1904, he received the first prize for ele- 
mentary drawing. He gives proinise of 
becoming an excellent artist. 

5. William Clossen Purdy, born De- 
cember 29, 1888. He attended the pub- 
lic schools of Bucks and Philadelphia 
counties and is now attending the 
Northeast Manual Training School of 
Philadelphia. That he will prove as 
useful, honorable and patriotic as were 
his ancestors who bore the same chris- 
tian name, is the confident expectation 
of the familJ^ 



WILLIAM STEWART WALLACE, 
of Philadelphia, though not a native of 
Bucks county, takes more pride in his 
Bucks county ancestry, who were resi- 
dents of that county for six generations, 
than many who still reside in that his- 
toric county. He is a son of John 
Bower and Maria Louisa (Le Page) 
Wallace, and was born in Philadelphia, 
May 30, 1862. 

The Wallaces are of Scotch origin 
and w-ere among the many sons of 
Scotia who in the last half of the seven- 
teenth century settled in the province of 
Ulster, Ireland, where .they found a tem- 
porary asylum from religious persecu- 
tion and the internecine struggles inci- 
dent to the restoration of the Stuarts; 
from thence a number of them migrated 
to Pennsylvania a generation later. 
Robert and John Wallace were landhold- 
ers in Tinicum township in 1739. and 
were probably the ancestors of all of 
the name who appear in that township, 
and in Warwick and Warrington town- 
ships a few years later., but no records 



462 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



have been found to clearly demonstrate 
that fact. 

James Wallace, the direct ancestor of 
the subject of this sketch, and who from 
various indications was likely a son of 
John also named, was born about the 
year 1725, and from his first appearance 
of record in the township of Warwick, 
Bucks county twenty-live years later, 
was one of the prominent men of that 
community, frequently appearing as a 
member of commissions to lay out roads, 
as an auditor to settle decedents' es- 
tates, and in various other positions of 
public trust. He was commissioned 
coroner of Bucks county in 1768, and 
filled that position for five years. He 
was one of the trustees of Neshaminy 
Presbyterian church in 1767. From the 
time when the relations between the col- 
onies and the mother country became 
strained, he was one of the foremost pa- 
triots in Bucks county. He was one of 
the deputies appointed at the meeting 
•of the inhabitants of the county at New- 
town, July 9, 1774, to represent the 
county in the meeting of provincial 
deputies held in Carpenter's Hall, Phil- 
adelphia, July 15, 1774. His name heads 
the list of the Warwick Associators, or- 
ganized August 21, 1775. He was one 
•of the most prominent members of the 
committee of safety of the county from 
its organization, a member of its sub- 
committee of correspondence, and many 
other important committees. He was 
again appointed to represent the county 
in provincial convention. May 8, 1775, 
and again in June, 1776, in the provin- 
cial conference at Carpenter's Hall, that 
resulted in calling the convention that 
drafted the first constitution of the state, 
and was a member of the committee to 
report regulations governing the elec- 
tion of delegates to the constitutional 
convention, held on July 15, 1776, and 
was one of the judges of that election 
in Bucks. He was appointed in the 
same year to ascertain the process of 
making saltpetre, explain it to the in- 
Tiabitants of the county, and to receive 
and pay for it when manufactured. In 
this connection he is spoken of in a let- 
ter from Judge Henry Wvnkoop to the 
committee of safety of Philadelphia, as 
"a gentleman of property, strict hon- 
esty and firm attachment to the cause." 
Unon the state constitution going into 
effect, he was commissioned one of the 
judges of the civil and criminal courts 
of Bucks county, March 31, 1777. He 
was undoubtedly a leading poirit in the 
Scotch-Trish community at Neshaminy, 
as well as in the county at large, and en- 
joyed the confidence of his neighbors 
and the community, as is evidenced by 
liis always appearing as their representa- 
tive in all the stirring events of that 
eventful period, but his career of use- 
fnlness was suddenly cut short by his 
rleath in the autumn of 1777. He mar- 



ried, in 1754, Isabel Miller, daughter of 
Robert and Margaret (Graham) Miller 
of Warring:ton, and granddaughter of 
William Miller, one of the earliest set- 
tlers of Warwick, and who donated the 
land upon which the original Neshaminy 
church was built in 1727. William Miller " 
was one of the patriarchs of the Scotch- 
Irish settlement on the Neshaminy. He 
died February 27, 1758, at the age of 
eighty-seven years, and his wife Isabel 
died December 26, 1757, at about thf 
same age. They were the parents of six 
children: William, who married a Jam- 
ison: Robert, surnamed Hugh (single); 
Isabel, the wife of Andrew Long; Mar- 
garet, wife of John Earle; and Mary, 
wife of James Curry. 

Robert, second son of William and 
Isabel Miller, was a large land owner in 
Warrington, and died before his father, 
and his wife Margaret Graham also died 
while their children were yet minors. 
They were the parents of four children: 
William, Hugh, Robert and Isabel, who 
married James Wallace above men- 
tioned. James and Isabel (Miller) Wal- 
lace were the parents of six children: 
John and William, who both died un- 
married: Jean, married John Carr, and 
died February 8, 1844, at the age of 
eighty-nine years: Margaret, married 
Samuel Polk; Robert, married Mary 
Long, and Isabel who died unmarried. 
Isabel (Miller) Wallace survived her 
husband many years, living to an ad- 
vanced age. Her husband had purchased 
in 1763 a large portion of the homestead 
tract of_ William Miller. Sr., adjoining 
Neshaminy church, where she resided 
with her sons Robert and William as 
late as 1810. 

Robert Wallace, third son of James 
and Isabel, was born in Warwick, and 
spent his whole life there, dying in 1850. 
The Wallace farm, where he was born 
and lived for so many years, was the 
site of the .encampment of General 
Washington's army during his two 
weeks stay at Neshaminy in the summer 
of 1777. Tradition relates that Robert 
and' his sister carried some choice pears 
to the General's headquarters and pre- 
sented them to him. Robert was cap- 
tain of a company of militia during the 
Whiskey insurrection and was out again 
in i8t2. He married, November 23. 
1792. his cousin. Mar}- Long, daughter of 
Hugh and Mary (Corbit) Long, of War- 
wick, and granddaughter of Andrew and 
Isabel (Miller) Long. Hugh Long was 
first lieutenant of Captain William 
Hart's company in the Bucks county 
battalion of the Flying Camp, under 
Colonel Joseph Hart, in 1776. and died 
of camp fever during service in 1778. He 
had married Mary Corbet. October 31. 
i76t. and they were the parents of seven 
children, three sons and four daughters. 
Robert and Marv (Lone:'* Wallace were 
the parents of eight children, viz.: Pris- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



4^3 



cilia, born June 30, 1793, married Will- 
iam Hart; Eliza, born May 7, 1796, mar- 
ried James Polk; Isabel, born May 15, 
1794, married Joseph Ford; Mary, born 
August 14, 1803, married Mark Evans; 
James, born December 29, 1800, see for- 
ward; Jane, born April 30, 1806, married 
Charles Shewell; Margaret, born 1807, 
died in infancy; and Rebecca, born Sep- 
tember 7, 1814, married William Ward. 

James Wallace, only son of Robert 
and Mary, was born on the old home- 
stead in Warwick, December 29. 1800, 
and lived thereon until 1850, when he 
sold the old farm that had been the 
property of his ancestors for one hun- 
dred and twenty-five years, and removed 
to Montgomery county, where he lived 
for several years, and then removed to 
Philadelphia, where he died January 27, 
1866. He married, February 14, 1833, 
Mary Ford, daughter of James and 
Sarah (Bower) Ford, of Monmouth 
county, New Jersey. James Ford be- 
longed to the old family of Ford or 
Foord, of Hamilton Square, Mercer 
county. New Jersey, where he lies burfed 
in the Presbyterian churchyard. He is 
supposed to have been a descendant of 
John Foord, who with other Scotch cov- 
enanters came over in the "Henry and 
Frances" in an expedition organized by 
George Scot, Laird of Pitlochie, landing 
after great hardships at Perth x-Vmljoy in 
1685. James and Mary (Ford) Wallace 
were the parents of six children, viz.: 
Mar}'; Jane, born December 5, 1833, died 
in 1891. married John Temple; John 
Bower, born March 23, 1836, see forward: 
William, born 1838, died 1840; Charles 
Irvin, born December 15, 1840, died 1903, 
married July 22, i86r, Anna H. Curtis ; Re- 
becca, born 1844, died 1862; and James, 
born 1849, died in infancy. Mary (Ford) 
Wallace, the mother, was born April 4, 
1805. and died in Philadelphia, Decem- 
ber 14, 1864. 

John Bower Wallace, eldest son of 
James and Mary, was born in Warwick, 
Bucks county, March 23, 1836. and was 
educated at the Hilltop Academy of 
Samuel Aaron, at Norristown, and re- 
moved with the family to Philadelphia. 
He became one of the real estate asses- 
sors of that city, and filled that position 
for many years until his death March 9, 
1877, being at that time president of the 
assessors' association. At a meeting of 
the board of revision of taxes and as- 
sessors of Philadelphia, held March 10. 
1877. the following resolution was 
adopted: "Resolved, that in the death of 
John B. Wallace the public lose an of- 
ficer of rare ability, integrity and useful- 
ness, and his colleagues and friends an 
associate and companion whose deport- 
ment and character as a Christian gen- 
tleman leaves abiding traces on their 
memories, and commanded their respect 
and love." He married Maria Le Page, 
torn July 25, 1834, .died August 23, 1870, 



daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Su- 
sannah (Gill) Le Page. The former was 
a son of Peter and Mary Le Page, of the 
Isle of Guernsey, and the latter a daugh- 
ter of Philip and Mary (Baker) Gill, of 
the Island of Sark. Both families were 
French Protestants, and came to Amer- 
ica together in 1818, landing at Balti- 
more, Maryland. Peter Le Page, Jr., 
married Elizabeth Gill in Philadelphia, 
November 24. 1824, and died in 1839. 
His wife survived him many years dying 
in 1892 at the age of ninety years. They 
had five children: Peter, Sophia, Selina, 
Mary and Maria. Peter, the only son, 
went south when young, married there 
and was an officer in the Confederate 
army, and after the war resided until 
his death in Savannah, Georgia. John 
Bower and Maria Louisa (Le Page) 
Wallace were the parents of four chil- 
dren: William Stewart, the subject of 
this sketch; John Le Page, who died at 
the age of eight years; Mary Jane, born 
March 18, 1866; and James, born Decem- 
ber 14, 1869. both living. 

William Stewart Wallace, eldest child 
of John B. and Maria L. Wallace, was 
born in Philadelphia, May 30. 1862, and 
acquired his education in that city. He 
read law in the office of Hon. James 
W. M. Newlin, and was admitted to the 
bar of Philadelphia in April, 1883, and 
has since practiced his profession in that 
city. He is a member of the Law Acad- 
emy, of which he was 'secretary in 1886; 
of the Society of the Sons of the Revo- 
lution, of the National and Pennsylvania 
Scotch-Irish Societies, of the Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania and the Bucks 
County Historical Society; of the* City 
Relic Society of Germantown. and a 
member and secretary of the board of 
trustees of Summit Presbyterian church 
of Germantown. He married, June 8. 
1888, Mollie Comfort Brand, daughter of 
Jacob S. and Mary (Flack) Brand, of 
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. 



DR. EDWARD MORWITZ. physi- 
cian, publisher and scientist, now de- 
ceased, was held in honor during a long 
and active life, principally for the val- 
uable aid he rendered to the farmers and 
florists of the region tributary to the city 
of Philadelphia in affording to them the 
advantages which he gained through a 
long experience and costly but intelligent 
experimentation. 

Dr. Morwitz was a native of Prussia, 
born in Danzig in 1815. Ini85i he came 
to the United States, locating in Phila- 
delphia, where he busied himself in his 
profession until 1872. In the latter year 
he removed to Bucks county, where he 
purchased the Cold Spring Farm, to 
which he added by the purchase of ad- 
joining tracts until it comprised about 
two hundred and eighty acres. From the 



464 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



first he gave full play to his passion fnr 
rural pursuits, laboring industriously in 
field and garden and hotbed, introduc- 
ing innovations in processes of cultiva- 
tion, and engaging in all manner of ex- 
periments which had their fruit in the 
creation of new types of vegetable life 
and development and improvement of 
many which were old. In the year of his 
coming to the county (1872) he took 
out letters patent on the earliest incu- 
bator, the invention of himself and Mr. 
Fred Meyer. The two manufactured 
their device and placed it on exhibition 
at agricultural exhibitions at Philadel- 
phia and Washington, at the last named 
in 1880, .when it was awarded the gold 
medal. It was, however, too bulky and 
costly for general use, and did not come 
into vogue, but did prove the foundation 
of all that has since been accomplished 
in the line of extra-natural incubation. 
In 1883 and the following year Dr. Mor- 
witz grew upon his Cold Spring Farm, 
at the expense of infinite patience, tube- 
rose bulbs in the open air. These found 
a market in London, England, but the 
more salubrious climate of Algiers made 
the product of that region a competitor 
not to be overcome. In the same year 
Dr. Morwitz grew winter vetches and 
barley mixture for use as green fodder 
for domestic animals. This was changed 
in the following spring (1885) to oats- 
vetches, and in 1886 to oats-peas mixture, 
which has since that time been grown 
extensively and profitably in the neigh- 
borhood of the Morwitz estate. In the 
fall of 1885 Dr. Morwitz built the first 
silo in the group of townships surround- 
ing that of Bristol, and his' success em- 
boldened many of the neighboring farm- 
ers to adopt the apparatus and> to con- 
tinue its use as one of their most val- 
uable adjuncts. In .the same year Dr. 
Morwitz imported a quantity of crimson 
clover. He made a number of costly 
failures before he secured a proper 
method of planting and cultivating, but 
finally succeeded, and this culture has 
became a standing feature of the most 
profitable and best conducted farms, 
not only in Pennsylvania, but through- 
out the country, wherever the plant is 
at all growable. The low wet meadow 
patches of the farm were planted with 
ozier willows, which came to a satis- 
factory growth, the product being profit- 
able for a number of years, when the 
competition of European willow wares 
necessitated the abandonment of this 
industry. Many tests were made by 
Dr. Morwitz which resulted negatively. 
Thus, he endeavored to introduce the 
German plants, lupine, scradella and the 
much vaunted sachaline, but soil _ or cli- 
matic conditions were uncongenial, and 
his experiments failed. He succeeded, 
however, in his prosecution of the Ger- 
man method of getting catch crops on 
wheat and rye stubble, and practiced the 



process mntil the system found general 
adoption in that part of Pennsylvania, 
where it has been carried to unsurpassa- 
ble perfection. These crops were prin- 
cipally late cabbages, especially the Lan- 
dreth, late fiat Dutch and Boomsdale, 
rutabagas, spinach and kale. Dr. Mor- 
witz was also greatly interested in arti- 
ficial • pisciculture, and heartily second- 
ed the efi'orts of the general and state 
governments in that direction. As early 
as 1878 he constructed a small plant for 
trout hatching on the Cold Spring Farm, 
and succeeded in breeding quite a quan- 
tity of fine fish, but the often recur- 
rent floods of the Delaware river oblig- 
ed him to abandon the experiment. Dr. 
Morwitz continued in his varied and 
busy labors until his death, which occur- 
red in 1893. He found a worthy succes- 
sor in his son. Dr. Joseph Morwitz, who 
has encouraged those- about him to per- 
sist in various lines of agricultural in- 
dustry in which his sire was a pioneer. 
He was himself instrumental (in 1903) 
in the formation of the Cooperative Can- 
ning Factory at Tullytown, which, it is 
hoped and expected, will greatly increase 
the value to farmers of the principal 
truck crops of the district — tomatoes, 
sugar corn, pumpkins, etc. 

The Cold Spring Farm is famous for 
the "Queen of Edgely" rose, a pink 
rose which has been awarded the gold 
and silver medals at the greatest ex- 
hibitions which have been held since 
that time. This was produced by Mr. 
David Fuerstenberg, who in 1897 rented 
the hothouses first installed by the elder 
Dr. Morwitz as early as 1881, and which 
had been in constant growth and devel- 
opment. Mr. Fuerstenberg had directed 
the work in the hothouses from the 
first, and he has made it one of the best 
and most extensive plants for rose cul- 
ture in the United States. He discov- 
ered a sprout from the American Beauty 
rose in the hothouse, and propogated 
from it, thus producing the now noted 
"Queen of Edgely." 



CHARLES R. NIGHTINGALE, of 
Doylestown, justice of the peace, was 
born in Doylestown township, Bucks 
county, December 5, 1856, son of Dr. 
Henry B. and Albina C. (Price) Night- 
ingale. 

Rev. Samuel Nightingale, grandfather 
of the subject of this sketch, was born 
in Columbus, Burlington county, New 
Jersey, December 11, 1792, being a son 
of Isaac and Ann Nightingale. Early in 
life he removed to Philadelphia, where 
he was engaged in the wholesale hard- 
ware business, and removed to Balti- 
more, Maryland, about 1818, where he 
followed the same line of business for 
some years. He was a man of more 
than ordinary mental caliber, and of 



I 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



465 



deep religious feeling, and finally entered 
the ministry of the Baptist church. In 
1838 he was elected pastor of the Bap- 
tist church at New Britain, Bucks coun- 
ty, and located at Doylestown. He was 
an earnest and forceful extempore speak- 
er, and an energetic worker for the ad- 
vancement of his church. He continued 
as pastor of the New Britain congrega- 
tion until January i, 1845, meanwhile 
preaching occasionally at Doylestowni 
and other points. From 1845 until i860 
he conducted a store at his residence at 
the corner of State and Main streets, 
Doylestown, where he sold books, drugs, 
and general merchandise, and preached 
occasionally at Doylestown and other 
places. In 1846 he started a subscription 
to build a Baptist church in Doylestown, 
and several hundred dollars were col- 
lected for that purpose, and a lot pur- 
chased on State street where Mrs. Frank 
Mann now lives, and work begun on the 
proposed building in 1850. By reason of 
inability to collect sufficient funds, how- 
ever, the building was never finished, and 
the lot was finally sold, and the proceeds 
went towards the erection of the present 
Baptist church of Doylestown. One of 
Mr. Nightingale's admirers recently 
spoke of him as the "Zachary Taylor of 
the Baptist Ministry," on account of his 
"rough and ready" methods; selecting 
his text he proceeded to expound the 
doctrine of Christianity, clearly and for- 
cibly, regardless of the foibles of his 
congregation, and his discourse lacked 
the suavity and persuasive eloquence that 
later characterized pulpit oratory. Most 
of the later years of Mr. Nightingale's 
life were spent in Philadelphia, though 
he was a frequent visitor in Doylestown, 
where members of his family continued 
to reside. He died in Philadelphia, 
March 3, 1881. He married in Phila- 
delphia, June 8, 18I4, Emma, daughter of 
Thomas and Sarah Billington of that 
city, who was born February 25, 1798. 
The children of Rev. Samuel and Emma 
Billington Nightingale were: Thomas 
West, born in Philadelphia, February 27, 
1815, died in Baltimore, July 20, i8ig; 
Samuel, born in Baltimore, November 2, 
1818, died in infancy; Matilda, born July 
21, 1820, died at Doylestown in 1840. and 
was buried at New Britain; William B., 
born 1822, died 1825; Henry B., born at 
Baltimore, June 21, 1825,- died at Rose- 
mont. New Jersey, September 10, 1873; 
Ann Eliza, born November 22, 1827, died 
at Peekskill, New York, in 1890, married 
(first) Judge Richard Jones, of Phila- 
delphia (who was consul at Cairo, Egypt, 
during Buchanan's administration), and 
(second) Charles B. Tatham (of the firm 
of Tatham Brothers, New York, Phila- 
delphia and London); and Mary Delia, 
born October 3, 1829, died March 30, 
1903, married in 1875, Richard Keen 
Kuhn, of Doylestown. 
30-3 



Dr. Henry B. Nightingale, son of Rev. 
Samuel Nightingale, born in Baltimore, 
June 21, 1825, was liberally educated in 
the public schools and at private schools 
in Doylestown, where his parents located 
when he was thirteen years of age, being 
for some time a pupil of Dr. W. S. Hen- 
drici He entered Jefferson Medical Col- 
lege at Philadelphia in 1848, and grad- 
uated in 1850. In the following year he 
located at Rosemont, Hunterdon county, 
New Jersey, and commenced the practice 
of his profession. In the autumn of 
1853, his health failing, he went to Flor- 
ida for the winter, and on his return lo- 
cated at Houghville, later known as "The 
Turk," one mile south of Doylestown, 
where he practiced his profession until 
the spring of 1858, when he returned to 
Rosemont and resumed his practice 
there. Becoming interested in politics, 
he purchased the "Hunterdon County 
Democrat," a paper published at Flem- 
ington, in 1866, and conducted it for one 
year, when he sold it and took up the 
practice of his profession at Flemington. 
In 1870 he removed to Croton, New Jer- 
sey, but returned to Flemington the fol- 
lowing year. In the spring of 1873 he 
again removed to Rosemont, where he 
was stricken with paralysis on Septem- 
ber 8, 1873, while hitching his horse pre- 
paratory to visiting a patient, and died 
two days later, without regaining con- 
sciousness. Dr. Nightingale became 
prominent in the practice of his profes- 
sion in New Jersey. He was for many 
years a member of the District Medical 
Society, its president in 1862, and its 
secretary from 1862 to 1867, and was re- 
porter to the State Medical Society for 
many years. He held many positions of 
trust, and enjoyed the esteem and con- 
fidence of a large circle of friends. At 
the organization of the militia of Hunter- 
don county in 1861-2, he was commis- 
sioned by Governor Olden as an aide to 
Brigadier-General Sergeant. 

Dr. Nightingale was a past master Mason, 
a member of Amwell Lodge, No. 12, and 
on his removal to Flemington he became 
associated with Darcy Lodge, No. 37, 
and was honorably dismissed to organ- 
ize Orpheus Lodge at Stockton, New 
Jersey. He was also a member of Lam- 
bertville Chapter, R. A. M., and was dis- 
missed to Flemington Chapter. In 1868 
he became a member of the Baptist 
church of Flemington, and was one of 
its most active and earnest members. 
He was a man of fine social qualities and 
generous impulses, and was highly es- 
teemed in the community in which he 
lived. Both Amwell and Darcy Lodges, 
F. and A. M., adopted resolutions ex- 
pressive of their loss in the death of Dr. 
Nightingale; from those adopted by the 
latter Lodge we quote the following as 
indicative of the esteem in which the 
Doctor was held: "Past Master Night- 



466 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ingale was a true hearted Mason; a pub- 
lic spirited citizen; a most congenial 
friend; a kind husband apd indulgent fa- 
ther; a considerate, sympathizing, and 
skillful physician; a man endowed with 
superior mental powers, and a heart as 
unselfish as ever beat in human breast." 
Dr. Nightingale was married at Doyles- 
town, February 19, 1851, to Albina C, 
daughter of Samuel G. and Sarah (Betts) 
Price, of Buckingham, who still survives 
him, living in Doylestown. The children 
of this marriage were: 

1. George T., born at Rosemont, Jan- 
uary 3, 1852, died July 4. 1856. 

2. Henry B., born at Houghville, May 
7, 1855, is a prominent physician in Phila- 
delphia, where he has a wife and family. 

3. Charles R., the subject of this 
sketch. 

4. Samuel W., born April 19, 1859, was 
a brass worker in Bellfield's brass works 
for twenty years, has been a farmer and 
a traveling salesman for school supplies, 
and is now (1904) living in Doylestown. 

5. Randolph P., born December 12, 
i860, spent most of his life in a book- 
store at Bellefonte, Pennsylvania; in 1888 
he entered Jefferson Medical_ College, 
but was forced to relinquish his studies 
on account of ill health in 1890. and was 
taken to Colorado for his health by his 
younger brother, John Billington, and 
died there of phthisis, September, 1890. 

6. John Billington, born at Rosemont, 
New Jersey, September 25, 1862. At 
the death of his father, being but eleven 
years of age, he went to live with his 
uncle George C. Worstall on a farm near 
Newtown, where he remained until the 
spring of 1881, when he went into the 
office of the "Newtown Enterprise" to 
learn the printer's trade, and was there 
until 1884, when he went to Kansas with 
J. Herman Barnsley to look after the lat- 
ter's real estate interests there. In 1885 
he traveled extensively in California and 
along the Pacific coast, and returned to 
Kansas City, Missouri, where he entered 
the employ of Steins Brothers, contract- 
ors, and was with them in Missouri and 
Denver, Colorado, until 1891. when with 
two companions he started for the Crip- 
ple Creek gold fields and spent three 
years prospecting for gold, for nearly 
the whole period in hard luck, finally 
striking a pocket from which they ex- 
tracted $23,000 in two hours. In 1896 he 
was appointed water commissioner by 
the government, and had charge of the 
distribution of water for irrigation, and 
was also under sherilif for Rio Grande 
county, Colorado, for three years. The 
high altitude finally affected his health, 
and he returned east in 1900 and settled 
in Doylestown, where he still resides and 
has been the representative and district 
manager of the International Corres- 
pondence School for nearly two years. 
He married at Del Norte, Colorado, De- 



cember 27, 1894, May Sumner; three chil- 
dren born to them died in infancy. 

7. Edward W. Nightingale was born 
at Rosemont, February 22, 1864; married 
Mary R. Donaldson, of Doylestown; is 
now a printer in Philadelphia. 

8. Florence Nightingale, born at 
Rosemont, New Jersey, October 5, 1868, 
married L. Dorr Barbiere; is now living 
in Doylestown with one daughter, Mar- 
gery. 

The maternal ancestors of the subject 
of this sketch were early settlers in New 
Jersey and Pennsylvania. David Price 
was born in Maidenhead (now Law- 
renceville) New Jersey, about 1700, and 
is supposed to have been the grandson 
of John Price, who came to Philadelphia 
from Worcester, England, in 1683. James 
Price was a landholder at Maidenhead 
as early as 1698. David Price in 1756 
purchased two hundred acres of land in 
Middletown township, Bucks county, and 
died there in 1765, leaving sons Nathan 
and James, and daughters; Rebecca, who 
married Daniel Price, of Kingwood, 
New Jersey; Eleanor, who married Ben- 
jamin Stackhouse; Sarah, who died single 
in Merion in 1767; and Susannah, who 
married Joseph Mahr, of Northampton 
county, in 1773. Nathan Price, eldest 
son of David, resided for some years in 
Bucks county, and then removed to Hunter- 
don county. New Jersey, where the remain- 
ing years of his life were spent. He was 
sheriff of Hunterdon county in 1807-9. His 
wife is suppoed to have been a daughter of 
Timothy Smith of Bucks county. He had 
sons John, Smith, James and David, and 
daughters Rebecca, Elizabeth, Sarah and 
Phebe. Three of his sons (John, Smith 
and James) became residents of Bucks 
county, though John eventually returned to 
New Jersey, from whence his son George 
removed to Upper Makefield, Bucks county, 
where descendants of his still reside. Smith 
Price, second son of Nathan, born Septem- 
ber II, 1748, settled in Plumstead township, 
Bucks county, on attaining manhood, and 
spent the remainder of his life there, dying 
October 16, 1816. He was a storekeeper at 
Fardenville for many years, and was a 
large landholder in Plumstead township. 
He married, September i, 1776, Martha, 
daughter of Joseph Carver, of Bucking- 
ham, and had by her one son, John, who 
married Elizabeth Kirk, and has left 
numerous descendants in middle Bucks. 
Martha Price died April 11, 1793, and 
Smith married (second) two years later 
Hannah (Burroughs?), by whom he had 
six children : Jonathan, born January 25, 
1796. died November 21, 1817; Joseph; 
Samuel G., born March i, 1799; Dr. Smith 
M. ; Burroughs ; and Marv, who married 
William Rich. 

Samuel G. Price, born March i, 1799, 
married Sarah, daughter of John and Han- 
nah (Kirk) Betts, born 11 mo 16. 1803, and 
had seven children, viz. : Clementina D., 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



407 



torn 1823, died 1904, at Doylestown, un- 
married. Albina C, born 8 mo. 14, 1825, 
the mother of the subject of this sketch, still 
living with him in Doylestown ; married 
February 19, 1851, Dr. Henry B. Night- 
ingale; J. Randolph, born 1827, died 
1876; married Sarah T. Ward, has one son, 
George W. Price, living at Salem, New 
Jersey; Mary R., born 1829, living in 
Doylestown, single. Charlotte T., born 
1830, died 1884; married Townsend Speak- 
man. Huldah Ann, born 1832, died Jan- 
uary I, 1899; married George C. Worstall, 
of Newtown. Emma Elizabeth, born 1835, 
died 1882; married Jonathan T. Schofield. 
CHARLES R. NIGHTINGALE, born in 
Doylestown township, December 5, 1856, 
removed with his parents to Rosemont, New 
Jersey, when two years of age. He was 
educated at the public schools of that vicin- 
ity, supplemented by a course at a semi- 
nary at Ringoes, and a term at a private 
school at Clinton, New Jersey. He taught 
-school at Ringoes, Croton and other points 
in Hunterdon county for ten years, and then 
accepted a position as agent for a wholesale 
dye house, traveling over Pennsylvania and 
Maryland. During the nineties he was a 
salesman for Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & 
Co., and the American Book Company, most 
of the time acting as their general agent for 
school supplies, and traveling over the 
states east of the Mississippi river. In 1900 
he was elected a justice of the peace of 
Doylestown borough, and is located in the 
Hart Building, where he combines with his 
official duties a real estate and general 
business agency. In politics he is a Demo- 
crat, and religiously is a member of the 
Baptist church. He is a member of Doyles- 
town Lodge, No. 245, F. and A. M.; Doyles- 
town Chapter, No. 270, R. A. M., of which 
he is a past high priest ; and a member of 
Aquetong Lodge, No. 193, I. O. O. F. He 
is unmarried. 



DR. WILLOUGHBY H. REED was 
"born in Norristown, Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania, January 20, 1856, 
and was educated in the public schools 
of Norriton township. He learned the 
trade of printing; graduated from the 
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 
1879, and from Jefiferson Medical Col- 
lege in 1882. He practiced medicne for 
several years at Cape May Point, New 
Jersey, and at his home at Jefifersonville, 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. 
After his marriage to Annie R. Jarrett, 
November 8. 1884. he engaged in the 
drug business at Norristown, Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Dr. Reed's ancestors were among the 
prominent and early settlers of„the 
province of Pennsvlvania. His ancestor, 
Johann Philip Ried CRieth, Riedt. Reed), 
was born in Germany, January 26, 1698, 
and emigrated from Mannheim, Pala- 
tinate, on the Rhine, Germany, and 
landed at Philadelphia, in the province 



of Pennsylvania, in the ship "Friend- 
ship." October 17, 1727. He settled on 
a tract of land in Marlborough township, 
Philadelphia (now Montgomery) county. 
He was a farmer and one of the orig- 
inal (1730) enrolled members of the New 
Goshenhoppen Reformed church located 
in Upper Hanover township. He mar- 
ried Feronica Bergy, who was born in 
the canton of Berne, Switzerland, on 
February 13, 1702. Her folks fled in 
the early part of the eighteenth cen- 
tury into Germany on account of relig- 
ious persecution, and afterwards Philip 
Reed and his wife fled Germany to this 
countr)' for the same cause. 

Philip Reed died in Marlborough 
township, Philadelphia, September 3, 
1783. His wife died at the same place 
December 13, 1792, and both are in- 
terred side by side in the New Goshen- 
hoppen Reformed church burial ground. 
They had children: Jacob, married to 
Magdalena Leidy; Michael, married 
Anna Maria Mowery; Andrew, married 
Anna Maria Leidy; Catherine, married 
Abraham Arndt; Eve, married (first) 
Valentine Dickenscheid and (second) 
Joseph Kochen; Margretha, married 
Theobold Wink; Anna Maria, married 
Michael Welker; Elizabeth, married John 
Eberhard. 

Jacob, eldest son of Philip and Fer- 
onica (Bergy) Reed, was the great- 
grandfather of Dr. Reed. Jacob Reed's 
active part for the American cause in the 
Revolution made him conspicuous and 
prominent in his day. He served as an 
officer in the Philadelphia county mi- 
litia as lieutenant-colonel and major of a 
battalion of troops. In the "Pennsyl- 
vania Correspondent and Farmer's Ad- 
vertiser." published in Doyleslown, 
under date of November 21, 1820, ap- 
pears the following: "Died, In New 
Britain township, on the 2d instant, 
Colonel Jacob Reed, in the 91st year of 
his age. He served his country faith- 
fully during the whole of that eventful 
period of the Revolution, and before 
the close of the w^ar he was honored 
with a colonel's commission." 

Lieutenant-Colonel Jacob Reed, in his 
youthful days received a liberal educa- 
tion in German and English, and was 
reared a farmer. Early in manhood he 
located on a farm in Hatfield township, 
Philadelphia county, and about 1755 
married Magdalena Leidy, daughter of 
Jacob Leidy, an immigrant, and one of 
the founders of the Indian Creek Re- 
formed church, of Franconia township, 
Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania. This 
Jacob Leidv. the elder, is also the an- 
cestor in this country of the late emi- 
nent naturalist and physician. Professor 
Joseph Leidv, of the University of Penn- 
sylvania. In 1793 Lieutenant-Colonel 
Jacob Reed removed with his family to 
a farm he already owned in New Bri- 
tain township, Bucks county, where he 



468 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



died November 2, 1820, in the ninety- 
tirst year of his age; and. his wife having 
died previously at the same place, Au- 
gust 5, 1804, both are interred side by 
side in the old Leidy's burial ground in 
Franconia township, Montgomery 

county, nearby the present borough of 
Souderton. Jacob and Magdalena 
(Leidy) Reed had nine children: Philip, 
Jacob, Andrew, Margaret, Elizabeth, 
Catherine, Magdalena, Eve and John. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Jacob Reed was 
a man of prominence in his day. He was 
active and influential as a citizen, and 
filled a number of positions of public 
trust. He was a member of the Re- 
formed church in which he took a deep 
and active 'interest. He was instru- 
mental in founding the Reformed church 
at Hilltown. He was a prominent and 
active defender of his country during 
the Revolutionary struggle, and served 
during the whole war as an officer in the 
militia service. He was lieutenant-col- 
onel and major of the first battalion of 
the Philadelphia county militia. He ac- 
tively participated in the battles of Tren- 
ton, Brandywine, Germantown, etc. He 
escaped unhurt on the field of battle, 
but on one occasion, when at home vis- 
iting his family, he was waylaid by Tor- 
ies, who first shot him through the leg. 
then tied him to a tree, tarred and 
feathered him, and commenced digging 
his grave in which they purposed bury- 
ing him. Before completing this last 
act they were discovered and fled, and 
he was released from his perilous situa- 
tion. The parties engaged in this trans- 
action fled the country, and their prop- 
erty was subsequently confiscated. On 
another occasion, while passing along 
the highway, he was shot at by a Hes- 
sian who lay concealed in a fence cor- 
ner, the bullet grazing his head. 

As a token of esteem and respect for 
their honored ancestor Lieutenant-Col- 
onel Jacob Reed. Franklin P. Reed and 
Dr. W. H. Reed (brothers), had erected 
over his grave a handsome granite sar- 
cophagus, bearing the following inscrip- 
tion: — 

In Memory of 

Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Reed, 

Hatfield Twp.. Phila. Co.. Pa.. 

A Patriot and Soldier of the Revolution. 

An Officer of the Philadelphia County 

Militia. 
Served his country actively during the 

whole war. 

Participated in the battles of Trenton. 

Brandywine. Germantown, etc., 

The monument was dedicated by the 
Montgomery County Historical Society 
on October 8, looi, with apnropriate ex- 
ercises. The addresses and papers read 
on this occasion are in press, and will 
soon appear in a separate volume. 

Andrew Reed, grandfather of Dr. 
Reed, was the youngest son of Lieuten- 



ant-Colonel Jacob and Magdalena 
(Leidy) Reed. He was born in Hatfield 
township May 14, 1781, and died June 
10, 1869. He was a farmer by occupa- 
tion, and remained and farmed his 
father's place in New Britain until his 
death in 1820. April 21, 1807, he mar- 
ried Mary Hartman, daughter of Henry 
Hartman, of Lykens Valley, Dauphin 
county, Pennsylvania, and to whom 
five children were born : Jacob, Michael 
Hartman. Julian, Abigail and Sarah. An- 
drew Reed, after the death of his father, 
removed with his family to a farm that 
he already owned in Hilltown township, 
adjoining New Britain. Here he lived 
until advanced years, when he removed 
to Hatfield township, Montgomery 
county, and soon thereafter died. For 
some years previous to his death he was 
totally blind. During his life he was 
strictly honest in all of his dealings, de- 
voted to his family, and much beloved 
by his neighbors. Both Mr. an'd Mrs. 
Reed wfere consistent Christians, early 
Reformed and latterly were members of 
the Church of the Evangelical Associa- 
tion at Hilltown, Bucks county, in 
whose graveyard their remains are in- 
terred. 

Michael Hartman Reed, father of Dr. 
Reed, was born October 24, 1809, at 
the home of his grandfather, Lieutenant- 
Colonel Jacob Reed, in New Britain 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. 
He was educated in the nearby Men- 
nonite district school. When he was 
but a lad lie was indentured with Henry 
Shellenberger at Line Lexington to 
learn the trade of hatting. After com- 
pleting his trade he worked for a while 
as a journeyman in Schaffer's hat fac- 
tory at Germantown. In 1830 he located 
at Skippackville, Montgomery county, 
Pennsylvania, and conducted the "hat- 
ting" business. Two years later he sold 
his hat business at Skippack and located 
in Philadelphia at the same business. 
After a successful business he retired 
in 1847, and removed to Doylestown, 
Bucks county, where on Februarv 15, 
t8;2. he was married to Marv Ann Rock- 
a fellow, eldest daughter of Jonas and 
Elizabeth (Probasco) Rockafellow, of 
Hilltown township. Bucks county. In 
t8.t5. with his family, he removed to 
Xorristown. ^Montgomery county, where 
tine subject of this sketch was born; in 
1857 he removed to Jefifersonville. Mont- 
aroniery county, Pennsjdvania. At this 
letter place he resided until his death, 
Januarv 17. 1898. 

Dr. W. H. Reed, besides filling a num- 
ber of positions of honor and trust, is a 
member of the American Pharmaceuti- 
cal Association: the Pennsylvania Phar- 
maceutical .Association, and was its 
president in 1804-95: is a member of the 
Alumni Association of Tefferson Medi- 
cal College: and the Philadelphia CoJ- 
lege of Pharmacy, Philadelphia Botani- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



469 



cal Club, Pennsylvania-German Society, 
Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the 
Revolution, Montgomery County His- 
torical Society, of which latter he is 
treasurer; and is also a member of Nor- 
ristown Lodge. No. 620. Free and Ac- 
cepted Masons; Norristown Chapter, 
No. igo, R. A. M., and Hutchinson Com- 
mandery No. 32, K. T. Dr. Reed has 
been a contributor to medical, pharma- 
ceutical, historical and general litera- 
ture. He is at present engaged writing 
a "History and Genealogy of the Reed 
Familv." 



MAJOR HARRY CRAIG HILL, of 
San Francisco. California, though not a 
native of Bucks county, spent his youth- 
ful days just over its borders at Hat- 
boro, and has always taken a deep in- 
terest in the county as the home of his 
maternal ancestors. He is a son of Dn 
John Howard and Cynthia (Craig) Hill, 
who were married in 1835, and was born 
in Philadelphia. 

His paternal ancestors. William and 
Mary (Hunter) Hill, came to America 
from Ireland about 1720 and settled in 
Middletown, Chester county, where the 
former died in 1747. leaving six chil- 
dren — Alexander, Mary, John, Peter, 
Christiana, and another whose name is 
unknown, being an infant when the 
father died. John Hunter, the father of 
INIary (Hunter) Hill, was a native of 
Durham, England, and a descendant of 
the Hunters of Meadowsley Hall, Gates- 
Tiead. Durham, where are buried many 
of this noble family who trace their 
descent from William, the Hunter, who 
in 1 185 married a lady of Whittenstall 
and founded the family of Meadowsley 
Hall. John Hunter was a strong church- 
man, and, having made himself obnox- 
ious to the Catholic party, was forced to 
flee from Durham on the accession to 
the throne of James II. and took refuge 
in Rathdrum, county Wicklow, Ireland, 
where he married in 1693 Margaret Al- 
iDin. He was captain of a troop of 
Tiorse under William of Orange at the 
battle of the Boyne. July i, 1690. and 
was wounded in the left hip, from which 
"he suffered a slight lameness during the 
remainder of his life. His superior of- 
ficer in the battle of the Boyne was An- 
thony Wayne (the grandfather of 
"Mad Anthony Wayne." of the Revolu- 
tion), with whom he came to America in 
1722, settling for a short time near 
"Downingtown. Chester county, but re- 
moving the following year to a one 
thousand acre tract of land in Newtown 
township, now Delaware county, pur- 
chased March 17, 1723. where he died in 
T734 at the age of seventy years, and is 
buried in the churchyard at St. David's 
Episcopal Church. Radnor, of which 
Tie was a member of the first vestry. His 
children were John, William, Mary. Mar- 



garet. George, Peter, Martha, Ann, 
Elizabeth and James, the first and last 
named being also members of the ves- 
try of St. David's. 

John Hill, son of William and Mary 
(Hunter) Hill, was born in ^liddletown, 
Chester county, in 1736, and died there 
in February, 1814. He married at Christ 
Church. July 22, 1760, Mary Gibbons, 
daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Mar- 
shall) Gibbons, and granddaughter of 
James and Ann (Pearce) Gibbons, great- 
granddaughter of John and Margery Gib- 
bons, who came from Warminster, 
Wiltshire, England, in 1681. and settled 
in Newtown, Chester county. Mary 
(Gibbons) Hill was born 2 mo. 15. 1743. 
Her father. Joseph Gibbons, was a mem- 
ber of colonial assembly 1748-63. and 
her grandfather, George Pearce of 
Thornbury. was also a member of as- 
sembly 1717-19. Her mother, Hannah 
Marshall, was a daughter of Abraham 
Marshall, who came from Gratton, 
Derbyshire, in 1700. and a sister to Hum- 
phrey Marshall the famous . botanist. 
John and Mary (Gibbons) Hill were the 
parents of thirteen children, eleven of 
whom lived to maturity and left de- 
scendants. 

Humphrey Hill, the grandfather of 
â– Major Hill, was the third son of John 
and Mary, and was born in October, 
1763, and died in December, 1811. He 
married at Christ Church. March 3, 1791, 
Alice Howard, born January. 1762, 
daughter of John and Sarah (Bunting) 
Howard, and granddaughter of Thomas 
and Grace (Beakes) Howard. Sarah 
(Bunting) Howard was a daughter of 
John and Alice Lord (Nicholson) 
Bunting, of Burlington county. New 
Jersey, and granddaughter of Samuel and 
Mary (Foulke) Bunting, the former of 
whom was a son of Anthony and Ellen 
Bunting, of Matlock, Derbyshire, and 
the latter a daughter of Thomas Foulke, 
one of the nine commissioners of 'New 
Jersey who settled at Crosswicks in 
1677. Job Bunting, another son of An- 
thony, was a large landholder in Bucks 
county. Grace (Beakes) Howard was 
a daughter of Stephen Beakes and Eliza- 
beth Biles, of Bucks county, both natives 
of England, their respective parents 
(William Beakes. of Barkwell. Somerset- 
shire, and AVilliam Bjles. of Dorchester. 
Dorsetshire) being among the earliest 
English settlers on the Delaware in 
Bucks county, the latter being an officer 
of the court at Upland prior to the ar- 
rival of Penn. and a member of the first 
provincial council from Bucks. 

Dr. John Howard Hill, the father of 
Major Hill, was the only child of Hum- 
phrey and Alice (Howard) Hill. He was 
for man}' years an eminent physician at 
Hatboro. Montgomery county, and had 
a large practice in adjoining parts of 
Bucks countv. He was twice married, 
having married in December, 1813. Eliza 



4/0 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Louisa Davis, and (second) in October, 
1835, Cynthia Craig, born October, 1804, 
daughter of Daniel and Jean (Jamison) 
Craig, both natives of Warrington, 
Bucks county, the former being a son of 
Thomas and Jean (Jamison) Craig, also 
natives of Warrington, and grandson of 
Daniel Craig, who came from the north 
of Ireland and settled in Warrington 
about 1735. and died there in 1775- 
Thomas Craig, grandfather of Mrs. Hill, 
was a captain in the "Flying Camp" dur- 
ing the Revolution, and the command 
of the Bucks county regiment devolved 
upon him on the death of Colonel Will- 
iam Baxter, during the battle of Fort 
Washington, November 16. 1776. His 
brother John and his cousins Thomas, 
John and William Craig, of Northamp- 
ton, were also distinguished officers in 
the Revolution. His sister Sarah, who 
married John Barnhill. was the ances- 
tress of President Roosevelt. The Craig 
and Jamison families were among the 
earliest Scotch-Irish settlers in Bucks 
county. The former consisted of four 
brothers: Thomas, Daniel, W'illiam. 
and James; and three sisters: Sarah, 
wife of Richard Walker, of Warrington, 
a prominent justice and member of the 
colonial assemblj': ^Margaret, wife of 
John Gray, an earl}- elder of Nesham- 
iny church, and the wife of John Boyd, 
of the 'Irish settlement. The Craig 
brothers, with the exception of Daniel, 
all eventually settled at Craig's or the 
Irish Settlement. The Jamison family 
consisted of Henry Jamison and his 
sons, Henry. Robert and Alexander, 
who all settled in Warrington, Bucks 
county, about. 1720. where they became 
large landholders and prominent citi- 
zens. Henry Jamison, Jr., married 
IMary Stewart, and their daughter Jean, 
born in 1738. became the wife of Cap- 
tain Thomas Craig. Robert Jamison 
married Jean Blackburn and their sec- 
ond son. Robert, born in 1739 and mar- 
ried in 1767 to Hannah Baird. was the 
father of Jean Jamison, who became 
the wife of Daniel Craig. Jr., who was 
born in Warrington in 1794. and died 
in Montgomery county in 1836. Dr. 
John Howard Hill removed to Cali- 
fornia in 1851, his two sons Harry and 
Horace going there in i8=;2 — three older 
sons eroinfT with their father and one 
preceding him. ' 

Major Harry Craig Hill, has a dis- 
tinguished war record, having served 
throughout the civil war as a cavalry 
officer, and will carry to his grave many 
mementoes of that heroic service, 
among them a sabre scar extending di- 
agonally across the forehead, the result 
of a wound received in a cavalry charge. 
He served on the stafif of General Ben- 
jamin F. Butler during most of the war. 
Returning to California after the close 
of the war. he became interested in sil- 
ver mines in New Mexico, Colorado and 



Utah, and made his home in Utah for 
several years. He takes special pride 
in his descent from his Scotch-Irish an- 
cestors in Bucks county, and has paid 
several visits to their former homes. He 
has retired from business, and now re- 
sides in San Francisco, California. 



ELIAS DEEMER. For almost two> 
centuries the Deemer family has been 
represented in Pennsylvania. There 
were at one time extensive historical 
records concerning this family, but un- 
fortunately many of these were de- 
stroj'cd, although authentic record is ob- 
tainable to some degree concerning the 
early settlers of the representatives of 
the name in the new world. 

The immigrant ancestors of the Amer- 
ican branch of the Diemer (as was the 
original form of the name) family came 
from Rhenish. Bavaria. They were pro- 
testants in religion, being adherents of 
the doctrines of Zwingli. the great Swiss 
reformer. They came to America very 
early in the eighteenth century, presum- 
ably with that great influx of their 
countrymen who came about 1707. As 
the family tradition has it, they came to- 
Pennsylvania "more than one hundred 
years previous to the second war with 
Great Britain." This would fix the date 
of their coming at not later than 1711, 
but the earlier date of 1707 is generally- 
accepted as the true one. They first set- 
tled near Germantown. and engaged irr 
clearing ofif land for other families, get- 
ting out timber for building purposes, 
burning charcoal, and cutting up wood 
for fuel, which they marketed in Phila- 
delphia. From the vicinity of German- 
town they removed to Providence town- 
ship, Philadelphia (now Montgomery) 
county. 

John Deemer was a landowner in 
Lower Providence township in 1734. but 
the family was settled there before that 
time. In 1727 a German Reform churclr 
(said by some to be the first regularly 
organized church of that denominatiorr 
in the United States, but _ which Mr. 
Lambert doubts), was organized at Skip- 
pack by the Rev. George Michael Weiss. 
Among the original officers of this 
church was Jacob Diemer. and it is be- 
lieved that he or his ancestors were 
among the first German Reformers ir» 
America. 

About 1740 a part of the Deemer fam- 
ily (as the name now appears) removed 
from their Montgomery county home 
and settled in Durham. Bucks county. 
Here they followed farming, charcoat 
burning, and working in the iron fur- 
naces. Some years after settling in Dur- 
ham, a part of the family located in 
Nockamixon. and the greater number 
of their descendants of the present day 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



471 



live in these two townships, with a num- 
ber in Williams township, Northampton 
county. Joseph Deemer, a native of 
Durham, when a young man. located in 
Hunterdon county. New Jersey, and 
worked at "the forge," presumably Ex- 
eter Forge. When the Revolutionary 
war broke out he enlisted in the First 
New Jersey Regiment and served 
throughout the entire struggle, belong- 
ing during that time to four of five dif- 
ferent organizations. All trace of him is 
lost soon after the restoration of peace. 
Pertinent to this narrative is the fact 
that after a lapse of eighy years an- 
other Deemer, Edward by name, also a 
native of Durham, enlisted in the New 
Jersey regiment (the Thirty-first) and 
served in the civil war. 

Dr. Henry M. Muhlenberg, the father 
of the Lutheran church in America, fre- 
quently made mention in his diary of a 
Rev. Diemer, who preached at various 
places during the Revolutionary war, 
and with some he seems to have been 
on intimate terms. It is to be inferred 
from the diary that Mr. Diemer was 
a Lutheran. The Deemers (Diemers) 
were all originally, and nearly all con- 
tinued so. members of the Reform 
church, and if this Diemer was a mem- 
ber of this branch (and of this there is 
no assurance), he departed from the 
faith of his kinsmen. This, however, 
would not be a radical change, for the 
gulf between the two denominations is 
not broad. There were other changes, 
too, for at a later day there were some 
members of the family living in Will- 
iams township who became ^Methodists 
under the preaching of Bishop Asbury 
and other pioneer ministers of that de- 
nomination. After some of the family 
had embraced IMethodism. those of the 
family w-bo adhered to the ancestral 
faith cut off all further intercourse with 
them, and for more than a generation 
the two branches acted the part of utter 
strangers to each other. 

Some time after the removal of a por- 
tion of the Deemer family from Mont- 
gomery county to Durham, some of 
those who remained in Providence re- 
moved to the Susquehanna river and at 
a later time to the Juniata, where fur- 
ther knowledge of them ceases. As has 
been stated, the Deemer family furnish- 
ed at least one soldier to the Revolu- 
tionary war, one to the Mexican war. 
and quite a number to the Union during 
the Civil war. Originally Federalists 
in politics, they, in common with the 
great mass of the settlers of German 
extraction in the upper end of the coun- 
ty, rebelled against the Federalist sys- 
tem of taxation and became "JefFerson- 
ian Republicans." and afterwards Demo- 
crats, which, with few exceptions they 
are to the present time. The Deemers 
were always noted for industry and in- 



tegrity. From the middle of the eigh- 
teenth century to the present time there 
has scarcely been a period of ten years 
when one or more Deemers were not em- 
ployed in the iron furnaces at Durham. 
In early years they did considerable 
freighting over the mountains and down 
the river, but to a large extent abandon- 
ed this occupation when the canal had 
been completed. While that waterway 
was in course of construction they aided 
the work, several of the Deemers serv- 
ing under the afterward celebrated 
George Law, who built the Durham lock 
and acqueduct, and also the lock and ac- 
queduct at the Narrows. 

Michael Deemer, a direct ancestor of 
Elias Deemer, but whose ancestry is not 
obtainable, was born in America, De- 
cember 20, 1776, and died March 8, 1850. 
He became an extensive landowner and 
prominent citizen of Bucks county, mak- 
ing his home in Kintnerville. Nocka- 
mixon township, exercising considerable 
influence in shaping the early policy of 
the county and in promoting its ma- 
terial upbuilding. Dorothea, his wife, 
was born October 15, '1779, and died Oc- 
tober 29, 1843. 

John Deemer (2) son of Michael 
Deemer. resided in Durham township. 
Bucks county, where he. too, followed 
the occupation of farming. He had five 
children, two sons and three daughters. 
Edward Deemer, eldest son of John 
Deemer, was born in the year 1834 on 
the family homestead in Durham town- 
ship, and died December 12. 1896. He 
was reared to the occupation of the 
farm, and at the time of the Civil war 
responded to the countrj-'s call for 
troops, enlisting in the Thirty-first New 
Jersey Regiment, wnth which he re- 
mained until the close of hostilities. 

Elias Deemer (3) a son of John Deem- 
er, acquired his early education in the 
public schools and under private in- 
struction. When fifteen years of age he 
entered upon his business career as a 
salesman in a store in order to acquire 
knowledge of and acquaint himself with 
mercantile methods, and at the age of 
twenty he had entire charge of commer- 
cial enterprises. In the spring of 1859 
he became bookkeeper, collector and 
salesman for W. N. Treichler. of Kint- 
nerville. who was an extensive manu- 
facturer and dealer in lumber. In the 
fall of i860 he went to Philadelphia, 
where he entered a wholesale notion 
house, and in 1861, following the inau- 
guration of the Civil war. joined the 
Union army, enlisting in the month of 
August, as a member of Company E, 
One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania 
Volunteer Infantry, under the command 
of Captain George T. Harvey and of 
Colonel W. H. H. Davis, of Doyles- 
town. Pennsj'lvania. However, in the 
month of May, 1862, he was discharged 



472 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



because of physical disability. The 
following spring he removed to ]\Iil- 
ford. New Jersey, where he engaged in 
business until the spring of 1868. when 
he located in Williamsport. , Lycoming 
county, Pennsylvania, where he has 
since made his home. Here he turned 
his attention to the lumber industry. He 
has been interested in a number of dif- 
ferent lumber enterprises, largely in 
connection with the lumber trade. He 
is the senior member of the firm of 
Elias Deemer & Company, his partner 
being John H. Hunt: was treasurer and 
manager of the partnership of Strong, 
Deemer & Company. Limited; was pres- 
ident of the Williamsport Lumber 
Company, of the Williamsport Land 
and Lumber Company, and of the Will- 
iamsport and Chesapeake Company, and 
of numerous improvement companies; 
and was treasurer and half owner of the 
Williamsport Wood Company. All of 
the latter named companies have, how- 
ever, closed out their business. Elias 
Deemer is now^ and has been since 1893 
president of the Williamsport National 
Bank, and is a stockholder and director 
in the J. K. Risher Furniture Company 
and in the Lycoming Calcining Com- 
pany, and his business enterprise and 
sound judgment have been important 
factors in the successful control of a 
number of important commercial and in- 
dustrial concerns, which have contribu- 
ted to the prosperity of the city of Will- 
iamsport as well as to the success of 
individual stockholders. Mr. Deemer has 
taken an active and helpful interest in 
public affairs. He had never aspired to 
office, yet his fitness for leadership led 
to his selection to the city council in 
the spring of 1888, and his capability 
in the discharge of his duties caused 
his re-election in 1889. He was elected 
a member of the Fifty-seventh Con- 
gress in the fall of 1900, was again elect- 
ed a member of the Fifty-eighth Con- 
gress in the fall of 1902. and once more 
was re-nominated for the third time^ 
an unprecedented occurrence in the con- 
gressional district he represents — and 
was re-elected in the Jail of 1904. a mem- 
ber of the Fifty-ninth Congress, receiv- 
ing 19.807 votes to 11.959 votes for his 
Democratic opponent, thus securing the 
largest majority over a Democratic op- 
ponent that was ever given a Republi- 
can candidate in the district. So that 
he has. since March 4. 1901. represented 
his district in the legislative councils of 
the nation. 

Elias Deemer was married to Henri- 
etta Hunt, in November, 1865, and they 
have four children: William Russell, 
Mary Lillian. Laura Hunt and Lulu 
May. William Russell Deemer. who is 
practicing law in Williamsnort. married 
Sara January Grundy, of Kentucky, and 
have one son, William Russell. Jr.. and 
one daughter. Mary Elizabeth. 



JOHN G. KING, vice-president of the 
Doylestown National Bank, was born in 
New Britain township. December 6, 1857," 
a son of John F. and Mary (Godshalk) 
King, both of German descent. Among the 
early German emigrants to Pennsylvania 
were many of the name of Koenig, long 
since Anglicized into King, all of whom 
seem to have settled originally in Montgom- 
ery county, from whence they migrated into 
several other sections as the country became 
settled westward and northward. Among 
these was Peter King, who with two broth- 
ers, Nicholas and Balthasar, emigrated- from 
Germany in the year 1752, arriving in Phila- 
delphia on October i6th of that year in the 
good ship "Snow Kitty," Theophilus Barnes, 
commander. They probably remained for 
some time, so says tradition, in the neigh- 
borhood of Germantown, but about 1760 
Peter King purchased a farm in Hatfield 
township. Philadelphia, now Montgomery 
county, and settled thereon. Here his two 
sons, Peter and IMartin King, were reared, 
though both eventually found homes in 
Bucks county. 

Martin King, great-grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch, first located in Bucks 
county in 1783, when -he purchased a farm 
of one hundred acres near Leidytown. in 
Hilltown township. He later purchased 
another farm in that neighborhood and be- 
came a prominent man iji the community. 
He was one of the original trustees of the 
Hilltown school house, erected in 1795, and 
maintained for the education of the youth 
of the neighborhood. He died on his Hill- 
town farm in September, 1831, his wife, 
Elizabeth, surviving him. His children 
were : Peter ; Catharine, wife of George 
Eckhardt, of New Britain; Henry; Martin, 
Jr.; John; Elizabeth, wife of Jacob Wisler; 
Mary, wife of Samuel Dannehower ; Sarah 
and Margaret. Martin King. Jr., was the 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch. 
He was born in Hilltown township, and on 
arriving at manhood married Catharine 
Hartman. who bore him three children, 
John F.. Amos and Catharine. The father. 
Martin Kinar. Jr.. died about the year 1827, 
and his widow remarried a man by the 
name of Snyder, and survived her hus- 
band many years, dying in Doylestown 
about 1878. 

John F. King, the eldest son of Martin 
and Catharine (Hartman) King, was born 
in Hilltown township April 19. 1820. At 
the age of sixteen years he went to Phila- 
delphia and learned the trade of a stair 
builder, which he followed for a few vears 
in Philadelphia, and then returned to Bucks 
county, where for several years he followed 
the trade of a carpenter. In 1849 he pur- 
chased of his cousin. John Eckhart, a lot 
of eighteen acres near Newville, in New 
Britain township, where he made his home 
until 1867, when he purchased the farm and 
mill property now owned by the subject of 
this sketch, on the- Herkiaken. a tributary 
of the North Branch, near Fountainville, 
in New Britain township. Mr. King was 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



473 



an active business man. He operated the 
saw and grist mill in connection with his 
farm for several years, and greatly im- 
proved the property. Mr. King was a man 
of high standing in the community. Both 
he and his wife, Mary Godshalk, were ^len- 
nonites. In politics he was a Republican. 
He died in August, 1892. 

John G. King, the subject of this sketch, 
was born near Newville, in New Britain 
township, and was reared on the farm, 
obtaining a good common school educa- 
tion. Being the only child of his parents 
that grew to maturity, his only brother 
Isaiah dying at the age of twelve years, his 
services were in demand in the management 
and conduct of the mill and farm, and he 
never left home excepting for a period of 
eighteen months, nine of which he spent in 
travel and the other nine months in a 
mill. 

After the death of his father he ac- 
quired title to the farm, and has taken 
great pride in its management. In the fall 
of 1900 he was elected prothonotary of 
Bucks county, and filled the office with 
eminent ability for three years. At the 
reorganization of the Doylestown National 
Bank, in the fall of 1903, he was selected 
as a director, and on February ist, 1904, 
was elected vice-president and given a gen- 
eral supervision over the affairs of the bank, 
to which he devotes his entire time. In 
April, 1894, he removed to Doylestown 
borough. He was married, December 26, 
1882, to Belle M. Worthington, daughter 
of Aaron M. and Elizabeth ( Michener) 
Worthington, of Plumstead, and has one 
child, Mabel W., born September 19, 1895. 
In politics Mr. King is a Republican, and 
has always taken an active interest in its 
councils. He is a member of Aquetong 
Lodge, No. 193, I. O. O. R, and of Doyles- 
town Encampment, No. 35. 



DR. A. J. HINES, deceas-d, of 
Doylestown, was born August 5, 1826, 
on the old Hines homestead, in the ex- 
treme west corner of Warrington town- 
ship, adjoining the Montgomery county 
hne, and was a son of William C. and 
Elizabeth (James) Hines. 

Mathew Hynes, the great-great-grand- 
father of Dr. Hines. and the pioneer an- 
cestor of the family, was born in Ire- 
land in 1718. and came to Pennsylvania 
in the year 1740 or thereabouts, locating 
first in White ]\Iarsh township, now 
Montgomery county, and removing a 
few years later to a tract of five hundred 
acres on the county line, partly in what 
was then New Britain township, later ad- 
ded to Warrington, and extending across 
the county line into ' Montgomery. This 
tract, like many other large tracts in that 
locality, was held for half a century by 
parties who were not actual settlers. It 
was patented to Andrew Hamilton, and 
conveyed by him in 1739 to his daughter 
Margaret, wife of William Allen, by whom 



it was conveyed in trust for their use to 
James Delaney of London. It is probable 
that the title and possession was vested in 
M&thew Hines about 1752, though no actual 
transfer of title was made until 1793, when 
it was conveyed by Delaney to the sons of 
Mathew Hynes, except six acres "reserved 
for the use of their father Mathew Hynes." 
Mathew Hynes married Ann Simpson, a 
widow who, tradition relates, preceded 
Mathew to this country from Ireland, with 
her son William Simpson, and that IMathew, 
who had known her in Ireland, followed 
her to America and married her soon attei 
his arrival. Tradition further relates that 
she was the ancestress of General U. S. 
Grant, and that on the occasion of one of 
his early visits to his relatives in Bucks 
county he visited the Hines family, and the 
relationship was discussed by members of 
the family old enough to have some knowl- 
edge of the connection. If this be true, 
Ann Simpson was the widow of William 
Simpson and the mother of another son 
John, who was also a neighbor of the Hynes 
family. He was born in 1738, and died 
August 16, 1804, in Horsham township, 
on the county line near the Hines residence. 
He married Hannah Roberts, daughter of 
Lewis Roberts, of Abington, and a sister 
of Captain (later Colonel) William Rob- 
erts, whose farm adjoined that of Hines, 
and under whom William Hines, son of 
Mathew, served in the Revolutionary war. 
John Simpson and Hannah Roberts were 
married November 25, 1762, and their son 
John, who married Rebecca Weir, daugh- 
ter of Samuel Weir, of New Britain, was 
the grandfather of General Grant, John 
Simpson having removed to Ohio, in 1799, 
when his daughter Hannah, the mother of 
General Grant, was a maiden. Mathew 
Hines died December 23, 1804. aged eighty- 
six years, and his wife Ann on December 
I, 1790, aged eighty years. They are bur- 
ied side by side at Neshaminy church, of 
Warwick of which Mathew was a trustee 
in 1755. They were the parents of three 
sons, ^Mathew. Samuel and William, the 
last two of whotn, at least, have descend- 
ants in Bucks county. 

William Hines was born in 1749. He was 
an ensign of the first regiment " raised in 
Bucks county for service in the Continental 
army, under the supervision of the Bucks 
county committee of public safety, it being 
the complement of four hundred men that 
the county was to furnish for the forma- 
tion of the Flying Camp for the Jersey 
campaign in 1776. The commissions of 
the officers were dated July 9, 1776, and 
William Hines was assigned to the position 
of ensign of the company of which Will- 
iam Roberts was captain, and Henry Dar- 
rah and James Shaw were respectively first 
and second lieutenants. At the close of the 
Jersey and Long Island campaign this reg- 
iment returned to Bucks county and was 
incorporated in the organization of the mi- 
litia in May. 1777. when William Roberts 
was made a lieutenant-colonel, and the cap- 



474 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



tair.cy of his company was committed to 
Henry Darrah, and William Hines became 
its second lieutenant. The company saw 
active service in the fall and winter of 
1777 under General John Lacey, and par- 
ticipated in the battle of Germantown. In 
the reorganization of the militia in May, 
1778, William Hines became first lieuten- 
ant of Captain Darrah's company, which 
did considerable active service in and around 
Philadelphia, though not incorporated m 
the regular Continental army. A well 
founded tradition in the family relates that, 
at one time during the struggle, Lieuten- 
ant Hines was at a blacksmith shop near 
his home having a horse shod, when new: 
of a conflict with the British reached him, 
and that he mounted his horse and hurried 
to the front without returning home. In 
the division of the Hines plantation in 
I793> 143 acres were conveyed to William 
Hines, 112 acres of which descended to his 
son William and his grandchildren, remain- 
ing in the tenure of the family for four 
generations. He died January 17, 1830, 
in his eightieth year. He married Eliza- 
beth Harris, daughter of Henry and Mar- 
tha Harris, of New Britain, and of Welsh 
descent. Elizabeth died September 30, 
1830, aged seventy-eight years, and both 
are buried at New Britain Baptist church. 
They were the parents of eight children : 
viz: three sons, — John; Isaac and William; 
and five daughters, — Elizabeth, who mar- 
ried Simon James, of New Britain ; Ann, 
wife of John Singer; Sarah, wife of John 
Eder; Hannah, wife of Dr. Joseph Mathew ; 
and Priscilla, wife of Britain V. Evans. 
Colonel John, the eldest son, was a promi- 
nent officer of militia, and the grandfather 
of Charles Cox, of Doylestown. Isaac, the 
second son, died a few months before his 
father. 

William C. Hines, the father of Dr. A. 
J. Hines, and the youngest of the three 
sons of William and Elizabeth (Harris) 
Hines, was born on the old homestead in 
"Warrington township. He purchased it at 
the death of his father, and died there in 
1858. He married Elizabeth James, daugh- 
ter of Abiah and Rachel (Williams) Jarpes, 
of New Britain, both natives of New Brit- 
ain and of Welsh descent. The former 
born in 1749, died December i, 1834, was 
a son of Isaac and Sarah (Thomas) James, 
grandson of William and Mary James, an;: 
great-grandson of John and Elizabeth 
James, who emigrated from Caermarthen- 
shire, Wales, in 1810 and settled in New 
Britain. (See James Family in this work). 
The children of William and Elizabeth 
(James) Hines were: Nathan James, An- 
drew Jackson, Elizabeth and Emily, none 
of whom married with the exception of the 
subject of this sketch. 

DR. ANDREW JACKSON HINES, 
was born and reared on the old homestead, 
and was educated at a private school at the 
Hermitage, a well known academy conduct- 
ed in Doylestown township by Professor T. 
J. Clarke. He studied medicine under Dr. 



O. P. James, who was a iirst cousin to his 
mother, and entered Jefferson Medical Col- 
lege, Philadelphia, from which he graduated 
in 1853. After practicing ior a little less 
than a year at Centreville he purchased in 
the fall of 1853 the properly, and practice 
of Dr. Joseph Moyer, at Leidytown, Hill- 
town township, where he practiced for 
eight years with success, and then sold out 
and located at Jarrettown, Montgomery 
county, succeeding Dr. Albanus Styre. He 
remained at Jarrettown until 1874, when he 
removed to Doylestown, and after a few 
months' rest resumed the practice of his 
chosen profession and continued to prac- 
tice until January i, 1901, when he was 
taken seriously ill, and after three weeks of 
intense suffering died on January 23, 1901. 
He married, June 5, i860, Anna Maria 
Armstrong, daughter of Jesse Armstrongs 
of Doylestown, who died in 1876. They 
were the parents of three children : Will- 
iam P., who died in childhood; Eliza- 
beth A., and Ella E., who resides at tuc 
Doylestown homestead. Dr. Hines and his 
family were members of the Baptist church, 
as had been his father and grandmother 
and his maternal ancestors for many gen- 
erations. He was a member of the Bucks 
County Medical Society, and a prominent 
and successful practitioner. His wife was 
a descendant of William Armstrong, a:. 
early Scotch-Irish settler in Bedminster 
township. Bucks county, whose descend- 
ants were at one time very numerous in 
Bucks county, some of them filling posi- 
tions of eminence in the official, military 
and professional life of the county and 
elsewhere. 



A. HAYES JORDAN, editor and pub- 
lisher of the "Republican," Doylestown, was 
born in Riegelsville, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, July 13, 1868, and is a son of Dr. 
Alexander S. and Amanda (Weikel) Jor- 
dan, the former a native of Lehigh county^ 
and the latter of Springfield township, 
Bucks county. 

The first paternal ancestor of A. Hayes 
Jordan of whom there is any definite rec- 
ord was his great-great-grandfather, Frea- 
erick Jordan, of English ancestry, who was 
born in 1744, and in 1769 married Cathar- 
ine Eckel, daughter of Henry and Susanna 
Eckel, of Bedminster township, and settled 
in Alexandria township, Hunterdon coun- 
ty, near Milford, where he operated two- 
mills during the Revolutionary war. Dr. 
John W. Jordan, librarian of the Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania, (a great-grand- 
son) has in his possession letters from Col- 
onel Howell, quartermaster of New Jersey, 
to Frederick Jordan, arranging to meet the 
farmers at IMr. Jordan's mill to pay them 
for grain ground by Mr. Jordan for the use 
of the Continental troops. Frederick Jor- 
dan also served for a time as a sergeant in 
tne New Jersey Line during the Revolu- 
tion. He died in 1784 and his wife Cath- 
arine in 1786, and both are buried in the 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



475 



grave yard of St. Thomas's Protestant 
Episcopal church in Alexandria township, 
near where they lived. Catharine Eckel 
was born in Bedminster township, Bucks 
county, December i, 1750. Her father, 
Heinrich Eckel, with his wife Susanna and 
his mother Catharine Eckel, came to Amer- 
ica from Hannan on the Main, in Hesse, in 
the ship "Ranier," Captain Henry Brown- 
ing, arriving in Philadelphia from Rotter- 
dam, on September 26, 1749. He settled 
in Bedminster township, on land surveyed 
to Chief Justice William Allen, which the 
latter later conveyed to him in fee. He 
died in Philadelphia on his return from a 
visit to his relatives in Germany, in the au- 
tumn of 1764, leaving children, Henry, 
Catharine and John. The children of Fred- 
erick and Catharine (Eckel) Jordan were; 
John, the grandfather of Dr. John W. Jor- 
dan, born September i, 1770; Frederick 
Jr., born August 27, 1772; Catharine, w'ho 
died young, and Henry. John and Henry 
lived and died in Philadelphia. 

Frederick Jordan, Jr., the great-grand- 
father of A. Hayes Jordan, was but twelve 
years of age at the death of his father, and, 
his mother dying two years later, he was 
left to the care of his maternal uncle, 
Henry Eckel, then a farmer and tanner m 
Bedminster , township, Bucks county, re- 
moving later to Springfield township, where 
he lived to an advanced age, dying in 1839. 
Frederick Jordan, Jr., learned the trade of a 
tanner, and soon after attaining his ma- 
jority established himself in business in 
Philadelphia, being senior member of the 
firm of Jordan & Foering, Third street, near 
Race, tanners and leather merchants. This 
firm did an extensive business for several 
years, shipping their product to Europe and 
distant ports of the United States, but lost 
heavily in the trying times preceding the 
second war with Great Britain and failed 
financiall}^ Mr. Jordan then removed to 
near Coopersburg, Lehigh county, where he 
soon recupterated his shattered finances and 
became a considerable landowner and a 
prominent man in the community. He was 
one of the commissioners who laid out Le- 
high county, March 6, 1812, and held toi 
several years the office of justice of the 
peace. He was tw'ice married, first on April 
4, 1797, to Catharine Hartzell, daughter of 
Paul and Catharine Hartzell, of Rockhill, 
Bucks county, and second to Catharine Stet- 
ler, of Lehigh county. Paul Hartzell was 
a tanner in Rockhill township, and died 
there in 1806, leaving a large family, Cath- 
arine Jordan being his eldest daughter. 
Paul w^as a son of Henry Hartzell, the pio- 
neer ancestor of the Hartzell family of 
Bucks county, a large landowner and prom- 
inent citizen. ]\Iany of his descendants 
have become eminent business and profes- 
sional men. The date of the death of Cath- 
arine (Hartzell) Jordan and that of the 
subsequent marriage of Frederick Jordan 
to Catharine Stettler have not been ascer- 
tained further than that the first Catharine 
was living at the death of her father in 



1806. Frederick Jordan died in Upper Sau- 
con, Lehigh county, February i, 1861, ana 
his wife Catharine died February 18, 1847. 

Henry Jordan, eldest son of Frederick 
and Catharine (Hartzel) Jordan, and the 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch, 
was born in Philadelphia in 1800 and died 
in Lehigh county in 1876. He married El- 
len Stahr, of an old Bucks county family 
and German ancestry, and followed the life 
of a farmer in Lehigh county. His chil- 
dren were : William, late of Coopersburg^ 
deceased ; Catharine, who married Louis- 
Seiger; and Mary, who married Owen 
Seiger, both of whom are deceased; James, 
still living on the old homestead ; Frank 
and Milton, of the firm of Jordan & Bro., 
carriage manufacturers of Coopersburg; 
Alexander S., deceased; and Frederick, ot 
Coopersburg. 

Dr. Alexander Jordan was the fourth son 
and sixth child of Henry and Ellen (Stahr) 
Jordan, and. was born in Lehigh county,^ 
April ID, 1839. He was educated at Muh- 
lenberg College, Allentown, and later stud- 
ied medicine and graduated from the med- 
ical department of the University of Penn- 
sylvania in the class of 1861. He first set- 
tled at Coopersburg, where he practiced for 
a short time, locating later at South Beth- 
lehem, from w'hence he removed to Riegets- 
ville, Bucks county, in 1866, practicing his 
chosen profession at the latter place with 
eminent success until his death in Novem- 
ber, 1900. During the war Dr. Jordan 
served for two years in the Union army as 
assistant surgeon in the general hospital. 
He married, July 4, 1861, Amanda Weikel, 
daughter of Charles and Annie (Taylor) 
Weikel, of Springfield township, where she 
was born in 1840. Charles Weikel, father of 
Mrs. Jordan, was also a native of Spring- 
field township, Bucks county, where he died 
in 1S52 at the age of about forty-five years. 
He was a son of Samuel Weikel and a 
grandson of Peter Weikel, who settled in 
Springfield township in 1772 and died there 
in 1830 at an advanced age. Samuel Wei- 
kel, grandfather of ]\lrs. Jordan, was twice 
married and had fourteen children, all o^ 
whom grew to maturity and left families. 
His many descendants are now scattered 
over several states of the Union, though a 
number of them still reside in Bucks coun- 
ty. Dr. Alexander S. and Amanda (Wei- 
kel) Jordan were the parents of three chil- 
dren : Minerva A., Lillie C. and Alexander 
Hayes. Dr. Jordan w'as an active and prom- 
inent member of the Masonic fraternity, be- 
ing a past master of Prosperity Lodge, No. 
567. He was also a past grand of Peace and 
Union Lodge, L O. O. F., of Riegelsville. 
He was affiliated with the German Reformed 
church, and politically was a Democrat. 

A. HAYES JORDAN was born and 
reared in Riegelsville, Bucks county, and 
obtained his elementary education at the 
Rieglesville public schools and Reiglesville 
Academy. He later took a classical course 
at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, 
graduating in the class of 1890 with the de- 



476 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



gree of Bachelor of Arts, and later receiv- 
ing the degree of A. M. at the same insti- 
tution. He taught school for a short time 
in Bucks county, and in i8gi entered the 
office of the "Riegelsville News," but soot, 
after connected himself with the editorial 
stafif of the "Easton Argus," where he re- 
mained until March i, 1903, when he pur- 
chased the "Bucks County (Weekly and 
Daily) Republican," published at Doyles- 
town, which he has since conducted with 
success. Mr. Jordan married, in 1892, 
Dora Snyder, daughter of William H. and 
Annie E. Snyder, of Easton, Pennsylvania, 
and they are the parents of two children — 
Glenn Catharine and Alexander Weikel 
Jordan. 



WILLIAM' CHAFFEE RYAN, lawyer 
and referee in bankruptcy, Doylestown, was 
born in New Hope, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, June 15, i860, and is the son of 
John and Lydia (Moore) Ryan, both na- 
tives of Hunterdon county, New Jersey. 
He spent his boyhood days in his native 
town, and attended the high school there 
until 1878, when he accepted a position as 
clerk in the office of the Lambertville Spoke 
Manufacturing Company, which he Ailed 
until August, 1882. In September, 1882, 
he entered the office of Hugh B. Eastburn, 
Esq., at Doylestown, as a student at law, 
and was admitted to the bar, of Bucks 
county September 15, 1884, and located at 
Doylestown. In 1887 he formed a law- 
partnership wtih the late Hon. Robert M. 
Yardley, member of congress from the 
Bucks-Montgomery district, which was con- 
tinued until 1890. In 1891 Mr. Yardley 
was made receiver of the Keystone National 
Bank, Philadephia, and Mr. Ryan became 
assistant receiver; and in 1894, Mr. Yard- 
ley having also been made receiver of tile 
Spring Garden Bank, Mr. Ryan becanje 
assistant receiver of that institution aild 
continued in the work of 'closing out the 
affairs of both banks until 1898. Return- 
ing to the active practice of law at Doyles- 
town, he was appointed referee in bank- 
ruptcy by the United States District Court 
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 
in July, 1898, a position he still fills (1904). 
He has been admitted to practice in the 
state and federal courts, including the su- 
preme court of the United States ; is a 
member of the County and State Bar Asso- 
ciations and of the National Association o? 
Referees in Bankruptcy. Mr. Ryan stands 
high in the practice of his profession, and 
has acted as coun.sel in many important 
cases. As chief counsel he conducted the 
defence of Wallace Burt, the half-breed 
rnurderer of the Rightlys, in 1894, in connec- 
tion with Howard I. James, Esq. He 
represented the borough of New Hope in 
the important contest against the Western 
Union and Postal Cable Telegraph Com- 
panies over an ordinance Imposing license 
fees on Uie telegraph companies for the 
maintenance of poles and wires within the 



borough limits, and carried the case through 
the state and United States supreme courts. 
The latter court sustained the contention 
of the borough, in 1903. in the case of the 
Western Union Company, (187, U. S. 419), 
but 10 some extent modified its decision 
in the case of the Postal Telegraph and 
Cable Company, in 1904 (192, U. S. 55), 
though it sustained the contention of the 
plaintiff, viz. : the right of the borough to 
enact and enforce such an ordinance if 
the rates imposed be reasonable. The cases 
were therefore important, involving a con- 
stitutional question of great interest. Mr. 
Ryan argued both cases in the several 
courts. 

In politics Mr. Ryan is a Republican and 
has often taken the stump in political cam- 
paigns. He has also been frequently called 
upon to deliver addresses upon formal oc- 
casions. In the practice of his chosen pro- 
fession, to which he is thoroughly devoted, 
he is active, earnest and successful, both as 
a counselor and advocate, frequently ap- 
pearing before the courts in the trial of 
civil and other causes. Mr. Ryan was mar- 
ried April 18. 1889. to Katherine Grimes, 
and has one daughter, Helen Lydia Rvan. 



E. WESLEY KEELER, of Doylestown, 
attorney and counselor at law, was born in 
Buckingham township, Bucks county, Feb- 
ruary 13. 1853, son of Eli K. and Anna F. 
(Reeder) Keeler. His grandfather, John 
Keeler, was born in Tinicum township, 
Bucks county, and was a son of Baltzer 
Keeler, an early settler in that township, 
who lies buried in the old graveyard near 
Lower Tinicum church. John Keeler mar- 
ried Ann Heaney, a granddaughter of Peter 
De Roche, a Frenchman, supposed to have 
come to America with the French troops 
during the Revolution, and settled in Tini- 
cum. John Keeler died a comparatively 
young man, but his widow, "Nancy" Keeler, 
lived to be over one hundred years old. 

Eli K. Keeler was born in Tinicum town- 
ship in 1820, and died in Plumstead town- 
ship, March 10, 1897. He married in 1850 
Anna F., daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth 
Fell Reeder, of Buckingham (see Reeder 
family' in this work), and settled first on the 
Stavely farm in Solebury township, where 
was born his eldest child, a daughter, who 
died in infancy. Two years later he re- 
moved to Buckingham township near the 
Doylestown township line, where Emmor 
Tomlinson lately lived, where the subject 
of this sketch was born. On April i, 1857, 
he removed to a farm in Plumstead, north- 
east of Danboro, where the remaining 
years of his life were spent. ' His wife, 
Anna F., died December 29, 1901. Their 
children were : Louisa, died in infancy ; E. 
Wesley, the subject of this sketch: Anna 
Mary, living in Plumstead. unmarried; 
Sarah Jane, widow of Edmund M. Price, 
of Lahaska, now living in Philadelphia; 
Caroline, uimiarried ; Lizzie R.. wife of 
Joseph II. Meyers, of Plumstead; Charles 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



477 



E., a druggist of Philadelphia ; Edward H., 
died in Buckingham in 1895 ; Emma, wife 
of Daniel S. Klipple, of Plumstead ; and 
Joseph C, a physician in Philadelphia. 

E. Wesley Keeler was reared on the 
Plumstead farm and attended Valley Park 
public school, and later took a course at 
the Doylestown Seminary, and attended 
West Chester Normal School for one term. 
He taught school in Bucks county for five 
years, during the last two of which he was 
studying the rudiments of law, and entered 
the office of George and Henry Lear, at 
Doylestown, as a student, jMarch 11, 1874', 
and was admitted to the bar of his natiye 
county March 13, 1876. Being a careful 
and diligent student and an indefatigable 
worker, he acquired a reputation as a safe 
counselor, and has built up a lucrative 
practice, being considered one of the ablest 
lawyers at the home bar. He has been 
admitted to practice in the Supreme and 
Superior courts of the commonwealth, and 
in the United States District court for the 
Eastern district of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Keeler is a Republican in politics, and 
has always taken a prominent part in the 
councils of his party. He was for several 
years chairman of the county committee, 
and was again chosen for that position in 
1903, and is still filling it with eminent 
ability. He was county solicitor for six 
years, 1885- 1891, and was a notary public 
for many years. The only elective office he 
has filled was that of register of wills for 
the year 1895, by appointment to fill a 
vacancy caused by the death of Chas. H. 
Weaver, the elected register. He has been 
a delegate to many district and state con- 
ventions and was the representative of 
Bucks county in the national convention of 
1892. Mr. Keeler was married to Laura 
W. Jones, on October 6, 1881. They have 
no children. 



DR. JAMES E. GROFF, a popular and 
successful physician, of Doylestown, was 
born near Sellersville, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, August 3, 1856. He is a son of 
Isaac S. and Mary A. (Fellman) Groff, both 
of German descent. 

Hans Jacob Groff emigrated from the 
Palatinate, Germany, with his wife Verona, 
and arrived in Philadelphia in the ship "Pa- 
tience," August II, 1750, and located in 
Rockhill township, Bucks county, on land 
surveyed to him in September, 1761. In 
1770 he purchased two tracts of 186 acres 
and forty-seven acres respectively, near the 
present borough of Perkasie, adjoining the 
land of Jacob Stout, with whose family the 
Groffs later intermarried. He was a black- 
smith by trade. He died April i. 17-82, 
leaving a widow Verona, and children ; 
Jacob, Peter, John, Henry, and Mary, who 
married Isaac Souder. John married Chris- 
tina Fulmer. Peter Groff, brother of Jacob, 
accompanied him to America in the "Pa- 
tience," and both were doubtless sons of 
Peter, who arrived in the "Crown" in 1749. 



Peter Groff, son of Jacob, settled in East 
Nantmeal township, Chester county. Henry 
Groff, fourth son of Jacob and Verona, was 
born in Rockhill township, and at the death 
of his father in 1782 was living on the home- 
stead, and three years later purchased in 
partnership with his brother John one hun- 
dred acres thereof, and purchased John's 
interest therein in 1794. He married Esther 
, and had two sons Jacob and Abra- 
ham. 

Jacob Groff, born on the Perkasie home- 
stead about 1800, acquired title to a part of 
it from his father, Henry Groff, in 1826, on 
condition of providing for his father and 
mother during the remainder of their lives. 
He also purchased two hundred acres ad- 
joining, and other tracts in Rockhill, be- 
coming an extensive landowner and prom- 
inent man in the community. In religion 
he was a Mennonite, and in politics a stanch 
Whig. He died April, 1855. He was twice 
married, his first wife being Mary Magda- 
len, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth 
(Barndt) Stout, of Rockhill, born August 
29, 1804, died February 7, 1848. (See St 
family in this work). The children of Jacob 
and Mary Magdalen Groff were : Owen, 
Isaac, Charles, Abraham, ]\Iary and Jacob. 
Mary, the only daughter, married Jacob 
Shearer. Jacob Groff married (.second) 
Hannah Moore, but had no issue by her. 

Isaac Stout Groff, second son of Jacob 
and Magdalen, was born in Rockhill town- 
ship, August 13, 1834, and there grew to 
manhood. He was a merchant tailor, and 
carried on business at Benjamin, now a part 
of Perkasie borough, for many years. He 
later conducted a general store at Chal- 
font. but returned to merchant tailoring 
steveral years prior to his death, locating at 
Line Lexington, New Britain township, 
where he died in 1890. He was a member 
of the Reformed church. He married Mary 
Ann Fellman, daughter of Jacob Fellman, 
of Richland, of the well known family of 
that vicinity, Charles Fellman, who was 
shreriff of Bucks county, 1854-6, being a 
brother of Jacob. 

Dr. James E. Groff, the subject of this 
sketch, was the only child of Isaac S. and 
Mary Ann Groff, and was born at Ben- 
jamin, August 3. 1856. He attended the 
public schools of that neighborhood until 
fifteen years of age, and then taught school 
for two years. He then entered Ursinus 
College at CoUegeville, and remained two 
and a half years. In his sophomore year the 
serious illness of his father necessitated his 
leaving school, and he returned home and 
conducted his father's business for two and 
a half years, and expected to follow the 
business of a merchant for life, but, his fa- 
ther selling out his business in the spring 
of 1877, James E. began the study of medi- 
cine with Dr. A. J. ]\Iathews, at Chalfont. 
In the fall of the same year he entered Jeff- 
erson Medical College, and graduated in 
1880. He first located for practice of his 
profession at Tradesville, Warrington town- 
ship, Bucks county, and remained there un- 



478 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



til 1886, when he removed to Doylestown, 
where he has lived and practiced ever since. 
He has been eminently successful in liis 
chosen profession, and has built up a large 
and lucrative practice. He is a member of 
the Bucks County Medical Society, the 
Pennsylvania State Medical Society and the 
American Medical Association ; the local 
representative of the State Board of Health 
and a member of the board of United States 
Pension Examining Surgeons. He is now 
serving his second term as a member of 
the borough council of Doylestown. He 
is an active worker in the German Reformed 
â– church of Doylestown ; a member of Doyles- 
town Lodge, No. 24s, F. and A. M.; Aque- 
. tong Lodge, No. 193, I- O. O. F. ; and Len- 
ape Council No. 11 17, Royal Arcanum.' He 
has always taken an interest in all that per- 
tains to the improvement and development 
of his town and county. In politics he is a 
Republican. He was married November 16, 

1876, to Adelaide, daughter of Charles R. 
-Grove, of New Britain, by whom he has 
one son, Howard R., born November 26, 

1877, who is a clerk in the Doylestown 
Trust Company. He was married in 1902 to 
Miss Nellie Wolf, and resides in Doyles- 
town. 



CLARENCE DECKER HOTCHKISS, 
of the. editorial staff of the "Intelligencer," 
Doylestown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
was born in Philadelphia, August 4, 1857, 
and is a son of George W. and Williamma 
(Bittenbender) Hotchkiss, of English and 
German ancestry, respectively. 

He is a lineal descendant of Samuel and 
Elizabeth Hotchkiss, who were married at 
what is now New Haven, Connecticut, in 
1632, from which date the ancestors of the 
subject of this sketch were residents of 
that locality and of New York. Samuel 
Hotchkiss, the great-grandfather of Clar- 
â– ence D., was commissioned a master in the 
United States Navy, July 18, 1788, but re- 
signed his^ commission ]\Iarch 16, 1799, and 
settled in the Wyoming Valley, Pennsyl- 
vania. He married Sarah Decker of Fort 
Ticonderoga, New York. His son George, 
reared in the Wyoming Valley, 
had three children, Jeremiah, Eme- 
line and George W. Hotchkiss. 
George W. Hotchkiss, the father of Clar- 
ence D., married Williamina Bittenbender, 
sixth daughter of William Bittenbender, of 
Easton, Pennsylvania, and removed to 
Philadelphia and later to Doylestown, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania. George W. 
and Williamina (Bittenbender) Hotchkiss, 
were the parents of five children, all of 
whom are deceased except the subject of 
this sketch. 

Clarence D. Hotchkiss attended the pub- 
lic schools of Philadelphia and the 
Wyoming Seminary, and subsequently took 
the studies of a college course under 
private tutors. Upon leaving school he 
entered the drug l)usiness in Philadelphia, 
but relinquished that business on the re- 



moval of the family to Doylestown, and 
entered the office of the Duylcstozvn Demo- 
crat. He subsequently served on various 
papers in Philadelphia, Atlantic City, and 
Lansdale, Pennsylvania, and subsequently 
founded the Apprentices' Journal, a me- 
chanical monthly journal, which he pub- 
lished in Philadelphia for a number of 
years, but sold his interest therein and re- 
turned to Doylestown in 1885, and again 
took a position on the staff of the Demo- 
crat, which he retained until 1890, when 
General W. W. H. Davis, the then editor 
and proprietor, sold the plant to a syndi- 
cate, who organized the Doylestown Pub- 
lishing Company. Mr. Hotchkiss then took 
a position on the reportorial staff of the 
Intelligencer, daily and weekly. In 1892 
he was promoted to local and news editor, 
a position which he has since filled with 
eminent ability. At the incorporation of 
the Intelligencer Company in 1898 he be- 
came a stockholder, and later a director of 
the corporation, and takes a deep interest 
in the conduct and success of this old and 
reliable newspaper. 

Mr. Hotchkiss and his family are mem- 
bers of the Doylestown Presbyterian 
church, and he was the first president of 
the Bucks County Christian Endeavor 
Union, and has always been one of the 
active workers of the organization. He is 
one of the directors of the Intelligencer 
Company, secretary of the Press League 
of Bucks and Montgomery counties, trustee 
of Doylestown Fire Company, No. i, and 
has been secretary of the Doylestown Board 
of Health since its organization in 1894. 
He is a member of Doylestown Lodge, No. 
193, and Doylestown Encampment, No.. 35, 
I. O. O. F., being one of the most active 
members of both organizations, filling im- 
portant positions on their respective degree 
staffs, and serving for many years as one 
of the trustees of both. He is a member 
of the Bucks County Historical Society, 
and was for several years a member of 
the Doylestown Glee Club. Mr. Hotchkiss 
enjoys considerable local celebrity as an 
amateur photographer, and is a member 
of the Columbia Photographic Society of 
Philadelphia. He married, June 19, 1878, 
Albertine Walton, daughter of Dr. Thomas 
H. Walton, for many years a druggist of 
Doylestown, now deceased. Two children 
of Clarence D. and Albertine (Walton) 
Hotchkiss, survive : George S., of the 
reportorial staff of the Intelligencer, and 
Sarah W. 



HARVEY S. KISER, of Doylestown, one 
of the rising younger members of the Bucks 
county bar, was born in Springfield town- 
ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, Septem- 
ber 16, 1871, and is a son of Edwin and 
Emma (Seiner) Kiser, the former of whom 
is serving his second term as county com- 
missioner. 

The first paternal ancestor of this branch 
of the Kiser family of whom we have any 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



479 



Ti 



knowledge was Frederick Kiser, said to 
have been a native of Germany. He set- 
tled in Durham township near the Nock- 
amixon line in 1773, having first appeared 
as a communicant of Nockamixon Lutheran 
church in June, 1773. November 21, 1774, 
he purchased Tract No. 19 of the Durham 
Tract, containing 145 acres and 25 perches, 
and lying along the Nockamixon line, and 
lived thereon until his death, about June i, 
1792. His wife, Anna Barbara Stem, was 
a native of Brotzinger, a little village near 
the Rhine, in the grand duchy of Baden, 
and was a daughter of Johan Michel Stein, 
who died there about the year 1784. Au- 
gust 7, 1784, Friedrich Kyser, of Durham, 
Bucks county, and Anna Barbara, his wife, 
"an heir and issue of Johan Michel Stein, 
late of Brotzinger, in Germany, under the 
jurisdiction of Baden-Durlach, now of the 
County of Bucks" make a power of attor- 
ney to their "loving friend, Jacob Epp, of 
Easton, in the county of Northampton" to 
collect in her name and for her use her 
-whole inheritance "which my deceased 
father Johan Michel Stein, and mother 
Barbara, left unto me in Brotzinger, under 
the jurisdiction of Baden-Durlach, and in 
the hands, care and administration of my 
â– dear and loving friend Johan Jacob Hock- 
smuth." 

The children of Friedrich and Anna Bar- 
bara (Stein) Kyser, were five in number, 
viz. : Mary, , who married a Wagner ; 
Michel ; Conrad ; Friedrich ; and Margaret, 
who married a Gesler, or Gresler. 

Friedrich Kiser, youngest son of Fried- 
rich and Anna Barbara, was born Sep- 
tember 14, 1764. He married Gertrude 
Hoffman, born September 22, 1770. daugh- 
ter of Conrad Hoffman and Gertrude his 
wife, the former being one of the earliest 
patentees of lands in Nockamixon who 
became actual settlers there. Conrad Hoff- 
man obtained a patent from the proprietors 
for two hundred acres of land in Nock- 
amixon in 1765, and died there in 1780, 
leaving sons Conrad, Martin, and Williim. 
and daughter "Kertout" wife of Friedrich 
Kiser, Jr., and Catharine. The widow 
"Kertrout" Hoffman married a German by 
the name of Premour. In 1793 these heirs 
•of Conrad Hoffman made partition of the 
two hundred acres of land, and "allowance" 
and one-half of the same, amounting to 
III acres, was conveved to Frederick Kiser 
and Gertrude his wife, but they soon after 
conveyed it to Martin Hoffman. On Aoril 
7, 1794, Frederick Kiser, Jr., purchased of 
his brother. Conrad Kiser. a plantation of 
135 acres in Nockamixon, near the Durham 
line where he lived the remainder of his 
life, adding to it thirty acres additional in 
1802. This plantation was called "Candia," 
and was originally patented to Thomas 
Leightle. whose widow and son conveyed 
it to Conrad Kiser in 1792. Frederick Kiser 
later purchased 115 acres of land adjoining 
his "Candia" plantation. He died on the 
old homestead December 5, i8j6. aged over 
•eighty-two years. His wife Gertrude pre- 



ceded him six years, dying May 25, 1840, 
at the age of seventy years. They were the 
parents of five sons: Conrad, John, Jacob, 
Frederick and Samuel, of whom the eldest, 
Conrad, born January 21, 1792, died April 
22, 1823; and six daughters — Mary, wife 
of John Hoffman, who settled in Monroe 
county; Catharine, wife of William i^amp- 
bell; Elizabeth, wife of Jacob Trough; 
Sarah, wife of John Seiner; Susan, wife of 
George Ott, who removed to Indiana ; and 
Polly, who never married. 

Samuel Kiser, youngest son of Freaerick 
and Gertrude (Hoffman) "Kiser, was the 
grandfather of Harvey S. Kiser. He was 
born on the old homestead in Nockamixon, 
October 12, 1814, married Mary Ochs, who 
was born in Lower Saucon, Northampton 
county, November 7. 1816, and settled on 
the farm bought in that year by his father, 
adjoining the old homestead, which he pur- 
chased of his father's estate in 1847. He 
was a lifelong resident of Nockamixon, 
dying there March 26, 1877. His widow, 
Mary (Ochs) Kiser, .died August 10, 1880. 
They were the parents of two sons : Wil- 
son O. Kiser, of Nockamixon; and Edwin 
Kiser, of Springfield. 

Edwin Kiser, father of Harvey S. Ki^er, 
was born in Nockamixon in 1840. He was 
engaged in the mercantile business at Bur- 
sonville for a number of years, but for the 
past fifteen years has been engaged in farm- 
ing in Springfield township. He has always 
taken an active interest in the affairs of the 
community in which he lived, and has filled 
a number of local offices, serving for sev- 
eral years as school director of his district, 
and also filling the office of supervisor of 
the roads. In February, 1902, he was ap- 
pointed by the court to fill the unexpired 
term of Michael Callahan, deceased, as 
county commissioner, and at the following 
November election, was elected to succeed 
himself for the term of three years, and 
made a conscientious and efficient official. 
He married in 1870 Emma Seiner, daughter 
of Peter and Hannah Seiner, of Spring- 
field, and that union has been blessed with 
five children: Harvey S., the subject of 
this sketch ; Frank W., now engaged in the 
mercantile business in Germantown ; Minnie 
A., a dressmaker in Allentown ; Ella N., 
residing at home ; and Warren S., a book- 
keeper in Philadelphia. 

Harvey S. Kiser was reared in Spring- 
field township, and acquired his education 
at the Springtown Academy and the Key- 
stone Normal School at Kutztown. Penn- 
sylvania, graduating from the latter in 
1893. Prior to his graduation at Kutztown 
he taught school in Sprmgfield for four 
years, and after his graduation taught at 
Richboro. Northampton township, Bucks 
county, for two years. He then entered 
Dickinson Law School, at Carlisle. Penn- 
sylvania, from which he graduated in 1897. 
He then entered the office of Hon. Webster 
Grim, at Doylestown, as a student at law, 
and on June 6, 1898, was admitted to prac- 
tice at the Bucks county bar. He at once 



48o 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



opened an office at the coiuity seat and en- 
tered upon the practice of his profession. 
July I, 1900, he formed a partnership wit.i 
Hon. Mahlon H. Stout, under the firm 
name of Stout & Kisor, attorneys and coun- 
sellors at law, which continued until the 
elevation of Mr. Stout to the bench in 
January, 1904. Both members of the firm 
were popular and successful lawyers and 
built up a large clientage. Mr. Kiser has 
since continued the practice of his chosen 
profession alone with marked success. He 
has always taken an active interest in all 
that pertains to the best interest of the town 
in which he lives. At the organization of 
the Doylestown Board of Trade he was 
selected as its president, a position he still 
fills. He is a director of the Bucks County 
Trust Company. Doylestown's leading 
financial institution, and is identified with 
several business and social institutions of 
the town. 

Mr. Kiser married, June 5, 1901, Miss 
Louisa Butler, an accomplished young lady 
of Bridgeton, New Jersey. 



JAMES POLLOCK, the genial pro- 
prietor of the Pollock House, Doyles- 
town, was born in county Down, Ireland, 
February 4, 1858. and is a son of James 
and Esther (Kerr) PolloCk, who, with 
their' two sons, James and Robert, and a 
daughter, Sarah Jane, now the wife of 
George Turkington of Plumstead. emi- 
grated to America in 1866 and settled in 
Philadelphia, where both parents died in 

1873. 

The subject of this sketch spent his 
boyhood days in Philadelphia, and ob- 
tained a meagre education at the public 
schools. He was compelled to earn his 
own livelihood at a very early age, and 
sought such employment as w^as avail- 
able to boys of his age. At the age of 
eighteen years he opened a small store 
for the sale of coffees and tea, and sup- 
plemented the local trade by running a 
team out into the country, taking orders 
and delivering the goods. In 1880. he 
removed to Doylestown and opened a 
store there for the sale of cofifees and 
tea, which he conducted for two years. 
In 1883 he bought out the bottling estab- 
lishment on State street, Doylestown, 
and conducted it until 1891, when he 
sold out and purchased the Lenape cigar 
store, which he conducted for over a 
year. About this time he purchased a 
tract of land at West Court and Frank- 
lin streets and erected several houses 
thereon. In the summer of 1895 he con- 
ducted a hotel at Atlantic City. Return- 
ing to Doylestown he began the manu- 
facture of bicycles, a business which he 
conducted for nearly two years. In 1898 
he purchased the Armstrong property on 
the north side of the borough, and. open- 
ing Shewell and Harvey avenues, laid 
it out into building lots, many of which 



have been since built upon. In 1899 he 
was proprietor of the Union House,. 
Lambertville. In 1900 he purchased the 
present site of the Pollock House, then 
a restaurant, which he conducted for 
two years, and then erected the present 
hotel building. A unique feature of the 
popular hostelry is the Sixteenth Cen- 
tury Cafe, known as "The Jug in the 
Wall," fitted up in the quaint style of 
centuries past, that attracts a great deal 
of attention from visitors to the county 
town. Mr. Pollock has always taken a 
deep interest in everything that pertains 
to the improvement of the town. He was 
one of the organizers and a member of 
the first board of directors of the Doyles- 
town Electric Company, and was super- 
intendent of their plant for about one 
and a half years. He was an original 
stockholder and director in the Worstall 
and Carl Wheel Works, and has been an 
active promoter of other local enter- 
prises. In politics he is an ardent Re- 
publican. He has served three years in 
borough council, and was one of the 
most active members in the advocacy of 
inunicipal improvements. Mr. Pollock 
is strictly a self-made man, and by in- 
dustry, integrity and a close application 
of good business qualifications has won a 
fair competence. 

He was married, April 4, 1879, to 
Emma, daughter of Charles and Wil- 
helmina Miller, of Philadelphia, who 
has borne him two children : Emma, born 
1880, died 1884; and Laura, born March 
29, 1881, who resides at home. 



HON. CARLILE SHEPHERD, of Buck- 
ingham township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, was born October 19, 1834, on the 
farm adjoining his present residence, that 
had been the home of his ancestors for 
three generations. He is a son of Cornelius 
and Jane (Fell) Shepherd, both natives 
of Buckingham township. 

Cornelius Shepherd, the great-grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch, is said 
to have come to America from Germany 
in 1752, accompanied by a brother and two 
sisters. He located in Baltimore county, 
Maryland, where he married into a family 
who were members of the Society of 
Friends, and became a member of the 
Society. On 6 mo. 5, 1/75, he produced at 
Buckingham Meeting a certificate from 
Gunpowder Monthly Meeting in Maryland 
for himself, wife Catharine and children 
Rachel, Joseph, Alargaret, Jonathan and 
Mary. The birth record of these children 
as shown by the Buckingham records is 
as follows : Rachel, born 7 mo. 3, 1762 ; 
Joseph, born 5 mo. 31. 1764; Margaret, born 
10 mo. 4, 1766; Jonathan, born 6 mo. 8. 
1771 ; and Mary, born 6 mo. g, 1774. He 
purchased the Buckinghatn farm of no 
acres in 1789, and spent his remaining days 
thereon, dying in 1819. He was disowned 






^^iy/c.^/^^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



481 



by the Friends in 1779 for taking the oath 
of allegiance to the United Colonies, and 
refusing to acknowledge his sorrow there- 
for. His wife Catharine having died, he 
married (second) on April 23, 1801, Phebe" 
Scott, who survived hjm, dying at the 
residence of Thomas Smith, in Buckingham, 
4 mo. 18, 1832, at the age of ninety-four 
years, three months and four days. His 
daughter Rachel married Joseph Burgess, 
of Buckingham, 2 mo. 6, 1786. Joseph mar- 
ried Sarah, daughter of John Carlile, 
March 24, 1788. Margaret married Isaiah 
Michener, 3 mo. 5, 1789; Jonathan mar- 
ried out of meeting and was disowned in 
1798; and Mary married Mechack Miche- 
ner, March 30, 1793. 

Joseph Shepherd, grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, as above stated, mar- 
ried Sarah Carlile in 1788. By the will of 
his father the Buckingham farm was de- 
vised to the two sons, Joseph and Jonathan, 
they paying the legacies to the daughters 
and a dower to their stepmother. In 1820 
they partitioned the farm between them, 
Joseph getting the western half, fifty-seven 
acres. He died in 1821, and the farm de- 
scended to his eldest son, Cornelius, the 
father of the subject of this sketch, who 
spent his whole life thereon. The children 
of Joseph and Sarah (Carlile) Shepherd 
were : Elizabeth, married William Car- 
min ; Rachel, married William Jones ; Re- 
becca; Cornelius; John; Benjamin; and 
Joseph. 

Cornelius Shepherd, the eldest son, was 
bom on the old homestead in 1797, and 
died there in 1881. With the exception of 
a few years prior to the death of his grand- 
father, when his parents resided in New 
Britain, his whole life was spent on this 
farm. In politics he was a Democrat, and 
took an active part in the councils of his 
party. He served one term as director of 
the poor. In religion, he conformed to the 
principles of the Friends, whose meetings 
he and his family attended. He was a 
member of Doylestown Lodge, I. O. O. F., 
and was an active and influential man in the 
community. He married Jane, daughter of 
Eli and Rachel (BradshawO Fell, who was 
born 2 mo. 12, 1809, on an adjoining farm, 
and a descendant of one of the oldest fami- 
lies in the neighborhood, an account of 
which is given in this work. She was a 
granddaughter of Seneca and Grace (Holt) 
Fell, great-granddaughter of John and 
Elizabeth (Hartley) Fell, and great-great- 
granddaughter of Benjamin and Hannah 
(Scarborough) Fell. 

Cornelius and Jane (Fell) Shepherd were 
the parents of eleven children, seven of 
whom grew to maturity, viz. : Joseph, born 
7 mo. 6, 1828, now living in Philadelphia; 
Elizabeth, born 9 mo. 25, 1829, widow of 
Robert Long, now living with her son, 
^Varren S. Long, at Doylestown; Martha 
/ nn, born 2 mo. 8, 1833, widow of Robert 
A -mstrong, now living at Lock Haven, 
I msylvania ; Carlile ; Cornelius, born 
I lo. 20, 1837, an eminent physician of 
31-3 



Trenton, New Jersey, died 1902 ; Sarah 
Jane, born 8 mo. 9, 1840, unmarried, living 
with her brother Carlile; Watson F., born 
12 mo. 28, 1843, a lawyer at Pottsville, 
Pennsylvania. Jane (Fell) Shepherd died 
7 mo., 1889. 

The subject of this sketch, born 10 mo. 
19, 1834, was reared on the old homestead 
and acquired his education at the public 
schools. He has never followed any other 
vocation than that of a farmer except that 
he taught school a part of a term as a 
substitute for an uncle. He remained on 
the homestead until 1883, from which time 
until 1902 he farmed in Buckingham as a 
renter. In the latter year he purchased his 
present farm of thirty-five acres. In poli- 
tics he is a Democrat ; he was elected in 
1892 to the state legislature and served one 
term. He is a member of the Presbyterian 
church of Doylestown, of which he has been 
an elder for thirty years. He has been the 
superintendent of the Sabbath school at 
Friendship School for thirty years. He 
married in 1867 Hannah B. Overholt, 
daughter of Samuel and Mary Ann (Pick- 
ering) Overholt, of Chester county, Penn- 
sylvania. She died in April, 1888. Mr. and 
Mrs. Shepherd were the parents of three 
children — Harry W., deceased; Wilmer S., 
now in the stationery business in Philadel- 
phia ; and Laura P., wife of Robert Mc- 
Neal}', in the employ of the Easton Electric 
Railway Company. 



HENRY C. SHEPHERD, of Bucking- 
ham, was born in that township, and is a 
son of John Carlile, and Elmina (Shaw) 
Shepherd. On the paternal side he is a 
descendant of the family mentioned in the 
preceding sketch, being a grandson of 
Joseph and Sarah (Carlile) Shepherd, and 
great-grandson of Cornelius and Katharine 
Shepherd, who migrated from Baltimore 
county, ]\Iaryland, to Buckingham in 1775. 

John C. Shepherd, the father of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was born on the old 
homestead in Buckingham, and in early life 
learned the trade of a shoemaker and fol- 
lowed that occupation in Plumstead town- 
ship for several years. In 1850 he pur- 
chased the farm of 126 acres in Bucking- 
ham, nowr owned by the subject of this 
sketch, where he resided from that date 
until his death in 1883. He was an active 
worker in the Democratic party, and served 
one term as coroner of the county, 1855- 
1857. He was for many years a trustee 
of the Hughesian Free School, and ^Iso a 
director of the public schools. In religion 
he was a Friend. His wife. Elmina Shaw, 
was a daughter of Aaron and Susanna 
(Brown) Shaw, and was born in Plum- 
stead township, May 4, 1814, and was mar- 
ried to John C. Shepherd, April 4, 1838. 
She died April 29, 18S6. 

The pioneer ancestor of this branch of 
the Shaw family was John Shaw, a native 
of England, who settled in Northampton 



482 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



townsliip in 1697, purchasing in that year 
300 acres of land. By his wife Susanna he 
had ten children, who have left numerous 
descendants in Bucks county and elsewhere. 
James Shaw, eldest son of John and 
Susanna, was born January 9, 1694. In 
1724 he purchased of his father-in-law, 
Thomas Brown, a native of Barking, Essex 
county, England, 200 acres of land in Plum- 
stead township, a part of which remained 
the property of his descendants until 1903, 
and settled thereon. He died December 
3, 1761. By his wife, Mary Brown, he had 
six children; the sixth, Alexander, born 
November 24, 1734, died January 11, 1790. 
was the ancestor of the subject of this 
sketch. He inherited the old homestead 
and lived his whole life thereon. He mar- 
ried Sarah, the widow of Moses Brown, by 
whom he had eight children. Aaron Shaw, 
the eighth child of Alexander and Sarah 
Shaw, was the grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch. He was born on the 
old homestead. August 19, 1778, and died 
November 3, 1838. He lived on a portion 
of the old Shaw homestead. He married. 
December 13, 1804, Susanna Brown, of 
Plumstead. The children of Aaron and 
Susanna (Brown) Shaw were: Rachel; 
Amos B. ; Charles M. ; Harvey ; Elmina. 
the mother of the subject of this sketch; 
John A. ; Aaron and Gilbert. Both the 
Shaws and Browns were prominent people 
in Buckingham and Plumstead township. 
where they were large landowners. Both 
families were members of the Society of 
Friends, and there was a number of inter- 
marriages between them. The Browns 
donated the land upon which the Plum- 
stead meeting house stands. 

The children of John C. and Elmina 
(Shaw) Shepherd are: Harvey S., of Chi- 
cago, 111.; John A., of Buckingham; Henry 
C. ; Charles S., deceased, who was insur- 
ance commissioner in Chicago ; and Emily, 
of Buckingham. 

Henry C. Shepherd, the subject of this 
sketch, was reared on the Buckingham 
farm and obtained his education at the 
Hughesian School. His father was an in- 
valid for many years prior to his death, 
and, his two brothers having left home to 
seek their fortunes in the west, the active 
management of the farm devolved upon him 
soon after attaining manhood. In 1884 he 
purchased the farm, his mother removing to 
the village of Buckingham, where she died 
two years later. In 1891 Mr. Shepherd was 
appointed clerk of the board of county com- 
missioners and removed to Doylestown, 
where he resided for four years. Return- 
ing to Buckingham, he again took up the 
management of the farm. In 1900 he re- 
moved to the village of Buckingham, but 
still continues the active management of 
the farm. In politics he is a Democrat, and 
takes an active part in the councils of the 
party. He has served three years as school 
director, and in 1899 was elected trustee 
of the Hughesian School for life. He is a 
member of Aquetong Lodge, No. 193, I. O. 



O. F., of Doylestown. He married, in 
1883, Minnie W. Holloway, daughter of 
Henry and Ellen Holloway. of Philadelphia, 
both deceased. Mr. and Airs. Shepherd are 
the parents of one child, Isabelle Emily, 
born October 18, 1893. 



A. OSCAR MARTIN, architect, of 
Doylestown, was born at Dublin, Bucks 
county, September 8, 1873, and is a son of 
Jonas and Mary Catharine (Crouthamel) 
Martin. Jonas Martin, the grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch, was 'a native of 
Bucks county, and of German descent, his 
ancestors having been among the earliest 
German settlers in upper Bucks. He was 
a veteran of the civil war, having enlisted 
in Company D, Captain Jacob Swartz- 
lander, in the One Hundred and Fourth 
Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel 
W. W. H. Davis, on September 17. 1861, 
being commissioned sergeant of the com- 
pany. He served the full term of his en- 
listment, three years, and re-enlisted in the 
same company for the war. After his re- 
enlistment, with a number of other mem- 
bers of the company stationed at Philadel- 
phia, while the company was being recruited, 
he paid several visits to his family. In 
January, 1865. they were ordered to the 
front and proceeded to Point of Rocks, 
Virginia, where Sergeant Martin was at- 
tacked with acute diarrhoea, and died Jan- 
uary 24. 1865. and is buried in the Na- 
tional Cemetery at City Point. Virginia, in 
Section F, Division i, No. 138. His widow, 
who was Hannah Hill, of Bedminster, is 
still living at Durham, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, aged eighty-eight years. 

Jonas Martin, father of the subiect of this 
sketch, was born on a farm near Dublin, 
in Bedminster township, in 1850. He lived 
on the farm until his eighteenth year, when 
he was apprenticed to the carpenter trade, 
and has followed that occupation ever since. 
He has been a resident of Doylestown for 
the past thirty years, where he has been 
a prominent contractor and builder. He 
married Mary Catharine Crouthamel, who 
was born in Bedminster township. Bucks 
county in 1851, the daughter of Michael 
and Barbara Crouthamel. both of German 
descent. They were the parents of thir- 
teen children, twelve of whom survive : 
Ida. wife of George Freas, a carpenter of 
Philadelohia : Ezra, a builder and contrac- 
tor in Philadelphia: A. Oscar, the subject 
of this sketch: Elmira. wife of Warren 
Lewis, a painter, residence Philadelphia ; 
Barbara, residing at home : Frank, a car- 
penter residing in Philadelphia : Laura, 
Raymond, Emma, Hannah and Howard re- 
siding at home. 

A. Oscar Martin, the subject of this 
sketch, was an infant when his parents 
removed to Doylestown. and his education 
was acquired at Doylestown high school. 
He learned the carpenter trade with his 
father, but at the age of seventeen years be- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



483 



gan the study of architectural drawing, and 
in 1892 entered Drexel Institute, Philadel- 
phia, where he took up a special course for 
the study of architectural work. He early 
displayed special talent for this branch 
of work, and prior to his college course de- 
signed numerous buildings. Atter his grad- 
uation he spent nearly three years in the 
offices of prominent architects in New York 
city, Philadelphia and Buffalo, New York, 
thereby gaining the necessary experience 
to equip him for a successful career in his 
chosen profession. He then located in 
Doylestown, where he is doing a fine busi- 
ness. The German Reformed and Meth- 
odist churches were designed by Mr. Mar- 
tin, as well as numerous prominent build- 
ings in other parts of the country. His 
plans for the development of the grounds 
and location of building of the Bucks Coun- 
ty Historical Society were accepted by the 
building committee, and he drew the sec- 
ond prize in the competition. Politically 
Mr. Martin is a Republican. He is a mem- 
ber of Aquetong Lodge, No. 193, I. O. O. F. 
Religiously he is a member of the German 
Reformed church. 

He was married in January, 1896, to Miss 
Minerva Fretz, "of Bedminster, and they 
are the parents of three children : Marian 
Cathryn, died April 30, 1905; jMargaret F., 
and Fred F. 



LEHMAN & SONS. The enterprising 
firm of Lehman & Sons, retail and whole- 
sale butchers, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 
has been for many years one of the promi- 
nent business firms of Doylestown. Michael 
Lehman, the senior member of the firm, 
was born at Landow, Bavaria. April 22, 
1828, and came to America about 1850. He 
first found employment with John G. Myers, 
of Plumstead, and later with John Clem- 
mens, of Doylestown township. In 186 1 
he started the business of pork butchering 
at the corner of State and Pine streets, 
where McGinty's printing establishment 
now stands, and two years later moved to 
his present location on the opposite side of 
State street. In 1865 he entered into part- 
nership with Samuel Hall, of Doylestown, 
and largely increased the business, adding 
in 1867 the beef butchering branch and 
shipping large quantities of meat to Phila- 
delphia. In 1876 he purchased Mr. Hall's 
interest in the business, and took his son 
Harry C. into the firm. In the autumn of 
the same year the other son, Arthur C. 
also became a member of the firm, under 
the name of Lehman & Sons, which has 
continued to the present time, doing a large 
and successful business, wholesale and re- 
tail, and maintaining a high standing as a 
reliable business firm. 

Mr. Lehman is a son of Joseph and Mar- 
garet (Diemer) Lehman, and grandson of 
John and Elizabeth (Schaffer) Lehman, 
who were fa^-mers in Germany. Joseph was 
•one of six children : Michael, Peter, Jacob, 
Joseph, Elizabeth and Catharine. Joseph 



and Margaret (Diemer) Lehman had three 
children : Adam, Michael and Elizabeth. 
Adam also came to America, settling in 
Philadelphia in 1830, and removing later 
to the neighborhood of Doylestown, owning 
and occupying the farm lately occupied by 
the Doylestown Country Club, south of the 
town, and also owning a small farm at 
Pebble Hill. He married a Miss Schreiner, 
and had seven children : John, Joseph, 
Henry, Adam, Charles and two others who 
are deceased. Michael Lehman married 
Hester Deemer, daughter of Bernard 
Deemer, of Rockhill township, Bucks coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, where she was born, Oc- 
tober 25, 1825. She was of German descent, 
but her ancestors had been residents of 
Bucks county for several generations. (See 
Deemer Family, in this work). Mrs. Leh- 
man died in Doylestown in 1896. Michael 
and Hester (Deemer) Lehman were the 
parents of two children — Harry C, and 
Arthur C, the two junior members of the 
firm of Lehman & Sons. 

ARTHUR C. LEHMAN, eldest son of 
Michael and Hester (Deemer) Lehman, was 
born at Doylestown, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, November 22, 1855. He received his 
preliminary education at the public schools 
of Doylestown, and finished the course at the 
Doylestowai English and Classical Seminary. 
From 1869 to the fall of 1876 he filled a 
clerical position in Philadelphia. He then 
returned to his native town and entered into 
business there with his father and brother 
Harry C, and has since been an active mem- 
ber of the firm of Lehman & Sons, having 
special charge of the wholesale department, 
and attending to the trade in Philadelphia. 
He married. November i, 1877, Elvina 
Kemble, daughter of Charles and Eliza- 
beth (Thompson) Kemble, of Philadelphia, 
and took up his residence on State street, 
Doylestown, where he still resides. Mrs. 
Lehman died June 30, 1900. They are the 
parents of three children, viz. : George W., 
born November 26, 1879; Addie L., born 
November 16, 1881 ; and Harry L., born 
April 14, 1886. George W. received his 
primary education at Doylestown and then 
took a four years course at the Jefferson 
Medical College, Philadelphia, and later 
graduated from a medical university in 
Tennessee. Addie L., is possessed of re- 
markable musical talent; she is a graduate 
of the Sternburg Musical Conservatory at 
Philadelphia, and is considered one of the 
ablest performers on the piano in Bucks 
county. She has conducted a number of 
musicales in Bucks county, Philadelphia and 
elsewhere, and has officiated at many high 
class musical . entertainments. Harry L., 
the youngest son, is at present a student at 
a preparatory academy in Franklin county, 
Pennsvlvania. 

HARRY C. LEHMAN, second son of Mi- 
chael and Hester (Deemer) Lehman, was 
born at Doylestown, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, February 26, 1858. He acquired his 
education at the Doylestown public school 
and Doylestown English and Classical Sem- 



484/ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



inary. On leaving school he entered his fa- 
ther's butchering establishment and meat 
store, and in the spring of 1876 became a 
partner in the business, and is still a member 
of the firm of Lehman & Sons. He mar- 
ried, November 21, 18S8, Mary C. McAnall, 
adopted daughter of William McAnall. She 
was born in Philadelphia, June 14, 1866. 
They are the parents of two children : 
Charles F., born September 21, 1889, now 
a student at a preparatory school m Frank- 
lin county, Pennsylvania; and Bertha, born 
January 11, 1893, a student in the Doyles- 
town high school. 



filled other than local offices. He is a 
practical and successful farmer. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Brunner have been born three 
children: Wallace, deceased; Benjamin 
Franklin, and Harvey Leroy. 



HARVEY S. BRUNNER, of Bucking- 
ham township, Bucks county, is a worthy 
representative of one of the oldest Penn- 
sylvania German families in Bucks 
county, and of that sturdy race who by 
industry, frugality and rectitude have 
added much to the wealth, prosperity and 
moral standing of the county. Many of 
his name have found homes in Bucks 
.county, the first Brunner arriving in 
Pennsylvania in 1728. The subject of 
this sketch is a son of Solomon and Bar- 
bara (Shelly) Brunner, both natives of 
Springfield township, Bucks county, and 
was born in Bedminster township, March 

I, 1857. 

Solomon Brunner was born in the 
year 1822, and his wife Barbara two 
years earlier. On their marriage they 
settled in Bedminster township, where 
he followed his trade, that of a car- 
penter, later locating at Danboro. in 
Plumstead township, where he resided 
for three years. A few years prior to his 
death, which occurred on March 14, 1896, 
he removed to Telford, Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania. His widow is a 
resident of Hatfield, Montgomery 
county. They were the parents of eight 
children, five of whom survive: Cath- 
arine, wife of Abraham Rohr, of Bed- 
minster; Isaiah, residing in Indiana; 
Charles, of Hatfield; Harvey S. and 
Thomas, of Bethlehem, Pennsjdvania. 
The family were members of the Ger- 
man Reformed church. 

Harvey S. Brunner was reared in Bed- 
minster township and received his edu- 
cation in the public schools, and at the 
age of eighteen years began teaching in 
his native township, which he followed 
for two years. After two years devoted 
to painting, he took up the carpenter 
trade under Louis High, of Bedminster, 
and followed that trade for nine years. 
In 1886 he married Hannah Overholt, 
daughter of Abraham and Hannah Over- 
holt, of Bedminster, and for three years 
conducted the farm of his father-in-law. 
In the spring of 1890 he purchased his 
present farm in Buckingham and moved 
thereon. He and his family are mem- 
hers of the Mennonite meeting. In pol- 
itics he is a Republican, but has never 



HENRY CLAY LARGE. Among the 
most successful, enterprising and scien- 
tific farmers of Bucks county is Henry 
Clay Large, of Buckingham township. 
He was born in Buckingham on Febru- 
ary 2, 1846, and is a son of William M. 
and Anne (Watson) Large. The Large 
family is one of the oldest in Bucks 
county, though the lineal ancestors of 
the subject of this sketch were residents 
of New Jersey for three generations. 
Joseph Large and Elizabeth his wife 
came to Bucks county from Long Island 
about 1690, and settled in Falls town- 
ship, where he died about 1706, leaving 
four sons: John, who settled in Bristol, 
Joseph, the ancestor of the Larges of 
middle Buckingham; Samuel and Eben- 
ezer. Samuel Large settled in early life 
in Kingwood, Hunterdon county. New 
Jersey, where he purchased a large tract 
of land. He was one of the original 
members of Kingwood Friends' Meeting 
in 1744, and was an elder until his 
death, 6 mo, 9, 1765, and travelled ex- 
tensively in this and other provinces in 
the "service of truth." Jacob Large was 
born in Kingwood and became an ex- 
tensive farmer there. He married 8 mo., 
1746, Mary Bunting, and raised a fam- 
ily of nine children: Aaron; Elizabeth; 
Samuel; Anne, married Isaac Lundy; 
Mary, married John Allen; Ebenezer; 
Rebecca; William; Sarah. William, 
' born 7 mo. 14, 1765, married Susanna 
Palmer. 

William M. Large, father of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was born in King- 
W'obd township, Hunterdon county. New 
Jersey, June 17, 1812. being a son of Will- 
iam and Susanna (Palmer) Large. His 
father died when he \yas a babe, and at 
the age of twelve years he came to 
Doylestown and was apprenticed to 
James Kelh^ then editor and proprietor 
of the "Bucks County Intelligencer," to 
learn the printing trade. He served his 
term, and, arriving of age, remained in 
the ofiice a few weeks, and then went 
to Philadelphia in search of a job. Here 
he encountered Seneca W. Ely, a native 
of Buckingham, just returned from 
Rochester, New York, where he, too, had 
learned the printing trade, and the two 
young printers formed a partnership, 
purchased a press, and removed to Chil- 
licothe. Ohio, where they started a print- 
ing office. At the end of a year. Mr. 
Large having been solicited by his pre- 
ceptor to return and take an interest in 
the business, came back to Doylestown 
and entered into partnership with Mr. 
Kelly. They ran the "Intelligencer" for 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



48: 



two years, 1835-36, when Mr. Large re- 
tired from the hrm, but one year later 
bought the entire interest of Mr. Kelly 
and conducted the paper with good suc- 
cess until March 14, 1841, when he sold 
out to Samuel S. Fretz. He then pur- 
chased a farm in Upper Buckingham, 
and followed farming for the next fif- 
teen years. In 1857 he became one of the 
banking firm of J. Hart & Co., of 
Doylestovvn, and retained his interest 
therein until about 1864. During the fif- 
ties he purchased the farm wdiereon the 
subject of this sketch now resides, on 
the Buckingham and Doylestown turn- 
pike, known as Chestnut Grove Farm, 
and erected the present handsome and 
commodious buildings, and took up his 
residence there, where he died. May 20, 
1893, in his eighty-first year. William 
M. Large w^as a man of more than or- 
<iinary intellectual ability, and a prom- 
inent and successful man in the com- 
munity. He was a model farmer and 
successful business man. He married, 2 
mo. 17, 1841, Anne, daughter of Joseph 
and Mary (White) Watson, of Bucking- 
ham, of one of the oldest families in 
Buckingham. She died in 1889, aged 
seventy-six years. The children of Will- 
iam M. and Anne (Watson) Large 
w^re: Mary L., deceased, who was the 
-wife of Louis Buckman, of Doylestown; 
Henry Clay; and Watson, deceased. Mr. 
Large and his family were members of 
Buckingham I\Ion|;hly Meeting of 
Priends. 

The subject of this sketch was reared 
on the farm and was a student in the 
common schools and at the Hughesian 
Free School, and later attended a priv- 
ate school at Doylestown. He has al- 
ways been a farmer, and takes great 
pride in the home farm, which he ac- 
quired at his father's death. In politics 
he is a Republican, but has never sought 
or held public office. He is a member 
of Buckingham Friends Meeting. H. 
Clay Large was married, February 12, 
1880, to Lavinia, daughter of Frederick 
and Rachel (Dubree) Pearson, of Sole- 
bury, Bucks county, who has borne him 
five children, all of-whom are living at 
home, viz.: Mary B., Josephine C, Will- 
iam M., Rachel and Anna W. 



EDWIN HEMMERLY. Among the 
enterprising and prosperous farmers of 
Buckingham is the subject of this 
sketch. He w^as born in Springfield 
township, Bucks county, son of John and 
Catharine (Wimmer) Hemmerly, both 
of German extraction, descendants of 
â– early German settlers in Upper Bucks or 
Lehigh county. 

John Hemmerly w^as born in either 
Lehigh county or near the line of that 
county, in Springfield township. Bucks 
â– county, about the year 1807. He was a 



blacksmith and followed that vocation in 
Springfield township for many years and 
up to within a few years of his death. He 
was one of the first in that section to 
manufacture the old "Bull" plow, and 
did a large and profitable business. He 
married (first) Catharine Wimmer, who 
died in 1849. The marriage resulted in 
the birth of eight children, of whom 
four survive: Levi, of South Bethlehem; 
Edwin H., the subject of this sketch; 
John, of Luzerne county; and Amanda, 
widow of Levi Overholt, living at Hel- 
lertown, Northampton county. The 
father married (second) Barbara Hottle, 
and had by her four sons and one daugh- 
ter, of whom only one survives. Jacob 
Hemmerly. an upholsterer of Philadel- 
phia. A few years prior to his death 
John Hemmerly retired from business 
and removed to Bethlehem, and two 
years later took up his residence with his 
daughter Matilda, now deceased, in 
South Bethlehem, where he died at the 
age of eighty-three years. In early life 
Mr. Hemmerly was a Democrat m poli- 
tics, but at the organization of the Re- 
publican party in 1856 he became a mem- 
ber of that party, and voted the ticket 
for the remainder of his life. In re- 
ligion he was a Mennonite. 

The subject of this sketch spent his 
bovhood daj'S among the farmers of 
Springfield township, after his mother's 
death, and received a limited education 
at the public schools. On December 22, 
i860, he married Eliza Landis, daughter 
of David and Lydia (Jacoby) Landis, of 
New Britain township, but raised in 
Springfield township, and began life as 
a farmer. In 1862 he enlisted in Com- 
pany F. One Hundred and Seventy- 
Fourth Regiment, .Pennsylvania Volun- 
teers, and served nine months, the term 
of his enlistment. In 1864 he enlisted 
in the Second New Jersey Cavalry Reg- 
iment, and served to the close of the 
war. Returning home he again engaged 
in farming. In 1873 he purchased hi; 
present farm of fifty acres, and has re- 
sided thereon ever since. In ponticJ 
jNIr. Hemmerly is a Republican, h.^.s 
served his township as supervisor tor 
four years, and in .1902 was the candi- 
date for county commissioner, but was 
defeated. He is a member of the Lu- 
theran church, and belongs to the Grand 
Army of the Republic, being a member 
of General Robert L. Bodine Post, No. 
306, at Doylestown. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Hemmerly have been 
born eight children, five of whom sur- 
vive: Emma, wife of David Cyrus Boyer, 
of Durham. Bucks county: Lydia, wife of 
Linford Raike, of Doylestown: Clinton, 
a carpenter and builder at Oak Lane, 
Pennsylvania; David, superintendent of 
a large mercantile establishment in Phil- 
adelphia: and Cora E., residing at home. 
A daughter, Amanda, who was a teacher, 
died at the age of twenty-one years. 



486 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



JOHN M. STAPLER, for over forty 
years one of the prominent merchants 
of Newtown, Bucks county, was born 
in Buckingham township. Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania 5 mo. 6, 1828, and is a son 
of John and Susanna (Betts) Stapler, 
both of whom were of English Quaker 
parentage, whose ancestors were among 
the earliest settlers in Penn's colony. 

Stephen Stapler, the first paternal an- 
cestor of the subject of this sketch of 
whom we have any definite knowledge, 
was a resident of Philadelphia, where he 
purchased a lot at the corner of Front 
and High (now Market) streets, in 1701. 
He was a butcher by trade, and a mem- 
ber of the Society of Friends. He be- 
came a considerable landowner in Phil- 
adelphia, but the date of his birth or 
death have not been ascertained. He 
was probably a native of Surrey. Eng- 
land, as he and John Sotcher, Penn's 
steward at Pennsbury, were made joint 
executors of the will of a resident of 
Surrey, executed when the testator was 
about to start for America. The chil- 
dren of Stephen Stapler so far as known 
were: Martha, who married Richard 
Radclifife, of Bucks county, at Falls 
Meeting, 8 mo. 31, 1709; William, who 
married a widow Catharine Clifton, and 
died in Philadelphia in 1730. leaving chil- 
dren, Stephen, William and Joseph; and 
John Stapler. 

John Stapler, son of Stephen, was a 
member of Abington Friends' Meeting 
in 1719, when he obtained a certificate 
to Falls Meeting to marry Esther Canby, 
daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Jarvis) 
Canby, who was born in 2 mo., 1700. Her 
father, Thomas Canby, was a son of 
Benjamin Canby, of Thorn. Yorkshire, 
and was one of the most prominent men 
of Bucks county during a long life; he 
was a preacher among Friends, a justice 
of the county courts, and for many years 
a member of the colonial assembly. He 
was for many years a resident of Buck- 
ingham, and removed to Solebury a few 
years prior to his death in 1749. He was 
thrice married, and left nineteen chil- 
dren, who intermarried with many of 
the old families of Bucks and have left 
numerous descendants. John and Esther 
(Canby) Stapler settled in Bensalem 
township, where the latter died in 1734. 
Their children were four in number, as 
follows: I. John, born 3 mo. 27, 1721, 
married 10 mo. 22. 1745. Rachel West. 
2. Thomas, born ti mo. 18. 1723-4. see 
forward. 3. Stephen, born 10 mo. 24. 1725, 
married 2 mo. 21, 1748, Mary Gififin. 4. 
Sarah, born 11 mo. 7, 1727. 

Thomas Stapler, second son of John 
and Esther (Canby) Stapler, was born, 
according to our present calendar, on 
the last day of February, 1724. He was 
reared in Middletown township, in the 
family of his stepfather. John White, 
whom his mother married 8 mo. t6, 1735. 
His mother died 12 mo. 5, 1777. Her chil- 



dren by the second marriage were Lydia 
and Mary White. 

Thomas Stapler was apprenticed early 
in life to the blacksmith trade, and fol- 
lowed that vocation for several years in 
Middletown township. About 1760 he 
removed to Bensalem township, where- 
he resided until 1800. when he retnoved 
to Lower Makefield township, and pur- 
chased over two hundred acres of land^ 
upon which he resided until his death in 
March, 1810. He was a prominent mem- 
ber of the Society of Friends, and a trus- 
tee for many years of a fund devised by 
John Harker to Bristol and Byberry 
Meetings. He married, 10 mo. 18, i75©> 
Rachel Atkinson, daughter of William 
and Margaret (Baker) Atkinson, of Bris- 
tol, Bucks county, and a granddaughter 
of Henry Baker by his second wife^ 
Mary Radcliffe. Henry Baker, the ma- 
ternal grandfather of Rachel (Atkinson) 
Stapler, came to Bucks county from. 
Darby, Lancashire, England, in 1684, 
with wife Margaret, and seven children 
— two sons. Samuel and Nathan; and five 
daughters: Rachel, who married Job 
Bunting; Sarah, who married (first) 
Stephen Wilson and (second) Isaac 
Milnor; Phebe. who married (first) Ed- 
ward Radcliffe, and (second) William 
Stockdale; and Esther, who married 
Thomas Yardley. Henry Baker was. 
one of the most prominent men of Bucks 
county in his day. He was an active 
member of the Society of Friends, and 
the early meetings of the society were 
held at his house prior to the erection of 
Falls Meeting House. He was one of 
the committee to lay out Bucks county 
into townships in 1690; was one of the 
early justices of the courts of the 
county, and a member of the colonial as- 
sembly from 1685 to 1698. His second 
wife, Mary Radclifife, whom he married 
8 mo.. 13, 1692, was the widow of James 
Radcliffe, whom she accompanied to 
America, from Chapel Hill, Rosendale, 
Lancashire, in 1685; it was their son 
Richard who married Martha Stapler in 
1709, and their son Edward married 
Phebe Baker, as above shown. James 
Radcliffe was a noted minister among: 
Friends, and died in 1690. Mary died in 

1715- 

William Atkinson, the father of 
Rachel Stapler was a son of Thomas and 
Jane (Bond) Atkinson, both ministers 
among Friends, who were married at 
Knares borough Meeting, in Yorkshire, 
in 1678. and some years later migrated' 
to Pennsylvania with their three sons, 
Isaac. W^illiam and Samuel, and settled 
in Bucks county. 

William Atkinson, second son of 
Thomas and Jane, and the father of 
Rachel Stapler, was born in Lancashire, 
and died in Bristol in 1749. He was twice 
married, his first wife being a daughter 
of Richard and Margery Hough. He was 
a member of the Society of Friends, and' 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



487 



a prominent man in the community. 
Thomas and Rachel (Atkinson) Stap- 
ler were the parents of six children, viz.: 
William, who married 11 nio. i, 1780,- 
Mary Mitchell; John, see forward; 
Stephen, Sarah and Esther, who died 
unmarried; and Thomas, who married 
4. mo. 24, 1794, Acsah Yardley, ilaughtet 
of William and Sarah (Kirkbride) 
Yardley. 

John Stapler, son of Thomas and 
Rachel, was born in Midtiletown town- 
ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and 
was reared, in Bensalem township. On 
attaining manhood he married and set- 
tled in Lower Makefield township where 
he followed the life of a farmer, and 
was a considerable landholder. He and 
his family were members of Falls Meet- 
ing of Friends; both he and his brother 
Thomas were part owners of Morns- 
ville Island, and the industries thereon 
established, after the failure of Robert 
Morris. He died in October, 1823. He 
had married, 10 mo. 21, 1779, Hannah 
Yardley, born 10 mo. 3, 1758, died 8 mo. 
8. 1830, daughter of William and Sarah 
(Kirkbride) Yardley, who bore him thir- 
teen children of whom eleven lived to 
maturity, viz.: Sarah, born 7 mo. 27, 

1780, died 1868; Rachel, born 10 mo. 25, 

1781, died 1854; Acsah, born 4 mo. 3, 
1783. died 3 mo. 11, 1861, married Charles 
M. Reeder; Ann, born 10 mo. 16, 1785, 
died 1851 ; Esther, born 9 mo. 30, 1787, 
died 1844; Thomas, born 3 mo. 25, 1789, 
died 12 mo. 28, 1842, married Sarah Bunt- 
ing; Mary, born 5 mo. 30, 1792, died 
1867; John, born 10 mo. 19, 1793, died 9 
mo, 23, 1834, see forward; Charles, born 
5 mo. 8, 1795. died 11 mo. 13. 1865, mar- 
ried Sarah Jones; Hannah, born 7 mo. 
19. 1797; and Christiana, born 9 mo. 23, 
1803, died I mo. 15, 1876, about three years 
before Hannah. 

William Yardley, the maternal grand- 
father of the above children, was born 
3 mo. 25, 1716, and died 8 mo. 3, 1774. 
He was sheriflf of Bucks county, 1752-55, 
and a justice of the courts of Bucks 
county 1764-70. His wife, Sarah Kirk- 
bride, was a daughter of Mahlon and 
Mary (Sotcher) Kirkbride; her father 
and both her maternal and paternal 
grandsires were members of the colonial 
assembly and justices of the courts of 
Bucks county at different periods. 

John Stapler, third son and ninth child 
of John and Hannah (Yardley) Stapler, 
was the father of the subject of this 
sketch. He was born near Yardley, 
Lower Makefield township, Bucks 
county. 10 mo. 19, 1793. He learned the 
trade of a miller, and located at Lam- 
bertville, New Jersey, in 1820, where he 
operated a mill for several years as a 
member of the firm of Lukens and 
Stapler. 

About 1827 he removed to Bucking- 
ham, where he operated the mill at Me- 
chanics Valley, now owned by Oliver J. 



Rice, for four years. In December, 1830, 
he purchased a farm of two hundred 
acres in Upper Makefield, and removed 
there in April. 1831, and died 9 mo. 23, 
1834. He married 4 mo. 18, 1822, Su- 
sanna Betts, daughter of Zacariah and 
Mary Betts, of Upper Makefield, and 
granddaughter of Thomas and Susanna 
(Field) Betts. Thomas Betts, the grand- 
father, was born on Long Island, August 
14, 1689, and died at Newtown, Bucks 
county, April, 1747. He was a son of 
Thomas and Mercy (Whitehead) Betts, 
and a grandson of Richard and Joanna 
Betts, who came from England in 1648 
to Ipswich, Massachusetts, and removed 
soon after to Newtown, Long Island, 
where the former died November 18, 
1713, at the age of one hundred years. 
He was a member of the colonial assem- 
bly in 1665, and filled the office of sheriff 
and many other important positions on 
Long Island. After the death of John 
Stapler his widow and family removed 
to the village of Dolington, where she 
died in February, 1847. The children of 
John and Susanna (Betts) Stapler were: 
Joseph Betts, born 7 nio. 28, 1823; John 
M., the subject of this sketch; and Mary 
Ann, born 6 mo. 8, 1830. 

John M. Stapler was born in Buck- 
ingham, 5 mo. 6, 1828, and was but six 
years of age at the death of his father. 
He was reared at Dolington, and was 
educated at the Claremont Academy, 
conducted by Yardley and Edward Buck- 
man, at Rising Sun. He taught school 
in Makefield for two years. In 1839 he 
went to Doylestown, where he and his 
brother Joseph B. conducted a store five 
years; his brother was then fifteen years 
old. In 1854 he removed to Plymouth 
Meeting, Montgomery county, where he 
was engaged in mercantile pursuits for 
a period of three years. He then re- 
moved to Norristown, where he con- 
ducted a store for several years. In 
1864 he came to Newtown and entered 
into partnership with W. Kirk Carver, 
and the firm conducted the store now 
occupied by Evan T. Worthington for 
ten years. In 1874 he purchased the 
store now conducted by his son-in-law, 
William T. Wright, where he was ac- 
tively engaged in mercantile pursuits for 
upwards of twenty years. He married 
II mo. 18, 1852, Margaret Rich, daughter 
of Joseph and Mary (Pennington) Rich, 
of Doylestown, and they were the pa- 
rents of two children: Fanny, who died 
young; and Emma, born 10 mo. 14, i860, 
who married in 1887. William T. Wright, 
son of Mark and Louisa Wright. Mr. 
Wright was reared in Falls township, 
and comes of an old family that have 
been associated with lower Bucks for 
many generations. He became asso- 
ciated with Mr. Stapler in the conduct 
of the Newtown store upon his marriage 
in April, 1887, and is now its proprietor. 
Mr. and Mrs. Wright are the parents 



488 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



of two children — John Stapler and J\Iar- 
garetta. Mrs. Stapler died July 7, 1S97. 
Mr. Stapler is a worthy representative 
of a worthy ancestry that have in the 
past, as shown by the preceding sketch, 
held many positions of trust and honor, 
and been closely associated with the de- 
velopment and maintenance of our in- 
stitutions in the state and county tor 
many generations. Like all his Ameri- 
can ancestors he is a member of the So- 
cietj- of Friends. He has enjoyed a long 
and successful business career, and en- 
joys the reputation of a careful, conserv- 
ative and conscientious business man. 
For over sixty-five years engaged in 
ntercantile pursuits, he has been 
brought in close contact with the people, 
and has always enjoyed their confidence, 
and esteem. 



HARRY B. SCHMITT. Among the 
enterprising and successful farmers of 
Buckingham' township, is Harry B. 
Schmitt, who was born in Hilltown 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
September 7, 1865, a son of Leonard and 
Elizabeth (Baukert) Schmitt, both na- 
tives of Germany. Leonard Schmitt was 
born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, m 
1828. He learned the trade of a black- 
smith in his native country, and in 1852 
emigrated to America. With him came 
his affianced wife, Elizabeth Baukert, 
who, failing to obtain the cpnsent of 
her parents to marry the man of her 
choice, fled with him to America and 
was married to him at Philadelphia on 
their arrival. Mr. Schmitt worked at 
his trade in Philadelphia for about six 
months, and then removed to Hagers- 
ville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where 
he worked as a journeyman blacksmith 
for two years, after which he removed 
to Line Lexington and 'worked one 
year. He then opened a shop of his 
own at Reiff's corner, Hilltown, where 
he did a prosperous business for twenty- 
four years. In 1876 he took up the tailor- 
ing business, and was successful finan- 
cially, but returned to the anvil after 
two years. In 1887 he purchased the 
farm in Buckingham where the subject 
of this sketch now resides, and con- 
ducted it until the marriage of his son, 
Harry B., when he retired from its ac- 
tive management. He died in 1900, and 
his wife Elizabeth died in 1892. Mr. 
Schmitt was a Democrat in politics. He 
and his family were members of the Ro- 
man Catholic church. Mr. and Mrs. 
Leonard Schmitt w^ere the parents of 
nine children, only three of whom sur- 
vive: Harry B.; Philip, now living in 
Oklahoma; and Mary, a widow of James 
McColgan, of Philadelphia. 

The subject nf this sketch was born m 
Hilltown, and removed with his parents 
to Buckingham in 1887. On November 
18, 1890, he married Mary Kern, a na- 



tive of Plumstead, daughter of John 
and Christiana (Saylor) Kern, the former 
a native of Bingen, and the latter of 
Baden, Germany. Mr. Schmitt assumed 
the conduct of his father's farm in 1891 
and purchased it in 1897, and takes pride 
in making it one of t4ie neatest and most 
productive in the neighborhood. In poli- 
tics he is a Democrat. He is a member 
of the German Aid Society of Doyles- 
town, the Doylestown Mennaerchor, St. 
Joseph's Society, and a number of 
other benevolent institutions. Mr. and 
Mrs. Schmitt have two children, Ruth 
Elizabeth and Grace. 



THEODORE P. HARVEY, for a quar- 
ter of a century an expert telegraph opera- 
tor, was born in Doylestown township, 
February 18, 1833, being a son of Joseph 
and Ann (Horner) Harvey. Mr. Harvey 
was reared on the farm and received such 
education as could be attained at the pub- 
lic schools, and afterwards" 'was a pupil of 
Rev. Silas M. Andrews in a private school 
at Doylestown. He was an apt student and 
acquired a good education. He studied 
telegraphy and learned the manipulation of 
the key under Thom.as H. Walton, of 
Doylestown, when seventeen years of age, 
and soon became an expert operator. After 
filling the position as operator at Doyles- 
town he was called to Allentown. and from 
there to Norristown. At the latter place 
he also conducted a drug store. In 1858 
he went to Cincinnati, where he filled a 
responsible position for one year, during 
which time he was called upon to transmit 
a presidential message, which he did accu- 
rately and expeditiously. In 1859 he re- 
turned to Doylestown and assumed the 
management of the local telegraph business, 
and continued in that capacity until his 
death, on February 5, 1886. He w'as inter- 
ested in several local enterprises, and was 
at one time joint owner with the late James 
Kane of the Doylestown Gas Works. He 
was a careful business man, a good ac- 
countant, and faithful and efficient in all 
trusts reposed in him. He was a member 
of Doj-lestown Council, No. 166, Jr. O. U. 
A. M., and the treasurer of that institution 
for many years prior to his death. In poli- 
tics he was a stanch Democrat. He was 
married in 1861 to Lydia A. Shearer, 
daughter of Jesse W. and Margaret 
(Kneedler) Shearer, of Doylestown town- 
ship, who survives him, and is a resident of 
Doylestown. 

Jesse Shearer, father of Mrs. Harvey, 
was born in Montgomery county in 1808. 
In early life he was a school teacher, and 
later was a clerk in Polk's store at White- 
hallville (now Chalfont), for some j-ears, 
and then went into the mercantile business 
for himself at North Wales. After suc- 
cessfully conducting the store there for 
several years, he removed to a farm in 
Warrington township. Several years prior 








sK "^ 



â– ^â– oy . 




HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



48; 



to his death he removed to Doylestown, 
where he died June 3, 1886. His wife, 
Margaret Kneedler, was born in Mont- 
gomery county in 181 5, and died in Doyles- 
town in 1882. They, as well as their 
daughter, were members of the Presbyterian 
church. Mrs. Harvey was their only 
child. 



ASA MATLACK STACK'HOUSE, 
M. D., of Moorestown, New Jersey, 
formerly of Langhorne, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, was born in Philadelphia, 
7 mo. 21, 184s, and is a representative 
of one of the oldest and most prominent 
families in Bucks county. He is a son 
of Robert and Ann Roberts (Matlack) 
Stackhouse. The ancestry of the Stack- 
house family is traced in England to the 
year 1086, and in America traces back to 
the year 1682, when Thomas Stackhouse, 
of the village of Stackhouse, in the dean- 
ery of Craven, West Riding of York- 
shire, came to America, arriving at New 
Castle 10 mo. 27, 1682, accompanied by 
his wife Margery and two nephews, 
Thomas and John Stackhouse. They all 
settled in Middletown township and took 
up large tracts of land. Thomas Stack- 
house, the elder, lost his wife Margery, 
who died 11 mo. 15, 1682, and he mar- 
ried in I mo., 1702, Margaret Atkinson, 
nee Fell, daughter of Christopher Fell, 
of Newtown, Lancashire, and widow of 
Christopher Atkinson, who had died on 
board the "Britanica" in 1699 on his 
way to Pennsylvania. Thomas Stack- 
house died in 1706 without issue. Thomas 
and John Stackhouse both reared large 
families in Middletown, and have both 
left numerous descendants. The latter 
died in Middletown in 1757. 

Thomas Stackhouse was a very prom- 
inent man in the community, represent- 
ing his county in the colonial assembly 
of Pennsylvania for the years 171 1 to 17 15, 
inclusive, and then declining a re-elec- 
tion. He was also collector of proprie- 
tary qifit-rents for Bucks county; served 
!as one of the commissioners to lay out 
roads, and in many other capacities of 
trust. He was one of the active mem- 
mers of Middletown Monthly Meeting 
of Friends, and built their meeting house 
in 1690. He took up 507 acres of land in 
Middletown on th6 Neshaminy, and in 
1707 bought 1200 acres of Francis Rich- 
ardson. He died 4 mo. 26, 1744. He was 
three times married; first, on 7mo. 27, 
1688, to Grace Heaton, daughter of Rob- 
ert and Alice Heaton, who was born in 
Yorkshire, I mo. 14, 1667, and accom- 
panied her parents to Pennsylvania in 
1682 in the "Welcome" with William 
Penn ; she died 8 mo. 8, 1708, and Thomas 
married (second) on i mo. i, 1711, at 
Falls Meeting, Ann Mayos, widow of Ed- 
Ward Ma3'Os, who died 5 mo. 6, 1724. and 
Thomas married a third tiine, in 8 mo., 



1725, Dorothy Heston, widow of Ze- 
bulon Heston of Wrightstown, who sur- 
vived him. Thomas and Grace (Hea- 
ton) Stackhouse were the parents of 
nine children, viz. : Samuel, John, Rob- 
ert, Henry, Grace, Alice, Thomas, Jo- 
seph and Benjamin. 

Thomas and Ann (Mayos) Stackhouse 
were the parents of live children, viz.: 
Isaac died at age of two years; Jacob, 
Ann, Sarah and Isaac. Nearly all these 
children lived to rear families and have 
left numerous descendants, the four 
daughters marrying into the families of 
Longshore, Plumly, Wilson and Gary. 
Thomas and Dorothy (Heston) Stack- 
house left no children. 

Robert Stackhouse, third son of 
Thomas and Grace, was born 9 mo. 8, 
1692. He married Margaret Stone and 
settled on a tract of land purchased by 
his father, "adjoining Pigeon Swamp" 
in Bristol township, which was later de- 
vised to him by his father's will. He 
later removed to Berwick on the Sus- 
quehanna, where he resided until his 
death in 1788, at the advanced age of 
ninety-six years. Robert and Margaret 
were the parents of eight children: 
Thomas, Joseph, James, Grace, Benja- 
min, Alice, William and Robert. 

James Stackhouse, third son of Rob- 
ert and Margaret (Stone) Stackhouse, 
was born in Bucks county 11 mo. (Jan- 
uary), II, 1725-6, and married 10 mo. 
13, 1750, Martha Hastings, who was born 
4 mo. 27, 1722. daughter of Samuel and 
Mary (Hill) Hastings, and granddaugh- 
ter of Joshua Hastings, who represented 
Chester county in the colonial assembly, 
residing then near Chester, but later re- 
moved to Philadelphia. His son John^ 
Hastings married Grace Stackhouse, sis- 
ter of James. The children of James and 
Martha (Hastings) Stackhouse were: 
Margaret, Hastings, Mary, Amos, Mar- 
tha, James, and another Amos, who died 
in infancy. James, the father, died in 
Philadelphia, 8 mo. 16, 1759, and his wife 
Martha died 6 mo. 23, 1806. He is in- 
terred at the Arch street Friends' bury- 
ing ground. 

Amos Stackhouse, third son of James 
and Martha (Hastings) Stackhouse, was 
born 5 mo. 4, T757, and was 'married at 
Mt. Holly. New Jersey, i mo. 14, 1779, 
to Mary Powell, born 7 mo. 9, 1763, 
daughter of John and Susanna (Bryan) 
Powell, granddaughter of Isaac and 
Elizabeth (Perdue) Powell, who were 
married August 10, 1729. Isaac being a 
son of John and Elizabeth (Parker) 
Powell, and a grandson of Robert and 
Prudence Powell, the former of whom 
came to New Jersey in the ship "Kent." 

6 mo. 16. 1667. and settled near Bur- 
lington, West Jersey. Amos Stackhouse 
died 4 mo. 5. 1825. and his widow Mary 

7 mo. IS, 1841. They were the parents 
of thirteen children, viz.: Susanna, Hast- 
ings, Martha, Powell, Esther, Martha, 



490 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



second of the name; James, Samuel i'., 
Amos, Robert, Mary P., John P., and 
another Robert who had died in infancy. 
Robert Stackhouse, son of Amos and 
Mary (Powell) Stackhouse, was born in 
Philadelphia 12 mo. il, 1801, and died 

I mo. 6, 1881. He married (first) 4 mo. 
23, 1829, Elizabeth Davis Kimber, of 
Richard and Elizabeth, by whom he 
had: Tacy J., born 3 mo. 13, 1830, died 

II mo. 2, 1837; Edward Livingston, born 
3 mo. 27, 1833; Tacy Elizabeth, born 11 
mo. 25, 1838. He married (second) Ann 
Roberts Matlack, daughter of Asa and 
Tamar (Roberts) Matlack, 9 mo. 21, 
1841, by whom he had Asa ^latlack 
Stackhouse, born 7 mo. 21, 1845. Tacy 
Elizabeth, of Robert and Elizabeth, 
married i mo. 2, 1862, Allen Lippencott, 
M. D., of Fallsington, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania. Dr. Lippincott died 2 mo. 
28. 1863, when she married 11 mo. 25, 
1867, Milnor Gillingham, who is also de- 
ceased; no issue. Tacy E. Gillingham 
and her brother Edward L. Stackhouse 
reside at Fallsington, Pennsylvania. 

The paternal ancestor of Matlock fam- 
ily was William Matlack, born about the 
year 1648 in Cropwell Bishop, Notting- 
hamshire, England, who came to Bur- 
lington county, West Jersey, with Dan- 
iel Wills in the ship "Kent," arriving at 
Burlington in October, 1677. In 1682 he 
married Mary Hancock, from Brayles, 
Warwickshire, England, aged about six- 
teen years at the time of her marriage. 
They were the parents of nine children: 
John, George, Mary, William, Jr., Rich- 
ard, Joseph, Timothy, Jane and Sarah. 
Of these Timothy, who married Mary 
Haines in 1720, was the father of Tim- 
othy Matlack, at one time secretary of 
the continental congress and for many 
years secretary of the supreme executive 
council of Pennsylvania during the Rev- 
olution. 

William Matlack, Jr., third son of 
William and Mary (Hancock) Matlack, 
married in 1713 Ann Antrim, daughter 
of John and Frances Antrim, of North- 
ampton township, Burlington county, 
who were among the earliest settlers in 
Burlington county. New Jersey, where 
John died in 1719. William Matlack, Jr., 
died in Chester township, Burlington 
county. New Jersey, in 1730, leaving chil- 
dren, Jeremiah, William, Rebeckah, Rachel, 
Leah, Mary, James and Ann. 

William Matlack (3) born 6 mo. 31, 
1725, married Mary Turner in 10 mo. 
I, 1748, and their son Reuben Matlack, 
born II mo. 17, 1757, married Elizabeth 
Coles, in i mo. 22,. 1783, a descendant of 
Samuel Coles and of William and 
Thomas Budd, all early members of the 
colonial assembly of New Jersey, and 
their son Asa Matlack. born 10 mo. 21, 
1783, who married Tamar Roberts 5 mo. 
12, 1807, was the father of Anna Rob- 
erts Matlack, who married Robert Stack- 
house. 



ASA MATLACK STACKHOUSE was. 
educated in the public schools of Moores- 
town, New Jersey, and entered the 
junior class of the University of 
Pennsylvania, and graduated from that 
institution in the class of 1865. He sub- 
sequently studied medicine, graduating 
from Hahnemann Medical College of 
Philadelphia, in 1868, and practiced med- 
icine in Attleborough (now Langhorne) 
Bucks county, and elsewhere for a num- 
ber of years, but has now retired from 
practice and resides at Moorestown,. 
New Jersey. He has always taken, an 
interest in local history and the gen- 
ealogy of the old families of Bucks 
county and vicinity, and has contributed 
'a number of articles on these subjects to 
the local papers. 

Dr. Stackhouse was married at Allen- 
town, Pennsylvania, 12 mo. 8, 1868, to- 
Ella Jane Romig, daughter of William 
J. and Mary Ann Catharine (Royer) 
Romig, and they are the parents of two- 
children: Williain Romig Stackhouse, of 
Moorestown, New Jersey, who was born 
in Chester township, Burlington county, 
New Jersey, January 10, 1870, and mar- 
ried Rebecca Gibson; and Ernest Robert 
Stackhouse, born at Allentown, Pennsyl- 
vania, December 3, 1884. Another child, 
Ernest Raymond, born January 17, 1874,. 
died young. 

William R. Stackhouse above mentioned 
has been for several years past engaged 
in connection with his cousin, the late 
Powell Stackhouse, ^in extensive gen- 
ealogical researches, and his history of 
the Stackhouse Family is now in press. 



SUMMERS FAMILY. Hance Georgt 
Summers ( Sommer in German), the an- 
sector of the Summers family, and great- 
great-grandfather of William Summers, of 
Conshohocken, with his wife Elizabeth and 
children Johannes, Hans Martin, George, 
Peter and Margaretha Elizabeth, arrived in 
Philadelphia from Germany on Septem- 
ber 22, 1752, in the ship "Brothers," Cap- 
tain William IVIuir. Philip and Henry, also 
sons, arrived Septenfber 22, 1754, in the 
ship "Edinburg," James Russel, master. 
Hance George Summers resided in Lower 
Dublin township in 1769. 

Johannes, born 1737, married, January 
24, 1764, Elizabeth Reidannauer; at the 
date of his marriage his residence was near 
New Hanover. (There was a John in 
Moreland in 1774.) Children: John, born 
February 24, 1765. 

Martin died in March. 1804 ; married July 
6, 1769, Anna Barbara Geiss ; children: 
Philip ; Henry ; and Elizabeth, married 
Loedwyk Sharp. Martin lived in Lower 
Dublin in 1769; he was an employe in the 
United States mint from its organization 
to 1804, as were also some of his descend- 
ants down to 1899 ; he was a private in Cap- 
tain Ezekial Lett's company in the war of 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



49 i 



the Revolution ; muster roll, August 25, 
1779. 

Feter died November 24, 1783 ; married 
August 3, 1769, Catharine ^laenchen. Chil- 
dren : Ernest, Margaret and Catharine. He 
lived in North Ward, Philadelphia, in 1774; 
he served in the war of the Revolution, 
filling the following positions in the Fourth 
Pennsylvania Regiment ; ensign, second 
lieutenant, first lieutenant and quarter- 
master. 

George, born April 5, 1745; died October 

14, 1825; married Ann , born 1752, 

died March 16, 1829. Children : John, died 
1781 ; Eli ; David and Martin ; George was 
a drummer in the Sixth Pennsylvania Regi- 
ment in the war of the Revolution. He re- 
sided at the time of his death in Warring- 
ton township, Bucks county. He and his 
wife and son John are interred in the 
churchyard of Upper Dublin Evangelical 
Lutheran church, Montgomery county, 
Pennsylvania. 

Henry died October, 1798; marred, May 
6, 1766, Catharine Dessinger. Children : 
Mary, married Daniel Linker; Henry Sum- 
mers Linker, and Elizabeth, who married 
'Squire Clevenger. Henry was enrolled as 
a private in Captain Isaac Cooper's com- 
pany, muster roll dated November 2, 1778, 
war of the Revolution. He resided in the 
city of Philadelphia. 

Philip Summers, great-grandfather of 
William Summers, was born October 2, 
1728; died May 2, 1814; married February 
24, 1764, by the Rev. Henry Melchoir Muh- 
lenberg, pastor of St. Michael's and Zion's 
Lutheran church, Philadelphia, to Salome 
Reibel, daughter of Nicholas and Susannah. 
Salome, born 1739, died May 20, 1817. 
Philip and his wife are interred in the 
churchyard of St. John's Lutheran church, 
Race street, Philadelphia. Philip purchased 
November 24, 1774, a farm of 165 acres in 
Horsham township, Philadelphia (now 
Montgomery) county, of Charles Steadman, 
and here resided until March 29, 1796, when 
he sold his homestead to Job Spencer and 
removed to Philadelphia. Previous to pur- 
chasing his farm he resided in the follow- 
ing places : Douglass, Cheltenham, and 
Manor of Moreland in 1769. Philip was 
enrolled as a private in Captain David Mar- 
pole's company, 1777-1780. His name is in 
the depreciation pay roll, Pennsylvania Ar- 
chives, vol. 13, p. 721. Children: 

1. Martin Summers, grandfather, born 
December 5, 1764, died July 27, 1845. (See 
forward.) 

2. Nicholas Summers, born September 
10, 1767, died March 24, 1854 ; married Ann 
Hoover, born November 8, 1776, died Au- 
gust 8, 1827. Children : John, Sarah, Isaac 
and Enos. 

3. Philip Summers, born 1770, died July 
3, 1834; married Catharine Hurst, born De- 
cember 18, 1772, died June 18, 1827. Chil- 
dren : Henry, John, Philip, William, Anna, 
Mary, Jesse and Charles. 

4. John Summers, born 1770, died April 
10, 1846; married Catharine Kneedler, born 



1777, died February 12, 1835. Children : 
Jacob, John and Elizabeth. 

5. Anthony, born 1773, died August 22,. 
1816, single. He enlisted May 4, 1812, for 
five years in the Fourth Regiment United 
States army, and died at Creek Agency. 

6. George Summers, born 1775; married 
Elizabeth Dotts. Children : John, George,. 
Jacob, Henry, Samuel, Mary and Elizabeth. 

7. Henry Summers, born 1775; married 
Maria Magdalena Shearer, died. May 24, 
1802. Children: Henry and Samuel. Mar- 
ried (second) Susannah Johnson. Chil- 
dren: Elizabeth and Elijah. 

8. Peter Summers, born 1778, died March 
12, 1865 ; married Susannah Schwenk, born 
July 24, 1770, died March 10, 1865. Chil- 
dren : Eva Maria, Sarah and Noah. 

9. Elizabeth Summers, born September 
I, 1781, ded October 12, 1803. 

Martin Summers (grandfather,) named 
above, born December 5, 1764, died July 27, 
1845 ; married Elizabeth Houpt, born Au- 
gust 4, 1766, died November 4, 1822. Issue: 
Sarah, married George Bossert ; Georgt, 
married Sarah Hilkerd; Martin, married 
Elizabeth Freed ; Anna Margaret, married 
Nicholas Gouldy; Philip, married Ann 
Shutt ; Elizabeth, marred Andrew Keel ; 
Samuel, married Eliza Whitby; Hannah,, 
married Philip Shambough. Martin mar- 
ried (second) December 11, 1823, Mrs. Anna 
Elizabeth Sterigere, born January i, 1770; 
died June 21, 1853. She was the widow of 
Peter Sterigere, sister to his first wife. He 
and first wife are interred in the church- 
yard of St. John's Episcopal church, Nor- 
ristown, Pennsylvania. His first place of 
residence was in Horsham township, second 
Gwynedd township, third Providence town- 
ship, 1803; fourth Norriton township, 
where he purchased, April 5, 1810, a farm 
of 104 acres of John Brown. He was a 
member of St. Peter's Lutheran church,. 
North Wales (known as "the yellow 
church"). He was elected a deacon of this 
church November 16, 1796. His residence 
at that time was Gwynedd township. 

Samuel Summers (father), son of Martin 
and Elizabeth (Houpt) Summers, was born 
in Providence (now Upper Providence) 
towuship September 27, 1804; died July 18, 
1881 ; married March 22, 1832, by Rev. 
George Wack, to Eliza Whitby, born March 
22, 1809, died November 16, 1898. She was 
the daughter of Anthony and Mary (Berk- 
heimer) Whitby. He resided in the bor- 
ough of Norristown, and for several years 
was employed by the borough ; in later years 
he bought and sold country produce. He and 
his wife are interred in Montgomery ceme- 
tery, Norristown, Pennsylvania. Children : 

William (subject), born May 30, 1833. 
Martin, born November 2, 1836 ; died May 
12, 1872 ; was a soldier in the Civil war. 
Company G, One Hundred and Fourteentn 
Pennsylvania Regiment. Charles, born De- 
cember 2, 1839; died January 14, 1874; em- 
ployed as a clerk with his brother William, 
at Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Anna 
Elizabeth, born January 7, 1843 ; resides at 



492 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Norristown, Pennsylvania. George i\I., 
born July 19, 1845 ; died November 12, 
1872 ; was a soldier in the Civil war, Com- 
pany D, Ninety-fifth Pennsylvania Regi- 
ment. Alljert, born April 24, 1848; resides 
at Norristown, Pennsylvania; married 
Theresa Manes ; no issue. 

William Summers, the eldest son of Sam- 
uel and Eliza (Whitby) Summers, was born 
May 30, 1833, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. 
He received his education in the public 
schools. In the year 1851 he was employed 
as a clerk in a general store at Consho- 
hocken, Pennsylvania. In 1858 he con- 
menced business as a dealer in general mer- 
chandise on the corner of Fayette and 
W^ashington streets. In 1880 he erected the 
store on the corner of Fayette and Elm 
streets, where he continued business until 
the year 1900, when he retired. He took 
an active part in promoting the growth and 
improvement of the borough. He was 
â– elected burgess of the borough of Con- 
shohocken for two terms, and also served 
as a member of town council and school 
director for several terms. He also served 
as a director in the Conshohocken Gas and 
Water Company. At the present time he is 
librarian of the Montgomery County His- 
torical Society and a member of the Penn- 
sylvania German Society. On October 10, 
1858, he married Henrietta Yost, born 
March 26, 1833 ; died May 18, 1887, daugh- 
ter of Abraham and Maria (Christman) 
Yost. She was a great-great-granddaugh- 
ter of Jacob Yost, born March 16, 1696; 
married July, 1732, Elizabeth Shambough. 
He emigrated to ths country from Zwi- 
brucken, Germany, landing in Philadelphia, 
September 21, 1727. Children : 

William E. Summers, born June 6, i860, 
â– died March 9, 1897; married, February 8, 
1888, Anne Donnelly, born June, 1866. Chil- 
dren : William, born November, 1888; died 
July, 1889; Frances, born July 9, 1891. 

Clara E. Summers, born July 16, 1865; 
married July 26, 1900, John Murray, born 
July 14, 1865. They reside at Wharton, 
New Jersey. 

Lillian E. Summers, born December 5, 

1875. 



OLIVER M. THOMAS, of HiUtown 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, near 
Line Lexington, is the sole survivor, of the 
paternal name, of a family that was once 
very numerous in Hilltown, and whose 
members were among the largest landown- 
ers and most influential people in the town- 
ship. He also resides on land taken up and 
improved by his ancestors nearly two cen- 
turies ago. 

Rev. William Thomas, or as he was more 
familiarly known, "Elder Thomas," the pa- 
ternal ancestor of the Thomas family of 
Bucks county, was born in the year 1678, in 
Lanwenarth, Merionethshire, Wales, on the 
borders of England. He belonged to a 
family that possessed considerable means, 
being freeholders of a considerable estate. 



His parents were members of a Baptist 
church in Merioneth, and he was reared in 
the tenets of that faith, and, receiving a 
superior education for his time, and being 
of a studious and pious disposition, he be- 
came a speaker in religious meetings of his 
sect when still a young man, and, though 
never an ordained minister, continued 
to administer to the spiritual needs 
of his neighbors through his en- 
tire life. Rev. Abel Morgan, for many 
years pastor of the Baptist church at Penny- 
pack, and the founder of the Montgomery 
Baptist church, and also a native of Mer- 
ioneth, was his acquaintance and friendf 
Prior to his coming to America his parents 
located on a farm called Blassaw of Wyn, in 
the parish of Bedwlldy, some distance from 
the place of his nativity. At the death of 
his parents he sold the patrimonial estate, 
and being possessed of sufficient means to 
settle himself comfortably in a new country 
where land was cheap, he made his pre- 
parations to embark for Pennsylvania. He 
had married in 1710 Ann (maiden name not 
recorded), born in 1680, and his eldest child 
Thomas was born in Wales in 171 1. In 
January, 1711-12, he transported his house- 
hold goods and his wife and infant child 
to Bristol, England, and, having engaged 
passage on a ship lying there bound for 
Philadelphia, had his goods, clothing ana 
the greater part of his cash taken aboard. 
Being informed that the ship would not sail 
for several days, he took his family to the 
country to await the day of sailing. Though 
he returned before the appointed time, the 
ship had already sailed, though still in sight. 
After an ineffectual attempt to overtake her 
he was forced to await the sailing of a later 
vessel. He and his family arrived in Phila- 
delphia on February 14, 1712, and, though 
he found the vessel there in which his goods 
had been transported, the dishonest master 
had absconded with everything of value he 
could lay his hands on, and he had the 
mortification of seeing some of his own 
clothes on the backs of persons who had 
bought them of the dishonest master. 
Wholly without funds or any worldly po- 
sessions, he was forced to look about for 
means of obtaining a livelihood. Fortun- 
ately, he had learned the useful craft of a 
cooper, and, meeting with a family by the 
name of Watkins, whom he had known In 
the old country, he obtained sufficient funds 
to pay for his passage and to equip him in 
a modest way to follow his trade. In the 
latter part of the year 1713 he located in 
Radnor township, now Delaware county, 
where he followed the trade of a cedar 
cooper for some time, returning later _ to 
the east side of the Schuylkill and locating 
in the Northern Liberties. By industry and 
shrewd business tact in the course of five 
years he accumulated sufficient funds to re- 
pay his benefactors and to warrant him_ in 
fulfilling his original intention of becoming 
a freeholder. At that time the township of 
Hilltown, though already surveyed, was he'd 
in large tracts of one thousand to three 



HISTORY OF ^BUCKS COUNTY. 



493 



thousand acres by a few residents of Phila- 
delphia and vicinity. Among these was 
Jeremiah Langhorne, of Bucks county, then 
chief justice of Pennsylvania. Of him Mr. 
Thomas purchased 440 acres lying along the 
county line between Line Lexington and 
Telford, for eighty-eight pounds. The pur- 
chase, being consumnidt.^d Februarv 12 
1718, William Thomas removed his growing 
family to his new purchase, which 'vas- en- 
tirely unimproved. He soon erected a sub- 
stantial though modest house which_ con- 
tinued to shelter him and some of his de- 
scendants until nearly a century later, being 
demolished in 1812. Continuing his life- 
long habits of industry and thrift, he was 
able five years later to purchase another 
tract of three hundred acres one and a half 
miles further north, part of which is still 
in possession of the subject of this sketch. 
In 1725 he purchased 406 acres ^ in two 
tracts, one of them adjoining his first pur- 
chase, and the other adjoining the New 
Britain line, where he later erected a Bap- 
tist church and gave to the township, with 
land sufficient for a graveyard. In 1728 he 
purchased another fifty acres, making in all 
1258 acres, whose total cost was 361 pounds. 

He continued 'his religious labors from 
the time of his arrival in Pensylvania, and 
on locating in Hilltown united himself and 
his family with Montg'imery Baptist church 
which had been founded in 1714. This 
church being, however, over three miles 
away, he began to minister to* the Welsh 
Baptist settlers in Hilltown, located still 
farther away from the church, first at his 
and their houses and in the open air, and 
later at the little meeting house erected on 
land donated by him as before stated. He 
also assisted the Rev. Benjamin Griffith in 
his pastorate of Montgomery church. The 
meeting house erected by him in 1737 stood 
for forty-four years, being demolished in 
1771, and a more commodious building 
erected in its place. 

Death closed the earthly career of this 
pious Welsh pioneer on October 6, 1757, and 
a large flat marble slab marks his last rest- 
ing place in the shadow of the church his 
earnest labors had helped to establish, on 
which is inscribed the date of his death and 
age, and the following singularly appro- 
priate and unique epitaph, composed by 
himself : 

"In yonder Meeting House I spent my 

breath ; 
Now silent mouldering here I lie in death. 
These silent lips shall wake and yet declare, 
A dread Amen to truths they published 

there." 

His wife preceded him, dying Novemoei 
5, 1752, at the age of seventy-two years. 
By his will dated December 11, 1753, he 
devised to the inhabitants of Hilltown for- 
ever the meeting house erected by himself, 
and the graveyard in which to bury their 
dead, both to be for the use of the people of 
whatever religious creed, "Papists and those 
who refuse to take the oath of allegiance 



to a Protestant king excepted," and, in 
reference to the graveyard, "those guilty of 
self-murder only excepted." The house was 
also to be used for school purposes. A 
considerable sum was also devised for the 
use of the Baptist church. His large rea! 
estate holdings were divided among his 
children, most of whom were already set- 
tled on the lands then devised to them. 
Elder William Thomas and Ann his wife, 
were the parents of seven children; 

1. Thomas, born in Wales in 171 1, died 
in Hilltown, January, 1780. 

2. John, born in Radnor, Delaware coun- 
ty, December, 1713, marrjed Sarah James, 
and was for many years pastor of the Mont- 
gomery and Hilltown Baptist churches and 
has left numerous descendants. 

3. Gwently, born 1716, married Morris 
Morris. She inherited from her father the 
farm near the meeting house, and she and 
her husband are the ancestors of the Morris 
family of that section, and many others 
scattered all over the country. 

4. Anna, born 1719, married Stephen 
Rowland, some of whose descendants still 
reside in Hilltown. 

5. Manasseh, born 1721, died in Hill- 
town, February 7, 1802. 

6. William, born 1723, married Abigail 
Day, and died in Hilltown in 1764. 

7. Ephraim, a twin of Anna, born 1719, 
married Eleanor Bates, and died in 1776. 
All these children left families and spent 
their lives in or near Hilltown. 

Thomas Thomas, the eldest son of Elder 
William Thomas, was the direct ancestor 
of the subject of this sketch. He married 
in 1735) Margaret Bates, and settled in a 
house erected for him by his father on the 
tract purchased in 1725, of Rowland Ellis, 
and this tract and fifty acres of the first 
purchase of his father was devised to him 
later. In addition to this he purchased in 1735 
seventy-nine acres, and in 1750 he purchased 
a tract of five hundred acres,, but immedi- 
ately conveyed one hundred acres, each to 
his brothers Manasseh and John. With the 
250 acres received from his father he was 
therefore the owner of 629 acres. He was 
a member of the Montgomery Baptist 
church, but attended the Hilltown Baptist 
church and became a member there on its 
acquiring a separate existence. He died in 
January, 17S0. His first wife, ^Margaret 
Bates, died prior to 1750, leaving three chil- 
dren, Morgan, born 1736, removed to New 
Jersey, where he died unmarried ; Ann, 
who married (first) John Custard, and late 
in life Jacob Appenzeller; and Alice, born 
1746, married John Mathias, and died in 
Hilltown, October 25, 1810, leaving a large 
family. Thomas Thomas married a second 
time prior to 1750, Mary Williams, who 
bore him ten children, viz. : Elizabeth, mar- 
ried Henry Godshalk ; Esther, married 
William Williams ; Job, born 1751, married 
Rebecca Bates, daughter of Thomas and 
Sarah; Amos, born 1752, married Ruth 
Bates, sister to Rebecca, removed to Vir- 
ginia, where he was a captain in the Revo- 



494 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



lution. Jonah, born 1754 or 1755, married 
Sarah Freeman, daughter of Richard ; Cath- 
, arine, married Charles Miller, and settled 
in Northampton county ; Asa, born Febru- 
ary, 175H, married Martha James, daughter 
of Abel and Mary (Howell) James, of 
New Britain, was a soldier in the Revolu- 
ton; Sarah, born 1760, married Patrick 
Maitland, and settled in Buffalo Valley, 
(Union county, Pennsylvania) ; Abel, born 
1762, married Mary James, another daugh- 
te- of Abel and Mary (He well) James and 
settled in Shenandoah Valley; Anna, twin 
Oi Abel, married Joseph Mathias. 

Job Thomas, eldest son of Thomas and 
Mary (Williams) Thomas, was born on tlie 
old homestead in 1751. Though two of his 
brothers were soldiers in the Revolutionary 
army, he held aloof from the patriot cause, 
and had little faith in its ultimate success. 
In 1774 his father and mother conveyed to 
him 150 acres of the 500 acre tract pur- 
chased in 1750, and he later heired tifty 
acres additional, and lived thereon until 
1793, when he sold it and removed to the 
Buffalo Valley with a part of his family, 
and later to Shamokin, where he was killed 
by a falling tree in^June, 1798. His widow 
and family returned to Hilltown, where the 
former died June 30, 1819. Job and Re- 
becca Bates were the parents of eight chil- 
dren, as follows: i. Thomas, married 
Mary Mathias. 2. Abiah, married Sarali 
Ashton. 3. Ruth, never married; 4. Aaui, 
married Morgan Custard. 5. Zillah, mar- 
ried Eber Thomas, son of Manasseh. 6. 
Sarah, married Richard Heacock. 7. Mary, 
married Owen Rowdand. 8. Ann, married 
Issachar Thomas, son of Elias and grand- 
son of Ephraim Thomas, third son of Elder 
WiUiam Thomas. Ephraim had heired from 
his father a portion of the 300 acres pur- 
chased by Elder William Thomas in 1723, 
and upon which his father had erected him 
a house in 1740, and this tract descended to 
his son Elias, and through him to Issachar, 
and from him to his son Levi, who lived 
thereon until his death in 1886, being then 
the last survivor of his name as a land- 
owner in Hilltown. Levi Thomas devised 
the old plantation for life to Oliver ]M. 
Thomas, the subject of this sketch, he be- 
ing the grandson of his mother's brother 
Abiah Thomas. 

Abiah Thomas, second son of Job and 
Rebecca (Bates) Thomas, married Sarah 
Ashton. He was a farmer for many years 
in ^Montgomery township, Montgomery 
county, and had two sons, Alfred and Hi- 
ram, the former of whom died in Phila- 
delphia in 1882. 

Hiram Thomas, second son of Abiah, was 
born in Hilltown, Bucks county, but was 
reared in iMontgomery county. He was for 
several years a school teacher in Hatfield 
and other parts of Montgomery county, and 
later a farmer in Montgomery tow^nship. 
He died in Lower Providence township, 
Montgomery county. His wife was Pru- 
dence Roberts, daughter of John Roberts, 
and of Welsh descent, and they were the 



parents- of six children, as follows: Eliza, 
Kate; Oliver M., Alfred, Sarah J., wife 01 
Nathan R. Wamsher ; and Robert. 

OLIVER iM. THOMAS, eldest son of 
Hiram and Prudence (Roberts) Thomas, 
was born in ^Montgomery county, July 25, 
1836, and was educated at the public schools 
of Gwynedd township. Early in life he 
learned the trade of a blacksmith, which he 
followed for thirty-two years. In 1886 he 
was devised the farm on which he now re- 
sides in Hilltown, for life, by his cousin 
Levi Thomas, and has since resided thereon. 
In religious matters he holds to the faith 
of his ancestors for many generations, and 
is a member of the Baptist church. In 
politics he is a Democrat. Mr. Thomas 
married November 25, i860, Elizabeth Fens- 
termacher, of Lower Providence township, 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and they 
have been the parents of three children : 
Samuel, who died at the age of three years ; 
Hiram Brook, who died at the age of ten 
months ; and Eliza Katharine, who died at 
the age of nine years. 



THE HENDRICKS FAMILY, of Bucks 
county, is one of the oldest in Pennsyl- 
vania, its progenitors forming part of that 
little colony that emigrated from the dis- 
trict of the Lower Rhine, in Rhenish 
Prussia anjl Westphalia, and founded Ger- 
mantown in 1684-5. There under the lead- 
ership of the gifted Pastorius they founded 
the first Mennonite congregation in ^.mer- 
ica, established schools, and a little later 
a printing press, and gave a tremendous 
impetus to the growth of religious freedom. 

Gerhard Hendricks, of Kreigsheim, a 
little village on the Rhine, with wife Sytie, 
sons Wilhelm and Lendert, daughter Sarah 
and servant Heinrich Frey, came to Penn- 
sylvania in the "Frances and Dorothy" Oc- 
tober 12, 1685, with Peter Shoemaker and a 
number of others who became prominent 
in the affairs of not only the German settle- 
ment on the Schuylkill, but of the province 
of Pennsylvania. Prior to the organization 
of the Mennonite congregation many of 
those who were later Mennonites, affiliated 
with the Friends and took part in their re- 
ligious meetings. Among these were Ger- 
hard Hendricks and the Opden Graf broth- 
ers from Crefeld, who, with Hendricks, 
signed the famous protest against human 
slavery that was presented first to the Ger- 
mantown Friends Meeting in 1688. and by 
them forwarded to the monthly quarterly 
and yearly meetings of the society. Sarah, 
the daughter of Gerhard Hendricks mar- 
ried Isaac Shoemaker. 

September 28. 1709. the colonial assem- 
bly passed an "Act for the better Enabling 
the Divers Inhabitants of the Province of 
Pennsylvania, to Hold and Enjoy Lands, 
Tenements and Plantations in the same 
Province." by which over eighty of tlie then 
German residents of Germantown and vicin- 
itv were naturalized. The list is headed by 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



495 



Francis Daniel Pastorius, and contains the 
names of the Cunrads, Keysers, Luckens, 
Tysons, Shoemakers, Neuses and many 
others, whose descendants became later 
residents of Bucks county. Among these 
persons then naturalized were William Hen- 
dricks and his sons Henry and Lawrence 
Hendricks. Lawrence (or Lourentz) Hen- 
dricks was one of the first settlers on the 
Skippack, in what is now Towamencm 
township, Montgomery county, having pur- 
chased of Jomes Shattuck, February 30, 
1713, 120 acres in that section on which he 
settled. At the time of his purchase he 
was a resident of Upper Dublin township, 
and is denominated in the deed as a "hus- 
bandman." He later became a tanner. On 
November 22, 1724, Isaac Pennington, ot 
Bucks county, conveyed to Lawrence Hen- 
dricks, of Skippack, fifty acres of land 
"near Skippack" and adioinmg his first 
purchase. In 1748 he purchased 246 acres 
in Hatfield township, iii acres of which 
he immediately conveyed to his son Henry 
Hendricks. Towamencin was formed into 
a township in 1728, and on the tax lists of 
1734 appear the names of the following 
landholders: Paul Hendricks, 100 acres; 
Lawrence Hendricks, 150 acres ; Leonard 
Hendricks, 100 acres; and Henry Hen- 
dricks, 123 acres. Henry was the brother 
naturalized with Lawrence, and Paul and 
Leonard were doubtless also brothers, 
though born in America. Leonard mar- 
ried Elizabeth Turner, daughter of Herman 
Turner, of Germantown, and purchased his 
land in Towamencin at about the same date 
as Lawrence's second purchase, December 
20, 1720. He died in 1776, leaving children: 
William. Mathias, Herman, Mary and Eliza- 
beth. Paul Hendricks died in 1775, leav- 
ing widow Margaret and sons Paul, Will- 
iam, John and Peter ; and daughters Cath- 
arine ; Mary, wife of Henry Fry; Sophia, 
w'ife of Nicholas Godschalk; Susanna; 
Elizabeth, wife of Herman Hendricks ; and 
Rachel, wife of William Nash. 

Lawrence Hendricks' wife was Janneke 
or Jane Tyson, daughter of Cornelius Ty- 
sen, of Germantown, who died in 1716, 
leaving a widow Margaret and two sons, - 
Mathias and Peter; and daughters; Barba- 
ra, wife of Mathias Cunrad; Alice, wife of 
John jCunrad; Willietnptie, wife of Pail 
Engle ; and Jannicke, wife of Laurentz 
Hendricks. Paul Engle settled near 
his brother-in-law, Lawrence Hendricks, 
on the Skippack, and his tombstone 
dated 1723 is the oldest in the Skip- 
pack jMennonite burying ground. Law- 
rence Hendricks died in Towamencin 
township in September, 1753, his wife Jan- 
neke surviving him. Their children were 
Peter, Benjamin, Cornelius, Margaret, wife 
of Peter Tyson; Henry; Sedgen (or 
Seytje), wife of Walter Jansen : William, 
John and ]\Iathias. Benjamin married 
Katharine, daughter of William Nash. 
William died in 1776 leaving an only child 
Jane, who married Daniel Sampey. 



Cornelius Hendricks, the ancestor of the 
Bucks county branch of the family, was 
born in Towamencin township, now Mont- 
gomery county, about the year 1720. He 
married prior to the death of his father in 
1753, Mary Bean, who bore him two chil- 
dren, Benjamin and Christiana. He was a 
farmer in Worcester and" Towamencin 
townships. 

Benjamin Hendricks, son of Cornelius 
and Mary (Bean) Hendricks, was born and 
reared in Montgomery county, and married 
there Esther Clemens, and followed the life 
of a farmer for some years in Lower Sal- 
ford township, in connection with his trade 
of a weaver. Iii April, 1800, he purchased 
of Samuel Moyer a farm of 107 acres in 
Hilltown township, Bucks county, and re- 
moved thither. He was one of the sub- 
stantial and prominent agriculturists and 
business men of the community, and ac- 
quired a competence. He died on the Hill- 
town farm in 1831, his widow Esther sur- 
viving him. Their children were as fol- 
lows : Catharine, who married Isaac Bech- 
tel ; Abraham, married Barbara Bean, and 
died in 1820, leaving children, Henry, Ben- 
jamin, Susan and Jacob; Jacob (the great- 
grandfather of J. Freeman Hendricks, of 
Doylestown) married Mary Drissel ; John, 
married Mary Alder fer, see forward; I\Iary, 
who married Samuel Moyer; George, died 
young; Elizabeth, who married Benjamin 
Bergy ; Joseph, who married Elizabeth 
George ; and Susanna, who married Joseph 
Swartz. Benjamin, the father, having- con- 
veyed sixty-seven acres of his first pur- 
chase to his son Abraham in 1814, had pur- 
chased in 1812 of Benjamin ^ouder 106 
acres adjoining. This old homestead has 
remained in the family ever since, and is 
now occupied by Joseph G. Hendricks, son 
of Joseph and Elizabeth (George) Hen- 
dricks. 

John C. Hendricks, fourth child of Ben- 
jami"h and Esther (Clemens) Hendricks, 
was born in Montgomery county, Decem- 
ber 20, 1794, and was reared and educated 
in Hilltown township, Bucks county, where 
his parents settled when he was at the age 
â–  of five years. He married April 4, 1820, 
Mary Alderfer, daughter of Frederick Al- 
derfer, born September 21, 1796. John C. 
Hendricks was a successful farmer in Hill- 
town all his life. He died at Blooming 
Glen. Hilltown township. October 7, 1881, 
and his wife Mary died February 4, 1861. 
They, like their ancestors, were Mennonites, 
and "belonged to the Blooming Glen con- 
gregation. He was a prominent man in the 
community. The children of John C. and 
]\Iary (Alderfer) Hendricks, were seven in 
number, as follows : Benjamin, rnarried 
Susanna Leatherman and has six children ; 
Frederick, never married ; Jacob, married 
Anna Moyer and has three chndren; Jo- 
seph A., see forward; Abraham, married 
(first) Lydia Hunsicker (second) her sister 
Mrs. Feilman, and (third) Eliza Moyer; 
Elizabeth became the wife of Amos Penny- 



496 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



packer, and has three children; Hettie Ann 
wedded Jacob Landis and has five children. 

JOSEPH A. HENDRICKS, one of the 
most prominent and successful business nicn 
of upper Bucks, and for the last thirty 
years a resident of the thriving borough 
of Perkasie, which town he helped to lay 
out, is a son of John C. and Mary (Alder-.. 
fer) Plendricks, and was born in Hilltown 
township, May 20, 1827. He was reareu 
on his father's farm and acquired his edu- 
cation at the local schools. He learned the 
carpenter trade at the age of twenty years, 
and followed that vocation until his mar- 
riage in 1859, when he embarked in the 
feed, coal and lumber business at Seilers- 
ville. After successfully conducting that 
enterprise for thirteen years he sold out to 
Abraham S. Cressman, and in partnership 
with Mahlon H. Moyer purchased the old 
Nace farm, where the town of Perkasie now 
stands, and laid it out in building lots. The 
project was a success from the start, and 
the town grew rapidly. He erected a large 
three-story building near the railroad, and 
engaged in the mercantile business. His 
old stand is now the thrivmg estauiishment 
of Bissey & Baringer, dealers in clothing 
and general merchandise. Mr. Hendricks 
has been interested in various business en- 
terprises, but now lives retired in his hand- 
some residence at the corner of S'^vonth 
and Market streets, Perkasie. He has been 
a director of the Lansdale National Bank 
for thirty-two years; is treasurer of the 
borough of Perkasie; treasurer of the Per- 
kasie and Bridgetown Turnpike Company; 
was treasurer for several years of the Per- 
kasie Water Company, and has served sev- 
eral years as school director. He is a mem- 
ber of the Mennonite congregation at 
Blooming Glen, and in politics is a Repub- 
lican. 

He married December i, 1859, Mary 
Yeakle, daughter of Samuel Yeakle. and 
they are the parents of one child,- Emma, 
born February ir, 1865, now the wife of 
Tobias S. Bissey, senior member of the 
firm of Bissey & Baringer, before referred 
to. Mr. and Mrs. Bissey have one child, 
Stella May. 



JOHN AUBREY CREWITT, M. D., of 
Newtown, was born at Reidsville, ]\Iifflin 
county, Pennsylvania, March 29, 1853, and 
is a son of Alfred and Jane (Dorland) 
Crewitt, the former of English and the lat- 
ter of Holland descent. 

Richard Chandler Crewitt, grandfather of 
Dr. Crewitt, was born in Marjdand and 
married at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 
1805, Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander 
Bcrryhill, of Harrisburg, where she was 
born January 5, 1777. Their children were 
Fannie, ]\fatilda, Aubrey, and Alfred, the 
father of Dr. Crewitt. Alfred Crewitt was 
born in t8ii. He became a prominent iron 
master in Huntingdon county, Pennsyl- 
vania. He was a man of prominence in 



that county, where he resided for many- 
years. He and his family were prominent 
members of the Presbyterian church, as- 
were his ancestors for three hundred years. 
He died April 5, 1857, while holding the 
ofifice of county treasurer. Ilis wife was 
Jane Dorland, daughter of Isaac and Jane 
(McNamara) Dorland, who died May 8, 
1884. 

The paternal ancestor of Jane (Dorland) 
Crewitt, was Jan Gerretse Dorland, who 
emigrated from Holland in the year 1652, 
and settled at Brooklyn, Long Island, where 
he was an elder in the Dutch Reformed 
church. He was twice married. By his 
first wife, who was a Jans, he had three 
children: Maeretje, baptized April 11, 
1672; Geertje, baptized August 19, 1674; 
and Gerret. He married (second) An- 
nettje Remsen, born April 11, 1669, d ugh- 
ter of Rem Jansen Vanderbeeck, a native 
of Drenthe,- Holland, who married Dec ~i- 
ber 21, 1642, Jannetje, daughter of T 
Rapalie. His descendants dropped t ur- 
name and were known by the na. .e of 
Remsen, signifying sons of Rem. Jnhn (or 
Jan) Dorlandt, baptized at, E ooklyn 
church. March 20, 16S1, married (first) 
Marretje (Mary) and his son John, bap- 
tized at Brooklyn, July 17, 1701, was the 
great-great-great-grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch. The other children 
were: Cornelia, baptized August 7, 1705; 
Lambert, George, Jacob, Isaac, Hermina^ 
Eve, and Abraham. John Dorian It, Sr., 
married (second) in 1718 Barbair; Aukes 
Van Nuys, daughter of Auke Jii se Van 
Nuys, who was baptized April 2ii [702. In 
1720 he left Brooklyn, and after ap lort stay 
among his relatives on the Rariti in New 
Jersey, removed to Moreland â–  "iiownship, 
Philadelphia, now Montgome;y county, 
Pennsylvania, and purchased in 1726 a farm 
from William Brittian, near Somerton. 
Lambert Dorlandt married in September, 
17,31, Elizabeth Brittian; George married in 
1735 Catharine Whiteman ; Jacob married 
in 1741 Ann Hewitt ; Isaac, in 1753, Mar- 
garet Johnson ; Hermina married Charles 
Hufte; Eve married in 1751 John Brit- 
tian, all the above having accompanied their 
father to Pennsylvania. Elizabeth Brittian, 
who married Lambert Dorlandt, was a 
granddaughter of Nathaniel Brittian, an 
early English settler in Kings county, L. I., 
where he married in 1660 Anna, daughter 
of Nicholas Stilwell, and later removed to 
Staten Island, where he died in 1683. Of 
his ten children several removed to Penn- 
sylvania at about the same date as the 
Dorlandt family, and have numerous de- 
scendants in Bucks county. The children 
of Lambert and Elizabeth (Brittian) Dor- 
landt were Nathaniel, John, Lambert, 
Esther, all born in Moreland. 

John Dorland, the great-grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch, was born at 
Somerton in T754. He was a soldier in the 
Revolutionary war, and an active man in 
the community. He married Ann Robin- 
son and had children, Joseph, Rebecca,. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



497 



Isaac, Sarah, Eve, Elizabeth, Jacob, John, 
Jr.. Mary, Ann. Isaac Dorland, the grand- 
father of Dr. Crewitt, was born at Somer- 
ton, December 8, 1782, and married Feb- 
ruary 25, 181 1, Jane ]McNamara, of Scotch- 
Irish descent, who bore him eight children, 
of whom the third was Jane, who married 
Alfred Crewitt, and became the mother of 
the subject of this sketch. The children 
of Alfred and Jane (Dorland) Crewitt 
were : Isaac, Elizabeth, Howard, Andrew, 
Jane, Edward, William; John Aubrey, the 
subject of this sketch, born March 29, 
1853 ; Thomas. Isaac and Howard Crewitt 
were both in the service of their country 
during the Civil war, the former holding 
the rank of lieutenant and the latter that 
of sergeant. 

Dr. Crewitt was reared at Huntingdon 
and attended the public school there. He 
filled the position of mail agent for three 
years, and in the meantime studied medicine 
with Dr. D. P. Miller, of Huntingdon. In 
1874 he entered the College of Phy- 
sicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, 
Maryland, from which he graduated in 
1876. In the year of his graduation he lo- 
cated at Robertsdale, Pa., where he was in 
active practice for eight years. In 1884 
he came to Newtown, Bucks county, where 
he has since practiced his chosen profes- 
sion with success, having built up a large 
practice. He is a member of and was presi- 
dent in 1905 of the Bucks County ^ledi- 
cal Society, and is a member of the Lehigh 
Valley iNIedical Association, the Pennsyl- 
vania State Medical Society, and the 
American Medical Association. He served 
five years in Bucks county as school di- 
rector. He has been a member of the 
Presbyterian church for thirty-seven j-ears, 
and a trustee of the Newtown Presbyterian 
church for eighteen years. 

Dr. Crewitt married, December 18, 1878, 
Joanna Bayard Stewart, daughter of 
Charles and Elizabeth (Bayard) Stewart, 
of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and they are 
the parents of three children : Alfred 
Bayard Crewitt, B.'S., is a medical student 
at the University of Pennsylvania ; Lillian, 
at home ; and John Aubrey, Jr., who is a 
student at the George School. Alfred Bay- 
ard Crewitt became an active worker in the 
temperance cause before he was sixteen 
years of age, and was one of the organizers 
of the Young People's Temperance Asso- 
ciation of Bucks county in 1899, and presi- 
dent of the Association until the fall of 
1904. when he resigned and his brother, 
John Aubrey Crewitt, Jr., was elected 
president. 



DR. NERI BARNDT WILLIAMS, of 
Perkasie, physician and druggist, was born 
in Easton, Pennsylvania, February 12. 1863. 
and is a son of Dr. Cyrenius and Margaret 
(Barndt) William?, of Easton, both of 
whom are natives of Bucks county. On the 
paternal side he is of Welsh descent, the 
earliest ancestor of whom he have any 
32-3 



definite record being John Williams, who 
in 1737 purchased two hundred acres of 
land in New Britain township, near Crier's 
corner, on the Hilltown township line, and 
in 1747 purchased one hundred and fifty 
acres additional in Hilltown, and one' hun- 
dred and thirty-five acres adjoining in New 
Britain. Both he and his wife died prior 
to 1787, leaving five children : John, an in- 
valid; Isaac; William; Sarah, wiie of John 
Parker; and Rebecca, wife of William 
James, of New Britain, William being ;v 
Baptist minister. The last three children 
in 1787 conveyed their interest in their 
father's real estate to their brother Isaac 
on condition that he care for their elder 
brother, John. Isaac Williams, married 
Elizabeth Thomas, daughter of Thomas and 
Mary (.Williams) Thomas,* and lived all 
his life on the part of the homestead lying in 
Hilltown. In 1800 he conveyed the land 
in New Britain to his sons, Thomas and 
Benjamin. Elizabeth Thomas was a grand- 
daughter of Elder William Thomas, who 
came from Wales in 1712 and settled in 
Hilltown in 1724. (See Thomas Family). 
Thomas Williams, son of Isaac and Eliza- 
beth (Thomas) Williams, born in Hill- 
town township, Bucks county, Pennsvlvania, 
May 14, 1776, was the grandfather of Dr.' 
Williams. April 8, 1800, his father con- 
veyed to him fifty acres of the land pur- 
chased by his grandfather, John Williams, 
i" ^72,7, lying in New Britain township, on 
the stump road. Here he lived until 1834, 
when he purchased at sherifif's sale the farm 
of Nathan Thomas near Silverdale, m Hill- 
town township, part of the Ephraim Thom- 
as homestead whereon his wife was born, 
consisting of ninety acres, and lived thereon 
until his death, December 8, 1844. He mar- 
ried about 1800 Eleanor Thomas, born No- 
vember 10, 1779, died March 31, 1856. I'hey 
were the parents of the following children : 
Anna, born May 13, 1804, died June 23, 
1822; Eleanor, born October 3, 1805, died 
March 8, 1817; Joseph, born Februarv, 1808. 
died, August 2, 1808; Nathan Thomas, 
born August 21, 1818, died at AHentown. 
Pennsylvania, January 18, 1901 ; Cyrenious, 
born January 26. 1821, died 1881 ; Amy, 
born 1824, died 1865, unmarried; and 
Thomas, who removed to Reading, where 
he has descendants. Eleanor (Thomas) 
Williams was a daughter of Joseph and 
Sarah (Brittain) Thomas, and a descendant 
on both maternal and paternal side from 
Elder William Thomas, above mentioned., 
her father, Joseph Thomas, being a son 
of Ephraim (born 1719, died 1776) and 
Eleanor (Bates) Thomas, and her mother 
a daughter of Nathan and Ann (Thomas) 
Brittain, and granddaughter of Rev. John 
Thomas, born December. 1713. died 1790., 
for many years pastor of Hilltown Baptist 
church, and the eldest son of Elder Will- 
iam. His wife was Sarah James of Radnor. 
Dr. Cyrenious Williams, father of Dr. N. 



*The "History of the Thomas Family" says Eliza- 
beth married Henry Godshalk. She was the wife of 
Isaac Williams when her mother made her will in 1781 



498 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



B. Williams, was born in New Britain town- 
ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, January 
26, 1821. He received a goad academic edu- 
cation and entered Jefferson Medical Col- 
lege, from which he graduated. lie located 
in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he practiced 
medicine until his death in 1885. He was 
a member of the Lehigh Valley Medical 
Society and other medical associations. He 
was a member of the Baptist church, as had 
been all his ancestors since their settlement 
in Bucks county. In politics he was a 
Democrat. He married Margaret ^arndt, 
born in Hilltown, Bucks county, June I5> 
1842, and still living at Easton, Pennsyl- 
vania. She was a daughter of Neri and 
Hannah Barndt. the former was born in 
Bucks county, February 9, 1818, and died 
March 23, 1902, and he was a farmer in 
Hilltown and Rockhill townships, and a 
son of Samuel Barndt. His wife, Hannah 
Barndt, died in August. 1903. aged eighty- 
five years, and both are buried at Indian 
Field Cemetery, Montgomery, county. They 
were the parents of two daughters : Mar- 
garet, above mentioned ; and Elizabeth, the 
wife of William H. Sherm, of New Britain. 
Dr. Cyrenious and Margaret (Barndt) Will- 
iams were the parents of eleven children as 
follows : Courtland B., born June 12, 1861, 
married Elmira Scheetz, of Quakertown, 
Pennsylvania; Neri B., the subject of this 
sketch; Naomi B.. born September 8, 1864, 
widow of Peter Hill, of Frankford, Indi- 
ana; Percy B., born April 12, 1807, married 
a lady of New York city and resides there ; 
William B., born June 14, 1869, married 
a lady from New Jersey and resides with 
wife and three children at Easton, Pennsyl- 
vania ; Hannah B., born July 14, 1871, mar- 
ried William Edgar, of Chicago, where they 
reside and have one child ; Cyrenious B., 
of Frankford, Indiana ; Margaret B., born 
May 5, 1876, unmarried ; Nathan B.. born 
October 15, 1877, married Margaret Hilgert, 
of William=port ; ElizabeiTi B., born Febru- 
ary 12, 1880, wife of Arthur Smith, of 
Easton, Pennsylvania ; and Ruth B., born 
October 16, 1884. unmarried. 

Dr. Neri B. Williams is the second child 
of Cyrenious and Margaret (Barndt) Will- 
iams, and was born February 12, 1863. He 
was educated at the public schools of Hoke- 
daqua, Lehigh county, Pennsvlvania, and 
subsequently entered the Philadelphia Col- 
lege of Pharmacy, from which he graduated 
in 1885. After his graduation he took 
charge of a drug store at Pittsburg, where 
he remained for three years and then went 
to New York city, where he had charge of 
a drug store for three j^ears. He had mean- 
while taken up the study of medicine and 
graduated from Jefferson Medical College 
in 1891. He besan the practice of his pro- 
fession at Wilkes-Barre, Penns/lvania, 
where he remained for two years, and then 
removed to Philadelphia where he prac- 
ticed for one year. In 1894 he located at 
Perka^ie, Bucks county, where he has built 
up a lucrative practice. In 1899 he erected 
a brick dwelling and store at the corner of 



Fifth and Market streets and opened a 
drug store, and, being thoroughly skilled 
and experienced as a pharmacist and phy- 
sician, is doing a fine business. He has 
always taken an active interest in the af- 
fairs of the town, and has filled the. posi- 
tion of school director for six years. He is 
a prominent member of the Masonic fra- 
ternity, having taken the thirty-second de- 
gree. He is affiliated with Bethlehem Lodge 
. No. 283, F. and A. M. ; Zinzendorf Chap- 
ter, No. 216, R. A. M., of Bethlehem ; Beth- 
lehem Council, No. t,(>, R- S. ]\I. ; Allentown 
Commandery No. 20, K. T. ; Philadelphia 
Consistory; and the Ancient Arabic Order 
of Nobles of Mystic Shrine, Lu Lu Temple, 
Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. He is also a 
member of Perkasie Lodge, K. of P. Re- 
ligiously he is a member of the Lutheran 
church, and politically a Republican. 

He married March 21, 1888, Jennie A. 
Paul, daughter of Richard C. and Susan 
(Dawes) Paul, of Brooklyn, â–  New York. 
Richard C. Paul was captain of a company 
during the civil war, and was shot through 
the hip and died in a Philadelphia hospital 
from the effects of his wound. Dr. N. B. 
and Jennie Alethea (Paul) Williams are 
the parents of three children: Beatrice 
Labira, born October 5, 1895 ; and Gladys 
and Dorothy W., twins, born September 
8, 1901. 



THE LAUBACH FAMILY OF 
DURHAM. Samuel H. Laubach, one of 
the oldest and most prominent residents 
of Durham township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, was born in that town- 
ship j\Iarch 23, 1834, and he and the fam- 
ily to which he belongs have been prom- 
inent in the affairs of that locality for 
several generations. 

Christian Laubach, the great-great- 
grandfather of Samuel H. was a native 
of the Palatinate on the Lower Rhine, 
and at the age of thirty-eight years, ac- 
companied by his father, Rhinehart 
Laubach, aged seventy years, and his 
wife Susanna and several small chil- 
dren, embarked for Pennsylvania in the 
ship "Queen Elizabeth," Captain Alex- 
ander Hope, from Rotterdam, and landed 
in Philadelphia, on September 15, 1738. 
He was a blacksmith by trade, and was 
probably induced to settle on extreme 
northern frontier of the county of Bucks 
by the then proprietors of the Durham 
furnace, started in 1727, and then in full 
blast. He obtained a warrant for the 
survey of one hundred acres of land in 
Bucks county, on one of the tributaries 
of the Saucon Creek, in what became 
Northampton county in 1752. This war- 
rant was dated October 31, 1738, but six 
wrecks after he had taken the oath of 
allegiance to the English crown. He 
possibly followed his trade near the 
furnace for some time, as men of his 
handicraft were much in demand about 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



499 



the mines and furnace and found lucra- 
tive employment. On May 22, 1745, he 
obtained a warrant for another seventy- 
five acres, and in 1755 and 1756 three 
other tracts were surveyed to him. On 
one of these he erected a saw and grist 
mill which was the property of his de- 
scendants for several generations. Some 
of the land taken up by him is still oc- 
cupied by his descendants. By his will 
•dated March 4, 1762, probated January 
5, 1769, he devised his mills to sons Con- 
rad and Frederick, and his other lands 
to sons Rhinehardt and Peter. His eld- 
est son, John George, received 190 
pounds, and his daughter Elizabeth, wife 
of Adam Kuckert, thirty pounds. 

Johan George Laubach, eldest son of 
Christian and Susanna, born in Germany 
November 11, 1729, was the great-grand- 
father of Samuel H. Laubach, of Dur- 
liam. He reared a family of twelve 
children, as follows: Susan, born'^No- 
vember 7, 1757; John Michel, born No- 
vember 28, 1759; John, born August 25, 
176T; John Christian, born June 30, 1762; 
Catharine, born February 26, 1764; John 
Conrad, born December 23, 1766, died 
young; Anna Mary, born October 21, 
1768; Anna Margaret, born January 19, 
1770; John Conrad, born March, 1772; 
John George, born March 5, 1774; Wal- 
burth, born February 15, 1776; and Eliza- 
zeth. born April 10. 1779. 

John George Laubach, born ]\Iarch 5, 
1774, tenth child of John George, Sr., 
â– was the grandfather of Samuel H. Lau- 
"bach. He married in 1798, Elizabeth 
Reel, of Williams township, Northamp- 
ton county, Pennsylvania, and they were 
the parents of nine children: Mary, born 
November 11, 1799, married Jacob 
Boyer; Lydia, born June 7, 1802, mar- 
ried Joseph Trauger; Anthony, born Oc- 
tober 18, 1804, married Elizabeth Hess; 
Elizabeth, born June 23, 1807, married 
Samuel Rinker; John born July 5, 1810, 
•died unmarried; Susan, born Januaiv 8, 
1813, married Simon Illick; Peter, born 
January I, 1816. married Lavinia Bach- 
man; Anna Margaret, born May 30, 1819, 
married Jacob Hess; and Sarah, born 
January 14, 1826, married David W. 
Hess. 

Anthony Laubach, third son of John 
George and Elizabeth (Reel) Laubach, 
born October 18, 1804. was the father of 
Samuel H. Laubach and Charles Lau- 
bach of Durham. He married March 17, 
1829. Elizabeth Hess, of Lower Saucon, 
Northampton county, and settled in Dur- 
Tiam township, where he was a lifelong 
resident and prominent farmer and busi- 
ness man. He died March 15, 1891, in 
his eighty-seventh year. The farm con- 
veyed to him by his father, George Lau- 
bach, in 1832, near Riegelsville, pur- 
chased by George in 1812. is still occu- 
pied by Samuel H. Laubach. The chil- 
•dren of Anthony and Elizabeth (Hess; 
Laubach,. were as follows: Hannah, born 



March 21, 1830, married Leidy N. Wor- 
man; George W., born December 23, 
1832, married Maria Fraley, is still a res- 
ident of Durham; Samuel H., born 
March 23, 1834, married Sarah Rufe; 
Charles, born August 29, 1836, died Au- 
gust 22, 1904, married Jane Raub; Frank- 
lin, born September 13 1838, married El- 
mira Heller, and is still residing in Dur- 
ham; Elizabeth, born May 4, 1841, died 
unmarried; David Anthony, born De- 
cember 14, 1843, died young; James 
Francis, born April 25, 1847, died 
young; Benjamin H., born March 30, 
1853, married Lizzie Stover, and is liv- 
ing in Brooklyn, New York. 

Samuel H. Laubach, second son of An- 
thony and Elizabeth Hess Laubach, was 
born in Durham township, March 23, 
1834. He received a good common 
school education, and later attended the 
celebrated Vandeveer school at Easton, 
Pennsylvania, for several terms. He has 
always been one of the active and pro- 
gressive men of his township, and has 
filled a number of positions of trust. 
He served for many years as a school 
director of Durham township, and was 
twice elected to the office of justice of 
the peace. He is a practical surveyor 
and civil engineer, and was appointed in 
1884 as one of the commissioners to re- 
trace and locate the boundary line be- 
tween Lehigh and Northampton coun- 
ties. He also served as county surveyor 
for six years, 1877-1883. Mr. Laubach 
has been interested in various local en- 
terprises in Durham and vicinity, and 
has always taken an interest in the af- 
fairs of the community in which he lives. 
He has always taken a special interest in 
botany and mineralogy, and is an au- 
thority on these subjects in that local- 
ity. He still resides on the old home- 
stead near Riegelsville. 

]Mr. Laubach married in 1857 Sarah 
Rufe. and they are the parents of five 
children, viz.: Vincent R. Laubach, of 
Riegelsville, born September 21, 1858, 
married Margaret Jane Leh ; Howard R. 
Laubach. of Riegelsville, born June 15, 
1861, married Laura B. Nicholas; Edgar 
R. Laubach, of Bethlehem, born June i, 
1S68. married Abigail L. Judd; Ida R. 
Laubach, born June I, 1868, now wife of 
William H. Judd, of Bethlehem; and 
Clara R. Laubach, born November 24, 
1877. now wife of William H. Bischoff, 
of Bethlehem. 

Vincent R. and Margaret J. (Leh) Lau- 
bach. have the following children: Ger- 
trude Alice, born November 13. 1881, 
wife of Charles Lincoln Free, of Phil- 
lipsburg. New Jersey; Charles Reuben 
Laubach, born July 16. 1883; Mabel Alma 
Laubach. born August 8. 1885, wife of 
Fred Neamand, of Richlandtown; and 
Laura Lovina Laubach, born October 20, 
1887. 

William H.. and Ida R. (Laubach) 
Judd, have one child, Florence Alma, 



500 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



born December 4, 1893; another daugh- 
ter, Dorothy Sarah, died in infancy. 

William H. and Clara R. (Laubach) 
Bischoff, have one child, George Sam- 
uel Bischoff, born February 14, 1902. 

Charles Lincoln and Gertrude Alice 
(Laubach) Free, have one child, Lincoln 
Forest Free, born April 8, 1903, the first 
great-grandchild of Samuel H. Laubach. 

CHARLES LAUBACH, third son of 
Anthony and Elizabeth (Hess) Laubach, 
was born in Durham township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, August 29, 1836, 
and died there August 23, 1904. He was 
reared on the Durham farm and received 
a thorough common school education, 
and afterwards took a classical course in 
the Vandeveer Collegiate Institute of 
Easton. 

In 185s he took up a course of study 
in phrenplogy and ethnology and later 
lectured extensively on these subjects. 
In 1857 he took up the study of practical 
obstetrics under John Ludlow, M. D., 
of Easton, Pennsylvania, and at the same 
time took a thorough course of study on 
medical electricity. On completing his 
medical studies he took up the practice 
of medical electricity, which he followed 
for thirteen months with success. He 
then returned to the farm and continued 
his scientific studies, devoting consid- 
erable portion of his time to geology 
and archaeology, and became the best in- 
tO!mcd g^eologist in Bucks county. He 
was a member of the Archasology and 
Palaeontology Society of the University 
of Pennsylvania, and of the Academy of 
Natural Science of Philadelphia, and con- 
tributed many valuable papers on scien- 
tific subjects that have been widely pub- 
lished. He was an indefatigable student 
of the folk lore and local history of his 
native section, and was the best known 
authority as to the conditions and hab- 
its of the Indians living in that section, 
as well as of the events pertaining to its 
early settlement by his own race. The 
newspapers of the county and elsewhere 
have published a vast number of his ar- 
ticles on geology, archaeology and local 
history that are of incalculable value. 
He was one of the organizers of the 
Buckwampum Literary and Historical 
Society, and served as its secretary until 
his death, besides contributing a num- 
ber of valuable papers to its archives, as 
well as to those of the Bucks County 
Historical Society, of which he was one 
of the oldest members. His collection 
of interesting specimens of minerals and 
Indian relics and curios at his home in 
Durham is one of the best of its kind 
in the state, and he has presented many 
specimens to the museum of the Bucks 
Countj^ Historical Society. He was no 
mere relic hunter or collector, but thor- 
oughly understood the value and merits 
of each article in his collection, and any 
one interested in historical and scientific 
subjects could spend hours in poring 



over this valuable collection, and the 
most lukewarm student could not fail to 
be interested in his intelligent and Hu- 
ent explanation of the value and signifi- 
cance of each article therein. He was 
also profoundly interested in popular 
education and all matters pertaining to 
the advancement and enlightenment of 
his community. He served several 
terms as school director, and was dis- 
trict superintendent of the Durham 
schools for four years, 1879-1883, and 
did much for their advancement. In 
1885 he represented the the first district 
of Bucks county in the School Direc- 
tors' Assciation at Harrisburg. He has 
been connected with numerous success- 
ful business enterprises in his district. 
In politics he was a Jefifersonian Demo- 
crat of the old school, but took little in- 
terest in the practical politics of 'the day. 
He was a member of the Reformed 
church. On March 29, i860, he married 
Jane Raub, of Riegeftville, who survives 
him. Their only child, a daughter, died 
in infancy. The immediate cause of his 
death was cancer of the face, from which 
he suffered for upwards of two years. 



WATSON P. CHURCH, the editor and 
proprietor of the Ncivtozvn Enterprise, was 
born at Center Bridge, in Solebury town- 
ship, Bucks county, '2 mo. 7, 1849. He is 
the second son of Eleazer F. and Hannah 
Brock (Price) Church. 

Mr. Church is a descendant, through 
both parents, of Joseph Fell, the pioneer 
ancestor of the Fells of Bucks county, who 
in 1705 emigrated from Longlands, in the 
county of Cumberland, in England, and 
settled in Buckingham, Bucks county. He 
was twice married. By his first wife, 
Bridget Wilson, of Cumberland, he had 
four children, Joseph, Benjamin, Tamar 
and Mary. Benjamin, born in Cumberland, 
9 mo. I, 1703, married (first^ Hannah Scar- 
borough, and the fifth chil'd of this mar- 
riage, Phebe Fell, born i mo. 27, 172,6, mar- 
ried in 1760 Stephen Kirk, son of Isaac and 
Elizabeth (Twining) Kirk, of Bucking- 
ham. The third child of this marriage 
Elizabeth Kirk, born 10 mo. 19. 1773, mar- 
ried in 1796 John Price, son of Smith and 
^Martha (Carver) Price, of Plumstead, and 
their daughter, Hannah Brock Price, born 
January 20, 1814, was the mother of Watson 
Price Church, the subject of this sketch. 

Joseph Fell, the emigrant, married (sec- 
ond) 3 mo. 10, 171 1, Elizabeth, daughter of 
Edward and Rebecca (Dungan) Doyle, 
(born 1688, died 1784). Rebecca was the 
daughter of Rev. Thomas Dungan. who 
came to Bucks county from Rhode Island 
in 1684 and founded a Baptist church at 
Cold Spring, in Falls township, and she and 
her husband were the grandparents of 
William Doyle, from whose colonial tavern 
of 1745 Doylestown took its name. Sarah 
Fell, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth, born 



s^^ 



\ 




\- 




0. ^ li)hA^.cj. 



rW YORK 



T'- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



501 



8 mo. 26, T713, married in 1735 Richard 
Church, who had brought a certificate 
from a Friends' Meeting in Ireland two 
years previously, and settled in Bucking- 
ham. 

Richard Church obtained a patent for 
267 acres adjoining the tract of his father-' 
in-law, Joseph Fell, in 1741. This tract in- 
cluded the present Church's school, founded 
by his sons, and th^ mill at Mechanics 
Valley, now owned by A. K. Steever. The 
mill was erected by Richard Church in 
1742. Richard Church was a prominent 
man in the community, and an active mem- 
ber of Buckingham Friends' Meeting. He 
died 6 mo. 11, 1776, and his widow Sarah 
died 10 mo. 11, 1797. He was the great- 
grandfather of the late Eleazer F. Church, 
who was the father of Watson P. Church. 

Eleazer F. Church learned the trade of 
a printer in the office of the Doylestoivn 
Democrat, under General John S. Bryan, 
graduating in 1839. For the next ten years 
Tie followed other pursuits, being engaged 
in the mercantile business at both Mechan- 
icsville and Centre Bridge. In March, 1850, 
Tie started a newspaper in Baltimore, Mary- 
land, called the Baltimore County Advo- 
cate. It was published in the interest of a 
separation of the county and city of Balti- 
more in municipal affairs. From Baltimore 
the paper was removed to Cockeysville, in 
August, 1850, and from there to Towson, 
the new county seat, in 1853, where INIr. 
Church continued its publication until 1865, 
when he sold it. In the same year he was 
appointed inspector of internal revenue for 
three counties in lower Maryland. In 1866 
he purchased a half interest in the Herald 
and Torchlight, at Hagerstown, Maryland, 
but in a short time disposed of his interest 
and returned to Towson and started an- 
other paper under the name of the Balti- 
more County Free Press. This he sold in 
March, 1868. and returned to Bucks county 
and established the Nezvtozvn Enterprise. 
The paper was a success from the start, and 
"has always been one of the most popular 
weekly papers in the county. Independent 
in politics, clean, newsy, and specially de- 
voted to local matters, it has found its 
way into a great majority of the homes in 
lower Bucks, and has probably the largest 
circulation of any weekly paper published 
in the county. Eleazer F. Church continued 
to conduct the Enterprise until his death, 
June IS, 1893. He was a man of sterling 
integrity and irreproachable character, of 
pleasing address, and possessed of good 
literary ability, and was exceedingly popular 
as an editor and as a man. He married 
Hannah Brock Price, daughter of John and 
Elizabeth (Kirk) Price and had the fol- 
lowing children: William, born 8 mo. 17, 
1847, now a farmer near Taylorsville ; Wat- 
son P., the present editor and proprietor of 
the Enterprise; Mary E. born 6 mo. 11, 
185 1, who married George M. Wright, and 
died in Philadelphia October 6. 1899; Harry 
F., born 2 mo. 16, 1853, who married Helen 
W. Trego, and died in Newtown, December 



2, 1901 ; and Fannie M.. living in Newtown. 

Watson Price Church, born 2 mo. 7^ 
1849, received a liberal education, and has 
always followed literary pursuits. He was 
associated with -his father in the conduct of 
the Nezvtozvn Enterprise, and at his father's 
death in 1893 he purchased of the executor 
the entire plant and has since conducted the 
paper and maintained its old-time popular- 
ity. He was married June i, 1899. to Mary 
Gillam, of Langhorne, daughter of the late 
Simon and Elizabeth Richardson Gillam. a 
lineal descendant of Justice Joseph Grow- 
don,- of Trevose, Bensalem (who was a 
member of provincial council, 1687-9, 1692, 
1695, 1697-8 ; Justice of supreme court, 
1698-9; judge of Bucks county, 1689, 1708; 
member of assembly, 1684, 1686, 1690, 
1693, 1704-5-6, 1713-4-5-6 and until 1723; 
speaker of the assembly, 1690, 1693, 1700 
to 1706 and 1713 to 1716, and again in 
1722). through the marriage of his daugh- 
ter Elizabeth to Francis Richardson of 
Philadelphia in 1705. 

The children of Watson P. and Mary 
(Gillam) Church are Watson Price Church, 
Jr., born June 7, 1900. and Millicent Eliza- 
beth Church, born August 15, 1901. 



ALFRED MARSHALL, of Lang- 
borne Manor, Bucks county, was born 
in Marslaallton, Delaware, October 29, 
1848, a son of Caleb H. and Jane 
(Thompson) Marshall, and comes of a 
distinguished English ancestry. John 
Marshall, paternal ancestor of Alfred 
Marshall, was born in Derbyshire, Eng- 
land, and migrated from Elton parish m 
that shire in 1686 to America, and after 
locating for about a year in Blockley 
township, Philadelphia county, located 
in Darby, Delaware county. He was a 
member'of Darby Friends' Meeting, and 
married there 10 mo. 19. 1688, Sarah, 
daughter of Thomas Smith, that bemg 
the first marriage solemnized under the 
auspices of Darby Meeting. He was a 
cousin of Abraham Marshall, the distni- 
guished botanist and horticulturist, who 
came from Gratton parish, Derbyshire, 
in 1700, and settled in West Bradford, 
Chester county. John Marshall died 9 
mo. 13, 1729, and his widow 5 mo. 16, 
1749. They had three children. John, 
born 6 mo. 16, 1690, died 8 mo. 4, I749, 
married Joanna Paschall. and (second) 
Elinor Shcnton, a widow; William, born 
2 mo. II. 1692, died 1727, married Mary 
Sellers; Thomas, born 12 mo. 10, 1694, 
(see forward). 

Thomas Marshall married 2 mo. 24, 
1718. and settled in Concord township, 
Chester county. His wife was Hannah 
Mendenhall. daughter of Benjamin and 
Ann (Pennel) Mendenhall. Thomas died 
in 1741. and his widow married Peter 
Grubb. Thomas and Hannah (Menden- 
hall) Marshall had nine children. John 
Marshall, eighth child, born 11 mo. 22, 



502 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



1734, in Concord, married (first) Han- 
nah James, daughter of Joseph and Han- 
nah (Hickman) James, of Westtown, and 
settled in Birmingham township, where 
his wife died in 1764, leaving two chil- 
dren. Mary, who married William Phil- 
lips; and Martha, v/ho died unmarried. 
He removed to Kennett township in 
1765, and on 4 mo. 27, 1768, married Su- 
sanna Lamborn, daughter of Robert ixnd 
Ann (Bourne) Lamborn. She was born 

4 mo. 7, 1749, and died 3 mo. 3, 1839. 
John Marshall became a large landowner 
in Kennett, among his extensive hold- 
ings being a grist and saw mill. He and 
his family were members of Hockesin 
Meeting, and Kennett Monthly Meeting. 
He died 11 mo. 30, 1815. The children 
of John and Susanna (Lamborn) Mar- 
shall were: Thomas, born 4 mo. 22, 1769, 
died 2 mo. 2, 1851, married Sarah Gregg; 
Robert, born 9 mo. 15, 1771, (see below); 
William, born 5 mo. 26, 1773, died 
young; Hannah, born i mo. 7, 1775, died 
I mo. 21, 1859, married John Yeaman; 
Ann, born 8 mo. 22, 1778, died 5 mo. 26, 
1862, married John Scarlett; Martha, 
born 8 mo. 20, 1780, died i mo. 3, 1811, 
unmarried; and William, born 7 mo. 30, 
1784, died 1859, married Margaret Mc- 
Cammon. 

Robert Marshall, second son of John 
and Susanna (Lamborn) Marshall, was 
born in Kennett township, Chester 
county, Pennsylvania, 9 mo. 15, 1771. He 
inherited his father's homestead in Ken- 
nett. His^ son Caleb some years before 
the latter's death in 1869, removed to 
Mill Creek Hundred, New Castle county. 
. Delaware. Prior to his removal to Del- 
aware he operated the grist mill in Ken- 
nett, inherited from his father. His son 
Thomas was also a miller and success- 
fully operated the mill in Kennett for 
many years, and in 1856 began the man- 
ufacture of paper, establishing the ex- 
tensive plant now operated by his sons, 
T. El wood and Israel W. Marshall. 
Robert Marshall married 11 mo. 22, 1804, 
Mary Hoopes, born 3 mo. 16. 1781, died 
7 mo. 30, 1847, daughter of Thomas and 
Sarah (Bane) Hoopes. of Goshen, Ches- 
ter county. They had five children, viz.: 
Caleb H., born 9 mo. 11, 1806, (see for- 
ward) ; John, born 10 mo. 7, 1808, died 

5 mo. 23, 1885, married Sarah Phillips, 
and (second) Mary Harlan; Martha, 
born 8 mo. i, 1810, married Thomas 
Hannum; Abner, born 8 mo. 27, 1814, 
married Ann Eliza Pvle; and Thomas, 
born 3 mo. 18. 1818. d"ied 3 mo. 6, 1887, 
married Mary Way. 

Caleb H. Marshall, born on the old 
Marshall homestead in Kennett, 9 mo. 
II. 1806. removed to New Castle county, 
Delaware. He married Jane Thompson, 
daughter of John and Elizabeth (Reed) 
Thompson, of Mill Creek Hundred, and 
settled at the site of the present town of 
IMarshallton, New Castle county. Jolin 
Marshall, second son of Robert and 



Mary (Hoopes) Marshall, also removed 
to New Castle county, and the two broth- 
ers, Caleb H. and John, engaged in the 
iron busines at Alarshallton, building uj> 
a large business. In 1863 Caleb H. re- 
moved to Philadelphia, where the firm 
had already established a large plant 
under the name of the Penn Treaty Iron 
Works. In 1878 Alfred Marshall, the 
subject of this sketch, with his two- 
brothers, W. W. Marshall and J. Howard 
Marshall, purchased their father's and 
and uncle's interest in the business, and 
continued it with great success under 
the firm name of Marshall Brothers & 
Company, introducing many new fea- 
tures, keeping abreast of the times dur- 
ing the period of vast developments in 
the iron and steel business in America. 
Both J. Howard and Alfred Marshall be- 
came residents of Langhorne Manor, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where J. 
Howard died January 24, 1902. John. 
Marshall, junior member of the original 
firm, died 5 mo. 23, 1885. 

John Thompson, the maternal ances- 
tor of Alfred Marshall, came to Fen- 
wick's colony near Salem, New Jersey, 
in 1679, from W^icklow county, Ireland, 
but was of English birth. He was a son 
of Thomas and Elizabeth Thompson, 
and was born in Kirkfenton parish, York- 
shire, in May, 1635. In 1658 Thomas 
and Elizabeth Thompson, with their twcv 
sons, John and Andrew, removed to 
Ireland, locating in the parish of Don- 
ard. county Wicklow, where John mar- 
ried in 1665 Jane Humble, daughter of 
Thomas Humble, who had lately re- 
moved to Ireland from county Durham, 
England. Four children were born to- 
John and Jane in Ireland; Thomas, born 
7 mo., 1666; James, born 8 mo., 1668- 
Ann, born 9 mo., 1672 ; and Mary, borrr 
10 mo. 25, 1675. Andrew Thompson, 
brotiier of John, married in countj^ Wick- 
low, Isabel Mar.shall. in 1664. and had 
by her Elizabeth. William and Anarew, 
born in Ireland. On 9 mo. 16, 1677, Johrt 
and Andrew Thompson with their fam- 
ilies embarked on the ship "Mary." for 
Fenwick's colony in West Jersey, where 
they arrived 12 mo. 22. 1677. John 
Thompson died in 1715- James Thomp- 
son, son of John and Jane, married 
in October, 1700, Ann Hollingsworth, 
daughter of Valentine and Ann (Cal- 
vert) Holilngsworth. of New Castle 
county, Delaware. He died in 1712, leav- 
ing five children: Jane. Ann. John. Eliza- 
beth and James. James Thompson, son 
of James and Ann, was born in Salem 
county. New^ Jersey, 8 mo. 26. 1712. On 
arriving at manhood he settled in Lea- 
cock township. Lancaster county, Penn- 
sylvania, and married 3 mo. 22, 1735, 
Sarah Worslej', daughter of Daniel and 
Sarah Worsley, of New Castle county. 
She was born 4 mo. 3. 1717. On his mar- 
ria,ge James Thompson removed to New- 
Castle county, locating in Mill Creek 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



503 



Hundred. On the death of his first wife 
he married, 4 mo. 10, 1742, Elizabeth 
Hadley, daughter of Joseph and Amy 
(Greeg) Hadley, of Mill Creek. By the 
first marriage he had three children: 
Grace, born 3 mo. 9, 1736, married i mo. 
17; 1763, Moses Pennock; Daniel, (see 
below); and Ann, born 10 mo. 7, 1739, 
died young. By the second marriage 
there were seven children: James, Sarah, 
Amy, John, Ann, Joseph and Elizabeth. 
Daniel Thompson, eldest son of James 
and Sarah (Worsley) Thompson, was 
born in Mill Creek Hundred, 11 mo. 16, 
1737, and married 10 mo. 25, 1764, Eliza- 
beth Chambers, daughter of William and 
Elizabeth (Miller) Chambers, of White 
Clay Creek, by whom he had nine chil- 
dren: William, James, Eli, Deborah, 
Sarah, John, Elizabeth, Daniel and 
Joshua. John Thompson, born 5 mo. 17, 
1777, married Elizabeth Reed, and their 
daughter Jane was the mother of the 
subject of this sketch, through her mar- 
riage with Caleb H. Marshall, of Mar- 
shalton, Delaware. 

-Alfred Marshall was educated in the 
public schools of Marshallton, Dela- 
ware, and later in Philadelphia, to which 
city the family removed in 1863. On 
leaving school he entered the Penn 
Treaty Iron Works, of which his father 
was proprietor, and thoroughly learned 
all the details of the business that was 
to become his life work. His father, 
Caleb H. Marshall, died 12 mo. 16, 1888, 
and the business was continued by his 
sons under the firm name of Marshall 
Bros. & Co. This firm was the first 
manufacturer of galvanized sheet iron. 
In 1892 they began the manufacture of 
tin plate, establishing the first plant for 
this industry east of the Alleghenies, 
and making it a thorough success. The 
firm sold out the tin plate departf^ient 
in 1898 to the American Tin Plate Com- 
pany, but still continues the iron and 
steel business as jobbers, doing a large 
and lucrative business. 

Mr. Marshall married December 19, 
1878, Florence Virginia Mather, of Phil- 
adelphia, daughter of Richard and 
Esther (Coates) Mather. Mrs. Marshall 
is a descendant through many genera- 
tions of Quaker ancestors who have been 
prominent in the history and develop- 
ment of Bucks, Chester and Delaware 
counties. She is a granddaughter of 
Benjamin and Catharine (Rowland) 
Mather, and a great-granddaughter of 
Banjamin and Ann Mather. On the ma- 
ternal side she is a descendant of Moses 
Coates, who was born in Ireland of an 
old English family who had crossed the 
channel to escape religious persecution. 
He married, in Ireland, Susanna Wel- 
don, and, coming to this country, in 1731, 
purchased 540 acres of land on the site 
of Phoenixville, where his descendants 
became owners and operators of the iron 
works that have contributed so largely 



to the growth and importance of the 
town. Coatesville, Pennsylvania, was 
named for Moses Coates, a grandson of 
the emigrant, who w.as the great-grand- 
father of Mrs. Marshall, her grandpa- 
rents being Caleb and Elizabeth (Gil- 
bert) Coates. 

Mr. and Mrs. Marshall have been the 
parents of three children: Clarence 
Mather, born March 16, 1880, died March 
5, 1883; Frederick Warren, born Sep- 
tember 25, 1881; and Richard Mather, 
born November 13, 1890. These children 
attended the William Penn Charter 
School, and Frederick W. is now a stu- 
dent of the University of Pennsylvania 
in the class of 1905. In 1889 Mr. Mar- 
shall and his family removed to Lang- 
horne Manor, where he had previously 
erected a handsome home. He is a bus- 
iness man of excellent judgment and 
high standing in the community. He has 
identified himself with the business, so- 
cial and political interests of the county 
and borough. He is a director in the 
People's National Bank of Langhorne; 
president of the Langhorne Electric 
Light Company; president of the Junc- 
tion Furnace and Foundry Company; 
and senior member of the present firm 
of Marshall Brothers in Philadelphia. 



GEORGE BAILEY, of Lower Make- 
field township. Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, known for his zealous and useful 
efforts in behalf of education, was a de- 
scendant in the fifth generation from 
Thomas Bailey, a native of Bristol, 
which was in his day one of the most im- 
portant mercantile cities of England. 
Thomas Bailey came to America in 
1682 and purchased land in Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania. He was a bodice maker 
by occupation. From him the line of de- 
scent to George Bailey is through 
Thomas (2) and Mercy (Lucas) Bailey; 
Edward (3) and Ann (Satterthwaite) 
Bailey; and Edward (4) and Margaret 
(Livezey) Bailey. 

George Bailey (5), son of Edward and 
Margaret (Livezey) Bailey, was born in 
Falls township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, January 15, 1816. He began his 
education in the common schools in the 
home neighborhood, and pursued what 
was equivalent to an academical course 
in the Friends' school of Falls town- 
ship. He was of studious disposition and 
devoted himself to his studies so assid- 
uously that on leaving school he was en- 
tirely capable of teaching, and he fol- 
lowed that occupation for several years. 
During his later life he followed farm- 
ing, industriously and successfully. He 
never lost his interest in educational af- 
fairs, and was among the foremost in 
laying the foundations for the normal 
school sj^stem and in effecting its es- 
tablishment. In politics he was a Re- 



504 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



publican. He married October 26, 1837, 
Ann, daughter of Israel and Rachel 
(Parsons) Bailey, and they died respec- 
tively April 30, 1853, and February 19, 
1852. They were the parents of seven 
children: i. Peter, born April 30, 1839, 
died October 10, 1899; 2. Emily, born 
February 19, 1841. 3. Harding, Decem- 
ber 8, 1842; 4. George W., July 12, 1845; 
5. Edward, February 17, 1848; 6. Anna 
Mary, August 29, 1849. 7. Isaiah, born 
December 5, 1851, died in infancy. 

Emily, oldest surviving child and eld- 
est daughter of George and Ann 
(Bailey) Bailey, resides in a handsome 
home in Langhorne borough, near the 
ancestral homestead, to which she is 
devotedly attached on account of the 
tender memories and honored traditions 
belonging to it. Her life has been un- 
selfishly devoted to the welfare of others, 
and she is held in regard by the many in 
the neighborhood who have constantly 
been objects of her care and the re- 
cipients of her bounties — bounties be- 
stowed so modestly and unassumingly 
that they go unheralded save by those 
grateful souls to whose comfort she has 
so generously contributed. She is also 
sincerely beloved by the widely dis- 
persed members of the family, who view 
in her an affectionate and considerate 
relative who by reason of her residence 
near the old home and her loyalty to her 
ancestry and kinspeople is in peculiar 
degree their principal and most honored 
representative. 

Harding, third child and oldest sur- 
viving child of George and Ann (Bailey) 
Bailey, married September 29, 1868, Lu- 
cretia M. Garretson, and they are the 
parents of five children: i. William, born 
in 1870, died in infancy; 2. Luella M., 
born 1872; 3. Lorin H., 1876: 4. Hazel, 
1886; 5. Arvine, 1891. This family re- 
side in Ohio. 

George W., fourth child of George and 
Ann (Bailey) Bailey, married December 
3.1, 1868, Ruthetta Butler, and they are 
the parents of eight children: i. John 
Butler, born 1870. died 1893; 2. Anna E., 
born 1871; married December 24, 1901, 
Horace C. Baldwin, of Whittier, Califor- 
nia, and to them were born two children: 
one died in infancy, and Clififord, born 
March 28, 1904; 3. Laura M., born 1874; 
died 1891; 4. Edward H., born 1876, mar- 
ried Esther Harris. June r, 1904; 5. 
Erwin G.. born 1880, married Carrie 
Huntington, August 23. 1904; 6. William 
J., born 1884; 7-8. Charles F. and Ches- 
ter M., twins, born 1889; Chester M. died 
in infancy, and Charles F. is still living. 

Edward IM., fifth child of George and 
Ann (Bailey) Bailey, married Sarah Lee 
Taylor, September 12, 1888. 

Anna Mary, sixth child of George and 
Ann (Bailey) Bailey, became the wife 
of Charles H. Carver, in January, 1872, 
and to them were born three children: 
I. Anna B., 1873; married Charles T. 



Windle, and they had one child, Edward 
Howell, born 1897. 2. Rachel B., born 
1876, is quite an artist, and in 1904 ex- 
hibited at the Trenton State Fair, win- 
ning seven prizes. 3. Edward L., born 
1879, died 1881. 



SAMUEL R. KRAMER, Postoffice Per- 
kasie, was born March 29, i860, on the 
Ridge road, about two miles northeast of 
Perkasie borough, in Rockhill township, 
and was the youngest of seven children 
born to Abraham and Elizabeth Kramer. 
At the age of eight years his father died, 
and for five years he was in the employ 
of George L. Baringer, a farmer in Rich- 
land Center, during which time and be- 
tween the attendant duties of farm life 
he received a common-school education 
in the Quakertown public schools. In 
1875 he was apprenticed to a jeweler in 
Delaware county. Pennsylvania, June 4, 
1877, he was apprenticed to J. E. Witmer, 
of the Langsdale Reporter, at Langsdale, 
Montgomery county, this state, and served 
three years at the printing business. In 
June, 1881, Hon. M. S. Sellers established 
the Central News in Perkasie, and em- 
ployed him to take charge of the mechani- 
cal part, which position he held until the 
death of the founder, February 7, 1882, 
when he became a member of the firm of 
Moyer & Kramer, and continued the print- 
ing and publication business. In 1885, at 
the age of twenty-four, he was elected to 
the office of justice of the peace by his 
fellow-citizens, for the term of five years, 
and was re-elected for three succeeding 
terms thereafter. He was married in 1881 
to Miss Mary Swartley. of Gwynedd, IMont- 
gomery county, Pennsylvania. The union 
was blest with ten children, the following 
of whom are living: Samuel R.. Jr.. Russell, 
Lulu, Mamie, Stewart, Folwell and Ran- 
dall. 

From a wooded hillside Mr. Kramer 
created Menlo Park. He united Perkasie 
and Quakertown by trolley. He produced 
the Perkasie water works. He gave the 
"upper end" a model weekly newspaper. 
He was a charter member of many lodges, 
and belongs to the following: F. and A. 
M.. K. of P.. I. O. O. F., O. U. A. M. He 
brought to Perkasie its largest industries, 
persuading the proprietors to locate here, 
and financed the building of factories. As 
a surveyor he laid out important and profit- 
able annexes to the borough. He was a 
leading spirit in annexing Bridgetown to 
Perkasie, and in freeing the Bridgetown- 
Perkasie turnpike. He was successful in 
pleading for municipal ownership of the 
borough electric light plant. He was the 
pioneer along the North Pcnn for modern 
railroad stations, the first and finest of 
which is located at Perkasie. To a great 
extent Perkasie Bank is because of him. 
Verily a busy and honored career — a course 
uniformly run with integrity, and oppor- 




^a. 



(i^^^-'M^'i-^i-'*-^-^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



505 



tunity for his associates to go along with 
•equal privileges. 

His political affiliations tend toward the 
Democracy of Jefiferson, although his 
partisanship is not of the intense type. 
Man or measure appeals to him because 
of its worthiness — nothing else — although, 
all things being equal, he is a Democrat. 
He was one of the leaders of the Palmer 
and Buckner (Gold Democrats) campaign 
in 1900, and was a national delegate to 
the convention that year. By the. loss of 
only one vote Mr. Kramer failed to be- 
come the choice of his party for the as- 
sembly in 1890. 

The products of his pen are a source 
of great pleasure. He is versatile, facile, 
and keen — convincing — and is equally at 
home with the weapons of sarcasm, ridicule, 
or the "statement direct" — the power of 
which has been felt in many a campaign, 
or other public question. And, remarkable 
as it may seen, he is equally forceful as a 
public speaker. 

Mr. Kramer subscribes to the German 
Reformed faith, and has served the St. 
Stephen Sunday school as its superi- 
tendent, choir leader, and orchestra leader. 
Of late years, however, his religious tenets 
have undergone a liberalizing process, and 
his views upon the plan of salvation, and 
the mundane machinery connected there- 
with, are a fusion of most beliefs — a com- 
promise for all. Socially, his home is head- 
quarters, locally. His genial personality, 
through which magnetism runs as the band 
of red through the national colors, attracts 
all classes. His heart is large, and ,his 
purse open — although his charity is un- 
ostentatious. He does good by stealth and 
blushes to find it fame. 

Commercially, he is at present head of 
a corporation engaged in manufacturing 
and selling his patented attachments for 
platen printing presses — an ingenious 
mechanism which makes these presses print 
from a roll, in colors, perforating, number- 
ing, collating and packing, or rewinding the 
same. 

He dissolved partnership with ex-Senator 
Moyer m the proprietorshop of the Central 
News in 1903, they two disposing of the 
property to Charles M. Meredith. 



DAVID W. ALLABOUGH, Esq. 
David W. Allabough, of Silverdale 
borough, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was 
born in Hilltown township, Bucks county. 
May 13, 1869, and is a son of Henry S. 
and Elizabeth (Wismer) Allabough, of the 
same place. 

Henry Allabough, grandfather of David 
W., was a native of Montgomery county, 
and a carpenter by trade. He lived for a 
time in Salem county, New Jersey. He was 
twice married, the subject of this sketch 
being descended from the second marriage, 
with Sarah Smith. By his first marriage 
he had two children — John and Amanda ; 



and by the second three — Etta, Sarah Ann, 
and Henry S. 

Henry S. Allabough was born in Mont- 
gomery county, Pennsylvania, December 8, 
1843. He was reared in that county, and 
on March 4, 1862, enlisted as a private 
in Company E, Ninetieth Regiment, Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers, at Philadelphia, under 
Captain John Barnes and Colonel Peter 
Lyle. The regiment was incorporated in 
the Second Brigade, Second Division, 
Tenth Corps, of the Army of the Potomac, 
and was in the thick of the fight through- 
out the war. He was in the battles of 
Cedar Creek, Fredericksburg, Chancellors- 
ville, Gettysburg and many others. At 
Gettysburg he was wounded in the right 
shoulder and right cheek and was sent to 
the military hospital at Broad and Cherry 
streets. Philadelphia, and after being there 
four months was transferred to Chestnut 
Hill hospital. On his discharge from the 
hospital he was transferred to Company 
H, Eleventh Regiment, and was at the bat- 
tle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864, where 
he was slightly wounded in the right thigh 
but took part in the two weeks fight at 
Petersburg, June 15 to 30th. He was hon- 
orably discharged May 4, 1865. and was 
highly commended for bravery and meritor- 
ious conduct. He is a member of Peter 
Lyle Post. No. 145, G. A. R., of Quaker- 
town. Returning from the war he settled 
in Bucks county, and married October 11, 
1866, Elizabeth Wismer, daughter of Chris- 
tian and Mary (Cassel) Wismer of Plill- 
town, and, purchasing his father-in-law's 
farm, which he conducted for fourteen 
years, then moved to Silverdale, purchas- 
ing a small property where he now lives 
retired. Henry and Elizabeth (Wismer) 
Allabough are the parents of three chil- 
dren: David W., the subject of this sketch; 
William, of Hilltown, who married Emma 
Miller, daughter of Noah Miller, of Rock- 
hill, and has one son Harvey; and Mary, 
wife of Henry Hunsberger, of Silverdale. 

Christian Wismer, the maternal grand- 
father of 'Squire Allabaugh, was born in 
Montgomery county, and was a son of 
Christian Wismer who married Mary 
Rosenberger. He settled in Hilltown, and 
married Mary Cassel, also a native of Mont- 
gomery county, and they were t?he parents 
of seven children : Anna, who married 
David Ruth; Sarah; Elizabeth ;_ Jacob^ of 
Silverdale, who married Catharine Stout ; 
Joel, who married Mary Shelly; Mary de- 
ceased; and Daniel, who married Annie 
Roberts. 

David W. Allabough was reared on his 
father's farm in Hilltown, and acquired his 
education at the public schools. As a boy 
he entered the tailoring establishment of 
his maternal uncle, Jacob Wismer, and is 
still employed there, filling the position of 
foreman in the large establishment of Mr. 
Wismer at Silverdale for many years. He 
has always taken an active interest in the 
local affairs of the community in which he 
lived, and has filled a number of local of- 



5o6 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



fices. He was elected a justice of the peace 
in 1897, and reelected in 1902. In politics 
he is a Republican, and has served for some 
years as a member of the county committee. 
He married Rosa Stout, daughter of Aloses 
and Mary Ann (Bishop) Stout. 



HON. HAMPTON W. RICE was born 
in Solebury township, Bucks county, on the 
old Rice homestead, March 24, 1844, the 
son of Samuel H. and Ann (Livezeyj Rice, 
both natives of that township. Jidward 
Rice, ancestor of the Rice family of Bucks 
county, was a native of the parish of Killa- 
man, county Tyrone, Ireland, from whence 
he emigrated to America, bringing with hnn 
a certificate from the rector and church 
wardens of the parish, dated June 12, 1736. 
He settled in Buckingham, and on Decem- 
ber 19, 1753, obtained a deed for 153 acres 
of land on the old York road and the War- 
wick line, comprising the present Edward 
Swartz and Percy farms. He had probably 
resided on this land some years previously. 
It was part of a tract of 1,622 acres patented 
to Thomas Mayleigh, and had been devised 
to his son and heirs male in feetail, and 
proceedings had been instituted to bar the 
entail so as to make conveyances thereof 
in fee, some years previously. Edward Rice 
resided on this farm until his death in 1761. 
His wife was Elizabeth . She mar- 
ried Mathew Beans, 5 mo. 18, 1763, and 
had two children — Aaron and Moses Beans 
by this second marriage. She died in Buck- 
ingham in 1814. The children of Edward 
and Elizabeth Rice, were eight, viz. : 

I. James, born about 1742, died in War- 
wick township, November 5, 1822, leaving 
seven children : Jane, wife of Henry Wig- 
gins ; Rebecca, wife of Henry Black ; John ; 
James ; Phebe, wife of James Lukens ; Wil- 
liam and Mary. James had removed to 
Baltimore, Maryland, but returned to Bucks 
county and settled in Warwick ten years 
later. 2. John, born 1744, died on the home- 
stead in Buckingham, October i, 1801, mar- 
ried Rachel Worthington, August 24, 1765, 
and had children : Mary, who married 
Thomas Kirk; Edward, Elizabeth, Han- 
nah, Ann, John and James. 3. Edward, 
born 1747, married Martha Fell, and lived 
in Plumstead. Children: Jonathan and 
IMary. 4. George Rice, born 1749, married 
Elinor, daughter of Robert and Jane 
Skelton, of Buckingham, and had children : 
Robert, Ann, Susanna, George, Sarah, 
INIary, Moses, and Elias. George Rice and 
his son Robert were wheelwrights and lived 
in Plumstead. 5. Mary, born 1752, married 
John Kinsey, 3 mo. 22,, 1774. 6. Joseph, 
born 1754. 7. Thomas, born 1756. 8. Will- 
iam, born 1758. 

Joseph, sixth child of Edward and Eliza- 
beth Rice, was born in Buckingham in the 
year 1754. He was very young when his 
mother was married to Mathew Beans, and 
his boyhood days were probably spent on 
the old Beans farm, near the Solebury line, 



where Henry H. Beans now lives. He mar- 
ried, 4 mo. 14, 1779, Letitia, daur-hter of 
William and Catharine (Fisher) Hartley,, 
of Solebury. He purchased of his wife's 
uncle the farm on the state road in Sole- 
bury, part of which is still owned and oc- 
cupied by his descendants, and spent his 
long life thereon, dying in November, 1848, 
in his ninety-fourth year. His children 
were: Catharine, born 1780, married Elias 
Paxson; James, born 1785, died in' infancy; 
William, born 4 mo. 30, 1782, died 1827; 
Letitia, born 1788, married John Bodder ; 
James, born 2 mo. 7, 1791, died young; and 
Joseph, born 3 mo. 2, 1792. Letitia (Hart- 
ley) Rice died 11 mo. 30, 1815. 

William Rice, eldest son of Joseph and 
Letitia, born in Solebury, 4 mo. 30, 1782, 
was devised by the will of his grandfather^ 
William Hartley, a farm of 180 acres ad- 
joining the one purchased by his father,, 
the greater part of which is still owned by 
the subject of this sketch, and, marrying 
Sidney Hartley settled thereon. He died 
when but forty-live years of a^e, in 1827. 
His children were: Samuel H., father of the 
subject of this sketch; Hiram, for many 
years a prominent citizen of Buckingham, 
died at Newtown ; Charles and Eliza. 

Samuel H. Rice, eldest son of William 
and Sidney, was born on the old homestead 
in Solebury in 1808. At his father's death 
he assumed the management of the farm, 
and two years later, he having arrived at 
his majority, the farm was partitioned 
through the orphans' court and he accepted 
the homestead and 127 acres and spent the 
remainder of his life thereon. He was an 
auctioneer, and followed that vocation in 
connection with farming. He was twice 
married, his first wife being Euphemia, 
daughter of John and Euphemia (Ingham) 
Watson to which marriage two children 
were born : Mary Ellen, now deceased, mar- 
ried William M. Wharton ; and one who 
died in childhood. He married (second) 
Ann Livezey, daughter of Robert and Sarah 
(Paxson) Livezey of Solebury, by whom 
he had three children : Euphemia Ann and 
Sarah L., both single, residing at Lahaska ; 
and Hampton W., the subject of this sketch. 
Samuel H. Rice died in June, 1879. 

Hampton W. Rice was born on the old 
homestead, March 24, 1844, and was reared 
to the life of a farmer, acquiring his edu- 
cation at the public schools and at the 
Excelsor Normal School at Carversville. 
On attaining manhood he took charge of the 
home farm, which he acquired at the death 
of his father, and resided thereon until 
1886, when he removed to Lumberton and 
engaged in the manufacture of fertilizers. 
In 1901 he sold out at Lumberton and re- 
moved to his present residence at Centre 
Hill, built by his uncle. Dr. Abraham 
Liveze\', in 1850. 

In politics Mr. Rice was a Republican 
and has always taken an active interest in 
politics. In 1895 lie was elected a mem- 
ber of the legislature, and was re-elected m 
1897. In 1899 he was elected to the state 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



507 



senate. During his eight years of con- 
tinuous service in the two houses of the 
legislature he took an active part in legisla- 
tion, particularly in that relating to the 
interests of the farming community. He be- 
longed to the anti-Quay wing of the party, 
and helped to defeat the re-election of Mr. 
Quay to the United States senate in 1900. 
He was nominated for the assembly in 1903 
by a fusion with the Democrats, but was 
defeated at the polls by a small majority. 
Mr. Rice has always taken an active in- 
terest in all that pertains to the best in- 
terests of the local communiLy, has served 
as school director, and filled other local 
offices. He is one of the most active mem- 
bers of the Solebury Farmers' club. He is 
a member of Doylesto\\ n Lodge, No. 245, 
F. and A. M. and of Paunaucussing Lodge, 
K. of P., at Carversville. He and his fam- 
ily are members of the Society of Friends. 
He was married January 11, 1881, to Emma 
L., daughter of Watson and Hannah (Pres- 
ton) Kenderdine, of Solebury, both of 
whom are descendants of Welsh ancestors 
who came to this country in the seventeenth 
century. Air. and Mrs. Rice have been the 
parents of three children, only one of whom 
survives — Marion, wife of, George H. Ely, 
who has two children, Wilton G. and Helen 
M. Ely. 



CAPTAIN THOMAS PRESTON 
CHAMBERS, of Newtown, Pennsylvania, 
son of Alexander and F"rances Wayne 
Chambers, was born in Philadelphia, Feb- 
ruary 20, 1836. His life has been one of 
varied and constant activity ; he has been 
a pioneer in many branches of industry, and 
is today one of the leading and influen- 
tial citizens of the borough. 

He received a good education in private 
schools, and in 1855 went West, where he 
remained two years exploring what was 
then an undeveloped country, returning 
again to his fathers home in Newtown. 
In 1861 he enlisted in Company K, One 
Hundred and Fourth Regiment Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteers, (Captain H. Y. Picker- 
ing), Colonel W. W. H. Davis command- 
ing, becoming first sergeant, from which 
position he was promoted to quartermaster 
sergeant November 5, i86r. After serving 
a short time he was taken sick with small- 
pox, and was honorably discharged on ac- 
count of physicial disability, and was sent 
home. Upon his recovery he recruited a 
company of infantry of which he was chosen 
captain, to repel the invasion of Pennsyl- 
vania. He started with it to the front, but 
on reaching Harrisburg was notified that 
the enemy had retreated. After this he 
enlisted in the Twentieth Cavalry Regi- 
ment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel 
Jol n E. Wynkoop, for six- months, was 
commissioned second lieutenant, and at the 
expiration of six months was mustered in 
for three years in the same regiment. 
Shortly before the close of the war Captain 
Chambers was taken ill with typhoid fever, 



and was discharged on account of physical 
disability. Captain Chambers participated 
in the celebrated Hunter's raid in the Shen- 
andoah Valley, and numerous other import- 
ant engagements. 

Soon after the close of the rebellion, de- 
velopments of oil along Oil Creek in the 
vicinity of Titusville, Pennsylvania, at- 
tracted the attention of all adventurous 
spirits. It was not long therefore before 
Captain Chambers entered the new field of 
industry, and established at Titusville one 
of the pioneer oil refineries of the region. 
In this venture he was joined by his two 
brothers-in-law, Dr., H. Y. Pickering, and 
Major Samuel Comfort. Succumbing to 
the inevitable, the refining business was 
eventually sold to the Standard Oil Com- 
pany, and Captain Chambers turned his at- 
tention to the production of crude petro- 
leum. He was the organizer of several large 
and successful oil companies, besides en- 
gaging m numerous private ventures in the 
petroleum industry. He was practically 
a resident of Titusville from 1869 to 1887^ 
and then returned to the family home in 
Newtown township. 

In 1898 he removed from there to the 
borough of Newtown, purchasing the Ewing 
property, which he has since made his 
home. He was the promoter and organizer, 
of the Newtown Electric Street Railway 
Company, of which he has been the largest 
stockholder and president since its organ- 
ization. Soon afterwards he acquired the 
control of the Newtown, Langhorne & Bris- 
tol Trolley Street Railway Company, of 
which he had been a director from its or- 
ganization, (this was the first street rail- 
way built in Bucks county) and extended 
the line of trolleys to Doylestown. With 
his son Alexander, he has had the active 
management of the company from its open- 
ing for traffic February 26, 1899. In the 
autumn of 1899, while on a trip to Hon- 
duras, he became impressed with the nat- 
ural resources of this undeveloped country, 
and on his return organized the Ulua Com- 
mercial Company for the purpose of con- 
necting the Ulua River with Puerto Cortez 
by a system of canals opening for naviga- 
tion several hundreds of miles of the inte- 
rior, and establishing a line of steamers to 
carry the fruit, mineral and other products 
of the country to the seaboard. He was 
also one of the organizers of the Olancho 
Mineral Company, who are opening and 
operating gold mines in the interior of 
Honduras. Captain Chambers and his two 
sons have spent much of their time during 
the last years in Puerto Cortez, Honduras, 
in the management of these companies and 
the development of their resources. 

Captain Chambers was married October 
16, i860, to Hannah H., daughter of John 
and Mary (Hough) Barnsley, whose ances- 
try is given on another page of this volume. 
Their children are : Mar}' B., Francis 
Wayne, married R. E. Hopkins, of Tarry- 
town, New York ; Alexander ; Helen T., 
married E. T. Roberts, of Titusville, Penn- 



5o8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



sylvania; Anna Pickering; John B., Eliza- 
beth C. ; and Clarissa W. 

Captain Chambers is well and favorably 
known in Bucks county, and is connected 
with many of the local institutions, lie 
and his family are members of the Epis- 
copal church. He is a member of Newtown 
Lodge, No. 427, F. and A. M., and of the 
Philadelphia Commandery of the Loyal 
Legion, and also a member of the Grand 
Army of the Republic, Post No. 427, New- 
town, Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Chambers dates his ancestry on his 
father's side from William Chalmers, as the 
name was then spelled, who was born and 
lived in Perth, Scotland. His son Alex- 
ander Chambers, came to Philadelphia 
when a lad, and married Ann Fox, of that 
city, in 1746. He died in London, England, 
and is buried in St. Andrew's churchyard 
in that city. John Chambers, son of Alex- 
ander and Ann (Fox) Chambers, was born 
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, about 1746, 
and married there in 1770 Deborah Hall; 
he died April 3, 1776. George Chambers, 
son of John and Deborah Hall Chambers, 
was born in Philadelphia, August, 1774, and 
died June 7, 1814; he married Mary Pres- 
ton, August I, 1796, and had six children. 
After the death of George Chambers his 
widow married Mr. Richard Harris, ot 
England, and in 1827 moved from Phila- 
delphia to Newtown township, where they 
purchased a farm of one hundred acres. 
Mrs. Harris died in 1864. 

Alexander Chambers^ the father of the 
subject of this sketch, son of George and 
Mary Preston Chambers, was born in 
Philadelphia, June 4, 1808. On March 25, 
1835, he married Frances Wayne, daughter 
of Caleb Parry and Mary Stokes Wayne. 
Caleb Parry Wayne was great-grandson of 
Captain Anthony Wayne, and a cousin of 
General Anthony Wayne, of Revolution- 
ary fame, also grandson of Captain David 
Parry, and a nephew of Colonel Caleb 
Parry, who fell in the battle of Long Isl- 
and in 1776. They had two sons, Thomas 
P. and Frances Wayne Chambers. Mr. 
Chambers was engaged in the mercantile 
business in Philadelphia until 1841, when 
with his family he moved to Newtown and 
purchased the farm of his mother, and be- 
came a prominent and active man in this 
community. He and his family attend-^d 
the Protestant Episcopal Church at Now- 
town, where he was a vestryman until his 
death. 

Alexander Chambers, son of Thomas P. 
and Hannah H. (Barnsley) Chambers, \\as 
born in Newtown, October 20, 1865. He 
was educated at the schools of Newtown, 
at Swarthmore College and Lehigh Univer- 
sity, but failing health prevented his grad- 
uation from the latter institution in the 
class of 1887. He was engaged in the 
oil business with the Tidewater Oil Com- 
pany of New York, until 1894, when he 
purchased the Agricultural Machine Works 
at Newtown, which he operated for sev- 
eral years in connection with the manu- 



facture and sale of other machinery. He 
is general manager and treasurer of the 
Newtown Electric Street Railway Com- 
pany, and actively associated with its man- 
agement. For the past several years much 
of his time has been spent in Honduras, 
where he is associated with his father and 
brother John in the management of. the 
Ulua Commercial Company, and the Olan- 
cho Mineral Company. He is a member 
of Newtown Lodge, No. 427, F. and A. 
M., and a well known young business man 
of Newtown. 



LEWIS KELLER, the enterprising and 
successful merchant of Bedminster, was 
born in Plumstead township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, December 26, 1852, being the 
eldest son of Abraham and Judith (Myers) 
Keller. He comes of good old Pennsylvania 
German stock who for five generations have 
been prominent in the afifairs of the upoer 
end of Bucks county. The pioneer an- 
cestor of the family was Heinrich Keller, 
who was born in Weierbach, Baden, Ger- 
many, January 9, 1708, son of Wilhelm and 
Gertraut Keller. His wife was Juliana 
Kleindinst, daughter of Peter and Anna 
Maria Kleindinst, the former an official of 
Weierbach, Baden. Julianna was born in 
171 1, and was married to Heinrich Keller, 
October 20, 1728. Heinrich Keller, with his 
wife Juliana and four young children, emi- 
grated to America in 1738 in t]lie ship 
"Glasgow," arriving in Philadelphia on 
September 9, 1738. Their eldest cnild x'eter 
died within a week of their landing, and 
seven others were born to them in Penn- 
sylvania. Heinrich Keller was one of the 
organizers of Keller's Church in 1746. and 
was an elder there until his death on Octo- 
ber 18, 1782. He purchased large tracts 
of land in Bedminster and Haycock, which 
descended to his children and grandchil- 
dren. His children, as shown by the 
records of the church of which he was one 
of the founders, were; i. Johan Peter, born 
November 20, 1729, died September 15, 
1738. 2. Johannes, born January 28, 1733, 
died 1792, married Maria Drach. 3. Anna 
Margaret, born June 2, 1735. married Feb- 
ruary 3, 1756. Solomon Gruver. 4. Maria 
Elizabeth, born November 19, 1737. mar- 
ried October 8, 1756, Philip Stever. 5. 
Eliz. Barbara, born April 14, 1739: mar- 
ried, 1760, John Niemand, and in 1769 
Michael Steinbach. 6. Anna Maria, born 
November 5, 1742, married April 24, 1770. 
Adam Litzenberger. 7. Johan Hendrick, 
born June 20. 1745 ; died in the year 1748. 
8. Johan Peter, born July 13. i747. was 
twice married and had many children. _ 9. 
Dorothea, born September 2. 174O. married 
Henry Steinbach. 10. Christopher, bcrn 
December 15, 1751. died July 8, 1820— see 
forward, ii. .Heinrich, born May 19, 175S, 
married Catharine Fox, and had many chil- 
dren. 

Several of the sons and sons-in-law of 
Heinrich Keller were prominent in the Rev- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



509 



olutionary struggle, his eldest son, Colonef 
John Keller, being probably the most promi- 
nent of his nationality in the Bucks county. 
He was a member of colonial assembly in 
1776, and in the same year a delegate to the 
first constitutional convention, and in 1778 
was a member of the supreme executive 
council of Bucks county. In 1784 he was 
again returned as a member of the supreme 
executive council. At the organization of 
the Bucks county militia, in 1776. he was 
cimmissioned lieutenant-colonel of the 
Third Battalion, and in 1780 was assigned 
to the command of the becond Battalion. 
His battalion was in active service during 
the greater part of the war. His brothers 
Christopher and Henry, and his brother- 
Hi-law Philip Stever, were also in the serv- 
ice, the first as an ensign in the Fourth 
.Battalion, and the last as a captain under 
Colonel Keller. 

Christopher Keller, the tenth child of 
Heinrich and Juliana, born December 15, 
1751, died July 8, 1820, was the great- 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch. 
He was commissioned an ensign in 1/76, 
xtiid his company was assigned to tne "rly- 
mg Camp" and participated in the disas- 
trous campaign on Long Island, where so 
many Bucks countians lost their lives or 
became prisoners in the "floating hells" in 
New York harbor. He married, February 
17, 1778, Margaret Trauch, who was born 
in' 1759, and died February 11, 1811. They 
were the parents of nine child nen, and hav- 
left numerous descendants. The children 
were: i. John, born June 12, 1781, died 
February 25, 1842, and had nine daughters 
and two sons ; a son Robert and two 
daughters still survive. 2. Henry, born Sep- 
tember 28, 1783, died July 9, 1831. 3. jNIich- 
ael, born December 9, 1786, died Novem- 
ber 25, 1853. 4. Elizabeth, born August 

19, 1788. 5. Anna Catharine, born July 
17, 1790. 6. Samuel, born April 20, 1792, 
died January 28, 1861. 7. Joseph, born 
November 10, 1794, died February 14, 1877; 
See forward. 8. Sarah, born November 14, 
1797. 9. Daniel, born April 10, 1802. 

. Joseph, the seventh child of Christopher 
and Margaret, born November 10, 1794. 
was the grandfather of the subject of this 
sketch. He lived all his life in Haycock 
township. He was a blacksmith and farm- 
er, an active and prominent man in the 
community, and was an elder of Keller's 
church. His wife w^as Anna Mary Affler- 
bach, who died in 1876; both are buried at 
Keller's church. They were the parents of 
nine children, three of whom are still liv- 
ing: I. Ann Margaret, born November 23, 

1822, died 1902; married John Shisler. 2. 
Abraham, born September 16, 1823, died 
December 23. 1880 — see forward. 3. Catn- 
arine, born November 8, 1825. deceased; 
married Thomas Hulshizer. 4. Diana, born 
November 18, 1827; married Levi Stone. 
5. Tobias, born March 3, 1830, died 1897; 
married a Miss Gerhart. 6. Joseph, born 
March 17, 1832. died 1898; married Lydia 

Afflerbach. 7. Sarah, born October 8, 1834 ; 



married Jacob Hess ; second, Samuel Dot- 
terer. 8. ]\Iaria, born February 17, 1837; 
married William Sames. 9. Abednego, 
born j\Iay 14, 1840, married Eliza Affier- 
bach, living in Haycock. 

Abraham Keller, father of the subject 
of this sketch, was the eldest son of Jo- 
seph and Anna Mary (Afflerbach) Keller. 
i-ie was born in Haycock township, and 
had only limited advantages in the way of 
education, but became an active and suc- 
cessful business man, and was an honored 
and respected man in the community in 
which he lived. He was a farmer in Plum- 
stead township for a number of years, and 
later in Bedminster. In 1870 he entered 
into partnership with J. H. Afflerbach, un- 
der the firm name of J. H. Afiflerbach & 
Co., and the firm conducted the Bedminster 
store for three years, when Mr. Keller pur- 
chased the entire interest and took his son 
Lewis into the firm, under the firm name 
of Keller & Son. Two years later he re- 
tired from the firm and left its control to 
his sons Lewis and J6seph. He then pur- 
chased the hotel at Bedminster, and con- 
ducted it for ten years, after which he con- 
ducted a feed store and looked after his 
farm and other property. He was twice 
married, first on October 10, 1847, to Judith 
Myers, who was the mother of all his chil- 
dren. She was born February 3, 1829, and 
died December 23, 1880. On December 26, 
1881, Mr. Keller married Susanna, widow 
of Franklin Stauft'er, of Springfield, who 
survived him. Abraham and Judith Myers 
Keller were the parents of ten children : 
William, who died in infancy ; Mary, born 
November 20, 1850, wife of H. S. Deaterly, 
Bedminster; Lewis, the subject of this 
sketch; Joseph, born November 17, 1854, 
living in Philadelphia; Amanda, born De- 
cember 23, 1856, died July 26, 1874; Su- 
sanna, born March 17, 1858, died October 
3, 1866; Abraham M., born ]\Iarch 20, i860, 
living in Doylestown ; Catharine, born July 
8, 1862 ; married first Harvey Shull, now 
wife of Clinton Lerch, of Tinicum ; Mah- 
lon, born November 4, 1865, a justice of 
the peace and business man at Perkasie; 
IraM., born June 8, 186S, died 1895. 

Lewis Keller, the subject of this sketch, 
is one of the most successful and enterpris- 
ing merchants in Bucks county. He was 
reared on his father's farm and received his 
education at the common schools of the 
neighborhood. At the age of seventeen he 
entered the store of J. H. Afflerbach & 
Co., at Bedminster, of which firm his father 
was a member, and three years later bought 
Mr. Afflerbach's interest, and for two years 
was a member of the firn: of Keller & Son. 
In 1875 his father retired from the firm 
and was succeeded by his second son, Jo- 
seph M., and the firm name was changed 
to Keller & Brother. In 1878 Joseph M. 
retired from the firm, since which time the 
business has been conducted by Lewis Kel- 
ler. He is a. born merchant, and early 
realized the wants and needs of his cus- 



5IO 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



tomers and how to supply them, to the mut- 
uel benetit of vendor and vendee. In a 
few years the business outgrew its modest 
quarters, and a new and much larger store 
was erected, including a large furniture 
warehouse. On October i, 1887, his store 
buildings and recently erected dwelling 
were entirely consumed by fire, entailing 
a loss of nearly $10,000 above the insur- 
ance. Undaunted by this misfortune, IMr. 
Keller erected a new and larger store, now 
the largest in Bucks county, and consider- 



and became proficient in the treatment of 
disease and setting of broken bones He 
was twice married, iirst in .March, 171^ to 
Deborah Carter, and second in 1716 ' to 
Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and R!i/a- 
beth (Hooten) Hillborn, of Attleboro 
Lucks county, by whom he had three 
daughters and two sons. He died 2 mo 9 
1776. and his wife i mo. 28, 1771. ' ' 

Thomas Darlington, son of Abraham and 
Elizabeth, was born in Birmingham in 
I72S._ He married 4 mo. 25, 1754, Hannah, 



ably increased his stock, and by closely daughter of Edward and Hannah (Pierce) 
studying the needs of the community and Brinton, and settled in East Bradford 



the wants of his customers and giving all 
courteous treatment, has built up the larg- 
est general store business in the county ; 
demonstrating that a large business can be 
done out in the country away from rail- 
road centers. The result is due to the in- 



Chester county, where he was a promi- 
nent farmer. He died 12 mo. 17, 180S, and 
his widow 10 mo. 12, 181 1. They were the 
parents of eleven children, nine sons and 
two daughters. 

Edward, the eldest child of Thomas and 



tegrity, industry and business ability of Hannah (Brinton) Darlington, was born 

the genial proprietor. in East Bradford 6 mo. 3, 1755. On 3 mo. 

Mr. Keller was married, December 22,, 8, 1781, he married Hannah, daughter of 

1876, to Emma J., daughter of Amos Har- John and Joanna (England) Townsend, 

pel, who was born February 5, 1856. They and settled on a farm of 282 acres in Birm' 



have four children: i. Hiram, born Aug- 
ust 9, 1879, graduated in 1901 from Gettys- 
burg College with the degree of A. B., and 
in 1904 from the law department of the 
University of Pennsylvania with the de- 
gree of LL. B. ; was registered as a stu- 
dent in the law offices of Yerkes, Ross & 
Ross, and is now a member of the bars 
of Philadelphia and Bucks counties. 2'. 
Erwin, born November 30, 1882, a student 
at the Pennsylvania State College. 3. Elsie, 
born October 24, 1890. 4. Norman Luther, 
born February 7, 1896, resides at home. 

Mr. Keller has been postmaster of Bed- 
minster since 1875. He is a member of 
St. Mathew's Evangelical Lutheran church. 



HENRY TOWNS-END DARLING- 
TON, for twenty-three years the editor 
of the Bucks County Intelligencer, was 
born at "Darnhall," Birmingham township, 
Chester county, Pennsylvania, September 
17, 1832, and died at Doylestown, Bucks 
county, November 24, 1878. He was the 
son of Edward B. and Hannah (Sharp- 
less) Darlington, and therefore descended 
from two old, prominent and influential 
families of eastern Pennsylvania. All his 
ancestors in America were members of the 
Society of Friends. 

On the paternal side, the subject of this 
sketch is a descendant in the ninth genera- 
tion from Richland Darlington, of Darn- 
hall, Cheshire, England, and in the fifth 
generation from Abraham Darlington, 
who migrated from Cheshire in 171 1, and 
settled in Aston township. Chester, (now 
Delaware) county, from whence he re- 
moved to Birmingham township, Chester 
county, in 1724. Abraham Darlington was 
a prominent and useful man in the com- 
munity. While ostensibly a farmer, he was 
a saddler by trade, and in later life de- 
voted much time to physic and surgery, 



ingham, devised to him by his grandfather, 
Edward Brinton. He was an influential 
man and public-spirited citizen, a member 
of assembly for twelve years (1802-1814), 
and held many other positions of trust. 
He was one of the commissioners ap- 
pointed to provide for the maintenance of 
the poor of the county, and took a promi- 
nent part in all that pertained to the best 
interests of the community. He . died 4 
mo. I, 1825, and his wife 8 mo. 9, 1826. 
They were the parents of six children: 
William, the celebrated botanist, born 1782, 
died 1863; Thomas, born 1784, died 1866, 
unmarried; Ziba, born 1788, died 1S76; 
Samuel, born 1793, died 1794; Jane, born 
1796, died 1817, unmarried; and Edward. 

Edward Brinton Darlington, youngest son 
of Edward and Hannah (Townsend) Dar- 
lington, was born in Birmingham, 12 mo. 
16, 1798, and died there 5 mo. 6, 185 1. He 
married 3 mo. 23, 1831, Hannah, daughter 
of Nathan H. and Martha (Price) Sharp- 
less. He was a farmer and a prominent 
and active citizen. His children were Hen- 
ry T., the subject of this sketch; Dillwyn, 
born 1834, died 1851; Martha, born 1837, 
married Henry Hulme, a native of France; 
Emily P., married Brinton W. Woodward, 
of Lawrence, Kansas ; Hannah, married 
John E. Huey; Thomas, married Jane S. 
Paschall ; and Catharine, married Frank 
A. Faxon, of Kansas Citj'-, ^Missouri. 

Henry T. Darlington was born on the 
farm in Birmingham named by his grand- 
father "Darnhall" from the residence of 
his ancestors in England, and the first 
seventeen years of his life were spent there- 
on. The greater part of his educifion was 
obtained at the public schools of his native 
county. He spent one year at a boarding 
school kept by Benjamin Price, and another 
at Anthony Bolmar's school at West Ches- 
ter. In 1849 he entered the office of the 
Village Record at West Chester as an 
apprentice under Henry S. Evans, and re- 



HISTORY 'OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



511 



mained there until he attained his major- 
ity. His father having died, he went back 
to the farm in 1853, and remained there 
two years. In 1855 he entered into part- 
nership with Enos Prizer, and purchased 
the Bucks County Intelligencer, of John 
S. Brown, and assumed control February 
IS of that year. He was associated with 
Prizer under the firm name of Prizer & 
Darhngton in the conduct of the paper un- 
til the death of the former, November 25, 
1864, when he purchased the entire inter- 
â– est, and for the next twelve years conducted 
the paper alone. In 1876 the Intclliger.ccr 
was changed from a weekly to a semi- 
weekly, and Alfred Paschall, a cousin, wab 
taken into the firm. A year later his broth- 
er, S. Edward Paschall, entered the part- 
nership. 

Mr. Darlington, being a man of more 
than average moral tone, of untiring en- 
ergy, and by nature an exceptional journ- 
alist, raised the Intelligencer to the front 
rank of American country journalism. As 
an editor there was a dignity as well as 
a scope in his writing that is seldom seen 
in newspaper work. He was not excep- 
tionally well educated, but admirably fitted 
for his chosen profession. He was a man 
â– of and for the people, he loved the truth 
and hated a lie, and devoted the whole 
force of an earnest and noble life to the 
-elevation and ennoblement of the profes- 
sion which was his pride. The Intelli- 
gencer under the management and control 
tecame a power in the community, and 
its circulation and influence was largely 
increased. Active in politics, yet never 
seeking office, he took a leading part as 
editor of the principal Republican paper in 
the county in moulding and solidifying pub- 
lic opinion and party policy. His newspaper 
was preeminently a county paper ; it coun- 
seled always patriotic and intelligent action 
in politics, and constantly urged public m 
preference to private interests ; it reflect- 
ed the soul of the man that devoted the 
best years of his life to it. During the 
twenty-three years of his life in Bucks 
â– county he was keenly alive to her best in- 
terests. As a journalist he labored inces- 
santly for the material interests of the coun- 
ty ; his whole heart was in his work. Intel- 
ligent, well read, thoroughly conversant 
. with the political and social drift of the 
state and nation, and intensely practical in 
his ideas, he constantly urged Bucks 
•county to perfect her own institutions and 
develop her resources, not only for her 
own welfare but that her influence might 
be felt beyond her limits. 

In the town in which he lived he was 
foremost in the advocacy of all that would 
contribute to the public good, and was 
always a leader in the practical affairs of 
the community. He was prominent in the 
promotion of the water works in 1869, 
and assisted in the establishment of several 
local institutions. One of his first concerns 
after locating in Doylestown was the need 
of a public library, and he was active in 



its establishment, and was its first secre- 
tary and librarian. He held many positions 
of trust, though never holding public of- 
fice other than that of town councilman, 
which he never sought. He was for sev- 
eral years a trustee of the State Asylum 
for the Insane at Harrisburg, and was one 
of the commissioners appointed to build 
the Hospital for the Insane at Norristown, 
holding a responsible position on the board. 
He was for several years a trustee of the 
State Normal School at West Chester, was 
secretary of the Bucks County Agricul- 
tural Society, trustee of Do}destown Ceme- 
tery, and an officer in several other local 
institutions. He was twice out with the 
militia of the county during the civil war, 
when our state was threatened with invas- 
ion. He frequently represented his party 
in state conventions, and was a delegate 
to the national convention that nominated 
Hayes for the presidency. His death was 
due to apoplexy, superinduced by intense 
mental work. He was stricken while on 
his way to the office, and died during the 
night following. 

Like his ancestors for many generations, 
he was a member of the Society of Friends, 
and a regular attendant at Meeting. He 
married, 9 mo. 9, 1857, Susan, daughter of 
Abraham and Susan (Hoopes) Darling- 
lington, who survives him, living in the 
old family residence at Doylestown. 

They were the parents of seven children, 
six of whom survive : E. Dilwyn, a florist, 
residing in Doylestown ; Frances, wife of 
Frank A. Faxon, of Kansas City; Helen, 
wife of Marshall R. Pugh, of Germantown ; 
Philip, of Doylestown ; Walter, on the edi- 
torial staiT of the North American; 
Zeanetta, the sixth child, died 3 mo. 25, 
1893; and Agnes, wife of John C. Swartley, 
Esq., of Doylestown. 



DR. CHARLES B. SMITH, a practic- 
ing physician of Newtown and vicinity, 
obtained the degree of Doctor of Medicine 
from Jefiferson Medical College of Phila- 
delphia in 1884. He became successor to 
his father, Elias E. Smith, M. D., who for 
more than thirty years was a practitioner 
of the same place — a man of gentle and 
benevolent character, and signally skillful 
in his art. 

Dr. Charles B. Smith descends from 
original county families. His father was 
of Quaker ancestry, being of the Wrights- 
town Smiths, whose progenitor settled at 
Windy-Bush Place in 1684. His mother 
was of the Wynkoop-McNair families, 
early Bucks county settlers, at or near 
Holland, they being of Presbyterian line- 
age, sturdy, patriotic yeomen, actively iden- 
tified with early colonial history in Penn- 
sylvania. He married M. Anna Stack- 
house, daughter of Jacob W. and Maria 
Palmer Stackhouse, of Fallsington, Penn- 
sylvania, in 1887. 

Dr. Smith comes of a family of physi- 
cians of this name who for a period of many 



512 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



3'ears have been conservators of health in 
the middle-eastern section of the coun'.\-. 
useful citizens, able and progressive prac- 
titioners. Dr. Smith is and has been iden- 
tified with the interests of the public schools 
and health board of his native place, and 
is affiliated with various local, state and 
national medical societies. 



JOSIAH ERNEST SCOTT, M. D., of 
New Hope, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, is 
a native of Washington county, Pennsyl- 
vania, and belongs to a family that have 
been prominent in the professional, official 
and social walks of life for many genera- 
tions. Hugh Scott, the founder of the 
family in America, was of Scottish ancestry 
and was born in the north of Ireland, from 
whence he emigrated to Pennsylvania and 
settled in Chester county about the year 
1670; He was a Presbyterian, a Scotch- 
Irish Covenanter of the John Knox type, 
who loved liberty, civil and religious, and 
feared nothing but God. 

Abraham Scott, son of Hugh, was born 
in Chester county, Pennsylvania, about the 
year 1677, and died in 1760. He was the 
father of seven children, all of whom were 
among the earliest settlers on the frontiers 
in Westmoreland and Washington counties, 
forming the vanguard of that army _ of 
sturdy Scotch-Irish who carried civiliza- 
tion and Christianity into the wilderness, 
establishing first the church, second the 
school, and taking an active part in the 
organization of a local self-government. 
The children of Abraham Scott were as 
follows: I. Ann, born 1699, married 
Arthur Patterson. 2. Thomas, born 1705, 
died 1796, was a justice of Westmoreland 
county, 1774, and a member of supreme 
executive council in 1777. On the organi- 
zation of Washington county, out of West- 
moreland, in 1781, was its first prothonotary, 
and became a judge of the court .of common 
pleas in 1786. 3. Rebecca, born December 
17, 1707, became the second wife of James 
Agnew, a Scotch-Irish emigrant, and the 
great-great-grandmother of the famous Dr. 
David Hayes Agnew. 4. Alexander, set- 
tled in Lancaster county in 1738, was a 
captain in the provincial service there in 
1756, and is said to have removed later to 
Virginia. 5. Grace, of whom no authentic 
history has been preserved. 6. Hugh 
Scott, born 1726, married Janet Agnew, 
daughter of James Agnew, before men- 
tioned, by a former wife, and lived for a 
time near Gettysburg, removing later to 
what became Pigeon Creek, Washington 
county, where he took up large tracts of 
land. Died there October 11, 1819, aged 
ninety-three years. 

7. Josiah Scott, youngest son of Abra- 
ham, born 1734, died February 20, 1819, 
at the age of eighty-four years. He learned 
the trade of a blacksmith, and settled about 
1760 at Peach Bottom, Lancaster county, 
Pennsylvania, removing thence in 1773 to 



that part of Westmoreland county included 
in the formation of Washington county in 
1781, where he took up 800 acres of land 
near the present site of Washington, then 
known as Catfish. He married in Lancaster 
county Violet Fisher, by whom he had six 
children, as follows : Sarah, who died 
young ; Alexander, who married Rachel 
McDowell and became a prominent man in 
Washington county ; Rev. Abraham, a dis- 
tinguished Presbyterian divine, who married 
Rebecca McDowell ; Mary, who married 
William Cotton, of a prominent Washing- 
ton county family ; Elizabeth, who mar- 
ried Robert Stevenson; James; and Jane, 
who married Hugh Workman. Josiah 
Scott married (second) Jane Gordon, born 
1749, died December 26, 1831, and they were 
the parents of three sons — Hugh, Robert, 
and Samuel. Many of the descendants of 
Josiah Scott have distinguished themselves 
in professional, civil and official positions. 
One of them was a judge of the supreme 
court of Ohio ; many of them have been 
eminent jurists and lawyers ; several have 
achieved distinction as physicians ; while 
a large number have been eminent divines 
in the Presbyterian church. 

General Samuel Scott, youngest son of 
Josiah and Jane (Gordon) Scott, born near 
Washington, Pennsylvania, May 30, 1785, 
was the grandfather of Dr. Josiah Ernest 
Scott, the subject of this sketch. Born and 
reared in a newly settled community, where 
educational facilities were very limited, he 
was practically a self-educated man, what 
literary knowledge he possessed being gath- 
ered in the midst of a life of strenuous 
activity. He was from early manhood a 
member of the local militia of Washington 
county, and rose through successive grades 
of official position to the rank of brigadier- 
general. At the outbreak of the second 
war with the mother country he offered 
the services of his battalion " in defense 
of his country, but, though it was accepted,^ 
his command was held in reserve, and the 
war ended without it having been called 
into active service. He died October 16, 
1819, in his thirty-fifth year. The Wash- 
ington Reporter, under date of October 
25, 1819, contains an obituary notice of him 
of which the following is an abstract : 
"Brigadier-General Samuel Scott died on 
the i6th in.stant, beloved and esteemed by 
all who knew him. His private virtues se- 
cured the warm friendship of his asso- 
ciates, and the friends who wept around 
his tomb will find consolation in the remem- 
brance of a life which was busy in culti- 
vating, through the relations of piety, 
friendships for the advancement of civil 
liberty and national prosperity. The loss 
of a man inflexible in virtue and unap- 
palled by misfortune is a public one." Gen- 
eral Scott married in 1809 Mary Ann Wylie, 
daughter of William and Ellen (Noble) 
Wylie, who lived in his immediate neigh- 
borhood, and they were tlie parents of 
four children, as follows: William Wylie, 
who lived for a time in Newark, Ohio,. 





^^^^^ c/^oy 




T! 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



513 



and later removed to Europe, where he 
died; Josiah Noble, see forward; Jane, 
who married a ISIr. Lee ; and Samuel 
Godon, of Burgettstown, Pennsylvania. 

Josiah Noble Scott, second son of Gen- 
eral Samuel and Mary Ann (Wylie) Scott, 
born four miles north of Washington, Penn- 
sylvania, June 26, 1813, was the father of 
the subject of this sketch. He was but 
six years of age at the death of his father, 
and his mother soon after married John 
D. Lindley, of Lindley's Mills, on Ten- 
Mile-Run, near the village of Prosperity, 
where the children of her first husband 
were reared. On March 8, 1837, Josiah 
Noble Scott m.arried Rachel Vance, daugh- 
ter of William and Rachel (Patterson) 
Vance, of Cross Creek township, Wash- 
ington county, Pennsylvania, and settled 
in that township, where they reared a fam- 
ily of eight children. Mf. and Mrs. Scott 
were both members of Cross Creek Pres- 
byterian church, and both lie buried in 
the graveyard of that church. Their eight 
children were : Hannah Loretta, married 
Isaac M. Lavton, who died in 1878, and 
she later became matron of the boys' board- 
ing school at Saltsburg, Pennsylvania ; 
Mary Ann, w'ife of Captain J. B. Hays, 
of South Bur.'^ettstown, Pennsylvania ; 
Samuel Clark, wl."" served in the Twenty- 
second Pennsylvania Cavalry during the 
civil war, now a re. ident of Lyon county, 
Kansas ; Orphalina, 'vife of James Fyfe. 
of Kansas ; Ella, wife of J. Q. Law. of 
Harrison county, Ohio ; William Vance, 
of the same place ; Melissa Jane, wife of 
Samuel S. Campbell ; and Josiah Ernest, 
the subject of this sketch. 

Rachel (Vance) Scott, the mother of 
Dr. Scott, was born December 28. 1816, 
a daughter of William and Rachel (Patter- 
son) Vance, and was descended in both 
paternal and maternal lines from early 
Scotch-Irish settlers on the frontier of 
Penn.sylvania. Her father, William Vance, 
was born on the old Vance homestead in 
Washington county, Pennsylvania, Novem- 
ber 30, 1775. and was a son of Joseph 
Vance, and a grandson of William Vance, 
who was a member of the first committee 
of observation for Washington county under 
the committee of safety for that section 
in 1775. His first wife, Rachel Patterson, 
was born June 3, 1781, and died January 
9, 1817; and his second wife was Hannah 
Patterson, her sister, born 1786, died 1878. 

James Patterson, the maternal great- 
grandfather of Rachel (Vance) Scott, was 
born in county Antrim, Ireland, of Scotch 
parents, in 1708, and emigrated to Pennsyl- 
vania in 1728. Landing in New York, he 
made his way to Little Britain township, 
Lancaster county, where he took up land, 
a part of which is still in possession of 
his descendants. After preparing a home 
in the wilderness he returned to New York 
in 1732 and married the wife of his choice, 
whom he had met on his arrival in Amer- 
ica, and brought her to his Lancaster county 
farm, where they reared a family of eleven 
.33-3 



children, several of whom became pioneers 
in York, Westmoreland, Washington and 
other frontier counties, as well as in Ken- 
tucky and Ohio. William Patterson, eldest 
son of James the founder, born March 14, 
1733, died June 29. 1818, was the grand- 
father of Rachel (Vance) Scott. He was 
twice married, his first wife being Rosanna 
Scott, of Cecil county, ]\Iaryland. by whom 
he had three sons — Samuel, Thomas and 
James. She died April 5. 1769. and he 
married, August 10, 1770, Elizabeth Brown, 
who died January 30, 1826. She was the 
mother of seven children : Nathaniel ; 
Rachel, born June 3, 1781, married William 
Vance, December 24. 1799, and died Janu- 
ary 9, 1817; Elizabeth; Josiah; Hannah, 
born 17S6. married June 12. 181S, William 
Vance, died in 1878; Nathan, and Elinor. 
William Patterson was one of the earliest 
settlers at Cross Creek, Washington county, 
Pennsylvania, and a prominent man in that 
community. William Vance was a farmer 
in Cross Creek township, and reared a 
family of fourteen children, nine by the 
first wife and five by the second, Rachel, 
the mother of Dr. Scott, being the youngest 
child of the first marriage. 

Josiah Ernest Scott was born in Wash- 
ington county, Pennsylvania, September 16, 
1856, and is a worthy descendant of his 
Scotch-Irish forbears. He early manifested 
a taste for study and reading, and with the 
sturdy persistency of his ancestors set about 
acquiring an education that would qualify 
him to fill the position he had chosen for 
himself in professional life. Mainly by 
his own efforts he worked his way through 
normal and other schools into and through 
the Ohio Weslej'an University at Delaware, 
Ohio, during the years 1878-1881, repre- 
senting his literary society on various occa- 
sions as essayist and orator. On April 26, 
1882. he married Elizabeth T. Laizure, of 
Cadiz, Ohio, in whom he found an efficient 
aid and spur in realizing his cherished 
ambition for qualifying himself for the pro- 
fession of a physician. Returning to his 
native county of Washington, he devoted 
his summer months to agricultural pur- 
suits and the winter to study and teaching, 
for five years. His wife was a fitting 
helpmeet for the ambitious student. In 
addition to her household duties she found 
time to compete for prizes offered by var- 
ious journals for essays on various sub- 
jects, and for a time had charge of the 
woman's department of the National 
Stockman, published at Pittsburg. In 
1887 Mr. and Mrs. Scott removed to Phila- 
delphia, and he entered the medical de- 
partment of the LTniversity of Pennsyl- 
vania, from which he graduated with the 
highest honors as an M. D. en May i, 
1890. He at once located in New Hope, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he has 
since practiced his chosen profession with 
marked success, extending his practice into 
the adjoining parts of the county and across 
the river into the state of New Jersey. 
He has from time to time taken post- 



514 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



graduate courses in various specialties in 
the line of his profession, and is a member 
of the D. Hayes Agnew Surgical Society 
of Philadelphia, and enjoyed the personal 
friendship of the eminent Dr. Agnew, for 
whom it is named, though, during the life- 
time of Dr. Agnew, neither of them were 
aware of their connection by ties of blood 
through their common descent from Abra- 
ham and Hugh Scott. Dr. Scott is also 
a member of the Bucks County Medical 
Society, the Medical Society of Pennsyl- 
vania, and the American Medical Associa- 
tion. In politics he believes thoroughly in 
the principles of the Republican party. He 
has always taken a deep interest in the 
affairs of the town in which he lives, and 
has served as chief burgess for three years, 
and a like term as a member of the local 
school board. He is an ardent member 
of the Presbyterian church, the church of 
his fathers, and has been for many years 
the superintendent of the Sabbath school 
connected with that church at New Hope. 
He and his estimable wife take an active 
part in philanthropic and church work in 
that vicinity, as well as in the social, literary 
and educational institutions, of the com- 
munity ; both are members of the Solebury 
Farmers' Club. Their only child, Gail 
Winters Scott, born in Philadelphia, July 
2, 1889, was a graduate of New Hope High 
School in 1905. , 



ISAAC M. HUNStCKER was born in 
Hilltown township, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, January 17, 1848, and is a son 
of Abraham and Catharine (Moyer) 
Hunsicker. Valentine Hunsicker. the 
pionet.- ancestor of the subject of this 
sketch, was an early disciple of Menno, 
and found a temporary asylum from re- 
ligious persecution in Switzerland, from 
whence he emigrated to Pennsylvania in 
1717, and was one of the earliest settlers 
in Perkiomen and Skippack township. 
Montgomery, (then Philadelphia) county. 
He was one of the founders of the Men- 
nonite congregation at Skippack. and is 
buried in the old burying ground ad- 
joining the ancient meeting house at 
Skippack. His son, Henry Hunsicker, 
was a minister for fifty-four years, and 
also a bishop of the Mennonite church, 
and was succeeded by his son John; who 
was a bishop and minister for ove,r forty 
years. Several of the descendants of 
Valentine Hunsicker have become em- 
inent in tlie legal profession, and others 
as ministers of the gospel in different 
denominations. A great-grandson was 
lately president of Girard College. 

Jacob Hunsicker, son of Valentine 
and Elizabetli Hunsicker, located in Hill- 
town township in 1757 on a farm pur- 
chased for him by his father, and con- 
veved to him by his parents in 1768. The 
original farm contained 100 acres, and 
he later pri chased 250 acres, partly in 



Hilltown and part in Rockhill township. 
He was a successful and prominent 
farmer. Strictly adhering to the tenets 
()f the Mennonite faith, he took no part 
in affairs of state, either military or 
civil, but was an important factor in the 
establishment and development of local 
institutions, and reared a family in whom 
were instilled the best elements of citi- 
zenship. He and his wife Elizabeth 
were the parents of nine children: Jacob; 
Isaac; Elizabeth, who married Jacob 
Detweiler: Catharine, who married John 
Bergey: Sarah, who married Abraham 
Kolb; Barbara, who married John Bech- 
tel; Anna, who married Henry Kolb; 
Mary: and Egther. who married Isaac 
Hunsberger. Jacob, the father, died in 
December. 1812, his wife Jtlizabeth sur- 
viving him. 

Isaac Hunsicker, second son of Jacob 
and Elizabeth, was born in Hilltown and 
resided there all his life. He inherited 
from his father 130 acres of the home- 
stead, upon which he lived until his 
death in i860. He was one of the orig- 
inal trustees of Perkasie Mennonite 
meeting to whom the deed for the land 
was made on which the meeting house 
and graveyard were located. He mar- 
ried Anna Overholt, and they were the 
parets of nilie children, eight of whom 
married IMoyers: Jacob, born in 1809, 
died 1880. married Barbara Moyer; Abra- 
ham, born December 8, 181 r, married 
Catharine Moyer; Elizabeth, married 
Samuel Moj^er; Hannah, married Isaac 
â–  Moyer; Anna, married John Moyer; 
Lydia, married Joseph Moyer; Leah, 
married Enos Moyer; Mary, never mar- 
ried; and Catharine, married Martin 
Moyer. 

Abraham Hunsicker, second son of 
Isaac and Anna Hunsicker, born on the 
old homestead iii Hilltown, December 8, 
i8ti, was the father of the subject of 
this sketch. He inherited from his father 
one-half of the homestead, and followed 
the life of an agriculturist there during 
the active j'ears of his life, carrying the 
produce of his farm to the Philadelphia 
markets by wagon, prior to the opening 
of the N. P. R. R. He was a well-to-do 
and intelligent farmer. He married in 
18,35. Catharine INIoyer. born in Bed- 
minster in 1818. daughter of Christian 
and Anna ( Landis) Moyer, granddaugh- 
ter of Christian and Mary (Landis) 
]\loyer. and ,great-granddaughter of Rev. 
Samuel and Catharine (Kolb) Moyer of 
Hilltown. Abraham Hunsicker died De- 
cember 18. 1888. His children were as 
follows: Lydia. deceased, first wife of 
Abraham Hendricks, of Perkasie: Nancy, 
who married (first) Benjamin Fellman. 
and (second) Abraham Hendricks; 
Elizabeth, wife of Ezra Moore, of Per- 
kasie; Sarah, wife of William Renner, 
of Perkasie: Isaac M.. the subject of 
this sketch: and Abraham, who married 
.\niia Overholt. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



515 



Isaac M. Hunsicker was born and 
reared on the old homestead in Hilltown, 
and acquired his education at the public 
schools of that district. He has always 
followed farming, and is one of the 
prominent and successful men of the 
community. Like his ancestors for many 
generations he is a member of the Men- 
nonite church, and politically is a Re- 
publican. He married, April 13, 1872, 
Mary Detweiler, daughter of John and 
Annie (Detweiler) Detweiler, and they 
are the parents of three children: Sallie, 
born July 5, 1876, died August li, 1877; 
Leidy, born August 5, 1878, married De- 
cember 6, 1902, Delia Moyer, daughter of 
William C. Moyer; Emma, born June 
5, 1883, married March 20, 1904, Henry 
Shaddinger, son of Edward Shaddinger. 



C. WATSON BETTS, postmaster, of 
New Hope borough, was born in Solebury 
township, Bucks county, October 2t„ 1864, 
is the youngest son of William and Emily 
(Walton) Belts, lifelong residents of Sole- 
bury township. The paternal ancestor of 
the Betts family of Bucks county was 
Richard Betts, who came from England 
and settled at Ipswich, Essex county, Mas- 
sachusetts, in 1648, and soon after removed 
to Newton, Long Island, where he died 
November 18, 1713, aged one hundred years. 
He was a member of colonial assembly in 
1665, and sheriff 1678-1681. By his wife 
Joanna he had eight children, — two sons, 
Richard and Thomas ; and five daughters : 
Joanna, who married John Scudder ; Mary, 
married Joseph Swezey; Martha, married 
Philip Ketcham ; Elizabeth, married Joseph 
Sackett; and Sarah, who married Edward 
Hunt. 

Thomas, the second son of Richard and 
Joanna Betts, married in 1683 Mercy White- 
head, daughter of Major Daniel and Abi- 
gail (Stevenson) Whitehead, and grand- 
daughter of Daniel Whitehead, one of the 
Smithtown purchasers of 1650. Thomas 
Betts died in 1709, and his widow married 
in 171 1 Colonel Joseph Sackett. Thomas 
and Mercy (Whitehead) Betts were the par- 
ents of nine children, viz : Richard ; 
Thomas ; Daniel ; Mercy, married Thomas 
Hazard ; Abigail, married Abraham Spring- 
stein ; Joanna ; Mary ; Elizabeth, married 
Robert Comfort ; and Deborah, who mar- 
ried Gershom Moore. 

Thomas, second son of Thomas and 
Mercy was born at Newton, Long Island. 
August 14, 1689, and died at Newtown, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, April. 1747. 
He married. May 5, 1713, Susannah Steven- 
son, daughter of Thomas, by whom he had 
six children ; Ann, born December 14, 
1714; Thomas, born November i, 1716, died 
young; John, born September 15, 1718; 
Stephen, born March 26, 1720: Thomas, 
born February 18, 1723; and Susannah, 
born February 18, 1723. After the death 
of his wife he removed to Chesterfield, 
Burlington county, New Jersey, where he 



married Susannah Field, and soon after re- 
moved to Bucks county, Pennsylvania. 
The children of his second marriage were 
Patience, Richard, Mercy, Zachariah, Mir- 
iam, and William. 

Thomas Betts, fifth child of Thomas and 
Susannah (Stevenson) Betts, was born on 
Long Island, February 18, 1723, and came 
with his father to Bucks county. He mar- 
ried 4 mo. 21, 1744, Sarah Smith, daughter 
of William and Rebecca (Wilson) Smith, 
and settled in Buckingham township, one 
mile north of Pineville, where he died in 
June, 1783. His wife died in 1804. They 
were the parents of eleven children, viz :. 
Thomas, born 8 mo. 3, 1745, died 1777; 
Sarah, born 4 mo. 14, 1747, married An- 
thony Hartley; Ann, born 5 mo. i, 1749, 
married Robert Sample; Rebecca, born 5 
mo. 18, 1751, married Thomas Rose; Will- 
iam, born 12 mo. 3, 1752; John, born 5 mo. 
8, 1755; Susannah, born 12^ mo. 20, 1756, 
married George Mitchell ; Stephen, born 5 
mo. 31, 1758; Mary, born 10 mo. 2, 1760, 
married Isaac Van Horn ; Isaac, born i mo. 
2, 1763; Zacariah, born 10 mo. 21, 1764. 

Stephen Betts, son of Thomas and Sarah 
(Smith) Betts, was born in Buckingham, 
5 mo. 31, 1758. He learned the black- 
smith trade, and settled in Solebury town- 
ship, where he followed his trade for a 
unmber of years, but after middle life de- 
voted his attention principally to farming. 
He married, 4 mo. 19, 1786, Hannah Black- 
fan, daughter of Crispin and Martha 
(Davis) Blackfan, and in 1795 purchased 
of his brother-in-law, Edward Blackfan, a 
portion of the old Blackfan homestead, 
adjoining a tract of land granted to Will- 
iam Blackfan, father of Crispin, in 1718, by 
his cousin, William Penn, William being 
a son of Edward Blackfan, who married 
Rebecca Crispin, a sister to the mother of 
William Penn. This property remained in 
the Betts family for three generations, a 
period of over a century. Stephen Betts 
died on the homestead in 1834, and his 
widow in 1843. They were the parents of 
nine children, viz: William, born 1787; 
Sarah, born 1788, married Samuel Beans; 
Martha, born 1790, married Jacob B. Smith ; 
Stephen, born 1792 ; Hannah, born 1.794, 
married Daniel Smith ; Esther, born 1797, 
married Jacob Janney ; Anna, born 1799, 
married Joseph Taylor; Letitia, born 1801, 
married Joseph E. Reeder; John, born 
1804, married Sarah C. Malone; and (sec- 
ond) Beulah Walker. 

William Betts, eldest son of Stephen and 
Hannah, inherited the homestead and lived 
thereon until about 1858. He died at the 
residence of his daughter, Sarah B. Mich- 
ener, in New Hope, May, 1875. He mar- 
ried in 1816, Ruth Simpson, born 4 mo. 3. 
1795. died 3 mo. 16, 1857, daughter of 
David and Agnes (Wiggins) Simpson, of 
Solebury, and had by her seven children ; 
Sarah, married Hugh Michener: William: 
Samuel : J. Simpson ; Edward, died a -oung 
man: David, died young; and Stephen. 

William Betts, eldest son of William and 



5i6 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Ruth (Simpson) EcUs. was the father of 
the subject of this sketch. He was born 
January 24, 1824, on the old homestead in 
Solebury. and spent his whole life there, 
dying November 28, 1895. He married 
Emily Walton, daughter of Jonathan and 
Jane Walton, of Buckingham, where Emily 
was born February 11, 1835. She died 
September 11, 1895, two months prior to 
her husband. They were the parents of 
four children; Edward, deceased; Anna J., 
wife of John W. Bradshaw; C. Watson; 
and Ruth, wife of Edward Livezey. The 
family were members of the Society of 
Friends from the time of their arrival in 
Bucks county. 

C. WATSON BETTS was born on the 
old homestead in Solebury, and acquired 
his education at the public schools. At the 
age of eighteen years he apprenticed him- 
self to the miller's trade under his uncle 
J. Simpson Betts, at New Hope, where he 
has since resided. At the end of three years 
he took charge of the mill, and continued 
to manage it for his uncle until the death 
of the latter, in February, 1900, and for his 
successor Isaac W. Holcombe, until July 2, 
1900. On the latter date he was appointed 
postmaster of New Hope, and, resigning 
his position in the mill, took charge of the 
office, which he has since filled. In poli- 
tics he is a Republican, but has never held 
other than local elective offices, filling the 
position of auditor and other local posi- 
tions in New Hope borough. He is a 
member of Unity Lodge, No. 300, I. O. O. 
F., of New Hope; and Lone Star Lodge, 
No. 16, K. of P., Lambertville, New Jersey. 
Mr. Betts married November 24. 1888, 
Emma E. Hough, daughter of John Hough, 
of Solebury. They are the parents of 
two children — Alice H., and Emma Francis, 
who reside at home. 



CHARLES WEST HANCOCK. Among 
the retired business men who have found 
congenial homes in Bucks county, though 
born without her borders, and have become 
identified with and interested in the affairs 
of their adopted county and town, is 
Charles West Hancock, of Langhorne. a 
native of Philadelphia, where he w-as born 
June 19, 183s, of distinguished English 
ancestry. 

John Hancock, the paternal ancestor of 
the subject of this sketch, was a native 
of London, England, and came to Fen- 
wick's colony, Salem county, West New 
Jersey, by way of Maryland, in the "Willing 
Mind," arriving in New Jersey 10 mo. 25^, 
1679, according to an account given by 
himself and transcribed upon the records 
of Salem Monthly Meeting of Friends. 
His father, William Hancock, seems to 
have preceded him to New Jersey, as one 
thousand acres were allotted to him on 
Alloway's Creek, and surveyed in 1676 by 
Richard Ilancock by order of Fenwick. 
John Hancock inherited five hundred acres 



of this land on the south side of the creek, 
while his brother, inheriting the personal 
estate of his father, settled at Elsinboro. 
John Hancock built in the year 1708 a 
bridge over Alloway's Creek that has given 
the name to the present town of liawrock's 
Bridge. His son William built in 1734 
the brick house, now historic as the scene 
of the massacre of American militia and 
defenceless noncombatants by the British 
soldiers under Colonel Mawhood in 1778. 
William Hancock, then seventy-eight years 
old, was mortally wounded and died a few 
days later in the house of his brother-in- 
law, Joshua Thompson. Both John and 
William Hancock were prominent in the 
afifairs of the colony and province, the 
latter being a member of assembly for 
upwards of twenty years and a justice of 
the courts of Salem county for a longer 
period, holding that position at the time 
of his death. John Hancock married Mary 
Champney, daughter of Nathaniel and 
Elizabeth. She was also a native of Lon- 
don, and came to New Jersey with her 
mother in the ship "Henry" in 1681. John 
and Mary (Champney) Hancock w'ere the 
parents of ten children: John, William^ 
Elizabeth, Mary, Sarah, Nathaniel, Edward^ 
Joseph, Jonathan and Samuel. John Han- 
cock, Sr., died in the year 1725. 

Samuel Hancock married 4mo. 26, 1727, 
Rebecca Fogg, and had several children, 
among them a son Samuel, born 8 mo. 28, 
1738, who on arriving at manhood married 
Rachel Bradway. born 11 mo. 17, 1738. 
Samuel Hancock, son of Samuel and 
Rachel, born 3 mo. 25, 1772, was the grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch. He 
married Hannah Pancoast. 

Joseph Lee Hancock, son of Samuel and. 
Hannah (Pancoast) Hancock, was bora 
at Hancock's Bridge. Salem county, New 
Jersey, I mo. 5, 1806, and died in Phila- 
delphia 6 mo. 5, 1878. He was a promi- 
nent and influential man in Philadelphia, 
serving a term in the state legislature and 
filling the office of school' director for 
several j'ears. He moved to Philadelphia 
at an early age, and pursued various occu- 
pations. In 1845 he settled in West Phila- 
delphia and became actively identified with 
its development and growth. He married 
in 2 mo., 1832, Susanna Pryor Bacon, born 
in Philadelphia,. 2 mo. 22, 1810, died there 
3 mo. ig, 1878. daughter of David and 
^Margaret E. (Pryor) Bacon, and grand- 
daughter of Joseph and Sarah (West) 
Bacon of Philadelphia. On the paternal 
side she was a descendant of an early set- 
tler in Salem county, New Jersey, and on 
the maternal side from early Quaker set- 
tlers of Chester county, Pennsylvania, her 
mother, Margaret Edge Pryor, being a 
daughter of Thomas W. and Susanna 
(Edge) Pryor. and granddaughter of Jacob 
Edge and Margaret Paul, and great- 
granddaughter of Robert, son of John ap 
Thomas and Ellen Jones. Anna Bacon, a 
sister of Mrs. Hancock, married Mitchell 
Watson, late of Langhorne. Joseph Lee, 








■/' — '^%^,.. 





a>yv\.>\f 



Up. 



-', LPNCx >";d 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



517 



and Susanna Pryor (Bacon) Hancock were 
the parents of six children: i. Margaret 
Bacon, born 9 mo. 16, 1833 ; married Wil- 
liam B. Livezey, January 6. 1876, and died 
l^ovember 13, 1895, without , issue. 2. 
Charles West (the subject), born 6 mo. 
19, 1835. 3. George W., born 3 mo. 2, 
1837, died March 22, 1903 ; married Eliza- 
beth James, May 7, 1862 ; issue, Henry J., 
born August 18, 1865; Walter W., born 
October 21, 1870; George B., born Decem- 
ber 17, 1867; Clement who died in in- 
fancy. 4. Albert, born 11 mo. 21, 1838, 
died February 14, 1891 ; married Josephine 
Kimes, April 12, 1871 ; issue, Francis Bacon 
and Katie K. 5. Franklin died in infancy. 
€. Mary Anna, born 10 mo. 14, 1848, died 
December 20, 1886; married Charles A 
Dixon, September 15, 1869; issue, Edward 
C. and Susannah H. 

Charles West Hancock was educated in 
the schools of Philadelphia, and on Feb- 
ruary 22, 1852, entered the employ of Jenks 
& Ogden, wholesale druggists in Phila- 
delphia, where he proceeded to learn the 
business. He also attended the Philadel- 
phia College of Pharmacy, and graduated 
there in March of 1857. On completing 
his education he went to Trenton, New 
Jersey, where he passed a year. Returning 
to Philadelphia he purchased the drug store 
of his former preceptor, and in 1861 sold 
it to advantage. He then removed to West 
Philadelphia and built up a large and profit- 
able business in an establishment he con- 
tinued to rent until 1876. In that year 
be purchased a piece of ground and erected 
thereon a place in which to carry on his 
business, and a commodious residence. 
His business continued to increase with 
the growth of the section of the city in 
which he was settled. He had the entire 
<:onfidence of his profession and was 
well known to be accurate and highly edu- 
cated. In September, 1895, he retired from 
active business and moved to Langhorne, 
Bucks county, where he enjoys the advan- 
tage and luxuries incident to the career of 
a successful business man. He enjoys also 
the warm esteem and the highest respect 
of his fellowtownsmen, who have testified 
their appreciation of them by electing him 
to the town council, the presidency of the 
board of health, and a number of local 
offices. 

Dr. Hancock is a distinguished and 
prominent member of the Masonic fratern- 
ity, a member of Newtown Lodge, No. 
427 ; Temple Chapter, No. 248 ; Philadel- 
phia Commandery, No, 2; and is a thirty- 
second degree member of the Ancient and 
Accepted Scottish Rite. He is also a mem- 
ber of Hamilton Lodge, No. 596, and Logan 
Encampment, No. 83, I. O. O. F. ; of 
Mantua Council, No. 22, O. U. A. M. ; 
^nd Mantua Degree Council, of Mohave 
Tribe, No. 320, L O. R. M. ; Wenona 
Council, No. I, Degree of Pocahontas: 
William Penn Division, No. 143, Sons of 
Temperance ; and is a past grand chaplain 
<of the grand division of the Sons of Tem- 



perance of Pennsylvania, and also its grand 
treasurer. He has been for fifteen years 
a member of the board of managers of the 
Odd Fellows' Home, and was for a time 
treasurer of that institution. He is a past 
officer of a41 the foregoing organizations 
except Newtown Lodge, Temple Chapter, 
Philadelphia Commandery and the Scottish 
Rite bodies. He is a life member of the 
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, a mem- 
ber of the State Pharmaceutical Associa- 
tion, and a life member of the American 
Pharmaceutical Association. Dr. Hancock 
has been an extensive traveler both in 
Europe and his native country. In politics 
he is a Republican. 



CAPTAIN HENRY Y. PICKERING. 
Among the first of the gallant boys in 
blue to respond to the call of his country 
when the bombardment of Fort Sumter 
surprised and shocked the people of his 
native state, was Captain Henry Y. Pick- 
ering, of Lower Makefield township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania. 

He was born in Buckingham town- 
ship, April 20, 1831, and came of the 
Quaker, non-combatant stock, being son 
of Yeamans and Rachel (Beans) Picker- 
ing, and great-great-grandson of Samuel 
Pickering, of Solebury, who married 
Marj- Scarborough in 1712, and settled 
on part of the land of his father-in-law, 
John Scarborough, in Solebury, where 
he died 8 mo. 10, 1727. The children of 
Samuel and Mary Scarborough Picker- 
ing were: John, born 1714, died 2 mo. 
I, 1787, married 1745, Hannah Dawes; 
Isaac, born 12 mo. 23, 1716, married 1738, 
Sarah Lupton; Samuel, born 1718, mar- 
ried 1747, Grace Stackhouse ; William, born 
1720, removed to Virginia; and Grace, who 
married William Lupton. John, the eldest 
son, settled on a portion of the Solebury 
homestead and had the following children : 
John, born 7 mo. 27, 1748, married Rachel 
Duer, in 1771 ; Jesse, born 12 mo. 10, 1751, 
married 1774, Ann Kemble; Hannah, mar- 
ried Jonathan Johnson, and removed to 
Lancaster county ; Hannah Dawes Picker- 
ing, died 1796. 

John Pickering and Rachel Duer, grand- 
parents of Captain Pickering, were the par- 
ents of seven children; Joseph, married 
Ann Watson, and removed to Chester 
county, Pennsylvania; Benjamin, who re- 
moved to Elmira, New York; Phineas, who 
removed to North Carlonia, John, who was 
blind ; William, who married Tabitha 
Croasdale, and removed to Stroudsburg, 
Pennsylvania ; Yeamans, married Rachel 
Beans; Stacy, married Rachel Philips; and 
Mercy, who married Robert Paist. 

Yeamans Pickering, father of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was a carpenter, though 
he carried on farming in connection with 
his trade. On his marriage with Rachel 
Beans he settled in Upper MakefieM town- 
ship, but having purchased a small farm 



5i8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



in Buckingham he removed thereon three 
years later. In 1826 he sold his farm and 
removed to the village of Greenville, where 
his son Yeamans Henry, as the Cajjtain 
was first known, was born April 20, 1831. 
The other children were.: Mary; Hannah, 
married John Roberts; Rachel D., Timothy, 
Phineas, and Thomas Elwood. In 1840 
Yeamans Pickering removed with his fam- 
ily to Lower Makefield township, where 
he remained until 1861, when he removed 
to Newtown borough. He died in New- 
town,^ October I, 1862. 

The boyhood days of Captain Pickering 
were spent on his father's farm in Lower 
Makefield. When the war alarm sounded 
in April, 1861, he at once enlisted in Com- 
pany F, Twenty-fiflh Regiment Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteers, Captain Henry M'Cor- 
mick, and was mustered into service May 
2, 1861, for three months. The Twenty- 
fifth was one of the first five regiments of 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, and the first to 
report for service at Washington. It was 
kept on duty at the Capital until June 28, 
1861, when five companies, including com- 
pany F, were ordered to join Colonel 
Charles P. Stone at Rockville, Maryland. 
They participated in the skirmish at Har- 
per's Ferry, and suffered the hardships of 
Camp Misery. They were finally assigned 
to the Seventh Brigade, Third Division, 
under General Robert Patterson, and 
marched to Bunker Hill, July 15th. On 
the termination of their term of service 
they were highly praised by their command- 
ing general. They were mustered out of 
service at Harrisburg, July 26, 1861. 

Returning to Bucks county. Private Pick- 
ering at once enlisted in the One Hundred 
and Fourth Regiment, then being recruited 
at Doylestown by Colonel W. W. H. Davis, 
and was commissioned captain of Company 
K, September 20, 1861. With his regi- 
ment he served in the Army of the Potomac, 
at the siege of Yorktown, the battles and 
skirmishes on the Chickahominy, at Fair 
Oaks, James River, White Oak Swamp, 
Carter's Hill, and Malvern Hill, where, 
as is well known, the One Hundred and 
Fourth was always in the thickest of the 
fight. When the regiment was trans- 
ferred to Carolinas, Captain Pickering 
was appointed Inspecting Officer of Davis' 
Brigade, at the siege of Charleston, 
and, when Colonel Davis was placed in 
command of all the United States forces 
on Morris Island, General Gilmore ap- 
pointed Captain Pickering inspector of all 
the forces on the Island. When General 
Davis was ordered to the command of the 
forces' at Hilton Head, Captain Pickering 
was retained upon his staff. He earned and 
retained the reputation of a good officer 
and a brave soldier. 

Just prior to the breaking out of the 
war, Captain Pickering had studied den- 
tistry at Newtown, with Dr. Trego, and 
on his return from the war he removed 
to Erie, Pennsylvania, and began the prac- 
tice of his profession. When the oil fever 



broke out. Captain Pickering contracted the 
disease and went to Titusville, Crawford 
county, Pennsylvania, and engaged in the 
refining of crude oil. He was the head of 
the firm of Pickering, Chambers & Co., and 
known as the Keystone Refinery, all the 
members of the firm being brothers-in-law> 
Being early on the ground, and of shrewd 
business capabilities, he amassed a comfort- 
able fortune. Becoming somewhat broken 
in health, he returned to Bucks county and 
located at Langhorne in 1890. He died 
May 24, 1892, aged sixty-one years. 

He was married October 16, 1861, to Anna 
J., daughter of John and Mary (Hough) 
Barnsley, now living in Newtown borough. 
Their children are : Russel, of Newtown ; 
and Mary, wife of Major Charles Stuart 
Spong, of the English army, now stationed 
at Carlo, Egypt. 



PETER L. KREISS, M. D., of South, 
Perkasie, was born in Lower Salford town- 
ship, Montgomer)- county, Pennsylvania, 
November 12, 1857, and is a son of Peter 
and Elizabeth (Leindecker) Kreiss, both 
natives of Germany, who emigrated to 
America soon after their marriage and set- 
tled in Lower Salford township. Peter 
Kness, Sr., died in Lower Salford when 
Dr. Kriess was a child, leaving four young 
children, viz : Henry L., of Allentown,. 
Pennsylvania, who married Catharine 
Kline, of Lower Salford ; Mary L., of 
Schwenksville, Montgomery county ; Will- 
iam, since deceased; and Peter L., the sub- 
ject of this sketch. Elizabeth Kreiss, the 
widow of Peter, married (second) Joseph 
Steigner, of Kulpsville, Montgomery coun- 
ty, who is still living in Montgomery coun- 
ty, with a daughter by a former marriage. 
During the later years of her life Mrs. 
Steigner and her husband resided with her 
son. Dr. Peter L. Kreiss, at South Perka- 
sie, where the former died in 1903 at the 
age of eighty-three years. 

Dr. Kreiss, after the death of his father, 
was reared at Silverdale, Bucks county, in 
the family of Christian Moyer. He worked 
on the farm for ]Mr. Moyer until eighteen 
years of age, and then entered the general 
merchandise store of Jacob C. ' Wismer, 
at Silverdale, as a clerk, where he remain- 
ed for three years. Choosing the medical 
profession as his life work, he entered 
Hahnemann Medical College of Philadel- 
phia, from which he graduated in iSSr,, 
and on April i, of that year located at Sil- 
verdale and began the practice of medicine. 
After two years' practice at Silverdale he 
removed to Florida, Lancaster county, 
Pennsylvania, where he practiced until 
February, 1886, when he located at Man- 
heim in the same county, where he followed 
his chosen profession until April, 1891, 
when he removed to South Perkasie, Bucks 
county, where he purchased a small farn> 
of Frank Wolfinger, and has since followed 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



519 



his profession with success. In religion 
he is a member of the Church of United 
Brethren, and politically is a Republican. 
Dr. Kreiss married, September 11, 1S80, 
Lizzie Detweiler, daughter of Dr. Isaac and 
Lizzie (Swartley) Detweiler, and is a de- 
scendant of early German settlers in Bucks 
county on both the paternal and maternal 
side, and they are the parents of three chn- 
dren : Isaac D., Joseph D., and Sallie D. 
(.See Isaac Detweiler, in this workj. 



•■■' WILLIAM E. WILSON. The American 
progenitor of the branch of the Wilson 
family to which belongs William E. Wil- 
son, of Mechanicsville, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, came from the county of 
Cumberland, England, about 1688. The 
following is an exact copy of the certificate 
produced by him and recorded upon the 
books of Chesterfield Monthly Aleetmg, 
^ Burlington county. New Jersey : 

Whereas Steeven V\-4l.son of Ilgli^hfields, 
in ye Parish of BCgham & County of Cum- 
berland, haveing a purpose in his mynd to 
goe to Pensilvania to settle himselfe there 
in some employmt of honest Labour in 
yt. Country, 

Therefore this is to certifye and alsoe 
' to satisfye ""ffriends or any other people 
there in that Island that may employe ye 
said Steeven Wilson that he hath not come 
away or left his owne Country for any 
misdemeanor or miscarriage or matter of 
dishonestye of any kind that wee knowe 
of never since he owned ye Truth but 
hath walked pretty orderly for severali 
yeares amongst us, only that it is his owne 
free w^ill purpose & resolution to settle him- 
selfe in that Planta:tion -being a single man. 
John Banches, Richard Richison, 

Philip Burnyeatt, Jerem : Bowman, 
Christ. Wilson, John Serugham, 

James Dickenson, Jere : Spencer, 
John Robinson, Peter Hudson, 
Richard Head, Jon: Spencer. 

The above certificate is without date, 
but w^e find from other sources that btepii- 
en Wilson was in the neighborhood prior 
to 1690. In that year he was one of the 
carpenters who had charge of the building 
of the meeting house at Falls, Bucks coun- 
ty. He married in 6 mo. 1692, Sarah 
Baker, daughter of Henry Baker, who was 
born at West Darby, Lancashire England, 8 
mo. 18, 1672. Henry Baker, father of Sarah 
Wilson, came to Bucks county in 1684 and 
became a very prominent man, serving as 
justice and member of the colonial assem- 
bly for many years. Stephen Wilson from 
, the date of his marriage was a member of 
Falls Meeting in Bucks county, though he 
continued to reside in New Jersey. He 
was one of the committee who had charge 
of the collection of money for the building 
of Buckingham meeting house in 1705. Dur- 



ing the winter, when the river was impas- 
sable, permission was given the Friends on 
the other side to hold their meeting at the 
house of Stephen Wilson. He died in 
March, 1707, and his widow married, 8 
mo. 19, 1708, Isaac Milner. She died in 
2 mo. 1715. The children of Stephen and 
Sarah (Baker) Wilson were Stephen, Sa- 
rah, :Mary, Rebecca, John and Samuel. 

Samuel Wilson, youngest son of Steplien 
and Sarah, was born March 6, 1706. He 
married in 1729 Rebecca, daughter of 
Thomas and Mary (Oliver) Canby, and on 
June 4, 1730, purchased 310 acres of land 
in Buckingham, covering the present site 
of Mechanicsville, a portion of which is 
still occupied by his great-great-grandson, 
the subject of this sketch, having been in 
the family for 175 years. Thomas Canby, 
above referred to, was a son of Benjamin 
Canby, of Thorn;^ Yorkshire, and his moth- 
er was a sister to Henry Baker, above men- 
tioned, with whom Thomas came to this 
country in 1684. Like his uncle, he became 
a very prominent man in the community, 
serving several terms in the colonial assem- 
bly, and filling several other positions. He 
was also a minister among Friends. Sam- 
uel Wilson lived a long and useful life in 
Buckingham and reared a family of thir- 
teen children, the tenth of whom, Stephen, 
born 7 mo. 2, 1749, married Sarah Black- 
fan, and remained upon the homestead, a 
portion of which he inherited at his father's 
death in 1787. Both he and his wife died 
in April, 1818. 

Samuel Wilson, fifth of the nine chil- 
dren of Stephen and Sarah, born 6 mo. 
5, 1786, became the owner of the home- 
stead and 222 acres. He married Hannah 
Longstreth, and had eight children, one 
of whom, Samuel, born in 1823, was the 
father of the subject of this sketch. 

Samuel Wilson was reared on the Buck- 
ingham farm and acquired his education at 
the old Tyro Hall school, then quite an 
educational institution. He taught school 
for several years and was for a short time 
engaged in the mercantile business at New- 
town. He also traveled extensively in the 
interest of a newspaper, part of his route 
being through the southern states, where 
he witnessed some stirring scenes just prior 
to the civil war. In the spring of 1876 
he began growing seeds for market in a 
small way, and, the business growing from 
year to year, he became an extensive seed 
grower, shipping seed to all parts of the 
world, and doing a large business for about, 
twenty years. He died in 1897. He mar- 
ried in 1852 ]\Iaria Webster, nee Burger, 
by whom he had the following children : 
Samuel Howard, a physician at Mechan- 
icsville; William Edmund, the subject of 
this sketch; and AI. Elizabeth, who resides 
with her brother William. Samuel W 1 
son was a prominent and esteemed citizen. 
He was a member of the orthodox branch 
of the Society of Friends. In politics he 
was a Republican, but never sought or held 



520 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



other than local office, filling the office of 
school director for nine years. His wife 
was a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth 
(Schoch) Burger, and was born in Phila- 
delphia in 1819, and died in Buckingham 
in 1893. Her father was a jeweler in New 
York city for a number of years and after 
coming to Buckingham lived a retired life. 
William Edmund Wilson, second son of 
Samuel and Maria (Burger) Wilson, was 
born on the old Wilson homestead at Me- 
chanicsville, October 23, 1856. He acquir- 
ed his education at the Tyro Hall School 
and at the Doylestown English and Clas- 
sical Seminary. On leaving school he as- 
sisted his father in the seed business, and 
after a few years took an interest in the 
seed growing, part of the farm being al- 
lotted to him for that purpose. He later 
filled the position of postmaster at Me- 
chanicsville for seven years. After his 
mother's death he purchased the present 
farm of fifty-three acres of his father, and 
is a practical and enterprising farmer. He 
is a member of Doylestown Presbyterian 
church, in which he has been an elder for 
several years. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican. He. is a member of Doylestown 
Lodge, No. 245, F. and A. j\I., and Doyles- 
town Chapter, R. A. M. Mr. Wilson mar- 
ried, October 19, 1898, Fannie Watson, 
daughter of Henry and Emeline (Rich) 
Watson, of Buckingham, an account of 
whose ancestry is given in this work in the 
sketch of her brother, William Watson. 
Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have no children. 



ALLEN ROBERT MITCHELL, of 
Langhorne, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, is 
a representative in the seventh generation 
of a family that have resided in that 
vicinity since 1699. He was born in Middle- 
town township, Bucks county, August 22. 
1852, and is a son of the late Gove and 
Catharine Mather (Croasdale) Mitchell. 

The first American ancestor of this fam- 
ily was Henry Mitchell, of Marsden Lanes, 
Lancashire, England, who was married ^lay 
6, 1675, to Elizabeth Foulds, at the house 
of Stephen Saeger, Marsden Lanes, under 
the auspices of Marsden Monthly ^Meeting 
of Friends. On 12 mo. (February) 16, 
1698-9, a certificate was granted by Mars- 
den Aleeting to Henry Mitchell, his wife 
Elizabeth, and their three children, Henry, 
Richard and ]\Iargaret, to Friends in Penn- 
sylvania. They sailed in the '"Brittanica," 
with a number of other Friends on their 
way to Penn's colony, and Elizabeth and 
the children arrived in the Delaware river 
6 mo. (August) 25, 1699, Henry, the father, 
having died on the voyage. Elizabeth sur- 
vived but two months after her arrival, 
dying 8 mo. 10, 1699. The certificate was 
read and accepted at IMiddletown Meet- 
ing 10 mo. 7. 1699, and the children taken 
under the care of that meeting. Richard 
Mitchell, witii the approval of the meet- 



ing, found a home with John Smith. He 
married in 1712 Mary ^lilnor, two years 
later Alice Shires, and late in life married 
a third wife, Agnes Warner (nee Croas- 
dale). He settled in Wrightstown, where 
he operated a mill for many years at Rush 
Valley. He became a very prominent man, 
serving his county as justice and in the 
colonial assembly for many years. Mar- 
garet Mitchell married Stephen Twining 
in 1709. 

HENRY MITCHELL, son of Henry and 
Elizabeth (Foulds) ^litchell, was born in 
iMarsden Lanes, Lancashire, England, in 
1680, 9 mo. 17, and died in 1726 in Bristol, 
Bucks county. He was a carpenter, and 
soon after his arrival entered the employ 
of Joseph Growdon, with whom he re- 
mained until after his marriage to Sarah 
Gove, daughter of Richard Gove, of Phila- 
delphia. He was one of the builders, and 
owners of Milford Mills, at Hulmeville. 
In 1714 Growdon conveyed to him 125 
acres of land in Bristol township, ad- 
joining the Middletown line, which re- 
mained in the family for several genera- 
tions. Henry and Sarah (Gove) ]\Iitchell 
were the parents of six children: Henry; 
John ; ]\Iartha, who married Thomas Jan- 
ney ; Sarah, who married Joseph Clark ; 
]\rary. who married Renald Burden; and 
Elizabeth, who married James Barber. 

John Mitchell, second son of Henry and 
Sarah, was born 3 mo. 10, 1711, and mar- 
ried 12 mo. 19, 1738. Margaret Stack- 
house, born 3 mo. 16. 1714. died 5 mo. 3, 
1774. He died 4 mo. 31, 1789. He was also 
a carpenter, and later a farmer, and resided 
in Middletown on land taken up by his 
father-in-law. They were the parents of 
seven children : John, Richard, Henry, 
Samuel, Margaret, Sarah and Pearson. 

Pearson Mitchell, youngest son of John 
and Margaret (Stackhouse) Mitchell, was 
born in IMiddletown township and resided 
there all his life. He married Rebecca 
Allen, daughter of John and Rebecca 
(Gibbs) Allen, and granddaughter of Sam- 
uel and Jane (Wain) Allen, and had four 
children ; Gove, an eminent physician, John 
Allen, William and Achsah. Pearson Mit- 
chell died in 1834. John Allen Mitchell in- 
herited- from his father a farm in Middle- 
town, upon which he lived till late in life, 
and then removed to the village of Attle- 
borough, now Langhorne. where he died. 
He married Tacie Stackhouse, and had 
five children: Pearson; John S. ; Gove;, 
Sarah, who married Rowland Mather : and 
Rebecca, who married James W. New- 
bold. Tacie Mitchell died in 1866. 

Gove Mitchell was born in Middletown 
2 mo. 10. 1825. and was reared in the 
simple faith of the Society of Friends, his 
parents. John Allen and Tacie (Stackhouse) 
Mitchell, both being elders in Middletown 
Meeting. After a few years of mature life 
as a farmer he removed to Philadelphia, 
where he was actively engaged in business 
for a number of years. He returned to 
Middletown in 1883, and at the organiza- 




03^^t^.-w^. /^ y^,C^s.X^^^^__ 




ROBERT S. DANA 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



521 



tlon of the People's National Bank of 
Langhorne he was made its cashier and re- 
tained that position until his death, June 
17, 1904. He was twice married; first to 
Catharine Mather Croasdale, by whom he 
had two sons — Isaac S., who died in early 
manhood, and Allen Robert, the subject 
of this sketch. He married (second) Anna 
Croasdale, who survives him, and had hy 
her two sons — Horace G., born 8 mo. 2^, 
1869, for several years assistant cashier and 
now cashier of the People's National Bank; 
and George Rowland, born 10 mo. 18, 1873, 
an electrical engineer. , 

Allen Robert Mitchell was born in Mid- 
dletown, but spent his boyhood days in 
Philadelphia, and acquired his education at 
the Friends' school at Fifteenth and Race 
streets, Philadelphia, and at Bryant and 
Stratton's Business College. On leaving 
school he secured a position in the store 
of Keim & Biddle, jobbers and importers 
of woolen goods, and, after filling re- 
sponsible positions in their employ for sev- 
eral years, in 1879 became a member of 
the firm and assumed the management of 
its financial affairs and has continued in 
the business ever since. The present firm 
name is J. R. Keim & Co., who in addition 
to the importing business are proprietors 
of the Shackamaxon Worsted Mills, and 
manufacture a fine grade of worsted goods, 
running over one hundred looms and em- 
ploying five hundred hands, and have es- 
tablished a market for their goods in all 
parts of the United States. He is a mem- 
ber of the Manufacturers' Club of Phila- 
delphia. 

Mr. Mitchell married February 20, 1S79, 
Ada Begley, of Philadelphia, daughter of 
Thomas Smith and Sarah Phipps (Martin) 
Begley, and granddaughter of Thomas and 
Sarah (Smith) Begley, her maternal grand- 
parents being Benjamin and Jemima 
(Phipps) Martin. Mr. and ]\Irs. Mitchell 
are the parents of three children : Edith 
Maud, born November 25, 1879; Allen 
Robert, Jr., born April 11, 1882; and Ada 
Begley, born March 7, 1885, died February 
20, 1892. Edith M. and Allen Robert were 
educated at the Friends' Central school, 
Philadelphia, and the latter entered 
Swarthmore College, from which he gradu- 
ated in the class of 1902. He is now 
employed in his father's establishment. He 
is a" member of the Delta Upsilon fratern- 
ity, the Swarthmore Club and the Univer- 
sity Club, of Philadelphia. Edith Maud 
married Henry Ridgway Knight, of Phila- 
delphia. 

Mrs. Mitchell is a descendant of Joseph 
Phipps, from Reading, Berkshire, England, 
who came to Pennsylvania in 1681 and set- 
tled in Chester county, removing later to 
Abington township, Philadelphia county, 
where he died in 1716. He was, one of the 
organizers of Abington Friends' meeting, 
and especially active in public affairs. He 
served as member of the first provincial 
assembly held in Philadelphia in 1682, and 
again in 1685 from Chester county. 



ROBERT SHOEMAKER DANA, M. 
D., whose postofiice address is now Mor- 
risville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was 
born in Circleville, Pickaway county, Ohio, 
November 10, 1833, is the son of Sylvester 
Dana, A. M., and his wife, Elizabeth Brown. 
On his paternal side he is of Huguenot 
descent, the family having left France on 
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. 

Richard Dana was the first of the family 
in America. He was born in France about 
1612, whence with his parents and others 
he fled to England in 1629, and emigrated 
from there to America in 1640, landing in 
the Plymouth colony. Afterwards he re- 
moved to West Cambridge now (in 1830) 
called Brighton, near Boston. His place 
was called also the Hannewell farm, which 
he once owned and sold to Edward Jack- 
son in 1656. He died at West Cambridge 
(or Brighton) April 2, 1690. He was the 
father of Jacob, whose son Jacob was the 
father of Anderson Dana, Sr., who was 
born at Pomfret, Connecticut, October 26, 
1735. He resided at Ashford, Connecticut, 
until 1772, when with his family he moved 
to Wyoming Valley, then called West More- 
land, now in Luzerne county, Pennsyl- 
vania; there he located an original section 
of land about one mile below the centre 
of the town, the section being laid out 
long, and reaching from the lower flat 
lands to and including a portion of the 
mountain, giving each settler a variety of 
flats, hill land and mountain. He was a 
lawyer, and at one time clerk of the coun- 
cil. In 1774 he was chosen a surveyor of 
highways and "lister," also a member of 
the school committee, and in May, 1778, 
was chosen as representative of Westmore- 
land to the Connecticut assembly, from 
which he had returned to Wyoming in time 
to participate in the battle which took place 
there July 3, 1778, between the settlers and 
the British, Tories, and their Indian allies. 
In that engagement he acted as aide to 
Colonel Zebulon Butler, was wounded in 
the thigh and unhorsed. One of the men 
escaping from the Indians when the battle 
was lost, Rufus Bennett, reported that he 
saw his son-in-law, Stephen Whiton, try- 
ing to help him on his horse. That was the 
last seen of either of them, and undoubtedly 
they were immediately killed, as the Indians 
were close upon them. 

His son, Anderson Dana, Jr., the grand- 
father of Dr. Robert S. Dana, was born 
August II, 1765. at Ashford, Connecticut, 
and went with his father to Wyoming 
Valley in 1772. He was nearly thirteen 
years old at the time of the massacre, 
and, in company with many others, among 
whom he was the oldest male, he with 
his mother and other children fled back 
to Connecticut through the wilderness 
east of the Valley, which was long 
known as the '"Wilderness and Shades 
of Death," on account of the number 
of the fugitives from the Valley who 
died there from hunger and privations. 
His mother, knowing that her husband's 



5^^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



papers were of great value, took them in a 
pillow case along with her to Connecticut. 
When Anderson became of more niauire 
age he, with a younger brother, returned 
to Wyoming Valley, taking with them a 
cow and a horse. They built a log house 
on the land their father had located, put 
in some crops, and when the crops had 
well grown they sent for their mother and 
the other children, who came on with other 
persons coming to the Valley from Con- 
necticut. He married Sarah Stevens, of 
Wilkes-Barre (so named after the Declara- 
tion of the Independence of the United 
States of America, in honor of John Wilkes, 
and Colonel Barre, men of influence in 
England, who used their influence in favor 
of the freedom of the colonies), the county 
town of Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, 
and located in the valky of Wyoming, 
about the centre of it. He carried on farm- 
ing. While in Connecticut and a minor, 
he had learned the trade of cooper, and 
made his own barrels, milk pails, tubs, 
etc. He was associate judge for some time 
in the Wilkes-Barre county court, council- 
man, road supervisor, collector of taxes, 
and Lieutenant of the State Militia. He 
held other positions of trust, and was 
highly esteemed as a citizen and a neigh- 
bor. He had eleven children who mostly 
settled in and around Wilkes-Barre. He 
died at his homestead in Wilkes-Barre in 
1851, aged about eighty-six years. The 
children were : Amelia, born July 23, 
1791 ; Laura, born May 28, 1793, died Aug- 
ust 16, 1794; Asa Stevens, born December 
17, 1794, married Hannah Pruner, and after 
her death he married her sister, Nancy 
Pruner; Sarah, wife of Rowland Metcalf, 
born September 16, 1796; Francis, born 
May 23, 1798, married Sophia Whitcomb; 
Louisa Huntington, born March 19, 1800, 
died 1842 ; Anderson, born February 26, 
1802, married Ann Jameson, and afterward 
Mary Hammer; Eleazer, born April 22,, 
1804; Sylvester, born May 28, 1806, married 
Elizabeth Brown, of Worthington, Ohio; 
Mary, born June 16, 1808, married Ly- 
man C. Kidder; and Charles, born August 
6, 181 1. 

Sylvester Dana, son of the above Ander- 
son Dana, was a gentleman of great worth 
as a lawyer and educator. He was born May 
28, 1806, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, 
where he was reared on his father's farm. 
He was educated at the Wilkes-Barre 
Academy, then conducted by the Hon. 
Joel Jones, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 
From thence he went to Yale College, in 
New Haven, Connecticut. Having passed 
through the usual course he graduated from 
there in 1826 with the degree of Master of 
Arts. He then returned to Wilkes-Barre 
and entered upon the study of law with 
Judge Garrick Mallory, and, when admitted 
to the bar, went to Ohio, where he had 
charge of the Worthington seminary as 
principal for three years. He married Eliza- 
beth Brown, one of the assistant teachers 
in the seminary. He then practiced law. 



associated with Judge . Olds, having, 
moved to Circleville. He there also pub- 
lished the "Olive Branch," a weekly 
paper. His health proving delicate, his 
physician advised a change of climate, 
and he arranged to take charge of a 
seminary at Charleston, South Carolina, 
but before moving the directors sent word 
that a former applicant, whom they had 
thought would not come, had arrived. The 
academy of Wilkes-Barre having then no 
principal, he accepted a call to this old 
school of his boyhood days and moved to 
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. In 1839 he 
he built a fine academy of his own for 
young men, especially those fitting them- 
selves for college, known as Dana's Acad- 
emy, at the corner of Franklin and Acad- 
emy streets, the latter so called from his 
institution. In 1855 he was called as prin- 
cipal to the academy at Jersey Shore, 
Lycoming county, near Williamsport, on 
the west branch of the Susquehanna river, 
where he served for two years, having 
rented to another party his school at 
Wilkes-Barre. Then being called to the 
Saltsbury academy, in Allegheny county, 
Pennsylvania, near Pittsburg, he conducted 
that two years, when his school at Wilkes- 
Barre being vacant he returned to Wilkes- 
Barre, and resumed his academy there, 
which bore his name. During his teaching 
at his academy in Wilkes-Barre, most of 
the rising young men of the place, and 
many from Baltimore and other places at 
great distances around, were prepared for 
their entrance into colleges. October i, 
1866, he moved to the place near Morris- 
ville where he resided until his death, June 
19, 1882. Politically he was a Whig, and 
later a Republican. He was a member of 
the Presbyterian church, in which he was. 
deacon most of his life. He was married 
to Elizabeth Brown in Ohio, March 26, 
1832, and had five children : Robert Shoe- 
maker Dana, subject of this history; Eu- 
nice A., born September 9, 1837; Elizabeth, 
born March 4. 1840; Louisa Amelia, born 
February 3, 1842 ; and Ellen, born Septem- 
ber 16, 1850. The daughters are now liv- 
ing at No. 24 South Clinton Avenue, Tren- 
ton, New Jersey, except Elizabeth, who 
died of pneumonia, December 20, 1901. 
After moving to Morrisville, Pennsylvania, 
he was a member of the Fourth Presby- 
terian church in Trenton, New Jersey, also 
one of the original founders of the Mor- 
risville Rubber Company, chartered in 1872, 
and located in the old Morris _ (Robert) 
and General Victor Moreau brick stable 
building in Morrisville. He was also one 
of the originf^l members who organized the 
Standard Insurance Company, now (as 
then) located in State street, Trenton, and 
one of the original stockholders and 
founders of Greenwood cemetery, outside of 
Trenton, where the family have a lot and 
where he and his wife and daughter Eliza- 
beth lie buried. His wife died February 6, 
1878. She was borii in Bloomficld, Con- 
necticut, November i, 1814, and was of a 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



523 



family that sent many of its members into 
the Revolutionary service. One, John 
Brown, and Amariah Dana, were with 
Ethan Allen in taking Ticonderoga. 

Robert S. Dana was a little over three 
years old when his parents left Ohio. He 
obtained his intellectual training under the 
direction of his father until about fitted 
to enter the Yale .sophomore class, but at 
that time he was induced to abandon the 
course at Yale and take up the study of 
medicine in Philadelphia, with Dr. George 
Chamberlain, at his request, December, 1852. 
This offer afforded excellent opportunities 
in connection with his preceptor's drug 
business and practice, as well as attend- 
ance at clinics in the Pennsylvania Hos- 
pital and the Philadelphia Almshouse. 
He matriculated at the Jefferson Medi- 
cal College and took his degree of M. 
D. there from March 7, 1857. In October 
following he commenced practice at Nan- 
ticoke, in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, 
being the only settled physician there 
at that time. The practice was not very 
lucrative, but very extensive, reaching to 
nine or ten miles in every direction from 
Nanticoke. After a little over a year's 
practice, another physician settled there, and 
he, having come into possession of a drug 
store on the public square in "VVi.kes-Barre, 
moved his office there, siill retaining many 
of his old patrons living between there and 
Nanticoke. After about a year (the drug 
store not paying) the building was rented 
to a milliner, and the office transferred to 
his father's house on Academy street. The 
German Yeager rifle company's band hav- 
ing lost a member (the B flat cornetist) 
he was prevailed upon to take the vacant 
horn, and became a member of the band, 
meeting once a week to practice in the 
evening. He also was a member and treas- 
urer of the Wilkes-Barre Musical Associa- 
tion, which gave a series of concerts every 
winter, which were conducted by Lowell 
Mason, William B. Bradbury and other 
celebrated composers of that time. 

The civil "war coming to a certainty in 
1861, Dr. Dana, at the instance of several 
companies raised in that neighborhood, 
went to Harrisburg and applied for a posi- 
tion as surgeon. Governor Curtin gave 
him to understand that he had left all of 
these matters to the Colonels of the Regi- 
ments, as he had more than he could at- 
tend to without surgical appointments, his 
private clerk, having a short time before 
(despairing of obtaining permission) 
jumped out of the window and gone off 
with a regiment starting for the front. 
Dr. Dana therefore applied to the officer 
in the regiment who was supposed likely 
tp be the colonel when fully organized. 
This officer gave every assurance of the 
appointment being made, and requested 
that he should look after a number of the 
sick in the regiment. This was done for 
some days, when the regiment was ordered 
to move, the colonel elected, a personal 
friend appeared 'as surgeon, another as 



assistant. The regiment moved for the seat 
of war, and Dr. Dana returned home, hav- 
ing assured the band that he would go 
with them if he did not get a position 
first. He bided his time for something 
to happen. The war was not over in three 
months, regiments for enlistments of 
three years were wanted. The band 
was called to enter the service with the 
Lochiel cavalry .^regiment, and recruited 
their numbers to twenty-four^ under 
their leader (Louie Practorious) of Wilkes- 
Barre. The transportation, and order 
to report having arrived October i, the 
band proceeded by rail to Harrisburg, and 
found their regiment, the Ninth Pennsyl- 
vania Cavalry (Lochiel Cavalry, Senator 
Cameron's regiment) at Camp Cameron. 
They were mustered into the United States 
service October 6, 1861. About November 
I, 1861, the regiment left Harrisburg by 
rail with their horses, saddles and etc., 
but no arms. At Pittsburg they were put 
into seven steamers ^or transportation to 
Louisville, Kentucky. The headquarters 
Boat was the side wheeler "Westmore- 
land," the others were stern wheelers, the 
"Arago," "Clara Poe," "Haileman," "Daco- 
tah," "Idema" and "Anglo-Saxon." The 
Ohio river was somewhat short of water, 
and the boats had frequently to swell each 
other off of the bars by backing down, sud- 
denly reversing the paddles and throwing 
a swell against the boat in trouble. The 
"Arago" broke some paddles on a gravel 
bar, but extra floats were always carried 
along, and a couple or hours repaired 
damages. At various towns along the 
route they fired salutes from cannon ar- 
ranged on the bluffs. At Wheeling the 
bridge was filled with people and the shores 
as well. Salutes were fired, and to answer 
there was on the "Westmoreland" a cannon 
arranged on a common two wheel truck, 
lashed fast with strong cables ; the handles 
of the truck, to make the cannon level, 
were placed upon the combing of the open 
forward hatch. The first discharge, with its 
recoil, sent the cannon and all down through 
the hatch into the hold. It was soon hauled 
out and better secured. In time the regi- 
ment arrived at Louisville, and the enemy 
being in force only a few miles away, it 
was put into camp at Jeffersonville, on the 
Indiana side, on Senator Jesse Bright's 
farm. About New Years, the Ninth Penn- 
sylvania Cavalry left camp, and advanced 
with the rest of the western forces to Bards- 
town, thence to Mumfordsville, on the Green 
river. General Thomas having defeated 
Zollicoffer at Spring Mill, near the Cum- 
berland Gap, all of the center forces were 
gathered at Mumfordsville for a general 
advance. General Grant with Commodore 
Foote's flotilla, was on the river west. 
When the army moved southward, the 
Ninth Pennsylvania Cavalry was assigned 
to the duty of protecting the lines in the 
rear from guerillas and General John Mor- 
gan's raids, which they pretty effectually 
did, driving him out of Kentucky several 



524 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



times, once having a severe fight with him 
at Paris, Kentucky, in July, 1862, and driv- 
ing him through Winchester and Crab 
Orchard to and beyond Somerset, where, 
his band, having dispersed, the regiment re- 
turned to Danville, Kentucky, and thence 
to Lebanon, where it went into camp. 
Here the band was discharged from the 
United States service in compliance with 
an act of congress discharging all regiment- 
al bands,' and allowing only one band to 
a brgade. The leader having accepted 
a position as lieutenant of a company, Dr. 
Dana took the band to Louisville and made 
out their discharge and pay rolls to August 
18, 1862, secured their pay, and all returned 
home to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Most 
of the band enlisted into regiments that 
found their way into the army , of the 
Potomac. After having been at home for 
six days, their was a call for surgeons to 
fill vacancies in Pennsylvania regiments. 
Mr. Dana answered the call, went to Har- 
risburg, was examined, and, answering to 
an emergency call for fifty surgeons to go 
at once to the field, he was assigned as 
assistant surgeon, September 12. 1862 to 
the One Hundred and Seventh Regiment, 
Pennsylvania Infantry, already at the front. 
Taking the first train to Baltimore that 
got through to that coity after the enemy 
had destroyed several bridges on the line, 
he joined his regiment on the field about 
noon during the battle of Antietam. From 
that time he was with the One Hundred and 
Seventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, First Bri- 
gade. Second Division, First Army Corps, 
on the field, in every engagement, including 
Gettysburg, where his horse was killed by 
the enemy the afternoon of the first day's 
fight, while attempting to reach Cemetery 
Hill through the town. He then being sur- 
rounded by the enemy, reported for duty 
to the Division Hospital in the Lutheran 
church which was close by. Here all 
hands were regarded as prisoners, and their 
names taken, and without any questions 
they were considered paroled. The enemy 
having failed, early July 4 left the town, 
also the surgeons, who soon reported to 
their respective places. The engagements 
are a matter of general history and need 
not be repeated here. March 4, 1864, the 
One Hundred and Seventh re-enlisted while 
at Michell's station, below Culpeper, Vir- 
ginia, and in April was sent home on 
veteran furlough of thirty days, thereby 
•escaping the second Wilderness fight under 
General Grant, but returned just in time 
for the Spottsylvania affair. The First 
Army Corps being now consolidated with 
the Fifth Corps, the regiment followed its 
fortunes to Cold Harbor, White Oak 
Swamp, etc., to below Petersburg, where 
the regiment aided in building Fort War- 
ren, on the Jerusalem Plankroad. the cap- 
ture of the Weldon railroad and built on 
it Fort Wadsworth ; helped destroy the 
same railroad to Bellefield, near the North 
Carolina line: were at the battle of Five 
Forks with Sheridan's command ; and aided 



in the final wind up at Appomattox. About 
this time Dr. Dana vvas promoted to sur- 
geon, April 27, 1865, with the rank of 
Major by the request of the Colonel of the 
One Hundred and Seventh Pennsylvania 
Regiment (Colonel McCoy). Johnson hav- 
ing surrendered to Sherman in North Car- 
olina, the regiment was marched via Peters- 
burg and Richmond, to Ball's cross roads, 
opposite Washington ; participated in the 
grand review ; was transported to Harris- 
burg by rail, paid off, disbanded, and sent 
home. 

Dr. Dana, having reached home, went 
to the Jefferson College again, attending 
the lectures for three months. Then, his 
father having purchased the place near 
Morrisville where he now lives he settled 
in Morrisville, June i, 1866, purchasing the 
store now owned by E. D. Titus, and the 
house now owned by Isha V. Smith in 
March, 1867, and practiced extensively 
throughout the surrounding country, both 
in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He was 
one of the original founders of the Mercer 
County Medical Society in New Jersey, in 
1868, one of the original founders of the 
Morrisville Rubber Company, incorporated 
in 1872, and treasurer of the company seven 
years, until the factory was rented. The 
last year before renting it he was also its 
general superintendent, making all of the 
formulas for the compounding of the mate- 
rial, etc., and looking after the business in 
all of its branches. He was one of the 
trustees and also treasurer of the Morris- 
ville Presbyterian church from 1867 to 
1878; member of Morrisville council, 1868- 
1873 ; member of the school board and pres- 
ident of the board 1868 to 1875 ; medical 
examiner for three insurance companies, 
1872 to 1875 ; member of the Jefferson Med- 
ical College Alumni Association ; the soci- 
ety of the Army of the Potomac; the Grand 
Army of the Republic, and the Bucks 
County Historical Society (Pennsylvania). 
He was chairman of the executive com- 
mittee and Marshal of the day at the Cen- 
tennial anniversary of incorporation of the 
borough of Morrisville, which was cele- 
brated May 24, 1904; surgeon of Post 23, 
G. A. R. of Trenton, New Jersey ; special 
aide on the staff of the Commander-in- 
chief, G. A. R., in charge of military and 
patriotic instructions in the public schools 
of New Jersey. He is something of a 
mechanical genius, having constructed a 
plumb level ; a churn which he has had 
in use for eight or ten years, of peculiar 
construction ; and a combination surveyor's 
instrument, besides other articles. His liter- 
ary productions include several historical 
papers of local interest, one of which was 
read at the meeting of the Bucks County 
Historical Society, held May 24. 1903. in 
Morrisville, Pennsylvania. He is also a 
member and one of the stockholders of the 
Fallsington Library Company of Fallsing- 
tnn, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was also 
chairman of the committee appointed to 
arrange for a centennial (;elebration of its 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



525 



corporated existence, and prepared and 
read a history of the library at the meeting, 
also arranged a condensed history of the 
institution which was published with various 
illustrations as a souvenir of the occassion, 
and conducted the exercises during the day 
and evening, June 14, 1902. 

Dr. Dana married, June 3, 1872, Fanny 
Pawling of an old Norristown (Pennsyl- 
vania) family related to the Muhlenberghs 
Heisters, the Biddies, and others of promi-* 
nence in early Pennsylvania and New Jer- 
sey history. Dr. and Mrs. Dana have one 
son, Sylvester. 



LUCY WHARTON DREXEL. On the 
historic Bristol Pike, in Bensalem township, 
in a mansion hardly less historic, lives a 
representative of one of the oldest and 
most prominent families in Pennsylvania. 
Lucy Wharton Drexel, widow of the prom- 
inent banker and philanthropist, Joseph 
Drexel. 

Mrs. Drexel is a descendant of Thomas 
Wharton, the first acting executive of the 
infant commonwealth when she had joined 
her sister colonies in the effort to throw 
off the yoke of the mother country. He 
was a deputy from Philadelphia to the first 
provincial convention, July 15, 1774, a mem- 
ber of the committee of safety in 1775 
and 1776, and the first "President of the 
Supreme Executive Council of the Com- 
monwealth of Pennsylvania, and Captain 
General and Commander-in-chief in and 
over the same," on March 5, 1777. He was 
a merchant in Philadelphia, and was a 
leader in the patriotic cause from the start. 
He died at Lancaster in 1778, while iilling 
the office of chief executive of the state, 
at the age of forty years. He married 
Susannah Lloyd, a descendant of Thomas 
Lloyd, the first acting provincial Governor 
of the province of Pennsylvania, by virtue 
of his office as president of William Penn's 
first council, from September, 16S4, to Feb- 
ruary 9, 1688, and was deputy governor 
under Penn, 1690-1. A rare distinction in 
one individual, a lineal descendant of the 
first executive of the province and of the 
first executive of the commonwealth, is 
enjoyed by the subject of this sketch. 
Kearney Wharton, the oldest son of 
Thomas, and the granfather of Mrs. 
Drexel, was a lawyer, but followed chiefly 
the business of a merchant in Philadelphia. 
He was a member of the council of the city, 
and its president at one time. His wife 
was Maria Salter, of Tacony, Philadelphia 
county, whom 'he married November 11, 
1795. Their children were : Thomas Lloyd; 
John; Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Mor- 
ris ; George, and James. Kearney Whar- 
ton died January 4, 1848, at the age of 
eighty-four years, and his widow survived 
until 1867, aged ninety-two years. She 
was a member of the Society of Friends. 
Her family were of the Church of England. 

Thomas Lloyd Wharton, the father of 



Mrs. Drexel, was born in Philadelphia in 
1799, but was reared on a farm near Tacony, 
where he later became the owner of a fine 
farm. He was employed in a bank in 
Philadelphia, being prominently connected 
with the Philadelphia Bank for forty years. 
He died in 1869 at the age of seventy years. 
His wife was Sarah Howell Smith, daugh- 
ter of Richard R. and Sarah (Howell) 
Smith, by whom he had two children^ 
namel}' : Fanny, born in 1843, wife of 
Brigaciier General Guy V. Henry, and 
Lucy Wharton, the subject of this sketch. 
Mrs. Wharton died in 1846. Lucy Whar- 
ton was born in 1841. She was educated 
at St. Mary's Hall, Burlington, New Jer- 
sey. In 1865 she married Joseph W. Drexel, 
a member of the well known banking firm 
of Drexel & Company, of Philadelphia. 

Joseph W. Drexel was a son of Francis 
M. Drexel, a native of Austria, who in 
early life was an artist and protrait painter. 
He located for a time in South America, 
where he attracted the attention of General 
Simon Bolivar, the distinguished hero and 
patriot of South American Independence, 
whose protrait he painted. Under the pat- 
ronage of General Bolivar he started the 
bank in Philadelphia, with money loaned 
by him. The venture proved a success 
from the start, and soon became one of the 
most prominent banking institutions of the 
country. The firm as first organized in- 
cluded Francis M. Drexel and his son 
Francis, and soon after its establishment 
the other two sons, Anthony and Joseph 
W., became members of the firm. In 1871 
Joseph W. Drexel went to New York city 
and established a branch banking house 
which he conducted for five years, when 
he retired and devoted the next twelve 
years to philanthropic schemes for the bet- 
terment of the condition of mankind. 

He organized several plans for the bene- 
fit of the poor, and carried them into effect. 
One of his successful projects was the 
incorporation of Klej Grange upon a large 
tract of land in Maryland, where he induced 
poor families to settle by keeping them 
without charge for one year and then sell- 
ing them the land on easy payments. He 
also owned Cedar Hill Farm in New Jer- 
sey, where unemployed poor were fed and 
clothed until employment could be found 
for them elsewhere. Many other projects 
for the employment and improvement of 
the poor were carried into effect in Phila- 
delphia, New York, and elsewhere. Mr. 
Drexel was a musician of talent, and an 
eminent patron of the higher arts. On 
every Thursday a musical quartet was en- 
tertained at his house, and he was presi- 
dent of the Philharmonic Society at the time 
of his death, as well as a member of several 
other musical organizations. He was one 
of the organizers of and a life member of 
the Metropolitan Art Museum. Mr. Drexel 
died in 1888. He left four children : Kath- 
erine, wife of Charles B. Penrose, of Phila- 
delphia ; Lucy, wife of Eric B. Dahlgren ; 
Elizabeth, wife of John V. Dahlgren, of 



526 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



New York city ; and Josephine, married 
Dr. John Duncan Emmett. 

Mrs. Lucy Wharton Drexel now resides 
on the old Bickley estate known as Pen 
Ryn. It is part of a plantation of two 
hundred and fifty acres purchased in 1744 
by Abraham Bickley, Sr., a native of 
Sussex, England, but of Welsh descent. 
The plantation on the Delaware river was 
then known as "Belle Voir." but its name 
was changed by Mr. Bickley to Pen Ryn, 
after the home of his ancestors in Wales. 
Abraham Bickley married a daughter of 
Robert Shewell and sister of Mrs. Benja- 
min West, and settled on the plantation 
on Bristol Pike. In 1804 he remodeled the 
old mansion house by adding the present 
front to it, and later renewed the back 
portion. Mr. Bickley had six children : 
Robert Shewell, Abraham, Isaac, Elizabeth, 
Hannah, and Lydia, all of whom died un- 
married, and all with the exception of 
Abraham, Jr., lie buried in a vault erected 
On the premises by Mr. Bickley. Robert 
Shewell Bickley resided for the most part 
in the city of Philadelphia, though he had 
purchased several tracts of land adjoining 
Pen Ryn, which, together with his inter- 
est in the homestead, he devised at his 
death to his sisters Elizabeth and Hannah. 
Isaac Bickley died in 1853 and devised his 
share in Pen Ryn to his sisters for life, 
then to his relative Lloyd Wharton, who 
took the name of Lloyd Wharton Bickley. 
The sisters had previously made a deed 
to Isaac for the land devised by Robert 
and Pen Ryn, vesting the title in Lloyd 
Wharton Brickley after the death of Isaac. 
After the death of the latter, in 1890, Mrs. 
Drexel purchased Pen Ryn of Mrs. Bickley. 
and has since that time made it her home. 
and has enlarged the mansion and made 
extensive improvements in the surrounding 
grounds. The stately old house commands 
a fine view of the Delaware river and 
surrounding country. Mrs. Drexel usually 
spends the year at Pen Ryn. She is a wo- 
man of high character, generous and hos- 
pitable, and enjoys the esteem and friend- 
ship of a very large circle of friends. 



CONVENT OF THE BLESSED SAC- 
RA^IENT. Travelers, passing through 
Bucks county via New York Division of the 
Pennsylvania railroad, may be curiously at- 
tracted by a large institution situated on an 
eminence at Cornwells. overlooking the 
Delaware river and displaying the quaint 
form of architecture peculiar to both the 
Spanish and Italian styles and resembling 
somewhat in form the old Spanish Indian 
Mission buildings of Southern California. 
This institution, unique in its form of ar- 
chictecture, is unique also in the plan of 
work mapped out for the members who en- 
ter it, whose lives after the customary pro- 
bation and preparation, are to be conse- 
crated to the Christianization, education. 



and elevation of the two neglected, aban- 
doned, and oft despised races — the Negro 
and the Indian. This building is known 
as the Convent of the Blessed Sacrament, 
St. Elizabeth's, Cornwells. It is the Moth- 
er House of the Sisters of the Blessed 
Sacrament, a religious body of women, or- 
ganized in the year 1889 for the purpose 
above named, the evangelization of the In- 
dian and Negro. 

The conception of such an organization 
originated in the first place, in the noble 
and exalted mind of Right Reverend James 
O'Connor, Bishop of Omaha, who in his 
early priestly days had belonged to the 
archdiocese of Philadelphia, and had been 
pastor of St. Dominic's Catholic church, 
Holmesburg, before his elevation to the 
episcopate. A man thoroughly devoted to 
th° best interests of the Indians, he had 
during his apostolic visits witnessed not 
only the wrongs to which they had been 
subjected, the encroachments to which they 
were forced to submit, the injustices for 
which they obtained no redress, but also 
with the deepest sadness, he had seen the 
moral degredation of these people neglecteo 
as it were, and in darkness waiting for the 
bread of life, with none to break it to 
them. He knew that for these evils there 
was only one power that could cope effectu- 
ally — the elevating and ennobling force of 
the Christian religion which had human- 
ized mankind, exemplified in the lives ot 
its followers who were ready to freely 
renounce all ties of earth to enlighten, 
ameliorate and emancipate these people 
from their physical, intellectual, and moral 
bondage. While seriously pondering these 
things, the deplorable condition and neglect 
of another despised race appealed to his 
great heart, and he planned to form a con- 
gregation whose exclusive work should be 
amonfst the people of these two races. 

In complete harmony with his designs 
for the intellectual, moral and physical re- 
generation of these two benighted' races, 
he found a generous co-operator in Miss 
Katharine M. Drexel of Philadelphia who 
in the wealth which the heavenly Father 
had placed at her disposal, saw only a 
treasure confided to her care to be used 
not for self, nor selfish purposes, but for 
the uplifting of her fellow men. She knew 
that "Kindness to the wronged is never 
without its excellent reward, holy to man- 
kind, and ever acceptable to God." and 
"That the light of heaven's own love hath 
fallen there 

Where deed on earth hath rendered less 
The sum of human wretchedness." 

Therefore, though years before she had 
learned"That the secret of life — is, 
giving," she determined now, when this 
gwnd Bishop appealed to her in behalf of 
these races, to consecrate that wealth to 
their service, to minister, to serve and to 
espouse their cause forever. In 1889, she 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



527 



made the first sacrifice by leaving the home 
of her childhood to enter the Convent of 
Mercy, Pittsburg, to prepare herself for 
the renunciation which comes with the 
religious profession. 

In May, 1890, Bishop O'Connor died and 
the new work was placed under the kindly 
care of the Most Reverend Archbishop 
Ryan of Philadelphia who generously, and 
with unwearied patience and with wide em- 
bracing charity, found room in his large 
heart to interest himself and to take un- 
der his direction this new work inaugurated 
to minister to the needs of the Negro and 
the Indian. Miss Drexel made her profes- 
sion of religion, was given the name of 
Mother Mary Katharine in 1891 and was 
appointed by the Most Reverend Archbish- 
op Superioress of the new community. 
Some few young ladies eager to co-oper- 
ate with her in the work of this undertak- 
ing had meanwhile joined her and in 1891 
there were some twenty or twenty-five 
members. 

Cornwells, Bucks county, was the spot 
selected for the erection of the new build- 
ing which was to be the novitiate where 
the future Sisters of the Blessed Sacra- 
ment would prepare themselves for their 
missionary labors. In July, 1891, the cor- 
ner stone of this building was laid with 
the inscription, very appropriate to the 
â– work to which they were consecrated, 
"And it shall be in the place where it 
was said to them. Ye are not my people ; 
there they shall be called the children of the 
living God."— (Rom. Chap. IX.) In De- 
cember, 1893, the building was ready for 
occupancy, and the little community num- 
bering not more than twenty-five, entered 
the new home where they were to prepare 
themselves for the great missionary work 
of their order and where they were to 
show forth in their lives — "That they who 
love their fellow-men, are loving God the 
holiest way they can ;" where they were to 
learn with the poet that 

"It was theirs to cheer the hearts that 
hopeless grieve 

To follow in the steps of want, its vic- 
tims to relieve ;" 

where they were to prepare themselves 
for the vast field of labor which awaited 
them, for they were not to be confined by 
any limitations of time or place, their rule 
pointing out to them the following : "The}' 
may employ any means most opportune to 
secure living temples for the Divinity 
amongst the Indian and Negro faces in 
whatever country they rvre located ;" so 
that wherever a Negro or Indian child is to 
be found it will not be contrary to the rule 
of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to 
find some of their representatives there 
also. 

The work of the Tnst-tnte embraces the 
charge of schools, orphanages, nursing, 
visitation of sick, and the instruction of 



adults in the principles of Christian doc- 
trine. It may not be out of place to men- 
tion here that their rule admirably points 
out to them the following: "The Sisters 
admitted to this Religious Congregation, 
besides attending particularly to their own 
perfection, which is the principal aim of 
all religious orders, shall by an apostolate 
of prayer and work, zealously endeavor to 
procure living temples for the Divinity 
amongst the Indian and Colored races, ac- 
cording to the words of the great apostle : 
"Know ye not that you are the temple of 
God and that the spirit of God dwelleth 
in you?'" — I Cor., Chap. Ill, Verse 13. 

If this truth- be but effectually realized 
their morals are elevated, their minds are 
raised to that higher plane, their hearts 
are more in harmony with the Unseen 
Power working within them in "Whom 
they live and move and have their being." 
Acts, Chap. XVII, 28 v. It is not wrong 
to say that if this truth had reached the 
power of conviction in the great multitude 
of mankind, the annals of history would 
record nothing but what was glorious in 
all creatures. Education then, in both hu- 
man and divine knowledge is necessary for 
these people — education which will exer- 
cise a formative influence — education, not 
only of the body but of the soul — education 
which teaches not only of the present, but 
brings before them their eternal destiny — 
education which teaches them the knowl- 
edge of their duty towards God and the 
consequent result of their first and primal 
duty — their duty towards their neighbor in 
order to fulfill the command of God. Much 
then, depends upon the education of these 
people, .many considered the outcast of so- 
ciety, who born under the said heritage of 
indifference, poverty, and misearble sur- 
roundings need the help of superior mmds 
to teach tme to face the problin which con- 
front their races. Tennyson said : 

"Love took up the harp of life 
And Smote on all the chords with might ; 
Smote the chord of self 
That trembl'ng passed in music out of 
sight." 

So, in the work of the education of these 
two races, the highest and holiest love has 
inspired the hearts of over one hundred 
young women who are at present engaged 
in the work, or are preparing for it. The 
love of God smote v-pm the chords with 
might, smote the chords of self to trans- 
form, divinize it and make that music "pas- 
sing out of sight pass over into the souls 
of those who know not the Divine Om- 
nipotence, who know not that they are in 
truth the temples of the Holy Ghost; chil- 
dren not of wrath, but of truth, and that 
the 'truth shall make them free.' " These 
young women wish to make these poor 
people catch a glimpse of that glory which 
they do not always see. 

Attached to the convent by a cloistered 



528 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



walk, covered with a picturesque tiled 
roof is the institution known as Holj- 
Providence House. It is a combination of 
an industrial and intellectual iraining 
school. Here the Sisters teach the children 
the principles of domestic science, the im- 
portance of habits of thrift, industry, and 
economy so necessary for their future suc- 
cess ui life. There are i/O children ni the 
Institute, iio girls ranging in ages from 
hve to twenty-one years ; and fifty-two boys 
ranging from five to thirteen years of age. 
When the boys reach the age of thirteen, 
they are transferred to industrial or trade 
schools to complete their education. The 
girls remain with the Sisters until they are 
twenty-one, and the Sisters endeavor to im- 
press upon their minds the necessity and 
dignity of labor, striving to hold befort 
them the most exalted motives to enable 
them to fultill faithfully their work on 
earth. All are obliged to attend school daily 
during the school session which lasts from 
September i, to June 30. The girls have 
the opportunity to complete the Grammar 
School course. If proficient in the branches 
which this course includes they receive 
a certificate or diploma testifying to their 
ability. In order to receive this certifi- 
cate they must also have satisfactorily 
passed the Dorriestic Science course whicn 
includes cooking and dress-making, taught 
according to scientific principles, and laun- 
dry work. 

From the Mother House at Cornwells 
three branches have sprung: One, St. Cath- 
arine's Indian ' Boarding School at Santa 
Fe, New Mexico, where 160 children are 
taught by the Sisters, the plan followed 
there being something similar to that at 
Gornwells ; another, St. Frances de Sales, 
Rock Castle, Virginia, where southern girls 
are received from fourteen to twenty-one 
years of age. Here they prepare themselves 
for teaching and aim to become proficient 
in other spheres of industry in order to 
become. self sustaining in the future, and of 
benefit to their people ; also another In- 
dian Mission in a lonely wilderness in the 
wilds and wastes of Arizona called St. - 
Michael's, where; about one hundred Na- 
vajo Indian children belonging to the vast ' 
pagan tribe of twenty thousand souls are , 
received and cared for, taught the princi- 
ples of religion and human knowledge ac- 
cording to their capabilities. 

Let us hope that the little seed planted 
in Cornwells, Bucks county, may grow 
and produce fruit for a rich harvest in the 
hearts of the poor Negroes and Indians, 
both for time and eternity, spreading its 
branches far and wide for their benefit, 
and enlisting the sympathies of the many 
noble-minded men and women who are 
connected with the history of the county. 
This is the ardent wish of those whose 
lives are to be spent in furthering the cause 
of their elevation. 



JAMES B. CANDY. The family of 
Candy in England are of French extraction, 
whose progenitor was Jean de Conde, 
younger son of Louis de Bourbon, the first 
Prince of Conde, and the founder of the 
family who took their name from the town 
of Conde, near the borders of Belgium, 
and the home of the royal family of Bour- 
bon and Navarre. He was the friend and- 
pupil of Gaspard Coligny, the famous Ad- 
miral of France, and like him espoused the 
cause and religion of the Huguenots and 
became their leader in 1554. Condemned 
to death by Francis II., he escaped through 
the sudden demise of that prince, and at 
the reopening of, hostilities between the 
Catholic and Protestant" factions in 1562 
he became again the recognized leader of 
the Huguenots, and opened negotiations 
with Queen Elizabeth, under whose pro- 
tection he placed his family. He was killed 
at the battle of Jarnac, December 15, 1569. 
His eldest son Henry, second Prince of 
Conde, returned to France, and his descend- 
ants were prominent in the internecine 
struggles at the court of that kingdom for 
several generations. From the younger son 
of Louis the English family is descended. 
A grandson emigrated to the New Eng- 
land colony in 1639 and settled in Boston, 
from whence he removed to Windsor in 
1650. Another descendant, John Condee, 
with his nephew, Alexander, Condee, emi- 
grated to Maryland and settled in Prince 
George county. In Hanson's "Old Kent" 
is this record; "Alexander Condee, bap- 
tized ye 226. day of Aprill 1693." Through 
their residence among the English the end- 
ing of the name became changed. On a 
tombstone in an old cemetery at New 
Haven, Connecticut, is found this inscrip- 
tion ; "Rebecca Canbe, wife of Zachariah 
Canbe, died September 22, 1739,' aged 91 
years." The family has been prominent in 
England for many generations, some of 
its members holding high governmental 
and social positions. In the "Armorielle 
L^niverselle" is recorded their coat-of-arms, 
charged with three fleur-de-lis and a star. 
Thomas Davy Candy, father of James 
Bentley Candy, of Langhorne, Bucks coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, and a lineal descendant 
of Jean de Conde, emigrated with his pa- 
rents from Manchester, England, at the 
age of two years. The family settled at 
Poughkeepsie, New York, where Thomas 
Davy Candy was reared and educated and 
acquired proficiency as a mechanical en- 
gineer. He later located at Paterson, New 
Jerse\% where he married Ann Bentley. 
She was a native of England, and had 
come to America with her parents at the 
age of one and a half years. Her family 
had located for a time at Ellicott's Mills, 
Maryland, and removed from there to Lan- 
caster, Pennsylvania, where the parents 
died, after which the family moved to 
Paterson, New Jersey. Thomas D. Candy 
removed with his wife to Philadelphia soork 




GL/"*^-v^v.-«--4 



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^-9 J. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



529 



after their marriage, and followed the 
trade of a mechanical engineer in that 
city for many years. He was the father 
of two sons, James Bentley and John Bent- 
ley Candy. 

JAMES BENTLEY CANDY was born 
in the city of Philadelphia, June 7, 1836. 
He began his education at the private 
school of Edwards & Parton, at the south- 
west corner of Penn Square and Market 
street, and later attended the Morris public 
school and the high school, graduating 
from the latter in 1852. He inherited from 
his father a mechanical turn of mind and 
much of his leisure time as a boy was 
spent in the neighboring machine shop of 
Mr. Harrison. On leaving school he entered 
the employ of James E. Caldwell & Co. 
to learn the jewelry business, but later 
chose the calling of dentistry and took up 
his studies under the tutelage of John De- 
Haven White, M. D., D. D. S., Professor 
of Anatomy and Physiology in the Penn- 
sylvania College of Dental Surgery. ]\Ir. 
Candy was a student at this college and was 
an assistant in the clinical department at 
the age of nineteen years. He graduated 
at the age of twenty-one, and practiced 
his profession in the villages of Yardley, 
Dolington, and Attleboro, now Langhorne, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He then en- 
tered the employ of his preceptor, and sub- 
sequently opened a dental laboratory at 
108 South Eighth street, Philadelphia. He 
was also in the employ of what is now 
the S. S. White Dental Manufacturing 
Company in the manufacture of artificial 
teeth, in sections ; these were then entirely 
handmade, and were mounted upon gold 
or silver plates. 

At the outbreak of the civil war Dr. 
Candy, having been a member of the Artil- 
lery Corps of the Washington Greys for 
nearly five years, was well skilled in the 
manual of arms, and was called upon to 
spend several months in the drilling of 
squads of recruits for the front. H^ was 
lieutenant commanding, of Company B, 
Grey Reserves, Captain William H. Kern, 
and at one time gave an exhibition drill 
and company movements in Musical Fund 
Hall, and was subsequently presented with 
a sword for his proficiency in the art of 
war. 

Returning to the practice of his pro- 
fession, he located at 248 North Eleventh 
street, where he practiced until April i, 
1863, when, owing to the illness of his 
wife, he removed for her benefit to Attle- 
boro (now Langhorne), Bucks county, 
where he has since resided, and has achieved 
distinction and succes in his chosen pro- 
fession. 

Dr. Candy is a man of strong individual- 
ity, has always been a close student, and is 
independent and fearless in the advocacy 
of what he believes to be right. In the 
matter of the incorporation of the village 
of Attleboro into a borough he was one 
of the most earnest advocates of the change, 
34-3 



and took an active part in the establish- 
ment of grades and building and fence 
lines, though these measures met with 
strong opposition by some of the property 
owners of the borough. He has always 
been a strong advocate of the Democratic 
party and its principles. In 1883 he was 
appointed a notary public, and filled that 
position with satisfaction to the public, 
until he was appointed by President Cleve- 
land, postmaster of Langhorne, which latter 
office he held until the change in the ad- 
ministration. He is a past master of Bristol 
Lodge, No. 25, F. and A. M. 

On March 15, 1855, Doctor Candy was 
married to Jennie Moser, of Philadelphia, 
daughter of Henry and Catharine (Everett) 
Moser, and of English and German descent. 
Her grandfather, Henry Moser, was a 
soldier in the revolutionary war under Gen- 
eral Anthony Wayne, and his brother, 
Burkhardt Moser, furnished financial and 
material aid for the prosecution of the 
war of independence. Dr. James B. and 
Jennie (Moser) Candy were the parents 
of six children; Kate Adele; Anna Bent- 
ley ; Thomas Davy ; James Bentley, Jr. ; 
Pierson Mitchell; and Laura Hudson. Kate 
Adele died in her fifth year of diphtheria. 
Anna Bentley married Wilmer Stevens 
Black (an account of whose ancestry ap- 
pears in this work) and they are the pa- 
rents of two children : Edith Holbrook and 
Cyrille Kershaw. James Bentley Candy, 
Jr., married Harriet L. Headley, daughter 
of John Burton Headley, of Winchester! 
Virginia, and they have one child, James 
Bentley (3), born September 22, 1904. Dr. 
Candy's sons have been established by 
him in the business of florists and land- 
scape gardeners at Langhorne, in which 
they are successfully engaged and give em- 
ployment to a number of hands. The 
Doctor is still hale and hearty, and gives, 
promise of many years of usefulness. 



DR. JOSEPH BENNER HERITAGE, 
of Langhorne, was born in Bustleton, Phila- 
delphia county, October 5, 1809, and is a 
son of Joseph Dearman and Annie Loisa 
(DeWees) Heritage, both of English de- 
scent. The first American ancestors of the 
subject of this sketch came from England 
prior to 1700, and settled near Salem, New 
Jeisey, from whence the immediate an- 
cestor of Dr. Heritage migrated to the 
neighborhood of Horsham, Montgomery 
county, where his great-grandfather, John 
F. Heritage, was born. John F. Heritage 
was a tailor by trade, and followed that 
vocation during the active years of his life, 
locating at Bustleton, Philadelphia county, 
building the first house in what is now a 
thriving business town. He also operated 
a small farm there. He was a soldier in 
the war of 1812-14. He married Ann Fet- 
ters, a native of INIontgomery, and of Ger- 



530 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



man descent. They were the parents of 
live children, viz. : John F., Jr., Joseph, 
George, Samuel, Sarah. 

John F. Heritage, Jr., son of John F. and 
Ann Fetters Heruage, was born in Phila- 
delphia county, and early in life learned 
the tailor's trade with his father. On arriv- 
ing at manhood he took charge of a farm, 
and also followed his trade. He was an 
officer of militia, and captain of a company 
that was called out to quell the riots in 
Philadelphia. He later purchased the home- 
stead at Bustleton, and spent the remainder 
of his life thereon, dying at the age of sev- 
enty-hve years. He was a member of Pen- 
nypack Baptist church for over thirty years. 
He married Ann Benner, daughter of John 
Banner. Her father died during her early 
girlhood, leaving two daughters, Mrs. Her- 
itage, and Hannah, who married a Camp- 
bell. Her maternal grandfather was Joseph 
Dearman, who was a captain in the Revo- 
lutionary war, and was taken prisoner 
while at home on a furlough, and confined 
in a British prison for some time; later 
he was exchanged, and entered the service 
and served until independence was achieved. 
After the close of the war he became a 
farmer in Philadelphia county, and lived 
to a good old age, long enough to see nis 
country achieve a second victory over the 
mother country, and become a power among 
the nations of the earth. He died about 
1827. John F. Heritage and Ann Benner 
were the parents of seven children, viz : 
Anna, wife of George Brooks ; Joseph, ttie 
father of Dr. Heritage; Samuel; John B. ; 
George ; Mary A., deceased ; and Emma 
C, deceased. 

Joseph Dearman Heritage, eldest son of 
John F. and Ann (Benner) Heritage, was 
born and reared at Bustleton. He learned 
the coach making business, which he has 
carried on for many' years at Bustleton, 
doing a large business. He married Annie 
Louisa DeWees. daughter of Isaiah and 
Mary (Hart) DeWees, both of whom 
were born in England. 

Dr. Joseph Benner Heritage, the subject 
of this sketch, was born and reared at 
Bustleton, and received his education at 
the Fayette public school and at a high 
school at Vineland, New Jersey. Choosing 
the medical profession, he entered the 
Hahnemann Medical College of Philadel- 
phia, from which he graduated in 1891. He 
at once located at Langhorne, Bucks coun- 
ty, where he has since practiced his chosen 
profession with success. He married No- 
vember 8, 1893, Ida May Marple, daughter 
of Captain Alfred and Anna Addis (Van- 
sant) Marple. and granddaughter of Da- 
vid and Eliza Ann (Hart) IMarple. and 
great-granddaughter of Joseph Marple, 
whose ancestors have been prominent in 
the affairs of Bucks county for many gen- 
erations. Dr. and Mrs. Heritage are the 
parents of three children, viz. : Charles Ed- 



ward, born August 13, 1894; Florence ..lar- 
ple, born August 23, 1897; and Joseph 
Irving, born October 8, 1898. 



H. AUGUSTUS PICKERING, for 
many years a prominent merchant and bus- 
iness man of Carversville, Bucks county, 
was born at Mechanicsville, Buckingham 
township, Bucks county, December 22, 1842, 
and is a son of the late Jonathan C. and 
Elizabeth (Anderson) Pickering. • His pa- 
ternal ancestor, Isaac Pickeruig, was the 
second child of Samuel and Mary (Scar- 
borough) Pickering, and was born on the 
old homestead in Solebury, between the 
upper and lower York roads, two miles 
east of Lahaska, 12 mo. 23, 1716. He was 
a blacksmith by trade, and followed that 
occupation during nearly his whole life m 
connection with farming. He purchased in 
174;^, a farm adjoining the homestead, 
which had been the property of his matern- 
al grandfather, John Scarborough, where 
he lived and died. He was a prominent 
member of Buckingham Friends" Meeting, 
holding the position of overseer and elder 
for many years. He was also one of the 
trustees of the "Stone School House" at 
Centre Hill. He died in December, 1798, 
at the age of eighty-two years. He was 
married in 1738 to Sarah Lupton, and (sec- 
ondly) late in life to Sidney Wright, a 
widow, and the mother of Solomon Wright, 
who had married his daughter Rachel. 
Isaac and Sarah (Lupton) Pickering were 
the parents of nine children, viz: i. Jo- 
seph, born 5 mo. 9, 1739; married 8 mo. 
18, 1762, Jane Paxson, see forward. 2. Sa- 
rah, born 2 mo. 27, 1741 ;' married 12 mo. 
14, 1763, Joseph Butler. 3. Mary, born 5 
mo. 13, 1743; died unmarried. 4. Mercy, 
born 8 mo. 27, 1745; married 5 mo. 11, 1774. 
Joseph Roberts. 5 and 6. Isaac and Sam- 
uel, born I mo. 27, 1747, died young. 7. 
Jonathan, born 2 mo. 15, 1750; married in 
1773 IMary Williams, of Shrewsbury, New 
Jersey. 8. Rachel, born 2 mo. 17, 1752; mar- 
ried 6 mo. 13, 1787, Solomon Wright, the 
schoolmaster. 9. Esther, born 6 mo. 6, 

1755. died young. 

Joseph Pickering, the eldest of the above 
children of Isaac and Sarah, lived and 
died in Solebury. He died in December, 
1793, his wife Jane surviving him. They 
were the parents of five children, four 
daughters, Ann, Jane, Rachel and Sarah— 
the first named three of whom married 
Carvers, and the latter married Israel 
Michener; and one son, Isaac. Isaac Pick- 
ering, Sr., conveyed to his son Joseph by 
deed of gift a farm of 125 acres' on Long 
Lane, in Buckingham, which the latter de- 
vised to his only son Isaac. 

Isaac Pickering. Jr., married 10 mo. II, 

1756, Elizabeth Carey, daughter of Thorn- • 
as and Mary Townsend Carey, of Plum- 






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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



531 



stead, and took up his residence upon the 
Buckingham farm. He later purchased two 
acres in the village of Carversville, and 
erected a hotel and store which he con- 
ducted in connection with his son Isaac, 
until his death in 1815. He had eight sohs, 
viz : Isaac, Thomas, John, Joseph, James, 
Stephen, Mahlon and Carey. 

Joseph Pickering, son of Isaac and Eliza- 
beth (Carey) Pickering, was born in Buck- 
ingham in 1792. He learned the black- 
smith trade and followed it for a number 
of years in Plumstead, later removing to 
Mechanicsville, Buckingham township, 
where he followed blacksmithing for a 
number of years. He married Rebecca 
Keiple. 

Jonathan C. Pickering, the father of the 
subject of this sketch, was a son of Jo- 
seph and Rebecca (Keiple) Pickering, and 
was born in Plumstead township, Bucks 
county, in 1817. He was but a boy when 
his parents removed to Mechanicsville, 
where Jonathan was reared. On arriving 
at manhood he married Elizabeth Ander- 
son, and followed farming in Buckingham 
until 1867, when he removed with his wife 
and six younger children to Henderson 
county, IlHnois, where he followed farm- 
ing until his death in 1892, at the age of 
seventy-five years. His wife Elizabeth 
survived him two years. They were the 
parents of eight children, seven of whom 
survive, viz: Mary Anna, wife of Wilson 
Flack, of Solebury ; H. Augustus ; Joseph, 
residing in Nebraska ; Rebecca, widow of 
James Crawford, of Nebraska ; Lester, liv- 
ing in California ; Elizabeth, wife of W. F. 
Jones, of Illinois ; and Ezra M., of Illi- 
nois. 

H. Agustus Pickering was born and 
reared in Buckingham and resided with his 
parents to the age of fourteen years, when 
he accepted a position in the store of Sam- 
uel A. Firman, at Carversville. After six 
years of service as clerk and one year spent 
as a soldier in the army during the war of 
the rebellion, he became in 1864 a partner 
with his employer under the firm name of 
Firman & Pickering, which continued for 
six years, when Watson F. Paxson became 
a member of the firm, and the name Was 
changed to S. A. Firman & Co. In 1872 'Mr. 
Firman retired from the firm and removed 
to Doylestown, and his interest was pur- 
chased by the surviving members of the 
firm, who continued the business under the 
firm name of Paxson & Pickering until 
1880, when A. W. Walton purchased an 
interest in the firm, and for the next five 
years the firm name was Pickering & Wal- 
ton. In 1885 Mr. Pickering sold his in- 
terest to Edward H. Worthington and en- 
gaged in farming for five years, when he 
purchased Mr. Worthington's interest, and 
is still senior member of. the firm of Pick- 
ering & Walton, who do an extensive trade 
in general merchandise. Mr. Pickering en- 



listed on August 8, 1862, in Company C, 
One Hundred and Twenty»-eighth Regi- 
ment Pennsylvania Volunteers, under Cap- 
tain Samuel Croasdale, who later became 
colonel of the regiment. Mr. Pickering 
served in the regiment for ten months, par- 
ticipating in the battles of South Mountam, 
Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellors- 
ville. He was taken prisoner at the latter 
battle on May 3, 1863, and confined in the 
notorious Libby Prison for sixteen days, 
when he was exchanged and returned home 
and resumed his position in the store, be- 
coming a member of the firm the following 
year. In politics Mr. Pickering is a Re- 
publican, but has never sought nor held 
other than local offices. He is a member ot 
the Grand Army of the Republic. He was 
married in 1879 to Hannah H. Shaw, 
daughter of Eleazer C. and Grace R. 
(Green) Shaw of Plumstead, and they are 
the parents of one child, Arthur C, who 
is a clerk in his father's store. 



JOHN FRANKLIN AFFLERBACH, 
of Perkasie, Bucks county, is of German 
origin, a son of Captain John H. Aftler- 
bach, of Bedminster, where he was born 
August 27, 1869, and was reared and edu- 
cated in the township of Haycock. Henry, 
Daniel and Ludwig Afflerbach emigrated 
from Germany about the time of the Amer- 
ican Revolution and settled in Bucks coun- 
ty — Henry in Springfield, Daniel in Hay- 
cock, and Ludwig (Lewis) at Durham. 
The descendants of Henry later located in 
Haycock and spelled the name Applebach. 
while most of the descendants of Daniel 
have held to the original spelling of the 
name. Daniel AiBerbach purchased a farm 
of 140 acres in Haycock and lived thereon 
until his death in 1826. He left six chil- 
dren — one son, George ; and five daughters ; 
Elizabeth, wife of Abraham Mills, Cath- 
arine, wife of Isaac Diehl ; jNIaria, wife of 
Isaac ]Mills ; Magdalene, wife of John Wel- 
der : and Sarah, wife of Anthony Weire- 
back. 

George Afflerbach, the only son of Dan- 
iel, was born in Haycock township about 
1778, and lived his whole life there. He 
was a farmer and a member of Kellers' 
church. He died in 1838. His wife was 
Dorothy Stonebach, daughter of Heinrich 
and Dnrothy (Keller). Stonebach, aind 
granddaughter of Heinrich Keller, for 
whom Keller's church was named, and who 
had emigrated from Weirbach, in Baden, 
Germany in 1738 and settled in Bedminster. 
Both he and the paternal grandfather of 
Dorothy (Stonebach) Afflerbacli were 
among the organizers and first elders of the 
church. George and Dorothy (Stonebach) 
Afflerbach were the parents of thirteen chil- 
dren, eleven of whom lived to maturity; 
John; Hannah, born August 22, 1805, wife 



532 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



of Peter Swartz; Mary, wife of Joseph 
Keller; Elizabeth, wiK o. i\ F. B. Smith; 
Tobias, born August o, 1007; Abraham, 
boni May 11, 1809; Daniel, born April 13, 
1^13; Josiah, born September 15, 1817; Sa- 
rah; Isaac; and Dorothy. 

Abraham, seventh son of George and 
Dorothy, born in Haycock, May 11, 1809, 
was a carpenter by trade, but also followed 
farming. He purchased a farm in Hay- 
cock in 1854, part of a tract formerly 
owned and occupied by his maternal great- 
grandfather, Heinrich Keller, and purchas- 
ed by the latter of Griffith Davis, to whom 
it had been patented by the Penns in 1737. 
Abraham Afflerbach died in January, 1874. 
He had married Mary Magdalene Bebig- 
horse, who was born April 17, 1808, and 
died July 3, 1887. Abraham and Magdalene 
Affierbach were the parents of four chil- 
dren : Sarah, born September 25, 1835, mar- 
ried Jacob Strouse; Charles Tobias, born 
August 12, 1838, died in 1868; John Hen- 
ry, born August 12, 1840; and George 
Franklin, who died in service in the civil 
war, December 6, 1862, at Suffolk, Virgin- 
ia. He married Levina King and left two 
sons, Milton and John. 

Captain John Henry Afflerbach, son of 
Abraham and Magdalene, was born and 
reared on the Haycock farm. In early life 
he was a school teacher. In 1862 he and 
his brother George Franklin, enlisted as 
privates in Company C, One Hundred and 
Seventy-fourth Regiment Pennsylvania 
Volunteers, and the latter was elected ser- 
geant, but died as previously stated. Cap- 
tain Afflerbach was elected captain of the 
company, October 31, 1862, and served for 
nine months in Virginia and North and 
South Carolina, and was mustered out with 
his company August 7, 1863. At the ex- 
piration of this term of service he re- 
turned home, and in the spring of 1864 
accepted a clerical position in the general 
store of Charles Sheets, at Keller's church, 
and in 1867 went to Bedminsterville, and 
three years later purchased the store and 
conducted it for six years, the last three 
in partnership with Abraham Keller, his 
cousin, whose son Lewis now owns and 
conducts the store. His father dying in 
January, 1874, he sold out the store to the 
Kellers, and purchased the old homestead 
in Haycock, and still lives there. Captain 
Afflerbach married November 15, 1868, Ab- 
bie Fulmer, daughter of John and Cath- 
arine (Kramer) Fulmer, and they were the 
parents of four children : John Franklin, 
born August 27, 1869; Abraham Lewis, 
born December 24, 1870; Emma, born Sep- 
tember 24, 1872, now the wife of Elmer 
Johnson ; and Anna I\Iary, who died in in- 
fancy. 

John Franklin Afflerbach. the subject of 
this sketch, was born in Bedminster, and 
removed with his parents to the old home- 
stead in Haycock at the age of four years. 



He received his primary education at the 
public schools, and later entered the nor- 
mal school at Kutztown. After leaving 
school he taught school in Haycock ana 
Bedminster townships for four years, and 
also studied telegraphy. He married Octo- 
ber 17, 1894, Emma Atherholt, born April 
^5> 1873, daughter of Aaron and Emma 
(Strawn) Atherholt, and for five years con- 
ducted her father's farm. In igoo he erect- 
ed a handsome residence in Perkasie, 
where he has since resided. In 1901 he be- 
gan the manufacture of brick at Perka- 
sie, which business he has since success- 
fully conducted. He is a member of the 
Reformed church, and politically is a Dem- 
ocrat. He has served as school director, 
and filled other local offices. He is a mem- 
ber of the Modern Woodmen of America, 
of Lodge No. 671, I. O. O. F., of Perka- 
sie; Mont Alto Lodge, No. 246, K. of P., 
of Perkasie; and Colonel Edmond Schall 
Camp, No. 92, Sons of Veterans, of Lands- 
dale, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Affler- 
bach are the parents of two children — 
Calvin Eugene, born October 11, 1896; and 
Esther Lucretia, born December 25, 1899. 



DR. GEORGE THOMAS HESTON 
was born in Pineville, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, February 27, 1826, the son of 
Jesse Stackhouse Heston and Martha Comly 
Thomas, of the well known Philadelphia 
family of that name. 

Deceased removed from Pineville to 
Newtown with his parents when four yearsi 
old. His early education was acquired at 
the old Newtown Academy and Westtown 
Friends' School. On the completion of a 
course at Haverford College he entered the 
University of Pennsylvania for the study 
of medicine, his preceptor being the noted 
â–  Dr. P'hineas Jenks, of Newtown. Failing 
health compelled him to travel at the end 
of two years, and he toured the world, 
starting on the barque "Adelaide," com- 
manded by Captain Joseph Eyre, of 
Newtown, spent sometime in California in 
'49, afterwards visited Brazil, Chili and 
Peru, and bore the distinction of a man 
living in Newtown who had twice doubled 
Cape Horn. While in Peru he met Don 
, Pedro, and, when the latter visited the 
Centennial Exposition in 1876, through the 
instrumentality of George W. Childs, the 
acquaintance of former years was renewed, 
and the agricultural developments of Bucks 
county, that the Doctor had described as 
the "Eden of Pennsylvania," were thor- 
oughly appreciated and lauded by the 
Emperor. 

After a close study of fevers on the 
South American coast he embarked from 
Valparaiso on the ship "Independence," 
commanded by the Danish Captain Peder- 
son, studied on his arrival in Europe in 
the hospitals of Berlin, Paris and London, 
and, on his return to his home in 1851, re- 






£J^^^ 




/ rn 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



533 



newed his course in the University of Penn- 
sylvania, and at his graduation in 1852 
made "Typhoid Fever" the subject of his 
thesis, which was highly commended by 
Sir Benjamin Brodie, of Edinburgh, Scot- 
land. During the civil war he passed a suc- 
cessful examination as surgeon, and held 
a certificate marked "very distinguished," 
but, yielding to his father's Quaker prin- 
ciples, declined an appointment, but from no 
lack of patriotism, as was evidenced by his 
ministering freely of his knowledge, time 
and money in the city hospitals and in the 
homes of his townsmen who were doing 
duty on the battle field, until the conflict 
was ended. 

Dr. Heston was a lineal descendant of 
Zebulon Heston, who came to Eastham, 
Barnstable county, Massachusetts, from 
Heston Parish, on the Midland road, six- 
teen miles out of London, in 1684. He re- 
moved to Burlington county, New Jersey, 
and was very active in building the first 
Episcopal church in New Jersey, near Tren- 
ton, deeding the land and contributing gen- 
erously in finance toward the erection of the 
house of worship. His sympathies, which 
had been aroused for Friends while in 
New England by the unjust persecution of 
the Quakers, led to his becoming a member, 
and in 1707 -he removed to Fallsington, 
Bucks county, and later (in 171 1) he trans- 
ferred his certificate to Wrightstown, hav- 
ing purchased 211 acres in Upper Make- 
field, where he continued to reside until 
his death in 1720, and was interred in the 
old burying ground at Wrightstown. Hav- 
ing purchased one hundred acres of land at 
what is now known as Hestonville, his 
grandson Edward located there and was 
noted for his ability legally and financially, 
and was a well known revolutionary patriot, 
winning the title of colonel. His brother, 
who established the Heston Glass Works, 
now known as Glassboro, also held the same 
commission as Colonel Thomas Heston in 
the army. 

Dr. Heston on his mother's side was a 
direct descendant of Llewellyn, King of 
Wales, and had in his home the family 
•coat-of-arms, to which he was entitled from 
the Thomas castle in Wales. Dr. Heston's 
father was a shrewd business man in his 
day, and was largely engaged in mercantile 
enterprises in Newtown. He was an ex- 
tensive owner of coal lands in the Shamo- 
kin Valley, and a pioneer in the Middle 
coal fields, for many years president' of the 
Locust Mountain Summit Improvement 
Company. The development of .these coal 
fields made him a man of great wealth. 

In 1853 Dr. Heston married ^liss J\L 
Amanda Duncan, then a talented and promi- 
nent teacher, who has distinguished her- 
self from a literary point of view, being a 
gifted speaker, fine conversationalist, in- 
terested in all good, active in the Forestry 
Association of Pennsylvania and ranks as 
the oldest graduate of the Philadelphia 
High and Normal School for Girls. Their 
married life of half a century was very 



congenial. The Doctor relied on her in 
all business transactions, and made her his 
confidant in all matters pertaining to 
finance. There were no children born of 
the marriage. 

In 18S5. owing to poor health. Dr. Heston 
relinquished his practice in favor of Dr. 
J. Aubrey Crewitt, of Huntingdon, whom 
he always highly esteemed and in his 
dying moment said "that man has been a 
son to me in alleviating my suflFerings." 
The Doctor never lost interest in his pro- 
fession. As one of his brother physicians 
(Dr. Charles Smith) wrote, "Dr. Heston 
will always stand out as a unique per- 
sonality, doing harm to no one, kindly to 
all. a big heart, strikingly benevolent and 
charitable in suspecting poor but needy 
places, never letting his right know what his 
left hand did, as a physician, forceful, posi- 
tive and progressive, in fact, I never met an 
elder medical man, as I of a younger gen- 
eration would say, who more fully kept 
awake to all that was new in his pro- 
fession." 

The Doctor was a gifted writer, a fine 
English as well as classical scholar, reading 
his Greek Testament a week before his 
death as well as his English, a thorough 
chemist, even in his college days the origina- 
tor of numerous prescriptions that would 
have made a fortune, but pride in his alma 
mater forbade all secrecy that leads to 
quackery. He was a prominent local his- 
torian, well informed in botany, geology, 
niineralogy, ichthyology, and particularly 
so in conchology. In a w'ord, he was 
at home in the field of science, and the 
study of nature was his pleasure. Caring 
nothing for social life, yet there was a rare 
hospitality in his home, and he was a genial 
and charming host. 

For more than a year he had been a quiet 
uncomplaining sufferer from the results of 
la grippe in the form of insomnia and acute 
Bright's disease. He died as he lived, 
honored and beloved by all who knew him, 
leaving a large circle of friends to mourn 
his loss. His philanthropic and charitable 
deeds will be missed by many in his com- 
munity, to whom .he was always ready 
and willing to extend help from his well- 
filled purse and larder. The funeral services 
in the home where he had lived for seventy- 
five years were largely attended. The 
casket designed as his last resting place 
was a handsome work of art in solid 
mahogany, richly carved, while the floral 
offerings were of unique and original de- 
sign. 

Dr. Heston was a birthright member of 
the Society of Friends, and Evan L. Worth- 
ington's remarks on this last occasion were 
appropriate to the life of the deceased who 
had solved the mystery of death without 
a fear, and borne the testimony that he had 
made his peace with God. The INIasonic 
fraternity, of which he had been a member 
fifty years, rendered their burial ceremonies 
in a most impressive manner at the grave 
in Newtown cemetery. 



534 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ZACHARY TAYLOR JENKINS, of 
Washington, D. C, was born in War- 
rington township, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, P>bruary 17, 1853, and is a de- 
scendant of ancestors that have been 
prominent in the affairs of Bucks and 
Montgomery counties for several gen- 
erations. 

William Jenkins, the pioneer ances- 
tor of the family, was born in Tenby, 
Pembrokeshire, Wales, in the year 1658, 
and married there Elizabeth, daughter of 
Lewis Grififith. and about 1682, with wife 
and three children, — Stephen, Margaret 
and Elizabeth — emigrated to Pennsyl- 
vania and settled in "Duffrn Mawr," 
near Haverford, Chester county, on 
i.ooo acres of land purchased of Will- 
iam Penn, October 24 and 25, 1681. At 
different periods between 1686 and 1698 
he sold the 1,000 acres and purchased 
400 acres in the latter year in Abington 
township, Philadelphia (now Montgom- 
ery) county, including the present site 
of Jenkintown, of which town his de- 
scendants were the founders-. He was 
one of the original members of Abing- 
ton Friends' Meeting, and with Joseph 
Phipps had charge of the erection of the 
rnceting house in 1697. He was commis- 
sioned as a justice of Chester county in 
1691 and 1692, and was a member of the 
colonial assembly from 1690 to 1696. 
His daughter Margaret, born in Wales, 
3 mo. 23. 1674, married 9 mo. 15, 1692, 
Thomas Paschall, and had eleven chil- 
dren, the numerous and prominent fam- 
ily of that name in Chester and Bucks 
counties being her descendants. She died 
II mo. 17. 1728. Elizabeth, the other 
daughter, died 9 mo. 14. 1711, unmarried. 
William Jenkins died in Abington town- 
ship. 4 mo. 7, 1712, aged fifty-four years. 

Stephen Jenkins, only son of William 
and Elizabeth (Griffith) Jenkins, was 
born in Tenby. Pembrokeshire, Wales, 
and came to Pennsylvania with his par- 
ents when a child. At the death of his 
father he inherited the lands in Abing- 
ton and resided there until his death, in 
1761. Like his father he was an active 
and prominent member of Abington 
Meeting. He married, 9 mo. 14. 1704, 
Abigail Pemberton, daughter of Phineas 
and Phebe (Harri.eon) Pemberton, of 
Bucks countv, an account of whose an- 
cestrv and the distinguished services of 
the former is given in this work. Abi- 
gail was born in Bolton. Lancashire, 
England, and accompanied her parents 
to Bucks county in 16S2 at the age of 
three years. She died in Abin,gton. 9 
mo, 2. 1750, aged seventy years, nine 
months and twenty-one days. The chil- 
dren of Stephen and Abigail (Pember- 
ton) Jenkins were as follows: William, 
born 8 mo. 16. 170c;, and died i mo. 5. 
1763, married Lydia Roberts; Phineas, 
born 8 mo. t6. 1707, died 4 mo. to. i7or. 
married, first. Isabel Mather, who died 
8 mo. 31, 1728, and second, Mary Rob- 



erts, who bore him eight children; 
Phebe, born 6 mo. 14, 1709, died unmar- 
ried; Sarah, born i mo. 19,. 1711, mar- 
ried Isaac Tyson in 'i737; Abigail, bom 
Ti mo. 18, 1712, married a Hugh; and 
Stephen, born 11 mo. 14, 1714, removed 
to I'hiladelphia in 1740. 

Phineas Jenkins has left numerous de- 
scendants in and around Bucks county. 
His eldest daughter, Sarah, born 7 mo. 
6, 1731, married, in 1753, John, son of 
Richard Brock, of Solebury, Bucks coun- 
ty, and has left numerous descendants 
in Bucks county. Mary Jenkins, a 
granddaughter, married Hon. John Ross, 
and was the grandmother of the late 
Senator George Ross, of Doylestown. 

William Jenkins, eldest son of Stephen 
and Abigail (Pemberton) Jenkins, inher- 
ited from his father the homestead at Jen- 
kintown and lived there until his death. He 
married, in 1746, Lydia Roberts, and 
they were the parents of four children, 
the eldest and third of whom, both 
named William, died in infancy; the- 
two surviving children were: John, born 

7 mo. 25. 1749; and Mary. born 

8 mo. 10, 1754. Lydia, the mother, died 
3 mo. 6, t8o6. 

John Jenkins, only surviving son of 
William and Lydia (Roberts) Jenkins, 
was but a lad of fourteen years at the 
death of his father, in 1763, and his un- 
cle, John Roberts, was made his guar- 
dian by his father's will. He was reared 
in Abington township, and. attaining 
manhood, married Elizabeth Rea. dau.gh- 
ter of Mathew and Sarah (Harman) Rea, 
of Scotch-Irish ancestry, of Moreland. 
IMathcw Rea. the grandfather of the 
above named Mathew, was an early set- 
tler in Ulster county, New York, from 
whence his son moved to Bucks (bounty 
and settled in Bedminster. John Jen- 
kins died August 13, 1830. and his widow, 
Elizabeth, August 13, 1833. in her eigh- 
ty-fourth year. Their children were as 
follows: William. John. Joseph, Sarah, 
(who married a Shoemaker), Ann (who 
married a Krusen). Elizabeth (who mar- 
ried John Whitcomb), and Jesse (who 
married Sarah Van Pelt). ]\Tost of these- 
children lived and died in the neighbor- 
hood of Abington. Jesse and Sarah 
(Van Pelt) Jenkins had seven daughters 
and one son. Two of the former (Mrs. 
James K. Miller and Mrs. Clift) be- 
came residents of Doylestown, Bu'^''^ 
county, where Mrs. Miller still resides. 
Jesse Jenkins owned a farm in Warwick: 
townsliip for a number of years, on 
whi(~h one of his daughters, Mrs. Clift. 
resided. 

Josenh Jenkins, son of John and Eliza- 
beth (Rea) Jenkins, was the grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch. He 
was a farmer in Bvicks and Montgomery 
comities, and married Tacy ]\Tartindale, 
daughter of Amos and Martha (Mer- 
rick) Martindale, whose paternal an- 
cestor. John Martindale, born in Eng- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



535 



land 8 mo. 24, 1676, married Mary Bridg- 
man, daughter of Walter and Blanche 
(Constalile) Bridgman. of T^Iiddletovvn. 
Bucks coimty, — both the latter being na- 
tives of England and among the earliest 
arrivals in Bucks county. John ]\Iartin- 
dale, son of John and Mary (Bridgman) 
Martindale, born 6 mo. 22, 1719, married 
2 mo. 9, 1746, Mary Strickland, and had 
twleve children, of whom Amos, above 
mentioned, was born 8 mo. 10, 1761, and 
married, in 1789, Martha Merrick, daugh- 
ter of Thomas Merrick, of Upper Make- 
field, Bucks county, and Tacy Martin- 
dale, born 2 mo. 21, 1792, was the sec- 
ond of their ten children. Thomas Mer- 
rick was a- descendant of John Mer- 
rick, who came from Bedfordshire 
al)out 1699 and settled in Lower Dublin, 
Philadelphia county, from whence his 
son John, who married Hannah Hulme, 
came to Upper Makefield. where he has 
left numerous descendants. Joseph 
Jenkins died December 19. 1862. in his 
seventy-eighth year, and Tacy, his wife, 
died August 10, 1857, in her sixty-sixth 
year. 

The children of Joseph and Tacy 
(Martindale) Jenkins were Martha M., 
who married John Erwin and had six 
children — Joseph J., of Spokane. Wash. ; 
B. Franklin, of Philadelphia; Preston, 
of Westport. Missouri; Tacy, widow of 
the late Williarri Sutton, of Philadel- 
phia; James and Charles, also of Phila- 
delphia — ^lahala. who never married ; and 
John, the father of the subject of this 
sketch. 

John Jenkins was born in Philadelphia 
INIay i.^. 1822. He was a farmer, miller 
and millwright in Bucks and Montgom- 
ery counties prior to i860, when he 
moved with his family to Frr.iiklir; 
county, Ohio. In 1861 he enlisted in 
Company A. Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry. While his regiment was on the 
march to Philippi. West Virginia, he 
was injured internally and was honor- 
ably discharged. In 1862 he removed, 
with his family, to Wilmington, Dela- 
ware, where he followed his trade of 
jiiiller and millwright for a short time. 
Being an excellent mechanic he secured 
employment in a shipyard, and thor- 
oughly mastered the trade of ship car- 
penter cis well as that of ship joiner and 
car builder. He was practically a self- 
educated man and was noted for his abil- 
ity as a mathematician and for his re- 
markable memory. He married Martha 
M. Erwin, daughter of Joseph and Han- 
nah (Morrison) Erwin. of Montgomery 
county, and granddaughter of John and 
Susan (Tomlinson) Erwin, of Bucks 
county. Her father. Joseph Erwin. was 
born December 2,^. 1792, and died Octo- 
ber 8. 1870. and her grandfather. John 
Erwin. was born in 1770 and died Feb- 
ruary 7. 182,3. On the maternal side 
Martha ]\T. (Erwin) Jenkins was a great- 
granddaughter of John Morrison, who 



came' from the north of Ireland and set- 
tled on the Brandywine about 1760. His 
son John (born 1769, died in North- 
ampton township, Bucks county, March 
17. 1858), married Hannah Yerkes (born 
June 29. 1772, died February 12, 1844), 
daughter of Elias Yerkes, and grand- 
daughter of Silas and Hannah (Dun- 
gan) Yerkes, of Southampton, Silas be- 
ing a son of Herman and Elizabeth 
(Watts) Yerkes, and grandson of An- 
thony Yerkes, one of the first burgesses 
of Germantown. Hannah (Morrison) 
Erwin, mother of Martha M. (Erwin) 
Jenkins, was the second child of John 
and Hannah (Yerkes) Morrison, and 
was born February 10, 1796, and died 
December 10, i860, She was a sister to 
Joseph Morrison, who was county com- 
missioner, county treasurer, recorder of 
deeds, and associate judge , of Bucks 
county, as well as holding every com- 
missioned office in the Bucks county mi- 
litia, from captain to brigadier-general. 
John Jenkins died .September 18, 1898, 
in his seventy-sixth year, and his wife, 
]\Iartha M., died July 6, 1892, in her six- 
ty-seventh year. Of their nine children 
only two lived to the age of maturity — ■ 
Zachary T. and Joseph Erwin. The lat- 
ter was born October 9, 1855, at Long's 
rnill in Warwick township, Bucks coun- 
ty, and is now carrying on the business 
of plumbing and gas fitting at Wilming- 
ton, Delaware. He married Ella Far- 
ren, of that city, and has three children, 
— Howard, Gilbert, and Joseph. 

Z. T. Jenkins, the subject of this eketch, 
was born on a small farm, whereon his 
parents and paternal grandparents then 
resided, adjoining the farm known as 
"Brown's Folly," in Warrington town- 
ship, Bucks county, February 17, 1853. 
After six years' residence in Bucks and 
Montgomery counties, his parents 
moved to Franklin county, Ohio, and 
about two years later to Wilmington, 
Delaware. He became an apprentice to 
the printer's trade in the office of the 
"Evening Commercial," published in 
Wilmington, by the late Howard M. 
Jenkins and Wilmer M. Atkinson, but 
finished his trade in Philadelphia, and 
soon after the establishment of the 
"Philadelphia Times" secured a position 
as compositor on' that paper, where he 
remained until the fall of 1889, when he 
resigned to accept a position in the gov- 
ernment printing office at Washington, 
D. C, where he is now employed as a 
proof-reader. He is a past master of 
Myron M. Parker Lodge. No. 27. F. A. 
A. M.; a member of Capitol Chapter, 
No II. R. A. M.; of Amaranth Lodge, 
No. 28'. K. of P.; of Northeast Wash- 
ington Council, No. 755. National Union; 
of Columbia Typographical Union. No. 
loi. all of the citv of Washington. D. C, 
and of the Bucks County Historical Society. 
Mr. Jenkins married, September 27, 



536 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



1877, Amelia Branin, daughter of Rich- 
ard and Sarah (Phipps) Branin, of Wil- 
low Grove, Montgomery county. Amelia 
Branin was born in Stark county, Ohio, 
April 12, 1857, and is a descendant, pn 
the maternal side, of Joseph Phipps, 
who was associated with William Jen- 
kins, the pioneer ancestor of her hus- 
band, in the organization of Abington 
Meeting. On the paternal side she is 
descended from Francis I'ranin. born in 
Ireland, in 1683, who emigrated to 
America early in the eighteenth cen- 
tury and settled in Burlington county, 
New Jersey, where he became a large 
landholder. His son Michael, born 
September 9. 1708, married November 
24, 1730, Elizabeth Norcross, daughter 
of John and Mary ("Antrim) Norcross, 
who were for a number of years rc-^- 
dents of Bucks county. William Branin, 
son of Michael and Elizabeth. born_ De- 
cember 15, 1749, married Abigail, 
daughter of Abner Rodgers, in 17/8, and 
died February 14, 1813. Their son, 
Abijah .Branin, born 'May g, 1783. mar- 
ried October 18, 1804. Mary, daughter of 
John Houston, of Burlington county, 
New Jersey, and their son, Richard 
Branin. born October 10, 1820, is aljve 
and well at this writing. He married 
Sarah Pliipps, who died December 3, 
1900, in her seventy-ninth year. Richard 
Branin was in his younger days a local 
preacher of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. Mr. and Mrs. Z. T. Jenkins are 
the parents of three children, viz.: Henry 
Lincoln, born February i, 1880, at 925 
Walnut street, Philadelphia, in the 
house where George M. Dallas, at one 
time vice-president of the United States, 
lived, and where the Prince of Wales 
(now King Edward VII) was enter- 
tained when visiting this country in 
i860: Walter Scott, born May 12. '1881, 
and Elsie, born May 9, 1886. 



MATTHEW C. CUNNINGHAM, sen- 
ior member of the firm of Cunningham & 
Seal, wool merchants and importers, Phila- 
delphia, was born in Newtown township. 
Bucks county. Pennsylvania, July 6. 1847, 
and is a son of Joseph T. and Rebecca 
(Cadwallader) Cunningham, the former of 
Scotch-Irish and English and the latter 
of Welsh and English descent, both being 
natives of Bucks county. 

The Cunningham familv is of Scotch 
origin, and took its name from the munici- 
pality of that name on the Frith of Forth, 
in Scotland, now North Ayrshire, the birth- 
place of Wallace and Bruce, both of whom 
were connected by blood and marriage with 
this same family. Some of the American 
descendants of the family have traced their 
ancestry back in a direct line to Malcombe 
Frisbine. who in 1056 was knighted and 
made Thane of Conyngham, by Malcombe 
Canmorc, King of Scotland, for saving 



him from capture by Macbeth's victorious 
hordes. Three generations later the de- 
scendants of Malcombe adopted the sur- 
name of Cunningham, from the name of the 
principality over which they ruled as feudal 
lords. 

During the last half of the seventeenth 
' century many members of this family mi- 
grated to Ireland, one considerable branch 
locating in county Donegal, where a num- 
ber of them are mentioned as landed pro- 
prietors during the reigns of Elizabeth and 
James I, and from whence, at different 
periods, several of the name migrated to 
Pennsylvania, two generations later. Among 
these was the ancestor of the subject of 
this sketch, who located in the neighbor- 
hood of Philadelphia, either in Chester or 
Philadelphia county. 

Thomas Cunningham, the first of the 
family of whom we have any definite record, 
married Ann Adams, on October 12, 1775, 
and soon after that date located in Middle- 
town township, where he followed the trade 
of a weaver. On February 20, 1794, he 
purchased a farm of one hundred acres in 
Lower Makefield township, and lived there- 
on until his death in August, 1813, his will 
stating that he was "advanced in years." 
Thomas and Ann (Adams) Cunningham 
were the parents of six children — two sons, 
Thomas and Matthew ; and four daughters, 
Martha Erwin, Margaret Van Horn. Ann 
Erwin, and Sarah Moon. The eldest son, 
Thomas, to whom was devised^the farm, 
sold it soon after the decease of his father 
and removed to Trenton, New Jersey. He 
married Ann Slack, daughter of Abraham 
and Elizabeth (Torbert) Slack of Lower 
Makefield. 

Matthew Cunniiigham, second son of 
Thomas and Ann, born in 1779, removed 
with his parents to Lower Makefield town- 
ship in 1794, and from the age of sixteen 
years was a school teacher in that and ad- 
joining townships, until his death on Sep- 
tember 14, 1835, at the age of fifty-six 
years and eight months. On March 15, 
1814. he purchased a farm in Newtown 
township which he operated in connection 
with the conduct of his school in that town- 
ship. He married Rachel Taylor, daugh- 
ter of Joseph and Mercv (Knowles) Tay- 
lor, of Newtown township, both of whom 
were lineal descendants of John and Mary 
(Lofty) Sotcher. William Penn's faith- 
ful stewards at Pennsbury. Sotcher being 
also a member of colonial assembly for 
many years. 

Benjamin Taylor, grandfather of Joseph 
Taylor above mentioned, was the son of 
Philip and Tulianna Taylor, of Oxford 
township, Philadelphia, earlv settlers at 
the present site of Tacony. Benjamin was 
a blacksmith, and followed that occupation 
in connection with farming in Newtown 
township and Upper M.nkcfield for nearly 
sixty years. In T730 he purchased 403 
acres of land in Newtown township, which 
he conveyed to his sons Timothy and 
Bernard prior to 1750. and purchased T50 





'IX> 



LAyV^\^n^^\.yX.yt^.^u 




HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



537 



acres in Upper ]\Takefield, where he died 
in 1780. He became a lars^e landowner in 
Upper and Lower Makefield. and was one 
of the prominent men of his time in that 
locality. He was a member of Falls 
Monthly Meeting of Friends. He married 
in 1719 Hannah Towne, daughter of John 
and Deborah (Booth) Towne, and they 
were the parents of four sons ; Bernard, 
Benjamin, Timothy and John : and daugh- 
ters ; Hannah, wife of Joseph White: 
Deborah, wife of Benjamin Paxson ; and 
another who married a Gillingham. 

Timothy Taylor, son of Benjamin and 
Hannah (Towne) Taylor, born at New- 
town in 1729, was a carpenter and lived 
all his life in the neighborhood of New- 
town, his father conveying to him 158 acres 
of his Newtown plantation in 1754. He was 
a justice of the peace and of the court 
of common pleas of Bucks county, being 
commissioned the former on June 7, 1784, 
and the latter on September 29 of the same 
year. Timothy and Bernard Taylor were 
two of the trustees appointed by Falls 
Monthly Meeting in T753 to purchase the 
land and erect Makefield meeting house. 
Timothy Taylor died in 1790. He was 
twice married, first on 12 mo. 27, 1752, 
to Letitia Kirkbride, daughter of Mahlon 
' and Mary (Sotcher) Kirkbride, and grand- 
daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Stacy) 
Kirkbride, and great-granddaughter of 
Mahlon and Rebecca (Ely) Stacy, who 
were married at Cinder Hill, Yorkshire, 
England, in 1668. Both Joseph and Mah- 
lon Kirkbride were for many years mem- 
bers of the colonial assembly and justices 
of the courts of Bucks county, and were 
the largest landowners in Bucks county. 
The children of Timothy and Letitia 
(Kirkbride) Taylor were: Joseph; Hannah, 
wife of William Field; Stacy ;_ Timothy ; 
Mahlon ; David ; Jonathan K. and Bernard. 
Timothy Taylor married (second) it mo. 
19, 1772, Sarah Yardley, daughter of Wil- 
liam and Ann (Budd) Yardley,* who bore 
him four children : Ann, who married 
Jacob Cadwallader ; William ; Deborah, who 
married Samuel Cary ; and Sarah, who 
married Phineas Briggs. 

Joseph Taylor, eldest son of Timothy 
and Letitia (Kirkbride) Taylor, born at 
Newtown in 1753, married, 12 mo. 11, 
1777. Mercy Knowles, daughter of John 
and Mary (Sotcher) Knowles, grand- 
daughter of Robert and Mercy (Brown) 
Sotcher, and great-granddaughter of John 
and Mary (Lofty) Sotcher, before men- 
tioned. He was a farmer in Lower Make- 
field, where he died in 1832. The children 
of Joseph and Mercy (Knowles) Taylor 
were: Letitia, born 1778, married Samuel 
Bunting; Mary, born 1780, second wife 
of Cyrus Cadwallader; Sarah, born 1783, 
married John Comfort; Hannah, born 1784, 
married Mahlon Buckman; Mahlon, born 
1787, married Eliza Comfort ; Rachel, born 
1789, died 1879, married Matthew Cun- 

* See " Yardley Family." 



ningham ; Ann, born 1784, married Richard/ 
Janney; Susanna, born 1797, married John*^ 
Palmer : and Joseph, born 1799, married 
Anna Betts. 

Matthew and Rachel (Taylor) .Cunning- 
ham were the parent? of two sons — Joseph 
T., born January 6, 1814; and George W., 
born May 21. 1816, died 1896. The latter 
married in 1852 Alary Ivins, daughter of 
Barclay and Mary (Thompson) Ivins, and 
died in Newtown township in 1896, leav- 
ing three daughters — Agnes, Mary L, and 
Edith. Rachel (Taylor) Cunningham sur- 
vived her husband many years, dying in 
1879 at the age of ninety years. 

Joseph Taylor Cunningham, eldest son 
of Matthew and Rachel (Taylor) Cun- 
ningham, was born in Lower Makefield 
township, Bucks county, January 6, 1814, 
and was reared on the old homestead in 
Newtown township, where he spent his 
entire life from the age of a few months. 
At the death of his father in 1835 the farm 
was divided between him and his brother 
George W., the part adjudged to Joseph 
consisting of about eighty acres. Joseph 
T. Cunningham married Rebecca J. Cad- 
wallader, born February 14, 1822, daughter 
of Jacob and Mary (Brown) Cadwallader, 
and granddaughter of Cyrus and Mary 
(Taylor) Cadwallader, and therefore, like 
her husband, a descendant of Benjamin and 
Hannah (Towne) Taylor, her grandmother, 
Mary Taylor, being a daughter of Benja- 
min' and Elizabeth (Burroughs) Taylor, 
and granddaughter of Bernard Taylor, 
(son of Benjamin and Hannah), and his 
wife Mary Kirkbride, the latter being an- 
other daughter of Mahlon and Mary 
(Sotcher) Kirkbride. Joseph T. Cunning- 
ham died on his farm in Newtown town- 
ship, October 16, 1867, in his fifty-fourth 
year, and his wife Rebecca died November 
8. 1865. Thev were the parents of three 
children : Maiy C. born 1844, died August 
6, 1887, married George B. Buckman, of 
Newtown; Matthew C. ; William; and two 
other children, George and Jennie, who died 
in infancy. 

The maternal ancestors of these children 
were among the earliest settlers in War- 
minster township. The pioneer ancestor, 
John Cadwallader. a native of Wales, was 
a distinguished minister among Friends 
and died on the island of Tortula, in the 
West Indies, in 1742, while on a religious 
visit. He left several children, among 
whom was Jacob, who died in Moreland 
township. His wife was a granddaughter 
of Tunis (or Dennis) Kunders (Conrad) 
whose family was one of the thirteen who 
sailed from London on the "Concord" on 
Julv 24. 1683, and landed at Philadelphia, 
October 6, and fourteen days later located 
at the present site of Germantown. of 
which they were the founders. Dennis 
Kunders was one of the first burgesses. He 
was a native of Westphalia, and brought 
with him to Germantown three sons, and 
five other children were born to him in 
Germantown. Jacob Cadwallader, son of 



53S 



rilSTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Jacob and Magdalena (Conrad) Cadwalla- 
der, married Phebe Radcliffe, of Warmin- 
ster, and was a large landowner in that 
township, and later in Makefield. Of his 
eleven cliildren, five grew to maturity, viz. : 
Cyrus ; Jacob ; John ; Rebecca, wife of 
David Jarrett ; Phebe. wife of Oliver 
Hough. Cyrus, the eldest son, born June 
6, 1763, was twice married, both of his 
wives being Mary Taylor, as before recited, 
Jacob, the father of Mrs. Rebecca Cun- 
ningham, being the eldest son by the first 
marriage. 

MATTHEW C. CUNNINGHAM was 
born and reared on the Newtown township 
farm, and acquired his elementary educa- 
tion at the public schools of that vicinity 
and at Joseph Shortlidge's Academy in 
Delaware county, Pennsylvania. At the 
age of eighteen years he went to Philadel- 
phia, and after a course in a business col- 
lege accepted a position as bookkeeper with 
the firm of Seal, Williams & Co.. wool mer- 
chants, and later became one of their most 
valued salesmen. On January i, i88r. he 
formed a partnership with Alfred Seal, of 
the old firm, under the title of Seal & Cun- 
ningham, and entered into the wool busi- 
ness for himself. Two years later Mr. 
Seal died, and a new partnership was 
formed with John H. Seal, a nephew of 
Alfred, under the firm name of Cunning- 
ham & Seal, which still continues, doing 
a large business. Mr. Cunningham is a 
popular and successful business man, and 
has a large circle of acquaintances and 
friends in Bucks county, where he has re- 
sided for the past ten years. 

Mr. Cunningham married, in i86g, Fannie 
S. Phillips, daughter of Charles and Sarah 
B. (Smith) Phillips, of Solebury. Bucks 
county. Pennsylvania, where her family 
have been prominent residents for several 
generations, the pioneer ancestor of the 
family being Thomas Phillips, who married, 
about 1725. Rebecca (Norton) Kitchin, 
widow of William Kitchin, and had two 
tury and a half. Aaron Phillips married 
in 1756, in connection with his half-brother, 
William Kitchin. erected a mill on Primrose 
run. near the Delaware, two miles above 
Wells' Ferry, now New Hope, of which 
he became the sole owner in 1779. and it 
has been known as Phillips' Mill for a cen- 
tury and a half. Aaron Phillips married 
Mary Clauson. and was succeeded as miller 
by his son Thomas, who in turn was suc- 
ceeded by his son Aaron, who married 
Sarah Croasdale, a descendant of Ezra 
Croasdale, who came from Yorkshire and 
settled in ISIiddletown in 1683. bringing a 
certificate from Brighouse Meeting of 
Friends in Yorkshire, dated i mo. 29, 1683. 
He married, in 1687, Ann Peacock, also a 
native of Yorkshire, and their third son, 
Jeremiah, born 8 mo. 29, 1694, a large land- 
owner and prominent man in Middletown. 
married Grace Heaton. granddaughter of 
Robert and Alice Heaton, who came from 
Yorkshire in 1682 in the "Welcome" with 
William Penn. Jeremiah Croasdale left 



four sons and three daughters. His second 
son, Robert, born 6 mo. 30, 1728, died 8 mo. 
9, 1780, married in 1750 Margery Hayhurst 
(daughter of Cuthbert and Deliverance 
(Bills) Hayhurst), whose ancestors. Cuth- 
bert and Mary Hayhurst, also came over 
in the "Welcome." Jeremiah Croasdale, 
eldest son of Robert and Margery, born 
6 mo., 20. 1751, died 9 mo. 27, 1829, mar- 
ried, 5 mo. 13, 1772, Ann Quinby, of New 
Jersey, and they were the parents of Sarali 
Croasdale, who married Aaron Phillips. 
Aaron Phillips died in 1858, and was suc- 
ceeded in the proprietorship of the old his- 
toric mill by his son Charles, the father 
of Mrs. Cunningham, who conducted it and 
the farm adjoining until 1889, when he re- 
moved to New Hope, where he died. 

Charles Phillips Cunningham, only child 
of Matthew and Fannie, died at the age of 
eight years. In 1895 Mr. Cunningham pur- 
chased his country home on the York road, 
in Buckingham township, Bucks county, 
near Holicong. where he and his family 
have since resided. 



THOMAS R. LEISTER, of Perkasie, 
was born in Hilltown township, May 23, 
1834, and is a son of Jonas and Catharine 
(Ruth) Leister. Philip and Nicholas 
Leister emigrated from Germany in the 
ship "Brotherhood," arriving in Phila- 
delphia, November 3, 1750. The latter set- 
tled in Franconia township, Montgomery 
county, where he purchased land in 1760. 
Philip Leister settled in Rockhill township, 
on the north branch of the Perkiomen 
creek, where he purchased 150 acres of land 
JanuJiry 2, 1759- He subsequently pur- 
chased considerable other land adjoining. 
The only son of Philip Leister of whom we 
have any definite record was Philip Jacob 
Leister, who married September 26, 1772, 
Elizabeth Cell. On April 18, 1782, his 
parents, Philip and Catharine Leister con- 
veyed to him 175 acres of land in Rockhill, 
with the proviso that he was to support his 
father and mother, building for them a 
house on a part of the plantation, and pay 
fourteen hundred pounds in annual instjll- 
ments. In 17S7 they conveyed to Philip 
Jacob another tract of 148 acres. Philip 
Jacob later dropped the first name and was 
known as Jacob Leister. He was a mason 
by trade and reared several sons to the 
same trade. 

John Leister, son of Jacob and Elizabeth, 
was born and reared in Rockhill, and fol- 
lowed the trade of a mason in that neigh- 
borhood until about 1812, when, on the 
death of his wife Mary, he married Eliza- 
beth, widow of John Getman, of Milforo 
township, and purchased the farm formerly 
belonging to Getman in Mil ford. This farm 
he conveyed to his son Michael in 1820, but 
continued to reside in Milford until his 
death. He had sons— Philip, Jacob, George, 
Michael and Jonas; the two former settled 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



539 



in Montgomery county, where they have 
left numerous descendants. 

Johnas Leister, youngest son of John and 
Mary Leister, was born in RockhiU town- 
ship, Bucks county, February ii, 1805. Like 
his father and grandfather and several of 
his uncles he was a mason by trade, and 
followed that occupation in Hilltown and 
RockhiU during the active years of his 
life. He married February 8, 1829, Catha- 
rine Harr, widow of John Harr, whose 
maiden name was Ruth, and lived for 
some years in Hilltown township, returning 
in 1845, to RockhiU, near Schlictersville, 
where he died May 26, 1897. Jonas and 
Catharine Leister were the parents of hve 
children, viz. : Elias, born November 16, 
183 1, married Lavinia Treichler, and has 
five children; Thomas R., born May 23, 
1834; Henry, born August 19, 1841, mar- 
ried Susan Snovel, and had two children ; 
Mary Ann, died young ; Catharine, born 
July 3, 1837, married Josiah Hoover; died 
February 12, 1874. 

Thomas R. Leister was reared in Hill- 
town and RockhiU, and was educated at the 
Ridge Road School. Early in life he learned 
the cigar making and cigar packing busi- 
ness, which he followed for many years, but 
for the last thirty years has been employeri 
as a cigar packer. In 1889 he purchased a 
residence in Perkasie borough, and three 
years later greatly improved it and now 
lives a retired life. In religion he belongs 
to the sect known as the River Brethren, 
and in politics is a Republican. 

He has been three times married ; in 1861 
to Susanna, daughter of Elias Althouse, 
who died in 1862; second, on June 17, 1870, 
to Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Freed; 
and third, on May 22, 1886, to Salome K. 
Bergy, daughter of Abraham Bergy. He has 
no children. He and his wife reside in 
their pleasant home in Perkasie borough, 
enjoying the fruits of a life of industry and 
frugality. 



JOSEPH S. RUTH, of Line Lexington, 
New Britain township, was born in that 
township April 24, 1848, and is a son of 
Henry and ]\Iagdalena (Swartley) Ruth. 
Rev. David Ruth, the great-grandfather ot 
Joseph S., was a minster of the Mennonite 
faith, and resided for many years in Hat- 
field township, \JiIontgomery county, re- 
moving in 1801 to New Britain township 
with wife Catharine and their eight chil- 
dren — four sons : Michael, David, Jacob, 
and Joseph ; and four daughters : Mary, 
who married Isaac Derstein, of RockhiU 
township; Sophia, born August 23, 1787, 
married Christian Swartz, and removed to 
Upper Canada about 1808; Catharine, who 
married Jacob Ruth of Hilltown: and Mag- 
dalene, who married Andrew Ruth, of New 
Britain. David Ruth died in 1820. Michael, 
the eldest son, settled in Buckingham, Bucks 
county ; David and Joseph remained in 



New Britain; Jacob, the third son, settled 
in Tinicum. Ihe land purchased by David 
Sr., was located on the banks of the Ne- 
shaminy, and remained in the family for 
several generations. Joseph Ruth, young- 
est son of Rev. David and Catharine Ruth, 
was born in Hatlield, Montgomery county, 
and came to New Britain township with his 
parents when a child. On arriving at man- 
hood he married Ann Price, and, f)urchas- 
ing the greater part of the old homestead, 
made his home thereon during life, devoting 
his energies to the tilling of the soil. 

Henry P. Ruth, son of Joseph and Ann 
(Price) Ruth, was born in New Britain 
township. In 1853 he purchased of his fa- 
ther a portion of the old homestead and 
settled thereon. Like his ancestors, he \vas 
a consistent member of the Mennonite 
church. In politics he was a Republican, 
and was active in local politics and filled 
several positions of trust. He died April 7, 
1903, and is interred at the old Mennonite 
burying ground at Line Lexington. His 
wife, Magdalena Swartley, was born in New 
Britain township, September 28, 1824, ana 
died April 7, 1893. They were married 
in 1844. Magdalena was a daughter of 
John and Mary (Moyer) Swartley of New 
Britain, the former of whom was born in 
New Britain, June 8, 1792, and died there 
March 14, 1856; and the latter was born 
in Springfield township, Bucks county, Oc- 
tober 9, 1795, and died in New Britain, 
April 10, 1872. Philip Scwardley, the fa- 
ther of John, and the great-grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch, was born in 
Eppingen, Germany, October 28, 1764, and 
died in New Britain township Septemt)er 
23, 1840. His wife, Sarah Rosenberger, 
was born in Franconia tow'nship, ]\Iont- 
gomery county, Pennsylvania, and died in 
New Britain, April 6, 1849. The children of 
Henry and Magdalena (Swartley) Ruth, 
were, John S. residing at Lansdale ; Jo- 
seph S., and one who died in infancy. 

JOSEPH S. RUTH was born and reared 
on the old homestead, and was educated at 
the public schools of New Britain town- 
ship, supplemented by one year at CoUege- 
ville. He was reared to the life of a farmer, 
and on his marriage to Sarah Leidy took 
charge of the Jonas Leidy farm, which he 
operated for four years. He then removed 
to the old Swartley homestead in New Brit- 
ain, which he managed for over twenty 
years. In 1904 he removed to the village of 
Line Lexington, where he has since 
resided. His wife is a native of 
Hilltown, where her ancestors have been 
prominent farmers and business men for 
several generations. They are the parents 
of seven children; i. Elmer, married, De- 
cember, 1900, Anna Mary Bergey, daughter 
of Jones Bergey, of Hilltown, and they 
have three children — Grace, Joseph, Ear- 
nest. 2. Leidy. 3. Flora, married June, 
IC02. Harvard D. Sampey, and they have 
one child, Ruth C. 4. Stella. 5. Dora. 6. 



540 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Maggie. 7. Lizzie. The four last named died 
in infancy. Mr. Ruth takes an active in- 
terest in local politics and all that pertains 
to the best interest of the community. He 
is the owner of three large farms, one of 
which was the home of his maternal an- 
cestors, the Swartleys. While Mr. Ruih 
does not personally conduct his farms he 
devotes much of his time to their care and 
supervision. He takes an active part in 
church work and is one of the leading men 
in the community in which he lives. 



HARVEY H. GILLAM, of Langhorne, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was born in 
Philadelphia, July 23, 1846, and is a son of 
Harvey and Hannah H. (Hunt) Gillam. 
His paternal ancestor, Lucas Gillam, son 
of Lucas and Lydia Gillam, was born in 
Bristol township about the year 1715. His 
father and mother both dying when he was 
a small child, he was, according to the cus- 
tom of that time, bound out by direction of 
the orphans' court of Bucks county and 
learned the trade of a cooper, which he fol- 
lowed in early life in Middletown township. 
He was also a farmer, having purchased in 
1751 one hundred acres in Middletown 
township. He married 6 mo. 18, 1748, Ann 
Dungan, daughter and only child of Jere- 
miah Dungan, who was a grandson of Rev. 
Thomas Dungan, who came from Rhode 
Island to Bucks county in 1684 and estab- 
lished the first Baptist church in the county 
at Cold Spring in Falls township. Lucas 
and Ann Dungan Gillam were the parents 
of ten children: Susannah, wife of Jona- 
than Linton, of Northampton; Jeremiah; 
Lucas Jr.; Simon; Joseph; John; Sarah, 
wife of Euclides Longshore; Joshua, James 
and Thomas Gillam. 

Simon Gillam, third son and fifth child 
of Lucas and Ann (Dungan) Gillam, mar- 
ried 12 mo. 11, 1783. Anna Paxson, by 
whom he had four children: Mary, born 
10 mo. 22, 1784; William, born 10 mo. r, 

1786, died 12 mo. 31, 1842; Isaac, born 4 
mo- I3i 1788; and Anna, born 10 mo. 30, 
1794: died 2 mo. 8, 1798. Simon Gilliam was 
a prominent man in the community and a 
preacher among Friends. He was the owner 
of four hundred acres of land in Middle- 
town, and lived to a ripe old age. 

William, son of Simon and Anna (Pax- 
son) Gillam, was born in Middletown town- 
ship and died there 12 mo. 31, 1842. He 
married 12 mo. 16, 1809, Susanna Woolston, 
daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Har- 
vey) Woolston. who was born 11 mo. 18, 

1787, and died 8 mo. 31, i860. The Wojl- 
stons were early settlers in Burlington 
county. New Jersey, 'rom whence Jonathr.n 
Woolston, grandfather of the above named 
Jonathan, removed to Middletown and mar- 
ried Sarah Pearson n 1707. William and 
Susanna Woolston Gillam were the parent:^ 
of nine children : Elizabeth, born 9 mo. 



17, 1810; Anna, born 8 mo. 12, 1812; Har- 
vey, born 7 mo. i, 1814; Jonathan W., born 
10 mo. 25, 1816; William, born 11 mo. 15, 
1818; Simon, born li mo. 24, i82o;Susanna, 
born 4 mo. 18, 1823 ; Hannah, born 6 mo. 
3, 1825 ; Mary, born 8 mo. 25, 1827. 

Harvey Gillam, Sr., was born on the old 
homestead in Middletown, and on arriving 
at manhood turned his attention to agri- 
cultural pursuits, purchasing a farm two 
miles east of Langhorne, which he con- 
ducted for a few years. On account of poor 
health he sold his farm and engaged in 
merchandising at Langhorne for a few 
years, and then purchased a farm of thirty 
acres which he conducted a short time, and 
then removed to Philadelphia, where he en- 
gaged in the wholesale boot and shoe busi- 
ness, later becoming a member of the firm 
of Farrell & Herring, manufacturers of 
safes, where he remained until his death. 
He married Hannah Hunt, of Chestei 
county, Pennsylvania, who died in 1857. 
Harvey and Hannah (Hunt) Gillam were 
the parents of four children : Mary Wyatt, 
born 8 mo. 10, 1838, married William Al- 
bertson, of Philadelphia; Williarn Henry, 
born I mo. 9, 1841, died in 1871, leaving a 
daughter, now Mrs. Howard Reifsnyder; 
Morris Shallcross, who died in infancy; 
and Harvey H., born July 23, 1846. Harvey 
H. Gillam and his brother William Henry 
removed from Philadelphia to the home of 
their ancestors in Middletown, where they 
purchased farms. William Henry died sud- 
denly two years later at the age of thirty 
years. 

Harvey H. Gillam was reared in Phila- 
delphia, and received his education at the 
Friends' Central School. In 1869 he pur- 
chased a farm of one hundred and fifty 
acres in Middletown, which he conducted 
until 1888, when he rented it and removed 
to Langhorne, and has since followed the 
vocation of a real' estate and general busi- 
ness agent. He has been a justice of the 
peace for fifteen years, and has transacted 
a large amount of public business, filling 
many positions of trust in connection with 
the settlement of estates, etc. He was one 
of the promoters of the Langhorne, New- 
town and Bristol Street Railway, and one 
of its directors for a number of years ; and 
is a director of the Farmers' National Bank 
of Bucks county of Bristol, and of the 
Langhorne Building and Loan Association. 
He is a member of Bristol Lodge No. 25, 
F. and A. M. Religiously he is a member 
of the Society of Friends, and politically a 
Republican. He was married October 2, 
1873, to Mary Mitchell, a daughter of Pier- 
son and Caroline (Burton) Mitchell, of 
Langhorne. 

Pierson Mitchell was a son of John Allen 
and Tacie (Stackhouse) Mitchell, of Lang- 
home, an account of whose early ancestry 
is given elsewhere in this work. He was 
born in Middletown, August 29, 1822. on 
the old homestead, which he inherited at 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



541 



his father's death, and Hved thereon for a 
time, subsequently removing to Langhorne, 
where he died April i, 1894. He received 
a superior education and was a school 
teacher in Middletown before attaining his 
majority. He later took up the study of 
medicine with his uncle, Dr. Gove JNlitchell, 
but abandoned it on account of poor health, 
and returned to the farm. A few years 
later he studied and mastered surveying, 
and took up that business in connection 
with conveyancing and real estate and gen- 
eral business agency. He was a justice of 
the peace for thirty years, and prided him- 
self in never sending a case to court out 
of the many suits that were entered before 
him, being always able to induce the liti- 
gants to settle their cases out of court. He 
settled a great number of estates and filled 
a great number of positions of trust. He 
was for over thirty years a director of the 
Farmers' National Bank of Bucks county, 
and enjoyed the conhdence and esteem of 
all who knew him. He was a member of 
Middletown Monthly Meeting of Friends. 
CSee sketch of Allen Robert MitcheU.j He 
married in 1850 Caroline Burton, daughter 
of Anthony and Mary (Headly) Burton, 
representatives of two old and highly re- 
spected families of lower Bucks. Caroline 
(.Burton) Mitchell died May 16, 1890. Their 
only child was Mrs. Gillam. 

Harvey H. and Mary ^Mitchell) Gillam 
are the parents of two children ; Caroline 
Mitchell, born July 21, 1874, married Octo- 
ber II, 1904, Malachi White, of Langhorne, 
a representative of an old family in that 
vicinity; and Mary Wyatt, born Alarch 4, 
1879, who resides at home. 



GEORGE W. SCHEIP. Among the 
younger generation of agriculturists, who 
still retain the land tilled by their ancestors 
for several generations, is George W. 
Scheip, of New Britain township. He was 
born on the farm where he still resides, 
March 11, 1856, and is a son of John L. 
and Maria (SchoU) Sheip. 

George Scheib (as the name was origin- 
ally spelled), the paternal ancestor of the 
subject of this sketch, emigrated from Ger- 
many in the last half of the eighteenth 
century, and in the year 1770 purchased 
one hundred acres of land in New Britain, 
of which the farm occupied by the present 
George Scheip is a part. In 1792 he pur- 
chased an additional one hundred acres ad- 
joining on the southeast side, which he 
conveyed to his eldest son John four years 
later. George Scheib died in 181 5, leav- 
ing a widow Elizabeth and five children ; 
John, Margaret, Elizabeth, Catharine and 
George, the latter being the grandfather of 
the late Levi C. Scheip, of Doylestown. 
Prior to the execution of his will in Feb- 
ruary, 1803, George Scheib made an agree- 



ment with his eldest son John by which he 
conveyed the homestead to him on condi- 
tion that John convey to the younger son 
George the lower farm, and provide for his 
father and mother during the remainder 
of their lives. 

John Scheib was probably born in Mont- 
gomery county, where, like nearly all the 
early German emigrants, his parents made 
their first American home. He was reared 
in New Britain, Bucks county, and on ar- 
riving at manhood, married Catharine 
Heller, of Montgomery county, and took up 
his abode on the farm purchased for him by 
his father, adjoining the homestead. In 
1803 he took possession of the homestead 
farm which was in that year conveyed to 
him, and lived thereon until his death in 
August, 1818, purchasing in 1813 twenty- 
five acres of his former farm of his brother 
George. His children were George; Eliza- 
beth, wife of Andrew Bardt; Catharine, 
iViargaret and Joseph. 

George Scheib, eldest son of John and 
Catharine (Heller) Scheib, was born in 
New Britain township about 1795, and 
reared to the life of a farmer on the old 
homestead purchased by his grandfather in 
1770, which he inherited at his father's death 
in 1818, and died there at the age of eighty- 
nine years. He married about. 1820 Eliza- 
beth Leidy, daughter of John Leidy, of 
Hilltown, who bore him six children, five 
of whom grew to maturity. 

John L. Scheip, eldest son of George and 
Elizabeth (Leidy) Scheip, is the father of 
the subject of this sketch. He was born 
and reared on the old New Britain home- 
stead, and married Maria, daughter of 
Jacob and Catharine (Leidy) Scholl, who 
was born in Upper Salford township, Mont- 
gomery county, May 19, 1825. John L. was 
born August 9, 1824. Both are still living 
in New Britain. To them were born two 
children : Isaiah S., deceaised ; and George 
W. 

George W. Scheip was born and reared 
on the old homestead in New Britain which 
he now owns. He has always followed 
farming, with its attendant industries o\ 
fruit culture and stock and poultry raising, 
taking especial pride in the production of 
choice fruits of all kinds. Living a quiet 
pastoral life, he has dignified the calling 
of his forefathers. In politics he is a Dem- 
ocrat, but has never sought or held pub- 
lic office. He and his family are members 
of the German Reformed church. He mar- 
ried in 1876 Lydia, daughter of Henry Al- 
bright, Esq., also of German ancestry, and 
this union has been blessed with eleven 
children, of whom three died in infancy; 
those who survive are : William F., born 
2\Iay 13, 1877, married Anna Mary Biehn, 
daughter of Peter, and has one child, Pearl ; 
Estella, born July 14, 1880, married Evererd 
R. Ulmstead, and has two children, Mar- 
tha and Herbert ; INIartha, born March 2, 
1883; Viola, born February 20, 1885; Mary, 



542 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



born November 21, 1886; Catharine, born 
June 8, 1889; Anna, born November 22, 
1890; and Titus A., born November 3, 
1894. 



EDWIN C. WALKER, of Southampton 
township, Bucks county, was born in Hors- 
ham township, Montgomery county, Penn- 
sylvania, June 21, 1851, and is a son of 
Elias and Amanda (Carson) Walker, both 
of whom were natives of Montgomery 
county. 

Peter Walker was a farmer in Mont- 
gomery county, and married Sarah Land, 
who bore him seven children; Elizabeth, 
who married William Mclntyre; Christi- 
ana, who married Samuel Radcliffe; Han- 
nah; Lydia; Susan Jane; Elias; and Sam- 
uel. Elias, son of Peter and Sarah (Land) 
Walker, was born near Willow Grove, 
Montgomery county, in the year 1826, and 
lived the uneventful life of a well-to-do 
. farmer in that locality, filling such local 
positions as the interests of the commun- 
ity demanded of him. He married Amanda 
Carson, and they were the parents of four 
children: Theresa; Edwin C. ; Ella, who 
married Harry McNair, and they had one 
child, a son, George Russell McNair; and 
George, who married Emma Force, in 1900. 

Edwin C. Walker was reared on a farm in 
Horsham township, and acquired a good 
common school education. In 1876 he mar- 
ried Fannie L. Johnson, daughter of Fred- 
erick and Harriet Newell (Wait) Johnson, 
and began life as a farmer, which vocation 
he has since followed, first in Horsham and 
later in Southampton township, Bucks 
county, where he has a fine farm. In poli- 
tics he is a Republican, but has never held 
other than local office. He has served in 
the office of township supervisor for two 
terms, and filled other local offices. He and 
his family are members of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. Mrs. Walker is of Eng- 
lish descent, her maternal grandparents be- 
ing John and Sarah (Kyle) W\iit. Mr. and 
Mrs. Walker are the parents of two chil- 
dren ; Fannie, born in 1877 ; and Mabel, 
born in 1884. 



SAMUEL R. LENGEL, of Hilltown 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was 
born in Uppei- Bern, now Tilden township. 
Berks county, Pennsylvania, in 1859, and 
is of German descent, his ancestors hav- 
ing been residents of that section for sev- 
eral generations. The pioneer ancestor of 
the family, Johannes Lengel, emigrated 
from Germany in I737 and settled in Berks 
county, and his descendants are now widely 
scattered. Paul Lengel the direct ancestor 
of Samuel R., was born in Berks county, 
and a tract of land was surveyed to him 
there in 1780. His son, Johan Lengel. was 
the great-grandfather of the subject of 
this sketch. 



Peter Lengel, son of Johan, married 
Mane Spisher, and they were the parents 
of the toUowing children: Maria, Susan, 
Adam, James, Paul, Peter, Eliza, Polly, 
William and Emanuel. Adam, son of Peter 
and Marie Lengel, was a farmer in Upper 
Bern township, where he was born in 1S35. 
He married Angeline Rentschler, and they 
were the parents of eight children: El- 
mira, Samuel R., Adam, Catharine, Ma- 
tilda, Franklin, James, and Wilson. James 
Lengel married Amelia Mathias. 

Samuel R. Lengel was born and reared in 
Berks county, and worked on the farm for 
his father until the age of eighteen years, 
and then came to Hilltown, Bucks county, 
where he followed butchering and attended 
the Philadelphia markets. In 1885 he pur- 
chased a farm of sixty-one acres, where he 
still resides. He is a member of Souder- 
ton Lodge, No. 612, I. O. O. F., and of the 
Golden Eagle Castle at Telford. Politically 
he is a Democrat, and takes an active in- 
terest in the councils of his party. He was 
the party nominee for clerk of the orphans' 
court in 1899, but was defeated at the polls 
with the rest of the ticket, the county then 
being strongly Republican. Mr. Lengel is 
a member of the Lutheran church. He 
married Mary Ann Hunsberger, daughter 
of Isaac and Anna (Bergy) Hunsberger, 
of Hilltown, where Mrs. Lengel was born. 
Mr. and Mrs. Lengel are the parents of 
four children— Isaac H., Gertrude, Melvin, 
and Adam. 



DARIUS SINE, proprietor of the feed 
and coal establishment at Perkasie, so long 
conducted by William Renner, is a native 
of Bedminster township, Bucks county, be-, 
ing a son of Joseph and Leanna (Kline) 
Sine, of that township, where he was born 
November 7, 1864. John Sine, the grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch was of 
German descent, though his ancestors had 
been residents of Bucks county for several 
generations. His wife was a Garis, of an 
old Pennsylvania German family, and they 
were the parents of five children, all born 
in Bedminster township, viz. : John, Joseph, 
Samuel, Elias and Catharine. Joseph Sme, 
the father of the subject of this sketch, was 
born in Bedminster township, in September, 
1821. Early in life he learned the trade of 
carpet weaver, which he followed for a 
number of years in Durham, Nockamixon, 
Tinicum and Bedminster townships. Some 
time in the sixties he purchased a farm in 
Bedminster, which he conducted until his 
death in 1898. He was a school director of 
Bedminster township, and always took a 
deep interest in educational matters. He 
jind bis family were members of Tohickon 
Reformed church. His wife was Leanna, 
daughter of John Kline, and they were the 
])arents of nine children, viz. : Frank K. ; 
Sarah, wife of John M. Gruver; Edwin; 
^lissouri. wife of Levi Roth ; Amanda, 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



543 



Leanna and Joseph, all deceased; Justina, 
wife of Peter S..Solli-day ; and Darius, the 
subject of this sketch. 

Darius Sine was reared and educated in 
Bedminster township. He taught school in 
Haycock, Bedminster and Springfield town- 
ships for six years. In 1887 he entered the 
employ of William Renner in the feed and 
coal business at Perkasie, and remained 
with him until January 4, 1904, when he 
purchased the business of Mr. Renner and 
now conducts it. He is a member of St. 
Stephen's Reformed church at Perkasie, and 
politically is a Democrat. He is a member 
of Perkasie Lodge, No. 671, I. O. O. F., 
Mont Alto Lodge, No. 246, K. of P. ; the 
Modern Workman ; and the Ridgely Pro- 
tective Association. Mr. Sine has been 
twice married, first in December, 1885, to 
Annie, daughter of Jacob Dimmig, who 
died in April, 1888, leaving him one child, 
Harry, born March i, 1887. He married 
(second) in 1889, Sarah J., daughter of 
Benjamin Fellman, who has borne him two 
children : William Renner, born July 12, 
1890; and Paul Revere, born September 13, 
1899. 



EZEKIEL A. GROOM, of Buckingham, 
was born in Solebury township, Bucks 
county, October 29, 1834, being a son of 
Jonathan A. and Rebecca (Pidcock) 
Groom. The Groome family is an old one 
in Bucks coimty, the first settlers here be- 
ing Peter and Thomas Groome, brothers. 
Peter purchased two hundred acres of land 
of Penn in Southampton in 1683, but sold 
it in 1690 and removed to New Jersey. 
Thomas Groome in 1704 purchased 550 
acres on the Delaware, in Bristol township, 
which he sold four years later, and set- 
tled in Byberry, Philadelphia county. Will- 
iam Groome, supposed to be the son of 
Thomas, settled in Southampton in 17 18 
on 112 acres purchased that year, upon 
which he later erected a grist mill. He died 
there in 1736, leaving a widow Margaret 
and seven children, four of whom grew to 
maturity, viz. : Thomas ; Mary ; Anne, who 
married Garret Vansant in 1739; and Will- 
iam, who married Rachel Walton in 1747. 
Thomas, the eldest son of William and 
Margaret Groome, at the death of his broth- 
er William in 1760 purchased the interest of 
the other heirs in the mill property and 
settled thereon. Part of the land was --old 
by the sheriff in 1788, but was purchased 
by his son Thomas. Thomas and Lydia 
Groom, had three sons^Thomas, above 
referred to, William and John. Thomas 
remained on the old homestead, and Will- 
iam and John removed to LIpper Make- 
field about 1800. John Groom, third son 
of Thomas and Lydia, purchased of John 
Beaumont a small lot in L^pper Makefield, 
and died thereon in 1810, leaving four chil- 
dren : Thomas ; Phoebe, wife of John 
Hagerman ; Mary, wife of Amos Bennett: 
and John. Thomas Groome, eldest son of 



John, was a farmer in Upper Makefield, 
where his son Jonathan was born in 1808. 
Jonathan Groom married Rebecca Pid- 
cock, and had six children : Mary E. Cook, 
of Trenton, New Jersey; Joseph P., of 
Buckingham, a member of the One Hun- 
dred and Seventy-fourth Regiment Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers, during the Civil war; 
Ezekiel A. ; Ramsey C, a member of Com- 
pany A, One Hundred and Fourth Regi- 
ment Pennsylvania Volunteers, during the 
war; Sarah, wife of Israel Worthington, of 
Buckingham; and Anna Rebecca, wife of 
Rudolph B. Cotter, of Wycombe, Penn- 
sylvania. 

The subject of this sketch was born in 
Solebury, but at the age of nine went to 
live with 'Squire Edward Pool, in Upper 
Makefield. Two years later he went to 
John Murfit's, in the same township, with 
whose family he lived until 1870, with the 
exception of one year (his nineteenth) in 
which he made a trip to the west. In 
1870 he rented the Merrick farm in Make- 
field (Washington's Headquarters in 1777) 
where he lived for one year, and then re- 
moved to the Anderson farm in Bucking- 
ham, where he lived for ten years. The 
next twelve years he lived on the D. W. 
McNair and Joseph Shelly farms in Buck- 
ingham. Mr. Groom has been a farmer 
in Buckingham continuously since 1871. In 
1893 he purchased his present farm, and 
has resided thereon since that time. In 
politics he is a Democrat. In 1890 he was 
elected county commissioner and served a 
term of three years. Mr. Groom was mar- 
ried in 1858 to Elizabeth Wark, of Phila- 
delphia, by whom he has four children : 
Henrietta D., and Jennie, residing at home ; 
Georgianna, wife of Harry Hallowell, ot 
Philadelphia; and John M., residing at 
home. Both Mr. Groom and his son are 
members of Aquetong Lodge, No. 193, I. O. 
O. F., of Doylestown. 



MAHLON KELLER, merchant and jus- 
tice of the peace, Perkasie, Bucks county, 
was born in Plumstead township, Bucks 
county, November 4, 1864, and is a son of 
Abraham and Judith (Myers) Keller, and 
a lineal descendant of Heinrich and Juliann 
(Kleindinst) Keller, both natives of Weier- 
bach, Baden, Germany, who came to Amer- 
ica in 1738 and settled in Bedminster, near 
Kellers' Church, of which Heinrich was one 
of the organizers and for whom it was 
named. 

Christopher (or Stophell) Keller, tenth 
child of Heinrich and Juliann, born in 
Bucks county, December, 1751, was ensign 
of a company in the Flying Camp in 1776, 
and served his country through the disas- 
trous campaign in New York and on Long 
Island. Returning to Bucks county he set- 
tled in Haycock township, where he was a 
considerable landowner and a man of prom- 
inence in the community. He died July 8, 



544 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



1820. On February 17, 177S, he married 
Margaret Trauch, of Budnunster, who was 
born in 1759 and died February 11, 181 1, ami 
they reared a family of nine children, wdj 
have left numerous descendants. 

Joseph Keller, the seventh child of Chris- 
topher and Margaret, born in Haycock, No- 
vember 10, 1794, died there February 14, 
1877, was the grandfather of the subject of 
this sketch. He was a blacksmith and 
fanner, and lived all his life in Haycock 
township, and was an elder of Kellers' 
Lutheran church. His wife was Mary 
Aliierbach, daughter of George and Dorothy 
(Steinbach) Afflerbach, and a grand- 
daughter of Heinrich and Dorothy (Keller; 
Steinbach, the latter being a daughter of 
Heinrich and Juliann Keller, above men- 
tioned. Mrs. ^Mary (Afflerbach) Keller's pa- 
ternal grandfather, Daniel Afflerbach, came 
from Germany about the time of the Amer- 
ican Revolution, and settled in Haycock. 

Abraham Keller, second child of Joseph 
and Mary (Afflerbach) Keller, was the fa- 
ther of the subject of this sketch. He was 
born in Haycock township, September 16, 
1823, and died in Bedniinster township. He 
was a farmer in Plumstead for a number 
of years after his marriage, and later in 
Bedminster. In 1870 he entered into part- 
nership with his cousin. Captain John H. 
Afflerbach, in the general merchandise busi- 
ness at Bedminsterville, under the firm 
name of J. H. Afflerbach & Co., and three 
years later purchased Mr. Afflerbach's in- 
terest in the firm, and took into partner- 
ship his son Lewis, the present proprietor 
of the store, and later another son Joseph 
was admitted to the firm, and I\Ir. Keller 
retired from the firm, purchasing the hotel 
at Bedminsterville, which he conducted for 
ten years, after which he conducted a feed 
store and looked after his farm and other 
property until his death in 1880. He was 
twice married; first October 10, 1847, to 
Judith Myers, who was the mother of his 
ten children; and second, December 26, 
1881, to Susanna, widow of Franklin Stauf- 
fer. Judith (Myers) Keller was born Feb- 
ruary 3, 1829, and died December 23, 1880; 
Abraham and Judith (jNIyers) Keller were 
the parents of ten children, six of whom 
survive, viz. : Mary, wife of H. S. Deaterly, 
of Bedminster; Lewis, the Bedminsterville 
merchant; Joseph, of Philadelphia; Abra- 
ham M., of Doylestown; Catharine, wife 
of CHnton Lerch. of Tinicum ; and Mahlon. 

Maliion Keller was the youngest 5on 
of Abraham and Judith, and was born in 
Plumstead township, but was reared and 
educated in Bedminster. He remained on 
the farm with his parents until the age of 
sixteen, when he became a clerk in the 
Bedminsterville store, where he remained 
for nine years. In 1892 he purchased the 
large mercantile establishment of Grier 
Scheetz, at Perkasie, which he conducted 
for seven years, and then sold out to Kulp 
Brothers, the present proprietors, and 



opened an establishment for the manufac- 
ture of clothing at Perkasie. In 1902 he 
sold out this business and purchased the 
clothing and gent's furnishing store which 
he now conducts, of Moyer & George, and 
is doing a tine business. He was elected 
justice of the peace in 1895, and was re- 
elected in 1900, and again in 1905. He has 
also served as a school director. He is a 
member of the Lutheran church, and po- 
litically is a Democrat. He is a past master 
of McCalla Ledge No. 596, F. and A. M.; 
a past grand of Plumstead Lodge, I. O. O. 
F. ; and a member of Mont Alto Lodge No. 
246, K. of P., at Perkasie. He is also a 
member of Aquilla Castle, No. 330, 
Knights of the Golden Eagle. , He married 
November 15, 1889, Mary Ella Albright, 
daughter of John and Mary (Bryan) Al- 
bright, and they are the parents of two 
children : Paul, born May, 1894, and died 
August, 1894; and Ralph, born May 27, 
1897. 



REVEREND JOHN HENRY WAIDE- 
LICH, who for the past sixteen years has 
been the pastor of St. Michael's Lutheran 
. Church at Sellersville, and of St. John's 
Church in Rockhill township. Bucks county, 
was born at Steinsville, Lehigh county, 
Pennsylvania. March 17, i860, and is of 
German parentage. 

Michael Frederick Waidelich, father of 
the subject of this sketch, was the youngest 
son of Jacob Waidelich by his first wife, 
nee Hartman, and was born in Bosenfeld, 
Wurtemberg, Germany, in the year 1831. 
He came to this country in the year 1846, 
and learned the trade of a wheelwright 
with his eldest brother. Christian Waide- 
lich, through w'hose influence he had come 
to America. He married Sallie Follweiler, 
of a German family whose ancestors had 
settled in the upper part of Lehigh county 
about the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, her mother being a Wanamaker. They 
were the parents of six children, five of 
whom were boys, who were at the proper 
age obliged to learn useful trades; and it 
fell to the lot of the subject of this sketch 
to learn the trade of coach painting. He 
attended the public schools of his native 
town and a private school for one session, 
after which he passed a successful examina- 
tion in the fall of 1877, and, receiving a 
teacher's certificate, taught school in Berks 
and Lehigh counties for a period of five 
years. He then prepared for college at the 
Keystone State Normal School at Kutz- 
town, Pennsylvania, and entered Mulilcn- 
berg College at Allentown in September, 
1882. graduating with honors in June, 1886, 
receiving a prize in gold for scholarship 
in German. During the summer of 1885 he 
filled the position of principal of Prospect 
Institute at Steinsville, Lehigh county, Penn- 
sylvania. Entering the Lutheran Theologi- 
cal Seminary at Philadelphia, he graduated 
in June, 1889, and was ordained In- tlie 



THE ^- iRK 

PUBL. ARY 



ASTON, LENOX AND 
TILDEM FOUMDATIONS. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



545 



Ministerium of Pennsylvania in Salem 
church, Lebanon, Pennsylvania, June 17, 
1889. He was installed as pastor of St. 
IMichael's and St. John's churches June 23. 
1889, and is still filling that charge. Dur- 
ing his pastorate both churches have pros- 
pered, the latter having erected in 1899 a 
handsome modern church building. Mr. 
Waidelich, in addition to his regular par- 
ish, also served temporarily as pastor of 
Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church at 
Ridge Road, Rockhill township, and in 
1892 organized Trinity congregation at 
Perkasie. Li 1900 these last two churches 
were by his advice formed into a separate 
parish. 

Mr. Waidelich served as secretary and 
later as president of the Norristown con- 
ference of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania 
and adjacent states, and has served as rep- 
resentative of his synod at the meeting of 
the General Council of North America. He 
was trustee of Muhlenberg College for six 
years. He has also been secretary of the 
Lutheran Pastoral Association of Bucks and 
of a portion of Montgomery county since 
the fall of 1889. In his home town of Sell- 
ersville Mr. Waidelich has exerted a wide 
influence for good among the young people. 
He has served as a member of the local 
school board and taken a deep interest in 
the cause of education. 

On July 4. 1889, Mr. Waidelich married 
Alice S. Keller, daughter of Nathan and 
Ellamina (Smith) Keller, of Albany. Berks 
county, Pennsylvania. She had been a 
teacher in the public schools of that county 
for five years or more, and had charge of 
a kindergarten department in the schools 
of Reading, Pennsylvania, for one year. 
Rev. and Mrs. Waidelich are the parents of 
one son, Luther Frederic, who was born at 
Sellersville, May 24. 1890, and is preparing 
for a college education. 



FRANK L. KNOLL. Among the en- 
terprising business men of Perkasie is 
Frank L. Knoll, undertaker and cabinet- 
maker. He was born in New Britain 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on 
January 31, 1862, and is of German descent, 
being a son of Lewis and Hannah (Tref- 
finger) Knoll. Lewis Knoll, father of the 
subject of this sketch, is a son of Charles 
T. Knoll, and was born in Germany in 
1827 and came to America June r, 1844, 
at the age of seventeen years. He had 
learned the trade of a locksmith in Ger- 
many, and after his arrival in Bucks county 
learned the blacksmith trade at Newville, 
New Britain township. He followed the 
latter trade at Mt. Pleasant, Hilltown town- 
ship, Bucks county, for about twenty years, 
and then removed to Lansdale, Montgom- 
ery county, where he still resides. He 
married Hannah, daughter of Frederick 
Treffinger, also of German descent, she 
having been born in Germany, February 23, 
1830. She died November 4, 1892. Lewis 
35-3 



and Hannah (TreiBnger) Knoll were the 
parents of five children, viz. : Charles, of 
Perkasie, who married Susan Rickert ; 
Frederick, deceased; Mary, wife of John 
S. Barndt, of Line Lexington; Amanda, 
wife of Milton Haines; and Frank L., the 
subject of this sketch. 

Frank L. Knoll was reared and educated 
in Hilltown township. Early in life he 
learned the trade of a carpenter and cabinet 
maker with Francis Sellers, whose daugh- 
ter he subsequently married. In 1888 he 
started in the undertaking business at Sil- 
verdale, and in 1894 r^ioved to Perkasie, 
where he has since followed that business. 
He is a member of the Hilltown Reformed 
church, and politically is a Democrat. He 
filled the office of chief burgess of Per- 
kasie for six months, and then resigned the 
oflice. He married December 27, 1884, 
Emeline Sellers, daughter of Francis and 
Emiline (Frantz) Sellers, and they are the 
parents of two children : Florence, born 
October i, 1889, and Idella, born July i, 
1891. 



ROBERT M. CROASDALE, one of the 
well known young business men of New- 
town, was born in Newtown, May 16, 1864, 
and is a son of John Wilson and Eliza- 
beth B. (Parry) Croasdale, and is a de- 
scendant of the oldest families in Bucks. 
His paternal ancestor, Ezra Croasdale, was 
a native of Yorkshire, England, and brought 
a certificate from the Friends' Meeting at 
Brighouse, Yorkshire, dated i mo. 29, 1683, 
and settled in Middletown, where he mar- 
ried 2 mo. 6, 1687, Ann Peacock, also a 
native of Yorkshire, coming from Kirks- 
dale, in that county, in 1684, in the ship' 
"Shield," of Stockton, which arrived in 
the Delaware river in the latter part of the 
8th month, 1684. They were married at 
the house of Nicholas Wain, under the 
.direction of Neshaminy (now Middletown) 
Monthly Meeting. Ezra Croasdale died 4 
mo. 18, 1740, and his- wife Ann 10 mo. 8, 
1732. They were the parents of four chil- 
dren, viz. : Ezra, born 12 mo. 5, 1689, died 
4 mo., 1702; William, born 7 mo. 19, 1690, 
died 9 mo. 19, 1777 ; Grace, born 2 mo. 6, 
1692; and Jeremiah, born 8 mo. 29, 1694. 

Jeremiah Croasdale, son of Ezra and Ann, 
was born and reared in Middletown, and 
spent his whole life there. He married 7 
mo. 22, 1720, Grace Heaton, daughter of 
Robert and Gra^e (Pearson) Heaton, of 
Middletown. Robert Heaton was born in 
Yorkshire in 1671, and came to Pennsyl- 
vania with his parents, Robert and Alice 
Heaton, from Settle, Yorkshire, ^n the 
"Welcome," with William Penn, arriving^ 
8 mo. 27, 1682. He was a large landholder 
in Middletown, and one of the prominent 
men in the little Quaker colony on the 
Delaware. Jeremiah and Grace (Heaton) 
Croasdale were the parents of nine chil- 
dren: Grace, born 9 mo. 8, 1721. marrie-' 
Jonathan Knight ; Mercy, born 12 mo. 28, 
1723-4; Ezra, born 5 mo. 12, 1726; Robert, 



546 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



born 6 mo. 30, 1728; Ann, born 11 mo. 
15, 1730-1; Eber, born i mo. 28, 1733; and 
Abijah, born 10 mo. 5, 1735; Macre and 
Achsah. Jeremiah died in 1748. 

Robert Croasdale, son of Jeremiah and 
Grace, married 9 mo. 15, 1750, Margery 
Hayhur.st, born in Middletown, 2 mo. 15, 
1730, daughter of Cuthbert and Deliverance 
(bills) Hayhurst. Cuthbert Hayhurst was 
a son of William and Rachel (Radc'liffe) 
Hayhurst, and a granddaughter of Cuth- 
bert and jNIary Hayhurst, who also came 
over in the "Welcome"' from Settle, York- 
shire, in 1682. James Radcliffe, the father 
of Rachel, was an eminent preacher among 
Friends, and came from Rosendale, Lan- 
cashire, to Middletown in 1685. Robert 
Croasdale died 8 mo. 9, 1780, and his widow 
Margery 6 mo. 29, 1783. They had seven 
children: Jeremiah, born 6 mo. 20, 1751, 
irarried Ann Quinby, of New Jersey, and 
died 9 mo. 27. 1829; Abi. born 7 mo. 16, 
1753; Rachel, born 3 mo. 7, 1756; Margery, 
born 7 mo. 3, 1758 ; Macre, born 12 mo. 
7, 1760, married Samuel Eastburn ; and 
Robert, born 2 mo. 20, 1763. 

Robert Croasdale, son of Robert and Mar- 
gery, married (first) Tacy Knight, and had 
three children, all of whom died young. 
Tacie died 5 mo. 30, 1791, and he married 
10 mo. 25, 1792, Hannah (Woolston) 
Mitchell, daughter of Jeremiah Woolston. 
w-ho died 9 mo. 14, 1793, leaving a son, 
Jeremiah W., born 8 mo. 14, 1793. Robert 
Croasdale married a third time. 11 mo. 
II, 1802, Ruth Richardson, daughter Of 
Joshua Richardson, who bore him five 
children, Mary, born 8 mo. 7, 1803; Joseph 
H., born i mo. 8, 1806; Rachel, born 1807. 
died 1815; Tacy, born 11 mo. 28, 1819; and 
Robert Morris, born 2 mo. 6, 1812. Robert, 
the father, died 6 mo. 15. 1821, and his 
widow Ruth 9 mo. 30, 1854, at the age 
of eighty-one years. 

Jeremiah W. Croasdale, only child of 
Robert by his second wife Hannah, was 
born and reared in Middletown township, 
and spent the active years of his life as a 
farmer in that township. After the death 
of his wife in 1866 he removed to Newtown, 
where he died in 1873. He married 12 mo. 
27, 1825, Sarah Wilson, who bore him four 
children. She was a daughter of Joseph 
and Mary (Blakey) Wilson, and was born 
7 mo. 9, 1799. and died 7 mo. i, 1866. The 
children of Jeremiah W. and Sarah (Wil- 
son) Croasdale were: Mary W.. born 8 
mo. 2, 1826, married Moses Pax;on : John 
Wilson, born 5 mo. i, 1829; Hannah, born 
I mo. 28, 1831, married Charles W. Kirk- 
bride; and Robert Morris, born 10 mo. 14. 

1834. 

John Wilson Croasdale. the father of the 
subject of this sketch, was born and reared 
in Middletown township, and remained on 
the farm with his parents until 1853, when 
he removed to Newtown and embarked in 
the mercantile business, which he followed 
until his death, i mo. 19. 1894. He married 
in 1862 Elizabeth B. Parry, daughter of 
Thomas Fell and Mary (Eastburn) Parry 



of Langhorne, whose ancestry is given in 
another part of this work. Their children 
are: Robert M., the subject of this sketch; 
Thomas P., also of Newtown; and Mary 
E., married R. B. McKinney, of Philadel- 
phia ; she died February i, 1905. 

Robert M. Croasdale was born and reared 
in Newtown, and received his education at 
the local schools, and at an early age be- 
came a clerk in his father's store, where 
he was employed until thirty, years of age. 
After his father's death he was clerk in 
different stores in Newtown until 1903. On 
July I, 1903, he was appointed United 
States revenue collector for the first district 
of Pennsylvania, which position he still 
fills. Mr. Croasdale is an ardent Republi- 
can, and has always taken an active in- 
terest in the councils of his party, serving 
for several years as a member of the county 
committee. He has served as chief bur- 
gess of Newtown for three years, as 
borough auditor for seven years; and is 
the present president of the town council. 
He married, October 9, 1902, Helen Cast- 
ner, of New Jersey. 



ARMITAGE B. QUICK, of Northamp- 
ton township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
was born in Hunterdon county. New Jer- 
sey, on June 10, 1848, and is a son of 
Joseph G. and Cornelia (Blackwell) Quick, 
both of whom are representatives of the 
oldest families in Hunterdon, that have 
been prominent in the affairs of that county 
since its first settlement. Tunis Quick, the 
ancestor of all of the name in America, 
was of Holland descent, and probably a 
native of the Low Countries. In 1713 he 
and his widowed mother, Romora Quick, 
purchased a very large tract of land in 
Hunterdon county, where he has left num- 
erous descendants. He married. October 
30. 1689, Vroutje Haring. born March 3, 
1663, daughter of Jan Petersen Haring, 
who was born in Holland, December 26, 
1633, and married Grietje Cosyn in 1662, 

Ezekiel Quick, the great-grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch, was born and 
reared in the county of Hunterdon, where 
he followed farming all his life, in con- 
nection with the distilling of apple whiskey, 
a common industry among the farmers of 
Hunterdon county two generations ago. 

Ezekiel Quick, son of the above, was also 
born in Hunterdon county, and was like- 
wise a farmer and distiller, residing on a 
farm about six miles from Flemington. He 
was the father of four children as follows . 
Charles. Ezekiel. Richard, Joseph G. 

Joseph G. Quick, fourth son of Ezekiel 
(2), was born on the old homestead in 
Hunterdon, and on arriving at manhood de- 
voted his attention exclusively to the cul- 
tivation of the soil, and followed that voca- 
tion during life. He was one of the earliest 
peach growers of Hunterdcm county, and 
an extensive and successful fruit grower 
for many years. He was an active mem- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



547 



-ber of the Presbyterian church at Larri- 
son's Corners, and in politics was a Demo- 
crat. He was active in the local afifairs of 
his locality, and filled the office of school 
director for several years. He married 
Cornelia Blackwell, and was the father of 
seven children, as follows: William B., a 
farmer of that locality; Elizabeth, who 
married William B. Praul ; Elijah, de- 
ceased ; Jane Ann ; Randal ; Mattie V. ; and 
Armitage B., the subject of this sketch. 

Armitage B. Quick was born and reared 
on the farm in New Jersey, and at the age 
of twenty-two years began farming for him- 
self. In 1873 he removed to Lansdale, 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and 
took charge of a farm belonging to Charles 
Jenkins, where he remained for four years. 
He then returned to the old homestead 
in Hunterdon county, which he conducted 
for his father for two years, after which 
he purchased a portion of the homestead 
and farmed it for a number of years. In 
1892 he removed to his present farm in 
Northampton township, Bucks county, 
where he has since resided, giving his en- 
tire attention to agricultural pursuits. 

Mr. Quick married Syndonia Martindell, 
daughter of Charles and Margaret 
(Newell) Martindell, whose ancestors have 
been residents of Bucks county and vicin- 
ity for many generations, being descendants 
•of John Martindell, born 8 mo. 24, 1676, 
who married Mary Bridgman, daughter of 
Walter and Blanche (Constable) Bridgman, 
both of whom came from England in 1684, 
Mr. and Mrs. Quick have been the parents 
of five children: Charles G., born April 15. 
1872, married Lida A. Fetter, who died 
January 28, 1889; Alfreda M., born April 
19, 1874, married Harry Shorday : Susan 
M., born August 21, 1878, married Edgar 
HufT; Charity B., born April 4, 188 1 ; and 
Armitage B., Jr., born June 10, 1887. 



VICTOR HUGO FELTY, a successful 
young farmer of Buckingham township, 
Bucks county, son of William and Mar- 
garet Felty, was born in Buckingham, Jan- 
uary 5, i'88i. William Felty, the father, 
was born in Buckingham in 1844, and died 
July, 1899. He was a veteran of the civil 
war, serving in a New Jersey regiment dur- 
ing nearly the whole war. After the war 
he entered the service of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad, and became one of their most 
trusted and efficient engineers, running their 
fast express on the Belvidere division for 
a number of years. The strain and re- 
sponsibility of his position preyed upon his 
health, and in 1877 he abandoned the rail- 
road and purchased a small farm in Buck- 
ingham, at Bean's Corner, where he spent 
his remaining days, respected by all who 
knew him. In politics he was a Republican. 
His widow and two children survive him. 
Ida, married Walter Wiley, and lives on 
the homestead. 

Victor H. Felty was reared on the farrn, 
and received his education at the public 



schools. On arriving at manhood he took 
charge of the farm on which he now lives, 
then recently purchased by his father, and 
has remained there ever since, his widowed 
mother residing with him. He was mar- 
ried, July, 1900, to Mary Ann Carver, an 
adopted daughter of S. Carey Gordon, of 
Solebury, and they are the parents of one 
child, Walter Leon. In politics Mr. Felty 
is a Republican. He is a member of St. 
Tammany Castle, Knights of the Golden 
Eagle. 



WILFORD L. SCOTT, of Buckingham, 
farmer, was born in Upper Makefield town- 
ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, May 17, 
1858, son of Joseph M. and Mary A. (.Tor- 
bertj Scott. John Scott, the great-grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch, was a 
prominent farmer in Newtown township, 
where his son Joseph Scott was born. Jo- 
seph Scott was also a prominent farmer 
in Newtown. He married Sarah Mathews, 
and lived and died in Newtown township. 

Joseph M. Scott, son of Joseph and Sarah 
(Mathews) Scott, born in Newtown, in 
1825, was reared on a farm in Newtown 
township, received a good education, and 
was a school teacher for a number of years 
in Bucks county. He later purchased a farm 
in Upper Makefield township, where he 
made his home until 1895, since which time 
he has resided with his daughter at Rich- 
boro. He was for several years engaged 
in the lumber business, owning a large 
planing and saw mill at Portland, North- 
ampton county, Pennsylvania. In 1876 his 
mills and lumber yard were consumed by 
fire, and, his insurance having expired, he 
was financially ruined. In politics he is a 
Democrat, and has always taken an active 
interest in the councils of his party. He 
was for several years a justice of the peace 
in Upper Makefield. He married Mary A., 
daughter of James M. and Mary W. 
(Simpson) Torbert, whose great-grand- 
father, Samuel Torbert, came from Car- 
rickfergus, county Antrim, Ireland, in 1726, 
and settled in Newtown, where he was a 
tanner for many years, settling later in 
Makefield township. The children of Jo- 
seph M. and Mary A. (Torbert) Scott 
were seven in number, six of whom sur- 
vive, viz. : Frank, a hardware merchant of 
Trenton, New Jersey, residing in Yardley, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania; Sallie, wife of 
Harry Luff, of Richboro ; George, engaged 
in the creamery business at Frenchtown, 
New Jersey; Joseph, of Trenton, in busi- 
ness with his brother Frank ; Belle, wife of 
Watson Hunter, of Montgomery county ; 
and Wilford L. the subject of this sketch. 

The subject of this sketch was born in 
Upper Makefield, and reared on the farm, 
acquiring his education at the public schools 
and at Newtown Academy. On arriving 
at manhood he took charge of his father's 
farm, conducting it in partnership with his 
father. He married November 17, 1892, 
S. Jennie Williams, daughter of John and 



548 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Martha Williams, of Dolington, and pur- 
chasing his present {v:m of 125 acres in 
Buckingham, removed thereon the fol- 
lowing spring. In politics Mr. Scott is a 
Democrat, and in religion a member of 
the Presbyterian church. Mr. and Mrs. 
Scott are the parents of six children: Char- 
lotte, Martha, Mary, Sarah, Emma, and 
Laura. 



DR. ISAAC J^EALL WOODMAN, of 
Morrisville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
was born in Buckingham township, Bucks 
county, 8 mo. — , 1869, and is a. son of 
Henry and Margaret M. (Neall) Wood- 
man, and grandson of Henry and Mary 
(Smith) Woodman, who settled in Buck- 
ingham in 1828. 

Edward Woodman, the great-grandfather 
of the subject of this sketch, was born in 
Chestertown, Maryland, on Christmas day, 
1749. His parents were natives of England ; 
his father, a sea captain, died at sea before 
the birth of his only child, and the widow 
landed at Chestertown, where Edward was 
born. His mother died- also while he was 
yet a child, and the orphan was left to the 
care of his guardian, William Clayton, of 
Chestertown. His guardian died when Ed- 
ward was in his thirteenth year, and he 
remained with the widow and family until 
fourteen years old. Mr. Clayton owned a 
coasting-., vessel that traded between the 
Barbadoes and points on the American 
coast, and it was still owned and run by 
the widow and heirs. Witnessing its arrival 
and departure at Chestertown, young 
Woodman had felt for some time a longing 
for a life on the sea, and in 1764. by the 
connivance of some of the crew, succeeded 
in secreting himself on board until the ves- 
sel was out at sea. He went with the ship 
to Barbadoes, after which they brought a 
cargo to so.me port in Virginia, where they 
took on a cargo of contraband goods for 
the use of the French, with whom England 
was then at war, and sailed _for Halifax. 
Shortly after leaving the port they were 
captured .by • a yessel in charge, of bucca- 
neers, or a species - of pirates that were 
preying on the merchant vessels oflf the 
coast of Virginia and the Carolinas. and 
their cargo seized, and young Woodman 
was carried off by the pirates, with whom 
he was forced to remain for four- years. 
While their ship was laid up for repairs 
in a North Carolina port he succeeded in 
making his escape, and found employment 
among the planters near Hillsborough. 
North Carolina, where he remained until 
the breaking out of the Revolutionary war. 
At the first organization of the soldier yeo- 
manry he joined a military company under 
Colonel Caswell, and was drilled in the 
art of war as a mounted minute man. Early 
in 1776 Colonel Caswell summoned his men 
to join him at Fayette, North Carolina, and 
they hastily marched to join General Moore, 
who was ordered by the committee of safety 



to intercept a force of fifteen hundred 
Tories under Brigadier General MacDonald 
and Major General MacCloud, who were 
marching to join Sir Henry Clinton's fleet 
at Wilmington. Col. Caswell and his com- 
mand met the Tories at Moore's Bridge, one 
day's march from Wilmington, and com- 
pletely routed them. From this time on 
Edward Woodman was with the American 
army. He assisted in building Fort Moul- 
trie, and in the defense of Charleston, after 
which his regiment was ordered to join 
General Washington near New York, and 
marched the whole distance, arriving in 
time to participate in the disa.strous battle 
of Long Island. Private Woodman re- 
mained in the army until 1782, participating 
in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Ger- 
mantown and Brandywine, and other en- 
gagements, in all twenty-four battles, and 
suffered the hardships of the camp at Val- 
ley Forge. While at the latter place he was 
detailed to assist Abijah Stephens, a Quaker 
farmer residing near the camp, in caring 
for the sick and wounded. Friend Stephens 
possessing some skill at surgery and the 
concoction of simples, did much to relieve 
the suffering troops. Through this asso- 
ciation he became acquainted with the 
family of Friend Stephens, whose daugh- 
ter he eventually married. His first invita- 
tion to the Stephens home was due to the 
fact that he had known William Thomas, 
the brother of Mrs. Stephens, when a resi- 
dent of New Garden, North Carolina. Dur- 
ing one of the winters of Trooper Wood- 
man's service in the north, under General 
Sullivan, he was one of a small scouting 
party who were, surprised and surrounded 
by British- cavalry, and on -orders of the 
captain they scattered and ran each one for 
himself. Woodman escaped through the 
lines and after a night in the woods found 
shelter in a farm house with the family of 
an American soldier who was serving in a 
distant army. He was persuaded by the 
helpless women and children to remain with 
them -until hostilities opened in the spring, 
and spent the remainder of the winter in 
cutting firewood and fencing and caring 
for the family, believing that his comrades 
thought -him dead, and that he could be 
of more use there than in the winter quar- 
ters of his command. In the spring he 
rejoined his command, and, obtaining a 
personal interview with General Sullivan, 
told his story, and was received kindly. 
He served with the North Carolina Line 
until August. J782. when, the term of his 
second enlistment having expired, he was, 
with a number of his old neighbors, hon- 
orably discharged, while in the neighbor- 
hood of New York, and they started on 
their homeward journey to North Carolina.' 
Being badly worn out from the privations 
of the long war, and miserably clad, hav- 
ing received but two pairs of shoes in his 
seven years' service, he suggested that they 
go by the w'ay of Valley Forge an<l rest for 
a time w'ith their old friend Abijah Steph- 
ens. Arriving there they were warmly 



THE NEW YORK 

PUBLIC LIBRARY 



ASTOH, LPNOX AND 
TILDEN FOUMOATIONS. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



549 



welcomed and supplied with homespun 
clothing, and remained for some weeks in 
the neighborhood assisting the farmers in 
threshing wheat, that they might earn suffi- 
cient money to defray the expense of their 
homeward trip. When they were ready 
for their homeward trip, Mr. Woodman was 
taken sick with camp fever, and was left 
behind to be nursed back to health by the 
kindly Quakers. On his recovery he re- 
mained in the neighborhood and found em- 
plo>-ment among the farmers. On January 
I, 1789, he married Sarah Stephens, daugh- 
ter of his benefactor, Abijah Stephens. She 
was of Welsh origin, a descendant of Evan 
ap Evan, who was the original owner of 
the Valley Forge tract, on which she was 
"born. Abijah Stephens conveyed to the 
which was in Tredyffryn township, Chester 
young couple thirty acres of land, part of 
county, and part in Upper Merion, Mont- 
gomery county, where they spent the re- 
mainder of their lives. Edward Woodman 
was killed by a fall from a mow in his barn, 
December 22,, 1820, and he was buried at 
the Valley Friends' burying ground on his 
seventy-first birthday. Edward and Sarah 
(Stephens) Woodman were the parents of 
seven children : William, Ruth, Abisha, 
Rebecca, Henry, Edward and iMary. 

Henry Woodman, the fifth child, was 
born December 20, 1795. He obtained the 
rudiments of an education in an old log 
school house near King of Prussia, and at 
the age of fourteen entered Benjamin 
Moore's boarding school, where he was 
taught surveying and the higher branches 
â– of mathematics. Two years later he began 
teaching school, which he followed for three 
years, and then went to Philadelphia, where 
"he was employed for five j-ears, and then 
returned home. On 9 mo. 12, 1827, he was 
married in Wrightstown Meeting House, 
Bucks county, to Mary Smith, daughter of 
Benjamin and Mary ( Worthington) Smith, 
and granddaughter of Benjamin and Sarah 
(Eastburn) Smith, who had settled on a 
five hundred acre farm in Buckingham, 
along the Wrightstown line, just east of 
Wycombe, part of which has remained the 
property of his descendants to this day, 
and was the birthplace of the subject of 
this sketch. Henry Woodman had joined 
the Society of Friends prior to his marriage, 
and at the age of twenty-four entered the 
ministry and continued a recommended min- 
ister of Wrightstown Meeting during his 
long life. He followed surveying and con- 
veyancing in connection with farming. He 
was an intelligent and prominent man in 
the community, and a great friend of educa- 
tion ; was a member of the first board of 
public school directors of Buckingham, and 
served as its secretary for many years. He 
â– died on the old homestead in Buckingham 
December 24, 1879, at the age of eighty- 
four years. The children of Henry and 
Mary (Smith) Woodman were: Benjamin 
S., born 8 mo. 22, 1828. residing in Middle- 
town, near Langhorne ; Edward, born 8 
mo. 19, 1830, died at the age of twenty-two 



years ; ]\Iary S., born 3 mo. 29,- 1833, un- 
married, residing at Rushland ; Henry, Jr., 
born 8 mo. 16, 1835 (see forward) ; Will- 
iam, born 7 mo. 24, 1838, a merchant and 
postmaster at Buckmanville ; Comly, born 
12 mo. 30, 1840, a farmer in Buckingham ; 
and Wilson M., born 10 mo. 3, 1845, resid- 
ing on a portion of the old homestead. 

Henry Woodman, Jr., born on the old 
homestead in Buckingham, August 15, 1834, 
was educated in the public schools of the 
neighborhood. He was a man of quiet, 
studious habits, and a deep religious nature. 
He was reared on his mother's farm, and 
on his marriage purchased an adjoining 
farm, part of the original Smith homestead, 
and lived thereon until 1895, when he took 
up his residence with his son, Dr. Wood- 
man, at Morrisville, where he died in the 
spring of 1904. He was a school director 
of Buckingham township for sixteen years, 
ten of which he was secretary of the board. 
He was also a trustee of Wrightstown 
Friends' school, of which meeting he was 
a consistent member. In politics formerly 
a Republican, he was for the past ten years 
a Prohibitionist, but seldom voted a 
"straight ticket." He married, 3 mo. 13, 
1862, Margaret Neall, of Philadelphia, 
daughter of Isaac and Rebecca (Miller) 
Neall, by whom he had five children ; Ed- 
ward A., residing on the old homestead ; 
Agnes, wife of Professor Gregg, of Lincoln, 
Virginia; Isaac N., the subject of this 
sketch ; Lewis S., deceased ; and Edith 
Roberts. 

ISAAC N. WOOD^IAN, M. D., was 
born on the old homestead in Buckingham, 
and received his education at the Concord 
public school, Langhorne Friends' school 
and Doylestown English and Classical Sem- 
inary, after which he taught school in War- 
wick and Warminster townships. He en- 
tered Hahnemann Medical College, from 
which he graduated in 1893, and located 
at Morrisville. where he has since prac- 
ticed his profession. He was a member and 
secretary of the Morrisville board of health 
for five years, when he resigned on account 
of the press of his professional duties. He 
is also a member of the Morrisville school 
board, in which position he has served for 
seven years, four years as the president of 
the board. He is a member of Wrightstown 
Friends' Meeting, and was for many years 
active in First Day school work there as a 
teacher and superintendent. 

He married, on August i, 1896, Matilda 
Blaker, daughter of Achilles and Rachel 
Anna (Twining) Blaker. Her father died 
when she was three years old, and her 
mother fifteen years later married Stephen 
Tripp, of Atlanta, Nebraska. She was edu- 
cated at the Wrightstown Friends' school, 
Doylestown Seminary, and West Chester 
Normal School, and taught school for sev- 
eral years, beginning at the age of sixteen 
years. They are the parents of four chil- 
dren, all born at Morrisville, viz. : Henry, 
Jr., born April 30, 1897; Rachel Anna, born 
November 21, 1898; Isaac Neall, Jr., born 



550 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



December 9, 1900; and Agnes Gregg, born 
March 4, 1902. 

Margaret M. (Ncall) Woodman, the 
mother of Dr. Woodman, was born in 
Easton, Maryland. One of her brothers, 
Isaac J. Neall, was a member of the Penn- 
sylvania legislature before he was twenty- 
two years of age. He was also captain in 
Colonel Baker's cavalry regiment, and died 
while district attorney of Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Another brother, Alfred, was also a member 
of the Pennsylvania legislature, and died 
while collector of the port of Philadelphia. 
Another brother, James, was a magistrate 
in Philadelphia for twenty years. Two sis- 
ters, Annie Woolston, and Lidie R. Smith, 
were residents of Bucks county. Another 
sister, Fanny Moor, lives in Tacony. 



married. His first wife, Etta Earl, of Os- 
wayo. Potter county, Pennsylvania, died 
in 1891, leaving two children, Edith V. and 
Thomas Lee. He married (second) in 1894,. 
Helen Sunderland, daughter of Joseph and 
Elizabeth (Ru?hmore) Sunderland, of 
Tioga, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, by 
whom he has one child, Robert H. 



THOMAS CLARENDON, of Bucking- 
ham, was born at Orange, New Jersey, July 
II, 1866, a son of Thomas and Margaret 
(Jackson) Clarendon. His father, Thomas 
Clarendon, was born in the north of Ire- 
land, and came to America when a young 
man, located in New York, and learned the 
trade of a tanner. Later he engaged in the 
wholesale leather business, with offices at 
76-78 Gold street. New York city, where 
he conducted a large business tor many 
years. He acquired a large tract of land 
where Clarendon, Warren county, Pennsyl- 
vania, now staitds, which was sold by his 
estate less than two years before the dis- 
covery of oil thereon, and it is now worth 
millions. He died in 1872 in Nice, Italy, 
his body being brought home for burial. 
His wife, Margaret Jackson, was born in 
Scotland, and died in Brooklyn, New York, 
in 1880. The children of Thomas and Mar- 
garet (Jackson) Clarendon are: Margaret 
L., wife of George G. Cookman, of Ger- 
mantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 
Robert H., of Tioga, Tioga county, Penn- 
sylvania ; Anna A., wife of Guerard Van 
Nestern, of Berlin, Germany; and Thomas, 
the subject of this sketch. 

Thomas Clarendon, the subject of this 
sketch, was born in Orange, New Jersey, 
but his boyhood days were spent prin- 
cipally in Brooklyn, New York, where his 
parents then resided. He acquired his edu- 
cation at Swarthmore College and at the 
Bryant & Stratton Business College, Brook- 
lyn. At the age of twenty-five years he 
went to Niles Valley, Tioga county. Penn- 
sylvania, and engaged in the mercantile 
business. Five years later he sold out and 
came to Bucks county and bought the old 
Beans farm in Buckingham, where he now 
resides. In politics Mr. Clarendon is a Re- 
publican, but has held none but local offices 
and has been a member of the Buckingham 
school board for three years. He is a 
member of Oswayo Lodge, No. 317, F. and 
A. M. ; Tioga Chapter, No. 194, R. A. M. , 
and Tyagathfon Commandery, No. 28, K. T. 
He and family are members of the Episco- 
pal church. Mr. Clarendon has been twice 



SERUCH TITUS KIMBLE, of Buck- 
ingham, was born in that township on 
February 17, 1849, and is a son of Abel 
and Sophia (Strickland) Kimble. The 
paternal ancestors of the subject of this 
sketch were among the early settlers -in 
Buckingham. Matilda Kimble then a widow^ 
inherited from her brother Thomas Morrey,. 
in 1735, 400 acres of land on the Neshaminy 
in Buckingham, adjoining the Wrightstowu 
and Warwick lines, which descended to her 
children : Anthony and William Kimble ; 
and daughters: Ann Bewley, wife of John; 
Rosa, wife of Josiah Wilkinson; and Mary,, 
wife of Charles Hickst. In addition to the 
400 acres, Richard Morrey, the father of 
Matilda, and Humphrey Morrey, her uncle, 
conveyed several additional tracts to the 
children of Matilda Kimble at about the 
same date. The Kimbles were the first 
settlers on this land, a large tract of which 
is still owned and occupied by Charles. 
Kimble, a brother of the subject of this 
sketch. Humphrey Morrey, the grandfather 
of Matilda Kimble, was the first mayor 
of Philadelphia. 

William Kimble, son of Anthony and 
Matilda (Morrey) Kimble, born about 
1720, was the great-grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch. He settled in BucKing- 
ham on land conveyed to him by his grand- 
father, Richard Morrey, in 1746, and subse- 
quently purchased of his nephew Thomas 
Hickst 92 acres, and received as his por- 
tion of his mother's estate in 1750 another 
tract of land until his holdings amounted, 
to about 275 acres. He died in 1812 at 
an advanced age, leaving nine children. 

Richard Kimble, second son of William, 
on arriving at manhood married and set- 
. tied in Moreland township, Montgomery- 
county, Pennsylvania, where he resided un- 
til the death of his father, when he re- 
turned to Buckingham and purchased the 
old homestead of 264 acres and spent the 
rest of his life thereon. He died in 1845, 
leaving a widow Mary and seven children : 
Abel, Isaiah, Chalkley, Sarah, Owen, Will- 
iam and Rachel. 

Abel Kimble, the father of the subject ai 
this sketch, was born in Moreland in 1807, 
and removed with his parents to Bucking- 
ham in 1815, and was reared on the old 
Kimble homestead, where he died Novem- 
ber 29, 1896, aged eighty-nine years. The 
children of Abel and Sophia Kimble were : 
Amanda, wife of David R. Heckler, now 
deceased ; Charles, living on the old home- 
stead ; Chalkley, living with Charles- Re- 
becca, wife of Samuel Heckler of Hatfield, 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



551 



Montgomery county, Pennsylvania : Evan 
T., of Willow Grove; Seruch T. ; Abi, wife 
of Joseph Baldwin, of Warwick township ; 
and Sarah J., deceased, who was wiie of 
Harry S. Knight, of Buckingham. 

The earlier generations of the Kimble 
family were members of the oociety of 
Friends, but, through marriages without 
the consent of the Meeting, most of the 
present family have ceased to be members. 
Abel Kimble was born and reared in the 
faith. In politics he was a Democrat, but 
took little interest in political affairs. His 
wife was a native of Montgomery county. 
She died when the subject of this sketch 
was a child. 

Seruch T. Kimble was reared on the old 
homestead in Buckingham. At the age of 
twenty-two years he left home and worked 
as a farm hand in the neighborhood. In 
1877 he married Sallie Fell, daughter of 
Cress Fell, of Buckingham. She died in 
1890, and their only child died in infancy. 
Mr. Kimble married (second) in iSgS, Ida 
Applebach, of Lambertville. He purchased 
in 1886 his present farm in Buckingham, 
and has resided thereon ever since. In 
politics he is a Republican. Mr. and Mrs. 
Kimble have no children. 



EDWARD R. KIRK, justice of the 
peace and a prominent business man of 
Lower Buckingham, was born in Buck- 
ingham, on the farm on which he now 
resides, January 22, 1869, and is a son 
of Amos W. and Mary H. (Mahan) 
Kirk. The pioneer ancestor of the 
Kirks of Buckingham was John Kirk, 
who migrated from Alfreton, Derby- 
shire, England, in 1687, and settled in 
Upper Darby, Chester (now Delaware) 
county, Pennsylvania. He married at 
Darby Meeting, in 2 mo., 1688, Joan 
Elliot, daughter of Peter Elliot, by 
whom he had eleven children: Godfrey;^ 
John; Samuel; Mary, ^narried John 
Warner; Elizabeth, married John Twin- 
ing; Joseph; Sarah, married Nathaniel 
Twining; William; Isaac; Thomas, and 
Anne. 

Isaac Kirk, tenth child of John and 
Joan (Elliot) Kirk, was born in Darby, 
2 mo. 23, 1703. and on arriving at man- 
hood settled in Buckingham township, 
Bucks counti% Pennsylvania, where he 
made his first purchase of one hundred 
acres of land in 1729. He subsequently 
purchased considerable other land in 
that township, a portion of which is now 
in the tenure of the subject of this 
sketch. Isaac Kirk was twice married, 
his first wife being Elizabeth Twining, 
daughter of Stephen and INIargaret 
(Mitchell) Twining, the former a native 
of New England, and the latter of Mars- 
den Lane, Lancashire, England. Eliza- 
beth Twining was born at Newtown, 9 
mo. 4, 1712, and was married to Isaac 
Kirk at Wrightstown, 10 mo. 9, 1730. 



They were the parents of six children: 
]\Iary, who died unmarried in 1755; 
Isaac, who died unmarried in 175D ; 
Stephen, who married Phebe Fell; Mar- 
garet, who married John Scarborough; 
William, who married Mary Malone; and 
Joseph, who married Patience Doan. ' 
Elizabeth (Twining) Kirk died in 1744, 
and Isaac married 9 mo. 4, 1746, Rachel 
(Fell) Kinsey, widow of John Kinsey, 
of Buckingham, and daughter of Josepu 
Fell, the pioneer ancestor of the tamily 
by his second marriage with Elizabeth 
Doyle. Isaac Kirk died in 1780. 

Thomas Kirk, only child of Isaac and 
Rachel (Fell-Kinsey) Kirk, was born in 
1748 on the old homestead in Bucking- 
ham, a portion of which he inherited at 
his father's death, and lived thereoli his 
whole life, dying 4 mo. 15, 1815. He was 
twice married, lirst in 1781 to Ocea Kin- 
sey, who died 7 mo., 1793, and (second) 
on March 24, 1794, to Mary Rice, daugh- 
ter of John and Rachel (Worthington) 
Rice, by whom he had five children. 
Amos Kirk, only surviving child of 
Thomas and Ocea (Kinsey) Kirk, was 
born on the old homestead in Bucking- 
ham, 2 mo. 10, 1782, and died 9 mo. 24. 
1863. He married, September 29, 1803, 
Charity Doan, who bore him six children 
and died in 1837. 

Charles Kirk, eldest son of Amos and 
Charity, was born 5 mo. 11, 1804, and 
died 5 mo. 10, 1856 in Buckingham. He 
married, 12 mo. i, 1825, Mary Walton, 
born 9 mo. 3, 1802, in Moreland town- 
ship, son of Amos and Cynthia (Kirk) 
Walton, the former being a lineal de- 
scendant of John and Joanna (Elliot) 
Kirk, tefore mentioned, and of William 
Walton, one of four brothers who landed 
at New Castle in 1675, and later settled 
in Byberry, Philadelphia county, and the 
latter being a granddaughter of Isaac 
and Elizabeth (Twining) Kirk, above 
mentioned. Charles and Mary (Walton) 
Kirk had four children: Amos Walton, 
George D., Miranda S. and Ellen Walton 
Kirk. 

Amos W. Kirk, father of the subject 
of this sketch, was born in Upper Make- 
field township, 2 mo. 2, 1827. His pa- 
rents settled in Warwick township when 
he was a child, and he was reared on a 
farm in that township. When he was 
about twenty years of age his parents 
removed to the present residence of the 
subject of this sketch, where Amos W. 
has since resided. He has been twice 
married, first on 10 mo. 19, 1859. to Jane 
S. Worthington, who died the following 
year, and (second) to Mary H. Mahan, 
daughter Cornelius and Mercy (DePuy) 
Mahan, by whom he has two children — 
Edward R. and Anna W. residing with 
her brother. The Kirk family have been 
members of Wrightstown Meeting of 
Friends for many generations, Isaac 
Kirk having become a member of that 
meeting on his settlement in lower 



552 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Buckingham. He was for many years an 
overseer of the meeting. 

Edward R. Kirk was born and reared 
on the Buckingliam farm, and acquired 
his elementary education at the public 
schools. He later became a student at 
Doylestown Seminary, where he also 
took a course in surveying and civil en- 
gineering. He took his first prac- 
tical lessons in surveying under Charles F. 
Meyers, of Doylestown, and has since 
done considerable work in that line in 
middle and lower Bucks. He served as 
county surveyor from 1895 to 1901. In 
1896 he was appointed and commis- 
sioned a justice of the peace and has 
served in that position ever since. In 
connection with his profession and of- 
ficial duties he took up conveyancing and 
a real estate and general business agency, 
and, these duties absorbing his entire 
time, he abandoned farming five years 
ago and devoted himself entirely to pro- 
fessional and official duties, though still 
residing on the farm. In politics he is a 
Republican, and has taken an active in- 
terest in his party's councils. He is a 
director in the Doylestown National 
Bank, and in the Wrightstown and New- 
town Turnpike Company, and president 
of the Pineville Protective Association. 
He married, January 22, 1891, Anna 
Holcombe, daughter of Oliver H. and 
Cynthia (Scarborough) Holcombe, of 
Wrightstown, and they are the parents 
of three children, Amos, Harold and 
Hannah. 



DR. HOWARD A. HELLYER, of 
Penns Park, was born in Wrightstown 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. 
October 22, 1845, and is a son of William 
and Lydia D. (Twining) Hellyer. Tradi- 
tion takes the ancestry of the Hellyer 
family back to Sir William Hellyer, an 
English baronet, whose sons William and 
Bernard came to America in the early part 
of the eighteenth century, the former set- 
tling in Pennsylvania and the latter in New 
Jersey. Bernard Hellyer, above referred to, 
was the. great-grandfather of Dr. Hellyer. 
He was a farmer and spent most of his life 
in central Bucks county. He was twice 
married, and had a large number of chil- 
dren. The name of his first wife and the 
ancestress of Dr. Hellyer is unknown. He 
married a second time, on December 24, 
1795. Sarah Walton. William Hellyer, son 
of Bernard, was the grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch. He was a farmer in 
Upper Makefield township, where he died 
in 1833. He was the father of seven chil- 
dren — Phineas, Hester, Hannah, Alice, 
Elizabeth. William and Frances. 

William Hellyer, father of Dr. Hellyer. 
was born in Upper Makefield, in 1812, and 
died in Newtown township in 1885, at the 
age of seventy-three years, three months; 
eighteen days. He was a farmer first in 
Upper Wrightstown and later in Upper 



Makefield. He filled the position of school 
director in the latter township, and occu- 
pied many other positions of trust. In re- 
ligion he was a member of the Society of 
Friends, and in politics was a Republican. 
He married Lydia D. Twining, daughter 
of Jacob and Phoebe (Tucker) Twining, 
of Wrightstown, the former a lineal de- 
scendant of William Twining, a native of. 
England who came to America about 1640 
and settled in Massachusetts, from whence 
he removed to Newtown, Bucks county, in 
1695, with his son Stephen ; the latter being 
the ancestor of the Twinings of Bucks 
county. Phoebe (Tucker) Twining was a 
daughter of John and Phoebe (Beal) 
Tucker, of Buckingham, and a grand- 
daughter of Nicholas Tucker, one of the 
earliest settlers in Buckingham. John 
Tucker, the father of Mrs. Twining, was a 
tax coJlector during the revolution, and. it 
becoming known to the Doan outlaws that 
he had a considerable sum of money in his 
possession, they entered his house, near 
Buckingham Station, and demanded the 
money. While Mr. Tucker was parleying 
with them in the lower story, Mrs. Tucker 
tossed the bags of coin out an upper story 
window into the garden. After a fruitless 
search, and the torturing and abuse of their 
victim, the robbers departed, and the money 
was eventually recovered intact. 

Lydia D. (Twining) Hellyer was born in 
Wrightstown in 1814, and died May 26, 
1856. She was the mother of five chil- 
dren, of whom but two survive — the sub- 
ject of this sketch, and Hannah, wife of 
David K. Harvey, of Middletown. Bucks 
county. Another son, Harrison, enlisted in 
Company E, Twentieth Regiment Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteers, equipped in Philadelphia, 
during the Civil war, and died from typhoid 
fever contracted in the service. 

Dr. Hellyer was born in Wrightstown, 
in the same house where his mother was 
born, his father at that tiirie being engaged 
in farming his father-in-law's farm. He 
was reared on the farm and obtained his 
elementary education in the public schools, 
later taking a course in the Excelsior 
Normal Institute at Carversville. Bucks 
county. He began the study of medicine 
in 1866 with Dr. Benjamin Collins, of Penns 
Park, and in the autumn of the same year 
entered the medical department of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, graduating from 
that institution in 1868 in the class known 
as "the Centennial Class." After his gradu- 
ation he located at Forest Grove. Buck- 
ingham township. Bucks county, where he 
practiced his profession for two years. In 
the spring of 1870 he succeeded to the 
practice of his old preceptor, Dr. Collins, 
who removed to Virginia, and located in 
Penns Park, where he has since practiced, 
building up a large and lucrative practice. 
He is a member of the Bucks County and 
Pennsylvania Medical Societies and takes 
an active interest in their proceedings. In 
politics Dr. Hellyer is a Rcpulilicau. but has 
never sought or held other than local office. 




^a^roC (W. 



ASTO- 

TILDi:\' 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



553 



He has been a member of the local school 
"board for nineteen years, and has recently 
been re-elected for a term of three years, 
acting for many years as secretary of the 
hoard. He is one of the trustees of the 
Forest Grove Presbyterian Church and 
Cemetery, having acted as president and 
secretary of the board of trustees continu- 
ously since 1868. He is a member of North- 
ern Star Lodge, No. 54, I. O. O. F., at 
at Richboro ; of Curtis Encampment, No. 
77, of Newtown ; and of Penns Park 
Council, No. 973, Jr. O. U. A. M. 

Dr. Hellyer married, June 28. 1868, Fanny 
E. Olmstead, daughter of Silas C. and 
Elizabeth T. ("Squires) Olmstead, of 
Niagara county. New York. Mr. Olmstead 
was a well known farmer and merchant 
miller, operating for many years a large 
mill near the Suspension Bridge, Niasara 
Falls, and shipping his product to the New 
York markets via the Erie canal. Mrs. 
Hellyer is a graduate of Ingham Univer- 
sity, and was for several years a teacher of 
music, teaching at the Carversville Normal 
Institute and at the Bellevue Female Semi- 
nary at Langhorne, Bucks county. 

To Dr. and Mrs. Hellyer have been born 
eight children, of whom five survive : Edwin 
F., now a druggist at Newtown. Pennsyl- 
vania ; Grace E., wife of Edwin Naylor, of 
Warwick, Bucks county, Pennsvlvania ; H. 
Arthur, an instructor in a Philadelphia 
business college; Harold, who fills a like 
position in Philadelphia; and George W.. 
principal of the Richboro High School. All 
these children are graduates of the West 
Chester Normal School, and have received 
every advantage in the way of a first-class 
English education. 



of the Warwick Creamery. On April i, 
1904, he purchased his present home in 
Forest Grove, where he is living a re- 
tired life. Mr. Kunser was never mar- 
ried. In politics he is a Republican, and 
in religion a Presbyterian. 



HENRY KUNSER, of Forest Grove, 
was born in Warwick township, Bucks 
county, December 14, 1844. being a son 
of Michael and Susan (Fly) Kunser, and 
a grandson of Andrew Kunser, a Penn- 
sylvania German, who resided, for many 
years on the York road between Bridge 
Valley and Jamison, where he died in 
1863, aged eighty-three years. Michael 
Kunser was reared in Buckingham, and 
learned the trade of a weaver, which 
vocation he followed all his life in con- 
nection with the care of his little farm 
of sixteen acres at Bridge Valley. He 
was born November 19, 1809, and died 
December 23, 1891. His two children 
were Andrew S., deceased, and Henry. 

Henry Kunser was reared in Warwick 
township, acquiring his education at the 
public schools. At the age of sixteen 
years he left home and lived for two 
years with his grandfather, Andrew 
Kunser, and then went to live with John 
B. Opdycke, of Warwick, which he con- 
tinued to make his home for over forty 
years, twenty years of which were em- 
ployed in working upon the farm, and 
the last twenty years as superintendent 



JOSEPH H. PAIST, of Mechanics- 
ville, Buckingham township, Bucks 
county, was born in Buckingham town- 
ship, December i, 1862, and is a son of 
James Monroe and Elizabeth (Connard) 
Paist, and a grandson of Jonathan and 
Sidney (Bradshaw) Paist. 

Jonathan Paist married in 1805 Sidney 
Bradshaw, daughter of David and Eliza- 
beth (Carver) Bradshaw, of Bucking- 
ham, and lived for two years in Plum- 
stead township. On April i, 1808, he 
purchased the farm in Buckingham 
where the subject of this sketch was 
born, and spent the remainder of his life 
there, dying in 1870. His wife Sidney, 
who was born in Buckingham 4 mo. ID, 
1784, died ten years earlier. They were 
the parents of four children: Minerva S., 
who married George W. Scott; David 
Bradshaw. who was a blacksmith at Me- 
chanicsville for some years, and later re- 
moved to Iowa, where he died in 1881; 
J. Monroe; and Eliza, who died unmar- 
ried. 

James Monroe Paist was born on the 
farm where he spent his whole active 
life, February 5, 1819, purchasing of his 
father, April 8, 1861. This farm was 
part of 500 acres purchased by William 
Cooper in 1700, and the first Friends' 
meeting in Buckingham was held there, 
prior to the erection of the meeting 
house at its present site. It was later 
the residence of Jacob Holcomb, a prom- 
inent member of Buckingham Meeting. 
J. Monroe Paist married Elizabeth Con- 
nard. daughter of Andrew and Mary 
(Seiner) Connard and they were the pa- 
rents of five children, three of whom sur- 
vive, viz.: Andrew C. ; Mary R., wife of 
George McKinstry, of Buckingham; and 
Joseph H., the subject of this sketch. 
Both the father and grandfather were 
members of the Society of Friends. 
Elizabeth Connard Paist died Septem- 
ber 5, 1898 aged sixty-seven years. After 
her death J. Monroe retired from active 
life, and lived with the subject of this 
.-sketch on an adjoining farm recently 
purchased, where he died. 

Joseph H. Paist was born and reared 
on the home farm, and- acquired his edu- 
cation at the public schools and at the 
Hughesian School. On January 8. 1887, 
he married Emma F. Keller, daughter of 
Isaac and Lucy Ann (Fluck) Keller, and 
the following spring took charge of the 
farm upon which he still resides, then 
the property of his father, but since pur- 
chased by him. In politics IMr. Paist is a 
Republican, but has never held or sought 



554 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



other than local offices; has been a mem- 
ber of the school board of his native 
township for several years, being at 
present the president of the board, and 
has filled other local offices. He is a 
member of Buckingham Lodge, No. 208, 
A. O. K. of the M. C. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Paist have been born five children: 
Newlin Fell, now a student at Banks' 
Business College; Stanley Scott; Ida 
Marion; Harry Monroe; and Evelyn, all 
of whom reside at home. 



ANDREW C. PAIST, of Buckingham, 
was born and reared on the farm he now 
owns and which had been the property 
of both his father and grandfather, on 
February 14, 1855. He is the oldest son 
of J. Monroe and Elizabeth (Connard) 
Paist, and grandson of Jonathan and Sid- 
ney (Bradshaw) Paist, of Buckingham. 
He remained on the farm with his pa- 
rents until 1889, when he went to Illi- 
nois, where he spent two and a half 
years on a farm in McHenry county, re- 
turning to Buckingham in October, 1892. 
The next six j^ears he spent on the home 
farm with his parents, until after the 
death of his mother in 1898, when he en- , 
tered the employ of William Watson, of 
Buckingham, for one year. On Decem- 
ber 25. 1899, he married Mary Riniker, 
daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Riniker, 
of Buckingham, both natives of Switzer- 
land. Having purchased their present 
home, they removed thereon the follow- 
ing spring, and have since resided there, 
devoting their attention to agricultural 
pursuits. In the spring of 1903 he pur- 
chased the homestead farm where he 
was born and reared. He is a member 
of Kittatinning Lodge, No. 88, I. O. R. 
M., of Danboro, and in politics is a Re- 
publican. Mr. and Mrs. Paist have no 
children. 



THOMAS KITCHIN FLOWERS, of 
Langhorne, was born in that town De- 
cember II, 1835. and is a son of William 
and Mary (Kitchin) Flowers. The 
Flowers family have been residents of 
Bucks county since 1774. when James 
Flow^ers, son of Charles and Catharine 
Flowers, of Long Island, came to Bristol 
township and married Rebecca Gosline, 
daughter of John Gosline, of Bristol. He 
was a shoemaker by trade, and followed 
that occupation for many years in Bristol 
township, just outside of the borough, 
where he had purchased a home in 1775. 
His son, John Flowers, born in 1780, lo- 
cated in Middlctown township, where he 
followed the trade of a butcher in con- 
nection with farming, until his sudden 
death from heart disease on January 9, 
1836. His wife. Phoebe Hibbs. was born 
in 1781, and was a daughter of Abraham 
Hibbs. John and Phoebe were the pa- 



rents of seven children : Thomas ; Han- 
nah, who married Samuel Stradling; 
Mary, who married Levi Boileau; Will- 
iam; Amos; John; and George. 

William Flowers, second son of John 
and Phoebe, was born and reared in 
Middletown township, and was an active 
business man, following the vocation of 
a butcher, merchant and farmer, suc- 
cessively, being for a number of years 
the proprietor of the principal general 
merchandise store in Langhorne, and 
also owned and operated a farm of sev- 
enty-four acres in Middletown. He died 
December, 1872. His wife was Mary 
Kitchin, daughter of Thomas and Eliza- 
beth Kitchin, and a great-granddaughter 
of William Kitchin, who settled in Sole- 
bury early in the eighteenth century^ 
where he died in 1727. He was a pro- 
tege of John Wells, the first proprietor 
of the ferry at New Hope, and married 
in 1713 Rebecca Norton, a niece of Mrs. 
Wells, who bore him five children: 
Thomas, William, Ruth, Olive and Mary, 
w^ho have left numerous descendants. 
Rebecca, the widow, later married 
Thomas Phillips, and from her are de- 
scended the Phillips family of Solebury, 
for several generations proprietors of 
the mill that bears their name. Thomas 
Kitchin inherited his father's real estate 
in Solebury, but sold it soon after his 
marriage and removed to Philadelphia 
county. William and Mary P. (Kitchin) 
Flowers were the parents of five chil- 
dren: Thomas K., the subject of this 
sketch; John, and three daughters. 

Thomas Kitchin Flowers, eldest son 
of William and Mary, was born and 
reared in Middletown township, and ac- 
quired his education at the Newtowr» 
academy and at boarding schools at Pen- 
nington and Mt. Holly, New Jersey. On 
finishing his academic education he en- 
tered his father's store at Attleboro 
(now Langhorne) as a clerk, and after 
a few years succeeded his father as its 
proprietor, and conducted it for many 
years. Subsequently he sold out the 
store and entered the employ of Peter 
Wright & Sons, of Philadelphia, agents 
for the American Steamship Company, 
as a clerk, where he remained until the 
company w^as merged into the Interna- 
tional Navigation Companj% and with 
the latter company until it was absorbed 
by the International Merchant Marine, 
the great steamship trust which now 
controls the principal steamship lines 
sailing from the ports of Philadelphia 
and New York. Mr. Flowers is a Re- 
publican in politics, and while at the 
Langhorne store was appointed post- 
master of that place by President Lin- 
coln, and served several years in that 
position. He still retains his clerical 
position with the steamship company, 
remaining in Philadelphia until the last 
consolidation above referred to. when he 
was transferred to the offices of the new 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



555 



company in New York city. He is well 
known in marine circles, and enjoys the 
confidence and esteem of his employers 
and associates. He married December 
30, 1858, Sarah Scott, daughter of Amos 
V. and Elizabeth (Hellings) Scott, of 
Bensalem, and granddaughter of Jacob 
and Esther Scott. This union was 
blessed with the birth of five children: 
William, born June 26, i860, died in in- 
fancy; Amos Scott, born July 4, 1862, 
see forward; John Wilmot, born Janu- 
ary 9, 1864, died young; Albert G., born 
October 31, 1868, deceased; George Rus- 
sell, born November 30, 1871. Amos S. 
and George R. were educated in the 
Friends' school at Langhorne. 

Amos Scott Flowers was married Oc- 
tober 9, 1884, to Frances Robinson, 
daughter of William Massey and Frances 
(Perry) Robinson, who was born in Eng- 
land and came to Bucks county with her 
parents when quite young. In 1884 
Amos Scott Flowers bought a farm near 
Woodbourne, upon which he took up his 
residence, and has since followed the 
vocation of a farmer. He and his wife 
have been the parents of two children — ■ 
William Massey, born September 22,, 
1885, died March 21, 1898; and Elizabeth 
Ann, born August 27, 1887. 



THOMAS BUTLER CLAXTON, of 
Lower Buckingham, was born on the 
farm upon which he still resides, in 
Buckingham township, June 6, 1852, a 
son of John Bankson, and Sarah W. 
(Thompson) Claxton. George Claxton, 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch, 
was a native of the West Indies, and was 
for many years captain of the ship 
"Providence," plying between the West 
Indies and ports of the United States. 
The declining years of his life were spent 
at the home of his son, John Bankson 
Claxton, on the Buckingham farm. John 
Bankson Claxton was born in Philadel- 
phia. His younger days were spent in 
the employ of the publishing house later 
known as J. B. Lippincott & Company, 
in that city, the present members of the 
firm being fellow employees with him. 
At the age of fifteen years, on the ad- 
vice of the family physician that he 
seek an outdoor life, he came to Buck- 
ingham and found employment on the 
farm where the remainder of his life 
was spent, then owned and conducted by 
Thomas M. Thompson, whose daughter 
he subsequently married. At the death 
of his father-in-law he acquired the farm, 
and spent the remaining years of his life 
in agricultural pursuits. He was an ac- 
tive and influential man in the commun- 
ity, and a member of the local school 
board for a number of years. In relig- 
ion he was a staunch Presbyterian, a 
member of the Thompson Memorial 
Church of Lower Solebury, which was 
rebuilt and named in memory of his 



father-in-law, Thomas M. Thompson, 
who was for thirty-four years an elder 
of the church and one of its most active 
supporters and workers. Mr. Claxton 
died in 1875, at the age of fifty-two years. 
The Buckingham farm had .been the 
property of the maternal ancestors of 
the subject of this sketch for nearly a 
century prior to its acquisition by his 
father, having been purchased by his â–  
great-grandfather, John Wilson, Esq., 
whose home it was for a half century. 
He was of Scotch-Irish descent, his 
father, John Wilson, a native of the north 
of Ireland, having settled in Lower 
Buckingham, in 1737, on the farm now 
comprising the farms owned by Harry F. 
Molloy and Warner C. Thompson.* 
John Wilson, Jr., was a justice of the 
peace in Buckingham for twenty-five 
years, and one of the most prominent 
justices of his day, doing an immense 
amount of official business, as his docket,, 
now in possession of the writer of this 
sketch, will testify. His home seems to 
have been a favorite "Gretna Green," as 
he married over four hundred couples 
during his term of office, many of them 
coming a considerable distance to have 
the nuptial knot tied. He died in 1811. 
Of his five daughters, three married 
Thompsons, one of them, Elizabeth, be- 
ing the grandmother of the subject of 
this sketch. 

The Union school house, located at 
the north corner of Mr. Claxton's farm, 
was originally built on land dedicated for 
that purpose by Thomas M. Thompson, 
and the title still vests in the successors 
to the trustees then appointed, though 
it has long been under the control of 
the Buckingham school board. 

John Bankson and Sarah (Thompson) 
Claxton, were the parents of four chil- 
dren, two of whom survive: Thomas B.; 
and William Neeley Claxton, of Hale 
count3% Texas. 

Thom.as B. Claxton was born and 
reared on the home farm, acquiring his 
education at the public school, at the Ex- 
celsior Normal Institute at Carvers- _ 
ville, and Doylestown English and Class-' 
ical Seminary. On the death of his 
father he assumed control of the farm, 
and after his mother's death acquired 
the title thereto. He was married Oc- 
tober 12, 1876, to Mary Lester Fell, 
daughter of David and Margaret (Atkin- 
son) Fell, who died in 1899. They were 
the parents of two children: Lewis Fell, 
and Frances Elizabeth, wife of Justus W. 
Kirk, who now conducts the home farm. 
Mr. Claxton married (second) Martha 
C. Elv, daughter of Isaac and Mary 
(Magill) Ely of Solebury. 

In politics Mr. Claxton is a Republi- 
can but has never held other than local 

*Warner C. Thompson, who is a preat-great-grand- 
son of John Wilson, Sr., has the original deed from 
John and Richard Penn to John Wilson, dated Decem- 
ber 15, 1737. 



556 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



offices, having filled the position of 
towiTship auditor for twelve years, and 
occupied other local positions. He is a 
life member of the board of trustees 
and directors of the Hughesian P>ee 
School, and an assistant secretary and 
surveyor of the Farmers and Mechanics' 
Mutual Fire Insurance Company of 
Bucks county, to the duties of which 
latter position much of his time is de- 
voted. He is a member of Mountain 
Lodge, No. 31, Shield of Honor. 



JOSEPH H. SIDDALL, Jr., of Buck- 
ingham, was born in Philadelphia, June 
28, 1857, and is a son of John Edward 
and Anna H. (Hampton) Siddall. 

Joseph H. Siddall, the grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch, was a native 
of England, and came to Philadelphia 
in 1810. He was a surveyor and con- 
veyancer, and served as city surveyor for 
over fifty years. He married in 1819, 
Mary Charles, of Philadelphia, who was 
also a native of England, having come 
to America in 1816. They had twelve 
children, of whom only two survive: 
Frank Siddall,, the celebrated soap man- 
ufacturer of Philadelphia; and Mary F., 
wife of John Thurman, of Mechanics 
Valley, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. 

John Edward Siddall, son of Joseph H. 
and Mary (Charles) Siddall, was born in 
Philadelphia, September 25, 1827. He 
learned his father's profession and as- 
sisted him in the conduct of a large bus- 
iness, and succeeded to it at his father's 
death. He married Anna H. Hamp- 
ton, of Bucks county, and had four chil- 
dren, of whom but two survive: Joseph 
H. Siddall, the subject of this sketch, and 
Ellen, wife of J. Livezey Johnson, 
formerly of Bucks county, residing in 
Philadelphia. 

The subject of this sketch was reared 
in Philadelphia and received his educa- 
tion at the Friends' schools of Philadel- 
phia, and on attaining manhood entered 
his father's office and took up the busi- 
ness of a surveyor and conveyancer, fol- 
'lowed by his father and grandfather for 
nearly a century. The business has been 
successful, and Mr. Siddall has been 
trustee and executor of a great number 
of estates, -in addition to the routine bus- 
iness of the profession. He has ottices 
at 822-823, Girard Building, and a city 
residence in Germantown. In 1902 he 
and his faniilj^ removed to Bucks county 
for the summer, and, being pleased with 
the country, have since made it their per- 
manent residence. He purchased the old 
homestead of his maternal grandfather 
Joseph Hampton, in Buckingham. Jo- 
seph Hampton, the grandfather of Mr. 
Siddall, died there in September, 1875, at 
an advanced age. He was a member 01 
Wrightstown Meeting, and a direct de- 
scendant of Joseph Hampton, who ac- 
companied William Penn to America. 



WILLIAM BONHAM CLAYTON, 
of Buckingham, is a representative of 
one of the oldest families in Bucks 
county, being a lineal descendant of 
James Clayton, of Bolton, Lancashire, 
England, who with his wife and six 
children took passage with many other 
residents of Bolton, who later became 
prominent residents of Bucks county, in 
the ship "Submission," sailing from Liv- 
erpool 7 mo. 5, 1682, and arriving at 
Choptank, Maryland 9 mo. 2, 1682, "be- 
ing brought thither through the dishon- 
esty of the Maste^r James Settle. The 
party, which included Phineas Pem- 
berton, the first clerk of the courts of 
Bucks county, his wife, father and 
father-in-law, James Harrison, made 
their way overland to Bucks county, 
stopping for a time at Appoquinimink, 
Delaware, where another son, Joseph, 
was born to James and Jane Clayton in 
1683. The children who accompanied, 
them from Lancashire were James, 
Sarah, John, Mary, Joshua, and Lydia. 
James Clayton settled in Northampton 
township, where some of his descend- 
ants still reside, though many others 
are widely scattered over the United 
States. 

Amos K. Clayton, the father of the 
subject of this sketch, was born in Mont- 
gomery county, January 20, 1816. His 
parents dying when he was quite young, 
he was reared by his uncle, Clayton 
Knight. He learned the carpenter trade, 
which he followed several years, but 
later engaged in farming. He was of a 
somewhat roving disposition, living for 
a time in l^ewtown, Wrightstown and 
Solebury townships. About the close ot 
the war he removed to Nodaway county, 
Missouri, where he purchased a farm of 
160 acres on which he resided about six 
years. He then sold his farm to his son 
Jacob, who still resides there, and re- 
turned to Bucks county. He died in 
Ewing. New Jersey, in 1881, aged sixty- 
five years. Amos K. Clayton was twice 
married, his first wife being Deborah 
Cadwallader, by whom he had seven chil- 
dren, three of whom survive: Jacob C, 
of Missouri; Joseph C: and P. Ella, a 
single woman residing at Trenton, New 
Jersey. He married (second) Elizabeth 
Briggs. by whom he had five children, 
three of whom survive: William B., the 
subject of this sketch; Elwood L., a car- 
penter of Trenton, New Jersey; I. 
Harper, a carpenter of the same place. 
The family were members of the So- 
ciety of Friends. Amos K. Clayton died 
February 23, 1881, aged sixty-five years, 
one month and three days. 

William Bonham Clayton, the subject 
of this sketch, was the oldest son of 
Amos K. and Elizabeth Briggs Clayton, 
and was born in Wrightstown, June 30, 
1863. He acquired his education at the 
public schools and at Trenton Business 
College. At the death of his fath&r he 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



557 



entered the store of George W. Metlar, 
at Doylestown, as clerk, and a year later 
accepted a position in the store of Henry 
Beidler at Lansdale. An indoor life 
proving detrimental to his health, he was 
advised by his physician to seek an out- 
door occupation, and, returning to Bucks 
county, he worked on the farm of his 
uncle, Simon Brooks, at Rushland, for 
one year. On December 25, 1886, he 
married Carrie K. Atkinson, daughter of 
Abraham and Hannah (Kepler) Atkin- 
son, of Buckingham, and the following 
spring located on his father-in-law's lot 
near the Roller flour mill then operated 
by E. B. Cox, and drove the mill team 
for five years, since which time he has 
followed farming. In 1893 he purchased 
the J. Comly Kirk farm in lower Buck- 
ingham, and still resides there, his wife'^ 
father, Abraham Atkinson, residing with 
him, Mrs. Atkinson being deceased. Mr. 
Clayton was reared in the Friends' faith, 
and attends their meeting. In politics 
he is a Republican. Mr. and Mrs. Clay- 
ton are the parents of four children: 
Edward, born May 7, 1888; Frank W., 
born March 12, 1891; Harry P., born July 
25, 1897; and Roland N., born November 
20, 1899. 



HUGH BOYLE WEBSTER, a native of 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and who dur- 
ing a lono- and active life has borne a most 
useful part in the community among whom 
his years have been passed, is ,an honored 
representative of a family which has been 
identified with the great commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania from the earliest days. His 
immigrant ancestor was John Gilbert 
Webster, who came from England in 1682 
to escape persecution visited ugon him and 
his co-religionists, and to make their homes 
in a land where they might worship God 
after the dictates of their own conscience. 
(See Gilbert Family). 

Hugh Boyle Webster was born in Ben- 
salem township, December 29, 1838. son of 
Jesse Gilbert (5) and Sarah (Williams) 
Webster ; a grandson of David and Eliza- 
beth (Gilbert) Webster in the paternal line; 
and of Joshua (4)- and Mary (Ran- 
dall) Gilbert in the maternal line; 
a great-grandson of Benjamin (3) and 
Sarah (Mason) Gilbert; a great-great- 
grandson of Joseph (2) and Rachel 
(Livezey) Gilbert ; and a great-great-great- 
grandson of John Gilbert (i) the immi- 
grant. 

Jesse Gilbert Webster was born and 
reared in Montgomery county, and was the 
youngest in a family of seven children, six 
of whom came to maturity, and all of 
whom he outlived. He settled in Bucks 
county in 1825, engaged in farming, and 
during his later years was an auctioneer. 
He was a man of liberal education, ex- 
cellent character and pronounced public 
spirit. For fifteen years he was a justice 
of the peace, a school director for a like 



period, and served one term as county com- 
missioner. He was a man of most humane 
disposition and strong convictions, and 
these traits found exhibition in his earnest 
labors in opposition to slavery and his 
zealous conduct in aiding in the operation 
of "the underground railroad" — the route 
traversed by the fugitive slave in his flight 
towards a land of freedom. His wife was 
Sarah Williams, a daughter of Terrell 
Williams, of Frankford, Philadelphia coun- 
ty. She was of English descent and was 
brought up in the Society of Friends. Jesse 
Gilbert and Sarah (Williams) Webster 
were the parents of six children : i. Isa- 
bella, born December .27, 1830, widow of 
William Hillbourn (mentioned elsewhere in 
this work). 2. Tacy, born August 10, 1834, 
died February 3, 1838; 3. Pemberton, 
born April 17, 1836, died Aug- 
ust 23, 1867; 4. Hugh B., the immediate 
subject of this sketch; 5. Elizabeth Emma, 
born May 29, 1841, died July 30, 1842; 6. 
Milton, born March 13, 1844. 

Hugh Boyle Webster, fourth child in the 
last named family, was brought up upon the 
paternal farm in Bensalem township, where 
he also received his education. After leav- 
ing school he remained on the home farm 
for two years, and then went to Blooming- 
ton, Illinois, where he remained for a year. 
In 1857 he returned to Hulmeville and en- 
gaged in the butchering business, which he 
followed industriously and successfully for 
the long period of twenty-seven years. He 
had meantime purchased considerable real 
estate, both agricultural and residential, and 
added to his means by breeding high grade 
cows and rearing fancy poultry. His pub- 
lic services were in the capacity of mem- 
ber of the borough council of Hulmeville, 
and director of the poor, for one term in 
the former office and for three in the latter. 
He was reared in the Society of Friends, 
to which he has consistently adhered 
throughout his life. He is a Republican, 
and cast his first presidential vote for Abra- 
ham Lincoln. As a member of the state 
militia he was sworn into, the service of 
the United States, July i, 1863, with Com- 
pany G, Forty-third Pennsylvania Regiment, 
and was discharged August 13, following. 
He would have been engaged in the battle 
of Gettysburg had it lasted a few days 
longer. He is an old member of Neshaminy 
Lodge, No. 422. I. O. O. F., and has passed 
all the chairs in that body. He has ever 
been regarded with confidence and esteem, 
and known as a safe and sympathetic ad- 
viser to the young. 

Mr. Webster took for his wue, Febru- 
ary 22, 1876, Sarah Eliza Maitland, of Sads- 
bury township, Chester county, Pennsyl- 
vania, a daughter of Richard Hoskins and 
Rachel (Marsh) Maitland. and a grand- 
daughter of James Grier. Of this marriage 
were born three children: i. Jesse Gilbert, 
born April 18, 1879 ; he was educated in the 
public schools ; he married May Flowers 
Hibbs, of Middletown township, daughter 
of Samuel H. and Hannah Flowers, and 



558 



HISTORY OF DUCKS COUNTY. 



they are the parents of one child, Hugh 
Boyle, born February 7, 1897. 2. Rachel 
Ella, born January 10, 1881 ; she attended 
the public schools in Hulmeville, and grad- 
uated from the West Chester Normal 
School, June, 1899. She is an accomplish- 
ed teacher, now teaching in Wyoming, near 
Sundance ; while on her way west she visited 
the World's Fair in St. Louis. 3. Mary 
Elva, born August 6, 1890, who was edu- 
cated in the public schools. Mrs. Webster 
is a member of the Octararo Presbyterian 
church. Mr. Webster is now living in 
pleasant retirement, in his comfortable home 
on the banks of the historic Neshaminy 
river, at Hulmeville. 



HIEL G. QUINN, of Pineville, was 
born in Buckingham, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, December 8, 1848, and is 
a son of John and Mary Quinn. His 
parents dying when he was a child, he 
was reared in the family of Joshua A. 
Kirk. In his seventeenth year he be- 
came infected with the western fever, 
and took a trip through Illinois and 
other states of the middle west with the 
intention of settling there, but returned 
two months later to Bucknigham and 
apprenticed himself to the butcher busi- 
ness, wbich he has since followed. His 
emplover was William VanPelt, and at 
the end of a year Mr. Quinn and Joseph 
Van Pelt purchased the business, devot- 
ing their attention more particularly to 
pork butchering, and have built up a 
large business. Mr. Quinn is a prom- 
inent Mason, being a member of Ken- 
sington Lodge, No. 31^ of Philadelphia; 
Kensington Chapter, No. 233, R. A. M.; 
and Pennsvlvania Cpmandery, No. 70, 
K. T., of Philadelphia. 

He married, in 1881, Maria T. Hamp- 
ton, of Penns Park, daughter of H. El- 
well and Elizabeth (Phillips) Hampton, 
by whom he has two children: Cyrus G., 
with the Fraternal Accident Insurance 
Company of Philadelphia; and Florence, 
a bookkeeper with the Marion Hosiery 
Company of Philadelphia; both are grad- 
uates of Pierce's Business College of 
Philadelphia. 



THE CROUTHAMEL FAMILY. 
The pioneer ancestor of the Crouthamel 
family of Bucks county was Andreas 
Krauthamel. who emigrated from Ger- 
many in the ship "Edinburg." arriving 
in Philadelphia, on September 30, 1754, 
and settled in Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania. Henry Crouthamel. son of An- 
dreas, accompanied his father from Ger- 
many when a lad, and on arriving at 
manhood settled on a tract of land in 
P.edminster township. Bucks county, 
which he subsequently purchased of 
William Allen, Esq. He died in 1816 



leaving a widow Catharine and nine chil- 
dren: Andrew; Catharine, wife of Jacob 
Nace; John; Henry; George; Elizabeth 
wnfe of Michael Rush; Abraham; Jacob 
and Samuel. 

George Crouthamel, fourth son of 
Henry, was born in Bedminster town- 
ship, and spent his whole life there, dy- 
ing in 1855. He married a Rush, and 
reared a family of five children: Cath- 
arine, Nancy, Tobias, Henry and Peter. 
He was a farmer and lived on a portion 
of the old homestead in Bedminster, pur- 
chasing later the Jacob Yost farm near 
Keller's Church. 

Peter R. Crouthamel, youngest son 
of George, was born in Bedminster town- 
ship in the year 1812. He was reared 
on his fathers farm, and early in life 
learned the trade of a shoemaker, but 
not taking kindly to an indoor life, 
learned later the trade of a carpenter, 
which he followed in Bedminster for 
twenty-five years, in connection with the 
conduct of a small farm conveyed to him 
by his father in 1834, upon which he 
lived until 1841, when he purchased of 
the estate of his father-in-law Frederick 
Ott, a farm of fifty acres.- In 1856 he 
sold his Bedminster farm and purchased 
one in Hilltown township, upon which he 
lived until 1865. when he sold out and 
removed to Illinois, where he resided 
for one year, and then removed to Boone 
county, Iowa, where he purchased a 
farm on which he resided until his death 
in 1892. aged seventy-eight j'ears, six 
months ahd two days. He married Cath- 
arine Ott, daughter of Frederick and Eve 
Ott. of Bedminster, and granddaughter 
of Peter and Catharine Ott, the former 
of whom, as well as his father, Henry 
Ott, w^as a soldier in the Revolutionary 
w-ar. Pefter R. and Catharine (Ott) 
Crouthamel were the parents of ten chil- 
dren: Jonas, who married Elizabeth 
Yost, and reared a family of six children; 
Isaac, who married (first) Eliza Loux, 
who bore him four children, and (sec- 
ond) Sarah Winner, by whom he had 
five children: Eli, who married Barbara 
Sherm, and has a family of four chil- 
dren; William, who removed to Iowa 
wnth his parents, married and reared a 
family; Noah O.. of Perkasie, ex-recorder 
of deeds of Bucks county, a sketch of 
whom follows: Philena. who died in Illi- 
nois; Ephiah died in Iowa: Mary, who 
died in Hilltown, Bucks county, at the 
age of twelve years; Titus and George, 
who died in childhood. 

NOAH O. CROUTHAMEL. Among 
the successful business men of South 
Perkasie is Noah O. Crouthamel, cigar 
manufacturer. He w^as born in Bedmin- 
ster township, Bucks county. October 
12, 184T. son of Peter R. and Catharine 
(Ott) Crouthamel. 

Noah O. Crouthamel was reared and 
educated in Bedminster township. Early 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



559 



in life he learned the carpenter trade 
with his father, and followed that voca- 
tion for five years. In 1865 he went to 
the city of Philadelphia, where he filled 
the position of a clerk in a cigar store 
for one year. In 1866, he started the 
manufacture of cigars in Philadelphia. 
In 1875 he removed to what is now 
South Perkasie, where he purchased a 
property which he still owns, and started 
a cigar factory there. In 1898 he built 
himself a fine residence on. Market street, 
Perkasie, where he still resides, and has 
a cigar factory on Arch street, Perkasie. 
In politics Mr. Crouthamel is a Repub- 
lican, and has always taken a lively in- 
terest in the councils of his party, and 
has served as delegate to district, con- 
gressional and state conventions at dif- 
ferent periods. In the fall of 1893 he 
was elected to the office of recorder of 
deeds of Bucks county, and filled that 
office with ability for three years. He 
•was census enumerator for his district in 
1890. He has always taken an active 
part in the affairs of his town and 
neighborhood. He is a director of the 
Quakertown Trust Company. Relig- 
iously, he is a member of the Evangeli- 
cal Church of Perkasie. He is affiliated 
with Perkasie Lodge, No. 671, I. O. O. F., 
and Perkasie Council, No. 359, O. 
U. A. M. 

Mr. Crouthamel married in 1865 Re- 
becca Freed, daughter of Joseph and 
Sarah (Cufifel) Freed, and they have 
been the parents of eight children, viz.: 
Mary Catharine, born January 5, 1867, 
married Horace H. Texter, of Hatfield, 
and has five children — Naomi, Florence. 
Susa R., Laura C. and Sarah; Sallie, born 
April 24, 1868, and Maurice, born July 
II, 1870. both deceased: Laura, born July 
29, 1872, married Isaac Rosenberger, who 
•died October 13, 1896, leaving one child, 
Esther Rebecca; Joseph, born August 
16, 1874. married Tillie Deibert, and has 
one child, May; Albert, born October 16, 
1876, married Theresa Kresge, and has. 
one son Ralph: Forest, born June i, 
1880. married Edna Bowen; Arthur, born 
April 4, 1882, died in infanc}^ 



HARRIET LUKENS WORTHING- 
TON. The name Worthington is de- 
rived from the locality whence the fam- 
ily came. Its etymology is three Saxon 
words. "Wearth in ton," that is. "Fprm in 
town." Twenty miles northeast of Liver- 
pool, in Leyland hundred, parish of 
Standish, county of Lancaster, England, 
is the town of Worthington. Here and 
in the adjacent manors resided the fam- 
ily of Worthington for many genera- 
tions, being established, from the time 
of the Plantagenets, in high repute. The 
main stock can be traced in the public 
archives back to Worthington de Worth- 



ington, in the reign of Henry III, 
1236-7, who was the progenitor of all the 
Worthingtons of Lancashire. The old 
Hall of Worthington, where the family 
lived for seven hundred years, was 
pulled down less than fifty years ago. 

In the early part of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, there was resident in Byberry, Phil- 
adelphia county, Pennsylvania, three 
brothers, John, Thomas, and Samuel 
Worthington, said to have been natives 
of Lancashire. The date fixed by tradi- 
tion for their arrival is 1705, but since 
at that date they were mere children, it 
is probable that they were accompanied 
by parents, or the date of their arrival 
is incorrectly given. 

Elisha Worthington, the husband of 
the subject of this sketch, born near Mo- 
zart, in Buckingham township, in March, 
1819, is a descendant of John Worthing- 
ton, of Byberry, who was married in 
1720 to Mary, daughter of Thomas 
Walmsley. His wife Mary died 4 mo. 18. 
1754, and John died i mo. 14, 1777, aged 
about eighty years. They were the pa- 
rents of eleven children: i. Elizabeth, 
born I mo. 15, 1721; married in 1744 Jo- 
seph Tomlinson. 2. Mary, born 12 mo. 
9, 1723-4, died single. 3. Thomas, born 
2 mo. 2, 1726, married Hannah Duncan. 
4. Hannah, born 12 mo. 7, 1727-8. 5. John, 
born 2 mo. 17, 1826 . died 1744. 6 William. 
born 7 mo. 20, 1732, married Esther 
Homer. 7. Isaac, born 6 mo. 13, 1735, 
married Martha, daughter of John Car- 
ver, of Buckingham. 8. Joseph, born 6 
mo. 12, 1837, a sketch of whom follows. 
9. Martha, born i mo. 19, 1740. 10. Ben- 
jamin, born 12 mo. 19, 1742-3; married 
Sarah Malone. 11. Esther, born 12 mo. 2, 
1749. Of these, William, Isaac and Jo- 
seph settled in Buckingham, though 
Isaac removed later to West Chester, 
Pennsylvania. 

Joseph Worthington, eighth child of 
John and Mary, born in Byberry, 6 mo. 
12, 1737, married (first) Esther Carver, 
in 1767, and two years later purchased 
125 acres of land in Buckingham, on the 
east side of the Durham road, south of 
Buckingham mountain, where William 
Doan lately lived. This continued to be 
his home until his death in 1822, though 
he later purchased several large tracts 
of land in Buckingham, among them 205 
acres purchased of his brother Isaac in 
1783, lying along the Neshaminy and ex- 
tending across it into Warwick. He 
owned nearly if not quite 500 acres in 
Buckingham, i;nost of which he either 
conveyed or devised to his children. Jo- 
seph and Esther (Carver) Worthington 
were the parents of two children: Jo- 
seph, who removed to Virginia; and 
John, who removed to Ohio. After the 
"death of Esther. Joseph married, in 1773; 
Sarah Malone. by whom he had two chil- 
dren — -Abner and Sarah, the latter of 
whom married a Tomlinson. He mar- 
ried (third) Esther, daughter of Anthony 



56o 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Kimble, and a great-granddaughter of 
Humphrey Morrey, the hrst mayor of 
Philadelphia. By her he had nine chil- 
dren: Anthony; William; Joel; Elitha; 
Amy, married Evan Thomas; Hannah, 
married James Shaw; Martha, married 
Carlile; Jesse, and Esther. Joseph 
Worthington died in June, 1822, and his 
widow Esther in July, 1828. 

Elisha, son of Joseph and Esther 
(Kimble) Worthington, was born in 
Buckingham township, and on arriving 
at manhood married Ann Barr, of Buck- 
ingham, and settled on land conveyed to 
him by his father. He died in 1828, and 
his wife two years later. They were the 
parents of five children: Margret; 
Thomas; Elisha, and Ann, who grew up; 
and Esther, who died young. 

Elisha Worthington, son of Elisha 
and Ann, was born in Buckingham, in 
March, 1819. Left on orphan at the age 
of nine years, he was reared in the fam- 
ily of Evan Thomas, who had married 
his aunt, Amy Worthington, and re- 
ceived a good common school education. 
At the death of Evan Thomas he became 
a clerk in the store of his cousin, John 
Worthington, near Bridge Valley, and 
soon afterwards became a partner in the 
firm under the name of E. Worthing- 
ton & Co. They built up a fine business, 
but by reason of incompatibility of tem- 
perament of the partners the firm was 
dissolved, and Elisha opened a store at 
Bridge Point (now Edison) in 1856, 
where he did a successful business for 
ten years, when he removed to Bucking- 
ham, where he conducted the store very 
successfully until his death in 1872, 
building up a large business. Mr. Worth- 
ington was a man of unquestioned in- 
tegrity and high standing in ,the com- 
munity. In religion he and his family 
were members of the Society of Friends. 
In politics he was a Republican. 

His widow, the subject of this sketch, 
was Harriet Lukens, daughter of Peter 
and Isabella (Hallowell) Lukens. She 
was born in Philadelphia, where her 
parents spent the greater part of their 
married life. Her father, Peter Lukens, 
of Horsham, Montgomery county, later 
of Philadelphia, was a carpenter and 
millwright, and followed his trade in 
Philadelphia, removing to Bucks county 
but nine weeks before his death, which 
occurred in 1849 at the age of forty- 
seven years. His wife, Isabella Hallo- 
well, was a daughter of George Hallo- 
well, of Jenkintown, of an old and prom- 
inent family in that vicinity. Mrs. 
Worthington's two grandfathers were 
the founders of the Horsham Library. 
Benjamin Hallowell, who represented 
the government among the Indians and 
was otherwise prominent in public life, 
was a nephew of George Hallowell. The 
Lukens were of German descent, being 
descendants of Jan Lucken, one of the 
original settlers of Germantown. 



The children of Elisha and Harriet 
(Lukens) Worthington are: Evan T., a 
prominent merchant of Newtown, Bucks 
county; Emma Clara, wife of Lewis W. 
Fell, who now conducts the store owned 
by Mr. Worthington at the time of his 
death, a sketch of whom appears in this 
work; and Isabel L., living with her 
mother in Buckingham. George Lukens, 
another son, was drowned when a small 
boy. For several years after the death 
of her husband, Mrs. Worthington was 
associated with her son, Evan T. Worth- 
ington, in the conduct of the store, imder 
the firm name of H. L. Worthington & 
Son, but soon after the marriage of her 
son retired from the firm and built a 
handsome residence in the village, where 
she still resides. She and most of her 
family are members of the Society of 
Friends. 



FRANK WEBER. Among the active 
and prosperous business men of the thrifty 
and growing town of Perkasie is Frank 
Weber, brick manufacturer. Mr. Weber is 
of German parentage, and was born in 
Kulpsville, Montgomery county, Pennsyl- 
vania, October 12, 1855, being a son of 
George -and Sophia (Nicholas) Weber. 
George Weber, father of the subject of 
this sketch, was born in Germany and emi- 
grated to America and settled at Kulpsville 
about 1848. He was a shoemaker by trade, 
and followed that vocation in connection 
with farming near Kulpsville for many 
years. He married Sophia Nicholas, and 
they were the parents of six children, viz : 
Peter, who married Lizzie Henkenroth, and 
has a family of five children ; Annie, wife 
of Henry O. Moyer ; Kate, who died at the 
age of eighteen years ; Lizzie, wife of 
Christian Kugler ; George; and Frank, the 
subject of this sketch. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on 
a farm in Rockhill township, and acquired 
his education in the public schools. He 
learned the trade of a brick moulder, and 
was the manager of a brickyard for several 
years. He began the manufacture of brick 
at Perkasie in 1895 in partnership with 
Henry O. Moyer for two years. In 1897 he 
started his own plant and has since carried 
on the business himself, doing a large busi- 
ness, turning out as high as a million brick 
per year. In 1899 he built his present 
handsome residence at the corner of Third 
and Market streets. He is a member of the 
Lutheran church, and politically is a Demo- 
crat. He married in 1878 Lizzie Moss, 
daughter of George and Catharine (Nich- 
olas) Moss, and they are the parents of four 
children; Hannah, born July 20, 1879; 
Andora, born IVIarch 7. 1881 ; Sallie, born 
February 10, 1883 : and Harry, born October 
2, 1885. Hannah, his eldest daughter, 
married April 3, 1903, William Crout. son 
of Reuben Crout. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



561 



ISAAC H. DETWEILER. The Bucks 
county families bearing tlie patronymic of 
the subject of this sketch are descendants 
of several different German emigrants bear- 
ing that name who arrived in Pennsylvania 
at different periods, and who bore no 
known relation to each other, though set- 
tling practically in the same section. The 
first Detweiler to own land in Bucks coun- 
ty was Hans Jacob Detweiler, who arrived 
in Philadelphia in the ship "Winter Galley," 
September 5, 1738, and who settled in Frau- 
conik township, now Montgomery county. 
He obtained by patent dated September 8, 
1740, two tracts of land in Bedminster town- 
ship, of about 175 acres each. Nearly the 
whole of one of these tracts has remained 
in the tenure of his descendants to this 
day. 

' MARTIN DETWEILER. the paternal 
ancestor, was, however, a later arrival, com- 
ing from Germany in the ship "Crown," 
Captain Michael James, which arrived in 
Philadelphia, August 30, 1749. He also lo- 
cated in Franconia township, where he mar- 
ried Maria Meyer, born November 30, 1738, 
daughter of Christian and Magdaiena 
Meyer, the former of whom is supposed 
to have accompanied his parents, Christian 
and Barbara Meyer, to Pennsylvania when 
a mere infant, having been born about 1705 ; 
he died in 1787. He purchased land in 
Franconia in 1729. Martin Detweiler pur- 
chased in 1774 a farm adjoining that of his 
father-in-law. Christian Meyer, containing 
159 acres, and lived and died there. Martin 
and Maria (Meyer) Detweiler were the 
parents of twelve children, viz. : Christian, 
Isaac, Samuel, Hannah, Susanna, Maria, 
Abraham, Sarah, Barbara, Joseph, Benja- 
min and Jacob. 

CHRISTIAN DETWEILER, eldest 
son of Martin and Maria, was born 
in Franconia, August 3, 1772, and 
died there August 20, 1843. He pur- 
chased the homestead farm of I59 
acres of his father, on May 28, 1798, and 
spent his whole life there. He married 
Elizabeth Reiff in 1796, and had by her 
seven children: Joseph; Elizabeth, who 
married Michael Young; Mary, who mar- 
ried Benjamin Landis ; George; Sarah, who 
died unmarried in 1884; Ann, who mar- 
ried John M. Hangey; and Hannah, who 
married Abraham L. Moyer. 

JOSEPH DETWEILER, eldest son of 
Christian and Elizabeth (Reiff) Det- 
weiler, was born in Franconia, Oc- 
tober 26, 1797, and died in Hilltown 
township, Bucks county, July i, 1861. 
March 9, 1826, he purchased a farm of 
forty-six acres in Hilltown township, 
Bucks county, one mile west of Dub- 
lin, and settled thereon, subsequently pur- 
chasing two tracts aggregating twenty-one 
acres adjoining, and lived thereon until 
his death in 1861. He married Elizabeth 
Alderfer, who survived him, dying in 1875. 
They were the parents of nine children, 
36-3 



two of whom died young; those who sur- 
vived were as follows : Mary, who married 
Aaron Godshalk; John A.; Elizabeth, wife 
of Jacob Bishop; George A., of Rockhill, 
who married Esther Eckert ; Joseph A., of 
Hatfield, who married Sarah George; 
Sarah, who married Gideon S. Stover; and 
Jacob A., of Hilltown, who married Han- 
nah George. 

JOHN A. DETWEILER, eldest surviv- 
ing son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Alderfer) 
Detweiler was born in Hilltown township, 
March 9, 1823. Early in life he learned 
the carpenter trade, and followed that voca- 
tion in Hilltown for several years in con- 
nection with the tilling of the soil. He 
purchased in 1847 a small lot in that town- 
ship, and resided thereon until 1849, when 
he purchased a farm of forty-two acres on 
which he resided until 1858, when he sold 
it to his brother-in-law, Aaron Godshalk, 
and removed to Bedminster township, where 
he purchased a sixty-acre farm on which 
he lived until 1873, when he conveyed it to 
his brother-in-law, Gideon S. Stover, and 
returned to Hilltown. He married Maria 
Leatherman of Bedminster, who was born 
February 5, 1826, and died April 7, 1898. 
Five children were born to them : Jacob L.,. 
Elizabeth G., Albert L., Joseph L., and 
Granville L. 

JACOB L. DETWEILER, eldest son 
of John A. and Maria, was born in 
Hilltown township, February 5, 1847, 
and was reared and educated in that 
and Bedminster townships. He learned 
the carpenter trade with his father, 
and removed to Philadelphia, where 
he followed stair building for a few years, 
and then removed to Perkasie, Bucks coun- 
ty, and erected the home in which he has re- 
sided for the past thirty years. He has fol- 
lowed contracting and building in that thriv- 
ing town during all that period, and is one 
of the leading builders of the town. He, 
like all his ancestors, is a Mennonite, being 
a member of the Blooming Glen congre- 
gation. In politics he is a Republican. He 
married December 1^,1869, Elizabeth Huns- 
berger, daughter of Isaac Hunsberger, who 
was born November 25, 1846, and died 
October 22, 1895, and they were the parents 
of two children : Mary Ann, born August 
20, 1870; and Isaac H., the subject of this 
sketch. 

ISAAC H. DETWEILER, only son of 
Jacob L. and Elizabeth (Hunsberger) Det- 
weiler, was born in Bedminster township, 
June 28, 1872. He was reared and educated, 
however, in Perkasie, where he has liv^fl 
from a small child. Early in life he learned 
the cigar making trade, and has always 
followed that business. He has always 
taken an active interest in the affairs of 
tha town, and is the present assessor of 
the borough, having been elected to that 
office in February, 1904. He and his wife 
are members of the Lutheran church. He 
is affiliated with Mont Alto Lodge, No. 
246, K. of P., and in politics is a Repub- 



562 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



lican. He married December 5, 1896, Lizzie 
Nungcsser, daughter of Jacob Nungesser, 
of Perkasie. 



ABRAM K. SLACK, a retired farmer 
residing in Lower Makefield, traces his an- 
cestry back to an early epoch in the settle- 
ment of Bucks county. Of Holland lineage, 
his ancestors upon their arrival from the old 
world located in Lower Makefield town- 
ship, the progenitor of the family in Amer- 
ica being Abraham Slack, w'ho was born 
â– ^ in Holland in 1722 and crossed the Atlantic 

' in 1750. Cornelius Slack, his son, and the 
grandfather of Abram K. Slack, was born, 
lived and died in Bucks county, and 
throughout his entire life followed farm- 
ing. He held membership in the Presby- 
terian chtirch of Newtown, Pennsylvania. 
His children were: John; Benjamin; 
Abraham ; Aaron ; Cornelius, who married 
Eliza Brown; Joshua; Ann, who became 
the wife of Wesley Stackhouse ; Sarah, 
wife of Amos Johnson; Mary, wife of 
Isaiah Balderston; and Rachel, wife of 
Charles Young. 

Abraham Slack, son of Cornelius Slack, 
was born near Yardley, Pennsylvania, in 
1794, and in early life became familiar with 
the labors of the farm, which occupied his 
attention throughout his remaining days. 
He, too, belonged to the Presbyterian 
church of Newtown, and his influence was 
a potent element for good in the com- 
munity. He married Frances Gurtin, and 
they became the parents of eight children : 
Washington, who died in infancy: Aaron, 
who died in early manhood ; Samuel and 
James, also deceased; Abram Kinsey, of 

~~ this review; Mary Ann, wife of Cyrus 
Slack; Elizabeth, wife of James Haines-; 
and Sarah, wife of Joseph Moon. 

Abram K. Slack, born at the ancestral 
home in Upper Makefield township, in 
April, 1828, is indebted to the public-school 
system of Bucks county for the educational 
privileges he enjoyed. He assisted his 
father in the cultivation of the fields 
through the months of summer, and after 
leaving school gave his entire attention to 
the further improvement of the home farm 
until twenty-five years of age, when he en- 
tered upon an independent business career 
by renting the old Kirkbright farm, upon 
w'hich he lived for ten years. He then re- 
moved to the George Justice farm, where he 
spent another decade, and on the expiration 
of that period, because of the careful hus- 
banding of his resources, he was enabled 
to nurchase the farm upon which he now 
resides. For many years he was a most 
active and able representative of agricul- 
tural interests in Bucks county, making 
steady advance in keeping with the progress 
displayed along agricultural lines. The 
years added to his income, and in 1889. 
with a comfortable competence, he retired 
from Inisines-s life and is now enjoying a 
well earned rest. Since age gave to him 
the right of franchise he has supported 



the Democratic party, and has held the 
office of school director for three years in 
Lower Makefield township, but has never 
sought political preferment, desiring to 
concentrate his energies upon his business 
affairs, wherein he has gained creditable 
success. ' 

Mr. Slack married Miss Caroline Cad- 
wallader, a daughter of Jacob and Mary 
Cadwallader, and they became the parents 
of seven children : Mary Emma, the de- 
ceased wife of Henry Path; William, who 
occupies a position in the Mechanics' Bank, 
of Trenton, New Jersey; Morris; Cryus ; 
J. Cadwallader, also of the Mechanics' Bank 
of Trenton; Flora, who died in childhood; 
and Anna, wife of Abram Beekman Con- 
over, of Chicago, Illinois. 



DAVID HOWELL. The members of 
the Howell family have been residents 
of Bucks county since the early part of 
the eighteenth century. Timothy 
Howell, who was born in this county, 
August 7, 1762, became, in 1812, the 
owner of a fine farm of one hundred and 
forty-three acres in Lower Makefield 
township. This is still in possession of 
the family, being now the property of 
his granddaughter, Mrs. Mary E. Ely. 
He continued his farming operations 
there up to the time of his death, July 
29, 1831, when the property was di- 
vided between his two sons, John and 
David. In early manhood he married, 
and had two sons, Levi and Asher. He 
afterward wedded Rebecca Margerum, 
and they had six children: John, who 
was born July 29, 1803, and married 
Elizabeth Richardson; David, born De- 
cember 17, 1804; Sarah, born March 25, 
1807, and became the wife of Mr. Fen- 
ton, and after his death married Lewis 
Moore; Mary, born August 10, 1809, and 
died September 17. 1836; Susan, born 
June ID, 1813, and married Mr. Hoag- 
land, and after his death became the w'ife 
of John Temple ; and Martha, born July 
3, 1815. and married Samuel G. Slack. 

David Howell, second son of Timothy 
Howell, remained upon the homestead 
farm until fifty years of age. In 1855 
he purchased from the' George Yardley 
estate a tract of land bordering on the 
Delaware river, and resided there until 
his life's labors were ended in death, Au- 
gust 2. 1864. He was a prominent 
farmer, enterprising and progressive, and 
his personal traits of character com- 
.manded the respect of all with whom he 
was associated. He married Harriet I. 
Sandoz, who died August 6.. 1899, a 
daughter of Francis and Mary E. 
(Schmit) Sandoz. the former a native 
of France, and the latter of Germany. 
Her parents settled in Philadelphia in 
1795- David and Harriet I. Howell be- 
came the parents of seven daughters: 
Mary E., Ellen A., who died in child- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



563 



hood; Martha A., Emma; Caroline; Wil- 
lielmina, who died in infancy; and H. 
Amelia, who died June 25, 1901. 

Martha A. married Joshua Maris, and 
.had three daughters: Bertha H., who 
died in 1891; Dela H.; and Elma H. 
Caroline married Samuel W. Throp and 
had three children: Helen A., who died 
in infancy; Russel R. and Ethel N. 

Mary E. married Edward N. Ely, and 
had one son, Howell, who died in in- 
fancy, and two daughters: Carrie Howell 
and Harriet Sandoz; Carrie Howell, who 
married William Stanley r\IacLewee, 
has one daughter, Dorothy. Harriet 
Sandoz married George K. Robinson. 

Edward N. Ely died June 13, 1899. 
The homestead, now known as "Alaple- 
wolde," is cccupied by Mary E. (Howell) 
Ely, her daughters, and their families. 



HARRINGTON B. ROSENBERGER, 
of Doylestown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
was born in Hilltown township, Bucks 
county, October 27, 1869, and is a son of 
Isaac R. and Harriet (Brunner) Rosen- 
berger, of Colmar, Montgomery county, 
Pennsylvania. The pioneer ancestor of the 
subject of this sketch was Henry Rosen- 
berger, who came to Pennsylvania from 
Zweibrucken, Germany, about the end of the 
first quarter of the eighteenth century, and 
settled in Indian Creek Valley, Montgom- 
ery county, then Philadelphia county. He 
purchased a farm in what is now Fran- 
conia township in 1729, and died there, 
date unknown. He was of the Mennonite 
faith, and without doubt left the father- 
land i'n search of religious freedom denied 
him there. The first Mennonite meeting 
house of Franconia was erected on a part 
•of his plantation, and his youngest son. Rev. 
Henry Rosenberger, was a minister there 
for many years. He married before com- 
ing to America and most of his children 
were born in the Fatherland. He had at 
least four sons, Daniel, Benjamin, John and 
Henry, all of whom have numerous de- 
scendants in Bucks county. Daniel, John and 
Benjamin settled in Hatfield township, 
near the line 'of Bucks county, at Line Lex- 
ington. The original plantation of Henry 
Rosenberger in Franconia still remains in 
the tenure of his descendants by the name 
of Swartley, two of the daughters of Rev. 
Henry, who inherited the homestead, hav- 
ing married two of the pioneer ancestors of 
that family. 

Daniel Rosenberger, probably the eldest 
son of Henry, the pioneer, was born in Ger- 
many in 1715, and accompanied his parents 
to Pennsylvania. In 1740 he purchased a 
farm in Hatfield, and later purchased addi- 
tional land adjoining. He died there in 
September, 1771. His wife's name was 
Fronica, maiden name unknown, and their 
-children were, David, Isaac, Ann and Mary. 

Isaac Rosenberger, second son of Daniel 



and Fronica, born in Hatfield, November 
30, 1751,. inherited from his father 160 acres 
in Hatfield, and subsequently purchased 
considerable other land there and m Bucks 
county. In 1790 he purchased 100 acres 
in Hilltown township, Bucks county, wnicn 
he conveyed to his son Henry in 1803, and 
it is still in the tenure of the descendants 
of the latter. Isaac Rosenberger died July 
30, 1830. He married Christiana, an adopt- 
ed daughter of Rev. John Funk, of Hatfield, 
and their children were: Henry, of Hill- 
town, born October i, 1775; Jacob, who 
married Catharine Rickert, and settled in 
Hilltown; Isaac, Jr.; Ann, who married a 
Swenk, of Bedminster; and Elizabeth, who 
married Henry Wireman, of New Britain, 
Bucks county. 

Isaac Rosenberger, Jr., son of Isaac and 
Christiana, born 17S2, on his marriage in 
1806 settled on a farm in Horsham town- 
ship, where he resided until 1833, when he 
purchased the old homestead in Hatfield and 
spent his remaining days there. He died 
May I, 1853. He married Susan Detweiler, 
and they were the parents of eight children; 
Martin, who lived on the Hatfield home- 
stead until 1833, and then located on a farm 
on Broad street, Hilltown township; Isaac 
D., of North Wales; Joseph, see forward; 
William, who died m Philadelphia; John; 
Elizabeth, who married (first) John Eckert, 
and (second) Alichael Snyder; Sarah, wife 
wife of Jacob Ruth-; and Mary, who mar- 
ried Michael Snyder. 

Joseph Rosenberger, son of Isaac and 
Susan (Detweiler) Rosenberger, born in 
Hatfield, Montgomery county, Pennsyl- 
vania, September 15, 181 1, settled early in 
lite in Hilltown where he was a farmer, 
merchant and lumber dealer, being the pro- 
prietor of a store and lumber yard at Mt. 
Pleasant for many years. He was prom- 
inently identified with the affairs of the 
community in which he lived, and was one 
of the well known and popular men always 
looked up to, loved and respected by all 
who knew him. He served as justice of the 
peace, and was one of the directors of the 
Doylestown National Bank for many years, 
prior to his death, March 31, 1877. He mar- 
ried Mary Ruth, born February 4, 1815, 
daughter of Henry Ruth, of New Britain. 
She died July i, 1881. They were the pa- 
rents of ten children, seven of whom lived 
to maturity, viz. ; Susanna, wife of Henry 
Alderfer, of Hilltown ; Emeline, married 
(first) Abraham Hunsberger and (second) 
William Souder ; Anna Mary, wife of Mah- 
lon Myers, of Perkasie ; Isaac R., see for- 
ward ; Joel, who married Sarah Moyer, 
daughter of Dr. Joseph Moyer, removed to 
Philadelphia ; Elizabeth, wife of Edwin 
Jones, of Newtown, Bucks county ; Charles 
R., of Colmar ; who married Amada Fluck, 
of Hilltown. 

Isaac R. Rosenberger, the father of the 
subject of this sketch, was born at Hill- 
town, July 15, 1846, and acquired his edu- 



5^4 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



cation at the public schools there. As a 
boy he was employed about his father's 
farm, store and lumber \ard, and on arriv- 
ing at manhood farmed on his own account 
for six years. In 1872 he located at Col- 
mar Station, on the Doylestown branch of 
the N. P. R. R., and engaged in the flour, 
feed, hay, coal and phosphate business. In 
1881 he took as a partner in the business 
his younger brother, Charles R., and they 
continued to carry on the business there un- 
til the spring of 1905, and both still re- 
side there. In addition to building up a 
very large busuiess at Colmar, they in 1885 
erected a hay press and warehouses at 
Doylestown, where they handled large 
quantities of hay and straw. Two years 
later they established a like plant at Buck- 
ingham Station, to which was later added a 
cider making plant. Both the last named 
plants, (Doylestown and Buckingham) are 
still in succe'ssful operation. The two 
brothers, Isaac R. and Charles R. Rosen- 
berger, are well and favorably known in 
central Bucks and Montgomery counties 
as business men of high standing and cour- 
teous and broad maided gentleman. , 

Isaac R. Rosenberger was with Harry J. 
Shoemaker, Esq., of Doylestown, the pro- 
jector of the Doylestown and Easton Elec- 
tric Railway, and it is due to their untir- 
ing zeal and personal sacrifice of time and 
money that the road was built, and Mr. 
Rosenberger was the first president of the 
company. He was married December 4, 
1866, to Harriet Brunner, daughter of Will- 
iam Brunner, of Chalfont. She was_ born 
February 16, 1848. Her grandfather, Henry 
Brunner, was a farmer near the county 
line in New Britain, and her maternal an- 
cestors, the Clymers, were prominent resi- 
dents of the same locality. The children 
of Isaac R. aiid. Harriet (Brunner) Rosen- 
berger were; Mary Alice, born April 12, 
1868, died September 29, 1881; Harring- 
ton B., the subject of this sketch; Flora 
Estella, born June 4, 1871, died June 20, 
1876; Ella Blanche, born March 4, 1873, 
now the wife of Wilson H. Godshall, of 
Lansdale ; Charles Grant, born December 
4, 1874; and William, born September 20, 
1878, both now in the employ of a ~con- 
tracting firm as engineers, and located at 
Columbia, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. 

Harrington B. Rosenberger was reared 
at Colmar, and acquired his education at 
Doylestown Seminary, West Chester Nor- 
mal School, and the College of Commerce, 
Philadelphia. He came to Doylestown in 
1891 and took charge of his father's busi- 
ness established there, or bailin"- and ship- 
ping hay and straw, and continued to man- 
age it for his father until March, 1905, when 
he purchased the plant and now conducts 
the business for himself. 

Mr. Rosenberger married, June 6, 1900, 
Elizabeth H. Moore, daughter of John S. 
Moore, now of Allentown, Pennsylvania. 
Their only child, John, was born September 



25, 1901. Mr. Rosenberger is a member 
of Doylestown Lodge, No. 245, F and A. 
M., and Aquetong Lodge, No. 193, I. O. 
O. F., of Doylestown. 



JOSEPH' ANDERSON ELLIS, of 
Buckingham, was born in Buckingham 
township, Bucks county, in May, 1836, a sort 
of Charles and Martha (Conrad) Ellis, the 
former of Welsh and the latter of German 
descent. The Ellis family were among the 
earliest settlers in Chester county. The 
ancestors of the suliject of this sketch re- 
sided for several generations in the neigh- 
borhood of Bryn Mawr, which is said ta 
have derived its name from their home in 
Wales. 

Rowland Ellis, grandfather of the subject 
of this sketch, was a son of William Ellis. 
He married Lydia. daughter of David 
Gilbert, of Buckingham, and at the death of 
the latter in 1802 they became the owners of 
108 acres of land, part of 500 acres whereon 
Joseph Gilbert, the great-grandfather of 
Lydia, had settled in 1702, near the village 
of Buckingham, now owned by Joseph L. 
Shelly. Rowland Ellis was a tailor by trade, 
and prior to settling on the Buckingham 
farm followed his trade in Philadelphia. 

Charles Ellis, father of Joseph A., was 
born in Buckingham, October 30, 1801, and 
died there August 17, 1874. He was a 
tenant farmer in Buckingham for thirty-one 
years, and then purchased a farm in lower 
Buckingham, where he died. He married 
^lartha Conrad, of Buckingham, whose an- 
cestor, Tuneis Kunders, came from Krei- 
sheim. on the upper Rhine, over two centu- 
ries ago. Eight children were born to this 
marriage, of whom only three survive ; John 
C, of Trenton, New Jersey ; Henry, of White 
Earth. North Dakota; and the subject of 
this sketch. William Ellis, another son, 
who was for many years a resident of 
Buckingham, died a few years since. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on 
the farm in Buckingham, and acquired his 
education at the public schools. On January 
26. 1871. he married Caroline, daughter of 
James C. and Mary Elizabeth (Garges) 
Fell, of Buckingham. He resided on his 
father's farm for four years, and for six 
years each on the farms of John Rich, in 
Upper Buckingham, and the William 
Staveley farm in Solebury. In 1887 he re- 
moved to his present farm, where he has 
since resided. Mr. and I\Irs. Ellis have 
been the parents of two children. Charles 
Howard, deceased ; and G. Thompson, who 
resides with them and conducts the farm. 
G. Thompson Ellis .married Helen Yerkes, 
daughter of Jonathan and Anna Mary 
(Goss) Yerkes. of Buckingham, by whom 
he has one child, Anna. 

In politics Mr. Ellis is a Democrat. The 
family are members of the Presbyterian 
church. He is a member of Neshaminy 
Lodge. No. 139, Knights of the Golden: 
Eagle. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



565 



SAMUEL BLOTTER, of South Perka- 
sie, was born in Hilltown township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, May 26, 1844, and 
is a son of John F. and Mary (Landis) 
Slotter. Johannes Schlotter, the pioneer 
ancestor of the family, was a native of Ger- 
many, who settled in Bucks county and 
reared a family, among whom were three 
sons ; Christian, Abraham and Daniel. 
Christian settled in New Britain, where 
he died in 1822, Abraham and Daniel lo- 
cated in Haycock. 

Abraham Schlotter, the grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch, learned the trade 
of a fuller with Joseph Fretz, who had a 
fuUmg mill on the Tohickon, in Haycock 
township, and at the latter's death in 1806 
purchased the fulling mill and one hundred 
acres of land lying on both sides of the 
Tohickon, in Haycock and Bedminster 
townships, which he continued to operate 
until his death in 1820. He married Su- 
sanna Fretz, daughter of his old preceptor, 
who was several years his junior, being born 
April 6, 1792. Her father, Joseph Fretz, 
was born in Bedminster, May 9, 1761, and 
died at the old fulling mill in Haycock, 
March 29, 1806. He had married, Novem- 
ber I, 1781, Maria Krout, who was born in 
Bedminster, February 11, I/62, ancf they 
were the parents of eleven children ; Eliza- 
beth, who died young ; Christian and Bar- 
bara, who also died young; Anna, who 
married Jacob Bishop; Maria, who died 
young ; Susanna, who married Abraham 
Schlotter ; Agnes, who died at an advanced 
age unmarried ; Rachel, who married Abra- 
ham Zetty ; Joseph, who died young ; Sarah, 
who died in 1884, aged eighty-five years; 
John and Veronica. Joseph Fretz was a 
son of Christian and Barbara (Oberholtzer) 
Fretz, and a grandson of John Fretz, the 
pioneer ancestor of the family in Bed- 
minster. The children of Abraham and 
Susanna (Fretz) Schlotter were: John F., 
born November 28, 1815, and Samuel, who 
died young. After the death of Abraham 
Schlotter, his widow Susanna married his 
brother Daniel Schlotter, and they had one 
son, Daniel F. Slotter, born March 26, 
1822, who married Amanda Ruth, October 
27, 1844, and settled in Centre Valley, 
Springfield township, Bucks county, where 
they reared a family of ten children. 

John F. Slotter was 'born in Haycock, 
November 28, 1815. After the death of her 
second husband, Daniel Schlotter, in 1824, 
his widow removed to Milford township, 
Bucks county, where her son John F. was 
reared and educated. He learned the trade 
of a shoemaker, which he followed for 
several years. About 1840 he removed to 
Rockhill township, where he purchased a 
small farm and lived until his death on 
December 4. 1879. He married, July 28, 
1839, Mary Landis, daughter of Abraham 
and Barbara (Bergy) Landis, who was 
born February 12, 1813, and died June 6, 
1876. The children of John F. and Mary 



(Landis) Slotter were: Abraham L., born 
March 5, 1842, married October 17, 1865, 
Susanna Allebach, and has two children; 
Samuel, the subject of this sketch; Mah- 
lon L., born August 26, 1846, married June 
29, 1866, Hannah Rouchenberger, and has 
eight children; Kate S., born August 28, 
1848, married October i, 1870, Henry F. 
Ott, and resides in Philadelphia; John L., 
born December 15, 1859, married Emma 
Willauer, and resides in JPennsburg, Mont- 
gomery county; and Mary, born December 
2, 1852, died Alarch 13, 1881, married, June 
17, 1880, Henry Moyer. 

Samuel Slotter, second child of John F. 
and Mary Landis Slotter, was educated in 
the public schools of Sellersville. When a 
lad he learned the trade of a cigar maker, 
which he followed for eighteen years. In 
1871 he removed to his present farm in 
Hilltown, near South Perkasie, where he 
has since lived, having purchased the farm 
in 1890. His farm has since been included 
in Perkasie borough. He served as town- 
ship assessor for three years, and has been 
a member of council in Perkasie borough 
for three years. He is a member of the 
Lutheran church, and politically is a Re- 
publican. He married, August 6, 1866, 
Amanda Wambold, daughter of Noah Wam- 
bold, and they were the parents of six chil- 
dren : James Irwin, born September 26, 
1867, married Emma Strohmoyer, and has 
four children; Josiah C, born October 29, 
1873, married Sallie Stout, and has three 
children ; Emma, born October 26, 1868, 
married Henry Kramer, of East Rockhill, 
and has one child ; Matilda, born November 
15, 1870, married Jacob Hoff, and has two 
children ; Henry, born August 20, 1872, 
died September 29, 1872 ; and Edith Jane, 
born December 21, 1878, wife of Eugene 
Holland. His wife Amanda died November 
20, 1887, and Mr. Slotter married a second 
time, November 30, 1889, Matilda (Cope) 
Fretz, widow of John S. Fretz, by whom 
he has one child, Hanna. 



WILLIAM PAULIN WINNER, a 

member of the firm of Roberts, Winner 
& Co., stove founders, of Quakertown, 
and, an ex-member of the state legisla- 
ture of Pennsylvania, was born on a 
small farm about two miles north of 
Wrightstown, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, August 26, 1852, son of Samuel and 
Sarah Ann (Wood) Winner, the latter 
passing away when her son, William P., 
was two days old. 

He was taken to Philadelphia by a 
maiden aunt, Elizabeth Winner, with 
whom he made his home until his elev- 
enth j^ear, in the meantime attending the 
public schools of that city. He then re- 
turned to Bucks county and was em- 
ployed on the farm of Daniel M. Hibbs, 
near Newtown, he being considered one 
of the best and most progressive farm- 



566 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ers of lower Bucks county, and the five 
years of his residence with Mr. Hibbs 
he always recalls with pleasure. At the 
expiration of this period of time he re- 
turned to Philadelphia, this time to be- 
come an apprentice at stoveplate mould- 
ing in the foundry of Stuart, Peterson & 
Co., founders, who were then located at 
Broad and Noble streets. He remained 
at this place as an apprentice for four 
years, and thereafter as a journeyman 
until i8So, with the exception of eight 
months during the year 1S76. when he 
was employed by Schantz & Keeley, 
stove founders, of Spring City, Penn- 
sylvania. During the year, 1880. he as- 
sisted in organizing the firm of Roberts, 
Rogers, Scypes & Co., at Quakertown, a 
party of moulders who took over the 
works of the stove foundry of Thomas, 
Roberts. Stevenson & Co., of that place. 
Although the firm has had many changes 
in its membership, the three men who 
composed the firm of Roberts, Winner 
& Co., consisting of William Penn Rob- 
erts. William Paulin Winner, and Fran- 
cis Moore Cavanaugh, have clung to the 
plant which they helped to place, build 
up and nourish with their intelligence 
and energy. 

Mr. Winner has always taken an ac- 
tive part in th-e local affairs of Quaker- 
town. In politics he has been actively 
engaged with the Republican party, serv- 
ing as chairman of two committees of 
the second ward, and developing the 
strength of that organization ; until final- 
ly, in 1898, Mr. Winner was nom- 
inated and elected by the Republican 
party to the state legislature, over his 
opponent, George F. Rush. Democrat, 
by a majority of four hundred and twen- 
ty-eight. During this session, although 
an untried and inexperienced member, 
Mr. Winner was appointed on the com- 
mittees of appropriations and apportion- 
ments, most important committee, which 
was an exceedingly great honor. This 
session will be ever memorable in Penn- 
sylvania state politics as the year when 
Matthew Stanley Quay, as candidate for 
United States senator, put to the test the 
personal fealty to him of the peoo'e's rep- 
resentatives as against party fealty and 
independence. In this fight Mr. Winner, 
though tremendous influences were 
brought to bear upon him to change his 
vote and influence from against Mr. 
Quay to favorin.g him with his vote, 
stood nut the fight in the interests, as 
he believed then, of the people who 
elected him, and the credit of the com- 
monwealth, and so well were his services 
appreciated by his constituents that in 
1900 he again became his party's stand- 
ard bearer for the legislature, and on 
the platform of opposition to Quay, and 
was this time elected by a majority of 
seven hundred and eighty-three over his 
opponent. David S. Harr, Democrat. 
During the session of the legislature of 



1900-02 Mr. Winner, by the manner irr 
which he had upheld what he thought 
to be right during his previous tenure of 
office, found that he had created many 
enemies in his own party. But it was to- 
no man's credit to stand by and uphold 
the actions of the dominating party in 
the session of that legislature. In no 
history of local self-government (sup- 
posedly free) were things generally car- 
ried with so high a hand. Bills and ap- 
propriations were rushed through that 
legislative body in a manner that de- 
stroyed every evidence of selfishness and 
venality. The so-called Ripper bills 
were pushed through, trolley car fran- 
chises were grabbed, and no fair show 
was offered any man who did not bow 
and stand in with the so-called Republi- 
can ring. Such was the condition of 
things that "every man was supposed to 
have his price." From being on com- 
mittees of repute and worth during his 
first term, Mr. Winner was relegated to- 
so-called five wheel committees. How- 
ever, he performed his duty as he found 
it. and retired at the end of his term with 
clean hands. 

Mr. Winner "married, December 23, 
1879. Mary Magdalene, daughter of 
Philip and Abigail (Ash) Simons, of 
Spring City, Chester county, Pennsyl- 
vania. Mrs. Winner was one of three- 
children. She attended the Spring City 
public schools and high school, complet- 
ing her studies at the latter institution. ' 
She has always taken an active interest 
in music and art, especially the latter^ 
and the work she has done as a painter 
in oils has received special commenda- 
tions. She is a member of the Oratorio- 
Society of Quakertown, in which she 
takes an active part, and is a participant 
in all the worE connected therewith. 



ADDISON C. COPE, of Perkasie, Bucks- 
county, Pennsylvania, was born in Hill- 
town township, Bucks county, June 14, 
1871, and is a son of Tobias G. and Hannah 
Cope, and is a descendant both in paternal' 
and maternal lines from early German set- 
tlers in Bucks county, who, fleeing from 
religious persecution in the fatherland. 
found homes in the then wilderness of 
upper Bucks county, where they and their 
worthy descendants have contributed much 
to the material wealth and development of 
our beloved county. "Joost Coope" (other- 
wise Yost or Joseph Cope), the paternal 
ancestor of the family in Hilltown, emi- 
grated to Pennsylvania in the good ship^ 
"Adventurer," arriving in Philadelphia on 
October 2, 1727, and, after taking the oath 
of allegiance to the British crown, estab- 
lished a home in Penn's colony, just over 
the western borders of Bucks county, in 
what is now IMontgomery county, removing 
later to Hilltown, where his sons Abraham 
and Adam purchased land in 1759. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



567 



Adam Cope, second son of Yost and Dor- 
othea Cope, became a large landholder and 
prominent citizen of Hilltown, owning at 
the time of his death over three hundred 
and tifty acres of land in that township. 
He married Margaret, daughter of Henry 
Hartzel, one of the earliest and most prom- 
inent German settlers in Rockhill, near 
the present site of Perkasie. Adam Cope 
died in 1800, and his wife Margaret sur- 
vived him a few years. They were the pa- 
rents of live sons, viz. : Jacob, Abraham, 
Henry, John and Paul. 

John Cope, third son and seventh child 
of Adam and Margaret (Hartzell) Cope, 
was born in Hilltown township on the old 
homestead purchased by his father in 1759, 
a part of which he mherited, and lived 
there all his life. He married Susanna Sa- 
vacool, daughter of William and Eliza- 
beth (Miller) Savacool, of Hilltown, and 
granddaughter of Jacob Sabelcool, born in 
Germany m 1713, who came to America in 
1731 in the ship "Brittannica,"' and in 1742 
settled near Sellersville. His son William 
settled in Hilltown in 1772 on a farm pur- 
chased for him by hjs father, and still oc- 
cupied by the family near South Perkasie. 
John Cope died in 1862, and his widow in 
1873. They were the parents of six chil- 
dren, of whom William S., the grandfather 
of Addison C. Cope, was the eldest. 

William S. Cope was born in Hilltown 
township and resided there and in the ad- 
joining township of Rockhill all his life, 
dying in the latter township February 7, 
1899, at an advanced age. He married 
Leanna Gerhart, and they were the parents 
of seven children : Tobias G. ; Eliza, wife 
of William Harr ; Monroe G. ; Henry G. ; 
Amanda ; Jane ; and Leanna. 

Tobias G. Cope was born in Rockhill 
township in 1845, and acquired his educa- 
tion at the common schools of that locality. 
He was a farmer and followed that vo- 
cation during life, first in Rockhill town- 
ship, and later in Hilltown. He was an 
active and successful business man and ac- 
quired a competence. He married Hannah 
Cope, daughter of Benjamin and Eliza- 
beth Cope, of Hilltown, who was also a 
descendant of Adam and Margaret (Hart- 
zell) Cope. She inherited from her father 
a fine farm in Hilltown in 1865, she being 
his only child. Tobias G. Cope died in 
Hilltown in 1884. He was the father of 
four children; Ella, who died young; Will- 
iam Henry, Addison C, and Emma. 

ADDISON C. COPE was reared on his 
father's farm, and acquired his education at 
the Pennville school. He remained on the 
farm until the age of eighteen years, and 
then entered the harness making establish- 
ment of H. B. Lapp, at Pricks, and learned 
the trade of harness making, which he fol- 
lowed until 1896, when he removed to 
Perkasie. In 1901 he erected his present 
handsome residence at the corner of Fifth 
and Chestnut streets. He is a member of 



Trinity Lutheran church, and has served 
as deacon of that church for the past three 
years. In politics he is a Republican. He 
married March 18, 1896, Mary Alice Bean, 
daughter of David B. and Mary G. (Mo- 
yer) Bean, and they are the parents of one 
child, William Washington, born February 
22, 1897. 

The paternal ancestors, of Mrs. Cope 
have been residents of Rockhill township 
for many generations. On the maternal 
side she is a descendant of Rev. Peter 
Meyer, who was born in Switzerland in the 
year 1723, and came to Pennsylvania in 
1741 with his widowed mother and three 
brothers, William, Jacob and Henry. In 
1752 he purchased a farm in Pleasant Val- 
ley, Springfield township. William Meyer, 
son of Rev. Peter, was born in Springtield 
township, June 17, 1764, and died there 
February 18, 1843. He married Mary 
Overholt, and their youngest son, Abraham 
O. Moyer, was born in Springfield on the 
old homestead purchased by his grandfather 
in 1752, and which is still in possession of 
his descendants, on June 6, 1798, and died 
there September 15, 1871. He married in 
1832, Mary Geisinger, of Upper Milford, 
Lehigh county, and had four children; Will- 
iam G. Moyer, of Chalfont; Fannie G., 
who married Nathaniel Bechtel, of Berks 
county; Mary, the mother of IMrs. Cope, 
who was born February 15, 1838, and mar- 
ried David B. Bean, September 30, 1865 ; 
and Abraham G. Moyer, residing on the old 
homestead in Springfield. 



GARRET B. GIRTON. One of the 
oldest and most respected citizens of 
Newtown, is Garret B. Girton, who for 
over sixty years has followed a success- 
ful career as carpenter and builder in 
Newtown. He was born at Greensburg, 
near Scudders Falls, on the New Jersey 
side of the Delaware, February 20, 1831, 
and is a son of James and Mary (Mar- 
tindell) Girton, the ancestors of the 
former having been residents of New 
Jersey for several generations, while 
those of the latter had been residents of 
Bucks county from the date of the 
founding of Penn's colony on the Dela- 
ware. Her paternal ancestor, John Mar- 
tindell, was born in England, 8 mo. 24, 
1676, and was an early settler in Bucks 
county. Fle married Mary Bridgman, 
daughter of Walter and Blanch (Con- 
stable) Bridgman, "both of Neshaminah 
in the County of Bucks." who were mar- 
ried at the house of Stephen Sands, 6 
mo. 26, 1686. 

John and Mary (Bridgman) Martin- 
dell, were the parents of six children of 
whom John, born 6 mo. 22, 1719, married 
2 mo. 9, 1746, Mary Strickland, and had 
twelve children. Jonathan, the* ninth, 
born 7 mo. 19. 1763. married Rachel Mor- 
gan and had ten children of whom Mary, 



568 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



the sixth, married James Girton. James 
and Mary (Martindell) Girton were the 
parents of twelve children: James, of 
Palmyra, New Jersey; William A., of 
Bristol township, Bucks county; Mary 
Elizabeth, widow of Wilson McClanen, 
living in Newtown; Hutchinson J., of. 
Newtown: Samuel, deceased; Sophia, 
wife of Edward Reeder, of Newtown; 
Rebecca, single; Francenia, wife of Win- 
field Ellis, of Newtown; and Garret B., 
the subject of this sketch. 

The subject of this sketch was reared 
in Bucks county, having lived with his 
uncle, Isaac Martindell, in' Newtown 
township, from the age of nine years to 
the age of sixteen. He worked on the 
farm for his uncle and enjoyed very lim- 
ited advantages in the way of an educa- 
tion, attending school from two to three 
months during the year. At the age of 
sixteen he apprenticed himself to Mi- 
chael Furman, of Newtown, to learn the 
carpenter trade, his term of apprentice- 
ship expiring at the age of twenty-one, 
and he was to receive one month's 
schooling per year. On attaining his ma- 
jority he brought his father to Newtown 
and lived with him, working as a jour- 
neyman carpenter for about four years. 
He then established himself in business 
as a carpenter and builder, and has suc- 
cessfully pursued that vocation to the 
present time. His old preceptor was a 
competitor for the business of the neigh- 
borhood for a time, but for over thirty 
years prior to 1895 there was scarcely a 
building erected in Newtown or vicinity 
that he did not build or superintend its 
building. He employed a large force 
of hands, but gave his personal attention 
to the work, of which he always did his " 
share and is still an expert with the tools 
of his handicraft. He made a close 
study of the more improved methods of 
the craft and has always kept abreast of 
the times. He taught his craft to a large 
number, having among his apprentices 
A. Britton, G. Tomlinson, H. Enright, 
L. Moore, H. Clark, Ed Carter, I. Ben- 
net, W. Ellis, S. Creely, E. Brennen, C. 
Tomlinson, J. Degroot, D. J. McClanen, 
H. E. Girton. M. R. Girton. W. C. Eyre, 
Leo Wharton, Ed Short, Justus Slack 
and Isaac Pownall. 

Mr. Girton has been a member of the 
Presbyterian church of Newtown for 
upwards of twenty-five years, and is a 
. member of its board of trustees. In pol- 
itics he is a Prohibitionist, and has been 
for many j^ears an earnest worker for 
the cause of temperance. He is a mem- 
ber of Siloam Lodge, No. 265, I. O. O. F., 
of Newtown, of which he is a past grand. 
He married, in January, 1854, Maria 
Smith, daughter of John Smith, of Penns 
Park, and (second) Emma C. Saunders, 
of Brooklyn, New York. His children 
are: ^nsan, wife of Robert Krusen: Car- 
oline, wife of George Worrell: Ida, wife 
of John Short, of Solebury; Wilhelmina, 



wife of George Kemler, of Brooklyn; 
Harry E., Maurice, and Albert E., of 
Newtown; Clara, wife of John E. Mas- 
ten; and Anna R. Girton. He has twen- 
ty-seven grandchildren: Harry, Hugh, 
Garret and Alma Krusen; Anna, Amelia, 
Mary, Caroline, George, William, John 
and Albert Worrell; Harry, Edward, 
Sara, Marion, George, Alice, Nellie, 
Frederick and John Short, and Mabel, 
Horace, Helen, Marion, Clarence and 
Garret B. J. Girton. Mr. Girton also 
has one great-grandchild, Ethel Short. 
Mr. Girton, though in his seventy-fifth 
year, is one of the active business men 
, of Newtown. 



OLIVER J. RICE. Among the enter- 
prising and successful young business men 
of Buckingham is Oliver J. Rice, proprietor 
of the "Lower Mill," at Mechanics' Valley. 
Mr. Rice was born in Buckingham town- 
ship, and is of English and Irish descent, 
being a son of Charles and Elizabeth (Wat- 
son) Rice. His paternal ancestor, Edward 
Rice, was a native of Killeman parish, 
county Tyrone, Ireland, and brought a certi- 
ficate of character from the rector and 
church Wardens of that parish with him to 
America, dated June 12. 1736. He married 
Elizabeth Wilson, 6 mo. 10, 1742, and 
settled in Buckingham township, where he 
purchased 153 acres of land comprising the 
present farms of Edward Swartz and Gilbert 
Percy, near Bridge Valley on the old York 
Road. He died there in 1761, leaving seven 
sons and one daughter, viz; James; John; 
Edward ; George ; Mary, who married John 
Kinsey; Joseph and Thomas. His widow 
married Mathew Beans, and the younger 
children were reared in Buckingham, on the 
old Beans homestead, near the Solebury 
line on the Mechanicsville road. 

George Rice, fourth child of Edward and 
Elizabeth (Wilson) Rice, born in Bucking- 
ham about 1750, was the great-grandfather- 
of the subject of this sketch. On arriving 
at manhood he married Elinor, born Sep- 
tember 12. 1749, daughter of Robert Skelton, 
of Buckingham, September 21, 1771, and set- 
tled on a tract of 164 acres of land in Plum- 
stead, owned b}' his father-in-law. He was 
a wheelwright by trade, and after several 
years on the farm returned to his trade. 
His children were : Robert. Ann, Susanna, 
George. Sarah, Mary, Moses, and Elias. 
George Rice was a soldier in the revobition, 
being a member of Captain William 
McCalla's company. 

Robert Rice, eldest son of George and 
Elinor (Skelton) Rice, was born in Plum- 
stead township about 1774. He learned the 
wheelwright trade with his father, and 
followed it for many years in Plumstead, 
Solebury and adjacent parts of New Jersey. 
He married a Miss Burke, and had three 
children: Joseph; a daughter who married 
and removed to New York early in life; 
and Charles. The wife of Robert Rice 





.^^ 





THE NEW York] 

V ' "' r TRPA DV 



LIBRARY 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



569 



<iied when her youngest child was a babe. 
He died about 1850. 

Charles Rice, the father of the subject of 
this sketch, was born in Plumstead town- 
ship, February 5, 1800. Left an orphan at 
* tender age, he was adopted at the age of 
five years by a Chester county family, and 
spent his boyhood on a farm in that county, 
receiving a common school education. At 
the age of sixteen years he returned to 
Plumstead and apprenticed himself to the 
carpenter trade with a Mr. Meyers. He 
followed the trade of a carpenter for about 
twenty years in Plumstead, Buckingham 
and Solebury. In 1828 he purchased a 
property near Church's school house in 
Buckingham, and the remainder of his life 
was spent in that neighborhood, the last 
forty years of his life being devoted princi- 
pally to agricultural pursuits. He died in 
1884, in his eighty-fifth year. Charles Rice 
was twice married, his first wife being Ann 
Wismer, who died about 1859. Her chil- 
dren were : Susan, who married William 
Mitchell ; Margery, who married Levi 
Mundy; Elizabeth, who married John 
Magee ; Jacob, now living in Kansas ; and 
James, who married Kate Flack. 

Charles Rice married (second) Elizabeth 
Watson, daughter of Joseph and Rebecca 
Watson, of Buckingham, granddaughter of 
John and Euphemia (Ingham) Watson, 
great-granddaughter of Joseph and Mary 
(Hampton) Watson, great-great-grand- 
daughter of Dr. Joseph Watson, grcat-great- 
great-granddaughter of Dr. John and Ann 
(Beale) Watson, and great-great-great- 
great-granddaughter of Thomas Watson, 
who married Elinor Pearson, in Cumber- 
land, England. 4 mo. 14, 1696, and removed 
to America and settled in Buckingham in 
1704. He was a justice of the courts of 
Bucks county, and a member of assembly. 
This family was one of the most prominent 
and influential in Bucks county, and has 
had many distinguished representatives. The 
late Judge Richard Watson was a son of 
the first named John Watson by a second 
marriage with Martha Duncan in 1817. 

The children of Charles and Elizabeth 
(Watson) Rice were; Watson, a coal 
dealer in Philadelphia; and Oliver J., the 
subject of this sketch. Charles Rice was 
one of the founders of the Christian church 
at Carversville, of which he was a deacon 
and one of its most active members for 
many years. In politics he was a Republi- 
can, but never sought or held office. 

The subject of this sketch was born and 
reared on a little farm near Mechanics' 
Valley, - and received his education in the 
public schools. After his father's death he 
managed the farm and made a home for his 
mother, who still resides with him. In 
1893 he purchased the mill property, where 
he still resides. In politics he is a Republi- 
can, and has always taken an active interest 
in the success of his party. He is serving 
his fifth year as assessor of Buckingham 
township. He is a member of the Doyles- 
town Lodge, No. 245, F. and A. M. ; Doyles- 



town Chapter, No. 270, R. A. M. ; of 
Aquetong Lodge, No. 193, I. O. O. F. ; 
Doylestown Encampment, No. 35, I. O. O. 
F. ; and of Doylestown Council, No. 11 17, 
Royal Arcanum, being one of the most 
active and earnest members of all these 
organizations. • 

Mr. Rice married, October 4, 1905, Abbie 
Kelly, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Evan F. 
Jamison. 



ELISHA CABE PRAUL, of Hulmes- 
ville borough, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, is a descendant of English ances- 
tors who were among the early settlers 
of the county in which he was born. 
They were farmers by occupation, own- 
ing large tracts of land. They were also 
men of influence, and prominent in local 
affairs. John Praul, paternal grand- 
father of Elisha C. Praul, was born 
July 14, 1728. His high character and 
ability are evidenced by the confidence 
reposed in him by His Excellency Ben- 
jamin Franklin, who appointed him a 
justice of the court of conimon pleas for 
Bucks county, the certificate of his ap- 
pintment bearing the signature of the 
high officer before named, and the seal 
of the commonwealth, and reciting the 
"giving and granting unto him the said 
John Praul full power and authority to 
execute and perform all the several acts 
and things which any justice of the said 
court, by the constitution and laws of 
this commonwealth, lawfully can, may 
or ought to do, both in and out of the 
said court," etc. John Praul married 
Catharine Vansant, born March 28, I73i- 
They w^ere the parents of John, born Au- 
gust 10, 1768, who married Mary Van- 
sant, born November 3, 1774- Of this 
marriage was born a son John, January 
I, 1803. who married Ruth White Cabe, 
born July 3, 1813. 

Elisha Cabe Praul, son of the last 
named John and Ruth White (Cabe) 
Praul, was born in Middletown town- 
ship, August 30, 1848. His boyhood days 
were passed on the home farm, which 
he aided in cultivating from the time he 
became of suitable age. He began his 
education in the common schools of 
Middletown township, and pursued ad- 
vanced branches of study in the Beverly 
Institue and Mount Holly (New Jersey) 
Institute. On arriving at man's estate 
he continued in the occupation to which 
he had been brought up, that of farm- 
ing, continuing his labors industriously 
and with much success until 1890, when 
he retired from labor to enjoy we'.l 
earned ease. He did not, however, re- 
lapse into inactivity, but continued to 
bear a full share in the duties and re- 
sponsibilities of a public-spirited citizen. 
For fourteen years he rendered useful 
and disinterested service as a member 
of the borough council. In 1903 he was 
elected treasurer of the borough and 



570 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



was re-elected in the following year. 
He is a Presbj^terian in religion, and a 
Republican in politics. He is a member 
of the Masonic fraternity, affiliated with 
Bristol Lodge No. 25, A. Y. F. and A. M. 
He is also a ineinber of Neshaniiny 
Lodge, No. 422, I. O. O-. F., and of the 
encampment in the same order, and of 
the Improved Order of Red Men. His 
personal qualities are those which mark 
the upright citizen- and well-disposed 
neighbor and friend. Mr. Praul married 
on March 19, 1874, Miss Ella Finne- 
m.ore, a native of the same township 
with himself. They make their home in 
a splendid old rhansion which was 
erected in 1788, and which stands as a 
witness to the stirring scenes of the 
past, in which their ancestors bore an 
honorable and eminently useful part. 



MICHAEL A. VAN HART, for 
forty-one years proprietor of the Logan 
House at New Hope, was born Decem- 
ber 15, 1823. in the family home which 
stood on the boundary line between 
Upper and Lower Makefield townships. 
The family is of Holland lineage, his 
grandfather being a native of Holland 
and the progenitor of this name in 
America. Coming to the new world he 
settled in Falls township prior to the 
revolutionarjr war. He acquired a tract 
of land near Morrisville, which for many 
years was known as Van Hart's Island. 
His son, Jacob Van Hart, was a labor- 
ing man and spent his entire life, so far 
as is known, in Upper and Lower Make- 
field townships and in Newtown. He 
was twice married. He wedded (sec- 
ond) Mary Richardson, a daughter of 
Daniel Richardson, a pioneer settler who 
resided near Dolington. In their fam- 
ily were twelve children, of whoin three 
are living: Michael A.; Abner, a resi- 
dent of New Hope. Pennsjdvania; and 
Mrs. Louise Fredericks, a widow living 
in Plumstead township. 

Michael A. Van Hart attended the 
common schools in his early boyhood 
days, but when a youth of ten years be- 
gan earning his livelihood, living wMth 
a farnier by the name of John K. Trego, 
near Pineville. He worked for his board 
and clothing for Mr. Trego until in his six- 
teenth year, when he apprenticed himself 
to the tailor's trade in Lower Bucking- 
ham township. There he gave his serv- 
ices in return for instruction in the trade 
and for his board and clothing during 
the period of five years. On the expira- 
tion of that period he located in Center- 
ville, Buckingham township, where he 
conducted a tailoring establishment on 
his own account, continuing there for 
six or seven years. He afterward re- 
moved to Pineville, where he opened a' 
tailoring establishment, being tlnis con- 
nected with this business until the spring 



of 1863, when he came to New Hope. 
Here he rented his present hotel build- 
ing, and in 1874 purchased the property, 
so that he has now been proprietor of 
the Logan Hotel for forty-one years, 
making it a popular hostelry. In con- 
nection with the hotel Mr. Van Hart 
owns and operates a farm of one hun- 
dred and twenty-five acres, pleasantly 
and conveniently situated about a mile 
from New Hope, and his farming opera- 
tions aid materially to his annual income. 
He is a member of Amwell Lodge, No. 
12, A. F. and A. M., of Lambertville, New 
Jersey, and is one of the highly esteemed 
citizens of his community. Although he 
has passed the age of four-score years, 
he is still an active factor in business 
life, and in spirit and interest seems yet 
in his prime. In 1848 Mr. Van Hart was 
married to Miss Mary A. Worthington, 
a daughter of Francis and Sarah Conard 
Worthington, of Centerville. They be- 
came the parents of five children, of 
whom three are living: Francis W., who 
is cashier of the Amwell National Bank 
at Lambertsville : New Jersey ; Katherine, 
the wife of Edwin Taggar, of Philadel- 
phia ; and Minnie, the wife of C. J. Roth- 
ermel, of Minnesota. 



JOSEPH ROBBINS, Sr. The family 
to which Joseph Robbins, Sr., belongs, 
is of English lineage and was founded 
in America by John Robbins, his grand- 
father, who emigrated from England 
during the colonial epoch in the history 
of this country, settling in Freehold 
township, Monmouth county, New Jer- 
sey, where he secured a tract of land and 
followed farming until his death. He 
married a Miss Ivins, who was a native 
of New Jersey. Isaac I. Robbins, their 
only child, was born in New Jersey and 
removed to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
about 1800, being then a young man. He 
settled at Penns Manor, near the Dela- 
ware river, upon a farm which he cul- 
tivated and improved, making a valu- 
able property. His attention was de- 
voted exclusively to agricultural inter- 
ests, and he continued in the work of 
the farm up to the time of his demise. 
He married Miss Jane Thompson, and 
they became the parents of si.x children: 
John, deceased, born June 20, 1809, died 
October 9, 1899, aged ninety-one years ; Hec- 
tor C, born August 11. i8t2. died aged eicrh- 
ty-two years: Isaac I., born May 5, 1815, 
died aged eightj^-one years ; James T. 
born j\Tarch 5, 1817. died aged seventy- 
eight years; Ann, born September 13, 
1818. died at the age of eleven years'; and 
Joseph. 

Joseph Robbins. the youn.gest child of 
Isaac and Jane (Thompson) Robbins, 
was born at Penns Manor, May 2. 1821, 
and at the usual age began his educa- 
tion as a student in the common schools. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



571 



He afterward spent two terms in the 
Wilmington Friends school, and thus 
was well fitted by good mental training 
to meet the practical and responsible du- 
ties of life. On attaining his majority 
he began farming for himself in Penns 
Manor, near the old homestead. All five 
brothers of the famil}^ settled in that lo- 
cality and had adjoining farms, save 
that there was one little intervening 
tract of land. Mr. Robbins continued to 
reside upon his farm and gave it his en- 
tire attention until 1902, when he re- 
tired from active business life and is now 
living in Morrisville in the enjoyment of 
a rest which he has truly earned and 
richly deserves. Straightforward in his 
business dealings and practical in his 
methods, he secured a desirable com- 
petence. Politically a Republican, Mr. 
Robbins held the office of school direc- 
tor of Falls township for nine years, but 
has never been an aspirant for political 
honors, although he has ever kept well 
informed on the questions and issues of 
the day and has firm faith in the princi- 
ples of his party. 

Mr. Robbins married May 28, 1851, 
Miss Sarah A. Parsons, born January 5, 
1826, a daughter of Isaac and Lydia (An- 
derson) Parsons, of Falls township. 
They have five children: Jane, wife of 
William Y. Warner; Mary, wife of Ed- 
ward S. Kirkbride; Isaac P., a resident 
farmer of Penns Manor; Elwood P., of 
Newark, New Jersey; and Joseph, at 
home. 



ABRAHAM D. NASH, a representa- 
tive of that class of men known as inde- 
pendent farmers, whose lives and ca- 
reers pass on evenly and uneventfully, 
but whose occupation is of the upmost 
importance to the welfare of man, is a 
native of Plumstead township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, the date of his 
birth being July 18, 1834. Abraham Nash, 
father of Abraham D. Nash, was a na- 
tive of Plumstead township, born May 2, 
1799. In early life he served an appren- 
ticeship at the trade of carpenter, which 
he followed with success for a number 
of years, being an expert and careful 
mechanic, but later turned his attention 
to farming, continuing along this line 
up to the time of his decease. He was 
honorable and trustworthy in business 
affairs, and won an enviable reputation 
among his neighbors and associates. He 
was one of the old Mennonites of the 
county, holding membership for many 
years in the Deep Run Church. Mr. 
Nash was twice married. Flis first wife, 
Barbara (Detweiler) Nash, bore him five 
children: William, deceased; John, de- 
ceased: Mary, who died in • earh^ life: 
Abraham D., mentioned hereinafter; and 
Joseph, a physician of Philadelphia. His 
second wife, whose maiden name was 
Barbara IMvers. bore him three children: 



Elizabeth, wife of Levi Swartz; Mary A.^ 
and Henry, a resident of Philadelphia. 
Abraham D. Nash received a good 
rudimentary education in the common 
schools of the county of his birth, and 
since the completion of his studies has 
devoted his energies to making a suc- 
cess of farming. In 1876 he purchased 
the farm where he now resides, situate 
about one mile west of Doylestown, and 
consisting of fifty-three acres of arable 
land. This is in a fine state of cultiva- 
tion, and the rteat and thrifty appearance 
of everything connected with the prop- 
erty denotes the careful supervision of 
a master hand. He is interested in all 
that concerns the material and social 
conditions of the community, and is 
highly esteemed and respected. He is a 
member of the Presbyterian church of 
Doylestown. Mr. Nash married Mrs. 
Agnes Cramer, daughter of Adam and 
Agnes Bryan. Having no children of 
their own they adopted two girls, Lizzie 
Moore and Ida Loux. The former was 
only three years of age at the time of 
her adoption, has always lived with Mr. 
and Mrs. Nash, and is now the wife of 
Harry Cope. Ida is now the wife of 
Harry Hilton, of Philadelphia. 



CHARLES S. GROFF, of South Perka- 
sie, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was 
born November 2, 1837, and is a son 
of Jacob and Mary Magdalena (Stout) 
Groflf, and a descendant of prominent 
and distinguished residents of the lo- 
cality in which he resides. Hans Jacob 
Groff, the paternal ancestor of the Perka- 
sie family, emigrated from Germany in^ 
Ihe ship "Patience," arriving in Philadel- 
phia August II, 1750. He located in 
Rockhill town'ship, near the present site 
of Perkasie, where a large tract of land 
was surveyed to him by order of Thomas 
and Richard Penn in 1761, and later ac- 
quired other lands adjoining. He was a 
blacksmith by trade and followed that 
vocation in connection with clearing and 
tilling his Perkasie plantation. He and 
his wife Veronica were the parents of five 
chldren: Jacob: Peter; John; Henry; and 
Mary, who married Isaac Souder. Hans 
Jacob Grofif died April i, 1782. 

Henry Groff. youngest son of Hans 
Jacob and Veronica, resided all his life, 
on the Perkasie homestead, acquiring^ 
title to one hundred acres thereof in 
1785. He and his wife Esther lived to 
an advanced age. residing in the later 
years of their life with their son Jacob, 
the father of the subject of this sketch. 
Being thoroughly grounded in the Men- 
nonite faith, he took no active part in 
the revolutionary struggle, but partici- 
pated actively in the local affairs of the 
community in which he lived. 

Jacob Grofif, son of Henry and Esther, 
was born and reared on the old home- 



S7^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



stead, a part of which he purchased of 
his father in 1826, and later purchased 
200 acres of land adjoining. He was a 
blacksmith by trade, and followed that 
vocation at what is now South Perkasie 
until 1838, after which he devoted his 
attention to his farm in Rockhill town- 
ship, where he died in April, 1855. He 
married Mary Magdalen Stout, daugli- 
ter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Barndt) 
Stout, and they were the parents of 
eleven children, six of whom lived to 
mature age, viz. : Owen : Isaac S., the 
father of Dr. James E. Groff, of Doyles- 
town; Charles S., the subject of this 
sketch; Abraham; Mary, wife of Josiah 
Shearer; and Jacob. Jacob Groff and his 
family were Mennonites. In politics he 
was a staunch Whig, and took an active 
interest in the affairs of the community 
in which he lived. 

On the maternal side Charles S. Groff 
is a descendant of Jacob Stout, who was 
born in Germany in the year 171 1 and 
came to this country at the age of twen- 
ty-six years. He was a potter by trade, 
and located first jn Durham township, 
removing later to the present site of 
Perkasie, where he owned the greater 
part of the land upon which the present 
town stands. He became a very large 
land owner in Bucks, and a very prom- 
inent man in the community. He died 
April 30, 1779, and he and three gener- 
ations of his descendants lie buried in a 
neat little family burying ground near 
Perkasie railroad station, on part of his 
original plantation. He married in 1739 
Anna Leisse (Leicy), widow of John 
Leisse, an early German emigrant, her 
maiden name being Miller, and they were 
the parents of four children: Abraham; 
Salome, who married (first) Abraham 
Freed, and (second) Gabriel Schwartz- 
lander, (great-grandfather of Dr. Frank 
Swartzlander, of Doylestown); Isaac, of 
Williams township, Northampton coun- 
ty, _ (father of the distinguished phy- 
sician and surgeon. Dr. Isaac Stout) ; and 
Catharine, wife of Jacob Schlieffer, of 
New Britain. 

Abraham Stout, eldest son of Jacob 
and Anna, was probably the most prom- 
ient Pennsylvania German of his day 
in Bucks county. He was educated at 
the famous Germantown Academy, and 
received a fine English education. He 
was for many years a justice of the 
peace, and did a very large amount of 
public business. At the outbreak of the 
revolution he was a member of the com- 
mittee of safety of Bucks county, and 
served as a member of the Constitutional 
Convention in 1790, as well as filling 
numerous other positions of trust and 
honor. He married Mary Magdalen 
Hartzell, and they were the parents of 
seven children. 

Jacob Stout, third son of Abraham 
and Magdalena (Hartzell) Stout, was 
born on the Perkasie homestead, Janu- 



ary 9, 1775, and died there August 15, 
1820. He married Elizabeth Barndt, 
born November 27, 1778, died November 
7, 1821, and they were the parents of 
eight children: Isaac; Abraham; Jacob 
B., the father of Judge Mahlon H. Stout; 
Samuel; Sarah, who married Charles 
Leidy; Anna, who married Isaac Drum- 
bore; Mary Magdalen, the mother of the 
subject of this sketch; and Elizabeth, 
who married Enos Kile. 

Charles S. Groff was reared and edu- 
cated in Rockhill township, and early 
in life learned the balcksniith trade with 
Charles Bissey. He followed his trade 
until 1862, when he purchased the farm 
upon which he still resides, m Rockhill, 
near South Perkasie. He has always 
taken an active interest in all that per- 
tains to the best interests of the com- 
munity in which he lived. He filled the 
office of school director of Rockhill 
township for three years, and in politics 
is a Republican. He and his family are 
members of the Reformed church. He 
married in i860, Caroline Shettlcr, daugh- 
ter of John Shettler, and they are the pa- 
rents of six children : Maurice, who 
married a Mrs. Drummond, of Philadel- 
phia, and has two children; Calvin, who 
married Emma Moyer, and has one 
child; Franklin, a large landowner in 
North Dakota; Ella, wife of Charles Alt- 
house; Katie, wife of Mahlon Dimming, 
of Springfield township; and Martha, 
wife of Ambrose Pfleiger, of Perkasie. 



HENRY R. SHADDINGER. Four 
generations of the Shaddinger family have 
resided in Bucks county, the great-grand- 
father, a native of England, having been 
the founder of the family in the new world. 
He became a resident of Plumstead town- 
ship. Jacob L. Shaddinger, the grandfa- 
ther, was born in Plumstead township and 
in early life learned the business of lime 
burning, which he followed for many years 
in Buckingham township. He possessed 
keen business foresight and was recognized 
as one of the enterprising business men of 
his community. He married Elizabeth 
Leatherman, and they became the parents 
of six children, namely: Edward, Charles, 
Elias, Mary Ann, Sophia and Sallie. 

Edward E. Shaddinger, eldest son of 
Jacob Shaddinger, was born in Solebury, 
Buckingham township, and when a boy 
accompanied his parents on their removal 
to Plumstead township, where he acquired 
his education in the public schools. After 
his marriage he purchased a farm in New 
Britain township and there carried on agri- 
cultural pursuits until his death, which 
occurred October 29, 1884, when he had 
reached the age of thirty-one years, ten 
months and eight days. His wife, who bore 
the maiden name of Anna Rosenberger. died 
November 6, 1888, at the age of thirty- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



573 



one years, ten months and seventeen days. 
They were the parents of two children, the 
daughter being Susie Shaddinger, who 
was born August 4, 1883, and died on die 
23d of February, 1885. 

Henry R. Shaddinger, the son, was born 
in New Britain township, May 23, 1881, and 
pursued his education in the schools of the 
neighborhood. He entered upon his busi- 
ness career as a clerk in the generad mer- 
cantile store of Kulp Brothers at Perkasie, 
which position he abandoned in order to 
enter business life on his own account at 
Blooming Glen in February, 1904. In con- 
nection with Herleigh Apple he purchased 
the general mercantile establishment of 
Christopher S. Gulick, and under the firm 
name of Apple & Shaddinger they are now 
conducting the largest business of the kind 
in Hilltown township. They have a care- 
fully selected line of general merchandise, 
and their business policy commends them to 
the patronage of the public, for it is in har- 
mony with high commercial ethics. Mr. 
Shaddinger was married March 20, 1904, to 
Miss Emma Hunsicker, a daughter of Isaac 
and Mary (Detwiler) Hunsicker, at Bloom- 
ing Glen, where they make their home. Mr. 
Shaddinger is a member of the Mennonite 
church, gives his political support to the 
Republican party, and is deeply and help- 
fully interested in public affairs relating to 
the welfare and progress of his home com- 
munity and native county. 



CHARLES S. BALDERSTON was born 
in Solebury township, November 30, 1854, 
on the farm where he now resides. The 
family is of Holland lineage, and the an- 
cestry is traced back to John Balderston, 
who emigrated from Holland to Englana 
about the time the Prince of Orange went 
to that country to become King William 
III in 1688. He settled in Norwich, Eng- 
land, in company with his wife, Lydia 
Scarf, and their children, John Bartholo- 
mew and Mary. 

(II) John Balderston, son of the pro- 
genitor, was born in 1702, and was trainea 
to the weaving of silk and worsted. He 
remained in England until about twenty-five 
years of age, when in the year 1727 he emi- 
grated to America as a redemptioner. He 
located in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
where he followed weaving as a livelihood. 
After residing for some time at North 
Wales he removed to Upper Makefield, and 
finally settled in Solebury township, where 
his remaining days were passed, his death 
occurring in 1782. He had wedded Hannah 
Cooper, a daughter of Jonathan and Sarah 
Cooper, of Upper Makefield township, and 
to John and Hannah Balderston were born 
seven sons and four daughters, as follows : 
John, Jonathan, Bartholomew, Timothy, 
Jacob, Hannah, Isaiah, Sarah, Mordecia, 
Lydia and Mary, all of whom reached ma- 



ture years and reared families with the 
exception of Mary. 

(III) John, son of John and Hannah 
(Cooper) Balderston, was born January 
15, 1740, in Bucks county, and wedded De- 
borah Watson, daughter of Mark and Ann 
Watson, of Fallsington, Bucks county. Their 
marriage, which occurred October 21, 1767, 
was blessed with five children: Mtrab, 
Hanah, John W., Mark and Ann. The fa- 
ther of these children died April 26, 1821. 

(IV) John W. Balderston, son of John 
and Deborah (Watson) Balderston, was 
born on the old family homestead in Sole- 
bury township, March 24, 1775. He there 
resided for some time and subsequent to 
his marriage removed to Fallsington, where 
he made his home upon a farm until 1821. 
He then returned to the old homestead in 
Solebury township, becoming the owner of 
that property, on which he continued to re- 
side until his death on the 26th of Febru- 
ary, 1842. He was married November 19, 
1800, to Elizabeth, daughter of William ana 
Hannah Buckman, of Newton township, 
and their children were John D., William, 
Abner, Oliver, Deborah, Hannah and 
Martha. 

(V) Oliver Balderston, son of John W. 
and Elizabeth (Buckman) Balderston, was 
born in Fallsington, Bucks county in 1812 
and followed farming as a life work. He 
wedded Mary P. Shaw, who died in 1881, 
by whom he had four children, of whom 
three are living : John W., now a resident 
of Oklahoma; Elizabeth B., the wife of 
Jesse B. Fell, of Solebury township ; and 
Charles S. Balderston, whose name intro- 
duces this record. 

The title to the Balderston tract of land 
dates back to the time when it passed by 
warrant from William Penn to Richard 
Thatcher, May 4, 1682. That transfer 
covered one thousand acres which was after- 
ward divided among the children of 
Thatcher, three hundred and fifty acres go- 
ing to his sons, Bartholomew and Joseph 
Thatcher. It was this tract which after 
having passed through several ownerships 
was purchased by John Balderston, June 
21, 1766, he buying it from the heirs ot 
William Chadwick. The tract of three 
hundred and fifty acres, after being handed 
down from father to son, has been sub- 
divided until the patrimony of Oliver Bal- 
derston covered a farm of one hundred and 
twenty-eight acres, constituting that upon 
which Charles S. Balderston now resides. 
The portion of the farm on which stood 
the original buildings — one hundred and 
forty-two acres — was transferred to Joshua 
Ely. A part of the old residence built by 
John Balderston on taking possession of 
the place in 1766, is still standing, but the 
house has recently been remodeled. Oliver 
Balderston spent his life upon the farm now 
occupied by his son Charles, living there 
from his ninth year until his death, Febru- 
ary ^, 1895. The Balderstnns have all been 
members of the Friends Meeting, and have 



574 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



been advocates in more recent years of the 
Republican jparty, but while progressive and 
loyal in citizenship have never been office 
seekers. 

Charles S. Balderston was rearea at 
home, acquiring his education in the com- 
mon schools and at the Doylestown English 
and Classical Seminary. He then returned 
to the farm and has continued to make it 
his place of residence, receiving it as his 
inheritage at the time of his father's death. 
He has ever sustained the excellent repu- 
tation made by the family in citizenship and 
in business life. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican, and is classed with the highly respect- 
ed men in Solebury township. 



LEWIS M. LYNN a merchant of Yard- 
ley, is a son of Alexander Lynn, who was 
born in 1806 in Bucks county, where the 
days of his boyhood and youth were passed. 
He attended the public schools, learned the 
painter's trade, and followed that calling 
in connection with the manufacture of rope 
for a number of years. Eventually, how- 
ever, he severed his connection with in- 
dustrial interests and purchased a small 
farm, after which he carried on general 
agricultural pursuits in addition to paint- 
ing. In politics he was a stanch Republi- 
can, and he held the office of constable of 
Falls township for seventeen consecutive 
years. He was also supervisor for a num- 
ber of years, and owing to his knowledge 
of public affairs his opinions were often 
sought on matters affecting the general 
welfare. He was public-spirited and pro- 
gressive, and his efforts in behalf of his 
township and county were far-reaching and 
beneficial. He died in Falls tow^nship in 
1892, respected by all who knew him. His 
wife bore the maiden name of Ann Cutler, 
and had nine children: Joseph; Cortland; 
Miles V. ; Charlotte, wife of Edward 
Severns; Elmira, wife of J. V. Lovett; 
Lewis M. ; Deborah ; Alexander ; and 
George B. 

Lewis M. Lynn was born on the home 
farm in Falls township, August i7, 1846, 
and pursued a common-school education, 
after which he learned the painter's trade 
with his father. When he was eighteen, years 
of age he went to w'ork with his brother, 
Joseph Lynn, of Newtown, here he resided 
for seven years. In 1871 he began business 
on his on account at Yardley as a painter 
and paper hanger, and in 1897 broadened 
the scope of his labors by establishing a 
hardware store. There is but one business 
man whose connection with commercial and 
industrial interests in Yardley antedates 
that of Mr. Lynn. His business career has 
been characterized by progress and by suc- 
cess due to ready recognition and utiliza- 
tion of opportunity. Politically a Republi- 
can, Mr. Lynn has served as a member of 
the council of the borough of Yardley. and 
has held many minor offices. Fraternally 
he is connected with the Knights of the 



Golden Eagle, Eyrie No. 506, at Fallsing- 
ton, Pennsylvania, of w^iich he is a charter 
member. 

Lewis M. Lynn wedded Miss Mary F. 
Johnson, a daughter of Dilplane and Re- 
becca Johnson. They have live children: 
Russell,^ who died in infancy; Victor V.; 
Clara E., who was graduated as a trained 
nurse in the Charity Hospital of Philadel- 
phia, on the ist of June, 1904; Morris, 
who died in childhood; and Herbert, who 
died at the age of eighteen years. 

Victor V. Lynn, born in Yardley, in 1872, 
pursued his education in the public schools 
of the borough and of the btewart Busi- 
ness College at Trenton, New Jersey. On 
putting aside his text books he went to 
Philadelphia, and for four years occupied 
the position of shipping clerk with the firm 
of Loudoun & Hill, dealers in sponges. 
Returning to Yardley he assumed the man- 
agement of his father's store, which he has 
since conducted, and is regarded as one 
of the leading young business men of the 
borough. In the spring of 1904 he was 
elected collector of taxes of the borough 
of Yardley for a term of three years. He 
married Miss Clara Knipe, a daughter of 
William and Almira Knipe, of Bethlehem, 
Pennsylvania, and they have one daughter, 
Dorothy. 



HERBERT S. NASE, of Sellersville, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, w'as born in 
that town May 13, 1869, and is a son of 
Barndt and Diana (Strycker) Nase. The 
Nase family is of German extraction, and 
have been a prominent one in Rockhill 
township for many generations. Michael 
Nase, the grandfather of the subject of 
this sketch, was born in West Rockhill 
township, and was a farmer there all his 
life. He and his family were members of 
Jerusalem Lutheran church at Schlichters- 
ville. He married Lydia Barndt, of an old 
and prominent family in that section, and 
they were the parents of eight children, as 
follows : Sarah, wife of Charles Hartzell ; 
Elizabeth, wife of Samuel Getman ; Isa- 
bella, wife of William Shive ; Margaret, 
w'ife of Jacob Nungesser; Rebecca, wife of 
Elias Haring ; Lydia, wife of Levi Nase ; 
Barndt, the father of the subject of this 
sketch ; and Michael, who married Amanda 
King. 

Barndt Nase was born January 27, 1843, 
was reared in Rockhill township, and fol- 
lowed the life of a farmer there until 1868, 
when he removed to Sellersville, purchased 
a residence there, and resided in Sellers- 
ville, until his death, September 5, 1901. 
He was an active and influential citizen and 
took an active interest in local politics, 
serving as a member of borough council 
and school director for a number of years. 
He was a member of Sellersville Lodge, 
No. 658. I. O. O. F., and he and his family 
were members of St. Michael's Lutheran 
church. He married, November, 1867, 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



575 



Diana Strycker, daughter of Samuel and 
Kate (Ifreisch) Strycker, and they were 
the parents of two children— Herbert S., and 
another who died in infancy. 

Herbert S. Nace was born and reared in 
Sellersville and acquired his education at 
the Sellersville high school. Early in life 
he learned the cigarmaking trade, which he 
followed for several years. In 1902 he 
started a greenhouse for the cultivation of 
flowers and early vegetables, making a 
specialty of raising tomatoes, and has since 
conducted that business successfully. He 
is a member of St. Michael's Lutheran 
church and is affiliated with Sellersville 
Lodge, No. 658, and Sellersville Encamp- 
ment, No. 252, L O. O. F. He married in 
1891 Addle M. Nase, daughter of Peter 
and Susanna (Walter) Nase, and the uni- 
on has been blessed with two children, 
Jennie and Helen. 



J. CAMBY MILNOR, who is engaged in 
farming and dairying in Lower Makefield 
township, was born in Hulmeville, Penn- 
sylvania, February 4, 1853, his parents be- 
ing William B. and Emily H, (Brown) Mil- 
nor. The father was born near Bristol, in 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1823, and 
in early life learned the blacksmith's trade, 
which he followed until 1859. m that year 
he began farming in Lower Makefield town- 
ship near the village of Yardley, and con- 
tinued an active representative of agricul- 
tural interests for almost thirty years until 
1887, after which he retired from active 
business life and established his home in 
the village of Yardley. His last days were 
spent in Hatboro, where he died in Febru- 
ary, 1899. He was an active member of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, and served 
as superintendent of the Sunday-school at 
Newtown, Pennsylvania^ for a number of 
years. Me married Miss Emily H. Brown, 
a daughter of Israel Brown, and they had 
six children: William E., J. Camby, Elias 
J., Elmer E., Laura B. and Estelle B. The 
last named died in childhood. 

In the common schools J. Camby Milnor 
acquired his education, and through the per- 
iods of vacation assisted his father in the 
operation of the home farm, continuing on 
the old homestead until twenty-two years 
of age, after which he took charge of that 
farm and conducted it successfully for a 
year. In 1877 he removed to the farm upon 
which he now resides, and after renting 
the property for five years purchased it. 
He has since given his entire attention to 
agricultural pursuits in connection with the 
dairy business, and makes daily trips to 
Trenton to dispose of his dairy products. 
His farm comprises seventy-five acres con- 
veniently situated in Lower Makefield town- 
ship, about two miles from Trenton. It is 
a very valuable tract of land, and his im- 
provements and modern methods of culti- 
vation have made it one of the best farms 
in that locality. In local political circles 



Mr. Milnor has been somewhat active, and 
IS a stanch Republican. He has served as 
judge of elections for the past seven years, 
and in 1900 took the census for the govern- 
ment in Lower Makefield township. Mr. 
Milnor wedded Miss JMary Emma White, 
a_ daughter of Nathan and Tacy White, of 
Northampton township, and their marriage, 
which was celebrated Februar- 22, 1876, 
was blessed with two children. ' The elder, 
however, Viola, who was born in 1877, died 
in 1881 at the age of four years and four 
months. The living daughter is Laura May, 
born April 17, 1884. 



JOSEPH B. SCHAFFER, a resident 
farmer of Falls township, and one of its 
native sons, born on the evelenth of No- 
vember, 1848, is of German descent, the 
first of the name of this family in Amer- 
ica being John Schaffer. who September 
27, 1818, crossed the Atlantic from the 
fatherland, bringing with him his family. 
He established his home in Falls township, 
where he secured a tract of land and be- 
gan farming, continuing that business up 
to the time of his death, which occurred 
about 1863. His children were: Michael; 
Louise, wife of William Lee; John; An- 
drew; Gotfrey; Nicholas; Pemberton; 
Charles ; Catherine, wife of James Morton ; 
and Anna, wife of Frank White. Gotfrey 
Schaffer, son of John Schaffer, was born 
in Falls township, September 3, 1825, and 
his life record covered the Psalmist's allot- 
ted span of three score years and ten, his 
death occurring September 16, 1895. He, 
too, made farming his life work and he 
was a member of the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows of Falsington, and a respect- 
ed and worthy citizen of his community. 
He married jMiss Annie Ettinger, a daugh- 
ter of John Ettinger, and they were the 
parents of eight children : Joseph B. ; Anna 
Mary; John E. ; Elwood C, deceased; Ed- 
w^ard; Sarah, wife of Edward Appleton; 
Henr>'; and Elizabeth, wife of Elmer John- 
son. The mother of these children is still 
living, at the age of eighty years. 

Joseph B. Schaffer. eldest son of Got- 
frey Schaffer, pursued his education in the 
common schools, and through the periods 
of vacation assisted his father in the cul- 
tivation of the home farm. He remained 
at home until twenty-three years of age, 
when he began farming on his own account, 
and the occupation to which he was reared 
has been his life work. In 1882 he pur- 
chased the property on which he now re- 
sides, a tract of eighty-one acres, situated 
near Oxford Valley. This is rich and 
productive land, constituting one of the 
best farms of Falls township, owing to the 
excellent improvements which Mr. Schaf- 
fer has placed thereon and the splendid 
condition in which he keeps his land 
through careful cultivation. On the 6th 
of April, 1882, Mr. Schaffer married Miss 
Mary E. Hohmann, a daughter of John H. 



576 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



and Anna (Collopp) Hohmann. Their chil- 
dren were four in number : Bertha L., born 
January 29, 1883 ; Anna, born June 10, 1S34, 
died same month, the 13th ; Joseph Got- 
frey, born January 6, 1888; and Jennie 
Thompson, born September 27, 1891, died 
July 14, 1892. The family attend the 
Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Schaffer 
is a Republican in politics. 



SPENCER BUCKMAN HIBBS. One 
of the largest real estate owners in Bucks 
county is Spencer Buckman Hibbs, of 
Hulmeville borough. He was born near 
Hulmeville, in Middletown township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, April 16, 1843, a son 
of James Guyon Hibbs, and Martha (Cox) 
Hibbs, his wife. 

William Hibbs, great-great-grandfather 
of the subject of this sketch, was an early 
settler in Byberry. By his marriage with 
Elizabeth Johnson, daughter of John and 
^Margaret Johnson, he had three children 
Jacob, Jonathan and Phebe. Jacob married 
Elizabeth de Guyon, of French descent, in 
1761. Jonathan married Sarah de Guyon, a 
sister of Elizabeth, and Phebe married 
Joseph Smith of Wrightstown, and later 
George Kinsey, of Buckingham. John 
Johnson was a son of "Jan Clauson, par 
Cooper," a Hollander, who settled on the 
Neshaminy, in Bristol township, in 1678, on 
a tract of land patented to him by Edmund 
Andross, captain-general of New York, and 
confirmed by patent from William Penn in 
1684. He left six children, all of whom 
took the name of Johnson. John Johnson 
purchased of his brothers and sisters 520 
acres, patented to his father on the 
Neshaminy, and at his death in 1721 devised 
it to his seven children, his wife Margaret 
to have the use of it for life. She died in 
1751, and two years later the land was parti- 
tioned between Benjamin Brittin, who had 
married Mary Johnson, a granddaughter of 
John and Margaret, and Elizabeth Kelly, 
widow, the mother of Jacob, Jonathan and 
Phebe Hibbs. Mrs. Kelly conveyed the 
ninety-six acres, her share of her grand- 
father's estate, to her son Jacob Hibbs. 
Jacob Hibbs died in Bristol township in 
1773. leaving a widow and children \ 
Jemima, who married Michael Ring; 
Jacob; Keziah, who rnarried William Stack- 
house; John G. ; Stephen and Samuel. 

John Guyon Hibbs, grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch, was a mason by trade, 
and later a farmer, and became a consider- 
able land owner in Middletown and Bristol 
townships. He married Mary Searle, a 
descendant of Arthur Searle, an early 
settler in Bensalem township. The children 
of John G., and Mary (Searle) Hibbs, were; 
Walter M., Mahlon G., Charlotte, John G., 
James G., Mary, Samuel, Jacob, Joseph G. 
and Daniel B. Hibbs. John G. Hibbs died 
in 1832, and his widow several years later. 

James Guyon Hibbs, father of the subject 
of this sketch, was a practical and success- 



ful l)usiness man, and of more than prdinary 
intellectual ability. In early life he learned 
the trade of a mason, and followed it for a 
few years. Having received a good educa- 
tion he abandoned his trade and taught 
school at Milford (now Hulmeville) for 
seventeen years, and in other schools in 
Middletown township for eight years. He 
was elected prothonotary of Bucks county 
on the Democratic ticket in 1844, and 
served three years with eminent ability. He 
was for one year proprietor of the Hulm.e- 
ville Hotel, and lived one year in Newport- 
ville. The last thirty years of life were 
spent on his farm in Middletown township. 
He was a successful business man and left 
his family in affluent circumstances. He 
married Martha, daughter of Jacob and 
Hannah Cox, who died December 25, 1890. 
James G. Hibbs died December 17, 1882. 
James G. and Martha (Cox) Hibbs were 
the parents of two children, James Guyon, 
born January 31, 1838, died August "17, 1902, 
unmarried, and Spencer B. 

Spencer B. Hibbs, the subject of this 
sketch, spent his boyhood days on his 
father's farm. He was educated at the 
public schools, at Millersville State Normal 
School, the Tennent School at Hartsville, 
and at Rev. Samuel Aaron's Seminary at 
Mt. Holly, New Jersey. After finishing his 
education he was employed in a grist mill 
for two years, and then filled the position of 
baggagemaster for the Camden & Amboy 
Railroad for six years, and was also assis- 
ant superintendent at the Kensington Rail- 
road yard. In 1870 he came back to the old 
farm and worked for the family, and later 
followed butchering for a few years. Mr. 
Hibbs is a Presbyterian in religion, and in 
politics is a Democrat. He has always 
taken an active interest in the success of his 
party, but has never held other than local 
offices. At the death of his brother he be- 
came the owner of much additional prop- 
erty, and owns fourteen farms in Bucks 
county, one in New Jersey, a fine grist mill, 
two hotels, and twenty-five dwelling houses. 

Mr. Hibbs was married on July 24. 1869, 
to Catharine Hawk, of Morrisville. by 
whom he had four children ; Henry Chap- 
man, born May 24, 1870; Olive- Martha, 
born June 13, 1876; James Carl, born 
December 6, 1881 ; and Arthur Chapman, 
born November 26, 1884. These children 
have all been well educated. Henry C. 
attended Rider's Business College at 
Trenton, New Jersey ; James C. and Arthur 
C. attended Pierce's Business College of 
Philadelphia, and Arthur C. also attended 
the Drexel Institute, Philadelphia. All 
three are now in the employ of their father, 
Henry C. as bookkeeper, and James C. and 
Arthur C. as engineers. Henry C. mar- 
ried June 13 1900, Viola, daughter of 
Samuel A. and Maria (Stackhouse) Rich- 
ardson, a descendant of two of the oldest 
families in Middletown. They are the 
parents of one child, Olive Lenora. born 
November 20, 1901. Olive Martha Hibbs 
was educated at the public schools and the 





ejyr' 



/3-'/^Zu^ 



' 1- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



577 



West Chester State Normal School, gradu- 
ating in 1895, after which she taught school 
in Hulmeville for eight years. She was 
married September 23, 1903, to John H. 
Geil of Rutledge, Delaware county, Penn- 
sylvania, a solicitor for the Land ritle and 
Trust Company of Philadelphia. 



WILLIAM H. SHERM, a retired farm- 
er residing in Chalfont, was born in New 
Britain township, November 30, 1839, and 
is of German lineage. His paternal grand- 
father was John Sherm. His father also 
bore the name of John Sherm, and was 
born in Germany in 1806, crossing the At- 
lantic from that country to America in 
1823, at which time he took up his abode 
in Plymouth, Montgomery county, Penn- 
sylvania. A few years afterward he estab- 
lished his home near the Henry Fretz mill 
in Bucks county, and learned the milling 
trade under the direction of Mark Fretz. 
He followed that business for six years, 
after which he married and located upon 
a farm in New Britain township, carrying 
on agricultural pursuits throughout his 
remaining days. He was a member of the 
Lutheran church, active and influential in 
its work, and doing everything in his pow- 
er to extend its influence. For twelve years 
he served as a member of the church coun- 
cil. His political allegiance was given to 
the Democracy. He married Miss Barbara 
Rickert. 

William H. Sherm, son of John and 
Barbara (.Rickert) Sherm, was educated in 
a private school in Quakertown, Pennsyl- 
vania, and after his graduation engaged m 
teaching, being thus identified with the in- 
tellectual development of the county for 
some time. He taught at Sellersville for 
four years, was in charge of the Newville 
school for three years, and at the Foun- 
tainville school for one year. Following 
his marriage he concentrated his energies 
upon agricuhural pursuits, settling on a 
farm in New Britain township, where ne 
lived for a third of a century. He then 
removed to another farm in the same town- 
ship, and has since been identified with 
agricultural interests, having a good tract 
of land well developed. Mr. Sherm has 
been actively interested in community af- 
fairs, and his efforts have proved an ef- 
fective factor in promoting the general 
good He served as school director for 
fifteen years, and the cause of education 
ever found in him a warm friend. A Re- 
publican in his political views, well in- 
formed on the questions and issues of the 
day, he has always given to the party 
stanch support.- He was judge of elec- 
tions for many years, and was elected 
county auditor, filling that position for three 
years. A devoted member of St. Peter s 
Lutheran church, he has acted as both- dea- 
con and elder, and thirty years ago was 
elected a trustee of the church and has 
since acted in that capacity. He is also 
37-3 



treasurer of the cemetery company con- 
nected with the same church, and is in- 
terested in everything relating to the pub- 
lic good and to the development and im- 
provement of his locality. 

Mr. Sherm was united in marriage to 
Miss Elizabeth BOnd, a daughter of Neri 
and Hannah (Lutz j Bond, the latter a 
daughter of Frederick Lutz. Four chil- 
dren have been born of this marriage: 1. 
Maggie, born June 21, 1S67, became the 
wife of Frank S. Hartzell, a son of Will- 
iam and Leah (Sheets) Hartzell. There 
are eight children by this marriage : Will- 
iam Henry, J. Stanley, Frank S., Elizabeth, 
Neri R., Leah Gertrude, Percy and Leroy. 
2. Alice, born December 27, 1869, is the 
wife of Aaron S. Overpeck, and they have 
two children, Elizabeth and Blanche. 3, 
Neri, born February 26, 1872, deceased. 
4. Hannah, born November 12, 1881, is the 
wife of Arthur B. Sheip, a son of Francis 
P. and Mary Margaret (Swartley) Sheip. 



DAVID N. KRATZ. Among the fertile 
and productive farms which abound in 
Doylestown township, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, which section was embraced in 
tne lands conveyed to the Free Society of 
Traders by William Penn in 1681, may be 
mentioned the one owned by David N. 
Kratz, who was born in Plumstead town- 
ship, same county, June 23, 1843. The first 
of the name of whom there is any authen- 
tic information was John Phillip Kratz 
(great-great-grandfather), born in 1707. 
His son, John Valentine Kratz, (great- 
grandfather) was born in 1732 and died 
m 1812. 

John Kratz (grandfather) was born No- 
vember 22, 1765, in Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, where he resided all his life, 
his active career having been devoted to 
farming. He was an earnest and consist- 
ent member of the Mennonite church. He 
was twice married. His first wife, whose 
maiden name was Anna Fried, bore him 
four children : Abraham, born March 7, 
1791 ; Solomon, born May 8, 1792; Debor- 
ah, born November 6, 1793; and Susanna, 
born February 18, 1796. His second wife, 
a Swartzlander, bore him eight children : 
David, born May i, 1801, died in infan- 
cy; Philip, born November _ 2, 1802, men- 
tioned hereinafter; Joseph, born June 25, 
1804; Anna, born September 28, 1805, be- 
came the wife of James Stover; Isaac, 
born September 10, 1807 ; Catherine, born 
May 2, 1809, became the wife of Enos 
Stout; Rachel, born January 6, 181 1; and 
John, born February 24, 1813. 

Philip Kratz (father) was born in Plum- 
stead township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, November 2, 1802. This region of 
valley, plain and winding creeks is now al- 
most one hundred and eighty years old ; 
the lower an-d middle parts were settled 
mainly by Friends, and the upper part by 
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, and later by 



5/8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Germans. Having been reared upon a 
farm, he was thoroughly familiar with the 
details of farming, which occupation he 
followed until his death, July i, 1855. By 
his marriage to Catherine Newmaker nine 
children were born, three of whom died in 
infancy, the surviving members of the fam- 
ily being: David N., mentioned hereinafter; 
Rosanna, born in 1844, died in 1895, who 
became the wife of Tobias N. Myers; Irv- 
ing, married Laura Jacoby first and (sec- 
ond) a German lady; he died in Septem- 
ber, 1902; Emma, wife of Theodore Hol- 
comb; Phillip, born July 19, 1853, married 
Emma Dudbridge and died November 12, 
1904. 

David N. Kratz attended the common 
schools of his neighborhood, but his edu- 
cational advantages were 'limited owing 
to the death of his father when he was bui 
twelve years of age. He remained on the 
homestead farm with his mother until he 
was thirty years old, and during this time 
managed the affairs in a thoroughly satis- 
factory and successful manner. After a 
residence of one year in Doylestown he 
purchased the farm where he now resides, 
located one and a half miles south of 
Doylestown, and has since given his at- 
tention to agricultural pursuits and slate 
roofing. The esteem in which he is held 
by his fellow citizens is evidenced by the 
fact that he was elected school director 
in 1898, which office he held three terms, 
performing the duties to the satisfaction 
of all concerned. He is a Republican in 
politics. In 1873 Mr. Kratz married An- 
nie Selver, daughter of Daniel and Sarah 
Selver, and one child was born of this 
union, Mary Jane, October 13, 187S. 



CALEB SCATTERGOOD, actively and 
successfully engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits, has also been the promoter of busi- 
ness enterprises of importance to his lo- 
cality and is prominent in social affairs. 
Although his ancestors in early generations 
were not residents of Pennsylvania, they re- 
sided in this part of the country, the grand- 
father, Caleb Scattergood, being a native 
of Columbus, New Jersey, born on the loth 
of April, 1768. He followed farming and 
surveying throughout his entire life, and 
was active in business circles in his locality. 
He married Sarah Atkinson, who was born 
February 8, 1772, and they became the pa- 
rents of eleven chldren : Ann, who became 
the wife of William Wright, and after his 
death married William Cooper; Joseph; 
Jonathan; Mary; Sarah, wife of Robert 
Wright; Caleb and Nathan, both deceased; 
William A.; Martha, wife of Aaron Mid- 
dleton; Hannah, wife of Joseph Rogers; 
John, who died in childhood. 

William A. Scattergood, son of Caleb 
Scattergood, was born February 17, 1806, 
in Columbus, New Jersey, and entering 
upon his business career in early life learned 
the tailor's trade, which he followed for a 



number of years on Fourth street, in Phila- 
delphia. Later he established his home near 
Trenton, New Jersey, where he carried on 
farming for six years, and then removed to 
Salem, that state, where he was engaged in 
farm work for twelve years. He after- 
ward established his home at Rancocas, 
where he purchased a tract of land, giving 
his attention to its further development and 
improvement for twenty-four years. His 
careful management of his business inter- 
ests and his unflagging energy brought to 
him a competence sufficient to enable him 
to live retired, and, putting aside the active 
duties of the farm, he established his home 
in the village of Rancocas, where he passea 
the evening of life, his death occurring De- 
cember 7, 1878. He married Miss Rebecca 
Heaton, and they had ten children ; Ellen, 
wife of Benjamin Hilliard; Hannah Ann, 
wife of David Ford ; Catherine ; Sarah ; 
Rachel, wife of Mahlon K. Hendrickson ; 
William W. ; Caleb ; Heaton and Harvard, 
who died in infancy; and Rebecca, wife of 
Alexander Thompson. 

Caleb Scattergood, son of William A. 
and Rebecca (Heaton) Scattergood, was 
born in Salem, New Jersey, October 20. 
1841. His preliminary education, acquired 
in the common schools, was supplemented 
by three terms attendance at the Trenton 
Academy. He was reared to the occupation 
of farming and remained with his father 
until thirty-one years of age, when he pur- 
chased his father's land within two miles 
of the city of Trenton, and there carried on 
farming on his own account for ten years. 
On the expiration of that decade he re- 
moved to the farm upon which he now re- 
sides, situated about two miles from Tren- 
ton, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He has 
here ninety acres of land lying along the 
river, this being one of the best farms in 
Lower Makefield township. The property 
is well improved with modern equijjments, 
the fields are very highly cultivated, and 
every facility of a model farm of the twen- 
tieth century is there found. Mr. Scatter- 
good, being a man of resourceful business 
ability, has likewise extended his efforts 
to other lines. He conducts a commission 
business, and loaded the first carload of 
potatoes that was ever shipped from Yard- 
ley Station. He was also one of the or- 
ganizers of the Yardley Water and Power 
Company, of which he is still a director, 
and is a member of the board of directors 
of the Building and Loan Association of 
that place, his enterprise proving of a char- 
acter that promotes public prosperity as well 
as individual success. 

Mr. Scattergood married Miss Emma 
Reeves, who died November 24, 1896. 
They were the parents of three children: 
Mary and Nellie, who died in child- 
hood ; and David T., who is with his father 
upon the home farm. Mr. Scattereood 
married March 23, 1905. Miss Lizzie Ellett 
Smith, daughter of Samuel T. and Lydia 
S. Smith, of Salem. New Jersey. The 
members of the family all belong to the 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



579 



Friends' Meeting. Mr. Scattergood has 
been prominent and popular in the social 
circles of his locality, and was one of the 
organizers of the Pastime Club, of Yard- 
ley, of which he served as president for 
eight years. 

HENRY H. MOORE, of Perkasie, 
Bucks county, was born in New Britain 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, De- 
cember 26, 1870, and is a son of Jesse H. 
and Sophia (Hedrick) Moore, of New 
Britain. Jesse P. Moore, the grandfather 
of the subject of this sketch, was a black- 
smith by trade and lived during his whole 
manhood in New Britain township, where 
he reared a family of four children — Jo'nn 
H. ; Jesse H. ; Sarah, who married Abra- 
ham Hunsberger; and Eliza, who married 
Daniel Nyce. Jesse P. Moore died June 
20, 1893, his wife Mary surviving him. 
Jesse H. Moore, the second son, married 
Sophia Hedrick, and is a farmer in New 
Britain township. 

Henry H. Moore was born December 26, 
1870, in New Britain township, Bucks 
•county, Pennsylvania, where he was reared 
and acquired his education at the public 
school. During his early manhood he fol- 
lowed various occupations, and in 1895 pur- 
chased a farm in New Britain township, 
where he resided for five years, selling it 
and purchasing a farm of seventy-two acres 
in Hilltown in 1900, where he now resides. 
He is a member of the Mennonite church 
at Blooming Glen, and politically is a Re- 
publican. He married, February 6, 1892, 
Mary Ellen R. Moore, born July. 26. 1873, 
in New Britain township, daughter of John 
M. and Sarah Jane (Rosenberger) Kulp. 
Mr. and Mrs. Moore are the parents of 
four children: Sarah Gertrude, born April 
4, 1893; Mary Sophia, born August 30, 
1894; William Harvey, born September 25, 
1900; and Henry Franklin, born Septem- 
ber 30, 1904. 

DAVID D. CRESSMAN, ©f Sellers- 
ville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was 
born in that borough February 13, 1877, 
and is a son of Abraham S. and Hannah 
(Derstine) Cressman, the former for near- 
ly half a century one of the leading busi- 
ness men of the town. The Cressman fam- 
ily is one of the very oldest German- 
American families in Bucks county. The 
pioneer ancestor of the family was George 
Cressman, who settled in Franconia town- 
ship about 1729. Soon after this date he 
purchased a tract of land in Rockhill town- 
ship, which he conveyed to his son Jo- 
hannes (or John) Cressman in 1747. Jo- 
hannes Cressman was probably also a na- 
tive of Germany, and was born about the 
year 1700. After residing for some years 
in Rockhill township he returned to Fran- 
conia township, where he died in the sprmg 
of 1786. His children were Anthony, John, 
Elizabeth, Mary, Catharine and Hannah. 



Anthony Cressman, eldest son of Johan- 
nes, was born May 9, 1731, and died in 
Rockhill township, Bucks county, March 3, 
1789. He was a farmer and considerable 
landowner in Rockhill, and he and his wife 
jNIagdalena were the parents of seven chil- 
dren, four sons : Jacob, Abraham, John, 
and Adam ; and three daughters : Elizabeth, 
wife of Daniel Schleffer ; Catharine and 
Sarah. 

Jacob Cressman, eldest son of Anthony 
and Magdalena, was born in Rockhill town- 
ship, October 27, 1755. At his father's 
death the homestead farm of 139 acres 
was adjudged to him by the orphans' court 
and he purchased several large tracts ad- 
joining, becoming one of the largest land- 
owners in Rockhill township. He died June 
IS, 1832. He married Elizabeth Nace, of 
Rockhill, and they were the parents of 
twelve children, viz. : Samuel ; Magdalena, 
who married Henry Kerr ; Catharine, who 
married Peter Roudenbush ; Elizabeth ; 
Margaretha, who married (first) Charles 
Leidy, and (second) Per Demigh; Susan- 
na ; Jacob, who married Magdalena Hart- 
zell ; Maria, who married Abel Kerr ; Abra- 
ham ; Henry; Philip and Hannah. 

Henry Cressman, tenth child of Jacob 
and Elizabeth (Nace) Cressman, was born 
in Rockhill township, December 15, I'^QS, 
and died April 5, 1884. He was a farmer 
in Rockhill township, and actively iiu^..- 
ested in the affairs of that locality. He mai- 
ried Mary Stout, and they were the pat- 
ents of ten children, viz.: Livy, born i'cb- 
ruary 15, 1820; Maria, born November 15, 
1821 ; Magdalena, born July 17, 1823; Saui- 
uel, born July 21, 1825; Abraham S., born 
August 2, 1827; Henry, born February ix, 
1830; Elizabeth, born January 12, T832; 
Enos, born May 26, 1834; Aaron, U^^rn Au- 
gust 16, 1837; and Jacob, born Augusi 
8, 1844. 

ABRAHAM S. CRESSMAN, son 01 
Henry and Mary (Stout) Cressman, born 
August 2, 1827, was reared on his father's 
farm in Rockhill township, and was edu- 
cated at the public schools of Branch Val- 
ley. In early life he learned the black- 
smith trade with his uncle Jacob, and fol- 
lowed that vocation for about three years. 
After a few years spent on the larm, he 
started the manufacture of cigars at Branch 
Valley in 1861, and was engaged in that 
business until 1869, when he removed to 
Sellersville and purchased the Washing- 
ton House, but not finding the business 
of keeping a hotel congenial, he sold out 
at the end of one year and built and op- 
erated a general merchandise store oppo- 
site the Sellersville railroad depot. In 1873 
he purchased the feed, . coal* and lumbe? 
business of Joseph A. Hendricks, which 
he carried on for twenty years, doing a 
large business. In 1892 he sold out to Fos- 
benner & Lewis, and retired from active 
business, living a quiet life in his hand- 
some residence erected in 1874, until his 
death on May 30, 1905. Mr. Cressman lived 



58o 



HJSrORV OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



a life of business activity, and had the re- 
spect and conlidencc oi i.A who knew him. 
He was always actively niterested in all 
that pertained to the best interests of the 
town in which he lived, and filled many 
positions of trust and honor. From the 
time that Sellersville was incorporated 
into a borough in 1874, for many years he 
was almost constantly an official of the 
borough and actively interested in the im- 
provement of the town. He was appointed 
in 1874 by the court as judge of the elec- 
tion for the first officers of the borough; 
was for many years chief burgess; served 
repeatedly in the borough council ; and also 
filled the position of school director for 
several years. He was a charter member 
of St. Michael's Evangelical church at Sel- 
lersville, a member of the building com- 
mittee having- charge of its erection in 1870, 
and served as trustee, elder and deacon 
of the church for many years. He mar- 
ried, November 6, 1862, Kate Cressman, 
daughter of James Cressman, and they 
were the parents of two children — ^James 
Richard, born January 17, 1854; and Henry 
Howard, born August 20, 1867. His wife 
Kate died November 10, 1869, and he mar- 
ried (second) November 25, 1873, Hannah 
Derstine, , daughter of Michael Derstine, 
of Rockhill, and their only child was David 
D., the. subject of this sketch, who was 
born February , 13, 1877. 

DAVID D. CRESSMAN was born and 
reared in Sellersville, and acquired his 
education at the Sellersville high school, - 
graduating in 1895. He began the print- 
ing trade in the office of the "Sellersville 
Herald," and is still employed there, fin- 
ishing his trade, however, in a Philadelphia 
job office. He is now devoting most of 
his time to the closing up of his father's 
business afiiairs, with which he is thorough- 
ly familiar, Slaving had charge of most of 
his fathers -private business for a num- 
ber of years. In politics I\Ir. Cressman 
is a Democrat, and a member of the stand- 
ing committee. He takes an active part in 
the affairs of the town, and is now serving 
as borough auditor. He is a member of 
the Lutheran church. 



EDWIN WARREN MARTINDELL, a 
man of rare literary attainments, and a well 
known educator of Hulmeville, Bucks 
county, traces his ancestry to John Martin- 
dell, who was born in England, August 24, 
1676, and who was united in marriage to 
Mary Bridgmont. Among their children 
was a son John, who married Mary Strick- 
land, and among their children was a son 
Miles, who in 1780 was united in marriage 
to Susannah Harvey. Thomas ]Martindell, 
son of the last mentioned couple, married 
Mary Warner in 1819, and among their 
children was a son, Jonathan Warner, who 
was born September 5, 1820, died 1S88. He 
resided in Wrightstown all his life, and 
served as school director for several vears. 



In 1851 he married Mary H. Addis, who 
was born October 18, 1830, died June 11, 
1899, a daughter of Amos and Amy 
(Carver) Addis; in 1845 she joined the 
Southhampton Baptist church, of which she 
remained a member up to the time of her 
death. The children of Jonathan W. and 
]\Iary H. (Addis) Martindell are as 
follows : Thomas H., born October 5, 1852, 

died , 1854. Miles M., born 

October 29, 1853. Amy Anna, born Septem- 
ber 29, 1855, died â– â–  , 1883. 

Artios Addis, born March 19, 1857. Edwin 
Warren, born in Wrightstown township,. 
January 3, 1859, mentioned at length here- 
inafter. Isaiah M., born December 25, i860. 
Benjamin C, borh October 5, 1862, died 
September 12, 1863. Jonathan Warner, Jr., 
born February 6, 1865. Mary M., born 
February 22, 1867, became the wife of Amos 
Tomlinson. Emma J., born August 27, 1872, 
became the wife of Monroe Hartman. 

Edwin W. "Martindell was educated in 
the public schools of his native township 
and the State Normal School, graduating 
from the latter Institution in 1890. In i88a 
he began teaching in the schools of Rockhill, 
Wrightstown and Southampton, and im- 
mediately after his graduation came to 
]MiddIetown, where he has remained up to 
the present time (1905), actively engaged 
as a teacher and organizer. In 1890 Mr. 
Martindell suggested that a Central High 
School be .established at Hulmeville, the 
school building at that place to be enlarged 
to meet the requirements at a slight expense 
to the district. It was with cc)nsiderable 
difficulty that he succeeded . in gaining 
public sentiment in favor of such plans, as 
it was maintained that there were insuffi- 
cient pupils to warrant such an undertaking. 
By personal visits to the houses^! the boys 
and girls w-ho had gone througli the lower 
schools, Principal Martindell, with his un- 
tiring energy and enthusiasm, soon in- 
creased the enrollment of piipijs until it 
was necessary to enlarge the building and 
secure additional teachers. The success of 
this pioneer experiment at Hulmeville 
opened the eyes of the people of-.the county 
so that they could, see what an advantage a 
township Central High Schoql would be 
.to the children. The school .directors of 
Middletown soon provided free conveyance 
to the pupils, who were sufficientlj' ad- 
vanced in their studies to attend, and who 
lived at a distance from the school. The 
first class to graduate was in 1892, the 
graduates numbering nearly sixty, many 
of whom continued their studies in various 
states and graduated from schools of bus- 
iness, law, art, medicine, thereafter engag- 
ing in the various professions. Not only 
was Middletown township, under the lead- 
ership of Mr. Martindell, the first in the 
county to convey pupils to the Central 
High School that they might have the ad- 
vantages of higher education, but it was 
also the first township to issue a printed 
catalogue containing the course of study, 
rules and regulations of the school, to- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



-.Si 



gether with the names of the school board, 
teachers and akmini. The course of study 
outlined by Mr. Martindell has been re- 
vised and extended a number of times by 
him. The Hulmeville High School Cir- 
culating Library of Middletown District 
was started with a fund donated by Prin- 
cipal Martindell, and by a special act of 
legislature .the public schools in which he 
labors are under the concurrent jurisdic- 
tion of Hulmeville borough and Middle- 
town township. In connection with his 
school work he has been allied with the 
University of Pennsylvania, and is still 
â– doing university work. 

In 1898 Mr. Martindell was appointed 
a member of the committee on teacher's 
permanent certificates, receiving this ap- 
pointment from Nathan C. Schaeffer, State 
Superintendent of Public Instruction. "The 
Bucks County Teacher's Institute Journal," 
published monthly from 1891 to 1894, was a 
publication in the interests of the public 
schools of Bucks county, and Mr. Mar- 
tindell served in the capacity of treasurer 
of the publishing committee. He has taken 
an active part in the local history work of 
the county, and is a member of the Bucks 
County Historical Society. In politics he 
is a staunch advocate of the principles of 
the Republican party. In 1891 he was 
â– elected auditor of Hulmeville borough, re- 
elected to the same office in 1903, in which 
Tie is now serving, and in 1900 was elected 
a member of the council of the borough. 
Principal Martindell's personality has won 
for him many friends both in and out of the 
lines of pedagogy. 

December 31, 1896, Mr. Martindell mar- 
Tied Ida Elizabeth Brown, of Middletown, 
daughter of Andrew Jackson and Char- 
lotte Mildred (Vandergrift) Brown, grand- 
daughter of Israel and Sarah (Hellings) 
Brown, and great-granddaughter of John 
Brown. Israel Brown (grandfather) was 
•commissioned in 1842 by Governor David 
E.. Porter major of the Second Battalion 
,of the Forty-second Regiment of the mil- 
itia of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 
in the First Brigade of the Second Division, 
for the counties of Bucks and Montgomery. 



JONAS GOTWALS, of Plumstead, 
Pennsylvania, is the son of Daniel and 
Sarah (Fretz) Gotwals. and was born July 
25, 1850, at Dublin, Pennsylvania. The an- 
cestors of the Gotwals family came from 
Switzerland several generations ago. His 
mother's family were of German descent. 
His grandfather was a shoemaker and also 
carried on farming. He lived in Montgom- 
ery county until his marriage, when he re- 
moved to Plumstead township, where he 
carried on his trade. He was supervisor of 
liis township for nearly twenty years. He 
and his wife had five children : Mary, 
T)aniel. Esther, Catherine and Sarah. Their 
â– son Daniel at nineteen years of age began 
â– school teaching, continuing for four years, 
â– when he married. In 1845 he engaged in 



mercantile business, and was so engaged 
until 1884, when he gave it over to his son 
Jonas. In 1880 he bought the letters patent 
for the perfection spring bed, and made 
a great success of it. He was a director 
in the Doylcstown National Bank for more 
than a quarter of century. He married 
Sarah Fretz, February 29, 1844, by whom 
he had nine children, including . Franklin, 
Jonas and William. Daniel Gotwals, the 
father, died in 1895. 

Jonas Gotwals was educated in the Ex- 
celsior Normal School at Carversville, and 
upon reaching manhood engaged in mer- 
cantile business with his father at Garden- 
ville. In 1888 the father retired and Jonas has 
continued the business, also the business ai 
Danboro from 1875 to 1880. In 1892 he 
established the creamery business at Garden- 
ville, and four years later built and estab- 
lished what is known as Curry Hill Cream- 
ery, operating both until 1901. H^ mar- 
ried Miss Martha, daughter of Samuel 
Lowder, in 1871. They have three chil- 
dren: Florence, Daniel and Samuel. Politi- 
cally Mr. Gotwals is a Republican. 



JOHN B. MOLLOY, an enterprising 
and successful farmer of Buckingham, was 
born in Northampton township, Bucks 
county, April 29, 1854, a son of Nicholas 
E. and Fannie J. (Stradling) Molloy. 
Nicholas E. Molloy was born on the ocean 
when his parents were on the way to Amer- 
ica from Ireland, in 1817. At the age ox 
six years he was taken charge of by David 
Shipps, of Northapmton township, and was 
reared in his family. Soon after arriving 
at manhood he purchased a farm in Nor'^h- 
hampton, near Richboro, on which he re- 
sided for a number of years, and then sold 
it and removed to Wrightstown, where nt 
resided for two years, and then removed 
to the old Lacey farm, in Buckingham, on 
the Wrightstown line, the birthplace of Gen- 
eral John Lacey, living in the house erect- 
ed by the Lacey family about 1706, now 
torn down. He purchased this farm in 1878, 
but had previously purchased and removea 
upon an adjoining farm, now occupied by 
his son Harry F. Molloy, where k« died in 
August, 1880, aged sixty-three years. Mr. 
Molloy was an industrious and successful 
man and was highly respected in the com- 
munity. For over thirty years he ran a 
commission wagon to Philadelphia, carry- 
ing his own and his neighbor's country 
produce to the Philadelphia market. He 
was a member of the I. O. O. F. lodge and 
encampment. Nicholas and Fannie J. 
(Stradling) Molloy were the parents of 
three children : Harry F., the present re- 
corder of deeds of Bucks county, and a 
popular merchant at Pineville: Anna, wife 
of W. Harry Rockafellow, of Buckingham; 
and John B. Molloy. 

John B. Molloy was reared on the farm 
and attended the public schools. At the 
age of nineteen years he apprenticed him- 
self to Aaron Kratz, at Plumsteadville, to 



582 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



learn the wheelwright trade. After serv- 
ing his apprenticeship of three years he 
purposed gunig to Philadelphia to follow 
the trade, but, his parents objecting, nc 
settled down on the farm. In 1879 he re- 
moved to the Lacey farm which his father 
had purchased a year previous, and where 
he has since resided, purchasing the farm 
of his father's estate in the winter of 1880. 
Mr. MoUoy has in his possession the deed 
given to William Lacey by William Penn 
in 1703, and it is in a fine state of pres- 
ervation. Mr. MoUoy is a member of 
Northern Star Lodge, No. 54, L O. O. ¥., 
at Richboro, and Penns Park Council, No. 
793. Jr. O. U. A. M. He was married in 
November, 1880, to Ella Twining, daughter 
of Elias and Nellie (DeCoursey) Twining, 
of Wnghtstown, both of whom are still 
living. To this marriage has been born 
four children : Bertha Twining, residing 
at home ; Edwin Worthington, assistant 
auditor for the Virginia Railroad Com- 
pany, at Philadelphia ; Frances Stradling 
and Eleanor DeCoursey, residing at home. 



NEWTON MYERS. Among the many 
extensive and productive farms in Doyles- 
town township, the seat of justice of Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, is the one owned and 
cultivated by Newton Myers, formerly the 
property of his father. The township of 
Doylestown is situated within a mile of the 
geographical center of the county, and the 
land formerly belonged to the Tree Society 
of Traders. Christian Myers, grandfather 
of Newton Myers, was a native of Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania. He lived all his life 
and followed agricultural pursuits in Plum- 
stead township, which is a region of val- 
ley, plain and winding creeks. He was a 
member of the old Mennonite church, an 
upright and conscientious citizen, who en- 
joyed the contidence and respect of those 
with whom he was brought in contact. He 
was the father of three children : Sarah, 
who became the wife of Francis Fretz, and 
after his death was married to Stout Sto- 
ver; Hannah, whose first husband was 
Paxon Hough, and her second husband 
Orange M. Owens ; and Jacob, mentioned 
hereinafter. 

Jacob Myers, father of Newton Myers, 
was born in Plumstead township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, August i, 1830. Af- 
ter completing a common school education 
he gave his entire attention to agricul- 
tural pursuits, which line of work he fol- 
lowed throughout his lifetime. In 1875 
he purchased the farm in Doylestown 
township upon which Newton Myers now 
resides, and by dint of hard and unremit- 
ting labor succeeded in gaining a comfor- 
table ^livelihood and a competency for his 
declining years. He was a member and 
deacon of the Baptist church of New Brit- 
ain, to the support of which he contrib- 
uted liberally. lie was a Repliblican in 



politics, and held the office of school .di- 
rector in Plumstead and Doylestown town- 
ships. By his marriage to Susan Overholt 
the following named children were born : 
Newton, mentioned hereinafter ; Ella, whi> 
became the wife of Frank Riale, and after 
his death of Otlo Remhold; Laura, wife of 
John Vantoon ; Lizzie, wife of Harvey 
Magargal ; Harry, a real estate and insur- 
ance agent of McKeesport, married Mamie 
L. Mayncs, and they are the parents ot two 
children — Clarence and Howard Newton; 
and Dora, wife of John Naegele. Jacob 
Myers (father) died May 25, 1890. 

Newton Myers was born in Plumstead 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania,. 
March 28, 1857. He is indebted to the 
common schools of Bucks county for his 
educational advantages, which prepared 
him for a life of activity. He remained 
on the home farm with his father, and af- 
ter the death of the latter purchased the 
same, and has since given his entire atten- 
tion to farming and dairy business, running 
a milk route to Doylestown for a period 
of seven years. He has been very suc- 
cessful in this enterprise, and is now class- 
classed among the representative farmers of 
that section of the county. He holds mem- 
bership in the New Britain Baptist church, 
in which he holds the office of deacon. Mr. 
Myers was united in marriage to Mar- 
garet P. iViathews, daughter of Benjamin 
and Elizabeth Mathews. Their children are : 
Elizabeth M., born July 2y, 1886, a student 
of the West Chester State Normal School; 
and Carl, born May 13, 1891, resides at 
home. 



JOHN J. STOVER. The Stover fam- 
ily was founded in this country by an emi- 
grant from Rhenish Germany, who settled 
near Skippack, Montgomery county, Penn- 
sylvania. His son, Jacob Stover, joined the 
revolutionary army when quite young, driv- 
ing a four-horse team belonging to his fath- 
er, with stores for General Sullivan, and. 
remained until the close of the war. Af- 
ter his marriage he settled on the larm m. 
Plumstead township, Bucks county, and re- 
mained thereon until his death. He was 
twice married. His second wife, Cather- 
ine, bore him among other children a son 
Henry S. 

Henry S. Stover was born October 17, 
1786, and died in 1S73. He was a miller, 
and built the grist and saw-mill at Point 
Pleasant, later the property of Ralph Stov- 
er. In 1831 he purchased a property witn 
mill site at Erwinna, from Thomas G. Ken- 
nedy, which property was formerly owned 
by William Erwin, Esq. The following year 
he moved with his family upon the prop- 
erty and erected extensive flour and saw 
mills upon the same. He married Barbara 
Stout, daughter of Isaac Stout, of Will- 
iams township, Northampton county, and 
their children were: Salome, Ann, Eliza,. 
Catherine, Emelline, Jacob, Isaac, Henry 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



58, 



and Jordan H. The mother of these chil- 
dren died in 1862, aged seventy-three years. 
Jacob Stover, eldest son of Henry S. and 
Barbara (Stout) Stover, was born at Point 
Pleasant, October 19, 1817. At an early 
age he was taken into his father's busi- 
ness, remaining with him until he was 
thirty-three years of age, when he with his 
brother Isaac, rented the saw-mill of their 
father, and engaged extensively in sup- 
plying hardwood lumber for the California 
trade. In i860 he turned his attention to 
agricultural pursuits, but four years later 
again went into the lumber business with 
his brother, continuing in the same until 
1879. In 1886 he purcliased from his broth- 
ers, Henry and Jordan H., "The Stover 
Flour Mills," and up to the time of ' his 
death conducted an extensive business in 
the manufacturing of flour and feed. Mr. 
Stover was an enterprising man, was rec- 
ognized as one of the leading men of the 
community, and served up to the time of 
his death, for a period of twenty years, in 
the capacity of president of the Alexan- 
dria Delaware Bridge Company, in whicn 
he was a large stockholder. In June, 1854, 
Mr. Stover married Mary E. Capner, 
daughter of Hugh and Matilda Capner, of 
Flemington, New Jersey. Their children 
are as follows : Matilda C. ; Carrie C. ; 
Hugh C, who is now practicing law in 
California; and John J., who succeeded 
his father in the operation of the mill 
known as the Stover Flour Mill until Jan- 
uary I, 1902, when he leased the same to 
C. C. Bryan & Son, and from then to the 
present time (1905) has lived retired. Ja- 
cob Stover (father) died at his home in 
Erwinna, October 30, 1897. His widow sur- 
vived him seveial year.-; passing away Feb- 
ruary 26, 1904. 



HENRY H. SNYDER, one of the prom- 
inent and successful farmers of Hilltown 
township, was born December 10, 1842, on 
the farm upon which he still resides and 
which has been the property of his direct 
ancestors for over a century, having been 
purchased by Jacob Schneider, June 0, 1795. 
The Snyder family (originally spelled 
"Schneider") were among the earliest set- 
tlers in Hilltown and the "Manor of Per- 
kasie," which included a part of Hil'town 
township and the Rockhills. The pioneer 
ancestor of this branch of the family was 
Michael Schneider, probably a native of 
Germany, and certainly of German par- 
entage, who with sons Jacob, Michael, Con- 
rad, and Christian; and daughters: Han- 
nah, wife of Frederick ShuU ; Catharine, 
wife of Jacob High, and Rebecca Snyder, 
settled in Hilltown township, prior to the" 
Revolution. Both he and his two eldest 
sons became extensive landowners there 
prior to 1779. Michael Snyder died in Hill- 
town in 1806 and devised his plantation, 
purchased ;n 1777 of the Penns, to his son 
Conrad, the great-grandfather of the sub- 



ject of this sketch. Michael Jr. died in 
1822, and also devised his farm to his 
brother Conrad. 

Jacob Schneider, the grandfather of 
Henry H. Snyder, was the son of Conrad 
and Catharine Schneider, and was born in 
Hilltown about the year 1770. He married 
Elizabeth Yost, and in 1796 purchased 112 
acres near the source of the west branch 
of the Neshaminy, one-half mile west of 
Leidytown, where he resided until his 
death in 1822. He was a saddler by trade, 
and followed that business in connection 
with the conduct of his farm. The chil- 
dren of Jacob and Elizabeth (Yost) 
Schneider, were : George ; Michael, who 
married (first) Mary Rosenberger and 
(second) Elizabeth Rosenberger; Enos; 
Elias ; Christian; Catharine, married John 
L. Shellenberger ; Hannah, died unmar- 
ried; Lydia, married Jacob Savacool; Ame- 
lia, married Levi Sellers; and Elizabeth, 
who married Charles Eckhardt. The fam- 
ily were members of the Lutheran church, 
and were among the founders of St. Peter's 
Lutheran church of Hilltown. 

George Snyder, eldest son of Jacob and 
Elizabeth, was born on the old Hilltown 
homestead, and at his father's death in 
1822 became its owner. He erected a mill 
thereon, now conducted by his grandson, 
Isaiah S. Snyder, which he operated for a 
number of years. In 1850 he conveyed the 
lower half of the homestead with the mill 
to his son Francis, and in 1872 conveyed 
the remainder to his youngest son Henry 
H., the subject of this sketch. He later 
purchased the Peter L. Snyder farm ad- 
joining, and lived thereon until his death, 
January 10, 1884. He was a member and 
trustee of St. Peter's Lutheran church of 
Hilltown, and was one of the prominent 
business men of Hilltown, and interested 
in the local enterprises of that section. In 
politics he was a Democrat, and took an 
active part in the councils of his party. 
He was a director of the poor for Bucks 
county for the term 1868- 1871, and like- 
wise filled many local offices. He was mar- 
ried four times. He married (first) July 
4, 1824, Mary Wittig, born March i, 1803, 
died November 16, 1837, who bore him 
five children — Francis, who died in Jlill- 
town several years ago, leaving a large 
family ; Jacob B., for many years a promi- 
nent merchant at Plumsteadville, Bucks 
county ; Ephraim ; Sarah Ann ; and Mary 
Ann. He married (second) Lydia Hart- 
zell, born July 3, 1807, died January 18, 
1858; their only child was Henry H., the 
subject of this sketch. His third wife was 
Elizabeth Martin, born March 5, 181 1, died 
September i, 1873. Mr. Snyder married a 
fourth time, February 12, 1876, Caroline 
Woodring, who was born April 14, 1814. 
No children were born to the last two 
marriages. 

HENRY H. SNYDER, born Decembei 
10, 1842, was the only son of George by 
his second marriage, with Lydia Hartzell, 



;84 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



who was a descendant of an old and prom- 
inent family of Rockhill and Hilltown. lie 
was reared on the old homestead and as- 
sumed control of it on arriving at man- 
hood, becoming the owner in 1872. His life 
has been one of industry and business ac- 
tivity. He has followed the commission 
business for many years with success, mar- 
keting his own and his neighbor's produce 
in Philadelphia, and is one of the active 
and progressive men of his section, and 
has taken especial pride in giving his chil- 
dren the benefit of a good education. He 
married November 30. 1865, Amanda R. 
Reiff. daughter of Abraham and Sarah 
(Reitif) Reiff, of Hilltown, and they have 
been the parents of three children, Elmer 
R., Sallie E., and Anna Mary. 

Elmer R. Snyder, born August 21, 1866, 
graduated from the University of Pennsyl- 
.vania, in 1889, and practiced medicine in 
Philadelphia for nine years. He died March 
16, 1898, after undergoing a surgical opera- 
tion in the University hospital. 

Sallie E. Snyder, born November 19, 
1867. married June 12, 1894, Rev. Charles 
C. Snyder, (son of Sim.on and Lydia Sny- 
der) pastor of the Lutheran church at Dub- 
lin, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where 
they reside. 

Anna Mary Snyder, born November 3, 
1870, married November 21, 1893, Rev. 
William O. Fegely, pastor of the Lutheran 
church at the Trappe, Montgomery coun- 
ty, where he has officiated for seven years. 
Rev. William O. and Anna Mary (Sny- 
der) Fegely are the parents of four chil- 
dren : Byron Snyder, Grace Amanda, Alma 
M. and Florence E. 

Henry H. Snyder is an elder and deacon 
of St. Peter's Lutheran church, and has 
been a trustee of the church for twenty 
years. He still conducts his farm, and 
carries on the business of a commission 
merchant. 



EZRA MICHENER, of Solebury town- 
ship, for many years one of, the prom- 
inent farmers and stock breeders of central 
Bucks, is a representative of one of the old' 
families of Bucks county. He was born in 
Buckingham township, near his present 
residence, October 4, 1839, and is a son of 
Dr. Isaiah and Esther (Good) Michener. 
and a lineal descendant of John and ?^Iary 
Michener. who brought a certificate from 
Friends in England to Philadelphia Monthly 
Meeting about 1687. William Michener. 
third child of John and Mary, born to mo. 
14, 1696. married at Abington Meeting, 
(where his parents had located in 1715,) 
4 mo., 1720, Mary Kuster (or Kester, as 
the name came to be spelled later), a grand- 
daughter of Paulus Kuster, who came from 
the Upper Rhine to Germantown in 1687. 
In 1723 William Michener settled in Plum- 
stead township, where he became a large 
landowner and a prominent citizen. After 
the death of his first wife, who was the 



mother of his ten children, he married a 
widow, Ann Schofield, who survived him. 
He died in 1782. His eighth child, Mes- 
chach, born 4 mo., 22, 1737, died i mo., 9, 
1826, was the ancestor of the subject of 
this sketch. He married, 11 mo., 24, 1761, 
Mary Trego, of Wrightstown, and lived 
and died in Bucks county ; he was an exten- 
sive landholder in Plumstead and Buck- 
ingham townships. 

Mcschach and Mary (Trego) Michener 
were the parents of eleven children, of 
whom Thomas, the grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was the eighth, being 
born. I mo. 21, 1778. He was a shoemaker 
by trade, and followe'd that occupation dur- 
ing the active years of life. About 1825 he 
removed from Buckingham to Horsham, 
Montgomery county, where he died at the 
age of nearly ninety years. His wife was 
Sarah Bradshaw, daughter of James Brad- 
shaw, of Warrington, Bucks county, and 
they were the parents of ten children, of 
whom Isaiah was the fifth. 

Isaiah Michener was born in Bucking- 
ham township, Bucks county. January 25, 
1812. He was reared in Buckingham, and 
removed with his parents to Horsham, but 
returned to Buckingham in 1830, and re- 
sided for several years with his uncle, 
Isaiah Michener, on the farm, which be- 
came his at the death of his uncle and 
was his residence for many years. Soon 
after his return to Buckingham he took up 
the study of veterinary surgery, and began 
to practice that professiort in 1836. and be- 
came very eminent in the profession, fol- 
lowing it for sixty-three years. He was 
one of the founders and the sponsor of the 
U. S. Veterinary Medical Association. He 
was a man of great force of character, and 
enjoyed the esteem and respect of the com- 
munity. He was devoted to his profes- 
sion, and did much to advance and increase 
its usefulness; a man of indomitable in- 
dustry, he acquired a competence, but kept 
up the practice of his profession until his 
death in 1899, at the age of eighty-seven 
years. He married Esther Good, daughter 
of John and Sarah C Smith) Good, of Plum- 
stead. Dr. Isaiah IMichener was active in 
all that pertained to the best interests of 
the community in which he lived, and filled 
many positions of trust. He was for twen- 
ty-one years president of the Doylestown 
Agricultural and Mechanics' Institute, and 
was a familiar figure at its annual county 
fair. He was a member of the Society of 
Friends, and politically a Republican. He 
married a second time, late in life. Rebecca 
Scott, whose maiden name was Brndshaw. 
Dr. Isaiah and Esther (Good) Michener. 
were the parents of ten children, eight of 
whom lived to maturity, viz: Ezra, see for- 
ward; Sarah B., wife of Charles S. Pax- 
son, of Solebury ; Dr. J. Curtis, a prom- 
inent veterinarian of Colmar, Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania ; Mary Ellen, widow 
of Dr. Asher M. Fell, of Doylestown; Hor- 
ace, of Doylestown ; Clarissa, wife of J. 




^. 



>^^2<:e-^ 




HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



585 



Willis Neeld, of Richboro. Bucks county; 
Charles, deceased, who was a prominent 
veterinarian in New York; and Anson B., 
of Solebury. 

Ezra Michener was the eldest son, 
and was reared on the farm in Bucking- 
ham, and acquired his education at the 
public schorls and at the first State Nor- 
mal School at Millersville, Pennsylvania, 
and at the Excelsior Normal Institute at 
Carversville. On January 21, 1864, he mar- 
ried Margaretta Smith, daughter of Joseph 
and Sarah _ (Twining) Smith, o* Bucking- 
bam, and in the following spring located 
on the farm in Solebury, where he has ever 
since resided, purchasing it of his father ten 
years later. He has been for many years a 
breeder of thoroughbred Guernsey cattle, 
has bred many famous cows, and always 
has a fine herd on his farm, in which he 
takes great pride. He was one of the or- 
ganizers and is now a member of the execu- 
tive committee of the American Guernsey 
Cattle Club. This club was organized at 
the Astor House, New York city, February 
7. 1877, by Dr. Charles R. King, S. W. 
Comly and Ezra Michener, of Pennsyl- 
vania; Silas Betts and Mason C. Weld, of 
New Jersey ; James P. Swain, of New 
York, Charles M. Beach and Edward Nor- 
ton, of Connecticut; and E. F. Bowditch 
and James M. Codman, of Massachusetts. 
Of these only the last mentioned and Mr. 
Michener are now living. Mr. INIichener is 
also a member of the Guernsey Breeders' 
Association. In politics he is a Republi- 
can ; he has been a member of the school 
board of Solebury township for thirty 
years, and is now a member of the board of 
county auditors. He is the postmaster of 
Michener postoffice, established at Cottage- 
ville in 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Michener have 
been the parents of six children : Thomas, 
a farmer in Buckingham ; M. Alice, resid- 
ing at home ; Edwin J., deceased : Lois 
W., a conductor on the Willow Grove 
Trolley line ; Isaiah, who conducts the 
farm ; and Edith B., residing at home. 



JACOB L. SHELLY, who is interested 
in agricultural pursuits in Bucks county, 
and in the produce business in Philadelphia, 
was born in Buckingham township, this 
county, December 24, 1866. His paternal 
grandfather was Samuel Shelly. His father, 
Henry S. Shelly, was born December 25, 
18.37. at Brick Tavern, Steinsburg, Bucks 
county. For many years he successfully 
followed farming in the county of his 
nativity, having a rich tract of land which 
he placed under a high state of cultivation. 
In religious faith he was a Mennonite, and 
served as deacon of the church at Deep 
Run. He wedded Miss Mary Leatherman. 
a daughter of Jacob and Sarah (Bishop) 
Leatherman. 

Jacob L. Shelly, son of Henry S. and 
Mary Shelly, attended the public schools 
of New Britain township, Bucks county, 



and in his boyhood assisted in the work of 
the home farm. Following his marriage 
he engaged in farming for a year in Bed- 
minster township, and then removed to the 
Joseph N. Gross farm in New Britain 
township, where he continued the tilling of 
the soil for seven years. He took up his 
abode in 1897 on the J. L. Gross farm, 
where he has since resided, and in con- 
nection with its cultivation he is engaged 
in the produce business in the Philadelphia 
markets. He does an extensive business 
in raising hogs, poultry and vegetables, and 
finds a good sale for these in the city. He 
has led a busy and useful life, his business 
cares making heavy demands upon his time 
and energies, and yet he has found time 
to foster measures for the public good. 
He served for six years on the school board 
in New Britain townshio, and is inspector 
at the present time. He is also a mem- 
ber of the Mennonite church, and in his 
political views is a stanch Republican. 
Jacob L. Shelly was married February 9, 
1888, in Bedminster township, to Miss Liz- 
zie Rosenberger, a daughter of Jacob D. 
and Hannah (Barns) Rosenberger. Her 
parents had ten children: Daniel. Mary, 
Isaiah, Lizzie, Emma, Fannie, Maggie, John, 
Etta and William. Of this number Mrs. 
Shelly was born October 23, 1862, and by 
her marriage she has become the mother 
of six children : Edith R., born October 
25, 1888; Howard R., born September 6, 
1890, and died November 22, following; 
Henry R., born November i, 1891 ; Jacob 
Arthur R., born October 19. 1894; Annetta_ 
R., born September 11, 1898; and George 
R., born March 16, 1904. 



LLOYD RIDGE, who carries on gen- 
eral farming and dairying in Lower Make- 
field township, belongs to one of the old 
and honored families of Bucks county. 
His paternal great-grandparents were resi- 
dents of this county, and his grandfather, 
Daniel Ridge, lived and died in Bensalem 
township, near Trevose. He gave his at- 
tention to general farming throughout his 
entire life, and the property which he 
owned is still in possession of the Ridge 
family. His wife bore the maiden name of 
Rachel Staats, and they became the par- 
ents of eight children : Jonathan ; William 
W. ; Hiram : James : Charles ; Elizabeth, 
wife of Spencer Tomlinson; Emeline, wife 
of John Comly ; and Daniel. 

William W. Ridge, son of Daniel and 
Rachel (Staats) Ridge, was born in Ben- 
salem township, September 12, 1817, and 
in early life began farming on his own ac- 
count, after which he gave his entire at- 
tention to agricultural pursuits until his 
life's labors were ended. In 1853 he pur- 
chased a farm in what is now the Thirty- 
fifth ward of Philadelphia, and continued 
to reside thereon until his death, which oc- 
curred May II, 1903. An unfaultering advo- 
cate of Republican principles, he was prom- 



586 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



inent in local political circles and held the 
office of Alderman a number of years, lie 
held other mnior positions, and further po- 
litical honors awaited him, for in 11^85 he 
was elected to the state legislature. He 
married Miss Sarah A. Johnson, and they 
became the parents of children : Lloyd ; 
Emma, the widow of Luther li. Cornell ; 
Annie, deceased, wife of Newton Myers. 

Lloyd Ridge, the eldest son of William 
W. Ridge, was born in Bensalem town- 
ship, July 10, 1847, and was a student in 
the public schools of Philadelphia, after 
which he spent one term in the jNlillers- 
ville State Normal school. He was trained 
to habits of industry upon the home farm, 
and remained with nis father until twenty- 
six years of age, at which time he took 
up his abode upon the farm that is now 
his home. He has made all of the improve- 
ments here, and it is one of the best equip- 
ped farm properties of Lower Makeheid 
township, having splendid buildings, the 
latest improved machinery, highly cultivat- 
ed fields and good grades of stock. In con- 
nection with general agricultural pursuits 
he has conducted a dairy business, and for 
the past thirty years has made a daily de- 
livery of his dairy products in Trenton, 
New Jersey. His success has come as 
the direct result of diligence, perseverance 
and sound judgment. Lloyd Ridge was 
married to Miss Mary Wilson, a daughter 
of Jesse S. and Martha C. Wilson, and 
they have a wide and favorable acquaint- 
ance in Lower Makeheld township. 



HARVEY S. KULP, senior member of 
the tirm of Kulp Brothers, Perkasie, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, was born at Pleas- 
ant Valley, Springfield township, Bucks 
county, July 25, 1862, and is a son of Abra- 
ham M. and Elmira (Slifer) Kulp. 

The emigrant ancestor of the Kulps of 
Bucks and Montgomery counties was Diel- 
man Kulp, a native of Germany, who came 
to America in the ship "Mortonhouse," ar- 
riving in Philadelphia, August 17, 1729. He 
settled in Montgomery county on the Skip- 
pack creek, and is buried in the old Skip- 
pack Mennonite burying ground. Dielman 
Kulp, Jr., settled in Bedminster township, 
Bucks county, where he purchased a farm 
of one hundred and sixty-two acres in 1754. 
He died there in October, 1789, his wife 
Elizabeth dying some years previously. 
They were the parents of three children — 
Henry ; Elizabeth, who married Henry 
Rosenberger ; and Jacob Kulp. 

Jacob, son of Dielman Kulp, was born 
in Montgomery county, April 16, 1737, ana 
married May 22, 1760, Elizabeth Fretz, 
born in 1739, daughter of John Fretz, the 
pioneer ancestor of the Fretz family who 
had settled in Bedminster in 1738. In 1761 
Jacob Kulp purchased of the London Com- 
pany 211 acres of land in Tinicum town- 
ship, and lived thereon until 1774, when 



he purchased a farm of 162 acres in Hill- 
town township, near Dublin, and later pur- 
chased considerable other land in that vi- 
cinity. He died in Hilltown in May, 1816. 
The children of Jacob and Elizabeth 
(Fretz) Kulp, were ten in number, viz.: 
I. Isaac, born March 3, 1762, married Mary 
Clymer, and left nine children. 2. John, born 
September t>, 1764, married Barbara Funk, 
and had one son Jacob, and two daughters. 
3. Gertrude, born February 8, 1767, married 
Jacob Hunsberger of Hatheld, Montgomery 
county. 4. Jacob, born April 29, 1769, mai- 
ried Catharine Delp, and removed to 
Holmes county, Ohio, where he organized a 
Mennonite church of which he was pastor. 
He was ordained as a Mennonite minister at 
Doylestown Mennonite meeting in i8i8» 
and preached there until 1831, when he re- 
moved with his family to Ohio. 5. Abra- 
ham Kulp, born April 19, 1771, married 
Sarah Hunsicker; see forward. 6. Deilman, 
born July 23, 1773, married Hester Leicy, 
and lived and died on the old homestead 
near Dublin, had a son Henry and a daugh- 
ter Anna, married Samuel Angeny. 7. Hen- 
ry, born January 28, 1776, married Anna 
Hunsicker, lived and died on the Hilltown 
homestead ; had children Isaac, Jacob, Jo- 
seph and Elizabeth. 8. Elizabeth, born De- 
cember I, 1778, married Jacob Silvius; 
lived near Doylestown. 9. Barbara, born 
May 4, 1781, died June 26, 1783. 10. Cath- 
arine, born November 14, 1783, married 
Simon Musselman. 

Abraham Kulp, son of Jacob and Eliza- 
beth (Fretz) Kulp, born in Tinicum town- 
ship, Bucks county, April 19, 1771, was 
reared on the old homestead in Hilltown, 
near Dublin, where his father settlea 
when he was three years of age. He mar- 
ried in 1796 Sarah Hunsicker, and in the 
spring of 1805 removed to Bedminster 
township, where he had purchased a farm 
of 114 acres near the Deep Run Mennon- 
ite Meeting of which meeting he soon af- 
terward became minister. He died in 1848. 
His children were: i. Elizabeth, born 1797, 
died 1876, married Samuel Gayman. 2. 
Abraham, born 1802, died 1876, married 
Catharine Shoemaker. 3. Anna, born 1804, 
died 1885, married Martin Overholt. 4. Ja- 
cob, born March 8, 1806; see forward. 5. 
David H., born 1816, married (tirst) Eliza- 
beth Detwiler, and (second) Elizabeth Al- 
lebach. 6. Isaac. 7. Henry, died unmar- 
ried in 1889. 8. Sarah, married Jacob High, 
and 9. Barbara, born 1818, married Jacob 
Moyer. 

Jacob H. Kulp, son of Rev. Abraham and 
Sarah (Hunsicker) Kulp, born in Bed- 
minster, ]\Iarch 8, 1806, married November 
I, 1827, Mary ]\Ioyer, born in Springfielo 
township, October 15, 1802, daughter of 
Abraham and Elizabeth (Angeny) Meyer, 
and granddaughter of William Meyer, a 
native of Switzerland, who with three 
brothers and a sister migrated to America 
about 1742 and settled in Springfield, near 
Pleasant Valley. Jacob H. Kulp on his 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



587 



marriage settled in Springfield township, 
where he purchased a farm and lived to 
a good old age. His children were : Eliza- 
beth, born June 7, 1S30, died December 21, 
1864, unmarried; and Abraham M., born 
May 13, 1838. 

Abraham M. Kulp was born and reared 
at Pleasant Valley, Springfield township, 
and married there, October 27, i860, Elmira 
B. Slifer, daughter of Joseph B. Slifer, 
and purchased and conducted his father's 
farm. Ihey were the parents of eight chil- 
dren, viz.: I. Harvey S., the subject of 
this sketch. 2. Mary A., born September 
12, 1864. 3. Jacob S., born September i, 
1866. 4. Willis S., born November 28, 1869, 
married Minnie Moyer and is the partner of 
the subject of this sketch. 5. Lizzie S., born 
November 2;^, 1871, married Harvey W. 
Moyer. 6. Ella A., born March 20, 1873, 
married William M. Geisinger. 7. Abra- 
ham, born September 30, 1875. 8. Carrie, 
born November 14, 1878, single. 

Harvey S. Kulp was born and reared at 
Pleasant Valley and graduated from the 
Pleasant Valley high school. He remained 
on the farm with his parents until twenty- 
one years of age, and then entered a gen- 
eral store where he was a clerk for eight 
years. In 1891 he and his brother Willis 
S. purchased the business at Chalfont, 
where they conducted a general store under 
the firm name of Kulp Brothers, for eight 
years. In 1899 they sold out to John Swart- 
ley, and, removing to Perkasie, opened 
their present store, the largest of its kind 
in Perkasie, and are doing a fine business. 
Mr. Kulp and family are members of the 
Mennonite meeting at Souderton. In poli- 
tics he is a Republican, but has never 
sought or held other than local oftice, and 
was a school director at Chalfont for four 
years. He married, May 25, 1887, Mary 
E. Moyer, daughter of John H. and Sarah 
Moyer, who has borne him five children, 
as follows: Erma, born April 2, 1888; Ja- 
cob Harold, born September 17, 1890; Wil- 
lis M., born April 4, 1892; Walter S., born 
August 9, 1895; and Laura, born March 21, 
1897. 



LEIDY FAMILY. The American pro- 
genitor of the Leidy family of Hilltown 
was Jacob Leidy, who emigrated from 
Germany, arriving in Philadelphia in the 
ship "Adventure," from Rotterdam, Octo- 
ber 2, 1727. The name has been various- 
ly spelled Leidich, Leidigh and Leidy. 
They were among the early German fam- 
ilies to espouse the Protestant religion, 
and after years of persecution for conscience 
sake sought religious freedom in Penns 
colony on the Delaware. Jacob Leidy set- 
tled in Franconia township, now. Mont- 
gomery county, and was the organizer of 
the Indian Creek Reformed church near 
Telford, since known locally as "Leidy s 
Church." His eldest son Jacob and his 
daughter Magdalene, who married Colonel 



Jacob Reed, a prominent officer of militia 
in the revolution, were both born in Ger- 
many. He had several other children, most 
of whom on arriving at manhood settled 
in other localities, most of them moving 
westward, assisting in forming new settle- 
ments, and spreading the gospel of Christ 
in the new colony. 

Carl Ludwig Leidy, the first American 
born son of the pioneer, Jacob, was born 
in Franconia township, December 30, 1729, 
and is the ancestor of the Hilltown (.Bucks 
county) branch of the family. He set- 
tled near the present site of Leidytown, 
in Hilltown, soon after attaining manhood, 
and died there February 25, 1785. His wife 
Ursula was born February 8, 1734, and 
died April 8, 1786. Their children were 
Jacob, who married April 17, 1777, Cath- 
arine Conover ; Margaret, who married 
Adam buzzard; Eve, who married Conrad 
Shelienberger ; Hannah, who married 
Charles Fluke; Mary, who married Philip 
Miinibower ; Charles ; Elizabeth ; George ; 
Catharine and Henry. Among his distin- 
guished descendants was the late Professor 
Charles Leidy, of the University of Penn- 
sylvania. 

Henry Leidy, youngest son of Carl Lud- 
wig and Ursula, married April 3, 1781, 
Anna Barbara Raudenbush. He was born 
in Hilltown, October 8, 1755, and died Sep- 
tember 2, 1844. His wife, Anna Barbara,^ 
was born September 29, 1762, and died May 
2T„ 1838; both are buried at the old Hill- 
town Reformed church of which they and 
the whole family were among the earliest 
and most prominent members. They were 
the parents of three sons, George ; Henry ; 
and Samuel. George Leidy, the eldest son, 
was born in Hilltown, October 16, 1784, 
and died there October 5, 1831 ; his wife 
Mary Wambold, was born December 16, 
1791, and died Alay 22, 1841. 

Henry, the second son of Henry and 
Anna Barbara (Raudenbush) Leidy, was 
born in Hilltown on the old homestead 
purchased by his grandfather, November 
29, 1791. On arriving at manhood he pur- 
chased the old homestead of his grand- 
father and resided there all his life, dy- 
ing October 28, 1881. Like his ancestors 
he was a member of the Reformed church, 
and is buried in the old graveyard of the 
Hilltown church. He married Sarah Ger- 
hart, daughter of Abraham Gerhart, who 
was born in 1794, and died September 11, 
1857, and they were the parents of six 
children, viz.; Jonas (deceased), married 
Eliza Cressman and left one child ; Eliza, 
born November 27, 1827, died January 30, 
1838; Samuel G., see forward; Sophia (de- 
ceased), married Isaac Heinly; Elizabeth,. 
married Frederick Fluck ; Leah, married 
William Shull. 

SAMUEL G. LEIDY, of Hilltown town- 
ship,, second son of Henry and Sarah (Ger- 
hart) Leidy, was born in Hilltown town- 
ship, November 28, 1832, and has always 



588 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



resided there, being one of the prominent 
and successful farmers of that section. He 
married November 5, 1859, Sarah Ann 
Fluck, daughter of Jesse Fluck, of Hill- 
town. 

H. FRANK LEIDY, only son of Samuel 
G. and Sarah Ann (Fluck) Leidy, was born 
in Hilltown, October 24, 1862. He was 
educated at the local schools and reared to 
the life of a farmer, and has never followed 
any other vocation. Fie has always been 
actively interested in all that pertains to 
the best interests of the community in which 
he lives, and has held a number of posi- 
tions of trust. He is a director and treas- 
urer of the Unionville and Hatfield Turn- 
pike Company, and director of the Hill- 
town Cemetery Association. In politics he 
is a Democrat, but has never sought or held 
other than local offices. He married De- 
cember 19. 1885, Lydia Leidy, daughter of 
Samuel Leidy, and they are the parents of 
one child, Sarah Andora, born July 8, 
1897. 



GEORGE S. CADWALLADER. The 
Cadwallader family, to which George S. 
Cadwallader belongs, was founded in 
America by one of three brothers, natives 
of Wales, who emigrated thence to the 
new world, locating in Chester county, 
Pennsylvania, another in Montgomery 
county, this state, while the record of the 
third is lost. All of the Cadwalladers 
through successive generations have been 
members of the Society of Friends. One 
of these brothers, Jacob Cadwallader, was 
a direct ancestor of George S. Cadwal- 
lader. His son, Jacob Cadwallader, was 
born in Montgomery county, and became a 
resident of Lower Makefield township, 
Bucks county, where he followed farming 
and reared his family. 

Jacob Cadwallader, son of Jacob Cad- 
wallader (2) was born in Lower Make- 
field township in 1804. He was at one time 
a resident of Upper Makefield township, 
where he resided for two years, and later 
spent two years in Buckingham township. 
In 1841 he removed to Solebury town- 
ship, purchasing the farm now owned by 
George S. Cadwallader from the old Beans 
estate. He was active and successful in 
business, leaving to his heirs a good prop- 
erty. On the organization of the Repub- 
lican party he became one of its most stal- 
wart members, never failing to cast his 
ballot for the men and measures of the 
party. He belonged to the Friends' Meet- 
ing, and died in that faith in 1886, when 
about eighty-two years of age. His wife, 
Mary Leland, was a daughter of Joseph 
Leland, who piloted Washington across the 
Delaware when he captured the Hessians 
on Christmas day at Trenton. Jacob ana 
Mary (Leland) Cadwallader had two chil- 
dren: Franklin; and Anna, wife of Howard 
M. Betts, of Solebury township. 



Franklin Cadwallader was born in Upper 
Makefield township in 1837, and when he 
was in his fouth year his parents removed 
to the farm which had formerly been a 
part of the Beans estate, and where he re- 
sided until his death, succeeding to the 
ownership of the property on his father's 
demise. He always followed farming, and, 
like his father, sustained an excellent repu- 
tation as a business man and citizen. Al- 
though he, too, was a Republican in prin- 
ciple and voted with the party on national 
questions, at local elections where no issue 
was involved he frequently cast an inde- 
pendent ballot. He married Rachel Slack, 
and of their six children two survive : 
Elizabeth, wife of J. Titus Slotter, of Sole- 
bury township ; and George S. 

George S. Cadwallader was born on the 
old family homestead once the property 
of his grandfather, January 6, 1873. Hav- 
ing acquired his education in the public 
schools he worked with his father on the 
farm until the latter's death in 1897, when 
he assumed the management of the prop- 
erty for his mother, who, however, died 
in May of the following year. He then 
purchased the farm, and has since _ con- 
tinued its cultivation, the result of his la- 
bors being highly satisfactory as his meth- 
ods are practical and modern. He is ac- 
counted one of the progressive young farm- 
ers of Solebury township. George S._ Cad- 
wallader married Miss Sarah Smith, a 
daughter of A. Jackson Smith, of Bucking- 
ham township, and by this marriage there 
is one son, Frank T., born November 10, 
1897. Like the others of the family Mr. 
Cadwallader is a Republican, his study of 
the questions of the day leading him to en- 
dorse the attitude of the party on vital 
issues. 



ADEN H. BRINKER. Among the 

representatives of that class of men known 
as practical and progressive agriculturists 
the name of Aden H. Brinker occupies a 
prominent place. He has gained success 
in that occupation by close application and 
ceaseless activity, and his reliable trans- 
actions have contributed in a large meas- 
ure to his prosperity. He was born in 
Warrington township. Bucks county. Penn- 
sylvania. r^Liy 4, 1848. Aden Brinker, 
grandfather of Aden H. Brinker, lived and 
died in Bucks county, and his son John, 
father of Aden H. Brinker, was a native 
of the same county, where his whole life 
was spent, his active career having been 
devoted to farming. He married Miss 
Amelia Hibbs, and their children were: 
Edward. John, Aden H., mentioned here- 
inafter: Jacob, who wn? killed in tho army: 
and Susan, wife of Albert D. Wilgus, of 
Chalfont. a farmer. 

Aden H. Brinker acquired in the com- 
mon schools of his neighborhood an edu- 
cation which prepared him for the active 
duties of life. In early life he gained a 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



589 



thorough knowledge of farming on the 
homestead, and he continued this occupa- 
tion after attaining manhood years, there- 
by providing his family with all the neces- 
saries and many of the luxuries of life. 
He is an active and public spirited citizen, 
taking an interest in all measures calculated 
to benefit his township and county. Mr. 
Brinker was married twice. His first wife, 
whose maiden name was Anna Younge, 
bore him one child, Daniel, now engaged 
as a dry goods merchant in Tampa, Florida. 
His second wife, whose maiden name was 
Sallie Worell, daughter of Elisha and 
Margaret Worell, bore him nine children, 
namely: Elisha, born August 29, 1874; 
J. Hunter, born March 21, 1878; Aden 
G., born April 19, 1880; Oakford, born May 
12, 1882; Flora, born May i, 1884; Lester 
C, born October 8, 1885; Albert W., born 
October 25, 1886; Addie L., born May 23, 
1891 ; and Samuel, born October 31, 1894. 



EDWIN J. JACOBY. Perseverance, 
thrift and industry have been the chief 
characteristics in the career of Edwin J. 
Jacoby, a prosperous agriculturist, who was 
born on the old homestead in Doylestown 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
April 6, 1855, a son of John and Sarah 
(Clymer) Jacoby, and grandson of John 
and Maria Magdalena (Shifler) Jacoby: 
John Jacoby (grandfather) was a native 
of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, one of the 
three original counties of the state, which 
is bounded on the northeast and south- 
east by the Delaware river, southwest by 
Philadelphia and Montgomery county, and 
on the north by Lehigh and Northampton 
counties. About the year 1824 he pur- 
chased a farm in Doj'lestown township, 
adjoining the farm now owned by his 
grandson, Edwin J. Jacoby, and conducted 
extensive operations thereon up to the time 
of his death, thereby providing a comfort- 
able home for his family, which consisted 
of his wife, Maria Magdalena (Shifler) 
Jacoby, whom he married in 1808, and his 
children — Elizabeth, who died unmarried ; 
Susan, who became the wife of Samuel 
Halderman ; Mary, who died unmarried ; 
Isaac, a farmer in New Britain township, 
near New Galena ; Levi, a farmer of Fount- 
ainville, New Britain towmship ; Emanuel, 
a farmer of Doylestown township ; Peter, 
a farmer of Doylestown township ; and 
John. 

John Jacoby (father) was born in Doy- 
lestown township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1828. From the completion of his 
school studies until his death, in August, 
1902. he engaged in the quiet but useful 
calling of agriculture, and his practical 
and progressive methods brought to him a 
large degree of prosperity. He was an act- 
tive member of the Baptist church of New 
Britain during the greater part of his life, 
served in the . capacity . of trustee for a 
number of years, and at the time of his 



demise was a deacon. He married Miss 
Sarah Clymer, daughter of Henry and Mary 
Clymer, and their children were : Henry 
F., a resident of Doylestown township; 
Edwin J., mentioned hereinafter ; Mary, 
E. Jennie, Carrie M., the three last named 
being deceased. 

The educational privileges enjoyed by 
Edwin J. Jacoby during his boyhood days 
were obtained in the common schools of 
his native county. He assisted with the 
manifold duties of the home farm until 
he was about twenty years of age, and 
the following three years he resided with 
his brother Henry F., in New Britain town- 
ship. In 1877 he purchased from his father 
the farm upon which he now resides. The 
farm consists of fifty acres situated about 
two and a half miles from Doj'lestown, 
and is one of the finest and most oroduc- 
tive in Bucks county, and this, for a period 
of twenty-seven years, Mr. Jacoby has cul- 
tivated to a high state of perfection. As 
a citizen he is active and public-spirited, 
and the esteem in which he is held by his 
neighbors is evidenced by the fact that he 
was elected to the office of school director 
in 1896, and has been re-elected three suc- 
cessive terms. He is a member of the 
Baptist church of New Britain, in which 
body he holds the office of trustee. He 
supports the candidates of the Republican 
party, with whom he has cast vote since 
attaining majority. Mr. Jacoby was united 
in marriage to Kate Wagoner, daughter of 
William and Mary (Williams) Wagoner. 
Four children were the issue of this union : 
William H., born March 26, 1882, died 
December 16, 1884; Cora L., born March 
25. 1885; John Wesley, born April 22,, 1888; 
and Florence A., born September i, 1891. 



GEORGE G. MILL, a retired agricul- 
turist of Buckingham township, Bucks 
count}', Pennsylvania, having given up ac- 
tive business pursuits in 1885, was born 
December 4, 1823, in Durham township, 
which is at the extreme north point of 
Bucks county, the last of the original town- 
ship to be organized, but one of the earl- 
iest in the upper end to be settled. 

Solomon Mill (grandfather) lived and 
died in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, w-here 
he followed farming as an occupation. He 
married a Miss Deemer, a'nd their children 
were : Tranther, who married a Mrs. 
Dean ; John ; George, mentioned herein- 
after; and Solomon. George Mill (father) 
was born in Durham township, Bucks 
county, and his entire time and attention, 
after completing a common school educa- 
tion, were given to agricultural pursuits. 
During the war of 1812 he displayed his 
patriotism by enlisting as a private, and 
throughout his term of service he served 
valiantly and well. He was a member of 
the German Reformed church. He mar- 
ried Miss Citherine Good, and eleven chil- 
dren, two of whom dif^d in infancy, were 



590 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



born to them : The surviving members of 
the family are: Sarah, wite of Sanmcl 
Jacoby; Catherine, wife of Isaac Jacoby; 
Solomon G. ; George G., mentioned herein- 
after; John G. ; Magdaline, wife of Ellory 
Loux; Susanna, wire of Isaac Laubacii ; 
Mary, • wife of Ely Cauley ; and Amanda, 
wife of Samuel Gahman. 

George G. Mill was indebted to the com- 
mon schools of his township for a practi- 
cal education. He remained home, assist- 
ing his father with the management of the 
farm, until he was twenty years of age, 
and the following two years worked tor 
his uncle, Solomon Mill. He the returned 
home and worked for his father on the 
farm for four years, and at the ex- 
piration of this period of time began farm- 
ing on his own account on the old home- 
stead farm, where he remained six years. 
Having accumulated sufficient capital, he 
purchased a farm in Warrington township, 
which is the upper of the three rectangular 
townships that border the Montgomery 
county line, which he cultivated for nine 
years. He then disposed of this and pur- 
chased a farm in Buckingham township, 
where he gave his entire attention to farm- 
ing until 1885, since which time he has 
lived a retired life, enjoying the fruits of 
his many years of arduous toil. In 1880 
he was instrumental in the organization 
of what is known as Cold Spring Dairy 
Association, and acted in the capacity of 
superintendent for almost twenty years, and 
treasurer for about ten years. For the 
long period of thirty-nine years he has 
held membership in the Reformed church 
of Doylestown, during which time he 
served terms as a member of the board of 
elders and treasurer. Mr. Mill married 
Miss Madame Baron, daughter of Jacob 
and Susanna Baron, of Bucks county. Their 
children are: Mary, born January 8, 1852, 
wife of Reuben Kohl ; Emma, born Sep- 
tember 10, 1853, wife of Joseph Ruos; 
Isaiah B., born May 25, 1858; Catherine, 
born February 25, 1861, deceased; Elmer, 
born October 14, 1866, deceased ; and Clara, 
born July 15, 1869, deceased. Mr. Mill is 
one of the venerable citizens of the town- 
ship, honored and esteemed by all who come 
in contact with him. Mrs. Mill died Aug- 
ust 8, 1893, at the age of sixty-four years. 



CHARLES FOULKE STRAWN of 
Quakertown, is a representative of one of 
the oldest Pennsylvania families. He is a 
great-grandson of Jacob and Christine 
(Purcell) Strawn, who were residents of 
Pennsylvania in its early colonial period. 
Daniel Strawn. son of Jacob and Christine 
(Purcell) Strawn, was born near Apple- 
bachsville, in Haycock township, and was 
a farmer and also a teacher in the sub- 
scription schools. He was an active mem- 
ber of the Society of Friends. He was 
thrice married, and was in all the father of 
eighteen children, sixteen of whom grew 



to maturity and reared families. His sec- 
ond wife was Margaret Purcell, by whom 
he was the father of a son, Thomas, men- 
tioned at length hereinafter. There were 
no children by the third wife. 

Thomas Strawn, son of Daniel and Mar- 
garet (Purcell) Strawn, was born July 
4, 1789, and received his education in the 
subscription school presided over by his 
father. He learned the cabinetmaker's 
trade and also the carpenter's, carrying on 
the business of a builder in conjunction 
with the labors of a farmer. He married 
Mary, daughter of Casper and Jane John- 
son, and after her death he married, April 
30, 1829, Jane Foulke, who belonged to a 
tamily which is traced through the 
following generations : Hugh Foulke, 
born July 6, 1685, son of Edward 

Foulke of Penllyn, married Anna , 

born in 1693, and they were the pa- 
rents of a son, Theophilus. Hugh Foulke 
died May 21, 1760, and his widow passed 
away in 1793. Their son Theophilus, 
mentioned above, was born December 21, 
1726, married Margaret Foulke, who was 
born April 3, 1734, and he died Novem- 
ber 4, 1785, the death of his wife occurring 
March 30, 1802. Their son Benjamin was- 
born August 16, 1766, and married. March 
26, 1789, Martha Roberts. Their daughter 
Jane became the wife of Thomas Strawn, 
as mentioned above. Benjamin Foulke died 
February 28, 1821, at Harrisburg, being 
then in his second term as a member of the 
legislature. Mr. and Mrs. Strawn were 
the parents of the following children : i. 
Rachel Foulke, born July 30, 1831, died 
October 14, 1885. 2. Martha F., bom July 
4, 1833, died 1841. 3. Charles Foulke, men- 
tioned at length hereinafter. The death of 
Mr. Strawn occurred January 11, 1857. 

Charles Foulke Strawn, son of Thomas 
and Jane (Foulke) Strawn, was born April 
9, 1836, on the homestead in Richland town- 
ship, which was situated two miles south 
of Quakertown, on the Bethlehem turn- 
pike. He attended the Friends' meeting 
school and also a subscription school, after 
which he learned the cabinetmaker's trade 
and also the carpenter's, at the same time 
rendering assistance on the home farm. 
After the death of his father he conducted 
the business for six years, and took up 
more land adjoining the farm. In the 
spring of 1890 he sold the estate to Edward 
N. Conn. During the civil war he was an 
enrolling officer, and served in that capacity 
during the war, for Richland township, 
and subsequently held office for six years 
in the postoffice. He is a Republican in 
politics and has always taken an active in- 
terest in party aflfairs. Mr. Strawn mar- 
ried, April 7. T862, Mary S.. daughter of 
Charles F. and Margaret (Schultz) War- 
wick, of Philadelphia, and they were the 
parents of two sons and a daughter: i. 
Harry Warwick, born June 9. 1863, died 
June II, 1904. unmarried: 2. Frederick 
Percy, born April 16. 1S67. engaged in the 
livery business at Quakertown, and died 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



591 



July 20, 1891. 3. Jane Foulke, born October 
2, 1869, married, May 25, 1904, David H., 
son of David H. and Dorothy (Bones) 
Thomas, of Philadelphia, and resides in 
that city. 



ROBERT BLANK SNYDER, son of 
Amos Hinkle and Mary Ann (Blank) Sny- 
der, was born April 17, 1S63, in Quaker- 
town, Pennsylvania. He is a direct descen- 
dant of Andrew Snyder, who was among 
the early settlers of Richland township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Andrew Sny- 
der was the eldest son of a noble family 
of the Duchy of Deux Fonts, of Rhenish 
Bavaria, where he was born in 1739. In 
â– order to obtain money to come to Amer- 
ica he sold his title to the immunities of 
nobility to his younger brother. He ar- 
rived in Philadelphia in 1759, at the age of 
twenty years, and apprenticed himself to 
Benjamin Chew, with whom he remained 
three years. At the expiration of this time 
the Chews assisted him to purchase four 
hundred acres of land in Richland town- 
ship. At the breaking out of the Revolu- 
tionary war, he entered the army, and was 
present at Trenton, Germantown and other 
battles, and at the end of five years' ser- 
vice was paid therefor in worthless cur- 
rency. He was appointed collector in 
Richland township after the war, and was 
rendered penniless by going security for 
â– others, but his old friends, the Chews, came 
to his assistance again. In 1765 he was 
united in marriage to Miss Margaret Ja- 
•coby, and eleven children were born to them, 
five sons and six daughters, among them 
being John Snyder. Andrew Snyder passed 
away after a well-spent life, October 26, 
1815, at the advanced age of seventj'-six 
years. John Snyder, the son of Andrew 
Snyder and grandfather of Robert B., was 
married to Miss Matilda Hinkle, and among 
their children was Amos Hinkle Snyder. 
Amos Hinkle Snyder, the father of Rob- 
ert Blank Snyder, was born Dej:ember 13, 
1821, on the Snyder homestead on the 
Tohickon, in Richland â–  township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania. His early education 
"was acquired in the subscription schools 
of that section, and in the summer months 
he assisted on the home farm. Immediately 
after leaving the school-room he engaged 
in farming and droving, and later invented 
and patened the Snyder creamery vats, and 
from 1880 to 1883 was engaged in fitting 
up creameries, and finally settled on the 
farm which is now owned and occupied 
l)y his son, Robert Blank Snyder. In 
1841 Mr. Snyder was united in marriage 
to Mary Ann Blank, who was born Novem- 
ber 19, 1822, the daughter of ,John and 
Mary Blank, of Rockhill township. Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania. The following chil- 
dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Snyder : 
Monroe Benjamin. March 17, 1842. married 
Miss Susan C. Berry, daughter of Benja- 
man L. Berry, of Philadelphia, professor of 
astronomy at the Boys' High School ; 2. 



Oliver B., born INIarch 18, 1845, died March 
14, 1880; 3. Clementina B., born 1847, died 
March, 1872: 4. Mary B., born October 15, 
1855, died 1866; 5. Ellen, born April 10, 
1858; 6. Warren B., born May 5, 1S60, 
married Flora Fellman, daughter of Man- 
assah and Alamanda (Heddman) Fellman. 
Her father was a farmer of Rockhill town- 
ship, and was later a merchant of Quaker- 
town, and resides at 4405 Haverford 
avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 7. 
Robert Blank, born April 17, 1863; 8. 
George B., born April 22, 1865, married 
Minnie Appel, daughter of Reuben and 
Hannah (Hess) Appel, of Springfield town- 
ship, and lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania. 
Amos Hinkle Snyder died May 23, 1901, 
and his wife passed away August 3, 1894. 

Robert Blank Snyder, seventh child and 
fourth son of Amos H. and Ann (Blank) 
Snyder, at the age of seven years moved 
with his parents to the village of Cali- 
fornia, which was situated a few miles 
northeast of Quakertown. Here he at- 
attended the district school, and in the sum- 
mer months assisted his father on the farm. 
In 1875 his father purchased the Joseph 
Evans farm, on Allentown pike, below 
Quakertown, which contains eighty-two 
acres, and where Robert now resides. 
Robert Blank Snyder's time was occupied 
chiefly in operating his farm, which he 
named "Locust Grove Stock Farm," and 
he was also actively engaged in the real 
estate business for some time. He is 
actively and prominently Identified with all 
local affairs, and is considered a valuable 
factor in his community. In politics Mr. 
Snyder is a stanch Republican, and works 
earnestly toward advancing the interests of 
that organization. He was at one time 
candidate for the clerk of the orphans' 
court. In religious affairs he and his fam- 
ily affiliate with St. John's Lutheran church 
at Quakertown, Pennsylvania. 

December 30, 1896, Mr. Snyder was 
united in marriage to Miss Sarah Hopper 
Palmer, the daughter of Edward and Marie 
M. (Frache) Palmer, of Philadelphia. Ed- 
ward Palmer was born in Philadelphia, 
May II, 1826, the son of Jonathan and 
Sarah (Hopper) Palmer. His maternal 
grandfather, Isaac T. Hopper, was a noted 
abolitionist and a promoter of what was 
known as the "underground railway" for 
the safe conduct of runaway slaves. He was 
also a prominent; Quaker and exhorter. 
Edward Palmer married Miss Marie Mada- 
line Frache, a native of Shuttaway, Alsace- 
Lorraine province, France, who came to this 
country and settled in Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania. For a time Mr. and Mrs. Palmer 
engaged in farming, and later conducted a 
milk business. The following children were 
born to them: i. Henry B., July 5, 1849; 
married Anna Elizabeth, daughter of Ab- 
ner and Mary (Pabst) Reeder, of Quaker- 
town, and they reside on Broad street, 
Quakertown, Pennsylvania ; 2. Charles B., 
born April 11, 1854. married Mary Beans, 
daughter of Mathias and Lucetta (Hinkle) 



592 



HISTORY Of BUCKS COUNTY. 



Beans, of Philadelphia ; 3. Harriet Jack- 
son, born May 24, 1862, died March i), 
1876; 4: Sarah Hopper (Mrs. Robert Ela.ik 
Snyder), born August 30, 1868. 

The following children were born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Robert B. Snyder : Amos Harrold, 
September 16, 1897; and Marie Madaline, 
July 14, 1899. 



THEODORE CORSON SEARCH, of 
Philadelphia, who for the past thirty-five 
years has been eminent in the manufactur- 
ing and business circles of that city as well 
as of the country at large, was born in 
Southampton township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, March 20, 1841, and is a 
son of Jacob Miles, and Nancy (Corson) 
Search, both of whom are deceased. 

Christopher Search, the grandfather of 
Theodore C, was born in Bucks county in 
1764, and died in Southampton in 1842. In 
early life he was a blacksmith in Northamp- 
ton township, but in 1797 purchased the old 
Banes homestead in Southampton, and fol- 
lowed the vocation of a farmer until 1838, 
when he retired to a lot in Southampton, 
where he died. He was twice married, his 
first wife being Amelia Tolbert, daughter 
of James and Hannah (Burleigh) Tolbert, 
of Upper Makefield. by whom he had five 
children, viz.: William; James T. ; Sam- 
uel ; John, and Sarah T., who married Will- 
iam H. Spencer. His second wife was Ann 
(Miles) Banes, widow of William Banes 
of Southampton, who was born August 4, 
1776, and died December 23, 1865. The 
children of the second marriage were : 
Miles, born July 5, 1807, died young; 
George W., born March 20, 1809, died in 
Newtown, IBucks county; Jacob Aides, born 
December 2, 1810, died October 11, 1893; 
Margaret Mv, born September 22, 181 1, mar- 
ried Elias Lefferts ; Anthony T., born Au- 
gust 16, 1814 ; Christopher, born February 3, 
1816; Ann Miles, born March 22, i8r8, 
married Casper G. Fetter; and Griffith 
Miles, born April 2, 1822. 

Jacob Miles Search was born and 
reared in' Southampton township. He pur- 
chased the homestead farm upon which he 
had lived some years prior to his father's 
decease, and conducted it until 1879, when 
he erected a house on part of the farm near 
Southamptonville, where he lived retired 
until his death on October 11, 1893. He 
was always actively interested in educa- 
tional matters, and served for many years 
in the school board of Southampton town- 
ship. He was for many years trustee of 
the Southampton Baptist church. He mar- 
ried in 1837, Nancy Marplc Corson, born • 
in Southampton, September 29, 1818, died 
April 6, 1898. She was the third child of 
Richard and Elizabeth (Bennett) Corson, 
the former of whom was born in Bucks 
county, December 4, 1768, and died October 
29, 1845, and was the fifth son of Benja- 
min and Sarah (Dungan) Corson. Benja- 
min Corson was born March 6, 1743, and 
was a son of Benjamin and Maria (Suy- 



dam) Corson, both natives of Long Island, 
the former being a son of Benjamin and 
Nelly Corson, who came to Bucks county 
in 1726, when their son Benjamin was seven 
years of age. The children of Jacob Miles 
and Nancy (Corson) Search, were: El- 
wood, born September 22, 1838 ; Theodore 
C, the subject of this sketch; Henry Lott, 
born September 8, 1846, living near Yard- 
ley, Bucks county, Pennsylvania; Erasmus 
N. M., born March 7, 1851 ; and Ann Eliza- 
beth, who married Edwin W- Roberts. 

Theodore Corson Search was born and 
reared on his father's farm in Southamp- 
ton, and attended the country school there 
until his seventeenth j'ear, when he en- 
tered the First State Normal School at 
Millersville, Pennsjdvania, and afterward 
entered the Crozier Normal High School, 
from which institution he graduated after 
taking a three years' course. He served one 
season as a teacher at Fallsington, Bucks 
county, and resigned to accept the position 
of principal of the high school at Middle- 
town, Dauphin county, Pennsjdvania, which 
he filled for two years, and later filled a 
similar position in the Middletown Acad- 
emy at Middletown for two years. In i866 
he came to Philadelphia and was for two 
years an instructor in the Quaker City 
Business College, and one year principal of 
the National Commercial Institute, and then 
began his business career in the employ of 
Davis, Fiss â– & Banes, wholesale wool mer- 
chants. Four years later he became a junior 
partner in the firm under the name of Fiss, 
Banes, Erben & Co., manufacturers of 
worsted and woolen yarns. In 1883 the 
firm became Erben, Search & Co., and took 
a high rank as manufacturers. The busi- 
ness capacity of Mr. Search was univer- 
sally recognized, and his advice and serv- 
ices were sought by mercantile and finan- 
cial institutions. He became a director of 
the Bank of North America, a position 
which he has filled for over twenty years. 
He was elected president of the Colonial 
Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and has 
filled many other responsible positions. It 
was, however, in the organization and per- 
petuation of associations for the protec- 
tion, development and improvement of 
American manufacturing interests that Mr. 
Search has been especially prominent. He 
was for many years a member and presi- 
dent of the Philadelphia Textile Associa- 
tion, and a director of its successor, the 
Manufacturers' Club ; was vice-president of 
the National Association of Wool Manu- 
facturers, of Boston ; and of the American 
Protective Tariff Association of New 
York. As president of the National Manu- 
facturers' Association, for five years he did 
effective _ work in the molding of public 
opinion in favor of and shaping legislation 
for the protection and fostering of Amer- 
ican manufacturing interests. He was the 
originator of the Philadelphia Textile 
School, later merged into the Pennsylvania 
Museum and School of Industrial Art, to 
whicli he has given much time and attcn- 




f 





F'st'^'a J-fisici.-!Ca7 .^:<i .-iss h , PMa 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



593 



tion, serving as vice-president and chair- 
man of the industrial committee of the lat- 
ter institution for many years, and for the 
last eight years as its president. In 1892 he 
became treasurer and executive head of the 
John B. Stetson Company, which position 
he resigned after seven years of service. 
He has also been interested in numerous 
other manufacturing and business institu- 
tions. He was for many years a member 
of the committee on science and art of the 
Franklin Institute; treasurer of the Bap- 
tist Orphanage ; and president of the board 
of trustees of the Baptist Memorial Church, 
of which he and his family have long been 
members. Mr. Search married, December 
25, 1862, Anna L. White, daughter of Eph- 
raim White, of Newtown, Bucks county, 
who was born in 1841. Their only child, 
Ida May, married Professor Howard Cliff, 
principal of the Philadelphia Normal 
School, now treasurer of the De Long 
Hook and Eye Company, and has one 
daughter, Anna Search Cliflf. 



WILLIAM L. BROOKS, connected 
with the industrial interests of Plumstead, 
where his ability in mechanical lines has 
retained him in one position for thirty- 
eight years, was born in Langhorne, Bucks 
county, October 31, 1837. His father, Abram 
Brooks, was born in Middletown township, 
Bucks county, about 1814, and in early life 
learned the millwright's trade, which he 
followed for many years. He married 
Lydia Vanhorn, and their children were : 
John ; Ellen, wife of Kirkbride Larue ; 
Elizabeth, wife of Albert Mitchell; Will- 
iam L. ; Lydia Ann, wife of Edward Mc- 
Mullen ; Thomas ; Henry ; Howard ; and 
Frank. 

William L. Brooks is entirely a self-made 
man, and through his inherent force of 
character, strong determination and un- 
faltering diligence has gained a good living 
and made for himself an honorable name 
in industrial circles. When he was only 
seven years of age he was bound out to 
George Ettenger, with whom he remained 
for six years. He then went to live wath 
Anthony Scott, and after two years entered 
the employ of George Flowers, occup^'ing 
that position for a year. He next began 
learning the blacksmith's trade with Charles 
B. Ridge, with whom he worked until about 
twenty-two years of age. Removing at that 
time to Doylestown, he was for eighteen 
months employed by William Bruner, and 
afterward worked for one vear for George 
Brooks. The following year was passed in 
the employ of Hiram Ely. at New Hope, 
Pennsylvania, and, removing to Center- 
ville. Pennsylvania, he carried on business 
on his own account for two years. He after- 
ward spent four years as a blacksmith at 
Gardenville. Plumstead township, Bucks 
county, and in 1867 came to Plumsteadville, 
where he accepted a position with Aarou 
Kratz as a carriage blacksmith. He has re- 
38-3 



mained in this position continuously since, 
working for nearly thirty-eight years in one 
shop, and no higher testimonial of his 
efficiency and reliability could be given. In 
his political views Mr. Brooks i.i a stal- 
wart Democrat, but has never sought or 
desirfed office. 

He wedded Miss Anna R. Martindale, 
who died May 8, 1905. Mr. and Mrs. 
Brooks reared an adopted child, Emma 
J., a daughter of William Martindale, and 
who became the wife of Lewis Grierson, of 
Philadelphia. 



JOSEPH BECK. Like many of the lead- 
ing families of Bucks county, the Beck fam- 
ily is of German lineage, although the gen- 
erations represented in America have been 
comparatively few, for John B. Beck, the 
father of our subject, was the progenitor 
of his branch of the family in the United 
States. He emigrated from Germany to 
America about 1855, and after a short 
. time spent in Philadelphia removed to 
Bucks county. He had learned the mason's 
trade in his native land, but worked at it 
for only a short time here. He turned his 
attention to farming, devoting his energies 
exclusively to the tilling of the soil and 
further improvement of his home property 
until his death, which occurred December 
10, 1901. He had married Miss Matilda 
Kauler, daughter of Amos Kauler, of Mont- 
gomery county, Pennsylvania. They be- 
came the parents of fifteen children : Cath- 
erine, born July 3, 1861, and is the wife 
of VVilloughby Patterson; Elizabeth, born 
February 9, 1863, and is the wife of Thomas 
Scullion'; Anna L., born December 16, 1864, 
and is the wife of Charles E. Scargle ; John, 
born December 8, 1866, died March 22, 
1896; William A., born September 2, 1868, 
died in December, 1885 ; George, born June 
2, 1870; Amos, bom March 17, 1872; Benja- 
min, born August 16, 1873, died at the age 
of seventeen months ; Hannah, born Feb- 
ruary 6, 1875, and is the wife of John 
Schiele; Matilda, born October 13, 1877, 
and is the wife of Howard Geddes ; Walter, 
born June 7, 1879; Joseph, February 2, 
1882; Henry, May 27, 1884; Emma, March 
19, 1887; and Samuel Arthur, December 
22, 1888. The parents and all of their chil- 
dren became members of the Lutheran 
church at Doylestown and the father served 
as one of its elders for a number of years. 
He took a very active and helpful part in 
church work and contiributed generously 
to its support. He was likewise a member 
of the Knights of Pythias lodge at Carvers- 
ville, in which he passed all of the chairs, 
and he belonged to Lodge No. 447. I. O. 
O. F., of Jamison, in which he filled all of 
the offices. He held membership in the 
German Aid Society of Doylestown, and 
gave his political support to the Republi- 
can party, holding the office of supervisor 
for seven years. 

Joseph Beck, son of John B. Beck, was 
born in Plumstead township, and the pub- 



594 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



lie schools afforded him the educational 
privileges which he enjoyed. To his father 
he gave the benefit of his services upon 
the home farm until the time of the father's 
death, and has since managed the estate, dis- 
playing excellent business ability in the con- 
trol of the property and in the further im- 
provement of the old home farm. He was 
married February i8, 1903, to Miss Mary 
Nicholas, a daughter of john and Sophia 
Nicholas. His fraternal relations are with 
Danboro Council, No. 187, Knights of the 
Golden Eagle, and his popularity therein 
is indicated by the fact that he has bten 
elected to all of its offices. 



HENRY B. LAPP, of Pricks, is .pro- 
prietor of one of the leading productive 
industries of his part of the county, and 
has worked his way upward from a 
humble financial position to one of afflu- 
ence, his success being achieved through 
determined and honorable purpose and 
unfaltering diligence. His ancestry is 
traced back to John Lapp, who was 
probably a native of Germany and set- 
tled in New Britain township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, where he pur- 
chased two hundred acres of land on the 
23d of May, 1747. The name of his first 
wife, the mother of his children, is un- 
known. He was married again about 
17S0 to Mary Hockman, of Bedminster 
township, Bucks county, who survived 
him. His death occurred in March, 
1793. His children were John, Jacob, 
Isaac, Abraham, Mary, Barbara and 
Christina. 

John Lapp (2) son of John Lapp, Sr., 
settled on land which he purchased of 
his father in 1785, and there carried on 
farming for a number of years, but sold 
his property in New Britain township in 

1817. 

Abraham Lapp (3) son of John and 
Catherine Lapp, purchased land in New 
Britain township in 1802. He first be- 
came owner of fifty-three acres, after- 
ward bought one hundred and seven 
acres, and in 1810 purchased seventeen 
acres adjoining. He was a weaver by 
trade, and also gave his attention to the 
supervision of his agricultural interests. 
His death occurred in 1855. He married 
Ann Rosenberger, and they had seven 
children namely: i. John, who died in 
New Britain in 1883, married Ann Weiss- 
ler, and their children were: Eliza, wife 
Abraham Mover; Maria, wife of Abra- 
ham High: Jonas W.; John W. ; Samuel 
W. ; Catherine, wife of Henry Leather- 
man, of New Britain; Joseph W., who is 
living near Chalfont; Henry W., a resi- 
dent of Kansas: and Samuel W., who 
makes his home in Iowa. 2. Joseph, who 
died in Warrington, married Sarah 
Haldeman. and their children are: 
Rachel, the wife of Elias Shaddinger, of 
Plumstead; Mary, deceased wife of Will- 



iam Overholt; John H., who is living in 
New Britain and married Kate Rufe ; Jo- 
seph, of Philadelphia, who married 
Ammie Clymer; and Susan, wife of Eli 
Nice, of Doylestown township, Bucks 
county. 3. Elizabeth, married David 
Rickert, of Hilltown, and had three chil- 
dren, and she and her husband are now 
deceased. 4. Abraham, now deceased, 
lived for a time on the old homestead, 
and afterward in Hilltown. He married 
Christiana Godshalk, and they had two 
children : Tobias deceased ; and Sarah 
Ann, the wife of Joseph L. Kulp, of Bed- 
minster. After the death of his first 
wife, Abraham Lapp married Annie 
Moyer. 5. Samuel, lived and died in New 
Britain. 6. Jacob is the father of Henry 
B. Lapp, whose name introduces this 
review. 7. Henry, married Barbara Wis- 
ler, resided for a time in New Britain, 
afterward removed to Bedminster and 
died in Doylestown township in Au- 
gust, 1S89, while his wife died in Sep- 
tember, 1894. They had two children; 
Joseph Lapp, Jr., who was born in Bed- 
minster township in 1855 and is now liv- 
ing in Doylestown township. He mar- 
ried Sally Godshalk. Samuel married 
Sallie Swartley, and resides in Warring- 
ton. 

Jacob Lapp (4) son of Abraham Lapp, 
was born in Hilltown township uctoo'er 
13, 1813, and in his youth learned the 
carpenter's trade, which he followed 
throughout his entire business career. 
He purchased a property in Blooming 
Glen, where he lived for many years, and 
afterward bought a home in Pricks, 
Bucks county, where he spent his re- 
maining days, his death occurring Jan- 
uary 17, 1895. He married Esther Bergy, 
who was born April 8, 1817, and died in 
New Britain township, January 4, 1899. 
Henry B. Lapp (5) was born in Hill- 
town township, February 20, 1853, in 
the house in which he is now living, and 
w-as educated in the public schools of 
this part of the county. When but nine 
years of age he was bound out to a 
farmer in New Britain township, with 
whom he remained until sixteen j^ears of 
age, being allowed the privilege of at- 
tending school for five months during 
the winter, while throughout the re- 
mainder of the year he was employed at 
farm labor. He worked on the farm 
until he went to learn the harness-mak- 
ing trade under the direction of Henry 
Gross, at Danboro, Pennsylvania. When 
he had completed his apprenticeship he 
worked as a journeyman in Philadelphia, 
but during the great financial depression 
of 1873, when so many business houses 
throughout the country were closed, he 
lost his pisition and he spent all his 
savings while looking for work. Unable 
to secure employment at his trade, he 
began husking corn and thus worked 
until he had saved thirty dollars, when he 
began business on his own account in a 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



595 



Toom of his house at Fricks. This was 
m the fall of 1873. In 1879 he built a 
small shop where his factory now stands, 
jind he has added to this building four 
times in order to meet the increased de- 
mands of his trade. His business has 
steaaily grown, both in volume and im- 
portance, and his sales now amount to 
about fifty thousand dollars a year. 
There are orders which now come to 
him that he cannot fill, and his business 
has long smce reached profitable propor- 
tions, making him one of the prosperous 
citizens and representative manufactur- 
•ers of Fricks. His life history illus- 
trates what can be accomplished through 
â– earnest purpose and the utilization and 
mastery of opportunity. Mr. Lapp gives 
his political support to the Republican 
party, and, while deeply interested in its 
success, is without political aspiration 
for hmself. He belongs to the Menhon- 
ite church. 

Mr. Lapp was married September 18, 
1879, to Miss Susan Louise Swartz, a 
daughter of Abraham F. Swartz, who is 
of German descent, and a descendant of 
Andrew Swartz, a native of the father- 
land who came to America and settled 
in Pennsylvania earlj' in the eighteenth 
century. His son, Andrew Swartz, Jr., 
was born in Germany and emigrated to 
â– J\.merica in 1727. He located in Fran- 
conia township. Montgomery county, 
where he purchased one hundred and 
fifty-five acres of land, then a part of 
Salford township. He married Cath- 
arine Kline and they became the parents 
of ten children. 

Abraham Swartz, son of Andrew and 
Catharine (Kline) Swartz, was born on 
the old family homestead in Montgom- 
ery county, and made farming his life 
w^ork. 

Abram Swartz, grandfather of Mrs. 
Lapp, was born in Franconia township, 
Montgomery county. April 16, 1790. He 
was a clockmaker, following that trade 
when every part of the clock was made 
bv hand, even to the castings for the 
wheels. Later, however, he turned his- 
attention to farming in Lower Salford 
township, Montgomery county. He mar- 
ried Susanna B. Fry, who was born Jan- 
uary 28. 1796. and his death occurred in 
i8.'^2, while his wife died September 26, 
1861. They were the parents of seven 
children. 

Abram F. Swartz. their seventh child, 
and the father of I\Irs. Lapp, was born in 
Lower Salford township. Montgomery 
county, IMarch 12, 1832, and was reared 
by his uncle upon a farm at Silverdale. 
Bucks county, going to his home when 
six years of age. He was educated in 
the subscription schools and in Wash; 
ington Hall boarding school at Trappe, 
Montgomery county, and afterward 
learned the trade of cabinet-making. He 
largely followed carpentering, however, 
in the summer months, and in the win- 



ter seasons engaged in teaching school, 
being thus identified with the educational 
interests of his county for many years. 
Following his uncle's death he purchased 
the farm upon which he was reared, and 
made it his home until 1897, when he re- 
moved to Blooming Glen, where he has 
since lived retired from business cares. 
Abram F. Swartz was married to 
Catharine A. Siegfried, a daughter of 
John H. Siegfried. Her death occurred 
in 1873. There were six children by that 
marriage, the eldest being Mrs. Lapp. 
The others are: Mary S. born Septem- 
ber 22,, 1857, is the wife of Isaac B. 
Beideman and has nine children, Frank, 
Estella. Harry, Alice, Abram, Raymond! 
Edna, Bertha and Harvey. Isaac Frank- 
lin, born April 27, i860, married Amansa 
Elizabeth Bishop, a daughter of Jacob 
Bishop. John S., born April 27 1864, 
died June 2, 1866. Abraham Lincoln, 
born June 22, 1866, married Elemanda 
J. Crouthammel and they have two chil- 
dren—Mamie, who was born and died in 
1894, and Abram Warren, born October 
20. 1896. William Henry, born Mav ^i 
1868. died April 15, 1878. ' 

Abram F. Swartz was married again, 
December 23, 1882. his second union be- 
ing with Mary C. Swartz, a daughter of 
Andrew S. and Catharine B. (Cassel) 
Swartz. They have two children: Nor- 
man S., born October 12, 1883; and 
Maurice S., who was born December 10, 
1884, and died March 27, 1885. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Henry B. Lapp six 
children have been born: Nelson S., July 
28. 1880: Estella S.. March 26, 1882; Ag- 
nes S., June 25, 1883; Esther S., October 
17, 1S84: Martha S., June 5, 1887; and 
Walter S., November 4, 1893. The eld- 
est, Nelson, was married June 8, 1894, 
to^ Ida Weikel, a daughter of Henry 
Weikel, while Estella Lapp was married 
to Abraham O. Frederick, a son of 
George Frederick, February 7, 1900. 



WILLIAM EDGAR SHERWOOD, now 

living retired in New B.-ritain township, 
was born at Geneva. Ontario county. New 
York, June i, 1835. "his parents being Will- 
iam and Rebecca ("Smith) Sherwood. The 
father w^as born in Kexby, Yorkshire, Eng- 
land, in 1787. and followed farming in his 
native land. When twenty-seven years of 
age he came to America, settling at Geneva, 
New York. His children were : John, Har- 
riet Ann, William Edgar, Theodore C, 
Albert D. and Lester M. 

William Edgar Sherwood pursued his 
education at Woolcott, Wayne county. New 
York, and after his graduation became a 
commercial agent and traveled through the 
northwestern states. During the civil war, 
responding to the country's call for aid, 
he joined Company C of the Twenty- fourth 
Michigan Infantry, under command of 
Colonel Morrow, the regiment forming a 



596 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



part of the famous â– "Iron Brigade." Mr. 
Sherwood participaiou i;i a number of im- 
portant engagements, nicluding the battles 
of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chanceilors- 
ville, Gettysburg and others, which wtre 
numbered among the decisive actions of 
the war, and when hostiHties had ceased 
received an honorable discharge, having 
rendered signal service to his country. He 
maintains pleasant relations with his old 
army comrades through his membership 
in Wilkeson Post, No. g, G. A. R., of Buf- 
falo, New York, for during a quarter of 
a century he was a resident of that city. 
After the war Mr. Sherwood again went 
upon the road as a commercial traveler, and 
was thus employed until 1901, when he re- 
moved to Philadelphia, where he was en- 
gaged in the real estate business until De- 
cember, 1903, when his son purchased the 
old Enos Gail estate, in New Britain town- 
ship, where he now resides, living retired 
from further business cares. He is a Re- 
publican in his political views, stanchly 
advooatinp^ the principles of that party, and 
he belongs to the Episcopalian church. 

Mr. Sherwood was united in marriage 
to Miss Eliza J. Larrabee. a daughter of 
William N. and Betsy (Robe) Larrabee, m 
whose family were the following named : 
John H., born in 1842; Eliza J., in 1844; 
Lucian, in 1846; William Edwin, in 1848; 
Charles, in 1850; and Fanny, in 1852. ]Mr. 
and Mrs. Sherwood have one son, Harry 
Miller Sherwood, who was born June 17, 
1869. He is a graduate of the high school 
of Buffalo, New York, and also of the 
pharmaceutical department of the Bufifalo 
University. He completed his course with 
high honors and for five years, was en- 
gaged in the business in Buffalo, New York, 
for which his college- training fitted him. 
He has now been in business in Philadel- 
phia, Pennsylvania, for -the last five years. 



JOHN ZIEGLER RUFE. One of the 
self-made men of Bucks, county is John 
Ziegler Rufe, of Quakertown. Mr. Rufe is 
a son of John Rufe, who was born about 
1797, and in early life followed the carpen- 
ter's trade. He subsequently purchased a 
farm and devoted his remaining years to 
agricultural pursuits. He married Mary 
Magdaline Ziegler, who was born Febru- 
ary 9, 1802, and their children were: 1. 
Harriet, who married Aaron, son of Henry 
Worman, and they were the parents of 
three sons and three daughters. 2. Cath- 
arine, who married (first) Dr.' William 
Wildermuth, of Pottstown, and after his 
death became the wife of Isaac Wolfinger, 
of Tinicum township. 3. Samuel, married 
Lydia Allen. 4. Sarah, became the wife of 
Reed C. Weaver, of Ottsville, and after his 
death married Addison Hess, of Spring- 
town. 5. Lucy Ann, married Francis 
T^Taurer. 6. .\aron, married Susan Calf, of 
Tinicum, and has four sons — Willis R., de- 
ceased, Clinton, John, Albert ; and one 



daughter, Ida, who married William Nash. 
7. Elizabeth, who married Henry Piloom, of 
New Jersey. 8. John Ziegler, mentioned at 
length hereinafter. 9. Matilda, who is the 
wife of Wilson Lear, a farmer of Erwinna. 
10. Emma Jane, who married Thomas C. 
Harpel, the proprietor of a hotel at Otts- 
ville. II. Adaline, who became the wife- of 
James Carver, of Tinicum township. Mrs. 
Rufe, the exemplary mother of this large 
family, died October 6, 1876. The death- 
of her husband occurred several years- 
earlier. 

John Ziegler Rufe, son of John and ]\Iary 
Magdaline (Ziegler) Rufe, was born Feb- 
ruary 19, 1835, on the homestead in Tini- 
cum township, now occupied by his brother 
,. Aaron. He attended until his sixteenth 
year a public school which had been es- 
tablished as the result of a bill introduced 
in congress by Thaddeus Stevens. He then 
entered the general store conducted by 
Charles Scheetz, of Ottsville, with whom he 
remained four years. After serving several 
years with James Williams, at Erwinna, 
Tinicum township, he spent one year in 
Sunbury, another in Erwinna, and then re- 
turned to Ottsville. In the autumn of i866' 
he again went to Erwinna and opened a 
general store, which he conducted success- 
fully for sixteen years. In 1882 he was 
forced by failing health to dispose of the 
business and to retire for recuperation to- 
the village of Head Quarters. His health 
being restored, he moved to Richland Cen- 
tre, where he opened a general merchandise 
store of which he was the active head until ^ 
1891, when he retired, and was succeeded 
by Claude Treichler Rufe, his son, and: 
Oswin Gussman, his son-in-law. Since that 
time the store has been much enlarged. Mr. 
Rufe has been honored by his fellow-citi- 
zens with the office of inspector of elec- 
tion, a position which he still holds. He has 
served on local committees and has acted 
as defegate to county conventions. His sup- 
port is given to the Republican party. While 
not a member of any church, his views are 
broad and liberal and his principles high- 
minded and charitable. 

Mr. Rufe married. December 3. 1862, 
Isabel Williams, and the, following children 
have been born to them: i. Anna, born Oc- 
tober 16, 1864, attended the public schools 
of Erwinna, and in 1886 became the wife of 
Oswin Gussman, son of William and Hes- 
ter (Moll) Gussman, of Quakertown; Mr. 
Gussman is an Independent in politics, and 
a member of the Reformed church ; he and 
his wife are the parents of one daughter, 
Gertrude, who graduated in the class of 
1904. 2. Claude Treichler, born October 
24, 1868, learned the trade of iron-mould- 
ing, and subsequently entered his father's 
store, of which he now has charge in part- 
nership with his brother-in-law, Oswin 
Gussman ; in politics he is a Republican ; 
he married Alice, daughter of Charles and 
Catharine (Apple) Shaw, of Quakertown, 
and they were the parents of the follow- 
ing children : Raymond, May, Anna, and 



^. 



^ 






*5. 





HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



597 



Harold. After the death of his wife, Mr. 
Rufe married, in 1903, Mar}-, widow of Dr. 
Snyder, of Bucks county. 

]\Irs. Rufe is a granddaughter of John 
and Ann (Christian) Wilhams, whose son 
James was born August 23, 1809, in Tini- 
cum township, and in early life was em- 
ployed on the canal. Later he was for a 
number of years the proprietor of a general 
store at Erwinna. He married Phoebe 
Ann, daughter of David and Ann Treich- 
ler, and their children were : i'. Emeline, 
born March 3, 1836, married, 1856, H. E. 
Warford. 2. Mary Jane, born June 22, 
1838, died October 21, 1838. 3. Isabel, born 
November 4, 1839, became the wife of John 
Ziegler Rufe, as mentioned above. 4. 
Charles Treichler, born April 19, 1842, 
married, April 3, 1868, Ella C. Smith, of 
Philadelphia, and died August 16, 1898. 
5. Clayton, born June 3, 1846, married, 
February 14, 1877, Josephine Hartshorn, 
of Mount Holly, New Jersey, and died 
January 13, 190D. 6. Mary Emeline, born 
May 3, 1857, married, January 29, 1880, 
Frank S. Kern, of Quakertown, and has 
two children, Frank S. and Ollie, who re- 
sides at home. Mr. Williams, the father of 
the family, expired March 14, 1903, having 
attained to a great age, being then in his 
ninety-fourth year. 



HENRY RIDGE QUINBY. Solebur; 
township numbers among its valued citi- 
zens Henry Ridge Quinby, grandson of 
James and Margaret (Good) Quinby, of 
Hunterdon county, New Jersey. The 
latter was the daughter of Robert Good, 
a pioneer of Plumstead township. James 
Quinby, son of James and Margaret (Good) 
Quinby, mentioned above, was born in 
1818, in Hunderdon county. New Jersey, 
learned the miller's trade, and as a young 
man came to Bucks county. In partner- 
ship with his brother Isaiah he leased and 
operated the Lumberton grist mills for a 
number of years, and then purchased a 
farm in Solebury township. After spend- 
ing twenty-one years in the cultivation of" 
this estate he bought the farm which is 
now the home of his son Henry Ridge 
•Quinby, and for fifteen or sixteen years 
devoted himself to its management. â–  In 
1903 he retired and moved to Carversville. 
For a number of years he was supervisor 
of the township. He is a Republican in 
politics, and a member of the Society of 
Friends. He married Grace Ridge, and 
six of their seven children survive : Ella, 
who is the wife of William Jay, of Illinois; 
Elwood, who lives in Iowa ; Joseph, who 
is a resident of New York city ; George, 
who resides in Warrington ; Mary, who is 
the widow of James Winder, of Philadel- 
phia ; and Henry Ridge, mentioned at 
length hereinafter. Mr. Quinby, the fa- 
ther, is now, at his advanced age, reaping 
the fruits of an industrious and useful life. 

Henry Ridge Quinby, son of James and 
Grace (Ridge) Quinby, was born October 



16, 1854, in Solebury township, and was 
educated in the common schools. At the 
age of twenty he went to Illinois, where he 
spent a year on the farm of a brother-in- 
law, and on his return purchased a farm 
for himself near Centre Hill, Solebury 
township. Four years later he purchased 
the Fleecy Dale mills, where he had learned 
the miller's trade, and operated them for 
seventeen years. He then sold the property 
and removed to his father's farm, which 
he has since cultivated. He is now serving 
his third term as supervisor and is also 
overseer of the poor. In politics he is a 
stanch Republican. Mr. Quinby married, 
in 1877, Violet, daughter of Jesse Randall, 
a farmer and wheelwright of Centre Hill, 
and they are the parents of four children : 
Violet, who is the wife of Wilson Miller, 
of Carversville ; Mary, who is married to 
Lewis Webster, of Solebury township ; 
Mabel ; and Harry. The two last-named 
are at home with their parents. 



JOHN K. ALDERFER. It is probable 
that the Alderfer family was established in 
Pennsylvania at an early day, although 
there is little definite information concern- 
ing this fact. It is known, however, that 
Joseph Alderfer, grandfather of John K. 
Alderfer, removed to Bucks county from 
Salford township, Montgomery county, and 
it was in the latter locality that John M. Al- 
derfef, the father, was born on the 14th of 
March, 1831. He was but nine years of 
age at the time of his parents' removal to 
Hilltown township, where he was reared 
to the occupation of farming, and after he 
had attained his majority he purchased 
land in Hilltown township and began farm- 
ing on his own account. He also engaged 
in the commission business for many years, 
dividing his attention between the two Fnus 
of business activity. He married Eliza-- 
beth Krout, who \Yas born June 22, 1835, 
and throughout the period of their married 
life they resided on a farm, the father's 
death occurring on the old homestead, 
October 30, 18S8, while his wife died on 
the 30th of December, 1903. They were the 
parents of the following children : Henry, 
who married Mary Ann Rosenberger and 
had nine children ; Catherine, deceased ; 
Joseph, who married Annie Wisler and had 
six children; Mary K., who was born No- 
vember 3, 1859, and died September 28, 
1878; Lizzie, wife of Benjamin George; 
John K. ; Samuel, who married INIary Alle- 
bach and had two children, one of whom 
is deceased ; Willie, who was born April 18, 
1867, and died October 26, 1872 ; Amanda, 
born January 21, 1869, died June 8, 1872; 
Harvey, married Hannah Swartz ; Sallie 
K., married Joseph R. Landis, and has 
three children — Malinda K., married Mah- 
lon D. Detweiler, and has six children. 
Abraham, married Ella Walters and has 
three children. 

John K. Alderfer was born upon hif? 
father's farm in Hilltown township, March 



598 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



6, 1863, and was there reared, being trained 
in the work of the" fields, while during the 
school sessions he pursued his education 
in the public schools of the neighborhood. 
In 1894 he purchased a farm in his native 
township, and has since given his attention 
to its further development and improve- 
ment. He exercises his right of franchise 
in support of the men and measures of the 
Republican party, and is a member of the 
Mennonite church. 

Mr. Alderfcr was married, September 19, 
1885, to Miss Susan D. Rickert, a daugh- 
ter of Valeiitine and Lizzie (Drizzle) 
Rickert. They have four children : Irvin 
R., born February 16, 1889; Lizzie R., June 
15, 1891 ; Mahlon R., September 9, 1894; 
and Ida, June 13, 1901. 



]\Iary (Erdman) Hunsberger. Mr. and 
Mrs. Bloom had ten children : James Mad- 
ison, born December 25, 1849; Missouri,. 
born September 5, 1850, and died in 1852; 
Frank, born November 14, 1852; Oliver,, 
who was born September 19, 1855, and is 
now deceased ; Sarah Jane, born November 
25, 1857; William Packer, born February 
24, i860; Edward H., born February i, 
1862; Calvin H., April 20, 1864'; Ida H.^ 
December 11, 1865; and Malinda H., who 
was born August 26, 1867, and died in in- 
fancy. 



WILLIAM BLOOM, a farmer, was 
born in Leidytown, Bucks county, August 
26, 1825. His grandfather, Harvey Bloom, 
resided in New Jersey. His father, Peter 
D. Bloom, was born October 26, 1777, in 
Hunterdon county. New Jersey, the family 
home being at Little York. After com- 
pleting his education, which he acquired 
in the public schools, he learned the har- 
ness-maker's trade with his uncle at To- 
hickon, Pennsylvania, and for some years 
followed that business. He was also a tan- 
ner, and conducted a tannery at Leidytown 
for eight years. He purchased a farm and 
tannery in Hilltown township at sheriff's 
sale, and there carried on an extensive tan- 
ning- business for many years, his practical 
knowledge of the trade and capable man- 
agement bringing to him gratifying success. 
He not only prospered in business, but 
was also a leading and influential citizen in 
connection with public affairs, and his 
opinions carried weight in the councils of 
the Democratic party, to which he gave his 
unfaltering suport. He was twice elected 
to represent his district in the state legis- 
lature, and took an active part in promoting 
important measures which claimed the at- 
tention of the house at that time. His relig- 
ious faith was that of the Reformed churcn. 
He died upon his farm June 5, 1875. when 
almost one hundred years old. He married 
Christina Heller, and they became the pa- 
rents of eight children : Harvey, William, 
Samuel, Mary Ann, Henry, Oliver, Lydia 
Ann and Emeline. 

William Bloom, spending the days of 
his boyhood and youth under the parental 
roof, learned the tanning trade with his 
father, and continued his assistant until 
the father's death, after which he became 
owner of the business and continued to 
operate in that line until 1889. He then 
turned his attention to farming, which he 
has since followed. He is a member of the 
Gerinan Reformed church, while his wife 
holds membership with the Lurtheran de- 
nomination. On the 5th of October, 1848, 
Mr. Bloom was married to ]\Iiss Sarak 
Hunsberger, a daughter of Samuel and 



CHARLES GARRISON KNIGHT. 

Among the colonists who came to Pennsyl- 
vania with William Penn in 1682 were 
Giles and Mary (English) Knight, who- 
were married in their native country, Eng- 
land, and became the founders in America 
of the family of which Charles Garrison 
Knight is a representative in the sixth gen- 
eration. 

(II) Daniel Knight, son of Giles and 
Mary Knight, was born in Pennsylvania 
in 1697, and died in 1782 at the advanced 
age of eighty-tive years. He was married 
three times. His first wife, whom he mar- 
ried in 1719, was Elizabeth Walker, and 
they had three children: Mary, born No- 
vember 22,, 1719; Joseph, born February 4,. 
1721; and Jonathan, born August 5, 17^2. 
The second wife of Daniel Knight was 
Esther, widow of Joseph Walton. They 
were married in 1728, and the children of 
this union were: William, born September 
27, 1729; David, July 7, 1732; Martha, Sep- 
tember 17, 1736; Joseph, January 7^ 
1739; Ann, December 15, 1741 ; and Thomas, 
July 7, 1744. In 1777 Daniel Knight was 
married a third time, Mary Wilson becom- 
ing his wife. He settled in the southern 
part of Byberry. in Philadelphia county, 
and there reared his family. 

(III) Jonathan Knight, son of Daniel 
and Elizabeth (Walker) Knight, was born 
August 5, 1722. and died in 1772. He mar- 
ried Grace Croasdale, who died in 1799. 
They became the first representatives of the 
family in Bucks county, settling in South- 
ampton town>hip. They had six children : 
John; Abraham; Absalom; David, who 
died in 1821 ; Samuel and Inglish. 

(IV) Absalom Knight, son of Jonathan; 
and Grace Knight, was born September 
17, 1754. and died in 1818. His wife was 
Anna Winder, and they had eight children : 
Benjamin, who was born April 16. 1785,. 
and married Mercy E. Martindale ; Amos, 
who wedded Mary Clayton; Moses, who- 
married Rose Tomlinson ; John, who mar- 
ried Hester Knight; Grace, who married 
Joshua Paul; AiDel; and Samuel. 

(V) Amos Knight, son of Absalonv 
and Anna Knight, wedded Mary Clayton 
and had five children: Clayton married a 
Miss Warner, and their children were Mary, 
Amos. Sarah, Ellena and Joseph ; he after- 
ward married again, removed to Kansas, 
and had several children, including Eva. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



599 



Rebecca and Grace, daughters of Amos 
Knight, died in childhood^ Ann became 
the wife of Goforth Hibbs, and had two 
children, Mary and Bedell. Her second 
husband was David Cornell, and their chil- 
dren were Amos, Rebecca, Samuel, Jona- 
than and Annie. 

(VI) Jonathan Knight, youngest child 
of Amos Knight, was born in Southampton 
township, Bucks county, near Feasterville, 
on the old hoiiiestead farm, January lo, 
1810, and wedded Alary Vansant, a daughter 
of Charles G. Vansant. They had nine 
children, of whom the eldest is Charles. 
The others are as follows: William (2), 
who died in 1876, married Elizabeth Fenton, 
and had five children : Eva, Annie, Byron ; 
and two sons deceased. Jane (3), died at 
the age of thirteen years. John (4), a phy- 
sician and surgeon, who died April i, iSho, 
married Louisa Cornell and they had three 
children: Joseph Ryers; Charles Garrison 
and George R. Amos (5), who died in 
December, 1881, married jane Dubois, and 
they had three children, Amos, Li.y and 
Mary. Mary Ann (6), who died in Jan- 
uary, 1882, was the wife of William Robb, 
a son of Casper Robb, and their children 
were Theodore, Kate, Elsie, John and 
Clarence. Emma J. (7), died in child- 
hood. Jonathan (8), married Mariha 
Tomlinson, and they have three children, 
Russell, Watson and Ellen. David (9) 
who died in December, 1881, wedded Mary 
Cornell and had no children. 

Charles Garrison Knight, eldest son of 
Jonathan Knight, was born September 2, 
1835, in Southampton township, near the 
boundary line between Bucks and Mont- 
gomery counties. He was reared upon the 
old home farm in that township, and ob- 
tained his education in the public schools 
there. He continued to live with his father 
until twenty-two years of age, when his 
father purchased for him a farm of one 
hundred and thirty acres in Northampton 
township, near Rocksville, to which he then 
removed. Though now residing in Church- 
ville he still owns the farm, and has cul- 
tivated it to the present time, having it 
now under a very high state of cultivation. 
In addition to this he owns considerable 
land in Southampton itownship. and his 
property interests yield to him a good 
financial return. Since his removal to 
Northampton township Mr. Knight has been 
continuously and actively interested in Re- 
publican politics, and h-as held various pub- 
lic positions of trust and responsibility, be- 
ing chosen to both township and countv 
offices. He was school director for eighteen 
years, justice of the peace for seven years 
and supervisor for two year?, while at the 
present writing he is serving as county 
treasurer, his incumbency extending from 
1902 to 1905. No public trust reposed in 
him has been betii'ayed in the slightest de- 
gree, and his Entire official career has been 
in harmony with the record of the family, 
characterized by devotion to the general 
good at all times, and desirous of the sub- 



stantial upbuilding of the county. At the 
present time he is regarded as the leader 
in the Republican ranks in his township. 

Mr. Knight wedded Elizabeth Cornell, a 
daughter of James C. Cornell, of Holland, 
and their children are as follows : Lincoln, 
who married Clara Tomlinson, and has 
one child, Charles G. ; Emma, the wife of 
Dr. Markley, of Hatboro, and the mother 
of five children-^Mary, Eilen, Amelia, 
Emma and Ella; and Theodore, who 
wedded Mary E. Parry, a daughter of John 
Parry, of Langhorne; they have one child, 
Helen Knight. 



WILLIAM D. YOCUM, a -farmer of 
Hilltown township, Bucks county, was 
born in Worcester township, Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania, November 28, 1839. 
His paternal grandfather, Jonathan Yocum, 
married a Miss Diehl. Their son, Israel 
Yocum, was also a native of Montgomery 
county, and throughout his business career 
followed farming. He held membership 
with the Mennonite church, and was a Re- 
publican in his political views. He mar- 
ried Margaret Diehl, and they became the 
parents of five children, of whom one died 
in infancy. The others are Mary, who 
died at the age of fourteen years; William 
D. ; Jonathan, who married Lizzie Clymer ; 
and Eliza, wife of Henry Nace. 

William D. Yocum obtained his educa- 
tion in the public schools of Montgomery 
and Bucks counties, and has always fol- 
lowed farming.' He assisted his father in 
the labors of the fields through the period 
of his youth, and thus gained the practical 
experience which has enabled him to carry 
f 01 ward to successful completion wiiatever 
he has undertaken in the line of agricul- 
tural pursuits. In 1869 he purchased the 
farm in Hilltown township upon which he 
has since resided, and through his unfalter- 
ing energy and unremitting diligence has 
placed this under a high state of cultiva- 
tion. His political views are in accord with 
the principles of Republicanism. In 1883 he 
was elected on that ticket to the office of 
supervisor of Hilltown township, to which 
position he has since been frequently re- 
elected, until his incumbency in the office 
covers altogether fourteen years. He be- 
longs to the Reformed church. 

Mr. Yocum was married January 13, 
1866, to Miss Mary Gulick, who was born 
October 20, 1844, a daughter of Merami and 
Christinna (Swartz) Gulick. They have 
seven children, namely : Merami G., born 
July 31, 1866, and married Ella Yoder, by 
whom he has one child. Alma; Maggie G., 
born January 13, 1869, and is the wife of 
Andrew Benner; Anna Mary, born Septeni- 
ber 25, 1871, and is the wife of Calvin 
Hunsberger,' and had five children — Grace, 
Willie, Margaret (deceased), Calvin (de- 
ceased), and Paul; William G., born No- 
vember 25, 1873, and married Ida ]\Ior- 
gan, by whom he has two children, William 



6oo 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Lloyd and Pearl ; Ervin G., born July 28, 
1879 ; John G., born December 24, 1881 ; 
and Stella G., born September 29, 1885, and 
now teaching school in Hilltown township. 



ROBERT REED, deceased, was a worthy 
representative of that class of men, born 
in foreign countries, who after their emi- 
gration to a new clime become loyal and 
faithful citizens of the same, aiding to the 
fullest extent of their power in the pro- 
motion and development of enterprises 
calculated to improve the commercial, poli- 
tical and moral welfare of the community 
in which they reside. He was born in 
county Derry, Ireland, in 1827, a son of 
David and Jane (Hunter) Reed, natives 
of Ireland, whom he brought from their 
home to the United States, also his broth- 
ers George, James and David, and sisters 
Mary and Sarah, having come here prior 
to their emigration, accompanied by his 
sister Katherine, in order to earn the 
requisite means for this purpose. 

Robert Reed was reared and educated in 
his native land, remaining there until he 
was seventeen years of age. His first em- 
ployment after his arrival in this country 
was farming for Frank Paul, with whom he" 
remained a number of years. He then went 
to work for Charles Randall, remaining 
with him until 1850, the year of his mar- 
riage, aiter which he rented land for a per- 
iod of time, thereby accumulating sufficient 
capital to purchase the old Swift farm. 
Subsequently he purchased other farms 
which he cultivated and Tmproved and m 
due course of time became one of the prom- 
inent landowners of Bensalem township, 
his holdings being very extensive and valu- 
able. The esteem in which he was held 
by his fellow townsmen was evidenced by 
the fact that he was elected a director of 
the school board, and served in the capacity 
of treasurer of the same for a number 
of years.' He held membership in the 
Protestant Episcopal church, and is poli- 
tical affiliations were with the Democratic 
party. 

In 1850 Mr. Reed was united in marriage 
to Angeline V. Stevens, daughter of John 
and Sarah (Thatcher) Stevens. Their chil- 
dren are : William, who married Harriet 
Berry, and their children are : Lavinia and 
Elsie. Robert, who married Mary Louisa 
Dyer, and thier children are Raymond, Will- 
iam and Robert. Harry, who married PJenie 
Worthington, and they are the parents of 
four children : Lulu, Joseph, Curtice and 
Annie. Angeline, who became the wife of 
John N. Shriner. and one child has been 
born to them : Mable A. Robert Reed, 
father of these children, was buried 
on Thanksgiving day, 1896, having died 
four days before. He was an industrious, 
honest and honorable man, and his decease 
was sincerely mourned by his family and a 
wide circle of acquaintances. 



LENDRUM STOCKTON traces his 
ancestry back to John and Sarah (Brear- 
Icy) Stockton, the former of whom was 
the owner of a large tract of land near 
Princeton, New Jersey, and was a brother 
of Richard Stockton, one of the signers of 
the Declaration of Independence. John 
Stockton, however, was in sympathy with 
the English cause, and went to New York, 
after which his property was confiscated 
by the American authorities. - His son John, 
grandfather of Lendrum Stockton, came 
with his mother to Lower Makefield town- 
ship, Bucks county, at the close of the war, 
and they purchased a small tract of land 
on the eastern end of the farm now owned 
by Isaiah, V. Stockton. Arriving at years 
of maturity, John Stockton wedded Alary 
Vansant, a daughter of Gabriel Vansant, 
and settled on the farm now owned by 
Joseph Flowers. Subsequently he removed 
to the farm which is now the property of 
Mrs. A. P. Search. He was a noted horse 
fancier and veterinary surgeon, and was the 
owner of some of the finest horses seen in 
eastern Pennsylvania in his day. He had 
ten children : Nancy, Joseph, Sarah, Eliza, 
Mary, John, Charity, Ellen, Elijah and 
Isaiah V. 

Isaiah V. Stockton, youngest son of John 
and Mary (Vansant) Stockton, was born 
in Lower Makefield township, September i, 
*i8i7, and became the owner and occupant 
of a part of his father's homestead, includ- 
ing all of the tract which his grandmother 
had purchased when she removed from 
New Jersey with her son John and sought 
a home in Bucks county. Isaiah Stockton 
married Sarah Thackery, a daughter of 
Amos and Nancy (Carson) Thackery, of 
Lower Makefield township, and they had 
two sons, Lendrum and John B. 

Lendrum Stockton was born February 
26, 1844, in Lower Makefi'eld township, on 
a farm adjoining that upon which he now 
resides, and which is a part of his grand- 
father's original tract of land. He obtained 
his early education in the common schools, 
and continued his studies in the Carvers- 
ville Seminary. During his youth he as- 
sisted in the operation of his father's land, 
remaining upon the home fariri until his 
marriage, when he began farming on his 
own account on a tract of land adjoining 
the home place. After his mother's death 
he purchased in 1890 the old homestead 
farm, and has since given his entire atten- 
tion to its further improvement and de- 
velopment. He has here a splendid prop- 
erty, and the rich and productive soil an- 
nually yields an excellent harvest. In his 
political views Mr. Stockton is a Repub- 
lican, and while never an aspirant for 
office, he has served as school director of 
Lower IMakefield township for twenty-four 
years ; the cause of education finding in 
him a warm friend, whose efforts in behalf 
of the schools have been practical and bene- 
ficial. He belongs to Lodge No. 159, A. O. 



W YOR 

UDRARY 






'->â– '. I 



13. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



60 1 



U. W., of Yardley, Pennsylvania, and has 
filled all of the chairs. 

On the 17th of December, 1868. Lendrum 
Stockton married Miss Abbie White, and 
they have three children : Charles, who 
married Aliss Frances Balderston, a resi- 
dent farmer of Lower Makefield township; 
Anna, at home; and Sarah T., the wife of 
William Buckman, a son of Henry Buck- 
man, of Wrightstown, Pennsylvania. 



PETER HOGELAND MORRIS. The 
family of which Peter Hogeland Morris, 
of Newtown, is a representative, is of 
Welsh origin, and has been resident in 
Bucks and Montgomery counties since a 
very early period, and in these counties the 
name of Morris is very frequently met with. 
The founders of the family were Baptists. 
William Morris settled in Plumstead town- 
ship about 1790. He was a shoemaker by 
trade, and in 1798 purchased a tract of 
twenty acres on the Durham road above 
Gardenville, where he followed his trade 
and trained his sons to cultivate the soil. 
In 1805 he removed to a tract of two and 
a half acres which he purchased of Jona- 
than Smith, on the Ferry road between 
Gardenville and Point Pleasant. He subse- 
quently acquired thirty acres of land in 
the same neighborhood. He married Han- 
nah , by whom he was the father of 

the following children : Elizabeth ; Zebulon ; 
Alice; Enos; Catharine; Elias; William; 
Theodore, mentioned at length hereinafter ; 
Mary; and Sarah Ann. Mr. Morris died 
on his farm in November, 1835. 

Theodore Morris, son of William and 
Hannah Morris, was born in 1814 in Plum- 
stead township, and received such meagre 
education as the time and place afiforded 
to lads who were expected to contribute 
their share of labor toward the support of 
a large family. In 1833, on the occasion 
of his marriage, he moved to Gwynedd, 
Montgomery county, and in the autumn of 
1835 purchased his father's thirty-acre farm 
in Plumstead. On the death of his father 
in November of the same year he took up 
his abode on the homestead, and the re- 
mainder of his life was spent in that vicin- 
ity. He married in 183^ Hannah Layman, 
of New Britain township, and they were 
the parents of the following children : Evan 
J., who lives in Doylestown ; Mary, who 
became the wife of Andrew Jackson Case; 
William T.. mentioned at length herein- 
after ; Mathias. deceased ; Charles, who is a 
resident of Philadelphia : Catharine, who is 
the wife of Edward Smith, of Doylestown ; 
John A., who lives in Plumstead ; Jemima, 
who is the widow of George i:±ultz ; and 
Belle Martin. Mr. Morris, the father, died 
April 19, 1896. 

William T. Morris, son of Theodore and 
Hannah (Layman) Morris, was born in 
1841, in Plumstead township. He was twice, 
mjirried, his first wife being Elizabeth, 



daughter of Peter Hogeland, of Upper 
Makefield; a descendant of Dirk Hogeland, 
who emigrated from Holland to Staten 
Island in 1653. Mr. and Mrs. Morris were 
the parents of a son, Peter Hogeland, men- 
tioned at length hdreinafter. After the 
death of his wife Mr. Morris married Nellie 
Dimmick, of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. 

Peter Hogeland Morris, son of William 
T. and Elizabeth (Hogeland) Morris, was 
born March i, 1868, in Plumstead town- 
ship, and at the age of thirteen entered the 
service of Charles M. Shaw, of Lahaska, at 
the same time attendixig the Buckingham 
Friends' School, obtaining a thorough edu- 
cation. At seventeen he became a clerk 
in the general store of Frank L. Worthing- 
ton, at Doylestown, and in 1886, when Mr. 
Worthington opened a clothing store, Mr. 
Morris was transferred to that department. 
In 1887 he entered the employ of Wilmer 
W. Carr, at Ivyland and in 1892 under the 
firm name of Carr & Morris, opened a gen- 
eral store at Richboro, which he conducted 
for three years. In 1895, in partnership 
with his former employer, Frank L. Worth- 
ington, he opened a clothing and furnish- 
ing store at the corner of State street and 
Washington avenue, in Newtown, Penn- 
sylvania. Five years later he purchased his 
partner's interest therein, and has since con- 
ducted the business in his own name. By 
industry and thrift and a careful attention 
to business principles he has built up a 
flourishing trade. In 1904 he bought of 
Henry M. Pownall a lot on the east side 
of State street, and has erected thereon 
a fine three-story store and dwelling. Mr. 
Morris married, March 3, 1892, Lillian, 
daughter of William and Anna (Coon) 
Hampton, of Solebury. ]Mr. and Mrs. Mor- 
ris have no children. 



C. HOWARD MAGILL, express agent, 
Doylestown, was born in Doylestown, May 
27, 1844, a son of Alfred and Jane S. 
(Mann) Magill, both natives of Doylestown 
township, and of Scotch-Irish descent. 
Robert Magill. the great-grandfather of C. 
Howard Magill, came from the north of 
Ireland about 1760 with his brothers Henry, 
William and James, and settled near Doyles- 
town. Robert and Henry engaged in the 
mercantile business at Doylestown, at the 
corner of State and Main streets, where 
Reichel's bakery now stands, as early as 
1767, on land purchased of Archibald Craw- 
ford, comprising twelve and one-half acres. 
In 1773 they purchased of William Doyle, 
the pioneer innkeeper of the town, the 
seventeen acres lying between State, Main, 
Court and Broad streets, and in 1770 the 
farm now the property of John Hart. 
Henry removed to Bedminster in 1776 and 
deeded his interest in the farm and the 
Crawford lots to Robert. Henry died in 
Bedminster in 1799. leaving a widow Doro- 
thy, a son Henry, whose whereabouts he 



602 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



did not know, and a daughter Lctitia. 
What became of the other two brothers, 
James and William, is not known ; both 
are mentioned in the will of Aobert in 
1781 as indebted to him, and with Jane, 
daughter of William, are named as 
residuary legatees in the event of the death 
, of William, the minor son of Robert. 
Robert died on his farm in Doylestown 
township (then Warwick) in April, 1782. 
He married October 7, 1774, Martha, daugh- 
ter of William and Martha Doyle, who sur- 
vived him and married Jacob Troxel. 
Robert Magill also had sisters Letitia and 
Margaret, who are mentioned in his will. 
William Magill, only child of Robert 
and Martha, was born in Warwick town- 
ship (now Doylestown) in 1775. His father 
dying when he was but seven years old, 
directed that he should be educated and 
apprenticed to a trade, and he was ap- 
prenticed to a clockmaker and followed that 
trade for some years. He spent his boyhood 
days with his mother and stepfather, and 
received his tuition from itinerant school- 
masters of the day and from local teachers, 
among whom were John Furness, Joseph 
Meredith, Abraham Chapman, Joshua 
Jones, Naylor Childs, George Burgess, 
Robert Sterner and George Burgess. He 
followed his trade in Doylestown, and later 
kept a hotel at the corner of State and 
Main streets, a noted hostelry of the day. 
He was a captain in the war of- 1812, of the 
company known as the Bucks County 
Rangers, and an officer of militia until his 
death in 1824. His wife was Mary, daugh- 
ter of Benjamin Morris, who survived him. 
His children were : Louisa C, William D., 
Robert M., Benjamin, and Alfred, the 
father of the subject of this sketch. 

ALFRED MAGILL, was born in Doyles- 
town and always resided there. He was a 
school teacher in early life, and later had 
a marble yard in Doylestown. He died in 
September, 1854. His wife was Jane S., 
daughter of John and Martha (Grier) 
Mann, of Doylestown township. His chil- 
dren were : Laura, Theodore, Edwardine, 
Eugene, Charles Howard and Alfreda. 

C. Howard Magill, the subject of this 
sketch, was born and reared in, Doylestown. 
He attended school until eighteen years of 
age, when he entered the express office of 
Heston and Co. and managed their office 
until 1879, when he accepted the position 
of express agent for the P. &. R. Express 
Company, and has filled that position ever 
since under that company and its suc- 
cessors. ,He is a member of Doylestown 
Lodge, No. 245, F. and A. M., and of Gen- 
eral Robert L. Bodine Post, G. A. R. In 
June, 1864, he enlisted in Company E. One 
Hundred and Ninety-sixth Regiment, Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers, under Captain C. K. 
Frankenficld and was at Chicago guarding 
Confederate prisoners, and later at Fort 
Delaware. He married in 1873 Anna J. 
Shemire, of Philadelphia, but has no chil- 
dren. In politics he is an ardent Republican. 



MICHAEL MARTIN. The farmers of 
Bucks county find in Michael Martin, of 
Chalfont, a worthy representative. Mr. 
Martin is of German descent, his father,. 
George Martin, having been a native of 
Wurtembcrg, where he was born September 
14, 1820. He came as a young man to the 
United States and settled in Readmg. Dur- 
ing the civil war he fought bravely in the 
ranks of the Union army. 

Michael Martin, son of George Martin, 
was born December 31, 1851, at Cross Keys, 
Doylestown township, where he obtained his 
education in the public schools. For some 
time he followed the carpenter's trade, and 
for five years was employed in the New 
Britain gristmill. In 1873 he purchased the 
Messinger farm, in New Britain township,, 
and has since been engaged in general farm- 
ing. The success which has attended his 
endeavors is the result of long experience, 
a thorough and practical knowledge of the 
requirements of his calling, sound judg- 
ment, and a large amount of executive abil- 
ity. The confidence reposed in him by his 
fellow-citizens needs no other proof than 
is furnished .by the fact that for two years 
he served as supervisor of the township. 
Mr. Martin married, December 16, 1871, 
Annie Howland, and their family consists 
of the following children : Emeline T., who 
was born June 9, 1873; George W., born 
November 19, 1874; William H., born Jan- 
uary 31, 1877; Amanda, born September 
30, 1881 ; Ethel, born September 2^, 1883 ; 
Luther, born October 3, 1888; and Stan- 
ley, born January 6, 1893. 

Mrs. Martin is a daughter of William 
H. and Emeline (Zearfoss) Howland, who 
were the parents of the following chil- 
dren : Annie, who became the wife of 
Michael Martin, as mentioned above ; Eu- 
gene M.; Euphemia; Mary Jane; and 
Bertha. 



CHARLES MOON was a descendant of 
two of the oldest families of Pennsylvania. 
His ancestry in the paternal line can be 
traced back to James (i) and Joan (Bur- 
gess) Moon, who resided near Bristol, 
England, until with their six children they 
emigrated to America, settling in Falls 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, this 
being a very early epoch in the develop- 
ment of the state. Pioneer conditions 
existed and James Moon bore his share in 
the substantial improvement and upbuild- 
ing of his locality. Their son Roger Moon 
(2) married Ann Nutt, and continued to re- 
side in Bucks county. James Moon (3) 
son of Roger and Ann (Nutt) Moon, also 
a farmer of Bucks county, married Ann 
Watson, nee Satcher. Moses Moon (4) son 
of James and Ann Moon, was the grand- 
father of Charles Moon. He married 
Rachel Burgess. 

James Moon (5) son of Moses and 
Rachel (Burgess) Moon, wedded Jane 
Haines, who comes of equally remote an- 
cestry, the line of descent being traced 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



603 



down from Richard Haines, who left Eng- 
land with his family but died while on the 
ocean on his way to America. His widow 
continued on the voyage to this country 
and here reared her family, including 
Richard Haines, who wedded Mary Car- 
lisle. Their son, Abram Haines, married 
Grace Hollingshead, and their son, Benja- 
min Haines, became the great-grandfather 
of Charles Moon. He married Elizabeth 
Roberts, and their son, Job Haines, wedded 
Sarah Carr. They were parents of Jane 
Haines, who became the wife of James 
Moon. 

Charles Moon (6) son of James and Jane 
(Haines) Moon, was born November 19, 
1820, and pursued his education in the 
Friends' school at Westtown, Chester coun- 
ty. On laying aside his text books he as- 
sisted in the operation of his father's farm 
in a very efificient manner, thus continuing 
his labor until 1855, when he became the 
owner of a fine farm in Middletown known 
as the Woodburn farm. His business af- 
fairs were capably conducted, and in 
each transition stag$ of his career he 
found opportunity for further advancement. 
In 1876 he established a coal and lumber 
j'ard at Woodburn Station, on the New 
York branch of the Philadelphia & Read- 
ing Railroad, this station at the time of the 
building of the railroad having been laid 
out upon his farm. There Mr. Moon was 
continuously occupied with his business in- 
terests up to the time of his death, which 
occurred on the 23d of May, 1888. He was 
for many yfars a director in the Farmers' 
National Bank of Bristol, Pennsylvania, 
and his business investments were 
judiciously made, bringing to him a reason- 
able measure of success. He was also in- 
strumental in having the postoffice estab- 
lished in Woodburn, and did all in his 
power to promote the welfare and upbuild- 
ing of his community. 

On the 21 st of October. 1863. Charles 
Moon was married to Miss Mary Cadwalla- 
der Eastburn, of Newtown, Pennsylvania. 
She, too, was a representative of one of the 
oldest families of the Keystone state, trac- 
ing her ancestry in the maternal line back 
to John and Mary (Castle) Cadwallader, 
whose son. Jacob Cadwallader (2) mar- 
ried Magdalene Conard. Jacob Cadwalla- 
der (3) son of Jacob and Magdelene Cad- 
wallader, wedded Phoebe Radcliffe and they 
became the great-grandparents of Mrs. 
Moon. Cyrus Cadwallader (4) son of 
Jacob and Phoebe Cadwallader, was mar- 
ried twice, his second wife being Mary 
Taylor, and it was their daughter. Sarah, 
w'ho became the wife of Aaron Eastburn 
and the mother of Mrs. Moon. In the 
paternal line Mrs. Moon is descended from 
Robert and Sarah (Preston) Eastburn, 
who came to America in 1713 with their 
ten children and settled in Philadelohia. 
Samuel and Elizabeth (Gillingham) East- 
burn are the representatives of the family 
in the second generation in America in 
the line of direct descent. They were pa- 



rents of Joseph Eastburn, who wedded Mary 
Wilson. Amos Eastburn, son of Joseph and 
Mary (Wilson) Eastburn, married Mary 
Stackhouse and their son, Aaron Eastburn, 
became the husband of Sarah Cadwallader. 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Moon had two 
children : Anna Jennie, born September 12, 
1864; and Charles Henry, born August 15, 
1866. The former was educated in the 
Friends' select school at Philadelphia, and 
the latter in the Westtown boarding school. 
The daughter was married August 2, 1893, 
to Edward Randolph, of Philadelphia, a 
son of Edward T. and Mary (Sharpless) 
Randolph. They have one child, Jane 
Chace, born September 13, 1902. Charles 
Henry Moon was married March 14, 1895, 
to Mary Louisa Sharpless, of Chester coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Benjamin 
and Sarah C. Sharpless. They have three 
children : Emma Walmsley, born March 26, 
1897; Sarah Cook, born October 2, 1898; 
and Marian Jane, born March 31, 1902. 

Charles Moon was a Republican in pol- 
itics, and was for many years an elder in 
the Society of Friends. He traveled ex- 
tensively in England and in his own coun- 
try, and was a very loveable man, of genial, 
kindly nature. Those who knew him — and 
he had a wide acquaintance — recognized 
that he was a true friend and devoted hus- 
band and father, and thus he commanded 
the confidence and good will of all with 
whom he was associated. 



MILLARD F. TERRY, a highly re- 
spected citizen of Travose, Southampton 
township, where his entire life time has 
been spent, is a lineal descendant of Will- 
iam Terry, probably a son of Daniel Terry, 
who married for his first wife Mary Heil- 
man, and the issue of this union was three 
children : Charles, born December 23^ 
1812; John, born 1810, settled in Illinois; 
Nancy, born 1807, became the wife of 
Thom.is Wright, and they settled in Ohio. 
By his second wife, William Terry had 
three children : Walter, married Maria 
Flood ; Emily, became the wife of James 
Wright ; Caroline, became the wife of John 
Knowles. 

Charles B. Terry, youngest son of Will- 
iam and Mary (Heilman) Terry, was born 
in Chester county, Pennsylvania, December 
23, i8t2. He was united in marriage to 
Margaret Worthington. and their children 
were as follows : William, born August 
26, 1839, married Margaret LaRue, and 
their children are William and Blanche. 
Amanda, born September 30, 1841, died 
February 25, 1S81 ; she was the wife of 
William LaRue, and mother of one daugh- 
ter, Ada T. Elizabeth W., born August 31, 
1843, became the wife of Marmaduke Van- 
degrift, and one child was the issue of this 
union, Maggie. Mary H., born May 31, 
1845, married (first) Edmund Wells, issue; 
one daughter, Lizzie Alma ; she married 
(second) William Ashton, no issue. Win- 



6o4 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



field Scott, born August ii, 1847, married 
Mary States, and their family consists of 
four children: Harry, Ella, Herbert and 
Lkura. Adaline R., born September 7, 
1849, married Hogeland B. Stevens, and 
they are the parents of one daughter, Har- 
riet H. Ellen G., born October 14, 1851. 
Charles B., Jr., born April 6, 1854. Millard 
Fillmore, born December 9, 1857, mentioned 
hereinafter. Ediivard E., born January i, 
1863, married Anna Kilmer, who bore his 
three children : Howard K.. born Novem- 
ber II, 1891 ; Charles Winfield, born July 
20, 1897; and Russell Everett, Ijorn March 
3, 1900. 

Millard Fillmore Terry, fourth son of 
Charles B. and IMargaret (Worthington) 
Terry, was born on the old homestead at 
Trevose, Southampton township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, December 9, 1857. 
Upon the completion of his studies he 
learned the trade of blacksmith, which he 
has successfully followed in his native 
town ever since. He married Mary Wor- 
rell, daughter of William and Eliza Wor- 
rell, and their children are : Clifford F., 
born June 28, 1892; and Margaret, born 
March 11, 1900. 



ALGERNON S. CADWALLADER. 
From the time of the establishment of the 
colony of Pennsylvania down to the present 
(more than two centuries) the Cadwallader 
family has figured in public affairs that 
have moulded the history of the state, and 
the life record of Algernon S. Cadwallader 
is in harmony with that of his honorable 
and distinguished ancestry. He has left 
the impress of his individuality upon the 
"business and political history of his county 
and state, and pre-eminently a man of 
affairs, he has wielded a wide influence. 
His birth occurred in Lower Makefield 
township, Bucks county, in 1828, and he 
resides in the village of Yardley in the an- 
cestral home, which was built by his mater- 
nal great-great-grandfather, Thomas Yard- 
ley, who came to America in 1704. He is 
descended in the paternal line from the 
Cadwalladers and Taylors, prominent fam- 
ilies for many years in the history of the 
state, and in the maternal line his ancestors 
were Yardleys and Staplers. These fami- 
lies were cotemporaries of William Penn 
in the early settlement of the colony, and 
were members of the Society of Friends. 
Thomas Yardle}% in December, 1706, was 
married to Ann, daughter of William Biles, 
of Bucks county, and they became the par- 
ents of ten children : Mary, born August 
4, 1707; Jane, November 20, 1709; Rebecca, 
July 27, 1710; Sarah, July 30, 1712 ; Joyce, 
October 3, 1714; William, March 25, 1716; 
Hannah, November 13, 1717; Thomas, No- 
vember I, 1720; Samuel (i). April 16, 
172;^; Samuel (2), July 13, 1729. 

(II) William Yardley, son of Thomas 
Yardley, the progenitor, married Ann 
Biuld, of New Jersey, and their children 



were: Ann, born April 10, 1749; Sarah, 
February 17, 1751 ; and Margaretta, De- 
cember 6, 1752. On the 31st of March, 
1756, William Yardley was married a sec- 
ond time to Sarah Kirkbride, a daughter of 
]\Iahlon and Mary Kirkbride. There were 
nine children of this union : Mary, born 
January 27, 1757; Hannah, October 3, 1758; 
Achsah, February 17, 1760; Letitia, July 
12, 1762; Thomas, October 2, 1763; Mahlon, 
July 17, 1765 ; Samuel, February 28, 1767 ; 
William, June 22, 1769; and Joseph, March 
19, 1771. 

(HI) Achsah Yardley, daughter of Will- 
iam Yardley, became the wife of Thomas 
Stapler, April 24, 1794. They had two 
children : Letitia, born October 9, 1795 ; 
and Susanna, July 2, 1797. 

(IV) Susanna Stapler, daughter of 
Thomas and Achsah (Yardley) Stapler, 
was married, October 19, 1819, to William 
Cadwallader, son of Jacob and Ann Cad- 
wallader, and the children of this marriage 
were: Thomas S., born October 3. 1820; 
Elizabeth, February 16, 1822 ; Achsah Ann, 
October 29, 1823 ; Letitia S., September i, 
1825 ; Sarah Y., March 2, 1827 : Algernon 
S., August 27, 1828; William, February 20, 
1836; David Willis, March 11, 1837; and 
Jacob Augustus, December 11, 1838. 

(V) Algernon S. Cadwallader began hit. 
education in the public schools, which he 
attended until sixteen years of age, when 
he was sent to a boarding school in Ches- 
ter county under the care of Benjamin 
Price. He remained in that institution for 
some time, and completed his education in 
the Attleboro Academy under the direction 
of James Anderson. Hfe remained upon 
his father's farm until he attained his 
majority, and then, removing to the village 
of Yardley, was identified with its com- 
mercial interests as a general merchant for 
several years. 

Though the control of his business inter- 
ests has claimed much of his time and at- 
tention, he has, nevertheless, found oppor- 
tunity to devote to the careful consideration 
of the great questions and issues which have 
confronted the country during the long 
period that has elapsed since he attained his 
majority and which have left their impress 
upon our national life. When quite a young 
man he was an ardent admirer of Henry 
Clay, stanchly supported the Whig party, 
and endorsed the principles of protection 
to American industries. Year by year his 
faith in this policy of the government has 
strengthened, and he now considers it the 
most important issue with which the people 
today have to deal. Following the disso- 
lution of the Whig party he became an 
active Republican, and was a long recog- 
nized leader in the party ranks in Bucks 
county. His public-spirited citizenship, 
combined with his natural ability, led to 
his selection by his party for the nomi- 
nation of state senator in i86r. and, al- 
though the county at that time was largely 
Democratic, he was defeated by a very 
small vote. This was the only election that 




-'^'-'^I'ea.^.^^rU'U^ P.Ue^ P*^-^ 




7^ ^2U--<(^-r:<^c^^^^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



605 



has occurred in his neighborhood since he 
attained his majority at which he has not 
cast his ballot, but, from the time of his 
nomination imtil after the vote was re- 
corded, he was confined at his home by a 
serious illness. He received the appoint- 
ment of collector of internal revenue for 
the fifth district of Pennsylvania in 1865, 
and was again honored by his party in 
1878 by being made its candidate for the 
congressional nomination for the sixth 
district of Pennsylvania, comprising Bucks 
and Montgomery counties. He had a ma- 
jority in his own county, but was defeated 
in IVIontgomery county. In 1886, at the 
earnest solicitation of many members of his 
party in Bucks county, he was again a 
candidate for nomination, and had a plu- 
rality of delegates from the home county 
on the first ballot, but after that he with- 
drew his nomination as a candidate. In 
1862, at the request of Governor Curtin, he 
superintended the enrollment of the Bucks 
county militia, and was a most earnest 
and helpful advocate of the Union cause 
throughout the period of hostilities. In 
1864 he represented the fifth district of 
Pennsylvania in the national convention 
which re-nominated Abraham Lincoln for 
the presidency, and he was also a delegate 
to the national convention of 1868, when 
General U. S. Grant was made its standard 
bearer. He has frequently been chosen as 
a delegate to the state convention, and his 
opinions have carried weight in the coun- 
cils of his. party. In recent years he has 
largely retired from business and political 
activities, and, in the enjoyment of a well- 
earned rest, occupies the old Yardley man- 
sion, which since 1728 has been one of the 
landmarks in Lower Makefield township. 
His interest in the welfare of his county, 
state and nation has been deep and sincere, 
. and few men outside of office have exerted 
a stronger or more beneficial influence in 
political circles in the state than has Al- 
gernon S. Cadwallader. Fearless in con- 
duct and stainless in reputation, he has 
stood as the champion of all that he has 
believed to be for public progress and im- 
provement, his course prompted by hon- 
orable motives, and guided by considerate 
action in all his relations with his fellow 
men. 

In 1853 ]\Ir. Cadwallader was married to 
Susan Josephine Yardley, the eldest daugh- 
ter of William and Sarah (Hart) Yardley. 
Their children were nine in number: 
Lydia Yardley, born December 11, '1853, the 
wife of George Warner, Jr., of Philadel- 
phia ; William Y., born July 28, 1855, who 
married Carrie E. Lansing, of Trenton, New 
Jersey ; J. Seymour, born November 9, 1856, 
died April 9, 1877, in his twenty-first year; 
Letitia S., born August i, 1858, the wife 
of Edmund R. Willets, of Trenton, New 
Jersey; Thomas Sidney, born January i, 
1861, who married Ida R. Weeks, of Mill- 
ersville, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania ; 
Augustus J., born August 11. 1863; Sarah, 
born March 15, 1865, the wife of George 



F. Craig, of Philadelphia ; Mary Anna, born 
January 9, 1867, wife of Malcolm Franklin, 
of Philadelphia; and Helen Marr, born 
September 5, 1874. the wife of E. Y. Barnes, 
of Richmond, Indiana. 



ABEL G. HALDEMAN, of Line Lex- 
ington, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was 
born in the township of Upper Providence, 
[Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, April 5, 
1858, and is a son of John and Euphro- 
zena (Gander) Haldeman. The Haldeman 
family is of German origin, its American 
progenitors being among the early German 
emigrants who settled in what is now Mont- 
gomery county, from whence some of their 
descendants migrated into Bucks county 
and settled in New Britain township prior 
to the Revolutionary war. The branch of 
the family to which the subject of this 
sketch belonged, however, remained in 
Montgomery county. 

John Haldeman, the father, was born in 
Montgomery county, near Slunk's mill, in 
1790, and died in 1869, at the age of seventy- 
nine years and one month. He was for 
many years a manufacturer of grain cradles 
and, being the only one in that section, sup- 
plied the farmers for miles around with 
these useful agricultural implements prior 
to the days of improved harvesters. He 
was a skilled mechanic and operated a 
turning lathe of his own manufacture. John 
Haldeman was twice married. By his first 
wife, whose maiden name was Eisenberg, 
he had eight children: Henry, Christian, 
Samuel, Jacob, Joseph, Mary, Ruth, and 
Abraham, the latter dying in infancy. After 
the death of his first wife he remained a 
widower for twenty years, and then took a 
second helpmate, Airs. Euphrozena Denner, 
widow of Rufus Denner, who was already 
the mother of four children by her former 
husband, three girls and a boy. By this 
second marriage he was the father of five 
children; Isaac, who died in infancy; Abel 
G., the subject of this sketch; Lydia, Annie, 
and Reuben. 

ABEL G. HALDEMAN was reared in 
Upper Providence township, and acquired 
his education at the public schools of thav 
township. At the close of his school days 
he learned the trade of a tinsmith with 
Isaac H. Tyson, in Skippack township. On 
closing his apprenticeship he went to 
Spring City, Chester county, where he fol- 
lowed his trade as a journeyman tinsmith 
until 1879, when he located at Centre 
Square, Montgomery county, erected a 
building and started into business for him- 
self. Five years later he purchased the gen- 
eral merchandise store there of J. R. Yost, 
whiph he conducted for nine years, filling 
the position of postmaster for that period. 
In 1894 he rented the property, which he 
still owns, and removed to Line Lexington, 
Bucks county, and opened a tin and stove 
store, which he has since successfully con- 
ducted. He is a member of the Reformed 



6o6 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



church, and politically is a Republican. Mr. 
Haldenian has been twice married. His 
first wife was Anna Croll, daughter of 
AlichaeJ Croll, by whom he had one son, 
Edgar C, born July 17, 1881. He married 
(second) Margaret Kcybold Ruoff, and 
they have been the parents of three chil- 
dren; I. Mabel, who died in infancy; 
2. John R., in 1S86, married February 6, 
1904, Eva Albright, daughter of Dr. litus 
Albright, of Hatfield, Pennsylvania, by 
whom he has one child Margaret ; 3. Eu- 
gene, born in 1894. Mr. Haldeman is one 
of the active and progressive business men 
â– of Line Lexingtgn. 



FRANCIS CAVANAUGH, one of the 
foremost and enterprising business men of 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and a member 
of the hrm of Roberts, Winner & Company, 
was born February 22, 1849, in Philadel- 
phia, at what is now Sixth and Locust 
streets. He received his education in the 
public schools of his native city, and also 
attended school at New Hope, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, whither he had gone 
to reside with his uncle, Francis Moore, 
and his grandmother, Catherine Moore. 
After residing in New Hope for a time he 
returned to Philadelphia, where at the age 
of twelve years he entered into his first 
regular employment as errand boy in a 
grocery store, receiving in compensation 
for his services the munificent sum of one 
dollar and twenty-five cents per week. He 
remained in this employment for about a 
year, and, believing that he could better 
himself in a financial way, at least, he es- 
tablished himself with an ice company, 
where he remained for some time. 

At the age of fourteen years he entered 
the foundry of Lawrence Myers, at Twen- 
ty-sixth and Lombard streets, where he 
was employed for a year and a half, break- 
ing pig-iron, working at the cupola, clean- 
ing cast-iron, and other work, hard and 
heavy, at a salary of four dollars a week. 
He was then helper on an ice wagon for a 
season, and, desiring to learn a trade, he 
apprenticed himself to the firm of Stuart 
& Peterson, founders, to learn stove-plate 
moulding. When his term of service had 
expired, and when he was about twenty- 
one years of age, Mr. Cavanaugh removed 
to Pittsburg, entering into the employment 
with the firm of Smith & Sons, founders of 
water-pipes, where he remained for three 
years. In 1873 he returned to Philadelphia 
and re-entered the service of his former 
cmplovers, Stewart & Peterson, and was 
there "engaged until the time of the great 
panic which overspread the eastern United 
States and threw many people out of em- 
ployment. However, being of a resourceful 
and energetic nature, INIr. Cavanaugh â–  was 
not discouraged by this set back, but imme- 
diately became engaged as driver of an ice- 
wagon until such time as he could find 
employment at his trade. Five years later 



(in 1878) he removed to Quakcrtown, 
where he worked at his trade m the firm 
of Thomas, Roberts & Stevenson, stove 
manufacturers, where he remained until 
the plant was destroyed by fire in 1880, 
when he returned to Philadelphia, residing 
there with his mother. He again estab- 
lished himself with Stuart & Peterson, 
where he remained but a short time, when 
his former employers, Thomas, Roberts & 
Stevenson, whose works had been destroyed 
by fire, as above referred to, rented the 
American Stove Foundry at Second and 
Mifiiin streets, and Mr. Cavanaugh resumed 
his connection with them, remaining until 
1881. He then entered into a copartnership 
with George Rogers, Harry Rogers, his 
son, George S. Scypes, William S. Rob- 
erts, William P. Winner, Ezekiel Thomas 
and Charles A. Klump, and purchased the 
ruins of the old foundry at Quakertown, 
rebuilding the same, and in February, 1882, 
commenced operations under the firm 
name of Rogers, Roberts, Scypes & Com- 
pany, Mr. Cavanaugh working as moulder. 
In 1883-84 the Messrs. Rogers retired from 
the firm, and the firm then stood Roberts 
Sc\'pes & Company. Immediately after 
this change took place Mr. Cavanuagh be- 
came salesman for the establishment, and 
during the four years that he occupied that 
position he built up an extensive and profit- 
able trade in southern New Jersey, Dela- 
ware, Maryland, and the District of Col- 
umbia. In 1886 he retired from the posi- 
tion of salesman, and became foreman of 
the foundry, which position he held until 
1900 and he also had charge of the finances, 
acquitting himself with credit and profit 
to the firm. Since 1900 he has been 
treasurer and general manager. The mem- 
bers of the firm are William P. Roberts, 
William P. Winner, and Francis Cavan- 
augh, and the firm name is Roberts, Winner 
& Company. In politics Mr. Cavanaugh 
is a strong advocate of the principles of 
the Democratic party, and takes a lively 
interest in the welfare of that organization. 
He is very active in local afi'airs, has served 
as member of the Quakertown council, 
and worked earnestly for the introduction 
of the water and electric light systems. He 
is held in the highest esteem by the people 
of the community, demonstrated by the 
fact that he served as president of the town 
council for two years, in 1900 was elected 
borough treasurer, and has recently been 
elected to his fourth term to that office of 
trust and responsibility. 

April 28, 1886, Francis Cavanaugh wa» 
united in marriage to Ellen, daughter ot 
Charles and Elizabeth (Leidy) Kemmerer, 
of Philadelphia. The Kemmerers and 
Leidys were old Montgomery and Bucks 
county families of German origin. Henry 
Kemmerer, the grandfather of Mrs. Cava- 
naugh, came from Montgomery county to 
Quakertown in 1816 to attend the Friends' 
school, while there made the acquaintance 
of Lydia Bartholomew, and married her in 



HISrOKV OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



607 



1817, and located in Richland township, 
engaged in farming. He was a Democrat ni 
politics, and was largely interested in local 
affairs. He was a Lutheran in religion, 
and donated the ground upon which the 
Lutheran church of Quakertown was built. 



ABEL LODGE. The Lodge Family 
claim descent from three brothers who came 
to this country from England and settled 
in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. These 
were respectively Thomas, William and Je- 
hosaphat. It may be assumed that Abel 
Lodge was descended from the hrst of these 
three. He had a brother Thomas. Abel 
Lodge married a woman of Swedish de- 
scent, and their children were : Elizabeth, 
who became the wife of John Hoopes, and 
they reared a family of five children; John 
Hoopes and his four sons served in the 
Civil war. Kate, who became the wife ot 
Azariah Banes, and five children, three 
sons and two daughters, were born to them. 
John, mentioned at length hereinafter. 
Fanny. Abel, who married (first) Susan 
Brant, who bore him three children : Ida, 
Frank, and Walter; he married (.second) 
Sallie Dehart; he married Cthird) Annie 
Kryder, who bore his one son, Claude. 
Henry, married Elizabeth McClennen, and 
three children were born to them : Sallie, 
Ella and Henry, Mary, became the wife 
of Aleck Crozers. Susan. 

John Lodge, second son of Abel and 
Magdalena Lodge, married Caroline W. 
Green, daughter of Abel Green. John 
Lodge was born in Delaware county, Penn- 
sylvania, August 28, 1825. Their children 
were as follows : Emmor E., born in 1848, 
married Hannah Mary Eachus, daughter 
of Homer Eachus ; issue : Corina, ilda. 
Carrie, Lydia, Sadie, Arthur and Lewis. 
Matilda, born in 1851, became the wife of 
William Eachus, and mother of five chil- 
dren: George, Walter, Marion, Juanita, 
and Florence Irene. Abel, born December 
18, 1853, mentioned hereinafter. Elizabeth, 
who became the wife of Franklin Baldwin, 
and their children are : Matilda, Emma, 
Harrison, Anabel and Charles. Thomas, 
born December 8, i860, married Hettie 
Stinson, who bore him three children : 
Byron, Lillian and Reba. John, born in 
July, 1864, married Annie Henderson, and 
one child was born to them, Anabel. 

Abel Lodge, second son of John and 
Caroline W. Lodge, was born in Provi- 
dence, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, De- 
cember 18, 1853. He was reared in that 
county and educated partly in that and 
Chester county, attending the Westtown 
Union School in the latter county. He 
learned the trade of wheelwright with his 
uncle Croser, but after following the same 
lor one year turned his attention to agricul- 
tural pursuits, which have proved both 
pleasant and remunerative. In 1888 he lo- 
cated in Bucks county, and during the in- 
tervening seventeen years has gained the 



the confidence and respect of his neighbors 
by his honorable life. At the present time 
(1905) he is serving in the capacity of 
manager of the Mercur farm, the general 
appearance of which testifies to the skill and 
ability displayed in the management there- 
of. 

Abel Lodge was united in marriage to 
Anna M. Hall, of Delaware county, Penn- 
sylvania, born March 16, 1855, a daughter 
of Jacob and Mary (Hampton) Hall, and 
granddaughter of Joseph and Lydia (Mius- 
treth) Hall. Their children are as follows: 
William T., born March 16, 1879, married, 
March 20, 1901, Laura Markly, daughter 
of George Markly. Abel, Jr., born De- 
cember 27, 1880. Mary H., born February 
13, 1883. Harvey F., born June 3, 1884. 
Sarah G., born January 6, 1887. Alice, born 
jNIarch 21, 1889. Elsie, born March 21, 
1892. Caroline L. born March 15, 1894. 
J. Paul Maule, born August 17, 1897. 



JACOB H. COURTER, who is engaged 
in the marble business at Leidytown, was 
born October 15, 1852, in New Britain 
township, Bucks county, his parents being 
Jacob and Gaynor (Lewis) Courter. The 
father was a carriage trimmer by trade, and 
worked at Chalfont for many years. He 
afterward conducted a restaurant in Nor- 
ristown for a long period, and lived a very 
busy and useful life. He held membership 
in the Baptist church at Hilltown, belonged 
to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
and in politics was a Democrat. In 1861 he 
fell from a chestnut tree and was instantly 
killed. He had three brothers, John, Peter, 
and George, but otherwise no record of 
the family is obtainable. Jacob Courter 
married Gaynor Lewis, a daughter of Henry 
and Margaret Lewis, and they became the 
parents of six children: Peter L., who 
married Rebecca Haney; Marg&ret J., the 
wife of John Harr; Uriah D., who mar- 
ried Emma Wampole, and after her death 
wedded Maria Fluck; Jacob H. ; George 
W., who married Sarah Jane Wack; and 
Daniel H., who married Mary Lessick. 

Jacob H. Courter, having mastered the 
common English branches of learning 
taught in the public schools, learned the 
marble-cutting trade at Bedminster, Bucks 
county, and afterward worked as a journey- 
man. In 1877 he embarked in business on 
his own account at Leidytown, Bucks coun- 
ty, where he conducted his establishment 
until 1885, when he sold out and removed 
to Philadelphia. There he worked at his 
trade until 1892, when he returned to Leidy- 
town and again resumed business. He 
still engages in marble-cutting, and has a 
liberal patronage accorded him in recogni- 
tion of his honorable dealing and his skill. 
Aside from his business he is interested in 
local affairs concerning the welfare of the 
general public, and endorses all progres- 
sive movements. He votes with the Demo- 
cracy, holds membership in the Baptist 



6o8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



church, and belongs to Sonderton Lodge, 
No. 612, I. O. O. R, at Souderton. On 
the 28th of June, 1879, Mr. Courter was 
married to Miss Sarah Elizabeth Rice, who 
was. born October 7, 1855, a daughter of 
William H. and Matilda Rice. Jrler grand- 
parents were George and Margaret (Hill) 
Rice, and they were parents of four sons 
and a daughter, namely : Haimah, Will- 
iam, Charles, Moses H. and James. Will- 
iam H. and Matilda Rice had eight chil- 
dren, as follows : James Henry, who mar- 
ried Emma Albright; Sarah Elizabeth, wife 
of Mr. Courter; Elma Lucinda, wife of 
Lemuel T. Jones ; Mary Etta ; Margaret 
Jane; William Sanderling, who married 
Melvina CroU ; Joseph Jones, who married 
Annie Staley; and Emily H. 

Mr. and Mrs. Courter have become the 
parents of five children : William Win- 
field, who was born August 21, 1880; Abi- 
gal Christian, born April 16, 1882 ; Lora 
May, July 23, 1884; James Henry, February 
2, 1886; and Emily Matilda, March 26, 
i8go. The eldest daughter is now the wife 
of Wallace .Slifer. 



ISAAC W. HOLCOMB, of Lambertville, 
New Jersey, who has been for many years 
one of the active, enterprising business men 
of that city, is a native of Bucks county, 
having been born in Plumstead township in 
1844. He is a son of John and Rachel 
(Walter) Holc'omb, and a lineal descendant 
of John Holcomb and Elizabeth Wool- 
ridge, who settled in 1705 on a large tract 
of land on the Deldware, a portion of which 
is now included in the city of Lambertville. 
Both were of English parentage, and mem- 
bers of the Society of Friends. John died 
in 1743, at which date he was one of the 
largest landholders in Amwell township. 
He was one of the first justices of Hunter- 
don county court. Of his three sons, Rich- 
ard, the youngest, married a second time, 
late in life, Ann Emley, of an old Jersey 
family, and had a son John, who lived near 
Lambertville and died in 1851 at an ad- 
vanced age. 

John, son of the last named John, was 
born near Lambertville, New Jersey, but 
when a young man removed to the upper 
part of Bucks county and learned the trade 
of a stone mason, which he followed during 
the active years of his life. He married 
Catharine Trollinger, of German parentage, 
who bore him fourteen children — six sons : 
Samuel, who died in Trenton about 1892 ; 
George, for nearly fifty years an employe 
of the Pennsylvania railroad at Lambert- 
ville, died in 1902 ; Jonathan, who died 
young; John, see forward; Isaac, for many 
years a resident of Buckingham, now a resi- 
dent of Doylestown ; and Joseph, who died 
in Plumstead, about 1889. Of the eight 
daughters, four still survive ; Susan, widow 
of Miles Chambers, of Doylestown ; De- 
lilah, widow of Jeremiah Black, of Phila- 
delphia ; Catharine, widow of Charles Hen- 



dricks, of Philadelphia; and Salome, a 
widow living in Trenton, New Jersey. John 
Holcomb, the father of the above children, 
died in Plumstead about 1845, at the age of 
sixty-two years. His widow, Catharine, 
survived him many years. 

John Holcomb, the father of the subject 
of this sketch, was born in Plumstead town- 
ship about 1820, and died in Philadelphia. 
He was a farmer, and followed that occu- 
pation in Plumstead during the active years 
of his life. He was twice married, his 
first wife being Rachel Walter, a daughter 
of Michael Walter, of Plumstead, a promi- 
nent farmer, and for many years a justice 
of the peace in Plumstead township. She 
died in 1854, leaving five children, Cath- 
arine, still living in Philadelphia; Isaac, the 
subject of this sketch ; Hannah, widow of 
Abel Atherholt of Philadelphia; Theodore, 
now street commissioner of Doylestown ; 
and Mary, who married Harry Walton, of 
Warwick township and died about ten years 
ago. John Holcomb married (second) 
Pamela Hann, of Plumstead, and had two 
sons and four daughters, who are residents 
of Philadelphia. 

Isaac Walter Holcomb was the oldest son 
of John and Rachel (Walter) Holcomb, and 
was born in Plumstead township in 1844. 
He was reared on the farm, attending the 
public schools in the winter season. In 1862 
he went to Lambertville, New Jersey, as an 
apprentice to the milling trade under John 
Groman, for many years a prominent miller 
of that city. In September, 1864, Mr. Hol- 
comb enlisted in Company B, Thirty-eighth 
Regiment New Jersey Volunteers, and 
served until the close of the war. Return- 
ing to Lambertville, he entered Eastman's 
Business College at Poughkeepsie, New 
York, in October, 1865, and after his gradu- 
ation returned to the mill as bookkeeper and 
manager of the mill. In 1869 he entered 
into partnership with Mr. Groman, which 
continued until the death of the latter in the 
spring of 1876. In July of that year he 
formed a partnership with William B. 
Niece, under the firm name of Holcomb & 
Niece, and operated the mill until 1883, 
when they formed a co-partnership with F. 
F. Lear, who owned and opejated another 
mill in Lambertville, under the firm name 
of Lear, Holcomb & Niece, and the new 
firm remodeled the Lear mill, with the latest 
improved machinery for the manufacture of 
flour, etc., and operated it on a large scale 
until 1896, when the firm dissolved. In 
July, 1896, Mr. Holcomb purchased a half- 
interest in the flour, feed and grain business 
of the Risdon Milling Company, of Ti;en- 
ton. New Jersey, and remained with that 
firm until January, 1900, when he purchased 
the fiour flour, feed and saw mills of J. 
Simpson Betts, in New Hope, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, which he has since 
successfully operated. For over twenty-five 
years one of the active and leading business 
men of Lambertville, he took an active inter- 
est in all that pertained to the city's best 
interest ; was for a number of years a mem- 




wMrawnrNHVu^. 




^< ^n'^f^^f^.dTA^y^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



609 



ber of city council, and at one time its 
president. He is a member of Amwell 
lodge, F. & A. M., and of Wilson Chapter, 
No. 13, R. A. M., and has served as treas- 
urer of the former for fifteen years. He is 
a member of the Lambertville Baptist 
church, of which he has been trustee and 
treasurer for twenty years. His wife was 
Annie E. Hunt, daughter of J. Wesley and 
Hannah (M. Hunt) Hunt, of Lambertville. 
They have no children. 



JACOB D. WOLFINGER, a mason of 
Silverdale and a veteran of the civil war, 
was born in Nockamixon township, Bucks 
county, on the loth of February, 1841. 
His grandfather, Jacob Wolfinger, was like- 
wise a native of Nockamixon township, 
which indicates that the" family was es- 
tablished in that locality in colonial days. 
He always followed the occupation of farm- 
ing. He married Elizabeth Sassaman and 
their son, Reuben S. Wolfinger, was born 
September 15, 181 1, on the home farm in 
Nockamixon township, while in the public 
schools of that locality he acquired his 
education. On putting aside his text-books 
he learned the stonemason's trade, which 
he followed until his later years, when he 
purchased a small, farm in Haycock town- 
ship and devoted his remaining days to the 
tilling of the soil. Upon that place his 
death occurred December 13, 1889. He 
married Sarah Diehl, born November 7, 
1813, died September 8, 1886, daughter of 
John Diehl. The marriage ceremony was 
performed by Rev. Samuel Stahr, April 12, 
1835. Reuben S, and Sarah (Diehl) Wol- 
finger were the parents of ten children: 
William, who married Lavinia Croutham- 
mel; Frank, who wedded ^Mary Shearer; 
John D.. whose first wife was Susan Walp, 
and whose second wife was Amanda 
Schroy; Edwin, who married Hannah 
Yeake'l ; Lucy Ann, who married Henry 
Agney; Lizzie, who married Frank Myers; 
Emma, widow of Jacob Booz : Sarah, wife 
of Joseph -Musselman; and Catharine, de- 
ceased. 

Jacob D. Wolfinger was a student in the 
Nockamixon public schools, and later 
learned the mason's trade under the direc- 
tion of Henry Angeney, in Hilltown town- 
ship. He worked at his trade until^ 1863, 
and then, responding to his country's call 
for further aid to crush out the rebellion 
in the south, he enlisted as a member of 
Company A, One Hundred and Fourth 
Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, under 
Colonel Davis, of Doylestown. Jrle met his 
regiment at Hilton Head, South Carolina, 
and participated in two engagements, the 
battle of Charleston and the battle of Cedar 
Creek. Virginia. He was also in several 
skirmishes, and was honorably discharged 
.from the service at Portsmouth. Virginia, 
August 25, 1865. Following his military 
service Mr. Wolfinger settled at Dublin, 
Bucks county. Pennsylvania, where he fol- 
39-3 



lowed his trade until 1890, and then built 
a home at Silverdale, where he has since 
lived. For many years he has been identi- 
fied with building operations in this portion 
of the county, and is an excellent workman. 
He belongs to the Bethlehem Grand Army 
Post, and is a member of the Dublin Re- 
formed church, while his political support 
is unfalteringly given to tne Democratic 
party. 

Mr. Wolfinger was married to Miss Cath- 
arine Benner, in Nockamixon township, 
June 29, 1867. She is a daughter of Abra- 
ham and Mary (Wilson) Benner. There 
are four children of this marriage : Emma 
J., born September 15, 1870; Anna Mary, 
June 29, 1874; Frank, October 18, 1879; 
and Walter, who was born February 15, 
1887 and died January 9, 1888. The elder 
daughter married Damon Myers, a son of 
Jacob and Maria (Myers) Myers, and 
they have one child, Anna Myers. 



FRANCIS D. HARTZEL. Among the 
most honored of Bucks county's venerable 
citizens is Francis D. Hartzel, of Chalfont. 
Mr. Hartzel is a son of Abram G. Hart- 
zel, who was a farmer at Rockhill, and 
married Catharine Deitz. They were the 
parents of five children. Among their three 
sons was Francis D., mentioned at length 
hereinafter. Two daughters completed the 
family. Francis D. Hartzel, son of Abram 
G. and Catharine (Deitz) Hartzel, was born 
June I, 1824, and received his education 
in the public schools of his native town- 
ship. At the age of eighteen he went to live 
with his uncle, Jesse K. Deitz, in Upper 
Sal ford township, Montgomery cobnty, in 
order to learn the milling trade. At the 
expiration of his time he tooi^ entire charge 
of the mill and operated it successfully for 
nine years. In i860 he moved to Chalfont 
and purchased a mill which he enlarged 
and rendered extremely profitable. This 
mill was unfortunately destroyed by fire, 
but Mr. Hartzel, with undaunted courage, 
erected another, constructed after a more 
modern plan, which is now operated by two 
of his sons. Mr. Hartzel has always been 
a useful, active and public-spirited citizen, 
ever seeking to promote by every means 
in his power the best interests of the com- 
munity and the welfare of his neighbors. 
Mr. Hartzel married, November 16, 1850, 
at Rockhill. Catharine A., daughter of John 
C. and Catharine (Snyder) Shellenberger, 
and they were the parents of the following 
children: i. James Monroe, who was born 
August 2T,, 185 1, married Isabella, daughter 
of John Frick, and has three children. 2. 
Leidy, born July 19, 1853. 3- Benjamin 
Franklin, born January 9, 1856, married 
Madora, daughter of Joseph Moyer. and has 
six children. 4. Levi Morgan, December 
5, 1859, married Christiana, daughter of 
John Sowers, and has two children. 5. 
Wilson, born October 30. 1862, married 
Margaret Drake, and has one child. 6. 



6io 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Emma Ida, horn February 20, 1867, and 
married (first) George Murphy, and had 
one child ; Mr. Murphy died in 1892, and in 
1903 she became the wife of Albert G. 
Hinds. 7. Harvey S., born March 13, 1869, 
married Mary Radclift, and has two chil- 
dren. Two of these six sons, James Mon- 
roe and Benjamin Franklin, are engaged in 
operating their father's mill. 

Francis D. Hartzcl died October 2, 1888. 
He had been a member of the Reformed 
church at Hilltown for a number of years, 
and was for several years an elder of the 
church. 



WILKINS HOBENSACK, of Norris- 
town, Pennsylvania, was born near Davis- 
ville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, March 
29, 1872, and is the youngest son of the 
late Isaac C. and the late Joanna (Hoge- 
land) Hobensack, and a grandson of Isaac 
and Emily (Fetter) Hobensack. Isaac 
Hobensack, the elcier, was a farmer in 
Southampton township, Bucks county, until 
1830, when he purchased a farm in War- 
minster township and lived there the re- 
mainder of his life, rearing a family of 
seven children, viz. : Margaret, wife of Will- 
iam L. Craven; Rachel, wife of James Hart; 
Isaac C, above mentioned ; John, who re- 
moved to Ohio ; William ; Mary Ellen, wife 
of Thomas Mayberry; and Elizabeth, wife 
of Thomas Hellings. 

Isaac C. Hobensack wa.s born at Church- 
ville, Southampton townsfiip, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, February 4. 1828, and died 
at Davisville, January 9, 1904. He was a 
well known and prominent farmer, and 
took an active interest in publi'' affairs. In 
politics^ he was a stanch Republican, and 
served as county commissioner of Bucks 
cotmty for the term 1884-86. A more com- 
plete account of his life and services is 
given in the sketch of his sons, B. Frank 
and William Hobensack, of Ivyland. His 
wife, Joanna Hogeland, was born at Cor- 
nell, Southampton township, Bucks county, 
June 29, 1832, and was a daughter of Abra- 
ham and Mary Ann (Fenton) Hogeland, 
and her ancestry is given at length in con- 
nection with The Hogeland Family. She 
died at Davisville. Apni 17, 1905. 

Wilkins Hobensack is the youngest son 
of Isaac C. and Joanna, and was reared on 
the farm near Davisville, and acquired his 
education at the Davisville Seminary and 
Pierce School, Philadelphia. After leaving 
the latter institution he was employed for 
a short time with Messrs. Coale, Jobson & 
Co., lumber dealers, and later with Dr. 
W. A. Drysdale. electrical consulting en- 
gineer. Philadelphia. In October, 1894, he 
became private secretary to Hon. Irving 
Price Wanger, of Norristown, representa- 
tive in congress from the then seventh 
(now eighth) district, comprising Bucks 
and Montgomery counties, and has since 
filled that position. In addition to serving 
as secretary to Congressman Wanger in the 
53d, 54th, 55th, 56th, 57th and 58th Con- 



gresses, he served as clerk to the commiuee 
on expenditures in the postoffice department 
in the 55th, sGlh, 57th and 58th Congresses. 
Believing thoroughly in the principles of 
the Republican party, Mr. Hobensack has al- 
ways labored zealously for its success. He 
is a member of the First Baptist church, 
Norristown, having taken his letter from 
the Davisville Baptist church. He is a Free 
and Accepted Mason, as well as a member 
of the Improved Order of Red Men, 
Patriotic Order Sons of America, Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and Han- 
cock Chemical Fire Engine Company, No. 
5, of Norristown. 

On September 23, 1896, Mr. Hobensack 
was married in the Davisville Baptist 
church by the pastor, Rev. D. W. Sheppard, 
to Anna Heaton (born April 24. 1873), 
youngest daughter of the late William and 
Joanna (Dean) Heaton, a playmate of his 
youth, and a descendant of Robert Heaton, 
who came to Pennsj-lvania with William 
Penn in the "Welcome" in 1683, and set- 
tled in Southampton. In the spring of 
1897 they removed from Southampton to 
223 East Elm street, Norristown, and in 
the fall of 1904 Mr. Hobensack purchased 
a home at 927 West Marshall street, Norris- 
town, removing thereto November 9, 1904. 
His wife, who had been in ill health for 
several months, did not live long to enjoy 
her new home, dying March 21, 1905. Mr. 
and Mrs. Hobensack were the parents of 
two children : Harry Stout Hobensack, born 
at Southampton, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, March 31, 1898, and Ethel Carrell 
Hobensack, born at Norristown, Montgom- 
ery county, January 20, 1904. 



FARRELL MacKENZIE. Farrell Mac- 
Kenzie, who following farming in New 
Britain township, has here made his home 
since 1898, was born in county Sligo, Ire- 
land, in 1834, his parents being Richard 
and Mary (Lyden) MacKenzie, in whose 
family were the following named children : 
Alice, Farrell, Thomas, John, Richard, 
Alexander and Mary Ann. 

Farrell MacKenzie received only such ad- 
vantages in his youth as were common to 
people of moderate means. Having arrived 
at 3-ears of maturity he" wedded Miss 
Frances Burns, who was born April 9, 1846, 
a daughter of William and Elizabeth { Mc- 
Ginn) Burns. Mr. and Mrs. MacKenzie 
were married in England on the 5th of De- 
cember, 1862, and two days later they went 
aboard a ship to sail for America, but the 
vessel did not leave for the new world until 
a week later. They landed at Castle Gar- 
den, New York, on the 2d of February, 
1862, and alrnost immediately afterward 
went to Philadelphia, where Mr. MacKenzie 
secured employment in the Morris and Tas- 
cus Iron Works. A year later he removed 
to New Jersey, where he followed farming 
for fifteen years. Removing to Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, he purchased of 



-U STORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



6ii 



Wynn James the farm in New Britain 
township upon which he now re-ides, and 
to the further development and equipment 
-of which he has since devoted his energies 
with good results. 

Mr. and Mrs. MacKenzie have become 
the parents of nine children : Alice, born 
" February 27, 1865 ; Richard, who was born 
March 2, 1867, and wedded Mary Dobbs. 
by whom he has three children ; John, wdio 
was born July i, 1871, and married Laura 
Sheridan, by whom he has one child ; Lizzie, 
who was born February 11, 1869, and is 
the wife of John Wilson, and the mother 
of three children; Tom, who was born 
September 15, 1873, and married Cora Mor- 
gan, and has one child ; George, born Janu- 
ary 6, 1876; Annie, born May 31, 1880; 
Fred, born May 21, 1883; and Alexander, 
who was born September 10, 1878, and 
died in infancy. The parents and children 
are all members of the Episcopal church. 



CHARLES CHRISTIAN HARING is 
of the second generation of the Harmg 
family in America. His father, Charles 
Christian Haring, Sr., was a native of 
Kirchheim, in the kingdom of Wurtemberg, 
Germany. He came to this country with 
his wife, who bore the maiden name of K. 
Frederica Mamele, in 1849, landing in New 
York City, whence they went to Phila- 
delphia. It was the intention of JNIr. Har- 
ing to go to California, but circumstances 
prevented his carrying out this plan, so nt 
remained in the city of Philadelphia, where 
he followed his trade of cabinet making 
for many years. He afterward removed 
to Shelly Station, in Richland township, 
Bucks county, where he purchased a farm. 
In his family were the following named: 
Louisa Frederica, born December, 1849, 
and is the wife of Adolph Jaekel, of Phila- 
delphia; Charles C. ; Emil W., who married 
Sarah Wetzel, and is teller for the Quaker- 
town Trust Company of Quakertown, Penn- 
sylvania; and Henry Gottlieb, who is liv- 
ing at Terrell, Texas. 

Charles Christian Haring, whose name 
introduces this record, was born in the tarn- 
ily home at the corner of Tenth and Mar- 
ket streets, Philadelphia, March 17, 1852. 
His father was engaged in cabinet making 
for the firm of Moore & Campion of that 
city for many years, and the son attended 
the public schools of Philadelphia until the 
spring of 1861, when the family removed 
to the vicinity of Shelly Station, in Rich- 
land township, Bucks county. There he 
continued his education in the district 
schools, and when not engaged with his 
text books he assisted his father in the oper- 
ation of the home farm until his seven- 
teenth year, when he entered the employ ol 
E. T. Ochs, in the general store at Quaker- 
town. There he remained for three and a 
half years, when in the fall of 1871 he ob- 
tained a position as teller in the newly or- 



ganized Quakertown Savings Bank, of 
which Dr. Joseph Thomas was cashier. 
Mr. Haring continued to act in that ca- 
pacity until 1877, when the savings bank 
went into liquidation, and the Quakertown 
National Bank was soon afterward organ- 
ized with Dr. Thomas as its president and 
Charles C. Haring as cashier. In this po- 
sition Mr. Haring has since continued to 
serve, and the success of the institution is 
attributable in large measures to his ef- 
forts. Such has been the capable manage- 
ment of the bank that it today ranks twen- 
ty-sixth among the seven hundred national 
banks in Pennsylvania, and is certainly a 
credit to a city of the size of Quakertown. 
]\Ir. Haring occupies an enviable position in 
financial circles, bearing an unassailable rep- 
utation, and wherever he is known com- 
mands the respect and confidence of his 
fellow men. In politics Mr. Haring is a 
stalwart Republican, deeply interested in 
the success of his party, yet not seeking or 
desiring the honors or emoluments of onice. 
He prefers to devote his time aside from 
his office and business to his home and fam- ^ 
ily. He has, however, held the position 
of member of the Quakertown board of 
health, also auditor of the borough for two 
terms. 

On the 20th of October, 1875, -Mr. Har- 
ing was married to Miss Annie Lott, a 
daughter of Dr. Charles F. Lott, and his 
wife, Eliza (McMichael) Lott, of Quaker- 
town. Her grandparents were Peter 
and Mary Heyer Lott. The grand- 
father served as a quartermaster in 
the continental army, and resigned in 
1780. He lived at Princeton and at 
Woodbridge, New Jersey, and died 
in 1787. He married Mary, daughter of 
Colonel Jacob Heyer, who commanded a 
regiment in the Continental army at Tren- 
ton, at Princeton, and at Monmouth, thus 
participating in some of the important en- 
gagements in the war for Independence. 
Her father was born in Princeton, INe\> 
Jersey, in 1781, and died July 8, 1866. He 
. attended school at New Brunswick, New 
Jersey, and afterward studied medicine 
under the direction of Dr. Moses Scott. 
He began practicing as physician and sur- 
geon in 1803. He served as assistant sur- 
geon with the rank of captain in the New 
Jersey militia under Major Reed, in the 
war of 1812. He was married in 1809 to 
Edith Newbold Lamb, of Burlington coun- 
ty, New Jersey, and after her death was 
married in 1848 to Eliza ]\IcMichael. By 
this marriage was born the daughter Annie, 
on the 29th of March, 1852. She attended 
the public schools at Quakertown, alsq 
the Moravian Seminary at Bethlehem, and 
«»fter readying womanhood gave her hand 
in marriage tc Mr. Haring. 

jNIr. and Mrs. Haring are the parents of 
the following named : Nellie Lott, who 
is the wife of George Echart Ozias. D. D. 
S.. a son of John Albert Ozias of Quaker- 
town : Grp-^e, Fredrica Lott. Florence. 
Clara, Myrtle, Gertrude, and Rachel. 



6l2 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



AMOS BURGESS HEADLF.V. de- 
ceased, was a descendant of one of the 
early pioneer families of Bncks county, 
Pennsylvania, who emigrated thence 
from their home in England. He was 
born in Bristol township, Bucks county, 
March 30, 1842, a son of Thomas and 
Elizabeth (Brown) Headley, grandson 
of Joseph J. and Edith (Burgess) Head- 
ley, and great-grandson of Joseph Headley. 

Amos B. Headley acquired an ex- 
cellent education, having been a pupil in 
the public schools, Carversville Acad- 
emy, and Eastman's Business College, 
Poughkeepsie, New York. He resided 
with his parents and assisted in the 
work of the large saw-mill which was 
owned by his father, who was exten- 
sively engaged in the lumber business 
in Bristol for many years. Amos B. 
Headley succeeded his father in the 
ownership of this plant, and from 1865 
to 1880, a period of fifteen years, con- 
ducted an extensive and flourishing busi- 
ness. In the latter year he turned his 
attention to agricultural pursuits, con- 
ducting his operations on a farm in Tul- 
lytown, and this line, of work he fol- 
lowed up to the time of his decease. He 
served a term as jury commissioner of 
Bucks county, during which time he per- 
formed his duties in a thoroughly 
efficient and competent manner. He 
was a staunch supporter of the candi- 
dates and measures of the Republican 
party, to whom he gave his allegiance 
upon attaining his majority. All the en- 
terprises which had for their object the 
business, political and social growth of 
the community in which he lived found 
in him an earnest advocate. 

Mr. Headley was married December 
10, 1868. to Emma Taylor Ivins, of 
Penns Manor, Bucks county, daughter 
of Isaac and Sarah Ann (Hendrickson) 
Ivins, and granddaughter on the pater- 
nal and maternal sides, respectively, of 
Isaac and Patience (Middleton) Ivins 
and Amos and Sarah (Folwell) Hendrick- 
son. Her parents were of English or- 
igin, her father having been for many 
years a retired citizen of Bristol bor- 
ough. She was born December 14, 1847. 
Their children are: Irene, born August 

22, 1870, attended the private schools 
of Bristol and completed her education 
in the schools of Philadelphia; on No- 
vember 24. 1894. she became the wife of 
William H. Skirm, Jr., of Trenton, New 
Jersey, and they are the parents of two 
children: Katharine Irene, born August 

23, 1894, and and William Henry (3), born 
October 7, 1895. Edith, born May 2, 
1878, attended the private schools of 
Bristol, and completed her education 
at Trenton. New Jersey: on April 27, 
1899, she became the wife of Stanford 
K. Runyan, of Bri.stol, and they are the 
parents of one child. Elizabeth Head- 
ley, born September 29, T902. The im- 
mediate ancestors of the family were 



Quakers, and Mr. Headley, during his 
lifetime, and family attended the 
Friends Meeting. Mr. Headley died No- 
vember 17, 1901. Mrs. Headley resides 
in the comfortable and substantial home 
left her by her husband, this being the 
same in which her children were born. 
She is beloved by a large circle of friends 
and relatives. 



SAMUEL M. KING. One of Chalfont's 
honored citizens is Samuel M. King, who 
has been for more than half a century a 
resident of the. borough. The great-grand- 
father of Mr. King emigrated from Ger- 
many about the middle of the eighteenth 
century and settled in Pennsylvania. Mor- 
ton King, son of the emigrant ancestor^ 
was a lifelong resident of Curley's Mill^ 
and married Elizabeth Hockman, by whom 
he was the father of four sons and four 
daughters, among the former being Peter, 
mentioned at length hereinafter. Mr. and 
Mrs. King were true types of the German- 
American citizens of those early days. 

Peter King, son of Morton and Elizabeth 
(Hockman) King, learned the shoemaker's 
trade in New Britain township, and also- 
acquired a knowledge of the business of a 
mason. He helped to build the old Bucks 
county court-house, on the site of which the 
new one now stands, at Doylestown. In 
middle age he purchased a farm at Mount 
Pleasant, Hilltown township, which was his 
home for sixty years. He married April 
18, 1812, Catharine Myers, who was born 
August 31, 1790, and they were the pa- 
rents of the following children : Annie, born. 
May 6, 1813 Elizabeth, born July 26, 1819; 
Susanna, born July 26, 1821 ; Martin M.,. 
born December 5, 1824; and Samuel M., 
mentioned at length hereinafter. The death, 
of Mr. King, the father of the family, oc- 
curred January 17, 1871, when he had 
reached the advanced age of eighty-six years 
and ten months, having been born March 

17, 1784- 

Samuel M. King, son of Peter and Cath- 
arine (Myers) King, was born November 
16. 1827, in Hilltown township, and learned 
the cabinetmaker's trade with his cousin, 
John F. King, in New Britain township. 
From 1852 to 1862 he was engaged in the 
undertaking business in Chalfont. In i86o- 
he took up his abode on the. farm where he 
has since resided. The estate is small but 
well-kept and highly cultivated. Mr. King 
has always been a good citizen, seeking to 
serve by all means in his power the best 
interests of his neighbors, who thoroughly 
appreciate his sterling qualities. He is 
identified with the Republican party, and is 
a member of the Hilltown Baptist church. 

Mr. King married. February 19, 1852, 
Annie D., daughter of Morton and Magda- 
lena (Delp) Swartley, and their family con- 
sisted of the following children: Amanda, 
who was born December 9, i8s2 : Oliver S., 
born July 22, 185= • and Milton S.. born 
April 2, 1857. Oliver S. King married 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



613 



August 25, 1877, Susanna, daughter of 
Henry Bergy, of Franconia township, Mont- 
gomery county, and the following children 
have been born to them : Annie, who mar- 
ried George Albright; Sallie, who is the 
wife of Irvin Cline; Samuel B.; and 
Florence. 



HENRY HUNSBERGER SOUDER, 
proprietor of the Bush House, of Quaker- 
town, and one of the prominent and influ- 
â– ential residents of this part of the county, 
was born July 4, 1849, at Souderton, in 
Montgomery county, which place was named 
in honor of his family. His parents were 
Henry and Hanna Hansberger Souder. 
The family has been identified with this 
state from the earliest period of its de- 
velopment, an ancestor of our subject hav- 
ing been one of the Germantown colony 
that settled that place under the Penns. 
Christopher Souder, the grandfather of 
Henry H. Souder, was born March 24, 
1777, in Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania, 
and settled at what is now Souderton, 
Montgomery county, where he acquired a 
considerable tract of land, and devoted his 
energies to agricultural pursuits. He was 
married June 8, 1803, to' Elizabeth Ober- 
holzer, who was born January 18, 1782, 
and their children were as follows : Joseph, 
born March i, 1804; Maria, November 19, 
1805; Henry, September i, 1807; Catherine, 
November 15, 1809; Samuel, March 23, 
1811 ; Anna, January 6, 1815; Christian and 
Johann, twins, July 3, 1817; Enos, April 
\ 1819; and Elizabeth, January 20, 1824. 

Henry Souder, son of Christopher Sou- 
der, was born September i, 1807, at Sou- 
-derton, Pennsylvania, and died August 28, 
1897, at that place. His parents were farm- 
ing people and were among the early set- 
tlers of that locality, having taken up their 
abode there before Montgomery county 
was organized. Henry Souder made the 
best use of his educational opportunities, 
tut his advantages in that direction were 
limited. However, his experience and ob- 
servation in later years added largely to his 
knowledge and made him an enterprising 
and successful business man. Following 
his marriage he settled at Souderton, where 
he had previously learned the carpenter's 
trade and eventually became one of the most 
prosperous builders of his day in that lo- 
•cality. Saving his money, he soon estab- 
lished a coal and lumber yard and became 
one of the principal business men in the 
northern part of Montgomery county. His 
political support was given to the Whig 
party, and later he endorsed the principles 
of the Republican party, but took little 
active interest in politics as an office seeker. 
He held membership in the old Mennonite 
church. He was married November 2, 
1834, to Hannah Hunsberger, who was 
torn October 11, 1814, and died at Souder- 
ton August 25, 1898. They were the pa- 
rents of nine children : William, born 
September 19, 1835; Edmund, April 27, 



1838 ; Elizabeth, January 30, 1841 ; Maria, 
November 7, 1845 ; Frederick, August 2j, 
1846; Henry, July 4, 1849; Catherine Ann, 
December 21, 1851; Ellis, August 11, 1858; 
and Milton, July 12, 1S63. Four other chil- 
dren died in early life. 

Henry H. Souder was the sixth in this 
family of thirteen children. In his early 
years he attended a private German school 
conducted by a Mr. Gehman, and was also 
a student in the public school of his dis- 
trict until his twentieth year. In the mean- 
time, during the periods of vacation, he 
found plenty to do, for his father did not 
believe in letting young people remain 
idle. He himself was a man of great en- 
ergy, and had large business interests, in- 
cluding a general store, a sawmill, and a 
coal and lumber yard. He likewise dealt 
in hay and grain, and his son Henry largely 
assisted him in these various lines of busi- 
ness activitj'. He remained at home in his 
father's employ until twenty-two years ot 
age when, desiring to enter upon an inde- 
pendent business career, he formed a con- 
nection with his sister's husband, Henry 
Hemsing, at Souderton, where they con- 
ducted a planing mill. Following his mar- 
riage he began his domestic life at Souder- 
ton, where he continued to engage in busi- 
ness, prospering in his milling enterprise. 
In 1876 he embarked in the coal trade, and 
in the meantime extended the field of his 
operations by becoming a general contractor 
and builder. His business in that line be- 
came very extensive in Montgomery and 
Bucks counties, and for a number of years 
he was recognized as one of the leading 
representatives of the commercial and in- 
dustrial life in this part of the state. Pub- 
lic affairs have also felt the stimulus of his 
efforts, and, while conducting his business 
interests, he likewise became actively con- 
nected with measures for the general w'el- 
fare. He is a stalwart Republican and has 
done much for the welfare of his party, yet 
has never sought or desired the honors and 
emoluments of public office for himself. 
In the fall of 1884 he purchased the Bush 
House, the leading hotel in Quakertown, 
from William Bush, and took possession in. 
the spring of 1885. He has since conducted 
this hostelry and has been as successful 
as a hotel proprietor as he was in his 
former business ventures at Souderton, 
He has made extensive improvements in 
the property by enlarging the house, making 
a stone addition, crowned by an observa- 
tion tower. He has also beautified the in- 
terior with appropriate decorations, and is 
regarded as one of the leading hotel men 
of this part of the state. He has also built 
Souder's Block, the principal business 
block of the town, likewise Citizens' Hall, 
which is the principal lodge hall and place 
of entertainment in Quakertown. He is 
largely interested in real estate holdings, 
and is one of the proprietors of Lulu Park 
and of the baseball grounds. He is a char- 
ter member and vice-president of the Mer- 
chants' National Bank. Mr. Souder be- 



6i4 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



longs to the Masonic lodge of Quakertow::, 
and he and his family are members of the 
old Blue Church (Mennonite) of Rockhill 
township. 

He was married in 1873 to Miss ^lary 
Ruih, a daughter of ir^eter and Mary 
(,Delp) Ruth. Her father was one of the 
settlers of Rockhill township, and a rep- 
resentative of one of the oldest families 
of Bucks county. The young couple began 
their domestic life at Souderton, where they 
remained until establishing their home at 
Quakertown. Their children are as fol- 
lows : Preston Ruth, who married Lillian 
Hohein, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, by 
whom he has two children : JMuriel and 
Jennieve. They reside at Schuylkill Haven, 
in Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, where Preston 
R. Souder is conducting the Grand Hotel. 
The younger members of the family are 
Lillian and Mabel Souder. 



THE BURSON FA^IILY. Bucks coun- 
ty cherishes with, faithful affection the 
names of her founders and pioneers, and 
when, as sometimes occurs, their descend- 
ants have migrated from the ancestral 
home and amid other scenes and different 
surroundings have maintained and increasea 
the traditional reputation of the race, the 
old county still follows their fortunes and 
rejoices in their success. Such has been 
the case with the Burson family, which 
traces its history through the following 
generations : 

Joseph Burson (i) was born in London, 
England, and was a member of the So- 
ciety of Friends. In order to escape the 
persecution to which the followers of 
George Fox were then subjected, he emi- 
grated with his wife to Pennsylvania in 
1681, and made his home in Bucks county, 
where he became a landowner. He was one 
of the founders of Quakertown and assisted 
in organizing the Richland Meeting. 

Joseph Burson (2), son of Joseph (i), 
married Mary Potts, in honor of whose 
family Pottstown received its name, and 
they were the parents of the following 
children: i. Sarah; 2. Benjamin, men- 
tioned at length hereinafter; 3. James, who 
married Sarah Price, and was the father 
of seven children; Isaac, David, Josepn, 
Edward. James, Mary Ann and Sarah. 

Benjamin Burson (3), son of Joseph 
(2), and Mary (Potts) Burson, was born 
in Bucks county. He married Sarah Dickey, 
and they were the parents of a son, James 
Burson (4), who married Jane Oilton. 
Their son Joseph Burson (5), married his 
second cousin, ^largaret Burson, whose 
ancestry is traced as follows. Edward Bur- 
son, mentioned above as the fourth child 
of James and Sarah (Price) Burson, was 
born in September, 1756. in Bucks county, 
and in 1778 married Elizabeth Blackledge, 
a member of an old Pennsylvania family, 
the genealogy of which is traced as fol- 
lows :â–  William Blackledge was born in 



Oxford, England, was a Friend in relig- 
ious belief, and with his wife emigrated to- 
Pennsylvania in 1682. He settled in Bucks 
county, and was one of those instrumental 
in building up Quakertown. He and his 
wife were the parents of four children: 
Isaac, Thomas, William, and Elizabeth. 
Of these, Thomas married Margaret 
Wright, and they were the parents of seven 
children : Enoch, Levi, Isaac, Thomas, 
Elizabeth, Martha, and Margaret. Of this 
number, Elizabeth, who was born Octo- 
ber 26, 1758, became the w^ife of Edward 
Burson, as mentioned above. Edward and 
Elizabeth (Blackledge) Burson went in 
1778 to Greene county, Pennsylvania,, 
where they made their future home. The 
following children were born to them : 
James, David, Levi, Joseph, Isaac, Abra- 
ham, Sarah, Thomas, Margaret, Elizabeth, 
and Dinah. Margaret, the eighth of these 
eleven children, becam° the wife of hei 
second cousin, Joseph Burson (5), as men- 
tioned above. Mr. Burson, the father of 
the family, died February 9, 1841, and his- 
wife on July 26, 1853. Like her husband, 
she was a native of Bucks county. 

Joseph Burson (5) and Margaret (Bur- 
son) Burson, emigrated to Ohio, and in 
1826 settled in Noble county. Their means 
were large and they were the owners of one 
of the most spacious and beautiful resi- 
dences in the state. This old home is sit- 
uated near Kennonsburg, and remains much 
the same as it was seventy-five years ago, 
being now occupied by Stephen and Minerva 
(Burson) Williams, daughter and son-in- 
law of the original owners. Mr. and Mrs. 
Burson were the parents of the following 
children : Edward, mentioned at length 
hereinafter, and James, twin sons ; Thoma,s, 
Jane, Elizabeth, Minerva, mentioned above, 
and ^Margaret. 

Edward Burson (6), son of Joseph (5) 
and ^Margaret (Burson) Burson, was born 
September 30, 1824, in Jefferson county, 
Ohio, and was a member of the Society of 
Friends. He married Patience Ann Mc- 
Burney, born in 1823, in Belmont county, 
Ohio, and their family consisted of five- 
daughters: Isabel, Margaret. Rachel, 
Mary and Elizabeth. These children were 
early deprived of their mother's care, Mrs. 
Burson dying June 16, i860, at the age of 
thirty-seven. She w?."^ a member of the 
United Presbyterian church. The death 
of Mr. Burson occurred June 12, 1900. He 
and his wife are both buried in the church- 
yard at Kennonsburg. Margaret, the sec- 
ond of their five daughters, was born Janu- 
ary 16, 1851, at Terre Haute, Indiana, and 
became the wife of John Sellers Braddock. 
John Sellers Braddock is a lineal descend- 
ant' of Raphael Braddock, of Maryland, 
who served in the French and Indian war 
under the command of his cousin, Gen- 
eral Edward Braddock, and afterward m 
in the American Revolution. John Sellers 
Braddock was born December 13, 1844, in 
]\Iount Vernon. Ohio, where he received 
his education in tlic public schools. He is 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



6i; 



engaged in the real estate business, and is 
the owner of one of the largest granite 
quarries in the United States. He takes an 
active part in public affairs, and has served 
two terms in the legislature of Ohio, on* 
in the house of representatives and one n^ 
the senate. He was nominated for congress 
in the I7th-28lh district of Ohio, but was 
defeated by a narrow margin. His po- 
litical principles are those upheld by the 
Democratic party. He is a member of the 
Congregational church. Mr. Braddock 
married, March 4, 1869, in Fredericktown, 
Ohio, Margaret Burson, as mentioned above, 
Mrs. Braddock is seventh in descent from 
Joseph Burson, the emigrant ancestor. She 
is a" member of the Protestant Episcopal 
church. Mr. and Mrs. Braddock are the 
parents of five children : Katherine, men-' 
tioned at length hereinafter; Edward Bur- 
son, who is a lawyer and unmarried; Wal- 
ter David, who is a Rock Island Railway 
official, and married Christine, daughter of 
Commander Houston, of the United States 
Navy; Margaret ]Mae, who is the wife of 
Hale, son of Henry Hale Sturges, a banker 
of Mansfield, Ohio; John Sellers, Jr., who 
married Katherine, daughter of Hon. Dan- 
iel McCoy, of Grand Rapids, state treasurer 
of ]\Iichigan. A striking proof of Mr. 
Braddock"s public-spirit is furnished by the 
fact that he has laid out two additions bear- 
ing his name in Mount Vernon, Ohio; and 
two additions, one for white and the other 
for colored citizens, in Little Rock, Ark- 
ansas. 

Katherine Braddock, daughter of John 
Sellers and Margaret (Bursonj Braddock, 
and eighth in descent from Joseph Burson, 
the emigrant ancestor, was born September 
19, 1870, in 3>lount Vernon, Ohio, and grad- 
uated from the Mount Vernon high school, 
also from the H. Thane .Miller School, of 
Cincinnati, Ohio, class of 1889. She has 
studied art extensively, and also music, and 
during her residence in Cincinnati belonged 
to the May Festival Chorus of 1896 under 
the direction of Theodore Thomas. She 
is a member of the United States Daugh- 
ters of 1812, by virtue of lineal descent 
from Nicholas Headington, of Maryland, 
who served with distinction in the war of 
1812. She is also regent of the Little Rock 
Chapter of the Daughters of the American 
Revolution, being a lineal descendant of 
Raphael Braddock, of Maryland, mentionea 
above. She is also a member of the Aesth- 
etic club ; president of the Tuesday Musical 
Club; and one of the directors of the 
Musical Coterie. She is a member of the 
Protestant Episcopal church, having been 
confirmed in 1894 in St. Paul's church. 
Mount Vernon, and being now connected 
with Christ church, Little Rock, Arkansas. 
She belonged to the choir of the former 
church for more than ten years. Since 
January, 1899, she has been a member of 
the Daughters of the King, of the Protest- 
ant Episcopal church, inid also belongs to 
St. Cecelia's Guild, in which until recently 
she held the office of secretary. She was 



married at Christ church, Little Rock, Ar- 
kansas, December 7, 1898, to John Barrow, 
mentioned below. 

John Barrow was born 'n 1868, and is 'lie 
son of Judge J. C. Barrow, a retired lawyer 
and capitalist, who was a slaveholder prior 
to the Civil war and throughout that con- 
flict served on the Confederate side. His 
wife was Jean, daughter of Elijah Frmk 
Strong, of Connecticut, the founder of llie; 
family, John Strong, having come over m 
1630 and helped to found Dorchester, 
Massachusetts. Mrs. Barrow's mother be- 
longed to a Huguenot family of the name 
of Barrineau. John Barrow is a graduate 
of the Little Rock high school and the Bap- 
tist College, Russellville, Kentucky. He 
spent one year at the United States ]\Iili- 
tary Academy, West Point, New York, and 
then entered the law school of the Uni- 
versity of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, grad- 
uating in 1890. He has practiced law in 
Little Rock ever since, and at one time rep- 
resented" Pulaski county in the Arkansas 
legislature. Mr. and Mrs. Barrow have 
had two sons ; the elder, born October 8, 
1899, died in infancy; the yo'unger, John 
Council Barrow, Jr., was born December 
5, 1900. 



ALEXANDER CHRISTY, of Bridge- 
water, Bensalem township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, is a man of undoubted 
integrity, greatly esteemed in the 
community, and his success in busi- 
ness is entirely due to his industry and 
ability. He was born in Belfast, county 
Antrim, Ireland, November 10, 1830, a 
son of Henry and Mary (Macelvenna) 
Christy, who were the parents of nine 
children, Alexander being the only sur- 
vivor. Mr. Christy is a lineal descen- 
dant on the maternal side 01 General 
Montgomery, of the American army, 
who was killed in the storming of Que- 
bec, during the revolutionary war, and 
whose remains are buried at St. Paul's 
church, New York city. 

Alexander Christy obtained his edu- 
cation in the common schools of his na- 
tive county, and at the age of sixteen 
years emigrated to the United States, 
hoping thus to secure greater business 
opportunities and also to enlarge his 
sphere for usefulness. His first em- 
ployment in the new world w^as as a 
farmer, but shortlj- afterward he en- 
gaged in the business of a cattle dealer, 
continuing in the same up to the pres- 
ent time, and achieving great prosperity. 
In 1886 he purchased a farm in Bris- 
tol township, consisting of one hundred 
and forty-six and a half acres, which he 
conducts in the most approved and 
scientific manner, residing thereon dur- 
ing the summer months, and in his home 
in Philadelphia during the winter sea- 
son. H[e is an extensive ownef of real 
estate in the city of Philadelphia, from 
which he derives a goodly income, and 



6i6 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



in point of service is the oldest man 
engaged in the cattle business in that 
city. In the earlier years of the busi- 
ness, James Christy (a brother of the 
subject) was a member of the firm. He 
died in 1896, and Mr. Christy took into 
partnership his two nephews, Alexan- 
der and Henry Christy, who have be- 
come valuable assistants in the rapidly 
increasing business of this enterprising 
firm. During the early years of his 
manhood Mr. Christy cast his vote with 
the Democratic party, but since i860 
has been identified with the opposing 
organization, the Republican party, the 
principles of which he firmly advocates. 
As a man of good standing and sub- 
stance Mr. Christy wields, an influence 
for good in the community in which he 
has resided so long. 

!Mr. Christy was united in marriage, 
April 19, 1852, to Margaret Daniels, who 
was born in Ireland, in 1832. Two chil- 
dren were the issue of this union : one 
who died in infancy, and Mary Eliza- 
beth, born October 26, 1864, educated in 
the private schools of Philadelphia, and 
the Northwest Institute, 'from which 
she was graduated; she resides with her 
father, endeavoring to the best of her 
ability to fill the place of her mother, 
whose death occurred February 28, 1889. 
i\Ir. Christy and his daughter are mem- 
bers of Cohocksink Presbyterian church 
of Philadelphia. 



AUSTIN E. GRIFFITH. Griffith Grif- 
fith, the progenitor in America of the branch 
of the family to which belongs Austin E. 
Griffith, a retired agriculturist of Chalfont, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, accompanied 
by his brothers William and John, emi- 
grated from Wales in 1720 and settled in 
East Nantmeal township. Chester county, 
Pennsylvania. By his marriage to Given 
Thomas the following named children were 
born: Abel. William. Evan, David, Amos,/ 
Levi and Rebecca. The line of descent is 
traced through Abel Griffith, eldest son of 
Griffith and Given Griffith, who was born 
February 28. 1723, in Chester county, Penn- 
sylvania. He married, and among his chil- 
dren was a son, Amos Griffith, who was 
adopted when a child by his uncle, Amos 
Griffith, a brother of his father, who had no 
children of his own. Amos Griffith (uncle) 
located in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and 
settled on a tract of land which has since 
been in the possession of members of the 
family. 

Amos Griffith, son of Abel Griffith, was 
born in Chester count3% Pennsylvania, in 
1771. He was reared and educated by his 
uncle as aforementioned, and after com- 
pleting his literary studies pursued a course 
of medical reading under the preceptor- 
ship of Dr. Benjamin Rush, the founder 
of the Rush Medical College. Subsequently 
he established an extensive practice extend- 



ing from the Delaware to the Schuylkill 
river, being the only phj^sician in that sec- 
tion of the county at that time. He per- 
formed his round of visits on horseback, 
and when traveling great distances his son 
would bring him fresh horses as relays. He 
possessed an exceptionally good education 
for that day. In his intercourse with the 
sick he was kind and sympathizing. and in an 
eminent degree secured the confidence and 
respect of the entire community in which 
he moved. On June i, 1797. he was united 
in marriage to Elizabeth Weber, who was 
born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, 
September 4, 1776, a daughter of Captain 
Christian and Elizabeth Weber, the former 
named having been an officer in the Penn- 
sylvania line during the Revolutionary war. 
Their children were : Jesse W., Charles 
M., Sarah, Elijah. Elizabeth, Amos, Abigail, 
Abel M., John W., and Ann. Dr. Griffith 
was a member of the Baptist church, and a 
Democrat in his political affiliations. He 
was prominent in military affairs, taking an 
active interest up to the day of his death, 
November 17, 1863, when he lay down and 
expired, after remarking that he would take 
a last look at the world. His wife died June 
3, 1843. 

John W. Griffith, youngest son of Dr. 
Amos and Elizabeth Griffith, was born at 
North Wales, Montgomery county, Penn- 
sylvania, May 3, 1812. He attended the pub- 
lic schools of New Britain township, after 
which he settled on the farm and succeeded 
to the property. ' He was a model farmer, 
his well-tilled fields and plentiful crops af- 
fording ample evidence of this fact. He 
took a deep and active interest in public 
affairs, contributing to the best of his 
ability in every enterprise that had for its 
object the general welfare of the com- 
munity. He was a member of the Baptist 
church, and for a quarter of a century 
served in the capacity of trustee. In April, 
1840, Mr. Griffith was married to Susan 
Harrar, a daughter of William and Ann 
(Todd) Harrar, of Montgomery county. 
Four children were the issue of this union, 
namely : Abel M., Austin E., Eleanor, who 
died in infancy ; and A. Judson. John W. 
Griffith died in October, 1887. having sur- 
vived his wife a number of years, her death 
having occurred February 25, 1875. 

Austin E. Griffith, eldest son of John W. 
and Susan Griffith, was born on the Griffith 
homestead in New Britain township. Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, October 27, 1845. 
His boyhood days were spent in assisting 
with the labors of the farm and acquiring 
an education, the latter being gained at the 
New Britain Seminary. He then engaged 
in farming on the homestead in conjunction 
with his brother Abel ]M., this connection 
continuing until the year 1900, when Austin 
E. retired from active duties although re- 
taining his interest in the farm, and changed 
his place of residence to Chalfont, where he 
has since resided. In that year he was one 
of the organizers of the borough of Chal- 
font, and was appointed its first burgess. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



617 



which office he still holds. He has served 
as president of the Farmers' Creamery 
Company of Philadelphia. He holds mem- 
bership in the Montgomery County Baptist 
Church, in which body he served as secre- 
tary of the board of trustees, and his politi- 
cal allegiance is given to the Democratic 
party. 

On April 5, 1894, Mr. Griffith was mar- 
ried to Eva Anna Funk, who was born 
in New Britain township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, January 7, 1854, a daughter 
of Joseph Funk, a sketch of whom appears 
€lsewhere in this work. 



GEORGE DOUGLASS, postmaster 
of Hulmeville, whose duties have been 
discharged in a faithful and efficient 
manner, receiving and meriting the ap- 
proval of all loyal citizens, since his ap- 
pointment by the late President McKin- 
ley, May i, 1899, to the present time 
(1905), was born March i, 1840, a son 
of George and Edith (Dunlap) Doug- 
lass, and grandson of James and Sarah 
(Bowden) Douglass. Both his father 
and grandfather followed the trade of a 
carpenter, but during the latter years of 
his life the former turned his attention 
to the butchering business, which 
yielded him a livelihood and the means 
of laying by a comfortable competence. 
George Douglass received his edu- 
cation in the public schools of Hulme- 
ville, and after completing the same 
served an apprenticeship at the trade 
of blacksmith, which he followed for the 
long period of forty years. When the 
Union was in peril the call to arms 
could not have met with a more pa- 
triotic response than that given by Mr. 
Douglass, who served with distinction 
during the civil war as a member of 
Battery D, Second Pennsylvania Light 
Artillery, participating in nearly a score 
of engagements, including Antietam, 
Fredericksburg, the Wilderness, and the 
surrender at Vicksburg. As a soldier 
he was courageous; as a citizen, active 
and alert; as a husband and father, 
faithful and devoted; as a friend, firm 
and true, and throughout his long and 
useful life he has been respected and 
beloved by a wide circle of friends and 
relatives. He is a Republican in poli- 
tics, and for many years has been an 
active worker in the ranks of that great 
organization. He served several terms 
in the borough council, and filled the 
responsible position of burgess of the 
borough. He is a member of Neshaminy 
Lodge. No. 422, Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, of Hulmeville, and of 
Hugh Martindell Post, No. 366, Grand 
Army of the Republic. 

â– Mr. Douglass married December 27, 
1865, Elizabeth E. Goslin. of Newport- 
ville, Pennsylvania, daughter of Ran- 
dall and Ellen Goslin, and granddaugh- 



ter of John and Martha Goslin. Their 
family numbered six children, as fol- 
lows: I. George, born February 3, 1868, 
married, March 2, 1892, Mary Elizabeth 
Brown, of Oxford Valley, a daughter of 
J. Jennings, and Amanda E. Brown, and 
they have one child, Ethel May, born 
INIay 24, 1893. 2. Howard Meredith, born 
November 13, 1871, married, March 2, 

1893, Sarah Vansant Force, born June 
25, 1870, and they are the parents of 
three children: Verna Meredith, born 
January 3, 1895; George Durell, born 
May 15, 1899, and • Howard Meredith, 
born September 7, 1903. 3. Margaret 
Barclay, born November 27, 1873; she 
was twice married, (first) March i, 

1894, to John H. Magill, wdio died No- 
vember 25, 1901, and (second) to John 
H. Moore, of Lambertville, New Jersey, 
wdio had a daughter Bessie by a prev- 
ious marriage: ISIr. and ]Mrs. Moore are 
the parents of a son, George Douglass 
Moore, born October 3, 1904. 4- Alfred 
W., born June 11, 1876, died November 
13, 1876. 5. Elizabeth May, born July 6, 
1878. 6. John Jerry, born September 
28, 1882, died February 29, 1884. 



HORACE T. SMITFL One of the 
representatives of a numerous and noted 
family is Horace T. Smith, of Upper 
Makefield township. The branch of the 
family to which ^Ir. Smith belongs is 
traced through the following genera- 
tions: 

Robert Smith (i) came from England 
early in the eighteenth century. Tradi- 
tion says that his father, who sailed for 
Pennsylvania accompanied by his wife 
and children, died on the passage and 
was buried at sea. His widow, with the 
children, proceeded to their destination, 
and there is reason to believe that 
Makefield was their adopted home. The 
mother married again. The name of 
Timothy Smith, a brother of Robert, re- 
peatedly appears on the records of the 
Friends' Meeting from 1710 to 1768. He 
was one of a special committee appointed 
to build Makefield meeting house in 1752, 
and w^as six times sheriff of Bucks 
countj'. His residence was on land orig- 
inally owmed b}^ Joseph Milnor, in Make- 
field, betw^een Dolington and Wrights- 
town. Robert Smith, soon after his mar- 
riage, moved to a farm in Buckingham, 
on the southeastern line, adjoining the 
Windy Bush farm of William Smith, 
where he lived during the remainder of 
his life. In 1738 he built a stone addi- 
tion to his log house, ruins of which were 
still standing a few years ago, this house 
being used as a dwelling by the sixth 
generation of the family. He was a 
highly esteemed member of Bucking- 
ham Friends' meeting. The first meeting 
was held October 6. 1720, and he was 
soon after appointed one of the over- 



6i8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



seers. He married, in 1719, Phoebe 
Canby, and their children were: Thomas, 
mentioned at length hereinafter; Tim- 
othy; Robert; John; Joseph; Joseph (sec- 
ond); IJenjamin; Samuel and Jonathan. 
Robert Smith died June 26, 174S, and his 
widow subsequently married Hugh Ely. 

Thomas Smith (2), son of Robert (i) 
and Phoebe (Canby) Smith, was born 
June 13, 1720, and was the first of the 
family to own the Smith homestead in 
Upper jNIakefield, although his having 
lived there is uncertain. He married 
Elizabeth Kinse3\ and the following chil- 
dren were born to them: Robert; . 
Phoebe; Edmund, mentioned at length 
hereinafter; Thomas; Elizabeth; Sarah; 
Eleanor; John; Martha, and David. 

Edmund Smith (3), son of Thomas (2) 
and Elizabeth (Kinsey) Smith, was born 
in 1745. and about 1780 tore down the old 
log house and built the brick house 
which is still standing. He was thrice 
married, his first wife being Sarah Daw- 
son, and his second Deborah Fell. By 
the latter he was the father of the fol- 
lowing children: Saul; Edmund; Benja- 
min; Joshua, mentioned at length herein- 
after; Jesse; and Deborah. After the 
death of his second wife he married 
Mary, widow of James Briggs. 

Joshua Smith (4), son of Edmund (3) 
and Deborah (Fell) Smith, was born in 
1782, and married Rachael Briggs, by 
whom he had three children: Deborah; 
Thomas Storey, mentioned at length 
hereinafter; and Elizabeth. After the 
death of his wife he married Susanna 
Smith, and two children were born to 
them: Kinsey and Martha. Mr. Smith 
died on the homestead, February 3, 1853. 

Thomas Storey Smith (5), son of Josh- 
ua (4) and Rachael (Briggs) Smith, was 
born September 20, 1815, on the home- 
stead, and at the time of his marriage 
the portion of the estate which forms 
the present farm of his son, Horace T. 
Smith, was allotted to him. On this land 
he erected the present buildings and spent 
his life. In politics he was a Whig, and 
later a Republican. He married Han- 
nah Fell, and four children were born to 
them, two of whom survive: Horace T., 
mentioned at length hereinafter; and 
Albert, who is a resident of San Fran- 
cisco, California. The death of Mr. Smith 
occurred where his son Horace T. now 
resides, March 31, 1870. 

Horace T. Smith (6), son of Thomas 
Storey (5) 'and Hannah (Fell) Smith, 
was born December ig, 1853, on the 
homestead, and received his education in 
the common schools. Although but six- 
teen years old at the time of his father's 
death, the responsibility of the manage- 
ment of the farm devolved chiefly upon 
him. and soon after his twenty-first year 
he had full control of the estate. Soon 
afterward he purchased the farm, his 
mother making her home with him dur- 
ing the remainder of her life. For nine 



years he was a member of the school 
board. Like his father, he is a Republi- 
can in politics. In matters of religion 
he adheres to the traditions of his ancestors, 
and is a member of the Friends' Meeting. 
Mr. Smith married in 1877, Rebecca, 
daughter of John S. and Martha (Hill- 
born) Eastburn, of Upper Makefield town- 
ship, and they are the parents of the follow- 
ing children : Story Wilfred ; Lester L ; 
Clarence H. ; Howard E., who is a student 
at Purdue College, Lafayette, Indiana ; and 
Fnuna H.. who attends the George School. 
â– The three elder sons reside at home. 

It is worliiy of note that two of the 
grandsci:^ oi Robert Smith, the emigrant 
ancestor, namely, Robert and Joseph Smith, 
brothers, made the first plow ever con- 
structed with an iron mouldboard. a patent 
for the plow being granted to Robert 
Smith. The mechanical genius exhibited 
by Joseph Smith in the construction of an 
article so important to agriculturists led to 
a personal acquaintance with Thomas Jef- 
ferson and a number of other distinguished 
men of the day. Joseph Smith, in addition 
to his genius as an inventor, was the first 
person in Bucks county to succeed in using 
anthracite coal for fuel. 



JOHN CASPER BACHOFER, a 
prosperous business man of Hulmeville, 
whose success proves conclusively what 
can be accomplished by strict attention 
to business and. by a steadfast determin- 
ation to advance, is a native of Wurtem- 
berg, Germany, born June 27, 1850, a 
son of John Casper and Elizabeth 
(Meomy) Bachofer. His educational 
advantages were obtained in the schools 
of his native land, and these he im- 
proved in such a manner as to be well 
qualified to enter upon the duties and 
responsibilities of life. After thor- 
oughly mastering the details of the 
trade of wood turner he worked at it for 
six years, and then, attracted by the 
possibilities ofifered to young men in the 
business world of America, he crossed 
the Atlantic in 1870, settling in Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania, where he contin- 
ued working at his trade for eight years. 
He then engaged in the grocery busi- 
ness, which he conducted during the re- 
mainder of his thirty years residence in 
Philadelphia, and the large measure of 
success he achieved was the direct re- 
sult of his own ambition and effort. In 
1900 he located in Hulmeville, where he 
is held in high esteem by all who know 
him, anfl he has been honored by elec- 
tion to the borough council, in which he 
is now .serving. During his residence in 
Philadelphic. Mr. Bachofer was a mem- 
ber of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. He has twice revisited his 
native land to visit his parents and 
friends. 

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Oc- 
tober 16, 1873, i\Ir. Bachofer was united 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



619 



in marriage to Laura Elizabeth Reetz, 
of that citv. daughter of Ferdinand and 
Amelia (Fudeka) Reetz, the former 
named, in connection with his son, hav- 
ing been very successful in the manu- 
facture of ha"ircloth, this being a very 
unique process in this section of the 
country. Seven children were the issue 
of this union: Ewald Ferdinand, born 
August. 1874, died December, 1875. Law- 
rence George, born August, 1876, died 
September, 1878. John Casper, born 
August 15, 1880, is emplpoyed as a letter 
carrier in the city of Philadelphia. Louis 
Henry, born June, 1882, died December,' 
1895. William Frederick, born Sep- 
tember 23, 1885, now employed in the 
cotton mill in Hulmeville. Laura Eliza- 
beth, born December 9, 1888. Ferdinand 
Henry, born March 23, 1893- These chil- 
dren received their education in the 
public schools of Philadelphia and 
Hulmeville. 



J. HARRIS CARTER. One of the 
progressive citizens of Upper Makefield â–  
township is J. Harris Carter. He comes 
of Scotch-Irish ancestry, his great- 
grandfather having emigrated from 
England. â–  William Carter, the son of 
this emigrant ancestor, was born in 
Bucks county, and for many years lived 
on what was later known as the Harvey 
Southwaite farm, in Falls township. His 
wife was Rachael Headley. 

James Carter, son of William and 
Rachael (Headley) Carter, was born 
March 15, 1800, in Middletown, Bucks 
county, and in early life was a farmer, 
but later moved to LIulmeville and en- 
gaged in business as a butcher. After 
his retirement he moved to Oxford, 
where he lived for ten years, and then 
went to reside with his daughter, Mrs. 
Hellings, in Taylorsville, where he passed 
the remainder of his life. He was a life- 
long Democrat, and in religion was a 
member of the Adventists, to which com- 
' munion his mother had belonged, his 
father having been an orthodox Friend, 
and his brother David a preacher of the 
Society. He married Rebecca, born July 
2, t8io. in Middletown. daughter of Jon- 
athan Hibbs. and they were the parents 
of nine children, of whom the following 
survive: James, who lives in North Da- 
kota- Rachael. who married Wilson Ash- 
more Kimball, of Trenton, New Jersey; 
Susan who is the wife of Lafayette 
Homer, also of Trenton. New Jersey; 
Lurania, who married Edwin Hellmgs. of 
Mercer county, New Jersey: Clara, who 
is the wife of George Brooks, of War- 
ren Ohio: and J. Harris, mentioned at 
length hereinafter. Mr. Carter died No- 
vember 23. 1863. at the home of his 
daughter. 'Mrs. Hellings. and Mrs. Car- 
ter, who is wonderfully well preserved 
at the extraordinary age of ninety-five. 



resides with her daughter, Mrs. Brooks, 
in Warren, Ohio. 

J. Harris Carter, son of James and 
Rebecca (Hibbs) Carter, was born 
Alarch 15, 1848, in Fallsington, Falls 
township, and received his education in 
the common schools. At the age of four- 
teen he apprenticed himself to learn the 
business of a butcher with his brother 
James at Dolington. He was then em- 
ployed by his brother-in-law, Edwin 
Heilings, in Taylorsville, working during 
the summer months and attending school 
during the winter. For thirteen years 
he was employed by Mr. Heilings, and 
in 1875 engaged in business for himself 
at Dolington. At the end of twenty-nine 
he is one of the substantial and highly 
esteemed men of this section. He is a 
Democrat in politics, but has never been 
an office-seeker. Mr. Carter married, Feb- 
ruary 18, 1874. Rosa A., daughter of 
George \V. Slack, of Dolington. and 
three children were born to them, of 
whom the sole survivor is Florence, now 
the wife of Frederick Sernberger, of 
Hopewell. New Jersey, and the mother 
of one child, Harris C. 



ISAAC M. LANDIS, a representative 
of the quiet but useful calling of agricul- 
ture, conducting his extensive operations 
on a ninety-two acre farm in New Britain 
township, Bucks county. Pennsylvania, it 
being one of the best cultivated and most 
productive in that section, is a native of 
that county, born in Springfield township, 
November 13, 1844. His parents were 
Jacob S. and Barbara (Moyer) Landis. 
Jacob S. Landis (father) was born ir» 
Springfield township, in 1817. He was 
reared on a farm, educated in the com- 
mon schools of that day, and up to the 
time of his marriage assisted his fatlier in 
the work of the old homestead. He then 
purchased a farm and also erected a mill, 
and both these enterprises he conducted suc- 
cessfully until he was sixty-five years of 
age, W'hen he disposed of his property and 
took tip his place of residence in nilltown- 
township, w'here he resided until his retire- 
ment from active pursuits. He was a mem- 
ber of the Mennonite church, and a Re- 
publican in politics. By his marriage to 
Barbara Moyer, a daughter of Peter ]Moyer, 
the following named children were born: 
Henry. Isaac M. ; Helena, who died at the 
age of ten years; Abraham, and two who 
died in infancy. Mr. Landis died at the 
home of his son. Isaac M. Landis. in 1901. 
He survived his wife twenty years, her 
death having occurred in the year 1881. 

Isaac M. Landis was reared under the 
parental roof, and was educated in the pub- 
lic schools of the neighborhood, one of 
his teachers having been William G. Moyer, 
a well known instructor. He left the home 
of his parents upon attaining his majority, 
and from that time until his marriage in 



620 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



1871 he earned a livelihood by working out 
among the farmers. The five j-ears follow- 
ing his marriage he resided in Plumstead 
township, and in 1877 purchased the old 
Martin Myers homestead of ninety-two 
acres, which he cultivated to a high state 
of perfection and which yields him goodly 
harvests in return for his labor. He makes 
a specialty of dairying, and the quality of 
his products may be inferred from the fact 
that he has sold to one man for the past 
twenty years, a very creditable record in- 
deed. He is a member of the Mennonite 
church, and his political support is given 
to the Republican party. In 1871 Mr. Lan- 
<lis was united in marriage to Elizabeth 
Overholt, born in Bedminster township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, a daughter of 
John and Annie (Drissel) Overholt. Their 
children are: Milton, a native' of Montgom- 
ery county, married Susan Kreble, and one 
child has been born to them, Lizzie ; Susan, 
wife of Samuel Histand, of Doylestown, 
and mother of six children; Samuel, Isaac, 
Abram, Lizzie, Daniel and Rebecca ; Saliie, 
wife of Allen Ruth, and mother of four 
children, Isaac, John, Mary Ann and Ir- 
win ; Hannah ; Samuel ; Annie ; Harvey ; 
Salome, who died at the age of six months, 
in 1879; Eugene, who died at the age of 
nine months, in 1889. 



JENKS G. WATSON, of Carversville, 
was born ' June 3, 1838, in Buckingham 
township, his parents being bamuel G. and 
Sarah H. (Thomas) Watson. The father 
was born in Buckingham township, and was 
a son of William- and Betsey (Gillingham) 
Watson. Samuel G, Watson was reared 
on the old home farm, and after his mar- 
riage began the cultivation of rented land 
Early in the '40s, however, he purchased 
a farm of seventy-three acres in ^olebury 
township, about two miles east of Carvers- 
ville, and, after making two or three re- 
movals, at a later date he finally purchased 
town property in Mechanicsville, where he 
lived retired in the enjoyment -of a well 
earned rest up to the time of his death, 
which occurred in his eightieth year. His 
â– early political allegiance was given to the 
Whig party, and after its dissolution he be- 
came a stanch Republican. He was never an 
office seeker, yet he served as assessor of 
his township for a number of years, and 
was a member of the election board, his 
capability and his loyalty leading to his 
selection for its offices. By his marriage 
to Sarah H. Thomas he had five children, 
of whom three are living: Margaret G., 
the wife of Thomas Cadwallader, of INIe- 
chanicsville; Anna G.,. the wif6 of John A. 
Ellis, of Buckingham township; and Jenks 
G. Watson. 

Reared upon the home farm in Bucking- 
ham township, Jenks G. Watson acquired 
a thorough familiarity with the best 
methods of advancing agricultural interests, 
and in his youth gained a good common- 
school education. On starling out in life 



on his own account, he rented land for 
two years, and then purchased property 
from his father-in-law, land upon which 
he carried on agricultural pursuits until 
the spring of 1903, being one of the in- 
dustrious, progressive and successful agri- 
culturists of his locality. Having acquired 
a handsome competence, he then retired to 
his present town residence in Carversville. 
His political views accord with Republican 
principles, and, though he has never been 
an aspirant for office, he has always kept 
well informed on the issues of the day. 
In 1861 Mr. Watson married Miss Caro- 
line Shaw, a daughter of Eleazer C. and 
Grace R. (Green) Shaw, of Plumstead 
township. They have four children : Alice 
A., the wife of C. Allen Knight, of Sole- 
bury township and they have three chil- 
dren — Marian, Helen and Florence ; Eliza- 
beth C, the wife of Edward Woodman 
who operates her father's farm and they 
have three children — J. Watson, Margaret 
W. and Allen ; Helen M., at home ; and 
W. Harry, a merchant of Carversville, who 
married Sarah Bizzy, daughter of James 
Bizzy, and has one child, Jenks Watson. 



WILLIAM EARLEY DORON, who is 
well known and highly esteemed among the 
best citizens of the borough of Bristol, 
w^here his birth occurred May 22, 1852, is a 
son of Thomas Ellwood and EJizabeth 
(Hellings) Doron, whose family consisted 
of ten children, William E. being the only 
survivor, and grandson of John and Cath- 
arine (Lamb) Doron, of Hatborough, 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, the for- 
mer named, also his father, having been 
extensive land owners in that town and 
prominent in local affairs. The grandfather 
of Mrs. Elizabeth (Hellings) Doron was a 
well known sea captain. 

The private schools of Bristol and the 
Philadelphia Polytechnic College afforded 
William E. Doron the means of obtaining 
an excellent English education which well 
equipped him for an active career. He is 
now the largest real estate owner in Bris- 
tol, and is also actively interested in the 
Bristol Water Works and in many of the 
varied interests of the town. He is the 
sole owner of the ferry connecting the towns 
of Burlington and Bristol, the grant for 
which is one of the oldest in the country, 
dated June 10, 1697. The ferry has been in 
the possession of the Doron family for half 
a century and is the oldest ferry on the 
Delaware river. IMarch 6, 1876, Mr. Doron 
married Louise Conkling, daughter of Ezra 
and Agnes (Burd) Conkling, of Philadel- 
phia, and granddaughter of Hiram and 
Lydia (Quick) Conkling, of Orange county, 
New York. Mr. Conkling was a prominent 
citizen, widely known and highly esteemed, 
and a contractor by occupation. He was 
an uncle of the late Roscoe Conkling, for 
many years United States senator. Two 
children were the issue of the marriage of 
Mr. and Mrs. Doron : Louise A., born 



THE NEW YORK 

PUBLIC LL^RARY 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



621 



June 2y, 1879, a graduate of St. INIary's 
Academy, Burlington, New Jersey; and 
EUwood Lee, born July 13, 1881, who was 
drowned in the Delaware river at the age 
of eight years. ]\Ir. and ^Nlrs. Doron are 
members of the Episcopal church of Bristol. 



WILLIAM HENRY IVINS. The Ivins 
family, of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, worth- 
ily represented in the present generation 
by William Henry Ivins, was founded in 
this country by Isaac Ivins, who came 
from England about 1700 and located in 
Mansfield, Burlington county, New Jersey, 
where he established a country store, and 
there resided until his death, July 19, 1768. 
By his marriage to Sarah Johnson ten chil- 
dren were born. Aaron Ivins, one of the 
aforementioned children, married Ann 
Cheshire, and among their children was a 
son Aaron, who married Ann Cook (nee 
Ivins), and they reared a family of chil- 
dren, among whom was Aaron, who mar- 
ried Hannah Eastburn, and they were the 
parents of William Henry Ivins. Aaron 
Ivins (father) was a member of the legis- 
lature of Pennsylvania in 1837, when the 
first free school bill in that state became 
a law. He was an ardent supporter of the 
measure, which met with great opposition 
before its passage, but with the assistance 
of such men as Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, 
Judge Sharswood and other prominent 
members of this legislature it was carried 
through, and time has abundantly shown 
the importance of this action in the great 
improvement of general intelligence. Aaron 
Ivins was a teacher and surveyor in early 
life, but during his later years he devoted 
his attention to farming, insurance and the 
settlement of estates. 

William H. Ivins, son of Aaron and Han- 
nah (Eastburn) Ivins, was born in Penn's 
Manor, Pennsylvania, March 11, 1840. He 
attended the public schools of . Philadel- 
phia, graduating from the Central High 
School of that city. In 1857 he entered Ain- 
herst College, and after a year in that m- 
stitution became a student of Union Col- 
lege, Schenectady, New York, remaining 
there until the summer of 1859. Havmg a 
natural aptitude for the vocation of teach- 
ing, he engaged in that line of work and 
continued in the same until January, 186.1. 
when he w^as appointed to a clerkship in 
the War Department at Washington, D. C, 
where he remained for nearly four years. 
At the expiration of this period of time he 
returned to Philadelphia, and for four years 
thereafter was employed in the wholesale 
wood and willow ware store of White & 
Peachin as bookkeeper. In 1870 Mr. Ivins, 
with one of his brothers engaged in the 
furniture business on North Second street. 
Philadelphia, where they remained until 
1890, a period of twenty years, when they 
disposed of the business. William H. Ivms 
then entered the employ of Strawbridge & 
Clothier, where he remained until 1900, 



since which time he has not engaged in 
active business pursuits. Mr. Ivins was a 
resident of Camden, New Jersey, for seven- 
teen years prior to his coming to Langhorne, 
in 1903, and for more than half a century 
resided outside of his native county. He 
is a citizen of undoubted integrity, and in 
all the walks of life has acquitted himself 
with honor and fidelity. He is president 
of the school board of Langhorne, and is 
interested and zealous in all educational 
matters. He is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity, being a charter member of 
Apollo Lodge, No. 386, and also of 
Palestine Chapter, No. 240, Royal Arch 
Masons. He is a charter member of 
Crusaders Castle, No. 5, Knights of the 
Golden Eagle, of Philadelphia, and a mem- 
ber of Chosen Friends Lodge, No. 29, Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, o. Camden, 
New Jersey, where he filled the elective of- 
fices. He is an adherent of the Friends' 
faith, and a stanch supporter of the Re- 
publican party. He is a director in the 
Langhorne Library. 

!Mr. Ivins was twice married. His first 
marriage was in May, 1883, to Catharine 
Gartley Abbey, who died the same month. 
His second marriage was on October -21, 
1887, to Wilhelmina Buckman Linton, of 
Newtown, Pennsylvania, daughter ot 
Penquite and Ellen (Buckmanj Linton, 
and granddaughter of Major Thomas and 
Martha Buckman. One son was the issue 
of this union, Aaron Henry, born Decem- 
ber 17, 1890. He attended the Friends' 
school in Camden, New Jersey, until the 
removal of his parents to Langhorne, when 
he continued his studies in the public 
schools of that borough, and is now a stu- 
dent in the celebrated George School, an 
institution which stands high in educa- 
tional circles, and which was endowed by 
John M. George, of Philadelphia. 



WILLIAM HILLBORN, deceased, who 
for many years bore an active and promi- 
nent part in the agricultural interests of 
Byberry township (now Philadelphia), was 
an honored representative of a family which 
has been identified with the great common- 
wealth of Pennsylvania from early days. 
He was born August 4, 1823, a son of 
John (who was a prosperous farmer and 
miller) and Mary (Smith) Hillborn, and 
grandson of Amos and Ruth (Simpson) 
Hillborn. 

William Hillborn passed his boyhood 
days on the home farm, attended the 
Friends' school, where he acquired a good 
English education, and subsequently en- 
gaged in farming, which occupation he fol- 
lowed throughout the active years of his 
life. Owing to the practical experience 
he gained while assisting his father his 
operations were attended with a large de- 
gree of success. He was an honorable, up- 
right man, of sterling integrity, a true 
friend and pleasant neighbor, and was re- 



622 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



spected and beloved bj' all with whuni he 
came in contact, cither in biisinos or so- 
cial life. He was a stanch Republican in 
politics, but never sought or held public 
office, preferring the routine life of a farmer 
to that of the political arena. 

On June 6, 1850, Mr. Hillborn was mar- 
ried to Isabella Webster, born December 
27, 1830, a daughter of Jesse Gilbert and. 
Sarah (Williams; Webster, and three chil- 
dren were born to them: John, born July 
13, 185 1, was educated in the Friends' 
school, and died April 12, 1896; William, 
born January 15, 1855, was educated in the 
Friends' school, married Miriam Croasdale, 
who died, and two children were born to 
them, namely, Edith and Marion; Sarah 
Emma, born August 29, i860, was educated 
in the Friends' school, and March 4, 1880, 
became the wife of Herman B. Griffith, 
of Montgomery county, Pennsylvania ; their 
children are: Isabella Hillborn, born April 
25, 1881, and William Herman, born De- 
cember 29, 1882. Mr. and Mrs. Hillborn 
were brought up in the Friends' faith and 
never departed therefrom. His death oc- 
curred September 10, 1880. His widow is 
still living, residing in her beautiful home 
in Hulnieville, surrounded by a large cir- 
cle of friends who are drawn to her by 
her kindly smile and her many acts of 
benevolence and words of cheer, peace, the 
cardinal virtue of her lifelong religious 
faith, being exemplified in her daily walk 
and conversation. 

The immigrant ancestor of the Webster 
family, of which Mrs. Hillborn is a repre- 
sentative, was John Gilbert Webster, who 
came from England in 1682 to escape 
persecution visited upon him and his co- 
religionists and to make their home in a 
land where they might worship God after 
the dictates of their own conscience. The 
line of descent is traced through David 
Webster, who married Elizabeth Gilbert, 
to Jesse Gilbert, who married barah W^ill- 
iams, the tw-o latter named being the pa- 
rents of Mrs. Hillborn. Jesse Gilbert Web- 
ster was bor,n and reared in Montgomery 
county, settled in Bucks county in 1825. 
engaged in farming, and during his later 
years was an auctioneer. He served in 
the capacity of justice of the peace for fif- 
teen years, was a school director for a sim- 
ilar period, and county commissioner one 
term. He was strongly opposed to slavery, 
and aided materially in the operation of the 
"underground railroad." which was the 
means of escape of many a fugitive slave. 
His wife. Sarah (Williams) Webster, was 
a daughter of Terrell Williams, of Frank- 
ford. Philadelphia county, a descendant of 
an English ancestry, and she was brought 
up in the Society of Friends, i hey were 
the parents of six children : Isabella, Tacy, 
Pemberton, Hugh B., a sketch of whom 
appears elsewhere in this work; Elizabeth 
Emma, and Milton. 

The ancestors of the Gilbert branch of 
the Webster family were "driven from the 
west of England by religious persecution, 



they being stanch adherents of the Quaker 
faith. John Gilhun (ij with his wife 
Florence and their sons John and Joseph 
were among those who came to America in 
1682 and settled in Byberry (now Philadel- 
phia), separated from Bucks county by 
Poquessing creek. Joseph Gilbert (2) be- 
came prominent in the meetings, was an 
overseer of the Byberry Meeting, and also 
filled the office of elder for many years. 
He died in 1765, aged ninety years. Ben- 
jamin Gilbert (3) came to Richland, Bucks 
couiity, married Sarah Mason, and had a 
family of eight children. In 1775 he moved 
with his family to Penn township, on the 
frontier, near Mauch Chunk. Here he 
erected a grist mill and other buildings, 
living in peace with the Indians. On April 
25, 1780, the family were alarmed by a 
party of eleven Indian warriors, and ten 
of the Gilbert family with five others were 
taken prisoners by them. The Indians then 
plundered and burned the buildings, forcing 
the captives to carry their plunder with 
them into the woods. They were taken by 
the Indians from place to place, much of 
the time suffering from lack of provisions 
and enduring great privation and hardship, 
as well as being separated from each other. 
They were finally released, all save Ben- 
jamin, who died July 8, 1780, in a boat in 
which he with his wife Elizabeth and two 
children were going down the St. Law- 
rence river to Montreal under the protection 
of British officers. After leaving Montreal 
the party crossed the Delaware into Penn- 
sylvania, and after a journey of five weeks 
arrived in Byberry, where Elizabeth Gil- 
bert and her children were received with 
many rejoicings by their relations and 
former acquaintances. The fact that such 
an event as an Indian raid should have 
occurred in this part of the country within 
a period of three generations shows how 
rapidly evolution in all business and social 
affairs has worked in the uplifting of man- 
kind. 



AMOS ARMITAGE was born Septem- 
ber 23, 1881, on the farm in Solebury town- 
ship upon which he now resides, and which 
had been owned in turn by his grandfather 
and his father. The former, Amos Armit- 
age, Sr., was a cabinet-maker and carpen- 
ter by trade, and for a number of years 
lived at Lumberville, where he was con- 
nected with building operations. Subse- 
quently, however, he purchased the farm 
upon which his grandson, Amos Armitage, 
now resides, and there he spent the later 
years of his life, devoting his energies to 
agricultural pursuits. He married Re- 
becca Hoffman. 

Their son, Samuel Armitage, was born in 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1817, and 
in early life learned the wheelwright's 
trade, but his effort has been chiefly given 
to his agricultural interests. At his fa- 
ther's death he succeeded to the ownership 
of the old home property, and continued to 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



623 



reside thereon until his own demise, which 
occurred on the 2d of April, 1897, when 
he was in his eightieth year. He was a 
well known business man, of unquestioned 
integrity and reliability, and was frequently 
called upon to serve as administrator of 
estates. He handled much money. in trust, 
and his inflexible honor made him one of 
the most highly esteemed citizens of his 
community. In his political views he was 
a Republican. He married Elizabeth Dud- 
bridge, who was born in Warrington town- 
ship, Bucks county, January 15, 1S42, a 
â– daughter of Theodore and Ann (Pidcock) 
Dudbridge, of that township, the former a 
farmer there. Their daughter, Mrs. Ar- 
mitage, is still living and makes her home 
with her son Amos, her only child. 

Amos Armitage was reared on the old 
home farm and attended the common 
schools. By the terms of his father's will 
he inherited the property, which was held 
in trust for him until he attained his ma- 
jority. He then took possession of an 
adjoining farm on which his father held a 
mortgage and which was left for sale. Mr. 
Armitage purchased this, and now has 
within the boundaries of the two farms one 
hundred and thirty-seven acres of very rich 
and arable land. While he has never served 
an apprenticeship in mechanical lines, he 
is a skilled worker in both wood and iron, 
an ability that has undoubtedly been in- 
herited from his ancestors, who for gen- 
erations have displayed much mechanical 
ingenuity. He is thus enabled to keep 
everything about his place in excellent re- 
pair, and his farm is one of the best im- 
proved in his locality. He is justly ac- 
counted one of the progressive young agri- 
culturists of Solebury township. On the 
6th of November, 1903, Mr. Armitage was 
married to Miss Alice Gilbert, a daughter 
of John and Elizabeth (Warner) Gilbert 
of Lumberville. He votes with the Re- 
publican party, and has served as a member 
of the election board. 



EZEKIEL B. COX. One of the pros- 
perous business men of Bucks county is 
Ezekiel B. Cox, of New Hope. Mr. Cox 
is a son of Reeder Cox, who was born in 
Plumstead township, and on reaching man- 
hood moved to Solebury township. He 
lived in the vicinity of New Hope and Tay- 
lorsville, engaging in farming and also in 
lime-burning. He married Elizabeth Nay- 
lor, and of their eleven children six sur- 
vive : Howard, who lives in Solebury 
township; Edward, who is a resident of 
iNew Hope; Ezekiel B., mentioned at length 
liereinafter ; Mary, who is the wife of Far- 
ley Stout, of Hopewell, New Jer.sey ; and 
Victoria, who is the wife of Horace Shick, 
of New Hope. Mr. Cox now resides with 
his son-in-law, Mr. Stout, in Hopewell, 
New Jersey. . 

Ezekiel B. Cox. son of -'eeder and K lzp- 
beth (Naylor) Cox, was born May t6, 



1854, in Solebury township, and when but 
eleven years of age began to work for the 
neighboring farmers. At seventeen he ap- 
prenticed himself to the miller's trade m 
Brownsburg, and two years late;- went to 
Attleboro, where he hnished his appreniice- 
ship. For two years he worked as a jour- 
neyman at Chainbridge, Wrightstown town- 
ship, and then moved to New Hope, where 
he worked one year, and then went to the 
Spring mills in Solebury. After working 
three years in these mills he opened the 
Buckingham mills, which he conducted suc- 
cessfully for seventeen years. In 1898 he 
sold his milling interests and moved to 
New Hope, where he engaged in mercantile 
business with such success that he is now 
the leading merchant of that place. He is 
a Republican in politics. Mr. Cox mar- 
ried, February 28, 1876, Jennie, daughter of 
Israel Roberts, of Carstown, Ohio, and they 
are the parents of one son, Frank W., who 
is his father's assistant in the store. 



WILMER A. TWINING, of Wrights- 
town, is a representative of a family that 
have been prominent in the affairs of that 
vicinity for over two centuries. He is a 
son of Cyrus and Sarah M. (Atkinson) 
Twining, and was born in the house in 
which he now resides, and which has been 
the home of his ancestors for six genern- 
tions, on April 17, 1865. 

William Twining came from England 
about 1640 and settled in the neighborhood 
of Cape Cod, removing to Eastham, county 
of Barnstable, Massachusetts, in 1645. In 
1695 he came to Newtown, Bucks coun- 
ty, with his son Stephen. Stephen Twining 
had married Abigail Young in Massachu- 
setts, where his son John was born i mo. 
5, 1692-3. He was a prominent member 01 
the Society of Friends, and meetings were 
frequently held at his house prior to the 
establishment of Wrightstown Meeting, of 
which he was one of the original trustee .•^ 
John Twining married Elizabeth Kirk, 
daughter of John and Joan (Elliot) Kirk, 
who was born 3 mo. 19, 1696, and died 9 
mo. II, 1776. They were the parents of 
nine children : John, Joseph, David, Elea- 
zer, William, Thomas, Jacob, Rachel and 
Stephen. John Twining died 8 mo. 21, 
1775. His seventh son, Jacob, born 10 mo. 
-S' 173O1 was the great-grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch. 

Jacob Twining, Jr., son of Jacob and 
Sarah, was the fourth of nine children, 
and was born 6 mo. 30, 1786. He married, 
10 mo. 12, 1808, Priscilla Buckman, daugh- 
ter of Thomas and Mary Buckman, and 
settled in Northampton township, where 
he died. Jacob and Priscilla (Buckman) 
Twining were the parents of nine children, 
two of whom died in infancy; those who 
survived were : Thomas, born 2 mo. 14, 
1810; Sarah, born 12 mo. 17, 1811 ; Mary 
H., born 12 mo. 25, 1814; Jesse, born 9 
mo. 25, 1817 ; Henry M., born i mo. 4, 



624 



HISTORY Of BUCKS COUNTY. 



1820; Jane B., born 1 1 mo. 11, 1822; Pris- 
cilla, born 1825, died 1835; Cyrus 13., bo.n 
9 mo. 29, 1827, and Abram. 

Cyrus B. Twining was born in Norih- 
ampion township, where he was reared to 
the lite of a farmer. He married Sarah 
]M., daughter of Jonathan and Esthei 
(.Smith) Atkinson, of Wrightstown, and in 
1853 purchased the farm of his father-in- 
law, where the subject of this sketch re- 
sides, and moved thereon. This farm had 
been the property of the Atkuison family 
for three generations, having been purchas- 
ed by Thomas Alkinv.ri, the grai.cjtathcr 
of Jonathan, in 1744. In 1865 Cyrus 1 wan- 
ing rented the home farm and i-emoved 
to another farm in Wrightstown, where he 
died in 1892. His widow still survives at 
the age of eighty years. Three of the 
children of Cyrus and Sarah (AtkinsonJ 
Twining survive: Jonathan A., Ellen T., 
wife of Stephen K. Cooper, of Wycombe; 
and Wilmer A., the subject of this sketch. 

Wilmer A. Twining was born in the 
house in which he still resides, and has 
spent his whole life in Wrightstown town- 
ship. He acquired his education at the 
public schools and at Pierce's Business 
College, Philadelphia. On October 14, 1886, 
he married Lottie B. Vandegnft, daughter 
of James M. and Sarah (Gaine) Vande- 
grift, of Buckingham, and took charge ol 
his father's farm on the Newtown turn- 
pike, which he conducted for three years. 
In 1890 he removed to the old home farm 
where he has since resided, purchasing it 
a year later. He has been for the past 
nine years a member of the school board 
of Wrightstown township, and also holds 
the office of justice of the peace, to which 
he was appointed in the spring of 1899. 
and was duly elected for the term of five 
years in the following spring, and again 
in 1905. To Mr. and Mrs. Twining have 
been born two children : Franklin M., Sep- 
tember 15, 1888, and Elinor C, July 9, 
1891. 



F. CYRUS TWINING, of Wrightstown, 
was born in that township on June 15, 
1879, and is the only child of Jonathan A. 
and Belle (Warner) Twining, and a 
grandson of Cyrus and Sarah M. (Atkin- 
son) Twining, whose ancestry is given in 
a preceding sketch. Jonathan A. Twining 
was born in Northampton township, Sep- 
tember 10, 1852. His parents removing to 
Wrightstown when he was less than a year 
old, he was reared in the township in 
which he has ever since resided, and ac- 
quired his education at the public schools 
and at Doylestown English and Classical 
Seminary. He married in 1874 Belle War- 
ner, daughter of Jonathan and Maria 
(Thackeray) Warner of Wrightstown, and 
from that date to 1882, conducted his fath- 
er's farm, near Wycombe, where his broth- 
er Wilmer A. Twining, now lives. From 
/ 1882 until 1890 he was in business with his 
father in Philadelphia. In 1890 he pur- 



chased a farm adjoining his father's other 
farm, and until 1901 conducted both farms. 
His wife died November 29, 1901, and he 
retired from active management of his 
farms. In politics he is a Republican, and 
has always taken an active part in the coun- 
cils of his party. In 1899 he was electea 
county auditor, and at the expiration of 
his term of office in 1902 was elected to the 
office of county commissioner. He was for 
twelve years a member of the school board 
of Wrightstown, and has filled other local 
positions. 

F. Cyrus Twining was reared on the 
farm, and acquired his education at the 
public schools, the George School and 
Pierce's Business College. In the spring 
of 1902 he took charge of his father's farm, 
which he has since conducted. He mar- 
ried, June 8. 1904. ^lary Ogborn Eastburn, 
daughter of George L. and Sarah M. (Hes- 
ton) Eastburn of Pineville. 



ANDREW SCHAEFFER, an enterpris- 
ing and progressive agriculturist of Bristol, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, who has fol- 
lowed that occupation throughout the many 
years of his active career, is a native of that 
township, born December 5, 1827, a son of 
John and Anna (Silbert) Schaeffer, who 
with their eldest child ]\Iichael, in Septem- 
ber, 1818, came from Austria and settled 
in Bristol, Pennsylvania, on the Bolton 
farm, where they were obliged to work for 
three years to pay for their passage. Their 
children were : Michael, born in Austria, 
probably about 1815 ; Louisa M., born in 
Bristol, December 24, 1818; Catharine, No- 
vember. 1820; John, May 25, 1823; Godfrey, 
September 3, 1825 ; Andrew, December 5, 
1S27; Nicholas, August 27, 1830; Pember- 
ton Morris, May 23, 1833; Charles, May 31, 
183s ; and Anna jNIaria, July 4. 1837. Louisa. 
Andrew, Pemberton 'M. and Anna Maria are 
the only members of the family now living. 
John and Michael were carpenters by 
trade, and the other sons followed agri-. 
cultural pursuits. 

Andrew Schaeffer attended the public 
schools at Emilie and Tullytown, Bucks 
county, and at early age began farming, 
which line of work proved a lucrative source 
of income. By economy and industry he 
accumulated sufficient to purchase in 1871 
the Fairview farm in Bristol, upon which he 
now resides. The house is about one hun- 
dred and twenty-five years old, and is yet 
a very substantial structure. ^Ir. Schaeffer 
served as school director for nine years, and 
in various ways contributed to the general 
welfare of the community. His political 
affiliations are with the Republican party. 

In 1849 Mr. Schaeffer married Catharine 
Williams, daughter of William and Susanna 
(Miller) Williams, of Monroe county, 
Pennsylvania, and of German and Welsh 
descent. Eight children were the issue of 
this marriage, i. Michael, born October 24, 
1851, died October 5, 1881. 2. Susanna W., 




O^'Z.cA.^AC-- ^cJ^^<Q,Ml^tXP 



J 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



62;; 



April 21, 1853, became the wife of James 
Warden, of Bristol, September 5, 1877, and 
their children are : Catharine S., born July 
12, 1878, became the wife of Charles Silbert, 
of Bristol, October 11, 1899, and they are 
the parents of one child, Mildred Elizabeth, 
born July 11, 1903; Martha Warden, born 
August 29, 1880. 3. Mary Dorrance, born 
December 22, 1855. 4. Elizabeth Stockham, 
born December 8, 1857. 5. John Dorrance, 
born April 26, 1861, died January 24, 1868. 
6. Ella Priscilla, born March i, 1864, became 
the wife of John T. Cessna, of Rainsburg, 
Pennsylvania, and their children are : Cath- 
arine, born August 18, 1897; Wilbur La- 
mont, March 18, 1S98; John William, May 

3, 1901. 7. William Henry, born May 22, 
1866, who now conducts the opei^tions on 
the homestead farm. 8. Anna, born June 

4, 1870. The mother died January 4, 189S; 
she. was born October 22, 1828, and died 
in her seventieth year. 



BIRKEY FAMILY. Arms of La Bar- 
riere of France, 1500, Maison de la Bar- 
riere, of Guyenne Gascony and Agenoise, 
France, Arms : de gules a trois chevrons 
buses d' or, Mimis de monchchures de 
hemine de sable, 1126 A. D. Vide "Delano 
Genealogy, by Mortimer Delano, P. of A., 
member of N. Y. Genealogical and Biologi- 
cal Societies, Sociefe Suissee d' la 
Heraldique, and Herald Society zu Berlin. 
BIRKEY— BERGEY— LA BARRIERE 
FAMILY OF AMERICA.— Adolphus de 
La Barriere came to America from France 
1720-26. He was the founder of the 
• Birkey-La Barriere family in America. He 
and his wife Hannah settled near Wolms- 
dorf, Pennsylvania. He assumed the name 
of Bergey for family reasons. Professor 
Raymond Bergey, of the College at Mont- 
pelier, France, 1747, married Marie La 
Barriere. ' Adolphus La Barriere and his 
wife Hannah had two sons, Henry and 
Peter Birkey; the name Bergey, from mis- 
use, became Birkey. After the death of 
Adolphus La Barriere his widow married 
a de Rohan and had children. Before 
he died Adolphus La Barriere appointed 
his dear friend Johann Wister guardian 
of his two sons. He had them educated 
and taught the trade of beaver fur hatters, 
and when they came of age Johann Wister, 
their guardian, who had done his duty and 
been very kind to them, gave them what 
remained of their fortune. 

Peter Birkey was born in 1744, near 
Wolmsdorf, Pennsylvania. He married 
Elizabeth Jennings, daughter of John Jen- 
nings, high sheriff of Northampton county, 
Pennsylvania, a son of Solomon Jennings, 
surveyor of Fremore Manor, Pennsylvania. 
John Jennings (father) died of fever at 
Barbadoes, West Indies, while on his way 
to England. Solomon Jennings (grand- 
father) served as commissioner; he com- 
manded a company of militia, and after 
40-3 



the Indian massacre buried the dead. He 
owned the Geisinger farm near Easton, 
Pennsylvania, and he and his wife are bur- 
ied on the farm. Peter Birkey and Eliza- 
beth Jennings were married in 1772 and 
had children : Samuel, John Y. and Jen- 
nings Birkey. Peter Birkey died Septem- 
ber 18, 1826, and is buried in the family 
Jot in St. Mary's (Episcopal) churchyard. 
Burlington, New Jersey. Elizabeth 'Jen- 
nings, his wife, born 1756, died September 
24, 1793, and is buried in the Friends' 
cemetery at Fourth and Arch streets, Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania. 

Samuel Birkey, son of Peter and Eliza- 
beth (Jennings) Birkey, married Miss 
Keck, of Philadelphia, and had a son 
Lawrence Birkey, who married Louise 
Stansbury, of Ohio, a member of the Stans- 
bury family of Maryland, and had a son 
Robert Stansbury Birkey, of Cumberland, 
Maryland. Lawrence Birkey was a director 
of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, was in- 
terested in other railroads, mining, etc., 
and he was among the first to cross the 
overland route to California. Jennings 
Birkey, son of Peter and Elizabeth (Jen- 
nings) Birkey, never married. 

John Y. Birkey, son of Peter and Eliza- 
beth (Jennings) Birkey, born at Allentown, 
Pennsylvania, November 20, 1774, married 
September 4, 1795, Deborah Hughes, daugh- 
ter of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Hughes, 
of Charlestown, Cecil county, Maryland, 
and his wife, Frances Dorcas Forrester, 
second daughter of the Rev. George Will- 
iam Forrester, rector of Shrewsbury parish, 
Kent county, Maryland, and his wife Mrs. 
Mary (Wilmer) Clay,* widow of Thomas 
Clay, merchant of Chestertown, ^Maryland, 
Mary Wilmer was the daughter of Simon 
Wilmer (2) and his wife Dorcas Hynson, 
and granddaughter of Simon Wilmer (i) 
and' his wife Rebecca Tilghman, wTio^was 
the daughter of. Dr. Richard Tilghman 
and his wife Mary Foxley, of Foxley Hall. 
Richard Tilghman and Simon Wilmer (r) 
were the first of their respective families 
in America. The Wilmer and Tilghman 
families are distinguished in the annals 
of our country, and they both have their 
coats-of-arms. Colonel Oswald Tilghman, 
of Easton. Talbot county. Maryland, is a 
•member of the Order of the Cincinnati. 
Major General L. A. Wilmer commanded 
the troops of Maryland in the Spanish- 
American war. Lambert Wilmer. brother 
of Mary Wilmer, married Ann Ringgold. 
Mr. John Thompson Spencer and Dr. 
Charles Cadwallader are connected with the 
Wilmer family through the family of Ring- 
gold, of :\Iaryland. :Mrs. Julia Williams, 
mother of Rush Biddle, was Ann Wilmer 
prior to her marriage. Through the mar- 
riage of George Wilmer to Rebecca Baker- 
ville the family is connected with ^^'^lliam 
the Conqueror. ("History of Wilmer 
Family in England," by Green & Foster, 



*Vide "Clay Genealogy," by General Cecil Clay, 
Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. 



626 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



1888. contains the will of Simon Wilmer, 
A. D. 1400). 

The Rev. George William Forrester was 
of the noble and ancient house of For- 
rester, of Scotland, lie was a minister of 
the Church of England, but having differed 
on the points of doctrine, and after dis- 
cussuig the points in question (he was 
liberal in his views) with the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, he came to America and 
settled in Maryland. After the death of 
his first wife, Mary Wilmer Clay, he mar- 
ried Catherine Ramsey Pearce Shannon, 
whose daughter Susannah Shannon mar- 
ried James Alfred Pearce, who for 
twenty-four years was United States sena- 
tor from Maryland, and whose son, James 
A. Pearce, is judge of the court of appeals 
of Maryland. Catherine Ramsey, Mr. 
Forrester's second wife, was a daughter of 
Governor Ramsey, of the Province of New 
York. Catherine Margaret Forrester, 
daughter of the Rev. Mr. Forrester and 
his wife Mary Wilmer Clay, married July 
2, 1772, Lieutenant John Hamilton, of the 
First Maryland Regiment. Ellen (Birkey) 
Sappington, daughter of Thomas Hughes 
Birkey, of Baltimore, Maryland, and wife 
of Major Sappington, has the miniature 
" likeness of Captain Hamilton, First Mary- 
land Regiment. Thomas Hughes was 
lieutenant-colonel of the Susquehanna bat- 
talion of Cecil county, Maryland ; he raised 
and equipped a company at his own ex- 
pense during the Revolutionary war, etc. ; 
for his correspondence with Governor 
Tilghman of Maryland, who was his wife's 
relative, vide "Archives of Maryland." 
Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Hughes was 
the son of Thomas Hughes and Elizabeth 
Gatchel, daughter of Elisha and his wife 
â–  Rachel Gatchel. who were members of 
the Society of Friends, The Hughes and 
Gatchel families have their coats-of-arms. 
Deborah Hughes, daughter of Thomas and 
Elizabeth (Gatchel) Hughes, married Rich- 
ard Thomas, son of Philip Thomas, judge 
of the land office, and his wife Ann Chew, 
of West River, Maryland ; vide "The Thom- 
as Book," by Lawrence Buckley Thomas, 
D. D. Elisha Hughes, eldest brother of 
Lieutenant 'Colonel Thomas Hughes, mar- 
ried Mary Kirk, of Nottingham Meeting, 
and their daughter, Rachel Hughes, mar- 
ried Roger Kirk in 1774; hefought in the 
revolution and was commissioned captain, 
and Roger Kirk was a grandson of Roger 
Kirk, founder of the family in America. 
Roger Kirk and Rachel Hughes, his wife, 
were members of the Society of Friends. 
William Henry Brown, chief engineer of 
the Pennsylvania Railroad, Slater Brown 
Russell, justice of the peace of West Ches- 
ter, Pennsylvania, ' Chester Hughes Kirk, 
William Thompson Kirk, Theodore Kirk 
Stubbs, many times member of the Legis- 
lature, — descendant's of Roger Kirk, and 
Rachel Hughes, are members of the Penn- 
sylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution. 
Professor Russell Hays, of Swarthmore 
College, and H. H. Haines, president of 



Bank of Rising Sun, Md., are descendants 
of Rachel Hughes and Roger Kirk. Mary 
Hughes, the youngest daughter of Elisha 
and his wife Mary, married Joseph Car- 
roll, a graduate of Dublin University, a 
Roman Catholic, and a relative of Charles 
Carroll, of Carrollton, Maryland. Thomas 
Hughes was a member of "The Principio 
Company of Maryland and Virginia," 
where in 17 16- 18 the first pig iron was 
made in America ; vide Henry Whiteley's 
historical pamphlet "On The Principio Com- 
pany." He was a relative of Sir William 
Bulkeley Hughes, of (Palace) Plas Coch, 
Wales, whose daughter Mary Hughes mar- 
ried (Osgood Gee, Esq., of the illustrious 
house of Carew. Sir Nicholas Hackett 
Carew and other members of that family, 
with Augustine and Lawrence Washington, 
William Chetwynd, Thomas and William 
Russell, and later George Washington him- 
self, were interested in the Principio Com- 
pany. Joseph Whitaker, a relative of 
Governor Pennypacker's mother, afterward 
owned the works and mines. Hugh Beard, 
surveyor, (whose sister Jane Beard married 
John Marshall, of Maryland, and Joanna 
Marshall, the poet, is one of their descen- 
dants) married Mary Hughes Carroll, 
daughter of Joseph Carroll and Mary 
Hughes, his wife, and their daughter Sarah 
Beard married Judge James McCanley, of 
Elkton, who served six consecutive terms 
as judge at Elkton, Maryland. Daniel Mc- 
Canley, his brother, married Rachel Beard, 
(sister of Sarah) and their daughter, 
Marianna McCanley, married Frank T. 
Whitney, of the "Harvard Line" of Whit- 
neys, of Boston, Massachusetts, and her 
sister, Ella Howard McCanley, married 
John Amory, banker of New York city. 
Miss Ingersoll, daughter of Charles Inger- 
soll, of Philadelphia, married Arthur 
Amory, of New York city. 

Peter Birkey was a member of the Society 
of Friends, but at the outbreak of the Revo- 
lutionary war he entered the second troop 
of Count Armand de Rueri's. Partizan 
Legion ; he was a corporal and would not 
accept pay or promotion, as he said that he 
fought for liberty and justice for all man- 
kind, and not for money and honors. He 
"venerated General Washington," who 
called him "honest Peter Birkey," and often 
sent him while in cariip at Valley Forge 
on important secret missions of duty. 
While at Valley Forge, Peter Birkey sold 
his property and bought shoes and pro- 
visions which he distributed among the 
suffering patriot soldiers, his companions. 
Peter Birkey was very poor in 1826. and 
General Bloomfield and others wished him 
to have a pension, but he refused to apply 
for it. He enlisted in Armand's Legion 
because its commander was of France, and 
his father La Barriere was a Frenchman. 
He was in the battle of Germantown. where 
his horse was shot under him near Chew's 
house, but he brought the saddle and bridle 
off the field under the hot fire of the Brit- 
ish ; when asked why he so risked his life, 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



627 



he said, "saddles and bridles were scarce 
i nthose days." He was also in the battles 
of Brandywine and Camden, South Caro- 
lina, and after the defeat of General Gates 
he served with others of the legion under 
General Marion, to whom he was deeply 
attached. It is belived that he was with 
General Wayne at the battle of Stony 
Point, but there is no definite knowledge 
â– of this. He was disowned by the Meeting 
of Friends for going to war, and later 
joined the Free Quakers, Fifth and Arch 
streets, Philadelphia, but upon his removal 
to Burlington, New Jersey, he attended St. 
Mary's Episcopal Church, and at his death 
in 1826 was buried in the churchyard. 
While at Valley Forge he met John Fitch, 
who was in the army. Afterwards they 
resided in Philadelphia, were lifelong 
friends, and when John Fitch's steamboat 
made her first trip to Burlington, New Jer- 
sey, there were twenty-four congressmen 
and two boys on board, one of the latter 
being John Y. Birkey, son of Peter Birkey, 
but the name of his companion is not 
known. 

John Y. Birkey and his wife Deborah 
Hughes had the following children: 

I. Thomas Hughes Birkey,* born at At- 
tleborough, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
married Mary Curtis, of Baltimore, Mary- 
land, and had children: Maria Braids Birk- 
ey, who married Thomas BuUman Baker, of 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and had chil- 
dren. (This Baker family were originally 
planters on the James river, Virginia;. 
The Bullman family were of Phillipsburg, 
New Jersey, and Easton, Pennsylvania, and 
were related to the Sitgreaves family. Ann 
Baker, daughter of Thomas Bullman and 
Maria Braids (Birkey) Baker, married 
Richard Mitchell, son of Dr. Mitchell, 
whose mother was a Miss Ely, of Bucks 
•county. 

2. John Birkey who married Elizabeth 
Qnicksell, (they were Friends and are bur- 
ied in Friends' graveyard, Burlington, New 
Jersey) and had children, who are now 
deceased. 

3. William J. A. Birkey, senior, who mar- 
ried (first) Margaretta Smith Marsh, wid- 
ow of Joseph Marsh; (second) Eliza Fer- 



guson Myer; and (third) Margaretta Anna 
Stump Lewis, who survives him. 

John Y. Birkey ruptured a blood vessel 
while working at his trade, that of beaver 
fur hatter, which he learned from his father, 
Peter Birkey, and Samuel Bisphan, Mar- 
ket street, Philadelphia. He purchased the 
hotel at Newportville, Pennsylvania, in 
1812, and celebrated Perry's victory at that 
place in 1813. He also owned and con- 
ducted Duncas Ferry on the Delaware 
river. He died in 1856, and .is buried in 
the family lot at St. Mary's church, Bur- 
lington, New Jersey. He was a member 
of Bristol Lodge, Ancient York Masons. 
William J. A. Birkey, senior, M. D., son 
of John Y. Birkey and his wife Deborah 
Hughes Birkey, (named for her aunt, De- 
borah Hughes Thomas) married (first) 
Margaretta Smith Marsh, widow of Joseph 
Marsh. She was the daughter of Jacob 
Smith and his wife Catherine Sink, and 
had children : Horace, Margaret and Will- 
iam J. A. Birkey, Jr. Mrs. Birkey was 
born 1803, married 1828, and died April 
22, 1833. Dr. Birkey married (second) 
Eliza Ferguson Myer, daughter of Isaac 
Myer and his wife Margaretta Shade, *^ 
daughter of Peter Shade and his wife, 
Susannah Warner. Dr. Birkey and his 
second wife were married March 25, 1835, 
by Bishop White of Christ Church, Phila- 
delphia, and had children : Henry W. and 
Isaac Myer Birkey. Dr. Birkey married 
(third) Margaretta Anna Stump Lewis, the 
ceremony being performed by Bishop Stev- 
ens, of the Episcopal Church of Pennsyl- 
vania. She was a daughter of Abram J. 
Lewis, merchant of Philadelphia, and his 
wife Anna Stump, of Maryland, who as 
his widow survives him, and a sister of Dr. 
Elisha Lewis, who was surgeon of the First 
City Troop of Philadelphia. Judge Stump, 
of Perryville, Maryland, and General Evans, 
of Elkton, Cecil county, Maryland, are cous- 
ins of Mrs. Birkey. 

William J. A. Birkey, Sr., received the 
diploma of M. D. from the Royal Junta 
of Spain ; he was physician and surgeon- 
dentist to Captain General Tacon, of Cuba, 
who presented him with many marks of his 
regard and favor, among others a gold 



*Thos. Hughes Birkey, son of John and Deborah 
Hughes Birkey, married Mary Curtis and had the fol- 
lowing children: Edward, never married; Thomas 
Birkey, who married and had children; Ellen Birkey, 
who m'arried Major Nicholas Sappington, of Mary- 
land and had children; Catherine Forrester, never 
married, and Mary Victoria Birkey, who married Dr. 
Henry s'nowden, of Maryland, and has a son, Wilmer 
Snowden, Maria Braide Birkey, daughter of John 
and Deborah Hughes Birkey, married Thomas Bull- 
man Baker and had children; Edward Baker, who 
married and had children; Deborah Hughes Baker, 
who married Noel Cox, of Talbot county, (Easton) 
Maryland, and had a son, Noel Cox. Esq.; Julia 
Baker who married Andrew Louderbouah, and had 
children; William B. Baker, M. D , who married and 
had children; and Henry and Thomas Baker. Ann 
Baker who married Richard Mitchell and had children. 
Deborah Hughes Birkey's sister, Catherine Ann 
Hughes, married William Edward Alcock. of Balti- 
more and England, of the ancient Alcock family of 
England, which has its coat-of-arms. Bishop Al- 
cock's Chapel in Ely Cathedral is one of the finest 
specimens of architecture in England. Vv/illiam Ed- 
ward Alcock was one of the defenders of Baltimore 



in the war of 1812. They had a son. Dr. William E- 
Alcock, who married Mis') Swan, of Maryland, whose 
mother's name was Shipley, and they had two chil- 
dren : Rosalba Peale and William Alcock. Rosalba 
Peale Alcock was actively interested in church work 
at .St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Baltimore, Maryland: 
the family vault is in the churchyard. William Al- 
cock, merchant, married the widow of Professor 'Van 
Brocklin, of New York. Her maiden name was Miss 
Grundy, of Baltimore, and they have a daughter. 
William Alcock resides in Floience, Italy. He has in 
his possession the miniature likeness and family 
Bible of his great-grandfather, Rev. George William 
Forrester. 

**Margaretta Shade, who was the wife of Isaac 
Myer,Sr.,was the daughter of Peter Shade and his wife. 
Susannah Warner. Her sister. Maria Shade, married 
Thornas Jones (Ensign) and Washington Jones, their 
son, is the distinguished mechanical engineer who 
was entertained while on a visit abroad by the Earl 
and Countess of Warwick, at Warwick Castle, England 
John Shade, her brother, had a daughter who married 
Henry C. Blair, the well known and highly respected 
apothecary and chemist, of Philadelphia. 



628 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



headed â– ebony cane and freedom of the 
city of Havana. He practiced dentistry 
among the principal noi ility of Cuba, and 
Dr. Antomarchi. Napoleon's physician, was 
his friend and patron. He studied dent- 
istry under Dr. Jacob Smith and Dr. E. 
Vekledorf of Russia. He attended doctor 
of physics lectures, and read medicine with 
his life long friend, Dr. Samuel Tucker, 
son of Judge Tucker, of Tuckerton, New 
Jersey. He also studied under Dr. Clcan- 
thes FeUt, and at the Wilmington Academy, 
where his friend, Thomas A. Bayard, at- 
tended. He was intensely patriotic, con- 
tributed ' generously to the support of the 
newspaper "The Native Eagle," and was 
with Lewis C. Levin, M. C, Charles Nay- 
lor, M. C, General Peter Sken Smith, 
brother of Gerritt Smith, Judge Joel Jones, 
mayor of Philadelphia, and others, a found- 
er 'of the "Native American" party. He 
was president of the national convention 
of the party that met at Pittsburg, when 
General Taylor's name was proposed, but 
the convention adjourned to Philadelphia, 
"where he was nominated for president." 
He was one of the incorporators and vice- 
president of "The Female Medical College," 
now the Woman's Medical College, which 
was the first medical college for women 
in the world. He was one of the pall- 
bearers at the funeral in Philadelphia of 
his personal friend, Henry Clay, of Ken- 
tucky. He was noble grand arch of the 
Order of Druids, U. S. A. : was a member 
and first representative of Pennsylvania to 
the gran.d lodge of Odd Fellows, U. S. 
A., was a member of Lodge No. 51, A. 
Y. M., of Philadelphia. Anson Jones, pres- 
ident of the republic of Texas ; Rev. Mr. 
Ridgeley, grand sire of the order of Odd 
Fellows ; Rev. Father Waldron, of the 
Roman Catholic church ; Rev Albert Barnes, 
of the First Presbyterian Church of Phila- 
delphia, were his warm personal friends, 
with many others. He w'as a member of 
Franklin In?titute ; Saint George Society : 
Schuylkill Hose Company, Volunteer Fire 
Department of Philadelphia, and many re- 
ligious and benevolent socities. He was 
kind to the orphans and never charged 
them for his services. He practiced dent- 
istry for over fifty years. He died at 
Newportville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
November 15, 1888, and is buried with his 
father and grandfather in the family lot 
at St. Mary's Church, Burlington, New 
Jersey. 

William J. A. Birkey, Jr., whose half- 
brother, Joseph Smith Marsh, served inider 
General Philip Kearny in the Mexican war, 
and crossed the Rocky Mountains with 
General Fremont, graduated as Doctor of 
]\Iedicine at the Philadelphia Medical Col- 
lege, Professors Jesse R. Burden. }vf. D., 
and James \McCliiitock, ^L D., having been 
his private preceptors. He studied and 
practiced dentistry as surgeon-dentist with 
his father in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 
and when a boy went with his father to 
Cuba. He was a member of the Sons of 



Temperance, Odd Fellows, Druids, United 
American Mechanics, Patriotic Order Sons 
of America, and many others. He went 
as a pioneer to California in 1849-50, en- 
gaged in mining there, and afterwards went 
to Central America, Yawissa, New Gran- 
ada. He perfected the enamel on the por- 
celain teeth. He was always noted for his 
kindness to animals and his character was 
that of a plain unassuming gentleman. In 
politics, since he cast his vote for Bell and 
Everett, he has been a Democrat. He was 
the private critic 'of the late great actor, 
Edwin Forrest, during the period of his 
greatness. Prior to the civil war he voted 
for Bell and Everett for president and vice- 
president of the United States. He was 
horn October 21, 1829, and resides at 
Newportville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. 
William Jukes Alcock Birkey, Jr., is the 
head of the Birkey-La Barriere Family in 
America. 

Henry W. Birkey, son of William J. A. 
Birkey and his wife Eliza F. Myer, w^as 
born November 18, 1840, in Philadelphia,. 
Pennsylvania. He studied under a private 
tutor, Dr. Cleanthes Fellt, who had taught 
his father and brother William. He also 
attended the school of the Rev. Charles 
Williams, D. D., which S. Davis Page, 
Charles E. Cadwalader, George Tucker 
Bispham and William A. Meredith, Jr., 
also attended. He studied medicine at the 
University of Pennsylvania, attended. a four 
years course of lectures, and graduated 
Doctor of Medicine from the University. 
He also attended the Pennsylvania Hos- 
pital and Nurses' Hom^ Philadelphia. 
Professor Joseph Leidy was his private 
preceptor. At the outbreak of the civil 
war he served on the temporary staff of 
Henry H. Smith, Surgeon General of Penn- 
sylvania, along with Dr. Samuel Wood- 
house, Dr. Joseph Hopkinson, Dr. Thomas 
Newbold and Dr. Henry Yarrow. Going 
to Washington, D. C, after an examination 
by the board of regtilar army surgeons and 
writing a thesis, he was appointed by Sur- 
geon General Findley as acting assistant 
surgeon, U. S. A., and ordered to duty at 
the Eckington general hospital, where he 
relived Dr. Goulay, of the Third Artillery, 
and was temporarily placed in charge of 
Eckington general hospital and also of the 
Findley general hospital, Washington, D. 
C. Dr. W. W. Keen served at Eckington 
afterwards as temporary surgeon in charge. 
He then entered the regular United States 
nav3^, passing No. 2 of his class, in which 
was the late Surgeon General of the Navy, 
Dr. Rufus Tryon. Henry W. Birkey, As- 
sistant Surgeon, U. S. N., was ordered to 
the Naval Hospital, New York : was a 
member of the board of examining sur- 
geons for acting assistant surgeons of the 
navy, was ordered to duty in Admiral Far- 
ragut's fleet, and served on the blockade 
as surgeon of the U. S. steamer "Aroos- 
took." the U. S. steamer "Seminole," and 
sloop-of-war "Portsmouth," Rear Adnn'ral 
Palmer's flagship. West Gulf Squadron. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



629 



While at New Orleans, where his ship had 
gone for repairs, Dr. Birkey volunteered 
to attend the wounded of the army after 
General Bank's defeat up the Red River, 
and was placed in charge of the officers' 
wards of the St. James U. S. general hos- 
pital, by Dr. Orten, surgeon-in-charge. 
(He was honorably mentioned to the De- 
partment for volunteering by Commander 
Joseph C. Skenett, U. S. N.) He also vol- 
unteered with Commodore L. C. Sartori, 
U. S. N., to go into battle at Mobile. He 
attended the yellow fever cases on the 
"Estellor" after Dr. Root died of. the dis- 
ease, and also the cases on other vessels 
of the squadron off New Orleans, including 
the "Mollyhawk," "Portsmouth" and U. S. 
steamer "Sciota." He was meritoriously 
mentioned by Lieutenant Commander 
George M. Perkins, U. S. N., for his ser- 
vices during the terrible epidemic in which 
over' two-thirds of the ship's company of 
the "Sciota" were stricken down by the 
disease. He had charge of the naval ren- 
dezvous on shore, served as judge advocate 
and recorder of court martials, etc. Later 
he served as surgeon of the Refugees 
Home, New Orleans, Louisiana, and was in 
many naval engagements with the Confeder- 
ate forts and batteries on the coast of 
Texas, while serving on the blockade, etc. 
He was physician at the Eastern Peni- 
tentiary, Philadelphia, and also at Kirk- 
bride's Hospital for the Insane, Philadel- 
phia; he was also surgeon of the steam- 
ship "Indiana," of the American Line, be- 
tween Liverpool and Philadelphia. In 1875 
Dr. Birkey, after an examination by an 
English board of surgeons, was qualified 
to practice medicine and surgery in the ser- 
vice of the English marine. He was pres- 
ident of the stalwart Republican mass meet- 
ing and ox-roast at Newportville, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, October 20, 1900. 
General James Latta, secretary of internal 
affairs of Pennsylvania was among the 
â– speakers on that occasion. 

Dr. Henry W. Birkey married, Septem- 
â– faer 15, 1864, at New Orleans, Louisiana, 
Catherine Elvira Ochiglevich, born in New 
Orleans, October 26, 1848, daughter of Ivan 
Ochiglevich and his wife Ellen Ward; they 
had other children— Mark and Angelina. 
Ivan Ochiglevich was the son of Marco 
Ochiglevich, of an ancient family of Rus- 
sia; his wife was of Trieste, Austria. They 
had sons besides Ivan — Peter and Nicholas, 
â– who reside in Italy. Ivan Ochiglevich was 
a dear friend of General Beauregard, of 
the Confederate army; he was in favor of 
the South during the civil war, owned 
slaves, vessels, etc. He set fire to and de- 
stroyed his cotton and sugar rather than 
have it fall into the hands of the forces 
of the United States when they captured 
New Orleans. He was personally well ac- 
quainted with the Arch Duke Maximilian 
of Austria and Generals Meija and Cor- 
tenas of Mexico. He spoke many lan- 
guages. He was a member of the Slavon- 
ian Society, a thirty-third degree Free IMa- 



son, and a member of Indivisable Friends' 
Commandery, K. T., New Orleans. Henry 
W. Birkey and his wife Catherine Ochigle- 
vich had a son, John Washington Birkey, 
born at New Orleans, Louisiana, February 
22, 1867. Henry W. Birkey, M. D., is a 
member of the Masonic fraternity and the 
Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revo- 
lution. 

Isaac Myer Birkey, M. D., studied medi- 
cine at the University of Pennsylvania and 
graduated there, his preceptor having been 
Joseph Leidy, M. D., professor of anatomy. 
He studied dentistry with his father, Dr. 
William J. A. Birkey. As an acting medical 
cadet, U. S. A., during the civil war, he 
assisted professor Leidy with his post- 
mortem examinations in the military hos- 
pital (Satterlee, etc.) especially m case< ol 
Chickahominy (swamp) fevers. He after- 
wards practiced as a surgeon-dentist. He 
drilled as soldiers a company of youths at 
Newsportville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
at the outbreak of the civil war. His 
specialty is the originating of ideas. He 
was born at Philadelphia in the home oc- 
cupied by the Penn Club, September 17, 
1843. He is a member of Oriental Chup- 
ter, R. A. M., and Kadosh Commandery, 
K. T. He is a member of American Hose 
Company. Volunteer Fire Department of 
Philadelphia. Isaac M. Birkey and Brom- 
ley Wharton restocked Neshaminy creek 
with black bass and yellow perch in 1903- 
04; the creek was stocked thirty years ago 
by Charles Taylor. He practiced medicine 
in his native city, Philadelphia, for twenty- 
five years, and during the Spanish-Ameri- 
can war volunteered his services to the 
United States government. He assi.-ted 
Professor Dr. Leidy to recatalogue the Wis- 
tar and Horner Museums of the University 
of Pennsylvania, a great undertaking, and 
one that had. not been done for a number 
of years. He also assisted Dr. Leidy in the 
anatomical department of the University of 
Pennsylvania. He assisted Dr. Albert H. 
Smith at the Philadelphia Nurses' Home, 
the mother of the nurses' homes and nurses' 
training schools in the United States. He 
was an active Democrat in Philadelphia and 
Bucks county, and was president of the 
first Democratic club that Bristol township 
ever had, and also served as Democratic 
township committeeman. He created the 
idea for the Columbian World's Fair and 
for the celebration of the anniversary of the 
discovery of America by Columbus, and 
with his pen and speech agitated it until 
it was an accomplished fact and celebrated 
by the Columbian World's Fair at Chicago. 
He was the treasurer of the Victor Estephe 
Billiard Club of Philadelphia, and treasurer 
of the Kent Cricket Club of the same city. 
In 1886 he made a tour of Europe. He 
discovered the pearl-bearing mussels in 
the Neshaminy creek, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania. 

John Washington Birkey, mechanical 
engineer and machinist, studied his trade 
and profession with his cousin, Washing- 



630 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ton Jones, the distinguislied mechanical 
engineer, at Port Richmond Iron Works, 
Philadelphia. He was educated at Swarth- 
more College. He assisted in building and 
constructing the pumping engines at Louis- 
ville, Kentucky, liiimingham, Alabama, and 
Chickies, Pennsylvania, and worked at the 
Cramps works, Isaac P. Morris works, and 
Leedom's carpet mills, Bristol, Bucks 
county. When a lad in New Orleans, Louis- 
iana, 1878, he was a guide in Captain An- 
thony Sambola's company. Fifth Louisiana 
Artillery, General P. G. T. Beauregard 
(then colonel) commanding. He belongs 
to the Sons of Temperance, Odd Fellows, 
and Bristol Lodge, Ancient York Masons, 
of which his great-grandfather, John Bir- 
key was a member, and is a member of 
Kadosh Commandery K. T. 

Mr. Birkey married Helen Louisa Black, 
September 18, 1894. She was born March 
II, 1867, a daughter of W^illiam Black and 
his wife Margery Anna Lindsay, whose 
father was a member of the book publish- 
ing firm of Lindsay & Blackstone, Phila- 
delphia. William Blackstone was a printer 
by trade ; he was an editor for many 
years; mayor of New Castle, Pennsylvania; 
justice of the peace of Harrisburg, Penn- 
sylvania; and a member of the grand lodge, 
Ancient York Masons, of Pennsylvania. 
Mr. and Mrs. Birkey a're the parents of a 
daughter, Catherine Anna Birkey, born at 
Newportville, Pennsylvania, July 6, 1895. 

MYER FAMILY. Marten Janzen 
Mayer, van Elsvleit (Helslint, Holland) 
was married October 28, 1662, to Hen- 
rickje Hermans Van Amsterdam, in the old 
â–  Dutch fort in New Amsterdam. Children: 
Johannes, eldest; Herman; Marten; Elsje, 
married Burgher Meyndertz ; Beletje, mar- 
ried Clans Gysbertze ; Helen, married Ed- 
ward Cock Cox : Caterina and Anna, not 
married at the time of execTiting of will. 
Marten and Hendrickje Maijer made their 
joint will in favor of the survivor, March 
16, 1692-93. 

Simon de Ruine. De Waal le Ouallon. 
married Magdalena Van Derstraaten, in 
Holland. Children: Jacomina, born near 
Landrecy, Hainault, Flanders, where her 
father, Simon de Ruine, lived ; he left there 
and went to Holland 1637. Janetzje, born 
at Amsterdam. In 1661 he was at Harlem, 
New York ; he emigrated to America. 
February 13, 1659, in ship '"De Trouiv." 
He commanded the third company of 
troops at Haarlem, June 7, 1663, at the time 
of the massacre, of the Dutch at Esopus, 
and had charge of defense of New Haar- 
lem outpost. Janetzje, his daughter, mar- 
ried, December 5, 1650, Jean de Pre. in the 
old Dutch church of New .A.msterdam. 
Jean (Jan) de Pre was a Fleming of Wal- 
loon descent : he was born 1635 in Con- 
ienes, Flanders. He was living in New 
Amsterdam 1655-59. Jannetzje was his sec- 
ond wife, and by her he had Jannetzje de 
Pre, baptized December 3, 1662, and other 
children. Jannetzje de Pre married Cor- 



nelius Epeke Banta, of Hackensack, New 
Jersey. They had Jannaetzje Banta, who 
was married August 22, 1696, to Johannes 
Myer, son of Marten Janzen Maijer and 
his wife Henrickje (Hermans) Maijer. 
They were married in the old Dutch church 
at Hackensack, New Jersey, which is still 
standing. He left many children, among 
others, Isaac, baptized in said church April 
6, 1718. 

Isaac Myer married Lydia Campbell. 
Their children were: Benjamin, born March 
30, 1764; Isaac, married Phebe Crane;. 
Henry, sergeant in Captain Isaac Morri- 
son's company. First Battalion, second es- 
tablishment of the continental troops of the 
line, killed September 26, 1776, at the bat- 
tle of Germantown ; and a daughter Rachel, 
who married (first) a Post, and (second) 
John Durand. She was the mother of 
Asher Browne Durand, the celebrated ar- 
tist and engraver, and her other son, Cyrus- 
Durand, was the inventor of the "geometri- 
cal turning lathe" for bank notes, bonds^ 
etc. 

Benjamin Myer married Sarah Riggs, 
daughter of Joseph Riggs, in the First 
Presbyterian church of New York, Feb- 
ruary 17, 1785. Their son, Isaac Myer,. 
served in the common and select councils 
of Philadelphia. He was twice elected to 
the legislature, and was the agent of the 
Stephen Girard estate, etc. He was an old- 
line Whig, but became a Democrat during 
the civil war. Isaac Myer married Mar- 
garetta Shade, daughter of Peter Shade, 
and his wife, Susannah (Warner) Shade, 
and their children were : Eliza Ferguson,. 
Sarah Riggs, Lafayette, Maria Jones, Su- 
san, and Isaac. Jr. Eliza F. became the 
wife of William J. A. Birkey, Senior ; 
Sarah R. became the wife of Judge A; V. 
Parsons ; Lafayette married Mrs. Ella 
(Cork) Duncan, maiden name Lafille,. 
daughter of the French consul at Balti- 
more, Maryland ; Maria Jones became the 
wife of Dr. Thomas Wilson Woodland, of 
Kent county, Maryland ; Susan became the 
wife of Charles A. Duy ; Isaac married 
Mrs. Mary Abbott Shearpstine.. maideii' 
name Abbott, of Philadelphia and New 
York. Sarah Riggs Myer, sister of Isaac 
Myer, Sr.. married (first) John Tuttle, of 
Newark, New Jersey, cousin of Miss Tuttle, 
who married Garrett Hobart, former vice- 
president of the United States ; she mar- 
ried (second) Calvin Baldwin, of Newark, 
New Jersey. Johannes Majer (name 
signed Myer), made his will March 25, 
1742, was proved April 10, 1755. and the 
original is now in the office of the secre- 
tary of state at Trenton, New Jersey. 

Isaac Myer, Jr., attorney at law, was 
the author of many literary works, among 
others translations of "The Waterloo Medi- 
al." "The Kabbalah," and "Ancient Books 
of Egypt," etc. "The London Spectator"" 
calls him a savant. He is a member o( the 
Holland Society of New York, the Sons 
of the Revolution. Society of Colonial 
Wars, the Huguenot Society, New tngland 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



^>3f 



Society, and the Royal Numismatic Society 
of Belgium. He studied law with Judge 
A. V. Parsons and Eli Kirk Price, of 
Philadelphia. He died in August, 1902, 
at Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island, and 
is buried in the family lot at Laurel Hill, 
Philadelphia, where his father, brother 
Lafayette, and sister Eliza F. (Myer) Bir- 
key are buried. 

RIGGS FAMILY. Edward Riggs, 
Puritan, settled at Roxbury, Massachu- 
setts, 1630, and was made a freeman. He 
was a member of the Anglician Church 
when in England (Anglo-Saxon origin). 
He was married, in 1618, to a Miss 
Holmes, born before 1590, in Nanzing 
Parish, Waltham Abbey, Essex county, 
England. The Riggs family have their 
coat of arms. Edward Riggs had one 
son, Edward Riggs, who fought against 
the Pequod Indians in 1637, and was 
made a sergeant on the field of battle 
for bravery and for saving the lives of 
his captain and companions from an In- 
dian ambuscade. Sergeant Edward 
Riggs went from Roxbury to New Mil- 
ford, Connecticut, where he purchased 
land and built a palisade house near the 
present town of Derby, and therein hid 
Generals Gofif and Whally, known as the 
"Regicides." He had one daughter, 
Mary, and sons Joseph, Edward, and 
Samuel, who was known as Ensign 
Riggs. Sergeant Edward Riggs with 
his wife Elizabeth went to Newark, New 
Jersey, about 1666, and settled it, there- 
after being known as the funder ot 
Newark, New Jersey. His daughter, 
Mary, and sons, Joseph and Edward, 
aided in the settlement thereof. His wife 
Elizabeth was the only woman who 
stayed over the winter, and for her brav- 
ery she was voted a double portion of 
land. Sergeant Riggs kept a wolf pit for 
his own amusement. 

Ensign Samuel Riggs did not accom- 
pany his parents upon their removal to 
New Jersey. His daughter married the 
Rev. Humphrey, whose son was Gen- 
eral Washington's bosom friend during 
the Revolutionary war, his private sec- 
retary before and after it, who carried 
the colors by special orders from York- 
town to Philadelphia to Congress and 
was voted an elegant sword by them 
for bravery. He was minister to Spain 
and Portugal, and introduced the culture 
of Merino sheep into this country. He 
was a noted literary man in his time, 
and his portrait by Trumbull is at Yale, 
and another by Gilbert Stuart is in the 
state house at New Haven or Hartford. 
His mother, formerly Sarah Riggs, was 
a very elegant woman in her time, and 
was always known among her contemp- 
oraries as Lady Humphreys, and the 
Chapter of Daughters of "the Revolu- 
tion at Derby, Connecticut, was named 
in her honor. 

Joseph Riggs, of Newark, New Jer- 



sey, took an active part in the beginning 
of the Revolution, and his writings may 
be found in a number of places in 
Force's "American Archives." He left 
Newark, New Jersey, and took up his 
residence in New York. Benjamin 
Myer, great-grandfather of Henry W. 
Birkey and Isaac Myer Birkey, M. D., 
married Sarah Riggs, daughter of Jo- 
seph Riggs. 



MAHLON C. DETWEILER, of 
Quakertown, is one of the most enter- 
prising and progressive business men of 
the communitj% and has contributed his 
share toward the building up and main- 
tenance of its reputation, and to him it 
is indebted for the position it holds 
among the wealthy and prosperous 
towns of the county. He was born in 
Milford township, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, March 24, 1846, and is a son 
of Henry and Annie (Clj^mer) Det- 
weiler. 

The Detweiler family is one of the 
oldest German-American families in 
America, and is descended from several 
different German emigrants vvho came 
to Pennsylvania and settled in Mont- 
gomery county at dififerent periods from 
1715 to 1750. Hans Detweiler, the an- 
cestor of the subject of this sketch, was 
one of the earliest settlers on the Skip- 
pack, and was also an early landowner 
in Bucks county. His son Jacob lived 
and died in Upper Hanover township, 
and had two sons, Jacob and John, and 
two daughters. Jacob, the son, owned 
and occupied at the time of his death in 
1791 a tract of land extending across 
the county line into IMilford township, 
where his widow Catharine and five chil- 
dren took up their residence, after his 
decease. 

Jacob Detweiler, the grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch, on arriving 
at manhood located in Upper Saucon, 
Lehigh county, where he followed the 
life of a farmer for many years, remov- 
ing later to Milford township, Bucks 
county. He married Magdalena Heist, 
of an old family of upper Bucks, and 
they were the parents of seven chil- 
dren — Samuel. Henry, Charles. Jacob, 
Daniel. Catharine and Elizabeth. Henry 
Detweiler, son of Jacob and iMagda- 
lena, was born in Upper Saucon, Le- 
high county, April 24, 1817. Early in 
life he learned the shoemaker trade, 
which he followed for a few years, but 
the most of his life was devoted to ag- 
ricultural pursuits. He married, No- 
vember ID, 1839, Anna Clymer, daugh- 
ter of Henry and ]\Iary (Shaffer) Cly- 
mer, of Milford township, Bucks county, 
and soon after his marriage took up his 
residence in Milford. On April 4, 1846, 
he purchased seventy acres of the old 
Clymer homestead, between Milford 
Square and Quakertown, which he 



\ 



6?>^ 



HISTORY OP BUCKS COUNTY 



owned until January, 1893. Shortly before 
his death he removed to Quakcrtown, 
where he died December 21, 1893. Henry 
and Anna (Clymer) Detweiler were the 
parents of nine children, viz. : Mary, wife 
of Jacob Clymer; Aaron, of Quaker- 
town; Mahlon C, the subject of this 
sketch; William, deceased; Henry, of 
Hagersville, Bucks county; Susan, de- 
ceased; Annie, wife of A. Stciner, de- 
ceased ; Catharine, wife of Samuel Sleif- 
fer; and Frances, who died at the age 
of two years. 

Mahlon C. Detweiler spent his boy- 
hood days working on the farm, and at- 
tended the district school of the neigh- 
borhood, where he acquired a liberal ed- 
ucation. He then worked with John 
Barnes, of Milford, serving an appren- 
ticeship to the carpenter's trade, and 
following that vocation as journeyman 
in Richland and Quakertown for many 
years. Upon discontinuing that line of 
work he engaged in the meat and pro- 
vision business, and successfully fol- 
owed that occupation twelve years at 
Richland Center and Quakertown. He pur- 
chased the Simon Sacks estate, but shortly 
after taking possession of the property its 
buildings were destroyed by fire and our 
subject immediately replaced them with new 
ones. Later he bought the Jacob Cress- 
man property which he remodeled and en- 
larged into a commodious market and 
shop. He employed many men, had several 
delivery wagons, and it is said that he was 
the largest meat dealer ever in the place. 
His honesty was never doubted, and he is 
held in high esteem by his fellow-citizens 
for his many sterling' qualities. In Sep- 
tember, 1895, he was appointed postmaster 
of Richland Center, a fourth-class office, 
but in October of the same year it was 
advanced to the third- class. As postmaster 
he filled the position with ability and credit 
to himself for foui^ years, and was con- 
sidered the last and most efficient post- 
master Richland Center has ever had. 

He built a large tenement- house in 1898; 
he also purchased the Dr. Lott estate of 
fifty acres, located on the west side of 
Strawn street, and later sold a half interest 
to Henry H. Souder. They cleared part 
of the land, which was covered with a 
dense forest, and built a half mile race 
track, fifty feet wide, a ball ground, grand 
stand, pavilion 50x100 feet, and placed 
through the grove many seats along the 
drive ways. The park is known as Lu Lu 
Park, and is a popular pleasure resort in 
the vicinity. In 1897 Mr. Detweiler sold 
his interest to T. C. Leeland. president of 
the Quakertown Electric Railway. He 
subsequently built and equipped a new bak- 
ery with all the modern appliances, and 
engaged in the bakery business. Beginning 
without any trade, through his energy and 
business tact he in a comparatively short 
time built up a large and lucrative business 
which he conducted for three years, and 
then sold out to William B. Kaehler, of 



Lansdalc, but in June, 1905, he repurchased 
the plant and is now doing an extensive 
business, consuming thirty barrels of flour 
per week, and furnishing steady employment 
to several hands. He was one of the few 
men engaged in the bakery business who 
received a certificate from the inspector of 
the district complimentary to the cleanli- 
ness and sanitary condition of his plant. 
In July, 1904, he also engaged in the 
coal business, and in this, like all his busi- 
ness ventures, he -has ijiade a success. 
Mr. Detweiler is in every sense a self- 
made man. By his industry, careful atten- 
tion to business and strict integrity in all 
his dealings, he has acquired a competence 
and won the esteem and confidence of the 
people with whom he associates. He has 
always taken an active interest in the town 
in which he lived, _and has filled several 
positions of trust and honor. In 1880, 
prior to engaging in the meat business, he 
served for six years as supervisor in Rich- 
land township. In February, 1903, he was 
elected to the officfe of chief burgess of 
Quakertown borough for a term of three 
years, and has made a popular and efficient 
official. He and his family are members 
of Trinity Lutheran church, in which he 
has held the office of deacon since 1901. 
Mr. Detweiler was one of the active pro- 
moters of the organization and erection of 
Trinity, church, being prior to that time 
a member of Christ church, at Trumbauers- 
ville. He was acting chairman and treas- 
urer of the building committee. He is a 
member of Pennsburg Lodge, No. 449, I. 
O. O. F. : Secona Tribe, No. 863, I. O. R. 
M., and has been for over thirty-seven years 
a member of Lodge No. 149, O. U. A. M., 
the only lodge in Quakertown that did 
not forfeit its charter during the civil war. 
Mr. Detweiler married May i, 1869. Eliza- 
beth Trumbower. daughter of Samuel and 
Catharine (Deily) Trumbower, of Rich- 
land township. 



WILLIAM L. WALKER, of Newtown, 
was born in Solebury township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, 5 mo. 31, 1837, and is 
a son of Holcombe and Saralr Ann f Long- 
shore) Walker, and a representative of 
several of the old families of Bucks county. 
The family of Walkers to whom William 
L. Walker belongs have been members of 
the Society of Friends since coming to 
America, and were early settlers in Salem 
county, New Jersey, and in Moreland, 
Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania. George 
Walker was one of the earliest members of 
Abington Meeting, and one of its overseers 
for many years. 

Joseph Walker, the direct ancestor of 
the subject of this sketch, was at the time 
of his marriage in 1722 a resident of South- 
ampton township, Bucks county. August 21. 
1722. he purchased 319 acres of land in 
Middletown that had been the property 
of his wife's ancestors, the Heatons. for two 
generations, and lived and died thereon, his 



X' ■ ■ £W YORK I 

;..... .LIBRARY 



Tl'. 



-. LP^'OX AND 
^ATI-^NS. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



633 



death occurring in September. 1759. He 
was married at ]Micldletown Friends' Meet- 
ing in IT mo. (January), 1722-3, to Sarah 
Heaton, daughter of Robert and Grace 
(Pearson) Heaton, of Middletown. the for- 
mer of whom was born in Yorkshire, Eng- 
land, in 1671, and came to America with his 
parents, Robert and Alice Heaton, in the 
"Welcome," with William Penn, in 16S2. 
The children of Joseph and Sarah (Heaton) 
Walker were: George, born 11 mo. 23, 
1723-4; Joseph; Sarah, who married (first) 
John Palmer, and (second) John Thorn- 
ton ; Robert, born 6 mo. 8, 1731 ; Grace, who 
married Benjamin Scott, of Southampton ; 
Emanuel, who married Ann Carey ; and 
Margaret, who married Samson- Carey. 
Sarah Walker, the mother, survived her 
husband and died in August, 1768. 

Robert Walker, third son of Joseph and 
Sarah (Heaton) Walker, was born and 
reared in Middletown township. Early in 
life he learned the carpenter trade and fol- 
lowed it in INIiddletown and Newtown town- 
ships until March, 1762, when he purchased 
of his mother-in-law, Mary Linton, three 
hundred acres of land in Solebury town- 
ship that had been taken up by his wife's 
grandfather, Nehemiah Blackshaw, in right 
of his father. Randal Blackshaw.in 1700. and 
moved thereon. The tract included the 
present village of Carversville. and extended 
to the line of Plumstead and Buckingham 
townships, forming the extreme northwest- 
ern corner of Solebury township. Robert 
Walker spent the remainder of his life on 
this farm, dying there October 22. 1806. 
He was twice married. His first wife was 
Mary Linton, whom he married January 
8, 1761. daughter of Joseph and Mary 
(Blackshaw) Linton, of Northampton 
township, and granddaughter of Nehemiah 
Blackshaw, who came to America with his 
parents Randolph and Alice Blackshaw and 
the Pembertons and Harrisons in the ship 
"Submission," of Liverpool, in 1682. (See 
"Pemberton Family" in this volume). The 
Walker homestead in Solebury was devised 
by Nehemiah Blackshaw in 1743 to his 
daughter Mary, who had married Joseph 
Linton in 1725. Phebe Blackshaw. sister 
of Nehemiah, was the first wife of Joseph 
Kirkbride, the ancestor of all the Kirkbrides 
of Bucks county. The children of Robert 
and Mary (Linton) Walker were ten in 
number, of whom but five lived to mature 
years, viz.: Robert, born 10 mo. 3, 1761, 
married Susanna Shaw, of Plumstead, and 
died in Buckingham, soon after his father, 
without issue ; Joseph, born 9 mo. 27, 1763, 
died unmarried in 1790; ^lary, born i mo. 
13, 1766, married John Townsend in 1787 ; 
Phineas, born g mo. 18, 1776 (see forwardV; 
Benjamin, born 3 mo. 12, 1779. married 
Hannah Hartley, and died on the home- 
stead in Solebury, leaving a large family 
of children who have numerous descendants 
in Bucks county. Mary (Linton) Walker 
died I mo. 30. 1790, and 4 mo. 13, 1791, 
Robert married Asenath Beans, daughter of 
Jacob and Sarah (Paxson) Beans, who sur- 



vived him and died in 1831. They were 
the parents of five children, Ann, Amos, 
Stacy, John, and Elizabeth, none of whom 
left descendants, though all lived to old age, 
John dying in Doylestown, April 29, 1898, 
in his one hundredth year. 

Phineas Walker was the eighth child and 
seventh son of Robert and ]Mary (Linton) 
Walker, four of his elder brothers (Randal, 
Mahlon, Jesse and David) having died in 
childhood. He was born and reared on the 
old Solel)ury homestead and remained there 
until his marriage. At the death of his 
father in 1806 he elected to take the home- 
stead of his maternal ancestors in North- 
ampton township, Bucks county, consist- 
ing of about 160 acres, which his father had 
purchased in 1787, and lived thereon until 
his death, February 10, 1848, in his seventy- 
second 3'ear. His wife was Sarah Hol- 
combe, daughter of John and !vlary (Green) 
Holcombe, of Solebury, granddaughter of 
Samuel and Eleanor (Barber) Holcombe, 
of Hunterdon county. New Jersey, and great 
granddaughter of John and Elizabeth 
(Woolridge) Holcombe, natives of Eng- 
land, who were early settlers near the pres- 
ent site of Lambertville, New Jersey, and 
an account of whose descendants is given 
in this volume. The children of Phineas 
and Sarah (Holcombe) Walker were: 
Mary, married Amos Smith ; Robert, who 
never married ; Susan, married James 
Worstall ; Asenath, died unmarried ; Hol- 
combe ; and Phineas, married Deborah 
Mitchell, and had children : Augustus 
Mitchell Walker, of Trenton ; Anna, wife 
of Joseph Smith, of Trenton ; Margaret, 
wife of Levi Risdon, of Trenton ; William 
H., president of the Newtown National 
Bank ; Phineas, of Yardley ; Sarah, wife of 
Theodore Vansant, of Bristol; Elizabeth, 
wife of Levi Risdon : Susan : and Le- 
titia, wife of William H. Van Horn. 

Holcombe Walker, son of Phineas and 
Sarah (Holcombe) Walker, was born in 
Northampton township, Bucks county, and 
was reared on the old homestead farm of his 
ancestors. On arriving at manhood he lo- 
cated in Solebur}^ where he followed farm- 
ing until his early death in 1847. He mar- 
ried Sarah Ann Longshore, daughter of 
Abraham Longshore, who survived him 
many years. Their children were: William 
Longshore Walker, the subject of this 
sketch ; Abraham L., now living in Cali- 
fornia ; Sarah Jane, widow of Frederick 
Beans, of Makefield ; and Elizabeth H., 
who died in 1893, the wife of Samuel H. 
Walton. 

William Longshore Walker was born and 
reared in Solebury township, Bucks county, 
and on attaining manhood began farming 
in Upper Makefield township, where he 
resided for three years. He then purchased 
a farm in Falls township, where he resided 
until the spring of 1879, when he removed 
to New Jersey, near Pennington, where he 
followed farming until 1888, when he re- 
moved to Newtown, Bucks county, where he 
has since conducted the milk business. Mr. 



634 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUX'JV 



Walker has been twice married. I lis first 
wife, wliom he married 3 mo. 14, 1859. was 
Lizzie Hellings. born in Middletown. 9 mo. 
5, 1838, daughter of Jared Hellings ; she 
died in Falls township, 5 mo. 19, 187 1. They 
were the parents of six children, all o'f 
whom died in infancy. Mr. Walker mar- 
ried 3 mo. 14. T873, Deborah T. Cadwallader, 
daughter of Timothy and Julia A. (Leland) 
Cadwallader; she died October 25, 1905. 
Their only child is Frank E. Walker, who 
was born 7 mo. 22, 1877. He married June 
7, 1899, Harriet Brown, daughter of Benja- 
min Brown, of Binghamton, New York. 

Mr. Walker is a Republican in politics. 
He has always taken an interest in the 
affairs of the community in which he lived. 
He has served two terms as chief burgess of 
Newtown, from 1892 to 1896, and 1899 to 
1902, and is at present a member of the 
town council. In religion he conforms to 
the faith and principles of the Society of 
Friends as have all his ancestors. He be- 
came affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, 
as a charter member of Hermes Lodge. No. 
109, of Bristol, in 1868, and is now a mem- 
ber of Defiance Lodge, No. 135. of New- 
town, and has passed all the chairs. He was 
formerly connected with the Red Men and 
Knights of the Golden Eagle. 



CHARLES J. SMITH, of Buckingham, 
one of the enterprising and progressive- 
farmers of that vicinity, is a representative 
of two of the oldest families of Bucking- 
ham. He is a son of Jonathan and Sarah 
(Johnson) Smith, and was born in Buck- 
nigham, on the farm on which he now re- 
sides, September 15, 1865. 

The pioneer ancestors of the subject of 
this sketch were Robert and William Smith, 
both natives of Yorkshire, England, though 
not known to be of common ancestry, botn 
of whom settled near Wrightstown, Bucks 
county. William Smith was the first to 
arrive, coming in 1684 in a ship which 
landed its passengers at New Castle, now 
Delaware, from which point William 
Smith, then a young and unmarried man, 
engaged passage on a boat up the river, 
and was entertained for some time at the 
house of Phinehas Pemberton, a native of 
Yorkshire, who was at that time one of 
the most prominent men of the little Quak- 
er colony on the Delaware. On 9 mo. 20, 
1690, William Smith married Mary Croas- 
dale. daughter of Thomas and Agne^ 
Croasdale. who had come from Settle, in 
Yorkshire, in 1682, in the "Welcome." 
They were married at the house of John 
Chapman, the pioneer settler of Wrights- 
town, from whom William Smith made his 
first purchase of land, adjoining Penn's 
Park. Mary (Croasdale) Smith died in 
1716. and in 1720 William Smith married 
a second wife, Mercy, by whom he had 
seven children. He died in 1743. Of the 
eight children of the first marriage, Thom- 
as Smith was the ancestor of the subject 



of this sketch. He married in 6 mo., 1727, 
Elizabeth Sanders, and took up his resi- 
dence at '"Windy Bush," in Upper Make- 
field township, near the point where the 
four townships of Bijckingham, Wrights- 
town, Solebury and Upper Makefield join, 
on a tract of land surveyed to his father in 
1709 by Penn's land commissioners. He 
died in 1750. 

Samuel Smith, the second of the eight 
children of Thomas and Elizabeth (San- 
ders) Smith, was born at Windy Bush, i 
mo. 17, 1729-30 (March 17, 1730), and died 
there 2 mo. 14, 1812. He married in 1750, 
at Buckingham Friends' Meeting, Jane, the 
daughter of John and Ann (Lenoir) Scho- 
field, of Solebury, who died 10 mo. 29, 
1815, at the age of eighty-nine years. Anr» 
Smith, the third of the ten children of 
Samuel and Jane, was born 11 mo. 15, 1754, 
and died in 1854 at the age of ninety-nine 
years, ten months and twenty-seven days. 
She married at Wrightstown Meeting, 11 
mo. 19, 1774, Joseph Smith, a grandson 01 
Robert Smith, the other pioneer of the 
name. 

Robert Smith is said to have come from 
England with a brother Timothy and two 
or three sisters, the parents dying on the 
passage to America. He was a resident of 
Makefield in 1710, when he witnessed the 
marriage of his sister Ruth to Joshua 
Cheesman. His brother Timothy marn'ed 
Rachel Milnor in 1716, and became a prom- 
inent man in the community. Robert 
Smith married, 7 mo. 30, 1719, Phebe Can- 
by, daughter of Thomas Canby, one of the 
most prominent men of his time, a preacher 
among Friends, and many years a member 
of colonial assembly. Robert Smith set- 
tled on a farm in Buckingham, adjoining 
the Makefield farm of William Smith, and 
died there 6 mo. 26, 1745. The house built 
by him on this tract in 1738 was the home 
of his descendants for six generations. He 
was an overseer of Buckingham Meeting, 
and his wife was an approved minister 
among Friends. She married in 1753, Hugh 
Ely, of Buckingham, and died i mo. 19, 
1774- 

Timothy Smith, the second of the nine 
children of Robert and Phebe (Canby) 
Smith, was born i mo. 29, 1722, and died 
5 mo. 14, 1798. He married at Bucking- 
ham Meeting, 2 mo. 17, 1745. Sarah Kin- 
sey, daughter of Edmund and Sarah Og- 
burn Kinsey, early settlers at the site of 
Buckingham meeting house, where Ed- 
mund was an approved minister. Sarah 
Kinsey Smith died 5 mo. 17, 1812. 

Joseph Smith, fourth of the seven chil- 
dren of Timothy and Sarah (Kinsey) 
Smith, was born in Buckingham, 7 mo. 7, 
I753j and died at Smithtown, in Tinicum 
township, Bucks county. 9 mo. 28. 1826. He 
was the inventor and patentee of the first 
plow with an iron mouldboard, and in con- 
nection with his brother Robert engaged 
in their manufacture in 1800. In 1802 he 
removed to Smithtown and erected dwell- 
ings and shops, and carried on the mana- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



63: 



facture of plows until his death in 1826. It 
was in these shops that anthracite coal 
was first successfully used for fuel about 
1812. He married, as above stated, Ann 
Smith, daughter of Samuel and Jane 
(Schoheld) Smith, of the other branch of 
the family. 

William Smith, the third of the twelve, 
children of Joseph and Ann Smith, was 
born in Buckingham, 6 mo. 3, 1779, and 
married, in 1804, Margaret Worthington, 
daughter of Mahlon and. Mary (Paxson) 
Worthington, and granddaughter of Rich- 
ard Worthington, one of the earliest set- 
tlers ni lower Buckingham, where Mahlon 
was born 12 mo. 19, 1750. 

JONATHAN SMITH, the father of the 
subject of this sketch, was the youngest 
of ten children of William and INIargaret 
Smith, and was born in Wrightstown 
township, 5 mo. 31, 1826, and died in Buck- 
ingham, May 23, 1889. "He was reared on 
the farm, and acquired his education at the 
local schools. In January, 1853, he pur- 
chased the farm upon which the subject 
of this sketch now resides, and on the 
third day of ]March following married Sa- 
rah C. Johnson, and took up his residence 
in Buckingham. 

He was an active worker in the Prohi- 
bition party and in all branches of tem- 
perance work, being one of the organizers 
of the Good Templar's Lodge. His home 
was always the headquarters of the lodge 
in this section. Many of his relatives were 
also active in temperance work, and he 
was wont to 'say that he had seventy-six 
first cousins, of whom fifty were boys, not 
one of whom used either tobacco or in- 
toxicating drinks. His team of four black 
horses, carrying banners, etc., was a feature 
at many temperance and prohibition dem- 
onstrations. His wife, Sarah C. Johnson, 
was born July 31, 1830, and died October 
26, 1888. They were the parents of six chil- 
dren, the three eldest of whom died in in- 
fancy. Elizabeth P. married, 10 mo. 18, 
1888, Hon. William W. Griest, of Lancas- 
ter, for many years a county official of Lan- 
caster county, and secretary of the com- 
monwealth, under Governor William A. 
Stone. George A. Smith, the oldest sur- 
viving son, removed to Chicago in early 
life, and married Frances A. Kerr, of that 
city. He died in Chicago, 8 mo. 6, 1892, 
leaving one child, Esther. 

Charles J. Smith was the youngest child 
of Jonathan and Sarah Smith. He was 
born and reared on the farm upon which 
he still resides, and acquired his education 
at the Hughesian School and at the Doyles- 
town English and Classical Seminary. From 
early life he was active in the manage- 
ment of the farm, and is considered one of 
the best farmers in the. valley of Buck- 
ingham. At the death of his father he 
purchased the farm, and never has resided 
elsewhere. He and his family are mem- 
bers of the Society of Friends. He is one 
of the trustees of the Hughesian Free 
School, having been elected in 1899. He 



married in 1888, Mercy Lovett, daughter 
of Edmund and Clara (Weaver) Lovett, 
of Penn's Manor, who celebrated their 
golden wedding on October 31, 1904; both 
are hale and hearty. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Smith have been born four children — 
Willis W., Milton L., E. Lovett, and Eliza- 
beth. 



MRS. NAOMI A. PADDOCK belongs 
to a family long resident of Bucks county. 
Her parents were Phineas and Deborah 
(Mitchell) Walker, and they had thirteen 
children, namely : Augustus ; Annie, the 
wife of Joseph Smith; Margaret, the wife 
of L. B. Risden ; William H. ; Sarah, the 
wife of Theodore Vansant ; Susan, the 
wife of Allen Neil; Phineas; Naomi; 
Mary, the wife of Edward Twuiing; Eliza- 
beth, the wife of Charles Risden; James; 
Lottie, the wife of William Van Horn; 
and one that died in infancy. 

Naomi Walker, reared in the parental 
home and educated in the public schools, 
was married (first) to Edward Burns, and 
there were five children by that union : J. 
Walker and Robert W., who are partners 
in a wholesale grocery business in Will- 
iamson, West Virginia; Edward, who is a 
railroad engineer in West Virginia; Mary, 
the wife of L. H. Phitteplace, who is as- 
sistant superintendent of the Northwestern 
Railroad Company, of Virginia; and Will- 
iam W., who is still at home with his moth- 
er. She is a member of the Friends' So- 
ciety. For her second husband Mrs. Burns 
married George H. Paddock, who is also 
deceased. â–  He was a civil engineer and a 
coal operator of West Virginia, and after 
his death Mrs. Paddock returned to Yard- 
ley, settling near the place of her nativity. 
Here she owns and occupies one of the 
best homes in Yardley, and has good prop- 
erty interests. 



SYLVESTER H. STONEBACH, a 
prosperous farmer of Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, was there born July 18, 1854, on a 
farm in the southern part of Richland 
township. He is of German descent, the 
grandson of John and Elizabeth (Tr'esler) 
Stonebach, and son of Jacob T. and Chris- 
tiana (Hartzell) Stonebach, the daughter 
of John and Eva Hartzell. Sylvester H, is 
one of seven children born to his parents : 
Kitian, deceased; John Henry; Sylvester, 
mentioned at length hereinafter; Amanda, 
the wife of William Saylor ; Lucinda. wife 
of Quinton Jordan; Anna Marie, married 
Allen Treisback; and Mary Elizabeth, now 
Mrs. Ahlum. 

Sylvester H. Stonebach acquired what 
education the district schools of that day 
afforded, which he attended until his six- 
teenth year, meanwhile assisting his father 
with the farm work. In 1874 his father 
purchased the farm where Sylvester now 
lives, about a mile and a half south of 
Quakertown, on Bethlehem Pike, where 



636 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



Sj^lvester continued to work with him. 
About 1878 S. H. Stonebach settled at 
Quakertown, remaining there for a year, 
wlien he remuVed to a farm of Mr. Fuhnar, 
in the lower part of Richland township. In 
1S80 he removed to the Aaron llarring 
farm, in Richland township, which he con- 
ducted for two years. For the next thirteen 
years he was engaged in cultivating the 
Martin farm in Richland township. He 
purchased his father's farm in 1896, and 
two years later removed to it, where he 
continues to reside and which he conducts 
as a general farm. Air. Stonebach"s politi- 
cal belief accords with the doctrines of the 
Democratic party, and he has always taken 
a lively interest in the prosperity of that 
organization. He. is a consistent member 
of St. John's Lutheran church' at Quaker- 
town. 

In 1878 Mr. Stonebach was united in 
marriage to -Amanda, daughter of Jonas 
and Mary (Gross) Graver, of Quakei- 
town. She was born December 13, 1858, 
in Milford township, where her father con- 
ducted a farm and grist-mill near Trum- 
bauersville. The following children were 
born to Air. and Airs. Stonebach: i. Alabel, 
died in infancy; 2. Harry, died April 17, 
1878; 3. Sallie, born February 15, 1884, 
is unmarried and lives at home; she at- 
tended the district school of Richland 
township and is employed at Quakertown. 
4. Warren, born January 11, 1886, attended 
the district school, and is at present en- 
gaged with his father on the farm; 5. 
Florence, born February 3, 1889, attends 
the public school at Quakertown, and lives 
with her aunt, Mrs. Quinton Jordan. 6. 
Nellie, born November 9, 1890, attends the 
district school and lives at home ; 7. Fred- 
â– erick, born August 20, 1898, attends dis- 
trict school. 



JOEL LEVI HEACOCK. Through sev- 
eral centuries the Heacock family has been 
represented in Bucks county. Jesse and 
Tacy (Thompson) Heacock, his grand- 
parents, were residents of West Rockhill 
township, where the former owned and 
operated a farm. It was upon that farm 
that Joel Heacock, father of Joel L. 
Heacock, was born in 1794. He at- 
tended school in Milford township, Trum- 
. "bauersville, and afterward engaged in farm- 
ing and in the general milling and lumber 
business. He was married in 1842 to Aliss 
Abigail Roberts, the daughter of Levi and' 
Phoebe (AlcCarthy) Roberts, the eldest of 
a family of twenty-two children. After his 
marriage Joel Heacock located on the old 
family homestead farm and devoted his 
attention to general agricultural pursuits 
and milling. In his political views he was 
a Whig, and his religious faith was indicated 
by his membership in the Society of Friends. 
The old homestead is one of the oldest 
farming properties of Bucks county, it hav- 
ing been acquired by ancestors of Joel Levi 
Heacock from Thomas and Richard Penn 



through a charter grant. This farm was 
situated in West Rockhill township, and 
long remained in possession of the family. 
.Joel Levi Heacock attended the public 
schools in his home district through sev- 
eral winter seasons, and in the summer 
months worked on the farm assisting in the 
labors of the fields. His father died Alarch 
17. 1853, while on a business trip to German- 
town, and the family continued on the home 
farm until 1858, when Airs. Heacock, the 
widow, rented the place, for she realized 
that her son required better educational 
advantages, and removed to Quakertown 
in order that he might enjoy educational 
opportunities that were in advance of those 
afforded by the community schools. There 
he continued his studies in the Friends' 
school, and later became a student at what 
was known as the Bucks County Normal 
Classical School, conducted by A. R. Home, 

â–  a native of Springfield township, Bucks 
county, and a graduate of Pennsylvania col- 
lege, located at Gettysburg, this state. 

Following the 'completion of his normal 
and classical course, Air. Heacock assisted 
as a teacher for one year in that institution, 
after which he joined James Brunners in the 
conduct of a school for the training of 
teachers that they might be prepared for the 
work of the public schools in the townships. 
Later Air. Heacock became principal^ jn the 
Friends' school, occupying that position for 
a year. He next entered into partnership 
with Rev. George AT. Lazarus, pastor of St. 
John's Lutheran church, and for a time 
conducted -a school in the basement of that 
church. Alany of the boys and young men 
who pursued their studies under his direc- 
tion afterward became active, prominent and 
influential in various departments of busi- 
ness life. Air. Heacock has ever been deeply 
interested in the welfare and progress of 
his home locality, and has done everything 
in his power to promote its- upbuilding, but 
has never aspired to office outside of Quak- 
ertown. He served as chief burgess for six 
years, and as a member of the town council 
labored effectively and honorably for the 
improvement of the borough along substan- 
tial lines of progress. Interested in the 
advancements that would make Quaker- 
town an attractive place of residence and 
also a good business center, he did every- 
thing possible to secure the lighting of the 
town by electricity. With this end in view 
he visited different places in Pennsylvania, 
New York, Ohio and Indiana, to investi- 
gate conditions and plans of lighting those 
towns. Few men have labored so untiringly 
and along such practical lines for the benefit 
of the borough as has Air. Heacock. His 
efforts have ever been of the most practical 
character, and his fellow-townsmen recog- 
nizing the value of his services, in 1869 he 
was appointed notary public, and later be- 

â–  came interested in the real-estate business, 
which he conducted in connection with the 
performance of his duties as justice of the 
peace. In the last mentioned office he has 
ever been desirous of bringing to a friendly 




^\<ip<p^^^^.^^-^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



637 



conclusion any matter of dispute or litiga- 
tion between contestants who appeared be- 
fore him. 

Mr. Heacock is now living a retired life, 
and has gathered around him many warm 
friends who are deeply interested in the 
social, economic and municipal questions 
which elicit his earnest attention and co- 
operation. Everything that tends to benefit 
mankind is a matter of concern to him, 
and especially has he labored for the wel- 
fare of his home locality and native county. 



MRS. N. D. IRWIN, of Newtown, 
Pennsylvania, is the wife of Nathaniel D. 
Irwin, who descends from James Irwin, the 
first of the family to come from Ireland to 
America. He settled in Philadelphia, where 
he engaged in the manufacture of cloth- 
mg, continuing the same until his death in 
1891. He had children as follows: i. Mary, 
wife of Matthew Woodburn; 2. Alexan- 
der; 3. Nathan D. ; 4. Robert; 5. James 
A.; 6. Rachel; 7. George. 

Nathan D., the second son, preferred the 
life of a farmer and settled in Upper Make- 
field township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
where he gave his attention to agriculture 
until his death in 1S72. 

February 14, 1866, he married Sarah J., 
daughter of James jNIcNair and the grand- 
daughter of Solomon JMcNair. The family 
of :\lcNair is of Scotch origin, and be- 
longed to the gathering of clans of whom 
the Earls of Lenox were the hereditary 
chieftains. Their place of gathering was 
near the head of Loch Lomond. They were 
pioneers in the establishing of the Presby- 
terian Kirk of Scotland, and in the latter 
part of the seventeenth century left tjieir 
home on the banks of the river Dee and 
settled in county Donegal, Ireland, from 
whence in 1732 three of the family, John, 
Samuel and David, either cousins. or brotn- 
ers, emigrated to Pennsylvania. John mar- 
ried Christine Walker, whose parents and 
brothers had accompanied the INIcNairs to 
Pennsylvania and settled in Warringtoir 
township, Bucks county. /After a short 
stay in Bucks county where his son John 
was born in 1737, John McNair removed to 
Craig's, or the "Irish' Settlement," in what 
is now Northampton county, from whence 
a number of his descendants in 178S mi- 
grated to the valley of the Genesee in New 
York, where their descendants are still 
quite numerous. David McNair settled in 
Derry township, now Dauphin county, 
from whence his descendants moved west- 
ward and were prominent military and civil 
officers in western Pennsylvania and fur- 
ther westward, a grandson being the first 
sheriff of St. Louis and the first governor 
of Missouri. 

Samuel â– McNair, the ancestor of the j\Ic- 
Nairs of Bucks county, was a son of James 
McNair, a native of Scotland, and was 
born in county Donegal, Ireland, in 1699. 
He married there Anna Murdock, and on 
coming to Pennsylvania in 1732 settled in 



Upper Makefield township, Bucks county, 
where he died in 1761. He was one of the 
founders and active supporters of the 
Newtown Presbyterian church. He set- 
tled on land belonging to the London Com- 
pany, which, on the closing out of that com- 
pany in 1760, was conveyed to his sons 
James and Samuel. Solomon, another' son, 
removed to Philadelphia during the Revo- 
lution and became a prominent merchant 
there, dying in 1812 at the age of sixty- 
eight years. Samuel, born September 25, 
1739, married Mary Mann, March 15, 1765] 
and was the ancestor of the family in 
Southampton and Montgomery county. 
John McNair, a grandson was a member ot 
congress from Montgomery. Some of the 
family also intermarried with the Genesee 
family of AIcNair. 

James McNair, eldest son of Samuel and 
Anna Ulurdock) McNair, was born in 
Upper Makefield township, Bucks county,. 
February 6, 1733, and in 1762 received a 
deed from the trustees of the London Com- 
pany, for 189 acres of land land held - by 
his father under the London com- 
pany, and settled thereon. He married, 
xMarch 13, 1766, Martha Keith, daughter 
of William Keith, who had accompanied 
his father from Ireland in 1732 and settled 
in Upper Makefield. James McNair died on 
the old plantation in Upper Makefield in 
1807, leaving sons— James, Samuel, Solo- 
moii and David; and daughters— Ann, Eli- 
zabeth, JMartha, and Rachel. By will dat- 
ed August 16, 1805, he devised the home- 
stead to his sons Solomon and David. Da- 
vid released his interest to Solomon, who 
lived all his life thereon, and it descended 
to his son James M. McNair, and thus re- 
mained in the tenure of the family for 140 
years. By a singular coincidence the whole 
tract upon which Samuel McNair settled 
in 1732 remained in the tenure of his de- 
scendants for about the same period. Sam- 
uel McNair, who had acquired 128 acres 
of the tract in 1762, conveyed it to James 
Torbert in 1775, and he in 1792 conveyed 
it to his son James, who had married Mar- 
garet McNair, from whom it descended to 
his son John Keith Torbert. 

Solomon McNair, son of James and Mar- 
tha (.Keith) McNair, was a prominent man 
in the community, and held many positions 
of trust. Like his father, he was a mem- 
ber and elder of the Presbyterian chuich 
at Newtown, where many of the family iie 
buried. He was a member of the Pen isvl- 
vania assembly for the term of 1822-3. A 
letter written by him to his brother-in- 
law, James Torbert, while at Harrisburg, 
is still in possession of Maria K. Torbert, 
of Newtown, a daughter of John K. Tor- 
bert and granddaughter of James Torbert, 
to whom it was written. Solomon McNair 
died in February, 1832, leaving sons— 
James M., William, John and Solomon, 
and daughters — Eliza, Martha, Mary and 
Sarah Ann. 

JA^IES M. McNAIR, son of Solomon, 
was bcrn on the old homestead in Upper 



638 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



jMakefield in 1800, and died there in 1872. 
lie was a line type of the worthy descend- 
ants of a worihy Scotch-Irish ancestry, 
and hlled throughout his life a high and 
honorable position in the social, religious 
and political life of the community. He 
was an elder of the Presbyterian church 
at Newtown. For many years he was an 
officer of the local militia, and enjoyed a 
wide acquaintance in Bucks county. He 
took a lively interest in the political ques- 
tions of the day, and frequently served as 
a delegate to district and state conventions 
of his party. He was elected to the office 
of clerk of the orphans' court of Bucks 
county in 1848, and served for three years. 
During the later years he lived a retired 
life on his farm in Makefield, where he 
died September 5, 1872. He married Feb- 
ruary 20, 1837, Jane C. White, daughter of 
James and Margaret (Cooper) White, of 
Philadelphia, who survived him. Their 
only child was Sarah Jane, who married 
Nathaniel D. Irwin. 

James White^ the father of Mrs. McNair, 
was for many years connected with the 
Merchants' Bank of Philadelphia, and had 
a large circle of friends among the fin- 
ancial institutions of the city of Philadel- 
phia. 
• Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel D. Irwin had 
two children : James, in the lumber busi- 
ness in Philadelphia; and Robert Irwin, a 
physician and a graduate of the Marylana 
Medical College of Baltimore, now a sur- 
geon in the hospital at Lafunta, Mexico. 



JOHN HIRAM KAULL. A name 
honored in Quakertown is that of John 
Hiram KauU. He belongs to a family 
which was founded in this country by John 
Kaull, a native of Germany, who came to 
America about 1740 or 1750, and took up 
land. His wife was Eliza Steininger, and 
they were the parents of a son, George, 
xnentioned at length hereinafter. Mr. Kaull 
was distinguished in the community for 
the zeal with which he espoused the cause 
of the patriots during the revolutionary 
struggle. 

George Kaull, son of John and Eliza 
(Sterninger) Kaull, was born on the pa- 
ternal farm in Lehigh county, on which he 
was reared, obtaining his education in the 
subscription schools of his district. He 
learned the trade of cigar making, which 
he followed in conjunction with the culti- 
vation of a farm. He married Elizabeth 
Kinder, by whom he was the father of the 
following children: i. Jemima, who mar- 
ried Thomas Steckle. of Allentown, and 
died in 1899. 2. Lavina, who became the 
wife of Steven Strauss, of OhiQ,. 3. John 
Hiram, mentioned at length hereinafter. 4. 
Herina, who married David Daubert, of 
Allentown. 

John Hiram Kaull, son of George and 
Elizabeth (Kirder) Kaull, was born April 
g, 1822, on his father's farm, in Macum- 



gie township, Lehigh county, lie attend- 
ed the subscription schools of his birth- 
place and learned the trade of tanner. Foi 
three years he worked as a journeyman, 
and was then engaged for a time as a shoe- 
maker and also as a clerk in a general 
store. In 1845 he settled at Ruchville, 
North Whitehall township, where for three 
years he was engaged in a general store 
business. He then purchased a hotel at 
Tylersport, Montgomery county, of which 
he was for a time the proprietor, and then 
settled near Salfordville, where he was 
again a hotel proprietor for the space of 
two years. For three years he was engaged 
in the same line of business at Bunker 
Hill, and then moved to Quakertown, 
where he added to his reputation as a 
genial host, his hotel standing on the site 
now occupied by J. S. Harley's harness 
works. At the end of three years he re- 
tired from the hotel business, and became a 
traveling salesman for the Duster Woolen 
Mills, of Bethlehem, where he resided for 
two years, and erecting a desirable resi- 
dence at Quakertown. For fifteen years 
he was traveling salesman for John Lentz 
& Company, retiring from the business in 
1886. Mr. Kaull took a lively interest in 
politics, and for^ five years filled the ofiic*- 
of justice of the peace. He also served 
as deputy coroner of the county and acted 
as delegate to county conventions. Soon 
after coming to Quakertown he received 
the appointment of postmaster of that place, 
an office which he administered with jus- 
tice, discretion and fidelity. His vote and 
influence were given to the Democratic 
party. He was an active member of the 
First Reformed church. 

IMr. Kaull married, in 1845, Anna Caro- 
line Deshler, of North Whitehall town- 
ship, and their family consisted of the fol- 
lowing children : I. Mary Elizabeth, born 
January 27, 1847, married in 1S68, Ezekiel, 
son of Ezeral and Sarah (Hager) Thomas, 
of Spring City, Chester county. Their 
children were : Florence, deceased ; Anna 
Caroline, who married Charles R. Smith, 
of Quakertown; and James Kaull also de- 
ceased. 2. Alice Almyra Christina, born 
^lay 21, 1848, attended the Quakertown 
public schools, and resides at home. 3. 
George Franklin Pierce, born December 20, 
1852, died in 1853. 4. Martha Josephine, 
born December 20, 1854. was educated in 
the Quakertown schools and at Dickinson's 
Seminary, Williamsport, and lives at home. 
5. James Deshler, born November 27, 1856, 
died at Dickinson's Seminary. Williams- 
port, in 1872. 6. Peter Grimm, born IMarcn 
19, 1862, attended the Quakertown public 
schools, engaged in mercantile business in 
Philadelphia, and now resides at home. In 
politics he is a Democrat, but has not 
been active in the organization. He is a 
member of the First Reformed church of 
Quakertown. 

]\Irs. Kaull is a granddaughter of David 
Deshler, who inherited from his father a 
farm in Whitehall township, Lehigh county. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



639 



known as Deshler's Fort, from the fact that 
it was used by the inhabitants of the sur- 
rounding country as a place of refuge from 
the Indians. He married Catherine Fogel, 
and their son James was born in iSor, on 
the homestead. He married Elizabeth, 
daughter of Peter and Teresa (Van Bus- 
kirk) Grimm. The latter was the daugh- 
ter of the Rev. Jacob Van Buskirk, who 
was born February 11, 1739, in New Jer- 
sey, and worthily filled the pastorate of 
St^ John's Lutheran churchy North Walt- 
Pennsylvania. His death occurred Aug- 
ust 5, 1800. 

Mr. and Mrs. Deshler were the par- 
€nts of the following children: i. j\Iary 
Catherine, died unmarried. 2. Jacob, mar- 
ried Sarah Trumbauer, of Lehigh county, 
and died 1885. 3. Anna Caroline, born 
July 18, 1825, and received her primary ed- 
ucation in the subscription schools, after- 
ward attending a school at Easton pre- 
sided over by the Misses Lorrence, and 
also the Quakertown Friends' school. She 
became the wife of John Hiram Kaull, as 
mentioned above. 4. Eliza Ann, born April 
29, 1832, married Ephraim, son of Jacob 
jSiickley, of Whitehall township, Lehigh 
county. 5. David James Franklyn, born 
in August, 1828. 6. Peter W. H., born Janu- 
ary 16, 1843, died in 1891. 



EDWARD TITUS SLACK, of Buck- 
ingham, is a representative of a family 
that have been residents of Bucks county 
for over a century and a half. He w^as 
born at Pineville, September 16, 1843, and 
is a son of Albert and Elizabeth W. (Fell) 
Slack, both natives of Buckingham town- 
ship, Bucks county. The first American 
progenitor of the Slack family was Hen- 
drick Cornelius Slecht, who emigrated 
from Holland in 1652 and settled on Long 
Island, near the present site of Brooklyn. 
He was a landowner at Flatbush in 167^. 
and a member of the Dutch Reformed 
church at Brooklyn in 1677. His will was 
dated September 23, 1690. He married 
Elsje Barentse Lieveiing, who bore him at 
least five children: Jacomyntje, who mar- 
ried Jan Elting and settled at New Paiz, 
New York;\Barendt, who marn^d Hilletje 
Jans, at Brooklyn, ]\Iay i, 1692* Cornelius, 
who married Johanna Van de Water, ana 
settled at Maidenhead, now Lawrenceville, 
New Jersey, about 1710; Anna Catharine, 
who married George Hafte ; Abraham ; and 
- Johannis, who married Catharine Jacobse 
Bergen. The children of the latter settled 
in Southampton, Bucks county, where his 
sons Jacob and John were landholders be- 
fore 1750. Two of his daughters married 
Van Pelts, and have left numerous de- 
scendants. 

John Slack, who married Jane Winder, 
daughter of Thomas Winder, of Hopewell, 
about 1738, and settled in Lower Make- 
field township, Bucks county, wa? a son of 
one of the three brothers above namea. 



Tradition names Cornelius, of Maidenhead, 
as the ancestor, but no baptismal record of 
a son John has been found. John, son of 
Barendt, was baptised October 30, 1698, 
and was possibly the John of Lower Make- 
field who in his will dated 1785, mentions 
the fact that he is "far advanced in age." 
John and Jane (Winder) Slack, were the 
parents of seven sons — Cornelius, Thomas, 
Joseph, Timothy, Noah, Philip and John. 
Of these, Cornelius, the eldest, marriea 
Elizabeth Spear, February 5, 1765, and set- 
tled on land conveyed to him Tjy his fath- 
er, in Lower JNIakefield, where he died in 
1810. His children were: 'Jane, who mar- 
ried Lamb Torbert ; "John ;^ Anna, who mar- 
ried Joseph Johnson; "Pamela, who mar- 
ried Joshiah Briggs;- "David; Mary; Will- 
iam; Elizabeth; Cornelius; DeboTah, and 
Elias. 

David, the fifth child of Cornelius and 
Elizabeth (Spear) Slack, married Jane 
Worthington, of Buckingham, and settled 
in that township near Wycombe, in 1818. 
In 1837 he purchased a farm in Northamp- 
ton township, and lived there for about 
ten years o^ more when he returned to 
Buckingham. He died in Wrightstown, 
August 30, 1863. The children of David and 
Jane (Worthington) Slack were: Albert, 
Joseph C, George, and Mary. 

Albert Slack was born in Buckingham, 
on the farm now owned by Wilson M. 
Woodman, near Wycombe. He learned 
the trade of a blacksmith with Benjamin 
Fell, at Pineville, whose daughter Eliza- 
beth W., born 7 mo. 3, 1819, he married 
later. He followed his trade until 1844, 
when he purchased a farm in Northampton, 
which he conducted until 1855, when he 
returned to Buckingham and purchased the 
farm upon which the subject of this sketch 
still resides at Wycombe, and resided there- 
on until his death in 1866. He was an in- 
dustrious and frugal man and acquired a 
competence. In politics originally a W'hig, 
which party his father had joined in 1836, 
when President Jackson refused to re- 
charter the United States Bank, he became 
an active "Know Nothing" at the organiza- 
tion of that party in 1853, and was later a 
Republican and a member of the Union 
League. His wife was a daughter of Ben- 
jamin and Eliza (Watson) Fell, and a de- 
scendant of Joseph Fell, of Longlands, 
Cumberland, England, who settled in 
Buckingham in 1707, an account of whose 
descendants is given elsewhere in this 
work. Albert and Elizabeth W. (Fell) 
Slack were the parents of six children, 
viz. : Emily F., who married Jesse John- 
son, and is now deceased; Edward Titus; 
Jane E., widow of Thomas T. Pool, now 
residing in Doylestown; iMarietta, single, 
residing with Jane E. ; George W., a gro- 
ceryman in Philadelphia; and Benjamin 
Howard, of Willow Grove. 

The subject of this sketch, though born 
in Buckingham, spent his boyhood days in 
Northampton township, where he acquired 
his education at the public schools. At the 



640 



HISTORY OP BUCKS COUNTY. 



death of his father, in 1866, he look charge 
of the home farm and coiuliicled it for liie 
heirs for eight years. Jn February, kS7,5, 
he married lieiirielta Smith, daugun.r oi 
Joseph and Sarah (^TwiningJ Smith, of 
Buci^ingham, and rented the home farm, 
whch he conducted as a tenant until his 
molhcr's death in 1877, when he purchased 
it and has since made it his home. He 
also owns the Rush Valley Mills, which 
are conducted by a tenant. In politics he 
is a Republican, but has never sought or 
held other than local office, lie is a mem- 
ber of Newtown Lodge, No. 205, A. O. U. 
W. To Air. and JNirs. Slack have been born 
four children : Emily F., living at home ; 
Albert, of Kalispell, Montana; J. Thuinas, 
at home; and Harry, deceased. 



MAHLON CARVER, deceased, of Car- 
versville, was a representative of one 01 
tne oldest families in Pennsylvania. He 
was born and reared in Byberry, where his 
paternal ancestors, John and' Mary (,Lanej 
Carver, settled on their arrival from Hert- 
fordshire, England, in 1682. Four brothers, 
John, William, Joseph and Jacob Carver, 
eame together from England and settled in 
Byberry. Of these William later purchased 
land in Buckingham, Bucks county, upon 
which his son William settled and raised a 
large family of children who have left 
numerous descendants in central Bucks. 

The subject of this sketch, however, "is a 
descendant of John Carver,' who mai^ried 
Mary Lane before leaving England, and 
settled on 600 acres of land on Poquessing 
creek, in Byberry. A great portion of the 
land remained in the family for six gen- 
erations of John CarVers down to 1864. The 
first John Carver died in 1714 leaving chil- 
dren : Mary, born five days after the ar- 
rival of her parents in Pennsylvania, who 
married Isaac Knight ; John ; Ann, who 
married John Duncan and settled in Ben- 
salem ; James and Richard. 

John, the eldest son of John and Mary 
(Lane) Carver, inherited a portion of the 
homestead and lived and died there, his 
death occurring in 5 mo. 14, 1769. His 
wife was Isabel Weldon, and by her he had 
three children, John, Ann and Isaac. Mary 
married Robert Heaton, and Isaac mar- 
ried Phebe Walmsley. John Carver, born 
7 mo. 30, 1717, married Rachel, daughter 
of Joseph Naylor, of Southampton, Bucks 
county, and settled on the old homestead, 
where he died i mo. 15, 1791. His children 
were John, Samuel, Eli, Mahlon, Mary and 
Rachel. Of these only Mahlon became a 
resident of Bucks county. He married Amy, 
daughter of Joseph Pickering, of Solebury, 
and followed' the trade of a blacksmith for 
some years in Byberry, and later kept the 
Anchor tavern in Wrightstown, removing 
from there to Morrisville, where he died. 

John, the eldest son of John and Rachel 
(Naylor) Carver, was born in the old 
homestead in Byberry 10 mo. 26, 1747, and 



spent his whole life there. He married 
Mary, daughter of Joseph Buckman ol. 
Wrightstown. Bucks county, who bore him 
eight children: Martha; Mary, who mar- 
ried William Worthington, of Wrights- 
town; Asenath and Hannah, who marriea 
respectively John Townsend and Benjamin 
Kirkbride, and removed to Jefferson coun- 
ty, New York; Sarah, who married Dr. 
Josiah D. Banes, of Bucks county; Joseph, 
who married Esther Wiggins, of Wrights- 
town ; and Elizabeth, who married Evan 
Townsend, of Bensalem. 

John, eldest son of John and Mary 
(Buckman) Carver, was born on the old 
homestead in Byberry, 2 mo. 28, 1776, and 
died there 10 mo. 10. 1849. He married 
Elizabeth Briggs, daughter of John and 
Letitia (Buckman) Briggs, of Wrights- 
town, by whom he had four children: 
John, who married Phebe Tomlinson, and 
remained on the homestead ; Mahlon, the 
subject of this sketch; Esther; and Eliza, 
who married Richard Wilson; all except 
John became residents of Bucks county. 

Mahlon, second son of John and Elizabeth 
( Briggs) Carver, was born September 25, 
1823, and was reared in Byberry, and con- 
tinued to reside there until 1867, when he 
removed to Bucks county. In 1869 he re- 
moved to his late residence near Carvcrs- 
viUe where he devoted his attention to agri- 
cultural pursuits. He married Susanna G. 
Helwig, daughter of Daniel and Catharine 
(George) Helwig, of Solebury. Mr. Car- 
ver died February 25, 1905; his wife is still 
living in Carversville. 



J. FENNELL BERGER, for many years 
engaged, in merchandising in Bucks coun- 
ty, and now following farming in Sole- 
bury township, was born in this township 
on the first of November, 1851, his par- 
ents being Henry and Mary (Ackerman) 
Berger. The father was born near Kelly's 
church, in the northern part of Bucks coun- 
ty, and, losing his father when he was a 
child, he was reared in a neighboring fam- 
ily. On reaching early manhood he came 
to Solebury township, where he appren- 
ticed himself to the brick and stone 
mason's trades. After his marriage he lo- 
cated in Lumberville, where he worked at 
his trade for many years, being closely con- 
nected with building operations in that 
part of the county. He gave his political 
support to the Republican party, and was 
for a long period an active member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, serving as 
one of its trustees for a number of years. 
He died in May, 1902, at the age of eighty- 
two years. To Henry and Mary Btrger 
\yere born six children, of whom four are 
living: J. Fennell; Edward O., who is nv- 
ing in Solebury township; Elwood R., a 
resident of Lumberville; and Millard F., 
who resides at Raven Rock, New Jersey. 

In his early youth J. Fennell Berger at- 
tended the public schools, but his educa- 



^ 






HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



641 



tional privileges were somewhat limited, as 
it was necessary that he earn his own live- 
lihood when but a young lad. At the age 
of twelve years he began working as a 
farm hand in the summer months, while in 
the winter season he continued his studies. 
When sixteen years of age he apprenticed 
himself to the. harness maker's trade m 
Lumberville, working for his first employer 
for four years, after which he purchased 
the business, conducting it until 1880. He 
then turned his attention to merchandising 
in Lahaska, carrying a general line of 
goods, and in 1884 removed to North 
Wales, where he continued in the same 
business for fifteen years, enjoying a lu- 
crative trade and contributing to the com- 
mercial prosperity of the place. Owing 
to the close confinement of tiie store, hpw- 
ever, his health became impaired, and in 
1899 he removed to his farm in Solebury 
township, which he had purchased several 
years prior to that time. His attention 
has since been given to its further devel- 
opment and improvement, and the outdoor 
life has proved very beneficial to him, 
while the farm, under his careful super- 
vision, has become a desirable property, 
equipped with modern accessories. 

Mr. Berger was married in 1875 to Miss 
Amanda C. Fretz, a daughter of Jonas and 
Mary Ann (Stover) Fretz, of Bedminster 
township. They have two children : Mary 
A., at home; and Henry J., living in Sole- 
bury township. The parents are members 
of the Lutheran church, and Mr. Berger 
belongs to North Wales Camp, No. 547, 
Patriotic Order of Sons of America. In 
politics he was a Republican, and he served 
as a school director in North Wales for 
thirteen years, resigning the position on his 
removal to the farm. Interested in matters 
of local advancement, he has championed 
many measures for the general good. 



BENJAMIN W. BOUTCHER, of Ben- 
salem township, was born in that town- 
ship December 17, 1848. He traces his an- 
cestry back to Benjamin Boutcher, who 
emigrated to this country in 1678, and set- 
tled on a large tract of land in Abington 
township, Philadelphia (now Montgomery) 
county, Pennsylvania. 

Benjamin Boutcher, son of Joseph 
Boutcher, and grandson of Benjamin W. 
Boutcher above mentioned, was born in 
Abington township, February 11, 1786. He 
was a wheelwright by trade, but engaged 
extensively in agricultural pursuits. He 
married in 1810 Elinor Vandergrift, daugh- 
ter of Jacob and Ann (Walton) Vander- 
grift, who was born in 1771 and died Octo- 
ber 25, 1850, at the age of eighty years. 
Nine children were the issue of this mar- 
riage, namely: Joseph, born September 15, 
1811, mentioned hereinafter. Ann, born 
1813, died in early life. Jacob, born 1815. 
Enos, born May 30, 1817, died December 
IS, 1888; he married Elinor Vandegrift. 
Ann Eliza, born September 13. 1819, died 
41-3 



July I, 1902; she was the wife of William 
M. Vandegrift. Monroe, born 1822. Wash- 
ington, born 1824. Robert Bickley Boutcher, 
born 182S. Elinor, born 1830. Benjamin 
Boutcher, father of these children, 
was an active and influential man 
HI the community. He was one of the prin- 
cipal factors in the establishment of the 
public school at Andalusia, and the petition 
circulated by him for that purpose bearing 
date November, 1822, is still in the pos- 
session of his grandson, Benjamin W. 
Boutcher, whose name heads this sketch. 
On January 18, 1813, Mr. Boutcher pur- 
chased of his father-in-law, Mr. Vande- 
grift, a tract of land in Bensalem and set- 
tled thereon. 

Nicholas Vendegrift, the ancestor of ihe 
family of which Mrs. Benjamin Boutcher 
was a member, was the father of a son, 
Foulkard Vandegrift, who married Eliza- 
beth Vansant, and they were the parents of 
a son, Foulkard Vandegrift, who died Oc- 
tober 24, 1775, aged eighty years. He mar- 
ried Elizabeth Watson, and their children 
were : i. Jacob, who married Ann Wal- 
ton, and their children were: Levi; Jacob; 
Eliza, never married; Elinor Vandegrift, 
wife of Benjamin Boutcher; Jane, who 
married William Atkinson, died 1887, aged 
eighty-seven years; and Anna, who mar- 
ried Adam Vandegrift. 2. John, who died 
March 25, 1805, aged eighty-two years. 3. 
Foulkard, Jr., who died October 10, 1795, 
aged sixty-one years. 4. , who be- 
came the wife of Barnet Van Kirk, who 
died September 12, 1817, aged seventy 
years. The old graveyard in Maud owned 
by Foulkard Vandegrift was deeded by him 
to his four children aforementioned. 

Joseph Boutcher, eldest son of Benjamin 
and Elinor (Vandegrift) Boutcher, was 
born September 15, 1811. At the age of 
fourteen years he took up the trade of a 
wheelwright with his father, and followed 
it during the active years of his life. He 
married Elizabeth Killey, daughter of Cap- 
tain Edward and Elizabeth (Kennard) Kil- 
ley, who was born in Douglass, Isle of 
Man. Captain Killey was a native of the 
Isle of Man, and came to this country when 
a young man and learned the trade of a 
sail-maker. During the war of 1812 he was 
captain of the ship "Roebupk," and was cap- 
tured by the British, who claimed him as a 
British subject, but after the close of the 
war he returned to Philadelphia and fol- 
lowed his trade. Joseph and Elizabeth 
(Killey) Boutcher were the parents of six 
children: Adelaide S., Cordelia, Edward, 
William, Guilelma Natalie, and Benja- 
min W. 

Benjamin W. Boutcher, son of Joseph 
and Elizabeth (Killey) Boutcher, was born 
in Bensalem township, December 17, 1848. 
He was educated at the local schools, and 
on arriving at manhood took up the voca- 
tion of farming and teaming. In 1877 he 
was married to Catharine Cryer, daughter 
of William Cryer, who came from England 
and settled in Bensalem township. 



642 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN KER- 
BAUGH, of Southampton, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, is a native of the county, 
born near Riegelsville, in 1855. He is a 
son of Josiah and Maria (Bougher) Ker- 
baugh, the former born in 1803, and his 
wife in 1816, a daughter of William 
Bougher. He was reared in his native coun- 
ty and educated in the common schools. He 
became an engineer, and is now chief en- 
gineer and inspector of city boats at South- 
ampton. In politics he is a Republican. He 
married Rebecca Schofield, widow of Pe- 
ter Marseilles, Jr., by whom she had two 
children: i. Lily, who married E. F. Sax- 
man, a coal operator of Latrobe, Pennsyl- 
vania, and has two children — Peter M. and 
Edwin P"., Jr. 2. William Peter, who mar- 
ried Alarie Richards, of Chicago, and has 
had one child, William, Jr. 3. Evelyn Re- 
becca, married to Orville C. Cooper, and has 
had two children : Rebecca [Marseilles and 
Evelyn Marseilles. 

Rebecca Schofield (Mrs. Kerbaugh) 
was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, 
daughter of Samuel and Jane (Richison) 
Schofield. Her father was born in Novem- 
ber, 1800, in Chester county, Pennsylvania, 
a son of William and Elizabeth (Lane) 
Schofield. William was also a native of 
Chester county, and died in 1818. He 
served as a lieutenant under Patrick An- 
derson in the war of the Revolution, and 
was at the massacre of Paoli. He was prob- 
bly a son of George and Elizabeth (Rich- 
ardson) Schofield, and came to Chester 
county from Solebury about the middle of 
the eighteenth century. Mrs. Kerbaugh 
traces her descent back through the Scho- 
fields. Lanes, Bevans and others, to one 
Dierck, a descendant of the Dukes of 
Aquitaine, in France, and first county of 
Holland, Zealand and Friesland, the line- 
age being as follows : 

1. Dierck, son of Hertog Segesbert, 
married Gena Puppins, daughter of the 
King of Italy. He died in 903. (Davis's 
"History of Holland," vol. I, p. 22.) 

2. His son Dierck (2) married Hilde- 
garde, daughter of King Louis of France. 
He died May 6, 988, and was buried at 
Egmond. (Davis's "History of Holland," 
vol. I, p. 26.) 

3. Arnalph, s^i of Dierck (2), married 
Lutgard, daughter of the King of Greece, 
and sister of Theofana, wife of Otha II, 
Emperor of Germany. He was killed in 
the battle at Wrinkle in 993. (Davis, vol. 
I, P- 25.) 

4. Dierck (3), son of Arnalph, married 
Othe. daughter of the Duke of Saxony. 
He fought the Normans, and made a pil- 
grimage to the Holy Land, dying in 1039. 
(Davis, vol. I, p. 25.) 

5. Floris, (i) son of Dierck (3), became 
count in 1048: married Gertrude, daughter 
of Herman, Duke of Saxony, killed in 
1061. Davis, vol. I, p. 32.) 

6. Dierck (5), son of Floris, became 
count in 1075; married Othilda, of Saxony; 
died September 9, 1092. (Davis, vol, i, p. 34). 



7. Floris (2), son of Dierck (5), mar- 
ried Petronella, daughter of the Duke of 
Sa.xony; died March 6, 1138. (Davis, vol. 

I, p. 39-) 

8. Dierck (6), son of Floris (2), mar- 
ried Sophia, daughter of the Count Palatine 
of the Rhine. He made a voyage to the 
Holy Land in 11 39 and died in 1163. (Da- 
vis, vol. I, p. 42.) 

9. Floris (3), son of Dierck (6), mar- 
ried Ada, daughter of King Henry, and 
granddaughter of David I., King of Scot- 
land. He participated in the crusade of 
1 187, and died of fever at Antioch in 1191. 
(Davis, vol. I, p. 47.) 

ID. William (i), son of Floris (3), was 
knighted by the Emperor Frederick Bar- 
barossa. He took part in the crusade of 
1247. He married Adelphia, daughter of 
Count Otto of Guelderland, and died Feb- 
ruary 4, 1224. 

11. Floris (4), son of William (i), mar- 
ried Matilda, daughter of Henry, Duke of 
Brabant; he was killed in 1235. 

12. Alice, daughter of Floris (4), mar- 
ried, 1241, at Dordrecht, John of Avenues, 
the Earl of Hainhault. She died in 1283. 

13. John (2) of Avennes, son of Alice, 
Countess of Hainhault, in 1279, married 
Philippa of Luxemburg; he died August 
22, 1304. 

14. William (3), son of John of Aven- 
nes, married Joanna, daughter of Charles 
of Valois, son of Philip of France; he 
died June 7, 1337. 

15. Philippa, second daughter of Will- 
iam (3), married January 24, 1328, Edward 
III, King of England. She died August 
15) 1369, and is buried at Westminster. 
She founded Queens College at Oxford. 

16. John of Gaunt, son of Philippa, born 
February, 1340, Earl of Richmond, married 
Catherine Swynford, daughter of Sir Payn 
Root. He died February 3, 1398. 

17. Henry Beaufort, son of John of 
Gaunt, was the celebrated Cardinal Beau- 
fort of Shakespeare. He was also Chan- 
cellor of England. He had a daughter 
Joan, by Alice, daughter of the Earl of 
Arundel, whom he married to Sir Edward 
Stadling. He died April 11, 1447. 

18. Jane (or Joan) Beaufort, daughter 
of Henry of Beaufort, married Sir Richard 
Stadling. 

19. Sir Henry Stadling, son of Jane of 
Beaufort, married Elizabeth, daughter of 
Sir William Herbert. 

20. Thomas Stadling, son of Sir Henry 
Stadling, married Jenet, daughter of 
Thomas Matthew. He died September 8, 
1480. 

21. Sir Edmund Stadling, son of Thomas 
Stadling, married Elizabeth, daughter of 
Sir Thomas Arundel, of Landthorne, in 
Cornwall. He died May 5, 1535. 

22. Elizabeth Stadling, daughter of Sir 
Edward Stadling, married Edward Morgan, 
of Bcchvelty and Penellwyn. 

2^. Mary Margan, daughter of Elizabeth 
Stadling, -married John Thomas, of Land- 
hadack, in Glamorgan. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



043 



24. William Thomas, son of Mary 
Thomas, of Laudahack, as shown by lease 
(December 20, 1606-7) of Cardiff. He died 
in 1655 ; he married Joan, daughter of 
Howell Mathew of Lwelden, and she was 
living in i66g. 

25. Thomas Thomas, son of William 
Thomas, was of Landhadack and Rhyd- 
lavar. He married Dorothy, daughter of 
Sir John Carew, of Somerset. 

26. Elizabeth Thomas, daughter of 
Thomas Thomas, married William Aubrey 
of Pencoed, near Llauiltern, Glamorgan- 
shire, son of Rev. William Aubrey, M. A., 
and descendant of Sir Reginald Aubrey, one 
of the Norman conquerors of Wales. She 
was living in 1678. Her brother, William 
Thomas, in his will dated June 7, 1636, 
mentions his brother-in-law William Au- 
brey, of Pencoed. 

27. Barbara Aubrey, daughter of Eliza- 
beth Thomas and William Aubrey, was 
born in 1637, and died November 16, 1710. 
She was a member of the Church of Eng- 
land but subsequently followed her hus- 
band into the Society of Friends. She 
married John Bevan, who lived upon his 
estate in Glamorganshire. He was a rnan 
of considerable w-ealth, a friend of Will- 
iam Penn, and a preacher of influence 
among the Quakers. He came to Pennsyl- 
vania in 183, and was a judge of the coun- 
ty court of Philadelphia, a member of the 
Pennsylvania Assembly, and a man of af- 
fairs. He returned to Wales in 1774, and 
died at Treverlig. 

28. Elizabeth Bevan, a daughter of Bar- 
bara Aubrey, was born at Treverlig in 
1696; married Joseph Richardson of Cle- 
thyr, at the mouth of Perkiomen creek in 
Pennsylvania, son of Samuel Richardson, 
provincial councilor and judge in Phila- 
delphia. She died before February 27, 
1760. 

29. Edward Richardson, son of Eliza- 
beth Bevan, in 1712, went to school to 
Francis Daniel Pastorius, in Germantown. 
He married Ann Jones, December 15, 1730. 
His father sold to him for fifty dollars a 
tract of two hundred and forty-eight acres 
in Clethyr. He died in November, 1751. 

30. Sarah Richardson, daughter of Ed- 
ward, was born January 14, 1732. She 
married, October 14, I754, at Christ churcn, 
in Philadelphia, Edward Lane, of Provi- 
dence, Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania, 
a distant relative, also a descendant of Sam- 
uel Richardson. She moved with her hus- 
band to Charleston township. Chester 
county, before the Revolution. During the 
war she fed the soldiers. She died July b, 
1818, and is buried in the Anderson family 
burying ground in Schuylkill township, 
Chester county. 

31. Elizabeth Lane, daughter of Sarah 
Richardson and Edward Lane, married 
William Schofield, first lieutenant in the 
Americaa army during the war of the 
Revolution. This William Schofield was 
the grandfather of Rebecca Schofield, wife 
of Benjamin Franklin Kerbaugh. Her 



grandmother and Governor Pennypacker's 
grandmother were sisters, both being the 
cnildren of Edward Lane. 



DR. JOHN HAGGERTY BISHOP, 
whose skill as a dentist and medical prac- 
titioner has gained him rank with the lead- 
ing professional men of Bucks county, 
is descended from one of two brothers of 
German birth, who in colonial days came 
to America and settled at AUentown, 
Pennsylvania. Both were weavers, and as 
George Bishop, son of one of these broth- 
ers, and the grandfather of Dr. Bishop, 
reached a suitable age, he adopted his 
father's calling, which he followed for 
many years. He was probably born in Al- 
lentown, and it is definitely known was 
reared there. He married Rachel Mc- 
Cool, and in order to provide for his fam- 
ily he engaged in weaving until the trou- 
ble with England brought on the war of 
1812, when he enlisted in defense of Amer- 
ican interests. After the cessation of hos- 
tilities he returned home, and, being given 
some land by the government, he started 
With a small party for the western section 
of the state to locate his claim, but none 
of the party were ever heard from after- 
ward and it is supposed that all were killed 
by the Indians. In proof of this theory, 
a number of years afterward human bones 
were found in the district to which they 
were supposed to have gone. He left a 
widow and children. His wafe, who was a 
graduate of Muhlenberg College and a lady 
of superior culture, afterward married a 
2\Ir. Jordan, and by that union had one 
child, Griffith, who was for three years in 
the cavalry service in the civil war, ana 
now resides in Flourtown, ^lontgomery 
county, Pennsylvania. 

Samuel Bishop, son of George and Ra- 
chel (McCool) Bishop, was born in Bucks 
county, near Springtown, in 1814, and af- 
ter his father's death was reared by a fam- 
ily of the name of Bryant, living nea»- 
Springtown. He learned the shoemaker's 
trade, which he followed in early life, but 
later he adopted farming as a source of 
livelihood, and also conducted a hotel in 
New Jersey for one year and for one year 
in Danboro, Pennsylvania. As it was cus- 
tomary for all hotels to serve liquors, and 
as he was opposed to drinking, he gave 
up the hotel business and directed his en- 
ergies exclusively to farming in Solebury 
township. He died in Lumberville, June 
9, 1886, at about seventy-two years of age. 
In early life he had been a member of 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
and in his political views he was a Demo- 
crat, and a strong Union man at the time 
of the civil war. Samuel Bishop married 
Miss Mary Walter, a daughter of William 
and Elizabeth (Huff) Walter. She was 
born in New Jersey in 1818, and in tht 
maternal line was descended from Revo- 
lutionary stock. Her^ paternal grandfather 



644 



HISTORY OF BUCKS' COUNTY. 



was a wealthy slaveholder, and was also 
the owner of the iron forges at the place 
in New Jersey now called The Forge. By 
her marriage Mrs. Bishop had live chil- 
dren, of whom three are living: Jacob, 
of Philadelpnia; Rachel J., the wife of 
Thomas McAlvan, or. Hunterdon county, 
New Jersey; and John II. 

The military record of Dr. Bishop's an- 
cestors is one of which the family have 
every reason to be proud. His great-grand- 
father Huff was a soldier of the revolu- 
tion, his grandfather Bishop of the w-ar of 
1812, while Dr. Bishop, his brother Jacob, 
his uncle Griffith Jordan, his cousin Lewis 
Moore and other mei'^'bers of the family 
were in the civil war. Lewis Moore was 
wounded in the famous cavalry charge at 
Gettysburg, and die! soon after being sent 
home. Two other members of the family 
who went to the front and were never heard 
from after the war, undoubtedly gave their 
lives in defense of the Union. 

Dr. Bishop, son of Samuel H. and Mary 
(Walter) -Bishop, was born in Warr'.ni 
county, New jersey, on the loth of 
February, 1847. He Was reared under the 
parental roof and acquired his education 
in the common schools and under private 
tutors. In 1863, when sixteen years of age, 
he enlisted under Captain George Hart as 
a member of Company F, Thirty-first 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served m 
that command during the emergency call. 
In 1864 he' enlisted again under the call 
for men for one hundred days, becoming 
a member of Company .E, One Hundred 
and Ninety-sixth (Fifth Union League) 
Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteer:*, 
which command was detailed for guard 
duty. Following his discharge from the 
army, Dr. Bishop took up the trade of 
harness-making, with which he was con- 
nected two years, and then, desiring to en- 
ter professional life, he began the study of 
dentistry under Dr. A. M. Fell, of Doyles- 
town, and, having mastered the principles 
of the science as well as its practicaLwork- 
ing, he entered upon , active practice in 
Upper Dublin, where he remained for two 
years. He also spent two years as a. den- 
tal practitioner in Quakertown, and dur- 
ing this period he also took up the study 
of medicine. In 1874 he removed to Car- 
versville, where he continued the practice 
of dentistry and his medical studies. In 
1877 he was graduated from the Philadel- 
phia Eclectic College of Medicine, and en- 
tered upon the practice of medicine and 
surgery in connection with dentistry. Later 
he took a course in the Georgia Eclectic 
College of Medicine, from which he was 
graduated in 1881. He yet continues an 
active practitioner along both professional 
lines for which he has prepared by thor- 
ough training and in which he has pro- 
moted his efficiency by practical effort, and 
he is today one of the able representatives 
of both the medical and dental fraternities 
and has gained a large and remunerative 
practice in Solebury. 



Dr. Bishop was married on the tirst 
of June, 1870, to Miss Mary E. Smith, a 
daughter of Thomas and Mary Ann (Jam- 
ison) Smith, of Carversville, Pennsylvania, 
the former now deceased. Dr. and Mrs. 
Bishops have five children : Annie S., the 
wife of William S. Bartelman. of Philadel- 
phia ; Dora May, at home ; Walter S., of 
Plumstead township; W. H. Pancoast, a 
druggist, of Philadelphia; and Katie J., 
wife of Horace Helyer, of Mechanicsville, 
Bucks county. Dr. Bishop votes with the 
Democracy. He is a member of the Knights 
of Pythias fraternity, and of Bodine Post, 
No. 306, G. A. R., of Doylestown. He has 
never sought or desired public office for, 
though never remiss in citizenship, he pre- 
fers to give undivided attention to his pro- 
fessional duties, and the demands made for 
his services leave him little leisure time. 



WILLIAM C. MERSHON. The ^ler- 
shon family is of French descent, and was 
established in America in colonial days. 
Daniel S. Mershon, the grandfather of 
William C. Mershon, was born in Trenton, 
New Jersey, and in early life removed to 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he se- 
cured a tract of land and began farming, 
thus providing for his family throughout his 
entire business career. In early life he had 
followed the river to some extent, but dur- 
ing many years gave his attention exclus- 
ively to agricultural pursuits. He wedded 
Mary Smith, a native of this county, and of 
Dutch descent. They became the parents of 
six children. 

Joab C. Mershon, the fourth member of 
this family, was born in Trenton, New Jer- 
sey, and was very young when brought by 
his parents to Bucks county. Here he was 
reared to farm life, acquiring a common- 
school education, and, when not occupied 
with the duties of the school room, giving 
his attention to the work of the fields. That 
occupation he made his life work, becoming 
the owner of one hundred and ninety-six 
acres of land in one farm, and fifty acres in 
a second farm. He thus prospered, as the 
years passed by, and gained a valuable prop- 
erty which returned to him a good annual 
income in rich harvests. His political al- 
legiance was given to the Republican party, 
and he served as supervisor of Falls town- 
ship. Fraternally he was connected with the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In 
1S50 he married Miss Rosanna Richardson, 
a daughter of Jeremiah Richardson, and to 
them were born four children : Sarah C, 
the wife of John W. Brooks : Mary S.. the 
wife of George E. Brooks; William C, of 
this review ; and D. Smith, who married 
Anna Crozer, and is living in Morrisville, 
Pennsylvania. Joab C. Mershon died May 
7, 1902, at the age of seventy-six years, sur- 
viving his wife, who died ]\Iay 11, 1897, 
aged sixty-nine years. 

William C. ]\Iershon was born on Biles 
Island, October 19. 1S56, and the common 



THE NEW YORK 

PUBLIC LIBRARY 



ASTOH, Lf NOX AND 

TILOr.N foundati:;ns. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



645 



schools afforded him his early education, 
which was supplemented in the Hightown 
Petty Institute, and by a course in Bryant 
& Stratton's Business College at Trenton, 
New Jersey. When he had completed his 
education he began farming, and his atten- 
tion has been principally given to the tilling 
of the soil and the raisiftg of stock. He has 
a well improved farm property situated in 
Falls township, and supplied with many 
modern equipments and accessories, indi- 
cating that he is in touch with the progress- 
ive spirit of the twentieth century. His 
study of the political issues and questions of 
the day has led him to endorse Republican 
principles, and he is a recognized leader in 
the local ranks of his party. He has held 
the office of supervisor for two years, and 
is a member of the central committee for 
Falls township at the present time. Mr. 
Mershon wedded, February 24, 1881, IMiss 
Jennie P. Blake, a daughter of Joseph and 
Jennie Blake, of Trenton, New Jersey. They 
had four children, but lost one son, Harry, 
in infancy. The others are : Frank E., born 
April 23, 1883; George B., May 12, 1886; 
and Harrison M., September 6, li 



WILSON S. BERGEY, a well known 
and prosperous merchant of Line Lexing- 
ton, where he is also the incumbent of the 
office of justice of the peace, was born in 
Hilltown township. Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, May II, 1872. He traces his an- 
cestry to Henry Bergey, who married Liz- 
zie Castle, by whom he had seven children. 
Isaac Bergej^, the eldest child, married Liz- 
zie Garges, and ten children were the is- 
sue of this union. Jonas G. Bergey, the 
sixth child, was born in Montgomery coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, in 1839. At the age of 
twenty-four years he was engaged in the 
trade of blacksmith, and by his industry 
was enabled to provide a comfortable home 
and give his children excellent educational 
advantages. He was a Republican in poli- 
tics. In 1862 he married Elizabeth Swort- 
ley, daughter of John G. and Sarah (Shoe- 
maker) Swortley, and five children were 
born to them, namely: Sally, Reinhart, 
Wilson S., Mary, and Silas, deceased. The 
family are members of the Mennonite 
church. 

Wilson S. Bergey, son of Jonas G. and 
Elizabeth Bergey, attended the schools of 
Hilltown township, Bucks county : Spring 
City, Chester county ; and Royersford, 
Montgomery county, this course of instruc- 
tion making him capable of earning a liveli- 
hood. His first experience in business life 
was gained as clerk in a general store, 
and in September, 1893, after serving in 
this capacity six years, lie purchased the 
store at Line Lexington from J. C. Swort- 
ley, of which he is now the proprietor. 
His establishment is well equipped with 
a general line of dry goods and groceries, 
and he has won and retained an extensive 
and lucrative trade by his strict application 



to business and his courteous regard for 
the wishes and wants- of his numerous 
patrons. He was appointed postmaster un- 
der the administration of the late President 
McKinley, holding the office three years, 
when he was succeeded by his wife. He 
served as school director ten years, and in 
1901 was elected to his present office of 
justice of the peace. These positions of 
trust and responsibility denote the esteerri 
in which he is held in the community. He 
supports the principles and votes for the 
candidates of the Republican party. 

In 1893 Mr. Bergey married Orphia 
Crouthamel, of Line Lexington, only daugh- 
ter of Hilary and Mary E. ( Eikhart) 
Crouthamel. Their children are : Clifford 
and Olive. The ancestors of the Croutha- 
mel family came to America from Ger- 
many at an early period. Andrew Croutha- 
mel, grandfather of Hilary Crouthamel, 
was the son of one of the emigrant broth- 
ers, and his son Joseph, father of Hilary, 
married Lydia Hunsberger, who bore him 
four sons and seven daughters, of whom 
Hilary was the youngest son and fourth 
child. He served an apprenticeship of two 
years at the trade of tailor, and at the 
time of his marriage (1863) to Mary E. 
Eikhart, daughter of John Eikhart, of Hill- 
town township, purchased the establish- 
ment where he had been employed. For a 
period of five years one of his brothers was 
interested in the business, but since his 
retirement he has had exclusive control. 
He was the father of four children: Will- 
iam A., Adam A., Elmer and Orphia. 



FRANK W. VAN HART traces his de- 
scent from an ancestor who emigrated from 
Holland and settled in Falls township prior 
to the revolution. Jacob Van Hart, son 
of this ancestor, was a farmer and shoe- 
maker, and married Mary, daughter of 
Daniel Richardson, who lived near Doling- 
ton, and was one of the pioneers of the 
county. They were the parents of fifteen 
' children. [Michael A. Van Hart, son of 
Jacob and Mary (Richardson) Van Hart, 
mentioned above, was born December 15, 
1823, in Makefield township, and in his 
tenth year went to work on a farm, re- 
maining there until he reached the age of 
sixteen. He then served an apprenticeship , 
of five years at the tailor's trade, for his 
board and clothes, after which he worked 
for himself in various parts of Bucks coun- 
ty. In 1863 he settled in New Hope, and 
became the successful proprietor of the 
Logan House. He is affiliated with the 
Masonic fraternity, and in politics is a 
Republican. He married Mary, daughter 
of Francis &nd Sarah (Conrad) Worth- 
ington, of Centreville, and they were the 
parents of three children : Frank W., men- 
tioned at length hereinafter; Kate, and 
Minnie. 

Frank W. Van Hart, son of Michael A. 
and IMary (Worthington) Van Hart, was 



646 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUXTV. 



born December 27, 1854, in Pineville, 
Buckingham township, and obtained his 
education in the New Hope public schools. 
His lirst position of consequence was in the 
motive power department of the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad in Lambertville, where he 
served in the capacity of clerk. This was 
in 1873, when he was not yet nineteen 
years old. He remained in this position 
about two years and a half, and in 1876 
became clerk in the Lambertville Savings 
Bank. In July, 1877, the bank was re-or- 
ganized as the Amwell National Bank. Mr. 
Van Hart continued to serve in the capacity 
of clerk until January, 1880, when he was 
made assistant cashier, in consequence of 
the frequent illness of the cashier, Mr. 
William V. Cooley. In January, 1892, Mr. 
Cooley retired, and J\lr. Van Hart became 
cashier, a position which he holds at the 
present time. He is treasurer of the Cen- 
tennial Building and Loan Company of 
Lambertville, as well as of the Lambert- 
ville Water Company and the Lambertville 
Gas Light Company. He has served one 
term as city treasurer of Lambertville. He 
is a member of Alexisauken Council, No. 
1 109, Royal Arcanum. In politics he is a 
Republican. Mr. Van Hart married, De- 
cember 27, 1882, Alary, daughter of Daniel 
Gallagher, of Lambertville, and they have 
one child : Eugene Clifton, who- was born 
April 25, 1884, was educated at the Lam- 
bertville public schools, and is now clerk m 
the Amwell National Bank. 



HENRY W. SATTERTHWAITE, a 
native son of Bucks county, was born May 
23, 1853, and the farm upon which he now 
resides in Falls township was also the 
birthplace of his father, Giles Satterthwaite, 
who was reared there and then took charge 
of the farm, continuing its operation until 
1861, when he was succeeded in the man- 
agement by his son, Henry, while he re- 
tired to private life. His wife bore the 
maiden name of Susan Buzby. and was a 
native of Moorestown, New jersey. They 
had four children, of whom one died in in- 
fancy, the others being Henry W., Mar- 
garetta W. and Susan B., deceased. 

Henry W. Satterthwaite. reared to the 
occupation of farming, began agricultural 
pursuits on his own account in 1876, and has 
since continued in that occupation. He had 
acquired his education in private and 
boarding schools, and received practical 
training in the farm work under the direc- 
tion of his father. He has since been watch- 
ful of every opportunity pointing to success, 
and he now annually harvests good crops 
as the direct reward of his unfaltering labor, 
well directed by sound judgment. In poli- 
tics a Republican, he ever k-eps well in- 
formed on the questions and issues of the 
day. and is thus able to suoport his position 
by intelligent argument. For sixteen years 
he has held the office of school director. 
Mr. Satterthwaite married Lucy Sharpless, 



a daughter of Charles Sharnless, of Ches- 
ter county, Pennsylvania, and to them were 
born six children, of whom one died in 
infancy. The surviving children are : Fred- 
erick G., born August 27, 1879; Walter S., 
born September 30, 1880, and is employed 
in the passenger department of the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad Company ; John B., born 
March 3, 1882, and is with Hanscom Broth- 
ers, wholesale grocers at Philadelphia ; 
Lewis P., born January 8, 1885; and Mary 
S., born September 28, 1889. 



JOHN KRUPP HEDRICK, M. D. 
Among the active practicing physicians of 
Bucks county must be numbered Dr. John 
Krupp Hedrick, of Quakertown. He is a 
grandson of Henry and Elizabeth (Heist- 
and) Hedrick, who were residents of Bucks 
county more than sixty years ago. David 
Hedrick, son of Henry and Elizabeth 
(Heistand) Hedrick, mentioned above, was 
born in 1842, near Chalfont, New Britain 
township. He attended the schools of the 
district, and in early life engaged in farm- 
ing, but abandoned it in order to enter 
into business as a butcher. He married 
Sarah Krupp, and their children Vv^ere : 
I. Benjamin K., born January i, 1869, is 
a florist at Perkasie, rnarried Ida, daughter 
of Jacob Heckler, of Hatfield township, 
Montgomery county, and has two chil- 
dren, Mabel and Walter. 2. Elizabeth K., 
born November 16, 1867, married May 17, 
1889, D. IM. Landis, M. D., son of George 
and Barbara (Moyer) Landis, of Bloom- 
ing Glen ; they have three children : Joseph- 
ine, Grace and Florence. 3. John Krupp, 
mentioned at length hereinafter. 4. Sallie, 
born February 8, 1878, married. May 12, 
1897, George Zeigler, son of Jacob Moyer, 
lives in Quakertown, and has two children, 
Lillie and Arthur. 

John Krupp Hedrick, son of David and 
Sarah (Krupp) Hedrick, was born January 
24, 1870, on a farm near Chalfont, New 
Britain township. Until his fourteenth year 
he attended the district schools, and then 
went to Norristown in order to attend the 
high school. At the age of eighteen he re- 
turned home, and for the next five years 
shared his father's labors and responsibili- 
ties. He was advised by his brother-in-law, 
Dr. Landis, to take up the study of medi- 
cine, and in the autumn of 1893 entered 
Hahnemann Medical College, Philadelphia, 
graduating in 1898 with the degree of 
Doctor of ^Medicine. For six months there- 
after he took charge of the practice of Dr. 
Landis, who was then in Europe, and in 
the spring of 1899 began practice for him- 
self in Quakertown, where he was the only 
representative of the homoeopathic school. 
Notwithstanding indications of the unpop- 
ularity of that school w-ith the good people 
of Quakertown, Dr. Hedrick was success- 
ful, and has built up a large practice. In 
politics he is a steadfast Republican, al- 
though taking little interest in merely party 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



647 



affairs. In religious belief he adheres to 
the New Mennonites, and is a member of 
the Bethany Mennonite church, of which 
he has been trustee since 1902. He is prom- 
inent in the young people's society, of 
which he is chairman. Dr. Hedrick mar- 
ried, in 1898, Anna Rice, daughter of Jo- 
seph and Barbara ( Rice) Hunsberger, the 
former a farmer of Dublin, Bucks county. 



JONAS S. HARLEY. In business life 
success depends so entirely upon individual 
merit that when one has attained a posi- 
tion of prominence, as has Jonas S. Har- 
ley, of Quakertown, a manufacturer of 
saddlery, etc., also president of the Quaker- 
town Trust Company, it is an unmistakable 
evidence of ability, natural and acquired. 
His business career has be'en one of marked 
enterprise, wherein his reliable methods 
have contributed in a large measure to his 
prosperity. He was born in Harleysville, 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, August 

2, 1857- 

John Harley, grandfather of Jonas S. 
Harley, was born July 28, 1792. He was 
united in marriage December 31, 1814, to 
Catherine Kline, who was born September 
I7> 1793. and his death occurred June 27, 
1872. Jacob K. Harley, father of Jonas S. 
Harley, was born in Frederick township, 
Montgomery county, Pennsj-^vania Decem- 
ber 23, 1825. In early life he served an 
apprenticeship at the trade of harness 
maker, becoming an expert mechanic. This 
line of work he followed successfully, con- 
ducting a business of his own at Harleys- 
ville until 1897, the year of his retirement 
from active pursuits. He served in the 
capacity of director of the East Greenville 
National Bank, and president of the Turn- 
pike Company, the turnpike road extending 
from Harleysville to Lederachsville. He 
was prominently identified with local affairs, 
and was keenly alive to everything which 
concerned in any way the well being of the 
township and county. He was a member 
of the executive committee of the Dunkard 
church, and politically a Republican. , He 
married Sarah Stover, daughter of Jacob 
Stover, of Kulpsville, and they were the 
parents of nine children : James, Elmira, 
Jonas S., Katheryn, Jennie, Jacob, Martha, 
Charlotte, and Lizzie, who died at the age 
of nine years. Jacob K. Harley (father) 
died April 3, 1903, in the seventy-eighth 
year of his age. He survived his wife 
several years, her death occurring in No- 
vember, 1896. 

The educational advantages enjoyed by 
Jonas S. Harley were obtained in the pub- 
lic schools adjacent to his home, and at 
Bruner's Academy, North Wales. In 1875 
he engaged in the manufacture of saddlery 
at Kulpsville, remaining there until Febru- 
ary 7, 1878, when he moved to Quaker- 
town and established a business on a small 
scale. His trade increased so rapidly both 
in volume and importance that he was com- 



pelled to greatly enlarge his facilities, and 
at the present time (1905) his plant con- 
sists of a large factory four stories in 
height, the dimensions of the main building 
being two hundred and forty by sixty feet, 
and an annex eighty by sixty-five feet. It 
gives constant employment to one hundred 
and seventy-five men, all skilled mechanics, 
and the product is of the best quality and 
workmanship, which insures a ready sale. 
His extensive sales rooms are in New York 
city. The able manner in which he man- 
ages his affairs denotes that he possesses 
business talent of a high order, and at the 
same time the interest he maintains in all 
matters calculated to promote the welfare 
of the people proves his loyal devotion to 
the town in which he makes his home. He 
is a director of the Quakertown National 
Bank, and was one of the organizers of the 
QuakertQwn Trust Company, was appointed 
its first president, and is still serving in that 
capacity. He takes an active and prominent 
part in politics, and was chosen as a dele- 
gate to the Republican National Conven- 
tion in 1904. He is a warden of the 
Protestant Episcopal church, and a mem- 
ber of the Bucks County Historical So- 
ciety. On September 16, 1886, Mr. Harley 
was married to Helen Sargent Baylies, of 
Baltimore, Maryland. Their children are: 
Frederick L., who is engaged in business 
with his father ; and Irene, wife of J. 
Howard Ozias, and they are the parents 
of one child, Helen. 



HIEL GILBERT, who for many 
years vvas identified with industrial in- 
terests in Holicong, and is now engaged 
in farming in Buckingham township, was 
born in this township. May 4, 1849, his 
parents being Maris and Lydia Ann 
(Large) Gilbert. The father, also born 
and reared in Buckingham township, 
learned the wheelwright's and carriage- 
builder's trades, and for many years 
carried on business on his own account 
along those lines in Centerville. He 
afterward removed to Philadelphia, 
where he continued in the same business 
for nineteen years, after which he re- 
turned to Buckingham township and pur- 
chased the farm belonging to his father- 
in-law, Matthew Large. He then began 
the cultivation of his fields, but after 
three years found that he knew little 
about farming, and, selling the property, 
he purchased a residence in Holicong, 
where he again engaged in carriage 
building. He remained there for ten 
years, after which he returned to Phil- 
adelphia, where he resided up to the time 
of his death. To Maris and Lydia Ann 
(Large) Gilbert were born three chil- 
dren, of whom two are living: Hiel and 
Ella, the latter the widow of Thomas 
Maynes. of Philadelphia. 

Hiel Gilbert, spending his youth in his 
parents' home, pursued his education in 



648 



HISTORY or BUCKS COUNTY. 



the grammar school at the corner of 
Eightli and Thompson streets, in Phil- 
adelphia. In his early manhood he ac- 
cepted a position with C. W. Walton & 
Company, mannfacturers of hats and 
caps in Philadelphia. He rose through 
successive and well merited promotions 
from the position of general utility boy 
to a place of marked trust and responsi- 
bility, but failing health caused him to 
resign, and he then returned to Bucks 
county and entered his father's carriage 
shop in Holicong. The business was 
there carried on extensively, and even- 
tually Mr. Gilbert succeeded his father in 
the ownership and conduct of this indus- 
trial enterprise, with which he was as- 
sociated for seventeen j'ears, meeting 
with very gratifying success. He then 
disposed of his factory and purchased a 
commission business which he conducted 
for twelve years, and in the spring of 1898 
he purchased his present farm in Buck- 
ingham township, upon which he has 
since resided. He votes with the Re- 
publican party, and is a well known cit- 
izen of his native township, having the 
favorable regard of those with whom he 
has been associated. 

Mr. Gilbert was married, February 2, 
1876, to Miss Elizabeth Lear, a daughter 
of Robert and Ann (McVaugli) Lear, of 
Bridge Point. Her father is well known 
as the operator of a saw mill and a man- 
ufacturer of rakes at Bridge Point. Mr. 
and Mrs. Gilbert have no children of 
their own. but have reared three, and two 
of them. Charles and Hiel, are now stu- 
dents in Cornell University. Clara, who 
was legally adopted, is now the wife of 
Ralph Oppie, a chemist of Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania. 



WILLIAM D. KRATZ, a farmer of 
Hilltown township, was born in Rock- 
hill township, Bucks county, November 
27, 1859. His paternal grandfather, Will- 
iam Kratz, was a resident farmer of this 
county, and in connection with gen- 
eral agricultural pursuits engaged in the 
commission business, attending the Phil- 
adelphia market. He wedded Mary Ros- 
enberger, a daughter of Henrj^ and Han- 
nah (Detweiler) Rosenberger. Their 
son, Henry R. Kratz, was born in Hill- 
town township in February, 1827, and he 
too made farming his life work, always 
following that pursuit in support of his 
family. He married Sarah Delp, a 
daughter of George Delp, and they had 
four children: Mary, who married Daniel 
Bright, of Bethlehem, of Pennsylvania; 
William D. ; Clayton, who died in Ohio; 
and Kate, who is the wife of Levi Fluck, 
of Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, and has 
one child. Following the death of Mrs. 
Sarah Kratz, Henry R. Kratz married 
Lavinia Fluck, and they had three chil- 
dren, namely: Harry, who married Car- 
rie Smith; Ella, deceased; and Martha, 



wife of James Romey. The father died 
in February, 1902, in the seventy-fifth 
year of his age. He was a member of 
the Brethren church. 

William D. Kratz is indebted to the 
public school system of his native 
county for the educational privileges he 
enjoyed. He was reared by Joseph Wim- 
mer, with whom he remained until he 
attained his majority, and later began 
farming on his own account and has al- 
ways followed that pursuit, meeting with 
fair success in his business ventures. He 
has followed the religious teachings of 
his ancestors, and is a member of the 
Brethren church. Mr. Kratz was married 
January 2, 1882, to Miss Susan Rosen- 
berger, who was born May 16, 1866, a 
daughter of Jacob D. and Eliza (Swart- 
ley) Rosenberger. Mr. and Mrs. Kratz 
became the parents of nine children: Lu- 
cretia, who was born in 1882, and is now 
deceased; Jacob R., born August 29, 1884; 
Lavinia R., born November i, 1886; 
Henry C. R., November 28, 1888; Arte- 
mus R., December 16, 1890; Elizabeth 
R., February 5, 1893; Mary Ann, No- 
vember 17, 1894; Franklin R.. October 
25, 1896; and Catharine R., October 19, 
1903- 



CHARLES WILDMAN, who is now 
(1905) leading a retired life at his com- 
fortable home in Langhorne, Middletown 
township, surrounded with peace and plenty, 
and realizing to the full that there is no 
reward so satisfactory as the consciousness 
of a life well spent, was born in Fallsington, 
Falls township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
December 29, 1839. He is a lineal de- 
scendant of Martin and Ann Wildman, who 
in 1693, accompanied by their six children, 
emigrated to America, locating in !Middle- 
town township, Penns3dvania. Among 
their children was a son Joseph, who mar- 
ried ; John, son of Joseph Wildman, 

was united in marriage to Mary Tomlinson, 
and among their children was a son John, 
who married Mary Knight, and they were 
the parents of a son Charles, who married 
Susanna Shoemaker Albertson, daughter of 
Benjamin and Ann (Knight) Albertson, the 
latter named being the daughter of Benja- 
min and Susannah (Shoemaker) Albertson. 
Charles and Susanna S. (Albertson) Wild- 
man were the parents of seven children, as 
follows : Chalkley Albertson, John Knight, 
Mary Ann, Benjamin Albertson, Charles, 
whose name appears at the head of this 
sketch ; Ellwood, and Jane, who died in 
infancy. 

Charles Wildman obtained his. early edu- 
cation in the public schools of Bensalem, 
and this was supplemented by a course at 
Brj-ant & Stratton's Commercial College. 
He gained his first practical experience in 
the general store of William T. Hop- 
kins, at Burlington. New Jersey, as 
clerk, remaining for a period of five 
vears. He then entered into the whole- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



649 



sale drj' goods and wooden and willow 
ware business in the city of Philadel- 
phia, which he conducted up to 1878, in 
which year he and his brother opened a 
general store at Edgewood, Bucks county, 
which they conducted successfully for six- 
teen years and then disposed of it at an 
advantageous price. In 1894 ^Ir. Wildman 
moved to the borough of Langhorne, where 
he is now enjoying the fruits of his earlier 
activities, and the respect of his fellow citi- 
zens. For six years he served the borough 
as councilman, one year of which he was 
president of the council, and at the present 
time (1905) is serving in the capacity of 
borough auditor. During his residence in 
Edgewood, INIr. Wildman served as post- 
master of that village for sixteen years, 
being first appointed by President Ruther- 
ford B. IJayes. INIr. Wildman adheres to 
the tenets of the Friends' religion, and is a 
stanch adherent of the principles of Repub- 
licanism. On June 18, 1863, Mr. Wildman 
enlisted as private for three months in 
Company B. Thirty-second Regiment, Penn- 
sylvania Alilitia, later was promoted cor- 
poral, and received his discharge at Phila- 
delphia, August I, 1863. The company was 
under the command of Captain Charles S. 
Jones, and the regiment under Colonel 
Smith. 

Mr. Wildman was twice married. His 
first marriage, in 1871, was to Elizabeth 
Wellington Hawkins, of Philadelphia, by 
whom he had one child, Elizabeth Hawkins, 
born in 1872, who died in infancy. i\Irs. 
Wildman died in 1872. His second mar- 
riage, in 1879, was to Caroline Yerkes, 
daughter of Adolphus and Harriet (Rem- 
sen) Yerkes, the former named having been 
a son of Jacob and Mary (Banes) Yerkes, 
and the latter a daughter of Jacob and Eliza- 
beth (Severns) Remsen. 



WILLIAM R. STAVELEY, M. D., who 
in the years of an active practice was re- 
garded as one of the most prominent and 
skilled physicians and surgeons of Bucks 
county, was born in Philadelphia, Penn- 
sylvania, his parents being William 
and Margaret (Sheed) Staveley. The 
deed which William Staveley had in 
his possession at the time of his 
death indicates the early connection of the 
family with colonial interests of America. 
This deed for seven hundred acres of land 
about 1682 was granted by "Charles, abso- 
lute lord and proprietor of the province of 
Maryland and Lord Baron of Baltimore," 
and a part of the original tract is still 
in possession of the Staveley family. Repre- 
sentatives of the name through successive 
generations continued residents of Mary- 
land. 

William Staveley, father of Dr. Staveley, 
was born in Shrewsbury parish. Kent coun- 
ty, Maryland. He remained in the state 
of his nativity until fifteen years of age, 
when he went to Philadelphia and there 



learned the printer's trade as an apprentice 
under Thomas J. Stiles, publisher of the 
"True American." He afterward entered 
the service of John H. Cunningham, and, 
becoming the purchaser of Mr. Cunning- 
ham's interest in 1823, conducted a small 
printing business at Third and Dock streets 
until his property was purchased by Stephen 
Girard. His next location was on Pear 
street, near St. Paul's church, and there 
his business was gradually developed and 
enlarged. In October, 1823, he began the 
publication of the "Philadelphia Re- 
corder," after called the "Episcopal 
Record," and successively the "Episcopal 
Register and Church." His connection 
with this religious journal brought him 
into contact with many of the most 
prominent clergy and laymen of the 
Episcopal church, and his business relations 
proved frequently the foundation of life- 
long friendships. He was a believer in the 
Episcopal faith and long held membership 
with that denomination. Soon after he 
began the publication of the "Philadelphia 
Recorder" he also published and circulated 
throughout the United States a cheap edi- 
tion of the Book of Common Prayer, and, 
following the liberation of the Spanish- 
American colonies, he enjoyed an extensive 
and remunerative printing trade in the 
Spanish language for the IMexican and Col- 
ombian governments. Admitting James 
jMcCalla to a partnership, the firm style of 
Staveley & McCalla was assumed, and the 
house became one of the most prominent of 
the country in connection with religious 
publications, and the printing of convention 
journals, reports, tracts, etc. His connec- 
tion with the publishing business continued 
until 1854, although some years prior to 
this time he had become a resident of Bucks 
county. In 1838 he had purchased a coun- 
try home in Solebury township, and there 
continued .to reside up to the time of his 
death, which occurred on the 22d of March, 
1877. He had throughout the entire period 
of his residence in Bucks county exerted a 
strong and beneficial influence for its de- 
velopment along moral lines. He was most 
active and earnest in his effort in behalf 
of the church, and for fifteen years served 
as vestryman and Sunday-school superin- 
tendent at Old Swedes church. He was 
also deeply interested in the Church of the 
Ascension, and assisted materiall)^ in re- 
lieving it from financial embarrassment. He 
was instrumental in organizing the parish 
at Doylestown and Centerville, and gave 
to the latter its parsonage, rie acted as 
superintendent of the Bucks Coimty Bible 
Society for manv years, and his influence 
in behalf of moral advancement was far- 
reaching and beneficial. He recognized, too, 
the obligations and duties of citizenship 
in connection .vith political interests, and 
espoused with equal earnestness the politi- 
cal principles which he deemed most bene- 
ficial to county, state and national govern- 
ment. In early life he was a Jacksonian 
Democrat and a most ardent admirer of 



6!;o 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNT y. 



Andrew Jackson, always retaining a large 
portrait of him in his room. He interward 
became a Whig, and subsequently a most 
unfaltering and inflexible advocate of Re- 
publican principles. Political preferment, 
however, had no attraction for him. He 
was likewise a contributor to the agricul- 
tural development of the county, and after 
he took possession of the family estate in 
Solebury township he was deeply interested 
in everything pertaining to progress along 
farm lines, and quick to introduce any im- 
provement that he believed would come to 
be of practical benefit in agricultural circles. 
He was the first man in Bucks county to 
use a mowing machine. For a number of 
years he was the president of the Bucks 
County Agricultural Society, and at the 
time of his death he was president of the 
Brownsville Horse Company, the United 
Horse Company, the Farmers and Me- 
chanics' Mutual Fire Insurance Company 
of Bucks county and a director of the 
Lahaska & New Hope and Buckingham & 
Doylestown Turnpike Companies, and de- 
clined to act as president of the last named 
because of advanced age. On the 27th of 
August, 1822, William Staveley was united 
in marriage to Miss Margaret Sheed, a 
daughter of George Sheed, of the old dis- 
trict of Southwark, Philadelphia, and on 
the 27th of August, 1872, they celebrated 
their golden wedding. They were the pa- 
rents of eight children, of whom five are 
yet living: Mina, the wife of William Biles, 
of Solebury township ; William R. ; Mar- 
garet, the widow of E. Mitchell ; Cornell ; 
and Belle, the wife of James W. Jones, of 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Dr. William R. Staveley was provided 
with excellent educational privileges. He 
attended the school in West Chester, Penn- 
sylvania, and pursued his collegiate course 
in the Princeton University, of which he is 
a graduate of the class of 1852. Having 
decided upon the practice of medicine as a 
life work, he then matriculated in the Jef- 
ferson Medical College of Philadelphia, 
completing the full course by graduation in 
the spring of 1855. Locating in Solebury 
township, he entered upon the practice of 
medicine, for which his thorough prepara- 
tion and continued private study well fitted 
him, making him one of the most capable 
practitioners that has ever represented the 
medical fraternity in Bucks county. He 
called his home "Bleak House," because of 
'the fact that he built it upon an open field. 
However, he planted trees, and to-day has 
one of the best groves in the township, the 
trees having attained to magnificent size. 
In 1856 Dr. Staveley was married to Miss 
Julia C. Kelley, of Frankfort, Maine, and 
to this marriage have been born four chil- 
dren : Caroline, at home; Albert; Margaret; 
and Sarah. The son. Dr. Albert Staveley, 
is a noted surgeon of Washington, D. C. 
Completing his collegiate course at Prince- 
ton he^ afterward attended the University 
of Pennsylvania, from which he was grad- 
uated in the medical department. 



Dr. Staveley is a Democrat in his political 
allegiance, and fraternally is connected with 
Amwell Lodge, No. 12, F. and A. M., ot 
Lambertsville. Having retired from active 
practice some years ago, he gives his super- 
vision to cultivating and beautifying his 
fine estate covering one hundred and twen- 
ty-nine acres, and to-day has one of the 
most attractive homes of Solebury town- 
ship. 



WILLIAM PHILLIPS WRIGHT. 
Among those prominently and actively 
identified with the commercial, political 
and social interests of the borough of 
Bristol, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
may be mentioned William P. Wright, a 
man of wide and varied attainments, up- 
right, sterling character, and ^business 
ability of a high order, whose active ca- 
reer has been one of marked enterprise, 
wherein his reliable methods have 
achieved for him large financial returns. 
He was born in the borough in which he 
now resides, September 27, 1847, a son 
of John and Rebecca (Bloomsburg) 
Wright, who were the parents of six 
children, as follow's: John Wesley, 
James, William Phillips, Anthony, de- 
ceased; Charles, deceased; and Frank, 
deceased. 

The educational advantages enjoyed 
by William P. Wright were obtained in 
the public schools of Bristol; Dickinson 
Seminary, Williamsport; the Pennsyl- 
vania State Normal School at Millers- 
ville; and Crittenden Commercial Col- 
lege. After graduation he was em- 
ployed in Philadelphia for a few years in 
the wholesale business. When, in 1871, 
his father bought the store adjoining 
the town hall on Radcliffe street, of 
Pierce, Scott & Pierce, William P. 
Wright and his brother James, joined 
him in the general store business at this 
old stand and there he remained until 
1881, in which year he purchased the 
hardware store and busirtess of the Kin- 
sey estate, situated on Mill street, Nos. 
iig-i2i, conducting the same success- 
fully to the present time (1904). Mr. 
John Wright had for many years been 
in the general merchandise business in 
Bristol and built the building in 1857 in 
which store his son John Wesley has 
since that time done business Mr. 
William P. Wright is a thoroughgoing 
man of business, prompt and reliable in 
the execution of orders, and well de- 
serves the large patronage accorded him. 
The esteem in which he is held in the 
community is evidenced by the fact that 
he has served the borough as burgess 
for one term, and as recorder of deeds 
of Bucks county for three years. He is 
a Protestant in religion, a Republican in 
politics, and an honored member of Bris- 
tol Lodge, No. 25, Ancient York Free 
and Accepted Masons, the Knights of 
Pythias, Knights of Friendship, Broth- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



651 



erhood of the Union, and American 
Hose, Hook and Ladder Company, No. 
2, of Bristol. 

On June 26, 1872, Mr. Wright married 
Levina (Doble) Lyndall, of Bristol, 
daughter of James and Eliza (Emmons) 
Lyndall. The members of the Lyndall 
family were prominent citizens and suc- 
cessful business men of this section of 
the state. The following named chil- 
dren were the issue of this marriage: 
George Cannel, born June 12, 1873; John 
Mattison, born January 4, 1875, who is 
now assisting his father in the manage- 
ment of his business; Arthur, born May 
27, 1877, is also engaged likewise; Jessie 
Wells, born December 11, 1879, now liv- 
ing at home with her parents; and Hor- 
ace, born December 21, 1881, a graduate 
in electrical engineering from the 
Drexel Institute and now employed m 
the electrical department of the Cramp 
Ship Building Company of Philadelphia. 
All these children \vt.ve. educated in the 
public schools of Bristol. The family 
are prominent in the social life of the 
community. 



MICHAEL G. HANEY, of Tinicum 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
belongs to an old and honored family of 
the county, its members in general being 
industrious and lawabiding people. His 
grandfather, Michael Haney, lived and 
died in Tinicum township, and there fol- 
lowed farm life all his days. He was 
eminently successful, and before his 
death gave each of his sons a home. He 
was a member of the Roman Catholic 
church. He married a Miss Shaffer, by 
whom these children were born: i. An- 
thony; 2. Joseph; 3. Samuel; 4. John; 
5. Michael ; 6. Susan, wife of Nicholas 
Buck: 7. Lena. 

Anthony, the father of Michael, was 
born in 1805, in Tinicum township, where 
he followed farming and milling all his 
days. He died in 1882. He was a mem- 
ber of the Roman Catholic church. He 
married Miss Mariah Geary, and they 
had ten children to bless their home: 
I. Isabella, died in childhood; 2. Ellen, 
deceased; 3. Anthony, died young; 4. Eliza- 
beth, wife of Jonas Yost; 5. Thomas, de- 
ceased ; 6. William, deceased ; 7. Hiram, a 
wholesale notion merchant of Philadelphia; 
8. Milchael G. ; 9. Sallie, wife of John Mills ; 
10. Annie, wife of Isaac Seifert. 

Michael was born in Tinicum town- 
ship, March 2, 1842, and educated in the 
public schools. When quite young he 
learned the blacksmith trade with Jonas 
Yost, and in 1864 bought him out at 
Ottsville. He successfully carried on the 
business at the glowing forge until 1899, 
since which date he has turned his atten- 
tion to farming. He is a member of the 
Lower Tinicum church (Lutheran), and 
politicall}^ he is a staunch Democrat. He 
has served as school director for six 



years. In 1892 he was appointed mer- 
cantile appraiser by the county commis- 
sioner. In 1869 he married Mary Ellen, 
only daughter of Jacob Swarts. By 
their union eight children were born, 
three of whom died in infancy. The liv- 
ing are: Oscar, a clerk at Ottsville; 2. 
Minnie, wife of David Trauger; 3. 
Maggie, deceased, wife of Thomas 
Kramer; 4. Alica, at home; 5. Ruth, at 
home. 



ALFRED MILNER WILDMAN. The 
progenitor of the American branch of 
the Wildman family was Martin Wild- 
man, who in 1693, accompanied by his 
wife and six children, came to Bucks 
county from Yorkshire, England, and 
settled in Middletown township. They 
were members of the Society of Friends, 
and brought a certificate of membership 
with them from the Monthly meeting of 
Settle, Yorkshire. England. Joseph Wild- 
man, third son of Martin and Ann Wild- 
man, born January 23, 1683, in England, 
married and among his children was a 
son John, who was born in Middletown, 
July 8, 1732, and was united in marriage 
to Mary Tomlinson. John Wildman, 
son of John and Mary (Tomlinson) 
Wildman, was born in Middletown, 
March 28, 1771, married Mary Knight, 
and among their children was a son 
Charles, who was the proprietor of a 
country store at Fallsington, who mar- 
ried Susannah Shoemaker Albertson, 
daughter of Benjamin and Ann (Knight) 
Albertson, and they reared a family of 
seven children, as follows : Chalkley Al- 
bertson. John Knight, Mary Ann. Ben- 
jamin Albertson, Charles, Ellwood, and 
Jane, who died in infancy. Chalkley Al- 
bertson, the eldest child, was a mer- 
chant in Philadelphia, in which city he 
resided up to the time of his death. He 
married Emeline Reed Tatum, and 
among their children was Alfred Milner, 
whose name appears at the head of this 
sketch, who was born in Philadelphia, 
January 12, 1862. 

The public schools of ^Philadelphia af- 
forded Alfred M. Wildman the means of 
obtaining a practical education which 
prepared him for an active career. He 
then entered the employ of James M. 
Vance & Co., of Philadelphia, hardware 
merchants, with whom he remained nine 
years. He then located in Langhorne, 
and shortly afterward established a hard- 
ware business on his own account, which 
he has successfully conducted up to the 
present time. Although his time is so 
fully occupied with the varied duties of 
this enterprise, Mr. Wildman takes an 
active interest in the management of 
affairs in the borough in which he re- 
sides, and is now serving as secretary 
and treasurer of the Langhorne Elec- 
tric Light and Power Company, and sec- 
retary^ of th.e ^Mutual Beneficial Associa- 



652 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



tion of Bucks County. He has been ac- 
tive and efficient in the interests of the Re- 
publican party, the principles of which 
he tirnily advocates. He is a member of 
the ^Masonic fraternity, being affiliated 
with Newtown Lodge, No. 427. Mr. 
Wildman was united in marriage Novem- 
ber 19, 1890, to Josephine Schenck, of 
St. Louis, Missouri, daughter of Peter 
Voorhees and Anna (McCune) Schenck, 
the former named having been a gradu- 
ate of Princeton College, and for many 
years a physician of celebrity and great 
skill in the city of St. Louis. Mr. and 
Mrs. Wildman, who are highly esteemed 
by a wide circle of friends, are the pa- 
rents of four children: Marshall, born 
January 18, 1895; Ruth Anna, born Sep- 
tember 21, 1897; Josephine, born April 
12, 1899; and Florence Marshall, born 
December 18, 1901. 



HOWARD M. GRIFFEE, M. D. For 
more than a quarter of a century Dr. 
Howard M. Griffee, of Taylorsville, has 
been one of the active practicing physi- 
cians of Bucks county. Dr. Grififee is a 
representative of a very ancient familj^ 
which traces its descent from the last 
king who reigned in Wales before that 
country became a part of the English 
dominion. Peter Griffee, son of John 
and Mary (Norton) Griffee, was born 
February 24, 1817, in Gloucester county. 
New Jersey, and as a young man was 
apprenticed to a book-binder in Philadel- 
phia. After serving his time he engaged 
in the business for himself, and for many 
5'ears was identified with the interests 
of book-binding. In politics he was a 
Democrat and in religion a Baptist, be- 
ing very active in church work, and for 
many j^ears a deacon in the Tenth Bap- 
tist church, Philadelphia. He married 
Elenora Bell, and three children were 
born to them, two of whom survive: 
Howard M., mentioned at length here- 
inafter, and George, who makes his 
home with his brother. Mr. Griffee died 
in 1880, in Philadelphia, where the greater 
part of his life had been passed. 

Howard M. Griffee, son of Peter and 
Elenora (Bell) Griffee, was born June 
10, 1850, in Philadelphia, and received his 
preparatory education in the Hancock 
grammar school, afterward attending the 
Kennett Square classical school, from 
which he graduated in 1869. In 1870 he 
took up the study of medicine under Dr. 
Mayhew Johnson, of Penn's Grove, New 
Jersej^ and in 1872 entered the medical 
department of the University of Penn- 
sylvania, receiving from that institution 
in the spring of 1875 the degree of Doc- 
tor of Medicine. In July of the same 
year Dr. Griffee began practice in Tay- 
lorsville, where for many years he has 
had an extensive connection. Since 1894 
he has been a stockholder and director 



in the Taylorsville and Delaware Bridge 
Company, and is now a member of the 
building committee having charge of the 
construction of the new iron bridge. He 
is a member of the United States pen- 
sion examining board. His interest in 
local affairs is active, and for twelve 
years he has served as president of the 
school board. He is a member of the 
Bucks County Medical Society and the 
State Medical Society, and also belongs 
to Newtown Lodge, No. 427, F. and 
A. M., and Welcome Lodge, No. 229, I. 
O. O. F., of Philadelphia. In politics 
he is a staunch Republican. Dr. Griffee 
married, in 1880, Sarah, daughter of Ab- 
ner Van Hart, of Upper Makefield town- 
ship. Mrs. Griffee died April 6, 1902, 
and on July 4, 1903, Dr. Griffee married 
Nellie Monta, daughter of Joseph Os- 
born, of Harlow, Essex, England. There 
are no children by either marriage. 

In the yard of Dr. Griffee's house 
stands the monument erected to mark 
the point of Washington's embarkation 
for his passage of the Delaware. This 
historic spot is a constant centre of at- 
traction for those interested in the 
events of the period of the revolution. 



JOSEPH F. CLUNN. From a list of 
the substantial citizens of Solebury town- 
ship the name of Joseph F. Clunn must 
not be omitted. Mr. Clunn is a grandson 
of Joseph Clunn, who was born in Eng- 
land, but when a young man came to the 
United States and settled in Bucks county, 
where he was one of Bristol's best known 
and most respected citizens, holding for 
many years the office of justice of the 
peace. Robert Clunn, son of Joseph Clunn, 
mentioned above, was born in Bucks coun- 
ty, and learned the shoemaker's trade, which 
he followed but a short time, abandoning it 
for a seafaring life. During his trips as 
master of his vessel he visited many ports 
in different parts of the world. Later he 
retired from the sea and moved to North- 
umberland county, where he purchased a 
farm on which he resided for the remainder 
of his life. He married Rebecca, daughter 
of Henry Pfeister, who was for many years 
landlord of the Fox Chase Tavern, and 
three sons were born to them : Joseph F., 
mentioned at length hereinafter ; Robert, 
and George ; the two last-named are de- 
ceased. Mr. Clunn died at the early age 
of thirty-eight years, and his widow subse- 
quently married A. Samuel Hoovan and 
moved to Bucks county. By her second 
marriage she was the mother of the fol- 
lowing children: John; Morris: Henry: 
Rebecca A., who is the wife of Edward 
Emberson, of Lambertville; and Isabelle, 
who is the wife of Mr. Roberts, of Tren- 
ton, New Jersey. The three sons are de- 
ceased. Mrs. Hoovan died in her fifty- 
ninth year. 

Joseph F. Clunn, son of Robert and Re- 
becca (Pfeister) Clunn, was born April 23, 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



653 



1839, near Fisher's Ferry, Northumberland 
county, and from his early boyhood worked 
for neighboring farmers. When his mother 
and stepfather purchased a farm in Plum- 
stead he was called home, and thenceforth 
assisted in the farm work until the time 
of his marriage, when he became a tenant 
farmer. At the end of seven years he 
bought a farm in Plumstead, which he 
cultivated for three years. He then sold 
the property and went to Maryland, where 
he engaged in shipping peaches, but, the 
crops being poor, he returned home after 
a year's absence and settled at Norris- 
ville. After a year spent as switch and 
telephone tender at the bridge he went to 
Point Pleasant, where he was variously en- 
gaged for three years. Later he took up his 
abode in Solebury and spent some years 
in the commission business, since which 
time he has been engaged in farming. He 
is a Republican in politics, and a member 
of the Presbj-terian church at Carversville. 
Mr. Clunn married in i860, Charlotte, 
daughter of William Poulton, of Bucking- 
ham township, and two children have been 
born to them : George David b., deceased ; 
and Mary Alice, who is the wife of George 
H. Van Horn, a dry goods merchant of 
Jeannette, Pennsylvania. 



HANNAH G. SHADDINGER. Three 
generations of the Shaddinger family have 
occupied the old home in Plumstead town- 
ship. Andrew Shaddinger, the grandfather 
of Hannah G. Shaddinger, was born in 
Bucks county and continued a resident 
thereof until his death. He was a farmer 
and drover, dealing in stock and carrying 
on general agricultural pursuits through- 
out his entire life. In 1819 he built the 
house now occupied by Hannah G. Shad- 
dinger, it being the family home continu- 
ously since. His children were Abraham ; 
Henry; Jacob; Barbara, the wife of Hiram 
Michner; Sarah, who married Epenitos 
Wismer; Catherine, the wife of Andrew S. 
Michner ; and Esther Comly Michner. 

Abraham Shaddinger was born on the 
old family homestead in 1804, and always 
followed the occupation to which he w-as 
reared. He early learned to be a good 
judge of the value of cattle, and was well 
known as a drover as well as an agricul- 
turist. His life was marked by unfalter- 
ing industry and he continued actively in 
business until advanced age forced him to 
retire. His death occurred at Point Pleas- 
ant in 1896, when he had reached a very 
venerable age. He married Miss Mary 
Fretz, and they became the parents of four 
children : Andrew, of Point Pleasant, who 
followed the same occupation as his father ;' 
Henry F., deceased, who was a farmer on 
the old homestead near Gardenville; 
Susanna S.. the widow of John D. Walter 
and a resident of Point Pleasant; and 
Hannah G. The last named was born on 
the old homestead, and is of the third gen- 
eration that has lived in the same house. 



ANDREW J. GIBSON is one of the 
leading farmers of Upper Maketield 
township. The founder of the Bucks 
county branch of the Gibson family came 
from Ireland in the seventeenth century 
and settled in Plumstead township, 
where he took up a large tract of land. 
James Gibson, the grandfather of An- 
drew J. Gibson, was a farmer and lived 
and died in Plumstead. Andrew Gib- 
son, son of James Gibson mentioned 
above, was born in 1800, in Plumstead 
township, and passed his life on the 
homestead. During the greater part of 
his life he was a Democrat, although an 
anti-slavery man, but on the breaking 
out of the civil war allied himself with 
the Republican party, to which he ad- 
hered during the remainder of his life. 
He married Nancy Ruckman, and they 
were the parents of seven children, three 
of whom are still living: Andrew J., men- 
tioned at length hereinafter; Isabella, 
who is the widow of William Strimple, 
of Flemington. New Jersey; and Nancy, 
who is the widow of the Rev. Samuel 
Harrison, and resides with her sister in 
Flemington. Mr. Gibson, the father, died 
on the homestead in his eightieth year. 
He belonged to the church of his an- 
cestors, which was the Presbyterian. 

Andrew J. Gibson, son of Andrew and 
Nancy (Ruckman) Gibson, was born 
June IS, 1836, in Plumstead township, 
and received his education in the com- 
mon schools. As a young man he was 
employed as a salesman by a Philadel- 
phia publishing house, a position which 
he retained for several years and in 
which he was very successful. After his 
marriage he moved to Newtown, where 
he resided one year, being still employed 
by the publishing house, and in 1877 re- 
moved to the farm of his mother-in-law, 
in Upper Makefield township, giving 
from that time forth his whole atten- 
tion to agricultural pursuit's. In 1881 he 
purchased, in the same township, the 
farm which has ever since been his 
home. In politics he is a Prohibitionist. 
He and his wife are members of the Pres- 
byteran church. Mr. Gibson married, in 
1876, Jennie M. Vanartsdalen, and they 
are the parents of two daughters, both 
of whom are at home with their father 
and mother — Nellie and Mary J. Mr. 
Gibson has now for twelve months suf- 
fered the great affliction of total blind- 
ness, his sight having gradually failed 
during the last nine years. 

The paternal great-grandfather of Mrs. 
Gibson took up a large tract of land in 
Northampton township, which was later 
divided among his three sons, who lived 
and died on their respective farms. 
These sons were John, Isaac and Simon. 
John was the father of two sons, Francis 
and John, between whom he divided his 
farm. John removed to Richboro a short 
time prior to his death. Francis mar- 
ried Mary J., daughter of Adrian Cornell, 



654 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



and among their children was Jennie M., 
who became the wife of Andrew J. Gib- 
son, as mentioned above. The Cornell 
family was founded in Bucks county by 
Adrian and Matchie (Hagaman) Cornell, 
who about 1735 purchased a tract of land 
in Northampton township from Penn- 
ington, a son-in-law of William Penn. 
Adrian Cornell and his wife came to 
Bucks county from Flatbush, Long 
Island, making the journey on a cart 
drawn by a team of oxen. The tract of 
land on which they settled was then 
known by the name of "Holland." They 
erected a log cabin and thus began their 
pioneer life in what was then a wilder- 
ness. Adrian Cornell was one of a large 
family, members of which are now to be 
found in all parts of the United States. 
The name has suffered many corruptions, 
being spelled in various ways. Not a 
few of those to whom it belongs use the 
form "Cornwall," and from this it is 
supposed that the family originated in 
England and was transplanted from 
Cornwall, in that country, to Amster- 
dam, Holland, and thence to the shores 
of the New World. 



WILLIAM MAWSON. The name of 
William Mawson, of Newtown, is insepar- 
ably identified ith the manufacturing in- 
terests of Bucks county. Mr. Mawson is 
a son of John B. Mawson, who emigrated 
from Yorkshire,' England, in 1870, and 
found employment in a wood-working es- 
tablishment in Philadelphia, where he re- 
mained until 1884. 

In that year Mr. Mawson removed to 
Bucks county and settled in Yardley, where 
he established a factory for the manufacture 
of bobbins. The enterprise proved success- 
ful, but in 1891 the factory was destroyed by 
fire, and Mr. Mawson sold the business to 
his sons, James, William and Charles, who 
in 1892' erected a large factory at New- 
town and began the manufacture of bobbins 
and spools on an extensive scale, under 
the firm name of Mawson Brothers. In 
1900 James Mawson retired from the firm 
and moved to Binghamton. New York, 
where he operates a similar factory. Until 
1904 the business was continued at New- 
town by William Mawson and his brother 
Charles, the name of the firm remaining 
unchanged. The industry steadily increased 
until the establishment became one of the 
most prominent among the manufactories 
of Bucks county. In 1904 a stock combina- 
tion w^s formed and chartered under the 
name of The Excelsior Bobbin and Spool 
Companj% with a capital of sixty thousand 
dollars. Additional buildings were erected 
and the latest improved machinery intro- 
duced, more than doubling the capacity. 
The wood used is largely a native growth, 
but hard-wood shipments are also secured 
from the south and west. The product 
finds a market in all parts of the United 



States, and shipments are also made to 
foreign countries. Mr. Mawson and his 
sons are good citizens, taking a lively in- 
terest in all that' pertains to the welfare 
of their town and county. In politics they 
are Republicans. Charles, the junior mem- 
ber of the firm, belongs to the town coun- 
cil of Newtown borough. 

Mr. Mawson married, before leaving 
England, Eleanor Battye, and their chil- 
dren are: John, who is employed in the 
United States arsenal at Frankford ; Mary, 
who is the wife of Edward Godfrey, of 
Newark, New Jersey; James, who Hves 
at Binghamton, New York; Agnes, who 
is married to Frederick Walker; Isabel, 
who is the wife of Frank Cassidy, a 
plumber of Paterson, New Jersey; 'Will- 
iam, mentioned at length hereinafter; 
Eleanor, who is married to Frederick 
Walker; Charles, who was born in 1873, 
in Philadelphia, married in A^^ril, 1895, 
Irene Balderston, and has two children, 
Edna and Clifford; and George, who is 
employed on the Delaware, Lackawanna & 
Western Railroad. All these children with 
the exception of the three last named were 
born in England. 

William Mawson, son of John B. and 
Eleanor (Battye) Mawson, was born in 
1868, in Yorkshire, England, and was two 
years old when brought by his parents to 
the United States. He possesses a full 
share of the rare business qualifications 
which seem characteristic of the entire fam- 
ily, and is an active and progressive citi- 
zen. Mr. Mawson married, in September, 
1897, Josephine, daughter of Edward Ellis, 
of Newtow-n. Mr. and Mrs. Mawson are 
without children. Mr. Mawson and wife 
are members of the Newtown Episcopal 
church. He is also a member of the 
Knights of Pythias. 



EDWARD M. SLACK, of Upper Make- 
field township, was born at Taylorsville, 
Upper Makefield township, January 25, 
1845. and is a son of Cornelius and Sarah 
(Hull) Slack. Abraham Slack, the grand- 
father of the -subject of this sketch, was a 
son of Abraham Slack, one of the pioneer 
brothers in Makefield referred to in another 
sketch, and' married (first) Elizabeth Tor- 
bert, daughter of James and Hannah (Bur- 
ley) Torbert, of Lower Makefield, by 
whom he had five children : Esther ; James ; 
Joseph ; Ann. who married Thomas Cun- 
ningham ; and Cornelius. His wife Eliza- 
beth dying, he married (second) about 1810, 
Ann Mathews, of Dolington, and in 181 1 
he sold his farm of 140 acres in Upper 
Makefield and removed to Ann Arundel 
county, Maryland. 

Cornelius Slack, son of Abraham and 
Elizabeth (Torbert) Slack, was born in. 
Makefield in 1793, and was reared on th6 
old Pfafif farm. He married (first) Elinor 
Brown, by whom he had eight children, 
all of whom are now deceased except Mercy 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



655 



Ann, residing in Newtown. Early in life 
Cornelius Slack purchased a farm in Uppei 
Maketield to which he removed, and after 
several changes of location in that town- 
ship purchased the faTm known as the 
John Eastburn farm, where he resided for 
forty-two years, dying there in June, 1868. 
He married (second) Sarah Hull, daughter 
of Joseph and Cynthia Hull, of Upper 
Makefield, by whom he had eight children, 
viz.: John H., of New Hope; Cornelius, 
deceased ; Mary A., deceased ; Samuel, re- 
siding in Solebury; Edward M., the sub- 
ject of this sketch; Eliza, wife of Samuel 
C. Case, of Newtown; Elmira, single, re- 
siding in Newtown; and Charles, deceased. 

Edward M. Slack was reared on the 
Upper Makefield farm and acquired his 
education at the public schools. At the age 
of twenty-two years he went to Taylors- 
ville, where he was employed in a lumber 
yard for three years, and then returned to 
the home farm. In 1873 he married Addie 
Hellinger, of Edgewood, Lower Makefield, 
and took charge of the farm, which he con- 
ducted for seventeen years. In the winter 
of 1889 he purchased the old Beaumont 
farm, where he has since resided. His 
wife died in 1878, leaving one child, Elliot 
H., now station agent at Langhorne. Mr. 
Slack married (second) Sarah E. Hall, 
daughter of EUicot Hall, of Upper Make- 
field. 

Mr. Slack was reared to the life of a 
farmer, and takes pride in keeping- his two 
hundred acres up to the standard of one 
of the best farms in the county. He is a 
lover of fine horses, and breeds and owns 
some very fine and valuable animals. In 
politics he is a Democrat, and has always 
taken an active interest in the success of 
his party. He was the party nominee for 
register of wills in 1904, but was defeated. 
He has served three years as a member 
of the school board of his native township, 
being the only Democrat ever elected to that 
position. Mrs. Slack is a member of the 
Presbyterian church. 



FREDERICK RUMPF, whose well 
directed activity has made him one of the 
foremost factors in manufacturing circles 
of eastern Pennsylvania, stands as a notable 
example Qf the adaptability and enterprise 
of the German-American citizen, who leav- 
ing his native land, seeks the opportunities 
of the new world with its livelier competi- 
tion and advancement more quickly secured, 
and through consecutive business progress 
advances from humble financial conditions 
to affluence. His business interests, too, 
have been of a character that has promoted 
general prosperity as well as individual 
success through the stimulus which he has 
given manufacturing enterprises. 

Mr. Rumpf, now living in Attleboro 
borough (Eden Post Office), Pennsylvania, 
was born in Hornberg, Germany, March 30, 
1844, his parents being Joseph Frederick 



and Barbara (Zimmer) Rumpf, while his 
grandparents were John and Katharine 
Rumpf. Joseph F. Rumpf came to Amer- 
ica in 1866 accompanied by his son Fred- 
erick, and settled in Philadelphia. He was 
a textile manufacturer in his native coun- 
try, where his son Frederick learned that 
business, serving a three years' apprentice- 
ship in his father's establishment. He had 
attended the public schools of Hornberg, 
had graduated from the high school there, 
and after spending one year as a special 
student in a textile school he entered the 
wool and worsted manufactory owned by 
his father, there remaining until 1866, when 
they came to Philadelphia. Soon afterward 
Frederick Rumpf entered a carpet mill, 
where he was engaged at weaving for a 
time, but in July, 1868, he began business 
on his own account in a small establish- 
ment supplied with two hand looms. He 
continued the business with constantly in- 
creasing success, adding more looms from 
time to time as the trade demanded. Each 
advance step which he made in his busi- 
ness gave him a broader outlook in manu- 
facturing circles and increased his oppor- 
tunity of winning prosperity and making a 
creditable place for himself In connection 
with the great productive industries of the 
city. In 1882 he built a mill in Philadel- 
phia, equipped with power looms, and thus 
carried on the weaving. Here, too, he also 
did the dyeing, bleaching and finishing of 
his own goods, his trade constantly grow- 
ing in scope and importance. An idea of 
the rapidity with which he progressed in 
his business may be gained from the fact 
that in 1882 the number of his power looms 
was twelve, and in 1892 his mill was 
equipped with one hundred and eight3^-six 
broad looms of the latest and most ap- 
proved patterns. In 1890 Mr. Rumpf ex- 
tended the field of his activity by entering 
into partnership with his brother Gustavus 
and four other gentlemen in forming a com- 
pany under the name of the Bown-Eberle 
Company, Limited, for the manufacture of 
full fashioned hosiery. While the weaving 
business has continued to yield satisfactory 
profits, the new undertaking, the manu- 
facture of hosiery, has very largely exceeded 
it, and has become by far the largest and 
most profitable of all. The hosiery mill 
was enlarged to meet the requirements of 
the increasing business, and in 1903 an addi- 
tion to the old mill was made so that the 
building covers sixty-eight thousand square 
feet. It is four stories in height, and is 
now fully utilized in the manufacture of 
hosiery which is favorable known through- 
out the United States. The quality of the 
product and the reliability of the house 
created for its product an excellent market, 
and the output is now very extensive, so 
that a gratifying dividend is annually paid 
upon the stock, while the enterprise has be- 
come one of the leading- productive indus- 
tries of the city. 

In 189s Mr. Rumpf retired from the 
active management of the business which 



656 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



he had aided in founding and in placing 
upon a most substantial basis, and in 1897 
removed to Eden, ^liddlctown township^ 
Bucks county, where he purchased a large 
tract of land and built upon it his present 
handsome residence, surrounded with ample 
grounds. It is, in fact, one 01 the most 
beautiful and attractive homes of the lo- 
cality, and the improvements which he made 
upon his own property have led to further 
building operations in the locality, and the 
consequent rise in realty values, thus prov- 
ing of direct financial benefit to the com- 
munity. 

Indolence and idleness being utterly 
foreign to him, Mr. Rumpf, with his 
active energetic nature, could not content 
himself with the absence of all aciive busi- 
ness interests, and in 1898 he again entered 
the field of commerce and manutacttire. 
He built in Eden a cotton mill forty toot 
front by four hundred and five feet in depth, 
there being also a dye house, fifty by sev- 
enty feet, together with the necessary boiler 
and engine house. Here are manufactured 
upholstery goods, fancy colored quilts, etc. 
This mill, with its equipments (which are 
in keeping with the most modern ideas and 
improvements in that line) was transferred 
in 1901 by Mr. Rumpf to his two sons, 
Frederick and William, who had been duly 
trained to this business by their father, and 
the factory is now operated under the firm 
style of Frederick Rumpf's Sons. They are 
doing a very successful business and their 
enterprise has been of marked commercial 
benefit to the town. 

Mr. Rumpf has been married twice.. His 
first wife was Clara Wagner, of Trenton, 
New Jersey, a daughter of Xavier and 
Paulina (Mock) Wagner, of Trenton, New 
Jersey. They had two sons : Frederick, 
Jr., born November 9, 1871; and William, 
born June 18, 1875. They attended the 
public schools of Philadelphia, and were also 
graduated from the Pierce Business Col- 
lege. In addition to this, Frederick attended 
for a year and a half the celebrated textile 
school -in Crefeld-on-the-Rhine. a school 
instituted by the German government. He 
was married June 28, 1894, to Agnes Pegge, 
of Philadelphia, a daughter of Henry C. and 
Mary Pegge. ' They have three, children : 
Clara Agnes, born December 17, 1895 ; Hilda 
Elenora, born February 26, 1901 ; and Alyse 
Irene, born March 30, 1903. William Rumpf 
was married August 24, 1897, to Miss Cath- 
arine Elizabeth Keller, of Philadelphia, a 
daughter of John and Elizabeth (King) 
Keller. They also have three children : 
William Frederick, born July 31, 1898; 
Francis John, born November 28, 1900 ; and 
Katharine Lorraine, born August 31, 1904. 

Frederick Rumpf lost his first wife 
March 6, 1879. He married (second) June 
7, 1880, Elizabeth Horner, of Philadelphia, 
a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Bas- 
sett) Horner. She has been a valued as- 
sistant to her husband and a loving mother 
to his children. By this marriage there is 
one son, Gustavus Adolphus, born August 



10, 1885. He first attended the public 
schools of Philadelphia, and on the re- 
moval of the family to Attleboro he re- 
sumed his school duties there, and is now an 
advanced pupil in Pierce's Business College 
of Philadelphia. He is a member of the 
Episcopal church of Attleboro, being con- 
firmed by Bishop Whitaker of Philadel- 
phia. 

Mr. Rumpf and his sons Frederick and 
William are Republicans in politics, and are 
religiously of the Protestant faith. Mr. 
Rumpf was a member of the first borough 
council of Attleboro, and has been a mem- 
ber continuously since, his public-spirited 
citizenship finding tangible proof in his ef- 
forts to promote the public good, progress 
and upbuilding. He is a man of great 
energy, of keen discrimination in business 
affairs, and of marked capability in the 
line of his life-labor. On the other hand, 
he is equally progressive in citizenship, 
well informed concerning state and national 
policies, honest and intelligent in his labors 
for the general good, and altogether a credit 
to the citizenship of his adopted country. 



JAMES PATTERSON SAHTH. Among 
the respected citizens of Bucks county, 
James Patterson Smith, of New Hope, holds 
an honored place. He is the son of James 
Smith, an native of Baltimore, who as a 
boy was taken by his parents to Philadel- 
phia, where he learned the tailor's trade. 
In 1812 heabandoned his trade and enlisted 
in the patriot army, being one of those 
who helped to construct the entrenchments 
around Philatdelphia. Soon afterward he 
came to Bucks county and settled in New 
Hope, where for several years he worked 
at his trade for Thomas Thompson. Later 
he opened a shop for himself, which he con- 
ducted during the remainder of his life. He 
was elected to all the borough offices except 
that of mayor, and was a member of the 
Presbyterian church. He married Hannah 
F. Strang, and they were the parents of two 
children : Lydia, w^ho became the wife of 
James B. Stockton, of New Brunswick, New 
Jersey; and James Patterson, mentioned at 
length hereinafter. Mr. Smith died at an 
advanced age. He was distantly connected 
with the Jones and Matthias families of 
Bucks county. 

James Patterson Smith, son of James and 
Hannah F. (Strang) Smith, was born May 
28, 1829, in New Hope, and received his 
education in the public schools of his native 
town. His first employment was in the 
capacit}' of assistant collector for the Canal 
Company. He remained with the company 
two years, and then accepted a position as 
clerk in the shops of the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road Company in Lamhertville. This posi- 
tion he retained a little more thari thirty- 
six years, and since his retirement has been 
extensively engaged in the real estate busi- 
ness. He is vice-president of the Amwell 
National Bank of Lamhertville. For many 




e£^ 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



^57 



years he held the position of postmaster of 
New Hope, and for several years served as 
town clcpk of the same place. For a number 
of years he was a member of the town coun- 
cil, and also of the school board. Fur 
thirty-four years he has been treasurer of 
Unity Lodge, No. 300, I. O. O. R, of New 
Hope, and is past master of Amwell Lodge, 
No. 12, F. and A. j\L, of Lambertville. He 
is a Democrat in politics, and is a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal church of New 
Hope, in which he holds the office of presi- 
dent of the board of trustees. Mr. Smith 
married, in 1855, Hannah C, daughter of 
Reuben Chamberlain, of Egg Harbor, New 
Jersey, and they have three children : Clara, 
who married Walter Balderston, of Trenton, 
New Jersey; Sallie V., who is the wife of 
Dr. Theodore Balderston, a dentist of 
Lambertville, New Jersey; and J. Stock- 
man, who lives in Trenton and is a travel- 
ing salesman. Mr. Smith and his children 
were recently called to mourn the loss of 
the wife and mother, who passed away 
August 29, 1903. 



WILLL\M HENRY ROCKAFEL- 
LOW. The Rockafellow family, of Ger- 
man origin, was established in New Jer- 
sey in colonial days, and most of its rep- 
resentatives in the different generations 
have been farmers. William Rockafel- 
low, paternal grandfather of W. H. Rock- 
afellow, married Rachel Thatcher and 
had a family of ten children: Aaron, 
William, Tunis, Samuel, Rachel, Eliza- 
beth. Jonas, John, Sarah and Margaret. 
Of these Jonas, John, Sarah, Margaret 
and William are ndw deceased. 

William Rockafellow, son of William 
Rockafellow, Sr., was born in Hunter- 
don county, New Jersey, April 9, 1816, 
and spent the first thirteen years of his 
life upon the old homestead farm in New 
Jersey and then accompanied his parents 
on their removal to Buckingham town- 
ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where 
he continued to make his home un- 
til his death, devoting his energies to ag- 
ricultural pursuits. Through long years 
he resided upon one farm and developed 
a valuable property there. In 1841 he 
.wedded Mary A. Worthington, and they 
became the parents of seven children: 
Benjamin, who married Sallie Doan; 
Anna, wife of Charles L. Smith; Sarah, 
the wife of Henry Wilkinson; William 
H.; Fannie, the wife of Albert Wilkin- 
son; and Mary and Rachel, both de- 
ceased. The father died July 27, 1890, 
and his wife passed away some years 
previously. 

William Henry Rockafellow. son of 
William and Mary A. (Worthington) 
Rockafellow. was reared on the old fam- 
ily homestead, and his early education 
vas acquired in the common schools and 
;upplemented by study in Doylcstown 
eminary. In early manhood he was 
42-3 



married to Miss Anna B. Molloy, their 
wedding being celebrated in 1880. She 
was born in the oldest house now stand- 
ing in Bucks county, it being the prop- 
erty at the present time of her brother, 
John B. Molloy, its location being in 
Buckingham township, between Wycombe 
and Pineville. Her parents w-ere Nich- 
olas and Frances (Stradling) Molloy, 
who resided near Pineville. Mr. and 
Mrs. Rockfellow have one child, Ed- 
mund Russell, who is bookkeeper for the 
firm of E. K. Lamont & Son, hay and 
corn brokers in the Bourse of Philadel- 
phia, Pennsylvania. 

Soon after his marriage Mr. Rocka- 
fellow assumed the management of the 
home farm, which he rented up to the 
time of his father's death, and then pur- 
chased the property which he has con- 
tinued to make his home. In connection 
with its further development, cultiva- 
tion and improvement he is now a direc-- 
tor of the Danboro Livestock Company, 
and a director and secretary of the For- 
est Grove Creamery Company. His bus- 
iness affairs are capably conducted, and 
his keen discernment and sound judg- 
ment, combined with unfaltering dili- 
gence, have brought to him a gratifying 
measure of success. He is a member of 
the Buckingham school board, but other- 
wise has not sought or accepted public 
office. His political allegiance is given 
to the Republican party, and he is a val- 
ued member of the Masonic and 
Odd Fellows fraternities, belonging to 
Doylestown Lodge, No. 245, F. and A. 
M.; Doylestown Chapter, No. 270, R. A. 
M.; and Warrington Lodge, No 447, 
I. O. O. F. 



WILLIAM CLARK MAYNE, of Phil- 
adelphia, was born August i, i860, son of 
David Coombs and Pauline Clark Mayne, 
and a grandson of William and Sarah 
(Coombs) Mayne. The grandfather was 
a sea captain, sailing from London. The 
family name is derived from Roger De La 
Magne, who was a baron and came over 
to England with William the Conqueror 
from Normandy. Richard R. D. Mayne, 
of the same family, is a rear admiral in 
the British Navy. 

David C. Mayne and his wife Pauline 
were the parents of two children : William 
Clark Mayne, to be further mentioned ; 
and a sister Anna, born January 19, 1873, 
married William R. Thomson, of Phila- 
delphia, and they have two children, John 
and Eva. 

William C. Mayne was educated in the 
public schools of Philadelphia, and was a 
member of the University of Pennsylvania 
in the class of 1881 in law. He was ad- 
mitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1881. 
when but twenty-one years of age, to the 
supreme court of Pennsylvania, January 14, 
1887. and to the supreme court -of the 
United States, November 10, 1892, and also 



658 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



to practice in the chancery and federal 
courts of the state of New Jersey, includ- 
ing chancery at Trenton. Tlirough his man- 
agement the title of the Bechtold estate, 
involving the title of each piece of real 
estate in the town of Riverside, New Jer- 
sey, now a tionrishing manufacturing cen- 
ter, was cleared up. Tliis litigation ex- 
tended over a period of fifteen years, and 
was finally decided in the court of errors 
and appeals of New Jersey, except that of 
the title of the Philadelphia Watch Case 
plant, which was decided in the United 
States circuit court at Trenton, New Jer- 
sey. Mr. Mayne is a member of the Ma- 
sonic Fraternity, and associated with Bris- 
tol Lodge, No. 25, A. F. and A. M. ; the 
Royal Arcanum of Bristol ; Nonpariel 
•Council, No. 1037, and the Algonquin Club 
of Bristol, a social organization. He is 
a charter member of the Lawyers' Club of 
Philadelphia, and a member of the Law 
Association of Bucks county ; is also a 
charter member of the Franklin Chess Club 
of Philadelphia, and belongs to Lodge No. 
144, Ancient Order of United Workmen of 
Pennsylvania. In his political views he is 
a Republican, and was a leader of the 
Quay forces in the assembly contests in 
Bucks county. 

February 21, 1884, Mr. Mayne married 
Harriet Ella Greer, of Philadelphia, daugh- 
ter of Gideon N. and Katherine (De- 
Pagnier) Greer. A family tradition says 
the paternal ancestors of Mrs. Mayne have 
been traced to the McGregors, and on the 
maternal side to Sir Peter Parker. By this 
marriage the following children have been 
born: i. FoUen Corson, born February 28, 
1885; 2. William Clark, Jr., who died in 
infancy. Follen C. attended the Penn 
Charter School at Philadelphia, also the 
Friends' School. 



ADAM MARTIN. One of the typical 
business men of the county is Adam Mar- 
tin, of Chalfont. The father of Mr. Martin 
was George Alartin, who was born Septem- 
ber 14, 1800, in Wurtemberg, Germany, and 
while still a young man emigrated to the 
United States. He made his home in 
Reading, and was one of those loyal citi- 
zens of foreign birth who took up arms 
in defense of the integrity of the Union. 

Adam Martin, son of George Martin, 
was born March 25, 1853, and received 
his education in the public schools. He 
learned the carpenter's trade with David 
High, of Hilltown, and followed it in- 
dustriously for twelve j'ears. In 1880 
he purchased the old Jesse Garner farm, 
Jn Warrington tow^nship, and for eight 
years devoted himself to agricultural 
pursuits. He then bought the Aaron 
Weisel farm, in the same township, 
where he lives at the present time. He 
added still further to his property by 
purchasing the adjoining estate, known 
as the Christian Haldeman farm. These 



two farms, comprising in all one hun- 
dred and sixty-eight acres, are culti- 
vated by Mr. Martin as one, and are 
maintained in a flourishing and highly 
profitable condition. Mr. Martin is a 
popular citizen, and in New Britain town- 
ship served for three years as constable, 
and the same length of time as charity 
commissioner. In Warrington township 
he filled for fourteen years the office of 
supervisor, and is nowr serving as audi- 
tor. In politics he is an advocate and 
supporter of the doctrines of the Repub- 
lican party. He is a member of the Hill- 
town Lutheran church. Mr. Martin 
married Addie Sherm, and they are the 
parents of the following children : Reu- 
ben A., who was born March i, 1880; 
Flora, born February 13, 1882; Alice, 
born February 8, 1884; Bertha, born 
April 13, 1886: Walter, born December 
22, 1889; Jennie, born November 30, 
1892; and Edgar Harrison, born January 
18, 1894, and is now deceased. 



OLIVER P. ROSE, D. V. S. Dr. 
Oliver P. Rose, now following farm- 
ing in Buckingham township, was born 
in Solebury township, November 30, 
1842. His paternal grandparents were 
Thomas and Letitia Rose, the former a 
farmer of Solebury township, where he 
spent his entire life. He gave his politi- 
cal support to the W^hig party until its 
dissolution, when he joined the ranks of 
the new Republican party. John Rose, 
son of Thomas and Letitia Rose, was 
born in Solebury township, was reared 
to the occupations of farming and black- 
smithing, and made those pursuits his 
life work. Like his father, he was a 
Whig at first, and afterward a Repub- 
lican, and filled several township posi- 
tions. He was recognized as a man of 
influence in his community, and his ef- 
forts were always exerted in behalf of 
progressive nieasures resulting in the 
upbuilding of town and county. He 
wedded Mary Smith, a daughter of Rob- 
ert Smith, of Buckingham township, one 
of the well known and prominent farm- 
ers of his day. John and Mary (Smith) 
Rose had a family of six children, of 
whom five are living: Elizabeth, the 
widow of John Wilkinson, of Philadel- 
phia; Oliver P.; Rosanna, the wife of 
Frederick C. Hartman, of Philadelphia; 
Thomas, who resides in Ambler, Mont- 
gomery county, Pennsylvania ; and Mary 
Ella, the wife of Ezra C. Hurley, of Mil- 
ford, New Jersey. 

Dr. Oliver P. Rose spent his boyhood 
days quietly upon the home farm, and at 
the usual age began his education in the 
public schools of Solebury township. He 
afterward continued his studies in New 
Hope, completing a course in the New 
Hope Academy. W'hen a young man he 



~U STORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



659 



studied veterinary surgery under Dr. 
Joshua C. Smith, of New Hope, and en- 
tered upon the practice of his profes- 
sion. After a short time spent in Yard- 
Jeyville and in Newtown, he returned to 
New Hope, where he became the succes- 
•sor in practice of his uncle, Joshua C. 
Smith. After more than four years de- 
voted to the practice of veterinary sur- 
gery, Dr. Rose turned his attention to 
farming in Solebury township, where he 
remained for twelve years, and then came 
to Buckingham township. F'or eight 
years he cultivated the farm which was 
owned by T. Howard Atkinson, and sold 
that property to accept his position as 
foreman of the farms belonging to Judge 
E. M. Paxson, of Bucks county, number- 
ing eight in all. He has occupied this 
responsible position for fifteen years, and 
is thus controlling extensive agricultural 
interests demanding splendid business 
and executive ability and keen discern- 
ment. He has thorough and practical 
knowledge of farming methods, and is 
regarded as one of the leading factors in 
agricultural circles in Buckingham town- 
ship. His political support is given to 
the Republican party. On the 26th of 
October, 1865, Dr. Rose married Miss 
Annie M. Walton, a daughter of William 
E. and Lucinda (Ely) Walton, of Sole- 
bury township. 



CHARLES J. LAUDERBACH. In- 
dustry, perseverance and enterprise have 
been the potent and essential factors in 
the business carer of Charles J. Lauder- 
bach, a prominent resident of Bensalem 
township. Bucks county, Pennsylvania. 
He was born in the city of Philadelphia, 
May 24, 1850, a son of Harris Y. and 
Frances Ash (Pearson) Lauderbach, a 
grandson of Harris and Mary Jarman 
<_Young) Lauderbach, and a descendant 
of Peter Lauderbach, who came from 
Germanv in 1724 and settled near Swedes- 
boro, New Jersey. _ He brought the 
brick from Europe with which to build 
his house, which was used during the 
revolutionary war as a fort, first by the 
Americans and then by the British. The 
old house is still standing, being in a fair 
state of preservation. The family re- 
moved to Philadelphia about the year 
1800. Harris Lauderbach (grandfather) 
served an apprenticeship at the trade of 
•carpenter and builder, and throughout his 
active career this line of worked proved 
a lucrative means of livelihood. By his 
marriage to Mary Jarman Young three 
sons and two daughters were born, 
-namely: Harris Y., Charles Y., James W . 
Sarah, and Mary. Mr. Lauderbach and 
his wife were honest, God-fearing people, 
respected in the community, and they 
lived to an advanced age. 

Harris Y. Lauderbach (father) was 
born in Philadelphia, December 3, 1824. 



He attended the common schools of his 
native city, after which he learned the 
carpenter trade and pursued a course of 
study in architecture, but on account of 
an accident he was obliged to abandon 
that vocation. In the meantime he gave 
close attention to advanced branches 
of study, and became fully competent to 
earn a livelihood at teaching. He first 
took charge of the Darby schools, later 
was given the principalship of the Wal- 
nut Street School, Philadelphia, then the 
Mount Vernon Grammar School, and 
subsequently the Northwest Grammar 
School, his duties in all of these being 
characterized by the utmost efficiency. 
His sister was also a prominent and suc- 
cessful teacher in the schools of Phila- 
delphia. He established the Lauderbach 
Academy, and having won a reputation 
of being one of the best educators in 
Philadelphia, this enterprise proved a 
success both financially and otherwise. 
During his life-work he had under his 
control over twelve thousand pupils, a 
majority of whom are now promment 
business men of the city. It was through 
his efforts that corporal punishment was 
abolished in the public schools. He was 
also one of the organizers of the Union 
League, in which he held membership, 
and was a prominent member of the 
Masonic fraternity, having attained the 
thirty-third degree in that body. He at- 
tended the Presbyterian church, and his 
political allegiance was given to the Re- 
publican party. Harris Y. Lauderbach 
was married December 27, 1847, to 
Frances Ash Pearson, a daughter of 
Joshua Ash and Eliza (Brannon) Pear- 
son, and the issue of this union was five 
children: Clara, wife of Marriott C. 
Smyth, and ' mother of three children : 
Frances L., IMarion, and Lindley Smyth; 
Charles J., mentioned at length herein- 
after; Frances and Julia (twins); Frances 
died in infancy, and Julia died at the age 
of eleven years; Frances (2). The 
father of these children died October 28, 
1891, in the sixtj'-seventh year of his 
age. 

Charles J. Lauderbach was educated at 
the Northwest Grammar School, and at 
the Lauderbach Academy, established 
and conducted by his father. After com- 
pleting his studies he was employed in 
the office of a broker for a short period 
of time, and then assisted his father in 
the management of the institution of 
learning which was under his personal 
supervision, he being an expert mathe- 
matician. He then went to Hazleton, 
Luzerne county, where he was engaged 
in Pardee's Bank for a time, after which 
he went to Pittsburg and engaged in the 
iron business. While employed in that 
city he received the contract for the 
forgings for the East River Bridge con- 
necting New York and Brooklyn, and ob- 
tained a patent for the manufacture of 
the sockets used in the construction of 



66o 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



that wonderful structure. In 1879 he dis- 
posed of his iron bushics in Pittsburg, 
and engaged in business ni Philadelphia. 
In 1882 he came to i3ensaleni township, 
Bucks county, and purchased the old Pot- 
ter Hall College, which he tore down, 
and on the site erected the row of dwell- 
ings which add so materially to the 
beauty and attractiveness of the place. 
Pie also located a plant for the manufac- 
ture of iron and wire fences, and by close 
application and reliable methods has 
built up an extensive and lucrative busi- 
ness. He is a staunch adherent of the 
principles of Republicanism. On Oc- 
tober 26, 1876, Mr. Lauderbach was mar- 
ried to Ella Virginia Young, who was 
born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 
15, 1854, a daughter of Henry C. and Re- 
becca A. (Wilson) Young, the former 
named having been a native of Philadel- 
phia, and a son of Henry and Elizabeth 
(Dennison) Young, of Philadelphia. 
Their children are: Helen, born May 5, 
1878, became the wife of Walter Lef- 
ferts, June 30, 1904; Edith Iredell, born 
August 2, 1879; Greta, born April 24, 
1886; and John, born May 20, 1891. 



DR. JOSEPH HAMMETT SCHENCK! 
Joseph Hammett Schenck, of Bristol, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, a representative of 
a Holland Dutch ancestry, who has estab- 
lished an international reputation through 
his proprietary remedies, was born in Med- 
ford, Burlington county. New Jersey, May 
6, 181 1. The first American ancestor of 
the family was Roelof Martense Schenck, 
who upon his arrival, June 28, 1650, settled 
in Flatlands, Long Island, where he resided 
until his death in 1704. The line of descent 
is traced through him to his son, Roelof 
Schenck, who married Nelltje Geretson Van 
Covenhoven ; to Garret Schenck, who mar- 
ried Margaret Covenhoven; to John 
Schenck, who married Cobanche Coven- 
hoven ; to Courtland Schenck, who married 
Kitturah Hammett. The latter named 
were the parents of Dr. Joseph H. Schenck. 

The childhood of Dr. Schenck was passed 
in Moorestown, New Jersey, receiving his 
education in the common schools of that 
town. He early evinced a resolute de- 
termination to succeed, and at the death of 
his father, when he was but eleven years of 
age, began in earnest to become the sup- 
port of the family. He learned from an 
Indian woman, who resided near his home, 
the secret of certain herbs and roots, and 
from these were subsequently evolved those 
remedies which have given to Dr. Schenck 
his great success. He soon achieved a 
prominence in the business world in this 
and nearly every other country which 
brought him ample returns iinancially. 
This record of his life work clearly 
demonstrates the fact that he is a selfmade 
man, and possesses in a large degree the 
characteristics of success. 



At Flemington, New Jersey, June 4, 1835, 
Dr. Schenck married Catharine Haward, a 
daughter of Peter and Sarah (Van Nest) 
Haward, of Flemington, New Jersey, a 
granddaughter of Abraham and Catharine 
(Sebring) Van Nest, and a descendant of 
a Holland Dutch ancestry. The children 
born of this marriage are as follows: Sarah 
Jane, born July 7, 1836, became the wife 
of Colonel Charles Carroll Knight, and their 
children are : Joseph Schenck, born Decern- 
ber 20, 1871; Harriet West, born June 5, 
1872; and Franklin Comley, born February 
17, 1877. Maria Van Nest, born March 3, 
1838, became the wife of William Nathan 
Rowland, and are the parents of one 
daughter, Catharine Schenck Rowland, born 
May 10, i860. Peter Haward died in 1871, 
aged twenty-seven years. Susan Blackwell, 
died in infancy. Ann Elizabeth Sebring, 
died in infancy. Catharine Haward, died 
aged twenty-one years. Joseph Hammett,. 
Jr., married Matilda Kisterbock, and their 
children are: Joseph Haward; Walter G.,. 
deceased; John, born 1851, died in infancy. 



GEORGE W. RADCLIFF. Buckingham 
township numbers among its leading farm- 
ers and citizens George W. Radcliff. Mr. 
Radcliflf is a grandson of James Radcliff,. 
w^liose son, also James, was born, it is sup- 
posed, in Horsham township, [Montgomery 
county. When a child his parents removed 
to Bucks county, -where the remainder 
of his life was passed. Politically he 
was a Republican.' He married Jane L. 
Hageman, and three children were born to 
them, two of whorn are living: George W., 
mentioned at length hereinafter; and Hart 
R., who was his brother's assistant on the 
farm, and who died September 26, 1904. 
Mr. Radclifif's later years were spent irt 
Buckingham, Wrightstown and Warwick 
townships. He died May 10, 1902, at the 
advanced age of eighty-five years. 

George W. Radclifif, son of James and 
Jane L. (Hageman) Radcliff, was born 
April 30, 1858, in Buckingham township, and 
obtained his education in the common 
schools and Doylestown Seminary. For 
some years after his marriage ]\Ir. Radcliff 
cultivated the home farm in the capacity of 
a tenant, and in 1901 became its owner by 
purchase. For fourteen years he was super- 
visor of the township, and in 1902 was a 
candidate for clerk of the orphans' court. 
He was elected to the office of Registrar 
of wills for Bucks county in 1904. He is a 
member of Warrington Lodge. No. 447, I. 
O. O. F., and Mountain Lodge, No. 31, 
Shield of Honor. He is an earnest advocate 
and supporter of the doctrines of the Re- 
publican partj% aiding the organization both 
by his voice and vote. Mr. Radcliff mar- 
ried, December 25, 1888, Jennie, daughter of 
Charles H. Clift, of Meclianics' Valley, 
now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Radcliff are 
tlie parents of four children : Sarah, Mary, 
Emma, and Charles. 





^U^.l^/CloudclUJ 



THE NEW YORkI 

'PUBLIC LIBRARY 



-J 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



66 1 



ALVIN JEFFERSON JARRETT. 
One of the most highly respected citi- 
zens of Quakertown is Alvin Jefferson 
Jarrett. Mr. Jarrett is a grandson of 
John Jarrett, whose son, Solomon, is 
mentioned at length hereinafter. The 
Jarretts were a pioneer family of Lehigh 
county. Solomon Jarrett, son of John 
Jarrett, was born on the homestead, re- 
ceived his education in a subscripton 
school, and was throughout his life en- 
gaged in agricultural pursuits. He was 
an extensive landowner in Mangundir 
township and a man of influence in the 
community. He married, October 24, 
18 — , Lydia, daughter of John and Si- 
billa (Boyle) Jones, of Freemansburg, 
Lehigh county, and they were the pa- 
rents of the following children: i. John 
Joseph, born April 21, 1821, married 
Phoebe Fenstemacher, and lives at Al- 
lentown. 2. William Jones, born Sep- 
tember, 1823, married Susan Detweiler, 
and lives in Minnesota. 3. Alvin Jetier- 
son, mentioned at length hereinafter. 
4. James Mathews, born February 25, 
1828, married Elizabeth Foote, of Min- 
neapolis, Minnesota, and after her death 
took for his second wife Eva Bodwell. 
These children were early deprived of 
their father's care, the death of Mr. Jar- 
rett occurring while he was still a young 
man. 

Alvin Jefferson Jarrett, son of Solomon 
and Lydia (Jones) Jarrett, was born Oc- 
tober 24, 1825, on a farm adjoining the 
Jarrett homestead, in McQuiger town- 
ship, Lehigh county, where he received 
his primary education in the subscrip- 
tion school. When his father died he 
-went to live with his grandfather, Jarrett, 
with whom he remained until his elev- 
enth year. He then went to live with his 
mother at Bethlehem, where he attended 
school during the winter, returning in 
the summer to the homestead in order to 
assist his grandfather in the labors of 
the farm. In his sixteenth year he went 
to Manatauney, Lehigh county, for the 
purpose of learning the tanner's trade, 
to which he served an apprenticeship of 
three years. At the end of that time, his 
grandfather having died, he returned to 
assist his grandmother until the settle- 
ment of the family estate. This occu- 
pied one year, after which he worked for 
several years as a journeyman tanner. In 
1849 he hired and afterward bought a 
tannery in Lower Milford, which he sold 
a few years later in order to purchase 
the farm of Jacob A. Shelly, of Milford 
township. There he has since resided, 
devoting himself to general farming and 
to the management of a dairy. 

Mr. Jarrett married, December 7. 1852, 
Anna Maria, born Mach 31, 1833, daugh- 
ter of John and Elizabeth Dillinger, and 
their children are: i. Alniira. who was 
born in 1854, and resides at home. 2. 
Charles William, who was born in 1856, 
and died in 1868. 3. May Lydia. who was 



born in i860, married in 1884 Oscar, son 
of Milton and Margaret (Byshon) 
Berndt, of Spinnerstown, and lives at 
Fennsburg. 4. Emma Martha, who was 
born June 26, 1862, and died August 16, 
1864. 5. Sarah Adalaine, who was born 
November 22, 1864, married Horace, son 
of Lewis Worman, of Point Pleasant, 
lived at Allentown, and died in 1899. 
6. Eva Louisa, who was born in 1868, and 
resides at home. 7. Isabel Anna, who 
was born December 4, 1871, and mar- 
ried Clement, son of Adam and Clara 
(Drukenmiller) Zweier, of Rosedale. 8. 
Oliver Alvin, who was born March 20, 
1874, married Ella, daughter of Louis and 
Catharine (Bright) Deidler, of Rich- 
land township, lives in Quakertown, and 
has one child, Miriam Catharine, born 
September 3, 1903. 9. Agnes Amanda, 
who was born April 19, 1877, deceased. 



R. PITFIELD LOVETT. Through 
several generations the Lovett family 
has been found in Bucks county. Ed- 
mund Lovett, the great-grandfather, lived 
and died in Bucks county, and through- 
out his active business career carried on 
agricultural pursuits. 

Daniel Lovett, son of Edmund Lovett, 
was born in this county, July 21, 1757, 
and on the 20th of May, I799, when about 
twenty-four years of age, married Eliza- 
beth Lucas, and settled on the farm now 
owned by R. Pitfield Lovett, which was 
the homestead of the Lucas family and 
has been in the Lovett family since his 
marriage. The house, which was erected 
in 1729, is still occupied by the family, 
and is yet in excellent state of preserva- 
tion. It is one of the notable landmarks 
in the county, and is a testimonial of the 
enterprising spirit of the builder. Upon 
the farm Daniel Lovett carried on gen- 
eral agricultural pursuits for many years. 
His children were: Mahlon. born Decem- 
ber 12, 1781; Hannah, May 16; 1784; 
Sarah, August .30, 1786: Phebe H., Oc- 
tober IS, 1788; Daniel, February 18, 1791; 
Elizabeth, October 15, i793; Robert Lu- 
cas, January 4, 1796; Grace, August 16, 
1797; Ann. April 8, I799: Robert Pitheld, 
October 25. 1801; and Jane, October 2, 

Robert Pitfield Lovett, son of Daniel 
Lovett, was born in the house which has 
been the family home for four genera- 
tions. He, too, devoted the greater part 
of his life to agricultural pursuits, yet he 
never neglected the duties of citizenship, 
giving an earnest support to all meas- 
ures which he believed would contribute 
to the general welfare. In politics he 
was a Republican, and was justice of the 
peace for many years, his decisions be- 
ing strictlv fair and impartial. He mar- 
ried Miss "Rebecca Brown, a daughter of 
Joseph Brown, and they became the pa- 
rents of four children: Joseph, Ann 



662 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Mary, Danief and Robert Pitfield. P^or 
his second wife the father wedded Alary 
Thompson, a daughter of Hector 
Thompson, and they had five children: 
Hector T., Elizabeth L., Benjamm L., 
John T. and Margaret. 

Robert Pittield Lovett, the youngest 
child of his father's first marriage, was 
born May 8, 1835, on the farm where he 
now resides. He was educated m the 
Friends school and at the Westtown 
boarding school, and, being thus well 
equipped for life's practical duties, he be- 
gan farming on his own account in early 
life, and has since devoted his energies 
to the tillir.g of the soil and raising of 
stock, with good success. Mr. Lovett 
married Miss Sarah Satterthwait, a 
daughter of Michael Satterthwait, of 
Langhorne, and they became the parents 
of five children, of whom one died in in- 
fancy, the others being Anna J., wife of 
Evan Roberts; Robert P. and William 
::3., both at home; and Mary T., a gradu- 
ate of the Westtown boarding school. 
The family through many generations 
have been identified with the Society of 
Friends. 



WILLIAM PRAUL. Among the rep- 
resentatives of the quiet but useful calling 
of agriculture in Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, is William Praul, a resident of Emi- 
lie, Bristol township, where he is recog- 
nized as an active, energetic and enterpris- 
ing man. He was born in Bensalem town- 
ship, December 22, 1848, a son of Elias and 
Ardanata (Tomlinson) Praul, and grand- 
son of John and jMartha Praul. 

William Praul obtained an education 
which thoroughly qualified him for the 
active duties of life, in the public schools 01 
Bensalem and Middletown. He assisted 
his father in the management and cultiva- 
tion of the home farm until he was twenty- 
six years of age, and from that time to the 
present his work has been along the same 
lines. In 1892 he purchased his present 
farm, which consists of one hundred and 
eight acres, and by close application and 
miceasing labor has it now under a high 
state of cultivation, the products being of 
an excellent quality. He is practical and 
progressive in his methods, and the neat 
and thrifty appearance of the entire place 
betoken the supervision of a master hand. 
He is a successful farmer, a most exemplary 
citizen, and a congenial and pleasant com- 
panion. He has always cast his vote for 
the candidates of the Republican party, to 
the principles of which he firmly adheres, 
and he has brought up his sons in the same 
political faith. He has never sought or 
held office, preferring to pass his days 
quietly in his comfortable and happy home, 
enjoying the society of his wife and chil- 
dren. 

Mr. Praul was united in marriage Janu- 
ary 7, 1875, to JMartha Cox Barton, of 
Emilie, Bucks county, daughter of Thomas 



and Ann Leah Barton, and granddaughter 
of Benjamin Barton. Their children are: 
William Francis, born September 30, 1878^ 
attended the Pleasantville school. South. 
Hampton, and on April 19, 1902, was mar- 
ried' to Charlotte Morris, of Emilie, daugh- 
ter of James and Alargaret (Stradling) 
Morris, and they are the parents of one- 
child, William Joseph. Benjamin Barton^ 
born September 28, 1882, attended the 
Pleasantville school, South Hampton. 
Thomas Elias, born July 12, 1889, attended 
the schools of Emilie. The sons are intel- 
ligent, enterprising men, their attention be- 
ing devoted to assisting their parents on 
the home farm. Mr. and Mrs. Praul arc- 
members of the Society of Friends. 



JESSE P. NAYLOR, who for forty- 
three years has been engaged in the burn- 
ing of lime, developing a profitable busi- 
ness, is a native of Solebury township,, 
where he still makes his home, the date or 
his birth being January 13, 1831. His pa- 
ternal grandparents were Peter and Mary 
Naylor. Peter Naylor's mother was a na- 
tive of Ireland, but his father died in early 
manhood, and no record of his ancestry 
was made. Peter Naylor worked on the 
Ingham farm in Bucks county for many 
years, having charge of large flocks of 
sheep, but he, too, died at a comparatively 
early age. 

William Naylor, son of Peter and Mary 
Naylor, was born in Solebury township in 
1800, and there spent his entire life. In his. 
youth he learned the blacksmith's trade,, 
which he followed up to his twenty-fifth 
year, when he engaged in the burning of 
lime. He found that profitable, and ac- 
quired a competence, but in later life met 
with reverses and died comparatively poor. 
His political support was given the De- 
mocracy and he was a member of the Bap- 
tist church. He married Eliza Righter,. 
and died in 1874, while his wife died in 
1876. They were the parents of eight chil- 
dren, of whom two are living : Jesse P., 
and Garret, of Lahaska. 

Prior to his twelfth year Jesse P. Naylor 
was put out to be raised by a neighboring 
farmer, but, as he did not receive just 
treatment there, he was placed in the family 
of Jacob Eastburn, with whom he remained 
until his fifteenth year. He then returned 
home and worked with his father until after 
he attained his majority, when he found 
employment with Oliver Paxson as a team- 
ster, continuing with him until 1861, when, 
having won his employer's confidence, he 
was told to take charge of some lime kilns 
which were the property of Elias Paxson, 
but had been rented and operated b}' Oliver 
Paxson. The latter volunteered to give 
]\Ir. Naylor all the monq\' he needed to 
conduct the business, and thus Nr. Na5dor 
entered upon a work that has claimed his 
attention and returned to him a gratifying 
income for forty-three years. He pro»- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



663 



pered from the beginning, and is to-day 
one of the prosperous citizens of Solebury 
township. He has made judicious invest- 
ment of his capital, and now owns the store 
at Aquetong and two farms in Solebury, 
besides other properties, including an ex- 
tensive peach orchard. His life record is 
an excellent illustration of the fact that 
success is not the outcome of genius or 
fortunate circumstances, but results from 
industry, experience and business discern- 
ment. xVIr. Naylor is a Democrat in poli- 
tics, a Baptist in religious faith, and is 
interested in general progress and improve- 
ment to the extent that he has given hearty 
co-operation to many measures which have 
proven of public beneht to the community. 
On the i8th of September, 1856, Mr. Nay- 
lor married Miss Elizabeth Cummings, a 
daughter of Samuel Cummings, of New 
Hope. By this marriage there are twelve 
children, of whom ten are living : Eliza, 
wife of D. Krusen Ely, a merchant of Aque- 
tong ; Alary and Anna, both at home ; 
George, who is in his father's employ ; 
Richard, of Solebury township; Warren, 
who is with the Bell Telephone Company, 
of Trenton, New Jersey; Jesse, who is 
foreman for the Bell Telephone Company,' 
at Philadelphia; Thomas, in his father's 
employ ; Gabriella, at home ; and Charles, 
also with his father. Mrs. Naylor died 
November 13, 1897. Mr. Naylor is a man 
of strong personality, and added to his 
notable business traits are personal char- 
acteristics which have won him uniform 
esteem wherever he is known. 



ALBERT J. THOMPSON. One of 

Wycombe's most enterprising merchants is 
Albert J. Thompson. Mr. Thompson is a . 
grandson of Albert Thompson, who was 
born in Northampton township but spent 
the greater part of his life on the homestead 
in Wrightstown township, a large tract ot 
land which was taken up early in 1700 by 
Elizabeth (McGraudy) Thompson and her 
four sons. He married Susanna Carey, 
and they were the parents of a son, Warner 
C, mentioned at length hereinafter. Mr. 
Thompson moved to Newtown, where he 
died in 1904. 

Warner C. Thompson, son of Albert and 
Susanna (Carey) Thompson, was born 
April 7, 1848, in Wrightstown township, and 
at the age of two years was taken to the 
homestead. In '1871 he miarried Lydia M., 
daughter of Joseph S. and Photbe (Cad- 
wallader) Ely, and two children were born 
to them : Albert J., mentioned at length 
hereinafter ; and Louis E., who was born 
October 21, 1877, and lives in Philadel- 
phia. Mr. Thompson, who is a Republican 
in politics and a man of high standing in 
the community, recently left the homestead. 
where he had lived since infancy, and went 
to reside in Wycombe. 

Albert J. Thompson, son of Warner C. 
and Lydia M. (Ely) Thompson, was born 



September 27, 1873, near Penn's Park, 
Wrightstown township, and received his 
education in the Newtown High School, the 
Abington Friends' School, and Pierce's 
Business College, Philadelphia. For some 
years after completing his education he 
conducted the home farm, and in 189b es- 
tablished his present lumber-yards in Wy- 
combe. He was inexperienced in the busi- 
ness, but his tact and ability soon brought 
him to the fore, and he now has one of the 
leading lumber interests of the county. He 
is president of the Wrightstown school 
board, and is a Republican in politics. Mr. 
Thompson married January, 1900, Kath- 
arine A., daughter of Joseph J. and Eliza- 
beth (HainesJ Rogers, ot Aledford, New 
Jersey, the former a retired business man. 
Airs. Thompson's parents are both de- 
ceased. Mr. and Airs. Thompson have one 
child, Elliott R., who was born June 10,1902. 



JAMES LAAIBERT CADWALLADER. 
One of the progressive farmers of Bucks 
county is James Lambert Cadwallader. 
The Cadwallader family is of Welsh origin 
and was planted in the country in the seven- 
teenth century by four brothers who emi- 
grated from Wales to the American colon- 
ies. One of them, Lambert, settled where 
Lambertville, New Jersey, now stands, and 
it is supposed that the town was named 
after him. Two of the others settled near 
Bucks and Alontgomery counties, and the 
fourth, of whose descendants we know 
nothing, settled in the western part of the 
state. Jacob Cadwallader was born in 
Bucks county, and bought the farm which 
is now the home of his grandson, James 
Lambert Cadwallader. He married Ann 
Taylor, also a native of Bucks county, and 
was the father of eleven children. 

Samuel C. Cadwallader, son of Jacob and 
Ann (Taylor) Cadwallader, mentioned 
above, was born November 7, 1815, on the 
homestead, where the long years of his 
active life were passed in the successful 
pursuit of agriculture. In 1895 he took 
up his abode with his daughter. Airs. Eyer, 
in Newtown. For a number of years he 
held the offices of supervisor and school 
director. He has also been guardian and 
trustee for twelve orphans, and executor 
and administrator for ' several estates. He 
is a Republican in politics, and a member 
of the Society of Friends. Air. Cadwalla- 
der married, in 1844, Hannah, daughter of 
Jonathan Carr, of Plumstead township, and 
six children were born to them, four of 
whom grew to maturity : Ellen, deceased ; 
Alary, also deceased; Alacre, who is the 
wife of Samuel F. Piatt, of Upper Make- 
field ; Alary E., who is the widow of Joseph 
Eyer, of Newtown; Julia, who is the wife 
of Thomas Noblp, of Noble Station, Alont- 
gomery county; and James Lambert, men- 
tioned at length hereinafter. Airs. Cad- 
wallader died in 1890, at the age of seventy- 
two. Like her husband, she was a member 



664 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



of the Society of Friends. Mr. Cadwalla- 
der is still living, having reached his nine- 
tieth year. 

James Lambert Cadwalladcr, son of Sam- 
uel C. and Hannah (Carr) Cadwallader, 
was born June 14, 1859, on the homestead, 
and was educated in the common schools 
and at a private school in Newtown. In 
accordance with the traditions of his family 
he has thus far passed his life as a farmer, 
and from his devotion to agricultural pur- 
suits has reaped a full measure of success. 
He is a member of the school board, and 
in politics affiliates with the Republicans. 
He is a member and overseer of the Friends' 
meeting. Mr. Cadwallader married in 1885, 
Evelyn, daughter of Charles Janney, who 
was for many years a merchant of Doling- 
ton and is now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. 
Cadwallader are the parents of a son and 
a daughter, both of whom reside at home, 
Ernest J. and Mary E. 



EDWARD C. WILLIAMSON. Among 
the old families of Bucks county are 
the Williamsons, who, long connected 
with agricultural pursuits, have there- 
by gained comfortable livings, and at 
the same time, in all duties of citizen- 
ship have been active and progressive, 
thus advancing the material welfare of 
the community and upholding its politi- 
cal and moral status. Mahlon William- 
son, the grandfather, spent his entire 
life in Bucks county, and followed both 
farming and the lumber business. His 
children were: Isaiah; John; Peter; 
Mahlon; Jesse; Sarah, wife of Spencer 
W. Buckman; and Elizabeth, the wdfe of 
William L. Moore. 

Jesse Williamson, son of Mahlon Will- 
iamson, was born on the old family 
homestead in Falls township, Bucks 
county, in 1810. In early life he learned 
the carpenter's trade, which he followed 
until about forty years of age. He then 
began farming, and carried on agricul- 
tural pursuits until his retirement from 
business life. He spent the evening of 
his da}^s in the enjoyment of a well 
earned rest, ' and passed away in 1893. 
He was twice married, his first union 
being with Margaret Buckman, by whom 
he had one son, Mahlon, now deceased. 
His second wife was Elizabeth Albert- 
son, and they had five children: Edward 
C. ; Henry S., a merchant of Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania; Frank, who is now living 
.in Lancaster; Ida, the wife of Headley 
B. Harper; and Ella, wnfe of Dr. Tan- 
tum, of Trenton, New Jersey. 

Edward C. Williamson, eldest son of 
Jesse Williaimson, was born in 1851 on 
the farm which is now his residence. He, 
too, has made agricultural pursuits his 
chief occupation, and in carrying for- 
ward the work he has followed most 
progressive ideas, so that his place is 
improved with modern equipments, and 



in its neat and thrifty appearance indi- 
cates the careful supervision of a pro- 
gressive owner. Matters relating to 
local advancement elicits his attention 
and oftentimes receive hearty and help- 
ful co-operation from him. He is a di- 
rector of the Falsington Library Asso- 
ciation, and is a valued member of the 
Presbyterian church of Morrisville, tak- 
ing an active part in its work, and serv- 
ing as a member of its board of trustees 
for a number of years. His political sup- 
port is given the Republican party, and 
he held the office of school director of 
Falls township for twelve years. Mr. 
Williamson has been married twice. He 
first wedded Annie C. Parsons, and his 
present wife was Corilla F. Davis, a 
daughter of Charles Davis, of New 
Jersey. 



HENRY WINFIELD WATSON, of 
Langhorne, Middletown township, son of 
Mitchel and Anna (Bacon) Watson, and 
grandson of Joseph and ]\Iary (White) 
Watson was born in Buckingham, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, June 24, 1856. 
The pioneer ancestor on the paternal 
side was Thomas Watson, who came 
from High Moor, Cumberland county, 
county, England, in 1701. He settled 
for a short time near Bristol, Pennsyl- 
vania, but subsequently purchased several 
hundred acres in Buckingham township, 
where he built a large stone mansion and 
resided there until his death. The pioneer 
ancestor on the maternal side was Nathaniel 
Bacon, grandson of Sir Nicholas Bacon, 
lord keeper to Queen Elizabeth, w-ho came 
originally to Barnstable, Massachusetts, in 
the early part of the seventeenth century. 

Henry W. Watson received an excellent 
English education in private schools, studied 
law under Hon. F. Carroll Brewster, and 
was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 
1881. He has been actively identified with 
many of the leading institutions in the vicin- 
ity of his home. In 188,3 he was largely in- 
strumental in the organization of the Peo- 
ple's National Bank of Langhorne, and in 
the Langhorne Library, of which he was 
president for a number of years. He served 
as president' of the first electric street rail- 
way company operated in Bucks county, and 
drove the first spike of said road on No- 
vember 20, 1895. This connection continued 
until 1898, when the road was sold, and 
afterward it was leased by the Newtown 
Electric Railway Company. In 1900 he was 
appointed receiver of the Washington & 
Potomac Railroad Company, and at the 
present time (1905) is president of the 
Washington, Potomac & Chesapeake Rail- 
road Company, and director of the Bucks 
County Trust Company and the People's 
National Bank of Langhorne. Mr. Watson 
is a stanch adherent of the Republican party, 
and has served several times as state and 
congressional delegate. 




J^lu^i^/ 




el/J 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



66: 



MILES FAMILY. Griffith Miles, the 
progenitor of the family in America, was 
born in 1670, in Wales. He married 
Bridget Edwards, also from Wales, born 
in 1672, daughter of Alexander and Catha- 
rine Edwards. Their children were : Es- 
ther, born 7 mo. 28, 1692; Martha, born 8 
mo. 12, 1695 ; Margaret, born 2 mo. 9, 
1698; Griffith, born 10 mo. 3, 1700; Samuel, 
born 7 mo., 1703; John, born 2 mo. 28, 
1709. 

Griffith Miles, sin of Griffith Miles and 
Bridget Edwards, married Sarah, whose 
maiden name is not known. Their children 
were: Joseph, born September 17, 1722; 
Anne, and Alartha. 

Joseph Miles, eldest child and only son 
of Griffith and Sarah Miles, was born Sep- 
tember 17, 1722, and died November 27, 
1800. His wife, Annie (Nesmith) Miles, 
born ?klay 18, 1732, bore him the following 
children: Lucy, born December 27, 1750, 
died February 11, 1751. Lydia, born Octo- 
ber 7, 1752, died in August, 1841. Griffith, 
born October 4, 1754. Margaret, born Au- 
gust 20, 1756, died April 3, 1826. Joseph, 
born December 5, 1758, died January 18, 
1826. John, born February 6, 1761. Thomas 
born January 2, 1762. Dorcas, born De- 
cember 30, 1764. Samuel, born October 30, 
1766, died September 6, 1849. Jacob, born 
December 19, 1768, died August 23, 1822. 
William, born March 7, 1771. Ann, born 
August 4, 1776. 

Samuel Miles, fifth son of Joseph and 
Annie (Nesmith) INIiles, was born in East 
Pennypack, Moreland township, Pennsyl- 
vania, October 30, 1766. He was a cabinet 
maker by trade, and an active and public 
spirited citizen. He was a very religious 
man, and served as trustee of the Old 
School Baptist church, which was succeeded 
in 1832 by the New School Baptist church. 
About the year 1801 he purchased a farm 
consisting of one hundred and sixty-four 
acres in Southampton township, near Davis- 
ville, which was sold out of the family in 
1873. He married Catherine Bennett, who 
was born July 21, 1772, and their children 
were : William Griffith, born February 19, 
1798, died June 13, 1889. Ann Jones, born 
October 29, 1799, died December 23, 1802. 
Elizabeth Lydia, born November 5, 1801, 
died August i, 1897. John Bennett, born 
March 3, 1804, died April 20, 1869. Eras- 
mus Nesmith, born August 2, 1806, died 
May I, 1872. Samuel Madison, born Oc- 
tober 18, 1809, died April 24, 1810. Mary 
Bennett, born December 29, 1813, in South- 
ampton township, near Davisville, on the 
old Miles homestead, which is now occupied 
by Stanley Saurman. She is the only sur- 
viving member of the above named family, 
and is now in her ninety-second year. 

William Griffith Miles, eldest son of 
Samuel and Catherine (Bennett) Miles, 
born February 19, 1798, died June 13, 1889. 
His wife, Ellen Maria (Bennett) Miles, 
whom he married November 24, 1825, was 
born September 27, 1808, and died August 
it 1857. Their children are as follows: 



Huldah Catharine, born December 23, 
1826, died January 8, 1851. Julia, born 
January 15, 1829, died November 20, 1866. 
Ellen L., born November 27, 1831, died 
Alarch 31, 1836. Mary Matilda, born March 
17, 1834, died April 25, 1836. Amanda 
Melvina, born March 3, 1840. Samuel, 
born June 20, 1844, died July 4, 1844. 



WILLIAM H. PRICE, secretary of the 
Line Lexington Mutual Fire Insurance 
Company, and a veteran of the Civil war, 
during which critical period in the history 
of the nation he displayed his patriotism 
by enlisting in Company G, Two Hundred 
and Thirteenth Regiment, Pennsylvania 
Volunteer Infantry, serving in the Army of 
the Potomac, was born in New Britain 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, j\Iay 
16, 1837, a son of John and Sarah (Svvort- 
ly) Price, and grandson of Daniel Price, 
who was a farmer by occupation, a resident 
of Montgomery county, and a member of 
the Dunkard church. 

John Price (father) was born near 
Planes Meeting House, Montgomery coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, in 1799. He was reared 
on his father's farm and in early life learned 
the trade of mason. Being a man of more 
than ordinary intelligence, and therefore 
thoroughly qualified to serve in the capacity 
of school teacher, he devoted his time and 
attention for a number of years to that 
vocation in the schools at Kulpsville, and 
other places, and also conducted a boarding 
school at Line Lexington for many years. 
He then changed his place of residence to 
New Britain township, Bucks county, set- 
tled on a large farm, and established Price's 
Boarding School, which he conducted suc- 
cessfully, for more than thirty years. In 
1842 he organized the Line Lexington Fire 
Insurance Company, and up to the time of 
his demise served as its secretary. He cast 
his political vote with the Whig party until 
the formation of the Republican part}', 
after which he changed his allegiance to 
that great organization. He held member- 
ship in the Dunkard church. By his mar- 
riage to Sarah Swortly, a daughter ot 
Philip Swortly, a native of New Britain 
township, five sons and three daughters 
were born, namely: Philip, Daniel, Jona- 
than, William H., George, Sarah, Lavinia, 
and INIary. The surviving members of the 
family at the present time (1905) are as 
follows : William H., mentioned at length 
hereinafter; Sarah, Lavinia and Mary. 
After a long and honorable life, John Price 
(father) died in 1886; his wife survived 
him until 1888. 

William H. Price received his educa- 
tional advantages in the school established 
and conducted by.his father, and after com- 
pleting his course of instruction accepted a 
position as teacher, serving thus for almost 
a quarter of a century. The success at- 
tained in this vocation was the direct re- 
sult of his capacity of imparting the knowl- 



666 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



edge he had acquired clearly and concisely 
to those under his control. Upon the death 
of his father he succeeded him as secretary 
of the Line Lexington Fire Insurance Com- 
pany, which position he still holds. He 
pertorms all tlie duties of good citizenship, 
and is a tirm advocate of the prmciples ot 
Republicanism. Mr. Price was united in 
marriage to Mary Ann Ackerman, daugh- 
ter of Henry Ackerman, of Berks county, 
Pennsylvania, and the issue of this union 
was one child, Mary, wife of E. K. Mussel- 
man, of Lansdale; they are the parents of 
one daughter, Florence Musselman. 



ALBERT W. PRESTON. Amor Pres- 
ton was among the earliest of the English 
settlers in Ptnn's Colony, and lived lor a 
time in Bristol township, J^ucks county. He 
was a tailor by trade, and, adapting his 
vocation to the rude materials and cus- 
toms of the people whose lot was cast on 
the extreme borders of civilization, became 
an expert in fashioning civilized clothing 
out ot the deer skins turnished by the In- 
dians, who were then very plentiiul in the 
country. He became very friendly with the 
aborigines, and when his house in the woods 
was burned he was persuaded by the In- 
dians to remove with them â–  farther back 
in the woods, near their Indian town ot 
HoUecunk, in the Buckingham valley, near 
the present village of Holicong. Here, 
far from any white neighbors, he and his 
wife lived for several years, and saw their 
red neighbors and friends gradually dis- 
appear as the people of their own race filled 
up and cleared the surrounding country. 
Nathan Preston, whose brother Paul was 
the great-great-grandfather of the subject 
of this sketch, was said to have been the 
first white child born in Buckingham town- 
â–  ship. He was nursed by an Indian woman, 
who many years afterward journeyed back 
from the wilderness to pay a visit to her 
white friends, when an old white haired 
woman, nearing the century mark. The two 
Preston boys, Nathan and Paul, were 
reared among the Indians and learned to 
speak their language before their own. 
Nathan married Mary Hough, in 1737, and 
settled near Doylestown, where he died 
about 1778, without male issue. 

Paul Preston, notwithstanding the rude 
surroundings of his birth, acquired an ex- 
cellent English education and became an 
eminent mathematician and surveyor as well 
as an accomplished linguist, keeping up his 
studies through his whole life. In 1753 he 
purchased a farm of fifty acres in Bucking- 
ham, where he lived until 1792, when he 
purchased a farm of 130 acres in Plumstead, 
near Gardenville, on the Durham Road, 
where he died in 1806 at .the age of eighty- 
four years. He married. November 21. 
1753, Hannah Fisher, daughter of JohiKand 
Mary (Scarborough) Fisher, and they were 
the parents of seven children, viz. : De- 
borah, who died unmarried ; Samuel, born 



1756, died in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, 
in 1834, was the first associate justice or 
that county ; Ann, who died unmarried ; 
Naomi, who married James Price; 
Euphemia, who never married; Paul and 
Silas. Paul Preston was treasurer of Bucks 
county, 1 768- 1 771. 

Silas Preston, youngest son of Paul and 
Hannah (Fisher; Preston, was born in 
Buckingham and removed with his father 
to Plumstead. Atter his father's death he 
acquired title to the greater part of the 
homestead, whereon he lived his whole life. 
He married, April 6, 1796, Margaret Good, 
of Plumstead township, and they were the 
parents of two children — Sarah, wife of 
ihomas Brown; and Nathan Preston, the 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch. 
Nathan Preston was likewise a lifelong 
resident of Plumstead. He married .Mar- 
tha Stradiing and reared a large family, 
several of whom are still living in Solebury 
township. 

Joseph G. Preston, son of Nathan and 
Martha, was born in Plumstead township 
in 1832, and was reared to agricultural pur- 
suits, acquiring his education at the public 
schools. At the age of twenty-one years 
he removed to Lumberville, where he was 
employed for a number of years as a saw- 
yer in the mills. He later followed the 
butchering business for a short time. In 
1862 he removed to a farm belonging tcv 
his wife's mother, near Peter's Corner, 
where he resided for the greater part of 
his life. He was constable and tax col- 
lector of Solebury township for twenty 
years, and took an active part in all that 
pertained to the best interests of the com- 
munity in which he lived. In politics he 
was a Republican, and took an active part 
in the councils of his party, serving for 
many years as a member of the county 
committee and representing his district in 
congressional and state conventions. He 
was at one time the nominee of his party 
for a seat in the legislature, but was de- 
feated at the polls by a small majority, al- 
though the usual Democratic majority was 
much larger. In religion he conformed to 
the tenets of the Society of Friends, in 
which faith all his ancestors in America 
had been reared and lived. In early man- 
hood he married Elmira Walton, of Sole- 
bury, and they were the parents of four 
children, all of whom are still living : Al- 
bert W. ; Anna, wife of Howard P. Evans, 
of Philadelphia; Harrj-, a resident of Phil- 
adelphia; and Emma, wife of Charles Case, 
also of Philadelphia. Mr. Preston died at 
Center Hill in October, 1901. 

Albert W. Preston was born in Solebury 
township. He was reared on the farm and 
attended the public .schools. - -t the age of 
twenty-one he found employment, first in 
the Carversville and later in the Solebury 
creamery, where he learned the process of 
making cheese and butter, and became 
proficient as a creamery operator. He was 
for sixteen years superintendent of the 
Solebury creamery, and made it profitable 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



667 



to the stockholders by his efficient manage- 
ment and the high grade of the products he 
turned out. His health failing, and having 
a liking for agricultural pursuits, he 
abandoned the work and engaged in farm- 
ing, having a good tract of land in Sole- 
bury township, which he has placed under 
a high state of cultivation, so that the fields 
yield to him large harvests annually and 
bring to him a good financial return. 

In 1886 Mr. Preston was married to 
Miss Eva Knight, a daughter of Alfred and 
Ruth A. (Allen) Knight, of Solebury town- 
ship. Mr. and Mrs. Preston are members 
of the Friends Meeting. He also belongs 
to the Farmers' Club and to other local 
organizations. He is a member of Doyles- 
town Lodge, No. 245, F. and A. M. ; Doyles- 
town Chapter, No. 270, R. A. M. ; St. h.lmo 
Commandery, K. T., of Lambertville, New 
Jersey, and the Knights of Pythias fra- 
ternity. In politics he is a leadmg Repub- 
lican, and at his father's death was elected 
his successor in the office of constable, in 
which position he has since served. He 
exerts considerable local influence in pub- 
lic matters, and his efforts are always 
exerted on the side of improvement and 
progress, whether in interests of private or 
public concern. 



JOHN SHERWOOD, deceased, for more 
than a quarter of a century an enterprising 
business man of Bristol township, his es- 
tate being located on the banks of the Dela- 
ware river, was born in Edinburgh, Scot- 
land, June 29, 1806, a. .son of Thomas and 
Catharine (Rixby) Sherwood, the former 
named having been a prominent manufac- 
turer, a man of substance, and of good 
standing in the community. 

John Sherwood, the eldest of three chil- 
dren, was well educated in the schools of 
Edinburgh, his native city, and came to 
America in 1827, the year he attained his 
majority. He studied medicine for two 
years at the University of Pennsylvania, 
but, becoming interested in the study ol 
botany, he abandoned his former studies 
and took up the business of florist, which 
he successfully conducted in Philadelphia 
for several years and until 1850, when he 
purchased an estate in the township of 
Bristol, on the banks of the Delaware, where 
he conducted an extensive business up to 
the time of his decease. May 2, 1883. He 
was engaged for over fifty years in the 
propagation of new and rare plants, and 
imported from Scotland many plants and 
shrubs native to that country. He also 
engaged in landscape gardening and among 
the many specimens of this art may be men- 
tioned the beautiful Laurel Hill Cemetery 
at Philadelphia. He became widely known 
as an authority on floriculture. 

Mr. Sherwood was married three times. 
His first wife, whose maiden name was 
Wilemina Sinclair, died without issue. His 
second wife, Arrabella (Shuttlewood) 



Sherwood, bore him two children : Joel 
William, born in 1843, married Emma 
Rodgers, now deceased; the other child 
died in infancy. After the death of his 
second wife, in 1846, Mr. Sherwood mar- 
ried Isabella Hartley, July 7, 1847, and their 
children were as follows : Robert Hartley, 
died in infancy, m 1849; Robert Hartley, 
born June 15, 1849; John Thomas, died in 
infancy ; Henry Farnum, born August 10, 
1854; Edward Caroll, died in infancy; Cath- 
arine Jane, born April 14, 1858; and James 
Thorn, born February 21, 1863. Mrs. Isa- 
bella (Hartley) Sherwood, born February 
I, 1826, passed on to her reward, January 
28, 1900, mourned by a large circle of 
friends. She was one of that band of de- 
voted women who during the dark days 
of the civil war aided so materially in 
alleviating the suffering of the sick and 
wounded soldiers. In a hospital located 
near her home she performed most noble 
work in tenderly caring for the sick and 
dying soldiers, giving this loving service 
untiring attention. 

Catharine J. Sherwood, only daughter of 
John and Isabella (Hartley) Sherwood, be- 
came the wife of Henry Home Jones, of 
Philadelphia, June 2, 1886, and their chil- 
dren are : Henry Sherwood, born April 26, 
1887, died October 27, 1892; Joel Enston, 
born September 7, 1890, died October 26, 
1892, and was buried the same day as his 
brother Henry Sherwood ; Isabella Sher- 
wood, born October 29, 1893 ; and Isaac 
Smithson Hartley, born August 11, 1895. 
Henry H. Jones is a son of Colonel Charles 
A. and Elizabeth (Home) Jones, of a 
prominent Philadelphia family, and his an- 
cestors were also prominent citizens of that 
city. Mr. Jones is a Democrat in politics, 
and a member of the Friends' Societv. while 
his wife is a member of the Presbyterian 
church. I\Ir. and Mrs. Jones reside on the 
Sherwood homestead, where Mr. Jones con- 
ducts an extensive business as a florist, 
finding a ready market in Philadelphia. On 
the maternal side Mrs. Jones is eligible to 
membership in the Daughters of the Amer- 
ican Revolution and Colonial Dames 
through Samuel and Thomas Munson. 



FRANCIS BARTLEMAN. Solebury 
township has no better known citizen 
than Francis Bartleman. He is a son of 
Theodore Bartleman, who was born in 
Germany and was a shoemaker by trade. 
He married Margaret Steinle, and seven 
children were born to them, four of 
whom are living: Barbara, who is the 
widow of Jacob Constantine, of Blooming 
Glen, Bucks county: Teresa, w^ho is the 
wife of Balthas Schiele. of Plumstead 
township; Francis, mentioned at length 
hereinafter; and Robert, who lives in 
Plumstead towmship. The father of 
these children died in Germany when 
about forty-five years of age, and in 1852 
the mother came with her five children to 



668 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



the United States. She made her home 
inPlumstead township, where she subse- 
quently married Anthony Seifert, by 
whom she had one child, Magdalena, 
who is the wife of Philip Klein, of 
Brooklyn, New York. 

Francis Bartleman, son of Theodore 
and Margaret (Steinle) Bartleman, was 
born June 27, 1836, in Wurtemberg, Ger- 
many, and received his education in the 
schools of his native land. After passmg 
his fourteenth year he was apprenticed 
to the potter's trade, but before the ex- 
piration of his term of service the fam- 
ily came to America. He finished his ap- 
prenticeship in Plumstead township and 
Monroe county, and then worked as a 
journeyman in Plumstead township un- 
til i860, when he leased the pottery of 
James Maginnis for a period of three 
years. Shortly after the breaking out of 
the civil war Mr. Bartleman rallied to 
the defense of his adopted country. Oc- 
tober 29, 1861, he enlisted in Company 
A, One Hundred and Fourth Pennsyl- 
vania Regiment, Colonel Davis com- 
manding, for a term of three years. The 
regiment participated in the battles of 
Fair Oaks, Bottom's Bridge, Savage Sta- 
tion, and the siege of Yorktown. At the 
battle of Fair Oaks he \vas twice slightly 
wounded, in the space of a few minutes, 
by two spent balls, one in the neck and 
one in the leg. When the change of base 
of the Army of the James began, this 
regiment was part of the command as- 
signed to prevent the enemy from cross- 
ing the Chickahominy until the heavy 
trains should be safe from attack, a duty , 
which was gallantly performed. The 
enemy was held in check until the 29th 
of June, when the bridge was destroyed 
and the One Hundred and Fourth Regi- 
ment was ordered to protect the rear. 
This dangerous service was again per- 
formed at White Oak Creek crossing, 
under a heavy artillerj^ fire from the en- 
emy's batteries. The command then 
inarched to Malvern Hill, where they 
were held in reserve during the engage- 
ment. The hard service seen by the reg- 
iment may be inferred from the fact that 
it arrived at Harrison's Landing after 
the Seven Days' battle with but twenty 
officers and four hundred and thirty-three 
men, the entire force at the time of en- 
listment having been eleven hundred and 
thirty-five. The command distinguished 
itself at the siege of Charleston, occupj'- 
ing a position on North Edisto Island 
during the assault. The term for which 
Mr. Bartleman had enlisted expired Oc- 
tober 29, 1864, at which time he was hon- 
orably discharged, after being promoted 
to Corporal, Sergeant and Orderly Ser- 
geant, respectively. 

After his return to civil life Mr. Bartle- 
man went to Flemington, New Jersey, 
where he was ernployed in a stone-ware 
pottery. In 1866 he returned to Bucks 
county and purchased the farm and pot- 



tery of James Maginnis, conducting the 
pottery until 1880. In that year he was 
elected clerk of the court of quarter ses- 
sions, oyer and terminer, serving for 
three years with honor to himself and 
satisfaction to his constituents. After 
this he returned to business until 1892, 
when he went once more to Flemington 
and worked in the pottery of Fulper 
Brothers & Company until 1898. He 
then took up his abode in Cottageville, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he 
has since lived a retired life. For six 
years he served as school director in 
Plumstead township. He was the first 
commander of Major Edward L. Rogers 
Post, No. 448, G. A. R., which was 
eventually disbanded, and he is now a 
member of Lambert Borman Post, No. 
48, G. A. R., Department of New Jersey. 
He is a past officer in the I. O. O. F. 
Lodge, the Knights of Pythias, and a mem- 
ber of Darcy Lodge, No. 27, F- & A. 
M., of Flemington, New Jersey. In pol- 
itics he is a staunch Democrat. Mr. 
Bartleman married, January 19, 1865, 
Maggie W. Hellyer, of Mechanicsville, 
and the following children have been 
born to them: Theodore, who lives in 
Philadelphia: William H., who is also a 
resident of that city; Frank, who makes 
his home in California; Eugene, who re- 
sides in Philadelphia; and Watson, who 
died in infancy. 



THEODORE LIPPINCOTT, of 
Cornwells, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
whose reputation in business circles is an 
enviable one, having been gained by 
thoroughness, promptness, ability and a 
capacity for details of a high order, was 
born in Byberry, Philadelphia county, 
Pennsylvania, July 8, 1855, a son of 
Joshua and ]\Iary (Wright) Lippincott. 

When only six years of age Theodore 
Lippincott was deprived by death of a 
mother's care, and at this tender age he 
began to make his own living, assisting 
to the best of his ability in the family of 
Nathan Tyson, with whom he lived for 
a year and a half. The following four- 
teen years he resided with the various 
members of one family, and after his 
marriage in 1879 he farmed for Edward 
Comley at Byberry. He then assumed 
the mana.gement of the Pancoast farm in 
Bensalem township, remaining there five 
years, and at the expiration of this pe- 
riod of time purchased a farm on the 
Newportville road, which he sold one 
year later. He then rented the Middle- 
ton farm for three years, after which he 
purchased a store at Cornwells. where he 
conducted a general inerchandise busi- 
ness for five years. After disposing of 
this he became a commercial traveler, in 
which capacity he served for a timp. and 
then purchased the store at Cnrnwtlls, 
which he conducted successfully from 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



669 



1897 to 1901, a period of four years. In 
addition to the various enterprises in 
which he has been engaged, he faithfully 
and efficiently performed the duties of 
postmaster, having been appointed the 
incumbent during Grover Cleveland's ad- 
ministration as president of the United 
States. Since attaining his majority Mr. 
Lippincott has cast his vote w^ith the 
Democratic party, for whose interests 
he has zealously worked. 

Mr. Lippincott was married, July 30, 
1879, to Cathrine Bunting, daughter of 
Joseph Bunting, and their children are: 
I. Harry S., born May 8, 1880, a resident 
at Cornwells, who was married in Oc- 
tober, 1900, to- Anna Simonds, and they 
are the parents of one child, Alvin, born 
February 6, 1902. 2. Alvin T., born Sep- 
tember 9, 1882, who for the past four 
years has been an accountant with the 
American Pipe Manufacturing Company 
of Philadelphia. 3. Raymond, who died 
in infancy. 



CHARLES WESLEY SHARPLESS. 
The pioneer ancestor of the Sharpless fam- 
ily, worthily represented in the present 
generation by Charles Wesley Sharpless, of 
Langhorne JNIanor. was John Sharpless, 
who was born in Cheshire, England, in 1624, 
married Jane Moor, emigrated to America, 
settling near Chester, Pennsylvania, and 
died April 11 1685. The ime of descent is 
as follows : James, who married Mary Edge ; 
David, who married Priscilla - Powell ; 
David, who married Sarah Moore; Benja- 
min, who married Mary Cowan ; David, 
who married Mary Ann Stedman, parents 
of Charles Wesley Sharpless, who was born 
in Philadelphia, April 22, 1842. 

Charles W. Sharpless, after completing 
his education in the public schools of his 
native city, engaged under his father in the 
card manufacturing business, of which the 
latter was general manager for A. M. Col- 
lins, card manufacturers, later A. M. Col- 
lins, Son & Co., and subsequently the A. M. 
Collins Manufacturing Company. Mr. Sharp- 
less continued in this concern as superin- 
tendent up to the time of his father's death, 
when he was promoted to the position of 
general manager, the place vacated by the 
death of his father, in 1866, and this connec- 
tion has continued from then up to the pres- 
ent time. The A. M. Collins Manufacturing 
Company is the largest of its kind in the 
United States, and by honorable transac- 
tions has gained an international reputa- 
tion. Mr. Sharpless takes considerable in- 
terest in political affairs, is a Republican 
from conviction, and at the present time 
(1905) is chief burgess of Langhorrie 
Manor. He is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity, affiliated with Kensington Lodge, 
No. 211'; Girard Mark Lodge. No. 214; 
Palestine Chapter, No. 241 ; and Mary Com- 
manderv. No. 36. He is also a member of 
the Veteran Association of Pennsylvania; 
of Fidelity Lodge, No. 138, Independent 



Order of Odd Fellows; United Brothers' 
Encampment, of Philadelphia, and Delta 
Castle, No. 216, Knights of the Golden 
Eagle. 

Mr. Sharpless married May 3, 1863, 
Delinda Dover Conn, of Philadelphia, ana 
their children were as follows : i. William 
C, born August 12, 1864, died December 2, 
1865. 2. Alfred Collins, born June 22, 1870, 
was educated in the public schools of Phil- 
adelphia and Pierce's Business College and 
is now a clerk in the department store of 
Lit Bros, of Philadelphia. He married, Au- 
gust II, 1900, Kate Spieler, of Philadelphia, 
who was born December 12, 1869, a daugh- 
ter of Charles H. and Elizabeth Spieler, the 
former named having been born in Wurtem- 
berg, Germany, December i, 1828, died 
January 24, 1886, aged fifty-eight years, 
and the latter was born in Philadelphia, 
September i, 1831, now seventy-three years 
of age. Alfred C. and Kate (Spieler) 
Sharpless are the parents of one child, 
Delinda Elizabeth, born August 27, 1902. 
3. Ella H., born November 9, 1873, died 
August 21, 1874. 4. Charles Wesley, Jr., 
born August 30, 1877, was educated in the 
public schools of Philadelphia and at 
Pierce's Business College, and is now super- 
intendent in the A. M. Collins Manufac- 
turing Company, in which his father is serv- 
ing in the capacity of general manager. He 
married Gabrielle Houpt, of Philadelphia, 
daughter of Dr. Houpt, and they are the 
parents of one child, Eleanor. Mrs. Sharp- 
less, the mother of these children, died, and 
on April 3, 1903, Mr. Sharpies? married 
Gertrude Bowen, daughter of William S. 
and Elizabeth (Torton) Bowen, and grand- 
daughter of Thomas and Ann (Duerr) 
Torton on the maternal side. 



HENRY Y. PICKERING, of Lower 
IMakefield township, Bucks county, was 
born in Philadelphia, January 9, 1854, and 
is a son of Thomas Elw^ood and Mercy 
(Paist) Pickering. His ancestors have 
been residents of Bucks county for over 
two centuries, his first paternal ancestor 
of w'hom we have any distinct record be- 
ing Samuel Pickering, who married, in 
1712, Mary Scarborough, daughter of 
John Scarborough, of Solebury, and 
granddaughter of John Scarborough, of 
the parish of St. Sepulcre, London, Eng- 
land, who purchased land in Bucks 
jounty in 1682, and gave a power of at- 
torney to his son John, of Solebury, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1696 to 
convey the same. Samuel Pickering 
died in Solebury 8 mo. 19, 1727. His wife 
Mary survived him nearly sixty years, 
dying i mo. 10, 1787, aged nearly one 
hundred years. They were the parents 
of five children : John, Isaac, Samuel, 
William and Grace. 

John Pickering, eldest son of Samuel 
and Mary CScarborough) Pickering, was 
born in Solebury in 1714, and died on the 



6/0 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



old homestead there 2 mo. i, 1787. He 
married in 1745 Hannah Dawes, who died 
in 1796. They were the parents of three 
children: John, Jesse, and Hannah, who 
married Jonathan Johnson. John Pick- 
ering, eldest son of John and Hannah 
(Dawes) Pickering, was born in Sole- 
bury 7 mo. 27, 1748, and married in 1771 
Rachel Duer, of Alakelield, and had the fol- 
lowing children: Joseph, Benjamin, Phm- 
eas, William, John, Yenians, Stacy, and 
Mercy, who married Robert Paist. 

Yemans Pickering, the grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch, was born on 
the old homestead in Solebury, that had 
been the property of his ancestors for a 
century, on May 12, 1784. He followed 
the trade of a carpenter in early life, but 
carried on farming in connection there- 
with. On his marriage in 1808 he set- 
tled in Upper Makeheld township, re- 
moving to Buckingham three years later, 
where he remained until 1840, when he 
removed to Lower Makeheld township, 
where he had purchased a farm, on 
which he resided until 1861. In the latter 
year he removed to Newtown borough, 
where he died a year later. He married 
in 1808 Rachel Beans, of Upper Make- 
field, by whom he had eight children: 
Mary, born 8 mo. 28, 1809; Hannah, born 
7 mo. 23, 1811, married Job Roberts; 
Timothy, ' born 7 mo. 7, 1813; Rachel 
Duer, born 9 mo. 21, 1815; Phineas, born 
I mo. 12, 1819; Thomas Elwood, born 
March 4, 1821; Elizabeth, born 9 mo. 29, 
1823; Henry Y. (Captain), born 4 mo. 20, 

1831. 

Thomas Elwood Pickering was born in 
Buckingham township, and spent his 
boyhood days there, acquiring his edu- 
cation at the Buckingham Friends' 
school. He learned the carpenter trade 
with his father, and on arriving at man- 
hood removed to Philadelphia, where he 
followed the business of a carpenter and 
builder until 1856. when he returned to 
Bucks county, purchasing the farm 
where the subject of this sketch still re- 
sides, and devoting his attention to agri- 
cultural pursuits until his death, on July 
31, 1869. Like his ancestors for many 
generations, he was a member of the So- 
ciety of Friends. He married his cousin, 
Mercy Paist, daughter of Robert and 
Mercy (Pickering) Paist. 

Henry Y. Pickering, the subject of 
this sketch, was the only child of 
Thomas Elwood and Mercy Pickering, 
and was but two years of age when his 
parents removed to the Lower Makefield 
farm, where he has ever since resided. 
Until 1892 he devoted his entire atten- 
tion to farming. Since that time he has 
leased his farm and devotes his attention 
to the skle of fertilizers and farm im- 
plements at Yardley, though continu- 
ing to reside upon the farm. In poli- 
tics he is a Republican, and has been a 
member of the county committee for 
many years. He has been assessor of 



Lower Makefield township continuously 
since 1884. He is a member of New- 
town Lodge, No. 335, K. of P.; Yardley 
Lodge, No. 159, A. O. U. W.; and of 
Newtown Castle, No. 121, A. O. K. 01 
the M. C. He married, December 19, 
1876, Lizzie W. Taylor, daughter of 
Jacob H. and Rebecca (Pitman; Taylor. 
They have no children. 



CHARLES VAN HART. One of the 
skilled farmers of Upper jNiaketield town- 
ship is Charles Van Hart. The great- 
grandfather of Mr. Van Hart emigrated 
from Holland and settled in Falls town- 
ship before the revolutionary war. The 
son of this ancestor, Jacob Van Hart, 
who was a farmer and shoemaker, mar- 
ried Mary, daughter of Daniel Richard- 
son, who was one of the pioneers of the 
count}' and lived near Dolington. They 
were the parents of fifteen children, one 
of whom, Charles Van Hart, was a 
farmer in Upper Makefield township, and 
married Eliza Tomlinson. One of their 
seven children was David, mentioned at 
length hereinafter. After the death of 
his wife, Mr. Van Hart married Jane 
Jackson. 

David Van Hart, son of Charles and 
Eliza (Tomlinson) Van Hart, was born 
August IS, 1846, in Bucks county, ob- 
tained his education in the common 
schools, and for many years engaged in 
agricultural pursuits in different parts 
of the county. He has been a member of 
the school board for nine years, and for 
ten years has served as collector of the 
township. He is a Republican in poli- 
tics, and for the last twenty-one years 
has served as one of the trustees of the 
Thompson Memorial Presbyterian 
church. He married, in September, 1869, 
Frances Jackson, of Solebury township, 
and they are the parents of three sons: 
Eugene, who lives in Brooklyn, New 
York; Charles, mentioned at length here- 
inafter; and Abner, who resides in Nor- 
ristown, Pennsylvania. 

Charles Van Hart, son of David and 
Frances (Jackson) Van Hart, was born 
December 13, 1872. in Upper Makefield 
township, where he received his educa- 
tion in the common schools. He rented 
the Enos Merrick farm, and after re- 
maining there a year, became manager 
of the farm of Edward Horn, both these 
estates being in his native township. He 
then worked one j-ear for his father, 
after which he moved to the Charles 
Twining farm in Newtown township. He 
remained there two years and then took 
up his abode on the Slack farm, which 
he has cultivated for the last four years. 
For one year he filled the office of tax 
collector of Newtown township, and he 
has also served as a member of the elec- 
tion board. He affiliates with Silvan 
Lodge, No. 265, L O. O. P., of Newtown. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



671 



In politics he adheres to the Republican 
party. He is a member and trustee of 
the Thompson Memorial Presbyterian 
Church. Mr. Van Hart married, March 
4, 1896, Sarah W., daughter of Andrew 
and Florence (Worstellj Wiley, of iNew 
Hope, and they have one child, Leroy S. 



WASHINGTON O. CROUTHAMEL, 
the proprietor of the Ottoway House, 
Buckingham, was born in Bedmmster 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
February 22, 1848, and is of German de- 
scent, his parents, Jacob S. and Carolme 
(Ott) Croutham&l, both natives of Bed- 
minster, being descendants of two of the 
-oldest families in 'that township, their 
ancestors having been among the hrst 
settlers in that township prior to 1750. 

^Ir. Crouthamel has had a somewhat 
itinerant career in his native county, as 
salesman, merchant and hotel keeper. At 
the age of fourteen years he began his 
mercantile career as a clerk in a coun- 
try store in Tinicum township, where he 
remained three years. After a year at 
A.pplebachsville he accepted a position in 
the hat store of William Jacoby, in Phil- 
adelphia. Two years later he entered the 
large mercantile establishment of Jonas 
D. Moyer & Co., at Dublin, where he re- 
mained two years. After two and a half 
years in the store of William Detweiler, 
at New Galena (now Levin), and a year 
at Perkasie he accepted a responsible po- 
sition with Reuben H. Delp, at Church 
Hill, who at that time opened a store in 
connection with his tannery at that place. 
After three years with Mr. Delp he en- 
tered into partnership with Henry Rob- 
inson, the genial auctioneer, and opened 
a store at Line Lexington under the firm 
name of H. Robinson & Co., which con- 
tinued for two years, when he sold out 
his interest in the firm and opened a 
store at New Galena, where he conducted 
a successful business for three years, 
after which he conducted a store at New 
Britain Station for eighteen months, and 
returned to New Galena for another two 
years. He then sold out his store and 
becam'e a salesman in the store of E. M. 
Armstrong, at Doylestown, remaining 
with Mr. Armstrong's successor. J. A. 
Linn, for one year, and then entering the 
large store of A. F. & O. R. Scheetz. In 
1886 he was a traveling salesman for 
Reeves, Parvin & Co., wholesale grocers, 
and the following year entered the em- 
ploy of A. S. Heelyer & Son, at Doyles- 
town, where he remained for ten years. 
After conducting a store in the Thomp- 
son building, Doylestown, for one year 
"he purchased the Buckingham Hotel, 
which he conducted for two and a half 
years, when he returned to Doylestown 
and purchased the stock of the Lenape 
Hat and Gents' Furnishing Store, and 
conducted it for eighteen months, when 



he purchased the Gardenville Hotel. Two 
years later he again purchased his pres- 
ent hotel, and has remained there since. 
Mr. Crouthamel was a popular and suc- 
cessful salesman, and in his many and 
varied ventures has always enjoyed the 
confidence of the people with whom he 
came in contact. 

Mr. Crouthamel was married on Feb- 
ruary 13, 1873, to Mary A. Myers, of 
Dublin, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and 
to this marriage were born six children, 
three of whom survive: Harvey K.; Will- 
iam J\I., married to â– Martha ]\Iay Ridge ; 
and Edward M. Mr. Crouthamel and 
his family are members of the Lutheran 
church. In politics he and his sons are 
Democrats. 



ROBERT L. BALDERSTON. Among 
the best-known citizens of Bucks county 
must be numbered Robert L. Balderston, 
of Upper Maketield township. The fam- 
ily is of English origin, and for several 
generations has been resident in Bucks 
county. John Balderston was a farmer 
of Upper Maketield township, and mar- 
ried Phoebe Longshore. Their son 
David was born May 13, 1815, in Make- 
field township, where during the years 
of his life he was engaged in farming. 
After his retirement he moved to Dol- 
ington, where he lived for ten years, and 
in 1879 went to Newtown, where he lived 
for the remainder of his life. He mar- 
ried Hannah ^Margerum, of German de- 
scent, and they were the parents of seven 
children, of whom six survive: Rebecca, 
who married Edward Hicks; Phoebe, 
who became the wife of Edward Carter; 
Sarah Ann, who is the wife of Eli Over- 
holt; David J., a resident of Northamp- 
ton township; Franklin, who lives in 
Philadelphia; and Robert L., mentioned 
at length hereinafter. By a second mar- 
riage Air. Balderston was the father of 
two children, Ellen, and j\Iary A., de- 
ceased. The death of Air. Balderston 
occurred December 27. 1892. 

Robert L. Balderston, son of David 
and Hannah (Margerum) Balderston, 
was born March 28, 1850, in Falls town- 
ship, Bucks county, and received his edu- 
cation in the public schools. At the age 
of twentj'-one he accepted a position in 
the store of W. Godey Ellis, at Doling- 
ton, where he remained five years. At 
the end of that time he opened a store 
for himslf at Brownsburg, which he con- 
ducted for five years more. He then re- 
moved his stock to Dolington, and has ever 
since been recognized as the leading mer- 
chant of that place. In the autumn of 1884 
he was appointed postmaster at Dolington, 
an office which he filled with the greatest 
credit to himself and the most complete 
satisfaction to the government. In poli- 
tics he is a supporter and advocate of the 
principles of the Republican party. Mr. 
Balderston married, February 27, 1879, 



djT. 



m STORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Josephine A., daughter of Azariah and 
Julia A. (Connard) Matthews, of Sole- 
bury township. Mr. and Mrs. Balderstcrn 
have one son, William Ernest, who holds 
a position in his father's store, and he 
married, June 17, 1903, Dora J. Kitchin. 



BENJAMIN MALONE WORTH- 
INGTON, deceased, for many years one 
of the widely known and highly re- 
spected citizens of Hulmeville, Bucks 
county, whose active career was well 
worthy of emulation, was born March 
19, 1S37, a son of Amos Subers and Har- 
riet (Paxson) Worthington, and grand- 
son of Asa Worthington, who were pros- 
perous and progressive agriculturists of 
Bucks covmty. 

Benjamin M. Worthington passed his 
boyhood days on the home farm, and 
his educational advantages were acquired 
in the public schools of Northampton 
township. Being thus inured to the ar- 
duous and varied duties of farm life, he 
was able to give his father competent 
assistance and he remained with him 
until he attained his majority. He then 
located in Hulmeville, Bucks county, 
where for almost a quarter of a century 
he conducted the Hulmeville Hotel in 
such a manner as to show a substantial 
profit at the end of each year. After this 
long period of service he disposed of his 
property, and the following year lived in 
retirement at Newtown. He then be- 
came the proprietor of the celebrated 
Anchor Hotel, which he conducted one 
year and then disposed of, after which 
he purchased a hotel in Tullytown, which 
he also conducted for one year and then 
sold. He then returned to Hulmeville, 
purchased a comfortable residence, and 
resided therein until his decease, April 
25, 1901. As a citizen Mr. Worthington 
was ever earnest, alert and conscientious, 
keenly alive to everything which con- 
cerned in any way the wellbeing of his 
town and county. He was a Republican 
in politics. 

Mr. Worthington married. February 
IS, 1865, Amy Worthington, of Byberry, 
now Philadelphia, daughter of Walton 
and Cynthia (Tomlinson) Worthington, 
the former named having been a son of 
John and Sarah (Walton) Worthington. 
and the latter a daughter of Amos and 
Sarah (Doane) Tomlinson. Their chil- 
dren are: Florence, born February 12, 
1868, became the wife of Henry Harri- 
son Brown, of Oxford Valley, Novem- 
ber 5, 1890, and they are the parents of 
one child, Russell Worthington Brown, 
born at Hulmeville, February 9. 1902. 
Russell, born September 18. 1876. died 
January 25, 1877. Mr. and Mrs. W^orth- 
ington were reared in the faith of the 
Friends, and their religious affiliations 
were with that body. 



JOSEPH B. WALTER, M. D., who 
for thirty-six years has been engaged in 
the practice of his profession m Sole- 
bury, was born in Plumstead township, 
Bucks county, on the 30th of August, 
1840. His paternal grandfather, Michael 
Walter, whose ancestors were residents 
of Alsace, Germany, became one of the 
early settlers of Plumstead township, 
where he followed the occupation of 
farming and also took an active and 
helpful part in public affairs. He served 
for a number of years as justice of the 
peace. His son, John Walter, was born 
in Pluiristead township and in early life 
learned the carpenter's trade, being for 
many years identified with building pur- 
suits. He married Miss Mary Beek, 
daughter of Samuel Beck, a resident 
' farmer of Plumstead township. They 
had five children: Catherine, Joseph B., 
Levi, Silas and Emma. 

Dr. Joseph B. Walter resided with his 
parents in Plumstead township until 
about eight or nine years of age, when, 
on his mother's death, he was taken into 
the family of his maternal uncle, William 
Beek, residing in Doylestown. He was 
there educated in the private schools 
conducted by S. A. Thompson and Dr. 
S. M. Andrews, and also attended the 
public schools of Doylestown, while sub- 
sequently he became a student at Kisha- 
coquillas Seminary, in Mifflin county, and 
in the boarding school of Rev. M. S. 
Holford, of Beverly, New Jersey. In 
1859 he entered upon the profession of 
teaching, and his leisure hours during 
this period were devoted to the study of 
medicine under the direction of Dr. I. S. 
Moyer. He taught in the public schools 
of Durham, Warrington and Northamp- 
ton and Southampton townships, but in 
1862 put aside his professional duties to 
enter active military service. In the 
month of August of that year he en- 
listed for a term of nine months as a 
member of Company E, One Hundred 
and Twentj^-second Regiment Pennsyl- 
vania Volunteers, and was mustered out 
in May, 1863. He taught school for a 
few months at Richboro, Northampton 
township, and then re-enlisted in the 
One Hundred and Fifty-second Pennsyl- 
vania Infantry. He was stationed dur- 
ing the greater part of the time at 
headquarters in Virginia and North Car- 
olina, until mustered out at the close of 
hostilities. He was promoted to the 
rank of third sergeant, and on the ist of 
September, 1865, was commissioned sec- 
ond lieutenant, but declined the office. 
He participated in the battles of Freder- 
icksburg, Chancellorsville, Appomattox 
and minor engagements. Immediately 
following his return to civil life, Dr. 
Walter took up the study of medicine 
under Dr. I. S. MoA^er, then of Plum- 
steadville, and in 1866 entered the medi- 
cal department of the Universit}' of 
Pennsylvania. He was graduated in the 




'^'^H at C. Koevoet-s- 1*- â–  



TI 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



673 



spring of 1868, and at once began the 
practice of his profession with Dr. J. E. 
Smith, of Yardley, with whom he re- 
mained until the spring of 1870, when he 
located in Solebury township, where he 
has since been actively engaged in prac- 
tice, covering thirty-six consecutive 
years. He is a member of the Bucks 
County Medical Society, the Lehigh Val- 
ley Medical Association and the Penn- 
sylvania State Medical Society, and thus 
keeps in touch with the advanced 
thought, research and experience of the 
medical fraternity. 

On the 13th of October, 1870, Dr. Wal- 
ter was united in marriage to Miss Mary 
T. Child, daughter of George M. and 
Sarah (Wood) Child, of Plumstead 
township. In politics he is a Republi- 
can, and his fraternal relations connect 
him with the lodge, chapter and com- 
mandery of the Masonic order. 



ALBERT E. SLACK, of Upper Make- 
field township, Bucks county, was born 
in Philadelphia, October 11, i860, a son 
of Elijah T. and Eliza D. (Crowell) 
Slack, and is of Holland and Scotch- 
Irish ancestry. On the paternal side 
he is a descendant in the eighth genera- 
tion from Hendrick Cornelise Slecht, 
who emigrated from Holland to Long 
Island in 1652, and settled near the pres- 
ent site of Brooklyn, where he died about 
1690. From his four sons, Barendt, Cor-, 
nelius, Abraham and Johannes, are de- 
scended the numerous family of Slack, 
now residing in nearly all parts >of the 
United States. Two grandsons of Hen- 
drick, John and Abraham, settled in 
Makefield township, Bucks "county, about 

1740- 

Abraham Slack was twice married. His 
first wife, and the mother of his four 
children, died while the latter were 
young and he married (second) June 
16, 1768, Martha Titus, who survived 
him. Abraham died in " 1802. His chil- 
dren were: Abraham, married Elizabeth 
Torbert; Cornelius, married Sarah Hell- 
ings ; James, married Alice Torbert ; and 
Sarah, married Moses Kelley. Eliza- 
beth and Alice Torbert, who married 
Abraham and James Slack, respectively, 
were daughters of James and Hannah 
(Burleigh) Torbert, of Makefield, and 
their two grandfathers, Samuel Torbert 
and John Burleigh, came from the north 
of Ireland and settled in Bucks county 
about 1725. 

Abraham Slack, son of James and Alice 
(Torbert) Slack, was the grandfather 
of the subject of this sketch. He inher- 
ited from his father a farm in Lower 
Makefield. and died there in 1833. His 
wife, Mary Mann, survived him. They 
were the parents of thirteen children, 
eleven of whom lived to maturity. Mary 
Mann, the mother, was a daughter of 
43-3 



Samuel and Margaret (Keith) Mann, and 
a granddaughter of William Keith, an- 
other early settler in Makefield, from 
the north of Ireland. The children of 
Abraham and Mary (Mann) Slack were: 
Samuel M., born June 27, 1808, married 
Margaret Rubinkam, and had ten chil- 
dren, oi whom five yet survive — Mary 
R., Agnes E., and Rosanna, single, resid- 
ing on the homestead of their father in 
Upper Makefield; Jesse R., of Upper 
Makefield, and James M., of Forest 
Grove; another son, Captain Abraham A. 
Slack, recently died in Northampton 
township. John Keith. Slack, the second 
son of Abraham and Mary, was devised 
the Keith plantation, and changed his 
name to John Slack Keith. The remain- 
ing eleven children were: William H., 
Anthony W., Frederick A., Elijah T., 
Margaret, Alice, Rosanna K., Mary Ann 
B., Martha T., and Jane. 

Elijah T. Slack, the father of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was born in Lower 
Makefield township, in 1823, and was 
but ten years of age at the death of his 
father. He was reared on the old home- 
stead, which was managed by his eldest 
brother, Samuel M., after the death of 
his father, and received his education at 
the local schools. At the age of fifteen 
years he went to Philadelphia and se- 
cured a position in the dry goods store 
of Gideon Cox, and later obtained a more 
lucrative position with Atwood, White 
& Co., representing them on the road as 
a travelling salesman, his territory ex- 
tending down through the -southern 
states, where he built up a large patron- 
age. About 1854, he formed a partner- 
ship with John R. Sparhawk, and eni- 
b^jrked in business for himself. Two 
years later this partnership was dis- 
solved, and he organized the firm of 
Cresswell, Slack & Gemmill, which 
existed up to the death of Mr. Slack in 
'1876; and was one of the well known 
wholesale firms of Philadelphia. Mr. 
Slack was a Democrat in politics, and 
took a prominent part in the reform 
movement in Philadelphia in the early 
seventies. He married Eliza D. Crow-' 
ell, of Philadelphia, who is still living 
with a sister in Hackettstown, New Jer- 
sey. They were the parents of four chil- 
dren, two of whom survive : Albert E., 
the subject of this sketch; and Helene, a 
single woman residing in Madison, New 
Jersey. 

Albert E. Slack was born and reared in 
the city of Philadelphia, and graduated 
from the high school there in 1876. In 
the same spring he was appointed a 
midshipman at the Naval Academy at 
Annapolis, by Congressman Charles 
O'Neil, but, the death of his father oc- 
curring at about the time of his ap- 
pointment, and his mother being v€ry 
much opposed to his accepting, he re- 
signed the appointment and came to Up- 
per Makefield township, Bucks county, 



674 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



and resided until l88o, with his uncle 
and guardian Samuel M. Slack. In the 
latter year he went to Council Bluffs, 
Iowa, to look after a tract of land left 
by his father and in 1881, removed to 
Huntington, Indiana, where he superin- 
tended the large plantations of General 
James R. Slack for fifteen years. In 
1896 he removed to Mitchell, Indiana, 
where he engaged in the lime business. 
At the end of one year he sold his inter- 
est in the business to his partners, and 
returned to Bucks county and purchased 
the James M. McNair farm in Upper 
Makefield, of 167 acres, upon which he 
has since resided. 

Mr. Slack married, in 1886, Delila 
Loughsdorf, daughter of Peter and Su- 
san (Seifert) Loughsdorf, of Hunting- 
ton, Indiana, whose family were early 
settlers of Huntington, having purchased 
the land now occupied by thein of the 
government. To Mr. and Mrs. Slack 
have been born three children, viz.: E. 
Wilmer, Ethel F. and Lamont, all resid- 
ing at home. 

In politics Mr. Slack is an Indepen- 
dent. He is a member of Thompson 
Memorial Presbyterian -church, of which 
his grandfather was an elder, his ances- 
tors for many generations having been 
staunch Presbyterians. 



J. TITUS SLOTTER, living in Sole- 
bury township, was born in Bedminster 
township, Bucks county, on the 17th of 
April, 1850. He is of German lineage, a 
descendant of Anthony Slotter, who came 
from the fatherland and settled on a farm 
in Bedminster township. He had two chil- 
dren, a son and daughter. The former was 
Anthony Slotter, who died in 1825, when 
Jacob Slotter was about twelve years of 
age. , 

Jacob Slotter, the eldest of three chil- 
dren, was born in Bedminster township in 
1817, upon the farm now owned by his son 
William, and his entire life with the excep- 
tion of a brief period of three years was 
spent as an agriculturist in his native town- 
ship. For fifty years he resided upon the 
old family homestead, where he died on 
the 19th of February, 1904. He lived in 
Haycock for one year, in Tinicum for two 
years, and afterward in Bedminster town- 
ship, near Tohickon, for eight years. In 
1854 he took up his abode upon the old 
home property, which for half a century 
was his place of residence. He was en- 
gaged in buying and driving cattle through 
the state, selling to the farmers in different 
sections of Pennsylvania. His political 
support was given to the Republican party, 
and he was a member of the Reformed 
church. His life was characterized by act- 
ivity and progress in business and relia- 
bility in all relations. On the 7th of April, 
1842, he was married to Miss Leah Hock- 
man, a daughter of Ulrich Hockman, who 



was born August 24, 1823, and died Janu- 
ary 9, 1886. They became the parents of 
thirteen children, of whom three have 
passed away: Elizabeth II., Mary Ann and 
John H. The others are: William H., 
formerly county superintendent, and a resi- 
dent of Doylestown; Anna Maria, the wife 
of Abel Stover, of Doylestown; Leah, who 
married Milton Crouthamel, and resides at 
Keelersville; J. Titus; Martha, the wife of 
Louis Ott, at Church Hill; Anthony, who 
is living on the old homestead in Bedmin- 
ster township; Aaron, who is conducting a 
restaurant in Philadelphia; Lincoln, who 
married Anna Jones, and is living in Me- 
chanicsville, Pennsylvania ; Barbara, the 
wife of. Aaron Landus, of Mechanicsville; 
and Reuben, who married Ellen Crouth- 
amel, and resides in Richlandtown. 

J. Titus Slotter, son of Jacob and Leah 
(Hockman) Slotter, was a student in the 
public schools in his boyhood days, and 
when not occupied with the duties of the 
school room assisted in the operations of 
the home farm, remaining thereon until 
his twenty-second year, when he accepted 
a position in the general store at Dublin. 
There he resided for three years. Follow- 
ing his marriage he returned to Bedminster 
township, where for two years he was em- 
ployed at farm labor, and later he rented 
a store at New Britain, there conducting 
a general mercantile establishment for four 
years. In 1881 he removed his stock of 
goods to Perkasie, and a year later sold his 
mercantile business and returned to Bed- 
minster township, settling on the Kerns 
farm. The following year he sold his farm 
stock and removed to Detroit, Michigan, 
where he was variously employed for six 
years, but in the spring of 1889 once more 
took up his abode on the Kerns farm in 
Bedminster township. Mr. Slotter was 
married to Miss Emma Kerns, of Bedmin- 
ster township, and they traveled life's jour- 
ney together for many years, but the year 
following their return from Michigan Mrs. 
Slotter died, and he broke up housekeeping. 
In the fall of 1890 he removed to Carvers- 
ville, Pennsylvania, and for two and a half 
years ran a stage from . Carversville to 
Doylestown. In 1893 he organized a com- 
mission route, continuing in that business 
until the winter of 1899, when he sold out 
and purchased his present farm, on which 
he has since lived. By his first marriage 
there were five children : Frank, a resi- 
dent of Doylestown; George, who is living 
in Detroit, Michigan ; Florence, the wife 
of Howard Rose, of Lambertsville ; Rolin, 
of Churchill ; and Mabel, who resides with 
her aunt,- Mrs. A. A. Stover, in Doylestown. 
On the 23d of June, 1899, Mr. Slotter was 
married to Miss Elizabeth Cadwallader, a 
daughter of Franklin and Rc-^chel (Slack) 
Cadwallader, of Solebury township. They 
have one child, Sara. 

Mr. Slotter is a Republican in his poli- 
tical views, and belongs to the Reformed 
church, while his wife is a member of the 
Friends' meeting. He is one of the well 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



67 



/D 



known residents of Solebury township, 
having gained wide acquaintance through 
his commercial and agricultural interests, 
-and having won the warm regard of those 
with whom he has been associated by rea- 
son of his fidelity to honorable manly prin- 
•ciples. 



DR. JOHN W. SHADDINGER, a repre- 
sentative of the medical profession, resid- 
ing at Chalfont, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, was born in Lumberville, Bucks 
county,, Pennsylvania, February 26, 1878, 
a son of John F. and Wilhelmina (Wor- 
inan) Shaddinger. 

Dr. Shaddinger obtained an excellent 
literary education in the public schools of 
the neighborhood and at West Chester State 
Normal School. Having decided to adopt 
the profession of medicine for his life 
work he matriculated at the Uni- 
versity College of Medicine at Rich- 
mond, Virginia, from which institution he 
was graduated May i, 1901. From the time 
of his graduation until August, 1901, he 
practiced at Portland, Pennsylvania, remov- 
ing from thence to Chalforf, same state, 
where he has since resided, and by display- 
ing great skill in the diagnosis and treat- 
ment of disease has established a large 
practice. He is devotedly attached to his 
profession, keeps abreast of the times 
by study and research, and is noted 
for his prompt and energetic work. He 
is a member of the Bucks County Med- 
ical Society and the State Medical So- 
ciety. He also holds membership in the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the 
Patriotic Order Sons of America, and the 
Knights of the Golden Eagle. Dr. Shad- 
dinger was married September 17, 1901, 
to Rosa Michener, daughter of Daniel 
Michener, of Plumstead township. They 
are the parents of one child, Elizabeth. 



ABRAHAM B. ROSENBERGER, of 
Hilltown, was born in that township, March 
-27, 1853, and is a son of Isaac and Susanna 
(Bishop) Rosenberger. He is a descend- 
ant of Henry Rosenberger, the pioneer an- 
cestor of the family, who became a land 
owner* in Franconia, Montgomery county, 
in 1729, through his son Benjamin Rosen- 
berger, who died in Franconia in 1777. 
Yellis Rosenberger, son of Benjamin, born 
about 1735, was the father of Benjamin 
Rosenberger, who married Margaret Nash. 
Elias Rosenberger, son of Benjamin and 
Margaret, settled in Rockhill township ; he 
was twice married, his first wife being Bar- 
bara Fretz, and (second) Elizabeth Huns- 
berger. By the latter he had two sons, 
Isaac and Henry, twins. 

Isaac, one of the twins above mentioned, 
born in Rockhill township, was a chair- 
maker by trade, and later purchased a farm 
in Hilltown township, where he died No- 



vember 27, 1886. He was a school director 
111 Hilltown for many years, and a member 
of the Mennonite Meeting at Blooming 
Glenn. He married September 25, 1842, 
Susanna Bishop, born August 10, 1820, 
daughter of Jacob and Anna (Fretz) 
Bishop, who bore him seyen children as 
follows : Rev. Henry B. Rosenberger, born 
July 22, 1844, married Mary Ann Shad- 
dinger ; Jacob B., merchant at Dublin, born 
January 8, 1847, married Sarah Myers ; 
Elias, died in infancy; Abraham B., the 
subject of this sketch; Annie, born Decem- 
ber 19, 185s, married Edward Shaddinger; 
and Mary, born December 6, 1856, died un- 
married April 6, 1880. 

Abraham B. Rosenberger, born in Hill- 
town and reared on his father's farm tnere, 
received a good common-school education 
at the local schools and remained on the 
farm with his parents until his marriage, 
and then took charge of the farm. In 1887 
he purchased of his father the farm upon 
which he still resides, and is one of the en- 
terprising and prosperous farmers of that 
vicinity. He is a Mennonite in religion, 
and in politics a Republican. He married 
January 10, 1880, Mary Godshalk, born Sep- 
tember 14, 1852, daughter of Henry and 
Annie (Gross) Godshalk, and they are the 
parents of six children, viz. : Isaac G., born 
'December 20, 1880, married Laura Keller, 
and has one child, Alvin ; Anna, born De- 
cember 19, 1882 ; Mary Emma, born No- 
vember 2, 1884; Edward, born April 6, and 
died December 28, 1888; Martha, born April 
25, 1890; and Henry G., born March 22, 
i8sH. 



HOMER TOMLINSON. Joseph Tom- 
linson, the great-grandfather of Homer 
Tomlinson, emigrated from Germany, set- 
tling in Ohio, where he remained until his 
death. His children were: Joseph, Daniel, 
John, and Mary, wife of A. Staats. 

John Tomlinson, son of Joseph (i), born 
in 1782, married and settled in Bucks coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, where he died. He mar- 
ried Martha Ridge, by whom were born 
five children : Josiah ; Sarah, wife of Paul 
Blaker; Mary R., wife of Amas Twining; 
4, Isaac ; 5, John. 

John Tomlinson, son of John (2) and the 
father of Homer Tomlinson, was born in 
Bensalem township, September 16, 1825. He 
followed farming all his life. He married 
Sarah E. Hageman, by whom four children 
were born: Homer; Grant; Mark; Valmer. 

Homer Tomlinson was born in North- 
ampton township, Bucks county, October 
10, 1856, and, like his ancestors, has fol- 
lowed farm life. He married Miss Amelia 
Taylor, by which union one child was born, 
Willmer, September 20, 1888. He is still 
on the farm, which he purchased in 1879. 
It embraces forty-nine acres, and is located 
about two miles from Richboro. In later 
days, but few families have followed in the 
same line of occupation so long as has this 
family. 



676 



• HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, 



WORM AN STONEBACK. For many 
years one of QuaKerLO\. .is most highly re- 
spected citizens was vvorman Stoncback. 
'ihe name was originally spelled ijleinbacli, 
the family having been tounded in this 
country by Henry Steinbach, who was born 
in 1750 in Germany, died in 1795, and was 
buried at Keller's cnurch, Bedmmster town- 
ship. He left a son John, wlio was born 
in 1782, married, and became tlie lather of 
nine children. His death occurred m 1864. 
Robert Stoneback, son of John Sloneback, 
was born September 21, 1806, m Uublm, 
Bucks county. He was much interested in 
local and political affairs, and hlled many 
posiitons of trust, among them that of 
recorder of Bucks county; this office he held 
for one term. In politics he was a standi 
Democrat of the old school, and in re» 
ligion adhered to the Dutch Reformed 
church. He married June 21, 1835, Lydia, 
daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (.Cope) 
Worman, and their children were : i. One 
who died in infancy; 2. Worman, men- 
tioned at length hereinafter; 3. Emeline, 
born September 17, 1840, became the wife 
of Jonas Ai. Harley, of Germantown, and 
has two children, Laura S. B., and Walter, 
who is a teacher and lives in Brooklyn; 4. 
Amanda, born November 30, 1842, died Jan- 
uary 8, 1863; 5. DeWitt Glmton, born Feb- 
ruary 16, L84b, died July 27, 1846. Mr. 
Stoneback's latter years were spent in re- 
tirement at Quakertown, where he died in 
1880. 

Worman Stoneback, son of Robert and 
Lydia (Worman) Stoneback, was born 
February 14, 1838, in Bedmmster township, 
where his father was engaged in the milling 
business. He attended the district school 
of his birthplace until his parents moved to 
Philadelphia, where his father was for 
some time with Stoneback & Snyder, cloth 
merchants. During the residence of the 
family in Philadelphia, Worman Stoneback 
attended the Central High School, from 
which he graduated in 1S55. During the 
construction and finishing of the ^North 
Pennsylvania Railroad he was agent for 
the company at Quakertown, holding this 
position for twenty-one years. In 1880, 
when the' North Pennsylvania Railroad was 
leased by the Philadelphia & Reading Rail-, 
road, he engaged with David J. Ambler in 
the coal and lumber business, which he car- 
ried on successfully until 1885, when he 
sold out to the firm of the Walps. After 
spending one year in the stove- foundry 
business, succeeding to the interest of 
Oliver Scheetz, he established himself in 
Philadelphia as a wholesale queensware 
dealer, continuing to reside in Quakertown. 
He served a number of years as school di- 
rector and in town council, and also acted 
as delegate to county conventions. In poli- 
tics he was a Democrat, always taking an 
active interest and prominent part in the 
affairs of the organization. In early life 
he attended the Dutch Reformed church, 
but later became a member of Emanuel 



(Protestant Episcopal) church, in which 
he served as lay reader and superintendent 
of the Sunday School. Mr. Stoneback mar- 
ried, E'ebruary 20, 1868, Joanna B., daugh- 
ter of William H. and Christiana 
(Cope) Bush, and granddaughter of 
Jacob and Elizabeth Cope. Mr. and 
Mrs. Bush were at one time residents of 
Philadelphia, where their daughter Joanna 
was born March 13, 1849, and was educated 
in the Northeast Grammar School and at 
the Oakland Seminary, Norristown. After 
moving to Quakertown, Mr. Bush became 
proprietor of the Bush House, which he 
conducted for many years. Mr. and Mrs. 
Stoneback were the parents of the follow- 
ing children : Ella Christiana, born Octo- 
ber 13, 1869, died May 16, 1870; Blanche 
Lydia, born June 4, 1871, resides at home; 
Robert Eugene, born June 4, 1874, and lives 
in Philadelphia, where he is one of the firm 
of Bodine, Son & Company, bankers and 
brokers. 

The death of Mr. Stoneback, which oc- 
curred January 26, 1890, deprived his family 
and the community of one whose place 
could not easily be filled, and who, as a 
business man, a neighbor and a citizen, 
commanded the sincere respect and cordial 
friendship of all to whom he was known. 



DR. FELIX A. MURPHY, a general 
practitioner of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 
was born in Ireland, June 7, 1877. He 
is a son of John and Anna McCjurgan, 
but upon his adoption by Timothy J. Mur- 
phy, of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, he took 
the name of Felix A. Murphy. His ances- 
tors on both the paternal and maternal sides 
were natives of Ireland. 

The early educational advantages enjoyed 
by Felix A. Murphy were obtained in the 
public schools of Doylestown and the Cath- 
olic high school of Philadelphia. After 
completing this course of instruction and 
having decided to lead a professional life, 
he entered Je-fferson Medical College, and 
was graduated therefrom in 1901, when he 
received his diploma as Doctor of Medi- 
cine. He then received the appointment 
of Resident Physician of St. Joseph's Hos- 
pital, Philadelphia, in which capacity he 
served for fourteen months. In October, 
1902, he established an office in Doyles- 
town for the general practice of medicine 
and surgery, and by displaying both ability 
and skill in his treatment of disease he has 
commanded the confidence of his patients, 
and his patronage is steadily increasing. 
He keeps in touch with the thoughts of the 
day along his line of profession by member- 
ship in the American Medical Society, the 
Pennsylvania State Medical Society, and the 
Bucks County Medical Society. He is a 
Republican in his political views, and was 
chosen by his party to serve in the oftice 
of overseer of the poor in the borough of 
Doylestown. Dr. Murphy is unmarried. 



I 




^^^^-^^ yj^/ff^f^'/ y^/ '^ 



T1 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



677 



ISAAC C. DETWEILER. Several 
generations of the Detweiler family have 
been residents of Bucks county. The 
grandfather, George Detweiler, lived and 
died in this county, being engaged in 
general work through his active busi- 
ness career. He married Miss Clem- 
mens, of Montgomery county, Pennsyl- 
vania, and their only child was John C. 
Detweiler, who was born in Montgomery 
county in 1844, and was brought to Bucks 
county by his parents when but two 
years of age. Here he has spent his en- 
tire life engaged in general work. In 
community afifairs he is deeply inter- 
ested, taking an active and helpful part 
in many of the movements. He is now 
serving as a deacon in the Lutheran 
church of Dublin, Pennsylvania. He 
married Miss Esther Crouthamel, and 
they became the parents of five children: 
Isaac C. ; Anna M., the wife of Charles 
Cassel, of Montgomery county; Esther 
Elizabeth, the wife of Daniel Leather- 
man; J. Aaron, of Philadelphia; and El- 
vina. 

Isaac C. Detweiler was born near Dub- 
lin in 1873, and pursued a common-school 
education. In his youth he began farm 
labor, and was thus employed until eigh- 
teen years of age, when, thinking that 
he would find mercantile life more con- 
genial, he entered the employ of John 
Bergstresser. at Pipersville, thus becom- 
ing a clerk in a general store, where he 
remained fpr a year and a half. On the 
expiration of that period he went to 
Blooming Glen, Hilltown township, 
Bucks county, and for eight years was a 
salesman in the employ of Bishop & 
Brother. The experience which her-ac- 
quired through his industry and- econ- 
omy enabled him in 1901 to purchase the 
business of Daniel Gross at Danboro, 
where he has since conducted a general 
mercantile enterprise. This has since 
become one of the best quipped stores in 
Bucks county, and Mr. Detweiler is 
justly accounted one of its most pro- 
gressive merchants, making a close 
•study of the desires of the public, and 
so purchasing his stock as to fully meet 
the varied demands of the trade. His 
business methods are thoroughly reli- 
able, and have gained him a desirable 
patronage. A'Ir. Detweiler married Miss 
Ella May, a daughter of Reuben K. and 
Amanda Stovgr. They have two chil- 
dren: Willard S., born November 5, 1808; 
and Ruth S., born July 25, 1901. The 
parents hold membership in the Lu- 
theran church at Dublin, and Mr. Det- 
weiler is a Republican in his political 
views. On the 2d of Jannar^-. tqoi, he 
was appointed postmaster of Danboro by 
President McKinley, as successor of 
Daniel Gross, and is now the incumbent 
of that office. His official service and 
liis mercantile interests make him a lead- 
ing and representative man of his town. 



JOHN B. SHERM. It is somewhat 
seldom that the characteristics of a thor- 
ough farmer and a successful business 
man are found united, but that this com- 
bination exists in the case of John B. 
Sherm, of Chalfont, all his neighbors can 
testify. Mr. Sherm is a grandson of 
John Sherm, a native of Germany, who 
spent his entire life in the fatherland. 

John Sherm, son of John Sherm before 
mentioned, was born in 1806 in Ger- 
many, and in 1823 emigrated to the 
United States. He settled at Plymouth, 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and 
in a few years moved to Fretz's Mill, 
Bucks county, where he learned the mill- 
ing trade with Mark Fretz, and after- 
ward followed it for six years. He then 
settled on a farm in New Britain town- 
ship and devoted the remainder of his 
life to agricultural pursuits. In politics 
he adhered to the Democratic party. He 
was a member of the Lutheran church 
and for twelve years was a member of 
the church council. His wife was Bar- 
bara Rickert, and they were the parents 
of two sons: William H., and John B., 
mentioned at length hereinafter. Both 
Mr. and Mrs. Sherm were zealous in 
good works, and possessed, as they de- 
served, the sincere respect and cordial 
regard of all their neighbors. 

John B. Sherm, son of John and Bar- 
bara (Rickert) Sherm, was born Septem- 
ber 2, 1844, in New Britain township, 
where he was reared on the paternal 
farm, in the labors of which he was 
from boyhood trained to assist. He at- 
tended the old Clymer schoolhouse on the 
Messenger farm. This building, stored with 
associations for so many of the inhabitants 
of Bucks county, has since been torn down. 
Mr. Sherm has been a lifelong farmer and 
has reaped the success which comes from 
practical ability and long experience. ' In 
connection with his agricultural pursuits 
he carries on the produce commission busi- 
ness, having a flourishing trade and ship- 
ping goods from Lansdale to Philadelphia. 
His political affiliations are with the Re- 
publicans, and he is a member of St. Peter's 
Lutheran church at Hilltown. 

Mr. Sherm married, May 27. 1864, Cnro- 
line, daughter of Jacob and Lydia (Snyder) 
Savacool, and they are the parents of the 
following children: i. Minerva, who was 
born September 16, 1866, and became the 
wife of Henry Hetrick. 2. Wilhelmina, 
born May 31, 1868, married Samuel Camp- 
bell, and is the mother of two children, 
Irene and Willie. 3. Harvey S., .born De- 
cember I, 1870. 4. Jacob S., born October 
26, 1872, and married Christian Mull. He 
and his wife are both deceased, leaving 
three children — John George, Sylva and 
Minerva. 5. Martha, born July 7, 1875. and 
is now deceased. 6. J. Frame, born July 
4, 1878, married Amy Cassel. 7. M. Eliza- 
beth, born January 22, i88r. 8. William S., 
born August 19, 1886. 



6/8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



MILTON L. COPE, of Perkasie, dealer 
in pianos and other musical instruments, 
was born in Hilltown township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, March 27, 1857, and 
is a son of the .late John Frank and Maria 
(Leidy) Cope, grandson of John and Su- 
sanna (Savacool) Cope, great-grandson of 
Adam and Margaret (Hartzell) Cope, and 
great-great-grandson of Yost and Doro- 
thea Cope, who emigrated from Wurtem- 
burg, Germany, arnvmg in Philadelphia 
on October 2, 1727, in the ship "Advent- 
urer," Captain John Davies, from Rotter- 
dam. Yost Cope settled first in what is now 
Montgomery county, where 150 acres of 
land was surveyed to him by Penn's com- 
missioners by warrant dated January 8, 
1734- His sons Abraham and Adam set- 
tled in Hilltown, Bucks county, and both 
have left numerous descendants. Adam 
Cope, the great-grandfather of the subject 
of this sketch, was one of the earliest set- 
tlers in Hilltown, being already a resident 
there at the time of his purchase of large 
tracts of land there in 1759 and 1760. He 
married Margaret, daughter of Henry Hart- 
zell, an early settler and large landholder 
in Rockhill, who bore him eleven children, 
six sons : Jacob, Abraham, jMichael, Henry, 
John and Paul ; and five daughters. Adam 
Cope died in 1794, his wife :\largaret sur- 
viving him. 

John Cope, seventh child and fifth son 
of Adam and Margaret (Hartzel) Cope, 
was born and reared in Hilltown, and in- 
herited from his father a portion of the old 
homestead, and spent his whole life there.. 
He married Susanna Savacool, daughter of 
William and Elizabeth (Miller) Savacool, 
of Hilltown (see sketch of Aaron Savacool, 
in this work), and they were thg parents of 
six children; William S. ; Elizabeth, wife 
of Isaac Wambold; John Frank; Henry S. ; 
Maria; and Susanna. John Cope died in 
1862, and his wife in 1873. 

John Frank Cope, second son of John and 
Susanna (Savacool) Cope, was also born 
and reared in Hilltown. In the division of 
his father's real estate in 186^ he acquired 
title to a fine farm, part of the land that 
had belonged to his grandfather, Adam 
Cope, and lived thereon until his death, 
August 10, 1902. He married Maria, daugh- 
ter of Jacob Leidy, who survives him. 
They were the parents of two children— Mil- 
ton L., the subject of this sketch; and Dr. 
Leidy L, Cope, a successful physician of 
Hatfield, Montgomery county, Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Milton L. Cope was born and reared on 
the old homestead in Hilltown, and was 
educated in the public schools. He early 
manifested a taste and talent for music, and 
has filled the position of organist at his 
church for twenty-one years. He continued 
to conduct the homestead farm until 1S83, 
when he started into the music business in 
a small way, selling pianos from his home 
on the farm. His business .having materi- 
ally increased, he removed to Souderton in 
1896, and carried on the business there un- 



til 1902, when he removed to Perkasie, and 
erected a large music warehouse and now. 
carries a large stock of pianos. He also> 
has a branch establishment in Allentown, at 
141 South Eighth street, and does a large 
business. He is one of the active business 
men of Perkasie, and is well known in busi- 
ness and social circles in upper Bucks and 
Lehigh counties. He is still the owner of 
the old homestead in Hilltown. 

Mr. Cope was married on September 11,. 
1883, to Susan Savacool, daughter of Aaron 
and Esther (Stetlerj Savacool of Hilltcnvn, 
who died in 1896, leaving two boys; How- 
ard, born May 11, 1888; and Raymond, 
born December 17, 1893. On April 29,, 
1898, Mr. Cope married JNIrs. Alice Guth, a 
widow, and daughter of Jonas H. and Sarah. 
Schmoyer of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania. 
Mrs. Cope has one child by her former 
marriage Helen Maria Guth, who was born 
December 18, 1893. 



THOMAS STRAWN, one of the retired 
business men of Quakertown, is a grandson 
of Thomas and Elizabeth (Johnson} 
Strawn, who were residents of Bucks coun- 
ty not less than a century ago, and his 
maternal grandmother was Rebecca Ball. 

Johnson Strawn, son of Thomas and 
Elizabeth (Johnson) Strawn, was born in 
181 1, on Fellman's farm, in Richland town- 
ship, and attended the subscription school 
of his birthplace. He learned the carpen- 
ter's trade and later the manufacture of 
agricultural implements. In 1856 he erected 
the grist and saw mill which he afterward 
operated. He married Jane Penrose (see 
Penrose, in this work), and they were the 
parents of the following children: i. Evan. 
Penrose, born September 16, 1834, died 
October 5. 1838. 2. Joseph P., born August 
16, 1836, died October 8, 1858. 3. Thomas,. 
mentioned at length hereinafter. 4. Mary 
Ann, born April 18, 1841, married, in 1869, 
Edwin A., son of David Johnson, a painter, 
formerly of Richland township, now of 
Philadelphia. 5. Johnson, born October 13,. 
1849, married, in 1871, Florence, daughter 
of Charles F. Mendith, and they are the pa- 
rents of the following children: Ollie ]M., 
born ]\Iarch 18, 1872, died May 4, 1876; 
Thomas B.. born March 3. 1874. lives in 
Richland township, and married a daugh- 
ter of Dr. Callahan, of Philadelphia; 
Charles M., born August 13, 1879, lives at 
home and is an electrical engineer; Harry 
M., born October 15, 1885, lives in Phila- 
delphia. Mr. Strawn died in 1858. 

Thomas Strawn, son of Johnson and Jane 
(Penrose) Strawn, was born April 4, 1838, 
on the farm of his grandfather Penrose, in 
Richland township, and received his 
preparatory education in the subscription 
school, later attending the Friends' school 
at Quakertown. At the age of twenty he 
succeeded by the death of his father, to- 
the milling business, and al?o to the manu- 
facturing of agricultural implements. Irt 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



679 



1873 he associated with himself his brother 
Johnson, and when he retired from business 
in 1897 he was succeeded by this brother. 
From 1890 to 1896 he served on the com- 
mittee of the electric light and water plant. 
He was for many years interested in the 
Richland Library, founded in one hundred 
granges, an institution which had always 
been encouraged by his family. From 1809 
to 1872 he served as a member of the town 
council of Quakertown. In politics he is a 
Republican. He is a birthright member of 
the Richland Meeting of Quakertown, and 
has served for three years as overseer. He 
has since been elected a member of com- 
mittee. Mr. Strawn has never married. 



PHILIP S. CRESSMAN, proprietor of 
the American House, Perkasie, Bucks coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, was born in Hilltown 
township, Bucks county. May 31, i860, and 
is a descendant of one of the oldest Ger- 
man families in Bucks county. Johannes 
Cressman, his great-great-great-grandfatn- 
er, was born in Germany and came to Penn- 
sylvania with his father, George Cressman 
(or Gressman, as the name was spelled in 
German) about the year 1720. The family 
settled in Franconia township (now Mont- 
gomery county) from whence Johannes 
Cressman came to Rockhill township, Bucks 
county, where he was a landowner as early 
as 1747. He later returned to Franconia, 
where he died in 1786. His children were 
Anthony, John, Elizabeth, Mary, Catharine 
and Hannah. 

Anthony Cressman, eldest son of Jo- 
hannes, born May 9, 1731, came to Rock- 
hill with his parents when a child. He was 
a farmer, and became a considerable land- 
holder prior to his death, which occurred 
March 3, 1789. By his wife Magdalen he 
had seven children : Jacob ; Elizabeth, wife 
of Daniel Sliver; Abraham; John; Adam; 
Catharine, and Sarah. Jacob Cressman, 
eldest son of Anthony and iMagdalen, born 
in Rockhill, October 27, 1755, inherited the 
homestead farm in Rockhill and became one 
of the largest landowners in the township. 
He died June 15, 1832. His wife was Eliza- 
beth Nace, and they were the parents of 
twelve children. Philip Cressman, young- 
est son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Nace) 
Cressman, born in Rockhill township, in 
1797, resided on a portion of the old home- 
stead in Rockhill until the death of his fa- 
ther in 1832, and then removed to Hilltown 
township. He was a blacksmith by trade, 
and followed that vocation in connection 
with farming in both Rockhill and Hill- 
town. He died in 1872. He married Mag- 
dalena Stout, and they were the parents of 
three children, two of whom survived child- 
hood, viz. : Henry, the father of the suD- 
ject of this sketch; and Eliza, wife of Jonas 
Leidy. 

Henry Cressman, born in Rockhill, De- 
cember 14, 1825, removed with his parents 
to Hilltown at the age of six years,~and re- 
sided on the old homestead there for the 



remaining fifty years of his life, dying April 
8, 1882. He married Sarah A. Snyder, 
daughter of George and Mary (Wittig) 
Snyder, of Hilltown, who was born Janu- 
ary I, 1833, and had six â–  children as fol- 
lows : James S., born December 6, 1853, 
married Emma Savacool, and has one chila, 
Roland; William S., of Sellersville, a gro- 
cer, married Emma Gearhart, and has three 
children, the eldest of whom, Alma, is a 
school teacher at Perkasie ; Philip S., the 
subject of this sketch; Henry M. S., who 
is supervisory principle of schools at Egg 
Harbor City, New Jersey, who married 
Emma Jacoby, and has three children; 
Alary Ann ; and another who died in In- 
fancy. 

Philip S. Cressman, born ^^lay 31, i860, 
was reared on his father's farm in Hill- 
town, and educated at the public schools, 
remaining on the farm until his twenty- 
second year, when he became a clerk in the 
general merchandise store of his father-in- 
law, Reuben B. Crouthamel, at Hagers- 
ville. He remained there two years and in 
1884 went into the hotel business at 
Perkasie as proprietor of the American 
House, which he has since conducted, erect- 
ing the present hoiei building and hall in 
1894. He is a successful and progressive 
business man, and owns considerable real 
estate in that thriving borough. He has 
always taken an active interest in all that 
pertains to the best interests of the town, 
and has served several terms as a member 
of the local school board. He is a member 
of McCalla Lodge, No. 596, F. and A. M., 
at Sellersville, and of Perkasie Lodge, 1. 
O. O. F. He married in 1882 Mary CroU' 
thamel, daughter of Reuben B. Croutha- 
mel, then of Hagersville, Rockhill town- 
ship, but later of Philadelphia, and they 
are the parents of tour children, Howard, 
Frank, Winfield, and Mabel. 



ABRAM F. SWARTZ. Early in the 
eighteenth century, the Swartz family, 
of German lineage, was founded in Penn- 
sylvania, where representatives of the 
name have since been found, doing their 
full share in upholding the legal and 
moral status of the state. The first of 
the family of whom we have authentic 
record was Andrew Swartz, a native of 
the fatherland. His son. 

Andrew Swartz, was born in Germany 
and emigrated to America in 1727, ar- 
riving in Philadelphia on the i6th of Oc- 
tober of that year. He located in Fran- 
conia township, Montgomery county, 
Pennsylvania, where he purchased a tract 
of land comprising one hundred and 
fifty-five acres, then a part of Salford' 
township. He followed farming through- 
out the greater part of his life. He mar- 
ried Catharine Kline, and thej' became 
the parents of ten children, as follows: 
Mary, born December 2, 1728; Abra- 
ham, January 5. 1731; [Margaret, Decem- 
ber 7, 1732; Ester, February 2, 1735; 



68o 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Isaac, April 2, 1737; Susanna. December 
3. 1739; Andrew. June 29, 1742; Jacob. 

, 1744; John. July 18, 1747; and 

Elizabeth. Julj' 28, 1750. Abraham 
Swartz. son of Andrew and Catharine 
(Kline) Swartz. was born on the old 
family homestead in Montgomery 
count}', and made farming his life work. 
Abram Swartz, son of Andrew Swartz, 
was born in Franconia township. Mont- 
gomery county, April 16, 1790. He was 
a clockmaker, and followed that trade 
when all of the work was done by hand, 
even making his own castings for wheels, 
in addition to making all the parts' and 
the frame. He manufactured the kind of 
timepiece now known as "grandfather's 
clock," carrying on the business for 
many years in Lower Salford township, 
Montgomery county, but later turned 
his attention to farming. He met with a 
sudden death, slipping from his wagon 
and sustaining internal injuries which 
caused his demise the same night. He 
married Susanna B. Fry, who was born 
January 28, 1796. His death occurred 
in 1832, and she died September 26, 1861. 
She was a daughter of George Fry. Mr. 
and Mrs. Swartz Were the parents of 
seven children, as follows: i. John F., 
who was born July 2, 1816, died Sep- 
tember 6, 1897, married Susanna Hen- 
dricks, by whom he had two children, 
and after the death of his first wife he 
married Ester Foiitz, and they had two 
children. 2. George F., born OctoTaer 26, 
1818. wedded Mary Moyer and died July 
15. 1875. 3- Catharine, born September 
26, 1820. became the wife of Jacob A. 
Hendricks and they had one child; fol- 
lowing the death'of her first husband she 
married Martin Kulp, and they had three 
children; her death occurred April 9, 
1864. 4. Mary, '.born September 13, 1822, 
was the wife of M,artii7 Jlulp, and died 
December 11. 1843. leaving one child. *>. 
Elizabeth, born February 10. 1827, was 
the wife of Edward Thompson and the 
mother of three children; her death oc- 
curred August 6, 1857. '6. Sarah A., born 
February 24. 1829, was the wife of Will- 
iam R. Christman. and died January 19, 
1865 ; they were the parents of five children. 
Abram F. Swartz, seventh and young- 
est child of Abram and Susanna (Frj-) 
Swartz, was born in Lower Salford town- 
ship. Montgomery county. March 21, 
1832. and was reared by his uncle on a 
farm at Silverdale, Hilltown township, 
Bucks county. He was but a babe when 
his father died, and went to live with his 
uncle when two and one-half years of 
age. He obtained his elementary educa- 
tion in subscription schools of that 
neighborhood, and completed his studies 
in the Washington Hall Boarding School 
at Trappe. Montgomery county. He 
afterward learned the trade of cabinet- 
making under the direction of Daniel 
Rosenbcrger. at Hatfield. Montgomery 
county, and when he had mastered the 



business he worked at carpentering 
through the summer months, while in 
the winter seasons he was engaged in 
teaching school. He began following 
that profession when eighteen years of 
age, and was thus identified with the ed- 
ucational interests of this part of the 
state until about sixty years of age. Fol- 
lowing his uncle's death he purchased the 
farm upon which he was reared and 
lived there until 1897, when he re- 
moved to Blooming Glen, locating on the 
place which he had purchased the prev- 
ious year. Here he has since lived re- 
tired, having in former years acquired 
the competence which now supplies him 
with all the necessities and many of the 
comforts and luxuries of life. Politi- 
cally a Republican, Mr. Swartz has al- 
ways taken a deep interest in the party, 
its growth and success, and has ever 
kept well informed on the leading ques- 
tions of the day. He served for seven 
years as assessor of Hilltown township. 
Religiously he is a member of the Men- 
nonite church, and is well worthy the 
trust so uniformly accorded him. 

Mr. Swartz married in 1855, Catharine 
A. Siegfried, who was born March 28, 
1831, a daughter of John H. Siegfried. 
Her death occurred in 1873. There were 
six children by that marriage: i. Susanna 
Louise, born February 11, 1856, married 
Henry B. Lapp. and. their six children 
are Nelson, Stella, Agnes, Esther, Mar- 
tha and W^alter. 2. Mary S., born Septem- 
ber 23, 1857, is the wife of Isaac B. 
Beideman and has nine children. Frank, 
Estella, Harry, Alice. Abram, Raymond, 
Edna, Bertha, and Harvey. 3. Isaac 
Franklin, born April 27, i860, married 
Amanda Elizabeth Bishop, a daughter 
of Jacob Bishop. 4. John S., born April 
27, 1864. died June 2. 1866. 5. Abraham 
Lincoln, born ,June 27, 1866, married 
Elemanda J. Crouthammel, and they 
have two children, Mamie, who was born 
and died in 1894. and Abram Warren, 
born October 20. 1896. 6. William Henry, 
born May 31, 1.868, died April 15, 1878. 

Abram F. Swartz was married (sec- 
ond) December 23. 1882. to Mary C. 
Swartz, a daughter of Andrew S. and 
Catharine B. (Cassel) Swartz. They 
have two children: Norman S., born Oc- 
tober 12, 1883. and Maurice S.. born De- 
cember 10, 1884. and died March 27, 1885. 



CHARLES BENJAMIN KRAUSE, of 

Doylestown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 
was born in Copenha.gen, Denmark, June i, 
1834, ^"d is a son of Carl G. and Johanna 
(Brinkman) Krause, the former born 
March 8. 1803 aild the latter in August, 
180S. 

Carl G. Krause was a manufacturer of 
cotton goods at Copenhagen. Believing 
that America offered better facilities for 
their manufacture, he came to Philadelphia 




^^4^ £. % 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



68 1 



in 1851 and engaged in the manufacture of 
carpets. Being joined there by his son, the 
subject of this sketch, in 1856, he left the 
business in -his charge and went on an ex- 
ploring expedition to the far west in 1857, 
crossing the plans from Kansas City, IMiss- 
ouri, to Colorado in a train of ox-teams, 
and proceeded as far as Pike's Peak. In 
1859 he returned to Philadelphia and re- 
sumed the manufacture of carpets there, 
continuing to operate his mills until his 
death on May 5, 1879. 

Charles Benjamin Krause. the subject of 
this .sketch, was educated in Copenhagen 
and learned the trade of a weaver in all its 
branches. On January 27, 1855, he mar- 
ried, â–  at Copenhagen, Christina Berg, a 
native of Sweden, daughter of Nels And- 
ries and Christine (Osterfelt) Berg. Her 
father was born in 1780, four miles from 
Lond. Sweden, and died in 1843. He was 
an officer in the Swedish army, and fought 
â– under Napoleon at the battle of Leipsig and 
afterward was an officer vmder the Swedish 
government until his death in 1843. He 
was a son of Andries Berg, also an officer 
in the Swedish army, and had one brother, 
Ole. In 1856 Mr. Krause removed with his 
wife to Philadelphia and engaged in the 
weaving business. In 1863 he began the 
manufacture of carpets in that city, and is 
still extensively engaged in that business. 
In 1902 he erected a new factory and en- 
gaged in the business on a larger scale. He' 
removed to Doylestown, Bucks county, in 
1885, where he still resides. He is a mem- 
ber of the LvTtheran church, and in politics 
is a' Republican. Charles Benjamin and 
Christine (Berg) Krause have been the 
parents of three children: Carl Benjamin, 
who died in infancy; Emma Christine, born 
in Philadelphia in 1862: and Carl Benjamin, 
Jr.. born in Philadelphia. November 2T. 
1865. Emma Christine married Dr. Will- 
iam Brodie, born in Philadelphia in i860, 
son of Dr. Robert Brodie, a druggist at 
Twentieth and Callowhill streets. Dr. Will- 
iam Brodie graduated at the University of 
Pennsylvania in 1878, and began the prac- 
tice of medicine at Pineville. Bucks county, 
removing later to Forest Grove. Bucking- 
Iiam township, where he practiced until his 
death, September 2. 1898. His widow re- 
sides with her father at Doylestown. They 
were the parents of three children. Emma 
K.. born February 4. 1880; Carl Benjamin, 
born February i, 1882; and Christine Sar- 
ah, born November 9, 1885. Emma K. 
Brodie married Charles Sponsler. and re- 
sides in Washington, D. C. Carl Benja- 
min Brodie is an employee of the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad Company, and also resides 
in Washington. 

Carl B. Krause. Jr.. only son of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, born in Philadelphia, 
November 21, 1865. was educated at the 
Friends' School at Fifteenth and Green 
streets, and at Pierce's Business College. 
After the completion of his education he 
assisted his father in the carpet manufactur- 
ing business, and later became a partner 



under the firm name of Charles B. Krause 
& Son. He resided for a time in Doyles- 
town township, where he had charge of a 
farm owned by his father, but in 1902 rt- 
turned to Philadelphia, and now has charge 
of the business at the new factory. He 
married, September 21, 1887, Pauline Priz- 
endense, daughter of Jacob Prizendense, of 
Hilltown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and 
they are the parents of four children : Carl 
Benjamin. Jacob Frederick, Anna Christine 
and Christine Helen. 



SAMUEL SCHAFFER. A list of the 
experienced and successful farmers of 
Bucks county would be incomplete without 
the name of Samuel Schaffer. Mr. Schaffer 
is a representative of that large and force- 
ful German element which includes so large 
a number of the best citizens of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Conrad Schaffer was born in i8or in 
South Germany, and at the age of thirty 
emigrated to the United States. After liv- 
ing for a while in Philadelphia he found 
himself, by reason of the great financial de- 
pression which then prevailed throughout 
the country, out of employment, and so left 
the city, thinking that in the country his 
chances might be better. He walked as far 
as The Turk, an inn in Bucks county, where 
he was given food and lodging for the night. 
The next day he walked to Hilltown, and 
there obtained work at his trade, which 
was that of a mason. After a few weeks 
he went to New Britain, where he also 
worked ai his trade, and as he was known 
to be an industrious and thrifty man he 
was offered a small farm, which he bought 
without a dollar, giving notes on small 
payments. He then sent for his wife, whom 
he had left in Philadelphia, and they set- 
tled on the farm. By his skillful manage- 
H'ent of the property, together with close 
application to his trade, he was enabled in 
a lew years to pay tU the notes and to be- 
come the possessor of an unincumbered 
estate. He and his wife were the parents 
of one child, Samuel, mentioned at length 
hereinafter. This worthy couple were loved 
and respected during their lives, and when 
they died were sincerely mourned. Mrs. 
Schaffer before her marriage was Sarah 
Schmidt, and was, like her husband, a na- 
tive of Germany. 

Samuel Schaffer, son of Conrad and 
Sarah (Schmidt) Schaffer, was born Au- 
gust II, 1834, in Kew Britain township, 
where his boyhood and youth were spent in 
assisting his father in the labors of the 
farm. He succeeded in time to the owner- 
ship of the homestead, and has for many 
years led the happy uneventful life of a 
prosperous farmer. His time has been 
spent in cultivating his paternal acres in the 
best manner, in reaping the results of his 
labors, and in discharging the duties of" a 
good citizen. In politics he is a Democrat. 
He and his family are members of the dial- 



682 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



font Lutheran church. Mr. Schaffer mar- 
ried Katie, daughter of Leonard and Peggy 
(Rockwood) Felty, of Montgomery county, 
and their children are : Annie M., who 
was born March 19, 1875 ; and Frank L., 
born August 28, 1877, who married Katie, 
daughter of John Rumler; they have one 
child, Samuel J. 



HENRY STACKHOUSE, born 
March 12, 1862, in the house which he 
yet occupies, represents one of the old 
families of Bucks county, and the farm 
which he owns and operates came by 
purchase into possession of his great- 
grandfather, Stephen Stackhouse, who 
was born August 12, 1761. After arriv- 
ing at years of maturity he purchased 
what has since been known as the old 
family homestead, and to its develop- 
ment and improvement he gave his at- 
tention throughout his remaining days. 
He also followed the weaver's trade, do- 
ing considerable business for people of 
the neighborhood at a time when much 
of the weaving was done by the hand 
loom. He was married September 15, 
1784, to Amy Van Dycke, who died Sep- 
tember 20, 1804. Their children were: 
Sarah, born February 10, 1785; John, 
February 18, 1787; Mary, October 14, 
1788; James R., November 21, 1790; 
Stephen, April 9, 1793; Samuel, born No- 
vember 28, 1794; Ann, January 30, 1797; 
Amy, October 9, 1799; and Elizabeth, 
born March 19, 1802, died in 1901, aged 
ninety-nine years and six months. 

James R. Stackhouse, second son of 
Stephen Stackhouse, was bojn in Bucks 
county, November 21, 1790. In his early 
childhood his parents removed to the 
farm w'hich is now occupied by Henry 
Stackhouse. He, too, learned the weav- 
er's trade and followed that pursuit in 
connection with farming throughout his 
active life. He was married on the 27th 
of April, 1815, to Martha Watson, and 
they had four children: Miles W., born 
March 6, i8t6: Mary Ann, December 25, 
1818: Henry W., September 25, 1821; and 
Jacob W., September. 30, 1826. 

Henry W. Stackhouse, son of James 
R. Stackhouse, was a native of Falls 
township, and throughout his business 
career followed farming, giving his time 
and attention to the cultivation and im- 
provement of the home property until 
1890, when he retired from its manage- 
ment. However, he continued to reside 
on the old homestead until his death, 
which occurred July 8, 1891. He was 
married twice. On the nth of Novem- 
ber, 1847, he wedded Mary SaV 
terthwaite, who died June 27, 1851. On 
the 24th of March, 1859, he married Ann 
Satterthwaite, and they had four chil- 
dren: Elizabeth S., February 23, i860; 
Henry. March 12. 1862; Tacie. January 
IS, 1865; and Mary, April 12, 1869. 



Henry Stackhouse, only son of Henry 
W. and Ann (Satterthwaite) Stackhouse^ 
occupying the ancestral farm, is ac- 
counted one of the leading agriculturists 
of his community. He obtained a public 
school education, and assisted his father 
in the operation of the farm until the 
latter's retirement, when he assumed the 
management of the home place, which 
he has since conducted. He purchased 
this property in 1894, ^rid it has now 
through four generations been in the 
family. Possessing good business abil- 
ity and laudable ambition to utilize hi* 
- farming interests to the best advantage, 
he has year by year acquired therefron^ 
a comfortable competence. On the 27th 
of September, 1893, Mr. Stackhouse mar- 
ried Miss Anna L. Tomlinson, a daugh- 
ter of Francis and Emily A. Tomlinson, 
and they have one child, Emily A., borrk 
September 9, 1899. 



HENRY S. SHELLY. The descen- 
dant of a race of farmers, and himself a 
successful agriculturist, is Henry S. 
Shelly, of Levin. Mr. Shelly is a grand- 
son of Michael Shelly, a native of Le- 
high county, Pennsylvania, wdio was a 
hfelong farmer and a good citizen. His 
children were: Henry S. ; Samuel M., 
mentioned at length hereinafter; Chris- 
tian; Barbara; and Elizabeth. 

Samuel M. Shelly, son of Michael 
Shelly, was born December 6, 1796, in 
Milford township, and devoted himself 
to agricultural pursuits. For many years 
he cultivated his own farm in his native 
township, but finally sold it and moved 
to Plumstead township, where he passed 
the remainder of his life. He was a 
member of the Mennonite church, in 
wdiich for many years ne held the office 
of deacon, and also served as treasurer. 
He married Catharine Strunk, who was 
born January 29, 1797, the marriage tak- 
ing place March 2, 1819. The following 
children were born to them: Elizabeth, 
Barbara, Thomas, Charles, Samuel and 
Henry S., mentioned at length herein- 
after. The death of Mrs. Shelly, the 
mother of the family, occurred when she 
had reached the age of seventy-two 
years, eight months and eighteen days. 
Her husband survived her but a few 
years, passing away December 25, 1873. 
aged seventy-seven years. None stood 
higher in the esteem of their neighbors 
than did this truly worthy and estimable 
couple. 

Henry S. Shelly, son of Samuel M. and 
Catharine (Strunk) Shelly, was born De- 
cember 25. 1837, in Milford township, 
where he was educated in the public 
schools. Until attaining his majority 
he assisted his father in the cultivation 
of the homestead acres, and subsequently 
settled in Plumstead township. After a 
brief sojourn there he moved to Buck- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



683 



ingham township, where he remained 
five years. In 1873 he purchased the 
farm in New Britain township which was 
ever afterward his home. True to the 
traditions of his faniily, he followed the 
calling of a farmer, and in thus treading 
in the footsteps of his ancestors was ex- 
ceptionally successful. He was a Repub- 
lican in politics, and in matters of re- 
ligion adhered to the belief of his father, 
being a deacon in the Deep Run Men- 
nonite church. Mr. Shelly married, De- 
cember 25, 1862, Mary, born April 10, 
1844, daughter of Jacob M. and Sarah 
(Bishop) Leatherman, and thej' have 
three children: Sallie, who was born 
March 5, 1865; Jacob L., born December 
24, 1866; and George W., born February 
22, 1880. Henry S. Shelly died March 
17, 1905. deeply regretted throughout the 
community. 



THOMAS BROWN BEAUMONT. 
One of the old families of Bucks county 
is represented by Thomas Brown Beau- 
mont, of Solebury township. Mr. Beau- 
mont is a great-grandson of John Beau- 
mont, who was the first owner of the fam- 
ily estate in Upper Makefield township. 
He purchased the land in 1743 from John, 
Thomas and Richard Penn, sons of 
William Penn. His son, John A., was 
born January 10, 1757, married Elizabeth 
Skillman, and died February 10, 1834. 

John A. Beaumont, son of John and 
Elizabeth (Skillman) Beaumont, men- 
tioned above, was born May 29, 1820, on 
the homestead in Upper Makefield town- 
ship, where he passed his entire life. He 
married Catherine Basso, and of their 
six children three survive: Edward, who 
is a merchant of Philadelphia, residing 
at Woodburn Station, Bucks county; 
Catherine, who is the wife of Isaac Van 
Pelt, of New Hope; and Thomas Brown, 
mentioned at length hereinafter. Mr. 
Beaumont died January 28, 1885. 

Thomas Brown Beaumont, son of 
John A. and Catherine (Basso) Beau- 
mont, was born May 16, 1856, in Upper 
Makefield township, where he attended 
the common schools. One year after his 
marriage he moved to a farm in Wrights- 
town township, near Pineville, which he 
cultivated as a tenant. At the end of a 
year he returned to Upper Makefield 
township, settling on the farm now 
owned by Edward M. Slack, but then the 
property of Mr. Beaumont's father. 
After remaining there four years he took 
charge of the home farm for his brother, 
William H. Beaumont, who had become 
by purchase the owner of the estate. Two 
years later he removed to Brownsburg, 
where for three years he was variously 
employed. In 1893 he bought his pres- 
ent farm in Solebury township, where 
he has since resided. The estate com- 
prises one hundred and sixty-eight acres. 
He is a member of New Hope Conclave, 



No. 578, Improved Order of Heptasophs^ 
and is a Democrat in politics. Mr. Beau- 
mont married, December 25, 1882, Alice, 
daughter of William B. and Sarah 
(Quick) Strj'ker, of Lambertville, New 
Jersey, and on the maternal side a 
great-great-granddaughter of John Hart, 
one of the signers of the Declaration of 
Independence. Mr. and Mrs. Beaumont 
are the parents of three children: Addie,. 
who is the wife of George B. Carroll, of 
Trenton, New Jersey; John A., and 
Abraham Stryker, who reside at home. 



WILLIAM HENRY BROWN. 
Among the many highly cultivated and 
productive farms in the township of 
Bristol, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, is 
the one owned and operated by William 
H. Brown, the products of which are of 
excellent quality and find a ready sale in 
the nearby markets. 

William H. Brown was born in Flush- 
ing, Bensalem township, Bucks county^ 
January 28, i860, a son of William and 
Alice (Ramson) Brown, whose family 
consisted of eleven children, namely: 
I. Sarah, who became the wife of Jere- 
miah Spicer, and five children have been 
born to them: 2. George, who married 
Elizabeth Potts, and they are the parents 
of five children. 3. Ella, who became the 
wife of Nathan Austin, and mother of 
.hree children. 4. William Henry, men- 
tioned at length hereinafter. 5. Samuel, 
who married Louise Buckingham, and 
their faniily consists of two children. 
6. Herbert, who married Catharine Mc- 
Dermitt, and five children ha^-e been 
born to them. 7. Anna, deceased. 8. Eliza- 
beth, who became the wife of Franklin 
Cadwaladej, and rhother of four children. 
.). Joseph, deceased. 10. Richard, de- 
ceased. II. Thomas, deceased. The men 
whom their daughters married were all 
prosperous farmers, residents of Bucks 
county. 

William H. Brown attended the com- 
mon schools of his native village, Flush- 
ing, and his boyhood days were spent in 
obtaining a thorough knowledge of the 
various details of farm life, assisting his 
father on the old homestead, and this line 
of work he has followed continuously 
ever since, deriving a goodly income 
therefrom. He is the owner of fifty-four 
acres of land, of which he is justly proud. 

On November 23, 1879, Mr. Brown 
married Rachel Buckingham, of New 
Castle, Delaware, and they are the pa- 
rents of one child, Ira Coan, born De- 
cember 9. t886. who was educated at 
Holland, Eddington and Bristol, and is 
now assisting his father on the farm. 
Mrs. Brown is a daughter of John and 
Catharine (Holland) Buckingham, of 
Newark. Delaware, and a granddaughter 
of Abel and Louise (Lincoln) Holland, 
on the maternal side, and of Richard and 



684 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Mary (Chambers) Buckingham, on the 
paternal side. These ancestors were ac- 
tive business men, respected in the com- 
munities in which they lived. Louise 
(Lincoln) Holland was a first cousin of 
Abraham Lincoln, the martyred presi- 
dent. John Buckingham (father) was 
an architect and builder, and was well 
and widely known in his profession and 
as a benevolent and kind-hearted citizen. 
He was a member of the Society of 
Friends, and his wife was a communicant 
•of the Protestant Episcopal church. His 
death occurred ]March 20, 1892, and his 
wife passed away November 10, 1890. 
They were beloved and respected by all. 



JAMES R. BUCKMAN. The Buck- 
man family is of English origin, and was 
established in Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, by Abden Buckman, the grand- 
father of J. R. Buckman, who settled 
near Dolington. where he continued to 
follow farming throughout his remaining 
days, his death occurring in 1856. He 
was a member of the Society of Friends. 
In early manhood he wedded Sarah Har- 
vey, and their children were Samuel; 
Ellen, wife of Robert Longshore; Benja- 
min; and Margaret, wife of William 
Carr. 

Benjamin Buckman, son of Abden 
Buckman, was born in Dolington, Bucks 
county, in 1797. and received a liberal 
â– education, attending the common schools 
of this locality and a boarding school at 
Burlington, New Jersey. When he was 
but twenty years of age he began teach- 
ing in the latter state, and followed that 
profession for several years. After his 
marriage he purchased a farm in Evesam 
township, Burlington county,. New Jer- 
sey, where he spent his remaining days, 
conducting his agricultural interests in 
connection with the furtherance of many 
public enterprises. He was recognized 
as one of the leading and influential citi- 
zens of his community. In politics a 
stanch Republican, he held the office of 
assessor of his township for several 
years, and was likewise a justice of the 
peace and notary public. In 1856 he 
was elected surrogate of Burlington 
county for a term of five years, and about 
1862 was appointed internal revenue col- 
lector of that county by President Lin- 
coln. He married IMiss Ann Dobbins, of 
New Jersey, and their only child was 
James R. For his second wife he chose 
Miss Keziah Peacock, and his death oc- 
curred in Burlington, New Jersey, on the 
31st of August, 1870, when he was about 
seventy-three years of age. 

James R. Buckman was born at Mount 
Laurel, New Jersey, March 10, 1827. and 
stipplemented his preliminary educa- 
tional privileges afforded by the comrnon 
schools by study in the Friends boarding 
school at Bristol. He began life for him- 



self as a farmer, and in 1861 purchased 
the farm at Wrightstown, Bucks county, 
whereon he remained for sixteen years, 
successfully conducting agricultural pur- 
suits. On the expiration of that period 
he sold this property and removed to 
Smg Sing, New York, where he re- 
mained for seven years in the employ of 
the commissioners of the state, building 
a dam across the Croton river. In the 
spring of 1884 he returned to Bucks 
county, and for eight years had charge 
of the Presbyterian and Methodist Epis- 
copal church and also the Morrisville 
school as janitor. Since that time he has 
lived retired, enjoying a well earned 
rest, for his entire life has been charac- 
terized by unfaltering labor and dili- 
gence, and it is through this means that 
he gained the competence that now en- 
ables him to rest from further labor. He 
married Miss Mary Fort, a daughter of 
John and Alice Fort, of Penn ]Manor. 



IRA H. CORNELL. The grandfather 
of Ira H. Cornell was James C. Cornell, 
and he was born and reared in Bucks coun- 
ty. Pennsylvania, where he became one of 
the best farmers in this famous farming 
section. He married Judith Everett, by 
whom children were born as follows: Julia; 
Joseph; Elizabeth; Sarah; Hiram; John; 
Theodore ; Louisa. 

Hiram Cornell, son of James (i) was 
born in Holland, Northampton township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in October. 
1834. He followed farming during his en- 
tire life. He married Henrietta S. Fetter, 
daughter of Geo. C. Fetter. By this union 
one child was born, Ira H. 

Ira H. Cornell, son of Hiram and Hen- 
rietta (Fetter) Cornell, was born January 
18. 1861. He obtained his education at 
Newton Academy and the State Normal 
School at Millersville. In early life lie be- 
gan farming, and has made that his life 
vocation, but has also become a popular 
auctioneer, and has "cried" nearly one hun- 
dred sales per year. Politically he is a 
Republican. He has held the office of school 
director for six years, and is now treasurer 
of the district. In 1887 he married Miss 
Anna, daughter of Mahlon Balderston. by 
whom two children were born : Edna B., 
February 16, 1890; and Raymond C. Sep- 
tember I, 1893. 



CHARLES HOWELL CARVER, a 
prominent business man of Falsington, is 
a lineal descendant of William Carver, who 
came from England in the ship "Samson" 
about the same time as John and Mary 
(Lane) Carver, of Byberry. William Car- 
ver married, November 14, 1689 (old style), 
at Middlctown monthly meeting of Friends. 
Joan .Kinsey. After her death he married 
in 1723 at Falls. Bucks countv. Pennsyl- 
vania. Grace Carter, a widow, whose 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



685 



maiden name was Paxson, a native of Bris- 
tol. William Carver died at Byberry, Penn- 
sylvania, May, 1736. The line of descent 
from the pioneer ancestor is as follows : 
William, who married Elizabeth Walms- 
ley ; Joseph, who married ; John, who mar- 
ried Ann Carver; John, who married Mary 
Martindale; Adin, father of Charles H 
Carver, who was born January 4, 1830, 
near Buckingham, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania. November 21, 1850, he married 
Sarah Howell, daughter of Charles and 
Sarah (Vansant) Howell. 

Charles H. Carver, the next in line of 
descent, was born in Buckingham township, 
Bucks count}', Pennsylvania, September 11, 
185 1. He now owns and operates the Fal- 
sington Creamery, which separates milk 
from cream and pasteurizes milk for the 
Trenton market. As a citizen he has evei 
been alert, earnest and conscientious, keenly 
alive to everything which concerns in any 
way the well being of the town and county. 
January 9, 1873, Mr. Carver married Anna 
M. Bailey, a daughter of , George and Ann 
(Bailey) Bailey, and a graduate of Millers- 
ville State Normal School. Their children 
are as follows : Anna B., born November 
9, 1873, graduated from \Vest Chester Nor- 
mal School, and July 26, 1893, became the 
wife of Charles T. Windle, son of David 
C. and Annie (Thomas) Windle ; residence 
Washington, D. C. Rachel B., born Jan- 
uary 22, 1876, a graduate from the Phila- 
delphia School of Design. Edward L., born 
December 30, 1878, died February 19, 1881. 



AARON CLYMER DETWEILER. One 
of the representative citizens of Quaker- 
town, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and a 
man who is held in high regard by his 
fellow townsmen and who takes an active 
interest in community afifairs, is Aaron 
Clymer Detweiler. Mr. Detweiler is the 
grandson of Jacob and Magdalena 
(Heist) Detweiler, whose son Henry was 
born on the home place in Upper Milford 
township, Lehigh county, April 24, 1817. 
Henry Detweiler was by occuoation a boot 
and shoemaker, but later relinquished his 
trade in order to follow farming. In 1845 
he removed to Milford township, where he 
purchased a farm comprising seventy acres, 
which was formerly the Detweiler home- 
stead. November 10, 1839, he married Anna 
Clymer, daughter of Henry and Mary 
(Shaffer) C^aiier, and nine children were 
born to them, live sons, one of whom was 
Aaron C. (mentioned at length hereinafter), 
and four daughters. 

Aaron Clymer Detweiler, son of Henry 
and Anna (Clymer) Detweiler, was born 
August 6, 1842. on a farm then owned and 
cultivated by his father in Richland town- 
ship, on the road leading from Quakertown 
to Spinnerstown. He was afforded but a 
limited education, received in the district 
school, which he attended irregularly until 
his twenty-first year. In the meantime he 



was engaged in cigarmaking and assisted 
his father with the farm work. In 1866 
Mr. Detweiler was married to Annie, 
daughter of John and Elizabeth Taylor, and 
settled at the home of his wife's parents, 
where he remained for one year, after which 
time he removed to the Detweiler farm, 
which he conducted on shares for his father. 
He remained there until 1886, when he re- 
moved to Quakertown and engaged in the 
butcher and provision business, with his 
brother, Mahlon, continuing for nine years. 
In 1899 he was engaged as janitor of the 
Central, or High School, of Quakertown, 
in which capacity he is still engaged, and 
the duties of which positPon he acquits with 
credit to himself and satisfaction to his 
employers. In politics Mr. Detweiler is a 
Democrat, and has always taken an active 
interest in the affairs of that party. He is 
a member of the Trinity Lutheran church 
of Quakertown. 



HARRY PAIST DO AN. For more 
than a century the family of which Harry 
Paist Doan is a representative has been 
resident in Upper Makefield township. The 
first settler in that region w^as Benjamin 
Doan, who in 1800 purchased a large tract 
of land within the limits of the township, 
paying for it twenty dollars an acre. His 
wife was Sarah Kirk. 

Amos Doan, son of Benjamin and Sarah 
(Kirk) Doan, was born December 8, 1817, 
on the homestead, of which, in the course 
of time, he became the owner. In 1889 
he relinuqished the cares of an active life, 
and has since made his home with his chil- 
dren. He is now, at the age of eighty- 
seven, residing with his son, Harry Paist 
Doan. His wife was Eliza Paist, and their 
children are : Edward H., who is a practic- 
ing physician of Newtown ; Eleazer T., 
who lives in Upper Makefield township; 
Benjamin F., who is a resident of Wrights- 
town township ; and Harry Paist, mentioned 
at length hereinafter. These sons are of 
the seventh generation of Doans in Bucks 
county, and also of the seventh generation 
that owned the old homestead farm, which 
is still in the family. 

Harry Paist Doan, son of Amos and 
Eliza (Paist) Doan, was born November 3. 
1857, on the old homestead, and was edu- 
cated in the common schools. For two 
years after his marriage he cultivated the 
farm for his father, and then took a western 
trip, going as far across the continent as 
Montana. After an absence of a year he 
returned and purchased the Roberts farm, 
consisting of sixty-seven acres, where he 
has since resided. He is a member of 
Newtown Lo4ge, No. 335, Knights of 
Pythias, and is a Republican in politics. 
Mr. Doan married, October 14, 1880. Eda, 
daughter of Harrison and Ella (Walton) 
Hellyer, deceased, of Upper Makefield 
township, and two childnen have been born 
to them : Elsie V.. deceased ; and Marcus 
P., who resides at home. 



686 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



JOHN W. COOPER, a representative of 
Ihat class of men known as agriculturists 
whose energy, uprightness and progressive 
spirit make them valuable citizens of w'hat- 
ever community they cast their lot with, 
is a native of- Pineville, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, born May i8, 1880, a son of 
Stephen K. and Ellen (Twining; Cooper. 

John W. Cooper was reared in his na- 
tive village and acquired a practical educa- 
tion in the John M. George school of New- 
town township and at Pierce's Business 
College, graduating from the latter insti- 
tution in 1899. Shortly afterward he came 
to Wrightstown township and assumed 
â– charge of the old home farm, which for 
many years was the home of his grand- 
father. Liking the occupation and being 
perfectly familiar with it, it was natural 
that he should select it for his life calling 
when the time came for him to act inde- 
pendently, and by his progressive methods 
and efficient management he has achieved 
a large degree of prosperity. Mr. Cooper 
was reared in the Friends' Meeting, but is 
not a member of any religious body. He 
is a Republican in politics. Mr. Cooper 
married, October 15, 1902, Anna B. Fish, 
daughter of John T. Fish, of Falls town- 
ship, ex-registrar of wills, and a prominent 
retired business man. They are the parents 
of one child, Theresa Ellen, born October 
^o, 1903. 



MILTON KLINE ERDMAN. Promi- 
nent among the business men of Quaker- 
town is Milton Kline Erdman, grandson of 
John Erdman, whose son George was born 
February 15, 1818, in Milford township, 
where he attended the common schools and 
learned the carpenter's trade. For many 
years he followed this trade in conjunction 
with the building business. He was also 
at one time an undertaker, and during the 
latter part of his life was engaged in busi- 
ness as a manufacturer of cigar boxes. He 
was thrice married, his second wife being 
Mary, daughter of Georp-e and Susan 
(Haustach) Kline, and a native of Bucks 
county. Mr. and Mrs. Erdman were the 
parents of a son and daughter : Milton 
K., mentioned at length hereinafter ; and 
Anna Maria, married Dr. E. K. Blank, 
of Hatfield, Montgomery county, and was 
the mother of two daughters — Jeanetta, who 
married and lives at Vinemont, Lancaster 
county; and Elisa. The death of Mrs. 
Blank, the mother, occurred in 1897. 

Milton Kline Erdman, son of George and 
Mary (Kline) Erdman, was T)orn January 
14, 1850, on a farm in Milford township. 
When he was but a year old the family 
moved to Trumbauersville, where they re- 
mained until 1864, in which year they took 
vip their abode in Sellersville. While in 
Trumbauersville he attended a boarding 
school, and in 1867 went to Quakertown, 
having in that year graduated. In Quaker- 
town he entered the store of James Cress- 



man & Company, dealers in general mer- 
chandise. After remaining there one year 
he worked for a time with his father in 
the manufacture of cigar boxes, and in 1876 
went to Pennsburg, where he engaged in 
mercantile business under the firm name of 
Hillegas & Erdman. The following year 
he sold his interest and returned to Quaker- 
town, where he became a hardware mer- 
chant, his place of business until 1895 being 
the store now occupied by Howard Stone- 
back. In the above-mentioned year he re- 
tired from that field of endeavor, having 
reaped its reward. His business had been 
from the first a thriving one, and he stood 
at the head of an extensive and flourish- 
ing trade. Since 1896 he has been engaged 
in the coal, feed and hay business. He 
is a member of the board of directors of 
the Building and Loan Association. Mr. 
Erdman is a good citizen, and has served 
the community as assessor, judge of elec- 
tion, inspector and delegate to the county 
convention. He is a member and past master 
of Quakertown Lodge, No. 512, F. and A. 
M., and also belongs to the Knights of 
Malta, of which order he is a charter mem- 
ber. His political affiliations are with the 
Democrats. He and his wife are members 
of the Lutheran church, in which for thirty- 
three years he has held the position of 
organist. 

Mr. Erdman married, November 14, 
1873, Mary Elizabeth Springer, and they 
are the parents of one son, George Fred- 
erick, who was born December 26, 1876, 
and received his preparatory education in 
Quakertown, subsequently entering Muhlen- 
berg College, from which he graduated in 
1898. He is now engaged in the printing 
business in AUentown, and married, July 
30, 1899, Mame, daughter of James Grader. 
Mrs. Erdman is a great-granddaughter of 
John Springer, a farmer, whose son George 
was born January 18, 1786, and was a resi- 
dent of Bucks county, where he was en- 
gaged in general milling and building. He 
married Katherine, daughter of George 
Trollinger. who was the proprietor of a 
hotel in Trollinger's lane, now Carpenter 
Street, Germantown, Philadelphia. The 
marriage took place October 11, 1807, and 
the following children were born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Springer : i. Enos, born July 29, 
1809, died unmarried. 2. Sophia, born No- 
vember 3, 1812, married Amos Jacoby, 
of Sellersville, w'here their son, Enos Jacob, 
now lives. 3. John, mentioned at length 
hereinafter. 4. One who died in infancy. 
5. Simon, born June 12, 1817. died. 6. 
Maria, born April 29, 1819, married Daniel 
Althouse. Mr. Springer, the father, died 
June 3, 18 — . 

John Springer, son of George and Kath- 
erine (Trollinger) Springer, was born Oc- 
tober 9, 1815. a few miles from Sellersville. 
He attended the subscription school, and 
then learned the wheelwright's trade. He 
was a resident of Rockhill township, where 
he was much respected. He married, Octo- 
ber 18, 1846, Hannah, daughter of Henry 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



687 



and Elizabeth (Harwick) Snycler, and they 
were the parents of the following children : 
I. Elenora, born September 5, 1847, mar- 
ried William Smith, of Philadelphia. 2. 
Mary Elizabeth, born August 27, 1849, at- 
tended the common schools, and remained 
at home until her marr-iage to Milton Kline 
Erdman, mentioned above. 3. Alfred, born 
September 27, 1851, married Kate Eilen- 
berger, of Stroudsburg. 4. Anna Catherine, 
born February 14, 1853, married Milton G. 
Erney, a cigar manufacturer. 5. Died in 
infancy. 6. Sallie Amelia, born December 
â– 8, i8b6, married Orlando Bach Sellers, 
then of Sellersville, now railroad agent at 
Perkasie. 



MOSES HARVEY IVINS, one of the 
•enterprising citizens of Langhorne Manor, 
whose success in life has been mainly due 
to his own .exertions and business qualifica- 
tions, is a lineal descendant of Isaac Ivins, 
a native of England, who left his native 
land about 1700 to seek a home in the new 
world. He located in Mansfield, Burling- 
ton county. New Jersey, where he estab- 
lished a country store from which he de- 
rived a comfortable livelihood for his fam- 
ily, which consisted of his wife, whose 
maiden name was Sarah Johnson, and ten 
children. His death occurred July 19, 1768. 
Aaron Ivins, son of Isaac and Sarah (John- 
son) Ivins, married Ann Cheshire, and 
among their children was a son Aaron, who 
was united in marriage to Hope Aronson, 
and they in turn were the parents of a 
son Edward Aronson, who married Annie 
Brown. 

Moses Harvey Ivins, son of Edward 
Aranson and Annie (Brown) Ivins, was 
born in Falls township, Bucks county, 
March 15, 1862. He attended the public 
schools adjacent to his home, the Friends' 
Central School, Philadelphia, and Ryder & 
Stewart's Business College of Trenton. 
New Jersey. The early years of his life 
were spent on his father's farm, whereon 
he remained until 1890, w^hen he engaged 
in the various branches of seed farming on 
his own account. He pursued this line of 
work successfully for eleven years, in Falls 
township, after which he disposed of it and 
since then has been engaged in various 
iinancial undertakings of a public and bene- 
ficial nature. Mr. Ivins takes a keen in- 
terest in all that pertains to the welfare of 
the community in which he resides, and the 
esteem in which he is held is evidenced by 
the fact that he was chosen a member of 
the borough council. He adheres to the 
tenets of the Friends' faith, and his politi- 
can affiliations are with the Republican 
party. He is a member of Bristol Lodge. 
. No. 25, A. Y. F. and A. M., of which 
body he is past master. He is eligible to 
membership in the Sons of the Revolution 
through General Jacob Brown, of Bucks 
â– county. His wife is a member of the Dela- 
ware County Chapter of the Daughters of 



the American Revolution through Second 
Lieutenant Cornelius Vansant. 

On April 8, 1890, Mr. Ivins married 
Sarah Buckman Parsons, of Falls town- 
ship, daughter of Charles xA.nderson and 
]\Iary (Buckman) Parsons, and grand- 
daughter on the paternal side of Isaac and 
Lydia (Anderson) Parsons, the latter named 
dying at the age of one hundred years and 
one day. On the maternal side she is a 
granddaughter of Spencer Worthington and 
Sarah (Williamson) Buckman, and great- 
granddaughter of Mahlon and Charity 
(Vansant) Williamson. Their children 
are : Margaret Parsons, born March 29, 
1891 ; Maurice Harvey, born April 18, 1896; 
Ralph Stanley and Alice Loraine (twins), 
born March 27, 1898. These children are 
being educated by a private tutor and in 
the public schools of Langhorne Manor. 



EDWIN K. HALDEMAN, one of the 
most popular men in the community in 
which he lives is Edwin K. Haldeman, ol 
Chalfont. He is a great-grandson of Chris- 
tian Haldeman, one of three brothers who 
emigrated from Germany in quest of homes 
across the sea. Christian setiled in War- 
rington township, where many of his de- 
scendants still reside. 

Daniel Haldeman, son of Christian 
Haldeman, was born in 1799, on the Halde- 
man homestead, situated on Pickerton road, 
in Warrington township. This estate, which 
has now passed out of the possession of the 
family, has many interesting relics of past 
times, among them a corn-crib which was 
built one hundred and fifty years ago but is 
still in use and in a good state of preserva- 
tion. Mr. Haldeman spent his life in agricul- 
tural pursuits. He was a public-spirited 
citizen and a stanch Republican. His 
church membership w^as with the Mennonite 
society in Doylestown. He married Magda- 
line Myers, and among their children was 
a son Charles, mentioned at length herein- 
after. Mr. and Mrs. Haldeman closed their 
long and useful lives rich in the love and 
respect of all who knew them. 

(iharles Haldeman, son of Daniel and 
Magdaline (Myers) Haldeman, married 
Mary, who was born August 31, 1826, in 
New Britain township, daughter of Simion 
Kratz. Their children were : i. Sarah Ann, 
who married Henry M., son of William 
Fretz, of Tinicum. 2. Daniel, who married 
Ella, daughter of Christian Haldeman, and 
had three children, Edgar, Florence and 
Daniel. 3. Emma, who became the wife of 
Abraham G., son of Noah Ruth, of New 
Britain, and died in March, 1888, leaving 
one child, Mary H. 4. Edwin K., mentioned 
at length hereinafter. 5. William, who is 
deceased. 

Edwin K. Haldeman, son of Charles and 
Mary (Kratz) Haldeman. was born May 11, 
1862, in Warrington township, and on Octo- 
ber 12, 1893, entered the service of Abra- 



688 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ham M. Moyer in order to learn the l)usi- 
ness of a butcher. In tlie spring of i8yt), 
after becoming thoroughly prohcieni, he 
purchased Mr. Moyer's business, iiiciuwiiig 
residence and buildings, and carries on a 
brisk trade both in the town and in the 
surrounding country. His fellow-citizens 
have evinced their regard for him by choos- 
ing him to till the olhce of school director 
for three years. Politically he is a Re- 
publican. He is a member of the New 
Brilani Baptist church. Mr. Haldeman 
married January i, 1887, Emma J., daugh- 
ter of Albert D. Wilgus, of Warrington 
township. Mrs. Haldeman died April 6, 
1893. leaving one child, Mabel W. Mr. 
Haldeman afterward married Bertha, 
daughter of Harry F. and Mary Jacoby, 
and they have two children : Mary Mildred, 
born April 25, 1900; and Charles Herbert, 
born -September 26, 1902. 



WILLIAM W. YARDLEY was de- 
scended from one of the most prominent 
early families of Pennsylvania, his ancestors 
having been contemporaries with William 
Penn and active in the material, educational 
and moral upbuilding of the colony. He 
was of the fifth generation of the family 
in America, and traced his ancestry back 
in direct line to Thomas Yardley, his great- 
great-grandfather, who was a native of 
England, whence he emigrated to America 
in 1704, settling in Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania. He purchased the tract of land 
upon which William W. Yardley w^as born, 
lived and died, and it is still in possession 
of the family. Among his ten children was : 

(II) William Yardley, who married 
Sarah Kirkbride, a daughter of Mahlon and 
Mary Kirkbride, on the 31st of March, 
1756. 

(HI) Mahlon Yardley, son of William 
and Sarah (Kirkbride) Yardley, wedded 
Elizabeth Brown, daughter of John and 
Anna Winfield Brown,. April 6, 1787. They 
had eight children, including 

(IV) Charles Yardley, who was born 
September 4, 1802, and was married March 
25, 1830, to Mary Anna Warner. They 
had five children : Willis, Franklin, Robert 
Winfield, Edwin and William W. 

(V) William W. Yardley was born Sep- 
tember 26, 1841, at the old family home- 
stead in the borough of Yardley. A part 
of the house was built by his grandfather, 
Mahlon Yardley, about 1790, although it 
has been enlarged and improved since that 
date, and is now a modern, commodious 
and attractive residence. Here William 
Yardley devoted his entire attention to his 
home and family, giving little time to out- 
side affairs. He followed agricultural pur- 
suits with good success, and was thus en- 
abled to provide comfortably for his wife 
and children. He had not yet, however, 
completed a half century when he was called 
to his final rest, September 14, 1890. On 
the 30th of August, 1877, William Yard- 



ley was married to Aliss Mary D. Baily, 
a daughter of Samuel H. and Maria Baily, 
'and they became the parents of five chil- 
dren : Anna W., born August 4, 1878, died 
June 14, 1903 ; George W., born November 
5, 1879, who was educated in the Yardley 
high school and trained on the school-ship 
"Saratoga," being now second ofiicer on 
the transport "Sheridan," running between 
Manila and San Francisco; Lillian B., born 
October 21, 1880; Elma, born February 27, 
1883, and was married September 2, 1903, 
to R. Irving Tobey, general manager of the 
Cold Springs Bleachmg Company of Yard- 
ley; and Mary A., born January 3, 1884. 



EDWARD INSINGER, the proprietor 
of the Continental Hotel at Yardley, des* 
cends from a Swiss family. His father, 
Albert Insinger, emigrated from Switzer- 
land to America about 1840, accompanied 
by his wife and three children, settling in 
Philadelphia. By trade he was an engraver 
of designs for printing calico, having 
learned that business in his native land. 
After reaching the new world he began 
work on Third and Greene streets in Phila- 
delphia, making engravings for bedsteads, 
and occupied that position for about four or 
five years. He then removed to German- 
town, where he engaged in the carriage 
painting business until 1869, after which he 
began the manufacture of carriages on ^lis 
own account in that city. He succeeded in 
developing a profitable enterprise, owing to 
the excellence of his output, and con- 
tinued in the trade until his death, which 
occurred in 1875. His business career was 
marked by steady progression, for he had 
little capital when he came to America, and 
at his death was the possessor of a very 
comfortable competence. He belonged to 
the German Red Men of Germantown, in 
which he filled all the offices. While liv- 
ing in Philadelphia he served as a commis- 
sioned officer in the state militia. His wife 
bore the maiden name of Margaretta Brun- 
er, and they were the parents of seven chil- 
dren, three of whom were born in Switzer- 
land — Lena, the eldest, is the wife of Martin 
Craig ; Albert enlisted for service in the 
civil war, and for three years and three 
months was a member of Company E, 
Ninety-fifth Regiment of Pennsylvania Vol- . 
unteers ; Sophia, is the wife of Alford Lans- 
dale; Alford is a machinist at Wayne 
Junction. Germantown, and is now acting 
as general manager of the Insinger Manu- 
facturing Company; Edward is the next 
of the family; Emile is a carriage builder in 
Germantown ; Clara P. is the wife of Xaier 
Harte. 

Edward Insinger, whose name introduces 
this record, was born in Germantown, Penn- 
sylvania, September 3, 1852, and acquired a 
common-school education. In early life he 
learned the trades of carriage building and 
blacksmithing wMth his father, and W'as 
thus employed for about six years,- after 




&cu4>ct^/</. £y^x^^X'.^^:jyx? 



J 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



689 



which he began business on his own ac- 
count as a dealer in stationery and cigars. 
From the beginning the new enterprise 
prospered, and he conducted his trade for 
twenty years, having a very large patron- 
age. He was also distributor at German- 
town for the Philadelphia morning papers 
for ten years. In 1895 he purchased the 
Continental Hotel at Yardley, of Aaron 
Slack, being the second proprietor of this 
hotel since its establishment in 1866. ' He 
has found favor with the traveling public, 
making his a good hostelry which secures 
a liberal patronage. Mr. Insinger is well 
known and popular in fraternal organiza- 
tions, belonging to Washington Council, 
No. I, Junior Order of United American 
Mechanics at Germantown, and is the third 
oldest member living of this council in 
which he has passed all the chairs; Sem- 
inole Tribe of Red Men, No. 30, of Ger- 
mantown ; the Patriotic Order Sons of 
America, No. 345, also of Germantown ; 
and INIitchell Lodge, No. 296, F. & A. M., 
of that place. 

In 1874 ^^^- Insinger was married to 
Miss Hannah Mary Longacre, who is des- 
cended from one of the old families, of 
Chester county in the maternal line. Her 
grandfather was Ezekiel Powell, who was 
a prominent man of Chester Springs, and 
her grandmother was a member of the 
Moses family. Mr. and Mrs. Insinger have 
one daughter, Margaret Lillian, who is a 
graduate of the Germantown public school 
and also of the Abrahanson Business Col- 
lege of that place. For the past twelve 
years she has been employed as a stenog- 
rapher by William P. Buchanan, of Phila- 
delphia. 



JOHN IRWIN, a practical and progres- 
sive citizen of Bristol, Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, is a worthy representative of that 
class of men born in foreign countries, who, 
upon their settlement in the town of their 
adoption, become "loyal and zealous citizens 
and are active in promoting all measures 
that conduce to the general welfare. He 
is a native of Kings Court, county Cavan, 
Ireland, born April 5, 1866, a son of John 
and Margaret (Simpson) Irwin. John 
Irwin (father) came to the United States 
from his home in Ireland when a boy, but 
after a residence of ten years in the new 
world returned to his native isle, where 
he spent the remainder of his days. He 
was largely interested in the livery business 
in Kings Court, Ireland, this proving a 
remuneratiye means of livelihood. About 
the year i860 he married Margaret Simp- 
son, and eleven children were born to them, 
eight of whom are living at the present 
time (1904). Mr. Irwin died in 1898; his 
wife passed away in 1891. 

The national school at Kings Court. Ire- 
land, afforded John Irwin an opportunity 
for acquiring a good English education. In 
1888, when twenty-two years of age, he 
emigrated to the United States, and his 
44-3 



first position in the land of his adoption 
was that of clerk in a hotel in the city of 
Philadelphia, where he remained one year. 
In April, 1889, he served as coachman for 
D. Landreth & Sons, of Bristol, Pennsyl- 
vania, remaining in their employ five. years. 
He was then engaged for a short period 
of time in the wholesale grocery estab- 
lishment of B. S. Janney, Jr. & Co., of 
Philadelphia. From 1894 to 1900 he was 
engaged in the business of baker, becom- 
ing the proprietor of two establishments, 
through which he conducted an extensive 
and lucrative trade. After disposing of this 
business to advantage he became proprietor 
of the livery stable in connection with the 
Closson House, Bristol, and for several 
years he has received the largest patronage 
in this line of any man in the town. He 
is a member of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, and his political affiliations are 
with the Republican party. His strict integ- 
rity and energy are known and fully appre- 
ciated by the many who come in business 
contact with him. Mr. Irwin married, June 
6, 1894, Mary McLees, of Bristol, daugh- 
ter of Thomas and Rose McLees. Their 
children are : Margaret Elizabeth, born Sep- 
tember 13, 1895 ; Rose Thompson, born July 
26, 1897; George John, born August 17, 
1900; and Lillian Frances, born March 28, 
1904. 



" JOHN S. KRATZ, a practical and pro- 
gressive agriculturist, who was born in the 
township in which he now resides. New 
Britain, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, Feb- 
ruary 2, J840, is a son of Abraham and 
Sarah (Swartley) Kratz, and grandson of 
V'alentine Kratz. 

Abraham Kratz (father) was born near 
Naces Corner, New Britain township, Bucks 
county. He selected for his life work the 
occupation of farming, with which he was 
thoroughly familiar, and to this he ever 
afterward devoted his entire attention. He 
was a member of the Mennonite church, 
and, believing in the principles laid down 
in the Republican platform, he cast his vote 
for the candidates of that party. Mr. Kratz 
married, September 25, 1838, Sarah Swart- 
ley, daughter of John Swartley, and grand- 
daughter of Philip Swartley, and their chil- 
dren were as follows : John S., William, 
Mary Ann, Henry, Levi, Abraham, Jr., 
Oliver, and Jacob. The deaths of Mr. and 
Mrs. Kratz occurred respectively : May 9, 
1889, and in July, 1902. 

John S. Kratz received a common school 
education and was reared to agricultural 
pursuits. In 1888 he purchased the old 
Henry Miller homestead whereon he has 
since resided, and since attaining his twen- 
tieth year has devoted his attention ex- 
clusively to the produce commission busi- 
ness, which has proved most profitable. He 
has always manifested an interest in the 
public welfare, and he is particularly inter- 
ested in the advancement of the cause of 
education, serving as school director of 



690 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



his township for seventeen consecutive 
years. In religion and politics h^ has fol- 
lowed in ihe lootsteps of his father, hold- 
ing membership in the Alennonile church 
and affiliating with the Republican party. 
On November 18, 1869, Air. Kratz was 
married to Angeline Godshalk, who was 
born September 13, 1843, a daughter of 
Abraham and Mary (Keiff) Godshalk. 
Ten children were the issue of this union, 
as follows : i. Abraham, born December 
24, 1870, died August 3, 187 1 ; 2. Jennette, 
born April 6, 1872; 3. Harvey, born March 
29, 1874, married Annie Swartley, and they 
are the parents of three children: Edna, 
Viola, and Harrold ; 4. William, born Octo- 
ber I, 1875; 5. Mary, born May 29, 1877, 
died in May, 1879; 6. Sarah Emma, born 
September lO, 1879, wife of Herbert Lilly, 
and mother of one child : Annetta Lilly ; 
7. Ella, born October 16, 1881, died in Jan- 
uary, 1883; 8. Howard, born November 22, 
1883; Ida May, born September 28, 1885, 
died November 28, 1887; 10. John F., born 
April 9, 1888. 



AARON LEATHERMAN. Like many 
of the old families of Pennsylvania, the 
Leathermans sprang from German ancestry, 
representatives of the name coming from 
the fatherland to Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, during the pioneer epoch in the his- 
tory of this part of the state. The grand- 
father, Jacob Leatherman, was a farmer of 
Plumstead township. His son, Joseph 
Leatherman, father of our subject, was born 
in Bucks county, and throughout his busi- 
ness career carried on agricultural pursuits, 
remaining a life-long resident of Plumstead 
township. His political views were in ac- 
cord with the principles of the Whig party, 
and, enjoying the full confidence and respect 
of his fellowmen, he was chosen to the 
office of township supervisor, in which ca- 
pacity he served for a number of years. His 
religious faith was in accord with the 
teachings of the jNIennonite church. He 
was twice married, his first wife being Miss 
Sarah Myers, and there were eleven chil- 
dren by that wife: Joseph; Jacob ; Isaac ; 
Christian; Abram ; Esther, the wife of 
Elias Fretz; Sarah, the wife of John Fretz ; 
Mary, wife of Jacob Shaddinger ; Catherine, 
wife of John Halderman; Elizabeth, the 
wife of Henry D. Wismer ; and Annie H., 
who died at the age of twenty-four years. 
For his second wife Joseph Leatherman 
chose Mrs. Mary Slotter nee Godshall. 

Aaron Leatherman, the only child of the 
second marriage, was born in Plumstead 
township, March 6, 1837. Following the 
completion of his common-school course he 
gave his undivided attention to the work of 
the home farm, assisting his father in us 
operation until he had attained his majority. 
He then began teaching school, and for 
some time followed that profession in Bed- 
minster and Plumstead townships, especi- 
ally through the winter seasons, while in 
the summer months he gave his attention to 



agricultural pursuits. Among his other edu- 
cational labors he taught a singing school 
for some time, having much natural talent 
in that direction, as well as a good Under- 
standing of the principles of the art. He 
was also engaged in the butchering business 
for a number of years m Danboro, Pennsyl- 
vania, and subsequently turned his atten- 
tion to the commission business, which he 
followed for seventeen years. His business 
career has been characterized by laudable 
ambition, strong and honorable purpose, 
and what he possesses has been acquired 
through his own well directed efforts. He 
has been a director in the lianboro & Plum- 
steadville Turnpike Company for a number 
of years, and at this writing (,in 1904J is 
president. He was also for some years sec- 
retary of the Danboro Live-Stock Asso- 
ciation, and his business affairs have large- 
ly been of a character that, while promoting 
individual success, have also advanced the 
general prosperity and material develop- 
ment of the county. Deeply interested in 
the welfare and progress of his county, 
IMr. Leatherman has taken an active and 
helpful part in many measures contributing 
to the general good. In politics he is an 
earnest Republican and upon that ticket 
he was elected assessor of Plumstead town- 
ship when he was but twenty-two years of 
age, and held the office continuously for 
seventeen years. No higher testimonial of 
his capable service could be given than the 
fact that he was so long retained m his posi- 
tion. He was employed by the government 
as an enrolling officer during the war of 
1861-65. He has also been auditor of his 
township for some time, and in the spring of 
1904 was elected supervisor, which position 
he is now filling. Recognizing the obligations 
which have devolved upon him in his con- 
nection with public office, he has faithfully 
performed his duty as a patriotic citizen, 
and his efforts have been beneficial to his 
community. He is a man of unquestioned 
honor and integrity, his life being in har- 
mony with his principles as a member of 
the old IMennonite church. He has been 
very active in the Sunday-school at Dan- 
boro, and has filled the office of treasurer 
for nearly thirty years. 

Mr. Leatherman was married on the 26th 
of May, i860, to Miss Elizabeth Fry, a 
daughter of Samuel and Susanna Fry. They 
have six children : Susanna, born January 
4. 1861, and is the wife of Eli Van Luvanee ; 
Mary Emma, born November 3, 1862, and 
is the wife of John Gerhart; Anna, born 
August 23, 1865, and married A. G. C. Wel- 
don ; Lizzie, born December 7, 1867, and 
married Stanley G. Rapp ; Rosie, born April 
15. 1870; and Eleanora, born January ir, 
1881, and is the wife of Daniel P. Fluck. 
The mother died January 29, 1902. 

Mr. Leatherman is one of Bucks county's 
most respected citizens, a broad-minded 
public spirited man, ever alive to the inter- 
ests of his community. Progress has been 
the keynote of his public and private life, 
and he has made advancement along lines 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



691 



-demanding strong intellectuality, unfalter- 
ing purpose and keen discrimination. He 
is a man whom to know is to respect and 
honor, and the circle of his friends in 
Plumstead township is extensive. 



C. ALLEN KNIGHT, whose birthplace 
was the farm on which he now resides, in 
Solebury township, Bucks county, is a 
grandson of Charles and Mary (CooperJ 
Knight, who spent their entire lives in 
Newtown ^township. Their son, Alfred 
Knight, also born in Newtown township, 
was reared on the old homestead there, and 
when a young man went to Carversville, 
from which place he ran the stage line to 
Doylestown for a number of years. He 
also owned and operated a number of hay 
presses, and during the period of the Civil 
war had a contract with the government to 
furnish hay for the horses used by the army, 
lue also served for a short time with the 
Union troops. In 1866 he purchased a farm 
.near Carversville, and, moving to that prop- 
erty, made it his home up to the time of 
his death, which occurred when he was 
sixty-six years of age. He was a successful 
business man and bought and sold various 
farms, prospering in his undertakings be- 
cause of his judicious investments. While 
residing in Newtown he was married to 
Miss Ruth Anna Allen, who at that time 
was conducting a millinery establishment in 
Carversville. She is a daughter of Charles 
and Sarah (Walker) Allen. Her father 
was a tanner by trade, and for a number of 
_years conducted a tannery in Carversville. 
Mrs. Knight is still living, and makes her. 
home with her daughter Ida in Forest 
Grove, Pennsylvania. To Alfred and Ruth 
A. Knight were born three children : S. 
Eva, wife of Albert W. Preston, of Sole- 
bury township; M. Ida, wife of Harry W. 
Kirk, of Forest Grove; and C. Allen. 

In the common schools C. Allen Knight 
began his education, which was supple- 
.mented by study in the Trenton Business 
College. He was trained to the practical 
work of the farm on the old homestead, 
and on reaching his twenty-first year he was 
-allotted one of his father's farms, he to have 
all the produce raised thereon. He re- 
mained there for three years and laid the 
foundation for a successful career along 
agricultural lines. In 1893 he purchased the 
old homestead, on which he has since lived, 
and he has added modern improvements 
and equipments, while by his untiring labors 
he has made this a very valuable and attrac- 
tive farm property. While residing on his 
first farm Mr. Knight was married to Miss 
Alice W. Watson, a daughter of Jenks G. 
and Caroline C. (Shaw) Watson, of Car- 
versville. They have three children : Ma- 
rion, Helen W. and Florence. Mr. Knight 
is a Republican, but without political as- 
piration, preferring to give undivided atten- 
tion to his business affairs, although aiding 
in the promotion of progressive public 
:measures as a private citizen. 



THOMAS H. GRAY. For many years 
Ihomas H. Gray, of Upper Makefield town- 
ship, was prominently identified with the 
interests of more than one of the leading 
•railroad companies. On the paternal side 
Mr. Gray traces his descent from an an- 
cestor who emigrated from Scotland to the 
American colonies. Abraham Gray, a de- 
scendant o£ this ancestor, was tne grandfa- 
ther of Iliomas H. Gray. Dean Gray, 
son of Abraham Gray, was born in Bucks 
county, probably in Solebury township 
and while still a child was deprived by death 
of both his parents. He was reared in the 
family of Joseph Scarborough, m Solebury 
township, and on reaching manhood ap- 
prenticed himself to the blacksmith's trade. 
Later he purchased a farm on the Bucking- 
ham and Solebury line, which was cultivated 
by his sons, as they became old enough, 
while he worked at his trade. He was an 
active worker in the temperance cause, and, 
although a strong Democrat, was a pro- 
nounced anti-slavery man, advocating the 
freeing of the slaves by peaceable means. 
He was a member and officer in the Presby- 
terian church. He married Sarah Stock- 
dale, and the following children were born 
to them: Napoleon B. ; William Warner- 
Rhoda A.; Joseph N. ; and Thomas H ', 
mentioned at length hereinafter, who is the 
sole survivor of this family. Mrs. Gray 
died in 1869, and her husband passed away 
in 187 1, at the age of sixty-seven. 

Thomas H. Gray, son of Dean and Sarah 
(Stockdale) Gray, was born April 22, 1838, 
in Buckingham township, and was reared 
on the farm. On reaching his eighteenth 
year he determined to adopt some other 
calling than that of a tiller of the soil, and 
in 1856 went to Philadelphia, where he od- 
tamed a position as clerk in a store, and 
w^as employed in different clerical capacities 
for some years. For eight years he culti- 
vated the homestead acres, and in 1867 the 
property was advantageously sold. The 
family then moved to Brownsburg, where 
they resided one year, and then removed 
to the vicinity of Trenton, New Jersey. 
There for four years Mr. Gray was en- 
gaged in truck-farming, remaining at home 
as long as his parents lived. In the spring 
of 1872 he accepted a position with the 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, at Flem- 
ington, and one year later was given a po- 
sition as clerk in the superintendent's office 
at Lambertville, where his work was so sat- 
isfjictory that four months later he was 
made clerk to the auditor of freight re- 
ceipts. His close application to business 
ur.dermined his health, and in 1881, after 
eight years in the office, he was obliged to 
resign. He was immediately employed by 
the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company as 
traveling car agent for the lines in New 
Jersey, a position which he held until the 
Lehigh Valley road came under the control 
of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, 
which event took place in 1889. At this 
period of his life ^Ir. Gray purehased his 
present farm in Upper Makefield township. 



692 



HlSTOr.y 01' BUCKS COUNTY. 



and settled down to the life of an agricul- 
turist. Shortly afterwarc. the Car Asso- 
ciation was formed for the purpose of trac- 
ing the cars of the diffeient lines, and Mr. 
Gray was offered a position with them, but 
this he declined for the reason that his 
acceptance would have required him to 
move to New York. He served one term 
as a member of the city council gf Lambcrt- 
ville, but has never sought or desired office. 
In politics he is an Independent. He and 
his wife are members of the Thompson 
Memorial Presbyterian church, in which 
he is one of the officers. Mr. Gray mar- 
ried, in 1869, Louisa, daughter of Francis 
Vanartsdalen, and granddaughter of Adrian 
Cornell, senior, and two children have been 
to them, Mary Frances and William Walter 
(twins), of whom the latter survives and 
is at home with his parents. 



JAMES L. BRANSON, of Langhorne, 
Bucks county, was born in Belmont county, 
Ohio, April "3, 1831, but is a descendant of 
early English settlers in Burlington county. 
New Jersey, where Thomas Branson was 
a landholder in 1700. He married Eliza- 
beth Day, daughter of John Day, of New 
Hanover township, Burlington county, and 
settled in Springfield township in the same 
county, and reared a family of children 
who have left numerous descendants. 

WilHam Branson, the great-grandfather 
of the subject of this sketch, was born in 
Burlington county and married there on 
4 mo. II, 1753, Elizabeth Osborne, daughter 
of John and Martha. (Antrim) Osborne. 
Soon after their marriage they removed to 
Stafford county, Virginia, where twelve 
children were born to them. 

Jacob Branson, ninth child of James and 
Elizabeth, and grandfather of .the subject 
of this sketch, was born' in Stafford county, 
Virginia, 51110, 8, 1771, and married there, 
"according to the good order of the So- 
ciety of Friends," Rebecca HoUoway, 
daughter of Asa and Abigail Holloway. 

Isaiah Branson, father of James L., was 
born in Stafford county, Virginia, February 
25, 1799. In 1805 he removed witn his par- 
ents to Belmont county, Ohio. Isaiah Bran- 
son was one of nine children, if whom the 
youngest, Ann Branson, born in 1809, was 
an esteemed minister of the Society of 
Friends and traveled extensively in that ser- 
vice for a period of over fifty years. The 
journal kept by her of her travels and min- 
istrations was published by the Ohio Yearly 
Meeting of Friends after her death in 1892. 
In her eightieth year she visited the New 
England Yearly Meeting at Westerly. Rhode 
Island, the sessions of which covered a pe- 
riod of nine days, and took a prominent part 
in the proceedings. At this tiine she also 
visited and attended a number of meetings 
in and around Philadelphia, speaking with 
much force and fervor. The last entry was 
made by her in her journal five days before 
her death, at the age of eighty-three years. 



Isaiah Branson married in 1828 Sarah 
Gould Lawton, who was born at Marietta, 
Ohio, November 14, 1802, and was a daugh- 
ter of James and Susanna (Gould) Lawton, 
who were married at Portsmouth. Rhode 
Island, 1 1110. I, 1789, and removed to Ohio 
in 1795. The Goulds and Lawtons were 
among the earliest settlers at Newport, 
Rhode Island, Jeremiah and Pricilla Law- 
ton coming from England and settling there 
in 1637. Their son Daniel became an ear- 
nest and eloquent minister of the Society 
of Friends, and in the year 1659, as re- 
corded in his diary, along with two other 
men and three women, received "thirty 
stripes on the bare back for no other reason 
than being Quakers." James and Susanna 
Lawton settled in 1795 at Barlow, Washing- 
ton county, Ohio, near Marietta, where 
members of the. family still reside on the 
old homestead.- James lived to the age of 
ninety-two years and Susanna, his wife, to 
the age of ninety-four years. Isaiah Bran- 
son, father of the subject of this sketch, 
lived to the age of eighty-six years and ten 
months, and -Sarah, his wife, to the age of 
ninety-eight years and nine months, a most 
remarkable record of longevity in one 
family. 

James Lawton Branson, the subject 
of this sketch,, was born and rearea 
in Belmont county, Ohio, and received his 
education in the Friends' schools of that 
county. At the age of nineteen years he 
accepted the position of district school 
teacher, in which position he served for 
seven years in his native county, and in 
Richmond, Indiana, where the family re- 
moved in 1852. Having inherited a me- 
chanical turn of mind from his ancestors, 
several of whom were more or less skilled 
in mechanical work, he turned his atten- 
tion to the improvement of mechanical ap- 
pliances, and in 1858 was granted a patent 
for an improvement in knitting machines. 
In i860 he obtained a patent on improved 
hand looms, which were manufactured at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, and were used extensively 
â–  during the civil war. in the weaving of cloth 
out of which clothing was manufactured 
for the use of the Union soldier .,. The sales 
of these machines, during a period of three 
months amounted to over $60,000, James 
L. Branson entered the army in tlie spring 
of 1864 in Company G, One Hundred and 
Twenty-fourth Regiment, Indiana Volun- 
teers, and in General Schofield's corps of 
General Sherman's army went to Atlanta. 
He was with the army of Sherman from 
the time it entered Smoke Creek Gap, near 
Chattanooga, until Schofield's corps re- 
turned north and fought the battle of 
Franklin, Tennessee. He was then invalided 
and returned home. He is a member of the 
Ohio Society of Philadelphia. 

Mr. Branson, though always a busy, in- 
dustrious and energetic man, has in the 
midst of his duties always found time to 
keep himself w^ell informed on all tTie main 
topics of the times, and has always mani- 
fested a deep interest in all that pertained 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



693 



to the welfare of the community in which 
he lived. In 1872, while a resident of Chi- 
cago, during the administration of Joseph 
E. Medill as mayor of the city. Mr. Bran- 
son was the agent of the Humane Society 
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 
and in that capacity caused the arrest and 
prosecution of about 1,200 persons for 
â– cruelty to dumb animals, in most of the 
cases acting as both prosecutor and lawyer. 
His zealous and efficient work in the prose- 
cution of human brutes, made him a repu- 
tation in the Humane Society, not only in 
•Chicago, but all over the United States. 

In 1887 Mr. Branson located in Lang- 
horne, Bucks county, where he Tias since 
resided. He has been three times married. 
His first wife, whom he married November 
18, 1855, was Martha Evaline Ruby, and 
they were the parents of three children: 
Isadora C, born September 22, 1856 ; Edwin 
Ruby Branson, born January 5, 1858; and 
Sarah Eliza, born April 14, i860. His 
second wife was Ida ]\Iary Clark, who bore 
liim no children. He married (third) on 
October 29, 1904, Jessie Gordon, widow of 
the late Samuel Chapman of London, Eng- 
land. She was born in Scotland, a daugh- 
ter of John Gordon, of Elgin, Morayshire, 
Scotland, and granddaughter of the late 
I^aird Mortimer, of Morayshire. 

Isadora C. Branson, eldest daughter of 
the subject of this sketch, married Novem- 
â– ber 3, 1878, Thomas Hibbert of Chicago, 
and their seven children are : i Eva May 
Hibbert, inarried October 24, 1899, Oscar 
Milne Parsons, of Philadelphia, and has 
two children : Oscar IMilne, Jr., and Law- 
ton Hibbert Parsons. 2. Lawton Edwin 
Hibbert. 3. Ida May Hibbert. 4. Thomas 
Hibbert, Jr. 5. Emily Grace Hibbert. 6. 
James Hibbert. 7. Branson James Hibbert. 

Edwin Ruby Branson, only son of James 
L. and Martha Evaline Branson, married 
March 4, 1890. Marion Watson Dunham 
and they are the parents of two children, 
Edwina Ruby and Marion Adele. 

Sarah Eliza Branson married June 3, 
1875, William S. Twitty, of Chicago, and 
they were the parents of two children : 
Alice Marietta, married November 30, 1897. 
George S. Erisman, and has the following 
children : Dorothy Edna, Natalie ^Madeline, 
George Branson, and James Lawton Eris- 
man. Edna Rubj- Twitty, the other child of 
Sarah Eliza and William S. Twitty, mar- 
ried October 11, 1900, Samuel C. Randall, 
of Langhorne. .Sarah Eliza Twitty mar- 
ried (second) September 4, 1882, Samuel 
â– F. Robbins of Geneva Lake, Wisconsin, and 
they are the parents of three children : 
Mabel G., Edith R., and James B. Robbins. 



father upon the home farm until after his 
marriage. In 1901 he purchased the old 
Garges homestead, containing fifty-six and 
a half acres of improved land, and hereon 
he follows general farming, having placed 
his fields under a high state of cultivation. 

On the 19th of January, 1899, Mr. Landis' 
was married to Miss Bertha K. Hockman, 
who was born in New Britain township, 
Bucks county, August 16, 1879, her parents 
being Christian and Amanda M. (Kulp) 
Hockman. Her father was born in Bed- 
minster township, September 29, 1845, and 
was a son of Ulrey D. and Margaret 
(Moyer) Hockman. To Mr. and Mrs. Lan- 
dis have been born two children : Lillie 
H., July 6, 1900; and Blanche H., July 6, 
1902. The parents are members of the 
Mcnnonite church, and politically Mr. 
Landis is a Republican. 



JOHN M. LANDIS, who was born in 
Hilltown township, Bucks county, Septem- 
Tjer 25, 1876, is a son of George and Bar- 
bara C. (Moyer) Landis. His education 
was acquired at Huntsberger school, in 
Hilltown township, and after putting aside 
liis text books he continued to assist his 



ALBERT S. PAXSON, a farmer of 
Southampton township, was born March 
5. 1854, in Salem county. New Jersey. 
His paternal grandparents, Charles and 
Grace (Michener) Paxson, were the pa- 
rents of the following children: Annie; 
Sarah; John; Merritt, who married a 
Miss Knight, and their children were 
Sarah, Charles, Merritt, Mary, Susan, 
Hannah, Amanda, Aaron, John H. and 
Phineas. 

Phineas Paxson, youngest son of 
Charles and Grace Paxson, married Re- 
becca Tomlinson, and they had six chil- 
dren, ^s follows: Emily A., who was 
born April 12, 1851, and was married 
October 8, 1873, to A. Taylor Praul, by 
whom she had one son, Clarence T., 
born December 31, 1876: Albert S.; John, 
who married Sarah White: Augustus; 
Ella: and Caroline. 

Albert S. Paxson, eldest son of Phin- 
eas and Rebecca Paxson, spent a portion 
of his younger years in Middletow'n and 
afterwards in Southampton, Pennsj-1- 
vania. He acquired his education in the 
public schools and at the Friends' school 
at Langhorne, and decided upon farm- 
ing as a life work. He has since given 
his attention to agricultural pursuits and 
in 1878 he purchased the farm upon 
w-hich he now resides, comprising ninety 
acres. Previous to this time he farmed 
for his father upon the old homestead, 
and since starting upon an independent 
business career he has met with a fair 
measure of prosperity. On the 30th of 
December, 1875. Albert S. Paxson mar- 
ried Miss Josephine Bitting, daughter of 
John R. and Hannah (Bartine) Bitting. 
Her father was born January 29, 1826, 
and now resides at Doj'lestown. His 
daughter Josephine was born August 27, 
1852. There were six children born of 
the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Paxson: 
John Phineas, who died three days after 
birth : William Albert, who was born 
September t8, 1878, and wedded INIary Tay- 
lor, a daughter of Benjamin Taylor; Marv 



694 



JI J STORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Emily, who was born ]\[aj' 6, 1881, and is 
the wife of Norman Hilibs; George Parker, 
born October 30, 1883; Wesley Bitting, 
born February 11, 1886; and Samuel 
J^omlinson, who was born December 26, 
1886, and died in early childhood. 



GEORGE MOSES REED, an hon- 
ored veteran of the civil war, living a re- 
tired life at Langhorne, was born No- 
vember 23, 1839, in Ireland, whence he 
was brought to America at the age of 
five years by his parents, David and Jane 
(Hunter) Reed. His grandfather was 
Moses Reed. 

The public schools of Philadelphia and 
the Bensalem school provided him his 
educational privileges, and after putting 
aside his text books he assisted his father 
on the home farm, gaining practical and 
comprehensive knowledge of the best 
methods of conducting agricultural pur- 
suits. In 1866 he began farming on his 
own account on land owned tiy Alex- 
ander Schriver, of Hartford county, 
Maryland, where he remained for eight 
years. On leaving that locality he came 
to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and pur- 
chased his present fine farm in Middle- 
town township, where he still remains. 
At the time of the Civil war Mr. Reed 
enlisted for service in the Union army 
as a member of Company K, Thirteenth 
Regiment, Pennsylvania Cavalry, with 
which he served throughout the period 
of hostilities, and then received an hon- 
orable discharge in Philadelphia, on the 
25th of August, 1865, being mustered out 
at Camp Cadwallader. Mr. Reed's was 
an active campaign, for he took part in 
many skirmishes and in a number of im- 
portant engagements, including the bat- 
tles of Winchester. Strasburg and two 
engagements at Martinsburg, South 
Mountain, and the seven days battle of 
the Wilderness. He was twice wounded, 
once at Winchester and again at Cul- 
peper Courthouse. He now belongs to 
H. Clay Beatty Post, No. 73, G. A. R., 
at Bristol. He is also a member of 
Neshaminy Lodge, No. 422, I. O. O. P., 
has taken the encampment degrees, be- 
longs to the Knights of Pythias Lodge, 
No. 109, to the Knights of the Golden 
Eagle, No. 262, at Langhorne, and of the 
last named has been a trustee for eight 
years. In his political views Mr. Reed 
is a stalwart Republican, and has served 
his township as supervisor of roads for 
six years, during which time great im- 
provement has been made in the roads in 
this section of the state. He is recog- 
nized as a painstaking, efficient and hon- 
orable official and citizen, and his co- 
operation can always be counted upon to 
aid in any progressive measure for the 
general good. He was one of the direc- 
tors of the board of education of 'Middle- 
town in 1895 and 1896. In 1903 he sold 



his magnificent farm to the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad Company, receiving there- 
from the price which he asked, and 
which was a handsome increase over 
the original cost. He now resides at 
Langhorne, enjoying the fruits of his 
active life. 

On the 2d of April, 1863, Mr. Reed 
was married to Miss Mary Jane Sharkey». 
of Middletown, Pennsylvania, a daugh- 
ter of William and Ellen Sharkey, who 
are both deceased. They have become 
the parents of ten children: David Lin- 
coln, born September 28, 1864, was mar- 
ried April 15, 1896, to Mazie Gaffney. 
William, born September 14, 1866, mar- 
ried Minnie Viola Phillips, on the i4tb 
of March, 1894, and they have one son, 
William Hervey, who was born Decem- 
ber 16, 1894. Mary Jane Reed, twin sis- 
ter of William, was married April 24, 
1889, to Samuel C. Bunting of Bensalem, 
and they have three children — Charles 
Henry Bunting, born January 23, 1891; 
George Moses Bunting, born March 5, 
1892; and Mary Jane Bunting, born April 
25, 1899. Emma Reed, born January 17, 
1868, is unmarried and resides with her 
parents. Frederick Shriver Reed, borni 
June 29, 1869, was . married March 23, 
1892, to Mary Reed, and they have one 
child. George Moses, who was born May 
t8, 1893. Robert Hunter Reed, born 
February 20, 1871, was married April 21, 
1894, to Josephine Robinson, and they 
have one child, Mary Jane Reed, borr» 
September 9. 1894. George Mann Reed, 
born May 8, 1874, was married May 10, 
1898, to Marion Hellings. James Field 
Reed, born November 29, 1876. Henry 
Gaw Reed, born November I, 1878. Pier- 
son IMitchell Reed, born July 8, 1880. The 
children were educated in the public 
schools of Langhorne. James F., Henry 
G. and Pierson M. reside on the farm, 
assisting in farm work. These boys are 
all good Republicans, like their father. 
Mr. Reed is an owner of real estate ir» 
Langhorne borough, having several houses 
there. 



FRANK K. REEDER, merchant and 
postmaster at Penns Park, is living here 
in the vicinity of his grandfather's old 
home, for the greater part of the land 
on wdiich Penns Park has been built was 
once in possession of Abraham Reeder. 
The latter was a son of Charles Reeder, 
at one time a prominent farmer of 
Wrightstown, Bucks county. Abraham 
Reeder carried on farming in Wrights- 
town township, and, subdividing his 
property, sold much of it in town lots. 
He afterward, opened a hotel in Penns 
Park, which he conducted for many 
years. His wife w^as Margaret Conard. 

Mahlon H. Reeder, son of Abraham 
and Margaret (Conard) Reeder, was 
born at Penns Park, Pennsylvania, April 
10, 1806, was there reared, and after his 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



695 



first marriage engaged in farming there 
for a number of years. Subsequent to 
his second marriage he resided for a 
number of years in Philadelphia, where 
he was engaged in the jewelry and 
watch-making business on the Frank- 
ford road. While never serving an ap- 
prenticeship, he was a natural mechanic, 
and could use any tool or do almost any 
constructive work. From Philadelphia 
he removed to Stockton, New Jersey, where 
he was engaged in the same business for 
four or five years, when he returned to 
Penns Park and continued in the same 
line up to the time of his death. He was 
a Republican in politics. He was a broad 
reader, a deep student and the possessor 
of marked mechanical ingenuity. He 
was the inventor of an automatic rail- 
road switch, a model of which nc 
sent to the Czar of Russia and re- 
ceived from him in return a valuable 
medal. He was also the builder in his 
early years of an electric battery and 
numerous other machines prior to the 
advent of electricity. All this he did in 
young manhood, when upon the farm. 
Mahlon H. Reeder was married twice. 
At Penns Park he wedded Miss Mary 
Twining, and theij children were: Hus- 
ton T., of Helena, Montana; Lewis A. 
Reeder and George W., deceased ; Willis 
W., who is engaged in the real estate 
busines in Philadelphia; Abraham and 
Stephen, both deceased; and Maria 
Louisa, deceased. After the death of his 
first wife, Mahlon H. Reeder married 
Eliza T. Keyser, and of their two chil- 
dren Frank K. is the survivor. 

Frank K. Reeder was born in Phila- 
delpliia. July 4, 1861, and was seven 
years of age at the time of the family's 
return to Penns Park. His education 
was acquired here and in the schools of 
Philadelphia, and when in his sixteenth 
years he accepted a position in a grocery 
store of the latter city. A year later he 
became one of the office force in the em- 
ploy of Frank Siddall. a soap manufac- 
turer, and later returned to Wrightstown 
township, Bucks county. During the 
follownng year he was emploj^ed by W. 
B. Hagaman, a well known merchant of 
Wrightstown, and later worked a year 
for Lewis Hagaman, at Rushland, at the 
time of the building of the railroad 
through the town. In 1892 he was asked 
by W. B. Hagaman to take charge of 
his branch store at Penns Park, which 
business he has since managed very suc- 
cessfully. He was appointed postmaster 
the same year, and has since acted in that 
capacity. He has a wide and favorable 
acquaintance in Penns Park both as a 
business man and citizen. Mr. Reeder 
votes with the Republican party, and be- 
longs to several fraternal organizations, 
being a member of Newtown Lodge, No. 
427, F. and A. M.; Siloam Lodge, No. 
265, L O. O. F. ; and Penns Park Council 
No. 973, Junior Order United American 



Mechanics. On the 4th of July, 1892, 
Mr. Reeder was united in marriage to 
Mrs. Emma Twining, a daughter of Wal- 
ton T. Worthington, of Penns Park, and 
they have one daughter, Florence 
Reeder. 



JACOB WILLARD, of Southampton, 
Bucks county, was born near Hulmeville, 
in Bensalem township, Bucks county, in the 
year 1838, and is a son of Lewis and Sophia 
(Bursk) Willard, and a grandson of Jacob 
Willard, whose wife was a Carey. Jacob 
Willard had three children, viz. : Fannie, 
who married Asa Everett, and had a large 
family of children; Julia Ann, who married 
Peter Bird, of New Jersey, and removed 
to Illinois; and Lewis. Lewis and Saphia 
were the parents of six children: Elizabeth, 
Beulah Ann, Mary, Jacob, Hannah, and 
Theodore. 

Jacob Willard was reared on a farm pur- 
chased by his father about 1835, and was 
educated at the local schools. He was 
reared to the life of a farmer, and has 
never followed any other vocation. He and 
his sister Mary inherited the old homestead, 
which he continued to conduct until 
recently, when he retired from active busi- 
ness, and is now living near Feasterville, 
Southampton township. He married 

Phoebe Ann, daughter of Michael and Ann 
(Roads) Stevens, and granddaughter of 
John and Sarah (StoothoffJ Stevens. 



MICHAEL SHOLL TRUMBAUER, 
a prosperous farmer of Bucks county, 
was there born in the old Trumbauer 
homestead, near Richland township, De- 
cember 7, 1850. Plis grandparents were 
John and Elizabeth (Baum) Trum- 
bauer, both deceased. His father was 
John Trumbauer, who in 1843 married 
Elizabeth Sholl, daughter of Michael and 
Lydia (Donahue) Sholl, of Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania, and the following 
children were born to them: Henrv S., 
1845; Milton S., 1848; Michael S., '1850, 
mentioned at length hereinafter; Levi 
S., 1853; Lydia A. S., 1855; Mary Eliza- 
beth S., 1859; and Sarah Jane S.. 1861. 
For twelve years Mr. Trumbauer fol- 
lowed the occupation of shoemaking. He 
was a Democrat in politics and a member 
of the Lutheran church. 

Michael Sholl Trumbauer received his 
education in the district school, which he 
attended until his eighteenth year, as- 
sisting his father on the farm during his 
spare time. From 1897 to 1900 Mr. 
Trumbauer attended school in Bedmin- 
ster and Milford townships, thus acquir- 
ing a good, practical education. He fol- 
lowed farming for a time with his 
brother, having purchased a tract of land 
of about forty acres, and was attended 
with considerable success. In 1898 Mr. 
Trumbauer removed to Quakertown, 



696 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, 



where he has since resided. Mr. Trum- 
bauer is a Republican in politics, but has 
never aspired to public office. In mat- 
ters of religion he accords with the 
doctrines of the Lutheran church, being 
a member of the Scheelz Lutheran church 
at Spinnerstown, Milford township. 

February 25, 1897. Michael Sholl 
Trumbauer was united in marriage to 
Eliza Moyer, daughter of Henry Beidle 
and Susan (Kratz) Moyer, who was born 
March I, i860, in Bedminster township, 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Her father, 
Henry Beidle Moyer, was born Decem- 
ber 26, 1826, in Milford township, the 
son of Abram and Anna (Beidle) Moyer. 
He followed the occupation of a farmer 
all his life. In politics he was a Whig, 
but after the formation of the Republi- 
can party, he joined that organization. 
He was a member of the Lutheran 
church. September 18, 1858, Mr. Moyer 
married Susan Kratz, settled in Bed- 
minster township and the following chil- 
dren were born to them: Eliza; Mary 
Ellen, born April 16, 1869. 



JOHN B. POORE, county treasurer of 
Bucks county, was born in Nockamixon 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, INIay 
6, 1867, and is a son of Robert Alpheus and 
Hannah (Bennett) Poore, both natives of 
Upper Makefield township, Bucks county. 
On the paternal side Mr. Poore is of Eng- 
lish descent. 

John Poore, born in Wiltshire, England*^ 
in 161S, settled in Newbury, Massachusetts, 
in 1635, and became one of the prominent 
men of that town;' filling the position of se- 
lectman and many other positions of trust. 
The house built by him is still standing in 
Newburyport, and has been continuously 
owned and occupied by his descendants to 
the present generation. He died November 
21, 1684, his wife Sarah and eight of his 
thirteen children surviving him. The chil- 
dren were: John, Hannah, wife of Elisha 
Isley ; Henry ; Joseph ; Mary, wife of John 
Clarke; Sarah, wife of John Sawyer; 
Lydia, wife of Pennel Titcombe ; and Abi- 
gail, wife of Isaac Isley. 

John Poore, son of John and Sarah, was 
born at Newbury, Massachusetts, June 21, 
1642, and died there February 15, 1701-2. 
Like his father, he held many positions of 
trust in his native town, filling successively 
the offices of overseer of wills., selectman 
and coiistable, and many other local offices. 
He married, February 27, 1665, Mary Tit- 
combe. daughter of William and Joanna 
(Bartlett) Titcombe. who was born Febru- 
ary 27. 1644. and they were the parents of 
eight children, seven of whom grew to 
maturity, viz : five daughters and two sons, 
Jonathan and John. The latter died un- 
married August 17, 1705. 

Jonathan Poore. sixth child and only 
surviving son of John and Mary (Tilcomb) 



Poore, was born on the old homestead at 
Newbury Neck, February 25, 1678, and died 
there June 30, 1742. Fie filled many im- 
portant positions, and, dealing extensively 
in real estate, .he was one of the prominent 
men of that locality. He married, August 
18, 1703, Rebecca Hale, daughter of John 
and Sarah (Jaques) Hale. She was born 
February 18, 1693, and died March 16, 1760, 
having married (second) Jonathan Jewett. 
Jonathan and Rebecca (Hale) Poor were 
the parents of nine children, six of whom 
grew to mature age, two sons and four 
daughters. The eldest son, John, born 1711, 
died 1792, was prominent in the afifairs of 
his native town and took an active part in 
the war of the revolution. His wife was 
Ann Longfellow. 

Daniel Poore, sixth child and second sur- 
viving son of Jonathan and Rebecca (Hale) 
Poore, was born in Newbury, Massa- 
chusetts, March 13, 1716. On arriving at 
years of manhood he settled at Haverhill on 
land given to him by his father, in that part 
of Haverhill which fell into the state of 
New Hampshire in the readjustment of the 
state lines in 1741, and was later incorpor- 
ated into a district under the name of Plais- 
tow, and in 1769 incorporated into the town 
of Atkinson. The land on which he lived 
was owned and occupied by his great- 
grandson, Jeremiah T. Poor, as late as 1880. 
Daniel Poore was an enterprising and 
prominent man in the community, a sur- 
veyor, officer of militia, etc. He died 
January 9, 1792. He was twice married; 
his first wife and the mother of his six 
children was Anna INIerril,- born in Haver- 
hill. March 18, 1718-19, and died July 6, 
1781. She was a daughter of Nathaniel 
and Ruth (Wallingford) Merrill. Her 
father and grandfather were born in New- 
bury, and her great-grandfather, Nathaniel 
Merrill, was the ancestor of the now nu- 
merous family of the name. Daniel Poore 
married (second) February 24, 1782, Lydia 
Bradley, who survived him but nine days. 
The children of Daniel and Anna (Merrill) 
Poore were":. Jonathan, Daniel, David and 
Jeremiah, all of whom lived and died in 
New _ Hampshire ; Merrill, who died in in- 
fancy, and John. 

John Poore. youngest son of Daniel and 
Anna' (Merrill) Poore, was born at Plais- 
tow, (now Atkinson) New Hampshire, 
July 8, 1752, and received an excellent clas- 
sical education, graduating at Harvard Col- 
lege, Massachusetts, in 1775, and followed 
the profession of a teacher during the ac- 
tive years of his life, first in his native state 
and later in Philadelphia and Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania. He came to Philadelphia 
after the death of his wife, and in 1787 be- 
came the principal of a young ladies' acad- 
emy established there in that year, being, it 
is said, the first institution of its kind in the 
country. His pupils were from all parts of 
the United States, from the West Indies, 
Nova Scotia and Canada. He had mar- 
ried, November 2, 1777, Sarah Folsoni. bom 




9c^ 



^. c^^ 



.<ViCi-f.>ii;q 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



697 



in Statham, New Hampshire, February 10, 
1758, daughter of John and Martha Fol- 
som, by whom he had four children, all 
born in New Hampshire. His wife died 
August 3, 1784. While principal of the 
young ladies' academy in Philadelphia he 
married one of his pupils, Jane Neely, 
daughter of William and Elizabeth 
(Thompson) Neely, of Solebury, Bucks 
<:ounty, Pennsylvania, where she was born 
in March, 1767. Her grandfather, Robert 
Thompson, was one of the four brothers 
who with their widowed mother, Elizabeth 
(McGraudy) Thompson, and her brother, 
McGraudy, settled on the Neshaminy, in 
Warwick and Northampton early in the 
seventeenth century. They were Scotch- 
Irish Presbyterians, and pillars of the 
churches of that denomination at Nesha- 
miny and elsewhere. Robert, the youngest 
of the brothers, married in 1747-8, Hannah 
(Delaplaine) Simpson, born 3mo. 4, 1714, 
widow of John Simpson, of Solebury, and 
daughter of Jane and Hannah (Cock) De 
la Plaine, and granddaughter of Nicholas 
De la Plaine, a native of France, who came 
to New York from Holland, where he had 
married Susanna Cresson, daughter of 
Pierre Cresson, also a native of France, 
who had married in Holland, Rachel Claes, 
and later emigrated to America with his 
family and that of Nicholas De la Plaine 
and settled on Staten Island. Susanna 
(Cresson) De la Plaine was born at Rys- 
wick, Holland. Robert Thompson was one 
of the founders of the Presbyterian church 
of Lower Solebury, now known as the 
Thompson Memorial church in his honor, 
and of which he was for many years a rul- 
ing elder. He died in 1804 at a very ad- 
vanced age. The only child of Robert and 
Elizabeth (De la Plaine-Simpson) Thomp- 
son was Elizabeth, born iimo. 29, 1748-9, 
who married William Neeley. The later was 
also an elder of Solebury Presbyterian 
church. He died July 10, 1818, at the age 
of seventy-six years, and his wife Eliza- 
beth on February 15, 1834, i" I'ler eighty- 
sixth year. 

In 1809 John Poore left Philadelphia and 
settled in Solebury, where he taught school 
for a number of years. In 1815 his family 
and others erected for him an academy 
building, still standing in New Hope, where 
he conducted a select school for young la- 
dies for several years. His wife, Jane 
Neely, died on May 15, 1827, and he then 
removed to York Haven, York county, 
Pennsylvania, and resided with his son, 
Charles M. Poore, until his death on De- 
cember 5, 1829, and is interred at Liver- 
pool, York county, Pennsylvania. He was 
also in his earlier years a teacher of vocal 
music and was an accomplished linguist. He 
was a staunch Presbyterian, and assisted 
in establishing the first Sabbath schools in 
Philadelphia in 1791, and taught one on 
Cherry street in that year. He was a rul- 
ing elder of the Presbyterian church during 
his residence in Solebury. By his first wife, 
Sarah Folsom, he had four children, John 



Folsom, George, Charles Merrill, and Ann, 
who married Rev. Alfred Metcalf and lived 
and died in New Hampshire. Three sons all 
became prominent merchants in Baltimore, 
Maryland. John died there unmarried in 
1858. George and Charles Merrill were in 
partnership in Baltimore until 1812, when 
they removed to York Haven, York county, 
Pennsylvania, where George died in 1821, 
and Charles M. in 1832, the children of the 
former settling in Ohio, and of the latter in 
New Jersey. 

The children of John and Jane (Neely) 
Poore, were : Daniel, born October 12, 1793, 
died April 12, 1888; Jane Neely, born 
March 16. 1796, married (first) January, 
1832, Charles H. Boss, of New Jersey, who 
died September, 1835, and (second) in 
1852, Josiah Hart, who died in 1864 ; and 
Hannah Delaplaine Poor, born February 
TQ. 1799. married Solomon H. Opdycke, of 
New Jersey. 

Daniel Poore, grandfather of the subject 
of this sketch, was the eldest son of Profes- 
sor John Poore by his second marriage with 
Jane Neely, and was , born in Solebury 
township. October 12, 1793, and spent his 
whole life in that and the adjoining town- 
ship of Upper Makefield. By the will of 
his grandfather, William Neely, probated in 
t8i8, he was devised a small farm in the 
latter township, near Buckmanville, where 
. he died April 12, 1888. He was for many 
years a justice of the peace, and acted as a 
surveyor and conveyancer in his younger 
days, and did a large amount of official 
and public business. He married. May 2, 
181 5, Maria Merrick, born in Upper Make- 
field township, April 23, 1798, daughter of 
Robert and Hannah (McMasters) Merrick, 
of Upper Makefield, whose ancestors had 
been residents of Makefield for many gen- 
erations ; they were descendants of John 
Merrick, a native of Herefordshire, Eng- 
land, who came to America about 1699 and 
settled in Lower Dublin township, Phila- 
delphia county, where he died in 1732. He 
married, in 1702, Eleanor Smith, and his 
eldest son John, who married Hannah 
Hulme, settled in Bucks county, and is the 
ancestor of the Makefield Merricks. The 
children of Daniel and Maria (Merrick) 
Poore were as follows: i. Eliza Thompson, 
born September 17, 1816, died April 25, 
1863 : married September 18, 1837. George 
F. Smith, son of Thomas and Sarah Smith, 
of Fallsington. 2. Martha Merrick, born 
in New Hope, Bucks county, February 18, 
1817, died in Nockamixon township. May 2, 
1902; married Brice M. Pursell. (See Pur- 
cell family in this work.) 3. Robert 
Alpheus, born December 15, 1829. — See for- 
ward. 4. John Thaddeus, twin brother of 
Robert Alpheus. still lives on and owns the 
farm on which he was born in LTpper Make- 
field. He married, February 20, 1861, Mar- 
tha Rachel Lefferts. daughter of Elias and 
Margaret (Search) Lefferts. of North- 
ampton township, and took charge of the 
home farm and continued to conduct it and 
care for his aged parents until their death. 



698 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



later acquiring title thereto. He is an ac- 
tive and prominent man in the community, 
and served as county commissioner for the 
term 1896-1899, and has filled many local 
posticus of trust. He has three sons, Aug- 
ustus P., of Doylestown; Elias L., and 
James W. 

Robert Alpheus Poore was born and 
reared in Upper Makefield township, Bucks 
county. He engaged in farming in his 
native township for many years, and on 
]\Iarch 14, 1866, was appointed assistant 
station agent for the Pennsjdvania Rail- 
road Company, at Riegelsville, New Jer- 
sey, he at that time residing in Bridgeton, 
now Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania. In 
1872 he was advanced ^to the position of 
station^ agent and remained with them 
until January i, 1900, when at the age of 
seventy years he was retired, having been 
in their service for thirty-four years. He 
is now living a retired life at Riegelsville, 
whither he removed from Bridgeton as 
soon as a suitable home was procured for 
his family. 

He married, December 14, 1854, Hannah 
Bennett, daughter of John and Abi 
(Doane) Bennett, who was born in Upper 
Makefield, December 4, 1833, and they 
were the parents of nine children, four of 
whom died in childhood — Those who sur- 
vive are, William Wallace Trego Poore, 
of Rutlege, Delaware county, Pennsylvania ; 
Olivia, wife of S. O. Bachman, of Riegels- 
ville; INIartha Merrick, widow of Rev. J. 
C. Leimbach, residing in Riegelsville; John 
B., the subject of this sketch; and Mary 
Bertha, residing at home. Mrs. Poore died 
in January, 1901. 

John B. Poore, was born in Nock- 
aniixon township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania, May 6, 1867. He was educated at 
the public schools and at the age of four- 
teen years entered the railroad office to 
assist his father, and remained with the 
Railroad Company for five years. He then 
entered the employ of Cooper & Hewitt, 
proprietors of Durham furnace, as book- 
keeper, and filled that position for fourteen 
years. In the spring of tgoo he formed 
a partnership with Henry Sigafoos, in the 
hard wood lumber business, with offices at 
Riegelsville, Pennsylvania. The firm has 
since done a large and profitable business. 
In the fall of 1904, Mr. Poore was elected 
on the Republican ticket to the office of 
county treasurer, and entered upon his 
duties the following January. He has been 
active in the councils of his party for sev- 
eral years, and is well and favorable known 
in all parts of the county. 

Mr. Poore married, on June 7, 1893, 
Annie Josephine Adams, daughter of Will- 
iam F. and Emily (Hunt) Adams, of 
Riegelsville, the former a native of New 
York state, and the latter of New Jersey. 
Mr. and Mrs. Poore are the parents of 
three children, viz: Dorothy Adams, liorn 
March 18, 1894; Donald Norris, born Sep- 
tember 25. 1S95 ; and John B., Jr., born 
January 25, 1904. 



WILLIAM H. WHITE. The White 
family, represented in the present genera- 
tion by William H. White, of Feasterviile, 
traces its ancestry to George and Mary 
White, whose family consisted of two chil- 
dren, namely: Thomas and William. 
Thomas White, son of George and Mary 
White, was born July 22, 1797, and died 
August 26, 1889; His wife, Jane (Krewson) 
While, born September 8, 1793, died July 
;20, 1859, daughter of Garrett and Jane 
Krewson, bore him the following named 
children: George, born January 15, 1819, 
died October 24, 1895, mentioned herein- 
after. Elizabeth, born March 8, 1823, be- 
came the wife of John Gifford, and their 
family consisted of three children : Warner,. 
George, and Elizabeth. Henry, born Sep- 
tember 30, 1825, married Anna Lefferts, who 
bore him two children : George and Eliza- 
beth. Jonathan, born July 3, 1827, married 
Rachel Mayurm, and they are the parents 
of four children: Elizabeth, William T., 
Ida, and Mary F. Christopher, born No- 
vember 15, 1834, married Elizabeth Mc- 
Vaugh, who bore him one child: Lydia. 

George White, son of Thomas and Jane 
(Krewson) White, was born January 15, 
1819, on the old Krewson farm near South- 
ampton village, which belonged to his 
grandfather on the maternal side. Emily 
(Margurm) White, his wife, whom he mar- 
ried October 28, 1841, was born April 30, 
1821, and she bore him the following named 
children: Rebecca Jane, born November 
16, 1842, died November 28, 1870; she mar- 
ried September 4, 1862, Louis Ashton, who 
died September 28, 1866 ; they were the pa- 
rents of one child, Emily, born July 19, 
1863. Rachel, born April 25, 1846, married 
December 15, 1864, Theodore Hogeland, 
who died December 14, 1868; their chil- 
dren are : Elizabeth, born May 27, 1865, 
married, January 19, 1887, Howard Lefferts, 
and two children were the issue of this 
union : Theodore, born January 8, 1891, and 
Helen, born in October, 1897. Emily W., 
born November 23, 1866. George W., born 
January 22, 1868, died June 17, 1869. Will- 
iam H., mentioned at length hereinafter. 
George White, father of these children, died 
October 24, 1895, and his wi-fe passed away 
September 28, 1893. 

William H. White, son of George and 
Emily (Margurm) White, was born on the 
old Benson farm at Davisville, Southampton 
township. Bucks county, Pennsylvania, No- 
vember 4, 1853. He was reared in Bucks 
county, receiving his education in local 
schools. At an early age he went to farm- 
ing with his father, with whom he remained 
until 1881, when he moved to Northampton, 
where, however, he only remained one year, 
returning thtn to Southampton township. 
He rented a tract of land consisting of 
eighty-five acres known as the Delaney 
farm, now owiied by John D. Landis, from 
whom he now rents it. He makes a 
specialty of dairying and the raising of fine 
cattle, from which he derives a goodly 
profit. In politics he is a Democrat, and in 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, 



699 



religion a Baptist, attending the old school 
church at Southampton township. On Octo- 
ber II, 1876, Mr. White was united in mar- 
riage to Rachel M. Tomlinson, who was 
born August 20, 1855, daughter of Henry 
and Mary Tomlinson. Their children are : 
George, born July 29, 1878, who married 
Emma P. Dolton, daughter of Richard Dol- 
ton, September 20, 1901 ; W. Harry, born 
April 15, 1889. 



WILLIAM PENROSE. Pennsylvania 
owes an inestimable debt of gratitude to 
those English Friends who were among 
the tirst settlers of the province. Will- 
iam Penrose, of Quakertown, is a de- 
scendant of one of these pioneers, who 
brought to their home in the New World 
principles which they not only professed 
but practiced, and which have thus been 
a lasting and powerful mtluence for good 
in the province of Penn. 

Robert Penrose (i), son of Robert 
and Jane Penrose, was born in York- 
shire, England, moved to Ireland in 
1669, and married Anna Russell, by 
whom he was the father of three chil- 
dren. His son, Robert Penrose (2), was 
born in 1670 in Blackane, married Mary 
Clayton in 1695, and had thirteen chil- 
dren. With part of his family he came 
in 1717 to Pennsylvania. His son Rob- 
ert Penrose (3), who was born in 1697, 
came to America after his father, and 
about 1731 married Mary Heacock. 
They were the parents of eleven children, 
one of whom, John Penrose (4), was 
born in 1740, in Richland township, mar- 
ried Anna Roberts in 1764, and died in 
1813. He was the father of ten children. 
The ninth son, Evan Penrose (5), born 
in 1782, married Rebecca Ball, and the 
following children were born to them: 
Jane; Aaron (deceased); Evan, men- 
tioned at length hereinafter; and Mar- 
garet, who became the wife of Eli W. 
Strawn. 

Evan Penrose (6). son of Evan (5) 
and Rebecca (Ball) Penrose, was born 
May 8, 1813, on the homestead in Rich- 
land township, attended the subscrip- 
tion schools of his birthplace, and after- 
ward became a pupil in the school taught 
by Richard Hoopes, of West Chester. 
He then learned the carpenter's trade, 
which he followed for some time, but 
the greater part of his life was devoted 
to the management of the homestead. 
•He was a Republican in politics, but 
never took an active part in the affairs of 
the organization. By birthright he was 
a member of Friends' meeting, but was 
not {:)rominentl3' identified with the so- 
ciety. Mr. Penrose married. March 20, 
1851, Anna Roberts, daughter of George 
and Anna (Penrose) Hicks, born No- 
vember 28, 1817. The famihr of Mr. and 
Mrs. Penrose consisted of the following 
children: i. Charles Robert, born March 
10, 1853, died December 27, 1877. 2. Mary 



Jane, born March 7, 1856, married, in 
1877, William, son of William and Sarah 
(Gofman) McDevitt, of Philadelphia. 3 
and 4. Evan EUwood and George How- 
ard (twins), born October 22, 1857; the 
former died April 5, 1858, and the latter 
August 17, same year. 5. William, men- 
tioned at length hereinafter. Mr. Pen- 
rose, the father, retired from the active 
labors of the farm in 1884, and his death 
occurred December 24, 1888. The mother 
of the family expired January 29, 1903^ 
at the advanced age of eighty-five. 

William Penrose (7), son of Evan 
(6) and Anna Roberts (Hicks) Penrose, 
was born September 16, 1861, on the 
homestead in Richland township, and 
received his primary education in a 
school held under the auspices of the 
Friends' meeting and presided over by 
Anna Blakey. Later he became a pupil 
in a public school, and afterward at- 
tended the Quakertown high school un- 
til his seventeenth year. He then became- 
the assistant of his father on the home 
farm. For many years he was the owner 
of this estate, which for more than a 
century was the property of the Penrose 
family, and proved himself an able, ener- 
getic and successful farmer. In 1901 he 
sold the estate and took up his abode in 
Quakertown. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican, but has always refused to hold of- 
fice, preferring to devote his time to the 
cultivation of his farm. He is a mem- 
ber of the Reformed church of Quak- 
ertown. 

Mr. Penrose married, in 1886, Jennie 
Trumbauer, and they are the parents of 
the following children: i. John Evan,^ 
born May 26, 1888, and attended the 
Quakertown public schools. 2. Henry 
Speakman. born September 13, 1895. 3. 
Annie Elizabeth, born October 11, 1899. 

4. Alfred, born October 29, 1903. 

Mrs. Penrose is a granddaughter of 
John and Elizabeth (Baum) Trumbauer, 
whose son John was born in 1808, in 
Richland township, attended the sub- 
scription schools, learned the shoemak- 
er's trade, and later engaged in farming. 
He was a member of the Lutheran 
church at Trumbauersville, in which he 
served as elder and deacon. Mr. Trum- 
bauer married, in 1843, Lydia B. Scholl, 
daughter of Michael and Lydia (Dono- 
hue) Scholl. the former a farmer near 
Telford, and their children were: i. 
Henry S., born in 1845, is a carpenter at 
Fairview, and married May Stoneback, 
of Richland township. 2. Milton, born 
in 1848, is unmarried, and lives on the 
homestead. 3- Michael S., born in 1850, 
lives in Quakertown, and married Eliza 
Moyer, oi Milford township. 4. Levi S.,. 
born in 1853, is a farmer and unmarried. 

5. Lydia Ann, born in 1855, and became 
the wife of Gideon Groff, of Trum- 
bauersville. 6. Mary Elizabeth, born in 
1859. and married Nathaniel Keely, of 
East Greenville, Montgomery county. 7. 



yoo 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Jennie, who became the wife of William 
Penrose, as mentioned above. Mr. 
Trumbauer, the father of the family, died 
February 2, 1898, having attained to the 
great age of ninety years. 



JOHN ALBERT OZIAS. Tlie Ozias 
family, of which John Albert Ozias is a rep- 
resentative, was established in America by 
Christopher Ozias, a native of France, who 
came to America about the middle of the 
eighteenth century. He landed at Balti- 
more, from which place he traveled south- 
ward to the French province of Louisiana, 
and after residing there for some time he 
made his way westward. Subsequently he 
came north and settled at Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania. Soon, however, he removed 
to Roxboro, where he followed his trade 
of weaving, devoting his energies to that 
pursuit throughout his entire lite. He was 
married and had two sons, Joseph and 
Jacob. Joseph Ozias, son of Christopher 
Ozias was the father of three children : 
John, Deborah, and George. 

George Ozias, father of John Albert 
Ozias, was born April 10, 1810, at Rox- 
boro, in Philadelphia county. He obtained 
his education in the subscription schools of 
the neighborhood and also in the free 
schools of that locality, and on putting aside 
his text-books he assisted his father in the 
trade of weaving. Later, however, he 
learned the carpenter's trade, and when he 
had mastered that business he engaged in 
contracting and building for many years, 
being actively identified with the improve- 
ment of the locality in which he made 
his home. He resided for some time at 
Germantown, in Philadelphia county, 
where he carried on building operations, 
but in 1837 removed to Nashville, Ten- 
nessee, where he again conducted business 
as contractor and builder. He was for 
several years a resident of that southern 
city, and then returned with his family 
to Germantown in 1842. .He wedded Mar- 
garet Barr, and they became the parents 
of three children: John AiDert ; George B., 
who is living at Vineland, New Jersey; 
and one who is living at Quakertown. 

John Albert Ozias was born in German- 
town, Philadelphia county, September 6, 
1836, and the following year was taken 
by his parents to Nashville, Tennessee, 
where he remained until about six years of 
age. He then again became a resident of 
his native city, and attended the public 
schools there until his parents removed to 
what is now known as Chalfont, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1859. He remained at that place 
for ten years, and in the meantime had be- 
come an active factor in business life, en- 
gaging in the coal and lumber trade. In 
1869 he removed to Quakertown where he 
established a lumber business as a member 
of a firm, but not long afterward he pur- 
chased his partner's interest and continued 
to ) conduct his lumber yard alone until 



1886. He also dealt in coal, but in the year 
mentioned he sold his coal and lumber busi- 
ness to Benjamin Achey, who is still con- 
ducting it. Mr. Ozias has since practically 
lived a retired life, enjoying the fruit of 
his former toil. He was capable in the 
management of his business affairs, conduct- 
ing his interests so ably that he won a very 
desirable reputation. 

As a citizen Mr. Ozias has ever been 
deeply interested in the puDlic welfare, and 
while residing at Chalfont he served for 
some time as justice of the peace. His ef- 
forts in oehalf of the public good had been 
exerted along other lines as well, for he 
was instrumental in establishing the Build- 
ing and Loan Association of Quakertown, 
and many home owners in that borough 
owe to his efiforts the beginning which they 
made in securing homes of their own. In 
educational work Mr. Ozias has also been 
very active, believing that a man should not 
be content in merely sending his children 
to school, but that he should put forth 
every effort toward having the schools of 
an excellent character and that competent 
teachers should be employed. His labors 
have been effective and resultant factors 
in the betterment of the school equipment 
and facilities of Quakertown. In his politi- 
cal affiliations Mr. Ozias has always been 
a Democrat, and, although rather conserva- 
tive in his political views and position, he 
has nevertheless adhered closely to the 
principles of that party. His fellow towns- 
men, recognizing his worth and ability, have 
several times called him to public office. 
He served for six years as county auditor 
of Bucks county, filling the position from 
1892 until 1898, his course in office being 
so commendable that he was reelected. 
Mr. Ozias was the prime mover in the work 
of having Richland Center incorporated into 
Quakertown. His efforts have ever been 
of a most practical character, yet all has 
been done in a quiet and unobtrusive man- 
ner. He cares not for outward display, is 
entirely free from ostentation, and does 
not seek public encomiums, but is content 
with the consciousness of duty well per- 
formed, whereby he retains his self respect. 

In 1862 Mr. Ozias was married to Miss 
Amanda Echart, a daughter of Charles and 
Elizabeth (Snyder) Echart, of Chalfont, 
representatives of an old and respected fam- 
ily of that community. The Snyders were 
among the oldest settlers of Newtown 
township, and were identified with the mill 
business of the county in pioneer days. Mr. 
Echart was also closely associated with the 
milling business at Chalfont, and was thus 
a factor in the industries of the town. He 
was a son of George and Catherine (King) 
Echart. George Echart was a man of con- 
siderable influence and activity in public 
affairs of his community. His father was 
Charles Echart, a resident of Oley, Berks 
county, Pennsylvania, and it was there that 
George Echart was born, F'ebruary 12, 1770. 
His death occurred March 16, 1848. Charles 
Echart, Sr., was a soldier of the Revolu- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



70l 



tionary war. Mrs. Ozias, a daughter of 
Charles Echart, Jr., was born February 19, 
1840, in what is now known as Chalfont, 
in New Britain township, Bucks county. 
She attended the public schools until her 
seventeenth year, after which she engaged 
in teaching for two winters, and subsequent 
to her nineteenth year remained at home 
with her parents until her marriage in 1862 
to John Albert Ozias. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Ozias have been born 
six children : Estella, the wife of Oliver 
R. Schutz, a son of Edwin Schutz, of 
Quakertown, and they reside at Quaker- 
town ; Carrie J., the wife of Rev. William 
Heist, a son of Henry Heist, of Quaker- 
town, and they reside at Scranton, Penn- 
sylvania, with their son Paul ; Winnie is 
the wife of Ferdinand Sommer, a son of 
Henry Sommer, and they live at Quaker- 
town ; Ramon married Emily Egner, of 
Newark, New Jersey ; J. Howard married 
E. Irene Harley. a daughter of Jonas L. 
Harley, of Quakertown, and they are living 
in that place ; and George Echart married 
Nellie Haring. a daughter of Charles C. 
Haring, of Quakertown. The Ozias fam- 
ily are members of St. John's Lutheran 
church of Quakertown. 



SARA E. TWINING. William Twining 
emigrated to this country in the early 
part of the seventeenth century and set- 
tled in Massachusetts, but later removed 
to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and died 
at Newtown in 1703. He had a son, 
Stephen. Stephen Twining (2), son of 
the American ancestor, was born at 
Eastham, Massachusetts, February 6, 
1659. He became a resident of Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania. John Twining 
(3), son of Stephen, was born at New- 
town, Pennsylvania, March 5, 1692; he 
married, and had a son named Jacob. 
Jacob Twining (4), son- of John, was 
born October 25, 1730. and his son, David 
Twining, was the subject's grandfather. 

David Twining (5), son of Jacob, born 
in Wrightstown township, February 5, 
1791. was a W'heelwright, but usually fol- 
lowed farming for his livelihood. He 
died October 13, 1877. He was a mem- 
ber of that branch of the Society of 
Friends knowm as the Hicksites. He 
married (iirst) Hannah Taylor, by whom 
three children were born : Amas H., 
George, Elizabeth H., wife of Edw-ard 
Atkinson. For his second wife, Mr. 
Twining married Mercy VanHorn, and 
by his union were born: Abbott A., died 
in infancy; Frances M., wife of Francis 
V. Krusen. 

Amas H. Twnning (6), son of David, 
was born in Northampton township, Maj- 
31, 1820, on the farm where the family 
still resides, and where he farmed during 
his lifetime. He was a member of the 
Society of Friends. He married ^^lary. 



daughter of John and Martha (Ridge) 
Tomlinson. By this union were born the 
following children: i. George W.; 2. 
William H.; 3. David;' 4. John; 5. Mil- 
ton; 6. W^almsley R. ; 7. Sara E.; 8. Mary 
R., wife of William Adcock, of New 
Jersey. 

Milton Twining and Walmsley R. Twin- 
ing, sons of Amos H. Twining, early in life 
learned the carpenter trade and were 
engaged in building at Chicago, Pitts- 
burg and Denver, Colorado. Milton 
later returned to Bucks county, where he 
is engaged in farming with his brother, 
George, on the old homestead. W^alms- 
ley is now a builder in Philadelphia. 

Sara E. Twining, daughter of Amas 
H. Twining, was educated at the Belle- 
vue Academy and the State Normal 
School at Millersville. For twenty years 
she has been among the efficient teach- 
ers in the public schools of Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania. 



CHARLES WTLLIAMS, who through- 
out his entire life has been interested in 
agricultural pursuits in Bucks county, was 
born in Buckingham township on the 13th 
of May, 1833, his parents being Anthony 
and Sarah (Thompson) Williams, both of 
whom were natives of Montgomery county. 
The paternal grandparents were Joseph and 
Ann Williams. Their son, Anthony Will- 
iams, was born in Wliite Marsh township, 
near Chestnut Hill, on the 7th of June, 
1807, and was of Welsh descent. He con- 
tinued a resident of Montgomery county 
until two years after his marriage, when he 
removed to Bucks county, settling in Buck- 
ingham township in 1832. After a few 
years' residence here he returned to Mont- 
gomery county, purchasing a farm near 
Ogontz. His death occurred in 1844. An- 
thony and Sarah T. Williams had seven 
children, viz.: Charles; Edward H., who is 
living in Buckingham township ; Joseph T., 
a resident of Easton, Pennsylvania ; two 
daughters who died in infancy ; Jane, de- 
ceased; and Anthony, who has also passed 
away. Later she married Jesse Shoemaker, 
having one child Sarah, also deceased. 

Charles Williams was only four years of 
are when his parents returned to Mont- 
gomery county, and he was reared on the 
home farm, there acquiring his early edu- 
cation at Abington Friends' school and 
afterward attending Friends' schools in 
Philadelphia. He was also a student in a 
private boarding school in Langhorne. On 
attaining his majority he took charge of the 
home farm, and continued its operation for 
two years, after which he removed to Buck- 
ingham township, Bucks county, his grand- 
father, Joseph Williams, having deeded him 
his farm there. In the spring of 1902, 
(having sold his property the year previous) 
he removed to his present home, which is 
owned by his wife, it being her ancestral 
home through her mother, a descendant of 



702 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Robert Smith, who acquired the property 
in 1733- 

On the I2th of April, i860, Charles Will- 
iams was married to Hetty A. Eastburn, a 
daughter of John and Sarah VV. (Smith; 
Eastburn, of Wrightstown. The farnily is 
of English lineage. The names of their six 
children are: John E., deceased; Elizabeth 
E., the deceased wife of George B. Brown; 
Edward, who has also passed away; 
Howard, deceased ; Sarah W., who is the 
wife of George B. Brown; and Edith C, at 
home. The family are members of the So- 
ciety of Friends, and in his political views 
Mr. Williams is a Republican. He is .one 
of the most esteemed citizens of Wrights- 
town township, interested in all progressive 
measures for the general good, and giving 
hearty co-operation to many movements 
which have resulted beneficially to the com- 
munity. 



tified with the Hilltown Lutheran church. 
i\ir. Martin married, October 24, i8yy, Ro- 
berta, daughter of Eli Cadwaladcr, and 
they have two children— Chester C, who 
was born December 15, 1901 ; and Howard 
C, born December 14, 1905. 



REUBEN A. MARTIN, an enterprising 
young man of Bucks county, is a grandson 
of George Martin, a native of Wurtem- 
berg, Germany, where he was born Sep- 
tember 14, 1820. In his youth he came to 
the United States and took up his abode in 
Reading, proving himself during the Civil 
war, a loyal citizen by serving in the ranks 
of the defenders of the Union. 

Adam Martin, son of George Martin, 
was born ]\larch 25, 1853, and was educated 
in the public schools. After learning the 
carpenter's trade with David High, of Hill- 
town, he spent twelve years in the practice 
of it. In 1880 he purchased the Jesse 
Garner farm, in Warrington township, 
and for eight years devoted himself to 
its cultivation. He subsequently bought 
the Aaron Weisell farm, which is now his 
home, and also the Christian Haldeman 
farm, adjoining. The two estates he cul- 
tivates as one, with extremely profitable re- 
sults. In New Britain township he held 
for three years each the offices of constable 
and charity commissioner, while in War- 
rington township he served for five years as 
school director, and now holds the office of 
auditor. Politically he is identified with 
the Republicans, and is a member of the 
Hilltown Lutheran church. He married 
Addie Sherm, and their children are : Reu- 
ben A., mentioned at length hereinafter; 
Flora; Alice; Bertha; Walter; Jennie; and 
Edgar Harrison, deceased. 

Reuben A. Martin, son of Adam and Ad- 
die (Sherm) Martin, was born March 1, 
1880, in Warrington township, where he 
received his education in the public schools. 
His boyhood and youth were spent in assist- 
ing his father in the labors of the farm 
and in acquiring a thorough and practical 
knowledge of agriculture in all its branches. 
In 1899 he purchased the old Hillpot farm, 
in New Britain township, on which he has 
since lived. His well-tilled acres and large 
crops testify to his ability and industry. 
He is a good citizen and a steadfast Re- 
publican. In matters of religion he is iden- 



THE GROUSE FAMILY settled in up- 
per Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1758. 
Michael Krouse (as the name was formerly 
written), the founder, and his wife Anne 
Barbara landed in Philadelphia from Ger- 
many, September 3, 1758. He located and 
acquired land in Nockamixon township, 
near the Narrows of the Delaware rivei. 
They belonged to the Reformed church. He 
enlisted in a company that was formed in 
Durham township, and served in the Revo- 
lutionary war. We find in the old family 
papers and records that the name was 
spelled "Krouse" down until about the 
year 1800, after which the name is gener- 
ally written "Crouse." The writer is not 
in possession of the exact date of the death 
of .Michael Crouse, Sr., or his wife Anne 
Barbara, but the former died about 1812. 
They had three sons and two daughters, 
viz. : Jacob, Frederick and Conrad, Han- 
nah, and Mary Margaret. The latter mar- 
ried Jacob Lechleiter, who was the founder 
of the Lechleiter family in Nockamixon. 
He died March 20, 1855, aged ninety-one 
years. His wife, Mary Aiargaret, died May 
^2, 1847, aged seventy-nine years. Hannah 
married a Mr. Pursell, and they lived in 
what is now the village of Bridgeton, 
Pennsylvania. She died there at a good old 
age, leaving many descendants. The oldest 
son, Jacob Crouse, married and settled in 
Hunterdon county. New Jersey. He had 
three sons : Jacob, John and William. The 
former married and settled in Milford, New 
Jersey, where he died in 1900 at an ad- 
vanced age. The son, John Crouse, mar- 
ried Lucy Butler and they had a large fam- 
ily of sons. They moved to Luzerne coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, about 1850, where he died 
leaving many descendants. The other son, 
William Crouse, was twice married. He 
settled in Warren county. New Jersey, and 
raised a large family .of sons and daughters, 
who are scattered through Warren and 
Hunterdon counties. New Jersey. Freder- 
ick, the second son of Michael Crouse, Sr., 
was born in 1766; he married Catharine 
Schell, and settled in Nockamixon town- 
ship, where he died April 21, 1845, aged 
seventy-nine years. His wife, Catharine, 
died February 23, 1849, aged eighty-two 
years. They had two children, Jacob and 
Sarah. The latter married Jacob Overpeck 
of Durham township, Bucks county. They 
had three children : Frederick, Philip, and 
Sarah ; they all married and left many de- 
scendants. Jacob, the only son of Frederick 
Crouse, married Susan i\Iills ; they raised a 
large family of children. Conrad Crouse, 
the third son of Michael Crouse. Sr.. was 
born in 1768. He married Elizabeth Moyer, 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



703 



and settled on the old homestead in Nocka- 
mixon township. He died in 1796, leaving 
a widow and three small children ; his will 
speaks of one son Michael, and two daugh- 
ters, one of which must have died in child- 
hood, as no further mention is made of her. 
The other daughter Elizabeth grew to 
womanhood and married Joseph Raisner; 
they settled in New Jersey near Lambert- 
ville, and had one daughter, who married 
. Carnelious Arnett, of Lambertville, New 
"jersey. Michael Grouse, Jr., born January 
22, 1793, was the father of the writer of 
this sketch; he was only three years old 
when his father, Conrad Crouse, died. He 
learned the mason trade and was educated 
in English and German. He taught school 
for many years, it being required in those 
days to teach both languages in the schools 
of the upper districts of Bucks county. He 
was constable of. the township for several 
years, and held a lieutenant's commission 
in the Pennsylvania militia. In 1820 he mar- 
ried Sarah Cole, who was born December 
5, 1797. She was the daughter of Tunis 
and Julia Cole, who lived in Holland, New 
Jersey, and whose parents immigrated from 
Holland many years before. Tunis Cole 
was born February 6, 1754, and died Feb- 
ruary 17, 1816. His wife, Julia, born Sep- 
tember ID, 1762, died January 21, 1834. 

Michael Crouse, Jr., after his marriage, 
settled on the old homestead. They had ten 
children, five sons and five daughters, viz. : 
Conrad F., Jacob W., Michael, Frederick, 
and Andrew Jackson. Eliza, Elizabeth, 
Sarah Ann, Catharine, and Hannah. 

The first son, Conrad F. Crouse, born 
April 27, 1827, was a steam engineer by oc- 
cupation. He was twice married; his first 
wife was Julia Ann EUicott ; they had three 
-children: Oscar, Warren, and Sallie. The 
mother died September 7, 1858. His second 
wife Caroline. Kerbaugh, to whom he was 
married August 27, 1859, bore him five chil- 
dren: John, JNIary, Lizzie, Alice and Cane. 
The family then moved to ]\Iilnesville, 
Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. During the 
Civil war he served in the Forty-fifth Regi- 
ment, Pennsylvania Mililia. He died June 
S, 1901, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. 
Eliza married Andrew Shaw, of Carvers- 
ville, Bucks county. They had four chil- 
dren: Charles, Sallie, Mary, and Ella. 
Eliza Shaw died July 8, 1865. Elizabeth 
Crouse, born December 14, 1823, married 
Chapman Large, of DoyleStown, Pennsyl- 
vania. They had four children : John, 
^Martha, Alice, and Fannie. Elizabeth died 
July 15, 1891. 

Jacob W. Crouse, second son of Michael 
Crouse, Jr., was born March 14, 1829; by 
occupation he was a carpenter. He served 
during the war for the Union in Company 
F, One Hundred and Seventy-fourth Regi- 
ment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. He mar- 
ried Eliza Freeling in 1852 ; they had four 
children: Annie S., who married B. Frank 
Rapp ; Alice and Frederick W. died in child- 
hood; and Clara; who married Lee Ott, of 
Tinicum. Jacob W. Crouse settled in Uhler- 



town, and was a consistent member and 
elder in the upper Tinicum Reformed 
church. He died November 3, 1884. 

Sarah Ann Crouse, born July 13, 1831, 
married Amos Smith, of Smith corner, 
Plumstead township. They had nine chil- 
dren, three of whom died in childhood, and 
those who grew up were: Mary Ellen, 
wife' of Israel Wismer. ^Michael, who mar- 
ried Hannah Overholt and settled at Smith 
Corner; he died in 1902. Alice, who mar- 
ried Reuben Walters ; she died in 1896, leav- 
ing one son, Austin Walters. Jacob Smith, 
who married ^liss Anne Gearhart ; they 
live at Ambler, Pennsylvania. Emma, who 
married Samuel Lear. Kate, who married 
John Nash. All live at Smith Corner. 

Michael Crouse, third son of Michael 
Crouse, Jr., born July i, 1833, was accident- 
ally drowned in the Delaware river, oppo- 
site Burlington, New Jersey, September 24, 
1843. 

Frederick Crouse, fourth son of Michael 
Crouse, Jr., was born July 4, 1835. He 
served his country during the great Civil 
war as a member of Company C, One Hun- 
dred and Twenty-eighth Regiment, Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers; he was severely 
wounded in the battle of Antietam, Mary- 
land, September 17, 1862. He was by occu- 
pation a telegraph operator, having opened 
the first telegraph office at Riegelsville, New 
Jersey, in 1864, serving fourteen years. 
After being discharged from the United 
States army in 1863 on account of wounds 
received in battle, he was appointed by the 
provost marshal of the Fifth ^Military' Dis- 
trict as enrolling officer, and served as such 
until the close of the war. In 1867 he was 
appointed postmaster at Riegelsville, Penn- 
sylvania, and managed the office with credit 
to himself and satisfaction to the govern- 
ment for seventeen years. In politics he is 
a Republican, and in 1876 was a candidate 
for the Pennsylvania legislature, but was de- 
feated by a small majority, the county being 
largely Democratic at that time. In 1868 
he organized Fraternal Council, O. U. A. 
]M. He also organized the Riegelsville 
Building & Loan Association in 1875. In 
1857 he was initiated into Peace & Union 
Lodge No. 456, I. O. O. F., under the juris- 
diction of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania 
of which he has been a working member for 
forty-eight years. In 1882 he organized 
Colonel Samuel Croasdale Post No. 256, 
Department of Pennsylvania, Grand Army 
of the Republic. He became a member of 
St. Johns Reformed church, at Riegelsville, 
in 1852, and became a resident of Riegels- 
ville in 1853 and has resided there ever 
since. He married Mary A. Kerbaugh. De- 
cember 13, 1856; she was the daughter of 
Josiah and ^Slaria Kerbaugh, of North- 
ainpton county, Pennsylvania. They had 
eight children, four of whom died in child- 
hood. Those living are : Stewart C, 
Clara. Gertrude, and Sallie May. Stewart 
C. Crouse married Sallie S. Atkinson, 
daughter of Jesse H. and [Martha Atkinson, 
of Dolington, Bucks county. Three chil- 



704 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



dren blessed this union : Jesse Clyde, Mary 
and Frederick. The motlier died July ij, 
1888. J. Clyde Crouse married Florence 
Souders, of Riegelsville, Pennsylvania, June 
1, 1904, and settled in Elizabeth, New Jer- 
sey. He is a civil engineer in the employ 
of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Stewart C. 
Crouse was married twice, his second wife 
being Miss Kate Giant, of' Philadelphia; 
they have four children : Margarite, Wil- 
mot, Grace, and Emily. He resides in 
Bound Brook, New Jersey, and is employed 
in the telegraph department of the New 
Jersey Central Railroad. Clara, daughter 
of Frederick Crouse, was born June 25, 
1864; she married John W. Thompson, of 
Riegelsville, Pennsylvania, by occupation a 
carriage painter. They settled in Riegels- 
ville and have two children living, viz : 
Florence May, and John.Elsworth; a third 
child, died in childhood, named Alma. Gert- 
rude, second daughter of Frederick Crouse, 
was born June 21, 1874; she married Syl- 
vester Dillon, a mechanic of Lehnensburg, 
and they reside in Riegelsville, and have 
three children : JMildred Rebecca, Laurence 
and Evelyne. Sallie May, third daughter 
of Frederick Crouse, was born in July, 
1876; she married Peter Heater, a foundry- 
. man of Durham. They reside at Alburtis, 
Pennsylvania, and have one daughter, Mal- 
vene. 

Catharine, daughter of Michael Crousc, 
Jr., was born March 27, 1837; she remained 
single and died March 20, 1885. 

Hannah, the youngest daughter, born 
September 29, 1839, died December 8, 1852. 
Andrew Jackson Crouse, youngest sou 
of Michael Crouse, Jr., was born January 
I, 1843. He grew to manhood and married 
Mrs. Helena Kerbaugh, widow of John B. 
Kerbaugh, a member of Company C, One 
Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment, 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, who was killed 
at the battle of Antietam, Maryland, Sep- 
tember 17, 1862, leaving a daughter, Lizzie, 
who married Oscar Tettemer, of Tinicum 
township, where they reside. Andrew Jack- 
son Crouse resides in Riegelsville, and is 
employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad 
Company as clerk at the Riegelsville Sta- 
tion. He served his country during the 
Civil war in the Forty-fifth Pennsylvania 
Militia, Union League Regiment, and after- 
wards as a member of Company G, Twenty- 
eighth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. 
He is a past commander of Colonel Sapiuel 
Croasdale Post, Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic. He is also a member and holds office 
in St. John's Reformed church of Riegels- 
ville. In politics he is a Democrat, al- 
though he never sought office. They had 
four children, viz. ; Charles W., Ada A., 
Idia and Jennie ; the two latter died in child- 
hood. The daughter, Ada A., born April 
14, 1875, holds a position in the Durham 
Knitting Mill. The son, Charles W. Crouse, 
born March 5, 1868, was married to Anerta 
Rader, of Martins Creek, Pennsylvania, on 
June 10, 1891. They reside in New York 
city, where he holds the position of book- 



keeper for a large firm. Two children have 
blessed this union : George, and Aubrey. 
Helena, wife of Andrew J. Crouse, died 
April 21, 1892. Mr. Crouse married, Octo- 
ber 24, 1894, Miss Emma Lear, of Plum- 
stead township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 
vania. 



MRS. RACHAEL P. IRELAND oc- 
cupies the beautiful old homestead "Winde- 
mere," which was the property of her par- 
ents, Thomas S. and Martha (Scarboro) 
Radcliff. Descended from English an- 
cestry, her grandfather, John' L. Radclifif, 
was born in Bucks county, being a repre- 
sentative of one of the old families of 
this part of the state. He always followed 
farming, and while he did not seek to fig- 
ure in public life his influence was always 
on the side of right and progress and he 
was identified with the Friends' meeting, 
thus adhering to the religious faith of his 
ancestors. He married Patience Smith, 
also a native of Bucks county, and his 
death occured on the old homestead farm. 
Their children were : Thomas S., Mrs. 

Mary -, Mrs. Sally Cozens, Isaac 

N., who is living in Illinois; Charlotte, 
wife of H. Funk; Lew, a physician, who 
died unmarried ; Theodore, who served 
through the civil war ; Dewitt C, who was 
a soldier of the Union army and is now 
'a resident of California ; Harriet, who died 
unmarried ; Wesley, a farmer, now de- 
ceased ; and Amanda, wife of J. Neal. 

Thomas S. Radclifif, son of John L. and 
Patience (Smith) Radcliff, was born in 
Bucks county in 1815, and was reared 
near Warrington on the old home farm. 
He received a liberal education, and in 
early manhood engaged in teaching school 
for a number of years. Subsequently he 
settled upon what was the old Scarbor- 
ough farm, formerly the property of his 
father-in-law, and there remained until his 
children had attained years of maturity. 
The property had at one time been owned 
by Jonathan Roberts, who afterward sold 
it to Mr. Scarborough and eventually Mr. 
Radclifif purchased it. It is noted for its 
productive soil, its attractive location and 
for the splendid view which it commands. 
In 1867 ]\Ir. Radclifif sold the property and 
removed to Philadelphia, where he was 
employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad 
Company, and subsequently he bought a 
farm in Maryland which remained his- 
place of residence throughout his life. 
His political -iews accorded with Repub- 
lican principals, and he gave to that party 
unfaltering support. He was called to 
several local oflSces, the duties of which 
he discharged with promptness and fidel- 
ity, and he was widely known and highly 
respected for the possession of many ster- 
ling traits of character. He held friend- 
ship inviolable, was chararitable and be- 
nevolent to the poor and needy, and in 
his home was an indulgent and devoted 



t-l 

o 



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o 
o 




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in 

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a 
n 




HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



705 



husband and father. From early manhood 
he was a consistent member of the Bap- 
tist church. Thomas S. Radcliff married 
Alartha Scarboro, who was born in Bucks 
county in 1816, a daughter of Amos and 
Sarah (Cooper) Scarboro, also natives of 
this county and of Scotch-Irish descent. 
Her father was a practical and prosperous 
farmer, quickly recognizing and utilizing a 
favorable business opportunity, and gaining 
at the same time an unblemished reputa- 
tion by reason of his straightforward deal- 
ing. Kindness and consideration were 
among his salient characteristics, and he 
commanded the esteem of all who knew 
him. Selling the old homestead, he later 
purchased a farm near Doylestown, Penn- 
sylvania, known as the Patterson farm, 
and on disposing of that property he 
bought a lot on which was a good resi- 
dence and therein lived retired. In his 
political views he was a Republican, and 
in religious faith a Presbyterian. His chil- 
dren were : Mrs. Elizabeth Rubincamp, 
Mrs. Martha Radcliff, and Rachael, wife of 
William Stuckert. Thomas and Martha 
(Scarboro) Radcliff had a large family, 
but lost several children in early life. 
The others are: Sarah, wife of A. Robi- 
son; Mrs. Ireland; Winfield S., a drug- 
gist; Thomas J., a broker of New York; 
and John L., who died at the age of 
eighteen years. The father died in 1878, 
aged sixty-five years, and his wife died 
July 23, 1893. 

Rachael P. Radcliff was born at the old 
home where she now lives, February 23, 
1847, and when a young lady accompanied 
her parents on their remove! to Philadel- 
phia, where she was married, in 1877, to 
Charles G. Ireland. He was born in that 
city. November 4, 1846. His father, Charles 
Ireland, was the adopted son of Dr. 
Charles Garrison, of Millville, New Jersey, 
who reared and educated and made him 
his heir. ]Mr. Ireland inherited all of Dr. 
Garrison's large estate and he was called 
by his foster father's name. His inheri- 
tance enabled him to live retired from busi- 
ness cares and he made his home in 
Philadelphia. He was married and reared 
his family there, and his children went 
by his own name of Ireland. He provided 
them with liberal educational privileges 
and also left to each a goodly inheritance. 
They were: Isadore, wife of J. Cassell ; 
Lydia, who died unmarried ; Charles G. ; 
Thomas W., deceased ; and Florence, who 
was a teacher and died unmarried. 

Charles G. Ireland was a competent 
business man of Philadelphia, and managed 
and settled up his father's estate. Broad 
minded and intelligent, he profited by his 
excellent educational privileges and became 
an important factor in business circles in 
his native city, but, overtaxing his strength 
he was an invalid for three years prior 
to his death. He was generous in his 
benefactions to the poor and needy, con- 
siderate and courteous at all times, main- 
tained the most' kindly relations with his 
.45-3 



many friends, and in his home was a de- 
voted and loving husband. His political 
support was given the Democracy, and 
without political aspiration he gave effic- 
ient aid in matters of public moment as 
a private citizen. He died in his fifty- 
fourth year. 

Mrs. Ireland had one son, Walter S. 
Radcliff, who resides in Philadelphia. 
After her husband's death she purchased 
Windemere, the old family homestead in 
Bucks county, at one time the property 
of her maternal grandfather, and here she 
has since remained. The place comprises 
seventy-eight acres of land. The soil is 
rich and productive and is now highly 
cultivated, Mrs. Ireland giving personal 
supervision to the farming interests. The 
farm is conveniently and pleasantly situ- 
ated about four miles from Doylestown, 
and is equipped with all modern accessories 
and conveniences, not only in the house but 
also for facilitating the farm work. The 
residence is a three story structure which 
she has remodeled, making it modern in 
every way. It is supplied with hot and 
cold water, is heated throughout by fur- 
nace, and stands on a natural building site, 
commanding a wide view of the surround- 
ing country and also looking down upon 
Doylestown with its beautiful homes, 
orchards and groves. There is a large 
barn and other buildings in the rear of the 
house, and no equipment of the model 
farm of the twentieth century is lacking 
at Windemere. Mrs. Ireland has a wide 
acquaintance in her native county, and the 
hospitality which she so generously ac- 
cords to her many friends is as freely ex- 
tended to her. She was reared in the 
Baptist church and has always adhered to 
its teachings and faith. 



WILLIAM M. HOLBERT, postmas- 
ter of Warrington, where he is also en- 
gaged in merchandising, represents one 
of the old families of Bucks county that 
through many generations has figured in 
business and political life here. At an 
early period in the settlement of the 
new world, the Holbert family was 
founded in New Jersey, where its mem- 
bers became prominent in agricultural 
circles. William Holbert, the grand- 
father, came to Pennsylvania soon after 
his marriage, settling first in Abingdon 
township; Montgomery county, where he 
remained for a few years and then re- 
moved to Jamison's Corners in Bucks 
county, where he carried on agricultural 
pursuits until his death. He had been 
reared in the faith of the Society of 
Friends and continued an active and con- 
sistent member of that sect up to his de- 
mise. He was a plain, honest farmer 
who had no aspirations for public office 
or public fame, being content to do his 
duty as a private citizen and as a hus- 
band and father. He married a Miss 



7o6 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Brannan, who was also a native of New 
Jersej', and was of Welsh lineage. She 
survived her husband for but a short 
time. They reared four children. El- 
wood, born July 31, 1818, who resides in 
Wilson county, Kansas, having for a 
long period been a leading farmer of that 
localitj^; Nathan, born August 31, 1823; 
Mrs. Elizabeth Ewing, born May 18, 
1836; and Lenora, born July 14, 1838, 
who died unmarried. All were reared in 
the faith jof the Friends meeting, from 
which they never departed. 

Nathan Holbert (2), born in New Jer- 
sey, was reared in Bucks county, Penn- 
sylvania, remaining under the parental 
roof up to the time of his marriage, 
when he began farming on a tract of 
rented land. He remained for a long 
period upon the farm on which he set- 
tled, and after many years devoted to ag- 
ricultural pursuits came to Warrington, 
where he purchased a mercantile enter- 
prise, renting a building in which he 
conducted business with the assistance 
of his son, William, for a number of 
years and eventually disposing of the 
store to his son. He was ever a man 
of marked industry and in early life was 
a practical and successful farmer who for 
many years attended the Philadelphia 
market. He conducted an extensive dairy 
business and his butter commanded the 
highest market prices. His capably con- 
ducted business affairs resulted in the 
acquirement of a very desirable com- 
petence. He adhered to the religious 
faith of his ancestors, and his political 
support was given to the Republican 
party. In his locality he was recognized 
as one of its leading advocates and he 
filled some township offices, but was never 
an aspirant for political preferment. Of 
social, genial nature, he enjoyed the 
friendship of those with whom he came 
in contact, and they found him a con- 
siderate neighbor and kind friend. He 
was benevolent and charitable to the 
poor and needy and, honored and re- 
spected by all, he died February 5, 1899, 
at the age of seventy-five years. He 
passed the evening of life in the home 
of his son. William, but his death oc- 
curred while he was visiting a daughter. 
In early manhood he wedded Sarah 
Yonker, who was born in Huntingdon 
Valley, Montgomery county, Pennsyl- 
vania, and was a daughter of William 
Yonker, who was one of the early set- 
tlers of Warwnck township, Bucks 
county, where he became widely recog- 
nized as a leading and influential farmer. 
He was also highly respected in social 
circles and was known as "the Quaker 
fiddler," because of his skillful perform- 
ance on the violin, the young people of 
the neighborhood depending upon him 
to furnish the music for their dances. 
His children were: Mary, the wife of 
J. C. Worthington; Thomas, who died at 
the age of eighteen years ; Emma, who 



died unmarried; Mary J., who became 
the wife of Joseph Flack, and Sarah, 
wife of Nathan Holbert. The last named 
passed away in June, 1881, about eighteen 
years prior to the death of her- husband. 
They were the parents of five children: 
Thomas, of St. Louis, Missouri; Maria, 
wife of John Cravens; William M., Agnes 
Y., and Jane. 

William M. Holbert was born near the 
Warwick postoffice in Bucks county, Jan- 
uary 21, 1854, attended the common 
schools and was reared in his parents 
home, accompanying them on their re- 
moval to Warrington. He had prev- 
iously assisted in the labors of the fields 
on the old home farm, and after settling 
in Warrington became his father's as- 
sistant in the conduct of the store. 
Eventually he purchased the stock and 
engaged in business on his own account, 
renting the store until 1899, when he pur- 
chased the large block which comprises 
both a store and residence. He carried 
a large and well selected line of general 
merchandise, such as is required by the 
village and country trade, and is a prac- 
tical, enterprising merchant, following 
modern methods and utilizing every op- 
portunity that tends to honorable suc- 
cess. He has contributed to the material 
improvement of the town as well as to 
his individual prosperity by the erection 
of a number of houses which he rents. 
He is likewise a director in the Warring- 
ton Mutual Telephone Company, and his 
recognition and utilization of business 
opportunities have been salient features 
in the acquirement of the desirable com- 
petence that now crowns his efiforts. 

Mr. Holbert strongly endorses Repub- 
lican principles, and in as far as possible 
aids in the party work in his locality. In 
1886 he was appointed postmaster of 
Warrington, which position he yet fills, 
and is also auditor of his township. Fra- 
ternally he is a worthj^ member of the 
Masonic lodge at Hatboro. 

William M. Holbert was married in 
1889 to Miss Sallie V. Radclifife, who was 
born in Warrington, Pennsylvania, De- 
cember 8, 1857, a daughter of Elias H. 
and Emily L. (Coulter) Radclifife, the 
latter named having been married July 
7. 1850. Elias H. Radclifife was the son 
of Robert and Mary (Cline) RadclifTe. 
Robert Radclifife, who in early life 
learned the tanner's trade, which he fol- 
lowed in his young manhood, lived re- 
tired many years previous to his death 
with his son, Elias H., in Warrington. 
Robert Radclifife died August 31, 1878, 
aged ninety-two years, his wife having 
died at the same place, March 26, i860, 
aged si.Kty-five years. Elias H. Rad- 
clifife resided with his parents at Hat- 
boro up to the time of his marriage to 
Emily L. Coulter, at Germantown. Sub- 
sequently he purchased a farm at War- 
rington known as the old historic Ben- 
jamin Hough homestead, its former 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, 



707 



owner having been a relative of General 
U. S. Grant, who several times visited 
there. Elias H. Radcliffe conducted the 
farm for many years along practical, pro- 
gressive lines that won a fair measure 
of success. He had a wide acquaintance 
and the favorable regard of many friends. 
In politics a Republican, he never de- 
sired political preferment, wishing rather 
to devote his entire attention to his ag- 
ricultural interests. He spent his last 
years in the home of his daughter, Mrs. 
Holbert, and died November 24, 1901, 
-while his wife's death occurred October 
18, 1899. Emily L. (Coulter) Radcliffe 
was the daughter of Paschall and Sarah 
<Wolf) Coulter, and granddaughter of 
John Coulter, who was the proprietor of 
â– a. large farm near Germantown, also the 
owner of an extensive coal yard there, 
and was one of the capable, enterprising 
business men of that place. The chil- 
â– dren of Elias H. and Emily L. (Coulter) 
Radcliffe were: Caroline Coulter, who 
â– died May 29, 1853, aged eleven months. 
Ellen C, wife of Oliver Gellner, of Tren- 
ton, New Jersey. Emily S., wife of 
Maurice E. Allen, of Ambler. Sallie V., 
-wife of William M. Holbert. of Warring- 
ton. Robert A., a miller by trade, a mem- 
ber of the firm of Hoffman & Radcliffe, 
of Frenchtown, New Jersey. Modesta 
v., wife of Dr. William F. Henson, of 
Germantown, Pennsylvania. John C. 
who resides at the homestead. Margaret 
Wolf, who died May 14, 1882, aged eigh- 
teen years. William M., a practicing 
phvsician of Pennington, New Jersey. 
Stephen C, of Ambler, Pennsylvania. 
Mary, wife of Harvey S. Hartzell, of 
Chalfont. Pennsylvania. Paul R., who 
is principal of the high school at Clinton, 
New Jersey. 

Mr. and Mrs. Holbert are the parents 
of two sons: William Rodney, born April 
26, 1892. Howard Cadwallader, born 
September 26, 1894. I" the maternal 
line Mrs. Holbert is descended from one 
of the old and representative families of 
Germantown, Pennsylvania. Early gen- 
erations of the family were represented 
by those who followed the sea, some 
of the name becoming captains of 
vessels. 

John Coulter died in Philadelphia, De- 
cember 16, 1857, in the eighty-sixth year of 
his age. The deceased was one of our 
oldest and most respected citizens, ana 
was in realty one of the fixtures and fea- 
tures of Germantown. At an early pe- 
riod of his life, he was among the most 
prominent ship owners and importers of 
Philadelphia — was for a series of years a 
director of the Bank of the United 
States; but for the last thirty or more, 
he lived in retirement upon his exten- 
sive farm in the very heart of the town, 
comprising about one hundred and 
twenty acres, which was cultivated in a 
way to challenge the admiration of every 
observer. He was a serious sufferer by 



the spoliations of the French upon our 
commerce and looked year after year for 
that just restitution which the govern- 
ment of the United States pledged itself, 
by treaty to make to all proper claim- 
ants. Thus, one by one the pillars of our 
old edifice are crumbling to the earth 
until a little while, there will not be one 
left to look up to and to honor. But 
their memories which we cherish can not 
be taken away from us. 



TOBIAS CRESSMAN HINKLE, de- 
ceased, who was a resident of Richland 
Centre, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was 
born August 29, 1830, on a farm in Rich- 
land township, fourth son and fifth child 
of Elias and Rebecca (Cressman) 
Hinkle. The father was born on a 
farm, and had but limited educational op- 
portunities, but acquired from observa- 
tion a respectable fund of knowledge 
which enabled him to acquit himself 
creditably in all his life transactions, 
while his exemplary conduct commanded 
for him the respect of all about him. He 
took an active part in community af- 
fairs, was a consistent member of the 
Lutheran church, and in politics gave his 
support to the Democratic party. 

Tobias Cressman Hinkle remained at 
home until he was eighteen years of age, 
assisting in farm labor, and acquiring 
such education as the schools of the day 
would afford. He then went to Bunker 
Hill, a small settlement on the Allentown 
pike, in Richland township, to learn the 
shoemaker's trade under Jacob Fellman, 
with whom he remained as apprentice 
and journeyman for a period of nine 
years. In 1859 he set up in business on 
his own account in a shoe store at Bun- 
ker Hill, and was thus profitably engaged 
until 1870. Determined upon seeking a 
broader field for his effort, he then re- 
moved to Quakertown, where he opened 
a small shoe store on Front street. This 
proved a most satisfactory change, his 
busines • developing to considerable pro- 
portions, and justifying his seeking a 
partner. In 1885 he associated with him- 
self Milton A. Biehn, a former appren- 
tice, and brother to his wife. This co- 
partnership was known as Hinkle & 
Biehn, and was maintained until Mr. 
Hinkle retired in 1893, being succeeded 
by his sons, Harry Wilson Hinkle and 
Nelson Biehn Hinkle. The changed 
partnership involved no new firm natne, 
the old one being preserved to the pres- 
ent time. In religion, Mr. Hinkle was a 
member of the United Evangelical As- 
sociation, in which body he was a trus- 
tee and a member of the building com- 
mittee, and he was also active in what- 
ever was for the advancement of the 
church or the extension of its usefulness 
and influence in the community. In pol- 
itics he was an original Republican, Tiav- 



7o8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ing voted for Fremont, the first candi- 
date of that part}' for the presidency, in 
1856. He was a quiet citizen, contented 
to discharge the duties incumbent upon 
an orderly individual, and never sought 
official preferment. His death occurred 
April 2, 1899. 

Mr. Hinkle married in 1859 Maria B., 
daughter of Michael and Catherine (Alt- 
house) Biehn. Her father was a son of 
Abram and Mary (Martin) Biehn, and 
was born in Rockhill township in 1810. 
He was a farmer by occupation. He 
married Catherine Althouse, June 10, 
1838, and their children were: i. Maria, 
born 1840, married Tobias Hinkle. 2. 
Elizabeth, born 1847, who resides with 
her sister, Mrs. Hinkle. 3. Milton, born 
1851, arid is engaged in the shoe busi- 
ness in West Chester, Pennsylvania; he 
married Sarah Edwards, daughter of 
Benjamin Edwards, of Quakertown. 

Tobias C. and Maria (Biehn) Hinkle 
were the parents of the following named 
children: i. Harry Wilson, born 1863, 
and who in partnership with his brother 
Nelson B., succeeded to the business es- 
tablished by the father; he married 
Olivia, daughter of Levi and Sarah 
(Setzler) Clymer, of Quakertown, and 
their children are Tobias, Dorothy and 
Elinor. 2. Nelson, born 1869, died Au- 
gust 9, 1901; he was engaged in the shoe 
business as aforesaid; he married Clara 
Weile, daughter of Allen and Harriet 
(Hedman) Weile. Mrs. Hinkle, the 
mother of these children, resides on 
Front street, in Quakertown. 



ISAAC H. MOVER. Almost two cen- 
turies have passed since the Moyer fam- 
ily was established in Pennsylvania by 
Hans Moyer, who came from Switzer- 
land or Germany about 1725. He settled 
in Upper Salford township, Montgomery 
county, where he purchased land in 1729. 
He died in 1748. His children were: 
Henry, John, Barbara, Jacob, Elizabeth, 
Annie and Hester. 

Henry Moyer (2), son of Hans Moyer, 
was born in either Germany or Switzer- 
land and was brought to America by his 
parents when only a year old. He and 
his father were numbered among the 
charter members and founders of the 
Franconia Mennonite church. His bus- 
iness pursuit was that of farming. He 
married Barbara Miller, who came from 
Germany to Pennsylvania when eighteen 
years of age. His death occurred in 1800. 
His children were: Henry, born in 1750, 
who settled in Plumstead township, 
Bucks county, and married Susan Smith; 
Mary, wife of Abraham Kulp: Jacob, 
born April 18, 1754: John, born in 1756; 
Isaac, born December 31, 1759; Anna, 
wife of Abraham Kulp: Barbara, who 
married John Wisler, of Haycock. Penn- 
sylvania; Elizabeth, wife of Michael 



Shelly; Christian; Abraham, who died 
unmarried; and Samuel, who was born 
August 4, 1770, and died April 19, i860, 
in IMontgomery county, Pennsylvania. 

Christian Moyer (3),' son of Henry 
Moyer, also engaged in farming as a 
life work, and like his ancestors was 
identified with the Mennonite church. 
He married a Miss Bergey and their chil- 
dren were: Henry, who married Annie 
; Abraham, who married Eliza- 
beth Frctz; Mary, wife of Isaac Fretz; 
Susanna, wife of Jacob Button; Chris- 
tian, who married Barbara Fretz; and 
Magdalina, who died unmarried. 

Abraham Moyer (4), son of Christian 
INIoyer, was born April 21, 1784, and in 
early life learned and followed the mason 
trade, but after his marriage purchased a 
farm in Salford township, Montgomery 
county, whereon he spent his remaming 
days. He was married November 21, 
1809, to Miss Elizabeth Fretz, and they 
were people of excellent worth, highly 
esteemed in the community where they 
resided. They held membership in the 
Mennonite church and were very active 
in its work. Their children were Mary, 
Isaac, Christian, Abraham, Anna, Eliza- 
beth and Barbara. 

'^ Alar am F. Moyer (5), born in Mont- 
gomery county, September 19, 1822, wa& 
educated in the public schools of Hill- 
town. After his mother's death he lived 
with his uncle, Martin Fretz, and at the 
age of sixteen started out to make his 
own way in the world, securing a position 
as salesman in a general mercantile 
store, in which he was employed until 
he had attained his majority. In 1840. 
he purchased a farm in Hilltown town- 
ship, Bucks county, whereon he made his 
home until his death. Long a member 
of the Mennonite church at Blooming 
Glen, he was there ordained a minister 
of that denomination on the 6th of No- 
vember, 1855, and he continued to act as 
pastor of the Blooming Glen church until 
his life's labors were ended in 1900. He 
was married twice. About 1844 he mar- 
ried Esther Hunsberger, who was born 
October 9, 1824, a daughter of Jacob and 
Mary Hunsberger, of Hilltown township. 
She died February 28, 1873, and in 1874 
Rev. Abram F. , Moyer, was married to 
Mrs. Anna Hunsberger, widow of Henry 
M. Hunsberger, and a daughter of Abra- 
ham Moyer, of Upper Salford. Mont- 
gomery county. There were eleven chil- 
dren by the first marriage: Mary Ann, 
the wife of Samuel H. Moyer; Henry H., 
who married Sallie Bishop; Allen H., 
who married Sallie A. Derr; Jacob H., 
who married Emma Kline; Reuben H., 
who married Agnes Wallace; Isaac H., 
who married Amanda E. Detweiler; 
Aaron H., who married Amelia D. Sel- 
lers: Abram H.. who married Emma Jane 
Bergey; Elizabeth H.. wife of Charles 
Cassel; Emma H., wife of Christopher 
S. Gulick; and Annie H., who died at 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



709 



the age of fourteen years. Her clothes 
caught fire from a stove, and running 
out doors, she was badly burned before 
the flames could be extinguished, and 
only lived thirty-six hours after the ac- 
cident. 

Isaac H. Moyer, son of Rev. Abram 
F. Moyer, was born on the old family 
homestead in Hilltown township, Jan- 
I, 1856. He is indebted to the pub- 
lis schools of the neighborhood for 
the educational privileges he enjoyed in 
his youth. He has always followed 
farming, and in 1884 purchased a farm 
in Hilltown township, where he now 
Jives, thus providing for the wants of 
â– himself and family, and at the same 
time, through his careful management, 
improving an excellent farm property 
and accumulating a comfortable com- 
petency. Any measure or movement 
which tends to promote the material, so- 
cial, intellectual or moral progress of 
his community receives his endorsement 
and support. The cause of education in 
his home locality has profited by his 
efforts in behalf of the public schools, 
and he is now serving as a school direc- 
tor. He keeps well informed on the po- 
litical questions and issues of the day, 
and votes with the Republican party, but 
has never been a seeker for political 
office. Not like his ancestors, he is a 
Lutheran in religious faith, holding mem- 
bership with the congregation at Dub- 
lin, Pennsylvafiia, where he is serving 
as a deacon. 

Mr. Moyer was married June 24, 1876, 
to Amanda Detweiler, who was born De- 
cember 10, 1855, and is a daughter of 
George A. and Esther (Eckert) Det- 
weiler. They became the parents of 
seven children: Oscar D., born Decem- 
ber 3, 1876. died April 30,. 1877; Howard 
D., born January 28, 1S79; Ellis D., July 
IS, 1882; Calvin D., February 12, 1885; 
Linford D., May 6, 1888; Elwood D., De- 
cember 24, 1890; and Mabel D., Decem- 
ber 24, 1895. 



LEWIS R. BOND, of Morrisville, was 
born in Solebury township, Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, January 28, 1866, and is a 
son of Cadwalader Dilworth and Susan 
T. (Breece) Bond. 

Adam Bond, the paternal ancestor of the 
subject of this sketch, with two brothers, 
Abraham and Cadwalader Bond, came to 
America from the place of their nativity, 
just outside the city of London, England, 
about the year 1720, and located in what 
is now Delaware county, Pennsylvania. 
Adam Bond was the father of Abraham 
Bond, who was a farmer and lifelong resi- 
dent of Delaware county. The latter was 
the father of Jonathan C. Bond, who was 
born in Delaware countv, the grandfather 
of Lewis R. Bond. He married Margaret 
Breece, daughter of Henry and Sarah 
Breece, of Buckingham, and resided in 



Ridley, Delaware county, until 1854, when 
he removed to Solebury -township, Bucks 
county, where he died August 29, 1870. 
His wife died in Solebury, April 14, 1866. 
They were the parents of five children, 
viz. : Henry ; Cadawalader Dilworth ; Eliza- 
beth, who married William Turban, a Bap- 
tist minister and a native of England ; 
Adam ; and Jonathan Plummer Bond. 

Cadwalader Dilworth Bond was born in 
Ridley township, Delaware county, Penn- 
sylvania, February 27, 1812. Early in life 
he learned the shoemaker trade, which he 
followed for several years. At the time 
of the Mexican war of 1848 he was em- 
ployed at his trade in the United States 
arsenal at Gray's Ferry, Philadelphia. He 
later followed his trade in New Hope and 
Solebury, Bucks county, but an indoor life 
proving detrimental to his health, he en- 
gaged in farming and followed that voca- 
tion in Solebury until shortly before the 
death of his wife, August 20, 1893. He died 
at the home of his son, LewLs R. Bond, in 
Morrisville, January 4, 1895. Both he and 
his wife are buried at the Solebury Friends' 
burying groimd. He was an industrious, 
hard working man and an exemplary and 
consistent Christian, for many years a mem- 
ber of the Christian church at Carversville. 
In politics he was a Democrat. His wife 
was his cousin, Susan T. Breece, daughter 
of Henry and Hannah (Walton) Breece, 
and was born in Wrightstown township, 
September 18, 1819. Her paternal ancestor 
was Hendrick Bries, who purchased in 
1732 four hundred acres in Bensalem town- 
ship, Bucks county, and died there in 1740. 
He was a grandson of Hendrick Bries, who 
emigrated from Holland about 1660 and lo- 
cated near Albany, New York. The latter 
was a shoemaker by trade, and had at least 
two sons — Folkert Hendrick?e Bries and 
Jurian Hendrickse Bries, who located at 
Brooklyn, Long Island. The former mar- 
ried April I, 1680, Neeltje Jans, widow of 
Garret Dirckse Croeger, and later married 
Elizabeth Poulis. He was an ensign of the 
Brooklyn militia in 1698, and sold his land 
near Brooklyn on October 20, 1701, and re- 
moved to Piscataway, New Jersey, where 
he died in 1712, leaving widow Elizabeth, 
and children Hendrick, Gerbrandt, Neeltje, 
Wyntje, Elizabeth, Greetje (Margaret) and 
Vnon. His will dated May 15, .1711, and 
proved April 15, 1712, makes his wife and 
brother-in-law, Johannes Poulse, executors. 

The son, Hendrick, married Hannah, 
daughter of John Field, of Piscataway, 
where he was living as late as 1724. Be- 
tween the latter date and 1732 he removed 
to Bensalem township, Bucks county, where 
he was one of the trustees of the Dutch 
Reformed church. He was the eldest son 
of Folkert and Neeltje Bries, and was 
probably born about 1681 ; no record of his 
baptism appears at Brooklyn, though that 
of his half sisters Neeltje. and Weyntje in 
1798 and 1701 does appear. Hendrick and 
Hannah (Field) Bries were the parents of 
six children: Margaret, who married 



10 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Jacobus Van Sandt in 1732; Hendrick; 
Nealke, who married John Rodman: John, 
who married l^Hzabcth Praul and died in 
1751; Sarah and Hamiah, who were minors 
at their father's death in 1740. 

Hendrick (or Henry) Breece (3) married 
Margaret McCarty at Abington Presby- 
terian church, December 17, 1742. In 1755 
he conveyed the two hundred acres of land 
in Bensalem devised to him by his father, 
to Isaac Larew, and soon after removed to 
Harford county, Maryland. In 1790 he re- 
turned to Bucks county with wife Sarah 
and at least three sons, Charles, John and 
Henry, and daughters Elizabeth and Mar- 
garet. He purchased a farm near Bush- 
ington, in Buckingham, Bucks county, and 
died there in 1802. His daughter Margaret 
was the wife of Jonathan C. Bond, and his 
son Henry was the father of Susan T., the 
wife of Cadwalader Dilworth Bond. 

Henry Breece (4) married Hannah Wal- 
ton, daughter of John Walton, of Sole- 
bury, and lived for a time in Wrightstbwn 
township, removing later to Solebury, where 
he died in 1850. 

Cadwalader Dilworth and Susan T. 
(Breece) Bond, left to survive them three 
sons : Dilworth and Charles, who are 
farmers in Solebury township ; and Lewis 
Rice Bond, the subject of this sketch. 

Lewis Rice Bond was born near Lahaska, 
in Solebury township, on January 28, 1866, 
and was reared in Solebury township, ac- 
quiring his education at the public schools 
of that township and at the New Hope High 
school. At the age of seventeen years he 
became a teacher in the public schools of 
the county, teaching one year in Bridgeton, 
one in Bedminster, and seven in Solebury, 
six of which he was principal of Green 
Hill grammar school, near Lumberville. In 
September, 1892. he took charge of the 
schools of Morrisville borough, serving as 
principal until July, 1896, when he removed 
to Doylestown and began the study of law 
in the office of Hugh B. Eastburn, Esq., 
also teaching at Sunnyside school in Doyles- 
town township during the term of 1896-97. 
He was admitted to the Bucks county bar 
on June 6, 1898, and began the practice of 
his profession at Doylestown, having a 
branch office in Morrisville, where he at- 
tended one day each week. In 1902 he re- 
moved to Morrisville and opened a perma- 
nent office, where he has since practiced his 
profession with success. Mr. Bond's father 
was a stanch Democrat in politics, but soon 
after attaining his majority, Lewis R. be- 
came a Republican, with which party he has 
since affiliated. He was borough auditor of 
Morrisville for three years, and now holds 
the position of borough solicitor. In Feb- 
ruary, 1905, he was electetd a member of 
the Morrisville school board by the largest 
majority ever given to a Republican in that 
borough. He is a practical surveyor and 
holds the position of borough surveyor and 
engineer. He was a charter member of 
Morrisville Council, No. 915, Jr. O. U. A. 
M., and also of the Morrisville Free 



Library Association, and is a director of 
the Young Men's Military Association of 
Morrisville. He and his family are affili- 
ated with the Presbyterian church. 

Mr. Bond married, January 29, 1887, at 
the Presbyterian church, Carversville, Penn- 
sylvania, Anna E. Moore, daughter of Will- 
iam and Mary (Ott) Moore, both of Ger- 
man ancestry, the former a native of Picd- 
minster, and the latter of West Rockhill 
township, Bucks county. Mr. Moore was- 
born in the year 1825, and came to Buck- 
ingham when a young man, removing later 
to Solebury, and resided there until his- 
death on August 10, 1896. He was mar- 
ried to Mary Ott, daughter of William Ott^ 
of West Rockhill, then residing in Solebury, 
before William Fenton, Esq.,of Buckingham^ 
August 10, 1844. Their daughter Anna E. 
was born in Solebury, June 3, 1866, and was- â–  
educated in the public schools of that town- 
ship. The children of Lewis R. and Anna 
E. (Moore) Bond are: Roxanna Lalla^ 
born at Lumberville, December 15, 1887, 
now a typewriter and stenographer in her 
father's law office, who was educated in the 
high schools of Morrisville and Doylestown, 
graduating from the latter in the class of 
1903, and afterwards took a course in the 
Ride'r-Moore-Stewart Business College at 
Trenton, New Jersey; Cadwalader Moore 
Bond, born in Doylestown, February 11, 
1900; and Ruth Lewis Bond, born at Mor- 
risville, January 22, 1905. 



LEWIS WORTHINGTON, of Lower 
Buckingham, was born in Buckingham-, 
township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania,. 
May 6, 1843; a son of John and Amy 
Worthington. Both of his parents were 
descendants of John and Mary (Walms- 
ley) Worthington, of Byberry, whose 
ninth child, Joseph, born 6 mo. 12, I737r 
came to Buckingham about 1760, where 
he became a large landholder. He vyas 
thrice married. By his second wife, 
Esther Kimble, whom he married Oc- 
tober 18, 1778. he had seven children — 
Anthony, William, Joel, Elisha, Amy, 
Jesse and Isaac. Joel Worthington, 
third son of Joseph and Esther (Kimble) 
Worthington, was the grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch. He heired from 
his father a farm in Buckingham, and 
lived there all his life. He married Ag- 
nes Walton, and reared a family of four 
children — two sons, John and Abner;. 
and two daughters. 

John Worthington, father of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was the youngest son 
of Joel and Agnes (Walton) Worthing- 
ton, and was born in Buckingham, Sep- 
tember 27, 1814, and died there Novem- 
ber 13, 1901. He was one of the most 
prominent and successful merchants and 
business men in the neighborhood, con- 
ducting a store near Bridge Valley for 
upwards of fifty years. He was for 
many years a director of the Doylestowt* 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



II 



National Bank, and an extensive land- 
holder in Buckingham and elsewhere. 
His wife was his cousin, Amy Worthing- 
ton, daughter of Israel and Mary (Lov- 
ett) Worthington. They were the pa- 
rents of five children: Francis L., a suc- 
cessful merchant and business man of 
Doylestown ; Lewis, of Mozart; Rienzi. of 
Doylestown; Edwin, of Bridge Valley; 
and Laura, wife of William P. Ely, of 
Doylestown. 

Lewis Worthington was reared on the 
farm connected with his father's store in 
Buckingham, and acquired his education 
at the public schools. He married', De- 
cember 5, 1872, Henrietta Large, daugh- 
ter of Mathew and Elizabeth (Cress) 
Large, of Buckingham, both now de- 
ceased, and purchased a farm in War- 
rington, where he resided for three 
years. On account of ill health he sold 
his farm and returned to Buckingham. 
After residing one year at Forest Grove 
he took charge of his father's farm at 
Dark Hollow, Warwick township, where 
he remained for twenty-seven years. In 
1903 he purchased his present farm from 
his father's estate, as well as the Dark 
Hollow farm, and another near Mozart, 
and removed to the former. In politics 
he is a Republican. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Worthington have been born five chil- 
dren: Olivia T. L., wife of William R. 
Bye, of INIozart; Gertrude H.; Rienzi W.; 
Florence B., residing at home; and John 
W., deceased. 



JONAS H. GRUVER, farmer of 
Pipersville, is a native of Tinicum town- 
ship, and was born November 8, 1855. 
He is a descendant of the family that 
spells its name Gruber, Groover and 
Gruver. His great-great-grandfather, 
Nicholas Gruber, Sr., came from the Pal- 
atine district, on the Rhine, to America 
on the ship "Samuel" and landed in Phil- 
adelphia, December 3, 1740, and later 
settled in Tinicum township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania. Nicholas Gruber, 
Sr., had two sons, Philip and Nicholas, 
Jr. Philip made his home on the old 
homestead. He was twice married, and 
is the father of seven children: Eliza- 
beth, wife of Arnold Lear; Peter, who 
moved to Harrisburg; Elias, who lived 
in Haycock township; John, who moved 
to Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania; 
Adam, who moved to Nockamixon town- 
ship; Joseph, who lived on a farm join- 
ing his father's; and Andrew, mentioned 
hereinafter. 

Andrew Groover, son of Philip Gruber, 
was born in Tinicum township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania. December 17. 1800, 
and died May 6, 1883. He spent his en- 
tire life as a farmer on the old Gruber 
homestead in Tinicum township, and 
was a member of the Lutheran church. 
He married Miss Sarah Deterly. and 
their children were: Fannie, wife of John 



M. Swope; Mary, wife of Jeremiah Dot- 
terer; Lydia Ann, wife of Michael Kohl; 
Sarah, who married first, Aaron Croutha- 
mel, and second, Jacob Shull; a son, who 
died young; Cathrine, who died young; 
and John, mentioned hereinafter. 

John Gruver, son of Andrew and Sarah 
(Deterly) Groover, was born on the old 
homestead in Tinicum township, July 
28, 1830. He followed the life of an in- 
dependent farmer until his death, August 
8, 1880. He was an active member of 
the Lutheran church, in which he served 
as deacon for ten years. On November 
16, 1854, he was married to Miss Hannah 
Hillpot (born October 27, 1833). by 
whom seven children were born ; Jonas 
H., mentioned hereinafter; Noah, born 
May I, 1858, a farmer of Bedminster 
township, Pennsylvania ; Eva, born Jan- 
uary 17, i860, who moved to Elizabeth- 
ville, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, and 
there married Franklin Uhler ; Sarah 
Ann, born May 11, 1862, wife of Abra- 
ham M. Myers, living in New Britain 
township, Bucks gounty, Pennsylvania; 
Emma, born July 4, 1863, and died No- 
vember I, 1866; Jerome, born September 
30, 1867, who is now a barber b}^ trade, 
which occupation he follows in Doyles- 
town, Bucks county, Pennsylvania ; and 
Susanna, born December 25, 1873, who 
married Frederic Wolf, and died with 
consumption in December, 1898. Mr. 
Gruver was a man of quiet and reserved 
disposition, was temperate in every- 
thing, and educated his children as well 
as possible in the schools of the day. 

Jonas H. Gruver, son of John and Han- 
nah (Hillpot) Gruver. was born in Tini- 
cum township, on the old homestead, 
November 8, 1855. He received his ed- 
ucation in the township schools and very 
early in life began to work as a farmer, 
and has made that a study and his chief 
occupation for years. In early youth he 
was confirmed in the Lutheran faith, and 
has since been a devoted member of the 
Lower Tinicum church, serving as dea- 
con for seventeen successive years. He 
has held the office of school director of 
his township for nine successive years. In 
politics he favors the Democratic party. 
In 1872 John Gruver, father of Jonas H., 
moved with his family on a farm about 
one mile southwest from the old homestead, 
in Tinicum twnship, where Jonas H. has 
since made his home. 

On October 16, 1880. Jonas H. Gruver 
married Miss Ellen Trauger. daughter 
of Elias and Susanna (George) Trauger, 
and by this union were born seven chil- 
dren: Bertha, born January 7, 1882, who 
took up the study of stenography and 
typewriting, and in December, 1900, 
graduated from Schissler's College of 
Business, Inc., Norristown, Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania. She then took up 
â–  her occupation in Philadelphia until Feb- 
ruary 24, 1904. when she was married to 
Norman L. Worman, and now resides in 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



Bedniinstcr township, where Mr. Worman 
follows the milling trade; Arthur, born July 
13. 1^5. who is now learning the milling 
trade; John Chester, born March 31, 
1887; Ervin, born April 22, 1892; Cora, 
born December 28, 1893, and died Feb- 
ruary 12, 1894; Carrie, born September 
28, 1895; Paul, born March 12, 1900. 
Bertha. Arthur and John Chester are 
members of the Lower Tinicum Lu- 
theran church. 



CHARLES CRAVEN, of Northampton 
township, is a representative of one of the 
old families of Bucks county. He is a 
great-grandson of James Craven, who lived 
near Johnsville, Pennsylvania, where he 
owned a large tract of land. His children 
were : Thomas ; Isaac ; John ; Lena, wife of 
Adrien Cornell; Elizabeth, wife of Jesse 
Finney; and Mrs. Gilliam Cornell. 

Thomas Craven, eldest son of James 
Craven, married Jane Krewson, and they 
had four children: i. Matilda, married 
Aaron Cornell. 2. Cynthia, married Isaac 
Van Horn and had three children, James, 
Thomas and Julia, the daughter becoming 
the wife of Abraham A. Slack and the 
mother of six children — ^Samuel M., who 
was born August 11. 1871, and died No- 
vember 4, following; Jeanetta C. and Mary 
M., twins, born October 17, 1872 ; Sue V., 
born February 12, 1874; Leonard M., born 
July I, 1876; Jesse R., born April 22, 1881 ; 
and died March 16, 1883. 3. James, who 
wedded Mary Cornell. 4. Jane, became 
the wife of William Moore and had four 
children — Charles, Thomas, Annie and Jane. 

James R. Craven, son of Thomas Craven, 
died December 20, 1848. He wedded Mary 
Cornell, and they had four children : Annie, 
wife of John Thompson ; Charles ; Eliza- 
beth, wife of John Addis; and Matilda, 
wife of John Pidcock. 

Charles Craven, only son of James R. 
and Mary (Cornell) Craven, was born 
in Northampton township, Bucks county, 
January 26, 1843, and was there reared, 
early becoming familiar with the labors of 
farm life, while in the public schools he 
acquired his education. He remained at 
home until after the inauguration of the 
civil war when he enlisted iiv June, 1862, 
as a member of Company I, i5ixty-eighth 
Regiment Pennsylvania Infantry, being 
mustered into the L^nited States service on 
the 7th of that month. He participated in 
twenty-eight engagements and was twice 
wounded. December 13, 1862, at the battle 
of Fredericksburg, he was shot through 
the right arm. and later at Petersburg he 
was wounded in the leg. At the time when 
he was mustered out of the service in 
June. 1865, he was with the Army of the 
Potomac. He had been at the front for 
over three years, doing his full duty as a 
soldier. 

Following the close of the war Mr. 
Craven returned to the familv homestead 



and managed the farm until his grand- 
father's death one year later, when he came 
into possession of the estate of his father- 
in-law, which then comprised about 
eighty acres. In 1897 he purchasea 
an additional tract of land of tifty 
acres from Thomas Livesey, and is 
still engaged in general farming, 
having a valuable and productive farm, 
which, cutivated according to modern 
progressive methods, is yielding to him a 
Very desirable financial return. Mr. Craven 
is a member of John H. Fisher Post, No. 
loi, G. A. R., at Hatboro, Montgomery 
county. He is interested in the welfare and 
advancement of his community, and mani- 
fests the same loyal spirit in citizenship 
that he displayed when upon the battle- 
fields of the south. 

On the 17th of September, 1867. Mr. 
Craven was married to Aliss Caroline Cook, 
who was born August 16, 1842, on the old 
family homestead in Northampton town- 
ship, a daughter of Absalom P. and Mar- 
garet (Wynkoop) Cook, the former a son 
of Absalom Cook and a grandson of David 
and Keziah Cook, of Lawrenceville, New 
Jersey. The children of Charles and Caro- 
line Craven are as follows: i. William 
Cook, born July 15, 1868, married Jennie 
Garner, who died September 28, 1901, and 
had one son, Charles, born June 10, 1899. 
2. Abraham Lincoln, born June 11, 1872, 
and died January 17, 1903, married Annie 
Ross, of Plainfield. New jersey, and at his 
death left a son, Claude Lincoln, born July 
I5> 1893. 3. Thomas, born November 9, 
1874, married Ellen Brooks, February 2^, 
1899, and they have one' daughter Caro- 
line Cook, born February 10, 1903. 4. Fred- 
erick Firman, born November 15, 1876. 
5. Samuel Cook, born May 15, 1879. 6. 
Charles Edgar, born March 5, 1884; the 
two last named are at home with their 
parents. 



EDWARD BOILEAU ROSE, one of 

Bristol's successful business men, was born 
March 3, i860, in Southampton, Pennsyl- 
vania, and is the son of George Granthon 
and Susan (Boileau) Rose. His grand- 
parents were John and Mary (Barwis) 
Rose and Major Isaac and Anna (Bickley3 
Boileau. 

Mr. Rose's boyhood was passed in New- 
portville, whither his parents moved in 
1866. He attended the public schools of that 
place and afterward learned the carriage- 
making business in his father's shop, and 
for twenty years thereafter was engaged in 
that business. He then became a dealer in 
horses, carriages, harness, blankets and 
everything pertaining to that branch of 
business, and his enterprise was rewarded 
with a gratifying measure of success. He 
is at present engaged in the grocery and 
truck business. From 1892 to 1898 Mr. 
Rose filled the office of assessor of Bristol 
township, serving two terms. He is a mem- 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



713 



ber of Peerless Lodge, No. 28, Shield of 
Honor, of Philadelphia. 

Mr. Rose married, December 30, 1883, 
Ida, born December 7, 1861, daughter of 
Jesse and Christiana (Everett) Cabe, of 
Middletown township. She is the grand- 
daughter on the paternal side of Elisha and 
Martha (White) Cabe, great-granddaugh- 
ter of Thomas and Rebecca (Brodnaux Van 
Horn) Cabe, and great-great-granddaughter 
of Thomas and Sarah (Bidwell) Cabe. 
This Thomas was the first American an- 
cestor of the Cabe family. On the maternal 
side Mrs. Rose is the granddaughter of 
Samuel and Sarah (Bennett) Everett, 
great-granddaughter of Aaron and Mary 
Hellings (widow of Richard Rue) Everett, 
and great-great-granddaughter of David and 
Amme Everett. Mr. and Mrs. Rose are the 
parents of the following children : Mildred 
born March 6, 1885, deceased; Mary Emily, 
born May 12, 1887; Louisa Bolieau, born 
March 21, 1890, deceased ; Christiana Ever- 
ett, born July 16, 1892, deceased ; Ida Cabe, 
born July 17, 1894; George Grantham, born 
March 17, 1900; and Willis Weaver, born 
July 8, 1902. 



REUBEN H. RICKERT. The Rickert 
family is of German origin, and the de- 
scendants of the progenitor in America 
have lived here through five generations. 
Daniel Rickert, the first of the name born 
in America, opened his eyes to the light 
of day on the old home farm in Hilltown 
township, which has since been in posses- 
sion of his descendants. He always car- 
ried on agricultural pursuits and to that 
occupation reared his sons. He married 
Barbara Rosenberger, and they became the 
parents of six children : Henry, John, Abra- 
ham, Catharine, Magdaline and Isaac. 

Isaac Rickert, whose birth occurred at 
the ancestral home in Hilltown township, 
likewise devoted his attention to the till- 
ing of the soil throughout his business 
career. He married Catharine Ruth, a 
daughter of Henry Ruth, who was likewise 
a native son of Hilltown township. Mr. and 
Mrs. Isaac Rickert were the parents of 
nine children, namely : David, who married 
Livy Funk; Abraham, who married Mary 
Ann Fretz, a daughter of Abram Fretz ; 
Daniel, who married Lucy Hunter; Annie, 
the wife of Enos Loux ; Isaac, who was 
a Mennonite preacher and married Salome 
Gross ; Henry R. ; Barbara, the wife of 
Aaron Moyer; and two children who died 
in infancy. After the death of Isaac 
Rickert, the father of these children, the 
mother married Abraham Rickert, a brother 
of her first husband, and they had two chil- 
dren : Catharine, who became the wife of 
William Moyer ; and Maggie, who was the 
second wife of William Moyer. 

Henry R. Rickert, son of Isaac and Cath- 
arine Rickert, was born in Hilltown town- 
ship in 1829, and always followed the occu- 
pation of farming. He was a member of 
the Mennonite church of Blooming Glen, 



and his political allegiance was give to the 
Republican party. His first wife was Eliza- 
beth Hunsberger, who became the mother 
of nine children, as follows : Mary Ann, 
the wife of John Barndt ; Catharine, Levy 
H. and Enos H., all deceased ; Reuben H. ; 
Rosie, wife of Samuel Yother ; Salome, 
wife of Harry H. Moyer; Maggie; .and 
Mahlon, who married Delia Strohm. The 
second wife of Henry R. Rickert was Cath- 
arine Stover Freed, a daughter of Samuel 
Freed, no issue. 

Reuben H. Rickert was born June 11, 
1863, upon the farm which came into pos- 
session of his German ancestor in colonial 
days. He was educated in the Hilltown 
public schools, and when a young man he 
learned the creamery business. In 1885 he 
went west to Kansas, where he lived for 
two years, and subsequently he spent six 
months in Colorado, being employed in 
various ways. Later he continued his west- 
ward journey to Califorrtia, where he de- 
voted seven years to the business of hop- 
raising, and then, because of his father's 
ill health, returned to Bucks county to 
take charge of the home farm, which he has 
since managed, and his early training as 
an agriculturist has enabled him to carry 
forward this work along successful lines. 
His political views accord with the prin- 
ciples of the Republican partv, and he 
therefore exercises his right of franchise 
in support of its candidates. Religiously 
he is connected with the Mennonite church. 

Reuben H. Rickert was married Febru- 
ary 25, 1898, to Mrs. Lavina Leatherman, 
a daughter of Aaron and Elizabeth (Trout) 
Haycock. She had three children by her 
first marriage, and two have been born of 
the second union : Catharine and Harry 
Freeman. 



J. ANDREW FRENCH. The French 
family in Bucks county is of Welsh Imeage. 
1 he progenitor in America was Andrew 
French, who came to the new world when 
this country was still numbered among the 
colonial possessions of Great Britain and 
settled in Montgomery county, Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Andrew French (2), his son, was born 
and reared in Montgomery county and in 
early life learned the wheelwright's trade, 
which he followed for many years. In 1799 
he removed to Branchtown, Philadelphia, 
where he made a permanent settlement. He 
was distinctively a man of aflfairs and one 
who wielded a wide infiaence, recog- 
nized as an important factor in mold- 
ing public thought and action in his 
community. He was a stanch Demo- 
crat, and in 1816 was elected to. 
the Pennsylvania legislature where he 
capably served for one term, leaving the im- 
press of his individuality upon the early 
laws of the state. Questions affecting the 
commonwealth and the nation were of deep 
interest to him and he was a broad-minded, 
public-spirited citizen whose intelligently 



714 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



directed effort proved of far-reaching oenc- 
tit. liis spirit of justice was recognized as 
one of his strong characteristics, and there- 
fore he was often called upon to act as 
arbitrator in settling disputes and adjusting 
dititiculties between neighbors, thu^ saving 
the expense of litigation and more than that, 
often thus saving friendships, which, had 
they been broken, might often have brough: 
on life-long bitterness of feeling. He haa 
been reared in the Presbyterian church and 
was ever a most honorable and upright 
man. He married Rachel Harper, who was 
born in this state, and was a lady of intel- 
ligence and culture, belonging to one of the 
prominent families of Pennsylvania, con- 
nected with the Friends' meeting. Andrew 
and Rachel French became the parents of 
eight children : Samuel, who engaged in 
school teaching and later in merchandising; 
William (3), Martha, wife of Stephen 
Whiteman; Elizabeth and Jane, who died 
unmarried; Charles, Ann, and Sarali, who 
married B. Medary. 

William French (3), son of Andrew 
French (2^, was born in Montgomery coun- 
ty and was reared under the parental roof. 
He learned the wheelwright's trade with his 
father and worked as a journeyman until 
after his marriage, when he purchased 
Bull's mill in Chester county, Pennsylvania, 
and engaged in the manufacture of lumber 
and the grinding of grist. He located 
there m 1828 and conducted the mills suc- 
cessfully until 1834, when he and his brother 
purchased a lumber business at Torresdale, 
which they afterward sold out. In 1835 
William French came to Bucks county and 
bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, 
on which his grandson, J. Andrew French, 
now resides. There were meager improve- 
ments upon the place, but he soon began 
the development and cultivation of the farm 
and his labors wrought a speedy transfor- 
mation in its appearance. The old stone 
house and barn which were on the farm 
when it came into his possession are still 
in use, but he also built a large modern 
residence and added other equipments in 
keeping with the most modern methods of 
farming at that time. He placed this under 
a good state of cultivation, and derived 
from his labors a good income. His po- 
litical views were in accord with Democratic 
principles. William French married Char- 
lotte Medary, a native of Bucks county, and 
a daughter of Jacob Medary, a tailor by 
trade and later a farmer. He died at Miles- 
town. He had but two children, the 
younger being Bennett, who followed farm- 
ing in early life and subsequently became a 
merchant. The elder child Charlotte became 
the wife of William French. Mr. French 
died in 1858, at the age of sixty-seven years, 
and his wife, long surviving him, died in 
1892, in the ninety-second year of her age. 
She was a member of the Baptist church. 
Their children were : Bennett M. (4) ; 
Edmund, who owns a portion of the original 
French homestead, and now, retired, lives 
with J. Andrew French ; Andrew, who died 



at the age of twenty-one years ; and Albert, 
now of Hatboro, Pennsylvania. 

Bennett M. French was born in Chester 
county, Pennsylvania, and with his parents 
came to Bucks county, where he passed the 
days of his childhood and youth in the usual 
manner of farmer lads, gaining practical 
experience of the farm work so that when 
he entered upon his active business career 
he was well equipped with a thorough un- 
derstanding of the best methods of farming. 
He and his brother Edmund purchased the 
old homestead and divided the property. 
Public honors or office had no attraction for 
him, but he supported the Republican party 
by his ballot. He married Miss Elizabeth 
Hawkins, who was born in Abingdon town- 
ship, Montgomery county, a daughter of 
John and Elizabeth Hawkins, her father a 
prominent farmer, widely known and highly 
respected. The children of the Hawkins 
family are : Mary A., wife of James Baird ; 
Josephine, who died at the age of eighteen 
years ; Mrs. Elizabeth French ; Amanda, 
wife of R. Robb; William H., a farmer.; 
Leslie N. and Albert F., who carry on 
farming ; Rebecca, wife of A. Tomlinson ; 
and Lydia A. The children of Bennett and 
Elizabeth (Hawkins) French are J. An- 
drew and Amanda. The father died August 
24, 1886, at the age of fifty-nine years, and 
the mother June 13, 1900. Both were de- 
voted members of the Baptist church. 

J. Andrew French was born on the old 
family homestead where he yet resides, and 
having acquired his education directed his 
energies to the improvement of the place. 
He now carries on general farming and 
keeps the place in excellent condition, so 
that it presents a most attractive appearance 
which indicates the careful supervision of 
a progressive owner. 



B. PALMER TOMLINSON, who is 

successfully engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits in Buckmansville, Bucks county, was 
born on the old homestead near Browns- 
burg, in Upper Makefield township, the 
farm originally owned by his grandfather, 
Benjamin Tomlinson, August 31, 1869, one 
of seven children born to Robert K. and 
Mary E. (Hibbs) Tomlinson. 

Robert K. Tomlinson (father) was born 
March 24, 1831, a son of Benjamin P. and 
Hannah (Knowles) Tomlinson, in Upper 
Makefield township, where he was reared, 
and his education was acquired in the West- 
town school. In early life he was a school 
teacher, but later engaged in farming. He 
was a reader and student, and was one of 
the well informed men of the township, 
especially on all public questions and the 
financial status of the country. During 
his early manhood he took active part in 
debating societies, thus increasing his store 
of knowledge, and he was a prominent 
factor in the forwarding of the cause of 
lyceum work in the towns for many miles 
surrounding his home. He was a candidate 
for congress on the Greenback ticket, but 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



715 



in later years was independent in politics, 
with prohibition tendencies. He married 
Miss Mary Eliza Hibbs, daughter of Will- 
iam and Elizabeth (Holcomb) Hibbs, of 
Upper Makefield township, and their chil- 
dren were as follows : Arthur H., proprie- 
tor of the Preparatory Swarthmore Gram- 
mar School; Edith, wife of T. Newlin Ely, 
of Upper Makefield township; Walter H., 
deceased; Alvan H., a farmer, residing at 
Wrightstown township; Ernest H., of 
Morristown, New Jersey, proprietor and 
publisher of The Afternoon Daily ; B. Pal- 
mer, mentioned hereintfter; William H., 
a physician, at present practicing medicine 
in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Mr. Tom- 
linson, father of these children, died June 
II, 1901 ; he survived his wife many years, 
her death having occurred August 6, 1890. 

B. Palmer Tomlinson acquired his edu- 
cation in the public schools adjacent to 
his home, and at Stewart and Hammond's 
Business College, Trenton, New Jersey. 
After his marriage he located on his 
father-in-law's farm, and during the in- 
tervening years has managed the same in a 
thoroughly reliable manner, and, being a 
man of progressive and practical ideas, the 
property has yielded large returns for the 
labor expended on it. He is a Prohibi- 
tionist in politics. 

March 18, 1897, Mr. Tomlinson married 
Ellie R. Johnson, daughter of Samuel A. 
and Anna (Walton) Johnson. The John- 
son family is an old one in Bucks county, 
the pioneer ancestor of tlie family, Dirck 
Johnson, having settled there upon his ar- 
rival from Holland about the year 1684. 
The second in line of descent from Dirck 
Johnson was John Johnson, whose son, 
John L. Johnson, purchased the first farm 
north of Center Bridge, in Solebury town- 
ship, and also the island known for many 
years as Johnson's Island. Edwin Johnson, 
son of John L. Johnson, was reared on the 
old homestead in Solebury; after his mar- 
riage he resided for one year on Johnson's 
Island, and then removed to Upper Make- 
field township. Samuel A. Johnson, son 
of Edwin Johnson, was born September 
27, 1846. He was reared and lived in Upper 
Makefield township, on the present John- 
son homestead, the property having come 
to him upon the decease of his father. He 
married Anna Walton, and they were prom- 
inent members of the Friends' meeting. 
Samuel A. Johnson died October 28, 1897. 
Mrs. Anna (Walton) Johnson is a daugh- 
ter of Samuel and Mercy J. (Snyder) 
Walton, of Upper Makefield township. 
Samuel Walton, born August 31, 1825, died 
October 7, 1900, was a son of John and 
Martha (Gourley) Walton, and a grand- 
son of Jeremiah and Hannah (Malone) 
Walton. John Walton was born in Mont- 
gomery county. The Waltons were farm- 
ers by occupation, and Friends in religion. 
Mr. and ^Irs. Tomlinson, who are well 
known and highly honored in the commun- 
ity, are prominent members of the Baptist 
church. 



BENJAMIN G. WOOD, the owner of 
one of the fine farms of Warminster town- 
ship, Bucks county, was born May 13, 
1856, in Montgomery county, where his 
ancestors had resided through several gen- 
erations. His grandfather, Joseph Wood, 
was born in the same county, while earlier 
generations of the family had lived there 
in colonial days. They resided in More- 
land tow'nship, and were members of the 
Horsham Friends' meeting. Joseph Wood 
made farnring his life w'ork, and also fol- 
lowed in the religious faith of his ances- 
tors. He never aspired to public office, but 
was the advocate of all that tended to pro- 
mote the moral and material development 
of the community. His children were : 
Chalkley; Rebecca, wife of Hughs War- 
ner ; Comly, John, Mary, wife of Lee 
Garigus ; George ; Ann, wife of Jonathan 
Davis ; Joseph, and Elizabeth, w^ife of Ab- 
ner W. Walmslej'. 

George Wood was born on his father's 
farm in Montgomery county and was there 
reared. At the time of his marriage, he 
settled upon a part of the old homestead 
and his attention was given to general farm- 
ing and marketing; his products being sold 
in Philadelphia, where for many years he 
had a stall in one of the city markets. He 
was practical, energetic and determined in 
his business aflfairs, and, prospering in his 
undertakings, he added to his land, becom- 
ing one of the prominent and prosperous 
farmers of his locality. He remained upon 
the farm until he sold it to the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad Company, when he retired 
to Norristown, where he and his wife are 
now enjoying the fruits of their former 
labor, having acquired a comfortable com- 
petence through the careful husbanding of 
their resources. Mr. Wood is now eighty 
years of age. In his early years he was 
also interested in pike roads, and his hearty 
co-operation was given to many public 
measures for the welfare and upbuilding 
of the county. He married Sarah Garigus, 
a daughter of Benjamin Garigus, of an 
honored early family of Pennsylvania. He, 
too, was a farmer, with a wide and favor- 
able acquaintance, and he was widely known 
and active in the Friends Meeting. His 
political support was given the Whig party 
until its dissolution, when he became a Re- 
publican. In his family were four chil- 
dren : Lee ; ^largaret, the wife of J. L. 
Jones; Ellen, wife of J. Meredith; and 
Sarah. To George and Sarah (Garigus) 
Wood were born two daughters and two 
sons : Emma C., the wife of J. M. Jones ; 
Wilmer A.; Benjamin G. ; and Anna G. 

Benjamin G. Wood attended the public 
and private schools, acquiring a good Eng- 
lish education, and received ample train- 
ing at farm labor under his father's direc- 
tion, assisting in the operation of the home 
farm until 1881, when he was married and 
took charge of the homestead. This he 
continued to cultivate until 1890, when he 
purchased the farm in Bucks county upon 
which he now resides, it being the historic 



7i6 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



old homestead of D. Longstreth. He has 
' since given his attention to general agri- 
cultural pursuits, having a well improved 
place, which in its attractive appearance 
indicates his careful supervision. He has 
also attended the Philadelphia market for 
more than twenty years, never missing a 
market day, and his business affairs have 
been so wisely directed as to bring to him 
a very desirable annual income. He owns 
one of the beautiful homes of this part 
of the county, having remodeled and made 
additions to the old mansion, until it is 
now a commodious, three-story stone resi- 
dence, which he has equipped with modern 
improvements, including hot and cold water, 
furnace and in fact all the conveniences 
known in the modern city home. It occu- 
pies a beautiful building site, and there are . 
fine forest and fruit trees and large groves. 
The large button-ball trees are among the 
attractive features of the place, and the 
main drive leading from the house to the 
road is bordered on either side by spread- 
ing maples. Mr. Wood exercises his right 
of franchise in support of the men and 
measures of the Republican party. He has 
served as school director, but does not de- 
sire official preferment as a reward for 
party fealty. He belongs to the Horsham 
Friends' Meeting, and his life has been so 
honorable and straighforward that he com- 
mands the respect and confidence of all 
who know him. 

Mr. Wood wedded Miss Mary R. Kirk, 
who was born on the homestead farm where 
they now reside, December 12, 1859. Her 
parents were Isaac Rush and Mary Y. 
(Montanye) Kirk, the former a native of 
Montgomery county and the latter of War- 
minster township, Bucks county. The 
grandfather, Isaac Kirk, was a prominent 
and well known farmer of his locality, and 
belonged to the Friends' meeting. His 
children were: Caroline; Mrs. Mary Twin- 
ing; Mrs. Louisa T. Snyder; Hannah; 
Sarah, wife of W. Paxson ; Susanna, wife 
of C. Camby ; and Isaac Rush. The last 
named was reared upon a farm in Mont- 
gomery county, and followed agricultural 
pursuits throughout his entire business 
career. After his marriage he settled upon 
the farm now occupied by Mr. Wood, and 
there engaged in the tilling of the soil and 
in attending market until his death, which 
occurred in i860, when he was but thirty- 
six years of age. He voted with the Re- 
publican party, and affiliated with the 
Friends' Meeting. His -widow yet survives 
and finds a good home with her daughter, 
Mrs. Wood, and also lives a part of the 
time with Comly Walker. She is a daugh- 
ter of Samuel E. and Clarissa (Yerkes) 
Montanye. the former a son of Thomas 
B. Montanye, who was born in the state 
of New York and became a leading minister 
of the Primitive Baptist church, devoting 
many years to Christian work, and also 
following the occupation of farming. His 
children were: Maria, Benjamin. Henry W., 
Cornelia, Samuel E., Sarah, Eliza, Re- 



becca, Thomas, Amy and Jane. The chil- 
dren of Samuel and Clarissa Montanye 
were: Edwin Y. ; Amy, wife of W. A. Car- 
rell; Mrs. Mary Y. Kirk; Thomas B. ; 
Harmon Y., former recorder of wills in 
Bucks county ; and Margaret, who died 
in childhood. The parents were 'members 
•of the Baptist church. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Isaac Rush Kirk were born three children : 
Clara M., who married C. Walker ; Sarah 
R., who died in childhood ; and Mary R., 
who became Mrs. Wood. Mr. and Mrs. 
Wood have four children : Gertrude K., 
Sara W., Clara M., and Anna B. The 
parents are members of the Friends' Meet- 
ing, and occupy a prominent position so- 
cially, the circle of their friends being 
almost co-extensive with the circle of their 
acquaintance. 



SAMUEL B. THATCHER. Among the 
names of the notable and distinguished men 
of Pennsylvania, the men of ability and en- 
terprise who have labored assiduously to 
advance the interests of the community, 
may justly be named Samuel B. Thatcher, 
the man after whom the town of Thatcher, 
Pennsylvania, was n3.med. He was born 
]\Iay 22, 1822, on a famn then owned by his 
grandfather, Ludwig Afflerbach, in Durham 
township,, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, the 
son of Charles and Magdalena (Afflerbach) 
Thatcher. Charles Thatcher was a son of 
Bartholomew Thatcher, a native of Eng- 
land, who emigrated to this country before 
the Revolutionary war, settling in Quaker- 
town, New Jersey, and is thought to have 
followed the occupation of a farmer. His 
son Charles settled in Durham, Bucks coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, later removing to Haycock 
township, where he was united in marriage 
to Magdalena Afflerbach. Six children were 
born of this union, Samuel B. (mentioned 
at length hereinafter) becoming the most 
prominent. 

Samuel B. Thatcher's parents occupied 
and cultivated the farm until the death of 
his grandfather, Ludwig Afflerbach. In the 
spring of 1833 the property was sold and the 
family removed to a farm in Bedminstei 
township, which the father, Charles, rented. 
After one year's residence in this place they 
removed to Rockhill township, near what 
is now Perkasie, remaining there two years. 
Here Samuel B. obtained what educational 
training the subscription schools of the 
neighborhood afforded, continuing in school 
until 1834, when, at the age of twelve years, 
he vi'ent to Doylestown, there entering into 
his first regular employment in the bark 
shed of a tannery, where he remained some 
time. In the meantime (March 28, 1837) 
his parents removed to a farm in Haycock 
township, and there he joined them, assisting 
his father with the farm work. He subse- 
quently succeeded his father in the conduct 
of the farm, in which he engaged until 
i860. 

Politically, ]\Ir. Thatcher was a Whig, 
and took an active interest in the affairs of 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



7^7 



the party. At the formation of the Repub- 
lican party he joined the ranks of its fol- 
lowers and labored diligently and untiringly 
for its success. In the fall of i860, a pe- 
riod of great political excitement through- 
out the country, Mr. Thatcher, at the earnest 
solicitation of his fellow townsmen, be- 
came a candidate for the office of prothon- 
otary, and was elected in that victorious 
campaign of the Republican party with Lin- 
coln at its head. Mr. Thatcher's victory 
was more gratifying than the majority of the 
candidates, for out of a strongly Demo- 
cratic district he received a majority of 
over one-third of the voting population, 
which demonstrates in some part the popu- 
larity and esteem in which he was held by 
his fellow-citizens. He discharged the du- 
ties of his position of responsibility and 
trust with the greatest credit and efficiency. 
In the spring of 1861 Mr. Thatcher removed 
to Doylestown, where he remained for three 
years. In 1864 he again turned his attention 
to agricultural pursuits, for which occupa- 
tion he had a strong liking. At the death 
of his mother he purchased the place, com- 
prising seventy-three acres of land, at the 
settlement of the estate, and he was engaged 
in the conduct of the same until 1871. 

In 1871 Samuel B. Thatcher received the 
appointment of assistant United States 
revenue assessor, and when that office was 
abolished became deputy collector of in- 
ternal revenue under Colonel James Ash- 
worth, of Philadelphia, who was later suc- 
ceeded by J\Ir. Elliott, during President 
Grant's administration. Mr. Thatcher 
served a term of tw^elve years as collector, 
acquitting himself with honor. He again 
returned to farming, in which he was at- 
tended with considerable success. Later, in 
a district which was Democratic three to 
one, he was elected justice of the peace, 
serving one term of five years, and in 1884 
received the distinction at 'the hands of the 
Republican party of being made one of the 
thirty-two presidential electors of his state. 
It is said that Mr. Thatcher has been an 
attendant of every county convention, either 
Whig or Republican, between the years 
1844 and 1902. 

.Mr. Thatcher was the originator and first 
president of the Tohickon Live Stock In- 
surance Company, and served as its head 
for over thirty years. He was also one of 
the organizers and directors of the Quaker- 
town National Bank. Besides his varied 
business interests, he takes a deep and 
active interest in educational affairs, and 
served eighteen years as school director, and 
was secretary of the school board seventeen 
years. He also served as a delegate to the 
Republican State convention that nominated 
Generals Geary, Hartranft and Beaver for 
governors. 

Mr. Thatcher's career as a man of public 
affairs has been unusually eventful and one 
of marked success. He is pre-eminently a 
self-made man. Starting in life with few 
advantages, he has with a tenacity of pur- 
pose, lasting determination and earnest de- 



sire to make something of his life, reached 
the top rung in the ladder of prosperity and 
success. In 1889, ^s a mark of respect and 
acknowledgment of his worth and public 
servises, a postoffice was created at the gen- 
eral store near his home, and at the sug- 
gestion of Mr. James Shelly, postmaster at 
Richlandtown, and many others, the new 
postoffice was named "Thatcher." 

February 24, 1855, Samuel B. Thatcher 
was united in marriage to Miss D<:borah 
Shelly, who was born in 1833, the daughter 
of David and Elizabeth (Clemmer) Shelly, 
who resided near Sellersville, Bucks county^ 
Pennsylvania. The issue of this union were 
four children, as follows: i. Charles, born 
December 2, 1855, married Ellen Mayers, 
daughter of Franklin and Elizabeth Mayers, 
and the following named children were born 
to them: Frank; Samuel, deceased; Harri- 
son ; Mark. 2. Katharine, born November 
II, 1857, married William, son of Peter H. 
and Mary (Sames) Lewis, farmers of Hay- 
cock township ; 3. David, born September 
30, i860, died May 12, 1871 ; 4. Samuel B., 
born August 15, 1867, died December 25, 
1882. The parents of these children, Mr. 
and Mrs. Samuel B. Thatcher, celebrated 
the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage, 
February 24, 1905. The numerous messages 
of congratulation, and visits from friends 
and neighbors, far and near, attested the re- 
gard and esteem in which they are held in 
Jthe community. Mr. Thatcher and his 
family are members of the Flatland Men- 
nonite church, near Quakertown, Pennsyl- 
vania. 



WASHINGTON CADWALLADER, 
a prominent farmer, descended from an 
honored early family of Bucks county, 
was born August 7, 1871, on the old fam- 
ily homestead near Warrington, where 
he yet resides. The Cadwallader family- 
had its origin in Wales and was planted 
on American soil during colonial days. 
The first settlers here, who were the pa- 
rents of John Cadwallader, lived at vari- 
ous places in the east and eventually be- 
came farming people of Horsham town- 
ship, ^Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. 
They were consistent members of the 
Hicksite branch of the Friends' meeting. 
Their son, John Cadwallader, the father 
of Benjamin Cadwallader, was born in 
Montgomery county and was reared in 
Horsham township under the strict in- 
fluence of the Friends' Society to the 
faith of which he always closely adhered. 
He made farming his life work and after 
his marriage settled in Horsham town- 
ship, where he remained tintil after the 
birth of all of his children. Subsequently 
he purchased a large tract of land in 
Buckingham township, Bucks county, 
made splendid improvements thereon 
and became a very prominent, success- 
ful and influential farmer of his locality. 
In his later life he divided his property 



7i8 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



among his sons and retired to Byberry, 
Philadelphia county, where he spent his 
remaining days. He was a man of un- 
faltering integrity and honor in business 
affairs and in private life, commanding 
the uniform confidence and good will of 
his fellow citizens in whatever locality 
he resided. At his death his remains 
were taken back to Horsham township, 
Montgomery count}', for interment. His 
wife, who bore the maiden name of Han- 
nah Bradfield, was a native of Horsham 
and died several years prior to her hus- 
band's demise. They were the parents 
of seven sons and two daughters: Eli, 
Yardly and Benjamin, all of whom be- 
came prosperous agriculturists; Peter, 
who engaged in the practice of medicine 
and surgery; John, a farmer; David, a 
tailor by trade; Cyrus, who learned the 
followed the wheelwright's trade; Uree, 
who married James Bonner ; and Eliza- 
beth, who became the wife of John Rich. 

Eli Cadwallader (4), born in Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, was reared in 
Buckingham township and after his mar- 
riage settled upon a part of the old home- 
stead farm, where he spent his remaining 
days. When death claimed him his re- 
mains w^ere interred in Buckingham 
township, where he had so long resided, 
conducting his business affairs in a man- 
ner that won him public confidence, as 
well as prosperity, while his relations 
with his fellow men gained for him gen- 
eral confidence and commendation. He 
was true to the teachings of the 
Friends' meeting, in which he had been 
reared, and in his political adherence was 
loyal to the principles in which he be- 
lieved, supporting the Whig party and 
becoming the champion of the abolition 
cause. He married Rachel Morris, of an 
honored early family of Bucks county, a 
daughter of Benjamin Morris, who was 
of Welsh lineage and became one of the 
prominent agriculturists of this county. 
He contributed, too. in large measure 
to the intellectual and moral development 
of his locality, his influence ever being 
found on the side of right, justice and 
improvement. Eli and Rachel (Morris) 
Cadwallader were the parents of five 
children: James, a farmer; Uree, the wife 
of Haslett Gibson; Ann, wife of Samuel 
Trumbower ; Grace, the wife of Moses 
Haldeman; and Eli Cadwallader, Jr. 

Eli Cadwallader, Jr., (5), born in Bucks 
countv, Pennsylvania, was reared in his 
father's homeand after the latter's death 
became the owner of the old homestead 
property, on which he remained for a 
number of years. He later sold the farm 
and purchased the tract of land upon 
which his son Washington resides and 
which is known as the John Kenngott 
farm. There he made permanent settle- 
ment and began the improvement of his 
land, which was but partly cultivated 
when it came into his possession. His 
labors wrought a great transformation 



there, making it one of the best farm 
properties of the neighborhood. He car- 
ried on general agricultural pursuits, also 
raising products for the Philadelphia 
market, and his efforts were attended 
with good success. He was below the 
average height, yet possessed a strong 
constitution and was a very energetic 
and industrious man. Competent and 
farsighted in business affairs and broad- 
minded in all his views of life, his own 
•integrity caused him to be selected to ad- 
minister many estates and to act as 
guardian on various occasions. He pos- 
sessed a social, genial nature, wdiich 
made him a companionable gentleman 
and gained for him a large number of 
friends. The poor and needy received 
from him generous assistance and he 
ever held friendship inviolable. His in- 
tegrity and business honor stood as un- 
questioned facts in his career. He voted 
with the Republican party, and although 
he never aspired to office was deeply 
interested in Republican successes and 
attended various party conventions. As 
the years passed he prospered in his 
business undertakings and became the 
owner of various farms and mortgages, 
so that he left to his family a handsome 
estate. He had been reared in the faith 
of the Society of Friends and was always 
true and loyal to its teachings. He mar- 
ried IMiss Sarah Knipe, a native of Mon- 
roe county, Pennsylvania, 'and a daugh- 
ter of George L. and Mary Knipe, both 
natives of Bucks county. Pennsylvania. 
Early in their married life they removed 
to Monroe county, w'here they spent 
their remaining days. Her father was 
originally a wheelwright, but purchas- 
ing land in Monroe county turned his at- 
tention to agricultural pursuits and con- 
tinued the improvement of his farm up 
to the time of his death. He gave his 
political allegiance to the Democracy, 
and lived an honorable, upright life. His 
w'ife bore the maiden name of Mary 
Haldeman, and was a representative of 
one of the old and worthy families of 
Pennsylvania. The Knipe family was 
connected with the Lutheran church, 
while the Haldemans were of the ]\Ien- 
nonite faith, and all were consistent 
Christian people. To George and Mary 
Knipe were born seven children: Jacob, 
who was killed in the second battle of 
Winchester, while serving in the Union 
army during the civil war: Emeline, the 
Wife" of George B. Kerst: Mary, the wife 
of Abner Boorse: Ann. the wife of 
James Zabriska; Sarah, wife of Eli Cad- 
wallader, Jr.; Rachel, wife of N.' Scoble; 
and Josephine, the wife of A. Abler. Eli 
Cadwallader. Jr.. died December 21, 
1891. at the age of sixty years, and was 
survived by his wife, who is now about 
sixty years of age. Their children 
were: Washington: Mary, the wife of H. 
S. Abbott: Ruberta. wife of R. Martin; 
Sarah: and Grant, who is a civil engineer. 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



719 



Washington Cadwallader 6), born and 
reared on the old homestead, pursued his 
education in the public schools and in 
the Horsham Friends' school. He as- 
sisted in the cultivation and improve- 
ment of the home farm until after his 
father's death, when he took charge of 
the property and later became its pur- 
chaser. He still continues general farm- 
ing and he also keeps a herd of cows and 
sells milk. He markets the products of 
his farm in Philadelphia, and was a reg- 
ular attendant at the city market for ten 
years. His entire attention is devoted 
to his agricultural pursuits. His farm 
comprises one hundred and nine acre.', 
of land, which is very productive. It is 
situated within a mile of the Warrington 
postoffice, and the house is a commo- 
dious, two-story structure, standing on 
an elevation that commands a splendid 
view of the surrounding country. There 
is also a large barn, modern in con- 
struction, and all the outbuildings neces- 
sary for the shelter of grain and stock. 
He uses the best improved machinery, 
has his fields under a high state of cul- 
tivation and follows the most modern 
ideas of farming in carrying forward his 
work. There are apple and peach or- 
chards upon the place, together with 
small fruit and everything about the farm 
indicates his careful supervision and 
practical and progressive spirit. He is 
a broadminded and intelligent business 
man and competent farmer, and through 
unfaltering diligence has achieved a very 
gratifying measure of success. In addi- 
tion to the control of other business af- 
fairs, he is a director of the Whitehall 
Fire Insurance Company and a director 
of the Danboro Livestock Insurance 
Company. He belongs to Hatboro Lodge, 
No. 410, F. and A. M. They are num- 
bered among the most highly respected 
citizens of their locality, and the influ- 
ence which Mr. Cadwallader exerts in 
community affairs has been far-reaching 
and beneficial. 

In 1893 Washington Cadwallader was 
joined in wedlock to Miss Agnes Mere- 
dith, who was born in Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania, in 1873. She is a lady of 
many excellent traits of heart and mind 
and has been an able assistant to her 
husband. Her parents, Charles and 
Catherine (McKinstry) Meredith, are na- 
tives of Bucks county and representa- 
tives of early families of this part of the 
state. The paternal grandfather, James 
IMeredith. was a leading and successful 
farmer of Warminster township, and his 
business integrity and public-spirited cit- 
izenship made him highly respected. 
Charles ^^leredith was reared to farm 
pursuits and when married settled upon 
a farm and afterward conducted a hotel. 
Later he served as jailer at Doylestown, 
and is now a salesman of Philadelphia. 
Those with whom he has come in con- 
tact entertain for him high regard be- 



cause of his allegiance to honorable, 
manly principles. His wife, Mrs. Cath- 
erine Aleredith, died in 1875, in the faith 
of the Neshaminy Presbyterian church, 
to which Mr. Meredith also belonged. 
His second wife was Mary Duckworth, a 
daughter of Samuel Duckworth, a well 
known farmer of Bucks county. There 
was one child of the second marriage, 
Frank. By the first marriage there were 
two children: James H., who is now a 
conductor on a trolley line; and Agnes. 
Mrs. Agnes Cadwallader was only two 
years old at the time of her mother's 
death, and was reared by Hiram Cornell 
and his wife (the latter her mother's sis- 
ter), who gave her good educational 
privileges and surrounded her with all 
the loving attention she would receive 
in the parental home. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Cadwallader have been born four chil- 
dren: James Russell, October 17, 1895; 
Eli Franklin, February 12, 1898; Charles 
Paul, March 8, 1900; and Eleanor J., May 
I. 1902. A Republican in politics Mr. 
Cadwallader takes an active interest in 
public questions, frequently attendmg 
conventions of his party and has la- 
bored to secure the nomination of com- 
petent and capable men. He has filled 
varius township offices, and at the pres- 
ent time (1904) is school director in his 
district. He has been secretary of the 
board since 1896, and has been most 
loyal to every trust reposed in him, and 
has been the supporter of every measure 
which has concerned public progress and 
improvement. 



WILLIAM HOBENSACK, who for a 

number of years has been closely identi- 
fied with the business interests of Ivy- 
land, was born in Southampton township, 
Bucks county. May 17, 1862, upon a farm 
belonging to his father, Isaac C. Hoben- 
sack. The family history gives it that 
three brothers of the name came from 
Germany to America in colonial days 
and from them were descended the rep- 
resentatives of the family now in Penn- 
sylvania. They have mostly been farm- 
ers .and mechanics. Isaac Hobensack, 
Sr., grandfather of William Hobensack, 
was a native of Bucks count}', and 
throughout his entire life followed farm- 
ing, his death occurring in Warminster 
township, at Johnsville. He took an ac- 
tive interest in public affairs, gave his 
political allegiance to the Whi-g party 
and filled a number of township offices, 
in which his loyalty in citizenship was 
manifested. His wife was of the old 
school Baptist faith, and both were held 
in high regard in the communit}^ She 
bore the maiden name of Emily Fetter 
and by their marriage they became the 
parents of seven children: Rachel F., the 
wife of James Hart, who served in the 
civil war; ]\Iargaret, who married Will- 



'20 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



iani L. Craven; Isaac C; William, who 
followed school teaching and afterward 
engaged in farming; John, of Ohio, who 
was a captain in the rebellion; Elizabeth, 
wife of Thomas Hillings; and Mary E., 
wife of Thomas Mayberry. 

Isaac C. Hobensack, father of Will- 
iam Hobensack, was also a native of 
Bucks county, and, reared to agricultural 
pursuits, he remained upon the home 
farm near Jbhnsville until his marriage. 
After he wedded Joanna Hogeland he 
brought his bride to the old homestead, 
but later removed to Jacksonville and 
in 1862 bought a farm in Southampton 
township, whereon he spent his remain- 
ing days. He carried on general agri- 
cultural pursuits and found a ready sale 
for his products in the Philadelphia mar- 
kets, being numbered among the general 
farmers and market men of his locality 
for a half century. His interest in com- 
munity affairs was deep and sincere and 
prompted him to capable service wdien 
he was called to public duties. He be- 
came county commissioner as a member 
of the first Republican party and acted 
in that capacity for thirty-two years, 
capably promoting the interests of the 
county by his faithful discharge of the 
duties that devolved upon him. He was 
also a school director for a number of 
years, and he served as a delegate to 
congressional conventions on several 
occasions. Widely recognized as one of 
the leaders of the Republican party in 
his locality, he did everything to promote 
its growth and insure its success. His 
life in all its relations was straight-for- 
ward and honorable, and for many years 
he was the trustee of the old school 
Baptist church of Southampton. He 
continued a resident of Southampton 
township until his death which occurrea 
January 9, 1904. His wife, who still sur- 
vives him, now resides on the old home 
farm at the age of seventy-two j^ears. 
She is a daughter of Abraham Hogeland, 
a harnessmaker, who in his later life fol- 
lowed farming. He belonged to one of 
the old families of Bucks county and 
was prominent in its public life- as a 
Democrat, who filled various positions. 
He acted as justice of the peace and in 
township positions did creditable service 
for the community. He belonged to the 
Dutch Reformed church and died in that 
faith in 1865. His wife, whose maiden 
name was Mary A. Fenton and v^'ho also 
belonged to an old family of Bucks 
county, was a daughter of John Fenton, 
an agriculturist. To Mr. and IMrs. Hoge- 
land were born nine children: Joseph, 
living in Trenton, New Jersey; Susannah, 
the wife of H. D. Leffert; William, a 
hotel keeper; Joanna, who became Mrs. 
Hobensack; Theodore, a farmer; Morris, 
who carries on agricultural pursuits; 
Elias, who was at one time sheriff of 
Bucks county; Frank, a farmer, who 
served as justice of the peace; and 



Charles, a farmer and miller. The chil- 
dren of Isaac C. and Joanna Hobensack 
are: Mary A., the wife of H. B. Krew- 
son, a farmer and special agent; Isaac 
Morris, , of Montana; Louisa, who died 
in infancy; William, of this review; B. 
Frank, who was at one time sheriff of 
Bucks county and is now following the 
real estate business; Albert C, of Ivy- 
land; Emily, the wife of W. C. Yerkes; 
Wilkins, who is private secretary for 
Hon. I. P. Wagner, congressman of 
Seventh Congressionil district of Penn- 
sylvania; and Joanna, at home. The 
mother is a member of the Dutch Re- 
formed church of Churchville, Penn.syl- 
vania. 

William Hobensack was reared under 
the parental roof where he remained un- 
til tw^enty-five years of age, when he was 
married and began farming on his own 
account. He had acquired a good edu- 
cation in the common schools and in 
Hatboro Academy, and he received prac- 
tical training in farm labor under his 
father's direction. At the time of his 
marriage he rented the Abram Hogeland 
farm, which he continued to cultivate for 
three years, and in 1890 he joined his 
brother B. Frank and they became mer- 
chants and mill men of Ivyland, con- 
ducting a mill in which they manufac- 
tured feed and also dealt in coal, lum- 
ber, farm implements and fertilizers. He 
built up a very large trade and bought 
and shipped grain of all kinds. In 1S99 
William Hobensack purchased his broth- 
er's interest, and yet conducts the busi- 
ness under the old firm name of Hoben- 
sack Brothers. He handles goods in 
large quantities and his patronage has 
long since reached profitable propor- 
tions. He is practical in all that he does, 
possesses sound judgment and keen dis- 
cernment, and in the capable control of 
his mercantile interests has met with 
very gratifying success. He also owns 
a large and well improved farm, which 
is kept under a high state of cultivation 
and is a well improved property. 

Mr. Hobensack wedded Miss Mary A. 
Stout, who was born in Montgomery 
county, Pennsylvania, in 1868, a grand- 
daughter of Henry Stout, a leading 
farmer of this part of the state and one 
of the trustees and deacons in the old 
school Baptist church of Southampton, . 
Pennsylvania for many years. Her pa- 
rents were Christian F. and Sarah Shel- 
mire Stout, both belonging to early east- 
ern families of Pennsylvania. Her father 
was reared to farm pursuits, and later 
entered the employ of the Philadelphia 
and Reading Railroad Company, in which 
service he has since been retained, one 
of the most trusted representatives of 
the road. The children in his family 
are: Albert, who is connected with a 
creamery ; George S.. a conductor on the 
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad; 
Mary A., now Mrs. Hobensack; Valeria, 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



721 



the wife of L. Terry; Xora, the wife of 
J. Terry; and Harry, a carpenter. Mr. 
and Mrs. William Hobensack had nine 
children: Isaac C, born April 18, 1888; 
Sarah M., born June 13. 1889; Bertha, 
born February 21, 1891; George F., born 
November 24, 1892; Joanna, born Janu- 
ary 14, 1894; William P., born June 25, 
1896; Clarice D., born April 20, 1898; 
Earle j\I., who was born January 13, 
1901, and died at the age of seven 
months; and Alice, born May 3, 1902. 
Mr. Hobensack exercises his right of 
franchise in support of the men and 
measures of the Republican party and is 
deepl}' interested in its growth and suc- 
cess, believing that its platform contains 
the best elements of good government. 
He has served as a school director for 
a number of years and is likewise deeply 
interested in the moral development of 
his community, having for more than 
twenty years been a member of the old 
school Primitive Baptist church, in which 
he is serving as clerk and trustee. He is 
likewise a member of the Commercial 
Exchange of Philadelphia. In his busi- 
ness career he has made a steady ad- 
vancement through close application, 
laudable ambition and strong purpose, 
and is to-day one of the leading repre- 
sentatives of trade interests in Ivyland. 



T. S. WORTHINGTON, one of the 
most progressive farmers of Bucks 
county, living in Warwick township, w'as 
born in Buckingham township, February 
19, 1840. His paternal grandfather, Ben- 
jamin Worthington, was a leading agri- 
culturist of his community arid cared not 
to take an active part in other interests 
outside of his business and his church, 
he being a devoted member of the 
Friends' Meeting. His political endorse- 
ment was given the Democracy. In his 
family were four children: Benjamin, 
Amasa, Hester and Mary A. 

Amasa Worthington. born in Bucks 
county, was reared to farm life, and when 
he was married settled upon the old 
homestead in Buckingham township, but 
later sold that property and removed to 
W^rightstown township, where he pur- 
chased a farm and devoted his attention 
to its further improvement until his 
death. He engaged in general agricul- 
tural pursuits and in driving stock from 
the west, and he handled many droves of 
cattle, finding that business profitable. 
He also attended the Philadelphia mar- 
ket where his produce found ready sale, 
many of his customers giving him their 
patronage for years. His early political 
support was given the Democracy, while 
later he voted with the Whig party, and 
on its dissolution became a Republican. 
He never had political aspirations and 
served only as school trustee. He mar- 
ried Amy Spencer, a daughter of John 
Spencer, who was an enterprising farmer, 

46-3 



belonging to one of the old and valued 
families of Bucks county, of Quaker 
faith. His children were : Sarah, Sam- 
uel, Amy and John. Amasa and Amy 
Worthington had seven children: Sarah, 
who married James Slack, a soldier of 
the One. Hundred and Fourth Pennsyl- 
vania Infantry in the civil war; Louisa; 
T. S., of this review; Benjamin, who died 
in early manhood; Lucretia, wife of H. 
Buckman; John, of Philadelphia; and 
Anna, at home. 

T. S. Worthington, reared upon the 
home farm, acquired his early education 
in the public schools and afterward at- 
tended Carversville Seminary. On at- 
taining his majority he began merchan- 
dising at Rush Valley, where he re- 
mained for five years — a successful' 
epoch in his business career. He after- 
ward had a commission w-agon and did a 
general business. Following his mar- 
riage, in December, 1870, he returned to 
the old homestead and engaged in farm- 
ing for a year, after which he purchased 
the farm upon which he has resided con- 
tinuously since 1871, this being known as 
the Hart Jamison farm. It contains one 
hundred acres, well improved, and in fact 
is one of the best farm properties of the 
county, for its owner is a most progres- 
sive and practical agriculturist. He has 
made an addition to the house and other- 
wise remodeled it, has built a barn, and 
keeps all his buildings and fences in good 
repair. The fields are under a high state 
of cultivation and he sells his products 
in the Philadelpiiia market, which he has 
attended since locating on this farm. 
There is much fruit upon his place, and 
altogether there are ten groves of forest 
or fruit trees. He uses the latest im- 
proved farm machinery and attached to 
the barn are large silo tanks, with a gas- 
oline engine furnishing the power for 
cutting the fodder, for pumping water, 
for making cider and for grinding tiie 
feed for himself and others. He is in ad- 
vance of most farmers in the methods 
which he follows in his chosen field of 
labor, and while he is quick to adoj^t 
new methods, he is so practical in all of 
his labors that his judgment is rareiy 
if ever at fault in determining upon the 
utility of a new invention or method of 
farm work. He is both a successful 
farmer and market man. In his political 
views Mr. Worthington is a stanch Re- 
publican, taking an active interest in all 
public questions connected with the wel- 
fare and progress of his community, but 
he has never aspired to office, preferring 
to devote his undivided attention to his 
business aflfairs. The only office he has 
ever held is that of member of the school 
board, in which capacity he served for 
mau}^ years. He was reared in the 
Friends' Meeting and yet adheres to that 
denomination. 

Mr. ^W^orthington married Miss Jane- 
Powell, who was born in Delaware 



^22 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



count}^ Pennsylvania, in 1845, ^ daugh- 
ter of Thomas and Sarah (Parsons) 
Powell, both descendants of early fami- 
lies of Delaware county. They were 
members of the Friends' meeting, and 
Mr. Powell followed the occupation of 
farming to provide for his family. His 
death occurred in Delaware county and 
his wife, yet surviving him, still makes 
her home there. His political views ac- 
corded with the principles of the Repub- 
lican party, and he was an honored citi- 
zen 01 his community. In their family 
were seven children: Anna, wife of L. 
Hill; Jane, wife of T. S. Worthington; 
Owen and William, who follow farming; 
Emily, the wife of G. Dutton; Linton, a 
farmer; and Hannah, deceased. Mr. and 
Mrs. Worthington have two sons and 
two daughters: Amasa, who is farming 
on the old homestead, was born May 6, 
1873, and married Grace Jones, a daugh- 
ter of George Jones, a prominent rail- 
road man employed as machinist boss, 
having charge of a gang of men for the 
Cumberland Valley Railroad. Amasa 
Worthington has two children — Sarah 
J. and Helen M. T. Powell Worthing- 
ton, the second son, died at the age of 
twenty-three years. Ethel has completed 
the Normal Teachers' course at West 
Chester, and is now teaching. Amy S. is 
now attending the West Chester Normal 
School. 



BANES FAMILY. The Banes and 
Beans families of Bucks county are de- 
scended from the old Yorkshire family 
of Baines, the main branch of which have 
resided at Baines Hall, Knowesthorpe, 
Yorkshire, for over seven hundred years. 
According to Burke, the founder of the 
Yorkshire family came from Scotland 
and located in Yorkshire in 1182, and 
they as well as the Bayne, Bane, and 
Bean families, of Scotland, representa- 
tives of whom have found their way to 
America at different periods since 1650. 
claim descent from Donalbain, son of 
Duncan, King of Scotland, and brother 
to Malcomb Canmore, with whom and 
his son he several times contended for 
the throne of Scotia, and has been im- 
mortalized by Shakespeare in "Mac- 
beth." The Yorkshire family of Baines 
have been knighted at several different 
periods and has produced many famous 
men. Sir Edward Baines, M. P., the 
owner and editor of the Leeds Mercury 
a century ago, and whose descendants 
still edit the paper, and his distinguished 
brother, Hon. Mathew Baines, M. P., 
were of this family. Among the earliest 
converts of George Fox in Yorkshire 
were Joseph and William Baines, of 
Stangerthwaite. The former, born in 
1633, became a landholder in Bucks 
county in T683, and through his daugh- 
ter Hannah, wife of Daniel Jackson, to 



whom he conveyed five hundred acres of 
land in Buckingham township in 1699, 
has descendants in Bucks county at this 
day. 

The pioneer ancestor of the family of 
the name of Bucks county was Mathew 
Baines, of Weyersdale, Lancashire, sup- 
posed to have been the son of William 
Baines, the convert above mentioned. 
Mathew Baines, of Wyersdale, husband- 
man, was married at Lancaster Monthly 
of Friends, England, 10 mo. 22, 1672, to 
Margaret Hatton, daughter of William 
Hatton, of Bradley, Lancashire, and the 
records of that meeting show the birth 
of four of their children: Thomas, born 
1675; Eleanor, 1677; Timothy, 1678, and 
William, 5 mo. 14, 1681. In the year 
1687, Mathew Baines sailed for America 
with his family, but he and his wife and 
possibly two of their children died at 
sea. On the arrival of the vessel in 
which they sailed at Chester, the two 
children Eleanor and William were taken 
in charge by Friends, and the records of 
the orphans' court held at Chester, i mo. 
6, 1687, show that Francis Little, prob- 
ably a fellow passenger, was directed to 
pay over to John Simcock and Thomas 
Brasse, trustees, to William and Ellin 
Baines, the sum of twenty-eight shillings 
in his hands. The date of the court 
minute being old style, was probably 
l\Iarch 6. 1688, as indicated by the fol- 
lowing letter of Phineas Pemberton, 
written to John Walker of Lancashire, 
from which it would seem that Mathew 
Baines carried a letter to James Harri- 
son, of Bucks county, one of Penn's 
commissioners, an'd father-in-law of 
Phineas Pemberton, called by Logan, 
the "Father of Bucks County," or that 
one had been sent to Harrison in his 
behalf. The letter is as follows: 

"Pennsillvania, fron ye fifalls of Dell- 
aware, in ye County of Buckes, the 13th 
day of ye ist Mo., 1688: 

My very deare love to Hen: Coward 
& his wife, I reed, his letter to father, 
concerneing Mat : Banes but have not time 
now to write him how: He died att sea 
& desired father in Law might have the 
tuition of his children but father died be- 
fore the children came in: however I 
went to see after them, they inclined to 
stay at Chester County where they 
landed to wch I was willing p'vided 
Friends would see after them, els if they 
would not I told ffriends I would. Ye 
boy is put out to one Joseph Stidman 
who is said to be a very honest man. Ye 
girle is withe John Simcocke & hath 40 
or 50S. wages per annum. The boy is to 
be with sd. Stidman until he comes to 
ye age of 20 yeares wch is ye customary 
way of putting forth orphans in these 
partes. My deare love to ffriends att 
Lancaster Remember me if thou hast 
opportunity to Judith Hunter and to old 
Tho: Rawiinson if living." 

"Phinehas Pemberton." 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



7'^3 



Elinor Banes, the daughter, married 
7 mo. 26, 1694, Thomas Duer, of Bucks 
county, where are left numerous of their 
descendants. In the Duer family bible 
is found the record of the birth of the 
three eldest children of her brother William 
Banes. 

William Banes, probably soon after 
the termination of his term of service 
with Joseph Stedman, married and lo- 
cated in Southampton township, Bucks 
county, where a tract of land is marked 
with his name on an early survey, though 
no deeds appear of record to or from 
him. He died prior to May 23, 1729, 
when letters of administration were 
granted on his estate. His widow Eliza- 
beth, maiden name unknown, survived 
him many years, her will dated Decem- 
ber 27, 1768, being probated September 
16, 1771. The children of William and 
ElizalDeth Banes were ten in number, and 
as follows: I. Joseph Beans*, born Sep- 
tember 24, 1708, died 1771, married May 
17) '^733, Esther Evans, and had children: 
John, James, Mathew, and Seth. 

2. Mathew Beans, born December 10, 
1709, died in Buckingham township, 
Bucks county, in April, 1791, married 
first, May 2, 1734, Margery Paxson, 
daughter of Henry, and second. May 18, 
1763, Elizabeth, the widow of Edward 
Rice; had three children by first wife; 
Jonathan; Ann, wife of Amos White; 
and David. By the second: Aaron, Eliz- 
abeth and Moses. 

3. James Banes, born about 171 1. died 
July, 1749, was a blacksmith in South- 
ampton, married October 22, 1742, Eliza- 
beth Sands. Had children: Phebe, Jesse 
and Elizabeth. 

4. Timothy Beans removed to Sole- 
bury in 1738, joined Buckingham Friends' 
Meeting and married Rebecca Paxson, 
sister to his brother Mathew's wife. Re- 
moved to Tinicum township in 1755. and 
in 1783 removed with his family to Fair- 
fax, Virginia. 

5. Thomas Beans lived in Southamp- 
ton township until within a short time 
of his death, in Abington township, 
Montgomery county, in March. 1792. He 
was a large landowner in Southampton, 
Warminster and Abington. He married 
April 9, 1739, Jane Sands, daughter of 
Richard, and granddaughter of Stephen 
and Jane (Cowgill) Sands, and they were 
the parents of five children: Nathan, born 
June 3, 1740, died April 5, 1828; Isaac, 
born January 17, 1742; Thomas, born Oc- 
tober 3, 1744, see forward;' Stephen, born 
Julv 8, 1753; and Jane, born December 8, 
1758, married Griffith Miles. The family 
were members of Southampton Baptist 
church, where Thomas and Jane were 



♦The name for some reason became early corrupted 
into Beans, all of the children of William, except 
James, signing it in that manner, though the children 
of Joseph and the grandchildren of some of the other 
sons later spelled it Banes. The name is spelled in 
this narrative in the form used by the person referred to. 



baptized April 15, 1749. Thomas mar- 
ried second, November 25, 1772, Eliza- 
beth Hollingshead, who survived him. 

7. William Beans removed to Bucking- 
ham in 175s, died there May 23, 181 1, 
leaving an only son Joshua, the grand- 
father of the late Joshua Beans, Esq., of 
Doylestown. 

8. Jacob Beans, born 1729, died No- 
vember 13, 1807, in Solebury township. 
Became a member of Buckingham Meet- 
ing in 1745, and married Sarah Hartley, 
by whom he had eight children: Han- 
nah and Rachel, who died young; Jo- 
seph; Benjamin; Tamar, married David 
Newburn; Asenath, married Robert 
Walker; Ann, married Benjamin Taylor; 
and Mahlon. Sarah, the mother, died July 
29, 1795, and Jacob married, second, Han- 
nah I den. 

9. Elizabeth Banes married November 

2, 1749, Richard Sands, and left numer- 
ous descendants. 

10. Elinor, who died unmarried. 
Thomas Banes, third son of Thomas 

and Jane (Sands) Banes, born in South- 
ampton township, Bucks county, October 

3, 1744, died January 23, 1828. He was a 
member of Captain Folwell's company 

, of Southampton Associators in 1775. He 
succeeded to the Southampton home- 
stead at the death of his father, and also 
owned other land in Southampton and 
Warminster. His widow Mary died 
April 7, 1836, at the age of eighty-five 
years. Their children were: William 
Banes, born August 4, 1770. died Janu- 
ary I, 1803, married Ann Miles; Samuel 
P. Banes, married Ann Dennis and lived 
and died in Churchville. Southampton; 
Elijah, see forward; Elizabeth, inarried 
Elias Yerkes; and Sarah married Thomas 
B. Worthington. 

Elijah Banes, youngest son of Thomas 
and Mary, born on the old Southampton 
homestead in 1790, inherited the greater 
part of it and lived thereon all his life, 
dying September 10, 1861. He married 
Ann Evans, and they were the parents 
of nine children: Elizabeth, marriea 
William Garwood; Margaret C., died in 
infancy; Jonathan C., died in Moreland 
in 1897; Isaac D.; Angeline, married Levi 
Antrim; Jane C., not married; Elmira, 
married John Knowles; Gustavus A. B., 
not married, has visited many of the 
countries of Europe and all of America; 
and Dr. Samuel Thompson Banes. Ann 
Banes, the mother, survived her hus- 
band and died October 10, 1871. 

DR. SAMUEL THOMPSON BANES 
of 845 North Broad street, Philadelphia, 
is the youngest son of Elijah and Ann 
(Evans) Banes. He was born in South- 
ampton township. Buck county, April 
16, 1846. His early education was ob- 
tained at the Southampton school and 
at the Loller Academy, at Hatboro. He 
later took a course at the Carversville 
Normal Institute, Carversville, Pennsyl- 



724 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



vania, wlicrc he graduated in 1865, and 
where he was engaged as an instructor. 
He studied medicine with Dr. Charles 
W. Seary and Dr. Gordon, of Philadel- 
phia, after a full course in the University oi 
Pennsylvania. He immediately began the 
practice of his chosen profession in his na- 
tive village of Southamptonville. In 
1872 he removed to Camden, New Jersey, 
and accepted the position of surgeon to 
the Camden and Atlantic Railroad Com- 
pany, .which position he filled until the 
company was absorbed by the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad Company's system. He 
then took a course in the Jefferson Medi- 
cal College, and, graduating in 1882, was 
appointed assistant on the stafif of Pro- 
fessor William Thompson, of the depart- 
ment of the eye and ear. He was also 
assistant under Professor Gross of the 
surgical department of the Jefferson 
Medical College. In 1886 he located at 
his present home, 845 North Broad street, 
Philadelphia, where he has since prac- 
ticed medicine and surgery. In 1893 he 
was appointed special examining sur- 
geon of the pension department of the 
United States, and still holds that posi- 
tion. He is a member of the Medico- 
Legal Society, Philadelphia County ]Med- 
ical Society and the American Medical 
Association: also the National Associa- 
tion of U. S. Surgeons. He is a mem- 
ber of Crescent Lodge, No. 493, F. and 
A. M., and Harmony Chapter No. 52, 
R. A. M. Dr. Banes has been twice 
married; his first wife. Carrie, daughter 
of Frederick and Mary Ellinger of 
Bucks county, died in 1877. He married 
for his second wife, in 1887, Eliza S. 
Nicholson, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 
daughter of Judge Nicholson, of that 
city. To the doctor and his wife has 
been born one child, Elizabeth D. The 
family are aftiliated with the Broad 
street Presbyterian church. 



THE TORBERT FAMILY of Bucks 
county is descended from Samuel Tor- 
bert, who came to Pennsylvania in 1726. 
from Carrickfergus. Ireland, and located 
at Newtown, Bucks county. His family 
sought refuge in Ireland during the re- 
ligious persecutions in Scotland and, 
when the same contest of argument and 
arms that had wasted Scotland sprang up 
in Ireland, he joined the many Ulster- 
Scots who poured into this country after 
the period of Antrim evictions in Ire- 
land. He was for some years associated 
in the tanning business at Newtown with 
John Harris, Anthony Teate (Tate) and 
David Lawell, all compatriots of his, 
and purchased of the London Land Com- 
pany a tract of land in Upper Makefield 
townsliip, which he named Sylvan Re- 
treat, and which remained the property 
of his descendants until 1873. being 
owned by his son James Torbert, his 



grandson James Torbert and his great- 
grandson John Keith Torbert. He mar- 
ried Elizabeth Lamb in Ireland, and his 
children were six sons and two daugh- 
ters: William, James. Lamb, Thomas and 
Benjamin; Elizabeth, who became the 
wife of Anthony Teate, a Provincial sol- 
dier and officer, who was one of the 
largest landowners about Newtown, and 
one of the most prominent men of his 
day; and Jane, wife of John Henderson, 
who removed to the west. 

James Torbert, son of Samuel and 
Elizabeth (Lamb) Torbert, was born at 
Carrickfergus, Ireland. Tradition relates 
that he did not accompany his parents to 
America, but remained in Ireland with 
his grandmother until ten years' of age, 
and then accompanied relatives to Bucks 
county. These relatives were probably 
the Polks of Warwick, Bucks county, 
as an -old paper filed in the common 
pleas court of Bucks county in 1752 
shows that there were busines dealings 
between his father, then of Carrickfergus, 
Ireland, and the Polks, in 1725. James 
Torbert married Hannah Burleigh (or 
Burley), daughter of Johii Burleigh, an- 
other Ulster-Scot, who settled in Upper 
Makefield at about the same date as the 
McNairs and Torberts, and died there in 
1748. James Torbert became a consid- 
erable land owner in Upper Makefield, 
and died there in 1813. He and his wife 
Hannah were the parents of nine chil- 
dren, as follows: i. Samuel, married 
Elizabeth Keith; 2. James, married Mar- 
garet McN^ir; 3. Abner, married Jane 
Gibson, and removed to Ohio; 4. Lamb, 
born May 9, 1769, and died in Lower 
Makefield August 23, 1849; his first wife 
and the mother of his nine children was 
Jane Slack, daughter of Cornelius, of 
Makefield. 5. Elizabeth, married Abra- 
ham Slack. 6. Alice, married James 
Slack. 7. Ann, married John Hare. 8. 
Amelia, married Christopher Search. 9. 
Anthony. 

James Torbert, Jr., son of James and 
Hannah (Burleigh) Torbert, was born 
in Upper Makefield, March 14, 1760, and 
died there. On April 2, 1792, his father 
convej'ed to him 128 acres of land in 
Upper Makefield, which had been con- 
veyed to James, Sr., by the heirs of Will- 
iam Keith in 1775. He married, Febru- 
ary 6, 1787, Margaret McNair, born Feb- 
ruary 8, 1767, daughter of James and 
Martha (Keith) McNair, and grand- 
daughter of Samuel McNair, born in 
Donegal, Ireland, in 1699. of Scottish 
parents, and came to this country in 
1732 and settled in Upper Makefield. His 
son James was born in 1733, and married 
Martha Keith, daughter of William 
Keith, who came from the north of Ire- 
land, presumably with the McNairs, and 
married Margaret Stockton, of New Cas- 
tle, by whom he had nine children. None 
of his descendants in the male line now 
reside in Bucks. James and Margaret 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



725 



(McNair) Torbcrt were the parents of 
eleven children: Absalom died in in- 
fancy; Martha, married George Bennett; 
Hannah, married John Craven; Ann, 
married Isaac Vanartsdalen; Alice, never 
married; James McNair, who married 
Mary Simpson, and for his second wife 
Elizabeth Dalby; Elizabeth, who mar- 
ried Thomas L. Wynkoop; Samuel, who 
never married; John Keith, see forward; 
Charles, who married Phebe Lanning; 
and Margaret, unmarried. 

John Keith Torbert,- son of James and 
Margaret (McNair) Torbert, was born in 
Upper Makefield in 1802, and died there 
March 20, 1875. He lived on the old 
homestead called "Sylvan Retreat," that 
had been the property of his ancestors 
since early colonial times. His was a 
quiet retired life in scenes that he loved. 
Deeply interested in all that pertained to 
the community in which he lived, he gave 
glad service as ruling elder in the Sole- 
bury Presbyterian church, as had his 
ancestors for two generations, both pa- 
ternal and maternal. He was also a pio- 
neer in Sunday school work, and deeply 
interested in all educational work. He 
served for over a quarter of a century as 
president of the local school board. He 
married Euphemia Van Artsdalen Car- 
ver, daughter of Job and Maria (Van 
Artsdalen) Carver, and a descendant of 
William Carver, who settled in Byberry 
in 1682. John Keith and Euphemia 
(Carver) .Torbert were the parents of 
the following children: Henry M. Tor- 
bert, rector of St. Stephen's church, Bos- 
ton, Massachusetts; Maria V. K. Tor- 
bert, of Newtown, who was for fourteen 
years principal of St. Mary's College, 
Dallas, Texas ; Margaret ]\IcNair Tor- 
bert, of Newtown; William Keith Torbert, 
deceased ; and Alfred Carver Torbert, 
treasurer of the Galveston and Santa 
Fe Railroad Compan3\ at Galveston, 
Texas. Alfred C. Torbert married 
Rosanna Labatt, of Galveston, May 7, 
1891. and they have four children: John 
Keith, Emilv Constance. IMargaret Mc- 
Nair, and Alfred Carver. 

The Torbert family and the families 
with whom they intermarried, the 
Keiths, McNair or Macnair, Burley or 
Burleigh, were of the sturdy Scotch- 
Irish Presbyterian stock, strongly im- 
bued with a love of home, clan and land, 
which had its real root in the love of re- 
ligious liberty, which inspired a love of 
the country where freedom of conscience 
was recognized and made them among 
the most patriotic of citizens. They 
clung tenaciously to the Scotch Presby- 
terian faith-, and were devout supporters 
of the Newtown and Solebury Presby- 
tefian churches, one or more of the fam- 
ily in each generation serving as elders. 
The later generations intermarried with 
the Holland families of Wynkoop. Slack 
and others, who like them were devout 
â– supporters of the church and stood for 



integrity and the best interests of the 
county in which they lived, and those of 
the familj' who removed beyond our bor- 
deres were pioneers of Christianity, and 
became eminent in the affairs of the sec- 
tions where they located. 



OLIVER MYERS, a farmer and com- 
mission merchant living in Plumstead 
township, - represents a family of Ger- 
man lineage that was established in 
Bucks county more than a century ago. 
The first representative of the name in 
this country settled near what is now 
called Sumneytown, in Montgomery 
county. John Myers, the great-grand- 
father of Oliver Myers, was z. resident 
of Bedminster township, where he re- 
mained until his death. His paternal 
grandfather, Henry F. Myers, lived and 
died in Plumstead township. In early 
life he learned the mason's trade, which 
he followed for a number of years and 
eventually gave his attention to farming. 
He was a member of the Mennonite 
church. He married Miss Elizabeth 
Fretz, who was likewise a native of 
Bucks county and of German lineage. 
They became the parents of the follow- 
ing named: Henry; William, married 
Elizabeth Myers; John, married Rachel 
Myers; Joseph F., married Barbara 
Fretz; Reuben, married Hannah High; 
Catherine, deceased; Barbara, married 
Abram Nash; and Annie, the wife of 

William Fretz. .''"^ mX-^^' 

Henry F. Myers, '. ^son^ o f Oliver Myers, 
was born in Plumstead township, August 
12, 1817. He was reared upon his 
father's farm and in his youth learned 
the mason's trade, to which he de- 
voted his energies for seven j'ears. He 
then began farming, which he followea 
for forty years, being one of the ener- 
getic, enterprising and highly respected 
agriculturists of his locality. As his 
financial resources increased he made 
judicious investments in real estate, be- 
coming the owner of three valuable 
farms. September 19, 1845, he married 
Miss Anna Krout, a daughter of John 
and Elizabeth (Wisler) Krout. They 
became the parents of seven children: 
Oliver ; John, married Sarah Myers ; 
Leidy married Sally Shelly; Nathan, died 
at the age of nineteen years; Susanna, 
wife of John K. Landus; Amanda, died 
at the age of eight years; and Elizabeth, 
wife of Abram L. Myers. 
f Oliver Myers, son of Henry F. and 
Anna (Krout) Myers, was born in Plum- 
stead township Bucks county. He obtained 
a common school education and in his youth 
assisted his father in the improvement 
and cultivation of the old home farm, re- 
maining under the parental roof until 
twenty-four years of age. In 1869 he 
purchased the farm upon which he now 
resides, and has since given his atten- 



726 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



tion to general agricultural pursuits in 
connection with the commission business. 
During thirty-four years he has only 
twice failed to make a weekly visit to 
the Philadelphia market. His business 
affairs have been conducted with capa- 
bility, and he has so directed his labors 
as to gain a very desirable competence. 
Mr. Myers exercises his right of fran- 
chase in support of the men and meas- 
ures of the Republican party, and has 
been honored with a number of local 
offices, the duties of which he has dis- 
charged with promptness and fidelity. 
He was supervisor of his township for 
four years, was school director for six 
years, and has been the appraiser for the 
Dublin Protective Company for nine or 
ten years. His religious faith is indi- 
cated by his membership with the Old 
Mennonite church. Oliver Myers 
wedded Miss Catherine Leatherman and 
they have become the parents of five 
children, of whom one died in infancy. 
The others are Newberry L.', a resident 
farmer of Plumstead township; Harry 
L., who is engaged in the fertilizer bus- 
iness at Doylestown; Willis L.; and 
Clara L., at home. 



LEDNUM L. WHITE, agent for the 
Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company 
of Philadelphia, and a representative of 
an English and French origin, was born 
in Lower Makefield township, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, January 13, 1841, a 
son of Charles A. and Alartha D. (Larue) 
White, natives of Falls township, the for- 
mer named having been a farmer and one of 
the early settlers of that place. Charles 
A. White (father) was a farmer and 
auctioneer by occupation, and resided on 
a farm in I>ower Makefield township 
from 1830 until his death, which oc- 
curred in 1862. He and his wife, who is 
also deceased, were the parents of seven 
children, nameh^: Caroline, Julia, Abbie, 
Ella, Anna, Martha, and Lednum L. 
White. 

Lednum L. White was born and reared 
on the farm whereon he now resides, 
and the house in which his birth oc- 
curred was used during the revolution- 
ary period as headquarters for a party 
of soldiers, whose meals were prepared 
in the large oven in the old fireplace 
which extended across the whole of one 
end of the structure, which is built of 
stone, and still standing. Since that time 
the house has been thoroughly remod- 
eled and equipped with more modern ap- 
pliances. For a number of years Mr. 
White dealt extensively in agricultural 
implements, this proving highly remun- 
erative, but for some years has served in 
the capacity of'agent for the Penn Mu- 
tual Life In.surance Company, one of the 
leading corporations along that luie. 
There is an extensive pond on his prop- 



erty in Lower Makefield township, which 
is used for pumping water for the Bound 
Brook railroad, and also in putting up 
ice in winter. He is one of the prom- 
inent and influential citizens of his com- 
munity, and has been chosen to serve in 
many political offices, among them being 
that of justice of the peace, in which 
capacity he rendered capable and efficient 
service for several terms. He is an ad- 
herent of the Republican party, anu a 
member of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen. In 1865 Mr. White- was 
united in marriage to Georgiana Scat- 
tergood, who bore him three children: 
Fretz E., deceased; Emma, and Helen. 
Mrs. White is a member of the Episcopal 
church. 



CHARLES MONROE DOLL, the cap- 
able and efficient station master at Elkins 
Park, near the city of Philadelphia, Penn- 
sylvania, was born in Quakertown, Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, November i, 1869, 
son of Charles and Amanda (Althouse) 
Doll, and grandson of Christopher and 

(Rosenberger) Doll. Charles Doll 

(father) was born in Milford township^ 
Bucks county, Pennsylvania. 

Charles M. Doll attended the public 
schools of his native town and graduated 
from the high school in the class of 1887. 
He then took up the profession of teaching 
at the Salem and Keystone public schools 
in Springfield township, Bucks county, in 
the meantime assisting as station agent in 
the employ of the North Pennsylvania Rail- 
road Company at various places until 1890', 
when he became station agent at Shelly Sta- 
tion, where he remained for a period of 
six months. He was then removed to Hat- 
field, later to Ashbourne, and May 15. 1899, 
at the opening of the station at Elkins 
Park, near Philadelphia, was promoted to 
that position and has since fulfilled the du- 
ties pertaining thereto with ability and zeal. 
Apart from his services as an employee of 
the railroad company. j\Ir. Doll takes an ac- 
tive part in local afifairs. He is a Republi- 
can in politics, and exercises a certain in- 
fluence in behalf of the party whose prin- 
ciples he advocates. He has served as dele- 
gate to county conventions, and in various 
other ways has aided its interests. He is 
a member of the McKinley Republican 
Club, at Ogontz, of which he is treasurer. 
He is actively identified with various fra- 
ternal organizations, and has attained the 
thirty-second degree in Freemasonry. He 
is a member of Philadelphia Consistory, 
Abington Chapter No. 245. of Jenkintown, 
and past master of Shiloh Lodge No. .:;!;8, 
of Lansdale, Free and Accepted Masons. 
He is also a member of the Knights of 
Malta, of Quakertown. Knights of the 
Golden Eagle. No. 40. of Onakertown, and 
Lodge No. 63T, Junior Order of United 
Americnn Mechanics, of Philadelphia. 

"Nfr. Doll married. August 22. iqot, Car- 
oline Frances, daughter of John and Anna 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



7^7 



(McLoughlin) Rouse, of Ogontz. where 
they now reside. Mr. and Mrs. Doll are 
members of St. Paul's Episcopal church, at 
Ogontz, in the affairs of which Mrs. Doll 
takes an active interest, serving as teacher 
in the Sunday school connected therewith, 
and a member of the Order of King's 
Daughters. 



MARGARET WATER^IAN RICKEY, 
of Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, is a de- 
scendant of early settlers in Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania. Alexander Rickey, her 
great-great-grandfather, was born in Edin- 
burgh, Scotland, in the year 1688, and died 
in Lower Makefield township in 1758, at 
the age of seventy years. He came to Penn- 
sylvania when a young man, and married 
in 1715, Anne Keirl, daughter of Thomas 
and Julian Keirl, of Lower Makefield, and 
in 1725 with his wife and children brought 
a certificate from Abington (Philadelphia 
county) Monthly Meeting of Friends to 
Falls Meeting, Bucks county, and settled in 
Lower Makefield, where he was a prom- 
inent farmer and wool grower. Alexander 
and Anne (Keirl) Rickey were the parents 
of ten children: Thomas, born 2 nio. 15. 
1716, married Hannah Dowdney ; John, 
born II mo. 17, 1717, married INlary Hutch- 
inson; Katharine, born 8 mo. 20, 1720, mar- 
ried, first, Randal Hutchinson, and (sec- 
ond) Joseph Milnor; Alexander, born 10 
mo. 26, 1723; Rachel, born 12 mo. 26, 1726, 
married Sims Betts ; James, born 9 mo. 3, 
1729 ; Anne, born i mo. 26, 1732, married 
Mahlon Kirkbride, Jr. ; ]Mary, born 10 mo. 
10, 1734, married John Derbyshire : Sarah, 
born 5 mo. 24, 1737; Keirl, born 6 mo. 2, 
1740. married Sarah Milnor. 

John Rickey, _ second son of Alexander 
and Anne (Keirl) Rickey, born January 17, 
1717-18, died in Trenton, New Jersey, Sep- 
tember 3, 1798. He lived in Trenton during 
its occupancy by the Hessians in 1776. and 
several of them quartered themselves in his 
house. When they were attacked and de- 
feated by Washington's army on the morn- 
ing of December 26, 1776, a party of the 
Hessians surrendered to Washington's 
troops in John Rickey's orchard. John 
Rickey married ]\Iary Hutchinson, daughter 
of John and Sarah (Burges) Hutchinson, 
of Falls, born February 28, 1728. Her ma- 
ternal ancestry is given in this volume, in 
"The Burges Family." Her father, John 
Hutchinson, was for many years and up to 
his death in 1745 an overseer of Falls ?^Ieet- 
ing of Friends. He married first Phebe 
Kirkbride. and had children : John, mar- 
ried Ann Stanaland ; Thomas, married Eliz- 
abeth Higgs ; Joseph, married Esther 
Stanaland ; Michael, married A.nn Lucas ; 
Randal, married Katharine Rickey as 
his second wife, his first being Elizabeth 
Harvey; Hannah, married a Murphy. John 
Hutchinson married (second) 3 mo. 24, 
1726, Sarah Burges, daughter of Samuel 
and Elenor Burges, of Falls, who died in 



1748. They were the parents of four chil- 
dren — Samuel, Priscilla, Mary, above men- 
tioned, and Phebe. Thomas Hutchinson 
married Dorothy Storr, at Beverly, York- 
shire, England, and came to New Jersey 
in the ship "Kent" in 1677, and was one of 
the proprietors of West Jersey. He and 
his wife Dorothy lived and died at Hutch- 
inson Manor, on the eastern bank of the 
Delaware, above Trenton, New Jersey. He 
died about 1698, leaving a large landed es- 
tate to his son John, whom Miss Rickey 
claims as the John Hutchinson, before men- 
tioned, who settled in Bucks county. 

Randal Rickey, son of John and ]\Iary 
(Hutchinson) Rickey, was born near Tren- 
ton, New Jersey, December 4, 1766, and 
died at Trenton, December 3, 1802. He was 
a hardware merchant at Trenton, and a 
member of Friends' jNIeeting. He married 
September 11, 1794, Margaret Waterman, 
daughter of Benoni and Sarah Waterman, 
born at Barbadoes, West Jndies, and a 
member of the Episcopal church. 

Randal Hutchinson Rickey, son of Ran- 
dal and INIargaret (Waterman) Rickey,' 
was born in Trenton^ New Jersey, Feb- 
ruary 19, 1799, and died in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, August 6, 1855. He was for twenty 
years city and county engineer at Cincin- 
nati. In religion he was a Friend. He 
married in Philadelphia, March 25, 1825, 
Susannah jNIcAulley, and they were the 
parents of ]\largaret W.'i'prni-m Rickey. 



FRANK HEATON. In colonial days 
the Heaton family was established in Bucks 
county. Edwin Heaton, the grandfather, 
was born in Hilltown township, in 1795, 
and in early life established a grocery trade 
in Philadelphia, which he conducted with 
success up to the time of his death, which 
occurred in 1826. He married Miss Eliza 
jMathias, and they became the parents of 
two children; Mathias; and Mary Ann, the 
wife of John Henry Gile. 

JMathias Heaton, father of Frank Heaton, 
was born in Philadelphia, October 18, 1825, 
and obtained his education in a private 
school at Doylestown. Subsequently he 
engaged in teaching for a number of years 
in a school house that stood on a farm now 
occupied by his son Frank. Later he 
turned his attention to agricultural pur- 
suits, which he continued up to the time 01 
his death, which occurred March 24, 1886. 
His political allegiance was given the Dem- 
ocracy, and his fellow townsmen, recog- 
nizing his worth and ability, called him to 
local office. He served as justice of the 
peace for a number of years, and also held 
the position of school director. He was a 
member of the Doylestown Presbyterian 
church, and served as one of the building 
committee when the new church edifice 
was erected. He married Miss Elizabeth 
Garges, a daughter of John and Margaret 
Garges, and they became the parents of 
three children : Nathan M., born Novem- 



7^3 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



: ber 21, 1850, died I"cl)riiary 21, i8<S6; 
Frank; and John G., born May 17, 1854, 
and died in infancy. 

Frank Heaton, the only surviving mem- 
ber of the family, was born October 25, 
1852, in the house where he now resides, 
. and it has continuously been his home. He 
early became familiar with the duties and 
labors that fall to the lot of the agricul- 
turist, and throughout his business career 
has carried on farming. He was prepared 
for life's practical duties by thorough train- 
ing m the common schools and in the 
Doyleslown Seminary. His interest in 
community affairs is that of a law-abiding 
citizen who desi-res the substantial im- 
provement and upbuilding of his county, 
and therefore gives earnest co-operation to 
many movements for the general good. He 
belongs to the Doylestown Presbyterian 
church, of which he is one of the trusttes. 
In politics he is a Democrat, and has held 
the office, of school director for several 
years. In 1902 he was elected justice of 
^the peace by a large majority, although the 
Republican vote in his locality is usually 
the stronger. His election therefore was a 
direct compliment to* his ability, and an in- 
.dication of the confidence and trust reposed 
in him by his fellow townsmen. 

Mr. Heaton married Miss Catherine ^I. 
Histand, a daughter of Joshua and Cather- 
ine Hi.^tand, and they have one son, Ed- 
win M , born December 10. 1880. 



EDWARD LIVEZEV. a farmer and 
â– connnission merchant of Buckingham 
township, was born near Buckmanvillc, in 
Bucks county. Pennsylvania, January 30, 
1866. His paternal grandfather, Edward 
Livezey, was a farmer of Philadelphia 
county. He married Mary Shallcross, and 
among their children was Jacob Livezey, 
whose birth occurred near Fox Chase in 
Philadelphia county. May 5. 1842. He was 
reared in that county, receiving the benefit 
of a collegiate education, and at the age 
of eighteen years began teaching, which 
profession he followed for two or three 
terms. He then began farming in 
Upper Makefield township. Bucks county, 
and in 1869 purchased and removed to the 
farm in Buckingham township upon which 
Edward Livezey now resides. There he 
continued to engage actively in agricultural 
pursuits until 1888. when he sold this pr^p- 
.erty to his son and established his home in 
Upper Makefield township, where he has 
since lived. He is one of the respected 
and worthy resident of his community, and 
enjoys the respect of many with whom he 
ha.-, come in contact. His political views 
accord with Republican principles, and he 
has filled several township offices. In his 
religious faith a Friend, he is rpiite active 
in the Wrightstown Friends' meeting. He 
married Hannah C. Smith. 

Edward Livezey, only child of Jacob and 
Hannah C. (Smith) Livezey, was reared 



in his parents' home and attended the pub- 
lic schools. When but seventeen years of 
age he began the study of telegraphy, and 
for some time was employed in the Bald- 
win Locomotive works in Philadelphia as 
a telegraph operafor. He next accepted 
a position in a store in Yardleyville, where 
be remained for a short time, after which 
he returned home aild became his father's 
assistant in the operation of the farm in 
Buckingham township. This he purchased 
in 1888, and as the years have come and 
gone he has not only cultivated his lana, 
but has also carried on extensive commis- 
sion business in connection with farming, 
shipping his produce to New York city. 
He is an extensive raiser of pigeons, breed- 
ing between eight and ten hundred a year. 
In his business he has prospered and the 
secret of his success lies in close applica- 
tion, keen sagacity and unfaltering indus- 
try. In his political views he, too, is a 
Republican. ^Ir. Livezey was married in 
the spring of 1888 to Miss Ruth Betts, a 
daughter of William and Emily (Walton) 
Betts, of Solebury township. They have 
two children : Charles W. and IMartha. 



HENRY T. WILLIAMS, the subject of 
this sketch, was born at Neath, Glamor- 
ganshire, England, in the year 1855, and is 
the oldest of five sons. His father was 
John Williams, who for many years was a 
resident of Hokendauqua, Lehigh county, 
Pennsylvania. He attended and completed 
the course of the British School in his 
native town and subsequently completed 
the course of the Davies Academy, also ari 
institution of his native town. At. the age 
of fifteen he secured an appointment as 
clerk in the general offices of the Great 
Western Railway Company, located at 
Neath, and was assigned to the private 
office of Joshua Williams, general managei 
of the road. At the age of seventeen he, 
together with the rest of his. family, came 
to America, taking up their residence at 
Hokendauqua. During the time Mr. Will- 
iams lived at Hokendauqua he served an 
apprenticeship to the machinist's trade in 
the shops of the Thomas Iron Company, 
later taking a course in general literature at 
the Lehigh University, South Bethlehem, 
Pennsylvania. 

For two j'cars, beginning in the fall of 
1877, he taught school at what is known 
as Almont, in Rockhill township, and at 
the end of that time was elected assistant 
teacher of the Sellersville grammar school, 
which position he held for three years, 
when he was elected to the principalship of 
the Sellersville high school. He remained 
in that position for a period of eleven years. 
During the winter of 1892 and 189.3 he 
was appointed professor of mathematics 
and business calculations at the Peirce 
lousiness School of the city of Philndel- 
phia, and placed in charge of the graduat- 
ing department. Mr. Williams resigned 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



729 



from the principalship of the Sellersville 
schools during the Christmas hohdays of 
1892, and took up his duties at the Peirce 
School in January,' 1893. He remained ai 
this institution until the summer of 1898, 
when he resigned-, having completed a 
period of twenty-one years in the profes- 
sion of teaching, two years of which were 
spent in Rockhill township, Bucks county, 
nearly fourteen years in the borough of 
Sellersville, Bucks county, and nearly six 
years in the Peirce School at Philadelphia. 

After leaving the Peirce School, Mr. 
Williams gave his attention to completing 
the study of law, which he had begun while 
teaching at the Peirce School, and on the 
twentieth day of April, 1900, l>e was ad- 
mitted to practice in the courts of the city 
and county of Philadelphia, and very 
shortly afterwards was admitted to prac- 
tice in the courts of Bucks county. IMr. 
Vv illiams has been a resident of Sellers- 
ville since the year 1879, and during the 
years of his teaching in the Peirce School 
and of his practice in the city and county 
of Philadelphia has made daily trips from 
his home at Sellersville to and from the 
city. His family residence is situated on 
North ]Main street in the borough of Sell- 
ersville, and is pleasantly located. 

In 1881 Mr. Williams was married to 
Harriet Newell Lippincott, youngest daugh- 
ter of Mr. Tyler Lippincott, a long time 
resident of Rockhill township, and later of 
the borough of Sellersville. His family 
consists of two children : Bessie L., born 
in January, 1885 ; and Martha M., born in 
July, 1891. 

i\Ir. Williams, in politics, is a Republican. 
He has never sought any political office, 
although he has been active in his work 
for the success of the Republican party. 
He belongs to the Presbyterian church, be- 
ing a member of the Old Pine Street 
â– church, located at Fourth and Pine streets, 
Philadelphia. 



EOIER P. WF.TSEL. The pionerr an- 
cestor of the Weisel family of Bucks 
county, Pennsylvania, was Michael Weisel, 
who with his wife and family emigrated 
from the Palatinate to Pennsylvania in 1732, 
crossing the Atlantic in the ship "Pink," 
which arrived at Philadelphia, October 17, 
1732. with sixty-one Palatines and their 
families, making in all one hundred and 
sixty-nine persons, from Rotterdam. On 
the list of these Palatines appear the names 
of Michael and Frederick Wyssel and their 
wives and children. ^Mi^hael Weis'^l was 
accompanied by his wife Susanna and three 
sons, Jacob, Michael and George. The 
family probably found their way into Bucks 
county within a few years of their arrival, 
followed the trend of German immigra- 
tion up the Schuylkill and her eastern 
tributaries into upper Bucks county, then 
alreadv partly settled by their compatriots. 
"On February 15, 1743, there was surveyed 



to Michael Weisel two tracts of land in 
the northwestern part of Bedminster town- 
ship, near Tohickon church, one of the 
earliest German Reformed churches in 
Bucks county, then just being organized, 
and fronting on the "Swamp Road," then 
(as now) the line between Hilltown and 
Bedminster, one of one hundred and fifty 
acres, and the other one hundred and 
thirty-one acres. 

The Weisels were among the earliest 
members of Tohickon church, and several 
generations of the family lie buried in the 
churchyard adjoining. They were also pio- 
neers in education, as the first land alien- 
ated from the family was set off the original 
plantation for a school house in 1767, with 
Jacob and Michael Weisel among the trus- 
tees, and upon which a school house had 
been already erected. This primitive school 
house and its humble successors continued 
to do service as a "temple of learning," 
supported by the Weisels and their neigh- 
bors, until superseded b}^ the common 
schools, supported by taxation, the land 
being sold by Samuel Weisel as agent for 
the surviving trustees and converted to 
private use on April 2, i86r. The date of 
the death of i^Iichael Weisel, Sr., and his 
wife Susanna has not been definitely ascer- 
tained. They conveyed the paternal acres 
to their eldest son Jacob in 1757, and he in 
turn conveyed a portion thereof to his 
brother â– Michael, George, the other brother, 
having settled in Richland township. All 
that is definitely known is that he was de- 
ceased in July, 1767, when his son Jacob 
made the conveyance of the school house 
lot. Of the children of Michael and Su- 
sanna Weisel, Jacob, the eldest, survived- 
his younger brother, living until 1797, and 
to the age of about eighty years. He was 
a lieutenant of militia during the Revolu- 
tionary war. He and his wife Margaret 
were the parents of five children : Freder- 
ick, born April 21, 1751 ; Anna Catharine, 
born March 18. 1756; John, born July 6. 
1758: George, born June 29, 1761 ; and 
Maria Elizabeth," born in September, 1769. 
George Weisel, the youngest son, died in 
Richland in 1798. leaving sons John, Peter, 
Jacob, and Joseph, and several daughters. 

Michael Weisel was born in the Pala- 
tinate in the year I7'20, and was therefore 
twelve years of age when he accompanied 
his parents, IMichael and Susanna, to Penn- 
sylvania. He married Magdalena , 

and was a resident of Bedminster township, 
Bucks county, until his death, June 24, 
1796, at the age of seventy-six years. He 
was a member of Tohickon Reformed 
church, and the baptism of three daughters 
appears of record there in 1733-1756 and 
1758, respectively, but they probably all 
died young, as no daughters are mentioned 
in his will. He purchased 253 acres of land 
adjoining the Bedminster homestead on 
the south, of Chief Justice William Allen, 
and also received a conveyance from his 
brother Jacob for a part of the 281 acres 
purchased by his father in 1743, and con- 



7ZO 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



veyed the greater part of both tracts to his 
three sons, IMichael, Henrj' and George, 
during his lifetime, devising to them at his 
death what remained. Of these three sons, 
Michael, the eldest, was twice married, his 
first wife being Catharine and his second, 
whom he married August 19, 1794, being 
Mary Sorvcr. He purchased of his father 
a portion of the homestead, and also pur- 
chased a portion of his grandfather's origi- 
nal purchase of his uncle Jacob, but later 
sold his Bedminster land and located in 
Tinicum township, where he died in 1830, 
leaving four sons, Michael. Daniel, Tobias 
and Samuel, and five daughters, who mar- 
ried into the families of Smith, Bissey and 
Swartz. George Weisel, the youngest son, 
born March 11, 1773, married ]^Iargaret 
Sheib, April 19, 1796. He received from 
his father a portion of the old homestead, 
butOater sold it and removed to ]\Iont- 
gomery county, and late in life purchased a 
farm in Warrington township, lafer occu- 
pied by his son George and grandson Sam- 
uel, where he died April 19, 1862, in his 
ninetieth j^ear. 

Henry Weisel, second son of Michael, Jr., 
and Magdalena, born in Bedminster about 
1765, married Eve Shellenberger, a grand- 
daughter of Johannes Shellenberger, who 
came from Germany in 175 1 in the "Queen 
of Denmark" and settled in Hatfield town- 
ship, Montgomery county, later purchasing 
large tracts of land in Hilltown, Bucks 
county, upon which his son Conrad, who 
married Eve Leidy, settled about 1775. 
Michael and Mjlgdalena \^'ei5el on June- 28, 
1790, conveyed to their son -Henry Weisel, 
198 acres of the Allen tract in Bedminster, 
and he was devised another portion of the 
homestead by his father's will in 1796. In 
addition to these he purchased a portion 
of the land devised to his brother George, 
and about twenty acres across the Swamp 
road in Hilltown, the site of the old Green 
Tree hotel, near Hagersville. In 1S22 he 
conveyed sixty-five acres of the homestead 
to his son George, and died seized of most 
of the other tracts in 1831. Henry and 
Eve (Shellenberger) Weisel were the par- 
ents of six children: Susanna, born 1789, 
married Philip Fluck ; George, born March 
28, 1790, married I^Iarch 31, 1812, Catharine 
Fluck; Joseph, born July 10. 1793, pur- 
chased the homestead at his father's death ; 
Henry, born January 29, 1796, marriecf Sep- 
tember 3, 1820, Elizabeth Seiple, and re- 
moved to Franconia, IMontgomery county ; 
INlary, born 1802, married Henry Eckel, 
of Bedminster; and Samuel, born August 
I, 1804. 

Samuel Weisel, youngest son of Henry 
and Eve, was a lifelong resident of Bed- 
minster and adjoining parts of Hilltown. 
and died in Hilltown, August 9, 1889. He 
married. May 24, 1829, Catharine Solliday, 
born June, 1807, daughter of Peter and 
Magdalena (Godshalk) Solliday, grand- 
daughter of Jacob and Barbara (Loux) 
Solliday, and great-granddaughter of Fred- 
erick and Barbara Solliday, who came from 



Switzerland and settled in Bedminster 
about 1740. 

Frederick Sallade (as the name was 
originally spelled) was a clockmaker and 
armourer, and tradition relates that he 
rendered efficient service to his adopted 
country in the trying days of the Revolu- 
tionary war in the making and repairing of 
firearms for the use of her patriot soldiers. 
He settled on a farm purchased of William 
Allen, near Deep Run Mennonite meeting 
house, and died there at an advanced age, 
June 24, 1804. He was a noted clock- 
maker, as was his son Jacob, and several of 
his descendants down to the present day, 
and many specimens of his and their handi- 
work are still in use in Bucks »county. He 
and his wife Barbara were members of the 
Tohickon Reformed church, and among the 
earliest records of baptisms there is that 
of their son Jacob, born January 22, 1748, 
baptized July 17, 1748. Their eldest son 
Frederick was born in Germany, and died 
in Bedminster several years before his 
father. The children born to them in 
America were : Jacob, before mentioned ; 
John, baptized >May 20, 1750; Emanuel, 
baptized February 4, 1753; and Elizabeth, 
born April 26, 1758; and possiblj' others. 

Jacob Solliday, like his father, was an 
eminent clockmaker and followed that vo- 
cation in connection with farming in Bed- 
minster for many years. On arriving at 
manhood he purchased a farm near the 
Weisel homestead, and lived thereon until 
1812, when he sold it to his son Peter and 
removed to IMilford township, where he 
died April 15, 1815. aged seventy-seven 
j-ears. He married June 10, 1773, Barbara 
Loux, born April 24. 1754, died August 
23, 1829, daughter of Peter Loux, born 
1706, who came from Rotterdam in the 
"Friendship," September 20. 1738, and set- 
tled in Bedminster, where he purchased a 
farm of 175 acres adjoining Frederick Solli- 
day, which became the property of his 
grandson, John Solliday, clockmaker, eldest 
son of Jacob and Barbara, in 1790. The 
children of Jacob and Barbara (Loux) Sol- 
liday were: John, born 1775; Peter, born 
September 24. 1783, of whom presently; 
Samuel, born July 27, 1789; George, Cath- 
arine, Nancy, ISIary. 

Peter Solliday, father of Catharine Wei- 
sel, was the second son of Jacob and Bar- 
bara (Loux) Solliday, and was born in Bed- 
minster, Bucks county, September 24, 1783,. 
and died there rvFarch. 1859. He was also 
a clockmaker, and followed that vocation 
all his life. He remained on the farm with 
his father, and in 1812 purchased the home- 
stead and 150 acres, which he conveyed to. 
his son Peter G. Solliday, in 1857. He 
married, October 6, 1805, Magdalena God- 
shalk, born April i, 1785. died January 12, 
1851, daughter of Michael Godshalk, of 
Bedminster, and they had issue : Jacob, 
born April 15, 1806, married December 6, 
1829, Maria Hartzel : Catharine, bornjune, 
1807, married May 24, 1829, Samuel Weisel ; 
Barbara, born September 21, 1809, married 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



73^ 



Charles Gerhart, of Hagersville ; Anne, 
born July 21, 1S14, married Henry Ochs ; 
Elizabeth, born September 20, 1816, mar- 
ried Samuel M. Hager; and Peter G. Sol- 
liday, born December 8, 1823, married Anna 
Stover. The children of Samuel and Cath- 
arine (SoUiday) Weisel are: jNIagdalena, 
born June 4, 1830, died young; Francis S., 
born October 27, 1832, of whom presently; 
Elevina, born December 17, 1835, wife of 
David H. Bean, of Allentown ; Caroline, 
born December 17, 1835, wife of Levi Shel- 
lenberger, of Hagersville; Eve, wife of 
George Swartz. of Souderton ; and Mary, 
wife of Samuel Rotzel, of Perkasie. 

Francis S. Weisel. now residing in Phila- 
delphia, was the only son of Samuel and 
Catharine (Solliday) Weisel, and was born 
in Bedminster, three miles above Dublin, 
October 27, 1832. On March 30, 1868, his 
father conveyed to him the farm and hotel 
in Hilltown, known as the Green Tree 
hotel, on the Swamp Road, opposite the old 
Weisel homestead, and he was the pro- 
prietor of the hotel for five years. In 1873 
he removed to Telford borough, where he 
owned and conducted a hotel and was the 
postmaster of Telford for ten years. He 
then removed to Doylestown and purchased 
the Railroad House, which he conducted 
for four years. In 1887 he removed to 
Philadelphia, where he has since lived 
a quiet and retired life. He was a member 
of the Reformed church until his removal 
to Philadelphia, but for the past eighteen 
years has been a member of the Presby- 
terian church, he and his family being now 
members of North Broad street Presby- 
terian church. He married in 1866 Annie 
E. Bowers, born near Jamison, Warwick 
township, Bucks county. August 28, 1847, 
daughter of Charles and Franey (Veronica) 
Delp Bowers. Charles Bowers, her father, 
was born and reared in Philadelphia, his 
father, a native of England, having lived 
and died in that city, where his son Charles 
was born in 1803. On arriving at manhood 
'Charles Bowers located in Bucks county, 
and on his m&rriage in 1842 settled in' 
Hatboro. ]\Iontgomery county. In the 
spring of 1849 he purchased about twenty 
acres of land at Jamison, Bucks county, 
and resided there until his death, De- 
cember 31, 1S71. He married Franev Delp, 
daughter of George and Margaret (Eydem) 
Delp, of Bedminster, Bucks county, born 
1820, died INIarch. 1850, and they were the 
parents of five children : Annie E., now the 
wife of Francis S. Weisel ; Sarah, unmar- 
ried; Oliver, died in Warwick in 1874; 
Margaret and Elvyood. 

George Delp, the pioneer ancestor of the 
Delp family of Bucks county, came from 
Rotterdam in the ship "Thistle," arriving in 
Philadelphia, October 28, 1738. He located 
in Franconia township, now jNIontgomery 
county, and became a large landowner there 
as well as in Hilltown township, Bucks 
county. He and a number of his descend- 
ants lie buried in an old burying ground 
known as "Delp's Grave Yard," in the 



northwestern part of Franconia township. 
George Delp, son of the pioneer, located 
in Hilltown township, where his son 
George, the grandfather of J\Irs. Weisel, 
was born. The latter removed to Bed- 
minster township in 1S06, and died there 
about January i, 1830. He married Mar- 
garet Eydem, who survived him twenty 
years, dying in Bedminster in 1S50. They 
were the parents of tive children : Samuel, 
who died before his father, leaving a 
daughter JNIagdalena ; Jacob, who married 
a Barndt and was the father of Reuben 
Barndt Delp, of Allentown, before referred 
to as the husband of Catharine Weisel; 
Magdalena, who married Ulrick Hockman, 
both she and her husband dying before her 
father ; Margaret, who married Daniel 
Bartholomew ; and Franey, who married 
Charles Bowers. 

Francis S. and Annie E. (Bowers) 
Weisel are the parents of two sons : Elmer 
P. and Oscar W. Weisel ; and a daughter, 
Florence, w'ho died in infancy. 

ELMER P. WEISEL, of 1132 Green 
street, Philadelphia, was born in Bedmin- 
ster township, Februarj^ 23. 1867. His early 
education was acquired at the public schools 
of Telford, Montgomery county, and at 
Sellersville, Bucks county. At the age of 
fourteen years he entered West Chester 
State Normal School and graduated from 
that institution four j-ears later. After 
three years spent in teaching in the public 
schools of Bucks county he went to Phila- 
delphia, and entered the employ of the well 
known firm of Hood. Bonbright & Co., 
later Hood, Foulkrod & Co., and remained 
with that firm until 1894. when he became 
connected with the Philadelphia Saving 
Fund Society, 700 Walnut street, wdiere he 
still holds a responsible position. He joined 
the Presbyterian church of Doylestown, and 
during his residence there was a teacher 
in the Sunday-school connected with that 
church. Since his residence in Philadelphia 
he has been a Sunday-school teacher and 
active church worker there, and has also 
officiated as organist. He is prominently 
associated with the ^Masonic fraternity, be- 
ing affiliated with Lodge No. 2, Harmony 
Chapter No. 52, R. A. M., and IMary Com- 
mandery No. 36, K. T.. of Pennsylvania. 
He is a member of the Young Republican 
Club, of the Crescent Boat Club, on the 
Schuylkill river, and of Philadelphia Chap- 
ter of the American Institute of Bank 

OSCAR W. WEISEL, of 1132 Green 
street, Philadelphia, second son of Francis 
S. and Annie E. (Bowers) Weisel, was born 
in Hilltown township, Bucks county, July 
22, 1870. He was educated at the public 
schools of Telford and Sellersville and at 
the Doylestown Seminary, and later took a 
two and a half years' course at West Ches- 
ter State Normal School, and then entered 
Peirce's Business College, Philadelphia, 
from which he graduated in 1887. He en- 
tered the employ of Hood, Bonbright & 
Company, where he remained until 1890, 



7^'2' 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



when he went with the Western Savings 
Fund Society, of looo Wahiut street, and 
for the past three years has been the man- 
ager of Branch Office C of the society at 
Kensington, Philadelphia. While residing 
at Doylestown he joined the Presbyterian 
church there, and has been an active church 
worker in Philadelphia for the past eighteen 



years. He is a member of Lodge No. 2, 
F, and A. M. ; Harmony Chapter No. 52, 
R. A. M. ; and Mary Commandery, No. 36, 
K. T., of Pennsylvania. He is also a mem- 
ber of the Crescent Boat Club on the 
Schuylkill river, and of -the Philadelphia 
Chapter of the American Institute of Bank 
Clerks. 



S" 



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